Chapter 2 — Telephone

"So..." Lee started, breaking the silence that had developed. The young man beside him was staring into space, seemingly lost in the array of liquors and glasses behind the bar. "That's your brother?"

After a moment, Gaara acknowledged the question.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah..." he muttered, subconsciously adding "unfortunately" to his answer. He hadn't moved his eyes from the wall he was facing, though he wasn't really looking at it. It was just a place to put his eyes —he didn't like looking at people's faces; he felt as if they could always see right through him, straight through all the walls he tries to hide behind. Avoiding their gaze was all he could do to protect himself, even if it did follow the preschool logic of "I can't see it, it can't see me".

Lee, on the other hand, was watching the rusty-haired boy intently with round pewter eyes. His eyes were very distinctive: large, round with defined eyelashes, and topped off by extraordinarily thick eyebrows. His jet-black hair was styled into a sort of bowl; it had the rounded appearance on top, but the hair underneath was layered in a stacking manner instead of shaved. He effectively had all of the look with none of the stupid.

Lee cleared his throat after another few minutes of silence between the two.

"You don't look like you want to be here."

This time, Gaara turned his head to Lee, his teal eyes surprised. Sure, it was an easy observation to make, but Lee had been the first one to make it. No one else had noticed or cared.

The redhead shook his head after a short pause, laughing sadly.

"I sure don't." he chuckled, slouching on the bar.

Lee furrowed his brow slightly, leaning over to meet Gaara's eye. "Then..uh...why are you here?" he asked.

Gaara closed his eyes and held his head in his hands as if he had a headache.

"Well, I'm certainly not here by my choice. Kankuro made me come along."

Gaara glanced at the young man, taking his inquisitive expression to be a cue to explain further.

"Temari —that's our sister— used to go with him when I was younger. But now that I can get in the clubs, she says it's on me."

Lee nodded. "Why can't he go by himself?"

In a rare break of character, Gaara immediately swung his head to face the young man, his expression reading something along the lines of, "are you KIDDING me! Did you SEE him!"

Lee caught the hint.

"He gets really drunk?" he asked; this was clearly news to him. Gaara continued to break his character, staring at the enigma of a person that was sitting beside him.

"Oh HELL yes."