Archive of Our Own ^beta

Genma snaps awake as soon as he hears feet on his windowsill, the icy draft of midwinter drifting in as the glass pane is slid aside.

A soft, if slightly shaky greeting flare of chakra has him releasing the kunai under his pillow as he blearily cracks an eye open, taking in the shadow of a familiar figure as he slumps against the wall by his bed

Wordlessly, he slips out from under the blankets and shuts the window. “You’ll catch your death running around in that icy wind for too long.” He mutters, voice still thick with sleep as he brushes frost from the tips of similarly colored hair.

A non-committal grumble from the man still sitting on the floor is all he gets in explanation at the moment. Genma’s apartment isn’t huge, but he hoists an arm over his shoulder and scoops up the exhausted man with a soft grunt. “Damn, I miss when you were a scrawny pipsqueak. It was easier to haul your ass around when you got like this.” He teases.

Kakashi sighs softly, giving into the urge to flop his head against the other’s shoulder as he’s settled on the couch, staring listlessly at the wall across from him. Genma shuffles around the kitchen, getting a kettle on the stove and a hot water bottle filled and heated, then tucked under Kakashi’s arms against his chest. His gaze drifts back to him, hollow and a little confused. Genma offers half a smile, reaching up to tug Kakashi’s hitai-ate down over his scarred eyelid, covering the sliver of ruby red and the dark circle under that eye in particular, the sliver of cheek even beneath that chapped and salt stained. “Back with me?”

“... Genma?” Kakashi’s voice is a little hoarse, and brittle in a way that Genma wasn’t expecting.

“That’s me. Avoiding the hospital?” It’s as much as a genuine question as it is light teasing. Genma drags the throw blanket off the back of the couch and drapes it over Kakashi’s shoulders.

“Mm.” Kakashi pulls the hot water bottle closer to his chest, tucking his chin down. “... Did I wake you up?”

“It’s late.” Genma says instead of an answer, standing to fuss with the kettle as it whistles. He turns the heat down and lets it cool a bit before dumping in tea. “Any injuries?”

“... maybe.”

If Genma’s genin teammate were here, he’d start going on about how ‘cool and mysterious’ his rival was with that answer. Genma just offered a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. Dissociation Is a bitch, especially after you’ve been running for an inadvisable amount of time. “Mind if I take a look, then?” He can feel the weight of the other’s eyes on him as he nudges Kakashi’s arms apart and lifts the blanket a bit. “... Maybe a good set of bruises on your ribs. You’re running on fumes. Make sure you don’t get stress fractures in your feet. You got some bruising around the balls of your feet from running.” Genma rattles off. “You need better arch support in your shoes in general. It’ll make your back ache if you keep putting off changing your insoles.”

A few scrapes and scratches, but the chakra drain was most pressing. Hospital probably let him go on the promise he’d crash with someone else rather than by himself. He pours the tea and hands Kakashi the cup, wrapping his nearly frozen fingers around the warmed ceramic. “Drink that. Then we’ll think about sleep or getting food in you.” Genma instructs firmly. “Opinion on making like an octopus for the night or you want to crash on the couch?”

Haltingly, Kakashi sips at the tea through his mask. “... I’d like to not wake up freezing.”

So, a person next to him would probably be appreciated. Genma huffs, pouring his own cup of tea and staring at it for a moment before sitting next to Kakashi on the floor, back to the couch. There’s the soft shuffling of cloth as Kakashi pulls down his damp mask, some tension bleeding out of his shoulders at the offer of privacy.

“How long are you home for?” Genma asks quietly, after a few moments of comfortable silence.

“Mm. Depends. Two-three days, maybe. For the chakra exhaustion.” Kakashi hedges. “Unless they shove chakra pills down my throat because something’s pressing.”

Genma frowns. “Make sure to check clotting factors.” He grumbles, even as he’s anticipating the nudge on the back of his shoulder.

“Yes mother.” Kakashi sighs, slumping down against the arm of the couch and yawning.

Genma huffed. “Finish your tea.” He drags himself to his feet and goes rooting through the linen closet for another blanket to throw over his bed. Genma usually ran too warm for a good amount of blankets, but Kakashi was a human ice pack on a good day and the weight would be nice. An extra pillow gets plopped on the head of the bed, and he calls that good for impromptu guests at two in the morning.

Kakashi’s mask is back up and the tea is gone, cup on the coffee table as Genma pokes his head back out. “Bed?”

“Bed.” Kakashi agrees tiredly, shuffling out from under the throw blanket and hot water bottle to stand with a wince, swaying slightly on his feet. Genma sighs and takes his arm to steady him, then at a slightly pleading glance, crouches down to pull Kakashi over his shoulder. The other man pouts at this, sighing. “You had no problem being nice with it earlier and now I just get thrown around like a sack of flour. I see how it is.”

“Earlier you seemed too out of it and I couldn’t guarantee you didn’t have fucked ribs or were going to yack up whatever ratbar you got in you at the orientation change.” Genma shoots right back, leaning forward to deposit Kakashi on the side of the bed closest to the window, yanking the blankets up over him with a huff. “Comfy?”

“Cold.” Kakashi complains, burrowing deeper into the blankets

“Cold is your baseline. You’re like a chakra exhausted anemic victorian child.” Genma pauses, glancing at the nightlight by the door. “Want me to put out the light?”

“‘S fine. You don’t like the dark.” Kakashi mumbles, eyelids already getting heavy. “And I resent that comparison. My immune system isn’t that shot.”

“Suna.” Genma remarks dryly. “Kiri. That one time in-”

“Hush. Quit lording your magic medic abilities to ward off sniffles over everyone else.” Kakashi whines, following Genma with a single dark eye as he slips under the covers on the other side of the bed.

“It’s called having a working immune system, and I will never not find your bouts of the ‘sniffles’ amusing.” Genma chirps softly, yawning himself. “And get your ass over here. I’m going to get heat stroke under all these blankets.”

“Human heater.” Kakashi grumbles, but Genma can feel the tension slowly bleed from his shoulders as he settles his head on Genma’s chest, an icy arm draped over his middle. “It’s unfair.”

“Lizard.” Genma chuckles, patting Kakashi’s back. “‘Cold blooded Kakashi’ is a literal statement. Need to get you a heat lamp.”

“Fuck off.” It’s a sleepy whine, completely overruled by the subtle tug closer.

“Octopus.” Genma corrects.

“I will bite you.”

“Mhm. Sounds like a good time.” Genma teases.

Kakashi’s reply is a sleepy slur as he turned his face into Genma’s chest, shamelessly enjoying the contact. Genma smiles, hand wandering up to toy with Kakashi’s hair and scratch at his scalp, the man in question going boneless against him. Genma let his own eyes drift shut, listening to Kakashi’s breathing as it evens out to sleep. Only then does he let himself curl more firmly around the other man, as if that alone would shield him from whatever the next day had in store for him.