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Disaster, that's what Colby's trip was turning out to be. He'd planned so well, too. Take a couple days off, grab some gear and head into the mountains to do a bit of snowboarding before the season got into its harsher parts, with deep drifts and higher chance of avalanches, that was what he was going to do. And he'd gotten up into the mountains! The first day was even nice. But the second, a telltale gray sky had heralded the coming of big, fat snowflakes, and pretty soon, Colby was alone in a veritably blinding snowstorm.
He'd at least managed to be on a part of the slope that was easier to navigate- or he thought so, up until he shot off a bank and smacked the body of his board against a boulder. The impact sent him tumbling, and when he sat up to check himself over, he realized that it had also shot his board through with a crack that had practically killed it. Left with little choice, he unbuckled his boots and picked up his board, planning to hike back down to his campsite.
That was when it happened.
He didn't immediately hear anything, the slight whistle of wind and his crunching footsteps and padded gear rubbing together covering any other noise. Besides that, he wasn't really concentrating on other noises. So he was caught completely off guard when a hefty weight smacked into him from behind like he'd been football tackled. He face planted into the snow, scrambling to get back to his feet and try to suss out what had just hit him. But the second he stood up, a gust of wind and snow- one that wasn't from the weather- buffeted him. He raised his arms and-
They were caught, squeezed by what felt like clamps along his forearms. He fell again, this time with the weight on him, and now he could hear the flap of wings and feel the way they stirred against the icy crust. It must have been an effort for whatever was carrying him to lift off- it struggled with its wings hitting the ground and its barrel-like chest against Colby's back. He tried to call out, but his mouth was full of snow, and by the time it had melted and he'd spit it out, they were aloft.
He kicked and wiggled for all of five seconds before he realized how high they were actually going, not that he could tell by the ground, but by the way the flapping continued, beating huge wafts of air to rise into the storm. He could have tried to keep kicking, too, but there were rocks everywhere, hidden in the drifts, and Colby couldn't take a chance at landing on anything but the softest snow. So he stilled, and buried his face against his arm to keep the whipping, biting cold from turning it more red.
Eventually, the wings stopped heaving their way through the air, and instead focused on short bursts to control the glide downward. Colby was too distracted with keeping his eyes shut and his breathing shallow to notice the ground coming up beneath them.
Suddenly, rocks shot up in front of them.
One second. They zoomed closer.
Two seconds. Colby braced for hard impact.
Three-
The transition from storm to cave mouth happened instantly. The landing was just as quick, a few backwings enough to let his feet touch the rocky dirt, and then the weight of what had carried him on his back and forcing him down.
"H- hey, let me up!" he cried, squirming. What if it was a giant bird or something that wanted to feed him to its babies? What if it just wanted to eat him? What if-... he didn't know. If it
did
eat him, he just hoped it was quick.
"Oh," a deeper voice replied, the rumble of it against Colby's back. "You speak Human."
"I- what? I
am
one-" Colby twisted, trying to get a good look at his captor. What he got was a close-up view of a fuzzy muzzle, the same white as the snow outside. Blue-tinged horns raked from behind its eyes, the pupils that same blue and brilliant in contrast to the black sclera.
It yawned, showing black gums and tongue, and achingly white fangs. "Mmm." Its mouth closed and it bent its head to sniff at Colby's ear, pushing his hat off with its soft nose. "Ooh. You smell like human female."
"Um- n- no." Colby caught himself. He didn't think he wanted to explain the gender binary to a- a whatever this was, let alone his own transition. "I mean I… I'm sort of… both at the moment-"
"Oh," the thing said, sitting up and finally releasing the grip on Colby's arms so it could move a few feet away. Colby did stay where he was, not wanting to risk the thing coming after him and deciding eating was better than talking. "I didn't know," it continued, "that humans were so like dragons."
That gave Colby pause. Dragon? Turning slowly over, he tried to focus, the shape of the creature mostly backlit by the cave mouth. It was horselike… doglike? Roughly the size of a horse in any case. Its muzzle was tapered gracefully, counterbalanced by its horns, and mane fell over its neck and face like a horse too, but its fur grew long, and the wings settled against its sides were feathered. The only unfurred part of it were the sharp black talons at its clawtips, and it even had a blade at the end of its long tail, partially obscured by some fluffy fur.
"Dragon-" Colby repeated, disbelieving despite the evidence perched like a cat and staring at him.
"Yes?" the dragon replied. Its tail flopped over itself like it was wagging, but once. "I thought humans came in only the two varieties. You smell female… sort of."
"I… well, yes, I mean, I
started out
female I guess but I changed that." Colby played his fingers over each other.
"Yes, see, that is the same as dragons, although we start out as neither and then whichever of us is the dominant one fertilizes another." It paused. "This of course proves difficult, most dragons disliking breeding other creatures but also disliking
being
bred."
Colby couldn't really think of anything good to say. Ungendered dragons, breeding other creatures? Having some way to be either? One very specific flower-related word came to Colby just then, and he blurted it in the silence. "Hermaphroditic?"
The dragon- Colby couldn't tell whether it was male or female, not that it could apparently tell either- tilted its head. "What?"
"You're, uh… both."
"Oh, I see, yes, is that what that means? I don't think we have a word for it, just for those that are dominant and those who are submissive."
"Yeah." Again at a loss, Colby paused. He fidgeted, still laying on his back. "Um…" he tried, "so… why exactly did you bring me here?"
"Mm," the dragon responded. It looked at him, and Colby took a chill down his spine, dreading the answer. "I thought you were something else. But if you're human, I won't eat you."
Colby blanched. "Uh… thanks?"
The dragon, now seeming to have relaxed from its flight, shook itself, then got up and moved closer. Colby, rightfully terrified of the creature that could fit its jaw fully around his head, stayed where he was, breathing hard through his nose.
"You're fine," the dragon said, stooping down to look at Colby again, its eyes searching his half-covered face. "I said I wouldn't eat you."
"Yeah, but you were
going
to," Colby said, quietly.
"My mistake. Come with me. Your body is cold and the weather is colder." And with that, the dragon turned, padding deeper into the cave.
Colby stared after it, and when he didn't immediately stand up, the dragon paused. "My den is warm. It doesn't smell but of pine."
Left little choice, Colby glanced back at the white outside, stray flakes slowly making their way into the mouth of the cave as time passed. He stood, and he followed the dragon.
The walk took a couple minutes, but the cave Colby was expecting wasn't to be. Instead of a drippy, wet mess like he thought a mountain cave would be, it stayed a rocky, dirt-covered path that narrowed and then after about ten feet reopened into a space probably as large as his apartment. The dragon breathed in, spitting like it was clearing its throat, and a smoking, gelatinous ember hit a half-burnt stack of wood, slowly growing to consume most of it with fire.
With the light, Colby could see much better. Most of the cave had been cleared of rock, leaving only a sandy consistency, save a rocky outcropping that had been lined with what looked like an abundance of moss. There were no bones scattered about, and the smoke from the fire didn't even linger- when Colby looked up, it seemed to disappear into fissures in the stone.
A few lengths of pine wood sat against one wall opposite the fire, their branches ripped from the trunks, and some woodchips scattered as well, no doubt from their cutting or tearing. Alongside them were an assortment of most likely stolen cast-iron and steel containers- a frying pan, a few smaller cooking pieces and a big stockpot all stacked inside each other.
All in all, it seemed a plain sort of lived-in, though if pressed, Colby wouldn't be able to say what sort of nick-knacks a dragon might
want
to keep around. The skulls of its enemies? In fact, the only meat that seemed to be present were the bodies of a rabbit and a fox, draped over another small length of wood. The dragon paused there briefly, with the sound of clearing its throat again, but this time, a stream of water shot from behind its teeth and immediately crystallized, showering the little bodies in frost.
Colby blinked.
Huh. Like a dragon refrigerator.
He eased his way closer into the den, noticing a few places that the walls seemed to open up, but the dipped into darkness at the edge of the firelight. The dragon, meanwhile, had settled itself on the floor near the moss-filled outcropping, and watched him.
"I… if you're not going to eat me-" That still felt weird to say aloud. Colby didn't like the implication at all. "-then what did you bring me in here for?"
"To weather the storm."
The answer seemed overly simple. Colby
could
just run back out and try to find a place to go away from the dragon, but he didn't like his chances of finding out where he currently was, let alone some sign of civilization. After all, a dragon lived here and no one even knew.
He decided to hold the dragon to its word, and tentatively moved closer to the fire so he could strip off most of his snow-soaked gear. He pulled off his boots, then shucked his coat, laying it out flat on the ground. His thick overalls came next, and finally his shirt because it was soaked down the front. The pants he'd been wearing were okay, so he kept those while he arranged the rest of his things.
When he turned around, the dragon was looking on in interest.
"Female species," it began, then altered its sentence. "Human females, they have mammaries."
Colby flushed redder than his snow-pinked skin and nearly covered the scars under his pectorals, but stopped himself, refusing to be embarrassed about them. "
Some
do. And I already told you, I'm not a female."
The dragon looked slightly confused- probably; Colby couldn't fully tell- but didn't continue the train of conversation. Colby, meanwhile, wasn't really sure what to do, and stood awkwardly until the dragon addressed him, its tail curled. "You can do what you like."
Not that Colby knew what he was trying to accomplish other than get dry and wait out the storm… and try not to get eaten. He hesitated. "Have you eaten any humans recently?" he asked.
"Mm, no. I like rabbit. Sometimes there are elk, but they're harder to bring down. Once, I ate a puma." The dragon bore its teeth, sticking out its tongue. Funnily, Colby noticed it wasn't serpentlike, but more wide and flat, although it did have a notch at the end that made it a bit reptilian. "They're unpleasant."
"Oh," was all Colby could offer. He stood a moment more, then slowly made his way over to sit next to the dragon, gingerly taking up a space where the mossy edge of the nest ended.
When he woke, it was to a face full of moss. He turned, noting that the fire had been rebuilt with a new few logs, but the dragon had only slightly adjusted, resting its head into its nest alongside Colby and letting its wings droop. When he moved, the dragon did too, standing and crawling up but keeping its head low. It snuffled along Colby's side, and he tensed as the feeling moved up toward his neck and over his chin. The dragon watched him, and he watched back, breathing shallowly.
"I won't hurt you," the dragon said. It nuzzled his cheek and licked him, and the warm wet of its breath didn't smell like meat, but like woodsmoke. "You can call me Kel."
Irrationally, Colby wondered if all dragons had such succinct names, or if 'Kel' was short for something. He opened his mouth, but didn't ask.
The dragon- Kel- tilted its head, its forehead brushing Colby's chin and its mane falling into his face. He felt the same sensation of fur at his hip, but until the light touch of the claws between his clothing and his skin, he didn't register it. Kel, somehow with its back paw, eased his pants down, and only then did Colby think to try and move, but Kel clamored to pin his arms with its forepaws.
"Wait," it pleaded, head still ducked to Colby's level. "I need you."
"I- but, no-"
"I'll take care of you," it promised, swaying its hips, its tail curled over Colby's leg. And then it continued in a rush, "I've not bred for seasons. There are none of my kind here, nor any other large enough, or willing. Please."
Colby hesitated. He was already trapped, but if he cooperated, nothing worse would come of it. The dragon- Kel, he reminded himself again- could just get its rocks off, and that would be all. Colby looked down at himself and the dragon… whose cock was peeking from its sheath, and swallowed. He mentally corrected himself from saying 'it' to saying 'he,' just for the time being, that feeling less animalistic.
Kel whined deep in his throat and tucked his head against Colby's shoulder. Colby, in turn, reached to pet the dragon's foreleg, still pinning said arm.
"I'll take care of you," Kel promised again, somehow meek despite being almost three times Colby's size.
"I… Let me up." Kel sat back and Colby sat up, then got to his knees. He reached up to touch Kel's face, exploring the thick, soft fuzz and running his fingers through the coarser mane. He shuddered, and Kel opened his eyes to watch him.
Colby opened his mouth. Closed it. He opened it again, and this time managed to speak. "If I'm letting you, it's on my terms." Kel nodded into his hands. "Careful."
He let go of Kel's cheeks and reached to finish what the dragon had started. He hooked his fingers under the waist of his pants and slid them down, then sat and pulled them off to leave himself bare and naked before Kel. He shivered.
Kel leaned down and Colby accepted it, reaching to brush his hand over the dragon's neck as he crept forward. "You said you could smell me," Colby murmured, hands still shaking, and Kel nodded again beneath his fingers.
"You smell human," Kel said, dipping his head. Colby guided it downward, and Kel breathed against his scarred chest, then against his stomach. "It's strongest here," Kel continued, breathing hot against Colby's inner thighs.
"Yeah," Colby said, inching his knees wider. "That's the only female thing about me."
Kel nosed at his thigh and Colby shuddered, imagining his teeth. But Kel's soft nose was nothing like that. "L- lick," he stuttered, and the next moment he felt the warm, soft flesh, dextrous against his own, the flat fork tickling along.
He pressed his hand to the side of Kel's face, guiding him fully center, and Kel licked again, the whole of his tongue bathing Kit's slit and clit in saliva and soft heat. Colby clenched his fists. "W-wow. Do that again."
Kel, however, was already doing it. He let his tongue loll, the width of it enough to flatten fully against Colby, the tip delving into him, and then slid it between the folds and over the sensitive nub of Colby's clit.
"Can… can you put your tongue inside?" Colby breathed, leaning back and finally letting himself lay down, still hanging onto handfuls of moss.
"Yes?" Kel said it as a question, licking his lips. Colby looked up at him and he continued, "But why?"
"It's worth it. You can't just have sex without foreplay."
Kel's expression said he didn't know what 'foreplay' meant. Colby shook his head. "Never mind, just try it."
Again, Kel dipped his head, and Colby felt the tip of his tongue, and then more and more, until Kel's nose pressed against his slit and several inches of warm, damp wriggling had penetrated him. Kel licked, sticking his tongue back in a few more times, and Colby moaned. Only at that, Kel drew back, licking his lips, and eyes searching for something he'd done wrong.
"I wouldn't mind more of that," Colby murmured, adjusting his knees. Kel, on the other hand, had a different idea. His cock, twitching and hard, stood ready, the tip having leaked a few drops as he sat. He shuddered too, and Colby did hesitate. But he'd promised, and nothing more than sex would come of it. So he reached again to indicate that Kel come forward, and the dragon inched closer, legs bent to try and reach Colby's entrance.
He rutted a few times against the air, bent low against Colby, but no more than the tip rubbed against Colby's stomach, and Kel whined. When that clearly wasn't going to work, Kel too big to lay properly and Colby too antsy to come up with anything more creative, he finally sat up a little and moved. "Come here. Just… stand like that."
Colby lay back on the moss so he could prop his legs up on the edge of the outcropping, which allowed Kel to climb down and situate himself. Hind legs on the ground, his chest brushing Colby's, and Colby encompassed by his paws, Kel bucked and the tip of his cock brushed Colby's slit.
"C- careful," Colby breathed, reaching to spread himself, and feeling for Kel's cock so he could guide it in. Kel's hips juddered as he tried to hold himself back and buck at the same time, and thankfully it was enough that he did so Colby could line him up, and Kel could sink in little by little. And once he did, he exhaled a massive breath into the moss and across Colby's skin, his wings drooping around them like a tent.
Colby clung to the long fur of Kel's forelegs, and then the dragon began to thrust, and Colby felt immediately full, Kel's entire length burying in him with each pump of his hips. He raised his knees, trying to find purchase with his heels on Kel's hips, and only sort of managed. Instead, he braced in the join of Kel's leg and body, and every time the dragon pulled out, Colby's legs followed, while every thrust opened Colby wide for him, his cock seeming thicker and deeper the more he did.
Kel's cock felt
massive
; Colby let go of the fur and grabbed his knees instead, letting Kel sink further into him, and as Colby felt Kel's fur between his legs, the thrusting shifted. The long, deep penetration became choppy, Kel's hips jerking in shallow, quick bursts, his tongue lolling and his panting matching the movement.
And then he stopped, still thick and heavy in Colby, still breathing lightly, sharp against the moss. Colby felt a warmth spread between his legs, and the heat of Kel's cock jolt inside him. He gasped, tremoring, and shifted, but Kel was stuck firm.
Was… was that a
knot
?
Colby shifted again, and Kel bore his teeth, rumbling "S-stay," between them.
The sensation was odd. Odd enough that Colby didn't realize what was happening at first. But then he felt pressure, like Kel's cock was expanding, pushing his slit wider. And then it was gone for something else, a deep slide of
thickness
through the length buried in him.
Pressure, and it
hurt
, and Colby hissed in pain, bearing down against it, and-
And just like that, it was gone, with feeling of a pop and a slide under his navel, only to be replaced with the same thick sensation, the same pinch of pain, and the sudden slip deep inside him.
"Kel-" he breathed, on the edge of climax and getting closer with each new feeling.
Kel said nothing, head bowed, legs braced and his chest belling out with each breath and timed with those slipping feelings inside Colby. One last large push into him, and Colby shuddered, Kel rumbling in his chest. The dragon adjusted his hips and rocked forward just enough that the pinch returned. Colby felt so full… almost as if Kel's cock had breached his cervix. One last heave of breath, and Kel's cock twitched as he orgasmed. Colby felt the dragon's hot load shoot into him with a gurgle, filling him, and let his head fall back as he, too, came. Each throb of the heavy cock shot more thick come deep into Colby, three, then four ejaculations bursting in and left with nowhere to go thanks to the thick knot tying them together.
Colby let go of one leg, switching his grip to cling to Kel's forepaw instead, rocking onto his cock for want of anything to do and milking yet another throb of its seed. His body wracked with tremors and insanely sensitive, he tried to stay still aside from the shaking, and breathed hard, panting and dazed.
"O- oh," was all he could manage. Kel's eyes likewise looked glazed-over, and the dragon didn't move either, still fully tied to Colby by his cock.
Both of them stayed where they were for a good several moments. Colby finally managed to stop heaving great breaths and sighed. "That was… whoa."
"More than I hoped," Kel agreed. "Thank you. It's been
seasons
since I've bred and my eggs felt so heavy…"
Colby blinked, sitting up as best he could while still pierced on Kel's knot. "What? Eggs?"
Kel nodded. "You called me 'hermaphroditic.' Both male and female. So I have both."
Silence. Colby stared at him, then looked down at himself, the cock still in him and the more apparent roundness of his belly where there hadn't been before. He looked fat, like he'd eaten a couple softballs or way, way too much spaghetti, and there was no way it was just from the knot- it wasn't even in the right place.
"...Oh no."
"You said it was alright-" Kel started, but Colby interrupted.
"I said we could have sex! I
didn't
say you could- could
lay eggs in me!
"
Kel balked, and the pull caused Colby to yelp, which immediately had Kel hunching over him again. "I'm sorry, I thought you- Humans are good hosts, and you allowed us to…"
"Nnnngh," Colby groaned, flopping onto his back and covering his face. "There's- you can't get them back out?" he asked, bleakly.
"I… I don't know how," Kel admitted. In the deep silence that followed, he offered a hesitant, "I said I would take care of you."
"I thought-" Colby started, but cut himself off. He made another little noise. What was he going to do now? What was even going to happen? "Never mind. Just… get out of me."
Kel hesitated, then leaned a little, but that only served to drag at Colby; he was still fully knotted. Colby made another noise, letting his legs ease down. Thankfully he wasn't chilly, the fire still going and the moss and Kel keeping him warm. "How long is it going to be?" he asked.
"A few minutes?" Kel said, tilting his head.
"I- well, yeah, I mean that, but after that?"
Kel paused. "Oh, you mean birth? Dragons grow quickly. It's tenth moon now, so surely they will come by late spring."
Colby did some quick mental math. Seven months? "What am I supposed to do for seven months?! I have a
job
, and my family will wonder where I am!"
The more his voice rose, the more timid Kel became. No wonder the dragon hadn't bred in ages, with or without a proper host. Colby covered his face again.
Kel said nothing, and Colby didn't look at him. They stayed in silence for another few long moments before Kel tried shifting again. Colby uncovered his face, bracing, and bore down, and Kel tugged, his cock popping free with a dribble of fluid, though not nearly as much as Colby felt pulsing inside him. He lay there, a bit of a mess, and Kel looked him over.
"I need water," Colby finally said, sitting up and trying to ignore the pooch of his belly. The dragon hesitated, then went to fetch the stockpot he had laying among the other things he'd borrowed, picking it up in his mouth and padding back out to the entrance of the cave.
Colby put his overshirt on for at least a little coverage, and by the time he'd decided to use his boxers as what amounted to a washcloth, Kel was waddling back, the stockpot held by the handle in his teeth and full of snow. He set it alongside the fire to melt, and it wasn't until it had started gently steaming that Colby pulled it aside and quietly began the work of cleaning himself up.
Kel stayed quiet as well, through most of it. It wasn't until Colby went to put his pants back on that Kel hazarded a small repeat. "I did say I would take care of you. I'll bring wood, and food, and water. I… have books." He paused, Colby still silent. "I can also take you back to the humans."
"And do what?" Colby finally snapped. "Leave me there? What am I supposed to do when
this
happens?" He gestured at his belly, then sighed. "I don't-... I never wanted to get pregnant, okay? It's enough that I
am
, now, and it's worse because it's eggs, and dragons."
He sat down against the wall, still in range of the heat of the fire. "Just… leave me alone, alright?"
Kel watched him, but at least had the sense to say nothing more. He turned, shaking out and refolding his wings, then turned and went back through the short tunnel toward the cave mouth.
Colby stayed quiet for the rest of the night. He did at least sleep in Kel's nest, huddled against the dragon's warm side and covered in his coat. The next morning was quiet, too. Kel brought more snow water and ripped up pieces of his frozen rabbit so Colby could cook them for breakfast, and then Colby got properly dressed.
In the time that took, he thought. There was no getting out of this pregnancy, as much as he hated to admit it. It wasn't as if he could just walk into a Planned Parenthood and ask their opinion on what he should do.
He had Kel take him as far down the mountain as they could go together once it got dark. As they flew- this time with Colby seated on Kel's back, just between his neck and the join of his wings- Colby described the plan. He'd go back to his job and let them know a family emergency had come up, and he was willing to stay the two weeks before he had to go. While he was still working, he'd get help packing what he could and pay a year's storage, then rent out his small house. And finally, he'd buckle down and come up with a bunch of camping gear, because really, he couldn't stay with Kel and expect to live on just meat and five pots and pans.
Kel landed in an expansive field of dead grass, and Colby slid down from his back, giving one last instruction. The dragon needed to meet him there every three nights so he could take the supplies back with him, and then Colby would go with on the last trip. Kel nodded his agreement, ducked his head, then paused and stood straight again, before taking off.
Colby watched his snow-white body disappear into the night, and then began to walk home.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Two weeks after his encounter with Kel and Colby had already begun to show a bit more. His clothes still fit, but the pooch on his belly was slightly more pronounced, and considering Kel's
size
, he wasn't sure how he'd manage if whatever he was carrying was… big.
At one point during their late-night rendezvous, when Colby was handing off his newly purchased sleeping bag stuffed with clothes and a few plastic dishes, he got up the nerve to ask Kel about the eggs. Or at least, Colby assumed plural, because Kel had said 'eggs,' with an S.
How big were they going to get? How did someone
survive
it? What if they didn't work, or got stuck? If Colby was alone, or had to be taken to the hospital?
The more questions he asked, the more frantic they got, and soon his voice went shrill, and Kel curled his tail around Colby's leg and nuzzled his cheek.
"You'll do fine. I said 'eggs,' but I've never heard of multiples, even from another dragon. We grow fast, but with only one birth each clutch, it's no wonder our numbers are dwindling." He puffed out his chest a little. "I've sired before, so I've seen births. And even so, I'm… I'm smaller than most of the dragons I've seen so it should… also be small. Smaller."
This last, he didn't seem as sure on. It did help at least, but somewhat. Colby raised a hand to scratch at Kel's cheek in return, frowning.
"Yeah, but
I've
never done one before. I don't know how to have a
human
baby, let alone a dragon."
"Maybe it's in my books," Kel suggested. "Or… humans have books too, there are books on everything."
Colby sighed. "I'll look online."
So he did, along with everything else. As the nights passed, he continued to meet with Kel, lugging grocery bags and backpacks of things he thought he might need, so by the time he'd gotten his house ready- with the help of his friends, who were still concerned about this cross-country trip he'd decided to take- and found a nice family to rent it to, he'd accumulated a couple sleeping bags, pots and pans, enough clothes to last him a winter, extra soaps, books, more bedding…
Kel never complained, even if sometimes it took him a bit of heft to get off the ground once he was loaded up.
But eventually, Colby's two weeks ran out. He finished out the last day of his job, promising a return in a little less than a year, and then dropped his car off with another friend who'd promised to keep it in shape in exchange for being able to use it instead of taking the bus.
And then Colby waited until evening deepened, and slipped beyond the gate of the park where he'd been meeting Kel with one last backpack. He climbed onto the dragon's back, leaving the bag to be held in his talons, and they went aloft.
Colby hung on, and looked down at the small bulge in his belly, and hoped.
The first few weeks were about adjustment. Kel had stacked Colby's things in another section of the cave, one of the offshoots that Colby had seen the first time he'd been there. As it turned out, that section, equally warm and dry, held scores of books, but lacked bookshelves. Instead, they were stacked in towers, and in disarray around the edges and in the middle of the room with only enough space for Kel to move between them without knocking the precarious trove over.
Colby went through his things in a mishmash, most of his immediate needs pushed to the bottom of the pile once he'd realized he kept forgetting things. He had ro get Kel's help for some of it, like the sleeping bag full of cookware and wrapped in clothes inside it, while his backpack and duffel bag held smaller things.
He did some rearranging during that time as well, laying out his bedding in a small section of Kel's nest- it turned out to be maddeningly comfortable and never smelled of anything but slight wet fur, dry moss and pine. The utensils and things he stacked on a split log to make a sort of ground-level shelf, while his own entertainment- mostly consisting of a huge box of batteries and an ancient Game Boy with about two dozen games sat at its own place along with the few books he'd managed to find that may help with the subject of birth.
The more time passed, the more comfortable he became, and yet equally the more discomfort he felt. It seemed like every day the weight in his belly grew larger, the fertilized eggs on the fast track to infanthood. The small pooch under his navel had swelled, distending slightly more, and he could feel the oval shape if he put his hand down and pressed, especially as he lay in bed. From there, it expanded, pushing outward and upward so that the whole of his lower torso felt like a balloon.
And the more it did, the more Colby realized that he was going to get bored. The weather was getting snowy all the time, to the point that the mouth of the cave would no doubt be covered by the start of the new year if it wasn't for Kel leaving every day to hunt down more game or dig for tubers or take the stockpot for water. His battery supply was going to run low, and he couldn't go outside to save himself from the monotony of being inside, especially when his clothes were already starting to be a little tight around his middle.
He didn't keep a calendar, knowing good and well that crossing off a square each day would drive him more crazy, and instead focused on doing small things to pass the time. He started by reorganizing all of Kel's books by category, and then alphabetizing them within the categories and restacking them in neater piles along the walls, their bindings faced out so he could know the titles.
When he started that, probably sometime in late November, the growth of the eggs had been exponential. They stretched his belly with each passing day, doming it over the waist of his jeans, slowly leaving some of his button down shirts unwearable over his expanding girth. He did pack a decent amount of T-shirts, which still mostly fit, and if he was cold, he simply wore the button downs over those, left unbuttoned.
By the time he was done, however, the snow outside really had nearly drifted the cave shut; Kel had to spit globs of oily fire just to melt it enough to leave and usually brought more than he normally might have back, using a couple of Colby's leftover grocery bags. Colby didn't know how
long
it had been by that point, only judging based on the fact that only a few of his T-shirts now stretched enough to pull completely over his belly, and he couldn't see his feet if he tried to bend a certain way. Most of the time, he had to leave his pants totally unbuttoned or simply wear pajama bottoms pulled up under the swell and either find a shirt that fit or wear one that was too small, bunched where his belly began. Occasionally, he skipped that and wore just an overshirt, unbuttoned and hanging loose around him
The worrying thing was that once he'd finished the books, there still wasn't any
movement
. The pregnancy books Colby had brought with him said that babies usually started moving at something like four months along, and while he was sure it hadn't been that long, he wondered if what Kel said about dragons growing faster also meant that they should be moving earlier too. But they were also eggs, so how would that factor in? He tried not to think too hard about it, and instead fumbled his way through making rabbit stew.
Kel, meanwhile, acted weirdly like a doting father. He kept a sort of half-distance from Colby, as if he wasn't sure if Colby would even accept anything Kel did, but the more Colby didn't mind, and in fact welcomed Kel's hunting, or suggestions for books to read or problems to solve, the more he inserted himself into small parts of Colby's day.
Colby cooked, and Kel asked him questions about the extra leaves he put with the elk meat, or why he boiled the tubers like he did. Colby lay in the nest and Kel lay alongside him, his tail curled over Colby's legs, and eventually under the swell of his belly. Colby paced and shuffled, and rubbed that same belly as it grew heavy with Kel's progeny, and Kel edged up against him so Colby could lean into his soft fur and grumble about his back hurting.
Kel did try his best, but there was only so much he could do.
And eventually, too, the snow began to lessen. While it was still cold being so high up in the mountains, the sun burned off more and more clouds as the days passed, and more and more days passed without a single cloud in the sky. Colby did occasionally manage to shuffle his way to the mouth of the cave to bask in the sunlight, but he couldn't stay out very long, the air still nipping at his exposed skin like tiny toothed icicles.
For a little while, Colby's belly seemed to stop growing. By the book, he looked about 27 weeks pregnant, ballooned out as if he'd swallowed a whole watermelon. He could even rest said book
on
his belly while he read, propped up in bed. Still nothing was happening, and it took two whole weeks before something felt funny.
Colby was, by then, always in a little bit of pain. His back hurt from the weight of the eggs nestled in his belly. His legs hurt, his hips hurt. Little reminders every day that Kel's offspring was huddled inside him, growing and waiting. So when he woke with cramps low in his belly, he put them out of his mind and chewed on some mint to try and help himself out while Kel was out on his early morning hunt. But the cramps didn't stop, and in fact became worse, so that by the time Kel returned, Colby was laying on his side, blankets between his legs to try and ease the pressure. He heard the dragon's pawsteps come into the cave along with the dragging of hooves, and moaned.
"Kel… it hurts."
Kel dropped the elk alongside the door and spat on it, frost inching over its bloodied coat, and leaned over the nest.
"How badly?" he asked, pupils wide in the relative dark.
"Bad cramps," Colby grumbled, pressing on the hard round of his belly. "They- they're moving, I can feel them… it's not Spring yet-"
He cut off as a pain shot up his spine and his stomach clenched around the movement inside.
"No," Kel said, lowering his head and nuzzling Colby's belly, then against his neck. "I think… it is the shell."
Holding his breath, Colby had to wait until the cramps stopped to blurt, "What?"
"The shell comes first, like… pre-birth. It's not done growing, but the other eggs must be gone."
"Where-" Another cramp interrupted Colby's thought. "How?"
"This one must be strongest." Kel tilted his head to indicate Colby's belly. "The other eggs probably didn't survive, and became nutrients for this one. It happens like this. As I said, no matter the eggs, only ever one birth."
Colby breathed, his stomach clamping down on itself, his hips aching, and his mind disbelieving. It… it was like twins, right? Like sometimes how a human baby absorbed its twin. Not that the thought of
that
made it any better, but the explanation did make sense.
Another cramp, and Colby groaned. "Get- my pants, my pants, I gotta do something- nhh. It- it feels like I have to-"
He held his breath, and Kel reached with his forepaws to carefully inch his claws under the waistband of Colby's pants, pulling them down and off.
Colby immediately cocked his knees and bore down on the tail end of the cramp. His belly visibly jerked, and a gush of fluid soaked the bedclothes beneath him as he yelped.
"
Aah!
" he cried, as Kel bent to explore the wetness.
"Smells of dragon," Kel said, sitting back. "And human. But it should only be shell."
"Shells are
hard,"
Colby whined, clinging to his sleeping bag.
"Some. These are softer. Meant to be passed so that the young one can grow."
Colby let his head fall back, and Kel moved to lay next to him so he could hang onto fur and mumble with a piteous sigh. "I
hate
this."
"It has broken. It's almost done."
The cramps continued, but Kel was right. As Colby bore down on them, he felt the slip of small pieces inside him, and the goo between his legs ushered them free. The broken pieces were like thick leather, and with only a few pushes, they spilled from him. Kel bent down and dragged a few of them clear, some extra bits clinging to each other from the inner membrane. That movement also triggered something else; where his hand rested against the underside of his belly, Colby felt a push, and watched as his belly deformed around the first kick of Kel's offspring.
And the movement just got worse as the days passed. A human baby was one thing. It had a head, arms and legs. Kel's progeny- nicknamed Snap by Colby, with the way it had suddenly decided to be rid of its shell- if Kel was anything to go by, had a head attached to a much longer neck, four limbs, a tail,
and
wings! At that, halfway through the day, Colby was exhausted just by the little dragon's shuffling, kicking movement.
Occasionally, if Colby was paying attention, he could even tell what was where. His belly moved, and its tail pressed against his navel, the head pushed down into Colby's pelvis. Or he pressed, and one of its paws pressed back, its head pushed up under Colby's ribs. For the most part, it left him drained and in bed, curled in a mass of blankets and pillows to try and stay comfortable as, once again, the dragon began to grow.
Colby's heavy belly went from looking as if he was housing a rather raucous bowling ball to looking like he'd managed to stuff himself with two, swollen from his chest down and now so big that he'd had to abandon all but his button downs and pajama bottoms completely. Thankfully he could still
move
, given that Kel was around to help him up and be a brace when the baby dragon decided to shift positions and throw Colby's balance all out of whack. On more than one occasion, it decided to push its way into a strange position that distended Colby's belly so it looked like he had the nose of a plane sticking from his torso. With that, Colby had to try and massage the dragon into a better spot, leaning against Kel and letting it hang so gravity could help. He always managed something, but not without low and pained complaints to Kel, who could only stand and act as a support while Colby did his best to fix it to his liking.
Which wasn't to say that Kel didn't continue to contribute, acting more often than not as Colby's pillow or blanket, the rest of his supplies used as support for his huge belly and his legs, and pushed against his back to offer some sort of relief. But Colby still had to manage on his own when Kel went out hunting, or further down the mountain for fresh water or the new wild strawberries and huckleberries that had started to grow as the weather had warmed.
It was during one of those times that things changed. Colby had taken the chance of Kel leaving to get an escort to the cave mouth, bundled into his sleeping bag and now characteristic pajama bottoms, his massive belly left uncovered and hanging low and heavy. He'd been restless the past few days, more than usual, what with the slow churning of the baby inside him, and the weight feeling as if it was sitting right in the cup of his pelvis. Kel agreed to let him stay at the mouth of the cave, sat on a wide, flat log the dragon had put there about a month previous. While Colby sat, knees spread to accommodate the baby dragon and his own girth, Kel leapt into the air for a quick trip, a grocery bag hanging from one paw.
The longer Colby sat, however, the more pressure he felt. He leaned back, then leaned forward, rubbing his belly. Bracing himself, he managed to heave himself up onto his aching legs and lean against the wall instead, in the same fashion he had when trying to shift the little dragon in the previous weeks. He swayed on his feet, hoping the movement would help, or let the baby get situated better, but all it did was make everything worse.
And then the cramps began. The first that Colby could feel was low in his hips, oozing across his muscles and clamping down across his entire belly.
It felt like the cramps he'd had when the egg had broken. But this time, there was no egg. There was just…
"Oh god."
Kel had gotten good at quick trips once he'd started worrying that Colby might be on the cusp of birth, but he could still be gone a couple hours or even most of the day if he was looking for something specific. Colby looked down the mountainside and into the stand of trees, squeezing his eyes shut. He should have brought radios or something, anything so that he could call for Kel if he needed to. But they had no way to communicate now that the dragon was gone, and Colby couldn't just sit there and wait in the mouth of the cave. Everything he needed was back inside, and
inside
felt so far away.
So he moved. The cramps weren't excruciating yet, nor were they anywhere close together. Colby slowly waddled his way down the rocky path, choosing his footing and hanging onto the wall as he went. Normally, it was maybe two or three minutes' walking to get to the den, but with his aching legs and back slowing his pace, not to mention his stretched and massive girth weighing on him, it took much longer. A set of cramps- no, contractions- made him stop halfway down, and then another triggered just as he made it beyond the smaller mouth of the den, but he finally got properly in, and leaned over the edge of the smooth rock outcropping that made up his and Kel's nest.
At this rate, he didn't think he could climb up into it. Instead, with a moan, he sank to his knees, belly clenching and hips on fire.
"I can't do this," he mumbled at himself, swaying in low arcs, trying to assuage the deep throb of pain inside him. "It's too big. It's too big, it hurts…"
He was alone.
Time passed, and still Kel didn't return. Colby couldn't bear just sitting where he was, either, his legs prickling with numbness and the position doing his back and his aching head no favors. In between contractions, he forced himself up to his knees, then got his feet under him and stood, braced heavily on the edge of the nest shelf. Standing there, he rode out another contraction as the weight on his pelvis pressed into him, and oh, he felt like he should push but he didn't think he could manage.
He shuddered and breathed a quaking breath, squeezed from him by the tail end of the spasm, and tried not to cry, turning into a pitiful moan instead. "Ow, ow… I c- I can't…"
But he had little choice now. He felt so full and heavy, felt as if he needed to push everything inside him out. He felt like he needed to
move.
Moving helped distract him from the clenching, breathtaking squeezing, despite the slowness with which he did it. He moved from the nest shelf across the cave to the fire pit, then back around and into the library, each step a burn in his legs and back but dull compared to the stab of each new contraction.
He tried leaning against the wall, breathing high and reedy through another set. He tried sitting on his makeshift log chair, knees spread and belly between them so he could rock back and forth. He even tried bracing with his back, squatting with his knees cocked outward, but that just made him feel infinitely worse.
Eventually, what felt like hours later, he just ended up leaning against the nest shelf again, eyes closed, and each contraction drawing a low moan from his throat. The pain was worse now, so bad that he couldn't even stop himself from making noise. Each shift made him aware of how big the baby dragon was, and how it curled up on itself to even fit inside him.
And then, with the next contraction, lancing pain ripped through his middle and up his back and down his legs, and a gush of fluid soaked his pajama bottoms. Immediately, the squeezing sharpened, and Colby's moan became a high-pitched cry.
"Aah- nnnh- no- I
can't
-" he pleaded, knees buckling under the new pressure. "Kel, help! Kel-"
The contraction let up enough for Colby to slide his shaking hands down his hips so he could dislodge his damp pants, and his knees likewise shook as he stepped painfully out of them. Clinging to whatever he could get his hands on, white-knuckled and squeezing blankets and moss, Colby choked back a sob. He felt the new contraction rising up, and with every fiber of he being willed it away, but it raced through him like static electricity, forcing his muscles to tense so hard, and he wanted to push so bad, but he didn't want it either.
He forced himself to keep his knees closed, but at the same time he couldn't help but bear down against the thickening feeling behind his navel and between his legs. Out, out, he needed it out but he
couldn't
.
Sweating, face dripping with tears, Colby waited for the next contraction, and bent his tired knees through the pain, held his breath and pushed. He didn't count, but it felt like dizzying ages before he relaxed, coughing on the sharp gasp the slipping feeling gave him.
He felt like he would crack in half. He felt- he reached, trying to feel anything with his fingers, but all he felt was himself, his too-hot slit stretched and waiting to bear the mass inside it. Colby whimpered, exhausted, and sank to his knees again, only half heartedly pushing when another fierce squeeze wracked his body, too tired to do more than cry.
And yet his body soldiered on. Even when he couldn't manage to push, legs numb and body awash with fire, his muscles worked, and the baby descended. Colby's stomach ached. He forced himself to push even from where he sat on the floor, and a sudden thick, stretching mass had him wrenching upward, nearly knocking his head into the side of the rock overhang.
This pain, this fullness and stretch and immediate desire to
push get it out it's coming out
was entirely new, and it ripped a ragged cry from Colby's throat before he gulped air and pushed, and felt beneath himself for whatever it was.
A small, soft and fluid-damp muzzle tip met his fingers, just inside his birth canal.
"Oh god," Colby choked. "O- oh god- it-"
He couldn't think straight. He didn't know what he had been expecting, but what he felt was
not
that. Before he could question it further, he had to bear down again, taking only a moment's pause before continuing, and again, pushing for nearly the entire length of the contraction. The muzzle slid forward achingly slow, and then Colby had to stop, and it slid back, nearly as far as it had come.
"No," he pleaded, half-sobbing. "Please.
Please.
"
He pushed again, knees shaking. The little nose breached, and when Colby had to stop, stayed where it was, stretching him, heralding the mass to come. But Colby couldn't do it anymore. Besides the pain, all he felt was numb.
He fell to his knees, and with the new angle, the muzzle slipped further back inside. Wholly damp from sweat and tears and birthing fluid, Colby turned over, leaned against the nest shelf, and cried.
Colby wasn't quite sure how long it had been since he'd turned. There was still little else he could do but push, and blearily wait for the sound of Kel's return, even if he didn't think he could hear it over the throbbing of his headache. He felt- he felt impaled, stretched wide around the baby's muzzle and head, horribly tired, dazedly adrift in each contraction.
Kel's voice barely broke him out of it. "-lby! Oh-"
He blinked, and then he was moving, the texture of fur and feathers under him, and then the warmth of a blanket as he laid back. Trying to focus, he lifted his head, but a contraction struck, and he pushed hard- feet braced up against that same softness and Kel's voice somewhere in front of him. "Like that, yes, keep going."
The contraction briefly halted and Colby let his head fall back. He could hear Kel adjust, and feel it where his feet were braced against the dragon's side. "Its head is out now," Kel's voice said. Colby felt pressure on his stomach, and a warm touch around the baby's head. "Again."
Colby pushed. He pushed hard, legs cocked and drawn up to keep him stretched wide. He pushed, and the baby's head flopped into the blankets between his legs. He pushed, and another searing, heavy pain throbbed within him, threatening to rip him open. He cried, and Kel shushed him.
Another feeling, this time from the outside, prodded along the infant dragon's neck where it hung from him. It stretched painfully, pushing and prodding, and Colby whimpered, trying to shift away from the sensation.
"No, here," Kel commanded instead, wrapping his tail along Colby's side. "Push. Keep going, push hard."
Colby lifted his head, straining to put his chin to his chest. Kel put his forepaws on Colby's legs to hold them wide open, pressing around the bulge of Colby's belly.
He pushed.
It stretched, and he whimpered, but Kel shushed him and he pushed again. Again- again…
"I can't," he finally gasped, letting his head fall back, face red and wet with tears. "I c- nnh, Kel-"
Kel's placid face bent over his. "Once more. As much as you can."
"I can't-"
"You can. You have to."
Colby, crying, wracked with pain, breathed. A contraction wrenched through him and he groaned, tucking his head down. He grit his teeth and pushed, and the pressure increased as Kel reached to grip the infant's neck between his jaws and pulled.
The baby's shoulders bulged from Colby, stretching him wide, and then its flattened, tiny and featherless wings. His voice, raw and jagged, bounced through the den in a weak shout, and Kel raised his own above it, "Again!" and with one last, desperate heave, the baby's back legs and tail slipped free in a gush of blood and slime, only the umbilical cord still tying them together.
Kel let go of it, nudging its face to turn it over and shoved at it with a forepaw, moss clinging to its damp fur. It snorted, coughing, and squeaked, wiggling ineffectually. Its tail slapped against Colby's legs, but he didn't think he could even manage to look at it. Everything about him still burned and throbbed, his chest ached, his legs tingling with retreating numbness.
One last small set of contractions forced a gasp from him, but this time when he bore down, a small drip of blood and fluid let the rest of the umbilical cord and placenta to pass without much struggle.
From there, Kel took over. He turned the baby over and gnawed at the sinewy cord, freeing it as Colby shifted onto his side and covered himself with a blanket. After that, Colby watched as Kel cleared some of the more manageable afterbirth away. What he did with the bloody mess, Colby didn't know, but he came back from the mouth of the cave with one of Colby's pans held in his teeth, full of snow, and put it at Colby's side before further attending to the infant.
In short order, the dragon butchered a rabbit, pulling it apart with his teeth and opening its chest, allowing the baby to eat the heart and liver as he held them in his jaws. Colby watched, fascinated that the tiny creature had so much coordination so quickly. It ate nearly the whole rabbit, then with gangly limbs and stumpy, unfeathered wings, turned to lay back down, still next to Colby's legs.
The baby was big- Colby didn't expect any different, but it was still amazing that the entire thing had been inside him. It had felt like trying to birth a Great Dane, but really, the creature was tiny when compared to its parent, and most of it looked like just neck and tail whereas its body aside from that was no bigger than a human infant's. He was especially glad it didn't have any of the horns or spines Kel had, either. In fact it was… cute, Colby admitted. Kel leaned over it, licking with his broad, flat tongue to clean the residual stickiness from its fur.
As Kel cleaned, Colby closed his eyes, and before long, fell into heavy, dreamless sleep.