Summary: Kakashi has been after Iruka since the day they met, but Iruka won't have any of Kakashi's lazy, unconcerned attitude. So to impress Iruka, Kakashi adopts a little boy named Sasuke, but being a parent to a traumatized child isn't as easy as it seems.

Pairing: Kakashi/Iruka

Rating: T until further notice.

A/N: This is un-beta'd. If anyone would like the task, let me know! I'd appreciate it immensely.

ACCEPTED

Chapter 1

"Come on, Iruka-chan, let's go have some fun!" Kakashi pleaded as he followed Iruka through the grocery store. Iruka huffed.

"Hatake-san, I am trying to shop here, and do not call me that!" the brunette growled. An angry blush spread across his cheeks and scarred nose. He grabbed a few boxes of dried spaghetti off of a shelf and threw them into his basket. The masked man chuckled as he followed the shorter male down the aisle.

"You're so cute when you're angry, Iruka-chan! So, dinner tonight? We can go to that little Italian restaurant that sticks the tiny Italy flag toothpicks in their sandwiches. What do you say?" he grinned.

"No! This is the hundredth time you've asked me, and for the hundredth time, the answer is no. I have to get home to Naruto, and you honestly haven't given me a reason to go out with you. So no, I won't be going to dinner with you, Hatake-san." Kakashi raised an eyebrow and continued to follow Iruka back to the front of the door and to the check-out stand.

"Hey there, Iruka-san," the cashier, and young man name Yamato greeted. "I see this dog here has yet to abandon his goal of tying you down." He gestured to Kakashi's hovering form.

"More like tying up," Kakashi commented. A vein popped in Iruka's forehead while Yamato chuckled.

"That is inappropriate, Hatake-san. Now please leave me to purchase my groceries so I can make it home to Naruto before the babysitter takes off and leaves him to destroy my apartment," he snapped. The grocery basket was slammed down onto the counter. Yamato began to scan the items while snickering amusedly to himself.

"Very well, Iruka-chan, I shall leave you alone for this evening, but don't think I've given up," Kakashi assured him. "Yamato, put Iruka's groceries on my tab. Ta!" Iruka opened his mouth to protest, but froze when a strong hand squeezed his left buttock.

"HATAKE-SAN!" he screeched and whirled to smack away the groping hand, but only caught a glimpse of Kakashi's smiling, mismatched eyes as the man vanished through the store entrance. Yamato laughed when Iruka let out a frustrated groan.

"Why not give the guy a chance, Iruka-san? He follows you everywhere. If he's that persistent, maybe it could turn out to be something worth your time," the cashier suggested. Iruka shook his head.

"I don't have time for any relationships right now. Naruto has been having trouble at school, and I've been swamped at work with new patients. A relationship just requires more work. I don't need a boyfriend, I need a vacation," the brunette muttered, rubbing his eyes with his fingers. He received a sympathetic smile.

"So, I'll just put these on Kakashi's tab," the almond-eyed cashier told him, pushing a few buttons on the dusty computer in front of him. Iruka sighed. "Don't worry about it, Iruka-san. Kakashi may be a bit of a pervert, but he's harmless."

"Naruto, I'm home!" Iruka called as he pushed his way through the door to his apartment. He set the bag of groceries onto the kitchen counter.

"In here, 'Ruka!" Iruka followed the yell into the living room. Naruto sat on the couch beside Temari, the babysitter, staring wide-eyed at the television screen that had some random cartoons playing. "We're watching Spiderman!" the five-year-old exclaimed excitedly, flailing his arms about. Iruka smiled at the boy and turned to Temari.

"Was he any trouble?" he asked. Temari shook her head, making her four short pigtails bounce.

"We went through his homework, and after his snack we went out for a walk. He's only been watching television for half an hour or so," the teen reported. "He didn't throw a single tantrum."

"That's excellent. How much do I owe you?"

"1500¥ should cover it," she replied. Iruka fished the money out of his back pocket and handed it over. "Can you babysit again on Thursday? I have a meeting with one of my patients' families, so I won't be home until 5:30 or so." Temari nodded. "Alright then, I'll walk you out."

When he returned five minutes later, Naruto jumped up from the couch and ran over to his adoptive father and threw his arms around the man. Iruka crouched to the boy's height and pulled him into a hug. "Temari-chan said you did very well today, Naruto. I'm very proud of you."

"I did, huh! I only got mad once, but I did the thing you showed me where you say the letters backward and then I wasn't mad anymore! Saying the letters backward is hard!" the tiny blonde child chattered excitedly. Iruka smiled and nodded.

"Are you ready for some dinner? I got-"

"RAMEN!"

"No, I got spaghetti, which is kind of like ramen, but different," the brunette corrected him. Big blue eyes stared up at him sadly.

"But I want ramen…" Naruto sniffled.

"I know, but I told you, we can't have ramen every day, because that would make us sick. Now, go clean up any toys you have out and wash your hands, and I'll have dinner ready in a few minutes, all right?" the older male instructed. Naruto nodded and dashed down the short hallway to his room. Iruka watched him go, a small amused smile gracing his face.

Naruto had made such progress in the past year. Eighteen months earlier, Iruka had adopted Naruto as a rambunctious, attention-starved four-year-old with behavior problems. As a baby, Naruto had lost his parents at six months in an earthquake that had collapsed their family home. Minato and Kushina Uzumaki had died when they shielded their infant son from the falling building with their own bodies, leaving the child an orphan. In the local children's home, Naruto had received acceptable treatment, but the home had been crowded, resulting in Naruto not getting the amount of attention a little boy needs. In order to get that attention, he began throwing massive temper tantrums and causing an enormous amount of trouble.

A few foster homes had taken him in, but he usually ended up back at the home when the foster families couldn't deal with the boy's behavior. Iruka discovered the boy when the home called him for psychiatric evaluations on a few of their children. He had been in the middle of talking to a newly orphaned seven-year-old girl when Naruto had burst into the room, screaming and throwing building blocks everywhere. The sunshine-haired boy immediately snared the psychiatrist's interest, and three weeks later, Iruka adopted him.

The first few months had been a struggle, but once Naruto realized Iruka wasn't going to return him because he threw a tantrum or two, he began to mellow out. The only problems that the little boy had now were the occasional fit and trouble with a few children in his kindergarten class. Naruto was a much happier child now, and Iruka had found that he quite liked having the boy around.

"'Ruka, my room is clean!" Naruto yelled from his doorway.

"Alright, go wash your hands, and then you can help me get ready or dinner," Iruka called back.

"Okie-dokie!"

After a talkative dinner with Naruto, Iruka gave the boy a bath, dressed him in his bright orange pajamas, then sat him down in front of the television for one last round of cartoons while Iruka went through his work files. Naruto was sent to bed at 8:30pm, and Iruka relaxed in his favorite recliner with a random paperback novel and a glass of red wine. He worked his way through a few chapters before his eyelids started drooping with fatigue. He dropped into unconsciousness the moment his head hit the pillow.

He was certainly not happy when the phone rang in the middle of the night. The shrill whine of the telephone dragged him from his dream world kicking and screaming- figuratively. His bedside clock told him it was 2:30am. The brunette shuffled his way into the kitchen and picked up the receiver. "…'lo?"

"Iruka-channn, it's me-e, Kakashi," a slurred voice drawled through the line.

"Kakashi? …'the hell? It's like… two in the morning, Kakashi…"

"I like it when you call me… Kakashi… Say it again, 'Ruka-chan, pleas-se?" Kakashi murmured. Iruka groaned and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Are you drunk, Hatake-san?" he asked. Kakashi chuckled lowly.

"May-be just a wittle," the man giggled. "I wass thinkin' about 'chu like… all day, and I 's wonderin'… what can I do 'ta make 'Ruka-tan go out with me. So I called you 'ta ask ya. Why won't 'chu go out with me?" Iruka sighed and sat down on one of the stools in front of the counter.

"Hatake-san, you've had too much to drink. Why don't you go sleep it off, and we'll talk about this another time?"

"But I'm not tired. I jus' wanna know why…"

"Go to bed, Hatake-san," Iruka instructed firmly. He was about to push the 'end call' button, but Kakashi interjected.

"I'll just keep calling! If you hang up, I'll jus' keep callin' and callin' 'til you tell me!" the drunkard yelled. Iruka winced at the volume of his voice.

"You'll wake up Naruto," he warned. Kakashi chuckled again.

"Then you better tell me, then, 'Ruka-channn."

"Fine, I give up. If you want to know why, I'll tell you," Iruka snapped, finally giving in. "I won't go out with you because you're too irresponsible and you don't care about anything."

"Now, that's not true-"

"It is true. It's true, and you know it. You work at a dirty little shop and live in a tiny little apartment even though you could do so much better. Your mask is weird. You read those pornographic books in public, and it seems like you have nothing better to do with your time than hit on me. Look at you now! It's a Wednesday night, and you've been drinking!" Iruka told him. "Now, if it was just me, then I wouldn't have as much of a problem with your choices, but I have Naruto. That boy has had enough issues in his life already. I don't need some irresponsible, lethargic, masked pervert with no real goals in life to come in and disrupt that child's life any more than I need and STD."

"But-"

"No, Hatake-san. If you want my attention, you're going to have to clean up your act, understood?" A few mumbles echoed through the phone line. "Hatake-san, if you can prove to me that you're actually a nice guy who won't corrupt Naruto, then I might give you a chance."

"How'm I s'posed to do that?" Kakashi asked quietly. The brown-haired male sighed, shoulders drooping. His fingers fiddled with the hem on his pajama shirt in impatience.

"I don't know, Hatake-san. But listen, I don't want you to change just for me. You've gotta do it for yourself, or it'll be just like your lying to win my affections." Kakashi was silent for a few moments.

"Um… huh?" he mumbled, his intoxicated state of mind having a hard time processing Iruka's words.

"Don't change for me. Change so you can be a better person. Understand?"

"Y-yeah… maybe," Kakashi laughed. "'Night, Iruka-channn!"

"Don't call me that!" Iruka cried, then hung up and slammed the phone down onto the counter. Kakashi was just too much. He was hoping that this challenge would simply deter the mask-wearing pervert and he'd finally get some peace.

"'Ruka?" a tiny, groggy voice piped up. Iruka groaned. Naruto had woken up. He turned to face the boy. Naruto was rubbing his left eye with his fist while his right arm clutched his small stuffed fox, Kyuubi. "Who was that you were talkin' to?" he mumbled. His guardian smiled and stooped to pick him up.

"That was just a friend. He was bored and wanted someone to talk to. I'm sorry it woke you up," the older man apologized.

"…s'okay. If he's bored, he can come and play with me!" Iruka made a face in distaste.

"Maybe next time. So, how about some warm milk?"

Alright. This is just a random idea that I've been bouncing around in my head. Tell me if you guys like it, and if you do, let me know so I can continue! :]

Also, enjoy the latest chapter of my FMA fanfic, Drag You Down. I just updated it after about... eleven months, haha! Go check it out.

-bgirlpaige