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"Concentrate, Snart," Mick's rough voice commanded. He watched as the smaller man as he took a deep breath, shirtless as he tried to manifest scales and wings. Unsuccessfully.
"I am concentrating, Mick," Len growled low in his throat as his eyes slit open to glare at his partner who was seated across from him in the cargo hold.
"No. You're thinkin', not concentratin'," Mick countered with a low rumble of his own. He shook his shoulders out and released the tension that had been building while he tried to help Len concentrate on manifesting. "Feel what it would be like to have scales. Wings. Fangs."
Len huffed and changed positions again. He closed his eyes and tried to follow Mick's instructions, he felt a ripple in his hand and then ... nothing. Len leapt to his feet in frustration, not used to being slow to pick up something. He ran a hand over his close cropped hair as he paced back and forth a few times before looking over at Mick.
"See, all you gotta do, is know that you can do it, and then do it," Mick offered as he held up his arm to show scales and claws instead of flesh.
Len stepped closer and looked at his partner's changed hand. The scales on Mick's arm were a bright copper and red, shifting colors with the light. Len's hand reached out and touched the scales with his still human hand. "You make this seem so easy, Mick," Len replied with a sigh as his cold hand absorbed the warmth coming from the other dragon's body.
"I've had a lot of time to practice. And once you've got it down you're gonna wonder how it was so hard in the first place," Mick replied as he enjoyed the feeling of Len's cool hand. "My parents wanted to make sure that us kids could change at will as soon as we started to show draconic traits. Not all of us could. You have to be a certain age to really know..."
"Is that why the fire got to them?" Len asked as he pressed his hand against Mick's comfortingly.
"Not entirely. We're not all immune to fire, as you know. All dragon's have some resistance to the elements, but if we're exposed to enough of it, or it's not our particular element... it can kill us," Mick replied, words slow to be spoken. "The rest of my family were Earth and Forest dragons ... I'm the only one in the last four generations to be Fire and Metal. Sometimes we can get lost in our element until we learn to harness it. And I got lost in the flames."
Len felt a pang of sympathy. He'd hated his own father for everything he'd done to their family, but knowing the guilt that Mick carried because of his elemental immunity. He leaned forward and pulled Mick into a brief embrace; something they rarely did outside their quarters, and squeezed tight before letting go again.
"Thanks, Lenny, but we need to work on your training," Mick replied even as he sighed into the contact. "I ... you did it!" he said with a grin as he pulled back and saw the scales on Len's arm. He held the limb up so Snart could see the shimmering silver and blue scales.
"I did," Len replied as he looked at his own hand. He blinked several times before remembering that it was his limb and flexed to watch the play of light over the scales. "That's incredibly fascinating."
"Just think about whatever it was you had in mind when you hugged me," Mick offered, excitement clear in his voice. He let his human hand; warm and soothing, run over the scaled of Len's changed hand. "Just reach for that feeling and pull it to the surface."
Len closed is eyes and pulled the feeling he thought was the right one. A growl escaped him as he looked down at his still human hand. "I don't get it!"
"Think, Lenny," Mick soothed. "What were you feeling?"
"Like I wanted to protect you from getting hurt in the future," Len replied as he dragged his changed hand through his hair. "Like I want to be a dragon."
"Concentrate on one feeling at a time. Once you know which feeling makes for the easiest change, you'll be able to practice with that. Until you don't need emotions to change," Mick offered. "Mine was watching fire. Not the best, but the look and feel of the flames was kinda like meditation for me."
Len closed his eyes again and slowed his breathing, mind concentrating on the thought and feel of the scales on his hand. He felt a thrill of power, just out of reach as he let his mind latch onto the thought slowly, like trapping a scared animal. He coaxed the feeling of that power closer to him, so that he could pull it forth and bring it out. He visualized the scales growing from his arm and down his back.
"You're doing good, Len," Mick cooed, voice a low rumble of happy approval. He gave a soft sigh as he looked over the scales that were rapidly covering his partner. "Don't forget your wings. All dragons have them to some degree."
Len nodded as his brow creased further and he thought of what it would feel like to have wings growing out of his back. Another set of limbs that might let him fly some day. The feeling of his shirt was uncomfortable and he shrugged out of it to the soft sigh from Mick. He knew that his partner loved to see all of him, even if Len was a little self conscious of his scars, and any excuse to get Len naked was a good one in Mick's book.
"Excellent," Mick rumbled, voice full of equal parts of excitement and wonder. "Pretty soon we'll be flying together."
"Mick," Len mumbled around his changed mouth and sharpened teeth. He felt a thrill of surprise as he realized that he wanted to drop to all fours, and he let his instincts take over, feeling the pull of his human clothing tugging at scales and spikes. He worked to try and get his pants off. He felt Mick's big, helpful hands helping him out of the fabric. It looked like he'd managed to mangle his pants in his struggle to remove the offending clothing. He gave a small smirk as he looked over at Mick. "You joining me?" he asked, a husky tone as he thought of how good Mick would look in just his scales.
"You bet, Lenny," Mick replied as he quickly stripped. He dropped his clothes in a pile without any regard to his nudity. He closed his eyes briefly and shifted into a dragon that was a bit broader in frame. His copper and red scales reflected the slowly sinking sunlight. His copper horns curled from the sides of his head and wrapped around the sides of his head like a ram's horns with three lines of ridges that ran from between his horns down his neck and merging into one down between his wings before flaring back out to three ridges again until the tip of his tail.
Len bobbed his head as the image Mick struck in the dying light made his whole body tingle with excitement. He walked over to Mick and rubbed himself against the larger dragon's side. He made a low purring noise as he went, content with having Mick close by. "You're a very handsome dragon," Len murmured, enjoying the warmth that poured off of Mick in waves.
"You're not so bad looking yourself," Mick rumbled in response. He nuzzled around Len's head, but not directly on the top of the other dragon's head. "A bit spikey."
"Spikey?" Len asked, head tilted in confusion. He looked around and found a small puddle of water nearby. A few steps brought him to the puddle that was large and still enough to act like a mirror. He took a few moments to really examine himself. Long and slender build with large blue and silver scales that ran the length of his body. He examined his own horns, a pair that swept back from his head gracefully, and several smaller spikes that followed the line of his skull and made a strange halo effect. He noted the horns were like his claws, a bright silver color with strange little spots that radiated a small pattern out from them, like strange little sparks across them.
"See? Spikey," Mick said as he came up next to Len and rubbed against him again.
"Yeah, and you're just so ridged," Len giggled, the sound rumbled deep within his chest. He brushed against Mick again.
"You're incorrigible," Mick groaned with a grin. "Now, let's see if you can catch me on the ground!"
"Mick!" Len called as he watched his partner disappear into the trees with a playful bounce.
END