#pleaseenjoy

Kaneki sighed as he looked at the different types of ice cream and tried to remember what type Hide kept eating recently. Finally, he decided on grapping the cherry and the strawberry, remembering that Hide had been eating random pink things recently.

Finally deciding that he had enough things Kaneki went to check out and received a sympathetic look from the cashier, “pregnant mate?” Kaneki blinked in surprise but when he looked down at all the things he had grabbed, it looked obvious what he was stocking up for.

Naturally he had normal groceries mixed in as well but the random assortment of weird food gave away who he was shopping for, he nodded at the cahier and shuffled away awkwardly to meet up with Touka outside of the small store.

“Took you long enough.” Kaneki knew that pointing out the fact that she barely finished her shopping before him would only jeopardize his newly bought goods. “Hear anything from Yoriko?” Touka shifted, obviously anxious about her mate.

“No but I checked it right before you came out.” They had all been hanging out that day when the subject of making a cake had been brought up, though who brought it up was still up for debate, and the two omegas had silently agreed that making a cake was their new purpose in life.

Which is how the two alphas had been ushered out of the house with a list of ingredients needed, as well as some much needed groceries. Neither Touka nor Kaneki felt comfortable with leaving their respective mates despite the assurances that the store was only a quick walk away and that if anything should happen they would call for help.

Kaneki looked at the direction of his apartment and nodded, “we should get back then. I’m sure they’re fine but...” He trailed off yet his statement didn’t need to be finished for his companion knew the feeling well.

Instead of replying Touka started the trek back and after a few moments of silence Kaneki couldn’t help but say something that had been weighing on him. “Does it ever seem too good to be real?” Touka’s step faltered at the question and she stared at the ground before replying, “you mean do I ever go to sleep and feel that when I wake up this will all have been a dream? Or that this peace that we have now will somehow be ruined? Or that something will happen to Yoriko and I’ll be powerless to help her?”

Touka had picked up the pace and Kaneki was forced to pick his up in order to catch up, “yeah I get that feeling, I get it every time I look at her smile and hear her laugh. I’m going to guess you’re having a lot of those moments as well.”

It wasn’t a guess, more of a statement and all Kaneki could do was nod. “I keep trying to think about what the worst thing that could happen to Hide would be and how I could prevent it. The doctor says he and the baby are healthy but what if one day they’re not? I don’t know how I would cope if suddenly he wasn’t here anymore, and it would be my fault.”

Touka looked at the ground before shifting her bags around and giving Kaneki a good slap on the back, “there's no time for that kind of thinking! Think about, I don’t know, baby names or some shit.” Kaneki tried not to wince at the hard blow, though her words did have the intended effect and a small smile formed on his face.

“You know we actually thought of a few good names, I mean it’s up to Hide which to go with but I think he’s leaning towards- “ He was cut off by Touka grabbing his arm and pointing at the window of his apartment, and at seeing the curtain billowing in the breeze his blood ran cold. 

Kaneki clearly remembered that the window had been closed when he left and for it to be open on a colder day like it was, meant only one thing. Someone had entered the house, most likely from the moment the two ghouls were far enough away.

He vaguely recognized that Touka was sprinting ahead of him but he wasn’t far behind her, soon they were in the bathroom were the intruders had entered. He could hear faint chatter from a few rooms away but couldn’t seem to come up with the will to move, there were only two ways that it could have played out and if the world had taught him anything it was that life was cruel after it had been kind.

Hide would logically be too big to put up a real fight and while Yoriko was determined to learn, her fighting skills were still at a beginner’s level from what Kaneki had seen. That combined with the fact that with her current teacher currently on maternity leave would mean that she hadn’t sparred in almost seven months.

Kaneki didn’t see how there would be an end that didn’t result in his mate either being held hostage to be used as a bargaining chip or something far worse. Based on how still Touka had become she had come to the same conclusion that he had, after swallowing the lump lodged in his throat before something akin to fury rose through him at the thought of someone harming his beloved.

Slamming open the door he marched to the source of the noise they had heard earlier and after kicking down the door was prepared to start ripping someone apart. What he was not prepared for was the three corpses lined up next to the fridge with his mate and Yoriko having what seemed to be lighthearted conversation.

They had stopped immediately when Kaneki had entered the room and Yoriko had sprung up, knife ready to take care of any stragglers that had come to meet the first group. Hide however merely smiled at his mate and wrote a quick note, 'Yo, welcome home'.