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Dewdrop hated moments like this. Moments where someone used the wrong tone and suddenly the world was caving in on him. Moments where he felt his blood run cold despite being a fire ghoul.
Rain yelled at him. It wasn’t serious, not from any other perspective. Some younger ghoul ran into Dew while he was already in a foul mood and he just… blew up. Almost literally.
He screeched at the poor earth ghoul that ran into him, horns set aflame and eyes glowing. Something about watch where you’re going and it’s disrespectful, Dew couldn’t even remember. The water ghoul turned the corner and practically glared daggers at Dewdrop, though he hadn’t noticed Rain enter the room yet.
“Dew, leave them alone! They didn’t fucking see you!” Rain hardly even yelled, but his tone was firm.
Immediately, Dew looked like he’d been doused in water with how quickly his fire went out, his eyes dulling considerably. He froze in place, before his arms dropped to his sides and he just stared. The younger earth ghoul took it as their chance to run, leaving the two alone together.
Dewdrop turned on his heel before Rain could get another word out. His footsteps were heavy, determined to just retreat to his room.
And here he was, curled around himself in his bed fighting off the horrible idea that Rain hated him. Tears stung at his eyes despite his countless wishes for them to disappear. Two halves of him fought between rationalizing his reactions and fully breaking down, and his breath hitched as he fell closer to the latter. Dewdrop never felt weaker than when this happened; a bad day getting worse and worse until it felt like everyone was out to get him. A tear escaped his eye and he let out a pained yowl. His chest constricted, his head hurt, everything was just pain.
One issue with being a ghoul. If they were dealing with too much emotional turmoil, it would translate into physical pain. Dew clutched his head and screamed into a pillow, at least attempting to muffle it.
“Dew?”
Rain. Obviously, he thought. The fire ghoul sucked in a breath and forced his voice into something more composed before letting himself answer.
“What?” He bit out, trying to sound angry through the tears.
A sigh from Rain’s side of the door, “May I come in?” He asked softly, barely loud enough to make it through the thick wood and to Dew’s ears.
Dewdrop turned away, wiping the streams of salty water from his face. He wanted Rain to come in, so desperately wanted the reassurance of ‘No, my love, of course I don’t hate you.’
But that small, horrible little voice in his mind told him he deserved the agony. Agony over something so small and insignificant to anyone else, but not to him. Never to him. Getting upset was pathetic, so he should suffer quietly.
“I’m coming in.”
Dew stopped his train of thought, staring at the door with those terribly sad eyes, waiting to see Rain’s own.
The water ghoul turned the knob and pushed, frowning at the way Dew was curled up and shuddering from the effort of keeping his sobs down. “Dew, listen—”
“What? You knew I was already in a fucking awful mood, they shouldn’t have run into me! You shouldn’t have yelled!”
Rain sighed, stepping closer to the fire ghoul carefully; as if he were a frightened cat. “You’re not yelling at me ‘cause you want to,” he sat on the edge of Dewdrop’s bed and looked at the ghoul, “just stop fighting everything.”
He watched as Dew’s shoulders untensed and a sob wracked his small body, “You suck.”
“I know, love.” Rain smiled and pulled the smaller ghoul into his arms. Dewdrop let out a shaky breath, refusing to meet his eyes, yet pushing himself closer to the water ghoul.
Rain’s fingers carded through his hair, too worried to speak his apologies. Dewdrop relied on actions more to communicate, simple things. Physical reassurance. He propped himself against the headboard and continued to pet, feeling the tension and excessive heat seep out of the fire ghoul’s body while in his blessedly cool arms. Neither dared to say anything, Dew was too fragile, Rain was too nervous. Time passed, only signaled by how often they heard footsteps outside their door, and the water ghoul waited for Dewdrop to stop shuddering before squeezing him close.
“Can you look at me?” He asked, gentle and kind.
The fire ghoul inhaled, slowly meeting Rain’s eyes and darting away repeatedly. It was overwhelming, Rain understood, “You don’t have to. Just talk to me,” he smiled down, “you’re okay.”
Dewdrop frowned and bit his lip, practically chewing on it as he tried to get his thoughts in order. “What is there to say? I was being a fucking idiot, and I got what was coming.” He blinked the tears from his already-wet eyes.
“It’s not your fault. You’ve been having a rough time lately, I know. You can’t be flying off the handle like that, but I understand why it happened.” Rain held his hand, running his thumb along the knuckles as he spoke comforting words, “I’m not angry with you.”
That did it. Dew wrapped his arms around Rain’s neck and let out a quiet whine. “Shut up already,” he mumbled, feeling the water ghoul chuckle below him.
His body felt like his own again, and he hated himself for finding so much relief in such a simple sentence, but Rain was holding him so gently and saying the kindest things to him. Conflicting emotions like those were so much to deal with. So, he focused on what he could. The way Rain smelled— like mint and a fresh downpour— the tight grasp he had on the fire ghoul, how steady his breathing was.
It grounded him. Made him come back to himself, back to some semblance of stability. Dewdrop began purring, quietly and more of a comfort to himself than to Rain. But, the water ghoul would be lying if he said he didn’t love it. Time seemed to dissipate around them, as they shifted to cuddle closer.
Only when Aether knocked on the door did they realize they might want to get up, both letting out a grumble of discontent. The sunlight coming through Dew’s window dimmed quite a bit from when Rain first entered the room, and he felt a pang of hunger.
“Come on, we have to leave eventually. I’m hungry and I knowyou’ve hardly eaten.” He nudged the fire ghoul laying next to him.
Dewdrop groaned and sat up, “I don’t wanna leave, just go get something and come back,” he frowned at the idea of not being around Rain, but tolerating it so the ghoul could take care of his own needs was fine.
“No, you’re coming with me. Don’t even try it,” Rain pulled his partner out of bed, watching in amusement as he pouted at the taller ghoul, “We’ll get the rest of the ghouls to come cuddle after, okay? Aether was probably knocking because it’s nearing dinner.”
Another groan, “Fine,” Dew muttered, “but I better be the one you cuddle with the most.”
“Always, love.”