It's been a while since I've watched the Tokyo Ghoul anime, so there may be a few inaccuracies and/or plot holes. The timeline is different on purpose, but I still may have accidentally gotten something mixed up—apologies if I did.

And with that in mind, please enjoy!

Hide knew something was wrong the moment he stepped into Kaneki's apartment.

He had started taking care of it when Kaneki went missing and had kept at it—even when he started to lose his grasp on what precious little hope he had that Kaneki would come back. He feared that if he stopped checking on his best friend's home, he would give up hope entirely, and he wasn't ready to do that. Not yet.

Every time he stepped through the door, he would be greeted with the same dark living room, the same deathly quiet, and the same book—The Black Goat's Egg—in the same place where Kaneki had left it six months ago. He would flick on the light, and begin his usual routine of dusting and just checking on the place in general.

So when Hide had walked in and the lights were on, he was immediately on guard. He shut the door behind him as quietly as he could and looked around. He immediately noticed that the curtain was pulled back away from the sliding door that lead to the balcony and not drawn as he had left them. The door itself was shut, but the latch was broken off of it, as if someone had forced the door open from the outside.

A burglar? Hide thought. No, that's not it. No valuables are gone, and there's no damage except for the door. But even if there's not a thief in here, there's still someone.

He tiptoed towards the kitchen to search for some sort of weapon. Peering around the corner, he deemed the coast to be clear and quietly made his way towards the cupboards above the stove to grab a frying pan. Cliché, he thought, but still a good weapon.

He had just taken a good, sturdy one and shut the cupboard door when he heard footsteps.

Shit! Shitshitshit, he thought, eyes wide in panic. Okay, place to hide! Gotta find a place to hide! He glanced around and, not seeing anywhere to hide in the kitchen, he quickly—but quietly—made his way back to the living room and hid just around the corner.

Whoever rounded it was going to get a nasty surprise.

The footsteps drew closer at a steady pace—the intruder was heading into the kitchen, but to do that, they'd have to go through the hallway that ended at the corner Hide was hiding behind. He tightened his grip on the pan.

The footsteps were almost near enough.

Three...

Two...

ONE!

Hide jumped out from his hiding place and brought the pan down on the intruder's head as hard as he could—only he didn't account for inhuman speed and reflexes, and ended up stumbling when the pan didn't connect with anything, causing him to end up throwing all his weight forwards.

He was just about to catch himself mid-fall when his feet were swept out from under him. He landed on his shoulder with a heavy thud, the intruder temporarily forgotten as the pain took up his focus.

"Ow. Ow, that hurt," he mumbled, sitting up and clutching his left shoulder, wincing. He opened his eyes and looked up, and came face to face with a pulsing red tentacle-like thing that looked very, very sharp. He gasped and scrambled backwards, gaining a clear view of his attacker in the process.

The first thing he noticed wasn't the white hair, or the black nails, or the surprised and guilty look the attacker had. No, the only thing he could focus on was the eye that was uncovered by the mask—the eye that was colored in the telltale black sclera and red iris. The eye of a ghoul.

He then noticed the mask: a lipless grin surrounded by black leather that covered all of the attacker's face from the bridge of his nose and down, and an eyepatch. And that mask meant one thing. One terrible, terrible thing: this wasn't just any ghoul, this was Centipede, better known as Eyepatch: the notoriously insane ghoul who was an incomplete kakuja. He was known for being immensely unstable, and absolutely deadly in combat.

Hide panicked.

Eyepatch stood before him, his kagune slowly disintegrating into red mist, and all he had was a frying pan.

Wait? Hide thought. Disintegrating?!

Eyepatch's body language had changed, as well. The ghoul looked downright horrified, like he had just committed some sort of unforgivable crime. Then Eyepatch took a tentative step forward.

"Ohgodpleasedon'teatmeI'mnotthattastyIpromise!" Hide squeaked, dropping the frying pan and scrambling backwards again. He put his hands up—despite the sharp ache in his shoulder—to try to protect his face, his eyes squeezed shut.

He cracked them open after a few moments of not being attacked and/or eaten, and saw Eyepatch gripping his hair, shoulders shaking. Tears were streaming down his face, but seemed to be laughing to himself. A bitter sound that Hide decided he hated. This was the laugh of a madman. Under any other circumstances, Hide would be fine with someone laughing like a madman—just not when it was the actually insane, SS-rated ghoul that was in the same room as he was, with no viable escape route making itself apparent.

Hide considered edging towards the living room to get to the door, but he'd have to move even closer to the ghoul to do that. The balcony was too high up, and the windows—at the same height—were too far away. I wouldn't even be able to get the latch undone before I'm eaten!

He was ripped out of his thoughts of escape by Eyepatch mumbling something in between hysterical laughs and hiccuping sobs. He strained to make out what the ghoul was saying from across the room, his voice slightly muffled by the mask.

"G-God... The- the one thing I s-said I'd never do! The wh-whole reason I... I left! And h-here I am, b-br-breaking t-that promise! Why can't I- I do anyth-thing RIGHT?!"

Eyepatch yelled the last word, turning and punching a hole right through the wall behind him, causing a sickening crunch, accompanied by pieces of the wall falling to the floor through a cloud of dust.

And Hide could only wonder what the hell he was going on about.

But, craziness aside, what's holding Eyepatch back? he thought. Maybe if I can figure out why he's not attacking, I can talk my way out of this... It's a stretch, but it's the only plan I've got.

Eyepatch suddenly stopped shaking as his shoulders sagged. He removed his hand from the wall and turned around, kakugan deactivated and his mood appearing to have done a complete one-eighty from hysterical, crying laughter and shaking, to an expression that spoke of nothing but pain, exhaustion, and defeat. Hide, still gripped by fear, didn't notice this. He still saw an incredibly dangerous threat just across the room from him. He gulped. His went blank, attempts to try to think of what to say failing as Eyepatch started to walk towards him.

Hide had often thought about what he would do if he came face to face with a ghoul. He'd always thought he'd be able to stay calm and get out of it somehow, whether it would be by fighting back, talking his way out, or by making some sort of distraction. And he may have been able to pull off those last two—if the ghoul wasn't one of the CCG's highest rated and most wanted, striking fear into the very core of his being. Right now, he couldn't move a muscle—he was completely frozen in terror.

Eyepatch knelt down in front of Hide, who had his hands up in front of him again, trying—probably in vain—to protect himself.

What came out of Eyepatch's mouth next was a complete surprise to Hide.

"I'm sorry, Hide. I. . .didn't realize it was you."

Hide cracked open an eye, tentatively lowering his arms, and was just about to ask how in the absolute hell an SS-rated ghoul knew his name, when he realized he knew that voice. The voice he'd been wanting to hear for so, so long, the voice of the person that he just wanted to know was okay.

"K-Kaneki...?" he whispered, slowly lowering his hands, his eyes wide.

Eyepatch flinched when he heard that name, but sighed and reached up to take off his mask.

"...Hey, Hide," Kaneki said, giving a weak wave and a guilty smile.

Hide gaped. Here was his best friend who he had shared his childhood with, his best friend who had always had his nose in a book, his best friend who had never been athletic in the slightest, his best friend who had been missing for so long, his best friend who had only ever meant the best for others, his best friend who had been the kindest person Hide had ever met.

His best friend who was now the infamous, insane, SS-rated incomplete kakuja nicknamed "Centipede".

"Oh, my god... Kaneki, that is you!" he said, his voice cracking. "What happened to you, man?"

Hide wasn't stupid. He knew what had happened to his best friend—he knew that Kaneki had been turned into a ghoul, and he was absolutely fine with that. But what had happened to Kaneki during his disappearance? He didn't have a clue. What could have possibly made him like this?

"I mean, I know you were turned into a ghoul," he continued. "But what happened? I know you were working at Anteiku that one day, but then you just disappeared! Poof! Vanished! And now you turn up six months later like. . .like this?" There was no disgust or malice in Hide's words, just disbelief.

Kaneki just looked at Hide, eyes wide in shock.

"What. . .what did you say?" he said in disbelief. "Did- Did you just say that you knew?!"

"Of course I knew! I just. . .didn't want to make you uncomfortable, so I left you alone about it. I figured you'd tell me on your own, but I guess. . .I guess that didn't happen, huh?" He gave a weak smile, trying to disguise his hurt, but to no avail. The wall holding back his emotions crumbled, revealing just how much he had been suffering in his own way.

"I- I missed you, Kaneki! We're best buds! We're best buds and you just. . .you just left. I spent most of my time trying to find you and figure out what the hell happened. I even joined the CCG to try and look for clues, and they were right under my damn nose! 'Centipede, previously known as Eyepatch. Responsible for zero human murders, seems to hunt other ghouls. First encountered in 20th Ward eight months ago, seen in 8th Ward one month later. Current location unkown.' Like, that wasn't obvious enough for me?!"

"Hide, I-"

"Maybe... Maybe I just didn't want to believe that my bookworm best friend who would never hurt a fly had an SS rating as an incomplete kakuja..." Hide said, looking away for a moment. He turned back to Kaneki, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. "What- What happened, dude?! What could have possibly made you like this, because I know for certain that turning into a ghoul didn't do all this to you. Something else is to blame, and I want to know what!"

Kaneki looked down, his bangs covering his eyes. Hide couldn't help but feel like he had just kicked a puppy. He finally turns up, and this is the way I talk to him?! He sighed.

"I'm sorry, Kaneki. I'm not angry at you or anything. I'm angry at whatever did this to you. I'm just really concerned about you, because you're still my best friend—and nothing is going to change that. Not turning into a ghoul, not what you now have to eat, and not your new style that looks almost like you've got Marie Antoinette Syndrome or something," Hide said, trying to lighten the mood with a joke.

There were several moments of silence before Kaneki replied.

"That's. . .that's because it is," he whispered, voice barely audible.

"W-What?" Hide choked out, hoping to whatever deity might be listening that he had just heard his best friend wrong—completely, horribly wrong.

"Let's find somewhere more comfortable to talk about this..." Kaneki said quietly, refusing to make eye contact. He stood up and offered Hide his hand, who took it. Pulling Hide to his feet, Kaneki noticed him wince. He gave him a look.

"What?" Hide said, clearly knowing exactly 'what'.

"Your shoulder," Kaneki said, clearly mentally chastising himself.

"It's-"

"No, it's not fine. We're taking care of your arm before I tell you anything."

Hide rolled his eyes.

"Okay, mom."

That got half a smile out of Kaneki, and Hide couldn't help but smile, too.

After Kaneki had bandaged Hide's shoulder to keep him from moving it too much ("In case it's more than just bruising."), he made coffee. Partly to delay the inevitable, and partly to calm his nerves.

He did not want to have this conversation.

Hide didn't have to know. Hide shouldn't have to know. All this would do would make him worry, and Kaneki didn't want to be a burden on anyone else—especially his best friend.

He had brought the coffee out to the living room—black for him, of course, while Hide's was mostly cream and sugar. He sat down on the opposite end of the couch from his best friend, putting his feet on the floor and resting his elbows on his knees, while Hide sat cross-legged on the couch, facing Kaneki.

And so there they sat, slowly sipping coffee that would soon be forgotten while Hide's curiosity burned—but be he also dreaded what he would hear. Neither really knew how to bring it up, but both knew that it would have to happen eventually. Better to bring it up now rather than later—rip the band-aid off and be done with it.

But Kaneki knew that he would never be done with it. Those events were something that would haunt him for the rest of his life, causing him nothing but pain and sorrow.

After what seemed like an eternity of tense silence, Hide's curiosity got the best of him. Seemingly out of nowhere (though the question had been dominating his train of thought since half an hour ago):

"So. . .what happened, dude?"

Kaneki was doing his best to stay calm, but he set his coffee down with shaking hands.

"What do you know already?" he asked. His voice was monotone, seemingly without emotion, but his stiff shoulders, hunched position, and shaking hands betrayed his apprehension.

"Uh, not much. Just that I went to Anteiku one day to see you, but the sign said they were closed. The blinds were drawn even though the windows were smashed—it almost looked like a break-in. And then I- I didn't hear from you for 8 months..."

"Okay," Kaneki said, mostly to himself. "Okay..." He ran a hand down his face, and Hide realized he must be trying to figure out what to say. He waited patiently—he could tell this was incredibly hard on his friend. Finally, Kaneki took a deep breath and found his voice.

"Have you... Have you heard of a ghoul nicknamed 'Jason'?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah. I saw some files on him at the CCG—there was some nasty stuff in there," Hide said with a shudder.

"Such as...?"

"Incredibly cruel, liked to draw out his victims' deaths, and apparently he had a thing for torture," Hide replied, counting off on his fingers. He looked down. "I'm sure glad I'm just a messenger boy instead of one of the guys on the field—especially during that raid a month ago. I hear they found Jason practically torn to shreds, and it looked like he had been eaten alive."

Looking back up, Hide was on a roll, now.

"The forensics guys said that it looked like his last victim had turned on him, and was most likely the one responsible for Jason's death. And it's no wonder, because apparently there were buckets of fingers and toes beside a chair with broken chains hanging from it, along with Rc suppressants and a puddle of blood underneath. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened, there. Man, who knows how long that poor guy was there?! I'm guessing it was only a few days, though—no one would be able to last longer than that! I mean, I sure wouldn't. What about you, Kaneki? How long do you think you'd last?"

Kaneki knew Hide was trying to distract him from his current state of mind with that innocent question, trying to keep him engaged in the conversation so maybe Kaneki would open up a little bit more. But all he could see now was that black and white checkered floor, a mother and child stabbed and strangled to death, his fingers and toes coming off and growing back and coming off the numbers the counting can't mess up can't mess up bad things happen when you mess up Kaneki just stay focused on the numbers don't think about the pain don't think about the centipede don't think don't think don't think don-

He vaguely registered someone calling his name. It almost sounded like... Hide. Kaneki slowly came back to the present, his vision gradually clearing as he focused on Hide's voice.

"...eki! Yo, Kaneki! You in there? You're spacing out on me. You okay, man?" Hide said, waving his hand in front of Kaneki's face.

Kaneki remembered where he was. I'm in my apartment, with Hide, and everything's okay. I'm not in that place, I'm here, right now. Focus on right now, Kaneki. Don't focus on those- those- He closed his eyes, and before he could stop himself, he said the last part out loud.

"Ten days," he whispered hoarsely, his eyes squeezed shut.

"Wait, what?" Hide asked. "Oh! How long you think you'd last, right?"

"Lasted," he croaked. He opened his eyes and stared straight ahead, but he didn't see anything. His mind was threatening to take him back. He desperately tried to focus on his surroundings.

"Kaneki, what are you-"

"Past tense," he interrupted, slowly turning to look at Hide, tears threatening to spill over. "I lasted ten days."

It took a moment, but the pieces clicked into place in Hide's head. A look of shock, horror, and sorrow took over his face.

"Oh- Oh god... Oh, god Kaneki. I-I-"

Hide never finished his sentence. Tears welled up in his eyes as all he could think of was the unimaginable pain that he—his friend since grade school—had gone through, and what it had done to him.

No wonder he's changed so much... he thought.

And then Hide couldn't help it: he cried.

Always positive, ray of sunshine, will-do-anything-to-brighten-someone's-day Hide sobbed in a culmination of the sorrow he felt for Kaneki and the loneliness he had been feeling for those eight long months. He wanted nothing more than to reassure Kaneki, to tell him that everything was okay.

But he couldn't.

He knew that it would be a lie—nothing was okay, and they both knew it. They both knew that Kaneki would never truly be okay again, they knew that he would never be as he was before.

He hugged Kaneki tightly, unsure of who he was trying to comfort. He felt him gently, tentatively return the hug. The two sat there for an unknown amount of time, Hide's harsh sobs gradually subsiding while silent tears ran down Kaneki's face. He had caused his best friend all this pain, and he loathed himself for it.

He vaguely heard Hide speak.

"I'm so sorry, Kaneki. I'm sorry for what happened, and I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you."

"Me- Me, too..." he heard himself say, slowly coming back to reality. He would not put his best friend through anything like this again. He turned to him, doing his best to stay grounded.

"I'm sorry I left, Hide. I'm sorry for what I put you through, and I'm sorry that I couldn't be there for you. But I promise you: I will never leave again. I will never hurt you like this again, and I will always be here for you."

Hide sniffled and laughed weakly.

"Same, man. And it looks like you've gotten better at all this mushy stuff," he said, and Kaneki chuckled a bit, too.

Maybe, with enough time, Kaneki thought, I could try to begin to fix some of this—even if just a little bit, and even if not for myself. . .then for Hide.

I'm sorry if this ending is a bit abrupt and/or unfitting—I tried to make it work, but I'm not sure if I succeeded. ^^;

Thanks for reading!