Welcome to where I rant almost exclusively about Ghost. She/they pronouns at the moment, and I'm chill with any asks/dms etc. and always down for a chat!! anons off for now but I can anonymize you for replies if you want!
I write fics in the same way kids make their Barbies kiss. And I draw sometimes.
Minors do not interact please!! This is an adults only space.
Writing tagged as #em writes (AO3), drawings under #em doodles, fanfic cooking and other experiments #em cooks. See a food mentioned in a ghost fanwork you like? Send it to me and I will attempt to cook it!
Amazing animated banners by @wrathofrats!
List of fics below the cut:
Long, multi-chapter fics:
Can you Hear the Thunder?: AO3 | Tumblr
Ghouls Soulmates AU, raindrop enemies-to-lovers. Ongoing, 200k+ words
Home for Christmas: AO3 | Tumblr
Hallmark movie AU, raindrop enemies-to-lovers, 23k words
What You've Done, You Cannot Undo: AO3 | Tumblr
My original longfic, my beloved Medieval AU. Raindrop enemies-to-lovers + SwissAlps sequel. 136k words
Shorter fics: (most recent first)
Devil Trigger: AO3 | Tumblr
NSFW - Cowbell lays a quintessence trigger in Phantom's brain that activates out on stage (e-stim, hypno trigger, exhibitionism) 2.3k words
An Insect Trapped in Amber, I'm a Static Hum: AO3 | Tumblr
NSFW - Phantom gets one too many static shocks and needs Cowbell to electrocute them about it (e-stim/electrocution play, paralysis, desperation) 4.5k words
Shame Painted on your Face: AO3 | Tumblr
NSFW - Phantom does a ritual almost naked thanks to a quintessence trick on the audience (exhibitionism, body paint, shame) 2.3k words
It's my Party (I'll cry if I want to): AO3 | Tumblr
NSFW - Rain x Everyone at his summoning day party (orgy, quintosis, dacryphilia) 14.4k words
I Will Make You My Angel: AO3 | Tumblr
NSFW - Rain and Dew catch Phantom watching them and fuck them on the alter (voyeur!phantom, exhibitionism, threesome) 5.9k words
In the Shadows, Stripped of Sin: AO3 | Tumblr
NSFW - Phantom spies on Rain and Dew fucking in a Chapel, Cowbell turns the tables on them. (voyeur!phantom, exhibitionism/voyeurism) 4.6k words
Beneath Blue Waters: AO3 | Tumblr
NSFW - Aurora wears her skimpiest bikini to the lake, tentacle monster Mist thinks she's overdressed (fucking in the lake, tentacles.) 3.9k words
Stained Red with Blood; Sweet as Cherries: AO3 | Tumblr
NSFW - Cumulus kills a hiker in the woods and Rain thinks it's the hottest thing he's ever seen (murder ghouls, blood, outdoor sex). 3.9k words
Bruise like a Peach: AO3 | Tumblr
NSFW - Phantom gets a bruise and Rain makes everything worse (biting, bruises, painplay). 4.7k words
Set my Heart on Fire: AO3 | Tumblr
NSFW - Dew licking Rain's ice skates then they fuck about it (predator/prey, ice skate fetish, semi-public sex). 6.2k words
Ghoulette Ficlet Collection: AO3 | Tumblr
13 ficlets featuring the ghoulettes, written for Ghoulette Appreciation weeks 2024 writing challenge. All approx. 1-3k words.
Cling to the Light (Ace-spec Mountain & Zephyr): AO3 | Tumblr
Demisexual/gray-ace Mountain & Asexual Zephyr. 4.8k words.
Midwest Emo Yuletide: AO3 | Tumblr
Found family yuletide meal, set in the community Midwest Emo Ghouls AU. 1.6k words.
Jealousy (Cirrus/Cumulus): AO3 | Tumblr
Cirrus gets jealous of Cumulus' closeness with the new ghoulette, Aurora. 2.1k words.
Assorted ficlets: AO3
New in Town: Midwest Emo Ghouls AU, Phantom's arrival.
Woodburning: MountainDew fluff.
Ghouls in Winter: Phantom is cold, Dew is a heater, Rain doesn't want to share.
What if we kissed in the Maize Maize? Midwest Emo Ghouls AU harvest festival.
Satanized: the making of the music video
you know what? I'm getting in early. Pretty please can we see a Bell sidequest for the field trip? 🖤
Oh but of COURSE we can, beloved!! (also, my sincere apologies, I'm not sure if you're already asleep--if you are, something sweet to start your day <3)
Anyways -- field trip day, Bell's point of view!
𖥸
Sidequest: Field Trip
· · · — 𖥸 · 𓃹 · 𖥸 — · · ·
There was a seating logic.
Bell had worked it out shortly after picking up the shuttle, systematically, before the relevant parties got a chance to complicate anything.
Mister Delmere in the front, so they could go over the tour layout. Swiss and Mountain behind them, leg room, for the big ghouls. Aurora, Mist, and Phantom, in the back; plenty of room for the smallest of the bunch. Leaving Rain, Cirrus, and Cumulus to occupy the middle.
It was a sound logic. Everyone would have the appropriate amount of space, Mist could keep an eye on the brewing chaos storm known as Phantom, and all would be well.
Simple, really.
Phantom announced shotgun before they even left the lounge.
So: Phantom in the front seat, then. The rest of the logic reorganizes around its single point of deviation. Dew, last in, takes the only remaining space in row two. Bell notices this with the professional detachment of someone who has been paid, for a very long time, not to react to the things he notices.
He pulls from the curb at exactly the speed limit.
Phantom has the aux.
The first song is in a language Bell doesn't speak, with a bass line that makes the door panel vibrate. Phantom is mouthing the words at Bell like maybe that will get their meaning across. Bell adjusts the rearview mirror.
"Phantom."
"What."
"Volume."
"This is on volume five, Bell."
"Volume four."
"Volume four is for cowards."
"Volume four, Phantom."
Phantom brings it to four with a sigh that implies genuine personal sacrifice. Bell notes this and says nothing, because that would constitute engagement, and engagement is the thing Phantom has been trying to produce since they first laid eyes on him, appearing with those shots that they took so easily, their throat bobbing —
He moves his eyes back to the road.
Swiss says, quietly, from the far back: "Phantom. If you play that song you played in the dressing room last Saturday I will walk to Helion."
"It's not on this playlist."
"It better not be."
"…I'll skip it."
"Mhm."
Bell's mouth doesn't move.
The van makes a gentle left. Bell has his eyes on the road and is watching traffic. From row two there is a sound. Small. Barely there. The kind of sound a ghoul makes when ambushed by their own nervous system. Bell is making no record of this.
He adjusts the rearview mirror again.
In row two, Mister Delmere is experiencing what Bell has categorized, conservatively, as an ongoing… situation. It has the quality of something that intends to become a scheduling problem and is simply waiting on the relevant parties to cooperate with it.
Bell has been managing Dew's situations long enough to recognize the posture: the careful stillness, the folio on the lap, the scrupulously neutral expression of a ghoul who is having no reactions.
Rain isn't doing anything. This is the consistent feature of the situation. He doesn't have to try, since all the trying is on the other end. Bell watches Mister Delmere sit at attention and feels the long-suffering fondness of a ghoul who has watched his boss systematically avoid and deny every good thing to fall into his lap, for the simple fact that he thinks he doesn't deserve it.
Well.
Bell tilts his head. Less lap, more leg pressed to leg. Interesting.
"You drive like a demon, Bell," Phantom says, recovering.
"I drive at the speed limit."
"You are a latent menace, Bell."
The corner of Bell's mouth moves. The very corner — a twitch, involuntary, the kind of thing that years of professional composure should have eliminated and apparently has not —
"Cowbell Bell Ghoul," Phantom says, delighted. "Was that a smile?"
"That is not my name."
"But that was a smile."
"It was not."
Bell keeps his eyes forward and his expression neutral, Phantom's quick movements small flashes in his peripherals.
Laughter rolls through the shuttle, Phantom leaning closer now, voice low enough that no one else can hear. Bell can smell their ozone, the clean cut of mint.
"That was absolutely a smile and I want it acknowledged —"
"Helion's on the next block," Bell says, after a beat. "Coming up on the right."
He signals. He checks his mirrors. He does all of this with perfect composure and does not examine the fact that his composure has a crack in it that is Phantom-shaped and has been there for longer than he is prepared to acknowledge.
"Helion."
Bell puts the van in park. The doors open. Cold air comes in, the van empties — Phantom first, everyone filing out, Cumulus and Cirrus already talking, Aurora in the middle of both conversations. Bell stays at the wheel a moment, as he always does. Long enough to confirm the hazards. Long enough to check the mirrors one final time.
He sees Rain, holding the door into Helion. The look back over his shoulder at Dew.
Dew on the sidewalk with his folio, looking like a ghoul who has forgotten what hands are for.
Bell gets out.
"Mister Delmere."
"Bell."
"After you."
𖥸
The tour takes exactly as long as planned.
Bell spends most of that time in the margins. This is his preferred position on excursions. Present, available, unobtrusive. He has a clipboard with the feedback forms and a mental accounting of everyone's position at all times, which is useful when what he is observing is Mister Delmere conducting a soft-open for a group of ghouls who cannot, collectively, maintain a straight line through a corridor.
They are not bad guests. They are simply a lot of them.
Phantom is a lot of them by themself.
Bell tracks Phantom through the building the way he tracks all variables. It's not fixation, more… asset management.
The ground floor is a loss — Phantom finds the moss wall immediately and Bell isn't close enough to hear the exchange but can reconstruct it from context: Dew's shoulders going incrementally rigid, Phantom's hands going up in a gesture that is technically compliance. The second floor, however, does something to Phantom that Bell doesn't have a ready category for.
The light changes, the sound falls differently, and something about it stops Phantom mid-step at the landing in a way that Bell would, in a different register, call struck. They stand there for a moment, not performing anything, just standing with their face doing something private in the direction of the float tank corridor.
Bell finds something on his clipboard that requires attention.
He gives them the moment.
He gives them, in fact, several moments — long enough that by the time he looks up, the group has relocated and Phantom is currently doing something Bell would categorize as a professional threat assessment of Omega, who has the particular misfortune of being both objectively attractive and currently within Phantom's sightline.
Bell looks at this for exactly as long as is necessary.
He coughs.
Then he catches Phantom's eye and gives them an expression that says absolutely not without moving a single facial muscle.
Phantom's eyebrow goes up a quarter inch, the specific Phantom expression that means really — and holds there for a beat.
Bell holds their gaze. His clipboard remains level. His expression remains neutral.
Phantom looks back at him for one more moment.
Then they look away from Omega entirely.
Bell returns to his clipboard. He makes a note about the recovery suite lighting that does not need to be made. He's aware, in a peripheral and entirely non-urgent way, that his ears have gone warm — copper, if anyone were positioned to notice. Phantom is no longer looking at Omega and Bell is not examining why that is the outcome he wanted.
He has several reasons it was the appropriate professional call.
He is, if he is being precise about it, still adding to the list.
𖥸
The comment cards are Bell's idea. They are a practical solution to a practical problem — Helion's feedback architecture exists for clinical purposes, and the soft-open represents an early informal data set. They are also, and Bell will own this privately, a way to move a group of performing artists toward a vehicle by framing departure as a transaction.
Everyone fills a card out. That's the price of being driven home.
It works, which Bell considers a success.
He collects them by the front entrance as the group assembles — clipboard in hand, pens provided. Aurora fills all four prompts in handwriting that includes small flowers on the capital letters, and thanks Bell directly when she hands it over. He acknowledges this with a nod and a mental note that she is, unambiguously, a sweetheart of a ghoul.
Mountain's is two words. Good towels. Bell makes a note. Mountain is a ghoul who knows what matters.
Swiss's runs longer: Tell whoever did the salt corridor I'm willing to fight them for the recipe. I have never breathed like that in my life. Mountain says the towels were good. He's right. Bell marks this for the facilities team.
Mist's: Tell Pebble their hands are a gift to the industry. Bell underlines it. He will be telling Dew, who will certainly inform Pebble.
Rain takes the card and pen and writes without hesitating, the behavior of a ghoul who arrived knowing what he wanted to say. He hands it back face-down. Bell turns it over.
Two words. Small, precise handwriting.
Nice hands.
Bell's expression doesn't change. He puts this where he puts everything belonging to Mister Delmere's ongoing situation: the back of his mind, labeled, somewhere he will not be tripping over it in the dark.
He turns to Phantom.
Phantom is still writing.
They've been writing, Bell realizes, for slightly longer than anyone else, bent over the card with focused, deliberate attention, which is not an energy Bell typically associates with Phantom.
He waits. He is, among many other things, very patient.
Phantom finishes and looks up.
They hold the card out directly, fingers on one end, the other end aimed at Bell. Bell takes it because there is nothing else to do, and he reads it because the alternative is standing there holding an unread card, which is not something Bell does.
What we did well: The driver. Both hands on the wheel the entire time. Very professional.
What we could do better: Volume four.
Anything else: [a string of digits] — Ph.
Optional contact information: see above. keep up.
Bell is aware that his ears have gone warm again.
He doesn't look up immediately. This is not because he needs more time with the card — he has read it, in full, twice now. But because there's information on his face he's not prepared to share with anyone yet, and Phantom is still there, watching him the way they watch things they find interesting, directly and without any apparent self-consciousness.
Bell finally looks up.
Phantom winks.
"I'm sitting shotgun again," they announce.
Not a question.
Bell says nothing. He watches Phantom turn and walk toward Helion's front door with the easy confidence of a ghoul who has just made a move and knows exactly where it landed, and then he looks back down at the card.
He opens his inner jacket pocket and places the card inside.
He finds Mister Delmere near the lobby in quiet conversation with one of the Helion staff, folio open, doing what he does best, which is to say: not stopping. He holds out the stack when Dew glances up.
"Overwhelming praise, sir," Bell says, making sure Rain's card is on the bottom of the pile.
Dew takes the stack. "Thank you, Bell."
Bell has found, over a long professional history, that Mister Delmere occasionally benefits from a reminder of what he's built. He has also found that Mister Delmere is considerably more receptive to such reminders when they arrive sideways.
"And how was Delta's new protocol?"
He watches Dew's left eyelid tremor and feels, faintly, a spark of pride.
"Effective."
"Mm." Bell closes his tablet. "I'm heading out to do drop-offs."
"See you tomorrow, Bell."
He leaves before Dew can say anything further, which is, Bell has found, the optimal exit. He does not look back at Mister Delmere standing alone in the lobby of the thing he built.
𖥸
Phantom is already in the front seat when Bell reaches the van.
Of course they are.
Bell gets in and adjusts his mirrors and does not remark on the fact that they have resumed their exact positions as though the intervening excursion was a commercial break.
Phantom has the aux plugged into their phone.
Bell says nothing about the volume.
Phantom turns it to four anyway as he pulls away from the curb.
After a short while Aurora tips sideways against Cirrus's shoulder. Swiss and Mountain are arranged in the back row with the stillness of two ghouls who have reached maximum relaxation. Cumulus, Rain and Mist all look about thirty seconds from sleep, which the city potholes do their duty to prevent.
Phantom changes the song. Something in a language Bell doesn't speak, which is, at this point, a theme.
"What's this one about," Bell says.
Phantom turns to look at him. Slowly.
"Bell," they say, cautiously.
"It's a reasonable question."
"It's a… love song," Phantom says, in the tone of someone who is not, technically, lying.
Bell drives. The bass does something through the door panels.
"Mm," he says.
Phantom faces front again, and Bell can hear the smile in it without looking.
The route home is longer than the route out. Individual drop-offs — Bell has everyone's addresses already mapped in his tablet in the most efficient order, because of course he does — and the van empties by degrees. Mist first, a quiet thank you at her door. Then Swiss and Mountain, Mountain unfolding from the back row while Swiss's hand trails down his arm as he follows. Aurora, Cirrus, and Cumulus in a cluster, Cirrus and Cumulus already drifting toward each other on the walk to the door, Cumulus saying something that makes Cirrus tip her head and laugh. Rain last of the group, lifting two fingers in a brief half-wave from the sidewalk before turning down the block.
Then it's just Phantom in the front seat, a few miles left, and the music still at four.
"You're quieter," Phantom says.
"I'm always quiet."
"You're quieter than your quiet." A beat. "The card okay?"
Bell doesn't look at them.
"The cards were a useful data collection mechanism," he says. "I expect Mister Delmere will find them informative."
They settle back in the seat, feet off the dash for once, quiet in a way that does not feel like running out of things to say.
"I meant mine," Phantom says.
Bell takes the turn. Regulation speed. Both hands on the wheel.
"It was noted," he says.
A small sound from Phantom. Bell is fairly certain it's a smile. He doesn't look. He doesn't need to. He has sufficient data.
"This is you," Bell says, pulling to the curb.
Phantom collects their things unhurriedly, in the specific way of someone who has nowhere else to be and is choosing not to be there yet. They pause with their hand on the door.
"The rental return is three blocks away," Bell says.
Phantom waits.
"Next time I'll just pick you up."
A beat.
Bell is aware, approximately one second after saying this, of precisely what he has said.
Phantom turns back. Their mouth has done something just shy of terrible.
"Next time, huh?" they say.
"For… the shuttle," Bell says.
"Right," Phantom says, in the tone of someone who is not, by any measure, agreeing with him.
They get out. Bell watches the door close. Watches Phantom reach the steps of their building and glance back once, just once, and then he puts the van in drive.
He returns the shuttle, signs the paperwork, and gets in his car. Sits for a moment with his hands in his lap before he drives home at exactly the speed limit.
He decides, as the engine goes quiet in the garage and the building settles around him, that he will not be looking at it tonight.
His hand finds his jacket pocket without being asked. He will not take the card out.
This is, he notes, probably not true.
· · · — 𖥸 · 𓃹 · 𖥸 — · · ·
The teal, Phantom has decided, is better for the shoulders, but the gold does something to their eyes, and both of these things are true simultaneously, which is the fundamental problem with having taste.
"You're not helping," they tell Rain.
Rain's face, small in the corner of the phone screen, tilts slightly. "I said the gold."
"You said it like someone who wants to stop talking about it."
"I do want to stop talking about it."
"That's not help, that's surrender." Phantom spins once — the gold catches the light, which is a point in its favor — then back the other way to check the difference. Rain watches.
This is the arrangement: Phantom performs, Rain observes, and both of them get something out of it that neither would name on a quiet Monday night.
Their phone buzzes.
Phantom doesn't look immediately, could be anything, usually is anything, the group chat runs at a volume that would concern a less seasoned person. But the notification is from an unknown number, and Phantom's heart skips.
They pick up the phone.
This is Bell. Thank you for the feedback.
Phantom's face, caught before they can do anything useful with it, goes quiet. The softness around their eyes, their chin tipping down just slightly, like something landing rather than being taken. It's quick. It's real.
Rain doesn't miss it. Rain never misses it.
"Phantom," he says.
"It's Bell." Their voice comes out genuine, which was not the plan, and then they laugh, good-natured, a little helpless, full of something warm.
They pick the phone up from the dresser and hold it too close to their face. "'Thank you for the feedback,' Rain. He —" Another laugh. "That is so —"
"Yeah," Rain says.
"He texted."
"I see that."
Phantom looks back at their own face in the mirror. The teal, the gold, none of it especially load-bearing anymore. They didn't know until just now how much they were waiting.
"Should I send him my tits in this? Maybe he'll have more of an opinion than you."
"Lucifer's left nut, Phantom."
They both laugh, and Phantom goes quiet again.
"...what do I actually say to him."
Rain looks at them for a moment through the screen. At Phantom's face in the mirror, unguarded, the gold top still catching the light.
Rain and Dew cant fight the pull to become even closer any longer.
I think I reverse-ao3-cursed myself by saying the next chapter would be a while ahaha... anyway this one's pretty much pure smut interspersed with sap; enjoy!
Chapter rating: E
Content warnings: smut, handjobs, grinding
Words: 11,325
Link to full fic with associated tags: Tumblr | AO3
Tag list: @jesters-immunity @ashthewaterghoul @jimothybarnes @zombiequeen777 @kentuckyfriedsatan @papaslittlesunshine @bloodfin <33 I know it's been a while so just lmk if you want me out of your notifs! xox
Read below, or on AO3!
༻△⋆₊˚.⛤△⛤.˚₊⋆△༺
Dew felt like his body was merely a vessel for the lust contained within it. His earlier shower upon returning from Rain’s room had done nothing to relive him of the tension either, not really. Once again, his glowing marks had reminded him of Rain and how he would glow, full bodied and beautiful.
With his eyes closed, the glow almost let him believe it was Rain’s hands rubbing over his skin, exploring, the distorting thrum of water helping him imagine his voice filling the air with his pants. He didn’t set the water to cold this time. He no longer wanted to extinguish the inferno; he wanted to indulge. Dew also knew that his own chilled touch wouldn’t come close to Rain’s, not now he had truly felt it.
He was burning hot everywhere, but nowhere as much as where he ached for Rain’s touch. Even the first ghost of his fingers was intense, lightening shooting along his spine making him gasp and lean on the shower wall for support. The tiles were cool like Rain, firm like his body when he held him.
Dew shivered as he began to move his fingers, water streaming down around him. The echo of his slight gasp warped within the thrum of the shower, letting his imagination begin to run away from him and build the illusion that the sounds came from Rain. He couldn’t fully mistake them though, not now he knew what Rain sounded like, not now he had heard his noises of pleasure breathed directly into his ears, his skin, his mouth. Dew could still fantasise about how exactly he would sound when he came apart beneath him however.
Not that Dew thought he could wait for that much longer. There was little he wanted more than to give Rain everything and take all he would give too.
He shivered despite the hot water as he imagined it, continuing to touch himself with increased desperation. The part of him that liked to feel fully in control of things almost wanted to plan his every move, already feeling overwhelmed with choice just at the ideas filling his mind. Dew wanted to touch, to taste, to take.
Even the best plans would fly away the second he was faced with his water ghoul in the flesh though, Dew knew. He also knew that whatever happened would surely be beyond perfect. It was Rain, after all. The best part of all however was that they had eternity for him to do everything he could possibly want.
With every jerky pass of his hand between his legs Dew felt himself tumbling towards an edge that had never been all that far away even from the second he had stepped into the shower. He wondered in the back of his mind what Rain most wanted from him, before he realised that it was no longer a case of if he wanted but what. Did Rain also feel almost greedy with how completely he desired him too? Dew hoped so.
He wanted everything from Rain. He wanted to feel his large hands holding him, he dreamed about feeling those soft lips and his eager tongue in places other than his mouth. He wanted to taste himself on Rain’s tongue afterwards. He wanted Rain to fuck him, wanted the intense level of closeness that would come from their bodies connecting in such a way.
Dew didn’t last long. He came to the imagined vision of Rain knelt before him, his hands clutching the fire ghoul’s thighs and his eyes fluttering closed as his tongue replaced Dew’s frantic fingers. His knees almost gave out, the wall all that was keeping him from ending up loose-limbed and dazed on the slick floor.
He fell asleep to the same mental image of the water ghoul.
Dew’s dreams that night were full of nothing but Rain. They weren’t especially coherent, more a disjointed montage of every moment that he thought would be on near permanent repeat for the foreseeable future.
Dream-Rain stalking towards him as he had done in the wardrobe department, every part of him oozing a knowing kind of attractiveness.
Then Rain in the new uniforms, coming off stage and removing his helmet just as he had done that day. Rain shaking out his hair and wiping the sweat from his brow just so Dew could catch hold of his face with both hands and pull him down for a kiss.
But also Rain pressing him to his door and the dizzying high Dew had felt as Rain had crocodile-rolled him to push him into the softness of the bed.
The electric feeling of his fingertips on his hips, imagining them exploring elsewhere.
His fingers might be cold but even through many layers of fabric Dew knew Rain’s cock was not. In his dream Dew could ignore the burn in his thighs to grind on it, letting himself burn in a different way. Even just in his subconscious it felt delicious, electric and just so perfect. Dew wanted to do it again, to learn every press of their bodies.
The single roll of his hips down onto Rain had felt so good. He needed to feel it again, more than he even needed air. He needed to lose himself in the feeling, taking the pleasure that Rain would so willingly give him and giving him his own in return. Dew wanted to make him lose control and buck his hips without command again.
Dream-Rain had done more than buck his hips though, especially once he was on top. He had pressed into Dew with them, a chorus of his breathy moans, all overlaid as though Dew’s sleeping mind couldn’t pick out the sweetest, sung against his collarbone. He ground his hard cock down against Dew’s heat, his hands everywhere at once – quite literally as his dream provided no less than a dozen warring sensations, unable to decide where it wanted his touch first.
The clearest ones to focus on had been the hands around his waist, retracing the path his thumbs had taken before. This time though he imagined them pushing higher, burrowing up beneath Dew’s shirt, cold fingers tracing the planes of his stomach and following the ridges of his ribcage.
Another roll of his hips into him, which Dew’s dream played from several angles concurrently, had Dew gasping out too. A shadow fell across him and his eyes that he hadn’t known had fallen shut sprang open. Looming over him was Rain, shirtless – wait when had he lost that, Dew wondered – and now propped up only on shaking arms.
Dew reached up for him, wanting to feel his cool weight on him once more. Instead he ran his hands over the imagined firmness of Rain’s back muscles. Dew wanted to feel them in real life; he had seen him naked several times before but he hardly thought those moments counted. He wanted to see his body with purpose, with the time to properly worship it like he deserved.
He couldn’t think too long about that before Dream-Rain’s many hands began to move again, stroking lower, spreading Dew’s legs apart where his own clothes had magically vanished too. Even in his dream Dew started to lose control only moments later, Rain’s touch however fictional being more than enough to bring his body to the edge again.
“Rain—”
Dew awoke with a start in the middle of the night. His whole body seemed to thrum with the lingering pleasure of his dream, an uncomfortable wetness between his legs. He sighed into the too-warm darkness of his room. He missed Rain beside him, felt his absence as keenly as he had felt the arousal in his dream and its after-effects now.
He didn’t think that he could hold back from Rain much longer. But maybe he didn’t have to.
.▽⋆.*⛧༺▽༻⛧*.⋆▽.
Rain loved Dew’s attention. Trying on their new costumes, all intentionally positioned laces and tailored garments, he knew he was at the centre of said ghoul’s focus. Rain knew he looked good. More specifically though he liked when Dew noticed him, when his eyes found him in a crowd to just stare.
He could also tell that Dew’s gaze went beyond the clothes or even his body though, looking deeper into the very depths of his soul. Dew made him feel beautiful in a whole new way, one he wasn’t entirely familiar with and yet one he yearned to become, for him.
Still, in the moment he chose to preen, showing off a little. Rain made a point of looking Dew up and down too, matching the hunger in the fire ghoul’s eyes. It wasn’t even just for show; he really did look irresistible and it was clear that Dew could at least somewhat see it too. The confidence suited him, Rain thought.
Somehow that was the most attractive part. The way Dew held himself he looked as proud as he did on stage, only now without the pretence of an audience. He looked unafraid to take what he wanted. Rain hoped that was true – there was very little he wouldn’t let Dew have. Every time Dew lost himself kissing him, making his intentions as clear as the finest crystal, Rain thought it was just about the hottest thing on either side of the Pit.
Rain hadn’t given him a chance to ask though, he had pulled him in the direction of his room before they were even fully inside the Den. Dew had gone more than willingly, following with an enthusiasm that mirrored Rain’s own.
Rain had pressed him into his door before he could stop himself, trusting that Dew would have stopped him if he had wanted to. Dew hadn’t though, instead he had made it quite clear that he liked it as he clung to him, matching every ounce of desire pouring from Rain’s lips as he kissed him with a fire that almost scared him. Dew’s enthusiasm only turned Rain on more, his clear interest the greatest aphrodisiac of all.
From his perch atop his hips Dew’s hair had tickled his face, every strand a caress that left Rain feeling almost feral with his urge for him. Holding back was hard, but he needed Dew to see the depth of love in his heart too.
It felt like Dew had set him ablaze though and Rain couldn’t resist rolling on top and pinning him, feeling some primal urge to claim and take. Best of all, Dew had actually reciprocated. It had taken every fibre of Rain’s self control to stay calm when Dew started grinding on him and having the fire ghoul beneath him made it no easier. He thought he might have actually turned to dust if he had had to keep his cool for any longer.
The fire ghoul had made his interest so very clear and it was making Rain’s brain want to turn itself inside out. Yet Dew had also left, walking away with the full knowledge that he was leaving Rain so hard it was starting to hurt. Rain understood him though, in fact he thought he felt the same.
For him even more so than Dew the romance was new. Rain was no stranger to the pleasures of the flesh but this was his first time ever having an emotional connection alongside. This was the first time he wanted to still be beside the ghoul in the morning. Rain thought this strange feeling of so much more than romance might even be more intoxicating than the raw sexual desires coursing through him right now. Everything was so much more than he had ever felt before that he was glad they had the time to live and luxuriate in every new moment.
Rain flopped back onto the bed as the door clicked shut behind Dew. The sheets were still warm from his body pressing into them, making Rain feel almost jealous that they got to hold onto his warmth for a few more minutes.
There was a new heat building in him though, one Dew had lit inside of him, one that was so much more potent than any mere temperature change. This one smouldered, refusing to be ignored, yet which without Dew there would not be easily extinguished. Rain saw no alternative but to give in to it, to let it take him.
He let his hand drift to where he was hard and aching, burrowing into his pants and tentatively giving his cock a squeeze before following with a few test strokes. For a few seconds the relief felt good, but then he felt himself burning up, too worked up and overwrought to enjoy it without Dew there to make it the good kind of burning.
He was too hot. Too frustrated. He needed to cool off.
Rain considered a shower. He was too keyed up to wait for the bath to fill and didn’t want to go into the corridor anyway lest he bump into a packmate. Upon opening his en-suite door he could hear the pipes rattling and immediately knew one of the rest of their pack was probably well into using up the supply of hot water by now, also putting a stop to that idea.
He wondered if it was Dew, also unbearably keyed up and seeking release. Rain imagined him, wet and naked as steam from the shower fogged up the mirror, imagined his quiet gasps echoing off the tile. He thought of Dew’s face twisted in agony, his hand moving furiously between his legs. Rain thought about the arm attached to that hand, glowing blue with his own marks. And yet he was not there to see.
The growl that ripped from Rain’s chest was unexpected, reverberating loudly in the silence of his room.
He couldn’t stay here thinking any longer, imagining all that Dew could be doing just down the hall. Rain needed to cool off. His own hand wasn’t doing anything for him right now, all he felt was the absence of Dew in every stroke of his clammy fist.
Rain hurled himself off the bed, stumbling on shaky legs, and headed straight for the window. Throwing it open he clambered out on long, trembling limbs and bolted for the lake. He couldn’t say why exactly – it wasn’t the point in the lunar cycle where he felt a pull to the water – but he felt an overpowering urge to get lost in its expanse regardless. The heat filling his room not being from Dewdrop was too much.
He shed his clothes along the way, a trail of lost linen leading like breadcrumbs back to the Abbey. By the time he reached the path down to the lake’s edge the faint curve of the moon was already cooling on his bare skin, the earth underfoot pulling him forward. Rain didn’t even walk as far as the dock, heading straight for the water’s edge and walking in as if it were nothing.
The cool tendrils of the water lapped at his calves, then his thighs as he ploughed forward, his skin lighting up at its touch. He shivered as it swallowed his still half-hard cock, the cold doing nothing to dissuade it. The visions of Dew that filled his mind were too strong for that.
Rain kept striding out into the lake, the gentle sway of the water’s surface welcoming the rest of his body home. He looked at his arms and the marks coming to life as he did so, imagining them as Dew’s, picturing the fire ghoul’s blue-adorned arms brushing against his heated skin as he fell apart.
One day he was going to hold Dew to his front and touch him just he imagined doing now, Rain decided. He was going to have him look down and see how the ghoul the marks belonged to knew his body just as well as he did.
For now though, the absence of Dew in his arms was still strong and Rain felt nothing short of jealousy that it was the copy of his marks that the fire ghoul was surely looking at, his tail lashing through the water. He growled again, the sound echoing across the water. Rain wasn’t accustomed to this new possessive streak in himself and he hoped it would die down before he disturbed Dew with it.
Embarrassed now, Rain wondered for the first time if he was actually alone. He listened closely for the sound of anyone surfacing to investigate the noise – it would be just his luck for Mist to interrupt him right now – but its was mid-way through the lunar cycle so the lake remained as abandoned as he had hoped it would be.
Rain dived beneath the water, hoping the cooler temperatures the deeper he went and feel of the water rushing past him would help him to calm down. His gills flared under the water, drinking in deep, and yet nothing quenched the fire. He drifted above the lake bed, barely making out shapes in the darkness, the faint light of the moon hardly making an appearance. That didn’t matter though, Rain knew the lake bed well from his previous time lurking down here.
He hovered for a while, still restless, none of the meditative calm he had felt down there before coming to him now. If anything it was only making him feel more restless instead of distracting him. Rain gave up and kicked off the bottom, immediately feeling better having broken the surface again. He had a brief flashback to the time when he had felt Dew’s presence from within the lake, pulling him back to the dock. It wasn’t the same now, they were on proper speaking terms for starters, but he supposed that the interface between their realms of the lake’s surface was enough to trigger it.
Instead of fighting the pull he let himself float on his back, staring up at the moon while the water gently held him, as soft as any bed. He was sure he must be rivalling its brightness right now, challenging its light with his own luminous glow.
Rain took deep breaths while his tail kept him steady, the cool night air pleasant but still incomparable to the feeling of stolen smoky breaths from Dew’s lungs. Just thinking about kissing him again Rain’s hand began to drift, long cold fingers running over his stomach and down towards his hip.
He paused, thumb rubbing along its v-shaped path still somewhat absently. As he did so all his restlessness began to fade away, the energy beneath his skin coalescing under his fingertips. His cock stirred again, not that it had ever really softened, his fingers wrapping around it without him consciously telling them to. He could almost weep with the feeling, the itch finally scratched as he squeezed slightly.
There was nothing in his mind but Dew as he began to stroke. How hot would his fingers feel around him, he wondered? What about his mouth? That long tongue that had driven him half-mad out on tour?
Rain whimpered slightly at the thought, running his thumb over his already weeping head and almost sinking below the water as he crumpled in on himself at the sudden burst of arousal radiating outwards. The vision of the fire ghoul never left him, his burning red eyes heavy lidded with lust as he looked up at Rain through his long lashes. Rain was torn between imagining his long tongue laving up the side of his now weeping cock and his lips stretching wide around him as he sank lower.
He stroked over himself faster as his vision of Dew began to bob his head, hollowing his cheeks to take him deeper, drool gathering at the corner of his mouth. Rain’s grunts carried across the surface of the lake far into the night but he didn’t care. It felt so good, more than just his own hand. The mental image was a powerful one.
With a few final pumps of his fist Rain finished quickly, almost shocked with how suddenly his orgasm had snuck up on him. He gasped and cried out as it rocked his body, his gills flaring open just beneath the surface of the water to take in more oxygen as he continued to float and take ragged breaths.
The fire was sated for now but Rain knew it was not extinguished. It was only a matter of time until Rain cracked. He dived back under the water and swam for shore.
The next morning Rain slept in. He hadn’t meant to, but he had had a rather late night, truly into the witching hour by the time he had crawled back through his window, the sun already considering her return to the sky. He had rinsed his hair out quickly before falling asleep, and then he had not wanted to awaken from a rather pleasant dream.
Still, he felt a little guilty when he emerged closer to lunchtime and saw Dew’s head immediately flick to the door. Always the early riser, Rain was not surprised to see him up already, although he noticed he did look more tired than normal. Thankfully he was alone.
“Hey there, Sleeping Beauty.” Dew smiled, no shadow of annoyance at his morning having been in any way disrupted. “All the excitement of the new costumes tire you out or something?”
With his knowing smile, Rain felt like he had been busted. Simultaneously he heard a little truth of Dew’s own in the words too, like he was projecting without entirely meaning to.
“Something like that.”
Rain eye was suddenly caught by his shirt folded neatly on the ottoman in the corner, the one he had discarded yesterday. He had grabbed the pants from beneath his window as he climbed back through it but must have somehow missed the cream linen in his sleepy daze as he returned.
He looked back at Dew, feeling his cheeks colour at the realisation that his after-hours activity hadn’t gone totally unnoticed.
“Oh yeah, Mount brought that back this morning.” Dew smirked. “I can’t think how, but he found it on the lawns when he was heading to the greenhouses earlier!”
Rain mumbled noncommittally, but Dew’s knowing grin never faded.
It was a slow rest of the morning and then an even slower afternoon; they had nowhere to be today, their last truly empty day before the rehearsals and preparations for tour would start up again. Dew was clearly tired after their late night, so they had settled to watch a movie in the main common room and have a lazy day. The rest of the pack came and went, most of them having occupied the sofas around them at some point or another by the time Dew eventually fell asleep on a couch.
When the others started drifting off for their own evenings Rain began to feel torn: Dew looked so comfy that he didn’t want to move him, and yet he was sure he would prefer to sleep in a proper bed. It was Aether who finally broke through Rain’s indecision.
“Go on.” The quintessence ghoul spoke softly from the doorway, having just returned to the Den to find the common room occupied only by the pair. “He won’t mind if you take him to bed. Or rather he won’t complain as much as he will if he wakes up with a stiff neck, at least.”
His smile was warm and encouraging, not holding any of the misgivings a small part of Rain always feared were lurking beneath the surface. It was so clear how much love he still held for the fire ghoul, and yet Rain could finally see how that now manifested in a desire for his happiness above all else rather than any kind of jealousy. It felt good to recognise that, Rain thought, he liked knowing that in some sort of way he had the blessing of the one ghoul who came closest to understanding his devotion to Dew.
Careful not to jostle him too much, Rain got to his feet and scooped the fire ghoul up in his arms. Dew was heavier than he looked, the hidden strength within him clear as Rain stumbled slightly as he adjusted his hold on him. It would certainly have been easier to carry him were he not almost entirely dead weight, but Rain wasn’t going to wake him if he didn’t have to, not with him looking so peaceful.
Rain was strong too though, all the years of swimming giving him the power he needed in this very moment to spare his mate from a few seconds of unnecessary walking. He brought Dew to his room, unsure if he would be welcome in his yet, laying him on the bed as gently as he could manage. Dew could finish his nap and then decide if he wanted to return to his own room or not.
Only a small grumble as he relaxed into the pillow gave away that the fire ghoul had been disturbed at all. Rain’s late start and lazy day meant that he wasn’t tired enough to join him in sleep, even with his late night. Still he laid down beside him, content to watch over him until he awoke, not wanting him to be spooked by his unexpected change of scenery.
Maybe it was just because he was asleep in his bed, but looking at Dew was making Rain’s heart squeeze in his chest. As he stared he also started to notice new things about him that weren’t there when he was awake; how all the lines in his face smoothed out, how he breathed with his mouth slightly open, his chest rising and falling evenly. Rain wanted to stroke his hair so he did, finding it as warm as though he had been laying out in the sun rather than just on Rain’s sheets. The same ones he had warmed so thoroughly yesterday, his mind unhelpfully added.
Dew huffed slightly then, making Rain worried that he had woken him. Instead he just seemed to settle in more completely, hand coming to rest closer to Rain as though he sensed him, his tail finding Rain’s and twining the two together. Rain turned off the lamp to let him sleep but he couldn’t resist wrapping an arm over him to cuddle him close.
If Rain was sleepier he would love to fall asleep this way. Still, in the dark Rain fell into a half-doze, still aware of Dew’s breathing but letting his own eyes fall shut in the darkness too.
It wasn’t even that late when Dew woke up, snuffling slightly as he came back to consciousness in a way that made Rain want to study him under a microscope. He settled instead for kissing the dazed, still sleepy expression from his face when his eyes fluttered open.
“Good morning, Sleepyhead.” Rain whispered into the darkness between them.
“You’re one to talk.” Dew said after a loud yawn, sounding very awake suddenly as he reached over to turn the lamp on. “What time did you emerge this morning? Not to mention the sleepwalking.”
“I don’t sleepwalk.” Rain blinked against the sudden light, less awake than Dew now it seemed.
“Well how’d you explain your shirt getting halfway across the grounds then? I know it was the one you were wearing yesterday.” Dew ran a claw up Rain’s sternum, clearly invigorated after his nap. “I recall getting quite up close and personal with it.”
Dew cackled when his sleepy mate didn’t have an answer for him.
“You must’ve been having one hell of a dream at least. What about?”
Rain debated coming clean about his late night lake excursion but decided against it for now. He didn’t think it made him look anything less than crazy and he was at least trying to pretend he had himself and his urges under control.
“You.” He said instead. “I dreamed abut you.”
He wasn’t telling a lie. His dreams upon returning to the Abbey had indeed all featured Dew in one regard or another.
That seemed to take the boisterous wind out of Dew’s sails somewhat, a slightly bashful blush rising in his cheeks as it always did in the face of Rain’s easy honesty.
“I also dreamed about you.” He said, biting his lip and not meeting Rain’s gaze for a moment.
Rain wished he could crawl inside of Dew’s head and get a scene-by-scene replay of what he seemed to be enjoying recalling.
“Oh yeah?” Sensing his chance to turn the tables on Dew, Rain pulled him closer to speak directly into his ear, making him shiver. “What exactly did you dream about, hmm?”
“Not just… that.” Dew coughed, burying his face into Rain’s neck. “Although you in that new costume was definitely in one of them. But you promise not to laugh?”
“I never would.” Rain said with all sincerity, intrigued now even as the potential details of not just that ran laps around his brain.
“I dreamed we were back in the Pit.” Dew started, suddenly hesitant.
Rain shifted his hold, pressing his lips gently to Dew’s hairline as he recognised the seriousness in his voice. This wasn’t a situation for teasing, he sensed.
“We were in my realms, in the village I grew up in, watching a group of kits chase lizards around to guess at their future lives, just like I used to do. For the first time since I was their age, I felt this certainty, having you there with me… The same youthful optimism or whatever you want to call what kits always have when they speak of their future mates, I guess.”
Dew laughed softly.
“It’s the first time those memories haven’t felt sad in a long time. I’ve got my mate now, just as I hoped to from playing those games when I was young.”
“You do.” Rain squeezed him close, the sudden moment of open vulnerability taking him by surprise. “And I’ve got mine.”
“Just gotta hope all those lizards I caught meant something.” Dew wriggled to kiss Rain briefly before looking back at him with bright eyes. “I was really, really good at it, you know. We’re owed a eternal life of joy, I’d say.”
Still, there was a tinge of melancholy in his voice that Rain was pretty certain didn’t come from homesickness or nostalgia. It was one he recognised from within himself. The mourning of traditions skipped, expectations left in the dust. They might both be very aware that their lives were better now than they had any right to expect, but equally they couldn’t help but be sad about the loss of the life they had grown up imagining.
Rain couldn’t sit by the lava pools any more than Dew could swim amongst the corals and caves of his realm. In a way that was a small blessing: he didn’t need to think about the next obvious thing he had missed out on, of being able to introduce a mate to his family. It was simpler to blame everything on Dew’s lack of gills
“It’s alright if you do feel sad still, you know?” Rain offered after a while.
“I know.” Dew said simply. “I don’t think I do right now though. Not really. I’ve got you, right here, after all.”
It was Rain’s turn to kiss him then, sweet and soft and just as perfect as every one that had come before.
Of course not everything he had imagined was impossible. Aside from the more nebulous closeness Rain had always dreamed of, which he now saw was even greater than he had thought possible, there were a few things he always imagined doing with his future mate that were still very achievable.
“Will you let me see your marks again?”
Dew blinked at him in the dim light for a few seconds before sitting up and pushing at his sleeves without questioning Rain’s motives. The cuffs got stuck halfway up his forearms, briefly giving him pause until he seemed to say screw it, grabbing it by the back of the neck andyanking the whole shirt off over his head before tossing it to the side like it had personally wronged him.
His skin appeared to glow in the lamplight, looking almost like he was lit from within. Momentarily distracted from his initial quest, Rain took in the sight of the ghoul before him. He appeared as sacrosanct as one of the idol statues in the Chapel, all smooth, polished gold formed in the image of their creator, sacred markings inlaid as silver scars and turquoise and lapis swirls. How could he have gotten so lucky?
“You’re staring.” Dew’s inflection was unreadable.
“I am.” Rain confirmed when Dew made no move to stop him.
Dew looked like he was torn between shrivelling under his scrutiny and basking in it and was actively choosing to lean into the latter. Rain made sure that was a good decision.
“You’re so beautiful.”
The fire ghoul did finally crack then, tugging at Rain until he was sat in Dew’s lap, long legs akimbo he pulled him down for a kiss. From the tightness with which Dew’s tail had twined around his ankle it was clear he wasn’t fully conscious of its movements.
Rain let Dew take the lead, happy to be distracted from his original goal for now by his own personal demon of temptation. Dew held him tightly, warm hands worming beneath his own sleep shirt that Rain had only worn because of his presence in the first place. As Dew began to tug at the hem, his lips never leaving Rain’s, Rain wondered if he would ever need to wear it again. He hoped not; it irritated his gills.
Undeterred by his own lack of coordination, that part of his brain clearly preoccupied right now, Dew continued to pull questioningly at the shirt. Rain reluctantly broke the kiss, lamenting that Dew hadn’t just deigned to shred the fabric so they need not separate. He crossed his arms in front of him to grab the hem and peel it off, the move elegant and sinuous, directly contrasting with the disinterest with which he then tossed it into the corner of the room.
Dew’s lips had fallen open slightly, pursed so beautifully as he looked at Rain that the water ghoul thought it would be a crime not to kiss them again. So he did. Dew pulled away after only a moment though, steadying hands on Rain’s face holding him softly as he whined in displeasure.
“Beautiful.” Dew echoed, wonderment filling his voice. “Can I?”
He hovered a hand over Rain’s sternum, waiting for permission.
Rain wanted nothing more than to feel the warm callouses of his fingers, and he wondered if he would feel a crick in his neck the next morning from how fast he nodded his head in response.
Far more gently than Rain had grown used to seeing him, Dew ran a hand over his skin. He was tracing his mark, Rain realised, the very action he had gotten distracted from.
“I’m sorry.” Dew whispered, leaning in as though speaking directly to Rain’s heart while his finger continued to run over the burnt scar. “I’m so, so sorry.”
He pressed a shuddering kiss to the branded words.
“Don’t be.” Rain murmured into the top of his head. “I’m not sorry to have it. Not anymore.”
“But…” Dew looked up, his loose hair tickling Rain’s stomach he was so close. “It’s hurt you. It’s so cruel. I was so cruel.”
“You were in pain, and confused.” Rain corrected, tipping Dew’s chin up to look into his burning eyes. “You didn’t know what would happen.”
“I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive myself.” Dew admitted sadly. “Knowing how much I took from you with it…”
“Do you blame me for yours?” Rain asked instead.
“Of course not!” Dew sounded appalled at the thought, gripping onto his forearms and covering the marks almost protectively. “You couldn’t control them.”
“No more than you could control mine.” Rain reasoned. “They’re just part of who we were always meant to be, I think.”
“I wish I could see it that way.” Sighed Dew. “Every time I think of yours I think that if I’d just been more careful it would be different. I knew you were a water ghoul, I should’ve thought to watch my first words around you just in case, I should—”
“I forgive you.” Rain said simply. “No more should’ves. Now, where was I?”
He took one of Dew’s hands in his, interlacing their fingers together and hoping it was enough to distract Dew from his spiral of shameful thoughts.
“May I?” He gestured at Dew’s arms. “I always used to dream of this, before my marks came in.”
Dew nodded, blinking a few times before letting his arm go slack for Rain to hold.
Tenderly, Rain traced a fingertip along the spiral around Dew’s wrist.
“Nothing can come between us now, not with a bond this long and strong. Your lizards were right.”
Rain pressed a kiss to the blue lines before moving on. He couldn’t help but notice the slight glow his damp lips left behind.
“This one, the sunburst pattern.” Rain paused to admire it properly, the blue rays seeming even brighter against Dew’s warm-toned skin. “I never understood why beauty was a sun shape. I always thought that the moon was far more beautiful. But I see it now. The sun in the sky was never the muse. It was you all along. The real sunlight, the greatest beauty of all.”
Dew’s cheeks flushed so richly at Rain’s words, only further illustrating his point.
“Look at you. The sun wishes it could shine as brightly and brilliantly as you.”
“Now you’re just getting silly.” Dew grumbled as Rain once again couldn’t resist kissing his pouty lips.
“The only thing that’s silly is that it took us so long to get here.”
Dew harrumphed, but Rain knew he couldn’t disagree with that.
“And look what it’s taken.” Rain continued his soft trailing touches towards the upper portion of their markings. “Bravery, to come topside, to settle our early misunderstandings. Kindness, to move past the things that have hurt us.”
Dew’s eyes followed his touch with nothing short of reverence.
“I think…” Rain stroked Dew’s whole arm now, the overall tapestry of his marks rather than its individual pieces. “I think maybe these ones in particular were the ones you caught onto for a reason. They belong to you just as much as they do to me.”
“Which ones wouldn’t, then?” Dew dodged the compliment with a speed that would be almost impressive if Rain hadn’t wanted him to know and understand what he already saw to be the truth.
It didn’t matter though, Rain thought. He had eternity to repeat himself.
“If this is our connection. And this is beauty.” Dew’s free hand traced along the arm holding his. “Kindness and bravery…”
Dew’s touch paused at the edges of the marks that were familiar to him. From there he followed a single line up the inside of his elbow, making Rain shiver at his feather-light touch.
“Then what’s this one?” He paused as the line branched out into many smaller paths curling over Rain’s bicep.
“Family.” Rain couldn’t stop the tinge of sadness leaking into his voice. “Close bonds, a large pod. Like I used to have, I suppose.”
“The pack.” Dew said without missing a beat, full of conviction. “They’re our family now.”
Our family. Rain liked the sound of that. He liked it so much, in fact, that it felt as though it immediately grew roots and embedded itself permanently into his psyche.
Dew pressed a kiss to the bottom of the mark, to the stem of the branching pattern. His fingers lingered there for a while before moving on, slowly trailing upwards towards his shoulder. He grazed over the patch of rough scales there and then along the side of Rain’s neck, narrowly missing his gills.
Rain shivered at the feeling, Dew seemingly knowing just how sensitive the skin around them was from the way he smirked. The expression fell as he followed a new line lower, a lazy looping one mostly covered by his own soul mark.
“What’s this one?” He asked quietly. “The one hidden my horrible words.”
“Pride, or more accurately vanity. Conceit, even.” Rain chuckled slightly.
The irony that Dew’s mark, at one point his greatest shame, had also erased so much of his confidence in himself and his appearance was somewhat amusing now that it occurred to him, especially now that with his time topside he had felt it returning in spades.
“I think your mark covering it might be what helped that side of me fade, too.”
“Fade?” Dew barked out a disbelieving laugh. “I’d love to see how you were before this if that’s true!”
“You know, I never really saw that one in myself.” Rain sniffed, partly for show. “There’s nothing wrong with knowing you look good. Besides, everyone always told me I had good marks, why wouldn’t I be pleased about that?”
Dew continued snickering.
“I wasn’t wrong the first time then, was I, about there not being a mark for humble in sight!”
Rain kept pretending to be offended although he wasn’t in the slightest. This seemed to be bringing Dew amusement though and that was what he wanted, more than him lamenting over the soul mark Rain had already grown to make peace with. The distraction didn’t last long however.
“Your marks are all so beautiful, even aside from their meanings,” Dew sighed sadly, “and then there’s mine… How can you forgive me?”
“It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done.” Rain said honestly. “There’s hardly anything to forgive. You weren’t to know a moment of temper would do this to me.”
Dew still looked torn.
“I did used to think the contrast of it was ugly. Like a burn that wouldn’t heal.” Rain admitted, taking Dew’s arm in his once more. “Then I saw your marks, and thought the same contrast was so beautiful. I felt jealous. But now?”
Rain pressed a kiss to Dew’s fingertips and held them to his own mark.
“I’ve come around to it. It’s like a reminder of how far we’ve come, a battle scar to be proud of.”
“It doesn’t seem fair that you have to bear it alone though.” Dew said. “I get your pretty marks with such nice meanings and you get me calling you names.”
“I think you have your own scars to wear.” Rain carefully ghosted a finger over one of the raised lines on Dew’s chest to illustrate his words. “Not these, I don’t mean. But mentally. I think you’re still punishing yourself for my mark, even now.”
Dew’s silence said more than any words could.
“I’ll keep telling you that you don’t have to for as long as we have though.” He rubbed a thumb over the line around Dew’s wrist, interlocking their long fingers together. “And I think that’s going to be a while, so you’d better get used to it!”
Finally, Dew smiled again.
“Besides,” Rain purred, leaning in to nose against Dew’s jaw and breathing words directly into his ear. “It could be worse. It could just say nice ass or something.”
Dew giggled, likely at the tickle of Rain’s words as much as anything.
“You do have a nice ass though.”
“Yeah?”
“I knew it!” Dew launched himself up onto his knees, triumphant, hands resting on Rain’s waist for balance. “My mark erased nothing!”
“Now, who’s to say that was the only place that mark appeared?” Rain teased.
“I’d better take a closer look then.” Dew’s eyes flashed at the challenge.
He pressed a single finger to Rain’s chest, pushing lightly. The water ghoul willingly fell backwards, landing softly before Dew prowled forward on hands and knees. Rain felt his breath catch in his throat as Dew smirked at him with all his fangs.
“So, there’s one under here.” Dew stroked over his mark, leaning in to press a kiss to it.
He ran a hand lower, down the centre of Rain’s sternum slow enough that he could stop him at any time. Rain had no intention of that though. He felt the warmth in Dew’s fingers through the layers of skin, bone and muscle, right inside his heart. It quickened at the heat. Dew followed every slow touch with a kiss.
“How about over here.” He brushed the warmth of his palm over the soft curve of Rain’s right pectoral, squeezing oh so slightly before ghosting a thumb over the nipple.
Rain sucked in a breath, body going stiff as every nerve ending suddenly lit up simultaneously. Dew’s touch was electric, like nothing he had ever felt before. It made him feel like he was floating, consumed by a fuzzy kind of bliss.
Dew paused as he froze though, questioning.
“Please.” Rain gasped desperately. “Don’t stop.”
Slowly, more purposefully, Dew swiped his thumb over the pebbled nub again. Rain heard himself whimper, the quiet sound morphing into a yell as Dew followed the motion with a flat pass of his tongue. Rain hadn’t thought that he could feel his touch any more intensely until he did. His hands flew up to hold Dew against him, hands tangling in his hair.
“Nothing here.” Dew whispered smoothly, his breath cooling his saliva and making Rain shiver. “Better keep looking.”
Slowly, almost painfully so, Dew kissed his way across to the other side of his chest, stroking over the defined muscles and following with his mouth. Rain gave in to the overwhelming feeling, letting the soft mattress absorb him as his eyes fell shut.
Dew shifted to sit up, now fully seated on Rain’s hips, and the water ghoul groaned as he pressed into his stiffening cock. He seemed to be aware of what he was doing, smirking as he wiggled under the guise of getting comfy. Rain’s hands fell to Dew’s waist, needing both to hold on for dear life and to feel more of his heat.
Almost gleefully, Dew smoothed both his hands down Rain’s front, over his abs and settling on the slight softness of his stomach. Every touch was both totally new and yet perfectly familiar. Rain hadn’t felt such a sense of overwhelming completeness since they had first kissed, every nerve in his body singing out in delight.
Continuing his slow exploration Dew trailed a finger along the curve of Rain’s hip bones, following the path of one lower until his sleep shorts stopped him and then tracing along the edge of the waistband to drag back up the other. It was there he found what he was looking for, the meandering swirl leading lazily from his hip down under his pyjamas.
With a triumphant hum Dew shuffled backwards so he could lean in and look closer, bringing his face in until his nose was almost touching him. Rain lamented the loss of his weight on him but didn’t get a chance to dwell on it for long before he could feel Dew’s hot breath grazing his skin.
The fire ghoul pressed a kiss to the mark, searing lips connecting right at the point where it vanished beneath fabric. Dew must have been able to tell how hard he was through his thin sleep shorts; slightly to the right and his chin would have been brushing against the obvious bulge. He made no sign to acknowledge that though, even as Rain let out a shuddering groan.
“I like this side of you too, you know.” Dew murmured against the mark, lips tickling. “The self-confidence.”
“Y-yeah?”
“Yeah. It’s hot.”
Dew kissed back up his torso then, crawling forwards to plant himself back in Rain’s lap as the water ghoul sat back up to meet him. He ground his hips once more as he pulled Rain into a kiss far messier than any that had come before.
Rain could taste the slightest hint of saltwater on Dew’s tongue. He wanted more, he realised, wanted to taste himself more strongly, wanted to taste both himself and Dew, together.
“You’re hot.”
“I think you’ll find—” Rain’s already tenuous grasp on words was interrupted by another circle of Dew’s hips. “That’s you. Fire ghoul.”
Dew’s laugh was filled both with joy and clear lust. It was obvious that everything about this, about Rain, was utterly delightful to him, their teeth almost colliding as he threw himself into another kiss. He was taking full advantage of his position on top of Rain, as well as the water ghoul’s slowly melting brain, to lead them exactly as he saw fit. Hot really was the only word Rain could conjure to describe it.
With Dew distracted but not ceasing his maddening movements on top of where Rain was straining at the seams of his pants, Rain let his own hands begin to explore. He couldn’t reach far, didn’t want to break the kiss to do so nor did he think Dew would be amused by that, so he settled for roaming them over his back, lean but muscular in a way that hinted at his true deceptive strength.
Rain splayed his large hands wide across his skin, moving them slowly as though he were trying to hold every inch of him at once. His palms stroked over his back, his thumbs stretched to feel the curve of his ribcage, his fingers held to the softness of his waist. He tried to commit every part to memory, not because he feared losing Dew but because he couldn’t think of any other act that could come close to immortalising him as fully as he deserved in that moment.
With every pleased noise Dew made Rain grew a little braver, let the tips of his fingers dance a little lower. He dipped them sightly beneath the waistband of Dew’s pyjama pants, a small question Dew could choose to ignore. He didn’t though, wasting no time in wriggling out of them in a distinctly undignified fashion that made Rain want to grasp him tighter and growl.
Uncoordinated but uncaring, Dew returned to straddling Rain, now wearing only a thin pair of cotton boxers. With one less layer of fabric separating them Rain could feel the heat radiating off of Dew even more strongly, but even that was nothing compared to the heat of Dew’s now bare legs pressed on either side of Rain’s, skin on skin.
The fire ghoul couldn’t seem to get comfortable, wriggling and shifting in such a way that Rain couldn’t stop his hips from bucking upwards into Dew. That seemed to have partly been his intention, judging from how Rain felt his lips spread wide in a smirk against him.
“Do that again.” Dew purred.
Rain didn’t need telling twice. More controlled this time he rolled his hips, slowly pressing the stiffness of his aching cock upwards into Dew’s heat. Their resulting groans harmonised, Dew rocking to meet him. They began to find a shaky rhythm as Rain thrust towards him again, hardly able to consider stopping now he had started, especially not with Dew’s feverish breaths filling his mouth.
“Rain—” Dew panted, sounding as affected as Rain felt already. “Feels so— Lucifer!”
His hand flew to where their bodies met and Rain felt rather than saw Dew press his fingers to himself through his underwear, keening and rolling his whole body into his sudden touch. Rain could do nothing but watch, stunned and almost paralysed by lust as the beautiful demon above him became momentarily lost in chasing the sudden spike of pleasure.
As the wave of unassailable desire that had overcome Dew apparently began to ebb, the fire ghoul blinked rapidly as though not entirely sure when he had lost control of his faculties. His eyes, when Rain was finally able to focus on them, were almost entirely black, his pupils blown wide with lust.
Rain leaned back on his hands to take in the full sight before him. Dew looked simply otherworldly, all flushed and glowing skin, heaving chest and increasingly messy hair all conspiring to make Rain almost want to weep.
“Too much?” Dew panted, although the minute gyrations of his hips didn’t stop completely. “Sorry, I didn’t—”
“No.” Rain shook his head hard enough to make himself dizzy, although that was possibly not helped by all the blood in his body currently flowing south. “Never.”
“Can I?” Dew gestured with the hand that had been touching himself, the one not being used for balance, at the large bulge in Rain’s sleep shorts.
The water ghoul didn’t know entirely what he was asking, but he didn’t care. He nodded enthusiastically, delighting in how Dew licked his lips just slightly before leaning forward and kissing him in a way that seemed almost chaste compared to the last few minutes.
For a moment Rain remained in the dark about Dew’s intentions, letting him push him onto his back once more and fuss to ensure he had a pillow behind his head. Rain was grateful for it, not for the comfort of his own neck but rather because the angle gave him the perfect view as Dew shuffled around once more, straddling one of his thighs, one knee placed carefully and tantalisingly between Rain’s legs.
He didn’t have to wait for long to find out as Dew began to grind his hips again, this time against the long line of Rain’s muscular thigh. Rain ached to touch, to be touched, but he was too far gone already to give Dew all the softness and intention he wanted to. Next time, he told himself. He settled instead for running his hands up and down Dew’s ribs, thumbing over the soft skin covering his hip bones. Dew moaned loudly at his touch so he was clearly doing something right.
Then, once Dew had found his rhythm, Rain lost the ability to do more than just hold on for dear life, his tail also twining around Dew’s leg once more like a mooring line in a storm as Dew finally touched him where he needed it most. Slowly, torturously so, the fire ghoul’s burning hot hand came to rest over the bulge in Rain’s pants.
His touch was tentative at first, testing the waters but clearly finding them warm and pleasant as the pressure of his hand grew firmer. Slowly, oh so maddeningly slowly, Dew began rubbing his hand over his clothed cock, fingers dragging over the aching length beneath in a quiet exploration. Dew was barely moving yet it felt like so much.
The fire ghoul’s hands were so hot, their heat mixing with the raging inferno he had lit inside of Rain as the burning pleasure of his touch already began to spread through his body. Rain had never felt such intensity, never wanted this to end even as he sensed the familiar beginnings of his body rising towards an edge. It was still a way off for now which he was grateful for, given that he had never felt it build so quickly before. He wanted to exist in this moment forever, and Dew was still only touching him over his sleep pants.
They didn’t stay that way for long though. Dew paused his grind on Rain’s thigh, the burning heat of his cunt settling in one place for a moment to pull at Rain’s waistband.
“Please?” He asked, voice an octave lower than usual and totally ragged already.
Rain had no words, couldn’t make his vocal chords form complex sounds if his life depended on it. He jerked his chin, hoping it resembled a nod enough for Dew to understand.
It seemed to work. Dew pulled again at the elastic, Rain lifting his hips so Dew could shimmy the shorts just low enough to pull Rain free. He mewled softly as the air of the room hit him, feeling himself throb under Dew’s light fingertips.
His hand was even hotter, bare skin on bare skin. Dew licked his lips again and for a moment Rain wondered if he was going to take him into his mouth. He wasn’t sure he would survive that right now, already far too worked up.
Dew didn’t though, settling for wrapping long, deft fingers around him. He began to stroke, slowly at first. Rain had already been leaking precum and that didn’t stop now, Dew gathering some on an upstroke to ease the glide of his hand.
It was like nothing Rain had ever felt. Dew’s hand was so hot, squeezing him just right. It made Rain wonder how it would feel to be inside Dew, to bury himself in the hot clutch of his body, should he even want that.
When Rain eventually found the wherewithal to open his eyes the sight before him almost sent him over the edge there and then. Dew, head thrown back in pleasure, had his hand in his own pants now as he writhed against Rain’s thigh and his own fingers. Where the fabric pulled low Rain could see the start of a trail of wiry hairs that he was struck with the sudden urge to scratch his blunt glamoured fingernails through.
What really embedded itself in Rain’s brain though were his arms, bearing the marks they now shared. His marks originally, on Dew, with his hands on both himself and Rain. It lit a whole other fire in him, one that was some kind of possessive, that felt like a claim.
He didn’t hear the growl building in his chest until it was too late, until Dew’s eyes were locked onto his and an awed and delighted expression was dawning on his face alongside the slight slackness of his own pleasure. Rain didn’t try and stop himself, instead giving in to his impulses and letting his hands fall to grip Dew’s thighs as they continued to flex beneath his touch, his claws just ghosting over the skin without threatening to puncture it.
Dew was vocalising with every pant now. Rain wasn’t sure he was entirely aware of that either, his movements also getting less coordinated. Rain was so close to the edge himself; he fought to keep his eyes on Dew as the fire within him started to burn out of control.
It was worth it though as he saw Dew tumble headfirst into his own climax first, his whole body seizing up. His thighs clenched around Rain’s, the most agonisingly wonderful noise falling from his lips. His eyes flutter closed and his jaw fell open, the very picture of a ghoul entirely consumed by pleasure.
Even while he rode out the tsunami of ecstasy clearly washing over him he didn’t release his hand from around Rain’s cock, nor did he stop the motion of his fist even as his motions grew jerky. He squeezed slightly harder than he meant to right as Rain’s tip was within his fist, speeding up as he fought not to lose focus despite his own orgasm.
That was all it took for Rain to come crashing over the cliff after him. He didn’t think he had ever come so hard, feeling like Dew was milking his brains out through his cock. His vision went white at the edges, tunnel vision focussing on no one but Dew. Rain was glad he was lying down as he didn’t think his muscles would hold him up otherwise.
Of all the sounds that filtered through the rushing in his ears, Rain had least expected to hear a delighted peal of laughter from Dew. The ghoul wiped his hands on Rain’s pyjamas before collapsing onto his chest, narrowly avoiding Rain’s mess. The only muscles Rain could get to work brought his arms to wrap around him while Dew’s tail forced its way between Dew’s thigh and Rain’s own tail, braiding the two together until Rain’s also got the memo.
“Why haven’t we been doing this for months?” Dew gasped, breathless.
“You tell me!” Rain managed, his own breath coming back to him faster but his heartbeat still refusing to settle.
“You’re so perfect.” He continued. “I cant believe you’re mine.”
“Completely yours.” Dew agreed fervently. “Until the Pit freezes over.”
From the way Dew was suddenly curling up on his chest, voice growing sleepy, it was clear he was about to crash. It was the middle of the night after all: the nap had ruined their sense of time.
Rain rolled them both to the edge of the bed and then to their feet before Dew could actually fall asleep though. His suddenly exhausted brain still knew that they shouldn’t get too comfy while they needed to clean up. Rain sent Dew in the direction of the bathroom with a chaste kiss and a clean pair of boxers while he wriggled out of his own, wiping himself roughly with them before throwing them straight into the laundry and slipping into a fresh pair too. It didn’t escape his attention that much like how the marks on his lower abdomen were still lit up from his own release, the patch of thigh where Dew had been grinding was also glowing faintly.
Before that thought could make him go truly insane, Rain distracted himself by arranging the nest while he waited for Dew. He was so tired he could hardly appreciate the sight of Dew in his clothes when he emerged, face still flushed and the too-big underwear barely hanging onto his narrow hips. Rain had forever to admire that though.
The fire ghoul pulled him back into bed with another kiss and a hand slotting into his with such perfect ease it was as though they were designed to fit together. It was a unspoken decision that Dew stayed the night.
༻△⋆₊˚.⛤△⛤.˚₊⋆△༺
Dew had never really liked anyone touching his marks before, not even Aether. It had come as a surprise to him, therefore, just how much he loved Rain touching them. It was something only the water ghoul could do. Dew began to wonder if maybe it had never felt right before not because of his complicated feelings around them but because they weren’t just a piece of him, but of Rain too. It felt right when Rain touched them, like a missing piece slotting home.
His gentle fingers stroking along Dew’s arm had been electric, the feeling so perfectly new and exciting he could hardly wrap his head around the sensations his nerves were reporting back on. Yet it also felt as natural as if Rain were following paths carves centuries prior, his finger settling into well-worn and familiar grooves.
Even greater than the physical sensations though was the way the reverence with which Rain acted about them made him feel. He treated them so tenderly and yet with the lazy familiarity of having seen them every day of his life, quite literally knowing them like the back of his hand. The way he talked about them with Dew granted the fire ghoul an almost powerful feeling in the equality with which he treated the marks both on his body and on Dew’s, acting like Dew’s arms were an extension of his own body.
Of course what had really made Dew aware of his own power had been making Rain fall apart beneath him. Everything about Rain losing himself to his pleasure at Dew’s hands had been simply beautiful, there was no other word for it. Every pained expression of ecstasy, every tiny sound, each jerk of his hips and agonising moment of pleasure all brought about by Dew. He couldn’t believe he was so lucky that he got to be the catalyst for every one.
His water ghoul truly was an exquisite miracle, in every way. Dew had seen his body before, but never had he felt like he was allowed to truly look at him until now, let alone with the intention of following his gaze with his reverent touch. He looked like the figures artists made statues out of, muses so beautiful that immortalising them in stone seemed a wholly inadequate response.
Even that paled in comparison to the beauty within him though. Every word, every look, every action; they all served to make it abundantly clear just how special a ghoul Rain was, how much compassion and adoration lived within his heart. A reluctant part of Dew’s brain, hurt by a lifetime of misunderstanding, thought it impossible that he could truly deserve Rain and yet he strove to convince Dew of it with every breath.
The trust Rain put in him, the complete and total handing over of control, all of it was intoxicating. Dew didn’t think he would ever get enough of it.
He hadn’t planned for things to pan out how they did when he had woken after his nap to find Rain half dozing beside him. he had thought they would just kiss for a while, their new favourite activity, and then maybe fall back asleep in one another’s arms. Yet kisses had turned to exploratory touches and before Dew knew it he had Rain’s clothed cock weighing heavy in his hand and absolutely no desire to let go.
Even his dick was beautiful, Dew thought, aware that he might be going slightly mad with his adoration of the water ghoul. His smooth head had been flushed such a rich shade of purple it had made his mouth water just looking at it, made it do so now at the memory. He wanted to taste, to seal his lips around it and feel the softness of its skin against them as he sunk down until he felt him at the back of his throat and could kiss his lips to the scales around its base.
Rain’s pyjamas had been in the way, blocking him from truly taking in the patch of iridescent, rainbow flecks that speckled his skin in place of hair. He was sure they must be as beautiful as the scales dotting the rest of him, but he hadn’t wanted to waste time on removing his shorts, not when it would have taken up precious seconds where he could have been stroking him instead. Next time he was just going to shred them, Dew decided.
The same went for his own boxers, Dew settling for shoving a hand down them in lieu of having to cease his grinding on Rain’s sculpted thigh for even a second. No more waiting, he decided. He wanted everything, and anything that stood in his way was merely collateral damage.
Rain’s body might run quite a bit colder than Dew’s, but he knew now that his cock was definitely not cold in his hand. It had pulsed hot under his fingers, eager and leaking.
Dew had come so quickly, grinding on Rain with his hand down his pants as he stroked over Rain, the feeling of bringing the water ghoul to the edge with him surely not helping his own stamina. There was just something about Rain that made everything feel so much more intense. Everywhere he touched him was like unlocking a new place to feel pleasure, his whole body an unending erogenous zone.
He wanted so badly to feel Rain’s touch too. Dew knew he hadn’t given him a chance to before as he had too much fun enjoying the power trip of reducing him to a quivering mess, melting his brain out through his ears. Next time Dew would show more patience, he promised himself. He would give Rain his own chance to explore his body, would let himself enjoy the water ghoul’s undoubtedly worshipful touch without getting greedy.
Dew fell asleep re-running the last hour through his head, Rain already snoring softly in his arms. He couldn’t think of anywhere he would rather be.
Rain and Dew cant fight the pull to become even closer any longer.
I think I reverse-ao3-cursed myself by saying the next chapter would be a while ahaha... anyway this one's pretty much pure smut interspersed with sap; enjoy!
Chapter rating: E
Content warnings: smut, handjobs, grinding
Words: 11,325
Link to full fic with associated tags: Tumblr | AO3
Tag list: @jesters-immunity @ashthewaterghoul @jimothybarnes @zombiequeen777 @kentuckyfriedsatan @papaslittlesunshine @bloodfin <33 I know it's been a while so just lmk if you want me out of your notifs! xox
Read below, or on AO3!
༻△⋆₊˚.⛤△⛤.˚₊⋆△༺
Dew felt like his body was merely a vessel for the lust contained within it. His earlier shower upon returning from Rain’s room had done nothing to relive him of the tension either, not really. Once again, his glowing marks had reminded him of Rain and how he would glow, full bodied and beautiful.
With his eyes closed, the glow almost let him believe it was Rain’s hands rubbing over his skin, exploring, the distorting thrum of water helping him imagine his voice filling the air with his pants. He didn’t set the water to cold this time. He no longer wanted to extinguish the inferno; he wanted to indulge. Dew also knew that his own chilled touch wouldn’t come close to Rain’s, not now he had truly felt it.
He was burning hot everywhere, but nowhere as much as where he ached for Rain’s touch. Even the first ghost of his fingers was intense, lightening shooting along his spine making him gasp and lean on the shower wall for support. The tiles were cool like Rain, firm like his body when he held him.
Dew shivered as he began to move his fingers, water streaming down around him. The echo of his slight gasp warped within the thrum of the shower, letting his imagination begin to run away from him and build the illusion that the sounds came from Rain. He couldn’t fully mistake them though, not now he knew what Rain sounded like, not now he had heard his noises of pleasure breathed directly into his ears, his skin, his mouth. Dew could still fantasise about how exactly he would sound when he came apart beneath him however.
Not that Dew thought he could wait for that much longer. There was little he wanted more than to give Rain everything and take all he would give too.
He shivered despite the hot water as he imagined it, continuing to touch himself with increased desperation. The part of him that liked to feel fully in control of things almost wanted to plan his every move, already feeling overwhelmed with choice just at the ideas filling his mind. Dew wanted to touch, to taste, to take.
Even the best plans would fly away the second he was faced with his water ghoul in the flesh though, Dew knew. He also knew that whatever happened would surely be beyond perfect. It was Rain, after all. The best part of all however was that they had eternity for him to do everything he could possibly want.
With every jerky pass of his hand between his legs Dew felt himself tumbling towards an edge that had never been all that far away even from the second he had stepped into the shower. He wondered in the back of his mind what Rain most wanted from him, before he realised that it was no longer a case of if he wanted but what. Did Rain also feel almost greedy with how completely he desired him too? Dew hoped so.
He wanted everything from Rain. He wanted to feel his large hands holding him, he dreamed about feeling those soft lips and his eager tongue in places other than his mouth. He wanted to taste himself on Rain’s tongue afterwards. He wanted Rain to fuck him, wanted the intense level of closeness that would come from their bodies connecting in such a way.
Dew didn’t last long. He came to the imagined vision of Rain knelt before him, his hands clutching the fire ghoul’s thighs and his eyes fluttering closed as his tongue replaced Dew’s frantic fingers. His knees almost gave out, the wall all that was keeping him from ending up loose-limbed and dazed on the slick floor.
He fell asleep to the same mental image of the water ghoul.
Dew’s dreams that night were full of nothing but Rain. They weren’t especially coherent, more a disjointed montage of every moment that he thought would be on near permanent repeat for the foreseeable future.
Dream-Rain stalking towards him as he had done in the wardrobe department, every part of him oozing a knowing kind of attractiveness.
Then Rain in the new uniforms, coming off stage and removing his helmet just as he had done that day. Rain shaking out his hair and wiping the sweat from his brow just so Dew could catch hold of his face with both hands and pull him down for a kiss.
But also Rain pressing him to his door and the dizzying high Dew had felt as Rain had crocodile-rolled him to push him into the softness of the bed.
The electric feeling of his fingertips on his hips, imagining them exploring elsewhere.
His fingers might be cold but even through many layers of fabric Dew knew Rain’s cock was not. In his dream Dew could ignore the burn in his thighs to grind on it, letting himself burn in a different way. Even just in his subconscious it felt delicious, electric and just so perfect. Dew wanted to do it again, to learn every press of their bodies.
The single roll of his hips down onto Rain had felt so good. He needed to feel it again, more than he even needed air. He needed to lose himself in the feeling, taking the pleasure that Rain would so willingly give him and giving him his own in return. Dew wanted to make him lose control and buck his hips without command again.
Dream-Rain had done more than buck his hips though, especially once he was on top. He had pressed into Dew with them, a chorus of his breathy moans, all overlaid as though Dew’s sleeping mind couldn’t pick out the sweetest, sung against his collarbone. He ground his hard cock down against Dew’s heat, his hands everywhere at once – quite literally as his dream provided no less than a dozen warring sensations, unable to decide where it wanted his touch first.
The clearest ones to focus on had been the hands around his waist, retracing the path his thumbs had taken before. This time though he imagined them pushing higher, burrowing up beneath Dew’s shirt, cold fingers tracing the planes of his stomach and following the ridges of his ribcage.
Another roll of his hips into him, which Dew’s dream played from several angles concurrently, had Dew gasping out too. A shadow fell across him and his eyes that he hadn’t known had fallen shut sprang open. Looming over him was Rain, shirtless – wait when had he lost that, Dew wondered – and now propped up only on shaking arms.
Dew reached up for him, wanting to feel his cool weight on him once more. Instead he ran his hands over the imagined firmness of Rain’s back muscles. Dew wanted to feel them in real life; he had seen him naked several times before but he hardly thought those moments counted. He wanted to see his body with purpose, with the time to properly worship it like he deserved.
He couldn’t think too long about that before Dream-Rain’s many hands began to move again, stroking lower, spreading Dew’s legs apart where his own clothes had magically vanished too. Even in his dream Dew started to lose control only moments later, Rain’s touch however fictional being more than enough to bring his body to the edge again.
“Rain—”
Dew awoke with a start in the middle of the night. His whole body seemed to thrum with the lingering pleasure of his dream, an uncomfortable wetness between his legs. He sighed into the too-warm darkness of his room. He missed Rain beside him, felt his absence as keenly as he had felt the arousal in his dream and its after-effects now.
He didn’t think that he could hold back from Rain much longer. But maybe he didn’t have to.
.▽⋆.*⛧༺▽༻⛧*.⋆▽.
Rain loved Dew’s attention. Trying on their new costumes, all intentionally positioned laces and tailored garments, he knew he was at the centre of said ghoul’s focus. Rain knew he looked good. More specifically though he liked when Dew noticed him, when his eyes found him in a crowd to just stare.
He could also tell that Dew’s gaze went beyond the clothes or even his body though, looking deeper into the very depths of his soul. Dew made him feel beautiful in a whole new way, one he wasn’t entirely familiar with and yet one he yearned to become, for him.
Still, in the moment he chose to preen, showing off a little. Rain made a point of looking Dew up and down too, matching the hunger in the fire ghoul’s eyes. It wasn’t even just for show; he really did look irresistible and it was clear that Dew could at least somewhat see it too. The confidence suited him, Rain thought.
Somehow that was the most attractive part. The way Dew held himself he looked as proud as he did on stage, only now without the pretence of an audience. He looked unafraid to take what he wanted. Rain hoped that was true – there was very little he wouldn’t let Dew have. Every time Dew lost himself kissing him, making his intentions as clear as the finest crystal, Rain thought it was just about the hottest thing on either side of the Pit.
Rain hadn’t given him a chance to ask though, he had pulled him in the direction of his room before they were even fully inside the Den. Dew had gone more than willingly, following with an enthusiasm that mirrored Rain’s own.
Rain had pressed him into his door before he could stop himself, trusting that Dew would have stopped him if he had wanted to. Dew hadn’t though, instead he had made it quite clear that he liked it as he clung to him, matching every ounce of desire pouring from Rain’s lips as he kissed him with a fire that almost scared him. Dew’s enthusiasm only turned Rain on more, his clear interest the greatest aphrodisiac of all.
From his perch atop his hips Dew’s hair had tickled his face, every strand a caress that left Rain feeling almost feral with his urge for him. Holding back was hard, but he needed Dew to see the depth of love in his heart too.
It felt like Dew had set him ablaze though and Rain couldn’t resist rolling on top and pinning him, feeling some primal urge to claim and take. Best of all, Dew had actually reciprocated. It had taken every fibre of Rain’s self control to stay calm when Dew started grinding on him and having the fire ghoul beneath him made it no easier. He thought he might have actually turned to dust if he had had to keep his cool for any longer.
The fire ghoul had made his interest so very clear and it was making Rain’s brain want to turn itself inside out. Yet Dew had also left, walking away with the full knowledge that he was leaving Rain so hard it was starting to hurt. Rain understood him though, in fact he thought he felt the same.
For him even more so than Dew the romance was new. Rain was no stranger to the pleasures of the flesh but this was his first time ever having an emotional connection alongside. This was the first time he wanted to still be beside the ghoul in the morning. Rain thought this strange feeling of so much more than romance might even be more intoxicating than the raw sexual desires coursing through him right now. Everything was so much more than he had ever felt before that he was glad they had the time to live and luxuriate in every new moment.
Rain flopped back onto the bed as the door clicked shut behind Dew. The sheets were still warm from his body pressing into them, making Rain feel almost jealous that they got to hold onto his warmth for a few more minutes.
There was a new heat building in him though, one Dew had lit inside of him, one that was so much more potent than any mere temperature change. This one smouldered, refusing to be ignored, yet which without Dew there would not be easily extinguished. Rain saw no alternative but to give in to it, to let it take him.
He let his hand drift to where he was hard and aching, burrowing into his pants and tentatively giving his cock a squeeze before following with a few test strokes. For a few seconds the relief felt good, but then he felt himself burning up, too worked up and overwrought to enjoy it without Dew there to make it the good kind of burning.
He was too hot. Too frustrated. He needed to cool off.
Rain considered a shower. He was too keyed up to wait for the bath to fill and didn’t want to go into the corridor anyway lest he bump into a packmate. Upon opening his en-suite door he could hear the pipes rattling and immediately knew one of the rest of their pack was probably well into using up the supply of hot water by now, also putting a stop to that idea.
He wondered if it was Dew, also unbearably keyed up and seeking release. Rain imagined him, wet and naked as steam from the shower fogged up the mirror, imagined his quiet gasps echoing off the tile. He thought of Dew’s face twisted in agony, his hand moving furiously between his legs. Rain thought about the arm attached to that hand, glowing blue with his own marks. And yet he was not there to see.
The growl that ripped from Rain’s chest was unexpected, reverberating loudly in the silence of his room.
He couldn’t stay here thinking any longer, imagining all that Dew could be doing just down the hall. Rain needed to cool off. His own hand wasn’t doing anything for him right now, all he felt was the absence of Dew in every stroke of his clammy fist.
Rain hurled himself off the bed, stumbling on shaky legs, and headed straight for the window. Throwing it open he clambered out on long, trembling limbs and bolted for the lake. He couldn’t say why exactly – it wasn’t the point in the lunar cycle where he felt a pull to the water – but he felt an overpowering urge to get lost in its expanse regardless. The heat filling his room not being from Dewdrop was too much.
He shed his clothes along the way, a trail of lost linen leading like breadcrumbs back to the Abbey. By the time he reached the path down to the lake’s edge the faint curve of the moon was already cooling on his bare skin, the earth underfoot pulling him forward. Rain didn’t even walk as far as the dock, heading straight for the water’s edge and walking in as if it were nothing.
The cool tendrils of the water lapped at his calves, then his thighs as he ploughed forward, his skin lighting up at its touch. He shivered as it swallowed his still half-hard cock, the cold doing nothing to dissuade it. The visions of Dew that filled his mind were too strong for that.
Rain kept striding out into the lake, the gentle sway of the water’s surface welcoming the rest of his body home. He looked at his arms and the marks coming to life as he did so, imagining them as Dew’s, picturing the fire ghoul’s blue-adorned arms brushing against his heated skin as he fell apart.
One day he was going to hold Dew to his front and touch him just he imagined doing now, Rain decided. He was going to have him look down and see how the ghoul the marks belonged to knew his body just as well as he did.
For now though, the absence of Dew in his arms was still strong and Rain felt nothing short of jealousy that it was the copy of his marks that the fire ghoul was surely looking at, his tail lashing through the water. He growled again, the sound echoing across the water. Rain wasn’t accustomed to this new possessive streak in himself and he hoped it would die down before he disturbed Dew with it.
Embarrassed now, Rain wondered for the first time if he was actually alone. He listened closely for the sound of anyone surfacing to investigate the noise – it would be just his luck for Mist to interrupt him right now – but its was mid-way through the lunar cycle so the lake remained as abandoned as he had hoped it would be.
Rain dived beneath the water, hoping the cooler temperatures the deeper he went and feel of the water rushing past him would help him to calm down. His gills flared under the water, drinking in deep, and yet nothing quenched the fire. He drifted above the lake bed, barely making out shapes in the darkness, the faint light of the moon hardly making an appearance. That didn’t matter though, Rain knew the lake bed well from his previous time lurking down here.
He hovered for a while, still restless, none of the meditative calm he had felt down there before coming to him now. If anything it was only making him feel more restless instead of distracting him. Rain gave up and kicked off the bottom, immediately feeling better having broken the surface again. He had a brief flashback to the time when he had felt Dew’s presence from within the lake, pulling him back to the dock. It wasn’t the same now, they were on proper speaking terms for starters, but he supposed that the interface between their realms of the lake’s surface was enough to trigger it.
Instead of fighting the pull he let himself float on his back, staring up at the moon while the water gently held him, as soft as any bed. He was sure he must be rivalling its brightness right now, challenging its light with his own luminous glow.
Rain took deep breaths while his tail kept him steady, the cool night air pleasant but still incomparable to the feeling of stolen smoky breaths from Dew’s lungs. Just thinking about kissing him again Rain’s hand began to drift, long cold fingers running over his stomach and down towards his hip.
He paused, thumb rubbing along its v-shaped path still somewhat absently. As he did so all his restlessness began to fade away, the energy beneath his skin coalescing under his fingertips. His cock stirred again, not that it had ever really softened, his fingers wrapping around it without him consciously telling them to. He could almost weep with the feeling, the itch finally scratched as he squeezed slightly.
There was nothing in his mind but Dew as he began to stroke. How hot would his fingers feel around him, he wondered? What about his mouth? That long tongue that had driven him half-mad out on tour?
Rain whimpered slightly at the thought, running his thumb over his already weeping head and almost sinking below the water as he crumpled in on himself at the sudden burst of arousal radiating outwards. The vision of the fire ghoul never left him, his burning red eyes heavy lidded with lust as he looked up at Rain through his long lashes. Rain was torn between imagining his long tongue laving up the side of his now weeping cock and his lips stretching wide around him as he sank lower.
He stroked over himself faster as his vision of Dew began to bob his head, hollowing his cheeks to take him deeper, drool gathering at the corner of his mouth. Rain’s grunts carried across the surface of the lake far into the night but he didn’t care. It felt so good, more than just his own hand. The mental image was a powerful one.
With a few final pumps of his fist Rain finished quickly, almost shocked with how suddenly his orgasm had snuck up on him. He gasped and cried out as it rocked his body, his gills flaring open just beneath the surface of the water to take in more oxygen as he continued to float and take ragged breaths.
The fire was sated for now but Rain knew it was not extinguished. It was only a matter of time until Rain cracked. He dived back under the water and swam for shore.
The next morning Rain slept in. He hadn’t meant to, but he had had a rather late night, truly into the witching hour by the time he had crawled back through his window, the sun already considering her return to the sky. He had rinsed his hair out quickly before falling asleep, and then he had not wanted to awaken from a rather pleasant dream.
Still, he felt a little guilty when he emerged closer to lunchtime and saw Dew’s head immediately flick to the door. Always the early riser, Rain was not surprised to see him up already, although he noticed he did look more tired than normal. Thankfully he was alone.
“Hey there, Sleeping Beauty.” Dew smiled, no shadow of annoyance at his morning having been in any way disrupted. “All the excitement of the new costumes tire you out or something?”
With his knowing smile, Rain felt like he had been busted. Simultaneously he heard a little truth of Dew’s own in the words too, like he was projecting without entirely meaning to.
“Something like that.”
Rain eye was suddenly caught by his shirt folded neatly on the ottoman in the corner, the one he had discarded yesterday. He had grabbed the pants from beneath his window as he climbed back through it but must have somehow missed the cream linen in his sleepy daze as he returned.
He looked back at Dew, feeling his cheeks colour at the realisation that his after-hours activity hadn’t gone totally unnoticed.
“Oh yeah, Mount brought that back this morning.” Dew smirked. “I can’t think how, but he found it on the lawns when he was heading to the greenhouses earlier!”
Rain mumbled noncommittally, but Dew’s knowing grin never faded.
It was a slow rest of the morning and then an even slower afternoon; they had nowhere to be today, their last truly empty day before the rehearsals and preparations for tour would start up again. Dew was clearly tired after their late night, so they had settled to watch a movie in the main common room and have a lazy day. The rest of the pack came and went, most of them having occupied the sofas around them at some point or another by the time Dew eventually fell asleep on a couch.
When the others started drifting off for their own evenings Rain began to feel torn: Dew looked so comfy that he didn’t want to move him, and yet he was sure he would prefer to sleep in a proper bed. It was Aether who finally broke through Rain’s indecision.
“Go on.” The quintessence ghoul spoke softly from the doorway, having just returned to the Den to find the common room occupied only by the pair. “He won’t mind if you take him to bed. Or rather he won’t complain as much as he will if he wakes up with a stiff neck, at least.”
His smile was warm and encouraging, not holding any of the misgivings a small part of Rain always feared were lurking beneath the surface. It was so clear how much love he still held for the fire ghoul, and yet Rain could finally see how that now manifested in a desire for his happiness above all else rather than any kind of jealousy. It felt good to recognise that, Rain thought, he liked knowing that in some sort of way he had the blessing of the one ghoul who came closest to understanding his devotion to Dew.
Careful not to jostle him too much, Rain got to his feet and scooped the fire ghoul up in his arms. Dew was heavier than he looked, the hidden strength within him clear as Rain stumbled slightly as he adjusted his hold on him. It would certainly have been easier to carry him were he not almost entirely dead weight, but Rain wasn’t going to wake him if he didn’t have to, not with him looking so peaceful.
Rain was strong too though, all the years of swimming giving him the power he needed in this very moment to spare his mate from a few seconds of unnecessary walking. He brought Dew to his room, unsure if he would be welcome in his yet, laying him on the bed as gently as he could manage. Dew could finish his nap and then decide if he wanted to return to his own room or not.
Only a small grumble as he relaxed into the pillow gave away that the fire ghoul had been disturbed at all. Rain’s late start and lazy day meant that he wasn’t tired enough to join him in sleep, even with his late night. Still he laid down beside him, content to watch over him until he awoke, not wanting him to be spooked by his unexpected change of scenery.
Maybe it was just because he was asleep in his bed, but looking at Dew was making Rain’s heart squeeze in his chest. As he stared he also started to notice new things about him that weren’t there when he was awake; how all the lines in his face smoothed out, how he breathed with his mouth slightly open, his chest rising and falling evenly. Rain wanted to stroke his hair so he did, finding it as warm as though he had been laying out in the sun rather than just on Rain’s sheets. The same ones he had warmed so thoroughly yesterday, his mind unhelpfully added.
Dew huffed slightly then, making Rain worried that he had woken him. Instead he just seemed to settle in more completely, hand coming to rest closer to Rain as though he sensed him, his tail finding Rain’s and twining the two together. Rain turned off the lamp to let him sleep but he couldn’t resist wrapping an arm over him to cuddle him close.
If Rain was sleepier he would love to fall asleep this way. Still, in the dark Rain fell into a half-doze, still aware of Dew’s breathing but letting his own eyes fall shut in the darkness too.
It wasn’t even that late when Dew woke up, snuffling slightly as he came back to consciousness in a way that made Rain want to study him under a microscope. He settled instead for kissing the dazed, still sleepy expression from his face when his eyes fluttered open.
“Good morning, Sleepyhead.” Rain whispered into the darkness between them.
“You’re one to talk.” Dew said after a loud yawn, sounding very awake suddenly as he reached over to turn the lamp on. “What time did you emerge this morning? Not to mention the sleepwalking.”
“I don’t sleepwalk.” Rain blinked against the sudden light, less awake than Dew now it seemed.
“Well how’d you explain your shirt getting halfway across the grounds then? I know it was the one you were wearing yesterday.” Dew ran a claw up Rain’s sternum, clearly invigorated after his nap. “I recall getting quite up close and personal with it.”
Dew cackled when his sleepy mate didn’t have an answer for him.
“You must’ve been having one hell of a dream at least. What about?”
Rain debated coming clean about his late night lake excursion but decided against it for now. He didn’t think it made him look anything less than crazy and he was at least trying to pretend he had himself and his urges under control.
“You.” He said instead. “I dreamed abut you.”
He wasn’t telling a lie. His dreams upon returning to the Abbey had indeed all featured Dew in one regard or another.
That seemed to take the boisterous wind out of Dew’s sails somewhat, a slightly bashful blush rising in his cheeks as it always did in the face of Rain’s easy honesty.
“I also dreamed about you.” He said, biting his lip and not meeting Rain’s gaze for a moment.
Rain wished he could crawl inside of Dew’s head and get a scene-by-scene replay of what he seemed to be enjoying recalling.
“Oh yeah?” Sensing his chance to turn the tables on Dew, Rain pulled him closer to speak directly into his ear, making him shiver. “What exactly did you dream about, hmm?”
“Not just… that.” Dew coughed, burying his face into Rain’s neck. “Although you in that new costume was definitely in one of them. But you promise not to laugh?”
“I never would.” Rain said with all sincerity, intrigued now even as the potential details of not just that ran laps around his brain.
“I dreamed we were back in the Pit.” Dew started, suddenly hesitant.
Rain shifted his hold, pressing his lips gently to Dew’s hairline as he recognised the seriousness in his voice. This wasn’t a situation for teasing, he sensed.
“We were in my realms, in the village I grew up in, watching a group of kits chase lizards around to guess at their future lives, just like I used to do. For the first time since I was their age, I felt this certainty, having you there with me… The same youthful optimism or whatever you want to call what kits always have when they speak of their future mates, I guess.”
Dew laughed softly.
“It’s the first time those memories haven’t felt sad in a long time. I’ve got my mate now, just as I hoped to from playing those games when I was young.”
“You do.” Rain squeezed him close, the sudden moment of open vulnerability taking him by surprise. “And I’ve got mine.”
“Just gotta hope all those lizards I caught meant something.” Dew wriggled to kiss Rain briefly before looking back at him with bright eyes. “I was really, really good at it, you know. We’re owed a eternal life of joy, I’d say.”
Still, there was a tinge of melancholy in his voice that Rain was pretty certain didn’t come from homesickness or nostalgia. It was one he recognised from within himself. The mourning of traditions skipped, expectations left in the dust. They might both be very aware that their lives were better now than they had any right to expect, but equally they couldn’t help but be sad about the loss of the life they had grown up imagining.
Rain couldn’t sit by the lava pools any more than Dew could swim amongst the corals and caves of his realm. In a way that was a small blessing: he didn’t need to think about the next obvious thing he had missed out on, of being able to introduce a mate to his family. It was simpler to blame everything on Dew’s lack of gills
“It’s alright if you do feel sad still, you know?” Rain offered after a while.
“I know.” Dew said simply. “I don’t think I do right now though. Not really. I’ve got you, right here, after all.”
It was Rain’s turn to kiss him then, sweet and soft and just as perfect as every one that had come before.
Of course not everything he had imagined was impossible. Aside from the more nebulous closeness Rain had always dreamed of, which he now saw was even greater than he had thought possible, there were a few things he always imagined doing with his future mate that were still very achievable.
“Will you let me see your marks again?”
Dew blinked at him in the dim light for a few seconds before sitting up and pushing at his sleeves without questioning Rain’s motives. The cuffs got stuck halfway up his forearms, briefly giving him pause until he seemed to say screw it, grabbing it by the back of the neck andyanking the whole shirt off over his head before tossing it to the side like it had personally wronged him.
His skin appeared to glow in the lamplight, looking almost like he was lit from within. Momentarily distracted from his initial quest, Rain took in the sight of the ghoul before him. He appeared as sacrosanct as one of the idol statues in the Chapel, all smooth, polished gold formed in the image of their creator, sacred markings inlaid as silver scars and turquoise and lapis swirls. How could he have gotten so lucky?
“You’re staring.” Dew’s inflection was unreadable.
“I am.” Rain confirmed when Dew made no move to stop him.
Dew looked like he was torn between shrivelling under his scrutiny and basking in it and was actively choosing to lean into the latter. Rain made sure that was a good decision.
“You’re so beautiful.”
The fire ghoul did finally crack then, tugging at Rain until he was sat in Dew’s lap, long legs akimbo he pulled him down for a kiss. From the tightness with which Dew’s tail had twined around his ankle it was clear he wasn’t fully conscious of its movements.
Rain let Dew take the lead, happy to be distracted from his original goal for now by his own personal demon of temptation. Dew held him tightly, warm hands worming beneath his own sleep shirt that Rain had only worn because of his presence in the first place. As Dew began to tug at the hem, his lips never leaving Rain’s, Rain wondered if he would ever need to wear it again. He hoped not; it irritated his gills.
Undeterred by his own lack of coordination, that part of his brain clearly preoccupied right now, Dew continued to pull questioningly at the shirt. Rain reluctantly broke the kiss, lamenting that Dew hadn’t just deigned to shred the fabric so they need not separate. He crossed his arms in front of him to grab the hem and peel it off, the move elegant and sinuous, directly contrasting with the disinterest with which he then tossed it into the corner of the room.
Dew’s lips had fallen open slightly, pursed so beautifully as he looked at Rain that the water ghoul thought it would be a crime not to kiss them again. So he did. Dew pulled away after only a moment though, steadying hands on Rain’s face holding him softly as he whined in displeasure.
“Beautiful.” Dew echoed, wonderment filling his voice. “Can I?”
He hovered a hand over Rain’s sternum, waiting for permission.
Rain wanted nothing more than to feel the warm callouses of his fingers, and he wondered if he would feel a crick in his neck the next morning from how fast he nodded his head in response.
Far more gently than Rain had grown used to seeing him, Dew ran a hand over his skin. He was tracing his mark, Rain realised, the very action he had gotten distracted from.
“I’m sorry.” Dew whispered, leaning in as though speaking directly to Rain’s heart while his finger continued to run over the burnt scar. “I’m so, so sorry.”
He pressed a shuddering kiss to the branded words.
“Don’t be.” Rain murmured into the top of his head. “I’m not sorry to have it. Not anymore.”
“But…” Dew looked up, his loose hair tickling Rain’s stomach he was so close. “It’s hurt you. It’s so cruel. I was so cruel.”
“You were in pain, and confused.” Rain corrected, tipping Dew’s chin up to look into his burning eyes. “You didn’t know what would happen.”
“I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive myself.” Dew admitted sadly. “Knowing how much I took from you with it…”
“Do you blame me for yours?” Rain asked instead.
“Of course not!” Dew sounded appalled at the thought, gripping onto his forearms and covering the marks almost protectively. “You couldn’t control them.”
“No more than you could control mine.” Rain reasoned. “They’re just part of who we were always meant to be, I think.”
“I wish I could see it that way.” Sighed Dew. “Every time I think of yours I think that if I’d just been more careful it would be different. I knew you were a water ghoul, I should’ve thought to watch my first words around you just in case, I should—”
“I forgive you.” Rain said simply. “No more should’ves. Now, where was I?”
He took one of Dew’s hands in his, interlacing their fingers together and hoping it was enough to distract Dew from his spiral of shameful thoughts.
“May I?” He gestured at Dew’s arms. “I always used to dream of this, before my marks came in.”
Dew nodded, blinking a few times before letting his arm go slack for Rain to hold.
Tenderly, Rain traced a fingertip along the spiral around Dew’s wrist.
“Nothing can come between us now, not with a bond this long and strong. Your lizards were right.”
Rain pressed a kiss to the blue lines before moving on. He couldn’t help but notice the slight glow his damp lips left behind.
“This one, the sunburst pattern.” Rain paused to admire it properly, the blue rays seeming even brighter against Dew’s warm-toned skin. “I never understood why beauty was a sun shape. I always thought that the moon was far more beautiful. But I see it now. The sun in the sky was never the muse. It was you all along. The real sunlight, the greatest beauty of all.”
Dew’s cheeks flushed so richly at Rain’s words, only further illustrating his point.
“Look at you. The sun wishes it could shine as brightly and brilliantly as you.”
“Now you’re just getting silly.” Dew grumbled as Rain once again couldn’t resist kissing his pouty lips.
“The only thing that’s silly is that it took us so long to get here.”
Dew harrumphed, but Rain knew he couldn’t disagree with that.
“And look what it’s taken.” Rain continued his soft trailing touches towards the upper portion of their markings. “Bravery, to come topside, to settle our early misunderstandings. Kindness, to move past the things that have hurt us.”
Dew’s eyes followed his touch with nothing short of reverence.
“I think…” Rain stroked Dew’s whole arm now, the overall tapestry of his marks rather than its individual pieces. “I think maybe these ones in particular were the ones you caught onto for a reason. They belong to you just as much as they do to me.”
“Which ones wouldn’t, then?” Dew dodged the compliment with a speed that would be almost impressive if Rain hadn’t wanted him to know and understand what he already saw to be the truth.
It didn’t matter though, Rain thought. He had eternity to repeat himself.
“If this is our connection. And this is beauty.” Dew’s free hand traced along the arm holding his. “Kindness and bravery…”
Dew’s touch paused at the edges of the marks that were familiar to him. From there he followed a single line up the inside of his elbow, making Rain shiver at his feather-light touch.
“Then what’s this one?” He paused as the line branched out into many smaller paths curling over Rain’s bicep.
“Family.” Rain couldn’t stop the tinge of sadness leaking into his voice. “Close bonds, a large pod. Like I used to have, I suppose.”
“The pack.” Dew said without missing a beat, full of conviction. “They’re our family now.”
Our family. Rain liked the sound of that. He liked it so much, in fact, that it felt as though it immediately grew roots and embedded itself permanently into his psyche.
Dew pressed a kiss to the bottom of the mark, to the stem of the branching pattern. His fingers lingered there for a while before moving on, slowly trailing upwards towards his shoulder. He grazed over the patch of rough scales there and then along the side of Rain’s neck, narrowly missing his gills.
Rain shivered at the feeling, Dew seemingly knowing just how sensitive the skin around them was from the way he smirked. The expression fell as he followed a new line lower, a lazy looping one mostly covered by his own soul mark.
“What’s this one?” He asked quietly. “The one hidden my horrible words.”
“Pride, or more accurately vanity. Conceit, even.” Rain chuckled slightly.
The irony that Dew’s mark, at one point his greatest shame, had also erased so much of his confidence in himself and his appearance was somewhat amusing now that it occurred to him, especially now that with his time topside he had felt it returning in spades.
“I think your mark covering it might be what helped that side of me fade, too.”
“Fade?” Dew barked out a disbelieving laugh. “I’d love to see how you were before this if that’s true!”
“You know, I never really saw that one in myself.” Rain sniffed, partly for show. “There’s nothing wrong with knowing you look good. Besides, everyone always told me I had good marks, why wouldn’t I be pleased about that?”
Dew continued snickering.
“I wasn’t wrong the first time then, was I, about there not being a mark for humble in sight!”
Rain kept pretending to be offended although he wasn’t in the slightest. This seemed to be bringing Dew amusement though and that was what he wanted, more than him lamenting over the soul mark Rain had already grown to make peace with. The distraction didn’t last long however.
“Your marks are all so beautiful, even aside from their meanings,” Dew sighed sadly, “and then there’s mine… How can you forgive me?”
“It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done.” Rain said honestly. “There’s hardly anything to forgive. You weren’t to know a moment of temper would do this to me.”
Dew still looked torn.
“I did used to think the contrast of it was ugly. Like a burn that wouldn’t heal.” Rain admitted, taking Dew’s arm in his once more. “Then I saw your marks, and thought the same contrast was so beautiful. I felt jealous. But now?”
Rain pressed a kiss to Dew’s fingertips and held them to his own mark.
“I’ve come around to it. It’s like a reminder of how far we’ve come, a battle scar to be proud of.”
“It doesn’t seem fair that you have to bear it alone though.” Dew said. “I get your pretty marks with such nice meanings and you get me calling you names.”
“I think you have your own scars to wear.” Rain carefully ghosted a finger over one of the raised lines on Dew’s chest to illustrate his words. “Not these, I don’t mean. But mentally. I think you’re still punishing yourself for my mark, even now.”
Dew’s silence said more than any words could.
“I’ll keep telling you that you don’t have to for as long as we have though.” He rubbed a thumb over the line around Dew’s wrist, interlocking their long fingers together. “And I think that’s going to be a while, so you’d better get used to it!”
Finally, Dew smiled again.
“Besides,” Rain purred, leaning in to nose against Dew’s jaw and breathing words directly into his ear. “It could be worse. It could just say nice ass or something.”
Dew giggled, likely at the tickle of Rain’s words as much as anything.
“You do have a nice ass though.”
“Yeah?”
“I knew it!” Dew launched himself up onto his knees, triumphant, hands resting on Rain’s waist for balance. “My mark erased nothing!”
“Now, who’s to say that was the only place that mark appeared?” Rain teased.
“I’d better take a closer look then.” Dew’s eyes flashed at the challenge.
He pressed a single finger to Rain’s chest, pushing lightly. The water ghoul willingly fell backwards, landing softly before Dew prowled forward on hands and knees. Rain felt his breath catch in his throat as Dew smirked at him with all his fangs.
“So, there’s one under here.” Dew stroked over his mark, leaning in to press a kiss to it.
He ran a hand lower, down the centre of Rain’s sternum slow enough that he could stop him at any time. Rain had no intention of that though. He felt the warmth in Dew’s fingers through the layers of skin, bone and muscle, right inside his heart. It quickened at the heat. Dew followed every slow touch with a kiss.
“How about over here.” He brushed the warmth of his palm over the soft curve of Rain’s right pectoral, squeezing oh so slightly before ghosting a thumb over the nipple.
Rain sucked in a breath, body going stiff as every nerve ending suddenly lit up simultaneously. Dew’s touch was electric, like nothing he had ever felt before. It made him feel like he was floating, consumed by a fuzzy kind of bliss.
Dew paused as he froze though, questioning.
“Please.” Rain gasped desperately. “Don’t stop.”
Slowly, more purposefully, Dew swiped his thumb over the pebbled nub again. Rain heard himself whimper, the quiet sound morphing into a yell as Dew followed the motion with a flat pass of his tongue. Rain hadn’t thought that he could feel his touch any more intensely until he did. His hands flew up to hold Dew against him, hands tangling in his hair.
“Nothing here.” Dew whispered smoothly, his breath cooling his saliva and making Rain shiver. “Better keep looking.”
Slowly, almost painfully so, Dew kissed his way across to the other side of his chest, stroking over the defined muscles and following with his mouth. Rain gave in to the overwhelming feeling, letting the soft mattress absorb him as his eyes fell shut.
Dew shifted to sit up, now fully seated on Rain’s hips, and the water ghoul groaned as he pressed into his stiffening cock. He seemed to be aware of what he was doing, smirking as he wiggled under the guise of getting comfy. Rain’s hands fell to Dew’s waist, needing both to hold on for dear life and to feel more of his heat.
Almost gleefully, Dew smoothed both his hands down Rain’s front, over his abs and settling on the slight softness of his stomach. Every touch was both totally new and yet perfectly familiar. Rain hadn’t felt such a sense of overwhelming completeness since they had first kissed, every nerve in his body singing out in delight.
Continuing his slow exploration Dew trailed a finger along the curve of Rain’s hip bones, following the path of one lower until his sleep shorts stopped him and then tracing along the edge of the waistband to drag back up the other. It was there he found what he was looking for, the meandering swirl leading lazily from his hip down under his pyjamas.
With a triumphant hum Dew shuffled backwards so he could lean in and look closer, bringing his face in until his nose was almost touching him. Rain lamented the loss of his weight on him but didn’t get a chance to dwell on it for long before he could feel Dew’s hot breath grazing his skin.
The fire ghoul pressed a kiss to the mark, searing lips connecting right at the point where it vanished beneath fabric. Dew must have been able to tell how hard he was through his thin sleep shorts; slightly to the right and his chin would have been brushing against the obvious bulge. He made no sign to acknowledge that though, even as Rain let out a shuddering groan.
“I like this side of you too, you know.” Dew murmured against the mark, lips tickling. “The self-confidence.”
“Y-yeah?”
“Yeah. It’s hot.”
Dew kissed back up his torso then, crawling forwards to plant himself back in Rain’s lap as the water ghoul sat back up to meet him. He ground his hips once more as he pulled Rain into a kiss far messier than any that had come before.
Rain could taste the slightest hint of saltwater on Dew’s tongue. He wanted more, he realised, wanted to taste himself more strongly, wanted to taste both himself and Dew, together.
“You’re hot.”
“I think you’ll find—” Rain’s already tenuous grasp on words was interrupted by another circle of Dew’s hips. “That’s you. Fire ghoul.”
Dew’s laugh was filled both with joy and clear lust. It was obvious that everything about this, about Rain, was utterly delightful to him, their teeth almost colliding as he threw himself into another kiss. He was taking full advantage of his position on top of Rain, as well as the water ghoul’s slowly melting brain, to lead them exactly as he saw fit. Hot really was the only word Rain could conjure to describe it.
With Dew distracted but not ceasing his maddening movements on top of where Rain was straining at the seams of his pants, Rain let his own hands begin to explore. He couldn’t reach far, didn’t want to break the kiss to do so nor did he think Dew would be amused by that, so he settled for roaming them over his back, lean but muscular in a way that hinted at his true deceptive strength.
Rain splayed his large hands wide across his skin, moving them slowly as though he were trying to hold every inch of him at once. His palms stroked over his back, his thumbs stretched to feel the curve of his ribcage, his fingers held to the softness of his waist. He tried to commit every part to memory, not because he feared losing Dew but because he couldn’t think of any other act that could come close to immortalising him as fully as he deserved in that moment.
With every pleased noise Dew made Rain grew a little braver, let the tips of his fingers dance a little lower. He dipped them sightly beneath the waistband of Dew’s pyjama pants, a small question Dew could choose to ignore. He didn’t though, wasting no time in wriggling out of them in a distinctly undignified fashion that made Rain want to grasp him tighter and growl.
Uncoordinated but uncaring, Dew returned to straddling Rain, now wearing only a thin pair of cotton boxers. With one less layer of fabric separating them Rain could feel the heat radiating off of Dew even more strongly, but even that was nothing compared to the heat of Dew’s now bare legs pressed on either side of Rain’s, skin on skin.
The fire ghoul couldn’t seem to get comfortable, wriggling and shifting in such a way that Rain couldn’t stop his hips from bucking upwards into Dew. That seemed to have partly been his intention, judging from how Rain felt his lips spread wide in a smirk against him.
“Do that again.” Dew purred.
Rain didn’t need telling twice. More controlled this time he rolled his hips, slowly pressing the stiffness of his aching cock upwards into Dew’s heat. Their resulting groans harmonised, Dew rocking to meet him. They began to find a shaky rhythm as Rain thrust towards him again, hardly able to consider stopping now he had started, especially not with Dew’s feverish breaths filling his mouth.
“Rain—” Dew panted, sounding as affected as Rain felt already. “Feels so— Lucifer!”
His hand flew to where their bodies met and Rain felt rather than saw Dew press his fingers to himself through his underwear, keening and rolling his whole body into his sudden touch. Rain could do nothing but watch, stunned and almost paralysed by lust as the beautiful demon above him became momentarily lost in chasing the sudden spike of pleasure.
As the wave of unassailable desire that had overcome Dew apparently began to ebb, the fire ghoul blinked rapidly as though not entirely sure when he had lost control of his faculties. His eyes, when Rain was finally able to focus on them, were almost entirely black, his pupils blown wide with lust.
Rain leaned back on his hands to take in the full sight before him. Dew looked simply otherworldly, all flushed and glowing skin, heaving chest and increasingly messy hair all conspiring to make Rain almost want to weep.
“Too much?” Dew panted, although the minute gyrations of his hips didn’t stop completely. “Sorry, I didn’t—”
“No.” Rain shook his head hard enough to make himself dizzy, although that was possibly not helped by all the blood in his body currently flowing south. “Never.”
“Can I?” Dew gestured with the hand that had been touching himself, the one not being used for balance, at the large bulge in Rain’s sleep shorts.
The water ghoul didn’t know entirely what he was asking, but he didn’t care. He nodded enthusiastically, delighting in how Dew licked his lips just slightly before leaning forward and kissing him in a way that seemed almost chaste compared to the last few minutes.
For a moment Rain remained in the dark about Dew’s intentions, letting him push him onto his back once more and fuss to ensure he had a pillow behind his head. Rain was grateful for it, not for the comfort of his own neck but rather because the angle gave him the perfect view as Dew shuffled around once more, straddling one of his thighs, one knee placed carefully and tantalisingly between Rain’s legs.
He didn’t have to wait for long to find out as Dew began to grind his hips again, this time against the long line of Rain’s muscular thigh. Rain ached to touch, to be touched, but he was too far gone already to give Dew all the softness and intention he wanted to. Next time, he told himself. He settled instead for running his hands up and down Dew’s ribs, thumbing over the soft skin covering his hip bones. Dew moaned loudly at his touch so he was clearly doing something right.
Then, once Dew had found his rhythm, Rain lost the ability to do more than just hold on for dear life, his tail also twining around Dew’s leg once more like a mooring line in a storm as Dew finally touched him where he needed it most. Slowly, torturously so, the fire ghoul’s burning hot hand came to rest over the bulge in Rain’s pants.
His touch was tentative at first, testing the waters but clearly finding them warm and pleasant as the pressure of his hand grew firmer. Slowly, oh so maddeningly slowly, Dew began rubbing his hand over his clothed cock, fingers dragging over the aching length beneath in a quiet exploration. Dew was barely moving yet it felt like so much.
The fire ghoul’s hands were so hot, their heat mixing with the raging inferno he had lit inside of Rain as the burning pleasure of his touch already began to spread through his body. Rain had never felt such intensity, never wanted this to end even as he sensed the familiar beginnings of his body rising towards an edge. It was still a way off for now which he was grateful for, given that he had never felt it build so quickly before. He wanted to exist in this moment forever, and Dew was still only touching him over his sleep pants.
They didn’t stay that way for long though. Dew paused his grind on Rain’s thigh, the burning heat of his cunt settling in one place for a moment to pull at Rain’s waistband.
“Please?” He asked, voice an octave lower than usual and totally ragged already.
Rain had no words, couldn’t make his vocal chords form complex sounds if his life depended on it. He jerked his chin, hoping it resembled a nod enough for Dew to understand.
It seemed to work. Dew pulled again at the elastic, Rain lifting his hips so Dew could shimmy the shorts just low enough to pull Rain free. He mewled softly as the air of the room hit him, feeling himself throb under Dew’s light fingertips.
His hand was even hotter, bare skin on bare skin. Dew licked his lips again and for a moment Rain wondered if he was going to take him into his mouth. He wasn’t sure he would survive that right now, already far too worked up.
Dew didn’t though, settling for wrapping long, deft fingers around him. He began to stroke, slowly at first. Rain had already been leaking precum and that didn’t stop now, Dew gathering some on an upstroke to ease the glide of his hand.
It was like nothing Rain had ever felt. Dew’s hand was so hot, squeezing him just right. It made Rain wonder how it would feel to be inside Dew, to bury himself in the hot clutch of his body, should he even want that.
When Rain eventually found the wherewithal to open his eyes the sight before him almost sent him over the edge there and then. Dew, head thrown back in pleasure, had his hand in his own pants now as he writhed against Rain’s thigh and his own fingers. Where the fabric pulled low Rain could see the start of a trail of wiry hairs that he was struck with the sudden urge to scratch his blunt glamoured fingernails through.
What really embedded itself in Rain’s brain though were his arms, bearing the marks they now shared. His marks originally, on Dew, with his hands on both himself and Rain. It lit a whole other fire in him, one that was some kind of possessive, that felt like a claim.
He didn’t hear the growl building in his chest until it was too late, until Dew’s eyes were locked onto his and an awed and delighted expression was dawning on his face alongside the slight slackness of his own pleasure. Rain didn’t try and stop himself, instead giving in to his impulses and letting his hands fall to grip Dew’s thighs as they continued to flex beneath his touch, his claws just ghosting over the skin without threatening to puncture it.
Dew was vocalising with every pant now. Rain wasn’t sure he was entirely aware of that either, his movements also getting less coordinated. Rain was so close to the edge himself; he fought to keep his eyes on Dew as the fire within him started to burn out of control.
It was worth it though as he saw Dew tumble headfirst into his own climax first, his whole body seizing up. His thighs clenched around Rain’s, the most agonisingly wonderful noise falling from his lips. His eyes flutter closed and his jaw fell open, the very picture of a ghoul entirely consumed by pleasure.
Even while he rode out the tsunami of ecstasy clearly washing over him he didn’t release his hand from around Rain’s cock, nor did he stop the motion of his fist even as his motions grew jerky. He squeezed slightly harder than he meant to right as Rain’s tip was within his fist, speeding up as he fought not to lose focus despite his own orgasm.
That was all it took for Rain to come crashing over the cliff after him. He didn’t think he had ever come so hard, feeling like Dew was milking his brains out through his cock. His vision went white at the edges, tunnel vision focussing on no one but Dew. Rain was glad he was lying down as he didn’t think his muscles would hold him up otherwise.
Of all the sounds that filtered through the rushing in his ears, Rain had least expected to hear a delighted peal of laughter from Dew. The ghoul wiped his hands on Rain’s pyjamas before collapsing onto his chest, narrowly avoiding Rain’s mess. The only muscles Rain could get to work brought his arms to wrap around him while Dew’s tail forced its way between Dew’s thigh and Rain’s own tail, braiding the two together until Rain’s also got the memo.
“Why haven’t we been doing this for months?” Dew gasped, breathless.
“You tell me!” Rain managed, his own breath coming back to him faster but his heartbeat still refusing to settle.
“You’re so perfect.” He continued. “I cant believe you’re mine.”
“Completely yours.” Dew agreed fervently. “Until the Pit freezes over.”
From the way Dew was suddenly curling up on his chest, voice growing sleepy, it was clear he was about to crash. It was the middle of the night after all: the nap had ruined their sense of time.
Rain rolled them both to the edge of the bed and then to their feet before Dew could actually fall asleep though. His suddenly exhausted brain still knew that they shouldn’t get too comfy while they needed to clean up. Rain sent Dew in the direction of the bathroom with a chaste kiss and a clean pair of boxers while he wriggled out of his own, wiping himself roughly with them before throwing them straight into the laundry and slipping into a fresh pair too. It didn’t escape his attention that much like how the marks on his lower abdomen were still lit up from his own release, the patch of thigh where Dew had been grinding was also glowing faintly.
Before that thought could make him go truly insane, Rain distracted himself by arranging the nest while he waited for Dew. He was so tired he could hardly appreciate the sight of Dew in his clothes when he emerged, face still flushed and the too-big underwear barely hanging onto his narrow hips. Rain had forever to admire that though.
The fire ghoul pulled him back into bed with another kiss and a hand slotting into his with such perfect ease it was as though they were designed to fit together. It was a unspoken decision that Dew stayed the night.
༻△⋆₊˚.⛤△⛤.˚₊⋆△༺
Dew had never really liked anyone touching his marks before, not even Aether. It had come as a surprise to him, therefore, just how much he loved Rain touching them. It was something only the water ghoul could do. Dew began to wonder if maybe it had never felt right before not because of his complicated feelings around them but because they weren’t just a piece of him, but of Rain too. It felt right when Rain touched them, like a missing piece slotting home.
His gentle fingers stroking along Dew’s arm had been electric, the feeling so perfectly new and exciting he could hardly wrap his head around the sensations his nerves were reporting back on. Yet it also felt as natural as if Rain were following paths carves centuries prior, his finger settling into well-worn and familiar grooves.
Even greater than the physical sensations though was the way the reverence with which Rain acted about them made him feel. He treated them so tenderly and yet with the lazy familiarity of having seen them every day of his life, quite literally knowing them like the back of his hand. The way he talked about them with Dew granted the fire ghoul an almost powerful feeling in the equality with which he treated the marks both on his body and on Dew’s, acting like Dew’s arms were an extension of his own body.
Of course what had really made Dew aware of his own power had been making Rain fall apart beneath him. Everything about Rain losing himself to his pleasure at Dew’s hands had been simply beautiful, there was no other word for it. Every pained expression of ecstasy, every tiny sound, each jerk of his hips and agonising moment of pleasure all brought about by Dew. He couldn’t believe he was so lucky that he got to be the catalyst for every one.
His water ghoul truly was an exquisite miracle, in every way. Dew had seen his body before, but never had he felt like he was allowed to truly look at him until now, let alone with the intention of following his gaze with his reverent touch. He looked like the figures artists made statues out of, muses so beautiful that immortalising them in stone seemed a wholly inadequate response.
Even that paled in comparison to the beauty within him though. Every word, every look, every action; they all served to make it abundantly clear just how special a ghoul Rain was, how much compassion and adoration lived within his heart. A reluctant part of Dew’s brain, hurt by a lifetime of misunderstanding, thought it impossible that he could truly deserve Rain and yet he strove to convince Dew of it with every breath.
The trust Rain put in him, the complete and total handing over of control, all of it was intoxicating. Dew didn’t think he would ever get enough of it.
He hadn’t planned for things to pan out how they did when he had woken after his nap to find Rain half dozing beside him. he had thought they would just kiss for a while, their new favourite activity, and then maybe fall back asleep in one another’s arms. Yet kisses had turned to exploratory touches and before Dew knew it he had Rain’s clothed cock weighing heavy in his hand and absolutely no desire to let go.
Even his dick was beautiful, Dew thought, aware that he might be going slightly mad with his adoration of the water ghoul. His smooth head had been flushed such a rich shade of purple it had made his mouth water just looking at it, made it do so now at the memory. He wanted to taste, to seal his lips around it and feel the softness of its skin against them as he sunk down until he felt him at the back of his throat and could kiss his lips to the scales around its base.
Rain’s pyjamas had been in the way, blocking him from truly taking in the patch of iridescent, rainbow flecks that speckled his skin in place of hair. He was sure they must be as beautiful as the scales dotting the rest of him, but he hadn’t wanted to waste time on removing his shorts, not when it would have taken up precious seconds where he could have been stroking him instead. Next time he was just going to shred them, Dew decided.
The same went for his own boxers, Dew settling for shoving a hand down them in lieu of having to cease his grinding on Rain’s sculpted thigh for even a second. No more waiting, he decided. He wanted everything, and anything that stood in his way was merely collateral damage.
Rain’s body might run quite a bit colder than Dew’s, but he knew now that his cock was definitely not cold in his hand. It had pulsed hot under his fingers, eager and leaking.
Dew had come so quickly, grinding on Rain with his hand down his pants as he stroked over Rain, the feeling of bringing the water ghoul to the edge with him surely not helping his own stamina. There was just something about Rain that made everything feel so much more intense. Everywhere he touched him was like unlocking a new place to feel pleasure, his whole body an unending erogenous zone.
He wanted so badly to feel Rain’s touch too. Dew knew he hadn’t given him a chance to before as he had too much fun enjoying the power trip of reducing him to a quivering mess, melting his brain out through his ears. Next time Dew would show more patience, he promised himself. He would give Rain his own chance to explore his body, would let himself enjoy the water ghoul’s undoubtedly worshipful touch without getting greedy.
Dew fell asleep re-running the last hour through his head, Rain already snoring softly in his arms. He couldn’t think of anywhere he would rather be.
i feel like a lot of fandoms pride themselves on being gayer than the source material but have they considered being less racist and less misogynistic than the source material as well . could be revolutionary
