"Give me the soup!"

"Sensei asked me to bring him soup."

"Stop it, the soup will spill!"

Especially when he had a team that was trying to nurse him back to health. He groaned and shoved his head against a pillow, pulling his blankets over his head. Maybe if he pretended they weren't there, they'd all just...disappear. He held his breath, hoping, and-

Crash!

"Damnit, Kakashi, you made me drop the soup."

"You dropped it yourself."

"Stop it!"

He pulled the blankets down from his face slowly, peering blearily at his students. Kakashi was scowling at the floor, arms crossed tightly, and Obito was shielding himself from Rin's scuffing blows.

"Hey," he croaked, trying to smile when they turned to him as one, guilty expressions on their faces. "Just go home, 'kay?"

"Kakashi-"

"Fine."

"But-"

"Clean up the mess and go home." He coughed, covering his mouth with his hand and part of his blanket, then tugged the quilt up closer around his chin. "We'll have training in a few days. 'Kay?"

The kids were a whirlwind of activity, Rin pushing and prodding the boys into cleaning up the spilled soup, and then she was pushing them out the door, waving at him as she left, promising to come back soon to check up on him. He weakly waved back, then rolled over, shoving his face back into his pillow.

"Sensei?"

He jerked awake, twisting himself up into his blankets. Kakashi peered at him, perched on the edge of his bed, and he stared back at the young boy.

"Kakashi?" he asked pitifully, coughing at the end of his question. Kakashi fidgeted, then pulled his arms out from behind his back.

"Here," the boy said briskly, holding out something black and white and decidedly soft looking. He narrowed his eyes, trying to discern what it was.

"A penguin?" he croaked. Kakashi shoved the stuffed animal against his chest and stepped back, stiff and defensive.

"It's just a toy. I don't need it."

He smiled at Kakashi, wrapping an arm around the penguin. "Thanks, Kakashi."

Kakashi fidgeted some more, eyes dark above the mask. "My mother gave it to me before- I just thought maybe you'd like it."

The Yellow Flash was a great many things, but he wasn't stupid. He motioned Kakashi closer, then reached out, grabbing the boy's arm.

"Thank you," he wheezed, squeezing his student's arm. He burrowed back beneath his blankets, clutched the penguin, and Kakashi pulled the blankets up around him. He watched his student sit back on a chair next to his bed and wondered, as he fell back asleep, if Kakashi was smiling under his mask.

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