Gaara stepped away from the loud ballroom, sighing in pleasure when the breeze hit his sweaty face and cooled him down. The air inside was stuffy, and he felt beyond tired. If it wasn't for the fact that this was Naruto's best friend's birthday, he wouldn't be here at all in the first place - he was feeling too sick to stand around for so long.

He tensed when he heard footsteps approaching him, but relaxed when he recognized Naruto's thread. He always tried to sneak up on him, and always failed to. His mate looked surprised when he turned around at the last second and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Damn, caught." Naruto remarked, though he didn't look all that bothered. A small smile curved his lips, still illuminated by the lights inside the room. Gaara was stepping away from the door, the only light showing him was the moonlight. "It feels much better outside." Naruto pointed out with a relieved sigh. His cheeks were reddened from the heat - the air conditioning was probably not able to cater to all the people crowding the medium sized room.

"Hm." Gaara hummed in agreement. Without saying anything, he walked further away from the house, towards a bench that was to the side of the backyard of Sasuke's home. When he sat down, all that illuminated Naruto to his eyes was moonlight. It was harder to recognize the color of his clothes, hair and eyes in the weak light, but he had them well memorized already. His mate was holding a small plate with a slice of birthday cake - he felt his stomach squeeze at the sight. He didn't like birthday cakes at all.

"I didn't see you eating tonight." Naruto remarked. He watched his mate warily. He didn't want him to eat a slice of cake, surely? A small scowl curved his lips when he realized that was exactly what Naruto wanted him to do. "I brought this for us to share."

He only huffed in response. Naruto knew very well he barely tolerated sweets, it was pointless to point it out to him once again. Sasuke had made a faux pas, and only had sweets in his party, so he had eaten nothing tonight.

Naruto speared a huge strawberry from the cake and offered it to him. "Come on. You need sustenance." Naruto tried to coax him. He only glared at his mate - last time he tried feeding him, he had slapped his mate. Hopefully his glare was enough of a warning. "Come on. The strawberries are sour."

"Naruto..." he growled to him in warning. Naruto pulled the fork back and placed the strawberry inside his mouth - instead of eating it, he only sucked off the sweet cream covering a part of it, then offered him the strawberry again.

"Not sweet anymore." Gaara scowled. He reached over and grabbed his fork, letting out an annoyed huff as he ate the strawberry. At least his mate was right - it was sour. It was somewhat tolerable. Naruto looked happy as he chewed and swallowed - only then he realized that what Naruto had on his plate wasn't much of a slice of cake, but instead it was several strawberries he had probably stolen from the top of other slices. He sent his mate a reproachful look as Naruto once again licked the cream off a piece of fruit, before offering it to him.

"Did you destroy Sasuke's birthday cake to bring this to me?" he admonished him. Naruto shrugged.

"It's the bastard's fault he didn't offer anything other than sweets for us to eat while we endure his dreadful boot licking." Naruto shrugged. Gaara rolled his eyes.

"Sasuke's going to kick your butt if he finds out." he remarked.

"He can try. I'm the better fighter. Open up." Gaara scoffed and grabbed the fork from his hand again, eating the offered fruit. Naruto gave him a small, satisfied smile. At least the fruit wasn't making him feel sick - maybe he felt sick because he hadn't had anything to eat this afternoon. His approaching heat was a more likely reason, however, specially because he doubted all the heat he was feeling was coming from the room. Sasuke wouldn't have a air conditioning system that faulty, if he thought better on it, Naruto was feeling hot because he didn't stop skipping about the room like a child in the first place

They were in silence as he ate the fruits Naruto licked clean off cream before hand. Once the fruits were gone, he nodded to him. "You look much better now. Did you even have lunch?"

"I was busy." he murmured simply. Naruto didn't look surprised. He reached out and touched his forehead.

"You're warm. Maybe we should excuse ourselves before... you know." he finished with a shrug. Gaara pursed his lips.

"If you wanted to leave, there was no reason for you to vandalize his cake, Naruto. I might just as well have eaten home." he told him with an intense look. The mischievous grin he got in response let him know that Naruto had gotten the cake as much for his benefit as it was to get on Sasuke's nerves. "We're going to stay for a little while longer, now." he reinforced. Naruto hummed.

"I guess I don't mind..." he leaned in and whispered against his ear. "...taking care of your heat behind those bushes." he scoffed and pushed his shoulder, his cheeks burning. Naruto chuckled.

"I'm fine. I'm not going to just..." he trailed off at Naruto's pointed look. It wouldn't be the first time his heat caught them by surprise, because Gaara often ignored the faint signs. Naruto was starting to get good at recognizing them, better than him. "You're right. We should go." he agreed.

It was a lucky thing they left, too. Naruto's intuition, after all, was just right.