K; Ummm, OK. This is my first story, hope you enjoy. It is slash (hooray for uke!Gaara!) so homophobes, stop reading, don't flame, and don't say I didn't warn you.

Disclaimer; gfzoda doesn't own Naruto. If she did, there'd be hell to pay and Masashi Kishimoto would kick her ass 6 ways from Sunday.

So enjoy! *mwah*


A shrill ringing cut through the air of Lee's dorm room. After the second ring or so, he hauled his body out of bed deciding that if somebody was calling at 2 in the morning, it should probably be important. He picked up the receiver. "Hello?" He groaned, noticing how blurry his voice sounded. The response was almost immediate, "Lee?" Even with the sound so soft and wavering, a soft note of need went through the syllable. This tone is what sent the adrenaline racing through Lee's body and made the teen's chest tighten as his heart sped up, ready to burst out of his ribcage. Gaara was hurting, this was apparent. "Is that you, Gaara?" A hitch in Gaara's breath, the sound of a car going by in the background, these things didn't escape Lee's attention as he tried to figure what was wrong. "C-could you come here?" Oh God, a stutter. Gaara didn't stutter unless something went beyond horribly wrong. "Sure," Lee answered, trying to sound nonchalant, "Where are you?" A pause seemed to stretch for ever. "On the top of Konohamaru Bridge." Jesus tap-dancing Christ on a Christmas cracker, what?! "O-Okay." Lee tried to keep the anxiety out of his voice. "You want me to stay on the phone?"

"Yeah…" So Lee did. Even as he sped across town and parked near the said bridge he talked to Gaara. He talked about everything and anything. He scaled the service tower and the urgency in his voice rose higher and higher. But as he burst into the cool night air, this urgency was dissipated when he saw the red head sitting by the edge, phone in hand. Without a word, Lee sat next to Gaara, his feet swinging over the edge. "Did you want to jump?" The question broke through the silence that had overcome the duo. Gaara said nothing as he stared at the skyline of Konoha. Somewhere in the distance, a police siren sounded.

Gaara still said nothing. So Lee just sighed and craned his head back to look at the stats above, faint from the city lights. They probably only stayed like that for a few minutes, but to them it seemed like years. Finally, Gaara spoke, his voice filled with an almost child like fear. "I almost did it." Lee glanced over at the red head, raising an eyebrow in a silent question. "But, I thought 'What am I going to leave behind?' And…" He trailed off. Lee waited for a few seconds, until finally coming to the conclusion that if Gaara didn't want to talk about it, then that was fine. He started to stand up, but a pale hand grabbed his sleeve and the onyx haired boy stopped when he noticed the small whimper coming from the shorter of the two. "Gaara?" he asked. The pale hand just gripped tighter onto Lee's jacket sleeve.

"Want you to hear this." The short, mumbled explanation was almost too quiet to hear. Lee sat back down, worried about what Gaara was going to say, but still, willing to listen. "I… didn't want to leave. I wanted to escape. There's a difference, you know?" Lee nodded, prompting him to go on. "The urge to get away, it's like, wanting to punch someone you see everyday. You have to endure the feeling and you have to act as if everything is fine, but there are so many opportunities to go with your instincts that you are forced to bypass. And one day, you just snap and try to go with those urges, damn the consequences…

"I went with it… my dad was yelling and I just … left. I decided that I had dealt with my share of hell on earth. I walked to the nearest place I knew to make everything just stop. And I was standing here on the edge when I wondered what I would leave behind…and…" Gaara trailed off. After about 5 minutes of silence, Lee stood up, dragging Gaara up with him.

"Well," Lee said. "How about we get back to my place? Anywhere but where your dad is." Gaara looked up at Lee's face, bathed in florescent light. He took in the rough features that seemed more earnest than ever in that one instant. Not saying a word, Lee dragged Gaara along, down the service ladder and back to his car. The duo headed back to Lee's dorm room, still not speaking, but understanding each other in a deep sense of connection through subtle movements and expressions.

But in the back of Gaara's head, things were far from calm. His thoughts were in chaos, running in circles and crashing into dead ends. Why couldn't he tell him? God, he was such an idiot. The teen repressed a sigh and closed his eyes, imagining how it should have gone. He would have finished the sentence with a completely cliché ending.

"And I was standing here on the edge when I wondered what I would leave behind…and…I realized that you were the first thing that I thought about. I'd have to leave you behind. And, that's unacceptable for me. You make me smile, I don't know why but whenever I think of you, my heart speeds up and I feel as if this life is worth living." Lee would look at him, his eyes shining with an unexplained light, giving meaning to that 'the eyes are the windows to the soul' pseudo saying. Lee would walk forward and wrap his arms around Gaara's shoulders and they would stand there, looking across the horizon. Then-

Then what? They would live happily ever after? Gaara gave into the urge to sigh, pressing his forehead to the window, feeling the chill of the early May night through the glass. He was acting foolish. Happy endings didn't happen to him. They happened to people that didn't kill for the purpose of coming into this world. Happy endings were reserved for people who could talk to others freely, who weren't almost sold into slavery by their own uncles, people who were loved by their families. None of these applied to him, so the red head despaired.

But…Lee was with him now, helping him. Did this mean something? Or was it just friendliness? He looked over at the taller boy, who was concentrating on the road. That was so like Lee, always precautions even if he was one of the best drivers on the face of this earth. Gaara smiled. That was one of the many things that he liked about Lee. Or, was it just liked? Perhaps it was adored? Treasured? Worshiped? Loved? But, love was for those people that had happy endings wasn't it? Gaara sighed again, softer this time,

This was ridiculous. Lee was a friend. If he told Lee- no! Gaara refused to think about the resulting consequences. But, at the same time, the option seemed more and more appealing. To let Lee know, to try, to try and trust the other not to break his heart again, oh, it was so tempting. But Gaara couldn't be selfish and put that strain on Lee. Lee saw him as a friend; Lee would never leave him if they were friends. The thought comforted the red head, but at the same time, but, it reminded how different Lee was. He was the type who deserved a happy ending. He would probably go for someone such as Sakura. Lee would chase after someone normal and pretty and perfect and…not Gaara. Oh, the teen hated this thought, but it was the truth and he couldn't deny it.

The red head was started out of his musings when the car came to a halt. Lee's warm hand landed on the back of his neck. The calluses and scars from god-knows-what rubbed on the nape of his neck, sending goose bumps and shivers racing across his skin. God, this was such blissful torture, didn't Lee see what he was doing to Gaara? The warm, scarred hand pulled until Gaara's temple rested against Lee's shoulder. "Hey," He heard the black haired boy whisper, "Don't scare me like that again. I don't think I could deal with anything like that again."

Gaara tilted his head, his face pressed to Lee's neck. Lee… cared about him. Gaara smiled at the thought. Lee liked him, maybe not in the way he liked Lee, but still, this was good enough. "We're gonna get through this, aren't we?"

"…Yeah… I think we can."

So, in that dark, cramped car, Lee and Gaara sat. Both better friends than they were a few days before. One hopelessly in love with the other, the other falling fast. But that's another story, for now, we leave these two boys and hope to whatever's in charge of the cosmos that they get their happy ending. Or at least, as much of it as they can.


K; So, if you would be darling enough to leave reviews, I would love to know what I can improve on and if you guys would like to see a sequel.

*hugs and cookies!*

gfzoda