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It’s after crashing onto his back and having the wind knocked out of him that Kakashi really begins to question his life choices. Particularly the latest of signing up for an advanced yoga class at his local recreation center.
He can’t even hold his balance for ten seconds of the easiest warrior pose, yet here he is, attempting headstands like he expects a different outcome.
Twice a week for the past month now, he’s been twisting and tumbling, bending himself into shapes no human body was ever meant to bend into and nearly knocking himself out in the process. Which means he’s quite familiar with the ceiling in this room. There’s a cat-shaped water stain right above him and he traces its lopsided ears with his eyes as he contemplates exactly how he got here.
He’s a masochist, isn’t he? But not the fun kind. Why else would this be his torture of choice?
A gentle hand on his chest interrupts his thoughts. The gorgeous doe-eyed instructor appears in his line of sight, eyebrows pinched together with concern.
“Kakashi? Are you alright?”
Oh, yeah. That’s why.
He can’t exactly speak at the moment, given that his lungs have shriveled up into raisins with the lack of air, but he manages to nod with the unshaken confidence of a four-year-old who meant to trip over his shoelaces.
Tenzo, bless his heart, does not question him further as he helps him sit up, just rubs his back soothingly and waits for him to take a breath. His lungs sure are taking their sweet time to expand and he might be turning a little blue. When he finally does take a gulp of air, he sounds a lot like a rubber chicken.
His audience, consisting of 15 or so female yogis with the occasional dude sprinkled in, bursts into laughter.
Tenzo is not amused.
“Alright, that's enough,” he snaps at them, and they immediately shut up. It’s all fun and games until they piss off their normally carefree instructor, and they know it.
Tenzo turns back to him, offering a small smile as he squeezes his shoulder. “You sure you’re okay? How about you take a water break then join us again for cool-down, hm?”
Kakashi looks away with a curt nod, face burning almost as bad as his lungs. Tenzo goes back to his spot in front of the class and continues the session.
Kakashi doesn’t do so great during cool-down, either. Except for the corpse pose. He’s got that one down. But it's simply too hard to concentrate on what his body is doing when he's ogling Tenzo's. Every move the instructor makes shows off every sculpted muscle under his simple gray tank. Kakashi is almost grateful he can't see the guy's legs. Yoga is already dangerous enough for him without the distraction of what he can only imagine to be equally muscular thighs under those black harem pants.
After class, Kakashi sullenly gathers his things while Tenzo chats with some of his students. Kakashi took this class in the hopes of getting a chance to talk to the guy but he’s just so bad at initiating conversation that every time an opportunity does present itself, he runs the other way. He’ll kick himself for being such a coward as soon as he climbs in his truck.
This time, though, and much to his surprise, Tenzo catches him just before he leaves.
“Hey, so I noticed you’re still having some trouble with those downward dogs,” he says.
Far too generous an assessment. Kakashi has trouble with everything.
But Tenzo continues. “Your hamstrings are still really tight. Want some help stretching them out before you go? I’ll loosen you up in five minutes, tops.”
Kakashi bites back a grin. Interesting choice of words there, Tenzo.
He also has to suppress the urge to break into a victory dance at the thought of having this perfectly-built specimen holding him down for a whole five minutes. But outwardly, he only shrugs.
“Yeah, okay.”
“Great! I’ll be right with you,” Tenzo says with a smile before turning back to address the petite blonde who’s been waiting to talk to him.
Kakashi sits on his mat and waits, studying their interaction. Clearly, he’s not the only one who’s joined this excruciating class with an ulterior motive. For at least seven minutes (yes , he’s counting), Blondie flirts her heart out with the classic “casually touching your arm” maneuver and a hefty side of the “laughing too hard at something you said” technique.
All of her attempts seem to go over Tenzo’s head, however, and he offers simple answers to all of her questions. When it’s clear that she can’t come up with anything else to stay back a while longer, he waves her off with the same friendly smile he offers everyone else. She visibly deflates as she walks out the door. Kakashi almost feels sorry for her.
The guy is either very oblivious or very gay. Please let it be gay.
Tenzo turns his attention back to him. “Right! Sorry about that, I know I said five minutes. Do you need to go?”
Kakashi shakes his head. “No, it’s fine.”
“Alright. On your back, then. Legs straight.”
He obeys and goes back to his impeccable corpse pose. As if his heart weren’t stuttering enough already, Tenzo smiles when he kneels beside him and takes his leg up in the air. He’s glad he decided to wear the spandex-lined shorts today or he’d be giving his instructor quite the show right now.
Tenzo lets Kakashi’s calf rest on his shoulder and knits his fingers over his knee before pressing down on it. “Try to keep your knee straight the whole time. Do you feel a stretch here?”
Mm. Tenzo's hands are so big. “Yeah.”
“Okay," Tenzo grins, "let’s hold that for thirty seconds then I’ll have you push against me as hard as you can for five.”
Kakashi does as he’s told and when he relaxes again, Tenzo pushes his leg back a few more inches. Holy shit. It didn't even hurt.
“Doing okay?” Tenzo asks, his cheek briefly brushing against the side of his leg.
Kakashi gulps. “Mm-hm.”
“Good. Let’s hold it here then we’ll do that a few more times. I'll keep pushing farther each time, okay?”
Tenzo does exactly that, and Kakashi is impressed by how much range he gains in less than three minutes. They switch to the other leg.
“Same thing,” Tenzo begins, “but I can already feel you’re way tighter on this side. And—oh, hold on, gotta keep your hips down,” he chuckles and switches positions so that his body is no longer off to the side but between Kakashi’s legs. His hand pushes down on Kakashi’s opposite thigh, which had started to come up off the floor. Kakashi winces as the stretch behind his leg intensifies. A tiny squeak escapes his throat.
Tenzo chuckles, backing off a little. “Don’t worry, I won’t go too deep.”
Maybe I want you to go deep, he thinks. Out loud. Shit!
He smacks a hand over his stupid, stupid mouth.
Tenzo blinks incredulously down at him. “Oh?” His tone is innocent enough, but the sudden change in his eyes is far from it. “How’s this, then?”
He leans more of his body on him and Kakashi’s eyes go wide. Not only because Tenzo’s face is inching closer to his, but because Tenzo’s body is so hot and so incredibly heavy. His muscles scream that they’re very, very close to snapping and he wonders if it’s possible to shriek in a manly way.
“Okay-okay-please-don’t-hurt-me!” he chokes, and Tenzo eases off with a slow-growing smirk on his face.
“Know your limits, Kakashi.”
And the way Tenzo breathes his name sends a wave of heat over him. He wants to hear it that same way again, maybe in his ear this time, maybe with less clothing between them and oooh fuck, this is not a good time to be getting a hard-on!
It's Tenzo's turn to go wide-eyed as his cheeks gain color. His flustered look only makes things worse for the growing situation in Kakashi’s pants and he covers his eyes with both hands this time, cursing his excellent circulation.
There’s no way he can ever come back here.
Seconds feel like hours in the silence that follows and… that’s odd. Tenzo hasn’t moved.
Kakashi ventures a peek through his fingers and confirms that Tenzo is, in fact, right where he left him. He lets his hands drop from his face as he watches the instructor bite his lip in a way that perhaps is not meant to be seductive, but sure makes his heart skip a beat.
Kakashi figures it must do something to his face because Tenzo’s wide eyes soften a little and his mouth begins to form words. Kakashi focuses on his lips but no sound is coming out. There’s only a high-pitched ringing which he realizes is most likely coming from inside his head. Tenzo’s mouth keeps moving in the same pattern and—woah, hold on, when did Tenzo get between his legs??
He can’t remember when Tenzo's big, warm hands got on his face, either.
“Kakashi, it’s okay… breathe,” he hears, though its distant and highly distorted thanks to the mounting pressure in his head. Has he been holding his breath this whole time? Jeez.
He decides to listen to the cute instructor one more time and holy shit, not only is air the best invention in the universe and the pressure relief in his head freaking fantastic but the relieved smile on Tenzo’s face may just be the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.
“Hey,” Tenzo whispers, worried eyes searching his.
“Hey,” he responds just as softly, catching his breath. A thumb glides over his cheekbone and he loses himself in those kind eyes. There’s nothing else but the endless depth drawing him in and he is gone. Absolutely... gone ...
“Hey, Tenzo! I forgot to—” Blondie’s loud voice breaks off as soon as she walks in, eyebrows raising theatrically. Kakashi nearly jumps out of his skin, flinging himself as far away from Tenzo as he can and burying his face in his knees.
“Oh, I— oh —sorry, I—um, I can come back later,” she stammers.
Tenzo sounds every bit as composed as Kakashi is not. “How can I help you, Ino?”
Realizing it’s the perfect time to make his escape, Kakashi gathers his things and slips out the door while the pair discuss the next week’s schedule. He holds his gym bag in front of himself to keep what little dignity he has left as he exits the building.
He doesn’t run to his truck, but certainly wishes he had when he hears Tenzo’s voice behind him.
“Hey, Kakashi! Wait! You forgot something!”
Kakashi grimaces and reluctantly drops his hand from the door handle. He’d been so close to freedom and never having to deal with any of what just happened. Of course he’d leave something behind when trying to make a clean getaway.
What is dignity, anyway?
The instructor's swift steps get closer and Kakashi braces himself with a deep breath before turning to face him. It rushes out all at once when Tenzo pushes him against the truck to kiss him.
The amount of passion his mellow yoga instructor packs into the kiss catches him completely off guard, but he's not complaining. It doesn't even matter that his head gets a little banged up because Tenzo's hands are traveling over him, in his hair and on his neck. Tenzo's lips taste of spearmint and sweat, and his tongue. Good Lord, his tongue.
Kakashi drops his gym bag and pulls him closer, kissing him back just as fiercely. He doesn't care that he’s stabbing Tenzo's thigh again because he can feel something pretty solid pressing against him, too. He's wanted this from the moment he first laid eyes on him across the basketball court, while playing one-on-one with Gai. The way Tenzo moved was mesmerizing, even as he horsed around with his friends, laughing and drenched in sweat.
Gai had then informed him that the mesmerizing creature was a yoga instructor in that same building and the rest was history.
The hand behind his head comes around to his cheek and Tenzo pulls away slowly, warm eyes melting Kakashi like a popsicle.
“Hey,” the instructor smiles.
“Hey,” Kakashi grins back.
“Couldn’t let you leave without that.”
He chuckles. “I’m, uh—glad I didn’t.”
A whistle from a passing car reminds them that they are in a very public parking lot and Tenzo releases him, taking a step back. Kakashi wants to pull him back and feel his muscles move under his hands again. But he only clears his throat instead.
“So—um,” Tenzo begins, scratching the back of his neck and looking everywhere else but at him. “I’ll—uh—see you next week in class?”
“No.”
There’s alarm in Tenzo's eyes as they focus back on him. “No? I—I’m sorry if I—”
“I’ll see you tonight. For drinks.”
“Oh!” Relief spreads over Tenzo’s face and he really needs to stop smiling like that because it is bad for Kakashi’s heart. “That sounds—yeah, great I’d—I’d like that.”
“Good. You have my number.”
“I do?”
Kakashi grins. “With my information. When I registered for class?”
“Oh! Right!” Tenzo’s eyes nearly disappear when he chuckles nervously and Kakashi adds that little detail to the list of things he finds adorable about this man. “I'll—um—see you tonight, then. First round’s on you,” Tenzo winks, putting his hand out like they’ve just concluded a business transaction.
“Of course,” Kakashi shakes on it and because he really can’t help himself, leans in to whisper in his ear. “It’s my turn to loosen you up.”