[For Sam] Healer & Dragon

[carrythetorch]

It had all gone wrong this time. In retrospect, Lio thinks maybe he'd been going too hard. He was on the brink of exhaustion, and his latest raid on livestock had been met with more resistance than it should have, almost as if someone had known he was coming.

He'd gotten away, thankfully, but not before he'd taken a number of blows -- arrows shot from crossbows with enough power that they'd pierced even through his scales. He'd ripped them out in flight and set the better part of a fallow field on fire before he'd flapped high enough to disappear into the cloud cover. That had been what saved him. It wasn't long before he couldn't keep himself aloft any longer, too much pain, too much blood lost.

Even maintaining his full draconic form is too much, and as he plunges to the Earth and tries to slow his descent with his wings, he fizzles back into his human shape, a lithe, slender man. His clothes are dark enough that the blood soaking them isn't obvious from a distance. He lands in a crumpled pile not far from a road through the woods, just off the trail in the underbrush. And that's the last thing he knows.

...

When he opens his eyes next, he's warmer than he expects to be. There's soft blankets beneath him and over him. He can smell something clean and earthy, herbal maybe, and light spills in setting the whole room in a comforting brightness and-- wait. He's in a room. The last thing he remembers is falling, and, oh.

He sits up all at once, hissing at the way his body protests the movement. Where is he? Has he been captured? Except no, if he'd been captured he'd be bound. Or dead. Maybe staked through to the ground. Not wrapped in soft blankets and tended to. "Where am I?" He asks the question mostly to himself as he blinks against his bleary vision willing it to clear, willing his eyes to focus.

Comments

[barenakedspirit]

He stares up at Lio unafraid of what will be seen on his face. Over time he has come to associate Lio with friendship, an attractive equal, and couldn't see his life without him in it. He reaches up to him, brushing the back of his hand against his cheek.

"Yeah." It's all he allows himself. Lio has to give him his permission to proceed. However they proceed. "Tell me what you want, Lio." He turns his hand and cups the side of his face. "I want it too."

[carrythetorch]

Tell me what you want. That's something that catches Lio so off-guard that for a long moment he just looks at Galo, just leans into the touch at his face. What does he want? For as far back as he can remember, he hasn't had time for his own wants and desires, has poured all his time and energy into the survival of his people.

Galo's hand is warm, and Lio lifts his own to rest atop Galo's. What he wants, it's obvious isn't it, if he can just be brave enough to face it, to see it.

He wants Galo.

"You," Lio informs him, simple and blunt and followed in the next moment by Lio leaning in to brush a kiss -- brief, fleeting, tentative, as if he's making sure that this is really all right -- to Galo's lips.

[barenakedspirit]

He holds still until Lio starts to draw back. His restraint snaps and his wings appear, spreading out behind him like the ocean tide rolling in. He leans up, cupping Lio's face in his hands as he kisses him like a drowning man seeking air. He drags him down, breaking away just enough to murmur.

"I'm yours." The heat briefly climbs then his will comes down but his wings remain out, folding over Lio's back but leaving room for Lio to expose his own. He's between dragon and human, his neck marked by scales on the sides. His shoulders. His arms.

He wants Lio and without a chain in the way, he wants him to understand how strong that desire is. "All yours." He leans up to kiss him again, mindful of the fangs in his mouth and the need to claim. Not in front of the kids.

[carrythetorch]

Those wings appear and Lio gasps softly in surprise, and then he's too busy kissing Galo back to remember to breathe at all, moving with Galo, sinking into him like he's been waiting for the chance to do so for far too long already.

"Mine," he agrees and his own wings unfurl, moving to wrap around Galo in turn, scales similarly scattered across his skin in places, horns arching back over his hair. His fingers trace a line of scales down along the curve of Galo's neck. It's the first time he's seen this half-form, and he's beautiful like this too.

"And I'm yours." It's a promise, one he wants Galo to hear, to know that he means. His lips find Galo's once more, and he's eager for more, licking his way into Galo's mouth, not quite as mindful of his own fangs.

[barenakedspirit]

His hands cup Lio's face and slide down his neck as he opens his mouth for him. Little stings from the scrape of fangs only excite him. His hands grip Lio's shoulders tightly with his claws lightly digging into the skin. "Mine." His voice is breathy and soft, a contrast to his usual tone.

Lio is his. He starts to tip his head back and freezes, glancing back at the nest where the eggs are. "Uh, maybe we shouldn't go any further in front of the kids?" He flushes, and presses his face against the side of Lio's neck. "...we could nap then fool around in the hot springs?" He offers as an alternative.

[carrythetorch]

Oh. OH he likes that, the way Galo says mine and means it. He likes the pressure of those claws too, the slight prick of pain. Good. More of that. More of everything. He's entirely ready to dive straight into him, right up until the point that Galo freezes.

Lio blinks at him, uncomprehending for a moment before. Oh. Right.

He looks back guiltily at the eggs, even as he runs his hands up into Galo's hair. "They're eggs. They can't see anything."

Though he takes a moment to picture it, and-- "But they might be able to hear." And Galo probably has the right idea. So he ducks his head to press a kiss through Galo's hair. "All right. Hot springs, after a nap."

He can be at least that patient. Probably.

[barenakedspirit]

Galo sighs, turning into the attention like a cat looking for more affection. “Yeah. A nap.” They would have to make a hatchery for the kids when they hatch.

He laughs as he pulls Lio closer to him. He drags his fangs along the skin of Lio’s neck and settles back. “Let’s...sleep.” But he’s a bit keyed up. He folds himself around Lio.

And in the next moment, snoring loudly.

[carrythetorch]

Lio indulges the movement, running his fingers through his hair again and agai now, rather like he is petting him. And why not? He's allowed this, isn't he? They both want the same thing. They both want each other.

It's a warm feeling, and it sets something warmer still pooling deeper at the base of his spine.

His arms wrap around Galo securely, and he blinks when he's suddenly snoring. This... idiot. Lio adores him. He fell awfully hard. He shuts his to drift off to sleep too.