Summary (Minato's pov; flashback):
Minato has so many sons, he can't keep up, but then Kakashi just must go and tell him about his time-traveler status and then hook up with Obito and just make it all weird (how dare you, Kakashi!), but Minato is still a good dad and he talks one of his sons through "he proposed me what should i dooo" phase.
Gawd, I'm nailing this summary, look at me.
If your kid needs a role model and you ain't it, you're both fucked.
Sometimes Minato thinks that he has not one son, but three of them. It is normal for the shinobi teams to be close, but Minato still doubts such an extent is usual.
Perhaps the fact that both boys had no parents when they joined his team played some role here, as well as the mutual adoration between them and Kushina later. So it's not like Minato really had a choice there. Not that he minded though.
First was the sudden change in Kakashi, who from a rather distant, guarded, openly unfriendly boy, who valued following rules more than anything else, in a matter of one day shifted to the even more guarded, but yet warm and caring stranger, who started being late to their meetings more often than not, and smiled behind his mask to his teammates and Minato with heartbreaking yearning in his eyes. There was unmistakably a core that was Kakashi in him, but on top of it there was very little there of the boy Minato had known.
Minato noticed that, Rin noticed that, Obito noticed that Kakashi started smiling to Rin, and aside from that his observations skills failed him.
As a result, Obito started brooding about Kakashi suddenly showing attention to Obito's crush, hurt would very quickly flick and fade on the visible part of Kakashi's face every time that Obito purposely ignored him, and Rin was trying really hard and failing not to show her worry about the changed dynamics in their team.
The moment when Minato had gotten enough of all that and decided to intervene, he now sees as a turning point from them being a team to eventually becoming something closer to a family.
He doesn't remember now when Obito or Kakashi or sometimes both of them started having sleepovers in his and Kushina's house, but he has never regretted ever allowing them. Kushina and Obito really got along, both loud and cheerful, and it was hard to believe Obito was an Uchiha.
Kakashi was incredibly interesting to talk to, and Minato sometimes even forgot that he was talking with a kid. He caught himself wondering a couple of times about what had happened on that mission in the end of the war that made Kakashi change so much, he even tried to ask the boy, only to notice later that he had been very skillfully led to a change of topic without even noticing that he had never gotten an answer for his question.
This mystery was washed out of his mind when Kushina told him she was pregnant. Minato's team was the first ones among all their friends to learn the news. Rin was hugging Kushina, they both laughing, Obito was smiling and wiping off the constant stream of tears from his eyes until they were red and puffy. What was visible of Kakashi's face was playing a complicated mix of emotions, that looked like the boy couldn't quite decide whether he should smile or frown.
The next day Kakashi jumped through the window into the Hokage's office, very insistently asked Minato to dismiss the ANBU guards and make sure that the seals that would prevent anyone from hearing them were active, and then dropped the news of him being a time-traveler on Minato's head.
Kakashi didn't go into many details, either because it would've taken probably too long or because of some personal reasons. Minato listened silently, and when Kakashi finished and after a short pause added that if his word was not enough he would try to prove it with some extra information, Minato just walked to him and hugged him tightly. He felt Kakashi flinch briefly and then he relaxed and wrapped his arms around Minato in return.
Minato was holding Kakashi, while he hid his face in the Hokage's robe, his shoulders shaking and silent tears drenching the white garb. Minato was a bit surprised how easy it was for him to believe Kakashi's story. And he didn't hear even a hint that Kakashi might blame him for not being there for his team that cursed day, probably launching the chain of events that had led to such a devastating war. And while he was happy that this time it was avoided and all three of his students were alive, he couldn't help but regret that he hadn't been there for this man while he had been struggling through his life completely alone.
Everything changed after that. They told Kushina - Minato wouldn't keep secrets from her. Besides, she was soon to give birth to their son, and despite Obito not being a threat this time, they weren't sure that Madara wouldn't find someone else to use - they had to be ready.
It pained Minato to think that in different circumstances that cheerful, kind and somewhat fragile boy could be broken and twisted so much that he would not hesitate to destroy his own home and kill the people who had been dear to him. And Minato understood better all the glances Kakashi was throwing Obito's way, his discreet attempts to stand closer to his friend, shifting his body slightly as if to protect him from a potential danger that can hurt and change him. Minato couldn't imagine what Kakashi felt, being among people he loved and who had been ghosts for him for way too long. It didn't matter that Kakashi was probably slightly older than Minato now - after hearing Kakashi's story, he decided that he would do his best to give Kakashi the family he had never had.
Jiraiya visited a few months after, talked to Kakashi, got more drunk than Minato had ever seen him, and then soon left promising to let them know if he found out anything about Orochimaru's or Madara's whereabouts.
Mikoto Uchiha gave birth to Sasuke, Kushina gave birth to Naruto, the attack on Konoha didn't happen and Kyūbi stayed safely sealed in Kushina.
Obito was bursting into tears everytime little Naruto would have a huge happy grin on his whiskered face when his self-proclaimed oniisan was anywhere in his field of vision, and Minato's house would be filled with the ringing laughter of both of them for another hour, Obito blowing raspberries on the little boy's tummy while happily regressing from his fifteen to something hardly much older than Naruto, until they both would exhaust themselves and fall asleep. Kakashi would roll his eyes at the view of Obito lying on a floor like a starfish with Naruto sprawled across his chest, drooling on Obito's shirt, but Minato would see him smile under his mask.
Kushina was happy to have both of them around, not at all disturbed by the slight chaos Obito brought each time he visited his beloved Naru-chan. She would leave Naruto with Kakashi when she had to leave house or meet with Mikoto, and Minato later would hear from Fugaku, that during such days Kakashi would seek Itachi, who had his otouto attached to him so often that it seemed they were physically inseparable, and let the two little boys play together.
Minato was happy. He was happy having this family, and his little son having so many people who loved him, unlike how it had happened in the life Kakashi told him about. Minato knew Kakashi regretted not being there for Naruto the first time, too absorbed in dealing with his own grief, and if now he wanted to compensate for that, Minato didn't mind, seeing that Kakashi loved Naruto sincerely, and the expression in his eyes when the toddler called him Kashi-nii for the first time was priceless.
Despite how eager Obito waited Naruto to call him brother as well, Obito just stayed Obito for the little boy, who would later add "baka" to the name more often than not, making Obito do the same, changing the usual Naru-chan to Naru-baka, that later caused a million fights between the two that threatened to destroy the house ― Minato's or Kakashi's one, when Obito moved in with him and Naruto started staying a few nights a week there. Kakashi told Minato, that the first time he tried to intervene, both of them called him Bakashi and threw things at him. Since then he decided to mind his own business, letting them get that extra energy out of their systems - exhausted Obito and Naruto were much easier to handle.
Years later, a couple of days after Kakashi had abruptly quited the ANBU without giving any explanations, he appeared with a puff of smoke in the middle of Minato's office, startling the guards, who Minato instantly dismissed, reading the familiar expression on his former student's face. Said expression was barely holding still on Kakashi's face, being pushed away by the look of utter happiness, confusion and relief.
As surprising as it was to see the mix of such emotions on Kakashi's face ― not that Minato thought the man couldn't experience them, but he usually tend to be much more reticent about his feelings ― neither before that, nor after, has Minato ever heard Kakashi stutter. In the middle of Kakashi's muddled explanations about Itachi being another time-traveler, that resolved some of their concerns towards Uchiha in general and that one Uchiha in particular, Minato realised that Kakashi was slightly drunk, which had also never happened.
And before Minato was able to process all these new discoveries and decide what the fact that someone else from Kakashi's future - past? - had also been thrown back in time could mean for them, without taking any pause, and barely even changing his intonation ― except for the level of surprise in his voice, that rose dramatically ― Kakashi informed him that Obito proposed to him and what do I do, Minato-sensei?!
And though the second news made Minato nothing but happy and he honestly couldn't see why Kakashi was even having doubts, and he would very much prefer to discuss the sudden appearance of the second time traveler ― after, of course, congratulating the first one for his engagement ― as this seemed way more important on an entirely different level, he realised that he was needed as just Minato more than as Hokage, when Kakashi dropped in the chair across from him, hid his face in his arms, folded on the desk, and with a voice that sounded so far from how the man looked just a second ago, and that showed his drunk state even more than his stutter, said words that Minato had hoped had never visited Kakashi's mind.
"He deserves more than I can possibly give him, Minato-sensei."
Minato knew Kakashi wasn't telling him everything from his past life, and he didn't mean facts, but how they affected the man. Kakashi had been very careful in not showing any distress or any strong emotions per se, but it would be surprising, if the man, who had lived through one loss after another and participated in two world wars, wouldn't have any regrets and inner scars. But until then Minato hadn't been sure what could be eating on Kakashi the most. And he couldn't say that he was surprised that it was connected with Obito.
"You gave him this whole new life, Kakashi." Minato walked around the desk and sat on the corner of it, putting his hand on Kakashi's shoulder reassuringly. "You gave him friends, love, family."
Kakashi lifted his head, looking blindly before him, and then leant at the back of the chair, closing his left eye. It was an old habit from before he was able to get used to using both of his eyes all the time, that Minato had noticed before Kakashi actually explained it to him. Now he only slipped when he felt uncomfortable or distressed.
"He should've been with Rin. Sensei, he was ready to destroy the whole world for her. Rin… Rin would've been perfect for him."
"He loves Rin, yes, but it is different with you. And this is what you gave him too - the opportunity of choice. He chose you, Kakashi."
Kakashi opened his mouth, but Minato added with a smile, before the man could begin arguing, "You don't think you can force love on Uchiha, do you?"
Kakashi was silent for a moment, frowning, the tightness in the corners of his eyes being the only indication that whatever he was thinking about was not pleasant.
"I will ruin him," the words whispered from his lips, quiet and broken.
Minato squeezed his shoulder and waited before Kakashi lifted his eyes on him.
"You saved him," he said with a smile, and never in his life had he believed so much in what he was saying. "Let him save you now."
Before Minato could send Kakashi home to his most definitely worried out of his mind boyfriend, said boyfriend walked in the office after knocking quietly at the door, wearing a lost and questioning look on his face. His eyes widened in surprise and relief when he saw Kakashi, and Minato came to the conclusion, that Kakashi probably fled to the Hokage tower the same instant as he heard Obito's proposal, judging by Kakashi's guilty look.
Minato tapped Kakashi's shoulder and smiled reassuringly to Obito, who stood near the door obviously not sure what to do. Kakashi dragged his feet to him, stooped to press his forehead to Obito's shoulder, and apparently said something, that Minato couldn't hear, but Obito beamed, grabbed Kakashi in a tight embrace, digging his face in the crook of Kakashi's neck, and Minato discreetly let out a breath of relief.
Minato sent them off, staying one on one ― the two inconspicuous ANBU guards appearing the same second the door closed behind the backs of Minato's former students didn't count ― with a fairly insignificant but very intrusive thought, that he must be more attentive during such conversations with Kakashi or Obito (and this one hadn't been the first of the sort, and not even the second), as they might prove to be only a warm up before the main thing, i.e. his son, who was only seven, but Minato had already found that kids were indeed growing fast. One of them had even managed to skip at least twenty whole years…
Speaking of which.
The news of Itachi being another time traveler were good in general, but at the same time concerning. Minato wasn't worried that the Uchiha could do something against the village or the clan, but he would definitely talk to him later. He wasn't particularly sure yet whether the unquestionable changes in Itachi would be good for his relationship with his little brother ― Monato knew how highly Sasuke thought of Itachi, and he just hoped that he wouldn't have to be involved as a mediator at least in this relationship too.
Some thought was a nagging itch at the side of his consciousness for the rest of the day, but the need to focus on urgent paperwork didn't leave him any room to stop and think about it.
Already later that night, when a restless Naruto, too agitated by the news of Kakashi and Obito's engagement ― yes, Naruto, boys can marry each other; no, son, you can't marry Sasuke, you are too little for that, ask me in twenty years ― had been finally coaxed to go to sleep, and Minato was lying in bed with Kushina in his arms, he realised what kind of thought it had been.
He had told his wife about Itachi earlier today, so there was no need for extra explanations, when he asked hesitantly, "What if there will be more? What if…"
He didn't finish, and the unasked question hung between them. Kushina didn't answer right away, probably taking the time to make this thought sink in. And then she sighed and looked up at Minato from where she was resting on his shoulder.
"Then we will love him even more. For all those years he didn't have us."
In the next chapter: Naruto wakes up to a plangent "Minato-senseeei" said by a distantly familiar low voice... - Naruto's POV and SasuNaru fluff ladies and gents ^_^
Please talk to me in comments, guys! I wanna know what you think and what you expect to see in this fic later =)
