Lee was buzzing the entire day. Coffee was something he should not drink. Sasuke and Naruto acted like they were going to kill themselves if they had to continue dealing with Lee. He was just so awake!

Lee was bummed out that he didn't see Gaara at all that day. He wondered what Gaara's schedule looked like. Would it be weird to ask? Probably. Maybe he could subtly get it from Gaara without outright asking him. Maybe? Speaking of Gaara, Lee had seen Kankuro around way more times than Lee even realized. He didn't know Kankuro was in his lunch period or his gym period. Huh.

"At the risk of not being able to get you to shut up, what is your new job like?" Sasuke asked and Lee turned to him, slight flush of the cheeks.

"Am I really talking that much?" Lee asked and Sasuke, Naruto and their mutual friend Sakura even nodded. "I am so sorry. Gaara made me coffee this morning and I just... I feel like I am tasting colors right now."

"Sheesh. What did he put in your coffee?" Naruto asked and Lee shrugged.

"Who is Gaara?" Sasuke asked and Lee thought for a minute on how to explain him.

"He's short... Well not short short. Probably Naruto's height which is still shorter than me." Naruto glared. "He has messy bright red hair and like... aqua colored eyes. Oh! He has a tattoo on his forehead and he looks like he hasn't slept in 3 years." Naruto snapped his fingers.

"Oh yeah! I know him. He's in my English class. Super quiet. Kind of creepy." Lee glared at Naruto but before he could say something, Sasuke bit back.

"At least he isn't stupid. If he's in your English class, that means he's a year younger than us since someone failed." Naruto blushed and looked sheepish.

"Yeah Naruto, who are you to judge someone?" Sakura scolded and Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Gaara is very nice." Lee said simply and went to work on his papers.

"Are you really using study hall to study today?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"I use it to study every day." Lee retorted and turned back to his work. Naruto grinned and looked at Sasuke and Sakura and all of them stared at Lee, wondering how long it would take him to realize that he was too fidgety to actually focus on anything.

It took less than a minute.

"Did you know my job is looking for a reliable dish washer?" He said and Naruto looked excited.

"They have an opening?! Awesome! You think they'll hire me?" Sasuke scoffed.

"Naruto he said reliable. Plus, no one wants you to wash their dishes. They want them cleaned." Naruto pouted at Sasuke and glowered mumbling to himself.

"Well, if anyone would like a job I am sure they will look into hiring you." Lee said simply and tried to focus on his work again.

Lee hadn't seen Gaara at all that day and he was pretty bummed out. Naruto and Sasuke followed him to the café, even though it was across the street, they'd never been.

What was interesting to them was who was behind the counter. Lee thought the staff was only Temari, Kankuro and Gaara. Apparently, their friend Shikamaru worked there as well.

"Oh wow look who it is!" Naruto laughed gleefully and Shikamaru groaned.

"Oh man, what a drag. What are you doing here?" He asked with a tired expression.

"Lee works here now." Sasuke commented simply and was immersed with the large drink selection. "Naruto was also looking to be a dishwasher."

"Not a chance. We actually need them cleaned." Shikamaru enunciated and Naruto sighed loudly and rolled his eyes.

"Why does everyone think I can't clean?"

"Because you can't." Lee supplied flippantly and looked around, trying to find Gaara but not seeing him.

"When do you start?" Shikamaru asked and Sasuke nudged Lee because he wasn't paying attention.

"Huh? Oh. I am not sure. I have to ask Temari. It was never discussed."

"Well if you're looking for her, she isn't here right now. Hold on, I'll call her." Shikamaru dialed the number and with a bored expression waited patiently. "Yeah, hi. Lee is here... Yes that's exactly it... What?... That doesn't even make sense... Are you sure?... Okay. I'll ask." Shikamaru looked up from the phone. "So there was something she had to do right now. You can start whenever you want. I'll be training you." Lee felt a stabbing pain of disappointment. He wasn't sure why he was hopeful that Gaara would train him. He wasn't even a barista.

"Is now too early?" Lee asked and Shikamaru chuckled and put the phone back to his ear.

"You were right, he wants to start now... Yeah yeah, I know how to do this... Don't worry... You're so annoying stop talking... Okay okay. I'll see you soon. Yeah, bye." Shikamaru hung up and Sasuke was smirking at him. "What?"

"You and the boss?" Shikamaru's cheeks colored and he glowered.

"What makes you say that?" He asked with his eyes narrowed.

"Just guessing." Sasuke laughed and Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, Lee you can start your training today if you want. You'll only be here until five, the latest, though because Temari wants you on mornings. She said she just wanted you to get in the swing of using the machine. So come back here. Actually, go put your stuff in the back bathroom first. There's cubbies for employees." Lee nodded excitedly and gave a smile to Naruto and Sasuke and rushed into the kitchen.

He found himself even more disappointed seeing that Gaara wasn't even in the kitchen. How sad. He shook his head out from those thoughts and walked into the bathroom and got an empty cubby and put his belongings down. He looked at the other ones and they all had their name tags stuck to the top part of the wood so you knew who's cubby was who's. Gaara's had a surprising amount of clothes in it and really chunky looking nonslip shoes. There was also a couple of books. He sure kept a lot here. Lee looked up at Gaara's nametag, which read "Gaara. Baker". Everyone's nametag was handwritten so when he saw Gaara's he wondered if that was his handwriting. It was very neat and almost mechanical. Everything was completely even and straight. He'd never been able to write like that. Kankuro's was barely even English and Temari's was script. There were also three other nametags. There were four baristas, a dishwasher and another baker, according to nametags. Lee wondered when he'd get his own.

Once he was done in the bathroom, he walked up front and Shikamaru dug in a cabinet under the bar.

"What size are you?" He asked.

"Medium." Lee responded curiously. He was given two shirts, a hat and an apron. They were all a rusty red color with "Just Desserts" written on it in a menacing font. Lee took the shirts back to the bathroom and changed. He looked weird in an apron and a hat. The apron was only one for your hips; it had three large pockets in them. Lee put his phone and a couple of pens in it and walked back to the front.

Naruto and Sasuke were sitting on a couch in the corner, drinking something and both playing on their phones. Every now and again one of them would nudge the other one just to irritate the other.

When Lee paid attention to Shikamaru, he noticed his uniform was slightly different. His shirt was white.

"Why is your shirt a different color?" Lee asked and Shikamaru pulled out a binder and opened it.

"I'm the night manager. If you noticed, Temari wears one too." He said simply and gathered Lee's attention to the book in front of them. "These are all of our drinks, what's in them and how they're made. Fairly simple. Whenever you don't know what something is, just ask. Now back to the espresso machine..."

Lee's head ached with all of the knowledge he was given in such a short time. Being a barista was a lot harder than he thought it was! Apparently, the espresso grinder had to be adjusted based on the temperature because it reacted differently. After the shot was ground, it had to be tamped in the pressurize portafilter with 75 pounds of pressure, release, 20 pounds of pressure. If the grounds were too fine, it would burn the shot and if they were too coarse, the shot would be watered down. The perfect shot takes 20-25 seconds for 1 ounce.

Lee decided then, if he ever went out to get a drink, he was tipping his barista.

After the three hours had passed, Lee learned how to create macrofoam with the steam rod, he learned some of the drink names, the difference between a latte, cappuccino, flat white, macchiato. He hoped he retained all of the information. Shikamaru gave him a small quiz at the end of the shift.

"What's a flat white?"

"A latte with just steamed milk, no foam."

"What's a dry cappuccino?"

"A shot of espresso with the rest of the cup dry foam."

"What degree angle should you hold the cup to the steam rod?"

"At a 45 degree angle."

Lee was amazed he remembered as much as he did. He was really trying. This entire time, Sasuke and Naruto were on the couches. They did their homework together, drank a stupid amount of craft soda, they even shared some pastries. Lee bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. He'd have to ask how their date went after he left. Since it was the weekend, they decided they would go to Lee's house and wait for him. Lee wasn't worried about it, they usually messed with Kakashi the whole time.

Lee walked into the bathroom to get his stuff when he heard a figure behind him. He turned his head and there was Gaara in his sweater and jeans. Lee's face lit up.

"Gaara! Hello!" Gaara always seemed confused every time Lee looked excited to see him. He waved.

"Hello, Lee." He walked to the cubby and hung up his bookbag.

"I was wondering if I would see you before I left. When do you usually work?" Lee asked, hoping it wasn't too forward of him.

"I'm almost always here. I just wasn't here now because I was working on a project. Temari text me and told me to give you her number so you can talk about hours." Gaara pulled out his phone, it was a really old flip-phone. Lee stared at it in confusion. Why did Gaara have such an old phone?

"Okay!" Lee quickly grabbed his phone from his apron pocket and Gaara gave him Temari's number. "W-well what if I need you to let me in or something in the morning? Shouldn't I have your number too? I-if that's okay, I mean." Lee wondered why he was so flustered. Gaara stared at him for a few seconds, nodded slowly, and gave Lee his number as well. "Thank you Gaara! I will see you when Temari tells me to come in next!" Lee waved excitedly and Gaara raised his hand at the wave and Lee was out.

Lee never realized a bathroom could be so stuffy and warm.

Sasuke, Lee and Naruto all loaded up into Sasuke's car. It was a beat up old 1999 Mercedes ML350 which was basically a mom car and he was teased relentlessly for it until one day he snapped "Well why don't you drive me with one of your cars? Oh wait. I'm the only one with a car." From that point on, they only made fun of his mom car every so often.

When they pulled up to Lee's house, Lee was so excited to tell his dad and Kakashi about his new job that he jumped out of the car. Naruto and Sasuke laughed and followed him inside.

"Dad! Kakashi!" Lee scrambled through the house to the kitchen where they normally were when they were home. He found the two sitting at the table eating dinner. Lee hadn't realized it was dinner time.

"Yes?" Gai asked and ate a piece of broccoli. Sasuke and Naruto walked in behind Lee and sat at the table and started picking at the food. Kakashi swatted Naruto on the side of the head, but handed them plates anyway.

"I got it! I got the job! I am a barista now!" Guy jumped up and hugged Lee with much gusto and Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto had to sit miserably through Guy's pep talk about "youthful energy" and "work ethic" and then the two cried and hugged each other.

"Why do we come here?" Sasuke asked Naruto and Kakashi stared him down.

"At least you don't live here. This happens daily." Kakashi sighed and continued to eat his food.

"That sounds so bad. No wonder we're your only friends, Lee." But Lee and Guy were still having a moment and not paying the slightest bit of attention.

"Lee got someone's number." Naruto announced, trying to rile Guy and Kakashi up, but Lee didn't miss a beat.

"Did you notice that before or after your date with Sasuke?" Naruto and Sasuke blanched and started yelling about how gross that would be and Lee looked at Kakashi. "You should have seen them. They were sitting on the couch, doing homework and sharing food."

"Aw, how sweet. Did you have a nice date? Did you use protection? Oh, silly me, that isn't until the third date. How many dates is this?" Sasuke glowered and in a show of his manliness, shoved Naruto off his chair.

"I would never date that loser." Naruto jumped off the floor and pointed at him.

"Hey, who are you calling a loser?! You know, it takes one to know one! You're the loser Sasuke." Lee smiled in delight at the situation he caused and ate his dinner listening to his two best friends verbally abuse each other.

A part of him wondered if that was a date though. At least no one asked him about Gaara.