Notes: Gaara's POV this time. I went at it a little differently than I've seen it done before, just because I feel like Gaara doesn't think like a normal person. WARNING: sexing.
CHAPTER 6: SETTING UP THE NURSERY
Sometimes Gaara let Lee get angry just because it was so interesting to watch.
His shoulders would stiffen, his jaw would set, and his gaze would become hard and intense. His voice became harsh, his words strong and demanding. If he was really fuming, his face would turn red and his nostrils would flare.
Also, when it was Gaara he was angry with, he'd cross his arms and furrow his brow. He'd take a certain stance he reserved just for this, his chest puffed and chin held high. When he said Gaara's name, he'd stretch out the syllables, making it sound as if it had about a dozen A's in it. Gaaaaaaaaaraaa! he'd say.
It was all quite captivating, as far as Gaara was concerned.
He didn't know why he liked seeing Lee like this, he just knew he did. He'd once asked his sister why this was. Why Gaara liked looking at Lee when he was angry, why (even though he knew it wasn't proper) he'd sometimes intentionally provoke him just to get that look in his eye, that shift of his frame. Why Lee was special.
She hadn't understood.
He hadn't really expected her to. After all, people got mad at her whenever they wanted.
Usually it wasn't Gaara Lee was angry at though. He got angry at situations or circumstances or things and people that went against Justice and what was Right. Sort of like now.
"…must have that long part in upside down… stupid… why don't you just… ow!"
Lee rubbed at a bump forming on his forehead where the heavy wooden banister had fallen and hit him. Scowling, he picked up the piece and fitted it back on top of the slats, balancing a crooked end on his knee.
Ever since that awful sensei of his had visited, Lee had become excited about the baby. Very excited. And while an excited Lee was also nice, it tended to be a bit jarring. It was loud, and when Gaara wasn't well rested, it sometimes gave him a mild headache.
It always gave Temari a headache. A bad one. And when his sister had a headache, it seemed like everyone else did, too. Kankuro had been the one to finally suggest that Lee curb his enthusiasm by preparing for the baby's arrival and setting up the nursery. This seemed premature to Gaara, since the baby was only about halfway done and might still not turn out. The nursery would be sitting empty for a long time if they had to make a new one. Also, since no one could know yet, it all had to be done in secret. Lee wasn't terribly interested in 'secret' and thus wasn't very good at it.
"…yeah, I think if I just… but it won't go… what's wrong with the dang…"
He was also apparently not very skillful at assembling baby cribs. Or terribly patient with it.
Gaara stood calmly in the doorway, sipping a cup of tea and rubbing absently at his stomach. It wasn't yet visibly apparent he had a baby forming inside him, but he was sure it would be soon. The skin felt tight and itchy, stretched taut against his abdominal muscles. He wasn't built to stretch the way a woman was; it was uncomfortable. And the room was stuffy, too. He wanted a bath. And maybe a massage. And then sex. And he had paperwork to do.
Still, he wasn't about to tell Lee the instructions were right under the box. That would ruin it.
"Ha! That's it! Don't worry, Gaara, I'll have this done in a-- dang it…"
Gaara took another sip of tea.
It didn't settle right. He frowned and felt at his stomach. It didn't feel like vomiting. He was finished vomiting. Food tasted fine now, it didn't burn his mouth anymore. The jutsu had fully stabilized, and the most he ever felt now was a minor shift of chakra somewhere about his midsection. But maybe he should try something solid with the tea, just to be sure. Some crackers to settle things.
But then he felt it again. It didn't feel normal at all. It was too low to be his stomach, too high to be his intestines. Something wasn't right with--
The baby! Something was wrong! Gaara's eyes widened in alarm and hands gripped tightly at his stomach. He heard the sound of his tea cup shattering on the ground by his feet.
No. It felt like--
Oh. Relax now. That was all it was. Calm down, he willed Shukaku, who was rattling wildly at the gates of his will.
Lee was beside him now, a panicked look on his face, babbling and alternately waving his hands around and feeling at Gaara's forehead. He did strange things like this sometimes. It was oddly comforting.
"It moved," Gaara told him by way of explanation.
Lee's face went blank. "What moved?"
Gaara pointed toward his stomach. "It startled me. I hadn't felt it before." Yes, it was just the baby moving inside him, nothing to worry about. Everything was fine. He'd have to be more prepared in the future. He couldn't let something so insignificant upset him. How thoughtless.
Lee's eyes were huge, his mouth hanging open. "Really?" he gasped, "REALLY?"
"Yes," Gaara told him. The tea he'd spilled was getting his sandal wet. It would be messy if he left it. "I'll get a towel."
"You'll get-- Gaara, no! Just relax! I'll get a towel for you! It's fine!"
Gaara watched his boyfriend as he darted out of the room. He was back in less than five seconds, towel in hand, wiping at the floor. Gaara raised his foot, and Lee wiped the tea off his sandal, setting the pieces of broken cup aside. Good, now Lee could go back to building.
But he didn't. Instead, Lee squatted on the floor and looked up at Gaara, a curious expression on his face. "Could I…?" he motioned toward Gaara's stomach.
Lee had a bad habit of not finishing sentences. It made him hard to understand. How was Gaara supposed to answer half a question?
"Just for a minute?" Lee asked, hands now hovering next to Gaara's waist.
Oh. "It's not moving anymore. And it's too small, you won't be able to feel it."
Lee huffed. "But can't I just try? It's not fair you get to feel it and I don't!"
Gaara frowned. He failed to see what fairness had to do with it. The baby was in his body, so it was only natural that he could feel it and Lee couldn't. But he didn't suppose it would hurt anything. "Fine."
Lee beamed and reached up to Gaara's waist. His hands were up too high, but it didn't matter. The baby was still.
"I don't feel anything, Gaara," Lee told him, sounding disappointed. "Here, can you unzip your coat a little maybe?"
Gaara unharnessed his gourd, set it on the ground behind him, and unzipped his jacket.
Lee made a thoughtful face and then slid his hands under the mesh shirt Gaara was wearing to touch his skin. His hands were warm, the bandages rough. "Must be cozy in there," he murmured.
"Yes," Gaara agreed. He didn't care what that Haruno woman said. Even a baby had to know it felt warm and good being inside someone.
Lee sighed and shifted onto his knees. He wrapped his arms around Gaara's middle and rested his cheek against his stomach. He stayed there for quite some time, eyes closed, peaceful, waiting for the baby to move. His breathing was calm and steady, breath puffing lightly against Gaara's skin.
Gaara looked down at him, cocking his head to see around Lee's bangs. The way he was leaning, Gaara's shirt pulled up so that it mussed his hair. Lee's dark lashes lay still against his tanned cheek. His skin was sweaty and a little sticky against Gaara's middle.
Gaara liked it. It felt nice. Gaara told him so.
Lee blushed, tilting his head up to look at Gaara. "You've got to tell me when it moves again, okay? I want to feel our baby…" Smiling, he kissed the skin just below Gaara's navel.
Gaara brought his hand to the back of Lee's neck and ran his fingers through his hair. It was damp from the heat, but soft. Lee's neck was sunburned in a thin strip just above the collar of his uniform.
Lee's tongue was hot and slick against Gaara's skin. It made Gaara shiver.
He would never understand his boyfriend's view on sex. There was evidently a Right and a Wrong time for it, but Gaara could never tell the difference. Given that Shukaku was calm, as long as they were alone and not too busy with work, it seemed like a fine time to him. But sometimes at the mere mention of sex, his boyfriend's face would unexpectedly turn beat red, and he'd start spluttering incoherently. Gaara recognized this as embarrassment, though he didn't grasp the concept. When Lee did this sort of thing, of course, Gaara left him alone until Lee decided the time was Right. A week or two later, Lee would practically beg Gaara to bend him over his desk, to hell with the Daimyo waiting just outside the door. It was all very confusing.
This though, what they were doing now, with Lee's teeth pulling at his zipper, his strong hands running up and down Gaara's back, was not confusing at all. Nor was it confusing when Lee did what came next. It was warm and soft and left him with that strange sense of comfort deep inside that nothing else could ever give him.
Afterward, he slid down into Lee's lap, muscles lax and tingling. He rested his head on his boyfriend's shoulder, arms hanging limply beside him as he caught his breath. He sighed distantly when Lee kissed his forehead and zipped his pants back up.
The room was hot and stuffy, and it smelled dusty and unused. Eyes half closed, Gaara regarded its one small, grated window high on the eastern side. A weak stream of light fell across the room onto a bare, stained wall. The half-built crib stood beside its ripped cardboard box in the room's center, crooked wooden slats jutting up like the charred remains of a burned-out building. Abandoned and desolate, this seemed like the last place in the world a baby should live. Even Gaara knew this.
But he also knew that if he turned, he'd see the fluffy green turtle Lee's sensei had brought laying beside the door on top of a carefully folded stack of pearly white bedding with green edging and a soft green pillow with tiny shuriken embroidered on it that Lee had brought back from his last mission. Everything good came from Lee. He'd built their entire life together nearly single-handedly, forcing Gaara to recognize parts of himself he'd never dared to before. All of it had been Lee's doing. Except for this. This was the final step. And this would prove things, either way.
He did his best not to think about it, sliding across Lee's shoulder to bring his lips to his boyfriend's cheek. "I like when you build things," Gaara told him.
Lee snorted, gesturing out toward the tilted wooden wreck. "Well I sort of only half built this one."
"Just like the baby," Gaara mused, idly touching Lee's soft cheek lightly with his fingertips.
Lee made a strange noise.
Gaara liked Lee's training uniform. It accentuated his shape nicely during battle, not hiding his hard-earned, sleek muscle and the grace of his taijutsu as other clothing might. It was also warm and comfortable to sleep in, as Gaara had discovered one particularly cold night during a winter trip to Water Country. It was, however, rather difficult to get Lee out of when Gaara wanted him naked.
"Gaara, what're you-- hey! Wait, I have to finish the-- Gaara, don't!"
"Finish it later," Gaara told him as he edged the stretchy neck over one of Lee's broad shoulders.
"But if I don't finish the crib, our darling sweet infant won't have anyplace to sleep!" he protested, setting Gaara gently on the ground as he stood. He kissed the top of Gaara's head on the way.
Gaara dubiously eyed the obvious bulge now resting at eye level. "I'll be quick," he said, reaching for it. "I just want to give you a--"
"Gaaaaaaaraaa!" a red-faced Lee exclaimed indignantly, throwing him an accusatory glare as he stepped quickly out of reach.
"You can finish the crib after, Lee," Gaara pointed out, annoyed. The ground was much less comfortable to sit on than Lee was, and the wobbly crib was less fun to look at. "You still have over four months."
"Absolutely not!" his boyfriend declared, fist suddenly clenched and eyes fiery despite his undoubtedly distracting hard-on. "A ninja never leaves a job half done. I must finish my work! Youthful determination will carry me through where skill cannot! This baby crib will be most perfectly constructed both in form and functionality! If I can't assemble it, I will--"
"The instructions are under the box," Gaara said.
Lee blinked. "Really?"
"Yes," Gaara said, crossing his arms. "Hurry."
It was amazing how much a simple instruction manual could help speed things along.