I gravitate towards aspec takes, but lately I've been into the idea of an allo ghoul Kaneki, who has a lot of anxiety about dating humans, and a good while after Hide finds out he's a ghoul and accepts him, they're talking and Hide goes on one of his typical "I accept you" speeches — except something about his wording hits hard in a way it hasn't before, and Kaneki realizes that Hide doesn't just accept him in passing or despite being a ghoul, but truly and entirely as he is, and sudden the floodgates open and his heart swells and Kaneki realizes...
Oh. Oh hold up... he likes Hide.
...He likes Hide?! When did that happen?! Has he been... repressing this?!
Like, he leans more towards being attracted to humans than ghouls, but safely dating a human and having it work out long-term had been a pipe dream so he never bothered. It's just been this pure fantasy for all his life.
And in this moment he just... goes through this little checklist and realizes that Hide in fact... hits all of his standards...
Knows he's a ghoul ✅
Accepts him as a ghoul ✅
Easy on the eyes ✅
Nice, friendly, kind ✅
Patient, respectful ✅
Intelligent ✅
Bonus Points: Already have a connection ✅
And Kaneki just has to sit there with with his heart racing and pretend to be normal and like he doesn't really wanna kiss him right now.
(And then Hide finds out and laughs heartily and finds it adorable and flattering and kisses him the end.)
