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Kakashi dashed forward and righted the potted bonsai as it rocked precariously on the side table. "Careful.”
Kiba yelled for Naruto to jump over to him on the sofa from the armchair. Naruto, also yelling, threw himself off the chair and onto the cushions of the sofa jostling it enough to move it a few inches with an audible screech. Akamaru jumped after the two of them barking and giving chase, just happy to be involved.
Not for the first time, Kakashi was very glad that Iruka had put in the extra effort to soundproof his apartment.
Unable to keep looking at what was inevitably going to turn into a disaster, Kakashi turned his attention to the kitchen. Standing in the doorway, he watched as Iruka sliced apples and oranges for dessert, humming to himself.
A grey colorless sky had hung above the village all day, and now rain fell lightly on the windows. Warm lights inside the surrounding buildings started to come on as what was left of the daylight disappeared.
Kakashi wanted to do nothing more than curl up with a book and his boyfriend. The two rambunctious genin in the other room, however -Kakashi heard a crash of something falling over- had other plans.
"Remind me again why Kiba and Naruto are here?"
"Because Tsume has a long mission and asked me to check on him. And Hana begged me to let him spend the night after the last incident when he and Akamaru got into trouble with the Hyuugas. And Naruto, well, is Naruto." Iruka shrugged.
There was a loud thud from the other room. "I'm okay!" Naruto called out, "No Akamaru! Not my mouth!"
"And why, again, can't they go outside?" Kakashi asked as he wrapped an arm around Iruka's waist and buried his face in Irukas hair.
"Because it's pouring out."
“So? Tsunade used to make me go outside when I was a kid. It builds character. They can treat it as training.”
Iruka laughed, “And do you want to be the one cleaning up after them when they inevitably come inside covered in mud and god knows what else?”
Kakashi hummed, “point taken.”
"Here. Take these into the other room."
Kakashi stared longingly outside, as yet another loud thud was heard from the other room, but took the plate from Iruka, who patted his arm with sympathy.
Kakashi set the plate on the kotatsu, reprimanding Akamaru when he tried to help himself. The puppy sat quietly and tilted his head at Kakashi, waiting his turn. Naruto slung himself over Kakashi’s shoulder to reach the plate as Kiba took an orange slice and shoved the whole thing in his mouth making it look like it was teeth. At least one of them has manners. Kakashi thought as he dislodged Naruto by standing, then retreated to the safety of the corner. The two boys threw themselves onto the furniture and ate the tray of fruit at a startling rate.
“Look. I’m Neji.” Kiba said as he made a face of disgust and pretended to toss hair over his shoulder, “I refuse to eat this commoner's food. I don’t care about anyone other than myself. I won’t let my cousin have any fun because I can’t have any fun.”
“We shouldn’t talk about our comrades like that,” Iruka said as he entered the room with his hands on his hips.
Naruto’s laugh was cut short by the reprimand. Kiba scowled.
“But he’s such a jerk.” He tossed another orange rind onto the plate, “Shino says all the Hyuuga's have a, a high- highfalutin? way of talking but Neji is the worst. You should've seen the way he talks to Hinata. Cousin, we have to go. Cousin, stop messing around with dog breath. This is why you never improve. ”
Iruka came over and sat down on the sofa near Kiba ruffling his hair, “Maybe there’s a reason he’s like that.”
“Well obviously. He’s a jerk.” Kiba patted his lap for Akumaru to jump up. Iruka couldn’t help the smile that came over his face as he shook his head fondly.
“Who wants to watch a movie?” Iruka asked to change the subject.
“Yeah!” Naruto cried out as he climbed over from the armchair to be next to Iruka, “Let's watch a horror movie!”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea…” Iruka shook his head.
“Aw come on Sensei, they're shinobi. They can handle a horror movie.” Kakashi said, heading over to dig around in Iruka’s movie collection, which was really Kakashi’s movie collection because Iruka didn’t own movies, he borrowed them from other people, and sometimes they got them back.
“Yeah, Iruka-sensei! A movie isn’t going to scare us! Please?” Kiba added on, holding Akumaru up as both boys stared with pleading eyes until he sighed in defeat.
“Fine.” They both cheered, “But pajamas first!’
“Can we have popcorn?” Naruto asked as he bounced off the couch and to his feet.
“You just had an entire plate of fruit.” Iruka gestured to the plate of scraps.
“Oh come on sensei, what good is a movie without popcorn?” Kakashi received an unamused look from Iruka.
“Yeah, Iruka-sensei! There’s no point to a movie without popcorn,” Naruto called from the “Guest room” (Aka: Naruto’s room) where he kept spare clothes.
“Yeah Sensei! Come on!” Kiba chimed in, poking his head into the living room with a pile of clothes in his arms.
“Fine, you can have popcorn, but Kakashi is making it. I’ve already sat down, and I’m not moving.”
Kakashi shrugged, fair was fair.
Both boys cheered from the other room and continued to get ready for bed noisily.
Around the time that the sounds of popcorn were coming from the kitchen, Kiba and Naruto emerged from the spare room (Naruto’s room) wearing Pajamas. Naruto’s PJs had brightly colored frogs on it, while Kiba’s were covered in paw prints. Iruka fought the urge to get his camera out to take a photo of his students as the two boys joined him on the sofa, along with Akamaru who curled up on Kibas's lap.
“So what movie should we watch?”
“I have a new one from Gai we can watch. And by new I mean old.” Kakashi said as he came out with one large bowl for the boys and a smaller one for Iruka. Seeing that there was no room left on the couch he sat down at Iruka’s feet and set up the DVD player.
“I didn’t know Gai watched horror movies,” Iruka commented as he idly ran his fingers through Kakashi’s hair.
“It’s a samurai movie,” Kakashi said as he finished up and leaned back, “I lent it to you, like a year ago.”
“Ah, that makes more sense.”
Once both boys settled in and the movie began, Iruka remembered the movie, and dread started to creep up his spine the minute the spooky music started. As the movie progressed he kept glancing at Kiba and Naruto to make sure they were okay. There were a few exclamations of, “No don’t go in there!” and “How did he slice her body in half like that?!” but nothing else really. Occasionally something would happen that would cause all three of them to jump causing Kakashi to chuckle. Iruka would gently pull on his hair when he did that, though he knew it did nothing to stop his boyfriend from laughing at him.
It ended how most horror movies do, with an ending that wasn’t really an ending, a ghost disappearing into the woods leaving behind more bodies than the first shinobi war.
“Aw, man. That’s all?” Kiba asked as he ran his hand idly through Akamaru’s fur.
“Can we watch another one?”
Iruka hesitated, “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“That wasn’t even scary.”
“Akamaru and I could’ve taken him. Easy.” Kiba added.
“You do have the second one here as well…”
“There’s a second one?” Iruka asked, “You lent me the second one?”
“Gai lent you the second one a few months ago.”
“Oh.”
The second movie was a lot like the first, only with more blood if that was even possible. About halfway through Kakashi tapped Iruka’s knee and pointed to Kiba and Naruto who were out, fast asleep on the couch. Naruto was using Kiba’s shoulder as a pillow and Akamaru was sprawled out between them both.
“Okay, I really need a photo of that.”
“It is pretty cute.” Kakashi smiled and got up.
“My camera’s on the bookshelf in my office,” Iruka called quietly. Kakashi instead grabbed the camera he had stashed in his flak jacket and snapped a quick photo.
“You just had a camera in your jacket?”
“It’s a long story.” Kakashi’s complicated relationship with his Sukea persona was a conversation for another day.
Iruka smiled at him and shook his head but let it go, “As long as I get a copy to torture Naruto with. Now help me get these two to bed.”
The two of them lifted the boys (and Akamaru) and made their way to the spare (Naruto’s) room.
“I can’t remember a single day when I ever had that much energy,” Kakashi said as he laid Kiba down on the spare futon next to Naruto’s.
“That’s 'cause you were born an old man,” Iruka laughed at Kakashi’s offended face as they exited the room and shut the door, “Naruto will calm down as he ages. I did. Not so sure about Kiba though, with being an Inuzuka and all. I think that boy has a lot of things he needs to figure out. And most of them have the name Hyuuga attached to them.”
“Yeah, why was Kiba so angry about Gai’s Hyuuga kid?”
“I seem to recall finding you irritating at first.”
“Are you telling me that Kiba has a crush on Gai’s Hyuuga kid?”
Iruka laughed again, “His name is Neji, Kakashi I know you know that. And I think Kiba might just have a thing for Hyuugas in general, but yeah. Basically.”
“Huh.”
Iruka started to clean up the mess in the living room, which quickly showed to be a worthless endeavor when he accidentally dumped the remainder of his popcorn on the floor.
“Someone’s tired,” Kakashi said as he came over and took the bowl from Iruka who was still staring at the mess he had created.
“Guess so,” Iruka said right before yawning, causing Kakashi to laugh quietly at him.
“Go to bed, I’ll be in shortly after I clean this up.”
“Alright. But if either of them has a nightmare it’s you who’s going to comfort them.”
“They’ll be fine. Besides they have each other. And Akamaru.”
Iruka leaned up to kiss Kakashi, “Don’t take too long.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Kakashi said as he started to clean up the mess. Kakashi had just finished drying the plate from the fruit and was making his way to Iruka’s bedroom when he heard the door to the spare (naruto’s) room creak open.
Kakashi closed his eyes and froze waiting.
“Oh. Hi Kakashi-sensei.” Naruto called out as he quietly shut the door behind him. He looked around the dark living room unsure, “Is Iruka-sensei asleep?”
“Yeah, he’s sleeping.”
“Oh, okay. Well then…” Naruto stood in front of the door as if unsure what to do. Kakashi could read the tension in his shoulders from where he was. He sighed and sat down on the couch, patting the spot next to him, “Bad dream?” He asked when Naruto sat down.
Naruto nodded but didn’t look at Kakashi, “I dreamt about Haku,” He whispered.
“I see.” Kakashi said as he pulled Naruto to his side, “Well I’m here if you need to talk. Or don’t.”
Naruto nodded again before leaning into Kakashi and letting out a shuddering breath, “Thanks Kakashi-sensei.”
Iruka awoke as dawn broke through his windows. He was startled to find that he had fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and that Kakashi wasn’t in bed with him. That meant that either Kakashi had already gotten up (unlikely) or that he never came to bed (also unlikely). Yawning he exited his bedroom only to have to head to his office for his camera. As quietly as he could he snapped a photo of Kakashi asleep with Naruto curled up next to him.
Smiling to himself and clutching his camera which now held a very precious image of his two favorite people, Iruka went into the kitchen to start some coffee.