守りたい // hidekane

14

"Make sure he doesn't find out."

Kaneki, who Touka had called over to the counter, spares a small glance towards his friend that's currently snapping a few pictures of his drink. It's been exactly ten minutes and Hide still hasn't taken a sip of it. He nervously scratches his cheek in slight embarrassment. "From the face he's making I'm pretty sure he won't, I - uh- did a pretty satisfactory job-."

"Not that, idiot." The purple chick sighes, pinching the bridge of her nose, Kaneki gulped softly, his cheeks tainted pink. "About you being a..."

"Ah. W-Well..yeah."

"I don't know what the manager was thinking when he decided to take in a human to care for because taking care of humans is impossible here in Anteiku. If he, by any chance, finds out about us.." Touka stops wiping the cup she was preoccupied with, finally looking Kaneki in the eye. The stare sent shivers down the black haired teen spine. It was full of so much hostility, even if she hasn't even displayed her kakugan yet.

"I'll kill him."

Kaneki flinches, a horrified look splattering onto his features and he stumbles a little bit backwards. He struggles to find words as his lip trembles slightly at the thought.

"Don't thank me." She sighs, noticing the panicked state she's caused Kaneki to slip in. "I know it sounds harsh but you need to understand that if he finds out, everything we've built up to now would..." A pause, a straying look and Touka goes back to cleaning the mugs, "..the manager told me not to. So it'll be better for him not to be involved. The manager won't be able to stop me then."

"R-Right.." Kaneki replies unnervingly, the palm of his hands were sweaty and he feels as if the uniform got a little tighter on him as he pulls on the collar, visibly uncomfortable with her previous bold statement.
To say something that included so much malicious intent so easily made Kaneki queasy. But yet again, they're ghouls, they're used to..killing someone.

Yikes, Touka really is scary.

When she doesn't say anything else, Kaneki slowly scoots away from her, landing his eyes on Hide, who meets his gaze easily, as if he'd been staring at him the whole time. This causes Kaneki to look away instantly, shuffling towards the unattended guests who had their hands up to call for a waiter.

Hide's whole demeanor changes when Kaneki's attention wasn't on him anymore. He tried to play it off as if he wasn't a complete stalker, observing the whole conversation that took place, the hostile look Touka gave the ravenette which made him hasten a little backwards and start to shake subtly, the obvious uncomfortable tension around the air between them and Kaneki's sudden change in attitude towards Hide himself. He was supposed to send an almost shit-eating grin to Kaneki's as the boy unexpectedly turned around, just to make it seem less like he was watching him the whole time, but before he got the chance to, the other had already looked away.

This is too much for me to handle. Hide averts his attention to his now cold espresso, and the kitty shaped foam that was now deformed due to him unconsciously fidgeting and nudging the table too much (also because it's been sitting there for too long, surely it would've started to dissolve). This whole cup really just reminds him of Kaneki. I mean, he didn't even have to think twice that this was the work of the said guy, having to know very well that Touka really isn't the type to put extra effort into adding a cute touch to it since, first of all, she doesn't really seem to like Hide all the much, and she has a stick-in-the-mud aura around her. Kaneki on the other hand, definitely would spare a little bit of his time to do something like this. He's too nice for his own good.

Right. He's a good person, so why would something like that happen to him?

Hide let's out a breath and finally takes in his espresso, pursing his lips a little when he realizes that with the amount of time he spent basking in the midst of the kitty shaped foam, the drink had gone a tad bit colder than what it's ought to be.

He couldn't help but watch Kaneki do his work. Watch him smile softly at the customers. Watch him let out a small occasional laugh and then scratch his cheek, obviously embarrassed. Watch him unconsciously rub his lower back from time to time, as if he was weary of its existence. Watch him fidget around nervously, visibly trying to avoid eye contact with Hide himself. It was as if a single glance at Hide would cause him to lose everything forever, like he's second guessing that the strawberry blond would see right through him.

Read the mood Hide, he's weary of you. Scared of you. Hide's eyes darken a little and he shifts his attention to the glass wall beside him, allowing him to watch the rather quiet streets. I should give him some space. He's probably very anxious right now. Reluctantly, the strawberry blond stands from his seat and slips his pay as well as a tip under the saucer of his cup. His eyes caught Kaneki's and he couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks for the coffee, 'Neki! It was delicious!" He calls out, waving his hand obnoxiously in the air. Kaneki, used to having Hide draw a lot of attention due to his loud personality, paid no mind to the customers averted stares. Instead, he shoots a confused look at the blond, who sat a little far from the table he's serving.

"Hide..."

"I just remembered I need to run some errands, so see you later!" Hide turns his heel and locks eyes with Touka, "See you later Kirishima~!" Touka gives him a half hearted smile and that's all it took for Hide to shoot out, not even letting Kaneki utter a single word.

The half ghoul could only stare at the closed door as his lips stretched into a thin line. Not that he's trying to sound so full of himself but he expected Hide to wait for him to finish his shift so that they could walk back home together. Now he has to walk back home alone again, for the first time in almost a week. He really was expecting it to become a routine, but then, Hide couldn't stick with him forever. And it's that single thought that scares him.

Hide won't stick with him forever.

His fingers unconsciously travel along his lower spine, features weary of all the thoughts threatening to spill out of him.

His eyes meet Kirishima's and she sighed and murmured softly, "Guess he found out."

"Wh-What? F-Find out about what?" Kaneki's eyes stare at her wildly, his whole body shaking in fear as he prepares himself for what's going to come out of Touka's mouth. Please please please don't tell me Hide knows I'm a—! God anything but that!

Touka purses her lips and looks back into Kaneki's fear stricken gaze seriously, her voice cold and chilling as she says,

"He found out you made the espresso."

a/n; i am so sorry this took so long!! this chapter was a victim of my writer's block so im very sorry bc it's so short and shabby :( ! i'll work harder next time, thank you for being patient!