Disclaimer: I own Naruto as much as I own Satan's soul. Or Santa's soul, for that matter. Either would be worth a hell of a lot on eBay. But no worries, I don't own anything. I'm not even wearing socks.

Author's Note: I'm so sorry I haven't updated "Slave to You" or "From The First Spark" yet. They're coming, I swear it. They're just coming slowly. Anyway, this oneshot, among others, was just begging to be written. After all, I haven't given myself some good GaaLee in a while. ;D And yet I found that once I tried writing it... I suck at writing GaaLee. You have been warned. :C I was listening to a lot of Mandy Moore. Cheesy, huh? Beware the sap and fluff. Fluffy sap. Sappy fluff. It will strangle you. Along with the OOC-ness, you're doomed. :D

Warnings: Sasuke and Gaara swear. Quite a bit. Quite foully. Sasuke especially.

Reading Note: "This is normal speech." "This is speech coming from the phone when the person speaking isn't speaking directly into or at the phone or is in the background."

Gaara wasn't generally a very lonely person. He enjoyed being alone. But sometimes the long, cold nights were just too much silence to handle. He was only human, after all. He couldn't live completely isolated for his whole life. And being an insomniac taught the redhead how long and cold nights could really get.

He wasn't alone anymore, however. Nights weren't so bad, since he could spend most of it watching his partner sleep, which was an interesting experience. Rock Lee tended to thrash a lot in his sleep, as if he was still training, even in his dreams. The boy was much too eager, and had been reminded over and over that if he pushed himself like he did, he'd get sick. Surprisingly, Lee didn't get sick very often. Mostly everyone assumed that he had a strong immune system.

Gaara knew better. Lee didn't get sick because he didn't have time to be sick. He was "youthful, joyful and healthy!" Whatever that meant.

And he was Gaara's only.

Gaara smiled a bit at this and bent down a bit to kiss Lee's cheek, as if wanting to reassure himself that he was really there next to him. Lee murmured something in his sleep and flipped over to better wrap his arms around Gaara's waist. Gaara squirmed a bit, but Lee's hold was too strong, so Gaara shrugged to himself and wiggled a bit to get more comfortable inside the embrace.

Just as he was going to settle down and watch Lee sleep more, a picture jumped to his mind. A picture of a person so vibrant that Gaara accidentally stared through Lee at that picture instead of straight at Lee. He hated thinking about that person, because an overwhelming feeling of guilt always came along with that picture, and Gaara wasn't used to feeling anything but love so strongly. He shouldn't have been thinking of anyone else. He should be thinking of Lee, and no one else. He belonged to Lee, no one else.

Besides, that person was already tied down. Naruto was practically attached to Sasuke at the hip. No one could pull those two apart. It was so clear that Naruto was completely in love with Sasuke that anyone else should have been readily discouraged. But not Gaara. That picture of Naruto, bright, energetic Naruto kept plaguing his mind. It certainly didn't help that Sasuke tended to outwardly hold Naruto with disdain, so a little voice in the back of Gaara's head kept chanting, "He doesn't love Naruto like you could! He doesn't give Naruto everything you could! Naruto would be much happier with you! Swipe him out from under that pasty little emo's nose! You can do it!"

When Gaara truly thought about it, though, he didn't have anything to give Naruto that Sasuke wasn't giving him. Gaara didn't much like public displays of affection, and Naruto loved to cling to Sasuke whenever possible. Gaara couldn't stand ramen, yet somehow Sasuke managed to not only not puke whenever he smelled it, he even paid for all the ramen Naruto wanted. Rich bastard. Gaara wasn't capable of that.

What's more, Gaara still had Lee. Even with this strange obsession with Naruto that Gaara had, he still loved Lee. He and Lee had an understanding that Naruto wouldn't know about. Lee understood Gaara's distaste for public displays of affection, so he kept those to a minimum. Lee didn't need expensive presents to keep him happy. All he needed was time and love, which Gaara had in plenty for the black-haired teen. Gaara shook his head a bit, laughing to himself. How could two people change him so drastically?

Flashback

"Hey, you're new, right?"

That voice. It had to be one of the brightest things on the planet. Gaara didn't work well with bright. Bright and Gaara mixed about as well as methane gas and flames. In short, they didn't mix without explosions.

Gaara looked up from his scratched and beaten desk to scowl into the offending person's face, which, oddly enough, was decorated with three whisker-like scratch marks on each cheek. Bright blue eyes glittering with amusement stared right back at him. Gaara had been right about the brightness. Everything from his sunny yellow hair to his loud orange clothing was so bright that Gaara's eyes were close to watering. Gaara was very tempted to close them. But he didn't, choosing instead to glare this loud stranger who dared to speak to him down. But apparently the stranger was impervious to icy glares like his.

"Woah, your eyes are green. Sakura's eyes are green too. Everyone else has black eyes, didja notice that? Sasuke, and Fuzzy Brows, they have black eyes, and Kiba, and Shikamaru, and Chouji... Weird, huh? Well, your eyes are cool too. What's your name? I'm Naruto Uzumaki, believe it!" All of this was said much too fast for Gaara's taste and was accompanied by an outstretched hand. Gaara just stared distrustfully at it. Naruto's smile wavered a little when the redhead wouldn't shake his hand. He waited for a few more tense moments, then dropped his hand, his grin melting into an irritated frown. "Oh, I get it, you have a stick up your ass too, don't you? Sasuke-teme's is the same way. You guys would get along great. On second thought, maybe I shouldn't introduce you. Two bastards like Sasuke in one place is a really scary thought. Prove me wrong, please. Just tell me your name."

"Gaara-kun!" the teacher, Iruka, called from the front. "Gaara Sabaku-kun? Could you come to the front, please? I need to give you your class schedule." Gaara just scowled ocular poison at Naruto for a few moments, then gave in to the inevitable and slid past the annoyance to snatch his schedule from Iruka. When he returned to his seat, the annoyance was still there, an irritating smirk plastered on his face. Gaara resolutely ignored him as he inched back into his seat.

"So, your name is Gaara, eh?" Naruto said slyly. "Not bad, not bad. I expected something cool like that for you. My name's cooler, though. My name's the coolest name on the planet! The great Naruto Uzumaki!"

"Will you leave me alone already?" Gaara finally snapped at the blond annoyance. Unfortunately, he didn't seem put off by this rudeness.

"Hey, you talked! Woah! Your voice is cool too!" Naruto laughed. Gaara winced. Why wasn't he as annoyed as he was earlier? Was he... getting used to this annoyance? Perish the thought! Luckily, the bell rang, cutting Naruto's blabbing off. Unluckily, Naruto decided it would be fun to snatch Gaara's schedule before he could escape the annoyance.

"Hey, you have P.E with me next! Come on!" With that, the annoyance latched onto Gaara's arm and dragged the redhead off to his next class. When they got there, Gaara was met with the most shockingly pleasant sight in his admittedly short life. "Hey, there's Fuzzy Brows." Naruto noted.

"Fuzzy Brows" turned to the pair and first noticed Gaara staring at him with a rather detached look on his face. The boy's mouth wavered into an uncertain smile.

"Hello? Is there something you need?" he asked politely.

Yes. I need you sans clothing bending over that bench--

"Hey, Fuzzy Brows!" Naruto called. The boy turned to him, and his face split into a bright grin.

"Fuzzy Brows" turned out to be a coal-eyed teen with a black bowl-cut and obscenely large eyebrows (hence Naruto's nickname for him, "Fuzzy Brows") named Rock Lee. And Gaara was stunned into silence. He wasn't the most attractive guy around, not by a long shot. His huge eyebrows and odd bowl-cut were very off-putting and his eyes bugged out. But Gaara wouldn't have believed anyone who told him that. Especially with Rock Lee standing right in front of him with his shirt off, throwing all of his corded muscles into sharp relief under the light. His eyes lit up when he noticed the two newcomers, and Gaara's eyes were drawn to his lips, which looked very kissable.

Wait... he had to be sick or something. Gaara never thought such thoughts. It just wasn't right. This was Gaara, for Pete's sake.

"Good morning, Naruto! You're looking youthful as ever!" Gaara didn't fall in love with the sound of his voice right away. He should have known that any friend of the annoyance's would be just as annoyingly bright and cheerful. But Gaara found himself unfortunately accustomed to weirdos after spending a whole period with Naruto.

"Yeah, yeah, Fuzzy Brows! Anyway, you should meet my new friend, Gaara!" Naruto waved vaguely behind him to indicate the redhead, and when this was done, immediately started to scan the locker room.

"Sasuke!" he shouted when he'd spotted his prey, and threw himself on the shoulders of a slim, pale boy with raven hair. Sasuke cried out when Naruto tackled him, as the force sent both of them slamming onto the cold floor. Gaara could hear Sasuke yelling something about watching where he was going, moron. However, he was abruptly silenced by, from what Gaara could see, Naruto's mouth. Lee shook his head, clicking his tongue a bit.

"Ah, youthful love... It's a wonderful thing, is it not? Anyway, my name is Rock Lee! Nice to meet you!" Lee thrust his hand out to be shaken. Like Naruto, Gaara just stared at the hand blankly. Lee, however, chose to drop his hand tactfully without saying anything, unlike Naruto.

They dressed in silence (at least, Gaara and Lee did, but Sasuke and Naruto next to them tended to make obscene noises, sometimes smacking and sometimes shouting). They exited the locker room and proceeded to the track, where Lee immediately ran at their "teacher". Gaara refused to call that man their teacher just then. No one with the same bowl-cut and eyebrows as Lee who was running and yelling at the tops of his lungs like Lee and tended to cry "youthful tears" whenever anything amazing happened was his teacher. Even more, no one whom Lee hugged right away and stole Lee's attention from Gaara could ever be Gaara's teacher.

Unfortunately, that was exactly what the man was, so Gaara had to put up with a whole period of "YOSH! IF I CANNOT RUN 50 LAPS, I'LL RUN 100 MORE!" and more "youthful tears" than a person should have to see. Lee tended to get a lot more enthusiastic around Gai, their gym teacher, as if he wasn't enthusiastic enough already. Perhaps he mellowed out around his other friends. It was only natural that a body could only take so much energy before something vital was ripped.

So, without Lee to cling to, Gaara ran alone, in silence, watching the others from a distance. He caught occasional glances of Rock Lee as he rocketed around the track, and even more occasional looks at Naruto and Sasuke, who were currently racing each other. Gaara rolled his eyes internally. They hardly acted like a functional couple. But any moron could see how in love with Sasuke Naruto was...

Gaara frowned. He instantly disliked Sasuke. He couldn't sense the love as clearly as he could with Naruto. And (though Gaara shuddered to admit it) he felt a certain bond to the blond. So he promised himself that if Sasuke ever dared to break Naruto's heart, he wouldn't see the light of day again.

With that rather final thought, Gaara turned his focus back to trying to gain glimpses of Rock Lee as he zoomed by.

After a few weeks, Gaara was very used to their company. Naruto dragged him right into his little group of friends and wouldn't let Gaara escape, so he had plenty of time to get to know them all. But now, after all this interaction with people, Gaara ran into some of the usual problems that generally came along with interactions with others.

A lot of Gaara's time was spent with Naruto. Sure, the time he spent with Rock Lee was enjoyable, and he was going to be with that boy no matter what, but Gaara couldn't help but give Naruto second glances in the corridors. He wasn't exactly hard to look at, after one recovered from the shockingly bright colors. He and Gaara had a kinship now. And one thing that Gaara knew for sure, iron-sure, was that he disliked Sasuke.

Sasuke was too arrogant, flippant, cold and sometimes downright cruel. He sneered at everything and his single-minded focus on his brother was completely unfair to Naruto. Everyone else cooed and sighed over their relationship, saying how great it was that they got together, but Gaara knew better. He knew that Naruto deserved better. But Naruto was in love, and Gaara couldn't fight against that. So he did the next best thing.

He distracted himself.

"God, my feet hurt." Naruto groaned, dressed in only a towel. He plopped down on a bench in the locker room, shaking his wet hair everywhere. Sasuke followed him in at a safe distance until he was done using his own creative method of drying his hair. "Gai-sensei's workout days are the toughest! At least we can use the showers here."

Sasuke smirked and slid onto the bench behind Naruto, straddling the blond's hips. "That's always a plus." he said, eyeing the towel around Naruto's waist lasciviously. Naruto flushed.

"Nuh-uh, Sasuke-teme, not here! Someone could hear us--" Naruto squealed and fell silent as someone took that opportune moment to enter the locker room. "Oh, Gaara, it's only you." Naruto sighed with relief as Gaara approached in all his red-haired, dark-eyed glory. Gaara sent as pleasant a look as he could muster at Naruto and a cold glare at Sasuke, who returned the glare in kind. Sasuke could tell that Gaara knew exactly what he interrupted and was fairly pleased with himself.

"Lee is still here, right?" Gaara asked smoothly. Naruto nodded. "Good. I believe I'll take a shower then."

"Oh, but Lee's in the only working one..." Naruto said, frowning. A lewd smile bent Gaara's face.

"That's the point." and with this, Gaara walked off to the showers, leaving Naruto contemplating after him.

"Ohhh..." When Naruto understood the implications, he took a deep breath and screeched, "LOOK OUT LEE HE'S GOING TO RAPE YOU-- Mmph!"

Sasuke tackled his boyfriend to the ground, firmly clamping his hands over the blond's mouth. "Shut up, dobe, I want to see where this is going to go!" he hissed. Naruto's eyes widened considerably, and he belted out of the locker room. Sasuke remained behind to spy.

Needless to say, Gaara and Rock Lee got together pretty quickly after that. Sasuke, meanwhile, learned a few new moves and earned a new respect for Gaara.

End flashback

Gaara met Naruto on a street corner the next morning. The blond's face lit up when he saw his friend, and he ran to the redhead.

"Gaara! Glad you could make it!"

Gaara smirked. "Wouldn't miss it." For two reasons. Gaara mused to himself. Since being near Naruto is so pleasant, and, of course, our real objective...

"So, I had Sakura-chan search for shops for us." Naruto's gravelly voice interrupted Gaara's thoughts as they strolled down the sidewalk. The blond was idly window shopping as they walked. "There's two in this downtown, but one's better than the other. It'll be more expensive, though... what do you say?"

"No money." Gaara grunted.

"Me too." Naruto groaned, stretching in the sunlight. Gaara really tried his best to avert his eyes from the nice slip of skin this revealed on his stomach, honestly he did. "Sasuke would obviously know something was going on if I took that much money out of his account... then again, he might not notice after all. Damn rich bastard." Naruto pouted at the faint gray building in the distance, their Konoha University, as if Sasuke could feel the glare all the way

"... Everything has to be perfect." Gaara said quietly. Blue eyes flashed to him briefly.

"Yeah." Naruto agreed dreamily. "They're worth it. Come on, let's get the better ones." he took his friend's hand and tugged him a bit faster down the street. Gaara truly tried his best not to

be disappointed when Naruto released his hand as they entered the jewelery shop.

School, outside, on a bench, eating lunch, like usual. They preferred to stay on campus for lunch, and that day was a magnificent one. The sun was shining through the trees, washing the world in bright colors, the birds were singing their hearts out...

"Sasuke! Come on, talk to me!"

... But one couldn't focus on that beauty with one's friends whining constantly only three feet away. Gaara grit his teeth. He could usually tune them out, but Rock Lee was gone that particular lunchtime and Naruto's rough voice was so loud. Though he sounded joking, uncommitted even, Gaara could hear the begging behind the words.

"No, dobe, leave me alone! I'm trying to work here." Sasuke's voice bit out. Gaara's back was to them, but he could tell what was happening without looking. Sasuke was on his laptop, and Naruto was hanging off his arm, switching targets for his looks, one piteously at Sasuke and one murderously at the computer. Sasuke wasn't looking at Naruto at all. His heart wouldn't have been melted even if he did, though.

Naruto pouted. "I'm bored."

"Not my problem."

"What if I kissed you?"

"You will anyway."

"What if I poked you until you paid attention to me?"

"You'd get bored of that."

"What if I cut you off for weeks?"

"You'd never dare."

"But Sasuke--"

"No!" Sasuke had finally had enough. "Not all of us are as useless as you, dobe, so you might as well be worthless somewhere else if you're going to bug people who actually need to do something!" he shouted irritably.

It was the exact wrong thing to say. Gaara whirled around and fixed his eyes on the pair of them, just like everyone else in the vicinity. Some people looked shocked and horrified, while Gaara's eyes were glinting like steel and sharp like flint, glaring daggers at the stunned Uchiha. Naruto's face twisted with a number of different emotions rapid fire, first from shock to horror and pain, then to pained anger. He raised his hand and smacked Sasuke solidly across the face. Sasuke didn't make any move, not to stop him from slapping him or to stop him from sprinting off. He also didn't try to run after his boyfriend, which lowered him a few more points in Gaara's eyes. He was now below negative points in Gaara's esteem.

Instead of Sasuke, Gaara got to his feet and followed Naruto. Directed in part by some bystanders, Gaara found the distraught blond slumped over against a wall in a boy's bathroom.
Naruto jumped when Gaara approached. His eyes fixed on Gaara, and Gaara couldn't have failed to notice the hope there. But that hope faded away as soon as Naruto recognized who it was. He was hoping for that damn Uchiha to follow him. Gaara thought, just a little sullenly. But he knelt down next to Naruto anyway. The boy's normally shining blue eyes were an unnaturally dull color.

"He's a bastard." Naruto said, laughing hollowly. "I know he's a bastard. I also know he probably didn't mean that."

"How do you know?" Gaara asked quietly. Personally, the redhead thought that Sasuke really meant it. Or maybe he hoped.

"I know that asshole. He says a lot of stuff he doesn't mean to say." Naruto shrugged carelessly, but the tautness of his shoulders didn't escape Gaara.

"You can do better." he found himself whispering traitorously. "You could do better than him. He's not worth your time, Naruto."

Naruto's eyes cautiously met with Gaara's. The greens orbs were glowing with lust. Naruto found himself unwillingly aroused. "Yeah?" he asked huskily. Both boys were leaning forward without meaning to. "Like who?"

Gaara didn't even answer. He just leaned in and pressed his lips firmly to Naruto's. A wave of triumph swept through him when Naruto didn't pull away. Another wave of passion washed that away when Naruto pressed eagerly back. On an unspoken consent, both mouths opened at the same time and tongues met in a fierce war. Neither battled for dominance, they just pushed against each other. Their heads titled, lips moving feverishly against each other. One of Gaara's hands took the small of Naruto's back and curved the blond's body closer to him. Naruto's hands grasped the front of Gaara's shirt.

The world momentarily dropped away. Both boys thought that they were thinking of nothing but each other, but somewhere in the back of their minds, Naruto was comparing Gaara to Sasuke and Gaara was missing Rock Lee.

"Hey, Rock Lee?"

Lee automatically froze in his track to his friends outside and turned around, shifting his bag on his shoulders as he did so. Sasuke Uchiha was walking toward him from inside the school building, looking a little sheepish and definitely grumpy. There was a red mark on his cheek.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun?" Lee asked politely. Sasuke didn't usually talk to him, even though they technically belonged to the same group of friends.

"Have you seen Naruto around? I've been looking everywhere for him, but he disappeared." Sasuke shifted uncomfortably and unconsciously rubbed his marked cheek.

"Did you two have a fight?" Lee asked, eyeing the red mark. Sasuke nodded mutely.

"I saw Gaara leave to go find him, so I thought maybe you'd know where they are."

Lee shook his head. "No, sorry, I haven't seen them."

"Naruto?" a student called out as he walked past. "Yeah, I saw Uzumaki and that red-haired guy run into the boy's bathroom by the locker rooms!"

"Really? Thank you!" Rock Lee called to him, and fell into stride beside Sasuke. "Come on, Sasuke-kun, I'll help."

"That's not really..." Sasuke was about to decline, but didn't have the energy any more. Besides, it was kind of nice to have someone with him, even if that someone was the bushy-browed green freak of Konoha High. He couldn't face Naruto and Gaara alone. "Sure, okay, let's just hurry."

So both boys broke into a light run, and ran all the way down the halls to the bathroom. They threw the door open and immediately froze in their tracks.

Naruto and Gaara were both there. Naruto wasn't bawling like Sasuke expected him to. Gaara wasn't just kneeling next to Naruto dully like Sasuke thought he would. No, they were both tangled together, kissing fiercely.

Sasuke's mind went blank. Beside him, he heard a soft intake of breath from Lee. The boys obviously didn't realize that their boyfriends had just walked in on them, if their actions were any indication. In the few seconds that Lee and Sasuke remained motionless with shock, Naruto's hips arched a bit toward Gaara's, Gaara's hand wandered up Naruto's shirt, and Naruto let out a mewl of pleasure.

Sasuke broke the silence first. "What the fuck...?"

Gaara and Naruto jumped away from each other and faced the newcomers guiltily. Their first expressions were like children caught with their hands in the cookie jar, but when they recognized the intruders, their faces morphed into horrified, deer-caught-in-the-headlights looks.

Of all the people who could find us... Naruto thought, a lump clogging his throat and stinging his eyes with tears. It had to be them. The boys' initial shock ebbed away and was replaced with calm and contained fury on Sasuke's part and angry, barely concealed betrayal on Lee's.

"So." Sasuke breathed. Naruto flinched. "That's how it is, hm? Just one fight and you're running off to someone else? I'm surprised, Naruto. I thought you might have the decency to wait until we officially broke up to start screwing around with other people."

"Wait, Sasuke, this isn't what you think--" Naruto started, his pleading voice echoing unpleasantly off the porcelain room.

"Then what the hell is it?" Sasuke snarled, cutting the frantic blond off. "That wasn't you kissing Gaara? That wasn't you knowingly cheating on me?"

"N-No, it was..." Naruto wracked his brains for a plausible excuse, but no matter who looked at it, the situation was exactly what it looked like.

"You were cheating on me." Sasuke hissed. The sound was three times as scary because of the echoes. "Gaara was cheating on Lee." Lee winced a little, as if he hadn't expected to be brought into the conversation. Gaara didn't say anything, and they didn't meet each other's gazes. "And here I came to apologize." Sasuke continued. "But I guess you've paid me back now. Had your revenge, eh? Are you going to go laugh your ass off now? Or maybe, if we hadn't come in when we did, your pants would be off now?"

"Sasuke, I wouldn't--" Naruto screeched, but Sasuke cut him off again.

"You did, you total moron! You did! And I'm not going to be fucking treated like this!" Sasuke roared, and rushed out of the bathroom. Naruto would have chased after him, but his legs were too weak. Lee sent them one last pain-filled half-glance, then made to follow Sasuke.

"Wait, Lee!" Gaara's legs were functional, however, and he threw himself at Lee, just enough to catch Lee's wrist in an iron grasp.

"Ah, get off me!" Lee gasped, trying to wrench Gaara off. "Come on, Gaara-san, I'm going to be late for class! Let me go!"

"Wait." Gaara ordered, as pleading as anyone had ever heard him. "Just hear us out."

"Let me go!" Lee yelled, and ripped his wrist violently from Gaara's fist. The force sent both of them stumbling backward a bit, but as soon as Lee recovered, he darted out of Gaara's reach and disappeared down the hall. Now Gaara and Naruto were alone in a very awkward, miserable aura.

"... We really screwed that up." Naruto said shakily, still sitting on the floor against the wall, his hair rumpled and lips slightly swollen. Gaara nodded jerkily, not trusting himself to speak.

"You know, Gaara, I think we need to talk about this." Naruto said seriously. The redhead turned to face him, face void of any emotion. "I mean, what we're going to do now... if we're going to, you know, try a relationship on a note like this." he laughed bitterly.

"It's not right." Gaara said softly. "I've always wanted you, but... not like this."

"I agree." Naruto replied, a hint of remorse in his voice. "Maybe somewhere, in some parallel universe where there is no Sasuke or Rock Lee, we could've gotten together and lived happily ever after for the rest of our lives. But I love Sasuke, and I know you love Lee, so it just wouldn't be right."

"We need to get them back." Gaara said in that same quiet voice.

"I agree." Naruto repeated. Finally, the feeling returned to his legs, so, supported by the wall, Naruto crawled to his feet. "But how...?"

"Talk to them." Gaara suggested curtly.

"Yeah, that'll work." Naruto said dryly. "Especially if their reaction now was any indication... well, you'll probably have better luck with Lee than I will with Sasuke. I guess we can try."

Silence enveloped them for a moment, a ringing, awkward silence that had them both squirming uncomfortably. Unspoken words danced in between them... until finally Naruto chose to speak those words. "Everything was going to be so perfect, too. We even bought those and everything..."

"We'll get them back." Gaara said, softly but fervently. Naruto agreed with a quick head nod.

"So..." Naruto shifted awkwardly, then made for the door. "Bye then."

Gaara didn't bother saying anything. He leaned heavily against the wall, closing his eyes and immersing himself in the image of Lee's eyes, so filled with pain and betrayal. He deserved to be punished, and what better way to punish himself than knowing he caused that pain?

Neither Gaara nor Naruto bothered to go to class that day.

The whole school was abuzz with rumors the next day. Everyone was talking about the breakup of the two most famous gay couples at the school: Sasuke and Naruto, and Gaara and Rock Lee.

It was common knowledge that Naruto had come home to the dorm he shared with Sasuke and tried to talk to (AKA beg forgiveness from) his ex-boyfriend, but Sasuke had nailed him in the face with a bag of clothes, shoved him outside and slammed the door in his face. Some of their classmates even remembered the exact words Sasuke had screamed at Naruto: "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE, YOU CHEATING WHORE?! YOU'LL GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS PLACE WHILE I'M PAYING THE FUCKING RENT AND DON'T COME BACK!" When Naruto tried opening the door, it was locked, and when he tried using his key, he found the deadbolt and chain keeping it in place. Naruto had sat outside and knocked on the door for an hour and a half before giving up and spending the night at Kiba's.

What the students hadn't heard about was Gaara's and Lee's conversation that night in their apartment.

Gaara had gone straight home after that horrible incident in the bathroom and sulked for a good two hours, watching TV and drowning himself in Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

Lee came home a few hours later. He sighed and dropped his bag with a heavy thump beside the front door. Gaara heard this and stiffened. Groaning under his breath and rubbing his temple, Lee trudged past the living room where Gaara was curled up around his precious ice cream on the couch and looked up briefly, only to meet Gaara's guilty eyes. Lee froze, staring back at Gaara silently, then shook his head slightly and turned away.

"Lee-" Gaara started, rising a bit from the couch.

"Don't bother." Lee cut him off, sounding weary. "Don't bother explaining yourself, Gaara-kun. I understand."

"You don't, though!" Gaara said urgently. He hadn't missed the changed honorific Lee used to address him. "You don't understand!"

"What is there not to get?" Lee asked curiously. "You were kissing Naruto-kun. I think that's pretty self-explanatory."

"No, that wasn't what it looked like..." But the more Gaara thought about it, the more he realized that there was no explanation, no excuse for what he'd done. Gaara caught Naruto on a mini-rebound and forced them both to cheat on the ones they loved most.

Lee raised one impressive eyebrow, waiting for Gaara to continue, but Gaara was choking on his words. Finally Lee knew Gaara couldn't keep talking, so he looked morosely away and started to walk off.

"Lee!" Gaara called, fully leaving the couch, intending to grab him again and this time refuse to let go.

"Don't bother, Gaara-kun." Lee repeated, sighing from the bedroom. "I just came to drop some stuff off. I'll clear out soon enough."

"No!" Panic took hold of Gaara as Lee made his way back to he front door. Gaara sprang forward and caught Lee's wrist. "Don't clear out! Give me another chance!"
Lee just stared at him, normally shining eyes dull and unreadable. "... I'm not going to fight you, Gaara." he said quietly. "So if you want a relationship with Naruto-kun, I won't oppose it. Maybe we can be friends."

This shocked Gaara so much that his hand slid off Lee's arm on it's own accord. Lee took the opportunity to take himself away from the redhead and close the door behind him, separating Gaara from his heart.

"If you ask me, Gaara, that eyebrow-kid was a freak."

Gaara sent such a chilling glare at his brother that Kankuro was honestly surprised he didn't immediately drop dead of a heart attack. He pretended to faint backward in his chair.

"My god, Gaara, you could kill people with that glare! I think you have before, remember? Oi, Temari!" he shouted at his sister, who was wending her way around tables toward them, clothed in a waitress's mini-skirt uniform and laden with a tray of drinks. She took two of those drinks off the tray and set them on the table in front of her brothers. "Make sure Gaara hasn't poisoned my drink." Kankuro sniffed his glass cautiously. Temari rolled her eyes.

"You idiot, how could Gaara have poisoned your drink? He's never seen it before now."

"He has his methods." Kankuro insisted. "I've told you over and over he could poison anything with that glare of his." Temari rolled her eyes again, fondly, and lightly punched the top of Kankuro's head.

"And you only said that about his boyfriend- ex-boyfriend, whatever- two second ago."

"Don't say ex." Gaara said miserably, taking a large swig of his drink. Temari frowned sympathetically at him, then hollered at her boss that she was taking a break and slid into the booth beside Gaara.

"It's all right, honey." Temari patted her youngest brother's back comfortingly. "If he dumps you just like that, then he was never worth your time in the beginning, was he?"

"No." Gaara half-choked on a gulp too big for his throat. "I was the scumbag here." This silenced his siblings effectively.

"Well, uh..." Kankuro tried awkwardly. "You tried to explain to him and he wouldn't listen, right? That's his fault."

"There was nothing to explain." Gaara said hollowly, letting his glass fall from his mouth back to the table with a 'plunk'. "That situation was exactly what they thought it was."

"Hold on." Temari frowned. "Let me just get this straight again. You kissed a friend in a boy's bathroom, and both boyfriends just happened to walk in on it? That's some damn bad luck." Gaara snorted in agreement. "But you said that your friend's boyfriend said something mean to him before, and that's why he ran off?" Another agreeing snort. "So, why not just explain to them that you didn't know what you were doing?"

"How am I supposed to explain to Lee that I've been lusting after Naruto for months?" Gaara asked gruffly.

"I don't know!" Temari threw her hands up in frustration. "Be honest! That's what a relationship is about, right? If you really, really love this guy, you could honestly tell him that, and if he really loves you back, he'd understand that he's the only one for you!"

Gaara was silent at this. He toyed with his glass a bit, then downed the rest of the drink in one gulp. He muttered a distracted goodbye and sailed out without another word exchanged. Temari and Kankuro just looked at each other, puzzled, and shook their heads wearily.

When Gaara came home, the lights were all out. He sidled inside and closed the door with a soft 'click' that felt much too final. The house was silent, and for a horrible moment, Gaara thought that Lee had already left. With the accuracy of one used to staying in the dark, Gaara rushed through the black halls and slipped into the bedroom.

The bed was occupied. Gaara let out a pent-up breath as he watched the covers rise and fall with Rock Lee's reassuringly alive breathing. Gaara inched his way around the room and sat down softly next to his ex. Lee's arm was slung across his pillow, and his mouth hung open a bit as he slept. Gaara's heart panged.

Lee didn't deserve to be tossed aside the way he had been. He'd done nothing but love Gaara time and time again. Gaara leaned down, kissed Lee's cheek briefly, and left his side.
He took a pillow and spare blanket with him, which he settled on the couch with. He didn't deserve to sleep next to Lee. Not yet.

Gaara left the house before Lee woke up the next morning.

While he was lounging against the bus stop sign, waiting for the bus and musing about ways to take Lee back, a hoarse voice said from behind him, "No luck either?"

Gaara turned around to face a very tired-looking Naruto. His hair was mussed, as if he hadn't bothered brushing it that morning, and his eyes had very, very faint rings around them that they didn't have before.

"No." Gaara murmured in reply. "You?"

"Obviously not." Naruto laughed a bit, humorlessly. "I spent the night at Kiba's last night, again. Did I mention that Hinata-chan spent the night too? I don't think she knew I was there, though. She would have been a lot quieter if she knew." Gaara winced sympathetically. "Yeah, I know. I didn't get any sleep at all, and I got out of that place as fast as I could this morning. But you can relate, right? Why are you out here so early?"

"Same reason." Gaara replied. "Didn't want to wake Lee up."

Naruto whistled. "He's still in the same apartment as you? Lucky! You'll get him back in no time!"

"Not really." Gaara muttered grudgingly. "We talked yesterday. He still doesn't believe me. And after that, we avoided each other."

"Ohhh. I get it now. But you can't avoid each other forever, right? At least you're still in the same place. God, I miss Sasuke." Naruto whined this last part so piteously that Sasuke might have been moved to tears if he'd been there to see the state his ex-boyfriend was reduced to... maybe. If Hell froze over.

"Hey! I have an idea!" Naruto brightened instantly. Gaara gave him a strange look. "Our boyfriends won't talk to us, right? Well, maybe we should talk to each other's boyfriends!" Gaara's expression morphed into complete disgust. "Oh, don't give me that look. If you tell Sasuke that you have absolutely no designs on me and we didn't mean to kiss, and I tell Fuzzy Brows the same thing, our boyfriends might be more willing to talk to us!"

"Naruto." Gaara said seriously. "You don't understand. I hate your boyfriend. I'd be much happier ripping his throat out."

"Don't you dare rip Sasuke's throat out." Naruto growled waspishly. "We'll never get them back with that kind of attitude. Just try it, please? What's there to lose?"

Your boyfriend's throat. Gaara thought silently, but agreed to the plan anyway.

To put it bluntly, Sasuke felt like shit. He had gotten, at most, two hours of sleep last night and would never, ever admit that it was because he'd become dependent on Naruto's extra warmth. He'd always insist that he hated Naruto's cuddling anyway. No, he just didn't sleep last night because he left the air conditioner on. He most certainly had not spent most of the night shivering because of the cold and wallowing in self-pity.

That was why Sasuke was currently sitting on a bench alone at lunchtime, typing away on his laptop again in a futile attempt to stay awake.

"Uchiha." Oh, great. The last person in the entire world that Sasuke wanted to meet at the moment, and that was saying something.

"Fuck off, Sabaku." Sasuke spat without looking up. He could practically feel the sparks flying from green eyes singeing his skin.

"Don't push your luck, Uchiha. If it weren't for Naruto I'd be ripping your throat out right about now." The brash words infuriated Sasuke so much that his head snapped up, meeting Gaara's flaming eyes with an intense glare of his own.

"What the fuck do you want?! Have you come to gloat? Did you bang him last night or something?" Sasuke snarled. Gaara's teeth grit with contained fury. "Just fuck off, Sabaku! I don't want anything to do with you or that dobe anymore! Go prance off to your happily-fucking-ever-after and leave me the fuck alone!"

Breathe. thought Gaara. Don't let him get to you. Just breathe calmly, think about Naruto, think about Lee...

"Naruto isn't my happily ever after." Gaara finally said softly. This drew Sasuke's attention. "And I'm not Naruto's. You're complaining about happily-ever-afters, Uchiha? Well, congratulations, fucker. You threw yours away because of a stupid misunderstanding." Sasuke's inky eyes widened. "Naruto wanted to explain all this to you a long time ago, but you wouldn't listen. He's still waiting for you, though I have no fucking clue why. If you still want your happily ever after."

Without another word, one green-eyed redhead left a gaping and stunned Uchiha behind, silently praying that Naruto's talk with Lee went better than that.

Lee hadn't been avoiding Gaara or Naruto. Of course not. He just... hadn't run into them yet that day. Yeah.

Lee mentally sighed, depressed for one of the first few times in his life, as he slowly copied a math problem from the board, only half-listening to Asuma-sensei lecture. Predictably, he'd woken up to an empty apartment. Half of him expected Gaara to be lounging around the kitchen, silently making breakfast like the closet-chef that he was. But the apartment had been just as empty as when Lee came home and went to bed.

The only sign that there had been life other than him in the place was a wrinkled spare blanket and pillow littering the couch. Lee wasn't sure if he should be relieved or even more depressed that Gaara had chosen not to sleep with him.

Lee slapped himself lightly. He wasn't supposed to be depressed. He was supposed to be focused and determined. Youth wouldn't wait for a little heartbreak. He could get over this with the fiery passion of life!

Lee grit his teeth and resumed working out the quadratic equation. He'd never been good with those...

"Lee-san?" Lee glanced up, startled, into a pretty face framed by pink bangs. A dazzling smile lit Lee's face.

"Sakura-san! Hello! Did you need something?"

"Asuma-sensei is letting us work in partners and I can tell you're struggling with quadratic equations." Sakura chuckled at the dumb look Lee gave her, as if she'd read his mind. "Come on." Sakura said kindly, pulling up a chair and settling across from Lee at his desk. "It's easy, I'll show you. You just have to set the equation to zero first..."

Lee's brow furrowed as he listened intently, trying to memorize the method. Math had never been his strong point. Sakura explained the concept gently, but her jade eyes flicked up to Lee's face more than he realized.

"... and that's how you'd solve it." Sakura finished. Lee picked up the paper to better examine how she'd worked that out. "Um, Lee-san?" Sakura said quietly, startling him out of his ruminations for the second time. "Are you okay? I heard about you and Gaara..." Lee tensed a bit, but gave Sakura a brave smile nonetheless.

"Oh, thank you for worrying about me, Sakura-san! But I am truly fine."

"You don't seem fine." Sakura frowned a bit. "You've been really distracted today. You're normally so focused."

Lee faltered a bit, unable to think of a reply. But he was saved the trouble by a rough shout of "Hey, Fuzzy Brows!" However, the moment Lee recognized that voice, he half-wished he could have been given the chance to come up with a reply for Sakura instead.

"Naruto! We're in the middle of class." Asuma snapped irritably from his desk in the corner. Naruto moved past the doorway into the classroom, but came in no further than that.

"Yeah, but it's not like you're teaching right now! Please, I only need him for a second!" Naruto pleaded. Asuma gave him a searching look, then rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Fine. You can go if you want, Lee."

He couldn't have said no under all those appraising stares, so Lee hesitantly gathered his feet under him and followed Naruto out of his classroom and into the sunshine outside.

"Yes, Naruto-kun? What did you want to talk about?" Lee asked finally when they stopped by a bench, the same bench that had started this whole fiasco.

Naruto sat on it with uncharacteristic seriousness. "Fuzzy Brows, you should take Gaara back."

Lee flinched a little. "I though you wanted him?" Lee asked pointedly. He wasn't trying to hurt Naruto on purpose, but Naruto winced at the question anyway.

"No! Not at all. That time in the bathroom was just an accident. I don't love Gaara that way, I'm in love with Sasuke. And Gaara definitely loves you way more than me! Come on, we don't click at all." Naruto laughed uneasily, but that died quickly. "Look, Fuzzy Brows, Gaara is all torn up over this. He really doesn't want to lose you. We're never going to have that kind of relationship. Like I said before, that time in the bathroom shouldn't have happened. Gaara and I both know that. It won't mean anything to us if it won't mean anything to you."

Lee stayed silent, shifting his weight subtly from foot to foot. "... Is that true?"

"Of course it is!" Naruto said impatiently. "Please, please just give him one more chance? Please? I promise you won't regret it!"

Still Lee didn't reply. Still shifting from one foot to the other. Thinking, musing, deliberating, ruminating, deciding...

"All right, Naruto-kun." he said finally. "I'll talk to him tonight."

Naruto jumped up, punching his fist in the air triumphantly. "Oh, YES! Thanks a ton, Fuzzy Brows, you have no idea what this is going to mean! Oh, yes yes yes!"

Lee let his lips twitch upward in a half-smile. "You're welcome?"

All Gaara could feel was his heart pounding violently, as if trying to break open his chest and end this agony once and for all. The silence of his apartment was surrounding him, swallowing him and laughing at his pain. Not even the normally comforting couch and two tubs of Ben and Jerry's could rid Gaara of these head-spinning waves of terror. He wasn't used to such emotions.

Lee had yet to come home from wherever he was...

"I'm home." came a soft greeting, accompanied by a click of the door being shut. Gaara literally leaped off the couch and flew to the doorway. He didn't immediately jump on Lee's neck, but let relief mix with the waves of terror rolling over him.

Lee's black eyes locked onto his, and Lee gave Gaara a sweet smile. "What's wrong, Gaara-san? You look like you were just hit by a train."
That smile sent such a burst of warmth to Gaara's head that for an irrational moment he thought he was going to pass out. His throat was stuck. So, instead of fighting a fruitless battle trying to form words, Gaara just sailed forward and rested his head against Lee's shoulder.

Lee hummed pleasantly in response. "What's this, Gaara-san? You're so affectionate today."

Gaara bit his neck lightly in response. "You-" he was still having trouble speaking. "You- You can just stand there, laughing at me like nothing happened..."

Lee clucked his tongue a bit and guided Gaara back to his couch and ice cream. He set the redhead gently down and settled next to him. "Nothing did happen." he said gently to his dazed boyfriend. "That's what Naruto-kun and I agreed. If it was nothing to you, it's nothing to me."

Gaara couldn't take any more. He tackled Lee against the arm of the couch and kissed the daylights out of him.

"Never-" he growled against Lee's lips, swiping his tongue across them. Lee's mouth opened eagerly. "Never ever-" Gaara managed to murmur when they came up for air briefly before plunging back in again. When they surfaced once more, Gaara forsook plundering Lee's mouth in favor of wrapping his arms tightly around the brunette's neck. "Never." he whispered into Lee's skin. "I'm never, ever letting you go again. I need you like I need to breathe."

Gaara could feel Lee's chuckle resonating through his own chest. "I love you too." Lee pulled Gaara back in for more sweet wet kisses.

They were only interrupted by the phone. Lee could have sworn he saw it sizzling under the glare Gaara sent at it. Grudgingly, Gaara removed himself from Lee's lap and tramped across the room to pick up the phone.

"What?" he snapped.

"Hello to you too." Naruto's gravelly voice filtered through the phone. "Any luck?"

"Oh yes." Gaara smirked lasciviously at Lee. "Plenty of luck."

"Oh, great! Because you worked a miracle on Sasuke, he was practically crying on my shoulder when I came home..."

"I was not crying!" Sasuke's irate voice called from somewhere on Naruto's end. Naruto snickered.

"Suuure, you weren't!" Naruto taunted, obviously holding the phone a ways away from his mouth, because Gaara couldn't hear him as well.

"Who are you on the phone with, anyway?" Sasuke snapped. "Who's more important than me right now?"

"No one, babe." Naruto assured him. "It's just Gaara." The silence that met this was obvious even to Gaara, and was clearly not pleased. "Oh, come on! Don't look at me like that, it's not what you think! We're planning something nice for you..."

"Tch, sure you are." Sasuke snapped, sounding hurt.

"Come on, Sasuke, you'll like it, I promise! Just give me a few more minutes..."

"Hmph, whatever..." Sasuke's voice faded away as he obviously stalked off, out of the phone's reach. As distraught as that must have left Naruto, Gaara felt it necessary to remind him of their conversation with a pointed cough.

"Oh, oh, right, Gaara. Sorry." Naruto certainly sounded slightly upset, but was recovering quickly. "Well, tonight's the night, right? I know I can't wait any more."

Gaara glanced quickly at Lee. "Yes, tonight." he agreed.

"Speakerphone?" Naruto questioned.

"Speakerphone." With this, Gaara switched to speakerphone and left the phone surreptitiously on the table. Lee was watching him curiously.

"Was that Naruto-kun?" Gaara could hear him hesitating.

"It doesn't matter." Gaara replied, dropping a chaste kiss on his lips. "Wait here." he ordered, then left the room for a moment. Lee let his head fall back onto a cushion, watching the phone Gaara left with an odd look on his face. Gaara had left it on speakerphone, hm...? And he could barely make out Naruto's and Sasuke's voices.

"Teme! Wait up!" Naruto, Lee decided instantly.

"Dobe, that's not a smart name to call someone when trying to get back on their good side." Oh yes, definitely Sasuke.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. I'm sorry,really. But stay here, okay? I have a nice surprise for you..."

"The last time you said that, my ass hurt for a week."

"It's better than that, I promise! Just stay here, okay? I'll be right back..." From some clothing rustles, Lee decided that Naruto had left. Glancing uneasily around for Gaara, Lee cautiously walked over to the phone.

"Sasuke-kun?"

"Lee?" Sasuke sounded a bit startled. He shifted a bit, then moved closer to the phone. "That dobe was on the phone with Gaara earlier... he didn't hang up?"

"They're setting this up." Lee said. "They left it on speakerphone for a reason." Sasuke hummed contemplatively.

"I wonder why..."

"Sasuke!"

"Lee."It seemed that Naruto had returned, and Gaara had definitely sailed back into the room. Lee jumped back, grinning uneasily.

"Ah, Gaara-san, I was-"

"Sit down." Gaara pushed Lee toward the couch and sat the man down. He half-noticed similar actions happening through the phone on the table.

"Gaara-san, what-?"

Gaara took a deep breath. "You already know that I love you." Lee's face flushed a little. Sure, he knew it, but it took a lot to get Gaara to say it out loud. "These past few days have taught me that I can't live without you."

Lee vaguely registered a similar speech issuing from the phone in Naruto's voice. "Sasuke, I love you. Who knew I could love a bastard like you? He he, hey, don't look at me like that. Nothing changes the fact that I love you with everything I have."

"I know I'll die without you, Lee. So I want to make sure that never happens."

"I can't lose you ever again, teme. I can't breathe right without you. So I want to make you mine forever."

"What I'm saying is-"

"-I want you-"

"-to marry me-"

"-Sasuke."

"-Lee."(1) Along with this speech, Gaara pulled out a little velvet box and presented it to Lee. With shaking hands, the brunette took it and snapped the top open.

A ring.

From the phone, Sasuke echoed Lee's reaction. "N... Naruto, this is..."

"This is amazing!" Lee's excitement finally caught up with his senses and he tugged Gaara onto the couch, pulling him straight onto his mouth into the most joyful kiss they'd ever shared. The fact that they would share kisses and moments like that for the rest of their lives only increased Lee's elation. "Of course, of course, of course I'll marry you!"

"I... I don't know what to say." Sasuke spluttered from the phone.

"You could just say yes." Naruto suggested uneasily. From the sounds the phone started issuing, Sasuke rejected that suggestion. Instead, he chose to accept Naruto's proposal the mouth-to-mouth way. Gaara smiled knowingly at the phone and untangled himself from Lee long enought to finally hang up the phone.

"You're mine now." Gaara murmured, as contented as he could be, cuddling up to Lee and slipping the ring onto Lee's finger.

"I was always yours, Gaara-san." Lee amended, wrapping his arms around his new fiancee. "But it's official now."

"Mm." Gaara moaned sleepily. After a pause, he said quietly, "Lee?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry I kissed Naruto."

Lee tensed, and Gaara thought perhaps that had been the exact wrong thing to say. When Lee's lips descended on his once more, though, Gaara's insecurities all melted away.
"Don't worry, Gaara." Lee spoke into the kiss. "You'll just have to spend the rest of your life making up for it."

(1) Just in case you're wondering, Gaara and Naruto aren't finishing each other's sentences. They're just speaking the same words at the same time and I chose to show you the speech with alternating speakers. Sorry if that's confusing...

Author's Note: I know, way overused ending, but I couldn't come up with a better one. Anyway, reviews please! I'm sure you fellow authors all know how good it feels to read a review!