Series: Beat of Wings||Title: Where I Tell You
Characters: Yuuri, Dennis||Ship: N/A
Chapters: 8-8||Words: 1,386||Total: 9,539
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]]

Dennis wasn't entirely sure of what to make of Yuuri and his plants – especially Yuuri, since Yuuri created the plants. Everyone knew there was something not entirely – normal – about Yuuri and to find out that he'd created these … creations, that was the only thing he could think of to call them…

It's amazing. Terrifying also came to mind, and amazing, and mind-blowing. Yuuri created meat-eating plants that could even sort of talk and which cooed and wound around him like playful little puppies and kittens.

Exactly what Yuuri wanted with those things or why he had such a connection to plants – to the point of playing a plant deck – when he was a creature of the air, Dennis didn't really know. He thought he might never know. Yuuri kept his secrets even closer to his heart than Dennis himself did.

But Yuuri also made one thing blindingly clear: that Dennis belonged to him as much as his plants did. The way that Yuuri looked at him, with those dragon eyes and dragon wings, there really had never been a doubt. Dennis didn't know if he even wanted there to be one.

More than anyone he'd ever met before, Dennis found himself comfortable with Yuuri. Yuuri wasn't fooled by the lies that he found himself spinning so very easily. Yuuri gave him a single look and Dennis wanted to tell him anything and everything. Yuuri didn't even have to threaten him.

Dennis wasn't even sure of what could threaten him. The more he spent time around Yuuri, the more it began to dawn on him that very few things genuinely frightened him. The wrath of the Professor came close. The thought of the great plan of unifying all the dimensions – that failing didn't really frighten him but the thought of being responsible for it worried at the edges of his mind, especially as he grew to learn more of the XYZ dimension from his teacher.

It was a place that he would want to live. Everything he'd heard told him that he would enjoy himself living there. But he couldn't. He knew better. There wouldn't be an XYZ dimension to live in, sooner or later, and it would be because of him.

Dennis couldn't let that thought get away from him. No matter how pleasant it might be, his job was to get in there, find the girl that the Professor wanted Yuuri to bring back to Academia, and then give the signal that the invasion was to begin. Even if he wanted to live there – and he told himself over and over that he didn't, that the flickers of desire were brought on by nothing more than the descriptions of a place he'd never been before – he couldn't.

The war. The fact he would be the one to call the army when the time came. He knew those facts. He wouldn't fail in his duty.

But it wasn't time to do his duty just yet. He settled beside Yuuri as Yuuri settled on the couch, his wings spread out, and carefully examined them. They looked so much better than they had when he'd first started to work with Yuuri – or for Yuuri, if that was the way that they wanted to call it – stronger and shinier and wonderfully pliant to the touch.

Carefully Dennis started the massage, working from the tips of the wings slowly upwards, taking his time. He didn't know how long it would be until he could do this again and he wanted to make certain that he did the very best job that he could.

Yuuri purred ever so softly with each touch of Dennis's fingers on his wings. Dennis long since found out that he liked hearing Yuuri purr. It was a sound that no one else got to hear and he treasured it as much as Yuuri treasured whatever else it was that he kept for himself.

"Don't take too long," Yuuri murmured, his head tilted up for a few seconds, lazy violet eyes staring at him. "And don't touch anyone else's wings while you're there."

Dennis laughed at that, still working hard on getting Yuuri's wings gently taken care of. "Don't worry, I won't." He wouldn't. He couldn't, really. His allergy to feathers hadn't gone away and when it came to non-feathered wings, he really didn't care that much for any others that weren't Yuuri's.

I haven't really seen anyone else with wings like Yuuri's. There had to be others who had dragon wings. But even those who had leathery wings or metallic wings – he'd seen one such at a distance that reminded him of dragons once – they weren't nearly the sort of wings that Yuuri had. Dennis didn't think that he would ever be able to find wings like Yuuri's.

Why would he want to, though? There wasn't anyone like Yuuri himself and Dennis grew more and more grateful every day for that. This world could barely contain Yuuri. What would happen if there were more of him?

Nothing that anyone would want, he decided. He bent back over his work, fingers tracing up towards Yuuri's shoulders.

"When did you decide that I was yours?" Dennis asked after a few moments of work. Yuuri hadn't said anything to him about that since the day in the greenhouse. But just as Yuuri said at the time, he'd never really thought that there would be anything else. Yuuri wanted him as his wing-tender. He'd thought that was all there was to it.

Only there wasn't. There was something in between them that showed itself in Yuuri's trust, to be shown the greenhouse and the horrific creatures within, for Yuuri to relax in his presence and purr, for Yuuri to want him to come home soon.

There was something in between them that showed itself with Dennis doing his best to get his assignments done so he could spend more time with Yuuri, in Dennis aching to finish this special task because he knew Yuuri longed to roam the other dimensions and seek out someone.

He'd heard about how Yuuri wanted to find a prisoner, someone who he could torment to his heart's delight. If he ran across anyone that he thought would suit Yuuri's tastes, he would definitely make certain to let Yuuri know. Someone who could be strong and resit Yuuri, but who would crumble under Yuuri's attentions sooner or later.

He almost feared for whoever it might be. Almost. What sort of person would he be if he didn't do his best to get Yuuri the kind of present that he would absolutely love?

Yuuri hadn't answered right away and Dennis checked to see if he'd fallen asleep. It wouldn't at all have been the first time Yuuri drifted off during a massage. But no, he lay there with eyes open, wings moving in time with his breathing, before he finally spoke.

"As soon as I found out how good you are at taking care of my wings. I didn't know it then, but that was when it happened. I don't want you to do that to anyone else."

Dennis nodded, still slowly working on the wings before him. When he drew himself back, Yuuri slowly pulled himself upward and brushed himself off carefully before he turned himself towards Dennis.

"When do you leave?" He didn't sound as if he especially wanted the answer, but he asked regardless. Dennis leaned backward on the sofa.

"Another week. That's when Vector says I'll understand enough about XYZ summoning and the XYZ dimension."

He twitched his nose before closing his eyes. He couldn't remember when he started to feel safe enough around Yuuri to do that, and to not indulge in his card tricks or other games. Those were useful to keep other people away from him, and he did enjoy them to an extent, but Yuuri always gave him something real to do, something that showed Yuuri in turn trusted him to be able to do that. There were more than enough people around here that only saw him as a clown at best and a spy in the making at worst.

Or maybe it was a proto-spy at best and a clown at worst. He wasn't sure, but as long as he was with Yuuri, it didn't matter.

The End

Notes: And that's the end of this story! Dennis, Yuuri, what you're feeling is called 'friendship'. It normally doesn't involve meat-eating plants but you guys are special.