Chapter Text
Kaneki ken; sixteen, shy bookworm, and insecure bed cacoonist, was content with living a drama and adventure lacking life if it meant he could have his share of peace every now and then. He had good relations with his peers at school, quite the best friend, and a loving mother at home.
If there was ever a case of unrest, then it normally would have to involve domestic conflict with his two twin brothers--whether be it fighting over who showers first or who gets the comfortable couch or who had the Tv remote first. He didn't like to take Shiro in a spat on his own--he could get a little overbearing and enjoyed abusing authority. Haise was much more reasonable, though, and Kaneki didn't mind tearing Shiro apart with Haise in between--if Shiro went to shove him, Haise wouldn't hesitate to return the gesture.
Unfortunately for Kaneki, they were quite the identical set of triplets. Face alone would make them hardly recognizable, but other features did establish their roles quite a bit. Shiro took it upon himself to completely bleach his hair and do it consistently to avoid black roots--unlike Haise who gets lazy and almost always has messy curls of black outgrowing white tips. Kaneki didn't care much, really, deciding to go au natural with his black hair, and actually combed it unlike the other two.
He guessed even if Shiro did manage to return to a completely black head of hair, it wouldn't be hard to distinguish between his firm build and Kaneki's lanky form. Kaneki envied him a little for practically perfecting a lithe body, although he wished he'd use it a little less to kick him around.
All in all, Kaneki felt like he was the most lacking of the two, but he tried not to let it bother him too much.
Until it began competing with his own relationships, that is.
He should've guessed something was up--Haise and Shiro began hovering around him during school a little too much. He thought nothing of it at first, until Shiro said it.
"What's your friend taking?" He starts one evening, when Kaneki was minding his own business on the couch. The (minutely) older throws himself on the unoccupied seat beside Kaneki, scooting too close and resting his chin on the raven's shoulder. Kaneki knew he only got this proximal when he wanted something.
"Who?" He tries to elbow him away, but he's unrelenting.
"Hide."
Kaneki makes a face."Nothing."
"You sure?"
"What do you mean I'm sure? Taking what?"
He shrugs, finally re-establishing space between them."Hormones or something. He went on vacation and came back really fucking hot, if you hadn't noticed."
Kaneki blanks.
"Oh wait, you don't notice those things."
"Really? You at it again?" Haise, who didn't appear to be listening a moment ago, throws in.
Kaneki feels himself flush in anger when it finally settles in. Oh. Oh. So that's what he's been up to."Don't even think about it," he warns, although he knows it's a little too late when Shiro cracks a smirk.
"Already have."
"Ugh, you're such a...!" Kaneki fumes, feeling his protectiveness over his best friend get the better of him."Shallow jerk."
Shiro's complexion darkens."You said something?" He jabs him in the side with his foot.
"Jer--"
"Quit it, Kaneki. And you," Haise throws his headphones off and nails Shiro in the face with the nearest cushion."Weren't you the one who picked on him the entire freshman year?"
"I wasn't picking on him," Shiro mutters, returning the cushion so it smacked the side of Haise's face, knocking his glasses off."Just teasing him. It's hard not to."
Haise smiles a little as he picks up his glasses, resigning from his competition with his brother."He is kinda cute, to be honest."
Kaneki's mouth creaks open, throwing his hands in the air."Haise!" He could not believe this utter betrayal.
"What?" He shrugs apologetically.
"What's it to you?" Shiro continues, giving him another annoying jab in the side."Thought he was only your best friend."
"He is," Kaneki couldn't help but let the childish protectiveness seep into his tone.
"So it doesn't concern you if I date him, hm?"
Kaneki didn't like where this was going."He hates your shitty attitude! Date him? Pfft." Kaneki regrets that only a little when he sees a small flash of hurt in his eyes.
But Shiro tries to shrug it off, jumping off the couch and smothering Kaneki's face with another cushion."So much lip service today. Not like you, Kaneki."
Haise sighs."Mom's really gotta get rid of those cushions. No one ever uses them right."
In retrospect, maybe he shouldn't have let the conversation escalate so much. Now that he knew his brothers were both pretty much adamant to get on Hide's pretty side--every move they made looked suspicious and harmful to him. He didn't mean to get this possessive, really. He just--Hide was so important to him. Having one of his brothers, no less, get even closer to Hide than he was? That was plain awful.
It was satisfying to see that Hide's affection for him hadn't wavered. He still beamed when he sees him in the morning, still attacks him with backwards hugs after a long weekend, and even though an unholy amount of Hide's attention belonged to him only, as soon as it diverts to a certain other two, he gets a little down. But he isn't the type to let it show.
For instance, Shiro knows how to get Hide flustered--casually make shoulder contact while passing by in the hallways, do the hair flip (Goddamit how much harder do you have to try), or simply corner him against a locker and toy with his feelings a little.
Haise liked to be a lot more subtle--or maybe he just toned it down for Kaneki's sake. His contact was limited to hair ruffles and cheek pinching or the occasional punny pick up line.
And Kaneki didn't know why he felt like Hide shouldn't like it--it wasn't like either of them were unattractive or hard to tolerate. It just--it felt like if he didn't do something soon, then he'd have to join the stupid date Hide competition that suddenly ran in his family.