Beside You in Time

-- Author's Note --

You guys rock! Thanks for being such awesome reviewers.

I'm glad you all like it- I'm not making this a PWP, if that's not apparent by now. Gai and Lee are too complex and morally upright for that. It's definitely going to be gradual with a lot of complications along the way, but I hope it will shape itself into what you hope this story will progress into. :D

Thanks for the love!

-- /end --

Before the sun had begun to rise, Lee had started to drift out of sleep. His first thoughts upon waking up were muffled acknowledgements of the warmth and safety he felt around him, as though he were engulfed in a fuzzy cocoon. As he began to regain more coherent thoughts, he realized that he was in a place that eminated a foreign yet comforting scent. He was not at home. As much as the thought made him curious, he still made no move to open his eyes and rolled to his left only to be met with a large wall of cushion. His curiousity now piqued, he then opened his eyes and found himself wrapped up like a taco facing the back of a sofa in the dark.

Now fully awake, he unwrapped himself from the layers of blankets and laid on his back to think. He knew where he was. The couch was Gai-sensei's, as was the scent. Gai's apartment had always smelled lightly of sandalwood and cinnamon, and Lee could never forget it even if he tried. Despite his location, Lee felt strangely relaxed and unnaturally calm, almost as if he had just cried to the point of exhaustion. He knew the feeling well, as it was the way he fell asleep every night for two years when he was younger. It felt as though his soul had been purged. Why did he feel this way? Better yet, why was he at Gai's?

Lee began to think back about last night. What had happened last night? The thoughts came back slow, slugglishly. Oh, Kiba's party. There had been a lot of alcohol at Kiba's party, hadn't there?

Then the realization struck Lee. The cheer of "Kanpai!" came back to his mind, along with images of Shino handing him the sake. Oh no, he hadn't...Had he? After deliberating, he came to the conclusion that, yes, he had gotten drunk and had probably done something horrible to boot, just as he did with the restaraunt. Of course, as always, Gai-sensei had come to the rescue and brought him back to his house. A wave of guilt crashed over Lee, causing him to groan, roll over, and hide his face in the couch.

As he was busy mourning over the loss of his sobriety and probably the trust of his sensei, Gai-sensei emerged from his room wearing his black sleep pants and a white t-shirt. He walked over to his squirming student and greeted him a good morning.

"Good morning, Lee," he said as he pulled the covers off of Lee that he had re-wrapped himself in.

Lee didn't look at him, for he knew that guilt had been painted all over his features. He kept his eyes downcast, afraid to respond.

Gai looked at him in understanding, able to read his student's face even in the dark of early morning. "Yes, I'm a bit mad at you. But I'll get over it. We'll talk about it over breakfast, okay?"

Lee looked up at him hesitantly with a hopeful yet disbelieving look on his face. Gai gave him a small smile and stretched out his hand, which Lee eagerly took and got off the couch.

Now standing upright, Lee took in his own appearance. He was still wearing his dirty green suit from yesterday, and was now a bit grossed out by that fact. Gai-sensei could tell what he was thinking- he knew that Lee was touchy about clean clothes.

"Want to change?" he asked.

"Yeah," replied Lee.

Gai led him into his bedroom just down the hall from the living room. "You can just borrow some stuff of mine. You almost fit into them, anyways."

Lee blushed. After choosing some plaid sleep pants and a white t-shirt, he changed into them while Gai exited to give him privacy. The shirt was a bit big around him, but only slightly. The pants fit perfectly, however. Lee had gotten much taller and fit over the past two years, and was now only five inches shorter than Gai. He left his room, still blushing, because now he knew he was to spend the day in his sensei's clothes.

He walked into the kitchen where Gai had already begun to cook up some breakfast. Not immediately wanting to help, Lee went over to sit on one of the stools of the stove island, which allowed him to face Gai as he cooked. Gai looked up from his pan of eggs to his student and noticed that he looked more at peace somehow. He then thought of the cry he had gone through the night before and then wasn't surprised at all. He continued cooking in a bit of an awkward silence as Lee took in the place, just as he did every other time he was there.

Lee always found comfort at Gai's apartment and could recall the layout of it in his dreams. The door, the hallway, the immediate living room, with the bedrooms (two of them, to be exact) to the right, and the kitchen and adjoined dining room to the left. Outside of the living room was a balcony that had a decent view considering Gai lived on the fourth floor. There were many windows placed all over the house, allowing Lee to presently see the sun begin it's slow rise out of the ground. Even though it was a bit early, Lee considered it to actually a bit late for him, since he usually was out of the house by sunrise.

Having finished cooking the sweet eggs, Gai served it onto a plate and handed over the stove to Lee, who grabbed a pair of chopsticks out of the box that was set next to the stove and dug in. Gai then put on a pot of tea and walked over to the window to let the breeze in while he waited for the water to boil. The golden light illuminated the kitchen, the appliances and Lee shining alike in the ethereal morning shimmer. He went back to the stove, made the tea, served Lee and himself, then sat next to Lee to eat his own breakfast.

Already done with his food, Lee sat there patiently with his hands in his lap, periodically drinking tea to help him have something to do in the awkward silence. Usually whenever he was over Gai's house they'd be talking animatedly about new training regimens, theories, or funny memories of training sessions gone wrong. Gai slowly finished his food before he began to speak to Lee.

"So, mind telling me what happened last night?" he began.

Lee sat a bit rigidly. "I don't really remember. I remember nothing after I took a sip of sake from Shino," he replied nervously.

"Do you want to know what happened?" Gai asked him as he looked at him pointedly.

His bewildered eyes shot up to meet his sensei's. "Did I do anything horrible?"

"No," said Gai, maintaining the eye contact. "Thankfully, Neji and I were able to get there before you injured Ten Ten. You took it easy on her, I have to say. At least you have some sense when drunk," he said with a slight trace of a grin.

Lee's face fell. "Is she okay?!"

"Yes, she's fine. Everyone's fine. Neji and I managed to get you out of the house before you caused any damage. We had to hold you down until you went to sleep."

Lee looked over his sensei for bruises. "Did....Did I hurt you?"

Gai smiled. "No, I'm fine. I took quite a few nasty punches, but nothing I don't have to deal with everyday during training."

Lee looked relieved. "So I fell asleep really fast or something?"

It was now Gai's turn to look distant and guilty. "Well, it took some time."

The room turned quiet for a few minutes. Lee fidgeted around, not wanting to ask the next question. The emotions he felt when he had woken up...Hopefully they hadn't been from crying...

"Gai-sensei," he began, "...I wasn't...crying,...was I?"

"Yes, you were crying." he said as he looked away.

"Did I say anything?" Lee asked nervously. He could only imagine what he had said last night that could condemn him later on.

Gai looked at him and smiled. "Lee, don't worry about it. You're fine now, nothing's changed. How about you and I spend the day together? We could train out back for a while and make dinner afterwards. How does that sound?"

Lee smiled broadly, his worry about his drunken antics now a thing of the past. "That sounds great!"

The two of them quickly finished up their breakfast and washed up the kitchens. Excited about the prospect of training, they both decided against using their usual green suits and used their bedclothes instead. Gai went into the living room and opened up the patio door and waited for Lee, who was getting a glass of water. Lee was running towards to door mid-drink, and ran right past Gai to get outside. Gai chuckled, knowing that once training was mentioned, nothing else could easily enter Lee's mind.

Lee was more excited than he let on, and actually a little bit anxious. He knew from his past training sessions with Gai that he tended to vent his stress during a spar. If he was angry, his kicks had a little too much force. If he was anxious, he was jumpy and his speed was much more unpredictable. Basically his fighting style reflected his condition at the moment, which Lee was hoping a peaceable condition at that.

Setting down the glass of water on Gai's patio table, Lee went down a few steps onto the grass to begin his morning stretches. The sun was almost done rising, with a few more centimetres to go. Hopefully they could get in some quality training before it got too hot again, thought Lee. Gai soon accompanied him in his exercises, each helping each other with their flexability stretches, which were usually impossible to do alone. Having finished their stretches, they both got into their fighting stances and sized each other up from fifteen feet away from each other.

Crouching into his usual stance and evening out his breath, Lee got himself into fighting mode. With an intake of breath, Gai had broke his own stance and went to attack Lee, who dodged his left kick successfully. Lee jumped up as Gai was leaning towards his right, and attacked his left with a punch to the shoulder. Gai dodged it easily by moving down underneath him, which reversed their positions once Lee landed. Lee looked over Gai and decided that he was going to take a few hits and see if he could gauge his mood right.

Lee veered to his right, and Gai went to block his attack with a counter attack, but Lee had no attack to begin with. Gai therefore landed a successful punch in Lee's upper arm, one that left a sting for quite a while. From the attack, Lee guessed that Gai was a bit miffed, but not enough to be angry. They went through a few motions before Lee allowed Gai to land a kick on his shin, which appeared to hurt less than the punch. Gai had apparently caught on that Lee wasn't trying his best, so he toned his strength down a little. This was a good thing for Lee, who considered it lucky that Gai had noticed it. He apparently wasn't mad at all, which struck Lee as very odd. If anything, it almost seemed as though Gai was forgiving him, which made Lee smile mid-kick.

"What are you smiling at?" asked Gai amusingly as he blocked his kick with his forearm. Lee blushed in response with a goofy grin on his face.

"Nothing!" he responded, his hair flowing upwards as he ducked away from a punch aimed for his torso.

Gai laughed in response and continued fighting in silence, save for the battle cries and occasional yelps of pain.

The two of them continued to fight for hours and hours, only pausing once or twice to rehydrate themselves. As the sun rose higher, they only struggled harder against their growing fatigue. Sweat poured down each of their necks, and their similar haircuts began to mat themselves down onto their faces.

Around 5 o'clock, after eleven or so hours of training, the two of them acknowledged the fact that they were entirely too fatigued (and therefore slaphappy) to continue the training any longer. They were laughing like idiots at themselves for going at it for so long as they walked back inside, patting off the sweat with their towels.

They soon found themselves in a little dilemma. They were starving- but disgustingly sweaty and dirty at the same time.

"Well, do you want to shower first or eat?" Gai asked the lazy Lee who was draped over his kitchen counter like a dishrag.

"Foooooooood," was the only response he received. Shaking his head, he went into his fridge to get the supplies for dinner.

He decided to make a pot of iced tea and some udon noodle soup. Considering his apartment was always kept below 70 degrees because of the air conditioner, he felt he could get away with having a hot soup. Nothing unwound him quite like it after eleven straight hours of training.

As the soup began to cook, the delicious smells began wafting through the air, which helped Lee rejuvenate himself to at least a talking state.

"That smells soooo good, Gai-sensei," he almost whined. "Is it almost done?"

"Yeah, only a few more minutes to go. Be patient," he responded.

Lee went back to draping himself over the counter, thinking about the recent events. Earlier on that day, he began to have total recollections about what had happened the night before. There had actually been people like him, in similar predicaments to him!

As he fussed with a strand of hair in front of his face, he thought about the mention of Naruto and Sasuke. He had always admired Naruto, and now he felt an even deeper connection with the younger boy. Before last night, he had always secretly felt like a freak for having the preferences that he did. But after hearing about Naruto's relationship with Sasuke, and everyones' hasty acceptance of it, he felt more at ease with himself. However, what really caught his attention was the secret relationship between Iruka and Kakashi. He would have never, ever guessed. With Kakashi reading straight porn all the time, Lee didn't think he could be anything but straight. With Iruka, however...He could definitely see some hints there about his sexuality, especially when it came to his mother-hen-like tendencies.

However, he would always remember the memory of walking in on them with a bit of remorse. It wasn't the fact that they were gay or that they were his teachers that unnerved him- it was their intimacy. He had never seen men intimate with each other before, let alone caressing and kissing each other. Deep inside him, he felt the gnaw of envy and confusion. But, with a hope in his heart, he began to feel some of that confusion begin to disappate.

Just then, Gai handed him a bowl of soup from across the counter. The action startled him a little, causing him to shoot straight up in his chair. He looked at Gai's concerned face and was immediately overcome with a feeling of hopelessness and loss, which was almost completely inexplainable, considering his teacher was right in front of him. He received the soup and began to eat quietly with his eyes downcast. Gai eyed him over, trying to figure out what had just happened to the boy to make his behaviour change so suddenly.

Then, just as abruptly as his mood changed, Lee had finished his soup and got up to leave.

"Thank you, Gai-sensei," he said, looking away. "I'm going to go home and shower now and get to bed early."

Gai was now plain worried. This wasn't like his student. He looked him over as he was facing him, his eyes off to the side. Lee's eyes were full of worry and anxiety; something was eating away at his Lee, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Lee, is everything okay?" he asked, going forward to grab his hand. Lee immediately looked to him with a pained look on his face.

"I'm fine," he whispered. He pulled his hand away and turned around towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Gai."

And with that, he was gone.

Gai sat next to the counter, contemplating what had just happened. Something wasn't right with Lee, and he was seriously hoping it had nothing to do with him. But then he noticed something that also seemed out of place.

Lee had called him Gai. Not Gai-sensei, but just "Gai".

So this was about him, most likely.

Gai held his head in his hands. Why was it so hard for them? Why did he have to fight against every advance? Basically, when it came down to the problem, it led to one question:

Why did Lee have to be so young?

It also always killed him whenever he knew Lee was going home from wherever he was. He knew that Lee hated being alone in that house that held so many memories for him. Lee would predictably walk into his house, go into the shower, then fall right asleep. He knew his schedule too well. Lee never really liked having people at the house, either, because he always would aim to stay away from the house in general. So for him to want to get away from the situation to go home was something that definitely didn't sit well with Gai.

That's why he always had Lee over his house. Especially during the time of his injury a year ago, Lee practically lived with him. He recalled all the hilarious memories of concocting the bitter herb dumplings that Lee ate all in one go. Cleaning up that mess wasn't any fun, but seeing the green look on Lee's face was a bit comical. Then he remembered.

That's when things had started to change.

Ever since that night on the balcony of the academy when Gai had spilled his heart. "If you die...I'll die with you." He remembered the words so well. He had meant every consonant, vowel, and syllable of it. Their relationship had taken a turn for the serious. It had always had a level of seriousness, but that night had changed it. And unfortunately for Gai, he had to leave on a mission that week, so he couldn't stay and be there for Lee, which he knew tore him apart.

A day hadn't gone by yet where he hadn't thanked Tsunade in some prayer-like fashion for having cured his Lee. If Lee hadn't lived, he wouldn't have lived. And if Lee had lived but had failed with the surgery, he would've been in the toughest spot imaginable- to continue teaching Neji and Ten Ten, or staying with someone who needed him all the time? Thanks to Tsunade, he didn't have to live with those consequences.

Gai finished up his soup and washed up the kitchen. Still contemplating his situation, he headed into the shower and then to bed afterwards.

As he lied down, he went over his plans for the next day. There was training with his team at 3, and then he basically had the rest of the day to himself. He decided, however, that he was going to do something for Lee. Spend time with him outside of training, which was for certain.

Suddenly, he was reminded of someone. He had made plans with a friend of his- Raido- for the day after next. He hoped it wouldn't be one of those complicated get togethers, as he knew that Raido was attracted to him. His life seemed to be getting more complicated by the minute.

Deciding that his brain and body had both had enough stress for one day, Gai settled into his bed a little more snugly for some quality sleep.

Hopefully the next day didn't live up to the foreboding feeling crawling inside of him.

----


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