Day two of Kanekicest week has arrived~! But are you ready?

Prompt:

DAY 2 - Latte: Art / Fairytales/ Takatsuki Sen's Books

Shironeki raised an eyebrow as he walked around the couch while carrying two lattes in his hands. It wasn't Kaneki per se that was strange. No. Kaneki was resting on the couch, curled in a ball with a book in his hand. The sight was such a usual occurrence that it would be strange to not see Kaneki like that. No, the thing that had caught Shironeki's attention most was what Kaneki held in his hands.

The book he was holding had a flashy cover with multiple colors blending together, and was that a dragon on the cover? Even standing a couple feet away, Shironeki could clearly tell the book was not one of Sen Tatsuki's works or anything. Which then brought up the question of why Kaneki was currently reading what was clearly a fairytale. It wasn't like neither of them ever read books other than Tatsuki's work, but Shironeki couldn't even remember the last time he or Kaneki had read any genre outside of horror or suspense.

Deciding that he was getting nowhere with wondering about it, Shironeki slowly walked over to where Kaneki was resting in an attempt to not startle the resting man. Without saying a word, he held out one of the lattes in his hand to Kaneki, who took it without looking away from the book. Kaneki took a sip of the drink, paused, and peered into the cup with a confused expression.

"I decided to make lattes today." Shironeki paused, moving to sit down beside Kaneki. He gave the other a wayward glance. "You mentioned that you wanted a little change up with coffee from time to time the other day, right?"

Kaneki hummed appreciatively while taking another sip. "S'Good." Shironeki took a sip of his own latte and grimaced slightly. It was really sweet, a definite change from his usual bitter coffee. Shironeki placed the cup on the coffee table in front of the couch. Drinking it brought back warm memories and purple haired waitresses, and Shironeki wasn't sure he wanted to go down memory lane so soon. So instead he turned back to watch Kaneki read.

After a minute or so of this, Kaneki peered over the book. He tilted his head to the side with a curious expression that was honestly too adorable (Shironeki had no doubt that if Tsukiyama was here, he would have lurched forward in an attempt eat Kaneki on the spot simply based on how delicious he looked in that moment alone).

"Do you...need something?"

Shironeki blinked before shaking his head. "I'm fine. I'm just...curious about something."

Kaneki placed a bookmark in between the pages of where he was reading before closing the book. When he was finished, he sat up to look at Shironeki directly with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh? What about?"

Shironeki waved his hand casually in a dismissive manner. "Nothing really. Its just strange to see you reading something so...fantastical."

Kaneki looked confused for a moment before a look of realization dawned on his face. His eyes drifted to land on the book resting in his lap. Kaneki stayed silent for a moment as if he was planning out what he was going to say before he said it. Kaneki's eyes flickered up to look at Shironeki with a bashful smile making its way on his face.

"I, uh, picked it up while I was in town the other day. It looked interesting, and I figured it would be a nice break from everything, you know?" Kaneki gave a sheepish shrug.

It didn't take much to figure out that 'everything' actually meant all of the things that happened- no, are happening still. When Kaneki put it like that, it didn't seem as strange to see Kaneki reading a fantasy book in order to get away from the dreariness their lives had become. After all, fantasy books were used as a way to get away from reality at their core. And the horror and tragedy genres they shared a love for was definitely getting too close to reality.

So if Kaneki wanted to read books like this, Shironeki could understand why.

Shironeki laid back against the couch and stretched out his legs. He closed his eyes and simply listened to his surroundings. He paused, thinking. Without opening his eyes, he asked Kaneki something that was more of an impulse based want than anything.

"Hey, Kaneki. Do you think you can read it to me?"

He didn't even have to look at Kaneki to know that he was probably looking at him curiously before smiling softly. When Shironeki began to hear Kaneki read aloud, he smiled. Kaneki was right. It was nice to get away from it all if only for a little while.