It had been a week since their failure to subdue Kaneki and Tsukiyama. And Amon. Would not. Shut up. He saw it as a rare chance to rebuke Akira, which she did not take kindly to. As her partner, Hide was suffering through a big chunk of her fury. As her boyfriend, Seido suffered through the rest of it. And he wanted to defend her, Hide knew, but it wasn't in Seido's nature to mouth off to someone like Amon. Even if it was for his girlfriend. It was all Hide could do to hold his own tongue.
"I mean, honestly. There were four of you." Amon said, leaning on Akira's desk. She worked on, trying to ignore him. Hide couldn't believe he was her soulmate. Who treated their soulmate that way? Who could bear it? Amon had to be feeling something of Akira's emotions, right? "Looks like Team Mado could use some improvement."
Hide groaned and pulled out his phone. He needed a distraction before he punched Amon in the face.
Hide: oh my god send help one of my coworkers is an ass
Kaneki: I know the feeling. Want me to come up there? ;)
Hide: no the whole point is im trying not to hurt him. thx tho
Kaneki: So what can I help you with? I am working, but then again, so are you.
Hide: hhhhh im just sick of hearing him slam us cuz i let u go what was i supposed to do?
Kaneki: Oh. I'm sorry. :(
Hide: no at least this is better than u being dead. a little. hes just being so mean to akira and
Hide: well i probably shouldnt tell u but imma tell u cuz we can keep secrets obvi
Kaneki: If it's confidential…?
Hide: nah its ok who are u gonna tell lol
Hide: hes her soulmate but he like hates her how is that possible they fight all the time
Kaneki: Soulmates?
Hide: ye
Kaneki: I'm going to tell you something. You can't freak out.
Hide: ye
Kaneki: It is possible to hurt your soulmate. Easily.
Hide: ...should i be scared?
Kaneki: No, no, I'm just trying to explain your friend's situation. I couldn't possibly, I already
Kaneki: I'm already very attached to you.
Hide: ;-) -3-
Kaneki: Anyway. We're not the first ghoul/human soulmate pair.
Hide: what we're not
Kaneki: No. It's happened a few times since I've been a part of things here. I've only seen one other couple work out, though.
Hide: what happened to the others?
Kaneki: The ghouls killed the humans.
Hide: o.o
Kaneki: They were repulsed, or so they tell me. So, they... fixed the problem. I've looked into this, to see if we
Kaneki: Uh. Well, we can be the exception.
"Hey, Hide! Who're you chatting with? You seem pretty engrossed over there." Seido said, loud enough to catch Akira's attention. Bastard. Akira glared at Hide, and he smiled sheepishly. She hated cellphone use during work.
"And can't even keep your partner in line." Amon tutted, and Akira stood abruptly. He stepped back, and she poked his chest.
"Fuck. Off." She spat, jabbing each word at Amon. He held up his hands in surrender. She stalked over to Hide. "This better be good."
Uh oh. If she saw their conversation, would she figure out that…? She reached out her hand, and Hide refused to give his phone up. She raised an eyebrow, and Seido whistled.
"What're you hiding?" She questioned, squinting suspiciously. Seido watched intently.
"I… I was just texting my soulmate. It's embarrassing." Hide admitted. Maybe she'd respect his privacy? And it wasn't a lie.
"Oh." Akira's features softened, and he sighed in relief.
Seido cackled, though, and he knew it wasn't over. "Texting your soulmate? And you won't let us see? Sounds awfully raunchy of you, Hide."
Hide flushed instantly. "Seido, oh my God. Get your head out of the gutter!"
Akira smacked him on the head. "Have some tact. I know Hide, he wouldn't do something like that. You wouldn't. Right?"
"Of course I wouldn't!" He affirmed, and his phone buzzed a few times. His eyes darted to the screen, and then back to Akira.
"Go on, answer it." She allowed, and Hide made sure to surreptitiously angle the screen away from the other two. Just in case.
Kaneki: Are you alright? I shouldn't have said anything, I'm so sorry. I won't hurt you, I promise.
Kaneki: Hide?
Kaneki: Please.
Hide: hey no dont be upsetti just people bothering me about usin my phone its fine im fine
Hide: start a new convo tho they wanna check my phone and yeah
Seido swiped his phone just as he got the new text alert. Crisis averted. "Let's see. You mind?"
"Guess not." Hide shrugged, and Seido started typing. Oh, wait. Yes, yes he did mind.
Kaneki: So work, am I right?
Hide: Wassup good lookin
Hide: Shall we pick up where we left off? ;) ;) ;)
Hide: i am so sorry that was seido
Hide: hadbeidelw
Hide: Yes hello no I am Hide
Kaneki: ?
Hide: they are taking my phone
Hide: This is fair punishment. If you get to use your phone, we should get to use your phone. I'm Mado Akira.
Kaneki: Mado-san. Seido-san. Kaneki Ken. Charmed.
Kaneki: This is hilarious please continue.
Hide: dont encourage them whyyyyyy
Hide: so You're Hide's soulmate huh. How is it?
Kaneki: In what way? Hide is very wonderful.
Hide: you know, sex edkwnckcdelw la.s,slo
Hide: KANEKI TURN UR OHINE OFF
Hide: I apologize for Seido on his behalf. He'll pay for that later.
Kaneki: I'm dying. Wait till I tell everybody.
Hide: nnnooooOOO DONT TELL TOUKA
Kaneki: I like your friends. :)
Hide: i don't sdhakndk Sorry about earlier hey wait are you a dude swkadks Seido you just can't ask
Kaneki: Yes? Hide, Nishiki is getting onto me for slacking. I suppose I could let my friends use my phone, but it wouldn't be nearly as funny. I have to go. It was nice meeting you two.
Kaneki: Come by Saturday. You know the place.
Hide: wait bye kaneki ill see u sat
Hide: aaaaarrrgh
"I'm going to kill you guys and no one will find the bodies." Hide threatened as Seido held a hand over his howling laughter. Akira was grinning evilly.
"Hopefully that teaches you to stay on task." She wagged a finger at him, and chuckled. "You can save the chatting for Saturday and your time off."
Seido made a noise. "Wait, Hide! Your soulmate is a guy!"
Akira pulled a face. "So? How is that your business, Seido?"
"It's just, I always pictured Hide with some tall, foxy chick. No offense, Hide, but your high school stories made you sound like a womanizer." Seido explained, and Hide rolled his eyes.
"That's because you only ever asked about the ladies. I'm popular across the board." Hide shrugged. "It's a blessing and a curse."
Akira sighed. "Get back to work."
oOo
Hide was a lot less anxious about their second date. He pulled on jeans, some band t-shirt, and his favorite jacket. They'd only been together a week or two- Hide checked his counter (it had gotten a nifty little "days" column). 12:14:07:42. Hide felt so close to Kaneki, though, it might have as well been a year. He knew they still had a ways to go, but, they were doing well, all things considered. This time, Hide brought his headphones for the walk over. He got to Anteiku bright and early Saturday, head bopping to some track that he didn't remember buying. Hey, he could be pretty impulsive when it came to music.
He made his way to the same table he and Kaneki had occupied last time, and waited. He didn't have to wait long, though he didn't get who he expected. Touka appeared next to him, and he was mid-hello when she roughly grabbed him by the arm.
"Shut up and come with me." She ordered, and he fell silent as he was dragged through the coffee shop. A few patrons stared, but most kept to themselves. He was taken up a staircase off to the back of the cafe, and into a hallway lined with doors. He was tossed into one room unceremoniously, and the door shut behind him and Touka.
"Greetings, Hideyoshi-kun. Touka, thank you." An older man nodded at him, and he slowly took in his surroundings. The room wasn't very big, and it had just a table and a few comfy looking pieces of furniture. So it was pretty cramped to have 6 people, plus himself, all packed inside.
"H-hi." Hide waved at the group. Touka bumped him aside to stand with them, and Hide realized at once who they were. Kaneki's friends. All... ghouls. They were a pretty ragtag group, he had to admit, and they all had different expressions. One thing was very clear, though. This was very awkward.
The old man clapped once. "Alright. Where are our manners? I am Yoshimura, the manager of Anteiku. Kaneki is very important to all of us, so we wanted to introduce ourselves."
Hide smiled a little. "Nice to meet you. Kaneki speaks very highly of you." And it was true. He'd heard that the man was very kindhearted, had taken Kaneki under his wing. The manager smiled back, and nodded to a surly man in glasses.
"Suppose I'm up next. Nishiki Nishio. I'm behind you and Kaneki, because I'm a lot of things, but not a hypocrite. I also have a human soulmate. It did not start well for us. Hopefully, Kaneki won't try and eat you." Hide's smile might have been a little forced. So this was Nishiki. And his soulmate was human?
"Good to know." Hide said, and Touka piped up.
"Just so you know, I'm completely against you being here. Kaneki is… he's been through a lot, the last thing he needs in his life is more complications."
"I understand that. I'll do my best to be good for him. You probably know better than me, though." Hide said, and she looked honestly surprised. What was he gonna do, argue with her?
"We'll be here if you have any questions, Hideyoshi-kun. This is probably difficult for you as well." Yoshimura amended, and Touka huffed. She didn't object though. God, he hoped he was making a good first impression.
"Well, I for one, am very pleased with Hide. I can call you Hide, yes?" A man with purple hair and a gaudy suit interjected. That voice…
"Tsukiyama? I- yes. Um, Hide is fine." Hide stuttered, utterly surprised. Tsukiyama's grin widened.
"Then you can call me Shuu. Surprised at my devilish handsomeness?" He gestured to himself with a flourish, and Hide felt his lips twitch.
"Oh, definitely. Love the hair. Where do you get it dyed? I've been looking for a reliable place, cause home dye isn't cutting it." Hide asked, and Shuu tutted. Everyone watched with varying degrees of interest and confusion. Yoshimura looked impressed.
"Oh, that won't do. I'll take you out and show you sometime! My treat!" Shuu promised.
"Looking forward to it." Hide chirped, and a girl who couldn't be older than 15 stepped up.
"You're really nice! I haven't seen big brother this happy in a long time!" She said, and then he was roped into a hug. He hesitantly patted her back as she nuzzled her face into his chest. She drew back suddenly. "Oh. You smell nice, too."
Hide, shaking off his unease, winked at her. "Sorry. I'm off the menu."
She giggled. "No, I'm sorry! My name is Hinami."
"But I thought you just said you were sorry?" He joked, and she outright laughed. She was really adorable. A few other people chuckled as well, and Hide's spirit lifted. A huge man with a sorta gangster air about him waved. Hinami went to Touka's side, and whispered something to her. Touka scoffed. Hide ignored her and waved back to the big guy. "Hey."
"We really appreciate what you're doing." He said sincerely, and Hide felt his cheeks heat up. "Kaneki seems hopeful now. And… you're being really cool about all of… this."
He swept his hand across the room, referring to the species difference. Hide shrugged. "Heh. No problem. I like you guys so far."
Rapid footsteps in the hallway set all of them on alert, but Hide's built in Kaneki-sensor started pulling at his chest, and he relaxed. Kaneki knocked on the door urgently. With a nod from Yoshimura, Hide went and unlocked it for him. In a heartbeat, he was in Kaneki's arms. He felt the motion of Kaneki's heavy breathing. How fast did he run up here?
"Wassup, Kaneki?" He said, and his soulmate released him.
"I don't- are you okay?" He asked, and Hide nodded, bright smile in place.
"I like your friends. They haven't tried to kill me yet, so I think I made a good impression." Hide said, and Kaneki's eyes widened. "Poorly timed joke. Whoops"
"Kaneki-kun, we would never have touched him." Yoshimura assured, and Kaneki visibly untensed. "We just wanted to talk to him. He's a very nice young man."
Hide preened, and Kaneki finally smiled a little. "Okay. Okay. so, you've met everyone, yeah?"
"Yeah. Well, I'd already met Shuu and Touka-chan, and Nishiki definitely lived up to my expectations." Kaneki raised his eyebrows at Shuu, and then they heard a scoff.
"What lies have you been telling, Kaneki? Hideyoshi, I can assure you I am a perfectly perfect person. Unless Touka's been spreading rumors again." Nishiki protested, and Touka glared at him.
"Hey, lay off, stupid." She was small, but Hide had seen her fight before. There was an obvious threat behind her words. Nishiki shrugged her off, though. Kaneki took his hand.
"Come on. We have a date to get to. Hopefully with no more interruptions!" He said over his shoulder as he led Hide down the hallway. Kaneki sighed. "Those people…"
"Hey. They really care about you, you know?" Hide bumped his shoulder, and Kaneki nodded curtly. They made it to their table, and a waiter that Hide didn't know came and took their order.
"Well. I sort of met your friends, so we're even now." Kaneki said, leaning back in his chair. Hide snorted.
"Oh, man. Don't remind me."
"Seido sounds as fun as you described him." Kaneki smirked, and Hide groaned.
"Not fair. I like your friends… you should probably give me their code-names, so I can keep an ear out for them." Hide said quietly. He wondered what Akira would say. She'd probably have him drawn and quartered.
"Ah. Alright. Well, you know who Touka and Tsukiyama are already. Banjou and Hinami don't go out, as far as I know. Nishiki is the Serpent. Yoshimura is… well, you don't have to worry about him." Kaneki listed, ticking them off on his fingers. Hide nodded. Hmm.
"What's Yoshimura-san's deal, anyway?" He asked, and Kaneki blinked.
"Oh. Well, he has his reasons, I'm sure, but… he knows that the world is messed up, you know? Everyone, even ghouls, has the capacity for good and bad. This cafe exists for ghouls who can't or won't fight. They choose peace. Of course, we have our moments. But mostly, we just want to… live." Kaneki explained, and Hide pursed his lips. Kaneki held his hand out on the tabletop, and Hide instantly took it. His hands were cold.
"I'll help in any way I can." Hide promised, and Kaneki closed his eyes.
"Oh, Hide. You already are."
