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Gai was going to ask Kakashi for a date. This was a decision he had made just a few hours ago after some time of careful consideration. See, his rival and him had shared a couple of… intimate moments during the last couple of months. Not much, mind you, just two kisses and —in the heat of the moment— some wandering hands over the other’s body. Needless to say, Gai had not allowed it to go any further —even if some parts of his anatomy wanted to argue against it—, and shortly after the Hatake had run away.
Which was the same that has happened after each and every time they got close.
Of course, he was a patient man and could understand the hesitation of his friend, but ignoring his own feelings was beginning to be too hard. So, even if he knew the chances of success were rather low, he was going to ask Kakashi for a date.
“Yosh! Now I just have to think about the perfect moment to do it!” he exclaimed in the silence of his own home.
The house his father had left for him was far away from the main part of the village, which allowed him to be as loud as he wanted without annoying any neighbors, something his team had joked about becoming a problem once he moved into the chunnin building. That would have to wait a bit, though, since he wanted to invite Kakashi to a nice place and that implied using part of his savings. But it was totally fine! His rival deserved only the best, after all.
“You’re thinking too much about it, Gai” Genma sighed the next day while they trained together. “That’s my honest opinion.”
While he spoke tiredly, his teammate jumped backwards to avoid his hits, senbon moving in between his lips. Gai followed carefully each movement, knowing that in any moment the weapon could be thrown in his direction.
“But I’m not!” he complained, attempting a round kick on him. “A first date must be perfect!”
“According to whom? I know more horrible first dates than good ones” Genma huffed. “You should ask Asuma about it.”
“B-But… Kurenai always speaks fondly of their first date!”
“Yeah, because with time the embarrassment transforms into a funny memory” his friend chuckled. “Seriously, Gai, just invite him to dinner and see how it goes from there.”
“And what about...?”
“No flowers, no poems” Genma cut him. “I can’t believe I have to tell you this, Gai. Are you sure you know the Hatake well enough to even like him?”
“Of course I do! We’re eternal rivals!”
Even if they were talking, their hits didn’t stop and Gai internally celebrated when his kick got Genma in the gut with enough strength to send him to the floor.
“I win!”
“Yeah, yeah…” his teammate coughed. “It would be strange if you didn’t, this being a taijutsu match and all.”
“I’m sure that with enough training you could reach my level at hand-to-hand combat, my friend!”
“Sure…” Genma rolled his eyes accepting the hand Gai was offering to lift him up. “Anyways, follow my advice. Don’t go too big on the Hatake or he will run away, just like when you two…”
“SHH!” his hand slapped against his friend’s mouth in a quick movement. “Didn’t I tell you that was a secret? Kakashi probably doesn’t want anybody to know!”
That comment made Genma frown and angrily remove his hand away.
“Honestly, Gai, if he doesn’t want for it to be public, then you shouldn’t bother” the other boy huffed.
“But keeping a relationship secret is normal! Especially while tensions in between villages are still high.”
A hand came to rest on his shoulder, and when his eyes met Genma’s, he saw on them a determination that was normally reserved for real battles.
“We both know that’s not what you meant” he said. “Don’t settle for anyone who is ashamed and not proud of being with you, Gai. You know better than that.”
He had to look away after a few seconds, nodding silently. He was not ashamed of himself —he had come very far as a shinobi!—, but he was well aware of what people in the village still said about him. Sometimes it was difficult to keep believing in himself when his father was not there anymore to push him forwards.
A new clap on his shoulder brought him back to reality.
“Well, I have to go now” Genma said. “But listen to my advices and, if he says ‘yes’ to the date, remind him that I’ll chase him down if he doesn’t fulfill your expectations.”
“Genma!” he exclaimed, looking back at him in surprise. “You should not make such a threat against a comrade!”
“He’s just a fellow shinobi, you’re my teammate and brother in arms” his friend shrugged, walking away. “See you!”
He disappeared before Gai could complain anymore, so instead he was left there in the middle of the training ground, alone with his thoughts.
Finding Kakashi was easy enough, as Gai seemed to have a sixth sense to detect where his rival was most times. The Hatake walked alone, as usual, dressed in his shinobi clothes and with a serious expression on his face, but by his manner of walking it didn’t seem as if he was in a hurry to get somewhere. Which was perfect for the taijutsu master.
“Rival!” he called. “Wait up!”
In the past, Kakashi would have done just the opposite, disappearing in front of him and forcing Gai into a chase. Lately, however, his friend had just started to stop dead when he called his name.
“Hi, Gai” the Hatake said with a tired tone. “I’m sorry, but I’m not in the mood for one of your challenges.”
“Oh, that’s fine, rival!” he beamed with a smile. “I actually wanted to talk, that’s all.”
“To… talk?” Kakashi’s right eyebrow had lifted, looking at him with a mix of confuse and amusement. “That would be a first.”
“Don’t try to act so cool and aloof, rival, I’m sure we have talked as normal civilians before!”
The inquisitive eyebrow maintained its position.
“Well, maybe not, but that’s because challenges are way more interesting!” he complained, huffing. “Anyways, this is important. Perhaps you would like to go somewhere, um… more private?”
Up until now, they had been standing to the side of one of Konoha’s busiest streets, which made difficult for them to have a serious conversation without an eavesdropper. His suggestion seemed to have an effect on his friend, as Kakashi’s manner changed and he turned more serious, nodding quietly.
He jumped away first, the Hatake following easily behind until they were in a small park several streets away. It didn’t have a playground, but instead a couple of big trees that blocked the view from the buildings around them and offered some shadow. The place was empty, which also ensured the privacy Gai assumed his friend would like.
“So? What is that you wanted to talk about?”
He swallowed his nerves away. A Maito never backed down!
“It’s a question, actually” the taijutsu master clarified. “I… I wanted to know if you would like to go on a date. With me.”
In front of him, Kakashi just blinked, as if waiting for something else to come out from his mouth. After a couple of seconds, he seemed to realized that was about it.
“All this secrecy… To ask me on a date?” the Hatake questioned, shifting the weight on his legs.
“Well, I thought you’d appreciate the privacy, rival!” he exclaimed, noticing just after that his tone was too high. “Besides, I didn’t want to invite you on a first date in the middle of a busy street.”
“Wait, what do you mean ‘first’?” Kakashi huffed. “Have you forgotten how to count, Gai?”
He was pretty sure the answer to that question was ‘no’, but then again the expression on his friend’s face told him it may be ‘yes’.
“Uh… I don’t think so?” he babbled, blinking a couple of times. Then, he let out a stressed laugh. “I mean, I would have realized if I had been in a date with you before, rival!”
“Apparently, you wouldn’t” the Hatake pointed out with a sigh, although his manner had suddenly shifted. He looked somehow… nervous. “I mean… What about last week’s dinner at BBQ? And before that, in Ichiraku? I thought that had been our first date.”
“I… Uh… What?!” Gai mumbled, trying to sort out his thoughts. “But, that… I thought you invited me to dinner because you owed me from previous challenges!”
“Since when do I fulfill that part of any challenge?” his rival huffed, half-annoyed and half-worried.
Kakashi did have a point there; anytime he would lose a challenge in which he had to pay the food after, he would never follow through.
“Are you…” the Hatake hesitated just a moment, changing his manner for one just slightly more aloof. “Does that mean you’re also not counting the kisses we shared?”
Just the mention of those made Gai blushed furiously. He had never imagined his friend would be the one bringing them up.
“I do!” he exclaimed. “Of course I do, rival! But I just thought… Well, you ran away after each time!”
The other young shinobi looked at him as if he was stupid. Which he was starting to feel as, at that point.
“Gai, after the first kiss we had to return to the village to give a report, and you were called out to another mission” he deadpanned. “By the time you came back, it seemed like nothing had changed and you didn’t want to know anything about it. I just guessed you felt the same way as I do a couple of weeks ago, when you kissed me again, and just after an ANBU came looking for me. It’s not like I didn’t want to acknowledge it.”
Gai blinked. Once.
Twice.
I just guessed you felt the same way…
He opened his mouth. Then closed it again.
“Besides, I don’t know what you think of me, but I don’t go around putting my hands under the shirt of each person I see…” the Hatake half-joked.
The blush came back. The amount of blood in Gai’s face was not making it easy for him to think clearly. At the moment, all his brain cells seemed to be fixated in bringing him back the memory and feeling of his rival’s hands slipping under his shirt.
It had happened just two days ago, when Kakashi had oddly —although apparently it was not odd anymore, as that has probably been a date as well—, accepted his invitation to spend the afternoon together. Some training after and the two of them lying side by side on the training ground, the Hatake had turned around to lay closer to him and touched him softly. Another team had appeared a couple of seconds after, so the interaction had stopped abruptly and each one had gone their way for a very well-deserved shower.
“I do!” he babbled a moment after, which only brought a confused expression to his rival’s face. “I mean, I do feel the same way!”
“Oh” the Hatake said, for once speechless and… was that a blush coming up from underneath his mask? “That’s… Good. Yeah.”
“And I think highly of you, rival! Never doubt it again!” Gai continued, uncapable of stopping himself. “I just wasn’t sure if you did, or you would like to be in public with me, or if you…”
“Wait, what?” his friend interrupted him. “Why would I have a problem with being together in public?”
Taken aback, the taijutsu master had to swallow his own saliva and brush the back of his neck before finding the right words. Or the closest thing to that.
“I-I mean… You’re an elite shinobi, Kakashi” he tried to explain. “And I’m… well, just another jounin that…”
“Stop right there, Gai” the Hatake intervened once again. “You’re not ‘just another jounin’, you should know that already. Surely the Hokage knows it, and whoever goes against his words is just stupid. If anything, you should be the one worrying about going out in dates with a ‘friend-killer.”
“Rival!” the taijutsu master growled. “I told you to never use those words to refer to yourself again! You are an amazing shinobi and friend, your team was lucky to have you and—”
If anybody would have told Gai the events that just took place would happen, he would have laughed loudly and then complained about joking with things like that.
His honest and tearful discourse was interrupted by a mouth colliding with his. And this time he could feel the lips of Kakashi against his own. Gai’s eyes opened widely as he was kissed by his eternal rival, mask folded around the Hatake’s neck. His body, however, seemed to be ready enough to react without any instruction from his brain, as a second after his eyes closed and he pushed slightly forwards. This was his third kiss, so he knew it would not be perfect, but as his lips moved timidly against Kakashi’s mouth, a warm feeling filled him deep inside.
The other two times his rival and him had kissed, it had been electrical. Almost a lustful reaction in a moment of tension. This time felt different. There was no electricity around them, but something softer.
He decided this was his favorite kiss so far.
“Let’s make something clear” the Hatake said against his lips when they separated. “I do like you, and we have been in four dates so far, understood?”
The taijutsu master just nodded, the temptation to lean in again to share another kiss almost too strong to contain.
“Good.”
As fast as Kakashi had taken his mask down, it was up again and covering his face from the world. Gai had seen it in a couple of occasions, but never had the opportunity to properly appreciate it. He hoped one day he could.
“Being that way, rival” he said, coughing to regain some self-control. “Would you let me invite you to a fifth date?”
“Only if you pay” his friend said. “You owe me, after all the headache you just gave me.”
Gai laughed loudly.
“Of course, rival!”
There were more things he wanted to talk about. Especially now that it seemed like Kakashi did not have a problem with talking about their relationship. Assuming they were in one.
Huh.
Maybe that should be a question for later that day.
Was the mighty Hatake Kakashi his boyfriend now?