Lee was especially fond of cuddling.

He often leaned into Gaara, gently nuzzling at the redhead's cheek before wrapping his arms around him, firm and warm. Lee never held him too tight, and he never forced any physical closeness that Gaara didn't want, but his breath hitched when Lee did this. Not because he didn't like it, it's just the opposite, actually.

Gaara needed it.

He'd been touched so rarely in his lonely life, so the fact that Lee was so physically affectionate and so tactile was a lot for him to get used to at first, but he craved it, even when he didn't know how to respond.

Lee was smart (he'd always had to be in order to get around having 0 ninjutsu his entire life) Lee figured out how to get him to feel comfortable with constant physical comfort and reassurance. Lee insisted on only touching Gaara as gently as he could, only to comfort and express love.

So much so that when Gaara asked for him to teach him how to better his taijutsu he'd been unable to give an answer, torn between giving Gaara what he wanted and the horror of throwing a punch Gaara's way.

Even for the sake of sparring, Lee couldn't ever raise a hand to Gaara. He knew of the redhead's complications with trust and physical closeness. Why would he even entertain the thought of fighting him?

Gaara never used his sand around Lee.

Lee never questioned it, but he figured he knew why. He saw the guilt in Gaara's eyes whenever he saw the scarring on Lee's arm and leg. Lee wasn't sure how to broach the subject, and it shouldn't be so hard to tell Gaara that he held no grudge at all. Or rather, it shouldn't be so hard to actually get Gaara to believe it.

How could he hold any resentment? After hearing why Gaara was how he was…

He heard it from Temari. Lee was horrified.

The amount of trauma and cruelty it must have taken to turn a shy six year old into someone so insane and troubled…

Lee never swore, but he almost did that night. He couldn't imagine what that was like, having a demon that never let you rest and no friends to speak of. Kept away from his siblings (and okay, Lee didn't have blood siblings, but TenTen and Neji were basically his brother and sister and if he was never allowed to see them his soul would wither) and scorned by everyone, even his own father, for being unable to control power that was too much for anyone, let alone a child…

And then the betrayal, and Yashamaru…

Lee understood a lot better, after that.

After learning of his lover's past, Lee wasn't sure what to say to him. He didn't want to hide the fact that he knew, but he didn't want to cause Gaara any distress.

They'd all had enough of that in their lives.

He just pulled Gaara close that night and held him until morning, pressing occasional kisses to his face. Gaara hadn't questioned it, just happy to accept any love Lee was willing to provide. Lee understood why that was, too. Gaara felt like he didn't deserve love at all, so the fact that Lee showers him in it (and can't seem to help it) meant so much to him.

Rock Lee knew Kazekage Gaara very, very well. He'd learned how to read him since their first real conversation.

Lee had been confused when others remarked about how quiet and mysterious the Kazekage was. Gaara wasn't mysterious at all! Someone just had to know where to look.

Lee and Gaara have been together for two years.

It put a...slight strain on his relationship with Naruto, but he saw how hard the blond tried to work through his feelings for Gaara and accept that he was happy with Lee.

He guesses anyone else would be unhappy with the competition, but Lee didn't see it that way at all. If something were to happen to him, Naruto would rush in to take care of Gaara, and that was a great comfort to him, actually. He'd told Naruto this, and the blond had looked at him in shock for a moment before pulling Lee into a crushing hug.

"You're perfect for him, Lee. You're selfless and kind, yanno? He needs that." He'd said, completely genuine, like how Naruto said most things. Naruto had given him a sad smile, but he'd meant his words, and so they worked through the slight awkwardness and Naruto's melancholy when he and Gaara went to Konoha. Gaara seemed oblivious enough, though. He didn't seem to notice Naruto's longing gazes.

But truthfully, a big part of Lee did feel some sense of pride. He'd won. While he was completely confident in his standing as a ninja, he was still...pleased that he managed to beat a rival at something.

Lee felt uncomfortable with the thought, he hated equating Gaara to something that he'd won like a possession, but he feels that little tangle of possessiveness when it comes to the redhead that he'd never felt before. It was strange. Foreign. Suddenly he was having very carnal thoughts he'd never had before. Lee tried to ignore them as best he could, but something stirred inside him when he held Gaara close and felt his body against his.

Lee wanted...something. Well, he knew what he wanted he just...he couldn't. Gaara deserved better than to be thought about so carnally. Lee began to hate himself, just a bit.

And it didn't help that Gaara was gradually becoming more tactile with Lee. Now Gaara was pressing his fingers to Lee's hand to get his attention, or gently wiping something off his face. A day ago he'd gently and hesitantly rested his hand on Lee's cheek, feeling the slight stubble there.

He knew Gaara was testing the waters, seeing if it was safe to actively seek contact. Lee knew Gaara well. At the first sign of Lee's hesitation he'd pull away and put up those walls again, shutting Lee out.

Luckily Lee was ecstatic that Gaara trusted him so much, and wanted to touch and be near him. Rejecting Gaara was something that never even crossed his mind. Why would he do such a thing? The day he realized Gaara was letting him touch him without the skin shield was one of the happiest of his life. Lee liked being so special to someone.

Gaara was so closed off to everyone, but he let his guard down around Lee so completely.

Gaara had began burying his face in Lee's neck when they slept at night, his skin against Lee's.

Lee had almost cried the first time he did it. It felt so nice, having Gaara so close. He'd wrapped strong arms around him and held him close as well.

'Yes. You can trust me. I love you.'

Lee did his fare share of growing too. Gaara nurtured him as much as the opposite. Gaara had somehow turned every insecurity Lee had to dust.

He was so genuinely...awed by Lee, every day. He also didn't hesitate to show it. Lee knew Gaara didn't lie. He knew the Kazekage saw no point in it.

He saw Lee as a hero in every sense of the world, and how could Lee feel insecure when Gaara always looked at him with adoration so plain in his eyes? The people of Suna had welcomed him as a hero of Konoha. He'd been so... surprised. Lee never thought he was all that amazing, truly. He'd always had to work four times as hard as everyone else, and in his opinion he'd always thought he still fell a little behind. He still pushed himself, and was happy in the fact that he was getting better all the time. But the dark thoughts from childhood were stubborn and refused to go away.

But somehow he'd earned Gaara's love, and his admiration. His trust. He'd gone to Suna only to find that Gaara had told the genin at the academy about Lee, citing his hard work as motivation.

Lee found the surprises kept coming. He felt...conflicted about appreciating the strokes to his ego, but...it was so nice to be so well-liked. He wished he could say he was noble enough not to care, but his dreams had been put down all his life, and now he was respected. His entire life he'd been bullied about his lack of ninjutsu ability, but now kids wanted to be like him, and people sought him out for help. He and Sakura were the first ones Tsunade made jonin after the war.

The Kazekage-the most beautiful person Lee's sure he'd ever seen-was in love with him.

Life was...very easy now. It almost made Lee feel guilty for feeling content for the first time in his life. They were in an age of peace, the war was over, the villages were allies and everything was quiet. For the first time they were able to confidently say that they were relatively safe. Even the tailed beasts were happy and off wherever they chose to be.

Suddenly life had changed.

Lee didn't know what to do with himself. He was a fighter. What was he to do if there was nothing to fight? He suspected Gaara felt the same way. So they focused on healing each other.

They were each other's bright spots.

They learned how to adjust to each other, how to compromise and be mature enough to talk things out. They grew in their own ways and they grew together.

Lee slipped between Gaara's legs, pale thighs on either side of Lee's hips. Gaara's face flushes deeper at how wide he's spread to make room for Lee's muscled frame. The redhead was in one of Lee's shirts, underwear tossed aside by said brunet.

"Gaara." Lee groaned, and he suddenly didn't recognize his voice at all. He's never sounded so...dark, before. Was that him?

Green eyes snapped to his, and Lee felt a hand on his arm, tugging Lee to lean over him.

Lee wasn't sure when he decided to kiss Gaara, but he does at some point. He can't help it. He leaned down and felt Gaara's legs tighten around his hips and he just threaded his fingers in red hair and pressed a kiss to his lips, heart pounding.

And Gaara made this sound and Lee was sure he was going to die-

Gaara gripped his arms and melted under him, catching on and following what Lee did. Lee wasn't too experienced himself, but it wouldn't be surprising that he knew more than Gaara by leaps and bounds.

So Gaara couldn't possibly know how utterly irresistible he found it when Gaara moved soft hands to cup Lee's face, just enjoying being able to touch him.

Gaara seemed to like his stubble. Lee filed that information away for later.

Lee couldn't really think past how soft Gaara's skin was, or how good he smelled, or the sounds he made…

This was...good. Very good.

Lee liked how Gaara's breathing grew a bit shallower between kisses, like he was trying to breathe quickly so Lee could kiss him again.

He started to tremble from slight overstimulation when Lee's other hand moved to hold Gaara's bare hip under his shirt, thumb softly brushing over the bone there. Lee knows Gaara can feel his arousal pressed against his leg. It was a lot of sensation for someone who had been so rarely touched. And Gaara had never kissed anyone before today.

If Lee was feeling a lot, he could only imagine what Gaara was feeling.

He slowed down and started kissing him slowly, gently and feather light.

"Lee…" the man under him whined, breathless.

"We have all the time in the world, Gaara. No need to rush…" he answered, other hand slipping from Gaara's hair to his neck, settling on the rabbit quick pulse point there. He could feel his lover's heartbeat.

Gaara settled slightly, breath hitching from the feeling of Lee's hands on him as the man kissed him again.

Lee smiled into their kiss.

Yes, he knew Gaara well.

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