Series: Beat of Wings||Title: Where I Tell You
Characters: Yuuri, Dennis||Ship: N/A
Chapters: 3-8||Words: 1,063||Total: 3,228
Genre: Friendship||Rated: G
Note: This is the AU where people have wings. Among them is Yuuri, who has demonic/dragon wings. This is how he & Dennis met one another in this world. This takes place about a year or so prior to the interdimensional war. Beware headcanons.
Summary: Certain events require help, like it or not. No one does everything alone. And so Yuuri searches for someone to scratch his wings and does something he didn't expect: makes a friend. Meanwhile, Dennis would just rather not be carded by the notorious sadist.[[MORE]]

I purred? Yuuri couldn't entirely believe that, but the idea that Dennis would lie to him about it made no sense. What would lying about purring accomplish? If it was the truth, so be it, and if it was a lie, then he would inflict punishment. Maybe carding. Or worse.

He knew quite a few things that could be worse. He rather looked forward to being able to inflict them on someone at some point. He'd never met anyone who could take all that he could dish out, though. Someone strong enough not to die if Yuuri frowned their way…

Yuuri continually promised himself that he would. It might take until the invasions began and he could explore other dimensions for his future plaything, but it would happen.

For right now, he wanted to get the proper wing oil and get his wings taken care of. He could feel the itch starting to rise again and he'd already enjoyed being without it.

There were several small stores scattered throughout Academia which provided for the students' needs and desires. Multiple card stores, of course, that usually specialized in one particular type or other of cards. He patronized one that featured Plant-type cards in particular.

But this store that he swung into now wasn't a card shop. Here all the varied needs of the Fliers were taken care of, especially for wing care.

Dennis looked around at everything, taking a few steps near one of the counters. "You need all of this?" He asked, wonder tingeing his voice.

"Me, personally? No." Yuuri gestured for Dennis to follow him. If all worked out the way that he hoped that it would, he would send Dennis here for wing oil in the future. Best that he know what to get.

He came over to a small display, one that carried examples of all kinds of feathers or wing samples – as well as a sample jar and a clean cloth. Yuuri pointed to the jar and the cloth.

"Dip out some of that, rub it on the leather piece there. You're going to do that to the dry spots, so I want to show you how it's done."

Dennis eyed it for a few moments before he obeyed, looking rather nervous as he did. Yuuri expected that. His wings twitched in anticipation of having a proper cleaning and moisturization. His sort of wings needed so much more care than some of the other types.

He enjoyed taking care of his wings. He couldn't strike terror into the hearts of others if his wings dried and flaked.

He watched with a careful eye as Dennis picked up the sample piece, the most likely places where dryness developed marked clearly on it, and started to rub at them with the cloth.

"Not so hard," Yuuri reprimanded. "That would take some of my scales off. Keep it easier, like you did before."

He could tell Dennis had talent as a wing-tender. He wasn't going to let him waste it. Especially not when he could be Yuuri's wing-tender.

Would be Yuuri's wing-tender, as long as he didn't screw up too many things. Yuuri quite liked the way Dennis's fingers soothed the various itchy places on his wings. Whether Dennis wanted to be his wing-tender wasn't even an option.

He kept a careful eye on Dennis's work, correcting him here and there, then once he was satisfied, he carried a vial of his favored oil and a new cloth up to the main counter. The student behind the counter – one who didn't do all that well in classes and needed to work here – quickly processed his purchase.

"Is there anything else I can help you with, sir?" She asked, not bringing her eyes up to look at Yuuri. So far as he cared, that was quite proper. She could barely figure out the differences between attack position and defense position. He was one of the elite of his class and Professor Akaba's personal right hand.

"No." He gestured for Dennis to follow him as he headed out, considering where to settle for a good wing care session. He wasn't entirely certain if he wanted to bring Dennis back to his quarters just yet.

The top. Every rooftop in Academia had been set up to welcome those with wings, be it as a place for them to visit easily or to get from there down to their personal quarters. Sometimes even both.

"This way." Yuuri guided Dennis to his own building, keeping his wings close to his body as he made his way up the stairs. He hated using stairs anyway, but until his wings were in flawless shape, he wasn't going to risk straining them.

Dennis kept his mouth shut the whole way up there. Yuuri approved of that; he'd already seen how Dennis entertained himself and he didn't really feel like hearing a lot of babble and blather. He wanted his wings taken care of, first and foremost. Once he'd seen how well Dennis could really do as a wing-tender, then he might consider letting him talk about something that wasn't dueling or Yuuri's wings.

Maybe. If he could find something to talk about that could actually catch Yuuri's attention. He wasn't yet going to rule out just keeping Dennis around to care for his wings.

Up on top of the building there were several benches spread out to take advantage of the sunlight, with artificial pools here and there, hidden in the shade of carefully tended trees in long pots of rich soil. Platforms stretched out in odd spots as well, where people could perch and take off again. Several of these were used to teach younger students how to fly.

Yuuri had made use of them several times over the last year as he built up his wing-strength and spiraled outward, enjoying the time by himself. Now he settled onto the bench closest to his favorite take off point, then turned to Dennis, the oil and cloth set on the bench next to him.

"Rub the oil into my wings. Just like you did at the store," he ordered, spreading his wings out so that Dennis could get to all of them. He didn't bother to offer any threats about what would happen if Dennis hurt him. He thought that Dennis would understand without him having to say a word.

To Be Continued

Notes: And here we are finishing this one. I'm making progress!