Always 3 REWRITE

Ok, here it is.

Note: I hate, repeat HATE, Gaara' voice in the anime so I've decided he doesn't talk at all. This is due to his traumatic childhood which should be explained later… :)

Hope you enjoy!

Naruto woke up to knocking on his bedroom door. He groaned and asked who it was

"It's Lee, is Sasuke in there?" Naruto looked down to see Sasuke asleep in his arms, both naked from the previous night's activities. He remembered the trouble at the bar and kissed his forehead

"He's asleep, what is it?"

"Um, Gaara's…pretty upset… He wants to see Sasuke.." Naruto looked up at the clock on Sasuke's side of the bed. 4.23 am.

"Jeez, Lee…" he mumbled but decided to wake Sasuke up, shaking his shoulder gently "Sas, wake up, baby.." he said. Sasuke frowned and opened his eyes slowly.

"Hmm…? What is it..?" he asked, blinking. Naruto smiled at how cute he was

"Gaara's-" Sasuke looked up him, eyes wide and awake

"Is he ok?"

"Uh, Lee said he's upset.." Sasuke sighed and sat up

"Thought he would be… What time is it?" Naruto showed him the clock and he sighed again "Just as well I had that nap earlier.." the blonde chuckled, watching his lover get up and pull on some boxers and one of his own large hoodies. "I won't be long." He said, leaning over to kiss Naruto before leaving for Lee's room. He knocked softly and Lee answered, smiling

"Thanks, Sas...come on in." he said, allowing Sasuke in before closing the door again

"Hey, Gaara, what's up?" he asked, going over to the bed where Gaara was sitting. His legs were drawn up to his chest and he looked even paler than usual, which was difficult

"He had a nightmare.." Lee said, sitting on the end of the bed. Sasuke smiled at Gaara

"Was it what happened at the bar?" Gaara nodded, nibbling his lower lip - a sign that he was upset. Gaara wasn't really one for expressing emotion. Lee shuffled over to him and gently placed his thumb on the pale lip, stopping him biting it. The big turquoise eyes slid up to look at him then back down, frowning slightly as tears flooded his eyes.

"Gaara, please don't cry.." Lee whispered, his hands on the white cheeks as he wiped the escaping tears away with his thumbs.

"Lee…" Sasuke said softly, getting his attention. Lee turned and Sasuke gestured him away to speak to him. Lee looked back at Gaara and smiled, kissing his forehead and telling him he'd be right back. He stood and went over to the other side of the room with Sasuke "I think you need to…replace the guy with yourself… Naru does it for me and it makes me feel so much better, like he's erasing the guy's hands with his own.." Sasuke smiled slightly, wanting to be back with Naruto as soon as possible. Lee nodded slowly, thick eyebrows furrowed thoughtfully.

"So…you think I should do what he did?" Sasuke nodded

"But gentler…and talk to him, make sure he knows it's you.. He'll be scared about it at first but as long as you're loving and sweet, it'll make you both feel a lot better, ok?" Lee smiled and nodded

"Yeah… Yeah, thanks, Sas. -Oh, sorry for waking you up, I didn't know what else to do.." Sasuke smiled

"That's ok, glad I could help. I'll leave you to it then, ne?" Lee grinned and nodded, seeing him out.

Sasuke returned to Naruto's bedroom to find the blonde fast asleep again and snoring. Sasuke smiled at him and stripped himself naked before climbing back in beside him and snuggling up to his warm chest, letting out a small content sigh.

Sasuke woke the next day to the sound of the others having breakfast. He sighed and looked at the bedside clock - 06.45. Sasuke groaned and closed his eyes again, pulling the covers back onto his shoulders. He was pretty sure he had a lecture to attend early that day but the laws of biochemistry were not important enough to get out bed for right now. He moved his arm to his side but was sad to find Naruto's side of the bed empty. He sighed and moved himself to Naruto's pillow, hugging it as he breathed in Naruto's scent.

He heard a soft knock on the door and he groaned at it. The person knocking obviously took this as admittance as the door opened.

"Sas.." Naruto said softly. Sasuke grimaced, his eyes staying closed, and grunted again "Are you gonna go to class today?" Sasuke shook his head against the pillow, pulling the comforter over his shoulder. Naruto smirked and went to sit beside him, stroking his hair gently "Sure?" Sasuke looked up at him sleepily, smiling slightly

"Yep." He said. Naruto chuckled and leaned down, kissing him.

"Listen, Gaara's staying home today too. Lee thinks he's ok now.." Sasuke smiled

"Good.." Naruto smiled and they kissed softly

"Go back to sleep, baby. I'll see you later - make sure you eat something, ok?" Sasuke nodded "Do you have to work tonight?"

"I'm not sure, I'll call Itachi later."

"Ok, baby, we're gonna get going soon. Want anything?"

"No thanks, hun." He said. Naruto grinned and kissed him again properly.

"Naruto, we're going!"

"Ok, be right there!" he called back "I'll call you later, ok?" Sasuke smiled and nodded, kissing one more time before he got up.

"I love you." He said. Naruto grinned and leaning down for yet another kiss

"I love you too, baby." He said, finally leaving and closing the door behind himself. Sasuke listened to the rabble disappear as the others left for class and smiled to himself, snuggling back down to sleep for a little longer.

I'm a Barbie Girl

In a Barbie World

"Uh.." Sasuke groaned "Fuck off…" he growled at the phone, rolling onto his other side and feeling around blindly for his cell phone. He finally found it and answered, abruptly shutting Barbie up, putting it to his ear "What?"

"Hey, Sas, sorry, did I wake you up?" Sasuke sighed at his boyfriend's voice, rubbing his eyes

"Yeah, but it's probably good - what time is it?"

"Um, 1pm, I guess.."

"Time to get up then… How was class?"

"Boring, we did voodoo economics again.." Sasuke laughed

"Like in Ferris Buller!" he said, Naruto chuckled

"Oh yeah! Anyone? Anyone? The sad thing is my professor is actually like that guy." Sasuke grinned, sitting up

"I think I'm gonna watch that now… Are you coming home soon?"

"Not for a while, sorry, baby. I have a meeting with my mentor and then another lecture at 't forget to have lunch, ok?"

"I won't, I'm starving. I'll see you later!"

"Ok, baby, I should be home around 5… Let me know how Gaara's doing too."

"Oh yeah, sure. Bye-bye then, I love you."

"I love you too, Sas, bye." He smiled and hung up. He sighed and got out of bed, pulling on what he'd worn to Lee's room last night and went out into the living room. He saw the TV was on and Gaara popped up from the sofa, smiling in his cute bland sort of way

"Hey, Gaara, Naruto said you were skipping too." He said, grinning. He went over to sit with him, recognising the show he was watching as Total Wipeout, Sasuke sighed "Why do you watch this trash?" he asked, never one for shit TV. Gaara shrugged, smiling. "Fancy watching Ferris Buller?" Gaara grinned and nodded, Sasuke grinned "Great, I'll put it on. Naruto quoted it so I need to watch it now." Gaara nodded his understanding. "Do we have any popcorn, do you know?" Gaara looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding, standing up and going to the kitchen "Thanks, but let's tell Naru and Lee we had salad, ne?" Gaara grinned and nodded, going off.

Sasuke found the DVD and put it on then started the search for the TV remote. He looked under every pillow on the sofas and all the magazines but couldn't find it. He sighed, scratching his head

"Gaara, have you seen the-" the redhead appeared with a smile, holding the remote. Sasuke laughed and Gaara threw it over to him and, catching it, he turned it onto the right station "Thanks, pretty sure it's Kiba who always leaves it in random places." Gaara smiled and nodded, going back to get the popcorn.

Sasuke went to get soda from them both and they sat together on the couch, the bowl of popcorn between them and a can of diet coke each.

"So…how was last night?" Gaara looked at him then blushed, looking away. Sasuke spotted the small smile on the pale lips and grinned "That good, ne?" Gaara nodded slightly, drinking his soda silently. Sasuke smiled at him and they watched the movie.

Sasuke often wandered what it was like in Gaara's mind: what he thought about, what he felt, what he remembered from his past. It was a less than well kept secret as to the reason behind why Gaara stopped talking. Where he lived growing up was really rough and on top of that, his family were the worst sort of people. They never accepted him so they never loved him, which seriously damaged Gaara's mind. Then there was the accident where his teacher and mentor was killed in front of Gaara. No-one knows the full story because after that night, Gaara never spoke a word again. When he and Lee got together, Lee expressed his wish to get Gaara to forget his past and start talking again but so far there had been little progress.

Sasuke found himself barely watching the movie after all, his thoughts taking over his brain. He thought about what made people like each other, why people found each other attractive. For instance, he loved Naruto because he was funny and sweet and caring to everyone, he made friends within two minutes of talking to someone, always found the bright side to a dark situation and he always had energy - something Sasuke both loved and envied about him. He wasn't sure why Naruto loved him though - not in a self-loathing 'why-would-anyone-love-me' kind of a way, but in that thinking about it, he didn't really understand it… He doubted anyone really understood love, it just kind of happens - like no one understood why Kiba and Shikamaru, least of all themselves. They were two of the most opposite people in the world - Kiba with his rowdy, occasionally arrogant, stupid charm and Shikamaru's quiet, lazy, intellectual cool - yet they made one of the sweetest couples ever when they were being nice to each other.

Everyone knew that Lee had fallen for Gaara at first site. It was when they'd moved in, Gaara had been Naruto's friend from high school and Lee had known Neji from school also, but they'd known each other since kindergarten. Lee, Neji and Shino (who'd been dating for a long time before) moved into the apartment first, Sasuke, Gaara, Naruto, Kiba and Shikamaru moved in a couple of days later. They were moving boxes in from their cars when Gaara popped up to help and Lee almost dropped a box full of books on Kiba's foot.

"Holy shit, dude! Watch it" Kiba cried, leaping away from the falling box.

"Oh, uh, sorry…" Lee mumbled, still staring the beautiful redhead in front of him. Sasuke and Naruto had grinned at each other and Naruto stepped up to introduce them

"Lee, this is my buddy, Gaara. Gaara, this is Rock Lee." Gaara had smiled shyly at Lee, his eyes sparkling in the sun.

"H-hi… It's really nice to meet you Gaara… I'm Rock Lee.." he said. Gaara laughed slightly, nodding.

"Gaara can you help me with this bedding, please?" Sasuke asked, smirking. The redhead nodded, grabbing some pillows from the trunk and followed Sasuke into the house, glancing back at Lee before disappearing

"I…think I'm gonna like it here…" Lee said slowly, smiling. Naruto grinned and patted him on the back

"Told ya."

"So, um, what can you tell me about him?" he asked his friend, picking the box back up

"Well, he's pretty shy…- Oh, you should know he doesn't talk." Lee frowned his bushy eyebrows at him, Naruto smiled "Long story… He's got an older brother and sister, his mom and dad died a long time ago but he doesn't seem to miss them… He had a pretty hard life but he's the sweetest kid you could ever known… Other than that, you gotta find out for yourself, big guy." He said a smile, winking and picking up a few boxes and taking them inside. Lee sighed and followed, his mind remaining on the cute little redheaded boy all day and forever after.

"Gaara, did you fall for Lee when you first saw him?" Sasuke asked thoughtfully. Gaara looked at him, a little surprised but smiled and shrugged "Well, he fell for you straight away, ne?" Gaara blushed and nodded, still smiling. Sasuke grinned at his friend, but secretly wished they could have a proper conversation, not him talking and Gaara nodding or smiling… He wanted to know what Gaara thought, like what he really thought…but they'd all accepted that may never happened…

Just then, the front door opened and Kiba came in, panting slightly and sweaty. The two on the sofa turned round to look at him

"What have you been doing?" Sasuke asked. Kiba smiled, moping his face with his T-shirt, which he'd taken off to show his toned, sweaty torso.

"Running… Need to get fit again.." he said, getting himself a bottle of water.

"Hmm, kindly put a shirt on though, ne?" he said, smirking. Kiba chuckled and nodded, going into his and Shik's room for a shower.

The two of them finished watching the movie, Kiba joining them for the last 20 minutes or so then went onto the regular TV, finding one of their favourite comedy shows to pass the time.

"Kiba, are you and Shik still going away for his birthday?" Sasuke asked

"Um, I'm not sure; I need to ask him where he wants to go…" Sasuke nodded

"Well, we can always have a party here, ne?" Kiba smiled

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I'll ask him tonight, maybe I'll take him to a romantic dinner instead or something, get a hotel for a night." he said with a sly grin which Sasuke laughed at, Gaara smiled

"He'll love being asked that." Sasuke said. Kiba chuckled - Shik was pretty shy when it some to intimacy, one of the reasons he loved his little genius.

"Yeah, well, he'll have to. I wanna make this one count, since we did such a bad job last year.." Shikamaru's last birthday consisted of everyone else getting totally wasted and Shik, who doesn't drink, had to clean up after them - needless to say, he was not best pleased.

Sasuke chuckled, but found himself missing Naruto despite being with his friends… He knew he was needy at times, wanting comfort or warmth…but he couldn't help himself sometimes. He excused himself to his bedroom and called Naruto, needing to hear his voice.

Sorry went a bit random at the end…hope this is an improvement to the first version? Or else, why the fuck am I writing this shit? Anyway, read, review et cetera et cetera, thanks for everyone's support so far ^^

PMKnut xx

PS, I'm going on holiday next week but I will have my laptop but can't promise a quick update…but I guess you guys are used to it now ;) xx