i go by kay, follows/interactions from avarkriss (my main is sw hell and no one needs to be subjected to that unless you want to be)
i'll link things here for easy nav/finding. feel free to say hi, i love making new friends even though i am very shy đ be warned you will be given an affectionate nickname that is always meant in the most gender neutral way possible
nothing on this blog or my main is safe for minors - please respect this or get the big block button
denial is a river (my love is an ocean): the legally required dewdrop transition slow burn angst-fest but it ends with so much joy i promise
drowning is another kind of baptism: DIR2, the phantom story
money, cigarettes, power, fame: stripper rain in a bunny outfit, need i say more?
Fics
burning, yearning: pussy so good rain turns into a monster
part 2 and 3 in progress
inspo for ma'am kink rainy wip
beneath a crown of silk and sweat: rain/dew/phantom threeway during a full moon celebration after dew has a little oopsie with his wine glass (aka ma'am kink rainy)
Early Relationship Raindrop Midwestern Emo Ghouls AU: Rain and Dew are trying to enjoy a nice game of pool when a preacher from a few towns over barges in and makes an unscrupulous bet. Rain teaches him a thing or two :)
nothing rusts in the desert; life is short, enjoy more dry humping (RainDrop) now with part two: the air is full of ghosts - bathtime (with a handjob)
quantum entanglement: Phantom has a craving, and Omega has the cure
where want becomes wordless: Phantom gets wrecked by Rain and Dew and the sweet tang of liquor (aka baby's first body shot); and hunger becomes holy: part two, electric boogaloo, 12.5k of phantom getting rocked six ways to sunday ;; now with "prequel" Unresolved Feelings (and a Semi) aka baby's first ritual aka Phantom is flexible and Dew needs to be blown about it
How many circuits can I fry? belltom oral fixation go brrrrrr
palpable response: omega/aether, heavy on the med fet
Princess Protocol: rain/dew/phantom; the holy trinity of quintosis, come, and crying (plus rain's tits)
Incalescence: dollification; rain/dew/phantom
ad mejorem dei gloriam: DewTom blasphemy and blood
full service vampire: vampire!dew and trans rain on his period
Banana!Verse
can you feel me longing for you, forever: Earth and Air kit adoption story
all those things that you desire: how charon came to be, and the aftermath that followed
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Summary: In which everyone is fully composed, thank you. Dew is fine. Bell is unbothered. Rain still isn't thinking about anything. It's good for business.
Warnings: mutual pining and idiocy, emotional constipation, cold showers (literal), masturbation, fantasizing, unresolved sexual tension, oh no, and he might've gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling ghouls, workplace shenanigans
Song: Little Death (slowed/reverb) by The Neighborhood
a/n: rip tumblr at least we have ao3. i love that this website crashes whenever i decide to run my mouth... maybe i should take that as a sign... nah. have fun watching dew lose every last shred of dignity!
¡ ¡ ¡ â 𼸠¡ đš ¡ 𼸠â ¡ ¡ ¡
It's barely six.
The apartment is dark in the way Dew likes it â the long living-room windows untreated, the city outside doing its easy blue pre-dawn thing stories below, the kettle on the induction burner already starting its quiet climb. He has nowhere to be for three hours. He's given himself nowhere to be for three hours. He'd built the morning around a slow start to the week, the assumption underneath being that the ghoul using the morning would be a reasonable party.
The ghoul, however, is not.
The jacket is on the hook by the door.
He hasn't gone within four feet of it since hanging it there. He has, in fact, been so deliberate about not going near it that he's caught himself rerouting through his own apartment, taking the long way to the kitchen, the long way back.
He clicks the burner off, pours the water and stands at the counter with both hands flat on the marble, a small thread of steam coming off his cup and a small thread of something else coming off the back of his neck. He made tea instead of espresso, which should have been a warning.
He doesn't look at the hook.
He knows what's in the breast pocket of the jacket. He folded it himself.
Quarters.
He picks up the tea and drinks it without sitting down.
He is, and this is the professional diagnosis, catastrophically off his game.
The morning hasn't yet seen another ghoul. The morning hasn't yet seen sunlight. The morning has, technically, barely even contained morning.
He's already losing to it.
He sets the cup down and goes to take a shower.
The bathroom is all black stone, low warm sconces, a glass-walled shower the size of a small treatment room. He'd built it for steam and quiet. It has reliably delivered.
He runs the water hot.
He's a fire ghoul whose nervous system is nine clicks above operating range, and the direct route to a regulated baseline is more heat. Drive the temperature up until the body resets. It's how this works. It has always worked.
He steps in.
The water hits him and steam blooms thick around the glass and his shoulders come down a quarter inch.
For the first six seconds, it works the way it always does. His discipline finds its footing, his body remembers it has a job. He tips his head back and lets the water run hot down his throat and his sternum and his stomach and he tells himself, very calmly, that this is completely, totally, utterly â
His brain offers Rain.
No announcement. No slow phase-in. His brain just â produces him. Rain, on the table at Helion. Face down, the long line of his back exposed from waist to nape, the lamp warm on the cool grey-blue of his skin, Delta pressing into the knot high in his shoulder⌠the sound Rain made when it gave.
Dew's hand goes flat against the tile.
That sound is not something he should have memorized, and yet he has. He could reproduce it. The low chest-deep crack of mnh-fuck breaking apart in the middle of the word, the breathless little laugh after, embarrassed and unbothered all at once. The little 'sorry,' like Rain had been apologizing for showing Dew exactly what he sounded like when something locked finally gave in.
The water is very hot.
His body is still, somehow, hotter.
The scorched-sugar edge of him licks up off his shoulders into the steam, and the discipline he was counting on is not coming back online. It is, in fact, getting worse because the heat is reading as permission. The heat is his body going yes, this, go on, making it easier to think about Rain naked on a table and not harder.
Great.
He shuts the hot off and turns the cold all the way on.
The water goes cold in stages â warm, lukewarm, cool, cold. Dew braces his forearm against the tile and takes the first wave of it across his shoulders and gasps, because his body hasn't had water this cold on it in living memory, because fire ghouls don't voluntarily do this. The shock is enormous. The shock is also, for one merciful second, completely effective.
His brain goes white. His brain goes blank. He stands under cold water in his own shower and feels his heart rate drop and his thoughts go finally quiet and thinks there. There. Good.
Then his brain, helpfully, points out the temperature.
It points out, in a tone so neutral it borders on amused, that the water currently running across Dew's shoulders is roughly the temperature ofâ
Dew's eyes fly open.
Water ghouls run cool. A water ghoul's hand on a fire ghoul's skin feels like this. A water ghoul's mouth. A water ghoul lying on a fire ghoul, the long cool line of him pressed down the long hot line of himself, every inch of contact conducting clean â
Dew makes a sound against the tile.
It's a small involuntary punched-out fuck. He hears it leave his mouth and immediately presses his forehead to the cold stone and stays there.
The cold water keeps running.
He stays under it because the alternative is turning it off and seeing the jacket on the hook, and he knows himself. He knows exactly what he'll do the second he stops bracing against tile, and it will involve his own hand and a name he has been extremely careful not to think while doing this, and he is not â he is not â going to be the kind of ghoul who fucks his own hand in the shower thinking about an employee.
He's going to be the kind of ghoul who stands under cold water for another forty-five seconds and waits this out.
He waits it out badly.
He counts backwards from sixty in a language he hasn't spoken in a long time, forehead on the stone, cold running down his back, his other hand braced flat against the tile because if he lets it go anywhere else he will lose. He refuses to lose before nine in the morning, not over a phantom temperature he ran on himself.
He gets to seventeen before his brain delivers, unbidden and crystalline:
nice hands
He gets to four and turns the water off.
He stands in the shower dripping and breathing for a count he doesn't take. His body is calmer, technically, by every measurable physiological metric. Heart rate down. Core temperature down. The scorched-sugar edge mostly dissipated, scrubbed thin by cold.
What is not down, what has not dissipated and is in fact still extremely and inconveniently present â is the rest of him.
Dew looks down at himself.
"Oh, fuck off," he tells it.
It does not fuck off.
He gets out of the shower and towels off in a series of short irritated motions.
Fine. Fine.
This is a⌠logistics problem. Logistics problems have solutions. He'll apply the solution, he'll get dressed, he'll go to work, he'll conduct the rest of his morning like a functional ghoul, and he will do it all without thinking about anyone specific by name, face, sound, scent, or any other identifying feature. He is capable of this. He runs a business.
Several.
He hangs the towel and braces one hand on the edge of the counter and looks himself dead in the eye in the mirror â wet hair, jaw set, water still beading on his shoulders â and lays it out.
This isn't about anyone.
This is⌠hygiene.
His reflection looks unconvinced.
He closes his eyes. That helps.
The mirror was a tactical error. Eyes closed, he is just a ghoul in a bathroom doing a private maintenance task on a Tuesday morning, and there's no requirement he think about anything at all. He's going to think about literally anything else. The Helion procurement numbers, the disco-night cocktail menu Cumulus is drafting, the radiator click in his office, the lighting program in the salt corridor, or â
His hand moves.
He keeps his eyes closed.
He thinks about the radiator click. He thinks hard about the radiator click. The small reliable mechanical sound it makes when the building is empty, the way it punctuated yesterday, the â
The round bed.
The round bed comes up out of nowhere and lands in the center of his skull fully formed and he's suddenly, entirely against his will, against the explicit terms he laid out thirty seconds ago.
He's picturing Rain across the dark velvet, laid out, hands behind his head, the gold barbell at his stomach catching the overhead, one knee up, the other leg fallen open, looking up at the ceiling mirror with the unhurried appreciation of a ghoul who knows exactly what he looks like from above.
"No," Dew says, out loud, to nobody.
His hand has, regrettably, not received the memo.
He tries to course-correct. He tries to swap the round bed for literally any other surface in his apartment. He gets, briefly, the kitchen counter â so much worse â then his own bed â catastrophically worse â and his brain, apparently delighted to have his attention, discards both and goes back to the round bed because the round bed is where it wants to be, the round bed has the ceiling mirror, the round bed has â
The sound.
Of course it has the sound. His brain is not being subtle this morning. His brain has decided the round bed and the massage sound belong together, has spliced them together in his head, and now he is picturing Rain on the round bed making the low cracked-open unh â
Dew braces.
He keeps his eyes closed because opening them now would mean looking at his own face doing this, and he's not doing that on top of everything else.
His breathing has gone short. The scorched-sugar edge is back full strength, rising off his shoulders into the cool bathroom air. The cold shower has been fully defeated. The cold shower was a waste of plumbing.
The sound. He keeps coming back to the sound.
He tells himself, with the last operational lobe of his brain, that the sound is generic, what any ghoul makes when a knot gives, that it wasn't for him, it was for Delta, who actually had hands on him â
His brain offers Delta's hands and promptly swaps them with his own.
He gets very, very close.
His brain, gleeful, vicious, off the leash now, produces his name. Produces his name and slots it neatly in Rain's pretty mouth. His brain is giving him Rain on the round bed in the lounge looking up at the ceiling mirror and making that sound and saying Dew â
He comes with his forehead pressed to the cool stone of the counter and a sound in the back of his throat that he refuses, immediately and forever, to acknowledge.
The bathroom is very quiet after.
His breathing is loud in it.
He stands there stupid, is the thing. He stands there just â stupid. Eyes still closed, hand on the counter, whole body ringing with what just happened and no way he can pretend it didn't. He just came to a mental image of an employee saying his first name. In his own bathroom. Before seven in the morning on a Tuesday.
He opens his eyes and looks at himself in the mirror.
His reflection looks exactly as unconvinced as it did before he started.
"That," Dew tells it, "did not count."
His reflection says nothing.
It doesn't have to.
He gets dressed fast, because slow is worse. Underwear. Socks. The slacks, black, knife-creased, off the hanger and on in one motion. The shirt, black, second-from-the-left, the one whose buttons he can do without thinking. He tucks. He buckles. He cuffs the sleeves to the second fold, the way he always does, and by the time he's most of the way into a jacket-less approximation of himself he almost feels like he lives here again.
The collar pins are on the dresser.
He picks them up. Small gold lightning bolts. He weighs them in his palm for a beat and threads them through the points of his collar and turns toward the door.
The jacket is on the hook.
He has half a dozen jackets in the closet. He could take any of them. He could leave this one on the hook with the card in it and go to work in something else and not have a piece of cardstock against his ribs for the next twelve hours. That would be the sane play. That would be the play of a ghoul who has just had a productive conversation with himself in a mirror and made better decisions about the shape of his day.
Dew stands in his own kitchen looking at the jacket on the hook and understands, with a clarity that genuinely irritates him, that he is going to take this jacket.
Fine.
Fine.
He crosses to the hook, shrugs it on. He does up the buttons, steps into his shoes, picks up his keys. He does not put a hand to the breast pocket. He knows the card is still in it. He can feel it against his ribs, the small flat shape of it, exactly where he left it.
The card is showing only to him.
He pulls the door shut behind him with a low growl, locks it, and goes to work.
¡ ¡ ¡ â 𼸠¡ đš ¡ 𼸠â ¡ ¡ ¡
Dew comes in through the back.
Tempt is quiet. The shades on the avenue side are still down from the close, filtering the daylight down to amber. The bar is wiped. The chairs are still up on the tables in the front section. The back of house is doing the small things â the hum of the walk-in, the dishwasher running one belated cycle from the weekend, no music yet.
He has a perfectly serviceable office at Helion, quieter, less prone to interruption. He has his private office, larger and more familiar. He'd considered both options this morning while pulling his shoes on and something in him had said Tempt, firmly, without argument, and he'd stopped asking himself questions and taken the shorter walk.
The card against his ribs the entire way.
He is not going to examine why.
He climbs the stairs quietly and hangs his coat on the hook in his office. Sits at his desk, opens the folio that knows him better than any living thing.
He lets time⌠crawl.
Schedules for Tempt, schedules for Helion. New hires, a retirement package. Confirming physicals, staring out the window, doing everything in his power to forget the events of the morning.
It goes well, until a track kicks on downstairs at working volume. Slow disco bassline. He checks his watch. It's barely noon.
He gets through approximately eleven minutes of a supplier revision on the Helion linen order before his own brain betrays him.
Dew looks at his folio.
His folio looks back.
He'd been perfectly ready to spend the day up here. He is perfectly ready. He doesn't need to go downstairs. He's a functioning businessghoul with a linen supplier revision in front of him and a bottle of water at his elbow and absolutely no reason to leave his office.
He closes his eyes and then his folio and he goes downstairs.
He finds himself almost relieved to see that it's Aurora on the stage.
He'd be completely relieved, really, if there wasn't a nagging disappointment crawling up his throat.
Aurora's got the work lights up and a track running low. She's at the pole, mid-pass, the line of her body long and considered and visibly thinking.
The room is empty in front of her except for one occupied chair stage-right.
Phantom.
They have propped both feet up on the chair in front of them, phone face-down on their thigh, full attention on Aurora with the intent expression of a fight trainer in the corner of a ring.
"Toe," Phantom calls.
Aurora adjusts.
"Better. Hold it. Hold it."
Aurora holds.
"Yes, baby, that's exactly it!"
At the bar, Cirrus is leaning on her elbows, Cumulus tucked against her side with one arm slung loose around her waist. Neither of them is coaching from over there. Both of them are watching, but at a deliberate distance â the kind of distance you give a junior dancer being worked with by someone you mostly trust to do it right.
"Phantom," Cirrus says, mild, without looking away from the stage. "You're not allowed to make her routine weird."
Phantom puts a hand to their own chest.
"Excuse me."
"You heard me."
"I'm being responsible."
"You're being Phantom," Cirrus says, and Cumulus snorts into her water.
"I'll have you know I have not made one single inappropriate suggestion in nine minutes."
"That's the longest you've gone in your life."
"I'm growing."
Aurora lets the line go and dismounts in a slow controlled slide, landing on bare feet slightly out of breath. She tucks her hair behind her ear with the small embarrassed motion of a ghoul who has just heard herself praised twice in the last twenty seconds. "I'm not â it's the third pass, I'm still finding it â"
"You're finding it well," Cirrus says, calm. "Run it again from the top."
Aurora nods and waits for Cumulus to restart her track.
Dew has stopped at the back of the room.
He hadn't meant to stop. He'd meant to walk through, exchange the appropriate number of nods, conduct a perfectly normal Tuesday. He stopped because Aurora is, in fact, doing better than well, and the small clean warmth that lands in his chest is, frankly, a relief after the morning he's had. Something in him that isn't compromised.
Something he can look at directly.
He watches her run the pass with his folio held against his chest and lets it sit. A real minute of being a ghoul who runs a club and is happy with his roster. No spiral. No card. No itch. Just the floor working the way he wants it to.
He almost makes the full minute.
Then his eye, entirely against his explicit instructions, slides toward the back hallway.
It's a small motion. Less than a glance. Anyone in the room could have missed it, would have missed it, did miss it â except Phantom, who notices everything, who has been on the receiving end of a hundred of these looks and has stopped counting, and who â without breaking eye contact with Aurora on the stage â says:
"Rain's upstairs."
Dew's whole face does not move.
"In the lounge," Phantom adds, helpfully. "Working out the new room. Been up there since I got here. Door's open."
"I wasn't â"
"I didn't say you were."
Phantom says it cheerfully without turning around.
Dew is left standing at the back of his own club with his composure listing several degrees to starboard.
"Your toe again," Phantom calls, mildly. "Perfect, baby. Hold it."
Bell appears at Dew's elbow.
Bell does this. Dew has stopped registering it as a surprise, but he has not stopped registering it as a condition â the change in atmospheric pressure that means Bell has decided something is about to happen to Dew's day.
Bell has a bottle.
He's holding it loose by the neck, the way you hold something you've already determined the weight of, and his face is doing absolutely nothing.
"Mister Delmere."
"Bell."
"Cumulus flagged a gap in the lounge bar setup over the weekend. Another vodka option, premium tier. The order came in this morning." He extends the bottle. "If you're heading back up."
Dew looks at the bottle. Looks at Bell.
Bell looks at Dew with the precise and untraceable neutrality of a ghoul who is, in fact, doing absolutely nothing right now and is offended at the implication that he could be.
"âŚRight," Dew says.
He takes the bottle.
He can't say no, Bell, you take it up. He can't say no, Bell, send anyone else. He can't say no, Bell, I'm specifically trying not to go up to the lounge right now without explaining why. Explaining why is the one thing he is incapable of doing because Bell would receive it with the same blank face he's currently wearing and file it under as previously suspected.
Bell nods once. "Thank you, sir."
"Mhm."
Phantom, on the chair, calls another toe correction.
Dew turns toward the back hallway with a folio under one arm and a bottle in the other hand and the growing suspicion that he has just been delivered.
¡ ¡ ¡ â 𼸠¡ đš ¡ 𼸠â ¡ ¡ ¡
Dew should stop at his office on the second floor because that's what a functional ghoul would do. Set the folio down, log the vodka in the lounge inventory, come back down after. That's the version of the next four minutes that involves the most stairs and the least amount of Rain.
He, of course, doesn't do any of this.
He keeps the folio in one hand and the bottle in the other and he turns for the lounge stairs. He doesn't examine any part of that decision either.
The music reaches him halfway up.
It's coming from the lounge, low and wrong somehow. A song slowed down past the point a song wants to go, every edge of it dragged soft. A man's voice somewhere inside the reverb, stretched so far the words have come apart. It sounds like the idea of a track, played underwater.
Dew slows on the stairs.
He could announce himself. There's a version of the next ten seconds where he says something from the hallway, clears his throat, and behaves like a ghoul who owns the building and not a ghoul sneaking up on it. That version is right there. Free. Available.
He doesn't do that, either.
He stops at the curtain instead, where the gap is, and he looks.
Rain has the room.
He's not dressed for it. Joggers slung low, a tank gone soft and shapeless with age, bare feet quiet on the floor he renovated. No collar. No rhinestones. None of the usual armor.
He's marking something out â Dew can see that much, can see it's work and not performance, the choreography taken down to half its speed and run without any of the shine on it. An arm going slow through a line. A turn started, stopped, started again. He's not selling anything. He's not even warm. He's just finding where the room wants him to be.
And that, Dew thinks, with the curtain edge caught between two fingers and his own pulse somewhere it shouldn't be â that is the problem.
He's watched Rain perform a dozen times. He's been aimed at. He knows what it is to be the thing Rain's body is pointed toward, and he's survived it (mostly) by understanding it as a transaction with the room.
This isn't that.
Nobody's being aimed at. Rain is alone, slow, unglossed, working a private craft in an empty room, and Dew is standing in the dark of the hallway watching him do it, and there is no transaction here to hide behind.
Just Rain.
Just the want, sitting in Dew's chest with no name on it and no excuse attached.
He should go.
The part of his brain responsible for good decision making didn't clock in today.
Rain crosses to the pole.
He walks the perimeter of it first. One hand trailing the brass, the contact light, almost incidental â the way a musician says hello to an instrument before asking anything of it. He's checking something. Tightness, maybe. Temperature. The pole has been sitting in the cold of the unheated lounge all weekend and he's letting his palm tell him about it.
Then he sets his feet.
The mount is unhurried. He doesn't jump it, doesn't haul. He just takes the pole, both hands, and the long lean line of his body lifts, ankles crossing neat at the brass, the whole motion costing him nothing visible. He hangs for a beat upside down, looking at the room from the wrong angle, head tipped back, throat exposed, considering.
Dew has stopped breathing in any organized way.
The bottle is warm in his hand. He hadn't realized he was holding it too tight.
It isn't, yet, the thing his brain wants to make it. It's good. It's elegant the way a sentence is elegant, structurally â every part doing exactly the work it was built for; no wasted motion, no announcement of effort. Rain's body lifts and pivots and the pole holds him and the whole thing happens at the speed the slowed-down song wants, which is barely any speed at all.
He rotates. One leg unfolds, finds a hook, settles. The other extends long into the air, toes pointed soft. He's not arched. He's just finding the line, adjusting a half inch, holding it, adjusting again, listening to what his body is telling him about the angle.
It must tell him something he doesn't like. He drops out of the hold, lands on bare feet without a sound. Walks the perimeter of the pole again.
Tries it again.
The second time the line is cleaner. He holds it longer. His head tips back further, the long pale line of his throat opening up to the ceiling mirror, and Dew's eye goes up, reflexively, the same coward's reflex as last time, the same safe-place lie.
The mirror gives him Rain a second time, from above, the slow rotation of him laid out flat against the dark of the ceiling.
Two of him.
This is, Dew realizes, becoming a recurring problem.
The thought is meant to be dry. It comes out worse than that â comes out somewhere closer to fond. The heat in his chest tips a degree further toward something he is not going to name, not in this hall, not while standing in the dark watching a ghoul who doesn't know he's being watched do something that isn't even for him â
Rain unhooks. Slides down the pole. Lands quiet.
He shakes out one wrist. Tips his head side to side, considering. Crosses to the speakers on bare feet to start the song over.
Dew should really leave.
His feet stay planted on the ground.
Rain restarts the song.
The slowed thing fills the room again, that underwater dragged-soft voice, the bass coming through the floor more than the air. He stretches one arm overhead. Then the other. Rolls his neck. Walks back to the pole.
Sets up for the mount again.
This time he's not testing. This time he's running it â the slow walk-in, the hands going to the brass, the lift that costs him nothing, the rotation, the leg unfolding into the hook. He holds the line. Holds it longer. His eyes close.
His eyes close.
Dew watches Rain dance with his eyes closed and feels something shift behind his sternum. Something he'd been operating, for a long time now, under the assumption he was done with.
He'd been wrong about that.
Rain's leg comes down. He dismounts in a slow controlled slide, the long line of his body unspooling against the brass, and his eyes open exactly as his bare feet touch the floor. He shakes out his shoulders. Considers the pole. Walks the perimeter again.
He's going to do it again.
He is going to run that line a third time and Dew is going to stand in this hallway and watch and there is no version of the rest of his afternoon in which he has not stood in the dark and watched Rain dance with his eyes closed and liked it and â
His phone buzzes.
It buzzes against his thigh inside his slacks pocket, the small mechanical hum of it absurdly loud in the slowed-song quiet, and Dew's whole body goes rigid because he knows, knows the second it starts, that the sound has carried.
Rain stops mid-step.
His head turns toward the curtain.
The phone buzzes again. And again. And again.
Not a notification, a flood â the staggered rapid-fire of a calendar tool dumping a queue of confirmations into his inbox one after another after another, each buzz a separate event, each event a booking, each booking a stranger.
Rain's eyes find the gap in the curtain.
Find Dew in it.
Dew, standing in the dark of his own hallway watching a ghoul on his own payroll do private work in a room he himself renovated, with a folio in one hand and a bottle of premium vodka in the other and a phone buzzing in his pocket that is currently announcing, in real time, that the room has just sold out for the next five weeks.
The phone buzzes a seventh time.
Rain raises one eyebrow.
"I â" Dew says.
He pushes the curtain aside because hiding behind it would be worse â a confession with fabric in front of it. He steps into the lounge with composure, a ghoul arriving somewhere on purpose, which he⌠is, technically. He's going to be extremely clear about that, he has a purpose to coming up here in the first place.
The purpose.
He'd had⌠a⌠purpose.
"I came up to â" His eyes do a fast desperate sweep of the room for a noun. They land on the bar setup. "â check the bottles."
Rain looks at him.
"The bottles," Rain repeats.
"Inventory." Dew's mouth has decided to keep going without consulting him. "For the bookings. I need to confirm the bar is â stocked. Appropriately. For the bookings."
His phone buzzes again. Eighth. He doesn't look at it.
Rain hasn't moved off the pole. He's standing with one hand still loose around the brass, hip cocked, head tipped, looking at Dew with the unhurried attention of a ghoul who's just watched the most controlled being he knows produce the word bottles under duress and has decided this is the best day he's had in weeks.
"You came up," Rain says, "to check the bottles."
"Yes."
"From the hallway."
"I â"
"You were checking the bottles," Rain says, "from behind the curtain. In the dark."
The phone buzzes. Ninth.
Dew, who has the vodka right there in his hand, who could, theoretically, just hold it up as a defense exhibit, doesn't.
Doing so would mean admitting that Bell handed him the vodka specifically to be walked up here right now, which would mean admitting Bell knew, which would mean admitting there was something for Bell to have known about. Dew has been in this room for approximately forty seconds and is already fighting a war on three fronts.
"It's a busy day," Dew says weakly.
Rain lets that sit. He lets it sit long, longer than is kind, the slowed song still dragging its soft underwater way through the speakers behind him. He doesn't stop looking at Dew, and Dew understands, standing there in his own tailoring with a folio pinned to his ribs and a bottle sweating in his palm, that Rain could say the true thing and is choosing not to.
That's almost worse.
"Mhm," Rain says, finally.
He pushes off the pole and crosses the room toward him, unhurried, bare feet quiet on the floor. Dew's nervous system briefs him with the calm professionalism of a ghoul reporting a fire.
He does not retreat. Retreating would also mean something.
Rain stops an arm's length away. Closer than colleagues. Not as close as the shuttle. He smells like clean sweat and the cold ghost of outside still in his hair, and he tips his head at the phone still buzzing against Dew's thigh.
"You gonna get that?"
Dew finally sets the folio down.
He pulls the phone out and the screen is a wall. A stacked column of confirmation banners, one on top of the next, the calendar tool's cheerful chime icon repeated down the whole display. He thumbs it open. The lounge calendar loads.
It's full.
Not full like a good night. Full like a month. The grid has gone solid â every available slot, claimed and confirmed and paid, five weeks deep, the white space he'd built into the schedule for sanitation turnover the only breathing room left on the page.
"Huh," Dew says.
"Yeah?"
"The lounge." He turns the screen briefly, then thinks better of showing Rain the specifics and turns it back. "It's. Booked."
"Already?"
"Opened the schedule this morning." His own voice sounds strange to him. "It's⌠booked. Through the end of next month."
Something flickers across Rain's face. Brief. Gone before Dew can read it, which is its own kind of information â Rain doesn't usually let things flicker. He covers it by glancing at the pole, then the bed, then the room at large. The room he was, ninety seconds ago, learning the bones of.
"Guess people want the new thing," Rain says.
"Guess so."
"That's good. For business." A beat. "Right?"
"It's very good for business," Dew says.
It is. It's extremely good for business. It's the single most successful product launch of his ownership and the numbers are going to make Mist do the thing where she almost smiles, and Dew is standing in the middle of his triumph holding the phone that proves it and feeling, distinctly, like he swallowed something cold.
Because the bookings have names attached.
He didn't read them. He turned the screen away before he could. But they're there, a column of strangers five weeks deep, and every one of them booked this room â the round bed, the ceiling mirror, the pole Rain just closed his eyes on â for sixty to ninety private minutes with a dancer of their choosing.
Rain is the headliner, and Rain is right here, and Dew built every part of this on purpose with his own two hands and his own signature and he cannot, for reasons he is also not going to examine, make the cold thing in his chest go away.
This isn't jealousy.
He wants to be clear with himself about that. It can't be jealousy, because jealousy would require a claim, and he has no claim. He⌠he doesn't want a claim. He wants â operational excellence. A safe room.
A profitable launch.
A happy headliner.
He wants Rain to not spend the next five weeks alone with strangers in the room Dew can't stop picturing him in.
For safety reasons.
"New boss."
He looks up.
Rain's expression has gone quiet and careful, and Dew realizes he's been silent for several seconds with his jaw doing something and the scorched-sugar smell of his own slipping control thick enough now that the water ghoul standing an arm's length away has definitely, definitely noticed it.
"You're burning," Rain says.
It's not a question. It's an observation, delivered flat, the way he noted that the lighting was wrong.
"It's warm in here," Dew says.
"It's not." Rain's eyes don't move off him. "Heat's barely on up here." A pause, unhurried, almost clinical. "That's you."
The scorched-sugar edge of him is, at this point, undeniable. There's no version of it's warm in here that survives a water ghoul standing close enough to read his actual temperature, and they both know it. Rain is just â letting it sit there. Not teasing. Not pushing. Holding the fact of it up to the light where Dew has to look at it.
That's you.
This is, Dew thinks, the most naked he's felt in his life, and he's fully clothed. The only thing Rain has done is correctly identify the ambient temperature.
He folds.
Not visibly â at least, he'd like to believe not visibly. He pockets the phone. Adjusts a collar pin and picks his folio back up.
"Bottles look fine," Dew says.
"You didn't check them."
"They look fine from here." He's already moving for the curtain. "Carry on. Good â the choreography. It's good."
He hears it leave his mouth. He can't recall it. It's good, the choreography, said by the ghoul who claimed under oath thirty seconds ago to have come up here for inventory and not, under any circumstances, to watch.
Rain says nothing.
Dew doesn't look back to find out what Rain's face is doing. Looking back would mean something and he's done enough meaning for one morning.
He pushes through the curtain and takes the stairs down at a pace that is not quite a retreat and lands in the empty second-floor landing with his heart going and the smell of his own control still clinging to him and a calendar in his pocket full of strangers and the bottle of vodka he was supposed to be delivering still in his hand.
He doesn't go back up.
He also does not, technically, complete the errand.
Bell's going to notice.
Bell is going to notice and Bell is going to say absolutely nothing about it, which is worse.
đĽ¸
Upstairs, Rain stands in the quiet a moment after the curtain falls.
The slowed song is still going, the same eight bars come back around. He looks at the curtain. Then at the phone-shaped absence in the air where the new boss had stood radiating heat and lying about it.
Burning. Over a booking calendar.
Rain files it under none of my business, which is where it belongs, which is where he is going to keep it.
He walks back to the pole.
He sets his feet. He takes the brass â cool under his palms, exactly as cool as it should be, no one else's temperature anywhere near it. He lifts, and he finds the line, and he runs the set again from the top.
He's not thinking about it.
He runs it twice more, clean, and absolutely doesn't think about it either time.
¡ ¡ ¡ â 𼸠¡ đš ¡ 𼸠â ¡ ¡ ¡
There are four people Bell could have asked to retrieve the mirror ball.
Mountain, who could carry it down one-handed. Swiss, who owes a favor and wouldn't have spoken for the entire drive. Cumulus, who knows the storage facility's layout better than Bell does and would have located the thing in half the time. Or Cirrus, whose presence is restful.
Bell has a list. Bell always has a list. The list, in this instance, contains four entirely sensible names, ranked by suitability, each of whom Phantom outranks for no defensible reason whatsoever.
Phantom didn't ask, technically. Phantom announced. They appeared at Bell's elbow, vibrating, and said the words 'I heard you're getting the disco ball from storage' with the reverence of a pilgrim who's finally located the shrine, and Bell had said yes, because it was true, and the rest simply happened to him.
Now they're in Dew's company SUV, and Phantom has the aux.
"This," Phantom says, holding their phone aloft, "is a song about a horse."
"I did not ask."
"You're going to want context."
"I assure you I will not."
Phantom plays the song about the horse.
Bell drives at the speed limit, keeps both hands on the wheel. He's found that there's no situation Phantom can construct that can't be survived through the simple application of not engaging, and he intends to apply it now, comprehensively, for the full duration of the errand.
"You're tapping," Phantom says.
Bell stops.
He hadn't been aware that he was tapping.
This is, he reflects, exactly the problem with Phantom: they notice things. They notice the small involuntary things a ghoul does when his composure is operating at ninety-eight percent and not one hundred. They notice, and then they announce, and the announcing is somehow worse than the noticing. Bell has spent several weeks now constructing a face that gives them nothing and he's no longer confident it's working.
"It's a good song," Phantom says, gentler, like they're letting him off the hook.
Bell doesn't thank them for it.
But he doesn't, against every instinct he has, change the song.
The mirror ball was not, as it turned out, in the back room at Tempt.
Phantom had been so sure. Bell, who reconciled the off-site inventory when the acquisition went through, had not corrected them, and is choosing not to examine why. There's a list of things Bell is choosing not to examine today. It's already had additions.
So: the facility. Twenty minutes north, with Phantom and the aux and a song, now, about a different horse.
"Okay, but this one's a metaphorical horse," Phantom is saying.
"They're all metaphorical horses."
"See, you are getting it!"
Bell takes the exit. Phantom has both feet up on the dash, which Bell has decided, after a brief internal negotiation, not to fight, because the alternative is a conversation about it and a conversation about it is what Phantom wants.
He gives them, instead, silence.
Phantom fills it. He figured they would.
They fill it with the metaphorical horse and then with a theory about the disco theme costuming and then with an unsolicited ranking of everyone at Tempt by how well they'd survive the apocalypse (Mountain first, obviously; Bell, alarmingly, second; Phantom places themself last with the cheerful fatalism of a ghoul who knows their strengths are social).
Bell drives.
He doesn't participate.
He does, somewhere around the third horse, stop actively not listening, and by the time the storage facility comes into view he could, if pressed, reproduce Phantom's entire apocalypse ranking from memory.
He won't be pressed. But he could do it anyways.
The facility is a long low building full of other people's forgotten decisions.
Bell signs them in and the attendant waves them back without comment, though his eyes track Phantom for a moment with the wariness of a man who's seen what enthusiasm does to climate-controlled storage.
Unit 14 is at the end of the third row.
Bell rolls the door up and the smell of it comes out to meet them â cool, dry, a little dusty, the museum-hush of objects that have outlived their use and are simply waiting to become relevant again. Tempt's history lives in here, boxed and shelved and labeled.
Old staging. Retired signage. A rack of costumes from eras Bell has only read about in the ledgers. Aether's things, some of them, still â Bell has never had the heart, or the instruction, to clear them.
Phantom goes very quiet.
It's the quietest they've been since leaving the club. Bell turns to check on them out of something that isn't concern, it's⌠purely operational vigilance. The responsible monitoring of a known variable in an enclosed space.
Phantom is standing just inside the door with their hands clasped under their chin, looking down the length of the unit with their whole face lit up.
"Bell," they breathe. "It's a time capsule."
"It's a storage unit."
"It's the attic of the gay little club."
"Mirror ball," Bell says. "Far shelf. We're here for the mirror ball."
But Phantom's already gone down the row, trailing a hand along the shelving, reading labels out loud in a hushed delighted voice, and Bell, against the entire architecture of his self-discipline, doesn't call them back immediately.
He gives them a moment.
He tells himself it's because the mirror ball is heavy and he'd rather locate it precisely than rush. He tells himself they have plenty of time. He tells himself⌠several things, in hopes that maybe one of them will be true.
He follows Phantom down the row at an unhurried distance and watches them discover Tempt's whole forgotten history one label at a time. The unit is cool and quiet and smells like dust and waiting, and Phantom's voice is the only warm thing in it.
The mirror ball is exactly where Bell knew it would be.
Hanging from a far shelf, third unit, behind a rolling rack of garment bags and beneath a fitted dust cover. He could have walked directly to it. He could have had it in the SUV in four minutes flat.
He locates Phantom instead, three shelves deep, holding up a sequined something against their own chest and turning to catch the overhead light.
"Bell. Bell. Tell me this isn't the most beautiful thing you've ever seen."
"That is a 2014 Pride costume. The sequins shed."
"So it's retired."
"It's biohazard-adjacent."
"It's vintage." Phantom holds it higher, reverent. "This has history, Bell. Someone danced in this. Someone had the night of their life in this." They lower it, suddenly thoughtful. "Or a terrible night. Either way. Stakes."
Bell takes the costume out of their hands and returns it to its box, because the alternative is that it comes home with them. He files the small flare of something he feels watching Phantom's face fall â not regret, he tells himself, simply the natural conclusion of a logistics decision â at the bottom of the list, with the others.
The list is getting long today.
"Mirror ball," he says. "It's over here. Help me with the cover."
And Phantom, who's spent the entire errand resisting every single instruction Bell has issued, immediately and without complaint crosses the unit to help.
They lift the dust cover together. Phantom takes one side, Bell the other, and they pull it off in one motion. The mirror ball comes out from under the canvas all at once, catches the single overhead bulb, and throws it.
The whole unit goes to light.
A thousand small squares of it, spinning slow off the surface as the ball turns on its hook, scattering across the shelves and the garment bags and the boxed-up history and the dust hanging in the cool air. Across Aether's old boxes.
Across Phantom's whole upturned, delighted, little face.
Phantom makes a small involuntary sound. Not a laugh. Not a look at that. Just a soft oh â the sound of a ghoul who's been ambushed.
They tip their head back further, hands slack at their sides, watching the ball turn. The bit is gone. The horse is gone. The performance is gone. There's only a ghoul with slow squares of light moving across their face, looking at something more beautiful than they expected to find, and Bell â
Bell has stopped moving.
He'd meant to say good, it works, let's go. He'd meant to check the fixture point, run the cable, note the ball for the cleaner in the morning. Those are the actions he came here to perform. They're on the list. He's aware of the list.
He's aware, further, that he's not currently performing any of them, and that this failure of action is being observed by nobody, since Phantom is looking at the ball, and Bell is looking at Phantom, and more specifically at the small squares of light that are moving across Phantom's cheekbone and their throat and the hollow at the base of their neck, where their pulse has gone slow and â
He doesn't know what to file this under. He is also, in fact, aware, with a small and specific alarm, that no folder for this exists. The list has failed entirely.
The composure hasn't failed, technically, in that his face hasn't moved and his hands are still at his sides and he's still breathing. But the composure is a shell around something Bell can't name, and that something has weight, and that something is looking at Phantom looking at the light.
Oh, Phantom says again, quieter, speaking to no one.
The unit turns slowly around them.
Bell should say something. There's a sentence appropriate to the moment. The sentence would restore the errand, would return them both to the list of tasks that got them here. He could, with a small application of will, locate the sentence, produce it, get the mirror ball into the SUV and be back at Tempt before the next hour ends.
He chooses to watch Phantom watch the ball instead.
The ball turns. The light moves. His whole life is a list and this is not on it.
He is aware, distantly, that he's going to have to sit with this later. Alone. When he has time to look at it properly, in daylight, with his file open and a pen in his hand and some kind of infrastructure around him.
But for now, the ball turns. He doesn't stop it. Phantom doesn't stop it. Nobody in the unit says anything for what is, by Bell's internal count, an unusually long time.
He should really say something.
He doesn't.
"Can I ask you something," Phantom says, eventually.
They're still looking up at the ball. The light moves across their face in slow squares. It's the least performed Bell has ever heard them â no setup, no bit, no horse. Just the question, set down quietly in the dust.
"You may ask," Bell says. "I make no guarantee of an answer."
"Yeah. I figured that part." Phantom turns one of the little squares of light over on the back of their hand, watching it slide. "It's about Rain."
Bell says nothing. This is, he's found, the most reliable way to get information and to give none: people fill silence. He's built a career in the spaces other people rush to fill.
Phantom does as expected.
"Something's up with him." They say it carefully. "And it's not â it's not a bad thing, I don't think. He's not in trouble. He's just." They frown, searching. "He's off. He gets this look. I've known him a long time, Bell, I know all his looks, and this is a new one, and it shows up â " they stop. Start again. "It shows up around a⌠specific subject. And I think you know what the subject is. And I think you've known longer than me, because you know everything, which by the way is deeply annoying."
Bell considers the mirror ball.
He has, in fact, known longer than Phantom. He's known since the very beginning, when Mister Delmere sent an email with a purchase request a little too late at night. He's watched it accumulate: the careful nods, the dressing room, the nine days, the comment card folded into quarters that Mister Delmere doesn't know Bell knows about. He has a complete and ordered file. He could brief Phantom in under ninety seconds.
He won't.
"I'm not certain I follow," Bell says.
Phantom turns and looks at him directly. The light slides off the ball across both of them now, and their expression is not fooled in the slightest.
"You follow," they say. "You're Bell. You follow everything."
"I don't speculate about Mister Delmere's personal affairs."
Phantom's eyebrows go up.
"I didn't say it was about the boss."
Bell doesn't react. Not reacting is the single most developed muscle he has. He doesn't react and he keeps not reacting through the entire long delighted silence in which Phantom realizes exactly what he's just done, their whole face opening up like the unit did when the cover came off.
"Bell."
"The cover goes into the bin by the shelf."
"Bell. You just â that was a confirmation, you realize that, that was â"
"I confirmed nothing."
"You confirmed everything. That's worse. That's so much worse than confirming, that's â" Phantom presses both hands to their own chest, wounded with joy. "Oh, this is delicious. They're both â unholy shit. They're both idiots â"
"I am going to carry the mirror ball to the vehicle," Bell says, with enormous dignity, "and you are going to bring the dust cover, and we are not going to discuss this on the drive."
"We are absolutely going to discuss this on the drive."
"We are not."
The drive back to Tempt could be described as many things.
Silent would not be one of them.
¡ ¡ ¡ â 𼸠¡ đš ¡ 𼸠â ¡ ¡ ¡
Phantom finds him in the dressing room before the evening shift.
Rain knows it's bad the second they come through the door, because they don't say anything. Phantom not saying anything is a weather event. They just drift in, drop onto the vanity edge, pick up his setting spray, examine the label like it's a puzzle they're solving, and wait.
Rain keeps doing his liner.
"You're glittering," he says, to the mirror. There's actual glitter on them. Caught in their hair, dusted across one cheekbone, sitting bright on the underside of their jaw. "Why are you glittering."
"Storage run. Disco ball. Long story." They set the spray down. Pick it back up. "Bell drove."
"Ah."
"Bell's a good driver."
The good is doing something. Rain lets it pass.
"Mhm."
Rain finishes the wing on his left eye. Switches to the right. He can feel Phantom looking at him in the mirror â not the usual gossip-incoming look, but something underneath it. Something with intent.
He's known Phantom a long time. He knows when they've decided something about him. He knows the tell of it, the way Phantom holds a piece of information they haven't been given permission to hold â the way their mouth goes soft at one corner while the rest of their face works very hard at nothing.
Their mouth is soft at one corner.
"What," Rain says.
"Nothing." A beat, delicately measured. "How's the new room?"
His hand doesn't slip. He's good; his hand doesn't slip. But there's a half-second where the brush hovers a hair off his lash line before it touches down, and the thing about doing your eyes in a mirror with your best friend watching you in the same mirror is that there is nowhere to put a half-second where it won't be seen.
Phantom does not remark on it, which is the second most alarming thing Phantom has done in the last minute.
"It's a room," Rain says.
"It booked out?"
"Heard it did."
"Five weeks, Bell said." Phantom is very casual. Phantom is never casual. "Bet the boss is thrilled. All that⌠business."
Rain sets the brush down.
He looks at Phantom in the mirror. Phantom looks back, glitter on their cheek, expression open and terrible and kind. There's a shape underneath it all that Rain, if he were less careful with himself, would have to admit looks a lot like a pin Phantom is currently choosing not to pull.
Rain understands that Phantom knows something. He doesn't know how much. He doesn't know what shape it is in their head. But they've got a piece of it, and they're holding it out, and they're waiting to see if he'll take it.
He doesn't.
"Good for business," Rain says.
It's the new boss's line. He hears it leave his own mouth in the new boss's flat careful cadence and he could die. Phantom hears it too â he watches them hear it, watches the corner of their mouth pull with the specific effort of a ghoul not saying the thing they came here to say.
Phantom holds it. For a whole beat. For a whole two beats, long enough that Rain's stomach does something he's going to also not examine.
Then Phantom sets it down.
"Sure," they say, gently. "Good for business."
They hop off the counter. Drop a kiss on the top of Rain's head, glitter and all, and they leave it there, whatever they came in carrying. They set it down and they leave it, which is the single kindest thing Phantom knows how to do and they do it so rarely that Rain feels the weight of being spared.
"Make someone stupid tonight," they say brightly at the door.
"Always do."
And then they're gone, and Rain is alone with the mirror and the wing he hasn't finished and the thing he just heard himself say.
Good for business.
He picks the brush back up.
The new boss had stood in the lounge that morning, radiating heat over a booking calendar, lying about it, fleeing down the stairs at a pace that wasn't his usual. Over numbers. Over the room doing well.
Except Rain had run the set twice more after he left and he'd felt it the whole time â the warm shape of where the new boss had stood. The way the heat had pointed at him and not the calendar. He knows what it is to be aimed at. He's made a career out of reading exactly where want is pointed in a room.
It hadn't been pointed at the numbers.
Rain finishes the wing.
He doesn't let the thought finish. He's good at this â better than the new boss, who wears it on his skin where any cold-blooded ghoul can read it. Rain keeps his under. Keeps it where the float tank found it, deep, behind the sternum. He puts it back there. He closes the drawer on it.
He has a set to run. He has a floor to work. He has, starting next week, a brand-new room with his name in the booking grid, ninety private minutes at a time, strangers paying for what he does better than anyone in the building.
It's good for business.
He caps the liner. Checks himself in the mirror â collar on, rhinestones catching, the BABY sitting bright at his throat where two hot fingers had once fixed the catch.
The armor's on. The face is right.
He goes to work.
What he doesn't do â what he won't, not in the mirror, not on the floor, not for one cold-blooded second of the entire night â is let himself stand in the warm spot the want left and admit it's still there.
Male loneliness this, male loneliness that. Have they tried lobotomies? Tranquilizers? Being fingered by medical professionals? Tearing the yellow wallpaper off the walls of the attic room where your husband keeps you locked up?
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Rain wanted to dig his claws into Dew and never let go, never let him drift away again.
Smut should be mostly skippable this chapter if you need, one scene marked by ~~~ as before!
I'm taking suggestions for people's favorite imperatour clips to include in the next chapter(s) btw!
also HOLY SHIT this fic is now at 300k total!! this was always the ultimate milestone for me because the ffn app on my tiny little android gingerbread phone when I was in HS had that as its max word count filter ahaha, but I always assumed that would be impossible to get to... but here we are!! tysm for the encouragement that's let me ramble on for this long <3
Chapter rating: E
Content warnings: smut, penetrative PiV sex, gill fucking, oral sex, cock for rain, cunt/clit for dew
Words: 21,302. Obscenely long. Sorry.
Link to full fic with associated tags: Tumblr | AO3
Tag list: @jesters-immunity @ashthewaterghoul @jimothybarnes @zombiequeen777 @kentuckyfriedsatan @papaslittlesunshine @bloodfin <33 I know it's been a while so just lmk if you want me out of your notifs! xox
The ghoul inside was a mess; covered in a green mass of flora and almost buried beneath a mountain of marigolds bound together by ferns and their runners. They seemed supremely unbothered by this fact though, hunched on the floor and making no move to divest themselves of any of the plant life.
Aether could hardly even see them beneath all the greenery, their form barely visible aside from two dark eyes staring out. They rumbled in a strange voice and it took Aether a second to realise they were actually trying to speak and not just projecting into his head like normal. What was not hard to hear was their concern for Aether or their anger at all his worst thoughts though.
âNo!â They croaked, voice hoarse with disuse. ââre needed. Packâlove you.â
Their lips smacked together a few times, their jaw working hard as they coughed like a cat with a hairball. A stuck frond came free from their throat with an unpleasant choking sound but after then they seemed to find words easier, although they continued filling in for some with their uncanny projections.
âThe voicesâin your headâthey lie.â
Aether stared at them silently, still taking them in.
âThe packâare not sickâof you. Theyâwant you around.â
âHow can you even know that?â Aether sighed as he hovered, still unsure if he was welcome over the threshold to the shed or not.
âJust do.â They loosed a raspy, hissing laugh. âCommon sense. You sayâso much aboutâyour pack. I know. Come sit, silly ghoul.â
Hesitantly, Aether stepped inside the dingy potting shed, the aroma of sweet decay and fresh green that could only come from soil and plants surrounding him. It was strangely calming he thought as he lowered himself to the dusty floor.
âI donât knowâŚâ He said quietly, suddenly feeling self-conscious; Aether had been speaking to only a door ever since he found Cowbell and yet this somehow felt even stranger, possibly because he couldnât see the ghoulâs ears. âIâm clearly making everyoneâs lives harder.â
A scoffing sound came from the pile of ferns.
âSo whatâif you are? Theyâre yourâpack.â They were rolling their eyes, Aether could tell, even without seeing them. âOr has the meaning of that changed since I took root out here?â
Aether wasnât in a mood to appreciate what had clearly been an attempt to lighten the atmosphere though.
âThis is all my fault anyway. I knew the heartbreak I was setting myself up for. I shouldâve just told Dew at the start that I couldnât do this, I shouldnât have let myself fall in so deep!â
Dewdrop had helped soothe the ache of Aetherâs greatest loss for a while but the quintessence ghoul had known all along that he couldnât be a permanent fix. When Dew had presented him with the opportunity to experience all he had desired and lost though, he had jumped in with two feet with no regard for how his actions may reflect back painfully onto the fire ghoul. Dew had even given him an out, reminded him of his assertion to not let himself fall, yet Aether had selfishly ignored all his earlier reservations for a short year of unimaginable and total happiness.
âSo what?â Cowbell coughed again, readjusting their hunched position on the floor and finding their next words more easily. âThe chancesâof thisâwere so small. No one wouldââve predicted this.â
They had a point; the likelihood of crossmated ghouls finding their other half topside, while far higher than in the Pit, were still tiny. The chances that the one water ghoul summoned would be Dewâs mate were astronomically small. Other ghouls could spend their entire topside lives without even a whisper of their mates â the ghoul wing of the Abbey was packed full of ghouls that illustrated that point perfectly.
Still, Aether felt foolish. He had always said he would be more careful than this.
âStop dwelling on the past.â The earth ghoul inched closer, moving into a stream of moonlight filtering through a dusty window that let Aether make out more of their features beneath all the greenery. âIâve beenâaround long enough. Time onlyâmovesâforward, young one.â
Aether thought they should be annoyed with him by now, frustrated at his inability to accept and move on with the direction his life had taken. And yet they still werenât telling him to leave.
âI wish I had that kind of perspective.â He sighed.
âIâve been here sinceâbeforeâthe Abbey was a shack on a hill. Iâve seenâthe worst ofâthe world rise and fall and felt the Earth lament the blood spilledâbeforeâeven then. And yet the flowersâcontinueâto bloom.â
An arm reached out of the ghoul-shaped pile to snatch a fistful of marigolds from around their face. They looked at them quizzically for a moment as though perpetually surprised by their existence before setting them down in front of them. Aether barely had a chance to glimpse the gleam of fangs within a crooked smirk before more heads bloomed to take the flowersâ place.
Whatever their strange and abundant origin, Aether took solace in their permanence too.
From that day onwards, the earth ghoul would open the door whenever they heard Aether approaching. Their cape of flora went in waves, neither of them mentioning it to start with. On their good days though, Aether eventually got to hear them unobstructed and see what they looked like beyond the greenery.
They werenât like any Earth ghoul he had seen before, their hair was black like coal, as were their eyes and claws. Indeed they looked to almost be made out of rock themselves, with grey skin that grew the most verdant lichen when the flowers and ferns werenât there to hide it.
They began to talk more too, although they only asked questions of Aether to start with. He described more of his pack to them, what their everyday looked like, their preparations for tour and how Sunshine was settling in. What the new Cardinal, now Papa, was really like. Aether found they particularly enjoyed tales of Terzo, who Cowbell seemed to remember with fondness, his stories frequently making them laugh with a strange, scratchy hiss.
Being with Cowbell just felt so natural, Aether never feeling like he had to put on any kind of face around them. They had heard him at his worst and he was seeing them at what surely had to be a low point of their long existence. The amount of time they had spent at the Abbey was strangely comforting too. They had surely seen sadder cases than him and somehow that helped Aether too, knowing that they didnât see him as any particularly tragic story. He was just Aether, the ghoul who brought them food when the place that had built itself around them and called itself home stopped feeling like it was.
Eventually they offered up their own facts too, small titbits about their short stint out on tour and about the pack they had known but never been a part of, much like Aether hadnât. With their growing openness, Aether sensed his chance to finally ask the questions that had been weighing on him.
âHow long have you been out here?â He asked one day, hoping that it wasnât too prying of a question.
âOnly a season or so, before you found me.â
Aether had wanted to ask why but hadnât dared, yet Bell volunteered it anyway before he had a chance to.
âThe ghoul dorms are too noisy. Too large and too loudâŚâ They had wrinkled their crooked nose in displeasure. âAnd then my foliage problem got out of hand.â
Aether had chuckled; that was one way of putting their current predicament.
âHang on! You should stay in the room I first had when I was summoned!â He gasped as the thought suddenly presented itself. âIf you want, of course. Itâs near the study in the chapel. It was very useful when I served Terzo but before I moved into the band dorm, and thereâs no one staying there now. Thereâs only one entrance and itâs half-camouflaged. Itâs quiet, too.â
Cowbell had rumbled in interest but hadnât agreed immediately.
âWhat should I call you?â Aether had asked on another occasion. âCowbell canât be your real name, can it?â
âItâs the first name I was given.â Cowbell had answered. âBefore, when He first created us, we never had such need for them you see. He knew us all without needing names.â
Eventually as they had grown closer Aether had come to learn that they had been hiding for so long because of the flowers. They used to have a regular earth ghoul soul mark, all manner of flora that would sprout and bloom when their mate had strong feelings or in response to their own. One day they had stopped completely though, only to be replaced a short while later by the unstoppable and constant flowers and ferns that plagued them now.
Something about the unexplainable strangeness of it had made their loneliness feel even more acute, even as they failed to fathom what was going on. So they had retreated. They still didnât know why this was happening to them, but at least out here it felt less inconvenient to be shedding petals and fronds wherever they went.
Aetherâs comment that plenty of other ghouls had caused far more destruction that a few scattered leaves without such an excuse had been met with another scratchy laugh.
The quintessence ghoul thought he had an inkling of the cause of Cowbellâs sudden predicament, one that was only strengthened when he had gone to look up the meanings of the marigolds and phenology of their fern runners in the library. Aether kept that information to himself for now though; he had a tour to go out on, he didnât want to dump a potentially earth-shattering revelation on them only to immediately vanish.
With only a few days left until their departure Aether had been struggling to divide his time between the band and his pack, Cowbell, and Terzo. He felt bad leaving Cowbell and Terzo behind, having grown used to seeing both of them almost daily and uncertain if either of them had many friendly faces to greet them regularly besides his. Mist had promised to check in with Cowbell as before, but he was unsure if they would be comfortable enough to talk as openly with her as they did with Aether, or if she would be once again talking to a closed and unresponsive door.
It was from his desire to spend as much time with those remaining behind as possible that he found himself taking dinner with Terzo one night, lending his ear to the manâs wild ideas in one of the few spare hours he still had. As they were leaving the dining hall, preparing to return to Terzoâs office, Mist had rounded the corner and almost collided with them.
Aether caught her as she stumbled, the sudden tension between the ghoul and her old master palpable.
âGood evening, Mist.â Terzo broke the silence, an affable smile on his face even as Aether could feel him wincing internally. âI havenât seen you since I returned from my unplanned sabbatical!â
âNo. Well, Iâm sure youâve been busy.â She was cold but not impolite, standing up straight while looking as though she would rather be anywhere else, longing for the conversation to be over as soon as it had begun.
âAnd how are the rest of your pack? I havenât seen Omega around the chapel yet, Iâm surprised!â
âThey left.â She snapped.
âOhââ The normally verbose Terzo was rendered near speechless in shock, although he soon recovered. âI am deeply sorry to hear that, Mist. I had no idea! Did theyâŚ?â
Aether didnât realise he hadnât known, feeling slightly guilty himself for not filling Terzo in on the wide-reaching effects his removal had had on the whole Abbey, not just the band. Yet the unspoken question of if Mistâs pack would have remained topside had they not been removed from the band or had Terzo not been sent away hung over them. It seemed Mist could sense the question just as well as Aether.
âTheyâd all been threatening to return to the Pit for a while already, ever since our demotion.â She said, her tone even but her words clipped. âThe shake-up when you left was just the final catalyst.â
âI see.â Terzo winced, although he tried to hide it. âStill, I am deeply sorry, both for their dissatisfaction and for your loss.â
Mist nodded curtly.
âGoodnight, Papa.â
Her head held high, she stalked past them both into the dining hall to where Aether suspected she would inevitably end up sitting alone. Her composure was admirable, yet the hurt she carried stung to see.
Aether allowed Terzo to lead the way back to his office, following silently as the man clearly mulled over her words.
âDear ghoul, if youâll allow me to be vulnerable for a moment.â He started eventually. âI must ask. Should I have tried harder? To keep her pack as the band ghouls? Should I have fought to keep my position here? She is right. There have been so many shake-ups with her pack at the centre of all of them, ever since my ascension to my brotherâs position, even.â
âNo.â Aether said decisively. âYou did what you could, given Sister Imperatorâs impenetrable will and the circumstances at the time. Sowing greater discontent amongst the Clergy would not have helped any of us.â
Terzo hummed thoughtfully, but left room for Aether to continue.
âAs I see it, the Cardinal, well, Papa now, is doing good work for the ghouls.â Aether thought of Cowbell and the progress they had been making, all stemming from Copiaâs original concern. âAndâŚâ
Aether realised the truth only as the words left his mouth.
âDew. He wouldnât have gotten to meet and bond with his mate, with Rain, if the old band ghouls had stayed in their posts and there hadnât been the upheaval of your removal that inspired Zephyr and Ifrit to retire when they did.â
Terzo clearly wanted to pry, so he did.
âYou two⌠So you were never mates?â
âNo.â Aether shook his head. âJust⌠closer than regular pack. We always knew this was a possibility, we just never expected that of all the ghouls Copia could have summoned⌠That itâd be him.â
Terzoâs eyebrows pinched. Aether knew he must have put the dots together already: he had spent enough time with Dew and by extension Rain recently to see them together, but he clearly hadnât expected to hear the truth confirmed so easily by Aether. So he tried to joke, in the way that only Terzo could do.
âMaybe your mateâll be summoned next, then you can be the one making the lights on the bus flicker like Omega back on his first tour with me!â
Aether didnât laugh though.
âTheyâre dead, Terzo.â
The man at least had the gall to look sheepish.
âIt was a long time ago. But thereâs no hope for me.â Aether shrugged. âAt least not outside of another ghoul in the same situation. But I wouldnât wish that on anyone. Iâm never getting anything like Omega did with Alpha, or like Dew has with Rain. But Iâve got this.â
Aether gestured around at the almost clinically lit hallway leading from the modern wing of the Abbey back to to the rest of the building.
âAnd sometimes that feels like enough.â
ŕźťâłââË.â¤âłâ¤.Ëâââłŕźş
For Dewdrop and Rain the next morning was equally perfect, Dew still in a shared embrace with the water ghoul when he woke. Their bare chests pressing together filled him with another kind of warmth despite Rainâs lower body temperature, a feeling he thought he would never tire of.
The soft and sleepy atmosphere permeated the air as Rain joined him in the waking world, his arms only tightening as he regained consciousness. Dew could tell it was later than either of them normally rose and yet he didnât have the woozy feeling that sleeping in usually gave him. Instead he felt more truly rested than he had in a while, certain that he hadnât slept so soundly in ages.
âGood morning.â He breathed into the crook of Rainâs neck as the water ghoul began to squirm in the utterly relaxed way only ghouls crossing the boundary into consciousness did. âMy Rainbow. Did you sleep well?â
âVery.â Rain hummed, nothing short of utter bliss permeating his tone. âAny dreams last night?â
Dew smiled against his skin.
âNot one. This is better than any dream.â
Dew meant it with every fibre of his being. Being with Rain just felt so natural, and now that Dew had experienced a taste he wanted everything, needed it like he needed oxygen.
As much as he wanted to stay entwined together until the end of time, or at least for a few more hours, they had rehearsals starting in earnest that afternoon. Dew could think of very little worse than being interrupted by a knock on the door from an undoubtedly smug packmate, having been on the receiving end of that before, so he knew ignoring the world much longer wasnât a viable option.
Rain clearly though the same and so, reluctantly and slowly, they had dragged themselves out of bed. Dew had left Rain to his shower, knowing if he stayed a moment longer they would not be leaving the room for several more hours. He had crept through the blessedly empty Den back to his own room in one of Rainâs many black tour hoodies, having no intention to return it any time soon.
As Dew had feared, that had been their last free morning in a while, their schedules full for days following the first rehearsal. Sunshine had slotted in perfectly but Copia was being a perfectionist, having a lot to live up to as a Papa.
Dew was helping him as much as he could, Rain often tagging along to sit in the chapel while they worked, sometimes lending his ear to the manâs last minute decisions and his voice to the pairâs rituals. Dew loved being able to look over and see him there, his presence buoying him through the long days and late nights.
Neither ghoul had any intention of sleeping apart again. The next night Dew had followed Rain to his room automatically, but they hadnât done more than kiss, nor had they the next evening, both tired from a series of late and disrupted nights as well as Copiaâs ever-increasing rehearsal schedule.
The final preparation of the new songs for tour seemed unending and despite how well they were going Copia was clearly nervous. He was not just a temporary replacement for Terzo anymore, he wore the mitre of a Papa now and needed to embody it more than ever.
Rain and Dewâs rather uneventful personal time was not for any lack of desire however. Dew ached to get his hands on Rain again, to feel his hands on him. Their hands had indeed began to wander more and more in recent days, but the pair had not had the time either of them wanted to feel truly unhurried enough to fully explore their desires. Rain had said he wanted the time to treat Dew right, and Dew believed him, feeling much the same way himself.
Still, just getting to sleep together in the same bed was making Dew feel like the luckiest and most loved ghoul in the world. They would curl up together, Dew usually holding Rain to his front if they werenât facing one another, his arm resting over him to press directly to his heart, fingertips grazing his mark. Rain had said it was like he was warming him from the inside.
Dew had learned that Rain didnât like to sleep wearing a shirt, or much of anything at all really, because of his sensitive gills. Likewise he too had grown comfortable enough to eschew pyjama pants in exchange for boxer shorts inside the privacy of their rooms. Dew loved the closeness of their legs touching, their knees slotted together or folded one behind the other. It seemed Rain in particular was enjoying his new personal heated blanket of a ghoul too, pulling at Dew to drape himself over him even as the temperatures outside continued to rise.
On yet another night together as the pair had curled up to sleep, Rain had bent his knees up and away from Dewâs. Just as Dew had started to wonder if he was expected to follow to stay close to him, he felt large, cold feet plaster themselves to the front of his legs.
Dew shrieked at a volume that was far too loud for the hour.
âFuck! Rain, you sick bastard!â
Rain snickered, flexing his toes against him before starting up a deeply contented purr. Dew couldnât do anything besides hold him close and allow himself to be used as a hot water bottle.
The next morning Dew couldnât help but notice Rain shrugging into one of the fire ghoulâs assortment of distressed band shirts, collected throughout his time topside. Dew liked them just slightly baggy so he could layer them over his ever-present long sleeved shirts, which apparently meant it fitted Rain perfectly, clinging to his broad shoulders and chest while still flowing comfortably around his waist. When exactly Rain had pilfered it he was unsure, but Dew could only assume he had left it in his room one night. Rain claiming it as his own made a slight possessive streak flare within him.
It only burned stronger when they emerged into the common room to find almost all of the pack assembled already. Most of them were minding their own business, however Cirrus and Cumulus were grinning like cats who had got the cream. Dew saw them clock the shirt instantly, yet they made no comment about it. He soon realised that was because it was the least interesting thing they had to prod at the pair over.
âFun night, boys?â Cirrus grinned with all her teeth.
âI dunno what youâre talking about.â Dew said flatly.
âOoo fuck, Rain, you sick bastard.â Cumulus drawled, punctuated by exaggerated moans.
âI donât talk like that!â Fumed Dew while Rain stayed silent in embarrassment, burying his face in Dewâs shoulder.
Dew patted him on the side of the head and glowered at her, the pair of ghoulettes cackling to themselves in triumph.
âBesides, Rain just put his cold fucking feet on me. Youâd be yelling too if you felt that when you were just getting cosy!â
They didnât have time for a mini feud though as Rain had promised to join Mountain in the greenhouses in the morning, helping sort out his personal plant nurseries and beds before they left for tour. Everything related to their care and watering would be left in the capable hands of the Abbey earth ghouls, but it wouldnât hurt to make their jobs easier.
Rain would be back in time for them to have lunch together, thankfully, before they would all be thrown into yet more rehearsals. Then they would have the evening to themselves and the whole of the next day too. Dew couldnât wait, every minute spent with Rain feeling like a gift from Him Himself. As much as he adored the pack, the feeling of complete and total openness he had with Rain was incomparable.
For the rest of the morning though Dew had nothing to be doing. It didnât appear Sunshine did either, the ghoulette having not been assigned any duties outside of the band as of yet to allow her to fully focus on picking up the repertoire.
He joined her on the sofa, in front of the television which was playing some kind of nature documentary.
âSettling in okay?â Dew felt a little bad that he hadnât checked in with her until now.
They shared an element after all, but he supposed he had been rather distracted as of late.
âAlright, thanks!â She twisted from where she was sat on her feet to face him. âBeing topsideâs even better than I expected! I was a bit worried when I first got here in that horrid dank chamber that Iâd been summoned to some underground church and Iâd never see the sun again, but thereâs so much nature here and the airâs so fresh and everyoneâs so nice!â
She almost quivered with joy as she spoke. It was no wonder everyone had warmed to her so quickly, Dew thought.
âItâs a shame about the weather today then.â Dew smiled, glancing at the sudden spring shower that had hit outside.
He wondered if Rain and Mountain were still hard at work or if they had run off to play in the downpour; he couldnât imagine Rain would enjoy the mud all that much, even if the water wouldnât bother him.
Sunshine giggled then, a familiar bell-like sound.
âIâve heard weâre going to lots of warmer places on tour though, right?â
âThatâs right. We should get some days off there too, to really enjoy them.â
Sunshine hummed happily.
âI canât promise fresh air is something weâll get all the time though.â
Dew spoke jokingly but Sunshineâs face looked suddenly worried.
âWeâll be sharing a bus with Copiaâs feet after all!â
Sunshine blinked for a moment as the joke landed before giggling. Still, Dew filed away the sudden faltering of her normally perfectly cheery exterior as something to keep an eye on once they hit the road.
âWhat do fire ghouls do around here for fun?â She asked, changing the topic of conversation.
âIâm not really sure, actually.â
Dew though about it for a moment. He had hardly been a normal fire ghoul, what with everyone assuming he was a hybrid for the first year or so of his time topside. Even then he had spent most of his time either in the chapel or the band wing, always working in some capacity. Neither could he really recall Ifrit showing much interest in anything around the Abbey beyond his band duties. Downtime for both of them had mostly just been spent relaxing in their Den with their pack.
âI guess me and Ifrit, the last fire ghoul, were both pretty bad at getting out and meeting others.â He chuckled. âIf met his mate within days of his summoning, and IâŚâ
Dew trailed off. He had spent most of his time with Aether, unable to help but feel a little awkward about that. Dew had seen Sunshine getting closer to the quintessence ghoul and she seemed so perceptive that he worried she must think badly of him already in that regard.
She showed no sign of any animosity though, nodding along in understanding before suddenly switching subject once more.
âAre there animals other than humans here at the Abbey?â She glanced at the television.
Dew thought it was as though she were running about five different thought processes at once, the most pressing one coming to the surface each time she opened her mouth. It was so chaotic that it was almost reassuring, knowing that she likely wouldnât dwell on anything uncomfortable for too long.
âThereâs a few.â Dew answered. âCopiaâs got pet rats, but he wonât let you near them without signing a blood oath not to hurt them first.â
âWhat about those?â She pointed at the screen, where a lioness who moments ago had been goring an antelope was now licking a giant paw.
âThatâs you!â Dew laughed at his own joke, but quickly realised he would have to explain it when Sunshine squinted hard at the screen and looked deeply confused. âThatâs a lioness. A female lion. Like Copiaâs nickname for you ghoulettes.â
As he kept watching, the big cat started to remind him of her much smaller cousin, the one he had felt a strange connection with before.
âWe have housecats here too, although theyâre much smaller.â Dew added. âThey keep mice and things out of the kitchens. Go and hover out the back of the band wing some time if you want to see one, thereâs a friendly calico around a lot.â
He left out that she had been the bearer of spiritual advice before.
Sunshine hummed in acknowledgement, now leaning forward and deeply engrossed in the television once more, like she was studying the creature on-screen to learn how best to live up to the moniker.
It really was endearing to watch her, Dew thought, her wide-eyed interest in the new-to-her world almost contagious. He relaxed into the sofa, content to watch the documentary with her and answer any more questions that may pop into her head until the others returned for lunch.
Rehearsals later went as smoothly as ever, assuaging Copiaâs growing nerves once more. That didnât mean the pack werenât all exhausted by the time they were released for dinner however, yet Dew and Rain were refusing to let it affect them, the promise of thirty-six hours with nowhere to be giving them a second wind of energy.
Back in the Den at last, Dew pulled Rain in the direction of his room without even thinking about it. He only realised that it was Rainâs first time stepping foot in there when he felt the water ghoul pause just inside the doorway, looking around in curiosity. Their rooms werenât even that different, having the same basic layout and furniture, but Dew supposed his had a few more trinkets and photos dotting the shelves from his longer time topside. Other than that the main real difference was his black bedding as opposed to Rainâs dove grey.
âWe can go to yours if youâd prefer.â Dew offered. âI know my roomâs nothing special. I keep meaning to getââ
Snapping out of his observation of the room, Rain finally stepped inside properly, kicking the door shut behind him and pulling Dew into a kiss in one fluid motion. Dew felt all his worries melt away as the water ghoul took him in his arms, words of uncertainty dissolving like sugar in hot tea.
âHere is perfect.â Rain assured him when they finally came up for air. âAnywhere with you is perfect. But being in your room is especially perfect.â
Dew rolled his eyes.
âNo need to lay it on so thick.â
âIâd never exaggerate when it comes to you.â Rain said in that far-too-earnest voice that never failed to make Dewâs stomach tie itself in knots. âNot when youâre already so much more of everything than I could have ever imagined.â
âAlright! Thatâs enough!â Dew batted at his chest to deflect from the sudden overwhelming surge of emotion that flowed through him. âBed, now!â
âYessir!â Rain barked a laugh, before sprawling coquettishly across Dewâs sheets, making himself comfortable.
The fire ghoul busied himself with drawing the curtains and switching on the string of fairy lights that looked like tiny flickering flames to conceal his beet-red face, choosing to ignore the way Rainâs words sent a full-body shiver through him. When he looked back, Rain was staring straight at him, running a finger along the soft cotton sheets beneath him.
âWhat?â
Rain simply raised an eyebrow back at him, not stopping the slow drag of his finger over the fabric. The way he pressed into the softness of the mattress beneath just slightly re-lit the increasingly familiar flame within Dew, the one that burned stronger in his presence but especially so now as he imagined that same touch dragging over his skin.
âWhat,â Dew repeated, âare you doing exactly?â
He thought he had some idea, that Rain was purely trying to rile him up, see how far he could push him before he cracked and pounced, but he wanted to at least try to muster some kind of defence before he crumpled like a sheet of tissue paper.
âJust thinking about these sheets.â Rainâs voice was low, deeper than usual, like he was trying hard to seduce him in some way.
It was working, Dew thought as he felt himself grow even warmer all over.
âThinking about what theyâve seen, what theyâve heard and felt.â
Dew bit his lip, thinking about all the nights he had spend in his bed, dreaming of Rain and touching himself to the thought of him. Especially the more recent nights, now he knew just how miraculous Rainâs touch felt. It would take more than a few heavy-lidded glances from Rain for him to spill the details so easily though â he still had some dignity intact when it came to revealing how madly and deeply he wanted the water ghoul.
âWouldnât you like to know.â He purred, only cringing slightly at the words as they left his mouth.
âI would, actually.â Rain stilled his movements to fix Dew with yet another of his unguarded, honest stares.
âShut up.â
Dew wanted to launch himself at the ghoul on the bed, grappling him and pinning him to the mattress on his back until he stopped making his insides twist up like they were doing again now.
Instead he solved the other discomfort in his life right now; the denim clinging to his legs, the tight clothing doing nothing to temper the heat rolling off his skin.
âIâm gonna go change into pyjamas, you want any?â He asked.
Rain levelled him with a look that quite clearly expressed his disgust at the idea. Dew was not surprised; ever since their first night together he had eschewed sleeping in a shirt, or really anything but his underwear. Dew wasnât complaining, even if his skin was freezing cold to brush up against in the middle of the night. He turned away when Rainâs hand reached for the button of his own pants though, scurrying in the direction of the bathroom before he did something he would regret not discussing first.
Dew didnât know where his sudden reservations were coming from. Rain had made it crystal clear at every moment he was given the opportunity to show Dew just how badly he wanted him. The fire ghoul hadnât been making any great secret out of it either and yet now they had ample time and opportunity to act on all the desires they had been talking about for days, he was suddenly nervous.
He was scared of being too much, and simultaneously of not being enough for Rain. Dew knew deep down that Rain would like nothing more than for the fire ghoul to just take, knew there was very little he could do to upset him now, and yet the nerves persisted. The stakes now were just that high. This was Rain, after all.
Dew changed quickly into the oversized t-shirt and boxers he usually slept in, nothing Rain hadnât seen before. So why did he feel so naked? He splashed water on his face to calm himself. It sort-of worked, but now his wrists were glowing from the water in a way that still triggered his deepest insecurities to rise to the surface.
Idiot, he hissed at himself in the mirror.
Undoubtedly the hottest ghoul he had ever laid eyes on was his in his bed, undressing right now as he dithered, and yet here he was hiding in the bathroom and not out there showing him just how irresistible he found him?
Stupid. He raked a brush through his hair as a distraction, combing out the day-old braid. That helped, allowing himself to remember that while this was Rain he was fussing about, it was simultaneously only Rain.
That thought helped too, as did the memory barging its way to the front of his mind of their first night together. It reminded him how perfect that had been, how utterly enamoured Rain had seemed, even as he lost himself to pleasure. To the pleasure that Dew had brought him, he reminded himself. It was that thought that got him to put down the hairbrush, dry his hands, and head for the door.
He needed to stop worrying. Deep down he knew that the one thing in the world that could hold a candle to how much he wanted Rain was how strongly the water ghoul reciprocated that desire. He knew how Rain felt about him, he had heard him say it. He had felt it in his bodyâs reactions to him, in the warmth of his embrace each night, the pair holding onto each other as though afraid of being torn apart. Dew had nothing to worry about.
~~~~~~~
As soon as he stepped back into his room, Rain took his breath away. He was in the same position as he had been when Dew left him, only now he wore nothing but a pair of very small black boxer briefs. They hid nothing, including how he was clearly growing hard in them already. Alongside the bolt of lust the sight stabbed him with was the feeling of everything slotting even further into place; Rain filled a space in his room Dew hadnât know had been waiting for him, took away an emptiness he hadnât known was there.
His eyes were, of course, locked onto Dewâs already. Somehow that was what Dew needed to see to blow away his final doubts. It was all he could do not to sprint for the bed, settling instead for taking several quick steps before throwing himself into the space beside Rain and crashing their lips together for the thousandth time.
Dew didnât think he would ever tire of the feeling. The ease with which their mouths and bodies slotted together like it was second nature was mind-blowing, a kind of perfection he hadnât known to ask the universe for and one he would have thought was out of his reach if he had. Rainâs mouth said with each kiss all he didnât need words for: how strongly he felt the same way about Dew, how much he loved this feeling too and how he wished this never had to end, that they never needed to pause for air again.
Even as he held Rain tight beside him Dew couldnât help but let his hands wander, smoothing up and down the gentle curves of his back. His skin was smooth yet cold like how he imagined a dolphinâs might be and it felt so good beneath his palms. Dew had never conceived that just the touch of fingers to bare skin could feel so good and if he didnât already know how much better even than this things could feel he didnât think he would ever want to let go.
If anyone could understand the intensity with which he needed more of each sensation it was Rain, the ghoul so clearly affected that his hands seemed capable of little else besides clutching Dewâs shirt in his fists and holding on tight. Dew could feel him fattening up even more against him from where they were pressed so tightly together, the memory of how good it had felt before to bring Rain to orgasm sitting squarely at the front of his mind.
He had felt so powerful, reducing Rain to a quivering mess with just the touch of his hand. That in itself had brought him his own untold pleasure, his frantic grind against Rainâs thigh all he had needed to lose himself too. But now, with the haze of lust not yet completely clouding his mind, he knew he wanted more, wanted not just to touch but to be touched too.
Dew rolled his hips against him, hoping to convey to Rain that he didnât need to hold himself back, he could let go and Dew would welcome anything he wanted to give him with open arms. He nosed along his jawline, drinking in the scent of his water ghoul. With another roll of his body Dew let loose a low moan, hardly recognising himself in the sheer desperation of the noise.
Instead of meeting him halfway though Rain pulled back, meeting Dewâs eyes with none of his earlier joking.
âAre you okay?â He asked, as though he sensed the remnants of what had caused Dewâs sudden need for a break earlier. âWe donât have to do anything, Iâm not expecting you toâŚâ
He leaned his forehead against Dewâs, his tail laying itself comfortingly over Dewâs ankle next to it.
âIt would make me more than happy to just have another night being next to my favourite ghoul.â
And somehow he always seemed to know exactly what to say to bring Dew out of his head, how to address the things he wouldnât bring up otherwise and give him a space that was comfortable for him to answer them in.
âIâm fine. Good. Great, actually. I justâŚâ Dew was glad for a moment that Rain couldnât see his expression as he spoke. âI still find it hard to believe you could ever want me as much as I do you. I want you so bad it scares me sometimes.â
âDew.â Rain pulled back to look at him, laying his hands on Dewâs cheeks. âTrust me when I say that no one has ever wanted anyone more than I want you right now, or in any moment.â
âIt just feels like thereâs so much at stake.â Dew thought that the amount of time they had spent circling each other wasnât helping either, building up to the sudden rush of anxieties he had felt just now. âAnd I donât wanna push you, I know you and Swiss didnât everââ
âThat oneâs entirely on you, dummy.â Rain snorted.
âHow? We werenât even talking back then!â
âIt just felt wrong, even then, to think about being with a ghoul who wasnât my mate. It must have been because you were right there too.â
âOh. Uh, sorry, about that.â Dew winced in apology, even as every fibre of his being also protested the very suggestion of Rain being with another ghoul.
âDonât be. Iâm just happy to be where we are now.â
âSorry Iâm being weird now too.â Dew sighed. âI really donât mean to be. I just⌠I guess Iâve been worrying if I was too much the other day, and thatâs why weâve not done much more than kiss since. I donât want to push you, or rush you into anythingââ
âAre you forgetting how busy weâve been these last few days?â Rain seemed almost incredulous, in disbelief that Dew could think such a way. âPlease believe me, Iâve been wanting to whisk you out of that chapel or the band room or the dining hall or wherever weâve been every single moment since then, wanted to lock you away in my room and live out every fantasy that plays in my head whenever I think about you. Thereâs no hesitation for me, other than wanting you to be on the same page.â
âI want too much.â Dew shook his head. âI feel crazy with it.â
âWell then maybe weâre both crazy. Iâd still love you if you were crazy.â
Rain smiled warmly at him, but Dew saw the hunger alight in his eyes behind the softness. It was enough to distract him from the second part of what Rain had said, the words slipping out so naturally they didnât fully register with Dew until the moment to acknowledge them had passed.
At some point he needed to stop doubting himself and trust that Rain wasnât lying, he realised. The water ghoul was so painfully earnest in almost all his words and actions, it would be hard to imagine him fabricating such sincerity. It was only Dew holding himself back now.
So he kissed him again. Rain met him halfway, both of them clearly trying to pour everything they couldnât express with words alone into every move of their mouth against the otherâs and Dewâs mind finally let him begin to believe it. Rain met each of his movements with one of his own, deepening the kiss in tandem until they were back to how they had been before, clutching onto the other while their hands begged to explore further.
Dewâs hands resumed their paths across Rainâs back, the water ghoulâs slipping beneath Dewâs baggy t-shirt to hold him even closer. He felt it, the conviction Rain was pouring into every touch.
âOh Dew.â Rain practically moaned when they next broke for air. He leaned back slightly to take all of Dew in, as though still in disbelief at having the ghoul in his arms. âYou⌠I want you so much.â
Dew would hardly say he was looking his most attractive right now in his oversized shirt with holes around the hem over loose boxers, yet Rain was looking at him like it was the sexiest thing he could be wearing, even more so than any ridiculous uniform or anything else designed to be deliberately provocative. He looked at him like it was only Dew he was seeing and nothing else, helping him believe Rain just a bit more.
Rainâs focus soon drifted though as Dew allowed him to just look, in return trying to memorise the exact contours of his water ghoulâs torso and the way his markings curled around them. Dew realised Rain was staring at his arms again, visible given Dewâs short sleeves and still faintly glowing.
âCan I?â Rain asked, his now familiar touch drifting over Dewâs marks, punctuating his question with a kiss.
âPlease. Whatever you want.â
Dew didnât entirely know what he had been asking until Rain leaned in to begin pressing light kisses all over the markings, the slight moisture of his lips leaving a faint glow in their wake as he mapped out the swirls. It was almost funny to him how this was the opposite of every way he had treated his marks before. They had always been pushed to the side, hidden if possible or otherwise ignored.
Rain started with them though. He loved this part of Dew that he had tried to hide for so long, the part that tied them together.
As Rain laved yet more kisses along his arm, Dew ran the fingers of his other hand over Rainâs mark. He didnât think he would ever stop feeling at least a little guilty about it, but at the same time Rain made forgiveness seem so simple that it gave him hope.
Dewâs hands started wandering lower almost without him asking them too. They knew what they wanted: to feel him again, to hold the weight of him firmly in their grasp. He stopped as they grazed the curve of his hip bones though, still unsure despite everything Rain had said and done. The other night when Dew had jerked him off felt almost like a fever dream, one that had replayed in his head in technicolor so many times since. Rain stepped in to reassure him before Dew even had to say a word though.
âPlease keep going.â Rain gasped desperately.
âOnly if you do too.â As much as Dew was loving what Rain was giving him already, he wanted more, wanted him everywhere.
âDo you like when I do this?â Rain asked, only a little breathless, as he moved his hands to Dewâs waist, pushing up beneath his shirt to stroke over his ribs then down to his hips, thumbs following them lower below the waistband of Dewâs boxers then back up to settle on his waist once more.
âYes. Please, anything.â
âJust so you know.â Rain purred in Dewâs ear. âI would never do anything to you that Iâm not comfortable with you doing to me, at least without asking first. Is there anything you donât want me to do?â
âNo.â Dew answered quickly.
âSo follow my lead if you want, until you realise that you can take everything.â
Rain seemed to know that Dew would stop him if he were ever uncomfortable, not that he even slightly thought he could be with him. Maybe that was the point though; to show him that there was nothing in Dewâs imagination that Rain wouldnât want too.
Still slowly enough that he could stop him should he choose to, Rain pulled gently at the hem of Dewâs sleep shirt. It caught under his weight and Dew lifted himself off the bed to free it in permission. They were evenly dressed now and Dew felt more comfortable with this balance rather than less, somehow.
Rainâs hands fell to hold Dewâs ass through his boxers, not that there was much to hold compared to his own, Dew thought. Indeed Rainâs had been beckoning to him near-constantly, so he reached for it with overeager hands. Dew knew that his grasping barely fell short of groping at him, but the way Rain pressed into his hands, moaning softly and falling apart already, encouraged him regardless.
The water ghoul was always the first to fold, Dew was learning, losing himself so quickly after only a few gentle touches from his mate. Dew loved the affect he had, loved that Rain was unafraid to show it. He was getting better at setting his reactions free too, letting Rain see how effectively he could unravel Dew in return.
âThe same goes for you.â Dew gasped into Rainâs mouth, kisses turned sloppy as Rain rolled his hips into him. âAnything I do you can too, if you want.â
With that, Dew cupped Rainâs now very hard cock through the front of his underpants. The helpless whimper Rain made only spurred Dew on, squeezing him slightly through the thin fabric. He was hot and heavy in his hand, a feeling Dew thought he was swiftly becoming addicted to after just a taste.
And oh did he want a taste. He didnât have to be greedy though, Dew knew. He had forever.
âOh please, Dew! Touch me again, like before.â Rain practically mewled. âI havenât been able to stop thinking about it, about you, about your hands.â
âYeah? I havenât either.â
Rain was talking more than normal and Dew couldnât get enough of it. He loved the almost casual way they could speak now; if anything he thought the openness was hot. They could indulge in a bit of playful teasing, they had time, but right now he was also impatient and really wanted to see Rainâs cock again, to feel its softness against his palm and the slick drag of it against his skin as it wept in interest.
He wasted no more time, tugging impatiently at the elastic of Rainâs boxer briefs. The water ghoul jerked his hips up so fast to allow Dew to pull them off that had Dew been on top of him he would have sent him flying. Dew pulled the tight black fabric down, the sight of Rainâs cock bobbing free only making his mouth water more. Rain was uncoordinated and slow as he tried to help Dew by kicking them the rest of the way off but the fire ghoul didnât care; he was too busy admiring the water ghoulâs whole, now-naked body.
And oh, Lucifer, was he gorgeous, sprawled out on Dewâs sheets like an oil painting. Dew wanted to stroke him all over so he started doing so, running hands up his thighs and over the prominent muscles towards the meeting of his thighs where his cock stood proud, flushed a deep purple against the blue of Rainâs skin. As Dew stroked along where his thighs met his body, framing his prize between his hands and contemplating his next move, Rain seemed to suddenly remember their agreement.
âWhat happened to anything you can do I can do?â He whinged, breathless and needy.
From his voice it was clear he was trying to joke, but his composure was slowly failing him so his words came out far more whiny and desperate than he had meant them to. Rain stuffed his hands unceremoniously and in a slightly uncoordinated fashion down the back of Dewâs boxers as he spoke, the only place he could reach, large cold palms plastered to his buttocks.
ââCourse.â Dew coughed as cool fingers dimpled into his skin. ââS only fair.â
Rain turned the tables then, kissing down Dewâs sternum as his hands pushed at the waistband of Dewâs underwear. The fire ghoul lifted his hips briefly to allow them past, mildly irked that his own appreciation of Rainâs body had been cut short.
âI wasnât done with you yet!â He huffed jokingly as he took over from Rain to paddle with his feet at the cotton now stuck around his knees, kicking the boxers off into the abyss of the room beyond their bed.
âNot my problem.â Rain rolled Dew onto his back and nipped at the slight softness of his stomach, impatient. âItâs my turn now.â
He rubbed his hands up Dewâs thighs, not trying to spread his legs but Dew let his knees fall apart anyway. He could feel how warm he was running from the sudden breeze of the air in the room and the chill of Rainâs hands on his burning inner thighs, all his blood running south with his arousal.
As Rain pulled his mouth off to observe him, just as Dew had looked at him, a part of Dew thought he should be embarrassed. Rainâs expression made it clear he had no reason to be though, gazing with an expression like he was staring their Creator in the face in wonder. He stayed looking for a while without actually doing anything, barely even moving. It was only the slight part of his lips and the way his tongue flicked to wet them, as well as the tiny jerking motions of his hips against the mattress, that gave away that he was not a statue.
âWhatâre you thinking?â Dew asked, hating the self-consciousness that bled into his tone.
âThat I want to suck you off.â
That was not what Dew had been expecting to hear, but he felt himself throb at the words and suggestion. He thought again he would like to do the same to Rain but that could wait for now.
âOkay.â He said softly, barely above a whisper.
Rain didnât hang about. The hands on his thighs moved again almost instantly, thumbs pressing in with his enthusiasm. They stroked up over Dewâs abdomen and along the line of his hips, relishing in their freedom. Dewâs breathing went shallow as Rain shifted to prop himself up on one hand while the other continued its exploration, scratching lightly through the coarse hairs covering his pubic mound.
The water ghoul didnât stay there for long though, impatient fingers swiftly moving on again. They stroked lower now, smoothly gliding between his legs, tentative in their exploration but unerring. Dew shivered at his touch. Rainâs fingers were cold, so much colder than Dewâs own, and yet it was not the cold that made his body twitch. Besides, he would not be cold all over, Dew knowing first hand that he was warmer where it mattered.
The fire ghoul let his legs fall open wider, trying to suppress the quiver starting in one of them born of anticipation and want. It went unnoticed, Dew thought, Rain still looking so engrossed and as reverent as before. Dew felt himself growing wetter, his loins throbbing at Rainâs touch, but the water ghoulâs hand moved no lower. Instead he took hold of Dewâs clit between thumb and forefinger and began stroking it as reverently as Dew had stroked his cock, just like he wanted to do again.
âIâm returning the favour. From days ago.â Rain breathed as he worked, small movements already making Dewâs breathing go shallow.
Each pass sent lightening bolts shooting through him, more intense than he had ever felt or could ever imagine. He wondered how that was even possible; it must be a soulmates thing.
As cold as his fingers were, Dew knew from kissing him that his tongue was not. He was reminded of that fact very strongly and suddenly when Rain sealed his lips round Dewâs clit and sucked, tongue flicking out to tease at his hood. Rainâs cheeks were hollowed and he bobbed his head slightly as he worked, looking for all the world as though he were sucking a cock comparable in size to his own.
Dew felt another stab of lust at the sight, this one more unexpected but equally welcome. He cried out at the barrage of sensations, his mind struggling to decide which to focus on.
Rain didnât seem to be breathing. His gills were open but Dew didnât know if they could work at all in air, or if they even were. Then again he didnât think he was capable of thoughts as involved as water ghoul physiology right now. Dew could hear the sounds falling from his own lips but far more interesting to his ears were the noises Rain was making: a lewd slurping, tiny moans that he felt vibrate throughout him.
The water ghoul didnât slow for a second, even as Dew started shaking all over. He was taking him apart like he knew his body instinctively, and maybe he did, but also with the enthusiasm of a ghoul wanting to learn how every tiny flick of his tongue or twitch of a finger affected him.
From nothing but Rainâs impossible mouth and his thumb circling the jut of his thigh where it connected to his body, Dew came hard and suddenly. He saw white even behind closed eyelids, feeling like he was on fire despite Rainâs colder touch.
If this was how Rain had felt when Dew touched him for the first time then it was no wonder he had acted like he had. His whole body jerked beneath Rainâs touch, but the water ghoul didnât let up until the split second before Dew would have wanted him to. It was like he knew Dewâs body as well as he did already. Dew yearned to learn Rainâs this well too.
Rain seemed far too smug as he pulled back, licking his lips in unabashed delight. Dew was breathless, feeling like he would like gills like Rainâs in this moment just to help him recover.
He lay there for a moment, shellshocked, until Rain wriggled up to kiss him. With a small whimper, Rain kissed Dewâs own taste into his mouth. Dew feels Rainâs cock pressing into his hip then, reminding him of the prize for regaining his own bearings.
âYour turn.â He murmured into the kiss, sloppy and slow. âJust as soon as I can move again.â
Dew felt yet more smugness pouring off of Rain. It was that which finally gave him the wherewithal to push himself upright, already planning how he was going to take Rain apart in his head and pull the self-satisfaction from him one whimper at a time.
Rain sat up with him, unable to stop himself fisting over his cock as he watched Dew continue to take deep, heaving breaths.
Dew felt insatiable, even having just come. He wanted, no, needed, more already. The sight of Rainâs cock made his mouth water and he knew then what he wanted. Rain smirked weakly as Dewâs eyes refocused, as though he could read his mind.
âAre we going tit for tat, still?â Dew tried to joke.
âAnything, please, anything youâll give me!â Rain did not appear half as composed once he opened his mouth. âI need you so bad, Dew, please!â
And how could Dew hope to resist.
He leaned in slowly, the endorphins streaming through his blood refusing to allow room for any hesitation or doubts. Dewâs eyes flicked to Rainâs and saw them as wide as saucers.
Focussing once more on his target, slowly, for Rainâs sake more than his own, Dew wrapped a hand around Rainâs cock. He was solid beneath him, the pulsing vein strong beneath his fingertips and warmer than the rest of him which was still a pleasant surprise.
Dew brought his mouth in close, his forked tongue flicking out like a snake to taste him on the air before he wrapped his lips around the head of Rainâs cock. He tasted like Dew imagined the salt of the sea did, mixed with the electricity of petrichor after the rain and something baser, more organic. Whatever it was was like a firelighter to Dew; he needed more.
He tongued over Rainâs frenulum before sinking his head lower, feeling Rainâs thighs tense beneath him. The water ghoul was growling slightly again, in between a never ending litany of small whimpers and mewls and breathless repeats of Dewâs name that had started the second he took him in his mouth and showed no sign of stopping.
Rain was large and heavy in his mouth, completely filling Dewâs senses. Yet he still wanted more. Dew took him in as far as he could, inching slowly down his length until he felt him in his throat and his lips graze the scales around his base.
A choked sound ripped out of Rain as his head bumped into the softness of the back of Dewâs throat. Dew pulled off for a moment, now breathless himself, not wanting to ruin things by triggering an otherwise very relaxed gag reflex. He didnât have gills like Rain after all, still flared wide open and fluttering with every heaving breath the water ghoul took.
Dew settled for bobbing his head around as much of Rain as he could, careful to keep his fangs out of the way. Rain was clearly not complaining; he didnât even seem able to form a sentence right now. Glancing up at him from beneath his eyelashes, Dew felt Rainâs groan vibrate through his entire body, all the way through to where Dew was pressing his tongue against him.
He loved feeling like he had this power, but the inferno inside him had reignited. Dew already wanted to feel Rain against him again, inside him too. Just as he was debating pulling off completely, he felt one of Rainâs hands fly to his hair. He tangled it into the soft blond strands, cool fingers brushing Dewâs scalp.
The touch and movement of his hair was already making Dew shiver in delight at the unexpectedly good feeling, but then Rainâs hand closed around it. His fingers pulled lightly on the hair in its grasp and Dew lost it. The tug on every follicle was like an electric pulse, a thousand needles of pleasure.
Dew moaned loudly around Rainâs cock, feeling Rain react to the vibrations. He pulled off before he could choke but was glad when Rain didnât let go of his hair.
âFuck...â He whispered in wonder to Rainâs violet and saliva-slick cock in front of him. âCanât wait any longer. Need you again.â
âI-insatiable.â Rain stuttered.
Despite his blown pupils his eyes were bright. The hand not in Dewâs hair came up to stroke along his spine as Dew adjusted the water ghoul on the bed, making Rain comfortable as he laid him back against the pillows before kneeling over him.
âAnd whose fault is that?â
âBoth of us.â Rain said reverently, letting go of Dewâs hair to catch both of his hands in his, Dew mourning their loss already.
As much as he would have liked to keep at his new favourite activity for longer, until he felt Rain lose it inside his mouth and could taste his spend, Dew had other plans for him. He wasnât prepared to wait a moment longer than he had to to get him inside him now, every nerve in his body is screaming for it. But there was one thing he still wanted to do first.
He moved one of their sets of joined hands to Rainâs ribs, stretching his fingers to run along the set of delicate gills he found there. Releasing him so he could explore properly, Rain returned his hand to Dewâs hair where it rested gently on the back of his head.
Dew stroked over the soft ridges, feeling them flutter beneath his touch. They gave under his fingers, Rainâs hand tightening in his hair in response. These gills werenât as open as the ones on Rainâs neck where the membranes were still flared wide though, didnât have the little hints of something deeper, flushed richly red with blood visible through them.
It gave the openings on his neck a similar pretty contrast to Rainâs marks on Dewâs skin. Something about seeing them so near to Rainâs own mark made it appear less violent and out of place too, the similarity between the burning words and an organ that gave him life one he hadnât seen before but now couldnât ignore the significance of.
Unable to resist the urge to touch them now he had started, Dew trailed calloused fingers up to the gills on Rainâs neck, tips dancing over his flushed and slightly sweaty skin. The water ghoul was faintly glowing all over, Dew realised.
Beautiful; there was no other word for it.
Rainâs breathing went shallow, the gills at his neck fluttering in tandem. Gently, almost holding his breath, Dew ran a finger along the edge of one. Rain shuddered, his jaw falling slack. The way his hips bucked beneath Dew reassured him that he liked this, that it didnât hurt.
It emboldened Dew to press a finger into the soft membranes, gasping to himself as they parted so easily for him. He dragged his finger slowly along the slit, listening intently to every sound that fell from Rainâs perfect lips. He felt each breathy noise too, he realised, right there in his fingertips. Beyond that though was something rhythmic, beating in time with the rushing in Dewâs ears.
He could feel Rainâs pulse.
Dew wondered if Rain could feel his from his fingertips too. A second finger joined his first, the pads of both stroking softly before Dew applied more pressure, groaning as his throat yielded to allow them just a little deeper.
He was so soft here, and sightly warmer than the rest of his body. Rain was moaning and whimpering like Dew was actually fucking him, and he didnât know enough about water ghoul biology to know that it didnât feel the same. So Dew continued to stroke him in the way he enjoyed the glide of his own fingers along his cunt. Rain seemed to like it too, judging from the way he howled.
Dew couldnât resist touching himself. The image of his fingers in Rainâs gills, their tips up to his first knuckle swallowed up by the fragile and silky membranes was just too much to ignore. He stroked his fingers over himself in a similar rhythm to those running through Rainâs gills, both connected by the tempo of their joint pleasure. His own eyes started to flutter shut but a fresh keen from Rain pulled them back open, not wanting to miss a second of the beautiful reactions of his gorgeous water ghoul.
He switched hands as he rebalanced himself, fingers of the hand moist with his own slick now easing their glide back between the ridges of Rainâs gills on the opposite side of his neck. The others, slightly chilled relative to his burning temperature, pressed back against himself and pulled a groan from his own throat.
Rain gasped, a high, wrecked sound, the hand not in Dewâs hair flying to hold the fire ghoulâs hand to his neck.
âDew.â He breathed, whispering like his name was a prayer said in chapel. âYou. I canâ taste youâŚâ
He could barely string a sentence together and yet Dew was still more caught up in the fact that he could feel the vibrations of his speech through his fingertips.
Determined to continue breaking Rain down to a quivering mess, he experimented with moving his fingers faster.
Rain practically melted.
Intoxicated with the power of this newfound discovery and already feeling himself getting too worked up for the amount of time he wanted to dedicate to Rain, Dew brought his other hand back to the opposite set of gills on Rainâs neck. He didnât squeeze or hold him, unsure if Rain would want that, instead allowing both hands to gently move in tandem with the softest most reverent touches his shaky muscles could manage.
When Rain was nothing but a babbling mess, Dew slowed and leaned in. The water ghoul was too far gone to do anything but follow with his eyes as Dewâs tongue flicked free, dancing lightly along the edge of a gill.
Rain practically squeaked, his whole body twitching.
âDonâ tickleââ He managed.
Taking that to heart, Dew licked deeply into the curve of the bottommost gill, running his tongue along the full length of the slit all around the side of his neck.
Rain howled.
Dew took that as a sign to continue.
He laved his tongue between the firmer arches of his gills and over the spongy inner filaments. There was so much more to feel this way than with his fingers, each tiny pleat and ridge meeting every papillae on his tongue.
Alongside the new sensations he could taste Rain now: saltwater, a hint of iron. Behind that though was a slight smoky tang. It was himself, Dew realised. He groaned into Rainâs gills, sloppily making out with the open membranes and lapping over the warm, blood-rich lamellae. He could feel them flutter, could hear Rain gasping with his lungs as well as with his gills. It was a wholly new experience, like nothing Dew had ever contemplated before let alone experienced.
Addictive.
Plunging his tongue deeper still the tip of it grazed over the rakers buried far out of sight inside Rainâs gills. The cartilaginous protrusions werenât exactly sharp but they were a surprise, one that pulled a noise from Dew that had the ripple effect of making Rain groan low and long as he started to thrash beneath him.
Dew could have kept going all day, but he could feel Rainâs impossibly hard cock pressing into his lower abdomen where he was laid between his legs, pinning him down. More than anything he now wanted Rain inside him, more than he had ever wanted that before, more than he could ever remember wanting anything.
He reluctantly pulled off, bracketing himself up on his hands to press a quick kiss to Rainâs beautifully parted lips before sitting back on his feet, still between the water ghoulâs legs. His view from here was perfect, Rainâs straining cock flushed so deeply now that Dew had to wonder how there was any blood left in the rest of his body.
âYouâre gonna kill me.â Rain half laughed in disbelief when he eventually found his breath and then his words again.
âYou need a minute?â Dew asked, only a little self-satisfied.
Rain bit his lip and nodded.
âIf you want me to last more than a few seconds, yeah, sorry.â
Dew simply licked his lips in anticipation before lying down along Rainâs side, careful not to brush against his clearly sensitive gills. That didnât stop his hand from absently wandering back between his own legs, impatient. His tail swished behind him, an outlet for the roaring need waiting to erupt from beneath his skin and devour the water ghoul whole.
After a few minutes of careful, deep breathing with his eyes screwed shut, Rain eventually seemed satisfied that he had calmed down enough not to immediately lose it. He turned his head to look at Dew beside him, blue eyes wide and only a little dazed in wonderment.
Dew found he couldnât look away from them, even when Rainâs hand reached for his chin to pull him in for another kiss before wandering lower to give his cock a few tentative pulls.
âYouâre soââ Dew didnât have the words, wasnât sure there were enough words in any language for how he felt right now.
So instead he crawled back on top of Rain, hovering over him and leaning in to kiss him once more. He lowered his hips slightly, wriggling into position over Rainâs cock through instinct as much as conscious decision. Dew didnât feel like he even needed to make one; every part of him wanted this, he didnât need to command his muscles anymore.
He took Rainâs cock, as surprisingly warm as ever, in his hand and began to line himself up with it. As it rested hot and fat against his entrance Dew felt the fire in his core begin to flashover, flames licking along every nerve ending at the slightest ghost of a touch making him feel almost raw with want.
Dew was about to sink down, thighs aching from holding himself in position, when he suddenly noticed Rain was no longer meeting his eyes as intensely as he had been before. Despite every instinct screaming at him to take, he could sense that something had shifted between them and was ever so slightly, fractionally off.
It was something Dew recognised, he realised as he pushed himself back up. He sat back on Rainâs thighs without breaking eye contact on his end, a familiar prickle rolling off Rain to what had sent him spiralling into the bathroom earlier in the evening.
âWhatâs wrong?â He asked gently but without room for Rain to shrug off the question. âDo you want to stop?â
âNo!â Rain gasped, almost before Dew had finished asking. âNo, I want this, I want you, I justâ Iâm a little⌠nervous, I guess.â
Dew couldnât understand why â it was only him after all â but he could certainly relate.
âWhyâre you so nervous? Thereâs no need to be, itâs just me. Youâve done this before, right?â
Rain hesitated before answering.
âNever with someone I cared about.â
Oh. Dew understood now. Maybe this really did mean as much to Rain as it did to him, if not more. He understood feeling the pressure for everything to be perfect, but Dew didnât care about that.
The rigid emphasis in the humansâ media on first kisses and first times had perhaps rubbed off a bit too strongly on Rain, but as far as Dew, and he assumed most other ghouls, were concerned this was just one more way for them to get closer. If Rain still wanted to fuck him Dew would delight in every drag of their skin against the otherâs, savour each new sensation and sound he could pull from the water ghoul. But if not, he had a list the length of his arm of alternative things he wanted to do to Rain. At the same time, he knew he would be honoured just to spend another night tucked against him.
âYouâd think that would make it easier right?â Dew mused aloud, thinking about his earlier wobbly moment in the bathroom. âThat being in love would make things simple. And maybe it does eventually, but right now⌠What Iâm trying to say is I get it.â
The words slipped out as easily and accidentally as Rainâs had earlier, but it was soon apparent that Rain did notice this time.
âYeah? Youâre in love with me?â
Dew tried to distract him with a kiss but Rain broke it after only a few seconds, awaiting his answer to what Dew thought was a stupid question.
âObviously, dumbass.â He murmured against the water ghoulâs skin.
âAnd that doesnât make you nervous?â
âOf course it does!â Dew laughed, pulling back to look Rain in the face, incredulous. âItâs you.â
âExactly, itâs only me.â Rain was smiling now, wide and toothy.
âThatâs what Iâm telling you!â
âSo if we agree that itâs just us.â Rain briefly pulled Dew back into his earlier kiss before continuing. âDoes that mean neither of us have any reason to worry about anything?â
âI think thatâs how it works.â Dew nodded faux-sagely. âAnd that means you should fuck me now, if you want to.â
Rainâs body reacted involuntarily, his pupils dilating and his hips jerking briefly before he smirked and nipped at Dewâs bottom lip.
âYeah? And Iâm in love with you too, for the record.â
Dew purred.
âAnd I do want to fuck you.â
Rain pulled Dew down against him then, rolling his hips to grind his cock into him. He had softened slightly, but was swiftly on his way back to full hardness.
Dew surged in for a proper kiss, grinding back onto him as he did so. The feeling of Rain sliding against him, his cock dragging through Dewâs folds and the head bumping against the hood of his clit, was the better than anything Dew could have ever imagined. He groaned as they simply moved against each other for a time, movements as sloppy as their messy and uncoordinated kiss, until they both seemed to remember in an instant that they could have even more at the same time if they wanted.
An unspoken assent passed between them and Dew pushed himself up on his knees, breaking the kiss. A small string of saliva connected their lips for a second longer but neither paid it any mind, everything unimportant fading away as Dew shuffled backwards and took Rainâs cock in his hand.
He gave him a few tentative strokes, marvelling at how he was already leaking from the tip before lining himself up above him. Dew savoured the feeling of him, hot and so very present against his body, before with a final shared nod with Rain he sank down onto him.
The feeling of carving a space for Rain inside his body set Dewâs heart pounding as much as the physical sensation did. Rain was long, and just thick enough for Dew to feel his inner muscles realign to make space for him. He continued bearing down on the water ghoul until he was seated fully on him, his weight resting entirely on his hips.
A low growl began to emanate from Rainâs chest almost as soon as the clutch of Dewâs body surrounded him but Dew was too lost in the delicious stretch to notice when it started. He only realised that there was a faint rumble coming from Rainâs chest when he stilled, hands feeling the vibrations beneath them as he rested them on Rainâs chest for support. It resonated deep inside him, just one more twist of the knife of lust in his gut.
Dew couldnât focus on that for long though, too distracted by how full he felt as he settled on Rainâs thighs. They felt so perfectly close, everything was so much, so intense. Dew was torn between letting himself drown in sensation or burn alive with the want still coursing through his veins.
âRain! Lucifer, youâre soâ Feels so goodââ
Dew could hear himself babbling but he didnât care. He didnât know if Rain had even noticed, let alone was comprehending him. The water ghoul looked almost lost in pleasure, his growling a constant bassline punctuated by choked gasps of Dewâs name.
It was so possessive, almost feral and beast-like, and Dew couldnât think of is as anything other than hot. Rain was being so careful, his claws pressing into Dewâs thighs but with restraint, his hips jerking but not thrusting hard enough to throw him off or push deeper than Dew allowed.
Dew stayed where he was for a while, basking in the feeling of total fullness. The slight burn of stretching around Rain was as delicious as a tart apple and after just one taste Dew was already hungry for more.
He didnât wait to be completely comfortable around him before he pushed himself back up, rising off Rainâs cock before forcing himself back down, the friction everything he wanted and more. His steadying hands on Rainâs chest could feel the water ghoulâs racing heartbeat too, not just his growls, and Dew couldnât resist smoothing them over the defined muscles of his chest.
The pair moaned in tandem and Dew took that as a sign to keep going, to try and find a rhythm as he began to ride Rain in earnest. Every glide of their bodies was better than the last, the friction eased by what Dew has to assume was a water ghoul-amount of precum as well as the wetness of his own almost overwhelming arousal.
Rainâs body was firm beneath him yet as pliant as putty, Dew taking charge as Rain melted. He held onto Dewâs thighs just a little too tight in a way the fire ghoul loved, losing control of himself and his low, rumbly growl which grew louder and louder the less he seemed aware of it.
Dew couldnât get enough, of the feeling of Rain filling him, of their sounds hanging in the air, or of the water ghoul in general. Leaning down he kissed the noise from Rainâs lips, feeling the buzz of his growl in his throat. He pulled off again slightly and before he could sink back down, Rainâs hips were chasing him.
Eventually they managed to find a rhythm, Rain reduced to little more than chanting Dewâs name as he let the fire ghoul lead them. Dew loved the velvet slide of Rainâs cock, not as cold as the rest of him but just as solid. He adored the sweet sounds Rain made alongside gasps of his name, loved puling them from him like a virtuoso from an instrument. Rainâs vocal chords were his strings, Dew plucking on them with every slide and clench to make the sweetest music together.
Dew knew he was probably being just as loud, could feel the vibrations of his throat producing whines and moans, but he couldnât hear them over the rushing of blood in his ears and his laser focus on Rainâs own noises. He found he didnât care. So many of his old hang-ups and inhibitions vanished when he was around Rain, the water ghoul giving him a space to not only be comfortable in his own skin but to enjoy existing in it too.
For all the delight Dew took in taking Rain apart, he also felt himself building towards an edge much faster than he had intended. Every movement felt so much more intense than anything he had felt before, as though his ears had been filled with cotton, his senses dulled, and now with his mate beneath him he was seeing in technicolor for the first time.
Rainâs words from earlier echoed in his ears, themselves adding to the perfection he felt.
Iâm in love with you too.
âRainâŚâ Dew panted.
His thighs starting to burn as he rode Rain faster. He felt Rainâs hands flex against him in answer before the water ghoul managed to form words.
âDâ ewââ Rain struggled to convince his lips to move.
He was barely able to shape them around the only word he had been capable of for a while now, so Dew stole them once more in another even less coordinated kiss. Their rhythm faltered and Rain almost slipped out of him as he leaned in, but the frantic grind of their hips made up for it. Rain gripped him impossibly tighter, thrusting his hips upwards as Dew licked deeper into his mouth, a low groan of his own slipping out.
All synchronicity gone, they were soon both lost in chasing the feeling surging through their bodies as they barrelled towards their inevitable climaxes. It was not graceful or even especially dignified as Dew would have thought it ought to be, but it was perfect.
Dew had no idea how they could be expected to be apart for even a moment now he knew how good their bodies connecting like this could feel. His tail looped itself around Rainâs, both of them thrashing together now, an outlet for the frantic urgency Dew felt and a visual of his evaporating sanity as his baser instincts took over.
âDewâ gonnaââ Rain whimpered seconds before he came.
Instead of pulling off though Dew gripped him tighter, sinking impossibly lower and clenching around him. Dew couldnât say why he did; it was not something he had ever wanted before, and yet he was suddenly gripped with the need for anything that would make them feel even closer.
Rain came with a shout and the feeling of him loosing control, twitching inside of Dew sent the fire ghoul over the edge shortly after.
It was perfect, electric, and unlike anything Dew had experienced before, even when compared to his first orgasm earlier in the night. He felt it in their bond, a deep satisfaction and elation that only added to their joint pleasure. The closeness he desired had been achieved, tenfold.
Dew flopped forward onto Rainâs heaving chest as he came down, the water ghoul still growling. It wasnât long before he stopped though and instead began fussing, lifting Dew by his hips to pull out. Dew could feel the mess between them as he resettled, sprawled across his water ghoul, but that was something to worry about later. For now he wanted to bask in the warm, syrupy perfection flowing through him, at least until his heart stopped racing.
~~~~~~~
The following morning, having dragged themselves back out of bed the night before to clean up before falling back into each others arms, Dew awoke filled with a deep contentment. He was sprawled across Rainâs body, legs and tails tangled together, with every inch of skin not touching being jealous of those which were. He wanted to stay like this forever, to exist in this blissful in-between until the Pit froze over.
Rain had other plans however, soon beginning to wriggle as he joined Dew in the land of the living.
âMorning.â Dew pressed the words into his lips with a kiss, uncaring about their morning breath.
âMmmm.â Rain hummed in response, eyes fluttering open.
âDid you sleep well?â
âWith you, always.â Croaked Rain.
He fell quiet again after that and Dew almost wondered if he had fallen back to sleep.
âDid you really mean it? Rain asked after a while, so quietly Dew barely caught it.
âHuh?
âThat you love me?â
âIâve never been more sure of anything.â
Had Rain really been left unsure of that immutable fact, Dew wondered? That was unacceptable to him.
âI love you so much it sometimes feels like itâs the only thing I really know for sure is true.â
Rain squeaked slightly as Dew kissed him with all his might, the fire ghoul refusing to let him doubt his words for even a second longer. It was unthinkable to him that Rain not know the very depth of his adoration, not understand how completely and irreversibly he had rewired Dewâs brain and shaped his world to place himself at the centre.
Perhaps the greatest proof of Dewâs love for Rain however was that, despite the worries his brain liked to throw in his way, he hadnât doubted Rainâs assertion of the same for even a second.
In the final days before tour, the other thing keeping them apart aside from rehearsals had been Rainâs frequent spells in the lake. Dew couldnât begrudge him them in the slightest; they had both realised that as much as they wanted to be connected at the hip, Rain did need the hydration of the lake to combat the upcoming months of AC and stuffy bus and venue air.
Dew had even finally got over his fear of water from his many trips down to fetch Rain from the lake for dinner. The water ghoul always surfaced when he felt Dew coming, hovering just below the waterline with only his head showing to say he would be along shortly. With this slowly becoming a routine of theirs, it had led to Dew no longer feeling any of his old apprehension around the place. He hoped that out on tour he might even be able to overcome his paralysing fear of the ocean for the water ghoulâs sake.
On one of their final days before departure, wanting time together but not wanting Rain to lose out on precious soaking time, Dew had followed him down to the lake at dawn. Rain had convinced him to wear his swimming trunks, ostensibly so he could paddle at the shore if he wanted to, but Dew knew he hoped to convince him into the water with him. With the water ghoul there Dew thought he might be able to face it; there was no one he trusted more to keep him afloat or to swiftly relocate him to dry land should he suddenly want out. Failing that, he was sure Rain would at least be a good distraction.
Rain had made no secret of his distaste for swimming in anything that inhibited the movement of his fins. That morning, Dew had already enjoyed watching him pick his way along the path down to the lake in nothing but a tiny pair of shorts which he knew wouldnât last more than a few seconds once he was in the water.
Seeing Rain no longer trying to hide his mark and instead allowing himself to exist in whatever state of dress â or undress â he felt most comfortable in filled Dew with mixed emotions. He was happy Rain no longer felt self-conscious, or like he had to hide his mark, and yet he couldnât shake the guilt that it was him who had made him feel that way in the first place, no matter how many times Rain had had to repeat his forgiveness.
Dew understood the sudden feeling of freedom from the burden of their marks though, also finally growing comfortable enough to eschew the long sleeves he had always worn around the Den. He had nothing to hide around Rain, and really nothing to conceal from the rest of the pack either.
He followed Rain along the dock to his usual perch at the end, sitting on the edge to dangle his feet carefully into the water. It was cold but it also felt nice lapping at his ankles. Once he was settled Rain dived off the edge, long and elegant and barely making a splash as his body slid beneath the water. His shorts soon floated up to the surface, bobbing sadly towards Dew who fished them out with his toes, laying them to dry on the planks beside him.
Dew tried not to think about Rain being naked beneath the water; his body was a sight he would never tire of and yet now was not the time for such a distraction. Rain needed to make the most of the water while he was here â there would be plenty more hotel rooms and days off on tour than there would be large bodies of untreated water.
Sat on the edge of the weathered pier, Dew overlooked the water while the sun crept above the horizon. He felt Rainâs approach the moment before he resurfaced, erupting right by his feet in a spray of water droplets Dew knew were entirely unnecessary. Rain shook his head wildly like a wet dog, further drenching him. Pulling his sodden shirt off with a huff, Dew heated up his skin to let the water evaporate off him in a puff of steam.
âPleased with yourself?â He asked the water ghoul, now sensibly hovering just outside of the range of Dewâs feet.
âVery.â
Indeed Rain looked so happy in his element, bobbing weightlessly in the water as he grinned up at Dew and clearly delighted to not to have to choose one of them over the other right now. It made the fire ghoul almost want to join him. Dew stirred a foot in the water, considering it.
âWant to join me?â Rain read his mind, drifting closer. âIâll hold you up, I promise.â
Dew thought about it a bit longer, all his nerves around large bodies of deep water waking from their slumber to chime in with their protests. He tried to ignore them though, thinking instead of how it would feel to float with Rain, weightless and drifting beside him.
âWhat is it you donât like about the water anyway?â Rain asked conversationally, as if he could tell that Dew needed the distraction.
âApart from just being a fire ghoul?â Dew joked weakly, rolling onto his stomach and hanging his feet off the edge before contemplating lowering himself in. âPlease donât let me drown!â
âI would never.â
Rainâs hands flew to hold his sides. They were cold and wet, making him shiver, yet firm and as they held him steady nonetheless.
âI was always afraid of my marks showing up more, I suppose.â Dew tried to keep his mind on his words rather than the fear rumbling through him as more of his legs sank below the water. âAnd my part of the fire realms never really had bodies of water in the first place, not like the hot springs If grew up with.â
âThis is a bit colder than a hot spring anyway, Iâm afraid.â Rain snickered, gently guiding Dew further down into his waiting arms, his strong tail supporting the weight of both of them.
âYou donât say!â Dew hissed as the cold water reached his waist. âItâs freezing in here!â
âWhy do you think I want my fire ghoul here too?â Rain slowly spun him around as Dew released the wood of the dock for him to fully take his weight. âYouâre my own personal pool heater!â
âOh, I see how it is then.â Dew squeaked as the water washed over his shoulders.
Even though he was now buoyant enough for the lake to take most of his weight, Rain never let go of him for a moment. The water ghoul simply hummed happily as Dew started kicking his legs, beginning to get a feel for treading water.
âSee? Not so scary!â He said gently, shifting to hold Dewâs hands and drift backwards until the fire ghoul was at arms length.
It really wasnât as scary as Dew had thought, but the idea of keeping afloat by himself for any length of time still seemed impossible.
âPlease donât let go.â
âIâm here.â Rain cooed softly, eyes never leaving Dewâs. âYou want to learn to float? Itâs easier than having to keep kicking your legs.â
âSure, just⌠Give me a moment.â Dew felt himself finding a rhythm, his legs moving smoothly through the water as his racing heart calmed some.
It never fully ceased its pounding though because as he grew used to the new feelings surrounding him, he finally allowed himself to take in the sight that was Rain in the water up close. He seemed to glow even brighter now that Dew was in front of him, his whole body alight in a beacon of teal. Every curl of pretty luminescence was reflected in the gentle ripples around them, rivalling both the beauty and brightness of the rising sun behind him.
Even compared to the wonder of a sunrise though, Dew knew there was no contest in their beauty. Now he had seen him like this he couldnât look away, couldnât tear his eyes from the vision of the water ghoul floating in front of him as though he werenât the closest thing to a god Dew had ever seen in the flesh. Even if the sun had been imploding, the world ending, Dew didnât think he could have looked at anything by Rain.
âReady?â Rain asked after a while when Dew realised he had been staring almost in a daze for several minutes.
He nodded, shaking himself out of the trance-like stupor he had put himself in by just staring at Rain.
âFloatingâs easy, when you get used to the feeling.â Rain released one of Dewâs hands and drifted backwards. âJust put your head back and think about keeping your hips up.â
He laid back in the water and kicked his feet up to demonstrate, effortlessly letting the water do all of the work in holding him up. Dew couldnât entirely focus on what he was showing him though as he fought to keep his eyes on Rainâs face, the water ghoulâs brightly glowing and very naked body suddenly on full display on the lakeâs surface. He knew he was allowed to look, knew Rain would probably love it, but this didnât feel like quite the right moment to get distracted in such a way.
âNow you try.â Rain bobbed back upright, body disappearing beneath the water again although his bioluminescent glow remained.
Dew tried, but he couldnât keep his body straight enough to stay buoyant. He lifted his head to see what he was doing wrong, and straight away began sinking. Rain caught him before his face could even get wet.
âAlmost.â He encouraged. âHere, let me.â
Rain placed a hand to the small of Dewâs back.
âYou focus on keeping your head back, Iâll do the rest.â
Dew did as he said, lying back until the water filled his ears and the sounds of everything besides the lake itself melted away. Rain continued to hold him, even as he released his hand to tap Dewâs legs, getting him to spread out like a starfish with just the support under his hips. He could very faintly hear Rainâs words of encouragement, could feel his cool breath blowing over his wet skin along with the morning breeze. He let his eyes fall closed and tried to internalise the feeling of floating.
Rains hands beneath him shifted, testing if he could let go.
âNoââ Dew panicked.
The feeling of emptiness the lake filled him with was pleasant when he had the reminder that Rain was close by, but it was still terrifying to consider being out here unsupported. He lifted his head and his concentration broke, Rain once again catching him before he went under.
âStill here.â Rain said softly, not letting Dewâs panic spread. âYouâre doing fantastic. You think you can manage if I float with you?
He took Dewâs hand again, interlocking their fingers.
âIâll be right here. I wonât let go. Youâre safe.â
Dew nodded, more hesitant this time though.
âWe can always go back to shore, we donât have to do this if you don't want to.â Rain hummed.
Dew noticed then just how far from the dock they had drifted, but set it from his mind. He was safe with Rain, he wouldnât let any harm come to him, and the water ghoul was clearly enjoying this.
âNo, I think Iâm getting it, just donât let go.â
Rain helped Dew get floating once more then squeezed his hand before tentatively removing his support from Dewâs back. The fire ghoul focussed on not crumpling again as Rain drifted out beside him, two floating starfish linked by their hands.
The longer he lay there the more comfortable Dew felt. He had very little in the way of sensation to focus on besides Rainâs hand, grounding him even as he floated. Slowly he began to grow familiar with the water, just as he had done with Rainâs presence. He could sense his confidence building, getting a feel for how his body and the water moved around one another. Dew could imagine one day being able to do this alone, although he still thought he would prefer Rain be beside him. Then again, he thought he would want that in every situation.
The feel of the breeze brushing past him again made him shiver and reminded him once again that they were out here so Rain could swim, not just hover at the boundary between water and air. Stirring his arms slightly and prepared this time, Dew tipped himself back upright and returned to treading water.
Rainâs head turned to look at him, his eyes fluttering open.
âYou okay?â He asked, words slightly distorted by half of his neck gills being underwater.
âAll good.â Dew assumed him. âBut you ought to swim properly for a bit. Itâs nice and all floating here but you need to make the most of this before we leave.â
âI am making the most of this morning.â Rain bobbed closer to take Dew in his arms, giving his legs a break. âIâm enjoying our alone time together. Thatâs going to be in short supply too.â
Dew sighed. He was right about that.
âAt least go and touch the bottom of the lake then come back.â He said sternly. âBring me back a nice pebble or something, then we can float again.â
Rain pouted but otherwise didnât complain. He knew as much as Dew did that he needed to make use of the water while it was available to him, even if it didnât seem like the greatest priority right now. Not letting go of Dew, he propelled them both gently back towards the dock.
He situated the fire ghoul on a crossbeam hidden just beneath the waterâs surface, fussing slightly to make sure he wouldnât fall off, before diving under the water with a flick of his tail.
Dew felt it as he swam deeper, the bond stretching out like elastic as the distance between them grew. He was still aware of his presence, but the lack of it rather than his proximity. Just the existence of such a feeling brought him comfort though, allowing him to filter out everything but the sights and sounds of the lake in the early morning and the deep of the water brushing the tops of his shoulders.
It didnât take long before he felt the tension in his bond loosen; Rain was on his way back up. Dew sensed where his head would pop up seconds before it did.
Rainâs eyes were as bright as his marks as he swam up to him to present Dew with a small stone, a perfectly round disc-like shape with a hole in the middle. His eyesight must be fantastic, Dew mused, to have found such a unique pebble so quickly in the near pitch black below the water.
âItâs beautiful.â He said softly, taking it and running his fingers over its contours. âPut it on the dock for me? To keep it safe?â
Rain did as he asked, before immediately diving back under the waves again. Dew was as glad to see him swimming as he had been with his brief reappearance, knowing he would be grateful for it later.
Before too long Rain was surfacing again though, this time with an almost spherical light grey stone, shot through with a red deposit that Dew immediately recognised a the same colour as his eyes. Rain silently presented it for approval before adding it to the pile and vanishing again.
He continued the pattern, diving down and returning with a new pebble, until there was a little pile gathered on the pier.
The next time Rain disappeared though, Dew didnât feel him heading out into the depths of the lake. Instead he stayed close by, Dew sensing that he was still around the feet of the wooden dock. He tried to peer into the water to see him but it was too dark and the rising sun to bright to make out much beyond the shadows of reflected clouds passing overhead. He was concentrating so hard he didnât realise Rain was returning until he felt a sudden pressure around his tail.
Dew shrieked, clutching hold of the leg of the dock and ripping his tail free of the water. Rain hadnât warned him that other things might live in the lake â Dew might have reconsidered joining him if he had known. His tail felt heavy as he whipped it to and fro, hardly wanting to look unless something had attached itself to him.
When he did though, he saw a streamer of lakeweed tied neatly around the spade of it and a sheepishly smirking water ghoul bobbing just out of reach.
âThe fuck?â Dew lashed his tail. âI thought you were some kind of lake monster come to eat me!â
âWellâŚâ Rain dared enter the radius of Dewâs morningstar of a tail again. âI could be.â
Dew scowled, rightfully unamused he thought, even as he let Rain pull him from his perch and into his arms.
âDonât be mad,â Rain cooed softly. âThis is just a thing water ghoul kits do. Like you and your lizards.â
Dew couldnât be mad about that, even as the weeds continued to feel weird.
âWhat does it mean?â He asked instead. âYour tradition.â
âItâs a bit sillyâŚâ Rain suddenly got shy, wrapping his tail around Dewâs. âBut⌠Itâs a game to try and predict who our soulmates are. We tie kelp around our tails then swim around and see whose it gets tangled with first.â
âDoes it work?â
Rain grinned sheepishly.
âNot reliably. But my sisterâŚâ He trailed off. âIt works for the ghouls whose marks only confirm what they already suspect, I suppose.â
The joking tone fell from his voice, a sudden sadness coming over him that directly contrasted with the lighthearted moment he had clearly intended this to be. Dew couldnât have that.
âWell go on then, whereâs your kelp?â
Rain blinked at him, confused, but the shadow across his face faded. Dew followed up by flicking water at him to continue distracting him.
âIâm tying slimy weeds round your tail now, fishboy. Find me some!â
His face breaking out into a smile again, Rain dived back beneath the surface with barely a splash, returning moments later with a long piece of green lakeweed. Dew couldnât help but wrinkle his nose as he took it, but he tied it carefully around the fin at the end of Rainâs tail nonetheless.
âNow what?â Dew prompted.
He swished his tail behind him in the water more gently now and the kelp trailed behind it like a streamer. If he forgot what it was for a moment it was quite fun.
âNow we swim together.â
Rain took off, pulling Dew by the hand to also help keep him afloat. Dew dragged through the water behind him, getting splashed having none of the streamlined glide of the ghoul pulling him. Rain clearly realised the issue and decided it would be more efficient to hold Dew against him and propel them both with just his legs and tail.
âDeep breath.â He said, slowing slightly to make sure Dew was paying attention.
He held onto Dew tightly then lurched forward in a spiral manoeuvre that would have stolen Dewâs breath without the advance warning, spinning them through the water faster than Dew would have thought possible. He understood for just a moment why Rain always looked so elated after being in the water.
Rain guided them in circles for a while after they stopped for Dew to regain his bearings, floating on his back so the fire ghoul could lie on him like a giant floatie.
âSo?â Dew asked breathlessly when it didnât seem like Rain was going to take off again.
He had been too focussed on not breathing lake water to think about trying to rig this little experiment, but he need not have worried.
Rain lifted his tail out of the water and Dewâs followed. The two long ends of kelp had both tied themselves in impossibly complicated knots.
âLooks like weâre mates.â
.â˝â.*â§ŕźşâ˝ŕźťâ§*.ââ˝.
Rain wanted to dig his claws into Dew and never let go, never let him drift away again.
Sex with his fire ghoul was like nothing Rain had ever felt before or could ever envision feeling in the future. He could feel himself going crazy. Watching Dew in such bliss was somehow even greater than the extraordinary pleasure he experienced as well; Rain would let Dew rip out his very soul if it would make him feel good.
He looked so good too, the muscles in his thighs flexing as he sank down onto Rain, the water ghoul helpless to do anything but try to stay lucid. And his tongue on Rainâs gills⌠The feeling of fullness and breathlessness that had flooded Rain as Dew pushed its long, hot length inside the sensitive membranes along his throat was something else.
Dew had run his fingers along the gashes in his neck as though they were a different kind of entrance and Rain didnât doubt that that would feel just as good, they were so sensitive and his fingers so skilful. They were rough with callouses, long and steady and strong and big. Rain wanted to feel them in every gill, around his cock, along his taint to his own entrance.
His imagination was running away with him.
Rain had felt taken out by his own overwhelm, unable to move more than necessary to not lose a second of his mateâs touch. But seeing Dewâs power come to life made him want the fire ghoul to take. He wanted Dew to pin him to the wall, to push him to his knees.
Laid in bed their height difference was irrelevant; they were so perfectly matched in desire and enthusiasm and intensity, and yet Rain knew a single raised eyebrow from Dew would make him crumple. He suspected Dew would think the same thing about him too though. The way he had looked, his head thrown back, the long line of his throat bared on display, maybe they were perfectly matched that way too.
It all made Rain feel a bit sappy, thinking about how he had finally found his equal, the other half of himself. In a way their very different elements felt like a match too: they had come from contrasting realms with opposite soul marks, but coming together now their mirrored experiences were yet another similarity they shared.
None of these thoughts were conducive to him acting even close to sane, especially not with tour breathing down their necks. Rain instead had to settle for taking his moments with Dew and admiring him when he could, which right now happened to be during rehearsals.
Dew was wearing his usual leggings, the way the light reflected softly off the smooth fabric perfectly highlighting the line of his thigh. Rain could see them flex as he moved with the music, shaking softly as he pounded his heel on the floor to the beat. They were the same thighs that had strained with Dew sat astride him, that had effortlessly flexed as Dew rodeâ
Rain was not going to survive this rehearsal.
He finally walked up to Dew in the break when everyone else was crowding around the water cooler or having their own little chats, presumably about the music.
âIâm going to bite you, you know.â He said into Dewâs ear in a completely conversational tone. âRight here.â
He rubbed at his own leg as though soothing an ache.
âEvery time you stomp around I think itâs gonna kill me. I think I deserve some payback, donât you?â
Rain drifted away again before Dew could reply, delighting in how he had apparently stunlocked the fire ghoul. He could feel Dewâs eyes following him even while he failed to get his feet to do the same.
If Rain thought their regular rehearsals were bad for his concentration, they were nothing compared to the extended torture that was the dress rehearsal performance in the chapel. He could hardly remember playing a note, but he was sure he must have done since Copia seemed happy as they filed back into the vestry.
What he did remember was Dew prowling around their makeshift stage, stomping and throwing picks at Aether and sidling up behind Rain to breathe down his neck. He remembered more clearly how the new uniform had clung to him as he did so.
Seared into Rainâs brain was how Dew had looked at him, like he wanted to eat him alive, to tear him limb from limb to admire each part of him separately in its own beauty.
Dewâs eyes had never left him, even as they filed offstage back to the vestry where their instrument cases and rails for their costumes awaited them. Thankfully the rest of the pack had seemed to be aware of the building tension between the two, as they had hurriedly changed and were leaving before Dew had even finished fiddling with a pickup on his guitar.
âDonât forget to leave everything here, dear ghouls.â Copia popped his head around the door as he too left. âEverythingâs getting transferred from here to the loading bay once weâre done.â
âWe wonât, Papa.â Dew smiled angelically.
Rain simply nodded in his direction, and the man disappeared with a final wave of his fingers.
The water ghoul prowled up behind Dew, plastering himself to the smaller ghoulâs back. Both of them were still fully clothed aside from their masks, which allowed him to murmur directly into his ear.
âThat guitarâs fine and you know it.â He hummed lowly. âI think youâre just wasting time for us to be alone in here.â
âIs that so?â Dew asked lightly. âYou couldâve left too, you know.â
âAnd waste this opportunity to get you alone dressed like this?â Rainâs hands found Dewâs hip, subtly grinding into the swell of his costumed ass. âI would have to be stupid.â
Finally Dew set the guitar down, slowly, calmly, before spinning fast and planting his hands to Rainâs chest. He stumbled backwards until Dew had him pinned to the wall, winded with the force of his back hitting the plaster. Dew smirked wide, all unglamoured fangs. He was stronger as he leaned in, Rain unable to move, still embodying his on-stage persona.
âNice try.â Dew hissed.
Rain shivered despite the heat in the air and the fire ghoul crowding into his space. Dew ran his hands up Rainâs front, towards his neck, and Rainâs breath hitched again before he dragged them downwards again.
âI saw you watching earlier, out on stage.â He continued. âActing like you donât look like that.â
Dewâs hands found his waist and squeezed. He leaned in to nip at Rainâs neck, pulling his necktie free to get better access.
âStrutting about on-stage. Asking for attention.â
The hypocrisy of his words wasnât lost on Rain, who had spent the majority of the evening watching Dew demand the attention of everyone in the room and succeed in getting it. But he also didnât sense that this was the time to mention that, not if he wanted Dewâs hands to keep wandering. The fire ghoul was already picking at the fastenings of his waistcoat and then at the shirt buttons beneath, making Rain whimper slightly as his hot hands smoothed over his chest, pushing his uniform aside.
Dewâs smirk widened at the noise, clearly taking great delight in the affect he was having.
âNow now. Weâve gotta be careful with our uniforms.â He admonished.
But as his hands wandered to pick at the laces at the back of Rainâs pants, his tone began to crack.
Rain sensed his opportunity to distract him further and lunged forward, catching Dew by the waist and pulling him into another kiss.
âCareful huh? Iâd better take care of yours too then.â
Dew huffed in protest as his mission to blindly untie Rainâs pants was foiled but quickly gave in when the water ghoulâs dexterous fingers begin to pick at the fastenings of his own waistcoat. That didnât stop him from making Rainâs task harder by continuing to push their bodies even closer together though, plastering himself against him with his hands reaching to grope at Rainâs ass through the pants.
His enthusiasm was contagious and Rain felt a growl escape him as he kissed Dew harder.
Dewâs body jerked and for a moment Rain wondered if he had done something wrong. He was very aware of the uptick in his more feral behaviours where Dew was involved, the growling chief amongst them, and he could only hope that it didnât scare or unnerve the fire ghoul.
âFuck, thatâs hot.â Dew groaned.
âWhat?â Rain wondered what he had missed as he swallowed down more feral noises, settling for letting his breathing fall into an irregular and stuttered pant.
âNo, donât stop. That growlâŚâ
âOh really?â Rain practically purred, delighted that he didnât have to keep suppressing it and letting the rumble tear free again.
Dew shivered, his body going slightly slack against Rainâs.
Just as Rain was starting to think he might have the upper hand in whatever this game they were playing was, Dew spotted his opportunity to reclaim it for himself, spinning Rain and pushing him into the wall by the small of his back.
âYeah. Now keep doing it while I get these strings.â
Rain didnât need to see Dewâs face to know how hard he had to be concentrating to not just slice the ridiculous laces open. He was almost positive that his tongue had to be sticking out in concentration, just like it did when he was presented with a new guitar solo to learn.
Eventually though Rain felt the pants fall loose and Dew wasted no more time in turning Rain to face him once more before stuffing hot hands down the back of them. He didnât have the coordination for a true kiss, instead sloppily mouthing at Rainâs jawline while muttering vaguely to himself.
Rain thought he could just about pick out stupid, sexy costumes and he had to agree that Dew had a point: outfits that so begged to be taken off shouldnât put up such a fight, especially when their intended wearers were notoriously impatient creatures with claws and limited impulse control.
As if proving his point, Rain grabbed for Dew again, catching him by the loose fabric to the sides of his thighs and pulling. There was no way for Dew to get any closer though, their bodies completely plastered together. Dewâs hands squeezed his ass tightly, fingertips pressing in with just a hint of threatening claws and urgency of several hours of restraint leading up to now. Rain didnât know whether to push back into his hands or forward into his body.
A low, smoky scent filled Rainâs nostrils. He was learning that this was the smell of a desperately aroused fire ghoul, more heavy incense-leaning than Dewâs normal wood-fire and cinnamon but equally delicious.
He wanted to return the attention Dew was currently paying him, to make good on every thought he had had while seeing the fire ghoul stomp about the stage all night, and yet it was taking all his focus to keep his quivering fingers just gripping loose fabric without tearing it. Rain didnât have the maddening self-control Dew seemed to possess in spades for undoing fiddly laces without just tearing through them, and they didnât need to be one set of uniform down before they even leave the Abbey. Perhaps at the end of tour the costumes could suffer an unfortunate mishap, Rain thought to himself.
Dewâs kisses slowly started to move, but they were still a perfectly uncoordinated mess. He mouthed down Rainâs chest, over his mark, hungry and devouring before stroking his hands down Rainâs stomach. The water ghoul had to let go of him as Dewâs knees began to buckle, his mouth seeking to follow his hands.
The sudden mental image of Dew kneeling before him and taking him into his mouth almost made Rainâs own knees give out. Even if the visuals alone didnât end him, Rain knew now from just how otherworldly good Dewâs hot mouth felt that he wouldnât remain standing long either way.
Just then however, a crash of staging being moved in the chapel outside reminded them where they were. Dew halted his movements, standing back up straight, laying his hands on Rainâs chest and giving him an almost chaste kiss despite the heat of moments before.
âTake this back to the Den?â
Rain nodded, slightly dazed from both the intensity of Dewâs attention and by its sudden removal.
Dew stepped back as though Rain wasnât thirty seconds from crumbling into a puddle in front of him. Rainâs hands were frozen, unable to move even as Dew bent down in front of him to pick up his discarded necktie. When he made no move to take it, Dew looped it back round his neck and used it to pull him down for yet another kiss.
âCome on. Letâs go.â
Rain blinked after him as Dew sauntered back to where his clothes were waiting, facing away from him and undoing the laces on his own pants as he went. He pointedly ignored the rumbling coming from Rainâs chest, hurriedly stripping and redressing while the water ghoul was still trying to convince his feet to work.
Rain was grateful all the trickiest fastenings on his costume had been dealt with by Dew already, knowing he wouldnât have the patience for them right now. He unzipped his boots and shucked them and the pants off in one hasty and uncoordinated movement. With everything at least near if not on its hanger, he tugged on his sweats and the hoodie he had worn earlier.
He was already half hard and seeing Dew take off the costume he had been imagining him without all evening hadnât helped matters. The way Dew had bent over to unzip his own boots, his small yet firm ass framed by the unlaced pants as he leaned forward, had made Rain want to snarl and claim, his fangs growing itchy. Rain sensed this could become a problem with the cramped dressing rooms and close proximity of tour, but that would be a problem for them, or more critically the rest of their pack, that they would address when they needed to.
Scurrying back to the Den Rain felt almost giddy, the remaining adrenaline from the dress rehearsal performance still running through his veins. He was sporting a semi that he hoped his long hoodie and baggy sweats were hiding, but judging from the way Dew looked at him with unconcealed hunger they were not doing it well enough.
Dew led them straight to his room, not risking going through the common room to get to Rainâs in case any one of their pack tried to delay them for even a second.
Rain followed Dew and soon found himself back in the position he had been before, pinned with his back to the door.
Dewâs smile was even wider now they were alone.
âYâknow, Iâm suddenly really looking forward to tour.â Dew leaned in closer, his breath hot against Rains neck as he slipped his hands beneath his hoodie once more. âBut also kind of not. I have no idea how anyone can expect me to resist you each night. Itâs going to be torture.â
Rain thought he would accept the hours of such torment willingly, if only Dew would touch him right around now. Luckily he didnât have to wait to find out if Dew felt the same.
Despite the pairâs certainty that the months on the road would be a test of a whole other magnitude to any they had endured so far, they were still both excited at the prospect of getting back on stage and performing. Even if they hadnât been though, they were soon both too busy to have an opinion on it either way. The final tour preparations always crept up to overwhelm them without warning.
For Dew, that had meant spending even more of his waking hours with Copia, assuaging his anxieties of being a real Papa now alongside their other last-minute duties.
Rain loved seeing their bond, even though Copia wasnât Dewâs summoner. He sensed that they had more in common than either realised, both fighting against preconceived expectations, starting their lives in the Abbey on the back foot and feeling like they were an inferior stand in for either Terzo or the water ghoul the Clergy thought they had summoned. They had both worked so hard to build the lives they wanted to have, and Rain was unbelievably proud.
Making the most of their alone time, the pair had found themselves doing almost everything together, including Dewâs last minute packing the night before their departure. Rain couldnât even chastise him for cutting things so fine; he knew first hand and had immensely enjoyed exactly what they had been up to instead of packing during their other free moments until now.
So he lounged on Dewâs bed, watching the fire ghoul rifle through his closet with a hurried irritation before coming up empty-handed.
âCan you check if itâs in my suitcase already?â He asked Rain, a small crease of distress appearing between his eyebrows.
âIf what is?â Rain had been too busy just watching him to pay attention.
âYour black hoodie?â Dew admitted sheepishly. âThe warm one?â
Rain knew the one. He had worn it down to the lake one day for when Dew inevitably got cold waiting for him and hadnât had the heart to ask for it back. That, and he still loved seeing Dew in his clothes just as much as he suspected the fire ghoul thought the reverse to be true as well.
He was pretty sure he he had seen Dew throw it in the direction of the suitcase the night before, but he checked anyway. Digging to the bottom he soon found it, but something tucked beside it also caught his attention. Rain felt around it, trying to figure out what it was; sharp corners, a hard rectangle with a lip around one side. A photo frame?
He pulled it out, too intrigued now to question if Dew would want him poking around in his things, and held it up. Half correct, Rain squinted at the framed drawing, taking in the soft lines rendered in charcoal depicting a beaming Dew and Ifrit.
âYou were close, werenât you.â Rain said, knowing the fire ghoul was looking at him even without looking up.
âYeah.â
âIâm sorry Ifrit left.â
Rain couldnât imagine leaving his place topside in the band for anything; his summoning had given him everything he had ever dreamed of and more. He supposed it was possible he felt that way because he had never had a reason to consider the alternative. Dew was clearly happiest up here and he had no plans to ever be separated from him again.
âIâm not.â Dew joined him on the bed, lying beside him on his stomach to lean over and reach for the framed sketch. âIt was what was right for both of them. If loved Zephyr so much it didnât matter where they lived as long as it was with them.â
âI couldnât imagine giving up topside life.â Rain admitted.
âI donât know if heâd have called it giving up his life here,â Dew mused, âbut rather starting another new chapter. I thought I understood him at the time but I didnât get it. I think⌠I might do now though.â
Rain didnât need to speak for him to be sure that Dew knew he felt the same: his eyes said everything for him.
Dew rolled back off the bed then, packing the picture carefully back into his bag. As he did so, Rain couldnât help but find his attention drawn to the pendant dangling from a length of leather around his neck.
Hanging there was the pebble with a hole in its heart, its distinctive edges rubbed smooth by its trials bumping along the depths of the lake. It hadnât expected its life to be any more than that, a never-ending cycle to endure, and yet here it was. Rain had plucked it from the water and brought it to the surface, and now Dew was treating it like a precious gemstone.
Rain wanted to dig his claws into Dew and never let go, never let him drift away again.
Smut should be mostly skippable this chapter if you need, one scene marked by ~~~ as before!
I'm taking suggestions for people's favorite imperatour clips to include in the next chapter(s) btw!
also HOLY SHIT this fic is now at 300k total!! this was always the ultimate milestone for me because the ffn app on my tiny little android gingerbread phone when I was in HS had that as its max word count filter ahaha, but I always assumed that would be impossible to get to... but here we are!! tysm for the encouragement that's let me ramble on for this long <3
Chapter rating: E
Content warnings: smut, penetrative PiV sex, gill fucking, oral sex, cock for rain, cunt/clit for dew
Words: 21,302. Obscenely long. Sorry.
Link to full fic with associated tags: Tumblr | AO3
Tag list: @jesters-immunity @ashthewaterghoul @jimothybarnes @zombiequeen777 @kentuckyfriedsatan @papaslittlesunshine @bloodfin <33 I know it's been a while so just lmk if you want me out of your notifs! xox
The ghoul inside was a mess; covered in a green mass of flora and almost buried beneath a mountain of marigolds bound together by ferns and their runners. They seemed supremely unbothered by this fact though, hunched on the floor and making no move to divest themselves of any of the plant life.
Aether could hardly even see them beneath all the greenery, their form barely visible aside from two dark eyes staring out. They rumbled in a strange voice and it took Aether a second to realise they were actually trying to speak and not just projecting into his head like normal. What was not hard to hear was their concern for Aether or their anger at all his worst thoughts though.
âNo!â They croaked, voice hoarse with disuse. ââre needed. Packâlove you.â
Their lips smacked together a few times, their jaw working hard as they coughed like a cat with a hairball. A stuck frond came free from their throat with an unpleasant choking sound but after then they seemed to find words easier, although they continued filling in for some with their uncanny projections.
âThe voicesâin your headâthey lie.â
Aether stared at them silently, still taking them in.
âThe packâare not sickâof you. Theyâwant you around.â
âHow can you even know that?â Aether sighed as he hovered, still unsure if he was welcome over the threshold to the shed or not.
âJust do.â They loosed a raspy, hissing laugh. âCommon sense. You sayâso much aboutâyour pack. I know. Come sit, silly ghoul.â
Hesitantly, Aether stepped inside the dingy potting shed, the aroma of sweet decay and fresh green that could only come from soil and plants surrounding him. It was strangely calming he thought as he lowered himself to the dusty floor.
âI donât knowâŚâ He said quietly, suddenly feeling self-conscious; Aether had been speaking to only a door ever since he found Cowbell and yet this somehow felt even stranger, possibly because he couldnât see the ghoulâs ears. âIâm clearly making everyoneâs lives harder.â
A scoffing sound came from the pile of ferns.
âSo whatâif you are? Theyâre yourâpack.â They were rolling their eyes, Aether could tell, even without seeing them. âOr has the meaning of that changed since I took root out here?â
Aether wasnât in a mood to appreciate what had clearly been an attempt to lighten the atmosphere though.
âThis is all my fault anyway. I knew the heartbreak I was setting myself up for. I shouldâve just told Dew at the start that I couldnât do this, I shouldnât have let myself fall in so deep!â
Dewdrop had helped soothe the ache of Aetherâs greatest loss for a while but the quintessence ghoul had known all along that he couldnât be a permanent fix. When Dew had presented him with the opportunity to experience all he had desired and lost though, he had jumped in with two feet with no regard for how his actions may reflect back painfully onto the fire ghoul. Dew had even given him an out, reminded him of his assertion to not let himself fall, yet Aether had selfishly ignored all his earlier reservations for a short year of unimaginable and total happiness.
âSo what?â Cowbell coughed again, readjusting their hunched position on the floor and finding their next words more easily. âThe chancesâof thisâwere so small. No one wouldââve predicted this.â
They had a point; the likelihood of crossmated ghouls finding their other half topside, while far higher than in the Pit, were still tiny. The chances that the one water ghoul summoned would be Dewâs mate were astronomically small. Other ghouls could spend their entire topside lives without even a whisper of their mates â the ghoul wing of the Abbey was packed full of ghouls that illustrated that point perfectly.
Still, Aether felt foolish. He had always said he would be more careful than this.
âStop dwelling on the past.â The earth ghoul inched closer, moving into a stream of moonlight filtering through a dusty window that let Aether make out more of their features beneath all the greenery. âIâve beenâaround long enough. Time onlyâmovesâforward, young one.â
Aether thought they should be annoyed with him by now, frustrated at his inability to accept and move on with the direction his life had taken. And yet they still werenât telling him to leave.
âI wish I had that kind of perspective.â He sighed.
âIâve been here sinceâbeforeâthe Abbey was a shack on a hill. Iâve seenâthe worst ofâthe world rise and fall and felt the Earth lament the blood spilledâbeforeâeven then. And yet the flowersâcontinueâto bloom.â
An arm reached out of the ghoul-shaped pile to snatch a fistful of marigolds from around their face. They looked at them quizzically for a moment as though perpetually surprised by their existence before setting them down in front of them. Aether barely had a chance to glimpse the gleam of fangs within a crooked smirk before more heads bloomed to take the flowersâ place.
Whatever their strange and abundant origin, Aether took solace in their permanence too.
From that day onwards, the earth ghoul would open the door whenever they heard Aether approaching. Their cape of flora went in waves, neither of them mentioning it to start with. On their good days though, Aether eventually got to hear them unobstructed and see what they looked like beyond the greenery.
They werenât like any Earth ghoul he had seen before, their hair was black like coal, as were their eyes and claws. Indeed they looked to almost be made out of rock themselves, with grey skin that grew the most verdant lichen when the flowers and ferns werenât there to hide it.
They began to talk more too, although they only asked questions of Aether to start with. He described more of his pack to them, what their everyday looked like, their preparations for tour and how Sunshine was settling in. What the new Cardinal, now Papa, was really like. Aether found they particularly enjoyed tales of Terzo, who Cowbell seemed to remember with fondness, his stories frequently making them laugh with a strange, scratchy hiss.
Being with Cowbell just felt so natural, Aether never feeling like he had to put on any kind of face around them. They had heard him at his worst and he was seeing them at what surely had to be a low point of their long existence. The amount of time they had spent at the Abbey was strangely comforting too. They had surely seen sadder cases than him and somehow that helped Aether too, knowing that they didnât see him as any particularly tragic story. He was just Aether, the ghoul who brought them food when the place that had built itself around them and called itself home stopped feeling like it was.
Eventually they offered up their own facts too, small titbits about their short stint out on tour and about the pack they had known but never been a part of, much like Aether hadnât. With their growing openness, Aether sensed his chance to finally ask the questions that had been weighing on him.
âHow long have you been out here?â He asked one day, hoping that it wasnât too prying of a question.
âOnly a season or so, before you found me.â
Aether had wanted to ask why but hadnât dared, yet Bell volunteered it anyway before he had a chance to.
âThe ghoul dorms are too noisy. Too large and too loudâŚâ They had wrinkled their crooked nose in displeasure. âAnd then my foliage problem got out of hand.â
Aether had chuckled; that was one way of putting their current predicament.
âHang on! You should stay in the room I first had when I was summoned!â He gasped as the thought suddenly presented itself. âIf you want, of course. Itâs near the study in the chapel. It was very useful when I served Terzo but before I moved into the band dorm, and thereâs no one staying there now. Thereâs only one entrance and itâs half-camouflaged. Itâs quiet, too.â
Cowbell had rumbled in interest but hadnât agreed immediately.
âWhat should I call you?â Aether had asked on another occasion. âCowbell canât be your real name, can it?â
âItâs the first name I was given.â Cowbell had answered. âBefore, when He first created us, we never had such need for them you see. He knew us all without needing names.â
Eventually as they had grown closer Aether had come to learn that they had been hiding for so long because of the flowers. They used to have a regular earth ghoul soul mark, all manner of flora that would sprout and bloom when their mate had strong feelings or in response to their own. One day they had stopped completely though, only to be replaced a short while later by the unstoppable and constant flowers and ferns that plagued them now.
Something about the unexplainable strangeness of it had made their loneliness feel even more acute, even as they failed to fathom what was going on. So they had retreated. They still didnât know why this was happening to them, but at least out here it felt less inconvenient to be shedding petals and fronds wherever they went.
Aetherâs comment that plenty of other ghouls had caused far more destruction that a few scattered leaves without such an excuse had been met with another scratchy laugh.
The quintessence ghoul thought he had an inkling of the cause of Cowbellâs sudden predicament, one that was only strengthened when he had gone to look up the meanings of the marigolds and phenology of their fern runners in the library. Aether kept that information to himself for now though; he had a tour to go out on, he didnât want to dump a potentially earth-shattering revelation on them only to immediately vanish.
With only a few days left until their departure Aether had been struggling to divide his time between the band and his pack, Cowbell, and Terzo. He felt bad leaving Cowbell and Terzo behind, having grown used to seeing both of them almost daily and uncertain if either of them had many friendly faces to greet them regularly besides his. Mist had promised to check in with Cowbell as before, but he was unsure if they would be comfortable enough to talk as openly with her as they did with Aether, or if she would be once again talking to a closed and unresponsive door.
It was from his desire to spend as much time with those remaining behind as possible that he found himself taking dinner with Terzo one night, lending his ear to the manâs wild ideas in one of the few spare hours he still had. As they were leaving the dining hall, preparing to return to Terzoâs office, Mist had rounded the corner and almost collided with them.
Aether caught her as she stumbled, the sudden tension between the ghoul and her old master palpable.
âGood evening, Mist.â Terzo broke the silence, an affable smile on his face even as Aether could feel him wincing internally. âI havenât seen you since I returned from my unplanned sabbatical!â
âNo. Well, Iâm sure youâve been busy.â She was cold but not impolite, standing up straight while looking as though she would rather be anywhere else, longing for the conversation to be over as soon as it had begun.
âAnd how are the rest of your pack? I havenât seen Omega around the chapel yet, Iâm surprised!â
âThey left.â She snapped.
âOhââ The normally verbose Terzo was rendered near speechless in shock, although he soon recovered. âI am deeply sorry to hear that, Mist. I had no idea! Did theyâŚ?â
Aether didnât realise he hadnât known, feeling slightly guilty himself for not filling Terzo in on the wide-reaching effects his removal had had on the whole Abbey, not just the band. Yet the unspoken question of if Mistâs pack would have remained topside had they not been removed from the band or had Terzo not been sent away hung over them. It seemed Mist could sense the question just as well as Aether.
âTheyâd all been threatening to return to the Pit for a while already, ever since our demotion.â She said, her tone even but her words clipped. âThe shake-up when you left was just the final catalyst.â
âI see.â Terzo winced, although he tried to hide it. âStill, I am deeply sorry, both for their dissatisfaction and for your loss.â
Mist nodded curtly.
âGoodnight, Papa.â
Her head held high, she stalked past them both into the dining hall to where Aether suspected she would inevitably end up sitting alone. Her composure was admirable, yet the hurt she carried stung to see.
Aether allowed Terzo to lead the way back to his office, following silently as the man clearly mulled over her words.
âDear ghoul, if youâll allow me to be vulnerable for a moment.â He started eventually. âI must ask. Should I have tried harder? To keep her pack as the band ghouls? Should I have fought to keep my position here? She is right. There have been so many shake-ups with her pack at the centre of all of them, ever since my ascension to my brotherâs position, even.â
âNo.â Aether said decisively. âYou did what you could, given Sister Imperatorâs impenetrable will and the circumstances at the time. Sowing greater discontent amongst the Clergy would not have helped any of us.â
Terzo hummed thoughtfully, but left room for Aether to continue.
âAs I see it, the Cardinal, well, Papa now, is doing good work for the ghouls.â Aether thought of Cowbell and the progress they had been making, all stemming from Copiaâs original concern. âAndâŚâ
Aether realised the truth only as the words left his mouth.
âDew. He wouldnât have gotten to meet and bond with his mate, with Rain, if the old band ghouls had stayed in their posts and there hadnât been the upheaval of your removal that inspired Zephyr and Ifrit to retire when they did.â
Terzo clearly wanted to pry, so he did.
âYou two⌠So you were never mates?â
âNo.â Aether shook his head. âJust⌠closer than regular pack. We always knew this was a possibility, we just never expected that of all the ghouls Copia could have summoned⌠That itâd be him.â
Terzoâs eyebrows pinched. Aether knew he must have put the dots together already: he had spent enough time with Dew and by extension Rain recently to see them together, but he clearly hadnât expected to hear the truth confirmed so easily by Aether. So he tried to joke, in the way that only Terzo could do.
âMaybe your mateâll be summoned next, then you can be the one making the lights on the bus flicker like Omega back on his first tour with me!â
Aether didnât laugh though.
âTheyâre dead, Terzo.â
The man at least had the gall to look sheepish.
âIt was a long time ago. But thereâs no hope for me.â Aether shrugged. âAt least not outside of another ghoul in the same situation. But I wouldnât wish that on anyone. Iâm never getting anything like Omega did with Alpha, or like Dew has with Rain. But Iâve got this.â
Aether gestured around at the almost clinically lit hallway leading from the modern wing of the Abbey back to to the rest of the building.
âAnd sometimes that feels like enough.â
ŕźťâłââË.â¤âłâ¤.Ëâââłŕźş
For Dewdrop and Rain the next morning was equally perfect, Dew still in a shared embrace with the water ghoul when he woke. Their bare chests pressing together filled him with another kind of warmth despite Rainâs lower body temperature, a feeling he thought he would never tire of.
The soft and sleepy atmosphere permeated the air as Rain joined him in the waking world, his arms only tightening as he regained consciousness. Dew could tell it was later than either of them normally rose and yet he didnât have the woozy feeling that sleeping in usually gave him. Instead he felt more truly rested than he had in a while, certain that he hadnât slept so soundly in ages.
âGood morning.â He breathed into the crook of Rainâs neck as the water ghoul began to squirm in the utterly relaxed way only ghouls crossing the boundary into consciousness did. âMy Rainbow. Did you sleep well?â
âVery.â Rain hummed, nothing short of utter bliss permeating his tone. âAny dreams last night?â
Dew smiled against his skin.
âNot one. This is better than any dream.â
Dew meant it with every fibre of his being. Being with Rain just felt so natural, and now that Dew had experienced a taste he wanted everything, needed it like he needed oxygen.
As much as he wanted to stay entwined together until the end of time, or at least for a few more hours, they had rehearsals starting in earnest that afternoon. Dew could think of very little worse than being interrupted by a knock on the door from an undoubtedly smug packmate, having been on the receiving end of that before, so he knew ignoring the world much longer wasnât a viable option.
Rain clearly though the same and so, reluctantly and slowly, they had dragged themselves out of bed. Dew had left Rain to his shower, knowing if he stayed a moment longer they would not be leaving the room for several more hours. He had crept through the blessedly empty Den back to his own room in one of Rainâs many black tour hoodies, having no intention to return it any time soon.
As Dew had feared, that had been their last free morning in a while, their schedules full for days following the first rehearsal. Sunshine had slotted in perfectly but Copia was being a perfectionist, having a lot to live up to as a Papa.
Dew was helping him as much as he could, Rain often tagging along to sit in the chapel while they worked, sometimes lending his ear to the manâs last minute decisions and his voice to the pairâs rituals. Dew loved being able to look over and see him there, his presence buoying him through the long days and late nights.
Neither ghoul had any intention of sleeping apart again. The next night Dew had followed Rain to his room automatically, but they hadnât done more than kiss, nor had they the next evening, both tired from a series of late and disrupted nights as well as Copiaâs ever-increasing rehearsal schedule.
The final preparation of the new songs for tour seemed unending and despite how well they were going Copia was clearly nervous. He was not just a temporary replacement for Terzo anymore, he wore the mitre of a Papa now and needed to embody it more than ever.
Rain and Dewâs rather uneventful personal time was not for any lack of desire however. Dew ached to get his hands on Rain again, to feel his hands on him. Their hands had indeed began to wander more and more in recent days, but the pair had not had the time either of them wanted to feel truly unhurried enough to fully explore their desires. Rain had said he wanted the time to treat Dew right, and Dew believed him, feeling much the same way himself.
Still, just getting to sleep together in the same bed was making Dew feel like the luckiest and most loved ghoul in the world. They would curl up together, Dew usually holding Rain to his front if they werenât facing one another, his arm resting over him to press directly to his heart, fingertips grazing his mark. Rain had said it was like he was warming him from the inside.
Dew had learned that Rain didnât like to sleep wearing a shirt, or much of anything at all really, because of his sensitive gills. Likewise he too had grown comfortable enough to eschew pyjama pants in exchange for boxer shorts inside the privacy of their rooms. Dew loved the closeness of their legs touching, their knees slotted together or folded one behind the other. It seemed Rain in particular was enjoying his new personal heated blanket of a ghoul too, pulling at Dew to drape himself over him even as the temperatures outside continued to rise.
On yet another night together as the pair had curled up to sleep, Rain had bent his knees up and away from Dewâs. Just as Dew had started to wonder if he was expected to follow to stay close to him, he felt large, cold feet plaster themselves to the front of his legs.
Dew shrieked at a volume that was far too loud for the hour.
âFuck! Rain, you sick bastard!â
Rain snickered, flexing his toes against him before starting up a deeply contented purr. Dew couldnât do anything besides hold him close and allow himself to be used as a hot water bottle.
The next morning Dew couldnât help but notice Rain shrugging into one of the fire ghoulâs assortment of distressed band shirts, collected throughout his time topside. Dew liked them just slightly baggy so he could layer them over his ever-present long sleeved shirts, which apparently meant it fitted Rain perfectly, clinging to his broad shoulders and chest while still flowing comfortably around his waist. When exactly Rain had pilfered it he was unsure, but Dew could only assume he had left it in his room one night. Rain claiming it as his own made a slight possessive streak flare within him.
It only burned stronger when they emerged into the common room to find almost all of the pack assembled already. Most of them were minding their own business, however Cirrus and Cumulus were grinning like cats who had got the cream. Dew saw them clock the shirt instantly, yet they made no comment about it. He soon realised that was because it was the least interesting thing they had to prod at the pair over.
âFun night, boys?â Cirrus grinned with all her teeth.
âI dunno what youâre talking about.â Dew said flatly.
âOoo fuck, Rain, you sick bastard.â Cumulus drawled, punctuated by exaggerated moans.
âI donât talk like that!â Fumed Dew while Rain stayed silent in embarrassment, burying his face in Dewâs shoulder.
Dew patted him on the side of the head and glowered at her, the pair of ghoulettes cackling to themselves in triumph.
âBesides, Rain just put his cold fucking feet on me. Youâd be yelling too if you felt that when you were just getting cosy!â
They didnât have time for a mini feud though as Rain had promised to join Mountain in the greenhouses in the morning, helping sort out his personal plant nurseries and beds before they left for tour. Everything related to their care and watering would be left in the capable hands of the Abbey earth ghouls, but it wouldnât hurt to make their jobs easier.
Rain would be back in time for them to have lunch together, thankfully, before they would all be thrown into yet more rehearsals. Then they would have the evening to themselves and the whole of the next day too. Dew couldnât wait, every minute spent with Rain feeling like a gift from Him Himself. As much as he adored the pack, the feeling of complete and total openness he had with Rain was incomparable.
For the rest of the morning though Dew had nothing to be doing. It didnât appear Sunshine did either, the ghoulette having not been assigned any duties outside of the band as of yet to allow her to fully focus on picking up the repertoire.
He joined her on the sofa, in front of the television which was playing some kind of nature documentary.
âSettling in okay?â Dew felt a little bad that he hadnât checked in with her until now.
They shared an element after all, but he supposed he had been rather distracted as of late.
âAlright, thanks!â She twisted from where she was sat on her feet to face him. âBeing topsideâs even better than I expected! I was a bit worried when I first got here in that horrid dank chamber that Iâd been summoned to some underground church and Iâd never see the sun again, but thereâs so much nature here and the airâs so fresh and everyoneâs so nice!â
She almost quivered with joy as she spoke. It was no wonder everyone had warmed to her so quickly, Dew thought.
âItâs a shame about the weather today then.â Dew smiled, glancing at the sudden spring shower that had hit outside.
He wondered if Rain and Mountain were still hard at work or if they had run off to play in the downpour; he couldnât imagine Rain would enjoy the mud all that much, even if the water wouldnât bother him.
Sunshine giggled then, a familiar bell-like sound.
âIâve heard weâre going to lots of warmer places on tour though, right?â
âThatâs right. We should get some days off there too, to really enjoy them.â
Sunshine hummed happily.
âI canât promise fresh air is something weâll get all the time though.â
Dew spoke jokingly but Sunshineâs face looked suddenly worried.
âWeâll be sharing a bus with Copiaâs feet after all!â
Sunshine blinked for a moment as the joke landed before giggling. Still, Dew filed away the sudden faltering of her normally perfectly cheery exterior as something to keep an eye on once they hit the road.
âWhat do fire ghouls do around here for fun?â She asked, changing the topic of conversation.
âIâm not really sure, actually.â
Dew though about it for a moment. He had hardly been a normal fire ghoul, what with everyone assuming he was a hybrid for the first year or so of his time topside. Even then he had spent most of his time either in the chapel or the band wing, always working in some capacity. Neither could he really recall Ifrit showing much interest in anything around the Abbey beyond his band duties. Downtime for both of them had mostly just been spent relaxing in their Den with their pack.
âI guess me and Ifrit, the last fire ghoul, were both pretty bad at getting out and meeting others.â He chuckled. âIf met his mate within days of his summoning, and IâŚâ
Dew trailed off. He had spent most of his time with Aether, unable to help but feel a little awkward about that. Dew had seen Sunshine getting closer to the quintessence ghoul and she seemed so perceptive that he worried she must think badly of him already in that regard.
She showed no sign of any animosity though, nodding along in understanding before suddenly switching subject once more.
âAre there animals other than humans here at the Abbey?â She glanced at the television.
Dew thought it was as though she were running about five different thought processes at once, the most pressing one coming to the surface each time she opened her mouth. It was so chaotic that it was almost reassuring, knowing that she likely wouldnât dwell on anything uncomfortable for too long.
âThereâs a few.â Dew answered. âCopiaâs got pet rats, but he wonât let you near them without signing a blood oath not to hurt them first.â
âWhat about those?â She pointed at the screen, where a lioness who moments ago had been goring an antelope was now licking a giant paw.
âThatâs you!â Dew laughed at his own joke, but quickly realised he would have to explain it when Sunshine squinted hard at the screen and looked deeply confused. âThatâs a lioness. A female lion. Like Copiaâs nickname for you ghoulettes.â
As he kept watching, the big cat started to remind him of her much smaller cousin, the one he had felt a strange connection with before.
âWe have housecats here too, although theyâre much smaller.â Dew added. âThey keep mice and things out of the kitchens. Go and hover out the back of the band wing some time if you want to see one, thereâs a friendly calico around a lot.â
He left out that she had been the bearer of spiritual advice before.
Sunshine hummed in acknowledgement, now leaning forward and deeply engrossed in the television once more, like she was studying the creature on-screen to learn how best to live up to the moniker.
It really was endearing to watch her, Dew thought, her wide-eyed interest in the new-to-her world almost contagious. He relaxed into the sofa, content to watch the documentary with her and answer any more questions that may pop into her head until the others returned for lunch.
Rehearsals later went as smoothly as ever, assuaging Copiaâs growing nerves once more. That didnât mean the pack werenât all exhausted by the time they were released for dinner however, yet Dew and Rain were refusing to let it affect them, the promise of thirty-six hours with nowhere to be giving them a second wind of energy.
Back in the Den at last, Dew pulled Rain in the direction of his room without even thinking about it. He only realised that it was Rainâs first time stepping foot in there when he felt the water ghoul pause just inside the doorway, looking around in curiosity. Their rooms werenât even that different, having the same basic layout and furniture, but Dew supposed his had a few more trinkets and photos dotting the shelves from his longer time topside. Other than that the main real difference was his black bedding as opposed to Rainâs dove grey.
âWe can go to yours if youâd prefer.â Dew offered. âI know my roomâs nothing special. I keep meaning to getââ
Snapping out of his observation of the room, Rain finally stepped inside properly, kicking the door shut behind him and pulling Dew into a kiss in one fluid motion. Dew felt all his worries melt away as the water ghoul took him in his arms, words of uncertainty dissolving like sugar in hot tea.
âHere is perfect.â Rain assured him when they finally came up for air. âAnywhere with you is perfect. But being in your room is especially perfect.â
Dew rolled his eyes.
âNo need to lay it on so thick.â
âIâd never exaggerate when it comes to you.â Rain said in that far-too-earnest voice that never failed to make Dewâs stomach tie itself in knots. âNot when youâre already so much more of everything than I could have ever imagined.â
âAlright! Thatâs enough!â Dew batted at his chest to deflect from the sudden overwhelming surge of emotion that flowed through him. âBed, now!â
âYessir!â Rain barked a laugh, before sprawling coquettishly across Dewâs sheets, making himself comfortable.
The fire ghoul busied himself with drawing the curtains and switching on the string of fairy lights that looked like tiny flickering flames to conceal his beet-red face, choosing to ignore the way Rainâs words sent a full-body shiver through him. When he looked back, Rain was staring straight at him, running a finger along the soft cotton sheets beneath him.
âWhat?â
Rain simply raised an eyebrow back at him, not stopping the slow drag of his finger over the fabric. The way he pressed into the softness of the mattress beneath just slightly re-lit the increasingly familiar flame within Dew, the one that burned stronger in his presence but especially so now as he imagined that same touch dragging over his skin.
âWhat,â Dew repeated, âare you doing exactly?â
He thought he had some idea, that Rain was purely trying to rile him up, see how far he could push him before he cracked and pounced, but he wanted to at least try to muster some kind of defence before he crumpled like a sheet of tissue paper.
âJust thinking about these sheets.â Rainâs voice was low, deeper than usual, like he was trying hard to seduce him in some way.
It was working, Dew thought as he felt himself grow even warmer all over.
âThinking about what theyâve seen, what theyâve heard and felt.â
Dew bit his lip, thinking about all the nights he had spend in his bed, dreaming of Rain and touching himself to the thought of him. Especially the more recent nights, now he knew just how miraculous Rainâs touch felt. It would take more than a few heavy-lidded glances from Rain for him to spill the details so easily though â he still had some dignity intact when it came to revealing how madly and deeply he wanted the water ghoul.
âWouldnât you like to know.â He purred, only cringing slightly at the words as they left his mouth.
âI would, actually.â Rain stilled his movements to fix Dew with yet another of his unguarded, honest stares.
âShut up.â
Dew wanted to launch himself at the ghoul on the bed, grappling him and pinning him to the mattress on his back until he stopped making his insides twist up like they were doing again now.
Instead he solved the other discomfort in his life right now; the denim clinging to his legs, the tight clothing doing nothing to temper the heat rolling off his skin.
âIâm gonna go change into pyjamas, you want any?â He asked.
Rain levelled him with a look that quite clearly expressed his disgust at the idea. Dew was not surprised; ever since their first night together he had eschewed sleeping in a shirt, or really anything but his underwear. Dew wasnât complaining, even if his skin was freezing cold to brush up against in the middle of the night. He turned away when Rainâs hand reached for the button of his own pants though, scurrying in the direction of the bathroom before he did something he would regret not discussing first.
Dew didnât know where his sudden reservations were coming from. Rain had made it crystal clear at every moment he was given the opportunity to show Dew just how badly he wanted him. The fire ghoul hadnât been making any great secret out of it either and yet now they had ample time and opportunity to act on all the desires they had been talking about for days, he was suddenly nervous.
He was scared of being too much, and simultaneously of not being enough for Rain. Dew knew deep down that Rain would like nothing more than for the fire ghoul to just take, knew there was very little he could do to upset him now, and yet the nerves persisted. The stakes now were just that high. This was Rain, after all.
Dew changed quickly into the oversized t-shirt and boxers he usually slept in, nothing Rain hadnât seen before. So why did he feel so naked? He splashed water on his face to calm himself. It sort-of worked, but now his wrists were glowing from the water in a way that still triggered his deepest insecurities to rise to the surface.
Idiot, he hissed at himself in the mirror.
Undoubtedly the hottest ghoul he had ever laid eyes on was his in his bed, undressing right now as he dithered, and yet here he was hiding in the bathroom and not out there showing him just how irresistible he found him?
Stupid. He raked a brush through his hair as a distraction, combing out the day-old braid. That helped, allowing himself to remember that while this was Rain he was fussing about, it was simultaneously only Rain.
That thought helped too, as did the memory barging its way to the front of his mind of their first night together. It reminded him how perfect that had been, how utterly enamoured Rain had seemed, even as he lost himself to pleasure. To the pleasure that Dew had brought him, he reminded himself. It was that thought that got him to put down the hairbrush, dry his hands, and head for the door.
He needed to stop worrying. Deep down he knew that the one thing in the world that could hold a candle to how much he wanted Rain was how strongly the water ghoul reciprocated that desire. He knew how Rain felt about him, he had heard him say it. He had felt it in his bodyâs reactions to him, in the warmth of his embrace each night, the pair holding onto each other as though afraid of being torn apart. Dew had nothing to worry about.
~~~~~~~
As soon as he stepped back into his room, Rain took his breath away. He was in the same position as he had been when Dew left him, only now he wore nothing but a pair of very small black boxer briefs. They hid nothing, including how he was clearly growing hard in them already. Alongside the bolt of lust the sight stabbed him with was the feeling of everything slotting even further into place; Rain filled a space in his room Dew hadnât know had been waiting for him, took away an emptiness he hadnât known was there.
His eyes were, of course, locked onto Dewâs already. Somehow that was what Dew needed to see to blow away his final doubts. It was all he could do not to sprint for the bed, settling instead for taking several quick steps before throwing himself into the space beside Rain and crashing their lips together for the thousandth time.
Dew didnât think he would ever tire of the feeling. The ease with which their mouths and bodies slotted together like it was second nature was mind-blowing, a kind of perfection he hadnât known to ask the universe for and one he would have thought was out of his reach if he had. Rainâs mouth said with each kiss all he didnât need words for: how strongly he felt the same way about Dew, how much he loved this feeling too and how he wished this never had to end, that they never needed to pause for air again.
Even as he held Rain tight beside him Dew couldnât help but let his hands wander, smoothing up and down the gentle curves of his back. His skin was smooth yet cold like how he imagined a dolphinâs might be and it felt so good beneath his palms. Dew had never conceived that just the touch of fingers to bare skin could feel so good and if he didnât already know how much better even than this things could feel he didnât think he would ever want to let go.
If anyone could understand the intensity with which he needed more of each sensation it was Rain, the ghoul so clearly affected that his hands seemed capable of little else besides clutching Dewâs shirt in his fists and holding on tight. Dew could feel him fattening up even more against him from where they were pressed so tightly together, the memory of how good it had felt before to bring Rain to orgasm sitting squarely at the front of his mind.
He had felt so powerful, reducing Rain to a quivering mess with just the touch of his hand. That in itself had brought him his own untold pleasure, his frantic grind against Rainâs thigh all he had needed to lose himself too. But now, with the haze of lust not yet completely clouding his mind, he knew he wanted more, wanted not just to touch but to be touched too.
Dew rolled his hips against him, hoping to convey to Rain that he didnât need to hold himself back, he could let go and Dew would welcome anything he wanted to give him with open arms. He nosed along his jawline, drinking in the scent of his water ghoul. With another roll of his body Dew let loose a low moan, hardly recognising himself in the sheer desperation of the noise.
Instead of meeting him halfway though Rain pulled back, meeting Dewâs eyes with none of his earlier joking.
âAre you okay?â He asked, as though he sensed the remnants of what had caused Dewâs sudden need for a break earlier. âWe donât have to do anything, Iâm not expecting you toâŚâ
He leaned his forehead against Dewâs, his tail laying itself comfortingly over Dewâs ankle next to it.
âIt would make me more than happy to just have another night being next to my favourite ghoul.â
And somehow he always seemed to know exactly what to say to bring Dew out of his head, how to address the things he wouldnât bring up otherwise and give him a space that was comfortable for him to answer them in.
âIâm fine. Good. Great, actually. I justâŚâ Dew was glad for a moment that Rain couldnât see his expression as he spoke. âI still find it hard to believe you could ever want me as much as I do you. I want you so bad it scares me sometimes.â
âDew.â Rain pulled back to look at him, laying his hands on Dewâs cheeks. âTrust me when I say that no one has ever wanted anyone more than I want you right now, or in any moment.â
âIt just feels like thereâs so much at stake.â Dew thought that the amount of time they had spent circling each other wasnât helping either, building up to the sudden rush of anxieties he had felt just now. âAnd I donât wanna push you, I know you and Swiss didnât everââ
âThat oneâs entirely on you, dummy.â Rain snorted.
âHow? We werenât even talking back then!â
âIt just felt wrong, even then, to think about being with a ghoul who wasnât my mate. It must have been because you were right there too.â
âOh. Uh, sorry, about that.â Dew winced in apology, even as every fibre of his being also protested the very suggestion of Rain being with another ghoul.
âDonât be. Iâm just happy to be where we are now.â
âSorry Iâm being weird now too.â Dew sighed. âI really donât mean to be. I just⌠I guess Iâve been worrying if I was too much the other day, and thatâs why weâve not done much more than kiss since. I donât want to push you, or rush you into anythingââ
âAre you forgetting how busy weâve been these last few days?â Rain seemed almost incredulous, in disbelief that Dew could think such a way. âPlease believe me, Iâve been wanting to whisk you out of that chapel or the band room or the dining hall or wherever weâve been every single moment since then, wanted to lock you away in my room and live out every fantasy that plays in my head whenever I think about you. Thereâs no hesitation for me, other than wanting you to be on the same page.â
âI want too much.â Dew shook his head. âI feel crazy with it.â
âWell then maybe weâre both crazy. Iâd still love you if you were crazy.â
Rain smiled warmly at him, but Dew saw the hunger alight in his eyes behind the softness. It was enough to distract him from the second part of what Rain had said, the words slipping out so naturally they didnât fully register with Dew until the moment to acknowledge them had passed.
At some point he needed to stop doubting himself and trust that Rain wasnât lying, he realised. The water ghoul was so painfully earnest in almost all his words and actions, it would be hard to imagine him fabricating such sincerity. It was only Dew holding himself back now.
So he kissed him again. Rain met him halfway, both of them clearly trying to pour everything they couldnât express with words alone into every move of their mouth against the otherâs and Dewâs mind finally let him begin to believe it. Rain met each of his movements with one of his own, deepening the kiss in tandem until they were back to how they had been before, clutching onto the other while their hands begged to explore further.
Dewâs hands resumed their paths across Rainâs back, the water ghoulâs slipping beneath Dewâs baggy t-shirt to hold him even closer. He felt it, the conviction Rain was pouring into every touch.
âOh Dew.â Rain practically moaned when they next broke for air. He leaned back slightly to take all of Dew in, as though still in disbelief at having the ghoul in his arms. âYou⌠I want you so much.â
Dew would hardly say he was looking his most attractive right now in his oversized shirt with holes around the hem over loose boxers, yet Rain was looking at him like it was the sexiest thing he could be wearing, even more so than any ridiculous uniform or anything else designed to be deliberately provocative. He looked at him like it was only Dew he was seeing and nothing else, helping him believe Rain just a bit more.
Rainâs focus soon drifted though as Dew allowed him to just look, in return trying to memorise the exact contours of his water ghoulâs torso and the way his markings curled around them. Dew realised Rain was staring at his arms again, visible given Dewâs short sleeves and still faintly glowing.
âCan I?â Rain asked, his now familiar touch drifting over Dewâs marks, punctuating his question with a kiss.
âPlease. Whatever you want.â
Dew didnât entirely know what he had been asking until Rain leaned in to begin pressing light kisses all over the markings, the slight moisture of his lips leaving a faint glow in their wake as he mapped out the swirls. It was almost funny to him how this was the opposite of every way he had treated his marks before. They had always been pushed to the side, hidden if possible or otherwise ignored.
Rain started with them though. He loved this part of Dew that he had tried to hide for so long, the part that tied them together.
As Rain laved yet more kisses along his arm, Dew ran the fingers of his other hand over Rainâs mark. He didnât think he would ever stop feeling at least a little guilty about it, but at the same time Rain made forgiveness seem so simple that it gave him hope.
Dewâs hands started wandering lower almost without him asking them too. They knew what they wanted: to feel him again, to hold the weight of him firmly in their grasp. He stopped as they grazed the curve of his hip bones though, still unsure despite everything Rain had said and done. The other night when Dew had jerked him off felt almost like a fever dream, one that had replayed in his head in technicolor so many times since. Rain stepped in to reassure him before Dew even had to say a word though.
âPlease keep going.â Rain gasped desperately.
âOnly if you do too.â As much as Dew was loving what Rain was giving him already, he wanted more, wanted him everywhere.
âDo you like when I do this?â Rain asked, only a little breathless, as he moved his hands to Dewâs waist, pushing up beneath his shirt to stroke over his ribs then down to his hips, thumbs following them lower below the waistband of Dewâs boxers then back up to settle on his waist once more.
âYes. Please, anything.â
âJust so you know.â Rain purred in Dewâs ear. âI would never do anything to you that Iâm not comfortable with you doing to me, at least without asking first. Is there anything you donât want me to do?â
âNo.â Dew answered quickly.
âSo follow my lead if you want, until you realise that you can take everything.â
Rain seemed to know that Dew would stop him if he were ever uncomfortable, not that he even slightly thought he could be with him. Maybe that was the point though; to show him that there was nothing in Dewâs imagination that Rain wouldnât want too.
Still slowly enough that he could stop him should he choose to, Rain pulled gently at the hem of Dewâs sleep shirt. It caught under his weight and Dew lifted himself off the bed to free it in permission. They were evenly dressed now and Dew felt more comfortable with this balance rather than less, somehow.
Rainâs hands fell to hold Dewâs ass through his boxers, not that there was much to hold compared to his own, Dew thought. Indeed Rainâs had been beckoning to him near-constantly, so he reached for it with overeager hands. Dew knew that his grasping barely fell short of groping at him, but the way Rain pressed into his hands, moaning softly and falling apart already, encouraged him regardless.
The water ghoul was always the first to fold, Dew was learning, losing himself so quickly after only a few gentle touches from his mate. Dew loved the affect he had, loved that Rain was unafraid to show it. He was getting better at setting his reactions free too, letting Rain see how effectively he could unravel Dew in return.
âThe same goes for you.â Dew gasped into Rainâs mouth, kisses turned sloppy as Rain rolled his hips into him. âAnything I do you can too, if you want.â
With that, Dew cupped Rainâs now very hard cock through the front of his underpants. The helpless whimper Rain made only spurred Dew on, squeezing him slightly through the thin fabric. He was hot and heavy in his hand, a feeling Dew thought he was swiftly becoming addicted to after just a taste.
And oh did he want a taste. He didnât have to be greedy though, Dew knew. He had forever.
âOh please, Dew! Touch me again, like before.â Rain practically mewled. âI havenât been able to stop thinking about it, about you, about your hands.â
âYeah? I havenât either.â
Rain was talking more than normal and Dew couldnât get enough of it. He loved the almost casual way they could speak now; if anything he thought the openness was hot. They could indulge in a bit of playful teasing, they had time, but right now he was also impatient and really wanted to see Rainâs cock again, to feel its softness against his palm and the slick drag of it against his skin as it wept in interest.
He wasted no more time, tugging impatiently at the elastic of Rainâs boxer briefs. The water ghoul jerked his hips up so fast to allow Dew to pull them off that had Dew been on top of him he would have sent him flying. Dew pulled the tight black fabric down, the sight of Rainâs cock bobbing free only making his mouth water more. Rain was uncoordinated and slow as he tried to help Dew by kicking them the rest of the way off but the fire ghoul didnât care; he was too busy admiring the water ghoulâs whole, now-naked body.
And oh, Lucifer, was he gorgeous, sprawled out on Dewâs sheets like an oil painting. Dew wanted to stroke him all over so he started doing so, running hands up his thighs and over the prominent muscles towards the meeting of his thighs where his cock stood proud, flushed a deep purple against the blue of Rainâs skin. As Dew stroked along where his thighs met his body, framing his prize between his hands and contemplating his next move, Rain seemed to suddenly remember their agreement.
âWhat happened to anything you can do I can do?â He whinged, breathless and needy.
From his voice it was clear he was trying to joke, but his composure was slowly failing him so his words came out far more whiny and desperate than he had meant them to. Rain stuffed his hands unceremoniously and in a slightly uncoordinated fashion down the back of Dewâs boxers as he spoke, the only place he could reach, large cold palms plastered to his buttocks.
ââCourse.â Dew coughed as cool fingers dimpled into his skin. ââS only fair.â
Rain turned the tables then, kissing down Dewâs sternum as his hands pushed at the waistband of Dewâs underwear. The fire ghoul lifted his hips briefly to allow them past, mildly irked that his own appreciation of Rainâs body had been cut short.
âI wasnât done with you yet!â He huffed jokingly as he took over from Rain to paddle with his feet at the cotton now stuck around his knees, kicking the boxers off into the abyss of the room beyond their bed.
âNot my problem.â Rain rolled Dew onto his back and nipped at the slight softness of his stomach, impatient. âItâs my turn now.â
He rubbed his hands up Dewâs thighs, not trying to spread his legs but Dew let his knees fall apart anyway. He could feel how warm he was running from the sudden breeze of the air in the room and the chill of Rainâs hands on his burning inner thighs, all his blood running south with his arousal.
As Rain pulled his mouth off to observe him, just as Dew had looked at him, a part of Dew thought he should be embarrassed. Rainâs expression made it clear he had no reason to be though, gazing with an expression like he was staring their Creator in the face in wonder. He stayed looking for a while without actually doing anything, barely even moving. It was only the slight part of his lips and the way his tongue flicked to wet them, as well as the tiny jerking motions of his hips against the mattress, that gave away that he was not a statue.
âWhatâre you thinking?â Dew asked, hating the self-consciousness that bled into his tone.
âThat I want to suck you off.â
That was not what Dew had been expecting to hear, but he felt himself throb at the words and suggestion. He thought again he would like to do the same to Rain but that could wait for now.
âOkay.â He said softly, barely above a whisper.
Rain didnât hang about. The hands on his thighs moved again almost instantly, thumbs pressing in with his enthusiasm. They stroked up over Dewâs abdomen and along the line of his hips, relishing in their freedom. Dewâs breathing went shallow as Rain shifted to prop himself up on one hand while the other continued its exploration, scratching lightly through the coarse hairs covering his pubic mound.
The water ghoul didnât stay there for long though, impatient fingers swiftly moving on again. They stroked lower now, smoothly gliding between his legs, tentative in their exploration but unerring. Dew shivered at his touch. Rainâs fingers were cold, so much colder than Dewâs own, and yet it was not the cold that made his body twitch. Besides, he would not be cold all over, Dew knowing first hand that he was warmer where it mattered.
The fire ghoul let his legs fall open wider, trying to suppress the quiver starting in one of them born of anticipation and want. It went unnoticed, Dew thought, Rain still looking so engrossed and as reverent as before. Dew felt himself growing wetter, his loins throbbing at Rainâs touch, but the water ghoulâs hand moved no lower. Instead he took hold of Dewâs clit between thumb and forefinger and began stroking it as reverently as Dew had stroked his cock, just like he wanted to do again.
âIâm returning the favour. From days ago.â Rain breathed as he worked, small movements already making Dewâs breathing go shallow.
Each pass sent lightening bolts shooting through him, more intense than he had ever felt or could ever imagine. He wondered how that was even possible; it must be a soulmates thing.
As cold as his fingers were, Dew knew from kissing him that his tongue was not. He was reminded of that fact very strongly and suddenly when Rain sealed his lips round Dewâs clit and sucked, tongue flicking out to tease at his hood. Rainâs cheeks were hollowed and he bobbed his head slightly as he worked, looking for all the world as though he were sucking a cock comparable in size to his own.
Dew felt another stab of lust at the sight, this one more unexpected but equally welcome. He cried out at the barrage of sensations, his mind struggling to decide which to focus on.
Rain didnât seem to be breathing. His gills were open but Dew didnât know if they could work at all in air, or if they even were. Then again he didnât think he was capable of thoughts as involved as water ghoul physiology right now. Dew could hear the sounds falling from his own lips but far more interesting to his ears were the noises Rain was making: a lewd slurping, tiny moans that he felt vibrate throughout him.
The water ghoul didnât slow for a second, even as Dew started shaking all over. He was taking him apart like he knew his body instinctively, and maybe he did, but also with the enthusiasm of a ghoul wanting to learn how every tiny flick of his tongue or twitch of a finger affected him.
From nothing but Rainâs impossible mouth and his thumb circling the jut of his thigh where it connected to his body, Dew came hard and suddenly. He saw white even behind closed eyelids, feeling like he was on fire despite Rainâs colder touch.
If this was how Rain had felt when Dew touched him for the first time then it was no wonder he had acted like he had. His whole body jerked beneath Rainâs touch, but the water ghoul didnât let up until the split second before Dew would have wanted him to. It was like he knew Dewâs body as well as he did already. Dew yearned to learn Rainâs this well too.
Rain seemed far too smug as he pulled back, licking his lips in unabashed delight. Dew was breathless, feeling like he would like gills like Rainâs in this moment just to help him recover.
He lay there for a moment, shellshocked, until Rain wriggled up to kiss him. With a small whimper, Rain kissed Dewâs own taste into his mouth. Dew feels Rainâs cock pressing into his hip then, reminding him of the prize for regaining his own bearings.
âYour turn.â He murmured into the kiss, sloppy and slow. âJust as soon as I can move again.â
Dew felt yet more smugness pouring off of Rain. It was that which finally gave him the wherewithal to push himself upright, already planning how he was going to take Rain apart in his head and pull the self-satisfaction from him one whimper at a time.
Rain sat up with him, unable to stop himself fisting over his cock as he watched Dew continue to take deep, heaving breaths.
Dew felt insatiable, even having just come. He wanted, no, needed, more already. The sight of Rainâs cock made his mouth water and he knew then what he wanted. Rain smirked weakly as Dewâs eyes refocused, as though he could read his mind.
âAre we going tit for tat, still?â Dew tried to joke.
âAnything, please, anything youâll give me!â Rain did not appear half as composed once he opened his mouth. âI need you so bad, Dew, please!â
And how could Dew hope to resist.
He leaned in slowly, the endorphins streaming through his blood refusing to allow room for any hesitation or doubts. Dewâs eyes flicked to Rainâs and saw them as wide as saucers.
Focussing once more on his target, slowly, for Rainâs sake more than his own, Dew wrapped a hand around Rainâs cock. He was solid beneath him, the pulsing vein strong beneath his fingertips and warmer than the rest of him which was still a pleasant surprise.
Dew brought his mouth in close, his forked tongue flicking out like a snake to taste him on the air before he wrapped his lips around the head of Rainâs cock. He tasted like Dew imagined the salt of the sea did, mixed with the electricity of petrichor after the rain and something baser, more organic. Whatever it was was like a firelighter to Dew; he needed more.
He tongued over Rainâs frenulum before sinking his head lower, feeling Rainâs thighs tense beneath him. The water ghoul was growling slightly again, in between a never ending litany of small whimpers and mewls and breathless repeats of Dewâs name that had started the second he took him in his mouth and showed no sign of stopping.
Rain was large and heavy in his mouth, completely filling Dewâs senses. Yet he still wanted more. Dew took him in as far as he could, inching slowly down his length until he felt him in his throat and his lips graze the scales around his base.
A choked sound ripped out of Rain as his head bumped into the softness of the back of Dewâs throat. Dew pulled off for a moment, now breathless himself, not wanting to ruin things by triggering an otherwise very relaxed gag reflex. He didnât have gills like Rain after all, still flared wide open and fluttering with every heaving breath the water ghoul took.
Dew settled for bobbing his head around as much of Rain as he could, careful to keep his fangs out of the way. Rain was clearly not complaining; he didnât even seem able to form a sentence right now. Glancing up at him from beneath his eyelashes, Dew felt Rainâs groan vibrate through his entire body, all the way through to where Dew was pressing his tongue against him.
He loved feeling like he had this power, but the inferno inside him had reignited. Dew already wanted to feel Rain against him again, inside him too. Just as he was debating pulling off completely, he felt one of Rainâs hands fly to his hair. He tangled it into the soft blond strands, cool fingers brushing Dewâs scalp.
The touch and movement of his hair was already making Dew shiver in delight at the unexpectedly good feeling, but then Rainâs hand closed around it. His fingers pulled lightly on the hair in its grasp and Dew lost it. The tug on every follicle was like an electric pulse, a thousand needles of pleasure.
Dew moaned loudly around Rainâs cock, feeling Rain react to the vibrations. He pulled off before he could choke but was glad when Rain didnât let go of his hair.
âFuck...â He whispered in wonder to Rainâs violet and saliva-slick cock in front of him. âCanât wait any longer. Need you again.â
âI-insatiable.â Rain stuttered.
Despite his blown pupils his eyes were bright. The hand not in Dewâs hair came up to stroke along his spine as Dew adjusted the water ghoul on the bed, making Rain comfortable as he laid him back against the pillows before kneeling over him.
âAnd whose fault is that?â
âBoth of us.â Rain said reverently, letting go of Dewâs hair to catch both of his hands in his, Dew mourning their loss already.
As much as he would have liked to keep at his new favourite activity for longer, until he felt Rain lose it inside his mouth and could taste his spend, Dew had other plans for him. He wasnât prepared to wait a moment longer than he had to to get him inside him now, every nerve in his body is screaming for it. But there was one thing he still wanted to do first.
He moved one of their sets of joined hands to Rainâs ribs, stretching his fingers to run along the set of delicate gills he found there. Releasing him so he could explore properly, Rain returned his hand to Dewâs hair where it rested gently on the back of his head.
Dew stroked over the soft ridges, feeling them flutter beneath his touch. They gave under his fingers, Rainâs hand tightening in his hair in response. These gills werenât as open as the ones on Rainâs neck where the membranes were still flared wide though, didnât have the little hints of something deeper, flushed richly red with blood visible through them.
It gave the openings on his neck a similar pretty contrast to Rainâs marks on Dewâs skin. Something about seeing them so near to Rainâs own mark made it appear less violent and out of place too, the similarity between the burning words and an organ that gave him life one he hadnât seen before but now couldnât ignore the significance of.
Unable to resist the urge to touch them now he had started, Dew trailed calloused fingers up to the gills on Rainâs neck, tips dancing over his flushed and slightly sweaty skin. The water ghoul was faintly glowing all over, Dew realised.
Beautiful; there was no other word for it.
Rainâs breathing went shallow, the gills at his neck fluttering in tandem. Gently, almost holding his breath, Dew ran a finger along the edge of one. Rain shuddered, his jaw falling slack. The way his hips bucked beneath Dew reassured him that he liked this, that it didnât hurt.
It emboldened Dew to press a finger into the soft membranes, gasping to himself as they parted so easily for him. He dragged his finger slowly along the slit, listening intently to every sound that fell from Rainâs perfect lips. He felt each breathy noise too, he realised, right there in his fingertips. Beyond that though was something rhythmic, beating in time with the rushing in Dewâs ears.
He could feel Rainâs pulse.
Dew wondered if Rain could feel his from his fingertips too. A second finger joined his first, the pads of both stroking softly before Dew applied more pressure, groaning as his throat yielded to allow them just a little deeper.
He was so soft here, and sightly warmer than the rest of his body. Rain was moaning and whimpering like Dew was actually fucking him, and he didnât know enough about water ghoul biology to know that it didnât feel the same. So Dew continued to stroke him in the way he enjoyed the glide of his own fingers along his cunt. Rain seemed to like it too, judging from the way he howled.
Dew couldnât resist touching himself. The image of his fingers in Rainâs gills, their tips up to his first knuckle swallowed up by the fragile and silky membranes was just too much to ignore. He stroked his fingers over himself in a similar rhythm to those running through Rainâs gills, both connected by the tempo of their joint pleasure. His own eyes started to flutter shut but a fresh keen from Rain pulled them back open, not wanting to miss a second of the beautiful reactions of his gorgeous water ghoul.
He switched hands as he rebalanced himself, fingers of the hand moist with his own slick now easing their glide back between the ridges of Rainâs gills on the opposite side of his neck. The others, slightly chilled relative to his burning temperature, pressed back against himself and pulled a groan from his own throat.
Rain gasped, a high, wrecked sound, the hand not in Dewâs hair flying to hold the fire ghoulâs hand to his neck.
âDew.â He breathed, whispering like his name was a prayer said in chapel. âYou. I canâ taste youâŚâ
He could barely string a sentence together and yet Dew was still more caught up in the fact that he could feel the vibrations of his speech through his fingertips.
Determined to continue breaking Rain down to a quivering mess, he experimented with moving his fingers faster.
Rain practically melted.
Intoxicated with the power of this newfound discovery and already feeling himself getting too worked up for the amount of time he wanted to dedicate to Rain, Dew brought his other hand back to the opposite set of gills on Rainâs neck. He didnât squeeze or hold him, unsure if Rain would want that, instead allowing both hands to gently move in tandem with the softest most reverent touches his shaky muscles could manage.
When Rain was nothing but a babbling mess, Dew slowed and leaned in. The water ghoul was too far gone to do anything but follow with his eyes as Dewâs tongue flicked free, dancing lightly along the edge of a gill.
Rain practically squeaked, his whole body twitching.
âDonâ tickleââ He managed.
Taking that to heart, Dew licked deeply into the curve of the bottommost gill, running his tongue along the full length of the slit all around the side of his neck.
Rain howled.
Dew took that as a sign to continue.
He laved his tongue between the firmer arches of his gills and over the spongy inner filaments. There was so much more to feel this way than with his fingers, each tiny pleat and ridge meeting every papillae on his tongue.
Alongside the new sensations he could taste Rain now: saltwater, a hint of iron. Behind that though was a slight smoky tang. It was himself, Dew realised. He groaned into Rainâs gills, sloppily making out with the open membranes and lapping over the warm, blood-rich lamellae. He could feel them flutter, could hear Rain gasping with his lungs as well as with his gills. It was a wholly new experience, like nothing Dew had ever contemplated before let alone experienced.
Addictive.
Plunging his tongue deeper still the tip of it grazed over the rakers buried far out of sight inside Rainâs gills. The cartilaginous protrusions werenât exactly sharp but they were a surprise, one that pulled a noise from Dew that had the ripple effect of making Rain groan low and long as he started to thrash beneath him.
Dew could have kept going all day, but he could feel Rainâs impossibly hard cock pressing into his lower abdomen where he was laid between his legs, pinning him down. More than anything he now wanted Rain inside him, more than he had ever wanted that before, more than he could ever remember wanting anything.
He reluctantly pulled off, bracketing himself up on his hands to press a quick kiss to Rainâs beautifully parted lips before sitting back on his feet, still between the water ghoulâs legs. His view from here was perfect, Rainâs straining cock flushed so deeply now that Dew had to wonder how there was any blood left in the rest of his body.
âYouâre gonna kill me.â Rain half laughed in disbelief when he eventually found his breath and then his words again.
âYou need a minute?â Dew asked, only a little self-satisfied.
Rain bit his lip and nodded.
âIf you want me to last more than a few seconds, yeah, sorry.â
Dew simply licked his lips in anticipation before lying down along Rainâs side, careful not to brush against his clearly sensitive gills. That didnât stop his hand from absently wandering back between his own legs, impatient. His tail swished behind him, an outlet for the roaring need waiting to erupt from beneath his skin and devour the water ghoul whole.
After a few minutes of careful, deep breathing with his eyes screwed shut, Rain eventually seemed satisfied that he had calmed down enough not to immediately lose it. He turned his head to look at Dew beside him, blue eyes wide and only a little dazed in wonderment.
Dew found he couldnât look away from them, even when Rainâs hand reached for his chin to pull him in for another kiss before wandering lower to give his cock a few tentative pulls.
âYouâre soââ Dew didnât have the words, wasnât sure there were enough words in any language for how he felt right now.
So instead he crawled back on top of Rain, hovering over him and leaning in to kiss him once more. He lowered his hips slightly, wriggling into position over Rainâs cock through instinct as much as conscious decision. Dew didnât feel like he even needed to make one; every part of him wanted this, he didnât need to command his muscles anymore.
He took Rainâs cock, as surprisingly warm as ever, in his hand and began to line himself up with it. As it rested hot and fat against his entrance Dew felt the fire in his core begin to flashover, flames licking along every nerve ending at the slightest ghost of a touch making him feel almost raw with want.
Dew was about to sink down, thighs aching from holding himself in position, when he suddenly noticed Rain was no longer meeting his eyes as intensely as he had been before. Despite every instinct screaming at him to take, he could sense that something had shifted between them and was ever so slightly, fractionally off.
It was something Dew recognised, he realised as he pushed himself back up. He sat back on Rainâs thighs without breaking eye contact on his end, a familiar prickle rolling off Rain to what had sent him spiralling into the bathroom earlier in the evening.
âWhatâs wrong?â He asked gently but without room for Rain to shrug off the question. âDo you want to stop?â
âNo!â Rain gasped, almost before Dew had finished asking. âNo, I want this, I want you, I justâ Iâm a little⌠nervous, I guess.â
Dew couldnât understand why â it was only him after all â but he could certainly relate.
âWhyâre you so nervous? Thereâs no need to be, itâs just me. Youâve done this before, right?â
Rain hesitated before answering.
âNever with someone I cared about.â
Oh. Dew understood now. Maybe this really did mean as much to Rain as it did to him, if not more. He understood feeling the pressure for everything to be perfect, but Dew didnât care about that.
The rigid emphasis in the humansâ media on first kisses and first times had perhaps rubbed off a bit too strongly on Rain, but as far as Dew, and he assumed most other ghouls, were concerned this was just one more way for them to get closer. If Rain still wanted to fuck him Dew would delight in every drag of their skin against the otherâs, savour each new sensation and sound he could pull from the water ghoul. But if not, he had a list the length of his arm of alternative things he wanted to do to Rain. At the same time, he knew he would be honoured just to spend another night tucked against him.
âYouâd think that would make it easier right?â Dew mused aloud, thinking about his earlier wobbly moment in the bathroom. âThat being in love would make things simple. And maybe it does eventually, but right now⌠What Iâm trying to say is I get it.â
The words slipped out as easily and accidentally as Rainâs had earlier, but it was soon apparent that Rain did notice this time.
âYeah? Youâre in love with me?â
Dew tried to distract him with a kiss but Rain broke it after only a few seconds, awaiting his answer to what Dew thought was a stupid question.
âObviously, dumbass.â He murmured against the water ghoulâs skin.
âAnd that doesnât make you nervous?â
âOf course it does!â Dew laughed, pulling back to look Rain in the face, incredulous. âItâs you.â
âExactly, itâs only me.â Rain was smiling now, wide and toothy.
âThatâs what Iâm telling you!â
âSo if we agree that itâs just us.â Rain briefly pulled Dew back into his earlier kiss before continuing. âDoes that mean neither of us have any reason to worry about anything?â
âI think thatâs how it works.â Dew nodded faux-sagely. âAnd that means you should fuck me now, if you want to.â
Rainâs body reacted involuntarily, his pupils dilating and his hips jerking briefly before he smirked and nipped at Dewâs bottom lip.
âYeah? And Iâm in love with you too, for the record.â
Dew purred.
âAnd I do want to fuck you.â
Rain pulled Dew down against him then, rolling his hips to grind his cock into him. He had softened slightly, but was swiftly on his way back to full hardness.
Dew surged in for a proper kiss, grinding back onto him as he did so. The feeling of Rain sliding against him, his cock dragging through Dewâs folds and the head bumping against the hood of his clit, was the better than anything Dew could have ever imagined. He groaned as they simply moved against each other for a time, movements as sloppy as their messy and uncoordinated kiss, until they both seemed to remember in an instant that they could have even more at the same time if they wanted.
An unspoken assent passed between them and Dew pushed himself up on his knees, breaking the kiss. A small string of saliva connected their lips for a second longer but neither paid it any mind, everything unimportant fading away as Dew shuffled backwards and took Rainâs cock in his hand.
He gave him a few tentative strokes, marvelling at how he was already leaking from the tip before lining himself up above him. Dew savoured the feeling of him, hot and so very present against his body, before with a final shared nod with Rain he sank down onto him.
The feeling of carving a space for Rain inside his body set Dewâs heart pounding as much as the physical sensation did. Rain was long, and just thick enough for Dew to feel his inner muscles realign to make space for him. He continued bearing down on the water ghoul until he was seated fully on him, his weight resting entirely on his hips.
A low growl began to emanate from Rainâs chest almost as soon as the clutch of Dewâs body surrounded him but Dew was too lost in the delicious stretch to notice when it started. He only realised that there was a faint rumble coming from Rainâs chest when he stilled, hands feeling the vibrations beneath them as he rested them on Rainâs chest for support. It resonated deep inside him, just one more twist of the knife of lust in his gut.
Dew couldnât focus on that for long though, too distracted by how full he felt as he settled on Rainâs thighs. They felt so perfectly close, everything was so much, so intense. Dew was torn between letting himself drown in sensation or burn alive with the want still coursing through his veins.
âRain! Lucifer, youâre soâ Feels so goodââ
Dew could hear himself babbling but he didnât care. He didnât know if Rain had even noticed, let alone was comprehending him. The water ghoul looked almost lost in pleasure, his growling a constant bassline punctuated by choked gasps of Dewâs name.
It was so possessive, almost feral and beast-like, and Dew couldnât think of is as anything other than hot. Rain was being so careful, his claws pressing into Dewâs thighs but with restraint, his hips jerking but not thrusting hard enough to throw him off or push deeper than Dew allowed.
Dew stayed where he was for a while, basking in the feeling of total fullness. The slight burn of stretching around Rain was as delicious as a tart apple and after just one taste Dew was already hungry for more.
He didnât wait to be completely comfortable around him before he pushed himself back up, rising off Rainâs cock before forcing himself back down, the friction everything he wanted and more. His steadying hands on Rainâs chest could feel the water ghoulâs racing heartbeat too, not just his growls, and Dew couldnât resist smoothing them over the defined muscles of his chest.
The pair moaned in tandem and Dew took that as a sign to keep going, to try and find a rhythm as he began to ride Rain in earnest. Every glide of their bodies was better than the last, the friction eased by what Dew has to assume was a water ghoul-amount of precum as well as the wetness of his own almost overwhelming arousal.
Rainâs body was firm beneath him yet as pliant as putty, Dew taking charge as Rain melted. He held onto Dewâs thighs just a little too tight in a way the fire ghoul loved, losing control of himself and his low, rumbly growl which grew louder and louder the less he seemed aware of it.
Dew couldnât get enough, of the feeling of Rain filling him, of their sounds hanging in the air, or of the water ghoul in general. Leaning down he kissed the noise from Rainâs lips, feeling the buzz of his growl in his throat. He pulled off again slightly and before he could sink back down, Rainâs hips were chasing him.
Eventually they managed to find a rhythm, Rain reduced to little more than chanting Dewâs name as he let the fire ghoul lead them. Dew loved the velvet slide of Rainâs cock, not as cold as the rest of him but just as solid. He adored the sweet sounds Rain made alongside gasps of his name, loved puling them from him like a virtuoso from an instrument. Rainâs vocal chords were his strings, Dew plucking on them with every slide and clench to make the sweetest music together.
Dew knew he was probably being just as loud, could feel the vibrations of his throat producing whines and moans, but he couldnât hear them over the rushing of blood in his ears and his laser focus on Rainâs own noises. He found he didnât care. So many of his old hang-ups and inhibitions vanished when he was around Rain, the water ghoul giving him a space to not only be comfortable in his own skin but to enjoy existing in it too.
For all the delight Dew took in taking Rain apart, he also felt himself building towards an edge much faster than he had intended. Every movement felt so much more intense than anything he had felt before, as though his ears had been filled with cotton, his senses dulled, and now with his mate beneath him he was seeing in technicolor for the first time.
Rainâs words from earlier echoed in his ears, themselves adding to the perfection he felt.
Iâm in love with you too.
âRainâŚâ Dew panted.
His thighs starting to burn as he rode Rain faster. He felt Rainâs hands flex against him in answer before the water ghoul managed to form words.
âDâ ewââ Rain struggled to convince his lips to move.
He was barely able to shape them around the only word he had been capable of for a while now, so Dew stole them once more in another even less coordinated kiss. Their rhythm faltered and Rain almost slipped out of him as he leaned in, but the frantic grind of their hips made up for it. Rain gripped him impossibly tighter, thrusting his hips upwards as Dew licked deeper into his mouth, a low groan of his own slipping out.
All synchronicity gone, they were soon both lost in chasing the feeling surging through their bodies as they barrelled towards their inevitable climaxes. It was not graceful or even especially dignified as Dew would have thought it ought to be, but it was perfect.
Dew had no idea how they could be expected to be apart for even a moment now he knew how good their bodies connecting like this could feel. His tail looped itself around Rainâs, both of them thrashing together now, an outlet for the frantic urgency Dew felt and a visual of his evaporating sanity as his baser instincts took over.
âDewâ gonnaââ Rain whimpered seconds before he came.
Instead of pulling off though Dew gripped him tighter, sinking impossibly lower and clenching around him. Dew couldnât say why he did; it was not something he had ever wanted before, and yet he was suddenly gripped with the need for anything that would make them feel even closer.
Rain came with a shout and the feeling of him loosing control, twitching inside of Dew sent the fire ghoul over the edge shortly after.
It was perfect, electric, and unlike anything Dew had experienced before, even when compared to his first orgasm earlier in the night. He felt it in their bond, a deep satisfaction and elation that only added to their joint pleasure. The closeness he desired had been achieved, tenfold.
Dew flopped forward onto Rainâs heaving chest as he came down, the water ghoul still growling. It wasnât long before he stopped though and instead began fussing, lifting Dew by his hips to pull out. Dew could feel the mess between them as he resettled, sprawled across his water ghoul, but that was something to worry about later. For now he wanted to bask in the warm, syrupy perfection flowing through him, at least until his heart stopped racing.
~~~~~~~
The following morning, having dragged themselves back out of bed the night before to clean up before falling back into each others arms, Dew awoke filled with a deep contentment. He was sprawled across Rainâs body, legs and tails tangled together, with every inch of skin not touching being jealous of those which were. He wanted to stay like this forever, to exist in this blissful in-between until the Pit froze over.
Rain had other plans however, soon beginning to wriggle as he joined Dew in the land of the living.
âMorning.â Dew pressed the words into his lips with a kiss, uncaring about their morning breath.
âMmmm.â Rain hummed in response, eyes fluttering open.
âDid you sleep well?â
âWith you, always.â Croaked Rain.
He fell quiet again after that and Dew almost wondered if he had fallen back to sleep.
âDid you really mean it? Rain asked after a while, so quietly Dew barely caught it.
âHuh?
âThat you love me?â
âIâve never been more sure of anything.â
Had Rain really been left unsure of that immutable fact, Dew wondered? That was unacceptable to him.
âI love you so much it sometimes feels like itâs the only thing I really know for sure is true.â
Rain squeaked slightly as Dew kissed him with all his might, the fire ghoul refusing to let him doubt his words for even a second longer. It was unthinkable to him that Rain not know the very depth of his adoration, not understand how completely and irreversibly he had rewired Dewâs brain and shaped his world to place himself at the centre.
Perhaps the greatest proof of Dewâs love for Rain however was that, despite the worries his brain liked to throw in his way, he hadnât doubted Rainâs assertion of the same for even a second.
In the final days before tour, the other thing keeping them apart aside from rehearsals had been Rainâs frequent spells in the lake. Dew couldnât begrudge him them in the slightest; they had both realised that as much as they wanted to be connected at the hip, Rain did need the hydration of the lake to combat the upcoming months of AC and stuffy bus and venue air.
Dew had even finally got over his fear of water from his many trips down to fetch Rain from the lake for dinner. The water ghoul always surfaced when he felt Dew coming, hovering just below the waterline with only his head showing to say he would be along shortly. With this slowly becoming a routine of theirs, it had led to Dew no longer feeling any of his old apprehension around the place. He hoped that out on tour he might even be able to overcome his paralysing fear of the ocean for the water ghoulâs sake.
On one of their final days before departure, wanting time together but not wanting Rain to lose out on precious soaking time, Dew had followed him down to the lake at dawn. Rain had convinced him to wear his swimming trunks, ostensibly so he could paddle at the shore if he wanted to, but Dew knew he hoped to convince him into the water with him. With the water ghoul there Dew thought he might be able to face it; there was no one he trusted more to keep him afloat or to swiftly relocate him to dry land should he suddenly want out. Failing that, he was sure Rain would at least be a good distraction.
Rain had made no secret of his distaste for swimming in anything that inhibited the movement of his fins. That morning, Dew had already enjoyed watching him pick his way along the path down to the lake in nothing but a tiny pair of shorts which he knew wouldnât last more than a few seconds once he was in the water.
Seeing Rain no longer trying to hide his mark and instead allowing himself to exist in whatever state of dress â or undress â he felt most comfortable in filled Dew with mixed emotions. He was happy Rain no longer felt self-conscious, or like he had to hide his mark, and yet he couldnât shake the guilt that it was him who had made him feel that way in the first place, no matter how many times Rain had had to repeat his forgiveness.
Dew understood the sudden feeling of freedom from the burden of their marks though, also finally growing comfortable enough to eschew the long sleeves he had always worn around the Den. He had nothing to hide around Rain, and really nothing to conceal from the rest of the pack either.
He followed Rain along the dock to his usual perch at the end, sitting on the edge to dangle his feet carefully into the water. It was cold but it also felt nice lapping at his ankles. Once he was settled Rain dived off the edge, long and elegant and barely making a splash as his body slid beneath the water. His shorts soon floated up to the surface, bobbing sadly towards Dew who fished them out with his toes, laying them to dry on the planks beside him.
Dew tried not to think about Rain being naked beneath the water; his body was a sight he would never tire of and yet now was not the time for such a distraction. Rain needed to make the most of the water while he was here â there would be plenty more hotel rooms and days off on tour than there would be large bodies of untreated water.
Sat on the edge of the weathered pier, Dew overlooked the water while the sun crept above the horizon. He felt Rainâs approach the moment before he resurfaced, erupting right by his feet in a spray of water droplets Dew knew were entirely unnecessary. Rain shook his head wildly like a wet dog, further drenching him. Pulling his sodden shirt off with a huff, Dew heated up his skin to let the water evaporate off him in a puff of steam.
âPleased with yourself?â He asked the water ghoul, now sensibly hovering just outside of the range of Dewâs feet.
âVery.â
Indeed Rain looked so happy in his element, bobbing weightlessly in the water as he grinned up at Dew and clearly delighted to not to have to choose one of them over the other right now. It made the fire ghoul almost want to join him. Dew stirred a foot in the water, considering it.
âWant to join me?â Rain read his mind, drifting closer. âIâll hold you up, I promise.â
Dew thought about it a bit longer, all his nerves around large bodies of deep water waking from their slumber to chime in with their protests. He tried to ignore them though, thinking instead of how it would feel to float with Rain, weightless and drifting beside him.
âWhat is it you donât like about the water anyway?â Rain asked conversationally, as if he could tell that Dew needed the distraction.
âApart from just being a fire ghoul?â Dew joked weakly, rolling onto his stomach and hanging his feet off the edge before contemplating lowering himself in. âPlease donât let me drown!â
âI would never.â
Rainâs hands flew to hold his sides. They were cold and wet, making him shiver, yet firm and as they held him steady nonetheless.
âI was always afraid of my marks showing up more, I suppose.â Dew tried to keep his mind on his words rather than the fear rumbling through him as more of his legs sank below the water. âAnd my part of the fire realms never really had bodies of water in the first place, not like the hot springs If grew up with.â
âThis is a bit colder than a hot spring anyway, Iâm afraid.â Rain snickered, gently guiding Dew further down into his waiting arms, his strong tail supporting the weight of both of them.
âYou donât say!â Dew hissed as the cold water reached his waist. âItâs freezing in here!â
âWhy do you think I want my fire ghoul here too?â Rain slowly spun him around as Dew released the wood of the dock for him to fully take his weight. âYouâre my own personal pool heater!â
âOh, I see how it is then.â Dew squeaked as the water washed over his shoulders.
Even though he was now buoyant enough for the lake to take most of his weight, Rain never let go of him for a moment. The water ghoul simply hummed happily as Dew started kicking his legs, beginning to get a feel for treading water.
âSee? Not so scary!â He said gently, shifting to hold Dewâs hands and drift backwards until the fire ghoul was at arms length.
It really wasnât as scary as Dew had thought, but the idea of keeping afloat by himself for any length of time still seemed impossible.
âPlease donât let go.â
âIâm here.â Rain cooed softly, eyes never leaving Dewâs. âYou want to learn to float? Itâs easier than having to keep kicking your legs.â
âSure, just⌠Give me a moment.â Dew felt himself finding a rhythm, his legs moving smoothly through the water as his racing heart calmed some.
It never fully ceased its pounding though because as he grew used to the new feelings surrounding him, he finally allowed himself to take in the sight that was Rain in the water up close. He seemed to glow even brighter now that Dew was in front of him, his whole body alight in a beacon of teal. Every curl of pretty luminescence was reflected in the gentle ripples around them, rivalling both the beauty and brightness of the rising sun behind him.
Even compared to the wonder of a sunrise though, Dew knew there was no contest in their beauty. Now he had seen him like this he couldnât look away, couldnât tear his eyes from the vision of the water ghoul floating in front of him as though he werenât the closest thing to a god Dew had ever seen in the flesh. Even if the sun had been imploding, the world ending, Dew didnât think he could have looked at anything by Rain.
âReady?â Rain asked after a while when Dew realised he had been staring almost in a daze for several minutes.
He nodded, shaking himself out of the trance-like stupor he had put himself in by just staring at Rain.
âFloatingâs easy, when you get used to the feeling.â Rain released one of Dewâs hands and drifted backwards. âJust put your head back and think about keeping your hips up.â
He laid back in the water and kicked his feet up to demonstrate, effortlessly letting the water do all of the work in holding him up. Dew couldnât entirely focus on what he was showing him though as he fought to keep his eyes on Rainâs face, the water ghoulâs brightly glowing and very naked body suddenly on full display on the lakeâs surface. He knew he was allowed to look, knew Rain would probably love it, but this didnât feel like quite the right moment to get distracted in such a way.
âNow you try.â Rain bobbed back upright, body disappearing beneath the water again although his bioluminescent glow remained.
Dew tried, but he couldnât keep his body straight enough to stay buoyant. He lifted his head to see what he was doing wrong, and straight away began sinking. Rain caught him before his face could even get wet.
âAlmost.â He encouraged. âHere, let me.â
Rain placed a hand to the small of Dewâs back.
âYou focus on keeping your head back, Iâll do the rest.â
Dew did as he said, lying back until the water filled his ears and the sounds of everything besides the lake itself melted away. Rain continued to hold him, even as he released his hand to tap Dewâs legs, getting him to spread out like a starfish with just the support under his hips. He could very faintly hear Rainâs words of encouragement, could feel his cool breath blowing over his wet skin along with the morning breeze. He let his eyes fall closed and tried to internalise the feeling of floating.
Rains hands beneath him shifted, testing if he could let go.
âNoââ Dew panicked.
The feeling of emptiness the lake filled him with was pleasant when he had the reminder that Rain was close by, but it was still terrifying to consider being out here unsupported. He lifted his head and his concentration broke, Rain once again catching him before he went under.
âStill here.â Rain said softly, not letting Dewâs panic spread. âYouâre doing fantastic. You think you can manage if I float with you?
He took Dewâs hand again, interlocking their fingers.
âIâll be right here. I wonât let go. Youâre safe.â
Dew nodded, more hesitant this time though.
âWe can always go back to shore, we donât have to do this if you don't want to.â Rain hummed.
Dew noticed then just how far from the dock they had drifted, but set it from his mind. He was safe with Rain, he wouldnât let any harm come to him, and the water ghoul was clearly enjoying this.
âNo, I think Iâm getting it, just donât let go.â
Rain helped Dew get floating once more then squeezed his hand before tentatively removing his support from Dewâs back. The fire ghoul focussed on not crumpling again as Rain drifted out beside him, two floating starfish linked by their hands.
The longer he lay there the more comfortable Dew felt. He had very little in the way of sensation to focus on besides Rainâs hand, grounding him even as he floated. Slowly he began to grow familiar with the water, just as he had done with Rainâs presence. He could sense his confidence building, getting a feel for how his body and the water moved around one another. Dew could imagine one day being able to do this alone, although he still thought he would prefer Rain be beside him. Then again, he thought he would want that in every situation.
The feel of the breeze brushing past him again made him shiver and reminded him once again that they were out here so Rain could swim, not just hover at the boundary between water and air. Stirring his arms slightly and prepared this time, Dew tipped himself back upright and returned to treading water.
Rainâs head turned to look at him, his eyes fluttering open.
âYou okay?â He asked, words slightly distorted by half of his neck gills being underwater.
âAll good.â Dew assumed him. âBut you ought to swim properly for a bit. Itâs nice and all floating here but you need to make the most of this before we leave.â
âI am making the most of this morning.â Rain bobbed closer to take Dew in his arms, giving his legs a break. âIâm enjoying our alone time together. Thatâs going to be in short supply too.â
Dew sighed. He was right about that.
âAt least go and touch the bottom of the lake then come back.â He said sternly. âBring me back a nice pebble or something, then we can float again.â
Rain pouted but otherwise didnât complain. He knew as much as Dew did that he needed to make use of the water while it was available to him, even if it didnât seem like the greatest priority right now. Not letting go of Dew, he propelled them both gently back towards the dock.
He situated the fire ghoul on a crossbeam hidden just beneath the waterâs surface, fussing slightly to make sure he wouldnât fall off, before diving under the water with a flick of his tail.
Dew felt it as he swam deeper, the bond stretching out like elastic as the distance between them grew. He was still aware of his presence, but the lack of it rather than his proximity. Just the existence of such a feeling brought him comfort though, allowing him to filter out everything but the sights and sounds of the lake in the early morning and the deep of the water brushing the tops of his shoulders.
It didnât take long before he felt the tension in his bond loosen; Rain was on his way back up. Dew sensed where his head would pop up seconds before it did.
Rainâs eyes were as bright as his marks as he swam up to him to present Dew with a small stone, a perfectly round disc-like shape with a hole in the middle. His eyesight must be fantastic, Dew mused, to have found such a unique pebble so quickly in the near pitch black below the water.
âItâs beautiful.â He said softly, taking it and running his fingers over its contours. âPut it on the dock for me? To keep it safe?â
Rain did as he asked, before immediately diving back under the waves again. Dew was as glad to see him swimming as he had been with his brief reappearance, knowing he would be grateful for it later.
Before too long Rain was surfacing again though, this time with an almost spherical light grey stone, shot through with a red deposit that Dew immediately recognised a the same colour as his eyes. Rain silently presented it for approval before adding it to the pile and vanishing again.
He continued the pattern, diving down and returning with a new pebble, until there was a little pile gathered on the pier.
The next time Rain disappeared though, Dew didnât feel him heading out into the depths of the lake. Instead he stayed close by, Dew sensing that he was still around the feet of the wooden dock. He tried to peer into the water to see him but it was too dark and the rising sun to bright to make out much beyond the shadows of reflected clouds passing overhead. He was concentrating so hard he didnât realise Rain was returning until he felt a sudden pressure around his tail.
Dew shrieked, clutching hold of the leg of the dock and ripping his tail free of the water. Rain hadnât warned him that other things might live in the lake â Dew might have reconsidered joining him if he had known. His tail felt heavy as he whipped it to and fro, hardly wanting to look unless something had attached itself to him.
When he did though, he saw a streamer of lakeweed tied neatly around the spade of it and a sheepishly smirking water ghoul bobbing just out of reach.
âThe fuck?â Dew lashed his tail. âI thought you were some kind of lake monster come to eat me!â
âWellâŚâ Rain dared enter the radius of Dewâs morningstar of a tail again. âI could be.â
Dew scowled, rightfully unamused he thought, even as he let Rain pull him from his perch and into his arms.
âDonât be mad,â Rain cooed softly. âThis is just a thing water ghoul kits do. Like you and your lizards.â
Dew couldnât be mad about that, even as the weeds continued to feel weird.
âWhat does it mean?â He asked instead. âYour tradition.â
âItâs a bit sillyâŚâ Rain suddenly got shy, wrapping his tail around Dewâs. âBut⌠Itâs a game to try and predict who our soulmates are. We tie kelp around our tails then swim around and see whose it gets tangled with first.â
âDoes it work?â
Rain grinned sheepishly.
âNot reliably. But my sisterâŚâ He trailed off. âIt works for the ghouls whose marks only confirm what they already suspect, I suppose.â
The joking tone fell from his voice, a sudden sadness coming over him that directly contrasted with the lighthearted moment he had clearly intended this to be. Dew couldnât have that.
âWell go on then, whereâs your kelp?â
Rain blinked at him, confused, but the shadow across his face faded. Dew followed up by flicking water at him to continue distracting him.
âIâm tying slimy weeds round your tail now, fishboy. Find me some!â
His face breaking out into a smile again, Rain dived back beneath the surface with barely a splash, returning moments later with a long piece of green lakeweed. Dew couldnât help but wrinkle his nose as he took it, but he tied it carefully around the fin at the end of Rainâs tail nonetheless.
âNow what?â Dew prompted.
He swished his tail behind him in the water more gently now and the kelp trailed behind it like a streamer. If he forgot what it was for a moment it was quite fun.
âNow we swim together.â
Rain took off, pulling Dew by the hand to also help keep him afloat. Dew dragged through the water behind him, getting splashed having none of the streamlined glide of the ghoul pulling him. Rain clearly realised the issue and decided it would be more efficient to hold Dew against him and propel them both with just his legs and tail.
âDeep breath.â He said, slowing slightly to make sure Dew was paying attention.
He held onto Dew tightly then lurched forward in a spiral manoeuvre that would have stolen Dewâs breath without the advance warning, spinning them through the water faster than Dew would have thought possible. He understood for just a moment why Rain always looked so elated after being in the water.
Rain guided them in circles for a while after they stopped for Dew to regain his bearings, floating on his back so the fire ghoul could lie on him like a giant floatie.
âSo?â Dew asked breathlessly when it didnât seem like Rain was going to take off again.
He had been too focussed on not breathing lake water to think about trying to rig this little experiment, but he need not have worried.
Rain lifted his tail out of the water and Dewâs followed. The two long ends of kelp had both tied themselves in impossibly complicated knots.
âLooks like weâre mates.â
.â˝â.*â§ŕźşâ˝ŕźťâ§*.ââ˝.
Rain wanted to dig his claws into Dew and never let go, never let him drift away again.
Sex with his fire ghoul was like nothing Rain had ever felt before or could ever envision feeling in the future. He could feel himself going crazy. Watching Dew in such bliss was somehow even greater than the extraordinary pleasure he experienced as well; Rain would let Dew rip out his very soul if it would make him feel good.
He looked so good too, the muscles in his thighs flexing as he sank down onto Rain, the water ghoul helpless to do anything but try to stay lucid. And his tongue on Rainâs gills⌠The feeling of fullness and breathlessness that had flooded Rain as Dew pushed its long, hot length inside the sensitive membranes along his throat was something else.
Dew had run his fingers along the gashes in his neck as though they were a different kind of entrance and Rain didnât doubt that that would feel just as good, they were so sensitive and his fingers so skilful. They were rough with callouses, long and steady and strong and big. Rain wanted to feel them in every gill, around his cock, along his taint to his own entrance.
His imagination was running away with him.
Rain had felt taken out by his own overwhelm, unable to move more than necessary to not lose a second of his mateâs touch. But seeing Dewâs power come to life made him want the fire ghoul to take. He wanted Dew to pin him to the wall, to push him to his knees.
Laid in bed their height difference was irrelevant; they were so perfectly matched in desire and enthusiasm and intensity, and yet Rain knew a single raised eyebrow from Dew would make him crumple. He suspected Dew would think the same thing about him too though. The way he had looked, his head thrown back, the long line of his throat bared on display, maybe they were perfectly matched that way too.
It all made Rain feel a bit sappy, thinking about how he had finally found his equal, the other half of himself. In a way their very different elements felt like a match too: they had come from contrasting realms with opposite soul marks, but coming together now their mirrored experiences were yet another similarity they shared.
None of these thoughts were conducive to him acting even close to sane, especially not with tour breathing down their necks. Rain instead had to settle for taking his moments with Dew and admiring him when he could, which right now happened to be during rehearsals.
Dew was wearing his usual leggings, the way the light reflected softly off the smooth fabric perfectly highlighting the line of his thigh. Rain could see them flex as he moved with the music, shaking softly as he pounded his heel on the floor to the beat. They were the same thighs that had strained with Dew sat astride him, that had effortlessly flexed as Dew rodeâ
Rain was not going to survive this rehearsal.
He finally walked up to Dew in the break when everyone else was crowding around the water cooler or having their own little chats, presumably about the music.
âIâm going to bite you, you know.â He said into Dewâs ear in a completely conversational tone. âRight here.â
He rubbed at his own leg as though soothing an ache.
âEvery time you stomp around I think itâs gonna kill me. I think I deserve some payback, donât you?â
Rain drifted away again before Dew could reply, delighting in how he had apparently stunlocked the fire ghoul. He could feel Dewâs eyes following him even while he failed to get his feet to do the same.
If Rain thought their regular rehearsals were bad for his concentration, they were nothing compared to the extended torture that was the dress rehearsal performance in the chapel. He could hardly remember playing a note, but he was sure he must have done since Copia seemed happy as they filed back into the vestry.
What he did remember was Dew prowling around their makeshift stage, stomping and throwing picks at Aether and sidling up behind Rain to breathe down his neck. He remembered more clearly how the new uniform had clung to him as he did so.
Seared into Rainâs brain was how Dew had looked at him, like he wanted to eat him alive, to tear him limb from limb to admire each part of him separately in its own beauty.
Dewâs eyes had never left him, even as they filed offstage back to the vestry where their instrument cases and rails for their costumes awaited them. Thankfully the rest of the pack had seemed to be aware of the building tension between the two, as they had hurriedly changed and were leaving before Dew had even finished fiddling with a pickup on his guitar.
âDonât forget to leave everything here, dear ghouls.â Copia popped his head around the door as he too left. âEverythingâs getting transferred from here to the loading bay once weâre done.â
âWe wonât, Papa.â Dew smiled angelically.
Rain simply nodded in his direction, and the man disappeared with a final wave of his fingers.
The water ghoul prowled up behind Dew, plastering himself to the smaller ghoulâs back. Both of them were still fully clothed aside from their masks, which allowed him to murmur directly into his ear.
âThat guitarâs fine and you know it.â He hummed lowly. âI think youâre just wasting time for us to be alone in here.â
âIs that so?â Dew asked lightly. âYou couldâve left too, you know.â
âAnd waste this opportunity to get you alone dressed like this?â Rainâs hands found Dewâs hip, subtly grinding into the swell of his costumed ass. âI would have to be stupid.â
Finally Dew set the guitar down, slowly, calmly, before spinning fast and planting his hands to Rainâs chest. He stumbled backwards until Dew had him pinned to the wall, winded with the force of his back hitting the plaster. Dew smirked wide, all unglamoured fangs. He was stronger as he leaned in, Rain unable to move, still embodying his on-stage persona.
âNice try.â Dew hissed.
Rain shivered despite the heat in the air and the fire ghoul crowding into his space. Dew ran his hands up Rainâs front, towards his neck, and Rainâs breath hitched again before he dragged them downwards again.
âI saw you watching earlier, out on stage.â He continued. âActing like you donât look like that.â
Dewâs hands found his waist and squeezed. He leaned in to nip at Rainâs neck, pulling his necktie free to get better access.
âStrutting about on-stage. Asking for attention.â
The hypocrisy of his words wasnât lost on Rain, who had spent the majority of the evening watching Dew demand the attention of everyone in the room and succeed in getting it. But he also didnât sense that this was the time to mention that, not if he wanted Dewâs hands to keep wandering. The fire ghoul was already picking at the fastenings of his waistcoat and then at the shirt buttons beneath, making Rain whimper slightly as his hot hands smoothed over his chest, pushing his uniform aside.
Dewâs smirk widened at the noise, clearly taking great delight in the affect he was having.
âNow now. Weâve gotta be careful with our uniforms.â He admonished.
But as his hands wandered to pick at the laces at the back of Rainâs pants, his tone began to crack.
Rain sensed his opportunity to distract him further and lunged forward, catching Dew by the waist and pulling him into another kiss.
âCareful huh? Iâd better take care of yours too then.â
Dew huffed in protest as his mission to blindly untie Rainâs pants was foiled but quickly gave in when the water ghoulâs dexterous fingers begin to pick at the fastenings of his own waistcoat. That didnât stop him from making Rainâs task harder by continuing to push their bodies even closer together though, plastering himself against him with his hands reaching to grope at Rainâs ass through the pants.
His enthusiasm was contagious and Rain felt a growl escape him as he kissed Dew harder.
Dewâs body jerked and for a moment Rain wondered if he had done something wrong. He was very aware of the uptick in his more feral behaviours where Dew was involved, the growling chief amongst them, and he could only hope that it didnât scare or unnerve the fire ghoul.
âFuck, thatâs hot.â Dew groaned.
âWhat?â Rain wondered what he had missed as he swallowed down more feral noises, settling for letting his breathing fall into an irregular and stuttered pant.
âNo, donât stop. That growlâŚâ
âOh really?â Rain practically purred, delighted that he didnât have to keep suppressing it and letting the rumble tear free again.
Dew shivered, his body going slightly slack against Rainâs.
Just as Rain was starting to think he might have the upper hand in whatever this game they were playing was, Dew spotted his opportunity to reclaim it for himself, spinning Rain and pushing him into the wall by the small of his back.
âYeah. Now keep doing it while I get these strings.â
Rain didnât need to see Dewâs face to know how hard he had to be concentrating to not just slice the ridiculous laces open. He was almost positive that his tongue had to be sticking out in concentration, just like it did when he was presented with a new guitar solo to learn.
Eventually though Rain felt the pants fall loose and Dew wasted no more time in turning Rain to face him once more before stuffing hot hands down the back of them. He didnât have the coordination for a true kiss, instead sloppily mouthing at Rainâs jawline while muttering vaguely to himself.
Rain thought he could just about pick out stupid, sexy costumes and he had to agree that Dew had a point: outfits that so begged to be taken off shouldnât put up such a fight, especially when their intended wearers were notoriously impatient creatures with claws and limited impulse control.
As if proving his point, Rain grabbed for Dew again, catching him by the loose fabric to the sides of his thighs and pulling. There was no way for Dew to get any closer though, their bodies completely plastered together. Dewâs hands squeezed his ass tightly, fingertips pressing in with just a hint of threatening claws and urgency of several hours of restraint leading up to now. Rain didnât know whether to push back into his hands or forward into his body.
A low, smoky scent filled Rainâs nostrils. He was learning that this was the smell of a desperately aroused fire ghoul, more heavy incense-leaning than Dewâs normal wood-fire and cinnamon but equally delicious.
He wanted to return the attention Dew was currently paying him, to make good on every thought he had had while seeing the fire ghoul stomp about the stage all night, and yet it was taking all his focus to keep his quivering fingers just gripping loose fabric without tearing it. Rain didnât have the maddening self-control Dew seemed to possess in spades for undoing fiddly laces without just tearing through them, and they didnât need to be one set of uniform down before they even leave the Abbey. Perhaps at the end of tour the costumes could suffer an unfortunate mishap, Rain thought to himself.
Dewâs kisses slowly started to move, but they were still a perfectly uncoordinated mess. He mouthed down Rainâs chest, over his mark, hungry and devouring before stroking his hands down Rainâs stomach. The water ghoul had to let go of him as Dewâs knees began to buckle, his mouth seeking to follow his hands.
The sudden mental image of Dew kneeling before him and taking him into his mouth almost made Rainâs own knees give out. Even if the visuals alone didnât end him, Rain knew now from just how otherworldly good Dewâs hot mouth felt that he wouldnât remain standing long either way.
Just then however, a crash of staging being moved in the chapel outside reminded them where they were. Dew halted his movements, standing back up straight, laying his hands on Rainâs chest and giving him an almost chaste kiss despite the heat of moments before.
âTake this back to the Den?â
Rain nodded, slightly dazed from both the intensity of Dewâs attention and by its sudden removal.
Dew stepped back as though Rain wasnât thirty seconds from crumbling into a puddle in front of him. Rainâs hands were frozen, unable to move even as Dew bent down in front of him to pick up his discarded necktie. When he made no move to take it, Dew looped it back round his neck and used it to pull him down for yet another kiss.
âCome on. Letâs go.â
Rain blinked after him as Dew sauntered back to where his clothes were waiting, facing away from him and undoing the laces on his own pants as he went. He pointedly ignored the rumbling coming from Rainâs chest, hurriedly stripping and redressing while the water ghoul was still trying to convince his feet to work.
Rain was grateful all the trickiest fastenings on his costume had been dealt with by Dew already, knowing he wouldnât have the patience for them right now. He unzipped his boots and shucked them and the pants off in one hasty and uncoordinated movement. With everything at least near if not on its hanger, he tugged on his sweats and the hoodie he had worn earlier.
He was already half hard and seeing Dew take off the costume he had been imagining him without all evening hadnât helped matters. The way Dew had bent over to unzip his own boots, his small yet firm ass framed by the unlaced pants as he leaned forward, had made Rain want to snarl and claim, his fangs growing itchy. Rain sensed this could become a problem with the cramped dressing rooms and close proximity of tour, but that would be a problem for them, or more critically the rest of their pack, that they would address when they needed to.
Scurrying back to the Den Rain felt almost giddy, the remaining adrenaline from the dress rehearsal performance still running through his veins. He was sporting a semi that he hoped his long hoodie and baggy sweats were hiding, but judging from the way Dew looked at him with unconcealed hunger they were not doing it well enough.
Dew led them straight to his room, not risking going through the common room to get to Rainâs in case any one of their pack tried to delay them for even a second.
Rain followed Dew and soon found himself back in the position he had been before, pinned with his back to the door.
Dewâs smile was even wider now they were alone.
âYâknow, Iâm suddenly really looking forward to tour.â Dew leaned in closer, his breath hot against Rains neck as he slipped his hands beneath his hoodie once more. âBut also kind of not. I have no idea how anyone can expect me to resist you each night. Itâs going to be torture.â
Rain thought he would accept the hours of such torment willingly, if only Dew would touch him right around now. Luckily he didnât have to wait to find out if Dew felt the same.
Despite the pairâs certainty that the months on the road would be a test of a whole other magnitude to any they had endured so far, they were still both excited at the prospect of getting back on stage and performing. Even if they hadnât been though, they were soon both too busy to have an opinion on it either way. The final tour preparations always crept up to overwhelm them without warning.
For Dew, that had meant spending even more of his waking hours with Copia, assuaging his anxieties of being a real Papa now alongside their other last-minute duties.
Rain loved seeing their bond, even though Copia wasnât Dewâs summoner. He sensed that they had more in common than either realised, both fighting against preconceived expectations, starting their lives in the Abbey on the back foot and feeling like they were an inferior stand in for either Terzo or the water ghoul the Clergy thought they had summoned. They had both worked so hard to build the lives they wanted to have, and Rain was unbelievably proud.
Making the most of their alone time, the pair had found themselves doing almost everything together, including Dewâs last minute packing the night before their departure. Rain couldnât even chastise him for cutting things so fine; he knew first hand and had immensely enjoyed exactly what they had been up to instead of packing during their other free moments until now.
So he lounged on Dewâs bed, watching the fire ghoul rifle through his closet with a hurried irritation before coming up empty-handed.
âCan you check if itâs in my suitcase already?â He asked Rain, a small crease of distress appearing between his eyebrows.
âIf what is?â Rain had been too busy just watching him to pay attention.
âYour black hoodie?â Dew admitted sheepishly. âThe warm one?â
Rain knew the one. He had worn it down to the lake one day for when Dew inevitably got cold waiting for him and hadnât had the heart to ask for it back. That, and he still loved seeing Dew in his clothes just as much as he suspected the fire ghoul thought the reverse to be true as well.
He was pretty sure he he had seen Dew throw it in the direction of the suitcase the night before, but he checked anyway. Digging to the bottom he soon found it, but something tucked beside it also caught his attention. Rain felt around it, trying to figure out what it was; sharp corners, a hard rectangle with a lip around one side. A photo frame?
He pulled it out, too intrigued now to question if Dew would want him poking around in his things, and held it up. Half correct, Rain squinted at the framed drawing, taking in the soft lines rendered in charcoal depicting a beaming Dew and Ifrit.
âYou were close, werenât you.â Rain said, knowing the fire ghoul was looking at him even without looking up.
âYeah.â
âIâm sorry Ifrit left.â
Rain couldnât imagine leaving his place topside in the band for anything; his summoning had given him everything he had ever dreamed of and more. He supposed it was possible he felt that way because he had never had a reason to consider the alternative. Dew was clearly happiest up here and he had no plans to ever be separated from him again.
âIâm not.â Dew joined him on the bed, lying beside him on his stomach to lean over and reach for the framed sketch. âIt was what was right for both of them. If loved Zephyr so much it didnât matter where they lived as long as it was with them.â
âI couldnât imagine giving up topside life.â Rain admitted.
âI donât know if heâd have called it giving up his life here,â Dew mused, âbut rather starting another new chapter. I thought I understood him at the time but I didnât get it. I think⌠I might do now though.â
Rain didnât need to speak for him to be sure that Dew knew he felt the same: his eyes said everything for him.
Dew rolled back off the bed then, packing the picture carefully back into his bag. As he did so, Rain couldnât help but find his attention drawn to the pendant dangling from a length of leather around his neck.
Hanging there was the pebble with a hole in its heart, its distinctive edges rubbed smooth by its trials bumping along the depths of the lake. It hadnât expected its life to be any more than that, a never-ending cycle to endure, and yet here it was. Rain had plucked it from the water and brought it to the surface, and now Dew was treating it like a precious gemstone.
It happens when Rain is still fresh; when he's still wrapping his mind around what bodies can do and when the stretch of Mountain's cock is tinted with something a bit more than just pleasure.
It's not the first time they've been together. Not the second, or even the third, but it is the first time that Mountain laid the long line of his body against Rain's back when his thrusts became staggered, the first time he tried to get closer when he finished instead of pulling away to make some part of Rain's skin a canvas to splatter. When Mountain moans long and low into Rain's ear, the warmth of his body spreading into his spine, he stays exactly where he is. And Rain feels it in his cunt, the way Mountain's heat spills into him there, too, filling him up more than he thought he could carry.
He doesn't know how much there is, whether it's normal or a little or too much. It feels like too much; it spills out around Mountain's cock, leaking out of his hole and dripping drown. Rain knows because he can feel it sliding down his thigh.
But it feels good, to be used that way, to be stuffed beyond what he can hold. When Mountain finally pulls out, panting on his knees behind Rain to admire his work, Rain's fingers beat his to the drop spilling down. He catches it and flops onto his back, admiring the way the light casts through it and the way it coats his skin. It's thick. A bit sticky. Nothing Rain hasn't seen before.
The air feels heavy between them. A thought forms in Rain's sex-addled mind, and Mountain must feel it, because his gaze meets Rain's just in time to watch him bring those coated fingers to his mouth.
He licks them first, curious, letting the taste make its way to his tongue and settle. It's salty, musky, with maybe a ghost of sweet. Somehow, he thinks it tastes like Mountain. So he goes back.
Rain crooks his fingers to scoop up the line of cum running down his thigh and tastes that tooâ this time, he sucks it off his fingers. It's quicker that way.
He gasps when he touches himself, his fingers brushing his sensitive, still-stretched walls to reach the rest of the gift Mountain's given him. He licks it all, every last drop, cleaning himself until he realizes all at once that he misses the feeling of fullness he had only moments ago.
Mountain's eyes haven't left his fingers. Rain's not even sure he's blinked.
When Rain finally speaks, it's to state the very simple conclusion he's reached, and his voice comes out hoarse but steady:
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