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After hours and hours of being stuffed inside a tiny, hot room with Gaara and a few of the other Kage's you were finally free to leave. No longer needed, you quickly excused yourself from the meeting and stepped out of the room. “Man, I am seriously glad that's over with. I hate those super long, boring meetings. Everyone's so stiff and serious.” Tired of sitting around, not moving, you moved away from the room, still filled with the leaders from various villages and started for your room. You didn't think it would ever happen, but you'd actually settled in to your job quite nicely. That being said, it had been almost a full year since you first started, and it was only recently that you'd started to feel at all competent. The one thing you still couldn't handle, no matter how hard you tried, was the constant heat. Luckily, your room was kept much cooler than the rest of the building, making it your favorite place to be.

The moment you stepped inside your room and shut your door, you stripped down to a loose, lightweight tank top and a pair of shorts. “There, that's much, much better.” Needing to catch up on a bit of paperwork, you sat down at your desk, took your pen in to your hand and started to work. Not even a full minute later, there was a knock at your door. “Come in, it's open.”

Your bedroom door slowly creaked open and Gaara stepped inside with his usual no-nonsense expression. “I tried to catch you before you left the conference, but you disappeared as soon as it was over, as usual.”

Seeing him there left you feeling a little worried. Gaara didn't normally come to your room unless you'd done something to get yourself in trouble. Sure you had to have done something wrong, you stood from your seat, slumped your shoulders forward and sighed dramatically. “What did I do this time? I thought I'd been pretty well behaved recently.”

“You have been.” He nodded, shocking you with his response. “I wanted to thank you for not doing anything to embarrass me earlier. I was concerned that you might do something without thinking, but you were actually very helpful and polite.”

“I might be wrong, but that sounded sort of like a compliment to me.” Still not sure you weren't in trouble, you took a step closer to him and squinted. “I'm not in trouble then? Because you normally only come here if I've done something so embarrassing or wrong, you don't even want other people to know about it.”

“No, you're not in trouble.” Feeling a little guilty that you would automatically assume you had done something wrong just because he was standing there, Gaara did his best not to frown. “You've been respectful, and you've been taking your job seriously lately. I wanted to thank you for that.”

“Oh, well that's good to hear. I was ready to start apologizing to you and stuff.” Glad to know he was happy with your efforts, you slipped your arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. “I hate apologizing you know.”

“Yes, I know.” He awkwardly gave you back a firm pat and tried to step away from your embrace. Even though you'd hugged him plenty of times before, it never failed to make Gaara awkward. “You can let go of me now.” Trying again to step away from you, and again failing, he cleared his throat and attempted to talk you into letting him go. “I thought you'd finally matured a bit, but I see that I was wrong about that. I should have known.”

“You know what, you're totally right.” You released him from your hold and nodded thoughtfully. “It's been way too long since I've done something wrong. It's like I'm not even myself anymore. I should probably mess something up, or embarrass you pretty soon or I might not be able to go back to the person I used to be.” You rested your hand against your chin and thought. “I really don't want to end up a boring stick in the mud, so whatever I do, I'd better do it fast or it might be too late.”

Gaara straightened his clothes and readied to leave your room before you could try to hug him again. “That's not what I was saying at all.”

“I think it was.” Backing him against your closed door before he could leave, you poked him in the center of his chest as you began to smirk. “I think, you secretly like me a lot better when I steal your hat and refuse to listen to what you say.”

“That doesn't even make sense.” He brought his fingertips to his temple, closed his eyes and sighed. “I shouldn't have said anything about your behavior. You've gotten the wrong idea entirely.”

Leaning into him so that your nose was less than an inch from his, you narrowed your eyes further and once poked him again in the chest. “You can deny it all you want, but I can see right through your lies. You're not fooling anyone. Even Naruto could see it, and he was only here a couple of hours.”

The memory of that day caused his cheeks to turn ever so slightly pink. “You're free to think what you want. Now excuse me, I have a few things I still have to take care of tonight.” Not about to argue with you, mainly because you were right, he turned around, placed his hand on your doorknob and started to leave your room.

“Wait, just a second there.” You placed your hand on top of his, pushed the door shut and spun him around to face you. “You're blushing Gaara. I know you're not hot because my room is the coldest room in the whole building, so don't even try to deny it.”

Gaara didn't try to deny anything, he instead pretended that you'd said nothing at all. “I really do have things to do.”

“I bet you do, but I'm pretty sure those things can wait another few minutes. I'll even help you do them if you need me to, but this is important. If you remember, I said I needed to do something to embarrass you so I don't get all boring and stuff. Well, I've decided what I'm going to do and I'm going to do it now.” Giving Gaara no time to ask what you were planning to do, you roughly pushed him against your door and kissed him before he had a chance to stop you. Your actions caused his entire body to go stiff and turned him red from head to toe. His reaction to your kiss had already confirmed what you knew to be true, but you still wanted to hear him say it. Much too soon for your liking, you forced yourself to end the kiss, but didn't let go of him just yet. “I could keep kissing you, but if you blush anymore, your face might explode, so I'll have to stop myself. At least for now anyway. Now, admit it, you like it better when I'm not all stuffy and calm.”

Unable to so much as look at you after what had just happened, Gaara awkwardly shook his head. “I'm not admitting to anything. Now let me go.”

“Nope, not until you admit it.” Completely resolved to have your way, no matter what it took, you completely absolved every bit of space between your bodies, taking his discomfort to another level. “I can stay here all night if I have to. You're just prolonging this by being quiet.”

Shifting slightly in an attempt to create as much space as he could between the two of you, Gaara sighed. “You really don't understand the concept of authority, or personal space, do you?”

“Apparently not. Still, I'm sure I could get even closer to you, if that's what it takes.” You grinned, sure it was only a matter of time before he gave up. “Now out with it.”

Gaara was totally silent for a long time. With each passing second, however, your closeness made it harder for him not to speak. He knew that you wouldn't give up until you'd gotten your way, but still he stood there, saying nothing and tormenting himself in the process. After a full five minutes, he finally cracked. Gaara opened his mouth and spoke in a gruff, awkward tone. “You do liven things up with your unpredictability. I'm not saying that I prefer you one way or the other, since truthfully, I like you regardless. When you're more yourself, however, you tend to brighten whatever room you walk into, at least, in my opinion.”

What he said didn't sound particularly special, but between the way he'd said it and the way he was looking at you right now, it made it obvious that he'd meant much more than what he'd allowed himself to say out loud. “You see, that's all I wanted to hear you say. I'm glad we got that cleared up.” Before you freed him to leave, you kissed him again, this time far more gently than the first. “I won't keep you from leaving now, but you really might want to stay in my room for a minute or two though. Your face is suspiciously red.”

Refusing your offer, Gaara turned around, placed his hand on your doorknob and opened the door. “I honestly doubt it will get any better if I stay here with you.” He smiled, his face still terribly flushed. “If I've already admitted the truth to you, there's no reason for me to even try to hide it anymore. I've learned by now that secrets aren't secrets long once you're in on them. Between you and Kankuro, all of Sunagakure will probably know before morning.”

“You underestimate us Gaara.” You laughed happily. “I can assure you, by morning, even Konoha will know.”

Description
After hours and hours of being stuffed inside a tiny, hot room with Gaara and a few of the other Kage's you were finally free to leave. No longer needed, you quickly excused yourself from the meeting and stepped out of the room. “Man, I am seriously glad that's over with. I hate those super long, boring meetings. Everyone's so stiff and serious.” Tired of sitting around, not moving, you moved away from the room, still filled with the leaders from various villages and started for your room. You didn't think it would ever happen, but you'd actually settled in to your job quite nicely. That being said, it had been almost a full year since you first started, and it was only recently that you'd started to feel at all competent. The one thing you still couldn't handle, no matter how hard you tried, was the constant heat. Luckily, your room was kept much cooler than the rest of the building, making it your favorite place to be.

The moment you stepped inside your room and shut your door, you stripped down to a loose, lightweight tank top and a pair of shorts. “There, that's much, much better.” Needing to catch up on a bit of paperwork, you sat down at your desk, took your pen in to your hand and started to work. Not even a full minute later, there was a knock at your door. “Come in, it's open.”

Your bedroom door slowly creaked open and Gaara stepped inside with his usual no-nonsense expression. “I tried to catch you before you left the conference, but you disappeared as soon as it was over, as usual.”

Seeing him there left you feeling a little worried. Gaara didn't normally come to your room unless you'd done something to get yourself in trouble. Sure you had to have done something wrong, you stood from your seat, slumped your shoulders forward and sighed dramatically. “What did I do this time? I thought I'd been pretty well behaved recently.”

“You have been.” He nodded, shocking you with his response. “I wanted to thank you for not doing anything to embarrass me earlier. I was concerned that you might do something without thinking, but you were actually very helpful and polite.”

“I might be wrong, but that sounded sort of like a compliment to me.” Still not sure you weren't in trouble, you took a step closer to him and squinted. “I'm not in trouble then? Because you normally only come here if I've done something so embarrassing or wrong, you don't even want other people to know about it.”

“No, you're not in trouble.” Feeling a little guilty that you would automatically assume you had done something wrong just because he was standing there, Gaara did his best not to frown. “You've been respectful, and you've been taking your job seriously lately. I wanted to thank you for that.”

“Oh, well that's good to hear. I was ready to start apologizing to you and stuff.” Glad to know he was happy with your efforts, you slipped your arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. “I hate apologizing you know.”

“Yes, I know.” He awkwardly gave you back a firm pat and tried to step away from your embrace. Even though you'd hugged him plenty of times before, it never failed to make Gaara awkward. “You can let go of me now.” Trying again to step away from you, and again failing, he cleared his throat and attempted to talk you into letting him go. “I thought you'd finally matured a bit, but I see that I was wrong about that. I should have known.”

“You know what, you're totally right.” You released him from your hold and nodded thoughtfully. “It's been way too long since I've done something wrong. It's like I'm not even myself anymore. I should probably mess something up, or embarrass you pretty soon or I might not be able to go back to the person I used to be.” You rested your hand against your chin and thought. “I really don't want to end up a boring stick in the mud, so whatever I do, I'd better do it fast or it might be too late.”

Gaara straightened his clothes and readied to leave your room before you could try to hug him again. “That's not what I was saying at all.”

“I think it was.” Backing him against your closed door before he could leave, you poked him in the center of his chest as you began to smirk. “I think, you secretly like me a lot better when I steal your hat and refuse to listen to what you say.”

“That doesn't even make sense.” He brought his fingertips to his temple, closed his eyes and sighed. “I shouldn't have said anything about your behavior. You've gotten the wrong idea entirely.”

Leaning into him so that your nose was less than an inch from his, you narrowed your eyes further and once poked him again in the chest. “You can deny it all you want, but I can see right through your lies. You're not fooling anyone. Even Naruto could see it, and he was only here a couple of hours.”

The memory of that day caused his cheeks to turn ever so slightly pink. “You're free to think what you want. Now excuse me, I have a few things I still have to take care of tonight.” Not about to argue with you, mainly because you were right, he turned around, placed his hand on your doorknob and started to leave your room.

“Wait, just a second there.” You placed your hand on top of his, pushed the door shut and spun him around to face you. “You're blushing Gaara. I know you're not hot because my room is the coldest room in the whole building, so don't even try to deny it.”

Gaara didn't try to deny anything, he instead pretended that you'd said nothing at all. “I really do have things to do.”

“I bet you do, but I'm pretty sure those things can wait another few minutes. I'll even help you do them if you need me to, but this is important. If you remember, I said I needed to do something to embarrass you so I don't get all boring and stuff. Well, I've decided what I'm going to do and I'm going to do it now.” Giving Gaara no time to ask what you were planning to do, you roughly pushed him against your door and kissed him before he had a chance to stop you. Your actions caused his entire body to go stiff and turned him red from head to toe. His reaction to your kiss had already confirmed what you knew to be true, but you still wanted to hear him say it. Much too soon for your liking, you forced yourself to end the kiss, but didn't let go of him just yet. “I could keep kissing you, but if you blush anymore, your face might explode, so I'll have to stop myself. At least for now anyway. Now, admit it, you like it better when I'm not all stuffy and calm.”

Unable to so much as look at you after what had just happened, Gaara awkwardly shook his head. “I'm not admitting to anything. Now let me go.”

“Nope, not until you admit it.” Completely resolved to have your way, no matter what it took, you completely absolved every bit of space between your bodies, taking his discomfort to another level. “I can stay here all night if I have to. You're just prolonging this by being quiet.”

Shifting slightly in an attempt to create as much space as he could between the two of you, Gaara sighed. “You really don't understand the concept of authority, or personal space, do you?”

“Apparently not. Still, I'm sure I could get even closer to you, if that's what it takes.” You grinned, sure it was only a matter of time before he gave up. “Now out with it.”

Gaara was totally silent for a long time. With each passing second, however, your closeness made it harder for him not to speak. He knew that you wouldn't give up until you'd gotten your way, but still he stood there, saying nothing and tormenting himself in the process. After a full five minutes, he finally cracked. Gaara opened his mouth and spoke in a gruff, awkward tone. “You do liven things up with your unpredictability. I'm not saying that I prefer you one way or the other, since truthfully, I like you regardless. When you're more yourself, however, you tend to brighten whatever room you walk into, at least, in my opinion.”

What he said didn't sound particularly special, but between the way he'd said it and the way he was looking at you right now, it made it obvious that he'd meant much more than what he'd allowed himself to say out loud. “You see, that's all I wanted to hear you say. I'm glad we got that cleared up.” Before you freed him to leave, you kissed him again, this time far more gently than the first. “I won't keep you from leaving now, but you really might want to stay in my room for a minute or two though. Your face is suspiciously red.”

Refusing your offer, Gaara turned around, placed his hand on your doorknob and opened the door. “I honestly doubt it will get any better if I stay here with you.” He smiled, his face still terribly flushed. “If I've already admitted the truth to you, there's no reason for me to even try to hide it anymore. I've learned by now that secrets aren't secrets long once you're in on them. Between you and Kankuro, all of Sunagakure will probably know before morning.”

“You underestimate us Gaara.” You laughed happily. “I can assure you, by morning, even Konoha will know.”