Laughter echoed around the tall surrounding buildings as they slipped and skidded across the snow-covered ice. Enormous snowflakes fell all around them.

"You're…drunk." Kakashi chuckled as he leaned heavily on Iruka's shoulder, trying desperately to keep his footing.

"Not as drunk as you."

Kakashi glared upwards at Iruka before looking pensive and nodding.

Iruka wasn't entirely sure when – or even how – the friendship had started, but in the end it didn't really matter. He saw Kakashi on almost a daily basis, when the jounin wasn't deployed on missions, and, though he was loathe to admit it, he actually looked forward to each meeting.

He looked forward to it more than he knew he should.

The night after Kakashi'd returned with Naruto, and not Sasuke, Iruka'd woken to find the jounin sitting on the floor by his window, face buried in his arms and shoulders shaking in silent, tearless sobs.

Iruka'd held him all night.

And in the morning, Iruka realized that the tightness in his chest wasn't caused by exhaustion or worry for his friend. It was caused by a horribly different emotion that he could not – would not – admit to. He didn't want to risk the strange, but important relationship he'd developed with the other man so far.

"Oh…SHIT!" The wind had blown a small section of the sidewalk free of snow exposing the 2 inches of ice that had built up over the past couple of days. Unfortunately for the two hapless shinobi, neither of them was really paying attention, and neither of them was completely coordinated at the moment, either. Kakashi's feet went out from under him, and he landed hard, almost taking Iruka down with him.

They looked at each other for a long moment before bursting out in laughter again.

When he'd finally caught his breath, Iruka looped his arm under the other man's armpit, "You want to try and get up?"

Kakashi tried to get his legs under him with little success and sank back to the ground, "No…I think I better not. At this rate, I'm probably gonna break my ass."

Iruka dissolved into helpless giggles, dropping his head onto Kakashi's shoulder only managing to get himself under control when Kakashi fell silent. "Kakashi?" He raised his head and started at how close they were.

A pale hand wrapped around the back of his neck, "God I love you."

Iruka's eyes widened. He must have heard wrong; there was no way…no way…

But Kakashi was pulling him in closer as his free hand dragged the mask away from his face, and even through the slight alcohol buzz, Iruka could tell what was going to happen.

The evil voice in the deep recesses of his brain chimed in right before he tried to wrench himself away. You're both drunk you know. If this all turns out to be just the alcohol for him in the morning, then…

And before the good, intelligent, rational voice could make a point, Iruka allowed himself to be pulled in.

Kakashi pressed his lips gently against Iruka's, before nipping at his lower lip and deepening the kiss.

And Iruka crouched down in the midst of all the snow while Kakashi simply sat on the ice that had to be melting through the butt of his pants and let it happen. When the other man pulled back, they both huffed cloudy breaths into the frozen air, and Iruka realized that this might be his one and only chance.

"I love you too." The words were whispered, barely audible, and out of his mouth before he sat back onto his heels, putting some more distance between himself and this dangerous situation.

They stared at each other until Kakashi chuckled and raised his hand to dust snowflakes out of Iruka's hair. "So, what now?" Even though he tried to hide it, Iruka could hear the dark desire lacing his words.

OOOOOOOOO

The pale sun filtering through the window woke Iruka far to early considering the night that he'd had. He smiled down at the strong arm that held him tightly against Kakashi's chest He didn't know what people complained about all the time, the transition from friends to lovers had happened impossibly seamlessly. Who knew that all it took was a little alcohol.

Alcohol… His brain stalled out the second the word crossed his thoughts, remembering his rationale from last night. What if it was just the alcohol? He couldn't have meant it. Iruka twisted his fingers into his loose hair, feeling the overwhelming wave of self-pity rush over him. It was unbelievable that Kakashi was even his friend, let alone…let alone. So I have to pretend like it was the alcohol for me. I have to…But what if…?

He couldn't think through the hangover playing kettle drums across the back of his skull, so he eased his way out of Kakashi's arms, fairly certain that the jounin wouldn't wake up considering how much more the other man had drunk and went on a search for coffee.

Iruka made it all the way to the kitchen before remembering that he'd run out the day before and had promised himself to buy some on the way home from Anko's party, which hadn't happened for obvious reasons. He groaned and dropped his head gently against the edge of the cabinet, not wanting either to increase the pain behind his eyes or run the risk of waking up his companion.

After a short scavenger hunt, he managed to locate his pants and shirt behind his couch – how had they gotten there?

The walk too the store was uneventful, though there were a few people who probably recognized the facial expressions that went with a painful hangover and bad, drunken decisions and offered him apologetic smiles. The walk back on the other hand…

"Iruka-kun!"

Iruka winced and turned slowly. "Anko-chan. Ohayo."

Anko raked her eyes up and down his frame, "You are wearing the same clothes you were wearing last night."

"Oh, no. Anko, look."

"You got laid! Was it Kakashi?"

"I just needed coffee and grabbed the first thing…what?"

"So it wasn't Kakashi?"

"No! I…I…" Iruka pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead. "I don't see how this is any of your business."

Anko just raised an eyebrow.

"You're not going to let me go home and make my coffee until I tell you are you?"

"What do you think?"

Iruka groaned.

"It was Kakashi!" Anko grinned hugely. "Well, it's about time!"

"What?" Iruka's had been covering his face; he was hoping that if he blocked it all out it might just go away. He dropped his hand and stared at her. "What do you mean?"

"Iruka," Anko got this strange exasperated look on her face, "Anybody with half a brain can see how you two look at each other when you think that the other one isn't looking. You guys seriously just needed to get over the whole friendship nonsense and move on."

"That, that can't…" Iruka mumbled.

"Did he say anything, or did you guys just boink silence."

"It doesn't matter what he said; he was drunk, Anko!"

"That doesn't mean he didn't mean it." She snickered when Iruka opened and closed his mouth without any sound coming out. "And if you go back and pretend that it's all the alcohol, he'll pretend the same thing, and you guys will miss out on this opportunity. So grow a pair, march yourself back to where ever it is you left him, and tell him that you want to screw him senseless for the rest of your lives."

"Wha…?"

Anko rolled her eyes, "Or however you would say it." She put both hands on Iruka's shoulders, spun him around and pushed him back in the direction he'd been headed originally.

He found himself back at his apartment far too fast for his own comfort and tried very hard to ignore the way his hand was shaking when he reached for the knob.

Kakashi looked up at him from where he was sitting on the edge of the bed.

Iruka swallowed hard and forced a bright smile, "Morning. I just ran out to get some coffee; this hangover is killing me."

"Oh." It was more of an exhaled, disappointed breath, than an actual word.

Iruka clutched the canister of coffee against his hands; Anko's words repeating in his mind. If she's right, I'll never forgive myself for not having the guts to do this.

It took all of his courage to cross the room and settle down on the bed next to Kakashi, and he pressed his shoulder, hip and thigh against the other man before dropping his head onto the jounin's shoulder, hoping that the simple action would say more than words ever could.

But in the end, he had to break the oppressive silence, "We should really get a bigger bed, you know. You pushed me off twice last night."

Kakashi laughed loudly, leaned back against him, and wound his long fingers into Iruka's hair, pulling his head closer. "I can't believe that me falling on my ass got us together."

OOOOOOO

Omake ^^

Anko watched Iruka's retreating back for a moment before practically skipping back to her apartment where several of their fellow shinobi should just be waking up after sleeping off the alcohol from the previous night.

"January 16th, pay up." She flipped the chair around, collapsed into it, and extended her hand to the four or five shinobi who were giving her confused looks.

"What?" Genma started to turn his back to her.

"January 16th, I'm pretty sure my guess was the closest." She could almost see the wheels spinning.

"Holy crap, no way!" Izumo was the first to figure it out. "They didn't?"

"They did, and you all owe me!"

"I don't know, Anko." Genma folded his arms and leaned against the desk. "You got any proof that this actually happened?"

She gloated. "Personal conversation with Iruka this morning."

"Did he actually say that they had sex?"

"Uh…well, not in so many words, but it was pretty clear that, you know…." She trailed off at the look on Genma's face. "Oh, come on, what are you going to do, go ask Iruka?"

Genma's lips hooked upwards into a dangerous smile, "I've got a better idea."

Iruka lay sprawled across his chest, panting. He purred slightly when Kakashi gathered the chuunin against him and rubbed his fingers across Iruka's back, brushing the scar left over from Mizuki's attempt on Naruto's life. With a contended sigh, Iruka twisted his head to stretch his neck.

"Wha…what?"

Kakashi coughed as Iruka's elbow jabbed sharply into stomach. The chuunin sprinted to the window and threw it open. "What the HELL are you guys doing?!"

From what he could see of the window around Iruka's ass – which was far more interesting than the sight outside, though he probably shouldn't bring it up – Kakashi could just see a mixed group of chuunins and jounins perched in the tree outside Iruka's apartment. Every single one of them was armed with a camera.

"Well, now we're enjoying the view." Anko cat-called.

Iruka looked down, let out a startled scream and whipped the curtains shut. He was blushing furiously when he turned back towards Kakashi. "The nerve…" He ground out.

"I can't say I blame them," Kakashi leered at him, "It is a rather nice view."

Iruka pounced on him, snatching up a pillow and buffeting him with it. Kakashi wrapped his arms around the other man's waist and tumbled him back into the sheets.