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Grima has never kissed anyone before. It’s not an activity that can be easily carried out with a giant dragon’s maw.
… True, it would be a much simpler task with her current human form. And she’s lost all memory of most of her time with it, so she supposes that she cannot say with certainty that she has never kissed anyone. It hardly matters when she isn’t even in her own world, though. Here in Askr, she hasn’t kissed anyone.
This makes her somewhat of an outlier. The Order of Heroes is full of the sort of beautiful and powerful people who make desirable companions, and it often feels as though Grima is the only one not bringing herself to the marketplace of physical affairs—which, if Plumeria is to be believed, is open at all hours and offers far more than kissing.
She has better things to concern herself with, though. The other heroes do, too, but just because they have a proclivity for slacking off doesn’t mean she has to as well. Askr is at war.
Then again, humanity is always at war. If the worms didn’t slip off and fritter away their time every now and then, all they would ever do is bleed.
But Grima is above following their example. She is here to lend the Summoner her power, no more and no less. She cooperates with her allies for the sake of battle, but their acquaintance need go no further. Pursuing attraction would not aid her.
If she were human, then perhaps…
But she isn’t.
Yet, when love—lust—is all everyone else talks about, she has no choice but to think about it herself. Dreams of firm arms and soft lips haunt her dreams—and it isn’t Plumeria’s doing; she made sure of that. It’s simply her own mind, fixated on a concept she has no mastery of. Normally, when she is focused on important matters, her mind’s wanderings often lead to discoveries of import, but this…
This is just distracting. She has to put a stop to it. The simplest thing to do would be to acquire… practical knowledge on the subject. However, the problem is… Who in their right mind would be willing to put their lips on the fell dragon, Grima? Under usual circumstances, she’d destroy anyone who even tried! No one would ever believe this wasn’t some trick of hers. She’d have to find someone stupidly trusting, someone willing to help her just for the sake of it, who doesn’t despise her, but who won’t take advantage of her, either…
Well, there is one person like that. Chrom… Her partner on the battlefield, forced to be so by the Summoner because not only can he match her acerbic wit, he seems to even find it amusing. He can be amusing himself, sometimes, and his strength on the battlefield, though nothing compared to her own power, is impressive for a human. He is serious and focused on the war they are fighting, like her… His worst flaw is his selflessness—an obvious performance, for all humans truly care about is getting what they want, but a particularly obnoxious one from him; all it does is get him saddled with other people’s problems, and he never sees whatever benefit he’s looking for. But though she disapproves of this habit generally, it would be to her benefit now for him to jump out of his seat and swear to do whatever he can to help her.
And that’s exactly what he does when she approaches him in the dining hall, pulling him away from the intense staring contest he began with his empty smoothie glass after his companions left him for some other activity.
“So where are we going?” Chrom asks as he follows her obediently down the hall. “Er, that’s a supply closet— Okay.”
The closet is dark and cramped and not at all the sort of arousing place Grima assumed it had to be given its prevalence in certain heroes’ tales, but it hardly matters. She presses her back to the wall and grabs Chrom by the shoulders.
“This will only take a second,” she assures him, then crashes her lips against his.
She’s not sure what she expected—perhaps she thought one of them would explode into fire, or… or perhaps her mind was caught up in some kind of ridiculous fantasy, like one of those human stories where the characters kiss and the dead wake, curses are undone, and beasts become human.
As it is, she’s starting to suspect that the stories the other heroes tell each other about romance are exactly as fictional as such fairy tales. She feels largely the same as she always does, though perhaps—but only perhaps—her chest feels a bit heavier.
Chrom’s common sense finally catches up with him, apparently, and he pulls away from her.
“Grima…”
She grimaces. It isn’t often that she feels compelled to apologize to anyone, but this plan of hers truly did not go as smoothly as it was supposed to. She thought…
She can’t explain what, exactly, she thought. Her tongue sticks in her mouth.
Chrom’s fingers brush against her jaw, lifting it so that she has no choice but to meet eyes she’d rather not.
“What’s this all about, huh?” Chrom murmurs. Despite his gentle tone, she feels like she’s been accused of a crime. “I thought you believed intimate relationships were inappropriate during wartime?”
“I do,” Grima says. “However…”
She flushes. She feels foolish just thinking about the situation. But since she dragged Chrom into it, it’s only fair to tell him.
“Some say that first kisses… have magic in them,” she says. “I knew it couldn’t be true, of course, but… Having never felt one myself, I had no way of proving it, without…”
“Oh…” Even in the dark, Chrom reddens enough to notice. “Er, the thing is, you caught me by surprise, and, er, that one— That one doesn’t count, alright!”
“Excuse me?”
“That wasn’t a real kiss. That isn’t what they’re supposed to be like,” Chrom says. “J-Just let me prepare this time, and we’ll do it again.”
“Then…” Grima hesitates. “You mean something is supposed to happen?”
“If you do it right!” Chrom insists. “It… It’s amazing, when you do… and I really want you to be able to feel that.”
“And… I suppose it’s also going to feel amazing for you?”
“Well… Yes,” Chrom admits. “But— But I don’t want you to think that I’m just doing this for myself—”
“Oh, calm down.” Grima sneers. “I just don’t want to have to get you some kind of thank-you gift later.”
It is a relief to know, for once, that he will not give without taking something in return.
“Er, right, that would be awkward,” Chrom says. “So… anyway… are you ready?”
“Are you?”
She gets her answer in the form of his lips against hers. Only, unlike before, he isn’t still as a statue, and he cups her face in his hands as his mouth caresses hers with gentle pressure.
It does seem better than the one before, but… She still feels as though she is missing something. Is she really so different from humans, even in this body, that she can’t even feel the same things they feel?
But then Chrom pulls back just far enough to whisper to her.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this,” he breathes. “In my world, you— Your other self, she always said we couldn’t… But it doesn’t matter here. I’ll kiss you as many times as you want.”
Chrom kisses her again… and Grima finds herself breathless. Like a true spell, the power lay in the magic words all along. She is transfixed by the realization that Chrom knows another her—the her she can’t remember, the one locked behind her missing memories—and… she can give him more than that other self ever could.
“I-I never realized you desired me so,” she says.
“In that case, I’m sorry.” Chrom kisses her again. “I should have told you sooner.” Another kiss. “I’m happy just to stand beside you… but… I’d be the happiest man alive if you wanted… more.”
This event has long ceased to be accurately describable as a first kiss, but though Grima’s original plan was not to take more than one, any decent strategist must be ready to adapt at a moment’s notice.
“I can give you what you want,” she promises. “Don’t hide things from me anymore.”
He is her most useful ally. Knowing at last what he desires, she can make sure he forever stays her ally.
Chrom can’t kiss her again, because his face splits into a wide smile. It’s a strange sight on his face. He’s never shown so much joy before.
She assumed he was like her, and simply… never felt that way.
Even now, the pounding of her heart pumps draconic power through her, and she cannot even imagine how it would feel to be Chrom right now, to be so elated by… anything.
He wraps his arms around her. Even in his excitement, he’s so gentle with her.
“I swear I’ll make you happy, too,” he murmurs in her ear.
It’s the first time anyone has ever told her that.