When Gaara came to, he was in a blinding white room and grimaced.
"Gaara! You're up!" He heard his sister cry and it was like a sharp twist in his ears. His head was pounding, and he closed his eyes tightly.
"Please be quiet..." He grumbled and heard an incessant beeping noise.
"Lee, I think the nurses got the page. You can calm down." Kankuro's voice resonated in Gaara's ears and he felt his heartbeat quicken.
"Sorry..." Lee's voice said meekly and Gaara forced his eyes open a fraction so he could look around. Lee was standing right next to his bed on the left side. Temari was at his right side and Kankuro was seated on a chair at the wall across from the bed.
"Lee?" Lee leaned over the bed to give Gaara a better look at him.
"Yes, Gaara. I am here. What do you need?" Lee was considerate enough to keep his voice quiet.
Before Gaara could make any type of reply, a nurse came in the room to look over Gaara. Lee stood by Kankuro so they could take Gaara's vitals and Temari stood by his side like the doting sister she was. The nurse was just scribbling things down without announcing them so Lee got increasingly more worried that something was wrong. Lee began to bite his thumb and Kankuro watched him from the corner of his eyes. Sure, it was stressful seeing his little brother in the hospital but Lee was just freaking the hell out. Kankuro almost told him to relax but stopped himself. When was the last time Gaara had someone this worried about him?
Gaara's vitals were okay, not great but they weren't life threatening. The doctor eventually made his rounds and told Gaara they wanted to bring him in for a CT scan before they did anything else. Gaara insisted he was fine but the doctor wanted to make sure. When he finally left, Gaara looked to Temari and sighed.
"You shouldn't have brought me here. This is too much money. I can't afford this." Before Lee could pitch in, Temari stroked Gaara's hair.
"Gaara I brought you here because we were worried about you. Dad will pay the hospital bill, I'll make sure of it. Don't stress about the cost." She insisted and it made Gaara look less at ease than before.
Three hours passed and Gaara still wasn't brought into a different room for the CT scan. After the first hour he fell asleep. Lee wanted to wake him up, but Temari told him he needed all the rest he could get. Lee sat next to Gaara the entire time, fidgeting.
After the second hour, Temari apologized and told Lee she had to return to the shop since they were understaffed and there was only so much Shikamaru could do. Lee gave her a tentative smile.
"Do you mind if I stay here? I don't think I can concentrate at work right now..." Temari smiled at him and nodded.
"I appreciate you staying with him, Lee. Thank you. Please, keep me updated." With that, Temari and Kankuro left and Lee sat by Gaara's side well into the fourth hour.
A half an hour after that, the nurses finally came in to get Gaara. Lee rubbed his eyes tiredly. He was so emotionally exhausted at this point; he didn't know what to do. When he stood up the nurse kindly, but firmly told him he wasn't allowed in the room with Gaara during the CT scan and it wouldn't take longer than 30 minutes.
They were the longest 30 minutes of Lee's life.
When Gaara got back into the room, he was alert and awake. Lee's heart skipped at the sight of him being transported into the room. He looked miserable but Lee loved the little pout on his face. Did Gaara realize how cute he was?
"Lee? You're still here?" Lee grinned at him and Gaara gave him a small smile in return, which was more than he usually got. "I'm sorry you had to see all that."
"I'm glad I was there to help as much as I could. I'm sorry I couldn't help more." The true earnestness in Lee's voice made Gaara wonder what he did to deserve someone as kind as Lee. "Are you ok?" Lee stood up and walked to the heart monitor. "Your heartbeat is weird." Gaara coughed awkwardly hoping the attention would be alleviated and looked down at his blanket covered legs.
"I'm fine." Lee looked more intensely at Gaara.
"Are you sure? Your face is bright red. Do you have a fever?" Lee looked to the monitor and sighed when it didn't read his temperature. "I'm so worried about you, Gaara." Lee admitted and frowned when the heart monitor continued to read an erratic heart rate. "Your heart-" Lee was cut off by the loud ring of his cellphone and Gaara had never been more thankful.
"Hello? ... Hi dad! Yes... Okay. Thank you so much! ... I will. ... Can you?... That is wonderful. Tell Kakashi I say thank you very much! Yes!... I love you too, dad! Goodbye!" Lee closed the phone and slid it back into his pocket. Gaara loved that sweater. It was such a nice deep green color that somehow made Lee look... brighter. "Are you cold?" Lee asked with the most concerned tone Gaara had ever heard from someone for such a simple question. Before Gaara could answer, Lee was pulling off over his head and handed it to Gaara. "Please put it on. I do not want you to be cold."
Truthfully, Gaara wasn't cold. In fact, he was very warm. That didn't stop him from slowly putting on Lee's dark green pullover sweater. As he slid it over his head, he let himself scent the sweater. Lee had a very earthy, woodsy scent. He smelled like the embodiment of fall. Crisp leaves, burning wood, and fresh apples. It was intoxicating.
"Thank you, Lee." Gaara said quietly and Lee smiled at him happily.
Lee loved seeing Gaara in his sweater. Especially since Lee was bigger than Gaara, the sleeves were much too long and Gaara swam in the sweater. He looked so cozy and Lee thought it was precious.
The doctor finally made rounds again an hour later and cleared Gaara from the diagnosis of a concussion but told him to be wary since he did have a nasty fall and hurt his head.
Gaara could go home and he didn't know whether or not to be thankful.
What home?
Lee called Temari excitedly with the news and insisted that Gaara stay at his house. Lee said he thought Gaara might feel more comfortable at a house that didn't have Rasa in it. Temari nor Gaara had the heart to tell him that Gaara wasn't even allowed in the same house as Rasa.
Temari happily accepted, this way she wouldn't have to sleep at the shop to make sure Gaara didn't have any complications through the night. The fact that he'd be spending more time with someone she thought was the best person for him to be around. Gaara was probably angry at her right now but he would grow to thank her when they finally got together.
Which was totally going to happen.
Discharge was painless but took a while and finally Lee was leading him to the garage. Gaara was embarrassed that he had to be wheeled out of the hospital by a nurse but they were insistent that was the policy. Gaara glowered the entire ride down.
Lee held out his arm for Gaara to take when they were at the door and Gaara almost brushed it off but paused for a moment and took his arm.
It was Lee after all.
Now Gaara was snuggled in Lee's oversized sweater, and hanging on his arm as if he were a boyfriend. Gaara's cheeks colored and he stared at the ground and let Lee lead him to wherever they were going. He took the time it took to get to the car to be thankful for the first time in his life. He was so thankful. He wasn't sure what he did to deserve Lee, but he thanked whomever gave Lee to him.
The sky was dark and the air was chilled. Lee was still wearing his uniform. Gaara felt bad that he had Lee's sweater but Lee refused to take it back.
"I have another one in the car, it is fine. Do not worry." He insisted and Gaara's words fell on deaf ears. "Oh, by the way, your sister dropped off some of your clothes at my house if you wanted to go to school. If not, you are more than welcome to stay at my house." Gaara nodded mutely.
Lee led him into his house and Gaara couldn't stop drinking in everything about the house. Even when he was living in the dessert, he wasn't allowed in the house. He kind of forgot what the layout of a house looked like. This house though, this house was important. This is where Lee grew up and he wanted to know everything about Lee.
"Hello Gaara!" Gaara glanced up and saw a man that literally looked exactly like Lee. Same hair, same eyebrows, same love for green apparently. "My name is Guy and Kakashi is here somewhere... Anyway! I am Lee's dad. Make yourself at home, young man." He outstretched his hand to Gaara and Gaara slowly reached out and shook it awkwardly. Guy frowned slightly and Gaara colored and bowed his head.
"Thank you. For your hospitality." Gaara stood up straighter, but still slouched and Guy noticed the how close Gaara stood by Lee. Gaara seemed... skittish? Poor thing, he had reasons to be skittish. Guy wondered if he was nervous around adult males because of his abusive father. It made Guy want to cry. The poor child!
"Don't thank me, you are always welcome here." Guy sounded emotional, which made Lee emotional and Lee thanked his dad quickly and dragged Gaara up to his bedroom.
Gaara glanced around the room. The walls were a deep forest green color with gold molding. His furniture was an espresso wood color and his room just looked... comforting. The area rug under his feet was plush and soft and a simple light brown, the rest of his floor was a deep hardwood. There was a TV across from the bed on the dresser and next to his closet was a chest filled with... legwarmers?
"Those are weighted." Lee explained with a blush. "I use them when I run and train at the dojo."
"Dojo?" Lee was amazed that this was the first conversation him and Gaara had about his sole purpose of getting a job.
"Oh, yes. I actually applied to the café because I needed a job helping my parents keep their dojo opened. They said I didn't have to, but I love the dojo. So that's where most of my paychecks have been going." That was the most Lee thing Gaara had ever heard. Of course he would work somewhere, not for his own benefit but to help someone else.
"You're a good person, Lee." Lee blushed and looked away shyly. Compliments from Gaara made his stomach feel weightless.
"So are you, Gaara." Lee said fondly. "Are you hungry? We have some food downstairs." Gaara shrugged and Lee smiled. "Let's get changed into our pajamas. I always feel better in comfortable clothes!"
"I don't have any." Gaara said quietly and Lee shrugged and opened one of his drawers.
"I know they'll be big, but here you go!" Lee handed Gaara a pair of black and white flannel pajama bottoms and a dark blue long sleeved shirt that felt super soft but wow did it look big. Lee smiled inwardly at his pajama choice. He picked it because he knew Gaara liked to be warm and he loved to see Gaara in clothes that were obviously too big on him. Lee couldn't explain why, he just did.
Lee picked out another pair of flannel pants, colored red black and white, and a simple white tee shirt and changed in the bathroom so Gaara had privacy. They met in the hallway and Lee's eyes scanned over Gaara's body with a grin. He was right. Gaara did look absolutely adorable in his pajamas.
"Are you ok?" Gaara perked a brow and Lee's face colored but he nodded and motioned for Gaara to follow him.
The kitchen was relatively small but Gaara was used to the one at work so he couldn't really say much. It was a nice, cleaned kitchen, which was all that mattered.
Guy had already been in the kitchen and made them something to eat so Lee made them both a plate and they sat down at the dining room table and ate in a comfortable silence.
Lee wanted to talk more. He wanted to ask questions, he wanted to get to know Gaara. What could he ask? What was safe versus what would upset him? Lee obviously wanted to know more about his terrible relationship with his father, but he felt that the question would be extremely rude to bring up. Gaara was still healing and Lee wanted to do everything in his power to make sure he would be ok.
Gaara was finished eating and he kept glancing up at Lee who just seemed to be zoned out. Gaara tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes intently at Lee trying to figure out what he was looking at.
"Are you ok?" Gaara asked slowly and Lee blinked himself back into reality and laughed embarrassedly.
"Yeah! I am fine. Sorry, I do not know where my head is today. How do you feel right now, Gaara?" Gaara shrugged. "Would you like to watch a movie?"
They went up to Lee's room and Lee picked whatever movie he could find and when he looked over, he saw Gaara sitting on his bed. He couldn't swallow the lump in his throat and felt like he was about to choke. Lee made his way to the bed and got under the covers. The house was colder than it normally was and Lee wondered if that was intentional or not. Gaara shivered and Lee held the blankets up and Gaara blushed but got under the cover.
They both left enough room inbetween them for two more people but the fact that they were alone in bed together just made them nervous. Despite being cold, Gaara was sweating and Lee's heart hammered in his chest.
Gaara wouldn't be able to say what movie they were watching, a single character name or even what the plot was. He was hyperaware of the body next to his and for whatever reason, after a while made him feel safe. Gaara's position of sitting upright was slowly sinking down into the bed. He'd never been in a bed this comfortable. He couldn't remember the last time being in a real bed that wasn't a pullout couch.
Gaara fell asleep before the movie ended.
Lee stared at Gaara sleep next to him. He'd never seen someone sleep so silently. Lee was almost worried he wasn't breathing had his chest not risen and fallen in rhythm.
Lee shut the movie off and laid down, facing Gaara. With a smile he examined every curve of his face. The tiny freckles on his cheeks were beautiful. Gaara was perfect. Lee had no doubts in his mind about that. Lee fell asleep smiling to himself.
In most books Lee read, characters woke up not remembering what happened the night before. That wasn't the case with Lee. He wasn't surprised to wake up next to Gaara, he expected to. It wasn't something he could just forget. Lee was excited to wake up and see Gaara. He was still sleeping, same exact position and not making any noise.
Lee would've thought that he didn't sleep at all had his alarm not gone off. He didn't know someone could sleep so still and wondered if there was a reason for it.
Lee climbed out of the bed, something he really didn't want to do, and went to take a shower. He wasn't working this morning, Temari made sure. She told Lee to worry about Gaara and not about work which was something Lee could do easily.
The hot water hitting his skin was soothing. His skin was so cold, by the time the hot water reached his legs, the water wasn't hot anymore.
He sat down in the tub and let the hot water spray on his hair and shoulders and roll down his body. He put his chin on his knee and wrapped his arms around his legs. The position was comfortable in the moment and right now, he wanted to be as small as he could.
Watching his toes, Lee thought about Gaara. He thought about his eyes, his hair, his nose, even his ears. He recalled how limited Gaara's words were, like every word was important, he wouldn't waste his words on something that didn't need to be said. Lee loved that. Lee knew he spoke too much sometimes and wondered if Gaara felt as though he were wasting his words on nothing. They say women talk two times as many words as men do, if that were the case, women talked two times as much as Gaara did.
Gaara's voice was something else. It was much deeper than Lee's and something about it was soothing. Lee could honestly listen to Gaara read a phone book.
Gaara's hands were so dexterous and watching them work was beautiful. He could craft anything with those hands. Watching him pipe flowers, roll pie shells, cinnamon rolls. Whatever he did, he did beautifully. Lee even remembered the way he sliced fruits. The hold he had on the knife, he always was in control. Gaara seemed like the type that always had control of the situation. He didn't act as if he was 16 years old, he acted like he was in his mid-twenties.
He wanted to know everything about Gaara. Anything about him. He just wanted... Gaara.
Lee perked up under the stream of hot water as realization hit him like a brick wall.
How had he not known? It was so obvious.
He had a crush on Gaara.