Chapter Text
Puruth whimpered, grinding his hips against Cielomort's own. He could hear the others' troubled breathing from underneath him, could feel the pure want and need from the other by the way he gripped his waist, “Cielo—” Cielomort cuts him off with a rather sloppy kiss.
What an embarrassing memory.
Puruth rolls over on the plush white bed, staring intently at the wall and not at the man sleeping behind him. He looks towards his wrist, examining every single mark Cielomort had left there the night prior. He takes in a shaky breath, bringing his wrist up to his mouth and pressing chaste kisses against the marks.
“If you missed me that much, you could've woken me up,” Puruth doesn't yelp but his body definitely reacts, tensing up and backing up away from the sudden voice. Cielomort chuckles, leaning over and pressing a kiss on Puruth's forehead, “I missed you.” He says, running a hand through Puruth's hair before kissing Puruth once more, “I've—” He cuts Puruth off with another kiss, “Been here—” He glares at Cielomort, whining as the other keeps on interrupting him with his kisses.
“Apologies, I just can't help myself,” He smiles, looking down at Puruth, “Heavens I could simply..” The look in his eyes isn't one Puruth would like to deal with, but in hindsight Puruth's never been a strong man either. All Cielomort has to do is kiss his neck and Puruth folds.
They end up having brunch that day.
The weeks come and go, before Puruth knows it he's aboard a ship waving goodbye to his dearest. Cielomort only smiles.
His return to the Red Continent is.. odd to say the least, he barely has time to settle before Lord Purin drags him to have a celebratory feast and by the time that's done the town folk wish to sing and dance alongside him, not that he minds.
“Romarriche.. what are you doing?” Puruth stares, neck craned to the side as Romarriche invades his personal space. Her nose presses against his neck, sniffing with intent as if she'd find something, “Pardon the intrusion,” she motions Sanah over and now Puruth has to look up at the ceiling as Sanah too takes a turn at pressing his nose against Puruth's neck and sniffing him.
The two seem to come to some sort of mutual conclusion and back away, Puruth sighs from relief at finally having his personal space returned to him. “Apologies, Puruth, you simply smelled.. different,” Romarriche smiles. It isn't her polite smile where she simply holds back her true feelings but it most definitely isn't a genuine one.
Later during the day Sanah follows him like a lost puppy, questioning and interrogating him over his stay in the Blue Continent. He doesn't grace the other with a response, his steps quicken instead and he leaves Sanah behind.
The next day isn't much better, Puruth wakes up with a pressure behind his eyes, his mind a haze of what it usually is. He turns over to the side with a garbled groan, curling up for a moment before furrowing his brows, the pang of hunger settling in rather heavily this morning. He grumbles, sitting up and getting off his bed.
Despite his.. less than stellar condition Puruth still decides to attend the bouquet meeting, and unfortunately for him he was early, too early if the sight of Hallritt was anything to go by. Its ears perk up almost like that of a cat's and it stares at Puruth with some odd understanding, “Tea?” It offers, smiling up at Puruth, Puruth only nods in response.
The day only worsens as the day progresses, the haze in his mind growing bigger and bigger by the minute, in the end he excuses himself from his duties and returns to his quarters to hopefully sleep off the illness.
As he tells this to Rimicha after three weeks of the odd illness they snicker, shaking their head at him, “Puru.. You're not sick, silly, well-” They smile, quickly looking away, “I mean- You are- but.. you know, you're not. Uhm.. ah.. you aren't.. sick.. I mean you are! Just not.. in the way you think..” He only raises a brow at them and their muttering, “What do you mean, Rimicha?” Rimicha stares at him as if he were an idiot, suddenly they quickly stand up with an odd glint in their eye, “I know! Let's buy some tests!” Tests?
Puruth stares down at the six plastic bags in horror, his mind barely registering in Rimicha's words of congratulations. He stares at the bags, more specifically at what's inside them, he hesitantly presses a hand against his stomach. He couldn't tell Cielomort about this.
How would the other react? Would he be enraged? Overjoyed? Puruth didn't know, and he didn't want to. This was simply one of many attachments he couldn't commit to, it simply wasn't the same.
“Seriously, did you not notice you were getting pudgier?” Rimicha pokes his stomach before shrieking, “Not that you're fat-! I mean! You are just not- you know!” He only nods in response, “Yeah.” Rimicha looks away, clearly ashamed, “Sorry..” He hums in response, “It's fine, I just.. I need some time to think.” Rimicha nods, quickly scurrying out of the bathroom.
In the end he decides to commit himself to this attachment, not like he had much of a choice with how limited his time was.
The rest of the Red Bouquet congratulate him, and Puruth doesn't think his room back home has enough space for all the gifts.
Hallritt in particular seems overjoyed, although Puruth suspects that simply had to do with the fact the two could understand each other better than the others due to their species.
It offers him a sweet smile as they're out for coffee and treats one day, “You'll be having pups! Isn't that amazing?” It clasps its hands together with a sigh of awe, Puruth only nods in response, taking another bite of his pudding. “You seem more excited than I am,” Hallritt slams a hand against the table practically standing up with how it leans over Puruth with an excited glint in its eyes, “Of course I am! I'll be Auntie Haru in no time!” Puruth sighs, “I honestly expected this to happen to you not me..”
Hallritt sits down properly once more, crossing its arms as it wags a finger at him, “Different species can't breed, remember?” Puruth replies with a hum of acknowledgement, “Ahh that's right, your partners aren't cats.. they're.. a duck and a rabbit, right?” Hallritt nods, “You got it!” Puruth smiles at it, well, at least someone was excited.
“You're going to have to write him a letter sooner or later,” Merold says, applying lipstick to her lips. Puruth groans, “What do I even say?” She hums for a moment, “I dunno, they're your pups not mine.”
He glares at them for a moment before covering his face with his hands, “Very helpful.”
The vibe in the room suddenly shifts as Merold looms over him, “Look,” he says, setting his lipstick aside. “The world doesn't need another messed up depressed parent, the least you could do is send him the damn letter.” Puruth stares before looking down and nodding, clearly shamed by Merold's words.
She backs up, sighing as if she were dealing with a troublesome child rather than a grown man, “Good. Now I don't want to see you crying over this. You made your choice and you'll stick with it,” Puruth nods. He doesn't bother bidding her farewell once she leaves.
Night falls and Puruth finds himself sitting in front of a desk, the pressure behind his eyes is neverending but he knows if he doesn't write this down now he won't write it down ever.
Dearest Cielomort,
He quickly crosses that out with a jagged line, nothing good will come out of such a corny greeting.
In the end he only writes a small note, tosses it into the mailbox and forgets about it. Lord Purin scolds him for it but he knows he'll manage.