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

2/10

Iruka Umino was nervous as he paced around his apartment, the food he'd made in the pot slowly cooling off as he crossed his arms over his chest. Sure, Kakashi had agreed to show up at a certain time, but Kakashi was always late, and that had him wondering if he should've waited to make dinner.

It was ten minutes past the time that Kakashi was supposed to show up for dinner. The silver-haired man's Ninken were already there, as they'd showed up at the academy that morning so Iruka and the kids could spoil them with treats and kisses before subsequently following him home that night. Iruka had made them each their own dinner, of course, and now they were splayed out across the different spots in his apartment, passed out- some on the living room couch, a couple on the kitchen floor, and the rest in his bed. He didn't have any pets of his own, but he certainly didn't mind their presence. They were good dogs, and they reminded him of Kakashi.

Thankfully, Kakashi wasn't too late, as Iruka's nervous pacing was quickly interrupted by a knock at his door. Praying that he looked presentable (he wasn't dressed particularly different, just the same outfit he usually wore minus his chunin vest and shoes), he opened the door, a smile coming onto his face when he saw Kakashi.

"Kakashi, come on in, make yourself at home," He opened the door, allowing Hatake in before shutting it behind them and quickly leading the silver-haired man to his dining room table.

"Thank you," Kakashi sat down, and Iruka thought he could see the older man's smile underneath the dark cloth of his mask. "It smells nice."

"Thanks!" The brunette walked into the kitchen, fixing two bowls of the vegetables and steamed rice he'd made, putting some chicken on top of both before taking the bowls to the kitchen, setting one at his spot and the other in front of Kakashi, who sat across from him. "I hope you like donburi."

"I love donburi."

Iruka grabbed some silverware for both himself and Kakashi, setting them down on the table as well before turning to the older man.

"What do you want to drink?"

"Water's fine, thank you." Hearing that, Iruka nodded and fixed a glass of water for both himself and Kakashi before sitting down. To his shock, Kakashi's mask was actually fucking off, and he was eating like a regular person. What the heck? "Honestly, I've been living off of microwave food and takeout for the past few months, so it's nice to have a homecooked meal like this."

Something made Umino assume that the situation with Hatake's mask was kind of like caring for a frightened animal. If the animal decides to take food from you and you decide to mess with it, it'll probably run away. If Kakashi chose to remove his mask to eat and Iruka decided to bring it up, Kakashi would probably laugh it off and put the mask back on. So, Iruka stayed silent, simply staring in awe. He wasn't sure what he'd expected to see underneath the mask, but it wasn't those perfectly plump lips and the defined but soft jawline that constituted the lower half of the older man's face.
The brunette couldn't help but stare- at least until he realized what Kakashi had just said about eating nothing but junk, and Iruka found himself gasping in both shock and concern. "Kakashi! That isn't healthy. You need to take care of yourself. Why haven't you been eating well?"

"Lack of motivation, I guess," Kakashi admitted, quickly getting through his food and taking a drink of his water before continuing. "It's easier to buy something or microwave a tv dinner for five minutes than it is to put effort into cooking."

"I always make too much food when I cook and I usually have leftovers," That's a lie, Iruka thought as he took a few bites of his own food. He was typically very meticulous, and the salary of a teacher wasn't much- even combined with the salary of a shinobi. He earned decent money, but he wasn't rich b any means, and he spent most of it on his students or things that related to the academy in general. Plus, after his parents had died, he'd had to scrounge for money until he became a genin, so he'd always been careful with what he spent. That meant careful budgeting and buying of groceries. Typically, he bought just enough food to feed himself three meals a day, those of which were usually cheap and healthy. So, he hardly ever had leftovers, but he didn't want to seem overenthusiastic or like he was trying too hard in front of Kakashi. "I don't mind making you something if you ever want me to."

"Ah, I wouldn't want to bother you," Kakashi gave a dismissive wave as he finished his food, holding up the bowl and changing the subject. "This is really good, though."

"Thank you! Seriously, though, nutrition is important."

"You really sound like a teacher right now," Kakashi rolled his eyes, and Iruka noticed that the silver-haired man wasn't wearing his headband either, leaving his dark eyes visible. It was odd to see his left eye, let alone without his Sharingan activated, but it was a pleasant sight to see his whole face. "I haven't been scolded like this in years. Honestly, you might have a heart attack if I tell you about my other habits."

"I'm scared, but intrigued," Iruka finished his food as well before leaning forward, resting his elbows on the wooden table and raising his eyebrows. "Tell me."

"I don't really have a sleep schedule, so some days I go to bed at four, other days I go to bed at twelve, it really just depends. I don't go to the doctor, really- I think the closest thing I've had to that since I was a kid are the times I've ended up in the hospital from something happening to me on missions. I feed my Ninken better than I feed myself, and I haven't bought a new mattress in, like, ten years, so they probably have better beds than me, too. I have glasses that I'm supposed to be wearing, but I don't because they're inconvenient, and having my eye covered all the time has kinda screwed with my depth perception and vision in general."

"Y'know what? You're right, I'm over here about to have a heart attack!" Iruka exclaimed, slamming his hands down on the table as he looked up at Kakashi, who was only laughing in amusement at the brunette's worry. "Oh my God, Kakashi, you've really gotta start taking care of yourself."

"I actually have some incident reports to fill out after this. I haven't slept in, like, thirty-six hours."

"You are not allowed to go home and immediately start working. I know your apartment isn't that far, but the Ninken are already asleep and it's getting late." He debated on whether or not he should say the next words that were occupying his mind, but he decided to go for it anyways. "Why don't you just stay here for the night? I'll take the couch."

"I'm not making you sleep on the couch, Iruka," Kakashi protested, though his tone of voice was rather half-hearted. "You have work tomorrow."

"It's not that big of a deal. I'm not making you sleep on the couch."

"We can both sleep in the bed," Iruka's face burned at that, and he prayed that Kakashi hadn't noticed it. "I mean, we've done it before."

That much was true. They'd slept in the same bed a few times when they'd been put on the same team with missions, and sure, they'd never been awkward about that, but there had been no other options during those times. This? This was different. Still, though, Iruka tried to act casual, standing up and taking both his and Kakashi's bowls to the sink to avoid the silver-haired man seeing his heavy blush.

"Fair point. If you're alright with that, that's fine with me. I'll get dessert, and then when we're through with that, we can go to bed, okay?"

"Okay."