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Hm. Hm. What... was he supposed to do with this. His most immediate and compelling impulse was, as always, to withdraw. Like Blue had the right to just stroll up and start petting away like he was Sienna or something? The fact they'd known each other for years didn't dispel the deeply-ingrained idea that he looked weak or needy the second he gave in to affection.

But, well... his tail was saying about as much as Blue's smile was, like it or not. There was no point pretending Blue was one of those people who couldn't tell what his tail was broadcasting. The damage was kinda already done in that regard, wasn't it?

Char stood up, pulling away long enough to switch back to his bigger, lizardier self. Slowly, he leaned back in, claws resting on the desk. Let's... let's maybe try that out without the layers of clothing in the way, Blue. You know. Just... just to be sure.

Blue had been convinced that despite the thumpity thump of his tail, Char had had quite enough. Not that she would have been surprised, since she was toeing a bit out of line. Yet this was not the case.

She blinked as he leaned back in, all glittering orange scales and claws. And then, if it was possible, her smile broadened that much more. His reaction had been fantastic beforehand, but she had honestly been making guesswork at whereabouts on a person that spot Sienna liked so much might have been. It was harder to tell with all that sweater vest and human anatomy. Now that he was a dragon, however...

Her fingertips skimmed across the warm scales, following their contours as she sought out that sweet spot. It took hardly anytime at all to put her expert dragon scritching skills to work with a happy hum.

Ohhh, yes. This was multitudes better without the sweater vest in the way. Char suddenly found himself fighting a mighty internal battle over how much he could actually allow himself to enjoy this. It was nice. It was astoundingly nice. Better, even, than the rare few behind-the-horn scratches select few were allowed to give.

All the same, though, he was a stubborn creature through and through. He couldn't possibly expect to be intimidating or unapproachable if a few little scratches to one spot turned him into jelly. The very fact that he had lived on this earth for two decades without ever actually knowing that he liked his chest scratched was somehow a little bit shameful in itself, too.

His reaction, at first, was so tryhard it veered into comical. He stood stock-still, neck straight and head high, tail actually quivering from the effort of trying to hold back the wags and squirms dying to run through it. Blue, however, was most definitely an expert dragon-scritcher; before long, his defenses crumbled. Despite his best efforts, Char matched her happy hum with a low rumble, head drooping down to rest on her shoulder.

Though she was careful to keep her fingers moving, lest the stillness cause him to jerk away, Blue's thoughts had come to a slow crawl as her heart skipped a solitary beat. She had been happy enough with jovial tail wagging. Never did she think Char would get this comfy in the moment. Blue did not dare to say anything, aware of the fact that had she said anything, the moment would be broken and enough would have been enough.

It was hard to shake the thought of how sweet the moment seemed. Definitely the sentiments to be kept under wraps, because what a blow to his manly ego that would be. He was the gravely dangerous apex predator, of course.

So the fact that Blue was slowly, ever-so-lightly resting her head against his was not one that was real. Definitely wasn't a thing that was happening at all. (A spoiler, dear reader: It was actually happening.)

It was probably true that saying anything would have killed the moment, but Char tended to think these kinds of things didn't especially require words anyway. Anything that could have possibly been said had already been said better by the fingertips on his scales and the downright embarrassing way his tail was behaving.

It could've been minutes or it could've only been a few seconds, but Char never had been much good at indulging his Lonely nature for long. With a parting little nose at her hair, he straightened up, backing away from her fingers. He stared down at her with a look that wasn't quite sure whether it wanted to be shy or chastising, so didn't really manage to be much of anything. He had yet to quite sort out whether it was more important to beseech Blue not to tell a soul about the clearly devastating weakness he never knew he had, or have her explain what she was thinking just strutting up like she was his trainer and making with the snugglies.

(Or maybe leaning in for one more try. Just to be sure the first two weren't flukes.)

Blue was still smiling as she looked up at him, though it might have been just at touch shyer than Blue's grins usually looked. She had been content to stop there, having already gotten far more than she had imagined she would, but if he was leanining in for the reasons she guessed he was...

Taking a chance, she let her fingers crest over that spot one more time. It was a good scratching, and this time Blue spoke up as she did it, keeping her voice hushed as if it were all supposed to be a secret. Which maybe it was.

"I was curious if this spot would feel nice to other Charizards too. Sienna really likes it, but she's just one of you... I don't know any others well enough to ask."

The trainer slowly drew her fingers away after a few last scritches, and she moved her hand to shyly push back a bit of her hair behind her ear. She glanced back up at him, her smile somewhat apologetic now. "... So thank you for indulging me. I'm sorry I didn't ask you proper."

Now that it was over, embarrassment was quickly sinking in. It wasn't that he didn't like Blue (really, a stubborn little seed of fondness had lodged itself in his heart right from the moment she had given that scrawny, snarling Charmeleon the first nice words he'd heard in years), but he was not Sienna, nor was he Blue's lab rat. Even that level of touch was a bit of a big deal to him; the impetuousness of scratching him just to see what would happen rankled that stubborn, overbearing sense of pride.

When he switched back to his human self, it was with a straight back and both his arms and his wings tightly folded. "Coulda just asked about it," Char told her, glancing away. "Green does that all the time."

Not actually true, and not actually the point his pride most wanted to make, but that was easily the most important lie to tell. He would not have Green misrepresented as anything other than the very best Charizard trainer, especially not to Blue.

"I don't think you would have given me as honest of an answer if I asked that way," Blue replied with a small shrug. Which they both knew was true. There was absolutely no way Char would have been forthcoming with the details that his tail wagged like crazy and he leaned into them like a big puppy lizard. "And there's no getting to know you better in asking Green. That's just getting familiar with someone else's opinion of you."

Of course it was going to be a very favorable opinion of him, which counted for something.

"Besides, where's the fun and daring in that? You're worth taking a risk for, I'd say."

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