It wasn't that they'd never kissed before. Just that Iruka was usually blindfolded and Kakashi usually took control of the kiss, guiding it until they were naked (save for the blindfold) and Iruka was in charge, guiding their kisses into lovemaking, lovemaking into cuddling, both of them blind in the dark. The mask he'd grown used to seeing fell to the floor, and his own mouth fell open as he looked at his lover's for the first time.

"Wow, you actually have a mouth under here."

"Well of course I do, how do you think I speak and eat?"

It wasn't romantic in the way the words in his book were romantic, but it was theirs and that made it better than it would have been, otherwise. Kakashi licked his lips and tasted strawberry, then bent forward and kissed Iruka again, to get the flavor more directly, swallowing words spoken against his lips, the sensation somehow ticklish, somehow more personal, when he could see his lover's eyelashes fluttering against the man's soft cheeks.

"Why do you wear that mask? You look good like this."

"Personal preference. And why do you taste like strawberries?"

It wasn't that he cared about the taste. A little too sweet, perhaps, and artificial--nothing like the real strawberries in which he sometimes indulged himself and bought at the market on his way home--but it wasn't bad, and it wasn't distracting, not like Iruka's gaze, now falling on the curve where his upper lip didn't quite join itself, the harelip he'd covered since he was old enough to care about being teased.

"One of my students had candy, I confiscated it."

"You're so mean, Sensei. Stealing candy from children."

It was good, hearing Iruka laugh. Good to feel the curve of a genuine smile when he pressed his lips to the younger man's, good to meet dark brown eyes and hold their gaze, even as his tongue slid into Iruka's mouth. They kissed until the flavor of strawberries was overwhelming, until the small disc of candy was in Kakashi's mouth and Iruka was pulling away.

"You remember the boy I told you would be enrolling this year? He was the one with candy."

"A monster Fox with a sweet-tooth, that's a first."

It was the truth, that simple statement. That day, they said no more, because there was nothing more to be said.

~*~*~*~

That's how Kakashi would remember it, anyway.

Years later, curled around his lover, breathing the scent of the cheap shampoo and expensive, mail-order conditioner that clung to the man's silky-soft hair, even after a long day of teaching and a walk home from the Academy in the rain, he smiled and mouthed the tight muscle where shoulder curved into neck, his mask draped limply over the stack of his neatly-folded clothing, only partially covering the metal of his forehead-guard.

His lover shifted and sighed. "Mmm, 'Take ... tickles."

"Sorry," Kakashi whispered, kissing the ticklish spot on his lover's neck, just once, before returning dutifully to breathing the man's hair. "Didn't know you were awake."

"Wasn't until you tickled me," said Iruka, eyes closed and nose buried in the pillow.

Kakashi laughed. "Well since you're awake now anyway, I've got something for you."

Iruka sighed and rolled over when his lover pulled away and sat up, dark eyes sliding open as he settled on his back, his hair fanned around him like spilled chocolate. There were lines on his face, pink lines mirroring the seams and creases in the pillowcase, the marks crisscrossing the scar he swore he couldn't stand seeing in the mirror over the sink every morning.

Kakashi couldn't help but bend close to kiss each mark.

"If I didn't know better," said Iruka, eyes closed as his cheeks and nose were thoroughly kissed, "I'd think perhaps you missed me."

Kakashi snorted in answer, nipped at his lover's jaw.

"And here I thought I was being ridiculous for missing you," said Iruka, patiently waiting until his lover's lips were close enough to his own for him to sneak in a kiss.

"You were ridiculous, missing me," said Kakashi, sitting up and pulling his trousers out of the pile of clothing, destroying the neatness he'd worked so hard to achieve, earlier. "One would think you'd be happy to see me go, taking Those Three with me."

Iruka snorted. "You'll think I've really gone mad, but I do miss them, sometimes."

"Iruka, I knew you were mad the first day you let me kiss you."

"True, most ninja wouldn't allow someone to blindfold them, not without putting up a fight."

That earned him another kiss, deep and slow. "Close your eyes."

Obediently, Iruka closed his eyes and waited, listening to the sound of cotton shifting, the sound of a zipper buzzing as it was opened, the sound of plastic crackling. He felt fingertips on his cheek just a heartbeat before he felt warm breath wash over his mouth, his body relaxing at the familiar press of his lover's asymmetrical lips against his own.

The kiss lasted longer than their usual kisses, the hard strawberry-flavored drop in Kakashi's mouth melting into a thin, sharp disc by the time he pulled away, pushing the remainder of the candy into Iruka's mouth. He sat back, swiping residual stickiness from his lips with the back of his hand.

"You got me candy?" said Iruka, around the sweet.

Kakashi shrugged. "Naruto was taunting Sasuke with it. I confiscated the remainder of the bag."

"Cheapskate," said Iruka.

"Woman," said Kakashi.

"You love me because I'm not," said Iruka.

Kakashi smiled. "That's quite true," he said.

~*~*~*~

Later, in the darkness of the bedroom, in the warmth of the thick blanket Iruka usually slept under rather than on, their bodies rocked slowly, the flavor of strawberry and semen and sweat mingling in a kiss that had lasted from the moment Iruka had slid into his lover's warm, tight body, their lips wet and swollen from panting breaths and hushed pleas.

"Aah, 'Take ... I'm close ..."

Kakashi hmm'd softly and lifted his hips, giving his lover the perfect angle to push inside him more deeply, his sticky, sated cock twitching as the head of Iruka's erection brushed over his prostate, rubbing it steadily as the younger man groaned and thrust, working towards his own completion.

"Good ... good ... aah, 'Take, I'm ..."

Kakashi cradled his lover between his thighs, held the man close and kissed him through the pleasure, feathering his lips softly across the scar that stretched across Iruka's nose, down Iruka's smooth cheek, along his hard jawline. When he felt his lover's body relax, slumping over his in boneless satisfaction, he smiled and wrapped his arms around the man, held him close until Iruka's cock had softened enough to slip out of him, an eerie, ticklish sensation.

"You're a mess," said Iruka, sitting back, the thick blanket falling from his strong shoulders with a sighing thud.

"Mmm," said Kakashi, lazily reaching for the towel they'd put beside the bed before they'd even begun undressing. "Not my fault."

Iruka took the towel from him and set about cleaning the mess of lube and semen from Kakashi's pale skin. "Just like that candy wasn't Naruto's fault."

"Hmm?"

He looked up at his lover through his hair. "That candy," he said. "Naruto doesn't carry candy with him on missions, knows it makes him too easy to trace. It's one of the few things I taught him that he actually remembers."

Kakashi laughed and reached for his lover, lazily pulling the man down for a kiss. "Very good," he said. "I thought I'd get away with that one."

"I'm smarter than you think, 'Take," said Iruka, pushing himself up so that he could look down at his lover, his long hair hanging around them like a curtain. "Hatake Kakashi isn't the sort of man to steal candy from his students, then use said candy to lure me into bed." He thought about it a moment. "And if you're one of my students pretending to be Kakashi-sensei, I will have to kill myself. Naruto would know better than to think you'd get me candy."

One of Kakashi's eyebrows jumped. Iruka glared at him.

"Turning into Naruto just to see if I really will kill myself won't be a good choice, either Hatake-san. I'll just kill you instead."

Kakashi pouted. "You win," he said.

Iruka laughed softly and kissed him, then flopped down on the soft mattress, curled snugly around his lover. "I win, huh?" he said. "Do I get a prize?"

"Of course," said Kakashi, shifting a little. "Here you go, Iruka-kun. Good work."

Iruka laughed and took the strawberry candy from his lover's long fingers, eyes closed as he sucked at the sweet, curled contentedly around his prize.

It was good, to have things the way they were.

<@ <@ <@

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