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“You have to kiss me,” Gai stood tall and proud, grinning at Kakashi while their friends stood all around them watching. “That’s what the bottle says.”
As if Kakashi could have forgotten. He’d watched the bottle spin between them, whizzing past every other person until coming to a stop, pointing its nozzle directly at Kakashi.
He still wasn’t quite sure why he had agreed to partake in this game. Kissing wasn’t something he made a habit of doing with just anyone.
In fact, to date he’d only kissed two other people before Gai.
Yugao, who he’d kissed on a desperate last second attempt to keep their cover after she’d said something that could have tipped off their target to their true intentions. She’d slapped him as soon as they got back to Konoha and told him to think of some other way to deal with her mistake next time.
The other kiss was far more passionate.
A sweet moment shared between him and Rin shortly before the day she died. A moment he’d granted her when she asked, hoping against all odds that there would be fireworks, or something. Anything that would allow him to return the love she so freely gave to him.
It hadn’t worked out, and it was the first time since Obito’s death that he’d seen her cry.
Now it was time to disappoint Gai, just as he had done with Rin.
To kiss him, just as he had done with the other two, and feel nothing in his cold, broken heart.
“Come on,” Asuma struck a hand across his back and laughed when he glared at him. “It won’t be so bad. I bet Gai tastes like dango.”
“Or curry,” Anko piped up. “Or maybe he tastes like Ramen. He did have some for lunch.”
Kakashi could do little but roll his eyes at the comments. Whatever Gai tasted like didn’t matter to him because at the end of the day it would end the same as it always had.
An empty feeling in his chest that would confirm what he’d already learned from Rin and Yugao. That he was incapable of Romantic love.
“Kiss!” Genma lifted his drink up into the air and laughed. “Kiss, kiss, kiss!”
“Alright, alright,” Kakashi couldn’t believe he had agreed to this, but he was stuck now. There was no choice but to kiss his best friend otherwise the others would never let him hear the end of it. “Gai?”
“Ready when you are, Rival.” Gai beamed, as excited for this as he was for any of their challenges.
Now or never.
Taking a deep breath, Kakashi tucked a finger under the top of his mask and yanked it down as he leaned in. Mentally, he’d prepared himself perfectly for this moment. Gone through every possible scenario he could think of and ensured he wouldn’t do anything embarrassing.
Only when Gai’s lips met his did he realise his mistake. His failure to account for the exact scenario he found himself in.
Oh.
A pleasant, warm feeling bloomed in his chest. As if he was being dipped directly into sunlight.
His gaze locked on Gai, noticing right away that he’d already closed his eyes and submerged himself straight into this feeling.
Comfort.
Familiarity.
Love.
All of those words buzzed through his mind, taunting him as he stared directly at his best friend's face. Took in the sight of Gai’s soft expression while they lingered there, locked in a kiss that Kakashi hoped never ended.
The heat spread. Moving up from his stomach and touching his cheeks. Gathering in his face until he felt like he was overheating.
At this moment Kakashi couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful than the man in front of him. The curve of Gai’s eyes seared into his mind, a treasured memory that he would cling to for the rest of his life. The feeling of his lips, which tasted nothing like ramen or dango but instead something new. Something unique to Gai. All of it made its home in his memories.
Precious, beautiful moments that he was certain would get him through even the darkest days.
“Aww, cute,” Anko snickered. “He’s blushing.”
Panic.
Wrenching himself away from Gai, he grabbed his mask and yanked it back over his face in a desperate attempt to cover bright red cheeks.
“I-“
“I knew it,” Asuma stretched a hand out towards Genma. “Cough up the Ryo.”
Genma grunted his disapproval. “Damn, the one time I was relying on you, Kakashi,”
Kakashi might have rolled his eyes or made a snarky comment about not relying on others if it were any other day. If he was doing anything else.
In this moment, though, he could only lower his eyes in shame.
“I-“
“Ramen?” Gai asked, the grin on his face even widder than it had been before. “Did I taste like Ramen like Anko said?”
He simply shook his head.
“Oh, then dango!” Gai cheered. “That would make the most sense. Dango is my favourite food.”
“Uh, Gai,” Kurenai poked him in the side and chuckled when he let out a loud yelp. “Sorry.”
“What was that for?”
“Well,” lofting a hand, she extended a slender finger and pointed towards Kakashi. “I think you broke him.”
“Broke him? My eternal rival?” Gai almost sounded offended on his behalf. “I could never. Kakashi is the coolest person in all of- uh, Kakashi?”
He’s not really sure what happened next. All he knows is that the warmth in his face was begining to overwhelm him. As if he was standing in the middle of the desert with the blazing sun beating down at him.
An appropriate comparison to make, he thought. After all, Maito Gai was like the sun itself.
Bright, warm, always there for him.
“Kakashi!”
A cold hand came down hard against his forehead and it was only then that he realised he’d fallen over. All of his friends' faces hovered over him, each with their own worried expression.
There was only one he cared about, though.
One face that he couldn’t drag his eyes away from even now, with the ceiling hanging over him and an overwhelming heating burning his very soul.
“I-“
“Do you need someone else to kiss you?” Asuma teased. “I think Gemma is up to the job. “
“No.”
“Anko.”
“No.” He grunted when Anko responded by slapping his stomach.
“Would you like Gai to kiss you again?”
Kakashi thought about it for a moment. If Gai kissed him again maybe he’d feel that pleasent warmth again. The one that enveloped him and made him feel wanted.
Loved.
“…maybe.”
Their faces disappeared suddenly, every single one except Gai’s, and laughter rang through the air. Kakashi didn’t care, though.
Gai was there.
He was looking at him.
“One more,” his rival smiled down at him. “For good measure.”
“For good measure,” Kakashi agreed while Gai tucked a finger under the top of his mask and yanked it down. “Just one more.”
Love.
That’s what it was.
When Gai leaned down and kissed him again, there was a feeling of love that squeezed his heart so tight it hurt.
A feeling that Kakashi would happily chase for the rest of his life, even if he didn’t deserve it.