Fic: Here Be Dragons - Part 2 of 2
Title: Here Be Dragons - Part 2 of 2
Author: Katica Locke
Pairing/Characters: Finch/Reese, Bear
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Reese has been moody and irritable lately. Can Finch help him, or is this problem too big for the both of them?
Warnings: Slash, Dragon!porn, General Cracktasticness
Word Count: 11,900
Author's Note: Hello all! I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season. I'm in the middle of winter break, since I work at an elementary school, and I have quite a bit of free time on my hands. Free time + eggnog + candy canes = rampant plotbunnies, which of course means some really weird fanfic. If you don't think you can handle dragon/human sex, please don't click on the spoiler link. I don't want to scar anyone, especially during the holidays. ^_^
The post is too large, so I had to split it into two.
Here Be Dragons - Part 1
Finch was groaning, panting, his hips rocking of their own volition, grinding his cock against Reese's rigid shaft, their eagerness leaving a slick smear on his stomach as the pre-come leaked from their cocks. When Reese finally raised his head, leaving Finch's lips kiss-swollen and tingling, it was all Finch could do not to shout Yes! in anticipation of Reese's next question.
"Are you ready?"
"I've never been so ready for anything in my life," Finch responded, drawing up his good leg and reaching down to pull the damaged one back as well, but Reese rose up, placing a hand on Finch's knee as he climbed off the bed.
"Not like that," Reese said. He fetched the little brown paper bag from off the floor and pulled out a bottle of lubricant, the plastic seal crackling as he peeled it away. "Lie on your side. I want you to be completely relaxed and comfortable." He helped Finch arrange the pillows under his head to support his neck, his hands wandering over Finch's body from shoulder to knee as he eased himself down on the bed behind Finch.
"How does this feel?" Reese asked, softly kissing the back of Finch's neck.
"Perfect," Finch said. He couldn't even begin to describe how good it felt, how right.
"Like we were meant to be together," Reese murmured, much to Finch's surprise.
"Yes. Exactly." He expected Reese to explain how it was dragon pheromones or something creating a mating bond between them, but apparently Reese was too preoccupied. Finch felt cool, slippery fingers slide between his cheeks and rub against his opening. He groaned and pushed back against Reese, encouraging him to get on with it. This wasn't his first rodeo. He and Nathan had been very close in college, until by mutual decision they had agreed to just be friends, Nathan so he wouldn't disappoint his conservative Texas parents and Finch so he could focus on his studies.
Reese worked one, then two fingers into him, probing deep and stretching the tight ring of muscles. Finch was trembling inside, his breaths coming short and fast as Reese withdrew his fingers and Finch felt the head of Reese's cock press against his entrance. He concentrated on staying relaxed as Reese wrapped one arm around his waist, holding him close as he eased inside. They both gasped as Reese sank smoothly into Finch's welcoming body, the sensation of being joined, of being filled by his lover, was enough to take Finch's breath away. Even the best times with Nathan never felt that good.
A low, pleased rumbled issued from Reese's chest, rattling Finch like a roll of thunder, as he adjusted the position of his arms, sliding one beneath Finch and reaching around to stroke Finch's straining cock, while the other hand slid over Finch's soft belly and furry chest, showering him with attention. Reese began to rock his hips, finding a strong, steady rhythm that filled Finch with a constant, trembling ache, the pleasure building within him like a volcano about to blow.
"Oh- Oh, John," he panted, clutching at Reese's arms, his blunt nails digging into Reese's skin. "I'm- I'm gonna-- Oh, I can't- I can't hold on--"
"Don't hold back," Reese growled, his lips against the rim of Finch's ear. "I want to make you come, Harold. Come for me."
Finch wasn't sure if it was Reese's command or just a culmination of the overwhelming physical sensations his body was being subjected to, but he cried out, his voice loud in the small room as he erupted, spilling himself into Reese's hand and onto the bed. Coated with his own thick, slippery seed, Finch shuddered and moaned as Reese stroked him through the waves of ecstasy, his hips twitching with each satisfying spurt.
Breathless and light-headed, Finch collapsed bonelessly back against Reese, his heart pounding against the inside of his chest as he struggled to form a coherent thought. "That...that was...amazing..." he finally managed.
"I'm glad," Reese murmured. "All I want is to make you feel good."
"What about you?" Finch asked, becoming aware of the solid length of Reese's cock still buried inside him. "Did you...?"
"No."
"It's okay if you do." Finch stroked a hand back and forth over the fingernail marks he'd left in Reese's arm. "I want you to."
"Not yet," Reese said, his voice low. "There's one more thing I have to do before we can truly be mates, and then, if you still want me to, I will."
"Of course I'll want you to. I want this to be just as good for you as it was for me." Then Finch realized how Reese had begun that sentence. "What else do you have to do?"
Reese pulled out of him and sat up, gently rolling Finch onto his back until Reese could lean down and kiss him, deep and passionate. There was something desperate in that kiss, like Reese feared it would be the last one they ever shared. Finch caught him by the back of the neck, his other hand cupping Reese's cheek as he kissed back.
When Reese finally pulled away, he had tear tracks on his face.
"What's wrong?" Finch whispered, wiping at the dampness.
"Dragons can't cry," Reese replied, his voice hoarse. "I love you so much, and I will never hurt you. Don't forget that."
"John, you're scaring me," Finch said, a chill racing over his skin as Reese climbed off the bed and backed toward the door, his dark blue eyes flickering as he stared at Finch as though unable to tear his gaze away. Finch struggled up, ignoring his own nakedness as he limped toward Reese, a weight in the pit of his stomach. Reese stared at him for a moment more, the longing in his face almost painful to behold, then he pulled the door open and stepped out. "John, wait," Finch called, but Reese closed the door behind himself.
Finch hobbled over and jerked the door open, emerging into the empty hallway. "John?" Reese didn't answer, but a noise drew Finch's attention toward the landing at the top of the staircase. He glanced down at himself, making a face at the sticky white smears on his skin, then turned and hurried back into the room to retrieve his glasses and his boxers. Pulling the shorts up, he headed for the stairs, determined to give Reese a piece of his mind about failing to communicate properly, but the lecture died on his lips as he emerged from the hallway into the open space of the landing and was confronted by the gleaming, serpentine body of a thirty-foot long sapphire blue dragon.
He was mostly neck and tail, with only about a third of his length being a body about as thick as a human waist, his front and back legs no longer than Finch's, but thick and muscular, with five powerful toes on each foot -- three facing forward and two back -- each tipped with a black, razor-sharp claw. Heart pounding, Finch tipped his head back, leaning backward as he followed the long neck up, the dragon's head towering over him. Dark blue eyes crackled with silver lightning under heavy ridges of thick scales, his head crowned with twin spiral horns of gleaming black, his long snout filled with inch-long, conical teeth.
Finch ran. He hadn't thought it possible for his battered body to move so fast, and it certainly wasn't pretty, but all the adrenaline coursing through his body sent him flying down the hall without even feeling the pain in his hip. He lunged into the crash room and slammed the door, leaning back against it as he tried to figure out what was making the strange wheezing sound in the room. He was alarmed to realize that it was himself, gasping for air. Putting his hands on his knees, he closed his eyes and tried to focus on taking slow, deep breaths. He needed to calm down. He was safe, he assured himself. The dragon wasn't going to hurt him. It was just Reese, after all--
"John!" Finch shouted, forcing himself upright and jerking the door back open. Now he felt the pain, like an icepick jammed into his hip joint, as he lurched back down the hall, a sick emptiness forming in the pit of his stomach as he emerged onto the landing and found no sign of Reese, the dragon or the man. "John? John, where are you? I'm sorry!"
"You don't have to be sorry, Finch," came the reply, Reese's voice distant but clearly him, even though it carried a resonance that it hadn't before. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you get involved. Just take Bear and go home. Forget this ever happened."
The library echoed terribly, but Finch could still get a general direction of the voice. He descended the stairs and headed down a dark, little used corridor, past offices and reading lounges and rooms full of neglected shelves.
"I can't forget, John," Finch said, well aware that Reese would be able to tell he was looking for him. "And I can't leave. I made a mistake. I reacted without thinking and I am so, so sorry. I've just never seen you like that before, not in person. Please, give me another chance." Reese didn't answer, but Finch heard a thump and a rustle coming from a room ahead and to his left. He hurried to the doorway. "John?"
"Don't come in here, Finch," Reese said, a note of panic in his voice. In the dark room, all Finch could see was an overturned sofa. He took a step forward. "Please, Harold. I couldn't bear to see that look on your face again." No doubt about it, Reese was in the room, his voice coming from behind the sofa. Finch reached out, feeling on either side of the doorway for the light switch. Luckily, the bulb in the overhead lamp still worked.
As the golden glow filled the room, Finch moved slowly over to the end of the sofa. He could see the tip of a long, whip-like tail lying on the threadbare carpet, then it slipped out of sight. Finch followed, rounding the end of the sofa to find the dark blue dragon coiled on the floor, his scales covered in dust as he tried to hide under the sofa cushions. Finch couldn't stop the tears that stung his eyes.
"Oh, John," he whispered, sinking to his knees near the long, horned head. He started to reach out.
"Don't," Reese said, the anguish in his voice tearing at Finch's heart. "Don't force yourself to touch me. I'm too different. I'm hideous. I'm a monster."
"No, you're not," Finch said. "You're beautiful." He placed his hand on Reese's neck, the scales smooth and cool to the touch. He let his fingertips glide along the dorsal ridge, then turned his attention to Reese's throat, the scales smaller, like wave-washed pebbles, except just under Reese's lower jaw, where a shadowed hollow of bare, leathery blue skin was exposed. He gently touched his fingertips to the skin. "What is this? Were you hurt?"
Reese raised his head, tilting it back so Finch could get a better look. "That's where I speak," he said, the skin tightening to reveal several corded structures underneath. "I don't have lips and a tongue to form sounds like a human, so they have to be made in my throat. The lack of scales allows for a wider range of sounds to be made."
"Like a bird," Finch said, fascinated. He raised his hand to trail his fingers along the underside of Reese's lower jaw, only to have Reese pull away.
"I'm glad I'm so interesting," he said. "When you're done gawking, could you please just go away?"
Finch stiffened, taken aback, but then he remembered what he was dealing with -- an adolescent dragon in the throes of teenage angst. Crossing his fingers that he wouldn't get his head bitten off, he grabbed Reese by one of his twisted horns and gave him a slight shake. "I said I was sorry. Maybe if you'd been a little less theatrical and a bit more forthcoming, I could have been prepared to walk out and find a dragon standing in the middle of my library. As far as instincts go, ours are a bit rusty, but we humans still have them, and you can't blame mine for kicking in. Now stop being such a damn drama queen and finish making me your mate." And even though his heart was already pounding, Finch dared to shove Reese's head to the side and lean down, sinking his teeth into a ridge of scales along the curve of Reese's jaw.
They were softer than he'd imagined, like biting into plastic, but as his teeth scraped over the surface, it made a sound like fingernails on a chalkboard, making Finch break out into full-body goose bumps, every hair standing on end. Beneath him, Reese rumbled, and Finch's heart crawled halfway up his throat before he realized that it wasn't a growl, it was a contented dragon's purr.
His jaw began to ache and he let go, tracing his fingertips over the marks he'd left in the soft surface of the scales. "I love you, John," he whispered, nuzzling the scaly cheek as he pulled Reese's sinuous neck against his chest, running his hands up and down the muscular length. There was a bit of drag, a roughness to the scales when he brushed them the wrong way, but not like he would have guessed. Reese's scales didn't overlap like shingles, like plates of armor, but fit together snugly, like cobblestones.
"Could you love me...even like this?" Reese asked.
"Of course," Finch answered automatically. "It doesn't matter what you look like--" He stopped, all the pieces suddenly clicking into place. "Is that what you have to do to finish making me your mate? Make love to me in this form?"
"It only needs to happen once and then I will never ask again, you have my word."
"All right," Finch said, surprising Reese and himself by how calm he sounded.
"Are you sure? It would mean my cock inside you...and a dragon's penis isn't shaped like a human's."
"Will it fit?"
"Yes."
"Then it's okay. John, I meant what I said -- I love you and I will do whatever it takes to help you." He kissed Reese on the side of his muzzle, then climbed to his feet, using the sofa for support. Once up, however, his analytical mind took over. "Um...how do you propose we do this, exactly? Should we go back to the crash room so I can lie down?"
"That room is too small," Reese said, slowly uncoiling himself, his scales whispering as they rubbed together, sounding a bit like distant violins warming up. "Were you terribly uncomfortable on your knees?"
"No, and if I kneel on a cushion, it should be fine." He wanted to ask if it would take long, but that seemed insensitive. He stripped off his boxers and knelt on one of the dusty sofa cushions, bracing his hands on the floor so that Reese could mount him.
"Spread your legs a bit more," Reese said, lining up his sinuous body alongside Finch. Finch widened his stance as much as he could without putting a strain on his hip. "That's good. Now, let's see if I can..." He trailed off, his neck twisted around as he watched himself thread his long tail between Finch's spread legs, sidling closer until they were hip to hip. Reese straightened his legs, rising up out of his crouch, and stepped sideways, so he straddled Finch. Finch closed his eyes, waiting.
Reese shifted backward, until he was sitting on his rump, with his tail slung forward between both of their legs. Finch opened his eyes as he felt a heavy scaled forefoot on his shoulder.
"Rise up on your knees and sit back on me," Reese said, pulling carefully at Finch's shoulder, mindful of the four-inch claws. Finch allowed himself to be maneuvered, his heart beating faster as the smooth, scaly body pressed against his ass, a slight bulge beneath the small ventral scales working between his parted cheeks.
"Is that it?" Finch asked.
"That's my cloaca," Reese said, coiling his body around in front of Finch. "It's the opening where my intestinal, urinary, and reproductive tracts all end. Here, lean on me."
Finch rested his forearms on the widest part of Reese's body, just back from his shoulders. "I know what a cloaca is. I just didn't realize that dragons had them."
"Birds do. So do reptiles. Dragons are kind of like both, but not really either. Are you comfortable?"
"Yes, actually. You make a nice chair." He laughed, trying to dispel his nerves. It didn't work.
"Just try to relax," Reese said, twisting his head back around so he could gently rub his long muzzle against Finch's cheek. "I'll be quick." Finch started to tell Reese not to rush on his account, but forgot what he was going to say as he felt the bulge beneath his ass begin to move. Something cool and slick pressed against his opening, and he shuddered as it eased inside. "Do you want me to stop?" Reese asked.
Finch shook his head. "No, it's fine. Just a little...different."
"That's only half of it," Reese said, which Finch didn't quite understand, until he felt something rub up behind his balls and push past them. He glanced down, staring at the long, shiny pink phallus that pulsed between his legs, throbbing in sync with the cock buried deep in his ass. Half of it...
"You have two cocks?" Finch asked.
"Technically, it's called a hemipenis, but yes, I have two shafts. Don't worry, you only need to have one of them inside you for the mating to be complete."
"Oh," Finch said. He hesitated, then reached down and touched the slippery shaft. "Does that feel good?"
"The tissue is filled with nerves just like a human penis," Reese replied, panting slight, the lightning dancing more rapidly within his dark eyes, "however, since the organ is held within my body, it doesn't get stimulated much and is very sensitive."
"So this must feel really good," Finch said, wrapping his hand around the exposed hemipenis and giving it several gentle strokes. Reese rumbled his pleasure, his eyes closing, but the light still glimmering through his eyelids. Finch could feel the muscles beneath his ass flex and both cocks withdrew, only to thrust forward again as a different muscle group tensed. It felt like someone was kneading Finch's backside as Reese found a rhythm, working Finch's tight and sore muscles even as he was filled again and again by the long dragon cock. He couldn't stop himself from moaning, his hips rocking as he pressed down with each upward thrust.
Suddenly, Finch cried out, his whole body bucking as the most indescribable, intensely pleasurable sensation that he'd ever felt washed over him. Reese stopped thrusting, but it didn't stop the tingling feeling in his ass, or the vague notion that something about Reese's cock had changed. Gasping for breath, he looked down at the other hemipenis, dragging his shaking hand up the shaft to the head, which had inexplicably become knobby, covered in sizable, rubbery bumps. He touched one and flinched back as a tingling sensation crept up his hand, almost like--
"Electricity?" he asked, glancing over at Reese, at the dancing lights in his eyes.
"It's not enough to do any damage, but I'll try to restrain it."
"Don't you dare, you daft lizard," Finch said, each breath shuddering through him as he held tight to Reese's body and rocked himself back and forth, biting his lip until he tasted blood as he fucked himself on Reese's cock. He glanced up to find Reese watching him, an indecipherable look on his draconic face. "Do I have to spell it out for you?" Finch asked, his voice tight as he fought to hold back the tide of ecstasy threatening to break free within him. "I like this. John, it feels amazing. I want you to fuck me and I promise, you're going to get sick of me begging to ride the dragon, because I don't think I could ever get enough of this. I want you, John. I love you."
Reese brought his scaled nose close to Finch's face, his forked tongue slipping out to flick against Finch's lip, tasting his blood. Finch let his lips part, one hand rising up to caress the dragon's face as he kissed the hard, unyielding lips. Dragons might not be able to kiss, but Finch damn well could, his tongue sliding against Reese's as the forked muscle darted in and out of his mouth.
Finch moaned as Reese began thrusting into him again, the knobs on the head of his cock rubbing inside Finch and discharging the electrical buildup, the sensation making Finch's toes curl and his body tremble. He reached down, pulling Reese's second shaft against his own and stroking them both. Reese began to rumble in his chest, his long tail snaking back and forth across the floor.
Suddenly, he pulled his head out of Finch's grasp, an electrical storm raging in his dark eyes as he lifted his nose toward the ceiling and bugled, the sound ringing out like a silver trumpet. His long body jerked, steely muscles bunching as he came, thick strings of pearly white semen splattering his sapphire scales as the cock in Finch's hand erupted, and Finch could feel just as much pumping deep within him, cool and slippery.
The sensation tipped him over the edge and he arched his back, adding his own contribution to the mess. Finch wasn't quite sure what happened next. One second, they were lost in orgasmic bliss, and the next Reese whipped his head around, his jaws parting. Finch caught a flash of pearly teeth, and then he felt Reese bite down across his chest, from his left shoulder to the right side of his ribs. Maybe it was all the endorphins and adrenaline in his system, but it didn't even hurt. All he could feel was a heavy pressure, making it hard to draw breath, and a warm tickling as blood ran down his front and back.
Slowly, he raised a hand, placing it on Reese's lower jaw, which was across his chest. Reese rumbled, and a moment later the light bulb overhead exploded, showering them with sparks and glass. The dark room lit up with blue-white light, arcs of electricity dancing over Reese's body and leaping out to scorch the sofa, the shelves, the walls, tongues of flame licking at the ancient wallpaper and upholstery as smoke filled the air. Finch could feel his skin prickling, could smell hair burning, and then everything went black.
It was only a few minutes before his eyes fluttered open, the smell of smoke thick in his nostrils. He felt strange, disconnected, and for some reason, he was lying on the floor. He wasn't sure if he could move and if it turned out that he couldn't, he wasn't ready to know yet, so he remained still. Across the room, he could see Reese, the dragon using his thick-scaled feet to smother the smoldering holes in the wallpaper. Reese glanced around, then turned toward him, slinking over with his head held low, his eyes dark, the electric flicker almost gone.
"I'm sorry," Reese said when he noticed that Finch's eyes were open. "I couldn't stop myself. I didn't know this would happen." Finch started to ask how bad it was, but just trying to open his mouth was a struggle. His jaw felt heavy and stiff. Was he burned? "Don't try to talk," Reese said. "That's going to take some time. I think. I don't know how this is supposed to work. I've never heard of it happening before. I mean, of course I've heard of it, all dragons have heard the story, but it's just a story. It's a fairy tale dragon parents tell their hatchlings, it's not supposed to happen!" He sounded nearly hysterical and it was scaring the hell out of Finch.
Summoning all the strength he could muster, Finch drew his arms beneath him and pushed his shoulders up off the floor, raising his head as high as it would go. He inexplicably found himself looking down on the room. Reese slowly straightened up, his long neck bringing him eye to eye with Finch. Finch swallowed hard and tried to lick his dry lips, but he had very little spit, a slender forked tongue, and no lips. Heart pounding, he turned his head, looking back at himself out of the corner of his eye.
The long, serpentine body of a deep, dark purple dragon shifted with agitation, the slender tail snaking across the floor as Finch pulled his feet under him and stood, staggering slightly as he tried to comprehend that standing now involved four feet on the ground. He lowered his head, twisting his neck around until he could see the smooth amethyst scales, each one reflecting the flickers of lightning in his own eyes.
"Harold?" Reese said, his voice quiet.
Finch turned back toward him. He started to open his mouth, then closed it again. "I'm a dragon," he said, his own voice issuing from the bare skin at his throat. It was strange, talking without moving his mouth, but not really something he had to think about. In fact, the less he thought about it, the easier it was. "You turned me into a dragon."
"And I'm sorry," Reese said, lowering his head penitently.
Finch's head was spinning. "How?"
"I don't know..."
"What does the story say?"
"It was so long ago, I can't-- Wait...It's about a dragon. Usually a lonely dragoness in a land without any other dragons. She takes human form and goes to live in a city, but on the way she's attacked by bandits or pirates or something. She doesn't have the energy to change back to a dragon and it looks like she'll be killed, when a handsome prince comes to her rescue. They fall in love and are married and live happily for many years.
"Then, one day, the dragoness reaches sexual maturity and must find a mate. She tells her husband the truth about what she is, but he loves her so much he offers to be her mate. She reveals her true form to him, but his love is truly unconditional. They mark each other and share blood, then they mate and in their combined throes of ecstasy, she bites him and he turns into a dragon and they live happily ever after."
Reese looked up at him. "If I had thought for even a moment that the story might be true-- but I didn't even remember it. I haven't heard it in more than seven hundred and fifty years."
Finch looked back over his slinky, muscular body -- looked with eyes that could see without glasses, his head turned one hundred and eighty degrees on a neck without pins -- and flexed a hip that had never been shattered. He turned back to Reese.
"You really are a daft lizard," Finch said, taking an unsteady step toward him, and then a stronger one. "You have no reason to be sorry. I can see. I can walk. I can do this." He twined his neck around Reese's, their scales rubbing together and sending a pleasurable shudder racing through his amazing new body, stopping with his cheek resting against Reese's. He felt that happy rumble in his chest and it took a moment to realize that the sound was coming from him. "You have nothing to be sorry for."
"I could have killed you," Reese said. "I didn't know that this would happen, I was just overcome with a need to bite."
"If I can ask you to forgive me for being overcome by my instincts, then I can't very well hold it against you when you fall victim to yours."
Reese began to rumble and rolled his neck, the entire muscular length rubbing against Finch. "Do you know what this means?"
"I'll be able to wear a dozen ties at once?"
"Yes," Reese said with a laugh, "although good luck tying a Windsor knot with your new claws. No, I was thinking that, since you're now a dragon, you won't have to worry about little things like illness and old age."
Finch swallowed hard. "How long did you say dragons could live?"
"Ten or twenty thousand years. Or more. There's a dragon in Turkey who claims to be twenty-seven thousand. Harold? Are you all right?"
Finch had unwrapped himself from Reese and taken an unsteady step backward, almost stepping on his own tail. Twenty thousand years. He tried to think back over the past twenty thousand years of human history, and then to imagine where technology and innovation would take them in the future. Men on Mars? Colonies on the moon? World War III? The slow death of the planet? The possibility that he could live to see it was staggering. But would he?
"We could still be killed though," he said in a low voice. "Tomorrow, we both could die."
"Well, we're a bit tougher than the average human, but yes, we're still only flesh and blood. Mortal." He stretched out his neck and rubbed the side of his muzzle against Finch's cheek, a comforting gesture. "This changes things, doesn't it? Do you want to quit?"
Finch just stood there, staring at him, an ache in his chest as he struggled to form the words he desperately wanted to say. In the end, he couldn't. "How can I?" he asked. "The thought of carrying this knowledge, of being consumed by the guilt, for the rest of my human life was unbearable. To bear it for two hundred lifetimes? I think I'd rather die tomorrow."
"I know," Reese said. "You just looked like you needed to say it. Now, how about we try to get you back into human form so we can get Bear and go home? I don't know about you, but I want sex and food, although not necessarily in that order."
Finch laughed, but the heaviness in his chest remained. "I am hungry, come to think of it," he said. "I had just eaten lunch before all this started, too."
"Shape-shifting takes a lot of energy," Reese explained. "We're going to be absolutely famished when this is over, so try not to eat Bear, okay?"
"I wouldn't!" Finch exclaimed, recoiling in horror. "Would I? John, am I going to have to worry about eating people now?" Now it was Reese's turn to laugh.
"Just teasing you, Finch," he said. "We have pretty strong predatory instincts, but we're not wired to see humans as prey animals. Or dogs, for that matter. Deer, elk, rabbits, fish -- especially fish -- are our main prey. Maybe we can even go hunting sometime. It helps to blow off some steam and quiet the natural urges."
"It's good to hear that I won't start stalking Fusco any time soon," Finch said dryly, lashing his tail to show just how un-amused he was by Reese's joke.
"That sounds like it could be fun, actually," Reese said, his eyes flashing. "Later, though. We've got work to do."
It took the better part of an hour for Finch to change back into a human. The change itself didn't take that long -- barely longer than the blink of an eye, actually -- but trying too hard made it more difficult than it needed to be. It didn't help that Reese kept describing the process in reverse, as his experience stemmed from changing from a natural dragon into a human, and Finch needed to do the opposite.
When it was done, they both sat on the dusty floor, covered in cold sweat, completely exhausted, bare-ass naked, and for Finch, at least, immensely relieved. He couldn't believe that a prison could feel so comfortable, that he'd be so glad to return to his broken body. The dragon was wonderful, powerful, and freeing, but this was home. He found his glasses and his boxers, he and Reese leaning heavily on each other as they climbed to their feet.
"My place or yours?" Reese asked as they slowly made their way back upstairs to the crash room.
"Very few of mine have any food in them," Finch said, placing a hand over his gurgling stomach. "Isn't there a butcher shop a few blocks from your loft?"
"My place it is," Reese said with a chuckle. "You want pork, lamb, veal--"
"Steak," Finch said, pausing halfway up the staircase to catch his breath. "Lean and thick."
"Rare?" Reese asked, stopping beside him to wait.
"I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet," Finch replied. He took a deep breath and soldiered on. "Medium-rare. Just throw it into a hot skillet and let the outside brown. It seals in the juices."
"Stop talking about food," Reese said, pretending to wipe saliva off his chin. They dressed and gathered their things, Reese tucking the bottle of lube into his coat pocket with a grin and wink at Finch. There was just one more thing that they had to do.
They stood outside the closed office door, just staring at it for a moment. "What if he's afraid of me now?" Finch asked, running Bear's leash through his hands.
"He won't be," Reese said, placing a reassuring hand on Finch's shoulder. "He wasn't afraid of me until I started changing, and now that that's over with, he should be fine." But he still remained back from the door as Finch limped forward. Finch opened the door, then drew back, not wanting to make the dog feel trapped or threatened.
"C'mon, Bear," Finch said, patting the side of his thigh. "Where's my good boy? Do you want to go for a walk?" He knew the Dutch commands to order Bear out of the office, but he didn't want to put that kind of pressure on him. Luckily, the 'W' word did the trick. Bear poked his head out from under the desk, his ears pricked forward. Finch jingled the leash and Bear came trotting out of the room. He paused a few feet back, his nose twitching as he scented the air, then bounded over, licking their hands before turning a few excited circles and barking happily.
Finch glanced over at Reese, both of them smiling in relief, and then clipped the leash onto Bear's collar. As they headed down the hall toward the stairs, Reese reached out and took Finch's hand, their fingers entwining. Finch rumbled with contentment. Dragons really were tactile creatures.
Author: Katica Locke
Pairing/Characters: Finch/Reese, Bear
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Reese has been moody and irritable lately. Can Finch help him, or is this problem too big for the both of them?
Warnings: Slash, Dragon!porn, General Cracktasticness
Word Count: 11,900
Author's Note: Hello all! I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season. I'm in the middle of winter break, since I work at an elementary school, and I have quite a bit of free time on my hands. Free time + eggnog + candy canes = rampant plotbunnies, which of course means some really weird fanfic. If you don't think you can handle dragon/human sex, please don't click on the spoiler link. I don't want to scar anyone, especially during the holidays. ^_^
The post is too large, so I had to split it into two.
Here Be Dragons - Part 1
Finch was groaning, panting, his hips rocking of their own volition, grinding his cock against Reese's rigid shaft, their eagerness leaving a slick smear on his stomach as the pre-come leaked from their cocks. When Reese finally raised his head, leaving Finch's lips kiss-swollen and tingling, it was all Finch could do not to shout Yes! in anticipation of Reese's next question.
"Are you ready?"
"I've never been so ready for anything in my life," Finch responded, drawing up his good leg and reaching down to pull the damaged one back as well, but Reese rose up, placing a hand on Finch's knee as he climbed off the bed.
"Not like that," Reese said. He fetched the little brown paper bag from off the floor and pulled out a bottle of lubricant, the plastic seal crackling as he peeled it away. "Lie on your side. I want you to be completely relaxed and comfortable." He helped Finch arrange the pillows under his head to support his neck, his hands wandering over Finch's body from shoulder to knee as he eased himself down on the bed behind Finch.
"How does this feel?" Reese asked, softly kissing the back of Finch's neck.
"Perfect," Finch said. He couldn't even begin to describe how good it felt, how right.
"Like we were meant to be together," Reese murmured, much to Finch's surprise.
"Yes. Exactly." He expected Reese to explain how it was dragon pheromones or something creating a mating bond between them, but apparently Reese was too preoccupied. Finch felt cool, slippery fingers slide between his cheeks and rub against his opening. He groaned and pushed back against Reese, encouraging him to get on with it. This wasn't his first rodeo. He and Nathan had been very close in college, until by mutual decision they had agreed to just be friends, Nathan so he wouldn't disappoint his conservative Texas parents and Finch so he could focus on his studies.
Reese worked one, then two fingers into him, probing deep and stretching the tight ring of muscles. Finch was trembling inside, his breaths coming short and fast as Reese withdrew his fingers and Finch felt the head of Reese's cock press against his entrance. He concentrated on staying relaxed as Reese wrapped one arm around his waist, holding him close as he eased inside. They both gasped as Reese sank smoothly into Finch's welcoming body, the sensation of being joined, of being filled by his lover, was enough to take Finch's breath away. Even the best times with Nathan never felt that good.
A low, pleased rumbled issued from Reese's chest, rattling Finch like a roll of thunder, as he adjusted the position of his arms, sliding one beneath Finch and reaching around to stroke Finch's straining cock, while the other hand slid over Finch's soft belly and furry chest, showering him with attention. Reese began to rock his hips, finding a strong, steady rhythm that filled Finch with a constant, trembling ache, the pleasure building within him like a volcano about to blow.
"Oh- Oh, John," he panted, clutching at Reese's arms, his blunt nails digging into Reese's skin. "I'm- I'm gonna-- Oh, I can't- I can't hold on--"
"Don't hold back," Reese growled, his lips against the rim of Finch's ear. "I want to make you come, Harold. Come for me."
Finch wasn't sure if it was Reese's command or just a culmination of the overwhelming physical sensations his body was being subjected to, but he cried out, his voice loud in the small room as he erupted, spilling himself into Reese's hand and onto the bed. Coated with his own thick, slippery seed, Finch shuddered and moaned as Reese stroked him through the waves of ecstasy, his hips twitching with each satisfying spurt.
Breathless and light-headed, Finch collapsed bonelessly back against Reese, his heart pounding against the inside of his chest as he struggled to form a coherent thought. "That...that was...amazing..." he finally managed.
"I'm glad," Reese murmured. "All I want is to make you feel good."
"What about you?" Finch asked, becoming aware of the solid length of Reese's cock still buried inside him. "Did you...?"
"No."
"It's okay if you do." Finch stroked a hand back and forth over the fingernail marks he'd left in Reese's arm. "I want you to."
"Not yet," Reese said, his voice low. "There's one more thing I have to do before we can truly be mates, and then, if you still want me to, I will."
"Of course I'll want you to. I want this to be just as good for you as it was for me." Then Finch realized how Reese had begun that sentence. "What else do you have to do?"
Reese pulled out of him and sat up, gently rolling Finch onto his back until Reese could lean down and kiss him, deep and passionate. There was something desperate in that kiss, like Reese feared it would be the last one they ever shared. Finch caught him by the back of the neck, his other hand cupping Reese's cheek as he kissed back.
When Reese finally pulled away, he had tear tracks on his face.
"What's wrong?" Finch whispered, wiping at the dampness.
"Dragons can't cry," Reese replied, his voice hoarse. "I love you so much, and I will never hurt you. Don't forget that."
"John, you're scaring me," Finch said, a chill racing over his skin as Reese climbed off the bed and backed toward the door, his dark blue eyes flickering as he stared at Finch as though unable to tear his gaze away. Finch struggled up, ignoring his own nakedness as he limped toward Reese, a weight in the pit of his stomach. Reese stared at him for a moment more, the longing in his face almost painful to behold, then he pulled the door open and stepped out. "John, wait," Finch called, but Reese closed the door behind himself.
Finch hobbled over and jerked the door open, emerging into the empty hallway. "John?" Reese didn't answer, but a noise drew Finch's attention toward the landing at the top of the staircase. He glanced down at himself, making a face at the sticky white smears on his skin, then turned and hurried back into the room to retrieve his glasses and his boxers. Pulling the shorts up, he headed for the stairs, determined to give Reese a piece of his mind about failing to communicate properly, but the lecture died on his lips as he emerged from the hallway into the open space of the landing and was confronted by the gleaming, serpentine body of a thirty-foot long sapphire blue dragon.
He was mostly neck and tail, with only about a third of his length being a body about as thick as a human waist, his front and back legs no longer than Finch's, but thick and muscular, with five powerful toes on each foot -- three facing forward and two back -- each tipped with a black, razor-sharp claw. Heart pounding, Finch tipped his head back, leaning backward as he followed the long neck up, the dragon's head towering over him. Dark blue eyes crackled with silver lightning under heavy ridges of thick scales, his head crowned with twin spiral horns of gleaming black, his long snout filled with inch-long, conical teeth.
Finch ran. He hadn't thought it possible for his battered body to move so fast, and it certainly wasn't pretty, but all the adrenaline coursing through his body sent him flying down the hall without even feeling the pain in his hip. He lunged into the crash room and slammed the door, leaning back against it as he tried to figure out what was making the strange wheezing sound in the room. He was alarmed to realize that it was himself, gasping for air. Putting his hands on his knees, he closed his eyes and tried to focus on taking slow, deep breaths. He needed to calm down. He was safe, he assured himself. The dragon wasn't going to hurt him. It was just Reese, after all--
"John!" Finch shouted, forcing himself upright and jerking the door back open. Now he felt the pain, like an icepick jammed into his hip joint, as he lurched back down the hall, a sick emptiness forming in the pit of his stomach as he emerged onto the landing and found no sign of Reese, the dragon or the man. "John? John, where are you? I'm sorry!"
"You don't have to be sorry, Finch," came the reply, Reese's voice distant but clearly him, even though it carried a resonance that it hadn't before. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you get involved. Just take Bear and go home. Forget this ever happened."
The library echoed terribly, but Finch could still get a general direction of the voice. He descended the stairs and headed down a dark, little used corridor, past offices and reading lounges and rooms full of neglected shelves.
"I can't forget, John," Finch said, well aware that Reese would be able to tell he was looking for him. "And I can't leave. I made a mistake. I reacted without thinking and I am so, so sorry. I've just never seen you like that before, not in person. Please, give me another chance." Reese didn't answer, but Finch heard a thump and a rustle coming from a room ahead and to his left. He hurried to the doorway. "John?"
"Don't come in here, Finch," Reese said, a note of panic in his voice. In the dark room, all Finch could see was an overturned sofa. He took a step forward. "Please, Harold. I couldn't bear to see that look on your face again." No doubt about it, Reese was in the room, his voice coming from behind the sofa. Finch reached out, feeling on either side of the doorway for the light switch. Luckily, the bulb in the overhead lamp still worked.
As the golden glow filled the room, Finch moved slowly over to the end of the sofa. He could see the tip of a long, whip-like tail lying on the threadbare carpet, then it slipped out of sight. Finch followed, rounding the end of the sofa to find the dark blue dragon coiled on the floor, his scales covered in dust as he tried to hide under the sofa cushions. Finch couldn't stop the tears that stung his eyes.
"Oh, John," he whispered, sinking to his knees near the long, horned head. He started to reach out.
"Don't," Reese said, the anguish in his voice tearing at Finch's heart. "Don't force yourself to touch me. I'm too different. I'm hideous. I'm a monster."
"No, you're not," Finch said. "You're beautiful." He placed his hand on Reese's neck, the scales smooth and cool to the touch. He let his fingertips glide along the dorsal ridge, then turned his attention to Reese's throat, the scales smaller, like wave-washed pebbles, except just under Reese's lower jaw, where a shadowed hollow of bare, leathery blue skin was exposed. He gently touched his fingertips to the skin. "What is this? Were you hurt?"
Reese raised his head, tilting it back so Finch could get a better look. "That's where I speak," he said, the skin tightening to reveal several corded structures underneath. "I don't have lips and a tongue to form sounds like a human, so they have to be made in my throat. The lack of scales allows for a wider range of sounds to be made."
"Like a bird," Finch said, fascinated. He raised his hand to trail his fingers along the underside of Reese's lower jaw, only to have Reese pull away.
"I'm glad I'm so interesting," he said. "When you're done gawking, could you please just go away?"
Finch stiffened, taken aback, but then he remembered what he was dealing with -- an adolescent dragon in the throes of teenage angst. Crossing his fingers that he wouldn't get his head bitten off, he grabbed Reese by one of his twisted horns and gave him a slight shake. "I said I was sorry. Maybe if you'd been a little less theatrical and a bit more forthcoming, I could have been prepared to walk out and find a dragon standing in the middle of my library. As far as instincts go, ours are a bit rusty, but we humans still have them, and you can't blame mine for kicking in. Now stop being such a damn drama queen and finish making me your mate." And even though his heart was already pounding, Finch dared to shove Reese's head to the side and lean down, sinking his teeth into a ridge of scales along the curve of Reese's jaw.
They were softer than he'd imagined, like biting into plastic, but as his teeth scraped over the surface, it made a sound like fingernails on a chalkboard, making Finch break out into full-body goose bumps, every hair standing on end. Beneath him, Reese rumbled, and Finch's heart crawled halfway up his throat before he realized that it wasn't a growl, it was a contented dragon's purr.
His jaw began to ache and he let go, tracing his fingertips over the marks he'd left in the soft surface of the scales. "I love you, John," he whispered, nuzzling the scaly cheek as he pulled Reese's sinuous neck against his chest, running his hands up and down the muscular length. There was a bit of drag, a roughness to the scales when he brushed them the wrong way, but not like he would have guessed. Reese's scales didn't overlap like shingles, like plates of armor, but fit together snugly, like cobblestones.
"Could you love me...even like this?" Reese asked.
"Of course," Finch answered automatically. "It doesn't matter what you look like--" He stopped, all the pieces suddenly clicking into place. "Is that what you have to do to finish making me your mate? Make love to me in this form?"
"It only needs to happen once and then I will never ask again, you have my word."
"All right," Finch said, surprising Reese and himself by how calm he sounded.
"Are you sure? It would mean my cock inside you...and a dragon's penis isn't shaped like a human's."
"Will it fit?"
"Yes."
"Then it's okay. John, I meant what I said -- I love you and I will do whatever it takes to help you." He kissed Reese on the side of his muzzle, then climbed to his feet, using the sofa for support. Once up, however, his analytical mind took over. "Um...how do you propose we do this, exactly? Should we go back to the crash room so I can lie down?"
"That room is too small," Reese said, slowly uncoiling himself, his scales whispering as they rubbed together, sounding a bit like distant violins warming up. "Were you terribly uncomfortable on your knees?"
"No, and if I kneel on a cushion, it should be fine." He wanted to ask if it would take long, but that seemed insensitive. He stripped off his boxers and knelt on one of the dusty sofa cushions, bracing his hands on the floor so that Reese could mount him.
"Spread your legs a bit more," Reese said, lining up his sinuous body alongside Finch. Finch widened his stance as much as he could without putting a strain on his hip. "That's good. Now, let's see if I can..." He trailed off, his neck twisted around as he watched himself thread his long tail between Finch's spread legs, sidling closer until they were hip to hip. Reese straightened his legs, rising up out of his crouch, and stepped sideways, so he straddled Finch. Finch closed his eyes, waiting.
Reese shifted backward, until he was sitting on his rump, with his tail slung forward between both of their legs. Finch opened his eyes as he felt a heavy scaled forefoot on his shoulder.
"Rise up on your knees and sit back on me," Reese said, pulling carefully at Finch's shoulder, mindful of the four-inch claws. Finch allowed himself to be maneuvered, his heart beating faster as the smooth, scaly body pressed against his ass, a slight bulge beneath the small ventral scales working between his parted cheeks.
"Is that it?" Finch asked.
"That's my cloaca," Reese said, coiling his body around in front of Finch. "It's the opening where my intestinal, urinary, and reproductive tracts all end. Here, lean on me."
Finch rested his forearms on the widest part of Reese's body, just back from his shoulders. "I know what a cloaca is. I just didn't realize that dragons had them."
"Birds do. So do reptiles. Dragons are kind of like both, but not really either. Are you comfortable?"
"Yes, actually. You make a nice chair." He laughed, trying to dispel his nerves. It didn't work.
"Just try to relax," Reese said, twisting his head back around so he could gently rub his long muzzle against Finch's cheek. "I'll be quick." Finch started to tell Reese not to rush on his account, but forgot what he was going to say as he felt the bulge beneath his ass begin to move. Something cool and slick pressed against his opening, and he shuddered as it eased inside. "Do you want me to stop?" Reese asked.
Finch shook his head. "No, it's fine. Just a little...different."
"That's only half of it," Reese said, which Finch didn't quite understand, until he felt something rub up behind his balls and push past them. He glanced down, staring at the long, shiny pink phallus that pulsed between his legs, throbbing in sync with the cock buried deep in his ass. Half of it...
"You have two cocks?" Finch asked.
"Technically, it's called a hemipenis, but yes, I have two shafts. Don't worry, you only need to have one of them inside you for the mating to be complete."
"Oh," Finch said. He hesitated, then reached down and touched the slippery shaft. "Does that feel good?"
"The tissue is filled with nerves just like a human penis," Reese replied, panting slight, the lightning dancing more rapidly within his dark eyes, "however, since the organ is held within my body, it doesn't get stimulated much and is very sensitive."
"So this must feel really good," Finch said, wrapping his hand around the exposed hemipenis and giving it several gentle strokes. Reese rumbled his pleasure, his eyes closing, but the light still glimmering through his eyelids. Finch could feel the muscles beneath his ass flex and both cocks withdrew, only to thrust forward again as a different muscle group tensed. It felt like someone was kneading Finch's backside as Reese found a rhythm, working Finch's tight and sore muscles even as he was filled again and again by the long dragon cock. He couldn't stop himself from moaning, his hips rocking as he pressed down with each upward thrust.
Suddenly, Finch cried out, his whole body bucking as the most indescribable, intensely pleasurable sensation that he'd ever felt washed over him. Reese stopped thrusting, but it didn't stop the tingling feeling in his ass, or the vague notion that something about Reese's cock had changed. Gasping for breath, he looked down at the other hemipenis, dragging his shaking hand up the shaft to the head, which had inexplicably become knobby, covered in sizable, rubbery bumps. He touched one and flinched back as a tingling sensation crept up his hand, almost like--
"Electricity?" he asked, glancing over at Reese, at the dancing lights in his eyes.
"It's not enough to do any damage, but I'll try to restrain it."
"Don't you dare, you daft lizard," Finch said, each breath shuddering through him as he held tight to Reese's body and rocked himself back and forth, biting his lip until he tasted blood as he fucked himself on Reese's cock. He glanced up to find Reese watching him, an indecipherable look on his draconic face. "Do I have to spell it out for you?" Finch asked, his voice tight as he fought to hold back the tide of ecstasy threatening to break free within him. "I like this. John, it feels amazing. I want you to fuck me and I promise, you're going to get sick of me begging to ride the dragon, because I don't think I could ever get enough of this. I want you, John. I love you."
Reese brought his scaled nose close to Finch's face, his forked tongue slipping out to flick against Finch's lip, tasting his blood. Finch let his lips part, one hand rising up to caress the dragon's face as he kissed the hard, unyielding lips. Dragons might not be able to kiss, but Finch damn well could, his tongue sliding against Reese's as the forked muscle darted in and out of his mouth.
Finch moaned as Reese began thrusting into him again, the knobs on the head of his cock rubbing inside Finch and discharging the electrical buildup, the sensation making Finch's toes curl and his body tremble. He reached down, pulling Reese's second shaft against his own and stroking them both. Reese began to rumble in his chest, his long tail snaking back and forth across the floor.
Suddenly, he pulled his head out of Finch's grasp, an electrical storm raging in his dark eyes as he lifted his nose toward the ceiling and bugled, the sound ringing out like a silver trumpet. His long body jerked, steely muscles bunching as he came, thick strings of pearly white semen splattering his sapphire scales as the cock in Finch's hand erupted, and Finch could feel just as much pumping deep within him, cool and slippery.
The sensation tipped him over the edge and he arched his back, adding his own contribution to the mess. Finch wasn't quite sure what happened next. One second, they were lost in orgasmic bliss, and the next Reese whipped his head around, his jaws parting. Finch caught a flash of pearly teeth, and then he felt Reese bite down across his chest, from his left shoulder to the right side of his ribs. Maybe it was all the endorphins and adrenaline in his system, but it didn't even hurt. All he could feel was a heavy pressure, making it hard to draw breath, and a warm tickling as blood ran down his front and back.
Slowly, he raised a hand, placing it on Reese's lower jaw, which was across his chest. Reese rumbled, and a moment later the light bulb overhead exploded, showering them with sparks and glass. The dark room lit up with blue-white light, arcs of electricity dancing over Reese's body and leaping out to scorch the sofa, the shelves, the walls, tongues of flame licking at the ancient wallpaper and upholstery as smoke filled the air. Finch could feel his skin prickling, could smell hair burning, and then everything went black.
It was only a few minutes before his eyes fluttered open, the smell of smoke thick in his nostrils. He felt strange, disconnected, and for some reason, he was lying on the floor. He wasn't sure if he could move and if it turned out that he couldn't, he wasn't ready to know yet, so he remained still. Across the room, he could see Reese, the dragon using his thick-scaled feet to smother the smoldering holes in the wallpaper. Reese glanced around, then turned toward him, slinking over with his head held low, his eyes dark, the electric flicker almost gone.
"I'm sorry," Reese said when he noticed that Finch's eyes were open. "I couldn't stop myself. I didn't know this would happen." Finch started to ask how bad it was, but just trying to open his mouth was a struggle. His jaw felt heavy and stiff. Was he burned? "Don't try to talk," Reese said. "That's going to take some time. I think. I don't know how this is supposed to work. I've never heard of it happening before. I mean, of course I've heard of it, all dragons have heard the story, but it's just a story. It's a fairy tale dragon parents tell their hatchlings, it's not supposed to happen!" He sounded nearly hysterical and it was scaring the hell out of Finch.
Summoning all the strength he could muster, Finch drew his arms beneath him and pushed his shoulders up off the floor, raising his head as high as it would go. He inexplicably found himself looking down on the room. Reese slowly straightened up, his long neck bringing him eye to eye with Finch. Finch swallowed hard and tried to lick his dry lips, but he had very little spit, a slender forked tongue, and no lips. Heart pounding, he turned his head, looking back at himself out of the corner of his eye.
The long, serpentine body of a deep, dark purple dragon shifted with agitation, the slender tail snaking across the floor as Finch pulled his feet under him and stood, staggering slightly as he tried to comprehend that standing now involved four feet on the ground. He lowered his head, twisting his neck around until he could see the smooth amethyst scales, each one reflecting the flickers of lightning in his own eyes.
"Harold?" Reese said, his voice quiet.
Finch turned back toward him. He started to open his mouth, then closed it again. "I'm a dragon," he said, his own voice issuing from the bare skin at his throat. It was strange, talking without moving his mouth, but not really something he had to think about. In fact, the less he thought about it, the easier it was. "You turned me into a dragon."
"And I'm sorry," Reese said, lowering his head penitently.
Finch's head was spinning. "How?"
"I don't know..."
"What does the story say?"
"It was so long ago, I can't-- Wait...It's about a dragon. Usually a lonely dragoness in a land without any other dragons. She takes human form and goes to live in a city, but on the way she's attacked by bandits or pirates or something. She doesn't have the energy to change back to a dragon and it looks like she'll be killed, when a handsome prince comes to her rescue. They fall in love and are married and live happily for many years.
"Then, one day, the dragoness reaches sexual maturity and must find a mate. She tells her husband the truth about what she is, but he loves her so much he offers to be her mate. She reveals her true form to him, but his love is truly unconditional. They mark each other and share blood, then they mate and in their combined throes of ecstasy, she bites him and he turns into a dragon and they live happily ever after."
Reese looked up at him. "If I had thought for even a moment that the story might be true-- but I didn't even remember it. I haven't heard it in more than seven hundred and fifty years."
Finch looked back over his slinky, muscular body -- looked with eyes that could see without glasses, his head turned one hundred and eighty degrees on a neck without pins -- and flexed a hip that had never been shattered. He turned back to Reese.
"You really are a daft lizard," Finch said, taking an unsteady step toward him, and then a stronger one. "You have no reason to be sorry. I can see. I can walk. I can do this." He twined his neck around Reese's, their scales rubbing together and sending a pleasurable shudder racing through his amazing new body, stopping with his cheek resting against Reese's. He felt that happy rumble in his chest and it took a moment to realize that the sound was coming from him. "You have nothing to be sorry for."
"I could have killed you," Reese said. "I didn't know that this would happen, I was just overcome with a need to bite."
"If I can ask you to forgive me for being overcome by my instincts, then I can't very well hold it against you when you fall victim to yours."
Reese began to rumble and rolled his neck, the entire muscular length rubbing against Finch. "Do you know what this means?"
"I'll be able to wear a dozen ties at once?"
"Yes," Reese said with a laugh, "although good luck tying a Windsor knot with your new claws. No, I was thinking that, since you're now a dragon, you won't have to worry about little things like illness and old age."
Finch swallowed hard. "How long did you say dragons could live?"
"Ten or twenty thousand years. Or more. There's a dragon in Turkey who claims to be twenty-seven thousand. Harold? Are you all right?"
Finch had unwrapped himself from Reese and taken an unsteady step backward, almost stepping on his own tail. Twenty thousand years. He tried to think back over the past twenty thousand years of human history, and then to imagine where technology and innovation would take them in the future. Men on Mars? Colonies on the moon? World War III? The slow death of the planet? The possibility that he could live to see it was staggering. But would he?
"We could still be killed though," he said in a low voice. "Tomorrow, we both could die."
"Well, we're a bit tougher than the average human, but yes, we're still only flesh and blood. Mortal." He stretched out his neck and rubbed the side of his muzzle against Finch's cheek, a comforting gesture. "This changes things, doesn't it? Do you want to quit?"
Finch just stood there, staring at him, an ache in his chest as he struggled to form the words he desperately wanted to say. In the end, he couldn't. "How can I?" he asked. "The thought of carrying this knowledge, of being consumed by the guilt, for the rest of my human life was unbearable. To bear it for two hundred lifetimes? I think I'd rather die tomorrow."
"I know," Reese said. "You just looked like you needed to say it. Now, how about we try to get you back into human form so we can get Bear and go home? I don't know about you, but I want sex and food, although not necessarily in that order."
Finch laughed, but the heaviness in his chest remained. "I am hungry, come to think of it," he said. "I had just eaten lunch before all this started, too."
"Shape-shifting takes a lot of energy," Reese explained. "We're going to be absolutely famished when this is over, so try not to eat Bear, okay?"
"I wouldn't!" Finch exclaimed, recoiling in horror. "Would I? John, am I going to have to worry about eating people now?" Now it was Reese's turn to laugh.
"Just teasing you, Finch," he said. "We have pretty strong predatory instincts, but we're not wired to see humans as prey animals. Or dogs, for that matter. Deer, elk, rabbits, fish -- especially fish -- are our main prey. Maybe we can even go hunting sometime. It helps to blow off some steam and quiet the natural urges."
"It's good to hear that I won't start stalking Fusco any time soon," Finch said dryly, lashing his tail to show just how un-amused he was by Reese's joke.
"That sounds like it could be fun, actually," Reese said, his eyes flashing. "Later, though. We've got work to do."
It took the better part of an hour for Finch to change back into a human. The change itself didn't take that long -- barely longer than the blink of an eye, actually -- but trying too hard made it more difficult than it needed to be. It didn't help that Reese kept describing the process in reverse, as his experience stemmed from changing from a natural dragon into a human, and Finch needed to do the opposite.
When it was done, they both sat on the dusty floor, covered in cold sweat, completely exhausted, bare-ass naked, and for Finch, at least, immensely relieved. He couldn't believe that a prison could feel so comfortable, that he'd be so glad to return to his broken body. The dragon was wonderful, powerful, and freeing, but this was home. He found his glasses and his boxers, he and Reese leaning heavily on each other as they climbed to their feet.
"My place or yours?" Reese asked as they slowly made their way back upstairs to the crash room.
"Very few of mine have any food in them," Finch said, placing a hand over his gurgling stomach. "Isn't there a butcher shop a few blocks from your loft?"
"My place it is," Reese said with a chuckle. "You want pork, lamb, veal--"
"Steak," Finch said, pausing halfway up the staircase to catch his breath. "Lean and thick."
"Rare?" Reese asked, stopping beside him to wait.
"I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet," Finch replied. He took a deep breath and soldiered on. "Medium-rare. Just throw it into a hot skillet and let the outside brown. It seals in the juices."
"Stop talking about food," Reese said, pretending to wipe saliva off his chin. They dressed and gathered their things, Reese tucking the bottle of lube into his coat pocket with a grin and wink at Finch. There was just one more thing that they had to do.
They stood outside the closed office door, just staring at it for a moment. "What if he's afraid of me now?" Finch asked, running Bear's leash through his hands.
"He won't be," Reese said, placing a reassuring hand on Finch's shoulder. "He wasn't afraid of me until I started changing, and now that that's over with, he should be fine." But he still remained back from the door as Finch limped forward. Finch opened the door, then drew back, not wanting to make the dog feel trapped or threatened.
"C'mon, Bear," Finch said, patting the side of his thigh. "Where's my good boy? Do you want to go for a walk?" He knew the Dutch commands to order Bear out of the office, but he didn't want to put that kind of pressure on him. Luckily, the 'W' word did the trick. Bear poked his head out from under the desk, his ears pricked forward. Finch jingled the leash and Bear came trotting out of the room. He paused a few feet back, his nose twitching as he scented the air, then bounded over, licking their hands before turning a few excited circles and barking happily.
Finch glanced over at Reese, both of them smiling in relief, and then clipped the leash onto Bear's collar. As they headed down the hall toward the stairs, Reese reached out and took Finch's hand, their fingers entwining. Finch rumbled with contentment. Dragons really were tactile creatures.