Okay, this is chapter 5. Sorry it came so late, I've just started my Freshman year in highschool, and.. Well, yeah, busy busy. x3
So yeah, I hope you like it. Nothing really to say about this chapter.. You'll have to find out yourself. :3

Disclaimer: I don't own Starbucks, Dr. Pepper, or any of the characters. I do own some toothpaste, though. I should use that right about now...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next week or so went on completely normally. It was as if Sasuke wasn't even there.. Gaara only saw him once every morning, but to his dismay, they rarely exchanged any words more than a quick 'Hello' or 'What's up?'. Gaara would then move onto the cash register and Sasuke would turn left to go to the café, where he had quickly gained recognition from many of the local girls, who now came in daily to ogle at him from behind bookshelves. Some were even brave enough to go up and order coffee or some sort of pastry.

On another note, Gaara no longer had to stop at Starbucks everyday. Instead, Sasuke came to him just as he had once gone to Sasuke. It was a rather pleasant change, actually, because he never really liked Starbucks itself.

But a few things changed on Friday afternoon. Gaara was pretty happy that it was going to be Saturday tomorrow; it was his day off, and he would be able to relax a little bit. Gaara entered the store as usual. He looked around, immediately spotting Sasuke. Wait, why was he here this early? Sasuke had never come to work earlier than Gaara. The raven-haired teen had his back towards the door, and seemed to be looking at the stand in front... The Month's best sellers. Immediately, Gaara's blood went cold as ice. Those books... He sometimes left his poems and notes in them for people to find...

Quickly, he made his way over to the table, standing next to Sasuke and looking over his shoulder. Sure enough, there was a scrap of paper clasped in his long, pale hand, and he was reading over it with a stoical expression. When he heard Gaara approach, he glanced over his shoulder before returning to looking at the scrap of paper in his hands. It was to late.. Sasuke had read the poem. And though Gaara hadn't signed it or anything, it was blindingly obvious who wrote the little love note about a certain raven-haired boy.

Sasuke turned, staring at Gaara with a emotionless expression. Gaara himself was staring at the ground, a blush coming across his face. Sasuke finally tore into the silence.

"Uh... Weird things people put into books, huh?" He said casually, still staring down at Gaara, trying to catch his eye.

Gaara swore in his mind. God dammit, it was so obvious he had written it, why was Sasuke acting like he didn't know? But, very slowly, he nodded his head, the time ticking away at turtle-like pace as they stood, facing each other.

Sasuke stared at him for another minute or two. "Uhh... Yeah. Looks like I gotta get to work. Meet me here on your break, we can hang out for a while."

Gaara nodded slowly, and Sasuke gave him one last look before turning and darting away near the café. Gaara let out his breath, feeling slightly dizzy. Great. He looked over at the table, the books stacked neatly once more. He hadn't seen if Sasuke had taken the poem or left it, but it was no use looking now... His secret was out, and there was nothing he could do about it.

He replayed the conversation in his mind over and over before finally taking the last sentence into realization. Sasuke wanted to meet him... Right here... On break? What a bittersweet scene...

The rest of the time before break flew by relatively fast. Gaara had little work to do; it was slow today, for some reason, and the only thing he had to deal with were the odd quirks of Manager Kakashi, who decided he wanted to move some of the sections of books around for a fresher flow of Fung Shui or something...

When his break came, he immediately fled to the bathroom, where he stood for a while, trying to figure out what to do. Of COURSE he was going to go with Sasuke... Damn it, the other boy was probably waiting by now... But where were they even going? What was he going to say? He left the room with a feeling of dread filling the pit of his stomach.

Walking past the Children's and Art section, he moved through the shelves of books, the front finally coming into view. Sasuke was standing there, leaning up against the wall.. Man, he looked hot... So cool, sophisticated.. Like he was merely standing without reason, not waiting for HIM of all people. When Sasuke locked eyes with Gaara, it nearly stopped him dead in his tracks, but he forced himself to keep in motion.

"Hey, you came." Sasuke said softly. It almost sounded as if he didn't expect Gaara to show up, as if something like that had happened to him before. Who knows? Maybe it had.

Gaara could do nothing but nod, and a very slight grin came across Sasuke's face. "You need to talk more, you know that?" He said. "Come on. Let's get something to eat."

Despite being told that he needed to speak up more, Gaara nodded in silence, following the dark-haired boy out of the store. Sasuke seemed to be leading him in the opposite direction of the store, a road Gaara rarely traveled. Before long, the other boy turned once more, making his way into a darker part of the city, where clothing and jewelry stores were scattered within rows of Tattooing places and Piercing parlors. He still said nothing to Gaara, though, so the younger boy just continued following, staring around at the new surroundings.

But, no, wait... This wasn't new. He had been here before... This was somewhere around the parts where Kankuro and Temari worked. In fact, they were probably somewhere around here right now. Gaara piped up.

"Uh... Where are we going?" He asked, managing a sentence without stuttering. Sasuke glanced over. "Just come on, there's a good place near here.. This is just a detour I make, it's a shortcut through the city... Back roads is all." The place was getting more and more crowded, people coming out of the shops, people dealing, people selling drugs from the alleyways. Sasuke reached back, taking a hold of Gaara's thin wrist and moving more quickly through the crowd.

The cool touch of the older boy made Gaara's hair stand on end; it was like electricity, and it sent a shock running through his body, unlike anything he had ever felt. When they were through the crowd, his arm was released, and he longed for the warmth to return, practically feeling the smooth touch of Sasuke's hand.

"Hey." Sasuke said, staring over at Gaara. Gaara looked up from staring at his wrist, slightly embarrassed. "You coming in?" The raven-haired teen was holding open a door to a dimly lit place. Gaara nodded quickly, walking in and looking around, still rubbing his wrist subconsciously. The place was a bit brighter in here, and it smelled like smoke and metal. Sasuke walked past Gaara, leading him through the building, wooden floorboards squeaking under their weight as they made their way to a table in the corner. They sat down. Gaara must have looked out of it or something, because Sasuke was now repeating himself, trying to get the other's attention.

"Hey. HEY. Gaara." Gaara looked up quickly; he had been staring down at the black table. "Y-yeah?" Sasuke continued. "This place isn't really good for food. Just sort of a more quiet café, you know? Get a soda or something." So when the waitress came, clad in black with rainbow shoelaces tied around her wrists and a grin on her face, ready to take their order, Gaara did just that. Soon enough, both him and Sasuke were sitting in silence, sipping at Dr. Peppers and saying nothing.

As usual, Sasuke broke the silence. "So you wrote that poem, huh?" Gaara looked up, a blush coming across his features. He bit his lip, looking down. Sasuke studied his expression for a moment, looking at the other boy's eyes before sighing and leaning back, shutting his own. "You got part of that poem wrong, though." Gaara said nothing, just continued sitting, staring down in embarrassment at the table. So this was it, Sasuke had invited him here just to make fun of him about his stupid poetry... Maybe the chemistry was coming to a halt.

Sasuke only continued. "You said I didn't notice you in it. When I worked at Starbucks; you said I never noticed your face or remembered you coming in each day. I did." Gaara didn't move, but quite honestly, he was shocked. If Sasuke had noticed, why hadn't he said anything? "Y-you did?" The raven-haired boy nodded calmly, now sipping his drink again, staring thoughtfully out the window. The café was below ground, so he ended up staring at people's shoes as they stepped by; people who were probably unaware that their feet were being surveyed.

Sasuke seemed.. A lot quieter all of the sudden. A lot more real. Different than what Gaara had expected. He decided to be the one to break into the silence this time. "If you noticed me, why didn't you say anything?" He asked. Sasuke didn't turn to look at him, though he was trying to catch the boy's dark eyes. Sasuke continued staring at the feet going by outside. Sandals, combat boots, tennis shoes, flip-flops, flip-flops, tennis shoes.. He answered without looking over. "Scared, maybe."

Gaara found it completely foreign that such a cool person could be swayed by HIM of all people. Scared? Sasuke? No.. The two words just didn't go together. It was like... Like... Hot and cold. Couldn't go together as anything more than opposites. "Scared of what... ME?"

Sasuke shook his head. He stopped looking at the people walking by and turned back to Gaara, taking another sip of his soda. It made a slurping noise, all gone.. So he had began to pop ice cubes into his mouth, sucking on them. "Not scared of you. Scared of talking to you, I guess. Dunno why, it's really not like me. I guess... I like you. But I like people better if they make the first move."

Gaara took in the reason, thinking it over in his mind, staring down at the tabletop and scratching at it gently with one of his black fingernails. He was unsure of what exactly to say to that.. Really, what could he say? "A-are you still scared?"

Sasuke shrugged, a bit of an annoyed expression coming across his face, making his distant one disappear. "I'm talking to you, aren't I?" At that, Gaara smiled a bit, then nodded. He felt eyes on him and he looked up, finding that Sasuke was staring at him. He gave the older boy an inquiring look.

Sasuke smiled a little, putting his hand in his glass, fishing out another piece of ice, and sucking on it gently. "You look good when you smile." He said as his answer, crunching down on the frozen water in his mouth. "T-thanks..." Gaara managed to mumble. He took a sip of his own half-gone soda, now at a complete loss for words.

It was silent for a few more minutes before Sasuke stood up. He produced a piece of paper from his pocket, scribbling something down on it before sliding it towards Gaara. The younger boy looked down at it. In print handwriting was a cell-phone number and what looked like an instant messenger screen-name. He was still staring down at them when Sasuke spoke. "Call me sometime this weekend. We can hang out or something." And with that, he turned on his heel, leaving a couple dollars on the table for the drinks, and exiting the shop without another word.

Gaara stared blankly at the place Sasuke had been standing a minute before, then moved his eyes back to the piece of paper held in his hands. Then, he stood up, walking past a few people and walking out the door. He stared around at the scenery; Sasuke was no where in sight. He was at the corner of the dark street his siblings worked at and one of the central parks of the city. Deciding not to take the 'shortcut' Sasuke had led him through, he went to the right, walking through Central Square towards the bookstore.

God.. This park was full of couples. The Sakura were in full bloom because of the season, and people were out viewing them on romantic dates. He passed some of his old classmates; Neji and Ino. Ino was sitting in Neji's lap, and they were kissing, a blush coming across the female's cheeks, Neji's eyes half open. Gaara turned away, exiting the Square. All right, that was the last time he was going through THAT place... He continued walking, still staring ahead, and now turning on the corner of the right street. The scrap of paper given to him from Sasuke was still clasped in his hand as though some rare relic, and he wasn't thinking straight- All of the sudden, things were changing for him... I mean, really, he could practically call Sasuke a FRIEND now. His only friend. He entered the bookstore, walking almost robotically to the register. Sasuke was no where to be seen.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There you have it. The time I take writing chapters of this will probably be a bit more spread out from now on because of school.. Sorry guys. And everyone said they'd be alright with a lemon, so expect one later in the story. :D
I really need a beta to read over my rough drafts, too.. So message me or comment or do what you want if you might be interested in claiming the job. Also, if you have any requests for fanfictions, tell me, okee?
Last thing- If anyone went to/is going to ACen or Reactor cons in Illinois this year, tell me.
Byebyee