Chapter Text
Tobirama never dated anyone online. He did not know a thing about dating actually, too busy building his academic future he simply put aside anything related to relationships, not interested at all in living his love life like a regular teenager.But now, as an adult in his mid-twenties not only was he in a completely different mindset, but certain desires had also awakened in him. It goes without saying that his knowledge about sex and how he could expand his pleasure was zero at the moment, and he had more than enough of his masturbation sessions on his own.
The first and most difficult step was to get out of his comfort zone. If he was willing to learn how sex worked in general, he had to talk to somebody about it. Looking to find common ground, he was surprised when his coworker offered himself to be his regular partner in bed after opening up in an intimate talk. Tobirama couldn't help but feel profoundly flattered. Kagami was a handsome and reliable man, but frankly, he wasn’t interested in that sort of relationship with him, so he declined the offer as politely as the matter could allow him to, and was glad to find that the man, if obviously a bit disappointed, accepted his rejection in good spirits.
Shortly after, people at work found out about their supposedly secret talk. He knew this because lots of requests were soon to arrive in the form of secret notes left on his desk or by direct approaches at their workplace. The boldest requests happened in the bathroom stalls. Tobirama felt flabbergasted at first, he never considered himself to be a handsome man, although he knew he wasn't what people called 'ugly' but he couldn't call himself confidently ordinary either. Thanks to his albinism he was the spotlight in almost every space he entered, standing out from everyone else, which made him the focus of unwanted attention. Tobirama came to the conclusion that people in general admired what was different from them, which must have explained the insistence of some of them, whose desperate attempts to try getting his attention were vain.
Tobirama became selective, and only accepted a few interesting requests merely to satisfy certain desires that he had neglected his body from experiencing before. He did not cower at anything, eager to experience sex in its various forms without prohibitions. Such encounters did not last longer than a couple of nights though. Tobirama certainly enjoyed himself in quite a few encounters and disliked some practices in others, but it was part of gaining experience and he learned quickly the kinks he could get along with.
That's how it went for a while, until his coworker Kagami found out about his -once again supposedly secret encounters, reaching the point of confronting him at his break time. Tobirama did not expect that, he could tell he was hurt, not so much by his rejection, but because he accepted hanging out with most people at work instead of him. A man of principles or not, he had his pride and Tobirama understood that. Still, he only shared one languid and wet kiss with him and a couple of drinks before dropping him off at his apartment out of courtesy. After rejecting his invitation to spend the night with him one last time, he committed himself to being more discreet regarding his sex life.
That's how his workplace was completely discarded in terms of finding a date. It was kind of unfair if he thought about it, Toka agreed with him and frankly told him to ignore the man and move on, after all they were nothing to each other, but he appreciated Kagami’s work ethic, which was similar to his. Tobirama did not want to make him mad or worse, to hurt him, even if that was indirectly what had just happened. The quick solution Toka suggested was a bit unorthodox but quite efficient. That’s how he started to frequent bars at night in the company of his cousin of course. Making new acquaintances helped him to become less self-aware and a bit smug. However, that wasn't exactly the mood he was looking for either. Out of one of those lucky nights in which he found himself hidden in the closet of a complete stranger, his host did not stop apologizing for his mother in the next hour and the fact that she returned sooner than planned and proposed to meet another time.
That's where the stranger revealed something to him so valuable that he barely learned his name in acknowledgement.
Social media platforms.
Tobirama just started to learn what a profile picture was, taking over ten of himself in various angles, when a known name popped up on his notifications. Dread filled him. Of course such media was using his contacts to find friends in common, which helped undesired people to find him. He cursed, that wasn’t what he had planned at all! He felt even more exposed to gossip with such a huge platform at the disposal of just anyone. But there is a solution for each problem, and soon he navigated enough to find another adamant discovery: dating apps. Toka might have mentioned something about it in a drunken tone at some party before, but he did not pay attention until now. As expected, he received a raucous laugh from her, followed by mocking and finally some instructions that helped him understand how those platforms worked. He did not know a thing about swiping left or right the hell on what, but at last he was convinced and chose what he thought was his most decent picture.
If the ton of notifications he received were something to go by, he considered it a success.
That’s how he spent his evenings and breaks during work, scrolling past the thousands of profiles, just looking for a pretty face to fuck or at least someone who could give good head.
And then he saw Izuna Uchiha. Tobirama was skipping over the faces of a bunch of strangers, sprawled on his brother’s sofa when he came across his profile. He looked youthful, pretty, and…
“No, wait! Shit.” He swiped the profile to the opposite side, and to make things worse, he did it twice. Actually, out of panic he closed the app too. Fuck. Lots of times before he’s rejected the pricey subscription to keep the lost matches because it simply made no sense to him at all. No respectable businessman would have paid a subscription to such a platform, less if it was to find the lost profile of some cute stranger.
It was true, the man was indeed cute, with luscious lips and pitch black, big eyes. For what he could see his hair was very long, with bangs that framed his soft features, outright charming that one was. Very attractive, his face was a bit deceptive though, androgynous was the word. Maybe that’s why he scrolled past at first sight, but the gender sign above his picture plus his settings clearly stated that he was a man.
Also, Izuna? Even the name was kind of deceptive. Of course he had slept with women before, and although he considered himself bisexual he preferred a man’s company in bed. Maybe he liked to be in the passive role, or maybe he’d like Tobirama to be on top. Who knows, how is he supposed to know if he never finds his profile again?
He deviated his gaze to his backpack, his credit card luring him from his wallet only stopping from taking it when Mito’s voice called him for dinner.
In fact, he’s left with the impression of having met the man before, but he did not know where, or when exactly.
That’s how he spent the evening dining at his brother’s home, coming back to Izuna -whose name was imprinted on his mind, in the few moments of shared silence. Hashirama noticed this of course, and as Mito retired from the dining room he got two seats closer to him.
“Are you sleeping well or are you finally in love?”
“I spaced out a bit, that's all. Don’t be a prick about it.” Tobirama stifled a laugh watching his brother sulk in his place. “You better stop that or else…”
“Yes honey, stop it, you look pathetic.” Mito arrived with Tsunade in her arms. The baby was slowly awakening, waving her little hand in his direction.
“You didn’t say that last night sunshine, oof!” Mito smiled proudly as the plushy impacted right on Hashirama’s forehead.
“Alright, alright, I’ll deal with your highness later. Now let us have dessert.”
“Thank you Mito.”
“None of that! Tobira, are you still going through your dates? How's it going?”
Oh no.
“I was about to ask you the same question.”
“Not you too Mito.”
“It’s our favourite gossip topic, is that Uchiha still behind your bones?”
Tobirama perked up. Of course, Kagami Uchiha. He mentioned his uncle was in town that unfortunate weekend, could it be a coincidence? Although the Uchiha nickname was vast, it had some sort of prestige behind it, usually coming from the same family branch.
“I am more careful now, ah-ah, before you say something Mi, I am taking drastic measures. That situation shall not be repeated.”
Mito lifted Tsunade, who was now fully awake, giggling as her little body went up and down in the air. “Oh! So it was collateral damage.”
“It happens,” he shrugged. “Hashirama, how did you know his last name is Uchiha?”
“You work with him and you had no idea? Don’t you remember my friend, Madara?”
A vague memory came to his mind in a flash. A problematic teenager with dark-ish, punk hair and loose hip-hop robes. His father never approved of him, considering Madara Uchiha a bad influence for Hashirama, his golden son, and damn him for agreeing with his father, rest in peace.
“You revived a memory there. Do you still keep in touch with him?”
Hashirama shrugged, settling Tsuna in his arms. Mito gave him a knowing smile. “Sometimes Madara comes to dinner with us, he’s grown into a full-fledged man, just like us.”
“And you didn’t tell me, why?”
Hashirama looked at him as if saying ‘Do you care?’ And frankly. Ok, fair. He did not before, but now he might.
“But yes, Kagami is one of Madara’s cousins, he mentioned him at one of our reunions. That family is vast, I can tell you that.”
Tobirama did not say anything else, entertained by watching the dynamic between his brother’s family. A warm feeling bubbled up in his chest as Tsuna smiled at him.
Tobirama arrived at his apartment late at night, but still, there was a lot on his mind going on to go to bed so early. Was the stranger a member of the same Uchiha family he had known so far? Not that he talks about family with Kagami besides work, but why did he not mention his last name or someone as important as Madara before? Thanks to Hashirama he knows the so-called punk is a very recognized businessman, with international influence and a heavy investment in the most competent commerce routes in the world. Not to mention his many actions in most branches of the trading industry. Who would have thought, his father was wrong as always.
Now, Izuna Uchiha’s name did not yield any results on the web. He did not dare ask his brother about him either, he might get suspicious, and what was he supposed to tell him honestly? I saw someone I want to fuck on my cellphone and I want his number so badly. Tobirama barely saw his face and now that profile was lost in the vast data of a dating app that hosts millions of people.
Why was he so entrailed by him? His curiosity took the best of him, he pressed on the colourful icon once again and started swiping through the profiles, this time in slow motion, carefully going through the presented pictures, sometimes swiping to the right side. After three hours of texting and a spicy video chat session, he decided he had had enough, almost forgetting about the lost Uchiha whose picture never appeared again on his screen. He felt disappointed, yet expectant for obvious reasons, so he called Toka to go out for a drink.
“Traveling? Where?” Tobirama felt a knot in his stomach.
Toka made a disgruntled noise through the phone. “I have a met to attend to. You know, pictures, cameras, work. All of that stuff.”
“A meeting? Aren’t those held online? Why are they having you go all around the continent to attend a meeting when you can simply turn on your computer’s camera?” Tobirama did not hear shit for a bit, he even thought the signal was lost and then Toka’s wheezes broke through the speakers, gaining force turning into a loud whistling laugh. That reaction occurred when he said something utterly stupid, but he still did not know what. Tobirama couldn’t help but smile, feeling his cheeks burn with embarrassment.
“Do I have to guess or are you gonna tell me what nonsense I just said?”
The laugh stopped a minute later or so. He also stopped laughing, still a bit flushed, but it lifted his spirits a bit. “A Met Gala, you silly head, it’s for emerging artists, mostly influencers and stuff.”
“Influencers? Now you host financial courtesies too?”
Toka’s raucous laughter renewed with vigor. Once she calmed down, Tobirama was finished with his little research about the current meaning of influencers and coughed into his fist.
“I did miss some stuff, didn’t I?”
Toka squealed with excitement, startling Tobirama, who had to back up a bit from the speaker. “Don’t get away from the phone! I know what you’re doing!”
“What was that? Are you choking with your own saliva?”
“Hah! Funny. I’m teaching you well, but you have a long way to go. Our classes were interrupted, but I’ll be back in three weeks.”
“I don’t think I can handle myself for that long.”
Toka gruntled. “You can always go solo, you know? Your rate of success is not bound to me, if you haven’t noticed yet, you are a handsome guy.”
Tobirama’s cheeks burned. “I really wanted to talk to you.”
“We are talking right now, aren’t we?”
“Yes, but it’s way better if there’s a bottle of wine between us.”
“Sounds dashing! Oh, Tora, your poor young bodee trapped in an old man’s mind! What do you want to talk about? Oh, wait, let’s change to video chat.”
Tobirama poured himself a cup of grape juice before sitting down on the couch. He turned on the TV to have background noise and started telling his cousin about Izuna.
“Ah, you fell in love with someone you don’t even know if it exists, or worse, could be a bot or AI made.” Toka sighed dramatically. Tobirama rolled his eyes. “Don’t dare roll your eyes at me. Ok, ok, have you tried to adjust the location settings?”
“That I did not think about. Let me try.” Tobirama almost facepalmed, his current ratio of search was huge. And he wondered where all these people came from, sometimes he could not even schedule a date due to the huge distance between them. However, a new problem arose. What if Izuna was within the previous range of distance? Tobirama did not remember the distance shown in Izuna’s profile, less the country he was in, or if he was traveling. Damn it.
“Ok, not really a problem.” Said Toka through the screen, she was wearing a loose yukata, and her face was smeared in a green sort of mask.
“I want to have your confidence.”
She rolled her eyes, gesturing at him with a finger, drinking on the other hand.
“Shut up! Listen, you already know his last name, don't you? That must be of use.”
“It isn’t.”
“Have you,” Toka made a gesture as if to write “you know, looked? Searched?”
Tobirama ignored the hidden insult behind her actions and restrained from rolling his eyes again. “I have, yes, and how many Uchiha do we know again, Toki?” Tobirama exhaled, he was close, although very exhausted. This was getting ridiculous, he should put the matter to rest, move on as he always did, and luckily find someone as close in looks to Izuna. As quick as possible.
“Tobirama? Are you still there?”
“As you can see.”
“I thought the signal was lost, I’ve been yelling at you for quite a minute.” Tobirama narrowed his eyes, savouring his grape juice.
“Liar.”
“Listen. You said Uchiha, Uchiha Izuna?”
“Yes Toki, I said that, you know what? Just forget it-“
Toka, whose legs were crossed, tried to get up from the mattress in a silly move, spilling her drink all over her hotel bed. She cursed, raising one arm dramatically while the other grabbed the screen of her laptop to stay as firm as possible. “Tobirama, that’s Madara’s little brother Izuna, isn’t he?”
Tobirama choked on his drink, the taste too strong for the information he just heard. It was his turn to spill a bit of juice over his shirt.
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