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[Who were you before him? Time skip again. Not suitable for younger audiences. Previous Part here.] Below the cut.
"This is Brisket." Dew says, holding up quite possibly the least intimidating dog to grace the face of the Earth, "He's a Chiweenie."
"A... A Chiweenie?" Mountain stares at the little creature, currently giving him the most wet eyed look in return, "This is your new Hellhound?"
"Hey, he may not look like much, but he's fierce!"
Brisket yawns and gets his tongue stuck outside of his mouth.
"I took you for more of a big breed dog kind of guy." Mountain says, watching the puppy drop his head into the palm of Dew's hand.
"Nah, I mean, I love all kinds of dogs, but living in a dorm with a St. Bernard sounds like a nightmare. It's also easier to travel."
"Is Brisket going on the road with us for tour then?" Mountain asks, "He could probably fit in your carry on..."
"Maybe next tour, for now, I mean, look at this guy." He rocks his arm slightly and the puppy's ears flop side to side, "He wouldn't make it through the opening act."
Mountain laughs, "So, what prompted this?"
He gestures at Brisket, and then at Dew's new, shorter haircut.
"Companionship." Dew says, holding up Brisket, "And not having anyone around to stop me."
"Hm, well, it suits you." Mountain says, picking up Brisket's head in his hands to squish his tiny face around a little.
"The puppy or the hair?"
"I mean, Brisket... I can't believe you named him that... is quite handsome in his own right, but I meant your hair." Mountain clarifies, "Not that your old style didn't, too, this one's just, I dunno, refreshing? Is that a word people use to describe hair?"
Dew snorts.
"Why Brisket though?"
"He smells like beef." the ghoul motions for Mountain to sniff the dog.
"Like in a good way or a bad-" Mountain sniffs Brisket again, "-Why does he smell like he rolled around in a barbecue??"
"Legend has it he was born in the behind some kind of bar and grille that served some pretty good steak..."
It has been three months since Aether left.
Three.
A whole quarter of a year, and Dew's starting to feel a little more grounded.
It helps when he has two new ghouls to coach through the motions of being "human" -Actually, Brisket was his own sort of reward to himself for not completely messing that up.- between teaching Aeon how to use a fork and getting Aurora to wear underwear, Dew hasn't had time to think of much else.
He still has his moments where he wakes up in his new room and gets confused, where he reaches over to the right side of the bed only to be met with the cold bedspread, but once he discovered he could spread out across the mattress unimpeded by another body, he'd more or less stopped.
It's the little things, he supposes, taking solace in the creature comforts he had forgotten after having to share his space and find compromises to make his other half happy...
Sure, it sucks not being able to roll over in the morning and get sleepy cuddles, but now he can fit a little bed on the other half for Brisket to sleep in, and that more than makes up for that.
Aether liked dogs, too, but he'd never let one sleep in their bed, claiming it would "spoil" them.
Well, too bad, Aether, Brisket is going to be as spoiled as a prince of Hell.
That being said, though, Dew does miss having another ghoul in his bed, and while there had been offers...
"It just doesn't feel right." he tells Cumulus one afternoon, "Feels like I'm cheating even though... ya know."
"You and Aether were together for four years," she says, "it's okay to need time."
"I know, but I'm not... I'm not sure when it's okay to... start all of that again."
"Having sex?"
"Kind of, but, I mean more like..." he lowers his voice, "...dating."
"Ohhh..." Cumulus pats his arm, "I'd say don't rush into all of that. You know what they say about rebound relationships..."
"Actually I... I don't." Dew whispers, "Aether was the only person I've ever dated."
"How'd you two wind up together anyway?" Cumulus asks, "Not to be rude, I mean, you two are, like, polar opposites."
"Not completely." Dew starts counting on his fingers, "We had a couple key things in common; We liked dogs, beer, music, obviously, and..."
The tips of Dew's ears go red.
"And?"
"There's this thing he could do with his tongue that he taught me how to do-"
.
.
.
Cirrus is... frustrated.
Cumulus has been avoiding her.
Not really, it's just...
"Cir, I love you, but you're being a little... suffocating lately." the smaller ghoulette had confessed, "I won't go anywhere just because we're not cuddling every second of the day, you know?"
Cirrus presses her face into her pillow and screams.
She can't help it.
Lately, it feels like if she isn't physically connected to Cumulus, it feels like they're drifting apart.
It's Dew's fault honestly.
Ever since Aether left him, he's been leaning on Cumulus for emotional support, even though he's not the only person hurt by...
By...
Cirrus rolls over in her bed, squeezing her pillow to her chest.
The night before Aether broke up with Dew...
"...Fuck, Cir..."
"Mn... Aeth... You feel so good..."
They aren't exclusive.
None of them are exclusive.
But something about it had felt...
Forbidden.
Good.
And now that she has time to reflect on it, it felt a lot like a goodbye, too.
"Does Dew know you're here?"
"He does, he doesn't care."
"Typical Dew."
"Yeah."
Dew knew, so there was... there was no guilt there.
Cumulus had known, too, but...
"Why are you apologizing? We all mess around."
...Why had she wanted her to be angry?
"...What's wrong with me?"
.
.
.
Swiss will admit, sometimes he makes poor decisions in the heat of the moment that result in... unfortunate circumstances...
"Your dick looks like a fucking glowstick." Dew gapes, beside him, Rain is positively shaking trying to contain his laughter, "Jack it off too hard and accidentally crack it or something?"
"You know the guard you set me up with a while back?" Swiss asks, tucking himself back into his pants, "Yeah, uh, turns out no matter where you stick it, this happens."
"I-It's like you dunked your junk in a vat of highlighter ink..." Rain cackles, "Does it come off?"
"Takes, like, two to three days for the... the glow to fade."
"So if you decided to jack off with the lights off, would your cum also glow? Like is it soaked in that far? Or is it like a weird sunburn?" Dew asks.
"..."
"Swiss?"
"...I need to go test something."
And, honest to Satan's balls, that was what Swiss was intent on doing when in his haste to get back to his dorm, he bumped into a sibling of sin walking through the corridors with-
"Aether?"