Str✮rri !

Can you write a coffee shop AU where Obanai is a customer who wants to ask out Mitsuri, the cute barista, but is too shy? Please? 🩷🩷🩷

Here you go, anon! Enjoy!

“Obamai!” The barista called out. Obanai walked forward to take his black coffee with lavender syrup. The barista smiled brightly and waved goodbye before she returned to filling the morning rush orders. He paused for a moment to watch her. He started coming to this coffee shop two months ago. The barista with pink and green hair greeted him warmly and he came every day since. Today was the day he was going to ask her out. He’d mentally prepared for her rejection and the 1% chance she would say yes. 

Her voice was chipper and she treated everyone the same. He never saw her roll her eyes at customers or say a mean thing about them. When Obanai was in high school he worked at a fast food restaurant. Due to his subpar customer service skills, he worked as one of the food preppers. But Mitsuri? She carried on conversations with the customers flawlessly as she prepared their drink orders. 

 Her family ran this cafe for the past 15 years. Two of her siblings worked the morning shift with her while the other two went to school. Her parents would alternate shifts wherever they were needed. The Kanrojis were a tight knit family and he wished he’d come from a loving family. Instead he had a deadbeat dad and neglectful mom. Then his five older sisters fled the house as soon as physically possible to get away from their parents. He only knew where one of them lived. If only he had grown up in a family like the Kanrojis. 

“Did you need something else, Obamai?” Mitsuri asked as she glanced over. Oh, right, he was still standing in front of the pick up line staring at Mitsuri lovingly. His cheeks reddened and he saw Mitsuri’s sister snicker. Was it obvious that he liked the eldest Kanroji? Her laughter confirmed it. 

“Uh, no, I was lost in thought,” he said and took a step back. 

“Gotcha, I’ll see you tomorrow morning, right?” Mitsuri asked. He swallowed with a nod. He grasped the paper cup and walked out of the shop. Today would in fact not be the day he asked her out. 

——-

“When are you going to correct her? Or are you legally changing your name to Obamai?” Sanemi questioned. On the paper cup, ‘Obamai’ was clearly written followed by ‘xoxo’. Mitsuri wrote hugs and kisses on every order surely, but the implication still made his heart pound faster. Obanai groaned and set his head on the desk. 

“So never?” Sanemi laughed. Obanai shook his head without looking up. Sanemi poked fun at Obanai’s crush on the barista every chance he got. 

“When I ask her out,” Obanai said lamely and rotated his head towards Sanemi. 

“Keep telling yourself that,” Sanemi slapped him on the back and returned to his cubicle on the other side. 

“Tomorrow. I’m going to ask her out tomorrow,” Obanai muttered to himself knowing it wasn’t going to happen. 

———

Obanai stood in line with one person in front of him. Mitsuri’s brother was working the register while Mitsuri was restocking the coffee beans between orders. She was stronger than the rest of her family and worked out regularly at ‘Muscle Mice Gym’. She mentioned she worked out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday night and participated in their dance classes. 

“Next,” her brother called and Obanai stepped forward. He smirked seeing Obanai glance at Mitsuri. Usually, she took his order. It would have been the prime time to ask her out. He said he was going to ask her out, but maybe it would have to wait until tomorrow. 

“What can I get you?” He asked. 

Mitsuri. He wanted to say, but instead went with something new. 

“Black coffee with cherry blossom syrup,” Obanai ordered and pulled out his credit card to tap on the screen. 

“Thanks! Mitsuri will get that started,” he said and waved him to the side. Obanai sidestepped the register and stood a respectable distance away from the pick up counter. Mitsuri set the first customer’s drink and shouted, “Inosuke!” The man took his drink and downed the espresso shot like it was nothing. Mitsuri and Obanai shared a smile as the man ran out of the shop. 

“I’m going to grab more milk,” her brother said and walked into the kitchen, which left Mitsuri and Obanai alone. He went up to the counter. Maybe he could ask her now… No, once she handed him his drink he would. 

“Do you have plans for the weekend? I was thinking about going to see a movie, but I don’t want to go alone,” Mitsuri said. 

“Are your siblings busy?” Obanai questioned. She normally hung out with them on the weekends or worked. Mitsuri nodded as she poured the cherry blossom syrup into a cup. “What about your friend, the one with purple hair?” 

“No, she’s busy with her girlfriend,” the barista said. 

“Or her sister?” Obanai asked. Mitsuri closed her eyes and bounced on the balls of her feet. 

“Also busy.” She shook her head. 

“Then what about-”

“You. I want to see a movie with you, Obamai,” Mitsuri admitted, opening her eyes. Her face reddened. “I tried dropping hints. The hugs and kisses on the cup, my gym schedule, the heart over the ‘i’, and other hints. So, would you like to see a movie with me?” 

Obanai looked at her dumbfounded before nodding, “Yes, but I have to tell you something. My name isn’t Obamai, it’s Obanai.” 

Silence followed and Mitsuri covered her face with her hands. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he said and laughed lightly as she uncovered her face. Her laughter joined his. Yet again, Obanai had failed to ask Mitsuri out. Lucky for him, Mitsuri hadn’t.