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This story is cross-posted on AO3. It contains 6 chapters!. Updates will be sporadic. Enjoy!

The figurative fall

The first time Izuna fell was in a figurative way. The first relevant time, of course. He had fallen many times before; he was a workaholic, and it was usual for him to train until collapsing. So of course, he fell before that one.

Yet, this one counted as the first, it was the most important in this story because the others ensued from this fall.

The first time Izuna fell was five years before. He was almost sixteen and he had inadvertently trespassed on Senju territory, flying away from pursuers trying to kill him, after several months of quite a harassing captivity.

He was poisoned, injured, and each step he made was worsening the bleeding on his side.

It was only when he crossed a Senju patrol's path that he realized his mistake. And just because a hemorrhage, a chakra exhaustion, many wounds from the captivity, the poison running through his veins, and an unarmed, almost naked escape weren't enough for a day, the patrol was led by Senju Tobirama himself.

Another day, Izuna would have probably tried to taunt his rival, looking for the fight, but not that day. He was tired, he was wounded, he was fucking poisoned, so he didn't try to provoke Tobirama. No, he had tried and spectacularly failed to run away.

As he was trying to turn and begin to run, he had gotten his foot stuck in a root. That was the real first time he fell in this story but still not the important one.

He was eating the floor, the lichen, the soil, his nails scratching as he was trying (and failing again) to get up, and by crawling back away from the ruthless Senju, his back had hit a trunk.

In front of him, Tobirama was moving forward, aiming his katana on Izuna. Izuna was first and foremost an Uchiha. A stubborn one, moreover. And he didn't want to die running away, like a coward. He wanted to die facing the blow.

So Izuna… Well, Izuna awfully reacted.

He tried to taunt his rival, to hurt him, saying something he thought terribly mean.

He said, "Hashirama would rather have Madara as a brother than you!"

To tell the truth, he didn't mean it. He just wanted to hurt, to surprise Tobirama, to gain time.

Tobirama stopped his movement, and the tip of his sword flagged, as he blinked with a deep confusion.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Madara told me so! He told me that Hashirama wanted to have him as a brother."

The outcome was not lethal, but still unexpected.

Izuna didn't know at this moment, he would have looked away otherwise, but he fell again few seconds after. And this was the important fall, which brought all the others.

Because instead of taking offense of Izuna's rudeness, Tobirama burst out of laughter.

This wasn't one of his usual laughter, one Izuna heard on the battlefield, cold, cruel, fierce. No, no. It was a warm sound, it made Izuna want to laugh with him, to catch his breath, and never let him go.

That music escaping from Tobirama's lips was unending and magnificent.

"You can have several brothers, you know? Hashirama's love is not a cake that can only be divided into a limited number of pieces. He can love me and Madara as well."

And the laugh echoed everywhere again.

Then Izuna did not hear the rest. He had never believed all those tall tales about love at first sight. Yet he stood there, against that tree, as if struck by lightning, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment and something else more pleasant, and there was indeed the earth shaking, butterflies in his stomach, and Tobirama's laughter echoed throughout him like sweet, intoxicating melody.

"Gods, you're hilarious, I hadn't laughed like that since forever."

And suddenly it didn't matter that he was laughing at him if he never stopped having that look in his eyes. With his laughter, his nose wrinkled delicately, highlighting the freckles dotted down to his cheekbones. An adorable dimple grew as he tried to contain his laughter, to regain his composure and all the menace he presented before Izuna's retort and finally he sheathed his sword, wiping a tear of hilarity from his cheek.

This very moment, that Izuna fell in love so deeply, was five years before. Since then, he always managed to make a fool of himself in front of Tobirama.