Hearts of the Lonely (Reader x Mountain Ghoul)

29- Confrontation

"Happy birthday, Y/N!" The ghouls sang to you. They threw you a surprise party after practice in the church basement, and even played "Happy Birthday" on their instruments. You blew out the candles on the cake, and Aether sliced it into pieces for everyone.

"We all pitched in to get you this!" Mountain told you as he handed you a yellow gift bag. You set it on the table next your plate. After you carefully took out the tissue paper on top and set it to the side, Sodo snickered.

"What?"

"You're so gentle with the paper! You gonna keep it to have Mountain's scent near you all the time?"

You rolled your eyes, and Mountain hit Sodo.

"Shut up, fucker."

"Hey!" Sodo whined back to Mountain.

All attention turned to you after you gasped. Your friends got you a wireless speaker, some candy, and a small dinosaur plushie. You noticed that there was a small box at the bottom of the bag. Colorful pieces of paper were inside. They said things like, "One free back rub", "Good for a treat of your choice", and "Free shopping pass".

"Make sure to have Sodo give you a back rub. He's the best." Sunshine told you. The rest of the ghouls nodded in agreement. Except for Swiss. He sat on your left, and seemed to ignore Sodo.

"Can I turn in the back rub ticket, then?" You asked Sodo. He took the piece of paper from you.

"Absolutely. You can have it after we eat the cake."

The cake was excellent. You learned that the ghouls worked together to make the vanilla and chocolate marble cake, and the frosting was homemade. They also set up the decorations before practicing their instruments for the upcoming Ritual. After trying to help clean up, Rain shooed you away.

"It's your birthday! Stop doing work, you should be relaxing!" He told you.

"Yea; time for your back rub!" Sodo dragged you into one of the offices. He turned on the lights, and shut the door.

"Sit in the chair or lay on the desk." He told you.

"You sure you aren't trying to seduce me?" You asked him as you went to lay down on the desk.

"Nah. Wouldn't do that to Mounty." Sodo started kneading your back. You couldn't help but sigh as he relieved tension you didn't know existed.

"Like that, sweetheart?" He asked teasingly.

"Feels good. The others are right- you are the best."

"You can be nice and loud so we can make the others wonder what is really going on." Sodo purred as he continued the back rub. His hands were slightly warm, and they helped to remove your aches and pains.

"Swiss must take advantage of your talent all the time."

Sodo slowed down before stopping completely.

"Are you okay?" You turned over to see him taking shallow breaths and looking at the floor. You scooted off the desk and went over by him. A small tear flowed down his face. The Fire ghoul never cried. You held him in your arms and shushed him.

"Swiss broke up with me," he whispered. Sodo continued to silently cry, and you led him into to the swivel chair. He slumped in the seat, and you got him a box of tissues. "Thanks."

"Do you want to talk about it?" You gently asked.

"N-not really."

"Okay. I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do."

. . .

Smack!

"Ow!" Mountain winced.