Notes:
+ Thanks again for your faves and comments! -heart-
+ Like all the others, this is written for Touken Week! Prompt: Uniform.
+ Chapter Blurb: Really, Hinami can handle quite a lot on her own. Sometimes she feels so guilty about how often people feel the need to take care of her. (Touken)
+ Hope you enjoy~
Shhhh
There's not a lot that Hinami can do — at least, not a lot when it comes to protecting people, or providing for them. So she does her best to pick up slack wherever she can find it, tries hard to make things easier for everyone in general. While Onee-chan is busy at Anteiku and school, Hinami cleans, studies, even puts on a plain white surgical mask and goes out to pick up food (both the real kind and the fake kind, so that their cover isn't blown).
Really, she can handle quite a lot on her own. Sometimes she feels so guilty about how often people feel the need to take care of her.
:::
Touka and Kaneki stare as Hinami's hand begins to loosen on her pencil. Her eyelids droop — then her head — and then both pop up again, abruptly, as she gives a startled little huff. She blinks rapidly, stares hard at her homework.
A minute passes. And then.
Droop…
Droop…
Pop!
Kaneki snorts out a laugh, and quickly smothers it as Touka glares.
QUIET, she mouthes.
:::
Hinami had been working on…homework? She'd asked Onee-chan if Nii-san could come over, and she had rolled her eyes and shrugged, which meant it was fine.
Thank goodness. Nii-san was so good at literature, and so good at tutoring — way nicer than she'd expected any human(-ish) person to be. He and Onee-chan had come over right after their work shifts, both still in their work uniforms.
:::
"I think she's really asleep now."
"Oh, really? Let's get her to bed."
"Huh? What are you doing? Wait —"
"It's alright, I'll be gentle."
He eases his arms around Hinami's body, carefully, and lifts her up. Her head lolls against his chest and she murmurs a bit, but doesn't awaken. Touka hovers as he carries her to her bed.
"Goodnight, Hinami," Kaneki whispers, drawing her blanket over her, and Hinami mumbles something and curls up against her pillow.
For a while they watch her, silently. Making sure. When Hinami doesn't stir again, Kaneki turns to Touka with an embarrassed smile, scratching his head.
"So…uh…want me to carry you next?"
Touka snorts. Looks away to hide the red rising to her face. "Are you serious? Where?"
"Um…well…to bed. Of course."
This time she's too flabbergasted to reply. He stifles another laugh.
"It's alright," he says. "I'll be gentle."
:::
Her papers and things are still on the table. Hinami approaches them, and grimaces. There's a long, messy scrawl on one of the papers from where she must have fallen asleep mid-stroke. She sighs and starts to collect them, scraping together papers on the table, picking up a sheet from the ground, picking up another sheet from beneath a cushion…
She pauses, blinking. Why are there papers everywhere?
:::
Despite his big words, they don't quite make it to the bed. Kaneki is struggling with carrying Touka around, mostly because she keeps fidgeting.
"T-Touka-chan," he says, stumbling, "if you keep — moving — I can't —"
"It's your fault!" she hisses, as quietly as possible. "You keep — touching all my — my ticklish spots —"
"That — can't be true unless you're ticklish all over — and I happen to know that the only spots you have are —"
"S-stop! Wh-what the hell, are you seriously saying stuff like that? Just put me down, put me down!"
He does — trying to let her down gracefully — failing. She curses as her back hits the table and he stammers an apology — and then they both look back towards Hinami's bed, holding their breath.
Silence.
Touka reaches out and dims the lights. They look back at each other. The air feels heavy, suddenly — and too hot. Kaneki swallows; Touka purses her lips. And then they reach forward and begin to undo each other's ties.
:::
Some of these papers appear to be part of Touka's schoolwork. She didn't put them away after she was done? They must have been really busy.
The papers rustle as she gathers them all up and sorts them, and the noise wakes Loser, who immediately begins bobbing and fussing.
"Shhhh," she implores Loser as he begins to flap vehemently on his perch. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" She hastily pours seed into his food dish, and strokes her index finger along his crest soothingly.
"Hush, Loser-chan! Onee-chan was up late last night, you know! She needs her sleep."
:::
Possessing identical uniforms means there's not too much to figure out about the other person's garments. Kaneki undoes the buttons of her vest while Touka undoes the clasp of his pants; then they switch. It's still a bit clumsy, though, and when he can't get a good grip on her clasp, she can't quite suppress a sigh. She pushes him over, and then onto his back. She lets him get a better hold on the clasp, and then slides one leg out and swings it over his waist.
The day's shift was a long one, and the scent of coffee is pressed into every seam. It exudes with every motion. Fills every inhale. Touka feels light-headed with that smell, the bitterness and poignancy of it — and of the thing it barely masks, beneath.
If there's one thing ghouls are good at, it's smelling out humans. She knows well their oily, sour fear — their crisp, pungent desperation.
But. She finishes undoing the buttons of her blouse. Bends down against Kaneki's neck, letting the sides of her shirt and vest frame the V of his exposed skin. Takes a deep breath.
Until Kaneki, she didn't know how absolutely sweet and mouthwatering a human's desire smelled.
:::
With Loser satisfied, Hinami backs away, makes coffee for herself, then wanders around the house, looking for something to do.
Their apartment is small, but there's no lack of little tasks. There are some vegetables going bad in the fridge, some of which she chops finely and flushes down the toilet, some of which she fries and then throws away. She does the dishes (which consist of the frying pan she just used, and half a dozen mug cups).
She goes to the balcony to check on their laundry line, and trips on the way there.
"Oof —!"
What?
What are all these books doing on the ground?
:::
Touka raises a finger to her mouth just as Kaneki leans forward toward her, with the result being that he kisses it and blinks in shock. They smother their laughter. Touka quickly moves her fingers elsewhere, and swallows down a gasp as Kaneki does the same.
As she caresses him him, Kaneki shudders, mumbles something that sounds suspiciously like "Touka." That desire-smell is coming off him in waves, dizzying. She shakes her head and when she focuses on him again her eyes are black, and able to see how his pulse glimmers beneath his skin, getting faster. In the dimness, she sees him looking up at her too. With only one human eye.
Oh, shit —
She quickly shoves her hands beneath his vest and shirt and push them off, just in time to avoid them being shredded by his kagune. They squirm, out of control, and Kaneki flushes as one makes a wild sweep and pushes everything off one bookshelf.
"Sor —" he starts, but is cut off by her kiss, her ragged breath, her tongue in his mouth. He's interrupted, too, by his hunger to taste her back.
:::
Hinami crams the books onto the shelf. Taps a finger against her cheek. Furrows her brows, removes the books, puts them back in again in another order. How did they go again?
Well…maybe it doesn't matter. She sighs and as she stands, she abruptly stops. Squints.
Is that…a hole in the wall?
:::
"Sorry —"
"Kaneki, you're really going to have something to apologize for if you don't —"
"If I don't —?"
" — this inst — ah!"
No more apologies follow.
:::
Luckily there's some extra white tape in the closet. She measures it out precisely. Cuts. Places it.
There. The tape is slightly off-color, but…well, maybe she can figure out how to fix it better later.
She sweeps out the balcony. Takes down and folds some clothing. Replaces the toilet paper. Stoops to straighten the shoes in the entryway. Blinks, head tilted.
She checks the time. Then goes to Onee-chan's door and knocks.
"Onee-chan?" she whispers. She knocks louder, repeats herself. "Onee-chan?"
There's a rustling. "H-Hinami?" she hears. "What? What is it?"
"I — um — wanted to make sure you'll get up in time," Hinami says nervously. "Don't you have a shift soon?"
"Um…no," Onee-chan replies groggily. "Not soon. I've still got a couple hours."
"Oh," Hinami says, "I see." She nibbles her lip. Shifts her weight from foot to foot. "Um…even if it's in a couple hours…don't you think you should be there to meet Nii-san? He said he has the early shift today and…you know. He always seems so lonely on that shift."
From beyond the door, a pause. A scattered flurry of thunks.
"Y-you're right, Hinami — thanks. Um — listen — aren't we out of a couple things? Coffee, maybe? Anything?"
Hinami considers. "I guess we could always use some more coffee," she replies, and Onee-chan says, "Yeah! Yeah, would you mind getting some? Right now?"
"Sure," Hinami says. She gives a small laugh. "I'll be off, then. See you."
"Be safe!"
Hinami leaves, and takes her time. When she gets back, Onee-chan is scrambling back and forth, rushing to get ready for work herself. She's yanking on her blouse and vest, draping her tie over her shoulders.
"Thanks," Onee-chan says hastily as Hinami puts the coffee away. "See you later, okay?"
"Bye," Hinami says, waving. "Have a good day."
After the door shuts, Hinami goes back to the entryway, just to make sure. This time, both Onee-chan and Nii-san's shoes are gone.
She sighs in relief and collapses onto the couch.
It's getting harder and harder to play up to their belief that she has no idea what's going on.
For their sake, she hopes no one else notices that Onee-chan is wearing Nii-san's vest.