Chapter Text
Ifrit should’ve known from that moment, when Dew climbed into his lap, that he was now wrapped around his scaly finned tail. He found himself being led by an invisible tether, following the water ghoul everywhere he went.
His intention was subtlety. But judging from the amount of times he saw Dew’s head turn a fraction, one icey blue eye peeking out between a break in his sheet of silver hair, he knew. Dew absolutely knew that Ifrit was watching him. Staring at him.
Ifrit felt like practice was fair game, only looking out for the health of Dew’s hands of course, trailing him out of the room to massage the ache out of his bones and tendons.
He would be looking up from underneath his dark brows at Dew’s face. Dew usually kept his eyes shut. But every now and again Ifrit saw a fraction of colour, the aperture of Dew’s pupil flaring as it met Ifrit’s own, splashed with the colour of autumn leaves.
He’d even asked Mountain for one of his botanical oils.
Medical properties or no, he wanted it to smell nice. He’d spend the rest of the evening inhaling the scent of lavender embedded in his skin, wondering what Dew was doing, where he was, who he was with.
Ifrit told himself he was just looking out for their most recent summon, that he was obviously having trouble adjusting, that he needed help navigating this new world. But all who knew him saw that Ifrit was absolutely enamored with Dew. That his line of sight was always directed at Dewdrop.
“Dude, you’re drooling.”
Ifrit snapped his head forward, swiping at his mouth. “Am not.” He tried to ignore Aether’s obnoxious snickering.
“Well, could’ve fooled me, the way you’re sitting there with your mouth hanging open, staring at him. Or are you trying to catch flies?”
“No - uh - I’m not staring - I was just zoning out.”
“No, you were zoning in, on Dewdrop’s face. Although I’ve gotta say, that’s more polite than when you stare at his ass, or his co-.”
Aether had never seen the fire ghoul blush before. “Do not finish that sentence. And as if you all haven’t been waiting to devour him like a pack of wild dogs.”
“Maybe so. But you’ve got it bad. Maybe you should say so before he files a restraining order.” Aether stood, taking his plates to the busing station against the wall. He waved his goodbye, and then moved on to making a lewd gesture whilst pointing in Dew’s direction. Ifrit flipped him off in response.
He spent the rest of his meal absentmindedly picking at his food, catching his eyes traveling back to the water ghoul sitting with Zephyr in the opposite corner.
He’s long since finished eating, but he remained seated. Pretending that there was something very interesting in the newspaper one of the siblings left behind.
He let the pages bend back to steal more glances in Dew’s direction, until he heard the scraping of chairs. He pulled the long sheets up in front of his face to hide.
Unable to discern the footsteps of any particular ghoul around him, he wasn’t sure where Dew went, but he hadn’t seen him pass through the doors. Concentrating so hard on his whereabouts that he didn’t notice Dew had snuck up behind hom.
He became aware of Dew’s presence when he felt something cool drape across his neck. He looked down to see the end of Dew’s tail flicking back and forth across his chest.
“H-hey, didn’t see you there.” Ifrit cringed as he registered how awkward he sounded.
“Oh? I was sure you did see me. My mistake.”
“Well, I mean I saw you, over there.”
“So, I was thinking you could work your magic on my shoulders. The bass is really heavy.” Ifrit didn’t need to look, he was sure Dew’s expression was something akin to cartoon puppy eyes.
“Yeah, I mean, sure. Yes.” Did he need to say yes 3 different ways? Maybe, as he digested the idea of running his hands over Dew’s slender back, fingers gliding across his skin with the aid of the oil Mountain made him.
“Thank you.”
“You want to do it - now?”
“Sure, if you’re not busy.”
“No.” Ifrit wanted to bang his head on the table. How could someone so soft spoken and seemingly shy unnerve him so deeply that he couldn’t speak properly.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Ifrit followed a pace behind as Dew led the way to his room. He wasn’t sure what to do with himself once inside, sitting on the edge of the bed twirling his thumbs.
He felt Dew’s eyes on him but he didn’t dare look up, lest he make an even bigger ass of himself. He registered Dew’s movement out of the corner of his eye. Sliding his shoes off, tossing his sweater on a chair.
He peeled off his t-shirt, throwing it in the same direction. Ifrit was the fire ghoul but Dew was the one making the room unbearably hot. Ifrit nearly choked on his own saliva when he heard Dew’s belt slithering through the loops.
His sanity was preserved as Dew’s unintentional strip tease ended. He let his eyes flit to the left, and indeed Dew was still staring at him. Was this some kind of revenge? Maybe he needed to apologize.
“M’kay I’m ready.” Dew crawled on to the bed, laying prone in the center of the mattress. Ifrit had thought Dew would just sit in front of him. Now he had to worry about not crushing his small frame underneath his much larger one.
Ifrit positioned himself over his slim thighs, hovering, he’d poured out far too much oil but Dew didn't seem to mind. As Ifrit worked his hands over him, he searched for the tension that Dew complained of but he found none. No knots, no inflammation, no stiffness. Still, Dew purred in pleasure as Ifrit’s hands slid across his skin.
“Is this helping?”
“Oh yes, very much.”
Ifrit continued in silence, listening to Dew’s little chirps and moans. “You know, your back feels much better than your hands did.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t really hurt that bad. I just figured if you were going to keep staring at me all day and not doing anything about it, I’d just invite you to put your hands all over me.”
Ifrit blushed furiously for the second time in his life, but his hands maintained their course, dipping below the waistband of his jeans to knead his thumbs into the twin dimples on his lower back.
Dew abruptly flipped on to his back, hands snaking up Ifrit’s thighs, taking in his wide eyed expression with a coy smile. “It’s okay.” Dew assured him. “I was staring too. I’m just more discreet about it.”