A/N: Yup.. I'm updating. Thanks to Corvin, who harassed me when I lacked motivation. :D Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait.


Twitterpated

You are

the dark ocean bottom

And I am

The fast sinking anchor

Should I fall for you?
Should I fall for you?

X

Friday came far too fast for both Gaara and Neji. Haku, on the other hand, was having a grand time sending Gaara hourly text reminders.

Speaking of which, the redhead flipped open his cellphone to find another one.

Only 5 more hours til your friend date! *smooooooch*

For the umpteenth time, Gaara questioned why he remained friends with the obnoxious romantic. Pocketing his phone, he paused in the hallway of the literature building to grab a copy of that week's student newspaper. Sifting through the pages, he sat down on a bench to read the advertisement for the dinner theatre.

Do you like solving mysteries?

Do you like to eat?

Do you like solving mysteries WHILE you eat?

If so, the Drama department's MURDER MYSTERY DINNER THEATRE is just the thing for you!

Come to Alumni Hall in the Student Union this Friday at 8pm.

Tickets are $6 for students, $11 for guests.

Gaara blinked, unsure of whether he felt the ad was stupid or clever. He folded the newspaper and stuffed it into one of the side pockets of his backpack, figuring he'd read the student-submitted fiction later. He stood and exited the building, zipping up his jacket as he began the trek across the quad. With the cooler weather, less people spent their afternoons laying out on the quad, playing frisbee and whatever other annoying activities they found "fun." Gaara much preferred a quiet route back to his dorm at the end of the day. Plus, he liked to look at the scenery without seeing people everywhere.

Allowing his mind to drift, Gaara found himself worrying over his "friend date" that evening. Haku would be there, but still – it had barely been a month since things ended with Naruto. He couldn't bring himself to forgive the blonde, yet he would still likely take him back without hesitation if the opportunity were to arise. He missed seeing Naruto everyday. He missed his smile, his laugh, and his ridiculously loud voice. But even more, he just missed his friend. Naruto had been the only person Gaara trusted with absolutely everything. And Naruto had accepted and loved him despite it all.. or so he had thought.

Gaara soon reached the dorm, heading inside and making his way to the room he shared with Neji. He was thankful the Hyuga was still in class, sparing him from another painfully awkward conversation. Honestly, how long had Neji liked him, anyway? Gaara dropped his bag onto the floor and flopped down into his desk chair. He couldn't recall anyone ever having a crush on him before. He had been the one to pursue Naruto. Sure, there was no denying that Neji was attractive, but he was so.. feminine. And so different from Naruto.

Sighing, Gaara rubbed a hand over his face and leaned back. But, perhaps that was what he needed. The opposite of Naruto.


An hour later, Neji finally returned from his biochemistry class. When he entered the room, he found Gaara sleeping at his desk, head cradled by pages of crumpled notes. The sight was unsurprising; he had realized long ago that the redhead had greatly unusual sleeping habits.

Neji placed his books on his bed as quietly as possible, moving to sit at his own desk. Opening a drawer, he removed the still incomplete essay that he had started at the beginning of the week. He barely had five hundred words, and the eight page analysis was due on Monday. Normally, he could churn out such papers with ease, but he had been distracted all week fretting over that evening's events. He had never felt so helpless before. Rather than being his usual confident self, he constantly worried that he would do or say something to anger the object of his affection.

He still knew so little about Gaara.. yet his attraction toward the other boy was so strong. Frowning, he turned to look at his roommate's sleeping form. Before he could further wallow in his troubles, his watch beeped loudly, indicating it was time for him to eat. After hurriedly turning off the alarm, he grabbed his keys and left before Gaara had time to awake.

xxx

"I'm not wearing that."

"Oh, c'mon, Gaara!" Haku held the black slacks against his friend's waist, eyes twinkling in approval. "Clothes were meant to be worn. You can't just neglect them."

"I only bought it for a funeral," Gaara stated, grabbing the pants and tossing them back into his closet. "The fabric is too itchy."

Scowling, Haku resumed flipping through Gaara's scarce wardrobe. "Black, black, black, ooh, grey! How adventurous." The redhead rolled his eyes, sitting down on his bed. "Black goes with everything and I don't have to worry about spilling things." Despite the logic, Haku remained unimpressed.

"We really need to take you shopping. Soon."

"No."

"Yes. Or I'll show Neji your baby pictures."

Gaara froze, then scoffed. "You don't have any baby pictures of me."

"That's what you think," Haku smirked. "How's Señor Bear doing these days?"

Paling at the mention of his favorite childhood toy, Gaara pursed his lips. "Aren't you getting ahead of yourself anyway? We don't even know for sure that Neji is gay."

Haku stepped away from the closet to fix him with a skeptical stare. "Uh huh. He's straight and I'm a 300 pound body builder. Seriously, Gaara. You need a gaydar upgrade."

"Well, sorry if I don't go around drooling after every single guy that comes around despite already being taken."

Turning back to the closet with a dismissive sniff, Haku paused at a long sleeved button up shirt. "Z-bear knows I'm his. Besides, I get hot angry sex whenever he's jealous." Extracting the shirt, he whipped around to hold it up for Gaara to see. "How about this?"

Gaara fell backward onto his bed, closing his eyes. "Fine. But I'm still wearing my flipflops."

"It's below freezing outs-"

"Don't care."

When he received a rough smack to the side of his head, Gaara did his best not to cringe. "Hitting the unaware is pretty rude, you know."

"Cutting people off is rude!" Haku retorted, taking a seat on top of Gaara's extended legs. "Sooo.. where is Neji, anyway?"

Gaara shrugged, at which the brunette poked his leg sharply. "Well, do you have his number? It's almost 7."

"It's in my phone." His eyes flew open as his friend began groping at his pockets. "On my desk, idiot!"

"Should have said so." Haku mimicked Gaara's earlier shrug, hopping off the bed to grab the phone before returning. Opening the mobile with his thumb, he went to the contact list and typed "N," which resulted only "Naruto."

"I don't see it."

Sighing, Gaara snatched the device away and scrolled down to the appropriate name, then returned it.

Haku blinked. "'Roommate'? Really, Gaara, you couldn't even put his name?"

"I was hungover when I put it in there. I kept forgetting his name."

Shaking his head in disappointment, Haku began typing a text. "I still can't believe you have a fake ID."

"Naruto made me get one when we were 15 so we could go to some club."

"You? At a club?" Haku snorted, though didn't falter in his typing. "How does this sound? 'Dear Neji, just wondering when I am going to see your lovely face this evening. Haku and I are in the room waiting. Love, Gaara."

Gaara sat up possibly quicker than he had ever moved before, promptly beginning a struggle with his taller yet slimmer friend.

"Ha! Sent." Haku let the phone fall into the redhead's grasp, wearing an evil, satisfied smile. After watching Gaara's expression of horror for over a minute, he finally relented. "That's not really what I said, dummy. Now hurry up and get dressed."

Clicking into the "Sent" messages folder, Gaara was relieved to find that Haku had merely sent a short text asking when they should meet. He pushed the phone into his pocket before standing, tugging off his t-shirt and slipping on the dress shirt that had been chosen for him. As he looped the buttons, he wondered idly if there would be singing involved. Above all else, Gaara hated musicals. People didn't go through their daily lives spontaneously bursting into song, so he failed to see the point of such performances.

He had just secured the last button when his phone buzzed, prompting him to remove it from his pocket and flip it open.

Sorry – got caught up with something. I'll meet you at the doors at 7:30. I already have the tickets.

Haku appeared behind him, reading the message over his shoulder. "Aww, he bought our tickets!"

"He just got them ahead of time so we wouldn't have to wait in line," Gaara reasoned. "He's expecting us to pay him back."

"Suuuure." Haku chuckled, moving to adjust his outfit in the closet's mirror. "Can you tell I'm not wearing underwear?"


Neji smiled, raising a hand in greeting as he saw Haku and Gaara approaching. "Hey. It's busier than I had expected, so we should probably hurry up and find seats." He lifted a brow when Gaara thrusted numerous bills in his face. "What's this?"

"Money. For the tickets."

"Oh. Don't worry about it." Neji waved his hand dismissively, turning to head into the room. "It's my treat." Once his back was turned, Haku gave Gaara a triumphant smirk.

They soon decided on seats in the middle, close enough that they could see but far enough back that they wouldn't be pulled into the act as unwilling volunteers. The show began precisely at eight o'clock, several actors taking their place on stage. The premise was a large Christmas gathering at a wealthy couple's isolated mansion, where one murder quickly became two, then three, and so on. The acting and props were quite good, though all three men grimaced when they were brought what appeared to be no more than rehashed cafeteria food. Before the killer was revealed, the audience was given a brief intermission to write down who they believed had done it and what their motive was.

"What do you think, Gaara?" Neji noted that the redhead had yet to pick up his pencil.

"It's the daughter."

"No way! It's the butler. It's always the butler," Haku exclaimed.

Neji nodded. "I have to agree.. the daughter was the one who spent the last half crying over her father's death. Why would she be the killer?"

Gaara sighed, as if it were highly troublesome for him to have to explain something so obvious to them. "She was his step-daughter, remember? In the beginning, his shirt collar had a pink lipstick stain the same color she was wearing. They were obviously having an affair and she killed him when she found out he was writing a new will that left nothing for her. Then she had to kill the lawyer to cover her tracks. Didn't you catch any of the implications between the husband and the family attorney?"

"Huh." Neji and Haku both sat dumbfounded, the former moreso. He was normally good at these sorts of games, too! He had been absolutely certain it was the butler, especially after the guy stormed across the stage cursing his employers in the opening scene.

The cast members walked around picking up the votes, though Gaara hadn't bothered to fill his in. They were then left with a short break while they sorted through to find any winners of the "Clue" board game prize.

"Soo," Haku drawled out slowly when no one else broke the silence. "Neji, how're your classes going? I think Gaara said you're in the same psychology class – is that your major too?"

Neji's brows furrowed together at this new information. "No.. I didn't know psychology was your major, Gaara."

The redhead shrugged, then winced when Haku poked him sharply. "I just declared it last week."

"Ah. Well, my classes are alright. The aim is med school as of now, so I'm double majoring in chem and bio."

"Oooh." Haku, of course, had a thing for doctors. "What kind of doctor are you gonna be?"

Neji rubbed the back of his neck distractedly. This sort of conversation always made him uncomfortable. "I'm not positive yet.. I wanted to be a surgeon, but it takes up so much time. I might go into pediatric oncology."

"Sounds depressing," Gaara noted, meeting the Hyuga's gaze for the first time that evening. "Are you a masochist or something?"

"Not at all," Neji argued. "I don't believe it would be depressing to try to save children's lives or at least give them the best life possible in their condition."

"And what happens when they die?"

"Then at least they know I tried and can rest in peace."

Gaara continued fixing Neji with a stare that would quickly weaken any other's resolve, but his roommate didn't falter. Finally, his eyes flickered, admitting defeat. "I suppose that's noble of you."

"Well, I suppose I'm glad you think so." Neji smirked, the way Gaara bit his lip not escaping his notice. Before any more could be spoken, however, the cast members again took the stage to announce the results.

"So as it turns out, you're a very poor audience," A pink-haired girl with a bloody knife complained. "No one figured out that I was the killer. I mean, really, was it that hard?" The audience chuckled at her rude remarks, several members murmuring "ohhh" in realization. Her and a few others from the cast went on to re-enact a few key scenes to explain the crime, then awarded everyone with a pair of cheap mustache glasses.

Neji turned to Gaara, impressed. "Why didn't you write it down? You would have won."

"I don't care about winning. I knew I was right; I didn't need to have it reaffirmed in front of a large group of people for some kind of superficial feeling of self worth."

Haku rolled his eyes. "Yeah," He sighed, nodding to Neji. "That's the psychology talking."


At Neji's suggestion, the trio walked to Starbucks for a cup of java. On the way there, Haku conveniently remembered he had an early dentist appointment and needed to get to bed before eleven. Thus, the Hyuga and Sabaku entered the coffeeshop alone, each a bit nervous by the other's presence.

Once they had their drinks and sat down, Neji steeled his nerves and chose to speak first. "Gaara, I don't mean to be nosy, but we've been living together for some time now and I still don't even know why you had to move so suddenly. I don't know much about you at all, really.." He twirled his ponytail around his finger absently. "I was hoping we could be.. friends."

Gaara sipped his coffee, carefully considering Neji's words. After several moments, he placed his cup on the table and leaned back, staring at the ceiling. It was okay to trust Neji, he told himself. The guy had been nothing more than kind and certainly deserved to be treated with the same level of respect. It wasn't fair to punish someone else for Naruto's actions... he couldn't let the blonde ruin his life.

"Remember how we both hate Sasuke Uchiha?"

Neji nodded, watching as Gaara continued staring upward.

"My boyfriend cheated on me for almost two years with him before dumping me. Now they're off living happily ever after... or whatever." He finally dropped his head, taking another drink. There. It was out in the open and off his chest, though saying it only seemed to reignite the pain he had first felt when Naruto had broken up with him.

"Sounds like you're better off without him." Neji stated, feeling a sharp pain in his own heart. What idiot would dump Gaara? More importantly, who could cheat on someone for two years? He had been cheated on before, though certainly not in that magnitude. His roommate's distrustful behavior now made sense.

Gaara simply lifted and dropped his shoulders, at which Neji offered a sad smile. "You loved him, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I guess they're wrong.. love isn't enough."

"Gaara.."

Neji frowned as the redhead stood, loosely grasping his coffee cup between his thumb and middle finger.

"I have things to do. I'll see you back at the room."

XXX

Gaara felt like an idiot for confiding so easily in Neji. He had thought he could handle it, but the uncomfortable feeling in his throat proved otherwise. His eyes stung for the first time in a long while – come to think of it, he couldn't remember the last time he had cried, and he was trying painfully hard to not let the next time be now.

He stood from where he had been lying on his bed, opening the door and going down the hall to the bathroom. Turning on the faucet, he splashed cool water onto his face and rubbed his eyes. After standing there for nearly five minutes with the water running, he turned it off and dried his face with a paper towel. No, he didn't feel any better, but he walked back to the room anyway.

Neji was waiting for him, though Gaara didn't notice until after he had closed the door and turned around. The brunette stood before him with an almost angry expression, brows stitching closer together as he took in the other's red, watery eyes.

Before he had the chance to move, Gaara found himself being held against the door in a vice grip. Struggling to remain impassive, he heard his heart beating loudly in his chest as Neji's seemingly pupil-less eyes bore into his own. "What are you doing?" He growled, flexing his biceps in warning. "Let me go."

"No." Neji's face was suddenly very close, his warm breath like fire on Gaara's freshly cleansed face. "Your ex is a dumbass, Gaara."

"Is he?" He smirked maliciously. "You said it yourself – you don't know anything about me. Maybe I deserved it."

The comment made Neji fume even more. "Stop blaming yourself." His voice was very clearly frustrated. "No one deserves to be treated like that. No one deserves to have their heart broken."

Gaara's smirk turned into a scowl, his head turning away. Neji snatched his jaw, turning it back.

"Look at me."

Reluctantly, Gaara obliged. Tears promptly spilled from his eyes as he was met with Neji's genuine, sorrowful gaze. The Hyuga's grip loosened, his hand moving from the redhead's chin to his neck. He didn't bother wiping Gaara's face clean before kissing him, as if by sharing the tears, he promised to share Gaara's pain as well.

The kiss was soft and simple. Their lips seemed to part as quickly as they had come together, though they remained close - breathing in each other's air - for a long while. Neji pulled the smaller boy into his arms, and Gaara's eyes slid closed as he found himself relishing in how nice it felt to be the one being held. Neji's lips had felt like electricity on his skin. And for the first time in weeks, Naruto didn't even cross his mind.