This coda continues with the evening after the main story ended.
This time not slowed by assisting a rather less than stable Gai, Kakashi slipped in Gai's apartment via the window rather than using the door. Gai was not in bed, resting, and his eye narrowed.
Akino poked his head through the doorway almost immediately. "He's not doing anything strenuous." he promised, and Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but nodded, following Akino as he backed out again.
Gai was in the kitchen, settling into a chair that Bull pushed up behind him, the kettle on the stove. The rest of the pack were all scattered around the kitchen. Bisuke pressed up against Gai's legs once he was seated. He still looked a bit pale, with high flushed spots over his cheekbones, and he was clearly tired, but. . .
"You look better." Kakashi observed, and Gai straightened. He was wearing a clean yukata, and he looked like he'd bathed as well. His hair was still damp.
"Kakashi!" Gai smiled at him, rising from the chair.
Kakashi sighed, but didn't say anything, only stepped forwards and let Gai catch hold of him, brushing a hand over Gai's hair and hugging him tightly in return. Gai still felt a little weak, and his breathing was thick, but much better than he had been even when Kakashi left him that morning.
"I am feeling better." Gai agreed, nodding. ". . .my students?" he asked, biting his lip.
Kakashi huffed a laugh, nuzzling Gai's cheek and brushing a kiss there through his mask before unwinding himself from Gai's embrace and stepping away to check on the tea pot Gai had set out. He pulled his mask down and spooned out the leaves for a full pot. "They did well today." he said, glancing over his shoulder at Gai. He was nearly trembling with anticipation, like Uuhei when awaiting the command to chase. "I will tell you all about it once you have your tea and you're somewhere comfortable again."
Gai relaxed a little, and Kakashi eyed him. "Did you think I would eat them?"
"No!" Gai frowned. "I have always known you could be a good sensei, Kakashi." he chided. "It is you who deny it."
Kakashi shuddered. "Brats." he said, wrinkling his nose. "No thank you, not for me."
"You should try actually taking on a team one of these times the Hokage asks you to." Gai said, with a slight smile, shaking his head.
"I do try them. I test them every time I am ordered to do so, and every single team has failed." Kakashi said, with a narrow-eyed look directed at the counter as he thought of the last team he had dealt with. He would be glad if the Sandaime stopped asking it of him - he wasn't cut out to be a jounin-sensei in any case, something he had known for years, and not one team had come close to passing his test. It only brought back bitter memories of his own team, all long-dead but him, every year.
"One day, you will meet the right students, and they will need you, Kakashi." Gai said, bracing his elbow on the table and propping his chin into his hand. "And they will pass your test."
"If you say so." Kakashi said as diplomatically as he could, because he rather doubted it. Honestly, it would probably be better if he never did lead a genin team - what did he know about teaching . . . baby ninja? He had been possessed of little enough patience for rookies in ANBU when he had been saddled with leading them on their first missions, and they were far more advanced. In theory.
"Come on, dear." Kakashi said almost absently, balancing the tea on a tray in one hand and rubbing Gai's shoulder with the other. Gai sighed and rose, leaning against Kakashi for a moment before he steadied. "Couch or futon?" Kakashi asked, pausing just out of the kitchen.
Gai hesitated, and Kakashi looked at him, waiting for him to decide. "Futon." he said reluctantly, and yawned. "I should probably lie down again."
"More rest will help you recover more quickly." Kakashi said gently, kissing Gai's cheek and shooing him on ahead. The ninken crowded around them in the small space, eeling carefully out from underfoot with a grace possessed by no normal dog.
"Perhaps." Gai said a bit sullenly.
"Definitely." Kakashi countered, putting the tray on the floor. "You feel better now, don't you?" he added, resting his hands on his hips.
Gai huffed, but he was smiling, and he nodded reluctantly. "I am not accustomed to . . . lying around, so. . ." he said, as though that was news, tugging at his sleeve. "I'm bored." he admitted.
Kakashi didn't know why he looked like he expected that to be a surprise. Gai was an incredibly active man who usually spent nearly every moment of his day working, training, running around the village. Pestering Kakashi, often. He might be capable of long stretches of waiting, or of relaxing quietly, but those were different situations.
Enforced idleness, backed by weakness, was no doubt wearing on him very fast.
"I imagine you are, darling." Kakashi said after a moment, shedding his flak jacket and gloves, as well as his sandals, then kneeling to pour tea for himself and Gai both. "I'll tell you all about how your ducklings did today, and then," he paused and tugged a book out of his pouch, waving it lightly back and forth, "I brought this. If you would like to try and rest, I'll read to you." he added before Gai could say anything.
Gai coughed. "Ah, Kakashi. . ." he said awkwardly.
Kakashi smirked. "Don't worry, you'll like this one." he said, amused. Gai would; it was the most melodramatic romance in Kakashi's collection, complete with utterly ridiculous heroics and a secondary hero who swore a nigh-impossible oath on his honour and travelled the world in search of his enemy.
Gai nodded assent, still looking a little wary, and Kakashi hummed. He'd see.
Kakashi passed one of the mugs to Gai, then moved to sit beside him, their shoulders brushing companionably. With them settled, the ninken followed by choosing comfortable spots for themselves around the room, some of them closer more pushily than others; Guruko settled by Kakashi's hip, Bisuke slid into Gai's lap, and Pakkun claimed one of the pillows that had fallen from the mountain Kakashi had built up for himself, sprawling in the centre of it.
"So, your students." Kakashi began, and Gai sat up a little straighter, eyes brightening. Gai really . . . adored being a jounin-sensei; Kakashi was glad he had taken on his ducklings, as busy as they kept him - Kakashi had been not unhappily accustomed to being the only one who placed demands on Gai's time outside of missions - and as much as Kakashi had been forced to get used to hearing about them.
"You'll be proud to hear that when I got to the training grounds they were already there, and they were going through their practises on their own." Kakashi said, and Gai grinned, fingers curling around his mug. "They miss you and they'll be happy when you return, by the way." he added.
Possibly they felt more so now than they had already when Kakashi found them that morning, he thought wryly. They tolerated Kakashi, he suspected, as a sort of mysterious connection that came along with Gai, but he didn't think they actually liked him very much.
Well, perhaps not Lee. Gai's little replica was so cheerful and so very earnest about everything - so very much like Gai, but not so implacable in the same way Gai had been at his age; too used to being kicked down with no one to tell him he could get up again, Kakashi guessed, as Gai's father had been sure to do. Kakashi himself had kicked Gai down frequently when they were children - or tried - but Gai had been too sure of himself to listen for long.
Kakashi gave Gai a thorough report on his ducklings - more thorough than any report he'd written on a mission in years, but really, as long as he was successful what did they need every detail for? He patiently answered every question Gai had about the day's training, and gave him an evaluation on their skills from another jounin's perspective.
Gai cried overdramatic tears three times, and only one of them provoked a choking, sneezing fit. He was doing much better, even if he was still sick and worn. And his voice was raspier again, after talking as much as he had to question Kakashi and expound on his students' progress since they had come to him.
He was yawning, though he struggled to stop, by the time he was satisfied - or at least, by the time Kakashi had told him well nigh every single detail of his day with the ducklings.
Kakashi took his empty mug and set it on the floor. "Want to try and sleep, or shall I read for a bit?" he asked, rubbing his knuckles up and down Gai's forearm.
"I truly do not think I can sleep any more." Gai said, with a pinched look. "Not now."
"As you like." Kakashi said with a shrug. Gai sighed. "Why don't you get comfortable, and give it a try?" he asked, holding up his book. Gai eyed it warily, and Kakashi grinned, amused.
"Very well." Gai said, nodding. "Thank you, Kakashi." he added scrupulously, though Kakashi was sure he didn't quite mean it as sincerely as Gai usually meant everything he said.
Kakashi wrinkled his nose, still grinning. He startled as Gai shifted and then lay down, settling his head in Kakashi's lap, propped up a bit against his stomach. He looked down at Gai and raised an eyebrow. He smiled brightly, and Kakashi ran his fingers through Gai's hair. "Comfortable?"
"Yes!" Gai confirmed, snuggling his head a little closer. Uuhei made a snickering noise that Kakashi graciously ignored - he was too clever to start that fight - as he opened the book. He held it open with one hand, and let the other rest on Gai's chest as he began to read.
As Kakashi had guessed he might be, Gai was quickly absorbed in the story, and he had to occasionally stroke calmingly along Gai's shoulder to remind him to relax during particularly fraught scenes.
All right, I didn't expect the brief foray into Kakashi's broody issues, but it is Kakashi. And Gai was right, really - Kakashi should listen to him more. (At least sometimes.)