You found Uta in the workshop early the next morning. You were reigning in your frustrations with his behavior and replacing it with the curiosity of how far he had gotten on Kaneki's mask.

"Uta," you called, crossing your arms as you stood in the doorway.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" he questioned, not glancing up from stitching the leather fabrics together.

"It's ten in the morning."

Uta halted his work and looked at you expectantly for your chastising, but it didn't come. You simply sighed and walked in the room toward him. The darkness under his black and red eyes bothered you, but you knew you couldn't turn back the clock and make him rest those hours.

"How far did you get?" you asked instead, examining the table with different materials and colors that he was experimenting with.

"The design is done, I'm just searching for the right shade of black and correct leather palette," Uta answered, abandoning his focus on the task and turning in his chair to you. He laid a hand on the small of your back and your hand went to his opposite shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"It's not okay," you said firmly but with that undertone of shyness you were accustomed to. With Uta, it was hard to assert dominance when speaking. "You need to sleep, and I know you love your projects, but you barely get more than four days of rest a week."

Uta let out a breath then put his forehead against your stomach. You brought your hand up to run your fingers through his ponytail just as a knock was heard from the front door.

"I'm tired," Uta mumbled.

"Shower, nap, and I'll get the groceries," you said, leaning down and pecking his lips, feeling the cold metal of his bottom piercing against your mouth.

You both strolled out of the workshop and he headed to the door that led to the apartment upstairs while you went to the front door. You opened it and towering over you with a cooler in his hand was Renji Yomo. He was a scary man, but with the many encounters you've had and with Uta nearby, you were more confident.

"Hey, how are you?" you asked, taking the handle of the cooler as he passed it to you.

"As good as can be expected," Renji answered gruffly. "You and Uta should come down to Itori's after closing tonight. I'm bringing Kaneki; I want him to get more acquainted with the ghouls."

You smiled, ignoring the weight of the icebox. "Yeah, that sounds great."

"Have a good day, and tell Uta to stop letting his girlfriend open doors while he's not around. Bad things could happens, especially in these parts," he warned lightly.

"Thanks, Renji," you replied as he began to stride away and closed the door, locking it afterward.

The shop was closed on Saturdays and you hoped none of those unwelcomed visitors would arrive anytime soon. You headed up to the apartment with the heavy cooler and eventually set it in the bathroom where Uta was showering. You made him eat his meals in there since you didn't like cleaning blood from the carpets and it was easier if it went down the drain.

You watched the news in your sweats as you waited for Uta and saw the commotion about ghouls, gluttony, and the CCG. They never reported on humans' crimes as if they never committed any and were absolute saints, which only began to anger you, so you switched the screen to a movie.

Uta joined you with his shirtless chest on display and only wearing a pair of those special harem pants. You marveled in the sight of the water droplets dabbing his skin and grinned wider as you spotted the small outlining of a heart he got tattooed on his forearm for you.

Uta laid on the couch with his head in your lap as your feet were planted on the coffee table and you were slouching into the cushions.

"We're going to Helter Skelter after closing," you said, caressing the side of his face.

"Okay," Uta whispered sleepily as he drifted off to unconscious bliss.

You stayed awake to watch the movie, but after it was over, you wanted to do something. Gingerly, you removed Uta from you and glanced at his beautiful sleeping form as he rolled over and was on his back with an arm trapped behind his head.

You went and retrieved your supplies, then sat on the coffee table and started drawing Uta in the non-creepiest way imaginable. You got every tattoo, piercing, and dip in his skin as you continued to glide your pencil over the page until it was completed another hour later.

After putting away your own sketchbook, you ran errands in town while there was still daylight, cleaned the apartment and HySy, etc. It was getting late when Uta finally got up from his slumber and the two of you got ready to go to Helter Skelter.

♡♡♡

Uta put on his sunglasses before you went to the bar. You walked down the dark streets with his arm cautiously over your shoulder and you knew whenever a ghoul walked by because he would pull you closer into his side.

"No one's going to snatch me away from you, Uta," you said.

"Take no risks with ghouls. Some think they're funny," he responded, shifting his head around the empty street.

You turned down an alleyway and Uta opened a rusted steel door. Both of you entered the dimly lit bar and were greeted by Itori. You sat next to her and Uta took up the other seat by you, slipping his glasses in his pocket to reveal his kakugan.

"I'm ready for some alcohol after dealing with him all day," you told her.

Itori laughed. "Coming right up, sweetheart. I can imagine how hard it must be being around him constantly."

"I slept all day," Uta said, annoyed.

"Exactly." You bumped your shoulder with his. "I had to do all the errands because you wouldn't stop working last night."

Itori presented two glasses of scotch--alcohol being one of the only three human drinks ghouls could consume next to coffee and water. Itori got a rum coke for herself and the three of you discussed the CCG until Renji and Kaneki arrived.

"So you're the famous Kaneki," Itori said as he sat next to her. "I'm Itori and this is my bar. Geez, kiddo, lighten up."

"H-hi," Kaneki stuttered.

"Don't worry, we won't bite you," she added.

"S-so have you guys known each other long?" Kaneki questioned conversationally.

"Long enough to be stuck with each other, but Uta and Ren here weren't always on the best of terms," Itori explains. Uta downs his glass and you put your hand over his. "Because of them, the fourth ward was even more of a shit hole than it is now."

"But we've move passed those days, haven't we?" Uta commented.

"Yeah, I guess," Renji said with a shrug. "Wasn't there something you wanted to tell him, Itori?"

"Oh! I almost forgot," she exclaimed. "I wonder if the other one-eyed ghoul is anything like you."

"There's another one?" Kaneki asked frantically.

"First, let me ask you something," Itori said. "If (Y/N) and Uta decided to have a baby, what would you get?"

"Really?" you muttered, folding your arms and laying your head on the counter in an attempt to escape the embarrassment you suddenly felt.

"A hybrid of the two," Kaneki guessed.

"What you get is a corpse."

"What?" he whispered in bewilderment.

"Even if they managed to conceive, the child would be too weak to survive, but there are the miraculous few who beat the odds and give birth to an ankle-biter," Itori informed, sipping from her glass.

"To clarify for you, neither Uta nor I want children anyway. We already discussed it, so if you're thinking that, don't," you said timidly.

"Are you sure? I could give you bedroom tips," Itori responded.

"I think that's enough social interaction for one day," Uta said, intertwining your hands and getting off his stool with you following suit.

"Leaving already?" Itori whined.

"We have to finish Kaneki's mask and tons of other orders," you said smoothly, even though you just wanted to get home.

"Goodbye, friends," Uta said, putting on his sunglasses and leaving the bar with you. "You lie too easily."

"It just popped in my head," you replied giddily.

"That's my girl."

"How do you see at all with those glasses? I mean, even with your eyes..."

Uta smirked as he rarely did. "Ghoul secrets," he whispered.

You moved and hugged his torso as you walked the abandoned road. "I'd love to learn them."

"Is that so?" he challenged.

You nodded, smiling wider, but it didn't last long when out of nowhere, two men jumped out of the shadows, each with knives. You tensed and Uta remained stoic, pulling you as close as he could with his arm protectively around you. You both were standing in the middle of the street with only the lamps lighting the way.

"Give us your money and nobody gets hurt," one man commanded. His words were slurred.

"No," Uta said lazily.

"No?" the other said, jamming his knife in my direction. "You don't want anything to happen to her, do you?"

Your grip on the back of Uta's shirt tightened, and when he felt it, he grew livid on the inside of these punks thinking they could threaten you and that you were frightened. He hated nothing more than when you were uncomfortable.

"Of course not," Uta answered playfully, bringing up a hand and raising his glasses, revealing the black depths hidden behind them, "but if you don't get lost, something will happen to you."

The men screamed loudly and dropped their knives as they ran off into the darkness like pathetic thugs. You sighed in relief.

"Are you all right, darling?" Uta questioned gently, putting a hand on the side of your face.

"Yeah," you mumbled. "Let's just get home."