#welcome to raidou's life rn

[cebwrites]

looking in

oc | gen, slight genrai word count: 0.8k

While they're recovering from the Sound Four, Genma and Raidou get a visit in the hospital late one night.

Raidou nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw a ghostly figure walk past his bed - too tired and a little out of it on painkillers to think straight - but when he heard Genma's bed creak and the sound of his voice asking someone if they came here directly from a mission, and the quiet monotone that followed, he relaxed a little.

Even through the curtains separating their sections, Raidou could tell his childhood friend was consoling a shinobi he had become very familiar with over the years, still in uniform and a little filthy. Genma was scolding him for trekking dirt into a hospital and that he didn't have to cry over small potatoes. The reassurance that the blood on his clothes wasn't his didn't help in the slightest.

He couldn't see his face but heard the hoarse responding, "I'm not." Raidou could imagine the kind of expression the young man made, the kind he always had whenever Genma got hurt, and smiled a bit.

Eventually, Shiranui was able to convince Taeru to go home, clean up, and rest - best not bring germs and dried blood with him on his next visit, right? He must be exhausted, too. The tokujo were graced with the peace and quiet of their room once more after Raidou teased a little Genma about having such a doting baby brother. He was told to shut up and go back to sleep.

In the morning, the men are greeted with pumpkin broth alongside their expected hospital slop. The attending nurse chews Tae out for not letting anyone treat his wounds until after his visit and he pretends not to notice the heat of Genma's stare.

Tae gets round two of scolding after she leaves and Genma lays into him about the importance of wound care while apologizing to Raidou for not knowing what he liked to eat - getting just Gen-nii's favorites instead; his ear was twisted for not listening.

Genma makes a remark that he's only 30 and going to have grey hairs because of this little twerp, Tae's mumbled response was that he was taller anyway but even if he did, it'd mean they'd match. Raidou thinks rhetorically between bites of bread if Tae thought being cute would get him out of trouble.

The answer is apparently yes, since - although exasperated - Genma's expression softens still, and with a sigh, he tells the young man to sit on the floor so he can braid his hair.

It's not like it's the first time Raidou's been privy to moments like this; small bubbles of peace between their bustling, dangerous lives as shinobi. All of them were were aware that at any moment, all of it could be taken away. Hell, the reason Genma and Raidou were here in the first place was because they were defeated by Orochimaru's monstrous henchmen. The fact that they were so young stung both in the way that their opponents were just kids and that they were defeated. They weren't technically full jonin, just tokujo, but it still stung.

He wondered if those kids were Tsunade sent would be alright.

Tuning back into the idle conversation, Raidou watched his best friend carefully part and braid the younger man's hair. Genma mentioned how long it'd gotten, asking if he was taking care of himself properly - Tae's response was simply a low hum with his eyes closed.

Ahh, that must've felt nice, then.

Raidou briefly imagined what Genma's fingers running through his own hair would be like, but with his brother here all that produced was the unflattering mental image of himself with long hair in a comical way. He shook the thought away immediately.

His gaze turned to the two other men. It's not an unfamiliar sight; Genma's been tying Tae's hair since it was long enough to tie, long enough to cause the boy distress, and now as he's reclaiming his self image. Raidou was always in the periphery, as his older brother's - Gen-nii's - best friend. The comfortable quiet is nice, he thinks to himself.

It's nice enough for Raidou to reach over to try and pat his junior's head (although Namiashi was technically outranked), his expression the most peaceful it's looked in a long time; but that's disturbed as his wrist is held inches away and Tae asks what he's doing.

Raidou tries to awkwardly sputter his way through an explain for his actions, something about feeling the right moment - looking to his best friend in the other hospital bed for help. It felt as though he'd been rejected from petting a stray, or maybe an affectionate housecat who was sweet with only certain people and hissed at the rest. He could make a guess as to who he was right now.

Though all Genma does is take a second to hold the senbon away from his mouth, then laugh at his friend's discomfort under his baby brother's typical intense, off-putting gaze.

Heat slowly creeping up to his ears from both embarrassment and the sight of Genma's full-chested laughter, even if the cost was being hospitalized and wanting the earth to swallow himself whole, Raidou didn't mind moments like these.