Archive of Our Own

It was a mild afternoon at Clearwater High. Although sunlight filtered through the fine gaps in the leaves of the forest trees, barely warming the surface of their treetops, it wasn’t the summer heat it should have been.

Even so, Carag and Dorian were perfectly fine with this weather.

They had stayed behind in the training clearing to practice attack and defense movements in human form, making the most of the moment. Small drops of sweat adorned the skin of their foreheads and necks, and their loose t-shirts sometimes clung to their chests when they made the occasional quick movement. Carag didn’t mind as long as he kept trying to concentrate—he was getting used to the human body reacting this way to physical effort, after all.

“Alright, silly puma,” Dorian said, half-smiling as he put his arms back in position, right in front of his chin. “Prepare to be taken down. I’m not holding back.”

Carag almost smiled at Dorian’s nickname for him. Emphasis on ‘almost’, because he failed. He chuckled, a wide grin spreading across his face. He wasn’t tired yet.

“Since when can you take me down, kitty?” He returned the nickname, getting into position as well.

He didn’t know who would attack first and who would defend next. They’d been like that for a while, but it was fun to guess.

Dorian stared at him for a few seconds. Carag didn’t look away, not even when he saw an innocent, mischievous smirk appearing on his friend’s lips… until Carag’s eyes swam back to Dorian’s.

“Since you stopped paying attention every time I look you in the eyes,” Dorian blurted out, leaving Carag speechless as he charged at him too quickly.

With a push of his bare foot against the ground, Dorian leaped, and Carag tensed as Dorian’s body transformed mid-air into his animal form—a gray cat. He’d be lying if he said it didn’t take him by surprise. Dorian landed on Carag’s shoulder with that feline grace of his, climbing onto his head as if mocking him.

“Hey!” Carag complained when he finally reacted, feeling the cat’s weight on his head. Before he could shake him off, Dorian took another jump and landed on the ground in his human form once more. Carag was already turning to face him, saying, “We said no shapeshifting today.”

He wasn’t really upset.

When Dorian looked at him again with those mischievous, playful cat eyes, Carag was grateful that Principal Lissa Clearwater had given all her students special clothes that allowed them to transform into their animal forms without tearing them or leaving themselves exposed. Dorian was back in his dark blue t-shirt and shorts, as if he’d never shapeshifted in the first place.

If Carag had also shapeshifted into a puma, the training would have ended far too quickly. He always ended up beating Dorian when they were in their animal forms.

He heard before he saw Dorian laugh, and Carag couldn’t help but smile. This cat… Yeah, Dorian was right. His green eyes drew Carag in a way that reminded him of the changing colors of spring and summer… and he wasn’t going to lie to himself: something drew him to always stare at them.

Trying to focus again, he got back into position before Dorian could recover as well. Carag took the initiative, pushing off the ground with a powerful push and launching himself forward. He was about to unleash a technique that would send Dorian crashing to the ground when, suddenly, his friend’s lightning-fast reflexes kicked in—

—he prevented Carag from grabbing him, but couldn’t avoid colliding hard with his shoulder as he clumsily moved away. Carag and Dorian groaned at the unexpected impact and lost their balance, grabbing the first thing they could reach: their t-shirts. Thanks to this, they didn’t fall to the ground separately, but together.

It only took a thud and the weight of a body against his own to realize that Dorian had landed on top of him, knocking the wind out of his lungs for a second.

Dorian groaned near his ear as he moved slightly away. Silence fell immediately when they opened their eyes.

Carag panted, his face just inches from Dorian’s. Their eyes met, and that something that had drawn him to stare at them returned to Carag, though he didn’t understand well why. Dorian wasn’t moving; his breathing was subtly irregular.

“Um…” Carag began, feeling slightly awkward and nervous. At least he didn’t stumble over his next words, “Are you going to get up? You’re a bit heavy in your human form.”

Dorian seemed to snap out of it, shaking his head briefly.

“Yeah, sorry,” he said quietly, looking away.

As he quickly moved away from him, Dorian made a couple of small branches crunch on the ground, a sound that was deafening to Carag’s sharp ears at that moment. Carag sat down, brushing the dirt from his hair—he thought to himself that they had never fallen together during their training sessions before… Could it be that they were just tired for the day?

Carag glanced at Dorian, who had also sat down on the ground to brush the dirt from his hands and knees. Dorian was suddenly acting completely different—he no longer had that defiant spark from before, and a faint shade of pink was visible on his cheeks that Carag didn’t quite understand. The human body was still a mystery to Carag, even to some shapeshifters. He still had much to learn… because he also didn’t understand his heart skipping a beat all of a sudden when his eyes met Dorian’s after the fall.

“Is something wrong, Dorian?” Carag asked him, tilting his head. “You look redder than Brandon did when he got caught one day with candy in class.”

Dorian looked at him, and Carag could see that his smile was a little forced. Or, at least, he seemed to be trying for a normal smile.

“It’s nothing.” Dorian shook his head and looked at the ground, finishing brushing the dirt off his clothes. “I just… didn’t expect to be this close.”

Carag tilted his head slightly to the other side, “Close to what?”

Dorian stood up from the ground, but still didn’t look at him when he said,

“To you.”

Carag stayed silent. He didn’t understand very well what Dorian meant, but something in his tone made him feel uneasy—as if there were a half-open door that he didn’t know whether to cross.

Their training was over for today.

Most of the students were already asleep.

Even Brandon, who snored occasionally. But it wasn’t his snores that woke Carag in the middle of the night—he had woken up with a start, his heart racing, beating as if he’d run through the forest in his puma form.

His heartbeat took a while to calm down as Carag tried to understand why he’d felt this way after his dream. And it was because…

He had dreamed about Dorian.

He had dreamed about his dark brown hair, neatly styled on normal days and a mess during training. He’d dreamed about his smiles that seemed to hold the secrets of the universe and reveal them at the same time. About his eyes, the green of his irises shining beautifully in the afternoon light. About the seconds he had stared at him there, lying on the ground—seconds that seemed to last an eternity because of the intensity they held. He’d dreamed about those lips whispering something that the dream itself silenced.

Carag placed his hand on his chest and closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath. He hadn’t slept a wink that night.

Dorian’s face remained in his mind all morning when he finally got out of bed. It wasn’t like during training, or during their shared teasing. It was different. Closer. Warmer.

For many hours, Carag had that kind of nervousness that these thoughts and images would be transmitted to the minds of the other shapeshifters near him without him being able to stop it. But nothing happened; they didn’t look at him strangely, nor was there any reaction of any kind. Just an ordinary morning. If you could call it ordinary…

He decided that keeping quiet was only making things worse as the day wore on, so he dared to look for Dorian around Clearwater, searching for an anchor. A support that he hoped wouldn’t become a burden on his shoulders. Facing the problem in the first place was better than running from it.

And Carag needed to see him.

He searched the surrounding area, transformed into a puma to move faster and, after a few minutes, he found Dorian alone in a corner surrounded by thick bushes behind the main building. Carag remembered that this spot was often frequented by Shadow and Wing, the crow siblings.

Dorian was gazing at the sky, half-lying lazily on a big rock. Carag shapeshifted back into a human and approached cautiously so as not to startle him.

“Dorian,” Carag greeted him with a smile, walking toward the rock.

Dorian looked at him, but didn’t act surprised. He had probably already heard him coming with his sharp feline hearing. Just like Carag, after all. Dorian smiled at him then, waving a lazy hand in his direction. Had he been sleeping in his cat form on that rock? Maybe.

“Do you have a sec?” Carag asked, sitting down beside him on the rock, not lying down like Dorian. There was a space between them.

But then Dorian sat up, curiously mirroring Carag’s posture.

“I always have time for you.” He murmured, hiding a short yawn behind his hand. Carag gave him a small, tender smile before glancing down at his hands between his knees. Dorian had been sleeping on the rock, then. “What’s up?”

He didn’t really know how to express it. Carag felt somewhat nervous—it was similar to the feeling he’d had months ago when he wanted to talk to Lou… It was both new and weird.

The silence between them grew heavy until Carag finally spoke, getting straight to the point.

“Last night… I had a dream.” He confessed, inadvertently making a claw appear on his index finger. Carag stroked his own hand with his thumb, making it human again. “And you were in it. Only you…”

For the first time, Carag didn’t dare look at Dorian. He didn’t know what expression his friend was wearing. His heart skipped a beat, but Carag remained calm.

“And what did you feel?” Dorian asked him after a few seconds of silence. There was something new in his voice.

Carag frowned slightly. It was an odd question, but also the right one.

He sighed and this time he did look at Dorian, facing the problem head-on.

“I don’t know.” Carag began, his gaze wandering over Dorian’s face, searching for anything. “I woke up with my heart racing. That’s the strange thing. My chest felt tight. Like… like something was missing.”

It was the first time he’d confessed something like this, but it seemed that if he didn’t get it off his chest sooner, it would eat him alive. He didn’t quite know how to cope with these feelings that had surfaced after dreaming about Dorian, but he believed this was the best way to do it.

Now Dorian was staring at him with a mixture of… hope? Fear? He wasn’t very sure.

Carag just hoped he wouldn’t lose him because of his stupid confession.

Dorian looked away for a few seconds, then back at Carag. Neither of them broke eye contact. Carag swallowed. Dorian stared at him again with that feline intensity as he said,

“Sometimes dreams tell us what we don’t dare to think when we’re awake.”

Dorian had always been smarter than Carag about these things—about human emotions and actions. After all, Dorian had lived for a long time as a house cat around a human family who loved him.

“Do you think… it means something?” Carag asked, barely hearing his own voice.

Dorian smiled at him, though it wasn’t one of his bright smiles. This smile was more like one filled with sadness that wanted to be hidden.

“I think feelings don’t always come when you want them to. Sometimes they hide,” Dorian said, looking back up at the sky. “Sometimes they disguise themselves as dreams.”

Carag remained silent.

For the first time, he began to see Dorian differently. Not just as the sarcastic friend, the adventure partner, the lazy cat. But as someone who had been there, waiting for something, feeling… without Carag noticing until now.

Dorian was peacefully sitting in the Highschool cafeteria, having breakfast with Tikaani, when all of a sudden—

“Do you like Carag?”

Dorian nearly spat out his coffee. He set the cup down on the table with a dull thud and stared at Tikaani as if she’d grown two wolf heads.

“Just like that, without warning?” Dorian exclaimed indignantly. Tikaani’s question had caught him completely off guard.

“No warning is needed when it’s so obvious.” Tikaani simply shrugged, biting into one of her cookies. “Does he know?”

Dorian grimaced, lowering his head. “No. And I wouldn’t want him to know it if he’s going to run away. I prefer to keep him close, even if it’s not the way I want.”

Now it was the arctic wolf’s turn to grimace. “That sounds more like fear than anything else.”

Dorian looked up quickly, throwing his hands up in reproach.

“Fear? I gave him a hint… But I don’t think his feline ears picked it up at the time.”

Dorian felt he had said too much when Carag confessed to him that he had dreamed about him. He felt he’d let slip what he’d been hiding for months.

As if that wasn’t enough torment, Holly and Brandon joined them at the table a few minutes later, just in time to tug at his whiskers—he saw Carag coming up behind them with his breakfast, but he had to stop when Professor Bridger called him over for a moment. Dorian stared at him, remembering Tikaani’s words.

He shifted nervously, because the seat next to him was empty, and he knew a certain feline would take it as soon as he finished talking to Bridger. Dorian sighed.

“Are you going to keep sighing every time Carag walks into a room, or are you going to do something about it?” Holly poked his arm with the fork holding a burnt piece of toast, exasperatingly cheerful.

Dorian looked at her and rubbed his arm. “I’m not sighing. I’m just… breathing heavily.”

Holly laughed.

“Yeah, right. And I’m a flying squirrel.” She bit into her toast hard, causing a piece of it to hit Tikaani on the cheek. The wolf gave her a guttural growl that Holly chose to ignore. “Dorian, you’re so obvious. Even Brandon’s noticed, and he doesn’t even notice when he drops corn kernels.”

Holly ignored Brandon’s confused look, too.

Dorian leaned across the table and whispered, afraid Carag might hear with his puma ears,

“What if I mess it up? What if he doesn’t feel anything?”

Holly, Brandon, and Tikaani exchanged a glance.

“What if he does?” Holly said in a serious tone that made the hairs on the back of Dorian’s neck stand on end. Then she took another bite of her toast as if there were no tomorrow. Sometimes Dorian didn’t know what was going on in that little squirrel’s head of hers. “Feeling something for you, I mean.”

Dorian didn’t know what to say. That seemed impossible. He refrained from huffing.

“Is that why you get so weird when Carag touches you? You look like an electrocuted cat.” Brandon said, holding his bag of corn.

“Thanks for your tact, Brandon.” Dorian said sarcastically.

“I’m just saying. If you like him, you should just tell him.” Brandon shrugged. “I did that a long time ago with my crush when I went to get my lunch. She rejected me, but at least I got the sandwich.”

Dorian couldn’t help but chuckle softly, murmuring,

“I don’t know if I want to just have the sandwich.”

Just then, he heard Carag’s footsteps approaching.

The table fell silent for a few seconds as the puma sat down next to Dorian, until Tikaani growled at Holly again for getting bits of her toast on her, and another conversation began between the group of friends.

Dorian sensed that something had changed days later. Or at least that’s what his instinct told him. And he almost always trusted it.

Carag seemed more distracted than usual during their training. It was very rare for the puma to lose speed in his reflexes, even though they were training again in his human form.

“Are you getting distracted, or do you enjoy being knocked down?” Dorian asked him playfully the fifth time he had successfully stopped one of Carag’s attacks.

Carag gave him a smirk, much to his dismay. “Hey, I was just thinking about strategy!”

Earlier, after stopping his second attack, Carag had once again stared at him. And again the third time, and the fourth… And as much as Dorian didn’t want to think about it, he had remembered the day Carag confessed that he had dreamed of nothing but him. About what that could imply… And he also remembered Holly’s words:

What if he does? Feeling something for you.

Dorian shook his head to banish those memories. He gave Carag a weak smile.

“Of course… strategy.” His smile strengthened slightly when Carag raised an eyebrow. And Dorian didn’t know why he said what he said, but he continued with, “It’s not like you’re staring at my face the whole time.”

Carag blinked and moved his mouth like a fish out of water. “What? No, just… Ugh! Don’t talk nonsense.”

Given how close they had come with the last exchange of attack and defense, Dorian placed his hand on Carag’s chest to give him some space. He pressed his palm there for a few seconds longer than necessary, and when he realized it, he abruptly pulled it away.

Carag hadn’t moved away or given him a strange look because of how long the touch lasted.

It hurt Dorian a little to feel this hope creeping up his heart.

Carag couldn’t stop thinking about their training days—the moment they fell to the ground, the moment that followed Dorian’s stare, how his heart felt for a split second. And today, he could almost feel, over and over again, the soft pressure of Dorian’s palm on his chest, like a ghostly touch.

He began to observe the shapeshifter cat more closely, becoming distracted by every little detail he discovered. Some days he noticed how nervous Dorian became when they were near each other. How he sometimes avoided eye contact. And Carag began to wonder if there was something more behind it all.

During one of Carag’s and Holly’s free time in the Highschool’s common room, Holly, the ever-perceptive and adventurous squirrel, gave him a knowing look. Carag glanced at her, both of them relaxing on the couch. He hoped he’d hidden his thoughts better so they wouldn’t enter Holly’s mind, but he wasn’t sure if it had worked completely when she whispered,

“You and Dorian? There’s something there.”

Carag tried to feign confusion, even though he really felt it inside. “Something? Like what?”

“Like, ‘I like him, but I don’t know how to say it.’” Holly smiled as she said it softly.

With that, Carag was lost in his thoughts again. Maybe… Maybe there was something.

Carag and Tikaani shapeshifted back into their human forms after wandering around Clearwater as wolf and puma, and began walking along the path by the river. The air smelled of damp ground and pine.

Carag immediately noticed that the arctic wolf was glancing at him more than once.

“You’ve been acting weird lately.” Tikaani observed, leaping over a thick fallen branch. “More distracted than usual. What are you thinking about?”

Two or three of his friends had already mentioned it. Even Professor Bridger, whom he admired so much, had noticed it one day in the cafeteria.

“I don’t know.” Carag kicked a rock, looking at it. “It’s like… something has stirred inside me. Like it’s drawing me every day… Seeing things from a different perspective.”

Tikaani smiled at him, always knowing what to say, but direct:

“Does that ‘something’ have a name?”

Carag stopped his walk, causing Tikaani to stop beside him as well. He stared the stream’s water trickle among the stones. He hesitated, then sighed.

It’s Dorian, Carag told her telepathically, his friend’s name whispered into her mind. He didn’t dare say his name aloud.

Tikaani raised both eyebrows, a little surprised, but not mocking.

Dorian? Tikaani also spoke his name through their minds. Carag thanked her silently. Then she asked aloud, “What’s wrong with him?”

They resumed walking.

“For the past few days… I can’t stop thinking about him. The way he looks at me. The way he laughs. The way he makes me feel when we’re together.” Carag paused, gesturing awkwardly with his hands. “And the worst part is, I think that thought was always there. I just didn’t want to see it, or I didn’t realize it.”

Lou had also occupied a large part of his thoughts in those months. But now… Now it was different. Very different.

“And what changed?” As strange as it seemed, Tikaani gave him a gentle smile in return.

“I had a dream. About him.” Confessing it twice made his heart skip a beat, but Carag didn’t care. Tikaani wouldn’t tell her wolf pack anything anymore. “And after that night, during our training sessions, in classes… I started noticing things—how nervous he gets, how he avoids my gaze sometimes, how he acts when the others aren’t around. I’d never realized it until now…”

“That sounds like someone who’s been feeling something for a while,” Tikaani said calmly, referring to Dorian. “And someone who’s finally starting to notice it.”

That last part was for Carag. He understood.

“What if I’m just imagining things?” Even so, Carag kept his doubts and fears close to his heart. “What if I ruin everything?”

“Carag, you’d jump on a bear to protect someone… but you’re afraid to talk to Dorian.” Tikaani spoke firmly, her smirk widening. “That says a lot.”

Carag nearly bumped into the edge of a trunk they were passing.

“I don’t want to lose him.” He said confidently, clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides. “But I also don’t want to keep pretending I don’t feel anything.”

It would eat him alive if he didn’t let it go.

“Then don’t pretend.” Tikaani shook her head, looking ahead. “Talk to him. In your own way. At your own pace. But don’t let it pass you by.”

Carag smiled sincerely at her, nodding. His heart beat faster with anticipation of what was to come. For the first time, he was ready to stop running… and start walking toward something new.

The group of students had the opportunity to split into pairs during an orienteering lesson in the forest, always within the Clearwater Highschool limits.

Seeing that Holly and Brandon were going to go together—not without giving him plenty of encouragement—Carag quickly scanned the area with his puma eyes, looking with a well-disguised sense of anxiety for a certain cat. Carag hoped Dorian hadn’t already paired up with someone else or—

There he was!

Dorian! Carag called out to him through their minds, making him turn around before Dorian could ask Nell to be his partner.

In the end, Nell went with Leroy, so Carag trotted over to Dorian at a more leisurely pace. His friend had given him a look that was both surprised and something else.

“Do you mind if we go together?” Carag asked him, his heart pounding. He had to calm himself down several more times before starting to walk alongside Dorian into the forest.

Dorian had already gotten over his initial shock and was now glancing at him with one of his signature smiles. That sight completely calmed Carag.

It’s just Dorian, he thought to himself. Just Dorian.

“Didn’t you always go with Holly and Brandon?” Dorian scratched the short hair on the back of his neck.

Carag noticed some gray fur from his animal form sprouting on Dorian’s neck, but they vanished as if they’d never been there shortly after. That was… adorable. Maybe Dorian really hadn’t expected them to go together.

“I feel like a change today. With you, it’s more—interesting.” Great. Now Carag didn’t know how to express himself properly.

Dorian looked at him cautiously, and Carag understood that look. There was something different about Carag’s tone; he himself knew it and heard it. It was softer. More attentive and more confident. He sensed that Dorian’s ears had picked up on it too, but he said nothing.

They focused on the class assignment at hand for a while. They were following the scent of some non-shapeshifter frogs when, suddenly, Carag saw out of the corner of his eye a frantic movement, followed by a yelp and a thud. He quickly turned his head to the side and saw Dorian on the ground, his palms half-buried. He had tripped over a root and fallen onto his hands, preventing a further fall—Carag was grateful for Dorian’s quick, cat-like reflexes.

“Are you okay?” Carag asked him worried, reacting quickly by crouching beside him, a hand on his back.

“Yeah, yeah.” Dorian laughed at the situation, happy and lighthearted. Carag felt his heart flutter at his laugh. “Only my pride is hurt.”

Carag held back a smirk, offering him a hand. Dorian took it without hesitation and he helped him to his feet, so they stood facing each other. Carag held Dorian’s hand in his for several seconds longer than necessary, not caring that it was covered in dirt. Dorian seemed to notice, because Carag still didn’t let him go. And this time, neither of them looked away when they met each other’s eyes.

Carag took a deep breath and began softly,

“Sorry, I… Ever since I told you about the dream… I haven’t stopped thinking about you.” Carag shook his head gently then. “I’ve been thinking a lot, actually. About us.”

Dorian stayed silent, but Carag felt the short shudder of his body through their still-joined hands. The natural sounds of the forest also seemed to have fallen silent. Carag could only hear the thumping of his own heartbeat.

“You think about me…” Dorian said slowly, carefully. “In what way?”

Carag finally released Dorian’s hand, letting it slide out of his with a gentle movement. Carag looked intently into the other’s eyes, that greenish color that had so captivated him. He cleared his throat before speaking,

“As if… as if that dream wasn’t just a fantasy. As if you were already there, in my head, from before.” Carag confessed, missing the contact of Dorian’s hand in his. “I thought I didn’t see it, but I’d been feeling this growing inside me ever since. At first, I thought it was just confusion. That the dream affected me, that I was mixing up things from the past. But then I started to see you differently. To feel differently.”

Dorian swallowed visibly. The silence that fell between them after his words was thick, but not awkward—just filled with things yet to be said. All that remained to be said and more.

Dorian looked at him with that emotion Carag had seen before, but this time it wasn’t fear. It was hope.

“And how do you feel?” Dorian spoke in a low voice, just for them.

Carag’s heart was pounding in his chest. He was determined.

“I feel like you matter to me more than I thought. I care about you. That when you’re near, everything becomes clearer. That when I look at you, I want to stay there.” Carag paused, running a hand through his hair without breaking eye contact. It was too much emotion. Too many feelings to express. He let his arm fall back to his side. “And if you look at me the same way… then I don’t want to keep pretending there’s nothing. I… I like you, Dorian. Really.”

Carag saw Dorian blink several times to clear the surge of emotion in his eyes, and he had never felt so exposed to anyone before. His instinct told him he hadn’t ruined it. That he hadn’t lost Dorian.

Dorian remained silent, but then a smile began to form on his lips. It wasn’t a sarcastic or mocking smile. It was genuine. Tender. Vulnerable.

“I’ve been waiting for you to say that,” Dorian confessed, finally finding the words. Carag felt an immense, new happiness fill his chest. It was mutual. He hadn’t ruined it. “I thought you never would.”

It was mutual.

Carag lowered his gaze for a moment, ashamed of having been so oblivious to what was happening between them.

Look at me, silly puma, Dorian purred telepathically, transmitting the tenderness in his voice through their connection.

Carag didn’t hesitate to do as he was told, meeting his eyes again.

“I’ve been waiting for it too.” Carag said, and then he did what he had missed doing before: he took Dorian’s hand again, gently squeezing it in his own. Not having claws at that moment had its advantage. “I’m sorry for taking so long.”

Dorian returned the gentle grip of his hand with another squeeze.

“It doesn’t matter. You’re here now.” Dorian smiled broadly, his expression adorned with that intense happiness reflected in his eyes. “I like you too, Carag.”

At that moment, under the shade of the trees, with the murmur of the forest as their witness, something new began between them. Something they would let blossom close to their hearts.

That same afternoon, their friends quickly noticed the change about them. They had all gathered at the treehouse, except for Tikaani.

Holly, with her eyes sparkling with excitement, leaned toward them on the long wooden bench with cushions. It was obvious she was trying hard to restrain herself from shapeshifting into a squirrel and hopping around like crazy. She managed to stay in her human form.

“I knew it would happen!” Holly half-exclaimed, thrilled. “Who confessed first?”

Dorian, a smile lighting up his face, answered from his spot on the wooden floor,

“It was Carag.” Dorian gave him a little nudge, their shoulders bumping gently. He and Carag were sitting together on the floor, their knees and shoulders touching. It was as if they had done this many times, but never like this. Never feeling this way. Carag loved it. “Though I’ve wanted to tell him for ages.”

Carag chuckled at the almost glaring look Dorian gave him.

“It was worth it. I confess I thought I was going to have a heart attack before I finished the sentence, though.” Carag said, wincing at the memory of that morning.

“Sentence?” Dorian raised an eyebrow at him, still smiling. “It was literally the best confession I’ve ever heard. And it wasn’t short, either.”

Carag felt a warmth creep up his neck. The human body remained a mystery.

You guys are so cute! Holly shouted in their minds, echoing with her infectious, hyperactive joy.

Carag shot Dorian a look that pleaded with him not to push things any further, because Holly would get carried away, tormenting her best friends with cheesy situations. But then Carag shared a completely different look with him, and he felt… very calm, very comfortable, and very loved… because what he felt was returned with that same emotion.

Brandon, who had been silently observing the entire conversation, smiled at them both with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.

“So now Dorian and you are… something?”

Dorian and Carag let out a short laugh.

“Something… I don’t know what to call it yet.” Carag said.

Brandon listed in a teasing tone, “‘Confused Cats’? ‘Woodwalkers in Love’? ‘The Ones Who Give Each Other Weird Looks in Class’?”

Carag raised an eyebrow amid another of his laughs, “‘Confused Cats’ sounds a bit too realistic, don’t you think?”

“I’ll go with ‘The Ones Who Give Each Other Weird Looks in Class.’ It has style.” Dorian said, nodding.

Carag leaned toward Dorian, putting some of his weight against his shoulder. Dorian didn’t complain, but rather allowed it naturally, like a cat seeking the sun’s rays.

“Now all that’s left is for the teachers not to catch us giving each other a weird look.” Carag joked.

Laughter filled the treehouse, and for a moment everything seemed lighter. Holly hugged them enthusiastically, Brandon continued inventing absurd names, and Dorian couldn’t stop smiling. Carag felt more relaxed than ever and, looking at each of his shapeshifting companions, smiled sincerely,

“Thanks for everything, guys.”

Because without them, Carag wouldn’t have gotten to where he was now—together with a woodwalker very special to him.

The night fell.

The treehouse had fallen silent after his two friends left. Only Carag and Dorian remained, sitting side by side on the roof, the night breeze caressing the branches and leaves in a nature’s slow dance. The forest seemed to envelop itself in a blanket of calm, as if it wanted to protect them.

Carag looked up through the branches, where the stars twinkled like tiny distant fires.

“You know,” Carag said softly, breaking the silence. He lowered his head to look at Dorian. “When I confessed to you, I thought it would ruin our friendship. I was afraid. But not telling you was worse than letting it go. I don’t regret anything.”

Dorian watched him with a smile and a calm stare, the kind that always managed to disarm him. The kind that had always drew him to look.

“I was afraid too. Very.” Dorian said softly. Carag didn’t hesitate to take his hand, letting them rest intertwined on his thigh. “I haven’t been brave enough like you. Not even when you told me about your dream. I wish I hadn’t wasted so much time being a coward.”

Carag squeezed his hand, frowning. “You haven’t been a coward. Don’t you remember what you told me? ‘Feelings don’t always come when you want them to’. Neither of us took the step until now… and thanks to you, I was able to. You said the right words at the right time. You were amazing.”

Dorian held back a grin and didn’t look away, and Carag felt another shudder run through Dorian’s skin. It was mutual, the feeling he passed to Carag’s mind without needing any more words. It was mutual. Carag loved this new chapter of his life. This new path to travel. Beside Dorian.

“I don’t know what to call what we have.” Carag whispered into the night, unable to suppress the purr that rose in his throat. “But I know I want it to last.”

Dorian leaned toward him, resting his head on his shoulder. Carag allowed himself to rest his own cheek against Dorian’s head, still holding their intertwined hands with confidence.

“We don’t need a name,” Dorian whispered, and a purr could be heard coming from him as well. “We just need to be us.”

For a moment, the following silence was perfect. Carag felt the entire forest breathing with them, the stars watching them with complicity. And in that moment, he knew nothing else was needed: no words, no definitions. Just being there, together—with the certainty that, in the fragility of that silence, lay the strength of their bond.