I apologize if anyone seems out of character. I wasn't quite sure how to write some parts, but I did my best. I also apologize if there are any typos or plot holes within the story itself.

You woke up slowly, cracking your eyes open bit by bit. Bringing your hand up to wipe the sleep from your eyes, you noticed that your wrists and forearms were bandaged.

That's weird… I don't remember doing that.

You didn't think much of it as you got out of bed and made your way to the bathroom, still groggy and moving like a sloth.

The tissues are gone, too, you noted absently.

You did as much of your morning routine that you had the energy to do. Mainly, you just brushed your teeth, put some deodorant on, ran a brush through your hair, and splashed some cold water on your face to try to wake yourself up.

You sighed and exited the bathroom. Not noticing the broken lock and top hinge on the door, you made your way to the kitchen. The events from last night had slipped your mind.

You were rubbing your eyes on the way in, vaguely registering that you smelled coffee; you didn't notice Kaneki sitting at your kitchen table, a steaming mug of the stuff in his hand.

"Good morning, _."

You screamed. He was the last person you were expecting to see in your kitchen at 10:00 AM on a Sunday morning.

He didn't look up from his coffee or even flinch; it was almost as if he had been expecting a reaction like that.

"JESUS CHRIST, KANEKI! You scared me! What the hell are you even doing here?! I got Hide's voicemail saying that you were back, but I never thought you'd just show up. I mean, it's good to see you, but what the hell?!"

You refrained from asking him where he had been and what happened to him, knowing that you, yourself hated being asked those questions on the rare occasion that you showed up to class. You also didn't comment on his appearance. You had a feeling that that was a stone better left unturned.

He set his coffee down and turned to face you.

"It's good to see you too, and I'm sorry for just 'showing up', but it's probably a good thing I did."

You looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Wh-"

"Are you hungry? I can cook, if you like. There's coffee, too."

"Last name, Sherlock. First name, No Shit. I can see that there's coffee, Kaneki," you said sarcastically. You decided not to mention that you don't eat breakfast—or lunch.

He let out a small laugh. He had missed your sassiness and quick comebacks. You and Hide would always go on back and forth like that, each one-upping the other until someone ran out of ideas.

"What's so funny?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing. I've just missed you and your antics, is all," he said, smiling softly.

You smiled back.

"I've missed you too, Kaneki."

You walked over to the coffeemaker, finding that Kaneki had set out a mug for you. You poured yourself a cup and sat down beside him. He had taken a seat on the end, while you took a seat on the side, right beside the end.

The two of you sat in comfortable silence, each taking an occasional sip of coffee and just enjoying the other's company. Eventually, Kaneki broke the silence—he wanted to see if you would be honest with him since you didn't appear to remember last night.

"May I ask you a question, _?"

"Um, sure? Knock yourself out, I guess."

"How have you been feeling?" he asked, watching you critically. He didn't fail to notice how you almost imperceptibly froze, your eyes temporarily widening slightly.

"Oh, you know. The usual."

"Define, 'the usual.'"

"Um, just. The usual. Like, before you left when you, Hide, and I would always hang out."

"Would 'happy' be the word that you're looking for?"

"Yeah, I guess…" you mumbled, bringing the mug up to your lips for another sip of coffee and looking off to the side.

"Really? Because last night begs to differ, _," Kaneki said, holding up your cutting blade, the corners covered in dried blood. Your eyes went wide and you couldn't help it, you spat out your coffee in surprise, but not before you almost choked on it as the memories from last night came flooding back.

"WHAT?!" you shrieked. "HOW DID YOU GET THAT? GIVE IT BACK!"

He set down his coffee and stood up, dodging your attempt to snatch it from his hand. He held it high above his head with one arm. There was no way you could reach it. Kaneki had always been taller and you had always been a bit on the short side, but you jumped anyway, trying to reach the only thing that brought you relief, the only thing that was keeping you alive.

After a few unsuccessful jumps, you gave up and sat down heavily on the kitchen chair you had been sitting in. Burying your face in your hands, you couldn't help it: you started to cry.

"K-Kaneki, please… I n- I need that!"

"Do you remember the favor I asked of you?"

You brought your hands down into your lap, your shoulders shaking.

"Y-Yes, but-"

"Do you intend to actually try, or were you just saying that so you could get this back?"

You looked away.

"I'll take that as an, 'I was just saying that.'"

You suddenly had another idea—one that might actually work.

"I'm going to go take a shower," you said, very calm.

Kaneki appeared confused by your sudden change in behavior for a moment, but narrowed his uncovered eye at you with a calculating look. You met his gaze defiantly.

"Alright," he said carefully.

He probably knows that I'm up to something, but it's worth a shot.

You stood up and calmly made your way to the bathroom.

Too calmly, Kaneki thought.

He listened intently, only hearing the shower starting and the water running at first. He didn't let his guard down, though. He knew you were going to try something.

He decided to give you a chance, despite his better judgement.

Meanwhile, with the shower running, you took off your hoodie. You stood there in front of the mirror in your tanktop, looking at yourself in disgust.

I won't have to be disgusted much longer, you thought.

You grabbed one of your razors and took out the blade. It was tiny, but it would do. You took several deep breaths to calm your shaking hands and tore the bandages off of your arms.

You positioned the blade vertically against your skin and cut quickly down your arm; just because you wanted to die didn't mean that you were willing to endure the slicing feeling for long. Blood began to flow steadily out of your arm. You repeated the action on your other arm with the same result.

After a few minutes of flowing blood, just when you had gathered the courage to start on your thigh, you began to lose consciousness. Shit, you thought as the floor came rushing up to meet your face.

CRASH!

Kaneki shot up from his chair in the kitchen and ran towards the bathroom. He called your name and knocked loudly—no answer.

"_?!" he yelled, knocking loudly again.

Still no answer.

He wrenched open the door—luckily for him, you had forgotten to lock it.

He quickly took in the sight in front of him: you were lying face-down on the bathroom floor in a steadily growing pool of blood.

"Shit! God dammit, _!" he cursed under his breath as he grabbed a towel from the rack. He flipped you over so you were face up and put your head in his lap as he tore the towel in half. Wrapping the pieces of towel as tightly as he safely could around each of your forearms, he pulled out his cellphone and called Hide. He picked up on the first ring.

"Kaneki, hey! How'd it go with _?"

"Hide! I need you to call an ambulance. It turns out _ wasn't doing better, after all."

Hearing Kaneki's tone, Hide knew it was serious.

"Got it. I'll call and be over in a few."

Hide didn't waste time waiting for an answer. He hung up and called the hospital, giving them your address and informing them that you'd tried to kill yourself.

Again.

Slowly opening your eyes, you woke up to the sound of a heart rate monitor beeping steadily—a sound you knew well from your last (medical) hospital visit.

"Wh-Wha…?" you started to say, groggily looking at the ceiling. A blurry Kaneki immediately appeared in your line of vision.

"_?! Are you awake?" he asked worriedly.

It took you a second to comprehend what he said, blinking hard to try to clear the sleep from your eyes and wake up some more.

"Wh… Y-Yeah… I think," you said tiredly. Kaneki turned to someone behind him.

"Hide! Hide, _'s awake!"

"…Hm? Wait, what?! Really?!" It sounded like Hide had been asleep, too—though he was wide awake, now. He came into sight behind Kaneki.

Why is… Hide… here? you thought, your vision gradually clearing. Why… am I here…? You wracked your brain, trying to figure out what had happened.

I remember… telling Kaneki that I was… going to take a shower. Then I-

The memories hit you like a ton of bricks.

Oh.

You were completely awake, now—and terrified of the consequences of your actions. What was going to happen, now? Surely you'd be locked up in the looney bin for good, this time.

Kaneki heard the heart rate monitor speed up significantly and saw your terrified expression. He took a guess as to what was going through your head.

"Hey, hey! _, it's okay," he said as tears started to flow down your face. You squeezed your eyes shut, beginning to cry hard.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry! I… I shouldn't h-have- I o-o-overreacted! I-"

Hide spoke this time.

"_! Don't worry! It's in the past now, what matters is that you're okay. We were worried, but we know you're alright, now! So please don't worry about it, okay?"

You nodded, but squeezed your eyes shut and kept crying. As silent tears leaked from your eyes, you felt gentle fingers wipe them away. Opening your eyes, you saw Kaneki looking at you with worry.

"It really is okay, _. It's going to be okay—I promise."

You looked away.

"W-What happens, now…?" you asked tentatively. Kaneki sighed, and you braced yourself for the worst.

"They're going to hospitalize you again, _."

You squeezed your eyes shut, bringing forth more tears as your heart crumbled. Hide saw this, and knew he had to reassure you somehow.

"But do you know what the bright side is, _?" he asked.

You couldn't bring yourself to ask what it was, because there couldn't possibly be one. . .right?

Hide seemed to sense that you weren't going to say anything, so he continued, anyway.

"You're super strong and super smart and you're gonna get out of there real quick because of that! You can do this, _!" Hide paused. "You just have to promise us one thing."

"What do I have to promise…?" you asked weakly, finally making eye contact.

"You have to try, this time. No faking your way out!"

You hesitated.

"For us?" Hide asked. He looked at Kaneki, who took the hint.

"For us?" he asked.

Smiling weakly, you agreed.

"Pinky promise?" asked Hide, holding out his little finger.

You rolled your eyes, but it was in good humor.

"Pinky promise," you said, hooking your pinky in his. "But you have to promise me something in return."

"And what would that be?" Hide asked curiously.

"We all have to stick together. We'll all be there for each other, to support each other, and to help each other—friends forever," you said.

He scoffed, removing his pinky from yours, and your heart sank.

"We don't have to promise that-" he said. But before you had a chance to react, he continued. "-because we already promised that! Back in grade school, remember? We're already friends forever! We'll always stick together, and we'll always be there to help and support each other." He put his hand on his chin, feigning thought. "But I guess it never hurts to renew a promise," he added, smiling brightly and extending his pinky again. "Friends forever!"

You smiled back. A genuine, happy smile. These two always knew exactly what to say to make you feel better. The two of you shook pinky fingers again.

"Hey, don't leave me out of this!" Kaneki said, placing his pinky finger in-between yours and Hide's.

You all looked at each other, a silent promise to make sure that you would all stick together present in the glance.

"Friends forever!" you all said in unison.

Three months later, you stepped out of the hospital, belongings in hand. Feeling the fresh air was an immense relief after so much time indoors—you couldn't help but smile.

You started to walk towards the parking lot, pulling out your cellphone to call Hide for a ride. Suddenly hearing footsteps quickly approaching you from behind, you turned around just in time for the blonde himself to come skidding to a stop a few feet in front of you.

"_, you ruined the surprise!" he whined.

"No, your as-loud-as-a-gunshot footsteps ruined the surprise," you said teasingly. "It hasn't been a surprise since the first time you jumped onto my back from behind in grade school."

Hide feigned shock, pretending to not know what you were talking about.

"Wha- Really?! No way! I'm the quietest, most soft-stepped person there ever was!"

"Mm, I think Kaneki has you beat on that one."

Hide took on a comically hurt expression.

"_! Why you ever say that?!"

Kaneki was mindlessly drying a glass behind the counter of Anteiku. It had been a slow day—not many customers came in at all. He glanced over at the table by the door that Hide was sitting at.

"Hide? What are you doing here—don't you have classes today?" Kaneki had asked him as he walked in the door of the café, the bell jingling.

"Eh, I was feeling a little under the weather, if ya know what I mean," Hide replied with a wink, sitting down at a table. Kaneki rolled his eyes.

"But why today?"

"If I told you, that would ruin the surprise, now wouldn't it?"

"I should have guessed that it would be a 'surprise,'" Kaneki mumbled to himself, sighing deeply.

And then Hide had ordered a cappuccino, taken a spot with a good view of the door, and proceeded to stare intently at it for the next hour and a half.

"Hide, just who are you waiting for?!"

"Can't tell y-"

The bell on the door jingled again, cutting Hide off. Kaneki prepared to greet another nameless face, but was stunned into silence when you walked through the door. It took him a second or two to process what was happening and what it meant, but Hide leapt out of his seat (quite literally) to hug you.

"_! You made it!" he said, grinning.

"Hide, calm down!" you said, lightly patting his back with your hand that wasn't being crushed next to your side. "You just saw me yesterday!"

"But I never gave you your 'congratulations' hug!" he whined, letting go.

He didn't mind that you hadn't hugged him back—he knew you were never really one that enjoyed physical contact. Taking a breath, you opened your mouth to make some sort of smart remark to Hide, but in the blink of an eye (again, quite literally), Kaneki wasn't behind the counter, but was instead enveloping you in a crushing hug (really quite literally).

"Kaneki," you wheezed. "Air is a thing I need!"

The half-ghoul quickly released you.

"Sorry! I forgot my own strength," he said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

"Don't worry about it," you said, reassuring him.

"When did you get out?" he asked suddenly. "You said that you'd seen Hide just yesterday—when did you get out?"

"A few days ago," you replied.

"And neither of you told me?!"

"Well, that was the surprise!" Hide chimed in.

Before Kaneki had a chance to say anything else, you held up the brown paper bag you had brought with you.

"I have something for you guys!" you said, grinning widely,

"Oh?" Kaneki said, looking at you curiously.

"Seriously?!" asked Hide, looking at you excitedly. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Two types of people, you thought to yourself.

Reaching into the bag, you pulled out three necklaces. Each one had a small, polished sphere of lapis lazuli, one hanging from a simple silver chain, one from a simple gold chain, and one from a chain anodized with ruby-colored paint. Handing the gold one to Hide and the silver one to Kaneki, you explained.

"Friendship necklaces," you said. "I wanted something besides those cheesy, two dollar, half-and-half heart necklaces, so I did some research. The gemstone is lapis lazuli. It symbolizes friendship and emotional strength, and I thought that that was very fitting for each of us—in our own ways and as a whole."

"Wow," Hide said, seemingly mesmerized by the blue gemstone. He put his on his necklace, as did you. Kaneki had remained strangely silent. He held the necklace in his hand, not taking his eyes off of it. But before you could tell him that he didn't have to wear it if he didn't want to, you were drawn into another hug, though gentler this time.

"Thank you, _," he said. "Friendship and emotional strength. . .that is fitting for us, isn't it?"

Kaneki let you out of the hug. You all smiled at each other, and you knew that you would never be left out again.

Hoo boy, this sure turned out longer than expected. I don't think that's a bad thing, though.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this story!