#knkauro

[kacockshi]

every drop of rain singing: i love you

also available on ao3

1.  Kankuro and Kiba

It is not that Rock Lee minds studying really; he is a true believer in the power of hard work! He knows he can achieve his goal (and grades) just by setting his mind to it; if he works hard enough, anything is possible! The problem is (not a problem, he reminds himself, because problems are just ideas waiting for a solution and Lee can solve anything he sets his mind to!) that Lee likes to move around. A lot. He has been sitting at this table in the library for four hours now and the longer he sits, the more he becomes distracted by things big and small, mostly Kiba and Kankuro, who sit studying on the other side of the table.

Well, Kankuro is studying. Kiba is nestled behind him in the chair, head resting on Kankuro’s shoulder, arms wrapped loosely around his waist. Lee is transfixed, eyes flashing around to catch little glimpses of the pair without all out staring. He is fascinated with how comfortable the two look; Kankuro has not stopped clicking away on his laptop once, though occasionally he rubs his cheek gently against the top of Kiba’s head. Every once in a while, one hand will bring a napkin up to Kiba’s face to wipe at the tiny bit of drool that pools at the corner of his lips.

All in all, it should be uncomfortable. The way they are squeezed into one chair with Akamaru passed out on top of their feet, the cramped position, the drool. But Kankuro looks incredibly nonplussed; if anything the expression on his face when he glances up at Kiba is what Lee could only describe as fond.

Lee shakes his head and forces himself to look back at his flashcards. If I do not get all of these right, Lee thinks to himself, clenching his hand into a fist, I will study them each one hundred times over!

He settles back down into his seat and begins to read them over when the chair next to him scrapes silently against the carpeted floor and his favorite redhead sits down. (He knows he should not pick favorites amongst his friends, but this he cannot help).

“Hello, Gaara-kun!” he whispers excitedly, waving his hand around wildly like maybe Gaara does not see him. Like maybe he wants Gaara to really notice him. Strange thought, he thinks to himself but does not let this hinder the joy he feels as Gaara tilts his head at him.

“Lee,” Gaara nods back in a normal voice, “Kankuro.”

“Little brother,” Kankuro replies without looking up from his laptop screen.

“That can’t be comfortable,” Gaara says to Kankuro, still not whispering, before placing his bag on the table in front of him rather loudly.

Before Kankuro can snipe back at him, Lee finds himself waving his hands frantically in front of Gaara’s face, whisper-shouting, “Gaara, no!”

Gaara tilts his head again, eyes focused on Lee’s face but otherwise expressionless, “Lee?”

“You must be respectful of our dear friend’s slumber! He is tired after a night of...” he trails off, mind wandering back to the party the night before, where Kiba had insisted Kankuro let him do body shots until he’d completely stumbled over and landed face first in the older boy’s stomach. Lee must have spent too long thinking because now Kankuro is staring at him, one eyebrow raised, lips smug.

“What was he out doing, Lee?” he asks. It is a dirty trick to embarrass him, Lee is sure, because Kankuro was there. He already knows!

“Youthful interactions!” Lee shouts, cheeks red, and then remembers he’s supposed to be quiet. Whispering, he says, “We have to be quiet in respect of Kiba’s youthful interactions.”

“Youthful interactions, oh my god,” Kankuro laughs sharply, Kiba’s head jostling on his shoulder as he shakes.

“But-”

“Trust me, Lee, this dude?” Kankuro questions, throwing an elbow back to jab at Kiba’s ribs and nodding at the complete lack of reaction that gets from Kiba, “Isn’t going to wake up until I drag his ass out of here.”

“Oh,” Lee blinks and then turns back to Gaara, “I am sorry, then, for chastising you.”

“Mmm,” Gaara hums and nods and for the first time, Lee registers that he is almost positive Gaara’s eyes have been on him this whole time. Strange, “It’s alright, Lee.”

They sit in silence for a moment, Kankuro returning to his laptop, Gaara shuffling with his bag and Lee trying valiantly to study his notes. Only suddenly he feels antsy; he taps his foot to quell the growing pressure but it’s like every muscle in his body has decided it needs to move at once, including his lips, his voice.

“What is it like?” he finally blurts out, cheeks warming when Kankuro and Gaara both turn to look at him.

“What is what like?” Gaara finally asks, as the silence stretches on and Lee seems unwilling to press forward.

“What is it like,” he repeats, eyes looking over at Kankuro, “to be in love?”

Because they must be, truly, to be that comfortable in the most uncomfortable of positions. For Kiba to be so settled against Kankuro, so secure, in public no less. And for Kankuro, master of complaints, to not once try to shove the boy off. They look...peaceful.

“In love?” Kankuro splutters, hands slamming down on his keyboard.

“Yes,” Lee nods, raising one fist and looking upwards as he half yells, “I have yet to experience the precious enthrallment of love and wish to know what it is like!”

“Well,” Kankuro starts, shifting awkwardly in his seat, looking at Lee for a long moment and then side eyeing Kiba, who remains serenely drooling on his shoulder, “It’s a goddamn hassle, is what it is.”

Lee does not know what he was expecting but it was not that and it must show on his face because suddenly Gaara’s fingers are lightly tracing the length of Lee’s arm, resting gently on his hand, all the while hissing at Kankuro, “Brother.”

“Alright, alright, Gaara, get the murder out of your eyes,” Kankuro relents, holding both hands up in front of him, “It’s...well it is a hassle-”

“Kankuro.”

“Calm down, Gaara, it is! Look at him!” Kankuro yells, jabbing a finger into Kiba’s cheek only for the man to scrunch his nose up and push his face further into Kankuro’s neck, “You see! He’s been drooling on my shoulder for at least the last two hours and I don’t even like cuddling, he gets dog fur all over my shit, he bites me with those sharp ass teeth whenever he feels like it but...

“But, I guess it’s nice,” Kankuro says the last part softer, smiling a little before he sharpens completely and points between Gaara and Lee, “Don’t tell this fucker what I’m about to tell you but it’s actually, it’s really nice.

“He’s never bothered by my puppets or my less than amenable attitude, he never questions my weird fucking clothes, and he’s...he’s always there for me, he’s a consistent little mutt, is what he is, and I, I don’t know, I want to be there for him too, I guess,” Kankuro sighs at this, reaching his hand up to run through Kiba’s wild hair, “He’s soft when I need him to be soft and he calls me on my shit when I’m being a bitch. There’s nothing else really to it, I guess.

“But I repeat,” Kankuro says, voice dangerously low, finger wagging between the two of them again, “That you are never, ever, allowed to tell Kiba any of this. Ever.”

“Yes, Kankuro-san, I promise!” Lee nods, giving Kankuro an excited thumbs up. At his side, Gaara merely rolls his eyes.

“Hmm,” hums a voice to Kankuro’s left and they all turn to mechanically look at the boy nestled into Kankuro’s shoulder. Kiba’s eyes are still closed but his face is moving, pressing his smile into the skin of Kankuro’s neck and mumbling, “Love you too, babe.”

“Goddammit,” Kankuro mumbles, sending Lee and Gaara both death glares.

Lee is not sure when it happened but when he looks over, he notices the length of Gaara’s arm pressed against his own, warm and solid. He probably should have noticed Gaara coming closer, but he didn’t. Strange.

::

It’s later when Lee finds himself tucked into the corner seat of Gaara’s sofa, knees drawn up in front of him, watching as Gaara sits himself in front of the TV to set up their movie.

“You know,” Lee begins as Gaara flips through titles, “It has been a very long time since I have seen the Princess and the Frog and it is one of my favorites.”

Gaara turns around to look at him, one eyebrow half raised, face as questioning as it will ever look, “We watched that last weekend.”

“And that was a very long time ago!” Lee asserts, hands flying up as he speaks, “I do not even remember what exercises I did that day!”

“You ran eight miles at the track,” Gaara deadpans, turning back around to the movies. However, Lee notices, he has begun to type in the search bar t h e p r i n c e- “And then you lifted weights for an hour. Did one hundred pull ups.”

“Oh,” Lee nods, though it never occurs to him to question how Gaara remembered that, “Well, it still feels like a long time ago.”

“It always does,” Gaara nods, sliding back onto the couch and a respectful distance from Lee.

“Gaara,” Lee starts, waiting for the red haired boy to look up at him before continuing, “Do you like cuddling?”

“No.”

“Oh,” Lee mumbles, eyes dropping back down to his knees.

“Do you?” asks Gaara, fingertips reaching out to Lee’s shoulder.

Lee shrugs and mumbles, “I do not have the experience to make an accurate judgement.”

“Oh,” Gaara mimics him from earlier and just when Lee thinks they are going to settle into silence as the opening credits play, Gaara speaks again, ever quiet, “I might...enjoy it. If I was with the right person.”

“Oh,” Lee nods again, barely having enough time to wonder who exactly is the right person for Gaara when he feels those hands searching him out again, fingers twisting into the fabric of his shirt and yanking Lee closer, “Oh!”

“Yes, oh,” Gaara smiles and now that he has Lee closer, he shuffles around uncomfortably, awkwardly lifting his arm to wrap around Lee’s shoulders, “Like...this?”

“That is perfect!” Lee shouts, moving in so his body leans fully against Gaara’s. As the movie plays, Lee whispers all of his favorite lines, sings along to every song and cries when Ray dies. By the end, he has his legs pulled up and haphazardly rested on Gaara’s thighs, face pushing against Gaara’s chest when he cries. Gaara, for his part, has his fingers tightly wrapped in the shoulder of Lee’s shoulder, pulling him closer and closer still.

It’s nice.

::

2. Kakashi and Iruka

Lee has been waiting for the bus to take him back to his apartment for approximately five minutes. He had spent too long on campus again; training in the morning, lunch with Neji and Tenten in between classes and then studying in the library with Gaara. It was a nice day and Lee was satisfied with the work he had accomplished, but as a result, the campus is mostly empty and Lee waits for his bus alone. But this is fine! Lee values alone time for clarity of thought!

Behind him he hears the shuffling of feet and he turns, leaning against the post next to him to watch. A little ways away, along the pathway that leads out to the parking lot, Professors Hatake and Umino walk side by side, each clad in shoulder bags and jackets. Iruka-sensei must be telling an exciting story because his hands are flying wildly in front of him while Kakashi-sensei nods along, hand coming up every once in a while to pet Iruka’s shoulder or laugh when the professor gets a little too lively in his recounting.

“Hold, please,” Kakashi-sensei says, one hand reaching out to grab onto Iruka’s forearm, stopping him in place. He keeps his hand there while the other digs around in his bag, “Hmm, if I only I could find it.”

“What are you looking for?” Iruka asks, stepping further into Kakashi’s space and it takes a second for Lee to understand why that registers as weird to him. Iruka-sensei generally keeps a very formal, professional, relationship around his coworkers but especially with Kakashi-sensei; he is always glaring at the pale haired man and taking steps back. This is the first time Lee has ever seen Iruka take steps closer to Kakashi, especially not while looking so...comfortable.

“Oh, nothing important, I suppose,” Kakashi replies, still continuing his search, “Perhaps you’ve stolen it.”

“Stolen? Kakashi, you better-”

“Aha! Here it is!” Kakashi smiles (or at least, Lee thinks he’s smiling. The way his eye crinkles definitely looks like he’s probably smiling) pulling his hand out of his bag in a gesture Lee has never seen before. It is empty but his thumb and pointer finger press together at an awkward angle that he shows to Iruka like it’s supposed to mean something.

“And it seems you have stolen it,” Kakashi says, free hand reaching out to brush against Iruka’s cheekbone, tapping excitedly through his hair when he notices the blush painting Iruka’s face, “My heart, after all.”

There is a moment of silence in which Lee is fairly certain he sees every possible emotion flicker on Iruka-sensei’s face before he settles on annoyed, grabbing Kakashi’s hand out of the air and whipping his head around to scan the area, though he doesn’t seem to notice Lee where he leans, still waiting for his bus, “Kakashi! We’re still on campus!”

“And?” Kakashi asks as he is tugged forward by the smaller man, voice amused, “Do you think my love for you stops the moment I step foot on these grounds?”

“You’re so embarrassing, we’re at work!” Iruka yells, but his grip has slipped down from Kakashi’s arm to his hand, fingers threading together as he pulls Kakashi to one single shared car.

Love, Lee thinks. Love!

Who better to ask, really, than a most respected professor like Kakashi-sensei.

::

Lee does not hesitate to knock on Kakashi-sensei’s office door the next day. Sure, this is not strictly a school matter but it is an education matter and Kakashi has pledged to always help in the name of learning! Lee is pretty sure of that, at least.

“Come in,” Kakashi says from the other side of the door, nodding when Lee opens it and sits down in front of him, “Ahh, Lee, what can I help you with today?”

“Honorable Sensei, I have a question of the most valuable degree!” Lee announces, posture perfectly straight. Kakashi only raises his one visible eyebrow and nods for him to continue and suddenly Lee feels awkward. Sheepish. One hand reaches up to rub against the back of his neck and his cheeks feel warm but he powers through. The most important things to learn always have the most difficult questions! Probably. So, fighting his embarrassment, he brings his other hand up in the same awkward gesture he had seen Kakashi do the previous day and asks, “What does this mean?”

“Ah,” Kakashi nods, hands coming to cross in front of him as he leans back in his chair, “So you saw that yesterday, did you?”

“I did not mean to intrude, Kakashi-sensei, I swear I would not ever try to invade your most private moments!” he swears valiantly and then continues a little quieter, “I was waiting for my bus.”

“It’s alright, Lee, I don’t blame you,” Kakashi nods, one hand up to calm Lee and then morphs it into the same gesture as before, “It’s a finger heart. See?

He uses his free hand to trace the corners of the heart and then rubs the back of his neck, closing his eyes when he says, “Stupid, really, but it’s fun, to do little things like that for the people you love. Just don’t tell Iruka, okay? He would feel...quite embarrassed.”

“But why would he be embarrassed about your purity of love?” Lee asks, astonished. Iruka-sensei should cherish the unbridled love Kakashi-sensei so freely gives him!

“He’s not, really, he just likes to be professional at work,” Kakashi amends, resting his hands back down on his desk, “It’s nothing to worry about, Lee.”

“If you say so, Kakashi-sensei, I trust in your word!” Lee nods seriously and then looks back down at his hand, “So it is just...a heart?”

“Yes, Lee, just a heart,” Kakashi agrees.

“Oh,” Lee replies and decides he would like to use it for someone as well.

::

He sees Gaara ambling towards the library as he walks out of the offices and before he can stop himself, he shouts, “Gaara-san! I have something for you!”

“Lee?” Gaara asks, voice quiet, turning slowly to look at him. Lee’s fingers thrust out in a tiny heart shaped message towards Gaara but he does not seem to respond the way Iruka-sensei had the day before. Instead, Gaara’s eyes flicker back and forth between Lee’s face and his hand before finally, quietly, saying, “I don’t know what that means.”

“Oh,” Lee nods and tries not to feel disappointed; afterall, he had not known what it meant either. He uses his other hand to trace over the corners and says, “It is a heart! For you!”

“Why would you give me a heart?” Gaara asks, face finally coming to life as he scrunches his eyebrows ever so slightly.

Lee’s face heats up as he ponders the question. Why exactly is he giving Gaara a heart, his heart? His brain runs past all the different reasonings before he settles on, “Because I like you!”

“Oh,” Gaara mumbles, eyes falling to his feet as his cheeks seem to gain a slight coloring they did not have before. Strange, Lee thinks to himself, cocking his head to the side as he watches the color brush across the other boy’s cheeks, “I see.”

It is still not the reaction Lee had been hoping for (though what, really, had he been wanting? He is still unsure) and Gaara must be able to tell because his eyes flash to Lee’s still outstretched hand and he mumbles, “Um,” and then he brings his own two hands up in front of his chest, curving them together in a single shape.

“For you,” Gaara says, thrusting the hand-heart out towards Lee.

Something absolutely bursts inside of Lee. His whole body feels warm and alive and he finds he has no control over his actions because suddenly he’s jumping forward, flinging his arms around Gaara’s shoulders and crying into his neck, “Thank you, my most precious friend!”

“It’s okay, Lee,” Gaara says in a low tone, bringing his arms to wrap around Lee’s waist after only a moment of hesitation. His fingers dig into Lee’s back and he whispers, “I like you too.”

At this, Lee’s heart flutters hard in his chest, though he is not entirely sure why. Peculiar. He ignores it and stays in Gaara’s arms for perhaps a beat too long; the red haired boy is warm, afterall.

::

3. Shikamaru and Temari  

It is a sunny day; Lee finds himself running laps on the trail near his apartment that wraps around a little meadow. He cannot quite seem to find the will to stop, the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming and the sweet burn in his muscles has him energized for days! He could run forever! Or, perhaps more realistically, for another two miles.

On his third lap he watches as Shikamaru and Temari throw a blanket on the ground and then settle under a tree, Shikamaru with his back pressed up against its bark and Temari flat on the ground, head resting in his lap. It’s cute, the way Shikamaru’s fingertips trace over her shoulders lazily as she talks but it leaves Lee wondering. Would it feel nice to have someone draw shapes into his skin? Would it be nice to press secrets with his fingers back in return?

By his sixth lap the pair have changed position, now Temari sits against the tree with Shikamaru in her lap, his hair undone so she can comb through it with her fingers and scratch at his scalp. It stops Lee in his tracks because it has never occurred to him to switch off like that. It is so, so, reciprocal. Stumbling over to the two on exercise-wobbly legs, he drops down in the grass waving a brief hello.

“Hey, Lee,” Temari smiles at him, nudging Shikamaru roughly on the shoulder when all he does is grunt in response.

“Yeah, hi, whatever,” he mumbles, eyes still closed, one arm stretched out against the length of Temari’s leg so he can wrap his fingers around her ankle, thumb rubbing slow, soft circles into the skin there.

“Hi, Temari! Hi, Shikamaru!” he greets back, smiling wide at the two of them. And though he meant to just approach them for some friendly conversation, he finds himself unable to look away from Temari’s fingers threaded in Shikamaru’s hair. He wonders if Gaara would pet his hair that nicely. He wonders why he wonders that in the first place. Odd.

“You alright, Lee?” she asks, bringing one hand up to wave in front of his face.

“Hm?” he blinks at her, eyes widening as he perks back up, “Oh, yes! I am excellent! I am thriving in this sunlight, exercising is the food that brings youthful energy to life!”

“Yeah...” Temari agrees, trailing off as her eyebrows knit together, “Just seems like maybe you were thinking about something, is all.”

“Well,” he begins, picking at the grass in front of his crossed legs, “I wish to know how you...do it.”

“Do it?” Temari asks, voice lowering as she squints at Lee. Shikamaru, who seems not to have paid this conversation any attention, makes a little noise of displeasure when her hand stops moving. She begins again, fingers combing slowly through his hair as she asks, “What do you mean?”

“How do you partake in a relationship such as yours, one of the most highly honorably nature, two youthful hearts, combining as one to form a whole new-”

“Alright, alright, loverboy, I get it,” Temari waves off, laughing at the righteous look on Lee’s face. Then she starts nudging Shikamaru’s shoulders, poking him until his eyes blink open, “I know you were listening, stop being lazy and answer Lee’s question.”

“Hm,” Shikamaru sighs, closing his eyes again and settling further into Temari’s lap. He pauses for so long Lee has a slight fear that he has fallen asleep, but then the man’s lips twist and he shrugs, “It’s just, like...you know.”

Before Lee can carefully remind Shikamaru that he does not know, that is why he is asking the question in the first place, Temari is poking him again, snapping, “No, Shikamaru, I don’t know. What’s it like to be in love with me? Hint, really think about this before you answer.”

“It’s just like, everything in life is such a drag, you know? Work, school, dealing with people,” Shikamaru lists off slowly, though Lee wants to argue with him (he loves working and school and he loves dealing with people!), but then his hand moves up and, without even opening his eyes, he feels out Termari’s forearm all the way down to her hand and threads their fingers together loosely and Lee finds himself transfixed on the action, “But being with Temari is just, the only thing that’s not a drag.”

Temari laughs and although her voice is smug, Lee can see the blush that stains her cheeks, “I guess you can answer right sometimes, genius.”

“Oh,” Lee says, closing his eyes to think about what Shikamaru really means. Lee just needs to find someone who is better than everything else he loves. He thinks of a shock of red hair and all the nights he spent convincing Gaara to watch a cartoon movie over horror. And all the times Gaara had let him, “I see.”

They’re quiet after that, but Lee just has one more question. He sits up straighter and asks, “Temari-san?”

“Yes, Lee?”

“Do you think Gaara considers me a drag?” he asks, eyes still focused on the ground, fingers twitching around blades of grass, “You are his sister, after all.”

“Oh, honey,” Temari says, deliberately making her voice softer as she reaches out, hand letting go of Shikamaru’s to hold on to Lee’s, “It’s hard to tell what Gaara is thinking but I guarantee he doesn’t think you’re a drag.”

“Fantastic!” Lee shouts, jumping to his feet, “Then, in the springtime of my youth, I will-”

“Alright, alright,” Shikamaru interrupts, without opening his eyes, “Go find your boy already,”

Lee is not sure why Shikamaru called Gaara that, if he is being honest. He is also not sure why he likes it so much. Either way it makes the pit of his belly feel warm and tingly.

::

He finds Gaara in the parking lot outside of his apartment. Sitting on the curb, hunched over, reading a book for class. Lee skids to a stop in front of him, hands on his hips as he yells, “Gaara! What are you doing sitting on the ground?”

“Protecting my sanity,” Gaara responds without looking up, finger carefully turning the page of his book.

“Sanity?” Lee asks, cocking his head to the side, watching the fading sunlight dance rouge in Gaara’s hair.

“Kiba is upstairs with Kankuro,” Gaara replies, finally meeting Lee’s eyes with a grimace, “They are loud.”

“We should tell them to be quiet then! They must be respectful of your space even if they share it! It is not polite to-”

“It’s alright, Lee,” Gaara all but hisses and then pats his hand flat on the curb next to him once, “Sit.”

Lee sits, closer than he had truly aimed for, close enough that their shoulders and thighs brush together warmly. Gaara is always so warm, “Gaara-kun?”

“Yes, Lee?”

“I do not think you are a drag!” Lee announces, face drawn together seriously when Gaara turns to look at him, “There are some things that I do not enjoy but above all else I value our time together.”

Gaara stares at him, expression unchanging for too long, long enough that something dark and unwanted begins to whirl in Lee’s stomach, but then his hand is reaching out, brushing the hair out of Lee’s face as he says, “I’m glad.”

His hand stays on Lee’s face longer than necessary but Lee finds himself unwilling to pull away. Instead, he allows Gaara to slowly, ever so slowly, run a thumb along his cheek and pet his hair, leaning in to Gaara’s every feather light touch. It is nicer than he thought it would be.

“And Lee?” Gaara asks, pulling his hand away but leaning his shoulder heavily against Lee’s own, “I value our time as well.”

::

4. Naruto and Sasuke

Lee has been sitting outside of his class for about twenty minutes. He has a break between classes that he usually fills with other things, but today he is not busy or hungry, so he is patiently waiting for his class to begin. And in this entire time, Naruto has been pacing up and down the hallway, in a building which Lee is almost positive his friend has never stepped foot in before, muttering angrily to himself.

“I don’t know why Ebisu-sensei wouldn’t just let me sit in on the class, it’s not like I would be getting credit for it, I mean who cares!” Naruto half shouts for the tenth time, throwing his arms up in the air, “That closetted pervert has it out for me, Bushy Brows, I know he does.”

“I am sure it is nothing like that, Naruto,” Lee reassures, watching his friend pace, “And, Naruto-san, it is quite rude to call a sensei a ‘closetted pervert.’”

“Well, he is one!”

“Still,” Lee says and then shakes his head, opting to change the subject, “Why do you need to get in there so bad anyways? You do not have class in this building.”

“Sasuke is in there,” Naruto snaps and already Lee is nodding along. He does not even need the rest of the explanation if he is being honest; all he needed to hear was Sasuke, “And he has this big presentation that he was all worried about and I just want to support him!”

“Support him?” Lee asks, frowning, “Why does Sasuke need your support?”

“Because he’s my boyfriend,” Naruto says, stopping to frown right back at Lee, “And that’s what you do when you’re dating someone, Lee. Yeesh, haven’t you ever had a girlfriend?”

“No, I have not,” Lee shakes his head.

“Boyfriend?”

“I have not had a boyfriend either,” Lee says, looking at Naruto with wide, earnest eyes.

“Oh,” Naruto stares at him, looking stunned, “You mean you and Gaara-”

“Gaara is one of my most precious friends!” Lee announces, cheeks warming at just the thought.

“Huh,” Naruto sighs, walking over to sit next to Lee on the bench, “Well. Well, when you date someone, Bushy Brows, you’re going to want to be there for them. Like...Like help them when they need help, be a shoulder to cry on, all that stuff.

“And be there when they have to give big presentations, if only pervy senseis would-” Naruto is half way through his rant, fist still waving in the air when Sasuke Uchiha walks out of the auditorium and into the hall.

He looks incredibly nonplussed to Lee, blowing the hair out of his face and leaning against the wall, “Hey loser, what are you still doing here?”

“Sasuke!” Naruto yells, on his feet in a flash. He takes in the way Sasuke is holding himself, the nonchalance, the smug look on his face, and suddenly he’s running to the dark haired boy and throwing his arms around him, “I knew you’d kill your presentation, Sasuke, I don’t know why you were so worried, you’re one of the smartest people I know, I mean how could anyone else in there even dream of-”

“Naruto!” Sasuke shouts, eyes flickering to Lee as he shoves Naruto off of him, brushing his hands down his shirt to straighten it, “I wasn’t worried.”

“You were!” Naruto shouts right back, arms reaching out for Sasuke again. His hands land on Sasuke’s shoulders, gripping them tight as he begins to excitedly reiterate, “We practiced all night, but you didn’t even need it! It was perfect from the get go, but I know you were worried so I tried to be there for you but that-”

“Naruto!” Sasuke snaps again, cutting him off with an angry shout, but his cheeks are pink and his hands are rested firmly on Naruto’s hips even if he’s still keeping a distance between them, “You’re so embarrassing.”

“Sasuke!” Naruto says, throwing his head back, half defeated, half angry, “Why won’t you ever let me support you?!”

“I do, I do, shut up, okay?” Sasuke snaps, but it’s softer this time, almost like he’s consoling Naruto. His eyes glance at Lee one more time, like he’s embarrassed about doing this in front of someone, before he pulls Naruto in for a real hug, fingers gripping hard at his back as he whispers, nearly too quiet for Lee to hear, “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me, that’s what I’m here for,” Naruto mumbles sullenly against Sasuke’s hair.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” Sasuke laughs, pushing his face against Naruto’s, “You know.”

“I know,” Naruto nods, pulling back to smile at Sasuke, “I love you too.”

Sasuke’s face contracts strangely, like he’s desperately holding back a smile. Once he gets it smoothed out again, he nods forward and asks, “Hey loser, you want to go get ramen?”

“Loser? Loser? After everything I just did for you Sasuke, and you’re going to call me-”

“I’ll buy.”

“...” Naruto’s silence is often more telling than his yelling and Lee can see from his face that he is cracking, “Alright, but only because you know ramen is my weakness.”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go,” Sasuke’s voice is bored but his fingers thread with Naruto’s as he drags him through the halls.

Support. Lee nods to himself and considers the obvious importance of the idea. It may look a little strange coming from Naruto and Sasuke, but he is sure this is an idea he can use to his advantage!

::

He’s at Gaara’s apartment that night, again, watching a horror movie that he does not understand, nor particularly care to, when he sits up, twisting sharply to look at Gaara, “If you need a shoulder to cry on, I am here!”

“I...” Gaara begins, eyebrows twitching together as he stares at Lee, “I don’t usually cry during scary movies.”

“Oh,” Lee says, trying to think back to what Naruto had told him, “Well, if you have a presentation to give, I will be there to watch!”

“You have your own classes, Lee,” Gaara gently reminds him, still looking mostly confused.

“That is...factual,” Lee consents, looking down at his hands in his lap, “I want to help you when you need help.”

“Help?” Gaara asks, bewildered. Lee just nods, ignoring the odd ache that settles just below his heart and smiling when Gaara reaches forward to grab one of Lee’s hands in his own and says, “Of course.”

“Huh?” Lee asks, looking back up at his friend. Gaara’s eyes are wide and his fingers pet gently against Lee’s hands before he reaches out to pull him back in completely against him. Once Gaara has settled Lee against his chest, he strokes his fingers against Lee’s shoulder, his arm, and says, “I accept your offer. And I would like to...extend one of my own.”

“You want to support me?” Lee asks, cheeks hot from the words.

“Yes, Lee,” Gaara nods, “I always do.”

::

5. Tenten and Neji

Lee and Tenten have been workshopping their project for Guy-sensei’s class for the last three hours when Neji walks in. He doesn’t say a word, just offers a nod at Lee, sets a steaming coffee in front of Tenten, leans down to press a kiss against her forehead and then turns to walk away.

Lee is baffled. Who visits their girlfriend without saying a single word! He says as much to Neji, calling after him as he walks away. Neji turns, hair draping around his shoulders and raises one eyebrow at Tenten.

“Alright, we’ll take a break,” Tenten sighs, pulling out the seat next to her and patting it, “Come over here, you snob.”

To anyone else, Neji’s face might look neutral but Lee has known him far too long for that; he can tell the long haired boy is incredibly pleased to slip into the seat next to his girlfriend.

“I still do not understand,” Lee begins, looking between the two of them, “He did not say a single word to you!”

“Am I allowed to speak now?” Neji asks coyly, the corner of his lips turning up as he side eyes Tenten.

“Yes, Neji, you’re allowed to speak,” Tenten sighs, rolling her eyes before turning back to Lee, “When we first started dating, I was camped out here working on a killer midterm and Neji came to check on me. It was sweet at first. Then he just. Kept. Coming. Back.”

“You had practically moved into the library,” Neji counters, resting his hands gently on the table in front of him, “I thought I needed to come visit you. Check your sanity and make sure someone was feeding you.”

“All you did was distract me!” she argues, turning to glare at him.

“You were in here an alarming amount!” Neji explains, “Even Hinata was worried.”

“Hinata is worried about everyone all the time, Neji,” Tenten rolls her eyes again while Neji just smiles fondly.

“Yes, well, she’s a very caring person, you can’t fault her for that.”

“Oh, she’s not the one I was furious with that day,” Tenten laughs and then turns back to Lee, “After about the tenth check up, I screamed at him. In the library. In front of everyone.”

“She told me if I didn’t leave her presence immediately, she would cut off my hair and use it to chain me to the bike racks,” Neji laughs, brushing his hands through his hair like he’s checking it’s still there.

“I would never have done it,” Tenten says, reaching out her own hand to run through his hair as well, “I like your hair too much.”

“Well, now you see Lee, if I want to check on her, I am only allowed to drop a coffee off and leave,” Neji explains, smiling mutley at his girlfriend, “No additional contact.”

“When I’m busy, I’m busy,” Tenten shrugs.

“But I thought,” Lee starts, confused as he looks between the two of them, “Naruto told me when you are dating someone, you are supposed to support them.”

“And this is how I support her,” Neji nods, “Or how I was so nicely trying to before you pulled me back.”

“Nice, shmice,” Tenten laughs, nudging Neji with her shoulder, “You just owe me for last weekend when I carried you piggyback all the way up the hill after you sprained your ankle.”

“Yes, well,” Neji says, cheeks pink, “That was you supporting me.”

“So, with Gaara, how do I, am I supposed to...” Lee trails off, trying to process this new information.

“With Gaara?” Tenten asks, raising both of her eyebrows at Lee.

“Well, yes,” Lee nods, “Kankuro told me love is a hassle but that it is nice, Kakashi-sensei told be to nice things for my beloved, Shikamaru said to be with someone you enjoy and you and Naruto are both telling me to support but in completely different ways. How do I use all of those with Gaara?”

“Are you...” Neji starts, looking gently at his friend, “Are you dating Gaara?”

“Dating? Of course not!” Lee remarks, frowning at the two of them, “He is my most precious friend!”

“But Lee,” Tenten leans forward, one hand reaching out for Lee’s, “Do you want to date him?”

“We are friends, Tenten,” Lee argues, furrowing his eyebrows.

“But you want to support him and be with him,” Neji tries to explain, “The way couples do.”

“Don’t you like spending time with him?” Tenten asks, “Without everyone else around?”

“Yes, of course!” Lee says, “We have a very deep bond!”

“Mhmm,” Tenten agrees, “You do. And you like holding hands. And cuddling. And you like taking care of him. But you don’t want to date him?”

“I have never even thought about it because it is-” Lee cuts himself off, thinking about how much he wanted Gaara to pet his hair, how he wants to be there for Gaara always, how he wants to run his fingers through red hair and wake up in warm arms and “Oh!”

“Lee?” Tenten asks, squeezing his hand in hers, “You got it?”

“He got it,” Neji confirms next to her, the two of them staring at Lee’s still shocked face.

“I want to date Gaara!” Lee shouts, standing abruptly from the table, placing both hands flat against its surface as he stares excitedly at his friends, “I like Gaara! I really like Gaara!”

“He got it!” Tenten and Neji chant, throwing their arms up to wrap around him as he jitters from excitement.

“Tenten,” He begins, pulling away, “I know this project is very important, and I want to stay and complete it but-”

“Go get your man,” Tenten waves away, moving to help him gather all of his belongings, whisper-shouting after him as he runs out of the library, “Have fun, Lee!”

::

Lee bangs on Gaara’s door perhaps a bit too aggressively, one hand holding a small bundle of flowers he had picked along the way while the other slams against the door, but he cannot contain himself and this new information which resonates so clearly with him now. It makes sense, now that he thinks about it; the warmth he feels whenever Gaara looks at him, the way his fingers long to press shapes into Gaara’s skin, the way his bottom lip always seems to distract Lee when he speaks.

“What the hell?” Kankuro shouts as he opens the door, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes (even though it is four in the afternoon) and glaring at Lee.

“Hello, Kankuro-san!” Lee rushes, eyes glancing over Kankuro’s shoulder, “Is Gaara home?”

“He’s-”

“Hello, Lee,” Gaara speaks quietly from behind Kankuro, taking a step closer as Kankuro rolls his eyes dramatically and stomps away, “Would you like to come inside?”

“No!” Lee chants and then hurries to correct himself when he sees Gaara’s fingers curl uncomfortably tighter around the door frame, “I do! Just not yet!

“Gaara,” he begins, trying again, “I wish to support you and protect you and be with you until the day I die!”

“Lee,” Gaara very nearly gasps. It’s more of a shocked whisper, but the closest to a gasp Lee thinks he’s ever heard from the smaller man.

“Be my boyfriend!” Lee shouts, barrelling through with his impromptu speech. He flashes a bright smile and shoves the flowers in Gaara’s direction, “You already are, and have always been, my most precious friend! But now I wish for you to be my most precious person and for I to be your most precious in return.

“I understand if you do not return the sentiment,” Lee continues when Gaara just stares at him quietly, pushing the flowers even closer to him, “But I thought I should let you know that every shudder of my heart is for you, and every breath I-”

Lee is cut off by Gaara, taking two swift steps forward and placing his hands on either side of Lee’s face. Fingers brushing against Lee’s brow bone, and eyes staring into Lee’s own, he has never felt this caught out before. He has never felt this right. Gaara leans in and tugs Lee down in one action, bumping their foreheads together, their noses and whispering, “Lee. You were already my most precious person.”

And then Lee gets to experience soft lips against his own, to breathe the same air and press flowers into Gaara’s hip, to feel his warm hands still hard and immovable on Lee’s face, but rubbing gentle circles into the skin there with his thumbs.

“Do you accept my offer?” Lee asks, voice quiet when he pulls back, not far because it feels like if he steps out of Gaara’s warm embrace now he is liable to freeze, but just far enough to speak, lips brushing against the skin above Gaara’s lips with every word.

“Lee,” Gaara actually smiles now and bumps his nose playfully against Lee’s, “I want nothing more than to be by your side, as long as you’ll have me. Of course I accept your offer.”

Lee’s heart flutters in his chest and his veins tingle with excitement and he thinks this must be what love feels like as he presses endearments into Gaara’s chin, his eyelids, his cheeks, revelling in the breathy laugh that earns him in return.

“Wow,” Kankuro snipes from behind them, sitting on the counter with his feet dangling in the air, watching all of this play out in front of him, “That was so sweet, I might puke. Y’all are nasty.”

“But the purity of love, Kankuro-san! It is here and-”

::

+1 Lee and Gaara

Lee’s leg bounces under his desk, jittering erratically as he tries in vain to listen to Guy-sensei. This is his favorite class and his favorite professor and yet he finds himself completely unfocused, checking his watch for text messages every ten seconds and then checking his phone just to make sure.

If it wasn’t for the storm.

Tenten throws an elbow into his side and whispers, “Lee, shush!” when he begins tapping his fingers on the desk.

“I cannot help it, Tenten!” Lee whispers back, fingers still acting on their own accord. Without looking up from the board, Tenten’s hand flies out, grabbing onto Lee’s and threading their fingers together. And squeezing. Hard. He freezes all of his movements then and she lets the pressure drop but keeps her hold on his hand as she continues to write down everything Guy-sensei says.

Lee renews his efforts to focus, but quickly finds himself looking at the analogue clock behind Guy-sensei’s head, looking down at his watch, then again at his phone. Worries about how Gaara should have landed by now. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repe-

The second Lee’s phone starts buzzing in his lap, he is out of his chair and power walking to the door, ignoring Guy-sensei’s shout of, “Lee! Where are you going?”

“Sorry, Guy-sensei!” he shouts back right before shutting the door behind him and answering the phone.

“Hello?” he answers, “Gaara? My precious lotus leaf?”

“Lee,” a voice hisses into his ear, because even after seven months Gaara is still embarrassed by Lee’s more colorful pet names for him.

“Was your flight okay?” Lee asks, ignoring Gaara’s half-annoyed, half amused huff, “The storm started just after you left, I’ve been so worried all day.”

“There was some...turbulence but-”

“Turbulence?” Lee very nearly shrieks in the quiet hallway, voice echoing around him.

“Yes, turbulence, Lee,” Gaara affirms, “Temari and I are fine, though, we have our bags and are heading home now.”

“Okay,” Lee nods but he still wishes Gaara was here so he could look him over and then pull him in close. He wishes Gaara had just waited another week to fly home so that they could have been on the same flight.

“And next week, you, Shikamru, Kankuro and Kiba will all fly out here together,” Gaara reminds him softly, “And I will be there to pick you up at the gate.”

“Yeah,” Lee smiles. He has never been to Suna (though he’s not sure he’s ever particularly wanted to go there. So hot) so when Gaara had asked him to come home for winter break with him he had jumped at the opportunity. He had not wanted to be separated for Gaara long anyways, “I am excited.”

“As am I, dear one,” Gaara says into the phone, unaware of how it makes Lee’s entire body feel jittery and alive, “But you should get back to class.”

“But Gaara-”

“You have a final on Friday, Lee,” Gaara reminds him, while Lee pouts, back leaned against the wall, “Go back to class. Call me when you get out, okay?”

“Okay,” Lee nods and angles his body back towards the classroom door, “I love you.”

“I love you too, Lee,” Gaara replies. It’s soft and reserved and Lee can tell just by the tone that Gaara is smiling around the words. Lee hangs up the phone with a long suffering sigh and walks back into the classroom as casual as possible, ambling quietly to his seat.

“Lee!” Guy-sensei calls out, hands on his hips as he frowns down at his star pupil, “What was that all about?”

“Sorry, Guy-sensei!” Lee shouts back, posture straightening. But when he can’t keep the smile from lingering on his face when he says, “That was my boyfriend. His flight took off right before it started storming. He is alright though!”

He hears a couple ‘awws’ from around the room and blushes, sitting down carefully in his seat and trying to ignore the burning heat in his cheeks, head whipping up when he hears a scoff from the other side of the small room.

“Nice to know you got a ten minute call,” Kankuro snarks, “I’m his brother and all I got was a text that says ‘I’m alive stop bothering me.’”

Lee gasps, horrified at the brusqueness of his boyfriend, “I will remind him to be more considerate with his favorite brother!”

“I’m his only brother,” Kankuro laughs.

“But you are still very dear to him, Kankuro-san!” Lee defends, eyes round and sincere as he stares at Kankuro, “I know he values you most highly!”

Kankuro’s face twitches oddly, looking at Lee like he can’t believe what the man is saying before he softens and smiles and says, “Yeah. Thanks, Lee.”

“Alright, alright, enough with the chit chat. Time to pay attention to the most important person in the room,” Guy-sensei calls out, turning his nose up, “Me.”

a/n based on this post