King and Queen.
Night had begun to fall in the 24th ward and the fiery reds and oranges in the sky had started to bleed into the inky black of night. Wisps of orange clouds streaked across the vast sky in a gentle curve before swirling into spirals, gradually blending into nothingness as stars peeked out quietly as though they were nervous. If Touka had a camera, surely she would have clicked a picture of the breathtaking transition between day and night. Kaneki would find this stunning.
Standing by the mountainous pile of junk, Touka raised her head and swept her gaze across the myriad of colors above her. The view reminded her of a digital painting created with careful strokes and patches of colors on colors, bringing to birth hues that you wouldn't find even in the largest arts store. She had a classmate like that once, in high school. Touka couldn't remember his face or his name but she remembered how he would be hunched over his tablet drawing, creating, bringing to life picture perfect masterpieces. Did Kaneki hunch over books all the time like that when he was in college? A smile tugged at the corner of Touka's lips as she imagined Kaneki in ordinary college attire, stuttering as an exuberant Hide grabbed the former's book out of his grasp, folded it, dropped it into his bag and then dragged the reluctant boy off to karaoke.
"Onee chan. Onee chan!"
"Ah, sorry," Touka's flow of imagination skidded to an abrupt stop as small hands tugged on her skirt, urgent and impatient. "I was distracted." She chuckled and knelt down, ruffling the hair of one of the girls' who was glaring at her in annoyance. Cute, she thought with a smile. "What were you saying again?"
"Yuu-chan was asking if you've ever gone to an amusement park!" One of the boys, a good foot shorter than brown haired Yuu chirped, his eyes sparkling. Touka noted with envy how the children were still brimming with energy at 6pm in the evening with less than the normal amount of food. Despite the fact that the food brought in by the scavenging unit was first distributed to the young children, Hinami always said it was nothing compared to what they should actually be eating at this age. Yet while Touka felt exhausted nearly every day despite not doing anything much – of course, there was now another small person slowly growing inside her belly – the children were always high on energy and ran around the tunnels and dim, damp corridors playing hide and seek and tag. Needless to say, many of the adults welcomed the exuberance and cheery laughter as effective distraction from the brutal reality. Must be one of the benefits of still being a kid.
I wonder if Kaneki ate. The thought nagged at the back of Touka's mind as she pushed a strand of hair behind Yuu's ear. "Yeah, I actually have once. With a friend from high school, her name was Yoriko." Her heart throbbed. "She bought tickets after our winter exams and I went with her one day. She had a lot of fun eating street-food from the stalls – bleh, that part was bad for me – and few of the rides were actually fun."
"Wow!" All the kids ooh-ed in amazement. "You went to school with humans! What was it like, Onee chan?!" Junpei forced his way to the front, eyes shining.
"Uh, there was a lot to study, a lot of stupid homework and there was this horrible, horrible cooking class, I couldn't bear it," Touka made a face. "But I guess it was fun. Now that it's over, I miss it." She mused, quick flashbacks reeling off in her brain of math classes, Yoriko, P.E and painful Japanese lessons. The pangs of pain were much simpler to control now - three years of coping with Kaneki's disappearance, dealing with his return to Re - albeit as someone who didn't even remember her and then Anteiku's fall had built up Touka's emotional strength and capacity to withstand psychological turmoil. She didn't know how else to explain it.
The possibility that these kids would never experience a normal school life and park outings saddened Touka but as she had learnt, having faith was a good thing - it was possible that despair would transform into happiness.
It was possible.
After all, Kaneki had come back hadn't he?
"Wow! It sounds so busy and fun!" More ooh-ing and stares of wonder. "I bet you'll suck at games Yuu-chan!"
"What? No I won't! I'll beat you in hide and seek any day!"
"Will not!"
"Will too!"
Sighing, Touka got up and walked to a large log at the edge of the clearing and sat down on it watching the kids bicker and run around. Hinami had raised her concerns of the children staying in the dingy and dark tunnels all day and night and how it wasn't good for their health. Thus a new rule had come about – taking them twice every week to the junkyard clearing in the open for the fresh air. King's orders, Tsukiyama had said. Leaning back on her hands, she stared up at the sky again as the children squealed and laughed in front of her. The Orion constellation was faintly visible as the last light of the setting sun was fading out. A shooting star caught her attention and she hurriedly closed her eyes, but alas, it disappeared too quickly. A rueful smile. Wishes weren't granted to creatures like her.
Maybe someday, she would not be tired and hungry anymore. Someday, these kids would go to school. Someday, she'd reunite with Yoriko, even if that only happened in her afterlife. Someday, she would don a uniform and stir coffee again, drawing designs on the swirling froth with a toothpick.
Someday, she would cup Kaneki's face in her palms and look at the bright, beautiful eyes sparkling with vigor and contentment, feel her heart well up at the sight of this boy - this man, the struggles they overcame, the world they fought, the victory won and the bright future that lay ahead.
Hope. Hope was always a good thing.
"Hey!" She was again interrupted from her thoughts as Hotaru skipped up to her, the other kids following him like a small swarm of bees. "Did you meet the King at school?" She blinked.
"Hm?"
"Yeah, did he go to your class? Ayato-nii told us he was a human before he became the King!"
"Yes he was human but we didn't meet at school," Touka chuckled, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees, raising eyebrows at the expressed disappointment on their faces. "What? Why the down faces?"
"So he didn't ask you to marry him in school?" Touka blushed.
"Where did you get that from?"
"We thought-"
"Hinami-onee chan read us a book!" Yuu butted in loudly. "It was a romance novel. In it the boy and the girl went to the same class and he asked her out-"
"It was a boring novel!"
"It was amazing! You're the only one who didn't like it!"
"I didn't, it was boring! Ayato nii-chan reads us cooler novels!" Touka watched in amusement. She understood why the adults enjoyed having them around. Even Naki played with them and she'd seen Miza join their games of tag sometimes.
"Hinami nee-chan reads us those too!"
"Yeah but nii-chan makes 'em sound cooler! He goes like pow-pow-wham!" Touka couldn't help but laugh. Really? So her little brother could be like that?
"Like the story about the King that one time!"
"Yeah like that one! It was so cool!"
"What story about the King?" Touka asked curiously. It always felt strange to address Kaneki by that name, mostly because to her, he was just Kaneki.
"Ayato nii-chan told us of this one time, the King was against a really bad dude-"
"Yeah a really scary, big monster!"
"And the King went like this-" Hiroto swung his fist.
"Ka-pow! Boom! He pulled out his Kagune and wham!" Junpei jumped and whirled around.
"And then another dude came in and this one was GROSS-"
"He was big and ugly and his Kagune came from his armpits-" Touka was laughing.
"Eww! I'm complaining to Ayato nii-chan!"
"And the King went like- WHOOSH!"
"And BAM!"
"And both of 'em were dead like flies!"
"What sort of stories does Ayato tell you guys?" Touka asked, highly interested in any other stories of the King Ayato had made up.
"Really cool ones! Nee-chan, we'll tell you another one! Nee chan!"
"Yes yes, I'm listening." Touka felt the corners of her eyes wrinkle. It felt good to laugh like this. "What did he do this time?"
"Tell me too, won't you?" A very familiar voice broke into the atmosphere accompanied by soft footsteps. Touka's neck snapped upwards so fast she almost felt it break. Sure enough, the worn out boots her eyes first fell on belonged to Kaneki. He was wearing a tired but warm smile on his face as he walked towards her and the kids. A still-irritated looking Nishiki followed.
A warmth bloomed in her chest and her heart skipped a few beats. She hadn't seen him all day.
How pathetic Touka. You've survived without knowing if he was dead or alive for over 2 years. And now you can't go without seeing him for a day? Stupid, stupid. She chided in her mind.
"It's the King!"
"The King!"
Kaneki laughed, a bit embarrassed as they gathered around him chirping and yelling in excited voices, tugging on his black shirt. It was such a cacophony that neither Touka, nor Kaneki could understand any of the questions – or were they statements? – thrown at him and Kaneki just took to patting them on the head one by one gently in the end. He was smiling. He was always smiling.
Amidst loud chants of 'King! King! King!' Kaneki caught her eye. Touka's heart skipped a beat as he offered her a smile. A smile only she could decipher the meaning behind. I missed you today. When Kaneki's attention dropped back to the kids, all Touka wanted to do was to shoo everyone out of the area until it was just the two of them.
"Oi you brats! Get your asses here!" Nishiki snapped, looking irritated. A wad of sticky tape expertly wrapped around his glasses sat prominently on top of his nose – Miza had gotten so drunk the previous night and sat on his glasses that Yomo had dropped when he passed out on the couch. As if Nishiki wasn't annoyed enough by the lack of proper sight, broken glasses only added to the pile of reasons that made him want to murder everyone else in the ward – he'd been stomping around all morning while Tsukiyama helped him find the duct tape.
"It's late. Go to bed okay?" Touka heard Kaneki say gently and the kids quietened down obediently. The disturbing contrast between the bashfully shy and smiling 24 year old persona and the ruthless half-ghoul always made everyone gape. Touka of course, was no exception as she watched how gently he held the shoulders of Yuu who was hanging on to his knee.
The same hand that slaughtered hundreds of doves. The same hand that had firmly pinned her wrist above her head that day when they made love. The same hand that ruffled Yuu's hair so gently. The same hand which will most likely spill blood once again in the near future and the same hand that would one day cradle their child. Touka was unaware of Nishiki's eyes on Kaneki as well.
"Can we come here again?" Hiroto piped up and Kaneki patted his head, another gentle smile adorning his face.
"Of course. In fact you should, Hinami-chan tells me. Did you guys have fun?"
"Yup!"
"I see. That's good. Now off you go with Nishio-senpai."
"Onee-chan! Good night!" Yuu turned around to wave at Touka and Touka waved back.
"Sleep tight. Don't let the bed-bugs bite." She called out and Nishiki snorted from the entrance of the tunnel.
"Unfortunately bed bugs are the only thing we have here, shitty Touka."
"Shut it four-eyes. Where's Hinami? She's usually the one who puts the kids to bed."
"She's helping that Miza. Still puking it all up." Nishiki's face visibly darkened as the kids pushed past him into the dimly lit doorway of the tunnel. "Damn woman, I should fuckin' murder her-"
"S-senpai. Calm down. Kids." Kaneki raised his hands up, a sheepish smile on his face – an expression that reminded Touka of their days at Anteiku. Old memories. Nishiki looked at Kaneki, and then at Touka.
"Ugh. I don't know how you two are still keeping your shit together – what the fuck was that booze last night…" Muttering to himself, Nishiki disappeared into the tunnel, escorting the kids back into their rooms. It was 7pm.
Silence engulfed Touka and Kaneki as they were left alone in the open, the chilly breeze of the night ruffling their hair and clothes. Neither knew what to say to the other now that there was no third person to engage in a conversation with. How it managed to still get awkward even after they had kissed, made love, and gotten married was completely beyond Touka's understanding. She watched him walk closer and take a seat beside her on the log.
"Have you fought off a ghoul who had Kagune coming from his armpits?"
"What?" Kaneki laughed as he followed Touka's gaze straight up towards the sky, leaning back on his arms. "There's a few interesting stories about me huh?"
"Apparently Ayato enjoys telling them your biography. He makes it way cooler and disgusting though."
Another chuckle. "At least I have some funny battles in Ayato's stories." Touka smiled as well. Silence ensued. More stars peeked out from the growing darkness of night. The light had disappeared and the maps of stars were starting to become brighter in the heavy blanket of navy.
"It's magnificent here."
Touka snorted. "I knew you'd say that. You have these big words-" and Kaneki protested.
"Magnificent isn't a big word, it's a normal word-"
"Normal words are beautiful, pretty, stunning, gorgeous," Touka shook her head and Kaneki broke into a soft laugh instead.
"Touka-chan, you need to learn a few words besides those. We have a huge vocabulary."
She said nothing as they spent some comfortable silence gazing at the sky. The changing, blending hues of different colours reminded her of her own ukaku Kagune.
How beautiful.
Ever since, Touka had found her Kagune beautiful.
Her attention shifted back to the man sitting beside her. Though she had missed him all day, being alone with him like this, stargazing, not talking much – she was suddenly fine. The warmth that bloomed in her chest since he made his appearance spread to her neck, shoulders, arms and her hands. Her fingers were warm. Squeezed gently. Inside his palm.
He was holding her hand. She hadn't realized since when.
"Hey."
"Hi."
He was looking at her now and her at him. His eyes spoke to her something she was sure she wasn't clever enough to understand. A soft smile played at the corners of his lips with his gaze. His fingers, scaly, rough and longer than hers firmly holding hers between them. The breeze was ruffling his hair and his v-neck revealed a vein that snaked along his neck. His long legs stretched out in front of him. Touka's dangled above the floor. His eyes slightly darker and she wondered if that was because of the poor light.
"Did you sleep well last night?" She found herself asking.
"I did. Did you?" He hesitated as her palm turned over and pressed into his, firmly intertwining her fingers between his. Touka nodded in response and inched closer to him. He said nothing.
"How is Yomo?" A little closer again. Kaneki heartily chuckled.
"Still hungover. Last night was too much for him after years of staying away from alcohol. Tsukiyama's looking after him." Kaneki's fingers left hers and wrapped around her wrist, softly tugging and she understood - closer. She scooted over until she could rest her head against his shoulder - and she did just that. No words were exchanged. His arm crossed her back, palm flat against the surface of the log on her other side so she could lean back on it.
Awkward. But just right.
"How are you feeling?" He asked, and she could feel the vibration of his voice from inside him. Kaneki's voice wasn't even as deep as Ayato's but it was a nice voice. And during moments like this, it always dipped lower - as if there was a volume control button for it and it was set low. Just for her. She closed her eyes.
"I've been okay. Exhausted, sort of but that's nothing new."
"Did you eat?" She bit her lip as she felt Kaneki's chin rest softly on top of her head.
"Mhmm. Where is the food coming from by the way? I don't see Tsukiyama or Hinami or Nishiki eating anywhere as much." She had her suspicions that since she told him she was pregnant, the food that had been miraculously landing at her table had something to do with - how was it again? - King's Orders. Under normal circumstances, she would have been fine without it - but with a growing foetus inside her, it was difficult - she was always hungry and tired.
Kaneki said nothing but she felt him suck in a tight breath - and then release it into her hair - now his nose was partially buried in it.
"And you?" She asked, lifting her head so she was looking up at him now. Kaneki's eyes were closed as he rested his forehead on hers and brushed his nose over hers. "How are you? Did you eat anything?"
"I'm okay Touka-chan." He smiled and Touka knew he hadn't eaten. Of course he wouldn't answer and that was obvious.
"What did you do today?" Her eyes roved over his face and she reached up to pick a stray eyelash off his nose.
"Planning out the expedition to the suicide forest. It's more difficult than we thought, it's not totally isolated and we can only take the fittest - the expedition alone will be tiresome and as it is, everyone's not in the best of health." Each word he spoke was heavy and burdened with responsibility, duties, exhaustion, stress and fear.
"Mhmm."
Their wedding had been last night. And what a celebration it had been. Even under the most despairing conditions, it was a miracle what food, booze, drums and fanfare could do to everyone. It had been the first time in her life that she saw Naki become a musical genius, thumping an aluminum plate like a drum while being fully drunk until he tripped and fell over some kids and remained unconscious for the rest of the night. Or Miza for that matter who sang all through the night songs that she declared were ancient and passed down her generations underground. Then there was Nishiki who for some unknown reason was sober up to the point where Yomo flushed an entire mug of booze down his throat, then went coconuts by chasing a very happy and half-naked Tsukiyama around the tunnels. It was a sight. For one wonderful night, all their problems, impending dangers and the memories of loved-ones long gone, melted away into music, dance and laughter.
And Touka and Kaneki had gotten married.
"I still can't believe it." She breathed, closing her eyes and letting the quiet moment of intimacy sink into them. "Can you?"
"No." He whispered back. Touka wondered how he knew what she was asking. But maybe he was thinking the same thing as her, with his nose buried in her hair and arm around her back.
Minutes passed like that before she heard Kaneki humming. A slow song, a tune that sounded like it was on the border of being completely tragic and yet beautifully happy. It sounded like hope.
"What song is that?"
"Ah," Kaneki, slightly embarrassed, pulled away and straightened up and Touka felt cold. "It's a song that I used to love back in college. I heard it on the radio one day and I used to hum it quite a lot." He scratched his neck. "It's called Forever by Tracey Chattaway."
"Chi-what?"
"Chattaway." He smiled and cocked his head at her. "Try 'Chat-a-way'."
"Chottouewei." Touka scowled.
"No-no, Chat-a-way,' Kaneki was laughing and Touka was growing mad. Even though he looked so damned handsome right now, his bangs all askew and the bags under his eyes gone with his smile - she was growing mad because he was teasing her in that gentle, playful way that she both loved and hated. "You are so bad at this Touka-chan."
"Well, never said I was good!" She huffed and scooted away so she wasn't leaning against his arm anymore. "Stop laughing." She glared at him.
"S-sorry," He bit his lip, trying to stop his amused chuckles and failing miserably. Annoyed, she turned away and spotted Betelgeuse in the Orion. It twinkled bright and red and she vaguely remembered an astronomy lesson in high school - something about how Betelgeuse was a red-supergiant and that it would soon explode.
"Touka-chan, I'm sorry," Kaneki softly called, his fingertips reaching out, dancing lightly over hers once more. She glanced at him and he looked a little nervous - he probably thought his light hearted teasing had hurt her.
"I want to slow-dance."
Well didn't she take him by surprise.
"W-what?" He stammered. His eyes wide, he allowed himself to be pulled up - her fingers had gotten a vice grip on his wrist and he couldn't pull away. "Slow dance? B-but I've never-"
"Neither have I. But I liked that song. So sing it will you?" Kaneki couldn't look more flabbergasted and he blushed and looked down, scratching his neck even as Touka led him to the center of the clearing.
"W-well I… it doesn't have any words so all I can do is hum it…" He trailed off because Touka had dropped his hand and leaned into his frame, her arms around his chest, her face tucked just under his shoulder. "U-uh Touka-chan?"
"I don't really know. You lead." Came her muffled reply.
Kaneki swallowed. He had only seen this in a couple of movies. And even then he hadn't paid much attention. Touka's arms tightened around his chest and his breath hitched. Pressing herself to him, she breathed in the scent of his skin - slightly musky, a dash of spice. Her cheeks grew warm when she remembered that she had smelled like that after that beautiful night together.
She loved him so much.
Kaneki's head fell back and he gazed at the sky and spotted a few constellations he knew. He looked down and Touka's face was buried in his chest and her arms gripped fistfuls of his shirt on his back. She was standing on her toes and he wondered if that wasn't uncomfortable.
He loved her so much.
"I don't really know either..." He gently pulled her arms from around his back and tugged them upwards, placing them around his neck. Touka raised her head and rested her cheek against his chest - she was even closer to him now, if that was possible. His own arms dropped and wound around her waist.
"Sing." Came her soft voice.
Slowly and softly, he started to hum the tune again and without realizing it, they were moving in a slow-dance, feet slowly circling a pattern on the dry ground.
"You're good at this. Have you done this before?" Touka's voice, though soft, sounded a bit accusatory and Kaneki spluttered.
"N-no! I-I've never but it doesn't seem that hard-"
"I was kidding dummy. It… feels nice," She breathed and nuzzled his collarbone before looking up at him. His eyes were wide with... wonder? Disbelief? What was it? She smiled softly. "What?"
He blinked as they continued to gently sway. "No, it's nothing. It's just," He bit his lip and her eyes dropped to look at his lips before darting upto his eyes again. "I… didn't imagine we would be slow-dancing amidst all this chaos but… but it's really… really nice." His gaze pierced her eyes. Another contrast - he was blushing, he was stammering, his voice was soft but his gaze was piercing. Touka sucked in a breath she'd forgotten to take in, and chuckled, cocking her head.
"Well did we imagine we would have sex after that psychotic-student of yours crashed into the shop because she was hunting us down to kill us?" Her wrists twisted behind his neck, adjusting her hold around his neck. Kaneki's blush deepened to darker shades of red than Touka had ever seen.
"I…" He sighed and closed his eyes in a 'God-save-me' expression and his fingers dug into her sides gently.
"Can I ask you something?"
One eye cracked open and looked down at her "Are you going to ask something weird again like last time?" She wondered what that meant. As far as she was concerned, she had never asked anything weird. Her foot stepped on his but he didn't seem to mind.
Touka blinked and tilted her head again. "Hm? What do you mean? I just wanted to ask how you learned to do all those moves two nights ago?" and Kaneki looked like his entire cardiovascular system was compressed into his head.
"I mean, that thing with your fingers - how did you learn that? Did you watch a lot of porn? You were so-"
"Touka-chan!"
"Alright alright! I wanted to tease you." She couldn't help laughing, he was so embarrassed. The breeze ruffled their hair and the faint light of the stars made him look so good, she couldn't believe that her beanpole coffee-boy had grown up into this. She leaned up and buried her face into his neck. "When did you get so tall?" She whispered, swaying with the rhythm he had set, on tip-toe.
"That's… also a weird question," Kaneki murmured after a pause, his arms circling her waist and holding her close. He closed his eyes and dipped his nose into her hair again. He had thought about that as well but more along the lines of when did she get so beautiful and delicate?
Through his years away from Touka he had always remembered her as the fierce, strong girl that had protected him countless times, all times when he had been small, weak and powerless. He remembered standing behind her back and thinking how brave and strong this girl was, this ghoul with her beautiful wings and why couldn't he get strong like her?
And then he returned and saw her and she was a young woman - beautiful with those breathtakingly kind smiles she gave him when he couldn't even remember her from his past. And then when he recovered all his memories, she melted his dull heart with her unwavering faith in him, how five simple words held him back from disappearing again, changed his resolve. How I'll see you later, Kaneki eventually made him realize that it was Touka who had made him a cup of coffee with an eyepatch when the Manager told him he ate human meat for the first time, it was Touka who had protected him from Tsukiyama, it was Touka who wanted him back in Anteiku with tears streaming down her face - it had been Touka all those times, it would always be Touka.
And then he had kissed her, held her, swallowed her cries and made love to her and discovered how fragile and delicate and tender she was, how small under his frame, how perfect, how devastatingly beautiful.
What made it all the more unbelievable and wonderful than he already found it was how, last week when they lay in his cot after making love again, she had told him how beautiful he was.
He. Him. Beautiful.
"What are you thinking?" She broke into his thoughts, gazing up at him with a soft smile.
"A good answer to your question," He smiled, blushing and she noticed his bottom lip was redder than his upper lip. He had been biting it for so long he didn't realize.
On her tip-toe, she leaned up and pressed a soft kiss against his lips. Pulling away she declared with a satisfied sigh, "I think we should do this a lot more. It's very de-stressing."
"Mhmm." Only, he didn't say much after that, because all Touka saw before her eyelids fell closed was Kaneki leaning down while his fingers pulled her up closer against him, and kissed her.
Whenever he kissed her, it always started out slow, warm, gentle and then depending on the mood, quickly progressed into either deep, loving, passionate kisses or hurried, breathless, messy kisses. The latter had on the past - and only - two occasions ended with them panting, sweaty and shaking.
Tonight was different. He seemed to be taking his time. Her arms wound tighter around his neck and his lips seared into hers, slowly and leisurely. It was as if he was letting her know things he would never be able to express in words. She wouldn't know if he gazed at her, but she definitely understood by the way he was kissing her. She was loved. She was special. It was more than she had ever asked for.
"I've been thinking," He murmured, pulling away but only lightly - close enough that his lashes tickled the blush on her cheeks. "Of a name for our child." He pressed his reddened lips to Touka's again, squeezing her hip. She had asked him a week ago to think of a name and he had asked her for her suggestions. It had ended with him laughing at her poor options and a kick in the butt. She pulled away from the kiss, lips tingling.
"What did you come up with?" She looked at him, surprised. She didn't think he would have had the time to give it some serious thought, laden with work and responsibilities - more than anyone could handle on their own.
"I have a few names, if it's a girl," Kaneki rested his forehead against hers and looked at her, into her eyes, searching them, exploring, falling into the blue hues until blue was the only color in the world - he was bathed in it, warm and secure. "Yuki, because she'll be born in December - a winter child," Touka smiled - he never would've found out until later if she hadn't forgotten to hide her calculations. "Mitsuko because she'll be bright and brave - just like you Touka-chan," He chuckled as Touka blushed furiously and slapped his cheek softly. They had started to dance again.
"And one more, and this is what I like best - Ichika," Kaneki finished, a small but proud smile lacing his lips. "Ichika because she'll be our first flower." He looked expectant now and Touka concluded that she couldn't have come up with more fitting names if she'd been given a month. She cocked her head at him.
"What if it's a boy?" Kaneki blushed and chuckled sheepishly.
"A-ah well," He scratched his neck. "I didn't really give that any thought because… I'm hoping it's a girl? Touka-chan-" His voice grew progressively smaller as Touka scowled.
"You shithead. What if it's a boy then, you're going to be disappointed?" She huffed, frowning. "Maybe I should be looking for another man to father the child in that case then-"
"T-Touka-chan!" Kaneki spluttered eyes wide and horrified. "I-it's our first child, I'm going to be happy no matter what - in fact I'm already over the moon. I'm going to be a father." He blushed but his gaze was unwavering. This only caused Touka to blush even harder because how could he be so straightforward like that?
"It's just, I would love for it to be a girl. I-I think that's a normal tendency though, for fathers-to-be to want girls, so d-don't misunders-"
"That's enough, idiot," Touka murmured, effectively shutting him up with a kiss. Kaneki responded by drawing her back in, tilting his head deeply. It was kisses and moments like these that Touka's heart beat like a beatbox, erratic, thumping, changing rhythms and course. She cupped his face for one last peck and pulled away and into a hug, nuzzling his collarbone with her nose.
"I like Ichika." Touka's muffled answer surprised Kaneki. "Ichika Kaneki."
"I thought the same." He whispered. Kaneki was happy. He really was happy and it had nothing to do with their circumstances and everything to do with Touka and their growing baby. They made him forget about his aches, pains, wounds that refused to heal, the mouths that needed to be fed, his closest comrades and their sunken eyes, those that weren't close and the need to constantly make them believe, trust - that they were going in the right direction. Touka was like a splash of mint infused water, her quiet words, her strange questions, her kneeing and elbowing, her curses and her kind eyes - every time and every night he yearned for her presence.
No more words were spoken. They danced through the night in silence - in the comfort of each other's arms, under the faint starlight, in the shared space enclosed in between two beating hearts. Kaneki didn't know what tomorrow would bring and Touka was scared - but for now they had each other.
The rest of the world fell away and only King and Queen mattered.