[Previous Part: Here. The final installment in the ALOE series. I am first and foremost a delighter in chaos. This is what happens when you let me write while ill.] Below the cut.
While the groundskeeper drags the lake closest to the docks for any signs of the giant dick that started this whole mess, Rain and Dew spend their afternoon digging holes and carefully planting the blueberry bushes Bea had entrusted to them.
It's a tedious job, especially since neither of them knows how best to approach the situation; Whether it's better to dig all the holes first, or simply dig them one at a time, but either way the task is distracting enough for the two of them to spend most of it working in near silence.
Rain digs the holes and Dew sets the plants into the ground, carefully covering the roots, his nails slowly becoming encrusted in soil.
They wind up making a loose circle, spacing the bushes out with room to grow, and by the time they finish and take a moment to stand back and admire their hard work, Bea's approaching them once more.
"Hm, good job." she nods approvingly, placing her hands on her hips, "I appreciate the help."
Rain smiles, then looks past the woman towards the docks, "How did the search go...?"
Bea scratches her fingers through the short hair on top of her head, glancing back over at the water herself.
"Well, there's definitely something in the water over there," she says, "but that's the thing; There's a LOT of things in the water by the docks."
She gestures for them to follow her, and they all find themselves standing on the edge of the dock, staring out over the water.
"The water here is relatively clear, so you can see the bottom pretty easily." she explains, "I didn't have to search long to find an abnormality, but..."
She points to several odd shapes in the silt below, "It's kind of a mess down there."
Rain frowns, the groundskeeper is right, there's all kind of debris in the water by the docks, and none of it really looks like what they're searching for.
"You said the statue you were looking for was made of metal, so I thought I could just sink a magnet on a line and see what it stuck to, but, then again, there's so much garbage down there... and I think y'all said the blasted thing was made of bronze, yeah?" She asks, and the pair nods, "Yeah, see, you can't use a magnet to find bronze, because the shit's not magnetic, well, not unless it has nickel mixed in-"
Bea cuts her rambling short and shakes her head.
"Anyway, point is, short of diving in there and having a look around, I can't really go in there and shift things around much more. Taking a net to the lighter debris is one thing, but I can't be hauling up anything heavy and potentially waterlogged manually." she sighs, "Personally, I'd have the Creature From The Black Lagoon over there-" she gestures loosely at Rain, "-take a dive and see if anything fits the bill."
"We appreciate the help either way, Bea." Rain says, "Sorry to take up so much of your time."
Bea shrugs, "Ehn, it's whatever. Besides, if I had known earlier how messy this area was, I'd have probably come out here sooner and organized a group to help sort out all of this..."
She places her hands on her hips.
"I'm going to talk to Copia about getting some machinery in so we can remove some of the larger bits from the water, but it'll probably take a while for that to happen, so..."
Rain hums.
"We'll figure something out in the meantime, go have your fun with Mountain already." he does a light shooing motion, "Just shout if he actually tries to kill you."
"Aw, so kind of you to think I'd have the time to scream if he really wanted me dead." Bea places a hand on her chest, "But yeah, I better get going, or he'll be upset... I did promise I'd let him make dinner afterwards..."
As Bea leaves with a bit of a skip to her step, Dew can't help but turn to look at Rain and mouth a simple, "What the fuck?"
.
.
.
"So a plan B is in order." Rain announces after surfacing for the fifth time, "I've found two car fenders, a large rock that looks like a penis, but was definitely a rock, and, like, three shopping carts at this point."
Dew kicks his feet in the water, "We have to order a giant purple dildo and send it to Limbo via express shipping?"
Rain pulls himself up onto the dock, "We have to order a giant purple dildo and send it to Limbo via express shipping."
"Man..." Dew flops backwards, sighing, "I was kind of hoping we'd find the dick, I kind of wanted to see that ridiculous thing again..."
"I mean, yeah, it was pretty funny to look at." Rain agrees, laying down next to him, "...Dew?"
"Yeah, Rainy?"
"Why do you think that dick showed up here in the first place?" he asks, turning his head to face Dew, who is already looking at him when he glances over, "Like, the sudden rumors, it just appearing and disappearing and all of that... It just feels... odd, you know?"
"Mn." the other ghoul thinks for a moment, "Well, strange things happen here all the time, it's just the nature of things, I suppose... I don't want to dismiss it's... oddness, but, I guess I've bore witness to a lot of weird shit over the years so this didn't really register high on the list."
"But it is weird, right?" Rain wonders aloud, "Touching that statue, winding up in that other... dimension? World? Whatever that was... and then traveling to Limbo, getting out of there so easily because we could bargain with the Toll Man... Hell, even Bea being willing to help us search the lake... it all feels too convenient to be real."
Dew reaches over and trails his fingers down Rain's side making him twitch slightly before letting out a yelp as Dew pinches his sensitive skin.
"Ow! Hey-"
"Well, we can rule out the idea that this isn't real or a dream." he chirps innocently, "But I get what you mean. It's like someone is guiding us somehow, and I'm not entirely sure how to feel about that."
"Who do you think it is?" Rain asks, "Guiding us?"
"Honestly? It could be anyone." Dew says, sitting up again, "You said you heard the rumors about the dick from eavesdropping on the siblings, right?"
Rain nods.
"Well, the siblings all study the arcane arts, at least the ones living here in the abbey do. It wouldn't be hard for a couple of them to concoct some weird multi-dimensional, teleporting penis... no matter how fucking weird that sounds now that I'm saying it." he turns to look at the abbey in the distance, "Point is, whoever made it probably just wanted to test out the statue on some poor saps curious enough the try it out... Or ministry actually shelled out cash for a giant metal dick statue, but that doesn't feel like a Copia purchase to be honest."
"Definitely more of Terzo purchase," Rain chimes in, "or Ome-"
"Omega!" Dew gasps, "Why didn't I think to ask him before??"
"Huh?"
"Omega manages the arts department! It's... kind of a holdover position from when Terzo was still around and they'd do 'still life nights' that were just an excuse to fuck each other covered in paint, but he's basically in charge of deciding what pieces go on display and which ones get vetoed or shipped elsewhere for viewing." Dew explains, "He'd know if the dick is still in the collection if it's not in the lake!"
"...Can we go back to the having sex covered in paint part?"
"Rainy."
"What?" Rain pouts, "I'm a connoisseur of the arts myself... Also was that one of the instances where you and them..."
He brings two of his fingers together, then, after some thought, tries the same motion but with three instead.
"...I will admit that Terzo did occasionally school me on my... brushstrokes."
Rain whistles and Dew kicks him in the side lightly.
"C'mon, ya perv, let's go see Omega."
.
.
.
"...A giant metal dick?" Omega's mouth hangs open as he processes what Dew has said, "No... I don't think we have one of those. We do have a rather large, um, Georgia O'Keefe style statue that has a similar story to it, but it involved rubbing the clit and some people had a bit of a hard time finding the right spot to-Anyway. No, no large metal dicks."
"Aw, fiddlesticks." Dew snaps his fingers, "...Any idea where we can find the pussy statue by any chance?"
Omega eyes him wearily.
"No dice, huh?"
The older ghoul nods.
"Circling back," Omega says, waving his hand about dismissively, "you said you two held hands in front of this dick statue, rubbed it, wound up in another universe where you were married, then traveled through Limbo, came back here, had the groundskeeper -who is currently getting railed by Mountain, a detail I didn't need to know- search the lake and came up empty... which lead you to here, am I correct?"
Rain and Dew nod.
"Yeah, that's basically everything."
Omega leans back in his office chair, bringing his hands up in a prayerlike gesture.
"Boys, have you been eating out of Lucifer's cabbage patch...?"
"Lucifer's... Are you asking if we're high??" Dew balks, "Omega, it's a Monday! I'd at least wait until Tuesday-"
"Professionally, no..."
Rain clears his throat, "We're being serious, Omega. We experienced something really weird, and now we're kind of... It lead to some... emotions. So we just... we want to confirm that it, ya know, actually happened, and also we kind of sort of promised a ten foot tall demon in Limbo that we'd send him back something he could ride, and the giant metal dick that started all of this seemed like the obvious choice."
"Ten foot tall demon in Limbo..." Omega looks between Rain and Dew, "...Dewcifer Maurice Drop, if you're telling the truth, did you-"
"Fuck the Toll Man again? No, not this time."
Rain throws his hands in the air, "He knows about that, but you never told me-"
Omega holds up his hand, "As a medical professional and a man of science, I needed to know how-"
Dew slaps his hands down on the desk.
"He can shrink down!"
"OHHHH!"
As the sun finally begins to dip below the horizon, Dew, still reeling from their conversation with Omega, lets out a sigh as he and Rain fall onto the couch in the ghouls' common room.
"Well... we're back at square one." he says, letting his body sag into the cushions, "...Can you get me my laptop?"
"Gonna order the dildo for the Toll Man?" Rain asks, "You sure you don't want to wait and see if the metal dick doesn't show up somewhere?"
"Nah, let's just... We're the only people that seem to know that thing exists. I'm tired, and I have a giftcard that expires soon, so... Two birds, one stone. Laptop, please." he shrugs, "Oh, and my reading glasses!"
"Aye, aye, Captain." Rain salutes him and Dew rolls his eyes, smiling softly as the other walks away.
As soon as Rain returns, Dew opens up his laptop and clicks on a pinned link below his search bar.
"...You just have this site on quick access?" Rain's eyes grow wide as he takes in a barrage of colorful sex toys in some... unconventional shapes and sizes, "On your unlocked laptop no less?"
"If anyone opens my laptop without my permission and the worst they see is a bunch of penises than I think it's fine." Dew says, pushing up his reading glasses as he scrolls through their options, "This isn't even my main computer... Anyway, let me know if you see anything you want."
"...You're gonna buy me a dildo?"
"Or a vibe or one of those stroker things, whatever your perverted heart desires, I'm feeling strangely generous."
After a bit of searching, and spending way too long customizing not one, but two absurdly large sex toys, Dew carefully inputs the details on the gift card and confirms his purchases...
...Just in time for Swiss to walk in dragging a certain metal dick in what is effectively the ghouls' front door.
"You guys will NOT believe what I found-"
Rain and Dew exchanges looks.
"MOTHERFUCKER!"
Phantom had been partially blind from an accident that happened when they were a kit. But with the stress of being forced away from their Papa - who chases every bad memory away - not only do they lose sight of a possible reunion, but they also lose their sight, altogether while they other Ghouls are helpless but to watch them spiral into depression...
Words: 2.2k
Relationships: Phantom & Copia, Phantom & Aether, Dew/Aether. Swiss/Phantom
Tags: they/them Phantom, Phantom and Aether are siblings, blindness, hurt/comfort, angst, family dynamics, forced separation, parent-child relationship, implied murder Ghouls at the end, mostly phanter and aethtom (platonic) but a little bit of dewther and swisstom for the soul lol
~~~
Phantom’s skin had long been painted in a myriad of scars acquired from a whole host of injuries and tales, but perhaps the most obvious is the one on their face. They got it when they were just a kit and training with their clan, getting a little overeager and causing a burst of unbridled Quintessential magic to erupt into their face. The instinct they got to turn away caused the damage to only hit the left side of their face, but it also took away most of the vision in that eye.
They had no peripheral vision left, very little depth perception and only a straw’s width of a gap in the eigengrau void to actually see through. They slowly adjusted to their new way of having to view the world, always feeling unbalanced and often getting migraines from the sheer amount of compensating their right eye had to do.
But, by the time they were summoned to Earth, they had fully adjusted and accepted what they now had to live with. And considering they now had their Papa with them, and were reunited with their brother, Aether, once more, they could never complain too much about anything in their life.
Nightmares of all they went through were chased away by Copia’s scent of stale tobacco settled into woollen sweaters and aged parchment. The human’s strong arms around them made them feel safe and at home. And they could never get enough of sleeping in their Papa’s arms, listening to his heart and feeling his fingers thread through their black and white hair.
It was all so perfect and Phantom could memorise every detail of their Papa despite their partially blind condition.
Well… That was until it all fell apart, and a wedge was driven between Phantom and their beloved Papa. Now, they could no longer spend their nights holding each other, Phantom couldn’t be soothed by Copia’s scent after a nightmare, and their soul ached with the loneliness of it. All because of some promotion and arbitrary new rules that deemed their parent-child relationship as unprofessional and unsafe.
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Copia no longer had the responsibility of caring for the Ghouls. That was a Papa’s job and he was a Papa no more.
The most interaction Phantom got with Frater was a nod in the corridor and a handshake at formal events. No hugs, no I love you’s and no visits to either’s rooms for sleepovers and cuddles.
It had been just over a year and a half since this separation started and Phantom was losing hope for any reunion. They were having more nightmares than ever and so many were of Copia getting hurt and Phantom not being able to save them. The anxiety of those dreams possibly being premonitions was making them beyond stressed and what sleep they were getting was of no real quality.
One day, they woke up from one of their nightmares and cracked their right eye open, gently smacking their left temple to get the other eye open. Sometimes it took a little longer to clear the sleep out from what little they could see from that side. But… that side was open… Why was it still so dark?
Phantom felt their breathing pick up and their throat become dry. Their right eye saw the room spinning and the left saw completely nothing.
“Aeth?! Aether, help!” They called, smacking their hand against the wall behind their bed that separated them from their older brother.
The older Quint was in like a flash, holding their face in his hands and checking them over.
“What’s wrong, love? Nightmare?” He asked, his heart breaking for his younger sibling.
They shook their head as all breath seemed to have failed them.
“M- my eye… C- can’t s- s- see anyth- thing…” They strained out against the panic and tears that had started to consume them.
Aether’s face grew to one of worry as he checked in and indeed saw their left eye devoid of anything, and his mind devoid of a solution or remedy.
“It’s okay, Bug. I’m here, it’ll be alright.” He said, gathering the little Quint into his arms and holding them tight, rocking them back and forth and encasing them both in a Quintessence bubble to calm them.
Phantom didn’t know if it was calming them or just stopping them from getting worse. What they did know, was that their Papa being there would have made it all a lot better.
Over the following weeks, they couldn’t adjust to their completely half-blind state. They practically had a constant headache from how much effort their right eye was putting in and they felt so horrifically unbalanced that they were a walking hazard. If it wasn’t this situation, it would be slightly funny and everyone would be calling them Bambi on ice.
Aether was at a complete loss for what had caused this. He helped heal Phantom when the accident that took part of their vision first happened and even the best healers in their clan said it wouldn’t get worse after it had healed. Inbetween reassuring Phantom and shifts in the infirmary, he was researching everything he could about ocular health and spending as much time as he could doing it.
One night, when Dew came down to force-feed him and make sure he actually took a break, he found the answer.
“IT’S STRESS!” Aether called as he read the article on the screen.
After the librarian came to admonish him for his volume, he hugged Dew tight, happy to have an answer.
“Wait, if stress causes blindness, how come Mountain hasn’t been blind from birth? He’s the biggest stresshead we know.” The Fire Ghoul chuckled.
“Who fucking knows? Probably because Phant’s left eye is already weak? As for Mountain, no clue.” Aether was still smiling, happy to have an answer for his little sibling and now hopefully start being able to help. That smile, though, was soon wiped from his face when his phone buzzed with a message from Swiss.
‘Get back up here NOW. Phantom needs you.’
Aether forgot to clean up or switch the computer off before he was running out of the library and back up to the den but he didn’t care one bit. Nothing and no one stopped him until he was back in Phantom’s room, asking what was wrong when he saw Phantom deep in another panic attack.
As Aether desperately tried to get Phantom to calm, Swiss explained that the vision in Phantom’s right eye was starting to fade now too…
Aether’s heart sank as he saw that cloud of blindness start to creep in around Phantom’s healthy eye. The distress of this whole situation being so cruel to such a pure soul that had already fought so much. When would they ever get their break?
The right eye now saw what the left used to. Merely a pin-point of light and the blurred shapes and figures of things in their immediate vicinity. They couldn’t read, couldn’t see the faces of their loved ones and couldn’t even see when they passed Copia in the corridor.
After Swiss told them when they had, yet again, missed a wave from their Papa they broke down and sobbed for what they were losing. Not only their sight but the hope of everything going back to how it was. How was everything meant to be the same again when Phantom couldn’t even see the person in front of them?
They knew blind Ghouls could still live good lives but they didn’t want this. They wanted to be able to see their Papa’s eyes light up when his pipistrello entered the room and the warm smile that caused every little crease and wrinkle on his face to pop out.
Every morning that Phantom woke up without Copia was another that made them more depressed for what they lost. And as they lost even more of their vision - it only taking a couple weeks for sightlessness to completely take them - they only became more catatonic. The pack ached to see such a vibrant Bug so dull and flat.
Aether’s heart cried even more for his little sibling and he was draining himself dry to try and give them plenty of Quintessence to just do something other than stare at the nothing and cry.
Seeing the little Quint’s stars fade was tearing the pack apart. All of them had been affected by the forced separation to Copia, but none more than Phantom. There had barely been a night since they came home from Frater’s last tour that at least one of them didn’t sleep with Phantom because while their Papa may not be there to chase the nightmares away, someone else could be.
No one dared tell Copia either. Aether, Swiss and Mountain – being the biggest and strongest Ghouls – were occasionally chosen to escort Copia as security on business trips but even then they were too scared to be anything but professional with Frater.
They’d all seen what the Clergy is capable of - Primo, Secondo and Terzo’s bodies and Dew’s unnatural Element are all proof of that - and no one would dare tempt a reprise or something even worse. Sister may be gone, but she certainly didn’t act alone in her cruelties and her followers still dominated the Clergy.
If Copia knew the situation had made his bambino blind from the stress of it all it would break him more than he had already been broken by the separation too. And at least very least, one of them had to appear strong for the other.
Copia knew his Ghouls though, and suspected they were hiding something from Swiss’ jaw tightening, the way Aether’s Adam’s apple bobbed, how Mountain’s ears flicked at the mention of Phantom’s name. But, pry as he might, he could never get any information from them that told Copia how his pipistrello was doing aside from the bare minimum.
He couldn’t go and investigate either. Not without risking so much. He already had visions of his Ghouls being sent back to the Pits they came from and he could never risk Phantom being sent back, not after all they’ve been through.
So Copia kept his nose down and did his best. Though even his best didn’t seem to be enough to help Phantom. He never saw them in the halls anymore or in the cafeteria. He couldn’t find them in the crowds at Black Mass and apparently they could no longer attend rehearsals or their duties either.
Phantom couldn’t do much of anything as they rotted in their own mind. They felt as useless as a kit as they wandered the den in tiny steps with one hand on the wall for stability. Their other senses were overwhelmed by what they had to make up for too but they couldn’t shut them off when it’s all they had to rely on now. They didn’t really leave their room much anyway. Sitting in front of the TV felt like a mockery and it wasn’t like they could cook for themself – even before they were blind. Walking around the halls was more hassle than it was worth and they could barely even feel the sunlight on their eyelids anymore.
Aether went in to see Phantom in the morning before work, kissing their forehead with a promise to come by after his shift. When he did, his heart broke into an infinitesimal number of pieces as he realised they hadn’t moved an inch since he left them twelve hours prior.
“I don’t know what to do, Dew.” Aether said to his mate in the evening after Swiss came in to sit with the Bug. Planting his elbows on the breakfast table, he buried his face into his hands.
Dew poured two glasses of neat whiskey for them both and pushed one towards the Quint, standing next to him and combing his fingers through his short hair.
“We could kill them.” Dew suggested, only half-joking as he referred to the humans that had enforced these cruel rules and restrictions.
“I thought half of why we’ve done nothing is that we’re scared of what the Clergy will do.” Aether responded as he took the glass and let the whiskey burn down his throat.
“Do you have any other ideas?” Dew said, shrugging his shoulders as if he was suggesting the most casual activity you could think of.
Aether exhaled and traced a claw around the edge of the glass.
“We know who Sister’s loyalists are.” He said.
Dew’s wicked grin heated up the space around them both. “We do.”
“We’re natural born predators too. We know how to be discreet and only harm, not kill.”
“That we are, love.” Dew said, kissing his mate’s cheek with a deep purr.
“Someone needs to stay with Phantom tomorrow then. While we explain this to the pack.” Aether thought out loud.
“We’ll figure it out, Aether. We’ll get our Bug back.” Dew promised, toasting their whiskey glasses and letting the glow of the moon light up the amber liquid.
Phantom didn’t know why, but the next morning, as they awoke next to Swiss, they felt the sun on their eyes a little stronger than usual. And while it was quickly snuffed out by the tidal waves of depression they had fallen into, the tiny spark of hope that fluttered in their chest was so so bright.
Almost as bright as Phantom would see Copia’s eyes when they finally reunited…
One shot master post can be found here
#phanter cuddle buddies master post can be found here
[Previous Chapter: Here. Morning regrets, and a search for dick... That's what we're working with here, expect no less.] Below the cut.
There's something uniquely mortifying about being caught jacking it, even if they are ghouls and they're all pretty open about their sexual escapades, this is a little different.
Rain can feel the building of his orgasm, much to his own horror, continue in spite of Dew standing in the doorway, staring!
He's just frozen there, eyeing Rain's dick with an expression he can't quite read, and then he opens his mouth and-
"Why is it blue...?"
-Rain gives a noise of distress, wanting to curl into himself and perish on the spot, but he can't stop himself from giving his cock one more tug, and somehow that's the one that does it.
He has to grip the counter to stop himself from toppling forward with the force of it, and Dew is definitely going to kill him for cumming in front of him like that!
Except he doesn't.
Dew doesn't make a move towards or away from him.
He lingers, and as Rain comes down from his high, he can see the other man's face growing pinker and pinker.
At some point, Dew holds his hands up, face beet red.
Rain tries to speak, but he's still reeling from his orgasm, and trying to breathe normally.
"Fuck..." he manages, "'m sorry..."
"...Your... Your..." Dew swallows, "I..."
They both stand there for a moment before Dew does something that makes Rain gape at him like a fish.
He shuts the door.
Closing them both inside the room.
Rain isn't sure what's about to happen, but the energy in the room has shifted in a strange way, and either Dew is really going to murder him or-
"...I mean, it's fine, right?" he says finally, "We're... married, so... We've probably..."
The kraken stirs.
"Dew, I don't-" Rain coughs, "-I don't think... Um... What're you doing?"
Dew has his thumbs hooked into his boxers.
"E-Eye for an eye, yeah?"
Rain wants to stop him, wants to grab his hands and stop him, but about partway through that thought, he dares a glance at Dew's crotch, and, well-
"...Oh my fucking god."
He's not sure what he expected to see Dew whip out, but this was not it.
It's about four inches long, flaccid, but wriggling with some interest as Dew takes it in hand.
"That's..."
A knock sounds on their bedroom door and Dew hastily packs himself away while Rain does similar, wiping his hands off on a nearby towel.
"Oi, lovebirds! You're gonna miss breakfast if you don't get your asses up!" Cirrus calls, then, after a pause, "...Don't hurry too fast though, Aether's teacing Aeon how to make pancakes, and I think I smell burning."
Rain and Dew share a look, considering.
Okay.
Okay, okay, okay...
"We're gonna pretend that didn't happen." Rain says finally, and Dew nods, "We've gotta... We've gotta focus up and figure out how to turn things back to normal and find the... giant metal penis."
Dew frowns, but nods his head regardless.
There it is again, that strange hesitance.
Rain wants to say something about it, but he also doesn't want to risk making Dew uncomfortable, although-
"I'm... I'm sorry you had to see my dick." Rain apologizes.
"No, no, I'm sorry I showed you mine!" Dew trills awkwardly, "Don't even... Like you said, let's pretend this all didn't happen."
"Right..."
Breakfast is... tense.
Tense, and burnt.
Aeon tried his best, but even with Aether's help, half the pancakes could be classified as briquettes, and Rain isn't sure if he can drown them in enough syrup to make them palatable.
Dew is struggling in his own way, trying to scoop up a wayward strawberry with his fork and failing miserably, until Rain jabs his fork into it and holds it up to his face.
"So, what's on the agenda for today?" he asks the rest of the pack nonchalantly as Dew considers his angle of attack, popping the fruit into his mouth before going back to carving at one of his pancakes, which basically snaps under pressure from his knife.
"Ehn, there's a meeting going on with Copia and the rest of the clergy, something about changes to the hierarchy, but nothing that involves any of us at the moment." Aether explains, "Aside from our regular duties, our schedules are all fairly free for the next week or so until they get everything straightened out."
Rain hums and pokes at his breakfast.
"Maybe we could all watch a movie together??" Aurora suggests, the only ghoul actively crunching on the burnt pancakes, giving Aeon a thumbs up when he deposits more of his charcoal bits onto her plate, looking embarrassed, but proud, "Something scary!"
As others chime in with their assent, Dew nudges Rain under the table with his knee, prompting the water ghoul to give a little push back, the two bump each other back and forth for a bit before Rain notices their packmates looking back at them.
"What about you two?" Aurora asks, propping her head up on the back of her hands, "Unless you have other plans...?"
Dew opens his mouth, but finds himself at a loss for words, looking over at Rain, who thinks for a moment before shaking his head.
"We have a, uh," Rain rolls the word 'date' on his tongue, then eyes Dew.
"I don't want to ruin the surprise." he says finally, "He's been hounding me all morning about it, even broke into the bathroom to interrogate me about what I have planned!"
"I DID NO-" Dew balks, then remembers, flushing bright red, "...actually, yeah, I did..."
The table erupts into laughter, save for Rain, who silently thanks Dew for going along with what he said, because, well, it is the truth, albeit not all of it.
"Ohh~? Loverboy is finally making up for forgetting his hubby's birthday?" Swiss teases, pointing his fork at Rain, "Trying to win back those brownie points, huh?"
Rain blinks, sitting up straight.
"I did not forget Dew's birthday." he says, sounding very offended, "I took him t-"
He stops midsentence, slapping a hand over his mouth as he recalls how the two of them spent Dew's birthday this year.
It had been a special request from his friend that they not tell the others what they were getting up to that day, even if it wasn't anything outright embarrassing, Dew had been adamant that no one else know what their plans were for his birthday.
They'd gone to the aquarium, and had spent the entire day joking about which sea creatures they'd eat or had eaten, and at the end of the day, Rain had gifted Dew a marine biology textbook, since he'd been aching to learn more on a scientific level about the creatures they'd encountered.
Rain himself had purchased an octopus plush for himself, which was absurdly large and difficult to smuggle past the other ghouls to avoid suspicion, but worth it in the end, because it really did bring his room together...
"You took him where?" Swiss probes, watching Rain squirm under the attention.
He coughs into his fist and shrugs.
"Nothing." he says, "Just saying I didn't forget is all."
"Secrets, secrets are no fun, unless you sha-" Swiss starts to chant, but Dew shuts down the nonsense by scooting away from the table and standing up.
"Bathroom."
Rain blinks at him, "Oh, uh, alright-"
"You, too." he adds, grabbing him by the scruff.
"OOOOOOH~!" the other ghouls laugh, "Someone's in trouble~"
"...Shut up." Rain mumbles, letting himself be dragged away by the shorter man.
.
.
.
"So... *come* here often?" Dew jokes, and Rain almost chokes on his spit.
They're standing in Rain's on suite again, having decided, for whatever reason, that talking behind a door that literally does not work is better than standing directly in his -their- bedroom.
"Sorry, that was... Anyway, I wanted to discuss our game plan." he says after helping pat Rain on the back, "We have all week to work unimpeded looking for that statue, after that, it'll be difficult to find a spare moment where both of us can look for it together."
"Right... Even if we could look for it by ourselves, the magic only works if there's more than one person present... at least that's the theory we have going, yeah?" Rain concludes, and Dew nods, "That being said, so far, nothing seems out of place aside from, well, us."
"Us being a couple is a significant change, especially since, based on what I've seen on my phone, we've been together for a while now. Like, years." Dew says, slipping his phone out of his pants pocket, "...It'd be one thing if the statue bound us together with some stupid spell, but this is going too far..."
"I'm sorry." Rain apologizes, "I know being married to me is-"
"I mean, it's one thing to mess with our friends' heads and implant memories of a wedding that never happened, but, like, c'mon, let me remember this stuff, too!" Dew complains, startling Rain, who was not expecting this conclusion, "I kept looking through the pictures on my phone and I don't remember any of this, it's not fair, man!"
Rain tilts his head.
"You... want to remember... or, rather, you'd want the spell to make you think we've been married?" he tries, pursing his lips, "What?"
Dew freezes.
"I... Yeah... Maybe..." he rubs his arm, "It just feels... off... otherwise."
Rain feels an ache in his chest.
"Dew, do you... Are you saying..." he pulls back and sighs deeply, "Dew, you're my best friend. I love you, but I'm not in love with you."
"...Same... Same here." Dew replies, but he can't hide the brokenness in his voice, and Rain remembers then Dew's insistence on trying the statue again.
How he'd said they had to be serious.
...How the spell supposedly only worked if the pair before it were lovers.
But it had worked with them!
It had worked, and the statue had even called them out on it!
So...
Rain watches Dew wipe the corners of his eyes, trying to hide the hurt spilling from them.
...could it have worked because of something one-sided?
"I'm so sorry." Dew whispers, "I didn't... didn't want you finding out like this. Sorry, I... I'm sorry, this is how I feel."
"...I'm sorry, too."
.
.
.
The search for the statue is an awkward one.
Dew is still reeling from having his feelings exposed so easily, and Rain is in the midst of processing this new information, trying to figure out how he could have possibly lead the other on.
It's not that he doesn't find Dew attractive, or that they don't get along -they get along very well- and, sure, Rain did jack off to him this morn-
Rain feels a stirring inside of him again.
Goddammit, he thinks, is this part of the spell?
But...
As they browse the abbey's art collection for signs of one large dick, Rain finds himself thinking back on a lot of things.
This isn't the first time he's thought about Dew like that, but he's always managed to push those feelings down pretty well.
Somehow, it doesn't feel right that he's ONLY interested in Dew's body like that.
He likes Dew, he loves the guy, but... not romantically.
Does he very much want to fuck him though?
Yes.
And that's what has him shoving it all into the back of his mind.
Trying to at least.
It doesn't feel right that Dew LIKES him and that he just... he can't reciprocate it.
If he only wants Dew for his body, that's like a whole new level of leading him on.
Yeah, they're ghouls, they fuck around and move on, but things can get messy when feelings are involved.
Cirrus and Cumulus are a fine example of just that.
He cringes at the memories of their fights when they were together, how hard it had been for them to navigate the balance between the sexual freedom they both craved while being devoted to one another emotionally.
It was all a giant shitfest, until they stepped back and actually talked about what they wanted and realized they didn't click as well as they initially thought, and while they're happier than ever now... Rain can't put Dew through that.
But then again, who says monogamy is what the guy even wants?
They probably talked about all of this at some point, given their relationship status in this version of their reality, but it probably didn't happen over text, so fishing through his phone some more isn't going to help their situation.
He has to find that stupid fucking statue!
But...
Rain looks around the room, searching for Dew amongst the various artworks on display and comes up empty.
He feels a mild panic coming on when he sweeps his gaze over the room and, again, finds nothing.
"Dew??"
He looks left and right.
"Hey, hey, Dew, where are you??"
...He's gone.
Shit, shit, shit-
"I'm right next to you, you jerk." A familiar voice grumbles from beside him, and, upon looking down, Rain meets the disgruntled gaze of a very annoyed ghoul.
"Oh, shit, I-I didn't realize you were there-"
"Yeah, sure. Whatever. Let's just keep looking." Dew mutters, clearly unhappy, "Let's get this over with already."
"I..."
"...When we get back..." Dew says, "Don't talk to me."
"...For how long?" Rain frets.
"Forever if you want." he replies, hands in his pockets, "Since you're so tweaked out about shit, and this isn't something you get over in a day, or a week, or a year or whatever..."
"I can't just stop talking to you, you're my f-" Rain starts, but Dew cuts him off.
"Yeah, you're my friend, but you're already looking at me like I'm a freak because of how I feel, and I don't think I can come back from that, Rain." he places a hand on his chest, "Shit fucking hurts..."
"Dew..."
That feeling you get when you are clearing notifications on your phone and you accidentally clear Tumblr notifications. Like, what did I just miss?
Mushy May Day 6
Pairing; Aether/Rain
just a shorty today!
“You’re blushing.”
Aether blinked and sat up in his seat at the table, eyes landing to meet with Swiss’. The multi was looking back with amusement hidden behind a grin.
“What?” Aether dumbly asked. He touched his cheek with the backside of his hand with a frown.
“You’re blushing. Hard.” Swiss stated matter of factly. He turned to eye what Aether was staring at and chuckled. "Water boy's got your tongue?"
Aether couldn’t help himself in looking back at the scene, Rain in the common’s room playing some game with Dew. He wasn’t sure which game, possibly a racing game, possibly a fighting game. Whatever it was, Rain was winning at, and the smile the water ghoul sported was divinity. If Rain was a Siren of some sort, Aether wouldn’t doubt it even for a moment. The dimples that showed when they were grinning, those cerulean eyes that practically sparkled, the way they celebrated by loudly boasting to Dew, arms high in the air, it was so endearing to-
“Aether,” Swiss snapped his fingers in front of his face and he blinked once more, “You okay there, lover boy?”
“Uh,” Aether glanced over before he cleared his throat and pushed away from the table. “I think I left my…” he pointed towards the commons room, never finishing his statement before heading over to be with the water ghoul. Swiss rolled his eyes with a laugh and watch as the quint began trying to woo Rain over. Silly ghoul.
Let's not forget how they scream that everyone is a pedophile.
We need to talk about christians playing the victim and crying wolf when they see marginalized people who portray themselves as satan, satanic, or demonic.
I see videos on tiktok of christians going on paranoid rants about satan infiltrating society and the entertainment industry "being evil" when its clearly a reaction of marginalized queer people and poc who are using their spotlight to make christians uncomfortable for their bigotry.
"They're letting the evil one take over their lives! Satan has taken them over!"
No, actually, you did this. It's your fault as a christian. No, seriously. You made them feel evil for just existing. In the idea of your ignorant beliefs, your "god" made them perfect - as we all are - and you saw someone different from yourself and went "thats satan." You ruined their self-image as a community of poisonous bigots. You made them suicidal and depressed and institutionalized them for being different until it literally became illegal to do so.
And if you participate in christianity, you're part of the problem, and yes, you deserve to feel bad about the way these people get treated. If you don't want to feel bad anymore, reform your beliefs and take a good hard look at what your religion does to people it doesn't approve of. If you don't want to do that, just be mad and scared - we don't care.
God forbid you accept the fact that, yes, it was you who did this to them and not "satan." God forbid they accept the way you treat them instead of killing themselves like millions of others have. God forbid you have to share the earth with those you tred on.
God is not real and neither is satan and if you demonize your fellow man it takes away from every human being's personal responsibility to treat every other living creature on this planet as an equal and instead it lets you slap a label on whoever and whatever you dont like so you can decide who deserves to die without feeling bad about it.
People you dislike aren't satanic. They just shrugged and put on the costume YOU forced onto them from birth.
Is it scary? Yes. Is that the point? Also yes. Be afraid.
Boo, bitch.
The last 30 days have been expensive between this and Ghost tickets!
Silly little thing based on a screenshot from @hypnoneghoul
Rating: M
Pairing: Mountain/Dew
Words: 648
Ao3
Dew is standing in the kitchen in the den fiddling with the grucifix zipper on his hoodie while he scrolls TikTok. There is a tray of dirty dishes he just carried down from his room on the counter in front of him and he really is going to wash them and put them away. It’s just, phone, you know? There are a few clips from their last tour circulating with various ridiculous captions and a surprising amount of edits. The thirsty ones are silly and most often way off the mark, but there are also several videos of people talking (and crying) about how their music and the rituals they perform are helping people. Papa and the ghouls are helping humans accept themselves and get through hard shit to have better lives. A guy with red teary eyes and a huge smile nestled in a thick beautiful beard tells the camera that when he feels low and needs to remember the beauty in the world he watches a clip of Dewdrop’s Respite On The Spitafields solo and it never ceases to make him cry with happiness. Dew quickly double taps the screen and comments three black hearts as the left corner of his mouth tugs upward and he can feel Lucifer’s approval in the warmth that floods his bones.
He cocks his hip and glances at the dishes before going back to his scrolling. He has his VPN set to Poland today and the ads have been something else. A new one fills his screen and he giggles as he takes a screenshot. He doesn’t particularly like the drink Mountain Dew but it is one of his absolute favourite brand names and the ads have been giving him endless joy. Siblings and ghouls alike will send him a picture anytime they see a bottle somewhere, and Phantom has been making him custom memes. Dew swipes over to his text conversation with Mountain and snickers as he sends him the screenshot. The big guy is gonna love this one. Mountain may seem like a mature and serious ghoul, but he is just as much of a little shit as Dew is.
Dew is dragging his tongue over a fang, letting the sharp tip of it catch right in the middle of the slit of the fork as he scrolls through the endless Mountain Dew memes in their chat. He barely manages to avoid biting himself as a huge hand wraps around his throat and another palms his entire crotch as he is pulled flush against a warm, soft body. Electricity dances down his spine and makes his gut clench as Mountain’s hot breath tickles his ear.
“Hmm, you want me to feel you, boy?”
Mountain strokes his thumb down the length of Dew’s neck, feeling his pulse increase with each stroke. He flexes slightly so the claw digs into soft flesh, dimpling the skin just so. Dew swallows thickly against Mountain’s palm only for the hand to squeeze a tiny bit tighter.
Mountain curls his fingers towards Dew’s taint, cupping his rapidly hardening dick and balls through his soft lounge trousers. He rolls the balls between his fingers, feeling them move under the skin.
Dew’s lifts his tail and snakes it around Mountain’s middle. Mountain’s own tail comes up to coil around it and keep it in place as he shifts a thick thigh between Dew’s legs.
“You want me to touch you? Feel you all over? Grope you a little in the kitchen for anyone to see?”
Dew whines and tries to simultaneously push into the hands wrapped around his throat and his genitals, while grinding his ass back and down on Mountain’s thigh. He gets a throaty chuckle and a wet tongue flicking his ear lobe in return.
“Yeah, you want your big, strong boyfriend to feel you up a little. Feel the Dew. Isn’t that cute?”
I am so blessed to have such talented, generous friends that would paint a member of a band they know nothing about for my birthday. She did such a good job!! 😭🥰
Olympia, Paris, France. // 11/04/2017
Alphas belt won't fit anymore.
Characters: Alpha, Omega Word count: 687
Alpha looked into the mirror. His hair was still messy from sleep, and he wasn’t wearing shoes yet. The black button-up he was wearing wasn’t hanging as loosely as it used to. Don’t get him wrong, his shirts always fit him perfectly, but now it was actually wrapping around his skin, making it impossible to hide anything. His small love handles were exposed to everyone, and the tummy he grew was pressing against the fabric.
But there was a simple problem: his trousers. Or, more likely, the button he couldn’t close without fearing it might pop at some point. So he opened it again and breathed out in a relaxed manner; comfortable was something different.
The next problem emerged when he tried to find a belt. He replayed the moment when Omega told him to buy belts that were a little longer and not already on the last hole when wearing them. That was a year ago, and now his stupid decision backfired in the most obvious way. He had the feeling that Terzo wouldn’t be too fond of him showing up at the meeting with open trousers. No matter that they were retired, he and Omega were ordered to be at the meeting, and not a single ghoul wanted to wear their uniforms in summer, so he had to wear something else that was formal enough.
So there was only one option… admitting that the quint had been right and asking him for a belt. Hopefully, he was in his room; otherwise, Alpha would simply borrow a belt from his closet.
“Megs?” Without knocking, the tall ghoul entered the other's room. And lucky for him, Omega was just finishing tying his shoes.
“Hmm?” he made, and looked up. “What is it?”
“It’s not by chance that you have a belt for me?” Alpha asked, closing the door behind him.
Omega grinned knowingly, tilting his head to the side.
“So I was right? Never would have guessed,” he told him, the irony sharp in his voice.
“Save the jokes, you fucker,” the fire ghoul answered. “We only have fifteen minutes left, will you just give me a belt? Please?”
The quint stood up from his bed and walked over to Alpha, giving him a mocking chuckle.
“You know… With that attitude of yours, I don’t think I want to give you one of my belts,” he sighed dramatically and shrugged.
The guitarist rolled his eyes and took a step closer to Omega, who took the opportunity to lay his hands on Alpha’s sides, squeezing them. He loved those love handles and the way the other tensed under the unexpected touch.
“But I’ll be nice and give you one,” the quint then said and turned to grab one out of his drawer. “Under the condition that you admit I was right.”
If looks could kill, Omega would be dead.
“You were right,” Alpha mumbled, barely understandable.
“What was that?” he asked, even though he understood.
“You son of a-” the tall ghoul snorted, “You were right!”
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Omega laughed and walked back to the fire ghoul, motioning him to raise his arms a bit. He began to put the belt on the other and pulled him closer by the waist after buckling it. The grin was still on his face, and the big ghoul knew that Alpha wasn’t as mad as he pretended to be, the corners of his mouth twitching.
“We’re gonna buy you bigger clothes tomorrow,” he told his pack mate, his hand finding its way to his tummy automatically.
“You have a weird obsession with my tummy, you know?” Alpha pointed out.
He earned himself another shrug and an agreeing sound: “Can you blame me? I don’t think so.”
Now the tall ghoul really let out a laugh, his right hand squeezing Omega’s butt and then coming to rest on his lower back.
“I wasn’t complaining,” he answered, his voice lower than before.
And when they arrived a few minutes too late to the meeting, there was a suspicious dark spot on Omega’s neck and Alpha’s face was deeply red. ______________________
I have no idea what this is tbh but i tried and this is the best i could come up with
let me tag you here @aweisz
REBLOGS ARE APPRECIATED