Work Text:
Kakashi was not permitted many childhood affordances.
The belief in forever, ignorance of death, a life sheltered from violence, all escaped his world too young.
But one thing didn't die in all of Kakashi’s years of elite shinobi training.
Believing in people’s promises.
Kakashi believed Gai every time he said he would one day surpass him. He believed Gai every time the odds seem stacked against them and he said he wouldn’t be defeated so easily.
And he believed Gai the first time he said he would never leave his side.
It was the moment Kakashi started thinking of Gai as his.
He didn’t realize at first, not even the mild jealousy over the boys and girls that took notice of Gai was enough to tip him off. It wasn't enough knowing that when Gai got too drunk it would be Kakashi’s responsibility to take him home. It wasn’t until the first time he daydreamed what retirement might look like and realized it looked a lot like a small house covered in shade, a pack of dogs in a yard and both of their clothes in wooden dressers and closets that he knew.
~~~
Kakashi's heart had broken many times in his life, each break fatal for someone other than himself. But when he saw Gai’s body, charred on the grounds of war it was the first time he thought he might not survive the sheer ache of it.
~~~
Gai woke up in the hospital, beautiful and alive and Kakashi dropped his book at the stirring of thin sheets.
Kakashi made sure he wasn’t in any pain before he let himself touch, a hand on Gai’s hip, the other on his neck as he pressed a kiss to his dry lips.
When they parted he watched Gai’s eyes flutter open and his open mouth fall into a soft smile.
“Why have we never kissed before Rival?” Gai asked.
Kakashi laughed and kissed him again. There was never any rush.
They had always been for each other.