Fanfic / At Your Convenience

At Your Convenience is a Modern AU Fic by "RunicMagitek" based on 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.The story stars Ei Sekigahara who works an utterly joyless and exhausting job as a convenience store clerk. Then one day, he serves an anxious, ditzy college student by the name of Iori Fuyusaka, and finds his path further entwined with hers when he discovers her dropped wallet after she leaves the store.

Tropes

• Actually Pretty Funny: Iori - unwittingly - manages to get a smirk from the tired and grumpy Ei when she misinterprets him telling her that the store's POS is working slow.
  “I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” he told her again, this time through his teeth. “The POS wasn’t working and I can’t open the register without—”
  “Oh, not to worry! It’s okay! [...] I, uh....” She fussed with her hair, tucking stubborn locks behind her ears. “I’m sorry your piece of shit computer isn’t working.”
  How he managed to not choke on his spit was, in fact, a miracle. If not for the accumulating line out the door, he might have snorted. Laughed, even. Instead, Ei scoffed and smirked.
  “Point of sale,” he said.
  She tilted her head. “Huh?”
  “The POS system stands for point of sale. You know.” He gestured between them. “What we’re doing right now.”
  Her cheeks burned red while she smiled. “Oh! Right! O-of course!”
• Age Lift: The pilots in this AU are all college-aged rather than high schoolers.
• Composite Character: Keitaro's role as Ei's Best Friend is most similar to BJ/the Keitaro of the previous loop.
• Internet Stalking: Invoked;
  • Ei's first instinct on discovering Iori's wallet is to try searching for her online to find out how to reach her, all while noting how invasive it feels to be able to find every bit of info possible about her with a google search.
    This isn’t creepy, he ensured himself. You did research all the time in college. Your thesis was on cataloging human experiences in a digital age. Think of it as putting your degree to use. He rolled his eyes. To figure out how to contact some random girl who left her wallet at your crap job. Yeah, I’m sure my professors are thrilled with this development.
  • Iori later admits in the last chapter that she also tried to look up Ei online and find out more about him, except his convenience store nametag is spelt wrong so she couldn't find him anywhere.
• Love at First Sight: Ei catches Keitaro gawking the moment the latter sees Natsuno for the first time.
  Whatever Keitaro had to say died on his gaping lips. Blush colored his face, overwhelming the grease. Ei raised an eyebrow and followed Keitaro’s line of sight
  Oh
• MacGuffin: Iori's wallet becomes the thing driving the conflict after Ei finds it dropped on the floor where she tripped. The rest of the fic has him working up the guts to finally meet her again and return it.
• Mean Boss: Ida's a very demanding and unsympathetic manager to Ei, insisting he cover a shift on his day off and trying to pile even more hours on later at a different location.
• Meet Cute:
  • The whole first chapter is built around Ei and Iori's meet-cute; Iori very awkwardly and hurriedly shops for a bunch of items, unwittingly annoying Ei with her motormouthing and tripping over a display on her way out. At first, he wishes to avoid any chance possible to seeing her again after his awful morning, but after gradually piecing together more about and learning to empathize with her circumstances, he eventually decides to seek her out and return her wallet, leading to an accidental first date between the two.
  • Keitaro and Natsuno have a very sweet first meeting with Keitaro noting Natsuno's Star Wars shirt and getting the chance to geek out together.
• Modern AU Fic: The setting is set loosely in the 2010s-20s where there are no Sentinels, Deimos or time-travel to be found.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The city districts are called "Sectors", referencing the five sectors from the game.
  • In chapter 2, Ei recounts a certain customer who comes in a buys up all the yakisoba pan, obviously talking about Takatoshi.
  • Chapter 3:
    • Keitaro walks into the convenience store with a smudge on his forehead, referencing the scar he has there in canon.
    • Yuki buys juice boxes and cigarettes, her favorite beverage and her teenage vice from the game.
    • Ei and Ryoko are both on good terms, referencing their Childhood Friends-bond from the game. Ryoko also suffers from migraines, referencing her affliction that robs her memory.
  • Chapter 4: Tomi is a streamer in this AU just like in canon.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • When Ei texts with Keitaro about what happened with Iori at the store, Keitaro quickly asks if "she's attractive", flustering Ei and making him unwittingly ponder the thought.
  • Ei quickly notices Keitaro and Natsuno's chemistry and convinces the former to shoot his shot, leading to Keitaro landing a date with her.
  • Iori's friends Tomi and Miwako are rooting for her the whole time she and Ei finally get to sit down and get to know each other.
  • Both Iori and Miwako tease Tomi about her and Nenji.
• Soul-Sucking Retail Job: Ei's job at the convenience store is utterly mortifying and exhausting, leaving him little free time and royally effing his sleep schedule.