‘   niraj.   ’   zhen cried, on a happy sob, childish relieved laughter as legs threatened to buckle underneath him.   gods, my chest hurts.   ‘   i found you.   ’

‘   since when are you meant to be a voice of reason ?   ’

raj was a special case when it came to more sensual relationships, always had been. he’d never felt that awkward pull to be cordial with him after a night of passionate stress relief. kaeya’s tendency to keep people so close and yet so far at the same time had always been a deal breaker when it came to associates, made him suspicious and untrustworthy, but raj had never found it off putting. maybe that’s why he doesn’t feel the need to put on his mask, doubt whether raj’s words were a half hearted guilt trip into letting him stay. he knew he was welcome. he knew that kaeya trusted him about as much as he could trust any of his companions. making raj cry in pleasure had never altered the casual vibe of their relationship to it, and for that kaeya was so thankful.

blouse only half buttoned, hair sex - mused and tousled, he looks a little bit of a mess as he reluctantly let raj go from where he’d pinned him to the door.   ‘   i really will be late if i don’t leave now, and i don’t need another reason for amber to tattle on me.   ’ another final kiss as he opened the door.   ‘   stay in mond for a little longer, i’ll take you up on that offer tonight.   ’

sometimes it was hard to tell whether a dream was really a dream.   sometimes, a memory was a far off fallacy, conjured from a mind mostly submerged in the depths. he couldn’t quite remember when the dreams had started appearing. when he was a teenager maybe, whimsy - filled and lovesick from someone he could only conjure in his memories. but goda, had they been vivid. it had seemed pathetic at first, so much more entranced by his imagination than what the real world could provide. zhen almost wished he could stay asleep, lie in the arms of a man he could never quite remember the name of. the dream version of him had called the naga many, many names, but never one that seemed accurate. he spoke to him in many languages too, some of which he couldn’t understand by the time the dreams started appearing. my jewel ... that was the reoccurring endearment.

zhen fidgeted with his rings. he was an artist within this lifetime, apparently a rare profession for him to gravitate to, but not unheard of. it was ... odd to learn about a him ( her ? they ? ) from different lifetimes, to know that he was so drawn to jewellery, despite how often he needed to take it off, because of his heritage, because no mater his destiny, he would always be drawn back to his jewels ... and not just in a physical sense. raj was every bit the stunning persona he was in zhen’s dreams, but to meet him in the flesh was something different, among the dusty planes of egypt no less, while zhen wished to seek artistic inspiration. the dragon still ... couldn’t believe that any of that had been real, his studio apartment here was covered, from floor to ceiling, in phantasmal memories of the last hundred of years. these weren’t just extremely vivid dreams. these were memories. and amongst many was raj’s familiar visage, sometimes a figure in the distance, and sometimes his muse.

raj had been his muse all his life, but he’d known him simply as ‘jewel.’

he gulped, new to these memories, knowing that in some of these lifetimes he’d been bold, and sarcastic, and larger than life, but right now, he was still letting go of a persona he’d kept for years. the zhen in raj’s memories ... he wasn’t a meek introvert, but that had been him for the entirety of this lifetime : the bastard son of a wealthy ceo, left to his paints to keep him out of his life. he was lonely, left to his dreams, left to his paints. he’d never really needed for anything, but now, now zhen thirsted for the knowledge of these lives lost, to know and understand the person who ... to be quite honest, he was already half in love with. but that didn’t count did it ? a lifetime’s obsession couldn’t amount to love. and so zhen flushed at raj’s questions, looking away shyly as he stirred the pick in his own drink. how did he deal with talking to someone who’d known him for hundreds of years and ... and some of those memories.. they made him shiver just thinking about it.

“   i don’t really know how to talk to people ... it was nice to fantasise about a relationship, but i don’t know if i could ever be in one.   ”

zhen swallowed loudly, took a sip of his drink as brown irises rose to meet raj’s, flickers of red diamonds like jewels seemed to flare out from his pupil, like an awakening of the celestial inside him.

‘   was i really enough ?   ’

“   ... there were many incarnations that believed you are.   ”

‘   it’s most definitely not safe for handsome travellers the likes of us to move alone, is it not ?   ’

there was some truth in the statement, some lie in there as well. kaeya definitely didn’t look the part of a traveller, there with naught but his sword and satchel on person, casual as he offered the stranger one of his fruity skewers, preserved with his refreshing touch of ice. kaeya had always been a disarming sort of person, when it came to both sword and his magnificent wit, but among those who knew of his ruthless nature then it could often come off as disconcerting. whether this person was the actual bandit leader he was looking for, or an another ill - informed traveller was how he responded to kaeya’s innocent quips. it was, after all, sunset. the ne’er - do - wells would be making their appearances soon, and kaeya was determined to track down the culprits before the night was over.

‘   where did you plan to find respite tonight ? surely not in these dangerous woods ?   ’

unscripted ask     /     always accepting.

he was about to elaborate on what he did know, an instinctual habit, to not seem as clueless as he actually was. “ fake it ‘til you make it ” had been the best way to handle human interaction so far, but jaune came to realise that not a lot slipped past raj. then again, raj wasn’t human. he appeared human, but from one partial celestial being to another, the instinctual tell that something a little more than human was instantaneous. it gave them solidarity in a world where humans hunted them for ... well, whyever humans did the things they do. it was nice though, to make a friend who was so different from his own kind, the sky - dwelling seraphim had always been an isolated sort, never reaching out to make relations despite being the products of man and something higher. raj was a nice change from the blustery fools up there who knew about nothing but keeping your head in the clouds.

well, all attempts to explain himself had been going smoothly until raj started casually taking off his clothes. sometimes jaune forgot how heart - stoppingly pretty raj was. he thought he could finally adjust to the easy sway of his hips and the piercing, rich green colour of his eyes and then he does something else to make jaune choke on his own tongue. he’s so beautiful, and he probably knew it too. the nephilim could barely string a few sentences together to answer, swallowing nervously.   ‘   n - no, they’re not really common up there.   ’   it was all he could muster before raj started the transformation, and throughout the entirety of it jaune was transfixed, awed by the beautiful shift of magic and will, and the long, glittering green tail covered with the very same scales that had jaune so transfixed upon human skin. the pink flush upon jaune’s cheeks lessened some as flustered countenance gave way to pure awe.

he had been reaching out instinctively, but recoiled with hands near his chest even when raj prompted him too, unsure now that he’d been given permission. familiar florets bloomed over jaune’s cheeks as raj came to encirle him, about as terrified as he was excited by the prospect of raj somehow hugging him without using his arms. there was excitement in his eyes as he gingerly stroked along raj’s scales, trying to see if the lighter underbelly was a different texture, the scales a different shape. they were small scales it seemed, enough so that it wouldn’t hurt or ruffle them like brushing jaune’s feathers the wrong way. they were shiny too, “ so pretty ” he would murmur, like a child’s first sunset, utterly entranced that nature could produce something so gloriously beautiful. a stray thought came to mind, but even as he asked he still kept petting along raj’s offered tail, almost absent mindedly.

ten minutes.   /   acc.