Hiraeth

Gaara arrived home a few hours later, happy to find the door unlocked. Hoisting his book bag up further on his shoulder he entered the large house, frowning when he noticed how dark it was. He was about to grow nervous when he heard the sound of the TV blaring in the other room and sighed in relief and annoyance.

Great, Kankuro had decided to turn off all the lights in the goddamn house just to watch a movie.

Groaning, Gaara dragged his feet all the way into the living room, flicking on the lights and hearing Kankuro’s indignant shout, the older boy turning around angrily on the couch to see who dared to disrupt his movie time. Noticing it was only his little brother he deflated a bit, glare still set firmly on his face.

“Oi, brat! What’re you doing?”

Gaara shrugged, a mask of indifference plastered on his face. He realized in the back of his mind that he had let the mask slip more on his face in that one day than he usually did in a year, and felt both parts uncomfortable and oddly free. “I wanted to see. Normal people like that, Kankuro.”

Kankuro snorted. “You really calling yourself normal?” He frowned slightly at the way Gaara’s lip twitched and belatedly realized Gaara had actually said more than three words to him.

“Hey... how was your first day at school?” He asked, slight warmth seeping into his voice. Gaara sighed, he knew that his older brother and Temari worried about him, maybe even liked him somewhat (He doubted that though, why would anyone? It didn’t matter anyways) and he found it annoying most of the time. Right now, though, he found his older brother’s concern didn’t bother him so much. It was probably just because of his aggravatingly emotional day.

Gaara’s lip twitched again, but this time it looked like he was concealing a small smile. He turned around and began to head out the room, pausing in the doorway.

“Fine.”

He heard Kankuro groan, and suppressed a smirk. As he headed up the stairs he didn’t catch the fond, brotherly smile directed at his back.

——-

Gaara sneezed, cursing his allergies as he laid on his back in the musty attic and stared at the rafters high above him. He raised a hand in the air lazily and followed the languid movements of his now bruised knuckles with tired eyes, stifling a yawn with his other hand. He really should sleep sometime soon.

Shukaku was quiet at the moment and Gaara was grateful. He was usually much more vocal in stressful situations and Gaara was numbly pleased to note he was relatively peaceful at the moment. It was nice even though his bedroom was, like usual, throwing him into a bout of sneezing.

Ding!

Gaara startled, confused for a moment before realizing his phone was going off. Scrunching up his face, he reached for it. He couldn’t remember the last time someone aside from Temari or Kankuro had texted him and that was rare as is. Neither of them had a reason to contact him right now either, so at the moment he was pretty much lost.

He stared blankly at the small screen as his phone alerted him he had a message from “Lee <3” and definitely didn’t feel a blush creep up his neck for the thousandth time that day as he wondered how Lee had gotten his number and how he was already a contact, before groaning as he remembered that after his episode Ino had stolen his and Lee’s phones.

He opened the message.

-Hello! This is Gaara, correct? In case Ino did not input my contact information in your phone, this is Lee!

Gaara snorted at the odd way Lee texted, feeling a nearly foreign sense of endearment flood through him. It was dulled but still a feeling he hadn’t experienced in years. He waited a moment before responding.

-Yes. This is Gaara.

The reply was immediate.

-That is perfect! How are you?

Gaara stilled and debated with himself before answering.

-Fine.

He typed out the short answer and hoped that Lee would take the hint, eyes widening as he heard his phone ding less than twenty seconds later.

-I’m glad to hear it! Fine is much better than bad, though of course there is nothing wrong with being bad at times.

Before Gaara could even reply, Lee had sent another message.

-I hope this does not seem too forward, but would you like me to show you around school tomorrow? I understand yesterday was your first day and you weren’t able to see all of the campus.

He thought about it for a moment, chewing his lip before deciding if the probable chance of Lee hating him and using this as an excuse to draw him out and attack him did happen, he could take the admittedly much taller and stronger looking male.

He sent back an affirmative, heart speeding up as Lee replied:

-Wonderful! I cannot wait! :D <3

He didn’t reply after that, just turning on his side on the cot and hugging the phone to his chest. Feeling more content than he had in years, he eventually allowed himself to let his eyes flutter close, the sweet embrace of sleep about to envelope him in her arms when a raspy, drunken voice ripped through his daze.

“Where is he?!”

He bolted upright, body jerkily moving to rush to his door, nearly getting close enough to lock it when it slammed open, the tall imposing figure of his father looming in the doorway.

Shit.

——-

He didn’t end up getting any sleep that night, back aching horribly and bruises blooming on his skin where no one else could see, the only sound registering in his blank mind being Shukaku’s voice.