Mistletoe Kisses, a LeeGaa Story Involving chocolate, which was Theriza's prompt, and alcohol, which was mine.

For Theriza, my favourite Iruka/Kakashi/Road cosplayer. Merry Christmas!

Gaara frowned. The seat was uncomfortable, and he'd been sitting there for almost an hour. He couldn't understand why Temari wouldn't let him leave – after all, she'd said it was his party, so why couldn't he do as he wanted? Not to mention he was Kazekage, and he really had a million and one other far more important things to be doing. He shifted again, glad of the sand covering his body. If not for that hard shell, his bum would have been numb ages ago.

Last year's Christmas party was much more interesting. There were people I actually wanted to talk to there.

Not that there weren't interesting people here, too, but his range of topics for conversation was painfully limited with them, mainly due to the fact that the things they wanted to talk about didn't interest him. And all the interesting topics were off-limits. Temari had warned him that he was not to talk about work while he was here, which meant that he could only really talk about the weather.

Hot, isn't it?

Consequently, the party was boring. He drank deeply from his glass – his third – and glanced around for Temari, to ask if he could leave yet. Nobody would miss him. He could just go back to the office and read over those S-Rank Mission reports, and nobody would be any the wiser. The crush of people in the big room was confusing to say the least, and Gaara considered breaking out the eyeball-jutsu. Suddenly, though, he spotted his sister, already quite drunk-looking, hanging around Nara Shikamaru's neck. Which meant that there were Konoha-nin here. Gaara stood, stretching surreptitiously and moved into the crowd.

I'm not searching for anyone in particular. Just searching.

Suddenly, his sand reacted, curling a little thicker around his head and chest, anticipating an attack. Naruto crashed into him, wrapping friendly arms around his neck and yelling about how good it was to see him.

"..and I haven't seen you in so long! ..Hey, Gaara, are you drunk?"

Gaara stared blankly at him.

"No. Don't be ridiculous."

Kazekages didn't get drunk. Not even after quite large amounts of very alcoholic alcohol. He might, however, be slightly tipsy, but Kazekages didn't get tipsy, either.

"Are you sure? You're kinda pink. And – hey, hey, is that what I think it is?"

Gaara kept up the blank stare as Naruto tugged his empty glass out of his hand and ran a finger around the rim.

"Hey, hey, it is! Yanno, this is in high demand in Konoha, but it's not hot enough there to keep the chocolate melted good enough. D'you have any more? I could take some back for Iruka-sensei's Christmas, and melt it in the microwave. He loves this stuff, but that figures, 'cos he's a chocolate fiend, haha!"

Gaara realised Naruto was going to do the thing where he talked a lot without saying much. He'd never figured out how the irrepressible blonde could pad out his speech with so much useless knowledge while only saying two or three things.

That will be useful when he reaches Hokage. Unless he says as much totally useless stuff as he does now, which means that he'll never be Hokage.

Of course, Naruto could never do it as well as a certain large-eyebrowed, large-eyed Jounin, who could say less than nothing in a thousand flowery, sparkly words.

"Gaara-sama! It is simply wonderful to see you!"

Good grief. Lee was the only person he knew who could continuously speak in exclamations.

"Lee."

"Ah, so cool! You are quite clearly in the very Springtime Of Your Youth, Gaara-sama!"

Gaara just grunted. Lee was a headache at the best of times, and right now, when he was decidedly Not Drunk, Gaara knew that the older boy was going to be a perfect migraine.

Stupid Lee. Makes me feel weird. Don't know why I wanted to see him anyway –

Except that Gaara hadn't wanted to see him. He'd purposely gone to look for nobody, which sounded stupid but wasn't. He sighed and excused himself, heading back to his corner, picking up a new glassful of chocolate. As he settled, he realised two things simultaneously. One, Lee had followed him back to the corner, and two, he was about to drink a glass of the same thing that Gaara was holding. Sand hissed up, snake-strike fast, knocking the alcohol out of Lee's hands and onto the floor. Lee blinked.

"Don't drink that."

Lee blinked again, still staring at his empty hands.

"Er. Why?"

"It's alcohol."

"Oh..I thought it was hot chocolate. Sorry."

Gaara wondered why Lee was apologising, and then became conscious of the fact that Lee was now no longer speaking in exclamations.

"Don't apologise. It wasn't your fault. There's meant to be a sign informing people of the fact that it is alcoholic. Someone must have removed it as a joke."

Lee looked almost disappointed.

"It certainly didn't smell or taste alcoholic."

Yes. Gaara knew. That was why he was on his third – no, fourth now – glass. That was the problem.

"No, it doesn't at all. It is very easy to…overindulge."

Wait.

Taste?

"Lee, you didn't drink any, did you?"

Lee smiled (probably Nice Guy Smile No. 4, Gaara mused) and gave Gaara a thumbs-up.

"Fear not, Gaara-sama! For I only had the slightest taste, and it was certainly not enough to put me into the Drunken Fist State!"

Oh, they were back to this, were they? Fantastic. Gaara finished his glass and set it down on the table, wishing he had more. He didn't often drink, but a situation like this definitely called for it. Lee looked at the empty glass longingly.

"Sometimes I wish I could drink. It's not much fun being the only sober one at parties."

Gaara stopped watching the crush of people in front of him and instead looked at Lee – properly looked. This new, pensive side to the other man was new to him, and he wasn't entirely sure how to deal with it. Before he could decide on what to do, though, Lee went on,

"I mean, sure it's fun never having any hangovers, and I get to remember the parties I go to, but on the other hand, I have to remember the parties I go to. I don't have any choice. It would be a lot easier if I could just drink and not have to worry about hurting anyone."

Gaara was still watching Lee, slightly bewildered by the abrupt change in Lee's mood.

Maybe.. maybe he got enough of the alcohol from the chocolate to get him drunk enough to be at the pour-your-heart-out stage? Kankuro is like this a lot.

I think the chocolate is affecting him more and more.

Lee was leaning into Gaara slightly, his head on Gaara's shoulder. Gaara tipped his head back – the chocolate was finally catching up to him, too, and the room was sort of heavy-feeling when he moved his head too fast. Gaara sighed and noticed that people were leaving to go outside. He heard someone ask Lee if they were coming to see the fireworks, heard him decline, heard the last footsteps trail out of the room.

Lee's body felt warm – almost uncomfortably so – against his side, but for some reason he didn't want to move. He turned his head to see Lee watching him from under heavy lashes, brown-black eyes examining him. He felt himself shudder pleasantly – this close, he could smell the other man, the pleasant, natural scent of growing things that came from living in a hot, wet country like Konoha. Lee made a little noise and turned his head, the tip of his nose brushing Gaara's uncovered neck – when did that happen? – causing a ripple of excitement to wash over Gaara.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, eyes closed, listening to the sound of Temari talking outside to everyone gathered, thanking them for being there. Gaara knew that it should have been him doing the speech, but in all honesty, he didn't want to be anywhere but here.

And to think I was going to leave. I would have missed this – this..

What is this?

He could feel Lee's breath across his clavicle, the open-necked shirt he had on (more practical for the muggy closeness of the party) meaning that Lee probably had a excellent view right down his top. He could also feel Lee's arm, flung across his shoulders, and his hand, running up and down his arm.

What is this?

Lee's head lifted from Gaara's shoulder as he sat up, and the arm around his back pulled him in a little, towards the other man. Gaara noticed with annoyance that Lee was a good foot taller than him, and he wished he weren't so short compared to other ninja, but that only lasted a minute because Lee bent down and kissed him.

So that's what it is..

Gaara froze for a second, unsure of what to do, before relaxing into the embrace, curiously returning the kiss. He'd never been kissed before, not even a peck on the cheek, but he'd seen other people kiss and knew that there were usually tongues involved. He'd never really seen the appeal, but now the idea of Lee doing that to him was tempting. He parted his lips tentatively, tongue-tip brushing Lee's lower lip before pulling back, waiting to see the other man's reaction. Lee, however, had other plans, and his tongue followed Gaara's, back into Gaara's mouth, sliding over his lips, and Gaara had just enough time to realise that Lee's tongue was in his mouth Lee was kissing him before he heard a soft noise, realised it was him, felt Lee pull away-

Oh. Well, that's annoying. Couldn't they have waited?

People were flooding into the room, chatting and laughing loudly. Gaara sighed and tugged the sand armour back over his skin, feeling the roughness envelop him like a well-worn security blanket.

Except I never had a security blanket, so I don't know where that thought came from.

Lee was still next to him, but further away now. Not as close as he had been when they kissed. Gaara settled back into the chair, almost but not quite managing to look outwardly contented and let his head tip backward onto the wall.

He wasn't at all surprised to see the flash of green and white that was hanging above him.

Ahahaha!

And they went back to Gaara's mansion and screwed like bunnies.

Merry Christmas, Theriza! Hope you liked!

(Yosh!)