I looooooove Rio.

“Do you seriously not recognize your old friend?” Furuta throws back his head and laughs. 

Shikorae babbles something incomprehensible and staggers forward. 

“Nothing?” Furuta shakes his head. “How does jail sound? Jail did this to him. Jail did this to himself, actually. How ironic.” 

“Rio?” Kaneki hesitates. He looks horrified. 

Shikorae chirps in response.

“Uh, Kaneki?” Touka frowns.

“Rio, your name is Rio. Not Shikorae.” Kaneki’s ire blossoms. Why would Eto do this to him? 

“I’m bad,” whispers Rio.

All Kaneki wants is to flee, flee like he fled the Quinx, like he fled Anteiku.

So he knows what he must do. 

“You’re Rio, my friend. You’ve never been bad.” Kaneki grabs Rio and draws him into a hug.

“Heh?” Rio is confused, but he likes the feeling of warmth from Kaneki’s hug.

Touka watches them with a smile. As long as he likes hugs, there’s hope. 

———————————————

One year later

“I have not had enough coffee to do this shift,” Rio complains. “I need coffee to keep up with their coffee demands!” 

“Don’t let Touka hear that.” Kaneki slides a cup towards Rio with a smile.

Rio smiles back. He grips the cup like it’s a hug. “I didn’t have any bad dreams last night.”

“I’m so glad.” 

Rio puts the finished cup down and surprises Kaneki by initiating a hug. “Thank you for not giving up on me.”