Verbatim (Kakashi Hatake x Iruka Umino)

Chapter Four

Kakashi Hatake smiled underneath his mask as he looked down at his new favorite book, Verbatim. He was at the local bar with some of his friends; Guy, Genma, Kurenai, and Asuma who sat to his right in the booth, and Iruka, who sat to his left. If he was being honest, he was feeling well for the most part, but feeling Iruka's shoulder brush against his every time the brunette reached for the silver fizz that sat on the bar table in front of him had him somewhat nervous. That on top of Kakashi's long-sleeved shirt, heavy pants, mask, headband, and thick vest had him feeling hot, but he didn't complain, only listening to the conversation of all of his friends.

"Kakashi," Kurenai spoke, causing him to look up from the copy of Verbatim that he had sat in his lap. "It's pretty rare for you to come along with us. What's the occasion?"

"What can I say?" Kakashi's smile grew, and he glanced at Kurenai momentarily before allowing his eye to drift to Iruka. Call it a force of habit- almost any time Iruka was around, he couldn't help but stare. Iruka's dark brown eyes met the one of Kakashi's that wasn't covered by his headband for just a second before Iruka blinked and averted his gaze, cheeks burning red. Kakashi turned back to Kurenai. "I'm in a good mood."

"Oh, did you meet someone?" Genma questioned, a small smirk taking over his lips as he tapped his fingers on the tabletop.

"No, I finally found another good book," Kakashi started, closing Verbatim before holding it up for the people at his tablet to see. "I'm rather excited about it, actually. I bought it two days ago and I've already finished it and reread it three times, but apparently, it's a multipart series, so the author should be publishing the second book sometime soon."

"Who's the author?" Kurenai tilted her head, curious stare trained on the book.

"That's the thing..." Kakashi started with a sigh, setting the book down on the table. "I have no idea who it is. They go by Risso, and it seems like this is their first book."

"Wait, you bought it from the usual place and you don't know who it is? That's rather unusual!" Guy exclaimed, placing a finger on his chin as he stared up at the ceiling in thought.

"I don't know who they are, but they're an absolute genius..." Kakashi mumbled, staring down at the book. It might've been the best he'd ever read if he was being honest...
Maybe it was because, in some weird way, the two main characters reminded him of Iruka and himself and subserviently catered to all of his deepest, darkest fantasies if he changed a couple of names and physical features in his mind when he was following along.

"Oh? Is this a new Icha Icha, my eternal rival?"
"It might actually be better."

"Oh my God," Iruka murmured, burying his face into his hands and sinking into the booth, which caused everyone to stare in his direction.

"Is something wrong, Iruka?" Kakashi tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.

"No, no, just..." Iruka moved his hands from his face and rested them in his lap, staring down at his drink to avoid making eye contact with anyone. "Nothing, don't worry about it," With that, Iruka smiled, probably trying to seem as if he hadn't just acted totally weird. "Anyways, what's the book about?"

"It's about this Chunin named Kujira who's in love with another ninja named Shirogane. They have a complex relationship that mostly consists of them having been in love with each other for a few years but skirting around it because they're afraid of their own feelings. They end up having a friends with benefits relationship, and it seems pretty clear that Shirogane is interested in Kujira romantically, but it's like Kujira doesn't want to believe it because he's afraid of taking risks" It was an ideal scenario, almost. Not that he would ever admit it, but the thought of him being in place of Shirogane and Iruka being in place of Kujira, and him confessing his love to the younger man and actually having it requited had him on cloud nine. "It seems like Kujira doesn't really believe it at first when Shirogane starts dropping hints- Shirogane's written as this mysterious, cold character who's usually hard to read but occasionally lets a more caring side of him slip, so it's difficult to understand him and Kujira seems to have some pretty bad insecurities, which leads to him thinking that Shirogane might be messing with him for whatever reason. Honestly, it's like a romantic game of tennis because they're really just hitting the ball back and forth."

"Isn't there a lot of smut in that book?" Iruka asked, which had Kakashi blinking. How did he know that?

Sure, the brunette was a ninja, so he wasn't a hundred percent innocent, but... He was pretty innocent.

Wholesome.

Not the type to read the kind of scenes that were depicted in Verbatim; bondage, degradation, edging, roleplay, the works that rivaled the likes of Icha Icha Violence.

Not the type to be even remotely interested in the BDSM-laced novels and comics that Kakashi was.

Iruka Umino's mere vibe just screamed vanilla to him, but then again, he didn't know about Iruka's sex life or anything, and he figured he'd already spent more time thinking about that than what would be considered healthy, so he decided to respond.

"Have you read it?"

"No, but Anko has," Iruka answered, which had Kakashi confused. Since when did Anko like reading? "We were talking about it the other day."

"Ah, well, yeah, there's a good five chapters of smut out of the twenty that are in here, so it's prominent, but not the main focus. The two main characters hook up a few times when they're still trying to figure out what the other character's feelings are- I interpreted as a thing of 'I don't know if you actually love me back, but I'm gonna take the physical affection while I can'. The story's quite compelling, really. You guys should give it a read." Everyone gave him a weird look at that, but Kakashi could only shrug. "I mean, I hadn't heard of the author before this, so I'm assuming they're just starting out. Some extra support might be nice."

"That's a fair point, Kakashi." A few seconds passed, and Iruka piped up again, giving a small smile. "Well, I've gotta go," Iruka finished his drink in one go and left enough money to pay for it on the table before sliding out from the booth and standing up. "There are papers I need to grade waiting for me at home, but I'll see you guys later. Bye!" He waved and got a few goodbyes from everyone else, and then, he left.

Kakashi's one revealed eye was trained on Iruka as the brunette as he walked away from their table and out the door of the bar, a sigh leaving from in between his lips.

"I should head out, too. I'll see you guys later."

Not even waiting for a response since everyone else seemed caught up in their own conversations, Kakashi quietly made his way out of the booth and walked across the bar to the door with his book in hand, exiting and taking in a deep breath when the cool air hit his face.

He started to walk home, pushing the copy of Verbatim into his back pocket as he looked up at the night sky. It was a cloudy night, which covered the stars that he usually liked to admire, though he liked the clouds, too. They were light and airy, hardly visible as the moonlight shone through them.

For whatever reason, he found his mind drifting back to Iruka.

Their relationship was odd. They saw each other regularly- whether it be because Iruka helped the Hokage sort through mission reports at the mission desk, because they had mutual friends, or because of their students, they ran into each other at least once a week. Kakashi wouldn't really consider them friends, but he wished they were friends- no, he wished they were more than friends- he'd been in love with Iruka for years. He wasn't sure exactly when it started, but he was sure of the fact that it was a complete and utter disaster.

Like the sky itself, his mind was also clouded, but rather than actual clouds, it was more bright smiles, sunkissed skin, chocolate eyes and silky, chestnut-hued hair, and strong hands holding Kakashi's own.

"Iruka wouldn't ever want me," he thought as he got back to his apartment complex, climbing up the stairs and reaching into his pockets for his keys.

Though he knew the truth, he found solace in being able to dream about it, and after seeing Iruka, he assumed that he would be doing a lot of dreaming about the younger man that night.