Iruka woke early on Wednesday, as was his routine. He could smell his coffee perking in the kitchen. He turned his alarm off, still smiling about all the frosting in Kakashi's hair. Oh, what lovely revenge that had been. He rose, and hopped in the shower real quick, then wrapped a towel around his waist lightly and walked out of his bedroom into the kitchen.

He did a double-take and was pretty sure he made a small strangled noise that sounded suspiciously like 'eep!'. Because Kakashi was sitting at his kitchen table drinking a cup of his coffee waiting for him.

"Good morning, Iruka-sensei." Kakashi said, as if this was a usual occurrence. As if!

Iruka could feel the man's sharingan eye on him. It was disorienting.

"Good morning, Kakashi-san. Why are you inside my apartment?" Iruka was surprised by the polite sounding words coming out of his mouth. Was that him? It was like watching a movie, he thought from a far off place. Kakashi is in your apartment and you're standing there almost naked. First was the surprise, and now the anger was starting to come.

"Maa…I wanted to thank-you properly for yesterday." Kakashi clarified.

"WHAT?" He stared at the copy-nin incredulously. As if that clarified anything! "Get OUT of my apartment, Kakashi. I've got to get ready for work."

"I thought you didn't work until 9am?" Kakashi inquired.

"Yes, but I wanted to go for a run first. And I still have to make my lunch and have breakfast." Iruka stopped himself. WHY was he explaining himself to this man? He didn't feel guilty about the prank, and obviously he had washed it out. There was silence for a few moments. Iruka could feel his wet hair dripping onto his back. He bit his lips nervously. Thank god he kept up with his training. Having the object of your desire just WHAM! see you naked unexpectedly, well, let's just say he was glad he was in good shape.

"It was funny you know, the frosting in my hair." Kakashi said.

Iruka looked at Kakashi, and he could feel himself flushing. "Sorry."

"No you're not." Kakashi said.

"Then I'm not." Iruka returned in a huff.

Kakashi felt himself smiling under his mask. "I like your coffee."

Iruka sighed, realizing he wasn't going to get rid of the man by being rude. "Let me get dressed and I'll join you." He walked back into his bedroom and shut the door. He leaned against it and closed his eyes. Oh! Sure, Kakashi had been in his apartment before with Naruto a few times. But he wasn't sure if he could remember it just being the two of them. And certainly not with him practically naked. Iruka was pretty sure he couldn't include masturbation fantasies. He chuckled to himself and dressed quickly into something light for a jog.

Iruka exited his bedroom and went back into the kitchen. Kakashi was still at the kitchen table drinking coffee. He was now reading one of his Icha Icha novels. Iruka stopped mid step.

"No. No. No. Not in my house. I don't care what perverted crap you read at your house, but not in my house. Put it up or I will toss it out the window." Iruka said as he passed Kakashi. "Or you can leave. But you're the one who broke into my house in the middle of the night so I assumed you wanted to talk to me about something."

Iruka pulled himself a cup and then creamer out of the fridge. He could feel Kakashi's eyes on him as the man put the book away. Iruka added a little bit of sugar to his cup, then took a book gulp of it and sighed with happiness.

"How much of that is actually coffee?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka rolled his eyes at him. "The essence is there. So I like my cream & sugar with a little coffee." He sat down across from Kakashi and sighed, ready for whatever the man was going to say. "Okay, what's up?"

"At I thought about another prank," Kakashi watched Iruka's widen, "to you know, and get you back. I went to a bar last night, you know. A lot of people laughed at me."

Iruka tried unsuccessfully to suppress his smile. He gave up and laughed. "I would have loved to have seen that."

"I'm sure you would have." Kakashi said with a certain tone in his voice.

Iruka stilled. Did he know? No, he couldn't. He had always been very careful to never give anything away. Sure everyone knew he was gay, but he had never come on or even expressed any interested in Kakashi that way. As far as he knew Kakashi was straight.

"You know, I've really got places to go, so I think you should be going, Kakashi-san." Iruka set his coffee cup down and stood up. He walked out of the kitchen and spoke over his shoulder. "I don't know what more we have to say to each other. I think you can see yourself out."

In his bedroom, he could feel his heart beating rapidly, but he forced himself to sit down and put his shoes on calmly and prepare for a morning run like usual. He liked his routine. He found comfort in his routine. How dare Kakashi go mucking up in his calm orderly life?

Kakashi wasn't exactly sure how that conversation turned around and went wrong. Something about Iruka, but conversations always did that with him. They were always so…passionate. The man was full of life. Really, no other way to think of it. He really had contemplated a prank but that had been dismissed almost immediately. And he shouldn't have baited the man but was his own fault because when he had come out of his bedroom dripping wet, with just a towel around his waist, Kakashi was very glad he was sitting. This made him happy because he had been wondering if this could work because he had never been with a man before and honestly while he wasn't grossed out by the concept in spirit, he wasn't sure about it.

But seeing Iruka standing there was more than enough to convince him. He honestly had no idea that Iruka was that…well, muscled under his clothing. And tanned all over. No tan lines. How did he manage that? Now he could see why over half the village wanted Iruka. He felt a little silly activating the sharingan for something like that but, a man has needs, right? He did feel a bit like the old pervert that Genma was calling him. Kakashi sighed.

He didn't mean to bring up the thing about the hair, but he was curious to see Iruka's reaction if he did slightly bring it up. And that was…unexpected. He really didn't plan on the man just…shutting him down like that. Kakashi frowned, not really understanding people at all sometimes.

Iruka met Raidō by the memorial for their morning run.

"Morning Raidō!" Iruka smiled, "Sorry I'm a little bit late."

"No problem, Iruka. Let's go." They started off running at a light pace around the town.

Kakashi frowned as he watched from afar. Is this why Iruka didn't respond to his come on this morning? Was he seeing Raidō? He was pretty sure the man was straight, but Iruka was very attractive. Maybe he should ask the jounin if he was dating Iruka before trying anything with Iruka again. He looked down at his Icha Icha again. Things always look so much easier and simpler in these books. Life never works out like in these books. He sighed again and watched the two figures easily running through the early morning mists around Konoha. He could hear their easy chatter and laughter. Not the words, just the tone of it. He could feel the squeeze of his heart.

After jogging, Iruka waved bye to Raidō and went back into his apartment. He took another quick shower, dressed for work quickly, made lunch and quickly ate some toast. He did not have time for a proper breakfast due to the early visit from Kakashi, damn him. And yes, Iruka knew he could be a total beast without much food in him. Especially after having worked out first thing. He was still trying studiously to ignore Kakashi's last statement, 'I'm sure you would have.' What had that meant? Gah! For easily, the past two years, Iruka had spent his days mooning of that damn man. Contemplating his statements. Coming up with complex fantasies. It was sick and he was over it. After getting drunk with Anko and admitting his obsession, he finally decided to just give it up. It was starting to overrule his life. He hadn't even looked at another man in over two years because of it. It had been…so long. No, stop thinking, Iruka! He scowled and stormed into his classroom. Of course, his old self would have been absolutely, positively gleeful over running his fingers over his lips yesterday (even if it had been over that stupid mask). And today, seeing him sitting in his kitchen, even if it had been while he was wet from the shower.

'I'm sure you would have.' What did that MEAN!

"Iruka- sensei?" Iruka looked around his classroom in confusion. Then he spotted Kakashi sitting on a tree branch outside his classroom reading an Icha Icha novel.

"Kakashi, that is not appropriate reading material around children." Iruka said irritably. He walked over to the window and put his hands on his hips. "What do you want?" Iruka rubbed the scar on his nose.

Kakashi smiled. "Raidō is straight. I asked for you, in case you felt awkward."

Iruka's mouth fell open. "You what? I knew he was straight. We are friends. We work out together. What did you tell him! You are so weird!"

Kakashi looked a little confused. "I didn't want you to get hurt, I knew he was straight."

"I think this is this oddest conversation I've ever had. You are almost as bad as Sai." Iruka narrowed his eyes. "What is this sudden interest in my…err…love life, for? Is this a bet? Is this your way of getting revenge or something!" Iruka couldn't help but hear an echo of 'I'm sure you would have.' In his head. Again.

Startled, "No, no. Nothing like that." Kakashi inclined his head. "What time is your class this morning?"

Iruka turned around to glance at the clock and was about to say he still had ten minutes, but when he turned around the copy-nin was gone.

"Coward!" Iruka called out the window, hoping he heard. Knowing he probably would and laugh. Inside his head, all he heard was 'I'm sure you would have.'