"Come on idiot, this is the third time you've remade this one, it's not even that hard," Touka chastised, wrinkling her nose at her coworker's poor attempt at a cup of coffee.
"Sorry, sorry, just give me one more chance?" the blond pleaded, clasping his hands together in apology. He may have been older than Touka, but she'd been working at the coffee shop longer, and had seniority over him. That, and she could be intimidating when she was mad.
Hide couldn't help his mistakes though. He wanted this cup to be just perfect, considering who'd ordered it. A fairly new customer, with a soft voice that Hide wished he could hear more of than just his order. He had kind of a baby-face too, but judging by the complex-looking books he was always reading whenever he came in, Hide figured he must at least be a college student, same as the blond himself.
He had to pull himself out of his thoughts when he realized he was staring at the customer, refocusing on the coffee before Touka had a chance to roll up a newspaper to smack him with.
Running through the steps as carefully as he could, Hide finally poured the steamy, aromatic drink into a cup, satisfied with the result.
"See? Told you I'd get it!" he boasted, smiling proudly to his coworker, who simply rolled her eyes.
Hide carried the cup on a saucer, along with a napkin, to the customer's table, setting them down with a bright smile. "Here you go, enjoy!"
Before the other could respond though, Hide hurried back behind the counter, grinning excitedly with a faint blush on his cheeks as he watched the confused customer look back and forth between the coffee and himself.
Hide gave an encouraging thumbs-up, and the customer looked almost concerned – a contrast to Touka, who was just exasperated – as he picked up the coffee and took a slow drink.
It took a few moments for the customer to notice the note Hide'd left on his napkin, picking it up and reading the messy handwriting before, much to Hide's heartbreak, crumpling it up and setting it aside.
"Quit pouting," Touka finally interjected, tossing a damp washcloth at Hide's face.
He sputtered an objection, pulling the washcloth away and trying to explain himself, unaware that the customer was watching and laughing quietly at the scene.
Hide managed to pull himself together quickly though, washing dishes for a distraction until that same customer he'd embarrassed himself in front of came to the counter, smiling softly. Before Hide could stammer out an apology though, the customer spoke up.
"I'm free Saturday, if you still want to," he said, referring to Hide's napkin invitation, his cheeks tinged a light pink. "And my name is Kaneki, by the way. It's nice to meet you, Hideyoshi." Kaneki held out his hand to the awestruck blond.
It took Hide a moment to process that he hadn't been rejected, giving a smile brighter than the sun when it finally got through to him. "Awesome, I'd love to! And you can just call me Hide," he said, shaking Kaneki's hand enthusiastically before he had to leave.
No matter how many more washcloths she threw at him, Touka couldn't get the dumb grin off of Hide's face for the rest of the week.
