A/N: Okie dokie this is my first attempt at published fanfiction so the characters may be OOC, so I apologize in advance. Most of these stories will be oneshots, but there may be some exceptions. All of the stories are in an AU where Hide confessed to knowing Kaneki was a ghoul early on. Also, Hide came with Kaneki on his journey, along with all of the characters present in the manga.

Chapter One: There For You

Hide was always there, ever since Kaneki had met him in grade school. He was there throughout his mother's death, his aunt's neglect, and the horrifying incident with Rize. He'd worried and stressed and fussed all throughout Kaneki's road to recovery, so obviously Hide would notice something was going on. For a while, the orange-haired teen had wanted to have Kaneki keep thinking that his little blunders and Hide's incredible intuition hadn't figured out that his best friend ate human flesh. Hide had tried so hard, so very hard, to make it seem as though he was oblivious but after seeing the spark in Kaneki's eyes, the spark worked so hard to bring back, fading more and more every day. He'd snapped, the weight of his knowledge being too much to handle.

During the confession, Kaneki had shown more emotion since becoming a ghoul, and it was even more than old Kaneki had shown. Days after Hide's confession, they'd become more than just friends, happily becoming the cutest couple at Anteiku.

This also meant that Hide was there for Kaneki's capture and his rescue. Seeing how different he was. Seeing him, a timid young man reluctant to hurt anything or anyone turned into a merciless killer as they fought through Aogiri's base, was heartbreaking. It hurt to see his beloved boyfriend's innocence ripped away from his frail hands. Hide remembered exactly how Kaneki was forced to fight for his life again and again, against unlucky Doves and some of Aogiri's best. Including Noro.

"Let us fight, Kaneki!"

"You need to rest!"

No matter what they said, no matter how much they pleaded the white-haired ghoul relentlessly attacked the masked enemy. Every time the string-like kagune gathered itself to impale or flung him across the roof and into walls, Kaneki always got up and attacked. He fought…differently than before. He was deadly and precise with his movements. The more he watched, the harder it became to ignore, because Hide knew what it was. His sweet, quiet Kaneki was fighting to kill. He could feel his heart break the moment he accepted that.

Hide was jarred from his thoughts when his team of ghouls let out a collective gasp, Touka going as far as letting out a yell of…triumph? When he looked up his breath caught in his throat, and he could feel his eyes bugging out, his jaw drop. Kaneki had all four of his kagune stabbed into the decapitated, and terrifyingly alive, body of Noro. Under his right foot was the ghoul's head. Out of the corner of his eye, Hide saw Touka turn Hinami away as Kaneki crushed the head under his foot with a resounding 'crunch' and tore the body into four pieces, taking it a step further and crushing those as well. It was silent except for the yells of Doves in the background, suspense building, and all present hoping to whatever god would listen that the mutilated piece wouldn't stitch back together. As soon as it appeared that the pieces wouldn't reform Noro, Kaneki released a long, fatigued sigh and tilted backwards.

In that instant, Hide managed to scramble up from the dirty ground and rush to his Kaneki's side. Catching his limp and battered body, his eyes quickly roved over the exhausted half-ghoul's body and tried to take stock of his injuries as the rest of his team rushed over

Currently, Hide was sitting on a worn chair beside Kaneki's bed. Sunlight filtered in through the half closed blinds. Yoshimura, with the help of the rest of the ghouls at Anteiku had turned the guest room into a cozier room for Kaneki's recovery. It had been a full week since the rescue and most of the leftover wounds had healed. For everyone except Kaneki. His fever hadn't gone down for 3 days and he hadn't moved an inch. The manager had said that the half-ghoul wasn't even sleeping, he was unconscious. He'd warned Hide that the young man would most likely wake for 5-10 minutes and fall asleep right after, and said that it was vitally important that he got real rest. That meant that Hide would only have 5-10 minutes with his love until he'd have to wait for who knows how long, which is how he ended up sleeping and eating in the same room for a week and taking 3 minute showers. Tsukiyama and Touka were almost as bad, coming in every 15 minutes to check up on him. Hinami stayed with him pretty much all day, too, but occasionally went down to the shop to lend a hand.

…

Hide was nodding off, he'd been nibbling on the food Touka had brought up but ended up losing his appetite. In his hand he held Kaneki's own. It felt so small, so fragile, like the rest of him. He was afraid of doing much more than holding hands and kissing his forehead, afraid of Kaneki shattering like glass. It was quiet in the room, the sun had gone down by then and the workers of Anteiku were talking in low voices. Hinami, Touka, and Nishiki were gathered around the bed, not saying anything when Hide felt the soft fingers wrapped in his twitch. He jolted up, surprising the ghouls present and leaned over Kaneki, his eyes trained on the fluttering ones just below him, then thought better and sat back down. He'd probably startle the young man. The three previously silent ghouls had leaned forward as well as Kaneki opened his eyes. Hide was dismayed to see fear in those beautiful eyes he'd so missed until recognition flashed in the pools of grey. The half ghoul turned his head toward the blotch of orange and tan, knowing the messy hair even in his dazed state. His jaw worked and he swallowed and his lips parted futilely for a moment until-

"Hi…de?" he croaked.

Hide almost leapt forward, tears of joy almost overflowing in his eyes. He whispered, "Kaneki, yeah, I'm he-here. I'm here." He stumbled over his words and he felt a huge, watery grin stretch his cheeks until the tears ran down his face. Nimble fingers wiped away his tears and he looked down to see a small smile on his pale face. Hinami had big tears rolling down her face and her smile was identical to Touka's. Nishiki was fighting his own grin, and Yoshimura had a gentle smile on his weathered face. He could see Tsukiyama sigh in relief, and Banjou was sobbing as hard as Hinami at this point.

For the next 5 minutes, everyone got a turn to hug and exchange words with Kaneki, then shuffle out to let him rest. The manager smiled at the two and turned off the lights as he walked out. He tugged Hide's sleeve with what little strength he had and gestured for him to lie down. He maneuvered himself to gently lay himself down with his boyfriend, who was already looking exhausted again. Nothing was resolved, and Hide could see the haunted look in Kaneki's eyes, but they were okay in that moment in the cozy little room with their arms around each other as though they were lifelines. They were okay, hearing the faint sobs of happiness from Banjou and exclaims in French from Tsukiyama and Touka kicking both yelling at them to be quiet. They'd figure it out together and help each other heal.

It was okay because they were together.