March was a pretty fucked up month in Gaara's opinion. For one, the sky shined a perpetual blue that matched the exact same shade of Naruto's eyes, the damn yellow sun transformed into a perfect honey gold color that constantly reminded him of Naruto's hair, and the brisk spring weather—with its biting winds and frosty temperature—always managed to give Naruto that perfect rosy-cheeked flush that had Gaara thinking Very Naughty Things.
So yeah, March was 31 days of personalized torture and he couldn't even avoid it because Naruto was absolutely dead set on making the most of their senior year. It didn't help that March was the Month of Many Useless Parties and that Naruto had inherited his mother's over-the-top event planning obsession. Kinda weird for a guy who couldn't even be bothered to wear matching socks but hey, it was just another damn quirk Gaara couldn't help but love.
Which was probably why he was sitting alone at one of Konoha's snootier cafes at 10:50 AM, a full ten minutes ahead of schedule.
In retrospect, it was probably a stupid idea to give in and meet Naruto for coffee because this whole thing was screaming first date atmosphere even though Naruto probably didn't (and never would) think of it that way. To the blond soccer star this was just two friends catching up, chatting about the beautiful game (is that what they called it?), and doing whatever it was two casual guy friends were supposed to do. That was it.
He took another deep drink.
Black coffee. No cream, no sugar, no whip, nothing.
Naruto liked the crazy blended frappes—the ones that were more sugar than coffee and had whipped cream six inches high. His favorite flavor was caramel but he always got peppermint mocha during the winter months. During one of Gaara's particularly bad days (this was around December—December 3rd because of-fucking-course Gaara remembered the day) Naruto had shown up to class with a large peppermint mocha and two paper bags in hand. Good old Hatake-sensei had raised a brow but said nothing as Naruto sat down next to Gaara and passed him one of the bags.
Inside was a toasted poppyseed bagel with cream cheese and sliced tomatoes. Gaara had mentioned this bizarre bagel concoction to Naruto once, offhandedly, while they were still reading Faulkner and stuck doing that group project together. Naruto had smiled, agreed it was a unique combination (not strange, not weird, just unique) but also that poppyseed bagels were awesome and he'd definitely start trying different combinations of cream cheese and vegetables-that-were-technically-fruits because Uzumaki Naruto never backs down from a challenge.
Gaara had given him a funny look and told him it wasn't a challenge.
Naruto flashed him a heart-stopping grin and said yeah, I know but I'm gonna make it one before giving him a wink and turning back to his textbook.
Gaara had difficulty breathing for a good thirty seconds after that and it wasn't until the bell rang that the redhead remembered to thank Naruto. It was a brief nod and an oh so faint smile, a casual thanks, but Naruto had beamed so brightly and smiled so earnestly that Gaara seriously considered carrying around cardiac medication because dear god, Uzumaki Naruto was going to kill him one of these days.
(Because he's Konoha's golden boy with the world at his feet and love everywhere. He's got friends who look out for him, a godfather who's nosy and caring and actually there, he's got a dad who phones him every night because Naruto is his son and he loves him and—he doesn't need Gaara. Naruto doesn't need to remember Gaara's favorite bagel combination or even remember anything Gaara tells him. He doesn't need to greet him so cheerfully every morning even when all Gaara does is glare. He doesn't need to make conversation, ask about his day, sit next to Gaara every day in AP English even though their group assignment had long since passed. He doesn't need to make an effort with Gaara but the very fact that he does—)
"Whoa man, contemplating the questions of the universe or what?" That was Naruto's cue.
He could hear the smile in the blond athlete's voice as he pulled back the chair opposite Gaara and plopped down a great deal of ceremony.
With a smirk and quip on the tip of his tongue, the paler boy glanced up...
...and nearly choked on his own tongue.
Black loafers. Dark wash jeans. White button up rolled up at the sleeves and a grey wool overcoat laid across his right arm.
Why the fucking hell did Uzumaki Naruto have to look so damn good?
The blond hung his coat on the back of his chair, didn't even bother taking out his phone, and leaned back in his seat, arms crossed behind his head.
"You're late." Gaara addressed after a brief pause.
"Ah, yeah," Naruto let out a rueful chuckle. "Sorry about that. Traffic was murder and I—uh," he shrugged, "something came up."
The words were casually said but Gaara couldn't help the pang of guilt that shot through his stomach. Naruto had so many other friends—so many—but he'd been forced to cancel whatever plans he might've had because Gaara had agreed to get coffee with him and Naruto was too polite to back out of it.
"If you need to leave…" Gaara trailed off, voice as cool and calm as always.
His chest, however, felt as if someone had set off half a hundred illegal fireworks and poured a drum of gasoline over his still beating heart too.
"Nah," Naruto brushed aside his concern with an easy smile and low chuckle. "Don't even worry about it, it's just—I dunno, Sasuke and Sakura have been acting pretty nuts lately. Hell, you'd have thought I told them I was relocating to Madagascar, not coming to a coffee shop."
Gaara frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean they literally kept me on the phone until I got out of the damn car. Sakura nearly punctured my ear drum when I told her I had to hang up and then fucking Sasuke-teme calls while I'm walking out of the parking lot all the while insisting I get to his house right now because of a 'family emergency.'" Naruto rolled his eyes. "That's when you know he's bullshitting. His dad's away on a business trip and Itachi's back at med school—his house is the fucking definition of peaceful."
"You've got concerned friends."
"They're psychotic that's what they are." He scoffs but his voice is fond—warm, even—and Gaara feels ridiculously small.
Compared to Sakura and Sasuke, he was little more than an acquaintance. A casual visitor and interloper who would occasionally pass by their fully formed lives. If this were a movie, Gaara would simply be the unnamed character prop who the protagonist waved to every morning on the way to school. The faceless, nameless nobody who wouldn't even warrant a screen credit because he was just there.
The observer, destined to see but never hold.
It was with great difficulty that he swallowed the lump in his throat and gestured towards the front counter. "You want to order?"
Naruto, looking all at once smug and positively delighted, grinned as he thrust his phone in front of Gaara's face. "Mobile order." He preened excitedly, sounding more like a game show host than an 18 year old with a downloaded app. "You should try it sometime, it's called Coffee2Me—"
"You're using that?" Gaara choked out, half-torn between amusement and exasperation.
Naruto's impossibly blue eyes widened even further. "You've heard of it!?"
"How could I not." Gaara grimaced. "It's another one of Kankuro's never-ending experiments."
"No way. No freaking way." Naruto breathed and pitched forward, face now inches away from Gaara's own. "Your brother invented Coffee2Me? The greatest app of all time? The cornerstone of every sad, pathetic high schooler and college student who's forgotten the meaning of sleep? And you didn't tell me? What would've happened if I ever found this app Gaara? What would've happened if I never beheld the electronic glory that is Coffee2Me?" Naruto suddenly shot back, one finger pointed at Gaara. "I'd be dead, that's what! Dead in a ditch—maybe a gutter, or even someone's hurricane cellar—" He cried dramatically right as one of the waitresses came up with his large caramel frappe, extra caramel and more whipped cream than any single human being should ever consume.
"You wouldn't be dead." Gaara deadpanned. "How does me not telling you about one of my brother's stupid apps result in you dying?"
"Uh, you see these reflexes?" He casually tossed six sugar packets in the air before catching all six in one hand. "Yeah, that?" He hoisted up his frappe that was pretty much all liquified sugar. "All thanks to this baby right here."
"That's condensed milk and flavored syrup."
"It's coffee. I'd be straight up dead without this baby here, heck—I wouldn't be able to function. Death could just take me and I wouldn't notice until I got hungry and realized purgatory doesn't have a ramen stand."
"You wouldn't be in purgatory."
Naruto took a deep drink before replying. "You think?" A clump of whipped cream was stuck to the corner of his mouth.
Gaara was momentarily transfixed (because Naruto really didhave something of an oral fixation: constantly licking his lips, sucking on hard candy in class, tongue running over the corner of his mouth and eyes fixed on Gaara—)
The redhead blinked twice before biting down on the inside of his mouth and reminding his all too perverted brain that this was Naruto, his...friend. His very straight friend.
"Nope." The redhead chugged the rest of his now cold coffee and silently wished it was still hot.
If he could scald his vocal chords then he could embrace blessed muteness and avoid embarrassing himself to hell and back.
Naruto, in response, looked positively insulted. "Jeez, am I really bound for hell?"
"You're not going to hell."
"Well, then, where the fucking hell—" (because of course Naruto wouldn't be able to resist the damn pun) "—am I supposed to go?"
Gaara looked at him. "I don't think a lack of coffee is going to kill you." He said matter of factly. "Stupidity will."
His friend/crush/boy Gaara-would-most-certainly-like-to-kiss pouted. "You didn't even comment on my pun!"
"Your pun was stupid too."
"That's cold Gaara-kun." The blond moped before perking up in record speed. "Hey, whaddya think of F. Scott Fitzgerald for our final project? With him we get the best of both worlds—you get your fancy prose and I get my murder mystery."
"You want to do Gatsby—?"
"No, no, no," Naruto corrected. "Tender Is The Night."
Gaara blinked. Did he…had he actually remembered…?
"Uh, we don't have to," the blond backtracked awkwardly. "I just, you know…Tender Is The Night definitely hasn't been exploited for TV ratings." He scratched the back of his head—a habit Naruto reverted to whenever he was unsure or shy. Two incredibly rare moods to be sure but Gaara noticed—just as he's noticing how Naruto's avoiding eye contact and looking at his half-empty frappe as if it held the meaning of life. "And…you, uh, you said it was criminally underrated right? I mean, you used a lot of terms in that 30 minute rant—longest I've ever hear you talk, by the way—but I think that was the phrase that got me. Criminally underrated." Naruto chuckled again, peeking up at Gaara through his eyelashes. "Reminded me of you."
"I don't know whether to be insulted or flattered." Was his response.
Inside, Gaara could barely function.
It hadn't been intentional—that 30 minute rant. It'd occurred mid-January, when they were stuck on the last few pages of their joint essay project. It was 3 AM, they were running on caffeine and cigarettes and Gaara just snapped after Naruto mentioned Lord of the Flies.
Overdone, overanalyzed, over-read, he snarled waspishly. There are novels out there that've been long neglected because the literary community itself can hardly comprehend what it means to think without relying on past analyses of books that have been lauded for so long that kids these days don't even remember why. Gaara's cheeks were flushed, his chest heaving, and it took him 15 whole seconds to realize he was ranting like loon in front of Uzumaki Naruto who'd probably have him committed within the next five minutes.
Yet instead of polite disinterest. Naruto had returned Gaara's slightly frantic gaze and urged him to continue. His sky-blue eyes burned with an intensity that matched Gaara's own—a fire the redhead suppressed and smothered because what was the point?
It was Naruto who listened and it was Naruto who heard and it was that night Gaara realized he might be falling in love with Konoha's golden boy.
"Oi Gaara, hey—you alright?"
He blinked twice before realizing that the blond athlete was now leaning over the table, an expression of concern and something softer etched into his handsome features.
Gaara quickly turned his cheek, knowing full well that with skin this damn pale he'd risk a full-on tomato face blush if he kept looking into Naruto's eyes. "What?"
"Tender Is The Night." He repeated and it was only the slight hitch in his breath that gave him away.
Because he remembered. Naruto remembered Gaara's words—words that meant more to Gaara than anything he's ever owned. And to anyone else the gesture might've been small—insignificant even—but it was something Gaara simply couldn't get enough of. To be listened, to be heard, to be cared for (even if it came in minutes and seconds) was the most wonderful thing in the world.
The smile that appeared on his perpetually downturned lips was small and accidental. Its edges were soft and the flinty coldness in his pale green eyes warmed to something resembling pure jade.
"Yeah." He nodded even as his conscious screamed otherwise. This was too much—he was giving too much. Whatever tattered pieces of his heart he had left, he was giving to Naruto—the boy who consumed his waking days and stole the eloquence from his lips.
And around him, around Naruto, all Gaara could do was love.
"Hey Gaara." Sapphire eyes gleamed as Naruto glanced around, a conspiratorial smirk on his mouth.
The smile on the paler boy's lips lasted only a few more seconds before fading, though his eyes remained as warm as ever. "What now Uzumaki?"
"Wanna grab a slushie?"
Monday morning dawned bright and early. The students of Konoha High were as bright and perky as ever (well, alright, one student was as bright and perky as ever) when Sabaku no Gaara walked into Calculus III to see Uchiha Sasuke glaring a hole into his head.
It was strange really.
For the past three (almost four) years they'd treated each other as pieces of furniture—sure they knew the other person existed but that didn't mean they had to acknowledge them. But now, Gaara realized, Uchiha Sasuke (who was, annoyingly enough, Naruto's best friend) was glaring daggers at him all the while carefully printing kanji onto his notebook and texting beneath his desk.
It was sort of impressive.
Until Gaara felt his own phone vibrate.
Stay away from Naruto.
He glanced at the screen—and unknown number—for a full three seconds before shoving the device back into his pocket and returning the Uchiha's gaze. His own green eyes were as hard and unyielding as concrete.
Around Naruto Gaara could smile and joke and remember what it felt like to have a heart beating in his chest.
Around anyone else? Well, they were all pretty damn expendable.
Fuck off. Gaara texted back when he remembered that no way in fucking hell was he letting the Uchiha get the last word.
Eventually Sasuke had to break their staring contest to glance down at his phone and once he did, his face twisted into a furious grimace and Gaara swore he was choking on his own spit. Instantly he began to type back.
You and I both know you're just temporary. So do yourself a favor and back the fuck off.
Why should I? Gaara responded, not bothering to even pretend to pay attention. He and Sasuke were the top two students of their class. Terumi-sensei wouldn't write up the Uchiha brat because she liked his pretty face. Terumi-sensei also wouldn't write up Gaara because she kinda owed his dad.
Gaara's phone buzzed but instead of another vague and none too threatening text from Uchiha, he saw a name and two ramen emojis flashing on his screen. A faint smile appeared on his own pale lips.
Uzumaki Naruto.
Yo, Gaara! Still free this afternoon around 5? (Inwardly, Gaara snorted. Only Naruto would still consider 5 PM as 'the afternoon') We could head to that bookshop you're always going on about so I can pick up my copy of Fitzgerald & you can continue to hoard books like the madman you are lol
He texted back. 5 PM does not constitute as 'afternoon' Uzumaki.
The reply was instantaneous. U. Naruto: YEEEESSS it does.
Half a second later. U. Naruto: And did you even read the rest of the text?
S. Gaara: I did. And I do not hoard.
U. Naruto: Uh, sorry dude but you kinda do. I've seen your room. You don't have walls, you have fucking bookshelves.
U. Naruto: Yo, how pissed would you be if I signed you up for that show Hoarders
U. Naruto: Cuz like, I could appear alongside you & give commentary and shit cuz I'm hilarious
U. Naruto: We'd roll the Kardashians like dough
U. Naruto: Crush em like a cranberry
U. Naruto: WE COULD BE YEEZUS GROUPIES
U. Naruto: This is literally the best idea I've ever had
S. Gaara: I'm sorry, who is this?
U. Naruto: That's cold Gaara-kun
S. Gaara: Bookshop at 5. I'm driving.
U. Naruto: So is that a no to our future reality TV careers?
U. Naruto: Gaara
U. Naruto: Gaara
U. Naruto: Gaara
U. Naruto: Boo you whore
U. Naruto: C'mon Veronica Sawyer, I'll buy you a slushie if you reply
S. Gaara: You'd do that anyway.
S. Gaara: Addict.
U. Naruto: What can I say, I live for that sweet frozen rush
Gaara snorted, barely biting back a hiss of laughter.
Behind him, Sasuke glared.
"Yo Sasuke, wait up bastard!" Naruto threw his backpack over his shoulder, jumped over a bike rack, and sprinted towards the black haired Uchiha in record time. "Jeez, do you even know the meaning of the word 'wait up'?"
"That's two words, moron."
"Tch, this is why no one likes you." Naruto scoffed, lips curled into a wide grin as he tried to appear insulted but came off looking more like an excitable electric duck.
Sharp black eyes narrowed. "Did someone dump fire ants down your pants or what? You look like you're about to implode." Naruto opened his mouth to answer before Sakura practically jumped on his back, causing the blond to choke back his words as she cheerfully grabbed his coat collar as if it were a pair of horse reigns.
"Sup boys?" She rested her chin on Naruto's head.
"What the actual fuck, Sakura—" Naruto grumbled even as his hands came to support her knees. Sakura liked piggyback rides and Naruto was her favorite unsuspecting victim.
"Be grateful I'm here," she answered primly. "Since you and Sasuke are pretty much social groundhogs with no idea of what constitutes social elegance, I'm here to give you bozos a brief announcement and recommendation."
Sasuke scoffed.
Naruto sighed.
"C'mon Pinkie, get off him." The Uchiha snapped though Naruto swore he could detect an undercurrent of reluctant fondness coating the bastard's tone.
"Um, hello, I'm making an announcement right now." She arched a brow. "And do you see any platforms nearby? I've got to make do with our favorite blond dum dum here." She patted the soccer star's head as she would a baby koala.
"Fuck, I knew we should've gotten you a cat for your 12th birthday—didn't I fucking tell you to get her the cat?" Naruto glared at the stoic bastard he called his best friend. "But noooo, Mr. Dark and Gloomy here had to be all 'mysterious' and whatnot and we spent $80 on a diary that you don't even use!"
"Anything you give me is money well spent." She reassured. "Now shut up and stop interrupting me." Sakura cleared her throat. "Now boys, you two may be oblivious social idiots but I won't hold it against you. Sasuke, you're pretty but you've got all the social charm of a bloody chainsaw. But never fret! Because I'm here with the best news you'll hear all day: boys," her eyes lit up, "Cotillion's finally here! The biggest social event of the year—the debutante ball of debutante balls—and guess who's head of the very exclusive planning committee." She preened.
Sasuke blinked. "Anyone but you."
Sakura kicked Naruto in the stomach.
"Ow—what the fuck, why am I getting kicked? I didn't even say anything!"
"Cause you're closer to me than Sasuke." She shrugged.
Naruto pouted. "Great, I get verbal abuse from Sasuke-teme and physical abuse from the prettiest girl in school. You're cruel Sakura-chan and I don't know why I love you."
"Because I help you with your homework and break my bank account supplying you with winter snacks, dum dum." Was her waspish retort even as her hands adjusted Naruto's bright blue scarf so that it was safely tucked under his grey wool overcoat. "And stop showing off on the soccer field—I'm running out of antiseptic and I just refilled the bottle."
"What do you mean you refilled the bottle?" Sasuke sneered. "You made me run to CVS for that shit."
"You didn't say no." Sakura shot back.
"Probably cause you'd pummel his weak ass to the 9th circle of hell." Naruto muttered under his breath.
"Shut it, dobe."
"That was a piss poor comeback, Uchiha." The blond readjusted his grip on Sakura to make sure she wouldn't vault backwards. "You really lost a few brain cells this weekend didn't you?"
Sasuke's eye twitched.
Naruto grinned. "Not so tough when you realize you probably can't get away with murder in a place this public, huh?"
"If we were living in the era of the Warring States you'd be dead six times over."
"Oooh, I'm so scared." Naruto rolled his eyes. "Take that stick outta your ass Uchiha and you might be able to enjoy life before you die of a heart attack at age 27."
"That's awfully specific Naruto." Sakura observed casually.
"Oh yeah, I've got my backup career set." The Konoha forward grinned.
"Konoha's Golden Boy turned serial killer." Sakura considered it. "I like it—catchy title and you've even got your signature figured out. I can see it now, Uzumaki Naruto: kills via cardiac arrest when victim is still 27. Not bad, kiddo."
"You two are so fucking weird." Sasuke began walking away.
"Too bad we're your only friends!" Naruto shouted before he and Sakura broke down laughing.
Sasuke rolled his eyes even though the blond and pinkette couldn't see him. How he became friends with a hyperactive knucklehead and a pushy pink-haired drama queen was beyond him but what was done was done. They were now under his protection and Uchiha Sasuke didn't do anything by halves.
The three of them were a cohesive unit. They were SasukeNarutoSakura—a trio, a fucking black, blond, and pink tour-de-force.
And there was no fucking way in hell he was letting Uzumaki Naruto get corrupted by Sabaku no Gaara of all people. Naruto was his brother (younger, never older) while Gaara was quickly rising to #1 on Sasuke's shit list.
He was just thankful the redheaded creep still didn't have Naruto's phone number.
A/N: I swear I haven't abandoned this story lol
Reviews help me update faster I promise :)