Chapter Text
“You’re staying?” Vessel asked, his voice a bit muffled through Ivy’s hazy mind.
Ivy rubbed his face with a soft groan. “Yeah… yeah. With the band,” he muttered, “promised to give my best.”
Someone cupped Ivy’s cheeks and kissed all over his face, making Ivy groan again. “Fuck, you’re okay; I was starting to get scared. You’ve been sleeping for hours. Fuck. Ivy.” II whispered, his words fast and almost too quiet. Worried.
“Huh, what time is it?” Ivy weakly pushed II away when he didn’t stop kissing him, too overwhelmed – by the kisses and how II’s breath dampened his skin.
“Past 9, almost half past. Fuck Ivy.” Instead of the little kisses, II reached out and carded his fingers through Ivy’s hair. “You look fucked, as if you have a fever- ew-” II wiped his hand on his joggers. “Sorry, didn’t mean it like that, but you’re really drenched, sweetheart.”
“It’s fine,” Ivy whispered and closed his eyes. Everything was too blurry, making him dizzy, but at least II’s fingers felt good. “I’m fine.”
“Let’s get you up; you’re drenched.” Vessel said softly and carefully helped Ivy up. “And if you say anything about wasting our water-”
“Mate, I cannot bathe four times in two days,” Ivy muttered, swallowing against the nausea that hit him as soon as he was upright. Fuck. And this wasn’t just about the waste of water but also about his poor skin. “I’d take a shower, though, if you don’t mind.”
“Can you stand?” II asked. “Get him up, Vee. Gods, your tee’s so wet. We need to get that all off of you-”
“Wow, I feel soo loved.”
“You are loved, but also so drenched that you look as if you fell into a pool,” Vessel said softly, “you need at least a rinse.”
Vessel didn’t need any help supporting Ivy, which made him kind of suspicious. Sure, he was tall, but didn’t look strong, and Ivy was a bit chubby. How could Vessel keep him upright without effort? Very suspicious.
“Sleep said you love me,” Ivy said quietly, “sorry for that.” He winced and reflexively shielded his eyes when Vessel turned on the light in the en-suite.
“We’re getting that out of you,” II said, displeased.
The wet clothes started to feel disgusting, cold and sticky to his skin, making Ivy groan as he tried to pull his tee off. II didn’t exaggerate; he really was as wet as if he had fallen into a pool. “Sorry, Sleep said it’s annoying.”
“It kinda is, yeah,” II said, not unkind. His voice was soft, and Ivy didn’t catch any annoyance in it. “We’ll just have to show you that you shouldn’t be sorry for your feelings, for feeling worthless and all of that. I’m not good at that; Ves can help you better with that. I’m shit with words.”
“It’s okay. Guess I really needed to hear that,” Ivy said slowly, giving up on pulling the tee over his head. “Can I uhh. Can I get some help?” he asked hesitantly.
Vessel helped him, of course he did, untangling him from the wet mass that was his tee.
“I feel like I got run over by a lorry. Or five,” Ivy murmured, “I feel disgusting.”
“Mh, the first time with sleep can do that,” Vessel whispered. “First time we talked, it kept me in its realms for a whole day, and when I got out, I didn’t feel real.” Vessel helped Ivy with his joggers now, kneeling down and letting Ivy support himself on his shoulders as he stepped out of them. “Needed to piss so bad. Imagine trying to piss when you don’t even know where you are, staggering and swaying to the toilet and hitting your mug on a door frame.”
Ivy snorted, despite it not even being really funny. He quickly apologised, but Vessel waved him off with a small smile.
“I had Ves with me when I talked to Sleep the first time. Luckily only took a few hours and not a whole day, and I tolerated it quite well, I think. Didn’t hit my head on a door frame at least.” II took Ivy’s clothes from Vessel, his nose scrunching as he touched them.
“How am I holding up?” Ivy asked, flinching when someone cupped his cheeks. “Ves?”
“Yes, love, open your eyes for me.”
Ivy did, blinking against the brightness, his eyes watering. “Hurts.”
Vessel leant closer, so close that their noses almost touched. “Your pupils are reacting, so it only feels like a really bad concussion.” His thumbs rubbed comfortingly over Ivy’s cheeks, up to the soft skin under his eyes. “You’re fine. Give it a shower and at least an hour.”
“Rhymes.” Ivy closed his eyes again, enjoying the feeling of Vessel’s thumbs tickling the tips of his lashes.
“I’ll do the laundry; stay with him.” II turned on the little light on the bathroom mirror and turned off the overhead light when he left.
So considerate. Much better. Hurt much less, too. “Is he mad at me?”
“No, love, just worried,” Vessel whispered. “You slept for so long that he started getting nervous, but we also couldn’t wake you since we didn’t want to piss off Sleep. He really isn’t mad at you, believe me.”
“Okay.” Ivy let Vessel guide him into the shower, choosing not to argue about it. He didn’t want to be annoying.
“Want me to join you?”
“If you wanna.”
“I wanna,” Vessel said softly, “wanna help you and make sure you don’t slip and split your pretty head open.”
As Ivy leaned against the cold tiles, he watched Vessel undress, trying really hard to not fall asleep. When Vessel stepped in as well, he pulled Ivy close and hugged him tightly. Felt really nice. Comforting. And it made his tummy tingle a bit, but that also could just be the nausea.
“You set rules,” Vessel said and turned on the shower, “that’s good. I’m proud of you for setting boundaries with an ancient deity.”
“There weren’t any chairs,” Ivy muttered against Vessel’s wet chest.
“Why-” Vessel grabbed Ivy’s shoulder and brought some distance between them. “Ivy, why would there be chairs.
It was pretty funny to Ivy how confused Vessel looked. “I imagine throwing chairs at it when it pisses me off,” he explained, as if it were the most logical thing. “Or rather into the ocean. Would’ve thrown one at it if there was one. But there weren’t, so I had to set boundaries the normal way.”
Vessel blinked, his eyebrows raised. “That’s one way to cope with the situation, I guess?”
Looking up at Vessel turned out to be pretty fucking exhausting. Made his neck and eyes hurt. “You’re hung.”
“You’re dazed and confused,” Vessel whispered and tipped Ivy’s head back up, a soft smile on his pretty lips, “but thank you, love.”
While Ivy hummed the tune of the song of the same name under his breath, Vessel situated him as needed, choosing to walk around him instead of turning him around this way and that way when Ivy started to groan and pale.
Washing his hair turned out to be quite difficult, since tipping his head back made Ivy gag for some reason, and turning his head forward would make shampoo run into his eyes. In the end, Vessel sighed and just rubbed Ivy’s hair and scalp with his fingers, hoping to get it as clean as possible that way. Ivy could wash his hair himself tomorrow and hopefully wouldn’t need any help by then; he just wanted to feel less nasty for now.
Feeling pretty content with Vessel rubbing his scalp, Ivy let his head tip forward again. Such a nice feeling. Ivy made a little contemplating noise. Maybe he should take Vessel up on his offer for massages; the last one was heavenly after all, and he really liked how both Vessel and II played with his pecs and nipples – Ivy would never admit that, though, because it was kind of embarrassing how much he had liked it.
Suddenly, the dizziness got worse, and Ivy opened his eyes again. Almost felt as if he got off a roller coaster at the fair and had too much candy floss. Vessel’s pecs were too spinny. Everything was. He looked further down again in hope of alleviating the vertigo. How was Vessel so fucking hung? Sure, he saw his hard cock enough times already, that fucking log, but even soft it looked big. There were men that Ivy had had sex with that weren't as big hard as Vessel was when he was soft. Shower with a good portion of grower. A mix? Was that possible, though? Was Vessel a freak?
“Time to get out. Careful,” Vessel said softly, ripping Ivy out of his thoughts.
Ivy begrudgingly let Vessel help. Vessel stepped out first, then helped Ivy out, his strong hands on Ivy’s upper arms.
II came back with fresh clothes in the same moment they stepped out of the shower. “Sleep wants to know if it can still send you dreams.”
“Return to sender,” Ivy muttered, sitting down on the toilet with a wet plap. “Oh, ew, fuck. I’m wet.”
“You want Sleep to have wet dreams?” II grabbed a towel and started drying Ivy. It was a rough towel, feeling more like sandpaper than cotton.
“I told it to shut up and not talk to me,” Ivy muttered. Okay, maybe the towel felt kind of nice, like a peeling.
“Mhh, noted.” II said. “Get up for a sec so I can- yeah, perfect, sweetheart, lemme just- okay, sit down again.”
Okay, his balls touching the towel felt not so nice.
“Fuck, Sleep put you through it,” Vessel said, worried, and started towelling Ivy’s hair. “Normally a shower helps, but you’re still a mess.”
“Heh, Kevin said the same,” Ivy laughed humourlessly, “Sleep also implied that, but at least accepted that it played a part in that.”
Vessel gently carded his fingers through Ivy’s damp hair. “We’ll help you with that, and if you’re okay with it, Sleep would also try to help you.” He kept going over the back of Ivy’s head repeatedly; swiped, pressed down against his hair, lifted his hand, repeatedly, accompanied by quiet muttering and scoffs. “Bloody hell- well, it would like to try at least.”
“You know what? We’ll have a sleepover in the lounge tonight,” II said, “pull out the couch, have snacks, and watch a nice movie.”
There was something unsaid in II’s words, but Ivy was too groggy to find it. “I’m not hungry. I’m fucking nauseous, actually.”
“We have a nice broth in the freezer; I’ll heat it.” Vessel said, now drying himself as well.
“Gonna puke, and I will not clean it up,” Ivy murmured. He took the tee II pressed into his hands and clumsily pulled it on. It was too big on him and didn’t smell like him, but whatever. “Can’t Sleep find a better way to talk to us? I feel like- what the fuck is that?” he finally looked down at the tee and was greeted by the colour yellow and an upside-down dog blob thing with its asshole staring at him. “What the fuck.”
“I think you look adorable in it,” Vessel snickered as he walked out, as naked as when he was born.
II grinned, holding up a matching pair of short pyjama bottoms. “Ves and I like finding the stupidest-looking pyjamas and buying them for each other, but since he usually sleeps naked, his don’t get much use sadly.”
Slowly, Ivy pulled them on, too baffled to say something and then – very slowly in fear of actually throwing up – got up from the toilet lid. He must look so fucking stupid, swaying and holding himself up while wearing this stupid shit. “That’s lovely, really.”
“Innit?” II grinned, too prettily for his own and Ivy’s good, and set one foot in the shower. “Go to the lounge, I’ll have a rinse and then join you- do you need help?”
Ivy shook his head, then slowly padded into the bedroom, ignoring II’s worried face. Now just through the hallway – it seemed to get longer with each step, the door at the end leading to the office getting further and further away – with his hand at the wall to keep upright. Okay, weird. Really fucking weird. This felt like one of Kevin’s horror games. His vision got fuzzy at the edges, forcing him to stop.
Fuck, he couldn’t pass out now. Fucking bitchass deity. Cunt. Asshole.
“Ves?” Ivy called out, his voice not feeling like his own. Weirdly hollow in his own ears. From far away. “Vessel?”
Vessel was there faster than expected, cursing when he saw Ivy. “Fuck, okay, come here, let’s get you on the couch.”
It took a bit, would probably have been faster if Ivy let Vessel pick him up, but he refused, so slow, steady steps it was. They finally reached the couch, and Ivy plopped down on it, groaning into the pillow when everything started spinning worse.
“Okay, alright,” Vessel murmured, leaning over Ivy, “why didn’t II help you?”
“Didn’t ask him to. Didn’t want him to. Didn’t want to be annoying.”
Vessel sighed, defeated. “Of course. Okay, love, stay just like that; you’re probably dehydrated, and your blood sugar might be low as well.”
Ivy let his eyes lazily trail upwards and whined when they fell on Vessel’s tummy. “Happy trail.”
“Ah yeah, haven’t shaved in a while,” Vessel said, now looking down as well, “I’ll shave it off if y-”
“Are you crazy?” Ivy interrupted him, “Don’t you dare; that’s so fucking hot. Oh my god. Never shave it off again. I don’t care if paint gets stuck in it, fuck, how are you so fucking hot?”
“I won’t shave it unless we’re on tour, I promise.” Vessel laughed softly.
Ivy made an affirming noise and closed his eyes, listening to Vessel walking into the kitchen and the clatter and clinks as Vessel prepared something. A clink from a glass, a shake and tear from a packet, another few clinks, and finally water followed by thorough stirring.
“Up,” Vessel said softly.
Ivy sat up with a groan, pressing his eyes closed as the fuzziness and vertigo got worse for a second.
“This is basically just electrolyte powder and a ton of sugar in water,” Vessel said as he pressed a glass into Ivy’s hands. “Drink it, slowly.”
Slowly, Ivy sipped the water, grimacing at the taste. It tasted like shit, but he steadily emptied the glass. Maybe it would help. Maybe Vessel was right.
“Good boy.”
“Fuck off.”
Ivy heard Vessel laugh softly and couldn’t suppress a grin. He liked Vessel’s laugh. And it sounded even prettier because he made him laugh.
“You’re cute when you blush, even though you look miserable.” Vessel whispered and took the empty glass from Ivy. “Probably helps that you’re always so bloody pretty.”
“You have a boyfriend; stop flirting,” Ivy murmured and closed his eyes, trying to ignore his hot face.
Vessel sat down next to him. “You fucked my boyfriend, III fucks my boyfriend. We have an open relationship, and I’m allowed to flirt with a pretty bloke like you.”
Ivy opened his eyes and looked at Vessel. “You know, I always wondered why you have an open relationship when you’re so disgustingly devoted to each other. So in love.”
“Sometimes we can’t give each other what we want or need,” Vessel said and tipped his head against the back of the couch. “II sometimes wants it rougher than I can give him, so he’s free to fuck someone else in that case. That doesn’t diminish our love. I just can’t call him cock slut or whore or all that other degrading stuff he loves to hear, and I don’t want to deprive him of that.”
“Hm, and you?”
“I like pain and II doesn’t like hurting me.” Vessel shrugged. “And that’s okay for us as long as we stick to our rules.”
Rules? Ivy looked confused at him.
“Like not sleeping over at their place and not using dating apps,” Vessel said, “has to be all natural and no strings.”
Would a groupie be considered natural?
“We can talk more about it later. Get comfortable, pick something to watch while I heat your broth. II might need a bit in the shower, but I’m right here in the kitchen if you need something.”
After Ivy, Vessel was back in the kitchen. Sighing, Ivy looked down at himself, at the embarrassing pyjama II picked out for him, then at the TV. He looked through their streaming apps, but didn’t find anything of interest. Too much to choose from. His phone still lay on their couch table, so he scrolled through it while waiting for them. He answered a few messages from friends, looked through their socials, then finally opened III’s chat. They wanted to talk a bit more, but now it was already pretty late, and he didn’t have any texts from him. Vessel or II probably told him what had happened. And they’d be at the pub tomorrow anyway; they could talk there.
When II flopped down next to him with a stupid grin on his face, Ivy gasped, surprised. “You scared me, you- what the fuck are you wearing?”
“You like it?” II pulled the tee taut to show Ivy the print. “It’s Raphael, and look-” he pulled the hood over his head deep over his face, his big blue eyes peeking out from under the eyeholes, “-comes with the mask.”
“I hate it,” Ivy said, perplexed.
“Same, but you can’t be the only one in stupid pyjamas.” II shrugged and pulled the hood back, leaving his hair tousled. “Just wait until Ves puts on what I laid out for him.”
Ivy looked unimpressed at him. “You really meant it when you said that you buy that for each other?”
“He could also stay naked if you prefer that?” II grinned. “Or I could put him in a corset? Tie it nice and tight, cinch his pretty waist and accentuate it really well? We have some cute clothes; you could pick something out for him, or… maybe for yourself? You have such a nice body and the cutest little tits; you’d look so good in a bra and lace panties.”
By the time II was done talking, Ivy’s face was burning hot. “You uh, like that stuff?”
“Who doesn’t like nice clothes?” II shrugged. “Even better if the nice clothes are on hot men like you and Vee.”
“I don’t really have the body for lung- lingerie?” Ivy said quietly, “It wouldn’t look good on me.”
“Your body is perfect,” Vessel said with a raised eyebrow, setting down a ridiculously big mug on the couch table.
“You’re only saying that because you have a kink or something for pudge,” Ivy huffed and rolled his eyes.
“Maybe I do,” Vessel smirked, “but II and III find you irresistible as well, don’t you love?”
II hummed and nodded. “If I could, I would constantly suck your cock. You look so hot when you cum. Gods, Ivy, you don’t even know how fucking hot you are. We need to work on your confidence and self-esteem to really get your full potential out.”
Instead of answering or saying anything at all, Ivy grabbed the mug and started sipping the broth in it, telling himself his face was hot because of the steam and not because of II’s words.
“I got Vessel confident, I’ll get you confident too,” II said.
Vessel laughed softly as he pulled the couch table back towards the TV, the legs screeching on the wood, making Ivy cringe and II huff displeased.
“We really need to put felt on them,” II said.
“You’ve been saying that for the past ten or so years.” Vessel walked back around and bent down in front of them, “Lift your legs, loves.” When both did as told, Vessel hooked his fingers under the front edge and pulled with a grunt, the hidden section rolling out loudly from beneath the sofa. He clicked everything into place, turning the couch pretty much into a bed. “We only do this once a year, though; I don’t think we need it.”
The past ten years? Only now did Ivy realise he didn’t know how old exactly they were and for how long they had been together.
“I’m not touching felt; you do it,” II said with a scrunched nose.
“You weren’t confident?” Ivy asked, that topic was much more interesting than felt.
“I still struggle with it, to be honest, but yes,” Vessel said, “tall, skinny as fuck. Really thought I was hideous.”
“Oh…” Ivy didn’t expect Vessel to have such struggles as well.
“You were always hot to me,” II said gently, reaching out to squeeze Vessel's waist.
“How- uh,” Ivy tried, “can I ask how you actually got together?”
Vessel nodded at II, then walked out of the lounge.
“A mutual friend introduced us during his birthday; he had invited Ves as well as me. He knew him from uni, I knew him from school,” II said.
“Vessel studied?”
“Just two or three semesters, and he had already dropped out when we met. He probably told you that he was in a dark place when his aunt died?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, anyway, this is for Vessel to tell; I’m only telling how we got together,” II said quietly, his eyes on the print on his knees. “So, we met at the birthday party, then kept running into each other in other places. Bars, pubs, grocery stores, all that, you know? I thought it was all coincidence, but in the back of my head, I thought it was fate or some other bullshit, because what were the odds of me always running into this handsome man? We exchanged numbers at Tesco – I remember how I laughed at his shitty Nokia – and started texting after a few weeks.”
“Those brick Nokias?” Ivy grinned.
“Brick Nokia,” Vessel confirmed and threw all their blankets and pillows on the couch. “Was my first phone, actually. I had a normal smartphone before Sleep found me, but when we figured out that newer frequencies disturb our communication, I had to switch back.”
“Would’ve pissed me off,” Ivy said.
“It was so endearing,” II smiled at the memory, “you stood out with that; everyone already had new phones, you had a brick, I liked that.”
“I still have it somewhere,” he said thoughtfully, bending down to spread some blankets over the couch, making II and Ivy shuffle out of the way. “I like my current one more, though, more handy than a Nokia, and I like that I can flip it closed to end a call.”
“What when it gets obsolete?” Ivy asked, “Tell Sleep to adapt?”
II hummed. “You know, that’s not a bad idea. It has to adapt someday; they won’t keep shit running just because of four blokes and an ancient deity.”
“I’ll take care of it when the time comes,” Vessel said with a shrug and sat down next to Ivy. “Picked a movie?”
Fuck, Ivy forgot about the movie. “...no. sorry.”
“My pick then.” Vessel picked some anime movie Ivy didn’t know about and instantly pressed play. “It’s Princess Mononoke; you might like it.”
Ivy hummed thoughtfully and pulled his blanket and pillow closer to get comfortable. II and Vessel did the same, arranging themselves and the bedding until they deemed it perfect.
“Want to cuddle with us?” II offered, already reaching out with one hand.
“Only if you don’t touch me with the second skin,” Ivy said, his eyes on II’s freshly tattooed arm.
With a soft laugh, II shuffled closer, his arm outside of the blanket. “As you wish, sweetheart.”
Vessel shuffled closer as well, putting one arm around both II and Ivy over the blanket. “Comfortable?”
Ivy nodded. It really was. Comfortable and safe. The only thing missing here was III.