They sat in the viewing box for the duration of the second test. TV's with live broadcasts of random areas of the arena lined the walls. Chairs were comfortable enough, considering they're to remain there for the rest of the day.
All of their students passed the written exam. Which was to be expected of Sand Shinobi. Now it was time to watch them traverse the Forest of Death. It shouldn't be too long for their first team to pass the finish line. One's already retrieved both scrolls.
Temari said, "Ya' know, you stupid boyfriend doesn't know anything about chakra matures. It makes you wonder what the old man was teaching him this whole time."
"The best way to sneak into a girls' bathhouse." Gaara said, long over the idea of correcting people when they assume Naruto was his boyfriend. Maybe if enough people said it, it would become true.
"Gaa-ra," she laughed, "when did you develop a sense of humor?"
"Hm…" He wasn't trying to be funny. It's just the first thing he remembered Naruto saying he learned.
"Lighten up. I'm just appreciating the change in you. You've gotten a lot better since we were kids… I'm happy about that."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I never would have thought this would be us one day." She looked over to the screens. They were on that same battlefield not too long ago.
They had gotten a lot closer since then, "me either."
"As annoying as he can be, I'm glad you met Naruto." Her hand landed on his shoulder.
"Me, too."
She glanced over to him with a grin, "Ya' going to sneak out again tonight?"
"Are you?"
Half of their teams already passed, they still had a while for the second test to be over. Then it would be the preliminary rounds, then the final battle royal. All in all, it's shaping up to be good for Sunagakure.
Naruto's apartment seemed just as dead as the other day. He was supposed to be home. They agreed to see each other. Gaara would only be here for a short while. Who knew the next time they would be in the same village.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Nothing.
But the apartment was unlocked. Gaara shouldn't have opened it, but he did. At least to lock the bottom one and shut the door. It would keep Naruto's apartment safe.
Naruto wouldn't know self-preservation if it walked into his apartment and kicked his ass. He was laying in a deep slumber on top of his bed. Spread out and open with a white fabri- Gaara's scarf, tangled around him.
He built a nest.
Naruto thought Gaara's scarf was good enough for his nest. That warmed the deepest part of him. Naruto liked his scent.
"Naruto?" Gaara announced his presence.
Nothing.
Naruto didn't wake up.
If it was only Naruto's bed, he wouldn't mind if Gaara joined him. They've done it several times. Now that there was a nest on top of it, that changed the rules. An alpha was not allowed inside of a nest without the omegas express approval.
Gaara did the safest thing and sat on the chair next to the bed. It would be better to have a sore back in the morning than to deal with the wrong decision made tonight. Even though it's been a few years, it's only been a day since the half put a label on it.
"Ga-
Gaara's eyes opened immediately. He was ready for anything - Naruto.
-ara?" Naruto mumbled out in the dark, "'hat 're you doin' here?"
"Chunin Exams," Seemed like the best thing to say right now.
"Right… Why aren't you in bed?"
"Didn't want to wake you."
"Come to bed," Naruto rolled over to make room for him.
"Okay."
The bed felt nicer tonight. With a bit of rearranging the space became an intentional place for an alpha and omega to exist. Naruto did what Naruto does and held onto Gaara as if his life depended on it.
Gaara kissed his forehead.
Naruto kissed the edge of his chin.
They held each other through the night.
It was 7am. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and Naruto finally looked refreshed. Warm life grew back into his tanned cheeks. Blue eyes had their same shine. Lips up ticked in their usual half smile.
"You look good." Gaara said.
"Shut up… ya' don't gotta be this cheesy early in the morning." Naruto hid into Gaara's chest.
"I mean it."
"That makes it worse."
"Your boyfriend can't compliment you?" Gaara said it. He finally said it.
Naruto mumbled something.
"What was that?" he had to make sure he didn't ruin this morning.
"Iguesshecan," Naruto said as fast as he could.
Gaara smiled, "Then you look good this morning."
"Thanks." Naruto's cheeks were beat red, he quickly got off and said, "Um- I gotta get ready for training later. I don't want a repeat of yesterday."
Gaara chuckled to himself. This trip had been a success so far. He could hear Naruto getting ready in the next room. So he did the same, looking through the kitchenette for anything to make them for breakfast. He found some eggs and toast. No meat. None that looked like it wouldn't kill them, anyway.
Eggs and toast.
It would have to do. Gaara wondered briefly if Naruto had any preference for his eggs. He knew some people do. He could ask, but he settled on just frying them. Naruto needed some time alone this morning.
The bathroom door finally opened, steam filled the apartment, "It looks good, but you didn't have to-"
"I wanted to."
"Oh, right, um, thanks," Naruto joined him at the table, in only a towel, "I didn't think you'd still be here."
"Why not?"
"Umm… no reason." Naruto thought. Water from the shower still clung to his chest, dripping down to the floor.
"Okay… Do you have a preference?"
"What?"
"For eggs. Do you have a preference for eggs? When I was making them I realized I didn't know what you liked." Gaara admitted.
"Oh, anything's fine."
"But what do you like?"
"I mean eggs are eggs, there's not really a difference. I guess I like them fried, but I can never do them right. They always end up popped and scrambled, anyway. So, I eat a lot of scrambled eggs." Naruto over-explained, "But yeah, there's not really a preference. I like what you made."
"Okay." Gaara nodded, finishing a slice of toast.
"Umm… Did you want to use the shower? I think I used all the hot water, but there might be a bit left."
"I showered before coming over last night."
"Oh… that's cool." Naruto played with his eggs a bit before saying, "How were the Exams?"
"The genin are doing good this year. At least half should pass."
"That's good!" Naruto smiled.
"Yeah, is your training going well? Temari told me she helped you with your Wind Nature?"
"Temari. Yeah her advice was super helpful. Plus I loved seeing the look on Shikamaru's face. He was like, 'Oh fuck.' Your sister's one terrifying girl. She gave me the shovel talk… Like I would even do anything."
"Shovel talk?"
"Yeah, ya' know. You mess with my brother, they'll have to bury you. Ya' know. She was really serious about it." Naruto animated the threat to his life in a comedic fashion.
"I'm sorry. I can talk to her."
"No. Don't. She was being sweet." Naruto finished most of the food on his plate, "She really cares about you."
Threatening murder can be sweet, "... I'm glad."
Their conversation became a lot easier after that. Naruto seemed to get uncomfortable when bringing up their relationship. Gaara knew he'd have to be patient with everything going on. It wasn't fair to push Naruto more than he already did. He got what he wanted. They acknowledge it. Naruto was his boyfriend.
Gaara helped with Naruto's mark from the other alpha. He lathered it in the ointment and sealed it back up with a new bandage. It seemed like the fox was back to helping, too. It should go back into a dormant state soon.
The rest of the week went kinda like that. They would spend the night together, wake up, share breakfast, go do their respected things for the day, then repeat. It was a routine that became very comfortable to Gaara.
By the second night Naruto had gotten comfortable with the word 'boyfriend.' It didn't spill out of his mouth as much as it fell out. Naruto would then pause, think about it, and smile. The pauses kept getting shorter. It was a good sign.
Each day seemed to bring Naruto back to life. By the end of the week even his polluted mark didn't look as bad. It still was nowhere near what a healthy mark looked like, but at least Naruto didn't look like death.
They had messed around a few times this week already. Each time invigorated something in Gaara's soul. His heart did training drills every time their bodies connected. Racing faster with each touch.
That night was the same. Naruto was in his nest as usual. Gaara's scarf never left it. In fact, he intentionally left it there, and added a few other things each night. Not to fully take over, but enough to show he cared to maintain it.
His alpha was yelling at him. Fangs dripped with venom ready to take a bite of that delectable tan neck. Gaara thought if he could bite over it, his mark would overwrite the one already there. He would shower Naruto in the attention he deserves to keep it healthy. It would never get as putrid as it was now.
Sometimes it felt like Naruto knew what he did to Gaara. The way he would lie on his nest, peachy ass up and ready. Only in his heart stamped boxers after a nice shower. It gapped just enough to see a hint of his pussy. Naruto innocently reads a scroll trying to learn as much as he could before bed. And Gaara was thinking about eating him out.
"Gaara?"
"Yeah, it's me." He shut the door and locked it, "You should really think about locking your door."
"But you were coming over and I didn't want to get up," was Naruto's excuse.
"How's the scroll?" Gaara dropped off his gourd and any other loose things from the day at the entrance, before removing his shoes when coming inside.
"Boring." Naruto spun over, "There's leftovers in the fridge. Sorry I couldn't wait."
"It's okay, you were training all day." Unlike the first night there was actual food in here now. Not a lot but enough for the both of them. Gaara could spot the leftovers right away. Some sort of bean salad.
Gaara ate it from the container while standing.
"Ya' know you don't have to eat like that." Naruto reminded him.
"Yeah, I just got used to it."
"How?"
"Being the Kazekage doesn't leave much time to eat."
"But we did it all the time."
"I planned for that when you would visit."
"So you worked your whole schedule around me."
"It's not that hard." Gaara shrugged, "I would do more work the week before and expect to do more work the week after."
"That sounds like a lot."
"It's really not."
Gaara quickly finished the meal, before getting himself ready for bed. He steps in the shower, the water warm against his skin. Naruto must have left him some.
Konoha Shinobi Apartments weren't the best he'd learned. Gaara realized he should probably look into how his own nation treats its shinobi. He didn't realize how important it was until he was sharing a double with Naruto.
He dried off as best he could in the steaming bathroom. Towel wrapped around his waist he joins Naruto. Fresh for the night.
The omega was far past just attractive. Gaara couldn't find a word to describe it. He could spend a thousand years in a thousand libraries and never find the right words.
"Can I join you?" Gaara asked.
"You don't have to ask," Naruto said, as he gave more room.
He looked over before Gaara could join, face landed perfectly in front of Gaara's towel covered lower half. Naruto moaned, the musk of alpha cock hit hard. Instinct took over for a moment, the omega pulled down the towel to see what lay beneath. Big blue eyes looked up at Gaara.
"Can I?" He asked, knowing the answer.
Gaara nodded.
Nine and a half inches of alpha cock gliding effortlessly threw pink lips. Gaara's cock quickly hit the back of Naruto's throat. He gagged while pushing through. Naruto seemed to love it. It was like he was made for it.
"F-fuck!" Gaara stopped himself from thrusting forward. Grabbing a fist full of blonde hair to control the pace. He needed to slow it down before he embarrassed himself.
Gaara bit his lip as Naruto's nose hit his pubes. Blue eyes glazed over taking everything the alpha had to provide. The hardened grip on his hair only seemed to motivate him more.
His alpha loved it. Omega submitting to his basic urges. The drive to fulfill a singular purpose of draining all the cum out of Gaara.
Wet sounds echoed throughout the apartment. Gaara's moans joined in only seconds before Naruto's did as well.
"You're so good, baby."
Cock muffled Naruto's whimpers. But he seemed to enjoy the encouragement. Thighs rubbed together trying to gain some friction below. The omega was lost in lust.
"You like that?" Gaara asked as if Naruto could respond.
Naruto didn't need to, he was too focused on sucking his alpha off. It was obvious he liked it. He thrived on positive reinforcement. Naruto's thrust went faster, as he hollowed out his cheeks.
Gaara was close, when Naruto decided to multitask. Desperately needing more friction between his legs. His hands tried to fulfill that need. It threw off the rhythm they had going.
"That's it… Don't worry." Gaara's hand traveled down Naruto's back, "I got you."
Pushing Naruto's hands aside, Gaara rubbed the omega's pussy through slick soaked boxers. Fingers quickly slip between the fabric. Gliding through the folds so smoothly.
"That's it, just like that." Gaara's close.
He didn't know if what he's saying was embarrassing, he just knew Naruto liked it. Gaara had switched over to trying to narrate his thoughts. But fuck it was hard with the way the omega's mouth was on him.
Now Gaara's turn to multitask, receiving blinding pleasure while he gave it. Fingers thrust in, Naruto gasps against his alpha's cock. The omega was so wet. He must have been waiting for this since he came home. Naruto's inner walls hugged against his fingers.
"Fuck I'm-" Gaara's not sure if he should pull out.
Faster. Naruto's hands griped his hips to help the movement. So wet. So warm. So, fucking, perfect.
Gaara's not sure he could pull out, "I'm close."
It didn't matter, Naruto slammed to the base and took it all. Fertile alpha seed spilling down his throat. What a waste. It should fill his pink pussy.
Naruto gently plopped off, leaving Gaara's now sensitive penis to rest. Gaara took advantage of this moment to hear what his omega had to say. His fingers went for the spot he knew would drive his omega wild.
"Fu-ck-fuck-fuckfuckfuck-Gaara!" Naruto screamed, latching on to Gaara's wrist.
It only stopped the thrust, not the come hither movement of his fingers. Blue eyes glazed back. Naruto's legs shook, no longer being able to support his weight. His ass fully in the air as he landed in the presentation position.
"Yeah?" Gaara didn't stop.
Naruto had to rip his hand from his pussy, he huffed out, "Gaara."
"Too much?" Gaara rested his hand on Naruto's ass.
Naruto shook his head. Then took in much needed air into his lungs, "We can keep going, I just," he stopped talking and repositioned himself. Back against the wall, legs spread open, ready for more.
Gaara pulled off Naruto's boxers, and joined him in their nest, "Fuck. You're so hot."
"Shutup…" Naruto mumbled and looked away embarrassed.
"You didn't seem to mind when you were sucking my co-"
Naruto silenced him by shoving his face between his legs. Like a moth to the flame it worked. Gaara was immediately back at it again. Sucking up Naruto's little cocklette as his fingers thrusted back in.
At this point Gaara's lost the same way Naruto was moments before. Mind single focused on the task before him. Eagerly his tongue goes down to join his fingers at the entrance. Practically scooping Naruto's slick into his mouth.
Gaara took a break to say, "You taste so good."
Quickly back onto the little nub at the top of his entrance. His tongue lapped up the sensitive little thing. Fully taking it in between his lips, never stopping the thrusting.
"Fuck-fuck-fuck!" Naruto screamed between gasps.
Naruto's legs clamped shut, hands pushing Gaara's head away. His omega's close. Gaara knew not to stop now. His fingers contort to all the spots that make the blonde moan. Little gushes of slick squirt out of Naruto's spasming pussy.
Their night ended here. Cuddled up in the afterglow of their lovemaking. They'll wash up again in the morning.
The last night Gaara slept over, he gave Naruto a gift. He found an omega store and bought nesting materials. Nothing too extravagant just in case Naruto didn't like it. But enough variety to gauge Naruto's reaction for what he can provide for in his own den.
It was an important step in Suna's Mating Rituals. An alpha providing nesting material showed their prospective omega they could provide a comfortable home. When the omega was ready to settle down with them, they would build their nest in the alphas den.
Gaara held the bag out for him, "I got something for you."
"You didn't have to…"
"I wanted to."
"Yeah, but I don't even nest." He was reluctant in accepting the gift.
"Are you sure about that?" Gaara motioned to the nest that was built over the days they spent together.
"Okay, but, ya' know. It's not safe. And I-
"You don't have to use them if you don't want to. I just thought you might want more to add to what you've already built." Gaara didn't talk too much normally, but he's embarrassed so he tried to compensate for that, "We can just put this in the closet. If you change your mind when I leave tomorrow you can add them in… or you could never use them. It's up to you."
"Thank you." Naruto hesitantly took the bag, "This was a very thoughtful gift."
"It's okay if you don't like the gift." Gaara was rushing their relationship.
It's hard not to want to go to this next step. Even though they've technically only been dating for a week, maybe a month, two if you're being generous. It felt like a lot longer for Gaara. Their undefined boundaries made it easy to pretend it's been a year. And if he was more honest with himself, three years.
"It's not that I don't like the gift. I do like it… I like it a lot. If I tell you… You have to promise you won't get mad… Promise."
Gaara knew he shouldn't, "Promise."
"It's just, umm, well, Sasuke took my last nest away… and I haven't built one since." Naruto fiddled with the handle of the gift bag.
"What?"
"Right after the Chunin Exam… but before he left. We broke up… and you know. He said it was weird I still had our nest. And he made me throw it out. So I did, because I still wanted to be his friend and I didn't want to freak him out and lose him…"
"No, I heard you the first time." It took everything in Gaara to stay in that apartment and not instantly go on a hunt for Sasuke himself.
"It's not a big deal! He was right anyway… It would be weird if I still had the nest we built together. He was right to throw it out."
"Naruto. That's a crime."
"No, it's not."
"Yes. It is. Destruction of an Omega's Nest is a crime." Compared to the Uchiha's other crimes, it probably wouldn't make any list, however, "It's taken very seriously in Sunagakure."
"Not here. And even if it was here, it wouldn't matter… he's the last Uchiha and I'm… just - just Naruto. So ya' know things work different."
"Yeah," Gaara tried to center himself, it was not the time to go on a murderous rampage. At least not yet. "Things work different."
"I didn't want to make you mad… I just wanted you to know why I couldn't use your gift. It's not that it wasn't nice. It's just, I don't know, my head is mean sometimes."
"I'm not mad."
"Right."
"Okay, I am, but not at you."
"I just - I try not to talk about Sasuke any more, because of … us dating or whatever… and I know it upsets you that I dated him. And I don't want to make you mad." There it was, Naruto became another person afraid of making him mad.
"I'm not upset that you dated him. I'm upset that he treated you that way." Gaara made sure, "You know I would never do that to you?"
"Yeah… I'm not saying you would. I wouldn't say that. It's just-"
"Okay."
"I'm sorry… I knew I shouldn't have said anything."
"No, I'm glad you did." Gaara wanted Naruto to feel safe with him.
"Look… I can try having a nest again." Naruto looked down at the bag and back at the bed.
"You don't have to. I get it." It pained him that the crimes of another fell upon him to clean up. He had to deal with the fallout of what he knew, and still learned, to be a very abusive relationship.
Naruto had the worst of it, "I want to."
"You don't have to appease me, Naruto."
"I'm not."
"I've been appeased my entire life. I know what it's like."
"Fuck you, I'm not. It's just- this is hard for me, okay?" Naruto was trying.
"Okay." Gaara held open his arms, "Come here."
Naruto seemed hesitant but complied. He was rewarded with Gaara's arms around him.
"I," love, "care about you. I should have been more considerate when you told me you didn't nest before."
"Gaara, I-
"Let me finish," Gaara held him closer.
"Okay."
"I didn't know what had happened in your past, but I should have assumed," Sasuke was a piece of shit, "that you had your reasons. You don't have to go outside of your comfort zone for me."
"It's not for you… This week is the first time in a long time I felt safe enough to even build one. And it's shit. And I know it's shit."
"When I saw you started one, I thought I could help you." Gaara kissed his forehead.
"It was a really nice idea."
"Why don't you just try opening the bag first? You can see what's inside, and we can stop or go from there. Does that sound good?"
Naruto looked at the bag, still in his hand, "yeah."
The first thing he pulled out was a sturdier pillow. Naruto placed it on his bed, about to reach for another thing, before going back to rearranging it into his actual pillows. Gaara's shoulders relaxed.
The next thing was a chunky orange knit blanket. Naruto hugged it close to his body, breathing in the scent. He smiled.
"You scented it?"
"Of course."
A flash of confliction was on his face before it disappeared. Naruto nodded, took another deep breath in, and placed it on the edge of his nest. The same thing that happened with the pillow repeated itself. Naruto immediately worked it into the folds of fabric already existing in the nest.
After that, Naruto didn't bother hiding his excitement to add the items in. It was another blanket of course, linen sheet, similar in texture to the scarf left at the beginning of the week. Naruto's fingers trail along the edges before adamantly making it the base.
A fuzzy blanket next, it was folded and kept at the foot of the bed. Then finally a woven blanket with little orange spirals patterned onto it. That was kept in the center.
"It looks nice."
"Yeah." It was almost like Naruto was afraid to be happy.
