Working

Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine.

"Ok, can you see them?"

"No…"

"Hmm… I guess it is hard to see at this angle."

"…Obito."

"Yeah?"

"Why are we in a hedge?" Obito looked away from his surveillance to glare at Kakashi. Honestly, they'd been through all this already.

"We don't want him to see us coming!" Deidara knew what both of them looked like so if he got a glimpse of them, he could easily make some kind of escape.

"That doesn't explain the glasses either."

"They are not glasses, they are goggles." He'd even used this exact pair before.

"Why are you wearing them?"

"Because it adds to the fun." This was only really a quick stop to yell at Deidara but Obito wanted to make it more enjoyable.

"…You are pretty eccentric aren't you?"

"Coming from the guy who wears a mask everywhere."

"Touché." And having decided that this was the end of it, Obito resumed watching the door to their place of employment.

He didn't care about the odd looks passers-by were giving them when they realised there were two teenage boys crouching in the hedge. If only he'd packed binoculars, then he could complete the creepy weirdo look.

Kakashi had not wanted to get in the hedge but hadn't wanted to be standing to a load of foliage either, so he had decided to join him on the chance that he would be slightly obscured by the leaves.

"Can we go inside yet?"

"Hmm…"

"I'll rephrase that; I'm going inside. You can follow me if you want." Kakashi stood up and picked his way through the bush, startling a passing man who had not noticed them. Obito practically rolled out to follow them.

"What if they see us?"

"I won't just walk in." Kakashi rolled his eyes at the stupidity of the suggestion and crossed the road. They were now outside of the shop next door. "Ok, put your head round and tell me if he's in there."

"Got it." Obito started his exaggerated stealth mode walk.

"Please don't do that."

"Never!" Obito had wanted to take the opportunity to use a game stealth pose; it was just one of those things you had to do. And it didn't matter how funny he looked. He could see Kakashi covering what showed of his face, apparently embarrassed to be seen with him. Staying close to the wall, he leant his back right against it and slid along the wall until he was right next to the door frame.

With slow movement, he leant round so the top of his head was just showing in the doorway. Two boys were sat behind the counter, one of whom he easily recognised to be Deidara.

The other boy, a redhead, was tinkering with some kind of wooden thing on the counter, completely ignoring the blonde who was sketching on a piece of paper and laughing to himself. They were distracted. He moved back and gave Kakashi a thumbs up.

The masked boy needed no further encouragement and marched to the door, entering the shop before Obito could quite keep up. By the time he had managed to get in, Kakashi was halfway to the desk, still unnoticed by the blissfully oblivious Deidara. The redhead however, had seen and a small smile was starting to grow on his face. A very sadistic looking smile. He sat up on his stool and watched the approach. Deidara finally looked up at the change in position of his co-worker but it was now too late to escape.

"Hello Deidara." He sounded deceptively calm.

"Hi Kakashi! Nice to meet you!" He trailed off into nervous laughter, his eyes darting from side to side to seek out an escape route.

Obito went and stood at the other side to make sure he was blocking the exit. Just because he found the whole thing kind of funny didn't mean he wasn't going to help out Kakashi.

"What is that?" The masked one had gotten a glimpse of the piece of paper Deidara had been drawing on and his eyebrow was twitching. Obito leant forwards, having to stuff his fist in his mouth to prevent the burst of explosive laughter threatening to emerge.

Deidara had been most of the way through a sketch of Kakashi in a milkmaid dress, a couple of small pigtails sticking out at the sides. Even sketch Kakashi looked annoyed about his predicament.

"Don't you like it?"

"Oh he is going to kill you brat." The redhead sniggered and leant forward, ready to enjoy the show.

"Shut up!"

"Oh he's right." Deidara gulped. And then the fool tried to dive over the counter to get away, right in to the path of Kakashi.

The masked boy grabbed him by the arm and started pulling him along, apparently impervious to the attempts to flee. Obito and the redhead just watched as the terrified Deidara was dragged through the curtain, into the darkness of the break room. Doom was surely imminent.

"How many limbs do you think he'll have when he comes out?" Obito whispered to the redhead.

"Hopefully less than he had when he went in." He picked up the wooden thing, now revealed to be a foot, and started scraping off pieces with a small knife. …This guy seems kind of Kakashi-like.

"Err…" The redhead flicked his eyes up. He looked more moody than Kakashi for sure. "I'm Obito." He tried a smile. That usually worked…. Right?"

"….Sasori." And after this one word of introduction, he went back to focusing on his foot.

"Is that a carving?" He knew that social contact wasn't a good idea but he was carrying on like the moron that he was.

"No it's a giraffe. Clearly." Sasori shook his head, exasperated with the effort that one sentence had apparently needed.

"Sorry…" I kind of wish Deidara was here… At least he was talkative.

It was quite ominous that no noise came from the back room. Whatever was happening to Deidara, he was suffering in silence. Obito was glad he wasn't him. Though being stuck there whilst Sasori ignored him was torture in a different kind of way. He'd thought the guy would at least stop when a customer appeared. Instead, he'd stared at Obito when the man placed his newspaper on the counter.

"What?" The man was now also giving him looks.

"Aren't you going to serve the guy?" You lazy dick! Obito would have kicked up a fuss but he didn't want the man complaining at him whilst he was on duty.

When the customer was safely out of view, Obito leaned over and knocked the wooden foot to the ground. Perhaps a little harsh but it didn't break.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Uh oh. That pissed him off.

"Don't make me do your work for you!"

"It's your asshole boyfriend who took away my stupid co-worker!"

"He's not my boyfriend!" This comparison felt even more awkward after all that had happened.

"If this is damaged, I will end your miserable life." Sasori had gripped the foot and was examining it for any kind of minute scratch or dent.

"It's fine!"

"Luckily for you." Sasori spoke in a deep growl, all of his hate emanating from his face.

"Why are you carving a foot anyway?" If he didn't find out then it would be annoying him.

"It's none of your business."

"Damn you're annoying." It wasn't like he was going to spend loads of time with this guy so his opinion didn't matter.

"You're the one who just doesn't shut up."

"It's not my fault I'm bored!"

"Go be bored somewhere else!"

"I will when I feel like it." It was tempting to carry on annoying him just to teach him. He sat down in the stool usually occupied by Deidara and crossed his arms. Sasori was giving him a death glare, similar to the one worn by Kakashi when they had first interacted. This one felt a little scarier though since this guy did seem like he genuinely wanted to stab him through the skull with the nearest sharp object.

Sasori let out a loud 'hmph' and pulled a bag out from under the counter. He removed a bit of fabric and wrapped the foot in it, replacing it in the bag. Then he pulled out another wrapped object, peeling back the fabric to reveal a hand in pieces.

"Is that one broken?" Sasori groaned.

"That is where the connections are going you moron."

"Don't call me a moron!"

"Don't ask stupid questions!"

"It's hardly stupid to ask about something when you know nothing about the subject." He grinned at the awesomeness of his reply.

"I am making a puppet, ok? Is that good enough for you?"

"Why are you making a puppet?" It seemed kind of random.

"Because I like making puppets! Now will you shut up?!"

"Fine." Secretly he was impressed. The parts he had seen looked intricate and well made, and the small movements made by Sasori fixed problems Obito hadn't even seen.

"Wait! Stop! Ok, I'm sorry! I won't do it again, just get that thing away from me!" Deidara's pitiful begging sounded out from the back room and Sasori chuckled.

It wasn't long after this that Kakashi re-appeared, looking very pleased with himself.

"You might want to untie your friend," was what he said to Sasori before waltzing out the door, leaving Obito to dash after him.

"What did you do?"

"I made my opinion on his drawing skills very clear." From the way the mask sat against his skin, there was an obvious smile under it.

"Which involved tying him up?"

"To a chair."

"And what did you put in his face?"

"Only a toilet brush."

"…That is disgusting." He laughed a little though. It had definitely done the trick. "You think he'll do it again?"

"If he does, I'm using him as a toilet brush." They reached the end of the street and halted. "I guess this is where we split up?"

"Yeah…" Kakashi started to walk off. "Wait a second."

"What?"

"You want to do something?" They were friends. Friends could hang out. He wasn't thinking about kissing. Not at all.

"Are you sure?" Kakashi's mind appeared to be going in the same direction.

"We're friends. And it's not like I have anything better to do today."

"You sound so eager."

"I am!" He didn't want to stay weird with him forever.

"If you want to."

-Page Break-

"To the left Bakakashi!"

"I'm trying!"

"It's going to ge- oh. You're dead." Kakashi replaced the cheaply made plastic gun in the holster.

"The trigger was faulty."

"That's what they all say…" Kakashi flicked him on the arm.

"That game is ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous about mutant zombies from space?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not even going to comment on that… Maybe we should go somewhere a little less… fluorescent." Obito glanced around the arcade with the loud machines and flashing lights.

"If you want to." He could feel satisfied that he'd beaten Kakashi at one game.

"Where do we go next then?"

"Lunch?"

"Lead on."

It was a tense feeling, being alone like this with Kakashi. He felt bad about how aware he was of everything.

No! I will not act like this! We are friends dammit! He knew he was probably making the facial expressions to go along with this internal monologue but Kakashi was not commenting on it. He was used to this by now.

Whilst they were walking outside it was fine; but once they got to the café…

Why the hell did they put us on a corner table? The fact that it was completely normal for two friends to sit opposite each other on a small table completely escaped Obito. It's like a date! And then he went red. Do not think like that!

"This is kind of like a date isn't it?" Obito started making spluttering noises whilst Kakashi watched on with amusement.

"Don't say stuff like that!"

"Why not? You were thinking it."

"Maybe so, but still!" He knew he was pouting and this just irritated him further.

"I can understand if it's hard to be around me."

"No! It's not!" Damn. I'm obvious as hell when I lie.

"Just relax. It's not like I'm going to jump over the table and start humping you." Kakashi froze as the older waitress placed the food on the table, glared at him and disappeared "…Well. You're not the only one who screws up apparently." Obito giggled a little.

"That's a relief… Sorry."

"Don't be."

"But you probably feel as weird as I do!" Perhaps weirder since it had been him confessing his feelings.

"I do… But I like being around you so it's fine." Kakashi paused. "But forget I said that, ok?"

"Ok." That was so nice! Anko's best compliment was 'I don't hate your ugly ass face'. "Wait… You took off the mask!" They were in a public place too.

"I did." Kakashi was trying to appear casual about this but Obito could see how awkward it was making him feel.

"Why?"

"Because." And that was the end of the matter.

"I'm glad. You shouldn't hide your face all the time."

"Why?"

"Because you don't look like your dad so you shouldn't worry about that."

"I know… you've told me."

"Yeah sorry…" Obito looked down at the table and stuffed a load of chips into his mouth.

"You're a good friend." Kakashi gave him a small smile from across the table. Obito froze. That smile made him feel uncomfortable….

"I know! I'm great!" And then he resumed the weird laughing. God I suck.

"Are you ok?"

"Yep! So ok! You would not believe!" Just look down. Do not look back up.