"Aaah, Kaneki! Ooooohh maaaaan!"
"Could keep it down?" Kaneki hissed. "People are starting to stare."
"But you make me feel so good! Aaaah, more up there, please!"
"Hide!" Kaneki pulled his hands away from Hide's back and slammed the sun-lotion bottle back to their bag. "Are you happy now?" he huffed, glancing around the beach - everyone within earshot had clearly heard Hide's inappropriate sounds.
Hide looked at him, admiring the blush on his cheeks. "Quite," he grinned at Kaneki's cute pout.
"I didn't get to do your shoulders. It's your own fault if you get sun-burned."
"Yeah, yeah," Hide turned around, laying on his back. "I can just sun bathe like this then," he didn't miss the way Kaneki eyed at his stomach but choose to not tease the poor boy any more. "I'm so happy that you're a ghoul and not a vampire because then we wouldn't get to enjoy this."
Hide said the word 'ghoul' softly enough that Kaneki could relax and give him a dry smile, "Yeah, we are very lucky."
"We are."
They let silence settle between them, except for the laughter that was coming by the water where children were playing. Hide had closed his eyes, felt Kaneki's presence next to him. He had an impulse to reach out his hand and grasp Kaneki's fingers between his own but decided to let it be and enjoy the peace around them.
But that peace was quickly shattered as Hide felt someone block the sun and then his nose was squeezed with brutal force.
"Ow, ow! What the-" he opened his eyes and saw a girl with short black hair and a wicked smile. "Please have mercy, Miki-chan!"
"Yeah right, Nagachika-kun!" she grinned but let go of his nose.
Hide rose up to sit and noticed that Miki wasn't alone but with her was a petite and pretty brown-haired girl. Hide turned to Kaneki who looked helplessly confused, "Why didn't you warn me, Kaneki?"
"Uh, I- Sorry?" Kaneki shrugged.
"He probably knew you had done something wrong to get punished," Miki smirked.
"I said I was sorry! I didn't break your DVD on purpose!" Hide whined and pumped his shoulder against Kaneki, giving him his best guilty-look. "You at least believe me, right Kaneki?"
"Uh..." Kaneki blinked and glanced at Miki.
She only smiled at him (Hide knew no one right in the head could scowl at Kaneki) and reached out her hand. "Hi, I'm Miki. This idiot's tutor."
"Only part-time tutor," Hide muttered as Miki and Kaneki shook hands.
"Kaneki Ken," Kaneki introduced himself and there was that slightly shy look on his face which hadn't disappeared even after he had become a mighty ghoul. Hide adored that side of him.
"Yeah, I know you. Nagachika-kun talks about you 90% of the time. The other 10% he's trying really hard to think of something else to say."
Hide changed the subject, trying to hide his embarrassment, "I don't know her pretty date though."
The girl next to Miki seemed to wake up from her thoughts and gave them a radiating smile. "My name's Rie. Nice to meet you," she shook hands with both Hide and Kaneki. Hide found her absolutely adorable. "Miki-chan and I have been friends since high school. She told me you stepped on to her Battle Royal-DVD, Nagachika-kun?"
"It was an accident!" Hide groaned and Miki gave him a glare. "I've apologized with flowers and chocolate but she's just not that into me."
"It was a special edition," Miki growled. "If I were you I'd stop joking about it right now."
Hide heard Kaneki chuckle beside him and of course the girls only smiled at him. "Could we join you?" Rie asked then, surprising the boys. "We were supposed to go to library but the weather is so nice that it would be a sin to waste this chance. But we don't have anything to sit on."
"I'm... fine with it," Hide said slowly and was about to ask Kaneki's opinion but Miki alreadly sat down on their blanket which luckily was big enough for them all.
"I hope it's alright with you too, Kaneki-kun?" Miki leaned closer to Kaneki and Hide looked at his blush curiously.
"Su-sure," Kaneki answered.
"I'm glad," Rie clapped her hands together once before sitting down too. "Thank you."
"No problemo, ladies," Hide smirked widely. "What can you do? I have to keep up my reputation as a gentleman."
"That's a first," Miki laughed and came dangerously close to squeeze his nose again.
"Hey! No touching!" Hide exclaimed, making everyone chuckle.
His chest was filled with a warm feeling, mixing joy and pride together. This was nice. It was best for Kaneki too, to meet new people since he usually went outside only to school and to work. Being a ghoul was hard for him even though he had friends at Anteiku who supported him. Meeting non-ghouls could be refreshing and show him that he wasn't the monster among people like he thought about himself.
Rie moved closer to Kaneki so she could peek into their open bag. "Is that Monochrome Rainbow?" she asked.
"Ah, yeah," Kaneki took the book from the bag and let her examine it.
"I've wanted to read Takatsuki Sen's books for a long time."
"You haven't read any of them yet?"
"Nope!" she said sheepisly. "But I will! Everyone I know says that her books are amazing."
"They are!" Kaneki said excitedly. "I love them all! I mean..." he coughed and looked at the book in Rie's hands. "Her way to write and portray emotions is so unprecedented. And the plot is always full of interesting turns and events."
Hide knew how only few appreciated Kaneki's shy way to voice his opinions. At one second he could outburst his thoughts, take the listener by surprise and then the next he would almost seem ashamed about his losing his cool. Then he would try to explain himself more calmly. It all brought out how passionate Kaneki was about certain things but still so kind and timid, not wanting to force his opinion upon others. It all made Kaneki Kaneki and Hide couldn't help but enjoy following the boy's interactions with the girl.
He didn't really listen what Rie answered, only focusing on Kaneki.
"Nagachika-kun?" Miki said suddenly, just next to his ear.
Hide flinched and turned his head, stammering, "Wha-what?"
"You weren't listening to me," she narrowed her eyes but there was a smile on her lips. She glanced at Rie and Kaneki who were still discussing about Takatsuki Sen. "Sorry if Rie and I were interrupting something."
"What? Why?" Hide asked, both shrugging and scratching his head which must have looked very strange.
Rie had heard Miki apologising and she looked at them seriously, "Are we bothering you? I'm so sorry! Miki-chan and I shouldn't have-"
"No!" Kaneki exclaimed suddenly. Hide looked at him, confused. "You're not bothering us at all! Right, Hide?"
Hide felt something ugly turn and spin in his stomach at that. Kaneki seemed very troubled about the possibility that Miki and Rie would leave. Why? "I- No, you're not bothering us. Silly, Miki-chan," he grinned at Miki but at least to him his smile felt fake.
"Okay, then," Rie said softly. She looked at Kaneki, Hide was painfully obvious how much she looked at him. "If you're sure."
"Yeah," Kaneki smiled sweetly and Hide felt his mood darken immensely. Kaneki hadn't smiled at him for a while now. Not for a seven minutes at least. That was a pretty long time, right?
"Hey, Kaneki," he called out and Kaneki glanced at him. "Wanna have some chips?" Hide offered a plastic bag to him.
"No, thanks," Kaneki almost immediately turned to Rie. "Do you want some, Rie-san?"
I didn't ask her, Hide couldn't help but think darkly.
"No, thank you," all the cuteness seemed to have disappeared from the girl, at least in Hide's eyes, and he wondered why Kaneki liked to talk to her so much. They were already starting another discussion about some other book.
Books of course. I get it. Kaneki must be lonely with me since I don't read many books, at least not the ones that are his favorites.
For the next ten minutes Miki and Hide tried to talk about movies but Hide spend much of that time staring at Kaneki as he explained something to Rie. Rie seemed very interested and Hide remembered the times when Kaneki had explained something about Takatsuki Sen to him and he had only been bored. He was angry at himself and felt sorry for Kaneki.
He wondered why couldn't they speed back to the moment where Kaneki's hands were on his back, spreading sun lotion, and Hide was teasing him.
Miki seemed to have given up on talking with Hide and she was now leaning on her elbows, enjoying the sun. He decided to do the same thing - spoiling his good summer mood by watching Kaneki laugh with a girl wasn't one of his ideal ways to spend time.
As Hide closed his eyes he started to think if he could buy Miki a new DVD. Maybe something more gory than Battle Royal. That movie was pretty mediocre. Of course when he had made Kaneki watch it with him, it had been a blast since everything with Kaneki was fun. Especially when Hide got to see his cute, shocked expressions while watching something scary or disgusting.
"Kaneki-kun, you have a butterfly on your shoulder!" Hide heard Rie's voice say and he opened his eyes.
There was indeed a white butterfly on Kaneki's shoulder. Kaneki blinked at it and Hide thought that would have made a perfect picture. He hoped he would have brought his camera with them.
Rie interrupted his thoughts as she leaned closer to Kaneki, "It's so cute," she put her hand on Kaneki's chest so that her long finger could touch the butterfly on his shoulder.
Hide was shocked to feel how he did as he watched Rie touch Kaneki's chest. A powerful possessiveness squeezed his heart and he almost didn't recognize himself when he clenched his hand into a fist. Rie's face was very close to Kaneki's own and to Hide it seemed like the girl didn't look at the butterfly nearly enough but only Kaneki. His Kaneki.
When he saw Kaneki look at Rie and blush, he couldn't contain himself any longer but stood up and grabbed his friend by the shoulder. The butterfly almost got crushed under his hand but managed to flew away in time.
"Could we talk for a moment, Kaneki," Hide tried to muster all the control into his voice. Kaneki looked puzzled and the girls just as confused.
"Okay," Kaneki's quick answer gave Hide a pleasant feeling, calming his anger a bit, though Kaneki must have noticed that something was wrong with him and that's why he didn't argue.
"Let's go," before realising it himself, Hide gave Rie a glare as they walked away, towards the toilets.
The small shack wasn't far from the beach and soon Hide was pushing Kaneki inside the mens room. He checked the stalls and found all of them empty. They were alone.
"Hide?" Kaneki repeated his name the whole time. The clear worry in his tone lessened Hide's anger slightly though he wasn't really mad at Kaneki precisely. "What's wrong? Please, tell me."
Hide stopped to catch his breath and swallowed as he saw Kaneki stand in front of him, looking quite breathless too. "Hide?"
He didn't really know what he had wanted to say. He just had wanted Kaneki's eyes on him again and now when his gray eyes were finally locked into his brown ones he wasn't sure if he wanted to yell out or laugh at himself and his possessiveness. As his mind appeared empty he let his instincts take control and pulled Kaneki to him, kissing him.
"Mmph!" Kaneki whined against Hide's lips, clearly surprised and probably uncomfortable, kissing in such a public place.
Hide didn't mind him but kissed Kaneki hard, pouring so much passion and desperation onto him that it seemed like their lips had been apart for months. It didn't make any sense since they had kissed just that morning. Hide felt Kaneki's hands grab his shoulders and he prepared to be pushed away but as he swiped his tongue into Kaneki's mouth, the boy only moved his hands lower, squeezing his arms. Hide pulled him more firmly against himself, backing off until his back hit the wall. He wrapped his hands around Kaneki's shoulders and hazily noticed that he had bit on Kaneki's bottom lip. Kaneki didn't seem to care because he finally started to kiss Hide back. Hide moaned and Kaneki's tongue invited itself inside his mouth. Hide dared to move his hips against Kaneki's, wrapping his right leg against the boy's calf. Kaneki let out a small noise that Hide recognized, a noise that always made him horny.
Kaneki was the one who pulled away but his face was red and looked anything but composed. Hide tried not to whine and kissed him again, not wanting Kaneki to move away from him. He had a strong, unstoppable feeling of keeping Kaneki tight and close to himself, like trying to protect him from an unknown danger.
"Hide, please wait a minute!" Kaneki turned his head so that Hide's eager lips kissed his cheek. He moved his nose across Kaneki's jaw then pressed his face against the pale neck. "Hide?"
"I like hearing you say that," he muttered. "My name, I mean."
"What's wrong with you?" Kaneki cupped his cheeks. His voice and face were gentle and Hide felt guilty as he could clearly see the evidence of him biting into Kaneki's lip - the boy's bottom lip was red and plumb, bleeding. Kaneki kept licking his lips while he looked at Hide. "Did something happen?"
"Well, you-" Hide couldn't finish the sentence because pure shame started to raise its ugly head in his mind. His emotions felt childlish and irrelevant now that he was close to Kaneki again and he was looking at Hide like he'd do anything to make him smile again. "Stupid," Hide muttered, looking at their shoes and the dirty floor.
"Wha-what?!" Kaneki's panicked voice made him raise his head. "What did I do? Did-did I hurt you somehow?" Kaneki asked, pulling away from Hide's arms.
But Hide wasn't going to let that happen, not in the million years, and he wrapped his arms tighter around Kaneki. Because you're mine. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that," he apologized sincerely. "I'm sorry, Ken."
"It's okay... I mean," he seemed to be shy because Hide had called him by his first name so suddenly. "I was just surprised. You're not usually like that."
"Well, sometimes I just have to have you," Hide grinned.
"Hide," Kaneki snorted but Hide could feel him shiver in his arms.
He glanced at the door, trying to listen if someone was coming but when he heard only birds' singing he raised his hands and stroked his boyfriend's cheeks then his black hair. Kaneki closed his eyes and clearly enjoyed the contact. Maybe Hide hadn't been the only one craving for attention. "Kaneki?"
"Mm?"
"Are you mine?"
Kaneki opened both his eyes and mouth wide but he didn't get any words out. Hide smiled to him warmly and waited.
"Where did that come from?" he finally said. "We've been da- together almost a month now," he frowned.
"But I need to hear you say it," Hide tried to speak as calmly as possible though his heart shuttered, scared that Kaneki would think he was ridiculous. "Rabbits are very jealous sometimes, you know?"
"Oh?" Kaneki's lips hesitantly turned up into a smile, which was full of warmth as Hide touched his abused lip gently with his fingers. "I didn't know that."
"Yeah," Hide nodded. "When they are jealous they start to act like they have rabies. You know, drooling and humping their partner like crazy. The usual stuff."
"I see."
"Yeah," Hide nodded again, still stroking Kaneki's bottom lip but he couldn't look at him in the eyes anymore. "Because rabbits start to feel insecure because they don't know much about human things like Takatsuki Sen's books and then-"
"I'm yours, Hide," Kaneki interrupted his very embarrassing speech. "You know I'm yours."
They both stared at each other for a second until Kaneki seemed to realize what he had said. He pushed Hide's fingers away so that he could press his hand against his mouth. "So please stop talking about rabbits," he muttered, looking anywhere but at his boyfriend. Hide tried to hide his satisfied smile but couldn't and Kaneki frowned at him. "Are you happy now that you made me say it?" Hide was sure that behind his hand Kaneki was pouting.
You're mine. Only mine, Hide figured that he'd had to get used to those possessive thoughts. "Let me kiss you."
"No," Kaneki turned away but Hide kept him wrapped inside his arms. It was silly though because both of them knew that Kaneki had more than enough strength to get away from him if he wanted.
"C'mon," Hide whispered. "Please, Ken. I wanna kiss you."
"You're pain," Kaneki said dryly just before moving his hand away and Hide's lips connected with his own. "Ow," he flinched a bit.
"I'm sorry!" Hide said quickly. He pecked Kaneki's lips, making sure that his touch soft as a whisper. "I was too caught up in the moment."
"It's okay."
"I can't believe I bit you," he said, frowning. Then his face brightened, "You can bite me next time!"
"We don't want that," Kaneki answered seriously.
"True," Hide grinned. "Let's go back?"
"Let's," Kaneki smiled and like their minds would have worked in unison, their hands reached for each other. "People get jealous too, by the way," he added like as an after-thought.
"They do, huh?" Hide chuckled and gave a playful kick to Kaneki's shin.
"Stop it," Kaneki laughed. They didn't let go of each others' hands even when they stepped outside.
BONUS:
"You see, I didn't want to cause any trouble between the two of you," Rie said as she and Miki stood up, ready to go. "We're still kind of shy about it so we didn't want to tell you."
"It's... It's okay," Kaneki gave her an awkward smile. "It isn't anyone else's business but yours."
"I knew you would understand," Rie smiled while Miki was smirking beside her.
Hide pouted at her. "You could have told me though," he said. It was obvious to him now that his mind had cleared that Miki had noticed his jealousy before.
"Sorry," she waved her hand at him.
"Miki-chan," Rie smiled at her. She looked at Hide then, apologetic, "You're right, Hide-kun. We should've told you that we're dating. I hope you didn't, um..." she eyed at Kaneki's mouth before continuing. "Have a fight because of us."
"Everything is okay," Kaneki assured. He touched his bottom lip with slightly red cheeks. "Here's my phone number, like you asked," he gave Rie a small piece of paper which she accepted hesitantly.
"Is it okay with you, Hide-kun?" she asked.
Hide felt himself blush. "Of course!" he exclaimed loudly then smiled sheepishly. "You don't have to to ask me."
As the girls walked away, Kaneki pondered out loud, "Maybe Miki didn't tell you that they were dating because she was still mad about the DVD."
"Yeah. I hope we're even now. Perceptive like always, Kaneki-kun," Hide ruffled Kaneki's hair gently.
Kaneki sighed and laid down on the blanket. "Can you do my back now?" he asked softly but giving Hide a shy smile.
"Yep!" Hide smiled back.