Naruto Oneshots + Imagines

Under The Mask (Kakashi Hatake x Iruka Umino)

Kakashi Hatake very rarely allows himself to care about people because of the cursed cycle he's been put through since his childhood; he gets attached to someone who shows him kindness, they reassure him that they'll be there for the long-run, and then, in a tragic turn of events, they go and die on him. Kakashi is sure that it's some sort of karma that's been delivered to him for being such a dickhead all his life, and at this point, he's too afraid to test it to prove his theory correct or even question it anywhere outside of his own mind.

Unfortunately, just as he thinks he's getting good at repressing the trauma from his father's suicide (and Obito's sacrifice, as well as his murdering of Rin, on top of Tenzou's vanishing off the face of the earth, as well as Minato and Kushina's untimely deaths), he makes the mistake of going and getting attached to yet another person who radiates sunshine and sparkles and all the other good shit in the world that Kakashi desperately tries to avoid in fear of losing it yet again.

It's Wednesday, and for as long as they've been doing this, Wednesday has been their day.

Ichiraku is dead empty aside from the two of them. Kakashi sits on the stool in the very right corner with Iruka sitting to the left of him. Iruka prefers the corner stool, but Kakashi is adamant about taking it from him every time because one, it's the closest to the wall which eases his anxiety, and two, he's able to protect Iruka a little easier if anything ever happens.

Their dates- meetings- whatever they are, are unspoken. It's been a couple years since it started; Kakashi noticed that Iruka would treat himself to Ichiraku every Wednesday and felt so drawn to the teacher that he "just so happened" to show up there on Wednesday's as well. Iruka, the soft-hearted extrovert he is, immediately started sitting next to Kakashi and trying to talk to him. Kakashi rarely responds with much, let alone anything too personal about himself, but he does listen. He loves Iruka, and he loves everything Iruka has to say from his dumb stories about kids walking all over Mizuki to his deepest fears and regrets.

With how little Kakashi has openly invested into their relationship, he's confused as to why Iruka keeps trying. He never questions it, though. He appreciates Iruka's attention too much. At this point, he craves it so frequently that he finds himself doing whatever he can to see Iruka outside of their meetups at Ichiraku; trailing him home after he gets off work to make sure he gets there safely, showing up at the academy to watch him sit on that wooden swing outside the building after hours, dropping off groceries on his porch when he's too broke to buy them for himself, "bumping into him" at his favorite book store.

Now that it's been a couple years, even Kakashi, dense as he can be, has realized what it is. It's love. Albeit a bit obsessive and a bit creepy (especially considering the fact that he's basically been stalking/bodyguarding Iruka since the start of their friendship), Kakashi knows that what he feels for Iruka is romantic love that has only grown since getting to know him better. The worst part is that he knows Iruka loves him back- or at least has a crush on him. It's obvious in how Iruka so hurriedly insists to pay for Kakashi's food despite making chump-change at his teaching job, and it's obvious in how Iruka stares at him with a huge blush and his big brown eyes so sweetly when he thinks Kakashi isn't paying attention.

But Kakashi will never confess- not because of a fear of rejection, but because he's afraid of getting too attached only to lose someone again. He's already in far too deep. He doesn't want to know what it's like to be even deeper.

"Ah, that reminds me," Iruka starts, having just finished telling Kakashi about some crazy mission that one of his students from last year went on. "I actually got assigned a B-rank mission. It's supposed to happen next week during the kids' final exams, which kind of sucks, but I guess Lord Third is really just that understaffed."