Lee usually loved weddings. It was a place where people lost a lot of their usual stuffiness and let loose to have fun, where you saw a lot of real smiles and people just purely enjoying themselves.

An event of love, hope, and happiness.

Not a lot he was feeling right now. Well… maybe not all of them.

He closed himself into a side room at his friends' wedding and just stood there to let the overstimulation wear off. The crowd wasn't bothering him. He loved crowds. The wedding wasn't bothering him, he was happy his best friends were getting married. It was just…

"I thought I saw you slip in here." Hinata's voice came through the door. "Are you feeling okay?"

Lee closed his eyes for a moment to wipe away all the bad feelings before he turned to smile. "Yup."

Hinata frowned almost immediately. "Are you sure?"

Lee kept the forced smile as she closed the door behind her and crossed the room for him.

Hinata sniffed. "You've been drinking." No, he had a drink spilled on him already. All part of the fun. She gave him a smile that he really hated to see on her. It was what gave him the sick feeling in the first place, the way she looked at him.

Lee was in a difficult position, having a crush on his best friend's little cousin. They were only a year apart, but Neji acted like she was years their junior, babying her. They spent many of their summers chaperoning her like she couldn't go anywhere herself, which meant that Neji's friends were basically, by extension, her friends. Or what Lee always feared, more older siblings.

Hinata was always sweet and kind despite her usual lack of confidence and miserable upbringing, with her father trying to crush what confidence she had left, but she could put on a smile in a moment that she meant with her whole heart, even if she just got done crying.

She loved with her whole heart, which was particularly painful when he watched her go through the cycles of disappointment with her own crush.

Lee tried to move on, and he had other girls who caught his heart, but it was more than a little strange when they both attended their own crushes' weddings just a few months ago.

It was making him a little bitter about weddings, and that was sad because he really, really liked weddings.

Hinata always danced with him at least once, usually with the look she was giving him now. The smile that told him that she saw him as the goofy guy, just acting up again. Not to be taken seriously.

And that was his fault. He didn't want Hinata to take him seriously because if he ever crossed the line, and she figured out his feelings, he was sure it would ruin the whole relationship she had trusted for such a long time.

And if Neji found out…

Hinata's hand brushed past his face, fussing with his hair. "Tenten-chan should have left your hair be. You look silly with it pushed back." He leaned down a little to let her fix what she could. Before, she laid her hand flat on her face. "Your face is red. You really have been drinking."

Lee stared at her. At least he could blame the blush on something.

"I'll get you some water." Hinata turned but stopped when he caught her.

Lee wanted to tell her not to come back and leave him alone, but could he blame the intrusive thought on the look she gave him, feeling childish, holding on to her fingers, begging her not to leave?

Hinata let him pull her into him a little too easily as he wrapped his arms around her. He could just say he needed a hug, right?

Hinata flattened her hands on his chest as she looked up at him. Her finger slid back and forth in place to comfort him. All she probably saw right now was her sad goody brother. He really didn't want her to think like that anymore.

Another intrusive thought. She already thought he was drinking, right?

Lee dipped his head down but stopped. No. He shouldn't.

Their lips met anyway as she leaned up to meet him. He realized a little too late, not only what she was doing but that he was responding. Her hand slid up from his chest to the back of his neck, pulling him down to her height more as she lifted her head to him.

Lee blinked as they parted, and her eyes were still lidded, their noses hovering apart.

Hinata reconnected them for a final kiss before releasing the tension on his next and sliding her eye open. She blinked at him and his surprised look. Her eyes got wider as his did. "You're… not really drunk this time, are you?"

…

WHAT!?

Lee's hands jumped back and hovered away from her for a moment as he realized what she had implied. This was not the first time they had kissed? This happened before? He had gotten drunk and kissed Hinata before? "I… when…what?"

Hinata's face fell, and her face turned impossibly red, but she didn't step back and distance herself in her embarrassment. His hovering hands fell back on her back to comfort her. "I guess that means maybe you actually mean it."

"What…?" Lee asked again.

"I didn't realize you didn't…" Hinata ducked her head down, hiding behind her bangs. "You have occasionally gotten too drunk for a filter and have acted on or professed…" love? Oh, god. "I took it because I thought it was the only time you were ever not going to see me as just Neji-san's baby cousin. I thought you remembered and were just… embarrassed." Did that mean she thought he was just claiming he loved whoever was nearby and was taking the affection so hollowly? Then worse, she thought he was ignoring that it happened? Was that why she always kept her distance? To not make it uncomfortable for him?

His heart.

But wait. Didn't that mean…? "Wait, when did you start liking me?"

"About the time you grew into your ears." Hinata hummed, mortified.

Lee couldn't make a whole thought anymore. So they had liked… each other this entire time?

Hinata smiled up at him. This time, he didn't see that same look that he was misinterpreting as her looking like a goofy brother, but rather a crush she had just learned to put on the back burner as he had. "I guess neither of us has to hide it anymore."

Lee's heart got a sugar rush of joy, and he came down to kiss her with much more energy, which he could feel made her smile grow. This was the best wedding he had ever been to.

"Hey, Lee, have you seen…" Neji's voice drew to a halt as both Hinata and Lee froze.

**Lavender Long Stories**

Hey guys. Fanfiction dot net is on my last nerve.

Without email notifications, I have no way of knowing when I get guest reviews or PMs because they don't come through the app notifications.

All my stories are cross-posted to AO3: Lavender_Long_Stories.

If you want to PM/DM me the best way is on Tumblr: lavender-long-stories.