Hide took a deep breath as they entered the small café together; the smell off coffee and baked goods heavy in the air. He glanced over at Kaneki and smiled as he caught the other looking at him, relishing in the small blush that appeared on the other's cheeks.

"What are you gonna have?" Kaneki asked as he stopped beside Hide in front of the full display window, eyes trailing over the assorted baked goods.

"Hm, I think a lemon cake and some black tea, you?" Hide asked happily, before his eyes widened and he scratched at his neck sheepishly. "Oh, haha, sorry!"

"No worries," Kaneki reassured him with a pat on the shoulder. When Hide looked up at the barista behind the counter he noticed that she was looking at Kaneki intently with slightly furrowed brows.

Hide cleared his throat to gain her attention, "A black tea and a lemon cake, thanks."

"Sure thing," She chirped with a trained smile, but Hide saw her glance up at Kaneki several times as she prepared his order. When she was finished she turned her smile fully into Kaneki, who seemed to not have noticed anything strange. Maybe Hide was simply a bit paranoid.

"And what do you want?" She asked in a sweet voice, all smiles and politeness.

"A black coffee thanks," Kaneki said with a small smile.

"Don't you want cream in that?" The barista asked somewhat forcefully, her eyes suddenly turning a bit hard as she looked straight at Kaneki, her smile still in place.

"Eh? Oh, no thank you," Kaneki said with forced politeness. The barista kept looking at him.

"You sure? It will taste better." The words were spoken with something too close to anger for Hide's taste. What was their problem? Hide looked at Kaneki and saw that the other had gone awfully pale under the rude barista's stare.

"A-ah, well then, maybe I wi-" Kaneki mumbled out, wringing his hands. Hide decided to intervene. He had seen enough of people treating his friend badly during the last couple of days to last him a lifetime.

"Kaneki! You know you are lactose intolerant! Do go agreeing to stranger's demands just like that!" Hide patted him on the shoulder and sent the barista a scathing look, clearly conveying that their tips weren't appreciated. "I think my friend ordered a black coffee?"

"Yes, of course," the barista said with a cheerful voice, as if nothing had happened. "It will be right up!"

"Thanks," Kaneki mumbled as he took a step closer to where Hide stood. Hide tried not to read too much into the action, sure that the other simply wanted some reassurance.

They got their drinks and Hide's cake and found a table as far away from the counter as they possibly could. After a couple of seconds of silence where they both sipped on their hot drinks, Hide could no longer keep quiet.

"Are you okay? After yesterday and all?" Hide asked with concern. Kaneki had seemed relatively fine since they met up, but Hide had by no means forgotten what had happened the day before.

"Yeah… I'm fine. Thanks to you," Kaneki said with a smile and Hide blamed the sudden heat in his face on the warm tea.

"No problem!" Hide cheerfully reassured the other, trying not to focus too much on how his heartbeat increased every time the other's smile was directed at him.

"Did you really record the whole thing thou…?" Kaneki asked in a low voice. Hide could almost hear the unspoken 'And let it go on for so long?'

"Haha, no. I had just turned the corner. I improvised. Lucky those guys weren't very smart," Hide laughed, but paused when Kaneki didn't join in. Maybe Kaneki needed some reassurance. "I wouldn't hesitate to help you, you know? Don't doubt that."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Kaneki said with a sigh, looking even more troubled.

Hide felt himself frown as he tried to understand where he went wrong with his attempt at reassuring the other, "What? What do you mean?"

"Hide. You're a human," Kaneki said the words as if they pained him and Hide felt the frown grow on his face. Did Kaneki not want to hang out with him because he was human? He hadn't really considered it, but maybe Kaneki didn't really like humans.

"Yeah. I'm aware, thanks," Hide said with a small snort, pushing down on his sudden doubts.

"And!" Kaneki sent him a glare, "You could get seriously hurt."

"You could too! You did get seriously hurt!" Hide exclaimed. Was that what Kaneki was worried about?

"But I can heal. I'm okay. You… you wouldn't be," Kaneki trailed off, looking down at the cup clutched between his hands.

"I can take care-" Hide cut himself off, stopped by the pained look in Kaneki's eyes. "I understand. I will try to be careful. Buy you can't expect me to not help if I can. I can't promise that."

Kaneki looked conflicted before heaving a sigh and nodding with a resigned smile. "Okay, thanks."

They chatted on for a couple of minutes, staying away from any heaver subjects. Hide paused as Kaneki raised his cup of coffee and seemed to breathe in the smell, a small smile on his lips.

"What do I smell like? To you?" Hide asked suddenly, cursing himself as the words left his mouth, he had not intended to ask that out loud.

"Is that an official interview question?" Kaneki laughed, but Hide was sure he wasn't imagining the small dusting of red on the other's cheeks.

"Maybeeee," Hide drawled and Kaneki shot him an unimpressed look. "Okay, no, but I wanna know!"

"Well…" Kaneki took a deep breath, hesitating, the blush in his cheeks deepening, "You smell like sunshine, and oranges. And right now, you smell a bit like… salami?"

"That would be my breakfast!" Hide laughed. Kaneki joined in and Hide's eyes widened as Kaneki threw his head back, his laughter ringing out in the small café. He knew then that he was absolutely lost; he wanted nothing more than making Kaneki laugh like that every day. As they calmed down a bit Hide felt some regret when he remembered the reason they were in the café in the first place.

"Should we start with the real questions then?" Hide said between giggles, "Before I embarrass myself further?"

"Sure," Kaneki said, still wearing a relaxed smile. Hide rummaged through his bag and got his notebook and pen, placing them on the table in front of him.

"Okay, so. Back to business I guess." Hide cleared his throat as he looked down on his notes and read the next question. "Do you remember the time before ghouls were made "legal"?"

"Eh, yes," Kaneki answered hesitantly, picking up his coffee cup and taking a small sip. The smile slipping from his face.

"Could you tell me something about it?" Hide asked. "If it's not too hard or anything!"

"Well…" Kaneki seemed to hesitate. "I was living here, in the 20th ward… and I was studying? I don't really know what to say? My life wasn't that interesting," Kaneki laughed, scratching his chin.

Hide felt himself frown, it was something he had started picking up on the last couple of days hanging with Kaneki; the other tended to scratch at his chin when he felt nervous, or when he wasn't being completely honest. But he didn't want to pry if Kaneki didn't want to share. Hide couldn't bring himself to ignore the fact that it made him feel a bit sad that the other wasn't comfortable with being completely honest with him, though.

"Ah, okay. That's fine! I'm just supposed to get a general picture of how your life differs after the new legalization in comparison to before," Hide waved it off with a smile.

"Oh, well," Kaneki trailed of, seemingly thinking hard. "It's a lot calmer now. In the ghoul world, that is. There's not as much fighting over territories and what not," Kaneki said in a low voice, eyes fixed on Hide, to gauge his reaction? Hide kept his face relaxed and nodded along; gladly accepting any information Kaneki would give him about himself.

"I guess I can somewhat understand that! I've heard that a lot of the big gangs disbanded."

"That doesn't mean that there's no more dangerous ghouls thou," Kaneki said in a serious tone, eyes still fixed on Hide. Hide suppressed a shudder. "They didn't all just disappear."

"Of course not," Hide agreed, wondering what Kaneki was really getting at. "But it got to be better, right?"

"I think that there needs to be more change," Kaneki stated firmly, eyes uncharacteristically hard.

"What do you mean?" Hide asked tentatively, realizing that this was a subject of great importance to the other.

"It's great and all that ghouls aren't hunted like animals anymore. At least not officially… and it's good that the CCG has started research into how to help ghouls, and producing artificial meat, but… But not a lot has changed, if you really look at it. Ghouls still live in hiding, a lot of ghouls still attack people, and a lot of ghouls still attack each other. The only real difference is that now humans are attacking more ghouls as well. I fear that this new legalization mainly works as a way to identify ghouls, to make them easier to keep track of and to take care of if people deem it necessary. I know a lot of ghouls that would never register, since it comes with almost no benefits, but a lot of risks. They would rather live as before, hidden and-" Hide gaped at the other; this was the most he had ever heard Kaneki speak. The other seemed to realize what he had just said and blushed while covering his face in his hands, mumbling, "God, I'm starting to sound just like Touka, aren't I?"

Hide smiled reassuringly, "I understand what you mean. I know several humans that would love the opportunity to take revenge on ghouls, any ghoul," Hide admitted with a frown. "And I realize that ghouls live in basically the same amount as uncertainty as before, but don't you agree that it's at least a step in the right direction?"

"Of course I do! It's amazing that something like this even happened, after all those years… but that doesn't mean that it's over, that we should be satisfied with what we got. A lot of people are talking about this as if it's done now; were at peace and this is as good as it gets."

"I agree that there's still a lot of things that could be better," Hide said while his thoughts went back to the night before and the raw hatred in the two men's eyes. Kaneki's eyes seemed to soften at his agreement, and Hide realized that he had passed some hidden test.

"You know, I used to be-" Kaneki started but cut himself off, a small frown forming on his face. He took a deep breath and started again. "I was once also a-" Kaneki stopped again, seemingly unable to continue his sentence.

"What?" Hide asked carefully, hoping that a small prompt might help the other get whatever it was out.

Kaneki shook his head in frustration, opened and closed his mouth several times and then heaved a deep sigh. Hide reached out for Kaneki's right hand, which was resting on the table in front of him and placed his own hand carefully over the other's, squeezing slightly.

"It's okay, you don't have to say something if it's too hard."

Kaneki looked up from their hands and sent him a questioning look, before he smiled slightly and gave him a small nod. Hide smiled back with what he hoped was a reassuring expression on his face.

"I think that's enough talk about that!" Hide stated firmly and Kaneki's mouth quirked up into a small smile. Hide reluctantly withdrew his hand. "It's your turn to ask a question!"

Kaneki seemed to think it over for a couple of seconds before looking over at Hide with slightly furrowed brows, asking, "How long is this assignment?"

"Well, there's one more question… Why?" Hide answered hesitantly. Was Kaneki so uncomfortable with him that he wanted to leave right now?

Kaneki suddenly looked insecure, fiddling with his hands.

"I mean… Do you… Do you still want to hang out? When the interview is done?" Hide felt his eyes widen. Oh.

"What?" Hide exclaimed before he could stop himself, immediately regretting it when Kaneki's eyebrow knitted together, mouth pressing into a thin line. He scrambled to continue before Kaneki would get the wrong idea, "Of course I want to hang out! Were friends, aren't we?"

"Oh… Y-yeah," Kaneki said with a relieved smile, his shoulders relaxing, before continuing with wonder in his voice, "We are, aren't we."

"I mean, if you want to that is?" Hide asked, suddenly feeling a bit insecure. Maybe he had misread Kaneki the whole time?

"Of course! I-" Kaneki hesitated as his cheeks turned a light shade of pink, "I would love to."

Hide smiled and glanced down at his notebook, eyes landing on the last question on the page. He looked up to meet Kaneki's eyes again and the other gave a small nod in encouragement. Hide cleared his throat.

"Do you feel equal with humans?" Hide asked in a somewhat strained voice, he couldn't completely mask the sympathy in it; the question had a fairly obvious answer.

"I don't… know. No, I guess not," Kaneki answered as he looked away again, looking a bit uncomfortable with the subject.

"Why?" Hide prodded carefully, keeping his voice light.

Kaneki sent him a dry look and Hide shrugged with an expression that he hoped conveyed 'indulge me'.

"We're not really able to live like humans, are we? It's fine as long as people think we are humans, but as soon as they see the truth we are regarded as nothing but monsters. That's not equality."

"Yeah, I agree…" Hide muttered, not really sure of what to say.

Kaneki kept looking at him for a couple of seconds before releasing a deep breath, relaxing slightly, "What do you want to do when you graduate?"

"Eh?" Hide stopped short. He remembered what Kaneki had said the last time they talked about this, about how he hadn't really thought about it since his future had felt so uncertain. Was this Kaneki trying to rub that in? Their different circumstances?

"You know, out in the real world. A job?" Kaneki winked and Hide snorted as he recognized his own question from earlier.

"Haha, very funny!" Hide laughed, breathing a sigh of relief. "I want to work as a journalist, or as a police officer, maybe even in the CCG."

Now it was Kaneki's turn to look uncertain. "What?"

"Well, I want to be able to change things. Between humans and ghouls. And spread some true information, make the two sides understand each other better and all that."

"That's a nice dream," Kaneki said with a smile, his eyes soft, and Hide had to turn his face away. "I used to know someone who said the same thing."

"What happened to them?" Hide asked, feeling interested in the prospect of someone with the same ideas as him.

"They died," Kaneki stated somewhat coldly, his eyes downcast.

"Oh," Hide hesitated. He had not intended to dredge up more painful memories, "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. That was a long time ago," Kaneki reassured him with a small apologetic smile, shoulders relaxing, "But you really should follow that dream, it sounds nice. I believe in you."

Kaneki smiled at him, and Hide felt at a loss for words; Kaneki believed in him? Supported his dreams?

"Thanks?" Hide managed to croak out from a suddenly tight throat.

"You're welcome," Kaneki said in a kind voice, eyes honest and looking directly at Hide.

Hide felt a hot blush spread up from his neck and over his face and felt relieved as Kaneki took a long sip of his coffee, eyes down on the table between them. Hide was grateful for the opportunity to gather his thoughts; he doubted his ability to produce a coherent sentence with his heart hammering in his chest hard enough to almost drown out the sound of Kaneki's voice.

"I have one more question and then I'm done," Hide managed to say with determination, trying to force his voice to be stable.

"Okay, what?" Kaneki asked as he turned his head to look at Hide, smile still in place.

"Will you go on a date with me?" Hide asked quickly, not giving himself any time to second guess what he was doing. As soon as the words had left his mouth he celebrated his courage at asking and cursed himself for possibly ruining his friendship with Kaneki.

"Eh? What?" Kaneki asked with wide eyes and an open mouth. Hide sent the other a pleading look, praying that his face didn't look as red as it felt.

"Please just answer the question Kaneki!" Hide whined, theatrically flopping down on the table between them. Please say yes.

"…Yes," Kaneki mumbled out, tilting his head forward so that his bangs almost hid his eyes.

"What did you say?" Hide shot up again, sitting straight with wide eyes. The corners of his lips were slowly inching upwards to form a smile.

"You heard me the first time!" Kaneki complained, but Hide simply kept looking at him expectantly. Kaneki sighed. "Yes. I will go on a date with you." The words were casual, but the blush that spread up his neck all the way to his ears told another story. Hide grinned and ignored how warm his own cheeks felt.

"Neat!"