Old Friends: Winning is Winning (4/4) (PG-17)

Writers: Devin, Duskdog
Date Posted: 13th May 2025

Characters: N'vanik, G'zan
Description: N’vanik and G’zan remember a time Loseth caught Panghuth.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 6, day 26 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Z'kim, Talryne, Kapera
Rating: PG-17

N'vanik

G'zan

Dragonsfall Weyr, Month 11, Turn 3

G'zan came back to himself slowly, feeling lazy and sore, but in a
good way. He enjoyed Panghuth's flights for the most part -- perhaps
more than Panghuth herself did -- and he wasn't ever in any hurry to
leave bed afterwards. When his partners were the type to be awkward or
worse, they usually took a quick exit, themselves. He didn't take it
personally (much). There were always other fish in the sea, after all.

He raised his arms over his head and gave his back a satisfying
stretch before rolling over towards his partner. He blinked, and then
smiled.

"Oh hey. Fancy meeting you here."

N'vanik snorted. "Well, seems like Loseth won your green over."

"Looks like it!" G'zan propped himself up on one elbow. "He oughtta be
proud of himself. She's not so easy to impress."

"He's very proud of himself." The bronze was possessively curled around
the green. "And winning is _much_ better than losing."

"I'm lucky. The green always wins!" Of course, not every greenrider
shared that sentiment, but G'zan was perfectly happy with what he got
out of the deal. "How 'bout you? I know it's probably not your thing,
or whatever, but I hope you're not too disappointed. I'll cry."

He definitely would not.

N'vanik chuckled. "Nah. You're not my type, but winning is winning."
He shrugged. "I like feeling what he feels. The claiming. The
release." He should go find someone pretty but G'zan was very warm and
N'vanik knew that as soon as he left the bed it would be freezing. A
few more minutes wouldn't hurt, and he liked G'zan.

"Hey, it feels good to be won. I like bein' a prize, and I like that I
make people feel good. There's literally no downsides!" G'zan grinned.
"Anyways, don't worry -- it's not actually gonna hurt my feelings if
you gotta go."

"Are you kicking me out?" N'vanik asked in amusement. "It's cold out
there." In the bed there was warmth and skin and the prize he'd won .
. . he took a slow breath. G'zan wasn't Panghuth, and he wasn't
Loseth.

"Nah, I wouldn't do that. I just figured... y'know... you wouldn't
wanna hang around. And I didn't want you to feel guilty about it or
whatever." G'zan shrugged, though he glanced away,
uncharacteristically uncertain.

"I don't, usually." The corner of N'vanik's mouth turned up. Maybe it
was the dragonlust, maybe it was that hint of uncertainty in G'zan.
"Would it shock you to know that once in a while I close my eyes and
let a male greenrider use his hand or his mouth?"

"But our faces are so _pretty_!" G'zan said, hand on his chest,
feigning shock. He probably wouldn't be described as "pretty",
exactly, but he'd lay claim to it just the same. "And... yeah, it
kinda does surprise me, actually. Never took you for the type. Not
that I'm protesting or anything! Enjoy yourself where you can, bud,
that's what I always say."

N'vanik snorted. "I'm not the 'type'. It's just flights mess with your
head. I definitely don't like men, but leftover dragonlust makes
things a little . . . hazy, and I decided not to get up and run like a
scared holder boy."

That was a nice change. Panghuth's last couple of flights had ended
with a scared holder boy and a less-scared-but-definitely-uninterested
Weyr man. "Well, uh... I _am_ here," G'zan ventured. "If you're
interested, I mean."

N'vanik's body certainly liked the idea, blood pumping hot with
residual dragonlust. He reached over to trace a finger along G'zan's
arm. "The thing is, I can't reciprocate." Except with Z'kim, but that
was . . . well, that was its own thing and never happened with any
other man. "Which is rude, I know, but some men don't mind. Some even
like it."

"Oh yeah, I get it. It's exciting, y'know. Seeing what I can do to a
guy." G'zan's eyes raked slowly over N'vanik's body. "So since you're
here for it... you wanna see what I can do to you, guy?"

"Feel." N'vanik licked his lips. "I wanna feel what you can do." He
rolled to his back and draped an arm over his eyes. "Just hands and
mouth, okay?"

"You got it, bud."

~*~*~*~ End Flashback ~*~*~*~

"Shards," said G'zan, running a hand through his hair. "So much
history! Hey, would you ever've imagined either of us would be
dragonriders, back when we met out in the wilds?"

"Shards and shells, no!" N'vanik laughed hard at the idea of his
younger self believing something like that. "And yet here we are,
respectable older riders." He winked.

"_Mostly_ respectable," G'zan laughed. "But definitely older!"

"I just pretend to be respectable 'cause I've got these fancy knots."
The hungry, desperate kid he'd been when he first met G'zan never
would have dreamed he'd become a Weyrleader someday. "Wanna go grab a
drink?"

"You read my mind, Weyrleader. What else are these shindigs for,
right? Lead the way."

N'vanik headed for the nearest drinks table. "Anything interesting
going on with you lately?"

G'zan grabbed himself a mug of beer. "Nothing as exciting as being
Weyrleader, probably. You know me -- just doin' what feels good in the
moment. Lately just spending time in warm places looking for neat
cliffs to climb. How about you? Other than being a proud sort-of
dragon-dad?"

"Uh, well . . ." N'vanik didn't want to bring down the mood, but it
was an important part of his life recently. "Tal and I have been
helping Kapera."

"Aww... aw, that's real good of you. Sad, I mean, but real good that
you can help. I hope it's helping, anyways, as much as anything can."
G'zan clapped him on the shoulder and squeezed.

N'vanik nodded, feeling a little choked up. "We're doing the best we
can. Well, Tal is really doing most of the help and . . . it's hard.
Really hard. But it's helping her, too." Being able to use her pain,
her immeasurable loss, for something good was making Tal even
stronger.

"It seems wrong to say that good stuff can come from bad stuff, but...
sometimes you just gotta take the little wins when they come, you
know? Otherwise it's all just losing."

"Yeah." N'vanik picked up a glass of sparkling wine and took a drink.
"I mean, Tal and I are together _because_ she lost her dragon.
Thinking about that . . . messes me up sometimes."

"Ahh, yeah... well, you never know. You guys could've got together
somehow in a different way, even if things hadn't happened like that.
Or she might've lost her dragon and still not gotten together with
you, because one other little thing happened different. The world's a
weird place!" G'zan squeezed his shoulder again. "But it turned out
that you got each other, and that's good."

"Yeah." A fond smile curved N'vanik's lips. "I'm a very lucky man."

"Me, too," G'zan said. "I got something I never even imagined when I
was a kid. I just try to remember that whenever I get sad. And hey, I
got this fancy Weyrleader friend, too, and he's a swell guy."

N'vanik laughed and patted G'zan's arm. "I'm glad you're my friend.
Not a lot of people put up with my shit back then, but you were just
so sharding friendly I couldn't resist you."

"It keeps me surrounded by good company," G'zan laughed. "I know
you've probably got people to hobnob with and all, but got time for a
toast?"

"Of course!"

G'zan raised his beer mug. "To old friends!"

N'vanik smiled. "To old friends!" He clinked his glass against G'zan's mug.

Last updated on the May 26th 2025

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Old Friends: Winning is Winning (4/4) (PG-17)