A/N: This was supposed to be another tumblr drabble, but I couldn't stfu and this got too long.
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Gaara will never forget the first time he held Metal.
He was walking through Konoha with the eyebrow boys and his brother, headed toward the Hokage's office, when they passed a construction site.
One of the men called over and asked Lee to help them quickly lift something.
Kankuro grumbled over what he perceived as a snub, but Gaara, who spent a lot of time looking at Lee's arms, thought the personnel request made perfect sense.
Lee had politely dismissed himself and promised to return in a moment, and then offered the baby in his arms to Gaara, like it was no big deal.
Gaara's eyes grew three sizes that day, and his arms numbly reached out to accept the tiny thing.
Lee skipped away with a smile and a 'thank you!' and then ran off like he hadn't just handed over his offspring to a man who had once crippled him.
He and Lee were long past that incident, Lee held Gaara in extremely high esteem, and Gaara was not the same person - and he wold never lay an unkind finger (or grain of sand, for that matter) on Metal - but he still found the blind trust astounding.
"Does Konoha have a good place to get shrimp?" Kankuro asked from beside him, putting a hand on his belly and missing the emotional catharsis his brother was experiencing.
Kankuro looked over when Gaara didn't respond.
"Gaara."
He looked up, eyes still big and childlike, and said nothing.
"What's wrong with you," Kankuro asked, not unkindly, but with the bluntness older brothers often have. "You've held a baby before."
"Not this baby," Gaara answered in a strained voice.
Kankuro frowned and opened his mouth like he was going to snark some more, and then realization bled over his face.
"Oh that's right. I don't know how keep forgetting that you're into Lee," he teased.
Gaara didn't know what that meant. He thought Lee is extremely handsome, he spent a large portion of his day thinking about him, and he wanted Lee and Metal to move in with him so Gaara could see him everyday and so Lee could fall asleep in his arms, but he didn't recognize this particular turn of phrase, so he continued to stare at his brother.
"Well, don't drop him," Kankuro added with a chuckle.
Gaara tightened his hold and looked back down at the baby.
That was out of the question!
Metal was a very relaxed child, he made Gaara's job easy, and didn't fuss or wiggle unexpectedly - he didn't even cry.
That is, until a loud 'boom!' sounded from their left as two of the beams the construction men were working with suddenly smacked into each other.
The reaction was immediate.
Gaara's arms tightened their hold to press Metal further into his chest before he even felt the child curl into him.
"Everyone okay?" Kankuro yelled, moving over to help in spite of them not asking for it earlier.
Lee called back, "Yes!" just as Metal started to cry.
The baby had tucked his face into Gaara's neck and grabbed his Kage robe with small, chubby fists.
Usually, when his nephew cried, his sister would take him off of Gaara's hands and see to whatever it was that made the boy wail. Gaara had seen her methods in action, and since he could reason that this sudden barrage of tears was not the result of hunger or a filthy diaper, he tried the things his sister did to calm her son.
"Shh, shh, it's okay," he murmured gently, or at least, what he hoped was gently. He had never attempted this particular pitch or cadence in his life before, and it occurred to him that practice, however crazy it might have made him look to coo at a pillow alone in his room, might have been helpful at this moment.
Gaara stepped off the main street, further away from the site, and took a spot in the shade. He lightly bounced the baby, awkwardly since he had never done this before, and then tried very hard to calm the swirl of confusing, pleasant emotions that raged in him when Metal calmed.
This was no time to be happy, since Lee had almost been put in danger and Metal had been frightened, but Gaara was nearly delirious with joy.
This tiny baby had curled into him for comfort and safety.
He felt needed.
When Lee finished up and came back, he took his son from Gaara's arms and thanked him profusely.
Gaara offered a nonchalant dismissal of the gratitude, saying that it was no problem. He kept his face even, since he didn't want Lee to think he was a psychopath who grinned when babies got scared, but inside he was warm and light.
It left him feeling so confident that when they finally got Kankuro his shrimp, Gaara ordered too much of it and presented Lee with a plate overflowing with the things and then watched him eat with a level of intensity that probably would have frightened someone else.
As it was, Lee was just grateful for the shrimp.
On the walk to their hotel, Kankuro nearly choked with laughter as he teased Gaara for his attempts at wooing, and sent him to bed saying, "Good job with the kid. Lee looked impressed with you."
Gaara's whole face lit up.
But that was months ago and now Gaara thought the entire incident was a fluke.
It had given him confidence with Metal - and Lee.
He'd started trying to spend more time with Lee, started offering to hold Metal.
But the kid never curled into him like that again.
In fact, it seemed like as the baby was getting older and becoming more aware of his surroundings, he liked Gaara less and less.
There was no solid data to back this up, and Gaara's fear was based solely on the neglect his neck had received from frightened baby cuddles, but it left him feeling blue all the same.
If Metal didn't like him, then he had no chance to fall asleep with Lee.
One day, when Lee had graciously invited Gaara to dinner at his home, he left his son in hopeful arms and excused himself to use the restroom.
Gaara looked down at Metal and found him looking extremely unimpressed with his current guardian.
At least, that's how Gaara saw it. He wasn't good at reading other people's expressions, especially a baby's, so the fact that Metal was actually cooing and reaching up with his tiny arms towards Gaara's face like he wanted to touch still left Gaara going 'he hates me'.
"Why don't you like me?" he asked quietly.
Metal hadn't yet developed language skills.
Gaara sighed.
Then the baby made a face Gaara was positive reflected his general discontent with Gaara's presence.
Lee came back into the room just in time to see Gaara's face fall.
"Gaara, what's wrong?" he asked, voice full of concern as he rushed over to sit next to Gaara on the couch.
Gaara couldn't even take a moment to enjoy that Lee just sat close enough to him to share body heat, not when Metal was still making that face - and it looked like he was getting more upset by the second.
"I don't think he likes me," Gaara admitted.
Lee jumped a bit. "What! Gaara that's crazy! Metal adores you!" he insisted, hands curling into fists as his determination started to dial up.
But Gaara dismissed him and shook his head. "Look at his face."
So Lee did.
He looked down at his baby and considered him for a moment, and then looked back up at Gaara.
"Gaara, he's pooping."
He blinked twice and then looked back at Lee.
"What."
Lee's eyes glanced down at his baby again and he nodded. "He's pooping. That's his pooping face."
Gaara's head snapped back to look at Metal as his eyes searched for something he couldn't believe he missed. "How can you tell?"
That got a lovely laugh that momentarily distracted Gaara from the pooping business.
"I'm his dad! I've seen him make that face many times. Don't worry, Gaara, he makes it when I hold him to," Lee insisted, shifting even closer so they could both gaze at Metal as he did his business.
In a few years, this would not be acceptable behavior on their part, but for now, it was a bonding moment.
"He likes you, Gaara," Lee said quietly as he reached over and brushed some of his son's soft hair off of his forehead. He left his hand there, cupping Metal's cheek, and resting his arm on Gaara's leg in a way that made both of their hearts beat very hard.
"I like you, too."
Gaara inhaled sharply and turned to see Lee's face mere centimeters away from him. His lovely eyes were drinking Gaara in, and he had the sweetest smile...
Lee leaned in and kissed him once on the lips, softly.
It was so sudden and so gentle that Gaara didn't even have time to make pterodactyl noises in his brain..
After the delightful two seconds of contact, Lee pulled his head back, still smiling, then placed his head on Gaara's shoulder and continued to gaze at his baby.
Gaara decided to follow Lee's lead, and turned his eyes down again as his heart rate sped up to a degree he thought Lee ought to be able to hear from his proximity.
They stayed like that until Lee recognized his baby's expressions move from 'actively ridding my tiny body of waste' to, 'daddy I'm sitting in it now please help'.
Gaara was disappointed when Lee lifted his head and reached out his arms for Metal.
"Here, I'll change him."
"No, I'll do it," Gaara protested. Now that he knew Metal liked him, Gaara wanted to continue impressing this baby's dad.
Lee beamed.
Gaara wouldn't call it regret, but when he found himself wiping a bottom that wasn't his own for the first time in his life, some of the joy he'd just experienced ebbed away to make room for the horror of what babies carried in their diapers.
He needed to step up and help his sister more.
It ended up being worth it though, because he certainly felt like Metal liked him when he scooped up a fresh and clean baby after he was finished, and heard happy baby babbles once more.
It was also the first night Gaara got to fall asleep with Lee in his arms.
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A/N: Thank you for reading! ^^
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