Archive of Our Own

Rain currently occupies a changing stall in one of the arena's locker rooms. The small camera crew that had accompanied him for their unofficial video graciously gave him the time and space to change out of his uniform. He was glamoured of course, but in that brief little moment, he decided to don his natural form. Feeling the cold from the ice was enough like the ocean that he used to roam, and wanted to feel it embed in his scales.

He had carefully packed away his stage clothes in its designated bag, and was at this moment in his briefs holding out his custom jersey with a rare and genuinely giddy grin. Being as he was the only one with skating and hockey experience—shocking literally the whole pack—he was beyond ecstatic to get on the ice again. Even more so when he got to hang out with a team he actually liked to watch.

He remembers when he rambled on about the sport one day when Phantom specifically had caught him watching a game. How the dear quint was confused, but smiled and nodded as he let his partner yap. It was only fair after all; Rain would let Phantom talk and talk about a video game or literally anything the ghoul found interesting for the day.

Speaking of the quintessence, Rain remembered that he promised to take some quick photos for him, and the pack as well. Their burning curiosity on Rain's mysterious past with the sport had them all antsy for anything the water ghoul could give them.

Rain purses his lips with a hum as he observes the jersey. He knows the official photos the crew took would come out at some point, so logically he could just be even more secretive and make his friends wait even more. It would be funny, honestly.

Or he could suck it up and just take some quick selfies.

He glances at himself in the floor length mirror, almost bare save it for his underwear granting him some modesty. A thought intrudes in his mind, and he shakes it away.

“Oh gods, no,” he mutters to himself.

It would be so easy and again, funny, to take a few cheeky photos with just the jersey on, still in his briefs, but the length of the shirt would hide it just so.

The thought makes Rain's face heat up. Contrary to his natural beauty and general siren background, he doesn't do stuff like that. Never had to. Even currently being with Phantom, it's just not something that needs to happen. Phantom doesn't see him like that and finds him beautiful in his own way.

But maybe that's why it would be a little humorous. The siren who never took a scandalous photo in his life doing it now in a damn hockey jersey of all things? He finds himself grinning with a little chuckle, imagining the different reactions from the pack.

He falters only when he realizes Phantom may see whatever he does too, and that raises his anxiety slightly. Would it make the quint uncomfortable? Make him think that Rain is that kind of person, and trying to give him hints?

Rain logically knows that Phantom wouldn't think those things of him, otherwise they wouldn't have gotten this far in their cozy queerplatonic relationship. Phantom is too kind and, yes maybe a bit naive, to even worry about that from Rain at this point.

After some more time of hemming and hawing, he inhales sharply and just slips on the jersey. It feels smooth against his bare skin, and it does indeed hang low enough that from a distance, you couldn't even tell he was still wearing underwear. 

That thought alone almost makes the siren freak out and take it off. But he takes a couple deep breaths. It's just some slightly saucy photos, and technically he is still clothed somewhat. And he's not doing this to entice anyone either. He just thinks it would be hilarious.

So he tries some poses out before even opening his phone. The inexperience of this just fuels his anxiety, but he swore to himself that he would be a bit more open to taking risks and having more fun with it. 

Well, this definitely is all of that. All for a bit he's playing for himself.

The longer he tries posing in the mirror, the longer he's putting off the main thing, and also he worries he's keeping the crew outside. He finally just lets out a long breath and picks up his damn phone, opening the camera.

From another person's perspective, it would look like the bassist is quite collected as he moves around angling himself and the camera. In reality, Rain's heart is threatening to burst out as more and more fretful thoughts zip in his mind.

Should he show his face? How far up or down down should he show; mid-waist or whole body? Does he actually pull something obviously suggestive or should it be more teasing? How much of the jersey should show? Is the main subject matter the shirt, with a side of his body? Standing or on his knees?? Front, side or back???

Rain drops his hand with a huff, tail flicking and just stares at his reflection with a defeated slump and expression on his even more blue face.

“This is dumb. What am I actually doing?” He asks the mirror image. It doesn't answer back of course; it's just as lost as he is.

He looks back at his phone. He had saved exactly one photo that he didn't hate or feel that it was too much. One that he felt the tiniest bit confident in.

It was a cheeky over the shoulder shot. Phone covering most of his face, since it would be obvious how dark and flushed he is. His right side is angled towards the mirror, using his left hand holding the phone, and it does a decent job of showing the back of the jersey's number as well. The risque part of it all was his tail he decided to tuck in between his legs, the appendage raised in front with his free hand grazed underneath to hold it. And honestly that was all just because he was getting annoyed with it dragging over the rightfully assumed dirty locker floor.

Other than that accidental suggestive part, it's a pretty neutral stance. The shirt still covers his bits, and you get a look at the back of it too; which was the coolest part of it, in Rain's opinion. The custom “Ghoul” name got the siren's nerdy part of him giddy.

He looks over the photo some more, and after hitting it with the slightest of editing adjustments, deems it okay enough for his mini self photo shoot session. Then the actual civilian clothes get shoved on, and maybe he takes some normal photos with the jersey. Those ones he sends a couple off to the pack's group chat, just to satisfy them.

As he's exiting the arena with the crew, it feels like his phone is burning a hole in his pocket with that “other” photo. Rain acts nonchalant about everything when he finally meets up with the others, who all speak their words on how cool it must have been for him to get that opportunity. Dewdrop is more invasive with his prodding on exactly how Rain knows skating specifically, wondering aloud if the siren had perhaps made his way into the Great White North in the past and just never told anyone.

Rain just shrugged and smirked, responding with a “Wouldn't you like to know?”

The fire ghoul just got more agitated, because of course he would like to know—they all would!

Nonetheless, Rain kept quiet and let his bandmates inspect the tame clothed photos he sent. His eyes do keep wandering to Phantom, pondering if he should at least show the other one to his partner. He would probably have a more calm and clear-minded reaction to it than everyone else. And he values the quint's trust and opinions. If he doesn't think Rain should've taken it, then the water ghoul would have no qualms about deleting it on the spot.

At some point, the pair are finally alone in a small cafe for some quick food before they're called back for the show. It's a quieter cozy environment. The kind where there are people focused on their laptops and headphones with half eaten pastries and still steaming cups of hot beverages. Soft lighting and playful yet sophisticated decor around the space.

Rain loves places like this. It's so intimate and perfect for getting away from chaos for a mere moment. On top of that, he hasn't had a matcha or pastry that wasn't mouth-wateringly delicious from businesses like these.

Right now, he and Phantom were sitting at a corner table, glamoured and with their heavier coats draped on their seats. Rain had shifted so they were next to each other rather than across. His anxious mind didn't want anyone to potentially see whatever is on his phone, which is also why for once, they did not sit by the window.

They were waiting for their order, and Phantom was passing time in the comfortable silence by playing some mobile game on his phone. Rain was also on his device, but it was mostly him just staring at the photo app on the home screen. He really does want to get Phantom's thoughts, but he's not sure how to bring it up. How do you just casually bring up that you took a photo of yourself looking like you're wearing nothing but an oversized shirt for shits and giggles?

The siren must look especially contemplative because he feels his partner nudge him by the elbow. When he blinks back into reality, he sees Phantom raise a brow questioningly with a low murmur.

“You okay, darlin'? You seem quieter than usual.”

Rain looks at him and clears his throat, throwing on a quick smile. “Sorry. Yeah I'm okay. Just thinking.”

Phantom just stares at him with those golden tinged brown eyes. He is much more expressive in his human guise, and it throws Rain off too often. And right now, he's giving Rain that look of “I don't believe you, but I won't push.”

Rain appreciates that. Yet, he almost wishes Phantom would sometimes push more. It would honestly make the siren's life a bit easier, since he's too damn stubborn to express on his own.

He sighs heavily with defeat. “Okay, fine. Just stop staring at me with those big ol' eyes. It's weird seeing you like that.”

Phantom just shrugs and grins, resting his arms on the table. He really was handsome even out of his demonic form, but Rain can't focus on that right now.

“Just how I'm built, Rainie. Hate the artist, not the art.”

“I'm not hating, it's just weird!” Rain responds, the tease making his smile appear again. “You look lovely, no matter what. The brown eyes just throw me off sometimes, is all.”

“That's okay, it does to me too,” said Phantom. “Enough about me, though.” His expression switches to a more composed one, twisting to give his partner all his attention. “What's going on in your beautiful mind?”

Stupid quint with his casual compliments.

Rain takes another moment to get composed before lowering his voice and leaning in towards Phantom.

“Okay, you know the photos I sent to the group chat earlier? Of me in the jersey?”

“Yeah,” Phantom nods, grinning. “You looked cool, and very excited about it.”

“Well yes, absolutely I was,” replies Rain. “But uh, those weren't the only ones I took.”

A wordless and curious head tilt from Phantom is what the water ghoul receives to urge him to continue. Rain chews on his bottom lip as he nervously grabs his phone and opens up his gallery app.

“Um…” he starts, heart in his throat as he sees the photo nestled just before all the modest ones. He flips his phone face down and his voice goes even more hushed.

“I just want to preface this by saying that I'm not asking for anything, and I spent too long getting freaked out by it, but I did it anyways. And I'm only showing you because I trust you and know that you'll be honest.”

That just makes Phantom increasingly confused, and maybe slightly worried, but he nods firmly. “Okay. I swear I won't think anything… different? Of you. I'm not sure what you're about to show me, but you don't have to freak out about it. Especially around me.” He gives Rain a reassuring smile and a quick pat on his back.

Comforted somewhat by his friend, Rain takes another breath—he's been that way a lot just in the last hour—and flips his phone up again, taps the photo to full-size it, and hastily shoves it into Phantom's hand, quickly hiding his heated up face.

He can't see Phantom react to it. But he hears him.

“Oh wow.”

The quiet response sounds surprised, as he expected. Then there's just silence. Rain dares a peek through the side of his hands.

Phantom has his free hand covering his mouth in his familiar thoughtful gesture, and Rain can definitely spot some faint redness on his cheeks as he stares down at the picture.

Oh fuck me, he's uncomfortable. I fucked up, I fucked up, I fucked up—

“Were you not cold at all?”

Rain is thrown out of his impending spiral at the sudden unexpected query. He actually has to process what his dear partner asked before lowering his hands and giving him a stunned look.

“Pardon??”

Phantom gestures to the photo, his face less red now and expression genuinely curious. “I've heard it still gets cold even in the locker rooms, and you have no pants on, Rain! How long were you standing there freezing your ass off trying to take this photo?”

The siren blinks in utter shock. His partner just looked at a quite raunchier version of him, and the one thing he wanted to know is if he was cold at that moment.

He's not sure whether to cry or laugh. Because granted, while Phantom's aro-ace ass would look past any sensual subjects in front of him, he did not quite expect the question of his own comfort to be something worth mentioning.

On the other logical hand, Rain should learn by now that Phantom would always have his comfort in mind no matter what.

“Uh, n-no.” He finally answers, a hint of shakiness in his voice. “No, I wasn't cold at all. I'm used to being in the ocean, which has colder temps than ice in a building.”

“Ah, right,” Phantom nods, satisfied with the answer. He turns back to the photo, eyes roving over it more. “You look really good here, seriously.”

He looks back to Rain with a warm smile. “I'm a bit surprised you decided to take this. You don't seem like one for all that.”

Rain lets out a long breath, incredibly relieved Phantom is being so chill about this. “You're right. I'm not. But, ya know, the opportunity was there, and uh, I just did it.” He pauses, then adds sheepishly. “After panicking about it for way too long.”

“Of course you did.” Phantom laughs softly, a hand instinctively reaching out to brush a piece of hair behind his ear. “But ya did it. And I think you look beautiful.”

The tender praise earns a shy smile from Rain, leaning into the gesture. “Thank you. I appreciate your level-headedness. ‘Cause I sure as hell was not earlier when I took it, haha.”

Phantom laughs back, taking another glance at the picture. “You know me. I'm not one to get all worked up seeing this.” He pauses, then his lips form a tight line as he clears his throat. Now he is the one leaning in to speak in a lowered tone.

“Can I be super duper honest with you for a moment, though?”

Rain leans in to hear him, intrigued. “Of course, bud.”

Phantom nods, his cheeks slightly reddening again as he clears his throat again. He sits up a bit straighter and clasps his hands on the table in a faux formal manner. Then he’s looking at Rain with the most neutral expression he can muster before finally speaking.

“I genuinely had the briefest—briefest—moment of attraction to you after looking at this. Like… a speeding bullet of attraction. And I’m honestly not sure how to feel about that.”

Silence. The faint chattering of the cafe seem to fade to nothing as Rain sits there and processes what the fuck his partner just uttered from his actual mouth.

“Really?!”

Rain’s response is a high-pitched whisper of complete shock and disbelief. Eyes wide and searching Phantom’s own eyes to figure out if he actually is being serious or being his smartass self.

When he sees how serious Phantom is holding his gaze, he feels his own face start to heat up yet again.

“You deadass?”

“Deadass.” Phantom nods curtly.

Rain kind of wants to disappear. Or throw his hands up in triumph. Which seems quite crude to celebrate considering, once again, his best friend/literal partner’s orientation. But he can’t help feeling just the tiniest bit proud that his stupid, slightly racy photo that really wasn’t meant for anything still somehow managed to break Phantom.

That’s absolutely wild to him. And fucking hilarious.

Before he could stop himself, a snorting laugh bubbles out of his mouth, turning away and covering his mouth to stifle it. He can’t even look at Phantom right now.

“Rain, this is no laughing matter,” the quint responds, still sounding so serious but there is definitely a hint of him trying to hold back laughter too. “You don’t understand. I just had a passing sexy thought about you! I feel like a fraud! I’m gonna lose my aro-ace membership!”

Rain’s face is in his elbow now, shoulders shaking and his free hand flails in the general direction of Phantom’s face to shut him up. “Stop—! Shut the fuck… up!” He can barely speak through his giggles.

“No, Rainie, I’m serious!” Phantom’s speech is broken up by his own barely held back chuckling. “I—I gotta, like, inform my fellow A-spec’s or something! I betrayed them—I’m a traitor!”

He can’t keep it in. The quint falls into Rain’s side, giggling into his shoulder and gripping his forearm. The pair just sit at their table, failing to keep their amusement quiet. There’s probably a few weird looks thrown their way, but if they noticed it, they don’t say anything.

It takes them a while to finally reign it in, and when they do, their faces are red as they catch their breath. Rain has some faint wetness in his eyes from tears, which he wipes away hastily when they sit up again.

“That… should not have been as funny as it was,” he sniffs with one last chuckle.

“It is funny, though,” Phantom responds with a couple of deep breaths. “I never thought that would happen to me, and yet, you managed to do it.”

“I wasn’t meaning to!”

“I know that! That’s why it was funny!”

Rain shakes his head, grinning ear to ear despite his underlying embarrassment. “This is why you are actually my other half, in any and all ways. You’re so chill about everything, and don’t take things too seriously. And you make me still feel confident about myself with your own goofy ways. I love it, I really do.”

Phantom shrugs off the heartfelt recognition from Rain, but his smile turns more fond when he’s looking at the siren, his voice taking on a reverent tone. “I’m glad it makes you more confident and happy. I think it took you needing someone like this in your life to really get you out of your own head sometimes, and I’m still in awe of how you let me be that person for you.”

The gleeful occasion takes a turn for a more softer and warm-hearted time between the ghouls. Somehow they always end up here in the end; confirming what the deepest parts of their undead souls whisper to them whenever they share moments like this. That despite their stark differences and previous lives, they managed to fit together so well that it transcends any societal labels. They were just them.

After exchanging adoring eyes for a while, Phantom speaks up again.

“You should send that to the group chat.”

“What—NO!”

“It would be funny!”

“Or I could get my dick jumped the moment I’m alone—and that’s not even a joke! These bitches get way too horny on tour, and since I am essentially taken, they haven’t been crawling to me for anything. Which is nice for me, but also I know for damn sure that some of them learned silencing spells for their bunks.”

Phantom blinks. “Okay, that’s a bit of an overreaction. There’s no way.”

“Ask Dewy; he literally came up to me before we left and very boldly informed me that if I see any questionable objects in his luggage, then no I didn’t.” Rain’s voice lowers in a tense whisper. “And have you not noticed that he has been unusually quiet while sleeping? Can’t even hear him snoring?”

Phantom’s eyes widen more and more as Rain talks. “Oh my gods.”

“Yeah!”

The pair go quiet again, unsure how to move on from the revelation. Rain glances at his phone still laying on the table, the screen dark, having gone to sleep a while now. Then he mutters under his breath.

“Maybe I could just… send it, keep it there for like a minute, then delete it?”

Phantom sits up with wide intrigued eyes, then grins devilishly. Rain returns it, then his phone is back in his hands, fingers flying as he opens the messaging app.

“Oh, they’ll be piiiiiiissed,” Phantom draws out as he scoots next to Rain’s side, looking over his shoulder and still grinning like a damn Cheshire cat.

“Yeah, and it’ll be funny as fuck.” Rain inhales sharply, then swiftly is sending his photo.

And they wait, counting down the minute.

Within about thirty seconds, the messages flood in. This particular group chain doesn’t just have the band ghouls, oh no. This one also included their retired packmates at home. Rain figures he should go big or go home. Why deny the ghouls at the church this tasty treat he cooked up?

“Okay, I think we gotta delete it now. Swiss is gonna get his ass beat by Rora when we get home,” Phantom snickers into his hand. Rain nods with an agreeing hum.

“Yeah. But uh, I definitely wanna be there when that happens.” He scrolls back up to the photo, ignoring Dewdrop’s increasingly thirsty texts, especially the one where he messaged him privately asking if he had any more.

Rain manages to delete the photo from the chain, and there’s peace for a few seconds until his phone starts up again.

After that, it finally goes quiet, and the two ghouls can only imagine what Cirrus is enacting upon their lustful packmate. The air ghoulette can be quite scary when pushed, and Dewdrop knows that, so who knows how severe his punishment will be.

Rain and Phantom, once they gathered back at the venue to get ready, soon found out that the “punishment” was more of the carnal type; if the dopey, smug grin on the fire ghoul’s face and neck littered with very obvious love bites and hickies was any indication. Cirrus just went about nonchalant as usual, her own body and demeanor containing no signs of anything between her and the lead guitarist. She was classy and clean like that.

Dewdrop later went and apologized to both ghouls, but still made it clear that Phantom should “tap that”, earning a swift hit to the back of the head from the blushing quint.

(The photo in question. Art by author, AKA me.)