Summertime Madness | Tokyo Ghoul One Shots | Requests?

Part | Arima X Reader

"Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love."

- George Eliot

 Request by 

As Arima set his chest down onto the floor, a pair of arms encircled him from the back. He smiled all-knowingly, a mile away from his usual cold demeanor to others. He swiftly removed his gloves and then warmly gently covered the icy cold hands that were on his waist with his hands. His rough skin grazed against the soft smooth skin that seemed so brittle like porcelain that he was so afraid to use any strength at all.

" Senpai, welcome home," a soft but sweet voice called out, drifting in the air ever so quietly with this gentleness in it. Arima's smile widened as he replied, " I'm home my sweet love." If someone could even see him now, they would have been so shocked by how different he was. How he was so careful and warm with so much love in his bright smile compared to his daily rock-hard emotionless face that didn't even flinch when blood splattered over his clothes.

" How's my love today?" Arima chuckled, patting the hands and then turning around to pick up the casing from the glass table. Opening the 'Monday' cover, he nodded in approval and then turned back, a small grin playing on his lips as the hands started to slowly take off his coat from his shoulders lightly. 

" I'm completely fine you know," the sweet and soft voice rang in the air like a melodious bell chiming, and Arima found himself swirling in the depths of this uncontrollable feeling of impulse. " I know, but I just want to make sure." he replied, before he pressed the cup against his lips, water running down his throat.

" You changed again. Another one?" the voice called out from the kitchen. Arima knew for a fact that she was probably doing the laundry again, aware of his work even though he never really told her. Every single time he dirtied his shirt, he made sure to take a shower and change out of it to trash it before returning home. He didn't want to leave anything up to chance. The risk of that filthy blood polluting this clean and pristine environment was too high and he didn't want her exposed to all of that. 

Pure.

He wanted her to stay pure.

" Yeah. " He replied shortly, settling down onto the couch while he fought with his headache, fingers pressed against his temple. He felt the cold fingers slightly pressing down against his temple and let his fingers take a break, feeling the depression in the couch right next to him. Eyes closed, he continued to smile, a smile that was isolated in bliss and warmth. 

-

" You know he can't go on like that right?" Haise Sasaki commented, Akira Mado's eyebrows furrowing and her fingers tapped onto the table.

" He's been like that ever since - " Akira Mado sighed, " You know." 

" It's a psychological thing isn't it? Ever since she left." Haise Sasaki realised, staring at the screen knowingly while the camera flickered for a second. He had sensed that something inside Arima had changed ever since that day, but he wasn't sure what it was. He knew now.

There was this isolation and denial.

" He's trapped. That's for sure." Akira Mado said before getting out of her seat and grabbing a drink out of the vending machine outside of the room. As she opened the cap, the drink fizzled a little and then died down, but she continued to stare at it. 

That's how life was right?

How everything seems to be so exciting and wild for sure at the start but suddenly everything seems to become dull and boring. How each one of them keeps packing up their things and leaving, never caring to turn back to look at the ones that are left to handle the mess. 

The regret and the fear.

The anger and the hate.

The denial and the grief.

She still remembered how she saw your face as you laid in bed, so silently and still as if you were a porcelain doll that everyone was too afraid to shatter in fear you would just disappear.

How you turned to smile all of a sudden, lips parting as you beckoned her over. 

She had purposely bought a new shirt and sanitized it over again just so 'nothing else would get to you' according to Arima as he glared at her previously when she mentioned visiting.

" Mado-san, please take care of that man called Kishou Arima for me. Thank you very much." you whispered, voice hoarse as if someone had scratched a car with their keys.

" Please don't say that! I- I- I'll try my best!" Akira Mado looked at you and shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She wasn't used to see you like this. This was a different kind of frail. This was the kind of frail that she was so familiar with. That lingering sense of dead air that even she could feel wrapping around her, its grip tight around her throat.

Arima stepped in, sitting on the bed while he held you in his embrace, hands on your stomach. "Kishou Arima. You know I love you right?" You pouted teasingly at the sight of him even though that look of loneliness and desperation was evident in your eyes. Akira Mado knew from that look in your eyes that you never wanted to leave this man who treated you as the only one. 

Arima's eyes twinkled brightly as he kissed your forehead and cheek.  " See, next year, you'll have a baby and then I'll be a dad while you're the mom. Alright? We'll walk hand in hand together and I can help you dye your hair when you start to have grey hair. " Arima chuckled as you lightly hit him playfully, his smile so uniquely warm and bright just for that special someone in his life that he loved with all his heart. 

You.

Sitting in the corner, Akira sobbed, her soda drink already spilling onto the seat as it toppled over. The juice gushed out from the bottle mouth, and then the flow decreased, dripping drop by drop onto the floor into the puddle.

"Mado-san! Arima's awake!" Haise Sasaki's voice called out from the room and Akira Mado wiped away her tears, sniffling up before she took one last glance at her soda drink and its empty bottle.

" Coming!" She replied, and then calmed herself down, walking down the empty aisle.

-

I understand that some don't understand this (I didn't want to spoil it at first and leave it up to you guys to figure it out)

But I couldn't live with myself.

Like how Arima can't live without you.

So.

Basically,

You've left Arima because you'd a terminal illness.

Every time Arima comes back home, he still sees you, even though you're only a figment of his imagination.

Because he can't, he can't live without you.

That's why it hurts so much to the point he hallucinates. 

That every time he comes back home, he still checks the medicine box to see that it's empty (that you ate your medicine) even though it's been empty ever since you were gone.

Mado and Haise can't see you, but they know of his condition so they're monitoring him to make sure he doesn't go out of control.