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Kakashi woke up to the poking of cold tiny fingers on his face. Still half asleep he opened his visible eye to find big blue watery eyes staring straight at him.
He rubbed a hand against his eye before taking the sight fully in. Naruto was standing beside the bed, carrying an indifferent looking Pakkun on his left arm and the frog plushie Iruka got him for his birthday on the other. Then the poking moved to Kakashi’s shoulder, trying to wake him up enough to gain his attention.
“What happened buddy?” he asked, with a raspy voice.
He slowly sat up and checked beside him to see if Iruka had woken up. He spent all night grading academy papers and hadn’t been sleeping well lately.
“I had a nightmare,” Naruto admitted with a tiny voice that told Kakashi he’s holding in a sob.
“Alright, c’mon,” he whispered and started getting out of bed.
He felt Iruka stir a little, so he stopped, but upon seeing him still soundlessly asleep he stood and took Naruto’s hand in his to guide him to the kitchen, closing the door behind him.
All that could be heard around the apartment were their bare feet on the tiles of the floor all the way to the kitchen. It was a tiny apartment, Iruka’s, but it did the job while the renovations on the Hatake state got done. And Iruka kept it homey, nothing like his old apartment.
No matter how many jokes he made about the apartment, he would actually miss it. It was the first place he called home in a long time. But he guessed, his home really was wherever Iruka and Naruto went.
Naruto let Pakkun down so Kakashi could lift him and put him on the counter.
Kakashi ruffled Naruto’s hair before going to find his cup on the cabinets. His eye felt heavy as he searched for the cocoa and milk, threatening to join his other and closing. He was still on leave after a week-long mission that finished just two days ago. Feeling way better now, but chakra depletion keeps you feeling tired and spent for longer than you can imagine.
Once he found them, he prepared the chocolate and put it in the microwave for thirty seconds. It was a powerful microwave. Iruka already said he wanted to bring it to the new house. They were already doing that, of course, they couldn’t spend money on buying all new appliances when they moved in, but the comment still expressed the deep love Iruka had for that microwave and the great job it did through the years at preparing countless instant ramens for him.
Kakashi moved closer to Naruto, who was touching Pakkun’s soft paw pads.
“Pakkun, I told you not to get on the counters,” he disapproved, summoning a reprimanding voice that didn’t come over his rough, tired one.
“Sorry, boss. But the pup needed it,” Pakkun explained.
“Alright. But get down now.” He lifted Pakkun and put him on the floor, then moved in front of Naruto.
“Are you feeling better?”
“Yup,” Naruto smiled. He could see the change in the eyes that no longer wanted to drop into tears.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Fuck.
“Shit.”
Iruka would kill him if he heard him say that in front of Naruto.
He moved frantically to quickly open the door of the microwave so it stopped making that loud stunning sound.
He gave Naruto his cup and closed the door of the microwave trying to make as little noise as he could, hoping it didn’t wake Iruka up.
“Why don’t you drink that and then I’ll help you into bed?” He erased the grimace from his face and offered the cup to Naruto with a hushed voice, who nodded and started drinking his chocolate, putting the frog under his arm so he could put his tiny hand around the only two fingers of Kakashi’s he could grab his hand around.
Kakashi caressed his thumb across his adorably tiny hand in reassurance. He knew how shaking it was to have nightmares, and even though he never wanted to talk about them out loud, having someone there to ground you back and keep you company always helped. For that, he was incredibly grateful to have Iruka there for him.
And he had sworn to himself he would never let Naruto go through life alone, like he and Iruka did. They would always be there for him. So Kakashi stood there, waiting for Naruto to finish his chocolate, and trying hard not to fall asleep on the spot while running his thumb through little knuckles, fingers and bitten nails.
“I can keep him company through the night again, boss,” Pakkun suggested, and he nodded, but really Kakashi knew Pakkun would do that even if he didn’t ask it of him.
His pack had become somewhat protective of Naruto and Iruka since he introduced them. It brought warmth to his heart, but he tried to keep an uncaring façade—though he was fairly sure Iruka didn’t buy it and that’s why he made an effort to keep the pack tended to so they stayed around, chew toys and meat included.
“What happened?” Kakashi heard a voice murmur in the distance and turned his head to find a sleepy Iruka fighting to keep standing, leaning back on the frame of the door.
“I had a nightmare,” Naruto explained in one breath and went back to finishing his hot cocoa.
Iruka came closer and rested his head on Kakashi’s shoulder, rubbing on his scar and closing his eyes.
“I didn’t want to wake you—we should rethink buying a new microwave,” he said, putting his free arm around Iruka to bring him closer.
“It’s alright. I’ll think about it,” he mumbled sleepily and nuzzled closer.
They stayed like that for a few minutes until Naruto left his cup empty and put it behind him.
“Can I sleep with you?” he asked quietly, and it would break his heart if he didn’t.
“Yes, of course.”
“He has to pee first. And brush his teeth,” Iruka added in a yawn.
“I’ll take him; you go to bed. We’ll be there in a sec,” he told Iruka, who after giving him a peck in the lips made his way to their bedroom. Then, Kakashi lifted Naruto to carry him to the bathroom.
Naruto was more awake than him, so Kakashi was glad to just keep a hold of the frog while he did everything by himself and only asked for help when reaching the toothpaste they left on a high shelf.
Once back in their room Naruto went happily to snuggle Iruka in no time, making the mattress jump like mad as he moved impatiently across the bed. Iruka just had enough strength to put an arm around Naruto, but that was enough for the latter. And the frog…well, Kakashi was glad it wasn’t a real frog by the way it seemed to be suffocating between Naruto and Iruka.
Kakashi got into bed and upon seeing his usual spot cuddling Iruka taken, he cuddled Naruto instead. Naruto moved to use Kakashi’s left arm as a pillow, since he didn’t bring one, so Kakashi wrapped his remaining arm around him and then found he was close enough that he could wrap it around Iruka as well. He moved his hand up until he reached Iruka's head and started running his fingers through his unruly bed hair.
“Can you tell me a story?” Naruto requested softly.
Kakashi didn’t even open his eyes but decided it should be him who told the story and let Iruka continue sleeping, so he fought his sleep away.
“Alright… Once upon a time there was a…” he managed to say, voice barely above a whisper. He tried to come up with a story but resumed to do what he always ended up doing. Adapting the Icha Icha series into stories apt for kids. “ninja, who fought hard to protect her village—she was from an island in the Hidden Mist—and was always ready to give her life for her family. One day she went on a mission that led her to save the life of a caring, thoughtful, long-haired man with—well… amazing long hair—” he went on, going over the plot of Icha Icha Paradise with censured fighting scenes, less sex scenes and the accuracy and storytelling power of a person on the bridge of sleep.
As soon as he heard Naruto’s snores he decided to go to sleep as well, taking the hand that had been running through Iruka’s hair and putting it on his waist instead.
He had felt Pakkun come into bed and settle at their feet while he was in the middle of his story. He was glad he cared that much over Naruto’s well-being. So, he moved his feet enough that he wouldn’t kick him off the bed in the middle of the night.
When he was about to drift into sleep, he was barely able to hear Iruka murmur an ‘I love you’.
“I love you too,” he murmured, making a mental note to make Iruka take a nap tomorrow afternoon, and then slept peacefully—or as peaceful as someone getting kicked in the guts by a five-year-old through the night could manage.