Faking It [Tokyo Ghoul: Hide Nagachika x Reader]

Chapter 3: Reader

Mystery solved, he's gay.
Why else would he talk about a guy the entire time he was talking to me? I mean, sure, I'm no model, but at least I have the right chromosome combination.
But no, some Kaneki kid is more important.
I was curious. Who was this kid that Hideyoshi was obsessed with? And how hard can it really be to find someone's room? They keep a running list after all.
With a sigh, I stood up and went over to the nurse's station.
"Toma's little sister!" one of them said, smiling.
Always Toma's little sister, never (y/n). "Yeah," I said, smiling back, playing the part. "I had a question and I was wondering if you could help me."
"I'll do my best!" she said. Tori. That was her name. Notice how I don't call her Toma's co-worker.
"I'm looking for a patient..."
She gave me an apologetic smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Sorry, but you know I can't release personal information of clientele to non-familial relations..."
"I know his name, I'm just trying to find his room," I said. Then a pause. "He's a friend from school. I just heard that he was here for something and thought I'd check up on him."
"Him?" Tori asked, smiling as usual, but it was a suggestive smile this time. "Wait til I tell Toma about your boyfriend!"
I rolled my eyes but let her go along with it. As. Long as she gives me the dang number. "All right, I'll try looking him up in the system. Name?"
"Kaneki." I closed my eyes for a moment, recalling Hideyoshi's words. "Kaneki Ken."
Tori clicked and tapped and typed. Then, "This is strange...he's in the system, but no room number. It looks like his file is flagged."
"Flagged? With what?"
Tori shrugged. "I don't know. I don't have that sort of clearance level. I'm sure your boyfriend is fine, though," she added as an afterthought.
"Thanks," I said, already turning and walking away. The hospital had five floors, four wings, and some storage space. If Hideyoshi had been telling the truth, then he'd probably searched the main areas. No point in double checking, not if he'd searched the whole place twice. Which just left the unused wing and storage facilities.
I figured I'd get the storage areas out of the way first and painstakingly searched each room marked for storage on all five floors and in the three functioning wings. An hour later, I decided to check out the unused wing.
The wing had been built several years after the initial opening of the hospital as an addition during a time of widespread viral infections when the hospital had more patients than beds. After the virus ran its course, however, the wing remained empty for a period of time. Since it had been built hastily, there were complaints of safety issues and structural violations,  and the hospital had since shut the wing down to avoid threats of lawsuits. The wing itself was sparsely furnished; in its heyday, it had held two cots to a room with the barest medical equipment. Now, the hospital had pulled the cots, leaving empty concrete rooms with holes for windows.
When I was little and Toma had just started working at the hospital as an intern, I had used to love running around the old wing and playing hide and seek with myself. Then Toma had found out and had banned me from going there because he was afraid I'd get hurt.
Every now and then, I would still go back to the old wing, just for some peace and quiet to contrast the incessant beeping and thrum of the heart of the hospital.
I arrived at the doors to the old wing and stopped. On one side - the side I was on - there was light, warmth. On the other side, darkness and cold.
I reached out a hand and pushed the door open, one foot, two. Just when the gap was almost big enough to fit through, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I turned quickly, my heart beating irregularly quickly, and I swallowed. "Jeez, Toma, you scared the heck out of me."
Toma frowned. "You're not supposed to go in there, (y/n). You know that."
"Right, I was just..."
Toma just stared, waiting for me to finish.
"I was looking for a patient."
"The old wing hasn't been functioning for over fifteen years. No patients are being held in there, (y/n)."
I shrank back from Toma's disappointing stare, one I'd been on the receiving end of many times. "Sorry. I...there was this kid who was looking for his friend, only he couldn't find his room, and I thought-"
"The kid must have been mistaken," Toma said. "He's probably thinking of a different hospital."
"Uh huh," I agreed. That was really the only way to end a disagreement with Toma - you agreed with him because he was always right, and that was that.
Toma stared at me for a long second before sighing, removing his glasses, and rubbing his eyes. "I came to get you. We're going home."
Despite myself, I sighed in relief. "I'll drive."
"You shouldn't be driving, (y/n)-"
"But you're tired," I interjected.
Toma was quiet before nodding. "Fine."
We left the hospital and got into his car, me in the drivers' seat and Toma on the passenger side.
"I'm going to close my eyes for a minute. Wake me up if you have any trouble-"
"I'll be fine, Toma. Go to sleep."
Toma didn't bother objecting as he closed his eyes, and I put the keys into the ignition and put the car into drive. The whole time, I kept to five miles under the speed limit. At least five cars passed me, but we made it home twenty minutes later.
"Toma? Toma?"
He was asleep.
I waited a moment before shaking him gently. "Toma, we're home."
He opened his eyes wearily. "Mm?"
I dropped the keys in his hand. "Night." I went into our apartment and fell onto my bed. After a long moment, I turned my head ever so slightly to look at the clock. 3:32 a.m. School started at 8:00 a.m. So if I did the math...
By the time I can up with 4 hours 28 minutes, I was already asleep.