It's past noon when the door finally opens up again, and she drops everything she's doing and teleports in front of the door at a moment's notice, because this had been the first time in years she had missed someone that much.
He looks tired, his eyes gloomy from the early wake up and his work, and his clothes are again drenched, a bit uncared for and colorless.
She's not able to handle it, casts a spell on top of him to rid him off his soaked state, and greets him with a hug.
I missed you she thinks and desires to speak out, but it's too childish, too selfish because it's barely been eight or so hours, and she's smart enough to realize this will probably be an everyday thing; so instead she releases him from herself and trouts around the kitchen, a hearty, deliciously cooked meal ready for him and her to accompany.
"You sure outdid yourself" he says, as if she would deliver anything less for him, and offers her a tired smile.
It takes her less than a second to realize, today was different.
"Did something happen?" She asks the moment she sees the opportunity, probably two or three bites of his own into the food, and he stifles a chuckle before shaking his head.
"I don't wanna hide it from you" He comments between bites and swallows, "But it's nothing you should worry your head over" he reassures her, but it only plunges into her mind like a needle.
Her magical eye starts glowing as she unconsciously tries to dive into his mind with a simple spell, and it's a mere frown that freezes her in place.
A big, if not huge mistake, if she allowed herself to think that way.
"You can't read my thoughts" He frowns and mutters, with his mouth full of food, and her tears are already forming, "You're not allowed to" he adds and continues eating carelessly, and it's not a second before the waterfalls start, the apologies drop by and her hate for her own compulsive behavior rises up once again.
He's, of course and yet again, unfazed and ready to calm her down, assure her that everyone makes mistakes, and that everything is O.K so long it doesn't happen again.
She almost creates a glyph into her sworn to never try and do that again, and he laughs.
"This is delicious, by the way" He's back at his usual self, the hearty food bringing him energy like she had planned it to, and she can't help but feel proud of herself.
She's moved entire dimensions, saved civilizations, and it is now that she feels fulfilled for once. It of course has to do with her curse, which he hasn't asked anything about, but it was also about him; she feels clear with him, new, and she doesn't wanna mess it up this time.
This time, for sure she-
"Lucoa?" It happens again and she berates herself, smacking her cheeks internally before nodding and allowing him to continue, making him chuckle and squint his eyes at her, "Is something the matter?" She accepts the fact that whatever he was trying to tell her before is long forgotten, and she pouts before denying cutely.
"It seems like we both have things we'd rather keep hidden" She replies, remembering her initial attempt of inquiring about his problems and feeling unfairly hurt; and he smiles just the slightest bit of bitterly, before continuing.
"Fair enough" He shrugs and lets it go, showing her he cares but he also respects all the privacy she could ever need.
Which wasn't that much at all.
"Maybe I can hear about your overall day, either way?" She asks after another minute or so, once he's done eating and is probably just processing food, and he lifts his eyebrows, confused.
"You dragons don't eat?" He ponders, probably feeling weird at the fact that he's been eating alone the entire time, and it's her turn to finally chuckle; mainly because yes, they do eat, and because no, she's not entirely a dragon nor does her feeding have anything to do with human food.
Either way she stands up and serves herself, it hurts her not to eat a little from time to time, even if her entire body is made out of magic and scales, and he grins and lifts his plate up, immediately making her beam up a little.
"Another round, please" And she happily obligues before retaking her seat and taking bites of her own; delicious indeed, but she already knew that, "My day was like any other, troubled by my boss, messed up by my coworkers and overall boring" She lets out a sad sigh that he didn't want to let go on his own, and he stretches, making her ears twitch at the sound of his joints snapping, "But I'm here now, and so are you" He winks at her and she finds herself mesmerized by his playful attitude towards her; it's quite him that makes them both feel like they've known each other forever, and she makes it a point for herself to try and relax a little, slowly letting herself drown into the chair as she enjoys her food with her human.
Her human, she smiles at the thought.
"And yours?" He simplifies her question and she brightens up before taking a deep breath.
She spends the next thirty minutes talking about all the things she's learned through magic and through his own collection of texts, books and stories. He just smiles through it all and adds comment when necessary, letting her energy go out as she desires.
At some point, he stands up and picks up the dishes, to her surprise, and goes towards the kitchen while telling her to move to the sofa.
"You read about movies?" He asks once he's done and ready, and she quickly denies with her head; she read thousands of different things, mostly ancient, but nothing close to something called a movie, and he laughs at her, "Then you may like it, you may not" He says and her eyes trace his every motion, not once missing the way his body moved in calculated ways to not waste more energy, and how lazy he looked all together.
She loved it, very much so.
"I personally don't really like watching movies" he goes back to the sofa and she scooches over to his side again, smiling when he pats her back as he takes a certain rectangular thing in his hand, "It's like rubbing into my face a far better, funnier scenario that I could be living right now" He clicks a button and the squarely thing in front of them lights up, gaining a small yelp and a surprised expression out of her.
"Is this technology?" She asks, dumbfounded and he lets out a huge laugh before nodding his head off like a kid.
"You read about technology?" She nods eagerly, "I wonder how far you went, movies were pretty far back into our history, after all" He giggles before answering her question with a simple yeah, it is technology.
"I can show you what I learnt, if you allow me to" She offers with her head already resting on top of his shoulder, and suddenly, sounds start coming out of the box in front of them and he shrugs.
"Maybe after the movie, aight?" He doesn't deny her, she knows he's already curious about what she meant by that, and she nods in agreement, rubbing her cheek on his shoulder, "Now pay attention...Lucoa" He snickers as he sneaks up her name in the sentence, and she wonders as she nods yet again; why is that her name sounded so deliciously correct when it came out of his mouth?
She keeps wondering about their connection until a sudden, familiar sound appears on the box's front part and she's drawn to the image it displays.
It's a dragon, a small, lizard like black dragon and a young boy, all slightly different from the reality the human world displayed, but still, it was clear they were humanoid.
"Finally caught your eye?" Bruce manages to ask and she nods eagerly without removing her eyes from the screen.
It's a friendship story, like the ones she's seen in human fantasies; about a boy and a dragon, of fights against society and their prejudices and love; and she can't help but drop happy tears at the end of it.
She's too flabbergasted, it's obvious Bruce chose this movie for her to understand views that he owns and she can't stop hersel from smiling euphorically; He is what she's aimed to become after all her mistakes and regrets, and without trying. He was born with this nature.
She can't help but feel like it's destiny that has brought them together, and in a whimp to start babbling about her discovery, she finds him all sleep right next to her, his energy long spent in remaining awake for her and the movie, and her heart squishes into endearment and funny thoughts.
She's squeals internally at the sight and can't help but keep staring for a little while; all as she ponders how to react to the current situation.
It's only after a few minutes that she lifts his body up with a practical spell and moves him over, albeit slowlier than she's ever moved anything before, to the bed; it's not even night time yet, but he's in clear need of rest and she knows it's healthy for him (she's read that on books) so she does it without a qualm.
Half an hour goes by before he blinks away his dormant state slowly, and she's right there by his side, letting her flowing net of magic around the current world bring her information about all the things she needed to learn in order to coexist with another human.
He greets her with a smile and she beams up again, her bright eyes staring right at his rough, dry lips and ever so tired eyes.
"Did you rest well?" She questions him and Bruce nods eagerly, leaning into her hair caresses that she probably kept on doing throughout his entire nap.
"I guess I filled up too quickly, I needed a nap to digest,- oh" His stomach makes a weird, cracking sound and he gets up immediately, almost hitting her chin on the process before running towards what she already knew was the bathroom.
She questions mentally whether or not she should follow him up, just for the sole reason of being there for him, but when she hears a click on the door (the lock, she already learned) she giggles and denies it with her head. Humans require a certain amount of privacy she'd never understand.
She waits for him right at the door, gaining a rightful scream of surprise the moment he comes out and an immediate frown, one that confused her to the core.
"Lucoa, I just want you to know that you're free to be around here as you please, you aren't meant to be my shadow" She blinks twice, confused as she tries to come up with an answer to his complain and he just scratches the back of his head in embarrassment.
A sudden thought comes to her head that drowns her happiness the way fire gets beaten by water.
"A-Am I annoying you?" An instant glare and raised eyebrow tells her otherwise, she doesn't have to ask and he doesn't have to explain, but the answer is obviously not there, and she berates herself for thinking that would be a thing when they're both connected in such a deep manner.
It takes her a, quite shameful if she may add, long time to figure out that he only wants her to do as she wants, and then she smiles up again, this time with teeth showing, before nodding up like a child in Christmas at him and giggling.
"Oh, but this is what I want!" She replies, leaving him surprised, "To be by your side!" She grins, his usual poker lined mouth melts into the shape of a rainbow and, for the first time, it's not her eyes that wet up.
It's not a minute before her eyes a bulging out at the look of waterfalls coming down of his own, and soon enough the hugs she had been dying to ask this entire day come to her in a rush, showing yet another side she didn't know her human companion had.
It breaks her walls almost immediately, and like a dramatic comedy, they both cry happy tears at the company of each other; not sobbing,- or at least not anymore-, and just soul healing.
He mentions something about it being weird to cry outside a used bathroom, and even though she doesn't quite get it, in a snap of her fingers they're back at his roo-, their room; he doesn't question it, his surprised is overwhelmed by their current scene, and her desire to learn more and live more with this human deepens by the second.
She can't keep a straight thought, however, as she keeps on crying herself. She'd need to get to the core of this particular trigger for him, to help him of course, but for now, she'd share the sentiment,- one that deep inside she was pretty familiar with-, and share his tears with her own.
By the time they are done, the ski has cleared and the sun has turned beautifully orange, and in a second he detaches himself from her, stands up and throws a thumbs up at her; his aura already morphed into a bright colored light.
"Alright, time to do something interesting, Lucoa!" His immediate mood recovery awes her in ways she couldn't explain as she struggles to slow down her own sorrow, and as she adds another point to her Get to know list of things about him, she nods and stands up herself.
She doesn't wonder whatever it is that they're about to do, nor does she doubt him.
She knows she would trust him in a blindfold to the end of the living world.
He knows she would follow him to the edges of time itself.
And with a smile, they both set foot outside the apartment, with her heart racing at his own heart pounding peacefully. Whatever he had in stock, she could sense from within his soul it was big, and amusing.
And she was damn ready for it.
—
Hi, sorry it takes so long to update, I've probably lost the people that fell in love with this small story when it first came out, but I've gone through a lot, and it is now that this particular way of expressing my feelings pops back into my mind.
For novelty purposes, and to not fall into the ways of sexualizing bodies in the ways anime always does, let's please imagine Lucoa just a slightly bit less voluptuous; at least to a point it turns into something that is realistic. That is how I imagine her in my mind; I re-visited the anime a few weeks ago and I can say that I couldn't really take Lucoa that seriously by the way she was drawn into the anime, the manga shows slightly less, although that is to be expected I guess.
I'll try to keep up the way this story is driven and written, by romantic phrases and first person, present points of view that blend within feelings and descriptions of things; I hope you keep enjoying this, it is precisely my only fanfic that has ever been written this way and even I find myself reading the first chapter and second again and again, I find them very enjoyable.
Hopefully, I'll see you soon! - Paw