[I'm missing the summer just a little bit, so here's Mountain and Dew being sleepy boys under the sun together.]
It's a hot, lazy day around the ministry; Mountain and Dew have trudged down to the woods where the shade lingers, lounging side by side on the banks of the creek that trails off from the lake, and, shockingly, the mosquitos are far and few between.
Little fish coast idly through the clear waters, either unaware of or unfazed by the ghouls lazing on the shore, and, somewhere distant, bugs chirrup a cacophony.
Mountain plucks a piece of long, dense grass and fiddles with it, tying knots in the starchy stem, pulling and teasing the ends with his teeth when his fingers can't grab the finer bits.
It's a simple task for him, he doesn't even look as he does it, just watches the fish flit about without a care in the world.
Dew lays back, folding his hands behind his head, and yawns, spluttering when the same bit of grass Mountain had been playing with finds its way into his mouth.
He offers an indignant glare and huffs a sigh as the earth ghoul shrugs and gives a halfhearted apology, but nothing more is said, and Dew decides to nibble on the stalk, gazing up at the overgrowth as Mountain busies himself with another blade of grass.
It's nice just to be able to lay outside under the trees like this, Dew thinks, not having to worry about anything for at least a little while, and Mountain makes for good, if quiet, company, as silly as he could be.
Sometimes he needed that.
Good, but quiet company.
The world was too loud and chaotic sometimes -not that he minded terribly much for the most part- and Dew has learned over the years that the longer he goes without disconnecting from it all, the more ugly and angry his mind becomes.
Mountain, as shocking as it may seem, is the same way.
It was one of the surprisingly many things the pair could relate on, and one of the many, many reasons why the two would often seek one another out in times of turmoil, even if others offered comfort or care; The two simply understood each other in a way no one else could.
Today, though, there is no chaos, turmoil or worry, there is just the much too hot sun overhead and a desire to escape the monotony of monastic life.
If one could call it that, considering that, while they dressed and acted in ways that mimicked such a lifestyle for the sake of aesthetics and some semblance of respect for the lord below (though mostly for the former reason), at the end of the day they weren't bound by much more than their musical contracts and a few, admittedly very breakable, vows.
It was all very... loosey-goosey, as Copia had once put it during an otherwise quite serious meeting about the structure of the ministry among other things.
Loosey-goosey.
Dew rolls the blade of grass on his tongue and hums, glancing over at Mountain as he hears the man shift, his long form taking up the right side of his vision as he lays down.
"How long do you think it will take for the others to come looking for us out there?" Mountain asks, his eyes gently closing as a yawn steals itself from his lips, making Dew let out another himself, "Hour? Two hours?"
Dew moves his hands from behind his head onto his stomach, and then lets his head tilt so his cheek rests softly on Mountain's shoulder.
"Hopefully more like three, I could use a good nap." Dew mumbles, earning a snort from Mountain.
"Yeah, a nap sounds good." he agrees, "Just don't drool on me, yeah?"
"Right, and you don't accidentally roll over and squish me, yeah?"
"Right."
It's a hot, lazy day around the ministry, and Mountain and Dew are content to spend it in each others company.
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[Rain struggles with his feelings in regards to Dew, and Aeon/Phantom is surprisingly insightful, if not a little devious.] Below the cut.
Rain doesn't smoke often, doesn't like the way the smell lingers in his hair or on his clothes, but sometimes he just needs something to take the edge off without the totality of alcohol; If he drank every time something stressed him out, he'd be so flushed with alcohol he'd die perfectly preserved without the need for formaldehyde, and his cremation would spark an explosion.
But theatrics -and a mental note that they don't use chemicals for preservation if they're going to perform a cremation- aside, Rain just prefers the acrid taste smoking leaves behind in his mouth to the sting of a potential hangover more.
Tapping the bottom of the flimsy cardboard packet, leaning against the cold, damp bricks of the basement stairwell, the ghoul hesitates before peeling the crinkly plastic off, crumpling it into a ball and pocketing it for later disposal.
It's been a long day, and while he could just as easily use other methods to unwind, the first drag makes the tension in his shoulders melt away, and the longer he stands there, the less wired he feels.
He huffs a little smoke out of his gills, surrounding himself in the not wholly unpleasant aroma -which he will furiously scrub from his body later with disproportionate disgust- and goes over the events of his day in his head.
For the most part, things had been normal, a couple hiccups here and there during practice, some tech issues that were resolved with Dew slamming his foot into an amp... and accidentally irritating his injury, then using his "authority" to tell Aeon to kick a second amp, jostling a loose connection back into place.
"Couldn't you have done that without hurting yourself?" Rain had chastised the older ghoul when he caught him limping around later, "Learn to delegate."
"Sure, sure..." Dew had hummed, not even really arguing with him, and adjusted his crutches without saying anything further, and *that* really hadn't sat well with Rain at all, so of course he had to ask...
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"It's just, I-"
"I said I'm fine! Rain, Satanas, just...!"
Rain blinks back to the present, the end of his cigarette heavy with ash.
He takes it from his mouth and taps it idly onto the ground, watching it hiss as it lands on the wet concrete.
"Mind if I bum one of those off of ya?" a cheery voice calls from the doorway to the basement, making Rain startle, "Sorry, sorry."
Aeon scoots around the door, clicking it shut, stepping up to Rain, expectantly holding out his palm.
"Since when do you smoke?" he asks, handing him the lighter.
"Since forever," the quint replies, pinching the cigarette between his lips as he lights it, "I just don't smoke around you guys."
"Huh."
Aeon joins him along the wall, inhaling deeply before sagging into a similarly relaxed pose.
"...So, what brings you to this..." Aeon gestures broadly at the stairwell, "...humble back alley?"'
Rain snorts.
"I don't know honestly." he admits, flicking his cigarette, "...Okay, maybe I do know, but it's stupid..."
"You and Dew aren't getting along, yeah?" Aeon guesses easily, "I saw you guys after practice today."
"Sorry you had to see that..." Rain cringes, "...It's just... Christ."
"Hey, language!" Aeon hisses, taking a drag from his cigarette, "You'll corrupt me..."
Rain groans and pinches the bridge of his nose.
"Jokes aside, you good?"
"Yes and no." Rain shrugs, "Dew and I have gotten into it before, it's nothing new, but something is clearly wrong, and he's not talking to me, and it's like I'm annoying him just by asking... It's probably nothing and I'm overreacting, but, well, don't know until he says something."
Aeon hums thoughtfully.
"Well, I've heard," Aeon pushes away from the wall, spinning on his heels so he can face Rain straight on, "a certain hotheaded fire ghoul hasn't been resting the way he should be, so if he's being a bitch, it's no one's fault but his own."
Rain raises an eyebrow.
"Not for nothing, and you didn't hear it from me, because Omega and Aether would have my head for breaking good old doctor/patient confidentiality, but I do see things when I'm interning in the infirmary, you know?" Aeon hops up onto the first step leading up out of the stairwell towards the ghouls' private courtyard area, "Dew's not taking care of himself, and just earlier today, I heard Delta lecturing him about the importance of bed rest, but, of course, he had all of these excuses about why he can't sleep, or why he needs to stay up and alert..."
"Little man's paranoid-" Aeon continues, retreating further up the stairs, until he reaches the sidewalk above and looks down at Rain, "-about the idea of being replaced next."
"Papa wouldn't replace Dew-" Rain starts, then pauses, "...Not our Papa, not Copia, but... Do you think V would?"
Violet eyes narrowing as Aeon grins, "Now you're thinking like Dew. Heh~"
"Aeon, that's not very funny-"
"Good! Because I'm not joking." Aeon chirps, turning to walk away, leaving Rain alone in the stairwell, "That's your nut to crack, thanks for the cigs, I'm going back inside!"
Rain inhales sharply, cursing as he drops his cigarette on the ground and it fizzles out.
He grinds it the rest of the way out with the heel of his boot.
"God fucking dammit..." Rain pats his pockets for his pack, but the only thing he finds is the wrapper, "That little... AEON, YOU GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!"
Distant giggles and a far away, "Nope~!" are the only reply he gets before he hears a door on the opposite side of the courtyard slam shut.
"Fuck!"
Despite his best efforts to regain his stolen goods, Rain doesn't find Aeon anywhere obvious, and a few laps around the abbey's main floors has him feeling less hot about the situation as a whole.
By the time he's walking back to the ghouls' den, his head is clear, and he can feel himself leveling out, but the second his brain goes blissfully empty, a nagging thought crawls its way to the forefront of his mind.
Dew.
"V would be an idiot to replace Dew without notice." Rain thinks to himself, shoving his hands into his pockets, "Especially when Pa... Frater... Especially when Copia is still around. He'd wind up as persona non grata, although it wouldn't be out of the scope of his authority..."
Rain shakes his head.
"No, even if he did replace Dew, it's not like he would have to leave, Aether is still here, Hell, Omega is still here! But... then again, Dew's position has shifted a couple times now, and he's been through multiple iterations of the project..."
Scratching the light scruff on his chin, Rain stands in the hall, eyes pinched shut as he tries to shake away these unwarranted thoughts, but...
"I can see why he's not sleeping." Rain finally says aloud, placing his hands on his hips, "Shit..."
Shaking his head again, Rain finds himself in front of the door to the ghouls' den, and pops it open only to be greeted by the sight of the very ghoul on his mind laying on the couch, foot propped up on a stack of pillows, eyes half shut as he stares blearily at the tv.
The lazing ghoul gives a soft grunt of acknowledgement, but his attention remains transfixed on whatever happens to be on screen at the moment.
Glancing at the tv, Rain gives a snort.
"Treasure hunting shows again? Thinking of becoming a pirate?" he asks, expecting Dew to bite back, even just a little at the remark, but instead, he just closes his eyes.
"Mn."
Rain frowns.
"You okay?"
"Mn."
"...Are you sure?"
Dew opens one eye a crack, blue and watery, fragile lashes flutter before shutting once more.
"Aeth gave me a jolt." he explains, voice light and shaky with the static of lingering quintessence vibrating its way through his body, "Itchy."
Rain's mouth parts into an "O" shape and nods.
Quintessence, while powerful enough to ease aches and pains, also has its own side effects, one of which is referred to simply as "the itch"; Akin to the sensation brought on by certain sports drinks -from the presence of beta-alanine in particular- it can be overwhelming when you're not used to it, and Dew, laying in apparent discomfort, was not.
At least not anymore.
"Anything I can do to help...?"
Not that there was much Rain could physically do for Dew in his given scenari-
"Can you hold me?"
-Oh?
"What?"
Dew shifts on the couch, making room.
"Just... I need..." Dew looks up at him pitifully, "I can't sleep like this."
"Okay." Rain steps on the backs of his shoes to pull them off, grimacing at the wet toe of one of them grazes his bare ankle, abandoning them by the door, and makes his way over to the couch, "How do you want me?"
"Can you squish in behind me? Just don't bump my leg, please."
Awkward and tentatively, Rain inserts himself onto the couch, careful not to rock Dew too much as he worms his way in behind him.
After a bit more wriggling, Rain has his arms wrapped around Dew's lightly buzzing form, feeling the shake of quintessence trying to break the surface and leech into his skin as well.
"He gave you a pretty hefty dose..." he remarks, feeling Dew shift, "Does it hurt a lot?"
Dew hums at him.
"Said it would help me sleep..." he replies, biting through a yawn, "...Been two hours now and nothing..."
"Have you been fighting it this whole time?" Rain questions, bringing a hand up to pet Dew's short red curls, "You know it won't work properly if you don't let it do its job."
"It's kind of..." Dew's words trail off, and Rain feels Dew's entire body tense and then relaxes a moment later, "...I'm wondering if I'm allergic to it."
"Quintessence?"
"Sleep."
Rain props his chin against the back of Dew's head.
"I don't think that's possible, but, you know, I don't know everything..." he says, fixing his eyes on the tv; A man in overalls and no shirt is standing in a field digging a hole in the ground in the middle of a snowy landscape, ranting about buried treasure, "...People are all, certainly, unique..."
"Mn," Dew yawns, "I'm sorry I yelled earlier."
"It's fine." Rain says on impulse, then backtracks, "It's... I get why you would snap like that, you're tired and your leg hurts, but-"
"You didn't deserve it, and I should have tried to be more patient, or, or maybe... maybe I should have just skipped practice." Dew's voice wobbles, "I mean, I'm not much use like this, and, and... Well, let's be real, it would be easier to..."
Rain snakes his arms around Dew, squeezing him a little, and shushes him.
"I don't have the words right now to tell you how wrong you are, at least not in an eloquent way," Rain sighs, "just know that you are wrong, and you're brain is being an idiot."
"Always the poet." Dew teases, but relaxes a little, "...Do you think V would..."
"V can't do shit unless Copia tells him he can, and I would personally like to see him try." Rain shakes his head, "Besides... What is that man wearing?"
"Hm?" Dew perks up and looks at the screen, "Ohh, yeah, that's the guy who's running the treasure hunt..."
"The top hat..."
"Yeah, he calls himself the 'Magic Man' or some shit..." Dew clears his throat, "Anyway, I... I appreciate you trying to, ya know."
"Talk you down?"
"Yeah."
Rain nods, bumping his chin against the top of Dew's head.
"Any time." he says, "So, uh... Words..."
Dew sags against him with a sigh, settling.
"You've been... distant lately." he tries, bringing a hand up to pet Dew's hair, tucking a few strands away from his face, admiring the light pink flush of his ears, "I don't see you as much."
"Obviously I've been thinking a lot," Dew supplies easily, voice heavy with the static coursing through his body -Rain feels it pulse and surge- he stops to shiver and reset, "about a lot of things... but..."
He trails off and Rain feels him drop, the sudden, dead weight feeling of his body going lax in his grip.
"Dew?"
A slow, deep breath.
"I dunno, I just... It's not just you." he says finally, "I promise it isn't just you I'm avoiding. I don't know if I'm really avoiding anyone, I'm just... Been tired, ya know?"
Rain soothes his hand over Dew's temple.
"The ministry keeps coming up with more things to do, more things that need my attention, and I just... My body can't handle it all, I guess." the ghoul admits after a pause, "I'm learning that."
"Everyone has their limits, Dew, even you." Rain says, "We can't take life by the horns every day."
Dew snorts.
"Yeah. Yeah... Yeah." Dew takes Rain's hand and pulls it down to play with it, running his fingers over his joints, brushing a thumb lovingly over the knuckles, "I know..."
Rain turns his gaze back to the television.
"Are you actually watching this show or do you want me to turn it off?" he asks, eyeing the remote on the coffee table.
"It's good background noise." Dew says, "Muffles the screaming goblins in my brain."
Rain looks to him, gaze narrowed, but fond; The thin, translucent layer of skin over his eyes flicking and peeling across the inky blackness before he blinks, and at once they are clear, shining blue and innocent, and so very human again.
Dew swallows a lump in his throat, taking in a shuddered breath as cold, wet fingertips glide across his sun warmed skin.
"You're allowed to want it," Rain whispers, gentle touches turned to hands gripping his sides, firm, but not crushing, "you just have to ask."
And, fuck, suddenly Dew understands what the clergy meant about pit ghouls being a different breed.
Uneasily, he raises his hand, placing his palm over the rounding of Rain's shoulder, feeling the muscle beneath, the electricity of life pulsing under cold flesh, and wonders if he'll ever think that the demon before him is warm in anything other than heart.
If he'll learn to find the heat in his raging storm; If the tempest will turn to a sun shower, or if there will always be something primal spurring on the little, frightened creature inside his head that is screaming at him to pull away.
"Do you want to run away?"
Dew peeks up at him, searching.
"Away from you? With you? Or..." he licks his lips, his mouth suddenly feeling terribly dry, "...just to see if you would chase after me?"
"Oh... Oh, you could never get away from me, even if you wanted to."
"I could try." Dew challenges, "I could run right now if you let me go."
Rain lets out an odd, clicking laugh, more demonic and haunting than human.
[Dew finds sex boring, this problem is not resolved at the end, but, perhaps the other ghouls need to figure out how to do... Dew... right? Who can say? Someone pass the potatoes...]
As far as earth shattering news goes, Dew proclaiming that he finds sex "boring" in the middle of dinner probably wouldn't rank very highly... if he hadn't slept with about a solid ninety percent of the people sitting at the table.
"I mean, it's just, like, 'Okay, cool, I'm down for whatever.' and I usually cum, but that's just my body reacting to the stimulation and all." Dew says between bites of mac and cheese as if he hasn't just turned the world on its head, "There was this one time I had a vibrator on me, and it was supposed to be this whole overstimulation thing, but it was just really... and I mean REALLY boring, and the other person was trying to be all in charge and shit, and I was just laying there wondering when they'd say fuck it and fuck me already..."
Swiss swallows thickly, "A-Ah..."
Aeon looks between the two of them, biting his lip and trying not to imagine the various stages of grief the multi ghoul was currently going through hearing this news.
"I also really hate that orgasm denial shit, like, if I'm not getting anything out of this exchange, at least let me get off so I can go watch that guy who walks places get lost in a field for an hour." the older ghoul continues, reaching for the small bowl of vegetables across the table, "Honestly when I get the 'itch' anymore, I just root around down there for a couple minutes or go take a leak and that usually solves the problem..."
Rain blinks like a frog, one eye twitching slightly as he hands Dew the bowl.
"So you... you don't enjoy sex then?" the water ghoul chuckles nervously, "Then, uh, why...?"
"Oh, it's not that I don't enjoy it, it's fun sometimes, but it's just two bodies slapping together at the end of the day, and then there's all the fluids and stuff..." he hums, scooping peas onto his plate, "I mostly just do it because other people wanna do it, and I don't have anything better to do."
Cumulus puts her hands together like she's about to start praying and Aeon takes in the expressions of the rest of his fellow ghouls; Everyone, everyone looks like they just got told they got a bad grade on a test.
If you could call fucking Dew a test.
"...Is there anything you like about sex?" the air ghoulette asks, rolling her wrist in a 'go on' fashion in hopes of finding some thread of information as to Dew's thoughts, "Anything at all?"
Dew raises an eyebrow in thought and then shrugs.
"Beyond the end result? Meh."
"So, hold up, hold up, for years now... literal years! You've been telling me -us- that you've been enjoying it, and praising us..." Aether holds his head in his hands, "And you've been lying this whole time??"
"I wouldn't say I've been lying, you do sex pretty good-" Dew starts, and Aeon finds himself softly muttering, 'do sex' under his breath in the silence that falls in-between his words, "-but if you're trying to hit a homerun, you have to get out of the batting cages first."
The others sit in silence, reeling from this new information.
"Have you... have you ever felt pressured to-" Cirrus begins to ask, but Dew shakes his head, "...Never?"
"Nah, if I wasn't down to clown, I would have said no a thousand times over. I'm fine as long as whoever I'm fucking gets off and they're nice enough to finish me off, too." he says, shrugging once more, "I don't mind being along for the ride if I get to stop at the drive through, too, I guess you could say."
"So nothing we do is even remotely a turn on for you?" Swiss wonders aloud, "Like, at all??"
"I mean Rain said he'd get me mozzarella sticks if I swallowed, and I think I did a pretty fucking good job-"
"Yeah, but were you horny-horny when you blew him?" Cirrus questions, staring at Dew over her steepled fingers, "Like, actually?"
Aeon turns to Rain, "You offered him mozzarella sticks if you got to cum in his mouth?"
The water ghoul folds his arms and looks away, whispering, "That was one time-"
"I did do this one thing with Zephyr once that was really good though..." Dew trails off, stirring his mac and cheese and marveling at the sound, "...I should call them."
The room explodes at that, a cacophony of voices screeching about what Zephyr could have done differently from them, when Zephyr and Dew hooked up, and variations there of, but Aeon just sits back and munches on a bit of garlic bread and takes it all in, thinking.
"What do you think about when you're having sex then?" he asks finally, wiping crumbs off his face with his thumb, "If you're not thinking about the act itself?"
"Depends on what I was doing earlier in the day." Dew says, "Most recently -apologies in advance for this one, Aeth- it was how to repair an amp that got broken during practice."
"Is that why you moaned about needing a soldering iron??" Aether rubs his temples, "...That makes too much fucking sense."
"On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your recent bedroom experience-" Aeon begins to tease, but almost everyone turns and shouts at him at once.
"NO!"
"Five stars, no complaints..." Dew mumbles as if he's rating a ride share, then waves his hands, "Only joking, of course. Like I said, Aeth, you're good. You're great! Just, again, batting cages."
"Okay, but what about when you're the one fucking someone, what are you thinking about then??" Aeon inquires, leaning on his palms, curious, "You have to be sort of into it then, right?"
There is something primal, ancient and familiar, about stoking a fire, at least Aether thinks so.
Prodding the flames, encouraging them to grow, and then watching the sparks rise into the air like little stars, never to reach the skies above and become true heavenly bodies...
"Feeling sentimental?" a low, but gentle voice calls from the darkness, barely visible in the firelight, Aether gives a hum and shrugs his shoulders in a lazy fashion, patting the ground beside him, "You are."
"Maybe, but so are you." he counters, "Or else you wouldn't have come all the way out here, Dew."
The ghoul crosses his arms, and the fire finally casts enough light to reveal him standing there... dressed in an oversized shirt with a cartoon astronaut on the front and, at first glance, no pants, but Aether can see the edge of his sleep shorts just below the hem, and...
"Socks with sandals?" he asks, and Dew kicks his leg out to the side, arms still crossed as he glances down at his fashion faux pas, "That's quite the outfit."
"Rude."
"I mean it's cute, you look comfortable."
Dew rolls his eyes, or at least Aether thinks he does; The black coals that stare back at him glow dully, and he follows the swirl of the ember in the middle like a pupil.
"Your fire is burning low tonight..." he remarks as the other man settles beside him, leaning against his side and lifting his chin to rest his head upon his shoulder, "Are you feeling okay?"
"Hm... my elements have been thrown off balance by the changing of the seasons." Dew says, snuggling in closer, "Spring is coming soon, and I think I can feel the shift."
"Returning to the water, love?" Aether asks, kissing the top of Dew's head, "That's alright, I love my sappy droplet as much as my spicy boy... The tour bus is going to be chaos though. Two water ghouls in one confined space... Can't say I'll be sad to miss that."
Dew nuzzles his head into Aether's shoulder, pressing himself closer if possible.
"What are you trying to do there?" Aether laughs.
"If I try hard enough, you think I could burrow under your skin like this?" Dew questions, "Just slip under and live inside you forever?"
Aether smiles, but cannot contain his urge to joke.
"Kinky."
"Oi, I'll bite-"
The quint lays back in the sand, and Dew follows him down.
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[Woe therapist Omega and Dew ficlet tidbit upon ye.]
"I think I was born angry," Dew says, inhaling slow and deep, before letting out a sigh and sagging into the worn couch, "like at my core, the main thing I feel is... rage and hate."
"It's so easy to tap into it... to think about things and go, 'Yeah, that did or does piss me off' and let it consume me."
"In these moments of anger, does it feel like it's justified?" Omega asks, setting his notes aside, hands clasped together on his desktop, pale lavender eyes probing, yet gentle, twinkling with the brilliance of a thousand or so stars, "Is there always a nameable cause? Or does it come from nowhere?"
Dew hums, tilting his head back.
"I can recognize when it's from something stupid, like, being hungry or overtired... but, yeah, I mean, most of the time it's because someone did something to upset me." he deflates a bit more, eyes closing, "I could give examples, maybe, but even thinking about that is making it feel all... sludgy in my veins."
The older quint nods.
"Instead of focusing on that, let's talk about what you did to process your feelings after the fact." he grabs a pen from the cup on his desk, the light tink of metal on glass drawing Dew's attention back to his surroundings, "How did you calm yourself down?"
Dew makes an uncertain noise.
"I just... went on with my day. I mean, I said I was upset and distanced myself, gave myself space from people for a bit, but..." he frowns, "You know, I don't know. I had other shit to do, ya know? I couldn't sit there and wallow in it."
"Have you considered that that may be part of the problem?"
"Huh?"
Omega scribbles down something in Dew's paperwork, prompting him to shift forward, placing his elbows on his knees.
"You don't give yourself time to unpack the reason why something upset you after the initial incident. You encounter the problem, react, and then push it aside." Omega says, gesturing towards him with the end of his pen, "And while that may work on the small scale, for little annoyances, when you apply that coping method across the board, it can cause you to dismiss your feelings about a given situation."
"When something truly upsetting happens, you react immediately, and then move on, because you have to act as a problem solver, right? You have to straighten yourself out and fix things to get things back to normal, or because you don't trust others to handle the heavier aspects, no?"
"I mean, is that not what I'm supposed to do?" Dew questions, "Pick myself up and get shit done, yeah?"
"When was the last time someone else picked you up?"
"What?"
"When was the last time something bad happened, and someone else stepped in to help or fix the problem?" Omega asks, "When was the last time you *let* someone else take control of the situation and help when you needed it?"
"I... Ough, I hate you quintessence ghouls and your mind tricks." Dew groans, "You're hurting my brain."
[A ficlet about domestic Dewther, in which Aether wakes up to an unhappy Dew, but the problem is easily solved. Brought to you by my hip feeling like someone tried to shuck it like a clam.] Below the cut.
It's late when Aether feels Dew stir beside him, at least he thinks it's late, he can't be bothered to open his eyes to check, so his first instinct is to grunt in confusion as the smaller man tosses and turns, clearly in some kind of mild distress.
"Aeth... Aeth, can you..." The quint's ears perk at the sound of Dew's low whisper, something about the raspy hiss it carries prompting him to turn over to face him, eyes still shut as he lets out a curious hum, "My hip feels like it's separating from my body..."
Reaching out in the darkness, Aether easily finds Dew's leg, frowning when he feels how tense the muscle is, and works his way up, squeezing as he goes, "Stop trying to stretch it, you're pulling in the opposite direction, let the muscle relax."
"It's kind of hard to do that when the fucking bone feels *wrong*, Aeth!" Dew whines as Aether finally finds his hip and begins to massage it through his pajama bottoms, "Ow..."
"Your skin feels a little cold, did you kick the blankets off earlier?" Aether asks, cracking his eyes open ever so slightly to gauge the situation better, "I told you it was going to get cold..."
Dew huffs, and Aether can see the faintest hint of tears gathering in his eyes, "Maybe, I don't know... I woke up and shit hurt and my legs were cold, okay?"
Aether slides more of the blanket over Dew, humming, "You probably started to overheat and needed to cool down..."
"Mystery solved then..." Dew grumbles, letting Aether pull him in, "I'm gonna hook my leg, change the angle..."
"Okay." Aether lets Dew adjust himself as he pleases until he's in a position he deems comfortable, using Aether's hip to elevate his own slightly, "You know, this set up kind of reminds me of-"
"Shhh..."
"Oh? You're shushing me?"
"Pillows don't talk."
Aether snorts, closing his eyes again, "Yes, but husbands do."
"Husbands don't if they want their aching partners to go back to sleep."
"Mn, fair enough."
Wrapping his arms around Dew, Aether feels himself begin to drift back to sleep, mindful of his leg, and gives a little huff.
"Feel better?" he whispers.
"Much." Dew replies, yawning directly into his face.
"...Your breath smells like toast."
"Shhh... Shhhut up. Shhhh..."
"We should have toast for breakfast..." Aether yawns in return, "...Sound good?"
[The sun isn't up, but I am, so woe RainDrop upon ye. It's just a short drabble, but, hey, it is what it is.] Below the cut.
Rain's head appears in his peripheral vision, the fuzzy, barely there silhouette of his pretty face enough to distract Dew while his arms wrap around his midsection.
Dew shivers, tries to focus on something else, something to calm himself.
He breathes slow and deep, and tenses a fraction.
Rain's breath smells like coffee, rich and earthy and warm, it's enough to ground him back in reality, but not enough to stop the little noise that leaves his mouth when the ghoul behind him sinks his teeth into his neck.
"H-Hey, now-" he tries weakly as the arms around his waist divide their attention; One finding its way into the gap between the buttons on his shirt, fingers rooting across his chest, the other, less subtle, appendage slipping into his pants, "Rain, that's..."
The other just hums, nosing against his skin as he laps at the wound he's left behind.
Dew can feel Rain's belly against his spine, they're that close, even with their clothes on.
It feels like he's too close, too, too close to not feel like they're melting together, even if...
The hand on his chest slips out to turn Dew's chin towards Rain, who looks at him so innocently it hurts, and suddenly his tongue is in his mouth.
Dew makes an amused little sound when he realizes, yes, Rain also tastes like coffee.
He pulls back a fraction and Rain licks the corner of his mouth.
"Rain..." he tries to speak, but then Rain's other hand starts to move, and, yeah, no, if he doesn't close his mouth he's going to bite his own tongue.
Dew lets himself be pulled along, dragged from one room to another by insistent hands and vicious teeth, until he's fighting to get his belt undone while behind pressed into Rain's mattress.
Stupid ass thing keeps catching in each notch it passes by, and he's about to give up, puffing out a steamy cloud of frustration, when Rain slips it out so fast the leather cracks, clapping against itself in his haste.
The snap makes his whole body jump, driving his hips into the man on top of him, and, oh, that's actually...
"Excited?" Rain asks, face hovering above his own, and that's when the smell hits him again, and he must scrunch his face, because suddenly Rain is pulling back, sitting up, "What?"
Dew's eyes dart flick towards the window, the wall, Rain's Jaws poster, anywhere they can avoid being honest, "I... You..."
Rain shifts and Dew whimpers, "I, what?"
Dew looks down, catching sight of where Rain has him pinned, at the chub he's sporting in his way too tight jeans, the perfect distraction.
"Nothing."
"Dew."
Rain pouts, not that Dew actually bothers to look up to check.
"Really, it's-" Dew is cut off by Rain raising himself off of his hips, "W-Wait! Wait, wait-"
He reaches out desperately and Rain chuckles.
"I'm not leaving, baby, just getting more comfortable." he says, emphasizing his point by lifting and dragging Dew's ass down onto his lap, "Were you worried?"
Dew flushes with embarrassment.
Yes.
No...
Okay, maybe he did think Rain was going to leave just now, but it's not his fault that sometimes the other ghoul could be a little... stubborn? No, that's not the right word.
Dew looks up at him dumbly, searching for a way to define him.
Haughty?
Not quite right...
Capriscious?
Yes, that.
"Where's your head at, hm~?" Rain coos, caressing his cheek, "Well, you'll have to tell me what's wrong, or else I'm not doing anything."
Dew's eyebrows knit together.
"So what will it be?" He starts slowly edging down the waistband of Dew's pants, "Be a good boy and use your words... or-"
"Your breath really smells like coffee!" Dew blurts out without much more prompting, "Like, really, really smells like coffee!"
Rain blinks, staring down at him for a minute before licking the back of his own hand, waiting, and then sniffing the dried saliva a second later, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, geez, it really does." He rests his hand on Dew's hip and squeezes thoughtfully as his mouth twists, "Is that all? Need me to go brush my teeth?"
Dew considers his options for a moment before nodding, adding a quiet little, "Please?"
Rain hops up, readjusting Dew on the bed before retreating to his on suite, turning momentarily to point at him, "You stay there, no moving."
The fire ghoul gives him a small thumbs up before settling into the mattress.
Rain returns roughly a minute later, clicking his pearly whites together before swiping his tongue across them.
"I can't believe I didn't notice it was that strong," he says as he climbs back onto the bed, setting about tugging Dew's pants the rest of the way off, "must've been kind of gross, right?"
Dew shrugs, sighing as Rain grinds against him lightly, "It wasn't that bad, it just... I couldn't..."
"I couldn't...." he tries to articulate, whining as Rain begins popping the buttons on his shirt, "You know... head... something..."
"This?" Rain questions as Dew gives him a lazy, adoring gaze, "I'm sorry, Droplet."
"'s all good..." Dew chirps as Rain begins pressing kisses across his exposed skin, giggling when he pulls away.
