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Roman clutched his forehead, breathing in and out to try to recompose himself. He wouldn't be free to go up to his room for at least another twenty minutes, but he could already feel himself crumbling, shifting. He couldn't let his family, his friends see him like this. He just had to hold on for a few more moments, just until he could get somewhere alone.
His friend, Virgil, a prince visiting from a neighbouring kingdom, glanced at him, raising an eyebrow in slight confusion. Roman tried to avoid his gaze, instead fixing his eyes on the table. His vision was beginning to go blurry, and sounds around him beginning to sound muffled. He'd been like this for years, so long that he'd almost got used to it, but it had never been this bad. And he'd never had to try so hard to hide it.
People began moving away from the table. Thank the gods. Roman stood up, pausing for a second to breath as the world around him spun, a dizzy feeling settling in his head, before he stumbled up to bedroom, slamming the door behind him and collapsing onto his bed. He curled up into a ball and continued to breath in and out, his breath growing shallow the longer he tried, and pain only worsening. He'd done this so many times, he should be used to this by now. He could feel his skin beginning to itch, as his scales grew, hardening under his hands gripping onto his arms.
This was fine. He'd be fine. Once the actual transformation was done, he'd feel fine again. He just... He just had to suffer through this, then maybe he could go for a fly around the Kingdom, or take a nap in his room, until he was back to normal and able to continue with his life.
There was a knock on his door. He held his breath, afraid to say anything for fear that it would just come out as a growl. But the person still came in, rushing over to Roman's side.
"Roman?" he said, a hint of fear in his voice.
Roman glanced up. It was Virgil. Oh. Brilliant. Just brilliant. He didn't want Virgil to see him like this. Virgil was his friend, his best friend, what would he think of him if he saw Roman like... like this.
More scales were beginning to appear all over his skin, and a pair of wings were beginning to tear out of his back, stretching out behind him. He hunched over at the pain as the wings tore through his skin, and Virgil grabbed him, holding him gently.
"Roman, what's happening?"
Roman couldn't reply. His face was beginning to morph as well, rendering him incapable of human speech. His hands had turned into talons, now digging into his arms. He tried to tear his hands away and move away from Virgil, desperately trying to send him a message to leave before it was too late, before Roman hurt him.
But Virgil wasn't leaving. He just moved closer to Roman, scooping him up in his arms, holding him tight.
And... it did make him feel better, sort of. For a moment, the pain eased, replaced by a warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest. And then his transformation was complete and he lost all sense of self. Virgil still held him, and the dragon curled up in Virgil's lap, purring underneath his hand.
After a few moments of feeling completely content, the dragon began to flap its wings, moving away from the bed and towards the window. Virgil followed it, letting out a small yelp as the dragon snatched him off the ground and shot out the window, into the night. The dragon glanced down at its new friend, humming in thought as it saw his scared expression. The dragon repositioned itself in the air and threw Virgil up into its back. After feeling Virgil wrap his arms around its neck, tightly, the dragon began to move faster, zooming through the sky.
It took Virgil out of the kingdom and over the forest, zigzagging through the trees and diving down to the ground every now and then. They came across a lake and the dragon tipped down its wings, running it through the water as Virgil laughed. The starry night sky reflected onto the calm waters, and... the dragon felt calm, watching the world go by. Virgil seemed happy enough to witness it all as well.
Eventually, the dragon began to feel... weird. It turned around and returned to the kingdom, flying back through the window and landing on the bed, allowing Virgil to climb off. And then the dragon began to ache again. Its scales fell off, lining the bedsheets below it, and the warmth throughout its body left, replaced with... human coldness, no inner flame.
And soon enough, he was but a human, lying in bed and shivering the cold night air.
Virgil sat back down besides him, tentatively reaching down to touch Roman's shoulder. Roman shuddered under the touch, but sank back into Virgil's arms, breathing in and out. The pain had returned, but it was slightly better than earlier that night, and he could feel it beginning to fade.
After Roman calmed down and sat back up, still clinging tight to Virgil, Virgil asked, "What just happened?"
Roman cringed. "I, uh..." He took a deep breath. It wasn't as if he could hide this any longer. "I was cursed. As a child. Once a month I turn into... that. It's, uh..."
"That was so cool," Virgil whispered.
Roman shook his head. "No. Uh, I mean, maybe. But, uh... it hurts a lot. To begin with. And I, uh..."
Virgil hugged him, tightly. "It's okay, Ro. Have you... Have you been trying to hide it?"
Roman nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I don't particularly want everyone to know that I'm cursed, y'know?"
Virgil hummed. "How bad is the pain?"
"Terrible." Roman breathed in. "I'm okay now. Thanks, for staying with my through that. It's... never been that bad before."
Virgil smiled, softly. "It's okay. You can tell me next time, y'know? I'm here whenever you need me."
Smiling back, Roman leant his head on Virgil's shoulder, exhaustion catching up with him. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep.
When he awoke the next morning, Virgil was still there, sleeping besides him.