Chapter Text
ACT 1 | Keep it Quiet
Iruka sighed into the silence of his classroom.
He leaned back in his chair behind the teacher’s desk and stretched his arms over his head before taking in his surroundings. The low sun of a late afternoon painted the empty desks and chairs in warm light as an April day slowly settled into evening. Iruka looked out the window and observed absentmindedly as the last cherry blossom petals of the year danced past the classroom on a lazy breeze. The school grounds were largely deserted this time of day. It was a peaceful sight. One that Iruka felt that he’d earned.
His current class was a bit tiresome. It seemed that just when he got some of his troublemakers to settle down and pay attention, new ones decided to cause problems. At least there were some very diligent and quiet kids to balance out the hellions. And it wasn’t as if they weren’t all growing on him, whether they were pulling silly pranks or not. After all, he’d taught far more notorious pranksters in the past. The thought made him smile.
Iruka turned his attention back to his desk and the documents on top of it – he had been working on a lesson plan – and decided to pack up for the day. April meant new lesson plans, but somehow they hadn’t been coming as easily to him as they usually did. Perhaps Naruto’s recent wedding and thoughts of maybe becoming vice principal had thrown him off. He grabbed his teaching bag and put the documents and folders inside. He looked over the student roster, making mental notes of whom to focus on more the next week before packing it up with everything else.
Iruka figured that one of the most important parts of his job was supporting everyone’s potential and providing everyone with as much help as they needed. The shinobi world was at peace and the village was slowly evolving into something new and different. This gave kids the time to grow and learn at a more humane pace. They could actually have a childhood. Even though Iruka was still preparing them to become soldiers.
He closed the windows and the door and locked up the room before turning to leave. The Academy hallways were just as empty as his classroom had been. Iruka’s steps seemed to almost echo in the space. It was Friday and teachers and students had abandoned the premises to dive into their weekend. Iruka made his way to the teacher’s lounge just in case anyone remained but found the door already locked. Satisfied that everyone else had left before him, he headed to the Academy’s entrance.
Iruka pondered his nonexistent evening plans. He had no prior engagements with friends and there was no shift at the Mission Desk lined up for him. After the week he’d had, he was relieved to be free of terribly written mission reports for the day. Yet, part of him was sad that he didn’t have a reason to go the Hokage Tower. He supposed he could always show up regardless, there was no shortage of administrative work to be done, after all. But there were reasons not to and he knew those by heart.
He shook his head to dismiss a silly fantasy about dropping by and paying someone a visit before it had a chance to take root. Though the equally silly smile it had put on his face refused to leave. Iruka reached the doors and left the building. After locking up, he turned and took a deep breath of the fresh spring air. Oh well, going home was going to be good, too. He was going to heat up some leftovers from the fridge and enjoy some time on his couch. Perhaps with one of the books he never got around to reading. Or one of his projects that he hadn’t worked on in forever.
His thoughts about a lazy evening on the couch were brought to an abrupt stop. Someone was waiting for him by the open gate.
“Iruka-sensei!”
Iruka’s smile widened. Naruto waiting for him with a big grin and bright eyes and waving as if there had been any chance that Iruka could have missed him. Iruka hurried to cross the yard.
“Naruto! I didn’t realize you were back!”
“That’s okay, I got back today! Another A-rank completed, y’know!” He beamed at Iruka and gave him a big thumbs-up.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t at the Desk to welcome you home,” Iruka said regretfully.
“No worries. I reported directly to Kakashi-sensei, anyway.”
Iruka could only imagine what Naruto’s oral reports were like. He got enough of a taste of them whenever Naruto told him about the missions he’d been on over dinner. Iruka wondered how often that was going to happen going forward. This had been Naruto’s first mission since his wedding and honeymoon with Hinata. “Well, then, let me thank you for your hard work, at least.”
“Sure!” Naruto clasped his hands together behind his head, elbows pointing outward. “So! I thought since I’m back and all we could go get ramen to celebrate?”
Iruka tilted his head. “Not that I don’t want to, but wouldn’t you rather be spending your first dinner after your mission with Hinata-chan?” He gave Naruto a stern look. “You better not be neglecting her. She probably missed you a lot.”
“No, that’s okay,” Naruto assured him. “We had lunch together. And she said it was alright. Besides! You’re my family, too, y’know! And I can’t go neglecting family just because I have more of it now.”
Iruka’s frown melted away immediately. He was touched by Naruto’s words. “Alright, then. I’m not going to say no to ramen with my favorite troublemaker.”
Naruto’s smile could have lit up the whole village. “Alright! Let’s go!”
Iruka huffed in amusement and followed Naruto to Ichiraku’s.
-
“I think Naruto is trying to set me up with someone.”
“Huh?”
Kakashi looked up from his book. He was lying in his usual spot on Iruka’s living room floor, cushioned on his favorite pillow right next to the chabudai. His head was propped up on an arm behind his head and he had his book angled for optimal lighting from the ceiling lamp.
Iruka’s apartment was a cozy place. Full of warm light and personal touches. The furniture was simple, but it held books and trinkets and photos and gifts. The pillows were mismatched and there were scratches and dents in the wood, each with a little story or mishap that had created it. One corner of the chabudai was covered in different Academy-related papers that only ever disappeared when Iruka expected non-Kakashi guests. There were the books with cracked spines that Iruka referenced often and those that sat pristine and untouched. One shelf contained a flower pot without a flower, the coffin of a houseplant that had died months ago in spite of Iruka’s best efforts.
There were faces captured in photos. Some familiar to Kakashi, others not, all of them smiling. Next to them sat art pieces, proudly created by the small hands of Academy students. There also sat a little charm, a token Kakashi had brought Iruka once. The curtains were drawn to contain and protect this little piece of heaven. It was cozy. Quiet, familiar, safe. The best way to spend an otherwise cold April night. Well- maybe not the best way, but the night was still young.
Iruka’s statement had roused Kakashi from his cozy reading time. He looked into the kitchen through the open door. There was rustling followed by the sound of a cupboard door being shut. Then footsteps.
“What?” Kakashi added when no explanation followed on its own.
“I think,” Iruka elaborated as he emerged from the kitchen, “that Naruto tried to set me up with someone. On a date.” His flak jacket and forehead protector were long gone and he was fiddling with a bag of rice crackers. His brows knit together as the bag resisted his efforts and Iruka looked at it as if he could get it to open with a single glare. Kakashi honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if it had worked.
“What?” Kakashi repeated, genius that he was. He sat up at the chabudai. “Why?”
“I don’t know why,” Iruka replied without looking at him. He sat down at the table. “But in hindsight, it might not have been the first time.”
“What did he do?” Kakashi put his book down on the table. He could wait to find out whether the heroine of the book was going to succumb to the roguish charms of the hero.
“He introduced me to someone over ramen today. Not that I knew about that before. He asked me to get ramen for dinner together. He seemed a bit off on the way there, but he came back from an A-rank today so I didn’t pay it too much mind. But when we got there, he introduced me to this woman that, according to him, ‘just so happened to be there’ and ‘also likes ramen’ which Naruto insisted was a ‘crazy coincidence’ since I also like ramen.”
“A ramen fan at Ichiraku’s. Crazy,” Kakashi agreed, amused.
Iruka continued to fumble with the bag. It continued to not open which made Kakashi want to step in and help, but he knew better than to try. “He told me all about how nice and smart she is,” Iruka continued. “She’s a medic-nin, apparently. She works at the hospital with Sakura-chan. But she is, of course, way older than Sakura-chan. But not that old or anything. Naruto’s words.” The bag mercifully opened.
“Naruto does have a way with words,” Kakashi mused. It wasn’t even a false statement, per se. It just didn’t apply to matchmaking attempts, apparently.
Iruka chuckled. “Some kind of way, sure.” He dumped the rice crackers into a waiting bowl. “He actually may have too much of a way with words. The poor girl hardly got a word in edgewise for the whole duration of our, er, dinner.”
“Maybe she’s just shy. I could see someone turning shy in your presence.”
Iruka raised his eyebrow at him with a smile. “Could you now? Well, I don’t know about her. She looked a bit spooked. I honestly don’t know whether Naruto told her anything in advance or whether it was just an ambush all around.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me if it was.” Kakashi rested his elbows on the table as he crossed his arms.
“Me neither. She seemed like a nice person, at least. From the five or so words she got past Naruto.” Iruka popped a rice cracker into his mouth.
Kakashi hummed. “She sounds like quite the candidate. So, is a second date in the cards, you think?”
Iruka gave Kakashi a sidelong glance. “Oh, I don’t know. That might be difficult.” His eyes twinkled.
“How come?”
Iruka looked at him intently as he ate another rice cracker slowly. He swallowed. “Well, Kakashi-san. A second date commonly leads to a third. And by then someone might reasonably expect to be invited inside. And I don’t know if she would appreciate my current living situation.”
“That bad, huh.”
“Horrible!” Iruka shook his head. “There’s this guy- I think people call him the ‘Hokage’. And he just keeps coming around and inviting himself in at the oddest hours before making himself at home like he owns the place.”
“Mmmh, sounds troublesome.”
“Oh, he’s the worst.” Iruka nodded sagely. “He doesn’t pay rent, even though I’m convinced he spends more nights at my place than the does at his own. He even uses some of my drawers for storage, the bastard.”
“I can’t believe someone like that hasn’t offered to pay rent, yet,” Kakashi teased. “Why don’t you kick him to the curb? Sounds like he’s a nuisance and keeps you from bringing nice kunoichi around.”
Iruka regarded him for a long moment. A thrill shot through Kakashi’s body when he spotted a familiar glint in Iruka’s eyes. Iruka then made his way around the table on all fours, decreasing the distance between them. “Well,” he said in a low voice. “That’s the most troublesome thing about him, really.”
Kakashi’s heart sped up as Iruka began to invade his space. “What is?”
“He’s such a piece of work. And yet,” Iruka said as he stared at him, locking their gazes together in an unbreakable bind. “I just can’t stay away from him. He’s been coming around like that for a while, you see, and I think I’ve grown rather fond of him.”
“Ah, that is pretty troublesome,” Kakashi agreed. He couldn’t look away and he couldn’t keep himself from smiling. They were so close, Kakashi could see the details in Iruka’s irises, could have counted each eyelash if he had wanted to. Kakashi took Iruka’s hand and gently guided it to the edge of his mask, asking silently to be made vulnerable.
Iruka complied, hooking his finger into the fabric before pulling it down slowly to pool around Kakashi’s neck. “So troublesome,” Iruka whispered. He closed the distance between their lips.
Kakashi’s eyes fell shut at the warm sensation. Something melted inside of him. He brushed Iruka’s sides with his hands and wrapped his arms around him. The kiss was soft and sweet. The feeling of it familiar and trusted, yet it opened something up in Kakashi’s chest that only Iruka had the key to. Kissing him was akin to a spiritual revelation. Each and every time.
Umino Iruka was Kakashi’s biggest weakness. Kakashi was trained to control his physical responses, he was a master of his own body, reflexes and all. But as they kissed, his heart did things in his chest, his body temperature rose without his permission and tension that his muscles had been clinging to seeped away into nothing. Kakashi felt elated. He wanted to tuck Iruka away someplace to keep him safe and keep all this to himself. Because if there was ever another soul who made this discovery, they were sure to get addicted as well.
The kiss ended and gave way to another and another. Kakashi pulled Iruka closer, willing every bit of space between them to disappear and be replaced with heat. But just as Kakashi’s fingers found the hem of Iruka’s shirt, Iruka pulled away.
“We’re getting carried away,” Iruka assessed. He leaned back, smiling and flushed and gorgeous.
“Away from what?” Kakashi asked. He was still very focused on the way Iruka’s lips looked right then and thinking that he really ought to be feeling them against his own again.
“From talking.” Iruka huffed, but he didn’t sound convincingly upset. “We’ve barely talked at all since you got here.”
But talking wasn’t kissing and Kakashi had very much enjoyed the kissing. His gaze slipped over to the clock on the wall and he noted how late it was and he remembered how, a few weeks ago, Iruka had made the absolutely correct observation that they mostly used the hours that they stole for themselves to do other things than talk. Things that commonly tended to involve mouths but typically not that many words. Iruka was right, of course, to want more conversations. And Kakashi did love to talk to him. But Iruka was a magnet and Kakashi was forever drawn in by him and it was difficult not to get lost in that sometimes. He cleared his throat. “If memory serves, you were the one to put a stop to the talking today.”
Iruka flushed, indignant. Cute. “Be that as it may. You haven’t told me anything about your day. Was it good? Did anything happen?”
Kakashi leaned against table. “There’s not much to tell. I signed things. I met people. The stacks of paperwork continue to grow in spite of my best efforts. Shikamaru only said ‘what a drag’ twice, so there’s that. Probably because he’s looking forward to being off work this weekend.”
“Is he going to meet Temari-san again?”
“Not in an official capacity, so I don’t know. But most definitely, yes.” Kakashi eyed Iruka. “Your day sounds far more interesting than mine.”
“Does it? Just another day of teaching little delinquents. There’s the one student who’s gotten into telling scary stories lately and it’s getting to be a bit much.”
“As much as I love your Academy stories – and I do – what I find most interesting is that you are apparently in the market for a girlfriend. Should I be concerned?”
Iruka scoffed. “I’d say ‘no’, but Naruto can be pretty relentless. And convincing.”
Kakashi chuckled. Naruto being convincing was no secret, it had technically saved the world. But there were some thing that not even Naruto’s words could move. “You said this wasn’t his first attempt to get you a relationship?”
Iruka pulled over the bowl of rice crackers. He picked up one to fidget with. “I think so. A couple of days ago, he brought someone to the Academy. A single mother. He said she was considering enrolling her daughter next year. That’s not unusual, parents often want to talk before enrolling their kids in the Ninja Academy. Especially single ones and civilians.” He hesitated. “In hindsight, it should have been obvious that that wasn’t her reason for being there, though. She asked a lot of personal questions. Or questions about my specific teaching methods and my skills and, well, me in general.”
Kakashi snorted. “Well, I do agree with her: You are very interesting.”
“Don’t laugh at me!” Iruka pointed the cracker at him accusingly. “She’s hardly the first single mom to get ideas.”
“Maa, that’s a given. I’m pretty sure single parents have started a support group for being rejected by you.”
Iruka couldn’t keep his stern face at that and shoved the rice cracker into his mouth to cover up the smile. Cute. “I don’t know what Naruto was thinking. I would never date a student’s parent. Can you imagine?”
“Apparently, he thinks you like parents and medic-nin.”
“Among others…”
“There were more?” Kakashi asked, instantly curious. Perhaps he was a bad person for finding all of this terribly hilarious, but he had made light of far worse things in the past so if something was going to be a deciding factor for the merit of his character, it probably wasn’t going to be this.
“Shortly after he came back from his honeymoon, Naruto introduced me to someone while I was buying some school supplies. He suggested I check out her materials. To be fair, she does do very good educational illustrations of weaponry. Especially for a civilian.”
Kakashi blinked in surprise. “Naruto tried to set you up with a civilian?” Shinobi-civilian unions were rare. Not unheard of, but rare. Different lifestyles, different expectations from life in general, different priorities – relationships like that got very complicated very fast. Not that Kakashi was one to judge. After all, no one even knew that he was in a relationship at the moment.
Iruka shrugged. “I don’t think it’s so outlandish for me. I’m almost always in the village and I have a comparatively low-stakes job. She honestly didn’t even seem to care about me being a shinobi. She wasn’t uneasy from what I could tell. Or, you know, weirdly excited about it. In some way, her and me would have been no more outlandish than, well, you and me. At least in Naruto’s eyes.”
Kakashi nodded. He looked at the top of the chabudai. Iruka was right. To Naruto, to anyone, Iruka dating a civilian would have been far more likely than the reality. Kakashi teased him about the situation – because it was, objectively, at least a little bit funny – but there was something bitter about it, too. There was an alternative there, a split reality, where Iruka was happily dating one of Naruto’s suggestions. And the image tugged uncomfortably at Kakashi’s heart, even if he didn’t think that it was going to become real. He leaned against Iruka so that his head could rest on a strong shoulder. “Your standards must be very high to be rejecting so many different people so easily.”
Iruka leaned back against him. “You should know, Rokudaime-sama. I only date Hokage and above.”
Kakashi buried his face in Iruka’s shoulder and smirked. “I didn’t know I had something to fear from the daimyō of all people.”
Iruka laughed. Cute! “I assure you, you have nothing to fear from anyone at all, dear.”
It was unfair, really, how a single word could light up Kakashi’s face with embarrassment. At least when it was spoken so sweetly and genuinely by Iruka. “Good,” he muttered, still hiding from Iruka’s gaze. For a minute they just remained like that, leaning against each other, sharing mutual warmth and support. “It seems that Naruto has given himself a mission, then,” Kakashi said eventually. “One all about you.”
Iruka groaned. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him. Especially accompanying me like that. How embarrassing.”
“Well, from his perspective you’ve failed to seal the deal yourself twice. Must have given him incentive to chaperone,” Kakashi theorized as he sat up a little straighter to look at Iruka again.
“That feels so backwards.” Iruka grimaced. “I never chaperoned him and Hinata-chan.”
“And Hinata-chan thanks you for it, I’m sure.”
Iruka shook his head. “I can’t believe he thinks I’m a lost cause.”
“Maybe it’s not that bad. He probably just thinks that he is an expert now. Bestowing you with his wisdom.”
Iruka looked at him curiously. “How do you mean?”
“Well, he only recently came back from his honeymoon.” Kakashi shrugged. “Maybe being the first in his friend group to get married has gone to his head and made him think he’s got the right, maybe even the responsibility, to help you out.”
Iruka’s face did something complicated. “That makes sense. I guess.”
Kakashi nodded. “He’s happily married and returns from his honeymoon in all his newlywed bliss to see his poor dear sensei, one of his most precious people in the whole world, not making a match for himself. And, being Naruto, he wants to share his newly discovered joy of a committed relationship. So he takes it upon himself to help you out. But he knows you’re stubborn and would refuse if he offered his help outright. So he pretends that he just happens to run into suitable women every other day.”
“Women he thinks are suitable,” Iruka corrected.
“Yes. That.”
Iruka’s brows knit together in contemplation. Cute. “Well, I can hardly judge him for trying. It is sweet that he cares.”
“I suppose so.” It was sweet, in a way. Nevermind the fact that Naruto had been completely oblivious to Hinata’s pining for years. Or that it was Hinata who found the bravery to confess and move the relationship forward into something that could ever become a marriage. But then again, Kakashi probably shouldn’t have judged. “Since you won’t be accepting his help, are you going to ask him to stop trying?”
“Actually, I really hope he got the hint this time. If he didn’t, I suppose I have no choice but to say something.”
Kakashi understood Iruka’s reluctance. Lying to Naruto was difficult for him. So far, they’d mostly survived together on misdirection and omissions when it came to Naruto. It was different for Iruka to go to Naruto and lie to his face. “I’m sorry,” Kakashi said in reaction to the thought.
“What, did you put him up to this?”
“No. I’m sorry that… it’s like this,” Kakashi said, troubled by the fact that this, that they, were a secret. And needed to stay that way.
Iruka’s gaze became soft. “We’ve talked about this, Kakashi. It would be wonderful if we could just tell him. And everyone. But it’s not an option. And that’s alright. I want you. I want this. Don’t apologize to me for what I want.”
Kakashi enveloped Iruka in his arms to pull him close. He buried his face in the crook of Iruka’s neck. “Let me know if it ever stops being alright?”
“Have you ever known me to shut up about something that bothers me?” Iruka teased. “What about you? Does it bother you that your student is trying to find me a girlfriend?”
Kakashi huffed. “It might. But you did say that your standards were ‘Hokage and above’ so…”
“You’re impossible.”
Kakashi leaned back to smile at him. “And, apparently, you like that.”
“Then it’s all good, right?” Iruka asked.
Kakashi hesitated. “I suppose it is.”
“Great! Now can we talk about anything that doesn’t involve me dating other people?”
“We can talk about anything you want. Or,” Kakashi said suggestively as he started to trail his fingertips down Iruka’s sides, “we could stop talking now, if that’s what you want. That would be okay for me, too.”
“’Okay’, huh.” Iruka mused with a dangerous tone of voice. “I think we can do better than ‘okay’.”
Kakashi swallowed. “Yes, please.”