It didn't matter what time piano lessons started, Itachi and Gaara had the same routine. Gaara would show up with Lee, Lee would hang out with Sasuke (sometimes Naruto would show up, other times Naruto would be pissed he wasn't invited), they would all sit in the kitchen and eat the pastries Gaara brought (Sasuke and Itachi always fought over the last s'mores muffin. Gaara knew this and continued to only bring one. His response was that Itachi's favorite muffin was blueberry and Sasuke's was chocolate-chocolate chip so they should split it. They rarely did). Then Gaara and Itachi would go into the piano room, easily Gaara's favorite room. They would sit on the couch together while drinking coffee and Itachi would show him music sheets and teach him various symbols and music note meanings.
Once they were done with their coffee, Itachi would bring them over to the piano and teach Gaara which key was which note. Gaara for the most part would absorb the information like a sponge, but sometimes he had difficulty remembering certain things. Itachi was always calm so if Gaara made a mistake, there would only be a gentle reminder.
Feeling the keys of the piano under his fingertips made him smile each time. Gaara thought about the piano at his old house, it was old and worn, this one was new, shiny and smooth. The piano was gorgeous.
Itachi and Gaara would sit on the piano bench together for well over an hour even though the lessons were only an hour long. There was something about teaching someone who really wanted to learn that made Itachi forget about time restraints. Itachi couldn't count how many times he was given a child to learn piano that honestly wanted to do nothing more than not to learn piano. This was refreshing.
Itachi was ashamed it took him this long to realize, after all, he had taught Gaara 5 piano lessons already, he should've caught on sooner. Gaara didn't really know how to read music as much as he appeared to. Gaara had an interesting talent. It was really hard for him to read music, but when he saw Itachi play, he could mimic it nearly perfectly. It was also interesting when he was playing the piano when Itachi wasn't in the room. He would listen to music on his phone and it would take him a bit of testing, but he picked the tune from the song and within minutes could figure out how to play it on piano without the music.
He biggest thought Itachi had was would it be a waste of time to teach Gaara sheet music when he could figure out how to play anything without it?
The next time they had a lesson, Itachi sat Gaara down and handed him music and had him tell Itachi each note on the paper. He even gave Gaara a pen so once he figured it out, he could write the letter next to the note. Teaching Gaara was a lot different from any other student that was for sure.
"I'm amazed." Sasuke said after a solid 15 minutes of watching TV next to Itachi and Itachi not once speaking.
"What?" Itachi asked as he nibbled on one of the leftover pastries. Gaara was going to make him fat, he knew it.
"It's been 15 whole minutes and 20 since Gaara left and not once have you tried to hook us up. You're growing." Itachi smirked at him.
"I realized it was futile, considering you have N-n-naruto to fawn over." Itachi laughed and Sasuke's face brightened and he chucked a pillow at him.
"I did not stutter like that!" Sasuke yelled and Itachi tossed the pillow back, giving Sasuke a smirk and raised his eyebrow. "I didn't!"
"Yeah okay S-s-sasuke."
Itachi was teasing Sasuke for coming downstairs earlier without a shirt on and in bright orange pajama pants. When he came downstairs, Itachi, Lee, and Naruto were all sitting on the couch talking while Gaara was in the bathroom. Out of everyone on the couch, Sasuke stuttered out Naruto's name and ran away. Naruto looked completely confused and Itachi and Lee just laughed. When Gaara walked in, he was very upset to have missed the spectacle.
"You're a dick and I hate you." Itachi kissed in the direction of Sasuke and Sasuke pouted.
The final week of school before Christmas was fun. One day was Ugly Christmas Sweater Day and the team dressed the hell up for that.
Everyone had the job to pick out someone elses ugly Christmas sweater so opening them up in the cafeteria when everyone got to school was a spectacle. Gaara opened his up and it was a red eyed gingerbread cookie saying "Let's get Baked!" (Being a sweet sweet dear child he did not get the reference since he was a sheltered child and didn't know much about slang. No one could convince him it wasn't funny because the gingerbread man was trying to kill himself but saying they would imbibe in illegal sustenance.) Ino picked hers up and kicked Gaara with a laugh. It said "Kiss Me Under The Mistletoe" and had an arrow pointing down.
"You ass, now I have to cover that arrow up, they'll never let me wear this without dress coding me." Gaara just stuck his tongue out.
Lee's sweater said "Gingas!" and they were ninja gingerbread men. Naruto's was Santa on a toilet and he laughed for about 3 minutes straight. Sasuke was not happy even a little bit and turned bright red before showing his sweater to the group. It said "FRUITCAKE" with a picture of a fruitcake. Naruto fell over laughing again and probably peed himself in the process. Sakura's said "Drink up GRINCHES it's Christmas!" With wine glasses all over it.
Overall everyone was pretty happy with their sweater.
Except Sasuke.
"Yearbook!" Someone shouted and Lee turned around surprised. "Pose for the yearbook." For whatever reason, Lee could not understand, even if you ask him a thousand times what he was thinking in that moment, he still would not be able to know why instead of posing with his girlfriend, he wrapped his arms around Gaara like they were taking a prom photo.
Everyone else just went with it. Naruto decided to pose with Sakura and Ino posed as the man with Sasuke. Sasuke glowered but everyone was smiling. Gaara's face was red and he really hoped they didn't put this in the yearbook.
"Thanks for being my prom date." Lee laughed awkwardly and Gaara nodded, still blushing. Ino grabbed Gaara's hand and they waved at the group and left.
"Don't tell me you're still getting all giggly over Lee when you have Hotty as your teacher, I will literally not allow it." Gaara frowned and leaned his head on his locker.
"I can't help it. I love him." Ino sighed sadly and nodded.
"I know... But this is high school and boys are dumb so you should get with a man." Ino winked and Gaara looked at her like she had 6 heads.
"Ino, Itachi is 9 years older than me. I'm only 16." She gave him a look and laughed.
"Oh so now you're only 16 but when it suits you it's 'I'm almost 17'. Shut up. Plus, the age of consent is 17, so..." Gaara rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that bull. You love me."
"Why are you trying to hook me up with Itachi? Don't you have the biggest crush on him." Ino shrugged.
"I'd rather see you happy." The statement sobered Gaara briefly and he looked at Ino and she smiled. "Oh shut up. I'm not sappy. I just love you."
At the end of the day there was an award for funniest ugly Christmas sweater.
The yearbook now had a picture of a very annoyed Sasuke Uchiha holding a trophy.
Ino and Gaara were in the kitchen rolling out gingerbread dough. They wanted to make a really intricate gingerbread house and decided they hated themselves enough to do it on a school night.
Temari walked into the kitchen and sat on the stool on a far wall and watched them until Gaara turned his head briefly and gave her his attention.
"Are you busy on Christmas?" She asked and he nodded and started cutting walls out for the house.
"Yeah. For a bit. Sasuke and Itachi are throwing a Christmas party and Ino and I were invited. Why?" Temari frowned.
"Well, Itachi invited me too, so I'll be there for a bit. I just wanted to give you your gift on Christmas and I know you don't want to see dad at all." Gaara nodded stiffly. "I miss you. I barely see you anymore."
"Did I tell you what Lee did for me?" Gaara asked suddenly. "He got me piano lessons." Temari understood the statement and smiled weakly.
"I'm happy for you. I know how much you wanted them." Gaara nodded.
"Nothing against you, Temari. I love you. I just have more in my life now than... this. I'll try to spend more time with you though." Temari nodded and walked over and kissed Gaara's temple and left the kitchen. Ino raised an eyebrow.
"Why didn't you tell her about how hot your teacher is." Gaara gave her a look.
"She knows what Itachi looks like, he's a regular here." Ino's mouth opened.
"You're saying he's here every day and I never see him? How the fuck is that fair?" Gaara rolled his eyes at her and she threw a chunk of gingerbread at him.
Two days later when Ino and Gaara were still working on the gingerbread house, Kankuro walked in and his eyes widened.
"Holy fuck, you guys. What the hell?" Gaara stopped piping snow on the roofs and looked at the large gingerbread castle.
"Whoops..." He said in a monotone. "My hand slipped and we made Hogwarts." Ino sat on a stool with a tiny carving blade. She was making the small details.
"I'm making Harry Potter!" She said happily.
"Did you make Draco?" Gaara asked and she held him up.
"Duh, I made him first. HashtagDrarry." Gaara raised his brow.
"Did you just say... hashtag?" Ino ignored him and he rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Don't forget Snape. He's my favorite." Ino snorted.
"Doesn't surprise me you emo little bitch..." She mumbled and Gaara elected to ignore her.
Gaara was surprised when Lee woke him up one morning with a smile on his face. Gaara sat up on the bed and blinked until he felt a least somewhat awake.
"Yes, Lee?"
"Would you like to come with me to the Christmas festival today?" Gaara didn't even know that was a thing. He nodded. "Wonderful! We're going to leave at 10, you have plenty of time to sleep, it is only 5. I'll see you later." Gaara grabbed Lee's sleeve before he could leave the room. "What?"
"...Stay." Lee blinked then nodded and climbed into Gaara's bed with him. Gaara's bed was soft but super small. Lee didn't mind spooning with him though. "If you have to go train, you can go."
"There is not anywhere else I would rather be than right here." Lee admitted softly and Gaara's eyes shut and sleep took over.
When they woke up it was almost 9 and Lee rubbed his eyes, amazed to know he slept that long. Gaara was just very warm. Gaara sat up and smiled tiredly at Lee.
"Thank you. I slept better." Lee nodded and Gaara climbed over Lee and off the bed. "I'm going to take a shower and get ready." Lee nodded again and Gaara left the room. Lee let out a long exhale of breath and pulled the blankets off of himself and groaned. How did Gaara manage to get him so worked up in their sleep?
With a red face, Lee ran to his room to get changed.
Gaara was surprised that they arrived at the Christmas Festival and they were alone. There was no Sasuke, Naruto or even Sakura. It was just them.
Lee was in a simple pair of black sweatpants, he probably had something on underneath too. His white sweater was covered by his large black winter coat. He had his green hat on and a pair of black gloves. Gaara worse longjohns under his white sweatpants and had a large gray sweater and a white coat. His hat and gloves were also white. Lee was amazed with how much his eyes and hair stood out against the white color, Gaara looked like an angel.
"So why just us?" Gaara asked as they walked towards the entrance.
"I wanted to spend time with you, only you." Lee said softly. Lee was still acting weird but at this point, Gaara was too nervous to bring it up.
Lee and Gaara wandered around the festival with cups of hot chocolate. If Kakashi were there, he would've gotten the hot mulled wine, Lee didn't care for the taste. Kakashi had him try it one year, it was not a good year. Plus, that was the year they learned Lee and alcohol does not mix well.
Music was playing and the sound permeated the air. There were live bands playing covers of popular Christmas songs. Gaara didn't care for Christmas songs at this point, neither did Lee. They lived with Guy. Enough was enough.
Gaara's favorite part was stopping at the booths with homemade items. He loved the knitted things. He saw a book, it was kind of girly, a tan color with a maroon boarder and maroon flowers in the corners. The center said "Recipes". It made him stop. Lee saw that it caught his interest and bought it, despite the protests from Gaara.
"Why did you buy it for me?" Lee shrugged.
"You wanted it. I would get you anything." Gaara knew that statement was true. He gave up on fighting Lee about the book and just held it in his hands. It felt nice. He couldn't wait to write his recipes down. Most of them were just in his head.
Gaara bought a few last minute items for some of his close friends. He wanted everyone to have something from him. He wasn't very good at picking out gifts but he sincerely hoped they appreciated that he tried.
Lee bought a few things too. He held onto knitted flowers and thought about getting one for Sakura but decided in the end to not bother. He didn't want to think about her right now. The more he thought of her the guiltier he felt.
Looking over at Gaara pet sheep made Lee smile, but he didn't know how long this false happiness would last. Gaara would find out and everything would break under them.
When they got home, they put their bags in their rooms and came downstairs. Kakashi and Guy were huddled around the living room table and Gaara was confused. He walked over and Kakashi swatted him away.
"No! Not yet! It isn't done!" Gaara raised a brow and walked into the kitchen. Lee served him a cup of tea and they both sat down drinking and peeked through the doorway into the living room trying to see what Guy and Kakashi were up to. They seemed hell-bent on finishing it.
"What the hell is that supposed to be?" Kakashi asked.
"It's a chocolate chip cookie." Guy said defensively.
"That's the ugliest looking rock turd I've ever seen." Guy laughed and shoved Kakashi.
"Don't be mean to me, Rival. I am a delicate flower." Kakashi chuckled.
"Shut up. Okay! Gaara! Get in here!" Gaara raised up from the chair and Lee walked with him to the living room. Guy and Kakashi presented him with a stocking. It was red and with gold glittery gel in clumpy letters it spelled GAARA really lopsided. There were tiny sparkly gel pictures all over the stocking. Gaara noted the blob with dots was probably Guy's cookie, there was a rolling pin, a rubber spatula and a frying pan. At the bottom they drew a heart.
Gaara slowly took it into his hands and examined it again. He felt strange. His heart felt different. He looked up into the eyes of Guy and Kakashi and then back down at the stocking.
"I know it isn't the most beautiful thing we've made-" Kakashi started and Guy cut him off.
"Speak for yourself." Kakashi rolled his eyes.
"But we wanted you to have a stocking. We made Lee's when he was a baby and he still has it. We hung them up today if you see the mantel." Gaara turned his head and walked over to the mantel.
Lee's stocking was blue and had a rattle on it with his birth year and he saw a bunch of pictures. A track and field symbol, a martial arts sticker. Essentially the things Lee grew up to love doing. Gaara looked at Kakashi's. It had a typewriter, a martial artist, an apple, a book. Guy's had weights, a martial artist, shoes, a checklist. Gaara tilted his head and looked back at the stocking he held in his hand. He looked up again and noticed an empty hook near Lee's stocking. He slowly hung his up and stared at all four of the stockings on the mantel and felt like... this is what a family Christmas should be.
He turned back to Guy and Kakashi and hugged them.
"Thank you." If Guy was crying, Gaara was kind enough to ignore it.
The day of the Christmas party was crazy for everyone. It took place 5 days before Christmas and it was hard getting everything ready in time.
At the Uchiha estate, Sasuke was decorating the basement with Naruto. The closet was filled with alcohol that Itachi either wasn't aware of, or simply turned a blind eye to. They set up more chairs, couches, some TVs were brought downstairs and mounted on the walls. Sasuke uncovered the pool table and set up the bar area with snacks.
Upstairs Itachi was setting up the large living room area. He hired a company to help him decorate since he didn't have the time. He brought the piano into the room and went to check on the catering. He sent a text to Gaara after to see if he was still bringing stuff from the café.
Gaara said yes and he also made a cake. Score.
The house looked impeccable and Itachi walked upstairs to his bedroom where he hid a few drinks and snacks. He knew he was eventually going to get bored of the party and hide up here so why not set it up that way?
Itachi grabbed a few gifts he had and brought them down to the tree. The kids were doing a secret santa exchange and Itachi couldn't help but buy some presents for Sasuke's friends. He placed Gaara's present down in front. Itachi knew tonight was going to be something.
He looked at the clock. It was 3pm. The party starts at 6. He has three hours to get ready.
Ino was at Gaara's house getting ready like always. She sat at his desk and make-up was sprawled all over the place. Gaara wanted to say something but just let it go.
Kakashi knocked on the door and when Gaara opened the door, Kakashi handed him clothes on a hanger and said hello to Ino and closed the door before Gaara could say anything about the clothes.
Gaara put it down on the bed and looked it over. A dark red sweater-vest, a gray collared shirt underneath, black pants and a red bow tie. Ino was absolutely in love.
"Oh my god you're going to look so cute!" Gaara glared at her and she just smiled. "Go on. Get dressed. I'm still doing my makeup.
After Gaara was dressed, Ino turned around and covered her mouth. Gaara looked so handsome! She quickly sat him down and grabbed a brush. He just took a shower not too long ago so his hair was still damp. She blow dried it and straightened it so his hair wasn't flicking up in every direction. She handed him his black suit jacket and when he put it on she practically swooned.
"Oh Gaara, honey. You're so handsome, I can't." She grinned like the Cheshire cat and Gaara sighed.
"What?" She picked up her blending sponge and he rolled his eyes but let it happen.
Ino was dressed wonderfully and the two made quite the pair. She wore a long sleeved tight off white shirt with a red pencil skirt and a black peacoat and red heels. Her hair was in a beautiful intricate braid-bun and her makeup looked flawless.
Luckily all she did with Gaara was even his skin-tone and made the dark circles around his eyes more even.
"Wow Gaara!" Guy laughed heartily. "You clean up nice! As do you, you look wonderful Ino." Guy complimented and Ino grinned and curtsied.
They heard Lee from in his room rush down the stairs.
"I am ready!" He announced and came to a complete stop when he saw Gaara. Lee's face turned bright red and Ino smirked.
"I know. I made him look bangin'." She bragged and Gaara gave her a side eye and admired Lee.
Lee wore a gray patterned sweater with a white collared shirt on underneath and tight black jeans and a nice suit jacket. His hair was different, it was parted down the middle and pushed to the side a bit. He looked handsome.
"You look magnificent, Gaara." Lee complimented quietly and Gaara nodded at him.
"As do you, Lee." Suddenly, Lee got a terrible foreboding feeling in the gut of his stomach about tonight. He didn't know why, he just knew tonight would end badly.
Itachi made his rounds at around 7 and walked into the kitchen. He noticed there was a vast array of pastries and a beautiful Christmas cake on the counter. He smiled, realizing Gaara had showed up. He wondered how his student was fairing.
He turned around to head towards the stairs to the basement and bumped into someone, nearly spilling his seltzer.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." Itachi apologized and when he got a good look, he noticed... Gaara? "Gaara?"
"Hello Itachi. How are you?" Itachi was shocked. There was something about the way Gaara was dressed that made him seem... older. More mature. Sexier?
"I'm well. You clean up nice, kid." Itachi noted and Gaara turned pink.
"Ino made me do it..." He mumbled unhappily.
"You look fantastic." Itachi reiterated and Gaara smiled slightly.
"You look good too." Of course Itachi looked good, it was Itachi.
"Gaara! Where are you? They're about to start-Hellooo..." Ino's voice got strangely deeper and Gaara stared at her oddly. She linked arms with Gaara and flashed him a smile. "Hi! I'm Ino. You must be Itachi. Gaara told me how hot you were." Gaara's face turned as red as his hair and he shoved Ino off of him.
"Ino!" Gaara hissed and Itachi blushed slightly but laughed all the same.
"What?" Ino asked innocently. "Anyway! Nice meeting you! I need my boo now though so bye!" Ino dragged Gaara away and Gaara honestly hoped he would never see Itachi again for as long as he lived in this world.
Three hours into the party and Sasuke and Naruto finally broke out the alcohol. There was about 20 teenagers in the basement and plenty to go around. Lee was given a beer and Ino and Gaara shared a look. Lee and alcohol... Bad. They wondered how this could possibly go wrong.
The first game they played was a card game. The game was called Kings and it was a drinking game. (This game is played differently depending on who plays it. This is the rules for the game here) The purpose of this game was to get everyone as fucked up as they could in a short amount of time. A deck of cards was put in the center of the group and made into a circle so all of the cards touched. In the center was a shot glass of high proof liquor. Whoever broke the circle had to take the shot. The face down cards in the circle had to be drawn each turn and every card meant something different. Two-You (the picker of the card picks someone to drink) Three-Me (the picker of the card drinks) Four- Floor (Last person to touch the floor has to drink. Five- Jive (tell one line of a story with a weird movement, the next person has to remember your line, movement and make up a line while creating new movement and so on) Six- dicks (guys drink) Seven- Heaven (last person to put their hands in the air drinks) Eight- date (you pick someone to be your partner so every time you have to drink, they have to drink too) Nine- rhyme (start a rhyme, person who fails drinks) Ten- Social (everyone drinks) Jack- Rules (picker creates a rule, if someone breaks it they have to drink) Queen- women drink. King- pour the rest of your drink into a cup and put it aside. The last person who draws a king has to drink it all. Ace- waterfall (drink until the person to your right stops.)
Gaara was nervous, had never drank before and was given a beer. Not too bad. The beer was a low percentage. Ino sat to his right and Lee to his left. He didn't know many of the people here so he hoped the game would be fun.
Sasuke started the game and drew a jack and smirked.
"Okay, new rule. Every time someone looks at Naruto, they have to take a drink." Naruto went to complain and Lee snorted.
"Seems like that'll be a problem for Sasuke more than anyone." Sakura giggled and elbowed Lee. Naruto was next to draw a card.
"Oh shit, what does seven mean again?" He asked aloud and everyone threw their hands in the air. Naruto looked at them for a minute before throwing his hands in the air but way too late and he grumbled and took a drink.
The game progressed for a while until Ino was able to draw a card. She picked a six and winked at Gaara and he rolled his eyes and drank his beer. It was gross. He was almost completely done with it though so that was nice. Gaara picked the next card and kissed at Ino when it was a Queen, she rolled her eyes right back at him. Lee picked a card and it was an eight. He grinned.
"Naruto, you will be my date." And then realized he looked at Naruto so had to take a drink which made Naruto have to take a drink. Sakura went next and drew another eight. She looked at Lee and giggled.
"Naruto, will you do me the honors?" Naruto loudly objected and Sakura and Lee looked up at Naruto so they could take a drink and Naruto had to drink twice.
Sasuke drew a four and smacked his hands so hard on the floor, Naruto was startled and almost knocked over someone's beer. Not only did this make it so he was too preoccupied to put his hands on the floor, but Sakura and Lee looked at him again and he groaned and they all drank.
The game ended 10 minutes later when Naruto was not only Lee's and Sakura's date, but also Sasuke's and Kiba's. Luckily though, he was not the breaker of the circle. That was Gaara. Gaara looked pitifully at the shot glass and downed it quickly, hacking right after. At least he wasn't the last to draw a king. That was Lee. Lee had to chug 27 ounces of beer. Gross.
By this point, everyone was at least slightly tipsy. Gaara was giggling within a half an hour and wouldn't stop hugging Ino. Lee was slurring his words and making jokes that didn't even sound like English. Naruto was almost asleep on Sasuke's lap and Sasuke stared at him red faced.
For a while everyone got up and walked around playing pool or games on the wii. Until Sakura decided they needed to play more games, that is.
"Never have I ever?" Ino suggested and Sakura shrugged, too drunk to actually argue with Ino.
A circle formed, this one only had 9 people in it so it wasn't so crazy. Kankuro sat across from Gaara and gave him a thumbs up. Gaara just laughed.
"I love you so much, Gaara." Ino said when she hugged her best friend. "You're like the perfect person in my life. You're perfect. I love you." Gaara hugged Ino again.
"Love you Ino. And I like you more than I like Lee most of the time." Lee looked over and frowned, pulling Gaara away from Ino and into his lap.
"No!" Lee shouted and Sakura giggled.
"Lee you can't drag Gaara into your lap. Put him back." Lee shook his head and buried his face into Gaara's neck. Gaara squirmed on top of him.
"Lee~. That tickles." Lee gave Gaara a drunken grin and proceeded to tickle him mercilessly. Gaara laughed so hard he cried until Kankuro saved him and Gaara sat right next to Kankuro for the game.
"Thank you big brother." Gaara said in a loud whisper and Kankuro nodded and put his arm around Gaara.
"I've always wanted to see what kind of drunk you'd be." He laughed and Gaara just looked up at him with wide eyes. "You're going to regret this in the morning. I hope someone takes care of you." Gaara nodded.
"Okay! Never Have I Ever! Who would like to start?" Gaara's hand raised. "Awesome. Go ahead."
"What do I say?" Gaara asked Kankuro.
"You say 'Never have I ever' then say something you've never done and if someone did that they have to drink." Gaara frowned.
"I don't want to drink anymore." He said quietly and Kankuro chuckled.
"I have a feeling you won't be drinking that much during this game. Go ahead." Gaara sat up straight with some trouble and thought.
"Never have I ever... failed a class." He blurred out and Naruto made a whimpering noise as he took a drink. Kankuro drank, so did Chouji. It was Kankuro's turn.
"Never have I ever performed a striptease for someone." Ino snorted and took a drink with Kiba.
"Never have I ever had to do a walk of shame"
"Never have I ever said 'I love you' just to get laid"
"Never have I ever watched anyone have sex."
It was Lee's turn and Gaara's eyes practically undressed Lee.
"Never have I ever been to school drunk." Sakura's turn.
"Never have I ever grabbed a man's penis without his permission." The way she looked at Lee made Gaara's heart burn. Sasuke was next.
"Never have I ever had sex with my male best friend." Gaara watched Sakura took a shot and his nerves started to get shaken up. He couldn't hear the next few lines but suddenly it was his turn and he just looked at Lee with his heart thudding in his chest. Lee was still happily drunk and swaying back and forth. He didn't see Gaara's eyes hone in on him. Ino noticed. So did Kankuro.
"Never have I ever had sex." It came out so... small. Everyone probably thought he was ashamed, he wasn't. He was scared. He was terrified. He watched Ino take her shot and look at Lee and finally, Lee was paying enough attention to giggle at something. He mumbled a 'what'. Sakura whispered back 'never have I ever had sex' and he said 'oh' and took a shot easily.
Gaara's body felt numb. His pulse was throbbing through his body, it was a tight feeling in his heart. He couldn't breathe properly. Ino gawked at Lee and Kankuro never saw someone get sober as fast as Gaara did just then. He felt his brother shake against him and didn't know what to do. Gaara couldn't feel anything. His lips, fingertips, feet. There was a loud ringing in his ear where sound should've been but he simply couldn't hear anything.
He vaguely heard the noise of his blood rushing through his head and making his face flush with shame. He heard the unclear noises of his uneven breathing. Was he even breathing? Was this breathing? Gaara couldn't tell. He felt like his lungs were ripped out.
This put everything in perspective. This is why Lee was acting weird. More importantly, this is why Lee was late on his birthday. And he didn't even confess!
It was almost a month and Lee didn't mention this at all! He knew it would destroy Gaara and he said nothing. He didn't even try. While Gaara stayed at home waiting for him, making him dinner and spending hours on a cake Lee didn't even touch, Lee was fucking Sakura!
Gaara was seething. He was so angry. He was so hurt. He was mortified and he was so upset. He never thought of everyone in is life that it would be Lee that hurt him this bad.
Gaara stood up on uneven legs and made a dash out of the room. Ino watched him leave with a scowl and stood up.
"Never have I ever cheated on my partner!" She yelled, and glared at Sakura and stormed out. She came back a few seconds later and took a shot from Kankuro's bottle. "Because I'm no fucking liar." And she left again to look for Gaara.