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Lee stood on the bridge overlooking the water in the dark. Strings of bare-bulbed lights swung from each wooden post, casting warm ochre light onto the rippling surface. The night sky was an inky black, thick clouds obscuring the moon. Lee leaned against the railing, his toes pinched in his formal loafers. He fidgeted with the embroidered clasp on the sleeve of his mandarin jacket. Soft footsteps approached him from behind. A wooden plank creaked. “What are you doing out here?” Gaara’s voice was just a soft rasp in the darkness.“Just getting some air,” Lee lied. Gaara came to stand next to him at the railing, his face lit from beneath by the light reflecting off the water. “You left so suddenly,” Gaara said. “Are you okay?” He drew his arms around himself, the thin material of his high-collared coat apparently not protecting him from the breeze off the water. Lee resisted the impulse to offer his arm around Gaara. It was an immense honor to have been invited to the River Daimyo’s ball, he knew; he shouldn’t have left so abruptly. He probably made a terrible impression on the dignitaries there, if any had noticed his sudden absence. “What happened to your date?” Lee deflected instead. Gaara’s date was a visiting princess from the outer reaches of Wind Country. She was a tiny, fine-boned thing, all high cheekbones and wide eyes - the face of someone who would live a long, comfortable life - someone who would one day be a doting wife and wonderful mother. In her embroidered pink kimono, her hair ornaments glinting in the light, she and Gaara had made a perfect match; she herself couldn’t have been more perfect. Gaara had held her in his arms, her frail body cradled against his chest, and Lee’s heart had stung him hard. When she leaned up to whisper something in Gaara’s ear, and Gaara laughed in response, Lee couldn’t take it anymore. He had fled, like a coward. “I sent Kankuro to take her back to her quarters,” Gaara said. “I wanted to come check on you.”Lee shook his head. “I’m fine,” he said. “Thank you for your concern.”Gaara lingered next to him like a solid ghost. The thin fingers of a pale hand reached out and tugged at Lee’s shoulder. “Why didn’t you say anything?” Gaara asked in a hushed tone.“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lee said. He didn’t turn his eyes from the water. He was being unnecessarily maudlin, melodramatic and he knew it, but wasn’t a man entitled to a moment to sulk when his heart was breaking? He needed just a few moments alone with his thoughts, then he’d be ready to return to the party and truly be happy for Gaara. He only wanted the best for him, honestly; he was ashamed of his own selfishness and that made the experience all the more painful. “Lee,” Gaara said, “I’ve seen the way you look at me when you don’t think I can see you.”Lee took a shaky breath. “And what way is that?”Gaara’s hand tightened on his shoulder. “You look … covetous. Jealous, sometimes. Like a man dying of thirst just meters away from an oasis.”Lee laughed bitterly.“That’s poetic,” he said. Gaara hummed, turning until he was facing Lee’s profile fully.“I didn’t mean it to be,” he said. “But I don’t think I’m wrong.”Lee sighed. He let his shoulders drop. “You aren’t,” he said. He turned to face Gaara, too, one arm still leaned against the bridge railing, his body too heavy to stand upright of its own will.Gaara’s hand reached up and traced Lee’s cheek. Lee flinched away from the touch and Gaara’s hand withdrew, hovering in the air between them, a white moth surrounded by flame. “Why didn’t you do anything before tonight?” Gaara pressed him. “Why not tell me?”Lee felt his eyes growing hot, prickling with unshed tears. He blinked hard, but he couldn’t look away from Gaara, his soft eyes, his gently parted lips. “Have you ever wanted something so badly that it scared you?” Lee asked. “Yes,” Gaara breathed, stepping closer. They were inches apart now. Gaara’s hand rested on the lapel of Lee’s jacket, narrow fingers fiddling with an epaulette. He bit his lip, white teeth leaving indentations on the span of his lower lip.“Do you want this?” Gaara asked.Lee braced himself. His body trembled.“Yes,” he confessed. “You could have it,” Gaara whispered. “So why won’t you reach for it? I’ve never known you to shy away from a challenge.”Lee’s heart ricocheted against his ribs. His hands came up, grasped at air, and fell back to his side. He turned his head away.“There’s a lot to consider,” he said. “Our friendship is important to me; I can’t lose that. And our villages, your obligations, we would hardly see each other…”Gaara’s hand cupped Lee’s face; his thumb stroked Lee’s cheekbone tenderly. His eyes glowed in the darkness. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” he said. “You told me that once.”Lee’s mouth twitched around a smile. “It’s a lot to venture,” he said, his hands coming up to clasp at Gaara’s waist.“And a lot to gain,” Gaara replied. Gaara pulled Lee’s face down into a kiss. And for just a moment, in the middle of that still night, their bodies suspended above rushing water, everything was perfect.