When among Dragons... Chapter 8 Bonds

by Machara and Chryos Stormwing

Special thanks to
my love Chryos who creates this with me,
Gabe as my editor and friend
as well as Sammi for ideas

Garrus’ words broke the spell Drew seemed to have been in, and at first, he considered just saying something non-committal. But then everything in him broke and he huddled himself against Garrus, half leaning against, half holding onto him, and he started crying.

Taken back by the sudden outburst, Garrus was a bit slow to wrap an arm around Drew. Holding Drew softly against himself he felt Drew gripping him strongly. Breathing calmly, Garrus just sat there in the near darkness of the room, with Drew sobbing, and he stared blankly at his half-brother for a while. Finally, Garrus seemed to comprehend the situation.

“Dear? Drew? What… what has gotten into you?“ Garrus asked while comforting him, by gently stroking his back.

After a while, Drew calmed down enough to say something, his first words being rather raspy.

“Everything, I guess?

A different family, meeting you, us slowly changing, me feeling less like myself by the day with these mood swings. And now this…. revelation… the only constant left in my life seems to be my mom, but even she has changed a bit.

How to answer 'how I am holding up' with all that?“

He looked up towards Garrus, noticing that he felt smaller as he did so and gave a weak smile.

“And there seems to be more… isn't there?“

Drew paused to let the hint sink in before asking Garrus the same question.

“So… how are you holding up?“

Eyeing him with a curious expression and a sideways glance, Garrus took a moment to ponder his response.

“Still processing, I’d say. There's a lot to take in. And it will take days until I even halfway know how I should feel about it.“

He smiled at the remark about Drew’s mother.

“Has your mother really been your only constant? For me, that one constant has been you. Despite all that change that is happening to the both of us, as well as to our family at large - and even larger, the whole world - you've been there with me, watching and feeling similarly. I’m grateful for allowing me to share this experience with you, Drew.“

He paused in thought before continuing with another topic.

“Hera asked me earlier… whether we were… a couple? Is that how you say it? I don't know.“

He blushed and added.

“But I liked the feeling the thought gave me.“

Drew chuckled to some of his remarks as he listened to Garrus. His words actually felt soothing.

“For me, it's my mother because I was thinking on a larger scale… since I was a kid, she's been there for me. Maybe you perceive things differently than I do, you being older than me. Now that I look at you, however, you look younger… well, softer, at least.”

He gave Garrus a meek smile as he glanced at him.

“Anyway, you have had more drama than me in your life. Maybe if I was your age, my relation to my mother would not be that close…“

As Drew continued, he had to look up, not feeling able to look at Garrus.

“I'd like to get to know you better to get a feeling for what ‘my being some constancy in your life actually means’, even though I have an inkling. Whatever we are, let’s just ride it out and maybe we will know?“

“Me? Softer and younger? Huh, I haven’t noticed yet, but then again, I haven't seen a mirror since we were in the hospital and even then, I think I only consciously looked at myself once. That was about a week ago. Your description sounded… ambiguous, however.“

All of a sudden, Garrus had to grin at that thought, but he covered that up, quickly. Smiling at Drew now, it felt like some big weight had been lifted off his shoulders and he let out a deep sigh.

“Thank you. You're… cracking me up. In a good way. And I have to say, if I’m looking younger, your looks are changing as well, they’re definitely even more… androgynous. And remember, I told you that I mean that as a compliment. We had that little argument back in the hospital.“

“Argument? I don't remember no argument.“

Drew grinned.

“And don't sugar-coat it for me. I'm looking more like a girl than a boy.

Well, if anything, maybe that makes me more … interesting to you.“

He tried to deadpan but didn’t really succeed, a smirk creeping in.

“I feel wasted now, though. I might fall asleep, on the spot.“

Drew closed his eyes.

For a moment, he still considered getting up and leaving for his own room, but feeling the warmth of Garrus’ body and the events of the past day catching up to him made Drew feel so sleepy it made him not want to consider the possibly resulting awkward situation, and just let go. With that, Drew started drifting off to sleep.

Dreams were strange that night. A feeling of lightness, of wind blowing against him that he cherished, taking a weight off his chest. Just a tugging on his back, but a good and powerful one, as his wings carried his weight. The luxurious stretching of those limbs as they were pulled open by the wind.

Then there was a cry. A body fell to the ground. He followed it, landing just in front. He recognized his father. Anger was building in him, along with that dreadful feeling of a weight settling in his chest once more.

He started to jump towards the body, fangs drawn out, claws open, but someone stopped him.

He looked at a human girl in front of him, who stood between them in a defensive stance. He recognized her to be him… herself.

“He does not deserve this! Let him go!“ She wailed out.

Drew awoke with a start and a crying shout. He tried to sit up, but his right hand was stuck in the bed, holding him back.

Drew felt Garrus lying next to himself seemingly half-asleep, half watching him, during his own slumber, having an arm wrapped around his waist. Garrus let out a soft yawn as Drew seemed to have been startled, then he curiously glanced at him.

“Doesn't deserve this? Who doesn't deserve what?“

Looking at Drew, now with a puzzled expression, Garrus fully sat up, right next to him.

Drew glanced at him for a moment, then nervously back at his own hand. With his free hand, he held down the bed sheet around his other one, which was somehow stuck there. Then he pulled up the hand that was still caught there in a more careful and straight way.

After it was free from the bed, he looked at it more closely.

Instead of fingernails, there were claws coming straight out of the upper part of the tips of his fingers. They looked to be about two centimeters long, were completely black and seemed to have feline qualities, but were not as thin and as curved towards the end, being somewhat straighter, but still ending in a tip with a certain sharpness.

As he looked at those claws, he also saw the rest of his hands. The finger pads seemed more pronounced, probably to also accommodate the thicker claws, but the overall shape of his hands, which reminded him of paws somewhat, was more slender than he remembered.

As Drew took in those details, the claws slowly retreated until they looked more like nails again. They still remained thicker and had a pointed tip, however, and their color remained black.

After watching this and drawing his focus, Drew returned to the rest of the world, and looked back at Garrus.

“I… had a dream. I was flying, found a body falling to the ground, followed it and saw it was our father. I wanted to attack him. But my human girl-self stood between us and told me he did not deserve this… to let him go.“

Slightly more perplexed about the change of the shape of Drew’s hands and fingers, Garrus needed a moment to process the description of his dream.

“Uh… what?“

You could almost hear his cogs slowly spinning up.

“Your… girl… self? What an interesting… manifestation? I do hope that with all those changes ahead of you… ahead of us… you won’t get a split personality.“

Garrus first had an amused smile on his face, then it grew more serious and caring. Drew felt Garrus’s arm slowly wrap around him as he caressed his side, watching him and looking down at his body.

“I think I dreamt something too… but it was more a jumble of scenes and… I think there was jazz music. Weird.“

At first, Drew reacted a bit surprised, but as Garrus’ hand brushed along his side and touched his skin - the shirt must have gotten drawn up while they had slept - he drew his breath and looked at him with big eyes, then Drew’s whole body relaxed and he closed his eyes.

As Drew drifted off to sleep again, Garrus murmured to him.

“Rest well, my beautiful. I’m glad about everything that has happened. Even the stuff that’s going to make our lives complicated. Because we’re going to see it together.“

Then, as a final gesture before surrendering to the velvet beckoning clutches of sleep, Garrus lay down right next to Drew, snuggled up against his back with his arm still wrapped around him, his face buried at Drew’s neck.

A purring sound escaped Garrus’ throat as he relaxed.

In Drew’s sleep, he cuddled towards the warmth and grabbed Garrus’ arm to hold on to it.

In the morning, Drew woke and sat up, Garrus’ arm sliding off of him.

He just sat there for a while, looking out of the window as the sun shone in. It was apparently not very early in the morning, anymore. Then he turned carefully to look after his half-brother, still seeing him sleeping.

Drew felt a tingling in his belly, and pressure on his chest.

The previous day caught up with him as he was still relishing the feelings that came with a new bright day and those that promised more changes. As he remembered everything about the encounter with his father the tangled strong emotions of anger, disappointment, empathy, and fear returned and struggled to dominate the ones he had been feeling just moments before.

Drew stood up silently, and went to his room, stripped, saw some changes that he didn’t quite know how to feel about - aside from a churning feeling in his stomach - and lurched to find something baggy, something that would cover him.

He put on sweatpants, a hoodie, and sneakers. He then walked into the shared bathroom and looked around among his mother’s creams, finding a thick foundation. He put it liberally on his face and hands, trying to cover the inhuman deep purple color. Drew didn’t really look good with that much on and was not satisfied with the results, but it would have to do, he thought.

As he was leaving to go downstairs he glanced inside Garrus' room, only to find him staring back.