I don't know if you have already read this story, but if you have, I apologise for the inconvenience that happened with this chapter.
Basically, as I've previously told you I think, I published the chapters first on Quotev, and then on Wattpad. In this case I had started writing this chapter on Wattpad, but then continued on Quotev, and then published both of them thinking this was complete.
But, as I noticed rereading this, it wasn't. I'm pretty sure that you all felt like something was missing between this chapter and the next one, but here's the complete version! Good reading!
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You put your hand on your face and sighed in embarrassment, replaying the scene in your head.
It almost felt like a dream, you couldn't believe it.
So you and Ayato were... Friends?
It sounded way too ridiculous to you. You had always been rivals. But it made you happy that finally you had cleared things out.
You didn't even know where you were going, when you bumped into someone and, being distracted by your thoughts, you lost your balance and fell on your butt.
You looked up to see Kaneki, holding a book, the same book that you were reading together before the 'incident' with his kakuja.
He widened his eyes and immediately helped you up.
"I'm sorry, I was lost in my thoughts, I didn't even know where I was going" you apologised, scratching your cheek.
You felt that your cheek was still a little hot.
Kaneki shook his head.
"No, I'm the one who should be apologising. I mean, I was reading while walking..." he said smiling.
Then he looked at you confused.
"What are you blushing for? Just because you fell in front of me?" he asked, half joking.
"A-ah, yes, it's pretty embarrassing actually" you lied, avoiding eye-contact.
Kaneki smiled and patted your head.
"So? Have you gotten another room?" he then asked.
You widened your eyes.
"Ah! I forgot to ask Ayato!" you exclaimed, instantly regretting to have pronounced his name.
Kaneki's smile slowly faded away, and his kind expression was replaced by a serious one.
"Oh, so that's where you were, I see..." he said.
You studied his expression.
"What's wrong, Kane-kun?" you asked. You couldn't understand why they were so in conflict with each other.
Sure, Hide had given you an explanation, when you had visited him, but you didn't believe him.
Still, you felt a strange feeling, a feeling that you had never felt in your whole life.
But the weirdest thing, was that you felt it every time you thought about Ayato, Hide, or Kaneki.
Could it be that I... No, it can't be.
Kaneki looked at you in the eyes, with a stoic expression, the same expression that had always hurt you every time you saw it on him.
"You know what's wrong. He always caused harm to you, he's dangerous for you. And..." he hesitated a bit before adding,
"I'm afraid that if you continue to see him, you will end up putting again that façade, and I couldn't bear it" he said.
You looked at his slightly sad look, and you immediately hugged his neck.
"I won't end up like that again, I promise" you whispered.
Then you pulled away just a bit, to look at him in the eyes.
"And don't worry about Ayato, we're cleared things up, we're fine now" you said smiling.
He looked down, his white bangs hiding his eyes, but then he looked again at you with a sweet smile.
"I'm glad. Now, also with me protecting you from the CCG, you're completely safe" he said.
Something was wrong with his tone of voice, like he wanted to say something out loud, but he was keeping it to himself.
You blushed a bit at his statement, but nodded and smiled too.
He caressed your cheeky slowly, but then he sighed and pushed you away gently.
"You can come in my room again" he said, and you nodded.
The problem was, you didn't even feel a bit of fatigue.
In his room, you lay on the couch in a fetal position, but after a while, you still couldn't sleep.
You sat up and rubbed your head in frustration.
"You're still awake?" Kaneki asked, looking at you from his chair.
You nodded.
"Could you... Sit beside me for a bit?" you asked, looking at the other side.
Kaneki slowly stood up and sat next to you.
You looked at him, smiling slightly.
"You couldn't sleep either, uh?"
He sighed.
"I try to stay awake as much as possible because... I have nightmares" he admitted.
You nodded.
Then you remembered something.
"Oh! You know, today, while I was dismembering corpses... I saw that man who was there at Anteiku when they brought us to Aogiri" you started.
"Banjou?" Kaneki asked.
You nodded.
"Oh, he was imprisoned with me after I was brought here" he said.
You widened your eyes.
"I thought you were always with Yamori?"
He shook his head.
"If I was with him from the beginning, I would've been dead, or completely insane like him" he said.
You opened your mouth to ask something, but Kaneki cut you off.
"But now, you better get some sleep, (f/n)-chan, and tomorrow, remember to ask Ayato to get you a new room" he said kindly, then he put a hand behind your head and kissed your forehead gently, causing you to blush a little.
"Goodnight" he said as he stood up, and made his way to the chair.
You lay down again, with milions of questions running through your mind.
-Next day-
You walked to the blue haired male, feeling awkward. After the almost-kiss, you had never seen him. But now, here he was, and you still needed a new room.
It was already late afternoon and you had already finished your work. You wished you had met Banjou, to ask him a few questions about him and Kaneki, but he was nowhere to be seen.
When you were right behind Ayato, you cleared your throat. He turned to you with a scowl, but, recognising you, his expression softened and he raised a brow.
"Do you need anything?" he asked. After the question, he looked away, but you could see he was frustrated.
"I need a new room, since someone broke the door for the second time" you said.
He huffed and turned his back at you, gesturing you to follow him.
You smiled slightly, it was very noticeable how the relationship between you two had changed. And it made you happy.
Other ghouls around had noticed that, and started looking at you with weird stares.
Ayato entered a room and closed the door after you had entered too.
The room was quite big, and it was totally black, with a bed and a few chairs and a table.
"This is my room, you can stay here until I found a room for you" he said, not looking at you.
You wandered around and then sat on the bed. You looked up at Ayato smiling, and blushing a bit at the awkward silence.
Ayato turned away frowning, a small blush slowly raising to his cheeks.
He let our a frustrated sigh and ran his fingers through his hair, earning a confused glance from you. Then he sighed again and plopped himself down on the bed beside you.
"What the-" you started, but Ayato immediately cut you off.
"I'm sorry for yesterday. I almost... K-kissed you... It was an incident. I didn't mean it" he said, and even if you thought the same, you couldn't help but feel a bit hurt at the words 'I didn't mean it'.
Something sounded wrong with the way he talked, like he was saying something he didn't want to say, but you shrugged it off.
"I know... It's the same for me" you said.
The room fell silent for a few minutes, and neither of you was looking at the other.
Then Ayato spoke:
"If... If you need help with something, anything... I can, you know... You can ask me...?" he said with an hesitant voice, and you had to stiffen a laugh.
He noticed and looked at you with an irritated look.
"What? I'm trying to say something friendly here! I'm new to these things..."
You smiled.
So now we're actually friends, uh?
"Just go look for that room" you said.
He stood up and dusted his pants, then he put his hands in his pockets and sent a last glance back at you. He then left the room.
You smiled slightly and lay down in Ayato's bed. Like always, millions of thoughts and memories were running through your mind, and you didn't even notice that you were slowly drifting off to sleep.
Ayato's POV
I had found a great room to give (f/n), and I opened the door to my room. I widened my eyes, seeing that (f/n) had fallen asleep in my bed. I sighed and locked the door.
After what felt like hours of standing in front of my bed staring at (f/n)'s sleeping form, I Finally decided what to do. I lay down next to (f/n).
I hoped she couldn't wake up by hearing my heart pounding.
I studied her features. If she was still the old (f/n)... The punk one... I would have never believed that it was the same person.
She looked... Angelic.
I quickly turned around so I was giving her my back, and I smiled to myself.
Damn you, (f/n). Damn you for making me feel this way.
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I'm sorry again for the inconvenience, hope you liked the complete version of the chapter, bye!
-Giulia