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Chapter Text

Gai remembered perfectly the first time he had carried Kakashi home.

He was five years old and his rival four, although by then they were still not competing over glorious challenges. The streetlights at the park had just turned on, as sunset was almost over and the sky would be soon dark blue. Kakashi was sitting on a swing, balancing back and forth slowly. Gai knew he had been there for most of the afternoon; went to the park to play with other Academy students. He? Well, Gai had not been invited to the activity —he rarely was—, but that was not important! He had a lot of training to do, anyways.

The park was empty except for the both of them, the other kids having left for their homes or being picked up by their parents. He wondered why the Hatake was still there, though, since he also knew that Sakumo-san was at home for the rest of the week after coming from a long mission, according to his papa. With how much Kakashi admired and enjoyed spending time with his father, it was strange that he preferred to be there alone.

“Hello, Kakashi!” he called while waving his arms, a big smile on his face. “What are you doing?”

The Hatake looked at him from head to toes before shrugging.

“Swinging” he simply answered.

“Oh, I see!” Gai exclaimed, even if he didn’t understand why. “Do you mind if I join?”

Not waiting for an answer, he reached for the other swing, taking a seat. Other kids may refuse to spend time with him, but not Kakashi. He supposed it was only because their fathers had become rather good friends since they started at the Academy, but he enjoyed the company anyways.

“You’re not going home?” he asked after a few minutes of swinging while kicking his legs, uncapable to stay put. “I’m sure Sakumo-san will have a nice dinner waiting for you!”

Another shrug.

“In a while.”

There was some strain in his voice, even if only so lightly. Confused, Gai frowned while looking at his classmate. The street lights didn’t reach very far in the park and the moon wasn’t specially bright that night, so it took him a minute to find anything suspicious. And then, he noticed the small scratch on the Hatake’s knee and what looked like a bruise lower in his ankle.

“Kakashi!” he called, pointing at him. “You’re injured!”

At that, the other boy turned his head towards him with an angry expression.

“I’m fine” he petulantly declared. “This is nothing.”

As the other pieces of the puzzle started to click in Gai’s mind, his energy threatened to escape in the form of a very high scream.

“That’s the reason why you didn’t go home!” he accused. “You cannot walk.”

“I can!”

Definitely wanting to prove he was fine, his classmate swung forwards and jumped from the swing, landing on the ground as if nothing was wrong. A completely awesome move, no doubt, but either way shadowed by his body falling when he attempted to take a step. Gai hurried to his side, catching him before his face collapsed against the ground.

“Don’t be stubborn, Kakashi!” he complained, helping him back up. “Papa says resting when having an injury is essential to go back to our 200%! Let me help you.”

“I can walk” the Hatake repeated, although not meeting his eyes.

“Of course you can, but like that it’ll take you an hour to go back home and Sakumo-san will worry” he reasoned, moving in front of the other boy’s and kneeling down. “Here, I’ll carry you.”

Turning his head back, Gai looked at his classmate with a big smile, trying to show he could count on him. It took Kakashi a minute, but he finally exhaled as he normally did when frustrated and let his body fall on top of Gai’s back. Still smiling, he closed his arms around the other boy’s legs and then stood up.

“Wow, you’re very light!” he noticed with a chuckle. “Or I am very strong.”

The Hatake just huffed, hands grabbing his shoulders to keep himself in place. He didn’t say anything during the walk to his house, and he all but jumped down and hoped inside as soon as his father opened the door. Gai had to content with an apology from Sakumo-san, who called for his son without much success, but he didn’t care.

He had helped Kakashi! Him, whom nobody else at the Academy thought would ever become a shinobi, had aided the best of the class. Gai was amazing, he knew it.

Chapter Text

Gai was panting loudly, trying to catch his breath while his hands rested over his knees, body slightly leaned forwards. Not too far from him, Kakashi was laying on his back over the ground and breathing fast as well.

“How… can you… be standing?” the Hatake complained, frustration in his voice.

He chuckled, because Gai understood perfectly that sentiment. He felt it each and every time Kakashi bested him in a challenge. That day, however, the feeling was less intensified, as they had ended up in a tie, both of them falling onto the dirt at the same time after maintaining a handstand for hours. It was not a victory by far and thus he would not be celebrating it, but the fact that he was catching up with his rival brought him a certain level of satisfaction.

“I have… amazing… stamina, rival!” he panted with a smile. “And I’m sure… your body is still… tired from yesterday’s… mission.”

The Hatake just grunted, moving to sit up and look at him. He had grown up quite a bit in the last year and a half, and one could even confuse him for someone older than Gai, if only for his attitude. He was sometimes jealous of it, but his papa pointed out that he didn’t have anything to envy from Kakashi, and when thinking about it Gai realized he was right. After all, at least he still had his dad with him.

A hitting noise drew his attention back to the present, and he realized that Kakashi was slapping his legs, probably to wake them up after having spent so much time with the blood running away from them.

“Here, let me help you up” he offered, coming closer. “We can support each other in the way back home.”

His rival looked at him as if he had said something stupid, his left eyebrow up.

“Gai, we live in opposite directions, if I help you to your house then I’ll have to carry myself back home” he pointed out, sighing. “And I don’t need your help, anyways.”

“Oh, it seems like I forgot to tell you, rival!” Gai exclaimed, feeling stupid for a second. “My papa wanted me to invite you over dinner today, what do you say? That way you can recover from our challenge and then go back home. Or stay, if you want! We could have a sleepover!”

“No sleepover” the Hatake denied. “But if Dai-san already prepared the food… I won’t be unpolite and refuse the invitation.”

Gai smiled widely upon hearing those words. Even if Kakashi spent most of his time alone and training, he never said ‘no’ to one of his papa’s propositions. See, his papa worried about Kakashi because it had not been a year since Sakumo-san died and nobody seemed to be checking on his rival to make sure he was healthy. Of course, Gai knew Kakashi could take care of himself —the Hatake very proudly told him, quite often—, but he also needed company from time to time. So, whenever Gai and his papa managed to save enough money to cook food for one more person, they invited his rival over.

Once they managed to stand straight while leaning onto the other, the two boys started to walk slowly to the Maito’s household in the middle of one of Konoha’s far forests. It felt nice, to have the weight of Kakashi once again pressed against his body, a comfortable reminder that he had a rival he could trust on.

Gai had started to call him that not so long ago. Rival. There was never a doubt that the word could only refer to Kakashi. His man of destiny. They were not simple classmates anymore. They were shinobi. Even if still genin, he knew they were on the track for greatness. No doubt in that! And he would keep carrying his rival home as they advanced that path.

Chapter Text

Adrenaline ran through Gai’s veins as he jumped from one tree to another on his way back to Konoha. He was so excited! Sandaime-sama had sent him to recover an important scroll two days ago, a mission that should’ve taken him almost four days, and he was finishing it in record time!

The Hokage had chosen him for the task because he was considered one of the village’s fastest shinobi, so Gai had promised him he would be back even before the indicated date. He could already feel his papa’s pride filling him completely, even if he was not alive anymore.

Brushing off the happy tears on his eyes, Gai continued moving while checking his surroundings. Even if the retrieving of the scroll had been easy, it didn’t mean nobody could try to take it from him as he travelled to Konoha. It was then when he heard them; loud barks at some point ahead of where he was, slightly to the right.

Normally, Gai would pay no mind to the sounds, keeping his pace without a second thought. But the thing was, he knew those barks. They came from ninken. To be precise, from his rival’s hounds. And they sounded aggressive, as if they were taking part on a fight.

A hand came to hover over his inside chest pocket, where the scroll he had to take back to Konoha was resting. Rules said that shinobi should finish their mission no matter the circumstances around them, but they didn’t say anything about not taking a detour first. Well, they probably did, but it was not as if Gai was turning around! The barks came from ahead of him, the only thing he had to do was adapt a little bit his direction. Surely it would only add a few more minutes to his trip, and he was ahead of time, anyways.

Sure enough, about a quarter of an hour later he found himself at the entrance of a forest clearing, a battle unfolding in front of his eyes. Kakashi was fighting against two shinobi from Kumo, both way bigger than his rival and clearly with a lot more of energy. Not much further away, Pakkun, Uhei and Bull kept up with another two, exhausted as well.

Without thinking it twice, Gai jumped forwards while turning over himself an stretching his right leg out.

“Konoha senpu!” he exclaimed as his kick landed over one of Kakashi’s enemies.

His rival didn’t even blink, probably having detected his presence a while ago. Instead, he used the few seconds of confusion to take out a weapon scroll, summoning a new set of kunai and aiming them towards the other man.

“I can take him” the Hatake panted, although still authoritative. “Help the others.”

Gai didn’t hesitate, knowing he could 100% trust his rival to defeat the Kumo shinobi, and turned to assist the ninken on their battle. He coordinated with the hounds rather well, even if they usually were facing each other during challenges or trainings. Of course, just as with Kakashi, the fact that they spent so much time together helped in making a good team for moments like those.

When the fight finally came to an end, Gai’s heart kept pounding fast for a few more seconds. A loud “thud” made him look back at his rival, who had just let himself fall butt-first on the ground and was panting heavily over the mask.

“Kakashi!” he called while approaching. “Are you ok?!”

“I’m fine, Gai” the other boy huffed, looking at him as if annoyed. “What are you doing here? I thought you had a mission.”

“And I do!” he confirmed, puffing out proudly his chest. “I was on my way back to Konoha when I heard your incredible hounds barking, so I came to see if you needed assistance!”

The Hatake rolled his eyes, checking on his dogs as they walked back to him. Their injuries —as well as Kakashi’s— were not bad, just a few scratches and superficial cuts, which was a relief.

“Unnecessary” his rival pointed out. “We were fine, and you delayed your mission without a good reason.”

“Helping a friend is a good enough reason!” Gai fought back.

A loud cough came out of the Hatake’s mouth as he opened it again to speak. Even while sitting, his breath was still elaborated and he was sweating rather noticeably. Gai didn’t know to what kind of mission he had been assigned to, but it surely looked like a difficult one that had led his rival to physical exhaustion.

“Well, I for instance am glad that you came, Gai” Pakkun said, wagging his tail. “That battle would’ve been a pain otherwise. And now we can leave you with the boss to help him return to the village.”

“I don’t need a babysitter!” the other boy angrily panted, squinting at his ninken. “And you need to come as well, the vet has to check your injuries.”

“We can take care of these scratches in our realm, boss” Uhei claimed, licking one of the cuts. “You cannot risk chakra exhaustion as well just to keep us here.”

Behind him, Bull huffed too in support of those words. If Kakashi intended to protest more against them, the ninken didn’t give him an opportunity to, disappearing in a cloud of smoke the next second. The boy groaned.

“Here, climb onto my back” Gai offered, kneeling in front of him.

“I can perfectly walk.”

“You did seem to have difficulties to do so a few minutes ago, rival.”

Instead of answering, the Hatake tried unsuccessfully to push him away.

“You’re not moving no matter what I say, right?”

“Exactly, my dear rival!” he laughed. “Now, climb onto my back so I can carry you home.”

With a huff and a new groan, Kakashi moved to rest his body against Gai’s. As he had hit a growth spurt not so long ago, his friend was rather small in comparison to him, making it easy to take his weight. The carrying had become normal among them during the last year, as they tended to train together a lot and sometimes led each other to exhaustion, thus ending up with an scene similar to that one.

At this point, Gai was comfortable enough to call Kakashi not only his rival, but also his friend. The other boy hadn’t shown any acknowledgement of the fact, but then again he didn’t call anybody his friend, unless he was referring to his dogs. For Gai, however, that was alright. One day, Kakashi would consider him a friend as well. Until then, he was fine carrying the weight of their friendship by himself. After all, the Hatake was not that heavy.

Chapter Text

A soft scratch on the window awoke Gai, the man up and ready to fight just a second later. Fortunately, the only intruder he had to worry about was a small dog sitting on his windowsill and looking at him with a mix of worry and shame. Curious, he opened the window to let the ninken enter.

“Pakkun, why are you here?” he asked. “Is Kakashi ok?”

The pug huffed for a moment before looking straight at him.

“He’s… In need of assistance” he said. “Human assistance, to be precise.”

Gai squinted at him, only more confused. Since there was no urgency in the dog’s voice, it was evident the situation was not pressing, but it worried him anyways.

“He’s drunk” Pakkun finally declared. “Very drunk. He managed to summon me, though I think it was by accident. I sent message for Bull before coming to get you, so he’s supervised for now.”

Well, that was… Unprecedent. Sure, all his generation had tried some alcohol even if they were underaged —eighteen in his case, seventeen in Kakashi’s—, but none of them had ever gotten tipsy, less drunk. Furthermore, that was not his rival’s style, or at least he hoped so.

“Take me to him” he indicated to the ninken as he grabbed a shirt and his sandals to put on.

It took the pair barely ten minutes to reach the dark alley where the Hatake was seated with his back against a building and body half hidden by trash bags. The overall smell was not great, but Gai ignored it in favor of approaching the other young man, Bull moving away once he saw it was him.

“Hey, rival” he called as he kneeled close to him. “How are you doing?”

Kakashi groaned, his only visible eye rolling as he put back the kunai he had been holding in his hand, no doubt ready to stab anybody who got too close to him.

“Ugh, why did you bring him, Pakkun?” he mumbled. “I’m fine.”

“Of course you are, boss” the ninken said with a complacent tone. “And that’s why Bull and I are going to leave. Gai here will take care of you now, ok?”

The only acknowledgement from their summoner was a grunt, which seemed to be enough for the two dogs to leave, not without Pakkun’s paw patting on Gai’s leg for a moment, as if wishing him luck.

Once alone with his rival and now used to the amount of light in the alley, he was better capable of inspecting him. The first thing he noticed was that he was wearing his ANBU uniform, which made sense considering the last thing he knew about the Hatake was that he had gone out of the village for a mission. He understood it had not gone very well, giving the situation.

“Are you injured?”

Kakashi just shrugged.

“Can you stand?”

Another shrug.

Gai sighed. It was three in the morning and he was tired. Sure, the Hatake was his friend, his rival, his… well, he was important for him. But it didn’t mean he was willing to give him a green card for every stupid thing he did. Especially if he didn’t collaborate afterwards.

“Come on” he said, getting closer to pass one of Kakashi’s arms over his shoulders. “I’m carrying you home.”

The other man huffed.

“Of course you are.”

One of the things that still gave Gai some hope about his friend was the fact that he kept his apartment at the jounin building. Being an ANBU, he knew he had the possibility of living in the barracks of the black ops —completed isolated from the people that cared about him—, but he had chosen not to.

The taijutsu master stopped a moment in front of the door to look for Kakashi’s keys in one of his pouches. The other man was acting just as a dead body, so it took him a few seconds until he grabbed them, finally gaining access to the inside of the apartment. It was dusty and barely decorated, but it was a home. One to which Gai had been granted free entrance some time ago, once the Hatake realized it didn’t matter how many security seals he put on, he would disable all of them to get to him and bring up a challenge.

Moving slowly, he managed to sit his friend on the wooden chair next to the desk, where he kept himself up with a tired expression, as if being there was an inconvenience.

“Stay here, I’m taking the medical kit from the bathroom.”

“I’m fine.”

Time had taught Gai that there were hidden meaning behind his rival’s words whenever he sounded like that. In this case, it was saying ‘this blood is not mine’, ‘I was the one causing injury’ or ‘I’m not the one anyone should be worrying about’.

“I see” he said, voice even. “I’ll check, anyways.”

Because there was a difference between being ‘fine’ and being uninjured, not that Kakashi seemed to care most of the time. Thankfully, he didn’t protest when he came back and put a surgical mask over his face so he could remove his clothes without invading his privacy. The bloody spots on them where some kind of splash, indicating that whoever Kakashi had fought died violently in front of him. Staining him.

As expected, there was no serious physical injury Gai should worry about, just a few scratches he disinfected and bandaged carefully. The other kind of damage was the one he dwelled on. With his friend naked in front of him —except for the underwear and mask— it was evident he was not feeding himself well, and the strong smell of sake indicated there were other things wrong, too.

“I think you should take a shower” he managed to get out after a few minutes of silence, still kneeling in front of the other man. “You stink, rival.”

“Mah, I’m too tired” Kakashi babbled. “Let’s go to bed instead.”

The Hatake’s body bended forwards until his face was buried in the space in between Gai’s shoulder and neck. The sensation gave him goosebumps, which only got worse as a warm and sticky tongue brushed over the skin there.

“R-Rival” he stammered. “You should stop.”

“Mah, Gai, I know you like that” his rival muttered, licking again.

“You’re drunk.”

“I’m conscious enough to give consent” Kakashi half-laughed.

“But I’m not taking it.”

Gai moved away, standing up before his body could betray him and turn his head to capture the lips that had escaped the surgical mask. It wouldn’t be the first time. In fact, it would be the third time they found themselves in a similar situation.

They were lovers.

Or that was the conclusion Gai had drawn out after the first two times and the few innuendos after that. In that moment, however, he didn’t feel comfortable and he knew he would regret it if taking up the offer his rival was making.

“I’ll come to check on you in the morning, after my training” he said, moving towards the door. “Try to rest, Kakashi.”

“Wait.”

He stopped, the emotion in that word too raw to ignore. He could count with the fingers of one hand how many times he had heard the Hatake sound so vulnerable.

“Stay” he added after a few seconds. “Please. I just… Stay?”

Gai gulped, slowly turning around.

“Are you sure?”

They had never done that before. Staying. Both times they had had sex, and the other in which they just made out, always ended up with the other leaving once they were done. Not that Gai opposed, of course, but rather was afraid of proposing it to Kakashi and having him running away. Experience had showed him that the best way to treat their… sexual relationship was by not acknowledging it. If that made any sense.

“Yeah” his friend said a minute later.

“Ok.”

They moved with practiced coordination, Gai entering the bed first and letting Kakashi take the space closer to the border where he knew he felt safer. His rival had turned off the light on his way, which saved them the embarrassment of looking at each other as they tried to figure out an arrangement that didn’t feel weird. After a couple of minutes, the Hatake’s back came in contact with his chest and Gai relaxed as he moved a tentative arm to hold the other man around the stomach. When no resistance was found, he pressed Kakashi closer to him and closed his eyes.

Even if his heart was beating like crazy and the closeness to his rival only made the smell of alcohol more intense, there was a warm feeling growing in Gai’s chest. He knew he shouldn’t bring his hopes up. After all, it was more than evident that the Hatake was not ready for them to be anything more than lovers. Maybe he didn’t even want it. But that night felt different. And, just for a few hours, Gai wished he could add a new line to his “I’ll carry you home” promise, one that said: “I’ll hold you like this whenever you need it.”

Chapter Text

Getting all the way up to the Hokage’s tower was still a challenge with the wheelchair, but Gai managed anyways. Nothing could stop him when he had an idea in his mind, after all. And in this occasion, his focus was quite clear: to take his dear rival back home.

It was late in the afternoon and way passed office hours, but for the last few days Kakashi had been staying longer at work, sometimes arriving at Gai’s flat passed midnight and just collapsing on the bed. Surely, his dedication to the Hokage position was admirable —even if he insisted the only reason why he did it was because Tsunade didn’t give him another option—, but he also needed to learn when to stop.

“Rival!” he exclaimed as he opened the office’s door with a bump of his wheelchair. “I’ve come to collect you, come on!”

The Hatake just lifted the head a few centimeters over the desk, looked at him and then back at the windows, where the sky was becoming darker by the second, and sighed.

“I’m not finished yet” he said, picking up a pen and focusing again on the documents on the table. “You go, Gai, I’ll join soon.”

Being a Kage after the War was not an easy task —probably the reason why Tsunade had retired as soon as she could—, many villages needing support, bodies to account for, people that needed economical help, places to rebuild… Saying that Kakashi had to go over at least five piles of papers a day was an understatement. All that work, put together with his rival’s sense of duty, was starting to send him down an exhausting spiral.

“Not an option, my love” he insisted, this time more serious. “I’m taking you home, either with your collaboration or without it.”

At that, the Hatake chuckled, letting go of the pen and looking back at him with an amused smile.

“Really?” he said. “Because I’m sure I have some guards around here that would stop this attempt of kidnapping.”

“I’m pretty sure Yamato and Genma will agree with me” Gai laughed. “Probably even help, if anything.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right…”

His rival let go one more sigh and finally moved his chair back, stretching his limbs before stumbling up. Who knew how many hours he had been sitting there without barely moving. His muscles must had been trembling!

Of course Gai could not allow that.

With a devilish smile, he rolled around the desk and bumped over Kakashi, making him tumble back and fall just on his lap. Perfect landing.

“Really, Gai?” the other man chuckled. “I can walk, you know.”

“Of course I do, dear rival!” he smiled, moving the Hatake’s body to make him fit on the wheelchair as well. “But I like carrying you home, I thought you would’ve realized that by now.”

“Oh, I noticed” Kakashi assured, helping to find the perfect position for the both of them. “And I don’t complain.”

The look on his rival’s face was now a peaceful one, and Gai could not avoid bending slightly forwards to kiss him softly over the mask.

“To home, then?”

“Yeah, home.”

With Kakashi’s arms around his neck for support, Gai used his arms to push the wheelchair back to the office door and all the way through Konoha’s street until they reached his apartment, where the both of them were currently living together.

The War had changed many things. His body, for starters, forcing him to learn how to live as a disabled person and to deal with chronic pain. His team, now down a member and with a scar he was sure it would never fully heal. And his relationship with Kakashi, as well. It may had taken them some time to get there, but they had finally overpassed the barrier they established years ago between them. One that they might have jumped a few times over when the passion was too much, but never staying at the other side for a long time. That was over now.

Now, Gai could carry his partner —the Hatake said the term ‘boyfriend’ was too childish for them, who knew why— home every time he felt like it. He could crawl into bed with him, hold his rival tightly against his chest and breathe in his essence every morning. He could love him as much as he wanted without worrying about Kakashi running away, because he loved him back.

So, yes, the War may have changed a lot of things, but not all of them were bad and Gai was thankful for that.

Chapter Text

Gai was the happiest man alive, he was sure of it. He had married Kakashi that morning and they were about to enter their house to spend the best honeymoon anybody could think of. Just them, tangled in the sheets for three days straight.

Smiling, he pushed his wheelchair forwards. Technically, he could stand up and walk with his orthosis attached, but he had already done some of that during the reception and now preferred to save his energy for more, ah, exciting activities.

“Gai, wait.”

Frowning, he turned around to look at his husband. He was very handsome in his traditional wedding clothes, but he could not wait to take them off. In the next few minutes, if possible.

“Having seconds thoughts, rival?” he chuckled. “I fear it’s a little bit late now, with the vows and everything…”

“Don’t be stupid” the Hatake huffed hitting him on the forehead with a finger. “I just… Well, I want to carry you inside, if that’s ok.”

“Oh?”

“I’ve heard it’s kind of a tradition in another country and… Well, you have carried me home so many times in the past that I would like to return the favor now. What do you say?”

Heart full of love —every time Gai thought he could not adore that man any more, he found a way to surprise him—, the taijutsu master extended his arms up. The smile on Kakashi’s lips was evident through the mask as he picked him up. Gai was almost fifteen kilos heavier than his rival, but the Hatake had never showed any problem with taking his weight in whatever situation they found themselves in.

Resting his head on his husband’s shoulder, he let himself being carried inside, wheelchair abandoned at the entrance. Kakashi brought him into their bedroom, letting him carefully on the bed before climbing on top of him until their faces were inches apart. With a big smile, Gai tangled one of his fingers on the other man’s mask and pulled it down to reveal the most beautiful lips. Barely a second after they were sharing a slow and soft kiss.

“Thank you” the Hatake murmured against his skin.

“For what?”

“For bringing me home so many times, even when I didn’t make it easy for you” Kakashi said, a look so full of love in his eyes that Gai could cry. “You never gave up on us.”

“Of course not, my love” he smiled, kissing him again. “I hope you now, I will carry you home whether it’s tonight or fifty-five years down the road. In this and every life, I choose us every time.”