Chapter Text
“Hey, Komori! Did a dragon request you?” Hoshiumi asked, bouncing up to him. Komori frowned at him, taking in the little dragon’s enthusiastic human form.
“What? Of course not. I haven’t had a dragon assigned to me since we finished our year with our trainee flock,” Komori reminded him. “I’ve been helping with the hatchlings and fledglings a bit, but that’s it.” Hoshiumi tilted his head, his nose wrinkling.
“But you smell like fire-scent. I figured you must’ve been requested by someone,” he explained. Komori shook his head. He hadn’t been requested, and he didn’t really hang out with a lot of dragons. He certainly wasn’t around any dragons who might have bonded with him enough to be putting out fire-scent around him.
Unless…
“Damn it,” Komori muttered. As much as he appreciated his longtime crush potentially - probably - finally - being returned, he knew that other dragons being able to smell the fire-scent was a complication that would bring trouble for both of them. Hoshiumi beamed.
“So you know who it is?” he asked, eyes lighting up. “Tell me!”
“No, I don’t,” Komori lied. Hoshiumi scowled at him.
“You do, too! I want to know who’s fire-scenting you!” he complained, much too loudly. Komori flinched and glanced around, hoping no one had overhead.
“No one is fire-scenting me,” Komori hissed. “Don’t go spreading rumors, okay? I probably just stood too close to one of the couples.” Hoshiumi scowled and crossed his arms.
“If you say so,” he muttered. Komori rolled his eyes and turned away. He had someone he needed to see, and fast. In his haste, he didn’t see one of his fellow unassigned and dragonless riders, Miya, watching him with a thoughtful - borderline sinister - expression.
Komori made it to the fledglings’ caves without running into anyone else, and thankfully the young dragons had already fallen asleep for their afternoon nap when Komori arrived. Yamagata and Sakusa, the dragon riders assigned to work with the fledglings, were just getting ready to leave, but Sakusa noticed Komori’s approach and waved, the cloth mask over his face hiding his smile.
Of course, Sakusa hid a lot more than that, as Komori knew, but Komori had never expected Sakusa’s secret to come back to affect him in quite this manner. Hoped, maybe, but never expected.
“Komori!” Sakusa greeted him as he abandoned his conversation with Yamagata in favor of walking over to Komori.
“We need to talk,” Komori murmured. Sakusa blinked, confused. “Alone.”
“Okay. We can go to the usual place,” Sakusa suggested, concern coloring his tone. “Is everything okay?” Komori nodded, and they made their way out of the base and to the rugged cliffs. When they arrived, Komori slipped through a crack in the base of the rock face. Sakusa followed a moment later. The fit was tighter for Sakusa, since he was taller and wider than Komori, but they’d gone through this opening many times before, and both knew they wouldn’t get stuck. Beyond the crack was a huge cave, large enough for a dragon to comfortably stretch their wings, something else the two knew from experience. “So, Komori, what’s bothering you?” Sakusa asked, taking a seat on one of the many smooth rock outcroppings along the wall. Normally, Sakusa didn’t like sitting outside, but in this cave, where everything was smooth stone, with almost no dirt except what blew across the floor from the crack leading to the outside, he didn’t seem to mind. Komori watched him for a second, then sighed and decided to just say it. After all, honesty was usually the best way to deal with his friend.
“Your mask isn’t functioning the way it’s supposed to,” Komori informed him. Sakusa tensed, his eyes narrowing.
“What? Did someone say something?” he demanded.
“Not exactly. No one mentioned you specifically. But you’re the only one I could think of who would be fire-scenting me,” Komori told him bluntly. Sakusa’s eyes widened, and his mask twisted as he struggled to form words.
“I...what...why would you…?”
“Hoshiumi asked me today if I’d had a dragon request me,” Komori sighed. “He said I smelled like fire-scent, but I don’t think he could tell who it was.” Sakusa was still staring at him, and Komori hesitated as he recognized fear in his friend’s eyes. “Sakusa? What’s wrong?”
“You know, I wondered how it was possible for you to have fire-scent on you, Komori, considering you’re not around any specific dragon a lot. But then I saw you sneaking off with Sakusa and I had to wonder why that would be. I guess now I know.”
Komori froze; he knew that voice, and damn it no one was supposed to know about this place. Had they been followed? How much had he heard? Komori turned toward the entrance, put himself between Sakusa and the rider blocking the only way out. Miya Atsumu, an unassigned rider like Komori, was watching them with obvious interest in his calculating gaze. Sakusa growled, a low, inhuman sound that had Komori reaching behind himself to rest a hand on Sakusa’s arm.
“So, Sakusa Kyoomi,” Miya said with a smirk. “The only way you could be one leaving fire-scent on Komori is if you’re a dragon. But that can’t possibly be it, since if I’m remembering correctly, you’re a dragon rider.”
“Fuck off, Miya,” Komori snapped.
“I don’t think you want me to do that,” Miya replied easily. “Because if I just fuck off, there’s nothing to stop me from going straight to the Command Flock with my discovery. I wonder what they’d think of a dragon posing as a human?”
“If you’re going to try to blackmail Sakusa into letting you ride him, don’t bother,” Komori snapped. “We’ll tell the Command Flock ourselves before we let you take advantage of him. And they won’t kick him out; they can’t afford to lose him, not when he and Yamagata are the only ones who are working with the fledglings right now.” Miya opened his mouth to point out that they could always have Miya himself, or Sakishima or any number of unassigned riders, fill in Sakusa’s place, but Sakusa himself interrupted before Miya could speak.
“I couldn’t fly with you even if I wanted to, so don’t bother,” Sakusa growled.
“Sakusa, you don’t have to-” Komori broke off as Sakusa stood, handed his cloth mask to Komori, and then moved to the center of the cave. Komori sighed and leaned against the rock wall, making sure he was out of Sakusa’s way. Miya started to ask what Sakusa was doing, but stopped when Sakusa’s form blurred and grew.
A moment later, a huge, plum-colored dragon with lighter shades of purple on his muzzle and belly and black streaks down his back spread his wings in the dimness of the cave. The lighting was just bright enough to reveal Sakusa’s wings. Miya hissed in surprise, and Komori glared at him. He knew it wasn’t pretty, but…
Instead of one thin, smooth, translucent membrane stretched out to catch the air, Sakusa’s almost maroon wings were in tatters, thick with scars a shade lighter than the whole sections of the membrane.
“I can’t fly,” Sakusa said, completely unnecessarily, considering the state of his wings.
“So that’s why you’re pretending to be human,” Miya realized. Sakusa folded his wings awkwardly against his back, the ragged and uneven membranes refusing to lay flat. Komori walked over to him, and Sakusa crouched so Komori could climb onto his back and help arrange his wings so they lay more comfortably, a task Komori had gotten rather adept at since he'd found out Sakusa’s secret shortly after their graduation from their year of training.
“I pretend to be human because human dwellings are cleaner,” Sakusa corrected him reluctantly. “I went through the training to be a dragon rider because I missed the sky.” Miya was quiet for a moment, then sighed.
“I wasn’t going to ask you to let me fly with you anyway,” Miya told him. “I want more time with the fledglings. None of the current unassigned dragons work well with me, and this year’s trainee flocks all seem to have found unusually good matches for their dragons. Half of them are leaking fire scent all over their riders already, so there’s no chance of me getting any of them after they graduate.” Komori frowned from his perch on Sakusa’s back.
“So you want to make sure you can convince the fledglings to like you. You’re hoping you can get one of them to ask for you,” Komori summarized. Miya rolled his eyes.
“You make it sound so sinister,” he muttered. “I just want the chance to build a relationship with a dragon, okay?” Komori eyed him warily - he knew Miya wasn’t the type of rider to adjust to his dragon’s personality, but no one could deny he was a skilled rider - then sighed and patted Sakusa’s shoulder. This was Sakusa's secret, and therefore Sakusa's decision.
“I’ll talk to Yamagata,” Sakusa said. “I can’t make any promises, since Yamagata’s the one in charge of the fledglings, but I can remind him that you’re skilled, and since Futakuchi won’t let us have Aone to work with the fledglings, I might be able to get you assigned to help with them for a while.” Miya grinned.
“Great! And I’ll pretend I never saw all of...that,” he replied, gesturing toward Sakusa’s large scaled form. Komori bristled - if Miya was in any way slighting Sakusa’s dragon form just because his wings weren't smooth, Komori would be happy to give Miya some scars of his own - but stayed on Sakusa’s back. Miya shook his head at them, then turned and was gone, leaving Komori still sitting on Sakusa’s back, one hand on Sakusa’s ragged wing to steady himself. Sakusa waited for a moment, then twisted his head around to study Komori.
“You know,” Sakusa rumbled, shifting his feet nervously, “You went straight to worrying about my mask not hiding my scent like it’s supposed to instead of actually acknowledging the fact that you thought I might be fire-scenting you.” Komori scooted up along Sakusa’s back until he was settled in front of his wings, where a saddle would sit, a less precarious perch than between the dragon’s wings.
“Because making sure your secret was safe was the most immediate thing,” Komori explained. “I kind of failed at that, though. I’m sorry.” Sakusa huffed, his breath warm on Komori’s cheek as the dragon stretched his neck a little more and nudged the human with his muzzle.
“I should have been more careful, too,” Sakusa pointed out. “Noticing Miya following us was on both of us, not just you. Now can we please talk about the actual reason we’re here?” Komori tilted his head curiously.
“Is it that urgent? I know fire-scent is a big thing, but-”
“You don't understand. I don't want to ruin anything; I didn’t even realize I was doing it,” Sakusa interrupted, eyeing Komori anxiously. “I swear, I didn’t, or I would have stopped. But the mask hides my scent and it dulls my own sense of smell, so I never realized…”
“Sakusa, it’s okay,” Komori assured him. “I’m worried someone will figure out you’re a dragon, and I know you don't want that, but personally, I don’t actually mind you doing it, okay?” Sakusa’s eyes narrowed, and Komori reached up to scratch the dragon’s cheek. “Sakusa, you’re my best friend, and I may or may not have had a crush on you since we were in training together.” Sakusa frowned.
“You didn't know I was a dragon then,” he observed. Komori shook his head.
“No, I didn't. And finding out didn't change my feelings,” he added firmly. Sakusa hesitated, turned his head away, the dim lighting of the cave hiding any expression his scaled face might have had.
“Even once you saw my wings?” he asked quietly. “Even though I'll never be able to fly with you or be paired with you in a flock?” Komori laughed, and Sakusa flinched, only slightly relaxing when Komori scratched at a soft spot on his shoulder reassuringly.
“I told you that my feelings haven't changed. Look, you being a dragon, and not being able to fly doesn't change the fact that you're the person I'm closest to, or that you're beautiful - yes, even with those scars on your wings - or that I’ve tried not to let myself hope you'd return my feelings, even though I might have failed at that too. So, Sakusa, you haven't ruined anything by liking me enough to leave fire-scent on me even in human form.” Komori fell silent, waiting for Sakusa to process that.
“Oh.” Sakusa’s voice seemed smaller, but his tone was colored with surprise and happiness instead of the fear that had hung around him just moments before. Komori smiled and scratched at his soft spot again.
“If you're up for it, we should tell someone in the Command Flock, though,” Komori mused. “I'm all for sticking Miya with the fledglings - let them learn early on he's a jerk - but I don't like him holding this over you.” Sakusa hesitated, and Komori added softly, “You don't have to. I'll stand by you either way. But think about it, okay?” Sakusa nodded, and Komori smiled slightly.
“I forgot how annoying my wings are,” Sakusa said after a minute. Komori blinked at the change in subject, but decided to go with it. Sakusa would have to decide whether or not to tell the Command Flock on his own, and Komori would let him process the idea however he needed to.
“Want me to rub them for a bit?” Komori offered. Sakusa let out a soft humming noise as he considered the offer, then shook his head.
“I'd rather just get back to human form,” he decided. Komori shrugged, gave the soft spot under his fingers one last scratch, then slid down Sakusa’s side to the ground. A moment later, the huge plum dragon shrank into the form Komori was more familiar with and went to the ledge to collect his mask. Only once the cloth was back in place did Sakusa speak again.
“We really need to talk more about...this. Us,” he said. “But for now...let’s head back.” Komori nodded his agreement.
“Just one thing before we go. Can I call you Kyoomi now?” He asked. Sakusa’s eyes widened, and Komori suspected he was blushing behind the mask, if the darkening tips of his ears were anything to go by. Sakusa nodded and reached out like he wanted to hug Komori - which wouldn't have been out of the ordinary; they often hugged or leaned against each other - then paused, and Komori had to force back his disappointment.
“I don't want to accidentally make the fire-scent stronger until I make a decision about the Command Flock,” Sakusa explained. Komori, blinked, then realized his disappointment must have shown despite his efforts to hide it. “And the hatchlings will probably be up from their naps soon…” Komori smiled reassuringly.
“I've waited this long for a sign you might return my feelings,” Komori reminded him. “I can take a little physical distance while you sort things out.” Sakusa made a little noise of protest.
“Not too much distance,” Sakusa insisted.
“Not too much. Just enough so Hoshiumi doesn't ask any more questions you don't want to answer yet,” Komori assured him. Sakusa nodded, apparently satisfied with this, then moved toward the cave entrance.
“Speaking of Hoshiumi, is he somehow related to that little orange dragon? You know, the one who was a fledgling last year, he's in Trainee Flock One now?” Sakusa asked. Komori frowned thoughtfully.
“Hinata? I don't think so, why?”
“Because they're both loud, tiny, too energetic and too nosy,” Sakusa muttered. Komori laughed as they started back toward the base.
“Does that make you related to Ushijima, then? You're both big, purple, a little oblivious to the poor pining humans who-”
“You're being ridiculous,” Sakusa informed him. “I'm not related to Ushijima. He's a dragon and I'm obviously a human.” Komori nodded sagely.
“Obviously,” he agreed. They were both quiet for a moment.
“Motoya?” Sakusa asked. Komori fought back a blush - or tried to - as he glanced questioningly at him.
“Yeah?”
“Nothing. Just wanted to try it out.”