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Gaara enters the room, his hands folded neatly behind his back as he allows his partner to continue holding the door. He'll admit, of course, that he's been a bit worried (more than a bit, really, he’s been totally beside himself with anxiety), but who wouldn't be? The feeling seizes in his chest, clenching his heart and stomach, and he swallows hard to chase away the sinking lead sensation in his throat. Luckily, before his oncoming panic attack can overtake him entirely, a large and familiar-feeling hand is placed on the small of his back, and he shocks from his near catatonic state back into reality.
"Hey, are you okay?" Naruto asks, letting his hand linger for a while. When he doesn’t answer immediately, he makes small, soothing circular motions along Gaara’s spine and he allows it for a while. The redhead smiles a bit but remembers that, true, while he's here for a personal matter, he's still here as the Kazekage and so he has to keep his composure.
He stands straighter, sucking in a breath between clenched teeth, and turns his head to his partner once again. "I'm quite alright. Nerves, I suppose. This isn't something I'm used to doing," he tries to remain calm, but feels the way the words tumble from his lips. Maybe bringing up something else would calm him down further, so he gives it his best try. “We haven’t visited Konoha in a while.”
The taller blond looks weary for the world in a way Gaara wishes he never knew. "Yeah, I'll say. I mean, it's already pretty weird to be in Konoha for this long since I left to be with you, but to come back for Temari?" Naruto runs a hand through his hair, puffing out a breath, sounding almost as upset as Gaara feels. Then he drops his voice and continues the walk down and through the weaving halls they were directed toward. "And I kinda get why you wouldn't be happy, what with… Well, you know."
Indeed. "I'm sure she's alright." Gaara convinces himself, voice flat and even in an attempt to further keep his level-headedness. "I have no jurisdiction in Konoha the way Sakura does, despite our good relations as fellow Go-Kage members together. All I was allowed to be told is that Temari still lives." Naruto clicks his tongue with a level of knowing, at least of the way Konoha considers living 一 no matter how damaged or near death一 to be just good enough, that grates on Gaara's nerves.
Naruto once thought that escaping Konoha's uncaring clutches would be enough that he could leave the Council and all of their asinine machinations behind, but that's been proven wrong time and time again. Besides that, Naruto can't even withdraw from Konoha fully due to his unfortunate position as Jinchūriki, so there really is no escaping them. It’s bad enough that Gaara is on thin ice with Konoha’s Council for taking away their Jinchūriki, no matter how close he is to the Hokage herself. Regardless, today Gaara is here as a guest, and he doesn’t need to cause infighting or trouble by demanding more information than he is due as a friend and confidante of Konoha.
"I think they said her room was down here," Naruto supplies, quickening his pace a little bit to walk next to Gaara. If there was something else he wanted to say about his frustration with Konoha, he doesn't get the chance to. The air fills with the sound of a familiar chuckle, deep and woody, a tone that can only belong to Gaara's brother-in-law and Naruto's childhood friend, Shikamaru. They pick up the pace as Temari's brasher, yet cooly toned chattering fills the air. If Gaara strains his ears harder, he can make out some of their hushed, quick and clipping conversation.
"Knock it off, Shikamaru. I'll kill you if you hurt…" Gaara’s arms tense at the sound of threats, the sand swirling anxiously in his gourd flowing automatically under his feet to roll and pull, dragging him along far faster than Naruto’s legs can keep up with. Instead of waiting for Naruto to open the door for him, since his rank is technically lower and he has to let him do this as Kazekage in public, a portion of his sand dashes to it, throwing open the sliding door before Naruto has the chance to catch up to him. His heart thuds in his chest, and he hesitates to step forward until he hears that familiar voice again. "Huh, the nurse again? I told you, I'm a big girl, I can take care of it…myself… Oh, it’s Gaara."
Gaara's eyes take a moment to adjust to the light and his eyes settle on the tired, relaxed, but ultimately smiling face of his elder sister. "Temari," he states uselessly into the room, and the sound of Naruto jogging quickly (but lightly, so as not to cause a fuss in the hospital) fills the air behind him. "How did it… No. No, how are you?"
"You're asking about me ? You’d probably be the first to not immediately ask about the baby, honestly. Hey, why are you… Oh, Gaara, sweetheart. I'm fine, don't you look at me like that with those eyes. It makes me worry when you do that," she sits up a little straighter, tucking the edges of her white, but otherwise plain kimono a little tighter against her chest, which she ties shut at the front. "Are you going to linger in the doorway like a bad draft or are you coming in? I don't bite, you know, and neither does he."
"Peh, says you," Shikamaru drawls, tucking a small bundle of starchy cloth against his chest. Naruto finally catches up, standing in the entryway of the room just behind his husband. He puts a hand on Gaara’s shoulder for support and puffs exhaustedly. You need to work out more , Gaara thinks wryly with a smile. He supposes that Naruto living the life of a spoiled and pampered house-husband isn’t exactly fantastic for his physical fitness. "Hey, you brought Naruto. Nice to see you, man. I'd shake your hand or something, but I'm kinda busy."
"Greet your friend, I can take care of the baby," Temari reaches her arms forward, toward her husband. "Besides, there's someone they'll want to meet, right?" She makes a very blatant gesture with her head at Gaara, who stiffens like a board at being addressed properly in relation to the child.
He waffles in place, clenching and unclenching his hands at his sides, a sign of anxiety and panic. "I do not know if it's such a good idea for me to一"
"Gaara Uzumaki,” she hisses between clenched teeth, putting on an almost fox-like smile with rage seated just behind it, “You better shut the hell up and get over here right now , and that's a demand as your older sister." Gaara can't really argue with that… So, against his better judgment, he's soon standing stock-still near the edge of the bed as Temari is handed the swath of soft, small blankets by her husband. She gestures for Gaara to sit next to her, and he does, albeit with some reluctance. "Gaara. Come on, you seriously need to relax. I know you're nervous, but you're you. You'd never hurt him."
"Him. A boy," Gaara picks up on immediately, keeping his eyes from looking anywhere but at the bundle as he sits. If he looks, then it's so real and he isn't sure how to feel about it. He'd already spent the past few months accepting that there was a very large and definitely non-zero chance that his sister could die during childbirth, so seeing the cause of his anxiety is not helping assuage his fears in the slightest. Sure, she lived, but Konoha won’t even explain how well-off she is or isn’t, so there’s no way she could alert Gaara if anything was wrong with her.
"Mhm," Temari nods, smiling very very patiently at Gaara, her head resting on her little brother's shoulder for a moment. Her voice gets quiet then, barely a whisper. "I know you're nervous, but I am too. It would mean a lot to me if you held him. I wasn't sure about him either, but when I pressed him to my heart and saw those eyes, I think I fell in love with him."
He swallows, and scans the room for his husband, who catches his eyes and quickly ends his conversation with Shikamaru to accompany him. "Is it time to meet him, then?" Naruto asks, making his way across the large and spacious room to stand next to Gaara. He seems content to be a comforting presence, but changes his mind when he notices how much his beloved romantic partner is trembling. Eventually, he settles on the edge of the bed as well, pressing a kiss to the crown of Gaara's head of messy red curls. "Don't be scared, he'll love you, you know? It’s kinda hard not to love you."
“I see,” Gaara's stomach twists, but he allows himself to feel the warmth of the love that his family一 chosen and given at birth一 feels for him. He lets himself bask in it for a moment before extending a trembling set of open palms to his sister. "I've held one before, for Matsuri-san, so there's no need to walk me through the basics," Gaara calls up anything he can think of to ease the tension.
"Perhaps, but still. Hold his head," Temari presses her lips to her brother's cheek and gives him a quick peck before allowing the full weight of her newborn to rest in his arms. The little boy is gorgeous and his small hands curl in a delicate way against his small lips. A shaggy mop of wavy hair, dark as pitch, sits on his head and his impossibly chubby cheeks seem to almost be tugged up into a vaguely familiar smirk. "His name is Shikadai. Shikadai Nara."
As if he knows his name already, the eyes of the baby open and Gaara's heart nearly stops in his chest as those pretty eyes settle on him. Gaara doesn't even get to say what he wants to say, as his husband is well known for stating the obvious and stealing moments. "Woah, the eyes. He looks just like your mom, Gaara! That's crazy.” Naruto gasps, bringing his hands toward the bundle to hold the child’s fragile fingers with such grace that it makes Gaara’s head spin. His Naruto一 delicate ? These words do not belong next to each other, and yet Gaara is content on allowing his typically clumsy husband to gently caress their nephew’s face and hands. “I mean, I guess his eyes are still baby blue, though… And they’ll probably change… Heh, sorry, I guess that’s not really helpful."
Temari chuckles, "No, you’re totally right, Naruto. I thought so, too. Our mother was very beautiful, and Shikadai and Gaara absolutely have her eyes." Gaara’s face flushes red as his hair as everyone looks at him, examining his face. He holds the baby tighter against his chest, just enough that he’s snug and Gaara’s hands shake less at the added stability, and uses the closeness to keep his eyes down.
“You’re embarrassing me,” the Kazekage grumbles lowly, looking at Shikadai’s hands which are once again wrapped around Naruto’s thumb. Gaara feels warmth spread across his chest, clenching and squeezing his heart as he watches Shikadai’s face light up with a smile when Naruto coos at him.
Of course Temari is right, the child is beautiful, and it’s surprisingly easy to love him, especially with a smile that makes his whole face shine like the sun in this way. Gaara lets himself take the baby’s other hand between his thumb and fingers as well, and he is thankful that he kept his sand shield down (as he heard babies are delicate and cannot deal with sand so well) because his hand is much softer than Gaara could have ever imagined. As he rubs his thumb across the baby’s palm, he sees Temari out of the corner of her eye lean her head at her husband’s hip, where he twirls a lock of her hair affectionately in his hands.
“Can I一” Naruto pauses to bite his lip, looking almost fearful for even daring to speak, and he looks between the three other adults in the room, “Can I hold him?” Gaara softens significantly, hearing how vulnerable Naruto sounds, and it brings a conversation to mind that they had recently. “Would you ever want to be a parent, Gaara? You ever think about having kids, with me, I mean?” Naruto had asked, and at the time, Gaara had declined to answer, but now he’s not so sure. He thinks he could get used to seeing Naruto being so quiet and calm around someone as small as an infant.
Emotion wells up in Gaara’s chest and he kisses his husband’s cheek, and answers for his sister, damn well aware of what her response would be, “Of course you can, he’s your nephew too, Naruto.” Naruto didn’t grow up with a family, no brothers or sisters, not even a father (though Iruka has become one for him, in some way), so Gaara isn’t surprised that Naruto’s reaction is so full-body. He’s almost in tears at the idea of Gaara being his family, and Gaara’s family being his as well. When the Kazekage hands his nephew to his partner, he’s observant enough to notice the small gasp he has when Shikadai is in his arms, and Gaara tucks the blanket neatly around the child’s face. “He’s gorgeous, isn’t he?”
Naruto sucks in a watery breath, handing his pinky this time to Shikadai to hold and inspect as he pleases, “Yeah, he is.” He then grows quiet, as does the room around them, allowing Naruto a quiet moment with his new nephew. Gaara expected a reaction from him, of course, but not one this intense. Naruto leans his head over Shikadai and presses a gentle kiss to his forehead, Gaara hears Temari next to him make a noise that can only be described as pure love for her family. Then Naruto turns his messy, teary face to Gaara and smiles, all big and bright like Gaara loves and says, “I think we should have one.”
“Wh-What? Right now?” Gaara splutters, his face turning red as a beet, while his sister cackles madly beside him. It’s… it’s not that he doesn’t want to! In fact, he finds that he’s warming to the idea more than he was a few weeks ago, but right now? Gaara wants to focus on being a good uncle to Shikadai first. “Naruto, babies are a lot of responsibility, they need a lot of extra care and love, more than I give you by any means.”
“Well yeah, I know, but I think we could do it!” Naruto keeps that same bright grin, smiling down at his nephew, who he kisses once again in the same spot. “And making one is pretty easy, right? You just need to go off of your hormones for a little while. I mean, what else is the hard part? Your body makes what it needs to care for it, doesn’t it? I mean, we could adopt too, if you wanted!” Gaara nearly faints from the embarrassed blush creeping down his face and heating his neck and chest. If only he wasn’t so fair-skinned, it wouldn’t be so obvious that he’s mortified that Naruto is talking about his hormone replacement therapy and so many other, heavily private things in front of his family. At least Kankuro has already come and gone, or else he’d never let Gaara live it down.
Temari clears her throat, sounding suspiciously like laughter, “Not in here you won’t be making any plans for babies. Naruto, come on, I don’t wanna hear about my brother’s medicines more than I needed to when we were teenagers; that’s private.” Gaara sighs with relief and fights the urge to hide in a ball of sand away from everyone’s eyes. “Now, give me my baby so I can feed him. Why don’t you two go get something to eat and talk about this in private?” She unties the front of her kimono and that makes Naruto scramble to hand over Shikadai to Shikamaru, who thanks him quickly. He’s nothing if not respectful to Temari and Shikamaru right now, which is new. Gaara is used to having to pry those three apart from arguing and picking on each other, so this is a welcome (but likely temporary) change.
Gaara bows at her gently, just enough that she knows he’s leaving, “We’ll be by in a while, then. Rest and take care of yourself.” He then reaches over and tugs Naruto’s wrist with his hand, pulling him off of the bed and along with him. Naruto bows as well, though much deeper and far more dramatic, with his own goodbyes. The redhead hears his sister and her husband wish him well as he exits, and he doesn’t even wait for the door to slide totally shut before he throws his arms around Naruto’s waist, nuzzling his nose against his collarbones. “You truly want to have a baby with me, Naruto?”
“I mean,” he waffles, freeing one of his trapped arms to wrap around Gaara’s waist as his sand comes back from closing the door to flow freely into his gourd, “It does seem kinda fun, doesn’t it? You liked Shikadai too, you know! I don’t think I’ve seen you smile like that since our first date and our wedding, heh.”
Gaara reaches up and kisses his neck, just around where his jaw meets it and smiles slightly against the skin. He sighs, “It does, but let’s try to be good uncles first, okay?” He waits until Naruto nods, then allows the blond to rest his chin on his head. Gaara stands up straighter after a moment, walking slightly ahead of Naruto now. “That being said, we can still practice when we get back to our hotel room.”
Naruto blushes then, rushing quickly to walk next to Gaara, now smirking, joining their hands together. “Hey, come on! Don’t just say whatever you want like that,” Naruto huffs, squinting at his husband and Gaara laughs gently in return. Yes, they can just enjoy each other’s company, and enjoy being there for their family, and that’s enough for the moment for the both of them.