Work Text:
Kakashi hears him when he comes up to the door; Gai’s enthusiastic greeting of hello ringing loud and clear on the pathway leading up to their house. He can picture it in his mind: Gai wheeling over and pushing open the door to their shared house, moving over to the shoe rack they keep in the genkan. He would dutifully place his outside shoes into the cubby specifically designated for those and then cross over into the house proper to speak to him about the day.
The wheelchair has a particular sound—a specific click of the mechanisms, the wheels squeaking just the smallest bit on the tile flooring. Kakashi pays careful attention to it as always, tracking Gai’s progress in their house as the other man tells him about his day, waiting for him in the bedroom as he always does.
“The weather is lovely today, Rival.” Gai calls out as he stashes his bag on the end table, still using the affectionate nickname even now. “Would you like me to open the windows? Or perhaps we can go to the patio?”
Kakashi doesn’t answer, not really feeling up to it, and Gai takes his silence to mean no. He wheels forward again, Kakashi noting that Gai is coming towards the bedroom. Ever since he had become blind, he’d found that he relied on his other senses—specifically, his hearing—a lot more. There is one area of the hallway leading to the bedroom where the tile has cracked. Gai’s wheelchair always makes a creaking sound as it goes over it, just as it does right now.
He smiles under his mask as he lays on his bed, eyes still closed, not that it matters anyway since his world is black even with them open. One arm is tucked under his head, his face turned towards Gai’s pillow which always smelled like soothing ginger. He reaches up with his other hand and tugs the mask down when he hears Gai come into the bedroom.
Gai prefers to see his whole face when it is just the two of them in their home, and Kakashi doesn’t find it too hard to agree to his request.
“Have you been in bed all day Kakashi?” Gai scolds gently as he comes closer to the bed.
Kakashi feels the bed shift as Gai slowly moves himself onto it. He makes room on it for Gai who thanks him with a grunt. There’s a slight undercurrent of pain to it which makes Kakashi worry slightly for him. Gai has a ridiculously high pain tolerance, but there are times that even he has trouble dealing with the muscle cramps that he gets from his wartime injury. He reaches out with his free arm, hand trying to find Gai’s leg.
It takes only a few seconds to find it. He decides, after a moment, that this angle is uncomfortable. So, he makes his way to sit in the middle of their bed, dragging Gai’s legs over onto his lap and slowly begins massaging the other man’s calves.
“Thank you.” Gai sighs. Kakashi hears Gai’s head hit the pillow as he leans back against it and rests. It is silent in their bedroom for a few minutes.
Finally, Gai moves.
His legs twitch in Kakashi’s lap, and Kakashi lets go of them. He can’t see it, but he can hear and feel Gai’s legs moving, off his lap onto the bed. Then, he can hear Gai picking up the book they had been reading, fingers rustling through the pages to find their spot. Gai has a terrible habit of dog-earing pages, something that Kakashi always disliked. It doesn’t matter much now though, not when he can’t read the stories he used to take such comfort in.
“Come here, Kakashi.” Gai calls.
He pats the space next to him on the bed, though he doesn’t really need to. Kakashi shuffles over to sit at the designated spot. He makes himself comfortable, slouching against the pillows Gai has moved to rest behind them, leaning his head against the other man’s shoulder.
Kakashi knows he should call Gai something else other than friend or Gai; they are something more now. They are true partners in a way he had never dared to even dream of. Gai, who has always been there for him through everything, is now his silent (and loud) supporter, the man who holds him when he wakes up from nightmares of war and death and blood, the one who stood by him and helped him cope when his sight left.
Gai is the one thing in his life that Kakashi cannot live without.
“I can’t remember where we were in the chapter.” Gai tells him, his shoulder moving as he speaks. “Is it all right if I start at the beginning of it?”
“Hm.”
Gai clears his throat, the vibration it causes rumbling through both him and Kakashi, and begins reading.
“James pocketed his gun, hiding it once more in the lapels of his coat. He tugged it once to make sure it was snug and checked that his gun was not visible. Smoothing a smile onto his face, he walked out of the bathroom, taking expert care to make sure it made no sound when it shut behind him. If he fled now, and did so using the side exits, no one would notice he had even been there.
At least, not until they found the waiter’s outfit piled in a heap on the floor of the men’s bathroom; a bleeding body of a casino patron lying nearby.
At least that was one part of the crime ring he didn’t have to worry about.”
Kakashi lets Gai’s words paint a picture in his head of a suave secret agent. It reminds him of missions and his life as a shinobi, but hearing about a fictional character doing the same things he used to do as a jōnin, an ANBU, helps him process things.
Sakura once asked him about it, and, when he didn’t have a proper answer, had simply encouraged him to continue the practice because it seemed to help him.
At some point, he nearly drifts off, but Gai stops him from truly sleeping by nudging his shoulder. Kakashi blinks his eyes open, the milky whiteness to them shown to the world once again. All he sees is black and black and more black.
“Would you like to read silently in braille?” Gai asks, voice pitched low. It is a tone he uses only for Kakashi, for times like this, when it is just the two of them in the house.
“No.” Kakashi answers leaning his head back against the wall behind their bed, giving Gai’s shoulder a respite. “Let’s finish the chapter and then go make dinner.”
Gai doesn’t answer for a few moments. Then, he picks up reading again, and Kakashi lets the words wash over him, soothing him.
This is their daily routine, a routine they had built up over time and one that Kakashi can appreciate. It gives him peace to know that at the end of his work day, Gai always comes to find Kakashi in their bedroom, comes to read to him, comes to spend this little slice of the day with him.
They sit there, in bed, sharing a book, letting the words paint pictures in their heads.
After all they had been through, Kakashi appreciates that they can experience this one moment of peace. And that they can experience this too together, like they always promised each other they would.