Madara remembered the day he first met him like it was yesterday. The sharingan had seared it into his memory.

He and Hashirama had met up at the river like they usually did, only this time Madara knew his family was planning an ambush. He scribbled a warning on a flat river stone and skipped it towards his friend, instinctively catching Hashirama's own warning in his hand.

Before either friend could act, a group of Uchiha clashed with a group of Senju on the river. That was when he first saw him.

Tobirama had narrowed his eyes at him–eyes the colour of his sharingan–and something in Madara's brain had clicked.

If there was one thing Uchihas were known for, it was the strong emotions they felt. When an Uchiha hated, their hatred burnt flaming hot and all-consuming. The love of an Uchiha, however, was just as intense. Uchihas loved fiercely and became infatuated easily.

For this reason, when Madara first looked at Tobirama, he was convinced that the fire within him was that of hatred.

Years later, when it was Tobirama who very nearly killed his last remaining brother, Madara was only strengthened in his conviction.

With his wounded brother over his shoulder, he was trying to leave the battlefield when Hashirama stopped in front of him.

"Stop this, Madara," he implored, "Don't you think enough members of our clans have died? When will you see that continuing the fight of our ancestors is pointless?"

Madara looked over his shoulder to see the few of his clan that had survived this fight. He hesitated.

Izuna coughed up blood, "Don't do it, aniki."

Madara tightened his grip around his brother and glared at his former friend.

"How am I supposed to trust you, Senju?"

Hashirama started but was interrupted by his younger brother, "I can heal him," the White Demon offered.

"What?" the Uchiha demanded.

"Yes," Hashirama nodded, "My brother is capable of using his chakra to heal. Make peace with us and your brother will be saved."

Madara looked at his younger brother who shook his head in denial. The Uchiha leader only had two siblings left. He knew that if he brought Izuna home, he would die. There were no healers within the Uchiha clan that were skilled enough to save him.

"Do it," he demanded, "save my brother and you'll have your peace."

—

After generations of conflict, a peace treaty was signed between the Uchiha and Senju. And with the newfound peace, Madara and Hashirama started building the village that they had dreamt of as children.

"... And then that's going to be the academy I told you about, and I was thinking we could have a civilian district for those who don't wish to fight and oh! Did I tell you about the clans that asked to join? I know you were already allied with the Aburame but the Hatake clan has requested to join! And I think the Akimichi, Yamanaka, and Nara could be persuaded as well and-"

"What about leadership positions?" Madara interrupted his old friend's ramblings. "There will have to be a decisive leader, will there not?"

"Oh yes, about that. So I was thinking that since we're ninja from the land of fire, our village leader should operate and lead from the shadows. A Fire Shadow. Hokage." he grinned, "We will have the village vote on who should fill the position."

"It's probably going to be either you or me," Madara said.

Hashirama nodded, "And whoever doesn't become Hokage, will be in charge of our main forces, yeah?"

Madara crossed his arms over his chest, "Agreed… so what do we name the village?"

"Well, I was hoping you'd have suggestions?"

Madara looked down from where they were standing on their cliffside overlooking the village. Everywhere around the few buildings that were already constructed, the trees sprouted up and surrounded them with their thick foliage.

"How about… the Village Hidden in The Leaves?"

Hashirama hung his head, "You're hopeless, I hope you never have children."

"How is Fire Shadow any different, huh?!" Madara demanded, elbowing his friend in the ribs harshly, "You are the one who should be banned from passing on your poorly developed brain cells!"

"Don't be mean to me Madara, you're such a bully," Hashirama fake sniffled.

Madara opened his mouth to give a sarcastic retort but was interrupted by another voice.

"You two! Stop dawdling around up here and get to work! The village isn't going to build itself!"

It was him. Tobirama. The man whose eyes had been haunting Madara's dreams for years.

"We weren't dawdling! We were making important village decisions!" Hashirama protested and turned to his friend for support.

Madara was already gone.

"Huh," Hashirama wondered and turned to his brother again.

"The Uchiha left as soon as he saw me," Tobirama provided, "He doesn't seem very fond of me."

"Well, you did almost kill his brother."

"I healed him though, did I not?"

"Well, I'm sure he will warm up to you eventually"

The younger Senju scoffed, "As if I care if he likes me or not. I was just thinking of political benefits."

"Sure you were," Hashirama grinned, "And it has absolutely nothing to do with how nice and warm you find his chakra."

"I should never have told you that."

"Ah, but you did and I will never let you forget it."

Tobirama huffed and let his older brother standing on the cliffside. His brother loved to embarrass him and it was infuriating. But at least his brother didn't read too much into it. Tobirama knew that his brother had been infatuated with the Uchiha since childhood, it wouldn't do to create conflict between the two of them.

—

The Hatakes did indeed end up joining the village and with them came a servant by the name of Tooma. It was somewhat of an open secret within the village that Tooma was sharing the bed of both the Hatake clan head and his wife.

What Tooma was really known for within the village, however, was that he was Uchiha Madara's best friend, which was why he was currently sitting next to the dark-haired man as he downed another cup of sake.

"He's such a know-it-all bastard," the Uchiha complained, severely drunk at this point.

Tooma made an agreeing sound, well-aware that a drunk Madara was a venting Madara.

"He thinks he's so smart and that just because he's pretty I won't tell him when he's wrong," the Uchiha continued on, "And then- and then-" Madara sighed, "He hates me, you know."

Uh, oh, Tooma thought, they had reached the alcohol level which turned venting Madara into moping Madara.

"I'm sure he doesn't hate you," Tooma patted his friends' arm.

"How do you know?"

Tooma shrugged, "He would have probably tried to kill you by now if he did."

"No, you see, because he has self control–his words, not mine–so he wouldn't do something that would make his brother sad. The only reason he's not open about him hating me is that I'm Hashirama's friend."

"But don't you insist that you hate Tobirama as well?" Tooma lifted a brow, "What does it matter to you if he hates you."

Madara glared at his empty cup, "I do hate him! He makes me feel confusing things, it was easier a few years ago when the village was founded but now every time we have meetings together, he uses some jutsu that messes with my heart," his eyes widened, "Do you think he's trying to kill me without me noticing?"

Tooma sighed, "I think you need to think about this when you're not drunk."

"I'm not drunk!"

"If you were sober, I would never have managed to take your cup from you without you noticing."

Madara's head swivelled around to his hands so quickly that Tooma was hit in the face with his friend's dark mane of hair.

"You're sneaky!" then he became serious, "Are you secretly an Uchiha?"

Tooma sighed and pulled his friend up from where he was sitting, "Come on, let's get you home."

Though the Uchiha patriarch protested loudly, he was not sober enough to resist Tooma dragging him home anyway.

—

A week later Tooma was woken up by Madara sneaking in through his bedroom window.

Ayato simply rose a brow and then fell back asleep on his wife's chest while Tooma scrambled out of bed to lead the Uchiha to a private room.

"What the hell are you doing? You can't just climb into a clan head's bedroom!" Tooma hissed with burning cheeks.

"It's important and Hatake-san doesn't care anyway," Madara shrugged.

Tooma pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered about how he was surrounded by idiotic clan heads that had no sense of propriety.

"You done?" Madara asked when Tooma calmed down.

"Yes, I'm done. Now, what was so important that you had to break and enter into the Hatake compound at five in the morning?"

"I think I might have feelings for Tobirama," Madara confessed. "I thought what I was feeling was hate and it probably used to be but then I thought about it and I read this really bad romance book that Izuna gave me for my birthday and I think I might actually be… in love with him?"

Tooma looked at him blankly, "I'm so shocked. Truly. Would never have guessed."

"So, do you think I should tell him?" Madara asked, missing his friend's sarcasm.

"Well, how else are you supposed to know if he feels the same way?"

A look of realization spread across Madara's face. "I hadn't thought of that. What if he doesn't feel the same way? What am I gonna do then?"

"Then… we become missing-nin together?" Tooma joked with a shrug.

Madara nodded, "Good idea," and was gone.

"Hey, I didn't mean-" Tooma started but cut himself off when he realized his friend was gone. He groaned and went back to bed.

"Any problems?" Ayato asked, only half awake.

"I think I accidentally signed up to be a missing-nin."

Ayato blinked, "Send me postcards," and fell back asleep.

Tooma sighed and copied his actions. He was truly surrounded by morons.

—

A few years had passed since the founding of the village and Tobirama could now admit to himself that he had become attracted to the Uchiha leader.

He was still an asshole, but he was a stupidly pretty asshole with a voice that did things to him that he would never admit out loud.

He also cared deeply for his siblings and seemed to genuinely be a good leader. Tobirmam hated that.

He hated it because it was obvious that his brother was in love with the Uchiha and Tobirma would never do anything to hurt his brother.

So the only thing he could do was try to distance himself as much from Madara as possible. Clearly, the Uchiha was also in love with his brother, after all, so it would be easier for the younger Senju if Madara just hated him.

That way, he reasoned, when Hashirama and Madara finally got together it would hurt him far less.

The current problem with this was that the object of his affection was pacing back and forth in front of his office door, agitating his sensory field and reminding him of his existence, which he was trying to avoid.

—

Madara paced back and forth in front of Tobirama's office. He hadn't thought this would be so difficult.

All he had to do was tell Tobirama about what he was experiencing and then hope that his feelings were returned, right? It couldn't be that difficult.

Just as he was about to knock, a voice from within called out-

"Would you just leave already? I can't stand any more of this."

Madara froze. Of course, of course, the Senju sensor already knew of his feelings. He had probably found out about it months ago and had been trying to make it clear that he wasn't reciprocating his feelings.

Tooma always said that he was emotionally dense. Tobirama, however, was a smart man, even he could admit that, and was excellent at reading people.

And now he was sick of waiting for Madara to find out that his feelings weren't welcome. He had told him to leave.

"Of course, Tobirma-san," Madara said, his tongue feeling like lead.

That night, he and Tooma left the Village and never came back.