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It was less than a second, maybe half a second, but it changed EVERYTHING .
Gai’s life was the same day in and day out.
He was a single man living a single life.
He wakes up alone, eats alone, walks to the café up the block alone, walks to work alone, works alone, goes home alone, eats alone (again), before going to sleep alone. Rinse and repeat the next day.
His life was boring.
He didn’t have much going on. Occasionally Gai would switch it up by talking to Kakashi or Lee on the phone.
If he was feeling particularly crazy he would go to his father’s dojo and get a few workouts in. He hasn’t in a while, his endless amount of energy has waned.
He didn’t do these things very often. He did it just enough to assure his limited friends and sole family member that he was doing ok and not lonely or depressed. Gai was, but they didn’t need to know that.
One day Gai decided to break out of his usual routine. He decided to go to a new café that opened up near him to get his coffee instead of his usual place. Red Eye Café it was called. Weird name but the food smelled amazing so Gai decided to risk it.
As he was walking toward the café he noticed a beautiful tall, long haired, mean looking man in a red and black hoodie with a strange logo on it.
Why he was in a hoodie in the middle of summer Gai couldn’t guess or reason with. He had no right to judge as his go to outfit was a green jumpsuit that showed off all his best (worst) assets. Gai knew logically he shouldn’t be ashamed of his physique but he was. Low self esteem was a bitch.
As Gai drew nearer to him he could tell that the man’s eyes were a beautiful red color and that he was talking (very loudly, very angrily) on his phone.
The man was waiting at a crosswalk.
The walking signal turned green before Gai could get to him, which he felt was a shame. For the first time ever Gai felt the want, the need, to talk to another human being that wasn’t in his closed off circle of people. It was strange and slightly exhilarating if Gai was being honest with himself.
Gai didn’t have a type but if he did he knew that man would be it.
Red Eyes as Gai started to call him at that moment, started to walk across the road not paying any attention to his surroundings, his hand not holding the phone flying around as he heatedly argued with the other person.
He was in the middle of the street when Gai noticed a black sports car racing towards Red Eyes well above the speed limit.
Red Eyes wasn’t paying attention nor was the driver in the car. So lost in their own world, Red Eyes didn’t speed up and Idiot Driver didn’t slow down.
Gai only had a moment to think, to make a decision. That decision was easy.
“HEY WATCH OUT!”
With all his might, Gai ran and jumped, pushing Red Eyes out of the way of the car and into the safety of the other side of the road.
Gai thinks he hears “oh god” but everything hurts too bad to focus so he can’t be sure. He hopes the other man is ok.
A shadow… no… a face appears over his. He vaguely hears screaming but he can’t make out the words. Red Eyes is even more beautiful up close. Gai smiles and tries to tell the other man so, but red liquid comes up instead coating his and the others face.
Red Eyes' panicked face morphs into shock.
Everything goes black.
It was less than a second, maybe half a second, but it changed EVERYTHING .