TW for talking about sex.. this one might not be one tor read at school lads (tho who'm i kidding u all are gonna read it wherever u please)

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Lee felt... bad. His privates hurt and his guts hurt too. He thought to his friends, Naruto, Tenten, Neji, did they feel these things too? Was this normal? Should he go see a doctor?

Gaara sat next to him, keeping busy putting his clothes back on. He exuded an aura of not wanting to be touched. His voice masked it well though. "What did you think? You had never done that before, right?"

"Not with anybody else, not with myself either really." He rubbed a hand over his stomach. "If I am to be honest, I do not feel so good."

Gaara perked up in alarm. "I didn't scratch you or anything did I? I can heal you—"

"No, no, it is nothing you did. It is more on the inside. I think I did not..." A wave of fear overcame him for some reason he couldn't place. He looked into Gaara's still concerned eyes. "I did not enjoy it at all, heh."

Gaara nodded unblinkingly. "I think I feel the same way. At least, now that I've experienced it I don't think as highly of sex as everyone else seems to."

Lee felt so relieved. "You put it perfectly, Gaara my love."

Gaara, now fully clothed, scooted closer to Lee so they were nearly shoulder to shoulder against the headboard. "What do you think is different with us than with everybody else?"

Lee's brows furrowed and he frowned. "You don't think it's because neither of us has a, uh..?"

"No, couples have gotten along without conventional equipment for centuries."

Lee should have figured that out, what with Kiba and his girlfriend and Tenten's relationships.

"When did you first want to have sex?" Gaara asked.

"With you or at all?"

"At all."

Lee thought for a moment. Gai had talked to them about passionate love once or twice, but he didn't understand the connection. He thought about going to the hot springs with his team and Kiba's remarks about feeling things and other people's remarks about feeling things toward Kiba because of his body. He never understood it.

"I don't know."

"Lee, did you suggest we do this because you had a desire to or because everybody else was doing it?" Lee looked at him in horror and he clarified, "I'm not accusing, I just want to know the facts, okay? I'm not going to pretend Kankuro hasn't been asking me when we were going to do this. Incessantly."

That got a small, relieved laugh out of him. "Because everybody else is doing it, and talking and asking about it. I never asked myself whether I really wanted it. Is it the same for you?"

"It's all over the place," Gaara coughed out around a chuckle, "they bring it up in nearly every movie Kankuro and I watch—"

"That might just be Kankuro's tastes." They laughed together on that uncomfortable hotel bed for awhile. Lee lifted one arm and waited for permission, and Gaara leaned in and he wrapped his arms around him tightly.

"I love you Gaara," Lee said, pressing a kiss to the ink on his forehead.

"I love you Lee," Gaara replied, kissing him sideways on the lips, "even when you're naked."

Lee blushed and pulled the sheet up over his chest. "Would you like it if I got dressed?"

"At some point." Gaara cuddled up to Lee's chest and closed his black-lidded eyes contentedly.

Lee rubbed circles into Gaara's back. "It is odd that people say it is the final step in love other than marriage or dying for each other. I do not think I love you any different because we had sex. If anything, it was the conversation afterwards that made me love you more."

Gaara snuggled closer. "Maybe it works for them, but I think we can love each other in different ways."

A smile stretched across Lee's face. "Yes! I like that idea! For starters, how about a bath?" He rolled off the bed and stood waiting for Gaara to follow.

Gaara took in the naked form of his lovely, amazing boyfriend and decided no, he really had no interest in repeating the events of earlier that day. It was much more fun to see him like that in a bath covered in bubbles. By way of answer, he took off his clothes again.