The Coffee Shop AU. Mostly the 'I've spelt/mispronounce your name wrong and you get your revenge by mispronouncing my name and this escalates until we like each other' sort of AU.
Background: Gintoki, Catherine and Tama work in Otose's coffee shop. Shinpachi, Otae and Kagura do part time there. Hijikata is the customer.
The bell jingled when Hijikata entered the simple shop.
It was recommended by Kondo-san. The CEO had told him that the coffee here was great, definitely to the taste of Hijikata's. But the way the man had continued to gush about the pretty barista and her gorgeous brown hair and brown eyes made Hijikata think the coffee was merely moderate.
Still, the shop was very conveniently placed on the corner near the bus station Hijikata used for work and it didn't hurt to try something new, right?
Despite the shop being fairly new in the area, there were a lot of customers. The current barista taking orders was a white haired man in a red sweater. White haired young man.
Hijikata briefly wondered if the man dyed it to look cool before he took a look around. There was no sign of Kondo-san's pretty barista. No brown haired, pink blouse-wearing barista.
The dark haired took his time surveying the menu before settling on the classic hot Americano. He ordered his drink and gave his name.
"Right, Hijitaka Ootoru," the white haired hurriedly scribbled on the cup. His ears aren't that bad, right?
Toushirou scoffed. "It's Hijikata Toushirou."
But all he got were a pair of deadfish eyes and a "Right, right. Next!"
Stupid perm head.
When his order came, the white haired called out 'Hijitaka Ootoru' again. And Hijikata, because he was a mature adult of course, took his coffee and groused, "It's Hijikata Toushirou, Gintoke."
The white haired startled and shouted, "It's toki. Gintoki!"
Hijikata flipped him the bird and stepped out of the shop. On his cup was a messy chicken scratched 'Hijitaka Ootoru.'
The next day, he was back at the shop. "One hot Americano. Hijikata Toushirou."
He only came back to see if the girl that had Kondo-san in hots was in. That's all. Not because he was mad at the white haired barista. Or find him attractive in the white shirt with his sleeves rolled up to the forearms. Definitely not finding that attractive.
"Right. Bijitaka Toushino."
Besides, the coffee here wasn't so bad. It was the… fifteenth best coffee he had.
"That's not my name."
Only because he wanted to see Kondo-san's crush. And fifteenth best coffee. That's all.
"Please wait for your order over at that counter."
…
"One coffee for Bijitaka!"
"It's Hijikata."
"Thank you for your patronage."
"…thanks, Kintoke."
He doesn't see the smirk on the white haired's face.
He was back again for the eighth day in a row.
It wasn't because he wanted to see Gintoki again. There was no way he was attracted to the bastard. No matter how he looked in the slim fit shirt today.
It was the coffee. The fifteenth best coffee, after all.
"One Americano for Bakataka-san?"
"Where did baka come from?!"
"Maybe your face?" Gintoki said as he tore the receipt off.
Hijikata growled. "Thanks for the change, Bintaku."
"Ah, it's Bijikutsu Tanabata-kun! Hot Americano again?" Gintoki greeted him.
Hijikata glowered and was tempted to change his order. But he wasn't a big fan of coffee with milk. "Yeah. And it's Hijikata Toushirou – get my name right, dammit!"
"Here's your change. And please wait for your coffee over there."
"One day," here Hijikata liked to believe that he very coolly pointed his finger at the man "I'll make you remember my name."
"And wouldn't that be a memorable day," the barista leered. Hijikata flushed and hurriedly turned away.
…
"Here's your order, Mister. I'll Make You Remember My Name."
Hijikata stiffly said, "Thanks, Gotoro."
"My pleasure." Toushirou missed the wink Gintoki sent his way.
"I have a question," he said as he got his order.
"Ooo. Would you look at that! Hiji-billy finally has something he doesn't know," Gintoki whistled.
"Who the fuck is Hiji-billy? And I don't act like I know everything," Hijikata huffed. Then just to make sure, "Do I?"
"Well, with your normal pissy expression and acting like you're all high and mighty with a stick up your arse…," the other trailed off.
"I don't act high and mighty! And nor do I have a stick up my arse."
"Uh-huh. But sure, you can ask your question."
The fucking bastard. "Do you always take orders and hand them out like this?"
"Huh? Wasn't really what I expected."
"What did you expect?"
Gintoki stopped to ponder for a while. "Well, for starters, more in terms of a girlfriend or my phone number."
Hijikata furrowed his brows. "Why would I ask about your girlfriend or your phone number?"
The other's eyes widened. "Seriously? You haven't realized what we've been doing?"
At Hijikata's confused expression, he added, "With the names? Bijibaka? Hiji-billy?"
"No?" What have they been doing with the names? Gintoki was an annoying ass who made sure to he got Hijikata's name wrong every time he took the order. An attractive ass, but still an ass.
And Hijikata made sure to get his revenge on the man.
Gintoki let out a groan. "I can't believe you… you're such a dense motherfucker. You know what? You can guess the answer to your own question. Maybe I do, maybe I don't."
And he left.
What the fuck did Hijikata do?
The next day, Gintoki was gone. An expressionless girl, Tama, took his order. He offered her a smile – more like a grimace – and in return, got a robotic quirk of her mouth.
There's only Tama and another woman working but his order came without delay. Tama worked quickly.
On his cup was his name, spelt correctly, in crisp, precise handwriting.
So I'm back on FF. The original AU idea was from a pic of a tumblr post and I just kind of rolled from there. Haven't a slightest idea about working in a coffee shop so this might be a bit weird. Hopefully the characters aren't too OOC. And there's probably a few mistakes on grammar and whatnot. Sorry for that.
Thanks for reading! Hope you guys enjoyed it. Feedback is always appreciated.