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Vibrant lights hang over their heads, keeping the room bright as he settles into his spot directly across the table from Kakashi. Between them was a feast, perfectly laid out so that they could reach whatever they wanted. With all sorts of foods that Gai loved sitting there in front of him excitement coursed through his veins.
After a long day of exploring the village, soaking in the sauna, playing festival games and just enjoying their vacation, the two of them were understandably excited to dig into some good food.
Yakitori, Sashimi, Kashipan, Miso soup, Tempura. Those were only a few of the options that they had to choose from, and Gai knew without a doubt that he would be a happy, fully man by the end of their dinner. Especially because Kakashi wouldn’t touch the tempura no matter how tantalizing it looked.
“It looks like you have gone all out on dinner tonight, Rival,” he beamed, lifting his eyes from the table so that he could focus on Kakashi. “I think there’s enough food here to feed-”
His sentence comes to an abrupt stop when he sees the look on Kakashi’s face. A soft gaze in his eyes, and most importantly the smile on his face. A smile that Gai could see clear of day since the mask that usually covered his husband’s lower face had been shover down.
A smile so full of warmth and endearment that Gai is certain he has never seen on the other man’s face before. Not even on their wedding day. The only word that Gai could think of to describe such a smile was ‘incredible’. Gai simply couldn’t drag his eyes away from it, no matter how hard he tried. His stomach tied itself into knots just looking at it, as if he was sixteen all over again.
Forty-three years. That is how long he had known the man sitting across the table from him. Through good times and bad, they had stood at each other’s side. At funerals, celebrations, competitions, and even wars. No matter what they were always by each other’s side. Protecting and supporting each other every step of the way.
In all of those years, Kakashi’s smile had changed more than anything else.
As kids, it was a rare thing to see. Gai hadn’t known how to tell when his friend was smiling with him back then, but once in a while, he was lucky enough to catch a glimpse. The curve of those eyes became an unmistakable sign for his friend’s enjoyment and something that Gai desperately sought to see again. It wasn’t the grandest smile or the prettiest. But it was Kakashi’s, and for Gai just seeing his friend smile was enough to leave him feeling warm and happy.
When they were teenagers, that smile was nowhere to be seen. The only expression Gai ever saw in his friend’s eyes was sorrow. A deep pain that never left the man’s heart. Even when his voice was full of laughter and cheer his eyes never changed. Back then, Gai had thought he would never see Kakashi’s smile again. That it had been a gift of childhood stolen away from him for the rest of his life. A gift he hadn’t cherished nearly enough and missed all too much now that it was gone.
As they got older, Kakashi’s smile slowly returned. Never with the same brightness as before, but it was there. Tucked deep behind his eyes in those rare moments of quiet. When the two of them could just sit there and enjoy each other’s company. When, for just a few moments, the world wasn’t falling apart around them. Gai hadn’t made the same mistake twice. Every moment he got to see Kakashi’s smile was one to cherish. If the last thing he got to see in his life was those eyes closing into that beautiful smile that only made sense on Kakashi’s face, he would have died a happy man.
His only regret during the war was that Kakashi’s smile wouldn’t have been the last thing he saw if he had died to the eighth gate as he was supposed to. That that sad, broken expression would have been the last memory he had with Kakashi. The way he had hurt him so deeply by making the choice to become another lose.
If there was anything Gai was grateful for, it was Naruto’s interference in his death. Not because he wasn’t ready to go. The moment he had decided to open the eighth gate he had given himself to death. Prepared himself for the cold darkness that would envelop him while his body burned away to ash.
He was thankful for Naruto’s interference because he got another chance to see that smile he adored so much when he finally opened his eyes again. His last view of Kakashi wouldn’t have to be the one where he broke his heart, and for that, he was beyond thankful.
“You’re distracted,” removing himself from his thoughts, he returned to the present moment and that stunning smile that had sent him spiralling so deep into the past. A smile that had only grown deeper with affection during the time he was lost in his own thoughts. “It’s not like you to get distracted. Especially when there’s food in front of us.”
Sparing a look down towards the food that had looked so mouth-watering just a few seconds ago, Gai found it just wasn’t as interesting anymore. Not when there was something so much more beautiful staring at him from the other side of the table.
So, with a disinterested grunt, he returned his gaze to Kakashi’s face. Specifically, to that smile which only seemed to grow wider. “I can’t help it,” he admitted a smile of his own stretching across his lips. “Who could eat when they have someone so handsome to look at?”
Kakashi’s smile gave way to a confused squint of his eyes and then warped once again into a look of pure amusement. Laughter rang through the air, a delightful sound in Gai’s ears, and that smile returned to Kakashi’s face. This time it was even bigger, and with so much more life than Gai had ever seen before.
Perhaps it was because they were on vacation. With no more worries weighing down on Kakashi he was finally able to relax properly for the first time since...well, since as long as Gai had known him really. They were free from responsibilities and worries and it showed in Kakashi’s smile.
He only wished they never had to go back.
That the two of them could enjoy the rest of their lives together on an endless vacation. Exploring the world for as long as they wanted and only returning home to see their friends. The people they had come to cherish over the years.
“I love you.” the words came naturally to him. Something he had been saying to Kakashi for years now, and which he would continue to say until the day he died. His heart belonged to Kakashi, there was no doubt in his mind about that and he would make sure Kakashi always knew it.
“You do?” His smile softened just a little. A fond look in his eyes. “More than waking me up at five am for an early morning workout?”
Laughter filled the air once again, but this time it was Gai creating the sound. His laughter rang through the air, causing Kakashi’s smile to grow even more. “You should know better than to ask such a thing, Rival,” he chuckled, wiping away a tear from his eye. “I love nothing more than seeing your sleepy eyes glaring at me from under the blanket at five in the morning. I wouldn’t give such a view up for the world.”
“Mmm, of course, you do,” plucking a piece of sashimi off of the plate in front of him, Kakashi held it out in front of him. An offering to Gai that the Taijutsu master could not pass up. Snatching it up, he plopped it into his mouth with a triumphant smile. “Perhaps I’ll just have to keep you up late tonight. Make sure you’re too tired to wake me up early.”
Gai welcomed the challenge. No matter how late he went to bed, his body would wake him up at the same time as it had since he was a little kid. Not even vacation could stop him from rising early in the morning, if only because it granted him the opportunity to watch Kakashi sleep by his side.
A sight he simply could not miss, no matter how much Kakashi wished he would stay in bed for even a few minutes longer.
Swallowing the sashimi, he beamed back at his rival. “If you would like to attempt such a foolish thing, I will not stop you,” reaching for a piece of tempura, he chuckled when Kakashi scrunched up his face. “Perhaps a late-night game of ping pong to keep me awake, or a race around this cozy little village we’re visiting.”
What a sight that would be. The people of Konoha had gotten used to Kakashi and Gai’s challenges over the year, no longer reacting when they saw them partaking in a race or seeing who could do handstands on pillars longer. Now they were in a new place, with new faces.
He wondered what the villagers here would say if they saw him zipping around their small streets in his wheelchair with Kakashi running at his side. Surely they would have stories to tell in the morning.
“I was thinking other things,” focusing his attention back on Kakashi, he blinked. A little unsure about what his husband meant. “Things that would require a bed.”
Oh.
“That is certainly...one way,” he gulped, images of all the possible things Kakashi could mean suddenly assaulting his mind. “Though, I do think a competition is due.”
“Of course you do.” with laughter in his throat, Kakashi plucked another piece of sashimi off of the plate and popped it into his mouth with a triumphant smile. No doubt he had plans for what he would do to Gai after they had finished whatever competition he came up with, and Gai would be lying if he said he wasn’t excited.
That didn’t mean he would go easy on Kakashi either, though. The two of them hadn’t had a race since they were thirty-one, and he was determined to rectify that this evening.
After a nice meal, of course.