My first fic ever, from 2014! It was for the Kink Meme Prompt: Hide/Haise "Cute fluff, maybe angst. Hide lost his best friend, and years later some new guy shows up that looks just like him! He swears it must be his mind.. but he looks so much like him. Maybe..

It'd be cute if Hide had an awkward conversation starter, maybe about Haise's hair colour? Not required, but that'd be adorable."

This was written when :Re first came out, like, the first month, when we new absolutely NOTHING! This was before the controversy with Mutsuki's gender, and before even Touka made an appearance I think. So please be nice about anything inconsistent or wrong, etc.! Forgive me! Anyway, please enjoy and leave a review/constructive criticism!

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Living an everyday life after the raid on Anteiku three years ago seemed absurd to Hide now. The sunny blonde was living under the radar nowadays, away from the public and away from the deceptive smiles and eyes of the CCG. Once the chaos in the 20th ward had subsided, he had managed to come in contact with the remaining ghouls of Anteiku as an informant.

At least, that is what he should have been doing. Instead, Hide had lazily wandered into a quaint store with the only source of light being the windows and was now browsing through the music aisle. It was a rather quiet day, anyways. The usually chatty blonde was starved for normalcy. Hide found it hard adjusting from being the focus of attention to nocturnal solitude. This life was a lonely one for someone like Hide. He peered down at the music choices on the bottom shelf, ignoring how a layer of dust was beginning to reside there.

Rabbits can die from loneliness.

Idly, he found himself listening to a conversation between a pair of people that seemed to be focused on how to "make up with her" because some smooth boyfriend told her "she was starting to get fat". Hide smirked, although he had less experience with romance than he liked to acknowledge, he understood what poor Mr. Smooth did wrong.

He glanced up from where he was crouched in the aisle to see the conversing pair further down by the wall with pop music.

Hideyoshi, being the good samaritan that he was (and not because he was desperately lonely, or anything), decided he would join in and give his best advice. He was smart enough to not make a fool of himself.

The blonde bounced to the balls of his feet and practically sauntered over when he saw that one of the pair was a dark-haired woman in a high-fashioned white coat. He factored out that this must be a female friend of Mr. Smooth that had been roped in to help him choose a gift that the offended girlfriend would like.

Choosing to go with the flirty introduction was probably one of the worst mistakes Hide had made in his entire social life. (He would blame it on recent ghoul-only interaction.)

"Hey, what do you use to make your hair have such a sexy shine?"

This immediately got the pair's attention and when the person Hide had been jokingly trying to hit on turned around he wanted to crawl into a hole and die. The person was not only not female, but was also a CCG Investigator, the likes of which he had been trying to avoid.

"Excuse me?" The feminine-figured male choked out, obviously just as embarrassed as Hide.

His partner, however, was hunched over laughing. Hide balked and tried to backpedal. Anything to make this situation better.

"Hey, black and white hair can be just as sexy too! It's exotic!"

Shit.

What was wrong with him, where was Hide's head today?! He was almost always able to stay on his toes. This situation could not have gotten any worse.

"Haha! Listen Mutsuki, I guess I can be Sasasexy now!" He gasped for breath at his own joke. At least the one dubbed Mr. Smooth was taking it well.

"Ugh, just please let me leave already, Sasaki-san." The offended teen hastily escaped from the awkward situation with speed that Hide was jealous of. In fact, Hide was about to leave and try to forget this whole thing happened when the man named Sasaki stood up fully and Hide felt his world shatter.

Because the man before him wore the face of his best friend.

Kaneki.

His healing heart reopened to the grief from his best friend's disappearance. Questions spun through his head that were too fast to keep up with. Hide had not realized he had been holding his breath and was starting to turn pale. This situation was wrong.

Because if Kaneki was supposed to be dead, then why was he here, a CCG Investigator going by the name Sasaki?

Confusion slowed his brain and suddenly his palms were too sweaty. What was going on?! He desperately wanted answers to what he realized was probably one of the CCG's biggest lies. But, there was something more important at the moment.

He let out a shuddering breath and ignored the way his eyes burned when he made contact with the grey pair that belonged to Kaneki. Sasaki had a light smile on his face that Hide could tell was hiding his confusion over the blonde's behavior.

"Don't let Mutsuki bother you, he is a little soft hearted and tends to scare easy." The monochromatic-haired man then ghosted over his chin with a finger as if it were a forgotten habit. "I think he will grow out of it soon though, heh. It's nothing to worry about." Sasaki replied nervously, a change from his humor earlier. Haise knew this bright man, despite never seeing him before, and he needed to know why his chest hurt because of that.

Hide's heart leapt at the familiarity of Sasaki's mannerisms and he found himself at a loss for what to say. This was Kaneki, Kaneki was alive! He was no longer alone, the piece that had been missing from his life was within arm's distance. His heart ached and twisted with relief at having his best friend before him.

Suddenly, Hide took in Sasaki's appearance, noticing he looked healthier and more alive. The Kaneki that Hide last knew had been burdened and dying. Clutched by insanity on that fateful night in the tunnels. Hide could not reach him then, not when his friend was being devoured by the dark power that resided in his own body. A parasite plaguing his mind, it had eaten everything away from Kaneki. Route V14 had been his end, coming face to face with the CCG's Reaper- with Arima. Kaneki had finally been felled after countless struggles and suffering. His life had ended in tragedy. Hide had lost him then.

Hide remembers a time when Kaneki had been nothing but gentle. He could never place his closest friend with the monsters they were told lurked in the shadows at night. Not many who knew him could.

Amon had come to him once, asking about Kaneki. After the raid of Kanou's lab and the sick truth about what happened to Kaneki became public within the CCG squads associated to the 20th ward, he wanted to know more about how he became Eyepatch. The conversation that followed was as alarming to Hide as it was humorous.

("Kaneki is the type to read about adventures rather than go on them. He doesn't want to bother others, when I first met him he was super shy!"

"When I first met him, he called me 'retard' and then bit me.")

It had been so absurd that he couldn't imagine Kaneki as the same person Amon had fought.

Now, a man that was Kaneki, but called Sasaki, had his attention on Hide.

He was not going to let this chance slip by.

"No problem! I have a big mouth, so it takes people by surprise if the don't understand my teasing." Hide let a cheerful grin spread onto his face and his eyes crinkled in joy, he had found Kaneki. Maybe he was different, and went by a new name, but Hide had found him. He was going to make things right, and maybe they could walk together again like they had throughout their childhood.

"The name is Hideyoshi Nagachika!" Hide extended his hand.

"Sasaki Haise. It is nice meet you, Hide." Sasaki took the extended hand and Hide's grin only brightened. "And I understood your teasing perfectly." He lightly chuckled.

Warmth bubbled in Hide's chest to see his friend so easily laugh. "That's a relief, I've been alone for awhile and was worried I lost my charm! I was afraid I would scare you off!" He smirked, they were still friends, even if Kaneki didn't remember it right now. Everything would be alright between them again because he had found Kaneki, and would always bring him home. There would be unneeded apologies from both of them, because they would forgive anything the other did. He knew Kaneki, and he knew Kaneki would want to return so that they could share stories and jokes and be together again.

Haise, in typical Kaneki fashion, could read Hide's silent plea.

"Lonely people like us can understand each other better than others. So let's be friends." Sasaki smiled brightly and then continued. "Because-"

Later the blonde would delve into the darkest secrets of the CCG and share his experience with Anteiku. But, for now, Hide would shine in the fact that his best friend had been returned to him.

"-rabbits can die from loneliness, right?"