Sasuke could admit that he had been spoiled for most, if not all of his life by his mother. He could clearly remember, as a young child, going to one of those stores that sold toys, all kinds of toys. He would walk around, his tiny hand held tightly by his mother as the went through the aisles. Every now and then, Sasuke would see something he liked and demand it. His father, if he had come along with them, would say no. However, Sasuke's mother would buy it and give it to him when they went back home again, or buy it right there if his father hadn't come along with them that time.

Throughout his childhood, that same scene would repeat itself. The 'no' from his father, and the 'yes' from his mother. Sasuke never knew if his parents ever fought because of it, but he doubted it would have made a difference to his behavior.

During his school years, especially in middle and high school, Sasuke's father paid less attention to him. Instead, Fugaku would encourage and praise his oldest son, Itachi.

That was when Sasuke found he wanted to actually be acknowledged by his father instead of his mother. He wanted his father to be proud of him for once.

Where his mother would pay constant attention to Sasuke, his father would hardly pay him any. It all went to Itachi.

With every day that passed, Sasuke found himself craving his father's attention and approval. Approval for something he did. For his accomplishments, for anything really.

Itachi was their father's everything. Sasuke... well Sasuke was above average, but he wasn't Itachi.

But now…

Now, his father was looking at him with something other than disinterest.

"I want you to take over the branch in Otogakure." Fugaku said, eyes locked onto Sasuke.

"You've been showing extremely pleasing progress in all your work. The branch is relatively new, as you well know. You will be working with another person for the moment, but eventually, you will be there on your own. You will need to move to Otogakure, because the branch will take all of your attention to make it successful."

Sasuke sat up straighter, and succeeded in keeping his smirk from showing.

"I know about your... partner." The displeasure on Fugaku's face was noticeable, and Sasuke couldn't help but start a little in surprise. He'd kept his and Naruto's relationship under the radar... Or so he'd thought. "I know that you believe that you have feelings for... him, but it would be in your best interest to call it off. Your life will be under intense scrutiny and I would prefer it if you no longer saw him. I would even consider giving you more say in the Main Branch if you completely focused on your work for a year and find a woman instead of... him."

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, before narrowing in thought.

"I would like a blood grandchild, as Itachi had already stated his opinion on that request, I will hope that you at least grant us one." His father stated, before motioning that he was done.

As Sasuke walked out, he couldn't help but smirk. He was going to finally be better than Itachi.

Thoughts of Naruto were fleeting and only accompanied with a slight pang of regret as he hit send.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Hello! I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Nice to finally meet you!" Naruto grinned, ignoring the looks that other customers were sending him. Then he dropped the hand he had extended for his imaginary handshake with the imaginary Gaara. "No, no, no, no. That sounds too… hyper. He's gonna think I'm nuts."

Naruto groaned, his head dropping down to the table top with a soft thump, narrowly missing the cup of coffee he had bought. He'd gotten pictures of the apartment and the bedroom he would be in. Everything was nicer than the one he was in now and being that Shikamaru knew the guy, he was sure that there wouldn't be anything fishy. Everything had looked so nice, and he really wanted to move in. Not to mention that he really had no other choice besides the hotel. "All I'm doing is meeting my possible roommate, why the hell am I so freaking nervous?! It's not like it's a date!"

Though he'd sounded intimidating, so maybe that was why Naruto was nervous...With another groan, Naruto sat up so he could take a sip of his coffee.

That was when he noticed that he wasn't alone. The redheaded man with the seafoam colored eyes from the bar was standing right there, watching him. The hot guy that Naruto had been ogling was his new possible roommate. His new possible roommate had heard him talking to himself. Or maybe it wasn't his new possible roommate and the man had just stopped to stare at him because Naruto was nuts.

The man looked… amused. "Naruto Uzumaki?"

There was absolutely no way to stop the massive blush from appearing on Naruto's face. Absolutely no way. "Ah… That would be me… Gaara Sabaku, I take it?" Naruto was finally able to reply, feeling mortified, but couldn't seem to take his eyes away from Gaara's. It felt like his face got even hotter, and possibly redder.

Gaara nodded, one side of his lips twitched upwards as he reached over to shake Naruto's hand. As soon as their hands touched, Naruto shivered. Gaara's hand was warm, smooth and strong. Naruto couldn't help but like the feel of it. Thankfully, his red face had faded, and he probably didn't look like a tomato anymore.

"When would you be able to move in?" Gaara asked, and it seemed reluctant to let go of Naruto's hand.

Naruto knew how he felt, he'd wanted to keep Gaara's hand in his own as well. Then the words that Gaara said registered to his mind. "Wha- you mean it?" Naruto gasped, and then blushed again as Gaara nodded, lips in a sort of half smile that made Naruto's heart beat loudly like a drum.

"Of course." Gaara said with a twist of his lips. "Shikamaru's told me all about you, you have a job, and I have a room." It seemed like the redhead was about to say more, but held himself back.

Those words made Naruto beam at the redhead. "Thank you! I can move in at any time before the first. The sooner the better!"

"Do you need any help?" Gaara asked.

"Huh? Do you mean right now?"

"The sooner the better, right?" Gaara seemed to smirk slightly, and Naruto had to clear his throat. He'd never been more attracted to someone like that. He'd thought Sasuke had been it, but this…For a second, Naruto hesitated. If he went with Gaara, he knew it would turn into more. The way that Gaara watched him… There was no way that nothing would happen. Unless Naruto didn't let it.

Naruto nodded. Even if it didn't turn into anything big, he wouldn't let his past hurt him anymore. "I don't have much, didn't even really buy a bed yet, so nothing too heavy. I think we can get it all in one trip. I can barrow Shikamaru's truck."

Gaara got up. "There's no need. I brought my truck with me."

"Awesome!" Naruto grinned brightly, following the redhead out the door of the cafe. "It's not far and really, not a lot of stuff."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Ugh." Naruto groaned,throwing himself on the couch. He still hadn't been able to buy a bed, and throwing yourself on a futon just didn't give the same satisfaction as a bed. It already had been a few weeks of living with Gaara and if he was completely honest, it was heaven. They had been flirting with each other, and Gaara had taken to brushing against Naruto "accidentally", each touch making Naruto burn for more.

Gaara seemed to know not to push anything, either that or he was waiting for Naruto to make the first move. Naruto wanted to, oh god, did he want to. Yet, there was this… something that held him back. Again, he groaned, this time in frustration with himself and his stupid hesitation and his stupid insecurities.

"What's the matter?"

"Gah!" Naruto screamed, and fell off the couch with a loud thud. Thankfully, his head missed the table by a few inches. "Gaara! When did you get there?"

"I've been here." Amusement oozed through every word, making Naruto blush as he caught the redheads gaze.

Naruto scrambled to his feet when he noticed that he was staring and maybe drooling a bit, and sat back on the couch with a flush on his face.

Gaara raised his eyebrow again.

"Umm, what?" Naruto asked after a few seconds, face getting hotter..

Gaara chuckled slightly. "What's the matter?" Gaara repeated his first question.

"Oh! N-nothing, really. I was just hungry and I don't have any ramen left." Naruto lied, not wanting to say what he'd really been thinking, which was about Gaara and Naruto not being able to make a move.

The redhead didn't seem to believe him. "Really?"

Naruto looked away shyly, and nodded his head. His mouth had suddenly gone dry and he tried to clear his throat. He looked at Gaara from the corner of his eye and caught Gaara's gaze, and froze. Somehow, without Naruto noticing, he had gotten closer.

Then, the redhead leaned in, and kissed him. Gaara's lip were soft and Naruto melted into the kiss. He found his hands fisting into the other man's shirt, keeping him close. There was a hand on the back of his head, the touch firm, yet gentle. Naruto knew he could break away if he wanted to.

But he didn't want to.

He didn't want to.

OoOoOoOoOoOo Months later OoOoOoOoOoOo

The groan left Naruto's mouth, and he rolled over, hands reaching over to turn off the blasted noise that the alarm clock was making.

A soft chuckled from beside him, made Naruto freeze, before a hand started wandering around his chest and stomach. "Gaara…" Naruto groaned, and then snuggled up the the nicely defined chest.

"Up, I made breakfast. My brother called, we're needed in the office." Gaara ran his fingers through Naruto's hair, before getting up.

Naruto groaned in disappointment, burying his face into his pillow, then peeking up at his boyfriend. "But it's Saturday. We're off on Saturday's."

"I've been putting off meeting Itachi, he's at the office bugging my brother apparently. Something about me stealing his best secretary and the least I could do is meet when he wanted." Gaara smirked and headed to the kitchen, knowing that Naruto was watching him, and that he would jump up from the bed soon.

Sure enough, the blond, practically fell of the bed and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face, before heading to the kitchen where he found the redhead taking some toast out of the toaster and placing it onto a plate full of eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns. "Mmm, that looks delicious." And it wasn't just the food that he was talking about.

Naruto walked behind Gaara and wrapped his arms around him, lips peppering kisses over the redheads back and shoulder. "I love you."

Green eyes sparkled and caught Naruto's blue one. Gaara's body twisted, and he captured Naruto's lips in a deep kiss that left the blond breathless and wishing that they had time to do more than kiss.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Naruto walked in behind Gaara, fumbling with the papers he'd managed to scramble together, and the briefcase that held a slightly more organized set of papers. In his mind, he groaned to himself. Why Gaara hadn't told him about the meeting earlier (like maybe the day before?), Naruto didn't know, but even with the wonderful breakfast and breathtaking kiss, he still wanted to smack Gaara. Unneeded stress was so unnecessary.

"Naruto."

"Huh?" He was so lost in his inner grumblings that the blond hadn't noticed that they had made it to the door of the meeting room and that Gaara had stopped walking, causing Naruto to run into him. Luckily he'd managed to stop from dropping everything onto the floor.

He chuckled at the glare that Naruto sent him before he leaned in and kissed him, right there at the door. "Thank you, you're the best." The redheaded man walked through the doors, leaving a highly flushed Naruto behind him. Since the walls were glass, Naruto was sure that anyone in the room had seen that kiss. Yet, a shy smile played on his lips as he followed Gaara towards the white board on the other side of the room.

That was when his eyes met obsidian ones.

At one point, those eyes would make his heart skip a beat, and he wouldn't be able to look away. At one point, his heart would beat rapidly, and he wouldn't have been able to think of anything else. At one point, he thought he would always love those eyes on him.

Today, they did nothing. Naruto only nodded in greeting before he set his things down on the table, the blush and smile caused by Gaara still on his face.

Naruto never noticed the look that crossed Sasuke's face.

A/N: I am so sorry it took me forever to finish. Thank you for reading and I hope you guys enjoyed it.