Author's Note: …Dragons. They're mythological. :| I just thought I'd try something different and make Joey the dragon this time. He's a Chinese sort of dragon, though; keep that in mind.

And yes, the plot moves sort of fast. This is a drabble. Drabbles don't have to be super detailed.

Updated (07-07-12): This chapter has been edited to fit the guidelines of the fanfiction site. The adult version can be found over on adultfanfiction under the same username. There's a link on my author's page.

Candle Wax

Seto raised an eyebrow as the golden-scaled dragon rubbed its face against his, then lifted it from his shoulder and dropped it back onto the pillow that was its bed. "Stop it, Joey. You know I don't like you touching me."

Joey mewed quietly, whiskers wilting, then curled his body around, hiding his head in his coils.

"Seto! Why do you always have to hurt Joey's feelings?" Mokuba frowned and reached out to gently stroke the dragon's fur on its back. "All he wants is to be close to you. Remember what that monk said! It's been hundreds of years since a golden dragon has found its human counterpart!"

"I. Don't. Care," the brunet replied, not looking up from his laptop. "I didn't ask to be his human counterpart, and I'm not dropping everything to go do some ritual I shouldn't have to just so Joey can be bound to me forever. I'm not interested in being bound to him for the rest of my life."

"Seto!" the younger boy shouted, glaring at him, as the dragon curled up tighter. "He didn't ask for you to be his human counterpart, either! Why are you so mean to him!"

The older boy turned to look at him and frowned. "…I need a reason?"

"Ugh! You're such a jerk sometimes! Joey's only ever wanted to be friends!"

Joey watched the two brothers bicker, mewing quietly, but when he went ignored, he crawled off his pillow and over to the window. Taking one last peek at them, he slithered through the crack and onto the dirt outside. Then, he made his way away from the house, determined to find a way to make the brunet see he wasn't completely terrible. He decided on Pocky. Seto liked Pocky, no matter how much he insisted that he hated sweets.

He hadn't been expecting the dog down the back alley, and he especially didn't expect the dog to have friends.

.-.-.-.-.

Seto grumbled and shoved his hands in his pockets. He hadn't wanted to come out in the cold dark to look for Joey, but Mokuba had given him The Look. The Look meant that he'd messed up big time and, if he didn't want to wake up with half of his head shaved, he'd do what he was told.

Stupid dragon. Stupid Mokuba.

He turned his head as he heard something rustle, frowning as he saw a piece of newspaper moving along the ground. He watched it move slowly until it hit a trashcan.

It let out a tiny, offended 'mew!' Then, it sighed and fell still.

Seto watched it a little longer, then reached over to lift the newspaper up. When he saw the little dragon, however, he felt his heart break a little.

Joey looked up at him with big, teary eyes, his thin little body bruised and his golden scales scuffed up and dull. But his eyes were so hopeful as he nudged something forward with his snout. Seto glanced down at what looked like a stick, frowning in confusion when he saw the pink coloring beneath some of the dirt.

…Pocky. The little dragon had left to go get some strawberry Pocky for him.

Joey's whiskers twitched as he watched the brunet hopefully. Perhaps he'd made him happy. He'd worked so very hard for just this one little piece, so maybe he'd finally make the human smile at him, just once.

"…You stupid idiot!" Seto roared, standing up angrily. "Do you know how much you worried Mokuba? For some reason, he cares about you, though I don't know why he'd bother over a complete moron like you!"

The tears in Joey's eyes welled up and finally fell, rolling down his snout to drip down his whiskers. So he'd only made him mad. He couldn't do anything right.

The human sighed in frustration before reaching down to gather up the dragon's broken body, handling him in a surprisingly delicate manner as he lifted the reptile from the ground. He tucked the dragon in the crook of an arm and turned to go, then paused to look back at the stick of candy.

It was broken in half, and it had little teeth marks in it where the dragon had gripped it. The strawberry coating was smudged off in some places. It was covered in dirt, too, making it look more like chocolate Pocky than strawberry.

But Joey had worked very hard to bring it to him.

Hesitating only a moment longer, he bent down to grab the Pocky and turned to head back home. "You really are an idiot. You didn't need to get me anything."

Joey mewed tearfully. He only wanted to try and make him happy.

"…Don't… run off like that anymore. You worried us," Seto stated quietly.

The dragon looked up at him quickly, not quite believing what he'd heard, then let out a happy mewl. His human counterpart didn't completely despise him.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"So I put this candle here, and… turn this stone over three times… Joey. You're making this entirely difficult," Seto deadpanned, placing him back within the circle of wax he'd made from the candle. "Just because you've grown on me doesn't mean I've got endless patience."

Joey's tail wiggled happily. It had taken a lot of time, but the brunet was finally going through the ceremony to bind them together. He couldn't be happier if he tried.

"And finally… Candle here…" Seto pulled another candle right in front of him, then lifted a knife, frowning. "…Blood and wax…"

The dragon let out a squeal of distress as the human sliced the end of his thumb open and started to move out of the circle again, but then the brunet shot him such a dirty look that he stopped in his tracks.

The brunet sighed quietly and squeezed some of his blood from his thumb to drip into the melted wax around the flame. He watched the blood swirl around the white wax, streaking it and somehow making it look beautiful instead of gruesome. He glanced back at the scroll he was reading from, then frowned.

It said to drizzle the wax onto the dragon's body. Now, he knew that Joey could handle high temperatures (he'd once found the golden reptile frolicking in the fireplace), but he just couldn't feel comfortable drizzling it on what he now saw as his companion.

Turning to look at the dragon, Seto felt oddly reassured when Joey looked up at him and smiled a dragony little smile. So, he grabbed the candle, held it over him, then tilted it to dribble the melted wax over him. "…And now that's finished."

Funny, he'd expected… more. Like a little shock, or something. Something that felt… final. He didn't say anything, though, because Joey was looking up at him with eyes so full of love and happiness that he almost felt embarrassed.

"…Am I supposed to just… leave that wax on you?" When the dragon only continued to smile at him, he sighed. "I'll take that as a yes. Come on, Joey. Let's go to bed."

Joey purred as he was lifted up and carried over to the bed, curling up on his pillow next to the brunet's. He watched the brunet lie down beside him, then cooed happily. He was so very happy for this.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"S-Seto? S… Ssseto?"

Seto grunted and opened his eyes slowly. "What? …Mokuba?" He heard a giggle nothing like his brother's and snapped into an alert state, sitting up immediately.

There was a stranger in his bed, with golden-tan skin and blond hair—and brown eyes similar to Joey's. He jerked his head around to look for the dragon, then let out a snarl and grabbed the stranger by the front of his robes, slamming him onto the bed on his back and hovering over him threateningly.

"What did you do with Joey?"

The blond didn't appear worried, however, and instead giggled and turned his head away. "I think the question is what you did t' Joey!"

Seto glared at him angrily. "Don't play with me! Where is Joey?"

The blond tilted his head and smiled coyly. "I'm right here."

"…I just told you not to play with me!" the brunet snarled, but was surprised when the other boy grabbed one of his hands and drew it to his ears, which he felt came to a point, and he saw that the blond's nails came to a point like humans' didn't. "…Joey?"

"You did go through the ceremony with me, didn't ya?" Joey raised an eyebrow, still smiling. "Now we can really become one."

Seto stared at him for a few moments, frowning in confusion. Eventually, though, his eyes widened. "Are you suggesting I—"

"That's what it means t' be counterparts. A dragon willingly gives his or her body to their human partner, and in return, the humans protect their dragons." Joey tilted his head back to offer his neck submissively. "I can't use my powers in this form unless my life depends on it, so I'll especially need ya t' watch out for me."

"…I don't understand. Are you saying… you're supposed to be my lover now?" the brunet asked quietly.

The blond nodded a little, suddenly looking unsure. "Do ya… do ya not want to use my body, Seto? I'm afraid it's all I have t' give ya…" He blushed. "I don't… know anything else. I can't cook, or clean. I… I really wanna repay ya, but… I only know that my instincts will help me pleasure ya. I only ever wanted to make ya happy."

"But I don't… understand why."

Joey glared at him. "Maybe if you'd been listenin' t' the monk instead of pitchin' a fit over how ya didn't want me, you'd have heard him say that a dragon's human counterpart is usually destined for a long, lonely life without a steady partner unless the dragon finds them. I didn't want that t' happen to you."

"Well I'm sorry if I didn't want to add to having to take care of my brother and keeping the company running! Do you have any idea how stressed out I get just trying to deal with those two things?" Seto snapped, glaring back at him.

The blond huffed and turned his head away. "If I'd been human earlier I would've been able t' help ya relieve the stress."

"…By sex."

"Is there any better way?" Joey looked back up at him and frowned, raising his hips a little. "Um… This is gettin' a little painful. If you're not gonna have sex with me, can I go take care of myself really quick?"

Seto blinked at him for a moment, then looked down, raising an eyebrow as he saw the robes the blond was wearing were tented at his crotch. "Hmm. Well, whatever god wanted to torture me with you certainly made you right."

The blond tilted his head in confusion. "Eh?"

"…I'm really attracted to blonds."

Joey gasped and jerked his head back as the brunet cupped his erection through the cloth, hips jerking in surprise. "Nn, fuck, ancestors help me…!"

Seto smirked as the dragon-turned-human mewed and wiggled his hips. "Are you telling me you were going to have sex with me and yet had no idea what it actually felt like?"

"Dragons don't really have hands t' touch themselves with!" the younger boy exclaimed, blushing a little. "Stop teasin' m—Nn-! Ah!" He arched his back and whimpered. "Seto!"

.-.-.-.-.-.

Seto groaned and held the blond's smaller body closer after their lovemaking, then sighed quietly. "…Nothing to say, Joey? I thought you'd be more talkative…" He trailed off as the blond's head rolled limply when he tried to sit him up straight, then chuckled quietly. "Well, it's been a while since I've made anyone black out after sex."

…Joey looked incredibly breathtaking like that, though, tears of pleasure clinging to his lashes and lips parted, body stained with the evidence of their love-making. He looked even more beautiful when Seto laid him down, hands sliding from his shoulders to fall beside his head limply.

Seto chuckled quietly and kissed his forehead, then went to the bathroom for a washcloth to clean him up. They'd talk later, after he woke up; for now, he was content having the dragon on his bed, sleeping off a round of sex.

The blond had been so happy when he'd told him that he looked beautiful, had looked up at him with so much love and devotion… Seto had actually felt a little embarrassed when the former dragon had blushed so innocently and bit his bottom lip so coyly that he wanted him even more. He reached back to touch the scratches on his back and sighed, smiling a little. Joey had been so giving and apologetic when he'd first dug his nails in, he really didn't mind.

"Silly little dragon, always so eager to please and happiest at even the smallest showing of approval." He smiled a little when the blond squirmed, as if to protest, then frowned when he saw something twitch on the side of the bed, tangled in the robes he'd been wearing that the brunet had tossed aside.

It was a tail. Joey still had a tail. He hadn't noticed it before because it hadn't been moving, tangled as it was in the white cloth.

…Well. That was going to take some explaining if he ever revealed Joey to the public.