Summary: [coffeeshop!AU] Gaara liked the routine of the coffee shop; his table at equal distance between the exit and the counter, the 45 degree orientation of his mug toward him. Then, shy, ludicrous Hot chocolate girl brought chaos onto his world.
It was rare pair month on tumblr, and I'm all about crack pairings as you may know. Hehehe. I wrote this for the prompt Hot Chocolate, and it turned out being fluffy. Enjoy! ^_^
-X-
Hot Chocolate Girl
By Clementive
-X-
Gaara always sat at the same large table near the window, at equal distance between the counter and the exit. He liked the order, the hierarchy of the coffee shop; students sat at the back, and lone workers sat closer the counter. He sat in-between them, strategically, so that no one would dare disrupt him.
Except her.
She sat across from his table, on a stool that winced and screeched when she pulled it back. Abruptly, he looked up from the email he was writing. She balanced her bag on her hip while holding a hot chocolate, her face flushed. He frowned, his thin lips pressed together. Surely, she would notice that she was creating chaos. Surely, she would leave and stop making so much noise.
No. He couldn't let her sit there.
She clumsily set her mug on the table, humming, and he closed his laptop screen, his eyebrow twitching sporadically.
The smell of peppermint and candy in melted chocolate rose, rose sweetly pungent. He opened his mouth, then closed it, shocked. She kept, moving, hesitant hands that pushed her bag content's until she withdrew a wrinkled paperback from its depth.
He flinched. A romance book.
"I'll buy you another..." Coldly, Gaara pointed at the green foam in her mug, "That. If you sit elsewhere."
"Excuse me?" She looked behind her, startled, her skin still flushed, her hand freezing over her winter hat she was about to take off.
"The smell..." he said slowly, as calmly as he could. "It's irritating."
"I apologize..."
She stood up, and bowed formally before reassembling her things, with trembling hands that caught and dropped things, and spilled and wiped hot chocolate. Gaara slowly rubbed his temples. She rambled apologies on and on, until she was gone.
Finally, silence.
Gaara opened his laptop again, sliding back into his routine, content.
Two hours later, he looked up from his screen, and she was still there, sitting at one of the commune table. Gaara wrinkled his nose, disgusted. The hot chocolate girl nibbled carefully at a cookie decorated with ludicrous blatant Christmas colours. Her body was twisted, her elbows pointing out awkwardly, and holding her book open in front of her.
Gaara sighed deeply, muttering darkly to himself. She was pure chaos, he decided.
He ordered a hot chocolate for her through thin lips. Even the name of the beverage was ridiculous; Green Light of Christmas.
"Here." He set the mug on her right, the handle oriented at 45 degrees toward her. She needed some order.
"Oh... There was no need, truly, sir." Flustered, she looked at the mug, then at him, and he grew irritated.
Her eyes were wide, soft, too pale to cover any emotion other than innocence. His gaze shifted to the cookie crumbs in front of her, on the pages of her book. She was concerned with him buying her a hot chocolate, with him standing there and looking at her, yet, she didn't care about the chaos she created around her, and how he, and others viewed it.
"I told you I would get you one if you moved," Gaara snapped icily as he buttoned up his coat. "Goodbye."
He spun on his heels before she could manage a proper thank you. All the way home, he straightened his coat, his bag. He made sure the hands of his watch were not delayed or early.
But he kept thinking about the chaotic hot chocolate girl and her ludicrous green mug.
He hoped he would never see her again.
-X-
The coffee shop was crowded, but no one sat next to him. Gaara narrowed his eyes at anyone approaching, until no one dared anymore. He needed to meet a deadline, and he didn't want any of those wild, excited fools to disrupt him. He took a quick sip of his Americano, and he kept typing.
He made a typo when hot chocolate girl entered the coffee shop.
He stiffened, staring at the blinking cursor on the screen, and the wavy red line beneath the word.
She pressed her romance book harder against her chest, shaking snow and the icy wind off her coat. Her eyes swept across the room, quickly averting him. She started to spin on her heels and leave, but her foot caught in the strap of a bag. She tumbled, a coffee mug went flying, and someone cursed.
Her voice rose, broken and erased by the curses of the customer. She apologized, and bowed.
Gaara closed his laptop impatiently.
"Take my place. It's too loud for me today."
"Thank you... There's no need." She looked at him with the same expressionless eyes, her mouth red and trembling over each word she wanted to say. She held up wet crumpled napkins in her hands. "I was about to-"
"I always mean what I say," he snapped irritably, then he turned toward the angry man with coffee dripping down his lap. "She apologized, now is there another problem?"
"No..." The man recoiled, and blanched, taking the napkins from Hinata's hands with shaking hands. "It's okay, Miss..."
She frowned, and he almost missed it, how her face changed, suddenly cold and angry. He paused, his hand on the door.
"I don't think I ever mean what I say," she whispered to herself. "If I do, no one listens."
He left.
-X-
She was sitting at his place. His mouth twisted, and curled back across his teeth in a sneer.
"Can I buy you a coffee?" she asked fast, gulping, when he reached the table.
Slowly, he removed the strap of his bag and set it, perfectly horizontal on the chair. She bit her below lip, until it shook, red, and she watched him eagerly. He narrowed his eyes at her like he had done many times before.
She remained where she was, flustered, tearing at her hands.
"Move," he hissed darkly. "This is my place."
"Oh," she moved to the seat across, and he winced when she bumped against the table. His jaw worked, the table was uneven, now a centimetre farther from the counter. He couldn't look away from the chaos she created.
"So what type of coffee...?"
"You read that line in your romance books? I do not wish to date you."
He straightened the table until it was once more adequate.
"No-no," she shuttered, waving her hands at him. Accidentally, she grazed his skin and his eyes widened, staring at the spot she had touched. She froze. "This is just as a thank-you for last time," she squeaked behind her hands.
"Hn, why would I take anything from someone who doesn't always mean what she says?"
She flinched.
"B-because," she started, blushing furiously, and closed her eyes, the veins of her neck bulging as she forced the words out. "I'll set it on the table, and it'll go to waste if you don't drink it."
"I don't care," he grumbled, and started to set up his working place, his laptop, his watch removed on the left.
"But I do. I do care." She pushed back her chair, the sound loud and terrible, now tilted back against the chair behind it. He glared at her, but she made her way to the counter, shuddering and stuttering, under her breath.
Cursing under his breath, he raised from his chair to set hers back on the floor.
"Americano," he then shouted, after her, and he winced at the strength of his voice. "None of that... green foam you like."
She looked back at him, a hand delicately tucking her hair behind her ear. She smiled and nodded once before leaning over the counter to order.
When she came back, she carefully put the mug on the table in front of him, her tongue between her lip in concentration.
"Thank you," he said and turned swiftly the handle of the mug at a 45 degree angle.
After hesitating, she sat down with her hot chocolate, green foam over its rim. She quickly pulled out her book from her bag. Her face burnt behind her book, the words swimming across her vision. She felt him move in front of her, and she willed herself not to close her eyes and withdraw. Not give up. She yelped, as he pressed her book down, with one pale finger.
"Gaara."
"What?"
"My name is Gaara."
"I'm Hinata," replied the hot chocolate girl as she picked up her hot chocolate.
She blew the steam over her mug, and his routine turned sweet and chaotic.
Yet, he didn't leave.
-X-
Merry Christmas/happy Holidays, guys! :D
I may expand this story into a collection of coffeeshop!AU or more GaaHina short oneshots, I'm still unsure... Anyway, let me know what you think! :)