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historicfailure · 5 months ago

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After you told Kakashi exactly what you were thinking of him, you still expect nothing to change with his behavior. But for once, the man listened.

Catching up faster with the chapters than intended, so here is the next one.

Thank you for all the comments on the last chapter, it really makes my day to see that people still follow this fic despite the long break ^^

Hopefully you guys can have some fun with this chapter as well :D

~ X ~

“Kakashi, could we speak for a moment?”

From experience, he already knew this wouldn’t be good. Kushina had that special look on her face: eyebrows pinched together, a forced smile on her lips, and one of her hands was balled into a fist, ready to gently bonk him on the head and remind him that no matter how much taller he was than his stepmom, her disappointment in him would always hurt more than the little contact of her knuckles against his body. And he also knew that the only reason Kushina restrained herself from instantly giving him a lecture was the fact that they were still in the middle of the open office, with everyone working around them.

Well, not everyone. Automatically, Kakashi looked over to her desk. No one was there, personal belongings had vanished as well. The bad feeling deep down in his guts worsened. Did she call out for today?

He nodded at Kushina, only to look back at the desk. That one desk he always tried to keep in his peripheral vision whenever he entered the office. No one there, still. Of course not, but…

“Kakashi. Now.”

He hadn’t noticed how Kushina walked ahead of him, towards her office. Too captured in wondering where you went. But, measured by the anger radiating from his adoptive mother, he would find out soon enough. He followed slowly, throwing more tentative glances towards the empty desk as he did so.

“What the fuck,” Kushina hissed as soon as the door of her office closed behind Kakashi, “did you do now?”

“Nothing.” Albeit true, the truth still burned like acid in the back of his truth. “What happened?”

“Your coworker came in and wanted to take some personal time off. She looked like she cried her eyes out”, Kushina said, eyes hard and the lines around her face as sharp as a knife. She gestured towards the chair in front of her desk. He followed the silent command, knowing that resisting any further would only lead to a bigger “talk”. The woman didn’t sit, but stood with crossed arms behind her desk, torching his very skin with her eyes. “So, again, and better be honest right now: what have you done, Kakashi Sakumo Hatake?”

For a very short, dangerous moment, Kakashi considered just keeping his mouth shut. What would Kushina do; throw him out?

But then his mind cleared. Yes, Kushina wouldn’t throw him out, but take the appropriate steps on the road of being thrown out. An official reprimand could be very possible, after all the other times he objectively caused trouble to the day-to-day operations, and especially after the last few weeks. The dinner had been his last chance to get off scot-free, and he thought he managed. But he…

I fucking forgot.

“I…” He started, only to pause. This was harder than he imagined it to be. Admitting how much he actually fucked up. “I know the entire point of the dinner was to explain and apologize to her for my… immature and quite frankly, despicable behavior-!”

“No sweet-talking your way out of this one.”

“Okay.” A short nod, then he pressed forward, all the while his fingers wrung themselves into the hems of his sweater. “I may have… forgotten to do one of the two things.”

Kushina sighed; a long and heavy one which made Kakashi wish he would have not said anything at all.

“Kakashi… This is above anything else you have done so far.”

“It wasn’t deliberate!”

“That doesn’t matter. You…” His mother shook her head, a few red strands which had escaped her high ponytail wiping around her head. “No matter what happened today, I have to write you up. It’s more than well deserved at this point.”

Kakashi’s stomach sank. That really had to be expected. “Okay.”

“That makes now two write-ups…”

“Wait, two?”

“Yes, you had one lying around from an incident a few years back with Anko.”

“But she said she would try to retract it?”

“Well, apparently she didn’t,” Kushina clapped her hands together, “and I, for one, am really happy that she didn’t. Two write-ups equal to a mandatory training course in office communication. You know the drill.”

With a low sigh, he waved it off. “And what else?”

“If you don’t know what else you are supposed to do to make things right between the two of you,” Kushina shook her head, the disappointment so clear on her face that it hurt even looking at her, “then I have failed you as a parental figure.”

~ X ~

It should have been a telltale sign to just stay at home when you entered the office and the first thing you saw was Anko leaning against your desk. She was obviously waiting for you, her usual trench coat hanging loosely around her frame and arms crossed over her chest.

“Morning.” Without another word, you pushed past her, around the corner of your desk, only to drop your stuff onto the table. Quickly, your eyes flitted over the surface, as it was now second nature to you.

No note. Another sign that staying home would have been a great idea.

“So…” Anko didn’t look at you, as her eyes were scanning the area around, sharp and attentive to every little detail. “Who needs to be beat up?”

“No one.”

“Bullshit. Doesn’t matter anyway. It has to be Hatake.” Only now, the other woman pulled out her usual resting bitch face. Honestly, Anko was one of the people who could look meaner than anyone without even trying. “Just give me a hint, and he’s done for. High time he gets a bit of a beat down.”

“Oh, really?” You clicked your tongue. “Unfortunately, as tempting that might be, casual violence in the office might be bad for me. And for yourself, of course.”

“Some things are worth the consequences.” Anko smiled; a promising yet dark grin, with way too many teeth showing. “Besides, Hatake also bullied me a bit when I joined, but I made clear to him that he’s out of his league if he keeps that up.”

“Do I want to know?”

The other woman thought for a moment. “Probably not. I also kind of signed something to not talk about it in detail.”

“This makes it much worse, honestly.”

“Oh, not for me.” Anko grinned another feral grin, smug like the cheshire chat. “For the brat.”

“The term “brat” certainly fits him,” you mumbled more to yourself, before grabbing your planner and a pen. “But as I said, he doesn’t need to be beat up. Thanks for the offer, though.”

“Anytime.”

According to the weekly planner in your hands, another weekly meeting for the entire floor with Minato was about to happen. At the thought of sitting yet again in a room with Kakashi and knowing that he knew he finally broke through your shell was torture, but you were an adult. An adult had to face their problems, no matter how much one wanted to run back home, crawl back into their bed and rewatch some childhood cartoons for comfort.

It will be fine. After today, after meeting Kakashi again and having to look into his face, it will be alright that you ripped him a new one. He will never speak about it, I will surely not ask him about it, and we can stay silent about this ordeal — like adults do.

Another deep breath in, with your planner clutched into your hands, then you pushed the door open, with a fake smile plastered onto your face.

Your eyes scanned the conference room, jumping from seat to seat. Once, twice around the table, but there was no silvery mop of hair in sight. Was Kakashi not present today? Maybe he was out sick? Or meeting another client?

“Move.” Anko whispered harshly, before pushing past you. Damn, you had blocked the door and didn’t notice how long you actually scanned the room for Kakashi’s presence. Quickly, you followed the woman, sinking into a chair by her side, all the while trying not to be too anxious about the door opening more and more. Every time, you tried not to look like a deer looking into the headlights of a rapidly approaching car, and you had the distinct notion you failed, measured at Anko’s stifled snorting at every single one of your reactions.

“Relax,” she leaned over when the door opened for the fifth time, spitting Gai into the room, “if Hatake isn’t here already and didn’t enter with Gai, then the chances of him coming into the meeting sink into the Mariana trench.”

“Are you sure?”

“At least 99% sure. And for the 1% off-chance…”

“You put one less spoon of coffee into your cup. I swear, whenever you make the pot for our lunches, the coffee smells like it could peel the tapestry right off the walls.” A weak smile crossed your face at Anko’s grumbled explanations that she needed her coffee that strong.

The door opened again, and again, your eyes flittered over to check on the newcomer. It was Minato, folders under his arm and looking as busy as ever. As you watched your boss get settled, your entire body relaxed, little by little, nerve by nerve. Maybe that meant Kakashi wouldn’t come in today. That would be a gift from the heavens, to not have to face him just one day after the… incident.

“So…” Minato coughed weakly, capturing everyone’s attention easily. “Let’s start with our meeting. I know we’re a bit ahead of time, but I have a scheduled phone call right after this meeting, so it would be beneficial to keep everything short and concise today. I see you, Gai, and yes, I have the potential gym memberships as work benefits still in the back of my mind. No need to worry there.”

As Minato droned on about technical details, your mind started to drift off. In your current project, you weren’t the lead, not even the second lead. So, you could space out a little bit, jotting down haphazardly, unreadable notes and nod absent-mindedly when the others nodded as well.

As your mind wandered, your thoughts inevitably turned to the notes on your desk. Since the entire fiasco with Kakashi started, you barely had time to breathe. Trying to find out who the note writer was who left you such thoughtful scribbles on your desk had been totally out of the question.

Who could it be?

I already crossed out Kakashi due to his handwriting, which doesn’t match with the handwriting in the notes.

I’m going ahead and also crossing out all the people who I know are in committed relationships.

Automatically, your hand with the pen started to write. Letters formed on an empty page of your planner, first slowly, but growing more and more determined.

Minato. Kakashi. Iruka. Asuma. Gai. Genma. Anko. Shizune. Kurenai. Kushina. A complete list of people you were working with on the marketing team. Quickly, you scratched out Minato, Kakashi, Kurenai and Kushina. Minato and Kushina for obvious reasons, and Asuma and Kurenai were obviously smitten with each other, no matter how hard they tried to deny that. And Kakashi’s handwriting didn’t match the notes, so he was also off the table. Which left you still with quite a sizable list of possible secret… note writers.

Thinking of them as secret admirers is… weird.

The door opened once again, and you jolted up, violently ripped out of your thoughts. Your eyes widened as you saw Kakashi walking in, without his usual nonchalance, but carrying two large boxes stacked on top of each other with an annoying sense of elegance around him.

“Sorry for being late,” he dropped the two unremarkable white boxes onto the table, “I had to take a detour because of a black cat crossing my way.”

“Sure.” Minato raised an eyebrow at the boxes. “A birthday I forgot?”

“No, just high time I’m doing something like this.” When Kakashi spoke, his eyes flew over to you, and you found yourself transfixed. Just a mere moment, not longer than the time it took to blink, and yet, this dumbass of a man had you shaking in your chair with anxiety. What did he plan now to humiliate you?

Instead of explaining things, Kakashi opened one of the boxes. Beside you, Anko leaned in to peer over the rim, but subconsciously, you were leaning backwards as if the man just opened the lid to a basket filled to the brim with snakes.

Though, the smell of bread, freshly cut vegetables and fried meat reached your nose instead. The other people in the meeting started to cheer, obviously enjoying the fact that Kakashi got them some free food, but you were merely puzzled.

“I got everyone something to eat,” the man said, arms crossing over his chest and slouching forward, “and I also brewed some fresh coffee for everyone already. It’s in the break room.”

Minato asked the one question which burned on your very soul. “Alright. What kind of spirit possessed you to do this?”

“I…” The man paused, his eyes flickering downwards. “I realized that I have been a terrible colleague so far, to several people in the office.”

“And that has nothing to do with that…” Minato ended the sentence right there, but Kakashi nodded.

“The communication seminar I have to attend is due to my actions. Yes, partly. But mostly because,” he breathed loudly in, “Because my behavior caused something I’m not proud of. So, I want to sincerely apologize. To everyone, of course, but especially to a colleague I treated more than unfairly during the last weeks.”

Again, his eyes found yours. Every muscle in your body went tense, anticipating and yet dreading the next words out of his mouth. But he didn’t talk to you directly, half-smiling which showed an adorable dimple on his cheek, but turned quickly to the others. “I’m asking not only for forgiveness, but for your willingness to work with me while I better myself. I can’t promise anything, but I’m ready to go forward. This,” he gestured towards the breakfast-spread, “is just a small show of my gratitude for bearing with me for so long.”

The dull cheer of the other present people echoed in your ears. You blinked in quiet confusion, trying to not lose your mind.

Kakashi, apologizing publicly. Kakashi, bringing breakfast for everyone in the office to make up for his assholery. Kakashi, looking at you with those dark, dumb, pleading eyes, as if he was trying to convey something.

What does he want?

Obviously, as Minato also still had to take his business call, the seriousness of the meeting quickly dissipated. The others quickly indulged themselves in the breakfast, grouping up to snack away and some even walking up to Kakashi to talk with him. Thankfully, no one noticed that you stood up, grabbed your notebook and left the room. Not even Anko, but she was too busy eating her unexpected sandwich than to notice. You couldn’t blame her, they smelled delicious. But you just wanted — no, needed — a few quiet moments to collect your scrambled thoughts.

The floor with all its running PCs but no humans around had a bit of an eerie feel. Yet, the silence was exactly what you wanted. Gently, you placed down your notebook on your desk, eyes scanning across the surface for a by now more than welcomed bright-yellow note. But nothing; no little pick-me-up or cheerful comment about the day which would distract you from the adult-task of having to possibly change your opinion about Kakashi Hatake.

No, I don’t have to change anything.

He apologized in front of the entire office.

And? He didn’t specify anything, didn’t clarify. He could have made this entire show just to appease me.

Why couldn’t you just worry about the identity of your secretive notewriter? Instead, you had this absolute trash fire on your hands, constantly having to worry if you were going to be fired because of badly hidden nepotism or if Kakashi wanted to bully you out of the office for good.

You sighed weakly, only to shake your head. Again, no time to worry about this. You had to start work, and maybe, maybe, you could worry about Kakashi a bit more in the evening, when you were back home. First off, though, you would take a little bit of an advantage of a free coffee pot as well as an unoccupied kitchen.

Like Kakashi promised: when you entered the break room, the rich scent of freshly brewed coffee greeted you. But not only that, he had also prepared a kettle. The metal of the kettle was still hot as you touched it, nearly singing your fingertips off.

And just as you inspected the damage, the gentle rap of knuckles against the wooden door frame made you look up. There was Kakashi, like he popped out of a dark corner of your mind to haunt you. In his dark-emerald-green pullover and black jeans, he looked as casual and comfy as always, and as he leaned there, his unruly hair fell into his face like he came straight out of a shampoo commercial.

How unfair. Why does an asshat like him have hair like that?

But even your thoughts weren’t as frustrated and angry with him as before, as in the last days, as yesterday. Like you couldn’t bring up the energy anymore to hate him properly. With a weary sigh, you leaned against the kitchen counter, arms crossed over your chest and trying very hard to look into his eyes without flinching.

“So…”

“So, yeah.” Kakashi shrugged weakly as he leaned casually against the frame of the door. “I’m owing you a private apology.”

“Great. Get started, then.”

“Ouch. But I deserve that one, no questions asked. What you didn’t deserve, though, was my attitude towards you.” There was no small glint in his eyes, no laughter on his face. Just honest sincerity, and you had no idea what to do with it. So, with your face like stone, you just listened to him.

“I apologize for how I treated you. I acted like a child for no reason at all. You deserved better than that, and still deserve more. I can only hope you will forgive me one day, and even then, you’re not obligated to do anything.” One of his hands came up to scrub through his hair, only to burrow itself back into the pockets of his pullover. “I’m sorry for being an absolute asshole in the first place, for treating you like an intern. I’m sorry for being overall an antisocial asshole. And I’m sorry for not giving you this apology when you actually needed to hear it.”

Finally. After all the weeks of worrying, of being angry, and tired of having to worry, you finally had a real, honest, sincere apology. One which sounded like Kakashi actually meant it. Slowly, you nodded, paused, then nodded again.

“Yeah”, you said, “that’s… that’s great to hear. Thank you.”

“Do you still want to work together on the Akatsuki-Project?”

“Of course.”

“Good.” Kakashi straightened himself out. “If my behavior bothers you again, please instantly go to Minato and Kushina and write a complaint. Do not come to me to ask me to stop, just go to them directly.”

“Never had anything else in mind.”

“... Good. That’s… good.” Though, you couldn’t help but believe that Kakashi hoped for just another answer. Too bad. He wouldn’t get another one, not on this particular matter.

After a long moment, Kakashi nodded again. “Alright. Anyway, sorry for keeping you here.”

“Well, it was kind of worth it. To finally get an apology, at least.”

“So…” He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, shoulders drawn up and peeking through the strands of his unruly hair. “Anything going on today?”

You paused. What kind of question was that? Were there any deeper intentions hidden within those words which you couldn’t decipher? Or was he mocking you, thinking that now as he apologized already, he was off the hook for any wrongdoings on his part? Or, last but not least, were you overthinking yet again and trying to find a fault where there was none present?

“You know…” you breathed in, “just work. Nothing else, pretty much.”

“Oh. Okay, okay. Sorry, that was a stupid question.”

“Don’t apologize too much, it’s going to wear out at some point.”

“I don’t know about that one. Anyway, good luck today. If there’s anything you need me for, you know where to find me.”

Again, you nodded. Slowly, deliberately, and still trying to gauge if Kakashi was serious or not. You just couldn’t really grasp the man and his character, if he was serious or more of a jokester. Maybe something in between, with a bit of social awkwardness.

Nevertheless, it was hopefully now over — for good, this time. Maybe, you could now focus on your work, on trying to prove yourself, and potentially even on finding out who wrote the little notes and left them on your desk.

~ X ~

Kakashi was in the middle of staring at the still empty page of his notebook, all the while twirling a pen between his fingers, when Minato walked up to his desk. The man waited for a second, drilling holes into Kakashi’s soul, only to rap his knuckles ever so gently against the wooden surface.

“Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“Your boss.” But Kakashi knew the tone Minato had swinging in his voice: all soft and mushy and unbearably proud. No, that wasn’t his boss talking with him, but his step-father. Only after a look around, he dropped the small book onto the table and gave Minato his entire focus. “What’s up?”

“I had a talk with Kushina yesterday. About what… she talked to you about.”

“Yeah. I figured that much.”

“I honestly didn’t know if you would do something about it.”

“As I just proved, I can do something about it, and I can do it properly.”

“I didn’t question your commitment, just your… awareness.”

That was probably the kindest possible reminder to not overdo it that Kakashi ever received from Minato. Kakashi sighed, but fell silent. Even when his boss was also his adopted father, he himself always had asked to never be treated differently to his colleagues, and now he paid the rightful price for declining just a little bit of nepotism.

“Nevertheless, I’m glad you managed to find a way to rectify the situation, for everyone involved. Very smart move to bring breakfast for everyone.”

“I learned from the best.”

Minato smiled a thin, weary smile, nothing more than a quick uptilt of his mouth. “Don’t overdo it. Still, I’m glad. Now, keep up the good work, I’m expecting big things from the Akatsuki campaign.”

And that, Kakashi pondered, was the biggest problem. Expectations. The expectations Minato had in him, the expectations everyone else had in him, the expectation Kakashi himself had in his work and skills and creativity, were the problem. What to do when he would fail all the expectations?

Minato had long left the desk when Kakashi wrote in big, fat letters the word “expectations” into his notebook. Another twirl of the pencil around his fingers, and he went to work. Sometimes, one had to force oneself just a little bit to get some results.

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historicfailure · 5 months ago

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You're trying - trying to survive, keeping your head up, moving forward. And Kakashi seems to do the same. Somehow. Still, how the fuck does he manage to annoy you this much?

~ X ~

Sorry for the long wait! I'm really, really trying. Somehow like the character in this fic lol

TLDR: I know how to write the story, having the energy and time to write it is on a whooooole different page. I have some chapters pre-written now, I will throw them out sporadically etc but no promises.

Anyway, thanks for maybe staying with this fic for so long and hope you guys have fun with this chapter!

~ X ~

“Fuuuuck…” Your eyes were burning. More and more letters blurred together into ugly blobs on your screen the longer you looked at them, but you couldn’t just stop now. Just a few more questions, then you could wrap up the questionnaire and be done for today. Nevermind that it was already way past your usual hours. The evening sun didn’t make things easier: The orange light filtering through the blinds easily and directly onto the screen. With a low sigh, you leaned back into your chair, let your head tip backwards and stretched your back. Bones cracked loudly, making you sigh again, though this time in relief at the tension fading away in your entire body. More bones popped loudly as you stretched, yawning and moving like a lazy cat, your back arched and balancing yourself in your chair.

A few steps away from your desk were in order. Definitely. As you stood up, you could look around and groaned loudly.

“Seriously?” There was no one else on the floor left. All the desks were empty, PCs shut off and lights shut down. One look at a nearby clock made you wince. Fuck. It was closing in on 8PM, nearly three hours after you usually left for the day.

Your eyes wandered to the doors leading towards freedom, fresh air and a good night full of sleep. Potentially a quick meal as well. Right on cue, your stomach rumbled, loudly demanding anything to fill it, preferably something fatty and hearty.

“Well, that was clear.”

“Holy-!” You flinched around, one hand flying to your chest. “Fuck, you can’t just-!”

“Sneak up on people?” Kakashi sounded annoyingly unapologetically. The creases around his eyes deepend by a notch. “Yeah, so I have been told a few times.”

“Then why don’t you listen?”

He shrugged. “It’s too much fun seeing the reactions.”

“Oh, you-!” Just barely, you bit your tongue. Nothing you could say would affect him or change his behavior in any way possible. Better to save your energy for the task you still had to complete. “Fine. At least I’m awake now.”

“To do what?” Kakashi nodded at your PC. “Work more? While I can hear your stomach grumble from here?”

“Not much of a choice. The questionnaire is nearly done. I just want to get this over with, then it’s at least,” you rolled your eyes at the screen, glaring as you did so, “done for today.”

“True that, true that.” He nodded slowly. “Then maybe, this will help.”

Only now, you noticed the small white plastic bag in his hand. He placed the bag on your table, eyes fixed on your face and with the small creases around them still in place. “Tadaa.”

“What is that”, you asked as you were already stepping closer, “some kind of bribe attempt?”

“Possibly. Is it working?”

“Depends on the bribe.” Cautiously, you pulled the plastic away to reveal white paper, made to hold together food. “Say, what did you get me?”

“Maybe, if you would stop treating some food like I hid a bomb in there, you could find out yourself.”

“Or you could just tell me.” Despite your words, you picked the mystery food out of the bag and started to unfold the waxy paper. The instant you saw some luscious green and the bright red of a tomato peek through the white, you knew what Kakashi had purchased. “You went back to the café?”

Kakashi hummed lowly. “Yup. Saw you sitting here still when I wanted to go out myself, and thought you could use some food. I even asked you, but you were so out of it you didn’t even react.”

You winced. “Oh god, I’m so sorry. It has been… a long day and I wanted to get this done.”

“Hey, I get it.” His hands rose before they dropped back to his sides, hands sneaking in the pockets of his pants. “Sometimes, work is just swallowing you whole. Hard to tear yourself away.”

“Yeah.” Carefully, you freed the BLT-sandwich from the paper, until you could take a first cautious bite. It was just as delicious as you remembered from yesterday. “Fuck, this is great. Thank you.”

“No problem.” Kakashi still smiled as you took bite after bite from the sandwich. “Just wanted to make sure you’re not devouring the table or something.”

“Because Kushina would have to replace it?”

“Something like that.” He paused for a moment, before pulling out Kurenai’s chair and sitting down. It looked like he wanted to get comfy and stay for a bit longer, and now as you had a bit of food, you were more than willing to allow him that. “How are you doing?”

Between bites, you thought for a moment. “It’s going good,” you paused slightly, trying to find the most fitting words, “I think. Just taking a bit longer today than I expected. I want to get this questionnaire done, just so we can continue with the next step of the campaign.”

“No, no.” Kakashi chuckled. Like it was an instinct for him, he leaned further back in the chair, silver hair falling into his face. “I mean, how are you doing? Not work.”

“Oh.” That you didn’t expect. Not at all. You paused for a few seconds, taking another bite as you did so. “I guess… It’s good. It’s okay, right now.”

“Not too stressed?”

“No. It’s… it’s really alright.”

“Okay.” Kakashi nodded slowly. His dark eyes bore into yours, and you found yourself caught in a snare. Like a rabbit sitting right across a snake, enraptured and hypnotized right in the face of danger. Because Kakashi was danger, in every sense of the word — for you as a member of the marketing firm, and for you as a human being. Because, as you were again painfully reminded, Kakashi was, well, beautiful.

Even now, in your exhausted, tired and yet wired state of too much energy due to work and freshly refueled with delicious food, you were more than ready to admit that he was. There was a reason why he could easily flirt with the secretary downstairs, or get phone numbers pushed onto him like crazy. Even though he didn’t try hard, his silver hair, slouched posture speaking of his overall nonchalance and the casual yet somehow chic way of dressing himself, really worked out for him. Subconsciously, you tried to straighten yourself out as well as brush off some bread crumbs off your chest and mouth. And wait, wasn’t there also some sauce stuck to the corner of your mouth?

Kakashi chuckled. “Something the matter?”

“No.”

“Well then…” Again, he nodded, only to get up and put his hands back into the pockets of his loose pants. “I’m going to go, but don’t stay for too long.”

“Sure. It’s just a few more questions, anyway.” You shrugged weakly, like it was no big deal.

He hummed. “That’s what we all think, but before we know it, we’re working until midnight on the smallest of details to get it just right. Take care.” And with that, he just… up and left. Didn’t wait for you to answer, just walked away, like he just hadn’t handed you a sandwich, asked about your wellbeing or gave you some friendly advice. Carefully, you looked down at the rest of the sandwich in your hands, only to take another bite. This time though, you were cautious, tasted the entirety of the sandwich and tried to treasure it.

Fuck. He is nice to me now. This feels… really, really weird. Somehow.

~ X ~

Long evening yesterday? Good job in getting the work done, but remember to rest well today. You deserve it.

~ X ~

The questionnaire was doing well so far. You wanted to say the questions were good and well received because they were all created during a long yet productive all-nighter, the reality though was that after you finished the sandwich Kakashi gave you a few days back, you simply went back home. Next morning, with fresh eyes and mind, you were able to look at the questionnaire once more and find several typing errors and clarity issues, which would have impacted the research severely if you didn’t fix it.

Looking at the results, lots of people noticed the change of the brand Akatsuki from being cozy, well-fitted home clothes to a more expensive lifestyle-brand, not aimed anymore at the masses. Honestly, you hadn’t needed the questionnaire to tell you that, but it was nice to have something on paper to prove to the managers of Akatsuki that this was how their brand was seen.

After a day of compiling all the results into a single document, you were happy, noticing that you only stayed for a bit longer than your usual working time. You would still be able to go to a nearby store and get one of the ready-to-go meals, so you could have a lazy evening tonight!

Quickly, you packed up all of your things. In the process, your eyes wandered around the room. There were quite a few people still there, but none of them looked like they would stay for more than two hours, max. Anko definitely was staying for a bit longer, she had already said so during your shared lunch break. For a second, you thought about saying your goodbye’s to her directly, but when she grumbled loudly, only to curse and smash her flat hand onto the desk in front of her so hard that several pens and pencils scattered around the table flew into all directions, you decided it was better for your own safety to keep your distance.

But as you took the first steps towards freedom, your wandering eyes also flew to the corner of the wide open office, where Kakashi’s table sat in his little, secluded alcove. And there he was still, just barely visible over his two wide screens, some wisps of silver hair peeking over, illuminated by the blue hue of the screen-lighting.

I should probably check up on him.

Ah, he is fine. He doesn’t need me asking if he’s alright.

Kakashi suddenly groaned; so loudly that your thought process came to a screeching halt. You watched how he got out of his seat, but not to pack up his things and leave as well, but to grab his coffee cup and march right past you towards the kitchen. Without a doubt to grab some coffee, potentially staying late to work on something.

I probably should do something for him.

Why the fuck should I?

Because he got me something to eat yesterday.

I don’t have to.

He didn’t have to, either. And what did he do?

… Got me a sandwich.

Just barely, you kept an eye roll in. Right. As far as you were concerned, you owed Kakashi something in return. And even after a long day of work, you could at least do that for him. After another moment of hesitant annoyance, you adjusted the strap of your bag again and walked towards the break room. Even from a few meters away, you could hear the barely concealed slamming of cabinet doors as well as Kakashi’s irritated grumbling.

Do I really want to annoy him in this state?

Before you could rethink your decision, you looked around the corner. And winced at the sight: Kakashi obviously wasn’t in the best of moods. The man was standing beside the coffee machine, cursing under his breath all the while watching how the coffee slowly pooled into his cup. As you watched on, he unfolded his crossed arms to angrily comb through his hair — or, to be more precise, to pull some of it out with the force of his motions.

Gently and already regretting the motion as you were reaching out, you rapped your knuckles against the doorframe.

“Hey…” When Kakashi turned slightly to look at you, you nearly shrank back behind the corner of the door. Why again did you have to say anything to him now? “Just wanted to ask if you want anything?”

With his eyebrows furrowed and forehead wrinkled up, Kakashi stared at you for a few seconds. Then, he closed his eyes and a big sigh dropped from his mouth, dropping his shoulders and attitude with it. “Ah, fuck. I thought I was alone.”

“Well, in a few minutes, you will be.” That wasn’t what you expected. At all. Slowly, you stepped into the bright, cold light of the kitchen spilling through the open door, while gripping the strap of your bag tightly. “I was just asking. Because of…”

He nodded. “The sandwich from last time. Don’t worry about it. I’m not hungry.”

“Oh. Uhm, okay. Well…”

For a few more seconds, you waited. Kakashi only looked at you, unflinching and unyielding. The silence stretched into eternity, and instead of thinning and out and ending the talk naturally, the air seemed to thicken with every passing second.

“If you don’t mind,” Kakashi suddenly spoke up, just when you tried to turn to leave, “would you take a look at some ideas I have? I’m… fucking stuck right now.”

Oh.

“You’re stuck?”

“Yes.” Again, one of his hands flew up to comb furiously through his hair. “And I hate it.”

He didn’t elaborate, didn’t explain more than that, didn’t even attempt to. His dark eyes just focused again on the cup of coffee, staring and brooding and… being a bit more like the anti-social bastard he had been to you all this time.

Just this once, then we’re even, and I can let this go, you told yourself. Just this once, and I don’t have to talk to him ever again.

And it would be beneficial to take a look at his first plans for a campaign, anyway. High time for some in-team communication and all that.

“Okay.” You shrugged weakly, while internally praying that it wouldn’t take that long. Turning around, you sighed internally, but just dropped your stuff by your desk as you passed by, eyes set on the dimly lit corner of the open office. A few lights around the office were on, but in Kakashi’s corner, only his computer screens were illuminating the looming darkness, painting shadows across the nearby walls of his little alcove. A cave for this man-troll. How fitting.

Suddenly, the man brushed past you. His scent filled your nose, lingered uncomfortably, only to dissipate after a few deep breaths in.

“Hiding your porn?” you asked, tone only slightly mocking. “Must be really disgusting if you’re running.”

Kakashi was bent over his keyboard. His hand moved; moved the mouse quickly. One, two quick clicks, in which you closed the distance and managed to take a first peek at the screens. To your disappointment, there was nothing incriminating there, just lots and lots of pages of Akatsuki-clothing as well as the opened Photoshop program.

There wasn’t much to see. A half-finished moodboard, you guessed, with lots of quite meaningless objects slapped onto one side. The other half of the layer was empty. Your eyes dropped to the desk, which was overflowing with mess, notes in Kakashi’s chicken scratches, and a few scattered pens and pencils, one of them a particularly fancy pen in a dark, glossy black with silvery lines running around the body.

“That’s…”

“It’s nothing. I know.”

“Uhm…” You shrugged weakly. “How am I supposed to help with that?”

“Some fresh eyes on my notes would be great, actually.” With a sigh, Kakashi handed you a few sheets of paper, filled with scribbles and notes which also could have been hieroglyphs as far as you were concerned. Some words actually could have been hieroglyphs.

For a few moments, you tried to decipher the words, but nothing made sense to your tired eyes. Hell, you already spent the entire day leaning way too close to a computer screen, and now this? Fuck this.

When you looked up, Kakashi was intently watching your every move. Almost eagerly, akin to a dog waiting for a reaction when dropping a ball in front of a pair of human legs. “And?”

“Honestly Kakashi… I can’t read this.”

“Ah, it cannot be that bad…”

“No, I literally can’t read this.” You waved the papers into his face. “To be frank, your handwriting is horrible. And here’s not much lighting, so my eyes are starting to hurt just by looking at this.”

A hint of a smile flashed over his face. Though, that impression only lasted for a second, as he mumbled something incoherent and turned to click on the lamp. Light blinded you, and you had to blink rapidly to restore some of your vision.

“Thank you.” You put down the stack of notes, trying to focus and make some sense of his handwriting. “I mean, there’s… nostalgia?”

“Yeah.” Kakashi shrugged weakly. “The new direction Akatsuki is driving at the moment gives me nothing. I’m honestly grasping at straws here.”

“So much so that you’re reaching out to me. I see.”

Thankfully, Kakashi decided not to answer. Honestly, any answer he could have given would have annoyed you even more than you already were. The good mood you harbored over being able to leave earlier than yesterday already evaporated, wiped away by now knowing without a doubt in your mind that Kakashi was one of the sporadically creative people: incredibly valuable if they were inspired, but hindering the process when they didn’t have an inkling of inspiration.

“Okay, this…” You sighed lowly. “This is a big problem. The first meeting with the representatives of Akatsuki is in what, two weeks?”

“Roughly. A little bit less than two weeks.”

Another sigh left your mouth, and you started to massage your temple. You could feel a headache forming right behind your forehead. “Alright. Sure. Let’s just… what do you think of when you think of the new design line?”

“Pretentious.”

“Something positive.”

“Mhm. Maybe…?” The man cocked his head to the side, one hand thoughtfully touching his chin. “Nostalgia.”

“That’s already on here.” You pointed at the stack of papers. “Something else.”

“Capitalism.”

“Even though I agree, we can’t successfully market that idea and expect a profit. Now, something we can market…”

Kakashi thought for a moment. “Higher quality?”

“Great. Work from there, I guess.”

“Sounds good to me.” Kakashi smiled at you, but you didn’t smile back. Just nodded at him before turning your back and finally getting ready to leave the office for good today.

You thought you heard a faint “Hey” coming out of his direction, but you just walked a tiny bit faster. It would be easier to pretend to not have heard him. Just… overall easier. For your sanity and the future of your work together; the work obligations you still had to fulfill. Thankfully, you didn’t hear anything else and could leave the office with the tiniest of delays.

~ X ~

A well deserved rest for a valuable team member. I hope you enjoyed your free night. I would like to think that one day, I might be brave enough to invite you out on such a night, but for now, I just enjoy the thought that you had some time to yourself.

Good luck today, as well.

~ X ~

“Can I steal you away for a moment?”

Anko, Shizune and Kurenai fell completely silent as you turned to fake-smile at Kakashi. “Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t particularly like to be stolen away from my lunch.” You motioned to the lunchbox on the table in front of you. “Can we talk later?”

Your mood turned sour when he shook his head, albeit apologetically. “I have to run an errand for Minato in a bit, so no. Just five minutes?”

“Fine.” With a low sigh, you stood up from the seat which was grouped alongside the others around Shizune’s desk, and followed the man. Not without visually rolling your eyes towards the other women, then shrugging dramatically.

To your mild surprise, Kakashi didn’t lead you towards his desk, but instead opted to exit the open office entirely. When he opened the door leading out into the hallway, he held the door open for you. His eyes found yours, only to quickly drop to the ground.

“Where are we going?” you asked as Kakashi didn’t make any attempts to stop outside in the hallway. Instead, he walked up to the elevators, only to pass by the doors.

Where the fuck was he going?

“Hey,” you spoke up again, trailing after the man like an unwilling donkey dragged up a jagged mountain path as he climbed a set of stairs you had never paid close attention to, “seriously, where are we going?”

“There’s a calm corner upstairs.” Kakashi smiled down at you through the bars of the railing. “Sorry, it just takes a moment.”

“Alright…” Another roll of your eyes, and you started to climb the stairs. At this point, you were just humoring him. First that absolutely ridiculous talk a few days back, showing that he made nearly zero progress with the campaign since the start, and now this? Was he trying to push you off the roof or something? Or something else absolutely ridiculous and over the top, fitting for a Disney channel villain?

Maybe he sings me his little theme song before he steals my soul or something.

Just a few more steps, and Kakashi pushed a heavy door open. You nearly expected him to let it hit you in the face, but he caught it easily and held the door open for you.

“Thanks.” Both of your eyebrows rose. Quickly, you slipped past him, catching a whiff of his scent and a breeze of fresh air from the outside.

The door indeed led onto a small part of the roof which was overshadowed by the building beside you. The rooftop was obviously meant to be visited, though the various signs of non-usage — a bit of dirt here and there, vines overgrowing the walls beside the door, and a few pigeons instantly flying away as you set a few more steps onto the rooftop — indicated that not many people visited.

“Okay. Should be calm enough.” Even though you tried to sound strong and self-assured, you couldn’t help wrapping your arms around yourself. Maybe to protect you from the stronger winds up here, maybe from Kakashi’s intense eyes which seemed to scrutinize you. “What do you want?”

“To thank you.”

“And you couldn’t do that in the office?”

A small chuckle erupted from the man. Casually, he leaned against the wall beside the door, now closed. With him almost guarding your way to escape, it almost seemed like he wanted to pose as Cerberus or something.

Good boy. Now speak.

“Hey, I have some reputation left to protect here.”

“As an antisocial asshole?” You snorted weakly out. “Yeah, a really nice image to maintain. Shouldn’t be changed at all costs. Who knows, people might actually genuinely like you. The horror.”

Again, Kakashi chuckled. He didn’t seem too concerned at the insult you threw at him, no. Lazily, he pushed himself away from the wall, strolled past you to lean against the railing close to the edge. Not a care in the world at the height or the strong winds. “Slowly I get the feeling that you don’t like me.”

“What?”

“Yeah. I’m surprised too.”

There was no way he was that self-conceited. Absolutely no way. You could only stare at his back, and only seconds after his crazy statement, you noticed that your mouth had fallen open. The sheer audacity of this overgrown manchild!

“Who do you think you are?”

Kakashi’s entire body tensed up. He turned his head, eyes finding yours, but you just shook your head and continued. “Who the fuck do you think you are? Some kind of always beloved god who can descend to us mortals and grace us with his fucking presence?”

“I never-!”

“Yeah, you never. You never apologized, properly, for once. You also never stopped and thought about why your actions were such a problem for me. Fuck, you never really took time to reflect on your actions, like any responsible adult would!”

The words just came bubbling to the surface, like you had prepared them for this very moment. Sure, you wanted to act like an adult, but Kakashi had made it hard. So fucking hard, when all you had really gotten was a fine explanation and empty words over a great piece of lasagna. Being civil had been your goal, but this? Him throwing almost in your face how little he truly learned?

Anger bubbled up in your stomach, sourness rising in your throat and your blood rushing in your ears like a storm. Before you knew it, you marched up to him and jammed your index finger into his chest, spitting more of your righteous, built-up fury at his feet. “Did you expect that everything will be alright now? That everything is forgiven and forgotten? Well, excuse me, this is fucking reality, and it doesn’t work like that. It never worked like that.”

Every punctuation you underlined with another push of your finger into his chest. Up close, you could smell Kakashi again, his stench filling your nose like nothing else. Again, you breathed deeply in, and pushed onward. “I tried to be civil. I tried to be nice to you. And you’re trying, I can see that much. My personal problem is, Hatake, that no matter how many sandwiches you buy when I’m doing overtime, or no matter how many times you try to seek me out with friendly banter, it will never be enough to make up for the fact that you humiliated me in front of the entire office.”

Fuck, it felt so good to watch the man deflate. Watching him being dressed down already had been a treat, but doing it yourself with sharp words and an even sharper tone was a fucking feast, five courses and counting.

“You didn’t even apologize”, you breathed out. To your horror, you heard the tremble in your voice, which had been steely and sharp all this time. But not anymore. You swallowed, fought against the burning in your eyes, all the while staring Kakashi down. “The least thing you could do, and you couldn’t even do that. And I, as the idiot I am, even buttered you up! Complimented you because I thought, that…”

“(Y/N)...”

“Don’t fucking talk to me right now.” You stepped backwards, you had to. Anything to hide that you were so close to breaking into angry tears. “Just… leave me the fuck alone from now on. I’m talking with Minato first thing in the morning to remove me from the project, so I don’t have to put up with you anymore.”

Thankfully, Kakashi didn’t call out to you again, and before you left the rooftop through the same door, you didn’t look back. Didn’t want to look back, couldn’t stand to see his stupid, dumb, still attractive face for one more second and pretend like everything was alright.

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