Warnings: three deaths; three drabbles.
Subtleties I
by vernajast
kakashi x iruka
"it's so quiet I can hear
my thoughts touching every second
that I spent waiting for you"
- Beloved, VNV Nation
[present]
It's not a relationship.
It's not, and Hatake Kakashi is glad [fucking pissed].
Glad that he can [almost] look his Hokage in the eye when he tells her this.
Glad that he can leave the hospital when she asks [orders] him to go.
Glad that he can sleep [he can't] in the bed he's never shared with Iruka.
Glad that he's [memorized] never heard the sound of the chuunin's laughter.
Glad that he's [barely] able to walk away from the sterile room and beeping monitors, and no one [everyone] can see how it feels.
Glad that he's only seemingly concerned [twisted into knots], and only on behalf of Naruto.
Because it's not a relationship.
It's not, and Hatake Kakashi is glad [heartbroken] to know that's just the way Umino Iruka wanted it.