Disclaimer: We do not own Naruto or any of the characters, and this piece of fanfiction exists for the sole purpose of entertainment.

Pairing: NaruGaa

Genre: romance, humor

Rating: PG-13

Words: 2895

Warnings: language

A/N: This story is the result of stress-induced, reality-avoiding roleplay. Gaara written by LilPurplFlwr and Naruto written by Futago no Seishi; edited by Futago no Seishi. Coffee shop AU courtesy of the brilliant mind of LilPurplFlwr. This story is basically just an excuse for us to abuse the term Coffee Bae and allow Gaara the chance to circumvent any and all of Naruto's cheesy attempts at flirting.

Like You a Latte

Chapter 1: Grind

It wasn't so much that Naruto had a caffeine addiction. Sure, he loved him some heart-racing, glucose-ramping energy in the form of bittersweet liquid goodness. But really, he kept on frequenting the coffee shop because he straight up had a crush on the barista that worked the closing shifts on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.

Yes, he frequented this particular establishment often enough to learn Coffee Bae's schedule. No, he had no shame about giving the other man that mental title.

Signs for pumpkin-flavored seasonal drinks peppered the windows as he walked up to the door, heart doing a little flip flop of anticipation at seeing Gaara. Today was the day; he was going to ask Gaara out. And if woefully unsuccessful, this would be the day that he resolved to abstain from coffee.

The night was going by so. slow. Gaara stared over the paltry collection of customers scattered amongst the tables. No one studied on a Saturday night if they didn't have to and, obviously around here, no one had a deadline for tomorrow. They had a grand total of 27 minutes before he could kick their tech-addled, procrastinating asses out into the street so he could lock up and clear out.

He was tempted to start the self-cleaning cycle on the espresso machine when a flash of blond caught his periphery. He knew that yellow blur anywhere. Naruto came in for coffee almost every night since Gaara started working, and the insomniac in him was growing fond of the fellow night owl. At first he had found the guy alarmingly friendly, but now Naruto just seemed refreshingly chipper. The sullen part-timer in him, however, was decidedly more homicidal that the man decided that coming in for coffee 25 minutes before closing was a good idea.

"Hi, Gaara!" Naruto chimed cheerfully as he stepped through the door, flashing pearly whites in what he hoped was a charming smile. He always came during the tail end of Gaara's shift in the hopes that he'd be able to have more time to speak with the other man. He once made the mistake of swinging by right after work and, not only was Coffee Bae annoyingly unavailable (the gall to actually serve other customers!), but he even had his order taken and completed by another barista entirely. Absolutely unacceptable. He had chugged his mocha in quiet petulance on that whole drive home.

"Looking good tonight." Naruto's eyebrows jumped up briefly in suggestion as he delivered the pick-up line.

Besides, if he was going to continue to make a complete fool of himself while flirting, it was probably better to have less of an audience.

Naruto admired the way that Gaara's thin lips curved downward ever so slightly, giving his resting expression an adorably sullen touch. Plus, the other man appeared to be slightly overdue for a trim, as his bangs fell just a touch lower on his forehead to frame his deep-set eyes. He was of the opinion that Gaara should grow his hair out a bit; the shag gave him a bit of smolder that Naruto found just irresistible.

"Thank you," Gaara intoned, sounding automated despite his attempt to interject some liveliness to match the other's preternatural energy. "I did laundry yesterday." Friday evenings were a great time to use his apartment complex's washer and dryer since it seemed that most of the tenants had other plans. Apparently Friday nights were a "thing" and it was normal for people to "go out." This was all according to Kankuro, so the validity of the explanation was debatable.

He moved toward the register and typed in his employee code to unlock the tablet screen. "Is it mocha tonight?" he asked, brows furrowed slightly. Despite consistent patronage, Naruto had a frustrating habit of changing up his order, leaving Gaara discomfited and unable to predict the regular's request.

Sometimes Naruto wasn't sure if Gaara was just trolling him with his responses, but he laughed regardless at the monotone answer. It was part of Gaara's appeal, that blunt disinterest. He always had a hilariously banal response to every single one of Naruto's attempted pick-up lines.

Naruto walked up to the register and leaned his hip against the counter, casually casting his eyes down Gaara's body to look at his admittedly very clean clothes. The words came out of his mouth before he realized just exactly what he was saying.

"It'll be a shame when they get dirty later."

Executive functioning caught up to his gutter mouth and Naruto's eyes widened in realization that, oh crap, he really jumped the gun with that insinuation. First step: Ask Coffee Bae out on a date. He was definitely too old for one-night stands.

He coughed nervously as a reflex and busied himself by looking at the promotional poster for the limited-time drinks on the menu board above the other's head. He was unusually glad for Gaara's focus on customer service. Yes, he was here to get a drink—of course. "Ah, no. Give me one of these pumpkin spice lattes. Double shot, please."

The tablet had unlocked to a blank screen. Frowning at the lag, Gaara crossed his arms only long enough to restrain himself from stabbing the frozen device. "Clothes get dirty, Naruto. I don't understand what shame has to do with anything," he said, filling the void of emptying patience as he waited for the order screen to load.

A beleaguered sigh left him when he was finally able tap in the request. Turning the screen around, he motioned for the blond to choose a payment method. "I mean, you're not ashamed of that, are you?" Gaara nodded at the streak of gray at the edge of the other's shirt. It looked like Naruto might have brushed against an old metal surface of sorts.

"Huh?" His gaze followed Gaara's eyes and noticed, for the first time today, the dark mark by his waist where his button-down tucked into his trousers. Naruto felt the heat creep up his neck and self-consciously moved his free arm to cover the stain while he inserted his credit card into the chip reader. Why, in fact, he was ashamed of his dirty clothes.

Naruto wasn't sure whether to be thankful for Gaara's obliviousness in the face of his lewd come-on or horrified by the other's powers of perception. "Oh. I didn't know that was there."

He withdrew his credit card to quell the obnoxious beeping. He figured he might as well ask now before he lost more nerve due to embarrassing shirt stains or bypassed flirting. Fixing a practiced look of confidence on his face, he reached out his hand and placed it on the counter near the other's—not quite touching but close enough to infer intimacy. "Actually, Gaara. I was wondering if you were free tonight after you close up."

Swinging the tablet back and moving away toward the espresso machine, Gaara set the measurement for a double shot and began gathering the pumpkin spice flavoring. "Free?" Gaara normally found their conversations pleasant while performing the mind-numbing task of making caffeinated concoctions on demand, but this was an odd question outside of their normal fare of weather and maybe synopses of their day.

As he handled the steaming pitcher for the milk, he settled to answer Naruto's inquiry to the best of his understanding. "I don't have errands to run after I close." He paused for a beat and thought maybe they had advanced to a new level of propriety, so he hesitantly followed up with, "Are you… free?"

Naruto watched the barista deftly handle the espresso machine, pulling his shot and steaming the milk with practiced ease. He really liked watching Gaara work with his hands because of their graceful efficiency—his movements were always calmly precise, which was a stark contrast to his clumsy gestures. Their differences were probably what drew him to the other man in the first place. Something about opposites attracting and whatnot.

In the two months he had casually known the other man, Naruto had never once heard Gaara sound anything less than nonchalantly blunt. The mild hesitation in his voice as he pondered the question was a welcomed new development. Perhaps Gaara had understood his attempts at flirting all this time.

"Of course I'm free," he responded with a grin that was potentially too self-satisfied. "That's why I'm asking you out on a date."

The pouring of milk into the cup hiccupped as Gaara's movements were interrupted by an uncontrollable twitch. For the first time in weeks, a substituent of a drink ended up on the counter and floor instead of a cup, and if his entire field of vision hadn't narrowed to a point and his heart hadn't skipped and seized, he would have been mildly bewildered at his ineptitude.

"I—" Gaara looked up from the ruined drink to meet Naruto's startlingly bright expression and he could hear his pulse speed up. "You—" In his disorientation, he grabbed the nearest towel and twisted it between his hands for grounding, completely and utterly lost at what to do, to say, to be. "W-what?" he finally whispered, searching the other's eyes for an answer to a question he didn't know.

With some bewilderment of his own, Naruto watched as Gaara's hand twitched and sloshed perfectly steamed milk onto the counter right after he delivered his date invitation. The panicked expression on the other's face said it all, and the stuttering single words that Gaara managed only proved to emphasize the immensity to which he had just fucked up.

Gaara had no idea Naruto was into him.

"Oh my god," he breathed out shakily as he watched Gaara uncharacteristically twist a bar towel between his hands in what could only be described as an anxious tic. "I'm so sorry, Gaara. I thought you knew I liked you." He shifted awkwardly in place, shoving both hands into his pockets in order to stop his own nervous wringing. His heart thudded aggressively in his chest and he took a deep, measured breath to try to calm down.

This… this was liking someone? Gaara squeezed the fibers between his fingers even harder. How was he to know? The pit of his stomach churned and he felt faint and unable to speak. This felt horrible.

"I," he swallowed, throat heavy and tight, "did not know." It was like gravity was flickering on and off, and he swayed on his feet, having only the vaguest sense of self-preservation to untangle his grip from the towel to brace himself using the edge of the sink.

Broken with misaligned attempts to regulate his breathing, Gaara managed to ask, "What do I say?"

The pained looked on Gaara's face made Naruto almost reach out reflexively to comfort the other man, but he managed to stop the impulsive jerk of his body forwards once the sensible part of his mind reminded him that physical contact would probably worsen this situation. Instead, he offered what he thought was a reassuring smile and softened the tone of his voice. "You don't have to say anything."

Taking another slow breath and counting to five helped to ease some of the tension in his chest. "I was wrong to assume," he clarified for Gaara's sake, now wiser with the knowledge that the other man may have more difficulty with social cues than he had previously thought. He squashed the urge to re-evaluate what he remembered of Gaara's responses to all his poorly veiled attempts at flirting.

"I do like you, though," he continued pensively after a moment. Better to be truthful, he figured. "You're a cool guy, Gaara. I'd still like to spend some time with you tonight—if you're comfortable with that."

According to that line of logic, it was possible to make a decision; spending time with someone was based on (a) liking them and (b) them being cool—whatever that meant. Gaara liked Naruto just fine, although the blond's taste, both in coffee drinks and people considered cool, was questionable. After all, between them, Naruto clearly had all the cool factor, as evinced by that self-assured smile and demeanor he was treated to at the end of every shift for the past several weeks.

Staring at the spreading puddle on the floor to collect his final thoughts, he closed his eyes in hopes that the removal of the visual chaos would reestablish his equilibrium. When ready, he held the other's gaze steady and inquired as evenly as possible, "All right. What did you have in mind?"

Naruto had been expecting a polite rejection after the previous turn in their conversation and was not prepared for the intense look that Gaara levied his way. He blinked furiously in surprise for a bit before regaining his bearings, albeit mildly hot under the collar again due to the prolonged eye contact. Smolder indeed.

"Um," he faltered for a moment, running through the prepared list of activities he had initially intended to suggest when he set out earlier to whisk Coffee Bae off of his proverbial feet. He pondered the intimacy of each potential activity and erred on the side of caution, settling for one that could ostensibly pass for a friendly hangout. "How about we grab something to eat? The restaurant down the block has a late-night happy hour that's pretty nice."

He considered Gaara for a moment and suddenly had a flare of doubt regarding his cuisine choice. "Do you like sushi?"

"A late-night happy hour," Gaara repeated, rolling the words around as if that would help him better understand what they entailed. He stooped on autopilot to mop at the spilt milk, the sense of familiar annoyance at the menial task a welcome respite from the rest of the bedlam in his mind.

"Sushi?" he mumbled, mostly to himself. He had seen colorful pictures of the aforementioned food item but he certainly never ventured out of his way to attempt to eat something that wasn't all that common where he grew up. Sushi was raw fish, right? No one was stupid enough to risk eating raw fish in the middle of his desert hometown. But this was the city now. It made sense that seafood could easily be packed, transported, and served without bacterial infection.

Coming to a conclusion and straightening up from the crouch by the damp floor, he responded, "That's fine."

Naruto let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Okay, he could totally do this. They were going on a maybe-sort-of-date and it was going to be fantastic. This was the start to a rom-com saga that would end in him cavorting Gaara into the sunset astride a majestic white mare. In no way possible was he going to stick his foot into his mouth again with double entendres while sitting in a dimly-lit restaurant across from Coffee Bae.

"All right," he nodded, mostly for his own reassurance since Gaara was still busying himself with actual work tasks, "sounds like a plan." He shot a quick glance down at his wristwatch to note the time: 10 minutes to close.

"Mind if I stay until you get off?" Foot already in mouth again—yes, he was definitely off to a blazing start. Naruto quickly shuffled over to a nearby table and flopped down into the chair, staring pointedly at his phone screen in order to avoid making any other verbal mishaps. Looking at Gaara was liable to result in more embarrassing zingers because his libido was apparently out of control. He also needed to go chase down his confidence, which had jumped ship earlier during this conversation.

Apparently they had graduated to trading rhetorical questions, so Gaara had one of his own. "You did order this pumpkin travesty for here, right?" Finding the previously abandoned failure of a latte distasteful, Gaara dumped the entire setup into the sink and washed his hands to start afresh.

He glanced at Naruto from around the espresso machine only to find the blond staring intently at his phone. Something akin to disappointment settled at his core, despite now not having to expend energy making idle chit-chat.

He completed the order with a brutal decision that Naruto didn't deserve foam art and then walked the pumpkin spice latte over to the seated blond. Gaara set the cup down firmly—wouldn't want another spill—and deadpanned, "Enjoy."

Naruto startled as Gaara dropped the ceramic cup down in front of him, the plain microfoam shaking upon the contact. No latte art. His stomach sank as he peered hesitantly up at the other man, noting the pinched look on Gaara's face. He had the wherewithal to feel chagrined about hastily sitting down instead of waiting for aforementioned pumpkin travesty at the counter. Of course, Gaara was upset—Naruto had just asked him out and then basically ignored him right afterwards. Unintentionally lewd remarks were probably the least of Naruto's worries at this point.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry. I did." He mumbled the words in staccato as he reached out to take the handle of the cup. "Thanks," he offered with a sheepish smile up at Gaara before the other man walked away to flip the shop signboard to "Closed."

Naruto buried his face into the cup and dutifully drank the over-sweet beverage. Perhaps he would have to abstain from coffee after all.

-tbc-