守りたい // hidekane

06

"Did I really sound that worried?" Hide pouted as Kaneki's precious laugh tickles his ears. Kaneki attempted to imitate the voicemail Hide had sent him, causing the blond haired boy to roll his eyes at him. "Hey, I had every right to be!"

Kaneki's laughs subsided and he turns his attention back towards the television, "No really, I'm actually really happy with your worried call. I'm just not used to you sounding so..." he trailed off and let out a soft chuckle.

The two boys camped in the living room in front of Kaneki's television, pillows, blankets and Hide's snacks littered across the floor. Kaneki lay on the couch while Hide was sprawled on the mattress. They were supposed to be watching a movie but it was soon just a background noise as the two broke off into a chatter. For the first time since the incident with Rize, Kaneki felt so at ease, he didn't worry about the hunger poking on his sides, he didn't feel the weight of his ghoul self discovery on his shoulders. Hide's presence always strangely made him feel such. He was beyond thankful that he could still hang out with him, despite the secret he kept to himself. He wasn't ready to come clean yet.

"Hey, Bakaneki! Are you even listening?"

"Eh?"

Hide huffs and crosses his arms, "Nevermind, you dingus." Kaneki laughed and apologized.

"It's getting late, Hide..." Kaneki started, checking the time. It's roughly thirty minutes past midnight, the streets would be less busy and it's generally ghoul feeding hours. Hide opens his phone to look at the time, letting out a sigh and sitting up from the mattress. They've been talking for the past three hours or so, the television still on, but now muted.

"Guess I better head home then." He props himself up to stand. Kaneki almost instantly pulls him back down, startling the other.

"A-Are you serious?! It's like 1 AM!" The ravenette exclaimed, not letting go of Hide's arm, "It's dangerous to walk out there."

"Nah, Kaneki it's fine—"

"Just sleep over, please?" Kaneki says softly, his head hanging low. He was blushing madly at the way the sentence came out of his mouth. It sounded so desperate. But really, the truth is he didn't want Hide to come in contact with a ghoul like what had happened to him. Hide would for sure either end up as a half ghoul or just ghoul feed over all, he doesn't know what would happen to him if Hide was gone. He can't bear it. He's lost too many people.

Hide was taken aback at first but then smiled warmly at the other, "Alrighty, Bakaneki, if you insist." Then he falls back down onto the mattress to which Kaneki let out a sigh of relief too. He gets to his feet.

"I'll go get some pillows and blankets for you." He states and walks out of the living room. Meanwhile, Hide's cheerful smile wavered off. His mind wandered to the events earlier.

As soon as he was dismissed, Hide had practically ran to Kaneki's house. To say he was excited to spend time with his friend was an understatement, maybe it was just the fact that he hadn't seen Kaneki for how many weeks and he wanted to make up for the wasted time. But when he got there and knocked, there was no reply. He didn't really think that Kaneki would leave the house since he seemed so sick and pale. He waited for minutes until they turned to hours. He's been knocking and calling Kaneki even through his phone. But there were no answers, the call was always dropped because of the poor signal. He was starting to get restless, if his friend really did leave the house, then he would've been back by now. He knows the boy, Kaneki would only stay out of the house (if not for school) for a maximum of two hours unless he's with him. And it's been almost four hours since Hide's been standing by the door and roaming around the area. He started to get a feeling of dread. What if he was kidnapped — no, what if he ran into a ghoul?! Oh God no. Please.