Gaara's happy for once. Damn.
Gaara helped Izuku train, even though he didn't need it.
They'd decided to leave the day before the Chuunin exams, at night. Preferably 11 o'clock, so Kankuro's asleep but nobody's paying real attention on patrol because it's too early.
In training, Gaara forced Izuku to get even more muscular than he already was, however getting less toned, which was the main goal of All Might's training.
Gaara did force him to eat more, since the training was absolutely exhausting and he needed to not die.
"Why are we training so hard," Izuku said, out of breath and curled into a ball in the middle of a forest clearing that nobody could remember being there or not.
"For the final stage if the Chuunin exams."
"Gaara we aren't doing the final stage of the Chuunin exams."
Gaara sighed.
"So we can not die once we leave Konoha, then."
Izuku stared at him for a second, from his place on the ground.
"You sound like you made that up on the spot."
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."
Izuku stood, bracing his hands on his knees and laughing.
"I'll stop asking," he said, and walked closer to Gaara, stopping a foot away from him.
"W-what are you-" Izuku stepped forward once again, now about an inch of space between the two.
"Deku what are you doing-"
"Boop."
Izuku poked Gaara on the nose.
Gaara's face turned bright red and he stammered out a "what?"
Izuku smiled sweetly, spun on his heel, walked away, and ran into a tree, falling over and passing out.
Gaara passed out as well.
Kankuro found them both passed out.
He walked over to Izuku, trying to shake him awake.
"Ducking crap, did he get pushed into a tree while training?"
Not successful in waking him up, he sighed and instead went towards his brother.
He did wake up.
"What happened here?" Kankuro asked. "Did you guys fight or something?"
"No," Gaara said. His voice sounded distant. "He walked into a tree."
Kankuro sighed, hanging his head.
"And how did YOU pass out?"
Gaara didn't answer immediately, to his great annoyance.
"Well?"
"He booped me."
"I- what?"
Gaara huffed.
He poked Kankuro in the nose and said "boop," just as Izuku must have done.
Kankuro made a noise.
"THAT'S what knocked you out?"
Gaara went quiet.
Kankuro sighed.
"Let's go back to the Hotel room."
It's not even a hotel, was Kankuro's bitter thought as he carried Izuku back.
Izuku was in a bed. The hotel bed. Motel. Whatever fits.
"I thought we were training," he said to himself, sitting up.
"You were." Kankuro was looking out a window. It was a pretty bad view, but nobody could really complain.
"What happened?"
"Gaara said you ran into a tree and passed out, then Gaara passed out."
"WHAT? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?"
Kankuro narrowed his eyes, turning to look at Izuku.
"You 'booped' him."
Izuku blushed.
"Oh."
"Idiot."
Nothing much really happened after that, and sooner then expected, it was the day before the Chuunin exams, and they were, again, sitting on the bed of the hotel.
"You better not oversleep," Izuku said.
"I don't sleep."
"Oh yeah. Well, I better not oversleep then."
"You're going to sleep?"
Izuku laughed. It sounded a lot like Might Guy, a man they met doing laps around the village while walking on his hands, but more Deku-y.
"I MUST BE ENERGIZED IN ORDER TO PREFORM TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY!" he said with a stupid face and a weird voice.
"Well, I'd prefer it if you weren't all drowsy. Fatigue is a big problem."
Izuku shrugged.
"If you don't want me to go to sleep, I won't," he said. He was doing a cute little happy face.
"Thank you."
They both sat in a comfortable quietness, then Izuku said something.
"You'll be lonely by yourself, won't you?"
"Of course not," Gaara scoffed. "I just don't want you to ruin this because you're too lazy to get up."
"You underestimate the power of friendship, Gaara-kun!" Izuku loudly said.
"Friendship is powerful?"
Izuku laughed.
"The second most powerful thing in the whole universe!"
"What's the first?" Gaara asked, his face innocent and confused.
"Love," Izuku said, blushing and giggling.
Gaara blushed as well, then stared at the blankets of the bed he was sitting on.
"I do have a question," Izuku said all of a sudden.
"Yes?"
"How do you last so long without sleep? I read somewhere that a person can go two weeks without sleep or lett before dying of a heart attack."
"I do sleep, a little bit. Never for more then an hour, though. Often thirty minutes to play it safe. And no matter what, supervised."
Izuku made a "huh" noise and nodded.
"Another question?"
"What."
"Do you like having the sand demon guy? Shukinu?"
Gaara blinked at Deku, surprised he would dare ask such a question, to a hateable creature such as himself.
"Shukaku?" He did, actually, have to think about it. "No. Not at all."
"Didn't think so."
"Then why did you ask?"
"Dunno. Curious."
"Stupid, that's what you are."
Deku laughed. "Well, you aren't wrong there!"
"You are incredibly self-deprecating," Gaara said.
"Well, so are you."
"Yes, but it's fitting for me. I'm sure you don't deserve it."
"I know, I was joking. Anyway, you don't deserve it either."
"Deku, I am quite literally a monster."
Deku muttered something at the ceiling.
"Darn it Gaara-kun, you aren't a monster."
"Proof?"
"You don't do bad things." Gaara raised his not eyebrows. "A monster is a person who does bad things for bad purposes. And even then they can be redeemed. You don't do bad things, and certainly not for bad purposes, and even if you used to, it's obvious you don't do bad crap anymore, so you've been redeemed."
Gaara sighed, unconvinced.
"You're definitely an idiot."
"I'm being serious."
"So am I. Idiot."
Deku sighed in exasperation, but gave in.
Gaara dug around in his pocket for a moment, before pulling out a camera.
"Take a picture? Before the. . . final exams?"
Deku smiled brightly and nodded. Gaara held out the camera in front of them, and did the closest thing he could at the moment to a smile.
Deku did a happy little smile and a peace sign, right next to Gaara. In fact, possibly too close.
It wasn't unpleasant.
Deku moved away, still smiling but less obviously. Gaara had put on his poker face/resting face again.
"Let's do this," Deku said with utter determination.
Gaara nodded.
"I'm tired," he said. "Mind if I. . .? For just a moment?"
"Weren't you just teasing me for wanting to sleep?" Deku said. "Fine, go ahead. I'll wake you in a half hour."
"Thank you."
Gaara put his head on the cold pillow and smiled. Then, he faded from reality.
Izuku saw Gaara smile. A real smile. A genuine smile.
A tear welled up in his eye. He wiped it away, but it would not exit.
He then began full-on crying from happiness.
It was fine.
A small amount of time passed. Gaara's hands were shaking, and he breathed deeply. The sand whirled around more than usual and his eyelids were fluttering.
He was the epitome of adorableness and Izuku wanted to hug him.
However, it had been a half hour and he was tired, too.
Izuku set the alarm in the bedside table for thirty minutes, and he woke up Gaara to tell him to go back to sleep.
Izuku awoke cuddling Gaara one time, and at one point Gaara was cuddling Izuku.
It was. . . odd.
They slept in thirty minute intervals, mainly so Gaara wouldn't die of tiredness.
"You overestimate my strength," he muttered.
"Probably."
Gaara was incredibly thankful for Deku's efforts of letting him sleep, though in the past two months they've been friends, he was prone to doing things like that. It was. . . adorable.
Gaara yawned and sat up, shaking Deku awake.
"We need to go," he said.
Deku sat up, rubbing sleep from his eye.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Gaara asked.
Deku nodded.
"I'm sure if you're sure."
"Good. We're both sure."
"About what?"
Frick. Kankuro.
"Nothing!" Deku said, waving his hands and sweating.
Kankuro looked at Gaara expectantly.
"We're going to do it in the forest," he said.
He noticed Deku turned a shocking shade of red, and he stammered then fell silent, waving his hands even more. Gaara also had a tint to his cheeks, however he was more distracted by Kankuro's reaction than his own embarrassment.
Kankuro's looked confused.
"I thought you were asexual."
"No. Just lonely."
Kankuro shuddered.
"Right." A pause. "I'll- ah- leave you to it then."
Kankuro went back into the room he was sleeping in, which was just a couch. He preferred the couch, for some odd reason.
Deku stared at Gaara with wide eyes, red as the red part of a candy cane.
"I. Uhh. That was. Smart," he tried to say.
"Yes. Shall we leave now?"
"Yes. Uhh. Sure. M'kay."
"Change your mind?" Gaara asked.
"Flustered."
"I couldn't tell."
So they left.
Walking down the hallway, Deku asked Gaara a question.
"Are we gonna use that excuse for everyone we meet?"
"I don't know." Gaara thought about it. "It's private enough so nobody will want to investigate, but enough of an answer that they'll be satisfied. Also, it's embarrassing and nobody will want to ask questions."
"So is that a yes?"
"Considering your great acting skills, I think so."
Deku coughed.
"You. . . weren't acting, were you."
"You told your brother we were going to fuck in the woods. I was flustered. I still am."
"I thought you didn't curse."
"I'm drowsy."
Gaara sighed.
"Didn't I tell you that you would be?"
"Yeah but you were so cute!" Deku dragged out the U part. Gaara looked at his feet and crossed his arms, walking faster.
"Let's just go."
Deku ran to catch up with him.
"Wait, did I say something wrong?"
"No, nothing."
"Oh. Okay."
They walked out of the hotel at a comfortable pace, because both of them knew that being casual was the best way to avoid suspicion.
So they made it to the front gate of the village.
There were two people in a little structure right by the gate, chatting meaninglessly.
They were covered by shadows because it was so dark out. The only lamp was illuminating Gaara and Deku.
One of the figures seemed to notice them, and called out.
"Hey! Who are you? What are you doing?"
Deku, much to Gaara's surprise, turned to the men and responded.
"Gaara and Izuku of the Sand Village." Gaara was chilled by the coldness in his tone, the flatness that mimicked his own.
"And just WHAT are you doing, leaving the village?"
Deku smiled, a smile full of lies and secrets. "Nice answer or honest answer?"
"Honest," the man said, annoyed.
"We're gonna fuck in the woods." Gaara's face went hot.
The man talking, stuttered for a second before telling them to just go. Deku nodded at then and smiled in that way again, thanking them.
They walked a long time before they stopped.
Not that long of a time, maybe ten minutes.
Either way, Izuku slumped against a tree, and Gaara stood on front of him, amused.
"Never knew you could be so much like me," he said.
"How so?"
"Cold. Mean."
Deku groaned.
"I didn't want to be mean! Aah, I just wanted him to shut up!"
Gaara chuckled darkly.
"Oh god my heart was beating so fast I thought I was gonna die. . ." He continued his rambling. Gaara began to get worried at how little he was breathing.
"Please breathe."
Deku took a giant breath and then spoke faster than before.
"OhgodIwassonervouswhatIFTHEYDIDNTBELIEVEMEWHATIFbuttheydidsoitsfine-"
"Please. God. Deku. Just. Shut your mouth."
Deku shut his mouth, breathing heavily.
"Oops," he said joyfully.
Gaara smiled slightly.
Deku grinned.
Gaara chuckled.
Deku smiled wider. He looked like the sun. A beautiful, cute little sun.
At the very least a lamp.
"So bright!" Gaara laughed, feigning blindness, covering his view of Deku with his hands.
Deku laughed. A shine in his eyes, which were closed because he was laughing.
Gaara's laugh faded, but he still smiled. He was exited. No, he was. . . happy.
He was happy.
Deku looked at him, both still smiling.
God, Gaara was happy. He was filled with practically infinite joy.
He walked to the tree Deku was sitting by. Sat down by him. Looked into his eyes.
They were beautiful.
"Happy," Gaara said. "I'm. . . happy."
And he grinned. And he laughed. Loudly. Until tears ran unyielding down his face, and Deku laughed with him.
They laughed until they didn't, until they couldn't.
And then Gaara stood. No longer laughing nor smiling, but to anyone who knew him, he was obviously happier than he'd ever been. He helped Deku get up, and they walked and they walked and they walked.
When they stopped, it was brief and short and filled with an intentional and irrational gladness.
They were happy, and they always wanted to be happy. It was an impossible wish. They still wished it.
It didn't come true. It would have, maybe. But it didn't.
Why?
Some dick in a weird jacket.