"Hello, Pakkun. What brings you here today?" Iruka asked. It wasn't uncommon to see him around in Kakashi's place - sometimes he was sent to deliver mission reports, and other times he just had messages. This time, Pakkun wasn't carrying a scroll, so it had to be a message.
"Boss wanted me to tell you he won't be handing in his report today."
"Why? Did something happen to him?" Iruka asked in concern.
"No." Pakkun sighed. "He just hasn't finished it yet…"
"Oh, come on! There's still plenty of time left before the mission room closes, and therefore plenty of time to finish a report!" Iruka exploded. "What's he doing instead?"
"He's at home reading a new book - In Disguise, I think it's called."
"He hasn't done his report, and he is reading?!" Iruka rose from the desk, knocking a jar of pens over. "Kotetsu, Izumo!"
"What's up, Iruka?" Kotetsu asked curiously.
"Can you guys cover for me?"
"Sure. Where are you going?"
"I'm going to Kakashi's house to make him finish another report on time."
"You'll make him finish, alright." Kotetsu teased.
"Uh-oh. I'm outta here." Pakkun muttered when he saw Iruka's glare. "I'm not getting caught up in this again…"
"Bye, Pakkun! Tell Kakashi he can keep Iruka for as long as he wants!" Izumo called out.
"And to come see me tomorrow! I want to hear all the details!"
"There won't be any details!" Iruka hissed, leering at the pair. "I am only getting a mission report from him, and that's it."
"I'll believe it when I see it." Kotetsu smirked, unfazed by the outburst.
Iruka rolled his eyes and gave his friends the finger, making them snicker. When he reached the door, a sudden idea popped into his head, putting him in a better mood; and he stopped and turned around.
"Have either of you heard of a book called In Disguise?" He asked.
"It's the second book of a really popular gay romance trilogy." Izumo replied. "Why?"
"Know any good spoilers?"
"I have an even better idea..." Kotetsu grinned manically.
-------------------------------
"Hatake Kakashi! Open up!" Iruka pounded on the door. "I know you're in there!"
"Mah, you seem very worked up, sensei." he answered lazily, slouching against the doorframe. "What seems to be the problem?"
"Your report is due this afternoon, and you need to finish it."
"I can't today. Didn't Pakkun pass on the message?"
"He did." Iruka replied. "But I'm yet to hear a good reason to not have it done today. There's still plenty of time to hand it in - it's not like it's going to take you all day to do."
"I have a headache from using my sharingan too much; and it gets worse when I try to focus on writing."
"I call bullshit - Pakkun said you were reading, Kakashi." Iruka glowered, putting his hands on his hips. "You pulled an all-nighter again, didn't you?"
"Don't give me that look - the book I bought yesterday was too good to put down! The main character's best friend had this deep, dark secret that he didn't want anyone to know about; and he accidentally discovered it. They went through so much together trying to protect the secret - it was really captivating; and right at the end, just after they got together, there was a huge, mind-blowing plot twist! And the sequel is out, so I just bought it; and now I have to find out what happens!" Kakashi explained enthusiastically.
"Huh, that actually sounds pretty good." Iruka said, feigning interest. "Could you show it to me?"
"Sure! Here you-" Kakashi was halfway through the motion, when he suddenly paused, his eyes growing wide in horror. "Wait, no - I'm not falling for that again!"
Bugger. He had hoped that would work.
"C'mon, hand it over." Iruka sighed, extending his hand. "I'm confiscating it until you get that mission report done."
"You know I can't hand it over - I just got to the good part." he argued.
"Kakashi." Iruka said evenly, taking a step forward. "Give me your book."
"No. I'm pulling rank!" Kakashi playfully claimed, slowly backing up as he clutched the book to his chest. "And I say you can't take my stuff away!"
Iruka let himself in and locked the door behind him, smiling slyly. If Kakashi wanted to play, then he would, too. And he was going to win.
"You're off-duty, so I actually outrank you."
"What? That's not even a rule - you're just making things up!" Kakashi accused, taking another step back.
"Try me." Iruka challenged as he paced forward. Kakashi could see that Iruka wasn't going to let him get away with much more, so he tried a new tactic - negotiation.
"Could I please at least read one more chapter? And then I'll do my mission report, I promise."
"Not this time."
"The rest of this one?"
Iruka stared stoically, wiggling the fingers of his outstretched hand to ask for the book.
"What about just the rest of the page?" Kakashi asked desperately. "I'm about halfway through it."
Iruka had closed the gap, trapping Kakashi into a corner; and they were standing intimately close to one another. There was a strong tension bouncing between them, and Iruka took advantage of the confused calculation dancing across Kakashi's eyes to grasp hold of his wrist and lean into his personal space to whisper in his ear.
"If you hand over the book right now," Iruka murmured, "I won't ruin it."
"And just how would you do that?" he hummed, daring Iruka to try.
Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise when a mischievous smile crept across Iruka's face, as great as a Cheshire cat's; and he knew he had just made a big mistake.
"On page 379, Hideki confesses to his boyfriend -"
"No, stop!" Kakashi dropped his book in a panic and launched at Iruka, clamping his mouth shut with both hands.
The force made Iruka lose his balance; and he dragged Kakashi to the ground with him, cackling like a hyena. Iruka's backside ached, and his body throbbed from where Kakashi's slammed into him on the way down; but he didn't care - Kakashi's reaction was worth it. Iruka was never going to give anything away - he just liked to tease Kakashi with spoilers because it was the only time he seemed to be able to get a rise out of him and see what was underneath that bored persona he displayed everywhere else. And despite how much Kakashi protested it, Iruka could tell that he secretly enjoyed the interaction.
"That was so mean…" Kakashi pouted. "You just came here to torture me…"
"And whose fault is that?" he asked, trying to hoist his torso up from the floor.
"Mine." Kakashi mumbled, burying himself into Iruka, making getting up impossible.
"Um, Kakashi."
"Mhn?"
"I would like to get up. Could you please hop off me so I can?"
"Soon." he hummed, too comfortable and content to move.
Kakashi sometimes reminded Iruka of a cat. They never really seemed to ask for attention or affection, but they would always conveniently position themselves nearby; and if they happened to be right up in your personal space, sitting on top of you, or being right in your face, well, it was merely a coincidence. And definitely not because they liked you. In Kakashi's case, in the past, he 'just happened to be in the neighbourhood', and then the excuses stopped, but he was still around; and as time progressed, all of a sudden, he had gone from watching from a distance, to doing things similar things to now, laying on top of Iruka, refusing to move. And although Iruka wanted to get up, he found it hard to kick Kakashi off him - exactly how he would have felt if there was a cat in his lap.
"C'mon, we need to get up now." Iruka eventually coaxed, patting Kakashi's shoulder. "We've had our fun. Now it's time for you to get your mission report done."
"Okay…" Kakashi sighed. He'd rather be reading, and if it was anyone else, that's exactly what he would be doing; but when it came to Iruka, Kakashi just couldn't say no.
----------------------------------------------
"Hey, Iruka..." Kakashi called out.
"Just a moment." Iruka responded from the lounge.
He had started reading In Disguise while he was waiting, just in case he needed to keep Kakashi in line; and although he hadn't read the first book in the series, the second was still easy to follow along, and he was really enjoying it. It was no wonder Kakashi had put off doing his mission report - Iruka imagined he would have put off work of his own if he had started this trilogy, too. But of course, he would never tell Kakashi that.
"What are you smiling about?" Kakashi asked, walking over to the lounge room. "Read something dirty?"
"I could read out aloud, if you really want to know." Iruka offered with a smirk as Kakashi took a seat beside him.
"N-No, that's okay." He quickly replied, making Iruka chuckle.
"So what did you need from me?"
"I'm done."
"Oh, great. Let me have a look." Iruka closed In Disguise and took the report from Kakashi. As usual, his writing was messy; but Iruka could still read it, and everything seemed to be in order, so he rolled up the scroll and put it in his vest.
"I take it everything is fine?"
"It sure is."
Iruka rose from the lounge and stretched. When he was done, he handed In Disguise back to Kakashi.
"The series seems quite interesting. I wish I could read more of it, but I have to get back to work and deal with this."
"Why don't you stay for a bit? I'm sure whoever's at the mission desk will be fine without you for a couple of hours; and you can always say that I was being non-compliant or something."
"Hmm," Iruka took a moment to consider it. "Kotetsu and Izumo did encourage me to not return, so I guess it would be okay if I spent a little more time here…"
"Perfect. I'll give you Secrets to read. It's the first book in the trilogy."
----------------------------------------
Iruka first checked the time just before he started reading, and had seen that he had a few hours before he needed to get back to the mission room and file Kakashi's report. But when he next checked, ready to leave, it was well past closing; and with no other duties until the weekend passed, Kakashi convinced him to stay for dinner. But then it had started raining after dinner, and Kakashi didn't want Iruka to walk home in the rain, so he convinced him to stay even longer, to wait for it to die down; and the two of them spent the evening spread across Kakashi's lounge reading their books. The rain stopped well before Iruka stopped reading; and when he finally did, it was because he was so tired he was sure he'd fall asleep instantly if he rested on the floor. But Kakashi didn't let that happen, and wouldn't let him go home this late at night; and suggested they move to his bedroom, where it would be much more comfortable, instead.
An exhausted Iruka happily obliged, and it wasn't long after his head hit the pillow, that he fell asleep; and Kakashi remained awake beside him, too invested in his own book to settle down and close his eyes. He was nearly finished In Disguise - it looked like there was fifty or so pages to go; and as he watched the page numbers flick by, he suddenly remembered that Iruka was talking about a spoiler on page 379, which seemed to be right at the end of the book.
He was very curious, because Iruka had sounded like he knew something big and that he had read the story before; but he clearly hadn't until the visit. Did that mean he had faked it? Or had he asked someone else about it instead? Or maybe he just flicked to the last page of the book and pulled a line at random? Kakashi was getting close to the end of the book, so he was sure he would find out soon.
It couldn't have been any more than an hour before Kakashi finished the book; and he was just as excited as he had been reading Secrets. The second one had an even more explosive ending; and the perfect set up for an epic third and final book, that he wanted to dive into right away. But he would have to go out and buy it, first, when the book store had more copies available.
As Kakashi digested the story, Iruka shifted in bed. He looked really comfortable, like there was no place he'd rather be; and Kakashi want to join him, and be by his side. But first, there was one last thing he had to do, something that had been nagging at his mind when he reached the last pages of his book. He opened In Disguise, and flipped towards the end, reading the page numbers as he went. When he saw 372, he flicked the pages more carefully, searching for 379, wondering what Iruka had been planning to reveal earlier. After reaching 378, he turned the page, ready to find the spoiler; but when he saw the page, Kakashi was left speechless, unable to do anything but stare. Page 379 had been a blank page. And right in the centre of it, Iruka left a message for him.
I know you are here looking for the spoiler I was going to reveal before - something about a confession...
However, Hideki didn't confess anything to his boyfriend on this page!
But there IS something I want to confess to you.
And that is…
I love you.
Kakashi closed his book, and looked at Iruka as the message repeated itself in his mind. Iruka loved him. There was a part of Kakashi that already knew, as Iruka's actions always reflected his feelings; and the intimacy he had been projecting lately had become more obvious. But seeing it there, in writing, only confirmed what Kakashi suspected; and although he had finished his book, it felt like its ending had opened up a new chapter - one that he was eager to explore.
"'Kashi?" Iruka mumbled, as Kakashi slid under the covers.
"Go back to sleep." he murmured, kissing Iruka's cheek.
"Did you finish your book?" he asked sleepily.
"As well as the extra page." Kakashi answered, pressing his body against Iruka's. "And spoiler alert..."
"Wha…" Iruka trailed off, relaxing into Kakashi's touch.
"I love you, too."