Hiraeth

In the past two weeks Sasuke had taken to ignoring him at school but showing up at his window nearly every night, taking him back to his house and sneaking past Itachi to spend time together.

It was aggravating to say the least. It was aggravating for Sasuke to act like he didn’t exist during the daytime but then turn around and be nothing but sweet at night. It was also aggravating to see him and Naruto together and the foreign feeling of jealously began tugging at his heart.

Ino had been acting differently lately as well, not necessarily distancing herself from him but definitely acting like she was treading on thin ice, speaking carefully and acting like Gaara was made of glass or something. He despised it.

The only solace he got aside from Sasuke’s late night visits was the time he was able to spend with Lee, which was comforting and nice. Lee was nearly opposite from Sasuke in terms of affection, not very touchy but just as sweet. They had only recently taken to holding hands and Gaara found himself liking the way Lee’s rough, calloused palms pressed up against his softer and smaller ones.

Though irritating, by the third week he had grown accustomed to Sasuke ignoring him and that’s why he nearly lost his shit when Sasuke grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into an empty classroom during break.

“Sasuke- what, I-” he gasped out, clutching at his fiercely beating heart and struggling to regain his breath. “What are you-”

“Shh,” Sasuke hushed him softly, placing both hands on his shoulders soothingly and making a show of breathing deeply which Gaara immediately copied. “Did I scare you?”

Once Gaara had regained his breath he let out a shuddering exhale, glaring weakly up at Sasuke. “Yeah. Funnily enough I’m not fond of random hands suddenly grabbing me.”

He saw remorse flicker in Sasuke’s eyes and sighed, any ill feelings melting away. “It’s fine though, you just surprised me.”

“Shouldn’t you know how my hands feel by now?” Sasuke asked cheekily and Gaara rolled his eyes.

“I’m just not used to them in the daytime.”

Sasuke frowned. “Look, about that... I’m just trying to protect you, figure some stuff out.”

Gaara snorted. “Protect me?”

Sasuke’s hands gripped tighter onto Gaara’s shoulders and he nodded seriously. “Just for a little longer, I promise.” He paused. “I’ll always protect you, though,” he said, almost as an afterthought.

“I know.” Gaara said simply, and he felt his heart speed up again for a very different reason at the beautiful smile spreading across Sasuke’s face.

Sasuke leaned down and pressed a kiss on top of Gaara’s tattoo, stroking the side of his cheek gently. “You’re perfect, you know that?”

Gaara didn’t reply, because he didn’t know that. He didn’t know why Sasuke thought that either, and it was still foreign to him that anyone could see anything good in him, much less call him perfect.

Sasuke frowned, bringing his lips down to the smaller boy’s mouth and whispering against them. “You are.”

Gaara rolled his eyes before they fluttered closed as he deepened the kiss and wrapped his arms around Sasuke’s neck, the other happily returning it.

Eventually Sasuke pulled away, moving down to Gaara’s neck and mouthing at it.

Gaara let out a harsh breath of air, craning his head back slightly as Sasuke bit down on his collar bone and sucked, pulling off and licking softly at the wound to soothe it before giving various parts of his neck the same treatment.

Gaara felt his knees knock against each other and he clung onto Sasuke tighter as a hiss left his mouth. “Sasuke, I-”

He was silenced as Sasuke bit down on his pulse point, a high keen coming from him as his legs finally gave out and Sasuke caught him. Chuckling softly the taller boy brushed the hair out of Gaara’s eyes and took in his blissed out expression. “Never knew you’d be this sensitive. You’re acting like I just fucked you or something.”

Gaara didn’t respond but he knew if his face could get any redder it would have.

After a few minutes of them just standing there in each other’s arms the bell rang and Sasuke cursed.

“Guess it’s time to go, huh?” He said, planting a soft kiss on the top of Gaara’s head who merely nodded and unwrapped his arms from around the other.

Sasuke said nothing as he grabbed his book bag off of the desk he had laid it on, heading towards the door but pausing to look back at the other boy and smile gently before leaving for real.

As Gaara stood in the middle of the empty classroom he thought about how immensely grateful he was to have worn a high collared shirt today.

———

When Lee asked him why he had been wearing his turtleneck exclusively the last few days he merely shrugged and told him that the weather was getting cooler and he wanted to stay warm.

He didn’t miss Ino’s clouded gaze directed at him or the familiar feeling of guilt wrapping around his insides.