Mundane. Thinks Qibli. How many more days until school had a break? How many more days does he have to sit through this, this torture, listening to Webs’ uninterested droning about the days after the Scorching – something that most dragonets know already. It was virtually a copy of the scrolls on this topic – which Qibli had read through already and memorized, of course, because what student doesn’t prepare for school? But apparently, his teacher just doesn’t want to even try and make the class interesting.
Bland. He sighs. Now Webs has moved onto the new tribe structure back then… why was this important, again? Other than getting good grades, which Qibli was all about – he would achieve them anyways – why was learning about how Queen Lazulite-or-something-other united her tribe and later, Pyrrhia, important? This time around, history would definitely not repeat itself. Scavengers would never again rise up against the dragons. Couldn’t they learn something actually interesting, say, for example, the true story of the Dragonets’ adventures?
Dull. Every other dragonet in class has their quills scratching along rolls of parchment, claws stained and splattered with black ink, dutifully recording even the most insignificant details – like the one sentences in which Webs mentions Queen Lazulite had, like, 5 mates over the course of her lengthy life. Idiots, it’s not even gonna be on the test – if there even is a test. Three moons, some of the teachers here seemed rather incompetent.
What other synonyms are there for “boring”? Qibli has run out of them, and if he looks at the two hands of the clock, there are… Claws and tails, 30 more minutes? Of this? He glances at Webs, the limping SeaWing shuffles down the aisle, reciting all the facts in his droll voice. From beside him, a stray droplet of ink splatters onto his cheek from the frantic scribbling of… what was his name again, Peregrine or something?
“Hey, watch it!” he growls, but the SkyWing dragonet doesn’t look up. He doesn’t seem to react at all, much to Qibli’s growing annoyance. Well. Do I really have to deal with this?
As Webs paces back to his teacher’s desk, abruptly switching to how the MudWings developed more advanced technology than the other tribes at that time (Oh, so maybe school wasn’t useless after all, because Qibli has never read that before – he really needs to spend more time in the library), Qibli rests his snout on his talons and lets his eyes drift where they wanted to, thinking up new fighting maneuvers, because he’d rather do the most regular of things than spend time paying attention to the class. Roll, feint a punch then throw them off balance with the tail, try to get on top of them to secure my advantage…
The enchanting rippling of polished white scales and bristling, pointed horns snaps him out of his fight simulation vision. Diagonally in front of him, Winter rolls his wings and stretches his arms out. “Wow”, Qibli whispers without thinking, and that small noise is enough to make Winter swivel his head towards him.
His black eyes glimmer with an icy determination to be the best. The elegant curve of his neck, the perfectly cleaned scales, his aerodynamic snout… (Honestly, Qibli could stare at him all day and not get tired. How is Winter so… just… so beautiful, so much more than beautiful?)
Then, Qibli realizes his eyes are still lingering on Winter. Scorpion’s tail, how long have I been staring at him? Heat, normally lying latent in his stomach, rushes to his cheeks. This feeling… is it possible to abhor something and worship the same thing, Qibli wonders. I mean… He hates how this feeling leaves him so vulnerable and yet so elated, addicted to the rush of heat.
Qibli gulps. Winter hasn’t turned his steady gaze away yet – but for the usually prickly IceWing, he seems rather subdued today. I wonder if something good happened to him today? He wants to break this awkward eye contact and write as many notes as he can, but something’s keeping him from doing that.
Suddenly, Winter’s eyes dart to one of Qibli’s cheeks, and he seems taken aback for a moment – Talons and teeth, did he notice my blush, oh god no – and then Winter, the serious and icy prince, starts giggling. He’s not even trying to hide it. His lips quirk up in a genuine smile, something that rarely graces Winter’s stoic face, and it surprisingly fits him perfectly. Is that – is that a blush I’m seeing?
Is that really the lightest of pink dusting across Winter’s snout like a meteor shower? Is he looking too much into this? No, no freaking way, this is really happening. Three moons – come on, Winter, stop doing this to me! His clawmate is blooming, a bouquet of frosted white roses unveiling their beauty, and for one moment Qibli thinks, No one else in the world can see this.
And Qibli can’t help but want to laugh along with Winter, but he’s in class – he can’t – but despite what he knows he should do, a wide smile bursts onto Qibli’s face. He barely can restrain his laughter.
When he looks at Winter, the IceWing is still laughing his heart out, honestly and truly meaning it.
Cute.
The simple word sends jolts of surprise running down Qibli, and his smile abruptly disappears. Argh, gay thoughts, please just stop! I don’t have the will to conceal this right now!
Upon seeing Qibli stone-faced, Winter must have turned back to his notes, because his back is facing Qibli again. The gate slammed on Qibli’s nose.
Qibli buries his face into the hard, cold desk and covers his snout with his talons. Brain, stop rebelling against me, you’re supposed to cooperate with me – don’t ruin my chances to be with Winter, aren’t you supposed to be my right-hand man?
Of course, his thoughts are silent now. He’ll just have to wait out the rest of Webs’ class berating himself for not taking his chance and just risking everything. Again. Why am I always like this?
-------------------
Turns out, daydreaming about… things… is actually a pretty awesome way to pass time, and before Qibli can even finish his dream life by the astral plane-him dying old and happy, all life goals fulfilled, love of his life lying next to him, Webs has dismissed the class, and the sudden rough scraping of stone against stone snaps him out of the daydream. When he’s gathered all his things in a hurry, intending to finally take that jump and talk to Winter, the spiked tail is already disappearing around the corner of the door.
“Hey! Wait up!” He yells, but the constant din of the other dragonets in the class overwhelms his singular voice. A few heads turn towards him, but generally, they all ignore him.
“Talons and tails, this school is un – “- Qibli literally pushes a group of SeaWings out of the way – “believably stupid.” The biggest one snaps something rude at him, but Qibli is out the door before she can finish her insults. When he looks down the corridor, though, Winter is nowhere to be seen.
He can’t lose his will now, not when Winter acted like that. Not when there’s at least a minor chance of the feelings being mutual.
Webs’ history class is always the last class of the day. From what he knows, Winter usually heads right to their cave after school ends to do his homework, like the perfectionist he is. Not that Qibli doesn’t do the same thing half the time, but Winter could really use a break sometimes.
Qibli whirls around, but in the span of 3-something minutes, Kinkajou has dashed all the way from Clay’s class to Webs’, and she’s even brought Tamarin, Moon, Turtle, and Anemone with her. So much for not wasting time.
Kinkajou bounces on her talons, scales splashed with yellow and green spots. “Hey, Qibli! Wanna go to the recreation cave with us?” Her face has her wide eyes and expectant smile, like every time she asks anyone to go anywhere. Most dragons just can’t refuse the tiny RainWing. Qibli himself is still weak to her begging.
But he has a really important thing to do.
“Uh, sorry, Kinkajou, but I really have to –” The RainWing, now with brown streaks on her wings, cuts him off, talking a mile per minute.
“-And we might even see Pike there, he’s gotten less attached to Anemone but he’s still almost always where she goes – oh yeah! I ran into Winter on the way and he said he’d come!! Three moons, I’m so excited!! Oh my gosh, ooo, what colors should I have – ”, Qibli, ears perking up at the mention of Winter, flares his wings in the small space.
“Winter’s going to be there?”
“Yeah! I wonder why, though, he’s usually soooo grumpy… Well, no fuss!” Her scales are constantly shifting, and Qibli finds it really hard to keep his objective in mind. Right now, they’ve turned rosy pink just talking about Winter. Please don’t flirt with him, he thinks, and then he instantly feels guilty, because who is he to be possessive? He’s just… plain old Qibli.
“Um, then… I guess I’ll go, then…”
Behind the vibrant RainWing, Moon and Turtle whisper to each other. Qibli rubs his wrist to make sure he still has his skyfire bracelet on. It would a veritable tragedy for Qibli if anyone found out his Jade-Mountain-sized crush.
“YAY!!” Kinkajou exclaims. Turtle flinches and covers his ears at the shout.
She takes off like a rocket, managing to snag Qibli’s wrist on the way, and they trip towards the recreation cave. All Qibli can hope for is that this mess will somehow turn out in his favor.
-----------
Qibli has only been in the recreation cave three times, but those were certainly three memorable times. It has a few stone balconies for dragonets to set up musical instruments on and play to the whole audience, areas set aside especially for dancing, and every variety of instruments that one could ever think of. Aside from being perfectly stockpiled and maintained, too, it’s built into the side of Jade Mountain, and has two large windows to let light in, framed by tall, lush trees and a few flower bushes.
Right now, there’s already a kaleidoscope of colors spinning about in perfect synchronicity on the middle dance floor, and a group of dragonets are playing a flowing song on the outcrop beside them. Kinkajou waves her wing frantically at the dancing RainWings, and they all break their graceful steps to wave back. The other dragonets Kinkajou gathered along the way fan out, some of them grabbing a string instrument or a drum, some joining the RainWings to dance, some socializing in small whispers.
Tamarin takes slow, hesitant steps towards the music, Anemone helping her along. Moon, Turtle, and Qibli are left standing awkwardly by themselves. He fidgets with his claws, neither of the two are talkative dragons by any means, and he thinks that both would be happier reading a scroll right now. But then, they can’t resist Kinkajou either.
The music reaches a booming crescendo which resonates around the cavern, and Qibli’s started swishing his tail to the music without realizing it. He’d absorbed all the musicality of the Outclaws after a few moons with them, and dancing became something Qibli really loved. Something he was actually good at. Honestly, though, where is Winter?
Then the circle of RainWings spin outwards, revealing one lean, spinning figure in the middle. Sunlight hits the scales of the dragon’s wings, making them sparkle like diamonds. The smooth spikes of the tail and neck create a stunning statue, shifting and twirling in time to the music. Oh. There’s Winter.
Qibli has a thousand words he wants to call out at that moment, but the sheer beauty of Winter renders him speechless. He’s probably blushing right now, but to be honest, who wouldn’t blush at a sight like that?
Moon shuffles up behind him, Turtle close on her heels, and she plops herself down next to him.
“Wow,” she whispers in an awed tone, “I didn’t know Winter could dance like that!”
On the other side of him, Turtle chimes in. “I didn’t think he was the type of dragon who would do that. Weird.”
Moon nods. “I wonder what’s up with him?”
So, it’s just me who’s blushing at that. Of course. Moon and Turtle are both shooting weird looks at the dancing dragon.
Without him noticing, the music has been softening, a gradual dimuendo, and finally drops off. One of the MudWings on the rock balcony – the percussionist, if Qibli recalls – stretches out their claws. Winter slowly lowers his wings and folds them in, returning back to his usual persona of the dutiful, no-nonsense prince. Well, disowned prince, but still. If Qibli thinks Winter’s still a prince (the best prince), that’s good enough.
Kinkajou springs from someplace and lands on Winter’s back, babbling about how magnificent that was, how she didn’t know he could do anything like that, and could you please do that again?!
Qibli’s lips twitch in annoyance.
Next to him, the NightWing and SeaWing start giggling at the sight of a veritable monkey scrambling around an IceWing’s back, and said IceWing biting at himself to throw the RainWing off. Finally, she leaps off without sustaining any damage, amazingly, and pulls him over to the trio.
OK. You can do this, Qibli. Just keep calm, don’t blush or anything, and definitely don’t trip over your own clumsy talons.
Surprisingly, though, just as Qibli is about to ask Winter to talk, Turtle pipes up. “That was cool. Where’d you learn to do that?” he queries, showing a fair amount of interest in this for the usually flat SeaWing.
Winter growls, but answers his question. “They showed me how to do it.” The credit goes to the big huddle of RainWings under one of the rock balconies.
“You did really well out there!” interjects Moon, suddenly enthusiastic about his dancing now that he’s in front of them. Today has been nothing but the day of opposite feelings for Qibli. World, just let me talk to Winter already.
Qibli cuts over Moon and Turtle’s admiration and grabs Winter’s forearm. The IceWing stiffens in shock, and the conversation around them dies down quickly, but he’s at a loss for words. “Uh, Winter…” He starts, but bites on his tongue, because that is not confident at all, and if he wants to convince himself that he can do this, he needs to start acting like he’s 100% sure in all his words.
“I need to talk to you!” He blurts out.
At the same time: “Hey, you guys! Let’s do some karaoke!”, a loud invite from the cluster of RainWings.
The scales under Qibli’s talons have been getting hotter and hotter as he’s kept holding onto them, and Winter has been looking at the contact between the two for the entire time, expression unreadable, but at the shout – the spell is broken and Winter tears himself away forcefully. Before he can distance himself from Qibli, though, Qibli catches yet another blush gracing the IceWing’s snout.
That can’t mean anything, right? After he ignored me? He’s probably getting sick. That must be it, why I’ve been seeing him blush – there’s not a dragon on Pyrrhia who doesn’t get red when they’re sick. Of course, I’m overthinking this. There’s really no chance he might like me more than the usual “tolerate your clawmate” shebang.
True to his thoughts, Winter violently sneezes on his way to the RainWings.
Kinkajou appears in front of them suddenly, and speaking for Qibli, Moon, and Turtle, accepts their invitation, spilling out all her thoughts loud enough so that Qibli can hear them.
“Great!” cheers a light blue RainWing, and claps her talons together. The band starts playing a lively tune that Qibli sort-of recognizes, something that was probably taught in music class, something Qibli forgot. Whatever the title is, it has Qibli tapping his foot, wanting to grab a partner and twirl around.
Kinkajou snatches a random SandWing’s arm and pulls them onto the middle, kicking up a dust storm with all her turns and slides. The SandWing – what’s his name again, Nile? Picks up the beat quickly, but waits for the singing to start.
“I used to think maybe you loved me, now baby I’m sure!” Belts out Kinkajou, all the while swiveling her feet around.
“And I just can’t wait ‘till the day when you knock on my door!” Nile’s gruff face is soothed when he’s singing, low voice complimenting Kinkajou’s energy.
“Now every time I go for the mailbox, gotta hold myself down…” Kinkajou snaps her talons.
“Cuz I just can’t wait ‘till you write me, you’re coming around!” Then the both of them launch into the chorus. “Now I’m walking on sunshine, woaahhh! I’m walking on sunshine, woaaahhh, I’m walking on sunshine, woaahh, and it’s starting to feel good!”
More and more dragons pour into the room as the upbeat song echoes through the corridors of Jade Mountain Academy, and slowly, the cavern transforms itself into a dance hall. Qibli finds himself swept up with a high-energy, pounding group dance, until they separate into partners and he’s dancing with some unwilling IceWing. If only this were Winter, he sighs, but Winter is all the way across the room, playing the tambourine.
“Oh yeaahhh!” Kinkajou practically yells out, voice not relenting, and the music fades away, though the spirit in the cavern remains buzzing.
“Thank you, thank you!” She laughs. Dragons crowd all around the two of them to chat and exclaim, and Moon hasn’t stopped thumping her tail to the beat. A little poke of the tail from Turtle and she turns into a statue.
The band doesn’t seem to ever need to take a break, though, as new waves of low music with a heavy beat sweep through the room. It has some of the dragonets dancing in a matter of seconds, and Qibli recognizes the song as a traditional melody some tribes use at celebrations – including SandWings, and he’s about to volunteer for the song when Kinkajou pulls Moon and Turtle into the middle, a raucous burst of laughter emitting from a corner of the cavern.
Somehow, Moon finds the courage to sing the opening lyrics, despite the immense fear she’s probably facing, and Turtle doesn’t make much of an effort as her backup, though his whispery voice fits the tune rather well. By the end of the song, both of them are fully invested in the song, dancing their hearts out, and as the band stops playing and the dragons crowding them cheer loudly, both seem to shrink under the gaze of the audience.
Qibli is thrown into the motion of the crowd, bouncing along from wing to wing, and when the dragonets finally stop their dancing, he finds himself standing in the middle. Another, louder cheer rises, because he put on this self-admittedly marvelous show once, much like this one, and his reputation for that probably never died down.
“Next song, any suggestions?” hollers the MudWing over the roar of the crowd.
“Heaven is a Place on Earth!” yells back a group of SeaWings he knows from music class. It’s probably an on-the-spot decision, to pick an old song they’ve been learning, but Qibli isn’t complaining.
“Alright!” The MudWing turns back to their group, then calls for another singer.
A rustle of wings and a startled shout reach Qibli’s ears as someone stumbles through the crowd, the RainWings from earlier waving their wings at the figure.
Winter trips into the middle and pulls himself up.
Qibli suddenly regrets doing this, because 1: Heaven is a Place on Earth is the couples song for SandWings, and 2: Right now, standing majestic, Winter is as pretty as ever and Qibli’s not sure that he can sing with a sight like that next to him.
But then the drumsticks come down and the song starts and Qibli’s brain automatically supplies the lyrics in a panic.
“Ooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth?”
Winter breathes in sharply, staring at Qibli. He can feel the blush on his cheeks, but to stop right now and embarrass himself? No way is he doing that.
“Ooh, heaven is a place on earth!”
The IceWing has started dancing again, and three moons Qibli definitely cannot sing if he sees any more of this, and then something positively amazing happens.
Winter covers for him. Winter starts singing, and though his voice isn’t anything special, Qibli still feels a lovestruck smile come over his face.
“They say in heaven, love comes first…”
Facing Qibli head on, eyes deadly serious, Winter sings the next line – the most notorious line that is almost always said in wedding vows – with a conviction.
“We’ll make heaven a place on Earth!”
Yellow and white, fire and ice, Qibli and Winter, the two of them sing the last line together.
“Ooh, heaven is a place on Earth!”
As it turns out, Winter is absolutely stunning at impromptu dance, and though their dancing doesn’t match up at all, it still works, in a way. And with the first hint of the catchy riff, the audience has devoured the beat entirely and turned it into a beautiful mess of tails, wings, and claws.
Before Qibli can even think, the stanza after that is over, and Winter goes off with the music, absorbed in the song.
“When you walk into the room, you pull me close and we start to move…”
Growing closer to Qibli, one leap at a time, eyes still closed, Winter cannot know how much this means to Qibli. And, well, he’s lost almost all his courage now, so why not use the last of it? He gives up all his inhibitions and just decides to go with it all. After all – nothing like this will every happen again. He’d rather let it all go in one swift moment than keep everything in, keep all his emotions locked away. And so his talons reach out to pull Winter into an awkward grip.
The IceWing is warm under Qibli’s chest, comfortable in the hold, still singing. His voice, never faltering, grows stronger and louder, it seems, every moment Qibli keeps him there.
“And you lift me up in a wave of love!”
Qibli sends Winter spinning across the circle, but not before staying true to the lyrics and giving him a little boost. Might as well risk it all. He probably won’t catch what I did, anyways.
So, I guess this is my version of an “I love you, Winter”. Why can’t I have more courage? This way, he’ll never know. I’ll never know. Is that alright with me?
“Ooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth? Ooh, heaven is a place on earth!”
Winter stomps his foot with the drumbeats, exhilarated with the adrenaline that comes with performing. His face is lit up with a smile. How lucky Qibli is to see this rare sight not just one, but two times today.
As long as I get to be with him'.
“They say in heaven, love comes first – we’ll make heaven a place on earth!” the two sing in tandem.
Then, I’m fine. As long as I get to see him.
“Ooh, heaven is a place on earth!”
The next verse is painfully intimate to Qibli, a deep spike in his life reflected in them.
“When I feel alone, I reach for you, and you bring me home…”
He’d been so lost after Darkstalker was dealt with. Not knowing what to do. Not knowing who he was anymore, now that the purpose he was supposed to fulfill was done – what was he worth?
Moon was celebrated. Turtle… was fine with not being noticed. Winter had kept a low profile for his safety, and Kinkajou, as always, loved the attention.
But Qibli was alone. He hadn’t done anything special, or noteworthy. He hadn’t helped at all, and yet, the group was still friends with him. Why? Someone please, tell me why.
He’s ashamed to say that he planned on running away from Jade Mountain. It wasn’t that he carried dark memories of it, not necessarily, but more like he just didn’t feel like he fit in there anymore. It didn’t feel like he fit in anywhere, to be honest, but being nowhere was better than being somewhere at that point.
Winter had found him ready to fly away. He’d pulled Qibli back, pushed him back towards the school. Said, “Let’s go back, Qibli. C’mon.” And disappeared into one of the corridors leading to their room, pulling Qibli along with him.
He’d reassured Qibli that he fit in – that he was wanted here, that everyone genuinely liked and enjoyed his company, Winter no exception to that.
Maybe, that was the first time his heart felt too big for his chest.
“When I’m lost at sea, I hear your voice and it carries me…”
The crowd blurs, the sound penetrates Qibli’s brain and carries him up, up, up until he’s spinning in the air. For the title verse, though, he’s brought back down to earth, Winter snout to snout with him.
I see what they mean by that.
Winter, in that moment, grabs his talons to dance with him, and warmth arises from the touch despite Winter’s natural coldness. Qibli really couldn’t wish for anything more on this day. Well... There are some things, but this is all I should want right now.
“Ooh, heaven is a place on earth!” the two sing the last line together, talons weaved together, twin smiles on both their faces.
The roars of approval from the dragonets around them snaps Qibli back to reality.
Before he can even talk to Winter, Moon and Turtle pull him away.
“That was seriously amazing, Qibli! Three moons, I couldn’t imagine any better performance of that song!”
“Congratulations, Qibli.” Turtle sighs.
Qibli gives an unsure smile, still dazed from what just happened, and can only answer – “What?”
“Congratulations. Aren’t you two –” Turtle is cut off by Winter’s wing, but Qibli gets the implication. Talons and tails, I wish.
Wait, Winter?
“Hey, Qibli.”
He scratches at his shoulder, obviously uncomfortable.
“You said you wanted to talk?”
Qibli jolts up, startling Moon and Turtle away. “Right! Yeah, let’s just…” He grabs Winter’s talons and pulls him to a rarely-used side cave before they can be spotted.
This is it, Qibli. End of the line.
Why is his heart pounding so fast?
Either he reciprocates, or everything goes up in flames.
Winter tilts his head, unaware of the dilemma Qibli is going through. Everything he does captures my attention. So, get with him and be personally happy, or get rejected and at least that problem is solved.
Three.
Two.
One.
“I love you, Winter!” Qibli spits out, at the same time Winter goes: “I think I know what’s going on.”
I said it! Fireworks burst in his mind.
“Wait, what?” Winter doesn’t seem particularly stunned by Qibli’s confession.
Please don’t make say it again. “I… love you.” Qibli is about to faint from all the blood rushing to his head right now.
The sides of Winter’s mouth quirk up in a crooked smile. “I thought so.”
“…Really?” Why can’t Qibli tell where is going? Why isn’t Winter showing any emotion? Just get it over with already if you don’t like me, Winter! Don’t put me through this!
“Yeah.”
Winter is silent. Qibli buries his head in his talons, preparing himself for rejection, and then: “What, you thought I didn’t like you, Qibli?”
His head jerks up. If he heard that correctly…
“You – you like me?”
“Uh, was it not obvious?” The IceWing says that without any conviction in his voice.
Now that Qibli takes a look at Winter’s actions through an unbiased outside standpoint… memories of all the little moments they shared, all the little nudges and touches Winter gave Qibli – yup, it was totally obvious. Three moons, I really am stupid.
“Qibli? Are you okay?” Winter reaches out to Qibli tentatively, not sure if the SandWing is frozen with shock or just thinking. Wait moons I need to say something, brain, be useful for once and come up with something anything I don’t care what!
“Winter!” is the first thing that comes to mind. Because of course, the name of the dragon he’s been crushing on for god knows how long is always at the forefront of his mind.
“Yes?”
“Well – I’m just really, really happy, that’s all, I mean – I totally didn’t expect this to happen at all but wow, am I glad I took that leap… wait, but why would you like me at all?”
Slowly, the IceWing inches towards Qibli until he’s close enough to wrap his wide wings around him. His heart beats steady and loud, a stabilizer for Qibli’s racing thoughts.
“Life throws all sorts of things at you. For example, one falls in love with someone unexpected. I really don’t know – it just happened.”
Qibli nuzzles his snout into the crook of Winter’s wing. “You just said you loved me.”
A wave of heat rolls through Winter. “Uh, I mean – that goes without saying!”
In Winter’s warm embrace, Qibli’s world centers itself. Everything’s right for once. Everything feels like it’s fallen into place, confessing putting the final puzzle piece into place. I couldn’t ask for anything more.
Because right here, right now, Winter is with him. And right here, right now, they’ve found heaven on earth.