Gaming afternoon

"Thanks," grinned Minato. "You're good too. Rin's not half bad either."

"Heh." a weak grin. "... The three of us used to play it together." the grin weakened, but the smile that remained was fond rather than sad. "We were one heck of a team, I tell you."

"Ah." Now that he was (at last) fairly secure in his relationship, Minato was able to feel some slight interest in Kushina's dead ex-boyfriend. "He sounds like a pretty cool guy. Obito."

He nodded. "He was. It's him you see there," he pointed to a picture on the wall, that he'd finally put up, now it no longe rhurt to think about Obito. It was actually from Kushina's birthday those few months before the accident, with both her, Rin, Obito and Kakashi with their arms around one another and looking like they had one hell of a time, Obito a little leant into Kushina. Of course, as it was taken back then, Kakashi's eyes were both grey and his face unmarred. And it was before the fauxhawk, too, wild grey hair jutting in all directions, just like Obito's black hair did.

"...ah."
Now, considerably less secure in relationship.
She looked.. happy. Did she look that happy with him?
Maybe she liked black-haired guys better. Like those Korean guys in her posters.

As if he could read Minato's mind; "... I'm glad you brought that look back on her face."

"...oh," said Minato for the third time. "I.. It looks like she - like they were happy."

He nodded. "They were. She never looked like that when... When we tried. But with Obito, and you.. "

"...oh."
(He felt like he was repeating himself. Which he was. But.. Yeah. If that guy had still been alive, him and Kushina would probably have been very happy together.)

"But if I were to mention the biggest difference between you two, well... Obito was a huge goof-off. Seriously, not even ten minutes passed without one of us laughing because of him."

"Right.." and he was a total stick in the mud compared to that. Wonderful. Not to mention certain.. activities... which the girlfriend would like, and which Minato would not.

"I really didn't like him at first, when I got into the family." he sighed. "Only the last three years did I like him. I didn't the first five. Heck, I didn't even like Rin or my step parents the first five years."

That was probably mutual, thought Minato, whose thoughts had turned a little gloomy. "Hn."

"Then again, I guess I wasn't that likable. I was... Very unsociable, to say the least..." He'd just been sitting in a corner and reading, or training outside or at the dojo. He barely spoke back then. He simply hadn't trusted anyone at all. "... Kushina kinda changed that after we met. She was so determined to 'bring me out of my shell', as she said." he chuckled, just a little.

"I.. guess that kinda worked," Minato said, though rather coldly, since his thoughts were still distant.

"It did..." he hesitated a little, but then... "Something wrong?"

"Ah, it's nothing," for a second, Minato thought about misleading Kakashi with the Smile (tm) once again; his face was on its way there, but then it fell. "S' just.. ya know, she seems pretty happy with that guy," he mumbled.

"She's just as happy with you as she was with him. At least that's what it looks like to me."

"Mmh," mumbled Minato. He wasn't convinced, and it showed.

He sighed. "If you're that concerned, try loosing up a little. If anything about you ever gets to bother her, I think it's the lack of... Well, goofiness, impulsiveness, that kind of thing."

Minato sighed again. "It seems like we had this conversation before. I'm not like that. I.. I can't really be anything except me. She'd.. probably be better off with that dead guy," he muttered sullenly.

"It can't hurt to try." he shrugged. "Seriously, just don't over-think things, like I know you tend to. That alone will do most of it."

"No. It's not gonna work. It's not me. I'm not gonna pretend I'm somebody else," Minato said determinedly.

He sighed. "Do as you please, then." he shrugged. "Just trying to help you."

"I'm not saying it pleases me," Minato grumbled. "I just don't think that other thing's gonna work. I'm not a good actor and I don't believe in that.. that whole.. pretending thing."