What's in a name?

[Dragon]

Was it the right place to kiss? Dragon felt a kind of accomplishment at the fact that he got Kinley's ear this time around, although judging by the reaction, he surprised Kinley more than he comforted him. With Kinley guiding his face, it was impossible to look anywhere else but at him. Dragon felt an odd lump in his throat when their eyes met.

Even despite the language barrier--and it was a giant barrier--there were some things that just didn't need to be voiced. Things like the flutter of anticipation in his chest, or the swell of affection that rose up inside. Things like the way his body instinctively reacted, hands lifting to land on Kinley's hips and his own legs taking him forward, closer.

"Kiss," he repeated in a soft whisper, lips moving against fingertips. What he did was a kiss. What Kinley did was a kiss. What...

What was this, though? This union of lips? Dragon's eyes opened wider, blinked rapidly. He didn't know what to do when Kinley's lips parted against his, and his fingers flexed against his hips. This new experience seemed to amplify the feelings of two whole seconds ago. It was like an explosion, but inside of his stomach. Dragon's lips parted uncertainly as his heart throbbed and ached sweetly to the kiss.

He supposed that was what it was. Kiss. There had to be all kinds of kisses--but this kind was probably going to be his favorite.

[Kinley Sima]

A kiss could be a lot of things. There were friendly pecks on the cheek, affectionate kisses to the shoulder or throat, motherly kisses, and sloppy drunk kisses. Thoughts on kisses changed and evolved over time, too. When Kinley was a toddler, he used to giggle and writhe when his mom kissed him a thousand times, recognizing that it was love from mother to son. When he was five, he thought kisses were gross. He remembered struggling out of his mother's arms when she drew him in for unexpected kisses. After that, his mother reserved kisses for his birthday or for when Kinley was going away on a trip to see his grandparents or family who lived far away. Kisses sort of faded out of his mind for a long time after that.

When he was eleven, he grew curious about kisses with the opposite sex and sometimes the scenes from movies made him think about it more. When he was twelve, he kissed a girl for the first time. It was nothing more than lips against her cheek for a few seconds and he probably could have lit up half the town with the heat his face generated afterward.

Once, he was self conscious and embarrassed about kissing girls but like he told Kero, practice made it a lot less scary. Asking girls out was a nerve wracking event. There was a square dance the last week of sixth grade and he remembered how half the boys in class were way too embarrassed to ask any girls out. But the girls were waiting for them to do the asking. Some of the guys said it was unfair that girls didn't have to but Kinley thought... why were they all so scared? They were just girls, right? The worst they could do was say no. (Although he had to admit, when he walked up to that first girl, he imagined all sorts of things might happen, like she might spit in his eye or kick him in the crotch and tell all her friends.) But she said yes.

Dragon didn't say yes (that would have been weird, in context) but he did kiss him back. There was an uncertainty to his kiss. Dragons probably didn't do a whole lot of kissing; he guessed that maybe Dragon thought the affectionate gesture earlier was how it was normally done and he wanted to respond in kind. Or to relay some sort of feeling that he associated with the action. Kisses sort of spoke for themselves in a way that words never could. And despite his inexperience, Dragon didn't kiss like a fish.

As the kiss ended, he slowly and reluctantly moved his head but his fingertips lightly stroked Dragon's cheek. There were a lot of things he wished he could say or communicate to Dragon. Like how his mom wouldn't be okay with this if she saw it. Or how it had only been maybe a year since he really started to explore the idea of being with the same sex instead of the opposite sex. Maybe it was a good thing; he didn't have to explain the Facebook video to him or the threats his mother made or how deeply things changed when people exchanged kisses. Instead of any of that, he only whispered a word he was pretty sure Dragon understood: "Beautiful."

[Dragon]

How did Kinley know when to stop the kiss? Dragon didn't know but he was along for the ride anyway, letting his eyes drift closed (since Kinley's eyes weren't wide open and staring). It felt a little more surreal when he closed his eyes, though. There was nothing else but the kiss when he closed his eyes; no other stimulus than the soft lips and tongue.

Dragon didn't know how to breathe and kiss, though. He would have pulled back simply out of lack of air had Kinley not moved back first. Dragon inhaled deeply; it filled his lungs with air but his head was already light and dizzy, floating back up in the clouds. He wanted to say any number of things--about how the kiss made him feel, about how Kinley made him feel, but he had no words.

Except the one Kinley used.

For a moment, Dragon couldn't even look him in the eyes. He gazed down at Kinley's collarbone, smiled at it as he felt ridiculously pleased with himself. This kiss thing--this was a thing he approved of.

"Beetiful." No, wait. That was the wrong one. Dragon nuzzled against Kinley's hand. "Beeyootiful. Kiney." It really was Kinley who was beautiful, and who showed Dragon a beautiful way to express himself. He stepped forward, one hand lifting to lightly grasp the front of Kinley's shirt. "Kiss?" Dragon tugged on the shirt to try and bring him closer again. "Kiss?" Another one... perhaps?

Just--for research.

[Kinley Sima]

Cute could have worked, too. Dragon's smile was definitely cute even if he couldn't look Kinley in the eyes after the kiss. The point was, he was smiling. And what a cute smile it was. He found himself thinking back to when Dragon first appeared... naked and pure as the driven snow. When he first saw him, he thought he was the most beautiful man he ever met. But before that, even, he thought the dragon on the card was beautiful. He used to say it all the time. Beautiful. Beautiful dragon. He was in complete awe after he realized it also moved, danced along the card's edges. It was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen.

He never thought he would use magic to leave the card and become a person, though. He just thought they were friends, of a kind. Kinley enjoyed the abilities Dragon gave him. It made Kinley wonder now if he could impart any of his own skills onto to Dragon. Maybe he'd like dancing. But that was getting way ahead of himself. In the moment, there was still the sticky situation of bringing him home.

Maybe he should have saved the kissing part for later, after Dragon understood when it was okay and when it wasn't. At the moment, it was okay, though. It was just the two of them in the office--and it was awfully hard to say no when somebody like Dragon tugged on him and pulled him in closer. (And making it obvious what he wanted from him.)

"Okay," he acquiesced. There was no resolve there to break, anyway. He leaned in to close the space between them, his lips meeting Dragon's again.

[Dragon]

O-kay! Whatever that meant. Yes? It seemed to have a similar meaning, since Kinley did what Dragon asked. The second kiss wasn't as awkward as the first, if only because Dragon knew what was going on now. He couldn't seem to control his voice, letting out a hum purely from the pleasure of being close to Kinley, but overall he thought that he did much better the second time around.

Air, though, was still a tricky thing to manage. Dragon pulled back this time, gasping, but smiling, breathlessly excited. Kiss. He'd remember that word. Kiss. Whenever he wanted one he would ask Kinley; it seemed like a favorable request rather than an unpleasant one.

"Kiney..." Dragon's tone was affectionate--maybe a little amorous. He tried to curl around Kinley again, both arms and even a leg wrapping around him. Ugh, but this body. It was so uncooperative. Dragon blew out a sigh and then froze as sounds of voices could be heard outside. One of them sounded familiar. It was screeching Kinley's name, the noise getting louder and louder.

"Ahh!" Spooked and thinking that they were under attack, Dragon dove under the table and tried to take Kinley with him.

[Kinley Sima]

Kinley smiled as Dragon tried once more to wrap his limbs around him. Now that he'd seen the dragon dancing about on the paper, it served as a reminder. He was pretty sure when Dragon did that, it was more than a simple hug. It was sort of like... Well, he didn't need to think about it. At the very least, he knew it was most certainly a positive thing so he wrapped his arms around Dragon in turn.

"So is this like--"

His words dropped as he also heard the voices outside. His eyes widened and he briefly stared at Dragon... a few seconds before Dragon immediately bolted beneath the desk to hide. Not just himself, either. He pulled Kinley down with him... just as the office door opened so hard that it actually hit the back of the wall and probably left a sizable hole in the wall. Kinley awkwardly sat up and stared up at Kero and then his mother, behind him. Bringing up the rear was his father and a cop. Kinley stared up at all of them, taking in the varying degrees of concern and anger on their faces.

"Where have you been?" his mother asked, looking like she'd been pulling out her hair. It was frayed and flying all over the place, which wasn't usual when she was usually so put together. "How long have you been home? When were you going to bother letting us know you were back? We've been looking for you all evening, you know!"

[Dragon]

It was the young human male from before, and strangers that Dragon didn't recognize. He cowered underneath the desk because the female had a Look remniscent of the other female, from back near the woods. Dragon was beginning to think that all females were like this. Good thing Kinley wasn't; he didn't think he could handle it if everyone was fierce like the female who came charging in.

The young male made a run for Kinley, throwing his arms around him. Dragon bristled. That was--that was what he was trying to do earlier! Was this male trying to compete with him for Kinley's kiss?! He crawled out from under the table, looking indignant, but then faltered when every set of eyes turned on to him.

Dragon was naked from the waist up. The protective cloth that had once been on his body was on the floor, bloodied and torn from their wild run through the woods and from the animal's attack. Dragon froze, like a deer in the headlights.

"...who is this?!" The female demanded, staring at Dragon, who immediately shuffled to hide behind Kinley.

"Kiney..." He latched on to the back of Kinley's dirty, stained shirt.

[Kinley Sima]

"Heeeey," he said, oh-so-casually to Kero as he latched onto him so fiercely, it felt like he was velcroed to his side. Yeah, he could tell he worried everybody because every single one of them were staring. Even more so when Dragon made his appearance... without his shirt on. Wearing Kinley's sweatpants and absolutely nothing else.

"Um... mom... this is... um. His nickname is Dragon. He's a foreign dancer from class."

He was somewhat proud of his lie. Well except the Dragon part. He could tell his mother didn't like the idea of being introduced to somebody by their dance name or their hiphop/b-boy name. She wanted proper names. Well. He couldn't think of any right off the top of his head. If he was good at naming things, then Dragon would have had a better nickname from the start.

Things definitely looked bad, though. His gaze moved over to Kero, wondering how much had been said and what was relayed back to their mother. If anybody here looked like a dragon, it was her. She looked fit to start breathing flames at any second.

Instead of going back to his real name--which he could tell was his mother's next question, he hastily added, "We were playing around in the forest by the school, just kinda... horsing around." He wanted to talk about the wolf and the shots but he decided against it; if his mother was mad now, she'd have litters of kittens knowing how they dangerously threw themselves into the path of a wolf and hunters.

[Dragon]

In circumstances like these, Dragon knew that it was just better to shut up and let the one with the mastery of the human language do the explaining. He tried to shrink out of sight behind Kinley, wishing that he could still vanish, the way he could when he was in his other form. The female's skeptical look fell on him and he felt like he had done everything wrong up to that point in time. Was that her power? To make people feel guilty? Dragon wouldn't have put it past her.

"Kin," the young male hissed, just loud enough for Dragon to hear, "why did you guys run off?! Mrs. Briggs had to bring me home and she told mom everything!"

He peered around Kinley at Dragon, eyes growing wide. Dragon didn't know if that was a menacing look or an owlish, curious one but he narrowed his eyes back at the young male in case he had designs on Kinley. He still hadn't even let go yet, something which annoyed Dragon.

"Inside the house, both of you, now." The female pointed to the door. "And you... Dragon. Go on home! I'm sure your parents are worried about you too!"

Dragon gaped blankly at her, not understanding anything except his name. He pointed to himself. "...Dragon..." The look she gave him was most Unamused.

[Kinley Sima]

Everything? His heart dropped as he stared at Kero, who probably also had a lot of questions for him.

Now that he looked at his mom, he could see the fury burning in her eyes when she looked at him but especially when she looked at Dragon. He knew what she was thinking, too--that he corrupted her baby. But see the thing was, if anybody corrupted anyone, it was definitely the other way around. Dragon was pure and innocent. Anybody could see it in him. But his mother didn't. She saw somebody who was making her child into something she didn't want to accept. Kinley could only imagine the anger when she had been told her son had been caught with a naked boy. Even more so when she learned that Kinley claimed they were having sex.

Why, oh why did he say that? Did he really think it wouldn't get back to his mom? All he could think about was how Mrs. Briggs couldn't ever put him back into detention. His gaze slid over to Dragon and he half stepped in front of him, like he could shield him from his mother's angry thoughts.

"Actually, mom... I ah, I promised him he could stay overnight. And he doesn't have parents here."

[Dragon]

"You did what?" the female hissed, spitting fire and brimstone out of her eyes. She glared at Kinley and at Dragon with such ferocity that it made Dragon step forward a pace, in case she lunged at them or tried to hurt Kinley. Dragon didn't understand what was going on but he knew that the female was angry, and angry females were liable to spring unexpectedly.

"No." The note of finality in her voice was crystal clear. "He is not staying overnight. Young man, go home, wherever you're staying."

Dragon shook his head dumbly; he was trying to tell her that he didn't understand her but she didn't seem to get the message. Her face flushed a deep red--an angry red. "No," he said softly and plaintively, meaning to apologize. No, he didn't want to upset her further or to make the situation worse but... Apparently that was the wrong thing to say.

Even the young male gasped, finally letting go of Kinley. "K-Kin, just... make him go home!" He whispered, looking frightened.

[Kinley Sima]

His mom was angry. Kero was upset. But Kinley set his jaw.

"I told him he could stay. He's tired--"

"I don't care what you told him, Kinley. He's not staying."

"But he has nowhere else to go!"

"That isn't my problem!"

And then his father stepped in. He entered the office, his anger nowhere near the same level as his wife's. He was still angry, though. Kinley could tell by the way he slipped his hands into his pockets--it was to stop him from tearing into them. His dad had a habit of digging at his cuticles when agitated. For the most part, he was a calm man, though, so it was hard to tell what he was really thinking.

"Your mother told you to get in the house. Get in the house. Your friend isn't staying."

Kinley stared at him. It felt more final coming out of his mouth. Kinley could argue with his mother until he was blue in the face but his father wouldn't argue. He wouldn't let his anger get the best of him like his wife. The two could be hell to deal with when Kinley wanted something they were both dead set against him having. But in this case, he was dealing with a person who had literally nowhere else to go. He could feel his heart beating too hard, and he felt so, so sick to his stomach. No part of him liked fighting with his family but he also couldn't just go in the house and leave Dragon to whatever was out there.

"No," he said finally, slipping his hand in Dragon's and going for the door. "I'll just go somewhere else."

"Oh no. No, no you won't!" His mother stood in front of him, guarding the door. "You are not doing this! You aren't walking out on us just like your brother!"

"I'm eighteen! I can legally go anywhere I want now, mom!"

[Kero Sima]

Kero didn't know what was going on but he didn't like it. And he didn't like the guy that Kinley was hanging out with, who was half-naked and wearing what looked like his brother's sweatpants. He especially didn't like everybody fighting and the more that Kinley argued, the angrier their parents got. He looked up at mom and dad, who both looked like they were going to ground Kinley for 900 years. Mom just about had fire shooting out her ears and even dad looked grave and angry--angrier than Kero had seen him in a long while.

"Kin, c'mon..." Kero tugged on his brother's other hand to stop him from stomping out. "Don't. Don't leave!"

What was the big deal anyway? What was with this new guy and why did Kinley need to leave with him? Couldn't the guy... come back in the morning or something? He didn't even look all that special. Kero thought that he looked stupid, with that confused look on his face, stumbling forward with Kinley while Kero hung on to his other hand, pulling him backwards.

"Kinley Sima! Don't you dare talk back to us like that!" Their mom was shouting, still blocking the door. Even her hands had balled into fists by her sides and Kero saw that they were shaking. He heard how upset she'd been when Kaiden left home...

"Kiney..." The stupid Dragon guy sidled even closer to Kinley. Now he looked like he was going to cry or something. Well, maybe not cry, but he looked upset and bewildered. It wasn't even like it was hard to understand--nobody wanted him here!

[Kinley Sima]

"I..."

He promised Kero a lot of things, too, like not disappearing on him like Kaiden did to them. While Kinley was usually exasperated by his brother's need to be just like him, he recognized it. Kinley used to want to be just like Kaiden before him. Then things went to hell when Kaiden left, not even telling anybody what was going on or where he was going. Kinley didn't want to be the same thing that left him bitter.

But he also promised Dragon. Not in so many words but... Kero had a home and Dragon didn't. And Kinley had a feeling the only reason Dragon was even here was because of him. It would be way too cruel to shut the door in his face and tell him to try and fend for himself, especially in a world he didn't understand. Kinley wasn't going to disappear, anyway. He'd tell Kero everything the minute he had the chance!

Kinley fell silent. They were trapped in the office unless he pushed his mother aside. He couldn't imagine doing something like that; it was bad enough he was arguing with her.

"He doesn't have anywhere else to go," he said, in a softer tone.

[Kero Sima]

"This is not up for discussion, Kinley." Their father spoke, in his low, even, measured tones--the most dangerous kind of stern tone. Kero heard it the time he was fooling around with a friend, and they decided to climb up onto the roof of the barn that was now used as the office. He almost broke his neck when he fell off; luckily, all he did was break his leg. It hurt, too!

Kero looked from his brother to his parents, then back to his brother. "Tim!" he blurted out before he thought. Didn't Tim's parents take in strays? That was how Evie showed up and they took her in! If the guy really had no place to stay (did he really really have nowhere else to go though? Was he a hobo?) then Kero thought that Tim's parents might be more sympathetic.

"Kero." His mom's voice made Kero shrink too, the way Dragon did.

"Sorry," Kero said quickly, but gave his brother's hand an encouraging squeeze.