And so I return with more filler (it feels like filler but trust me, it is important!)
I own nothing but the shit below.
Lee had waved Neji's offer to walk him home off at the school gates, promising that he would just be heading back to quickly pack then meet them at Tenten's. Walking at a fast pace (which most would consider a sprint but Lee had always been faster than average) Lee couldn't keep the joy from radiating off his soft face, still excited at the prospect of seeing his friends outside of school.
Bounding up the worn, rusted stairs that lead to the back entrance of his apartment complex, Lee fished out his keys unlocking the faded green door of his small home. Tossing his plain black messenger bag onto his mattress, Lee quickly removed his school uniform, hanging it alongside the meagre collection of clothes in his "closet". Pulling on his his worn black skinny jeans, Lee reached back blindly for the first article of clothing he could grab. When his hand collided with the soft material of his green sweater he felt himself pause in his rush. Bringing the material to his front Lee looked down at his old sweater fondly, recalling the events of the night before.
~~~*flashback*~~~ ~~~*flashback*~~~
After Sai and Lee had emerged from the back room, Gai, whom had been talking with Kakashi at the front of the club, quite literally stopped mid-sentence when he spotted his newest employee and immediately bound over to the unsuspecting pair. Lee had felt the air rush out of his lungs in one loud "oomph" as he was unceremoniously scooped from the ground and into Gai's muscular arms.
"LEE, YOU LOOK MORE DAZZLING THAN A THOUSAND STARS MY LITTLE LOTUS!" Gai's deep voice boomed jovially. "SAI I JUST KNEW YOU WOULD BE PERFECT FOR THIS TASK!"
"Of course, I did have some great material to work with. Now if you could just put our Lee down so that I can 'show him the ropes' like you wanted, that would be even better," Sai replied, fake smile in place as he held out his arms to Gai.
"Oh yes, how rude of me I was just so overjoyed to see Lee looking so wonderfully adorable that I just had to embrace him," Gai laughed as he placed Lee into Sai's awaiting arms.
"Thank you so much Gai for allowing me to borrow this amazing outfit! I have never felt this confident in my life!" Lee beamed at the man who had already given him so much in such a short amount of time. You do not know just how much this really means to me, he silently added.
"Think nothing of it my youthful friend," Gai winked at Lee and gave a thumbs up. "You are a wonderful young man with a great future ahead of you so you should always feel confident in yourself because all of us at Paradise already believe that you will be exceptional!"
"T-T-THANK YOU GAI," Lee shouted, deeply moved by Gai's sincere belief in him, as he bowed repeatedly.
Sensing Lee's emotions were running rampant in the strong but fragile male, Sai put a comforting hand on his slightly shaking shoulder. "Are you ready to start our lesson?" Sai's smooth voice questioned as he gave the shoulder under his hand a reassuring squeeze.
"YOSH, I will show exactly that I am more than capable of succeeding or I will personally clean the whole club for the next month!" Lee challenged, motivating himself to do the absolute best that he could do. I will prove my worth to them and make sure I do not betray their bountiful faith in me, Lee resolved internally.
The rest of the night had gone off without so much as a spilt drop of alcohol: Lee had shown himself to be an extremely talented server. Taking orders had been a breeze to the obsidian eyed male. After having memorized countless hymns and prayers at Saint Kage's, recalling simple drink orders was nothing. This had slightly shocked Sai when he handed Lee a small pad of paper and pen to have the silky haired male ask, head tilted in confusion, if he was not supposed to memorize the orders. A quick breathy laugh escaped Sai unexpectedly, taking the two off guard as he assured Lee that that was the exact opposite of an issue. Lee was also surprising strong for his deceiving build; behind his thin, delicate looking body was a strength on par with the likes of the muscular Gai. He could easily lift the larger drink order over his head as he skillfully maneuvered through the large crowds.
On top of his psychical prowess Lee displayed in the new job, having always been a people person naturally allowed for Lee to connect with the guests and make their experiences that much better. Regardless of the ridicule he had faced at the orphanage, he loved talking and listening to anyone that was willing and easily managed to initiate conversations with his customers. His bright, bubbly personality along with his quick smiles and warm, open face, were well met by the people he served. Never before had he received so many compliments in his life, and not the kinds he had been worried this kind of establishment would offer (even though he had doubted that he would receive any of them being —well himself). He had been told that his serving was extraordinary and his manners were exemplary; More amazingly, some had even told him "you have a lovely smile" and "You are so adorable, Gai really knows how to pick them".
In a humorous incident near closing, Lee had even been proposed to by a heavily intoxicated man as he helped Sai to lead him out of the bar and into an awaiting taxi. Kakashi —stoic, straight faced Kakashi —had laughed so hard at Lee's initially frozen face of shock which quickly morphed to a sputtering crimson face of embarrassment that Gai, whom had been in his office, came to the font to see what had caused such an uproar. Needless to say, Lee had politely refused and Gai had taken over escorting the man out while Kakashi had collapsed to the ground as he continued to convulse with silent laughter.
By the end of the night Lee's confidence had skyrocketed to levels he'd never achieved in his life. He had felt such an all encompassing sense of belonging, that he had been a bit dizzy from it. Paradise and his new job just felt so right, the very core of his being resonated with the perfection of it all. They had parted ways at the front as Gai locked up, congratulating Lee on his stellar first night. Sai had offered to walk him home and Lee had eagerly accepted. The two easily slipped into comfortable chatter, getting to know the other more as they made their way to Lee's apartment.
Saying his goodbyes to Sai, Lee entered his small room and instantly collapsed on his bed. He hadn't realized just how tired he had been and wanted nothing more than to wiggle under his blankets and sleep until school tomorrow, but he had to finish the homework he had neglected to do. After an hour or so, Lee groggily put his books back into his school bag and changed into his pyjamas. Resting his head on his pillow, Lee blindly reached out of his blanket cocoon to set the alarm on his small clock. Moving into a more comfortable position, a faint smile formed on Lee's lips as he slowly shut his eyes and drifted off into slumber.
Snapping out of his recollections, Lee hastily shoved the sweater over his head and threw a change of clothes and his pjs into the backpack he had grabbed from the foot of his bed. Now is not the time to be lost in memories, he lightly scolded himself, my friends are waiting for me. Grabbing one of the multiple elastics stored in his bedside table drawer, Lee bound his hair in a loose, messy bun atop his head and pulled his scuffed runners on his sock clad feet. Slinging his backpack over one shoulder, he grabbed the toothbrush sitting in the cup beside his sink and put it in the front pocket. Reassured, after a quick scan of his room, that he had everything he needed, Lee switched of the lone light in the room and locked his door with a faint click.
Heading back down the old stairs, Lee made a sharp left down the small alleyway between his apartment and the inexpensive diner that resided beside the complex. Sprinting down the secluded lane that opened up to the larger city streets, Lee made a second left towards Tenten's house.
While Naruto, by some twist of fate, had been adopted into an extremely wealthy family full of monetary luxury, Tenten had been brought into a family, though not nearly as well off, filled with love and familial comforts. The generously sized house she lived in was located in one of the friendliest neighbourhoods of Konoha, where each home looked comfortably kept and well lived it. Every time Lee found himself entering the neighbourhood on his way to Tenten's he experienced a slight ache in his chest. The part of him that still hopelessly longed for a family, almost like an old wound that still festered from a prolonged infection, would bleed and twinge at the perpetually green grass covered in toys and the scent of home cooked meals permeating the air. Although throughout the years the ache had lessened, his friends filling his heart with love and affection reminding him that he wasn't alone, it still clung to Lee like a phantom pain mocking him with the reality of what he had never really had.
Today, however, as he jogged up the familiar hill into the warm expanse of Tenten's neighbourhood, his steps didn't falter and the smile on his face only grew. Things had been going so well for Lee that many of his insecurities and regrets of the past seemed to diminish in their severity, relinquishing the sway they held on his heart. He would always long for a family and fear being rejected by the people he cared for, but the sting of those truths didn't seem to spread as far or burn for nearly as long as they once did.
Skipping up the small flight of stairs leading to Tenten's house, Lee knocked on the pristine white door, shifting from foot to foot unable to contain his excited at being with his friends once again. The door swung open to reveal just the girl Lee had been expecting, her face reflecting the smile on his own.
"Took you long enough, I thought you'd bailed on us last minute or something!" Tenten teased, hitting her closed fist lightly to Lee's forehead.
"I am very sorry for that, but today just seems to be a day of lateness on my part," Lee joked, pulling the shorter girl into a warm hug. "It is so good to be here after so long, I have missed you all greatly!"
"Same here you big dummy," Tenten squeezed back. "Well let's not just stand here like idiots, come in, come in." Pulling Lee into the entry way, he struggled to get his shoes off as Tenten continued to drag Lee further into the house.
"Mom had a meeting out of town so Dad decided to go with her and take a small vacation while they were there, so it's just been me this whole week and it's been getting kind of unbearable on my own so i'm glad you guys'll be here tonight at least," The brunette explained as she hurriedly pushed Lee up the stairs and towards her bedroom.
Opening the bedroom door Lee, expecting the rest of their friends to be already well into their various conversations, was instead met with silence and an empty room. Tenten's large bed was pushed to the far right of the room while her computer desk and bookshelves remained on the other side, leaving a spacious chunk of floor littered with pillows and a soft carpet to sit on: the perfect location for their small group. However, the only occupants of the room were Tenten and himself, something that surprised the thin male.
"Was I the first to arrive? I thought for sure the others would have made it before me," Lee mused as he sat on Tenten's soft mattress.
Pulling a large stuffed bear into her arms, Tenten sat across from Lee on one of the numerous pillows on the floor. "Ah, everyone texted me earlier saying they were going to buy some snacks before they came," She explained waving away Lee's uncertainty.
As the two chatted for awhile, a large thump from downstairs had Lee jumping at the sudden noise. "What was that?" He asked, startled at the loud sound.
"It's probably just some of the neighbourhood kids throwing rocks at the houses again," Tenten quickly cut in, gritting her teeth in a grimace that smoothed back into a neutral expression almost as fast as it had formed.
"But…was that not a bit too loud for such an action?" Lee, although believing his friend, was doubtful that such a small thing had caused such a large noise. "Perhaps something fell downstairs, should we go check?"
"NO," Tenten half shouted, her tone going up an octave at the end. "I mean it's fine Lee don't worry about it, even if something fell it's definitely not that important." The brown eyed girl assured, eye twitching slightly.
While he was still perplexed at his friends odd behaviour, Lee let the subject drop turning back to lighthearted conversation. Fifteen minutes had passed when Tenten's phone pinged causing her to abruptly stand. "The other's are here, come on Lee let's go great them!"
Instantly agreeing, Lee followed Tenten back down the stairs and towards the door when a gentle hand halted his movements.
"Oh my gosh, I almost forgot, Lee can you run and grab the cookies from the oven. I was baking them before you came but it totally slipped my mind!" Tenten urgently asked.
Fearing that they had began to burn, Lee shouted an affirmative response, quickly turning tail and running to the back of the house were the large, clean kitchen was located. Pulling the thankfully undamaged batch of desserts from the oven and turning off the heat, he headed back to the entrance hall to join the rest of his friends.
"You remembered just in time my dear friend, the cookies are perfectly done and not a single one burnt!" Lee called out as he rounded the corner leading back into the hall he started in.
Finding no-one there, Lee climbed the stairs back to Tenten's room thinking they had been ushered to their usual hangout. However, as he stepped into the room, he found it just as unoccupied as before. Where have they gone, Lee wondered internally, perhaps the living room?
Walking down the stairs once more, Lee listened for any sounds that would indicate where his group of friends had disappeared to, but all that met his ears was silence. Poking his head into the living room, which was equally as empty as upstairs, Lee furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, a slight pout forming on his face. Did they step outside without telling me, he questioned. Ready to turn and leave to see if they had left the house, Lee instead jolted backwards as his friends jumped up from behind various furniture.
"HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!" they shouted, Naruto and Tenten being the loudest.
"…..w-what?" was Lee's lacklustre reply, his brain not quite processing what had just happened.
"It's a surprise party dumba—AUGH!" Naruto's shout transformed into a painful groan as Tenten smacked him over the head.
"We felt bad for not having time to actually celebrate on your birthday so we wanted to do something special when everyone was free." She explained cheerfully as Lee stood frozen in the doorway.
"I…..I do not….I-I have never had a….a birthday party before," Lee stammered, overcome with so many different emotions, the strongest being fondness for his friends.
"Well now you have and it's going to awesome!" Naruto effortlessly informed, grin splitting his bright face proudly.
"I….Thank you, I can not help but agree with you completely Naruto-kun!" Unshed tears glistened in Lee's eyes as he too smiled broadly, looking at all of his companions.
"Hey, what are friends for?" Tenten playfully smirked keeping the atmosphere lighthearted, "that's not all, we have something for you as well!"
At Tenten's words, Hinata grabbed Lee's hand and led him to sit on the comfy cream coach, the others gathering around. Neji revealed a small, brightly wrapped package he had hidden behind his back, placing the unknown object into Lee's hands. He looked at the pastel pink paper covered in hearts and the exuberant white bow on the top of the parcel and almost didn't want to wreck such lovely work. Pealing back the tape delicately, Lee gently removed the box he inside, placing the wrappings to his left. What he saw when he turned the item over in his hands made his already large eye widen and his mouth part in disbelief. His friends had purchased him a cellphone —a very new, very expensive, and from what the box indicated, mint green phone.
"This is too much my friends!" Lee began to panic, frantically looking into everyone's eyes. "You can not possibly give me something so expensive! I really, really, really, do not deserve this much!"
"Well we aren't taking it back, so do with it as you please but not using it is essentially wasting our money." Neji apprised in a straightforward manner, causing Tenten and Naruto to shoot him a twin set of glares.
"He's right, we aren't returning it since it is our gift to you, so either use it or don't," Sasuke agreed, voice cold and firm. "We got it because it was something we wished for you to have not so you could give it back to us."
While the others (namely Tenten and Naruto, though Hinata looked just as putout) seemed to be silently trying to smite the two cold men where they stood with their anger alone, Lee looked back at the gift in his hands. The harsh words, surprisingly, had been just want the tanned male had needed to hear. Lee felt relief wash over him; They are giving me this gift because they want to, not because they feel they have to.
"You are right, I shall make the most out this wonderful gift and not let you're lovely act of friendship go to waste!" Lee nodded his head seriously but broke out into a smile seconds later.
"W-we thought a c-cellphone would be best," Hinata piped up after the little upset had been resolved. "T-that way w-we can now when you get home a-and that you are s-safe."
"That is very sweet of you, I did not know that my late arrival home worried you so much," Lee honestly replied. "I will be sure to message you all the moment I get home from now on…after I get a plan for my phone, that is."
"That has been taken care of," replied Gaara's deep baritone. "seeing as my father never really checks our phone statements, I merely added you into our plan."
"Gaara, your father will not be pleased when he finds out," Lee scolded, worried for his friend.
"If he finds out, which he won't," the redhead insisted giving Lee a stern glare challenging him to disagree.
"Alright, you win this time Gaara but if he founds out I will be paying you back," Lee promised.
"Not unless I pay it myself," the other muttered lowly utter his breath, crossing his arms defiantly.
"Enough bickering, let's get this party started!" Naruto interrupted, reminding everyone why they were here in the first place.
"I can't believe i'm saying this but Naruto's right, let's get back to celebrating and having fun!" Tenten agreed as she ushered everyone into the kitchen. "First we'll have some food and cake, but after that the real fun will begin!" she cackled, making the others wince worriedly at just what the tomboy had in store for them. It was going to be a long night, that was for sure.
This was waaaaaaaay longer than what I initially thought it was going to be. I guess I just couldn't find a good spot to stop it at.
Thanks again for the lovely reviews and the people who have decided to follow this gross story, it makes me happy to see!