There were days Uta forgot that Kaneki wasn't that easily disturbed, twitchy boy that he was anymore. Sometimes whole weeks he went thinking he would turn around in the shower with him and catch him staring to get red cheeks and eyes turned to the ceiling. But Kaneki was always reminding him in the most surprising of ways that he was so much less terrified of the world he lived in. Most shocking of all was when Kaneki actively reminded him that he wasn't who he had been. He didn't do it on purpose, because surely Kaneki had no way of knowing that Uta was shocked by his change in literally everything, but it still floored Uta.

Today was one of those days that Uta had forgotten. He really regretted forgetting too.

They were in Uta's apartment, which was where they both spent most of their time besides being at Itori's bar or in an alley finding food. It was right over the shop, but the sign was flipped to closed. There would be no way to explain the bloody mess down in the shop, the remains of what had been a burglar still on the floor, and if he wanted accuracy, Uta was in the apartment, and Kaneki was downstairs finishing what was left of him. He'd invaded late last night, and Kaneki had sat bolt upright the moment it had happened, and was snarling his way down the stairs before Uta had rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. When Uta had made his way downstairs, Kaneki's fist was already through the little bastard's chest. Uta had checked the black bag he'd brought with him and found several of his favorite masks in the bag, and some of them were torn in places and the solid ones were broken. Some were strewn on the floor and he was pretty angry, but Kaneki had a good handle on it. The burglar's heart, that was.

Kaneki, once he had come out of it and put away the kagune so to speak, had looked up at Uta and promised he would clean it up and apologized for the mess. Uta had just told him to come back to bed, and they would handle it tomorrow before bringing him back up to bed. That probably should have shocked him, that Kaneki had just wiped the floor with the guy practically without a second thought, but he was still half asleep and upset over his masks. So they had gone to sleep, and Kaneki had gotten up when the sun had cracked through the windows. Uta suspected Kaneki hadn't fallen back to sleep, but rather had just laid beside Uta all night so Uta didn't worry.

Uta heard the door to the stairs open and close quietly, and he didn't turn his head once the scent of the man coming up the stairs hit his nose. There were some wet chewing noises, and then Kaneki was holding out two eyes to him. "Figured you might want these at least." He offered.

Uta looked up at Kaneki and saw all the blood on him, and for a minute he was worried before he realized Kaneki was just a messy eater. He took the one and sniffed it before popping it in his mouth and feeling it pop between his teeth. It was pretty good, and even still warm. He gave Kaneki a little smile.

"Thank you." He replied, looking at the sketchbook on the foot of the bed for a minute. "Is it all cleaned up so I can open?"

Kaneki nodded, putting the other eye in his lap on a napkin he had brought them up on. "Yeah. I mopped and put the masks that weren't busted back up on their mannequins. I didn't know what they were all made of, so I just wiped the blood off of them and left the cloth over the ones that need more in depth cleaning. If you can tell me what they're made of and how best to clean them I'll do that while you're working." He offered.

Uta shook his head, waving a hand dismissively. "No, that's okay." He stood up and grabbed his sketchbook before leaning into Kaneki and stealing a kiss. "Go ahead and get a shower or something. You're all bloody."

He flopped backward on the bed, but before a few seconds had passed, Kaneki was leaning over him, just smiling down at him. "I know I am. I was hoping you'd want to come help me clean up." He replied, pressing another kiss to Uta's lips.

Uta blinked the shock away before Kaneki could see it, but then it didn't matter, because Kaneki was standing up and shedding his shirt before stepping into the bathroom. He left the door open, and Uta wasn't sure what was going on with Kaneki today, but he knew that if he didn't get control of himself, Uta might just go in there and eat him whole. As it was, he was panting and he needed a minute. He found that eye that Kaneki had left him and swallowed that almost whole, then laid back on the bed, his legs dangling off the edge.

Okay. Focus. Think of something disgusting.

Okay, so that wasn't working. He looked around for his sketchpad and flipped it open to a bare page, snagging a pencil up, and started drawing mindlessly. After a few minutes, he felt his heart rate slow back down, and he found himself settling into the work. He turned away from the bathroom so he could try to keep the humidity from crinkling the corners of the page and making the sheet floppy, and kept drawing.

Something in the way Kaneki's arm had moved when he'd put his fist through the intruder's chest last night was beautiful, and he was determined to draw it out. His upper body was bare, and his arm was extended almost completely, with his newer muscles prominent. It was almost as if you were looking through the intruder down at Kaneki's hand, but that was just what Uta had wanted to see.

He was just blending one part of the sketch when he felt the warmth of someone leaning close to him, and he felt a colder bit of skin touch his neck, sliding up to his cheek. Uta raised a brow and turned to look at Kaneki a bit from the corner of his eye. Kaneki leaned in to his ear for a moment, and Uta wanted to curse, because all of that calm was just gone with Kaneki that close.

And then he whispered in his ear, "Will you please put that sketchbook down and come devour me?"

Uta felt his cheeks heat up while he flipped the sketchpad closed, then reached up to stop Kaneki's fingers from feeling along his throat like that. He felt Kaneki's warm chuckle against his skin, and then he was turning around to press Kaneki down into the bed below him. His one kakugan eye was flaring up at Uta, and he was smiling still, but his mouth was open a little in panting breaths, and that was all the permission Uta needed.

He pressed his lips down onto Kaneki's and curled his fingers into that soft white hair, letting his tongue dance it's way into the half-ghoul's mouth. He pressed another kiss into that smug mouth beneath him, letting his hands wander underneath the black shirt Kaneki had donned, and pull it up over the other man's head, tossing it to the side. Kaneki brought his hands up under the shirt that hung loose off of Uta's body, and he pushed it up as he trailed his nails up along his chest before dragging them down his skin and reaching his waist. Uta hissed, feeling his skin heal as Kaneki's fingernails moved, and his lips came off of Kaneki's mouth to move to his shoulder and dig his teeth in.

Kaneki gasped, his hands grasping at Uta's waist, and he dug his nails in. "Uta..." He moaned.

Uta pulled back and licked his lips, licking that bleeding wound as it healed. "You still taste so good, Kaneki. I don't understand how you're so shameless but you taste just like the boy I met." He told him.

Kaneki arched his hips up into Uta's, smiling. "What do I have to be ashamed of? It's just us. Besides," he wrapped his fingers in Uta's hair and jerked his head back, rolling his back to the bed so that Kaneki was straddling Uta's waist. "Didn't I just ask you to devour me?"

Kaneki pressed his thumb into the wound before it could heal, and let the blood drip onto Uta's lips. He licked his lips, and then bent to claim Uta's mouth, rocking his hips down into Uta's own and feeling the erections rub together. Uta's hands were still in Kaneki's hair, and he pulled hard, trailing kisses along his neck and down onto his chest, rolling him back to the bed where he had been and taking hold of Kaneki's wrists, trapping them to the bed. He knew it was a dangerous thing to do; he wasn't blind after all, he could see the scars around his wrists and ankles. But he needed Kaneki to hold still, or he was going to lose it entirely too soon.

Kaneki merely looked up at him with hazy eyes, and bit his lip. "What are you doing?" He asked.

Uta grinned, scanning the feast below him. "Making sure you don't cheat. You are entirely too good at that, and I continue to find myself trapped when you get your hands in use." He looked down at the wound that was already nearly healed, and the pool of blood there gathered in the collarbone. It smelled too good, and he leaned down and sipped it up, making sure to clean the stain off of Kaneki's skin. "It's not easy to plan how to send you over the edge with your blood teasing me either."

Kaneki's hips bucked again, and Uta smiled a little, taking both of Kaneki's wrists in one hand and pressing them into the mattress over his head before reaching down to settle his hand over the part of Kaneki that seemed to desperately need attention. Kaneki's eyes drooped, and his head kicked back, biting his lip to suppress a moan. Uta grinned, rubbing the heel of his hand into his lover and smiling when he arched into his hand again.

He looked over Kaneki's heaving chest. He'd bulked up some, but there were still scars, and every time Uta saw them he felt the need to trace them and see if they were real. He leaned down now and trailed his tongue along one scar, going up by his nipple and capturing it in his teeth gently. Kaneki whimpered, and the sound was so purely shameless that it reminded Uta again that he wasn't a nervous, terrified boy.

Uta pulled Kaneki's sweatpants down past his hips to his thighs, and stroked the white-haired ghoul's erection with his hand while he used the other hand to pull his own pants far enough down to reach himself. Doing that released Kaneki, who got his hands on Uta before Uta could, and Uta gasped when he felt his hands on his skin. He realized dimly that he had been pushing too hard on Kaneki's wrists because of how cold his palms were, but he doubted Kaneki minded so much when he sat there and wrapped both hands around Uta like that.

"Am I cheating again?" Kaneki asked, tilting his head a little.

Uta slid his hand under Kaneki's back and stroked his kakuhou in a last ditch effort to get him to just hold still. He arched up, bracing his feet on the bed to push up again, this time leaving himself completely open to Uta.

"This time I want to cheat a little too. But I want to use that spot inside of you. Can I find that spot, Kaneki?" He asked, pitching his voice low to send shudders through Kaneki.

He nodded, lifting his legs up to let Uta pull away the sweatpants and leave them in a pile beside his shirt, his boxers with them. Uta took his tattooed fingers and left them to Kaneki's lips, and he sucked them without Uta having to tell him what to do. When he was satisified, he pulled away and circled that tight ring of muscles for a moment before pressing a single finger inside of Kaneki. He relaxed into the intrusion, and bit his lip so hard it bled, still stroking Uta's own erection. Uta watched that blood drip, sending his tongue out to swipe up the blood.

"Am I hurting you?" He asked.

Kaneki shook his head. "Deeper." He moaned.

Uta smiled again, and he stroked a second finger into him before he obliged, and sunk his fingers deep into Kaneki, curling his fingers to try to find that firm spot inside him. Kaneki's eyes glazed, rolling back a little, and his teeth came out of the wound in his lip, and Uta licked it up again, kissing him again.

As he felt Kaneki respond to the kiss, the white-haired half-ghoul jolted up into Uta's hand, screaming in pleasure, and Uta grinned. "There it is." He told Kaneki, voice low and rough.

Kaneki nodded, taking one arm and wrapping it around Uta's neck, wrapping his legs around Uta's waist. "Do it." He begged. "Please, do it."

Uta nodded, pulling his fingers slowly from Kaneki, dragging the tips of them over that spot one more time, then settling his erection right over that space. Kaneki put his arms around Uta, burying his fingers into that dark hair again, and took his mouth again while Uta sunk deep into Kaneki.

Kaneki pushed up into the intrusion, and Uta felt a little insane with the fiery heat. He lanced his hips forward, going in all the way, and he paused for a moment, but Kaneki was shaking his head. "Don't stop. Don't stop, Uta, please." He begged, taking Uta's mouth with his own.

Uta was happy to oblige, setting a bruising pace while Kaneki wrapped his legs around his waist and slammed up into him as well. Kaneki's face was red with effort and lack of oxygen, but he kept meeting each thrust from Uta to send them both climbing higher, and Uta started searching for that spot again. Just as his vision began to cloud, that storm building closer and closer, he slammed up into that perfect spot inside of Kaneki, and he got to see Kaneki blow shamelessly across his chest before he came too.

They both relaxed into the bed, and Kaneki cradled Uta's head for a moment, before Kaneki felt Uta's teeth buried in his throat again. Kaneki gasped.

"What was that for?" He asked, still a bit breathless when he looked down at Uta's head, feeling his jaw work in the bite before he pulled back and lapped at the wound.

Uta took a deep breath, releasing a satisfied noise before looking up at him. He settled his chin onto Kaneki's chest. "Your arm tenses up when you're in pain. I couldn't figure out what it was in that punch, but you were in pain." He looked at Kaneki. "Was the thief a ghoul?"

Kaneki shook his head. "No. He was human." He answered.

"Then why were you hurt?" He asked.

Kaneki sighed, pressing a kiss into his lover's forehead. "The asshole busted up your masks. You work hard on those. I saw your face. You were upset over those. I don't like you being upset." He promised. "I wanted to make it up to you."

Uta blinked again, looking up at Kaneki. Kaneki just looked back at him, straight faced, and shrugged. Uta shook his head. "Kaneki, you will never cease to shock me anymore."

Kaneki grinned. "I hope not. I like that expression on your face."