Asuma blinked.

Then he threw his head back and laughed.

“You can try kissing me if y’want,” he said, delighted. “But can we wait until Reiko’s around? I kind of promised her.”

Now it was Ryouma’s turn to blink. He shook his head a little, as if trying to banish a sudden mental image. “You promised Reiko you’d kiss me in front of her? Cocky much?”

“You, Hatake, any sexy, rainbow-flavoured guy. I’m open-minded.” He lit a cheerful cigarette, handed Ryouma his presents back, and turned to head down the stairs. “‘Course, she seemed to be of the opinion that Hatake might bite my throat out, but that was before I knew you were interested.”

Ryouma sounded like he was trying not to laugh. "Sorry to say that'll probably make Kakashi even more likely to bite your throat out. He gets possessive." A rustle of paper and a jostling sound suggested he was weighing the boxes. Absently, he added: "You could fight him for me. 'Course, if you hurt him, I'd have to kill you."

Asuma turned to grin over his shoulder. “Guess a threesome is our only option. Hope Hatake’s pretty under that mask.” An answer he knew already, actually, but the one and only time he’d seen Hatake’s face there’d mostly been blood and teeth, and nothing like sexiness anywhere. He sobered just a little. “So you guys are serious, huh?”

“I am,” Ryouma said, quiet and intent, like a sudden switchblade in candyfloss. “And he’s willing to take a chance on me.” He drew level as they reached the bottom of the stairs, and tipped his head at Asuma. “Why the interest? You save a guy’s life, I can understand lookin’ out for him afterwards, but where do I come in?” After a beat, he added: “Aside from bein’ sexy.”

“Modest, too,” Asuma said. He blew a thoughtful stream of smoke. “I heard about you after you went missing, mostly good things. Scary-awesome jutsu, decent to your teammates, nice guy.” He glanced aside at Ryouma’s tee-shirt, and grinned. “Good taste in music. I know Tsume some, and she’s always said you were a great guy. Broke her up a bit when you died. You should drop in and see her when you get the chance. She’s clan head, now.”

The expression on Ryouma’s face had bypassed complicated and landed somewhere in unexplainable.

“But mostly, I think everythin’ that happened to you was wrong. Same for Hatake.” And Ginta, but that was another conversation entirely. “And I ain’t the only one, so I figured you oughta know. Plus, cake. Can’t go wrong with cake.”