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Chapter 1: Stick it to the Man
The tv hums softly as it works diligently to produce the slideshow on the updated equipment procedures that the older group of the leaf village shinobi were supposed to be learning about. However, the gentle noise and dim production only serve to lull most, including Kakashi to sleep. The man’s head sits planted on his makeshift pillow that consists only of his half-numb arms and the cool tabletop. He ignores how ticklish it is to have his white hair poking into his arms and hands in favor of losing his ongoing battle of keeping his eyes awake. He’s almost sleepy enough to not notice the gentle presses to his vest by a certain bowl-cut-headed man, who must think himself slick. And well… maybe he is, seeing as he would be the one to know that Kakashi normally would’ve stopped him mid-act, but as stated earlier, Kakashi’s being lulled to sleep. Plus, as much as Kakashi pretends the man’s very existence is an annoyance at times, he’s actually rather glad that Guy’s here. He hadn’t exactly gotten the best night of sleep, in fact, he hadn’t gotten any at all. He’s only just gotten back from a mission, being pushed by Tsunade so heavily lately that they never seem to end. So being able to get a good nap in and trusting someone to actually pay attention is nice, to say the least.
As he finally gives up, allowing his mind to get the rest he much needs, Kakashi slips into the childish playground of dreams. A place where dinosaurs travel home to Earth from space and marshmallows giggle as they eat deer… Huh… that’s a little creepy but, tis the way of the food chain, Kakashi supposes. Frogs were the kind and benevolent rulers of Turtleopia and Kakashi’s job is to make sure none of them die. However, this is made difficult as the erasers wage war on corn for who’s the slightly squishiest in all the land. How is Kakashi supposed to listen for the pathetic whining of the rebellious snake? The sugar ants cry over their beloved deer friends, the stay-at-home dinosaurs sing joyful hymns as their loved ones return, and Guy gently whispers his name as a something gently presses into his shoulder.
Wait…
Kakashi vaguely registers that the pressure disappears as he groggily opens his uncovered eye and his mind breaks free from the odd dream. Lifting himself up on wobbly arms, his neck spikes in protest at the sudden action. He blinks the sleep from his eyes, blearily trying to figure out where he is. He barely registers that the meeting room has emptied and the TV plays only low static. A sudden feeling of being watched crawls up his spine and a moment later something prodds his cheek. Drudging up what little energy he has after just waking up, he side-eyes the culprit, recognizing that it is, in fact, Guy, as he expected. Kakashi clearly doesn’t understand a word the bowl-cut says, but that doesn’t stop Guy from talking with him as if he does.
Kakashi’s attention slips from the man’s mouth, too exhausted to try to figure out what Guy was saying, moving up to his fiery eyes as the other kept yapping. Underneath those blazing obsidian eyes are dark purple crescents, indicating that Kakashi isn’t the only one who didn’t sleep. He doesn’t like that. So he decides to store that information for awake Kakashi, along with the dark mark on the man’s hands that’s starting to bruise. He would love to address it now, but to be honest, he can’t really think all that well anymore; his mind’s just a terrible little fog with nothing in sight and no way out.
Exhaustedly, Kakashi untangles himself from the odd position he fell asleep in, stretching his weary limbs. In doing so, he feels himself elbow something and swears he hears something fall to the ground, but looking around he sees nothing out of place. It must just be his tired mind making up sounds. Reaching down, he goes to grab his bag only for Guy to quickly snatch it with a proud smirk. Kakashi reaches for the bowl-cut-headed man, but Guy easily spins out of the way of his clumsy hands with the fluid grace of a natural martial artist. Just then a thought strikes through Kakashi’s hazy mind like a lightning bolt.
He would like to see Guy do more graceful spins, he always looks so cool whenever he actually puts his skills into use and not just messing with his students.
Kakashi’s focus switches back to the bag as he throws a glare at the bowl-cut, too distracted to think further into why he had that thought. He struggles through the heavy weight of sleep and the subconscious part of his brain that allows Guy to do as he pleases subsequently. Pushing back against the stubborn feeling he sighs at Guy remarking, “I can carry my own bag.”
Kakashi puts his hand out expectantly, which, both know, is stupid as they are very strongly aware of how stubborn Guy can be. Receiving only a wide challenging grin, he drops his hand, deadpanning at the man. He sighs one last time, looking away and muttering what he assumes is a far too sleepy and quiet voice for Guy to understand, “Alright, less work for me, I guess. If you want to carry it, go ahead, hard-ass. What a handsome and strong gentleman this guy, huh?”
Kakashi stands, prepared to head out with Guy in tow before a moment of realization hits him. He fell asleep next to Guy. He Fell Asleep Next to Guy. Guy, who was given a huge motivational sticker book by his three star pupils the other day as a gag mission-success gift. He groans, eyeing Guy suspiciously as he grounds out, “There better not be any damn star stickers on me,” and runs his hand through his wild hair in exasperation. He, however, doesn’t get very far, catching his hand into what he realizes are the ever-so-lovely hair clips Guy keeps on his person just for this reason. (At least, Kakashi’s pretty sure that’s why he has them.) The pretty little accessories are doing their best to somewhat pin his hair back and down from its spiky wave. Kakashi stares up in apathetic disbelief before he begins carefully removing each clip from its place in his hair.
He puts a clip in his mouth, allowing the hair to bounce back up gently into place and continuing to release his hair from its tiny, glittery plastic prison. Looking down, it's hard not to laugh as he sees the tip of the blue glittery clip he held in the cloth of his mask. He must look pretty ridiculous right now and Guy proves him right a second later as the man turns covering his mouth, trying to hide his frantic giggles. Kakashi shakes his head lightly but allows himself a small smile, his eyes crinkling in amusement. Then, just as quickly, he fixes his face; can’t have Guy learning that Kakashi didn’t hate it that much. Every time the other man delicately fixes his hair with the clips using careful hands and nimble fingers, gently carding through his hair. He’s only human, ok! Cut Kakashi some slack.
Guy chooses this moment to speak up from the side of Kakashi, apparently finished with his giggle-fest, snapping the white-haired shinobi out of his mind-argument, “What’s a star?”
For a second Kakashi thinks he must’ve missed some important context here before he realize the other man was talking about what Kakashi had said about the stickers that were probably all over his damn shirt. Kakashi felt his mouth twitch, eyes already starting to crinkle, threatening to give away his amusement. So he rolls his eyes, forcing them to their normal shape, and brushes past the silly man muttering, “Smartass.”
Kakashi decides not to bother waiting for the other man who’s too busy smiling a pleased smile down at the stray stickers that caught onto his tracksuit when Kakashi passed him by. He pops up suddenly and notices Kakashi’s absence as the door comes swinging back into the room with a slight judder. Guy pushes past the chair he was standing by, stumbling as he catches sight of Kakashi’s current volume of “Makeout Paradise” that lays beneath the white-hair shinobi’s chair. He glances towards the door as his exhaustion begins to creep into his demeanor. Suddenly the man shakes his head, as if trying to shake his exhaustion off, and grabs the book quickly before shouldering both his and Kakashi’s bags. He then sets off in a dead sprint, shouting after his rival.