Not in Front of the Dragons
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Iluva, Sia
Date Posted: 22nd May 2025
Characters: O'rosin, R'fayne
Description: Things cool down around the fire at Aydhara's birthday party
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 4, day 6 of Turn 12
Notes: Notes: Follows Aydhara's Birthday Bonfire series and "Midnight Desires"
The night was alive with music, laughter, and the distant sounds of dragons settling, yet here was O’rosin allowing himself to be led from the pulsing glow of the fire all the same.
R’fayne thought for sure he’d be smug enough to gloat, or tease at this point.
And he was, a little.
Barrier Lake was heavily awash with the night’s palette and as sounds of Aydhara’s celebration faded, so too did almost every viable source of light. Dragon eyes dazzled in the cliff sides, on the lake, where harbour lights and the interiors of lit weyrs reflected and pocked the darkness.
Here on the outskirts of this Weyr, however, R'fayne really only knew where his body was because of the _feel_ of O’rosin next to him. A vast expanse was quickly opening up to them" cool, eager, and dark, and the further they went, the more keenly he could feel him, the distances between them, the small gaps where the cool night air tried to slip between them.
As they walked, that same unspoken tension between them seemed to grow heavier, more pressing, until the air itself felt thick with it, the scent beneath his nostrils irritatingly and intriguingly familiar. It took a moment to cop it as a scent of its own" it was their sweat still on his skin, tinged by the acrid kiss of firesmoke; the smell of their earlier closeness; the reality of O’rosin’s hands now as they summoned a shudder of heat and anticipation down R’fayne’s spine.
Wherever this was, it was far enough. R’fayne tugged O’rosin to a halt, pulling him in closer, his dark eyes gleaming in the low light. Studying the brownrider, he could just barely trace the semi-twilight of O’rosin’s jaw. They could use words, but there was nothing but the _feel_of where one man met the other. But there was a softness to the way he was looking at him, an understanding that made the bluerider’s heart race faster than it should. “Come here.” R’fayne said into the hot clash of breath that preceded their kiss.
R’fayne’s words hummed against his skin, soft and demanding all at once, and O’rosin didn’t need to think before he moved, before the night pressed in warmer, closer, before his hands found the angles of the bluerider’s shoulders, the steady heat of his back. His fingers curled instinctively, half in possession, half in anchoring himself to something solid in the night. O’rosin let himself sink into it, letting the warmth of R’fayne’s body against his own pull him deeper into the moment. The kiss turned desperate; teeth, breath, the quiet growl of satisfaction from R’fayne as O’rosin pulled him closer.
And then…voices. Close enough to be dangerous.
O’rosin froze. His pulse slammed against his ribs, his instincts screaming at him to pull back, to step away before they were caught-
Except R’fayne’s grip, insistent and growing more accustomed to the way tension took root in O’rosin, did not allow that.
At first he could only make an indistinct noise, a little like he was aggrieved, like he longed to breathe snarky comment after snarky comment but couldn’t with O’rosin’s pulse a panicked avian inside his ribs.
Instead, R’fayne gently guided the brownrider further back along that invisible axis, waiting until one by one the voices had dispersed into the dark, gone like embers. People who didn’t know them, nor cared about what they did. People they didn’t know, nor probably cared about. Yet here was R’fayne still holding O’rosin by the front of his shirt like any amount of distance would be dangerous.
His voice was low, rich with the night’s many amusements. “You do know, you could have had me bent over, right here, and they wouldn’t have batted an eye.”
O'rosin's chuckle was strained. It was all he could do with the absurdity of the situation. "Do you remember how I used to stare at my feet in the dining hall?" He asked in a low whisper, as if he'd gotten better with the casual nude culture at Dolphin Cove and not just opted to cook for himself in his weyr most of the time.
“No, remind me.” R'fayne chuckled softly. “What about it?”
"Like you don't wait in the dining hall half-dressed just to mess with me." O'rosin muttered, capturing R'fayne's mouth in a kiss. And another. And another. "I can't do that in plain sight of whoever might be walking by."
“Well, no.” R’fayne corrected coyly, “Not _just_ for that.” It was mostly that. Trips to Emerald Falls visiting his mother taught him early on just who, what, when, and where was okay to touch, at least by their standards of decency, though, personally, and in a Weyr where privacy ranged from irrelevant to an unaffordable luxury for candidates, it wasn’t always necessary, but it was usually preferred.
“Even here, like this?” He asked, more curious than skeptical. The brownrider’s shyness was one thing, though R’fayne hadn’t quite realized to what extent privacy was _necessary_, a strict non-negotiable for O’rosin until this moment. His hands began their wandering again. “What about over there? Aeoluth and Skadith are big enough.”
Aeoluth perked up at the thought of his name, his bright eye shining through the darkness from where he'd been dozing. }: I can keep watch. :{ He supplied helpfully, }: I can angle my wing if-:{
"No!" O'rosin nearly choked on the word. His face heated again and he shook his head, speechless at both R'fayne's expression and Aeoluth's eagerness. **Go back to sleep, you _menace_.**
Then, to R'fayne, as his hands caught the bluerider's and their fingers laced together, preventing them from wandering further, "It already _feels_ like he's staring at me from the foot of the bed whenever we're together. I'm not going to do _that_ next to him."
R'fayne relented, his rough hands settling into their new embrace. “Shards. The entire time?” He tried to fully consider O'rosin's predicament, and again more curious than the usual teasing, glanced back at that bright whirling eye. Aeoluth's enthusiasm never failed to get him in trouble, even now, even when he was (mostly) behaving.
But R’fayne couldn't quite relate: he’d grown up with dragons everywhere, and Skadith was so quiet, so self-contained. His presence always seemed more subdued, physically and mentally, than the brown's ever was, save for when they were flying Thread, or chasing a particularly desirable green.
“So, neither of you will be chasing anytime soon, then, I take it.” The bluerider remarked thoughtfully, now tugging the brownrider back toward the glow of the party. “You wanna get another drink? We could sit down somewhere. Talk.”
"Presumably Aeoluth won't be _staring_ at me when he's got something better to do." O'rosin said, though he did momentarily look panicked at the thought. He let himself be pulled back towards the fire. "I'd like that." He agreed, quietly. "Just us."
Last updated on the May 23rd 2025