On Sunday, Lee arrived at work at 4:45, just so he had time to see Gaara before he started working. He'd never understand the obsession his mind currently had, he didn't think much about it. He just caved.

Kakashi let him borrow the car for today since Sasuke and Naruto went home the day before. Lee would've walked, but the weather was still acting up. Lee told himself he'd run the track after work when the day was warmer.

When he walked in the door, Temari had gone through most of the opening process. Grinding the coffee, brewing the coffee, turning on all the machines, adjusting the espresso grinder, turning the TV's on to various channels. Lee was slightly bummed he couldn't be of more help. He spotted Gaara at the bar, holding a tray of sticky buns and putting them on display on a cake stand with a dome lid. His neck turned to meet Lee's face and Lee smiled brightly.

"Good morning, Gaara!" Temari stared at him in amazement.

"How much coffee did you drink?" She asked and Gaara sighed.

"He doesn't drink coffee. He's just a morning person." Temari looked aghast at the thought and covered her heart, as if the thought offended her. "My thoughts exactly."

"Man, I can't wait until you're trained enough to open so I can sleep if you're a morning person." Temari laughed and Lee shrugged with a smile.

"I would not mind. I am here to help." Temari smiled at him like she was fond of him. That made Lee feel nice, he didn't have too many friends. If his boss liked him enough, Lee would be happy to consider her a friend too.

When Lee was able to catch a break from the morning rush, he walked into the back to see what Gaara was up to. He needed to stock the front fridge with whole milk and almond milk, so he didn't feel too bad for abandoning Temari. It wasn't like there were any customers.

"Hello Gaara. What are you doing?" Lee asked cheerfully and Gaara glanced up with a scowl.

"An order cake." He said with disdain. "I hate customers and their stupid requests."

"Well what is the request?" Lee asked curiously and Gaara picked up the sheet and with contempt on his face, he read with a sneer,

"A gluten free, vegan vanilla cake with, get this, lemon curd and toasted coconut. Also since buttercream is too sweet, she wants to opt out of that and have me just smother her cake in jam." Lee bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. "Not only does lemon curd have butter, but it also has egg yolk in it. Now I have to go to the store to buy dairy free butter because I used all of it making the cake batter. I told her I would do a naked cake style if she didn't want the icing but jam was her bright idea. I never want to answer the phone ever again." Lee couldn't help the giggle, but tried to stifle it with his shoulder.

"I'm so-" Lee snorted, and composed himself. "I'm sorry, Gaara." Lee couldn't help but find the pout on his face ridiculously adorable.

"At least I don't have to make vegan buttercream..." Gaara sighed and spread coconut flakes on a sheet pan and threw it in the oven with much annoyance. Lee had to get out of the kitchen before he lost it.

It seems that Gaara wasn't the only unlucky one today with customers. Lee had his fair share of nasty people. He wondered if it was the weather or something. Did weather make people crazy? He was quite sure of it after working here.

So far he'd been yelled at for the following:

1) That they weren't a Starbucks (Sorry we have good coffee?)

2) That their coffee at a specialty coffee shop wasn't as cheap as it was at the gas station. (Sorry we have good coffee?)

3) That even though they had endless pastries to choose from, they did not offer breakfast sandwiches on the menu since they... just didn't do breakfast sandwiches.

4) That their macchiato wasn't what Starbucks' macchiato was ("Macchiato literally means "stained" which is because it's a shot of espresso "stained" with a dollop of steamed milk. It's not an upside down latte. If that is what you want, order an upside down latte." –Temari)

5) That different tea sizes are different prices. (I'm sorry you have to pay more for your larger drink)

6) Why is the large tea more expensive than the regular tea when they both use one bag? (Because the cups are bigger so cost more.)

Lee had an endless supply of patience, but the last customer was pushing it.

"I need to order a cake." Thank you for ordering this cake in the middle of the lunch rush. Thank you.

"Of course." Lee nodded enthusiastically and pulled out an order pad. "When is the cake needed?"

"Tonight." Lee paused and stared at her in confusion before quickly melting that expression into a kind one.

"I am terribly sorry, but we require a week's notice for cake orders." He apologized and she scowled at him.

"It's my mom's birthday tonight. I need a cake." There were so many things he wanted to say to her but kept his soft expression, although it pained him.

"I really am so sorry; however it would be impossible for us to do a cake in a few hours. There are preparations for it-"

"So you aren't making my mother's birthday cake?" She spat and Lee shook his head slowly.

"No, I am sorry but it is impossible." She shook her head.

"Go talk to the baker or whatever and see if they'll make an exception. It's my mother's birthday." She said it as if it were the Queen and everyone needed to heed her wishes. Lee wanted to appease her so he nodded at her with a smile and turned to walk to the kitchen. With the bad mood Gaara was in, he wondered what he could possibly say.

Lee felt badly about leaving Kankuro with the rest of the customers, he was going to say something but he was trying not to laugh so left Kankuro to deal with customers nicely.

Walking into the kitchen, Lee stared at Gaara. He was frowning at the cake in front of him. There was a bowl of a yellow concoction (Lee supposed it was the vegan lemon curd), a bowl of toasted coconut, and three layers of cake, cut and ready to be decorated. He glanced up at Lee and frowned. He took spoon and gathered some of the yellow liquid and picked it up out of the bowl and it just dripped like water back into the bowl.

"This lemon curd won't set up. It's been in the fridge for 4 hours, it's completely liquid, who the hell took this shitty order? I don't do vegan. I don't know how to do vegan." Lee smiled sheepishly and Gaara's shoulders sagged. "What do they want from me now?"

"So... I know you are going to say no but the customer insisted I ask anyway. Is there any possible way you can make a cake for this woman's mother's birthday... tonight?" Gaara's lips pursed and his eyes were dark.

"Do they think I just pull cakes out of my butt?" The way Gaara sounded made it actually seem like he was curious, and Lee bit his lip. Trying not to laugh at an angry Gaara was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. Twice today Gaara had made him laugh because his obvious disdain for the public. Lee couldn't take it anymore, he laughed, a hearty laugh and he had tears in his eyes.

"I-I am so sorry." He said in-between laughs, now laughing without making any noise. Gaara watched him with parts horror, confusion, and amusement.

It took a minute for Lee to calm down, once he did his face was bright red and he had tears running down his cheeks.

"I am sorry, Gaara. I did not expect you to say something like that." Lee wiped the tears off his face and noticed Gaara looked slightly pleased. "So what should I tell her?"

"That if she loved her mother, she would've thought to order her a cake before her birthday." Gaara said flatly and Lee snorted and stopped himself from laughing again.

"I cannot work with you." Lee said teasingly. "You make me laugh too much." Lee shook his head and left the kitchen, Gaara watched him leave with a slight curl of his lip. He was proud to make Lee lose control like that.

When Lee returned to the counter, Kankuro saw his red face and tear stained cheeks and his eyes widened.

"Oh my god, did Gaara yell at you?!" Lee looked at him surprised and shook his head. "What happened?" Lee bit his lip but the smile on his face was there.

"I will tell you later."

Kankuro was amazed to watch the calm façade Lee conjured to deal with one of the most annoying customers he'd ever seen. How was he able to be so... nice? Maybe this is why Temari told Kankuro he was on the drink station today and Lee was on the register. Kankuro felt envious of the control Lee had on his temper and how he just took verbal abuse with a smile and apologized to them as if they weren't the ones being irrational. Lee was just too much.

"So what had you smiling like that before?" Kankuro asked an hour later when the lunch rush was gone for the time being. Temari was back, having had to run an errand and was obviously inserting herself in the conversation.

"What happened?" Lee just smiled and shook his head.

"Gaara is very funny." They stared at him with disbelief.

"Gaara made you laugh... so hard... you cried?" Kankuro asked incredulously and Temari shot them both a look.

"Yes." Was all Lee said and cleaned down the espresso machine while Kankuro and Temari shared a look.

The end of his shift came and Lee went into the bathroom and changed into his workout clothes. He packed his bag with all of his things and threw it over his shoulder, ready to go work out.

He walked into the kitchen and Gaara was leaned over with his head pressed against the metal workbench and his arms dangling uselessly at his sides.

"Gaara? What is wrong?" Lee asked with so much concern, Gaara actually felt the worry for his wellbeing. He moved his head up and pushed the lemon curd down the bench. Lee picked it up and mixed it. It was now 8 hours and it was still completely liquid. "Have you tried adding thickeners?" Gaara's eyes narrowed at the question and Lee figured that was a yes. "Which ones?"

"Cornstarch." Lee thought for a second.

"Xanthan gum?" Gaara stood up for a moment thoughtfully.

"I'll try that I suppose." Lee smiled warmly at him.

"Well, I wish you luck. And I hope you actually sleep tonight." Gaara stared at Lee curiously. "I am going to run the track. If somehow you finish before I am done you are more than welcome to join me. If not, I will see you tomorrow morning." Gaara gave a tentative nod and Lee waved at him happily. "Goodbye Gaara."

Lee ran six miles and was dripping sweat. He couldn't fathom why he was having such a hard time running today. He kept looking over at the bleachers and felt a stab of disappointment. Was he really upset that Gaara hadn't been able to come?

Lee rubbed his face and jogged over to the football field in the middle of the track and decided to do some pushups and crunches.

And he would deny it if anyone asked if the reason was he was stalling to see if Gaara would actually come.

The next day, Lee arrived at work and when he walked into the kitchen, Gaara wasn't there. He checked every room he could think of and frowned. Where was Gaara?

He put his stuff down in the bathroom and walked out of the kitchen to start the opening process. It was a school day so he came in earlier and was only staying until 730. It was a 3 ½ hour shift but money is money and if he needed he could always come back.

When Lee looked up after turning on all the coffee brewers, he turned to face the lounge area.

There was Gaara, curled up on the couch with a small blanket, sleeping. Lee was shocked. What was Gaara doing there?

Lee slowly walked over, not wanting to startle him but he couldn't help but be so curious. Since the couch was in an alcove, Lee hadn't seen it until he was standing across from it. It was impossible to see this from the entrance as well so Lee couldn't help but wonder how often Gaara slept there. Was this normal? Weren't his siblings worried about him?

Lee knelt by the couch and stared at Gaara's peaceful expression. His hand reached and he wanted to wake him up but found he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Gaara deserved sleep.

Lee walked back to the counter and made sure to make as little noise as possible. He didn't care if there weren't any pastries today. Gaara needed to sleep as much as he could. Poor thing. The whole thought of it made Lee's heart ache.

Lee wished Gaara was up so he could ask him what was going on. A painful moment later, Lee realized that Gaara may not find that Lee was worth confiding in.