mushy may day 7+10 [compliments, staring in adoration]
a/n: beta'd by @/ghouljett, baby's first ghost fic
relationship: nothing outright stated, but many hinted at
summary: breakfast with the ghouls, rain thinks dew is pretty. [ft. albino dew and telepathy]
word count: 1.3k?
rating: G [T?]
snippet:
he's been staring all morning, as much as he's been trying to hide it. when he had walked into the kitchen in search of coffee, he instead found a half asleep dewdrop making eggs. he had frozen, not expecting anyone else to be up that early, and went about making his coffee as quietly as he could. dew didn't say anything to him, simply shifted his slouching form further down the counter- to get away from him, rain supposed.
rain shifts in his seat, letting his gaze fall back to his half eaten breakfast as dew lifts his head from his own breakfast, similarly uneaten.
he's been staring all morning, as much as he's been trying to hide it. when he had walked into the kitchen in search of coffee, he instead found a half asleep dewdrop making eggs. he had frozen, not expecting anyone else to be up that early, and went about making his coffee as quietly as he could. dew didn't say anything to him, simply shifted his slouching form further down the counter- to get away from him, rain supposed.
mountain, aether and cumulus had slowly filed into the kitchen while rain was adding the milk to his coffee, dew plating his eggs. rain had taken their respective mugs out of the cabinet and set them ready for the next pot of coffee, his hands hovering over dew's mug. he chanced a quick glance towards the fire ghoul, relieved that dew's eyes were focused on his fork shifting the eggs around his plate.
aether had taken the seat next to dew, mountain sitting directly across from him and cumulus to his right, talking mountain's ear off about a show rain's never heard of. he catches aether's eye and jerks his head subtly in dew's direction, motioning to the mug with his hand. aether only shrugs- standing a few seconds later and making his way to the counter, rationing out everyone's preferred strength of coffee. rain stares at him for a moment, having intended to do this himself, before reaching past rain and grabbing dew's mug, setting it down. "coffee, dew?"
the room goes quiet for a few seconds, further still even after dew simply hums in affirmation. aether rations dew's coffee- three coffee, two sugar- then he pats rain on the shoulder, moving around the kitchen to grab a few slices of bread, popping them in the toaster before sitting back in his seat, back next to dew.
rain takes the hint and picks up where aether left off, pouring water and milk into the four mugs while sipping on his own coffee. it's then that swiss pads into the kitchen, yawning and stretching his arms above his head as he makes his way to the counter, grabbing his own mug from the cupboard.
"fill me up, yeah?" rain does, able to just squeak by with enough hot water to fill his mug. he kisses rain on the cheek as he leans over to grab a plate from the cupboard next to the mugs, setting it on the counter just as the toaster pops. swiss lights up with delight, moving down the counter to try and grab his toast with minimal burns to his fingertips "oh, aether, you doll!"
rain smiles to himself, listening to swiss sit down next to aether and pepper his face with dry kisses and 'thank you's as he grabs the mugs two at a time and sets them down in front of aether, mountain, cumulus and dew. mountain, aether and cumulus thank him as he sits down next to 'lus, having finished his coffee. he doesn't expect dewdrop to thank him, but a small part of himself wants him to. wants dew to look up from his plate, look rain in the eye with his newly violet stare and say those two words, any words, to him. wants dewdrop to smile and call him doll.
cumulus offers to make him breakfast, and though he's fast to agree, he doesn't take his eyes off of dew as he sips from his mug.
which brings him here, stealing glances at dew while their breakfasts go cold and the others- now joined by cirrus and stratus- talk about anything and everything around him. he hears them, but he doesn't listen, preoccupied with looking at dew and then longing to look at him when he has to avert his gaze. dew looks ethereal, ivory hair pulled into a sleep mussed, delicate braid running off of his small shoulder, pale strands falling into his face to grace his cheekbones, violet irises and milky eyelashes catching in the sun slipping through the window. like light seeping through stained glass. he looks beautiful.
rain wants to tell him as much, longs to. he doesn't, however. he and dew haven't spoken a word to each other since he's been summoned, rain usually pretends to not know why, pretends to be shy, pretends to be polite, but he knows better. knows the screaming down the hall the night he was summoned was not the wails of a sibling of sin, knows the snow touched strands of dew's hair and lashes were not those that he was summoned with, knows the reason for dew's clear irises and skittish, blurry gaze is not that of birth, but of trauma. trauma that if he were not summoned, wouldn't have happened.
aether tells him often not to blame himself, that his summoning was botched, that imperator was all too quick to try a ritual he'd never heard of- one with a concerningly low survival rate, he'd discovered later, and that dew was the perfect candidate. rain wants to believe him, believe it's not his fault, but it's difficult when he witnesses dew limp and shuffle from room to room, sees him wince when he stands, sees him squeeze his eyes shut when they're giving him a headache with how much they move around against his will. watches him avoid mirrors.
he wants to believe aether when he tells rain not to feel guilty, but it's hard to believe when rain feels as though he's robbed dew of everything he was.
aether says something, some joke or quick witted reply to something stratus has said, and rain watches in awe as dewdrop laughs. it's an awkward, involuntary thing, and rain can't be mad at himself for missing the joke when he gets to see the way dew's shoulders relax a little as he smiles at aether. it's dew's real smile, not the practised, close mouthed smile that rain usually sees dew give to cumulus or swiss. no, it's a downturned, almost sad looking thing that makes rain feel sinful for simply having witnessed it even though he's distantly envious he wasn't the cause. he wants to capture this moment, lock it in a bottle and stare at it when he feels down, keep it close to his heart.
he thinks dew's smile is pretty, and he wants to tell him.
he is, unfortunately, a coward.
"aether." rain presses into aether's mind so suddenly aether nearly chokes on his food, coughing slightly. aether looks at him from over the table, raising an eyebrow at him. "this can't be said out loud?"
"no, i need you to tell dew something."
aether's eyes widen slightly, but he pressed on, "and what's that?"
rain swallows thickly, flicking his gaze from dew to aether a couple of times before settling on, "could you tell him he looks pretty when he smiles? his- his real smile."
aether grins at him as subtly as he can manage, waiting for a conversation to pick up with the rest of the ghouls at the table before leaning in close to dew to whisper something to him. rain really hopes that aether doesn't tell dew that rain is the one who wanted him to know that his smile is pretty, but it makes dew sway as he bumps shoulders with aether and smiles again, his real smile, and rain doesn't look away when dew looks up at him again, this time making eye contact with him before he feels a gentle push into his brain, like waves lapping at his ankles, he walks further into the water when he hears it,
"thank you."