Chapter Text
I wish Hide didn’t know. I wish he didn’t know I was a ghoul, that he didn’t know about Anteiku or the Aogiri Tree. I especially wish he didn’t know that I loved him. It was a terrible world that we lived in and I just wanted to protect him from it. He would have been safer without this knowledge. But he knows now. The only way I can protect him is to keep him. Only I can protect him now. Hide is mine and I won’t let anyone take him away from me; not even Hide.
Muffled yelling startled me out of my thoughts. Ah yes, I forgot I had left him there. Hide had his hands and feet tied in front of him with his mouth taped shut. I didn’t want him to escape or scream for help but I also didn’t want him to be too afraid or uncomfortable. He wiggled around on my bed where I left him this morning. I walked quietly over to him, my bare feet padding silently across the carpet
“Sorry, Hide.”
More muffled words that I was unable to recognise. I gently peeled off the tape covering his soft lips. I couldn’t help but graze my thumb along their softness.
“What are you doing Kaneki?!”
I ignored his question and went to fetch a glass of water for him. He must be thirsty. I held the water up to his lips and he drank it down without question. My eyes followed the bobbing of his throat. Unconsciously, I licked my lips at the tempting sight. Hide, following my line of sight, stiffened and moved away from the glass resulting in the rest of the water pouring down his front.
“Oh, sorry Hide. Let’s change you out of those wet clothes.”
“No! Don’t touch me!” Hide shouted. I frowned at Hide’s obvious aversion to me.
“Hide, I just don’t want you getting sick and dying. You’re my responsibility now. Please change out of your clothes…” I explained it calmly and slowly as to not frighten him anymore than I already had. It made me sad that Hide did not reciprocate my feelings but that would come later. I’ll make sure of it.
Looking down at his wet shirt, Hide grimaced when he caught sight of his hands. It wasn’t hard to see that he was unhappy with his situation but I needed him safe. I also needed him to come around to staying with me. It wasn’t a choice he had but if he could feel comfortable with staying here then that would make me very happy.
“If you want, I can untie you? You won’t be able to leave of course, but at the very least you’ll be able to move around again.” Hide nodded eagerly at this and I couldn’t help but smile.
The knots around his hands and feet were undone and Hide immediately went to rub them. It wasn’t like I did them too tight. He must not like being restrained. I’ll store that knowledge for future punishment if need be.
“Kaneki, why am I here?”
“You’re safe here.” Hide scrunched his eyebrows at this.
“Okaayy…was I not safe before?” Hide clearly didn’t understand his predicament. Before, anyone could have stolen him. He could have been killed several times already just by associating with me. Now that he actually knows about everything, there’s no way he could be safe without me.
“I’ve quit your job for you at the CCG. I also transferred all your courses to online so you won’t have to go to class. You can use my laptop when you need to.” This all seemed straight forward and easy. Once Hide settles into his new life with me, everything will be fine.
“What?! Kaneki, you can’t just change my life. I need to go home!” Hide moved to get off the bed.
I could feel my anger flaring and my ghoul side threatening to come out. How could he not understand that this was for his benefit? Why didn’t he appreciate the effort I had gone through to keep him safe? Hide knew that I loved him but it felt like he didn’t appreciate anything I’ve done. Before I knew it I had pinned Hide with both hands above his head on the bed. I felt my kakugan appear and Hide widened his eyes in shock.
“You are NOT to leave this house, you will NOT leave me. Is that understood, Hide?” The human could only gape up at me.
“Is that understood, Hide?” I was losing my patience and found myself squeezing his wrists tighter in frustration. Hide winced at the pain and finally understood that I was serious.
“Yeah, I get you Kaneki. I’ll stay here with you. Could you please let go of me, you’re hurting me…” A small thrill went through me with how easy Hide submitted with just a little bit of force. However he shouldn’t be asking me favours. I’m in charge here and he needs to know that. For his safety of course…
“If it is my wish to hurt you Hide, then I shall.” I squeezed his wrists tighter for emphasis and Hide gasped at the pain. I released his frail wrists and he sighed in relief. I felt a little bad for hurting Hide the way I did but he needed to know that he must to listen to me. I wasn’t the same old frail human Kaneki; I was Eyepatch, I was the Centipede, I was different. To show him I wasn’t truly awful I brought his delicate wrists to my mouth and pressed soft kisses to the abused flesh. They would probably bruise later. They would look beautiful…
I backed away from my human who looked confused and frightened but much more willing to listen to me. Hide looked perfect. His blonde hair framed his pretty pale face, the beautiful brown expressive eyes that showed me what he was feeling even though I could never guess what he was thinking. His full mouth was currently frowning and I wanted nothing more than to kiss it away. I wanted to cover his body in my marks, in my scent, with my seed but not just yet. He wasn’t ready. I willed my kakugan away to try and reign in some semblance of control. I padded over to the dresser to fetch out one of my tops. I threw it over to Hide who was still on the bed, looking down and rubbing his wrists.
“Change into that. I’ll bring you down some food later, okay? I just have some things to do then I’ll be back.”
Hide fingered my shirt and finally looked up at me, “What kind of things?”
“I’ll tell you later. Get some rest, Hide”
I walked back over to give him a goodbye kiss on the forehead then I was out the door. Hide flushed at the contact but he would have to get used to it. While I was getting Hide food, I too needed to be fed. I didn’t want to put Hide at risk so I’ll see what Tsukiyama was up to…