Chapter Text
The wind was crisp and cool, whipping the wispy clouds across the sky in cheerful skips and hops. Gnarled, ancient branches spread out far above his head, gradually becoming more visible as the wind tugged their flaming, crackling leaves away, the bark of the trunk rough against his back. Iruka was nestled into a vibrant carpet of reds, oranges, and browns, under a tree in his backyard he’d loved to climb as a young child. His father had been planning to make him a treehouse, he remembered, but he’d never had the chance. Kakashi was pressed warm into his left side, his nose buried in the same lurid orange book he’d been reading since forever.
Iruka chewed the end of his pen. He put it down. He picked it up again. He turned to Kakashi. “Aren’t you sick of that book yet?”
Kakashi pushed his face away without looking up. “You’re studying, Iruka.”
Iruka frowned at his notes. They were written neatly. They were copied exactly the way the teacher had instructed. They were even colour-coded. They blurred in front of his eyes.
“I always wanted a dog when I was younger. How old were you when you got your ninken? Did you get them all at once?”
“Studying,” Kakashi repeated.
“Yeah, but they must have been hard to handle, right? Do they feed themselves, or do you have to buy them dog food?”
Kakashi pointed wordlessly at his stacks of notes.
Iruka sighed and tried to concentrate. He was supposed to write an essay on how the human brain stores and retains information and how to utilise that when teaching, but right now his brain didn’t want to retain any information.
“You should bring your whole pack to come and play,” he said. “Naruto would love it.”
Kakashi ignored him, turning another page in silence.
“How do you even make a contract with ninken? Is it difficult?” Iruka jostled Kakashi’s arm. “Do they choose you, or do you choose them?”
Kakashi sighed and put down his book. “If you’re struggling this much maybe you should meditate.”
“I don’t want to.” Iruka put down his pen again and snuggled into the jōnin’s side. Kakashi looped an arm around his waist and rested his chin on the top of his head.
Even though he could feel Kakashi beside him it still felt so unreal. He’d barely passed the chūnin exams and then flunked his first mission yet here he was, dating a man so far out of his league it wasn’t funny. Of course, rank wasn’t everything, but in the shinobi world it was essentially the second question after, ‘What’s your name?’ when it came to meeting a potential partner.
“You want to be a teacher, though,” Kakashi said, “So you need to do the work.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Iruka grumbled. “Just because I need to doesn’t mean I can.”
“You can,” Kakashi insisted. “It’s what you’re good at.”
“What is?”
“Perseverance. When you know what you want, nothing can stop you.”
Kakashi’s hands were creeping up underneath his shirt. Iruka slapped them half-heartedly. “Naruto will probably be coming back soon.”
“Will he?” Kakashi murmured.
“Probabl-ah,” Iruka yelped as cold fingers crept just under the waistband of his pants. “Cut that out,” he demanded, unconsciously leaning back into Kakashi’s chest to give him better access.
Kakashi snorted. “Your mouth says no, but your body says yes. How about this. I won’t move until you decide what you really want.”
His fingers were lightly tapping the sensitive skin below Iruka’s hipbones. Iruka was half-hard already, and mad about it. But not too mad, because whatever Kakashi had in mind was likely to be a lot more fun than writing an essay. “You’re an awful tease, you know that?”
“Oh, I absolutely do know that.” Kakashi’s voice was low and throaty now, lips pressed against his ear. “Because perseverance is a trait that I also possess in abundance. And I know what I want.”
Iruka shivered all over. “I should be studying,” he said hesitantly.
Kakashi hmmed in agreement. True to his word his hands were not moving from their position on Iruka’s hips, much to Iruka’s irritation. “You should be. But you chose to provoke me instead, and now you have aaaaall of my attention.”
Iruka wrapped his fingers around Kakashi’s wrists and pushed his hands further below the waistband of his pants. He could feel Kakashi’s chest moving in silent laughter against his back. But Kakashi’s fingers were now brushing against the outside of his underpants and he really didn’t care that he was being laughed at.
“Ruka-nii!”
Kakashi yanked his hands back and Iruka sprung away from him as a blond tornado barrelled around the tree. Naruto leapt into Iruka’s arms, knocking him back into Kakashi. Iruka ruffled his hair and tried desperately to reroute his blood to his brain. “Did you have fun with Pakkun?”
“We went on a walk and there was mushrooms and so many trees and berries and stuff and he let me eat some and I falled over and it was muddy and I throwed mud at him and it was fun,” Naruto babbled.
“I can see that,” Iruka said dryly. Naruto’s mouth and fingers were stained purple, though the colour was hidden under large swathes of mud.
“A lady yelled at me but Pakkun barked at her and she went away and it was funny.”
Pakkun, equally as dirty, slunk around the other side of the tree and stood close to Kakashi. Kakashi narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you dare.”
Pakkun gave a large, doggy grin, tongue lolling out, and gave himself a hearty shake. Mud flew in all directions. Most of it splattered over Kakashi, who growled at him. “You insolent mutt! I’m going to shave you bald."
“It’s just mud,” Iruka said, but when Kakashi swung around to glare at him instead he realised he’d misunderstood.
“Ill-timed bastard. He only even shows up when I don’t need him.”
Well. Iruka choked back a laugh. Kakashi was just upset because he’d been cockblocked.
“It’s alright,” Iruka said, though he echoed the sentiment to a degree. “We can all wash up in the river. It’ll be cold, but it could be fun.”
Naruto whooped loudly, leaping in the air. “River bath!” Without waiting for any further confirmation he began running towards the river as fast as his little legs could take him.
Iruka looked at Kakashi and shrugged. “I guess we’re going, then.” He jogged off after the kid, Pakkun bounding along beside him. He heard Kakashi sigh and start to trudge slowly along behind them.
Naruto was now a permanent part of his household. It had taken them both some time to adjust, but he had been adamant that the kid not be left along in that depressing cottage. The Sandaime had been surprised and concerned and Kakashi had insisted on plastering his house with deadly looking wards, but he’d faced surprisingly little resistance to his plan. Naruto himself had been ecstatic.
He hadn’t realised just how lonely he had been. Now his days were filled with exuberant chatter and the constant pitter-patter of excited feet, always rushing to discover new things and create new messes. Kakashi was around too, more often than not. He hung about in doorways, spreading out over the sofa, perching on the windowsills and just generally being in the way. He seemed to enjoy Naruto’s energy, but only from a safe distance.
Naruto had reached the river and was splashing around in the water as if it were the height of summer. The autumn sun was attempting to peek its pale face out from behind the clouds, but the rays that managed to reach the ground were feeble, lukewarm at best.
Iruka bent down and dipped an experimental finger into the river. The water was freezing. Pakkun did the same, dipping one paw then retreating backwards as fast as his little doggy hindquarters would let him. “Nope.”
“You just need a little encouragement,” Kakashi said. “And I am nothing if not an encouraging master.”
Pakkun didn’t even have time to feel the danger before he was being hoisted into the air and thrown bodily into the centre of the river. He landed with a splash next to Naruto, who shrieked with laughter as a wave of water washed over him.
Pakkun glared at Kakashi, but it wasn’t very effective when combined with the image of his stubby pug legs motoring desperately to keep him afloat.
“That was mean,” Iruka said, but his heart wasn’t in it. He was secretly a little pleased to see Pakkun get some payback. The pug had bitten him when they’d first met, after all.
Kakashi shrugged. “He deserved it.”
Iruka looked at the water with uncertainty. “Are you going in?”
“Hell no. I’m going to have a hot bath. Preferably with you in it.” He leered at Iruka, who flushed red.
“After Naturo’s in bed is okay, I guess,” Iruka conceded.
Kakashi huffed. “I can’t wait that long.”
“Then bathe by yourself.”
Iruka shrugged off his coat and used the clean side of it to wipe the bulk of the mud off his pants, always keeping one careful eye on the boy in the water. He wasn’t too dirty; it was cold without his coat, but not nearly as bad as getting in the river.
“You know,” he said with a carefully light voice, “It’s almost Naruto’s birthday.”
Kakashi stared at him. He made as if to speak but was cut off by the sound of Naruto splashing noisily towards them at top speed.
“I found something!” the kid hollered.
“A new treasure?” Iruka asked, ready to feign amazement over a pretty rock or softened piece of river glass.
Naruto thrust his find out in from of him proudly, and Iruka’s heart caught in his throat. “I think it was a dog! Before it got broked.”
He was holding half of a red and white porcelain mask, the red swirls faded and chipped in places from its extended stay among the river stones.
Iruka looked at Kakashi. The jōnin was holding himself unnaturally stiffly, eyes fixated on the mask. Naruto held it up to his face, grinning. “I’m half dog now! Woof, woof!”
“Don’t do that,” Kakashi snapped, so ferociously that Naruto took a step back. “Give it to me.”
Naruto clutched it to his chest, bottom lip wobbling. “Why?”
“Just do it.”
Iruka stepped between them, firmly but gently pushing Kakashi backwards, and crouched down so he was level with Naruto. “It’s a pretty cool find, isn’t it? But it’s a very important kind of mask and it must belong to someone, so we need to take it back to its owner.”
Naruto shook his head, cradling the mask close. He was shivering. “I found it. It’s mine.”
Iruka put his muddy coat around the boy’s thin shoulders. “If you lost Dachi, would you like it if someone else found him and kept him?”
Naruto shook his head more vehemently this time. “But it’s old and broken,” he protested.
“I know. But it’s still someone else’s precious treasure.”
Naruto thought about that for a while before reluctantly handing over the mask, his hands lingering even after Iruka had taken it. Iruka ruffled his hair. “Thank you. Now we should get home before you catch a cold, huh? Want to race?”
“I’ll beat you!” Naruto boasted, mood switching instantly.
Iruka grinned at him. “Wanna bet?” He tossed the mask to Kakashi and started jogging. “You’re too slow!”
“No fair,” Naruto hollered, sprinting past him as fast as he could.
Halfway to the house Iruka glanced backwards. Kakashi was still staring out at the river. As he watched, Kakashi flicked his wrist. The mask arced gracefully out over the river, sinking back under the water with the smallest of splashes.
***
“You know, if you didn’t want it you could have given it to me. Or at the very least, to Naruto.” Iruka scrubbed at another plate, resting it on the drying rack. Kakashi had cooked, so in return the dishes were his. The jōnin was sitting on the bench, long legs draped over the cupboards, watching him keenly. Naruto had passed out long before and was safely tucked into bed, exhausted from his icy dip in the river.
“I don’t want you to have it,” Kakashi said.
“But you threw it away!” Iruka pouted. “That mask is a reminder of how we met. It’s important to me and I want it. You know what? I’m gonna go look for it.”
In seconds Kakashi’s feet were on the floor, his hand tight around Iruka’s wrist. “You will not.”
“Why do you get to tell me what to do? I’m not taking orders from you unless you explain why.”
Kakashi let him go, grinding his teeth together. “It’s not a reminder of our meeting. It’s a reminder of all the reasons I shouldn’t be here.”
“‘Here’ like where?” Iruka pulled his hands out of the sink and wiped off the bubbles with a tea towel. “Here like alive? Like in Konoha? Like in my house?”
“Here. With you.” Kakashi ran his fingers through his hair and started pacing. He quickly caught himself and came to an abrupt halt, standing unnaturally still. “I’m not like you.”
“Not like me.” Iruka narrowed his eyes. “You mean, you’re not weak? You’re too powerful for me?”
“Well, yes, but no.” Kakashi held up his hands in defence as Iruka’s ire descended on him. “I just – it’s not that you’re weak. It’s that you’re so very wholesome.”
“What.”
“Ever since we met you’ve just accepted me as I am. Without question. You’re not afraid of me, so sometimes I forget that you really should be.”
“Why? Do you plan on hurting me?”
“Of course not.” Kakashi looked appalled that he would even suggest such a thing. “I don’t plan on it. But I’m not always in control. That mask is a physical reminder of the most inhumane things I have ever done. Seeing it in your hands, seeing Naruto holding it – I don’t like you being so close to that part of me.”
“Maybe I’m not a very good one, but I’m still a shinobi. I know what sort of things you’ve done and I don’t care.”
Kakashi looked pained. “You have no idea, really. It doesn’t matter. The point is, I don’t want to see you anywhere near anything to do with ANBU. Especially if it’s mine. Please don’t go looking for that mask.”
Iruka wanted to argue back, but he bit his tongue and started violently drying the dishes instead. As much as it hurt to admit, Kakashi was right. He really didn’t know what Kakashi went through on missions. And the selfish side of him didn’t want to know. Instead, he said, “I won’t.”
Kakashi eyed him suspiciously, then seemed to come to the conclusion that he was telling the truth. He sidled closer. “If I put my hands down your pants will we stop talking about me?”
Iruka wanted to talk more. He was so, so curious about the secrets the jōnin had buried down deep and desperate to dig them up. But he was also acutely aware that at this point any more probing would probably backfire harshly on him. There would always be time to talk later. So he smiled. “There’s only one way to find out.”
***
Kakashi was pressed against his back, fully nude and unbelievably warm, but Kakashi was not the person currently on his mind. The jōnin’s hands down his pants had in fact distracted him from probing quite nicely, as had the consequential removal of said pants (following which Kakashi had done some ‘probing’ of his own). Content as his body felt, Iruka’s mind still refused to stop buzzing.
Iruka rolled over in the sleepy jōnin’s arms and got an unintelligible grunt of protest in return.
“Kakashi,” he whispered.
“No,” Kakashi mumbled and buried his face in Iruka’s shoulder.
“Kakashiiiiii.”
Kakashi half-opened his normal eye, then closed it again. “Is still dark. Wazza time?”
Iruka squinted at the shadowy clock on his wall. “Three thirty?”
Kakashi groaned. “You’re awful.”
“I can’t sleep.”
“So I’m not allowed to either?”
“Sorry.” He was, really. But he needed to get his thoughts out before his head exploded. “I can’t stop thinking about Naruto’s birthday.”
“Mhmm.” Kakashi was nuzzling his neck, drifting back to sleep.
“I want to throw him a party. I don’t think he’s ever had one before.”
Kakashi yawned. “Then do it,” he said. Then he sat bolt upright, the blanket sliding down his shoulders, chilling Iruka’s chest. “No, no, you can’t do that.”
“Right?” Iruka gave a bitter smile. “He deserves to be celebrated, but on That Day...”
“Impossible. The whole village will be in mourning.”
“I don’t care what other people will think,” Iruka snapped, then caught himself. “Sorry. It’s not them, it’s me. I lost my entire family on that night. I want to celebrate, for him. But I don’t know if I can.”
“You’re unbelievable,” Kakashi mumbled.
“Huh?”
“You’re unbelievable,” Kakashi repeated. “You try so hard for other people at the expense of yourself.”
Iruka shrugged. “If I don’t watch over him nobody will. Anyway, I need to get over this but I don’t know how.”
He shivered and Kakashi, noticing, lay down again, tucking the blanket carefully around him. “I’m not exactly the best person to ask. I lost someone important on that day too.”
Iruka rolled into him and breathed in deeply, as always amazed that someone like Kakashi allowed someone like him this close. “That’s okay. I just wanted to tell you. If I manage to throw a party, though, will you come?”
“Of course.” Kakashi answered without hesitation, burying his nose in Iruka’s hair and drawing him closer. “I’ll help you plan.”
“Really?”
“Yes, if you’ll let me go back to sleep now.”
***
Iruka was shaking. He desperately wanted this to go well, but at the same time a heavy feeling sat bulky and uncomfortable, wedged in the hollows of his stomach.
It was five a.m. on the anniversary of the Kyūbi Massacre – no, Naruto’s Birthday – and he was pacing around his living room like a madman, weaving around streamers and ducking under balloons. Naruto deserved the best and goddamn it he wanted to provide the best, but mentally he couldn’t draw himself away from the images of his parents being blown apart in front of him. Kakashi was no help; he’d disappeared somewhere in the middle of the night. Iruka hoped he hadn’t been called away on a mission because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get through today without him.
The rest of the village would be in mourning, quietly remembering their fallen friends and family and burning with hatred for the Kyūbi, for Naruto. More than a small part of him wanted to join them.
“You alright?”
Iruka jolted and spun around. Kakashi had clambered back in through his kitchen window and was standing behind him, brows drawn down in concern.
“Where did you go?”
He didn’t mean for it to come out so accusatory.
“Pay respects,” Kakashi said. “I figured the Memorial Stone would be getting a lot of traffic later. And I thought you would still be sleeping.”
Iruka glared at him. Why? He wasn’t angry at Kakashi. He was angry at life. Or upset at life. He wasn’t really sure. He sighed. “I don’t think I can do this.”
“You can.”
“I can’t celebrate the day my parents died and my life was destroyed. I just... I can’t.”
“It was your idea,” Kakashi pointed out. “You need a distraction. Help me bake a cake.”
Iruka shook his head. “You know what happened last time I tried to bake a cake, don’t you?”
“Yeah, you broke my nose. You’re the first person to do that, actually, so congratulations. But that’s not the point.” Kakashi turned back to the kitchen, bending low to avoid the balloons, and started dragging ingredients out of the cupboards. “Come,” he said, crooking a finger at Iruka. “This time I’ll guide you.”
Iruka followed reluctantly. “Maybe you should make it and I’ll watch.”
“It’ll be fine. We’ll make a small one, so he can have it all to himself.”
“Are you sure?” Iruka stared at the ingredients lined up along the bench dubiously.
“Do you really want to have gone through all this trouble to set up a party for the kid and not give him a birthday cake?”
Iruka worried his bottom lip between his teeth. “I just don’t think I can handle failing. Not today.”
Kakashi placed a hand on either side of Iruka’s face and held his gaze, unblinking. “I am here for you. And I do not fail.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Iruka gave a wan smile and rolled up his sleeves. “So what do I do first?”
***
Baking was much easier than he’d thought, with Kakashi’s help. The only problem was that Kakashi issued instructions in a very attractive, low voice so as not to wake Naruto, which made it a little difficult to actually follow the instructions.
At some point Kakashi noticed how distracted he was getting and began accompanying his speech with gentle, fluttering touches on his forearms, his neck, his lower back. Some of the touches lingered, until Iruka hissed at him. “Stop turning me on. I don’t want to burn it again.”
“Fair enough,” Kakashi murmured, stepping away from him, and Iruka almost wanted to take back his words.
The cake came out of the oven perfect, golden and steaming and smelling delicious. Iruka’s icing skills were less than perfect, but he had a feeling Naruto wouldn’t really mind.
“It’s an IchaIcha cake,” Kakashi commented, and Iruka scowled at him.
The cake was a lurid orange, but that wasn’t the connection he’d been aiming for. “It’s the colour of Dachi, can’t you tell?”
Kakashi shrugged. “I like my interpretation better.”
Iruka ignored him, setting six candles on the top and standing back to admire his creation. He turned to Kakashi with sincere eyes. “Thank you so much for helping with this.”
Kakashi shrugged again, hands buried deep in his pockets. “It was a good distraction.”
Iruka almost asked what he needed a distraction for, then bit his tongue. He’d been so engrossed in getting the cake right while not getting too turned on that he’d actually forgotten what day it was. He hadn’t thought that was possible.
He startled as he heard noises in the bowels of the house. “What’s the time?” he asked, then glanced at the clock and answered his own question. “Six forty-five. Where did the time go?”
There was no time left, because Naruto’s pattering footfalls were echoing through the house. They stopped suddenly. “What is this?” he said, voice filled with wonder. “Iruka-nii? Where are you?”
Kakashi nudged him. “Go on.”
“You should come too.”
“I’ll be behind you. This is your show.”
Iruka wiped his hands on his pants, inexplicably nervous. He took a deep breath, plastered a big grin on his face, and leaped out of the kitchen. “Happy birthday!” he cried.
Naruto wheeled around, still taking in all the balloons, the streamers, the small pile of gifts Iruka had scrouged together. His little fox was clutched tightly in his fist. “This is for me?”
“All for you,” Iruka confirmed with a genuine smile this time, ruffling his hair. “Happy birthday, Naruto.”
Naruto stared some more, then burst into loud, heaving sobs. A large wad of snot hung perilously from his nose and he smeared it in a glistening streak down his sleeve. Chest tightening, Iruka crouched down to get on his level. “You don’t like it? You don’t have to have a party if you don’t want one.”
“P-p-p-party?” Naruto sobbed, leaning into Iruka’s knees.
Iruka wrapped his arms around the kid and looked helplessly at Kakashi. Kakashi shrugged. Naruto blew his nose on Iruka’s shirt. They stayed frozen like that until Iruka’s knee cramped and he eased down into a sitting position. Naruto slumped into his lap and stretched his arms around Iruka’s middle. “It’s really for me?”
“Really really. Today is Naruto’s day.” Not Kyūbi’s day, Iruka reminded himself. Naruto’s.
“I love it,” Naruto whispered, barely audible.
“I’m glad.”
Kakashi silently handed Iruka a box of tissues then stepped back again, apparently determined to spend the day as part of the scenery. Iruka nodded his thanks and wiped Naruto’s face off gently. Naruto’s shuddering breaths had quietened, his tears drying on his cheeks.
“Would you like to open a present?”
He nodded but didn’t move from Iruka’s lap, so Kakashi fetched one for him. Naruto lay Dachi down carefully on Iruka’s knee and took it, stared at the brightly coloured wrapping for a moment, then hugged it to his chest. “I love it!” he said.
“You... you need to unwrap it first,” Iruka said.
Naruto frowned at it. “This isn’t the present?”
“No, it is the present. Or rather, the present is underneath the paper. You need to take the paper off to see what the present is,” Iruka explained.
“Oh.” Naruto turned the gift around in his hands. It was soft and lumpy, tied with a blue bow. Iruka had tried to find an orange one but apparently orange ribbon wasn’t desirable enough to be widely available.
Naruto searched for an edge and tugged gently at the tape. It didn’t budge.
“You can rip it, it’s okay,” Iruka said. “The paper isn’t the important part.”
“Are you sure?”
“Go ahead.”
Brows pulled down in concentration Naruto grabbed the present by both ends and yanked hard. A jagged stripe tore through the middle of the paper with a satisfying ripping sound. He threw both pieces of paper in the air and giggled as they floated gently to the floor. “Look, Dachi!” He was holding a furry orange jersey. “I can be the same as you!”
He stood up and struggled to squeeze the jersey over his pyjamas, beaming. “Thanks, Iruka-nii!”
“You can get another one if you want.”
Naruto snatched up Dachi and bounded over to the presents, tears mostly forgotten. Kakashi sidled up beside Iruka. “I thought you would be against foxy presents.”
“It makes me uncomfortable, but what can I do?” Iruka shrugged helplessly, voice low. “He loves that toy to death. I wanted to give him something that would make him happy. I just didn’t expect him to be so,” he waved his arms around, struggling to find the right word, “Upset.”
“I don’t think he was really upset, per se. Just incredibly overwhelmed.” Kakashi gazed around the room, taking in all the decorations and the small boy chattering excitedly to his best friend in the corner. “You did well.”
The gifts weren’t expensive or fancy, as Iruka didn’t have much money, but Naruto seemed overjoyed with them anyway. They were playing with one of Naruto’s presents, cross-legged on the floor, when Naruto looked up from the gameboard. His eyes sparkled, wide and honest. “Iruka-nii, this is the best day of my life.”
Iruka blinked rapidly to combat the tears which had appeared in the corner of his eyes. “I,” he started, then cleared his throat. “I’ll be back soon.”
He scrambled to his feet and disappeared into the kitchen. He could faintly hear Kakashi saying, “Hey, that’s cheating!” and Naruto’s return of, “It’s not! It’s just being a sneaky ninja.”
“Well clearly it wasn’t sneaky enough,” Kakashi retorted.
“How do you know?”
“Because I just saw you! Put the counter back.”
“It was Dachi. I didn’t cheat.”
“Dachi can’t move things, he doesn’t have fingers.”
“He used his teeth!”
“He doesn’t have teeth either. He can’t open his mouth.”
The was a scuffling sound and Iruka peered around the corner in time to see Naruto launch himself at Kakashi, who easily redirected his energy and pinned him to the ground, tickling him. Naruto shrieked with giddy laughter.
Iruka took a deep breath, and then another. He was alright. Really, he was. It was just allergies. Autumnal allergies existed, right? He wiped his eyes with the back of his forearm and picked up the cake. It was lopsided and a bit lumpy, but it was made with love.
Naruto’s eyes grew impossibly round when he saw it. He scrambled into a sitting position. “Dachi,” he hissed, clutching his toy close. “Look!”
Iruka set the cake down in front of him on the floor, crouching down to light the candles. Naruto stared at them, entranced, the firelight dancing in his eyes.
Iruka started to sing Happy Birthday, praying that his voice wouldn’t crack. Kakashi crept up behind him and curled an arm around his waist, reluctantly joining in. Iruka leaned into him. “Blow out the candles and make a wish.”
“I wish I can stay here forever and ever with both of you,” Naruto announced, puffing out his cheeks and blowing hard. All of the candles puffed out at once, and Iruka clapped. He couldn’t speak past the lump in his throat.
Naruto looked up expectantly. “Can we eat it? Is there a knife?”
Kakashi handed him a spoon. He stared at it. “How do I cut with this?”
“You don’t need to. It’s all for you,” Kakashi said. He reached around Iruka to pull the candles out.
“All for me?” Naruto repeated.
Iruka nodded mutely.
Naruto looked at the cake then back up at him. “Can I share it anyway?”
“It’s your cake,” Iruka croaked. His fingers dug into Kakashi’s forearm. “If that’s what you want to do.”
Naruto nodded fervently. “I do, I do!”
The cake tasted surprisingly good. Even through his tears. Iruka buried his face in Kakashi’s shoulder. With one arm around him Kakashi used the other to draw on the floor. Naruto peered at the movement, unable to see what he was drawing. “What’cha doin’?”
“It’s a present,” Kakashi said. “You ought to stand back.”
Naruto obediently trotted backwards a few steps, unwilling to look away. He gasped as Kakashi sliced open his thumb with the cake knife and pressed his hand to the floor.
Eight dogs burst forth from the invisible circle. Naruto stumbled backwards, falling onto his bottom. “Pakkun?” he squeaked, recoginsing the grumpy pug perched atop the head of a massive, drooling dark brown dog.
“Sup, Kid,” Pakkun said, then swivelled around to face Kakashi. “What do you want?”
“Ever polite you are,” Kakashi muttered. “Take the kid outside and play tag. Or something. There’s steak in it for all of you.”
The pack quivered as one at the word steak. A small, sleepy looking dog practically vibrated, bouncing in place. “I’ll play for steak!”
Kakashi made a shooing motion with his hand. “Then go.”
A taller dog wearing glasses nudged Naruto up onto his back. Naruto clung to his fur, shrieking with terrified exhilaration as the pack took off. Iruka lifted his head to watch them go. “Will he be alright?”
“They won’t let him get hurt, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Why did you...?” Iruka trailed off.
“I thought you needed a break.”
Iruka gave a weak chuckle. “You’re not wrong. I just...” He sighed. “I’m overwhelmed.”
“You did well.” Kakashi pulled him close, tugging one leg until Iruka was straddling him. “Today is not an easy day.”
Iruka leaned into him, breathing deeply. Kakashi smelled faintly of pine needles. “I lost my family on this day,” he whispered. “But today – today I have a new family. I want to be for him what my parents weren’t able to be for me.”
“Am I included in the new family?” Kakashi teased.
“Of course,” Iruka answered instantly. He pulled back, suddenly embarrassed. “That is, if you want to be,” he mumbled.
Kakashi dragged the pad of his thumb across Iruka’s cheeks and over his nose, following the splash of pink spreading across his face. “Absolutely,” he said. “But now that you’ve invited me in you’re going to find it mighty hard to get rid of me.”
“I don’t want to get rid of you,” Iruka said hotly.
Kakashi snorted. “Not yet, anyway.”
Iruka glared at him. “Not ever.”
Kakashi shrugged, then pulled him in for a long kiss. He shifted back and ran the fingers of one hand through Iruka’s hair, wiping away the last few tears that clung to his lashes with the other. Iruka folded into him with a sigh.
They sat that way in silence for a long moment, breathing in each other. The sound of happy peals of laughter and excited barking filtered through the window. The both turned to the noise, watching the boy and the dogs frolicking on the grass, pouncing and chasing and laughing.
“Should we join them?” Kakashi asked eventually.
Iruka slipped his hand through Kakashi’s and squeezed tightly. “Let’s.”
***