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It’s during his initial visit to Uta’s place that Kaneki develops a sort of— captivation, with the mask-maker. He’s still new to the whole ghoul thing, and while he’s certainly met some interesting characters since his fateful transformation, Uta tops the list. Kaneki is surprised (a bit scared, actually) by the ghoul’s teasing behavior, contradictory to his tattooed and pierced appearance. Kaneki observes the sleeves barely covering Uta’s shoulders and finds himself imagining the tattoos hidden underneath, about their possible meaning. But it’s Uta’s eyes, hidden entirely by his kakugan, that fascinate—frighten? he’s not sure—Kaneki the most.
Kaneki does his best to answer Uta’s questions while the mask-maker pokes around his face. Then, after offering an eyeball to Kaneki, Uta begins snacking on it, teeth tearing at the flesh that probably once made up the optic nerve, though Kaneki has difficulty recalling human anatomy when he’s holding down bile. Thankfully, Uta pauses eating his snack to inquire about Kaneki’s life.
“Kaneki-kun, do you have any lovers?” Kaneki splutters, aware of Touka still in the shop.
“What?! No, I’ve never had one…”
“What do you think about Touka-chan? Think she’s cute?” Uta queries as he sticks his face far too close for Kaneki’s comfort, taking another measurement.
The half-ghoul avoids any incriminating answers to the best of his ability, and soon the discomfort of the mask-maker studying the contours of his face is over. He can’t help but think as he and Touka leave the shop that while Touka is undeniably attractive, there’s something about Uta-san that intrigues him even more.
All notions of intrigue are long forgotten following Kaneki’s kidnap and subsequent torture at the hands of the Aogiri. The half-ghoul almost laughs at how the unhinged expression on his mask, teeth bared in warning, fits him more than it ever did before. He wonders why Uta included the deranged grimace on his mask even before the expression behind it became one and the same.
Wiping such idle thoughts aside, Kaneki heads to Uta’s shop with one purpose—to ask about Yomo-san and his relation to the Aogiri, to clear up this confusion and doubt that’s been depriving him of sleep. Anything to ease his tortured mind.
In the shop, Uta sits Kaneki down on a nearby stool, and the white-haired boy explains his doubts to the other ghoul. His helplessness seeps into his expression, he knows it does; he looks at the floor to avoid the eyes that betray so little emotion, and wishes his did the same. He tries to focus on the details of the tile floor.
“And here I thought Anteiku was my…”
Sanctuary, Kaneki means to say. He hesitates for a second, clenches his hands together, lets out a shaky sigh. The sudden presence of Uta’s hand on the side of his face prevents him from finishing his sentence.
“U-uta-san…? What are you…?” Kaneki begins to question—and really, after his ordeal with the Aogiri, there isn’t much that surprises the half-ghoul. But Uta’s thumb sliding across his lower lip, pulling it slightly down before resting on the edge of his mouth, is another story. Kaneki feels his eyes widen but he doesn’t pull away from Uta, not yet.
“Kaneki-kun…” the tattooed ghoul begins, his tone gentle. “Anteiku, it’s… they do care about you there, but everyone has secrets. Secrets that you won’t necessarily understand. And anyway, I don’t know about Yomo-san’s connection to the Aogiri, though I could tell you about our own history…”
Kaneki hears the words but doesn’t quite comprehend them, not with Uta’s hand still warm on his cheek. He shifts his gaze upwards, questioning expression in place, as Uta’s hand moves down to cup his chin, thumb catching yet again on Kaneki’s lower lip. The older ghoul leans forward a bit, staring directly at Kaneki’s mouth.
“Kaneki-kun, can I kiss you?”
Uta is as straightforward as ever, and Kaneki finally decides that he definitely wasn’t imagining those lingering glances during their first meeting so many months ago. And the thought of kissing Uta-san isn’t unpleasant, not in the slightest. He does, admittedly, find Uta-san attractive—soft face, toned arms, and those tattoos… and kissing would likely provide a welcome distraction from all the shit that’s been flying through Kaneki’s mind. The memories of torture lurking just beneath the surface, the constant strive to be stronger and stronger and stronger—Kaneki supposes he could find comfort in relinquishing control to someone else for a bit.
“Um… sure, Uta-san. But I’ve never—” Uta doesn’t hesitate, and presses his lips to Kaneki’s, shifts his hand to the nape of Kaneki’s neck and pulls forward, bringing the boy even closer.
Kaneki isn’t sure what’s he supposed to do; he’s never kissed anyone until this moment. So he follows Uta’s lead. Eyes closing, he shifts forward on the stool as Uta brings him closer, and reaches one hand out to grasp at the mask-maker’s arm. Uta parts his own lips, his tongue slowly tracing the line of Kaneki’s mouth, causing the boy to gasp softly. It’s then that Uta slips his tongue past the white-haired boy’s lips, coaxing a surprised noise from the back of Kaneki’s throat.
As Uta deepens the kiss—and he really does, mouth working against Kaneki’s own, their tongues entwining, Uta even softly biting and pulling at Kaneki’s lips—both of Kaneki’s hands tightly grip tattooed arms, and he almost forgets to breathe. Uta’s lips are incredibly soft, which he especially notices when they kiss a trail down from his mouth to his neck.
“Kaneki-kun, you’re so cute. I could eat you up.” Uta-san teases, breath hot against Kaneki’s throat. Reflexively, the boy tilts his head to the side to allow Uta-san better access, and lets out an almost imperceptible moan. Uta begins running his hands down Kaneki’s sides, still mouthing at his neck, gently biting and sucking and leaving faint marks.
As mild an activity as kissing is, Kaneki already finds himself panting with arousal. He knew kissing often elicited such reactions, but this… this is nearly too much. He’s gripping Uta like he’s trying to keep from falling from a high place, though his ass is still firmly planted on the stool. The other ghoul pointedly ignores the bulge in Kaneki’s pants, continuing to kiss the younger ghoul until he’s whining with the need to breathe. Uta moves his hands down to squeeze Kaneki’s hips, and releases the boy long enough to allow him several deep gulps of air.
“Uta-san, I’m…” Kaneki’s not sure what to say, he only knows that he wants more of whatever this is. Between breaths, he says as quietly as possible, “please touch me more, Uta-san,” dropping his head to rest on the other ghoul’s shoulder.
Uta’s gratified smirk thankfully goes unnoticed. “Gladly. Shall we move somewhere more comfortable?” Uta takes Kaneki’s hand and leads him to a back room somewhere in the shop—Kaneki isn’t really paying attention to where they’re headed, only coming back to his senses when Uta sits him down on a comfortable, if somewhat ratty couch.
This time Uta acts quickly, tongue delving into the half-ghoul’s mouth as he pushes him down onto the couch. Kaneki grasps at Uta’s back, bunching the shirt beneath his hands in tight fists, and lifts his hips in a desperate search for friction. Uta pushes his hips back down, a low sound of disapproval hummed into Kaneki’s ear.
“Mmm… Uta-san, please.”
Kaneki flushes as he says this, embarrassed by how breathy his voice sounds. But he’s achingly hard—harder he’s ever been in his life, honestly, and seeing the lewd expression on Uta-san’s normally expressionless face only makes it worse.
“Well, since you asked nicely…” and Uta promptly digs the heel of his hand into Kaneki’s still-clothed erection.
“Ahh! Ngh… shit!” Kaneki moans the last word louder than he intended, hips bucking into Uta’s palm and hands moving to cover his face.
“Shhh, Kaneki-kun, let me see your face.” Uta takes both of Kaneki’s wrists and holds the boy’s arms down next to his head. “I’m gonna make you feel good, okay?”
Kaneki can only nod in answer, watches as Uta swiftly removes his shirt and pushes Kaneki’s up to his armpits.
“Spread your legs a bit.” And Kaneki can’t fucking believe he’s just going along with this, but he does as Uta-san asks. Uta settles himself in between Kaneki’s legs and starts swiveling his hips down, grinding his crotch into Kaneki’s, and the younger ghoul writhes, hands now desperately clutching the couch. He’s no longer able to hold in his voice.
“M-mmh! U-uta-sa… ah! Oh, fuuuuck.” Kaneki groans as Uta angles his head down and licks at one of Kaneki’s nipples, completely overwhelmed by the sensation.
Uta glances up at Kaneki’s flushed face and can’t help but moan at Kaneki’s particularly aggressive upward thrust.
He laughs breathily. “Shit, Kaneki-kun—” he pauses to press his lips to the side of Kaneki’s face, to feel the heat that’s practically flowing off his skin, “you look so wrecked and I haven’t even touched your dick yet.”
Kaneki knows he should be able to last longer but he just can’t take this anymore, so he musters up the courage to ask: “Maybe… you could…?” He levels his gaze with Uta’s and shifts his hips, resuming their slow grind. He closes his eyes, tilts his head back, and grips one of Uta’s arms, hoping that the tattooed ghoul heeds his request.
Uta-san eagerly complies, and works on finally removing their clothing. He marvels at the boy’s body, lean and powerful, covered in a sheen of sweat, flushed dark down to his chest. He traces a scar on Kaneki’s abdomen before pulling the boy’s pants and briefs off, freeing Kaneki’s swollen cock. He quickly get rids of his own remaining clothes, and grasps both of their dicks in one hand. Uta is larger—not by much, but he’s not above taking pride in what little he has more than the boy. Kaneki breathes out and releases this ridiculously hot high-pitched moan, which is all the prompting Uta needs before he picks up where they left off, thrusting forward and rubbing their arousals together.
“Ngh…” Uta can feel every vein on Kaneki’s dick and groans when the head of the boy’s cock presses up against his own; he groans louder when Kaneki wraps his legs around his waist and rolls his hips up hard. Uta quickens the pace and Kaneki actually whimpers, albeit quietly, at the sudden change. Uta knows the boy beneath him is close when he feels Kaneki’s legs shaking against his waist.
Mouth hanging open, eyes squeezed shut, Kaneki moans shamelessly. “Uta-san, I’m—I’m close… unh, I’m coming!” Uta slides his dick against the boy’s, moving his fist even faster. One more second and Kaneki’s coming, panting hard, spurting most of his come onto his own chest and stomach, the rest dribbling into Uta’s fist. Uta comes soon after, breath hitching, still rocking against Kaneki’s oversensitive cock. He collapses on Kaneki once he’s spent, and the boy just shudders and huffs out a breath, too exhausted to protest.
Uta breaks the comfortable silence that follows, pressing a light kiss to the half-ghoul’s neck. “Kaneki-kun, you were really cute. We should do that again sometime.”
Kaneki is still somehow able to blush, and threads his hand through Uta’s hair. He doesn’t even care that he originally came to Uta-san’s shop for information, because what he got instead was so much better. He hasn’t felt this relaxed since before his unwilling transformation.
“Yeah, we should.”