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"Keep your hat on," Iruka tells Naruto as he once again pulls the beanie down over the boy's ears. "And your gloves. I'm serious."
Naruto rolls his eyes, but still smiles. "You worry too much, Iruka-sensei."
"Yeah, well, you'll thank me for it later. It's freezing out."
He looks up at the sky, unable to keep from worrying about what the weather might be like while Naruto and his team are away.
"It's okay, sensei," Kakashi speaks up, as if reading Iruka's thoughts. "This mission will be quick and easy. We'll be back in the morning."
Iruka just sighs and nods. There's not much else he can do at this point.
"Oh! One more thing." Kakashi reaches into his jacket and pulls out a set of scrolls. "All of my late reports!"
Iruka shakes his head in disapproval but takes them nonetheless. "You know, you're supposed to take these to the desk when people are actually working there."
Kakashi just shrugs. "Where's the fun in that? Besides, I thought you liked taking my late reports."
"Ugh," Iruka groans. "Get out."
Kakashi's visible eye crinkles into a smile and he waves before heading out of the gates. Iruka tells Naruto goodbye along with Sakura and Sasuke and watches the team until he can no longer see them.
Afterwards, he heads toward the academy, knowing he'll need to grab some tea from the lounge once he arrives. He really needs to do a better job of getting up early enough to have breakfast on days like this.
He's nearly made it all the way there when a voice behind him stops him dead in his tracks.
"Iruka?"
His stomach sinks as he groans inwardly. This is not what he wants to be doing today.
But he still turns around, smiling as polite as ever when he sees Genma standing there with his hands in his pockets and senbon in his mouth.
"Genma!" he greets with feigned excitement. "You're back! How was your mission?"
What he really wants to asks is why the hell Genma decided they needed to have a conversation today. Sure, their breakup happened a little over a year ago. And sure, Iruka was past the point of wanting to get back together. Still, he could do without the awkward small talk.
Genma nervously twists his senbon. "The mission? It was…interesting. I'm actually glad I ran into you this morning."
Iruka tries his hardest not to scowl. "Why?"
"Listen, I thought it was best for you to hear it directly from me," Genma sighs. "I met someone while I was away. And well, long story short, we're engaged."
"Engaged?" Iruka feels his eyes widen. "What the hell? You were only gone for, what, six months?"
Genma holds up his hands defensively. "I get it, believe me. It seems incredibly rushed. But when you know, you know. And I do."
Iruka just stares at him, unable to pinpoint exactly what this is making him feel.
"Congratulations, I guess."
"Thanks," Genma smiles. "If you're ever up for it, I'd love for you to meet her."
"What?" Iruka snaps. He decides to choose annoyance as his current emotion.
"Yeah, I just…I think you'd get along."
Iruka shakes his head in confusion. "I'm sorry, did you forget about the year and a half that you dated me? Why would I want to hang out with my ex and his new girl?"
"Oh," Genma frowns. He seems genuinely caught off guard. "You're right, sorry. That was probably a pretty hasty request. It's just that, I mean, I still care about you, Iruka. And we agreed we would stay friends. It doesn't have to be a big deal. We can even meet as a group! You can invite Anko, Asuma and Kurenai, or whoever you want really."
Iruka opens his mouth to protest, then quickly closes it again. He puts on his best, most professional smile.
"No, you're absolutely right. I'm sorry if I overreacted, I just wasn't expecting it. But yes, let's go out! We can make it double date."
Genma's eyebrows raise. "Oh, you're seeing someone? Even better! Anyone I know?"
"Uh," Iruka hesitates. He tries to conceal his panic as he searches for an answer to back up his story.
His fingers curl tighter around the scrolls in his hand, and he looks down at them for just a moment before blurting out, "It's Kakashi."
He enjoys the brief moment before the gravity of his lie sinks in when he gets to see the utter shock on Genma's face.
"Wow," he finally says, and Iruka half expects the senbon to fall out of his mouth. "Well, that's great, Iruka. I'll be in touch later this week and we can figure out what time works best for everyone."
"Sure," is all Iruka can manage.
He whirls back around and hurries toward the academy, knowing he would be late at this point.
He pretends that's what has him suddenly filled with dread.
-
Iruka paces back and forth as he waits for Team 7 to return to the village. He'd gotten to the gate much earlier than necessary, hoping to talk to Kakashi privately before he had the chance to get into the village and find out that he was now apparently in a committed relationship.
He hears Naruto before he sees anyone, then a few moments later sees a blond streak coming toward him.
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto calls.
"Hey, welcome back. How did it go?"
"Oh, it was so cool! Wanna hear about this cool thing I learned?"
The rest of the the team approaches and Iruka starts to get anxious. He cannot believe what he's about to do.
"Absolutely," he says to Naruto before reaching into his pockets and pulling out a pouch of money. "Here, go ahead and get some food and I'll catch up to you in a bit. Take your teammates with you."
The kids run off together and Iruka turns toward Kakashi.
"Can we speak privately?"
"Hm?" Kakashi tilts his head. "Is everything okay?"
And although Iruka had perfectly rehearsed what he was going to say, now that hes actually faced with the task all he can do is stare at Kakashi in horror.
Why had he done something so stupid?
Kakashi lifts his hand and places it on Iruka's shoulder. "Sensei, what's going on?"
And Iruka knows he has to tell him. There's no way to hide it now, so he figures he might as well just lay it all on the line.
"Okay, well I did something kinda dumb and I wanted you to hear it from me because if you don't, you're definitely gonna hear it from someone else and it's so embarrassing that I don't even want to say it. But apparently Genma is back from his really long mission and he's engaged now and asked me to meet her and I didn't want to third wheel with them so I said we could double date even though I'm single and when he asked who I'm seeing I said it was…well, you."
Kakashi stares at him blankly as he process the information. Iruka doesn't give him a chance to talk.
"Anyway don't worry about it because I already have a plan! I'll just tell him we got into a fight and that it's over and it'll be like it never happened."
"Oh, well," Kakashi smiles. "I'll still go with you if you want."
Iruka blinks. This was not in Kakashi's part of the script when he rehearsed.
"Huh?"
"Yeah, I mean, if I don't then you still gotta go alone right? So I can be your date for one night, and we can figure everything else out after."
"But," Iruka stuttered. "What? Why on earth would you do that?"
Kakashi squeezes Iruka's shoulder. Iruka hadn't even noticed that his hand was still there.
"It's nothing, sensei. Just tell me the time and place, yeah?"
He drops his hand and disappears before Iruka can respond.
-
On the night of the big date, Iruka is a mess.
Kakashi had offered to pick him up at his apartment, so he frantically scrambles to try and make it presentable. Unfortunately there's not much he can do on short notice besides clean up his dishes and shove his laundry under the bed.
Kakashi knocks right on time and just as Iruka was attempting to light his little lavender scented candle. He jumps and drops the lighter on his foot, so he's still groaning in pain when he goes to open the door.
Kakashi lifts his eyebrow. "You good?"
"Just peachy," Iruka mumbles.
He invites Kakashi inside and they both linger near the door. Iruka doesn't not know what is or isn't appropriate when going on a first date with one's fake boyfriend.
"So," Kakashi breaks the silence. "Should we discuss your game plan before we head out?"
"You think I have a game plan?"
He laughs. "Fair enough. Okay, let's put it this way. What are the ground rules for me while I'm pretending to be your boyfriend? Do you want hand holding, or cutesy talk or any of that to make it believable?"
"Oh. Yeah, sure," Iruka waves his hand dismissively and goes to get his jacket. "Feel free to do any of that. As long as you're not being weird or groping me or some shit I'll play along."
True to his word, he takes Kakashi's hand and pulls him out the door.
Rather than meeting for dinner at a restaurant, Genma had invited them over to his apartment. This was, unsurprisingly, the last place that Iruka wanted to be. Something about meeting Genma's fiancée while sitting in a spot he'd been naked in felt like a sick joke.
"Thanks so much for coming," Genma says as he sits down across from Iruka.
A beautiful woman joins the group and sits beside him. She gives Iruka a kind smile. "It's really nice to finally meet you! I'm Aomi. Genma's told me nothing but good things about you both."
"Likewise," Iruka answers. "And congratulations on your engagement. That's very exciting."
Suddenly, he feels Kakashi's hand on his knee. He looks straight ahead, trying not to show any sort of unusual reaction.
Kakashi leans over, so close his mask brushes Iruka's ear. "Are you okay?"
Iruka smiles at him sincerely and gives a little nod, trying not to draw unnecessary attention to their actions.
Aomi is still beaming at Iruka's statement and doesn't seem to think anything of their interaction. "Oh, it is, isn't it? I'm really looking forward to officially moving here and getting to know the village better."
Kakashi's thumb brushes over Iruka's knee. His stomach flips in response and once again he keeps looking forward, as if looking down and actually seeing Kakashi's hand on his leg would break him.
"Anyway, tell me more about you!" Aomi says cheerfully. "Genma tells me you're both old friends from school?"
Iruka's jaw drops. He looks at Genma, who's now gone a bit pale.
"Oh, really?" Iruka scoffs. "Is that all?"
Genma openly cringes. "Iruka, please-"
"Please what? Please don't say that we used to date? Why not? I'm sure wouldn't just fail to mention that, right?"
Aomi turns to Genma confused. "He's your ex?"
"Wow," Iruka laughs. "If you'll excuse me."
He jumps from his seat and storms out the front door.
"Sensei, wait," he hears behind him. Kakashi is right on his heels.
He doesn't turn back, but he slows down enough for Kakashi to catch up. They walk in silence until they're out of Genma's neighborhood.
"Iruka," Kakashi says gently when they stop walking. "I…I'm sorry that happened."
Iruka shakes his head. His eyes start to sting, but he blinks it away. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have tried so hard to save face. It's just awkward because it always ends up like this."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know. I guess it just seems like everyone I've dated always moves on so easily. Not that they shouldn't move on, but it almost feels like it never really happened, you know? Like the time spent with me was so forgettable."
"Hey." Kakashi puts his hand on Iruka's chin and lifts his face. "Anyone who could forget their time with you wasn't paying attention in the first place."
"Kakashi, don't-"
"No, I'm serious." He looks Iruka straight in the eye. "You are kind, you're funny, you're intelligent, you're hot. I could list things all night. The point is, you don't deserve to be with anyone who makes you feel like you're not those things. How could any of that be forgettable?"
Iruka can't keep himself from smiling. "Thanks, Kakashi. You sure know how to make a guy feel better."
"Any time," Kakashi smiles back.
He offers to walk Iruka home, and Iruka agrees. Kakashi carries most of the conversation, which is fine because Iruka isn't in much of a mood to talk. He realizes eventually though that Kakashi is intentionally trying to keep his mind off of the night's previous events.
By the time they reach Iruka's apartment, he's much more relaxed. He leans against the door and smiles.
"Thanks for coming with me tonight. Sorry I couldn't be a better fake date."
Kakashi shakes his head. "Sensei, as far as fake dates go, I couldn't have asked for a better one."
He puts one hand on the door and leans in. Iruka feels the mask against his lips and gasps slightly in surprise.
He turns his head, ending the kiss.
"Kakashi…"
Kakashi stumbles back, clearly embarrassed. "Shit. I, uh…shit. I'm sorry."
He disappears.
-
"Wait, tell me you're lying," Asuma says. He and Kurenai are staring at Iruka with stunned expressions after he told them about the date, including how it ended.
"Oh, Iruka," Kurenai sighs. "Why'd you do that to him?"
Iruka feels like they're having two different conversations. "Me? What did I do? We both knew it was only pretend!"
The other two exchange looks.
Asuma scratches his head nervously before reaching for his lighter. "Yeah, that's true. Except Kakashi's been pining over you for ages."
"Don't fuck with me."
"Why would I be fucking with you? That guy's been digging you since that first mission the two of you had together."
Iruka shakes his head. "But…but that was years ago."
"Exactly," Asuma replies. "He pretends it's not true, but we all know him better than that."
Groaning, Iruka scrubs his hands over his face.
He knows Asuma would not lie to him.
-
He shows up at Kakashi's place later that night with knot in his throat and a bottle of apology sake in his hand. It takes every bit of his courage to knock on the door.
When Kakashi answers, neither of them speak for a while. Iruka finally has to clear his throat and force himself to say something before he chickens out.
"I didn't know."
"Didn't know what?" Kakashi asks. "That I love you?"
Iruka nods. "Yeah, that."
"Look, don't worry about it, sensei. You don't owe me anything. I got too caught up in the moment last night and it caused me to misread things."
"But what if you didn't?"
Kakashi shakes his head. "You don't have to do that, Iruka. I promise, it's fine."
"Damn it, would you just listen to me!" he snaps. "I'm not doing any of this for your benefit. Sure, it started out as just a silly thing to save face in front of my ex. But by the end of it I realized that I'd actually like to do that again with you. For real this time."
Kakashi's face softens. "Are you sure?"
"Of course."
It takes him a moment to look fully convinced, but finally he smiles.
"Does tomorrow work for you?"