A/N: Got this done in about 4 hours. The idea came to me as I was writing 'Driving Test'.

Beta: Blood Zephyr

No Regrets

"Naruto!" Minato hollered up the stairs. "Gaara's here to see you!"

A door opened somewhere on the second floor of the house. The music that was previously heard only faintly swelled to a loud, pounding tempo that had Minato wincing. Naruto thumped down the stairs a moment later.

"It's a wonder you aren't deaf, the way you play that music," Minato chided. "Screamed myself hoarse for you."

"You should do what my family does," Gaara grinned. "We text each other even if we're all home."

Minato's smile faded as he placed a hand on the back of his son's neck. He hadn't seen the boy smile since receiving his driver's license two months ago. "You okay, son?"

"Fine." Naruto jerked himself away from his father's hand. He stiff-armed the screen door and stalked onto the porch. He looked back at Gaara. "You coming?"

Gaara shrugged at Mr. Namikaze's uncomfortable frown at Naruto's back, then went to follow his new friend outside.

Minato stood for a moment, studying the irritable slump of Naruto's shoulders through the screen door. The boy had changed a lot recently. Less talkative –make that completely silent- and surly when given the same affection he and his wife had always given him. Their son now shunned all physical contact.

He wondered if he'd made a mistake in giving Naruto the truck. The boy hadn't driven it since the ride home from the DMV. When asked about it, Naruto always remained silent. He and Kushina were thinking about setting the boy up with a therapist.

Naruto went and stood by Gaara's ancient Mustang. Gaara stopped well short of it and looked toward the garage. "Yo."

The blond glanced up at him, arms folded.

"Can we take your ride?"

"No."

This time Gaara didn't back down. "Dude, you always say that. How can you live knowing you have a chic magnet like that Av sitting in your garage, man? Fuck, everybody at school knows that bitch is yours, and everybody knows you have your license. Why aren't you cruising in it every chance you get?"

"Don't feel like it."

"Don't feel-! You realize the only reason I deigned to notice your ass was because of that truck? That was before we got to be friends and all," Gaara said quickly at Naruto's stare. "But still. C'mon, I want a ride. I'm begging you." Gaara placed his palms together and made sick pleading faces, turning down the sides of his mouth.

Naruto caught his dad looking at him through the screen door. He knew he worried his parents. He'd overheard them talking about him in low whispers when they thought he was asleep at night. There'd been mention of a shrink.

He left Gaara to go back inside and ask his staring dad if he could have the keys to the garage. Minato was a bit nonplussed, but fumbled them from his keychain and handed them over. "Son?" he said as Naruto was leaving again. Naruto stopped, but didn't turn around. Seeing the tense way the boy stood, Minato changed what he was going to say at the last second. "I love you. You know I'm here if you need to talk about anything, or if anything's bothering you, right?"

Naruto left without answering.

After yanking the door to the garage up, Naruto just stood and looked at his truck. The front grill and spotless windshield seemed to leer at him. He felt a cold sensation on a specific area of his back. High up between his shoulder blades, where he couldn't reach. He was never able to wash that place or scrub it clean. He felt that coldness constantly; it kept his lips sealed, and his stomach burning, and his muscles tight with hate. He shoved the door all the way up and beeped his truck open.

Gaara scrambled in on the passenger side and shut the door with a whoop of delight. Naruto got in more slowly and just sat where he was, looking at the wheel.

-oOo-

Eventually, Gaara noticed that they weren't moving. The truck wasn't even turned on. He looked over at Naruto.

Naruto had waltzed into school this year with a completely different attitude. He was moody, combative when approached, and nonchalant about schoolwork. He shunned most of his old friends, and most attempts from new people who wanted to be his friend. Result? Naruto was now the coolest fucker on campus. Enough so that the cool crowd now hung around him at lunch and traded one-word conversations with him back and forth. Gaara had approached him one day during a free period and asked if he'd like to shoot some hoops sometime, fully expecting to be turned away like all the rest. Naruto had surprised him accepting. Gaara was further surprised when Naruto honored him by holding real conversations with him whenever they were together, even if the conversations were somewhat reserved.

He studied the way his friend glared at the steering wheel and unbuckled his seat belt. Didn't look like they were going anywhere, after all. He turned so that his back was against the door and his leg bent on the seat. He draped an arm over his knee. "Soooo," he drawled. "What kind of mileage you get in this thing?"

"I don't drive it. My dad takes it out once a week, but that's it."

Gaara had been joking. He hadn't seriously expected an answer, but so long as Naruto felt like sharing... "And why is that?"

"Hate this truck."

"How come?"

Naruto stared and stared at the wheel. He could smell a faint odor of sweat mixed with cologne, and knew it was wholly in his mind. That place on his back nearly burned, it was so cold.

The day was bright. Sunlight glinted off the hood of the Avalanche. It was just after noon on the last Saturday of September. Watching the way a leaf blew past the garage in a lazy tumble on the breeze, Naruto found himself haltingly telling of his driving test and how he'd failed.

"You failed your driving test?" Gaara asked afterwards. His cocky manner was gone, replaced with chills from the way Naruto was creeping him out. "But I saw your license." Naruto had been required to show it at school when people saw him still being driven by his dad; his rep had been on the line.

Naruto dug into his pocket and pulled the license in question out now. He always had it on him. He was unable to keep it anyplace else, afraid he would forget what happened. He wanted it close because it kept his hate bright and sharp and hot. The heat of his hatred was the only thing that kept that cold place on his back from freezing him solid. "His name was Uchiha Sasuke…"

-oOo-

Gaara was kneeling in his seat, elbows braced on the divider by the time Naruto told of having his picture taken for the license he held in shaking hands. He didn't look up from his image in that small picture, and Gaara didn't look away from Naruto's red face. The tale had come out of him in a croaky whisper, with many starts and stops along the way. Gaara was silent for a long time after Naruto had concluded his narration.

"Well," he finally said. "That explains a lot."

"You-you can't… can't ever… you can never-" Naruto was suddenly hitching in breath the way little kids did when they'd been bawling for a good hour or two. But Naruto wasn't crying.

"I won't tell," Gaara promised.

Naruto closed his mouth. He finally stopped looking at the license and turned to lean his elbow on his door. He covered his eyes with that hand. The license lay forgotten in his other hand.

Gaara plucked it up and stared at the picture. He saw now what he'd been too ignorant to see the first time Naruto had shown it. "Do your parents know?"

"No."

"You going to tell them?"

"No."

Gaara thoughtfully picked his teeth with the edge of the license. He saw the way Naruto's hands shook slightly, heard the way his breathing was shot and uneven. He scared the shit out of Naruto on purpose by slamming his hands down on the divider without warning.

"Fuck, Gaara!"

"You know what you need?" Gaara asked assertively. "You need closure. A resolution to this bullshit you're carrying around."

"I don't need-"

Gaara held up a hand. "Walk me through it again. This Sasuke totally jumped you in this truck, right? Ripped your clothes off as soon as you were out of sight of the DMV?"

Naruto turned to face Gaara. "I told you, no. He offered me a way to change my grade."

"But he didn't give you a choice in the matter, did he? He threatened to get violent if you didn't accept the offer?"

Naruto paused. "No, he… he said I didn't have to accept it."

"Well, he was rough, right? He made sure to hurt you and humiliate you and shit?"

Naruto met Gaara's green gaze, facing the truth. "No, he didn't. The blowjob was bad, but he didn't make me continue when he saw I didn't know what I was doing. And the rest… no, he didn't hurt me." His jaw was clenched tight.

Gaara was nodding. "So… after you had your license in hand, why didn't you squeal on him? You would have been marched to the police, tested with a rape kit or whatever they call that process, and his jizz would have been taken and filed as evidence. And you still would have had your license. Why didn't you squeal?"

Naruto tried really hard to hate Gaara at that moment, but he couldn't. As much as it hurt to hear and speak of these things, he felt better. Better than he had since walking out of the DMV, at any rate. He had to force the words out, though. "Because…"

"Because?"

"Because I made that choice. I…I let it happen."

Gaara held up the license and studied it. "Exactly. You did. You decided the price for this license was acceptable and you paid it. All you need to do now is ask yourself one question: Given what you know now, and all that's happened, would you do it again? Would you pay that price for this piece of plastic I'm holding?"

Naruto looked at the license, at Gaara's waiting expression, then back to the license. He gave it serious consideration, weighing his life at school now with how things had been last year. "Yes." The admission, the knowledge, seemed to release something that had been gnawing on his insides. Something ugly and horrible. "Yes, I would."

"Well, then, you can't really complain, can you? Was it fucked up what the instructor did? Yes. Did you have to go along with it? No. But you learned a valuable lesson. Sometimes you have to pay for the things you want, and sometimes the price is pretty damn steep. It all depends on what you think is worth paying for. As for that douche, well all he's really guilty of is having sex with a minor and general dicklessness. You accepted his offer, got what you wanted, so now it's time to move on. Stop carrying it around, man. Forget his ass. You handled your business and got your license. Personally, I respect people like you who will get down and dirty to get what they want. I think it's hot."

Naruto turned his head away quickly, twisting to look out his window. "So-" he had to clear his throat. He gave a rusty chuckle. "So you don't think-"

"-Less of you for taking it up the ass? Nah." He lunged across the divider to hang off the back of Naruto's neck. He ignored Naruto's attempts to hide his reason for staring at the garage wall, and in fact ignored the tears altogether. "There are a lot of gay people at school, you know."

Naruto turned and met Gaara's meaningful gaze. He suddenly felt that cold place on him shrivel in a rush of heat that warmed his skin. Their faces were barely three inches apart. Gaara smelled like hibiscus, something his mom liked to drink. It made Gaara's entire house smell like the stuff. "We've probably missed the movie by now," Naruto said after awhile.

Gaara flopped back on his seat. "Shit. Guess there's nothing to do except go home and study." He sighed mournfully.

"Or we could take my ride out for a spin," Naruto grinned. The smile felt easy and natural on his face and he realized he hadn't smiled in a long time.

Gaara rolled his head on his seat to give Naruto a toothy smile himself. "Thought you'd never ask."

But they didn't go right away. Now that Naruto had opened up, he felt an urge to tell everything, all the dark thoughts and negative feelings he'd been keeping inside since July. He talked for hours, and Gaara proved to be a good listener. He didn't interrupt Naruto or show impatience or boredom. He commented when asked his opinion or showed that he understood by nodding. When Naruto twisted his key in the ignition, it was almost sunset.

Kushina came quickly down the stairs from her nap when she heard the telltale roar of the Avalanche starting up. Minato was already coming in from the kitchen where he'd been preparing dinner. They made it to the screen door in time to see the Avalanche blazing past with a rev of its engine and two exuberant teens in it, yelling for all they were worth. Kushina put a hand to her mouth and abruptly burst into tears.

Minato watched the taillights on the truck flash before Naruto turned the corner at the end of their block. He gathered his wife close, feeling much of his worry evaporate. "Hush, honey. You're so emotional in your condition."

Kushina buried her face in her husband's shoulder. "He seems better."

"I agree. I think he's going to be fine. Gaara's been good for him. He's certainly the only friend Naruto talks to anymore."

"You think we can tell Naruto soon?"

"That he's going to be a big brother? Mm, better wait awhile, see if his mood improves. Living nearly sixteen years as an only child might make him resent sharing his parents."

"Do it, do it, do it!" Gaara shrieked.

Heeding the command and his own racing blood, Naruto literally stood on the gas pedal, doing the maximum speed his truck was capable of. They careened down a dirt road lined with roadhouses and bars. He was headed straight for a modest hill a hundred yards away.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck!" they both yelled when the Avalanche soared high into the air. The windows were down, and their hair was blowing wildly. During those few weightless seconds Naruto and Gaara looked at each other and knew pure, undiluted joy.

The truck came down hard, bounced up, came down again, tipped, and finally spun with a squeal in a cloud of dust. They rocked to a halt outside one of the small bars. A few bikers loitered outside, smoking and watching this little show.

Naruto released his steering wheel and took a moment to stare at his shaking hands. He looked at Gaara and saw that he too was breathing hard, one hand clutching the door handle. They let out a chuckle that turned into loud, long hysterical laughter. Gaara was actually leaning out the window, too limp to hold himself up.

"Oh my god, my dad would kill me if he knew I'd done that!" Naruto slapped the dash, still weak from the adrenaline rush.

"See what you've been missing?" Gaara hauled himself upright and looked around.

"Where are we?" Naruto had followed Gaara's instructions to get here.

"Seedy, huh? It's known as Fagville. Bunch of gay bars and shit." He and Naruto got out and made their way to the bar they'd stopped in front of.

"Aren't we too young to go in th- hey! Gay bars? Wait, why are we going into a gay bar?"

"Silly," Gaara taunted over his shoulder. He wrenched the door open and spoke over the blast of music. "Because Konoha's too much of a hick town to have a gay club, why else?" he disappeared inside.

Naruto was left to realize that Gaara was gay, that he assumed Naruto was gay, and thus probably thought Naruto would have no problem attending a gay bar. He didn't know how he felt about it. He saw one of the smoking bikers looking at him boldly and hurried to snatch the door open and get inside.

-oOo-

Gaara was standing and talking to Kankurou. Naruto had met this older brother on the few occasions he'd visited Gaara's home. Seemed Kankurou was a bartender in this fine establishment. That at least explained how Gaara was able to get in. Naruto latched onto his arm, eyeing the crowd of men. "I didn't know your brother worked here," he hissed in Gaara's ear.

"Dude, my dad owns this place." Gaara took a couple of iced bottles of Coke from his brother and handed one to Naruto.

"Oh."

Gaara saw the nervous look Naruto wore. "Is this cool? Or you wanna leave?"

"Nah, it's cool." Naruto paused in the act of drinking as an older man sidled up to him, smiling. The man moved on at seeing Gaara's unblinking look. "S-so you come here a lot?"

"Damn near every night. I do my homework in my dad's office, then help out at the bar. Learning the biz, so to speak."

"Oh. I didn't know you were so into the whole… gay scene," Naruto finished lamely. "Nobody ever said anything."

"And no one will," Gaara laughed. "You think anyone in school wants to have my dad after them? He's got a rep. And just because we run a gay joint doesn't mean we're gay. Hello, my dad is married."

"Right." Naruto wondered now if he'd been wrong and Gaara wasn't gay after all.

"Let's party!" Gaara dragged a startled Naruto onto the crowded dance floor, such as it was, and began a wild, stomping show of movement that he belatedly interpreted as dancing.

It was hard to feel shame when everyone else was into their own thing and dancing just as hard. The music was deafening, the place crowded, and none of it mattered. Naruto felt elation swell in him and suddenly felt like dancing too. He pogo-ed up and down with the rest of the crowd, and screamed as loudly as he could. He couldn't hear himself or hear Gaara screaming, but they laughed and laughed like loons anyway. Naruto plugged his Coke bottle with his thumb and shook it vigorously. He let the soda fizz out right in Gaara's face, which had his friend quickly shaking his own bottle in retaliation. They were soon wet and sticky, but it only made them scream and laugh harder, practically vomiting with dizziness.

It was late when they staggered out of the bar. Gaara's dad had come on around eleven. He told Naruto that he'd called Minato to let him know where Naruto was, but that he should probably get on home. He told Gaara the same thing, and added that Gaara's mother was waiting for him.

Naruto drove toward home, happy and high off eight bottles of Coke and a host of Snickers bars, but made a detour when Gaara directed him to. "Where we going?"

"You'll see." Gaara gave a cryptic little smile.

Naruto snuck looks at him as he drove. Gaara's wrist was adorned with a black braided leather bracelet. He couldn't help thinking that it made Gaara's bare arm look really sexy. And the way Gaara's dark red hair lay thickly over one eye was also sexy. He stopped the truck when told to.

-oOo-

It was the river that ran through town. They were surrounded by trees that grew along the faint path he'd driven on, but the river ran ahead of them, silver in the moonlight. Naruto killed the engine.

"I know the popular make-out spot in town is on top of the Hokage monument, but I've always liked this place," Gaara said off-handedly. He unbuckled his seat belt.

Naruto kept his eyes on the river, suddenly nervous. Why would Gaara be talking about making out? He gripped the wheel to hide the way his hands shook. "O-oh, really? I've never been up there."

"Me either."

When the silence became too unbearable, Naruto turned his head a fraction of an inch. Gaara was looking at him. "What?" His voice cracked.

"You, that's what."

"Me?"

"Yeah. I lied."

"About what?" He looked properly at Gaara and saw the way his friend was turned in his seat, sitting the way he'd been when they were at the house.

"About this truck being the reason I noticed you. Or why I chose to approach you."

He'd gotten an inkling in the garage, a stronger sense as they'd danced and partied, and an almost certainty at the mention of making out. Now he was sure of Gaara's sexuality, and unsure of what to do about it; the invitation hung in the air, painfully obvious and growing by the second.

Well, he said he likes people who handle their business and go after what they want, Naruto thought suddenly. Jesus, he also said I'm hot… or… something like that. Keeping his gaze on the faintly glowing green eyes, he slowly unbuckled his belt.

Gaara grinned. "So I was thinking."

Naruto frowned. Weren't they going to make out? "About?"

"The whole closure thing." Gaara waved a hand in the air to describe their earlier discussion. "And I think we should do it in the cab, right where that fucker did his shit. I want to leave my mark on his territory."

A laugh burst out of Naruto at the closed, possessive expression on Gaara's face. "What! Why? I mean, I don't understand."

Gaara reached across the divider suddenly and grabbed a fistful of Naruto's orange hoody. He yanked him forward so that they were nose to nose. "Because I want to erase the memory of what he did from your mind. I don't want you thinking about anything but me and us together when you get in this truck from now on.

Naruto had been slightly afraid at the way Gaara snatched him to his side of the truck. His hands were braced against the door behind Gaara. Now he just felt hot and quivery.

Gaara kissed him.

It was somehow inexplicably welcome and gratifying to kiss someone his own age. Gaara's skin was smooth like his own, not scratchy with beard stubble, and he smelled of Coke, not sweat and cheap cologne. He tasted of Snickers, not stale cigarette smoke, and his hands were smooth and unthreatening, if ridiculously strong. Naruto climbed over the divider properly and sat in Gaara's lap, giving himself to this intimacy completely. Gaara's wiry arms felt good, and his hair was soft and silky, instead of stiff with dried product.

The kiss itself was delicious. Gaara's mouth was soft, juicy, and boyish. He held onto to Gaara's ears as Gaara held him around his back, cupping his shoulders. He could feel Gaara's short nails digging into his skin through his hoody and he was suddenly ravenous for him, kissing him harder and harder, vindicated and purified by the evidence of Gaara's interest and desire for him.

There was no cold place on his back. He hadn't felt it all night. He only felt hot, so hot, and oddly cherished by the boy kissing him so fiercely.

Later, they lowered the midgate and rear seats together. Gaara was the one to undress him, kissing each body part as it was exposed. Gaara's tough, wise-cracking persona fell away to reveal an individual capable of great compassion and tenderness. He let Naruto undress him in turn, and held still when he sensed an interest in his body from him. He allowed Naruto to touch him wonderingly, to explore, to stroke his hair and kiss him greedily. He responded in kind, and spent long, long minutes letting Naruto set the pace. When they were both ready, Gaara took up one of the condoms he'd gotten from his brother earlier at the bar.

He knelt and had Naruto face away from him, straddling his lap. He lifted Naruto's right arm and draped it around his neck. Then he handed a foil packet of Colt Slick to Naruto, also given to him by his brother.

Naruto coated Gaara with the lubricant, as instructed, then closed his eyes when Gaara ran a hand down his stomach. The hand massaged his aching erection a few times, before sliding lower and palming his sac. A stream of clear fluid leaked from Naruto as Gaara handled his balls. This was scooped up and rubbed between Gaara's fingers, before he reached low and found Naruto's entrance.

"Kiss me," Gaara whispered.

Naruto brushed the red hair aside and kissed him long and hard while two fingers worked inside him. It felt good. It felt right. Gaara's fingers stroked and probed, making Naruto gasp and sigh. Little shockwaves and chills made him twitch in Gaara's lap. He bit Gaara's lip softly, sucked on it, kissed him again. He felt Gaara lifting his hips and then he was sliding slowly down the hard length of Gaara's shaft.

Gaara let him take it from there. Naruto leisurely rose up and down, his arm behind Gaara's head, and partially twisted to stare into those light green eyes. They were nose to nose, with Naruto's other hand cupping Gaara's cheek. He was enraptured. The pleasure came quicker this time, was made more intense by the eye contact and the amount of control he had, not to mention he was actually doing it with someone he cared about. As their movements quickened and the pleasure sharpened, Naruto reasoned that he more than cared about Gaara.

They somehow made it to their feet and stood holding onto the roof of the Avalanche. Gaara pounded Naruto roughly for the last few minutes. Rough, but slow and deliberate. Each thrust was given with concentration and brutal force, so that the pleasure left Naruto barely able to stand. His teeth dug into his lip. Gaara held him tightly, increasing the pace now until Naruto felt lightheaded.

Then Gaara slowed down again. He drew the thrusts out until Naruto's body shook with strain at his prolonged arousal, then sped up again, pushing him to the brink of release. The air rang with their ragged moaning and breathing. When Naruto could stand it no more, he reached between his legs and took hold of his screaming cock. Gaara hammered his hips against Naruto's until they were both carried over.

Naruto got swept up enough to shout when he came. He had a hand behind him, fisted in Gaara's hair, while Gaara had his face pressed to Naruto's neck. The last thrust rocked the Avalanche on its wheels and left Naruto perilously close to pulling a handful of the red hair out. Gaara stiffened, froze, then shuddered strongly against Naruto's sweating back. Naruto's name was a tortured groan on his lips.

It wasn't awkward or shameful afterward. They took thirty minutes to dress because Gaara kept holding Naruto's clothes out of reach and making him pay for each item with kisses. Dressed finally, Naruto tackled him and they rolled off the cab, to thud onto the grass. They kissed there too. And in the truck, and at stoplights on the way back to Naruto's house. Finally, when they pulled up behind Gaara's Mustang, the redhead turned to Naruto and brushed his hand over the blond hair.

"No regrets?" Gaara asked.

"None. About anything," Naruto stressed, remembering the past two months.

"See you tomorrow?"

"You mean later today? Definitely." It gave him a floating sensation of glad wonder to know he would spend the day with his smartass of a friend, who turned into a protective and affectionate lover at night. "I can't wait."

"'Kay." Gaara looked at Naruto's mouth, but they both heard the screen door creak open. Naruto saw his mom and dad standing together and looking towards the truck.

Gaara smiled and got out. He walked jauntily to his car and drove off a minute later. Naruto left his truck where it was and made his way up the walk towards the house.

-oOo-

Minato held the door open for Naruto and stood aside to let him pass. "It's late," he said when Naruto stood in the living room. "After two in the morning."

Naruto knew his parents believed in giving him freedom and wouldn't actually demand answers from him. They treated him like an adult for the most part, and expected him to act like one. More importantly, they trusted him to act like one. He honored their trust now by telling the truth to their unasked question.

"I went out joy-riding with Gaara, and later we danced at his dad's gay club and ate way too much junk. After, we sort of hung out by the river. I was… careful. We were careful."

Minato looked long and hard into the identical blue of his son's eyes, hearing admissions he'd long suspected. He also heard a return of his son's lost happiness and ebullience. The grin on Naruto's face was noted with great relief and pleasure. He nodded, acknowledging the silent admissions and showing his support. There was no judgment or censure.

"Sweetheart, are you feeling better?" Kushina asked. She held her husband's hand where it was draped over her shoulder.

Naruto walked up to her, cupped her face with his palms, and kissed her cheek hard. He leaned back and regarded her with shining eyes. "Honestly? I feel fucking great, Mom." He kissed her again before bounding away to take the stairs three at a time. Both parents stood in bemusement when their son's door slammed hard enough to shake the house.

A moment later, a full-throated scream was heard, recognizable as Naruto's voice: "BEST… DAY… EVER!"