Iruka looked out into the crowd of party-goers nervously. If this was a celebration for his health returning, then why was it that he didn't know half the people here? He nearly jumped when a hand clapped down on his shoulder. Looking back he smiled a little when he saw the person responsible for the mess that was going to be left in his apartment once the party was over. "Naruto, you didn't really have to do this you know."
Grinning proudly, Naruto shrugged. "I thought it'd be nice. A lot more people showed up than I invited, though. Has Dr. Hatake shown up yet?"
"I haven't seen him. It's a wonder this many people can actually fit in here." At least now he knew that Naruto hadn't just wandered the street and invited everyone he passed by. He took another glance through the crowd, trying to spot that grey tuft of hair. He frowned when nothing caught his eye. Had he really expected him to come, anyway? It was a Friday night, the hospital was probably busy.
"We should've charged people to get in," Naruto said with a laugh, offering him a plate of food he'd managed to make before everyone ravaged the snacks. "Oh well, maybe he'll show up later."
"Maybe." Iruka picked a cracker off the plate and laughed before popping it in his mouth. He couldn't help but feel like a stranger in his own home. Like he was at a party he wasn't even invited to. But of course he would play the part to make Naruto happy. He could deal with it for a few hours.
"Have some fun, alright? I'm gonna go put some more food out." Naruto gave him a quick hug before squeezing through the crowd to get back to the kitchen.
He returned the hug, wondering briefly if he should take back the extra house key he had given Naruto. He took the only empty seat on his couch and idly listened to people chatting and laughing. Everyone's good moods did brighten his spirits a little. Maybe the party wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Kakashi, why did you need to drag me along? The last thing I want to do is be in the same place as that idiot." Sasuke crossed his arms as he practically pouted in the passenger seat of the older doctor's car. He hadn't been expecting the man to pull up to his door and all but demand Sasuke come with him. He would've refused if it wasn't for the fact that the medication Itachi was taking for his newly diagnosed cluster headaches made him incredibly irritable. More than usual, if that was even possible.
"I told you, I'm not getting off your case until you and Naruto get along." Kakashi parked outside of the apartment building, raising an eyebrow at the amount of cars around. "Looks like Iruka's pretty popular, huh?"
Sasuke groaned. He hated crowds with a passion. He decided that his plan for the night would be to find a dark corner and stay there. He wasn't in the mood to be hit on by dim-witted girls, or be pressured (not that he would ever let that happen) into drinking. He would get his revenge on Kakashi, and spend the whole night plotting it. "I'm not even gonna talk to the guy." He got out of the car and practically slammed the door, making sure to let Kakashi know how unhappy he was about this."Oh, don't be such a baby. You better talk to him." No matter what the situation was, Sasuke could always find something to complain about. It really grated on Kakashi's nerves sometimes, but he was in a pretty good mood tonight since he was getting to see Iruka. After heading inside and up the stairs to Iruka's apartment, he let himself in, hoping the other man wouldn't mind too just rolled his eyes as he stalked off, aiming for the kitchen, which seemed to be the least crowded.
Naruto frowned as he looked in the fridge, trying to decide if Iruka would mind him making a few more sandwiches. Figuring it would be fine, he grabbed some cheese and turkey before shutting the door and turning around, glaring when he saw Sasuke walk in. "Who invited you?"
Narrowing his eyes at the blond, he just turned his head. "What's it to you?"
"This is my friend's party," he said as he made a few more sandwiches to put out.
"It's not like I wanted to be here, Kakashi dragged me along." He grabbed a sandwich off the plate, ignoring the glare that was sent his way.
"Yeah, and everyone knows you do everything Kakashi tells you to. And don't put your greasy hands on our food!" He knew it was immature, but Naruto couldn't help trying to snatch the sandwich back. Sasuke just made him that way, damn it!
"Hn." He held the sandwich just out of Naruto's reach, a smirk threatening to break out on his face.
"Bastard!" Naruto's glare intensified as he kept trying to grab the sandwich, yanking on Sasuke's sleeve to try to bring his arm closer.
"Fine then, take it." He said before letting his arm go slack and causing the sandwich to collide with Naruto's head.
The second he realized what had happened, Naruto tackled Sasuke with a growl, causing the few people that had still been hanging around in the kitchen to quickly make their way into the living room.
"Get off me, you idiot!" Flipping himself and Naruto over, he straddled the smaller boy and glared down at him.
"You get off!"
"Make me." Sasuke had had enough, he was going to settle this tonight. Naruto would learn his place, damn it.
Narrowing his eyes, Naruto shoved against Sasuke's chest and tried to throw him off. "What's your problem?"
Not budging an inch, he set a cold glare on the blonde. "What's your problem? You need to learn your place. You're a nurse, I'm a doctor. You're beneath me, got it?"
"The only thing you are is a conceited asshole," Naruto replied with a scoff.
"Whatever." Talking obviously didn't do any good with a thick-headed idiot like this. He got off the boy and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "The only reason I'm here is because Kakashi has a thing for your friend."
"Like I didn't already know about that." Rolling his eyes, Naruto stood up and brushed himself off. "With the way you're always messing with me, it seems like you have a thing for me."
"In your dreams, you idiot." Yeah right, like he would ever stoop down to that level. "If anything, you're the one after me. It's the more obvious choice anyway."
"I'm not into spoiled brats."
"It takes one to know one." Wow...he really needed to work on his insults. He made a mental note to steal some from his brother the next time he was angry.
"Right. Just go find someone else to bug, I have to go wash my hair thanks to you."
"Tch, I'm surprised you actually bathe, considering the standard you live at."
"I've had enough of you, damn it!" Shoving the other boy against the counter, Naruto threw the hardest punch he could at his jaw. Startling for only a second, Sasuke regained his composure and caught the fist inches from his face. Narrowing his eyes, he shoved the blonde away, and threw his own punch, aiming for his face. Naruto couldn't manage to stop the punch like Sasuke had, but he decided he could sure as hell still do something as he kicked one of the boy's feet out from under him and knocked him off balance.
Biting his lip to keep from yelping, Sasuke reached out hoping to grab hold of something to right himself. The only thing he managed to grab was the front of Naruto's shirt, dragging the blonde to the floor along with him. Naruto stumbled as he tried to catch himself, but all he managed to do was land right on top of Sasuke and knock the breath of out both of them. And of course he also managed to land in the perfect position for them to end up with their lips being pressed together. As soon as he managed to sit up, he glared and wiped his mouth off with the back of his arm in disgust.
"Just get out, already!"
Frowning, he shoved Naruto off of his legs. After wiping his mouth off as well, he stomped out of the kitchen in search of Kakashi. He'd never been so embarrassed in his life! Getting angrier by the second he search every room, practically kicking open the bedroom door when he heard Kakashi's voice.
After a few moments of scanning the room, Kakashi finally spotted Iruka and walked over, grinning. "Sorry I'm late."
"Hm?" Iruka turned to look at who was addressing him, and in an instant he felt his face heat up. Instead of the usual attire of a buttoned up shirt, slacks and a tie, Kakashi was dressed in a much more casual way. The slacks were replaced with grey jeans that were worn but well taken care of. His shirt was simple, but damn if it didn't look amazing on him. Kakashi looked stunning, not that he wasn't in what Iruka usually saw him wearing, but this was a nice change. "H-hey Kakashi." He tripped over his words when he realized he must've been staring.
Kakashi couldn't help but grin more when just his presence was apparently enough to get Iruka flustered. "Think you can scoot over a little to make room for me?"
"Of course." He tried to regain his composure as he made room for the grey-haired man to sit down. He was hoping to actually not make a fool of himself in front of the man, but it was already proving to be a daunting task.
As soon as Kakashi was seated, he put an arm over Iruka's shoulders, laughing a little. "Looks like a lot of people were worried about you."
Glancing at the hand on his shoulder, Iruka laughed a little. "To be honest, I don't even know half these people." He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the scar on his nose. "Naruto kind of set this whole thing up."
"Is that so? I wondered why you looked so uncomfortable."
"It's not like I'm upset about it, it's just not really my thing. Am I making any sense?" He asked with a nervous laugh as Kakashi starting drawing little circles on his arm.
"Of course you are. Some people just don't like strangers and crowds. We could always go somewhere alone, you know," he suggested as he squeezed the other man's shoulder. Making Iruka nervous really was much more fun than it should've been.
Fighting back a blush, Iruka nodded and got up from his spot on the couch. "It's too noisy to talk in here anyway."
Kakashi stood with him, leaving his arm draped over his shoulders. "Where to, then?"
"My room, I guess." Slipping from Kakashi's arm, he made his way to his bedroom, which was thankfully empty, and took a seat on his freshly made bed.
After closing the door behind them, Kakashi sat next to Iruka. "Much better."
Feeling suddenly awkward, Iruka started to fidget with a loose string on the hem of his shirt. "Uh...yeah."
"Don't go quiet on me now. How have you been feeling?"
"Sorry, I've been feeling much better. It's like it never happened." He wasn't lying, that Ribavirin had really done the trick. Sure, it took a good few months, but it was well worth it. "Hey, I never got to really thank you for saving my life."
He barely stopped himself from laughing at that last line. Only Iruka could make something so cliché sound so cute. "It's what I do."
He sighed, of course it was Kakashi's job. It's not like he would've denied him help. "I know, I just really appreciate it."
"Well I'm glad you're alright."
"So..." He wasn't quite sure how he wanted to go about it, but he knew he wanted to let Kakashi know how he felt.
"Yeah?" It was pretty obvious that Iruka needed to talk about something with him, but he couldn't imagine what it could be. He hated to admit it, but the teacher was pretty hard to read sometimes.
Instead of stumbling over his words and making a fool of himself Iruka decided to just show Kakashi what he wanted to say. Leaning closer and swallowing nervously, he pressed his lips lightly against the doctor's cheek.
Iruka seriously had to be breaking some kind of record with all the cute things he had been doing lately. "Now what did I do to deserve that?"
He blushed like mad and looked away. "I dunno...I guess it was another thank you." Damn it, he needed to stop acting like a teenage girl. It's not like he'd never flirted with someone before! Kakashi just made him so nervous.
"Well, since I'm officially not your doctor anymore, you can thank me like that as much as you want."
Iruka laughed, feeling some of the tension leave the room. "Is that so?"
"Yup. In fact, I insist you do," he said with a grin, wrapping his arms around Iruka in a hug and stealing a kiss. Closing his eyes, Iruka leaned into the kiss, bringing his hands up to Kakashi's chest before sliding them up to rest on his shoulders. God, Kakashi was a good kisser.
"I'd like to spend more time with you," Kakashi said, leaning back a little and letting his hands rest on Iruka's hips.
He smiled shyly up at the handsome man. "I'd like that."Just as Iruka was about to lean in for another kiss, the door was kicked open and a furious Sasuke stomped in. "Kakashi! We're leaving now!"
Kakashi gave Sasuke an annoyed frown. "I'm busy. What's the problem?"
A little embarrassed and mildly afraid of Sasuke's deathly glare, Iruka put some distance between himself and Kakashi."I said I want to leave!" He was getting impatient.
"Sorry, Iruka, someone must've missed his nap today." After pulling Iruka closer for one last kiss, Kakashi stood up. "I'll come see you some other time, alright? Go on to the car, Sasuke."
Blushing slightly and feeling extremely uncomfortable with Sasuke present, Iruka returned the kiss. "It's alright. Goodbye, Kakashi." Waving goodbye to the man, Iruka set out on the search for Naruto, who he figured was most likely the cause of Sasuke's made his way through the crowd before getting in the car and slamming the door. He was wrong, putting up with Itachi would've been much easier.
"See ya, Iruka." Kakashi followed Sasuke, getting in the driver's seat. "Alright, quit sulking and tell me what happened."
"Naruto is what happened. Just take me home. This is all your fault, anyway." He didn't even care if he sounded childish at this point, he just wanted to get home.
"Don't be a baby. How bad could it have been?" Shaking his head, he drove the angry boy home.
Without bothering to say goodnight, Sasuke got out of the car and headed inside, praying to every God he could think of that Itachi would be asleep.
Sasuke's prayers were almost answered, seeing as how his brother was very close to falling asleep on the couch. That damn medication made him so exhausted sometimes. Spying his brother after walking into the living room, he was careful to not make a sound as he crept up the stairs to his room. If Itachi noticed his presence, he didn't show it. All he did was roll over, trying to get more comfortable on the couch as he drifted off.
Sighing with relief once his door was closed, Sasuke inspected his room. Itachi had been in there, but why? The only reason he could tell was because the mouse was on the opposite end of the keyboard, and since Itachi was left handed that meant he hand to have been on Sasuke's computer, and just forgotten to move the mouse back. Sitting down at his desk, Sasuke brought up the window for recently accessed places on the computer. Itachi had been looking though his internet history. He froze. Itachi had seen that Sasuke had been looking for places to rent. Damn...he was going to get it in the morning.