(no subject)
Friday evening.
Kakashi had more then enough of this case. In fact, if they tried to call him back one more time, loyalty pledged to Konoha or not, he would break that stupid traitor nin's neck with his own two hands… even if it meant becoming a missing nin himself. He had better things to do then analyze memories and remember details of his last mission! Not to mention he had already wasted two days on that already! He had way better things, better things like, like, like... like researching chocolate.
... Umm... never mind that...
He walked to Iruka's apartment with a little more slouch. The two days, even if it felt wasted, weren't so bad after all - he had time to think matters over, to rationalize... So he came up with certain... things.
One. Iruka had an unhealthy amount of sweet consumption per day.
Two, all roads of assumption lead to gayness. Iruka's gayness.
Three. It was not his business why Iruka had a sweet consumption, and how that connected with Iruka's sexual orientation.
Four. Hatake Kakashi, a.k.a himself, read Icha Icha, a heterosexual porn book. Meaning, since he enjoyed it, he could not be gay. And since he could not be gay, he was not in love with Umino Iruka either.
Five. Whatever was that happened between him and Iruka on that Thursday was probably not what he hope- thought.
Six... his clothes were still at Iruka's from that whatever that was probably not what he hope- thought.
He took a deep breath, and knocked.
"Yo."
The door opened, and in it stood an Iruka, arm propped on the doorframe, his brown hair in his tanned neck in a loose ponytail, and a cigarette between his fingers, still airing a thin line of smoke.
"Hey. 'Bout time you came around. What happened to you, did you drown in tea?" He smiled, and his scar stretched a bit, and Kakashi…
Kakashi was sore at losing a battle with himself, because he didn’t want to admit how his heart nearly jumped out of his chest at that smile. He smiled back at the sensei, and stepped inside, taking his sandals off. Iruka closed the door behind him, and he heard the lock rattle and shut.
"Well... almost."
The jounin let himself audibly sniff.
“Oh… Sorry about the smoke.... Asuma was here, and…we smoked… a bit…”
“Asuma? I thought you two despised each other…” The silver haired man said, taking his flask vest off and hanging it on the old coat rack. He saw the other frown out of the corner of his eye, take a deep, slow drag, and exhale in the opposite direction.
"He hates me.”, he said sourly. “But he was in a spot of trouble with bureaucracy, so he came over and asked Iru-chan for help…” A small sigh left his lips. “Would you like something?"
Kakashi debated taking off his mask once again, like in old times, except now, it wasn’t a trust or not to trust question, but rather an issue of to cancer or not to cancer. In the end, he decided on taking it off for the sake of friendship, but moved quickly toward the small kitchen nevertheless. He could feel a draft.
And yes, the large window was open…!
… And there was an ashtray on the table.
"You have some coffee...?" Kakashi asked absent-mindedly. Damn smoke… damn nicotine…
"You are addicted, you lazy slug. But alright, I'll go and brew some for you..."
“I’ll get off of coffee if you stop smoking.”
Iruka looked at him, the stick still hanging out of his lips, reddish circles under his eyes.
“But I don’t. It just a once in a blue moon thing… you don’t like it that much, ‘Kashi?”
“… I hate it.” The jounin spat, pulling his chair closer to the bar table, and thus, to the window. He turned around, surprised, when he heard the still long cigarette be put out firmly, albeit with a bit of hesitation, in the ashtray.
… oh god, he was in love with-
-No, he told himself, and shook his head. No. Remember what you had concluded, remember what you…
“By the way, you left some clothes here last time. Your high and mighty pretty stuff.”
The chuunin laughed at his immediate growl, and disappeared in his room (he had but a bachelor’s flat), and Kakashi heard him rummage. Pretty stuff, the man grumbled to himself, it was not pretty stuff, it was…
He should look now, while Iruka wouldn’t notice. He just had to know how much sweets had the man consumed, he had to, while he was searching for his cloth-
“… Kakashi? Why are you searching in my trash…?”
“…”
Drat. He was caught.
“…”
“Umm… I wasn’t searching.” Kakashi tried. Iruka gave him a flat look.
“Your hand is elbow deep in my garbage.”
The jounin sweat dropped.
“… maaaa, I’m just… doing a research for… for… Jiraiya.”
The academy sensei put the clothes down on the table, and crossed his arms, a vein visibly throbbing.
“What does Jiraiya want from my garbage?”
“He… he is trying to do an environment saving program. He wants to encourage people to recycle more, you know, so there’d be less pollution and more pretty me- women, and since senseis have such big impact on a young child’s life, he thought that they should be the first to start it. Of course, he needs to know what you actually throw out to determine what you need to recycle, and as the number one fan of the past nine years, it is my honor to conduct a widespread research for the amazing writer of-“
“Kakashi, shut up and spill it.”
The jounin knew he was cornered. How could he have been caught?
“… I’m…”, the older man shifted his weight nervously, and tried not to make eye-contact with his friend as he managed to grunt, “I’m looking for sweet wrappers.”
“… Why are you looking for… wrappers?” He heard Iruka ask, genuinely puzzled by his answer.
“Because…”
Kakashi scratched his neck, and pushed the bin back under the sink with his feet.
“Because…”
He wandered back to the table slowly, and begun fingering his soft kimono absentmindedly, not quite feeling up to the challenge today.
Iruka finally snapped. “Would you just say it already?!”
“… Because you’re addicted to sweets! And it worries me to hell that you are eating so much, you know! It... it's not just...”
Iruka sighed, and began rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Kakashi, I'm..."
And then, just like that, it all dumped out of the jounin, roaring out like a river from a high mountain, and he kept on saying and telling it, hoping he’d listen, even though he himself wasn’t really. His fists clenched, and his pale face grew red with worry and anger, and he began waving around, as though showing the picture of the future on the air next to him.
"What if you freakin' die on your next mission, huh?! You've been munching on sweets, and good gods only know how much you've eaten! What sort of a shinobi will you be out on the field, hmm?! You'll be-"
The chuunin snapped at that, of course. He began yelling too, eyes throwing off lightening bolts, the hand gripping the edge of the table turning white. "What the fuck do you mean 'what sort of shinobi'?! I've done A ranked missions in worse conditions, thank you very much!"
"That is not the point. The point is Iruka that you are a chu-"
"Stop underestimating me! All of you, you fucking jounin!”
“Iruka, I am not underesti-“
“Then what were you doing, huh?!”
“I’m just saying that a rougher mission could be fatal for you-“
“And there we are! Underestimating me!” The chuunin said, throwing his hands up in the air.
Kakashi began seeing very, very red. “For the umpteenth time, I am not underestimating you, you idiotic chuunin!!”
Iruka sputtered.
“Wha-What? How… dare you… That’s it. Out! I will not tolerate you discriminating me because of my rank and nonsense accusations! Out until you’ve some tact to go along with that brain of yours!"
"Iruka, listen to-"
"OUT."
Kakashi huffed, and picking up his stuff, stormed out of Iruka's apartment.
~ ~ ~