[SIDESTORY] BELLOWS

[skinstealer]

CHAPTER 2: BEDREST
[CW: BDSM mentions]

You wake up in a massive bed (even for you), a heavy comforter wrapped around you. Chief’s bedroom is cozy as ever, with the kind of messy clutter that feels lived in and inviting. It’s warm here, and for a few moments, you soak it in, completely forgetting the hell you just endured. 

It can’t last forever, though.

You begrudgingly open your eyes and start checking yourself over- someone’s cleaned and bandaged you up. Your wounds still sting like hell, especially when you make the dumbass decision to unwrap one to see how bad it is. The cuts aren’t clean, their jagged edges making you a little sick to look at. They’re deep, and that worries you even more. Your skin isn’t meant to be cut like that, and they’re going to take forever to heal… 

You hear there’s a doctor in the community that does good work, but you’ve never been, and you have a feeling that no matter how good they are, they’re not going to be able to treat a de’moneres properly. There’s barely any of your species out here, especially not in an underground community like this. 

The door opens before you can get into a proper funk about your situation, a large karacel peeking her head in. The worry on her face doesn’t make you feel much better about this whole thing, but it’s good to see her.

“Hey, Clam.”

“Spider…!” She rushes in to give you a hug, even warmer than the bed. You reach out and tousle her head fur, doing your best to put on a brave face. Clamour’s a crier, and you don’t think you can bear to see the waterworks start up. 

“You see who patched me up?”

“Chief and I worked together on it, had to with how big you are..I hope everything’s wrapped up tigh-” She sees your unwrapped wound and gently swats the side of your forehead, grumbling as it hurt her hand more than it would ever hurt you. But, you figured she knew that- god knows she’d never actually try to cause you harm. “Don’t fuss with it like that!”

“I had to see how bad the damage was!”

“No, you didn’t! For the love of- you’re going to get infection…” She fished around in her pocket before taking out a roll of bandages, already getting to work on freshening the wound up. 

“You carry that around with you?”

“No, I just figured someone-” She gives you an exasperated look. “Might get picky.”

“You know me too well.”

“Of course I do. Someone’s got to look after you, and between me and Chief, it’s a two person job.”

“Yeah, well…” You can’t help the slightest bit of blush creep into your cheeks, embarrassed at all the attention you’re getting. 

Clamour finishes wrapping you up, hands on her hips. “You know as well as I do that I try to stay positive about things, but...these are nasty cuts and even with how much I know about aftercare, these aren’t BDSM bruises. I’m not a doctor. You’re going to have to visit Evelyn.”

“I’ve never even met her.”

“Well now’s a good time to start! You should have been getting checkups ages ago, like you said you would.”

“She doesn’t treat de’moneres-”

“Have you asked her that?”

“Well, no-”

“Then you don’t know that for sure! Evelyn and I aren’t close or anything, but she’s a good doctor, and she’s treated plenty of people whose species aren’t Tavernian. Just because you’re the only de’moneres here doesn’t mean she doesn’t have experience.”

“Alright, alright, I get it!” You ruffle her head fur again, getting a disgruntled snort. “I’ll go see the doc, just...give me some time to rest.” 

“Of course! Chief’s making soup for you as we speak.”

“Soup? I don’t have a cold, and- wait, you said Chief’s making it?”

“He insisted.”

“Clam, that man can’t cook a grilled sandwich to save his life.”

“Who knows, maybe the power of love will give him motivation!”
“The power of- it’s not like that!” You feel your face heat up all over, unable to hide your blush.

“Sure it isn’t, like I don’t see you looking deeeep into his eyes during your sessions, that’s no usual drop.” She smirked at your pout, knowing just how to get you. “I gotta say, I’m jealous.”

“I’m never letting you voyeur again.”

“If you say so! Just don’t come knocking on my door when Chief gets a nasty bruise again!”

“Ugh. You are impossible.”

“It’s one of my best traits!”

You can’t help but laugh, bumping your heads together gently. She gives you a kiss on the nose, just as careful. Your face isn’t even that scratched up, but you can tell she’s treating you like something fragile right now- it’s not something you’re used to, but you appreciate it. Out of all the people in this house right now, Clam’s the one you’re happy to wake up to- even with all of the fussing she’s put you through, Chief would be way worse about it, and Dragonfly...ugh. You don’t even want to think about them right now.

It doesn’t take long before your quiet moment is interrupted, Chief pushing the door open with a hoof, a tray in hand. He’s careful not to lose his balance as he brings the soup in- and to your surprise, it doesn’t look half bad. Your heart skips a beat when you notice he’s put some charcoal shavings in. Your favorite.

“How’s the patient, Clam?”

“Oh, she’ll be alright...as soon as she gets off her ass and visits Evelyn!”

You start pouting again, getting a smile out of Chief. “If she’s able to make that face, she’s doing better than I thought. You gave me a hell of a scare, Spides.”

“You think you were scared then, you’d hate to be out there…” A shiver goes down your spine. “I don’t know what happened, it was all so fast.”

“Talk to us.” Chief sits next to you as you fiddle with your spoon, placing a hand carefully on your leg. “Tell us everything you can.”

You do your best to recount what happened, stumbling on some of the details- it was so dark, and you had to admit that you panicked. The shame and fear creeps back in as you remember what happened, and how scared you were...it settles into your stomach as a pool of dread, and Chief stops you as soon as he notices you couldn’t eat your soup anymore without choking.

“It’s okay, Spides. You’re going to be okay.” Chief gives your knee a squeeze. “We’re gonna figure this out. I’m sure as hell not letting whoever did this get away with it.”

“Are you sure about that?” Clamour frowns, clearly uncomfortable. “Like...I want to get whoever did this back just as much as you do, but whoever this guy is, they’re packing some serious firepower if they were able to cut up Spider. I mean, the only person who I can think of being able to do that is, well, you.”

“And it couldn’t have been Chief- it wouldn’t have been.” You try to ignore the gurgling in your stomach, the soup not settling well with all the stress. “You’d never do something like that to me.”

“Course not. Fact that they’ve got similar abilities though, don’t like that…” Chief unwraps Clamour’s handiwork, ignoring her protests. “Cuts are too gross, way too messy. Mine are totally clean.”

Chief’s god powers were kind of mysterious to you, as was...well, most magic. You just didn’t get that kind of stuff, nor did you have a whole lot of interest in it. Chief had managed to get you mystified with it a few times, but refused to use it on or even around you outside of his work...you get the feeling he doesn’t like them too much. Being able to cut things into clean, even sections came in handy for his job as the local butcher, but around people? It’s dangerous stuff, and the very idea of someone with a power level even remotely similar to one of your best friends makes you tense up even worse.

“And you didn’t see them, not even a peek?” Chief continues his questioning, keeping his voice gentle.

“All I saw is that they were big, really big and fast...aside from that, nothing.”

“Did they say anything?”

“Not a word.”

“Well, shit. That ain’t a whole lot in terms of clues, and I suck at mysteries.” Chief crosses his arms, squeezing his eyes shut while he thinks. “But if something dangerous is stalking you, I want to end that shit before it goes any further.”

“Maybe we should get security involved.” Clamour pipes up, brightening as soon as the idea pops into her head. “Winnifred! Winnie could help us!”

“Oh, god. Not her. Other options, please.”

“Spider, Winnie is a lovely person, and the party was a year ago. I’m sure she’s already forgotten!”

“You remember, and you weren’t even there!” You sink into the pillows, trying not to spill the soup. “I made a complete ass of myself.”

“Unless you have a better idea, Evelyn and Winnifred are our best shots.” Chief gives you a look. “What if somebody else gets hurt around here? If this guy was able to do this to you, he could chop up pretty much anyone else around. Wouldn’t last a second. Least we can do is let Winnifred know what’s up, get that circulating that there’s something dangerous out in the woods. Go into lockdown.”

“Lockdown- what about my shop!?” You bolt upright, definitely spilling some soup this time. “I can’t just abandon my job, I have bills to pay-”

“Ohhhh my god. Spides. Again with the bills.”

“Look, I have to work to earn my-”

“Your what, your shack?”

“It’s...it’s a nice shack!”

“You’ve got holes in the roof!”

“We’re underground, it’s not like it rains!”

“It’s the principle of the thing- look, Spides, me and Clamour want what’s best for you.” Clam nods enthusiastically as he talks. “We wanna help you out, and it’s more important to us that you don’t eat shit and die on a trail. Paying a couple extra hundred in cash a month, it’s no big deal. Ain’t shit.”

You have to admit, the idea of your nighttime walk has never felt less appealing. Sure, you’d be fine heading out around midday, but then what? Sleep in the shop until daybreak? What if whoever attacked you didn’t care about stealth and still came after you? Were you really up for risking taking on someone who had the balls to approach an octoliere de’moneres- and potentially win?

Or was sucking it up and taking the rent money too much to bear?

“...fine. If this doesn’t get handled in the next few weeks, we’ll make some kind of deal- but I’m not letting you pay all of it!”

“Done deal.” Chief grinned, blue teeth practically sparkling. “That mean you’re gonna go talk to ol’ Winnie, then?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“And Evelyn?” Clamour starts mopping up the spilled soup with a napkin, making sure to get the small splatters on your chest. 

“Yeah, and Evelyn. Get myself a doctor’s appointment, talk to security, I get it!”

“Good!” Evelyn boops your nose with a finger. “You’ll feel a lot safer once you do, I promise. And if Winnie gives you trouble, you let us know- she owes us both a favor.”

“Do I get to know what kind of favor?”

“Nope!”

“Ugh.”

“It’s a story for another day, babe.” Chief strokes your hair, getting it out of your eyes. “For now, you gotta get your rest. Stay as long as you gotta- if I need to, I’ll take the couch.”

“Oh no. No couch for you.” You insist, shaking your head as soon as he suggests it. “I am not kicking you out of your bed. We’ve slept together a thousand times!”

“I don’t want to risk rolling over and making those cuts worse!”

“I’ll be the big spoon.” You stuck your tongue out, getting a snicker from Clamour. “Problem solved.”

“Fine, fine...guess you win again.” He rubs a thumb against your horns before standing up, stretching. “Better leave you be, though. You aren’t gonna get much rest with the two of us chatting your ear off.”

“But…” You hesitate, not wanting to come off as too needy. Anything but that. “I...I don’t want to be alone right now. Not after last night.” You barely manage to choke it out, and you can’t help but feel terribly embarrassed, but it’s the truth. All you can think about is what happened, and the thought of being alone with your thoughts terrifies you.

“We’ll take shifts, then.” Clamour tries to get you to eat some more soup, and you oblige, your stomach feeling just the slightest bit better. “I’ll take a little longer, and Chief can switch out.”

“And I won’t have to see Dragonfly?”

“Nope. We’ll keep that busybody out of here.” 

“Okay...you promise?”

“Cross my fucked up heart.”

You can’t help but smile as she helps you finish up the soup, Chief taking the tray. Maybe things were going to be okay, at least for now...it doesn’t take long for sleep to drag you back under again, time spent with Clamour turning into a hazy blur.

Your sleep is dreamless, something you can’t help but be thankful for.

God forbid you have to relive this again.