Posted in honor of Yamato's birthday 2012, since I failed to finish the threesome I'd meant to write for him on time. T_T Usually I wouldn't bother with an edited version of a fic that contains sex, but since I'm posting this for Yamato's birthday I wanted to post it in as many places as possible. I apologize if this does not read as smoothly as it should; this conversation occurs while they're in bed together but hopefully the visuals are hazy enough to pass muster with the ToS. All the important elements of the conversation are still intact. Anyone old enough who's interested in the original version can find it on AO3: archiveofourown-dot-org /works/482372

"Senpai," Tenzou groaned softly, then drew in a deep breath, trying to steady his pounding heart, and curled his fingers tight where they interlaced with his captain's. "Ahn - Kakashi - "

"Mmh," Kakashi murmured, squeezing their hands together, gazing heavy-eyed up at Tenzou astride him. "No reason to rush, is there?"

"Well...no," Tenzou admitted. "I...just - " He let the unformed thought fall away on a sigh.

"Just move. Take. Feel," Kakashi instructed, softly, and Tenzou wasn't about to disobey.

He was still kind of amazed, deep down, that Sharingan no Kakashi, famous for being almost inhumanly cool and aloof, had taken a liking to the gawky wide-eyed rookie recruit whose mokuton barely measured up; had humored his crush, flirted with him, bedded him. Was still bedding him, all these months later.

More than that, Kakashi seemed genuinely fond of him. Attached, even, one might think, except that elite ANBU generally try not to get attached.

It left him feeling extremely lucky.

He shifted again, letting his head fall back on a sigh.

"Hmm, pretty," Kakashi said then, still gazing up at him from beneath lowered lashes, and Tenzou felt his face heating.

"Senpai," he objected, mumbling. 'Pretty' wasn't really a word that generally applied to him, not unless it was followed by 'plain' or 'ordinary'. He didn't consider himself unattractive, necessarily, but he definitely didn't stand out in a crowd. 'Pretty' was a ridiculous thing for Kakashi to say to him, which was probably why he said it - putting Tenzou off-balance was still a favorite pastime, sleeping together or not.

"...Sexy, then," Kakashi offered, unfazed, and pulled backward on their joined hands until he effectively had Tenzou pinning him to the bed.

The shift in position made Tenzou's breath escape him in a rush.

"Sexy," Kakashi repeated, and there was a little twist of a smirk in the corner of his mouth.

Tenzou knew there was no point arguing, but couldn't help thinking that between the two of them, Kakashi was the sexy one. Kakashi was the one with the hard-bodied whipcord-slender build. Kakashi was the one with the cool reputation and the mysterious air about him. Kakashi was the one with that odd silvery-white hair - hair the color of moonlight, he thought fancifully, and smiled to himself.

Admiring glances never followed Tenzou in the street, not the way they did Kakashi. Tenzou wasn't the sexy one, the famous one, the flashy one, and he was fine with that. Being ordinary came with a set of advantages all its own, especially when one was essentially a genetic clone of the First Hokage. Not standing out was a distinct advantage.

But being called 'sexy' by Kakashi, with the mysterious mask gone and a hint of a smirk on that pale mouth that no one ever saw, with Kakashi's famous hands pulling him down and that moonlight-colored hair splayed against his pillow, made him feel maybe just the slightest bit better than ordinary.

"I'm glad you think so," he allowed.

"Definitely," Kakashi said. "And someday, I'm going to make sure the whole village knows it."

"Oh?" Tenzou's eyebrows went up; he knew that line. It was from a book Kakashi had loaned him a couple of weeks ago, a cheesy over-wrought tale of forbidden romance between two soldiers in the middle of a war that made romance impractical. It was trite and flowery and had been painful to read, but he'd made the effort because Kakashi had asked it of him. He recognized the parallels between their relationship and the book, but wondered if there was more to it than that.

Perhaps he was about to find out. He should have recognized where Kakashi was heading the instant he'd said 'Pretty'; that very un-Kakashi declaration was how the scene in the book started.

"Mmmh. Mmhm." Kakashi's hands uncurled from beneath Tenzou's, ghosted up his arms, slid down over his ribs to settle at his hips.

"Does the whole village need to know?" Tenzou asked then.

It was the answering line in that godawful book; it was Tenzou's agreement to follow Kakashi's conversational lead.

Because when Kakashi had something important to say, he didn't often do it in straightforward words.

"Absolutely," Kakashi answered. "How else will they realize that they've missed out on the chance to have you?"

Tenzou was very sure there weren't that many people in the village with any kind of interest in him, no matter whose DNA he had, but it was how the line went in the book and he let it pass. "So you're going to go door-to-door, inform every citizen individually that you think I'm sexy and I'm off the market?" He didn't try to temper the amused affection in his voice.

"Of course not," Kakashi returned. "There are much better ways to do it. Maybe - maybe I'll put in a public notice with the information services - 'Attention citizens: Tenzou the Sexy officially belongs to Hatake Kakashi; please take note', something like that."

Tenzou snorted in laughter, interrupting the mood, but he couldn't help it. Sometimes Kakashi was just plain ridiculous, especially when he was stealing his lines from tawdry romance novels.

"Too much? Hm. Then...maybe I'll just make a grand spectacle at some public affair and let the gossip machine do the rest."

"Spectacle?" Tenzou didn't know whether to be amused, apprehensive or pleased; he liked his privacy, very much, but...Kakashi was not a man who admitted attachment easily. The idea that he would announce their relationship to the village that way, would 'claim' Tenzou publicly - it did strike a very resonant chord on some level deep inside. It wasn't going to happen - they were shinobi, they were ANBU, and Tenzou knew better than to take this borrowed conversation seriously - but the idea was a little bit thrilling all the same.

"Mmh. Yes." Kakashi had that studiously-instrospective look on his face. "Maybe...during the Spring Festival, in the village center. When they've got the musicians up on the platform and everyone's dancing?" He was altering the script a little, adapting it to fit their reality. "I'll jutsu right into the middle of that, up on stage. The music will stop, and then everyone will be paying attention; the pack will herd you up to me and I'll sweep you into my arms and bend you over backwards like they do it on the covers of those foreign romance books, and I'll kiss you senseless right there in front of the whole village."

Borrowed conversation or not, Tenzou could feel tell-tale heat in his face, in the tips of his ears. "Really, Senpai - "

"And everyone will cheer and applaud," Kakashi interrupted, "and it'll be just like a movie. And then, when you're swooning and breathless and flustered like you are right now - then, I will kiss your hand..." He let the words trail away, let go of Tenzou's hip on one side and caught Tenzou's hand, brought it to his lips in demonstration.

Tenzou felt a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth and let it happen. "And why are you going to kiss my hand, after all that?"

Kakashi brushed his lips across Tenzou's knuckles again, then turned Tenzou's hand over and pressed his lips briefly against the palm, right on cue. "Because it's soppy and romantic and everyone will know how much I adore you."

Tenzou couldn't help the surge of warmth in his chest at that; it was an appealing thought, even if this whole conversation was a momentary fantasy borrowed from a scene in a melodramatic book. Still, it was a very nice fantasy, and while they were locked away in Tenzou's room, tangled together in Tenzou's bed, there was no reason not to pretend that 'someday' could happen. It was part of what helped them both stay human.

He let his smile widen, soften, and delivered the expected final line. "Oh. Well. I suppose I can live with that." He took back his hand, leaned down for a proper kiss, and it lingered well past the point of simple affection.

Because ANBU or not, there was definite attachment between them, even if neither of them would ever speak of it without that screen of fantasy making it safe to consider such things.

"Senpai," Tenzou murmured as they parted briefly, the word swallowed by the warmth of Kakashi's mouth, "Kakashi - " He let his hands wander up under all that pale messy hair as Kakashi's arms came up around him properly. Their kissing grew fiercer, more insistent, more heated; Tenzou gave himself over and let it sweep him under.

And then finally, finally, Kakashi rolled them over and properly finished what they'd started nearly an hour ago, and when Kakashi collapsed atop him at last and sighed 'Ah, Tenzou,' in barely more than a whisper against the shell of his ear, Tenzou just melted. Completely.

He fell asleep with Kakashi spooned possessively against his back, thinking with drowsy contentment that even if 'someday' never happened, he was still quite lucky to have this, here, now.