Written while listening to, and inspired by, The Luckiest by Ben Folds

He should be asleep. It was the middle of the night and the moon was streaming into the room, past the tree outside his window, creating patterns on the blanket as the wind blew the leaves softly. He had to get up early the next morning - they both did. They had a meeting. But instead he was lying awake in bed, propped up on one elbow and looking at the man lying quietly next to him.

All he did was look. He didn't touch; he didn't want to wake him, not when he was not only sleeping, but sleeping deeply. Just over a year ago, he would've thought that he was being creepy, staring at someone like this. Now he simply felt content, pleased that he was the cause of at least part of his lover's fatigue, blessed to be able to see him like this.

He was asleep on his back tonight, the moonlight making his already pale skin glow like the purest alabaster, masking the beautiful crimson of his hair in blues and purples. Under the sheet pulled up to lean muscled shoulders, he could see the soft rise and fall of what he knew was a sculpted chest leading down to narrow hips and strong legs. It was a body he had seen many times in the past twelve months - a body that he still couldn't believe he was lucky enough to touch and kiss, hold and caress.

His blue eyes moved back to the serene face before him. It was smooth in sleep, worry lines eased away, mouth slightly parted with soft breaths. The dark circles were still around closed eyes - even with his improved sleep, it was doubtful they'd ever completely go away. As his eyes moved to his forehead, his breath caught in his throat as it did every time he'd seen it in the last year - love.

Had it really been a year? He could remember it like it had happened only a few hours earlier. The confession, the anxiety, the wait, and then finally hearing it - I love you, too, Naruto, said in the most beautiful baritone he would ever hear.

He would never understand it. His throat still tightened every time he thought about how lucky he was. To have this man lying beside him, to have this man's love, to have this man trust him enough to put the pieces of his heart back together and trust him to not break it again. He had no idea what he had done to deserve such a gift. This man trusted him to see him sleep, to feel his bare skin - to have him at his most vulnerable.

All his life, he'd been called a screw-up, a failure. He had to work so hard for everything he'd ever had. He rarely got anything right the first time, but this... Loving this man came as easily to him as breathing. The feeling filled him, sustained him in a way that mere oxygen never could.

His gaze traced the smooth brow, past the closed eyes to the strong jaw, to the lips he knew were soft, before trailing back up to the kanji on his beloved's forehead. Love just didn't cover what he felt. What he had with this man, this feeling of... affection, of passion, of love, of ... utter completeness - to say it was unique, rare, would be a massive understatement. He was the luckiest person he knew. Everything in both of their lives, the pain, the loneliness, the poor choices, the danger and death, had all led up to this, to here, to now. He could think of thousands of choices that he could have made, that Gaara could have made, that would've prevented this night from ever occurring, that would've prevented any of the joy of the past year from being theirs.

He loved him more than he had ever found the words to say. He could utter those three words every day for the rest of his life and it wouldn't be enough. He could smile every second of every day for the rest of eternity and it wouldn't convey the happiness he felt whenever he was with him. Just like no amount of tears would ever express the sadness he felt when they were parted, the fear he felt when his love was in danger, and finally the relief he felt when reunited once again, for however long or short a time they might have.

Like rain in a desert, nights like this were rare. They both had responsibilities and duties outside of what they had promised to each other. These nights together - the soft touches, the quiet words, the harsh breaths, the swallowed moans - the sweet sleep found in strong arms and warm skin - all of it was fleeting, moments to be cherished, yet permanent in the memories that they shared.

Gaara shifted in his sleep, breaking one spell and placing Naruto in another as he turned, pushing his lover onto his back, throwing an arm around a firm waist and burying his face into a tan neck. The blond instinctively wrapped his arms around the pale form, pulling him closer, relishing the contact he constantly craved.

Naruto breathed in the scent from the moonlit hair - like a warm wind - and fell asleep, a soft smile on his face.

A/N: Okay, so I realized while writing this that I could simply replace a few words and it would be about two completely different pairings which are also close to my heart (*cough* Star Trek *cough*), but ultimately, it just had to be about the boys. *sigh* It's 3am and I should be sleeping, too, but I just had to write this. I've been in a weird place lately, and I know I should be updating my other fics, but this is where my muse went and I have feeling it will take me to some strange places before I'm finally back in a mindset to work on my other WIPs. I apologize for the tardiness of my updates - maybe the catharsis that I hope to gain from getting these one-shots out of my head will help put me back in the right place.