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thelampisaflashlight · 11 months

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A Home Below Pt. 2: Welcome

[Mountain and Swiss meet the new neighbors, and get some unexpected insight from Dew. Primarily from Swiss' POV. Mentions of implied past nonconsensual body modification.] Below the cut.

"Who's that?" a tiny voice asks as Swiss rounds the corner into the main part of the basement with Mountain, making both ghouls pause.

Turning to follow the voice, Swiss furrows his brow as he catches sight of two figures standing in the adjacent hallway; A man about his height with dyed blue hair and mismatched eyes -he recognizes him, he's one of the custodians, but he can't recall his name- and a small child he's never seen before, with strawberry blond curls and bright blue eyes.

Mountain pokes his head out curiously to see what the hold up is before reeling backwards, startled.

It's only then that Swiss recalls that neither of them are glamoured.

Not that the custodians haven't seen them like this before, they do clean the den for them after all, but he highly doubts the kid has ever seen a ghoul before.

And, honestly, that's probably the most unsettling part of this sudden encounter.

The kid.

Why is there a kid??

Said child waves, which seems to set the adult with them further on edge to the extent that Swiss can smell the anxiety rolling off of him.

It's a subtle, sweet smell... and something about it triggers something in Swiss' memories about this custodian in particular.

Swiss calms himself with a deep breath and offers a small wave, elbowing Mountain to come out and do the same, giving the earth giant a look that he hopes reads as "It's chill".

Mountain pops back into view and gives a nod in the pair's direction.

The kid's eyes go wide.

"You're so tall!"

Mountain beams, giving a small grin, "I am."

"Bug, it's not polite to talk about strangers' appearances like that..." the man lightly scolds, then looks to them, and this time Mountain gets a whiff of his scent as well.

Not a threat.

Just nervous.

Maybe a little scared even.

Mountain puts a slouch in his back to avoid making himself too big, and Swiss snorts.

"You're... uh, you're one of the custodians, yeah?" Swiss asks a touch awkward, unable to remember the man's name, "Jay...?"

"Jeremy Durand." he replies, taking the child's hand into his own, "...and this is Whitney, my son."

"Ohhh..."

Looking at the kid again, it's... Swiss would like to say it should be obvious that the boy is his, but, really, the only thing about Whitney that seems to even remotely resemble his father is his nose.

"He looks like his grandma." Jeremy says, as if seeing Swiss' confusion, but before the ghoul can apologize for being rude, Whitney, bless him, saves his hide.

"It's true! I look like Granny!" he chirps happily, "She says it's 'cause Dad got all of Grandpa's pants and I got hers... but Granny's pants are too big for me to wear, so I dunno..."

"Not jeans like the pants, Bug, genes like..." Jeremy sighs, "I'll explain later."

"So-" Swiss chuckles, then asks, curious, "Is it bring your kid to work day?"

"Ah... well, I..." Jeremy runs his hand over his neck, "...I thought Elijah explained... It's complicated, but Whitney and I will be... will be staying here."

Swiss blinks.

"Really?"

Jeremy nods.

"Well, that means we're neighbors then!" Swiss smiles, "Welcome!"

"...T-Thank you." Jeremy mumbles, clearly uncomfortable with... something, and then Swiss remembers.

"Oh, sh-" he glances at Whitney, covering his mouth, "Sugar Snaps, right my teeth, sorry."

"'s okay..."

Whitney looks up at his father, squeezing his hand, and in the smallest voice says something barely audible to human ears, but that the ghouls can hear loud and clear...

"It's okay, Dad. It's okay..."

Swiss tries not to show it on his face, but there's something about such a small child trying to comfort their parent because they're scared -because they're scared of THEM, him and Mounty- that makes him feel a bit like a dick, even if he hasn't done anything wrong... yet.

In so far as he knows at least.

Jeremy's hand visibly shakes in the child's grip, but Swiss pretends not to see it, and instead turns to Mountain, bidding the pair goodbye and dragging his friend down the hallway, hopefully in the opposite direction of where the family needs to go.

Once they're out of sight, Swiss lets go of Mountain's arm and breathes a sigh of relief.

"Neighbors, huh?" Mountain drawls, "...Somehow I don't think Mr. Durand is particularly... pleased with the idea."

Swiss bites his lip and then releases it with a tsk.

"Guess we'll have to do something about that then."

"Swiss-"

"Nothing bad!" Swiss interjects quickly, "...Something to make them feel more at home? Although, I don't think our usual methods for welcoming new ghouls is gonna work here."

"Ghouls?" Mountain questions, looking back down the hallway.

"I could be wrong, but... that guy, you could smell him, right?" Swiss whispers, "...He doesn't smell like a human, and the kid... I dunno, they just smell like us, kind of, ya know? And I kind of vaguely remember hearing something about him... but I don't remember exactly what it was."

"I did smell... something." Mountain admits, "That would explain why they're letting them live down here... I mean, there is the upstairs dorms for the human clergy and the ghouls, but if he has a kit, he probably doesn't want him mixed in with the other adult ghouls right from the get-go, it's safer down here, less people."

Swiss nods.

"Gotta give the folks upstairs some credit, they at least thought this through to some extent... Still though, they're being pretty accommodating all things considered, more than you'd expect them to be." he hums, "Even if the guy has a kit, there are ghouls AND clergy members raising children upstairs. There's gotta be more to the reason why he's getting a room down here..."

"It could have something to do with who his kit's other parent is? Or perhaps he has some connections with the higherups? He did say 'Elijah' earlier, he could mean Brother Elijah, he is the supervisor..." Mountain muses, "Or it could be because the custodial office is down here, and none of the other staff members in that department live on the property."

"How do you know that?" Swiss asks.

"I often work with the other members of that department when it comes to the upkeep of the greenspaces around the abbey." Mountain says, "They keep things tidy and make sure the sheds are stocked."

"Huh, the more you know..." Swiss nods, "At any rate... We should probably hightail it to practice before Papa sends Dew down here to drag us upstairs by our napes."

Mountain raises his tail, "I hate when he does that, he always bites so hard..."

"Personally, I kinda like it-"

Swiss scratches at the bite mark on his neck, grumbling along with Mountain, who's sitting off to the side licking a matching one on his hand, "You don't have to draw blood, ya know, you could just give me a lil' nibble and I'll do whatever you want me to..."

"Only good boys who get to practice on time get 'lil nibbles'." Dew puffs a bit of steam out of his gills, "I dunno what you two were up to, but at least keep it in your pants until AFTER 5 o'clock, damn..."

"For you information, we were originally going to be on time, but we had to make a little detour to greet our new neighbors." Swiss sniffs.

"Tom-Tom and Aurora are already here, numb nuts, come up with a better excuse." Dew rolls his eyes.

"Not them, our new-new neighbors." Mountain chimes in, "A father and son."

"For real?"

Swiss nods.

"It's one of the newer custodians, Jeremy De... something..."

"Tell me it's not DeFroque..."

"Wait, not De, it was Du... I think it was Durand?" Swiss says, "Yeah, it was Durand. Nice enough guy, nervous as Hell though."

Dew raises an eyebrow, crossing his arms, "That name does sound weirdly familiar..."

"You've met him before?" Mountain asks.

"Not exactly, at least not recently..." Dew shakes his head, "I think I might've read the name off of a list at some point, but if it's the one I'm thinking of, then it makes sense why they'd send him downstairs."

"How so?"

Dew hesitates, his expression... conflicted.

"...Back when Ter-" he clears his throat, "When Papa's predecessor was still in charge, there was an incident involving a lesser branch of the church. They were... fanatical."

"I don't really know much about it myself, Omega only briefly mentioned the situation to me, because he had to go with... ya know... to handle things. When he got back, he wouldn't talk about what exactly happened, but there were these... I guess they were ghouls?"

"You guess?"

"It's hard to describe, they were... in a bad way." Dew settles on finally, "Like something had gone wrong in the ritual. I think there were eight...? Maybe nine? Of them in total... Anyway, this was sometime before you or even Mounty were summoned, so you might not know this, but all of the regular ghouls' dorms were downstairs at the time, and us band ghouls were upstairs."

"...That would explain why there were so many rooms to choose from when I was summoned." Swiss hums, "So these ghouls stayed in the den then?"

Dew nods.

"We, obviously, didn't interact with them much. Omega did, but he didn't talk about what was going on down there at the time." he explains, "One time, though, he was talking about this one ghoul in particular, and how they were sick, like really sick, but wouldn't let anyone near them in order to check on them, but one of the human clergymen was able to approach... Uhh, ya know, what's his face..."

"Brother Elijah?"

"That's the bitch!" Dew chirps, then clears his throat again, "But yeah, somehow he was able to get through to them. I guess it's because he used to be some kind of crisis worker or whatever they're called... Well, anyway, he managed to get a name out of them, and I'm pretty sure it was Durand, because they had, like, this list that Omega had to look through and try and find family members, or, like, co-workers, neighbors... people who knew them before, and that's where I saw it."

Swiss frowns, mulling over this new information, and then...

"How... How old was the kid do you think?" he asks, looking to Mountain, whose face contorts as he realizes what the other ghoul is asking.

"I... I'm not sure... Maybe six or seven..."

"There weren't any children among the ghouls at the time, but it's possible they could have been born after the fact... Fuck." Dew rubs his chin, "Could've even been born here."

"Going with the nicer option of after... why come back here now? If this is the same Durand?" Mountain wonders, "You said it made sense, I'm still not quite following as to why..."

"Well, wouldn't you want to go somewhere familiar? Safe? With someone who you trust close by in case you need them? I don't know why they'd come back here otherwise, but, ya know, a lot of people come here because they have nowhere else to go..." Dew clicks his teeth, "I could also be talking out my ass on all of this, man, it has been YEARS since I thought about any of that..."

"But the name stuck out to you, so that has to mean something, right?" Swiss counters, "...What happened to the others?"

"Not sure..." Dew shrugs, "There's only one other ghoul from that incident that's still in residence here, but they live in the dorms with the human clergy, and they're honestly kind of weird."

"How so?"

"Walks on all fours all the time, glows in the dark like a radioactive sleep paralysis demon, dislikes other ghouls ...except for fucking Aeth for some reason..." Dew mutters.

"Why do you sound so bitter about that, hm~?" Swiss teases.

"...Get you instruments out, practice is starting soon. Count yourselves lucky that we're starting later than usual, because Cumulus called and said she'd be late because she's running errands."

Swiss gasps.

"If you knew practice would be starting late, why did you bite us then?!"

"...Maybe I just wanted to bite you, ever thought about that?"

"You-"

So far, Whitney isn't sure if he likes their new house.

His dad seems sad, but also... hungry?

He's not sure how to explain a feeling like that, like hungry, but for happiness?

Like he's a little low on happy, yeah.

Chicken nuggets and Oreos make Whitney happy.

And Granny's bedtime stories, and Dad's hugs.

Looking around their new kitchen, Whitney can't find any Oreos or chicken nuggets, and Granny lives far, faaaar away now, so she can't tell him a story unless he uses Dad's phone so...

Whitney pads softly across the wood floor, Dad gave him his favorite slippers to wear, the ones that look like dinosaurs eating his feet, and nudges the door to the big bedroom -Dad's new room- open.

"...Dad?"

"Yeah, Bug?" his father looks up from sorting through some boxes, he's not shaking like he was earlier, but he still seems a bit sad.

Whitney holds his arms up.

"Hug?"

His dad smiles, "Sure."

Dad's hugs never fail to make him feel better, so Whitney hopes his hugs can help him feel better, too.

"It's gonna be okay..." Whitney mumbles, squishing his face into his father's shoulder.

Granny always says stuff like that when Dad is sad, when Whitney knows he's supposed to be in bed, but can't sleep.

They talk about a lot of things he doesn't understand, but he knows sometimes it's about him, even if they switch to the fancy language Granny tried to teach him.

French fry or something like that.

"You really do take after your grandma, you know that?" His dad pats his back, "The good parts anyway."

"I got the good pants."

A laugh.

"Sure, Bug, sure you did."

#Lamp writes #nameless ghouls #swiss ghoul #mountain ghoul #dewdrop ghoul #ghost band #ghost bc #the band ghost #ghost band fanfic #nameless ghoul oc #ghost band oc #sibling of sin #sibling of sin oc #I'm just saying now that Whitney could use more dads #or at least one more dad #he'll just collect them like pokemon

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pupkashi · 8 months

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love comes easy when it’s gojo

a/n: what are you guys talking about chapter 236 ? the manga ended a while ago lol they’re all happy and safe ! don’t be silly guys >.< (I’m deep in denial no one hmu)

wordcount: 728

masterlist

loving satoru gojo was easy.

it was easy falling in love with him when you first began talking to him, stolen glances and flushed faces when either of you caught the other.

it came to you like second nature to play along with his jokes. your minds practically syncing up the second your eyes connected, silly grins on your faces as you both cracked dumb jokes.

there was something almost instinctive that had you intertwining your fingers with his, the tv on the show now background noise as satoru practically lay on top of you.

“what should we get for dinner?” you mumbled, half paying attention to the action on the screen, eyes landing on the mop of white hair in your lap.

satoru hummed, adjusting himself so that he was on his back and staring up at you, “want me to cook?” there was a smile playing on his lips as you pursed your lips at him.

“depends” you smile, “what is chef gojo gonna cook up for us tonight?” the smile on his face was evident now as he sat upright.

“maybe some instant ramen?” eyes glimmering as he speaks up again, “im feeling a bit fancy so how ‘bout i add an egg in there too.”

“an egg? you spoil me satoru,” you tease, watching as satoru pushes himself off the couch, stretching a bit. the bottom of his shirt lifts a bit and you catch his lower belly, smiling to yourself.

“oh but when you bend over i can’t whistle at you?” he pouts, catching the way you were practically giggling.

“satoru we were in a meeting with the higher ups,” you retort. the sorcerer only scoffs, mumbling something and heading into the kitchen.

it was easy to love satoru when he was carrying you out in the pouring rain, a cheesy love song blaring through his phone speakers in his pocket.

“dance with me!” his dimples peeking out and his eyes crinkling a bit as he laughed at your now soaked shirt.

you want to be angry, you want to scold him because he just got over the flu and this is gonna be terrible for him. but the small droplets of water collecting at the end of his white hair and sticking messily to his forehead make you keep your mouth shut.

you don’t say anything as you extend your arm out, giggling when he quickly pulls you into him by the waist, immediately pressing his lips onto yours, teeth hitting each other as the two of you burst into giggles.

“cyndi lauper is your go to?” you laugh, barely audible over the downpour surrounding the two of you.

“it was either her or whitney houston ” he smiles, turning his infinity on when he sees you shiver in the slightest, being sure to include you in it.

it was easy loving satoru gojo when he was shampooing your hair, kissing your shoulder and wrapping warm towels around you.

it was easy to fall deeper in love with him when the two of you are in bed, sweet nothings being interchanged between the two of you.

“i love you, angel boy,” you whisper, loving the way his cheeks grew pink, the grin on his lips growing as he nuzzled his face into the crook of his neck.

“i love you more, sweets” his voice is softer, more vulnerable, than usual. there’s nothing on his mind except you, and there’s nothing on yours except him.

it’s when the two of you are making breakfast together, movements flowing easily as he passes you the eggs and he plates the pancakes. when you’re both sitting way too close to each other on the huge couch in the living room, pillows and blankets surrounding the two of you.

when you hand each other things without even uttering a word. when you sit in rare silence with your lover, the comfort of each others presence being enough for the two of you.

when he’s bringing home flowers or you’re making him his favorite foods, when you’re blushing at his shower of compliments and he’s running away the second you call him handsome.

it’s in between laundry loads and making plans that you both realize how easy love comes to each other.

loving satoru gojo was easy, especially when you fell in love with him all over everyday.

taglist (send an ask to be added!): @chilichopsticks @anime-for-the-sleepless @4sat0ruu @safaia-47 @nanamikentoseyebags @fushironi @nineooooo @the-mom-friend-dot-com @gojoshooter @sat6ru @luna0713hunter @torusmochi

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