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Ushijima expected to have found the dragon guarding the outside of the castle. Legend foretold that is where it would be, keeping the prince inside and any wandering knights from entering.
There had been some long abandoned skeletons scattered outside, but otherwise the place had seemed empty.
The inside of the castle appears equally deserted, nothing but long shadows moving around deserted hallways as Ushijima advances through them.
There is a whispered melody echoing through the stone walls, the tune is hummed in a low, enthralling rhythm. It’s the only sign of life for miles, so Ushijima follows it.
The light from the windows paints over the castle's stone walls, moving with his advance, and Ushijima keeps his steps quiet, keeps his sword high. He didn’t think the dragon would be able to fit inside the castle, but he has the distinct feeling that something about the story he was told doesn’t make sense anymore.
The melody lilts and increases its volume as Ushijima stalks closer, shifting rhythm as it grows louder. He strengthens his hold on his sword as he rounds a corner, bracing himself to strike.
There’s a lone figure standing in the dark corridor, frozen in place as if waiting for Ushijima to approach – as if expecting him.
He is lit by the low glow of the single candle he’s holding, the warmth of it lighting his eyes and hair in a flaming blaze of bright red.
“Hello there,” he greets, head tilted and red eyes wide as a slow grin takes over his shadowed features.
Ushijima finds himself entranced, battle stance faltering.
“I have come to rescue you,” he explains.
The man’s grin widens, suddenly overtaken with amusement. He shifts unnaturally, presence expanding in a way that makes the shadows shift along the hallway.
“Rescue me?” He repeats, smirk growing sharp as his form grows. “No, no. I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”
Ushijima raises his sword reflectively, and then the man strikes – and this is how they met.
“What is he even doing?” Tendou asks, dragon form curled lazily around Wakatoshi on the castle’s highest tower as they peer down at the approaching would-be invader.
The knight looks small from a distance, his well polished armor glinting in the sunlight as he rushes to and from the castle’s door, going around the old skeletal remains scattered about as if unused to such sights.
He squints up from the distance, and Tendou can just about make out his little scowl as he keeps his sword up, his fighting stance strong and stable despite the agitated fumbling.
“Challenging you, it would seem,” Ushijima offers after his assessment, eyebrows furrowed as if in judgement of the knight’s scattered attention more so than in concern over any perceived threat.
“Come down and face me, dragon!” The little knight screams again from below, a loud reiteration of Ushijima’s suspicion.
Tendou lets out the deep, rumbling laugh that Ushijima has taken to calling his dragon purring as he leans farther over the railing, eyes glinting at the movement below.
“Oh, but he’s hilarious! Maybe I should go down and greet him!”
He shifts his stance, wings flexing for flight, but the slightest furrow of Ushijima’s eyebrows holds him back.
“Don’t scare him. He’s here for your hand, supposedly,” Ushijima chastices.
Tendou snickers again, the sound rumbling through the walls and echoing in a deeper growl that has the knight below scrambling to raise his shield in a brief display of panic.
“For my hand!?” Tendou jokes. “Maybe you should go down and fight him then, Wakatoshi-kun!”
Ushijima tilts his head in contemplation.
“Perhaps I should.”
Tendou’s heart flutters in delight, and he cackles, the sound traveling down through the twists and turns of the castle’s hallways in more twisted growling, but the knight just makes his stance firmer, squinting up at the sunlight to try and predict his approach.
He’s a brave little thing, this poorly informed knight, but Ushijima is still staring down at him in contemplation.
“Now, now,” Tendou soothes, lips curling in a sharp fanged smile. “No need to actually kill the little guy! You’re much scarier than I am.”
“I wouldn’t need to kill him to defeat him,” Ushijima grumbles, but the sound is muffled by the whooshing of wind and wings as Tendou pushes off from the window, flying around the tower in indulging dips and arches as he plummets to the ground below.
He glances to the castle’s windows, following as Ushijima climbs down the tower’s steps too, but quickly loses sight of him as the speed of his flight increases, plummeting through the air in an exciting drop before he flaps his wings again, steadying the course to a stable landing.
He laughs, enjoying the feel of wind on his wings, of the stretch and the rush of flying – of the expression of absolute shock that takes over the knight’s face at Tendou’s dramatic landing.
It’s a sight he hasn’t been able to enjoy in a while – for all of Ushijima’s endearing stoicity, he is hardly ever shocked by anything – so Tendou delights in the fright that briefly shines over the little knight's expressive eyes as he takes in the magnitude of his opponent.
Tendou’s cackle comes out of the ribcage of his dragon form in a deep roar, but to his credit, the knight’s expression washes itself of fear. Admirably, if foolishly, he looks the picture of complete determination.
“Surrender, dragon!” He demands, raising his sword in Tendou’s direction. “I am here to rescue the prince, and I will slay you if I have to!”
Tendou tilts his head at him, thoroughly amused.
“And what will you do with the prince, once you rescue him?”
The knight falters, shifting in his stance as his eyes dart about, cheeks coloring.
“Well, ideally I’d marry him?” He offers, surprisingly bashful for a little creature so convinced of his own battle prowess he didn’t even fully cower when faced with a dragon. “He will be smitten with me once I‘ve beaten you and proven that I am the greatest knight in all the lands. And then we will live happily together!”
Tendou bends a little closer, eyes widening as he looms over him. The knight seems to sense his amusement this time around, because while he doesn’t quite lower his guard, he makes no move to strike either.
His cheeks burn brighter though, as if embarrassed by the judgement of a dragon.
“Oh, but you’re adorable!” Tendou thrills, letting his dragon form fall as he shifts to face the knight as a human.
As soon as he has hands again, he slaps them on the knight’s cheeks to squish them together, cooing at him.
The knight's eyes widen, mouth falling open in brightly entertaining shock as he gawks at Tendou’s transformation.
“You– You’re — You are the—” he stammers, fumbling for words as he goes perfectly still, flustering feverishly under Tendou’s fingertips and gaping helplessly at the revelation of his accidental forwardness.
“The prince. The dragon. The prince and the dragon!” Tendou offers, smirking wide and crooked. “The dragon-prince, yes! Last time I thought this was a misunderstanding, but I see my reputation really doesn’t precede me, huh?”
The knight just blinks at him, visibly trying to keep up.
“You don’t need to be rescued, then?” He mumbles, forlorn. “But I was looking forward to rescuing you. I don’t even have a back-up plan to win your affection!”
Tendou falters, grin widening in giddy amusement.
“That’s mighty flattering, little knight, but I’m afraid that would be a losing battle regardless.”
The knight pouts, affronted, and Tendou resists the urge to squish his cheeks tighter.
“Did you hear that, Wakatoshi?” He calls out towards the castle instead, where Ushijima now approaches after finally climbing down all the steps. “He really is here for my hand!”
Ushijima doesn’t seem winded in the slightest despite the endless stairs, but his frown deepens at the confirmation.
“I can defeat him,” he says, without an ounce of pride, but full of conviction. “Would you like me to fight for your hand, Satori?”
The knight untangles himself frantically from Tendou’s hands then, head snapping in Ushijima’s direction. His eyes widen even further, and then he bends on a bow so deep his armor struggles to accommodate the movement.
“Ushijima-san!”
“Goshiki,” Ushijima greets, unphased.
“Oh?” Tendou asks, amused by the new development.
He bends to lean against Ushijima’s shoulder unabashedly, and when Goshiki rights himself he is blushing deeper at the display, though he seems more panicked than bothered by it.
“Everyones thinks you’re dead! When you didn’t come back we– I thought you’d been eaten by the dragon!”
“Eaten?” Tendou asks, nose wrinkling. He might delight in slaying the misguided fools who barge into his castle making demands, but he’s never eaten them.
“I was going to defeat the dragon that defeated you! To prove that I’m the greatest warrior in all the lands!” Goshiki continues, sounding as mournful as he is baffled, although it is unclear whether he’s more grief stricken by Ushijima’s assumed death or the now lost chance to best him.
“I didn’t return because I have been enjoying my time here,” Ushijima explains, and Tendou snickers, heart warmed. “Tendou did not defeat me, but you may try your best, if you’d like.”
“Hah! I may not have won our fight, but I did win you over,” Tendou jokes, batting his eyelashes at Ushijima, though it goes ignored as Goshiki squares up to face him.
Ushijima straightens himself too, and Tendou decides to stop the confrontation before it starts.
“No, no, don’t kill him, Wakatoshi-kun!” He asks, now only half joking. “He’s all bright eyed and hopeful, I can’t let you hurt him!”
“I’m not bright eyed!” Goshiki protests.
“I don’t need to hurt him to disarm him,” Ushijima corrects, as if knowing it from previous experience.
“You’re both wrong,” Tendou informs them, shaking his head in playful disapproval. “You’d hurt his cute little bright eyed pride, and we can’t have that!”
Ushijima assents, and Goshiki tries to hide his grimace as he wavers between relief and offense.
“Come on, Wakatoshi, there must be more damsel in distress stories inside that head of yours!” Tendou pushes, leaning closer into his side conspiratorially. “There’s gotta be somewhere else we can send him where he can prove himself and impress some unsuspecting princeling!”
Goshiki flushes again, Ushijima ponders on it.
“I suppose, though I can’t say how accurate those tales will prove themselves to be anymore.”
Tendou nods encouragingly, bouncing on the tip of his toes.
“That’s alright! What's an adventure without a little unexpected fun? Give him something sweet, an easy happy ending with no risk of dragons!”
“I don’t need easy!” Goshiki protests, puffing up as if to prove it. “I can take on a dragon!”
Ushijima ignores him, facing Tendou with a frown that he’s taken to interpret as stubbornness. It is a rare expression for Ushijima – not the frown, which is somewhat everpresent, but the stubbornness – and Tendou knows him to only be insistent upon the things he feels strongly about.
“A dragon is no deterrent to a happy ending, in my experience,” Ushijima insists, strongly.
Tendou fidgets, overcome with fondness. He throws his arms around Ushijima’s neck, hanging all over him in his excitement.
“Wakatoshi! Are you trying to say that I’m your happily ever after?” He demands, though he is already smiling brightly, gripping Ushijima’s shoulders to face him properly.
“That was my intention, yes. Though I assumed it had already been clear from my continued presence here,” Ushijima confirms, lips quirking like he knows exactly what he is doing, and Tendou chuckles, pulling him closer to kiss him all over.
“I would still appreciate directions, though,” Goshiki grumbles, forgotten, as Tendou coos and nuzzles into Ushijima's neck in dragon-like fashion.
“Hush, little dragon-princeling! We’ll figure out a fairy-tale for you later. This is my happy ending!”