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That smile.
That damn smile.
He knew everything had started with that stupidly giddy smile. The one he found himself loving.
♡☆♡
Gaara sat alone in the grass, he had been dragged along on a diplomatic misson with the Kazekage to Konohagakure. The boy anxious while scratching at the bandage on his forehead. He didn't want to leave Sunagakure, not like he liked it there, but at least it was familiar.
"You know you will always be alone?" the voice in his head snarled, "Only you can love yourself, since no one could ever care about you." Gaara's breathing sharpened, fingernails diggling into skin.
He jumped at the feeling of skin on his arm, a small boy with scruffy hair, bushy brows and round eyes was holding his arm. His arm. His bare arm. He flinched back, the shock of skin against skin jolting through his nerves. "Sorry, I should have asked to touch you. Are you okay?" The boy shouldn't speak to him so casually. He should be terrified. "After all, you are a monster."
His head was spinning. The boy spoke again, his voice coming through muffled. He couldn't breathe. Warm arms wrapped around him, squeezing him slightly and shifting his focus. "Wha- What is this?" He managed to get out, his heart rate increasing.
The boy released Gaara, who longed for the warmth again. "I thought a hug might help... Sorry..." Gaara was still trembling slightly, breath fast but not hyperventilating. He nodded, "It did... Thanks." Gaara mumbled. The voice in his head was quiet for once.
The other boys eyes lit up. "It helped?? Thats great!!" He smiled.
Wide and silly.
It made the red-head feel things he wasn't ready to think about. It made his heart clench in the same way that being alone did, only it felt nice and warm.
Gaara nodded, "I have to go now. Goodbye." He mumbled, standing up and walking off. Why didn't his sand come to defend him from that boy?
♡☆♡
Gaara was about to take the Chuunin exams, but the only thing on his mind was a green jumpsuit. He was crouched in a tree, observing. He watched as many students prepared for combat. A particular one caught his eye. One with a bowlcut and bushy eyebrows. He was talented in Taijutsu. Impressive. "What are you? Gay?" He shook the thought out of his head, he was just admiring strength.
"Hey, Gaara," Kankurou perched on a branch near said boy. "What?" Gaara huffed, leaning against the trunk of the tree. "Are there any interesting opponents?" The older hummed, crossing his arms. "...Yes." was all Kankurou got before his little brother jumped away.
Watching from a different place, Gaara could see the full spar between the intriguing boy and his uninteresting opponent. The opponent said something that made the Taijutsu user blush and smile, sweet and shy. It made Gaara's heart flutter somehow."Told you so, I can hear every thought you have, boy-kisser."
He huffed, rolling his eyes at Shukaku, not responding to his antics.
♡☆♡
Gaara was standing over Rock Lee's hospital bed, said boy unconscious due to the injuries that Gaara had inflicted on him.
Lee made him feel weird. Gaara needed to kill him, immediately.
"Go get him girl- er, go get him boy!"
“Shut up” he exhaled through his nose, sand curling around the sleeping boy in front of him. Tightening slowly until it randomly stopped, ”Ughhhh, why aren’t you killing him yet?” His arm twitched. “Shit!” Gaara groaned, his sand retracted back into its gourd, the sounds of it shifting being the only noise in the room. He ran his hands through his hair, brows furrowed in fury. Flashes of a much smaller boy with longer hair and bushy brows filled his mind, the memory of the warmth he left making Gaara’s skin tingle. “Fuck…”
♡☆♡
Kimimaro was a difficult opponent.
It took almost all of Gaara's strength to defeat him, dispite Kimimaro not dying at Gaara's hand but his own illness.
He had over-used his chakra and Lee had barely made it out alive due to Gaara's own incompetence. Despite this, Lee had thanked him. Even smiled. Not a blindingly bright smile, but a sweet assuring one.
Something was wrong with Gaara. He kept feeling a squish in his chest whenever Lee looked in his direction, a ticklish feeling in his stomach when Lee smiled... He must have an illness or something. He'll have to ask Temari for her opinion later.
♡☆♡
Being the Kazekage wasn't for the light of heart, the paperwork was harsh and so was the training. Not that it bothered him, his sleep schedule was already fucked up. "You're welcome, Gaara." "Oh shut up Shukaku." He murmured, reading though a document. Something about Amegakure proposing a trading system between them and Sunagakure. He kept sorting through files until he came across one about Konohagakure. One about a temporary transfer of ninja. One of their best for one of Sunas best to train the next generation of ninja.
"You could see your boooyyyfrieeeend again..." Shukaku had been tormenting him since he had first met Lee, making comments about Gaara being in love with him despite trying to kill him multiple times. Gaara hummed, yet again ignoring the one tail. It wasn't a bad proposal, if he were to do it– theoretically if course,– he would send either Kankuro or Temari, both were great shinobi and deserved the recognition of other nations.
Also, if someone strong came to help train the young ninja of Sunagakure, it would help the nation grow and hold power, as well as forge stronger bonds with Konohagakure.
If he agreed, it would be greatly beneficial, so he'll consider it.
♡☆♡
This was a mistake.
The Konohagakure shinobi are too chaotic for the impressionable Sunagakure Genin.
He should have refused the proposal. But here he was, a Konohagakure Chuunin in a green spandex bodysuit was teaching the students how to run on their hands around the village. Lee had been selected to train Sunagakure's genin, teaching them the way of the leaf. Said Chuunin was running on his hands making a beeline towards the Kazekage, having not been able to see him yet. Not slowing down. In fact, speeding up, as if he wanted to crash directly into the redhead. Shit.
The collision was swift, Lee knocking Gaara over, Gaara's sand not responding to protect him from Lee but to cushion their fall. The students kept running on their hands, knowing their way around Sunagakure. "Gaara!! How've you been?" The wide-eyed Chuunin gazed down at Gaara, who was currently trapped under Lee's entire body weight and his leg weights. "I've been better, can you get off of me?" He mumbled, the air in his lungs waning from the pressure. "Ah, of course!" He got off, standing properly now, the Kazekage following suit.
"Anything interesting happen?" Lee hummed, fingers lacing behind his back. "Other than paperwork? No." The taller let out an awkward chuckle, "Yeah, same here, this is the most fun mission I've received in a while and that's because I asked Hokage-sama if I could take this one, I think Gai-sensei had some influence in his decision though. I really wanted to come and train Suna's new ninja because-" Gaara smiled slightly at Lee's rambling, not entirely listening, distracted by how excited and happy Lee looked.
"So?" Lee asked, a shine in his eyes. "What?" Gaara furrowed his brows, confused about what the Chuunin was asking him. "Would you like to have dinner with me tonight? If you are free of course!" Gaara's jaw dropped, his mouth slightly agape. "GO GET YOUR NUT, VESSEL!" His cheeks flushed slightly, a soft pink dusting his cheeks. "Just as friends of course." The Kazekage's heart dropped. He steeled himself, straightening himself out– "HA!"– and willing down his blush. "I'll have to see if I'm free." It was technically the truth, as the Kazekage, he was really busy most of the time. This made Lee's shoulders sag slightly, his smile dampening for a moment.
Seeing Lee look so small physically hurt, knowing it was himself as the cause made it worse. "I will go if I can though." Lee immediately looked chirpier, the pain in Gaara's heart loosening. "Okay!" Arms wrapped around the Kazekage, wrapping around his shoulders and squeezing his face right into Lee's chest,– "Atta-boy!"‐ sheepishly, Gaara leaned into Lee. The hug felt warm. Like he was being engulfed by the sun. Like he was... loved.
He jerked away, holding Lee at an arms length, literally. Lee instantly straightened out, "Sorry, I should have asked." Shit, he took it badly. "I- well- you-" The right words were stuck in Gaara's throat, coming out all wrong. He breathed in through his nose. "I'm not used to being touched by others, usually my sand would keep everyone away but... not you, I have to focus on keeping you away for it to even move." He took a step back, "It's weird, not even Temari can hug me without my sand coming up as a defence, but you? A shinobi from an entirely different village? A person who I've tried to kill more times than I can count? Nothing." Lee looked confused.
"Look, you make me feel... weird. Seeing you upset makes my heart hurt, physical pain for an emotion. I see you, and my brain doesn't think logically anymore. I see that smile and I..." He closed his eyes, ears turning as red as hus hair "My heart starts racing and I feel a tickling feeling in my stomach, I notice more things about you, how your hair curls slightly inwards, like how your eyes have streaks of brown in them, how whenever you are nervous you fiddle with the bandages on your arms." He opened his eyes, locking on to Lee's own, "Well, what I'm trying to say is, you make me feel things I've never felt before, you make me say things I never say and I don't know how to deal with it." Lee was silent, a pink tint visible on his cheeks.
Neither of them spoke for a while, time seeming to stop around them. Lee's face broke out in a grin, nose scrunching slightly. He moved forward and Gaara tensed until he felt arms wrap around him for the second time today. "I'm really happy you feel like that, Gaara." The taller mumbled into Gaara's hair. The redhead slowly wrapped his arms around Lee's waist, pulling him ever so closer. "Really, really happy." The arms around him tightened to the point they constricted his breathibg, Gaara having to tap them to loosen up a bit. "Sorry, sorry" This didn't dampen Lee's smile one bit. In fact, looking at Gaara, hair messy and face flushed, his grin widened.
"Can I kiss you?" Lee blurted out, Gaara's eyes widened and his face burned. "Sorry it's probably too soon-" Lee was cut off by a pair of lips connecting with his. They were slightly chapped, but that was to be expected, what he didn't know, was how soft they would be, pliable and sweet. A tongue probed at his mouth, causing Lee to salivate. Opening his mouth, the tongue sliding against his own, he let out a squeak against Gaara's lips. Once they parted, breaths heavy and hearts pounding, Gaara mumbled something. Lee didn't entirely understand it but he already knew what Gaara said. Pressing a kiss to Gaara's forehead, right on his scar, he whispered, "I love you, Gaara."