Chapter Text
Kaminari Denki was not having a good time. He had not slept in a real bed in 5 days. He had walked for 10 hours each day at least for all 5 of those days. He had not had even one bar of cell data for the past 3 days. And sure, you could claim that ‘he was in the wilderness, he should take time to appreciate the natural beauty of the world’. But that’s pretty easy to say when you aren’t the one having to deal with sore legs and insect bites. Besides, the only ‘views’ he’s had to admire on his travel was that one cliff next to a lake a few days back. And now there was nothing but trees and tall grasses that were extremely uncomfortable to walk through and the sun was going down but it was still swelteringly hot and he was STARVING and-
“This FUCKING sucks!” Kaminari shouted to no one in particular, for probably the 3rd time today. Groaning, he decided that as soon as he found a clean source of water he would stop for the day. He wouldn’t dare walk any longer or surely his legs would give out. Fortunately, he heard the distinct trickling of running water nearby. Somehow, he managed to find the energy to sprint through the grass. After pushing through a small patch of brambles, he came upon a small clearing rimmed with trees next to a river. Kaminari almost collapsed with relief when he set his backpack on the ground and stumbled towards the water to refill his canteen.
Un fortunately, before he could even begin to set up his camp past putting out his stove and bedroll, he heard a distant and yet terrifyingly loud roar from overhead. Kaminari looked up over the treeline to see what what going on. About 400 yards back he saw what appeared to be a large silver dragon fighting a griffin. Despite the fairly noticeable size difference working in the dragon’s favor, the griffin seemed to be winning the battle. Kaminari was perfectly content to just let them duke it out on their own. Maybe he’d even watch, if they were still fighting by the time he had set up camp. He’d make a box of mac’n’cheese, and chill out to an epic fight before going to sleep. But that scenario was quickly shattered when a particularly strong blow to the dragon’s wing sent it spiralling down into the river, right next to (and halfway in) his camp.
“Ohshitohshitohshitohshit” Kaminari dove out of the way, still unable to avoid getting soaked when the dragon dropped like steel with a deafening crash, spraying water everywhere. Not a second had passed when he heard an even louder screech overhead; apparently the griffin was returning to finish the job.
“OhshitohsHITOHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT” Kaminari was practically screaming now, furiously searching around for his longbow and quiver in the scattered and dripping remains of his gear. The sound of the griffin’s flapping and screeching was getting much closer, and Kaminari was in a panic. After what seemed like the longest time, Kaminari managed to find his bow and quiver. As he turned around, an arrow knocked in his bow, the griffin was just about to reach the spot in the river where the dragon landed. As the griffin was poised to strike where the dragon lay, he pulled back his string and heard his bow crackle with energy. The low thrum coming from the magic stored inside him coursing through his trusty weapon cast a strange but familiar comfort over him. Firing, he saw the arrow for the split second it was in the air before it struck true into the body of the monster, releasing what was essentially a concentrated lightning bolt directly into the unlucky griffin’s body.
Kaminari wouldn’t let his gaze drop from the beast until he saw the griffin crumble slowly into dust. When it did, he let out a relieved sigh before he remembered the dragon. Quickly, he pulled out and notched another arrow, fully prepared to let rip if the dragon tried anything. Looking over to where the dragon was laying just a second ago, however, he saw what he probably least expected to see. Instead of a dragon, there was a tall guy with silver hair. No, scratch that. He saw a tall, extremely muscled, and incredibly attractive guy with blindingly silver hair and a right arm that was definitely broken, bent slightly at the forearm, laying in the mud. Concerningly, the dragon was nowhere to be found.
“Um, hey... dude… are you okay?” Kaminari asked cautiously. Instead of answering, the mystery person glared threateningly and let out a low, ominous growl, his piercing silver eyes intensely trained on Kaminari. He realized after a moment that he still had his bow drawn, the electricity darting from his arm to the limb of his bow, finally concentrating on the arrowhead. Slowly, he lowered his weapon and put away the arrow. The dragon-person reluctantly stopped growling at him, though he still kept his steady glare focused on Kaminari.
“Can… can you speak?”
The stranger nodded slowly.
“Why didn’t you shoot me,” he asked, his expression full of distrust, “but you shot the griffin?”
It took him a moment to recognize what he was saying. Kaminari blinked, then asked, shocked, “Wait. You’re saying- you’re saying that YOU’RE the dragon?!?” The dragon nodded again, this time less hesitant and more of an ‘obviously, idiot’.
Kaminari had heard of dragon shifters before, but he’d never actually realized that they were real . Even in this weird world filled with other monsters and strange magic, somehow he’d never even encountered someone who had met a dragon shifter. They were always something of old stories told by people in pubs that no one ever really believed. But here was one right in front of him. He would have to tell his friends about this if he found them again. They would lose their SHIT if they found out that he met a dragon shifter.
“What’s your name?”
“Answer my question and I’ll answer yours. Why didn’t you shoot me?”
That was a good question. Why did he decide to spare him?
“I don’t know man. At the time I shot the griffin because he seemed like the bigger threat but after that- I don’t know! You just kinda seemed like you weren’t going to attack, I guess.” For the most part, that was entirely true. However, Kaminari was leaving out the fact that he found the silver-haired shifter very handsome. Thankfully, he seemed to accept that response.
“That’s fair, I guess.” He noticed that the other’s face was starting to shift from distrust to something more neutral and relaxed, besides the obvious pain his appendage was causing. “My name is Tetsutetsu.” At that, Kaminari had to snort, sending a scowl to Tetsutetsu’s face.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, nothing. My name’s Kaminari. Um,” he said, his attention being drawn to Tetsutetsu’s arm, “do you want me to take a look at that? It looks pretty painful.”
Tetsutetsu considered the offer for a quick moment before nodding in acceptance. As Kaminari sloshed through the shallow river towards his wounded acquaintance, he started to notice some more details about his ragged outfit. Clearly, it was meant to cover more of torso than it did, but it had gotten damaged to the point that his biceps were completely exposed. The fabric was now just flapping pointlessly behind his shoulders or entirely severed, long washed away by the river now, revealing detailed tattoos and scars running all around his body. His chest and abdomen had definitely fared better, although that’s pretty easy to say. The majority of his silver and rose gold top was intact, even though some patches were cut or torn. His exposed skin had quite a few nicks and scratches on it, but for the most part he looked alright. In all honesty, even though he kinda looked like he had slept in a dumpster for the past 5 years, Tetsutetsu looked really good. The damage somehow made him look more rugged and handsome than it would normally.
Of course, Kaminari wouldn’t be thinking about this right now, about someone he literally just met, someone who isn’t even entirely human, someone who he almost killed two minutes ago. No, he definitely wasn’t thinking about how strong the shifter’s arms looked as he slipped around and almost face planted in the mud. Once he finally made it to the highly attractive stranger ( no, stop thinking like that! ), he knelt as best he could without ruining his outfit. Not like he particularly cared about this sweatpants and jacket, but you never know when you’ll have a chance to wash or restock on clothing when you’re travelling. Tetsutetsu eyed him nervously as he felt for anything that seemed out of the ordinary (besides the clearly broken arm,strong pecs,arms as thick as his waist, and oh m y god- ), and fortunately, nothing felt too damaged. However, the second he touched said arm, Tetsutetsu let out a pained yelp, his entire body tensing up.
“Please don’t- please don’t do that,” Tetsutetsu whimpered, his face still scrunched up into a wince.
“Sorry, sorry,” Kaminari apologized, deep in thought. “Look, I have no experience at all with fixing broken bones. I have a healing potion in my bag that might help, but I have no idea how well it would work on you . Do you want to try?”
It only took Tetsutetsu a moment to decide that drinking a liquid that might heal him was worth the slim chance of it having some kind of adverse effect. As Kaminari ran (well, stumbled as fast as possible) to where the remains of his camp lay, he couldn’t stop thinking about how he really shouldn't be doing this. He didn’t know this guy! He didn’t owe him anything! So what if he was the most attractive creature on Earth? Potions are fucking expensive! Still, he scrambled to find the bottle of pale purple liquid in his supply bag and jogged back to where his wounded acquaintance still lay, up to his elbows in the murky river water.
“Uh, why are you still laying in there?”
Tetsutetsu seemed surprised to realize that he was still, in fact, laying in the river that he crashed in.
“Oh, yeah” His face red, the shifter slowly rose to his feet.
“Holy shit…” Kaminari whispered softly, not at all aware that he was speaking.
Tetsutetsu turned his gaze to him. “Did you say something?”
Kaminari face reddened furiously. “W-what? No! I-I-No! Here, just take it!” Tetsutetsu looked curious, but just shrugged and uncorked the bottle, chugging it’s contents. Kaminari hated to be so unintentionally transparent with his feelings, but holy SHIT he was tall. Kaminari wasn’t exactly tiny per se, but his head barely made it up to his pecs. As he was trying to hide his obvious attraction, Tetsutetsu finished the the potion, making a weird face.
“So,” Kaminari asked, trying to distract himself, “how do you feel?”
Tetsutetsu’s arm was visibly starting to look better, but it was still definitely broken. He touched it and winced again, but with noticeably less discomfort than the last time. That was good.
“I don’t feel all that different. It hurts less, but I still can’t move my arm without pain.” He grimaced. “Better than nothing, right?”
Meanwhile, Kaminari was having an intense internal struggle. He knew that in the town he was headed to, there were a ton of shops that specialized in helping magical creatures. There was only a couple day’s travel to go, and he had more than enough food to take Tetsutetsu with him. He only had one sleeping mat, but that wasn’t a big problem. One of them would just have to sleep on the ground. Honestly, there was no reason not to take him. Kaminari sighed, giving in to his homosexuality.
“Hey man,” the blond started, there’s a town a few days west of here. I was headed there already, and I know for a fact that there’ll be someone there who can do more for your arm than I can.” Tetsutetsu stared blankly at him. “What I’m saying is, if you want, I suppose you could come with me.”
At that, Tetsutetsu’s face broke into the widest smile he’s ever seen, full of- oh my god, are his teeth sharp?
“Are you serious?!?! Thank you so much!!” Kaminari was a little off-put by his sudden change in emotion, but that was nothing compared to how he felt when he was somehow swept up in a crushing bear hug, even though Tetsutetsu only had one arm to spare.. Kaminari instantly went stiff, feeling like his entire mind just went blank. His arms were so warm and strong, and getting him completely covered in mud.
“Y-yeah man, no problem,” Kaminari pushed himself away, trying to stop himself from making the situation any more embarrassing.
“I only have one sleeping mat, so one of us will have to sleep on the ground.”
“Oh, I can sleep on the ground!” Tetsutetsu exclaimed, laughing. “You’ve done so much for me, it’s the least I could do!” That was a relief, Kaminari was really dreading having to sleep on the dirt and stones. His stomach growled loudly, and he remembered that he hadn’t had a chance to eat anything since this morning.
“Are you hungry at all? I haven’t eaten since this morning.”
Tetsutetsu replied, flustered, “oh! No, it’s fine, I just ate! Thank you for offering though!”
“Lucky,” Kaminari huffed, already turning to search for the box of mac’n’cheese that he was planning on eating earlier.
* * * * *
20 minutes and one box of delicious cheesy pasta later, Kaminari
was exhausted and ready to go to sleep. Just as he started to roll out his sleeping mat, a wolf’s howl pierced the quiet of the night. A thought occurred to him.
“Hey, Tetsutetsu?” The shifter, still sitting by the now dwindling fire, turned to him. “Do you mind staying up for a while to keep watch? I think the commotion from earlier might have brought attention to our camp.”
Tetsutetsu grinned and nodded, his face showing no sign of weariness despite all that he’d been through that day.
“No problem man! I wasn’t very tired anyway.” Kaminari, already half asleep, just silently nodded and collapsed onto his sleeping mat, still wearing his muddied jacket and sweatpants. He was asleep before his head even hit the ground.