Lee didn't see Gaara work as quickly, efficiently, and beautifully as he did on Thursday. Thanksgiving was turning out to be quite the affair. It was being held at the café and since it was closed, Temari, Shikamaru and Kankuro were in the other room setting up. They pushed tables together, gathered extra chairs, Temari even added some decoration. The bar had an array of different snack foods on it (that thankfully Gaara didn't have to make, the poor guy) and both TVs were on different channels.
People should begin to arrive in about 3 hours. Ino was on her way now to help. Kakashi and Guy had to do a couple of things but promised they'd be there soon.
Lee wasn't sure who else was invited. He knew the invitation was given to Naruto and Sasuke, which he thought was super nice of Gaara to do, especially because neither of them had much of a family. Sasuke was shocked when Gaara invited him, but agreed with a rare smile. He asked if it was possible to bring his brother and Gaara told him of course. Naruto was thrilled and happily announced he wouldn't have to eat ramen on Thanksgiving again which made Lee frown deeply. He was upset he never thought to invite Naruto over. He knew Naruto was an orphan but he figured his adoptive father would have a family to bring him to.
Lee looked at Gaara cube potatoes and throw them into a large pot. He was impressed with the speed that Gaara was cutting and even more so, he was impressed with the precision.
Lee was in charge of pies. When Gaara had asked him to do that, Lee grinned. Gaara had a tiny habit of asking Lee to do tasks he didn't want to do. Lee would of course oblige. Gaara could ask him to do anything and Lee would never say no.
Lee had three pie crusts ready to go and felt proud that there was something he could do in the kitchen that Gaara trusted him to do completely on his own. Lee made sure his pie crusts were perfect, even the crimp. Gaara commented on how nice they were the other day and Lee beamed. He was happy that Gaara found his pies beautiful.
Gaara now had one ear bud in and he was listening to music and mumbling along to it more than singing it. Lee could only hold in his curiosity for so long.
"What have you been listening to?" He asked and Gaara looked up and took the ear bud out.
"Care to guess?" Gaara said simply and wiped his knife off and began cutting garlic.
"...Oh. You seemed to be interested in Beauty and the Beast. Is it Tale as old as Time?" Gaara nodded and Lee smiled. "That is wonderful. I do love that song. I used to sing it to myself all of the time." Lee just realized how pathetic that sounded.
"Oh you did?" Gaara seemed interested. "Then go ahead and sing it."
"W-what? No. I cannot." Lee turned red and Gaara raised a brow and continued to cut more garlic. "It is a duet. Will you accompany me?" Lee decided to try and Gaara smirked at him and looked back at the cutting board. Lee watched him stare intensely at the cuts he was making and was startled to actually hear Gaara start to sing the song.
"Tale as old as time. True as it can be. Barely even friends, then somebody bends unexpectedly." Lee's curiosity was substantially satiated hearing Gaara sing, in fact for a moment he was rendered speechless. Sure, he assumed Gaara would be able to sing, it was just how he sung that amazed him. Gaara, however, kept his eyes on Lee expectantly. Lee colored, he wasn't completely confident, but with his eyes locked onto Gaara's, he continued the song.
"Just a little change. Small to say the least. Both a little scared. Neither one prepared-"
"-Beauty and the beast" Gaara was pleasantly surprised to learn that not only could Lee sing, he could sing well. And well wasn't even cutting it, his voice was beautiful. It was different than his own. Gaara took notes and strictly sung the notes he needed. Lee's voice... it was more show-offy with the note changes that weren't necessary, but he couldn't argue it was beautiful. And when they sung together, their voices just seemed to fit. For two people with vastly different tunes, singing together was just right. "Ever just the same, ever a surprise, ever as before and ever just as sure, as the sun will rise."
Going through the song, taking turns singing, Gaara realized he was singing the woman part but honestly didn't care. Right now, he was standing in the kitchen at one table, knife forgotten, hands gripping the wooden bench with his eyes locked to Lee's. Lee was standing opposite of him at the metal workbench parallel to his and his eyes were unmoving. It was almost like a really intense conversation instead of singing. Neither one of them tried to one up the other and Lee had a smile on his face whereas Gaara had a look of concentration. Lee knew the song more so had more fun, Gaara was just trying to remember the lyrics correctly.
"Certain as the sun..." Lee started, Gaara echoed him and Lee started to move around the table, walking towards Gaara. "Rising in the east."
"Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme, beauty and the beast."
"Tale as old as time..." Gaara sung, his voice much quieter now that Lee was standing on the opposite side of his table, less than a foot away.
"Song as old as rhyme..." Lee sung just as softly, feeling himself lean closer.
"Beauty and the beast." They sung together, the same noise level. Gaara felt himself lean more over the table. Lee looked so good in his chef jacket with the script "Gaara" on the left breast pocket. He learned quickly why Lee loved to see Gaara in his clothes. There was something intimately possessive about seeing his name on Lee.
"Beauty and the..." They were so close to each other, Gaara could feel Lee's breath. His body was trembling at Lee's close proximity. Was this honestly happening? "Beast..." Gaara drew the note out as long as he could, voice just above a whisper.
The note was cut off when Lee finally kissed him. It was the softest, most chaste kiss Lee could give. It almost pained him to not kiss him with more force, to really put his emotions in the kiss. Lee also didn't want the kiss to be too much, it was the end of a song and the song ended on such a soft note, that anything more than this kiss would seem excessive.
Lee pulled away slowly and watched Gaara's eyes flutter open and there was an expression of disbelief on his face.
"Why did you kiss me?" He whispered, unable to find his voice.
"I-I..." Lee flushed, should he tell him the truth or lie? Say he didn't mean it. It was in the moment. There was so much he could say but nothing he was sure of. "I've been wanting to do that for a while."
"...What about Sakura?" Gaara asked, his heart felt like it was in his throat. He could probably count his heartrate by just feeling the throb in his neck, his heart was beating so hard.
"..." Lee looked ashamed which wasn't the reaction Gaara wanted to see. "I apologize for the timing that I kissed you. I should not have done that while I am with Sakura. Not because there was any part of me that didn't want to kiss you, I assure you every part of me wants to kiss you. But I apologize because it was... not right to do. I do not want you to think I will be like this in every relationship I am in. I do not mean to be a cheater, I am just in love with you." Lee's face burned with embarrassment and shame. Gaara's eyes widened at the admission. In love?
Gaara grabbed Lee by the unbuttoned top flap of his chef jacket and yanked him in close and kissed him. Kissing over the table was quite awkward but Lee didn't mind much. He cupped Gaara's face, lightly at first, but tightened his grip once the kiss became more passionate. Gaara pulled away and went to say something but his eyes traveled to the kitchen door where Ino stood, eyes wide, face red and with a look of shock.
"Hello Ino." Gaara greeted calmly, like she didn't walk into something so private. Lee tensed and quickly turned around, his face red.
"Hi..." For someone that wouldn't shut up, she sure was quiet now. "Gaara sweetie, can I talk to you?" Gaara nodded and they both went into the bathroom. Lee stared at the door in horror. What had he done? What if Ino and Gaara were together and he just broke them up? What if Ino threw this in Sakura's face before he got the chance to break up with her? Lee felt so ashamed. He shouldn't have done that. At the same time, he was glad he did.
In the bathroom, Ino was starting to be able to articulate words.
"What did I just walk in on?" She whispered and Gaara smirked at her. "Oh Gaara... Sweetie. I totally take credit for this."
"You? I'm the one who essentially dragged him across the table." Gaara whispered back harshly and Ino's grin was almost feral. "Fine, you can take credit if it makes you feel better."
"How much do you wanna bet he's totally out there freaking out?" Ino said with a laugh as she put on her chef jacket.
"That's a strong possibility. I don't regret it though. He told me he's in love with me though." Ino's jaw dropped at the same time, she smiled.
"Holy shit, really? That's awesome. Now you two can get ~married~!" Gaara frowned at her.
"How does anything involving Lee eventually turn into us getting married. Would you like me to say you're going to get married at the next person you show interest in?" Ino went to make a remark and stopped herself with a smirk.
"Nice use of the lack of pronouns." She addressed and he inclined his head slightly.
"Thanks I try. I think you'd say that sentence 'nice lack of the use of pronouns' though." Gaara corrected and Ino glared at him and held out her arms. Gaara took the hint and helped her roll up her sleeves.
"Can you not be a smartass for 3 goddamn seconds?" She sighed and Gaara perked a brow that essentially was a "no". "Yeah I figured. Anyway, are you going to be making out the entire time? Should I leave? I'm sure I have condoms in my bag somewhere..." She opened her purse and Gaara threw a stack of paper towels at her. "Fine, I'll look later."
"We aren't going to use condoms Ino." He said with his face pink.
"Oh going in raw?" Gaara's face turned even more red.
"Can we not talk about this? Please. It's making me uncomfortable." Ino raised an eyebrow but said nothing and hung up her bag.
"Of course sweetie. I'll make fun of you for it later." She opened the bathroom door and they walked out together. When Gaara looked up he saw that Lee was back at his own table working way to hard on the pies to be considered normal. His face was still very red and Ino shoved Gaara over towards Lee's table and loudly announced "I'm going to get some coffee I'll be back in 3 minutes." And walked out of the kitchen.
"Sorry about her." Gaara said blankly, glaring at her figure as she left. "She's a nuisance."
"Oh n-not at all." Gaara examine Lee's face and leaned on the table Lee was working on. Lee eventually stopped working and looked at Gaara. "I-I..."
"You are embarrassed, I see that. There is no need. Ino isn't out to get you." Gaara promised and Lee nodded meekly. "I'm sorry if I put you in an uncomfortable position."
"Oh no, Gaara. You did not. I put myself in one but I cannot say I actually mind." Gaara stared at Lee intently. "What?"
"Do you really... love... me?" He said slowly and Lee's face broke out into a beautiful smile.
"I do." The way Lee stared at Gaara made Gaara feel a swarm of emotions.
"Then why are you with Sakura?" The question wasn't angry, it wasn't really any emotion. It was almost a statement. A statement that made Lee's smile slip away.
"Gaara how are we looking in here?" Temari asked from the doorway.
"We're fine. How are we looking out there?"
"Almost completely set up. I wanted to let you know something though. Uncle Yashamaru will be here." Gaara stopped, his body tensed and he looked up and Temari looked even more uncomfortable. "So will dad."
"...Why is Rasa coming when I'm cooking all of the food? Doesn't he want something not made from a demon?" Temari walked in and hugged Gaara.
"I told them not to come but you know how dad is." Gaara broke away from Temari.
"No. I worked so damn hard on this dinner and now he's going to come and just fuck everything up."
"I will not let him. Neither will dad and Kakashi, you know that." Lee said as sure as he could.
"I need a minute alone." Gaara stormed out of the kitchen and Temari winced when she heard the front door slam. Ino was in the kitchen in a second.
"What the hell happened to Gaara?" She asked, eyes mainly on Lee. Lee held up his arms defensively.
"Dad is coming to Thanksgiving." Temari mumbled, unsure if Ino even know that much about Gaara.
"Ew." Ino frowned at the news. "My poor Gaara." Lee was suddenly annoyed that Ino knew what Rasa showing up meant to Gaara. Who gave her the right to know? Lee frowned at himself and tried to swallow down jealousy. He wouldn't understand where it kept coming from.
Gaara climbed up onto the roof of the building and hid in such a way that no one could see him. He really didn't need anyone bothering him right now. Not even Lee. Lee was the one clouding his mind too much right now.
Gaara was able to hear Ino and Lee coming outside and saw the tops of their heads. Gaara laid down on the roof and stared up at the sky. It was about 12pm and it was beautiful outside, even if it was cold. The air felt nice on Gaara's skin, he was so warm.
"Where do you suppose Gaara went?" Ino's voice asked.
"He said he would like to be alone. So probably somewhere that we cannot find him for now. We should give him time. Would you like to assist me with the rest of the list? We can at least help Gaara while he is calming down." Lee, always the voice of reason.
"...okay." Ino didn't seem keen on not looking for Gaara and Gaara felt nice that they even came outside to try. But Lee was right, he didn't need distractions right now. He just wanted to think. There was so much to think about.
Ino had made croissants and biscuits and they were in the oven baking. Lee finished the pies and they were cooling on the rack. They both peeled vegetables for different dishes, portioned things out for the main dishes. Ino basted the turkey and taught Lee why she was doing it. They put in the extra serving of stuffing that wouldn't fit in the turkey in a small pan.
Ino made cookies, just regular chocolate chip. Just to say she did something. She was growing anxious with Gaara nowhere to be found. Lee too, he kept staring at the door. Temari insisted he was okay and to let him cool down. It was stressful when Rasa was involved.
Eventually, Gaara showed up in the kitchen. He had earbuds in so Lee knew he didn't want to talk. He walked around the kitchen making a note of everything that was done already. He began boiling the potatoes and saw the rest of the ingredients for mashed potatoes was scaled out and ready to go. He gave them a nod of thanks but said nothing more on the matter.
Finishing Thanksgiving dinner was done in silence. It was awkward and Lee didn't like it. He wished he could tell Temari that Rasa was not allowed to come. Even though this was his business and his family.
Guy and Kakashi burst through the kitchen doors, startling everyone.
"Wow! What a beautiful setup!" Guy said joyously. "We should get this at home!"
"Why? So you can continue to burn cereal?" Kakashi said dryly and Guy ignored him.
"Happy Thanksgiving, all!" Guy announced and even Gaara had to hide his smirk. He wasn't supposed to be in a good mood but Guy was too entertaining to not smile at.
"We brought your nice clothes since apparently you two think you can have a nice family meal in chef jackets." Kakashi said, holding up two hangers.
"Thank you, Kakashi." It was the first thing Gaara said in nearly two hours.
"What do you have left?" He asked and Gaara looked around and shrugged.
"Nothing really. Just the finishing touches." Kakashi nodded and pointed to the door that used to be Gaara's room.
"Shall I hang this up for when you can get ready?" Gaara nodded and Kakashi went to the room and hung them up and came back. Guy was talking to Lee, both of them very animated so Kakashi ignored them both. Kakashi leaned on the table, bringing himself closer to Gaara's height. "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you." He promised and Gaara nodded slowly. "I swear it. None of us will. You're our family now, forget him. He doesn't matter."
"Thank you, Kakashi." Gaara said quietly and Kakashi nodded.
"Now get ready so you don't look like that. Everyone is arriving now and the chef should look presentable. Where is Ino?" Gaara nudged his head towards the bathroom and Kakashi smirked.
"Already getting ready I see. Women." Kakashi laughed and the corner of Gaara's mouth curled up. "Anyway, get ready! Both of you!" Kakashi left the kitchen, dragging Guy behind him.
"I suppose we should get ready now." Lee said nervously and Gaara nodded and walked into his old room. Lee didn't follow, he was probably unsure if Gaara wanted to get changed with him or not. Gaara gave him some time while he examined the clothes Kakashi picked out for the two. Gaara didn't have nice clothes for a dinner so he was curious what was picked out.
Gaara grabbed the hanger and pulled it down. These weren't his clothes. Nice gray slacks, very soft for dress pants. Gaara could tell they were for him since the legs were shorter than what Lee's legs would fit. He felt the shirt that came with it, it felt like the softest fabric Gaara ever touched. He looked at the shirt more closely and saw the tags were still on them with the price ripped off. Kakashi had bought him clothes. The realization made his heart clench and he sat down holding the clothes close to him. This is what parents did. They didn't call their children demons and refuse to let them live in their house. Kakashi was a true parent, not Rasa.
Gaara's mouth pressed tightly together and with shaky hands he examined the tag. It was a cashmere sweater. Gaara never felt cashmere before. It was so nice. He brought it to his face and rubbed it on his cheek. The sweater had a large collar and it buttoned to about his mid-chest. The buttons were rather large and a darker brown, there were pockets on both sides of the sweater. Underneath it was another shirt, it was green.
His eyes wandered to the floor and he saw two pairs of dress shoes. He couldn't really control his emotions at that point. Kakashi and Guy went out to but him new clothes and new shoes because they knew he didn't have them. There was a tiny knock on the door, then Lee walked in. He looked at Gaara on the futon, his eyes red and watery and he was holding a sweater to his chest.
"Are you okay?" Lee was at his side and hugging him in an instant. Gaara sniffled and rubbed his eyes until they didn't feel like they were tearing anymore.
"I'm fine. No one has ever gone out of their way for me like Kakashi and Guy. I'm just thankful." Lee smiled at him and hugged him again.
"You've found the purpose of thanksgiving at least." Gaara nodded and stood back up and walked over to the shoes. He knew they were his because Lee's feet were bigger. Gaara was just realizing how large Lee was. He picked up the shoes and examined them. They were brown leather shoes with the tips blackened. They looked pretty classy. "I hope you do not mind, I stole a pair of your shoes to get your size." Lee admitted.
"You got them for me?" Gaara asked with wide eyes.
"I helped them get your size. Kakashi picked out most of the clothes. He didn't want dad to do it. He said, and I quote 'I don't think Gaara wants to look like a fucking idiot, put those clothes away'." Gaara smiled and didn't agree with Lee, but Lee knew he did. Guy had a weird sense of style. "Put them on, I would love to see how you look."
Gaara nodded and unbuttoned his chef jacket and hung it up on the pipes. He had an undershirt on and hesitantly took it off. Lee was able to actually see him up close and he was right. Gaara did have scars on his back. Long thin wiry scars. Some puncture marks. It was all so strange. Gaara turned to face Lee and there were even some on his chest.
"What happened to you?" Lee asked quietly and Gaara looked down at his chest and his eyes grew softer.
"I wasn't well liked growing up." He said simply and pulled on his new green shirt. Lee stood up and hugged Gaara again.
"I like you enough for everyone." He admitted and Gaara laughed dryly.
"I thought you loved me." Lee pulled away to look into Gaara's eyes.
"I do. I told you I do." Lee didn't ask Gaara if Gaara loved him in return, he would learn eventually. He just smiled at Gaara and helped him put on his new sweater.
Lee stepped back and started to take off his own chef jacket and hung it up next to Gaara's. Lee didn't wear an undershirt. Gaara's eyes examined Lee's chest as he took off his checkered pants and pulled on his new gray pants. Lee was muscular. He wasn't so ridiculously muscular that it looked like too much. He very noticeably had abs, his arms were toned, he was lean. He looked perfect.
"You have a nice body." Gaara noted and Lee blushed, Gaara saw how it went down his neck and even to his shoulders.
"Thank you." Lee pulled on a collared red shirt and a gray cardigan. The way the shirt was, Gaara could see the muscles in his shoulders. The shirt hugged the muscles in his arms and Lee folded the sweater sleeves up to his elbows. Gaara sat down to put on his new shoes at the same time Lee took off his sweatpants to put on his black dress pants. Gaara noticed how nicely curved his butt was. He also wondered why he didn't really care to look at anyone else, but when it was Lee he just admired everything about him.
Once they were both dressed, Lee pulled out a brush from his bag and brushed Gaara's hair. Gaara watched Lee's face of concentration and the tongue that stuck out just slightly between his lips.
"Perfect." Gaara smiled and Lee kissed his forehead. Gaara grabbed Lee's cheeks and pulled him down and kissed him on the lips, feeling Lee's smile against his own.
Temari was setting up the table with all the food that was put on platters. Her and Ino shared the bathroom where they put on makeup and gossiped about pretty much everything. She could tell there was something Ino wasn't saying and knew it was about her brother, hopefully it was about her brother and Lee. She didn't know how long they were going to dance around each other like this but it was progressively getting more and more ridiculous. Kankuro was putting paper plates in front of everyone's seat and the door opened and Temari looked up. Sasuke, Itachi, Naruto and some guy she never saw before. She stood up straight and walked over to the door where Kakashi and Guy had already greeted everyone.
"Temari! You know these three so they don't matter." Guy brushed them off and Sasuke rolled his eyes and him and Naruto walked away, Itachi following. "This is Naruto's guardian, Jiraiya. Also the writer of Kakashi's favorite book series..." Guy mumbled and Jiraiya gave a thumbs up.
"Nice to meet you. Make yourself comfortable, dinner is ready everyone is just getting dressed." Temari smiled and walked away.
"Now, all you have to do is act like that all night." Guy instructed and Jiraiya raised his eyebrow.
"But I didn't even say anything." Kakashi looked up.
"Exactly." The two said in unison and Jiraiya frowned and glowered at them.
After they showed up, Lee and Gaara walked out from the back and Temari cooed over how handsome Gaara looked and took about 200 pictures, most of which had Gaara cross armed and glaring at her. She didn't mind.
Ino grabbed Gaara and they secluded themselves on a couch and looked to be in deep discussion and Naruto and Sasuke talked to Lee.
"What's going on man? You look exhausted." Naruto noted and Lee sighed.
"So much emotion today, Naruto. I do not believe I can handle more." He admitted and over with Ino and Gaara, Ino noticed how Gaara blanched.
"What?" She asked and Gaara smacked himself in the head. "What!?"
"I forgot I invited Sakura." He mumbled and Ino's eyes grew comically wide.
"You what!?" She harshly whispered and Gaara looked at Ino and closed his eyes. He felt a headache coming on. "Why would you invite billiard-brow?"
"Because I wanted to surprise Lee." Gaara responded and Ino watched Lee's face when he noticed Sakura was now here.
"Well honey, you sure the fuck did."
"This dinner is going to be a disaster." Gaara groaned and saw Sakura giggled at Lee's look of shock. She looked pretty, nice and dolled up. She had a nice sweater dress that hugged her curves and her hair was pinned up and she had nice makeup on. Lee turned to face Gaara and Gaara waved at him, mortified.
"Stop friend-zoning yourself. You did this on your own. You didn't need to be nice. I told you to break them up to begin with!" Ino hissed quietly and Gaara scowled at her.
"You think I don't already know that?" To make things worse, the door opened and his father and his uncle walked in. "I'm going to be sick..."
The good points of the dinner, Gaara made an amazing spread with the help of Ino and Lee. All the food was delicious and most likely there wouldn't be leftovers.
The bad points of dinner... There were just so many of them.
Ino was able to sit next to Gaara but before Lee could sit on the other end, his dad sat down with Kakashi on the other side, both of them trying to act like it wasn't completely because Rasa was there, and failing. So Gaara got to see Lee sit next to Sakura with Sasuke on his other side next to Itachi. Across from them was Naruto and Jiraiya. The table was just a mess of people. There should've been a seating chart but there wasn't. Since Gaara sat at the head of the table, Rasa sat at the other head, almost as a challenge. All Gaara heard was Sakura's voice and even it was Lee's girlfriend, he understood it would be terrible of Lee to break up with her on Thanksgiving after she was invited by Gaara. She would think it was a big setup and be super pissed so now he got to watch Lee be uncomfortable with Sakura acting like everything was fine.
Rasa made dumb comments all throughout dinner that weren't necessarily nice. Temari kicked him under the table several times but he didn't seem to care. Somehow Sasuke was outed as being gay, no one really knew how that conversation started but Sasuke stormed off, Naruto stumbling behind him calling out to him trying to cheer him up. The comments Jiraiya made, were hysterical, inappropriate, and Itachi and him got into an argument.
Rasa actually insulted Lee on something and Lee's face turned red and he went to stand up from himself and that turned into Rasa vs. Kakashi and Guy. Temari hid her face and wished she was anywhere but there. Ino was eating but watching intently. Gaara was fairly certain he descended into a deeper part of hell.
"Do you want to get out of here?" Ino whispered and Gaara nodded vigorously.
Ino, Gaara, Lee and Sakura snuck out to the kitchen. They all sat on the lower part of the tables and Gaara held his head and rubbed his temples.
"You okay, Gaara?" Sakura's voice asked softly and Gaara sighed.
"Sorry about my father, guys." He said and Lee frowned at him.
"Rasa? No that is not your father. He is nothing. Do not feel badly for the things that he said. He means nothing to any of us, okay? You live with me, Gaara. Kakashi and Guy are your fathers now, okay?" Gaara nodded and Lee hugged him.
Sakura and Ino shared a look and Sakura wondered exactly what she missed.