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One of the costs of being a genius at a very young age, is the constant desire to prove those older and more experienced than you wrong; to prove that you’re just as skilled if not more so than those who are mocking your size or your age.
Kakashi is not immune to this.
He is also not immune to typical teenage hormones and curiosity.
So, after some harsh teasing from some fellow ANBU, he decides to ask Gai …
“Have you ever kissed anyone?” He asks it casually, slipping it into conversation after humoring Gai with a race to the top of the stone faces.
The sun is setting and bathing all of Konoha in a deep golden glow, a light that only exacerbates the instant red flush on Gai’s face.
“W-what? Why that question all of a sudden?” Gai asks, hands bunching in his leg warmers as he sits cross legged next to Kakashi.
Kakashi shrugs, trying for nonchalant. For some reason, some of Gai’s nervousness proves to be contagious. Something is squirming in his stomach when he thinks about Gai’s answer possibly being yes.
“No reason. I was just wondering. I haven’t,” he admits, seeing Gai’s head whip to look at him from the corner of his eye. “I was just curious if you had.”
“No, I haven’t either,” Gai admits, dropping his gaze back down to where he’s picking little pilled balls of fabric from his leg warmers.
Kakashi hums and analyzes the situation.
Despite some shortcomings and his overall excitability, Kakashi does trust Gai. Their mutual inexperience means Gai won’t know if Kakashi ends up being a bad kisser. There’s a risk that Gai might blab about the kiss in general, but his tendency to get flustered when it comes to matters like this means he’ll probably keep quiet.
Not to mention that Gai isn’t exactly hard on the eyes. Yeah, he might dress a little weird and he keeps his hair in a bowl cut and his eyebrows are thick, but Kakashi has known for a while where his preferences fall and he can admit that Gai’s handsome now that he’s growing into himself. Puberty has given him wide shoulders and ever thickening muscles and a solid chest that Kakashi has more than once found himself staring at.
All in all, those circumstances combined lead him to jump head first into asking …
“Do you want to try?”
Gai looks at him with wide eyes. “What?”
“Kissing. Do you want to try?”
“With you?”
For a brief panicked moment, Kakashi worries if he’s read their situation wrong. Maybe Gai’s going to punch him in the face for even asking. Kakashi knows he’s sort of an outlier when it comes to his attraction to the same sex.
“No, with the stone face of Lord First,” he tries to joke. “Of course me.”
Gai’s still looking at him, barely blinking. “Oh, you’d want to? With me?”
It sounds uncharacteristically vulnerable which tugs at something behind Kakashi’s ribs.
“Sure,” he says with a shrug, hoping that he’s hiding just how much he doesn’t mind at all.
Gai’s blush deepens. “Okay.”
For some reason, even though this had been the end goal, Kakashi’s pulse starts to pound.
“Okay,” he parrots back, shifting so that he’s facing Gai.
Gai turns to do the same.
Nothing happens.
They just sit there, staring expectantly at each other before Kakashi has enough and yanks his mask down, choosing not to dwell on how Gai’s eyes go impossibly wider, staring hard at his lips.
He’s about to lean forward and just get it over and done, when Gai does the unthinkable and tentatively reaches a hand out to cup Kakashi’s cheek.
Kakashi feels callous-rough fingers catch on his jaw and something in his brain short circuits.
“Can I kiss you now?” Gai asks.
And this isn’t fair.
Kakashi had gone into this situation thinking he’d just ask and they’d kiss and that’d be the end of it. The older ANBU members wouldn’t tease him and call him ‘pup’ instead of ‘hound,’ just because he hasn’t had his first kiss yet. He’d come out of it with the ability to smirk at them and make them wonder who exactly it was he was kissing. Let them be the ones wondering for a change.
But this.
He didn’t account for Gai’s hand on his skin, his dark brown eyes so carefully watching Kakashi’s own. He never could have planned for the way he could feel the warmth coming from Gai as he leaned closer when Kakashi nodded his acquiescence.
Kakashi barely has time to get with the program, but he leans to meet Gai halfway, shivering as Gai’s hand strokes his cheek when Kakashi tilts to avoid their noses smushing together.
There’s a cool wisp of air between them as Gai takes a breath right before their lips meet.
And okay, maybe there was something to this whole kissing thing. When the ANBU would tease him, he often thought that the hype was uncalled for. Surely nothing spectacular could come just from lips touching and saliva being exchanged.
There is though.
There’s just so many more signs of life that Kakashi is aware of as he allows his eyes to slip closed to fully enjoy the sensations he’s currently being bombarded with. He can feel, hear, smell and taste Gai breathing.
The roughness of his thumb smoothing over Kakashi’s cheek is at total odds with the soft, pliant push of his lips. The dichotomy of sensation sends little tingles up and down Kakashi’s spine, ending in a buzzing warmth in his fingers.
He thought it’d just be a quick peck on the lips and it would be done, but they seem to have come to a silent and mutual agreement to make it last as long as possible and quickly establish a rhythm of gently pushing into one another.
It’s so much better than Kakashi could have imagined. He has the vague worry that it shouldn’t be this easy for two beginners, that they must be doing something wrong, but it feels too good for him to even care. If their technique is bad, then so be it. There can’t be a way to make this better.
When he pulls back just slightly to take a deeper breath, Gai’s tongue follows, touching just briefly where Kakashi’s lips are parted and the jolt that the action sends through Kakashi’s body is just too much, too fast.
He leans back and hurriedly pulls his mask back up, lest Gai see just how affected he is. His face feels like it’s on fire and his lips are slick and all the mask does is keep Gai’s taste there, right where Kakashi wants it.
Gai, for his part, looks like he’s waking up from a daze. His eyes are dreamy and unfocused as he mutters out a “wow” with a crooked grin.
That’s a lot to unpack, so Kakashi just clears his throat and Gai snaps out of it all of a sudden, face going red as he pulls away to hide bashfully behind his hands.
Kakashi misses his touch, but Gai’s reaction is cute enough to make up for it.
He realizes, then, that he has no plans for what to do now.
“So,” he starts.
Gai emerges from behind his hands and clears his throat in turn. “R-right.”
God, Kakashi didn’t realize things would get so awkward so fast.
Gai, apparently far more used to awkward situations than Kakashi is, just stands up and enters a confident pose that definitely looks forced. “Thank you, Kakashi! For sharing this moment with me!” He declares, flashing Kakashi a thumbs up. “You were — It was wonderful! Until next time then!”
He makes to run off and only stumbles slightly before disappearing down the steepest path to the village, a bounce in his already energetic step.
Kakashi just waves and mutters out a ‘see ya’ a little too late.
He wonders, vaguely, if Gai means the next time they see each other or the next time they kiss. It’s a small sliver of hope, but Kakashi clings to it nonetheless.
With a sigh, he sits back to watch the rest of the sunset, the taste of Gai still on his smile.