☆Tokyo Debunker☆ [imagine]

RUI TR

(I will start a series called Toothrot(TR) for ghouls I REALLY like. They will basically be either short scenarios or headcannons. Requests are allowed but depending on how much i like the ghoul, i'll decide whether i'll write for them or not. There was a request not too long ago by @MelonSour_ for a Rui and reader with no angst or sad ending. I just so happen to like Rui a fair bit, so I'm like: might as well.

Also, he's uncursed for this whole chapter!!)

You shuffled around the bed of fresh linen that carried the smell of floral detergent, grunting softly as you reached for your phone on the night stand.

4:30 a.m.

In Obscuary, there was no telling what the exact time was if not for a clock of sorts.The room still looked as dark as the night before, only illuminated dimly by a mushroom-shaped lamp that sat at the far corner of the room where Rui's desk was.

Your boyfriend, as far as you could tell, was still sleeping soundly beside you with his back turned. He must've shifted away during the night. You opened your eyes just enough to adapt to the mellow light as you moved closer to him, planting your face into the crook of his neck and curling your arm around his waist. There was a sharp inhale and a groan at the unfamiliar hold, before the ghoul shot up to a seated position, pulling himself away.

It didn't matter that it had been a whole month since his curse was broken, Rui still hadn't gotten used to it.

His lazy-lids pried wide open at the realisation–he'd done it again.

Rui dipped his head, burying his face into his palm, feeling the odd sensation of his skin and hair against the back of his hand. After years of getting used to wrapping himself from neck to toe, he felt so unsafe without his gloves, so bare in a t-shirt, and so dangerous around those others, mainly you. And you weren't someone he'd ever want to gamble with death.

"Sorry, MC, I...-"

A sigh cut his own speech off. There were no excuses anyway, he just didn't trust himself, nor the fact that a curse that haunted him for years, could so simply be broken with a wish.

You had no reason to sacrifice that for him, yet no one could stop you when you did.

That time, there still wasn't any confirmation on your own curse's antidote. You had done so out of pure goodwill, and what he later found out to be a mutual feeling of love. Nevertheless, he knew the other ghouls scolded and mocked you for being so utterly foolish, giving away quite literally your only source of hope to a renowned player like him. For that, he will forever be grateful but it also came with the heavy feeling of never being able to repay you.

He remembered begging the young doctor on his knees multiple times, getting kicked out and then scratching at the clinic's door with the same desperate cry. Alas, Yuri figured Rui's unstoppable resolve and incessant whining was only going to cost him not only his office door but also his ears. After many rounds of having Jiro shove him away, only to have him crawl back by any means, the doctor picked up the project again.

Only then, were you able to lie so soundly beside him today. Yet, even after all that trouble, Rui can't even afford to return a hug without flinching. He was so pathetic. Tears threatened to spill but he felt something warm gently rest on his hand, another on his cheek.

"Don't apologise. It's not your fault. It never was."

You knew there was no way you could rush Rui to recover from this. It was something only he could fix. After all, you weren't the one that had to suffer with the curse of death's touch for years, watching everything you brush past with bare skin lose every bit of life wasn't just going to erase itself from the mind so quickly. So you pulled the sobbing ghoul in, laying his head against your chest like you always did.