Who asks all the weird things in the middle of the night?
I think it’s Kakashi. I imagine that when he goes to bed, it takes a while before he can finally get to sleep because he often reflects on his day, and life in general; and with that reflection comes all of the strange, after-midnight thoughts.
More often than not, when he asks these questions to Iruka, who has almost dozed off to sleep, he’s answered with a tired “It’s one o’clock, Kakashi. Go to sleep…”, or an “… I hate you…” because his questions have made Iruka curious, too, and now he can’t sleep, either.
But there are also times when Iruka is awake enough to engage in discussion, and they end up chatting for another several hours, the whole time saying “Alright, I’m going to sleep now…”, “Wow, it’s late…”, etc., just to have something else they want to say moments after they settle back down to go to sleep XD
As for Iruka, I don’t think he asks weird questions, but I headcanon him as an occasional sleep-talker, so I imagine he often says weird things in his sleep; and out of amusement, Kakashi will have conversations with him. When he can, he likes to record them, too XD
First off, Iruka as a sleep-talker is making me giggle uncontrollably, because I imagine him talking about like, ramen or something and the first couple times it happens Kakashi is so confused.
I totally agree that Kakashi would be the one to ask weird things in middle of the night. The man is just weird in general, so like, of course when he’s not sleeping (even though he should be), he comes up with questions that Iruka really does not care about, but will indulge Kakashi in answering (sometimes). I do like the idea that Kakashi nudges Iruka awake at 2:30 in the morning and just like, asks him about shrimp and the colors they can see or something and Iruka just does not want to deal with this right now but (as you said) now he’s curious and awake and goddammit Kakashi, I cannot believe we’re having a discussion about colors and shellfish.
I do like to thank that Iruka gets back at Kakashi sometimes though, by nudging him awake and asking questions about food, usually ramen, but also like, “how do you prepare this sort of dish” because I headcanon that Kakashi cooks as a hobby and he also feels required to give an answer regarding cooking things. He just wishes Iruka wouldn’t ask him at 3am because now he’s hungry.
omfg funny you say that about Iruka sleep-talking about ramen, because I actually have an old WIP where he does that!! And he thinks he’s talking to Naruto instead of Kakashi XD
I could actually see Iruka doing that to get back at Kakashi. But also, I feel like when he goes to bed, he would go through a checklist in his head of things that he needs to do the next day/ week; and when he starts thinking about shopping, he starts thinking about what meals they’re going to have that week, so he wakes Kakashi up to ask him what ingredients are used for certain things, and do they still have some, etc.
Also, I just had a funny thought. Imagine Iruka asking Kakashi how to cook things… but in his sleep. Like, he sits up in bed, and wakes Kakashi up at ungodly hours of the night to ask him how to cook x thing, and Kakashi sleepily mumbles an answer; and as he drifts back off to sleep, he hears Iruka get out of bed, but thinks nothing of it. Iruka is now sleep-walking, and goes to the kitchen to cook the thing he asked about; and when Kakashi wakes up next, it’s to Iruka swearing, the fire alarms screaming into the night, and the smell of smoke & burning food stinking up the place
Ok I love this idea of Iruka sleep talking! I will be using that! (I’ll credit you )
So I know in Canon we have Iruka not sleeping well and being contemplative. But I think he would be silent about it. Like in his head. So it’s really good that kakashi talks in the middle of the night because it gets Iruka out of his head! Like kakashi can sense Iruka is in some head space and so he starts just randomly talking things out and it helps Iruka in the end. While also helping kakashi?! I like this.
Thank you XD I’ve had this headcanon since I first started writing kakairu (will be 2 years next month!), and have several unposted WIPs where he sleep talks (and one where he does a little sleepwalking, too ). I just think it’s a fun little quirk for him to have!
I think that’s a sweet idea, where Kakashi senses that Iruka needs to talk, but has gone silent, instead; and he prompts him to do so by talking about things, himself (eventually leading to them both getting a bit of therapy XD)
lmao I can also picture when their relationship is new and Kakashi sees Iruka having trouble sleeping & stuff for the first time, he goes into a bit of a panic wondering what he’s supposed to do or say - should he try to talk to Iruka about his problems, or distract him from them? If he wanted to talk, he would have said something, yes?, etc. And the longer he debates it, the more panicked he gets because time is just ticking away, and he hasn’t done anything yet.
Then finally, he says Iruka’s name, intending to talk to him, but still doesn’t know what to say; and he just blurts out the first thing that pops into his head, which happens to be something completely random & weird. Iruka stares at him in confusion for a moment, trying to process what he just said/ asked, and then he just starts giggling, because Kakashi looks so frazzled & concerned, and he thinks it’s funny that such a strange thing has him so worked up (bc he doesn’t know the real reason Kakashi is worried).
Kakashi has no idea why Iruka is laughing, because that was not the reaction he was expecting, but it doesn’t matter, because Iruka is out of his head and more relaxed now; and that was exactly what he was trying to achieve
And he thinks he’s talking to Naruto instead of Kakashi XD
