Archive of Our Own

Making out with Kakashi was a joy that Gai hadn't yet learned to anticipate. Maybe he never would—maybe every time would be startling, beautiful and new. Those lips, soft and warm on his own. Those hands, palming greedily at his chest. That scent, like lightning, like smoke, like burning—

"Ah!" yelped Gai, physically picking Kakashi up from his lap and setting him on the couch beside him. "Dinner!"

The kitchen was hazy with actual physical smoke, but luckily the fire alarm was still silent. Gai took a deep breath before opening the oven, rescuing the curried rice that had been baking there for perhaps ten minutes too long.

"It's okay!" He shouted to Kakashi, who had slouched up to the doorway and was waving some of the smoke away from his face. "Only a little singed!" He set it on the countertop, scraped off the blackened top inch or so, and began pulling out plates.

"So..." said Kakashi. "Dinner now?"

"Hm?" Gai glanced back at him, spatula clutched in his fist. "Yes? I mean, it's ready now. Unless—you don't have to leave, do you?"

Kakashi scratched at his mask, which he'd pulled back up over his face—perhaps to ward off the smoke. Gai should open a window. "No, no," said Kakashi, while Gai did just that. "I'm just gonna. Use the bathroom. You can start eating, don't wait for me."

Gai would never ignore the express wishes of his boyfriend (his boyfriend!!), but he did take his time plating the curried rice, pouring tall glasses of water, arranging the chopsticks on the table just so... And then tapping his fingers impatiently on the nice green tablecloth he'd set up specially for the occasion of their seventeenth date. He didn’t actually want to start eating without Kakashi. He would much rather stare lovingly into Kakashi’s eye and imagine growing old with him and also making out again.

Kakashi had been using the bathroom a lot. Or, well, no more than was normal for a healthy young man who exercised enough to keep himself regular. But he seemed to use the bathroom at very specific times. Usually before an activity, like dinner, or watching television, or going on a bracing walk. Perhaps… Did he….

Gai's heart dropped. Did Kakashi not want to spend time together? Maybe he was sneaking off to read one of his novels, whiling away the minutes until it would be polite to go home again. That would be just like him. Kakashi was quick and decisive in battle, but in social situations he tended to take the path of least resistance. It would be too awkward to tell Gai that this whole 'dating' thing wasn't working out. Why not, he would think, like the exasperating genius he was, just let Gai have fun with the idea until he got tired of it on his own?

Only Gai wouldn't get tired of it. He’d never gotten tired of Kakashi, even when Kakashi was clearly tired of him. He'd just keep pushing and pushing and needing until Kakashi finally snapped...

Gai wiped tears from his eyes. No! This was ridiculous! Kakashi was only in the bathroom! But... The rice was getting cold. Perhaps if he just went to check on him?

Mind made up, he strode through the apartment and knocked firmly on the bathroom door. "Kakashi?"

"Ah!" Kakashi... yelped? That was strange. It sounded oddly like he was in pain.

"Are you all right?" said Gai, with an anxiousness that he knew didn't suit him.

"Fuck," groaned Kakashi. "Fine, I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine." Gai's hand landed on the doorknob. At what stage of a relationship could you barge into a bathroom to make sure your boyfriend (boyfriend!) wasn't dying? Surely seventeen dates was enough.

"I'm fine," said Kakashi. "Don't come—"

Too late. Gai swung the door open. There, as expected, was Kakashi, sitting on the toilet with his pants around his ankles. Less expectedly, he was holding his dick. And not for anything toilet related! He was clearly in the middle of—Well—

Gai spun around, cheeks burning. And then, after a moment, spun back. This was his boyfriend! (Boyfriend!) He'd seen Kakashi's dick before! Several times! On purpose!

"I was almost done," said Kakashi, not meeting his eyes.

Gai wasn’t quite sure how to process what was happening. "The rice was getting cold," he said, stupidly.

Kakashi winced and released his dick, leaving it to bob half-heartedly over his thighs. "Sorry," he muttered, reaching for his pants. "I'll just—Sorry—"

No, no, Gai didn’t want that. Kakashi’s face was pinched, the flush of his cheeks matching the rosy head of his dick. Gai wanted to smooth the lines from Kakashi’s brow, wrap his hand around his jaw and his—

"Don't be sorry." Gai took a step into the bathroom, and then another, mesmerized by the way Kakashi’s lips parted as he drew nearer. "I just didn't realize—Please, let me help you."

Kakashi blinked up at him with wide eyes. Beautiful, mismatched eyes, his forehead protector long ago discarded somewhere around the couch. He looked so confused by the offer of help, Gai couldn't bear it. He hauled Kakashi up by the shoulders, then put one arm around his boyfriend's (boyfriend's!) waist to support him.

“May I?” he asked, blunt fingers tracing up Kakashi’s thigh.

Kakashi’s hands settled against Gai’s chest—not pushing him away, but resting there, his fingers digging into the weave of the soft black t-shirt Gai had changed into for their date. “The rice is getting cold,” said Kakashi.

“Our burning passion will keep it warm,” said Gai. Kakashi snorted at that, but his hips rocked forward, bumping his cock against Gai’s wrist.

Gai took him in hand, stroking along the shaft and thumbing at the head. His hand was scarred and callused, his skin dry, but Kakashi melted into him anyway. His face pressed into the crook of Gai's neck, his hips jerking needily up into Gai's hand. "Gai, gods, yes, please."

“Yes?” said Gai, fishing shamelessly for another of those beautiful moans. He snuck a daring hand over Kakashi’s hip and squeezed at the scant fat on his boyfriend’s—lover’s (lover’s!!) ass.

Kakashi muffled his cry into Gai’s shirt, but that was easy to forgive when he was also standing up on his toes, hips working as he used Gai’s hand like a toy to get off. He ground down once, twice, and then came messily all over Gai's arm.

"Beautiful," said Gai, stroking Kakashi's hair as Kakashi raggedly sucked in air. "Ready for dinner now?"

“Gimme a sec,” mumbled Kakashi. He shifted restlessly, cock dragging against the thick, dark hair on Gai’s arm, then stiffened. “Sorry, I—”

“Please.” Gai curled his hand loosely around Kakashi’s shaft again. “Take all the time you need.”

---

"I just get turned on," said Kakashi, pushing around the last few bites of really very cold rice on his plate. "But then you seemed busy, so... I was single for a long time. I know how to jerk off."

There was something about that which bothered Gai. Of course, it was Kakashi's body! He should do whatever he liked! But for him to be wanting Gai, and then to settle for the lonely touch of his own hand because he thought Gai didn't have time for him...

"You should come to me," said Gai, impulsively.

Kakashi's chopsticks paused in the act of smushing an inoffensive grain of rice. "You were busy."

"Come to me anyway," said Gai. "I'll never be too busy for my eternal boyfriend! Any time, day or night—"

"Don't be ridiculous," said Kakashi, his voice as sharp as a blade.

Gai slumped like his tendons had just been cut. Of course, it was too much. Of course, Kakashi didn't want him all the time. He probably had other ideas, other outlets—

"It would be too much," said Kakashi. "I want you—gods, Gai, I want you all the time." He dropped the chopsticks with a clatter and ran his fingers through his hair until it was puffy with static. "I want you when you're doing those endless exercises, and when you're just sitting and laughing on the couch, and when you're sleeping..."

Gai caught Kakashi's hands, and then had to pause to disentangle them from Kakashi's hair before he could clasp them properly. "So have me," he said, as he worked Kakashi's fingers free of a particularly stubborn knot. "Whenever you want. However you like."

Kakashi looked up at him from under the mess of his hair, his gray eye narrowed. "You'd let me interrupt your training?"

It was a sacrifice, of course, but a sacrifice Gai was more than willing to make. "For you," he said, in his most romantic tones, "anything."

That didn't seem to satisfy Kakashi. "When you're sleeping? Any time?"

Gai did his boyfriend (boyfriend! still!!) the courtesy of actually thinking about it. His dick tried to get involved, thinking about warm hands turning him over in the middle of the night, but—no, this was for Kakashi’s benefit. Gai was perfectly satisfied with what they had already, and would be happy with any additional intimacy they might have time to pursue.

"Not when I'm training with my team," he said, once he’d managed to cudgel his brain back into order. "And not during missions."

Kakashi still seemed hesitant. "It'll be too much," he said again.

Gai laughed. "How much could you want me, Kakashi? Every day?"

Kakashi got a glint in his eye at that. It made Gai lean back, instinctively—it was the same look Kakashi got on the sparring field, right before he completed some fifty-sequence move that ended with his opponent (usually Gai) flat on their back, stifling a groan.

"Sometimes I want you three or four times a day," said Kakashi, each word dropping inevitably into place. "Sometimes I roll over in the morning, when you've gone out for your run. I bury my face in your pillow and hump the warm space you left behind until it feels like my chest is bursting, and then I stop myself from finishing just in case you'll let me touch you when you get back. Sometimes I hunt through your laundry until I find the jockstrap you were wearing the day before, so that I can smell your dick while I'm jerking off. Sometimes I even keep it, use it two or three times before I give it back."

Gai gaped. He'd noticed—Well. He hadn’t noticed that. But he’d noticed that Kakashi seemed to change the sheets more often than Gai would have. It was an odd sort of neatness from a habitually lazy man, but everyone had their own ways of keeping house. And his underwear did keep disappearing. Gai had blamed his building's washing machines, and put up signs in the laundry room in case anyone found his smalls mixed in with their own. But it had been Kakashi's need for him, all of it, his apparent endless yearning for Gai's skin.

Gai had thought—He’d known that Kakashi liked him, because Kakashi wouldn’t have even agreed to one date if he hadn’t liked him. But all this time, Gai had thought that he was the only one who needed.

"It'll be too much," said Kakashi, seriously. "So drop it, okay? I'm happy with what I have now."

"Rival," said Gai, thickly. "That sounds like a challenge."

---

Kakashi slept over that night. Gai liked it when he slept over, despite its many inconveniences. The blankets always seemed to migrate over to Kakashi's side, for instance, and Kakashi would grumble and squirm if Gai tried to tug them back. Or if Gai moved at all, actually. At night Kakashi seemed to regard him as an essential, prized, but overall immobile part of the furniture. He slept best with his face mashed against Gai's chest and his lanky limbs pinning Gai in place.

It was a little difficult for Gai to fall asleep in turn. Kakashi's sprawl pressed his groin against Gai's hip, only the thin cloth of his boxers separating his cock from Gai's skin. Gai, of course, slept in the nude when at home. It hadn't previously occurred to him that this might be... provocative.

Would this be the night? Would Kakashi’s hips begin to twitch in his sleep, grinding his cock against the crease of Gai’s thigh? Would he wake to find Gai red faced and hard, struggling to keep himself still as Kakashi used him as nothing more than a warm soft place to rut?

But Kakashi didn't wake up, and his hips stayed still. He just slept, face creasing occasionally with some dream, even after Gai's alarm had gone off and Gai had carefully pried himself out from under his beloved boyfriend. Gai went off on his bracing morning run entirely unmolested—except for his overeager thoughts which had limited his sleep to a few restless hours. His jumpsuit was a little tight in certain places, but the outer roads were mostly deserted before dawn and the frigid winter air quickly calmed all of that down. By the time Gai got back, he’d forgotten about the whole thing. Just another day in beautiful Konoha, with the most wonderful boyfriend he could ask for!

"Gai?" called the wonderful boyfriend.

Gai paused in the act of drinking his extremely nutritious boiled chicken smoothie and glanced into the bedroom. It was impenetrably dark, the curtains drawn resolutely against the rising sun. He’d expected Kakashi to be asleep for… well, anywhere between two and six hours. Until after he’d left for team training, certainly. "Yes, my love?"

"Can you come here, please?” Kakashi’s voice sounded a little odd. Muffled, but somehow strained. Gai frowned, trying to solve the mystery with his ears before revealing it with his eyes. Had Kakashi adopted a morning training routine? How exciting!

But he’d pondered it for too long. Kakashi’s voice came again, but now he sounded carefully diffident. “If you’re too busy, I can—”

Gai set his smoothie down on the counter and strode into the bedroom. "I'm never too busy for you, my love. What can I—ah—"

Kakashi’s face was hidden, pressed firmly against Gai’s pillow. At the same time his back arched as his hips peeled away from the bed, leaving a visible damp spot on the sheets. His hands were fisted in the bedclothes, and his boxers were rucked down to just below the swell of his ass. Gai froze in the doorway, torn between wanting to touch the vulnerable nape of Kakashi's neck or the delicate dimples on his lower back.

"Want you," groaned Kakashi. He extended a hand blindly out to Gai.

Spellbound, Gai took it. And then he was being yanked onto the bed, manhandled into place. He ended up on his back, pinned down by Kakashi's hand on his belly, while Kakashi rubbed his face against the soft bulge in his jumpsuit.

"Fuck, it's so much better when it's fresh." Kakashi scrabbled for a moment at the hidden flap at Gai's crotch, before managing to find the catch. He didn't try to pull down the jockstrap that was hidden underneath—which was good, actually, because Gai wore his jockstraps tight, especially on mornings when his private parts needed some encouragement to remain private. It wasn't comfortable to have them bouncing around or tugged out of place. How lucky that Kakashi seemed content to mouth wetly at the sweaty jock, the touch of his tongue only a distant tease through the thick layer of cotton.

This was For Kakashi, so Gai didn’t do anything rude like jerking up into the ghost-soft touches or shoving down his jock so Kakashi’s tongue met eager flesh. He stayed quiet and still instead, even as he saw Kakashi's shoulder moving and realized that he was jerking off as he buried his face in Gai's crotch. Even when Kakashi resurfaced to tug at the zipper of Gai's jumpsuit and shove it off his shoulders. It was an honor to let Kakashi rut against Gai's chest, to see him bite his lip and whimper as the sensitive shaft of his cock dragged over dark hair and sweat-slick skin. Gai did take the initiative to press his arms close under his chest, squeezing his pecs together, and was rewarded by Kakashi collapsing to his elbows, his hips moving frantically to fuck the channel Gai had made for him.

For a moment all Gai could see was Kakashi, his pale skin reddened with passion, his lips bitten and raw, his eyes squeezing shut. The smell of him, sleep-warm and hazy, his head coming down to rest on Gai’s shoulder—and then Kakashi was coming in long, sticky pulses, muffling a moan into Gai’s skin. His rhythm slowed to a lazy rock against Gai's chest, like he was savoring the aftershocks of the orgasm.

Some of his semen had managed to spurt up to Gai's chin, and Kakashi shakily lowered himself down to lick it off. "That was nice," he murmured, his lips moving against Gai's skin. "Is it—" He yawned abruptly, one of the funny dog-like yawns that Gai had only been privileged to see a few times, his lips curling back to show off his teeth. "S’okay if I nap for a minute?"

Gai thought about the mess Kakashi had made of his chest, which would itch if he left it to dry. The smoothie he'd left on the counter, which would need to be thrown away and remade. His own half-hard dick, aching to be touched.

"Of course it's okay," he said. Kakashi, eyes already closed, made a vague noise of gratitude.

Gai stared up at the ceiling and practiced his breathing exercises. How lucky he was that training could be done anywhere.

---

At first, that's all it was. Gai would come home from a run—or a mission, or training, or lunch, or a briefing—and Kakashi would essentially use his body to jerk off. All Gai had to do was lie still and look 'dangerously sexy, fuck, yeah, like that' as Kakashi had once memorably put it.

Gai usually didn't get off himself. He always seemed to catch Kakashi when he was already worked up, nearly at the point of bursting. The encounters never lasted more than a few minutes, the clean-up taking longer than anything else. It was hard for Gai to switch gears from his usual routine to the sudden sexual encounters—by the time his cock was starting to stir, Kakashi was already done and languidly mouthing kisses under Gai's jaw.

It was hard to switch back, too. Gai would spend the rest of the day in a half-aroused haze, his skin sensitized and prickling. Sometimes he wondered if the deal went both ways... If he could pin Kakashi to the wall and use his thighs to stroke himself off, if Kakashi would just stand there and let him…

But it wasn't as if they'd stopped having sex. Normal, reciprocal sex, with grasping hands and heated glances. Gai was always the one to initiate it, although sometimes he thought he could sense Kakashi goading him into it. Snuggling a little closer into Gai's side as they watched a martial arts movie, one hand landing innocently on Gai's thigh. Tugging his mask down to take a drink and then just forgetting to ever draw it back up. It was easier to notice these little tells now, because if Gai didn't respond to Kakashi's hints, eventually he would just slide into Gai's lap and rut against his belly until he came.

Sometimes Gai ignored him on purpose. He didn't like admitting that, even to himself. It felt dishonorable. But there was a perverse sort of pleasure in watching Kakashi snap. It felt like winning a challenge, even when it left Gai hard and wanting in the aftermath.

Kakashi shifted on the couch, and Gai drew himself back out of his thoughts. They were having a quiet night in tonight, on the occasion of their twenty-fourth date. Kakashi was reading one of his books, and Gai was repairing a few of his jumpsuits. It was very domestic! He should live in the moment instead of letting himself be distracted with thoughts of sex! They’d already engaged in a very intimate moment that morning, and Kakashi had rubbed off against his ass that afternoon! Surely that was enough for anyone! Gai determinedly bent his head and rededicated himself to stitching a burst side seam.

"Hey, Gai," said Kakashi. "Can you blow me?"

Gai stabbed his thumb with his needle. "Ah! Sorry, I mean—" He stuck his thumb into his mouth and carefully set both needle and jumpsuit onto the coffee table. "Nnngh?"

"I just got to a good sex scene," said Kakashi, not looking up from his book. He was holding it open with one hand, and the other was resting on—oh—the visible bulge in his sweatpants. "It's okay if you're busy, though."

Gai dragged his thumb out of his mouth. "I'm not busy," he said, breathlessly.

Kakashi didn't make a move toward him, just spread his legs a little and then turned a page. It was up to Gai to position himself in an awkward sprawl over the couch and pull down Kakashi's sweats—and then suck in a breath as he realized that Kakashi wasn’t wearing underwear. It was just pale skin and the fine thatch of hair surrounding his already hard cock. The foreskin had pulled back to expose the glistening tip. He'd left a wet spot in the front of his sweats.

Gai licked his lips and glanced up at Kakashi, just in case... But no, Kakashi was still engrossed in his book. No direction there. Well, Gai was no novice in the art of oral pleasure! He lowered his head and delicately took the tip of Kakashi's cock into his mouth.

This time was much less frantic than the ones before. Kakashi seemed content to let Gai do as he liked, to wrap his fist around the shaft, to run his tongue under the glans. His free hand dove into the sweats to play with Kakashi's tightening balls.

It was getting harder to ignore his own arousal, with the way this position pressed his groin against the couch cushions. But he didn't have any hands left for himself, and he couldn't thrust his hips without disrupting the rhythm he was building with every little bob of his head. That was fine. This was For Kakashi.

"Mm..." Kakashi's hand landed in Gai's hair. He didn't pull at it, fortunately. Just little tugs that sent a shiver up Gai's spine. "This is a really good bit, let me read it to you."

Gai did not need to hear about Kakashi's pornography, but his mouth was too occupied to protest. Instead he had to just lie there as Kakashi read to him about Nari-chan's breasts wriggling (wriggling??) as she kneaded her partner's burgeoning member like bread dough. Maybe it was a hint? Gai tried squeezing Kakashi's balls a little harder, and Kakashi actually stumbled over a word as his hips jerked up into Gai's mouth.

"You don't, hahh, you don't mind if I fuck your mouth, do you?" Kakashi's hand firmly cupped the back of Gai's head.

Gai still couldn't say anything. Instead, he deliberately moved his hands so they rested on Kakashi's thighs. His throat relaxed in preparation.

The first thrust caught him by surprise anyway, hard and fast and driving Kakashi's cock right to the back of his throat. Gai couldn't quite suppress his choking, and Kakashi groaned as Gai's throat contracted around him.

Somehow he kept reading, even as his core worked and his hand pressed Gai closer. "Nari-chan sank down on her senpai's thick rod, her womanly walls quivering as she came instantly. Love juices squirted out, drenching Ken's shirt up to the collar. She wailed out his name as Ken began to pound her like a delicious chicken katsu—"

Gai tuned it out. It was so much better to think about the feel of velvet skin on his tongue, the way Kakashi trembled when Gai swallowed or hummed. He squirmed closer still, until Kakashi couldn't thrust anymore. Just grind, deep in Gai's throat, and finally come in long pulses that Gai could only just taste on the back of his tongue.

Gai lay there for a long moment, cradling Kakashi's softening cock in his mouth, until Kakashi huffed and drew him off.

"Thanks," he murmured, leaning down to press a kiss to Gai's mouth. "You need anything?"

Gai was harder than he'd ever been in his life, but what he wanted, more than anything, was to lie here with his head against Kakashi's leg until the world stopped spinning around him. "I'm fine," he mumbled.

"Okay." Kakashi smoothed Gai's hair back from his forehead. "Just let me know."

He went back to his book, his hand still stroking Gai's hair. Gai nuzzled his face into the soft hair of Kakashi’s inner thigh. The skin was so thin and pale there, usually protected from the world by sweatpants and legwrap. There was a long puckered scar that crossed Kakashi’s femoral artery. Gai remembered dragging Kakashi out of the field on the day he’d gotten it, his rival hazy with blood loss and chakra exhaustion but still clutching a kunai in one shaking hand. Now there was just skin, imperfect but whole, and he could feel Kakashi’s heart beating lazily under his cheek.

“Are you doing okay?” said Kakashi.

Gai’s eyes blinked open—he wasn’t sure when they’d closed. Oh, Kakashi’s cock was right there. It looked so cute and small when it wasn’t hard. He wanted to put it in his mouth again.

Kakashi’s fingers snapped in front of his face. “Hey, earth to Gai. Did all the sex break your brain?”

“No.” Gai shifted back a little so that he could see more of Kakashi than that tempting little cock. “I told you, I’m fine. Just a little sleepy.”

Kakashi gave him an odd, narrow look. His mask was up, but Gai thought he could detect a frown.

“Not too sleepy,” Gai hurried to add. “If you’d like to—or if you want me to be sleepy, I could—”

“You know you can tap out, right?” asked Kakashi. “I won’t… you know. It won’t count against you. You don’t have to put up with me all the time.”

“Oh, Kakashi!” Gai surged up, crushing Kakashi’s book against his chest in his eagerness to embrace his beloved boyfriend. “Of course I don’t have to! I want to! More than anything!”

Kakashi wriggled a little, but it was only to extract one arm and pat Gai on the back. “It’s not too much?”

“You could never be too much for me,” declared Gai. “I strive to be your equal in everything! The only question is whether you can keep up with me!”

“Hmm…” Kakashi tapped his chin, and then pulled his mask down to reveal those pale, slightly chapped, absolutely mesmerizing lips. “I guess we’ll see,” he murmured, and then drew Gai in for a kiss.

Gai didn't get any more jumpsuit repairs done that evening. Nor did he regret it.

---

After that, the floodgates opened.

Gai had naively thought that he was keeping up with Kakashi's libido in those first few days. But now, he was fielding requests for handjobs, blowjobs, various forms of penetration, and Kakashi would still press up against him in the hallway and grind against his ass. It was as if every time that Gai said 'yes' just made him want to ask for something more.

Gai could sympathize. Sometimes he felt like he was swimming through a limitless sea of arousal and need, only briefly surfacing for tiny gasps of clarity when he went to work with his team or took on a mission. He was starting to get hard just from seeing Kakashi, his cock straining at the tight confines of his jockstrap in the anticipation of feeling Kakashi's touch. Of course, he’d always admired his boyfriend, even before they’d taken that sideways step from ‘committed rivals’ to ‘also we kiss sometimes.’ But 'unrelenting horniness' wasn't exactly the same emotion as 'fond adoration.'

He took a three day mission in southern Fire, just to clear his head. It went well! The clients were very grateful to have their land cleared of grain-stealing bandits! And Gai felt like he was on fire every night as he laid on the nice firm bed in the nice clean room he'd been given. He kept thinking about Kakashi—what was Kakashi doing, without Gai lying there beside him? Did he miss Gai? Was he jerking off?

"Nah," answered Kakashi, once Gai had gotten back and asked what was somehow the least embarrassing of his questions—was he jerking off?. They were lying on the floor of Gai's apartment. Kakashi had tackled him there as soon as Gai had closed the door, buried his face in the crook of Gai's neck and rode Gai's thigh until he was stifling tantalizing little whines as he came in his pants.

"You can, you know," said Gai—a little hypocritically, he had to admit, since he was currently fighting not to touch his own very distracting erection. "I didn't mean to limit you. It's only if you want my help—"

Kakashi groaned and peeled himself away from Gai's damp thigh. "Don't make this harder than it already is," he said, cryptically. "Come on, we need to change."

Gai assumed Kakashi just wanted to get out of his sticky clothes, so he was surprised when Kakashi came out of the bathroom in his usual jōnin uniform. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Hm?" Kakashi's gaze flicked up to Gai's face before drifting lower down. "Yeah, I thought maybe we could go to a bar? We haven't been out in a while."

"Oh!" It was true, they'd mostly been staying home and—well—having lots of sex. Gai felt a little guilty about how he hadn't even noticed. "What a nice idea! Let me just change, ah, again—"

"You look fine," said Kakashi, quickly.

Gai gave him a dubious look. He'd stripped out of his travel- and Kakashi-stained jumpsuit and into house shorts and a tanktop from a vacation he'd gone on when he was sixteen and tourism was nervously reemerging from its wartime slumber. The shorts were very short, and he hadn't bothered putting underwear on underneath. The tanktop had been tight when he'd bought it, and now was fighting an admirable battle to contain his chest. The words I got soaked in the Land of Hot Water!, emblazoned on the front, were so stretched that they were practically unreadable.

"It's warm today," said Kakashi. "What do the kids say? Suns out, guns out?"

The only bits of Kakashi left exposed were a slice of skin between his forehead plate and his mask, his fingers, and the tips of his toes. But before Gai could point this out, Kakashi reached out and caught his hand. "Please?" he said.

Gai melted. He didn't know why this was so important to Kakashi, but he couldn't deny his boyfriend anything on this, the day of their thirty-first date!

"Of course, my love," he said. "Lead the way!"

---

It was odd—Kakashi didn't stop at their usual haunt, an unassuming five-seat sake stand on the side of the road that led out to the training fields. Nor did he want to go drink with Genma and Raido, who were chatting in one of the quiet bars frequented by shinobi. Instead he pulled Gai into a busy nightclub, so full of pulsing music and laughter that it spilled out into the street around the small building.

There was a bouncer just inside the door. He only spared Kakashi a brief glance before giving Gai a much longer one, lingering on Gai’s legs. Gai fidgeted, fighting the urge to tug his shorts down from where they'd ridden up as he'd walked.

The bouncer nodded at where Kakashi and Gai's hands were joined. "He's with you?" he asked Kakashi.

"Yeah," said Kakashi, casually. As if he didn't even realize that this was the first time they'd held hands in public!

The bouncer fished a couple neon green tokens out of a belt pouch and tossed them to Gai. "First round's on the house. Have fun."

Kakashi tossed the bouncer a lazy salute and started moving again, leaving Gai stumbling to catch up, the tokens clutched in his fist. "Do you come here often?" asked Gai.

Kakashi glanced back at him, tilting his head. Maybe he even asked what Gai had said, but the music was very loud and the club was very dark. Gai’s hard-won skill at reading lips under a mask wasn’t doing him much good here.

"Come here often!" yelled Gai.

Kakashi shook his head and then paused, drawing close to Gai so that he could speak into his ear. "Did a favor for the owner. She's always pestering me to drop by."

"Owner?" Gai glanced around. He saw glittering pink lights, happily drunk civilians, a male go-go dancer on stage with a leather harness and shorts that were just about as short as Gai's... He felt himself flush. Ah, it was that sort of club.

Kakashi pointed past the dancer, to where a woman with long bleach-blonde hair was holding herself perfectly horizontal from a pole using just her arms. While doing the splits. And wearing stilettos. As Gai watched, she kicked one leg to send herself in a slow spiral down to the floor. The crowd surrounding her stage erupted in cheers and a shower of ryo.

"The owner," said Kakashi. "C'mon, let's get that drink."

The bar was just as crowded as the rest of the club, but Kakashi managed to find one last stool wedged between two different groups and—over Gai's protests that he was happy to stand—maneuvered Gai onto it.

Sitting pulled the shorts up even further. The front stretched tight over his groin, most of the fabric disappearing into the crease of his thighs. The stool forced him to sit with his legs wide to keep his balance on the small seat, which tugged at the seat of the shorts under his balls... Gai braced his hands on his thighs, trying to pretend that he was back in his comfortable jumpsuit, suitable for all occasions.

Kakashi put an arm around Gai's shoulders, plucking the tokens from his hand to toss them to a bartender in a mesh shirt. A regular mesh shirt, not even metal mesh. The bartender didn't ask them what they wanted, just came back with two pink, fizzy drinks that smelled strongly of fruit and alcohol.

"Kampai," said Kakashi, clinking his glass against Gai's before taking a long swig. "Hey, you're not cold, are you?" He set his drink down and chafed his hands over Gai's bare legs. "Here, let me warm you up."

Gai shivered, feeling goosebumps rise in the wake of Kakashi's soft leather gloves. He opened his mouth to tell Kakashi that this was not helping, at all, when he was struck by a vision of a goddess. A blonde goddess in hotpants and a push-up sports bra, leaning over the bar right in front of him.

"Kakashi!" said the owner of the club. "You actually came! Who's this?"

Gai was never so tongue-tied as to forget to introduce himself. "Maito Gai! I'm Kakashi's, ah—" Eternal rival didn't feel entirely appropriate here. But it felt presumptuous to declare himself Kakashi's boyfriend in front of such an old and respected acquaintance. Colleague? Fellow jōnin?

"Boyfriend," said Kakashi, smoothly. "Looks like business is going well, Jun."

"It's going great." Jun pointed at Kakashi with both hands and then turned back to Gai. "This guy is a keeper. Tracked down my ex-husband, got back all the money he'd stolen, and broke both of his legs. Amazing. Are we dancing tonight, or what?"

Of course the answer would be no. Which was a disappointment, as Gai loved to dance. But he had long ago reconciled himself to the fact that Kakashi did not enjoy 'moving uncoordinatedly in a crowd of drunken idiots while having your ear drums destroyed,' as he'd put it so memorably when Gai had dared to challenge him to a dance off when they were seventeen.

"Only if Gai will dance with me," said Kakashi, and smiled when Gai turned to gape.

---

Kakashi turned out to be a very intense dancer.

Gai's usual strategy when it came to dancing was maximum movement, maximum fun. Swinging his arms around created a nice pocket of open floorspace, allowing for more complex moves such as 'high kick,' 'jumping jack,' or 'handstand pushup.' Sometimes he even gathered a circle of onlookers to cheer him on!

But they'd only been on the floor for a moment when Kakashi looped his arms around Gai's neck and pulled him into an odd, close, slow sort of dance. The main move seemed to be swaying back and forth to the pulsing of the bass. Gai put his hands on Kakashi's waist to steady himself and tried not to step on his feet.

Kakashi kept squeezing closer, his legs twining with Gai's until it was only Gai's trained shinobi balance keeping him from falling. His chest pressed Gai's shirt against his skin, dampening it where he was starting to sweat. His thigh—

Gai swallowed a squeak as he realized he was half-hard and grinding against his boyfriend in the club. Kakashi's eye curved into a smile as he said something inaudible under the music.

"What?" shouted Gai.

Kakashi actually tugged down his mask, teeth flashing in the neon strobes. Gai doubted anyone had time to see his face before he turned to speak directly into Gai's ear.

"Those shorts are making me feral," he said, and then bit Gai's earlobe.

Gai stumbled back, thankfully hitting a wall rather than any other dancers. Kakashi followed him, hands dropping from his neck to his thighs as he crowded in.

"I swear I can see your balls peeking out at me." Kakashi's fingers ran up his extremely short inseam, teasing at, yes, Gai's very sensitive balls. "Fuck, I want you so bad."

Gai looked a little frantically at the crowded dance floor. He was pretty sure that Kakashi's body was shielding him from any indecent exposure, but pretty sure was not good enough. "Let's go home," he suggested. "I mean—we can go back to my place, it's closer."

"Mm, no, I want to stay out." Kakashi's touch ghosted over Gai's inner thigh, almost but not quite brushing Gai's cock. "We can go back to dancing if you're tapping out..."

Gai considered himself a strong man. A pinnacle of self-control. The master of every inch of his body. But clearly he still had some work to do, because his hips twitched just enough to bump his cock against Kakashi's knuckles.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows, and the corner of his mouth ticked up. "Yeah?" he breathed, his hand twisting to—oh, gods—wrap fully around Gai's shaft and stroke.

Gai's entire body curved inward, his forehead thunking down to rest against Kakashi's. He wrapped his hands over the back of Kakashi's head and tried to breathe through how badly he wanted to pick Kakashi up and just fuck him right there.

"Won't we get in trouble?" he said, fighting to keep some semblance of coherency.

"I don't know, probably." Kakashi twisted his grip over the the tip of Gai's cock. "Like I said, you can tap out if you want."

Gai didn't exactly understand what Kakashi meant by 'tapping out.' He’d brought it up before, hadn’t he? Of course, Gai could say no—he could always say no, but he wanted… Oh, he wanted Kakashi to keep looking at him like that. He wanted to feel that smile against his neck, squeeze that flat ass in his hands, hear Kakashi bite back a moan…

It felt like his brain was melting out of his ears as Kakashi palmed at him, his dick reacting eagerly to being touched instead of just teased and ignored and put away hard and needy. His eyes dropped down to stare at the bulge of Kakashi's hand in his shorts.

"Bathroom," said Gai.

Kakashi paused where he'd been about to lay either a kiss or a bite on Gai's exposed collarbone. "Hm?"

Gai caught Kakashi's wrist and carefully extracted him from his shorts. "There must be a bathroom here."

"Oh. Yeah." Kakashi gave the shorts another longing stare. "Yeah, I guess if you want to clean up... We can go home if you really want to—"

"No," said Gai. "I want to go to the bathroom. Together. Now."

For one, perfect moment, the strobe fell across Kakashi's wide-eyed expression, finally caught on the back foot like he'd had Gai this whole time.

---

Kakashi's back thudded against the one solid wall in the bathroom stall as Gai hitched him up in preparation for the next thrust. He had one hand around Kakashi's waist and the other muffling Kakashi's moans, with nothing left to touch Kakashi's poor, neglected, dripping cock. Kakashi's hands were too busy scrabbling at Gai's shoulders in an attempt to keep himself upright. That was fine. Let Kakashi be the one left begging for release for once, while Gai chased that suspended crystal dream before reality rushed back in.

The elastic of his shorts flexed around the curve of his ass, where he'd shoved them down just far enough to free his cock. He had a vague sense that the Gai of a few weeks ago would never have even considered the possibility of fucking in a nightclub bathroom. He wouldn't have assumed that Kakashi was carrying lube, for one thing. He would've been much too conscious of the chatting clubgoers going in and out, and how his own harsh strained breaths felt so loud underneath the thudding bass of the music.

Gai curled forward, pressing his face against Kakashi's chest as he continued to fuck up into him. He'd rucked Kakashi's shirt up to his armpits when they'd first started necking in the stall, which left his nipples conveniently exposed. Biting one made Kakashi hiss, clutch at Gai's neck, and spasm tightly around his cock. Gai growled and squeezed Kakashi's ass as he leaned over to bite the other.

Kakashi said something incomprehensible, his lips moving against the palm of Gai's hand. Gai gallantly shifted his hand to the wall, freeing Kakashi's mouth.

"You're going to drop me," said Kakashi, in what would have seemed to past-Gai a much-too-loud whisper.

"No, I'm not," murmured Gai. "I deadlift twelve hundred pounds, I'm not going to drop you."

"That's with the first gate open." Kakashi squirmed, and then gasped as Gai took him at a new angle. "Ah, fuck—I think—Let me down."

Gai started to draw out, but then Kakashi kicked at him with his heels until he slid back in again. "What do you want, rival? Should I put you down, or should I keep fucking you?"

Kakashi tried to say something, but another thrust had him shoving his own hand over his mouth to stifle a delightful squeal. His rival—boyfriend—rival at a loss for words! It was such a rare sight, Gai had to press his advantage.

"Should I put you on your hand and knees on the filthy floor, Kakashi? Do you want it so badly that you'd take me like that, any way you can get me? Should I open the door so that everyone else can see how desperate you are?"

Kakashi's knuckles were white where he'd clamped his hand over his mouth, and his grip was punishingly tight on Gai's shoulder—and around Gai's cock. Gai wanted to last longer—wanted to fuck Kakashi forever—but one thrust, two, three into that slick, needy hole and he was burying himself there for good as he came. He ground Kakashi down onto his cock, as deep as he could get.

He took a breath against Kakashi’s sweat-slick chest, and then the stall door burst open behind them.

Someone—not Kakashi—yelped. The door slammed shut again.

Gai's eyes squeezed closed. He was deep in that suspended crystal dream, but it was beginning to seem like there might be consequences when reality did return.

"Boys," called Jun, her voice unmistakeable over the sudden hush in the bathroom. "Please dismount and pull up your pants. Party's over for tonight."

---

Kakashi complained the whole way back to Gai's apartment about the fact that he hadn't gotten off.

"Not even a handjob while you were destroying my ass," he said, limping performatively. Gai was confident it was performative, given that he'd seen Kakashi run with a broken leg and a punctured lung, but it still made him feel guilty. "And you got me in trouble with Jun."

"She didn't ban you," Gai pointed out as he unlocked the door to the building. It was astonishing that they hadn't been banned. "Anyway, you were trying to—to fondle me on the dance floor."

"Great point," said Kakashi. "I selflessly offered you a handjob, and you—"

Gai groaned and swept Kakashi up into his arms to carry him up the stairs. "Kakashi," he murmured. "Rival. Beloved. I'm exhausted. When we get upstairs, I'm going to collapse onto bed and go to sleep without even trying to change out of these lewd clothes you convinced me to go out in. You may seek whatever satisfaction you still need from my body while I'm asleep, all right?"

Kakashi was silent all the way up the stairs, down the hall, and into Gai's apartment. It was only when Gai was depositing him on the other side of the bed that he seemed to find his voice.

"Really?" he asked. "You'd let me, uh—"

"We talked about this weeks ago," said Gai. He’d also been making several hints which he now realized had been swooping over Kakashi’s head like a poorly aimed roundhouse kick.

"Right, but—" Kakashi was actually starting to blush, his pale skin dusting red over his cheekbones. "It would be—It's a lot. I didn't think you meant it."

Gai leaned down and put his hand on Kakashi's cheek. Rubbed his thumb over that warm skin as he drew Kakashi’s mask down. Dipped down to claim a kiss from Kakashi's lips.

"Kakashi," he said. "Please. Trust me when I say that I want everything."

---

Gai woke up the next morning feeling gloriously used.

His shorts had been pulled down to his knees. His shirt had been rucked up to his armpits. And between his thighs—Gai ran his hand over the sticky mess of his thighs and had to bite back a moan. His cock practically leapt to meet his hand as he reached for it.

Gai had a vague recollection of waking in the night as he was rolled onto his front. Warm lips against the back of his neck, a soothing voice low in his ear. His hand squeezed tighter as he tugged at himself, his hips jerking off-rhythm.

There was something—Something about being wanted, wanted all the time, so badly that it couldn't wait another moment. It was how he'd felt for years, needing Kakashi to look at him, to see him, and to think that Kakashi sometimes felt the same way...

"Kakashi," he moaned out loud, as his thumb caught at the head of his cock.

There was an answering whine from his left. Gai rolled his head to the side and was greeted by the sight of Kakashi, nude except for his mask, lying in a graceless heap on top of the covers.

"Kakashi?" he said, somewhat less seductively.

Kakashi cracked open one eye—his eye, the hazy gray one. "Mrghhh," he said, and then rubbed his face against the quilt. "Gai," he said, at last. "Gai. Gai. I can't."

"Can't?" Gai looked at Kakashi nonplussed, almost forgetting that he was holding his own dick in his hand. "Can't what?"

"I can't!" Kakashi mashed his face deeper into the mattress and then slapped the bed like he was tapping out of a wrestling match. "That's it. That's all I've got. I'm dry. I'm chafed. I can't keep up. You've shown me. You've won."

“Won?”

“The challenge,” said Kakashi. “I get it, I admit defeat. You’re the fuckmaster.”

"Oh," said Gai. That was right. He had said something about it being a challenge, hadn't he? That he could keep up with his rival, not his boyfriend. He'd... forgotten.

"I see," he said. "Yes. Hah. Yes! Another point to me!"

Of course. That was it. Of course, Kakashi had never really wanted him all the time.

It had just been for the challenge.

Kakashi propped himself up on his elbows, blinking up at him. "Gai? Oh, damn, Gai—"

"Sorry," blubbered Gai, wiping at his eyes in a fruitless attempt to stem the tide. "I don't mean to—" He never meant to. Crying was a manly release of manly emotions, but it was also easier to slip into early in the morning when his brain hadn't woken up all the way. And it wouldn't do to make Kakashi feel bad! Kakashi hadn’t done anything wrong! He tried to bluster his way through it, grinding the heels of his palms into his cheeks. "I knew all along! It was a challenge, that was all! You couldn't really want me three times a day."

Kakashi scrambled up and then over him, wrapping Gai up in his arms and cradling Gai's face against his shoulder. "Hey, c'mon," he said. "Of course I could. I want you all the time."

Gai sniffled. "But you said—"

"My dick is just a quitter," declared Kakashi. "Forget it and let me eat your ass for the rest of the morning."

Another sniffle turned into a hiccupping laugh. "No," Gai said, shoving weakly at Kakashi's shoulder. "No, I couldn't—You wouldn't want to—"

"Please," Kakashi begged, widening his good eye and making a stirring attempt at a pout under his mask. "Please, please, Gai, I need to rim you to live."

"Nooo..." Gai twisted out of the loose confines of Kakashi's arms—and then back into them, lest Kakashi actually let him go. "No, I need to go on my run... I shouldn't..."

"Just for a minute?" said Kakashi. "Just sixty seconds, here, you count—"

Considerably more than sixty seconds later, they both lay sprawled and sticky on the bed, steaming slightly in the cool mid-morning air. Gai had definitively missed his morning run.

“I thought you would get sick of it,” said Kakashi, quietly. “Sick of me. I’ve put you through so much over the last couple decades, sometimes I feel like I have to push just to find the moment where you’ll break.”

Gai clasped Kakashi’s hand with both of his own. “We’ve been through so much together,” he said. “And, I, ah. I like it very much. Seeing how much you want me. I worried for years that you… didn’t really want me.”

Kakashi’s fingers twined with his. They lay there, on Gai’s old, narrow bed, hand in hand, eyes locked on each other. Gai wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world.

“I do need to tone it down a bit,” said Kakashi, eventually. “Just a bit.”

"Yes," said Gai, regretfully. Now that he was somewhat more awake, emotionally secure, and also had come all over Kakashi's chest, he could admit that this was unsustainable. "We really can't have sex three times every day."

"Right," said Kakashi. "Yeah. But..."

Gai raised his eyebrows. "But?"

"When we're not on a mission," said Kakashi, slowly, "or training with our teams, obviously. Would, I don't know. Would once or twice a day be okay?"

"Yes," said Gai, fervently. "Yes, I think I could work with that."

---

On one bright spring morning, Gai strode through the little street market with Kakashi half-draped over his side. Gyoza sizzled as sellers hawked fresh vegetables, meats, and an abundance of richly scented teas. Gai sucked in a deep breath, savoring the bracingly cool air.

“Gai,” whined Kakashi, “we could be in bed right now.”

“You can’t waste away the springtime of your youth in slumber, rival!” Gai patted Kakashi’s hand where Kakashi was pawing pleadingly at his chest. “This market is only open until noon!”

Kakashi’s head drooped heavier against Gai’s shoulder. “So why are we here at six, then?”

“Because the best onigiri stand always sells out!” said Gai. He slung an arm around Kakashi’s waist and carried him along through the knots of browsing villagers. “You’ll love the miso eggplant onigiri, I promise.”

Kakashi’s feet literally dragged on the ground, his sandals catching against the cobblestones. “We could be in bed,” he said again. “I could have woken you up by sucking your dick, and then rolled you over and fucked you open while you were still trying to remember your name.”

“Kakashi!” Gai’s ears were burning. “You—We can do that later! After breakfast!”

“Hmm…” Kakashi looked up at him with a gaze that was ever so slightly too sharp for how lazy he was acting. “Promise?”

“I—” Gai swallowed. He suddenly wanted, very badly, to pick Kakashi up and run back to their—his—their apartment. Which, of course, was what Kakashi had been angling for all along. He couldn’t give in! Or, he could, but— “Promise,” he said, weakly. “After breakfast.”

They finally made it to the onigiri stand, which was surrounded by chatting villagers in no discernable order. Gai peered around, trying to find his way to the front. “Ah, excuse me,” he said to a blonde woman with her back turned to him. “Are you waiting to order?”

“No, I’m—Oh! Gai!” The woman turned and smiled. Oh, it was Jun! From the nightclub! Gai felt his face immediately go hot.

“It’s very nice to see you,” he said, warmly, “and also I am so sorry for—”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Jun, waving a hand. “It was nice to see Kakashi having fun for once, even if I didn’t expect to see quite so much of him. You’re a cute couple, really. How long have you been together?”

Gai drew himself up to proudly proclaim the number of dates, only to realize… He didn’t know. He’d lost track, somewhere in the last week. fifty-three? fifty-seven? Did last weekend count as two dates, or one long one?

“Well,” said Kakashi, “you could say that today is our five-month anniversary. Or you could say we’ve been together on and off for about twenty-one years.”

“Kakashi!” Gai turned to look at his beautiful beloved rival boyfriend with tears glistening in his eyes. Since Kakashi was still hanging on his shoulder, their noses bumped into each other. “Our twenty-one year five month anniversary! We have to celebrate!” He waved a hand in the air, attracting the attention of both the stall proprietors and also everyone else in the area. “A round of onigiri for everyone!” he shouted.

Kakashi covered his face with his hand, but Gai could definitely detect a smile under his mask. “Remember,” he murmured. “Bed. You promised.”

“After breakfast,” agreed Gai, and handed him an onigiri.