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It was cold and dark as night fell over Konoha Village. The snow was ankle deep and showed no signs of stopping. A sharp wind cut through Iruka’s admittedly worn jacket, sending a shiver down his spine. He usually ran quite hot, but even he could catch a chill, and he’d been taking a bath after Naruto when the lights had suddenly gone out due to some downed tree limbs taking out their power lines. Now, he and Naruto were slogging across the village, and Iruka’s hair was still damp because he hadn’t had a hair dryer and his heaters required electric starters. Shivering, Iruka hugged his arms around himself and tried to keep moving, certain that if he stopped moving, his muscles would be too frozen to resume motion again.
“Come on, Iruka-sensei!” Naruto called from several paces ahead, “you’re so slow! Hurry up!”
“I’m coming,” Iruka called after him, though he felt awkward as he followed Naruto through the ever-deepening night and the ever-deepening snow. The young omega had suggested going to Kakashi’s house to weather out the storm, as the man lived in a different part of town where the power was still on. Iruka had felt awkward, knowing that Kakashi liked his privacy. Beyond that, they hadn’t spoken much since the awkward shared bed on their last fateful mission together during an unseasonable snow storm. Ironic, how the weather seemed to be conspiring to continually bring them together. Iruka wondered if he would sound like a conspiracy theorist if he brought that up to his friends. Or Kakashi, for that matter.
“Come on Iruka-sensei,” Naruto said, turning and glaring at Iruka with exasperation, “You’re all wet and cold from the bath and you‘re gonna freeze if you keep walking so slow!”
Being nearly as stubborn as the willful golden-haired child scowling at him, Iruka was of half a mind to say he could damn well freeze if he wanted to and Naruto wouldn’t be able to stop him. He also recognized that he was supposted to be the adult in this situation, and any inclination towards stubbornness he was feeling now was likely due to his getting grumpy from the cold - which would be resolved if he took Naruto’s advice and hurried up. He just hoped Kakashi wouldn’t be too irritated about being disturbed in the middle of the night by a soggy chunin and his boisterous student. “All right, all right,” Iruka puffed, speeding up a little to match pace with the irrepressible genin student. “You know where he lives?”
“Yes,” Naruto replied exasperatedly, “He lives right over here! Come on!” With that, he continued to plow through the snow, and Iruka trailed after him trying to shake off the cold seeping into his bones.
Ducking into one of the larger apartment complexes reserved for Konoha jonin, Naruto marched up three flights of stairs, Iruka huffing and puffing behind him. Normally it probably wouldn’t be so difficult for him, but he was still wet and his muscles seemed determined to seize up from the cold, and his teeth were chattering so hard he was clenching his jaw. Naruto turned down the walkway, heading for the door at the very end, and knocked firmly. “Kakashi-sensei?” he called, in what was definitely an outdoor voice.
Iruka would have shushed him, but he couldn’t spare enough air from his puffing breath, or unclench his jaw enough to articulate his words. Instead he hurried over, bumping into Naruto and giving him a sharp look. After the number of years they’d spent together, Naruto could read his looks like a book, and he immediately looked sheepish, hunching his shoulders and mouthing the words, Sorry, Iruka-sensei.
The lock at the door clicked, and Iruka felt a small hum of chakra before the door pulled open. “Naruto?” Kakashi said, his voice husky like he’d been dragged out of bed and was still half-asleep.
Iruka had no right to be distracted by something like that when his body was freezing, but he noticed it nonetheless, a small corner of his mind tucking it away to reconsider at a later date when he wasn’t in danger of developing frostbite or hypothermia.
“Hi, Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto said, grinning back at his teacher. “I was at Iruka-sensei’s house, but the power went out, and it’s super cold over there. I was wondering if we could stay at your house for the night.”
Kakashi’s sleepy gaze turned to Iruka, a hint of surprise reflecting in his expression. “Iruka-sensei agreed to this?”
Naruto scoffed. “He’s here, isn’t he?”
“The power went out right as I finished my bath,” Iruka explained awkwardly, “And I tried to dry off, but…”
“He was freezing cold,” Naruto interrupted, throwing his arms out for emphasis, “and he’s never cold, he’s practically a human space heater, so I knew he needed to warm up, and he doesn’t have any non-electric heaters.”
Kakashi gazed at Iruka with a hint of concern. “It’s that bad?”
Iruka, cold and thoroughly miserable, nodded helplessly.
Shrugging, Kakashi stepped back and swung his door open completely, allowing Naruto and Iruka to proceed indoors. The warm air curled around him as soon as he stepped inside, and Iruka could feel his muscles relaxing as he was finally able to breathe air that didn’t sting with cold on each inhale. As Iruka and Naruto shed their shoes and scarves and hats at the door, Kakashi vanished deeper into the apartment, reappearing a moment later with a towel, which he handed to Iruka. “For your hair,” he said, which was indeed still wet on the ends. Iruka hadn’t really had time to completely dry off.
“Thank you,” Iruka managed, his teeth not quite so chattery now that he was inside a warm apartment. It was much warmer than he usually kept his own space, but then, he ran warm and didn’t usually heat his place much. When Naruto was over the two of them usually crammed under his kotatsu, and Iruka would always heat up a hot water bottle or two and place them at the foot of Naruto’s bed before he curled up to sleep. Kakashi seemed to keep the whole apartment warm. That made more sense when he looked around and realized that unlike Iruka, who had a solid one-bedroom apartment, Kakashi lived in a studio, his heavy comforter thrown haphazardly off of the bed in a clear indicator that he’d leaped out of it on his way to the door to answer Naruto.
“Kakashi-sensei, can I have some tea?” Naruto asked, already grabbing the kettle sitting on top of Kakashi’s stove and eyeing it consideringly. “I’ll boil the water.”
“Go ahead,” Kakashi answered, his gaze still resting on Iruka. He took a half-step closer to Iruka, and asked in a low tone, “Do you need another bath?” Iruka considered the question, but before he could answer, Kakashi seemed to have decided the answer for himself. “I’ll go ahead and get that drawn,” he said, poking his head into the bathroom and starting the hot water before stepping back into the main room.
Naruto had filled the kettle and was now gazing around Kakashi’s tiny apartment appraisingly. “Hey, Kakashi-sensei, do you think your bed is big enough to fit all three of us if we squish together?”
Iruka, who had up to this point been mostly just trying to warm up, felt his eyes widen involuntarily. Apparently he wasn’t the only one taken by surprise, because Kakashi fumbled and nearly dropped the teacups he was pulling out of his dish drainer. It looked like he only had two teacups in the entire apartment, and Iruka wasn’t sure how he felt about knowing that. Like an invader, mostly. Clearly Kakashi wasn’t one to entertain, and here Naruto was not only invading his house but also demanding that he squirm his way into Kakashi’s nest? And just casually inviting Iruka, an unmated alpha, along for the ride?
“Naruto!” Iruka hissed, “don’t be rude!”
“What?” Naruto asked, glancing at Iruka in genuine surprise. “You let me snuggle with you when I’m having a bad day, and we’re both definitely having a bad day,” he added as an aside directed to Kakashi.
“That’s not your decision to make, and it’s not polite of you to expect something like that, or even ask,” Iruka scolded, scrubbing irritably at his wet hair with the towel Kakashi had handed him. “It’s up to Kakashi-san to offer, it was nice enough of him to let us into his apartment in the middle of the night. Have you even apologized for waking him yet?”
“Oh hey, I think your bath is ready, Iruka-sensei,” Naruto said without even bothering to check inside the bathroom. “Maybe you should go get warmed up and then you’ll be less grumpy with me.”
Iruka sighed. “Naruto-”
“Sorry for waking you up, Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto said quickly. “Sorry Iruka-sensei is being grumpy, too. He’s usually asleep by now, and he gets all shouty and annoying when he’s cold and tired.”
“Brat,” Iruka said, of half a mind to show Naruto exactly how ‘shouty and annoying’ he could be, but recognizing that this was Kakashi’s apartment and that the jonin probably also wanted to sleep, he restrained himself.
“You’ll need dry clothes,” Kakashi said, ignoring the bickering going on between him and Naruto. He shuffled around the corner of his room, rummaging around for a moment before returning with a clean towel, some soft sweatpants and a well-worn long sleeve t-shirt, which he handed to Iruka. “Get warmed up. Tea will be waiting for you when you get out.”
Iruka nodded, accepting the clothes gratefully. “Thank you,” he said, before ducking into the small self-contained combination sink, shower, and bathtub. He rinsed off quickly, scrubbing down for courtesy’s sake even though he’d just bathed a mere thirty minutes prior. Once he’d done a perfunctory wash, he eased into the hot bath, a delighted moan escaping his mouth before he remembered that he wasn’t in his own apartment with only Naruto for company - he was at Kakashi’s place and Kakashi had likely just heard Iruka make a strange noise because of the soothing heat of the water. That knowledge made it harder to relax in the bath, and as soon as his muscles seemed to have relaxed and he’d warmed up enough that he didn’t feel in immediate danger of freezing upon exiting the bath, Iruka dragged himself back out, wrapping the towel around his waist and wringing his hair out a little bit more with the hair towel Kakashi had handed him earlier. Once he’d dried off and changed into the loaner sweatpants and t-shirt, Iruka scrubbed at his towel-dried hair until it was only mostly damp instead of dripping wet, then stepped out of the bathroom and into the main area of Kakashi’s apartment.
The room was delightfully warm and smelled mildly of freshly brewed tea and the soft scent of content omega. Naruto was perched in the exact center of Kakashi’s bed, a thick comforter wrapped around his shoulders, hands curled around a cup of tea, looking extremely pleased with himself. Kakashi was seated at his dining room table looking vaguely pleased as well. Iruka would have expected him to look beleaguered, as that was how most people tended to react to Naruto. It warmed his heart to see that Kakashi seemed to take a measure of satisfaction in caring for Naruto, too. Naruto needed more positive influences in his life, and it made Iruka so grateful to see the way Kakashi willingly accepted the boy into his life, even if the little rascal was invading the man’s nest and elbowing his way into the center of attention.
“How’s the tea?” Iruka teased Naruto, hovering awkwardly by the table for a moment before sitting down at the empty place, where a steaming cup of tea waited for him. Kakashi glanced at Iruka, smiling with his one visible eye.
“It’s great! Kakashi-sensei has good tea. And good snacks,” Naruto added, before frowning slightly. “But he said I couldn’t eat in his bed.”
“I don’t let him eat in bed either,” Iruka said to Kakashi, “don’t let him tell you otherwise.”
“Not fair, Iruka-sensei!” Naruto whined. “You’re supposed to be on my side!”
Iruka shook his head, huffing in amusement. “You know the rules, Naruto. Don’t get upset with me when I enforce them.”
Grumbling under his breath, Naruto took another sip of his tea before glancing up again with a grin. “So? Can we snuggle? I’m cold,” he added in a plaintive tone. The same tone that Iruka had mentally dubbed his puppy voice, because it tugged at his heartstrings like nothing else. “I want a warm Iruka-sensei to sit with me.”
Iruka bit his lip and sipped his tea with forced calm. Naruto, he thought fiercely, have a little decorum.
Kakashi glanced between Naruto and Iruka, his gaze sharp. “Do I get to snuggle too?”
Naruto narrowed his eyes at Kakashi for a long moment. “Are you going to be creepy about it?” he demanded suspiciously.
Iruka barely resisted the urge to clap a palm to his forehead in exasperation. “Naruto, it’s his nest,” he reminded the boy. “If anything, I’m the intruder here, not Kakashi-san.”
“Well yeah, but I always share a nest with you,” Naruto protested. “I just don’t want Kakashi-sensei to be pervy with you in his nest.”
That was not a mental image Iruka needed right now. He ducked his head, sipping his tea and trying to force the heat in his face to dissipate. Naruto was a pup, a child, and of course he wouldn’t think twice about the implications of an unmated alpha doing something pervy with an unmated omega in said omega’s nest! But now Iruka couldn’t stop thinking about it and it was so embarrassing he wanted to sink into the floorboards and die. Why had it been his apartment that experienced the power outage? Why hadn’t he suggested going somewhere else? (Because he wanted Naruto to feel safe, too, and so he’d let Naruto choose their destination. His discomfort was worth it to see Naruto cozy and comfortable in Kakashi’s nest.)
“No need to worry about that,” Kakashi drawled, “If I wanted to be pervy with Iruka-sensei in my nest, I wouldn’t do it when you were around.”
“Gross!” Naruto exclaimed, wrinkling his nose at Kakashi. “You’re so pervy! Stop talking about Iruka-sensei that way!”
Kakashi snorted in amusement. “Well, Naruto? Is it allright if I join? If I promise not to do anything pervy?”
Narrowing his eyes in the elite jonin’s direction, Naruto considered the question for several long seconds before finally acquiescing. “I guess it’s okay,” he said, lifting the edge of the comforter. “You can come cuddle too. Just make sure you don’t hog Iruka-sensei, he’s super warm.”
“Don’t worry,” Kakashi said, taking Naruto’s empty teacup from him and setting it in the sink before scooting under the blanket with the boy, turning to stare expectantly at Iruka. “I won’t.”
Iruka drained his own cup and set it in the sink too. He glanced questioningly at Kakashi, whose eye closed in a slow, intentional manner. Iruka would have called it a wink, except it was hard to tell when Kakashi’s other eye was covered. Still, Iruka could tell the man was giving him the go-ahead to crawl into the nest with the two omegas. So he did, moving to wrap his arms around Naruto and pull him close. Chirping happily, Naruto nuzzled against Iruka’s chest, sniffing lightly before he giggled.
“You smell like Kakashi-sensei,” he told Iruka sleepily. “It’s nice.”
Iruka glanced at Kakashi, once again feeling his face heat with embarrassment. Kakashi’s dark eye stared back at him for a long moment before he echoed, “It is nice.”
Iruka ducked his head, hiding his mortified expression in the thick strands of Naruto’s hair. “Thanks,” he said in a muffled tone.
“Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto said in a sleepy voice, “You’re too far away. Get closer.”
Kakashi obligingly scooted closer until he and Iruka were nearly next to each other with Naruto wrapped like an octopus around Iruka’s torso. Iruka tugged the blanket around them a little tighter. Kakashi fumbled for a small remote and dimmed the lights. Naruto purred contendedly, the sweet sound of a safe and happy pup rumbling in Iruka’s chest. He tightened his arms around Naruto a little, holding him a little bit closer. From the side, Kakashi scooted a little closer, reaching a hand up to gently card his fingers through Naruto’s hair, his own purr reaching Iruka a moment later, lower in pitch and volume, but heartwarming all the same.
Warm, secure, and incredibly grateful for Kakashi’s willingness to welcome them into his home and his nest, Iruka drifted off to sleep in the presence of his two most precious people.