Candy Hearts (Kakashi Hatake x Iruka Umino) (Valentine's Day 2019)

2/5

"Thanks for the help, Kakashi!" Iruka said, looking up at Kakashi as he set up the table that Iruka was going to use for the spread of food that was going to be offered to the students during the early Valentine's day party. Like he'd said he would, Kakashi had come to help decorate, and if he was being honest, he thought he might've been enjoying it more than Iruka was. It was nice to spend time with the brunette- not that he really planned on saying it out loud. "It's really appreciated. I've been doing this all by myself for the past few years."

"I don't mind at all. It's relaxing, actually, and it gave me a reason to dodge all the missions the Hokage kept trying to load onto me."

"Ah, so I'm just an excuse to avoid the menial festive tasks, huh?" Iruka asked, a knowing smile taking over his plump lips.

"No, of course not... Plus, those aren't much different from this. The only thing that really makes this better is that you're here."

"Don't tease me!" Iruka exclaimed, to which Kakashi shrugged.

"Who said I was teasing? Just telling the truth." Kakashi's gaze wandered across the room and to the trashcan, which was full of crumpled paper. Suddenly, the silver-haired man was reminded of all the times he'd seen Iruka recently- particularly the last time he'd seen the brunette at the bar, clearly conflicted as he wrote and trashed numerous papers- at least until he'd noticed Kakashi. When he had, he'd become embarrassed and changed the subject. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask... What are those writings for?"

"W-Writings?" Iruka set out the tablecloth on the food table, making Kakashi have to stifle a laugh as he saw it- pink with red and white hearts, and suddenly, he figured out that Iruka was probably a little more excited for the holiday than he let on. "What writings?"

"Don't act stupid now, Iruka-Sensei," The jonin mused, emptying all of the food and snacks from the grocery bags and setting them on the huge table before throwing the bags away in one of the classroom trashcans. "Almost every time I've seen you walking around town or in the bar where all our friends meet for the past couple weeks, you've been writing in your notepad. Sometimes, you'll even get frustrated enough to rip a few pages out and throw them away. I'm not dumb enough to think they're lesson plans."

"Well, they're not, but... It's kinda personal..." The brunette trailed off, picking up all of the cut-out paper roses and setting one down on the desk of each student, his back facing the silver-haired man.

"Love letters?" Kakashi questioned, taping some of the huge, heart-shaped posters along the classroom walls before looking back at the younger man with his one exposed eye. "Or have you taken after Jiraiya?"

"Absolutely not the second one!" Iruka laughed, clearly nervous as he grabbed some streamers and climbed onto his desk to hang them up on the ceiling before hopping down and running a hand through his chocolate-hued hair. "I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I wrote that stuff. I don't even know how he does it."

"So they're love letters, then? Could they be for... Me?" Kakashi joked, raising an eyebrow as he watched Iruka's sunkissed face burn rose-red. "Iruka, I'm just kidding. You know, for someone so tan, your blush is really prominent if you get embarrassed enough."

"Iruka-Sensei!" A student called, happy as she walked into the classroom, the rest of Iruka's kids following behind her. They all tumbled into the classroom like a pack of wolves, nearly trampling each other as they raced to the spread of food.

"They're back from lunch," Iruka sighed, grabbing the bags of decorations that were left and gently placing them in the bottom drawer of his desk. "Guess I got caught up talking." Glancing over the huge table of food and snacks, he crossed his arms and grinned. "Oh well, this should do. Thank you again for the help, K-"

Of course, to both men's embarrassment, Iruka was cut off by the loud voices of his students. Kakashi allowed his eyes to fall shut as he listened to the numerous conversations that were being had in the classroom.

"Iruka-Sensei, I didn't know you had a boyfriend!"

"Iruka-Sensei has a boyfriend!?"

"Hey, isn't that one of the genin team's teachers? Maybe we'll get him when we graduate! He looks cool!"

"He's big brother Naruto's teacher, Kakashi! I think I saw them walking home together just yesterday!"

"You think they live together? Oh my God, are they married!?"

"What? But they don't have wedding rings!"

"Well, duh! Of course they aren't wearing them- they're ninjas! They could lose the rings!"

"Yeah, you know how much money jewelry is?"

"Iruka-Sensei and Kakashi, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-"

"All of you sit down right now or I'll be replacing your Valentine's party with laps around the school." All of the chaotic children fell silent at Iruka's uncharacteristically cold words, rushing to sit down in their chairs and create a room that was so silent you could hear a pin drop. "Anyways..." Iruka gave an awkward chuckle, turning back to the silver-haired man. "Thank you again for the help, Kakashi. Would you like to stick around? The kids seem like they're, uh, excited to have you around."

"Ah, I'm alright," Kakashi scratched the back of his neck with one hand, standing there a bit awkwardly. He'd love to stay and hang out with Iruka, but he also didn't want to feel like he was overstaying his welcome. After all, he'd only come to decorate, and he wasn't great with kids. "I've never been big on Valentine's celebrations, but we'll have to hang out some other time, yeah?" With that, Kakashi waved, heading towards the classroom's exit. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah," Iruka smiled, waving back as Kakashi walked out the door. "See you later."