by TJ Cross
The hot water was when he felt most natural. Heat, a dragon's native environment. He felt the least inhibited whenever he was close to heat -- although an open flame always did the job better than the hottest of water.
Meditating in the shower worked, though... worked far better than masturbation.
He already knew what he was going to do tonight with Brandon, and better still, he knew that conserving his most powerful dragon sexual potency was the best thing to do.
After all, he fully intended to seduce the young man in the exact measured way he had been fantasizing about since their first meeting.
In his garage, Gurney spent a second deciding which car he would take. The Nissan was a little too... flashy, he found. The date he was mapped out for Brandon was a sophisticated one, so he needed a ride that was more fitting. "Should buy that damn Mercedes," he mused, a thought immediately coming to him about raising the stakes in the next race he would attend as Firestarter -- betting his car against the Mercedes man's.
A garage with three cars -- and a fourth parked on the street -- and he had to decide the right one. In the end he chose his BMW, a classy 5-series executive sedan that would give him and Brandon the sort of luxury comfort that would set the tone of the date.
He was surprised to learn that it would only take him fifteen minutes to get to Brandon's place, in a part of university part of town he rarely ever visited except when he needed to drop off interns and visiting students from the hospital.
By the time he got there, waiting outside the building, he was pleased to find Brandon already standing outside.
His hunger for the young man only increased as he watched Brandon walk up to the passenger's side. "Hey," Gurney said, greeting Brandon with a warm smile.
Brandon offered his cheek to Gurney, who could not possibly have been stopped from planting a simple but seductive kiss there -- the first of many, he hoped.
"Was traffic alright getting here?" Brandon asked.
The dragon glanced forward. "Nothing bad in the least. I had no idea you lived so close," he said. "So, do you have any clue where we're going?"
"Surprise me."
"There's a pizza place, a real hole in the wall, but absolutely amazing... it's on Northlake Way, by Lake Union. Italo Calvino is the name of the place, have you ever been there?" Gurney asked.
Pizza for a first date... real cheesy, Gurney.
"Oh, damn, no! But I've heard it's amazing. I remember when it first opened it got like a hundred five star Yelp reviews in its first weekend or something. I love pizza. How'd you know?" Brandon said, squeezing the doctor's hand as it rested on the gear stick.
"Googled you," Gurney joked. He hadn't done that, but the casual mention was a strategic sally forth, hoping to bait Brandon into admitting if he had done so.
Because if he had, they were due for a real different level of conversation.
"Oops," Brandon said, immediately blushing. That was all the answer Gurney needed.
"I didn't Google you, but you know what? This is the 21st century. Sometimes you want to immerse yourself in information, and what's so wrong with that? I've never judged anyone for Googling me, although... I would have to say the results for me would be a fair bit more interesting," Gurney said, teasing the idea with casual disregard.
"Oh yeah? Why's that?"
Gurney detected the white lie there of Brandon acting like he hadn't looked his date up. "No need to beat around the bush, Brandon. You can ask me anything you want. I'll be an open book... for you."
"I'm just really surprised the world's first shifter doctor has any sort of interest in me at all. I'm really not that interesting," Brandon said, going straight into it.
A-ha! Their destination was not too far away now. Should the conversation be moved to the dinner table? "But you are, Brandon. And you'll be even more interesting when I get a chance to get to know you better, say, one-on-one over dinner."
"I've never really met a shifter before. Read an article somewhere that most shifters hate big cities, but you don't seem to. Got a nice car and a nice job and all," Brandon noted.
"Wolves and bears and other wildlife, yes, they're very attuned to nature. You'll find a few who buck the trend and enjoy living in the city... but I'm not necessarily the person I am because of that. My particular heritage is, well, not as concerned about being near woods and forests."
Brandon raised his eyebrows, looking at his date. "May I ask what heritage that is, Gurney?"
"Yes," Gurney answered, pausing to swallow as he prepared himself to reveal the truth. "Dragon."
"Dragon? But... dragons are mythological creatures!"
"Only because we've always been shifters, every single one of us. And as the ages turned away from us, we began to disguise ourselves better among humans. We might be large, flying beasts with flame shooting out our nostrils, but we're so few -- while there are literally billions of you guys," Gurney explained. "Now, I assure you... we aren't mythological creatures."
Brandon whistled. Curiously, the dragon found that the young human was impressed and interested rather than shocked. "Explains your... ethereal beauty, though."
"Ethereal beauty?" Gurney laughed. "I just know how to take care of myself, how to groom myself."
He parked the car down in the first available spot he saw near Italo Calvino, already noticing from afar that their timing was good -- didn't look like the place had a big crowd. "Let's continue it over some pizza. I made reservations, and though they don't usually take them, Mario's a friend. Saved his sister's life in a high-risk spinal surgery. He'll get us the best outside table for two."
Gurney enjoyed the way Brandon clearly appreciated his effort, beaming at every opportunity. There was something incredibly comforting about the way he was able to open up to the human.
"Mario, my friend!" Gurney loudly greeted the Italian owner, who was smoking outside in between bouts of checking in on his customers.
"Dr Keller! No, you are my friend! Although I see you have one of your own with you too. Who's this now?" Mario said, the lilt of his Italian accent emphasized by the friendly roughness of his voice, like a seasoned stage actor.
"This is Brandon, we're having dinner together tonight," Gurney said, grinning.
"A very special dinner, must be, since you called me and everything!"
Gurney nodded, amused by Mario, and ushered Brandon to the table they had been reserved. "He's a hoot," Gurney said. "Anyway, go ahead and take a look at the menu. Mario already knows what I want... and some wine, the nice kind this time, if you please?"
"No problem, my friend!" Mario said, slapping a menu down on the table in front of Brandon. "Right away, I'll go now!"
They were alone again, Gurney sitting with his elbows pressed to the edges of the table, hands locked together and looking straight at Brandon. He could tell the human enjoyed the attention, smiling behind the menu.
"So... I'm sure you've full of questions," Gurney offered, giving Brandon the benefit of being an open book.
The man looked down on his menu first, eyes scrolling the extensive list of options, before finally nodding. In no time, a smiling waitress appeared, bearing the wine for Gurney. She offered a taster in a little glass but Gurney lifted his hand, adding that there was no need.
"I'll have a nine-inch margarita," Brandon said. He saw Gurney burst into light laughter. "What?"
"That's what I always have."
"Is yours nine inches too?" Brandon winked seductively.
"That's not something for a pizza dinner, I suspect."
They enjoyed the silence together in the active night of the city. Looking southwards, Gurney and Brandon made out the city's skyline, albeit with the Gas Works Park getting in the way.
"Have you ever been?" Gurney asked, nudging in the direction of the eclectically designed formerly industrial park with his chin.
"No, but I'd love to," Brandon answered.
Gurney made a mental note for them to take a pleasant little w
alk through the park. He had a favorite spot there, and he glanced down to the stainless steel Audemars Piguet on his wrist again, remembering there were a couple of hours left before the park closed.
The pizza arrived, both portions identical, and they ate while trading plenty of stories. Brandon spoke about his friend Zara and her latest complaints about her polyamorous lifestyle, what with Frank having newly found a Croatian exchange student to play with.
"She has something Zara doesn't," Brandon said, amused.
"And what's that?" came Gurney's innocent query.
"Croatian girl's a virgin!"
After his third slice, Gurney told Brandon about the other hospitals he had worked in, glossing over details like years as he described his early work in Europe and in the United Kingdom, including Wales, where he was from.
"You've got no Welsh accent to you at all. Aren't you guys supposed to be extremely musically accented?" Brandon pointed out.
"I've lived in America for over a hundred and fifty years, Brandon," Gurney mentioned softly, lowering his voice every time he spoke about something that was overtly about his shifter nature. "That's time enough to lose any accent."
"You're right," Brandon nodded. "A hundred and fifty years and you somehow don't have a giant family of, um, kids and grandkids and great-grandkids? What's your secret? Victorian Age vasectomy?"
Gurney laughed. The dragon was never at more ease than when he was speaking to Brandon, he found, finding that no matter the venue -- hospital ward, or hospital reception, or sitting outside one of his favorite restaurants -- he had that relaxing effect that seemed to allow the stress and tension of his daily life simply bleed away like nothing.
"I've always been, ah, constrained in terms of being openly the way I want to be... until recently, truly. A gay man who was a dragon, too? When the great Revelation came and shifters outed themselves to the world, I was still held back by my identity as someone from a particularly rare breed of shifter... a gay one, no less. Dragons don't mate with dragons, not anymore. I don't even think there are any female dragons left, so if there are any straight male dragons either, well, I hope they've got good mates."
"Wow," Brandon said, processing the fact. "I'm depressed after a few months of being single, while you're ever so charming even after almost two hundred without being with anybody. You're crazy."
"Just a dragon who's got his eyes set on this handsome, mysterious young photographer. Sorry to hear about your camera loss, by the way," Gurney answered.
He wiped his mouth with the offered napkins while he nodded for the bill, happy to note that Brandon had eaten every slice. "Good?"
"More than good," Brandon gushed. "The best damn pizza I've ever had."
Mario, bringing Gurney's change, was delighted to hear Brandon's compliment. "Next time you come here, you come with many friends, okay?" he said to Brandon, nodding enthusiastically. Brandon laughed, promising he would.
Stomach full -- but not bloated, thankfully -- Gurney suggested they take a walk in Gas Works Park. It seemed a little more lonely than usual, overlooking Lake Union and the city skyline, and to his surprise with the exception of the main area by the water where everyone seemed to be huddled by, there were very few people there.
"This is very nice," Brandon said, his hands in his pocket, walking close enough beside Gurney that their shoulders knocked against each other.
"Brandon..." Gurney said, looking towards the young man. "You've been wonderful tonight. I'd like to see you a lot more. In fact, I don't think I'm being hasty if I said I'd like to embark on a relationship with you... but there's something you need to know. Dragons, well, like other alpha shifters, we don't do simple, surface relationships like some humans do."
"Okay," Brandon said, stopping to listen to the dragon.
"You being with me would mean that I would be your alpha, and you would be my omega."
This had been the moment of truth. Gurney knew now that everything between them had culminated to this point, and whether Brandon would be part of his future would be dependent on how he answered.
"Is that like a bond between a dominant and a submissive, like a BDSM bond?" Brandon asked. Gurney could sense that he was hesitating not because he was reluctant, but because he wanted to avoid offending the shifter.
"Not quite," the dragon answered. "But it's a good analogue to start with, I suppose. It's not just sexual, being alpha to you. It's everything. It makes you the most important thing in my life. I would protect you, no matter what. My life would never be the same again without you."
"I understand that. And I feel the same way, Gurney."
They sealed their new relationship with a kiss, Gurney leaning in to touch his lips against Brandon's, in an act he had been wanting ever since he had first met him. It was almost as if he heard fireworks in his head as his blood pulsed hot inside him, reviving his whole body in the cold air of the night, stoking his lust in an incredible way. Gurney and Brandon kissed with tenderness first, and then with the desire to immerse in each other, and lastly erupting into a passionate exchange of tongues and lips and saliva and hands crossing all over each other.
"Fuck, I want you," Gurney murmured. He glanced around, grabbing Brandon, surprising him with his strength. The young human yelped softly in delight from being handled so powerfully.
"I want you right now," the dragon continued. "I want you right here."
CHAPTER EIGHT
Brandon
Nothing could have gotten Brandon ready for the absolute flood of arousal that hit him when Gurney laid him down on the grass, concealed from view of any of whoever was left at the park, and began kissing his neck.
Oh, God, I'm going to die, Brandon thought melodramatically as he felt his whole body sizzle to Gurney's touch. The dragon was gentle enough not to push Gurney's cast down too hard, but Brandon watched him examine the cast curiously.
"I'll be careful," the dragon finally murmured, sitting on top of Brandon, holding him down and kissing him again.
A flurry of hands from the both of them ensued, undressing with as much swiftness as they could do. Brandon felt his hunger for the dragon, for the man he now called his alpha, and he wanted to satisfy the entirety of his desire for the dashing doctor.
Brandon wrapped his naked legs around Gurney, watching as Gurney pulled down the younger man's boxers to reveal his hard cock. The dragon slid his hands down Brandon's cock, spitting down to give it the lubrication that was currently only being given by the emerging pre-cum throbbing out of the tip of Brandon's cock.
The omega-to-be closed his eyes as the dragon began pumping his fist over Brandon's cock, eliciting deep-throated moans from the human instantly. Brandon felt his whole body stiffen in the tension of his arousal.
Brandon realized now that he really was gay, that Gurney had not so much made him this way as he had given him a chance to truly understand his sexuality -- that the years of being with women was only just a phase, culminating in his discovery that he didn't want to be with Zara, no matter how often they flirted.
He was a submissive young omega who wanted to be commanded, dominated and fucked by an alpha shifter.
And although he still knew nothing about the world of shifters, he fully knew that dragons sat at the very top of the food chain, dominant over all other beasts.
That thought gave him waves of arousal, turning him on so much he lifted his ass to give Brandon more of his cock. The thought of sex with the dragon filled him with as much surprise as it did excitement -- part of him had initially feared that Gurney, being the ancient, powerful shifter he was, might not be as interested in sex as someone more libidinously young might be.
