A wonderful gift for @boiled-ginger-ale!!!
AO3
Xisuma sighed, deciding to take a break from his build. The rain had started pouring down about 20 minutes ago, but the admin had really wanted to finish the roof.
Now, soaking wet, Xisuma admitted that he should probably dry off and rest, maybe have dinner since he’d gotten distracted building and never had lunch.
Xisuma was quick to dash into his base, removing his wet armor and switching into a soft, and more importantly, dry, pair of sweats. He started some tea brewing and relaxed on his bed while it steeped.
There was a loud crack of thunder outside, but what startled Xisuma was the sound of his door creaking open.
“Hello?” he asked, “This better not be zombies figuring out how to use doorknobs again!” he declared as he stood up and wandered over to the front door.
He found a tiny Mumbo attempting to close the large door behind himself.
“Let me help you there mate.” Xisuma assured the small hermit, easily closing the door to keep the rain and cold out.
“Thanks Xisuma.” Mumbo panted, exhausted from both opening the door and trying to close it.
“I have some tea on, let me get you a cup as well, any reason for the visit?” Xisuma asked the small moth-hybrid as he went to grab a small Mumbo-sized cup.
Mumbo was a moth hybrid, but he lacked the wings, having instead the small stature and soft antenna. Xiumsa poured them both a cup of tea, setting Mumbo’s on the table as the small tiny made his way up to sit down and drink.
“Nothing specific,” Mumbo mumbled, “Just pretty anxious because of the storm, was nearby and thought I’d stick around you for a bit until I calmed down.”
“You’re always welcome here!” Xisuma assured him.
Mumbo gave him a shaky grin.
Once the two finished their tea Mumbo seemed much calmer, at least until there was a shock of lightning followed by rolling thunder.
Mumbo jumped, wide eyes turning to look at Xisuma.
“Hey, do you want somewhere quieter?” Xisuma asked.
Mumbo nodded, “I’d have already burrowed underground but I don’t think a cave would be good for me right now.”
Xisuma considered that, “I could…” he paused, embarrassed.
Technically several hermits already knew that voidwalkers could store items and entities in their ‘stomach’. While the organ did digest food, it wasn’t fully equivalent to a human stomach, for many different reasons, one of them being that it could store things.
“You’re small enough I could fit you in my stomach,” Xisuma finished, blushing a bright purple, “It’s perfectly safe, voidwalkers sometimes keep our young in there when they’re small enough, so you wouldn’t be in any danger—”
Mumbo cut him off, “I trust you. You think it would muffle the noise?”
Xisuma nodded, “Keralis—I mean, erm, people who I’ve stored before say it’s very quiet, that all he could hear—I mean all they could hear—was my insides and my voice. And that it looks like a star-filled galaxy.”
Mumbo looked considering, “That sounds nice right now, is it warm or cold?”
“Warm.” Xisuma assured him.
Another bolt of lightning and booming thunder seemed to convince the little moth-hybrid, as he reached his arms out asking silently to be picked up.
“Also, you won’t land in the tea,” Xisuma promised him, “Organic matter that isn’t living gets absorbed pretty much instantly, sometimes before it even reaches my stomach.”
Mumbo nodded.
Relieved that Mumbo seemed to be all for the idea, Xisuma picked him up gently, carefully setting the small man inside his mouth.
He licked at him carefully, trying to slick him up just enough to swallow.
After a moment Xisuma determined Mumbo was wet enough, and swallowed slowly. For a moment Mumbo lodged in the admin’s throat, but with another gulp he unstuck and started traveling down. Xisuma rumbled as he felt Mumbo sink deeper into him, Xisuma sat down on his bed, curling up around his middle as Mumbo landed inside.
Xisuma felt the moment all of the tension in Mumbo’s small figure melted away.
“You’re perfectly fine.” he promised his passenger, “You can stay as long as you want.”
Mumbo made a small noise that wasn’t any sort of language, relaxing somehow even further.
“Don’t let your anxieties get the best of you, you’ve nothing to worry about.” Xisuma assured him as he closed his eyes.
The two of them lay there for quite a while before Xisuma felt himself slowly drift off to sleep with a comfortably full belly, tired from a long day of building. And inside Xisuma, Mumbo had long since fallen asleep, his anxieties kept at bay by the soft flesh of Xisuma’s stomach, cradling him gently.