-> ''Being in love with Gaara was bound to make his life more interesting. And possibly rather short as well.''

[[http://maldoror-gw.livejournal.com/30383.html Diplomatic Relations]] is a [[SlashFic Lee/Gaara]] ''Naruto'' fic written by [[http://maldoror-gw.livejournal.com maldoror-gw]], who is also the author of ''[[Fanfic/TheArrangement The Arrangement]]''.

Lee is promoted to being Leaf's ambassador in Suna. The people of Suna are baffled by him, but Lee's good-guy stubbornness means he also slowly becomes Gaara's friend. Gaara, for his part, is intrigued and confused by Lee's lack of fear for him. Eventually they become lovers, but the relationship brings its own set of challenges. And there's the series' BigBad to deal with...

The story is told from Lee's POV, so there is heaps of comedy and idealism, along with insights into Lee's psyche. The plot diverges from Akatsuki's attack on Suna in canon. The story depicts Lee going about daily life in the desert village of Suna, beginning as a series of one-shots detailing Lee and Gaara's growing acquaintance, and is now novel-length at 23 chapters. Some scenes are NSFW.

The fic is definitely worth a read for the excellent quality of its writing and world-building, even for readers who wouldn't usually read M/M pairings.

There is a sequel, ''[[http://maldoror-gw.livejournal.com/31026.html Kindred]]'', this time told from Gaara's POV. Side fics set in the same universe include the comic one-shots ''[[http://maldoror-gw.livejournal.com/15302.html Chicken Soup for the Demonic Soul]]'' and ''[[http://maldoror-gw.livejournal.com/12978.html Big Heart, Drunken Fist]]'', and the longer horror/mystery fic ''[[http://maldoror-gw.livejournal.com/30482.html Missing]]''.

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!!Diplomatic Relations provides examples of:
* AChildShallLeadThem: Gaara is eighteen, but is feared and respected as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure by older Suna veterans.
* ActionGirl: Temari is a battle-axe, village leader and a scary older sister combined into one.
* AlmostKiss: While in the desert and bereft of supplies, Gaara [[spoiler:preserves spilled water by licking it off Lee's chin and mouth.]] Lee is already feverish but this ''really'' sends him into confusion.
* BadassFamily: Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro, who collectively run the village, organise the war effort and deal with Lee's stubbornness.
* BathtubScene: Gaara creates a pothole in the desert filled with water for bathing in after he and Lee destroy a hive of giant sand bugs. Gaara sees it as a practical way of getting clean but Lee is distracted by (Gaara's) semi-nudity.
* BattleCouple: Lee and Gaara become one, as a result of having trained together for months.
* BerserkButton: For a few chapters, Gaara has one for [[spoiler:Lee [[LoveMakesYouCrazy mentioning the word 'love']]]].
* BigBrotherMentor: Kankuro is this for Lee, and eventually Gaara as well. Temari is also this for Gaara and Lee.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: The Suna desert has these. They function like locusts and operate via HiveMind.
* BigEater: Lee is shown to eat way more than the ordinary person, even for a ninja, [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that his attack style is completely Taijutsu-based and he spends a lot of the fic pushing himself to physical extremes.
* BigOlEyebrows: Lee is relieved that he still has these after [[spoiler:Gaara puts the Sand Armour on him and leaves him shaved all over,]] because they make him resemble his manly teacher, Gai.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Lee is TheDitz who wears orange legwarmers in the desert and gives regular speeches about the Power of Youth, but is also a lightning-fast Taijutsu expert and the only person in the village capable of training with Gaara.
--->It was strange how people always underestimated Lee when they first saw him. It happened all the time. Really, couldn't they recognize a fearsome warrior when they saw one? Maybe it was because he was wearing the poncho...
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Lee gets up to speed with Gaara's in a conversation with Naruto. He realises that it's the villages' rejection of the demon hosts which has made them what they are, not the demons themselves, making Gaara and Naruto NotSoDifferent.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Gaara's semi-human personality is explored in greater depth than in the original series.
** LighterAndSofter: Having Lee has a narrator guarantees idealism everywhere, and the war on the BigBad is a lot simpler than the one in the original series.
* DayInTheLimelight: The fic is this for both Lee and Gaara, whose lives are explored in detail, as well as Sunagakure as the Hidden Village setting of the story.
* DeadpanSnarker: Gaara will sometimes become this to Lee, often as a NotSoStoic sign of affection. Also because, naturally, Lee is an irresistible target. Kankuro has this in ''spades'' as well.
* DemotedToExtra: Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are back in Konoha and occasionally mentioned by Lee. Tsunade is seen and referred to more often as she is Lee's direct superior and Gaara's counterpart in Konoha. Lee also often thinks of Gai, and recalls Kakashi in a flashback.
* {{Determinator}}: Lee refuses to give up trying to be Gaara's friend despite warnings from pretty much everybody.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Lee realises that he always seems to notice what Gaara's wearing...
** NotDistractedByTheSexy: Lee [[TransparentCloset doesn't understand]] the appeal of Tsunade's outfit or her spars with Shizune.
* DynamicEntry: True to character, the first chapter is Lee's big Dynamic Entry into Suna. The Suna guard's response:
--->"...Are they (Konoha) ''trying'' to start a war?"
* EmotionlessGirl: Gaara is a male version of this, even moreso because he fails to understand emotions themselves.
* ElementalBaggage: Gaara's gourd of sand accompanies him everywhere and Lee sometimes thinks it has its own moods. It is a defining moment when Gaara leaves the gourd outside the room when coming to visit Lee.
* FightScene: Lee and Gaara have plenty of fight scenes, both against each other while training and against the various antagonists in the story. WordofGod states that she prefers action scenes to emotional ones, making this an example of AuthorAppeal.
* FirstKiss: Gaara and Lee have theirs in [[spoiler:the midst of a huge Gaara-created sandstorm]], also making it a BigDamnKiss.
* FriendshipMoment: The fic could be described as a series of these between Lee and Gaara, [[RelationshipUpgrade leading to them being in a relationship.]]
* {{Gayngst}}: For a while Lee struggles with accepting that he's gay, [[spoiler:and the embarrassing realisation that Gai and Kakashi have known for ''years'']]. Later, Lee isn't sure whether Gaara is attracted to men even after they decide to start a relationship.
* HeroicRROD: Lee has this after opening seven Chakra Gates in battle.
* HeroicSacrifice: Lee tries to do this for Gaara, who is not happy about it.
* HiddenDepths: For Lee in comparison to his original characterisation.
* PlatonicLifePartners: WordofGod says Lee and Gaara would have remained this forever if adverse events hadn't forced Lee to own up to himself about the extent of his feelings for Gaara.
* HighlyVisibleNinja: Lee, for one, wears orange leg-warmers and a green spandex suit. On a walk in a non-ninja town, Gaara gets mistake for a hooker due to all the buckles, mesh, leather on his outfit.
* HotBlooded: Lee is a classic example in his overzealous approach to training, battles, paperwork, and his friendship with Gaara.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Kankuro and Temari's reaction when they discover Gaara and Lee making out.
* TheIdealist: The fic, being from Lee's POV, is resolutely idealist as Lee refuses to get mired in any angst despite the events around him and Gaara.
* [[InnocentFanserviceGirl Innocent Fanservice Boy]]: Gaara, who strips to have a wash in the desert and fails to notice Lee's sudden panic.
* {{Lemon}}: WordofGod describes these scenes in the story as weird and unconventional, which makes sense given who the main characters are...
* LetsGetDangerous: Lee's response after Gaara is attacked and [[spoiler:his sand manipulation powers are rendered useless by a seal.]]
* LightningBruiser: Lee is pretty much stronger, faster and tougher than most by this point in the timeline. His weakness is of course his inability to mould chakra.
* LoveEpiphany: Lee gets one when when he decides give his life up to protect Gaara. Gaara, by contrast, realises he has a strong bond with Lee and needs him around but [[spoiler:isn't sure whether he's capable of experiencing love.]]
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: A more literal example than most in Gaara's case:
---> "You'll be on missions, in danger, and I won't be there to help. It's driving me insane." Lee didn't think Gaara was speaking metaphorically here; Gaara usually said what he meant, nothing less and nothing more.
* LoveMakesYouDumb: As Gaara theorises.
---> "So love is a very stupid emotion," Gaara said in a flat voice.
* NotEvenHuman: Gaara considers himself this. He sometimes refers to Lee and the larger human races as "humans", implying that he's not. Lee, of course, makes it his mission [[{{Determinator}} to prove otherwise]].
* OddCouple: Lee and Gaara. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by several characters who are taken aback upon learning of their relationship.
* OhCrap: Rogue ninjas corner Lee and Gaara in an alleyway, then run as soon as they realise they're dealing with ''that'' [[NamestoRunAwayFromReallyFast Gaara of the Sand]].
* OppositesAttract: The main pairing essentially comes about because Lee and Gaara are different from each other in almost every conceivable way.
* OriginalCharacter: The story gives us minor characters in Suna to flesh out the village's functions.
* ThePowerOfLove: Lee believes in this as a result of a speech he remembers Gai giving many years ago. Later subverted as he realises a relationship with Gaara will be fraught with difficulty.
** More painfully, Gaara goes through the same thing; his uncle told him that love would make him stop hurting, and he doesn't take it well when he finds out that's not true.
* RecurringDreams: Lee starts getting these about Gaara following the BathtubScene, leading to a sleepless chapter of {{Gayngst}}.
* RedOniBlueOni: Lee and Gaara. Lee is the red oni, while Gaara is the blue. Also, Gaara as the blue to Kankuro's red.
* RelationshipUpgrade: Gaara and Lee get one after months of being close friends.
* SandIsWater: Gaara's sand attacks mimic sandstorms.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Tsunade gives Lee a long speech about maintaining decorum while in the presence of the Kazekage; Lee breaks them almost immediately, then decides to keep at it in order to become Gaara's first real friend.
* SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan: Gaara gets attacked for the Shukaku.
* SexChangesEverything: This is what Lee fears will occur as he has grown up all his life to idealise sex as a life-changing event: [[spoiler:Gaara does not see things the same way and sex just turns out to be a nice added bonus to their relationship.]]
* SliceOfLife: The early chapters feature Lee and Gaara getting on with their shinobi duties in Suna and having short conversations, as a means of Lee (and the reader) getting to know Gaara.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Lee begins on the idealism side and slowly becomes more realistic, though still hugely idealistic compared to Gaara, as a result of their relationship. Similarly, Gaara learns to be a tiny bit less cynical.
* SoProudOfYou: Gai says this after Lee opens seven Gates and kills a number of high-level shinobi to defend Gaara.
* TheStoic: Gaara, as in the original series, taking on additional nuance as Lee finds out about his DarkAndTroubledPast.
** NotSoStoic: Gaara [[spoiler:reacts badly to Lee's accidental confession of love and blows potholes in the desert]]. And his eventual friendship and relationship with Lee, of course.
* StraightGay: Lee and Gaara are characterised exactly as they are in the original series, HotBlooded and [[TheStoic Stoic]] respectively, just also gay.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Gaara functions normally most of the time but it is shown that his former psychotic personality, dubbed 'Old Gaara' by Lee, is never far from the surface.
* TheTalk: Temari insists that Kankuro give Gaara this; by the time Gaara is done explaining how much he doesn't need it, Kankuro is in desperate need of BrainBleach.
* TeenGenius: Lee is occasionally envious of Gaara and Neji for being this.
* TenWaysToRewriteAShow: Number three with a sprinkling of number ten.
* ThirstyDesert: Lee and Gaara when stuck in the desert after an attack takes away their supplies.
* TransparentCloset: [[spoiler:Gai and Kakashi]] figured Lee was gay all along, but allowed him to come to the realisation in his own time.
* TheUnfavourite: Lee was this to the relatives who raised him after the death of his parents, due to his weird looks and inability to mould chakra.
* WalkOnWater: Lee can't do this due to his lack of chakra control. When he and Gaara need to cross a river at one point, he resorts to getting a boat and later sticking close to Gaara, when Gaara decides to walk.
* WhenSheSmiles: When Gaara smiles at one point, Lee is surprised and pleased due to Gaara naturally being TheStoic. Gaara wasn't even aware he'd smiled and questions Lee about it. Lee also thinks he imagines Gaara giving an amused smile at Lee's antics in the first chapter.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Naturally, Lee to Gaara.

!!Kindred provides examples of:
* BrattyHalfPint: Chiro to Gaara and Lee.
* BreakTheCutie: Chiro's backstory.
* BullyingADragon: What happened to Gaara when he was younger. It didn't end well for the bullies.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Played with, as Lee wants to preserve their innocence and Gaara knows that shinobi kids don't stay innocent for very long.
* CreepyChild: Chiro begins to border on this, especially to Lee. Gaara takes it all in his stride.
* CousinOliver / {{Nephewism}}: Chiro and his brother to Lee.
* ConstantlyCurious: Chiro takes to Gaara because Gaara harshly but truthfully answers all of his myriad questions.
* KidsAreCruel
* NightmareFuelColoringBook: Chiro likes to draw and his creepy repetitive drawings have shades of this.
* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: Gaara takes this approach with Chiro, as he doesn't understand or care of Lee's cautions of taking it easy with the recently-traumatised kids.
* SinkOrSwimFatherhood: Neither Lee nor Gaara know how to take care of kids, so Gaara arranges for Lee to get instruction from the wife of his guard captain.
* ThickerThanWater: The reason Lee takes in Chiro and his brother.