Grace Kelly

"Kakashi?" Kotetsu leaned on the wall just outside the bathroom confusedly. Kakashi gave an acknowledging grunt while he - with great care - critically inspected his teeth in the mirror over the washbasin.

"They say here," Kotetsu smacked the open paper in his hands. "That there was an 'explosive bomb' involved in your last mission."

Kakashi knew by listening to Kotetsu's voice that he was frowning. "Are there any other kind?" he asked and reached for his toothbrush. He stopped and stared at it. "Hey, Ko'? Have you been using my toothbrush? It's all flat." He frowned. " And where's 'here', anyway?"

Kotetsu pushed off the wall and entered the bathroom with his eyes locked on the article in the paper. "Why on earth would I use you toothbrush?" he drawled before changing tone. "It's in the KatM. They say it "fortunately didn't go off". You never told me any of that."

"But it's all flat, I said. It wasn't when I left last week, I'm sure," Kakashi turned it over in his hands while peeling of his socks with his feet. "It didn't go off, no, so I didn't think it would humour you to hear about it. It was a defect; someone had made a mistake in making it. And that's that."

Kotetsu bent over to pick of the dirty socks and other bits of clothing Kakashi carelessly had thrown on the bathroom tiles, scowling at the paper as the stench of sweat and smoke - and other suspicious smells that he didn't care to find out what they were- reached his nose. "And because it's flat now, I'd have to be the mastermind?" He shook out the wrinkled paper as he stood up and dumped the clothing in a laundry basket by the wall. "But they say it was one of the new kind, you know, the K13? I've written reports on those for the Hokage. You do realise it could've de-lifed you and a radius of a hundred metres?"

"You know you push too hard when you brush, all of your toothbrushes have looked like this," Kakashi held out the toothbrush to Kotetsu, who looked up from the paper and rolled his eyes. "So it would've humoured you?" Kakashi wiggled an eyebrow and taunted Kotetsu by keeping the brush out of his reach as he grabbed for it. "Turned you on, perhaps?"

Kotetsu pursed his lips, not liking the teasing -buthopeful- tone in Kakashi's voice.

"First of all, that's my brush, 'Kashi," he said dryly, snatching it from his grip. "And secondly, no, it does neither humour nor turn me on to read how very close to death you've been, you great idiot."

Kakashi stared at his open hand were the toothbrush recently had been, then turned his eyes to Kotetsu's hand to regard it with such suspicious surprise that Kotetsu sighed frustratedly and pushed past him to the plastic mugs on the shelf over the washbasin. He took the remaining toothbrush and offered it to Kakashi.

"You got the pink one this time, remember? It looks just the same as it did when you left."

Kakashi accepted it with a look of wonder. "Oh. Right."

"What if it would've gone off? Huh?" Kotetsu folded the paper and smacked Kakashi's biceps with it. "They say it wasn't spotted until it was 'too late'. Which one of you was it? Which one of you was dumb enough not to watch the air above his empty ball of a head?"

"You're being very sweet, Kotetsu." Kakashi turned away to search the shelf for toothpaste. "But it's no use thinking along those lines. And I've already scolded the guy."

Kotetsu put the paper under his arm and nudged the plastic shower door open with his foot. He leant in to put on the water while Kakashi reunited happily with his own toothbrush. The water would take a minute to heat up.

"So you did not mention it in your mission report? Again." Kotetsu had a sharp edge to his voice that made Kakashi cringe. "It might as well happen again, sometime when his comrades aren't as lucky as you were. There's a reason as to why we're obliged to include everything in the reports, Kakashi! You've been around long enough to see that these kinds of things come back later on. Just because a superior failed to report a guy, thinking he "prolly won't do the same mistake again". Next time, they'll look for someone to blame, because there will be dead guys lying around!"

Kakashi held his hands and toothbrush out submissively and tried to say something. Instead, he ended up spraying Kotetsu with flecks of toothpaste.

Kotetsu glared at him and wiped an especially big fleck off his face. Kakashi winced and hurriedly spat it out in the basin.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "But as I said - I have already scolded the guy. Reporting him would mean people superior to me would've scolded him again, giving him a warning that would show on his record forever and then send him on his merry way along with some nasty rumours and he'd never get over the shame while people wouldn't ever want to hire him again out of suspicion and his friends would never want to team up with him again!"

"That's the general idea!" Kotetsu snapped as Kakashi stopped to breathe. "He put you in danger."

Kakashi was careful to spit before talking this time.

"Yes, well, now he's gotten a second chance without a warning in his record, though knowing I'll be watching him. He owes me one, because it stays between him and me." He rinsed his mouth with water. "And, frankly, I'd be surprised if he ever accepts a mission ranking higher than C again. I said, I scolded him. Like, really bad. You'd know what I'm talking about if you'd ever been scolded by me."

He wiped his chin off on a towel and glanced at Kotetsu, who glared at him.

"Have I ever scolded you?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yes," Kotetsu retorted dryly. "A lot of times, you have."

"Really?" Kakashi straightened, surprise evident on his face. "About what?"

"Mainly about that," Kotetsu said and pointed towards the flat toothbrush.

Kakashi chuckled fondly. "I'm sorry."

He placed a small kiss on the side of Kotetsu's cheek before the chuunin could react. "But you really do brush too hard."

Kotetsu made an indecent gesture at the outranking jounin back as the object tested the temperature of the shower with a naked foot.

"Isn't it curious, though," Kakashi retreated his foot and started pulling his turtleneck over his head. "That something like that would be in the papers? I mean, some would say it was classified information about the mission for yours and the Hokage's eyes only, since you handle the reports, and she's who she is. I mean, I don't remember talking to anybody about it."

Kotetsu shrugged.

"It's a-" he was interrupted by a yawn working its way up his throat. Kakashi raised an eyebrow while pulling off his pants. "A... uh, civilian evening paper I happened to stumble upon. I just wanted to see what Tsunade-sama had told the population about that rich guy's little accident last week."

"It's rubbish," Kakashi warned.

"Why, thank you," Kotetsu said sarcastically. "For telling me."

"Yeah, yeah. Could you put these in the laundry basket, you think?" Kakashi offered him the uniform he'd just stripped of. Kotetsu took one look at the pile in his arms and asked if he wouldn't rather him to burn them, but he did as asked. Kakashi chuckled, but didn't move to step into the shower.

"Well?" Kotetsu ushered him into it. "Hurry up. You stink."

"You haven't welcomed me home yet," Kakashi reminded him, a foot stopping Kotetsu's tries to close the shower door. Water quickly streamed down his face, flattening his hair. A dark grey puppy-eye blinked pleadingly at Kotetsu from behind the silver curtain. Kotetsu shook his head.

"I kissed you by the door."

"But you didn't say 'Welcome home'."

"Did too."

"No, you said 'Welcome back'."

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes. You didn't say it like you use to."

"I said it just like I used to, Kakashi. Let me close the door, you're getting water everywhere."

"But I didn't hear it."

"Kakashi-"

A hurt expression appeared on Kakashi's face as the water cleared it of locks, and it triggered Kotetsu's conscience, just as Kakashi knew it would.

Kotetsu sighed.

Kakashi added a wobbly lip.

"I can't believe you're the mighty and fearsome Sharingan no Kakashi. You're a disgrace to your name," Kotetsu complained.

"Not at home, I'm not. At home, I'm your 'Kashi," Kakashi said with Kotetsu figured was supposed to be a winning smile.

Kotetsu groaned. "Yeah, yeah."

With a sigh, he leant forward into the shower, getting himself wet in the process.

"Welcome home."

The kiss was short, but only because Kotetsu broke it off halfways.

"Want to join me?"

Winking.

Kotetsu frowned. "Not until you smell human again."

And proceeded with shutting the door in Kakashi's face.