This Is All TikTok's Fault. Why Am I Reading Space Alien Romance?

𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚 14: 𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌

pairing(s): mountain/cumulus words: 829

special shoutout to @belle--ofthebrawl for the original inspo for this prompt. cause we all want snackies from a big schweepy guy <3

✿

“Luluuu . . .” Mountain’s congested voice carries weakly down the hallway. The bed creaks as he no doubt flops over to the other side of the mattress where she once was, his whine of disappointment sounding soon after. The air ghoulette shakes her head, pushing the door open. 

“What’s wrong, sunflower?” she coos, placing the steaming mug of honey green tea onto the nightstand. 

Mountain’s face scrunches up into a frown, eyes squeezing shut. His cheeks bare imprints of his pillow, and when he lifts his head up she can see his upper lip is shiny with mucus, and the corner of his mouth coated in drool. His ear flicks at the disheveled hair falling over it.

“You lef’ me,” he mumbles. “Woke up and you weren’ cuddlin’ me.” Clearly, he’s still highly feverish, if his combination mumbling/whining is anything to go by.

Cumulus just smiles. She thinks it’s cute, Mountain complaining like a human man with a cold. He’d never be so whiny otherwise.

“I went to get you more tea, baby,” she soothes, whipping up a cool breeze to waft over his forehead. He hums and plops his chin down onto the pillows. Cumulus huffs a laugh and sits down beside him. “You were snoring up a storm, didn’t think you’d wake up before I got back.” 

“Hmpf.” Mountain tosses the blanket over his head and turns around dramatically, pretending to shut her off. 

“I bring you tea, and this is the thanks I get?” she says, mock offended. 

There’s a pause. The earth ghoul peeks his head around his shoulder, side-eyeing her and the mug. “ . . . wha’ kind?”

Cumulus smiles softly. Leans in a little like she’s telling a secret. “Green tea with honey. A lemon slice. Don’t tell anyone, but I also put a dash of honeysuckle syrup in it, because I know my baby loves it.”

Mountain trills, ears perking up. “Gimme,” he demands, shuffling to sit up against the approximately five different pillows he’d stashed for optimal sleeping. He holds his hands out and scrunches them in the air. Cumulus hands the mug to him carefully to make sure he doesn’t drop it.

“Aethe warmed the water for me, so if it’s too hot, I’m innocent,” she chirps.

Mountain’s mouth turns down and his eyebrows turn up in the middle. “Aww,” he says appreciatively. He smiles down at the steaming liquid. “Aef . . .” 

“You know he always has to help.” 

Mountain hums in agreement. He takes an experimental sip, groaning when the hot tea slides easily down his throat. He takes a big gulp and closes his eyes after, sighing heavily and smiling at the ceiling. “Yummy,” he compliments. “‘S nice. Warm.” 

“I’m glad, baby,” she lilts, running her nails through his hair. It earns her a happy rumble, Mountain’s tail pitching up the blankets where it’s buried under the many layers. They share a pleasant, quiet moment: Mountain sipping on his tea and Cumulus scritching in all his favorite places. 

The peace of it is nearly broken, however, when Mountain’s eyes start to droop, and he nearly tips the mug over into his lap when his grip starts to go as lax as his jaw. 

“Oh!—hun, you’re gonna—” the air ghoulette saves the mug just before it slips from his fingers, hardly spilling a drop. 

Mountain snorts and jolts his head upright. “Huh?” 

“Didn’t want you to spill,” she says, setting the mug back onto the nightstand. “Sleepy boy.”

He blinks slowly, eyes lingering shut for just long enough that Cumulus is momentarily convinced he’s fallen right back asleep sitting up. “You made me seepy,” he accuses. Leaving out the ‘l’ like a kit unable to pronounce it any other way. 

Cumulus cuddles up, tucking him back into the blankets and pulling him to her chest. “Maybe seepy pup needs his rest then,” she says softly, scritching around his horns this time. He grumbles, but goes down easily. “There you go, baby,” she smiles. The grumble turns into a purr soon enough anyway, so it’s safe to say it was all token protest. 

Mountain mumbles something, twisting his body so he faces her instead. He looks up at her expectantly, despite the fact he aimed all of his words directly into her belly. 

“Yeees?” 

There’s that pout again, fever-addled brain continuing to render him as hopelessly cute. “Kissy, Lus,” he says, as if she heard him perfectly clear the first time. He wriggles his face closer to hers. 

“You’re sick. Nooo kissy on the lips.” She boops him on the nose with her finger. “You may have an air kiss, and I’ll make it feel just like the real thing.”

Mountain grumbles again, squinting at her.

“Sicky equals no kissy. I promise you as many kisses as you want when you’re better, okay, baby?”

The earth ghoul flops onto his back with a sigh. The end of it catches in his throat, though, and he’s sent into a coughing fit, squashing any further complaints. 

𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 ✿

Great, now I'm gonna be staring at every pic from now on to try and see the mesh part of the mask.

Fuck. Look at the EYES

They have been groomed. They are unserious.

They would rather be told how to feel than taught how to learn.

Aether and Rain are disgustingly affectionate but they don't make it anyone else's problem. Because Rain would rather die than have others know they're like this.

Under the cut: Stupid couple baby talk the morning after a heat. Rain's graphic memories but it isn't mixed with the baby talk. Not intended to be age regression. Just them being doofuses.

Rain wakes up with a deep, content peace and knows his heat is over.

Aether had played his role as stud well. He’d wrestled Rain into submission without any of his damn quintessence powers, forcing him to submit with sheer strength alone. Didn't even let up so Rain could strip naked, only pierced the fabric of his shorts with a claw and tore a neat line down the seam, exposing his hole, already dripping for Aether's cock.  He’d pinned Rain's knees between his own, had Rain’s hands trapped in one of his own while the other scraped his claws across Rain's scalp. Palm tight to his skull before his fingers curled and Aether dragged Rain into a severe arch with his grip on his hair as he bullied his way inside, giving Rain the whole slide of his cock at once. Rain had sobbed, genuinely sobbed when the blunt head pushed up against the entrance to his brood chamber, sensitive and desperate to take in all the cum Aether had waiting for Rain in the heavy balls that slapped his thighs with every brutal thrust.

The rest of his memories were static, only flashes surfacing if Rain concentrates; he’d begged until his voice was hoarse, Aether grinding his face into the pillow to get him to shut up so he could focus. A firm grip on his hips that surely left bruises.  Orgasm after orgasm until he was jelly underneath the cruel beast still driving his hips mercilessly into Rain. Finally being let go so he could wiggle away, gasping and panting only for Aether to drag him back on his cock so he could cum inside with a deep, possessive snarl. 

All that seems so distant now, with Aether next to him deep in slumber. Still large, still a force to be reckoned with but his expression is peaceful and he's drooling on Rain's silk pillowcase. He studies the other ghoul, counting the faint freckles on his nose and forehead. The wrinkles at the corner of his eyes, eyes that had seemed to paralyze Rain with their intensity as he struggled. Out of curiosity, he reaches back and thumbs an eyelid up to expose the white and a half-moon of iris where it's rolled up in Aether's skull. He lets the delicate skin slide back into place, satisfied and deeply amused.

It's the kiss that wakes him, like Sleeping Beauty, when Rain presses his cool lips to Aether's forehead. He snuffles and closes his mouth, blinking open his bleary and unfocused eyes as Rain watches him.

“Want to get breakfast?” Rain asks. He has no idea what time it is but he doesn't want to be alone yet, this last phase of his heat still stubbornly clinging to him.

“Wanna stay here…” Aether slurs, words blending together in his exhaustion. “Wi’ m’Rainy baby…"

“Big guy still shweepy?” Rain can't help himself. Something about Aether being so cheesy like this does things that kill all his braincells and turns him into some cooing idiot.

“So shweepy…” Aether sighs, burrowing into the pillow. “...shweepiest big guy ever.”

“Aww…” Rain murmurs and throws an arm over Aether's shoulder, scratching the back of his neck as he plants a kiss on the tip of his nose. “My poor big guy.”

Aether starts to rumble in pleasure as Rain scratches him, leg shaking under the blanket like a dog’s. Rain moves to kiss him on the mouth and Aether pants into it, groaning in delight and pulling Rain in close.

“My big guy like that?” Rain asks, when Aether turns away from the kiss to breath.  He pets softly over the nape of his neck, brushes his lips over Aether's cheek. “Huh? My big guys like his scratches?”

“Yeah,” Aether says with a chuckle as he stretches. “Yeah, your big guy likes his scratches.”

“Oh, big stretch.” Rain says in the same dopey tone as Aether groans and moves, popping several joints as he does. “Big stretch.”

“Big stretch.” Aether echoes, and flops back down. “Fuck, babe. ‘m starving. You want snackies?”

“Always down for snackies.” Rain replies.  “Little snackies? Big snackies?”

“Big snackies for your big guy.”

“Biiig snackies for my biiig guy.”

If any of the others overheard the both of them talking like this, Rain thinks he would kill them. And then himself. He’d never stop though. Not when it makes Aether smile like that, at their own ridiculousness. Aether squeezes him in one last bear hug before reluctantly sitting up, sheets falling away from his body. Rain bites back the next bit of idiocy to come out of his mouth but doesn't resist grabbing at Aether's now exposed belly and tickling him. Aether yelps and slaps his hand away, tries to roll off the bed but only tangles himself in the sheets and goes down just about as hard as Rain did last night.

“Oh fuck!” Rain pushes himself up, trying to catch a glimpse of Aether on the floor. “You good?”

Aether groans.

“Owie…” he says quietly. “Rainy, baby… need kissies to make my head feel better.”

Rain pauses, then smiles despite himself.

“Kissies are on their way, big guy.” He says, and can't hide the chuckle when he hears a tired and subdued sounding yay in response.

________

“Waffles?” Rain guesses as he guides his poor, bruised quintessence ghoul down the hallway to the kitchen. Aether’s got a cooling gel eyemask clamped to his head in lieu of an actual icepack. Rain’s going to make it up to him. “Bacon? Pop tarts?”

“All of it.” Aether mutters, cracking an eye open to peek at Rain. “Please, Rainy?”

“Alright, alright.” he says fondly. “Whatever my big guy wants.”

He guides Aether (now limping for some reason, like he can't bear to do anything without Rain helping him, like Rain doesn't have a twang in his hips from Aether's dick) to the breakfast nook and gets him settled. Aether slumps over exaggeratedly, bemoaning his fate.

“You want some juice?” Rain asks. “Coffee?”

“Orange juice.” Aether whimpers, sounding truly pathetic. You’d think he was on his death bed. Rain kisses his temple and fetches the cup of juice without any complaints, even giving Aether an extra long straw to sip from in case he was simply too weary to lift up his thick skull.

“Belgian waffles, all the fixings?”

“Yes please.”

Contrary to popular belief, Rain can do things for himself. It's just that it's so much easier to get someone else to do it for him. But still, he's selfish. He doesn't want to share Aether with anyone yet, still feeling possessive in the lingering haze of his heat. He gets the box of pre-made out, adds the liquids and the eggs and finagles the waffle iron out of its cupboard cave, where it lives underneath Mountain’s favorite wok. He knows Aether's watching him, so he puts an extra sway in his hips and hums a little tune while he gets everything going.

“You're so pretty.” Aether says, propping his head on his elbow. Watching Rain pour the batter in and close the lid. “Why’re you so pretty, Rainy baby?”

“Sweet talker.” Rain says. “My big guy want sprinkles and frosting?”

“Big guy would love sprinkles and frosting, baby.”

The timer dings and Rain goes through the motions again until he's got a healthy stack of waffles for both of them. He sets the plate in front of Aether, nabs the frosting and sprinkles from their spots and sits down just as Swiss comes sidling in.

“Hey man.” Aether says in his normal voice and Rain bites his lower lip to hide his laugh. “Sup?”

“S’good, s’good,” Swiss says, opening the fridge to rummage through it. “Princess want waffles?”

Aether shoots Rain a glance. Rain’s too busy laughing, tears stinging his eyes as he hides his face in his hands.

“Yeah dude.” Aether said. “What Princess wants, Princess gets. You know how he is.”

“My man.” Swiss says, coming up with a monster energy drink. He passes by their table to give Aether a fistbump. “Rain, go easy on this guy, yeah? He's a softie, y’know. Needs someone to take care of him too.”

“I had no idea.” Rain says, struggling to keep his voice steady. He clears his throat. “Thanks Swiss.”

“No problem! Practice at noon, kay?” he gives them a salute and cracks the tab of his drink, licking up the foam as it spills out.

“Yup.”

“Uh-huh."

They wait until he leaves. Aether looks at Rain. Rain looks at Aether.

“Does my big guy like his waffles?” He whispers.

“Fuck yeah.” Aether says, picking up a fork and a knife to tear into his breakfast.  “Your big guy likes his waffles, Rainy baby.”

They don't even make it five seconds before bursting into laughter.

𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆

just a lil something i tortured @divine-misfortune with last night after he shared this post with me and said "Now hear me out Zeph/aeth and or omega bc they won’t slow down fr a damn second "

and thus i started a doc lovingly called "zephyr/omega go to sleep ya old man"

1263 words of omega misusing quintessence in order to (lovingly i swear) force zephyr to get some rest. yes zephyr will be mad at him later. yes omega is being a lil bit of a bastard. yes i am indulging in my (our) hypnokink, just go with it.

“You’re a stubborn old thing, you know that?”

Zephyr rolls their eyes before side-eyeing the quintessence ghoul, making a face. “Care to elaborate?”

“Been spending a lot of time with those new ghoulettes. When was the last time you slept?” Omega puts a hand on the back of the leather armchair Zephyr is currently seated in, where they were, up until now, engrossed in a text about ancient languages. 

They bite their tongue against the urge to correct him on Cirrus and Cumulus’ names. “I slept last night, there’s no need for your concern.”

“Oh, last night, hm? So that wasn’t the organ I was hearing in the wee hours of the morning?”

“You are as old as this building, Omega, surely you’re aware of the noises that aged pipes make when all else is silent.” 

He tuts. “Far too melodic for old plumbing, Zeph.”

Zephyr grumbles and makes to return back to their book without replying. Omega chuckles, and suddenly his hands are resting on their shoulders, thumbs heavy over the strained tendons on the back of their neck. 

“Why don’t you let me help?”

The air ghoul grumbles again. Slots their small stack of notes along the book’s binding as a makeshift bookmark and snaps the thing shut. They place it onto the table and stare at the fire in the hearth.  

“And why should I let you?” they say to the fading embers. 

Omega hums. “Because you need your rest, you cranky ghoul.”

“I am plenty rested.”

“These knots in your shoulders say otherwise.”

Zephyr closes their eyes and sighs like an exasperated teacher. “And you claim that I am the stubborn one?”

“Come on,” Omega goads them. Telltale magick crackling to life beneath his fingertips. “Doesn’t have to be much.”

Before Zephyr can so much as think about scurrying away with their book, warm quintessence seeps into their bones, the tension held there unraveling from the inside out. Their eyelids flutter, shoulders slumping. Some undignified noise bubbles up from their throat, and they can barely catch their chin from hitting their chest as their head lolls forward. 

“You . . .” They try to protest, tongue too heavy in their mouth to form its usual elegant timbre. Their hands can’t even grip the arms of the chair anymore, cementing them into place and thwarting any chance they had of escaping Omega’s nagging. 

Said quintessence ghoul shushes him, self-satisfied and certainly not even close to genuinely comforting. “There you go. See? Knew you were tired.”

“Hn . . .’m not—”

“You are, look at that sleepy face.” Omega brushes a few strands of hair back behind their horns, their head leaning into his touch without their permission. Zephyr’s eyes are drooping, rolling with the effort of trying to keep them open. Maybe they are more tired than they thought, he didn’t give them that much magick, did he?

Omega coos at them, running his thumb along the base of their horn. “Just close your eyes,” he whispers. 

Zephyr just groans, something close to uh uh, but it doesn’t sound very disagreeing. They’re falling asleep sitting up, and his warm hand against the side of their face does nothing but drag them closer to unconsciousness. Suddenly, they don’t want to get away from him. Magick swirls all syrupy in their veins, and, really, it’s getting harder and harder to have any opinions on the situation. 

Behind them, Omega shakes his head and loops around to the front of the chair, still cradling their head as he kneels between their parted legs. The hands at their sides, having slid off the arms of the chair, twitch towards him. Zephyr watches Omega’s other hand as it comes to hold the other side of their face, eyes slow and delayed as they track its movement. 

“You’d do well to listen to me, you tired old hen,” Omega chides them. He wiggles their head a little, not unlike a chiropractor looking for sore spots. Ensuring they’re close to limp and loose. 

Zephyr just lets him. Has no choice, really. They’d call him a plethora of names later—bastard, unwelcome imp, meddling hypnotist spawn—but the thought of remembering to do so slides away like rain on glass. 

He must sense the fleeting thought behind Zephyr’s glassy eyes, because he adjusts their head again, tightening his grip almost imperceptibly. 

“None of that; you’re being so good, aren’t you? I’m only helping, aren’t I? Little bit of magick to get rid of all those pesky cobwebs between your ears. I know, you’re so tired underneath all those stubborn thoughts. Just takes a nice, kind ghoul like me to help you relax, doesn’t it?” On and on he drones, the words going in one ear and out the other, washing away their own internal monologue and replacing it with his own. They are tired, and an afternoon nap isn’t so terrible, they aren’t really busy. And Omega’s helping them. 

Definitely not using his magick in some smug, actually selfish way, rendering the normally uptight ghoul completely powerless in less than a second. No, it’s completely selfless—a show of his care and concern for Zephyr’s wellbeing. Absolutely not a vehicle to win any kind of argument, not at all. 

Their breathing is slowing now, neck nearly limp in Omega’s hands. Sinking deeper into the fuzzy embrace of sleep. 

“That’s it,” he lilts. “You’re gonna feel so much better, and I won’t even say ‘I told you so.’ How does that sound?” 

Zephyr responds with a long exhale through parted lips, left thigh twitching randomly as the pleasant numbness settles in. 

Omega smirks. “Good.” With one last push of quintessence, he tilts their head just so and watches as their eyes unfocus and fall shut, jaw dropping open with the softest noise as they drift asleep in his hands. The quiet snores follow just seconds later, Omega’s hands the only thing keeping them upright. 

He waits until he’s sure they’re asleep, warming his back against the dying flames while Zephyr slumps in their chair. Only then does he pull back the tendrils of his magick, letting it seep down towards the floorboards as slow as molasses so as not to accidentally rouse them. Thankfully, the library is empty this time of day. Nothing to interrupt the air ghoul’s much needed sleep. 

They’re lax and peaceful now, but Omega’s sure he’ll hear about it when they wake. He laughs to himself at the plethora of elegant insults that come to mind. For now, he takes satisfaction in the way Zephyr’s head lolls back against the chair with the gentlest press of his pointer finger, drool making its way out of the corner of their mouth already. 

“Cute,” the quintessence ghoul comments, smoothing out the wrinkles in his button-down. And then, as a wicked afterthought, he presses the pad of his finger to the middle of their forehead again, sneaking in a cheeky suggestion of a dream wrapped in plumes of balsam and petrichor. Snickering to himself when Zephyr whines quietly and their tail kinks up at the end. “Enjoy,” he whispers, making his exit. 

Omega knows he won’t get any thanks for that—a pity, really, considering it was quite a nice little fantasy—nor will he get any thanks for helping (forcing) Zephyr to get some rest. At the very least, he’ll get a very disgruntled and haughty air ghoul glaring at him for the remainder of the day. 

Omega’s fine with being berated for misuse of magick if it means the poor thing won’t be sleep deprived. Until then, he files away Zephyr’s reaction to it for later.

Olympia, Paris, France.  //  11/04/2017

Someone asked me a short while ago what happened to Dewdrop that caused him to miss two shows. Thanks to @miss-grim and some research, I can share what happened:

On December 5th, 2018 during the Pale Tour Named Death, Dewdrop suffered an injury at around the midway point of the show. He continued to play the rest of the show, but backstage.

You can watch the full concert here.

Copia talks about him being injured at this point.

There's a news article here claiming that it was likely a shoulder injury as he was not moving his left arm after the show. That would certainly make it pretty difficult and painful to play. :(

Edit:

Here's a link to the final performance and final bows. You can see Dewdrop coming back on stage. His left arm is obviously injured. Aether and Rain come over to check on him.

Thank you anon for sharing!

their combined powers were too great. he never stood a chance. rip king.

Taking a deep breath and counting backwards from ten

I'm gonna need some dollar bills.

ghost stripper au when