Chapter Text
It was about 9:00 at night, and Winter was just finishing up his work. It had been a hectic day. One of the scavengers in captivity died from natural causes, and the other scavengers did some kind of ritual. In one talon, it was sad that one of the scavengers had died, but on the other, it was exciting to see how they responded to death. Of course, this comes with a bunch of notetaking, which leads to a ton of notes needing to be organized, which is what took so long. But finally, he was done and began to head back to his cabin. When he got close, he saw shadows of Qibli moving inside.
It had been about 4 months since Qibli moved in and refused to move out, though it wasn't particularly voluntary, to begin with. After Moon died a couple of years ago, Qibli had sworn vengeance against her killer, who turned out to be more supernatural. Eventually, the killer was apprehended and imprisoned, but not before almost killing Qibli. Qibli had been hospitalized for 3 months, and was now in recovery, with his physical therapy doctor coming to do exercises every other week. They had decided to move Qibli in with Winter because while his physical condition was improving, his mental condition wasn't getting any better. He seems to have almost skipped the first stage of grief and stayed in between the second and third stages for more than a year.
To Winter's surprise, it had helped Qibli go from hostile and vengeful, to more like the one Winter was clawmates with all those years ago.
For example, when Winter walked into his cabin, Qibli was singing at the top of his lungs (of course, this was a hyperbole because Qibli, Winter had learned, at the top of his lungs could bring down a mountain) as he worked something on the stove. When he heard the door open he turned and smiled at the icewing, who winced only slightly as he saw the sandwing. Qibli now had multiple scars, going up and down his face, body, and neck.
"I was beginning to think you'd never show, princess," Qibli remarked with his new and most annoying nickname for Winter. "Sorry, ex-princess. How insensitive of me!"
"What are you still doing awake?" Winter questioned, too tired to deal with his roommate's shenanigans. "The doctor specifically instructed you to go to bed before 8:00 pm every night."
"I've decided I've outgrown bedtimes," Qibli remarked. "Sit down! I made dinner!"
"With what?" Winter wondered. From his memory, there was nothing in the fridge or freezer to eat. The sandwing gave a cheeky grin that worried Winter deeply.
"Well, Turtle came by to check up on us and brought some shark," Qibli explained, and Winter tensed. He tried shark about a year ago, and it had instantly made his top five favorite foods. Plus, Qibli was cooking it? As much as he hated to admit it, Qibli was a cooking guru. Winter couldn't be in a bad mood after eating one of the sandwing's meals.
"I'll try a little," Winter mumbled, and Qibli grinned excitedly. As Winter sat at the table, Qibli brought over a large metal container, the smell making the icewing drool slightly. Qibli giggled at Winter’s behavior.
“Tonight, Icecheeks, we feast!” Qibli exclaimed, lifting the lid. The smell coming from the meal was so good that Winter forgot to address the insulting new nickname. Qibli grabbed a pot as well, dipped a large spoon in, then poured some of the sauce over the shark. He did this a few times before preparing him and Winter’s plate. They sat and ate in silence for a few moments, Winter’s mouth exploding with taste with every bite before Qibli broke the silence. “So how was your day? You got home really late today.”
“It was a really busy day. The scavengers have an interesting ceremony for death. One scavenger spoke for most of the time, but they weren’t related to the scavenger who died. The weird thing is, they spoke the most through the ceremony even though they weren’t related, and everybody listened to him. Oh! And today, Writer, remember him? Well, today he came out to play with his friends with a new toy, even though we didn’t give them one. That means he made it himself! Can you believe it?!”
Winter went on and on about how fascinating scavengers were, and how strange their habits were, and how much he loved his job. In all honesty, when Winter got like this, Qibli would mostly tune out, because while he did usually want to hear about Winter’s day, that’s not the main reason he would ask Winter. Truthfully, he just loved when Winter got this way when he forgets to be proper or polite, and just lets himself be. He’s passionate, he’s loud, he moves his talons with every word, he stumbles through words, talks with his mouth full… He’s imperfect, and to Qibli, that’s when he’s the most perfect.
“Anyway, what did you do all day?” Winter asked, snapping Qibli out of his daydream.
“Oh, umm, not much, just the usual stuff,” Qibli lied, knowing full well that he spent all day slow cooking the shark and trying to perfect the sauce. He didn’t know exactly what had compelled him to arrange this dinner date… Maybe it was the way Winter’s scales glittered like diamonds whenever light hit them, creating the most blinding and beautiful sight; or maybe it was those arctic pools that Winter called eyes, that Qibli felt like he could drown in; or maybe it was the way he moved, high and mighty and dignified, but seductive at the same time.
“Are you ok, smoke-breather?” Winter asked, and Qibli realized that he had been staring dreamily at the icewing. “Or are you about to pass out?”
“Both,” Qibli joked, his heart pounding in his chest. He looked down at his shark. In truth, he wasn’t a big fan of shark, he only cooked it for Winter. But he ate it because he wanted to make Winter happy. Why did he want to make Winter happy? The answer came popping up as soon as he thought of the question, but Qibli pushed it back down.
While Winter ate, he watched Qibli as the sandwing’s mind kept taking a field trip. Qibli was fiddling with a scar that reached from his jaw down to the base of his neck.
“Do they still hurt?” Winter asked, again snapping Qibli out of whatever trance he was in. “The scars, I mean.”
“Not as much as they used to,” Qibli said meekly, and though Winter could tell there was more to the story, he decided not to push. They continued eating in relative silence, only pausing to make remarks and small talk.
“You’re being awfully quiet,” Winter pointed out, this seemed to spark something in Qibli causing the sandwing to choke on his water and spill it on himself.
“Camel spit!” Qibli exclaimed, and Winter shrugged, walking over to his roommate with paper towels.
“I can’t take you anywhere,” he said with a shrug and grabbed Qibli’s snout to begin drying him. The sandwing tensed under his roommate's touch but stayed incredibly still as Winter dried the water off, going slower and more gentle around his scars. Qibli winced as Winter brushed past the scar on his shoulder, the icewing looked at Qibli’s face and the two made eye contact. Qibli was left breathless as they stayed snouts inches apart, staring into each other's eyes.
Winter stared at the sandwing, for the first time, really noticing the brown dots on his snout; he really noticed how his earing brought out his eyes; how his pupils widened whenever he looked at Winter; how his pulse quickened whenever he looked at the sandwing.
“Are you-” Winter started, but Qibli leaned in, pressing his snout against his roommate’s in a kiss. For just a moment, Winter leaned in; for just a moment, he accepted Qibli’s snout on his. I’m about to kiss Qibli?! Winter’s mind screamed, and he pushed the sandwing away from him. Qibli quickly fell to the floor and curled up into a ball, spewing out apologies like a Karen does ignorance.
“I’m sorry!” Qibli rambled, his voice sounding as if it was close to sobbing. “I-I just- I’ve been confused and I didn’t mean to, I’m so sorry. I was just- I’m sorry- I just thought that- and u=you were so close- I’m sorry you were just so kind and to me and then we were so close and I got confused and… I’m sorry!”
Winter was barely listening. He was in some type of daze. His body wanted to dance or run or hug Qibli but his brain told him to run, to yell at Qibli, and Winter just begged both to do something. But they refused.
“I’m sorry,” Qibli said, uncurling himself enough for Winter to see that he had tears in his eyes. “You’ve just been so kind to me. After Moon died, I was so mad and hurt and everybody was treating me like I was broken… Everyone but you… And then you let me stay here, and you were so nice and understanding and gentle and… I just got confused…”
Qibli curled back up into a ball. Somebody moved Winter’s legs from under him, forcing taking a step toward his best friend. When he stood over Qibli, the sandwing tensed up as if he expected Winter to hit him; instead, Winter lifted the sandwing off the ground, until they were face to face once again. Qibli’s eyes were puffy and red, and he was still sniffling. Winter reached up and wiped a tear from the sand wings face, who reached up and took the icewing’s talon in his.
Both the dragon’s hearts were throwing a frat party, but they hardly noticed as they stared into each other's eyes. Winter got his own watery eyes as he realized how much he truly loved his friend. Qibli’s talon came up to Winter’s face to wipe the icewing’s tear, but his talon kept going until it hooked behind Winter’s head. They slowly leaned in and connected their snout in a passionate kiss. This time, neither of them broke away. Winter’s talon found the back of Qibli’s neck, pulling the two closer together. They pulled away for a second for breath, returning to their kissing not a moment later, their experimental kiss quickly turning into a passionate make-out session, talons grasping at the other as the dragons wondered why they couldn't get any closer. As they breathed raggedly against each other, Winter, in a fit of adrenaline and hormones, pushed his tongue into Qibli’s mouth.
Qibli gasped in surprise, both from the gesture and the coldness of Winter’s tongue, but he didn’t particularly dislike it. We are experimenting, Qibli told himself, allowing the icewing to enter his mouth.
They kissed for a while before finally being able to break apart and control themselves, both of them panting. They closed their eyes leaned their heads against each other for support, feeling light-headed.
“That was…” Winter tried but was too dazed to come up with the word.
“I know,” Qibli agreed, still panting lightly.
“It was weird,” Winter elaborated, also breathless. “But… But good, I think… Yeah… Really good.”
“So… Are we...?” Qibli trailed off, and Winter chuckled and kissed his roommate on the cheek.
“I love you, sand snorter.”
Qibli smiled. “I love you too… Icecheeks.”