safety [Kakashi Hatake x OC]

eighty-one

"Apparently Eri and Anko are into each other." Kakashi's head was between his elbows, his fingers wrapped in his hair in distress.

"What makes you say that?" Asuma sat on the floor and took another drink from his bottle. They had decided to go back to Kakashi's apartment later that evening, seen as they were merely only counting the minutes until he was wasted and it would be better for him to lose it in the comfort of his home rather than in public.

"They were making out in Tsunade's office."

"Oh, shit."

Kakashi sighed and dropped his head even lower.

"What are you gonna do about it?"

"What the hell am I supposed to do about it?" The distressed man threw himself back on the sofa with another groan. "It's not like we're actually together at this point."

"Yeah." Asuma agreed solemnly. "I mean, you have to give her her space, man, but you can't just let her go like this."

"Obviously. But how the hell should I do that?"

"I don't know, man. You just can't let her go."

For about another two hours, Asuma supervised Kakashi's mental breakdown as he quickly fell into a pool of drunken hopelessness. At that point, Asuma was just waiting until his friend passed out.

There was a quiet knock at the door, to which Kakashi responded with a disgruntled noise. Asuma answered, unsure of who to expect, but especially the girl on the other side: the reason the renowned jonin was in such a pathetic state.

"Yo, Eri." The dark-haired man greeted in a low, hushed voice. He pulled the door more closed so that she couldn't see into the apartment and Kakashi couldn't see her.

"Oh hey, Asuma. Is Kakashi there?" Since she had gotten home from the mission, she couldn't shake the desire to see him. She didn't know why, but she felt like she had to see him. So, there she was, at his doorstep.

"Uh, now's probably not a good time." Asuma glanced behind him, seeing that his distraught friend hadn't realized that his beloved was there. 

"Oh, no problem." Eri looked down at her fingers and fiddled with them, clearly a little down. 

"You can come by tomorrow morning, though. I'm sure he'd appreciate seeing you."

"Oh, really?" Her dark eyes brightened and she looked back at the man. "I'll be back tomorrow then."

"I'll let him know."

With that, Asuma grinned and shut the door on Eri. Anko had been a couple of meters away. She knew that Eri had to see Kakashi, so she wanted to give her the space to do so, but she was also hesitant to leave her alone with the man she was once so close to.

The mauve-haired girl shook her head at the other woman, who merely gave a solemn smile in attempt to encourage her, but the fact that she was disappointed that she didn't get to see him unsettled Anko.

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Kakashi woke up the next morning with the sound of knocking at his door rattling through his bones and sending his head into a pounding headache. It took him a moment to realized that someone was at his door, and he absolutely did not want to get up and see anyone. He was extremely hungover, exhausted, probably smelt bad, and starving. 

Just before he forced himself to acknowledge his door, he found a note on the table beside his couch where he had blacked out at some point pretty early into the evening. It read 'Yo, Eri came by last night to see you. I told her to come back in the morning, so don't be surprised if she shows up. Don't you dare lose her, man. - Asuma'

Kakashi cursed himself; he cursed himself for missing Eri the previous night, for being too drunk to talk to her, for not cleaning his apartment, for not being ready at every second to possibly see her, and for having not showered yet.