The Dare

"I guess we'll see you tomorrow, then," Temari said warmly. She snuck a wink at Shikamaru and turned to head back to her hotel, her younger brothers close behind. They had been staying in Konoha for a few days and tomorrow they'd be heading back home.

Naruto quickly looked at Kiba standing beside him, "Sure," the brunette said, already knowing what Naruto wanted to ask.

Naruto grinned widely, "Hey wait up!" he called, running over to the sand trio. As they turned back around to face him, he continued, "Kiba's having a party at his place tonight. You should come."He was speaking to all three of them but it wasn't made very clear since he never took his eyes off of Gaara, who hesitated, "Please?" Naruto urged, "I'd really like it if you were there," he said, grabbing Gaara's hands in his own. His voice dripped with sweetness.

Kankuro and Temari exchanged amused glances. Did Naruto know just how tightly he had Gaara wrapped around his finger?

"Yeah, we'll be there," Kankuro answered after a moment, slapping Gaara's shoulder to bring him back down to earth. Gaara just stood there with a blank expression, absently wringing his hands after Naruto had let go.

"All right!" Naruto exclaimed. He threw his arms around Gaara's neck, and he just stood awkwardly, too startled to return the embrace.

"We'll get changed and head over," Temari said. She smirked at Shikamaru, "And you'll be there?"

"I guess I have to be," Shikamaru mumbled, rolling his eyes. But he couldn't quite hide the smile peeking on his lips.

…

After arriving back at the hotel, Gaara changed into comfortable sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt and stood by the door, waiting for his siblings to finish getting ready.

"Absolutely not," he heard his sister say angrily.

"What now?" Kankuro whined.

"No, not you. What the hell do you think you're doing?" Temari barked, advancing on Gaara. He gave her a puzzled glance in response, "You're not seriously planning on wearing that."

"Why not?"

"'Why not?'" Temari nearly shrieked, "Naruto personally invited you to that party. You're always going on and on about how you like him and value his opinion and you're going to look good, god damn it! Look, even Kankuro looks nice."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Kankuro protested.

Temari ignored him as she started rummaging furiously through Gaara's dresser and found a more "visually appealing" outfit, as she liked to call it. It was an outfit she'd gotten for him about a year earlier that he'd refused to wear because looking that vulnerable and "available" unnerved him.

He looked ready to protest, "Change," she ordered, shoving the clothes – and him – into the bathroom.

…

"You're here!" Naruto exclaimed as he answered the door for Kiba, "C'mon it's just getting started," he said, tugging Gaara by the hand. He tried to keep his eyes trained on Gaara's face, but he couldn't help but gawk at the rest of him. They all joined the circle that had been forming and sat, Kankuro over by Kiba, Hinata, and Tenten, Temari with Shikamaru, Chouji, and Sakura, and Gaara planted in between Naruto and Ino.

"What are we playing?" Kankuro asked as he opened up his backpack to reveal several bottles of booze, which contributed to the cluster of drinks the others had brought. This was greeted with many cheers.

"Truth or dare," Tenten proclaimed with a wide grin. She was already well into her third drink of the night.

Less than ten turns into the game and Naruto had already discovered the trend of the dares for the night: Kissing. Hinata and Kiba, Temari and Shikamaru, Ino and Sai, and Tenten had kissed both Lee and Kankuro. Naruto knew that he wasn't allowed to do "truth" more than two times in a row, and had already used both. It was with this realization that he downed two more cups of the "party punch" as Ino called it.

"Are you okay?" Gaara murmured, noticing how inebriated Naruto was getting.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't… Worry about it," Naruto slurred in very slow speech patterns, attempting to pat Gaara on the shoulder. He missed and his hand lingered on Gaara's chest. The room was so loud with music and chatter that Naruto barely noticed Ino call out his name, "Naruto! Truth of Dare?"

Naruto froze. He had been trying so hard not to draw attention to himself, "Well I guess it doesn't matter, you have to pick dare this turn," Ino amended with a devilish grin, "Hmm…"

The room instantly fell to a hush when Ino declared her dare. Naruto blinked repeatedly, not sure he'd heard her correctly. After the initial shock, the others began howling and whistling at him. Naruto's face flushed bright red; she did say what he'd feared.

"Naruto? It's okay if… I won't be offended if you… Don't want to," Gaara said in a low-whisper, taking the time to choose his words carefully. Even in his drunken state Naruto noticed the light flush on Gaara's cheeks; he'd been drinking, too. Or was he embarrassed? Or both?

"Well, uh, it's not that, I mean…" Naruto started, "Are you okay with it?"

"Yeah," Gaara whispered, his eyes half-open.

With the reassurance from Gaara and his own liquid courage, Naruto leaned in to kiss him. At first everyone hollered and cheered but was they pulled away and locked eyes the room fell silent. After a few painfully awkward seconds, Naruto finally moved his hands from Gaara's face and pivoted to face the center of the circle, "All right, who's next?" he threatened with a smirk, successfully drawing attention away from himself.

The game continued on like nothing had happened, but Gaara couldn't help but smile when he felt Naruto's hand move to rest on his own.

END