Work Text:
"What's that sound in your chest?"
Selen jolted somewhat, eyes snapping open. Under the almost pitch darkness of the moonless sky, Finana somehow still managed to glow like a beacon. The softly iridescent scales that trace her sides flickered, a small blinking pattern that matched her blinking sunset eyes. Selen was struck once again by the realization that no matter what form she took, Finana was too honest.
"Ah, it's just..." The lunar dragon cleared her throat a little and shifted in her lover's embrace. Finana's long tail uncoiled a little, loosening its grip on her, but Selen reached a claw out to stop her, tugging insistently. A small smile curled Finana's lips as she re-tightened her grip, and Selen sighed as she felt the warmth envelop her again.
"Y'know, you're really warm."
It was true. Finana's scales were completely unlike that of any other fish or dragon she had ever felt. Even her sister's scales usually only had a gentle sort of warmth, the fleeting heat of a fresh dawn.
Finana's warmth was different. She practically radiated heat, especially half draped over her like this. It was the heat of the tropics, of warm summer rains and beach days. She almost had half a mind to make a wet joke, but she didn't want to ruin the mood...not yet, anyways.
"Don't you mean I'm hot and wet?"
Well, there goes that.
"Finana, what the fuck?" Finana only giggled at her lover's incredulity. In response, one of Selen's wings opened, batting her over the head. With a squeal, the mermaid uncoiled herself from around her dragon, slithering playfully away as her lover made grabby motions with her paws.
"No, Finana, come back~" She whined. "I was comfy!"
"Nuh-uh" Finana stuck her tongue out. "You were being mean! And I don't cuddle meanies!"
"But you'll let them fuck you?" A single fluffy eyebrow rose as Finana's side scales put on a dazzling display of reds and pinks.
"Oh feesh you!"
"I already know you want to~"
"Grr." The mermaid crossed her arms and slithered away further, pouting adorably. Selen couldn't help but laugh as she leaned forward, trying to grab her rapidly escaping weighted heated blanket.
“Aw, come on Finana, I’m sorry – I promise, I’ll be good-”
She realized entirely too late her lover’s ploy. By the time she noticed that Finana had already moved to the pond’s edge, Finana was already smirking victoriously and sweeping her serpentine tail in a wide arc. A massive wave swept over Selen, smacking her in the face and making her sputter as she tried in vain to dodge the attack. Her drenched feathers fell over her eyes, and with a single dripping paw, she reached up to push them aside, levelling her giggling girlfriend with the flattest stare she could muster. Then, her mouth morphed into a grin.
“So that’s how you want to do it, huh?”
With a squeak, Finana dived into the water, a weighed down bag of feathers, scales and mischief hot on her tail. The cove filled with the sound of shrieking laughter and cackling, in their tiny fragment of the world, with no princesses or half-breeds or awkwardly compressed figures – only the joys of two dragons.
And for a brief moment, Selen finally felt at home in her own skin.
…
They collapsed onto the shore who knew how much later, breathless and dripping wet but still laughing. Selen fell face first onto the ground, wings hitting the sand with a pair of wet slaps, and Finana dropped next to her, long tail draping over her lover’s lower back and intertwining with her slimmer one. Slowly, their laughter subsided into a comfortable silence, broken only by the soft lapping of the waves and the whistling of the sea breeze. Soon, however, Finana began noticing a different sound – a soft, deep rumbling that she felt in her bones, coming from…
“Selen?”
For a moment, the sound stopped. Finana looked over at her lover, alarmed, only to find her head wings covering her eyes.
“Ahaha…yeah, that’s, uh…” She cleared her throat, almost nervously, and Finana almost squealed at how adorable she was. “…It’s something I do when I’m, uh, relaxed or happy…” She almost mumbled the last part, and Finana knew that she must be bright pink under all those feathers.
“Aw, Selen! I didn’t know you purr! That’s so cuuute!” Finana did squeal this time, wrapping her arms around Selen as the larger dragon turned away in embarrassment, whining a little.
“I didn’t know big scary dragon Selen did something so cute! Really, you’re just like…a giant kitty!”
“Is that a pussy joke?” Selen grumbled, eliciting another laugh from her lover.
“No, no, I mean it! It’s super adorable!” And through the blood rushing in her ears, Selen could feel a small scaly face nuzzle itself against the fuzz at the back of her neck. Finana’s tail draped over her legs, heavy and comforting, and small claws wrap themselves around her waist.
“Really.” Finana’s voice was so tender that it gave Selen pause. “It’s really…I’m really glad that you’re so comfortable around me.”
The spell of silence followed, and for the briefest of moments Finana was afraid she said something wrong somehow. Then Selen began turning, awkwardly shuffling and lifting her back to push her large wings beneath and behind herself as she turned on her back. With a small thump, she finally dropped herself to face her girlfriend, meeting her gentle gaze with a rare, vulnerable smile.
“Yeah, I…I’m glad that you could…” She trailed off as Finana reached for her own claws, soft blue scales meshing with deep violet as her girlfriend traced every scar and ride, every sharp edge and gentle dip on her palm.
I’m glad you understand, I’m glad you could see past the edges, I’m glad you’re like me –
Finana looked up at her, mismatched night sky reflecting in soft shades of dusk.
The words never left her lips, but Finana seemed to understand all the same. She leaned down and placed a kiss over where her heart was beating out of control.
“I know. It’s alright.”
I’m glad you could love me, too.
Selen sighed, bending her head down to rest her lips upon her lover’ head. She blinked furiously, but the tears didn’t stop themselves…and for once, she made no other effort, and simply allowed them to flow. Every breath filled her more and more with the scent of her lover, of Finana, softly singing some old folk song and rubbing her back and nuzzling the fuzz on her neck – this princess, this naïve sage, this imperfectly perfect woman who’d captured her heart and never let go. She gripped more tightly, clutching this priceless treasure close, and her lover squeezed back, a single claw gently stroking the back of her neck.
In this little space, this fragment of time, there was neither mask nor glamor, no spotlight nor crown. Only two barefaced dragons, hopelessly in love – and neither would have it any other way.
…
Omake: A few hours later…
“Hey Selen?”
“Hm?”
“Do you still have…like, tiddies?”
“…”
“Well, I mean, your boob shapes are still there, but they’re all scaly and smooth and stuff, so are they still, like, sensitive? I mean, I don’t even see any nip-”
“Finana, what the fuck.”