Fever Pitch

If: Woo. yet another chapter to appease the masses, though it is smuttless. But fear not, they'll be at it again soon. Thanks to the readers and reviewers!

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Gaara was humming a tune to himself on his way back to his apartment. Tonight had been… phenomenal to say the least. Beyond words was the experience that he had had with Sasuke. Sasuke… now that was a good name for an indescribable person. Gaara was simply baffled by his actions around the black haired boy. He was simply out of character every time he laid eyes on that mysteriously beautiful boy. Gaara wasn’t surprised that he was attracted to the boy; he was surprised by his indescribable need to keep seeing, the want to always be around him. Gaara’s life had been centered around dancing, around the club for five years now. All that mattered to the red head was the music, the beat of the bass, the crash of the drums, the synthetic sounds created by a synthesizer, and the alluring voices that soared above all of the other sounds. There was no room for anything else. Gaara slept the day away, his stereo was always on and he was dancing even when he wasn’t at the club, and his nights were spent in the humid atmosphere of the club. Bodies would be pressed against each other, the music was loud and the bass was the beat of his heart. And then he showed up.

What was it that made Gaara go to him? What was it that called him to dance with that sensual boy? Was Gaara really that desperate for attention and affection after that nasty breakup with him? Surely Gaara’s heart hadn’t healed itself that quickly? It had only been half a year. Half a year had passed. They had been in love, or so Gaara had thought. He had wasted, apparently, three years on that jackass. Then she had come bursting back on the scene and suddenly it was over. Gaara was still pissed off by it, especially since the jerk had been still living with him till just last week.

Gaara’s heart belonged to the music. He wasn’t going to give it freely to another person, not after what had happened to him. This wasn’t the first time he had had his heart broken, oh no. Gaara had been broken since he was six. That jerk, that entirely enthralling boy had seduced him with his trickery. Gaara had been taken in by that boy’s spell. How could someone so pure, so carefree and generally loving hurt him? It hadn’t seemed possible, so Gaara had taken the chance and had opened himself up. He had taken the chance, put himself out on a limb, and that limb had been shattered, leaving him to fall and break into a thousand pieces. It was torture. All that was left was the pain and the heartache, but when he was dancing, when he was at the club, even if he saw the person who had crushed him so, it was all better. The beat of the bass kept his heart at a steady pace, the music washed his cares and sorrow away, Gaara was free when he was at the club.

One look was all it took. To see that boy Sasuke consumed just as much as himself in the music, that was all it took for his heart to break away from the solidity of the beat, to branch off of the bass, creating his own beat. Gaara’s heart wasn’t with the music; he was his own part now. His heart was a song all to its own, like a phoenix rose from the ashes; Gaara’s heart had made itself well known. But the beat of the bass was his life now, his heart now; could he really afford to break away from that which kept him alive? Was he ready to sacrifice himself to the eternal flame of love once more? Was it even worth it? But every time he seemed to lay his eyes on that boy, that captivating black haired boy, he couldn’t seem to help himself.

Gaara stopped abruptly in the middle of the deserted street. He looked up at the sky and shivered, it was a little nippy out tonight and his shirt and short-shorts certainly didn’t help at all. Wrapping his arms tightly around himself, Gaara silently told his mind to shut the hell up. Thinking wasn’t going to solve anything, it would just present more questions that Gaara didn’t have answers to.

Stomping up the stairs of his apartment building, Gaara fished into his pockets to pull out his keys, a scrap of paper fell out of his pocket. How the hell had that gotten in there? Stooping to pick up the stray piece of paper, Gaara hesitantly unfurled the crumpled paper and scoured its contents. Scowling, Gaara jammed the note back into his pocket and continued up the stairs. How dare that jerk stick a note in his pocket when he wasn’t paying attention! They were over, like hell he was letting that son of a bitch crash at his place the next night.

Stopping in front of a black door with the number 511 on it, Gaara shoved the key into the lock and threw the door open. Flipping the switch to his right, Gaara blinked as light flooded into his cozy studio apartment. It wasn’t large, but Gaara didn’t need a lot of space. He felt comfortable in this one room, one bathroom, walk-in closeted apartment. This was all he needed.

Grumbling to himself, his good mood spoiled by his wandering mind and the note from his pocket, Gaara shuffled over to his phone. Smoothing out the note, Gaara quickly dialed the number scribbled on it. When the answering machine picked up, showcasing a message that was totally fitting of his ex’s personality, Gaara grit his teeth and waited for the beep. Eventually the beep sounded and he was able to leave a message.

“Look here you stupid ingrate of a jerk, you and I are over! You left me, and then decided to stay at my place for six months after you had already broken up with me. I am not housing you in my apartment ever again! Do you hear me! I’m still fucking pissed about what you did to me, and I can’t bring myself to be your friend for a while. Go find someone else to board with! I will not deal with you!” Gaara shouted, his temper flaring due to the nerve of his ex. Who did he think he was talking to? That bastard should know that he crushed Gaara. Gaara had told him from the very beginning that he would shatter if something like this ever happened.

Shouting out various curses to his poor plants, Gaara stumbled his way into the bathroom. Damn that arrogant jerk. Tearing off his clothes, Gaara turned on the water in the shower, adjusting the temperature before stepping in, hoping the water would calm his temper. Sighing, Gaara let his forehead rest against the tiled wall and let the water run over him. Looking down at his scarred body, Gaara noticed a red welt on the inside of his thigh. Raising an eyebrow that wasn’t there, Gaara tentatively touched the hickey that had formed, his mind instantly flashing back to that encounter in the club with Sasuke. Groaning, Gaara swore the next time he went clubbing he’d bring some lube or something. That raven haired boy was just to gorgeous not to molest. Sasuke made him forget that he was broken on the inside, and that thought scared him.

How could he forget? How could that boy make him forget what he had so recently suffered through? Was he some sort of spirit with magical healing powers?

Gaara shook his head. He really shouldn’t think about it. Maybe he should just forget about Sasuke, maybe he should just not go clubbing for a while and try to avoid the boy. Gaara brought a hand to his chest as a sharp pain settled there at the thought of avoiding Sasuke. How could he be so smitten with someone he barely knew the name of? Sighing again, Gaara turned the temperature of his shower down. No matter the thought, so long as it was centered on Sasuke his body seemed to react. Hissing as the cold water hit his heated flesh, Gaara calmed down his raging hormones.

Surfacing from the shower, Gaara grabbed a towel, wrapped it around his waist and traveled across the miniature hallway and into his closet. Picking out a pair of boxers and a tank top, not bothering to examine the items, he put them on and stumbled to his bed. Falling on the soft mattress, Gaara was instantly asleep and dreaming about blacked haired boys named Sasuke.

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Sasuke was floating on cloud nine, and not even the sight of Naruto and Sakura making out was enough to bring him down. The gang had decided to hang out at a local restaurant for a while and catch up, except most of the gang was too busy molesting each other to actually catch up. A poke to Sasuke’s side snapped him out of his day dream about a certain red haired sex god. Sasuke blinked his eyes and looked over to Lee, who was almost sitting in Neji’s lap, but the two of them weren’t being as physical as the others. Sakura and Naruto were making out, as were Shika and Temari, Hinata and Kiba were off in their own little world of innocence, Shino looked like he was asleep, and Tenten was checking someone out across the room. Sasuke was pretty disappointed in his group of friends, to say the least.

“What’re you thinking about that has you so out of it?” Lee asked, calm for once in his life. Sasuke was a little taken aback by the self-proclaimed Green Beast’s calm behavior, but attributed it to something to do with the Hyuuga genius sitting beside said Green Beast.

“Nothing really…” Sasuke replied, unwilling to tell anyone about his little “encounter” with Gaara a few hours earlier.

“Fine, be that way,” Lee pouted, crossing his arms and turning his face up and away from Sasuke. Sasuke nearly laughed.

“Stop being immature Lee,” Neji said. Lee smiled brightly at his boyfriend, which nearly blinded Sasuke, who wasn’t even looking directly at the smile. Neji blinked a few times before whapping Lee upside the head. “Baka…”

Lee, seeming to snap out of his calm state, jumped to his feet and pointed at Neji, his eyes alight with the power of his youth, as Lee would say. “HOW DARE YOU CALL THE MAGNIFICENT GREEN BEAST, who I might add is your boyfriend, A BAKA! IF ANYONE’S A BAKA IT’S YOU!”

Sasuke tried to hold back his laughter, he honestly did, but it was just too funny. The way Lee was posing, as though he was a knight on shining armor and yet a distressed damsel at the same time, and the look on Neji’s face, it was just priceless. Sasuke wondered briefly how these two managed to keep together when Lee was so… dramatic and Neji so calm, among other things.

“Lee…” Neji said quietly in warning, but it seemed the Green Beast was not heeding his genius boyfriend’s warnings tonight for he launched into a speech about youth and duty and true love, or something. Neji covered his face in his hands, and Sasuke nearly fell over he was laughing so hard. How could you not laugh at Lee’s superfluous drama? Neji, having taken quite enough by now, stopped Lee mid-rant with a simple kiss to the cheek. Lee paused and looked at his boyfriend skeptically. Neji flashed him the tiniest of smiles. Lee grinned brightly, blinding half the restaurant, and plopped down into Neji’s lap and awaiting arms. Sasuke took a bit longer to calm down.

“Ne, Sasuke…” Lee started, having seemingly calmed once again. Sasuke turned to him, a questioning look on his face. “Where did you disappear to at the club?”

Neji brought a hand to his face to cover up an amused smile and Sasuke fought valiantly against his oncoming blush. Lee just cocked his poor confused head to the side, patiently waiting for an answer that his boyfriend already seemed to know. Sasuke cleared his throat when he finally had control over himself.

“I was with a friend…” Sasuke said. Neji snorted. Lee cocked a magnificently sculptured eyebrow at the Uchiha.

“A friend?” Lee asked.

“Yeah…” Sasuke replied glaring at the Hyuuga prodigy.

“Then why didn’t you introduce us to them?” Lee asked. Sasuke panicked.

“Uh…” was his intelligent reply.

“Because they were too busy having a steamy encounter somewhere,” Neji said, kissing the side of Lee’s neck. Sasuke turned bright red. Lee turned wide eyes to the Uchiha.

“Really?” he asked disbelievingly. Sasuke hung his head. Lee smirked, something he had clearly acquired from Neji.