Of Scales and wings and Things that Go Bump (in the night)
Title: Of scales and wings and things that go Bump (in the night)
Chapter 20 / 20
Fandom: Losers
Genre: AU
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: roughly 2200
Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Losers' movie or comic. i make no profit from writing or posting this fic.
Warnings: nothing out of the norm for this 'verse. potential formatting issues >_> (again) Also, some D'AWWW- ness.
Jensen rolled out of bed, shuffling down the hall toward the smell of rich coffee. The house smelled thickly of musk, coffee, and sticky buns. The ones Cougar had learned to lace with a little more cinnamon just to coax Jensen into one of his contented purring fits. If a dragon's happy rumble could be called a purr, as deep and gravelly as it tended to be. He poured his cup and peeled a sticky wad of pastry from the plate before walking through the dining room. There was a handful of mail at the otherwise empty table, and Cougar's keys still hung on the hook by the back door. Jensen stuffed the treat in his mouth and walked to the unlocked back door. A quick peek revealed a shirtless Cougar on the porch, staring at an envelope in his hands. He was frowning at the off-white paper, and Jensen was suddenly worried the military was trying to recall one of them. They'd been out nearly a year.
“Cougs?”
Cougar looked up and smiled at Jensen, but the greeting was diminished. That only woke Jensen up further. “Who's it from?” He settled into the empty chair, coffee cup clenched between his hands.
“Mi tía.” Cougar turned the letter so Jensen could see the fine script on the front. “She.. is of the family, but not dragon. She was a child when I reached maturity, but was an adult when I chose to live only as a human. She has been my connection with the family while I have been gone.” Jensen nodded sympathetically.
“Is she just checking in, then?” Jensen still hadn't met anyone from Cougar's family, but he hadn't minded. He knew Cougar didn't have a huge family, and most were like he'd been a few years ago- little better than human, if at all. The bloodlines had been diluted, dragons gone into hiding among the humans. And from what he knew of Cougar's species, they'd been nearly annihilated a few centuries ago. It made Cougar's dragon family even smaller, overall. It was a bit different than Jensen's own hidden nest of family, at least.
Cougar shook his head, not really a negative as much as uncertainty as he finally opened the envelope. Inside was a photograph and a two-page letter. The photograph was a Polaroid, old-school to Jensen, but something about it made Cougar's scent wash out in sudden shock and anticipation. He gently took the photo from Cougar's fingers as the letter was opened.
An older woman stood in a simple room, arms clutched around a watermelon sized egg. At least, it looked like an egg, lumpy in a rough scale pattern, of the same bronzed color of Cougar's scales. A dragon egg. “Cougs...” The fluttery sensation creeping through his stomach grew bolder at the look of mixed pain and fury on Cougar's face. “What? What does she want?”
“The first egg in sixty years, abandoned. Left on her doorstep like some neglected stray.” His hands were crushing the letter into his palms, scales curling up his arms. “She can't let humans raise a hatchling, Jake. She needs a born dragon to take the egg in, hatch it and raise the young.”
“You mean raise a kid. Becoming parents. Carlos... I thought we'd decided against that.” Jensen slid the photograph across the small table. He'd long given up on the idea of being a parent- between his years as a SpecOps soldier to mating with another male, he'd had to give up that thought. Adoption wasn't an option- they couldn't risk having a human child in their household with social services breathing down their necks every minute of their lives. And they'd talked about it a lot before and just after their retirement from the army.
Cougar stared at the photograph, the little picture of an egg that could change anything, everything in moments. “We decided not the humans, Jake. We are too much of ourselves to risk it. But this...” He brushed a finger along the edge of a curve along the shell. His troubled eyes lifted to meet Jensen's. “It will never be human. It won't even be able to assume human form for at least the first decade. But I can't help but need...” His voice broke, and Jensen slid from his chair to wrap his arms around his mate. “If your sister asked you to raise her child because she couldn't, could you deny her?” Cougar whispered into his ear.
Jensen squeezed Cougar harder, arms tight around his torso. He couldn't imagine being able to deny his family if he could give the innocents a chance. It was not something he could do easily. He pictured the egg, same color as Cougar, and then a little dragon with Cougar's scales and feathers. The surge of immediate desire to claim, defend, and protect that raced through him was unexpected, leaving him growling low against Cougar's shoulder. Shit. “Write her, call her. Let her know we'll come out and visit. I can't promise anything else, but... I think I understand. Tormenta... we want to see this thing.” He still distinguished his instincts from himself at times, but this was wiping through him at a shocking rate. He looked up into Cougar's eyes. “I think I'd hate myself if I refused a mini-you.”
Cougar gave him a dim smile before standing and heading into the house. Jensen watched him go, then looked back down at the simple picture of a woman holding an egg. A large, rough, golden-scaled egg, one that should have no meaning to him. He didn't know this person, or anything about dragons eggs, or how they were going to do this. All he could understand was that something in him wanted to take the chance. His instincts demanded that he shouldn't ignore this, and he conceded it might just be an answer to their conversations about having children. Even if it was something far different then the rosy cheeked little terrors he'd seen everywhere. Instead they'd have.. a baby dragon? Scales and feathers, maybe look a little like Cougar. He absently wondered if the colors were any different for a hatchling dragon compared to an adult, and if like most animals on the planet, if there were differences from male to female in color, and pattern, and overall size. And then like a slap in the face he realized that he was thinking of this in terms of animals, in relation to something he'd been thinking of as a child. He shook his head and bolted for the door. Were they raising a child or a pet? How sentient would a freshly hatched dragon be, what about food and clothing and other necessities? How would they hide this from people? Would they have to tell their closest friends- the rest of the team that knew what they were anyway-or would they have to disappear from everyone for a few years? Decades?
Cougar grabbed his shoulder as he moved blindly past him, slowing him and making Jensen look at him. “Diga me.” Tell me. He held Jensen still until the words came pouring, all of the thoughts and concerns that had suddenly flooded him. He waited patiently until Jensen wound down, nearly collapsing into a chair nearby. “Can we even do this? It's not like a dog we can give to someone else if it doesn't work out or something. And I mean it about the food. Do we stock up on meat, or is there a special diet we'll have to enforce? What about baths and grooming and clothes and all that other crap we'd have to worry about with a human kid? Will it be the same at all?”
Cougar’s brow wrinkled slightly as he mulled over the questions. It had been ages since he had been around hatchlings, never long enough to raise them or learn all the finer details. No matter how much confidence he had, he knew instinct would only go so far. “We can ask. Use the time before hatchling to learn. It will be nothing like a human child...” That much he knew. “There will be a lot of unanswered questions. You still want this?”
Jensen stood and buried his head into Cougar's shoulder, hauling him close. “I don't know... I'm wary of saying yes but I can't say no.” He melted a little under the soft stroking, cougar's hands smoothing along the top of his back. “I know,” Cougar whispered in his ear. They stood like that for a while, holding off the reality of just how life- changing this request was for just a little longer.
“Do it. But I will need some answers...” Cougar kissed him, the smallest of smiles curving his lips, and settled Jensen back into the chair to stew on his thoughts for a bit longer. Jensen was predictable, and Cougar knew he'd snap out of it soon.
****
Cougar's 'aunt', as it turned out, lived in the arid mountainous regions lost in New Mexico, in a house just outside a very small town. The house was little more than a one bedroom cabin, small and cozy, just like the woman that lived there. She greeted Cougar warmly, a wide smile and a kiss to Cougar's cheek. She took Jensen's offered hand, glancing into his eyes and then murmuring something to Cougar. He caught something that sounded vaguely like 'dragon', but it wasn't in any dialect of Spanish he easily recognized. “Cougs?” he murmured.
“She says you are not like me. She is right, to a point.” Cougar brushed his hand over the frail one still holding Jensen's. “He is my mate. Tía Ara, Jake. Jake, mi tía, señora Arabela.” There was a moment where aged onyx eyes studied younger blue, and then she pulled away with a little huff. Jensen caught the string of muttered words, but again, lost their meaning. It was beginning to annoy him. “Cougar...”
“The egg, tía. May we see it?” She pointed to where a small nest of cloth sat just away enough from a wood stove to keep from burning, then made a dismissing gesture toward the bedroom door. Cougar tipped his head and carefully approached the bundle. Jensen was stopped from following by a finger pointed at his chest, and stormy eyes staring at him. “You... are not dragon.” The words were accented, heavily, but clear English. “You are man.”
“I am dragon, but not like him.” He pointed at the direction Cougar had gone, now hidden beyond the wall. “We are not the same species.” He exhaled, stomping down his frustration at her clear disbelief. He just wanted to ask his questions, see this egg, and go home. That simple. Instead he dredged up that bit he'd buried soul-deep for the trip. The itching of scales sweeping over his skin responded a moment later, and he flicked out his tongue to lick across dry lips. “I don't have the space to continue,” he rumbled, voice deep and rougher in his throat. “But I am dragon enough to be his.”
She schooled her features to something neither cordial nor aggressive, but Jensen could smell her faint displeasure against the back of his tongue. He starting stuffing down his dragon, tamping it down so he wouldn't demolish the house, and quickly moved toward the door Cougar had disappeared through. He stopped at the view, though, entranced.
Cougar lay curled on the surprisingly large bed, beautiful in scales and feathers, tail covering a telltale bulge within Cougar's forelegs. His nose was buried just under the edge of the feathers, a deep purring rumble filling the room as he serenaded the egg. It was a stunning scene, and Jensen was moving before he could think. He fell to his knees at the side of the bed, a hand reaching to stroke along Cougar's scaled body, sloping down the sneak a feel of the egg. It was warm, probably from being close to the stove, and his fingers drew designs over the ridges on its surface. Cougar met his gaze over the shared little bundle. He looked like a long- missing puzzle piece had been given back to him, and Jensen chuckled. “Yeah, I know. Let's get her home so we can do this right. Me, you, and a big fireplace.” He kissed the end of Cougar's muzzle, reminding himself he still had a lot of questions that need answers, and he desperately needed a camera. He wasn't going to be able to get through this without some pictures- lots of pictures.
“Her?” The woman stood at the door, now, watching them with an expression on her face that Jensen didn't bother to decipher. His fingers brushed over the scale pattern of the egg again.
“Call it a gut feeling. We're going to have one spoiled little princess when this hatches.” He focused back up on Cougar. “And I can't wait to meet her.”