Chapter Text
Kakashi had just come back from a mission, bearing a letter from Naruto. Protocol stated he open the letter before handing it to its recipient, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
The name 'Iruka-sensei' was big and bold on the back of the envelope, written in the clearest handwriting Kakashi had ever seen from the boy. He could tell from the deep indentations the pen had left behind that Naruto had been careful and deliberate about it. It wasn't hard to picture him sticking his tongue out in concentration as he addressed the envelope.
A frog doodle stared up at him and somehow Kakashi felt that frog was more entitled to read the contents of this letter than he would ever be.
Maybe it was the fact he'd never had anyone to write a letter to, or to get a letter from, but the whole affair seemed far too intimate for him to simply intrude in this moment.
Instead, Kakashi picked a tree overlooking Iruka's class and waited for the school day to be over.
***
He didn't normally accept dinner invitations from academy senseis he barely knew, but Iruka was asking him with a blazing smile and eyes that said 'I'd like nothing more in the world than to share this moment with you' and, truth be told, Kakashi was curious.
Rooftop travel didn't save him nearly as much time as he expected, and so he was 2 minutes late when he knocked on Iruka's door. When the man opened the door in just a regulation turtleneck and sweats, Kakashi had been taken by surprise by the casualness of it all.
The slight discomfort of being overdressed in his flack jacket subsided when he reached down to pick an eraser off the floor and noticed a kunai strapped on the inside of the table edge. Iruka-sensei did understand why he couldn't take the vest off, he was just as ready for battle as him.
***
Conversation was smooth and easy. It was no wonder, really, why Naruto and Iruka got along so well. The man was kind, and encouraging, and lectured Kakashi about active teaching but burst into laughs nonetheless as Kakashi relayed cat-rescuing missions.
Naruto's letter wasn't artful. The boy ran off on tangents every three sentences and somehow still managed to skip over enough details that half the stories' endings seemed entirely unrelated to their beginnings. Iruka didn't seem to care, though. Pride shone through his voice as he read the letter to Kakashi out loud.
It didn't matter that Kakashi's name hadn't been on the back of that envelope, he realised, because Iruka laughed whenever the words stopped making sense and looked over at Kakashi like it was a joke and they were both in on it.
Perhaps it was Iruka's reckless candidness and the thrill of being included that had Kakashi losing track of how many drinks they'd had, and when he'd woken up to find Iruka's hand still knit into Kakashi's hair and a toned chest splayed atop his own, Kakashi just basked in the warmth radiating off this man.
***
Kakashi had seen Iruka with his hair down ―had been the point Iruka made a few hours later when they were both awake― and so it didn't really matter if Iruka had seen Kakashi without his mask, because they were even.
Kakashi had found it amusing that the sensei's reaction to waking up to Kakashi's lips just a few inches above his eyes had been to shut them tightly again and apologise. The apology, of course, had lasted all of 5 seconds before Iruka ran a hand through his hair and his jaw had gone slack.
It still brought a smile to Kakashi's face when he thought about the sensei's bewildered glare and contradicting blush as Kakashi lifted his wrist to reveal a hair tie.