Firelight (Dewdrop Ghoul x Reader)

7.

Dew remained where he was, drawing in a cooling breath to try and calm himself down, but it wasn't working. His chest was still heaving up and down rapidly, and his nails were starting to dig into his palms.

"Ok, get over here." You said, and took his fist in your hand for a second before wincing slightly. He was boiling to the touch, but he looked at you in concern.

"I'm sorry." He said, and pulled his hands into himself.

"No, don't be. Just come here." You said, and gestured to the edge of the rock you liked to sit on, and he did as you said, sitting on the edge next to where you set your shoes down. "Shoes and socks off."

He grumbled, "don't do what Rain does, please for the love of fuck"

"I won't," you chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, and he did so, putting his feet in the water after rolling up his pants. "Can you cool yourself down any?"

He looked down and noticed that the water was indeed heating up around him, Dew grumbled and placed his palms flat on the rock, eventually cooling himself down some. You smiled and placed your feet in the water next to his, and then offered a hand to him. He took it tentatively, worried he may burn you again, but he did not.

You closed your eyes and used what Rain had taught you to lower your body temperature, letting it seep into your bones as you held his hand with both of yours. He shivered a little when he realized how cold you had become, but eased into your touch while looking away from you.

You let his hand go after a few minutes and sat in silence until he was ready to speak.

"He's not wrong." Dew mumbled.

"What?" You said, not sure you heard him right.

"Aether," he spoke up, "he's not wrong that I can get dangerous."

"I know," you replied, but he was quick to respond.

"No, you don't {Name}." Dew shook his head, "I cannot control myself."

"You just proved that you could," you said, looking over at him as he remained stoic.

His tongue pressed against his teeth, fighting an inner turmoil, "I didn't stop myself, you did. You stopped me."

"And?" You argued, "that's something, isn't it?"

"It's really not, someone always has to step in, I can't do it by myself." He sighed, keeping his eyes hidden from you.

You thought for a moment, feeling a well of guilt in your stomach, "Was it easier before I came along and... took a part of you?"

"No," he said, and you felt relieved even if it was a little misplaced. "It's been ongoing since the moment of my summoning, it's why Rain was tasked with helping me."

"Oh, so you aren't friends?" You said sympathetically.

"No! We are! We are fantastic friends, I think." He explained, "we just started out as two ghouls who had to work together, but now we have kind of a... brotherly bond?"

"Oh good, you had me worried I misread something." You smiled softly, chuckling a little.

He forced a smile, breathing through his nose, "yea, nah we're cool. He's been avoiding me recently but I think that's just because we lost a similarity. We'll be okay though."

Dew's expression quickly turned dark again, thinking about what Aether had been saying, how he had been watching you. It made him feel like he hadn't protected you, like you were his responsibility.

"That's good," you said, trying to ignore the awkward moment of silence.

"Yea." He replied.

"You know I don't believe Aether, right?" You asked, kicking your feet in the water slightly. "I'm not just going to fuck off because he said so."