No beta like always. Be prepared for a lot of mistake. Please do tell me if you found any.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Ghoul or any of the characters in any way.

ー Memoriesー

Dream

Summary: There's a future career survey form from school. Hide ask Kaneki to stick with his rambling. Take place during their High School days.

Featured Character: Kaneki Ken, Nagachika Hideyoshi

"We'll begin the homeroom now. I'll check presence. Tanaka!"

"Yes."

"Nakajima!"

"Here."

"Kitagawa!"

"Here."

Another day, another class has started. Another boring class in another boring day. Kaneki Ken sat in his chair absentmindedly. He really want to graduate from this school as soon as possible so he can get away from that household. The more he wait for that day to come, the time past more and more slowly. He can do something about his outside class time since he can simply hang with Hide or read book. But he can't do neither in class since he can risk the chance of having to stay here for another year.

"Kaneki!"

"Yes!"

Kaneki get back to his own mind after the teacher took his presence. Since he can't read one of his novels here, he decide to read some textbook. The teacher should not be mad if he study, right? He have to take an entrance exam for university soon anyway.

"By the way, it's already the time for you kids to decide what will you do from now on. I bet most of you plan to go to the college, but you should think a major that is relevant to your future plan. So, this is an survey to help you decide. It's simple, just write what you want to do in your life and give it back to me. Now, please distribute it."

Kaneki stares at his form blankly. He never think about this before. All he want to do now are to read book, hang with Hide, and graduate from this school. The question keep bothering his mind for the rest of the class. Before he realized, the class is already ended for the day. He didn't join any club, nor was Hide. He think about asking Hide to hang out with him, but they just hang out until night yesterday. He can't bother Hide too much just because he doesn't want to go home. Maybe he'll hang around in a public or school library for today.

"Ka~ ne~ ki~"

A sing-song voice called him. A boy with blonde hair and school uniform swinging his bag around to get his attention. A typical overact from his best friend, Nagachika Hideyoshi.

"What is it, Hide? And don't swing your bag around. It's dangerous."

"You miss me, right? Tell me you miss me."

Hide swing hands to both side and pull it back to his chest in a dramatic way. To back his words, Hide really didn't show up this morning nor on the break time like he always do, which make Kaneki miss him a little. But not this much.

"Am not. We just met yesterday. And what happened? You didn't show up during this morning and lunch break. And you are unusually hyper."

Hide drop his dramatic act and laugh slyly.

"Fufufu I knew you will ask that. Actually, you see..."

Hide pull something from his bag and shove it Kaneki's face.

"TAAADAAAA!"

Hide pull the object from Kaneki's face so he can see it better. It's a foreign CD case.

"This baby just arrived this morning! Guess the rest!"

Hide excitedly said and pull his 'baby' for a thwirl. Kaneki sigh and speak with a tired tone on his voice, not even tried to think about his answer.

"You got so excited checking that 'baby' of yours and ended up late. On top of that you forgot to bring your lunch so you have to fight for food in that crowded cafeteria until the end of lunch break. It's about the time for you to somber down a little, you know."

"As expected from Kaneki-san~! And you got to lit up a lot, dude. Anyway, wanna hang out at my place today? I need someone to listen my rambling for that cursed being."

Hide lazily wave his survey form to the side. Kaneki realized that Hide is not the type to give so much thought to that kind of survey. Hide typically will only toss that aside until the moment they have to give it back and write something convenience for him at the time. On the other side, Kaneki is. Hide ask him to hang around so he can have someone to talk to. A very typical tactic coming from Hide.

"Okay"

Kaneki walk past Hide and smile.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

Kaneki turn back to see Hide's innocent look. His face is oblivious and his answer didn't miss any beat.

Too perfect.

"Nothing."

Kaneki smiled and turn his back on Hide again. He should know that Hide won't ever admit that to him.

"We should go to your place quickly. It's about to rain."

Hide grinned and pat Kaneki's shoulder.

"That call for a race. Ready, go!"

Hide didn't wait for Kaneki's respond and went full sprint. He know Kaneki will arrives to his house sooner or later.

"Wait, Hide! Don't run it's dange…"

Too late. Hide is already outside of earshot. Kaneki let a big sigh out and run after Hide.

Kaneki, by any means, is not a sprinter. Nor he is a slowpoke. He's pretty average when it comes to sport. Good enough to pass his class with a little effort, bad enough to be benched in the actual club activity. So it is to be expected when he arrived at Nagachika household door, about 15 minutes after the resident young master arrived, lacking breath for having run all the way from the school to Hide's house. At least he didn't pass out somewhere in the middle of street.

"You're late. Here, take a breath and relax. Don't let my mom think I'm bullying you."

"You-you are… gah. so cruel… It's pretty far you know…"

"There. There."

Hide gently pat his back to ease his breathing.

"But man… you should really toughen up a little. And you still need to lit up a lot."

Hide know precisely when to tease or not to tease Kaneki. And based on that knowledge of his, this is a good time to tease him. Even though the said boy is currently in his knees, barely breathing.

"And get a girlfriend…"

Whisper Hide. Kaneki's face lit up into a bright red color as he stand up quickly. His mouth open and close trying to form a word.

"Why don't you get one yourself?"

His voice is unusually higher and Hide lean towards the door of his home trying to hold his laughter.

"Can we just get in and start dealing with the survey?"

"Okay, okay. I did expect you to literally lit up, but it's still funny."

Hide opened his door and lead Kaneki inside. Hide himself still trying to recover from his laughter while Kaneki just pout and look anywhere but Hide as his form of sulking.

"Hideyoshi, what take you so long to come in? And you're teasing Kaneki-kun again."

Hide's mom called out from the backyard. Probably hanging some wet clothes.

"Am not. This guy just took too long to arrive."

Hide stop and point to Kaneki to make his point even if his mom can't see him.

"That means you did."

The voice sounds closer. A few seconds later, Hide's mom appeared from inside while tying her apron. Perhaps preparing dinner is her next agenda.

"Good evening, auntie."

Kaneki greet her politely.

"Good evening, Kaneki-kun. Have a good time, okay? I do hope that my son could learn one or two things from you."

Hide's mom smiled warmly when she greet Kaneki, but soon turn into a tired sigh when she mention about his son. She often did that to tease Hide. Like Hide, she know Kaneki's circumstance through a various source and gossips but keep quiet about it. She always show her concern through action, not word.

"No no. It's this guy that have a few things to learn from me, not the other way around."

"Please don't. It will be too hot around. By the way, Kaneki-kun. What do you want to eat for dinner?"

Hide's mom step into kitchen as she ask. Kaneki is startled. It is a common occurrence that Hide's mom would count him in for dinner like it's the most obvious thing in the world, but Kaneki still hesitating. He still can't get used to being treated kindly even though it's already been years ever since he visited Nagachika household for the first time.

"Um… I don't… I mean, you don't have to."

Kaneki fidgeting with the strap of his bag. Afraid to accept the offer, but can't reject it either.

"Hamburger then."

"What!? You didn't ask what I want to eat!"

"You just got late this morning because of that package of yours."

"Ugh."

"Okay, boys. Now just go upstairs and do whatever you have to do."

"'kay…"

Hide dejectedly say while climbing the stairs. Kaneki look one last glance to the kitchen area before following Hide into his room. Despite of Hide's disappointed look, he didn't tease Kaneki about it like he always do. He know it's a sensitive subject for that best friend of his, and he won't hear the end of Kaneki's apologies if he do anyway.

Once they seated in the floor, Kaneki pulled out his form from his bag which is neatly folded in two and tucked inside a book so it won't get crumpled. Hide following suit after a short rummaging on his bag before he finally pulled out his badly crumpled form. Hide took a glance at Kaneki's neat form and then to his own crumpled one before laughing softly at Kaneki's tired sigh. A very typical occurrence coming from them.

It took them a while to straighten Hide's form so it will at least can be written on. They got over most of the field quickly, but there's that one cursed question that brought them in that room together.

What do you want to achieve in the future?

They will go into college, that is sure. But they know better than to write it since both of them clearly understand that going into college is not something they want to achieve. It is the mean to achieve what they dreamt of. Not they actually think that much when deciding what major they applied to. Kaneki being Kaneki just want to read book. And Hide just pick one off that have wide choice of career and sounded kinda interesting.

"Hey, Kaneki. What can you do with Japanese Literature degree? You're taking that major, right?"

"There's actually a lot. The most common one are on journalism, publishing, or teaching."

Kaneki explained slowly while fishing any knowledge that he has about the degree and what it worth off. Hide pulled out three finger in front of Kaneki and lowered his ring finger so it becomes two.

"Yeah, journalism is out."

"What!? Why?"

Kaneki protested. In response, Hide just lowered another finger instead of answering.

"So is teaching."

"I said, why!?"

Kaneki protested again. And again, Hide just lowered his whole hand and laughed.

"You should be aware of your own social inability." Hide laugh mockingly. "And I'm pretty sure you're going for publishing anyway. Tell me I'm right."

Hide proudly say. He's pretty sure of his statement.

"Well… yeah. You're right."

Kaneki dejectedly said. Is he that predictable? Or is it just because it's Hide?

"What about you? You still haven't tell me what major you're taking."

"Me? I'm taking International Studies."

Hide answer lightly. Kaneki expect him to stumble a little since he doesn't seems like he decided what he want to be already.

"What? So you already decided and you didn't tell me." Kaneki pout. "Why International studies anyway?"

"It has a wide range of job opportunities that seems have a high pay. I got more time to think what kind of job I want until graduation. And it seems interesting."

So he really hasn't decided yet.

Kaneki sweatdropped at Hide's answer. That innocent look might as well taken as a joke. But he know that Hide is serious about this.

"Anyway, I got to find a high paying job so I can support a certain someone who might as well ended up as a poor librarian all his life."

And that certain someone is sure to be Kaneki. His answer is not baseless, considering Kaneki's high school grade report. It's not bad as it's not good.

His grade used to be very good, about 90 and an occasional 100 on average for every subject. But he tone it down to about 70 or 80 and occasionally 60 ever since the thing with his aunt. After that, his aunt went from harassing him verbally him into blatantly ignoring him. Maybe that woman will keep harassing him if he keep being smart.

But his future employer doesn't know that. He could try to score better in college without his aunt, but this bad habit might be hard to stop.

But he will try anyway. He have to.

"Well, that means I have to try harder and got a well paying job since a certain someone might end up having a hard life with odd jobs and part times all his life."

Kaneki smugly countered. Hide puffed his cheek and throw a pillow at Kaneki, who manage to react at time and shield himself from the fluffy projectile.

"Joke aside, what do you want to write in your form? I could write an editor and it will make a lot of sense. But if you put some weird thing in your survey, you might ended up being called in for some career counseling, you know."

Which is not something both of them want to do. Kaneki is not comfortable, if not bothered, talking about himself to some stranger he doesn't completely trust. Hide being Hide just find counseling as bothersome and not worth of time.

"Who cares. I'll bullshit through them later. More than that, wanna listen to my new baby? You want to, right?" Hide leaning close to Kaneki holding his new CD.

You're contradicting yourself. Kaneki though.

Hide played the music, they talk about some random things. A few round of game following after hours of chat.

Soon, the sun disappear and Hide's mom call them down for dinner. The dinner feel warm in Kaneki's heart. Hide send his off until halfway, since walking with him all the way to Asaoka's household never been a good idea. Kaneki part with Hide, smile in his face.

The door to Asaoka's house is in front of him. His smile disappear behind the neutral mask. He silently went in and go straight to his room. He put down his mask once he's alone.

"... so I can support a certain someone who might as well ended up as a poor librarian all his life"

Smile emerged into his face once again.

It may be a joke, but the way Hide already put Kaneki as a part of his own future is no joke.

It's not bad.

Hide is strange. He's so loud-mouthed. He always seems so simple. And yet, his words have a lot of meaning. His action always perfectly calculated.

He never been so honest.

It was always so he won't hurt Kaneki's already so damaged heart. Faking his worries with selfishness. Putting a self-centered mask while giving his best for Kaneki. So genuine yet so fake.

Or maybe he's just embarrassed.

Kaneki chuckled a bit at the image of embarrassed Hide.

No way. He'll make fun of me before I got a chance to embarrass him.

Kaneki start to doze off. He considering to take a bath before he heard Asaoka's family laughter.

He decide not to. He can do it tomorrow morning.

This is the house where he's not allowed to be happy.

Kenki closed his eyes.

At least he's still allowed to be happy within his dream.

He just have to bear it until graduation.

Then he can move out from this hell and do as he wish.

He can watch TV or movies with speaker on. He can laugh over a book or joke Hide send him at late night. He can take bath anytime he want. He can cook his own food.

… He can invite Hide over to his place.

He have a pleasant dream that night.

A/N Finally finished this one... The ending supposed to be all sweet, but I mess it up. Again. OTL