Archive of Our Own

Majima was looking at a dragon. He couldn’t remember how he got here or where he was, but there was no mistaking the massive reptilian creature huddled amongst a pile of fallen trees in a newly created forest clearing. Its blood stained the ground, still freshly dripping from wounds scattered over the length of its body. Weapons were strewn across the clearing, but not a single human was to be seen. Not even any dead or injured. What drew him here, he remembered, was the deeply disturbing sound of such a regal beast crying in pain. 

The dragon didn’t notice him at all. It was pawing at its snout and writhing. The powerful tail just out of sight before brought down another huge tree in one swing when the dragon coiled and unwound its body in distress. A shriek from Majima finally caught its attention as he barely avoided being crushed and without any further notice Majima felt himself being pinned by something else instead. The situation was too far outside his realm of experience for him to have an appropriate reaction to being pinned under the clawed hand of a dragon, but not crushed. Simply restrained. The dragon was on the defensive, a low rumble in its throat as it tried to assess whether Majima was a threat.

“Ahahaha… didn’t mean t’ interrupt! Don’t mind me, I’ll uh. I’ll be on my way. To the uh.” 

Before he could come up with a lousy excuse, the weight lifted from his torso and he watched the dragon watch him. 

“Listen. I ain’t even sure where this is and all, so if ya know the area could I get directions t’ the nearest--” 

As he sat up, he felt a hot breath of damp air wash over him and realized he was staring directly down the dragon’s throat. So this was it, huh? He closed his eye and heaved a resigned breath of his own. But after a moment (minutes?) of dreadful anticipation, he cracked his eye again. 

The breathtaking creature snorted at him, the force strong enough to muss his hair, and he surveyed the scene before him again. There was blood pooling from a wound inside its mouth. Majima’s body was moving before his brain could catch up. He stepped gingerly through a row of teeth, bracing himself with his hand on the upper row as he reached directly into the dragon’s maw and grabbed the hilt of a sword lodged deeply into its gums. He couldn’t tell if he was trembling or if it was the low sound rumbling through him. Saliva dripped into his hair and ran down his neck. He shuddered and steeled himself to pull with all his might, grunting and hauling the weapon out from between the giant’s teeth. A shrill hiss spilled out around him as if he’d opened a floodgate, the sound piercing straight through his eardrums, and he was thrown back across the clearing. Catching his balance mid-air to avoid a potentially nasty impact with a tree, he twisted around and landed on his feet. Barely processing what just happened, he gazed down at the sword in his hand and back at the dragon. 

“This ain’t a fuckin’ toothpick, dumbass!” 

As the words came out of his mouth, Majima felt himself tense. It was in his nature to make light of any situation in order to get through it, but even for him, taunting a dragon? What kind of idiot was he? He tossed the bloody sword aside and reached for the dagger tucked into the back of his pants, shifting into a defensive stance. 

“I know.” 

The voice seemed to cause the forest to shudder. 

“Then how in th’ hell’d it get in yer uh oh fuck you can talk?”

“Yes. But it hurt too much a moment ago. You have my gratitude.”

“Yeah? Well, do I get wishes or somethin’, big guy? Like, I’m not really a fantasy buff. Cut me some slack here.”

“Kiryu.”

“Haw?”

“I’m not ‘big guy’. It’s Kiryu.”

“Oh.”

“And you?”

“Majima.”

“Hmm.”

Kiryu exhaled a long sigh and Majima decidedly lowered his defenses. Everything in him was telling him to get the hell out of dodge before Kiryu changed his mind but his feet were taking him in the dragon’s direction instead. 

“Look, Kiryu-chan, I can tell yer havin’ a rough day, not that I could guess what a good day looks like for a dragon or anythin’, and I don’t even want any wishes. But I do wanna know what’s goin’ on and why ya haven’t eaten me.”

Another sigh. The branches of the surrounding trees whispered around them. 

“I can’t grant wishes, and I have no reason to eat you.”

“Ain’t ya hungry?” He’d pieced together that the rumbling he’d felt when he stepped inside Kiryu’s mouth was his stomach urging him to close his mouth. But here he stood, in one piece. He couldn’t gauge Kiryu’s expression shift, but he stepped closer out of curiosity.

“Whether I’m hungry has nothing to do with it. You just helped me. I’ll find something else later.” 

“Dragons got morals, huh?” 

If Kiryu wasn’t injured, he would likely have left right then and there, but in his condition he didn’t feel like he could stand. And despite how nosey Majima was, it felt nice to use his voice. He couldn’t recall the last time he did. Still, he had nothing to say to that, so he lowered his head to the ground and shut his eyes. It wasn’t a minute longer before he felt Majima’s hand touching a wound on his leg. 

“Ya don’t just kill people but yer covered in all these scars.” 

“I deserved them.”

“For?”

“Meddling in human affairs.”

“HAH.”

Kiryu’s eye snapped open, the slitted pupil narrowing on Majima. Majima was doubled over in laughter at the absurdity. He took several wheezing breaths and righted himself, clearing his throat. 

“It isn’t a joke, Majima.” 

The irritated growl with which Kiryu spoke his name stirred something in Majima that he had only been partially aware of before. He hadn’t been in his own head when he stepped into Kiryu’s mouth earlier, but the danger and thrill involved left him feeling prickly and antsy even now. He wanted to provoke him, that was all he knew.

“Ain’t there somethin’ wrong with a legendary beast such as yerself just sitting back and takin’ shit from humans? And not even blaming ‘em?”

Kiryu mulled that over for a short while. He didn’t feel legendary. He felt… wrong. He didn’t belong. This world was rejecting his existence, but he was still alive and time continued to pass him by. How many thousands of years now? 

“Don’tcha got any dragon buddies?”

He hadn’t seen another dragon since he’d lost his sworn brother. How long ago? He didn’t know. He didn’t even begin to conceptualize time in measurable increments until the humans came about and spoke of days and years. Millenia. 

“All by yer lonesome, huh?”

“Majima.”

“Eh?”

“Thank you for helping me, and for keeping me company. But please leave me be. I want to rest.”

Majima stepped back and let the sight of Kiryu’s exhausted face sink in. His shoulders rolled in a way that could have been a shrug or could have not. 

“A’ight. G’night, Kiryu-chan.”

It wasn’t night a moment ago, but it was now. He left, and Kiryu slept. 

--

Kiryu was in the clouds. 

An elderly deer was at the end of its time, far removed from its family. He’d been waiting for a chance like this. When the animal was finally at peace, Kiryu swooped in like a breeze and carried it off to his den to eat privately. It was gone in one bite. He was still hungry, but it didn’t matter. He would forget the feeling again soon enough. He slept.

Majima was with him when he woke. Actually, Majima was the reason he stirred at all. Kiryu could feel him prodding at his face in the least respectful ways possible. He only stopped when Kiryu finally signaled that he was awake by turning his head away and grunting. 

“I found ya!”

Kiryu couldn’t make heads or tails of what this human wanted with him. He thought he’d seen the last of him already. That he had simply been bored and curious the time before. He almost asked how he found him, but realized it wouldn’t exactly be hard to track something of his size and instead asked:

“Why?”

That might have been the wrong question though. Majima looked offended.

“I wanted t’ see yer treasure obviously, but all that’s here is junk!”

The way Majima blustered made it so obvious he was lying that Kiryu’s eyes softened and he bared his teeth in what was meant to be a smile but probably looked more like a threat.

“You’re checking in on me?”

“NO!! I came here t’ rob yer lair an’ it’s just people crap! Not even any gold.”

“And you woke me… to what? Ask where the gold is?”

“NOW we’re on the same page!”

Kiryu laughed in the only way a dragon could. It sounded nothing like a human’s laugh, and echoed off the cave walls in a way that caused rubble to shudder and hit the ground. Majima had turned a hilarious shade of crimson from either anger or embarrassment or both. It was impossible to get a read on the man. 

Majima tore his eye away from Kiryu’s mouth and met his gaze again, composing himself.

“You think you could get it and escape me?”

“I already know ya don’t kill people, Kiryu-chan.”

Another rumble of a laugh shifted the air. More resigned than before. 

“You were tryin’a learn about people, weren’t you?”

“Majima.”

“Haw?”

“What do you want with me? I’m not so tired this time that I couldn’t chase you out if I felt like it. So get on with it or leave.”

“I want. To challenge yer scaley ass!”

Kiryu could not possibly look more perplexed than he did right now. Majima was unsheathing his dagger and in a fighting stance within a second. 

“I don’t understand.”

“I wanna go toe-to-toe -- toe-to-tooth? Whatever!! -- with a dragon. I’m not as weak as any human you’ve dealt with before, Kiryu-chan!”

“I could kill you. Easily.”

“But ya won’t!!”

“What makes you so sure?”

“I saw you, Kiryu-chan. You don’t even kill yer dinner.”

Kiryu had nothing to say to that, but Majima was staring him down intently. He heaved a sigh and raised his head tall. His den was no place to fight. It was far too cramped and he risked bringing the ceiling down if his body collided with any part of it. Part of him believed for just a fleeting moment that he might have had a friend in this man, but he was going to have to scare him off after all. Trying to come to an understanding was too tiresome.

Majima shook off his nerves and swallowed hard. Kiryu looked three times bigger when he reared up like that. He anticipated the dragon’s forward lunge, leaping out of the way and using the cave wall to bounce back before Kiryu could raise his head. He grabbed hold of one of his antlers and swung around to land on the back of his neck, not hesitating to drive his blade down through the skin. 

“Hee hee hee!! Nice try, ya big fat snake!! That was too easy!” 

Maybe Kiryu had been naïve to assume Majima would never actually attempt to injure him after he’d seen him before, but it hurt more than he thought. Not physically so much; it barely pricked his hide. But this tiny dagger puncture saddened him more than a thousand swords. His heart tightened and the pace of his breaths increased. He shook and shook his head, his growls reverberating off the walls. More rubble began to cave in around them and Kiryu hoped a large rock would knock Majima out but he held on longer than he thought he could. 

Somehow, Majima was now in the perfect position to hang down and kick Kiryu in the eye with his pointed boot and by then Kiryu was too fed up to deal with this any longer. He lowered his head and snapped it back with such a force of whiplash that Majima was sent directly into the ceiling. His body was stunned by the impact, so all Kiryu had to do then was open his maw wide and wait for gravity to do its job. 

As soon as he felt him hit his tongue, he closed his teeth around him and righted his head. He had no intention of eating him, but he was angry enough to want to give him quite a scare. With a quick shake of his head, he could feel the man collide with the sides of his mouth. He hoped to knock him out and bring him far away, as much as he ached at the thought. Something in Majima stirred up a fondness in him he hadn’t felt since Nishiki was still alive, but that was absurd. He’d known this human for a day. Not even. While he was lost in his thoughts, he noticed Majima hadn’t seemed to move at all. Worried that he may have overestimated his sturdiness and killed the man, he closed his eyes and focused, heart racing. 

Inside Kiryu’s mouth, Majima could barely breathe. It was hotter and more moist than any sauna he’d ever been in. He was dizzy from being shaken around, but more urgently, he was hard as a rock. What did he expect? This was exactly what he came here for. It had been in his head ever since he stepped into his mouth the first time. But riling up Kiryu went even smoother than he planned. The dragon was so predictable that he had to laugh, though he inhaled saliva in the same action and began to choke and heave. As he did so, he could feel the large tongue under him shift, as if relaxing. His body was moving by pure instinct now, shoving his sodden leather pants down enough to pull his cock out more of a chore than initially expected. He got as good a grip as he could and rutted on Kiryu’s tongue like a dog, panting and gasping. He felt it flex and tense again and he could tell the dragon was probably getting alarmed and confused by now. He didn’t have much longer. Without much thought, he dug his dagger into the sensitive flesh, causing Kiryu to flex his tongue enough to squeeze his body flush with the roof of his mouth, the pressure bringing him to climax instantly. In his haze, he didn’t even feel his impact with the rocky ground when he was spit out by the indignant dragon, tumbling until he landed with his bare ass in the air. 

“M-MAJIMA!! What! What did you-- what are you-- Are you alright!?“ 

Majima moved his arm to one side and raised Kiryu a trembling thumbs-up.

“Did you just-- try to--” 

Kiryu took a moment, furrowing his brow and shaking his head at the preposterous notion. He’d never tasted anything like that before, but he knew what it smelled like when humans mated. He was supposed to have been scaring the man! 

“Are you sane!?”

“Prob’ly not…” 

Pacing restlessly down the cave and back, Kiryu was soon too impatient to wait for Majima to right himself and decided to nudge him until he flopped over onto his back. The man was grinning from ear to ear, his eye still glazed over and his eyepatch misaligned, albeit somehow still hanging on in spite of it all. 

“Kiryu-chan… let’s do that again sometime. Like, same time tomorrow? Yeah?”

“No.”

Majima shot up quick enough to startle Kiryu, looking distraught and about to babble useless words, but Kiryu wouldn’t stand for it. 

“I refuse. I intended to make you leave. Not to… not to excite you! I won’t humor you again, Majima.”

“Oh come on! You don’t even gotta do anything. Just let me in for two minutes, I’ll be quick about it.” 

Majima was practically whining now. Kiryu’s head spun. He was almost ready to eat the man for real just to make him shut up. 

“NO.” 

His voice was a thunderous roar. Everything shook around them. Large rocks began dropping near Majima, who was in no state to dodge anything now. He was wide-eyed and looked genuinely frightened for the first time since they met.

“ No !” 

Kiryu hissed, the intonation completely different from just seconds ago. He moved directly between Majima and the collapsing cavern, dirt and boulders pouring around the both of them. It eventually subsided enough that he felt it safe to move. He’d have to deal with this massive pile of dirt another time, but the cave entrance was still clear at least. Grabbing Majima in one hand, Kiryu hurried out into the open, cringing as he heard the deepest part of his lair completely caving in on itself. He set the now damp, muddy man down in the grass and just stared at him as he finally pulled his pants back up and sheepishly righted his eyepatch. 

“Go. Now.” 

Kiryu didn’t wait for an answer. He left first, directly into the dark clouds closing in above them. It started to rain. 

--

Majima couldn’t find Kiryu after that. He never returned to his den. He probably had other options, considering how far and fast he could travel. It was days later (maybe a week?) before he stumbled upon a dead prey animal. From what he gathered before, he had a feeling Kiryu could smell over such long distances that he would be here soon. And he was. But instead of being able to ambush the dragon as he’d so sneakily planned, he found himself being lifted by his jacket and placed gently into a tree before Kiryu left. It took him so long to get down that he didn’t know which way Kiryu went anymore.

A few more days later, Majima found himself by a river. 

He’d heard rumors about a dragon kidnapping a child here. Of course, he’d beaten the shit out of the guys that started the rumor once he tracked them down, but not before getting information out of them first. When word got around that he was looking for the dragon, he ended up getting approached by a brave young girl who wanted to thank Kiryu for saving her life. 

Thanks to her keen memory and instincts, they found his new den in a waterfall. Kiryu was so caught off-guard by Majima’s presence that he almost didn’t even notice the girl was with him. 

“‘S not about me this time.”

Majima nudged Haruka forward and backed off, leaving them alone. Kiryu’s eyes were so sad that he couldn’t bear to be within their sight any longer.

Later that afternoon, after making sure Haruka had gotten home safely, Kiryu found Majima fishing in the river. Majima was pretending not to notice him, but Kiryu could tell. He settled beside Majima and watched him fish for hours. It was dark when he finally stopped, stood, stubbed out his cigarette and picked up his full bucket. 

“Majima, I’m--”

He was too late.

“...sorry.”

The same bucket greeted him at the entrance of his waterfall den. Actually, it had become several times the size, the amount of fish equal to the meat he might be able to get out of a cow. Majima was nowhere to be found, but he accepted the apology graciously, leaving nothing to waste. He wouldn’t be hungry again for a while.

--

The next time they saw each other it was like nothing had happened at all. For better or worse, they didn’t bring up the incident. Majima asked Kiryu all sorts of silly questions until Kiryu was in a good enough mood to regale him with tales of his life before people. Of his best friend, of his father. He talked about what it was like to know the Earth and feel what it was feeling. 

Majima was perched on Kiryu’s head, stroking his brow while he listened. Only after it was quiet for several minutes did he finally pitch in. 

“You feel too much, Kiryu-chan. Sometimes ya just gotta turn all that off. The Earth’s problems ain’t yer problems.”

“It feels like they are.”

Majima brought his heel down solidly on Kiryu’s forehead. The dragon didn’t even wince, but he stopped arguing and tried to at least consider the advice. It was so different from anything he’d ever believed in his long life. But this was how humans thought and felt (or maybe it was just Majima? He did seem like an outlier among humans). It made a lot of things make sense. Still, he couldn’t just reject the sense of responsibility so deeply ingrained in him, so he made peace with agreeing to disagree on this one. 

It was quiet for long enough that the subject Kiryu really wanted to breach began to feel like a growing splinter in his tooth. Majima himself seemed oblivious, or more likely he was just very good at hiding his feelings. Burying them so deep that he practically forgot them. Kiryu couldn’t help but envy that, even while it made him feel some unfamiliar and difficult way.

“Majima. Why do you trust me so much? Even when we first met.”

There was no response, but Kiryu refused to drop it. He turned his head until Majima had no choice but to slip off to the ground, though not without complaint. 

“I was just gettin’ comfy up there, y’know.”

Majima patted the dirt off himself as he stood. He reached into his jacket for a packet of cigarettes and lit up with a practiced ease. He wouldn’t look Kiryu in the eye. 

Frustrated, Kiryu pushed Majima with his muzzle, nearly knocking the man over. He finally succeeded in getting him to look his way when Majima yelled in protest and whacked him on the nose. Kiryu’s eyes were smiling. But he didn’t predict Majima’s retort at all. 

“Well why d’ you trust me so much? Huh ?”

“What??”

“I said --”

“I asked you first!”

Majima blew a cloud of smoke in Kiryu’s face. Not that it did much.

“Well life’s just not fair sometimes, Kiryu-chan.”

It had taken so much effort for Kiryu to ask that he didn’t even have a backup plan for a non-answer. He was visibly flabbergasted, but there was something so deep and knowing in Majima’s eye that he had to wonder if the man was secretly inhuman himself. Kiryu calmed down momentarily and accepted that this conversation wasn’t going to go as smoothly as he wanted it to. It never did with Majima; he didn’t know why he thought it might be different after spending a day pretending.

He decided to take another route. It was a more thorny route, but it didn’t look as closed off as the other one did now. 

“Majima, listen.”

“Listening~!”

Kiryu was irritated that Majima had stopped looking at him again, but it was good enough. 

“I’ve been thinking. About what you said you wanted from me before.”

That certainly piqued Majima’s interest, but he didn’t get a response just yet.

“I still don’t really understand, but. I was just startled. I’d be willing to try to understand now if you want to help.”

Majima’s back looked prickly. He was rubbing at his head and shifting his feet and grumbling in frustration. Once again, Kiryu just could not figure out what he said wrong. 

“Kiryu-chan, ya big fuckin’ oaf!! Fuck!” 

“Eh?”

Majima was stomping in his direction. Kiryu couldn’t place the expression he wore, but at least he was finally making eye contact. He rested his hand on the side of Kiryu’s muzzle and tilted his head back, grinning in an unsettling manner. “It ain’t any fun if it’s not a surprise!”

Kiryu did his best to consider this. He was trying to take Majima seriously after all, even if the man had a roundabout way of saying things. But he was clearly saying some thing. It was just up to Kiryu to make sense of it.

“Then go ahead and surprise me. If you can, that is.”

Judging from the way Majima’s face fell, he’d hit it right on the money.

Majima could not believe his ears. He was openly gaping like a fish out of water. He shook his head and looked at Kiryu again, the smug look on the dragon’s face cementing the fact that he had heard exactly what he thought he heard. 

“K-Kiryu-chaaaaaaaaaan!” 

Majima’s voice was a hoarse whine. He felt positively teased. Like he would short-circuit if he let his mind wander now. He was holding his head in both hands, blushing something fierce and staring off into the middle-distance for what felt like minutes but was actually more like a few seconds. Kiryu found the erratic reaction endearing, but he waited patiently for the man to finish his little spontaneous combustion and compose himself. 

All at once, Majima locked his knees and threw his arm out to point at Kiryu with a fire of determination in his eye.

“Challenge accepted. Get ready, Kiryu-chan, ‘cause I’m gonna be on yer tail twenty-four seven from here on out!” 

And he was. Sometimes literally.

He was in the watering hole. He leapt from trees. He rolled around in all manner of things to conceal his scent. Kiryu found his persistence entertaining, to say the least. But he had a plan. He was pretty confident that Majima was not mentally prepared to be on the receiving end of a surprise when he was lost to such frenzied madness. And he knew without a doubt that Majima was an opportunist. He wasn’t above attempting to ambush Kiryu in his sleep. And the dragon did have to sleep eventually. 

It was easy enough to feign exhaustion and find a remote place to curl up for rest. He knew Majima wouldn’t be far behind. 

Majima waited, and waited. When he couldn’t tolerate waiting any longer, he carefully closed the distance between himself and the resting dragon. Majima’s mouth was dry. Kiryu was so beautiful up close in the moonlight that he was almost content to forget about what he was here for. The blue-ish light reflected off his scales and shimmered when his head rolled to one side. It wasn’t half a second later that Kiryu yawned big and every flexed muscle in Majima’s legs unwound, propelling him forward. He threw his arms forward and dove straight in, the sensation of landing on Kiryu’s tongue similar to that of a water bed. But something was off. The yawn didn’t end. 

Kiryu held his mouth open. Majima didn’t take much longer to realize he’d been tricked. He rolled over onto his back and kicked his feet childishly, a restrained yell welling up in his throat but never spilling over the edge. 

“I get it already! You win! I lose!” 

Kiryu couldn’t respond verbally, but his laughter sent a tremor right through Majima’s body. 

“Gotta say I could just fall asleep right here, though. Yer real comfy, Kiryu-chan.”

Majima stretched out his arms and legs and let out a big yawn of his own. Kiryu’s brow furrowed at the thought. Keeping his mouth open was causing muscle strain. He tilted his head and pushed Majima forward with his tongue to urge him to jump down. To his surprise, Majima complied without much complaint this time, hopping out and landing on his feet with a solid thud. 

But it was dark and cold and now he was wet. He shivered and sneezed when a gust of wind came through the area.

Kiryu felt guilty even knowing he had no reason to. 

“Majima, you’re going to get sick.”

“Well, you gonna keep me warm then?”

“I--”

Kiryu couldn’t understand how Majima always knew exactly what to say to put him off-kilter. But he was getting used to not being able to get used to him, in a way. 

“I don’t know how.”

On the outside, Kiryu’s body was cold and hard and sharp. He also worried about crushing Majima in his sleep if he let the man lay close with him. He was so small and fragile.

“Ah. Kiryu-chan, did ya just think I’m fragile?”

“...No.”

“Liar!! Yer terrible at that. Don’t even try it.”

Kiryu averted his eyes and huffed the same way a petulant child might. It didn’t seem fair that Majima could read him better than he could read Majima. But life wasn’t necessarily fair; Majima had made him come to terms with that just the other day. 

“Kiryu-chan, do you trust me?”

Well, that sure had come around to bite him in the tail. 

“I…”

Majima had just told him it was pointless to lie. He took a deep, shuddering breath. 

“I’m not really sure.”

Majima just hummed thoughtfully to himself. Then he sneezed again and Kiryu put together what this was about.

“Majima, I. I’ll hurt you.”

“‘M not so fragile, Kiryu-chan. I can handle bein’ tossed around a bit.”

Kiryu knew then that he was the one that was fragile. Majima was so lacking in fear, but Kiryu was afraid. Afraid of himself and what he was capable of. Afraid of losing himself to his instincts and doing unthinkable things. He’d been alone for so long that he forgot he was afraid of loss. It was crippling.

“Let me in?”

“Okay.”

“YAHOO!”

Majima’s patience for serious talk was thinner than his dagger’s edge. He leapt into the air with glee. Kiryu was startled at first, but his eyes softened and he laughed at the lengths the shameless man would go to. He couldn’t go back on his word now. Not after that.

“You’re really something, Nii-san.”

“I know. Wait. What’d ya just say?”

“Nothing.”

Kiryu opened his mouth invitingly and Majima suddenly didn’t find that other thing important anymore. He clambered in without a shred of grace and plopped himself down comfortably, a content sigh leaving him. Kiryu’s heart was racing probably more than Majima’s. A great, thundering sound. Majima could feel it, it was all around him. He was bathing in Kiryu’s heartbeat.

Kiryu’s teeth slid together. 

Nothing happened.

It was the most climactic nothing Kiryu had ever experienced. 

Majima slept just like that, and Kiryu followed shortly after. 

--

The following morning was another story entirely. Majima had planned to be good, but he woke up restless while Kiryu was still asleep. It was occurring to him that he didn’t know when the dragon would naturally stir, and that he was effectively trapped until then. But the more exciting prospect was wondering exactly how much he could get away with before that happened. Kiryu’s breaths were long and relaxed. The sensation was entirely new to Majima and he had no intention of letting this opportunity slip by unexploited. 

He undid his pants and shoved them down just enough to pull himself out. He’d been ridiculously hard already upon waking up, probably much longer, and there was only one thing to do about it. He gripped his arousal with one gloved hand; the other he brought up to his mouth, biting down on the glove and ripping it off. The glove stayed between his teeth, both because he didn’t want to lose it and because he didn’t want to wake Kiryu so soon. His bare hand slid down the back of his pants. He planted his feet solidly and raised his ass up just enough to be able to finger himself, shallowly at first as he worked himself up. 

Everything around him rose and fell gently with the natural rhythm of Kiryu’s breathing. He did what he could to match that. Slow. Steady. It was far from how he normally did things, but it was as if he was a part of Kiryu now. He rose and fell on his finger to the time of his own breaths, losing himself in his motions. But his body was feeling the familiar urgency before long. He whined through his glove and let his head fall back. It wasn’t until right then that he noticed his movements had caused him to slide far enough that his head hung down the slope at the back of Kiryu’s throat. If Kiryu lifted his head he would fall right in. He saw white. From the angle of his hips, he came all over himself, some even making its way down, down. 

Kiryu had yet to wake properly, but he was beginning to rouse. Majima could feel it, the ever-so-slight difference in his breathing. He laid there in pure bliss, finally yanking his glove out of his mouth to gasp in several hard breaths as he recovered from his orgasm. 

In his only partially awake state, Kiryu wasn’t conscious of Majima’s presence. 

Majima was sitting up now, having already fixed his pants and getting ready to try to wake Kiryu up. He stroked the roof of his mouth as if petting it. 

Something in Kiryu’s mouth tickled. He rumbled quietly in his throat. The tickling continued, until his tongue reflexively raised to push the source of the offending sensation back and swallow.

Majima came a second time, instantaneously, a guttural shout leaving him and bringing Kiryu to full alert in the same second. 

“OH, holy-- sweet, God, fuck me !!” 

By sheer dumb luck, only half his body had sunk into the abyss of Kiryu’s gullet. And Kiryu was already flexing to push him back up. With the taste filling his mouth, Kiryu was acutely aware of what had transpired while he was sleeping, but his more immediate concern was getting Majima to safety.

Once he had successfully brought Majima back up into his mouth, he opened wide and dumped the limp, sated shell of a man to the ground. Kiryu was hazy and mortified, but Majima seemed fine. More than fine, even. He couldn’t find it in him to react belligerently this time around. It was entirely on him for allowing it in the first place. 

“Nii-san…”

“Kiryu-chan…”

“I.”

“Don’t ya dare apologize. I just had the sweetest orgasm of my LIFE.” 

“...”

Majima sat up and looked pointedly into Kiryu’s big, concerned, and clearly perplexed eye.

“Kiryu-chan.”

“...”

“Do dragons not…?”

“...”

“Not even ONCE?”

“I don’t think my kind does …that… the same way. And. It wouldn’t matter if we did. There isn’t anyone besides me left.”

“Oh my God... I look like a fuckin’ clown.”

Kiryu sighed and took some time to think to himself. He knew there was no way he would be able to get into Majima’s head and figure out what made him tick, but would it kill the man to work with him on this? 

“Next time, no surprises.”

“Eh?”

“I said. Don’t try to surprise me next time. Otherwise I can’t do anything to help.”

Majima’s face lit up. Kiryu could swear there were stars glittering in his eye. 

“So there’s a next time??”

--

With the promise of a next time in mind, Majima was on his best behavior. But Kiryu hadn’t specified a when or a where and was biding his time simply enjoying Majima’s company. Waiting was frustrating for Majima at first, but it wasn’t too long before he settled into Kiryu’s daily life like he had always been a part of it. He wished he had.

On his own suggestion, Kiryu brought Majima with him into the sky. He flew him to all of his favorite places. To high, isolated mountains where you could see forever. To magical underground caverns with water that glowed. To a serene, foggy hot spring that Majima didn’t hesitate to cannonball into and splash Kiryu in the face. Kiryu couldn’t fit in the pool of water, but he enjoyed watching Majima enjoy it. 

To get out his aggression, Majima fought other people instead. Usually people who had heard rumors of a killer dragon and wanted to be a hero. That, or they thought they could kill him by coming in groups and then sell his teeth or his scales. Majima especially didn’t like those ones, and Kiryu appreciated that he didn’t have to worry about hurting anyone or being hurt anymore. 

And since Majima continued to fish for him, Kiryu began to forget being hungry. Majima always cooked a few fish for himself out of his catch, and the smell alone made Kiryu salivate. He’d smelled cooked human food many times before and had even made clumsy attempts at it himself in the past, but nothing came out right. He didn’t know how long to let anything sit over a fire, for one. As a treat, Majima cooked up something big enough that Kiryu would be able to appreciate in full. He heaved the crispy, flame-cooked fish into the dragon’s drooling mouth and tried not to envision it as himself. He failed, but Kiryu looked so delighted and satisfied that he was content for now. 

Kiryu could see how Majima would look at him. He also saw that the man was trying his hardest to keep his distance. It was always in the back of both of their minds, but Majima waited patiently for Kiryu to be the one to bring it up. Kiryu knew Majima fully trusted that he wouldn’t go back on his word. It was humbling, being known so intimately. 

--

“M-Majima... I think I… want to… eat you.”

“No, no, no, that’s all wrong Kiryu-chan! You’ve gotta sound confident an’ determined an’ hungry or there’s no point.”

“I’m not hungry, though.”

“Hm, maybe I shouldn’t’a fed you today,” Majima whispered to himself.

“I can hear you just fine, Nii-san.”

Kiryu looked as mortified as a creature that couldn’t blush might. His head rested solidly on the ground and his claws covered his eyes. He knew he had committed to this himself, but he hadn’t known what leaving Majima to think for so long would amount to in the end. The man had come up with so many ideas that Kiryu had to stop him from listing them off lest he burst into flames from embarrassment.

“I can’t do this.”

“Sure ya can. ‘S just pretend, Kiryu-chan. Didn’t ya ever play pretend?”

“A long, long time ago.”

“Well there ya go! Just remember that time reaaal hard.”

Kiryu did remember. He remembered Nishiki. He remembered being a young dragon. They were so much smaller back then. Being berated by their father for injuring each other play-fighting. 

Kiryu reared his head and pinned Majima with his eyes. He was growling, low in his throat. 

“I’ll kill you, human.”

“ Oooh! And like, how exactly would you kill me?”

Kiryu faltered again, blustering. 

“Majima, can we just. Skip this part?”

Majima huffed a dramatic sigh and crossed his arms. 

“Fiiiiiine.”

With the weight of performance off his back, Kiryu visibly relaxed. He moved ahead with the plan just as promised (largely just to avoid any further teasing he might have to endure otherwise). Majima wasn’t emotionally prepared for how quickly he was surrounded by Kiryu’s teeth and yelped in surprise. But he did nothing to defend himself as Kiryu’s tongue deliberately and gently lifted him from the ground and his jaws closed around him. 

Majima felt almost like he was being hugged. Close and safe and warm. It wasn’t an unwelcome feeling. 

“Kiryu-chan… do whatever ya want with me…” 

Kiryu exhaled sharply at the thought. He couldn’t deny his own excitement this time. It was vastly different, being in full control of the situation. They couldn’t be intimate in the way two humans could, or the way two dragons might. Kiryu himself didn’t feel like he needed anything in return. He just wanted to make Majima feel good. 

Kiryu adjusted Majima until he was straddling the length of his tongue and pushed him into the roof of his mouth. He could hear Majima gasp after waiting in anticipation. A happy rumble welled up in Kiryu’s throat and washed over Majima’s body like a wave. 

“Kiryu-chan…”

Majima’s whine made Kiryu shiver. It made him feel bold enough that he decided to tilt his head back and relax his tongue enough that Majima would slip, catching him just in time. Majima squirmed and whimpered with need. 

It was just when he’d tried to shove his hand down his pants that Kiryu pinned Majima with care and swallowed experimentally, drawing his upper body into the entrance of his throat. The action secured Majima’s arms tightly to his sides so that all he could do was roll his hips desperately. He groaned from deep in his chest when Kiryu did the work for him and flexed his tongue between his legs, finally bringing him over the edge. 

Kiryu could feel Majima’s whole body tense and relax as he finished. It had gone so quickly that he wasn’t sure what he should do now. He worried immediately if he’d satisfied and whether Majima’s silence meant something bad. 

But in fact, Majima had been so thoroughly dazed that he was too heady to speak. Or move. Or do much of anything. His whole body tingled and throbbed. If he could stay like this forever, he would. 

Eventually, Kiryu felt he was in the clear to open his mouth and rest his head upon the ground once more. He waited for Majima to come around. 

When he did, Majima rolled over and arched his back in a satisfying stretch. 

“Thanks fer that, Kiryu-chan…” 

--

Their day-to-day life felt new after that. Kiryu’s cloud of anxiety lifted, he even played along the way Majima had been trying to get him to from the beginning. And surprising Majima was more fun the better he got at pretending. Some days they spent simply enjoying one another or traveling, some they’d implemented sparring into their routine as well. The sparring didn’t always lead to sex; oftentimes they were too spent and satisfied by a good workout. Improving his instincts was something Kiryu could understand on a more fundamental level than Majima’s hard-on for thrills and danger, but he’d come to accept that the human he’d befriended might not have even approached him if not for that interest. He couldn’t say he wasn’t thankful.

But something entirely else was beginning to eat away at Majima. A voice all around them. He asked Kiryu if he could hear it, but the dragon hadn’t the faintest idea what he was talking about. 

It told him he didn’t deserve this happiness he’d cultivated. That he’d forgotten who he was. The voice was his own. But it was also the voice of many other people layered over one another. It spoke to him deeply shattering truths at all times. 

A potent wrongness hung over him like a purple haze. He pulled it deep within himself, like he did with everything else, and he was fine. 

He continued on in spite of the warnings. 

--

He was fishing on the river again. But it was his river. A place he knew too well looked back at him, but his own reflection was absent. His line hooked something. Something big. He fought and fought until a great dragon breached the surface and soared into the sky. The line snapped. 

--

Majima went with Kiryu to visit Haruka. She was older this time. She sang and danced for them and Majima made fun of Kiryu for crying to hide his own. They dressed up together and painted Kiryu’s scales and claws with makeup and then bathed him in his waterfall. They were all laughing.

She mentioned a name that Majima didn’t hear. 

Majima went away.

--

He was on a massage table. He knew it intimately. He knew the gentle hands caressing his skin. The Hannya on his back came alive, and the snakes uncoiled from his arms and hissed and snapped until he was alone. 

It was for the best.

--

Majima wandered through a place that was simultaneously a city and a forest. Snakes hung from the trees. They were the electric lines, the decorations. The lights were slitted eyes. He looked into a puddle he’d stepped into. He still couldn’t see his face. It was pouring, a deeply red rain. His leg sunk into the growing puddle and he fell through into a void. 

He landed in a dilapidated building. He’d been a part of its destruction. The scent of a dragon was all around him. It was a powerful place. He felt guilty that it was also a comforting place. 

The floor fell out from under him and he was with Kiryu again. Or rather, he was inside him.

He wrapped his arms purposefully around Kiryu’s tongue and with all his strength, he wrenched the appendage back and around, twisting his own body. The distinct wrongness forced Kiryu to clamp his teeth, but the effect wasn’t so long-lasting that he couldn’t try to open his mouth again. As soon as he tried, though, Majima drove his steel toe into Kiryu’s soft palate hard enough for all his muscles to freeze how they were and his vision to black out.

Stop.

The sharp pain caused such a rapid build-up of saliva that Majima was swimming in it. There wasn’t a single thing Kiryu could do to fight his reflex to swallow, and Majima went down with it. Kiryu’s chest burned with a deep ache as he realized Majima was no longer in his mouth, panic rushing through his veins like electricity.

Stop.

Majima knew in that moment that he’d completely shattered Kiryu’s trust in him this time around, and probably his heart as well. He didn’t even know why he felt compelled to do this to everyone he got close to, but he always managed. He and Kiryu weren’t so different in that regard, they just had different methods of pushing people away. 

He couldn’t breathe. Kiryu’s throat was so long. He hadn’t realized. The pressure surrounding him on all sides forced the air out of him and he couldn’t inhale. That was fine. 

He let go.

--

Water splashed over him. It was warm and salty. Was he at a beach? 

Another splash. 

Kiryu was crying. Why was Kiryu crying if they were at the beach? 

Majima cracked his eye open, but everything was fuzzy. It was still dark. Kiryu’s tears continued to soak through him. He went back to sleep. 

When he opened his eye again, the sun stung. But it didn’t compare to the sight of a large dragon curled around him protectively and the memory of what he’d just done to him.

His coughing fit brought Kiryu to full attention instantly, and Majima groaned in pain.

Kiryu spoke through ragged sobs.

“Majima, are you trying to die?”

Majima didn’t answer.

“Is that what this has always been about? Majima-- you can’t just-- you can’t. Use me like this.”

Majima wasn’t sure he could speak even if he wanted to. 

“I don’t want you to die. If anyone, it-- it should be--”

Neither of them spoke for a long time. 

“Goodbye, Majima.”

It was for the best. 

--

Majima didn’t look for Kiryu this time. 

He walked without purpose. He walked so far and so long that he was nowhere familiar. There were only volcanos and cliffs here. Nothing was comfortable. He settled in anyway. He could settle anywhere, after all. It didn’t matter so much where he was or who he was in any given moment. 

He made his new home at the tip-top of the steepest rock mountain. He remembered Kiryu showing him forever. He could see even further now, but all of it was molten. At least he could see the stars.

There was an intimidating cave carved into the rock-face that Majima decided to make his way into and rest. The air changed. Great breaths pushed their way around him out the mouth of the cave. Majima couldn’t see but he knew he was face-to-face with a dragon. 

“Kiryu-chan…?”

It wasn’t Kiryu. 

Something was very wrong. 

The dragon rose. Moonlight that came in from a hole in the ceiling shimmered off beautiful golden scales. 

“What’ve we got ‘ere, mm? A little thief?”

Majima stood perfectly still, breathing hard through his nose.

“Bold of ya t’ waltz in ‘ere alone. Or are ya th’ bait ?”

Ryuji only waited a few seconds before he prompted Majima again.

“Go on then. Tell me yer story. I might even let ya take somethin’ if it’s interesting. If not, well, I may just have t’ take yer arm instead. No hard feelings.” 

Ryuji chuckled to himself.

As his eye adjusted, Majima took in his surroundings and realized everything around him was gold. Piles of it. Like how he’d expected Kiryu’s to be when he first encountered it.

“Haha. See, that’s the funny thing. I didn’t mean t’ be here. I think I got the uh. Wrong dragon lair. I meant the one a little t-”

“There ain’t any other dragons, fool.”

Majima took a deep breath to recover from the booming sound of Ryuji’s voice. 

“Oh. Well, I mean, he seemed t’ think that too.” 

Majima’s voice trailed off as he lost himself to thought. Had these two really never met once over however long it was again? 

Ryuji cackled this time, his head rearing back. 

“Yer not bad at bluffing, I’ll give ya that. But I won’t stand fer yer lies, human. If there really was another dragon, an’ ya got close enough t’ have a chat with ‘im just like this, what’re ya doin’ still alive?” 

“He doesn’t eat people, unlike your royal majesty. I was just as shocked as you are, trust me.”

“HA HA HA HA.”

Ryuji rolled over and laughed for a solid minute, if not more. The mountain shook.

“Hoo boy. My sides. I haven’t had one like that in a long time. There’s another dragon out there I ain’t even heard of an’ he doesn’t kill anyone? Ya got balls tellin’ me a story like that.”

Majima had nothing to add to that. He’d wanted to run as soon as Ryuji’s guard was down, but he knew there was no way he could outrun him. 

“C’mon, lighten up, joker. Ya earned it. Pick somethin’ ya like an’ take good care of it, ya hear?”

Majima didn’t move and Ryuji narrowed his eyes threateningly. 

“I said. Get in here.”

Majima put one foot in front of the other. And again. And again.

“That’s good, just like that.”

As he grew closer, Majima made note of the scar that marred one side of the dragon’s face. But otherwise, he looked like he’d never been in a single fight that was worth his time. And he had the cockiness to match. 

“Now pick somethin’ nice an’ get out. I’ll give ya ten minutes head start before I come and find yer ass.” 

Majima did as he was told and pocketed something small. He turned back around and gave Ryuji a long once-over. This dragon was much larger than Kiryu, but he couldn’t say for sure which one was stronger. Still, they both knew ten minutes wouldn’t get him anywhere.

He strode out of the cave in silence. If he kept walking straight down the mountain, he would be out in the open still by the time Ryuji came for him. Instead he surveyed the nearby rock-face until he found a crevice large enough to crawl into. It led deep out of reach, unless Ryuji was willing to bring it tumbling down. Majima wouldn’t put it past him. 

When Ryuji emerged, he had no trouble figuring out where Majima was. He could smell him. This was turning out much more interesting than he’d expected. 

“Where oh where did that puny human go?” 

Ryuji hummed to himself as he spoke, his steps causing the ground to tremble under his weight. He stopped immediately outside the crevice Majima had crammed himself inside. 

“Ya know, every other time I tried that, they all go runnin’ on down the mountain. I usually give ‘em more time, too. Consider my expectations exceeded.”

By now, Majima’s nerves had levelled out just enough for him to become acutely aware of the pressure in his tight pants. 

“God, shut up, I get it!”

Majima was cursing at his own body, but there was no way for Ryuji to know that. 

“‘Scuse me?”

Ryuji’s voice rippled through the rock. He didn’t even have to physically shake it for Majima to feel it.

“You fancy yerself a smartass, do ya?”

Majima bit down into his gloved thumb to prevent himself from saying anything even more stupid. Why was he hiding? Wasn’t this what he’d wanted all along? 

“If yer so comfy all tight in there I bet you’d just love what I got in store for ya. Why don’tcha just come on out now an’ I’ll show ya.”

Majima couldn’t stop himself from whimpering at the thought. His everything ached.

Amused with this, Ryuji finally decided to reach his claws into the hole. Majima scooted further in but it was no use. Ryuji got hold of his leg easily. But Majima lashed out while he had the chance and drove his dagger in between Ryuji’s fingers. The dragon wailed in a way that sounded and felt like the dormant volcano under them was erupting. His arm withdrew and he slammed his side into the rock-face hard enough to start bringing it down. He did it again, sending enormous boulders and debris down the side of the mountain. With that out of the way, he was looking down directly into the crack at Majima from above. 

“Yer in for it now.”

Majima bit into his hand so hard he felt something crack. There was nothing he could do to prevent himself from being picked out of the crack by his leg and dangled in the air as Ryuji debated what to do with him first. He cursed himself silently as his groin throbbed in excitement. It wasn’t the time. He wasn’t even really sure why he wasn’t willing to end it all right now. Had it been Kiryu, he would have given him his life without a second thought and now. Oh, God. 

“Kiryu-chan!!!!”

“Huh?”

Majima wailed and kicked his legs and threw his arms to make it as difficult as possible for Ryuji to hold onto him. He yelled Kiryu’s name over and over at the top of his lungs. He couldn’t die. He never told him. He was so.

“Kiryu-chan, hear me, please!! I’m so sorry! Kiryu-chan !!”

“What’re ya babbling about, human? There ain’t anybody that can hear ya out here.”

Ryuji used his other hand to enclose Majima’s body and stop him from wriggling. Majima bit down on one of his fingers, which only got a surprised laugh out of Ryuji. 

“Just a few minutes ago you were so confident and now ya lost yer fuckin’ marbles. Humans’re so--”

Out of nowhere, something bodied Ryuji from one side. The impact sent Majima into the air. Everything was in slow-motion as he tumbled through the sky, watching Ryuji headbutt Kiryu and Kiryu lash out with his claws at Ryuji’s throat without hesitation. 

Majima was falling. Both the dragons were looking at him from below. They looked so small from here. Ryuji moved with clear intent to snatch Majima out of the air, and Majima could see straight down his throat. He closed his eye. But just before he landed, Kiryu stuck his own head directly between Ryuji’s jaws to catch Majima first. It happened so fast that Majima wasn’t even entirely sure which dragon had got him. 

Ryuji’s teeth came down hard around Kiryu’s snout. He clamped down tight and didn’t let go. Their bodies twisted and coiled together, Kiryu managing to slice Ryuji’s stomach open with his hind claw. Everything rumbled and growled around them, even the air. They tumbled into the entrance of Ryuji’s lair and collapsed it with their weight. It all came down.

They were only buried amongst the rubble for a short while. Ryuji had finally let go of Kiryu, but as soon as he was in his sight he rammed himself into Kiryu’s head. Kiryu was dizzy, but he firmly held his mouth closed and looked Ryuji dead in the eyes. 

It didn’t matter that this was his first time seeing a dragon in so long. This golden being might be his own species, but he couldn’t call him a friend. Animosity bled off Ryuji, like he was trying to deny the existence of another like him. There was nothing to say between them. Blood dripped into Kiryu’s eyes, making him squint. In the same moment, Ryuji lunged at him and pinned him to the ground on his back. His great golden claws held down Kiryu’s arms and his hind leg put pressure on his tail. Kiryu tried to swing his body from side to side, but he couldn’t bring Ryuji’s weight over. 

Ryuji lowered his head and sniffed at Kiryu’s exposed throat. His teeth were bared and his breaths were heavy and hot. Kiryu shuddered as Ryuji drew the length of his tongue up his neck, stopping just under his jaw. He tilted Kiryu’s chin up with the end of his snout.

“I’m gonna tear that human right outta yer throat, it’s my prey and I wasn’t done playin’ with it.”

Ryuji grinned as he picked up on Kiryu’s blood boiling with anger. He pushed his weight down harder and opened his mouth around Kiryu’s gullet as promised. It was just then that Kiryu bucked his body upwards with all of his strength, taking advantage of Ryuji’s unbalanced position and twisting their bodies to the side. Ryuji came down hard. Despite still having a knocked out Majima in his mouth, Kiryu opened wide and latched himself to Ryuji’s throat as they flipped and tumbled down the side of the mountain. By the time they reached the bottom, Kiryu had managed to rip his neck clean open, but not without incurring several of his own injuries. Ryuji had clawed at Kiryu’s throat and chest and gut the whole way down. They laid still in what looked like it could have been an embrace. 

Somewhere along the way, Majima had fallen to the ground in the struggle. He was limping down the mountain path towards the two bloodied dragons. His body was just as spent as theirs. 

Enough time passed that when Kiryu woke up tangled in the other dragon’s limbs, Majima was asleep and leaned up against his tail. He shoved Ryuji’s body off and mourned that he had not somehow found him earlier and cured them both of their loneliness long ago. There was no knowing how things might have ended up otherwise. 

--

Kiryu took Majima far away, back to where they first met. By the time Majima stirred, Kiryu was dozing. His breaths were slow, almost imperceptible. Majima moved over to him and stroked his face until one big eye lazily cracked open. 

“Kiryu-chan…”

“Nii-san… You’re awake. I’m so glad.”

“Kiryu…?”

“It’s … it’s alright, nii-san. This is… it’s for the best.”

“Like hell it is!! Kiryu, I’m gonna get ya patched up right now, ya hear me?!”

“I hear you.”

Majima didn’t say anything. He knew better than anyone that there was no repairing this now. He fell to his knees and leaned on Kiryu weakly. 

“Nii-san.”

Kiryu closed his eyes again, smiling. Majima said nothing. 

“You’re warm.”

Kiryu’s body stilled. Majima was sobbing uncontrollably within seconds. He stayed just like that.

--

Majima sat bolt upright in bed in the middle of the night, the action pulling Saejima’s arm and waking him up with him. Saejima grumbled groggily and tried to drag Majima back into bed, but Majima was already halfway standing and looking for his phone. Saejima’s arm slipped off of him and he rolled over, taking all of the blanket for himself. 

“OH, KIRYU-CHAN!!” 

Majima’s shrill voice traveled directly into Kiryu’s ear as soon as the call connected. 

“What…. What is it, Nii-san. Is there an emergency?”

“N-NO, what’d make ya think that?? I was jus--”

“It’s four in the morning.”

“Oh. Is it? Heheh, you know me, Kiryu-chan. Always tryin’a keep ya on yer toes ya know. Ahaha…”

“Majima. You haven’t done that in… years. Is something wrong?”

“Naw…”

“Are you sure?”

“I…”

Kiryu waited.

“Can I come over?”

“Sure.”