"You are special to me"
"Grandpa! Grandpa!"
Himawari and Boruto ran to greet her favorite grandfather while Iruka was lounging on her favorite chair.
"Boruto! Himawari!"
"Leave Grandpa alone. He is not leaving."
With a smile on his already wrinkled face he got up and went to meet her family. He wasn't expecting them but it was always nice to have visitors.
"Naruto, Hinata. Do not worry. This old man still has the energy to receive this adorable lady and this handsome man."
"Oh dad. Don't say those things."
Iruka, looking at his only son being his and a grown man with his own family filled him with love, energy and happiness. He still remembers that rambunctious blond boy with infinite energy that filled him and Kakashi with love.
"Naruto. It is always nice to see my daughter in law and my grandchildren. Why didn't you say you were coming? I have nothing prepared."
The blonde, now holding hands with a beautiful black-haired woman, blushing a little, tried to speak, but was interrupted by Boruto.
"Grandpa! Last night we asked Dad how he and Mom met, but he said the story about how you and Grandpa Kakshi met was more interesting."
"Yes! He also said that a silly movie that you love so much is an important part of the story."
"Himawari! Don't Call Grandpa's Favorite Movie Silly!"
Laughing at everything a bit, Iruka went to find a photo album that he always kept on the shelf and in a place of honor.
"Naruto, everyone here knows that the Robin Hood movie is a bit silly. Now Boruto, Himawari, do you really want to know how I met Grandpa Kakashi?"
Already seated and clutching the photo album with his wrinkled and stained hands and with a smile, he began to tell (again) his grandchildren about how he met the most beautiful and wonderful man he had ever known.
"Dad, if it's too much trouble we can come back another day."
"Yes, Mr. Umino. Anyway we came unexpectedly."
"Naruto, Hinata. It's not a bother, the truth is I always like to tell granpa stories."
I met Kakashi when I was 11 and he was 13 years. My parents had died a few days before and I was a rookie at the Konoha orphanage.
"I was a naughty boy who hid his pain with practical jokes. Like a certain blond boy I met a while ago."
He said that while he looked mischievously at his son, making him blush.
"In all that time, there was a child who never paid attention to me. He was quiet and withdrawn. That boy was Kakashi."
Smiling and reminiscing about the past he turned a page on the album he was holding.
"Look kids. Here are your grandfather and I when we were kids at the orphanage."
The photo was black and white and there were two children in the photo. One boy had a scar on his face and long hair in a high ponytail. The other, a little taller, with white hair and a mask that hid half his face staring straight ahead without apparent expression.
Himawari and Hinata were the most excited looking at the photo of those children. One with curiosity and the other with emotion.
"Wow Grandpa. They were so little!"
"Mister Umino, they were really adorable."
"Thank you both. But I was far from adorable. I was really naughty!"
Laughing a little, she continued with her narration.
"And I remember once and after some mischief, Kakashi helped me hide in his closet and I never left him alone again."
"He already had some friends before. Rin and Obito, if I remember correctly, but they had already been adopted and Kakashi was alone."
"We became inseparable. We became the best friends."
"Once a rich man, Hiruzen, came to the orphanage and showed us a movie, Robin Hood. It was an animation where a fox robbed the rich for the poor and fell in love with Lady Marian."
"I've never seen a movie before. They were really eye candy. Even Kakashi was captivated!"
"And it was thanks to the movie that I realized something. I liked Kakashi."
Sighing and remembering his past, the old man changed another photo.
"I cried and cried like the day my parents died. I didn't want to talk to anyone, not even my best friend. But he was just as stubborn as I was and he didn't leave or leave me."
"He told me how he got to the orphanage. How his mother died when he was born and his father committed suicide out of grief. When he arrived and became friends with Rin and Obito but that there was an accident thanks to him and Obito and Kakashi lost their sight one eye and how he felt that Obito's friendship was super special, and that I had become special to him too. "
Looking at everyone sitting in his living room and shaking a little, he told them:
"My children... In those times love was restricted, there were limits to love. They punished you if you were a man in love with another or if you were a woman in love with another woman. They weren't good times for people like me or Grandpa Kakashi."
"Time passed and my love for him grew and blossomed like a flower."
"But in one afternoon all my anguish exploded when I saw Kakashi holding hands with another young woman."
"I didn't realize that my friend had seen my expression and when he went to my room at the orphanage, he saw me cry and cry."
"He told me "Iruka. Iruka. She is nothing to me.""
"And that's when I remembered that I was special to him. And, steadying myself, I took his hand, something that belonged to me."
"I was the happiest 15-year-old boy in the world. He felt the same way!"
"Our nascent relationship was obviously a secret. No one could tell that two children were holding hands or kissing, but we were still happy."
"Our first date was when he was already 18 and I was 16."
"Kakashi was working on a railway and I was still in the orphanage taking care of the minor children."
"That day Robin Hood was being exhibited, the same movie that we had seen as children and which made me realize my feelings."
Rested, he kept looking at the album and saw another picture of him and Kakashi.
"Neither of us had money to study, but Mr. Hiruzen had paid us a school, so we both could read and write."
"And when I finally left the orphanage we moved in together."
"He was still on the railroad but I had gotten a job at the local newspaper."
"And everything was fine for a while, but some people had found out that two men lived together as lovers."
"They humiliated us and put us on trial. They condemned us just for loving each other, but we escaped."
"In the other city we had no money or a house and we lived on the streets like rats."
"But Kakashi and I managed to get a job. We live in a very small and narrow place but full of love."
"We saw the world and their perception of us change. Suddenly it was no longer sinful or immoral to love."
"We made great friends who unfortunately died from the wave of AIDS and heroin that invaded the city."
"In the end we were free to love each other but we were not free from prejudices."
"And we already had a house and stable jobs when we saw you, Naruto."
"You were such a dirty little boy. Your gaze captivated us and we always felt that you had chosen us as your parents."
The blond man smiling, he asked his dad to continue.
"In the end we adopted Naruto. And the first movie we saw together as a family was Robin Hood."
"It cost us a lot. We had a lot of tears and helplessness, but we finally had a family. And I could never have asked for anything more."
"And that's why I never felt lonely when Kakashi left for the other side. Sure, I felt that a part of me was leaving with him, he was the love of my life, but I was not alone. I had my son and family by my side."
Closing the photo album, she looked at her grandchildren and daughter-in-law with a smile, waiting for someone to say something.
"Mr. Umino," Hinata started. "He had such a cute and beautiful love story. No wonder he is such a beautiful person on the inside."
"Mom is right!" Himawari said. "Literally you and Grandpa Kakashi have always loved each other!"
Just smiling, Iruka reached out his arms to hug his granddaughter and grandson. Boruto was just thinking and strangely quiet.
"Dad, you already know what I think of you and papa Kakashi. They are my heroes, you know."
"Ay, Kakashi. My beloved. I just hope you are looking at the beautiful family that we managed to build. I love you."
End.