Hello cutie patooties! So I had this idea for a Haise/Kaneki thing while taking a shower and thus, this was born.
[Stay tuned for A/N]
Enjoy~
Haise opened his eyes to see that he was no longer in his bedroom, but in the living room of an entirely different house. Looking around he saw that there were decorations all over the room, most noticeably a banner that said "Happy birthday Miyu and Minoru!" hanging above the window. He heard footsteps coming down the hallway and moved to a corner in the living room, barely avoiding two children that ran into the room.
"Come on, Mama, Papa!" the little girl shouted gleefully, pulling on an older woman's hand.
"Miyu, slow down. The presents aren't going anywhere and we still need to wait for everybody else to come," the woman said calmly. Not even a minute after she stopped talking, the doorbell rang followed by a soft knock.
"I got it!" the little boy yelled as he dashed out of the room and opened the door. "Aunt Nami, Uncle Yato!"
The young woman giggled and ruffled the boy's hair. "Happy birthday, Minoru!"
The little boy, Minoru, lead the two adults into the room by their hands, releasing them when they were in the room. The young woman walked to a table on the opposite side of the room and set a big bag of colorfully wrapped boxes down.
'Nobody has noticed me...' Haise thought, bewildered. 'Can they not see me?' He decided to test his theory on the young man walking towards the older woman. Haise walked over to the man and waved his hand in his face. The young man didn't even react, just continued until he stood in front of the woman.
"Touka, how long is this stupid party going to last?" he grumbled. "Hinami has to go to the doctor and I have things to do."
Before the older woman, Touka, could respond the young woman, Hinami, flitted across the room to stand next to the young man.
"Don't listen to him, Big Sister," she said, lightly punching the man's arm. "Ayato just doesn't want anyone to know that he's actually worried about me."
Touka laughed. "That's okay, Hinami. My little brother is too proud to let people think he actually cares about his pregnant girlfriend."
The young man, Ayato, grumbled as he walked away and sat on the couch. Haise watched as the family interacted with each other. The twins immediately climbed onto the couch and began messing with their uncle, who tried to look like he didn't care. The two women where organizing the gifts into a neat pile on the table when the front door opened and two mean walked in.
"Appa!" The twins cried simultaneously and ran to the old man, wrapping themselves around his legs.
"Hello, you two. I heard through the grapevine that today is your birthday, is that true?" The old man knelt to the twins' height as they began to talk animatedly with their grandfather.
"Ignored by my own two children," the other man said, pretending to pout. He walked over to Touka and Hinami, hugging the latter and wrapping his arm around Touka's shoulders. He nodded to Ayato before speaking to his wife. "So who else are we waiting for?"
"Yoriko and Hide," she said. Giving him a pointed look she asked, "Ken, you didn't invite someone else without telling me did you? Tsukiyama, for example?"
Ken shuttered slightly at that look, but he quickly assured her, "No, I didn't. I don't think he'll come uninvited after the coffee party incident."
"Good."
'I wonder who this Tsukiyama is, the name sounds oddly familiar...' Haise mused to himself as he continued watching the family.
They continued to chat amongst themselves as they waited for the last two guests. After about 10 minutes, the doorbell rang again before a young man with blond hair burst through the door, followed by a young woman. The newcomers looked about the same ages as Touka and Ken.
"HIDE IS IN THE HOUSE!" The blond man exclaimed with gusto. He sauntered over to Ken, throwing an arm around his shoulders. "Yo, Kaneki, Touka-chan!"
"Hey Hide," Kaneki fist-bumped the young man as the young woman closed the door and quietly walked over to Touka.
"Hi, Touka-chan," she greeted, smiling.
"Hi Yoriko," Touka responded. She glanced at Hide before speaking again, "Yoriko, I don't know how you deal with him. He's annoying."
"Aw, c'mon, Touka-chan!" Hide overheard their conversation and moved behind Yoriko, wrapping his arms around her waist. "She can deal with me because I'm awesome!"
Yoriko said nothing, but blushed when Hide put his arms around her. She just smiled at Touka pacifyingly as they continued to talk.
'Poor Yoriko, she looks like she's going to pass out,' Haise thought, chuckling quietly.
"Well, now that we're all here, let's get the party started!" Kaneki announced, causing the twins to jump up and down with barely contained excitement.
Haise watched for the next couple hours as the family laughed and opened presents. 'But there was no cake, that's weird. Unless...' He looked at each of their faces closely, trying to read their body language. Unfortunately, they were unable to see him and so they weren't acting out of the ordinary. He was watching the twins when he heard a voice to his right.
"They're adorable, aren't they?" it said. Haise choked on his own spit as he turned towards the voice, eyes widening as Kaneki stood next to him watching the twins with a smile on his face.
"E-Excuse me...?" Haise stammered, "You can see me?"
"Of course I can see you," he laughed. "After all, we're the same person."
Haise blinked. "What?"
"Never mind, it wasn't important." Kaneki looked at him. "I can tell what you're thinking and the answer is yes."
"Yes to what?" Haise asked, pretending he didn't know.
Kaneki laughed at his poor attempt at ignorance. "Yes, we're ghouls. Except for Hide and Yoriko. And yes, they know."
"Oh." Haise glanced at the two humans, noticing how they acted as if the ghouls around them were regular humans. They showed no signs of fear or disdain, unlike the people at the CCG who looked at Haise as if he were insignificant.
Haise couldn't help but feel like he knew Kaneki. Not as an acquaintance, but almost as if they were the same. The only difference was that Kaneki was surrounded by family and had no doubt about where he came from. Whereas Haise had no idea what his life was like before he came to the CCG. He was surprised to find himself feeling jealous of what Kaneki has, a content life with family and friends that loved him.
"... Are you happy?" he asked, mumbling.
Kaneki raised an eyebrow and looked at him silently for a few minutes, as if he knew what Haise was thinking. His eyes softened when he looked back at his family and he smiled contently as he answered, "Yes."
He placed a hand on Haise's shoulder, forcing him to meet his eyes. "One day, you'll be able to feel the same, Haise. And when you do, you'll never go back."
Haise blinked and stuttered, unable to respond. He felt himself being pulled back by an unseen force, but he just stared at Kaneki.
"Wait, how do you know my name?!"
Kaneki smiled brightly and waved as Haise was pulled away before turning back to his family and joining them once more.
Haise woke up breathing heavily as he looked around him. This time he was in his bedroom and everything looked the same as it did when he went to sleep. Swinging his legs to the floor, he sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands.
"What a strange dream..." he mumbled.
Soooooo, what did you think? I decided to mash like three of my other fics in there. Reality Kick, From Steps to Leaps, and then the Yoride from Masquerade for Two. Not sure how well it worked out though...
Anyway, yeah, so Haise has a dream about Kaneki with the twins. It's almost like an alternate reality and Haise just happens to have a dream about it. If that makes sense...
As always, a huge thank you for reading and putting up with my shenanigans! Please feel free to tell me what you think, my PM and ask boxes are open 24/7!
With love,
Lau ( ˘ ³˘)
Tschüss!
