Author's Note:

Prompt: "Um…hi. I don't mean to freak you out, but the berry yogurt in your grocery cart is expired" AU

source: post/115049308575/awful-au-114

*this is an au in which Kaneki was never turned into a ghoul ! Includes fluff ! Comments are greatly appreciated !

"Granola bars, cereal, milk, and… blueberry yogurt? Okay, Got it! I'll get back soon!"

Hide ended the call with his roommate and shoved his phone back into his pocket before entering the grocery store. He quickly retrieved one of the shopping carts and began his search for the said items. Being here many times before, he knew where to get the bars, cereal, and the milk. But he's never had to get yogurt before...why does his roommate even want yogurt anyways? It doesn't seem like him.

'Oh well. I'll just ask a worker or something to find out where the yogurts are.'Hide shrugged and set off towards the pastry section. He hummed to himself quietly while he turned into the aisle and found the granola bars. There were many different flavors to choose from. Caramel, chocolate, almond, trail mix…

"Ah...they don't have the ones with strawberries…" Hide softly sighed to himself, rubbing his chin, "I guess I'll just get regular, then!"

He picked up two boxes of the original granola bars, dropped them in the basket, and set off again. Luckily, the cereal section was right beside the pastry section. And the fridges that contained milk were in that aisle,too. Hide picked out simple Cheerios, and a box of Frosted Flakes. He knew his roommate was absolutely obsessed with Frosted Flakes, so he got them instead even though he preferred Fruity Pebbles.

Afterwards, he got a carton of milk and set it in his basket. He was about to leave to search for yogurt next but he paused as he closed the fridge door, his eyes catching sight of the many rows of small yogurt containers set in the fridge right beside it.

"Tsk, well obviously!" Hide snickered to himself at his stupidity and opened the fridge, scanning the rows for the blueberry flavor.

He spotted the blue label and felt a rush of relief as he reached out and grabbed it. 'Blueberry flavor...at least they have it this time!' He thought triumphantly to himself as collected two more before closing the fridge. 'Alright, that's everything! Now I jus-'

"U-Um, excuse me?"

"Gwah!" Hide almost flew out of his skin as a small voice came from behind him. He hadn't sensed anyone's presence with him in this aisle! Was he so focused on the yogurt to even notice?

Hide span around, his eyes wide as he tried to regain his composure "U-Uh, yes?"

There stood a black haired male about his age. He looked just as embarrassed as Hide was, his pale eyes glassy as he stared at him. Hide saw he also had a blueberry yogurt in his grasp, a full grocery bag in the other.

"Um...th-that yogurt is uh...expired." The stranger told him, glancing quickly at the three containers Hide was holding in his hands.

Hide stared at him for a few seconds, registering. Then, he jumped and looked down at the yogurt, looking at the sticker on the bottom. Sure enough, it was a few months expired. Man, this guy just saved his roommate from a stomach bug!

"A-Ah! I didn't even notice! Thank you!" Hide bowed slightly to the male and grinned brightly, making the ebony haired male flush slightly. He gazed at him and leaned forward, "How'd you know?"

He smiled back and raised his other hand that held the yogurt, calling attention to it, "I always read the labels before I buy things. When I r-realized, I told one of the workers and he told me to come back and pick up the rest of the blueberry yogurt so they can be replaced."

Hide nodded quickly, his yellow hair swaying along with the gesture, "Oh, okay! That was a good thing to do, man! Here, I'll give you mine."

Hide placed the yogurt that he had in the male's hands, careful not to make any of them fall. The boy murmured a quiet thank you while he adjusted the containers in his hold, giving him a small smile.

"I'll help throw away the rest." Hide offered, opening the fridge and gathering the rest of the blueberry yogurt before the other boy could refuse.

The amount of yogurt that he now held was a little overwhelming, and his cheeks turned red with embarrassment as he accidentally let one fall to the ground in front of the stranger. He had to awkwardly lower himself to pick it up without making the others fall to the ground as well. The close proximity between him and the other boy was completely mortifying, but Hide managed to pick the container up before standing up again to smile at him.

The boy seemed to be thinking about something else as he gazed at Hide, but he quickly blinked out of his daze and grinned, "Th-Thanks for helping out. Y-You didn't really need to…"

Hide shook his head feebly as they began to walk towards the nearest garbage can at the end of the aisle, "No, it's no problem! I'm Hideyoshi Nagachika by the way! But...you can just call me Hide!"

The male glanced at him, "Kaneki Ken. You can just call me Kaneki. It's-It's nice to meet you."

Once they were at the garbage can, Kaneki set his bag down so he could lift the lid. They both then disposed of the expired yogurt, earning a relieved sigh from Hide as he rubbed his hands together.

Kaneki picked up his grocery bag and turned to him, cracking a small smile, "Hide, I'm really glad I stopped you before you left with that yogurt. You could have gotten sick.."

Hide noticed this was the first time Kaneki didn't stutter with his words. He sounded genuinely relieved. The thought made Hide's face turn a faint shade of red.

"Oh, it wasn't for me!" Hide explained hurriedly, waving his hands in front of him, "The yogurt was for my roommate. But even still, having him eat that would have been bad for the both of us! Thanks again, Kaneki! I really mean it."

Kaneki blushed a little and hastily brought his hand up to scratch his chin, nervousness showing in his unfocused eyes. A pregnant silence fell over the both of them as they faced each other, neither saying a thing. Hide didn't feel the need to break the silence between them for some reason.

"Ah… Say, Hide." Kaneki finally spoke, averting his eyes back towards him so they met with Hide's darker orbs, "Maybe we should exchange numbers? J-Just so… I can make sure you don't go poisoning your friend again…"

Hide was taken aback by the shy boy's boldness, but he didn't let his pleasure show as he gave him a wide smile, "Sure! Here-" He quickly took his phone out of his pocket and turned it on. After fiddling with it for a few seconds, he handed it to Kaneki, "Type in your number and I'll send you a text!"

Kaneki stared at his phone as if he were wary to touch something that belonged to him. But he abandoned his hesitance and slowly took it from his hands before swiftly putting in his number. Once he was finished, Kaneki handed Hide's phone back, who took it instantly and sent him a text from his phone so Kaneki would have his number as well.

A low buzz came from Kaneki's pocket, making him smile softly and reach into his pocket. Hide felt a warm feeling inside of him as he saw Kaneki take out his phone to look at his text. He felt his face burn as Kaneki went into the messaging app, the small smile still gracing his lips.

The smile disappeared and was replaced with a flustered gape as he read the message. His whole face turned a tint of red and his wide eyes were jumping from his screen to Hide and back. But after a while, he smiled again and reached up to rub the back of his neck, flustered and blushing madly.

On his screen, Hide's message read:

" Heyyyy, Kaneki ! I think you're pretty cute….we should go somewhere sometime! if you wanna ! I know a good coffee place called Anteiku, how about we meet there tomorrow? ^_^ "