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The leaf squishes as Kyoutarou bites down. He huffs, clearly unhappy, fiery breath sending pieces igniting and flying for a brief moment.
Akihiko’s notebook stays perfectly still in his hand, protected by a handy spell against the elements. He notes down the disappointment and marks their spot in the map he quickly doodled.
“Mmmh, yeah, these aren’t good enough either,” he agrees, stepping closer to pet Kyoutarou’s cheek. It’s harder to tell on a dragon snout, but Kyoutarou is definitely pouting.
Akihiko is determined to give Kyoutarou at least one good crunch before they set off for their next adventure in a colder place. It’s a tradition. And he wants to make sure they can come back to this forest, because they managed to find an area where the trees aren’t as thick and Kyoutarou is able to wriggle is noodle-y body around without knocking them down, as long as he stays in his smaller form. It’s nice, and incredibly cute.
“Let’s check that way,” he says, uselessly, because as soon as he takes a few steps, he hears Kyoutarou’s big paws stomping behind him, obediently following him.
Akihiko lets the crunching sound under his boots guide him. The crispier ones leads him to a nice pile under an almost naked tree. With the same care he uses when crafting his potions, he digs until he can pick a leaf from the bottom, and sends it floating toward Kyoutarou’s already open mouth.
They both wait for it, and as Kyoutarou’s jaw chomps down-
CRUNCH.
“Ah, finally! That was perfect, wasn’t it? Nice and crispy!”
Kyoutarou’s tail thumps on the ground. Giggling, Akihiko provides more leaves for him to destroy, one crunchy satisfying bite at a time.
It’s only when the pile is almost gone that Kyoutarou yawns, slow and happy.
“One last nap before we go?”
The answer is a grunt as Kyoutarou surrounds him in short little stomps, long body and tail wrapping around Akihiko. Akihiko unwraps his scarf and removes his coat, knowing he has no choice but to get cozy as a little bug. He has enough space in his Kyoutarou-shaped cave to sit cross-legged and lean against warm scales, and that’s all he needs.
“I’ll wake you before it gets dark,” he says, but Kyoutarou is already snoring.
Akihiko lights one of Kyoutarou’s scales like a candle. He has a few letters he still hasn’t gotten a chance to reply to – two from friends, one from that pathetic excuse of a mage who tried to corrupt Sakura’s magic and then got a little too attached to him for Akihiko’s liking. Just thinking about it makes his magic bubble up with anger, the poor flame growing bigger and shakier next to him, even though they agreed to exchange valuable information for the sake of Sakura’s safety.
With a deep breath, Akihiko calms down.
Naturally, he must reply to Sakura first. He’s traveling with Suou, and while Akihiko already asked Suou to tell Sakura how much he misses him, how much he misses all their friends, it’s more fun to write letters for every single one of them. They will be reuniting soon, but Akihiko has many thoughts to share before then.
He gets so absorbed in his task that it takes a sudden whole-body shiver to make him realize there is no longer a dragon wrapped around him. His back and neck are sore, mostly from bad posture, but also from the chilly air.
Unnaturally long and bare human arms are wrapped around his waist, scattered scales radiating enough heat for Akihiko to rarely notice Kyoutarou shifting back. Kyoutarou is naked, unbothered by the breeze that picked up, body still twisted around in a way that looks so uncomfortable, but Akihiko knows he loves it.
In his attempt to retrieve his scarf, Akihiko accidentally wakes him. Kyoutarou drags himself into a sitting position, groaning softly and leaning against Akihiko’s back, placing his chin over Akihiko’s shoulder. At least the scarf isn’t needed anymore.
“I’m nearly done with this,” Akihiko says. Then, simply because it’s fun to rile him up, he asks, “Is there anything you’d like to say to Sakura-san?”
Still drowsy, Sugishita’s hand reaches out to smudge ink in a corner of the paper. Smiling, Akihiko writes a tiny Sugishita-kun says hi next to it and accepts the pinch Kyoutarou delivers to his side for it.
Akihiko imbues the smell of the trees and Sugishita’s fire into the letter, then asks Sugishita to melt the sealing wax. After he’s sealed it with a magic spell too, they’re ready to depart.
Sugishita leaves him to stand up and stretch, limbs strong and lithe and so gracefully long. Akihiko doesn’t blush at the casual nudity anymore, at least most of the time, but he prefers to keep himself busy with wearing his coat and scarf again.
“Do you want to play with a few more leaves? It’s gonna be a long journey to Kiryuu-san’s castle.”
In a blink, the air whooshes around him, and a pointy dragon snout is pushing against his chest, excited and yet so unbelievably gentle.
Akihiko finds the nice pile of dry leaves as Kyoutarou stretches his limbs for a second time. His human and dragon forms are very different, but they’re both undeniably Kyoutarou – the satisfied groans are the same, even in different pitches.
Mouth open, Kyoutarou waits for the next crunchy leaves.