Naruto had thought about canceling his appointment with Gaara, after that memory the blonde had barely slept. He kept reminding himself that feeling down wouldn't fix anything.
Once the redhead texted him the address, Naruto had searched for something to wear. They were going to some art gallery that the redhead seemed excited about.
The blonde put on a button down orange shirt with a black jacket and black trousers, finishing it off with black dressed shoes and tried rather hard to fix his unruly spiky blonde hair but couldn't.
Naruto kept telling himself it wasn't a date but he still made a stop and got the redhead a small Christmas cacti only because the flower lady assured him that it was really easy to take care of and wouldn't need that much light, there was even a small booklet included which explained how to take care of the small plant.
The blonde parked in front of white marbled building, there was already a group of nicely dressed people going in and out. He sent a text to the redhead letting him know that he's arrived before stepping out of his car with the small plant.
It didn't take long for him to see the redhead who was dressed in a crimson suit with a beige button down shirt and a small gourd on his side, finishing it off with the dark sunglasses.
There were people staring at the redhead and whispering, looking shocked.
Naruto smiled brightly, feeling his heartbeat speed up "Hey, thanks for inviting me." He warmly said, offering the small cacti with reddening cheek "I know it's not much...but the flower lady said they don't need a lot of light so I thought they might be good..and I remember you drinking aloe juice so yeah."
A snort left Gaara's lips, the redhead shaking his head before moving to grab the small plant, their fingertips brushing against each other for a second.
"What's so funny? Would you have prefered roses? Never figured you for a rose type, Gaara-kun." Naruto wiggled his eyebrows and laughed.
"Cactus are actually my favorite plants...you do not know the Japanese meaning of them, do you?" Gaara sounded almost amused.
"...Meaning? No, why?" The blonde asked, confused.
"Perhaps it's better if you don't know." The redhead replied, still sounding amused.
Naruto furrowed his brows and took out his phone, checking out the meaning then felt his cheeks turn a bright red. "I-I don't want to sleep with you! I mean, it's not like you are ugly or something, you are actually really handsome and it's not like I am saying it would be a bad thing if someone slept with you but I don't want to...not yet..wait I didn't mean to say that!" Naruto was ranting and knew it.
A soft laugh left Gaara's lips, making the blonde stare in shock, wondering if he was imagining it. That sound was one of the most beautiful things that Naruto has ever heard, he was saddened when it suddenly stopped.
"Relax Naruto-kun, I know. Thank you for the gift." The redhead softly said.
"I...errmm...yeah." The blonde replied in a daze, cheeks reddening more.
"Are you alright, Naruto-kun?" Gaara asked "You are looking quite red."
"Jesus Gaara...I swear you'll make my heart stop one of these days, even your laugh sounds wonderful." He pressed a palm to his chest, trying to calm down the beating heart "So gallery, what are we watching?" The blonde asked, trying to change the subject, he couldn't believe he just said that.
The redhead was quiet for almost a whole minute, lips parted slightly in shock before clearing his throat, cheeks reddening.
"We are seeing the work of a sculpture I know." He replied, leading Naruto inside the gallery.
It had different types of white sculptures, some were birds such as owls and doves, there were also some ravens.
"Sabaku-No Gaara, what a pleasure it is to see you, Hn."A tall, beautiful blonde said, then turned to look at Naruto "You finally decided to stop being chaste and get yourself a boyfriend? This one looks like a stud."
Naruto covered his mouth, trying hard not to laugh, cheeks reddening at the compliment. "Ah...we are not da-"
"The gallery is looking nice...did you finish the one I asked?" Gaara interrupted sounding aloof.
"Of course my dear...who do you think I am? Hn." The blonde sculpture asked with a grin "I am the art master Deidara. It's in the back, Hn."
"Thank you." With that Gaara began to walk away, not before hearing Deidara call out.
"If you get bored of him send him my way, with a body like that I fu-" But the rest was muffled.
"Ah...he seems interesting." Naruto said with a sheepish grin "What's in the back?"
"You will see." Was all the redhead responded, leading the blonde past the group of people who were admiring all the different types of sculpture. Gaara opened a metal door, going to the back of the white marble building.
In the middle of it was a sculpture, it had what looked to be Gaara with his arms folded and looking disinterested, a racoon tail behind him with a gourd on his back and little racoon ears. Right next to the sculpted Gaara was a Naruto who was grinning and offering his hand, he had fox ears and a few tails behind him, touching the tip of Gaara's tail. It looked to be made out of glass.
"Oh wow...that is beautiful." Naruto breathed out, getting closer, analyzing every bit of it "Wow...that really looks like me and the little half racoon looks like you!" The blonde gushed.
"I am glad you like it." Gaara softly said, watching as Naruto admired the sculpture, even touching them.
"Did Deidara-san make this?"Naruto asked, his fingertips touching the one that looked like him.
"He heated it up." Gaara replied.
"Heated up the sculpture? Then who made it?" Naruto asked confused.
"...I did…" The redhead softly replied, glancing away.
"You sculpted this? Wow that's amazing Gaara-kun, you are really talented!" Naruto said in awe, staring at the glass eyes of his lookalike sculpture.
"...Thank you…" Gaara was not one who showed his sculptures to just anyone. He had spent almost two months sculpting it and coming up with the idea. It was worth it to see the look of awe in Naruto's face.
"How do you sculpt with glass? It must have been extremely hard to do." Naruto said, turning to look at Gaara with a bright smile on his face.
"I sculpted it with sand...then Deidara-san heated up the sand with his special machine and turned it into glass." The paler male replied, seeming to be looking down at the small cacti that Naruto gave him.
The redhead was surprised when he felt a warmth around him, realizing that Naruto was hugging him, his dark sunglasses falling down to the floor. Gaara stood frozen, this close to the blonde he could smell ramen and clothes deodorant which seem to have a slight citrus scent to it.
"You are the best, Gaara-kun." Naruto warmly said only to realize what he was doing and quickly pulling away, rubbing the back of his neck "S-Sorry, I guess I got...carried...away." The blonde stared at the pupiless jaded green eyes, hand stretching to trace underneath the eyes, no matter how hard he stared he couldn't find pupils. "Your eyes are really beautiful...it's like staring at glass." The blonde murmured, as if in a daze.
Gaara stood still, holding on to his breath. The redhead shivered feeling the warm touch and stared back, this was not the type of reaction that he was used to getting when people saw his eyes, not that he cared what they thought but he did care what the blonde thought of him.
"...You don't think it makes me look like a monster?" Gaara quietly asked.
"You'd make for a really beautiful monster." Naruto replied just as quietly, leaning his face closer. The dark circles under the eyes made the color pop out even more, this close to the redhead he noticed that there were no eyelashes either.
For a moment those jaded green eyes suddenly turned to much darker ones framed with long, black lashes, the blonde pulled away and cleared his throat, mentally cursing himself out "Sorry...I errmm...you don't like being touched."
"...I don't mind if Naruto-kun is the one to touch me." The redhead replied "Naruto-kun, I like you. When I am near you...this part doesn't ache anymore." Gaara confessed, touching where his heart was "I think this is what Uncle Yashamaru talked about...the special medicine for aches there."
"The...special medicine for aches in the heart?" Naruto asked, wondering if he guessed right and trying to understand what it is. He figured it was better than dwelling on the fact that the redhead had just confessed his feelings to him.
"Yes...Uncle Yashamaru tried to give it to me but in the end it was a lie...and my mother gave it to me when she gave all her blood for me." Gaara explained, thinking back to his childhood for a moment, the longing he had to feel a mother's embrace or to be acknowledged but everyone treated him either as someone extremely fragile or as a monster.
"What's that special medicine?" Naruto asked, tilting his head.
"Love." Was all Gaara said, his hand moving up to touch the tattoo on his forehead.
The blonde felt his cheeks reddened, biting the inside of his cheek "I can't love you Gaara...I can't fall in love with anyone not after the grave sin I committed...I am sorry." The blonde bowed and quickly ran off, running past the people admiring all the sculptures, he ran past Deidara and stopped only when he was inside his car, his hand shaking as he moved to turn it on but his prosthetic arm wouldn't move.
Naruto cursed, trying again, having to use his other arm to turn on the car and drive, trying to calm himself down. He kept telling himself that Gaara was just confusing gratefulness with love, there was no way that the redhead was in love with him.
The blonde barely remembered making it inside his house and into his room, he got undressed, moving to lay on his bed, grabbing the picture of Sasuke and him, the raven was smirking while Naruto wrapped an arm around him with a grin on his face and a peace sign.
"I won't betray you Sasu...I won't forget what I did." The blonde promised, holding on to the picture and staring up at the ceiling. He tried staying up but sleep slowly overtook him as did the
A.N:/Just to clear things up right now before I forget, Gaara wears contacts when he's not wearing his dark glasses. He has a condition called Aniridia which makes it so that someone doesn't have pupil it also means that they are extremely sensitive to light if they are not wearing special glasses or contacts. It's a really interesting condition if any of you are interested in reading up on it. To be more specific in case anyone is actually interested in checking out his condition, he's got Spontaneous Aniridia.