Prompt: 'You're an employee and I have a crush on you so when you hand me the soft serve I accidentally grab it by the ice cream instead of the cone' AU

Authors: unfitpuzzle (First Half/ Hinata) & LovelyLori (Second Half/ Naruto). Lori and I (Kae) really hope you enjoy this chapter, it was really fun for both of us to write and really great working together!

Title: Brain Freeze

Description: Hinata's brain never worked when Naruto was around.

Hinata gnawed at her bottom lip desperately, an awful habit she developed over the years that would pop up when she was feeling distress. Clutching at the sleeves of her best friend Shino's jacket she all but held on for dear life as her other best friend Kiba was trying desperately to push her into the line to place their food order. Now this scene would look quite weird to the casual customer but those that were usual frequenters of the restaurant knew that this was a daily occurrence for the trio. They were currently at Uchi-Burger their favourite fast food place and like always Kiba was trying to get Hinata to go up to the cash register and face her "silly" fears.

"Kiba please no! I promise that if you stop you can order anything you want from the menu and I'll pay!" she pleaded now searching for anything to hold onto as Shino simply detached her hand from his jacket, walked away from the two and situated himself at an empty booth.

"No can do Hinata, you've been doing that for the past three months ever since he started working cash and lately Coach Gai has been on my case about my rapid weight gain, even threatening to take me off the track team!" Kiba shuddered. "Trust me I'm not only doing this for you, but for me as well."

"Kibaaa" she whined, stomping her foot and pouting her lips. Not many knew this about her but coming from a wealthy family Hinata could sometimes be a brat, particularly when things didn't go her way.

"Hinataaaa" The brunette mocked her dragging her reluctant body towards the cash register. "It's simple. Just order the food and come back, literally Hinata that's it."

Gathering up all the courage she could muster Hinata removed the childish pout from her face and stood a little straighter. She knew for certain that Kiba wouldn't let it go this time and by the looks of it Shino wanted absolutely nothing to do with the entire situation. She would have to be a big girl and face her fears.

Putting on a brave face the raven haired beauty strode towards the terrifying man behind the cash register: Naruto Uzumaki.

The whiskered blond was a student at her high-school who up until three months ago had been working in the back where she couldn't really see him- a safe distance. Now however he had been moved up to cash, most likely because of his people skills. Every time Kiba or Shino would go up to order something they came back with way more food than the three of them could eat combined, it was ridiculous.

Not that Hinata was afraid of his salesman ship skills… it was more like she was afraid of making a fool of herself in front of him. She along with Kiba and Shino had known him and a couple others since kindergarten, they lived in a relatively small community in the heart of Konoha and as far back as she could remember Hinata had always had a thing for Naruto.

He was just so admirable to her and everything she aspired to be. Brave, funny, outgoing and just the nicest person she'd ever met; before she knew it she was doodling 'Hinata Uzumaki' along the sides of her paper, even almost handing in a ten paged essay with the surname Uzumaki instead of Hyuuga to her philosophy teacher. Luckily Shino who had a great eye for detail and always proof read her work caught it before she embarrassed herself. After that incident however he blabbed off to Kiba and the two of them have bothered her about him ever since.

One look at Shino and one wouldn't expect him to be into gossip, but Hinata knew better, that guy (next to Ino of course) was the biggest blabbermouth she knew. He was just never allowed to finish his sentences before someone else's loud voice (usually Ino's, Sakura's or Naruto's) overpowered his.

'It's ok Hinata you can do this, you've got this.' She repeated that same phrase over and over in her head before she found herself staring into the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Gulping, she lifted a shaky finger and pointed dumbly towards the menu.

Laughing Naruto's shoulders shook in the most adorable way as his face broke into the utmost mesmerizing smile. "Hey Hinata! How may I take your order today?" he asked, the timber of his voice practically drawing Hinata in.

Resisting the urge to slap herself into reality Hinata just shook those improper thoughts from her mind. Feeling her face heat up she daintily brought a hand to her mouth masking the embarrassed smile from her face.

"T-three" She winced, a stutter- not accepting that she started again. "Three number fives please." She smiled, her voice sounded stronger that time.

"Alright, anything else? It's pretty hot outside I'd recommend the ice cream."

Biting the bottom of her lip she averted her gaze as she nervously poked her fingers together. Was he trying to converse with her? Or just doing his job? Either way he wasn't wrong it was pretty hot outside.

"Um what kind of ice cream?" she inquired, doing her best to keep herself from squeaking.

Smiling that brilliant smile of his it seemed as if Naruto's entire body lit up along with it. "Well I'm glad you asked! There's vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, pistachio, mint chip, Oreo, brownie and even birthday cake."

Pausing a mischievous grin stretched across his lips as Hinata felt the instant urge to run, she felt like helpless prey about to be caught. Leaning in across the table Naruto softly whispered. "Though between you and me I would go with vanilla- everybody loves a classic."

Hinata swore could've died right there and then.

Instinctively leaning back the dazzled teen struggled to compose herself, "I...I'll just go with that then." She shakily replied still reeling from the closeness of the two. Was he flirting with her? Was he even allowed to do that on a shift?!

"Ok then! Your total will be $35.50." he beamed handing her the leftover change after she finished paying. Standing off to the side Hinata leaned against the counter with her hand against her cheek.

She couldn't even do something as simple as order food around him, Naruto… he made her brain dysfunctional.

She sighed. At school she really wished she could just suck it up, tell him how she felt and get it over with but she always ended up chickening out. So when her friend Sakura told her that she along with Naruto would work at the Uchiha Dynasty's newest venture "Uchi-Burger" Hinata couldn't have been happier. She would (in a sense) get to be close to Naruto almost every day and get good food out of it as well, it was a girl's dream.

The sound of her name being called knocked her out of her thoughtful reverie. Looking over she could see Naruto dangling her bag of food in one hand and her ice cream in the other trying to get her attention.

Smiling awkwardly she approached his end of the counter. "That was fast." She clumsily laughed nearly cringing at the sound.

"Here's your food, enjoy." Extending the food towards her he paused, "Oh and make sure Kiba doesn't overdo it this time! Coach Gai has been bugging me about letting him eat here ya know!"

Nodding she mumbled a quiet 'ok' as she hurriedly grabbed the bag and her ice cream ready to high-tail it out of there - a HUGE mistake on her part.

As soon as she felt the stickiness of the vanilla ice cream hit her palm she felt like dying.

Of course Hinata Hyuuga would grab her ice cream cone by the actual ice cream and not the cone, you know- the thing that's specifically designed to hold the cold dessert.

On the bright side Hinata was thankful that it was a particularly slow time of day and nobody else but Naruto had just seen what had happened. On the contrary however Naruto Uzumaki had just seen what had happened!

She was going to die!

Shutting her eyes tightly Hinata stayed frozen in her spot wondering that if she stayed there long enough if she'd actually disappear like she wished she would at that very moment.

She didn't.

Naruto tilted his head to the side in confusion, watching as Hinata's flawless porcelain skin became a very bright shade of red. His eyes then drifted down to the tasty vanilla swirl he was holding by the cone; the same one she was holding by the soft serve treat itself.

The delicious dessert was starting to run through the spaces of her fingers and down her small hands. How strange; Hinata wasn't moving at all.

"Uh, ya know… You sure do have a funny way of holding your ice cream." He teased lightly, scratching the back of his head with his free hand. When she let out a meek whimper, Naruto realized that Hinata was probably embarrassed.

Then he became a bit flustered as well. If she started crying, Kiba and Shino were sure to make his life a living hell! "Ah, don't worry Hinata, I'll get you some napki- Oh shoot!" Naruto panicked. In his frazzled state, he had dropped the ice cream cone, causing it to create a loud splat sound against the counter.

Hinata's eyes widened at that very moment and the tears were already beginning to well up. "Don't cry, please don't cry!" The blond pleaded in a hushed voice, trying his best not to attract any unwanted attention. "I'll get you a new one, but first let's clean up your hand, kay?"

He put on his best, "believe in me" smile and before the tears could even reach her cheeks, Hinata closed her eyes once more and nodded.

Once Naruto was able to get a hold of some napkins (doused in soap and dampened with water to help take care of the stickiness), he gently grabbed hold of Hinata's wrist, cleaned her hand thoroughly, going over her palm and in between her fingers where the ice cream had run. Her hand was so soft, and while it laid in the palm of his, he realized how small hers were compared to his own.

Realizing that he had been holding her hand for quite some time now, Naruto slowly pulled away and gave a sheepish grin. "Haha… Sorry about that. But hey, lemme just clean up this mess really quick and I'll get you your new ice cream."

When he heard his shy friend squeak out a small "okay", Naruto cleaned up the counter, wiping away the puddle of ice cream that threatened to spill over the counter and disposing of the soggy cone. As soon as that was taken care of, he worked on getting Hinata a new ice cream.

Naruto chuckled to himself as the ice cream slowly swirled down into the cone. Hinata Hyuuga was certainly unpredictable. Whenever she was around him, she'd squeak and speak so softly, it was hardly audible. When she was around Kiba and Shino however, that was a different story. She spoke so clearly, and he could actually hear her rather melodic voice ring out through the air.

Hinata should really speak up more often; she had such pretty voice and it would have been such a great contrast to only hearing Sakura yelling at him or Sasuke's ridiculous caveman grunts.

When he finished, the blond walked back up to the counter, holding the new vanilla ice cream in his hand. "Here ya go," he beamed, "I made it extra special this time, just for you." A wink accompanied his words and he watched as her cheeks flared up again. She seemed hesitant in grabbing the cone, probably still scared that she'd miss, just like the first time.

Luckily, her hands grasped the cone and he let go once he was sure that the dark haired beauty before him had a steady grip on the ice cream cone. "Enjoy!" He grinned and Hinata nodded.

"Yes… Um, thanks. Also, I'm so sorry for the trouble I've caused." The tinniest of pouts formed on her lips and the blond teen couldn't stop the grin that broke out on his face. With a dismissive wave of his right hand, Naruto's grin turned into a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about it. I'll see you around at school, kay?"

She nodded and hastily took off to sit with her friends, looking a bit distressed. Naruto leaned against the counter, propping up his whiskered cheeks with both of his hands as he watched Hinata chat animatedly with them.

The timid teen stopped a few minutes into their conversation to look at where Kiba was pointing at, and it looked like he was pointing directly at him. Hinata looked at his direction, her mouth just slightly ajar before she turned away, looking a bit embarrassed. Naruto removed one of the hands propping his face up to wave to her.

When she caught sight of him waving at her, the grip on the cone in her hand lighten, and tilted backwards slightly, hitting Kiba right in the middle of his face. He heard a small gasp escape her lips as she placed a hand over her mouth, looking at her handiwork in horror.

"Hinata!"

"I am so sorry!" The dog lover let out a groan as Hinata apologized profusely.

He let out a light laugh as he watched her desperately try to clean his face with a few napkins. She was quite the clumsy one, wasn't she?

Still, Naruto thought that Hinata didn't let it stop her from being so cute, even if she wasn't aware of it.