Chapter 26

Gai let out a satisfied sigh and plopped down, shifting from seiza style to sitting cross-legged. He licked sauce off his fingers. "Oishi!" His voice rang with appreciation. "Can we make this a monthly thing no matter who's paying? I think I love this place."

"Dinner was wonderful," Kakashi agreed. He'd had some very fresh sushi, some of it made with lobster. He'd really treated himself. Or rather, Gai had treated him. He'd finished dinner first for once, and sat back to watch Gai enjoy his ribs. It had been a uniquely amusing sight. There was something inherently endearing about watching Gai enjoy food so much.

Gai enjoyed everything so much. That was one reason why Kakashi had fallen in love with him. What a positive person.

"What do you want to do now?" Gai asked.

"Let's go back to my house," Kakashi suggested.

Gai nodded. "I should walk you home like a gentleman."

Kakashi grinned. "Yeah. You should. Don't be a rude date. Someone might decide to mug me. Or, ah, something."

Gai snorted. "I feel sorry for the mugger."

Kakashi laughed. Then he stood and stretched. "Alright. You ready to go?"

"Mm." Gai nodded and stood as well.

He took Kakashi's hand and secured it on his arm.

Kakashi flushed in bewilderment and embarrassment, but he allowed Gai this – strange – gesture. Only men and women do this, he wanted to say. And you've assumed I'm the woman. But he found it kind of sweet, in a way, that Gai was trying. He decided he'd let it go, for now. They'd have a talk about advanced etiquette later.

People gave them strange looks as they walked across the restaurant, but Kakashi couldn't bring himself to care. People gave Gai strange looks anyway. If that bothered him, he would have stopped being Gai's friend a lot time ago.

Gai paid for dinner with a smile and opened the door for him, again in a show of etiquette. Cold night air hit Kakashi in a blast, and he found himself clinging to Gai for body warmth, glad for Gai's decision to link arms.

"It's a little cold out," Kakashi said. He mock shivered. Though that wasn't far from the truth. Without Gai's body heat to cuddle into as they walked, he would be shivering.

"Would you like my coat?" Gai asked.

Kakashi stared at him. "Maa, you know, I'm wearing a coat." They both had their haori on. "And it's not necessary for you to offer your haori when I know you hate the cold."

Gai had hated cold weather since a mission to the Land of Frost when he was little. Since Konoha rarely had snowy winters, he hadn't known what snow was, and had blown off others' concerns about being cold with typical bravado. He'd come back blue as an ice cube, and with hypothermia to boot. Kakashi had visited him in the hospital. Not that Kakashi had acknowledged that they were friends or anything.

Kakashi shook his head, smiling ruefully. At the time, he'd told himself he'd gone to visit Gai just because he was curious about why Gai wasn't around to bug him. And he'd teased Gai that wearing a scarf with a sleeveless shirt defeated the purpose.

"Very well," Gai said. "But know it is here if you get colder." He grinned. "And it is already infused with body warmth."

Kakashi snorted. "I'll keep that in mind." Body warmth you should be keeping for yourself. If anything, I should be offering you my coat. But he wouldn't, because Gai would just refuse. That was part of the odd push and pull of their relationship.

Speaking of relationships… Kakashi considered a dark street on a cold night on the way back to his house as good a place as any for a serious discussion. The deserted streets gave the illusion of privacy, anyway. He knew that if anything he and Gai said or did became a matter of security, even unintentionally, they would be spied upon. That was part of living in a ninja village. Privacy was a luxury, not a guarantee.

For now, Kakashi had to assume that he and Gai had all the privacy they wanted.

"What do you think dating is about?" Kakashi asked.

"I don't know," Gai said. He stopped and thought about it, rubbing his chin.

Kakashi waited.

"It seems…dating is about getting to know someone." Gai cast a puzzled look at Kakashi. "But I already know you." Then he smiled. "So it's like we've already been dating for quite a while."

Kakashi's heart melted a little more. "Ah…okay." He smiled cheerfully. "Well, another thing dating people do is be extra nice to each other."

Gai grinned excitedly and flashed Kakashi a thumbs up. "Then I will be super nice to you, starting right now!" He grabbed Kakashi and hoisted Kakashi into his arms bridal style. "Off we go, my love! To your house!"

Kakashi clung to Gai for dear life as Gai shot down the street, full speed. "This is a little fast…" His voice vibrated. Gai's stride was so quick it was like oscillations of an electric fan.

"Would you like me to slow down, my love?" Gai shouted.

Kakashi blushed beet red, all the way up to his stinging ears. Gai, shouting into the night, calling me 'my love'. This was not one of the situations he had prepared himself for. "Um…yes, Gai. That would be nice."

Gai slowed down to a normal run.

Close enough. Kakashi wasn't going to bother explaining that most people didn't dash off with their loved ones at a hearty run. Besides, that would be missing the point. Gai wasn't most people. Gai was Gai.

And I just challenged him to be 'extra nice'. He saw long, hard days ahead of him. "You know, you're already pretty nice to me. I don't see any reason why we can't continue to behave the way we normally would in a situation…" At least his voice wasn't vibrating now.

"Ah, but to be truly nice to you, to make it the epitome of my ways, that will be a fantastic challenge," Gai said. "I have never truly put my mind to being nice to someone."

Kakashi found that amazing, especially since Gai had been going out of his way to follow around a sullen genius for most of his life.

"You know," he ventured, "this has to go both ways."

"What does?" Gai asked.

Kakashi gathered his courage. "I am going to have to be especially nice to you."

They reached his doorstep, and Gai set him down on his feet with a flourish. Even though Kakashi had been the one being carried, he leaned against his closed front door and tried to catch his breath.

Gai took his hand and knelt, looking up at him with a soft smile and shining eyes. "You are always especially nice to me. More so than anyone else I have ever known."

Kakashi opened his mouth, but no words came out. Several memories flashed by at once, all on top of each other.

The first day of school, when he'd been so nervous, and Gai had marched up to him with a hearty, 'Look! We're both wearing scarves! Let's be friends,' and given him that blinding smile that would become commonplace.

Gai following him everywhere, and pleading with his father for help, when his father had only laughed. He hadn't understood what was so funny about his 'desperate situation'. 'Touchan!' he'd yelled. 'Help me!' His father had patted him on the shoulder. 'You made a friend. Now go play.' He'd been furious…only to give in later that afternoon. Gai challenged him to a sparring match on top of a lake, since they both ought to know water walking. Gai had almost drowned. Then he'd watched as Gai did twelve laps around the lake, wondering what he'd gotten himself into.

Gai holding him while he cried about Obito dying…

Gai visiting the memorial stone with him…

Gai talking him out of resigning as a ninja, giving up his rank as jonin…

He shook the memories off, trying to think. He knew there would be an endless chain of them.

Gai… "I like you," Kakashi blurted.

"Yeah?" Gai grinned up at him, surprised and cheerful.

"Yeah," Kakashi said, nodding. He looked at Gai with wide eyes, surprised that he had gotten anything out. "You're the kind of person I would want to date. I would want to date you."

Gai straightened and grinned wider. "Then date me."

"Okay," Kakashi said. He stared at Gai dazedly, wondering why the conversation had been that anticlimactic, that simple. When it came to words exchanged, they'd spoken very few. Compared to the tsunami of words in Kakashi's head. The waves of memories that threatened to drown him if he ventured too far in.

He turned and unlocked the door, then looked over his shoulder. "You want to come in?"

Gai nodded. "Sure!"

Kakashi grinned. "Okay." He entered the house and let Gai in, slipping off his sandals in the foyer.

Gai followed, slipping off his footwear and setting his sandals next to Kakashi's. "So what do people do on a first date?"

Kakashi turned to him, surprised, and paused in the middle of the kitchen. "You mean, what do people do, or what do we want to do?"

"Both," Gai admitted. "I must confess I need a frame of reference with which to interpret my impulses."

Impulses? Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Well, just ask me, and I'll tell you whether or not it's okay." He teased, "There's no need to be shy." He was fully aware of the irony of telling Gai not to be shy.

"Well…" Gai took a step towards him and stopped, his hand outstretched for a brief moment before it fell at his side. "I want to stay the night. But I don't know if that is appropriate for two people dating each other."

Kakashi reached forward and clasped Gai's hand, pulled Gai close until their chests were touching. "Of course it is." He wrapped his arms around Gai's waist and looked up, into Gai's eyes. "I don't think we should have to do anything different than what we've done before."

Gai slipped his arms around Kakashi's waist in return. "Really? There aren't special rules that I should have to observe?"

"None," Kakashi whispered. He became ultra-conscious of the mask covering his face, his lips. How he wanted Gai's lips covering his mouth instead.

Gai looked at him with wide eyes.

"You know, there's something we could do that we've never done before," Kakashi whispered. He reached up with one hand and caressed Gai's cheek. Then he trailed his fingers down, bringing Gai a shiver on accident, and rested his fingertips on the hem of his mask.

Gai swallowed, transfixed.

"People on first dates always kiss," Kakashi said, looking straight into Gai's eyes. He didn't want to miss a moment of Gai's reaction. Then he hooked his fingers underneath the spandex material of his mask and pulled it down slowly. He couldn't help a stifled gasp as it suddenly slipped off of the tip of his nose. The soft fabric brushed over his lips in a precursor to what was to come. By the time the hem of the mask was down to his chin, he was blushing.

They stared at each other.

Gai's hand came up, and his thumb ran over Kakashi's bottom lip.

Kakashi sucked in his breath. The warm, callused pad of Gai's thumb stroking his lip made his vision shutter. "Gai…Please kiss me."

Gai leaned his head down.

Kakashi took Gai's face in both hands, executing a course correction so that their first kiss didn't involve bumping noses. But his direction was gentle, not controlling. He wanted to feel a kiss that was uniquely Gai.

Gai tilted his head at the cue of Kakashi's gentle hands and closed his eyes, his lips parting slightly. It was the most beautiful sight Kakashi had ever seen.

Their lips met.

Kakashi closed his eyes and flung his arms around Gai's neck. Gai's lips were warm, dry, a little chapped, even. Wonderful. These soft, dry lips explored his own, instinctively mouthing. Kakashi melted.

Gai's arms supported him so that he didn't fall.

"Gai," Kakashi whispered in a little hiss of breath around their kiss.

Gai's response was a moan in the back of his throat.

Kakashi's pulse jumped. He felt himself leaking in his pants. Carry me…

He didn't know if he said it out loud, but Gai's arms gathered him up, nestling him against a strong, warm chest, and carried him off. Maybe they were just that good at reading each other.

Kakashi allowed Gai to carry him without a destination in mind, leaving his eyes closed. He wasn't surprised, however, to feel the rush of air of a door opening, and smell the familiar surroundings of his bedroom.

Gai set him gently down on the bed, on top of the covers. Then a warm, strong hand ran fingers through his hair, and he blushed, his ears burning. He felt a smile on his face, and he knew for the first time that Gai could see him smile. Really see him smile.

Weight depressed the bed and shifted. Kakashi opened his eyes to find Gai settling down on the bed next to him.

Gai smiled at him tenderly and ran an arm around his waist. "Kashi…" Gai leaned in and kissed Kakashi's bare jaw.

Something was so sensual about that, so raw and powerful, that Kakashi moaned, getting half hard just from that. Probably because no one had touched his face like that in his whole life. Not that he could remember. His skin buzzed and tingled where Gai kissed it. At the thought that they were just beginning, Kakashi moaned again.

"It is time," Gai said solemnly.

Kakashi's eyes widened. "Time?"

Gai nodded. His fingers ran down the line of Kakashi's jaw, to Kakashi's chin. "I told myself that if I ever saw your face, I would tell you. I would tell you, I –" Tears gathered in his eyes.

Kakashi bit his lip, worried. "Maa, Gai…" He reached out and petted Gai's head. "It's okay. It's nothing to cry over."

Gai pulled him into a crushing hug. "I'minlovewithyouI-love you – Kashi please don't die!" Gai sobbed all over him, raining down big, manly tears.

Kakashi patted the back of Gai's neck and wondered what in the world he'd just heard. "I'm not going to die," he said, addressing the easiest to understand part. "I've got you by my side. I don't need to die. You're not going to die, either. I've figured that out. That's why I love you so much."

He froze. It just slipped out, in the most unlikely of circumstances. He hadn't even been thinking about it.

Gai squeezed him until he couldn't breathe and then started peppering his cheek and chin with kisses, his arms loosening enough for Kakashi's lungs to work.

Kakashi wished he felt something so pleasant in a more pleasant context. "Maa, maa, it's alright now. I'm not going to kill myself." He stroked Gai's hair, and ran a hand down Gai's back. "I have what I always wanted."

"I'm in love with you!" Gai blurted, somewhat more intelligibly. Kakashi realized that was what Gai had tried to say before.

"I'm in love with you too," Kakashi said gently. "So please don't cry anymore. Not about me."

Gai raised his head and looked at Kakashi with wide, shining eyes, tear tracks on his cheeks.

Kakashi smiled sadly but fondly and wiped Gai's tears away with his fingers. "Please don't. I'm okay. I have you."

Gai kissed him full on the lips with so much passion that Kakashi felt knocked half unconscious. He fell limp under the force of it, reduced to passively receiving this physical declaration of Gai's feelings. It was what he'd always wanted. Gai shifted, draping over him, sheltering his body completely underneath the heated bulk of Gai's own. He felt Gai clasp his hands, sliding their fingers together, and moaned. I love you.

He'd finally said it.

Somehow, he'd finally said it. And he was free now. Free to do what he really wanted.