Over the next weeks they settled back into their little routine, with lunches, coffee breaks and friendly fights. Obito tried to pay closer attention to Kakashi, to make sure he was recovering, even if the silver haired man would sometimes be a pain in the ass about it.
"You can't just live of eggplant and tofu you know?" Obito grabbed some of the meat in his donburi and put it over Kakashi's rice bowl.
"Why not? Vegetarians can, Buddhist monks too." Kakashi's chopsticks moved the meat back to Obito's plate with a teasing smile.
"Just shut up and eat." Obito returned the meat to Kakashi's rice and added even more pieces this time.
"Ma, are you my mother?"
Obito remembered his babysitting career, how difficult it was to make Shisui eat his vegetables, and in turn how hard it was to make Sasuke eat anything that wasn't tomatoes, at least Itachi was a good kid. If Kakashi didn't cooperate, Obito would need to force feed him in the mouth like one of his younger cousins, and as much as he'd like for that to be sweet and intimate, as if they were a couple, it would just look plain weird between two grown men in the middle of a busy restaurant during commercial lunch break. "I'm your babysitter, and you're a terrible kid." He settled for that.
"Oh yeah? Are you gonna spank me?"
"H-h-h-h-how c-can you say something like that?! It's the middle of lunch!"
"Ma, anytime is a good time to quote Icha-Icha Paradise." Kakashi was laughing his ass off at Obito's blush and stuttering, but at least he was eating the meat.
Kakashi had a terrible habit of saying shameless Icha-Icha things during casual conversation, always leaving Obito flustered. Now he was imagining himself slapping Kakashi's ass and it was doing strange things to his stomach, while Kakashi looked unbothered, just satisfied with himself for teasing Obito.
Though there was this one time he had a strange feeling of vendetta when he caught Kakashi in his own little game too. He was shifting on the chair while reading, waiting for Obito to finish somethings to go to the station together. Kakashi was acting strange, squirming and making tiny squealing noises and his face was red, Obito couldn't help but ask.
"What you're reading?" It was the same dreadful Icha-Icha series as always, but something must be different for Kakashi to act like this.
"N-nothing! No-not nothing at all!" Kakashi closed the book before Obito tried to take a peek inside it. That was suspicious. Kakashi was never that bothered by his choice of reading materials, no matter how racy they were.
"I bet is something horribly perverted."
"No, it's not!"
"Then show me."
"No- wait! Obito!" Obito managed to steal the cheap paperback from Kakashi and opened it on the page the bookmark was in.
It was hard to keep Kakashi away from the book, because he was a bit taller than Obito, with a lanky figure, and his arms were almost reaching the bright colored book in his other hand, but Obito pushed him back by the chest while trying to read what was written in it. "Is it true? That you love me?"
"Oh my god! Obito!" Kakashi sounded mortified and he struggled harder to get his precious book back.
"I love you like- wait a minute Kakashi!I love you like the stars love the moon? Well, that's… something?" Obito turned to Kakashi who had stopped struggling and was just sitting on the chair with his head hanging on his hands in shame.
"Please stop reading it out loud."
"I would give you the sun if it were mine to give?"
"Obitooooo…" Kakashi cried in a whiny voice, the visible parts of his face all red and sweating in embarrassment.
"Geez Kakashi, I kinda wished you were reading some kinky porn instead of this cheesy thing."
"Ma, I swear there's kinky porn too, can I please have it back now? Please?"
Obito took pity of the man and handed him back the book. "So you're telling me that when you're reading porn you have a straight face, but when you're reading the romantic parts, that's when you act all embarrassed?"
"So what?"
So what that that's kinda cute and made Obito want to kiss Kakashi, but he wasn't gonna saythatout loud.
"Such an innocent maiden. What's next? You're telling me Pride and Prejudice is too much for you?"
"Asshole!" Kakashi bumped the spine of the book against Obito's forehead and he laughed at the still reddish tones of Kakashi's kissable face.
Hatake Kakashi was a creature of habits, Obito was noticing. He always read the same books, ordered the same food, his desk was always neat and stripped to the bare essentials, it was interesting really. Obito learned more about his crush through observation, and every new little fact he uncovered made him a bit giddy inside, and he felt like such a fucking loser for it.
For example, during their coffee breaks, Obito learned that Kakashi drank unholy amounts of coffee and he should be dead already by the World Health Organization standards. He tried to explain to Kakashi that four shots of espresso per cup was not a good idea and was even more horrified to learn that Kakashi also have at least one energy drink per day on top of all that. Kakashi always mentioned offhandedly that he was a bad sleeper, so Obito pointed out that his caffeine addiction could be making it worse, but he just waved it off. Asshole. After that, whenever he could, Obito tried to make him drink less coffee, or Kakashi would die at thirty with a heart attack and he'd lose his crush. Nope, he can't have that.
"Ma, Obito, your coffee is too weak."
"No, it isn't. I did it just like you asked me too." It was a lie, Obito would try to sneak in three shots of espresso instead of four and add hot water in hopes that Kakashi wouldn't notice.
"You're such a bad liar." Kakashi smiled but drank from his mug all the same. Obito counted that as a win.
His bad sleeping habits explained a lot in fact. For once, why Kakashi would text at insane hours, like three-in-the-morning-on-a-Tuesday insane hours. Also, the dark circles under his eyes, sometimes it'd be purplish if Kakashi had an even worse than usual night, and sometimes it'd be just a small shadow closer to the center. Some people might find dark circles ugly, but even those were pretty on Obito's eyes. Was he always a fan of dark circles, or did he like them because Kakashi had them?
"Ma, I don't like to stay on the bed rolling around trying to sleep and not being able to."
Obito just wanted to punch Kakashi sometimes. How could he not take care of himself?! They were almost thirty, he needed to eat better, sleep better, maybe have a skin care routine (not that he needed one with that perfect pearly skin), get some sun for vitamin D- anything! Sometimes Obito wished he could go to Kakashi's place and cook him something and tuck him in bed. Are these normal thoughts people have about their crushes? He wasn't sure, but he felt like Kakashi needed it, maybe it was just the romantic in him, maybe it was because his granny was so caring and worried for him and Obito thought that was the way to show you lov- you like. You like someone. Yeah. Like. Yeah, he just wanted to care for Kakashi, nothing much, that was perfectly normal, Kakashi was a great person, it's only natural that Obito would like him to keep on living until he's at least fifty.
Kakashi also had other quirks that Obito found endearing. He only had dog stickers on his phone, for all sorts of reactions, but always dogs. He had a very sensitive nose, once he could guess when Ichiraku's changed the recipe of the miso ramen that Obito was eating by only smelling it, Ayame even confirmed it (geez, he knew the name of the waitress by now, she was the daughter of Teuchi-san and- by god, they were going to Ichiraku's too often, Obito needed a new place to have lunch), saying they changed the brand of one of the ingredients, and Obito wondered if that was one of the reasons for the mask. Also, Kakashi's handwriting was shit, it looked like a drunken first grader's and Obito loved it. At first he thought he was the only one who couldn't understand it, but everybody agreed.
"With a handwriting like this you could have become a great doctor, Kakashi."
"Shut up." Kakashi looked annoyed but Kurenai was cracking up in agreement with Obito.
Kakashi had some quirks that annoyed Obito too. For example, he loved horror movies, the worse the better.
"They really lost their hand with the fourth movie, but the first three are great!"
"Kakashi, for the last fucking time, I'm not watching Paranormal Activity, not even if you paid me."
You name it, demons, spirits, aliens, sharks, vampires, zombies, zombie-vampires… Kakashi's watched it. It's like he wants to be up all night, fucking masochist. Obito knew for sure that if he was to watch any of those movies, he wouldn't be able to close his eyes for a week.
Kakashi didn't seem to go out much. Obito knew it because whenever he asked his crush about his weekend plans, he'd just shrug and say whatever. Obito on the other hand, loved to get out of the city, see some nature, touch the grass, feel the sun outside, you know, regular human being behavior, but Kakashi, this cavern-creature-cryptid-sort-of-person that Obito liked so much, seemed averse to that. He'd hear Kurenai and Genma, and other people around the office complain about him too, but there's nothing Obito could do, because if he asked Kakashi out to go with him on one of his day trips, or go ride his bike, maybe camp, there's no way in hell it could pass as friendship, it would be too close to a romantic date and Obito would have to deal with his feelings and confess and be rejected and he was so not in the mood for that. So even if he was annoyed by Kakashi's extreme introversion, he wouldn't do anything about it for now. Maybe if he ever came up with a plausible excuse to invite him for a date- for a trip! For a day trip during weekends.
Even if he didn't go out with his friends much, it was still endearing how much Kakashi cared. Obito could tell by the way he talked about them, some surface level annoyance trying to look cool and trying to hide his real feelings. But there was this undertone of fondness, of longing in his voice whenever he talked about Kurenai, Asuma, Rin, even Genma, and other friends Obito didn't know yet but wanted to. And maybe that was the most admirable thing about Kakashi, how deeply he cared even though he tried to distance himself. He'd complain about Kurenai being a pain, but offer to take some of her workload for her, then say something about being a lazy person but stay late to make sure everything was perfect at work, he'd pretend not to care about anyone, but he'd help the interns with their tasks, remind people of somebody's birthday, pitch in a gift for someone that was retiring, he'd call Obito an asshole and then tell him to take it easy, that he was doing great work already.
How could Obito not fall for someone like that?
"What kinds of games do you make?" They were at Ichiraku's for the third time this week, and it was Wednesday, Kakashi always ordering the eggplant miso soup and Obito going for his second round on the complete menu of the restaurant.
"All sorts." Kakashi shrugged trying to brush the question off.
"All sorts?"
Kakashi rolled his eyes in annoyance, and it was such a cute thing that Obito couldn't help but snicker. "Yeah, well, I have a lot of WIPs right now, you know how it is."
"C'mon Bakashi, I know you hate people but don't be an asshole."
"Bakashi? What the hell is that?"
"Try carrying a conversation, it won't kill you."
"I hate you so much sometimes."
"Right back at you." Obito send Kakashi his most charming smile, the one he used when he needed to close a deal, but the silver-haired man turned away to groan again in annoyance.
"Alright, alright, I know it's not you style, but I'm doing some survival horror stuff, some plot heavy horror, some cosmic horror-"
"Geez, just horror stuff? What's wrong with you?"
"What's right with me is that I know what I like, and I do what I want, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that?"
"Are you gonna tell me you're working on a porn game too?"
"Hum…" Kakashi lifted his eyes pondering about something that had Obito a bit too shocked. Did he really make a porn game? Goddamn erotica addict. "I don't think it counts as porn, but I do have a dating sim under development."
"Why? Can't get a date in real life? Didn't know you were that desperate." Kakashi harshly grabbed the wrapper of his chopsticks and Obito felt a paper ball hit his face that only made him laugh harder at his own joke.
"Asshole. It's not that." Obito felt stupid for feeling relief at that. His jealousy sometimes got out of hand. "I just challenged myself to do something different, it's an otome isekai type of thing."
"What? Why otome? Couldn't you just make some high school harem ecchi? Wouldn't those sell more?" Maybe it was a side effect from working on finance, but Obito always worried about market value of stuff. He should probably stop thinking like that.
"Are you crazy? Obviously not, I want a dating sim with hot guys, not hot girls, if not, what's the fucking point?"
Obito laughed harder at that because, yeah, if he ever had the ability to create a dating sim from scratch, he would like to make it gay too. "But you play as a girl?"
"It's not that type of self-insert, you can be either and- fuck, I don't see why I have to explain myself to you!" Kakashi was looking a bit red on his cheeks, and he looked so pretty like this. Obito loved his pale skin, and he loved how easily he blushed, he had a guess that it was one of the reasons why Kakashi hid his face most of the times.
"You're the one that only has horror games, if this is the only thing aside from horror that you have than we're gonna talk about that, you idiot."
"Oh c'mon I have other games, too, I have a D campaign that-"
"Oi, dickhead, why didn't you start with that?"
"Because I'm not a coward who's afraid of ghosts!" Kakashi smirked and put an eggplant in his mouth chewing triumphantly. Geez, Obito just wanted to punch him sometimes. Is this a normal thing to feel for your crush? Half the time you wanna kiss them and the other half you wanna punch them?
"Shut up asshole, tell me about the game."
"Ok, ok, it's very standard Tolkien vibes, it's not super innovative or anything, but…" Kakashi paused mid-sentence looking a bit embarrassed. "You do play as a… well…"
"As a…?" Obito encouraged confused.
"As a vending machine."
Obito slapped the table and fucking howled at that.
"You're fucking kidding me! Please! Tell me you're joking!"
Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest and turned his nose up in the way he always did when he got defensive. "No, I'm not, and I don't care for your reaction not one bit."
"I so wanna see them, you should bring them over for us to play."
"Are you insane? Of course not." Kakashi looked at Obito as if he'd just said something incredibly idiotic.
"What? Why?"
"First of all, they're not ready."
Obito scoffed and waved Kakashi off. That too-humble-for-his-own-good idiot. "First of all, you're a coward, invalid reason, what's your second point?"
"Dickhead. Ok, second, if I play anything that's mine in any computer belonging to the company, they have dibs on coauthor rights and could sue me for royalties."
"What? What the fuck is that for real?"
"Very real." Kakashi only nodded in acceptance and stuffed his mouth with his last piece of tofu.
"Holy crap I didn't know that."
"It's not super common, but it's happened enough times for people to know it's a bad move."
"Holy fuck." Obito was flabbergasted. He sometimes forgot how evil companies can get.
"Yeah. Lawyers, man."
"Lawyers, man…" Obito's had his fair share of lawyers, and when they were focused on the wrong causes, they could be a real pain in the ass. "Well, then I'll just drop by your place to play."
"What the actual fuck?"
"C'mon Bakashi I'm curious."
"Why do you keep calling me that?" By the little crease of annoyance between elegant white brows Obito just knew he found the perfect nickname.
"And I've already been to your place so hold your fucking horses, ok?"
"I seriously hate you sometimes."
"Then Friday it's fine, right?"
"Sure. Asshole." Kakashi shrugged as they both got up from the table to pay for their lunches.
"Let's go after we clock out then."
Obito could see Kakashi rolling his eyes, but just right before he covered his pretty face with the ever-present surgical mask, he also noticed a contained smile pursing his lips in a cute line, his dimple appearing lightly on the corner of his mouth, and Obito's heart stuttered. Soon the moment was gone hidden behind the mask, replaced by his seemingly uninterested voice, but Obito knew better. "Ma, I'm gonna complain all the way there."
Obito felt his own smile grow bigger. "Oh no, I'm terrified of having to hear to the whining I already listen to every business day." He kept his tone sarcastic to annoy his crush a bit more.
"Eat shit Obito."
"You could at least pay me to hear you complaining, I'm not a shrink, you do know that?"
"Yeah, a shrink could actually help me. Or least gimme some prescriptions so I could get high on meth or something."
"Forget about it. If you ever take adderall you're not gonna sleep ever again, fucking insomniac."
It didn't register in Obito's head what he'd proposed until he got home and thought about it. He was gonna go back to Kakashi's place. The first time he went to Kakashi's place he left with a hard on and a newfound understanding of his own sexuality. Hopefully the second time would be less revolutionary.
Going back to his crush's apartment wasn't as awkward as Obito had expected. There was something about Kakashi that just put him at ease, besides his fantastic scent. The place looked much cleaner since last time, which is understandable, and the smell around the apartment had a different edge to it, confirming that what he felt that day really was the smell of rut and arousal. The scent was still overwhelming and coming from everywhere around Obito, but it was no longer enticing him, alluring him, it was like getting back to his own home, the same familiarity about it, the same comfort.
He noticed a few things he hadn't last time, Kakashi had a small, outdated flat screen TV in his living room, but he also had five computer screens, not counting the laptop on the couch, and the tablet, and every single one of those things looked expensive and top of the line. Which couldn't be said about the rest of the apartment, which only made the contrast funnier. Beside the table with all the screens, there was another table with a solder, screws, things that looked tech-y and Obito couldn't even identify them. Maybe besides coding Kakashi had a nick for robotics too? Some gibberish was written on a white board too, not that Obito would understand what it was. Maybe the old Sarutobi calling him a genius wasn't that farfetched.
"Wanna order dinner?" Kakashi fell to the couch gracelessly, sprawled like an annoying brat and Obito raised an eyebrow at him. How could he look still so beautiful while lacking any elegance whatsoever?
"What would you usually eat?"
"Whatever. Noodles?" Kakashi shrugged and Obito had to wonder how he stayed so fit with this diet, though he did mention he goes to the gym despite hating it.
"Pad Thai?"
"Nice. I'll order it and then you wire me the money."
"Alright. Let's get started on the vending machine game." Obito snorted as he seated on the couch moving one of Kakashi's long legs out of the way.
"Ma, you really liked that one, didn't you?" He sounded annoyed despite his smile and Obito was proud at himself, half for annoying Kakashi, half for making him smile, both were good.
"Of course, everything else are just horror games."
They bantered some more, but Kakashi finally agreed to let him play. It was very different from a finished game, especially because of the graphics, but once he got used to the visuals of it and the constant glitches, it wasn't bad. He started making some off hand comments and questions, and everything he said Kakashi wrote down, making Obito feel self-conscious, as if his input was helping or something. He said he'd need to go back on the game to fix some issues, that's why he needed to write it down or comment on the code. By the time the bell rang, Obito completely forgot about the food, he was immersed in the game, in playing the game with Kakashi.
"Kakashi, why are there eggplants on this pad thai?" Obito opened up one of the boxes and for a moment he thought they didn't order thai food at all.
"Oh, that one's mine, here's yours." Kakashi swapped their dinner boxes and Obito was relieved when he saw a very regular looking pad thai looking back at him.
Kakashi removed his hoodie and again his shirt lift for maybe one second, and just five centimeters, but it was enough for his mouth to water. He'd take any scrapes of Kakashi that he could get. Obito might have stared a bit too hard, at least long enough for Kakashi to think he was asking some unspoken question. "It's getting a bit hot in here."
"Alright." Obito was in a daze after seeing Kakashi's stomach, he wondered how that perfect skin would feel on his hands. He knew the sensation of Kakashi's lips connecting on his cheek, and that had already sent his heart fluttering, imagine touching the rest of him. He imagined how it would be like to kiss Kakashi after eating the noodles. Would his mouth and his tongue taste like the eggplants he seemed to love so much? Or just the sweet and sour tamarind sauce?
"Why don't you take your shirt off?"
Well, Obito would like that very much, he takes off his shirt, Kakashi takes off the rest of his clothes, and they could have some heavy make out session in the kitchen, but he knew it wasn't what Kakashi meant. Unfortunately. He looked down his own shirt then up again to Kakashi in doubt.
"It looks like a nice dress shirt, it would suck if you stained it with sauce. You're wearing a white t-shirt underneath it, aren't you?"
Kakashi's line of reasoning was perfectly logical and sensible, and even sympathetic, but Obito kept hearingtake your shirt offin his mind. He was already getting too comfortable with Kakashi, and it didn't help when he acted sweet like that, making Obito crush harder on him. He tried to reign over his thoughts to avoid his pheromones spilling out, and unbuttoned his dress shirt on automatic pilot and put it over the couch. Kakashi got started on his dish, releasing smalls moans of satisfaction that by now Obito was very familiar with, because he did the same every time he ate Ichiraku's eggplant miso soup. It was cute. His beautiful face was another thing that never ceased to amaze Obito, it was now a bit of a ritual of his, waiting Kakashi to get started on eating first so he could see him removing the mask.
"I swear that game is amazing, how did you come up with the idea?" He tried to make conversation to get his mind out of Kakashi.
"I just needed like, a place holder cubic object, so I created it as at the dimensions of a vending machine, give it or take and…" Kakashi just shrugged while taking another mouthful on his noodles.
"And?"
"… and I started calling it vending machine-kun-"
Obito was fucking wheezing in laughter. Kakashi didn't find it not one bit as funny as him, by the murderous look in his eyes.
"Vending machine-kun! Oh, holy crap! God! Kakashi, that's so cute!" Kakashi's so cute.
"When I noticed, I had started thinking about what powers it could have, and the worldbuilding and… it stuck."
"I can't believe you got attached to a vending machine." Obito noticed Kakashi inhaling deeply to steady his patience. Obito was clearly testing him tonight and he snickered.
"I didn't get attached to- there was just too much done already, ok?"
"Ok, ok, whatever you wanna tell yourself." Obito laughed out loud this time and Kakashi threw unused disposable chopsticks at him huffing in annoyance.
"Ma, you do know this is my apartment, right? I can just kick you out if you're gonna act like a shithead."
"Sorry!" Obito raised his hands in surrender to Kakashi's narrowed eyes and the other seemed satisfied with that.
After dinner, Obito grabbed one of the lollipops he always had in his bag and they got back to playing, Kakashi going on and on about how Obito chose to play his worst game, and that he should try the other ones and just being unsufferable, making him smile more.
He was so engrossed on the game he didn't notice that he'd been playing in silence for some time now. He turned his side to look and Kakashi was sleeping. Obito's heart caught on his throat, and he held his breath not to make any noise and wake him up, he knew how bad Kakashi's sleep schedule was, he didn't want to cut his rare rest short. He looked so peaceful, head lolled to side, white-silverish bangs falling on his face, lips forming a soft relaxed line. Kakashi was so gorgeous, Obito was afraid to touch him and break him. He lightly caressed his brow, trying to tame some of the unruly hair out of his eyes, and he noticed how pretty his eyelashes were, also white, heavy and long, and he felt an impulse to kiss Kakashi's closed eyes.
But he didn't.
He kept caressing soft tresses of hair, a casual pleasant moan escaping Kakashi's throat and scaring Obito that he might get caught on the act, but it seemed like those were hums of satisfaction. He noticed thin wrists resting on Kakashi's lap and couch, happy pheromones coming from then. There were faint scars from his previous stay at the hospital, they were crooked, uneven, kind of messy, but it seemed like they were healing, maybe in some month they would disappear completely, but you couldn't be sure, Kakashi's skin looked pretty sensitive. Without thinking, Obito moved his own wrists to cover them, delicately rubbing them together. He knew this was wrong, he was scenting Kakashi without his knowledge, but Obito wanted to leave some evidence, that he was here, that this happened, that he wasn't dreaming. Hopefully it would still be faint enough for his crush not to notice what he did. Soon Kakashi sounded like he was purring at Obito's ministrations, and his heart swelled in his chest wondering if one could die of happiness.
When he felt like he did a good job on those delicate wrists, Obito unwillingly tore his gaze from that beautiful face and checked his phone. It was still a bit early, only ten, but if Kakashi's was tired he wasn't gonna keep intruding on his place. Obito got up and grabbed his shirt, putting it back on and buttoning it up trying to keep silent. He looked back to the couch and Kakashi was still peacefully asleep, and it broke his heart to wake him up, but it would be weirder if he just sneaked out of the apartment without a word, right?
"Kakashi… Kakashi…" He shook his shoulder lightly and pretty eyelashes fluttered heavily from sleepiness to look at Obito.
"'Bito?" Kakashi groaned in a low voice and Obito wanted to hug him, and kiss him, and hold him until the end of days.
"I'm going, ok?" He moved to retreat his hand, but Kakashi was faster even while sleepy and both his hands held Obito's.
"Sorry… didn't mean to sleep…" The words sounded slurred, one of the hands went to his mouth to cover a yawn while the other held Obito's wrist and he was having a minor melt down at how cute Kakashi was looking right now. It seemed like he was a heavy sleeper and he looked amazing when he got up, so cute and clingy.
"Don't worry, I'm tired too, I'm gonna go home for now, but I can come back another day, how about it?"
"Hum…" Kakashi groaned for a long time as if his slow brain was thinking about Obito's proposal before he accepted it, letting his wrist go. Obito missed the touch of soft skin against his. "Ok."
"Alright, thanks for having me, it was fun." Obito was putting his shoes back on while Kakashi lazily stumbled to the genkan too.
"It was fun." He whispered softly nodding back to Obito and it was endearing. How could he not fall for this man when he looked like that resting against the wall?
"See you Kakashi."
"Bye 'Bito." Kakashi whispered softly again and Obito felt the need to hug him and kiss him on the cheek before leaving, as if they were a couple, but his head ruled over the twitching in his hands, so he just waved and smiled while Kakashi closed the door.
The second time he went to Kakashi's place was as revolutionary as the first one, with his heart beating as fast as last time.
People now purr in this universe of mine. Because it's cute. I wish people purred in real life too.
And for anyone wondering I shameless stole the idea of Reborn as a vending machine, I now wander the dungeon for Kakashi's game idea, because I needed something outrageous, so why not turn to isekai anime? They got a lot of those. Hopefully I won't get any copyright strikes (though I think people would be angrier at me for making Kakashi and Obito have kinky homosexual gay sex then using the vending machine idea)