So it Grows

"Oh."

 "What, really? Just, oh?" Izuna kicks at the back of Tobirama's heel, trying to urge him further into his office instead of lingering at the door. "You know, whoever got you all those flowers was probably hoping for a little more excitement than that."

Tobirama takes a tentative step forward to examine the vase on the table. His immediate thought is that it’s a trap of some kind -- when his chakra sense sinks into the vase and reveals nothing but flowers, he frowns. It's been a long time since someone has dared to play a prank on him in this manner, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't suspect it.

Izuna follows right behind him, and when Tobirama glances from the corner of his eye it’s to see Izuna watching for his reaction. Hm.

"…Whoever got me all these flowers didn't do their research." He plucks one of the roses from the center of the arrangement to examine. At least they haven't stripped the thorns off of the stems, that would have been practically insulting.

"What." Izuna crosses his arms. His voice is flat with that disapproving tone he sometimes gets when he thinks Tobirama is being too bad-mannered about something, "I'd say they did their research perfectly well. You couldn't declare admiration more obviously if you did it with words."

The roses are surrounded with lavender and purple iris. As far as flower language goes, Izuna is technically correct, his mysterious gift giver -- and there is no tag or indication of who left these here, though Tobirama is certain he can figure it out --  clearly has some affection for his mind, and romantic intentions on top of that.

"The bouquet is fine." Tobirama waves off, picking more flowers out of the arrangement to inspect, "It's the fact that it's a bouquet at all that makes me dubious. Look --" He holds the iris in his hand stem side out towards Izuna, "The roots have been cut, how can I be expected to plant these and have them survive?"

Izuna stares and keeps staring, which by now Tobirama recognizes as the Uchiha way of saying give me a moment to think, so he ignores it and puts the flowers back where he took them from.

"Grow…? No." Izuna gapes like a fish, before snapping his jaw shut, "No way, I've seen you Senju give flowers to each other all the time."

Tobirama lifts an eyebrow and looks around his office for a place to put the vase that isn't in the middle of his desk.  It's a nice arrangement, as far as his judgment of such things goes. Someone, even if that someone was the clerk of a florist's shop, clearly put some effort into this. Even if this is some kind of misunderstanding about the kind of relationship Tobirama would be willing to entertain, he's not going to discard the work out of hand.

"Established couples, maybe. But to announce their intentions like this -- that's as good as saying that they don't expect a relationship to last." He huffs, then takes the vase and sets it on the windowsill. "And possibly that they don't see the work that I do as useful."

No, it will block too much of the natural light if he leaves it there. He picks it up and glances down at one of the tables he keeps against the back wall to organize the sheer volume of paperwork that passes through his office. There's no space for it, but maybe if he nudged some of the trays around…

"You're fucking with me." Izuna steps directly in front of him, as though bodily trying to stop him from setting the vase down again. His glare loses effectiveness when framed by flowers, but it makes the flush on his face much more obvious. "You have to be. There's no way you can think all that just because someone gave you flowers."

"I'm not." Tobirama only messes with Izuna very rarely, mostly because he knows if he does it too often the Uchiha will catch on. There's no need for him to bother with that right now, regardless. "Most flowers are valued more for their beauty than their utility. Tree saplings and vegetable plants are far more common as declarations of intent."

Rare exception being poisonous flowers, but as that's not Tobirama's expertise they wouldn't have been an acceptable gift either.

"…Vegetables." Izuna says in that way of his that means he's really asking a question. Tobirama does not make any particular effort to keep up with the romantic endeavors of his clansmen, so he has to wrack his brain for an example.

"I know at least one of the couples that got married this year started off their courtship by exchanging squash seedlings. Hashirama got an oak sapling."

Come to think of it, it's been enough years by now that the mandarin tree he'd given Mito in return might have started to produce fruit. That might be worth following up on.

Izuna doesn't immediately respond to his explanation, he just fixes Tobirama with a look, as if expecting him to realize something. Since he's been given no new information, he meets Izuna's eyes with his usual deadpan. Izuna gives up after a long moment of this, dropping his face into his hands with a muttered, "Vegetables."

Tobirama is about to start ignoring Izuna's dramatics and clear a spot on the table when the Uchiha sucks in a breath and says, "Well! You learn something new every day. I guess it would be like you to find seeds more romantic than flowers."

Tobirama frowns.

"Flowers aren't inherently un-romantic, but as a first gift --"

"Unacceptable." Izuna nods, and then lifts the entire vase from his hands. Tobirama is too baffled to dispute it, "Which means you won't be needing these. I'll take care of them."

The flush in Izuna's cheeks has only deepened and spread the more that he talks, and Tobirama doesn't protest when he swans out of the room with an armload of flowers. He has a creeping suspicion of who left them anyways; he sees no reason to embarrass him more than he apparently already has.

…Though honestly, he would have expected Izuna to have done his research better than this.

Hands now empty, he slides into his chair with a frown, thoughts elsewhere as he mechanically neatens his desk. If the flowers aren't from Izuna, then they were from someone he doesn't know well enough to guess at their intentions. Getting rid of them will serve as tacit rejection. If they are from him…

Tobirama drums his fingers on his desk.

Cultural differences are to be expected even this many years into cohabiting a village. He might do well to send Izuna a gift of his own to let him know that his problem was with execution, not intent.

However choosing such a gift is easier said than done. Tobirama takes an hour to browse the plant nurseries on his next day off, ignoring the knowing looks and gossips talking behind their hands as he browses the rows.

The vegetables in season right now all imply a general hope for a warm relationship with many children, and most of the trees the promise of a stable future. Neither of those quite fit, though he does leave with a potted yuzu, unsure if it will be his gift or not. Another idea circles at the back of his mind instead.

After all, Izuna did go to the effort of at least trying to learn Senju courting practices. It would only make sense if he did the same of the Uchiha's.

And, He can't help but think, It would be appropriate if I did it better.

Unfortunately, the Uchiha seem to keep courting practices about as secret as their clan techniques, at least from Tobirama, who cannot go around asking questions about it without raising immense suspicion.  The information he does get is mostly second and third-hand, but he gathers that they also have a tradition of exchanging gifts -- however rather than plants there seems to be a bent towards the artistic . Paintings, poetry, songs and the like. Not things that Tobirama naturally excels at. What's worse, there's almost certainly a hidden language in their creation that he isn't privy to.

He spends far too long looking at the yuzu tree he'd brought home and set out on the engawa. He knows what he'll be saying if he gives Izuna that -- the fruit may be sour, its rind may be bitter, and yet it still has a brightness that adds balance to the things it's added to. It feels almost too easy, and Izuna will probably not be impressed, particularly since it would rely on him explaining himself, which is a place he always seems to stumble.

No, better to make something with his own hands and let his craftsmanship show his dedication. When he thinks of it that way, Tobirama supposes he can see the appeal. Still, the decision doesn't make him any better at understanding the nuances of art critique, so he'll need to make something that plays to his strengths.

Tobirama knows himself to be a meticulous person. He has some experience with woodworking, and his penmanship is excellent, as is required of anyone who calls themselves a seal master -- he's already thinking of how to incorporate those, too. If he's making Izuna a gift, it will have utility.

Every Uchiha he knows who is in a relationship seems to carry a fan around, so he can only assume that, as on the nose as it is, it’s involved in the courting process. He can make the frame a masterwork in it's own right, and then paint something on the fabric. Something meaningful. Something with a lot of detail to show the effort he's put in. That can stand up under the scrutiny of a sharingan. Something with some kind of subject matter.

…He'll figure that out when it becomes relevant.

It becomes relevant when, two weeks later Izuna shows up at his door with a tree sapling in his arms.

"Senju." He greets. "Where do you want to plant this?"

"Presumptive." Tobirama says, but he moves aside to let Izuna in regardless, eyes tracking as the Uchiha confidently crosses the room to go to the small garden he maintains behind his house. "…What kind of tree is it?"

Izuna shoots him a sly glance.

"Pomegranate." Then he steps through the back door and drops into the garden. Tobirama follows, but his thoughts stall as Izuna searches for a suitably dry spot.

"It should go in the center of the flowerbed, it will get the most sunlight there." He says. And then, "…You don't like children."

"Nope!" Izuna agrees, dropping the sapling where he is, turning, and walking unerringly towards the shelf where Tobirama keeps his gardening supplies. He grabs two trowels, dangling one his fingers as he passes by. Tobirama snatches it and follows him until they're both kneeling in the dirt. Izuna buries his own shovel into the ground up to the handle, but he doesn't pull up any soil yet. He stops and looks up at Tobirama expectantly, still poorly hiding the amused gleam in his eye.

"So why a pomegranate tree then?" Tobirama makes himself ask. Because Izuna must have done his research by now, and so probably isn't commenting on Tobirama's childbearing ability.

"Well. If you think about it, it's going to take years to grow anything, and even once it does the fruit is a total pain to actually eat." Izuna says cheerfully, finally moving to dig up the first pile of sandy dirt and toss it to the side, "…But some people still think it's worth it."

He meets Tobirama's eye and smirks when he notices his rapidly reddening face, "Plus, I happen to like pomegranates."

Strangely, that might be what really sells Tobirama on accepting it, and he ducks his head and joins him in digging by way of an answer.

Between the two of them it only takes a few minutes to dig a hole deep enough for the sapling, and Izuna silently watches as Tobirama pats down the loose soil once it's been planted.

Tobirama finds that his chest feels tight with nerves, and it only constricts more when Izuna reaches across to take both of Tobirama's hands in his own.

…He's not going to know what to do if Izuna tries to say something emotional right now, so in an effort to buy himself enough time to gather himself, Tobirama forces out, "I'm working on a gift for you as well."

He winces as he glances up to find obvious delight on Izuna's face.

"It's not done yet." He clarifies. "It likely won't be for some time yet."

"Oh, but you can't say that and not tell me what it is." Izuna pulls on their joined hands, smile growing into his usual smirk.

"It's unfinished." Tobirama repeats, eyebrow twitching. He's only gotten tso far as to select the wood he's planning on using for the frame. There's nothing to even show, yet.

"Yeah, but that means you're making something, not giving me a plant." He leans in closer. "What is it? A sword? A song? I have always wanted my portrait painted, you know."

Tobirama blanches. Now that he's done this, if Tobirama's gift doesn't meet Izuna's standards it's liable to become the kind of thing that he's completely insufferable about. If he insists on keeping it a secret, that will only raise his expectations further -- or else it will cause Izuna to start investigating, which will go even worse.

"It's a fan." Tobirama admits mulishly, "But I haven't even decided what I'm going to paint on it yet, so don't go imagining something that doesn't exist."

…Izuna is staring at him again, dumbfounded look frozen on his face as the grip he has on Tobirama's hands grows tight.

"A fan." Izuna echoes faintly. "You know, considering that you've wanted things to go glacial before now, I'm going to guess that you don't know that's what you give for a marriage proposal?"

Some of his surprise must slip through the iron-clad control Tobirama usually has over his expression, because Izuna snorts and then breaks out into giggles, which quickly becomes laughter so strong that he nearly doubles over into the dirt. He still doesn't let go of Tobirama's hands, even when he tries to pull them back.

Tobirama's cheeks are burning hot when Izuna sucks in a deep breath and gets control of himself. Still, he can't seem to stop his mouth from lifting into a helpless sort of smile when he looks up at Tobirama again.

"Well, I guess you'll have plenty of time to finish it then, hm?"

Tobirama has in fact failed so spectacularly at gathering himself that he doesn't even register the kiss Izuna leans in and presses to his cheek until after the Uchiha has already pulled back to stand and brush the dirt off of his clothes.

"Now you're going to take me on a date, right?"

That would be the most appropriate next step, yes. Tobirama stands, too, forcing himself to face Izuna head on, despite the way he can feel how it actively makes his heart speed further.  All of the blood in his body must be in his face by now, surely.

"Very well." He agrees when he's finally able to force his tongue into cooperating. "…But you're choosing where." He refuses to face this embarrassment again so soon.

Izuna's answering smile is beautific enough to make Tobirama avert his eyes, even as the Uchiha reaches out to take his hand again, as if he intends to drag him there right this moment.

"Oh don't you worry about that." He says, "I've got a whole list waiting."