High in the sky, far above the city yet unbeknownst to any of its citizens, a great serpent slithered through the air. Her dark scales shined in the sunlight as it twisted and curled along the horizon. A great crest lay on her head like a crown with a headdress of feathers, vibrantly colored with reds, greens, and golds. However, the oddest thing about the dragon was the young boy sat perched on its back, doing his best to hold on. The wind roared in Shouta's ears as if reminding him he was somewhere he didn't belong. His hair whipped around windy behind him and he struggled to keep his eyes open without them watering. With one hand he held his school bag in front of him securely to ensure neither it nor its contents were lost. With the other, he clung desperately to the tractionless scales of his ride. The snake's coiling lurched him around in a nauseating manner. He'd grown accustomed to the motion with practice, but it was enough to make him sick the first several times he'd tried this
Before long, the tall skyscrapers left them to be replaced with small domestic homes and suburbs. The diverse palette of rooftops dotted ground below. Although Shouta was too far out of his element to understand his location, his mount was quite familiar with their route home. Upon spotting the green roof of their house, the dragon took a dive towards it, only making Shouta's stomach drop a little with her. She descended quickly, spiraling to the earth like a hawk circling prey until she touched down softly on the grass with a small gust low-pressure air.
Shouta half climbed, half slid off of Lucoa's back, happy to stand on safe, solid ground once again. Behind him, the dragon was enveloped in green magic and returned to her human form. She skipped to catch up with her master as he opened the front door and stepped inside. When she was close enough, Lucoa threw her arms around Shouta's neck and embraced him with enough force to threaten to knock him over. He was a bit older, having grown another foot and coming up to around her chin now. Eventually, he may overtake her in height. What a strange thought.
With some difficulty, he managed to stay unsteadily on his feet. Although, his unappreciation for the sudden motion could be heard in an uneasy groan. Lucoa giggled, "Aw, Shouta~ Don't you like going flying with me?"
Shouta grumbled as Lucoa continued to shake him lightly, "I think I prefer the train."
"Buuuuut the train can't take us all the way into the mountains.~ Good thing you have your trusty familiar to take you hunting for magic ingredients instead!" she teased, nuzzling into his hair affectionately
Despite his sickness, Shouta started to struggle out of her hold until she allowed him to escape. He fled down the hall towards the kitchen, decrying her demonic attempts to trick him. By this point, Shouta was well aware that Lucoa wasn't a demon of any kind. However, accusing her of being a succubus had never really lost its relevance. No matter how many sweaters he bought her, she still dressed… like that. Tragically, it didn't seem like Lucoa would ever understand this world's standards of modesty.
Smiling to herself, the dragoness followed after him. She passed through the kitchen to find Shouta emptying his bag and taking stock of the species they procured earlier that day: funky looking mushrooms, colorful insects, leaves, seeds, and all sorts of samples. Behind him, she opened a glass sliding door and stepped into the backyard. Sectioned off with a small wooden fence was a densely populated garden. It was full to the brim with seasonal vegetables, fruits, flowers, and other plants of nutritional or magical value. Everything within it was impressively large and healthy. They didn't call her the ex-goddess of agriculture, sower of the seeds of civilization for nothing, you know. She crouched down to examine the dirt and make sure it was sufficiently watered. Content with the fertility of the plot of land, she started to harvest the fruits of her labor to make Shouta a nice salad while he worked.
She was in the middle of picking a good batch of strawberries when a scream rang out from inside the house. Dropping everything, she burst into the kitchen, claws out, teeth prepped, and eyes open for danger. However, when she took in the situation she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. There were no home invaders, no monsters, no spells gone awry, not even a broken dish. Instead, there was just Shouta, standing on a chair against the far wall. Before she could ask what was wrong, he cried out to her.
"Lucoa! There's a spider!" he fretted
She walked up to the counter where he'd been preserving ingredients and sure enough, a small arachnid had hitched a ride with them back home. Sometimes it was hard to get used to the much more peaceful nature of the human world. Nevertheless, she diligently fetched a piece of tissue paper with which to gently pick up their stowaway. She'd learned that humans didn't like it when you chomped bugs in front of them, regardless of how crunchy they were. The dragoness simply carried their friend outside to release him.
Shouta watched carefully as she disappeared around the corner, slowly stepping off of his chair. He breathed a sigh of relief when she returned. Unfortunately, his solace didn't last long as Lucoa suddenly took the spidery tissue paper and tossed it at him. Another shriek went through the house as the boy desperately dodged the offending object and jumped back away from it. All the while his troublesome familiar failed to contain her laughter. "Gotcha!" She unfolded the tissue paper, cheekily showing that she'd gotten rid of the spider before throwing it at him. However, Shouta's pride was no less hurt.
Tears welled up in his eyes as he huffed angrily at her. He glared for a moment until he thought of suitable revenge and then turned tail to find something in the kitchen. Lucoa's snickering kept her from noticing his actions. By the time she took a break to breathe, he had already grabbed a bottle of liquor and was halfway done cursing it. At which point, she jumped in and snaked the bottle out of his little hands.
"Hey, give it back!" He tried and failed to reach up past her superior arm length.
"No way, baby!" She used one arm to push him back while keeping the bottle out of his grasp. "You're still way too young to drink for alcohol, kiddo."
Her patronizing only encouraged him. He used her overconfidence to his advantage and quickly jabbed his fingers into her stomach. It wasn't an entirely painful action, but the surprise was enough to distract, allowing him to retrieve the booze and run off with it. "Hey!" She gave chase, easily catching up to him until he ducked into a side room of the house and shut the door in her face. She leaned against it and whined, "Shoutaaaaaa! Open the dooooooor! I'm sorry!"
Shouta tuned out the groveling to finish his spell. He sat on the bathroom floor and picked up about where he left off. He didn't intend to do anything actually bad. He'd just set things so that whoever drank it had to tell the truth or something. It was enough to embarrass someone, but not cause real damage, not that he'd tell her that. He doubted she'd ever end up taking a drink, but at least he could threaten her with it.
Suddenly he paused and looked up. Lucoa's crying had stopped. She was quiet. Lucoa was never quiet. He rolled to the side tactfully as a burst of force punched through both the door and the far wall. She'd fix it later.
The ex-goddess stepped through the ruin. The brim of her hat cast an ominous shadow over her face as her colorful eyes stared him down. Shouta clutched the liquor bottle with determination, his own gaze never losing its defiance. A tense silence fell over the room as the anticipation of war rolled in.
Shouta squinted his eyes. His mouth was set into a hard line that wavered before cracking into a smirk. Suddenly his whole body jerked as he let out a soft, suppressed snicker. He did his best to hold it all in, but everything came loose as he finally broke into laughter. Without missing a beat, Lucoa joined him, having broken character when he did. They both giggled themselves into near hysterics, filling the whole house with the roar of their laughter. After all the idea of either one of them genuinely hurting the other at this point in their relationship was, well, ridiculous! They'd known each other for years and been through far worse scuffles than this. No, if one of them had actually been upset things would have taken a far different course. Thankfully, time had allowed them to learn their boundaries. They didn't have to worry about making the other uncomfortable anymore. They knew exactly where the lines were so as to not cross them. It was far different than how they'd been when they first met, but it was a welcome change.
It was Lucoa who first pulled herself together to approach her little munchkin. She offered him a hand as he hiccuped with lingering chuckles. When given permission, she pulled him all the way up from the ground to under her arm to be carried backward like a sack of potatoes. The funny feeling of being held this way only made him return to giggling. With a flick of the wrist, she repaired the damage to the house as if it had never been there.
As if on cue, the two of them found themselves yawning at the same time. It was a habit they developed from sharing the same schedule. Although others tried pointing it out to them, they never really noticed how they paralleled. Perhaps it was a familiar thing. Regardless, Lucoa carted Shouta away and deposited him on the living room couch, dropping the liquor off on the kitchen table on the way. He stretched out sleepily. He may be a bit older than he was, but he was still a kid who'd just done a lot of running.
Of course, Lucoa wasn't far better off. She was who-knows-how old and was still knocked out by a small sprint, not that she had ever disgusted her laziness, the mooch. She plopped down next to him, bouncing him off the cushion slightly. She laid back against the arm of the couch and fidgeted until she was comfortable. Meanwhile, Shouta threw a pillow against her and curled up at her side as they'd done countless times before. She spared an arm to be put around his shoulder. They could finish up putting ingredients away and making lunch later.
As different as they were since Lucoa first responded to Shouta's summoning, just as much went unchanged. The sun still rose every morning. The cicadas still sang in the Spring. Shouta still got embarrassed by her most of the time and Lucoa kept trying her hardest to please. And for whatever reason, they shared a bed. At any point, they could have gotten a second or expressed a need for distance, but neither ever did. And now having the other close just felt natural and comforting. If one of them was gone, it would be like losing your favorite stuffed animal; it wasn't right.
As much as things change, they stay the same. And just like the sun would continue to rise and the cicadas continue to sing, Lucoa and Shouta would be falling sleep together far into the future.
Notes:
If I had to give a theme to this series, I'd say the first chapter is about a small connection at the beginning of their relationship when they're still getting to know each other. The second is them when they're more acquianted, kind of deepening that bond. So I wanted this one to be full established relationships, where they already know each other. Shouta was nervous about talking to Lucoa or receiving physical affection. Then he was less so and now he's not at all. I wanted it to feel like they knew each other well
I think I got a bit on the nose with that at points. You van kind of tell I was running out of steam by the end but I'm happy I made it through what I wanted there's more one fic about Lucoa and Shouta that exists
