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The first time it happened, neither one of them was prepared nor had any frame of reference as to figure out what the hell was going on.
The date was February 19th, and up until that fateful moment, the only real eventful thing that had happened that day was that Izuna was let out of uni classes early. So, as per usual– and given that that was reason enough to treat himself– Izuna stopped at a corner café and bought himself an assortment of pastries. And after that, he was happily on his way and proceeded back to his and his older brother’s shared loft.
Madara had been out that evening– not that Izuna minded in the slightest– so between homework procrastinating, scrolling through his Twitter feed, and shoving his face with the desserts he’d purchased– all while watching reruns of his favourite sitcom– his Wednesday night was entirely normal.
And then suddenly… it wasn’t.
The Uchiha male startled– or more accurately, entirely jumped out of his skin. There was a sudden flash of light, an audible snap , and when he blinked… he was no longer in the comfortable, dark realm of his living room.
What the fuck...where the fuck am I?
Everything around him was so loud. The thunderous rhythm of dance music was all around him, along with a mass amount of people, and within seconds he was able to make an accurate estimation of his surroundings. It was a club of some kind, there was no doubt. But how he was suddenly standing amongst so many people– quite literally out of thin air– was entirely perplexing.
“Oh shit! S’rry man, didn’t see you there!” Someone shouted at him to his left. Glancing down quickly, Izuna noticed that there was a shattered glass at his feet, the contents of the alcohol lost on the floor. It was also at that moment that Izuna realized wait, these aren’t my clothes…
What the FUCK?
“Hey! Are you alright?” Izuna snapped his head up just as someone was pushing through the crowd, the stranger was unfamiliar but seemed to know him… as evidenced by them now placing their hand on his shoulder…
“Let’s just get another one, yeah?” the man with long brown hair and a kind smile asked him again. Although, with the music as loud as it was, it was almost impossible to hear what he was saying. Besides that, Izuna had never seen this man in his entire life and was now starting to panic. How long was this going to last? Where the hell was he ? And God, it was so loud and cramped in here–
“Tobirama, what’s wrong–”
Somewhat abruptly, Izuna jerked back, causing the man to look both confused and concerned. Izuna whirled around and quickly headed back in the direction of, well, anywhere that was relatively spacious. He tried to take in his surroundings as best he could, hoping to recognize the location of this club. In all his late-night outings as a college student, he was certain he would have known where this venue was. It was only when his eyes landed on the brightly lit up neon sign that read THE HIDEOUT that the gears in his brain began to turn, rapidly searching the archives of his memory, trying to remember if he’d ever been here––
And then, in the same way it had appeared, it was all gone.
Izuna blinked and stared directly in front of him, surveying the disaster that was the kitchen area. He exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in, and then it dawned upon him that he hadn’t been standing in the kitchen before he was taken somewhere else.
The Uchiha sighed and rubbed at his eyes, and then turned to catch a glimpse of his reflection on a nearby mirror and yup, that was definitely his sleep-deprived self.
“God, what the hell was that?” Izuna mumbled out loud and to no one in particular. He padded his way back to the living room area where he had been last and began searching around the couch for his phone. Once found, he turned it on a read the notifications on his screen.
12:02pm.
Sighing, somewhere between the balance of frustration and relief, Izuna fell back onto the couch and curled into himself under a blanket. The Office was still playing quietly in the background, but he was no longer paying attention to the scenes. Instead, he felt himself grow increasingly tired as he closed his eyes and pulled the blanket tighter around his frame. Perhaps he’d been daydreaming or simply drank too much wine.
Perhaps it was the pastries.
____
The second time it happened was almost exactly a year later. And, oddly enough, in exactly the same circumstances.
Though this time, on the Saturday of February the 10th, Izuna was in the midst of celebrating his 22nd birthday. Under normal circumstances, Izuna would have prefered to go to some type of event or club to celebrate his birthday, but the days leading up to his special day had plagued him with an insufferable cold. Thus, Madara offered to throw him a smaller get-together at their apartment in order to still celebrate.
However, at the exact moment the clock struck midnight for a second time– Izuna made the connection instantly as he had just raised his phone to check it’s notifications– there was a flash and a snap. And then, he blinked, and he was staring down at a pot of burning ramen noodles.
___
Tobirama sucked in a startled breath when his body was switched places again. It was only the second time, but regardless, it was still as shocking as the first. Although, upon realizing he was no longer standing in front of his kitchen stove slaving over the impossible task of feeding himself, he did realize that… he had been in this exact location before.
Yes, this was exactly the same living room as before.
Except, this time, with people.
“Izuna, what’s wrong?”
It took Tobirama a moment to realize that the person being addressed was actually him at the moment – but once he did, he snapped eyes up to meet the onyx gaze of a man barely taller than himself. His hair was short and curly, and his eyes bore the look of concern. This man and him– who ever he was– must have been having a conversation.
“N-Nothing. I just, uh,” he spoke in an unfamiliar voice but absently noted that it was surprisingly soft. “I need to use the washroom?” his statement came out sounding like more of a question than anything else, but regardless, the man before him offered a smile and allowed him to step past. Hurriedly, Tobirama attempted to escape the mass of people gathered in the somewhat-familiar living space and avoid any potentially awkward interactions.
He managed to locate a bathroom just down the hall and locked himself inside it as quickly and calmly as possible. He exhaled a sigh of relief, before turning around to face the mirror above the sink, not giving it a single thought until–
Oh.
Oh.
The person staring back at him– the person he had been switched into without warning– was undeniably the most attractive person he’d ever laid eyes on.
So this was Izuna .
It took Tobirama a moment to collect himself and to remember that this switch was temporary. He wanted to stare at the features of his reflection– his reflection? Izuna’s reflection?– longer, but it suddenly dawned upon him that this unpredictable event may not occur for another year. Or worse, never again.
Tobirama suddenly felt a stone drop in his gut at this realization. As completely absurd and confusing as this entire exchange was, he couldn’t just not try to reach out to this Izuna person. Even though, technically, he was standing right here, Tobirama had a sick sense that this was his last chance to cast his line.
It was then that he remembered Izuna’s phone in his pocket.
___
Just the same as the first time, the switch ended one minute after midnight, and Izuna was back in his own body.
He ran a hand over his face, wondering, how many times would this keep happening?
Peaking one eye open, he suddenly took note of where he was. Staring back at his own reflection, he realized this man– whoever he was– knew exactly what he looked like.
Fucking fantastic, Izuna thought in annoyance. He didn’t have the slightest idea of how to even begin trying to seek this guy out, nor did he believe he could even if he tried. He hadn’t left any clues behind. He wasn’t given enough time to try and raid the man’s home to look for evidence. In fact, it was only now that it dawned upon Izuna that he could have tried to find the man’s license…but instead, his instinctual response had been to salvage the goddamn ramen noodles.
Fucking fantastic.
Suddenly, his phone vibrated from inside his pocket.
Curious, Izuna fished around for the cellphone before withdrawing it, revealing he had two unread text messages from an unknown number. If only to satisfy his curiosity, he swiped open on the texts, only to find that it had been him who sent the first text. Wait, what?
Staring at the illuminated screen, the first message– apparently sent by Izuna himself, as indicated by the blue speech bubble– simply read Tobirama.
Who the hell was…
Oh.
All at once, the floodgates of his first switch came rushing back, and he remembered how an unfamiliar man had called him Tobirama, and…
[ Text: Izuna? ]
[ Text: Thanks for making the noodles... ]
Well, well.
Still staring in shock at his screen, Izuna typed out a text hastily without even thinking, too surprised at the fact that this Tobirama had managed to slip them a connection. And that it was all real in the first place.
[ I: it’s the least i could do ]
[ I: since, evidently, you don’t know the first thing about cooking lol ]
The response came almost instantly.
[ T: If I didn’t know any better, I’d ask you to cook for me again. But that would be taking shots at my pride. ]
Izuna found he was smiling at the text, despite himself.
[ I: do you usually ask the guys you switch bodies with to cook for you? ]
[ T: Only the cute ones. ]
A dusty shade just barely tinted his cheeks as he reread Tobirama’s last text over a few times. This guy really was smooth, he’d give him that.
[ I: hm… well, what’s in it for me? ]
It occured to Tobirama in that moment as he was alternating between texting Izuna and eating the ramen he’d made for him that… Izuna really had no real reason to trust him. In fact, he might still not know what Tobirama even looked like, given their short time period under the switch.
Still, he wanted to try. Smiling slightly, he typed out his reply.
[ T: Do you happen to like pastries by chance? ]
[ I: … maybe. ]
[ T: You can pick your favourite spot and I’ll meet you there. I’ll buy you whatever you’d like. ]
[ I: hmmm… tempting. ]
[ T: Is that a yes? ]
Izuna bit his lip as he tried to contain a smile that threatened to take over. He had an odd sense that he would want to take Tobirama up on his offer.
[ I: yes :) ]
___
He was even cuter in person.
___
Yes, he was
definitely
glad he took him up on his offer.