[Closed] I'm taking a ride with my best friend

[eternalscorpion]

Who: Sasori (eternalscorpion) and Deidara (transient_art)
When: Evening, after this thread
Where: The skies over Anatole
Format: Paragraph
What: Deidara and Sasori begin their aerial survey of the city
Warnings: Language, high altitude awkward, angst

Comments

[eternalscorpion]

Sasori regarded his partner for a moment while he took another drag; unlike himself, Deidara was still relatively easy for Sasori to read. The unease and the shaken confidence his partner suffered from were obvious. He felt a pang of guilt; was he wrong to hide information from Deidara? Was that a breach of trust between partners? But revealing everything would surely complicate matters tremendously.

He breathed smoke back out in a sigh, and offered the cigarette back to his partner. The agreement, at least, was something safe enough to elaborate on.

"Besides cooperating when it comes to furthering our common goal, it's a mutual confidentiality agreement," he said. "She conceals what she knows about my capabilities and I return the favor. Additionally, she provides me with healing should I require it, and we've agreed to keep out of each others' affairs. Our personal loyalties come first, however."

[transient_art]

Deidara took the cigarette without a word and took a long drag while Sasori spoke. Actually, this was quite enough for him. It seemed like a deal that wasn't exactly safe but rather professional, given the fact that you could not kill anyone here permanently. Sasori put quite a bit of trust in Sakura's hands in trusting her to heal him, but what choice did he have? Very little in the end. A shinobi would go to rather impressive lengths to keep their techniques secret

[eternalscorpion]

Sasori nodded in response to Deidara's plan. He was pleased his partner wasn't focused on revenge like he'd been concerned about. In this place, the last thing they needed was to make more enemies for themselves. The natives were bad enough as it is.

He took one last inhale and crushed out the cigarette beneath his foot. "Of course. Far be it from me to keep you waiting any longer."

However, a second look at the clay sculpture gave him pause, and he stopped next to it rather than climbing atop the thing. Such a small bird would require the two of them to stand rather close to each other. Awkwardly close. "...That's rather small for two, isn't it? Surely you'll be enlarging it."

The moon was high and bright tonight, perfect for their intended purpose...but it also may have been bright enough to betray the slight flush that rose to his cheeks at the thought of the two of them in such close quarters. Damn it, he was far too old for this sort of foolish nervousness.

[transient_art]

Deidara gave a sharp snort, turning to look away to hide the blush on his face. The truth was that he had very little clay and making another bird, bigger one, would eat on his resources more than he was ready to admit.

"It's not too small," he said with a huff, "I made the wings large enough, hmph." Meaning, it would carry them, but the ride wouldn't be very steady or pleasant whenever changing direction.

He gave a little push with his chakra and jumped on the bird's back with one unnaturally high leap, then looked down at Sasori with quiet eyes. "It'll be easier to steer when you're closer in any case."

[eternalscorpion]

Damn it, Sasori was rather stuck, wasn't he? He had no choice but to go along with this. Backing down was unthinkable even if it wouldn't raise questions he wasn't ready to answer.

"...Hmph, if we crash I'm absolutely going to hold it against you." A moment later his feet left the ground and landed on the back the clay bird, ahead of his partner. At least this way, Deidara wouldn't be able to see the flush on his cheeks so it'd be easier to hide his awkward discomfort at having his partner so close.

This was completely ridiculous. It was hardly the first time they'd shared one of these birds; but then, Sasori had almost always been in Hiruko, and his awareness of Deidara's proximity was on a much less...intimate level. He needed to regain control of his embarrassment and operate in a purely professional mode. He could handle this.

"I'd suggest we work on the survey first, so you can become acclimatized to my effect on the bird's flight characteristics. Then we can attempt the altitude and other testing you'd like to perform."