hi everyone! I'm back with another hidekane fic because you can never have too much hidekane. this accidentally turned into a coffee shop au because I couldn't figure out how they should meet, and then I was like oh I'll just put Hide in a coffee shop and then Kaneki was in a coffee shop too and I realized what was happening and. it was too late I'm sorry friends rip

this is set around two years after the raid on Anteiku. Touka, Yoriko, and Hide are all uni students (I'm pretty sure that would make this Hide's last year of college), and ghouls are slowly integrating into human society and are only being hunted if they're actively killing. it explains it a little more in the story. I read the wonderful Fweeble's story on ao3, Baby It's Cold Outside, which has the same idea that ghouls are finally gaining rights and thought hey, that's a great idea! so here we are

anyways, I hope you enjoy this new fic! the first couple chapters are just the introduction and don't have Hide and Kaneki interacting that much, but they do after that, so never fear! I'm not sure how long this will be yet, but I'll try to give an estimate as it goes on. enjoy!

[edit: changed the name bc I like this one better woo]


Kaneki Ken wasn't anyone special. Or at least that's what he told himself when he was feeling overwhelmed.

Truth be told, he was special. Infinitely so. Being the product of an immoral experiment that resulted in his becoming a half-ghoul half-human hybrid, he was a rarity. A diamond in the rough. Something you only saw once in a lifetime.

That was what he was to Aogiri—a resource that they used up and discarded. And that was what he was to Kanou, too. In the past, he was an instrument used to achieve both their filthy goals.

To humans, he was a filthy, disgusting, abhorrent creature. He wasn't anyone. He didn't even deserve a name or an identity or—to some—a life.

But to him, he was just another person trying to make it in the harsh world. The world, which had stolen everything he loved. The world, which tossed him into delicious dancing with demons and devils and he had been unable to break the rhythm, unable to escape. After he did, though, he became just another cog in the machine.

And he wouldn't have it any other way.

It was very…different, in a sense, to not have to fear for his life or the safety of those close to him every passing moment. It was nice, almost pleasurable. But Kaneki had forgotten what pleasure felt like, so he couldn't be entirely sure. Although, he was fairly sure being able to sit down in the mornings, have a freshly brewed cup of coffee, read a couple chapters of a book, and go about the rest of his day freely and peacefully was indeed enjoyable.

He wondered how long it would last.

It hadn't been long since the Japanese government made the decision to attempt to integrate ghouls into the human society of Japan. Over the past seven months, new laws had been passed and gone into effect concerning them. Ghouls were no longer to be killed for simply being ghouls as long as it could be proved they hadn't killed in the past six months. If a ghoul was found eating a body on the streets, it was appropriate to eliminate it quickly and thoroughly with as little pain as possible. Any ghoul with its kagune out was to be exterminated. The ever-growing list of new regulations contained a plethora of rules alike to these with small variation in each, but most seemed to restate what had already been said.

Basically, to live normally as a ghoul, one could not kill, take out his kagune, or even look a person (human) funny. If you did, you would be eliminated on the spot, and that was that.

Kaneki and every other peaceful ghoul knew full well that the integration wouldn't go smoothly. Even calling it a "troubling process" was a euphoria for the blatant discrimination against them. It was like being in the middle of a large arena surrounded by hungry lions just waiting to pounce. Any wrong move, even a flinch, resulted in the unsightly maiming of a body.

It was ironic, really, because they were supposed to be the man-eaters. Not the humans.

So Kaneki had been living out his days as a ghoul attempting to integrate into human society. This meant doing all he could to keep his true identity as a ghoul a secret (even though he wasn't technically "illegal" anymore, nobody wanted to live in the apartment next to a ghoul), only eating when absolutely necessary, and trying way too hard to be normal.

He seemed to be struggling with the last part the most. His hair, being white, always seemed to attract a bit of unwanted attention to him, and he also had absolutely no idea what was in style these days—keeping up with the latest fashion trends had been the least of his worries while hunting down a deranged doctor.

It's not like he went out much, anyways. The only places he ever went besides home were Touka's apartment and :re. At the moment, he was lounging on Touka's sofa, book in hand as said girl bustled about the room, cleaning what could only be called frantically.

"Is the Emperor coming over later?" Kaneki asked.

Touka rolled her eyes. "Haha, very funny. Don't you have an apartment of your own? Why do you choose to come over here every day if all you do is read?"

Kaneki shrugged. "I like a little background noise."

"Do something interesting for once. Either that or make yourself useful by moving your ass off the couch. I need to clean it."

Kaneki obliged to her request and moved to a nearby chair. Touka immediately got to work stripping the furniture of its cushions. "Great," she grumbled. Kaneki raised his eyebrows as she plucked something off of the bare sofa. She held up a severed finger. "Hinami's been eating on the couch again. I told her to eat at the table if she was having fingers; she always drops them. It's like humans and faletti, or whatever that shit is."

"Spaghetti," Kaneki corrected. "They eat that in the Western countries. Over here it's—"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I don't need a culinary lesson." She dropped the finger in the trash bag behind her before inspecting the couch for anymore unwanted appendages. "Shit, it left a stain. Do you think laundry detergent can get a bloodstain out of a sofa?"

"Laundry detergent?"

"It's all I have," she huffed defensively.

Kaneki chuckled. "You don't really think whoever's coming over would pull up the sofa cushions to check for bloodstains, do you?"

Touka fiddled nervously with the hem of her jacket. "I don't know, okay? I don't know. I invited Yoriko and her parents over for dinner tonight and I'm going to tell them that I'm a ghoul, so I don't need fucking blood all over the house, for God's sake."

"I thought Yoriko already knew you were a ghoul?"

"She does, but her parents don't. I'm worried it's not going to go over smoothly."

"The word 'smoothly' doesn't exist among our kind, Touka. Nothing will ever go over smoothly for us. You should know that better than me."

Annoyance flashed across her face. "Then what are you suggesting I do, huh?"

Kaneki creased the corner of his page and set down his book. "I don't know, Touka. I hope it goes well, I really do. Just do what you think is best. But what will you do if her parents don't accept your relationship with her because you're a ghoul?"

Touka sighed and looked away. "I'll…I'll get to that. I've been procrastinating planning what we would do afterwards because I didn't want to think about it. The worst they could do is tell her to stop seeing me, right? I mean, she's nineteen and lives in her own apartment. It's not like they can control what she does."

"In a worst-case scenario, they could force her to move. If they pay for the apartment, they have control over it," Kaneki reasoned.

"No, she pays for it. Her part-time job at a department store in the shopping district gets her enough money for rent and groceries." Touka sighed again. "This sucks. I wish everything weren't so complicated. All these rules and this discrimination—it almost makes me wish we were still in hiding."

Kaneki knew how she felt. Sometimes he too felt like a bird in a cage, unable to move freely. Speaking of birds—

"Where's Loser?" Kaneki questioned, just now noticing the absence of the bird's insistent squawking. Hinami, who lived with Touka, had convinced her to let it stay with them after a desperate plea that included but was not limited to begging, many tears, and (apparently empty) promises of helping to keep the house clean.

"Oh. I told Hinami to drop him off at the vet this morning on her way to school. I think he's sick. It was good timing, though. I don't want him in the house while Yoriko's parents are over," Touka explained. "Maybe I'll finally get my wish and the damn thing will drop dead. It would be kind of quiet without him around, though. Here, take this."

Touka handed Kaneki the garbage bag and proceeded to throw trash collected from behind the sofa into it. She then managed to rope him into helping her clean the rest of the house, claiming it was repayment for letting him come over all the time. "You might as well be paying half the bill," she said, smirking.

Kaneki smiled sheepishly. "I don't come over that much."

"Mhm, yeah. Whatever. I know you're just lonely in your boring apartment. You don't even have any wallpaper, geez. It's like you're living in a plain, undecorated box. You know what you need? A boyfriend."

"A boyfriend?" Kaneki repeated, amusement tinging his voice.

"Yes, a boyfriend. And one who actually has some life in him. You've thrown yourself into a never-ending routine of boringness."

It was true; Kaneki found comfort in submerging himself in routine. Maybe she was right, though. Was it time to change it up a bit? But then there was the obvious problem of actually finding someone who he liked and who liked him. Yep, that would be a big roadblock.

"It's not like anyone would want to date me," he mumbled, the amusement fading into slight disappointment. "I mean, I'm a ghoul whose only social life consists of talking to people at a coffee shop. I doubt anyone would find interest in someone like that."

Touka shrugged. "You never know. It's not like you're unattractive or anything. Just take off your shirt or something and I guarantee they'll be a crowd of guys around you asking what your workout routine is in less than a second."

A blush began to creep its way up Kaneki's neck to his face at her words, and she snickered. "It's just like you were before. Maybe those changes weren't so permanent after all."

With that, she sauntered away, leaving Kaneki fumbling for words. Just like he was before, huh?

He wondered if that were a good sign.


Later that day, Kaneki found himself at an unfamiliar coffee shop with Touka and Hinami, whom they had met at the station after her school day ended.

"I've never been in here before," he commented upon entering. He took in the surroundings. It was a fairly large yet still a cozy and charming shop filled with fine tables and chairs. The walls were a soft cream color, while the flooring was a light mahogany wood. The smell of coffee arose and filled the shop from behind the counter, where two workers were stationed. An elated smile made its way onto one of the employee's faces as he spotted them, and he immediately rushed over to take their orders as soon as they sat down.

"Hi there!" he said happily.

There were many things about this employee that Kaneki would have noticed if not for one thing—his smile. His apron was too small for him, he wore a tacky pair of red headphones around his neck, and his bleached hair was definitely showing more than a few roots. But that radiant smile snatched Kaneki's attention away from everything else, commanding his sole attention be on it in all its brightness and glory.

Something swatted his arm. "Tell the guy what you want, Kaneki," Touka said, a sly grin in place on her lips. Kaneki immediately snapped out of his daze.

"I'll, uh, erm…" Queue stuttering. "I-I'll have a drink."

The employee chuckled. "What kind of drink would you like, sir?"

"Coffee?" he said as if it were a question.

"You sure about that?"

"Err, no—"

He laughed. "Sorry, sorry, I'm just teasing you. Black coffee, right? At least, that's what these two lovely ladies are having." He gestured grandly to Touka and Hinami. Hinami blushed, while Touka covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her laughs.

"Y-yeah, that's fine," Kaneki finally managed.

"Okay! Three black coffees coming up!" The employee sashayed away, taking his brilliant smile away with him.

"I can't believe I just did that," Kaneki groaned, hiding his face in his hands as Touka burst into laughter.

"You should have seen your face!"

"I don't want to have seen it," he mumbled back.

Hinami patted his shoulders. "It's okay, onii-chan," she said to help ease his pain. Unfortunately, Touka's laughter cancelled out any healing effect Hinami may have had on his damaged ego—which already wasn't good to begin with.

"That was smooth, Kaneki, real smooth. Real cute, too. Especially the way you reacted after he convinced you that you didn't want coffee." She snorted, and Kaneki glared at her through his fingers. "Okay, okay, I'll stop." Her laughter slowly died down to chuckling and then to amused sighs and fond smiles as she replayed the scene over and over in her head.

Dammit, Kaneki did not sign up for this.

Moments later, the same employee brought over their coffees. Thankfully, no other mishaps occurred and Kaneki was able to drink his coffee in peace as Touka and Hinami talked about her day at school. As their visit continued, he slowly loosened back up and was able to find some humor in the situation that had transpired. It was pretty funny, he supposed. It's not like it mattered anyways, so there was no reason for him to be a stickler about it. They would leave this shop and he would most likely never see the worker with the bright smile ever again.

"Weird. He gave you a takeout cup. I guess he was as confused as you," Touka noted, pointing to Kaneki's lidded paper cup of coffee. Kaneki had been so wrapped in his thoughts he hadn't even noticed his cup was different from Touka's and Hinami's. "Give it here. There's some writing on it."

Kaneki handed her the cup, and Touka turned it around so she could see the writing. Her eyebrows shot up. "What is it?" he asked.

She pushed the cup back to him. "See for yourself."

Taking it, his eyes found the hastily scribbled words in sharpie on the side of it. Following them was a number. Kaneki's eyes slowly widened.

Hope to see you back here! Give me a call?

-Hide


this fic will update every Wednesday starting now :)

thanks for reading!