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"What about this one?" Hide asked, pointing to a picture in the mag he was reading. Yoshimura glanced down as the human continued. "This seems spacious enough, for all three of us. And it doesn't even cost that much."
"That sounds wonderful, Hide-san." The owner of the coffee shop said.
"I know right? And it isn't really that far from here, so if you guys need Kaneki, all you have to do is give us a call." Hide said, grinning. The older ghoul cocked his head to the side.
"Forgive me if I'd asked this before, but I thought Kaneki had been out searching for a new place for you two to live?" He asked. Hide shrugged his shoulders.
"He doesn't really have the time, caught between being here and whatever he does with his friends," He said, the smile never leaving his face. "So we thought it'd best to leave the housing to me, since I'm not doing anything much besides sleeping and eating. And," He started, just as he lifted up his cup of coffee, grinning at the older man. "Drinking coffee."
Yoshimura gave a huff of amusement, Hide settling the cup down.
"You know, I wanted to ask if this was normal," He said. "The urge to drink coffee thing. As we know, I'm not particularly fond of it, so I wonder if having a ghoul baby has any affect."
"It is possible, that if the baby isn't entirely human, there might be some changes you'll have to adapt to," Yashimura said. "When my wife was pregnant, I had noticed her intake of coffee, but I didn't give it too much thought. I should've been paying more attention, to be honest."
"Hmm..." Hide hummed, going back to the book. For a moment, he was silent, before he spoke again. "Do you ever wonder where your child could be now?"
"Always," Yoshimura said. "It is a question I ask myself constantly, whether or not they had survived in the sewers where I had left them. If the CCG had found them, and ended up killing them. It is the thing that burden me the most."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I have done all I could in order to survive. While I'm not happy with my choices and it'll always be a what-if, I don't regret it. I don't regret living the way I am now." Yoshimura said, before turning to Hide. "You and Kaneki have been blessed with a child, to start a family where I couldn't, a family Kaneki never had, and the one you had missed. I'd say this may be a second chance that I am getting, as well as you two. A part of me believes you'll be just fine. But just in case, my doorstep is always open - for the both of you."
Hide couldn't only stare, taking in his words.
"...Thank you." He whispered, tears starting to appear in his eyes. Yoshimura smiled.
"I'd like to think of Kaneki as my son, and now that title extends to you. To you, Kimi, and Yoriko, as you three are the very special humans in Kaneki's, Touka's, and Nishiki's life. It is only fair that my protection of them includes you." He said. Hide tried to wipe away the tears.
"I...thank you so much." He said again, unable to say anything else but gratitude. Yoshimura just hummed, sipping his coffee and watched the next wave of customers come in, some human, but the majority were ghouls. "If it makes us even, I'd like to have you as the grandfather of our child."
At that, Yoshimura chuckled, turning to the human.
"I am very much honored, Hide-san." He said, amusingly. Hide himself chuckled, just as the jingle of the bell on the door ring through and he turned to see Kaneki walking through. He started to stand.
"It was nice chatting with you, Yoshimura-san."
"Please, call me Kuzen."
"Only if you call me Hide," Hide smirked to which Yoshimura chuckled.
"It's a deal. And remember, Hide, you are always welcome here." He said to which Hide paused in his walking. The human slowly turned around and looked at the ghoul, a smile on his face as he gave him a thumbs up.
"I'll remember. Goodbye, Jiji." At that, both Kaneki and Yoshimura looked surprise, and even when Hide began to pull Kaneki away and from the coffee shop, Yoshimura smiled.
Jiji. He liked the sound of that.
"So what do you think? Can your mate pick out a good home or what?" Hide said, obviously proud of himself. Kaneki looked around the apartment, taking everything in.
The apartment was big, with the kitchen and the living room being right next to each other. From what Kaneki can see, there were three bedroom, one of which Hide would want to make a nursery of, the bathroom as big as the living room, and there was no balcony. They sat right on top of the building complex so the only way someone could get in (if not a ghoul) was to go through the front door, and by that point, the intruder had already sealed their fate. The windows weren't too big, so no need to worry if someone would peak in on them. All in all, Kaneki's Inner Alpha was happy with the space they could call their own.
"This is nice, Hide, now we just need to pick up our stuff from our old apartments." Kaneki said, giving his mate's hand a squeeze and a kiss on his cheek. Since Kaneki had been gone for a long time, it was possible that his landlord had thrown away his stuff, though he didn't have much to begin with; whereas Hide had only been gone for three months, not enough to warrant an immediate kick out like Kaneki, and could still, theoretically, live there. It just wouldn't be enough room, thus, the apartment hunting.
Hide hummed, his Omega purring at the compliment and affection.
"I had manage to save your books when your landlord was going to throw them out, so all your stuff is at my place." He said, turning to his Alpha. Kaneki smiled.
"Thanks. By the way, did you really call Yoshimura grandfather?" He asked, looking amused as Hide scratched his head, grinning.
"Well, I, along with Yoriko and Kimi, have been welcomed into the ghoul family, and I had decided to make him the honorary grandfather. You don't mind, do you?" Hide asked, looking at Kaneki hesitantly. Kaneki shook his head.
"No. I was just thinking about what roles to give to the others."
"Kimi can be the godmother, Yoriko and Touka aunts, Koma is the funny uncle, Nishiki the godfather - because if Kimi is the godmother, of course Nishiki has to be the father - Ayato can be the cousin, Irimi can also be the aunt. Or the godmother-"
"Two godmothers, Hide?"
"I don't see why not."
"How about grandmother, since you haven't mentioned that."
"Are you calling Irimi old?"
"No! That's not it at all!"
Hide continued as if he didn't hear Kaneki talk. "Uta would be the creepy uncle, and Hinami is the niece. Yomo would be the socially awkward, but very protective uncle. Oh, and Banjou can be like the cool uncle."
Kaneki wanted to ask what role would Shuu have, but decided against it. After what went down with Hide and Tsukiyama (from what Touka had reported), he was a little reluctant to place them in the same room together again. And to be completely honest, Kaneki was fine having Shuu out of the picture. He did once appeared in his nightmares after all, and Kaneki was not the gullible boy he once was; Shuu still wanted to consume him, and if Kaneki allowed it, he would without second thought.
"I think our family tree is done, and I think we found our home. Let's go get something to eat and then we can works thing out from there." Hide said, pulling on Kaneki's hand. Kaneki gave him a concern look.
"Are you sure you're up to eating? Didn't you say food started to taste bland to you?" He asked.
"Yoshimura thinks it's because of the baby. I'm pretty sure this won't last, and it's honestly not something to be concern about. Now come on, I'm hungry." He whined, stilling pulling on Kaneki's hand. The white haired ghoul allowed himself to be pulled, wondering about the conversation Hide might've had with the older ghoul. He quickly pushed the thought away, however, when he explained to him what he's going to do.
"Something is going to happen, and I don't want Hide here when it does happen. That's why I've been trying to find apartments for us and us only." He had said, and he could only look at his best friend, his mate, the mother of his child, and shivered. Meanwhile, Hide was also having the same thoughts.
"You know you're always welcome here."
"Thanks for the offer, but I think it'd be better for all of us if Kaneki and I were to find our own place to live." He said, but the ghoul can hear everything he didn't say: To put Kaneki's mind at ease, to know if the CCG were to find them, Hide won't be in danger. To give their baby a chance to live with at least one of their parents, unlike Yoshimura's own child.
He knew what Kaneki was worried about, knew that Kaneki knew something he wasn't telling, and so he squeezed his hand as they made their way over to their favorite fast food chain.