"Hmm? You smell….oddly floral", Iruka murmured, looking distinctly perplexed. Kakashi plopped himself into a chair across the table from the chuunin, rubbing his hair dry on a towel.

"Jaa, I forgot to grab my shampoo last night, so I borrowed some. Gomen", the jounin replied, his eyes curving into slightly embarrassed arcs. His mouth was obscured by a hand towel tied into a makeshift mask. It seemed to be second nature now for the ninja to cover his lower face that way. It was one of his many little foibles that only endeared him all the more to Iruka.

"Yare yare…you'd forget your kunai if they weren't holstered to your thigh", Iruka mock-grumbled, trying hard not to let his thoughts wonder far enough to actually envisage the aforementioned thigh. There were always distinct dangers in bringing parts of Kakashi's anatomy into a conversation. Iruka couldn't possibly recall just how many times one of his offhand comments had ended up with his staring into space while washing the same dish over and over. And unfortunately, Kakashi had started to notice the pattern.

"Heh heh, you look like you're concentrating rather too hard on chewing that cereal, Iru-kun. Shredded wheat can't possibly be that tasty", the scarecrow said, now all mischief where he had previously been chagrined. Iruka felt himself colouring despite himself, mouth full and unable to comment. He settled instead for a glare that ended up having an effect that was rather the opposite to what was desired. Kakashi was apparently trying to swallow his fist through the 'face-towel' to stop from laughing himself stupid at the hilarity that was the death stare Iruka was (attempting) to give him. He just couldn't help but find the chuunin impossibly cute, regardless of his intentions.

Iruka at first looked perplexed by Kakashi's reaction, then leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes, looking defeated, resigning himself to just finishing his current mouthful. Breakfast with Kakashi was somehow never a simple affair. The jounin took altogether too much pleasure in watching his every movement from behind half lidded eyes. The jounin had taken to leaving his hitai-ate off until his hair was dry after his morning shower, leaving his sharingan free to attempt to weird Iruka out with. Add in the fact that Kakashi was an amazingly fast eater, and breakfast was pretty much turned into some variety of Dolphin-Theatre for Kakashi's viewing pleasure.

"One of these days I'm going to fit a lock to the outside of my bathroom door", Iruka murmured, his mouthful finally gone, "And I'm not going to let you out until I've finished my breakfast". Kakashi's face fell, adopting the look of a wounded puppy.

"Iru-kun, you'd take away my morning treat? But you're the only way I can start my day properly," Kakashi murmured, his hurt expression still in place. Iruka's expression changed to slightly surprised at this information, then to a look of sympathy. Just as he opened his mouth to take it back, Kakashi's eyes curved up happily again and he said, rather too gleefully, "Oh well, I guess I'll just have to start taking my water-proofed copy of Icha Icha Paradise into the shower with me again!"

Iruka's eyes opened wide and he looked like he was trying hard not to vault across the table and strangle the far-to-pleased-with-himself scarecrow. Instead, he just slumped in his chair, closed his eyes again and said, "Gah! I swear, every time I think I've got you figured out, you go and throw me another curve ball."

"Variety is the spice of life, Iru-kun," Kakashi said merrily and took advantage of Iruka's lack of vision to gobble the bowl of rice that was sat in front of him. It wasn't that he didn't like Iruka seeing his face, it was just a habit he found hard to kick, even in private situations. His face was sober again by the time Iruka looked up.

"But seriously, Iru-kun, there's something I need to ask you." Iruka raised an eyebrow, again befuddled by the jounin's near-constant mood shifts. Actually, they seemed to be more frequent than normal today, Iruka thought. He wondered what was causing it.

"Forgetting various items when I stay the night here is becoming a nuisance. I was thinking perhaps it was time to do something about it," the scarecrow continued, looking down at his rice bowl.

Iruka looked at him, blinking a couple of times. "Er, sure, you know you're more than welcome to leave your stuff here. It's not like you ever bring much, so it wouldn't be in the way."

Kakashi shook his head a little, clearly not relishing trying to get his message across. "No, Iru-kun, I was thinking of a solution that's a little more permanent than having a spare tooth-brush and shampoo here." He looked up to see Iruka digesting his words, trying to put two handfuls of rice and two strips of nori together and getting five onigiri. Kakashi decided just to bite the bullet, for better or for worse. "Iru-kun, I'd…very much like for us to live together."

Iruka's eyes opened wide. The possibility of what Kakashi's cryptic words has meant had been floating just out of reach, but that brought the idea into sharp relief. He didn't really know why it was such a shock. He'd toyed with the idea himself from time to time. The two nins had been practically living out of each others pockets for months now, spending the night at one or the other's apartment. He supposed the reason it shocked him now was that without it really being a conscious thought, he hadn't expected Kakashi to want to share his living space. Kakashi didn't seem the domestic type. He couldn't cook to save his life, his apartment was always a bomb site. Iruka had taken it upon himself to mend his bed sheets for him a number of times because they had become so tatty. Add to his mode of living that Kakashi always had that air of boredom about him and Iruka had been sure he'd never have agreed to living together, let alone be the one to suggest it.

A minute went by and Iruka realised he was still staring at the jounin and hadn't actually said anything. Kakashi's expression was mostly unreadable, but from practise, Iruka could tell it was because he was awaiting rejection. He was preparing to mask his disappointment and spring back to his upbeat façade that masked whatever mental pain he might be in. Standing up, Kakashi's eyes predictably curved upwards again, this time in completely faux-happiness and muttered, "Gomen ne, I didn't mean to make you feel awkward. I'll be going now".

Kakashi turned his back to leave and Iruka suddenly sprang up from his seat, moving with great urgency. He grabbed Kakashi in a bear hug from behind, fisting his hands in the material at the front of his black jounin sweater and pressing his face into his lover's back, effectively impeding his departure.

"Don't. Don't go. I'm sorry, I'm an idiot. I…I just never expected to hear those words from you. Of course I want to live with you. Please stay?" Iruka couldn't see it, but Kakashi's face was a picture of relieved happiness. Turning around, the jounin buried his face in Iruka's shoulder, wrapping his arms around him.

"Arigato," the taller man murmured into Iruka's sweater, the sound coming out a little muffled. Iruka smiled softly, returning the embrace. He decided that moments like this, of which there were many, more than made up for the embarrassment of breakfast-time.

"Just promise me one thing?" Iruka said . He heard a kind of questioning 'Hrnn?' sound mumbled into his shoulder. "Don't think this means you can leave your dirty books all over my coffee table now. And it will be my coffee table. Your place is way too small to fit all my assorted junk in."

"Deal", Kakashi said, pulling back so that he could pull off his makeshift face mask to plant a soft kiss on Iruka's lips. Iruka leaned into it happily, much more pleased than he had ever imagined he would be at this progress in their relationship. Living together was another sign of Kakashi's commitment. It wasn't that Iruka didn't trust the man, but the jounin prided himself on being unreadable and unpredictable. Even though he let Iruka see a large amount more of his true nature than anyone else, he had found that retaining some measure of mystery allowed him to coax the chuunin into blushing that much more often. Because of this, Iruka often found it difficult to keep track of where their relationship was heading, letting alone where they were currently.

Suddenly grabbing the smaller man and pulling him up to cradle him, Kakashi smiled at the 'Eeep' of surprise that it earned him. Chuckling, Kakashi carried him towards the bedroom, grinning far too happily. "Um, what are you doing?" Iruka said, blushing once more.

"Well, I thought we should celebrate our progress," Kakashi smirked dirtily. "By christening your bed".

Iruka somehow managed to flush a deeper red, "But….we already did that on that bed, so how can we christen it?"

"Ahh, but we didn't do it on that bed while we were both officially living under one roof, ne?" Kakashi had that air about him that Iruka knew was associated with situations that were impossible for chocolate haired chuunins to get out of. Iruka sighed, resigning himself to the fact, deciding Kakashi already knew, and so didn't need informing, that he had given the worst excuse ever. Thank kami-sama it was Saturday.

-

Notes

Onigiri- Rice ball

Nori- Sheets of roasted seaweed

In case it wasn't obvious, this sentence: "He looked up to see Iruka digesting his words, trying to put two handfuls of rice and two strips of nori together and getting five onigiri", was meant to be a pun on the phrase "putting two and two together and getting five", but with a Japanese twist. I wasn't sure if that was going to come over properly (it was one of those "It sounds ok in my head" moments).

CC appreciated. This is like, my second time of writing fiction EVER, so please be gentle ;;. My first time writing Kakairu as well, so sorry if the characters are a bit off. I just felt like trying my hand. I have no idea how it turned out. Kakashi is maybe a bit more vulnerable than I would have liked, but perhaps I can work on that. Ja mata! Thanks for reading