"A domain shared by a mated pair tends to be bigger than the claim of a singular dragon… such domains may be made up of former territory that belonged to one of the dragons before mating." ~ Dragon Historia, pg. 14 + 72
Chapter Seventeen: Moment's Silence
The road Gajeel lived on was surprisingly quaint. For a road with almost no one else living on it, that was.
Den Road was on the outskirts of Magnolia, and, like so many other streetways in the town-minded city, started out with cobblestone pavement, lined with stucco-smattered townhouses before petering out into a sparsely populated dirt road. The cobblestone stopped just past a two-story stone-and-brick building with a faded wooden sign that listed it as once being the East Magnolia Primary School - the school had obviously been closed for a while, if the dirt and dust blinding the windows were any indication. With the sun almost completely set, the building stood firm and foreboding in the dark.
"Not a lot of neighbors," Cobra commented, looking out on the fields of tall grass that lined the road. Even in the dusklight, the fields were illuminated by the faint flickers of early-season fireflies and alive with chirping crickets. There was a glowing speck a ways off that looked like a house and it was the only living neighbor that Cobra could pick out in the light of a last crescent moon.
"You complainin'?" Gajeel glanced over his shoulder. "You're not the only one who likes it quiet, y'know. Don't think I could stand it if my house was someplace busy, it'd drive me up the wall."
"Your house?" Cobra wrinkled his nose, recalling something the black-haired man had said on their first job together. "Weren't you just complaining about rent money not too long ago?"
"It's a rent-to-own situation," Gajeel explained with a shrug. "Magnolia is Fairy Tail's turf. No one would outright rent to the guy who destroyed the guild hall. But a rundown old house? They couldn't get rid of it fast enough. 'Sides, got a quarter of it paid off already."
Prior to that comment, Gajeel had seemed somewhat excited at the prospect of sharing a place together. But excitement immediately faded to a bitter note at the circumstances of it, bittersweet.
Something in Cobra didn't like that.
"Rundown," Cobra repeated. "Define 'rundown'."
"I'm good with my hands, been fixin' it up," Gajeel huffed. The iron dragon's thoughts then shifted from circumstances to how he should have planned this better, given himself more time to clean the house up before bringing Cobra into it. How he still had dirty laundry on the floor someplace.
That was a... slightly better train of thought. Sort of.
The house was further along on the dirt portion of the road and, lacking any nearby neighbors, was bordered by untamed open fields on one side and settled in a half-acre clearing, tucked snug up against the shadows of Akane Forest. It was once a small farmhouse, old stonework that was half-cleaned and woodwork now solidly braced by iron beams, and it had definitely seen better days - though it was obvious that there were some serious renovations going on.
Gajeel led him right up to the steps and opened the front door, which was painted a dark, forest green color - not stopping to bother with any locks. Cobra frowned at that - he couldn't understand why someone wouldn't lock their own front door. Doors had locks for a reason.
Whatever Cobra had expected the inside of the house to look like, it wasn't… this.
As Gajeel turned on the lights, it became clear that while the exterior of the house was halfway finished, the interior was nearly done. The front door opened to a small mudspace connected to the kitchen, which had flagstone floors and finished wooden cabinets that were just irregular-looking enough to be handmade. There was a solid-looking table based by what had been a barrel, with a couple of chairs to match.
The interior walls were wooden segments, in places was metal paneling as an obvious patch job. An archway lead to the living area, wood floors centered by a large, round window that looked out on the fields, and dotted by furniture that was obviously made from repurposed crates and other materials, held together by iron bolts. None of the furniture matched yet it all somehow fit together.
A half-bath was hidden away under the stairs, which lead up to one… no, two bedrooms and a full bathroom.
Cobra stood in the arch between the kitchen and living room, gripping the strap of his canvas bag.
Each place he had lived before had high stone walls - always cold and imposing and impersonal, the air ranging from barren cells to regally untouchable. But this was clearly someone's lived-in home.
And it was as if a heaviness in his chest dropped, fell, shattered into fragments of nothingness, and left him with an overwhelming feeling of being okay.
Here was safe.
He was safe.
He entered further, running his fingers over some of the furniture. Touching the table, then the couch, before making his way up the stairs.
One bedroom was still being renovated; from the brief glance Cobra had of it, the floor was still dusty and the holes in the wall still covered by plaster and not paint.
The other bedroom was finished and furnished, painted a similar forest-y green color as the front door. A dresser was pressed against the far wall opposite the bed.
The bed was king-sized and, unsurprisingly, had an obtuse metal frame, built solidly, and covered by several blankets that didn't match in size, design, or color. Most prominently there was a faux-plush blanket that was black and bore the design of a tiger in a square… Very tacky yet very Gajeel. Seriously, what's with him and cats? Cobra thought, amused.
The sheets underneath were a pale, dusty green. Cobra had the suspicion that green may have been Gajeel's favorite color.
The thought of someone else in his space was normally enough to set him on edge. Other people didn't belong on Gajeel's turf - it was just a fact of life, like trees or four sketchy mattress stores being on the same street corner.
But something in him was both thrilled and content to see the redhead poking around, touching various furniture as he passed before glancing up the stairs. Checking things out. Exploring his new territory. Their territory. That thought alone plucked the strings of his more possessive side - yes, Gajeel was very content.
And when Cobra went up the stairs, Gajeel carefully followed. Each time his mate touched something, took a step without a biting remark, felt like a rush of approval. Approval no one else could have, given Cobra's general view of almost everyone ever. And Gajeel wanted more.
"Toss your stuff anywhere fer now," Gajeel told Cobra as he flopped backwards on the bed. "We can go get the bigger stuff tomorrow."
Cobra glanced at him, then very pointedly tossed his canvas tote on top of Gajeel. "This is all I've got."
Gajeel's studded brows furrowed as he pushed the bag off of him, too surprised by the statement to snip about Cobra's bag placement. "Ya gotta be shitting me. Didn't your old guild have a big place? You didn't go back to put some stuff in storage?"
"Nope," Cobra curtly confirmed. "The Council seized the castle after the Nirvana Incident. It's locked up by anti-trespass rune barriers so they can pretend to comb through the place for 'evidence'. Couldn't go back and get stuff even if I wanted to."
Gajeel sat up. He made a half-pitying noise that he caught before letting it out fully. "Damn. At least they let me clear out my old place in Oak Town."
Cobra looked back at him. "Thought you moved when you joined up with Fairy Tail?"
The iron dragon snorted indignantly as he toed off his boots before standing. He left them where they lay on the floor next to the bed. "I was head of Phantom Lord's S-class. After the guild war and the laws got changed, let's just say the Council encouraged me to get real gone."
Cobra's ears perked, a tiny, almost unnoticeable motion that Gajeel barely caught out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah, PECOC's a bitch to deal with. Trust me, I know."
At that, Gajeel's expression soured like a toddler that was reminded about the existence of vegetables.
"They can suck my entire left nut," the iron dragon spat at the mere mention of that particular Council branch. "Didn't care until they found out that I wasn't lying about being the son of a dragon." He paused, a thought coming to him. "Didn't think they made New Breeds register, too…?"
"They don't," Cobra told him. It was obvious he was feigning more interest in the bedroom window than was necessary as he approached it, watching the outside world as the light from the sliver of a moon above poured gently through the window. "Not much out here but trees."
"The big window downstairs has a better view. Sometimes storms roll through n' it's nice to watch 'em," Gajeel explained.
It was as difficult to get a straight answer out of Cobra as it was to land an actual hit on him, especially if the poison dragon didn't feel like talking. Gajeel had come to realize that forcing answers out didn't work; the answers would, frustratingly, come on their own.
His focus was then on his mate's moonlit reflection in the glass and his mouth curved upwards. "I wouldn't say that window's got nothin' good to see."
Cobra exhaled sharply and shook his head, a small smile on his lips. "How long were you waiting to say that one?"
"Shouldn't you know," Gajeel lightly taunted back. He took a step closer and, when Cobra didn't flinch away, he closed the space between them by sliding his arms over Cobra's shoulders, pressing himself against the other's back, resting his chin on top of crimson red hair. "I could say something else, if ya want."
The smaller man relaxed into the embrace and Gajeel closed his eyes. They stayed like that for a while, watching the world outside grow darker; sinking into the feeling of each other, feeling the coaxing magic that pulled them together like invisible thread. The silent thrum that eased, assured they fit together perfectly. As if they'd never known anything different.
Gajeel cracked one eye open. "Ya know, I thought you'd have somethin' to say about me signing up as the team leader."
The reflection of narrow, amethyst eyes glanced up at Gajeel in the dark window. "It's nothing I want. Just means if something bad happens it's your head on a plate, not mine."
"I know what I signed up for," Gajeel said with pride. "And I trust ya won't make me look bad."
"Please," Cobra scoffed, "If anything, you look better with me here."
It was as if the words plucked the same strand between them as they both realized what was said at the same time.
"Don't start," Cobra warned.
"No talking, eh?" The iron dragon's expression turned sly. "Ya got another use for my mouth in mind?"
It would always surprise Gajeel - especially right then, when his arms were wrapped around the man in question - how easily Cobra could move in tight spaces. It was even more surprising when Cobra twisted around to face him, pressing a kiss against the side of his mouth.
Gajeel could only blink his surprise, still processing the affection, before his hands wandered downwards and pressed into the dip of Cobra's back as he pulled him flush against his front. "Might have to repeat that."
Cobra rolled his eyes before his hands snaked their way to rest on Gajeel's chest and taking fistfuls of shirt to drag him down for another kiss.
One of Gajeel's hands grabbed the back of Cobra's head, deepening their kiss as a deep, please rumble vibrated in his throat. His focus was no longer on how much his mate approved of his home, his attention was now building somewhere much lower. "Mm, yer wrong, though. S'not just me-" he nipped and kissed as he trailed his mouth down his mate's jaw "- everything looks better with you here."
"I better do something about that, then," Cobra quietly told him, a lilt to his voice that signaled for Gajeel to continue.
Gajeel pressed his nose close to Cobra's neck, wanting to breathe in as much of his mate's scent as he could… picking up the sweet, headiness that drew the iron dragon to the poison dragon to begin with. Gajeel caught whiffs of it every time he planted his mouth on dark skin. He wanted to be closer. He wanted more.
But enough of his brain was still working that he knew a tone wasn't enough - he didn't want to see his lover panic again come morning.
"You're… good?" with great effort he pulled himself away to ask, trying to get the words out through the heat that now fought to overtake his senses. "With doing this?"
"Y-yeah," the redhead replied. His body was stiff for a moment as Gajeel breathed, before he shifted and pressed himself closer. Deliberately grinding himself against the iron dragon in a way that made Gajeel's head fall back, a hitched groan escaping him. "I think… as long as I'm not held down…"
Gajeel's mind briefly flashed back to how much more enthusiastic Cobra had been riding on top, which earned a sharp tug of his hair and a flat, impatient glare from Cobra. Playfully, Gajeel clicked his fangs at him, before kissing him again, craning his neck down to once more let his mouth nibble and migrate as the smaller man's arms wrapped around his neck.
A glint of gold, Cobra's earring, caught his eye, and he moved to take it teasingly between his teeth.
It was a mostly innocent bite. Not meant to do anything more than get close to ears that were oh-so-sensitive, to make his mate shudder under this touch, but the metal of the earring cracked between his dragonish fangs. The gold ring sparked as it broke in his mouth.
Gajeel yelped at the sudden shock on his tongue and jumped back, covering his mouth with his hand. He spit the broken jewelry out into his gloved palm. "Th' fuc'h wa' tha'?!"
Cobra doubled over, grasping at his ear with both hands. "Did- did you just try to eat my earring!?"
"No'h on pulpith!" Gajeel swallowed the bitter taste of magic on his tongue. Which shouldn't have been there. Not unless Cobra was wearing magic earrings or something. The pain soon faded, he could feel his tongue again, but the taste remained. Red eyes flicked to the broken bits of gold in his hand, then to Cobra's face. "You okay?"
Cobra held his ear for a moment longer, eventually dropping one of his hands, but his expression was still pained. "Yeah. That was just… loud."
"Fuck. Didn't meant ta shout right next to your ear," Gajeel murmured, a stupid heat rising to his face. "Forgot gold's a soft metal. Tasty, but…" He scratched at the back of his head. "Damn thing shocked me."
"Enchantment," Cobra snipped by way of explanation. His expression had softened to a sore glower as he rubbed his ear. "There's… a form-change enchantment on my earrings. Or, there was."
"Form-change?" One pierced brow rose high on Gajeel's forehead. "The fuck do you need-"
Gajeel's protesting inquiry was cut short when Cobra removed his hand, revealing just what the enchantment was meant to hide: with the earring gone, his ear had changed into a pointier shape. With shaking fingers, Cobra reached up and removed his remaining earring, revealing both his ears to be very, very pointy.
It took Gajeel longer than he would have cared to admit to realize what ears that pointy meant.
One of his ears was cocked up, while the other fell sideways; it matched the sarcastically flat expression on Cobra's paling face. His mate clearly did not appreciate revealing it, and that made his chest ache.
"Huh," Gajeel breathed. Still trying to piece it together, he folded his arms loosely over his chest. Cobra could hear him work through what he knew: Demons usually had a more tell-tale brimstone scent or were vibrant colors, Cobra was too fleshy to be something like a high-model Machias, and only a handful of races could actually use Dragonslayer magic. "So. You're... an Elf?"
Cobra only nodded in confirmation.
"Gotta say, wasn't sure what I was expecting. But ya look... uh-"
Cobra's ears pinned back slightly. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Just get it out of your system."
"Well shit," Gajeel swore. "You know my opinion. You can hear it, right?" With a grin, he reached out to pull Cobra close again. "It's not changing. And if anybody else's does... They're not gonna be able to think enough to make shitty opinions after we're done with 'em."
Cobra rested his arms on top of where Gajeel's held him firm. He didn't know exactly what Gajeel's words meant, and he didn't want to ask.
The meaning, what he heard behind those words was enough.
