They the Wubbox : Rewritten

[Chapter 47]

Ice yawned, and shook his head to clear the tiredness and boredom of Water and Rare's conversation.
They were in Rare's apartment for a small get together. They had invited Air, Plant and Wubbox, but they couldn't make it for unspecified reasons.

Well, Plant said he and G'joob were going on a field trip somewhere, though he didn't specify where exactly.
However, when they tried to invite Air over, he didn't respond for a long time, making Rare ask Pompom if he was alright.
She said he was being quite distant over something he refused to speak about, and likely wouldn't leave home for a while. Then, she asked if they would be willing to bring Shiko along to meet his uncles, which Rare thought would be a good way to get to know him.

Now, they are here. Shiko was sitting on the arm of the couch watching the TV's news, Water and Rare were debating about a dumb subject, and Ice was on his phone while leaning on the counter. They weren't doing much, but it was really all they needed in a gathering. But if Air and Plant were here, there would be much more life, but if Wubbox was here, he'd ruin the mood without a counter-balance.
"Hey, Shiko, why isn't your dad here?" Rare turned and asked him.

"Oh...Um...Dad said I'm not allowed to tell anyone..." Shiko told them, his head wings folding up as he sheepishly looked over to them.

They all then stared at Shiko with varying degrees of shock. Water seemed angered, Ice more concerned, Rare looked up from his phone with suspicion, but the TV was still on the boring news, which played the same break tune in the background.

"Shiko. What happened?" Water asked sternly.      

"..Something about a 'fucking ghoul' in the woods, and-" Shiko immediately paused, covering his mouth with his claws as he realized what he revealed.        

"Shiko, did he tell you everything?!" Ice looked at him with horror, seeming to pick up on what it meant sooner than his brothers.

"No, I didn't say anything!!" Shiko covered his head with his hands, starting to cry as he imagined his father getting upset with him. His wings started to flutter and shake as he cried.     

"Oh, Shiko!" Ice quickly leaped over to the counter and moved over to him. Shiko tried to move away, but Ice got a hold of him before him. Shiko kept crying as Ice carefully hugged him, making sure to have a firm hold on him, yet keeping a gentle and comforting feeling to him.

"Calm down, Shiko, it's ok.." Ice said in his low, soft voice, keeping his hand on Shiko's back to let him calm down.
Eventually, Shiko had calmed down, his wings no longer shaking, but his head wings kept drooping down.

Ice carefully scooped Shiko into his arms, wiping his tears gently as he carefully stepped back over to the counter with the other two. But when Shiko looked up and met Water's concerned gaze, he started crying once more, not as hard, but unable to hold them back.       

"Water!" Ice shot him an angry look.

"I didn't do anything this time! I swear!" Water defended himself, but Ice kept glaring at him as he kept gently petting Shiko's back.
Water reached out to gently touch Shiko, but he squirmed away just as he touched him. Ice then stepped back as Shiko moved. Water frustratedly looked away.

Now it kind of made sense of what happened, but what was a ghoul? Why would it choose Air instead of anyone else? They would either need to get more information from Shiko, or get PomPom's permission to speak to him in their home, which she would most definitely decline, and they knew Air wouldn't speak to him about it. But, Water realized they never asked Rare to try and call him.