Yes, I have indeed finally updated this thing.
As always nothing belongs to me but my awful words!
Gaara led Lee through the woods, his path purposefully convoluted to kill the remaining time they had until their friends would be let out for lunch. Lee couldn't help but feel unsettled despite the strong presence of the redhead guiding him. He was anxious to just get everything over with, to fix his mistakes and move on like always. Only—he wasn't quite resolving everything. At least not yet. That alone was enough to have Lee's stomach in knots. It would be the first time he wouldn't be able to magically fix everything with one revelation. This was something that would take time and understanding. He just hoped his friends could be patient.
The pair hovered just at the edge of the school's perimeter as the last few minutes slipped by. Soon enough a loud ring filled the air signalling the lunch hour. The two teens quickly found a place amongst the emerging student body, efficiently masking their absence in the controlled chaos. They hurried up the nearly empty stairs, footfalls light, as they made their way to the rooftop. Out of breath, Lee hesitated at the top of the rooftop entrance. His tan hand clasped the door handle limply as he sucked in air, trying to control his rapid inhalations. I am in control, Lee thought as his breathing evened out. He schooled his face into something resembling grim determination, eyebrows drawn together and small mouth set. Gaara's warm hand squeezed his shoulder gently, an action from which Lee drew additional strength.
"We will face this together, whatever it may be," Gaara reassured, his voice soft and nearly intimate in its sincerity.
With one final breath, and a jerking nod at the redhead's words, Lee grasped the handle firmly and opened the door.
Lee's stomach dropped when, after a cursory glance around the area, he noted only Hinata and Naruto were present. The two familiar faces turned to greet them as they entered the large space. It should have been comforting, to see the pair of them, but Lee could feel nothing but dread. Without preamble, the two males sat facing Hinata and Naruto.
"Where is everyone?"
Although posed as a question, Lee heard the disdain in Gaara's voice. The redhead was not pleased. Lee couldn't help but share the sentiment.
Hinata was visibly distraught. Her hands were trembling in her lap despite being anchored firmly in her uniform skirt. The material was wrinkled beyond repair, but Hinata didn't seem to notice. Naruto didn't look any better. However, while Hinata looked tense, Naruto looked outright pissed.
"I….I-I….t-that is…." Hinata could barely articulate through the drastic wavering of her voice. Her stutter was even more pronounced, making each word a trial in and of itself.
Clearly unable to or unwilling to let her finish, Naruto jumped in.
"Sasuke just took off, don't know where exactly, but my best guess is the bastard's probably at home. As for Neji and Tenten," Naruto all but spit the other girl's name, "I have no idea and I frankly don't give a shit where they are."
"N-naruto!" Hinata's face was slack in her shock, clearly not having fully expected the blonde's words.
"Well I don't! They had no right storming off like that, especially Tenten!" Naruto's voice was harsh and clearly angry as he glared at the violet haired girl.
"Naruto, please, be calm… what happened?" Lee interrupted before the tension between the two could escalate.
"Be CALM! Damn it Lee, I can't just BE CALM! Not when everything is falling apart!" Naruto grabbed at his own hair violently, pulling the strands taut in his frustration.
Lee went to remove Naruto's hands from his hair, afraid the other teen was unintentionally hurting himself, but Gaara beat him out. However, instead of a comforting action, the redhead grabbed the blonde's jaw firmly, forcibly jerking Naruto's head in his direction. Lee looked at Gaara in shock at the violent action, but any protests died in his throat as he saw how fierce his boyfriends eyes were. Gaara was livid.
"Explain. Now."
Naruto wisely chose to remain completely calm in the others' grasp despite the glare he levelled at the redhead.
"Fine, shit Gaara no need to be so grabby," Naruto said as he wrenched his head free. "Okay so after you guys left Neji got….weird. He kept asking us all these questions, like he was trying to drill us for information. Except apparently we didn't really know enough for him because none of our answers made him calm down, so he just stormed off! Didn't even make it to class, just turned around and bolted. Sasuke didn't stick around either. Don't know when exactly he left, but with Neji being a massive drama queen I wasn't exactly paying close attention."
"And…and what about Tenten?" Lee asked hesitantly.
Naruto's face clouded over once more, his anger returning tenfold at the question.
"Well apparently Tenten decided to throw away years of friendship in favour of going after Neji," Naruto all but growled, disdain clear in his voice at the brunette's actions.
"T-that's n-not fair!"
Everyone turned their attention to Hinata at her interjection. No one had expected the timid girl to speak up, so their shock gave her the opportunity to voice her objection.
"T-tenten has a-always been a good friend….s-she is just h-hurting too," Hinata insisted, her lavender eyes earnest as she brazenly made eye contact with the other three teens.
"Well what right does she have to put Neji ahead of HER BEST FRIENDS!?" Naruto rounded on the timid girl, his voice booming as he gestured wildly.
Far from cowed, Hinata retaliated in a surprisingly loud and clear voice.
"Well she happens to be in love with Neji so her heart isn't exactly in the right place!"
Before Naruto could respond, Lee jumped into the meltdown.
"I do not blame Tenten for reacting the way she did—or anyone else—I have been keeping many things from you all and I can see that my secrecy has been hurting everyone."
That effectively shut everyone up. Lee's brutal self honestly pulled the fight out of both teens, leaving them feeling ashamed at their angry outbursts. Hinata settled down immediately, fidgeting with her long lavender locks, while Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. Eventually Naruto broke the awkward silence.
"Sorry Hinata, I'm just so bummed by the way Tenten reacted. I thought at the very least it would be us three against the world until the very end… but I was wrong," Naruto rubbed at his eyes quickly, removing any evidence of the moisture that had began to gather there.
Lee reacted to the blonde's confession without hesitation and gathered the other male into a tight hug, pulling Naruto's face into the space between his neck and shoulder. The younger teen quickly returned the embrace, burying his head further into Lee's shoulder as his own heaved in silent tears.
Hinata's eyes began to well with her own tears as she shuffled towards the embracing pair. She started to rub Naruto's back in soothing circles.
"I-I am s-sorry too," Hinata whispered, her voice watery. "I-I just do not know w-what t-to do."
The four teens took a prolonged moment to get themselves back together. Lee was selfishly grateful that it was Hinata and Naruto that he was having this conversation with. Of all his friends, aside from his boyfriend, Naruto and Hinata were the least judgemental. And while Tenten didn't often pass judgement, she did hold grudges. It took a long time to win Tenten over if she felt she had been wronged. Lee knew the way forward from this moment was going to be difficult, but he was willing to work for his friendships. They deserved that much at the very least. Besides, he thought as he hugged Naruto tighter, I am not going in to this alone. Gathering himself more fully, Lee took a deep breath and delved into the original topic he had planned on bringing up.
"I am still not ready to talk about my place of work. It is not because I am ashamed or think you will hate me, " Lee clarified when he felt Naruto tense in his arms, "It is because this secret is no longer just mine. I admit, I was afraid of you seeing me differently at first, but now I know that even if you do not like it, as my friends you will at least try to understand it. However, there are other people involved who could be hurt by it if I were to start speaking about my job. Before I can say anything I must talk to the other people involved so that I can ensure I am not bringing anyone down in my confession."
"But Gaara knows," Naruto whined petulantly, his voice muffled since his face was still hidden in Lee's shoulder.
"How I came to know was reprehensible. It was a vile violation of Lee's trust," Gaara's mild tone downplayed the severity of his words, but Lee could still feel the sincerity in them.
"What—really!?" Naruto pulled away from Lee so he could look at the redhead.
Gaara nodded his head solemnly.
Naruto suddenly started to laugh uproariously, his levity at odds with the serious moment.
"Oh god, I can just picture you showing up out of the blue and being all jealous. Saying something like 'We are leaving' and then pulling Lee away!"
Lee couldn't look at Naruto's face and Gaara simply tilted his head back to stare off into the sky. The blonde's laughter died off when no one joined in.
"No way. No—is that really what happened!?" Naruto's eyes darted between the two teens, his mouth slowly pulling into a smirk. "Wow no brows, I mean I knew you were bit intense, but that's just next level!"
Lee surprised himself by chuckling lightly, but quickly stifled his laughter when he caught Gaara's deadpan stare.
"That is not nice Naruto," Lee cleared his throat as he pulled out of the blonde's embrace and shuffled back to sit beside his boyfriend. "Gaara was very apologetic after…the incident."
"Yeah I bet considering you two are a thing now," Naruto wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Lee felt his face heat up at Naruto's overt tease.
"I-I am so h-happy for you!" Hinata chimed in, her shy voice once again light and jovial.
"Thank you Hinata," Lee smiled brightly at his friend, heartened by her sincere congratulations.
"I'm just shocked that mr. emotionless managed to get his head out of his stoic ass and actually say something!" Naruto beamed, laughing lightly at his own words.
"Now Naruto, Gaara is not emotionless. He was very sweet when we spoke. Besides, I was… I was the one who erm, confessed."
"WHAT, NO WAY!" Naruto crowed in disbelief. "WHAT DID YOU EVEN SAY!?"
"Well er, I suppose it was rather jumbled a-and rushed…" Lee's whole face was red as he awkwardly explained himself, "But essentially I told Gaara that I have had feelings for him for…for a long time now."
"You are wrong, I 'confessed' first."
Lee looked at his boyfriend with his head cocked in confusion.
"Gaara, did I not say that I love you first?"
Lee flushed at the high pitch 'aaaw' and scandalized 'ooooooooooh' emitted by the other teens, but chose to ignore their reactions in favour of listening to Gaara's response.
"While you may have said those words first, I expressed the sentiment before that. Or was our kiss that forgettable?"
Lee's face burned with the intensity of his blush. His gazed darted to Gaara's, down to his lips, and then fell away when he caught himself staring. He bit his plush lip to stifle the goofy smile he could feel trying to take over his face. Finally he brought his hands up to cover his embarrassment when he could no longer contain his radiant smile. Naruto was making mock gagging noises and Hinata was giggling uncontrollably, but Lee couldn't help but feel warm at the redhead's words. Pale hands pulled his tanned ones away from his face, and Lee finally locked eyes with Gaara, his mouth still pulled in a tender grin. His boyfriend guided one hand to his chest, while the other was brought up to his face so he could press his lips to the palm. Blue eyes closed briefly, but then reaffixed on Lee's own in a heated gaze.
"If you continue to act so alluring, I will not be held responsible for my actions."
Lee's heart skipped a beat, and then another. He felt dizzy at the amount of blood suffusing his cheeks.
"That is simply not fair, not at all," Lee practically swooned, his head craning back as his eyes fluttered shut.
"EW!" Naruto shrieked covering his ears, "You guys are so mushy it's disgusting! MAKE IT STOP!"
Hinata cuffed Naruto's shoulder, sending him a stern glare, before she smiled encouragingly at the pair.
"I-I think it i-is very s-sweet."
"Yeah, yeah, sure it is, but we have more serious matters to discuss, or did you just forget that we have three people who are still royally pissed off!?" Naruto rubbed at his shoulder absentmindedly as he refocused on their earlier topic.
"They are no concern of mine," Gaara huffed as he released Lee's hands, opting instead to wrap an arm around the lithe teen's waist. The redhead pulled Lee between his legs and rested his chin on the elder male's shoulder.
"Gaara, they are our friends and we need to work together to make things right," Lee gently scolded.
"L-lee is right, b-but what can w-we do?"
"Well Sasuke's going to need time to calm down, so I wouldn't even bother with him today," Naruto rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Neji and Tenten are probably together though, so they might be the easiest to approach. At least Tenten'll probably defuse the situation enough if things go sour."
"Ah but…well you know how Tenten is when she is upset," Lee gently reminded his blonde friend.
Naruto shuddered and swallowed loudly.
"Okay, so maybe Tenten won't be much help, but she's still easier to deal with than Sasuke or Neji."
"M-maybe we should g-give all of them s-some time?" Hinata gently suggested.
Lee nodded in agreement. While Naruto and Hinata were both fine with excepting Lee's need to hold off on revealing the truth, he knew that their other three friends were less inclined to acquiesce. Especially after being denied the truth so often.
"That is a good idea Hinata. Perhaps by then I will be able to provide everyone with some much needed information."
"Ugh, but waiting is so STUPID!" Naruto whined as he dramatically threw himself backwards.
"If you can not be patient yourself, then I will have to make you," Gaara said nonchalantly.
Naruto immediately bolted back up into a seated position.
"Lee make your boyfriend stop threatening me!"
"I do not know what you are talking about Naruto," Lee easily evaded.
"Oh god, this is going to be a thing now isn't it!?" Naruto's face contorted in horror as Lee and Hinata burst into peals of laughter.
The bell rang once more, signalling the end of the lunch period. The teens looked at each other, ignoring the prompt to return to class.
"I… I do not think I can concentrate after…everything," Lee feebly admitted. Despite it still being early afternoon, Lee was exhausted and his nerves were frayed from the stress of the argument that morning. Normally Lee would never miss a class, but today he just didn't think he could make it through two more lessons.
"M-me neither," Hinata agreed as she hugged her knees to her chest. "A-all I want to d-do is sleep."
"Oh man, a nap would sure hit the spot right now!" Naruto sighed wistfully as he clasped his hands behind his head.
"My house is empty."
Lee turned his head to face his boyfriend and gave him a gentle smile to indicate how pleased he was that Gaara had willingly extended his hand in comfort.
Gaara's cerulean eyes focused on his face intently, before a mumbled 'I warned you' passed his lips just before they met Lee's own. The arm around Lee's waste tightened, and the large hand fanned out to touch as much of Lee as it could reach. Their second kiss was chaste and quick, but it was exceptionally warm and sent tingles shooting down Lee's spine.
Before Gaara could pull all the way back, Lee grabbed the back of the redhead's neck and brought him in for another series of chaste kisses.
Naruto's fake gagging wasn't even enough to dull the moment.
Well there you have it, an honest to god update after what, like three months? I'm sorry for the complete radio silence, my real life has been absolutely crazy, but like I said I have no plans on abandoning this story. I will see this through till the end!
Thanks ever so much for all the continued support, it blows me away how many people have actually stuck around! I really do appreciate you all and every nice word you've left for me!