Gym Buddies

pt. 17 - Water Bottle

TW: Sexual harassment mention(s)

We all finished our lunches, and got right back on the road. Metal went right back to sleep, this time with a pair of headphones over his ears. Lee was holding my hand as he drove. We still had about seven hours until we got to my parents house. It would be around 8. Mom said she would have dinner ready for us by the time we got there.

That didn't stop us from having some snacks though. We all picked up a box of candy, something salty, and a drink from a gas station on our way out from lunch. I was already munching on a can of sea salt almonds, and my caffeinated lemonade was half gone.

A few hours of comfortable silence later, Lee opened his mouth to speak, almost nervously. "I-is there anything I should know about your parents and siblings... Like rules... Things that should not be brought up...?"

I thought for a moment. It was a smart question to ask, it proves that he's going to try and impress them.

"...If you don't want to be stuck in a conversation with my father forever, don't bring up anything political. And for my mom... She can talk for hours about her kids. She gets distracted easily. Oh! Umm... Suki has a kid that's around Metal's age. Do not, under any circumstances bring up his father. I think... No, one more thing. My father is really, really protective of me."

"Good to know. Uhm... Can I ask why he's so protective of you? You are really good at holding your ground, everyone sees that. So...?"

I answered hesitantly, not sure if Lee would take my reply well. "Back when I still lived with them, and was dating Sasuke, he cought Sasuke..." I coughed to give myself a moment to think of how to word what happened. "He cought Sasuke... Taking my clothes off... Without my permission. He could tell I was trying to get him off of me, but wouldn't stop. Before then, he knew I could stand on my own two feet. But when he saw me crying because I couldn't stop him myself... He instantly got Sasuke off of me, and kicked him out, and spent hours with me to calm me down. I doubt you've seen them, but I have scars from where Sasuke scratched me, and left cuts from my struggling," I took I deep breath, being reminded of the one on my back.

"(Y/n)... I have seen them. I didn't want to ask, I assumed it was personal. But I've seen them, the ones on your arms and shoulders, and chest."

"It is personal, but I think you deserve to know."

"Thank you for trusting me. Do you need to talk about it anymore?"

"...I- I thought I was over it until... You know, when he tracked me. I called you because you were the closest person. But in all honesty, I wanted my dad. I- if he's harsh on you, it's only because he doesn't want what happened to me to ever happen again. Once he sees how great you are, he'll warm up to you," I laughed slightly, wiping a tear from my eye. "Does that help?"

"Absolutely. I will make sure he knows I will not ever do that to you, and nothing will ever happen to you like that again."

After a minute of silently staring out of my window I realized that I knew nothing about Lee's family.

"What about you? What's your family like?" I asked, sill looking at the puffy clouds in the distance, that threatened to come closer and rain on us. Lee perked up slightly at my ask.

"My mom passed away when I was really young, but my dad remarried."

"Siblings?"

"Just me and my dads." Dads. Two of them?

"Dads?"

"Mmhmm. My biological father's name is Guy, and my step dad is Kakashi. They have always been supportive to me, and I really appreciate that. T-that isn't weird, right?"

"Not at all. I bet if you told my brother he would ask you a whole bunch of questions about them. That's a good topic to bring up with Kenma. My question is when I get to meet them?"

"As soon as you want. They have heard a lot about you from me and Metal both," he laughed. "I was a little nervous about telling you about them. Most of the people I have dated thought it was weird..."

"Nah. People are dumb for thinking that it's weird for two men to love each other. It's normal enough," I sighed, and squeezed his hand. "I just think that you should love who you love. You know?"

"I know. Just like how I love you."

"You're so chummy sometimes," I giggled. "I love you too."

The car fell into another comfortable silence. We still had another four hours until we got there, but I was happy with that. I'm really enjoying this mostly quiet ride.

An hour later, Metal woke up.

"Papa, I have to pee," he said hurriedly. I looked in the side mirror at Metal, who looked like he really needed to go.

"Okay, dude. Can you hold it for five minutes? There is a gas station we can stop at."

"O-okay, but hurry..." Metal mumbled.

"I am going as fast as I can," he said, pressing on the gas just a little bit more.

We made it to a sketchy, worn down looking gas station, where Lee quickly took Metal in to use the restroom.

He was back out in a few minutes, with a few water bottles. They got back in, and we were off once again. Lee handed me a bottle, which made me realize how thirtsty I was.

"Thank you. I didn't even think I needed this, but I do," I ginned before taking a drink of the cold liquid. Lee drank some of his, and placed it in his cup holder before getting his box of Reese's pieces. I watched, then grabbed my own bag of gummy bears (or your favorite candy) and opened them.

"No problem. I was just thinking about you."

He was back on the road a minute later. Three hours left. Lee knew where he was going for a while seeing as it was a straight shot for a while, so he gave Metal his phone to play some games. The sun was beginning to set, too, and the clouds were rolling closer to us.

"I don't like the look of those clouds, honey," I said, the clouds got darker the closer we were.

"Hey, you know I am pretty good at driving. Do not worry for a second, you are safe with me," he confirmed, and the rain started. "Trust me?"

"Yeah. I trust you," the soft pitter patter of rain hitting the windshield was calming, knowing I was safe with him. He put his hand back on my leg, helping me relax even more.

Another hour passed, and Lee picked my hand up and brought it to his lips. He just held it there for a while, as if he was thinking. Ten minutes of the this later, he kissed it gently, and held it back on my leg. I chuckled slightly, the whole motion seemed so... Subconscious. He didn't even know he was doing it. He's such a prince sometimes.

Moments later, my phone started buzzing. I grabbed it with my empty hand, and saw my mom was calling.

"It's my mom," I said, pressing my phone to my ear. "Hello?"