***Okay, here goes: I don't own Naruto, and I didn't make up the lyrics to the first quote in the fic--that belongs to Alkaline Trio. Note please that this is not a song-fic. Anyway, pairing is GaaraxNeji, NejixGaara. I hate the terms 'seme' and 'uke', I don't use them, they don't apply to my fics, and whatever way I write the pairing does not mean that the name that comes first is 'on top.' This is AU and involves drug use, alcohol use, and...possible other dark themes; you'll be warned ahead of time if anything dark is going to occur. Tell me if I get off-track with the characters, I like to stay in-character, so if I'm out, I want to know. =) Please enjoy!***
"It's quite possible, I feel truly dead inside," Gaara mumbled the lyrics under his breath before taking another swig off his bottle. He liked to come out to the bridge and watch the stars some nights, it never brought him peace, or happiness, or anything like that; all it happened to be to him was something to look at when he couldn't sleep. For a few months now he had been using alcohol to alleviate his pain, to take away his thoughts, and to simply leave him in a state of 'not-really-happy but okay.' He found that state much better to be in compared to his usual, morose state of being. The alcohol seemed to numb his heart once he drank enough, and even lessened his homicidal and suicidal ideations, leaving him more personable than usual.
He always got the alcohol from his not-friend Naruto (he didn't consider himself to have any friends, but Naruto wasn't an enemy, so he wasn't sure what to call him) that worked at a gas station and let him buy the liquor underage. Recently this had become an almost nightly occurrence. The older boy had been trying to get him into a better mood since he met him. Sometimes when he was really really drunk he would stumble back to the gas station and keep Naruto company through the night, as Naruto was a third shift worker. They talked about meaningless things to begin with, but Naruto had the unnerving habit of being able to get him to open up and discuss some of his problems with him (this being the reason that he had to be so drunk when he returned to the dingy little gas station) ; in return Naruto shared some of his own difficulties.
Gathering himself up, Gaara tripped over his own feet as he rose from the bridge, almost making him fall to the ground, but he caught himself at the last minute. A slight chuckle escaped his lips as he noticed the peculiar position he seemed to be frozen in after he had stopped himself from falling; things always seemed better when you were smashed out of your mind.
Seeing his goal in sight, Gaara allowed a small smile to grace his face as he stumbled back through door he had left from a few hours earlier. Looking up he expected to see Naruto cleaning, attending customers, or reading the magazines of the shelves--all usual activities for the blonde on work nights; tonight appeared to be different though, there was a man that Naruto was attending to, but not a customer. Gaara cocked his head as he watched Naruto pet the other man's hair while he laid with his head down on one of the two tables the gas station had to offer.
"Heeey, Naruto," He had made himself known to the other, as Naruto seemed too busy fussing over the man with long dark hair to notice his entrance. Gaara hadn't noticed that his words were slurred, he never did when he was this drunk.
Snapping his head to the door, Naruto smiled warmly.
"Yo, Gaara, what's up?" He asked as though he weren't petting what appeared to be an unconscious man when he should have been working; in other words, as though this were a normal situation.
"Who--who's that? Is he dead?" Gaara smiled slightly at the word 'dead', not caring that his question didn't make a lot of sense. A sober Gaara would have realized that if a man had died on Naruto's shift he probably would have been a lot more upset, and certainly wouldn't have been touching the dead body.
A laugh escaped the blonde's lips as his eyes returned to the man on his table.
"This is my friend, Neji. He's…having a little trouble right now." Naruto's eyes held sadness as he ruffled through Neji's hair again, a soft moan escaping the black-haired man's lips.
"Wha-s wrong with 'im?" Gaara asked, walking to the table that he had so often slouched over when talking to Naruto on other nights. Pulling out a chair he quickly threw himself down in the seat, not trusting himself to be able to stand for too much longer. He could stand again, he knew, he just couldn't stand in one place for too long of a time when he was drunk, otherwise he would fall.
"Well…" Naruto chewed on his lip as he appeared to be contemplating whether to tell Gaara the truth of what had happened or not. Gaara hadn't noticed the pause between Naruto's words, however.
"He's kind of…overdosed on sleeping pills tonight. He told me how many he took, and said not to call the hospital. This kind of thing has happened before though, so I know he'll be okay." Naruto's eyes wavered, as if he weren't sure he believed his own words. Gently he pushed the hair out of Neji's face and tucked it behind his ear.
Gaara looked at the other man's face after Naruto removed the cover of hair, he was currently drooling a little bit on the table and had a soft, peaceful expression painted on his unconscious face.
"Say, Gaara, think you could do me a favor tonight?" Naruto looked back up at him, smiling a small, fake smile.
Narrowing his eyes, Gaara couldn't help but feel suspicious at what the other man wanted. Were he sober he most likely would have figured it out by now; that was the only downside he could see to the drinking, it made him feel dumb for things he had done while he was drunk when he woke up, and Gaara hated feeling dumb.
"Wha-s that?" Gaara tilted his head, waiting for an answer.
"Well, think you could take Neji to-uh-wherever you stay? I don't know how long he'll be out, and I can't let my boss catch me with him here. If I could take him home with me I would, but I have to work for another six hours…" Naruto's voice became more and more quiet as his small speech went on, as though he felt bad for asking.
"I mean, I have to actually do work too, and somebody needs to be watching him to make sure he's okay." He seemed to have found more words after trailing off from the last sentence, because Naruto kept going.
Gaara sent him a skeptical expression, leaning back against the wall so that he wouldn't have to hold himself up straight any longer.
"I do-know…Doesn't he have other friends or family that could take him or something?" The red-head asked, hoping that this would be the end of it. He certainly didn't want to take care of someone he hadn't even officially met yet--he didn't care about, well, anybody enough to do that for them.
Naruto shook his head sadly, bright blue eyes never leaving Neji's face.
"He…well, he can't go back to his family like this, and I don't think he'd want anybody else to see him this way. Nobody that knows him, at least,"
Gaara took one last look at the brunette before rolling his eyes, and nodding his head once to show Naruto that he would do it. He felt that he owed Naruto a little bit, for listening to his problems, confiding in Gaara himself, and selling to him underage--not that he would ever let Naruto know he felt that way.
"I'll call a cab for you two then--say, where do you live? I'll pay for everything, don't worry!" Naruto quickly got up from his seat and ran behind the counter to call from the phone attached to the wall.
Gaara took another sip from his bottle, wondering what exactly he had gotten himself into.