the haunting of josuke higashikata's lover [josuke x ghost!reader x rohan]

fate [FINAL]

Rohan Kishibe's first gray hair appeared in the spring of 2000. He fretted over whether he should dye his entire head of hair black or let it begin to salt and pepper, to which you said, "Let it turn gray. It'll be a reminder of how much I owe you." He hated that more than anything else. But he'd listen, and let it grow into a messy color that stood as a symbol for what he'd sacrificed.

It was worth it, he thought, in the very end. Trading sixteen years of his life to reinstate yours was the best decision he'd ever made. Yet it remained the most painful. He couldn't look at news articles about you without feeling a twinge of agony stab another piece of his heart out, but he did so anyways out of sheer curiosity on just what the media thought occurred.

Missing Girl Returns!
Mysterious Disappearances End with Good Fortune!
High School Student Comes Back From the Dead!

Every headline read the same, in essence. As did the articles themselves. One couldn't reveal to the community the existence of stands without causing a ruckus, and you were well aware of that. Your intuitiveness was one of the reasons he admired you as much as he did.

Heartbreak was something he'd never quite experienced until Winter of 2002, when you came home from a university in Tokyo with a flashy engagement ring that's shine flickered in the sunlight, and a baby bump that called for a shotgun wedding. Josuke wasn't patient, so Rohan could easily see how eager he'd get in starting a life with you. He himself would want the same thing.

"Hey, Rohan... It's been a while, hasn't it?" You wore a sincere yet bleak smile when you came to visit him after half a year in the big city for school. You were swelling with an alleged bundle of joy that he could estimate was about five months along— just after you left Morioh. Rohan stood by the "Josuke isn't patient" statement.

"It has, [name]. Come in, and I'll make tea." He ushered you out of the cold and into the lovely recreated parlor room of his favorite movie, and you unzip your coat that was nearly bursting at the zipper anyways. Broke and pregnant college students couldn't afford to buy a new coat just for their growing bellies.

"Here." Rohan announced his presence after a long spell of silence other than sounds from him stirring about in the kitchen. You're settled into the cushy armchair by yourself while balancing your head on your chin, dozing off in the warmth of his home. The scene was picturesque. It made him want a do-over, so that he could be the one fathering your child and making you tea everyday while you rested comfortably in his living room. It made more sense that way—

"Thank you," You opened your eyes to a middle-aged Rohan who was stuck in the moment, but he wouldn't bother to mention his feelings. Causing distress for a pregnant girl nearly half his age wasn't what he wanted. Especially if it happened to be you. "Are you... holding up okay? How is your health?" Each time you paid him a visit you'd follow with the same set of questions. Rohan knew you were doing what you could to care without overstepping boundaries... but the routine checkup seemed fake and redundant. He was in as good of shape as a thirty-nine year old Japanese man could be. He didn't drink at all anymore because it gave him bad acid reflux until he went to bed, and his wrists started aching earlier on in his bursts of working than they once did. He was living, albeit with handicaps. It was a sacrifice he'd been willing to make at one point in his life, if only to be rewarded with the situation he found himself in now.

"I'm fine."

"Are you really? You never seem like it. Why did you put Pink Dark Boy on hiatus for the month?" You were still reading his manga. An unexpected revelation, but perhaps it was out of guilt.

"It's the holidays."

"That's never stopped you before." You carefully handled your teacup with your slender fingers, the sapphire engagement ring haunting Rohan's vision when he laid eyes on your hands enveloping the delicate china. An emerald had always suited you better.