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The end of Dan Heng’s tail lashes behind him as his hurried steps carry him further into the Grove of Epiphany. His brow is creased and he can feel a bead of sweat inching towards his jawline. He keeps his eyes trained squarely on where he is stepping next, and the area before him, just in case any threats arise. He would hate to have to deal with any, especially right now, when he wants to do nothing more than find a cave and curl in on himself until the fire flooding his body dissipates into just a dull ache.

As he does every year.

Thankfully for him, there are none. All that exists here is simply the warmth of the Grove and quiet noises of the animals within.

And, the individual that trails Dan Heng like a duckling.

“The animals are responding to your return… That natural connection with the Dromas extends to all living creatures, then?”

Professor Anaxagoras appears mostly oblivious to Dan Heng’s agitation, which is not due to the man’s presence, but rather, due to the fact that his presence seems to be exacerbating his condition.

He has never encountered this before, but then again, he has never been around another person for so long at this time of the year…

Strong as he is, Dan Heng had easily been worn down, and eventually gave into entertaining Anaxa’s questions and proddings. Truth be told, the two could get along just fine, and sustain a thoughtful conversation well beyond small talk and niceties. Dan Heng had originally had a feeling they would, given they are two individuals both with a penchant for studies.

But in the midst of simply indulging Anaxa in his curiosities, Dan Heng had completely ignored the way his own reaction to the man had started to change. He should have recognized it when it started- not today, but in the days prior, when he felt his breath hitch whenever he saw the professor approaching him for another round of studies, or when he had begun to not feel so averse to the thought of Anaxa in feeling him down.

Hence, why, he finds himself in this predicament.

“Professor,” Dan Heng says, stopping in his tracks to draw in a deep breath- big mistake, given that Anaxa chooses to stop only a foot behind him. The sensation of inhaling his scent makes him momentarily woozy.

“I’ve said before, no need for ‘Professor’, you’re not my student. Anaxagoras is preferable.”

“Anaxagoras…” He corrects, and while still turned away, misses the surprise that flits across the green-haired man’s face. “I ought to have been more forceful in advising you earlier, but this time… is not a good time to conduct your… research.”

Anaxa hums, “is it now? I figured I had the free time, and I seldom know what you really get up to outside of presiding over the creatures of Amphoreus. Is there really something more pressing?”

Dan Heng turns then to glance at Anaxa, but he breaks his gaze away just as quickly and begins pacing the small plateau they find themselves on. His boots quietly scuff against the stonework and weeds, brushing past winding roots that trail all the way from the great tree.

Anaxa chooses to follow with his eye rather than his feet this time, now not clouded with enough curiosity to ignore the tempered mood of the demigod, but not quite kind enough himself to be more accommodating.

To him, if there is something that needs to be said, then it might as well be brought out here and now.

“I understand you endeavor to learn more about what my transformation has to do with the Dromases and- and whatnot,” He fishes for words, stumbling as he attempts to make his point clear without mortifying himself to death. “Believe me, I seek truths and matters of fact as an archivist myself, however-”

He reaches up to tug at his collar, which has become all too warm around his neck, and tries to do so outside of Anaxa’s line of sight.

“This particular time of year is… when I usually do not engage with people. Or anything, for that matter.”

Unfortunately for Dan Heng, Anaxa is sorely dissatisfied with such a reply and only moves to close the gap between them.

“Why would that be, Dan Heng? Is this a personal preference or something else? You seem to want to beat around the bush about this, which is never a good idea to do with me-”

Anaxa stops when he sees Dan Heng’s posture change the closer he gets. “But if it really is so dire that I leave, I will oblige.”

Dan Heng’s mouth quirks into a frown and his eyes search the ground, half-lidded. He goes quiet.

There’s something writhing underneath his skin and scales that cries for the exact opposite that Dan Heng is trying to get out of the conversation. It tugs on him, more and more the longer he draws out this conversation and keeps himself within vicinity of this man.

Dan Heng simply looks at him and feels his cheeks flare up- but in this state he’s in, he can’t quite place which part of himself is causing that response, and if he should really act on it entirely.

Would hundreds of years of sexual repression really elicit this much of a response the moment he enters his cycle, and he’s in the company of someone he finds himself attracted to?

And to complicate matters more, just how much of it is real, anyways?

“You’re conflicted, when really this is as trivial as a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’.” Anaxa muses when the silence stretches long enough.

“Although it isn’t.” Dan Heng replies, tormented.

“Really?” He takes a careful step forward, and Dan Heng doesn’t move an inch- his eyes still not meeting his face. “Shall I stay or should I take my leave?”

Dan Heng’s head flicks up-

“Stay-” the word rushes out like he’s commanded it to attack and he nearly stuffs his clawed-hand into his mouth. Anaxa’s brow raises in shock as Dan Heng mutters into his hand- “Aeons-”

He doesn’t notice Anaxa make a few more steps closer to him, to the point that they’re only a few feet away now. “So you do want me to stay.”

Dan Heng’s expression looks ghastly, but under Anaxa’s scrutiny he feels his heart flutter. “Help me-”

“As a scholar and teacher, I typically can-”

“That wasn’t-” He looks pleadingly at Anaxa, “It was rhetorical.”

“My least favorite kind of statement-” He can’t help it when his mouth quirks into a grin before falling back to neutrality- to at least not give the impression that he is trying to demean the other man. “If you do not want me to leave, then tell me truly what it is that troubles you. Then I’ll learn something in the end, as well.”

Dan Heng glares- he deserves to, at this point.

“It appears- that with this transformation, I now experience a yearly cycle wherein my body desires to… mate.” He pauses as the embarrassment chills his bones ice cold. “And in previous years, I have just ridden it out alone, but it seems your presence is making it difficult to handle this cycle the same way.”

Anaxa stares at him with one wide eye, “My presence?”

Dan Heng flounders. “Seeing as you haven’t exactly left me alone since learning of my existence.”

“That couldn’t be helped, given the powers and features you inherited as a result of taking up the Earth Coreflame’s mantle.” Anaxa supplies as if it is the perfect justification. “And if this is the case, then it seems your transformation requires an even greater scope of my curiosity in order to be properly dissected.”

It becomes hard to discern any of the emotions flowing through Dan Heng’s mind- a combination of confusion at this peculiar man’s way of navigating the situation and delight at the fact that this hasn’t been an outright rejection. The tiny, miniscule ounce of rationality that hasn’t been beat out by the feverishness of his body tells him that he should be feeling positively incredulous.

“Anaxagoras,” He says with a plea lacing his words- now it’s his turn to be nothing more than clear- the cat is out of the bag, and he’s about to start getting antsy if he doesn’t at least try to tame it. “Anaxagoras, I am in heat and my body has deemed you a suitable sire- so if you do not leave, I am going to be making this difficult for both of us.”

And without warning, Anaxa closes the distance between them, now only inches away from Dan Heng- who hadn’t even noticed that he had backed up against one of the stone slabs bordering the ring. He scrambles to grab hold of the edge of it, his tail pressed against the lower wall.

“Why make it difficult at all when we can easily reach a compromise, Dan Heng.” Upon being this close, Anaxa has to tilt his head up slightly to meet Dan Heng’s line of sight at this height. “An annual occurrence means that there is no better time than now to detail and observe the conditions of this cycle. And-”

“Satisfy your body’s biological needs.”

Dan Heng’s cheeks flush with color and he crosses one arm across his chest to grasp at his inner elbow sheepishly.

“Are you even aware of what that entails?”

“If it isn’t already clear enough then say it aloud, Dan Heng.” Anaxa urges firmly.

Dan Heng wants nothing more than to crawl in a hole and die, or maybe pick this man up and throttle him for his teasing- “It entails fucking me. And you are not helping by being this close-”

He exhales a breath that was begging to escape, warm and loud and bordering on being a very sexually-charged sigh, much to his dismay,

“- and doing nothing.”

Anaxa hums and leans forward, his gloved hand moving splay out flat on the slab behind him and cage Dan Heng on one side, right by the small of his back.

“Then let’s make a deal, equivalent exchange- allow me to continue to conduct my investigations in the most thorough way you can provide, and I’ll give you exactly as you desire- I’ll fuck you, Dan Heng.”

“Must you really use my own words against me?” He mutters.

“No harm in emphasizing the truth in its barest form.” Anaxa says. “And what of your decision?”

Dan Heng lets his head hang, but he reckons he isn’t entirely miserable with this situation. “Do what you wish, just… Please, help me…”

The turquoise tail between them twitches and Dan Heng tries to slither it free. Meanwhile, his hands look for a stronger hold on the rock behind him and he looks up to dart his eyes just about everywhere but Anaxa’s face.

“I suppose I am also in your debt for spoiling my curiosity these days- or weeks, was it? Regardless, I believe something given in return is in order.”

“Given in return…” Dan Heng mumbles, seeing a flock of birds take flight from a tree. They aren’t even going to do it somewhere private- Aeons, kill him- he thinks. “I would bet that you didn’t expect your interest in the Dromas to land you here…”

“Oh don’t take it the wrong way- It’s much more that one has never seen someone of our kind walk with features such as these.” Anaxa waves one hand to emphasize his point, though his other arm is starting to wind up Dan Heng’s muscled torso and back. “Dromas are a fascinating topic to study, one of my favorites, but this peculiarity is… shall we say, yours’.”

Such a proclamation makes him feel hot all over again- Dan Heng isn’t quite sure how to pick that apart.

Despite towering over him, Anaxa is coming onto him in such a way that Dan Heng feels physically pressured- suffocated- perhaps by the heat his own body is generating in response to the proximity. If not for the slate of stone behind him, he likely would have buckled to the ground by now.

He draws in a heavy breath, his attention scattered by how close Anaxa is- his chest pressing into Dan Heng’s torso. “This really is your fault, you know.”

“If it’s merely this body of yours going through its natural course like you said, it surely is not.” Anaxa counters, ever the one to quip with an argument if it means correcting with fact. “Not that I’m complaining-”

He says, just as he darts his eye up to Dan Heng’s face, “- are you?”

Whether it be because of the sudden eye contact or the brutality of the question, Dan Heng makes a noise and squirms, but there is no move to get away. Anaxa can feel his breath slip away with the contraction of his chest. He grins, but he is only half-way to satisfied.

“A dignified scholar could never settle for such a nebulous answer- one needs to know the hard truth before even thinking of carrying on.” Anaxa draws a hand to the back of the other man’s thigh. “If you’re really the archivist you claim to be, then you would certainly understand.”

It’s almost comical the way clarity seeps into Dan Heng’s eyes and his expression switches to something sorely unamused, and impatient. His tail whips behind him and Anaxa can’t help but follow it in fascination as it flickers.

“No, Anaxagoras, and while I might be dismayed at the state my biology puts me in every warming season, I am not complaining that this time around, I find myself sharing it with someone who can help the process along.” Dan Heng levels with something like a hiss, but with very little actual hostility. That is- just a little. “But I might start if that someone doesn’t hurry up.”

A tug on his lapels compliment the demand, and Anaxa has the gall to chuckle. “And here I was trying to be polite, for once. I seem to have mistook you for being indifferent to this sort of thing.”

Unfortunately for someone of Anaxa’s stature- well, specifically someone of Anaxa’s stature paired with someone of Dan Heng’s stature- he needs to use the full length of his limbs to handle Dan Heng in a way that makes progress for both of them in this situation. He leans forward and uses both his upper body and other arm to push Dan Heng until his back is at least somewhat flat on the slab- his tail preventing him from going all the way. The position is awkward, but Anaxa’s nimble fingers make quick movements to unfasten Dan Heng’s pants. Before him, Dan Heng still grumbles in annoyance.

“Well, I wouldn’t say I’m usually enthusiastic, it’s just righ- Mmm-” He clamps his tongue between his teeth to silence the groan that had crawled up his throat, but unless he wants to bite the appendage off by the end of this- he’ll likely have to abandon any hope of preserving dignity.

It’s hard, given that Anaxa hasn’t even had a fraction of his fair share of humiliation. No, in fact, the man has gotten away with toying with him since the start.

He huffs. “Besides, weren’t you the one that’s been eager to conduct more research?”

“Oh believe me,” Anaxa begins, finally tugging the pants free from the black belt around his waist, which he likely won’t bother with undoing lest he want to drive this dragon mad. “This is all in the name of research and truth.”

That must not appease him because Dan Heng’s brow creases and his eyes flit away with some sort of gloom. Behind Anaxa, Dan Heng helps in kicking off his boots and allowing him to shuffle off his pants into a heap on the ground. Just as he is about to tug on the last remaining undergarments, a hand wraps around his wrist.

“H-Hold on-”

“Weren’t you the one rushing me along?”

“Would you-” Dan Heng glares at his interruption. Now they’re both being hypocritical. Wonderful. “Listen, I just- want to make sure that you won’t be…”

He trails off, somehow still managing to feel a semblance of soberness through the flush that's permeating his face and the heat that’s rushing up his lower half. They’ve made it this far, but something in him still wants to back away with hesitance, with fear-

“Worried I’ll be deterred if things are a little different down here?” Anaxa fills in for him, but it doesn’t quite reassure him.

“More like a lot..” Dan Heng mutters, not meeting his eye.

“Then all the more reason to continue.” He hooks a finger on the waistband and suddenly looks up- and just like before, it catches Dan Heng off guard. He manages to tear him down with little more than a careful gaze. “Don’t fret, Dan Heng. Let me remind you that I want to do this.”

The article joins its brethren on the ground and Dan Heng stills- and much to his worry, Anaxa pauses as well, to observe what lies between his legs. He certainly has the objective, analytical eye of a scholar, because he’s completely unreadable to him and that only serves to make Dan Heng worry more. Really, he isn’t sure if it was a result of the Earth Coreflame or Permanence itself taking hold of his body and altering it- perhaps even both. His Vidyadhara biology was arguably already quite different than that of a normal human, but now-

Anaxa merely just looks, at his matching pair of lengths and the vent that they are peeking from, utterly unphased.

However much quicker than he can process- or, at least, than he can process while in this dazed state- Anaxa presses two fingers to the folds and Dan Heng cannot even hope to subdue the shrill squall that erupts from him. The first touch lights just about every nerve in his body up, and he scrambles to lock his legs behind Anaxa’s lower back, ankles crisscrossed. The action snaps Anaxa out of his stupor and he hooks an arm under one of his knees and drags him upwards. It immediately eases the awkwardness of the position prior, but Anaxa worries he might not be able to support the entire weight of his legs like this. Speaking of which-

“Fascinating, you have scales along your inner thighs as well- is that for protection? There's also hints of them on your stomach- like the Dromases, I suppose…”

Still reeling, Dan Heng doesn’t even answer and just tugs his locked legs behind Anaxa’s back, pulling him forward. “Anaxagoras...”

The green-haired man stumbles but otherwise completely ignores him and instead runs his ungloved fingers along the scales, starting at the outside until he reaches the ones that lighten in color and border his opening. The further his fingers travel, the more pressure they apply, which draws a hastened breath from Dan Heng’s lungs.

“No, they’re softer directly at the underbelly, that’s not exactly characteristic of the Dromas’ plates…” His hand avoids where Dan Heng wants it to go entirely, and instead dips down to feel underneath his ass and then, where the base of his tail is. “Similar, but not exact. Not to mention the favoring of length over girth…”

Dan Heng’s face flushes impossibly further at his word choice and he balls his fists in the white coat tails of his outfit that were still fastened at his belt. “It’s… hybridization…”

Anaxa perks up curiously. “Of a human and… Dromas?”

“No- “ Dan Heng’s expression becomes a little shy, and Anaxa tilts his head at such a response. “A-Ah, how does one even begin to explain this, to you especially- perhaps a Dromas, but not a human…”

“A species not of Amphoreus.” He puts together quickly enough. Dan Heng looks relieved.

“Yes, exactly…”

Anaxa does not stop his prodding at the base of his tail, causing a shiver to erupt with each touch. “Curious… Perhaps that is why the transformation took so eagerly to you, to assimilate you, I wonder..?”

Quickly, his hand begins to follow the curve of his tail and approach its spine, and Dan Heng doesn’t have enough time to prepare himself or warn Anaxa before a pair of fingers press down at the junction between his back and tail.

Dan Heng’s eyes blow wide and a clawed hand jumps to the stone slate to dig furrows into the rock. At his crotch, he can feel the gush of something wet and the way both of his cocks unfurl to their full height. For a long moment, his vision is too bleary to take in the briefly surprised expression that Anaxa dons, just as the man glances down at the mess that’s been made of his pants, and both their lower halves.

“Most lizards, including Dromas, aren’t known to self-lubricate.”

Dan Heng looks mildly murderous as he pants. The time between when he nearly saw stars and when Anaxa unceremoniously made his comment allowed him to recover enough to speak. “That’s… more to do with an attenuation to w-water… than it is being a lizard…”

Anaxa, this time, has the gall to sound confused. “Like a Siren? That’s certainly an Amphorean species.”

Dan Heng only lightly whacks his shoulder, but Anaxa still jostles them both like the feeble scholar he is. “The Vidyadhara dragons of my ancestry are beings of the ocean, and have the power to control water and rain.”

The pesky hand that spent much too long playing with Dan Heng’s tail now curls around his twin lengths. Finally is what races through Dan Heng’s mind, just as his insides twist with delight. But he’s very far from satisfied.

“A dragon of water and now one of earth too… So it is as you say, a hybridization of draconic species…”

Dan Heng finds words between biting his lips to avoid letting out a moan loud enough to catch the attention of someone even well out of ear-shot. “Did- Mmhn- you not believe me?”

“I believed you, just couldn’t settle for such a vague answer.” Anaxa begins to stroke him up and down, adjusting the other’s legs a little higher to observe the way the folds encompass his dicks and cunt shudder on occasion.

“But you suggest it wasn’t always like this-”

“T-This is not very easy to keep up with, I’ll have you know.” Despite his attitude, Dan Heng’s tail comes to curl around one of Anaxa’s legs in a rather affectionate coil- and through his pants Anaxa can feel it tighten, loosen and then tighten all over again.

“Just entertain me a little more, and I promise to indulge you all you need, or all you want.”

“...No, it was different before I inherited the Earth Titan’s power…” He ushers out breathily. “Yet I… have theorized that a harmony of similar species, despite different origins… led to an expression of overlapping traits… Horns, scales, a tail-”

Dan Heng’s words get choppier and more strained with every pump that Anaxa gives of his cocks, and he grows wetter just beneath them. It shocks him how quickly his body responds to the touch of another when his previous heats involved a much longer process to get himself off.

“I guess the only thing it doesn’t explain… is why I developed both organs…”

He trails off into murmurs of pleasure, and Anaxa watches as his eyes draw shut and his tongue runs along his lips. Considering Dan Heng’s words, he glances down and slows the ministrations on his members, drawing away to rub his thumb against the base of them, where they fork- and instead press the rest of his fingers against the folds again.

He dips two fingers inside to the first digit- just in order to feel the first inch of Dan Heng’s inner walls, before he pushes them further.

“Ah-, yes, yes-”

Anaxa can’t help but be just a bit astonished, if amused, that his meager analytical movements seem to be appeasing him. He must have been starving for the touch, emphasized due to the condition of his heat, to a point that he was willing to settle for Anaxa’s calculating fingers than perhaps someone more eager to please.

Really, Anaxa ought to be more kind to the dragon- but in due time, he’ll give him all he wants.

He buries his fingers deeper and proceeds to curl them, causing Dan Heng to rumble in a way that would surely be impossible for a human to replicate. Anaxa feels it vibrate through the thick of his legs, which grow heavier by the second in the crook of his arm.

“Dan Heng, assist me here.” He doubts he heard the request at all, but Anaxa hefts his legs up anyway to rest his calves on either of his shoulders, dragging his body forward. The base of his thighs and ass bump against his front, and surprisingly, Anaxa only then notices from the sudden contact how tight his trousers have become at his crotch. Had he really been so enraptured to have not been aware of his own arousal? He clears his throat and looks back up at Dan Heng- the slight shift now having him be the one to look up at him with half-lidded eyes.

“Just try not to break my neck with your legs- I’m far from being built like you.”

A sheen makes Dan Heng’s bottom lip shine- “I think you’re built perfectly fine.”

Anaxa blinks. “My, that might be the first bit of praise to come out of you this entire ordeal.”

He resumes moving his fingers carefully through Dan Heng’s folds and with his other hand now a little more free, he’s able to maneuver it around to his cocks, twirling his fingers around and in between them in a strange sort of hold. He starts the rhythm slow until he grows familiar enough with Dan Heng’s twists and curves to hasten the speed.

“I’m not one for compensating others’ attempts at flattery, but something tells me you deserve a reward for that.”

Dan Heng heaves. “Ah- I’ll add to my statement- y-you’re not very good at the talking part of this- Ahhn-”

His hands continue to make a mess of the rock in an attempt to expel their excess excited energy.

“No matter h-how good you are with your hands…”

“Oh, don’t tell me you’d rather me say something else, instead?” Anaxa tilts his head at him, but his hands stay in motion. Both are practically covered in a mess of the fluids from Dan Heng’s vent and his members. Anaxa notes it must be the same substance, given the consistency and appearance- perhaps a sort of precum, given that he likely would’ve noticed if the dragon had really come by now.

But glancing back over at his face allows Anaxa to actually watch the way Dan Heng’s face falls; his pointed ears tilting ever-so-slightly downwards, and his mouth closing in a small pout. He pauses, taking in the expression. Anaxa would rarely refer to anything as cute- except for perhaps the Dromas- and maybe that’s what makes the fact that the word popped into his head all the more justified.

Anaxa leans forward, and Dan Heng jolts- his legs folding at the waist to conform to the position. That fuschia-dotted eye pierces Dan Heng’s own yellow-gray ones like he’s fired a shot from his gun head-on.

“I’m not an easy professor to my students- my teachings are for cultivating minds, not hammering in correct responses for the sake of marks.” He remarks. The hand that was wrapped between his lengths leaves them and travels upwards towards Dan Heng’s navel and stomach, running along the grooves of the faint scales there and under the belt. “But do tell, Dan Heng, do you want me to compliment on how obedient and well-behaved of a specimen you are?”

The bare fingers still buried inside of Dan Heng are suddenly clenched tightly.

“Dutifully putting up with this scholar’s antics and experiments, struggling to even ask that he provide something in return.” He muses. He wouldn’t be caught dead mumbling such jokes about himself in public, however the banter seems to be working brilliantly on the man beneath him, and Anaxa would never pass up an opportunity to see cause and effect in action. “How patient you’ve been in waiting out every cycle for the right mate to come along for you, hmm?”

Dan Heng makes another one of those throaty, resounding sounds and reaches his arms up to wrap around Anaxa’s shoulders- an easy feat, given his impressive wingspan- and tug him closer, close enough that Anaxa’s temple bumps against Dan Heng’s own, and his horns just about dig into his scalp.

And at such closeness, Dan Heng trills, the same way a Dromas does when it has just been praised, or given a generous helping of red soil. The noise reverberates through their touching heads and Anaxa stills- stunned.

But Dan Heng is well beyond being ashamed or worried about any of his actions, and simply nuzzles further.

The scholar coughs and rounds his fingers at Dan Heng’s slit, pressing three fingers into him until his knuckles hit the bottom of his vent, before drawing them just a finger digit’s length out and pushing them back in in rapid succession.

The sharpest inhale steals the air away from between them and Dan Heng is loud. His hands scramble against Anaxa’s own shoulders now, and if he wasn’t more focused on his own breathlessness he might’ve fret over if his clothes would even still be intact after this.

“Please, there, there-” Dan Heng pants, his knees digging into the sides of Anaxa’s arms. He drags his head away and throws it back- his hands pawing at Anaxa’s collarbone in desperation.

Then, somewhat pressed between their torsos but otherwise untouched, Dan Heng’s cocks twitch and jolt- spilling twin ropes of cum onto both of them in rounds- just as Anaxa’s hand and lower half is drenched in a flood from Dan Heng’s cunt.

Anaxa leans up and finds it to be his turn to catch his breath, all the while Dan Heng arches and lets out a plethora of sounds ranging from grouses to whines. He can feel more than see that his ungloved hand has been covered in a combination of the watery fluid and something much more viscous. As he draws his hand out from the other’s fluttering hole and tries to separate his fingers from one another- he can feel how the fluid attempts to hold strong between them.

As Dan Heng rides out his orgasm, Anaxa stands up fully. He feels a twinge of hurt race through his spine at having bent himself over between Dan Heng’s legs the way he did. When he looks down, he sees that his erection still presses, by now a little painfully, against his completely soaked through pants. In fact, even the pile of Dan Heng’s pants on the ground have been soiled by his ejaculation.

Turning back to look straight-on towards Dan Heng, he catches the dragon’s eyes dilate impossibly wide as they lock onto him. Anaxa glances towards his hand, still covered in the mixture of fluids. Barely thinking twice about it, he drags it to Dan Heng’s chest and uses a few careful fingers to wipe up some of the spend from his members.

Anaxa’s curiosity and hunger for answers have always motivated his every move- and he can only reason that in this moment, he is urged by those same natural instincts, as he lifts his shaking hand up to his mouth and runs his tongue along the fingers- holding Dan Heng’s gaze as he does so.

Dan Heng’s mouth hangs open and his canines just barely peek out below his lip. His eyes have grown into pools of gray, almost akin to stormclouds above an ocean, if not for the flecks of gold that scatter through the iris. Despite climaxing mere moments ago, he has new-found arousal practically written all over his face.

“Anaxa…” He breathes more than says. He’s flushed from the tips of his ears all the way to his chin.

Anaxa doesn’t even notice the trip up, more so mesmerized by the exceptionally salty tastes of all of Dan Heng’s fluids.

A being of the ocean, a dragon of water. He thinks through the haze he’s put himself in. However out of the corner of his eye, he spots the flash of something long and scaled.

Dan Heng’s tail unfurls from where it’s been wrapped around his leg, and lashes once before immediately rewrapping around Anaxa’s thigh. Anaxa blinks down at it, and then looks up at Dan Heng- who has suddenly pushed himself up onto his elbows.

“Dan Heng?”

His bangs have fallen in front of his eyes, but Anaxa can tell by the way he pants-

Dan Heng’s clawed hand shoots out to grab at the fabric of his bottoms and the belted corset holding them in place. His other arm maneuvers himself up so he’s less weighted on Anaxa- much to his relief. Anaxa catches the flash of white fangs barring before separating to let out a hiss-

“Inside… N-Now... Ha-” He mutters. “Please, now, I want you ins-”

Anaxa himself lets out a hiss and tries to push away Dan Heng’s own rifling hands- afraid he’ll completely tatter his pants in his eagerness to get them off, and maybe slice his skin too if the way they carved into the stone like it was nothing more than butter is anything to go by.

“Hold on now, I can get them off myself. In your dazed sta-”

He doesn’t get to finish before Dan Heng quite literally growls at him and the legs on either side of Anaxa abruptly kick onto the ground-

Like the dragons Dan Heng sends spiraling towards his opponents in battle, he launches forward and engulfs Anaxa’s form- the movement is so quick that Anaxa can barely react in the instant, but he braces for what is surely to be a painful landing on the ground-

Although it never arrives. Rather, Dan Heng’s bare knees crash into the ground first before he releases his careful hold around Anaxa’s back and lightly shoves him down onto the floor- which, despite still feeling a little like the stone platform they had started on, is softer with what he realizes is a bed of various flora, now breaking through and creeping across the foundation.

Anaxa worries momentarily that Dan Heng surely must have injured himself or skinned his knees in such a harsh descent, but Dan Heng only refocuses on grabbing his pants with both hands and pulling them free from his corset. He only tugs them down enough to have access to his groin- where Anaxa’s erection tents against his underwear. The raven keens and drops down to press his nether regions against his covered cock, rubbing the two of their sexes together with ardor. The touch has Anaxa letting out a guttural warble and his arms flying to grab at Dan Heng for a steady hold. One wraps around his arm, and the other digs its fingers into the meat of Dan Heng’s thigh.

Pressed against the ground now with the other atop him- the sheer size and height of Dan Heng is imposing. His legs straddle Anaxa on either side, with his thighs trapping and practically dwarfing his lower torso. Anaxa can even feel the rub of the scales against where his skin has been exposed to the air. Dan Heng’s white coat tails now splay out behind him, occasionally draping over Anaxa’s legs. The two front ones quickly become bunched together with the movements of his bare feet.

Anaxa has said next to nothing since being tackled to the ground due to the breath having been whisked out of him, but Dan Heng continues to belt out a consistent chorus of throaty pleas. He grits his teeth as now the separation of cloth is too much, even for him, so he reaches to shove his boxers down and free himself. Dan Heng's expression turns wild, and he wastes absolutely no time pressing a hand down on Anaxa’s chest- dragging his whole entire body to the position he deems most comfortable, and sinking down.

Dan Heng’s twin members press between them as Anaxa’s length is instantly surrounded by his warmth. Immediately, Dan Heng works his hips up and down, letting out the most pleasurable of sounds as he tenses and stretches around Anaxa.

“Nghh- Ha- Dan Heng.” Anaxa’s knees come upwards while his feet drag on the floor, and without him even looking, the dragon’s tail begins to twist around both of his ankles in a bind.

Despite Dan Heng doing most of the work in keeping up the friction between them, Anaxa follows the rhythm of his rocking with his own stuttering thrusts. They work efficiently in their unspoken distribution of power.

Distantly, perhaps Anaxa remembers his original mission- the one of studying and research, but it’s been nearly forgotten amongst the heat of their sex.

Dan Heng arches his back, his lower half pressing forward to dig both his cocks and the faintest impression of his hip bones into Anaxa’s torso, but he doesn’t stop there- he dips down further, until they are once again chest to chest. His cum from earlier is still coating their clothes, and it’s fresh enough to stick once it makes contact. He looks down then, and meets Anaxa’s eye with an emotion to his gaze that’s hard to place- but if either of them dared, they might even call it something fond.

“Anaxagoras..” He says once he’s come close enough to feel the brush of the other’s breath, he quivers still, with each roll of his hips, and even ducks his head down until his cheek and mouth presses against Anaxa’s neck. He digs with his chin to gain access underneath the collar, and Anaxa gasps at the forcefulness of his nestling.

Electricity races up just about every nerve when he feels the drag of a tongue and the press of fangs into the flesh there.

Dan Heng emerges, gulping for air as he suddenly recaptures the other’s stare, and for what simultaneously feels like eternity and no more than a second, they stay locked like that, until one of Anaxa’s arms come up to Dan Heng’s nape and pulls him down into a feverish kiss.

Neither of them acknowledge if this is quite okay. Not when something like a kiss is meant for lovers, and they’re little more than demigods desecrating the Grove of Epiphany. Perhaps initially they couldn’t have even fathomed that something like this would come out of their exchange- if it could even still be considered that at this point-

But now, as Anaxa’s hand messily drags strands out of Dan Heng’s ponytail and as Dan Heng murmurs sweet words against Anaxa’s lips- it doesn’t feel much like taboo so much as it feels like acting on a need.

Between intakes of air and moans there’s whispers of please’s and more’s, but what makes Anaxa’s brain jam like a loaded gun are the cries of thank you, thank you and stay, please, don’t leave- Anaxa-

It’s the worst moment to try and figure out whether it is truly Dan Heng that’s speaking or if this heat has addled his brain so badly that he’s been deluded into begging Anaxa- feeble, headstrong, defiant Anaxagoras- for such companionship, but nonetheless, Anaxa still wraps his arms around his shoulders and lower back, splaying his fingers out in an attempt to spread his touch to as much surface area as he can across the other man’s substantial form.

He lets out a stifled exhale as Dan Heng’s walls suddenly constrict around his length and wetness dribbles down the inside of his legs. The raven’s breaths become clipped against his mouth and his eyes drift shut.

On either side of Anaxa’s shoulders, Dan Heng shifts some of his weight off of his forearms and back onto his haunches- the arc of his form peaking at the base of his back and the beginning of his tail. His head falls to press his cheek against Anaxa’s, and with a greater view of their surroundings, Anaxa watches with heaving breaths as motes of light and leaves flutter into the air, and roots crawl to caress the masonry of the plateau they’re on. Sprouts that were near indistinguishable among the ferns and underbrush surrounding the platform snake into winding saplings with leaves indicative of spring, but are the result of something else entirely.

Even in the far off distance, beyond the glittering leaves of the Grove’s spiraling tree, Anaxa is sure he sees the dark clouds dance with fury.

Anaxa has always challenged the notion of gods and titans on Amphoreus- and he regards Dan Heng as neither. In fact, there’s nothing particularly different about the prowess Dan Heng has over just about everything natural- be it the earth, the life, or even the rains themselves. When there are demigods that control death and time, he fits perfectly amongst them.

But call him hypocritical if, for a moment, Anaxa feels awed by how Dan Heng might as well be nature himself.

He could let himself be cast away with such a thought- drown in the idea. And for a second he’s sure he nearly will, as Dan Heng draws back to bow over him. The long, teal-tipped black locks that Anaxa had pulled from his ponytail drape in front of his shoulders while the rest of his hair twists and curls wildly in the aftermath of him wearing against Anaxa like his life depended on the contact. Out of the corner of Anaxa’s eye, he sees that between the scales adorning some of Dan Heng’s bare skin, a glow shines faintly in various shapes of twisting lines. Like roots, like branches, like fragile twigs.

When his eyelids crack open just a fraction, he’s met not with wells of cloud-like gray, but with suns. Radiant golds and pure light.

His whole body jerks between Dan Heng’s body and the floor, and Anaxa’s eye goes wide with realization. He weakly digs his fingers into Dan Heng’s clothes and the flesh beneath them.

“Dan Heng, Dan Heng-“ he gasps- and it’s almost like the call of his name has brought the dragon back down to the earth- as Dan Heng looks down at Anaxa like he’s actually seeing him. In a reversal of roles, it’s hard for Anaxa to not shiver under the weight of that golden gaze.

“I’m c-close, ah, shouldn’t-”

Even though he attempts to say more, attempts to bleed reason and rationality back into their intertwined bodies, it might as well be next to impossible to overpower the whims of the man seated on top of him. Not to mention his own.

Despite hearing his warning, Dan Heng only rams his lower half down hard onto Anaxa’s cock, the outside layers of his vent squeezing against the base. Dan Heng’s two members remain at full mast between them, though covered in a fresh coat of cum.

“Mmnh, ‘N-Naxa, Anaxa-” He repeats like a mantra as his whole body rumbles with his craving. “I want it, please-”

He grinds against him in a frantic manner, and Anaxa scrambles uselessly under him- his hands grappling at whatever they can manage to grasp, while his legs barely lurch with the way Dan Heng’s tail has braided itself with them.

“Dan Heng, if I do-” will they regret it? Dan Heng might be begging and pleading for it now, but if Anaxa acknowledges for a second what the entire point of this all is, what started this in the first place, for Anaxa to mate him-

He said he would give him whatever he desires- and Anaxa surely cannot go back on his word. But through the haze he thinks back, to stilted conversations of transformations and biology and cycles-

Anaxa’s eye narrows and he grabs at Dan Heng’s sternum, pressing his hand flat against it. “If I do, could it-”

“D-Don’t care” Dan Heng arcs over him and growls, his hair curtaining their faces. His arms are pressed against his sides as he spreads his hands against the ground just above Anaxa’s hips. He gets in close until their foreheads brush.

“Anaxagoras,” He groans against him- “please, I want it and I want it from you. I want you to finish in me, now.”

Anaxa stifles something that was surely to be high-pitched and incomprehensible as another full-body twitch rattles his body. His vision blurs and he knows what’s coming next- but just before he’s rendered numb, he wills his limbs to cooperate.

Struggling upwards, he wraps one hand around Dan Heng’s back to grab his clothes and tug him down with what little strength he has left, while his other hand rushes past to claw at Dan Heng’s lower back. He throws his hips forward to reach as far into him as possible, and then digs his fingers into the dip between his spine and tail, where skin becomes scale.

Dan Heng tears into the air with a trembling howl. The sear of heat up and down Anaxa’s body makes the fresh vegetation that suddenly brushes against him feel cool to the touch. He curls his fingers into Dan Heng’s back, gasping with each twitch of his dick expelling another round of cum into its burning seal. The walls of Dan Heng’s vent respond in kind, contracting as if to draw out as much of Anaxa’s spend as possible.

The roars quell into open-mouthed sighs and chirrs of satisfaction. Dan Heng is barely holding himself up by his arms now, just about collapsed onto Anaxa and smothering him with his weight- but the sheer amount of bodily contact has made Anaxa’s insides pool with a comforting warmth- one that isn’t entirely physical.

The vision out of Anaxa’s one eye takes a long while to clear- and even still he struggles to distinguish anything within his line of sight. He can at least tell that half of Dan Heng’s face is pressed just below his eye.

His purring sends steady tremors through them both. Feeling returns to Anaxa gradually, most prominently in the way he can identify Dan Heng’s hands as they come to gently grasp at him- underneath his arms and around his wrists. The man slides a bit to the side, giving Anaxa’s body a bit of reprieve from the pressure he was applying to it.

He’s rendered breathless in the wake of his orgasm- and interestingly enough, it seems Dan Heng is too. Even though his body still gives off heat in subtle waves, Anaxa can feel that his heartbeat has tempered into something calmer and he no longer seems rampant with ardent arousal. Even his tail has loosened its constriction on his legs.

They remain knotted for a long while, simply returning to their bodies after the high. Anaxa isn’t sure the last time he engaged in sex with another so fervently, and if Dan Heng’s earlier explanation of the situation is anything to go by, then it surely hasn’t been any time recently for him either.

The only noise that fills the space are the soft breaths that puff just around one another’s ears. Even the distant sounds of nature seem far off. When enough time has passed, Anaxa breaks the silence with a rasp-

“Dan Heng…” He waits to see if the other will acknowledge or if he’ll have to call out again.

There’s shifting and muffled sounds, but nothing he can make out fully. He snakes his hand between their bodies to brush at the other’s neck, finding some bare skin between where his hair is stuck to it with sweat.

“Dan Heng, are you alright..?”

Now he begins to push himself up, one of his arms supporting his body while the other languidly attempts to tame some of his hair and draw it away from his face. His elbow bumps against Anaxa’s jaw and Dan Heng flinches.

“Sorry-” his voice cracks, and he has to take in a shuddering breath to recover from just the single word.

Anaxa makes a curt noise of dismissal. “Don’t fuss, here…”

He tries to sit up a bit onto his elbows, now even more grateful for the softness of the weeds and sprouts beneath them. He helps to push some of the locks out of the way of Dan Heng’s vision- of which his eyes have returned to their original waves of gray shimmering with sunlight.

Without him willing it, an affectionate coo escapes from the base of Dan Heng’s throat and it seems he’s gained enough sensibility to grow flustered over it. He clears his throat and glances away. Anaxa quirks his brow.

“Bashful after all that now, are we?”

“I- please…” Dan Heng pouts. In a daring move, Anaxa trails his hand to his neck to curl his fingers into his scalp. It draws out another rumble and a shiver from the man above him. However despite the pleasant afterglow, Anaxa can’t help but feel his mouth quirk down in a slight frown.

“I don’t want to put you in a state of unease, but I can’t help but feel this became a bit more than we believed it would have.” He should have known better than to immediately start with the prodding, as in this state of vulnerability the fear paints itself clear as day across Dan Heng’s face and he leans up abruptly- reminding Anaxa with a harsh inhale that they’re still entangled down there.

“If I have- discomforted, o-or done wrongfu-”

“Nonsense, let me finish. You know I don’t appreciate interruptions.” Anaxa rears his hand back to press against the side of Dan Heng’s face. He may very well be the worst person at providing comfort to another, but if the way Dan Heng actually leans into it is anything to go by, he’s likely done right. Now for putting this dragon back at ease.

“What I want to know is if this has left you feeling wrong in any way.” He plows forward, lest Dan Heng gets the idea that that’s all he has to say. “Other than just the sex- we failed to discuss the possibility of many things, and a number which transpired in the end-” the kiss, the words, the touches, “I was the one that pressed for us to go so far, even when warned, and I even initiated that which we did not agree upon.”

Anaxa glances away from Dan Heng, feeling guilty. He thinks that surely, this isn’t him. He has always challenged blind faith without proper reason, and yet here he finds himself attempting to correct for actions he has committed out of sheer impulse. He had abandoned his methods of evaluating rationale and dragged another being into it as well.

“No, I… I think you misunderstand…” Dan Heng rubs at the other side of his neck with his own hand, “or maybe you just understand in the only way you know how- with all too much reason…”

Anaxa chances a glance at his face to see that his eyes are downcast, but not quite with sadness. Rather, it gazes to the side.

“It’s true, this became more than what either of us probably expected, b-but…” His eyes then flick back towards the green-haired man. “I… myself, do not regret bearing myself to you, and I can only hope that y-you don’t as well, or at least not too much…”

He quiets, growing nervous.

“I do not regret it either.” Anaxa proclaims- louder than he expected to. It startles himself and only serves to make Dan Heng turn a deeper red. But he can’t stop now, he supposes. “I find you fascinating to study, Dan Heng, and I have always considered that which I do not know yet to be something I must trade for. I rarely act on anything except for my considerable insight.”

“But if I am being honest with myself,” He inhales, the weight of being so excruciatingly earnest bearing down on him, but Anaxa is a man of nothing if not truths. “I relished that way more than I had expected to, and I’d savour it again if you gave me the opportunity. I regret nothing of this tryst, except for neglecting to assure that everything I did that I hadn’t said I would do, would have been alright by you.”

Dan Heng’s tail rises behind him and slowly waves to and fro. His mouth draws into a line, and his expression turns rather neutral for how flushed his skin is. A few long strands of hair fall past his shoulder as he turns to look off to the side.

“I think I rather enjoyed it. Enough so that if you had withheld the experience of your kiss or anything else from me in an act of respect for boundaries, I reckon I might have only been a tad furious, but probably still enraged.” Anaxa stares at him incredulously. “I would have appreciated your chivalry, however.”

Anaxa can only let out a clipped sound of disbelief- something like a breathless laugh or chuckle, before grabbing Dan Heng’s arm and giving a tug, an odd smile on his lips. “You really are a fascinating specimen to study.”

Dan Heng flicks his clothed shoulder and huffs in an attempt to avoid blushing all too much. But really, he had invited that onto himself. “You don’t put on a bad performance yourself.”

Anaxa hums and runs his tongue over his lips.

“Considering you’re still seated, I’d go as far to say I put on an amazing one.”

It takes a few blinks and the widening of gray-yellow eyes before Dan Heng’s chest expands with a sudden intake of air, and he jostles on top of Anaxa- who does everything in his power to not let out an embarrassing sound. He’s only mildly successful, as some sort of guttural groan still escapes him once Dan Heng maneuvers off and onto the ground beside him. His leg presses against Anaxa’s side and he shifts back and forth for a while, looking for a position that doesn’t constantly leave him aware of Anaxa’s cum attempting to seep out.

Anaxa fully sits up now. He feels an ache just about all over from the intensity of their fuck, and he wasn’t even doing all that much.

But upon looking up at their surroundings, he’s shocked to find that Dan Heng has practically grown them their own forest. Before, it bore only sparse shares of weeds and roots- now, it appears as if it has been in nature’s hold for decades.

Looking up at the light filtering through the leaves, he’s a little grateful for it. He probably wouldn’t have wanted to meet Cerces’ gaze right now of all times. Anaxa turns back to Dan Heng to see that the other is also drinking in the change of scenery as he raises a curled hand up in front of him.

“Does this always happen when you lay with another?” Anaxa asks simply out of curiosity. Dan Heng seems to not mind his bluntness.

“I wouldn’t know, given I had never pursued a mate over the years.” He says without looking at him. “Even by myself I never found myself to… do this much.”

A contemplative hum is what he gives in response. He glances down at Dan Heng’s lower half, where he’s pressed his thighs together- though Anaxa notices that both of his members have disappeared, likely receded back into the folds. It leaves the appearance of his loins bare with just the hint of the top of his vent between his legs. Interesting.

He looks back up and notices that Dan Heng has caught him staring, but he doesn’t move to hide himself at all. “Anaxagoras-”

“Did I mention the gratitude I feel for your respect towards my name?”

Dan Heng stares, extremely puzzled. His ears are turned downwards in a curious display of confusion. Anaxa clears his throat into his hand, closing his eye. “I’m sorry, I interrupted you. Please continue.”

The raven knits his brows but does so nonetheless. “It needs to be said that it was not just you who did a number of things without proper consensus.”

“You went well out of your way to try and warn me that this would be, in your words, ‘difficult’. I was the one who dove in headfirst.” Anaxa replies, as if it diffuses the dilemma at hand, but Dan Heng only looks dismayed.

“That’s hardly fair, and besides, you’ve already gone so far in order to assure my relief. It’s only right that I do the same.” To Anaxa, fairness is nebulous enough that he need only concern himself with the neutrality that is the natural order, but if he’s only willing to listen to nature’s decree, then this might as well be the most fitting time to shut up and pay attention.

And who is he to deny someone’s desire to pursue that which they feel is right- such endeavors are necessary for one to find the truth.

“I know it may not have seemed like I was all that sensible, but I was well aware of… well, most of what I said. I didn’t expect that I would project my longing for company onto what was supposed to be a meager exchange.”

He draws a hand to his mouth and glances away for a second, but just as quickly he retrains his eyes back on Anaxa’s face. “Forgive me, please, if it was out of line to say those things.”

Anaxa considers both of them- still reeling, even if dully, and addled. He isn’t quite sure if the rose-tinted mist has dissipated from either of their minds just yet, even with their very abrupt attempts at amending for unexpected displays of affection, something that probably shouldn’t have much place between Dan Heng and Anaxagoras.

“If I may be so greedy, I’d like to ask something else of you.” Anaxa regards him as neutrally as possible, but something vexes him inside.

In spite of Anaxa’s dogma, a small part of him wishes for a particular answer from Dan Heng. Anaxa has never feared receiving results that would contradict his expectations or desires- such is the reason why investigations and experiments need to be conducted- to surmise the truths and falses of hypothesis and theory.

But how odd it is that in this instance, he dreads the possibility of being defied.

“At least tell me if those words and pleas held water. If I should be justified in hanging onto them for nights to come… Or if I really ought to discard them now, and never even consider the possibility of me owning that much space in your heart.”

Someone kinder might have provided him with more leeway, but Anaxa has frequently taken more than he believes he has given back, from nature, the world, knowledge itself, and now, Dan Heng too. He turns his palm upwards to the sky and lifts it between them.

“Tell me if you meant it, or not.”

Dan Heng himself hesitates- anyone would under such a request. But surprise blooms across Anaxa’s face when Dan Heng’s bare fingers suddenly come up and wrap around two of his own.

“Let me say first that, right now, I struggle to surmise to what degree my attraction to you holds strong beyond this whole mess.” Dan Heng says sourfully, but his tone steadies as he continues. “But also I feel with certainty that some amount of it, whether just a fraction or all of it in its entirety, is true- that not all of it is an illusion…”

“Right now, I mean it when I say that I want you and your company. But if it doesn’t satisfy you at this moment to not know the full extent of my affections, then oblige me in staying until you can know the full extent of it.”

Anaxa regards him with his lips pressed into a thin line, but over the course of might as have been a confession from Dan Heng, the life in his eye has danced with the pleasant thrill of his mind and heart.

He looks down at their grasping hands, and then back up at Dan Heng. “I had accepted long ago that my path would likely be a lonely one, and if I needed to accept that you only said those things in the spur of the moment- I would have.”

Dan Heng blinks down at him. “Do I seem ingenuine?”

Anaxa freezes. “No, I suppose not- it’s just-”

“Then indulge me with your company and conversation and everything pleasant about your presence.” Dan Heng says in a monotone, as if he hadn’t just demanded that Anaxa commit himself to him. Behind him, his tail is moving in a way that Anaxa can only describe as wagging.

Anaxa stares. “You’ve entrusted your feelings with someone rather difficult to rely on, let alone get along with, Dan Heng. Someone argumentative and stubborn, weak yet prideful. ”

“And you’ve fallen for a dragon with an insurmountable amount of baggage and an impression of life well beyond your comprehension.”

He can’t help but puff out a quiet chuckle. “You’re rather obstinate yourself, aren’t you?”

“If it gives me the confidence to challenge your notion that you would be so unfavorable as a partner, then I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”

Anaxa laughs, first softly, and then with his whole chest. He wraps the rest of his fingers around Dan Heng’s hand and throws himself backwards, dragging Dan Heng with him until they’re side by side on the ground.

He tries not to feel too giddy when Dan Heng responds by wrapping around him with his mass. His tail comes to curl more gently around his legs, while his arms wrap around Anaxa’s chest. In the end, Anaxa can’t help snaking his arm above Dan Heng’s bicep to rest his hand over Dan Heng’s neck and bury his fingers in his hair.

The purrs return with a steady and comforting rumble. Anaxa wants to laugh at himself for thinking for a second that he quite missed hearing them.

“You worry too much about inconveniencing me when I’ve already inherited the responsibility of protecting and guiding all life on Amphoreus.” Dan Heng shifts to not muffle his words against Anaxa’s face. “That was always going to include you, regardless. Some time soon, we’ll make sure you all get to see the worlds where we come from.”

Anaxa hums in a playful lilt. “You’d like to open up an entire realm of new-found knowledge to me and squander any possibility of an equal exchange on my end? That’s rather cruel, is it not?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Dan Heng smiles against his skin. “I think you’ll hate it, and you can make it up to me when you need to pick someone to discuss every aspect of it with.”

Anaxa can’t help but give nothing more than a huff at that. The filtered light warms them both comfortably, and Anaxa curls his hand to run his middle knuckles along the muscles of Dan Heng’s back.

For all the impulsivity that they drag out of one another and second-guessing that follows suit; for all the trouble they go through to conjure rationale out of thin air; for all their fretting and dancing around each other, with long-winded declarations and musings, in the end, they really do seem to get along just fine.