FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Weathering of the World

_ _

“And that’s it for this chapter. Don’t forget, homework is due at midnight, tonight! Class dismissed.”

Matthew watched his students clamor for the exits. The professor was happy to see none of them rush to the front of the class to bother him with questions, and he was afforded a bit of quiet until his assistant, an aspiring young man who was studying for his master’s degree in history, came up to him.

“I have the midterms all graded,” Ron said. “I know you don’t like scantrons and multiple-choice questions on principle, but really, it would save me and the other TA’s so much time.”

“You’re not the first TA to bug me about that,” Matthew said. “But you’re the first one who’s actually trying for a master’s, so I’ll consider it.” The young professor looked away and grinned. That wasn’t the only reason he was allowing even the hope of change to bloom in this particular teaching assistant’s head, the first time out of the countless requests from his previous aides.

The epic D&D nights helped. Matthew was also more willing to be more altruistic to him because he’d stuck around as his aide for two years now. The other TA’s he’d been assigned before had all just stuck around for a semester to fulfill their senior year requirement, but Ron had stayed and he’d even expressed interest in becoming an assistant professor.

Matthew smiled at the thought. People were fleeting, and it would be a breath of fresh air if Ron stuck around and became a professor under his tutelage. He’d been alone for a long time, and it had already been nice to have him around the past two years.

“Consider?” Ron grinned. “Well, that’s better than anyone else has ever gotten out of you. Anyway, do you want to go to the theater tonight? Or shall we try the 4th edition introduction set I just got?”

“Three point five for life,” the professor said. “I don’t think there are any movies that would interest me right now, so I’ll do the 4th edition if you must.”

“Hah, it’s not that bad. Why don’t you come over to my place for once? I’m always going to yours, and I’m starting to feel like I’m kissing up to you to get into your mansion.”

Matthew smirked. “It’s a nice mansion, though.”

“Hah, forgive me if my proletariat apartment is too rustic for your graces.”

“I jest,” the professor said. “I’d be happy to come over. It’ll be, hmm, like I was a student again, right. Brings back memories. Send me a text with the address later, alright?”

“Sure thing,” Ron said. “I’ll start uploading the grades tonight, but I won’t post them until Monday as you said.”

Matthew nodded and started piling his folders back into his bag. “Good. I think we all need a weekend without a mass of emails begging for grade changes. You know, if the class size grows again next semester and the school doesn’t assign more TA’s then I’ll probably switch over to scantrons.”

The graduate student smiled, turned, and started walking away. “Well, here’s to poor budgets! I’ll see you tonight.”

“And I insist on footing the pizza bill,” the professor called back. Ron heard him murmur on, “I think it’s pizza, right? That’s what college kids eat all the time?”

Ron shrugged and walked onward to his next class. A lot of times Matthew seemed rather oblivious, but he chalked it up to his family’s immense wealth. He probably had a butler deliver pizza, if he ever even ate pizza, on a silver platter, although come to think of it, he’d never actually seen anyone else in the professor’s mansion.

Well, Matt was just a whole ball of eccentricity. According to the university’s directory, he was thirty-three years old, but he looked just as young as his undergraduate students, Ron included. He tended to become silly when asked about his personal past, but it was very strange when he was lecturing. Sometimes, particularly when he was talking about European history between the first century and thirteenth, or Asian history between the thirteenth century and nineteenth, or the world wars, his posture would straighten and his eyes would flicker, and they seemed to shed away their youth to reveal a timeless well of wisdom and experience underneath, and he often spoke during these special lectures with extraordinary detail, almost like he had personally been there.

Once, Ron could’ve sworn he’d seen a tear during one of the lessons about the Black Death and its death toll.

He shifted his backpack and walked on to his research writing class. Matt was really into his work, and history was his passion, so that was all it was. The professor just had a fire for certain topics just as he did. Though his specialty was American history, tonight they would both share their love for twenty-sided dice.

Ron paused, sighed, and continued on to class. Maybe he’d finally dare to ask tonight about another sort of love.

He had a crush on him ever since he’d first met him, but Ron was never sure whether he was into men. The professor seemed asexual for the most part, but he realized he probably seemed that way to his own friends as well—no girlfriends, and no boyfriends either, but really that was only because he hadn’t been ready for a relationship. Getting a master’s degree, even if it wasn’t in a hard science, wasn’t a cakewalk, and he hadn’t bothered dipping his hand into the distracting pool of intimacy yet. Now that he was nearing graduation? Maybe. He’d start with the question. If Matt was gay, then maybe he would end his celibacy tonight.

---

The moment was near. Ron started to shiver, and when he heard the knocks on his apartment door, he jolted and decided to put off the question. He welcomed the professor into his humble abode, and Matthew walked in awkwardly as if he hadn’t been in someone else’s home for a long time.

Matthew looked around the danky apartment fit for a starving college student. Well, mostly danky. He noticed plenty of dragon figures and statues, the only decor in an otherwise mundane living space, and for a moment an odd feeling washed over him. It made sense though, considering most of the time Ron played a dragonborn character if the play setting allowed it, and he’d always negotiate with the chromatic dragons and befriend metallic ones, so he had an undeniable fondness for dragons.

A sense of strange irony, or symbolism, something about fate, lingered in the professor’s thoughts, but then Ron started talking about when the pizza would arrive, and his attention returned to enjoying himself tonight.

They spoke a bit about their class this year and shared a few laughs about some of their students’ writings, such as one person who wrote Middle Earth instead of Middle East several times in his essay. They opened up their books and started drafting their character sheets, a task that Ron knew would take up much of their time, time enough, he hoped, to bottle down his wits and blurt out the question. The pizza helped calm him down a tad, too.

“Okay, I think I have my character all set up for fourth edition now,” Matt said after spending a few hours sifting through the rulebook and picking feats and creating a back-story.

“Nice,” Ron said, finishing up another page. “I think I’ve got a whole merry band set up already.”

“Hush, you know I need to flesh out every character I make.”

“Yes, well, we can give him a go through the board game, or we can wait for next week when I’ve got the notice posted for class D&D night with the professor.”

“I love how hard some of them try to kiss up to me.”

“It’s not fun when they’re showering you with free gold.”

“You’re just jealous I can afford mystic weapons as soon as we reach Neverwinter or any big city.”

“Yes yes, having a magic quiver is nice and all, but I prefer playing normally. I refuse their bribes, why don’t you?”

“Ironic, considering your main characters are always dragonborn.”

“Humph, worshippers of Bahamut don’t desire gold hoards. At least, not unless they were earned.”

“Well, at least I do refuse their actual bribes with real money. That’s just asinine.”

“You really should just get those guys thrown out of the college entirely.”

Matt shrugged. “All of them, so far at least, have been in my general ed classes. I hate it when they make me teach those intro classes, but they’re short staffed ever since the recession.”

“I’m glad I’m not your TA there,” Ron said with a smirk.

“The ones I do have are even more soulless than the ones in the upper division classes, amazingly enough. Not you, of course, you’re my favorite.”

“I’m sure it’s because I set these games up for you,” Ron said, although he hoped there was more under that remark. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to broach, and instead stuttered. “Say, you don’t happen to play any science fiction games, do you?”

“Well, that’s a broad genre. I’d say Shadowrun, but what exactly are you looking for?”

“Something with starships and intergalactic travel.”

Matt looked down with a bit of disappointment. “Ah, okay, not Shadowrun then.”

“Oh, I’d try it if you play,” Ron quickly added. “What’s it about, if no spaceships are involved?”

“Well, it’s got nanotech and magic and all that, but it’s Earth-centric, and only like fifty years in the future. Oh, you know what, it’s like the Dresden Files, only set several decades later.”

Ron brightened up at the thought of magic and nanobots. “Ah, okay, that still sounds interesting.”

“Why the sudden interest in space travel, though?”

“It’s not sudden,” Ron said, trying to muster his will and bring up the question. “I’ve always dreamed of traveling through space in my own ship. You know, exploring strange new worlds and all that. Magic, sadly, doesn’t exist, so technology is what I hope for, but unless there was a great surge of science, I don’t think I’ll ever live my dream. My love of history will always be great but second to that dream. I know, I look forward to the future, but the past is fascinating all the same. Oh, if only the Dark Ages hadn’t happened, though!”

The professor felt himself flush with sadness as he was reminded of both Ron’s fleetingness and of the Dark Ages. Two years was the longest he’d been accompanied with anyone for a very long time—everyone he had even a modicum of interest in, especially his students, would graduate and, aside from some generic holiday cards, he’d never hear from them again. He kept away from the faculty too, but he had his own reasons for that, reasons which had made the temporary nature of any of the connections he had made with his students desirable, although often regrettably so.

And here he was indulging with someone who would be blown away from his life like a morning fog on the ocean side. He would indulge, and cherish the moment, but he would be sad when Ron was gone.

Matthew’s mind flashed back when he realized his student had mentioned the Dark Ages. It flicked through memories, old memories which could not be found in any textbook.

That was when Ron saw it again. His mentor had gone silent, and he looked at him and saw his eyes. The sparkle of youth seemed to peel away from those charming blue eyes, revealing a well of wisdom and experience beyond his grasp. For a single moment, he felt as if he was in the presence of a long-lived tree which had blossomed through many beautiful summers and withstood the bitter harshness of even more winters. Several seconds passed, and then the curtain was drawn over them again, hiding the ancient depths underneath his eyes.

A spring of courage jumped up his throat, seizing the moment of awe, and Ron said, “I’ve been meaning to ask, by the way, something very personal.” He waited until the professor was fully returned from his trance.

“Oh?” Matt stuttered, and recomposed himself. “Yes, you can ask me anything, of course.”

Ron felt like had to heave the words out, struggling against embarrassment and the fact that he’d be revealing his hand. What if he had something against gays? It was less likely, what with him being a professor at a well-known university and all, but that wasn’t a guarantee. His will wrestled with his throat, and the pause as his teacher waited for his question seemed to draw out the battle.

“Are you gay?” he blurted out rapidly at last.

Half of Matthew’s brain was shocked, and the other half immediately started grinding away what must be done if the obvious implication was true: that Ron was starting to fall in love with him.

“Err,” Matt stumbled, “yes, actually. Was I that obvious?”

Ron blushed as hope burst in his heart. “Y-yes? Oh, umm, I kind of just guessed. You seem to be very much like me. You seem to be asexual, and tend to be alone, enthralled by your work, and you don’t really try to look at the girls either, from what I can tell, even though there’ve been many objectively hot female students in your classes before. You live by yourself in your inherited mansion without even a butler or anything, kind of like how I live here by myself.” Inspired, he continued, “We’re just not the bar-hopping cruising sort, and we’re waiting patiently for the perfect man, aren’t we?”

The young professor noticed Ron was leaning close, very close, but he made no attempt to move away. His heart cried out to him, to take this lovely student of his and cherish him, love him, and teach him the truth of history. His mind fought back with logic, and it tried to drown his feelings away as it had done for so very long. Yet none had been so open to him as Ron, few had been in his life longer, and those that did were so long ago, when homosexuality was punishable by death, and he hadn’t felt as attached to any of them as much as he did now to the man whose lips were reaching out to press upon his own.

His head cried out, “He will die like all the others, and you will watch him grow old and suffer.”

His heart responded, “Then give him the gift, and let him live so that he may see the days where starships traverse the galaxy.”

To which his mind replied, “He will reveal you, and you will be ruined.”

His mouth, which had been pressed into a soft kiss, tore his inner argument apart. It had been so long since he’d felt the lips of another man on him, and he found his arms had automatically went around him and wrapped him into a tight embrace.

They remained together in a warm kiss for a long while before Ron pulled away. “Will you be my boyfriend?” he asked, instilled with courage now. “And husband too, if we end up being compatible, but I can’t imagine it otherwise right now.”

With his thoughts silenced by the raw physical emotion he’d just experienced, Matthew nodded and smiled. “I’ll be your boyfriend. As for husband, we shall see. I didn’t even know your dream of exploring the stars until today, and we really should go out on a couple of dates first, at least...”

---

A year had passed since that day Ron had crushed the butterflies in his stomach and forced out the question. He and Matt had grown very close, and there had indeed been many dates, and they’d even stopped hiding their affection in the classroom after Ron had received his Master’s degree and started on his journey to becoming a professor himself while working at a leisurely pace for his doctorate.

Matthew, for his part, indulged himself, giving his emotions what they wanted. Yet they cried for more, ever more. He had bedded many males in his lifetime, but none had ever looked at him back the way Ron did, even when they were entwined and given to their primal lusts. Fuckbuddies, as this generation would say, was all he’d ever had, and the other men had only sought for his cock, but Ron sought his heart.

And his heart wanted him as well, but there was no way of circumventing it. He would eventually have to reveal his true nature to him and trust him with his life if he gave in to what his heart desired. Yet, Ron seemed deserving of that trust. The professor looked around his mansion, which had been filled with the dragon figures that Ron had moved over from his apartment when he’d moved in, and pondered. He would be delighted, Matthew thought, but men were unpredictable, even if this one adored the dragons in his fantasies.

Such was his nature: he was a dragon, and older than even the Draconomicon that his former student so cherished had written on the lifespan of his kind.

He knew he couldn’t let their relationship go on without a care. The years would pass, and Ron would grow old, but he would remain the same as he ever was, so he would have to know eventually. He shouldn’t have let this happen in the first place. It was why he was so willing to avoid attachment, and shied away from befriending his coworkers, and would move to another university without a word when the time was right.

He should leave, and never come back. Eventually. Maybe he could stay a few more years, and in truth, he was loathe to leave because for once in a very long time, he genuinely felt happy.

Or he could take the risk that he yearned to do. He could tell him, and show him his true form after confiscating his cell phone, of course. Either Ron would accept him and keep his secret, or he would flee and tell the world he was a dragon, and the modern world would send him to a psychologist and give him medication to silence him.

And if he accepted him? That was the harder thing to figure out, for now that he knew this feeling, he never wanted it to fade. It was an offer he could only deal out once and never again to anyone else, but he already knew Ron was, as he’d said a year ago, the perfect man he was waiting patiently for.

So Matthew was resolved. He would speak to him tonight, and all his fantasies would be given a chance to come true.

The burden of teaching the general ed classes had been passed on to Ron, and his latest class was finished in the evening. When he came home, they hugged and nuzzled each other with as much fervor as ever.

Matt had prepared a dinner of plain cheap and greasy cheese pizza in memory of the day he’d opened himself up to him. Ron hadn’t quite gotten used to his more extravagant cuisines, and he was really still trying to get himself adjusted to the mansion space. It was a big jump from a cramped student budget apartment, but he supposed he had to get used to it sooner or later once his own salary hit six digits. Still, he couldn’t quite figure out how Matt, who was supposedly in his early thirties, could’ve afforded all the historical artifacts that were lined in the many otherwise empty rooms. Sure, he’d inherited the mansion itself from his unfortunately deceased parents, but all that stuff too? Golden Hindu statues, ancient Chinese terracotta figurines, jewel-laced crowns, Roman tablets, all sorts of items from all over the globe. Such a collection would probably have a price tag that made the mansion’s seem modest! Yet he couldn’t be sure—Matt had said they were mostly just replicas, and the newly graduated man had only dabbled in archaeology, but they seemed too, well, earthly to be replicas.

Whatever Ron could’ve guessed about the artifacts would never hit near the truth. The truth which Matthew was prepared to reveal after their homely dinner. When they finished the last slice of pizza, Matt stood up and looked into his boyfriend’s eyes.

Ron gazed back, and for the first time, he saw the veil removed completely. What he’d seen as flashes of ancient wisdom before now appeared before him as a pool of near infinite age, and then the puzzle pieces tried to click together in his mind.

“Matt?” he said, unable to avert his stare. “Why does it seem like, I don’t know, sometimes you look so old. Like you’ve seen so many things, more than possible.”

Matthew blinked, but his eyes did not change. “I need you to know something. I love you. That’s why I have to tell you the truth.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“It will be easier to show you, I think.”

Ron’s mouth opened to ask what he meant, but his tongue was forced to rest by curiosity. He watched his mentor, a master of history without a grey hair on him, gather particles of light at the tips of his fingers, light from which there was no source.

The light turned a sky blue, and it enveloped Matthew’s body. The shape wrapped around his human form and morphed it, molding it into a shape that was, well, Ron knew the shape quite well.

He was speechless, even as the light solidified into scales of bright blue. The head revealed itself last, adorned with a pair of silver horns with a frill between them, and his eyes looked into the beautiful blue eyes of a, he supposed, dragonborn.

Matthew saw his lover look at him in awe and wonder, and he knew he would not flee. A moment of quiet passed, and then he said, “This is me. The real me. I still love you, Ron. Do you still love me?”

Ron’s feet moved of their own accord. They brought him close to the humanoid dragon, and his eyes were still held to his as if bewitched by some spell. He brought a hand up and caressed the dragon’s muzzle, feeling the smooth blue scales with his palm. He was real, alright, and he was still Matt.

After the soft caress, Ron gave the dragon his answer. He kissed the tip of his snout, and Matthew let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, and then he returned the kiss with his swirling tongue. The dragon took him and held him close, folding his wings and arms around his human lover, and they stayed together for many minutes before the moment was broken by burning curiosity.

“I have so many questions,” Ron said.

“I’m sure you do. Let me try to snipe down a few before you bother searching for them. One, I’m not a dragonborn. Full-blown dragon. I can change into a regular dragon, but I’d be as big as this mansion, and I’ve been human for so long that I’ve forgotten how to walk on four legs.” Matt blinked and continued, “Two, I am old. Very old. Like, prehistoric old. I was there, almost sixty-five million years ago, when the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs struck. I was considered young for a dragon back then, but I can already guess the follow-up question. We have the elvish sort of immortality. Age doesn’t affect us, but we can be killed in battle or in accidents. And no, elves aren’t real as far as I know.”

Ron didn’t move. “I—I don’t know what to say.”

“You’re the first, you know. The first person I’ve loved since the asteroid hit. There are other dragons still alive, but we are hidden from each other by our own disguises, and I’ve wandered too much to know them now. Regardless, I don’t think I was mature enough at the time to want anything but sexual gratification.”

The human stared for several seconds, and then he shook his head like a wet dog. “Okay, question. Are you magic? Dunkelzahn? How is this possible?”

“I should start at the beginning, shouldn’t I?” Matthew’s eyes flicked back and forth, as if searching far into his memory. “First, no, not related to Dunkelzahn. Second, yes on the magic. There was magic in the world a long time ago. The asteroid hit, however, ruined the world and destroyed its magic. Kind of like Final Fantasy VII if Meteor had broken through, now that I think about it. Anyway, we dragons were all that remained of it, and magic now only exists within our bodies. We endured the calamity in our magically shielded cities, but it only took a few thousand years for the climate to stabilize. Life was starting over, for the most part, and all of us went our separate ways to help nurture whatever would grow. Unfortunately, magic didn’t return. Dragons born after the calamity had very little of it, and their scales reflected it with their earthly tones and colors, though they still had the gift of immortality. Only dragons from before the meteor, like me, have brilliant, environment-defying colors. It’s how you can tell us apart.”

“And then humans came along?”

“Oh yes. It took so long for sentient life to return. Sixty five million years, and these little ape creatures were the first to start using tools again. So it was that you became the next dominant race on the planet. We helped you grow, but many of your ancient ancestors were afraid of us. They would strike at us with their dinky spears and arrows, so we took on human forms whenever we wanted to interact with you. Except in Asia, of course, as you know, but for the most part we took on human guises and guided you along. The pyramids, for example, were planned by a few dragons.”

Ron grasped at words while his mind tried to grasp the whole idea of this secret order of dragons. “So, uhh, did Saint George actually happen?”

Seeing the human try to process his revelation, Matthew gave him the truth to help him digest everything. “Yes, actually,” he replied. “Well, Saint George was actually a dragon in human form. There was a great debate amongst several of our kind who had gathered together in Europe at the time, and some had come from the east. They believed humanity was good, and they should openly be their teachers and all that noble Bahamut style stuff. Saint George disagreed and believed they should remain in their human forms and keep on secretly making the world better, even if it seemed manipulative. I forget his name, and so does the tale, but the dragon leading Saint George’s opposition was goaded into revealing himself in front of a castle so the others could gauge humanity’s reaction. Needless to say, the castle’s occupants were horrified at the alleged assault that was actually an attempt to talk, and Saint George rode out and killed him at the lord of the castle’s behest. The other dragons all heard the applause and praise for him afterwards, and themselves took human form to witness the celebration of the deed inside. Thus afterwards did no dragon return to their natural form in public view ever again, aside from a few rogues or ones with death wishes, or if they were in the heart of Asia, though they too stopped once the people there started worshipping them as gods rather than taking their advice as mere guides.”

“So this is the answer to the riddle,” Ron said, blinking, but not awakening from the dream. “How you appear so young, but have such intimate knowledge of the past. And sometimes, your disguise seems to falter, and time appears to bear down on your eyes.”

“In spite of your short lives, I have made many friends with humans before. I have lost many to the Black Death. Many to needless wars.” Matthew’s eyes shut, and then he reopened them with a sigh. They were young no more. “But it has been amazing watching your species grow. You were savage, and the old days were full of death and discord. But light has started shining, and you’ve gone beyond what my race had achieved. We had peace, sure, but you’ve touched the moon and the stars, whereas we had became lethargic and content because of our mastery of magic, and had no wish to reach beyond the skies where we could already fly. And now at last, it seems you’ve passed a critical stage where most wars are no longer fought with soldiers armed with guns, but with ambassadors and diplomats armed with words, although I do admit it still is at a dangerous state where another of your achievements, nuclear arms, could annihilate the world and start the cycle of life all over as it had done from the asteroid strike. But there’s no telling what you’re capable of if you make it out to the stars.”

At this, Ron’s eyes started welling up. “And you’ll see it all. You’ll be watching the progress of humanity, as you’ve already done since our inception, but I’ll be gone, little more than a memory.” He pressed his head tightly against the dragon’s scaled chest, hearing those tireless heartbeats echo into his ears. “I love you, Matt. I really do. Even with all this. If my time with you is going to be naught but a chapter in your life, then I want to make the most of it.”

The dragon held him again, reassuring him against his own mortality. “I didn’t know what to expect before I told you, but I should have known. You’re not like most people, Ron. I waited a year to make sure, but I really didn’t need to. It was me, really, just trying to find the courage to tell you. I want to offer this to you. Will you live with me, Ron, as lovers until whenever time dictates that we shall depart this universe?”

Ron stifled his sniffling and looked up at the handsome beast. “Do you mean you’d cut your life short to match mine?”

“No, you misunderstand. I can offer you an ageless life. Immortality.”

“You can do this? No sacrifices or anything?”

Matthew nodded. “There is a way. It is old magic, but I was born before the fading and know it. It allows me to bound my heart to one other heart, my immortal life to yours. As long as I live, you will not die from age, or however long it is that dragons are supposed to live.”

The human reached up to rub the dragon’s snout again. “How can I say no? There’s no catch?”

“There’s no catch, aside from the pain of the initial transformation, but it will be passing, and you’ll be fine. But you have to make sure you want to do this. It will mean watching everyone you know wither and die from the jaws of time. I can only do this bind to one other being. Your parents and your friends will pass away, and you will not see them again until the time you choose to end your life, or a time where you are grievously wounded.”

Ron was quiet for a minute that seemed to last hours, but at last he said, “I’ve had little time to think about this, but I need no more. I’ll bear the burden of my loss. As long as I can live on with you, I’ll do it. I accept your gift, if you will be my husband until the very end.”

Matthew released one of his arms and took hold of the hand that was caressing his face. He looked down at Ron and smiled as warmly as a dragon could. “Your life will no longer be a book, but rather a series which, if you’re not reckless, will span the size of a library, if you so choose. And I’ll be in every chapter from here on out. I do, Ron, I do take you as my husband until the very last page of the very last book in our story.”

They kissed, and then Ron asked, “So how exactly does this binding spell thing work?”

The dragon unfurled his wings and stepped away. “Nothing you’re not used to already. We make love, only I do it this time as a dragon. Well, not full house-size mode, of course, but this form will work.”

“That’s not even bad,” Ron said with a snicker. “I’d want that pretty soon anyway.”

Matt smiled, and it seemed that even though he was a humanoid dragon and had spoken with the voice of an ancient Elf-lord, he shrunk and turned back into the fantasy-loving geeky professor Ron had known. “You’re a kinky boy. Not that it was unexpected, Mister All My Main Characters Are Dragonborn.”

“And now so is my husband,” Ron said. “So what then? You have sex with me, as a dragon, the thought of which, by the way, is already getting me bothered, and then? You said it would hurt, you didn’t just mean your undoubtedly big dragon dick, did you?”

Matthew let out a booming chuckle and rubbed his mate’s hair. “Ah, no. You saw me transform. It’s like basking in magic. You’ll be morphed into a dragon as well. Of course, you can return to human form and shapeshift at will afterwards. The first time you transform, however, will not be so elegant. It will hurt. You’ll feel your bones shift and crack and grow. After the first time, though, my magic will be fully in you, and it’ll be painless from then on.”

“Okay,” Ron said. “I can endure that. I will endure it. Not for immortality, maybe a little for the opportunity to have a dragon body, but mostly for you.”

“So many mad men would say otherwise,” Matt said. “But not you. I’m happy to give you the chance to fly a spaceship in the future.”

“It could be a thousand years.” Ron shrugged. “It seems so long to me, but it’s nothing to you.”

“I’d give it more time than that. I’d wait until the technology is absolutely common and safe. That’s the way you’ve got to live with this sort of soft immortality. Don’t get reckless. Your new body, in any form, will be less fragile than you are now, but the magic can only guard against so much.”

“Of course,” Ron answered. “I’m not exactly a daredevil. Only in video games.”

“Oh yes. No daring rogue activities in real life, please. If you need money, you’ll know exactly where to dig for ancient artifacts. Like I did, if you hadn’t figured it out yet.”

“Yeah, I got it. I think a tenured professor salary will be more than enough for me.”

“You won’t be tenured for long. People will quickly get suspicious of our youth. We’ll need to go to some other state, or country eventually, and teach there. Maybe even switch up professions every so often. There will be plenty of time to learn new things.”

“Naturally. So this is why you bawled like a baby when we watched Tuck Everlasting? I’d only even recognized it on Netflix because I was forced to read it in elementary school!”

The dragon’s smile lessened. “Yes, I cried. I cried because I imagined myself visiting your grave.”

Ron clutched his scaled hand in acknowledgement, but he also understood that the burden of loss would be passed onto himself, and he would be visiting the graves of his family and friends until the world itself had died and there were no more graveyards on Earth. “That won’t happen now,” he said. To cheer himself up, he added, “And we’ll be sure to avoid weird men in yellow suits.”

“Heh. A few trips to random third world countries might be necessary in the future, but we’ll worry about it later.” Matthew let go of his hand. “For now, let’s prepare, yes? Go upstairs and wait on the bed for me. I’m probably going to eat everything in the meat fridge, just so you know, to help me power the spell. Don’t expect any beef for tomorrow’s meals. Umm, I’d recommend stretching yourself before I come up.”

Ron perked up and blushed. “Oh, right then. Err, how many fingers do you think?”

“At least four,” the dragon said without a hint of sarcasm.

“Ah, okay. I should, ah, open a new bottle of lube too.”

Matthew nodded and let him leave the kitchen, which was bigger than Ron’s entire apartment space, to wander down the hall and make his way to the master bedroom. The dragon grinned, noticing how giddy he was going up the stairs, and then he returned to make the preparations for the binding spell. There was nothing fancy to do, just consume a lot to give him the energy to apply the eternal bond. There was a non-sexual way that was for more complicated and painful which involved carving intricate words of ancient draconic into the recipient’s flesh, lines which bled horribly but showed devotion. Why any dragon would ever use it, he did not know, for this way was so much simpler and miles more fun. All that needed to be done would be to tether his life to his own, using his seed as a conduit, and then Ron would have to return the favor, and surrender his final human load into him so that he could be fully turned into a dragon.

He ate and ate, not bothering to cook the meat inside the industrial refrigerator. He was far too excited to care about the taste. He devoured and focused his energy towards his loins, and he could feel his internal testicles thrum with magical power. That was all which was physically required. The other major required component was already satisfied: love.

Matthew took longer than he thought he would to gather enough magic. He’d spent so much time in human form that even his teeth would no longer shift back to their original sharpness, and they kept their omnivorous shape even though he’d tried to change them back. It was forgotten, just as the ability to walk on four legs was. He wondered if he would eventually forget how to shift back into full dragon form altogether, especially now that he was surrendering a great deal of that magic to another. It didn’t matter, though he knew it would please Ron to see him in his full majestic form once in a while, a form the human could never have, unfortunately. He wasn’t even sure how draconic the spell would convert his body, but he was about to find out.

The focus on his genitals made him stir, and as he walked up to the master bedroom, his thoughts became narrowed on satisfying their want. When he opened the heavy decorated oaken door, his slit was already spread wide open, his long dragon cock jutting forth and ready to spill forth his life-binding seed.

The glazed oak swung aside to reveal a naughty young human lying on his side with his butt facing the door. Four fingers he had said, and there he was trying to fit the fourth in.

Ron heard the door creak open and turned over. His eyes immediately fell upon the spire between his dragon husband’s legs, and his eyes widened at how merely four fingers was an understatement. He could perhaps take the thinner tip, but it would be a definite stretch for the base. There were no balls under the ridged shaft, a sacrifice for such an extraordinary tool. The human’s eyes then noticed a movement upward, and they shifted up to see that the frill between the dragon’s pretty metallic horns had flared up and seemed as strained as his erection. His own shaft hardened at the sight, and he rubbed his chest enticingly.

“I never knew my love for dragons went this far until now,” Ron said, grinning devilishly. “Let’s see if my rear can handle it.”

“I’ll have a taste of my own medicine after you’re changed,” the dragon replied. “Business awaits. There’ll be plenty of pleasure, but only after great pain. It won’t hurt until after I finish into you, and then you’ll start to transform.”

“I’m ready,” Ron said.

“Okay.” He pointed at his tapered cock. “Where’s the lube? I need to slather it on, but you’ll need to save some for yourself when you finish the binding ritual.”

The human grabbed the bottle and held it out for his mate to take. Matthew took it, popped open the top, and poured it all over his hand and stroked the slick fluid all over his cock, mixing it with what remained of his slit juices. “On your back, legs up,” he said commandingly after he’d rubbed on quite enough.

“Yes sir,” Ron said submissively.

Matthew gave his tip a few prods against his lover’s taint, and then he found his mark. He pushed in slightly, and the already stretched hole welcomed him inside. “Good thing I don’t have a big mushroom headed dick,” the dragon said rather lewdly. “Otherwise this would’ve been a lot more difficult.”

Ron gasped at the entrance, the knowledge that he was being used by his long-time crush who’d turned out to be a bona fide dragon filling him with exceptional lust and want. “I don’t think I’d ever have sex with you as a human again,” he muttered.

“Well now,” Matthew said, “that’s a funny thing. For me, it’s just as exotic and strange to be a human, although I’ve grown used to it over the ages. Maybe we could do it backwards, once you’re all ready.” He pushed further, testing the limit of his mate’s hole.

About halfway in, the dragon heard a whine, and there was a sudden flex of tightness around his shaft. “Ah,” Ron said, “give me a moment.”

“As long as you need,” the dragon replied.

“Mmf, I wonder if mine will turn as big as yours.”

“I’m not even sure how much of a dragon aspect you’ll take on,” Matt said. “Wings or no? Snout, or flat face?” His voice lowered, “Delicious ridged cock, or thick meaty foreskinned shaft?”

“I guess we’ll find out. You sure know how to encourage me, keep going in!”

“With pleasure.” The dragon continued his journey into his lover’s depths, the tightness growing as he ventured deeper.

Ron could feel his ass clamp as each ridge slipped into him, every section until the next ridge becoming more and more difficult as it strained him to his limits. He withstood the stinging that raged at him to plead for more time, but it slowly grew more and more, and he was about to cry out to stop again when he felt scales on touch all around his rear. Then he knew his mate was in him fully, and Matthew held himself there patiently as if he knew the debate going on in the human’s mind. The rage subsided as they held themselves in near stasis, and their breathing was their only movement.

A minute passed, and then Matthew leaned down, pressing his nostrils against his former student’s chest. The dragon inhaled deeply, taking in his scent which was swirling now in musk, and then he moved higher until his muzzle pressed against a set of eager lips. He drew a hand over his hair, combing through it until it slipped under his head and helped deepen their kiss. His other hand went onto his shoulders, bracing him for the next thrust.

The beautiful sapphire-skinned dragon pulled back his hips and allowed the man’s hole to nearly close up again, but the tip stayed in and denied it from shutting entirely. He drove forward again, this time steadily, and his tongue proved enough of a distraction that Ron didn’t whimper or tense up at the second hilting. So he kept it up, tongue kissing the human while slowly ramping up the speed of his thrusts.

Sooner than he thought he would, Matt heard the moan he had heard quite often from Ron before, back when he was still pretending to be a human. “More.”

The dragon retreated from the kiss, untangling his tongue from the human’s clumsy thicker one, and raised himself back up. He bucked forward harshly, letting his mate have the entirely of his cock in one quick sweep. For the moment, however, he kept the rhythm slow, so he would cram all his meat in but keep it in for several seconds before pulling it almost entirely out, then back in again.

While Matt did this, his eyes shifted their attention down and looked at his lover’s cock. It was a thick-headed thing and throbbed madly with need, and there was a bit of pre leaking from it already, but he knew from the tightness around his cock that he would blow far before his mate would. That was exactly what was meant to happen, and the load that was begging to be released from those bouncing balls beneath that thick human cock would have to wait until it was laced with his magic, but it would be rewarded for its patience by going straight into himself later.

He watched Ron’s balls oscillate up and down as he thrust, faster and faster now. They were fun things, he’d always thought, and he liked playing with his own set when he was in human form. He gave the human a short break from his ever harsher humps to fondle them a bit, enjoying the plump softness in his scaly hand. They hung ever so perilously, but they were worth the pleasure they brought.

Quicker and quicker the dragon went, and the air was buzzing with nearly tangible excitement. Matthew felt the urge in his loins rising with his speed while their bodies made the bed sheets more than a bit disheveled. He was too overwhelmed by bliss and love to slow down, and the first act of their night was quickly coming to a close. Before he burst, the dragon let go of his partner’s balls and dove right back to his face, sharing another passionate kiss before he could hold back no longer.

Matt spread his wings out, the only warning Ron would have of the dragon’s climax aside from the sudden renewed assault on his mouth. His ridged cock was so thick that Ron could feel every pulse, and the warmth that flooded into him overwhelmed him, but even under such gratifying sensations, the human was nowhere near his own release even though he had been made to cum hands-free before. There was another power at work that compelled him to stay on edge, but then he felt content as the liquid heat spread into him and coursed all the way to his extremities.

Time passed, and Ron felt content even though he hadn’t cum himself. Earthly feelings seemed to leave him, although he knew that at some point his scaly mate had released himself from the desperate clamping of his hole, but his departure did not leave him in the cold. His warmth continued to diffuse throughout his body, and he felt at ease.

“The change is going to start soon,” Matt said, burrowing into Ron’s state of mind. “Whatever happens, whatever you feel, remember I’m here for you.”

The man’s throat rumbled, and he smiled when he saw the dragon’s face lay in front of him. “Are you sure about the whole horrible pain thing?” he muttered. “I mean, I feel grea—aghh!”

Ron snapped and convulsed on the bed as the warmth turned into a searing brand everywhere in his body. His bones, his flesh, his organs—they were all wracked with terrible pain as the magic dug into him for the first time. He screamed as he’d never screamed before, and he wondered how he didn’t pass out from the jabbing that was emanating from seemingly everything inside of him.

If he hadn’t known what was happening, he would’ve thrown himself out a window to stop the pain. Yet even as his skin tore apart as his skeleton expanded, he could hear his husband’s soothing voice. He was there for him, and he would always be.

He could tolerate it. He would tolerate it. This pain was passing, and there would be a long long life ahead with someone he loved.

His will was steeled, but his throat still vocalized his suffering. His nails outgrew their fingers as they turned to claws, ripping out the sides of the tips and leaving trails of fresh blood where he grasped at the bed sheets. The fingers caught up, but not without sickening cracks as the bone expanded to fit the claw sizes. The same thing happened with his feet, leaving twenty trails of crimson at the ends of his original extremities. His arms were given a respite as they needed remolding the least, but a few layers of muscle were added on, and the skin still burned as they started hardening into scales. His legs were a different story, and they cracked and popped as his feet elongated and they moved into a digitgrade form.

Ron burrowed his head against his pillow as he felt the onset of two massive migraines on top. Horns sprouted out, harsh bone first that pierced his scalp, and then a metallic sheen layered over them, reflective like chrome.

The migraines softened and spread around his head, the magic continuing to sculpt his new face. His ears sizzled as they were stretched out and sharpened. His vision seemed to gain a wider field as his eyes were moved slightly outward, and his jaw broke and snapped as his face started extending, stretching his burning skin into a muzzle before the flesh solidified into silver scales. Inside his head, there felt a terrible pressure compressing all around his brain. His cranium was shrinking, and he thought his brain would explode into a grey mess if it continued. The pressure was released, however, as the magic shrunk his brain and increased the size of its folds, giving him the memory space and intelligence needed to endure the long years ahead of him, though Ron only felt as if a buzzsaw was cutting into various sections of his most important organ.

The pain flew from his head as the spell finished its job there, and he coughed and cackled as it reformed his throat. His ribs felt like they were being pried apart, stretched to make room for the enlarging lungs that would be needed to fuel his new body. Parts of himself that he didn’t know could feel pain did, and there was nothing he could do to soothe the terrible stings that came from somewhere inside him, and organs he could only guess the names were being reshaped or enhanced.

“Lie on your stomach,” he heard Matt say. But he couldn’t move himself. His body was violently jerking as if he were in a hot tub that had been electrified, and he had no control over it. His mate helped him turn over, however, and he soon knew why.

There was a pair of horrible snaps on his shoulders, and he cried out to the heavens once more. At the same time, his tailbone popped, and bones grew behind him like tree limbs caught in a forward time warp. Vicious heat poured forth from where his body didn’t exist before as the bones broke out of his skin, shedding flakes of shredded flesh onto the bed. The skin at the breaking points quickly hardened to scales and multiplied to cover the bone, continuing until a great pair of wings and a tail were formed. They lashed randomly as his newly crafted and compressed brain tried to adapt to the new signals from these extra items while trying its best still to cope with the still awful heat. Skin continued to make way for scales, and thankfully the heat was not as bad near his loins, though the soft skin there still hardened slightly to turn into little small scales, armoring up his scrotum with just a tad more protection than before. His penis had lost its erection from the terrible agony he had agreed to, and it too was not spared from aching as it felt like it was pressured into himself until it was inside his body and hidden with a newly formed slit.

His eyes shut tightly as he persevered against the misery and torment wracking his physical form. The transformation didn’t take long, but it felt like hours to him. Even as it finished, the echoes of his trial of faithfulness continued to wash against his flesh, leaving him convulsing and shaking.

Matthew looked upon his shuddering love, the spell having left him in a state of ruin. The newly changed dragon would have to deal with the aftermath of the terrible pain he had suffered by himself, but at least he could clean him up. With a wave of his hand, a soft glow washed over where Ron lay, and the blood and scraps of shredded skin and flesh faded away, leaving a freshly born dragon man pure of physical blemishes.

He held his hand again afterwards, waiting for the moment he would awaken and pass from his expected nightmare into an endless dream.

Minutes passed, and still Ron was shivering with his eyes squeezed shut. Matthew kept on holding his hand, and he brought a wing to stretch over both of his newly grown ones. After ten more minutes, the blue dragon was starting to fear that his spell had gone awry somehow, but then there was a great gasp, the first deep breath Ron’s new lungs would ever take, and his eyes shot wide open.

“Oh gods,” he cried out, “it was horrible. I felt like I was being ripped apart bone by bone.”

“You kind of were,” Matthew said, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. “But it’s over now. You’ll never have to suffer that again.”

“I know. I’m glad.”

“Can you stand yet? Let’s have you stand in front of the bathroom’s full mirror, hmm?”

“I—yes, I can. Oh, now the eagerness is filling me with energy. I want to see what I look like!”

“Come, let’s both see.”

Matthew supported the transformed human the few steps to the bathroom. Ron was unused to his different feet and found it difficult to balance out his stance because he couldn’t quite figure out how to use his tail yet, and his wings seemed to flap of their own accord. Thankfully, his arms were working normally, and he clutched the blue dragon the short way over to the tall mirror.

Matt refrained from looking until they could both see him in the mirror. He knew he was silver scaled, and his horns were like chrome, but it wasn’t until he led him to the mirror that he allowed himself to fully take in the sight of his transformed love.

“Well,” the blue dragon said. “Here. Can you stand by yourself?”

Ron was brought before the mirror but was too busy looking down at his feet to try and focus his steps. He managed to swat his tail down so that he was stabilized at three points. “Yes, I think I can keep the tail down and stand like this.”

“Great, now look up at the mirror.”

As Ron looked up, Matthew allowed himself to stare. They both gazed in awe.

Ron was silver and grey all over. He was a lustrous grey, not dull or worn out. His body build had transformed from that of a college nerd to that of a marathon runner, and he didn’t have any thick plate scales so his now visible abs could show through his scaly hide.

His face had a muzzle, but it was slightly shorter than Matthew’s, and it had a human quality to it that was difficult to explain. He’d also kept his head of hair, though the dark brown color had turned into a sandy blonde that was less harsh in contrast against his silver scales. Matthew’s eyes lowered and found that he’d kept his external testicles as well, and they hung even lower than they had as a human, though they seemed more rigid as the soft skin there was replaced with small scales, but their obviously increased weight would undoubtedly compensate and keep flopping around as he liked them to do. In fact, Matthew was already imagining those big scaly balls bouncing off his chin as he sucked the handsome dragon he had made. Oh, the future would be wonderful, he thought.

“Hum,” Ron said, interrupting his mate’s lewd thoughts. “I don’t have those cool big scales on the front.”

“Scutes,” Matthew gibbered. He was practically drooling and had barely heard his silly complaint.

“Right, that’s what they’re called. I still love how I look though. What do you think?”

Matthew thought he was gorgeous. “You’re beautiful, hon. You’re unique. You’re dragonish, but your human qualities make you so distinct. And just looking at you is making my dick come out again.”

“Oh, you naughty dragon. I think we look so sexy together. Well, I need to finish the spell now anyway, right? Back to bed?”

“Yes.” Matthew supported him again and walked him back a little too eagerly. “Back to bed, indeed.”

The blue dragon guided him back to the bed and sat down. He gestured at his mate to stay standing.

“Now what?” Ron asked.

“Keep standing straight. Get your balance right. What you suffered has made your shaft flee into its slit. Let me bring it out again.” Matt grabbed both sides of his mate’s hips and pulled him close enough.

The blue dragon rubbed his lover’s new slit and kneaded his scaly sack for just a few seconds before he leaned down to try and slip his tongue into the hole, but it was already too late, and Ron’s freshly resculpted cock emerged to meet it. He gave it a few tongue swirls, and then he pulled away so he could take a good look at the part-human tool.

It was smooth. There was a faint scale pattern on the bottom, and the tip was crowned with a thin glans instead of completely tapered like his own. Ron had been on the large size for a human before, albeit his lean body had probably made his cock seem bigger than it actually was, but now it was clearly big, almost as big as his, and his body was muscled to match it. Matt sniffed it once and wanted it. He wanted it now.

He reached for the mostly emptied bottle of lube and couldn’t reach it. He was too impatient to move and pulled it into his hand with a small force of magic. He popped it open, poured out a handful, and rubbed it onto the partially humanoid shaft in front of him, stroking it with reverence.

“Mmm,” Ron rumbled, “keep rubbing like that and I’m going to bust.”

Almost immediately, Matt let go. “Not yet you won’t. You get to do that in this.” The blue dragon flipped around, lifted his tail, and swished it enticingly in front of Ron’s muzzle.

The silver dragon’s eyes widened, and he felt a surge of energy pulse into his cock at the sight of such a magnificent and hot scene. It was what he’d never known he’d wanted so badly—a dragon to fuck in the tail hole.

Ron licked his lips and savored the details. He took a step forward, and then another, but then he stumbled as he tried to line up his cock and fell over his mate. His hands caught the bed so that he didn’t completely topple over him and crush his tail, and he had to sort of crawl to aim his shaft properly. With a bit of conscious effort, he was able to tame his balance and find Matt’s ass, and he pushed his head in, and then he stopped, savoring the tightness over his sensitive glans.

“Mm,” Matthew said, “no need to be slow and gentle with me. I have millions of years of experience, literally. Shove it all in and pound away!”

Ron snickered and gave the blue dragon’s wings a little lick. “Well, if you say so!”

The former apprentice gave his teacher everything he had and shoved his entire cock into him with one fell swoop.

Matthew let out a loud gasp and huffed. “Oh, damn, okay. You’re bigger than I thought. Maybe start a little slower?”

“Heh, sure thing, love.”

Ron did as he was asked to do and revved his next thrust down a notch. It didn’t take too long for the exceptionally older male to cry out for everything he had again, and then he took the transformed human’s pounding like a champion.

Matt was moaning and rumbling as he was drilled into by his mate. He could feel those big balls bounce beneath his renewed length, and the big cock grinding against his prostate was squeezing pre out of him. If Ron kept it up, he would cum again without touching himself.

The silver dragon had to rest his chest against the blue’s back to keep his pace. He was getting worn out, unused to the weight of his wings, but he kept on to please his lover. He looked ahead and saw the frill on top of his head flexing up and down with his thrusts, and he stuck out his now longer tongue to give it an experimental lick.

It got the body beneath him shivering like Ron was hoping for. He assailed the frill with his tongue while his cock continued its relentless assault, and he maintained it for a minute before he felt the burn of exhaustion start to creep into his muscles. Then he heard a cry, and there was a sudden succession of tightening squeezes around his cock. Matthew had cum again, spraying the mattress with his creamy seed.

Against the milking tightness, Ron could not hold back. His heavy balls drew themselves up and he came shortly afterwards, filling his mate with his own hefty load of his essence, and thus sealed the bind between their hearts.

Shortly after he was empty, Ron collapsed on top of his mate. He raised his hips with an effort of will and plopped his wet cock out of the sexy ass he’d plowed, and then he rolled onto his side. Matt tucked his wing in to give him room, and he wrapped his tail around his mate’s, twisting blue and silver together.

“It’s done,” Matthew said. “The gift that is given was accepted and reciprocated. We are bound in life.”

“And in love,” Ron replied softly.

Then Matthew looked into his youthful eyes, and his infinitely deep ones became wet with tears.

Ron caressed the other dragon’s snout again. “Why are you crying?” he asked faintly.

Matthew blinked the tears away and smiled. “I’m crying because I’m happy. So very happy. I wandered, and when the time came for my heart to yearn for a mate, I had become estranged from my kind, lost from exploring the world for so long. And no homosexual man wanted, in the dark ages of the past, any sort of permanent relationship, none that I could find at least from adventuring through Roman bath houses, Asian saunas, or anywhere I’d traveled. None, until you. And you came to me first, meaning you truly wanted me, and you still desired me even knowing my true shape, and I’m so happy to be yours.”

“Millions of years,” the silver dragon whispered. “I can’t fathom it. But you must have been so lonely.”

“I enjoyed it for a long time, but then I hoped for at least one to follow me through the ages. Dragons were lost amongst humanity by then already. But now I have someone, and I never want to be alone again.”

Ron leaned in and pressed his muzzle against his husband’s. “You’ll never have to be from here on out.”

Matthew stretched a wing over him, and they laid together until they both went to sleep, and the world continued spinning.

Days passed, then months, and years, and centuries. A dragon might have heard and remembered rumors about two masters of history who appeared together to teach in colleges across the world every so often, and who would disappear without a trace after about ten years while still having the same faces they had when they started teaching, but any such dragon wouldn’t speak of it. A dragon who might’ve known such a rumor would have long forgotten it by the time humanity had disseminated across the stars, and the chance of meeting another dragon was reduced to near zero, but there were two who would always know each other, and they would be together even as they traversed the galaxies in an endless dream.