[One-shot] Dragonholder - Part 2
Part 1
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“I’m going to kill Shouta,” Hiromitsu said as he climbed onto Tamorith’s back.
‘You’re always interrupting my fun,’ Tamorith nearly scolded. ‘Why must you always be upsetting Taisuke like that.’
“I was trying to be helpful,” Hiromitsu snapped, but they both knew that was mostly a lie. He’d wanted to sleep with Taisuke, pure and simple, and he wasn’t used to being refused. His ego was bruised and he was trying to console himself that it didn’t matter that this silly little green rider didn’t want him.
But then he started thinking about how Taisuke had looked as he’d laughed, the way he smiled, and how he’d been so close.
“I’m just going to have to kill Shouta. And Fumito. And probably Wataru, while we’re at it.” There would be no end of teasing when they got wind of what had happened, Hiromitsu knew that so well.
Tamorith snorted, taking him off to go sun near the Hatching Grounds instead of heading to the Star Stones as usual. It was like a small jab to Hiromitsu’s conscience, that Tamorith was more considerate to Taisuke’s feelings than Hiromitsu.
But that ended his efforts. Meddling wasn’t really his way of doing things and another attempt could be potentially disastrous. He could only hope that Niketh rose soon and that some dragon would fly her well. He tried to ignore how disappointed he felt at this thought.
~
For the next sevenday, Taisuke avoided Hiromitsu as much as possible. It was tricky, Hiromitsu was his wingleader, but he managed it.
Wataru seemed to have picked up on something happening, because he soon began excusing Taisuke and Niketh from training before Tamorith and Hiromitsu touched ground, or giving Taisuke tasks so he was wholly unavailable.
“Whatever you did, you’ve scared him,” he overheard Wataru telling Hiromitsu, his tone scolding. Neither of them could see Taisuke, as he’d stopped to fix his riding gear just around the corner. “He doesn’t want to be anywhere near you.”
“I wasn’t trying to,” Hiromitsu groused. “Honestly, if I’d know he was just going to shove me over, I wouldn’t have bothered.”
“Give him space, Hiromitsu.”
“I know, I’m trying to,” Hiromitsu sounded truly aggravated now. “I was planning on transferring him to Tsubasa’s wing as soon as he was ready for Threadfall.”
Taisuke froze, completely taken aback. Transfer wings? He hadn’t said a word to Hiromitsu since the day at the lake, but he hadn’t known what to say without making things worse and a part of him still greatly resented that it had even happened, but to transfer him into Tsubasa’s wing…
‘Isn’t that what you wanted?’ Niketh asked curiously, and Taisuke quickly shook his head, not sure what to think of it, but then he wasn’t thinking at all, freezing again because Hiromitsu rounded the corner and they were suddenly nose to nose.
He took an involuntary step back, watching the surprise flash through the bronze rider’s eyes before he composed himself as well. “I take it you heard that.”
Taisuke nodded mutely.
Hiromitsu ran a hand through hair, frowning for a moment before looking at Taisuke again. “The choice is yours. Let Wataru know when you’ve decided.”
He sidestepped Taisuke, making his way over to Tamorith and was soon gone. Taisuke felt rather muddled when Wataru placed a hand on his shoulder. “You alright, Taisuke?”
“No,” he said, sudden and vehement. He felt played. Instead of dealing with what had happened, Hiromitsu was trying to shove Taisuke off to another wing. Never mind that it was Tsubasa’s wing, he was still just getting rid of Taisuke. He hadn’t been serious at all.
Without another word and ignoring Wataru’s startled look, he threw himself up on Niketh. “Let’s go home,” he said, gripping at the riding harness and trying to keep his tone civil - she hardly deserved his ire. But a trip home to his parents and his two younger brothers would hopefully clear his mind.
~
Hiromitsu tried his best to put Taisuke out of his mind. Taisuke now knew his choice and he’d either stay or he’d move to Tsubasa’s wing - and Hiromitsu was almost certain that he’d transfer, though he did not know why the boy didn’t move wings sooner. He couldn’t even seem to speak to Hiromitsu without his lips thinning into a mulish line. By now everyone had figured out that something was wrong between their wingleader and their newest wingrider but only Wataru and a few others knew the exact nature of the situation, to Hiromitsu’s relief.
“Thread over Benden Hold,” he said as he grabbed a sack of firestone. “We’re riding top point.” It wasn’t a heavy fall, but a long one, according to the timetables. A difficult flight, even flying with Kazuya and Daisuke‘s wings, along with the assistance of the Queen’s Wing.
His wing was quick to mobilize, moving with the quick precision he prided in his dragons and riders. Firestone was chewed, harnesses were secured, and his wing was in the air less than fifteen minutes after their call had been made.
“Fly well,” Hideaki yelled as he took Hisath to the feeding grounds, having only finished his own Threadfall a few hours before.
Hiromitsu gave him a fist pump in acknowledgement as they took flight. Before he winked between with the wing, he realized that Taisuke was watching them from the ground, still not quite ready for Threadfall. Without even thinking about it, Hiromitsu threw his fist up again, twisting to face Taisuke. He could just barely see Taisuke startle at the gesture, but soon Taisuke’s hand stretched out in a salute of good will.
Smiling to himself, Hiromitsu took the wing between to fight the Thread that was about to fall.
~
‘We can fight Thread too!’ Niketh complained, cross at being left behind. Taisuke didn’t much like it either, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder as they watched the wings vanish. Soon he too would be fighting Thread with Niketh, along with the wing.
He watched as some of the women of the weyr assembled their kits under the eye of the Headwoman, preparing for the injured to return. There wouldn’t be many, but there were always some.
He wandered listlessly, waiting for the wing to return. He hadn’t minded it much before, as they were still in intensive training, but now that he was so close, he was anxious to be away with his own wing.
His own wing.
He frowned, leaning against Niketh as they continued to wait. It was true, though. He did not want to transfer to Tsubasa’s wing, for all that he would be welcomed there and he liked Tsubasa greatly, both as a leader and as something like a friend. He’d trained with Hiromitsu’s wing, there was no reason to leave now, not when he was so close to joining their ranks.
It was with guilt that he realized Hiromitsu would not have offered the move to Tsubasa’s wing if Taisuke had not been so avidly avoiding him. It created a wall between them, one they could not afford to have when fighting Thread.
“I’ve been a beast, haven’t I, darling?” he murmured, brushing a hand over Niketh’s soft hide. She turned to nose at him, breath ruffling his hair.
‘No, but I do not know what to do when you mope like this. I rather you be happy and I do not understand why you aren’t happy now.’
He opened his mouth to answer when the air was suddenly full of dragons, the four wings returning all at once. The women were at their feet in an instant, salve pots and bandages at the ready. The injured were first to land, closest to the Weyr’s caves, with the rest hanging back and landing farther afield.
The first dragon landed and Taisuke was on his feet almost before he realized it, racing towards it.
It was Tamorith.
“It’s just a scratch,” Hiromitsu said, sliding off the large bronze, but he lurched when he tried to stand up straight. He would have fallen, but Taisuke had already scrambled over to lend a supportive arm. Threadscore ran nastily along the length of his upper left arm, but the worst of it was where the Thread had sliced across Hiromitsu’s thigh, deeper than his other injuries, the Threadscore continuing along Tamorith’s shoulder. “Didn’t duck fast enough, did we, Tamorith?”
One of the women appeared, bandages and salve in hand, and Taisuke quickly dipped his fingers in the pot, smearing numbweed over the gash in Hiromitsu’s leg as the woman - girl, really, her name was Ayame - scrambled up on Tamorith to tend to the dragon’s injuries.
Taisuke cut away what was left of the sleeve of Hiromitsu’s wher-hide jacket, moving on autopilot as he numbed the Threadscore and began bandaging it. Hiromitsu held still for the whole ordeal, not even flinching when Taisuke tugged just a bit too hard on the bandages when tying them off.
“Thank you,” he said, opening his eyes and giving Taisuke a faint smile. “Don’t look so pale,” he added quickly, and Taisuke realized he must look like a ghost, he felt almost sick with worry. “It’s not really that bad. I was just a little careless.”
Taisuke nodded quietly. Yukie, Benden Weyr’s Headwoman, appeared to assess Hiromitsu’s condition, flanked by two other women and Taisuke slipped away as they began to tend to the wingleader.
He was shaking as he returned to Niketh’s side, allowing her to curl a foreleg around him and nose at his hair. He didn’t know why that had given him such a scare, he knew that nobody could truly escape Threadscore, not when one fought on a fighting dragon. But it had never occurred to him that Hiromitsu - arrogantly confident Hiromitsu - could ever be hurt by anything.
~
“Hiromitsu, I don’t think I’ve seen you Threadscored since you were promoted from my wingsecond,” Hideaki said, in both amusement and curiosity. He was in the Council room with Hiromitsu and Tsubasa, legs flung casually on the table.
“Careless,” Hiromitsu said, eyeing the bandages on both his left arm and leg. It hadn’t been a large clump of Thread and he should have been paying more attention. While he tried not to take it too seriously, it annoyed him. He was grounded for the next sevenday, at the very least, though it would take twice that time for his leg to heal completely.
“Heard you gave your little green quite the scare,” Hideaki remarked blithely.
“He’s not mine.”
“Isn’t he?”
“Quiet,” Tsubasa said and handed him a flask of wine, one that Hiromitsu knew was laced with fellis juice to help keep the pain and discomfort at a minimum. “You should be resting now, not sulking. Yukie said you ran off before she could give you this. Now go, or I’ll get Tamorith.”
Hiromitsu took the drink, knowing his dragon would hover over him incessantly if the man asked him too and he did not wish for that to happen, for either of their sakes. Grumbling a farewell, he limped out of the Council room.
‘You should see Taisuke,’ Tamorith told him as Hiromitsu made his way through the passageway. ‘You scared him.’
Sighing, Hiromitsu ran his uninjured hand through his hair. Taisuke had looked like a ghost on the grounds, even if his hands had been steady while he’d bandaged Hiromitsu’s arm. Glancing at the injury in question, Hiromitsu debated with himself. He’d been trying his best to give Taisuke the space he seemed to need and yet he felt it would be a failing in his leadership if he brushed it off.
Turning, he headed down one of the other tunnels, heading to Taisuke’s weyr instead of his own, taking a swig of wine for good measure.
~
Taisuke nearly jumped out of his own skin when he looked up and found Hiromitsu in the doorway of his weyr. The man looked worn out, wearing a sleeveless leather jerkin to keep his injured arm free and leaning heavily on his good leg.
“Sorry,” the man apologized, “I should have sent word along, but I wasn’t… really thinking about it.”
“It’s alright,” Taisuke said, scrambling onto his feet and gesturing to the cushioned sitting alcove, afraid Hiromitsu was going to keel over. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said, belatedly realizing how rude he must sound. “I mean, you should be resting.”
“You sound like Yukie,” Hiromitsu said, smiling as he sank down onto a cushion. “I’m a grown man, Taisuke, it’s not like I’ve never been Threadscored before and it wasn’t even that bad. My first Threadscore was much worse. I managed to get sliced across my back, from my shoulder to my hip. I wasn’t flying for nearly a month.
Taisuke grimaced at the image. While he had yet to face Thread, he’d seen enough of the aftermath. Though there was still a disconnect between Hiromitsu and Threadscore, he tried to push that aside. It wasn’t hard because he glanced down at Hiromitsu’s arm. “You’re bleeding again.”
“Am I?” Hiromitsu glanced down with a frown. “Blasted thing.”
“You’re moving too much,” Taisuke found himself saying, moving automatically to snatch up his rider’s kit and dropping down next to Hiromitsu’s side, swiftly undoing the bandages before pulling out a jar of numbweed.
He was more careful this time, spreading the numbweed over the wound and neatly bandaging him up again, fingertips smoothing over the wraps for a moment before settling back. “There.”
Hiromitsu was watching him, a curious look in his eye. Taisuke expected a thank you, but instead Hiromitsu asked rather abruptly, “Why haven’t you asked for the transfer? I know you want it.”
Stilling, Taisuke thoughts scrambled, backtracking in surprise. Oh. The transfer. Of course Hiromitsu would want to ask about that. He delayed for a moment, neatly repacking his kit before sitting back, regarding Hiromitsu, not quite sure how to answer.
~
Asking such a thing so out of the blue was probably not the best idea, but Hiromitsu’s head was starting to swim and he was determined to clear things up before he limped back to his own weyr.
Taisuke didn’t answer for a long moment, but then he raised his eyes to meet Hiromitsu’s and asked, “Are we a problem during training?”
Hiromitsu frowned at him. “No.” He wasn’t, truly, because even though he didn’t seem inclined to thaw towards Hiromitsu, Taisuke was swift to obey and knew how to act intelligently in the air. “But you don’t seem comfortable and-“
“Do you think we’ll be a bad flying pair?” Taisuke pressed and Hiromitsu’s frown grew.
“No, if that were the problem, I’d have transferred you already, but-“
“Then give me more time,” Taisuke said, cutting him off yet again. This boy, Hiromitsu couldn’t help but feel faintly amused, was like no other. Normally he’d reprimand such disrespect, but now Taisuke was speaking and he didn’t feel like being the one to interrupt. “I… we’ve been training for so long and if I transfer now, it’ll look like we’re not…” he trailed off, getting to his feet and taking a step back, as if to give Hiromitsu room. “I’ll do better, sir.”
It wasn’t quite what Hiromitsu had been expecting, but he nodded mutely. He’d made it clear that the choice was Taisuke’s, whether he chose to stay or go, but maybe a Threadfall with Hiromitsu’s wing would make up Taisuke’s mind. It was not something he’d refuse him.
“I should go,” he said, after a few moments of silence. The fellis juice had been greatly diluted, but it was working very well now and he struggled to his feet. Taisuke started for a moment, stepping forward to give him a hand, but then paused, and came no closer.
“Rest well,” was all Taisuke said instead.
There was nothing else to say and so Hiromitsu turned, forcing himself not to limp in front of Taisuke as he reentered the tunnel network. He was eager to return to his own weyr, to Tamorith and his own bed. Tamorith reached out, crooning in concern, and Hiromitsu could feel Taisuke watching him carefully before he managed to walk out of sight. Somehow it felt better though, more settled, as he left.
~
As Benden Weyr winked into view, Hiromitsu had to stifle a yawn. It had been a long day and he was looking forward to an early dinner and an early night. While he normally didn’t run around as a courier, the Weyrleader always had certain tasks he only entrusted to the wingleaders and he’d spent a long day at Ista Weyr, with all the heat from the sandy beaches lingering even after a jump between. But his wounds had healed well and the jump was no longer a painful discomfort, for which Hiromitsu was glad.
He’d put the matter of Taisuke aside in action, if not in thought, giving him the space he deserved. Wataru hadn’t reported a decision of any sort, which Hiromitsu considered a good sign. At least Taisuke wasn’t throwing himself as far as possible from Hiromitsu, even if he still avoided looking or speaking to Hiromitsu most of the time.
‘You’re thinking about him a lot,’ Tamorith said as he winged towards their weyr.
Hiromitsu frowned for a moment, shrugging a shoulder. “He’s still one of my wingriders, he’s under my care.”
‘You didn’t linger on the others so much though.’
“Shut up.”
Tamorith had just settled down at the opening of their weyr when a roar came from the feeding grounds. It wasn’t really that out of the ordinary, Bendan Weyr had its fair share of green dragons who were easily aroused, but it surprised when him when Tamorith sat back on his haunches and bellowed challenge.
“Tamorith?”
Tamorith’s conscience pressed against his own and Hiromitsu felt the lines that separated their two minds waver, and suddenly he was much warmer than he’d been even at Ista. It was Niketh. She was ready to rise to her first flight.
Reeling for a moment, Hiromitsu laid a hand on Tamorith’s foreleg, while forcing him not to take flight to the feeding grounds immediately. Tamorith calmed for a moment, ducking his head. “Are you sure, Tamorith?”
‘I want to fly her,’ Tamorith said, simply, though there was a surprising amount of possessiveness in his tone. Hiromitsu felt another wave of heat and withdrew his hand, nodding.
Instantly Tamorith’s wings unfolded and he leapt from the ledge, winging towards the feeding grounds where the others who would try and fly Niketh were gathering, to blood their kills for the chase.
In the meantime, Hiromitsu jogged through the inner tunnels to Taisuke’s weyr and ducking inside. Niketh was just beginning rousing when he entered, but he was momentarily distracted by the room’s occupants. Taisuke stood near where Niketh slept, close to the opening that lead to the outer ledge of the weyr, with Wataruclose by. Too close, Hiromitsu thought, as he stepped more inside the weyr.
Fumito and Ryoichi were there, as well as Shouta, along with a handful of other men, all blue and brown riders from various wings. Hiromitsu felt a surge of irrational territorial possessiveness. He was the bronze rider here. Taisuke was his. The more rational part of him reasoned that this wasn’t true, as Tamorith’s sheer size put him at a disadvantage. Niketh would be swift and agile and those closer to her size would all prove to be challenges for Hiromitsu’s dragon.
On the grounds, he could feel Tamorith ripping into the herdbeast, sucking every drop he could, knowing that he could not eat, for he needed to blood his kill for this flight. He roared another challenge at the other dragons, sweeping his head from side to side, Hiromitsu following with him. Goth, Zukath, and Kotath all scrambled to the outer walls, and even Iideth left when Tamorith turned his way.
“Oh,” Taisuke gasped, bringing part of Hiromitsu’s conscious back to the weyr. Niketh was now awake and she snarled at Wataru, causing him to stumble back away from Taisuke. There was a change in the green’s demeanor, as she suddenly became more strikingly fierce, more flauntingly aware of herself. She curled her neck around Taisuke for a moment, hissing, before she took a leap towards the ledge. Soon she was airborn, heading for the feeding grounds, and all the other riders took their place in a sort of circle around Taisuke. Hiromitsu rested a hand on Taisuke’s arm and felt him shudder at the touch.
“Don’t let her eat,” Fumito was reminding Taisuke, standing opposite of Hiromitsu. “She’s young, she’ll want to, but don’t let her do it.”
Taisuke was tense, locked in an inner battle with his dragon’s lusts. Through their dragons’ eyes, all watched as the green took down a herdbeast and swiftly clawed the gut open. She too showed signs of struggle, thrashing her head this way and that before she finally shrieked and lowered her head to the dead animal, to begin drinking the blood. A queen dragon could kill up to seven heardbeasts for a mating flight, but as a green dragon was significantly smaller, she only needed one or two. One seemed to suffice and as she dropped the beast and rose on her haunches, Niketh eyed her pursuers, mockingly.
Tamorith growled, low and rumbling, the sound echoed by the other dragons and also by Hiromitsu, but Niketh seemed only amused at this as she turned. Before any of them knew it, she had launched herself into the air.
All were quick to follow, spreading wings and leaping. Tamorith/Hiromitsu did not directly chase the green, instead climbing high into the air, wanting to follow, to catch, and to keep, but being smart enough to know that he would only have one chance to catch the lively green.
Niketh continued to tease them all, flitting between dragon and dragon, letting out soft crooning noises before tucking her wings and diving away. She was too quick for anyone to catch yet and soon a blue and two browns dropped back, returning to the weyr, spent.
Tamorith had risen high enough that he could watch them all and he watched, ready for the right moment. It took Hiromitsu only a few more moments to realize the pattern Niketh was tracing, just as Tamorith realized, and with that, the great bronze dragon folded his wings, diving.
Niketh was unaware of his approach from above, but as she turned to tease between Iideth and Goth, Tamorith was there, having anticipated her arrogance. Hiromitsu felt Tamorith lock with Niketh, their necks twining together, but though he was still with his dragon, he was suddenly so intensely aware of Taisuke standing there before him.
His.
He spun Taisuke around, pulling him close as he crushed their mouths together, heated, possessive, and then pleased when Taisuke made a desperate noise of want while leaning into him. Without a care for whichever riders were still left, Hiromitsu pressed against him, hands searching, exploring, and claiming. It was wonderful, the way Taisuke writhed against him as he ran his nails down Taisuke’s back none too gently.
Dragon and dragon, rider and rider.
There was no holding himself back, no resisting. Not with his defenses down to both Tamorith’s and Niketh’s overwhelming passions, and certainly not with the way Taisuke was up against him, both needy and demanding. It took a moment for Hiromitsu to guide them to the bed, they were so tangled, Taisuke was so impatient, but soon he was able to shove Taisuke down, watching as he sprawled out on the bed, but quickly following after him. This was not time for gentleness or softness, no matter how much a part of him wanted to admire the dark shine of Taisuke’s eyes, or the way his lips were already puffing.
He leaned down, capturing the other’s mouth again, intent on claiming every last part of Taiske.
~
Never before could Taisuke remember waking up so relaxed, it was almost like floating as he came back from a dream, into the real world.
The real world was hot, almost stiflingly so, meaning it was midday or close to it. But still, there was something pleasant about it and that probably had nothing to do with the heavy sleeping furs pulled up high and absolutely everything to do with who was sprawled out halfway on top of him.
Hiromitsu was asleep, legs tangled with Taisuke’s and a cheek pressed to his shoulder. It was a moment of vulnerability that Taisuke had never thought he’d see and one that quickly vanished as Hiromitsu’s face scrunched up in waking.
It took Taisuke a few more moments for the details to filter through, in a hazy flood of emotion and memory. It felt so surreal, Taisuke almost wanted to think he dreamed it, but there was really no way he was dreaming the feeling on his lips, the small bite marks on his neck, or Hiromitsu in his bed.
As both riders woke, their dragons woke with them and Taisuke felt himself sink into a strange sort of blank happiness, apparently still more influenced by Niketh than he’d expected. He was happy, even if it didn’t feel real.
Hiromitsu raised his head, swiping mussed hair from his face and giving Taisuke a smile. “Morning, I think.”
Taisuke hummed, contented as he tugged a pillow more under his head and then reaching up to play with Hiromitsu’s more stubborn locks. “He flew her,” he said, marveling over that fact alone. Tamorith was a bronze, and bronzes flew queens. And yet…
“He wanted to,” Hiromitsu replied, stretching and settling himself back down on top of Taisuke. They lay in silence, ignoring the heat of the day, Taisuke’s eyes fluttering closed in contentment at the answer.
Underneath Niketh’s satisfaction came the pangs of hunger, but just as Taisuke resigned himself to getting out of bed, she left, taking wing with Tamorith right behind her, playfully nipping at her wingtips.
“That was a great flight,” Hiromitsu said, voice muffled against Taisuke’s shoulder, lips teasing against soft skin, and when Taisuke opened his eyes again, he found Hiromitsu’s eyes dancing. Their dragons were gone, but that didn’t stop Hiromitsu’s fingers from spidering up Taisuke’s sides, nor did it keep Taisuke from closing the gap between their lips for a kiss that was felt much warmer than the summer air.
The sleeping furs ended up on the floor a few moments later, but they were both a little too occupied to really care.
~
It was much later when Hiromitsu finally got to the edge of the bed, sitting up to tug his trousers and tunic back on, before going on a hunt for his boots. Taisuke was dozing, and he looked so endearing that Hiromitsu had to pause and smile. He nearly reached out, wanting to brush a stray lock of hair that obscured the other’s eyes, but Taisuke seemed about to slip off again and Hiromitsu didn’t wish to wake him.
He sent his thoughts to Tamorith, telling the dragon that he was heading back to their weyr before checking in with Wataru. While it had been forgotten in the heat of the moment, Hiromitsu was cleared for command again and while he’d overseen everything in the past two sevendays, it was always good to touch base with his wingsecond. Soon they’d be launching against Threadfall again.
And that bought another concern to mind, though he didn’t really like thinking of Taisuke as a problem. But the next Threadfall would Taisuke’s first run with the wing and Hiromitsu couldn’t help but remember how Taisuke had wanted this first fight with them, before deciding.
Would he still want to leave?
For all that Hiromitsu thought Taisuke was transparent, the green rider had thrown him more than one surprise and he couldn’t confidently say he knew the answer to that question.
But a part of him, one he would not admit to aloud, hoped. Taisuke had looked happy, had been happy. It had been a good flight; wouldn’t that have been enough for Taisuke to want to stay?
He wondered why it even mattered so much from him. Taisuke was a green rider and while they were immensely useful, fun to have around even, it was hardly something to dwell on so much, even if he'd enjoyed himself.
~
Taisuke’s hands were sweating in his gloves as he checked and rechecked Niketh’s harness. Niketh had chewed her first load of firestone, producing a wonderfully hot flame, her harness was as perfect as could be, and Taisuke was terrified.
Thread was the greatest threat of Pern and he would be flying his dragon, his precious Niketh, straight into it. They had put two Turns into training for this, but it was still Thread and he was Holdbred. Natural instinct told him to stay as far away from open skies filled with silver.
Niketh held none of his nerves, practically prancing on the grounds as the wing prepared around them.
“Relax, Taisuke,” Wataru said, clapping a hand on Taisuke’s shoulder with a laugh. “You’re as green as Niketh’s hide, don’t puke on us.”
Elbowing Wataru, Taisuke said, “I can’t help it!”
Wataru caught his arm and leaned in, his smile both reassuring and playful. “Steady there, Holder boy. We haven’t spent so much time training you just to have you get Threadscored on your first try. You’ll do great, you and Niketh are the best flying pair from your Hatching.”
It was a comfort to hear, calming some of Taisuke’s nerves, but the thought of Threadscore still made him shudder a bit. Wataru had been scored twice in the past six months, but what came to mind was Hiromitsu’s most recent scoring.
The thought of the bronze rider drew Taisuke’s gaze to him, watching as Hiromitsu fed Tamorith a sack of firestone. Taisuke frowned in consternation. It had been three days since that day, and yet Hiromitsu seemed intent on going back to where Taisuke would ignore him and he wouldn’t try to speak to Taisuke.
Except Taisuke wasn’t ignoring him anymore.
It frustrated him - that this man had decided to wholly toss his world upside down and then simply walk out of the room as if it hadn’t happened at all. But of course, Taisuke reminded himself with a trace of bitterness, one had to think of all the queens that Tamorith had surely flown.
He’d become so engrossed that he nearly missed it when Hiromitsu clambered up onto Tamorith’s back, shouting, “To the skies!”
His wing - Taisuke included - were quick to comply, throwing themselves up onto their dragons and tightening the harnesses. Taisuke’s heart beat in his throat.
‘It’s alright,’ Niketh said, trying to be soothing even though she was clearly eager and bloodthirsty. ‘We have done well! And now we will show everyone.’ With that, she launched herself into the air, winging to where the other greens were hovering, ready for Hiromitsu’s command.
Their coordinates were given - straight over Lemos Hold - and then, as one, they went between.
Their jump had been perfectly timed, giving them a minute to prepare themselves to meet the Thread that was about to fall. Tamorith relayed orders to all the dragons in the wing as three other wings winked in from between. Hideaki and Tsubasa would both be flying, as would Karina with the magnificent Queen’s wing.
Niketh’s steady relay of information was distracting enough, but soon there was a pause in communications as the silver Thread began to fall.
Though a part of him was still terrified, Taisuke grit his teeth and shoved it to the back, knowing that he had no room for such fear as he opened himself to Niketh and they began to flame.
Every single hour of training paid off as they fought against the Thread, flaming all that they could and neatly avoiding the spores that would have wounded them. Niketh flicked between twice to save their hides and as the Threadfall wore on, Taisuke could almost believe that he was used to it.
As it was, by the time the last of the Thread had fallen, Niketh and Taisuke were exhausted, nerves overworked and bodies pushed to their limits. It had been a heavy, intense fall. When the command was given, they were only too glad to take themselves back between to return to Bendan Weyr.
Taisuke felt proud of them both as he undid his harness and slid down Niketh’s side. But what he was not expecting was for every single dragon and rider in his wing to erupt in cheers when he hit the ground.
“Well done, Taisuke!” Wataru shouted over the din, hurrying to his side. Taisuke felt his face go red, completely pleased as his back was pounded and his hair was ruffled. They welcomed him to the wing, completely.
He was passed around a bit, everyone on the wing wanting to congratulate him for a successful first Threadfall, when suddenly it was Hiromitsu in front of him, hands on his shoulders to keep him steady.
All words caught in Taisuke’s throat as their eyes met and Hiromitsu’s gaze was that of fierce pride. There was a spark that seemed to ignite between them, or maybe it was just Taisuke’s stomach jolting at the look in Hiromitsu’s eyes. He wanted to press closer, to find Hiromitsu’s lips in a kiss, but he couldn’t get himself to move properly and then Hiromitsu was moving away.
Everyone quieted a bit as Hiromitsu took a half step back, and then, to Taisuke’s upmost astonishment, bowed low to him.
“You did well, Taisuke.”
“Thanks,” Taisuke found himself saying, distantly aware that someone else was shaking his hand. Hiromitsu vanished completely from view and soon Fumito and Shouta were there, wine at the ready.
“Is this really something worth celebrating?” Taisuke would ask later, when he was more light-headed and his tongue had loosened up again. More than that, had it been worth the honor Hiromitsu had given him? Such recognition merely for doing what he and Niketh had trained themselves for since Impression seemed unusual.
“Of course it is,” Fumito laughed. “Getting through a first Threadfall without a score to show for it is always worth celebrating, especially since you didn’t even take part in the new wing, you joined Hiromitsu’s. Man’s bloody impressed with you, isn’t he?” There was something in Fumito’s wink that made Taisuke think that he wasn’t talking about the Threadfall.
As if on cue, Hiromitsu walked into the dining hall, scanning the area. Their eyes met for a moment, but Taisuke quickly dropped his gaze, feeling flustered at Fumito’s comment.
“Come on, Taisuke,” Shouta interrupted with a laugh, pulling his guitar strap over his head and settling his guitar on his lap. “Come sing with me.”
Taisuke protested only for a moment before he joined Shouta at the edge of the table, laughing as he drank the last of his wine and then draped an arm over the man’s shoulders. He liked Shouta a lot, if only because they had grown up near each other, though they hadn’t ever known it. The Haperhall where Shouta had been raised before becoming journeyman and dragonrider was not even a twenty minute walk from where Taisuke had grown up and they shared a love for the rocky forests and rivers. In any case, he didn’t mind pressing a little closer to Shouta’s side as they began to sing a ballad together, voices rising and weaving together. And though Fumito made disgruntled noises at being left out of the duet, Taisuke paid him no heed. Instead, he found himself glancing again and again at the table where Hiromitsu sat, deep in conference with the Weyrleader and Tsubasa.
~
“Your little green is a pretty singer,” Hideaki commented, nodding towards the pair before turning back to Hiromitsu, smiling.
“He’s not mine,” Hiromitsu replied, shrugging a shoulder as he glanced over as well. It was true, though. Taisuke sounded wonderful as he harmonized with Shouta, but then Taisuke looked his way. It was only for a second, so quick that Hiromitsu almost wondered if he imagined it, but Taisuke seemed to inch even closer to Shouta before he looked away. Frowning, Hiromitsu turned back to Hideaki and Tsubasa.
Tsubasa had noticed his frown and was about to say something when another round of wine arrived and Hideaki began urging them both to drink. Hiromitsu was glad for the distraction, not wanting to pay attention to how close Shouta and Taisuke were getting, the guitar half forgotten even as they continued to sing.
It had been several days and Hiromitsu couldn’t figure out what Taisuke wanted. The green rider kept his distance as he had before, but Hiromitsu often found him staring intently at him. It didn’t seem as if he were angry and Hiromitsu wasn’t sure what else it could be.
He couldn’t help but look again at where Taisuke sang with Shouta, feeling something twist in his gut. But he hadn’t eaten and the wine was strong, he wasn’t surprised.
And yet…
“I’ll be heading off,” he said, pushing to his feet. “Tamorith wants to feed and I’ll probably have to oil him.”
Both Hideaki and Tsubasa waved him off cheerily and Hiromitsu quickly left the cavern.
‘I really am hungry,’ Tamorith said as he waited for Hiromitsu to join him. ‘But you should talk to Taisuke, it’s no good with you two being like this. You’re unhappy.’
Hiromitsu’s frown only deepened at his dragon’s words. “I’m just fine, Tamorith.”
‘But I want to play in the lake with Niketh,’ Tamorith said, sounding as sullen as a very large dragon could. ‘And don’t you like Taisuke? You act all annoyed about him, but he makes you happy, doesn’t he?’
Tamorith’s persistence surprised Hiromitsu and he stopped, looking up into Tamorith’s jewel-like eyes. “You never cared about the others,” he said, slowly.
Tamorith gave a little snort. ‘You never asked me to.’
“I’m not now!” Hiromitsu exclaimed, scrambling up onto Tamorith’s back.
Snorting again, Tamorith took off, winging towards the feeding grounds, Hiromitsu dwelling on what the dragon had said.
~
If anyone asked Taisuke why he was so awake, Taisuke would have said it was battle nerves. He couldn’t sleep, his body so restless, his mind so teeming, that it eluded him.
He leaned against Niketh’s side, having forsaken his own bed, trying not to disturb her own sleep. But whether it was his constant shifting or the alacrity of his thoughts, she roused, curling her neck around to nose at him in concern.
‘What’s wrong?’
“It’s nothing,” he said, knowing she would see through it anyway, “I’m sorry for waking you, dearest.”
‘He made you unhappy again,’ she said, her voice calm, but her eyes whirling red. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to eat him?’
“You would not deny Tamorith his partner anymore than you would allow them to take me away from you,” Taisuke scolded lightly, wondering if he should have tried to curb her when she had been a dragonet, but quite sure he wouldn’t have stood a chance.
‘I don’t get it,’ she continued on, now disgruntled. ‘Why haven’t you gone to him so you can have what you want. Tamorith and I-’
“Yes, yes, I know,” Taisuke said hastily, forestalling any details. “And…” he hesitated, sighing. “If Hiromitsu had any interest in that, he would have come back.”
There, he had voiced what had been on his mind for so long and what he hadn’t yet acknowledged. Hiromitsu truly hadn’t been that interested him, not beyond a fellow rider or anything. It almost felt good, in a strange, aching way, to admit that aloud. He suddenly felt boneless and more tired than he’d ever been. But it acted like a catharsis and he knew what he would do.
Niketh crooned, shifting so she could curl gently around him. And with that weight off his chest, he leaned against her soft hide and was soon fast asleep.
~
All the wingleaders sat around the council table as Weyrleader began the meeting. It was mostly about shifts in Threadfall, as well as tithes and other things the wingleaders needed to know about - nearby fishing fleets, the coronation of the new Lord Holder of Bitra, and that the Harperhall would soon be rotating journeymen. Hiromitsu sat through it patiently, taking it all in like a sponge, storing away everything to be checked over later.
“With Yukith and Rosath clutching so close together, Telgar Weyr has offered to house Rosath for the time being, since th-Oh, Taisuke, hello. What do you have there?”
Hiromitsu was suddenly very much at attention as Taisuke stood in the doorway. What was Taisuke doing here? It wasn’t until he noticed the parchment in Taisuke’s hand that it clicked. Fire lizards as a rule were not allowed in the council rooms of any Weyr, due to it being considered a breach in privacy. All urgent messages were instead hand-delivered. The parchment was still sealed though, which left Hiromitsu to wonder why Taisuke looked so tense and on edge.
“Please, sir, Benden’s Lord had this sent,” Taisuke said, handing the message over. But instead of leaving, he merely paused, as if needing to gather his wits, and then he said, “I was hoping that you would approve a transfer to Fort Weyr. For me.” And as he said this, his eyes shifted and he was looking straight at Hiromitsu.
Hiromitsu suddenly felt rather too warm in the room.
Hideaki raised an eyebrow in question, but smiled gently. “Let’s talk about this later.”
“Thank you, sir.” And with that, Taisuke turned on his heel and left, without so much as another glance at Hiromitsu. The sound of his boots quickly faded.
“I’m sorry, if you’d excuse me,” Hiromitsu said, lurching to his feet. The nerve. Asking the Weyrleader in front of every Benden wingleader, without having said anything to him first? Hiromitsu was out the door in mere seconds, ignoring whatever Hideaki was trying to say.
He caught Taisuke several hallways later, grabbing the other’s arm and jerking him up against the wall, not at all gently.
“What was that?” he hissed. “Were you just going to not tell me that you wanted to transfer out of my wing? Not just that, but out of the bloody Weyr?”
“It’s none of your business,” Taisuke snapped, trying to shove him off, but Hiromitsu merely pressed in so they were mere inches apart from each other. It made it easier to feel the tension rippling through Taisuke, and to realize that he seemed rather short of breath, distractedly so.
“The hell it is,” he said, growling. “I stayed away because the last time I did something, you shoved me into the blasted lake, but don’t think for one minute, Taisuke, that you can just walk away like this.”
And then it all clicked into place yet again, and this time the knowledge sent a fissure of pleasure down Hiromitsu’s spine. Without really thinking about what he was doing, he began to undo Taisuke’s trousers as he pressed a kiss to Taisuke’s mouth, hungrily.
But the thing was, Taisuke instantly responded, as eager as if his dragon was in flight, half hard and moving against Hiromitsu. Their kisses were messy, open mouthed, and more needy than Hiromitsu had realized.
It was fast and dirty, Taisuke mewling as he came all over Hiromitsu’s hand.
They stood there for a long moment, breaths mingling as they traded slower, lazier kisses. Hiromitsu wiped his hand clean on Taisuke’s shirt, ignoring the muted protest. Taisuke could head back to his weyr, but Hiromitsu still had the rest of the council to attend and while Hideaki and Tsubasa would probably both approve of what he was doing - in the name of keeping dragons in the weyr, of course - they would not approve of him shirking his duties.
He stepped away, watching as Taisuke tried to make himself decent, though even when he fixed his pants, he looked and smelled of sex.
Tamorith and Niketh both warbled approvingly and they both had to laugh, and for Hiromitsu, it was catharsis, because now he knew what he wanted to do.
“You know,” he said, catching Taisuke’s mouth again and kissing the smile away. “My weyr’s big enough for two dragons.”
It took two more kisses before Taisuke gasped in comprehension and then Hiromitsu withdrew, smiling. He couldn’t stay, already having left in the middle of a very important council, but it was a wrench having to walk away like that, leaving Taisuke against the wall with a choice to make.
There were several raised eyebrows and pointed looks when he returned to the room. He ignored them all, returning to his seat. But Tsubasa had a wicked, knowing smile on his face and Hiromitsu couldn’t help but smile back, confidently.
The council did run rather long and Hiromitsu was practically cross-eyed by the time he returned to his weyr. However, not so much that he didn’t notice who was napping next to Tamorith on his large stone slab.
But that was all forgotten when he leaned against the doorway to his weyr in smug victory, looking at the bed. Taisuke lay there asleep, the sleeping furs slipping off one bare shoulder, and he looked like he was right where he belonged.
♦♦♦
[The End]