Work Text:
Kaneki was washing down tables early in the morning when things went down hill (or so he thought). "I'm gonna ask out a cute barista that works here," Hide commented, grinning. His eyes criinkled when he did that, dear god this boy was pure sunshine.
Kaneki's shoulders stiffened slightly, and he could feel his voice cracking without even speaking. "Oh really?" He tried to question nonchalantly (he really did try, he swears). "I hope it's not Nishiki." He joked lightly, feeling his troat tighten. His voice sounded a little raspy to his ears.
Hide just hummed, his eyes following Kaneki's movements. "Do I know them?" Kaneki asked and of course you know them Kaneki they work at Anteiku. His face felt flushed, and he tried to clear up what he thought was a mess. "Um, a-ah I mean... Uh," Kaneki faltered when Hide started laughing and oh no, oh no, oh no I messed up.
"Wow Kaneki, no need to get embarrassed or anything." Hide said gently. "Its fine- Oh and yeah, you know them very well." He hummed, seeming fairly happy about the fact. "So hey, Kaneki, I wanted to... Uh I wanted-"
"Welcome to Anteiku!" Kaneki cut in. He shot an apologetic look over to Hide, "Sorry, gotta take this." He muttered as he brushed by Hide, making his way over behind the counter. Insert Tsukiyama Shuu, the purple headed, obviously tasteless 'Culinary Artist', who had taken a sort of... Liking, to Kaneki. Kaneki tensed, recognizing who it was. He was a good man, honestly. He was just... Strange sometimes. "What can I get you, sir?" He asked politely.
"Oh please," Tsukiyama drawled. He leaned forward onto his elbows, resting against the counter. "Call me Shuu." In the distance Kaneki could see Hide stand up, and head over to the counter. He plopped down in the seat right next to Tsukiyama. "One 'Café Crème', Kaneki, thank you." The smile he wore was similar to a predetor watching it's prey, slowly thinking up a plan on how to catch it.
Kaneki thought for a second about what he ordered and come on Kaneki this man comes in almost every other day to order the same thing stop thinking about Hide. "One cappuccino coming right up," He paused for a moment. "Mr. Tsukiyama."
Said man's ever dark aura brightened considerably with Kaneki only using his last name, and Tsukiyama's smile seemed to become less creepy and more kind, even if it was only a bit. He nodded and opened up a book he brought with him.
Kaneki quickly turned around and began working on the cappuccino. He could hear Hide's music blaring from his earphones from all the way behind the counter. It was some weird American music, but at the moment it helped Kaneki to calm down a bit and think. Okay. Okay this is fine. Hide likes someone at the moment and it is not like Kaneki would ever even think of confessing. No way. It's okay, Hide will probably ask this person out, they'll say yes and Hide and this person will fall in love and then they would get married, have children and leave Kaneki all alone. This is fine. This is okay.
Kaneki's fingers where starting to burn why were his fingers burni- Fuck. Infuriatingly hot coffee was splashing from the cup and onto his fingers and fuck that hurts, stupid thoughts, stupid emotions. Stupid, stupid, stupid stupid- "Agh, ah, oh fuck. Ow." He hissed as he dropped the cup, spilling more coffee onto him and his apron. "Shit."
Hide shot out from his seat and ran over to Kaneki. "Kaneki, oh my god, what were you doing?" He took in Kaneki's red fingers and soaking front. "Okay, let's fix you up. C'mon." Grabbing Kaneki's wrist, he quickly took him into the bathroom.
"Moron," Hide chided. "What was so important to space out about that you spilt blistering hot coffee all over yourself?" Kaneki would have felt more embarrassed had it not been for Hide's smile. It was just really, really kind. He wasn't making fun of him. Hide turned the sink on, making the water as cold as it could be. He grabbed Kaneki's finger and dunked them in the water, making him flinch a little from the sting.
Kaneki looked down and sighed. "I don't know. I'm just a bit out of it today, 's all." He muttered with a shrug. Hide raised an eyebrow. "Really, Hide. I'm fine."
Hide gave him a totally unconvinced look but carried on, he rubbed Kaneki's fingers under the tiny pool of cool water in the sink, trying to soothe the sting. Anteiku is great but they serve some pretty hot coffee. He hummed softly, a tune that Kaneki didn't know but found himself enjoying. "So what're we gonna do about that apron, Idiot Kaneki?"
"I'll just rinse it off. This is black so hopefully it won't stain." Kaneki answered after a minute of thought. He's been doing that a lot today, he realized. Hide has to make him think; it's the way how he's so nice. It makes Kaneki have to wonder how he was fortunate to have such a bright and thoughtful person by his side. Not for long.
After the whole boiling coffee fiasco, the rest of Kaneki's work shift went without incident. When Kaneki and Hide got back from the bathroom Touka had already taken care of Tsukiyama and everything was good.
"Okay, I'm leaving now! Bye everyone." Kaneki said after changing into his regular street clothes. He could hear the mutters of some employees and their goodbyes, and he exited the kitchen. He was confused when he saw Hide still sitting in the same spot at the counter, nursing what had to be his fourth iced coffee.
Hide perked up a bit at seeing his friend and watched as he brushed the white fringe out of his face while looking a little lost. He waved Kaneki over as he got up an out of the chair and shit his legs are asleep. Hide let out a quite unmanly yelp as he fell to the ground, dumping his coffee onto his bright yellow shirt and hasn't something like this happened earlier?
Kaneki sped up his steps. "Hide, what happened?" He offered Hide his hand helped him to reach his feet.
Hide hoisted himself up and laughed. "Nothin' to worry about, Kaneki. My legs were just a little numb and I wasn't expecting it." He looked down at the broken glass and cursed. "Ah, shit, sorry about the glass. Here, uh, lemme help clean this up-" Hide slipped on the wet floor from the coffee. He caught himself before he could reach the floor though, as he grabbed onto the stool at the counter.
"Looks like I'm falling for you, huh, Kaneki?" He said with a bashful smile, rubbing the back of his neck.
Kaneki tried to muffle his laugh behind a fist pretending to cough. "Yeah sure, Hide. Let's go without any more accidents, all right?" He giggled. Really, Kaneki? You're giggling now? What are you, a middle school girl with a crush? How pathetic.
Nishiki walked over with a broom and a pan. "Are you going leave so I can pick this up or are you two going to stand here and flirt like idiots?" He huffed, obviously ticked by yet another broken dish. "Okay, out you go." He shooed them away with the broom.
"Geez, what crawled up his ass and died?" Hide joked as they walked down the stairs leading out of Anteiku. "What's wrong? You always laugh at my teasing."
Kaneki shrugged, looking off somewhere in the distance. "I don't know," He lied. "It's noth-"
"Date me!" Hide blurted. He clamped his hands over his mouth. "Um," He said intelligently, the sound coming out muffled. "I mean- Would you like to go out for coffee or something sometime? Fuck- You work at a cafe, never mind." Hide paused. "Kaneki? You okay, buddy?"
Kaneki nodded, then he paused, then shook his head, then nodded again. "Uh."
"Kaneki," Hide said. He got down on one knee and grasped one of Kaneki's hands in his. "Kaneki," He repeated. "What I'm trying to say is, will you go out with me?" He looked up at Kaneki, watching as his face flushed even deeper, if possible.
Kaneki took his hand out of Hide's. He covered his face, his white hair contrasting deeply with the red of his face. "Oh," He said, his voice sounding weird with his hands pressing against his face.
Hide stood up and gently grabbed Kaneki's wrists, taking his hands slowly from his face. "Kaneki?" Kaneki closed hihis eyes and bowed his head. He nodded and the only thing running through Hide's head was oh thank god. He sighed in relief. "Okay. Cool, uh, are you off work tomorrow?"
Kaneki nodded again. "Yeah," He sniffed and why was he crying? Hide looked frightened for a second. "I'm fine. I swear, this time I mean it. I'm just," Kaneki paused and met Hide's eyes. "Happy." He smiled.
Hide grinned. "Okay good, you had me worried there for a minute, you know." He sounded relieved, almost as if out of breath. "So, how about I just pick you up from your house? We can do anything you want."
Kaneki quirked an eyebrow. "Even going to a library?" Hide always thought that library's were lame.
Hide barked out a laugh, surprising a few people passing bye. "Yes, even going to a library. Should I come by around two?" Wow, you are actually going to go on a date.
"Sure," Kaneki felt like screaming, he was so giddy. Hide looked about as excited at he felt. "It's a date." You are being such a nerd right now Kaneki what are you doing.
Hide held out his hand and Kaneki grabbed it, almost electricity running through his fingers. They started to head in the same direction. "So," Kaneki broke the comfortable silence. "You really think I'm cute?"