When He Returns

Summary: Slight AU. Ayato returns from the underground city a day after Touka and Kaneki got married. Hinami tells him about what he missed, and Ayato tries to cope.
word count: 1029
Pairing: Ayahina
Notes: This is actually 1:30 am in the morning for me, I stayed up writing this, sorry if there are mistakes! Also I’ve might been wrong… on technical manga things, but bear with me, I just caught up a while ago.I kind of like how it turned out.

It’s 1am in the morning.

He enters from the window. There aren’t any curtains or anything conceal the room he enters, but he guesses that is the entire idea of the place, hidden in plain sight. Not that anybody would actually look for something in here. Most humans despise the 24^th ward, and believe it to be nothing but ruins. Nothing to look at.

For Goat members, though, this is currently home. Although Ayato can’t help but think that they deserve better, the children, his sister, Hinami… it was still, the only place they could go to. He already saw Hinami’s sleeping form on the bed from outside the window. Well, she was sleeping when he just entered. But the noise probably steered her awake. Even in her dreams her senses were as sharp as a knife.

“….Ayato kun? You’re back.”

A hazy smile graced her face. She was still half asleep, he thinks. He still liked her smile, though; the last time she spoke to him alone she was crying, about her parents, because of that woman Goat took in. Ayato wasn’t sure how to comfort her, then. It made him feel a bit helpless, but now that he completed his expedition in the underground he felt a bit better. That he did something important. Maybe he should tell her about what he found out first. Hinami occasionally read adventure stories – maybe she would like to hear about his own adventure.

“Yeah, I am.” He walks and sits on the edge of the bed, her eyes following him. He wants to stay awake, to talk to her a bit. She always helped him relax, and although every muscle in his body is aching, wanting to rest already, he also wants to feel light again, without any heavy weight on his shoulder, something that’s keeping him on edge from start to finish of any mission he’s done.

“You missed a lot, you know.” She giggles. He squints. Hinami almost never giggles. It seems like she’s baiting him to ask her, not continuing the sentence like that. It fits Hinami, she likes the suspense.

“…What did I miss?” He asks carefully. Honestly, he does not know if he wants to learn the answer, but Hinami’s hand is hovering above her mouth, trying to hide her smile, and he knows that it will be worse if he’s left in the dark.

“Onee-chan and Onii-chan got married. Yesterday.”

Ayato, who has been holding the edge of the bed from the minute he sat on it, suddenly clutched it so hard the framing slightly cracked. And Hinami continued smiling, although her smile turned sympathetic, in a way.

“…That half assing, asshole of a bastard…!” He almost shouts, and is already ready to run out of the room to Kaneki and give him the same beating Ayato himself got four years ago. The minute he stands up, though, Hinami grabs a hold of his hand, intertwining their fingers.

He looks back at her, and she shakes her head. “Ayato, please.”

With Hinami calling him by his name, without any suffixes, he sits back down on the bed. His hand is clenching on her own, as if trying to form a fist through it, and he’s biting on his own lips to not curse loudly. He was looking at the dirty, greyish wall of the room, trying to not think about anything. He knows his anger won’t help anything, but he can’t help but be angry.

“Ayato, just tell me. It’s okay to be mad.” She says, as comforting as ever, as she’s getting closer and sitting herself right next to him. Ayato sinks his head into her shoulder, nuzzling slightly against it and the longest strands of her pretty brown hair.

“…He made her wait so much, Hinami. He made her wait ever since I was fifteen. He left her for so long and she just… waited. Not long ago, I had to call him out myself about this. He doesn’t even realize what he’s doing. And now, they got married? While I wasn’t even here? I don’t know how I feel about this. If he just did it to eventually make her wait on him, again, from any reason… I’m going to lose it.”

Hinami caressed his head, her hand running through his wild hair lightly. It was comforting, even if she was met with tangled hairs every here and there. She freed the tangles gently, just as she did when she tried to help him through every problem he had.

“Most of us were surprised. Onii-chan just said they got married and Tsukiyama planned out a rushed wedding. But, Ayato… Onee-chan, she’s really happy. I really do think, that they both wanted it for themselves, because they wanted to be husband and wife. As a husband and wife, they trust each other. What you call ‘making her wait’ is what she calls ‘believing he will return.’ I know, you don’t want her to be hurt anymore… But Onii-chan, he feels the exact same.” She spoke softly. Ayato decides to hug her as she spoke. He doesn’t lift his head; his eyes are slightly teary.

They stayed like that for a few more minutes, until Ayato finally breathed deeply and exhaled, relaxing himself against Hinami, finally noticing how stiff his body was through the entire ordeal.

“He’s still an asshole.” He finally says, laying down on the bed while dragging Hinami with him in his embrace. “And I don’t think he deserves her. Not yet at least.” He says, pouting into Hinami’s shirt slightly. The bitter taste in his mouth is not fully gone, but he’ll bear with it, for his sister’s happiness. He himself has to redeem himself to her, anyway.

“It was sort of mean not to wait for you to return… That first part is kind of true, in that aspect.” She laughs, holding onto his head while Ayato’s hair grazed her nose. Ayato let a sincere smile form on his face, and he moved his head so he could look at her in the eyes.

His smile turned to a grin.

“Whatever, he’s not invited when I’ll marry you.”