"In traditional mated pairs, a dragon may bite the neck of their mate as proof of their claim. This creates a natural form of living link magic known as a Mate Mark. It is a physical, magical, as well as scented mark that signals to other dragons that an individual is unavailable to be courted." ~ Dragon Historia, pg 70

Chapter Sixteen: And They Were Teammates

Outside the small cabin, shadows skittered in the dark forest before dawn - quiet, save for the wind blowing through the lofty branches of towering trees and animals moving through brush in the distance.

A half-asleep Gajeel shifted, rolled onto his side. The cheap sofa bed underneath him creaked under his weight. He was met with another body in his bed, one he instinctively wrapped his arms around as he pressed closer.

It took a moment for him to crack his eyes open, catching sight of a peaceful and sound-asleep Cobra. The blanket was pulled up close to his chin and his mouth hung open a little, red hair splayed against the pillow like a dangerous halo. His eyes were closed and Gajeel didn't move for fear of them opening.

Cobra showing up so soon, them making progress as mates, Cobra kissing him… Gajeel had thought that he had dreamt the whole night and the evening before, as if it were some sort of weird, lonely hallucination caused by the events of the past weeks. But there was proof lying next to him in bed: warm and fully flesh… and drooling just a little. No trace of any lacrima swallowing chestnut skin, or turning fine crimson hair into brittle crystal.

And it was a memory that came to him then, one from when he was still so small - one that he thought he had forgotten. It was more of a feeling, more of an image, than a full memory. The quiet, longing way his father would watch out the mouth of their den, waiting for someone who would never again come back through it. Gajeel had no memories of that person, but Metalicana never forgot - he couldn't, not as long as Gajeel was there looking up at him.

The thought of almost losing his own mate made his chest tighten and ache once again. It would never happen again.

He would make sure of it.

Cobra woke to the unfamiliar sound of low whistling from above as wind blew across the chimney opening. The sight of bare rafters and the midday sun shining through the window greeted him as he opened his eyes.

Under the blanket they shared, Gajeel, asleep, was pressed firm against his side with his nose pressed into Cobra's hair, his arms secured around Cobra's middle, and a leg hooked over Cobra's thigh... The dreaded Kurogane was apparently an octopus cuddler.

And there, in the few sleepy moments before his mind caught up with the waking world, Cobra felt calm. Deep exhaustion had ebbed away while they'd slept close to each other. An indescribable warmth radiated between them, as if things had always been that way.

It was no secret, least of all to himself, that he hated touch; him touching others, other people touching him - both stemming from seperate events that lead to the same avoidance. He wasn't the only survivor from the Tower, being touched was a dislike they all shared on some level.

And his element was Poison. His touch destroyed, rotted, dissolved, melted, weakened, burned worse than fire. After the implant, he had spent his first month as a Dragonslayer not being able to touch anything...

At first, Gajeel spoke about it like it was something obvious that Cobra should have known about; like the weather. Dragons took mates. Your magic picks your mate. This calm was some kind of weird side-effect of the ancient branch of magic they both shared, a weird that Cobra was finding himself not minding. Enjoying, even.

And his magic led him into the embrace of someone whose touch didn't make him cringe away, someone who couldn't be singed by his toxic touch. Someone not entirely annoying. But… that benefited Cobra more. Cobra didn't know what he offered, why Gajeel was so sure of being with him - Cobra had been downright cold and venomous to the man now wrapped around him.

Gajeel was excitable and aloof about the whole thing at the same time. But much like his element, for the most part, the iron dragon had been both unyielding and patient with Cobra so far. And, for that, Cobra was thankful beyond words.

Fuck. Cobra mentally swore. He shifted just enough to bury his face in the blankets as if it would hide his own embarrassment from himself.

… Maybe not all of it was because of magic.

The click of a door closing was what woke Gajeel the second time.

He picked his head up from his pillow and immediately looked to the front door, worried that his bedmate had left. But the front door was still closed, Cobra's new coat was still hung up and his shoes where they had been the night before. Gajeel turned his head to see the bathroom occupied. He let out a small sigh of relief; Cobra had only gone into the bathroom.

That mystery solved, he blinked blearily at the midday light coming in through the windows - much too bright for his liking at that moment. He shifted in the bed, burying his face into the pillows. A hint of a familiar, almost maddening scent clung to the pillowcases and he instinctively rumbled a low, inhuman sound in approval.

Mine.

The soft static of the shower pierced his groggy mind and he finally decided to sit upright while he pieced together… well, everything.

Cobra had shown up the night before. They'd talked. Cobra had kissed him. They had spent the night together. Then Cobra had snaked his way out of Gajeel's arms and into the bathroom… So far it had been better than the last time they'd woken up in a rented bed next to each other. No shouting to get out or having Gajeel's own boots whipped at his head from across the room. That was more progress, wasn't it?

Plus, Gajeel was pretty sure that, unlike last time, he still had clothes. He briefly checked under the covers to be sure... yep, despite the sweet scent that still clung to the bedding, he still had pants. Amused, he chuckled at the thought. They hadn't done anything more than sleep; he was pretty sure he'd remember if anything else had happened.

They both had needed a good, long snooze - judging from the sun outside they had slept for a good ten hours. Gajeel felt incredibly rested, more than he had the whole week he'd been alone. Gingerly he pressed his fingers against several places along his shoulders and arms, checking healing wounds that he knew were still sore, and found most of them well set. He was in better shape than he had been in days.

Red eyes flicked to the bathroom door as he thought on it more. That was part of finding a mate, he briefly recalled. Dragons healed faster than other races, and different kinds of dragons had different healing factors - Gajeel had always been quick to get his strength back while his wounds tended to take much longer - often scarring his flesh as a result. A dragon slept better with their mate nearby, it seemed that healing happened differently, too.

A chill broke his chain of thought and he pushed himself up onto his feet to add wood to the fire, which had burned low during the night.

His tunic was still in the bathroom, which meant that he would have to be shirtless until Cobra finished draining the hot water. Not an issue. Outside of the fire and the thought of a good meal, Gajeel entertained himself with the thought of posing his shirtless self on the bed - trying to guess how brightly Cobra would blush when he finally came out.

The answer was: very.

Cobra was still drying his hair when the door to the bathroom finally opened, the towel thrown over his head and his hands working it against his hair, but it was obvious he was using that as an excuse to not look at Gajeel - who was laid out like a half-naked, shit-grinning centerfold.

"Good morning~" Gajeel greeted him, voice full of a mockingly husky purr. It was especially easy to do after spotting the blush creeping along his mate's neck.

"Just- just go get your shirt," Cobra uttered from under the towel, pointing towards the bathroom.

Gajeel snickered through his grin, swinging his legs off the bed and onto the floor as he stood to go grab his tunic. Cobra could try to deny having a thing for Gajeel all he liked, but his magic and that giveaway blush of his certainly didn't lie.

Gajeel had barely gotten his top halfway on when Cobra started: "So what were the steps you skipped?"

Pulling his tunic on all the way, Gajeel stalked back to the main room of the cabin. "What...?"

"Last night," Cobra elaborated. No longer hiding under the towel that now rested on his shoulders, Gajeel briefly noticed that his hair was down and not spiked back like usual. He also had more color to him than the night before, looking less like someone had sucked all his energy out. Cobra had begun to pick through the cabinets - sighing defeatedly as he found most of them empty or full of chunks of raw metals. "You said there were steps you skipped. For the… mate thing."

"Oh." The iron dragon scratched roughly at his neck in thought. "Think one of 'em was that I was 'sposed to bring you something strong I killed and you had to eat it." When his mate shot him a grossed-out, questioning look, Gajeel grumbled: "Well, don't look at me! It's not like this's happened to me before, either!"

"You know more about this than I do."

Gajeel sighed. "I know, I know." And it was very true that he'd never mated before, but he knew the theory of how it was supposed to work. "I wasn't lying when I said your magic points you to someone. You bite the neck of your mate to mark them as yours. After m- being-" His face scrunched up, trying to think of a way to make it more tactful. "After the mark and screwing for the first time, there's supposed to be a bond of some kind, a natural one."

Cobra's nose wrinkled slightly. Normally it was kind of cute, but coupled with the way the poison dragon's jaw set tightly, it gave Gajeel the impression that he'd said something he shouldn't have. "Living Link Magic...?"

"I guess," Gajeel said. He had heard of Living Link Magic, if but vaguely, during the Fantasia mess. It was old, advanced-level magic, that took a powerful and skilled mage to set up. "Not exactly the same thing, though. It's not as clear-cut, it varies between pairs. Always goes both ways."

"Living Link: Open Form," Cobra detailed after further thought, his features relaxing somewhat. "Open Form can be dangerous for all parties, but that's better than Tether Form. Tether Form is basically a magic leash."

"Figures," Gajeel commented. "Laxus knows it, too. Normally Dragonslayers can't learn any more types of magic. Seems like you Second Generation guys get to be the exception to that."

"Never used it myself. I only know about it because my old Master used it on us." Cobra turned his head away and ran a hand through his hair, slicking it back while it was still damp. "Used the Tether Form. Gave us lots of reasons why he needed to 'connect' us to things. When we were kids he told us we'd get damn wishes if we went along with it. Now, though, I know most of it was bullshit."

"Yeah," Gajeel crossed his arms loosely. "My old Master never promised us wishes to get us to do shit. Nah, he had a nasty temper when things went wrong, even a little." He stretched idly. It had been a while since he'd even thought about the former Phantom Master. If he'd thought back on it a mere four months prior, maybe it wouldn't have left such a bad taste in his mouth talking about it. But after some distance and time, his memories of being in Phantom Lord had rightfully soured. "We did what he said and did our best not to make him mad. Helped if you convinced yourself that you wanted to do the same shit."

Cobra let out a small, empathetic sigh. "A person starts thinking that kind of stuff is normal after a while."

"Yeah," Gajeel sighed. "'Sides, he used to be one of the Ten Wizard Saints, a black mark on yer file from one of those guys is basically a red flag to every other guild not to take ya in."

"Fairy Tail didn't seem to mind taking you in after the Fairy-Phantom War," Cobra commented, his eyes flicking to meet Gajeel's.

"Didn't seem to care about taking you in after the Nirvana Incident, neither," Gajeel responded. "Though I guess the key guy in your case was Laxus." He paused, his amusement fading. Laxus had helped make the case for Cobra to join up with Fairy Tail; the guy wasn't exactly big on new dragons in his territory, Gajeel still bore scars from the Thunder God's fury. The question of why Laxus had helped Cobra stuck out in his mind, and it rubbed his scales in all the wrong ways. "How do you two know each other, anyways?" he asked, lips pursing in a sideways, suspicious pout.

There was a mischievous glimmer in Cobra's eyes before his mouth curved upwards in a troublesome smirk. "You could try guessing. But you'll never guess the right answer."

Gajeel snorted. "What do I get if I get it right?"

"Same thing you get if you guess wrong." Cobra shrugged, striding over to grab his coat. "A new teammate."

"Don't smell like each other, so can't be romantic history," Gajeel reasoned from his seat on the train.

"Hell's bells, no," Cobra shook his head, partly in amusement and partly in repulse. "Besides, he has someone."

"Hm," Gajeel hummed in thought, "Outfit shopping? Ya both got a thing for stupidly tight leather pants."

At that, Cobra arched his brows.

Gajeel grinned sleazily. "Though, I don't mind it on you-OW!" He defensively grabbed at his knee, shielding himself from another sharp kick from the poison dragon.

Outside of Gajeel occasionally making good on his threat of guessing, the overnight train ride back to Magnolia was passed mostly in comfortable silence between the two. Neither man felt the need to fill every second with words.

The sun was starting to set when the great arches of the Fairy Tail guild hall once again loomed over them, its halls filled with mages returning from short day-jobs or teams getting in one last meal before heading out to catch the night trains to their next assignments.

As the pair passed by the bar, Cobra stepped high and Gajeel almost tripped over the end of a familiar shillelagh.

"Ah, I see you found the bearer of the last signature for the Edolas report," Makarov mused, stepping out from behind the tall counter.

Gajeel scowled accusingly at Cobra, inner voice resonating with whispers of slight betrayal.

"Oh," Cobra leaned one hand on the bar counter and suddenly found his fingernails on his other hand very interesting, "Did I not mention the incident report? That has to be done before we can handle the team registration."

"He is right, Gajeel." Makarov placed both of his hands on his walking stick. "The incident report first, then you two can sort your business out. All you have to do is sign. Cobra, I'll get those other items ready for you to sign next week." He motioned for Gajeel to follow him to his office.

"Coulda at least mentioned the paperwork," Gajeel muttered bitterly. He pointed at Cobra as he turned to follow their Master. "You stay right there until I'm done. We ain't leaving 'til we set up as a real team, got it?"

"Just where do you think I'm going to go?" Cobra called after him.

Cobra shook his head, turning back to the bar to see Kinana standing behind it, having watched the scene unfold. She was smiling in a very gentle, very knowing, very troubling way.

"You could have told me-kina," she said, hands busy drying glass mugs.

Pink fought to make itself the primary color of Cobra's face but he managed to squash its attempt. "There's nothing to tell."

"Mmhm," Kinana hummed, entirely unconvinced. A sister always knows, she said mentally, knowing Cobra could hear her, though out loud she only commented: "Lucky that Mirajane isn't working tonight-kina. She has a nose for gossip-kina."

"There's no gossip," Cobra mumbled. He looked away, to the floor, and played with the hem of his hood as if to distract himself. "It's… still very new."

"It's good to see you trying-kina," Kinana admitted. She then opted to change the subject: "I've been training under Mira and Erza-kina, to fill in as Job Secretary when they're not here-kina. You both need to have an address to register as a team-kina."

Cobra sighed, crossing his arms over his chest as he thought on the new obstacle presented. Technically, he was still homeless. And certain… events… would run the risk of him being recognized if he stayed at any kind of inn or motel in Magnolia… for a while, anyways. "Any chance I could spoof yours, until I find a place?"

"I live in Fairy Hills-kina." She frowned and set down the mug she had been working on to switch to the next one on the counter. "As do Mirajane and Erza-kina, they'd know-kina. No boys allowed, even if they're relatives-kina."

Right then a part of him urged him to use it as an excuse to back out of his promise to be on the same team as the iron idiot, turn back before it's too late. Things were… different. And he was starting to think that wasn't so bad. "Guess we'll need to think of something else."

"What're you thinkin' for?" Gajeel sounded, returning from the Master's office with heavy steps.

"Somebody around here has to, Metalface," Cobra told him, not missing a beat. Gajeel snorted dismissively and Cobra smirked.

"You both need an address to register as a team-kina," Kinana interrupted.

"Tch, not a problem," Gajeel waved a hand at the requirement. "He's gonna be using mine."

Kinana blinked. "Oh?"

Cobra bristled, his spine stiff. That had come out of nowhere! "You can't just say shit like that-"

"Stop stickin' yer nose in the air," Gajeel pointedly said. "I'm not gonna leave you to try to scrape by when I've got room at my place."

Cobra internally debated the offer for a moment. Moving in so soon seemed... fast. But it wasn't like Cobra had many other options. They could always say there were roommates, at least on paper.

"Oh, you're very bold-kina," Kinana smiled, knowing and mischievous. "Asking him to move in right in front of his sister-kina."

Gajeel's expression momentarily vacated as if he was doing complex math, glancing between Cobra and Kinana. "His sister…?" His thoughts echoed with the obvious observation that the two didn't look a thing alike; then the memory of following the two, tinged with jealous tones that turned to embarrassed static.

"Is he okay-kina?"

"It sounds like his brain was fried from that," Cobra said.

"Wait, was that why that scary old lady let you in and beat the snot outta me?"

Again, Cobra sighed and shook his head. "Let's just go find Titania and get the team thing over with."

They found Erza sitting at the counter near the downstairs request boards, thumbing through the great purple-cover book that contained the month's taken jobs and double-checking the stack of taken request flyers next to her.

"The probationary period is over." Her brows drew low as her eyes flicked between the two of them, as if she knew what was going to be said and was already dreading it.

The two dragons exchanged a quick glance and shared the same smug smirk.

"We're registering as an official team," Cobra told her.

"We really gotta thank ya for the introductions, Titania," Gajeel added.

"Is this a joke you two are trying to pull?"

"Mm," Gajeel gruffly hummed, rubbing his chin in fake deep thought, "No, don't think so. You joking, Cobra?"

"Make jokes around the great Erza Scarlet?" Cobra pressed his other hand against his chest, his brows shooting up in mocking innocence. "I would never."

Erza continued to look between them, a quiet shock playing out in the minute changes to her normally placid expressions. She finally relented to the fact of the new team before her with a sigh that made her armored shoulders sink. "It is... good to know you two are embracing Fairy Tail's tenent of camaraderie and forming a team."

"Thank you," Cobra said. "That looked painful for you to say."

"Make no mistake: it was," Erza sighed, picking up a smaller green book from behind the counter. She opened it to a blank page. "Now. Which of you two will be registering as the Team Leader…?"