A/N: Some well-deserved fluff, anyone?
Team Minato fits in a way Sakumo hadn't anticipated.
Obito is hot-headed, loud and painfully average; the anti-thesis of the stereotypical Uchiha.
Rin is civilian-born and sweet, possessing the unshakeable calm of a true med-nin even when treating the worst of wounds.
Somehow, between the Uchiha's Hokage-related declarations and the girl's genuine affection, they manage to peel back Kakashi's prickly defences by sheer bull-headedness. The comfort of familiarity and innocence finally allows Kakashi act his age and all the precocious brattiness that had always confounded Sakumo comes spilling out with vengeance.
Kakashi snarks at Obito in all immaturity, equal parts irritation and playfulness, until the boy is red as a tomato. Rin laughs and fusses over them both, takes them by the hand and pulls them along, softening what would have otherwise been a ridiculously overblown rivalry. In return Kakashi lets her closer than anyone else – only she is allowed to pet his ninken, all eight of them.
Minato, Rin, Obito… they teach him how to laugh again, a startled, barking laugh that accidentally slips past his mask.
The sound makes his team grin like idiots and Sakumo too.
It's one evening after post-training ramen when an idea pops into Kakashi's spiky silver head. Sakumo is hovering over Kakashi's shoulder as usual, sneaking a read of his book, only to have the boy suddenly snap it shut. Blinking, the older Hatake shifts to sit on the shuriken bedspread. "Entertainment is hard to come by when you can't hold anything, you know," he sighs.
"I am going to invite Rin and Obito over for dinner," Kakashi declares with an anxious warble, his eyes fixed on the middle distance.
"An excellent idea!" Sakumo perks up immediately and beams. A boy his age needs to socialise. Play-dates are just the thing!
Nodding dazedly to himself, Kakashi promptly flops onto his pillow and tugs the covers over his head, muttering about invitation cards and appropriately fancy dishes. Sakumo chuckles fondly at his silly little scarecrow.
Little had Sakumo known, it takes one grindingly long week and an infectious case of nervous twitches before Kakashi manages to verbalise the invitation. By now, Minato has been fretting for days over Kakashi's odd behaviour and Kushina has a heart-to-heart talk all planned. As for Sakumo, well, his hair can't be whiter than it already is, can it?
The dinner starts off laughingly formal – complete with a gift-wrapped hamper of fruits brought by an awkward Obito and Rin. Everyone sits stiffly around the meticulously prepared broiled grouper as if they were in a T&I cell instead of a cozy apartment. The small talk is so awful Sakumo is seriously considering the viability of possessing someone simply to make them stop.
Obito upends his miso with his foot (don't ask) and the tension flees in a moment. Kakashi starts yelling at the top of his lungs and a horror-struck Obito hollers back apologies equally loudly. Rin merely devolves into a fit of giggles.
Snorting in amusement himself, Sakumo relaxes into a slouch as the two boys stumble over each other, trying to clean up the mess while shouting all the way. Within moments, the neighbour's angry banging on the wall joins in the ruckus and Rin starts tearing up with laughter from it all.
It becomes a simply lovely evening.