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"Will you go out with me, Iruka-sensei?"
And really, only Kakashi could be asking such a question while simultaneously offering a completely mangled report. That is, if you could still call it that, a report: It was dog-eared in every corner, the lower part nearly torn off. The writing illegible as always and the whole thing covered in mud. At least Iruka decided it was mud because he really didn't want to venture too far into other possibilities.
"Kakashi-san, I recall already telling you numerous times that reports like this are not acceptable. I must ask you to please write it again."
He reprimanded in a stern voice. He put Kakashi's report in to the nearby trash can, careful to hold it only by his fingertips.
An exasperated, and exaggeratedly fake, sigh escaped Kakashi.
"Only for you, Iruka-sensei. ... So, dinner?"
They've done this so often already, it's almost become a game.
"Maybe next time, Kakashi-san."
"Sure, next time." And with a gleeful smile that turned his one visible eye into a crescent, Kakashi ventured out the mission's room.
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"I rewrote the report, Iruka-sensei. Will you go out with me now?"
Raising a skeptical eyebrow Iruka took the offered scroll. Scanning through it quickly, he mentally scoffed at the impossibility that jounin in general are. Really, there would be so much less trouble if they could just do their reports right the first time.
"Kakashi-san, doing your report right is part of your duty as a jounin and shinobi of Konoha. That shouldn't be linked to personal matters", Iruka said while trying to keep a straight face and the blush out of his face.
"Mmh...so will you? Go out with me?"
Iruka stamped the report and put it on the pile with the other acknowledged ones.
"Thank you for your hard work, Kakashi-san. Maybe next time. ...Next please."
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"Will you go out with me, Iruka-sensei?"
The report was even later than usual and really if it took Kakashi that long to write it, it should be in a better condition. As it is, the report is barely up to standards. Frowning Iruka accepts the report but not without mustering the jounin with a stern glance.
"Thank you for your hard work, Kakashi-san."
"Well? What do you say?"
"Say to what?" Iruka asked irritated as his thoughts have already been going onto cataloguing the report in the proper slot.
"Will you go out with me. For dinner. Or lunch tomorrow of that fits better with you."
Iruka was just staring at him with a blank look. Going out with Kakashi. That would be ridiculous, right?
By now he was wondering where the punch line for their ongoing joke was going to be.
"Come on, sensei~"
And no, that's definitely not right what he hears in that sound. Because Kakashi certainly is not whining. Iruka offered a slightly rueful smile.
"Maybe next time, Kakashi-san."
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Will you go out with me, Iruka-sensei?
It was strange but somehow Iruka has been waiting to hear that question for quite some time now. After almost two weeks he is anticipating it about every time he sees a shinobi coming near his desk. So what if Kakashi was already five days late. Missions tend to get more complicated than expected. That was nothing unusual. And no, he is definitely not worried about the jounin.
Will you go out with me, Iruka-sensei?
The first time Kakashi had asked him to go out, he was so shocked he completely forgot to decline the jounins report. Kakashi had been looking at him with that over-confident look that almost every jounin who is sure of his abilities, possesses. What did he expect? That Iruka would just fall for his charms and submit to his every whim? He had stamped the report with more force than necessary before further ignoring Kakashi and focusing his attention on the next shinobi in line.
Will you go out with me, Iruka-sensei?
The asking hadn't stopped. In fact Kakashi would asked him out every time he came back from a mission. And even though there was still that infuriating cocky smile, and how does someone portray that when there's only one eye visible of the whole face? it was always said with that special kind of warmth Iruka was now secretly craving.
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"Will you go out with me, Iruka-sensei?"
His voice is quiet and sounds so very tired. But it is a voice Iruka would recognize everywhere. The sight that greets is comparable to that of a ghost. His skin, the little bit Iruka can see, is even paler than usual, almost translucent and he notices there are actually more bandages than uniform visible.
But he is here and he is alive.
Iruka wants to laugh and cry at the same time. He feels just so elated. He manages a smile and hope, it conveys the warmth he feels spreading through his chest at seeing Kakashi being back safe and sound. Even if he looks a little worse for wear.
"Welcome home, Kakashi-san."
And the smile Iruka receives seems equally warm and genuine even though the only thing he can see is Kakashi's eye turning into its usual crescent. Iruka takes the offered report and it is surprisingly not as bad as usual. Only a little bit crumpled and the writing is almost legible.
"Thank you for your hard work, Kakashi-san."
"..."
"Was there anything else I could do for you?"
"Go out with me?"
It seems more timid than cocky this time, but it is still a game, their game, so...
"Maybe next time, Kakashi-san."
And this time, Iruka thinks, he might just actually mean it. Kakashi's eye only arches even more but somehow, to Iruka, it doesn't seem as genuine anymore.
"Sure, next time..."
He looks after Kakashi as he is walking out the mission's room and if his shoulders appear to have slumped slightly more than usual, it is just Iruka's imagination.
Will you go out with me, Iruka-sensei?
Maybe next time, Kakashi-san.
Maybe.
Probably.
Definitely.
And then he is running after Kakashi because they are shinobi and maybe there won't be a next time.