Work Text:
The bass thumbed through your body that strong that you believed to feel the cheap and thin beer in your hand jump alongside the heavy, electronic beat. Grimacing, you raised the bright blue cup to your lips and tried not to care about the people making out right beside you, who thought a worn-down couch in the middle of a very lively living room was the perfect place to make it to the second base, if not the third. The hips of the girl grinded against the without a doubt bulging crotch of her lover boy, withering and rolling, while her deep, guttural moans vibrated through the whole couch. His ass bumped into your elbow holding your drink, making some of the beverage spill over the edge. Cursing, you quickly licked the drink off and scowled at the few droplets which dripped onto your jeans. Not only the heavy scent of smoke (cigarettes and possibly also weed. Yes, definitely weed.) would cling to all of your clothes, no, you would also reek like a whole brewery.
You hated the music, hated the loud crowd jumping up and down around you, hated the hollering and shouting echoing through the heavy, sweaty, stinking air. Why anyone had fun at these parties was beyond you. Well, at least you tried to enjoy one of the frat parties. Not for you, no questions asked, case closed. From now on, you could rightfully say you hated every second of this useless, alcohol-pregnant orgy.
Another sip and another grimace, then, you couldn’t stand the dry sex beside you any longer. You left your designated spot and searched for Kakashi. Hopefully, he didn’t find a willing, easily impressed first-semester to hook up with yet.
It wasn’t hard to find him. You just had to wait and listen for the unavoidable squealing, high laughing and cooing of a group of girls. Two minutes, that was all it took to find Kakashi in this horror house of alcoholism and pornographic dreams.
Sitting smack in the middle of a modern three-seater, his book in one hand and an unused blue cup similar to your own in the other, surrounded and almost caged by a group of chattering girls who tried to catch his attention with their loose and low-cut clothing, riding up skirts and showing bras. Little did they know that nothing turned Kakashi more off than throwing themselves onto his neck and fake laughs. That grated on his nerves, he told you once. Like a cheese grater over parmesan (his words, not yours!).
But your friend just had this kind of impression on the surrounding female population and no matter what he tried, even covering his face up for a while with varying masks, seemed not to work. In fact, while he wore the mask, his groupies crowded around him even worse and tried to demask him, getting deep into his personal space. He could be clothed like a total slob, but the girls would still flock to him.
Needless to say, Kakashi gave up the masks. His newest attempt to get rid of his religious followers was to read his trashy romance novels out in the open, but instead, they all seemed to think now that he was a kinky bastard. At least, their attempts became raunchier, more direct and explicit. Their hands flittered along the edges of his black jeans, some of them were bold enough to actually tug at the sleeves of his loose university hoodie in their futile attempts to gain his attention. Time to save him.
You leaned slightly over the outer ring of the girls, all the while trying not to get in touch with any of them. “Hey, Kakashi!”
He instantly looked up from his book. A sign he hadn’t really read a single letter. “Oh, (Y/N). Let me just…”
He got up from the couch, not caring for the hands which stretched out to him nor the poisonous glares you received for “stealing” Kakashi from his groupies. You also couldn’t care less, even smiled full of false friendliness at the closest girls.
“Are you alright?” he asked as soon as he was close enough. “Sorry for leaving you alone. You know, Obito dumped me here and then-!”
“You got pounced on. Yeah, I can see that.” Amused, you nodded into the vague direction of the kitchen. “Care for something else? I’m not in the mood for lukewarm beer.”
“Sure. I think they should have something harder?”
“I was thinking more alongside the lines of water or soft drinks.”
“Boring.”
“Should I check the state of your liver?” You elbowed the man in the side, teasing and mocking more than hurting. “Just watch out, you’re on the best way to become a typical frat boy.”
Kakashi hummed. “You have to know that, huh? As a typical movie-wallflower and bookworm.”
Joking like this, making fun of each other, it felt natural and due to the familiarity, you felt a bit better while making your way through the dancing, sweating and rowdy crowd. Since the first semester, you two had been friends. Meeting because you two got the room of your first lecture wrong and bonding over the experience was surely only one of the many funny memories you made with Kakashi. The fact that he lived only one level above you in the student dorms only added to the closeness and friendship which developed quickly between the two of you. Lately though, you were almost hyper-aware of his presence whenever Kakashi was close enough. Like now. His hand brushed against your lower arm, his flank bumped into yours, and tingles wandered through your entire body.
That was bad. You knew it, were painfully aware of it, but so far, you succeeded in ignoring these new, sparkly, tingly sensations.
But fate, or whoever was responsible for you in particular, had other plans in mind.
You just laughed about something Kakashi said while shoving your way through a gap between two people, when a familiar voice hit your ears. Instantly, your smile dropped and your insides froze as you whirled around, instinctively zooming onto that one person you absolutely dreaded to meet, see and listen to.
Zabuza, your ex.
Zabuza, standing in the middle of a group of other sport students, downing a beer straight from the can. Zabuza, laughing and being happy. Zabuza, who broke up with you over a text message right before mid-terms. Zabuza, who ghosted you afterwards and didn’t answer one of your questions on “why”, “why now” and “what did I do wrong”.
He noticed you. Like in a bad movie scene reserved for lovers. Staring into each other’s eyes while you tried to find your voice and the feeling in your legs again. Then, suddenly, he broke the contact. Looked away like nothing ever happened, like you didn’t even exist.
You were frozen in your place and hated the feelings growing inside your stomach. A queasy kind of sadness, a light kind of anger, a heavy kind of confusion. What were you supposed to do now? The few sips of beer from before revolted in your body, and before Zabuza could do more than sip at his beer or Kakashi was able to stop you, you shoved your way back into the crowd, not looking left or right.
Just away, away from that dreaded meeting.
“(Y/N)!” You were dimly aware of the footsteps behind you, mixed with the thumbing of the bass and the chatter of the people, but when a hand dug into your shoulder and twisted you around, you nevertheless tried to jerk away.
“Shit.” Kakashi was still holding onto you, one hand laying on your shoulder and the other combing through his hair, erratic in his gestures and movements. “Shit, shit, I’m sorry. I had no idea he would be here, otherwise I wouldn’t have dragged you to this party. Are you alright?”
You nodded. In your little frenzy, you ran outside, away from the noise and people and overall presence. Solitude, to maybe cry or maybe scream. The garden behind the frat house was almost empty, due to the light drizzle coming down and the lightning booming in the distance. Just a few people were outside, but none of them were clear enough to actually give a fuck about your little crisis.
“It’s just,” you bit into your lower lip, “I didn’t expect him here. At all. Because he was so suddenly gone, it felt like he never broke up with me, you know? He sent me just a text message, after all. Seeing him again, so happy and acting like I’m just thin air… Makes it real, you know?”
He didn’t understand. Of course, he couldn’t. Who would leave Kakashi Hatake? Who would be insane enough to ghost him? With his looks, his charisma, his intelligence, every partner he would show interest in would swoon and bend backwards to fulfill his wishes.
Maybe, that was the problem. You looked at your friend, tried to smile and will the burning tears in your eyes away. Kakashi needed someone who wouldn’t fawn over him like the girls back inside the frat building did. He needed someone who would talk a little bit back at him, to get him down to earth and give him a little reality-check if needed. And maybe, Kakashi was already aware of that.
“Doesn’t matter, actually.” You mumbled. “I just have to get myself together, you know? You can go back inside, your followers surely miss you.”
“Stop joking,” with a low sigh, Kakashi dropped onto a garden chair on the wide patio and gestured you to come and sit with him, “I won’t leave you alone right now.”
“I’m not joking, though.” Still, you sat down by his side. “I just need a few minutes.”
“Yeah, sure. Who’ll make sure that you’re not using the chance to run off?”
“You just have to trust me.”
“I have lots of trust in you, (Y/N), but not that much trust.” An amused glance hit you. “Don’t you think I already realized how much you don’t want to be here? Apart from the Zabuza situation, of course.”
“Quit talking, Hatake. Like you want to be here, either.”
“How-?”
“Oh, come on! Your groupies are going on your nerves, you’re not much of a drinker, you’re only here because Obito dragged you into coming because otherwise, the girls wouldn’t have showed up. Besides, the Icha-Icha-magazine released a new issue. You didn’t have time to read it yet.”
“Again, how…? Aaah, you received my post again.”
A little giggle fell from your mouth at his exasperated expression. “Yep. The mailman will never get it right, I guess.”
“Probably,” Kakashi sighed, “or he just doesn’t want to get me my beloved and cherished Icha-Icha. This week’s issue is supposed to clear the latest plot point. Junko and her soon-to-be lover were snowed in a cabin and there was only one bed…”
His voice drowned in your thoughts, which floated again towards Zabuza and his cold behavior. His small, cold eyes, measuring you up and down like a dead fish on his plate. Deeming you worthless.
Maybe it was the alcohol talking out of you, but the longer you thought about the evening, the more it all seemed so surreal. Really, like the plot of a movie or a plotline for a book. The strange look you shared with Zabuza, the little moments, coincidences and things said; all of this seemed so unreal, that the suggestion in your head seemed just as logical and reasonable as walking away from this party.
“Can you help me?”
“Depends.”
“It’s just a small favor, I swear.”
“The size of the favor can only be determined by me and me alone.”
You fidgeted around in your chair and your knee knocked into Kakashi’s. Again, the tingly feeling overcame your body, and this time, you actually allowed these feelings. Reveled in them, cherished and enjoyed the tingles, the sinking-floating-falling of your stomach and mind.
“I wanted to ask,” you fidgeting and bumped once more into his knee, “if you would kiss me.”
For the first time since you met Kakashi, he was completely and utterly stunned. His eyes the size of saucers, mouth popped open and visible confusion written all across his features.
Blood rushed into your face. “I know how that sounds,” you tried to explain, fumbled with your fingers and regretted already to ever had asked, “I know, okay? But he acts like everything is fine, like nothing ever happened. Like we were never a thing. I think he needs a reality check. That I don’t care about him and his ignorance, even though that’s not true. Obviously.”
“And the only solution for you is to ask me to make out with you. In plain sight of your shitty ex.”
“No make-out,” like whenever he wanted to tease you, your eyes rolled around, “just… kissing. Maybe a bit of fondling.”
Kakashi snorted loudly into the silence, only underlined by a far-away thunder rolling over the sky. “Okay, sure. Is there a checklist? Fondling, yes, with tongue, no? Do you really think this will solve your problem right now?”
He took your question seriously. That was at least something. At the mere imagination of Kakashi pulling through with your juvenile and, to be honest, stupid and childish plan, more blood rose into your face until you thought you must resemble an overly ripe tomato.
“No checklist,” you mumbled, “and no, I don’t think so. But I believe I will feel better afterwards. Knowing I showed him a piece of my mind, that I’m moving on without him. That I don’t care.”
He didn’t look at you. Instead, Kakashi stared at his own feet, hands entangled and obviously deeply in thought. Was he considering your little plan? Was he not? Was he mulling over it? Did he think of you for the first time as a girl, as a woman, a sexually attractive person? A glance at you, how you watched him with questions in your eyes and doubt in your heart, before Kakashi nodded. Slowly and insecure, but yes, he nodded.
“Alright,” he said, in his usual absent-minded, nonchalant tone which could rile you up in seconds, but now, calmed your quickly beating heart down like a childhood lullaby, “alright. Fine, we will do it. But it’s my lead.”
“Okay, fine by me.”
“We’re going inside there,” he gestured towards the house, music and voices still spilling outside, “make sure that Zabuza sees us and then we’re going to kiss.”
“Pretty much, but it has to look real. Can you do that?”
“I don’t know. Can you?”
“I think.”
“That’s not good enough. We’re trying out now.”
What?
“What?” Your thoughts echoed loudly in the garden, but Kakashi nodded, more secure than before.
“Yeah,” he repeated, “just a little test beforehand. To make sure we’re… comfortable.”
He included himself. Strangely enough, that gave you a little piece and comfort, that despite his calm exterior, Kakashi wasn’t entirely the usual island of cool and aloof behavior. That there was something unsettling, uprooting him. The same thing which unsettled and uprooted your own mind, made you fidget around on your wobbly seat and your head spin with all the thoughts circling around.
Suddenly, his hand closed around yours, which had rested on the armrest. Warm fingers, squeezing your fingers with an unknown softness. If possible, you blushed even further, but didn’t shake him off. It felt… Felt right, felt good.
“It will be alright.” Kakashi leaned in. His breath crashed in gentle waves against your face, against your lips. Out of instinct, your tongue darted out, licked over the sensitive skin. Smoothened, prepared yourself. Your breath hitched as Kakashi leaned even further in, just barely an inch away now.
“I’m sure it will be alright,” you whispered, while your eyes flitted down to Kakashi’s lips, to his mole, and back to his mouth, “I have full trust in you.”
“Good to know.”
Before you could say or do anything, hell, before you could even think, Kakashi had closed the last bit of empty space between the two of you. His lips were warm, gentle and his hand still holding onto yours shook the tiniest bit. You could feel it. The little insecurity in his movements, the faint tremble of his entire body, the intensity of the soft kiss…
Out of instinct, your hand rose. Carefully, your fingertips graced the bone of his jaw, tapered against the heated skin, only to cup his cheek fully. It was more than just a test. More than just a simple try in being comfortable. More than just a mere kiss. You could feel it and you were pretty sure, Kakashi felt it too.
When he retreated, his cheeks were flushed to a bright red. A stark contrast to the strands of his silver-grey hair hanging into his forehead, so goddamn adorable and tempting that you couldn’t resist. With trembling fingers, you brushed them back and watched how they instantly fell back into place.
“It was alright.” You said. Then, you swallowed dryly, smiled, before repeating: “It was alright.”
“Yes.” His voice was also shaking. “It was… It was more than alright.”
“So… Showtime?”
“Hm.” Hands entangled, Kakashi tugged you upwards. His flank was now pressed to yours, not out of an accident or coincidence. Willingly, a gesture with meaning. Apparently, you hadn’t been the only one with new feelings blooming in your chest.
As you walked side by side back into the frat house, you only had eyes for your former friend. His face showed nothing, betrayed nothing, but his lips were a bit swollen, a bit redder than before. A dust of red showed on his cheeks, not as intense as before anymore, but still present enough to gain the attention of a few girls, who stood close to the back entrance. They did a double take when they spotted your entangled hands, only to shoot venomous glares at you for the audacity to be so close to their idol.
You gifted them a lazy grin. The noise and music, the alcohol and the almost-orgies, but foremost, their hateful glares didn’t bother you that much any longer. Just like Kakashi said, it was alright. Everything was alright.
When you entered the central, wide room of the frat house again, Zabuza and his friends were still there and massacred the remaining cans of cheap beer they brought with them. Their laugh boomed through the entire room, overshadowed even the bass of the speakers. Not that that was of any meaning.
Kakashi’s hand squeezed yours, a gentle reassurance. Then, he caught Zabuza’s attention with a simple nod, before spinning you towards him and leaning in. Time seemed to pause for a second, then his lips pressed against yours, just like before. Like you had done so already far too many times. Kissing Kakashi was as natural as teasing him for his terrible literature, like ruffling through his soft hair and burying your hands in the strands, like putting more and more force into the kiss. You mouthed him, not for the show put on for Zabuza, but because you could and Kakashi enjoyed it. He pressed himself against you, hands gripping into your waist and pulling you tight to his nicely smelling hoodie. A moan vibrated in his chest, low and demanding, which you answered with a feverish desire you hadn’t known you possessed.
But it was Kakashi and it was alright.
Actions spoke louder than words. And your actions, his and yours, were screaming all over the room, loud and clear. One last nip to his lips, then you pulled back, dazed and looking up to Kakashi. His dark eyes met yours, and when his lips curled into a little, mocking grin, you answered out of pure instinct.
Another, third kiss of the evening, languished, unhurried and enjoying the sensations more than the shocked gasps, catcalls and impressed whistles. Over the noise, you thought you made out a wordless growl of Zabuza, but it could also be only your imagination.
While kissing, you held tighter onto Kakashi. That was something to be thought about later. Now, there was something more important and you enjoyed it far too much to give it up for someone or something else than the man right in front of you.
(Later, much, much later, Kakashi would joke about your insistency and viciousness. “Like a feral cat, clawing into my hoodie,” to what you would retort that he had a massive case of constant morning breath, what he would counter with a little pout and you with a package of mint gum, hitting him square in the forehead.)
That was later, though. Right now, you were busy and no one would disturb you. And maybe, there was something good about frat parties, if now for the potential to drink to your heart’s content, a simple hook-up or the chance to confess wordlessly to your best friend.