#ghangst

Cumulus had been next, curled up on the sofa with the multi ghoul, idly chatting about everything and nothing. Anything that piqued their interests, really, until the topic of what Rain had said just so happened to come up. Of course Rain had told her, they were a pack, they didn't keep secrets! But the change in conversation had Swiss shifting, a movement so subtle it went unnoticed by his favourite little ghoulette until she'd uttered the same words Rain had. His throat felt tight the second they started their sentence, his breathing a choked gasp as soon as she'd finished. He'd been long gone before she even realised he'd moved, his habit of keeping eyes on every exit finally coming in handy.

He really hadn't ever expected Dewdrop of all ghouls to be the next in line to confess. They'd been going at it all night, brutal at first to get rid of all the energy they'd had building up all week, but then things took a softer turn. Dew had wormed his hands up to Swiss' cheeks, pulling him down to rest their foreheads together as he whimpered so softly. Poor guy could barely form words, let alone string a whole sentence together - but he managed it, gasped out an "I love you", and Swiss bit his lip so hard it bled, sinking his fangs in deep. That was the first time he'd ever left without aftercare, and fuck did it make him drop hard.

Mountain had been more pissed off than Swiss had ever seen when he'd said it, fangs bared and scent filled with such an intense anger that just a whiff of it made Swiss' head spin. He'd yelled at him for a while; cursing him for leaving Dewdrop, lecturing him for fleeing from Cumulus, snapping at him for making tears well in Rain's eyes. And Swiss just took it, listened to each bitter, biting word as if he, too, felt like he deserved it.

Cirrus didn't even say it. She traced the words into his skin with her pretty, clawed fingertips during one of their pack movie nights. It'd made Swiss tense immediately, sweat beading at his brow with each letter pressed into the flesh of his arm. But he couldn't move. Aether was laying against him, running his own fingers up and down Swiss' arm as they kept him in place on the sofa. Like he knew Cirrus' plan. If he had it in his panicked mind to focus, he'd've noticed that Aether had been tracing the exact same words in the language of the Pit. He ended up disassociating the rest of the movie, going on autopilot and returning to his room alone after it'd finished.

After she'd been summoned, Aurora latched onto him like a moth to a flame, always seeking him out and trying to get close to him. She'd babbled to Sunny one night about her love and admiration for her fellow multi, trying to find a way to tell him that was unique to the way she felt for him. When Sunny told her, with watery eyes, that the confession she'd given had been met with a stuttered apology and the turn of a body so fast that it'd left her hair a windblown mess, she refused to believe it. And when she did the same, she watched hopelessly as Swiss stumbled in his haste to get up, claws still wet with the fresh coat of paint and multicoloured hearts smearing against everything he touched.

Phantom hadn't lasted long, either. He said it repeatedly, sprinkled into every conversation while trying not to take it personally as Swiss dissolved into shadow each and every time he heard the beginnings of the confession. In all honesty, they'd've continued to say it even if they had taken it to heart - that's just the kind of ghoul he was. He loved and loved and loved, needing to share it with the ghoul he looked up to most, even if the multi could never believe them.