Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock…

Lee's eyes flickered slightly with each spasm of the second hand. He was no longer listening to their sensei but now to the clicks of the clock. Slowly, he allowed himself to be distracted by a fiery red.

Yes, indeed, he was still in the first class of the day. Never in his life had an entire class period lasted so long. However…

Tick tock tick tock tick tock brrrrrring~

Screeches of chairs scraped the classroom floor as the pile of students exited promptly, not paying their sensei any heed to the assignment she was verbally throwing at them. Lee felt a smile touch his lips and got to his feet- first block was finally over.

"Wow, look at this…pathetic."

Lee looked up, having bent over to grab his bag from the floor. He blinked once, not familiar with the three who were standing at his desk, then let his eyes drop to the thing they were holding. "Ah-!" He started, dropping his bag to snatch the paper he had been doodling on…though his doodle had turned into more of a sketch than he had planned.

The male holding the paper lifted it as Lee grabbed for it, a cocky smile across his face. "Oh, do you want this back? I didn't know it was important to you. Haha!" The brown-haired boy passed it to his female friend, who laughed lightly and looked at the elaborate anime-style sketch Lee had done of Gaara.

"Is this that scary new kid? Ohmigawd, do you have the hots for him, you little faggot?"

Lee felt his insides clench defensively. No, that was certainly not it. He was terrified of Gaara, not in love with him. And he had spent the entire class period sketching him only because his hair had looked fun to draw so he had taken it upon himself to finish the sketch in total with shading and the whole bit. In short, he had worked damn hard on it, despite it only starting out as a doodle.

The group before him was talking to him, but he couldn't hear their voices anymore. He had tuned them out. "Give it back, please." He asked, brow furrowing in discomfort. The trio stared at him for a moment before bursting into a hysterical laughter.

"Oh, I'm sorry, then I suppose you don't want me to do this, either?" The first boy asked, taking the paper from the female and beginning to rip it. Lee's eyes widened as he felt his innards twist and contort themselves into sickening positions. The boy's lower lip quivered as he closed his eyes, listening to the paper tear. "Later, loser. Don't doodle in class next time." A few chuckles after the tearing had silenced brought Lee to his knees as the group walked off.

The teen sniffed slightly, running his arm across his face to dry the embarrassing wet as the next class's early birds began entering the room. Lee opened his eyes, staring at his shattered portrait of the new student. He remembered thinking it was one of the best anime-style drawings he had ever done. And now, it was ruined.

The boy closed his eyes again, picking up his belongings and getting to his feet.

When he opened both orbs again, his view was not that of shredded paper, but that of a red-haired boy standing before him, holding up a finger to signify 'hold on'. Lee blinked, whisking the tears from his eyes as Gaara took the pieces of paper in his hand and went to the front of the room. Only moments later did he return, holding out Lee's now taped together drawing with what looked like an angry expression on his face.

Lee's eyes widened, blush spreading across his face as he took the paper and averted his gaze. Gaara's stare didn't waver for a second. "Th-thank you." Lee whispered shyly, wondering why the boy had looked so pissed off.

"…needs work. I'm not that pretty."

Before the teen could confirm it was Gaara's voice he was hearing, the red-head had already turned tail and was off to his next class.

Lee stood there for a moment, partially in shock, as an unfamiliarly warm feeling coiled through his being and worked it's way up to his mouth, pulling the corners upwards into a wide, gratuitous smile. He hugged the paper to his chest, smile widening till it pried his lips up to show off his pearly whites. "Thank you, Gaara!" The name felt unfamiliar and awkward on his tongue, but he didn't care. Gaara wasn't in the room anymore anyways. A few freshman spared Lee a few estranged glances before continuing their daily routine as the teen euphorically skipped off to his next class.

A/N: SUPER SUPER SUPER short chapter only because...the next one is going to be super super super long. I think this may be the shortest chapter I've ever written for a chapter fic. Lol. I wholeheartedly and sincerely apologize.

Like always, review if you want an update. :3