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The door to his office opened after the briefest of knocks. That could only mean one thing. Kakashi fought back a smile as he looked up from his paperwork, butterflies stirring in his stomach. This was perfect timing. He'd just been thinking about calling it a night.
Iruka came in with a wide grin that had all the butterflies in Kakashi's stomach dropping like kunai in the ocean. Over the years, they'd become close enough that Kakashi's guards didn't even announce Iruka anymore, they just sent him right in. They'd also become close enough that Kakashi knew exactly what that grin meant.
"So," Iruka started, a mischievous glint in his eyes, "I met this chuunin last night."
Kakashi held back a sigh.
"She's perfect for you," Iruka insisted, ready to counter any argument Kakashi might have. "She's about five years younger, brunette, retired from active duty shortly after the war, and has a great sense of humor." His grin was bright and proud and made Kakashi want to bury his face in his hands.
It'd been over four months since Iruka had set his formidable matchmaking prowess on Kakashi, and those were just a few of the many excuses Kakashi had used to turn all his matches down. He wasn't interested in dating someone older, blondes weren't really his type, civilians would never understand his responsibilities, active duty shinobi who were out of Konoha often could be captured and used against him.
Each time Kakashi rejected another candidate, Iruka would look crestfallen. He'd let the subject drop for the day, but it always came back up. Sometimes a week later, other times two or three. Iruka just wasn't willing to leave it alone.
"She even-"
"Not interested," Kakashi said, tone harsher than he'd intended, regretting it immediately as a flicker of hurt crossed Iruka's face. He knew that Iruka just wanted to see him happy, to see everyone happy, really.
And he was good at his bizarre little hobby. He'd become the village's leading matchmaker the moment he'd first tried his hand at it two years ago. All the couples he matched ended up ridiculously, sickeningly happy. If he ever wanted to quit the Academy, he could probably make a lucrative go at turning it into a business.
If only he hadn't decided Kakashi was in need of a special someone.
"Sorry," Kakashi said with a sigh. "It's been a long day. Want to grab dinner?"
Iruka's grin returned. So did the butterflies, but Kakashi pushed them back down. It was no use. After all, they were what had gotten him into this mess in the first place.
~*~*~
Dinner was nice. It was always nice with Iruka.
They ended up at a tiny restaurant that Kakashi had never heard of before. It was one in a string of little, off-the-beaten-path places they'd gone to over the last year. This one was cozy, with tables that left them sitting closer than was usually considered polite for friends. But if the two other occupied tables were any indication, this wasn't the type of place friends went to very often.
Their knees brushed against each other under the table. Candlelight flickered over Iruka's skin, soft and warm like his laughter.
And for a few brief moments, Kakashi let himself pretend.
Pretend that Iruka would never consider setting him up.
That they weren't here to scope out this restaurant for the couples he did set up.
That the lack of distance between them wasn't too close, it was expected.
But that fragilely spun fantasy was shattered and reality came crashing down the moment they stepped back outside.
They bid each other friendly goodbyes and headed their separate ways.
~*~*~
Iruka walked into Kakashi's office for the second time in a week, but instead of his usual excitement, he felt like an ass. He'd been going about this all wrong.
"I should apologize to you," he said. "All this time, I've been trying to set you up with women because Naruto told me you had a thing for the warden of Hozuki Castle. Kahyo, I think he said her name was. But I realized last night, I shouldn't have assumed."
Kakashi was watching him closely, a little guarded.
"Do you prefer men?"
The look that earned him was intense. It dragged across his skin and made him want to shiver under its weight. Kakashi might have still had his Sharingan with the way Iruka felt transfixed by his gaze.
But then Kakashi shrugged and the moment was broken, letting Iruka remember oxygen was necessary for human life once again.
"Some of them," Kakashi said, eyes sliding off Iruka and out the expansive windows of his office. He seemed uncomfortable, though Iruka didn't understand why. He had to realize Iruka of all people had no problem with that.
Iruka reconsidered everything he knew about the type of person Kakashi might be interested in. Now he was onto something. There were more than a few potential matches. "Okay, listen, I know this tokujou-"
Kakashi cut him off, tone exasperated. "Iruka, I'm not interested."
"But he's nice, good-looking, and-"
"I'm not interested."
"Would you prefer a jounin? I don't know as many, but maybe I could-"
"Iruka, you know I don't care about rank." He sounded tired, probably another long day.
Iruka shrugged and changed the subject. He'd try again when Kakashi was in a better mood. "There's this little place I've been meaning to go to. It's got a terrace overlooking the river, surrounded by night blooming flowers. Would you like to go with me?"
Kakashi pressed his eyes closed, inhaling deeply, then looked at Iruka. "Yes, I'd like that," he said, gaze catching Iruka's for a long, drawn-out moment before he stood and started getting ready to leave.
He seemed off for the rest of the night, just a little different than usual, a little more weary. Iruka tried not to frown. Kakashi had been working too much lately; the stress of his office seemed to be getting worse. That was why he'd started trying to set Kakashi up in the first place. He needed someone he could be himself with. Someone who could make him happy, give him momentary peace. Because if anyone deserved that, surely it was Kakashi.
Iruka glanced around them, at the white flowers slowly unfurling in the moonlight, at the couples huddled close together over small tables. The river babbled quietly, blending into their hushed conversations.
When he looked back, Kakashi was watching him, some of the intensity from before back in his eyes.
Iruka smiled, suddenly nervous. "It's the perfect spot for a date, isn't it?" he asked, trying to slow the racing beat of his heart.
"It really is," Kakashi said, eyes not leaving him. Iruka didn't think Kakashi had done more than glance around the restaurant since they'd walked in.
Kakashi's attention was just as focused for the rest of the night, and Iruka had to revise his estimation of how important oxygen truly was. He wasn't sure he'd breathed properly until they'd left the restaurant, yet somehow he'd still survived.
~*~*~
Iruka waited nearly a month before bringing up the subject again, just long enough that Kakashi had started to hope he'd given up for good this time.
Of course Kakashi wasn't that lucky.
"Okay," Iruka said, his wide grin a little more plastered on than usual, "I know this chuunin."
Kakashi sighed. It'd been six months since all this had started. He was done with it.
"Iruka," he said, "you know why I'm not interested."
"Oh," Iruka said, eyes widening. "Do you like someone?"
Kakashi shook his head and knew he was going to sound bitter before the words were even out of his mouth. "You aren't stupid, Iruka. Don't pretend to be."
Iruka put on a convincingly puzzled look, and Kakashi fought back another sigh. He'd been flirting with Iruka for months, trying to work up the nerve to ask him out. And right when he'd finally decided to go for it, Iruka had asked him what he thought of "that cute lady who runs the bookshop just south of the Academy."
If Iruka had been interested, he never would have wanted to set him up. Trying to find someone else for Kakashi to date had to be his way of gently turning him down. At least Kakashi hadn't asked him out. There would have been no recovering from that. This way they could both pretend it'd never happened.
Or at least, they had been pretending. This conversation was getting too close for comfort.
"Don't make me say it." Kakashi had come to terms with the idea that they'd never be more than friends, but that didn't mean he was okay with admitting he still foolishly wanted more.
Iruka frowned, seeming to realize it wasn't a good idea to push the topic any further, and thankfully changed the subject.
"There's a small cafe near the Eastern Gate that's supposed to have the best desserts in the village. They're large enough you have to share. Want to check it out?"
Kakashi felt a headache coming on. He really had to stop doing this to himself. "I've got work to do here," he said, gesturing to the large piles of paperwork that were on his desk.
Iruka looked confused. Those piles were a near permanent fixture, but they'd never stopped him before. "Some other time?" he asked, smile not reaching his eyes.
"Sure," Kakashi lied. "Some other time."
Giving him one last inscrutable look, Iruka nodded and left.
Kakashi sighed and started to chip away at one of the piles.
~*~*~
Iruka couldn't fall asleep that night. Instead, he stared up at his ceiling, imagining a list of all the shinobi he knew scrawled in the darkness, crossing names out as he tried to figure out who Kakashi liked.
Surely whoever it was would be interested. Who wouldn't be? Of course, there was a chance Kakashi liked someone who was already in a relationship. That could explain why he wouldn't want to admit it. But as long as that wasn't the case, Iruka just needed to figure out who, and then, the First willing, he'd set them up with Kakashi.
Swallowing hard at the idea of Kakashi finally saying yes to one of his matches, he pushed past the fact that it didn't make him as happy as it should. They were friends and he was going to do this for Kakashi. It was as simple as that.
He compared nearly a dozen rejections with his list of potentials. Focusing on the men seemed like a good idea. Someone with brown hair, slightly younger than Kakashi, shinobi but not active duty, and so on. It still left dozens of people it could be. But none of them fit, none of them seemed like Kakashi's type. He crossed them off one by one, then went through his list again, trying to find who he'd missed.
It wasn't until somewhere around 2am that Iruka realized he was an idiot.
One time in his early twenties, he'd been in charge of planning Kotetsu's birthday party. Not wanting to mess anything up, he'd kept close track of everyone who'd be attending. It'd been a mostly chuunin affair, though they had let Anko and Genma tag along. Of course, Kotetsu and Izumo had been there, but also Hayase, Saisu, Dango, Mizuki, Mozuku, Kasuga, Natori, Okei, Ranka, Tsuzumi, Suzume, Iwashi, Uou, Urushi, and Kokage. He'd made the reservation for 19. It wasn't until they were all at the restaurant that he'd realized he hadn't included himself in that number. A lot of teasing had ensued and another chair had been found, but apparently he hadn't learned his lesson.
Whenever he'd thought of people Kakashi might be interested in, he'd never considered himself in the running.
It took him a few disbelieving moments to wrap his head around the idea that Kakashi might like him, but once he got there, it did make some kind of weird Kakashi-sense. If you squinted at it sideways, he'd maybe even been flirting a few times before Iruka had tried to set him up. But with Iruka constantly pushing people at him, of course he'd think Iruka wasn't interested.
Iruka got out of bed before he could talk himself out of it. Replaying old conversations in his head and depriving himself of sleep wasn't going to change anything.
Small hours of the morning be damned, he went straight to the Hokage residence and knocked. Given that none of Kakashi's ANBU bothered to stop him, he had a sinking feeling they were all smarter than either himself or Kakashi had been over the last few years.
Kakashi was adorably sleep ruffled when he finally answered the door.
"You give me too much credit," Iruka said without preamble.
Kakashi squinted at him, clearly not following. Well, there had been a lot of that going around recently.
"About not being stupid," Iruka clarified.
Kakashi still wasn't getting it. Iruka decided to give him another push in the right direction.
"I may be an idiot, but you? You suck at flirting."
Gobsmacked was a cute look on Kakashi, Iruka decided, but he didn't give him time to process that. Instead, he charged ahead.
"There's a cafe near the Eastern Gate I want to go to. Desserts so big we'll have to share. Would you like to go?" Iruka asked. "And just to be clear, I'm asking you out. On a date. With me. And I expect you to walk me home afterwards."
Something like comprehension was finally dawning in Kakashi's eyes, so Iruka decided to push it just a little bit more.
"And I'd like a goodnight kiss," he said, even though it made his cheeks burn.
That seemed to shake Kakashi out of his stunned daze. "A date and a kiss?" he asked, voice and eyes filled with a bright hope that left Iruka a little breathless.
"Preferably multiple of each," he confirmed.
Kakashi took a deep breath, then let it out. Even with his mask on, it was clear he was grinning, and the sight of it made Iruka smile too.
"Okay," Kakashi said, "I think I can do that." His eyes darted around the neighborhood over Iruka's shoulder, then, before Iruka knew what was happening, Kakashi reached out with one hand to pull him close while tugging down his mask with his other.
It was a quick kiss, a promise of what was to come, but it left Iruka feeling warm and light and perfect. He blinked as Kakashi readjusted his mask.
"I meant after the dates," he said a little stupidly.
Kakashi nodded, the tips of his ears turning pink. "Then too."
Kakashi had let him go, but they were still standing close. And Iruka realized he was just going to have to get used to a lack of oxygen if Kakashi kept looking at him like that.
"Right," Iruka said. "I should go."
"Right," Kakashi agreed, but neither of them moved for a beat. Finally, Iruka pulled away.
"Tonight?" he asked.
"Tonight," Kakashi agreed.
When Iruka was a little way down the street, he looked back to find Kakashi still watching him from his doorstep.
Given how light he was feeling, he might have floated his way home, but he couldn't quite recall.
~*~*~
After Iruka had turned the corner and disappeared from view, Kakashi went back inside and shut the door. His head was still spinning, lips still tingling. That was not at all how he'd expected his night to go.
Maybe they both really were idiots. And maybe he did suck at flirting, but he had a feeling Iruka might be willing to let him practice.
Grinning to himself, he headed back to bed. He needed to be well rested. He had an important date that evening after all.
~*~*~