[One-shot Special] A Tokyo Ghoul Story

It figures that even though Jamie is the only one in the house who eats food for humans, he would forget to buy the milk. Kaneki rolls his eyes when he examines the content of their refrigerator and wonders if Jamie is planning to eat his cereal with water.

“Jamie!” he yells without turning away from the refrigerator. “There is no milk left!”
While waiting he casts a careful eye over the rows of coffee cans Jamie had arranged in the fridge for him. There is almost an entire row of cold coffee of varying brands – Kaneki shakes his head and goes for the “SUPER BLACK” before bumping the door close with his hip. “Jamie!” he calls out again.

There is no response. Kaneki sighs and pops open the coffee to take a gulp. He really should boil the water and brew some hot coffee, but the day has been warm since the moment he woke up, tangled in the blankets with Jamie’s arm flung across his stomach and the other man snoring away, so cold coffee it is. It is not as good as Yoshimura’s brew – but then again, hardly anything is, so Kaneki takes sips of it while gathering yesterday’s papers. On top of the pile is the page with the crossword Jamie had completed with triumph (with Kaneki’s help) and he ponders that for a while, before deciding there is too much junk in the apartment and Jamie could very well buy a puzzle book and occupy himself with that. He takes another gulp of coffee and tosses the papers into the recycle pile.

“Must have fallen back asleep,” he mutters. Jamie is not exactly one with the best track record for waking up on time, despite being a typical bundle of energy. Kaneki looks around the kitchen with a frown – there are the oranges on the counter, and the bread is a bit stale according to Jamie, but he would survive on that, and he supposes Jamie could always just drink coffee…

He grabs the apron (with its oh-so-tacky ‘KISS THE COOK!’) off the hook and ties it around his waist.

Just because he has not eaten human food for years does not mean he has forgotten the basics of cooking. He scrambles two eggs over low heat, humming while doing so, some tune Hinami had taught him last week. In his head he runs through the list of things that must be done – buy milk, pay the utilities bill, call up the telco to fix the wireless network in their home that has been going crazy for the past two days – which means Jamie has to get up, the lazy bum, and finish his breakfast so they can get to work.

Speaking of the devil, just as he slides the eggs onto a plate and pops the bread into the toaster, Jamie stumbles into the kitchen, releasing a huge, jaw-cracking yawn.

“Good morning, Jamie,” Kaneki says, attention on the bread.

From the corner of his eye he can see Jamie squinting at him, then the plate of eggs, then Jamie’s lips widening in a huge smile. “Good morning to you too, sunshine!” Jamie says, bounding over and squeezing Kaneki around the waist. “Eggs!” he says, as a logical sequence to his greeting.

Kaneki pats Jamie’s arm with one hand absent-mindedly while the other hand catches the bread that pops out of the toaster. “Mm, somebody forgot the milk, so obviously somebody can’t have his cereal,” he says.

Jamie nuzzles into the back of his neck, happily ignoring Kaneki, because his brain is still waking up and cannot process anything beyond the fact that Kaneki had made him eggs to eat. “You smell gooooood,” Jamie says.

“And you smell like toothpaste and sweat. Now let go of me and eat your food,” Kaneki says with a small laugh. Jamie is especially dog-like in the morning, all joyful nuzzles and invasion of personal space. He places a smacking kiss on the back of Kaneki’s neck before grabbing the plate and proceeding to do as Kaneki had said.

“Dhish ish good,” Jamie manages to say with a mouthful of eggs while Kaneki pours some water for him. Kaneki smiles at him, places the glass down on the table, and pats Jamie’s head, smoothing the blond hair. It never ceases to amaze him how messy the hair can get just after a night’s sleep, locks swept to the side, some sticking right up the back, falling everywhere into his eyes – it is a lost cause, so he gives it up and decides that Jamie can deal with it himself after he eats and showers.

“I’ll get the papers,” he offers and receives a grunt in reply.

The living room he steps through is small and exploding with the evidence of two busy people living together. He thinks he spies a book he had been looking for two weeks ago covered with a cushion, and Jamie’s shirt in the corner? That definitely needs some washing. Kaneki does not even want to touch it with a pole. Kaneki thinks for a while, fondly, of the apartment he lived in after he entered university, and is quite sure he hadn’t been that messy then. It must be Jamie’s influence, he thinks, as he opens the door and retrieves the Saturday papers and the mail, tucking the papers under an arm and flipping through the mail first.

“Bill, junk, junk, junk, bill…” he says while meandering back into the kitchen, narrowly avoiding a stack of books he must have left while rearranging their bookshelf. He blinks at one which has their names and address written neatly in ballpoint pen and looks at the back. Then he grins.

“Jamie! Nishio and Kimi wrote!”

Jamie makes some garbled noises which probably means ‘Kaneki get in here now’. Kaneki has learnt to distinguish Jamie’s garbled noises over the years. He obliges and steps around the mess to re-enter the kitchen, placing the papers at a corner and the rest of the mail with it. Carefully, keeping the letter out of Jamie’s grabby hands, he slits open the envelope and pulls the paper out. “It has been, what, two months?”

With some effort Jamie swallows his mouthful of bread and says, “Yeah!”

He still remembers them gathered at the airport, Yoriko hugging Kimi and making them promise to be careful when they are on this long trip, and Touka scowling because Nishio had ribbed her about her final year thesis and the slow progress she was making on it. Which also means it has been about two months since they last saw Touka and Yoriko, Kaneki thinks, wondering how the girls are doing with their university work.

“The letter,” Jamie says with a whine, drawing Kaneki’s attention back to the present.

“Kay, hold up, let’s see – ” Kaneki unfolds the letter, smiling again at the sight of Kimi’s handwriting. “‘Dear Kaneki and Jamie, how are you? We are both enjoying Europe a lot, though Nishiki likes to grumble about the weather – he’s such a baby, isn’t he? It rained the week we were in London and he is still grumpy about that.’”

Jamie chuckles at that point and pulls Kaneki to sit down, chin resting on Kaneki’s shoulder so he can read too. Kaneki shifts to be comfortable and continues. “‘The architecture is amazing, and Paris is gorgeous at night. We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower and Nishiki said it was just like Tokyo Tower, but it really is not, the city looks so different. The people are so different too. They are just as rude as Nishiki is, and that’s saying something.’”

“Aw man, we should have gone to Europe with them – if you weren’t so married to your job,” Jamie says, sticking his tongue out at Kaneki.

Kaneki looks away from the letter and huffs at Jamie. “Surely you aren’t suggesting I leave Amon alone? That man will work himself into hospitalization.”

“Naw, Akira will take care of him,” Jamie says, waggling his eyebrows. “In more ways than one.”

Kaneki takes one of the junk fliers from the pile of mail and thwacks Jamie on top of the head with it. “Now shush. ‘It is a pity Nishiki cannot taste the food here, they have such interesting things, like rabbit and venison. But he does rave about the coffee and gets along quite well with the café owners everywhere he goes. Well, the food in Tokyo is still better, I think I will be happy to eat nothing but rice bowls after getting back.’”

“Rabbit,” Jamie says in wonder.

“Ew,” Kaneki replies.

“Oi, no discrimination against human food!” Jamie says, digging his chin into Kaneki’s shoulder to make him squirm.

Kaneki wriggles until the pressure is less uncomfortable. “But still, rabbit. Ew. ‘Well, I am writing for another purpose too, after Nishiki and I talked about it and he agreed I should. I went to check at a clinic recently – which is so expensive, my god, you wouldn’t believe it – and it turns out that I am pregnant – ’”

“WHAT!” Jamie yelps, right in Kaneki’s ear. Kaneki is not able to retaliate because in Jamie’s position he might have done the same. It is only his determination to finish the letter that keeps him from gaping then and there.

“‘ – so we are flying back earlier than expected. Nishiki insists that I have to do a proper check-up at the clinic in the Bureau, and I agree. It is a pity to cut the trip short, but I would love to be home. I cannot wait to see all of you again – send my regards to Touka and Yoriko, won’t you? Take care, and we will see you soon. Love, Kimi and Nishiki. P.S. Nishiki says to Kaneki, and I quote, you had better get your carp on working out Kimi’s diet, or I will end you.’”

Jamie cannot take it after Kaneki has finished reading the letter. He starts making little squeals, not unlike those they hear from the children in the playground. “Oh my god, a baby! They have a baby!”

“I…yeah,” Kaneki says, dazed and more than a little surprised. “Wow.”

Nishio did say, on one of their all-ghouls-sans-partners group outing, that he would like to start a family with Kimi. Kaneki had been sure that Nishiki was drunk then, on coffee spiked with the alcohol-like substance that the Bureau managed to come up with. In fact, they were all probably pretty drunk that night – Takizawa had been pleased when Kaneki reported to work with a splitting headache the next day, and the man had chattered on about ‘successful experiments’ and ‘wouldn’t you like to try tea next, I promise it’s not that different from coffee’, and the whole conversation had been temporarily wiped from Kaneki’s mind.

“Wow, so he was serious,” Kaneki mutters, wondering what Nishio is doing on the other side of the world. Maybe still freaking out over the baby.

“We have to get baby gifts!” Jamie announces.

“…what?” Kaneki says, after taking a moment to make sure he hadn’t heard wrong.

Jamie rolls his eyes at him. “Baby gifts, socks and bibs and all those cute little things.” Hide beams, eyes round and shiny – the logical side of Kaneki that points out the baby is not due for at least seven more months dies down at the sight of an excited Jamie. “Come on, we can go shopping today before we see Banjou and Hinami for the Kafka movie! Right, right?”

“Well…”

He really had wanted the day to settle all the chores they were not able to during the working week, considering Kaneki puts in almost twelve hours every day at the Bureau and Jamie tends to go on business trips for days at a time. And a baby is a big, exciting thing to celebrate, true, but surely they could do that much later –

Jamie smirks as though he knows what Kaneki is thinking and just how he can best derail that, even with his terrible bed hair and the least sexy, baggy t-shirt on. Before Kaneki could issue any warning or back away, his chin is captured and tugged forward so Jamie’s lips brushes Kaneki’s. Kaneki is held in place, unable to help himself drinking in Jamie’s scent as Jamie says in a low voice, “And I haven’t been on a date with you in forever.”

Kaneki swallows at the look in Jamie’s eyes. The thoughts of bills and groceries and cleaning up are steadily slipping from his mind because Jamie is right, it feels like it has been weeks since they spent time with each other, and even longer since they have touched each other more intimately than a kiss goodnight or a hug in the morning –

He starts to reach out for Jamie. Which is, of course, when Jamie pulls away, the smile on his face proving he knows he has won. “I’ll be in the shower, if you wanna find me, yeah?” he says, casual like he is asking whether Kaneki wants another cup of coffee.

And he stands up from the table and skips out of the kitchen, his cheerful humming growing fainter as he gets nearer to the bedroom.

Kaneki slumps back in his chair, heart still thrumming from the way Jamie had teased him. “Idiot Jamie,” he says with a groan, scrubbing a hand over his eyes before opening them again.

His gaze falls on the letter left open on the table, Kimi’s excitement over her pregnancy suppressed in the blue ink. He stands up, a groan of a very different sort escaping him as he thinks of the next few weeks of hell at the Bureau, with all the research and preparation to cater for the needs of a ghoul-human baby. Times like this he wishes Yoshimura is not on some remote island with his son – they could use his experience now. For now though, he folds up the letter and slips it back into the envelope, placing it on a separate corner of the table so it does not get mixed up with the other mail.

From the bathroom there is the sound of the water starting to run and Jamie’s humming turning into warbling, the way it inevitably does the moment Jamie enters the shower until Kaneki joins him and can shut him up. It is the same tune Kaneki had been humming while making Jamie’s breakfast, a pop song popular among the teenagers in Hinami’s school now, distorted through Jamie’s warbling. If nothing else, then for the sake of his ears, he has to go now.

With one final look at the newspapers and mail sitting innocently on the table Kaneki bids his chores a fond farewell before leaving the kitchen, vaguely wondering how he can at least drag Jamie to the supermarket this weekend so he can buy the milk for his cereal.