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"...And so you just tuck and roll, sweep your tail under their hind legs, and then pin them while their down!"
It was a quiet day at Jade Mountain, and Clay was teaching his self-defense class. They were in the middle of a unit about on-the-floor counter maneuvers and the Jade Winglet was listening intently... Kinda. Kinkajou was chattering about sloths and how cute they were to Turtle, who was struggling to pay attention to both his teacher and his crush at the same time, Moon was worrying about if she would ever have to use this maneuver in real life, and Qibli was strategizing ways to counter maneuver Clay's counter maneuver.
Peril was the only one who was actually paying attention. Of course, she was Peril, so why wouldn't she? Class with Clay was always the highlight of her day. She could just waltz in, kick back, relax, and stare dreamily at Clay's face until class was over. And his arms. And his wings. And his muscles. Pretty much every part of him, really.
"Oh, Clay..." Peril internally swooned. He was just so perfect. She would never need to study the self-defense maneuver Clay was teaching, since... Y'know, firescales, but that didn't mean she couldn't study HIM. How handsome he looked in a battle stance, how his excruciatingly roguish biceps got pronounced as he held a runner's stance, he looked like he could snap you neck in an instant but in reality would never hurt a fly. Peril was the happiest dragoness in the world when she got to study THAT.
Moon, on the other hand, was not happy since she had to listen to those thoughts.
Peril eventually snapped out of her trance just long enough to notice Moon giving her a look. Moon's eyes widened and she unsubtly turned her head away once she realized she was caught.
"What?" Peril irritably whispered.
"N-Nothing!" Moon shyly whispered back. She paused for a moment before getting a mischievous glint in her eye before turning back to Peril with a smirk on her face.
"Just wondering if Clay's 'excruciatingly roguish biceps' are as handsome as you say."
Peril's cheeks flushed crimson. Three moons, she was REALLY out of it today, wasn't she? But it's ok, she could just think about other things. Like... Animals! Yeah, animals. Chickens, sheep, goats, cows, mmm... Cows... Peril loved cows. So did Clay. Clay loved cows too. She should get him one for lunch. She should get Clay a cow. Clay a cow. Clay cow. Cow Clay. Clay. Clay Clay. Clay Clay Cl-
She snapped out of it and redeemed her round-trip ticket out of out Clay-land; Population: Peril, to see Moon giving her another smirk. So much for thinking about other things...
But it's ok! As long as she doesn't stare at him to long, she should be fine. Class was almost over anyway. Surely she could just not look at him for 10 minutes, right? Easy!
"Hey Peril, could you come over here and help me demonstrate this next move?"
Peril could only squeak in response as she screamed internally.
She nervously shuffled up to Clay, but not before angrily turning around and giving a dirty look to Moon, who was holding back a tidal wave of laughter.
Thankfully, her firing temper was immediately doused by the soothing smile of a charming Mudwing. "Thanks for doing this, Peril." Clay praised. "You're the closest of the Jade Winglet to my size. I don't want to accidently hurt one of them."
Peril just now realized how much Clay had grown since they first met. In Scarlet's arena, they were about the same size. Almost a year had passed since then, and Peril's growth had stagnated, nearing the end of her developing years. Clay, on the other hand, just kept getting taller. He wasn't a GIANT or anything, but the height difference was a lot more noticeable that it was almost a year ago. Peril liked this. It made Clay feel like her protector, her knight in shining scales, a broad shoulder she could hug and cry on after feelings felt too much.
Eventually, Clay entered a battle stance and Peril entered her own. She tried not to think about how much this reminded her of the arena. She had never wanted to fight Clay then and doing it now only reminded her of the potential alternate ending to their duel that could have been. Deep down, the logical side of her brain told her this was just a friendly demonstration, but the emotional side gave her PTSD from the time she was almost forced to kill Clay.
"Alright, I'm going to charge at you, Peril! Get ready!"
Peril steadied herself as told but Clay came at her with much more force than she anticipated. She let out a yelp as Clay tackled her to the floor, but wasn't exactly complaining at the position she was in. He had her pinned by the shoulders with his arms. Peril had a lot of thoughts about that that would probably be better suited in a private cave. Moon gagged off to the side.
"Oops, sorry about that." Clay sheepishly apologized. "Are you ok, Peril? Your face seems a little red. Did you hit your h-"
"I'M FINE THANK YOU." Peril cursed herself. That came out wrong, didn't it?
Thankfully, Clay decided to ignore that and continue the lesson.
"OK, so now you tuck in roll in either direction then use your tail to sweep my legs, got it?"
"G-Got it." Peril did as she was instructed, a bit clumsily though. Coordinated maneuvers like this were much different compared to her "just poke them until they die to fire" strategy. She ended up rolling way too hard and flicked her tail out with no control. It caught Clay's legs at Mach 10 and crumpled him. He fell on his side hard and yelped.
"ACK!"
Peril gasped in horror at what she'd done to Clay. That was WAY too hard, wasn't it...
"Oof, g-great job Peril!"
Peril was dumbfouded. She did it... Correctly!? "R-Really?"
"That's exactly how you do that maneuver! I couldn't have done it better myself!"
Peril blushed at his praise and returned to her winglet who congratulated her and patted her on the back. Clay got back up, gave a finishing spiel about when and where to use the move, and then just like that: Class was over. Clay dismissed the Jade Winglet and Peril approached the cave with her head held high. Today had been a good day.
However, just as Peril exited the cave, she heard a pained groan come from it. She turned back to see Clay lying on the floor clutching his leg. His teeth were gritted and his face was contorted in agony.
He was in pain.
Peril's heart dropped and she rushed over to check on him. This looked bad, he had just been fine 5 seconds ago! What happened!?
"Clay! Clay, are you OK?"
"Peril? W-What are y- GAHH!!!"
He trashed holding his injured leg. Peril froze. She remembered this scar. She had given it to him to save his life after venom from that viper bite went coursing through his veins. She felt terrible every time she looked at it, even despite Clay's efforts to reassure her it was necessary to save his life. As time went by, the wound slowly healed up, but as Peril examined it closely, her eyes widened in horror: The scar had opened back up.
"Clay, your leg!" Peril exclaimed. "How... How did this happen?"
"I don't know..." He replied through gritted teeth. "It was just fine earlier. I think something happened during the demonstration in... class..." Clay trailed off. He knew what this meant and really hoped Peril wouldn't put two and two together.
Unfortunately, she did.
"Oh moons, I KNEW it! I'm so sorry Clay!"
"Peril, really, it's OK..."
"No it's not OK! I hurt you! Again!"
"Peril!"
"Three moons, I do this EVERY time! Why can't I do ANYTHING r-"
"PERIL!!!"
Peril snapped out of her spiraling and flinched back. Clay only ever raised his voice for extra special occasions when it was really, really needed.
"Peril." He started. "It's not your fault. I planned that pretty poorly, being completely honest. I should have been the one demonstrating the actual maneuver, not the student learning it the first time. I couldn't have expected everything to go perfectly smooth, so that's 100% on me. Not you."
Peril opened her mouth to argue, but the look on Clay's face told her she was going to win this one so she just sighed and nodded. She gazed guiltily at his reopened scar, caressing her talons over it. Clay jumping at her touch made her realize what she just did and she turned crimson and recoiled her claws.
"I- I'm so sorry, I-"
"Nono, it's fine! Could actually..." Clay flushed a red of his own. "Could you do it again? That felt... Good."
"O-Okay!" Peril ran her claws over his wound and he shuddered with bliss.
"Mmm... Three Moons that feels good..."
Peril giggled a bit. "Just like when we first met. In the arena."
Clay chuckled back. "Yeah, just like in the arena. Your heat always seemed to help my injuries."
Peril beamed and snuggled up against Clay as she kept her claws on his leg. The pair stayed like that for what felt like forever. Eventually, Clay broke the silence.
"You know, I'll always be here for you Peril." Clay reassured. "Even if you don't think you deserve to be around me. You always will."
"And I'll always be here for you Clay!" Peril exclaimed. "ALWAYS. If you ever need, or want I guess, my scales like this, I'll always be happy to lend them to you."
Clay smiled. It was the dopey genuine kind. The kind that made Peril's heart grow wings and soar away.
"Thanks Peril. Really. That... Means more than you could ever imagine."
Peril giggled and nuzzled into him. He was so cute. Impulsively, she did something that she never had the courage to do before: She planted a kiss on his cheek. He gave her a flabbergasted look and immediately all that courage vanished. She stammered, ready to let loose a tidal wave of apologies, but Clay spoke up before she could.
"You missed."
"H-Huh?"
"You missed."
Clay cupped her chin and gazed into her sky blue eyes for a moment before planting a kiss of his own.
...Right on her lips.
~
Acros the mountain, Moon suddenly winced and clutched her head in pain ihe middle of history class.
"Geez, Moon are you alright?" Qibli asked.
"I'm alrght, I'm alright..." Moon reassured.
"I just mindread the loudest piercing squeal you could ever imagine."