I want to touch him...

"A man?" Dai-Kun interrogated.

To him, the Overlord was just a human: a master, a creator, without gender.

"Yes, just like you," his companion was beginning to get irritated, "don't interrupt, or I'll never finish the story."

The dragon was silent.

"People are born small and helpless, no more than the size of a cat," the man showed the size height with his hands, "like that."

The dragon nodded understandingly, they had a cat.

"Then a man and a woman, or rather a father and a mother, raise the child, and it becomes an adult, like you and me. When he has become one, he can fall in love and make a couple to have another child and so on. Do you understand now? People create a couple to continue their lineage," the Overlord was sweating all over himself as he retold Dai-Kun all this embarrassing stuff.

"I saw two male birds in the forest that made a pair," Dai-Kun's straightforward Dai-Kun ruined all the charm of the moment.

The Overlord rubbed his temples again, then his forehead, and finally answered:

"Animals can do that, but then they can't give offspring."

"I'm an animal, too," the dragon said thoughtfully.

His sudden chattering gave the Overlord a headache. Though he had longed to speak with another human before, he had expected the subjects to be more mundane. The dragon's sex education was not one of the top topics for friendly conversation.

The Overlord decided he'd had enough and poisoned off into the valley, leaving the dragon alone with his questions. All day long, the man exhausted himself with work so that he could think of nothing. Then he discovered that some dragons had formed pairs and were actively nesting.

The Overlord decided that such pairs no longer made sense to break up, and allowed them to remain living on his planet. Dai-Kun avoided the man all day, realizing that he had aroused his displeasure with his questions. At sunset, he went for a walk in the distant grove bordering the lake.

Normally neither humans nor dragons came here, but something had changed this morning. Namely, a pair of water dragons had taken up residence at the edge of the lake and were mating. Dai-Kun, frozen at the edge of the grove, couldn't move.

Not really knowing what was going on, he began to worry. When the huge water dragon climbed on top of the female and inserted what the master had not yet told him the name of, Dai-Kun sat down on the ground, studded with pine needles.

Blood rushed to his neck and face, and he breathed heavily, gulping for air with his mouth so he wouldn't lose consciousness.

Something strange was making his heart beat faster. He sat down with his back to what was happening so he wouldn't have to look, but the rhythmic sounds of two bodies beating against each other made him slowly turn his head and go numb. If it had been small animals, it would have been extremely difficult to see anything from a distance. But two enormous dragons were mating on the shore.

It was easy to see the details, and the smallest details of what was happening were imprinted in Dai-Kun's mind forever. He clutched his heart and covered his mouth with his palm. Sweating and shivering with cold at the same time. When the lakeside situation was exhausted, the dragon pulled out a flaccid moving organ, and in a few seconds, it disappeared inside his body.

Dai-Kun didn't remember exactly how he stumbled out of the woods and rushed home, headlong. Why did he think he saw something forbidden? He wanted to forget and understand at the same time. Torn by contradiction, the dragon hid in the backyard of the house, under a huge mountain of logs. Sitting there in the shade, he tidied his breath.

It was here that his master found him.

"Are you all right?" Master asked worriedly.

He had not seen Dai-Kun all day and was a little worried. Their awkward conversation had left a strange residue on his mind.

"I'm fine," the dragon muttered, hugging himself with his arms and turning away.

The man was confused and stood awkwardly beside him. If his dragon had been sick or hungry, he would have easily solved the problem, but Dai-Kun's suffering was different, incomprehensible to the Overlord. All he could do was sit beside him and remain silent, waiting for Dai-Kun to calm down.

After a while, when the sun was well past the horizon and a cool breeze was in the air, the man leaned his head on the dragon's shoulder.

"We are always together, you are my only friend, please don't leave me alone. Without you, I would be all alone.

Dai-Kun raised his head and listened to the heartfelt speech, and his heart clenched painfully. Suppressing his excitement, he released his hand and embraced the man, feeling cold. The warm breath on his chest instilled a sense of peace and confidence.

Dai-Kun realized that despite his strange experiences, this man was able to help him come to his senses. He also felt responsible because of how much effort the man had put into giving him this life. All he wanted was for the dragon to be his friend.

"Could you give me another book?

"Again about feelings?" The man sighed.

"About feelings," the dragon repeated.

"What can I do with you?" the man pressed his lips together, "I hope you'll tell me when you have someone special in your life. I won't bother you; if you want to leave, I'll let you go."

"That won't happen, I'll never leave you."

Over the next six months, Dai-Kun reread everything he could find about love in the Overlord's library. At the same time, he did not bring up the subject of relationships anymore. Most of the time Dai-Kun was silent and reserved. He especially shunned the settlement of the other dragons.

Afraid of seeing something he would never forget, he avoided the lake and went that way only in the company of a human. In his spare time, he read and still felt uncomfortable if a human touched him.

From his distant wanderings, the Overlord brought various valuable things: artifacts and scrolls. He also made and recorded many things himself. As a result their cottage soon became a warehouse where one could pass only sideways and carefully.

He decided to create a separate storage space, and thus his "library" was born. Among other things, the Overlord sometimes had dreams about the future. Perhaps, because he created this world and it was supported by his internal energy, or maybe because he was from the world of oracles.

He recorded his predictions in separate scrolls and left them in the library. When Dai-Kun finished carrying all the intended items, the Overlord sealed the library, and they returned home. Only the two of them knew where the treasury of wisdom and power was.

Because the Overseer feared its discovery, he placed his vault in a secret place. Afterward, they spent a long time putting the house in order. Toward the end of the day, the man twisted his pants and sleeves and began to wash the floors. Dai-Kun carried water for him.

At one point, as he stood up, the man stepped in a puddle and his foot went forward on its own; had Dai-Kun not picked him up, he would have cracked his priceless head open. Clutching his warm body in his hands, contemplating the silvery beads of sweat on his neck, Dai-Kun felt that pleasant and frightening feeling again, and he could hardly restrain himself from impulsive action.

And what to do, he had already imagined. From what he had read, seen, and contrived, he had an approximate picture of how he would express his feelings for his special someone.

First, he wanted to touch his face or neck, stroke his collarbones with his fingertips, then wrap his arms around his waist and pull him toward me, letting him feel his tension and strength. If the man hadn't run away by then, he could lean over and kiss him...

"Um, Dai-Kun, let me go, please," the man's voice snapped him out of his pleasant thoughts, "wow, I almost fell," the man laughed nervously as he got to his feet and left the dragon's embrace.

Dai-Kun was hiding his feelings, so he turned away so the man wouldn't notice the trace of bitterness on his face. Pulling himself together, he picked the man up and carried him to the bed like a child. Seating the Overlord, he said:

"I'll finish this myself, get some rest."

There was no need to ask twice. The Overlord sat in the lotus pose and watched as Dai-Kun cleaned up. While the floor in the room was drying out, the men went outside. Starting a small fire, Dai-Kun piled the tubers in there and made sure they roasted evenly.

Afterward, they peeled the tubers and ate the soot-black hot fruit. The man soiled himself in the black powder right near his mouth and Dai-Kun, without hesitation, approached and wiped the dirt with his cheek. The gesture was rather unexpected and intimate, which made the man feel embarrassed.

He had long pondered the fact that by making Dai-Kun so unique, he had deprived him of the opportunity to find a mate. The Overlord was ready to ask for dragon blood again to create a suitable mate for him, but some inexplicable greed inside his heart prevented him from even talking about the subject.

Instead, he took full advantage of the moment and enjoyed his company. Even now, he could have roasted food alone on the fire, and he probably wouldn't have bothered so much and gone to bed hungry. He wouldn't care about keeping the house clean, he wouldn't make berry pies... He wouldn't create other dragons and more.

If not for Dai-Kun, who was his heart beating for?

Dai-Kun kept moving the smoldering embers so that they would give up the last of their heat. MShiftingslightly, he found himself next to the man. The Overlord was clearly in a dreamy mood, leaning back and leaning on his hands. The man's eyes were closed and his lips were smiling: whatever he was thinking now was something pleasant.

Dai-Kun could stare at him all he wanted since the man couldn't see. He moved even closer and took in the scent coming from the man, for some reason it smelled like hay and apples. The dragon slid his gaze down the Overlord's neck and collarbones, unable to look away.

"Bring a pillow and a blanket, I want to lie outside, such an idea came to mind," the man said without opening his eyes, and Dai-Kun hurried into the house.

The Overlord threw a pillow on the dragon's lap, curled up, and dozed off. Carefully covering the man with a blanket, Dai-Kun was at a loss as to what this whim was. He tried to sit still, but soon his back began to ache and the night cold was getting closer to his heart.

Making up his mind for the man, he carefully picked him up in his arms and carried him into the house. The Overlord's body was completely relaxed, and his arm hung down. Cradling him in his arms, the dragon climbed the steps and quietly entered the house.

The floorboards had a habit of creaking, but today they did not wake the sleeper. Safely carrying him to the bed, Dai-Kun laid the man down and straightened up: his back was sore. After making sure the Overlord was comfortable, Dai-Kun returned to the courtyard and extinguished the remains of the embers. Then he went to bed, but he could not sleep.

He had hugged his master twice today, and the memory of it made him tremble. He wished he could have done more.

Dai-Kun suddenly realized:

"I want to touch him and breathe his scent, hold him against me and kiss him again and again..."