Work Text:
Iruka is tired of everything.
When Naruto first approached him to be his confidant in the Hokage’s office, he had readily agreed. Spending time with one of his favorite people in the world? What could be better than that?
And well, at first, it was great. He got to see Naruto every day, get something other than ramen into his body, and keep Naruto organized. Which he was, surprisingly. Naruto with his shadow clones are a godsend, and he makes sure to urge Naruto to use the jutsu as much as possible.
And Naruto’s a great Hokage. Iruka’s just glad that the village finally grew up and got to see what he saw from the very beginning. He couldn’t be prouder of Naruto, and he tries not to show it too obviously whenever they’re in some very important meetings.
But there are just some things that he wishes he didn’t have to deal with.
He’s standing in front of Naruto now, his fingers going up to pinch the bridge of his noise.
“No,” he tries, “you can’t just go to visit Wave because they got a new ramen shop. There’s a reason there’s a schedule, let alone having our Hokage out of the village!”
“But,” whines Naruto, and there are times when Iruka really can see the kid from when he was younger, “it’s really famous! Gaara got to try it! And I could leave a shadow clone.”
“Shadow clones are not the same thing, Naruto,” he chides, and watches as Naruto deflates in front of him. Naruto flops down onto the desk, crossing his arms in annoyance.
Iruka narrows his eyes; everyone knows that Naruto loves ramen, but Iruka knows that even ramen won’t get Naruto to pout like this.
It takes a second, and then he remembers, and he holds up a hand accusingly. “You are not going to Wave just to follow Sasuke. He’s one of our elite Jounin; he doesn’t need you to watch his back!”
Naruto opens his mouth probably to deny it, and when Iruka frowns at him, he gives up. “Was I that obvious?”
Iruka hesitates at the sight, his heart aching, and he gives up on chiding Naruto. He doesn’t have the heart in it, not when it has to deal with Sasuke. So instead he sidles up to Naruto, throwing an arm around him.
“He’ll be fine,” he says. “Just trust him.”
“It’s his first real mission so far away,” he says. And he doesn’t have to say much more than that for Iruka to catch on, and he holds on tighter to Naruto, as if that’ll heal the pain he knows Naruto carries.
“He’ll come back,” he promises, and Naruto nods, but his shoulders are still tight.
Iruka knows they’ll stay tight until Sasuke is back, so he settles for distracting Naruto by taking him out to Ichiraku’s.
Iruka stops before he opens the door, and he knows it’s wrong to eavesdrop, but they’re a ninja village, such a thing is to be expected.
He recognizes Sasuke’s voice.
“I couldn’t bring the real thing back,” he says, and there’s a hint of emotion that Iruka can’t really decipher through a closed door so he doesn’t try, “So I asked Teuichi to make it using the ramen I brought back.”
“Sasuke,” says Naruto, and it’s just one word but it’s full of such longing and intense emotion that Iruka wonders how Sasuke doesn’t pick up on it.
There are no other words said, and Iruka detects a faint chakra signature in the air so he pushes the door open. The bowl of ramen is already empty, which Iruka isn’t too surprised about, but he is surprised to see that Naruto’s face is flushed red and Sasuke is nowhere to be seen.
“Good morning, Naruto,” he says, instead of commenting on the very obvious elephant in the room, and Naruto looks so grateful, Iruka has to turn away to hide his smile.
After that, things change.
At first, Iruka doesn’t realize why. And then as it keeps happening, he slowly comes to realize that it is all solely because of Sasuke.
Once he does realize, he can’t help glaring daggers at Sasuke whenever he barges into Naruto’s office. He is certain that Sasuke can feel it, considering he’s a seasoned ninja and Iruka is a chuunin, and he is definitely emanating top-tier killing intent at the man. But Sasuke never confronts him on it and neither does it seem to affect him.
Nope, Iruka is forced to just glare as Sasuke interrupts yet another important meeting. They’re not even done with the discussion, but Naruto slams his hands down as soon as he catches sight of Sasuke. Sasuke doesn’t even look worried, without a single hair out of place, and he’s smirking when Iruka catches his eye.
“Alright,” says Naruto, looking every inch of a proud Hokage and Iruka’s heart swells with pride and he feels extremely at war with himself due to the killing intent he’s still aiming at Sasuke, “We’re going to host the exams here. That’s it, got to go,” he finishes, and his smile is so bright, everyone just nods, too blinded to do anything else.
He sweeps out of the room, Sasuke at his elbow, and Iruka is left to deal with everyone’s concerns as soon as Naruto’s gone.
It’s rare, but some of the older villagers from before still don’t approve of Naruto. Even after he saved all of them countless times, they still have the nerve to talk badly of Naruto when they think no one is listening.
It’s almost always the ones that mistreated Naruto from the very beginning and whenever Iruka finds one of them, he makes a note of it and then proceeds to ruin their life the best way he can. He is in charge of the paperwork in the most important office of the village; he finds it isn’t very difficult at all to pull strings to ruin their lives.
Of course, it isn’t often at all, but they almost always come as a surprise to him.
He’s sitting at a teahouse now, sipping at his favorite tea, when he hears the smatterings of a whisper that makes him sit up straight.
“You should have been Hokage,” says someone, and he thinks it’s a civilian but he isn’t sure. He then does a double take because the ninja the someone is talking to is Sasuke.
Iruka watches with bated breath as Sasuke slowly puts down his teacup. He doesn’t say anything, but the killing intent that seeps into absolutely everywhere is enough of a response. He’s a jounin and also a very deadly assassin, so it’s even more poignant than anything Iruka has ever felt before. He shivers at the feeling of it, and if he’s feeling it this badly, it’s nothing that the civilian feels. The civilian’s already dropped the tray he’s been holding, shivering almost uncontrollably, and Iruka would feel bad for him if he hadn’t badmouthed Naruto.
It goes on for a second longer, and then Sasuke smiles, the killing intent dissipating almost immediately. It’s not a nice smile though, it’s a smile that promises retribution in possible maiming and death, so it’s no surprise that the civilian all but runs back into the shop.
Iruka makes a mental note of it, and when he approaches Sasuke when he leaves, Sasuke looks down at him.
“That was nice what you did,” he says, and Sasuke shrugs.
“He’s an idiot,” he says, shockingly honest, and Iruka would bristle at the tone if Sasuke hadn’t sounded so fond at the same time, “But he’s the best Hokage we’ll ever have.”
“He’ll never believe me if I told him you said that.”
Sasuke smirks at him, knowingly. “Hn,” he says, and then sunshins away, leaving Iruka alone with his thoughts.
Iruka’s been pretty patient. At least, he thinks so.
Naruto’s planned the Chunin Exams and he’s met with the Kages of the hidden villages with resounding success. Iruka should be happy that things are turning out well.
Except, Naruto keeps abusing his power as Hokage to make some pretty odd declarations that Iruka is almost certain are for Sasuke’s benefit.
First off, Naruto has declared that one of the training grounds would be transformed into a community garden. Iruka had dithered on it, but when Naruto pouted at him and insisted on it, Iruka had given up and went ahead and got all the paperwork done.
He thought that the ninjas in the village would had been outraged to lose one of their training grounds for something so silly. But surprisingly, it had been a hit.
Ino had brought along flower seeds, and thanks to her family, had the knowledge to make them grow big and plentiful. Someone, probably Lee if he thinks on it, had planted cherry blossom trees and Sakura had laughed when she found out. Neji had been a surprising presence in the gardens, almost always found there meditating.
More ninjas had come to contribute, and eventually the gardens had grown to alarming lengths. Since Naruto’s summons had been bored, they had offered to hang out in the gardens and water them if needed, and since Naruto’s frogs had been there, so had other ninjas’ summons had joined. It was teeming with life and was a great success.
But the things that took up most of the garden were juicy, red tomatoes. As in Sasuke’s favorite thing to eat.
Iruka had rolled his eyes hard at that, knowing exactly why the community garden had come into play. The favoritism Naruto showed Sasuke was almost embarrassing, and it wasn’t very subtle either.
He’s at the gardens now, petting one of Kakashi’s dogs, when he hears Sakura and Ino giggling over the tomatoes. If even they could even tell what Naruto’s doing, then really, it’s way too much. He sighs, straightens up, and heads for Naruto’s apartment. They’re meeting for dinner anyway, so it isn’t a hardship to go earlier.
When he knocks on Naruto’s door, there’s the sound of running and then Naruto opens it, his smile blinding. He has a bit of flour on his cheek and he squints when he sees Iruka.
“What are you doing here so early?” he asks, and then swivels to look at the clock in the hallway. “Isn’t dinner at six?”
“Yes,” he says, and then invites himself in. Naruto doesn’t protest, just follows him after closing the door. “I came to talk to you about something important.”
Naruto blinks wide eyes at him, and then gestures for him to continue. They’re so close that Iruka’s words don’t even faze him; after all, Iruka is his aide so the amount of important stuff he tells Naruto is plenty.
That is until Iruka continues and Naruto chokes, his cheeks going red and his eyes even wider.
“You can’t keep abusing your power to do stuff for your boyfriend, Naruto.”
“W-w-what!?” stammers Naruto, and Iruka looks at him with concern. Surely, this shouldn’t be a surprise, what with the community garden and everyone’s comments on it the past week.
“The tomatoes?” he tries to jog Naruto’s memory, and there’s a sound of footsteps behind him.
“Oh, you’re here,” says the owner of the voice, and Iruka leans back to get a good look at Sasuke’s bewildered face. “Were you talking about the community garden?”
He’s just about to answer when Naruto blurts, “We’re not dating!”
Both Sasuke and Iruka turn to look at Naruto with varying states of confusion. “You’re not?” asks Iruka, and he looks between the two of them. Sasuke’s face is blank while Naruto’s is turning an even more alarming shade of red. “But – “ he goes silent as he looks around the room and there’s signs of Sasuke everywhere. In the tell-tale Uchiha fan on the back of jackets strewn around the living room, with the way Sasuke’s weapons are leaning up against the wall, even Sasuke, wearing an apron that is clearly Naruto’s. “You’re not -?” he can’t even collect his thoughts at the strange proclamation and Naruto is standing, pulling Iruka up with him.
“We’re getting dinner early,” says Naruto, and without another word to Sasuke, hiraishins them straight to Ichiraku’s.
“Are you guys living together?” asks Iruka when Naruto looks a little less red and Naruto sighs loudly.
Teuichi puts their usual in front of them as Iruka waits for Naruto to answer, and he’s about halfway done when Naruto finally answers.
“Yes, I mean, well we spend so much time together anyway and it’s better if we’re together.”
“But you’re not dating.”
Naruto sighs again, and signals Teuichi for another bowl, having already inhaled the first one down. Iruka is glad that they started to expense Naruto’s weekly escapades at the ramen stand.
“I don’t want to make him uncomfortable,” says Naruto. “He’s just starting to get used to Konoha again, I don’t want to push my feelings on him.”
He sounds so mature, unlike his younger days, and Iruka can’t resist putting his arm around Naruto, holding one of his most important people close. Naruto lets him, and while his smile is still blinding, it’s a little sad.
“Is it that obvious?” asks Naruto, a little down, and Iruka can’t help teasing him.
“Yes, everyone knows. But everyone knows that Sasuke likes you too.”
“He doesn’t,” says Naruto, “and I know what you’re going to say, I get enough of it from Sakura. She keeps trying to make us go out with her and Ino and I know she wants it to be a double date. She thinks we’re just not telling her the truth.”
“You made a community garden just to grow him tomatoes, Naruto,” says Iruka, and Naruto looks at him, aghast.
“Do you think Sasuke knows?”
“I think everyone knows,” says Iruka, and Naruto groans, and then slams his head down at the table.
“We are not talking about this anymore,” he says, and Iruka looks at the way Naruto’s still red and orders another bowl of ramen for Naruto.
It isn’t until two weeks later that he gets to talk to Sasuke alone.
Sasuke has all but pushed Naruto out of the office, promising to look over his paperwork as long as Naruto goes and spends some time with the kids at the Academy. Naruto’s old genin team is getting their own genin teams that day and he just knows Naruto would love to be there to see them, so it ends up being just the two of them in the office.
“So,” says Iruka, when it’s been an hour and paperwork is slowly being chipped away at.
Sasuke looks at him, eyes narrowed, and it’s not like they hate each other, but they’re not really friends either.
“I know what you want to ask,” says Sasuke. “We’re not dating, Iruka.”
“But do you want to be?” he asks and wonders just where he had gotten the courage. But Sasuke doesn’t look mad.
He looks away, and Iruka is sure he isn’t meant to see the wistfulness in Sasuke’s expression. “I don’t deserve him,” he says, and Iruka is shocked to hear the honesty in his voice. “I put him through so much. He should be with someone else.”
“What if he feels the same way?” he asks, and Iruka’s heart aches when Sasuke shakes his head.
“It’s better if he doesn’t,” and there’s the sort of finality in his voice and Iruka knows better than to continue, not when he can see the way Sasuke grips so hard on the writing utensil that his knuckles are white.
Naruto’s hungover, and he’s complaining loudly, face on his desk. He looks pale, pale enough that Sasuke closes the doors to the office and seals them off, telling the teams outside to come back in a few hours.
The curtains are drawn, and it’s just the three of them, Naruto whining as Sasuke looks down at him with obvious affection.
Iruka feels like an intruder, and he isn’t a meddler, but…
Naruto is like his son and he’s the only one privy to the knowledge that the two of them love each other. They just need some help.
The elders have been on his case lately about the Uchiha grounds. They’ve sat empty even though Sasuke’s back, and Sasuke hasn’t brought them up or even went to visit them yet. It’s no wonder considering the horrible memories it holds for Sasuke and even though Iruka hates to bring it up, he thinks he can use it to their benefit.
So he takes a deep breath, and calls out to Sasuke. Sasuke turns to look at him, one of his hands already in Naruto’s hair and there’s a hint of a faint flush on his cheeks as he pulls his hand away. They really forgot he was there. He takes a moment to reflect on this, embarrassed for the both of them and then continues.
“It’s about your family grounds. The elders want to divvy it up if you’re not planning to marry and repopulate the Uchiha clan.”
“That’s messed up!” says Naruto, and he looks a little more awake as he lifts his face up from the desk. “Those grounds are Sasuke’s! Screw the elders!”
“Naruto,” says Sasuke, and Naruto turns to look at him, and after a moment of scrutinizing Sasuke’s face, looks at Iruka again.
“You’re right, Sasuke can find a wife easily if he wanted. All the girls like him.” Iruka’s not quite sure if Naruto knows how jealous he sounds, but by the way Naruto’s face goes red after his words, he thinks he does.
“Unless he already has someone in mind?” asks Iruka, and this time, Sasuke catches on, turning to face Iruka with a glare. Iruka gulps, and wonders if this is his death, if he pushed too hard when Naruto unexpectedly saves him.
“Marry me, Sasuke!”
Sasuke forgets about Iruka immediately, turning to look down at Naruto. Iruka can’t read his expression.
“What.”
“Then you don’t have to give away the grounds,” says Naruto, and he’s smiling now as he looks up at Sasuke, “and the elders will stop bothering me about getting married and – “
“I don’t care about the grounds,” says Sasuke. “I have no need of them.”
“Oh,” says Naruto, and Iruka flinches because he can tell Naruto’s hurt by the way his expression shutters. He looks like he’s a second away from crying and Iruka feels more guilty than ever before. He never should’ve meddled.
“Unless,” says Sasuke, surprising the both of them, “you want to get married for another reason.”
Naruto’s mouth is hanging open as he looks at Sasuke, and there’s the sheen of unshed tears in his eyes. “Another reason?”
Sasuke hesitates, and it’s obvious because Iruka is in the room with them. Iruka feels so out of place even though he orchestrated the whole thing and Iruka really wants to flee but Sasuke’s sealed off the exit and no amount of glaring from Sasuke is going to allow him to break out of that.
There’s a beat, and then Sasuke decides to forget about Iruka because he turns away, sitting on Naruto’s desk and getting uncomfortably close to Naruto.
“Because you love me,” he says when all Naruto does is gape unattractively up at him.
After a long, charged moment, Naruto nods and Sasuke’s face softens. “Dobe,” he says, and it’s not a confession, but the way he fists Naruto’s hokage robes and pulls him forward, is.
Their lips meet and Iruka turns away, even though he can’t escape the sounds. He can’t help but be happy from them even though he wants nothing more than to melt into the ground and possibly erase this memory from his head because this is so much more than he ever wanted to know about Naruto.
Luckily, Sasuke seems to have the same thought, because there’s the sound of a log replacing them and it’s just him left in the room.
He heaves a sigh of relief and then realizes Sasuke still left the door sealed.
He supposes that he deserves it for meddling and grabs a stack of paperwork from Naruto’s desk. He might as well get the paperwork done. Naruto deserves the day off, anyway.
Unfortunately, Sasuke being Naruto’s husband doesn’t make Iruka’s life as Naruto’s aide any easier.
In fact, it gets worse.
People let the lovebirds get away with absolutely anything, and sometimes, Iruka doesn’t even see Naruto until lunchtime.
Still, Iruka doesn’t mind, because Naruto is happy and that’s all he really wanted when he took the job.