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16 | Fix

The first thing, or rather, person, whom Tobirama sees when he opens his eyes is Hashirama. The older is sitting on the stool next to his bed, dark bags under his eyes and  looking like he hasn't taken a bath for days. There's another stool next to where Hashirama is sitting on and Tobirama also notices some telltale signs that Mito had been in the room.

He opens his mouth to speak but before he could form a word, Hashirama had already thrown himself at him, effectively knocking the air out of his lungs. He groans in retaliation but when Hashirama doesn't budge, he lets him be. Hashirama adjusts slightly a few seconds later though, just to give him some room to breathe.

His senses come back gradually and he finally recognizes where they're at--in his own bedroom. He also recalls what happened before he got to this state--he's at the lab with Mito when his vision got blurry and all of a sudden, all he sees was black before he lost consciousness.

He remembers Mito, who probably was terrified because of the incident, and wishes she's here now, too. He wants to apologize to her for causing such trouble.

The feeling of wetness on his right shoulder, right where Hashirama's face is currently buried at, snaps him out of his thoughts.

Trust his older brother to be overly dramatic. Tobirama had just lost consciousness--he's not dead. If only he's not still feeling weak right now, he'd already roll his eyes at Hashirama.

"You're crying as if I'm dead, anija. Stop it," he says, but without any heat in his tone. Aside from his voice being hoarse and his throat feeling dry, he feels rested overall. The exhaustion in his eyes are gone now and his shoulders and back aren't aching anymore. All in all, he feels better than he did before that incident at the lab.

"Sorry," Hashirama says. The embrace tightens still, and athough it's getting harder to breathe again, the warmth that Tobirama feels in his chest feels so good that he can't bring himself to push Hashirama away. He's always told his older brother that he hates it when he hugs him, but now that he really thinks of it, Hashirama gives the warmest hugs there are. It's...nice.

"You slept for three days." Hashirama breaks away slowly. "How are you feeling right now?"

"Water," Tobirama winces as he answers. He opens his mouth to try and clarify what he meant but Hashirama is quick to pick up what he needs. He helps him to a glass of water and Tobirama downs it in one go.

"Mito told me about the jutsu that the two of you are working on," Hashirama says and Tobirama almost chokes on the water.

Hashirama isn't supposed to know about the jutsu until it's done.

"W-what jutsu?" Tobirama tries to feign innocence but miserably fails.

"Can I ask you a favor, Tobi?"

Tobirama looks at his brother's face before he gives him a reply. If Hashirama did already discover about the jutsu and who it is for, he'll certainly ask him to stop working on it because knowing his brother, he's likely blaming himself for what happened to him back at the lab.

Tobirama couldn't afford that. He wants to finish the jutsu for Hashirama.

"If you're gonna ask me to stop working on it, just stop already. I don't plan on stopping until it's done," he declares firmly.

"But Tobi, it's taking a toll on you. I don't like seeing you suffer."

"Anija," he insists, "once your memories of Madara return--"

Hashirama cuts him off suddenly,  looking taken aback. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"Huh?" Tobirama's eyebrows contort, but realization hits him, hard, eventually. Hashirama doesn't know about the jutsu yet, does he? And Tobirama had just graciously spilled the beans, hadn't he?