Ryan is the boyfriend of a magically talented golden dragon named Brittany. They have a loving relationship, but Ryan can't help but feel insecure while living with such a supremely gifted mage whose job it is to fashion magical suits that can transform people. Knowing about his desire to experience what being a dragon is like, Brittany crafts a massive dragon suit that lets the pair turn into a colossal western dragon. The pair suit up and enjoy the freedom of being such a majestic beast.

Commission for  Tesser

***

Ryan woke up alone in bed, as he normally did when Brittany had left for work. It was a talent of hers to get up without disturbing her boyfriend, an impressive feat given how much bigger she was than him. Short and scrawny, his snowy white fur covered only a sliver of the massive mattress he was sprawled in. Only a pair of black briefs and unkempt sheets covered him amidst the disaster that was the spread. He didn’t feel like moving, but looking over at the alarm clock on the nightstand he saw that it was 2:57, three minutes from going off. That wasn’t enough time to get a reasonable amount of rest. A weak groan rumbled out of him before he reached for the alarm and turned it off. If I could just get ten more minutes. A nice fantasy, but a pointless one to dwell on. He rolled over, kicked the sheet off his legs, then got out of bed.

The room was dim, lit only by the lines of sunlight which poured in underneath the roller shades. They were the blackout variety found in hotels, specially bought by Brittany so that Ryan could sleep better during the day. “You said it’s hard sleeping in the sunlight, so I got you these!” she’d said one day after a quick purchase at Home Depot. “I’ll put them on for you. Let’s see how dark it gets.” Ryan stood back and watched as his towering girlfriend calmly replaced the shades and lowered them, successfully draining the bedroom of almost all the sunlight. It was a nice gesture, one that cost Brittany more than $300.

Just about everything in their bedroom was her purchase. That much was obvious with how much she decorated it with posters and other merchandise from her favorite bands and TV shows. Ryan had a little shelf in the corner where he kept some of his own stuff, but it was a dull light of self-expression within a lighthouse beam of someone else’s. Ryan didn’t mind. He loved Brittany and all her stuff. Her overwhelming supremacy over the bedroom wasn’t intentional. Being a dragon meant she was a big woman; she took up a lot of space. Even if she was smaller, she could afford to fill up the room with as much stuff as she wanted to. Ryan and Brittany had moved into a semi-rural two-story house that she paid for almost entirely on her own. Brittany’s job as a suit enchanter afforded her a lot of other things. Such were the benefits of being a gold dragon. A rare gift and expertise in that profession meant she could get any salary she asked for. Beyond just being able to perform that kind of magic, she was one of the better mages in the country, earning her a sort of fame and reputation within the industry.

That was in contrast with Ryan who was a fry cook at a fast-food restaurant. A measly $18.50 an hour was what he earned, paltry compared to Brittany’s. What skills he possessed in flipping burgers and model making didn’t quite hold up to what Brittany did. While he was at work, sweating over the flat top and dunking fries into the deep fryer, Brittany was crafting elaborate suits and empowering them with spells uttered in a tongue Ryan couldn’t hope to ever understand. Their shifts drew them apart, physically, at least. Ryan worked the afternoon to evening shift, hence the late start in the day. Brittany’s was more reasonable, starting in the morning and coming to an end around 5. It meant little time spent together at the house, at least on days when they were both working.

That’s the life of a wagie, Ryan would muse sardonically. He would start day when it was already halfway done, getting out of bed and eating breakfast alone in the house before putting on his tight-ass uniform and driving his way to the restaurant. If Brittany was there, she would be sure to give him a peck on the head, right between his floppy bunny ears; sometimes she made him pancakes and coffee. Those were the best days, or the easier ones, at the very least. But today was not one of them, and Ryan was left to pour a bowl of cereal and a glass of OJ all by himself. Once he’d finished, he put on his uniform and drove to work. 8 hours of toiling in the heat of the grill, his sensitive bunny ears forced to weather the fryer’s beeps. The uneven rubber mats made his feet sore. On multiple occasions his manager would grab him and make him clean a mess up, either in the kitchen or out on the floor. From there he would have to hustle back to his station and get things back in order. Just a moment off task and things could get hectic. Orders piled up and needed to be filled. 8 whole hours of that, nonstop. Ryan would often think about Brittany. What was she doing now? How much money did she make? She wasn’t working her ass off in a sweaty, loud kitchen, and she’d made a hell of a lot more than he did. That much Ryan was sure of.

Few things were more beautiful to Ryan than the graveyard shift coming in to replace him and the others. He would never hesitate to peel out of his apron and clock out, smelling like grease and walking on sore feet. It was almost midnight. Brittany was most likely asleep. At least I can play video games or watch TV in the living room. That was the plan pretty much every time he got home. It was that for a few hours before he’d slink into bed next to Brittany and fall asleep until tomorrow came when the process would repeat like it always did. At least she doesn’t have work tomorrow and I’ll see her in the morning.

He made the lonesome drive home and parked in the driveway next to Brittany’s Escalade. It was past midnight, leaving him the only person in the neighborhood who was outside of his house. Marching up the front porch he noticed that the living room lights were on. Is she awake? He tried turning the doorknob and found that it was open. She never forgets to lock the door. Ryan opened it and stepped inside. He called Brittany’s name, worried that something might be wrong.

“Come on in!” she responded from the living room where the lights were coming from. Ryan felt some relief. He closed the door behind him, locked it, and made his way through the foyer and into the living room where he found Brittany sitting on the couch with her feet hiked up onto the cushions. She was on the opposite side of the room where Ryan walked in, wearing an oversized hoodie, some sweatpants, and a goofy grin. Her massive frame occupied most of the cushion she sat on. Ryan could only see the gold and white scales that featured on her pretty face, but not the burly, muscle-swollen physique just below. The baggy clothes she had on were too big even for a dragon of her size, one who outweighed her boyfriend by magnitudes and was used to looking down at him. Negating what could’ve been an intimidating presence was a sweet face made splendid by her golden scales. A long snout slimmed into a curved point while similarly shaped horns sprouted from her crown. White-golden eyes with slit pupils smiled at Ryan. “How was work?”

Ryan smiled back, joyed to see her awake to greet him. “Shitty as always. You’re up awfully late,” he said while peeling out of his shoes and putting them on the shoe rack by the back door. He took his socks off while he was at it, savoring the freedom of his furry soles.


“I stayed up for you. I got a surprise for you,” she said with a giddy grin.

“Oh yeah? What is it?” he asked as he sauntered around in front of the couch and sat down next to her. He leaned over on her with his head resting on her upper arm. Beneath the soft layer of her sweatshirt sleeve was a dense core of unwavering muscle which he could feel twinging and grinding with her every subtle movement, something he liked. If he stayed that way long enough, he would’ve fallen asleep.

Brittany grinned at him. “It’s in the closet. Want me to go get it?” It was obvious how badly she wanted to show it to him.

He had just gotten comfortable up against her, but he wasn’t about to say no to that face. “Sure.”

Her grin widened into a toothy smile. “Awesome. Wait right here. Close your eyes.” She hauled herself off the couch and made her way to the hall closet. The tips of her horns came close to grazing the ceiling while that long, powerful dragon tail of hers dragged on the floor behind her. Ryan could see the shape of her wings folded against her back, inside her hoodie. The floor rumbled with the thump of her feet.

Ryan took that moment to admire how majestic she was before closing his eyes. “I can’t wait. Are you gonna give me a hint?”

“Ah, ah. Not until you see it.” Ryan heard the closet open followed by Brittany pulling something big out of it. Her footsteps thrummed back towards him, joined by the sound of something being dragged across the floor. A moment later, Brittany spoke. “OK. Open your eyes.”

Ryan did. The first thing he saw was Brittany standing in the middle of the living room, smiling from ear to ear. He she’d be holding the surprise, but her hands were behind her back. Ryan looked down and saw what she’d dragged out of the closet. Stretched across the rug from corner to corner was an empty dragon costume. Its deflated shape sat folded up and wrinkled; its limbs were splayed out like a bear rug. Ryan’s heart leapt in his chest as he thought it was a real animal before he spotted the zipper which ran down the suit’s back. The scales, which to him looked unsettlingly real, were a shiny burgundy with a tan underbelly. A ridge of spines ran up its entire length from the tip of its tail to the back of its neck. The head looked the most authentic out of everything, its lifeless eyes staring towards the television like it was ready to catch the news.

Ryan leaned away from it as if it was dangerous. “What… What is that?”

“It’s a suit,” Brittany said proudly. “It holds two people, one for each pair of legs. I made it at work.”

“Oh. Wow. That’s- Holy shit.” He leaned forward on the couch for a better look. Other than the zipper on its back, he couldn’t find a single flaw. It was totally lifelike. “You made that? For me?”

“For us, yeah, but mostly for you! I designed it and enchanted it all on my own. Took me a few months to build. I think a suit like this would cost a buyer around… 50, 60 thousand dollars?”

“Holy shit, Brittany! Did the company know you were making it?”

“They did. What were they gonna do? Fire me? Besides, I paid for it out of my own pocket. And don’t worry, it didn’t cost me nearly as much as it would have to someone we were selling it to, and it wasn’t all at once.”

Ryan ran a paw over his scalp, flattening his bunny ears. “That’s still a lot, I imagine. How long were you working on it?”

“How long have we been together?”

“Oh God, more than two years now.”

“Yeah, around two years. I’ve been working on its since before we moved into this house. Most suits don’t take that long for me to build, but as you can see, I put a lot a care into this one.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” said Ryan, his gaze locked onto the work of art laid out before him. He stood up from the couch and bent over to pick up a foreleg. The scales were leathery and smooth. He could feel the weight of the claws pulling down on them. I wonder what it feels like on the inside. “So, like, why’d you make this, exactly? I mean, it’s freakin’ cool, but why?”

Brittany shrugged. “You know, I’ve been doing this for so long and never made one for somebody personally. They’re so expensive that I never really had the chance. We met right after I got a good position. I figured you’d be the best person to give something to. You always told me how awesome it’d be to put on one of these suits, to transform into something like a dragon or a sphinx. I thought this was the best way to let you do that. I wanted that dream to come true.”

Ryan felt his heart flutter with emotion. “Wow, Brittany. That’s… pretty cool. Thank you.”

She gave a humble bow of her head. “No problem. My pleasure. You wanna put it on now?”

“Right now?”

“Yeah, right now. I’ve been dying to get inside this thing with you ever since I first started putting it together. I stayed up all night waiting for you. Come on, it’ll be fun.”

Ryan didn’t doubt that but crawling into a two-person suit after he’d just gotten back from work sounded unpleasant. He didn’t want her to suffer the stench of sweat and grease in what would definitely be a cramped space. Even so, he was eager to test the thing out too. He’d told Brittany about his wishes to try one of these things on, but never how badly. It was a struggle not to show her how excited he was right now. He suspected that if he wasn’t so exhausted from work, he’d be jittering in place. “OK, sure, but let me take a shower first. I stink and I wanna get out of this uniform.”

“Go ahead,” Brittany said. “I’ll be waiting outside with it.”

“Outside?”

“Yeah. You don’t want to be indoors when the transformation goes off, definitely not with one this big. Trust me.”

“OK. Gotcha. I’ll be right back.” With newfound vigor Ryan stormed upstairs to the main bathroom where he hurriedly peeled off his clothes and took a quick, hot shower. Normally a protracted ritual of ridding the stench and filth of that day’s work, he rushed his way through scrubbing himself and rinsing off. A dragon. A real dragon. I get to turn into one after all these years. The moment he shut the water off he sprung out of the shower and dried off. Some sweatpants and a T-shirt were thrown on before he came running back downstairs and out the backdoor. Brittany, illuminated by the glow of the security lights, had laid the dragon suit out across the lawn. She’d unfolded it to its full size which was much broader than what Ryan had seen when it was folded on the rug. He thought it looked as big as a yacht which gave him some pause. He stood on the porch, gawking dumbly at the massive creation. “Holy shit, that’s freakin’ huge. You really made all this? Is that how big it’s gonna be?”

“Just about,” Brittany said as she pulled the zipper down from the mid-back to the root of the tail. “It’s part of why it took me so long, that and the detail I put into it.”

Ryan stepped off the back porch and onto the lawn where he felt the cold tickle of grass on his bare feet. It was a bit chilly out, drawing his arms into his trunk. “OK, so how do we do this? One of us in front, one in the back?”

“Yup. You want the front?”

“Uh, sure, I guess.”

Brittany grinned as she squatted down and pulled one of the suit flaps aside, showing him the inside. “You first, then. Should be comfortable.”

It looked anything but. However, that wasn’t going to stop Ryan now, not when he was this close. He took a deep breath. “Whew, OK. How long are we gonna wear it?”

“For as long as you’d like. I’m not tired, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I’m more worried about work tomorrow.”

She rolled her eyes. “You can call in sick.” She lifted the suit flap higher. “Come on. I ain’t got all night.”

“OK, OK. I’m comin’.” He came up to the suit and lifted the other flap to pull it over his head. Brittany held it for him, and he stared into the black void ahead of him. No point in stopping now. He marched into the empty suit, feeling the leathery inner skin scrape the top of his head and his feet as he went. A sort of rubbery, fleshy odor pervaded the suit. It felt like navigating the inside of a deflated bounce house. He had to walk with his hands over his head to keep it from rubbing his scalp off. It grew darker and darker as he went, giving him the feeling that it would never end, that the suit’s magic had turned it into an infinite void. At last, he reached the end where the suit skin stopped parting around him and became a wall of material. “OK, I’m here. Do I put my feet in the legs?”

“You don’t have to,” Brittany said from behind him. He felt the suit shifting as she climbed inside right behind him. “It’ll kick in so long as you’re inside.”

“Well, I’m definitely inside. So, how is it gonna work, us both being in here?”

“We’ll share the body and mind. You’ll see.” She grabbed the zipper tab. “Are you ready?”

Ryan licked his lips. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

“Awesome.” Ryan heard the low bzzzzzz of the zipper being pulled. What little light was inside the suit dimmed into nothing until it became absolute black at the same moment the zipper fell shut.

Ryan opened his mouth to ask another question, but what came instead was a deep yawn. His eyes fluttered shut and his head started to nod. Am I… falling… asleep? The answer came when the world stopped and Ryan fell unconscious. Brittany did the same shortly after, leaving two motionless lumps within the suit as the night carried on without them.

* * *

Ryan noticed something was wrong the moment he woke up. The hard surface beneath him was most certainly not his bed, nor was the cool breeze tickling across his back the AC of his bedroom. This was… something else. He was on his stomach with his arms folded beneath his chest, but so were his legs? His eyes creaked open. What greeted him was not the ceiling or the wall of his bedroom but the trees of a forest in miniature form. What? He meant to push himself off whatever he was lying on, but instead his head zoomed into the air like it was on an elevator, launching his perspective of the trees below him until they were but a swathe of leafy canopy broken by the roofs of houses and the streets which connected them.

What!? Darting his head around to absorb the suburban landscape around him, he felt the whip and turn of a long, slender neck which connected to his shoulders. He looked down and saw the root fitted into the body of a dragon. The underbelly scales were the same light tan he’d seen on the suit as well as the darker maroon which plated the main body. Holy shit! A dragon, a big one, a very big one. That’s what he was, every part of it responding to his commands, overwhelmed by a cocoon of stimuli clawing and sinking across his every portion, twitching his muscles, stuttering his lungs, and invigorating his pulse. Dragon. I’m a dragon. Huge. I’m huge! I-

Ryan!

That was Brittany’s voice, coming at him like he was wearing a pair of headphones. His head whipped back and forth to find the source, but he heard it again as if it was his own ears. Ryan, it’s OK. Everything’s alright.

Brittany? Where are you?

Here, as in right where you are, in the suit with you. Except it’s not a suit anymore.

Ryan looked down at himself but saw nothing but his dragon body. He pushed up on his forelegs, raising the chest off the ground where he saw a mattress of shattered trees and fractured branches. Leaves and debris stuck to his underbelly peeled off and fluttered to the earth without any sign of Brittany being there. What do you mean, in the suit?

I mean we’re sharing the body together. Our thoughts and movements are linked. Kind of like piloting a plane. Either one of us can take control.

Is that why I can hear you like you’re inside my head?

Exactly.

The thought sent shivers down the dragon’s spine. That’s weird. He looked down at himself again and tried standing up on his fours. His thick, oak-like hindlegs pushed him the rest of the way up, and the mighty dragon stood at full size. A marvelously long, whippy tail swung out behind him with a rail of spines going all the way down to its diplodocine dip. His dinosaur-sized feet snapped the tree trunks like dry twigs. He noticed what he thought was a clearing in the woods was in fact a giant crater in the canopy which his giant dragon body had blown out like a meteorite. He recognized the roof of his own house not far away, looking more like the size of a plastic tub than a house. Holy shit. I’m huge.

We are, aren’t we? asked Brittany. I didn’t skimp out on the size. If we were going to turn into a wild dragon, it was going to be the biggest and baddest there is. Try and move around some more. Get used to walking but try not to knock into our house or anyone else’s. We’re lucky we had all these woods out back.

Walking sounded like a daunting task given his added pair of legs. How hard can it be? Just one foot in front of the other.

That’s the spirit, said Brittany.

Ryan’s chant was meant for himself. With sharing a body came the loss of any privacy, apparently. Not discouraged, he put his foreleg forward and took his first step. Automatically the opposite hindleg did the same, and the leviathan lurched forward. Whoa. This is cool. He followed through with a slow trot, his giant steppers thump-thumping through the forest at a steady rhythm. He made sure to squeeze through the trees as best he could, but he couldn’t prevent scraping his flanks into them and creaking their wood loudly. He kept his long dragon neck craned above the canopy, gazing out at the tree-swept landscape and the hazed-over city which sprouted from it. Just stomping through the forest as such a magnificent beast was more than being in nature, but a genuine part of it. Trees and hills were not just features of the landscape, but an extension of the ecosystem he’d been grafted into.

This is amazing, he said.

I’m glad you like it, said Brittany.

I really do, but there’s one question I have.

Fire away.

My voice, the one I’m thinking with, it’s not mine. But yours is still yours. Is that normal? He was referring to the change in pitch he “spoke” with. While still his timbre, it was somehow lighter, almost a falsetto. It had bothered him slightly every time he would speak. He didn’t want to bring attention to it until he noticed how Brittany’s remained unchanged.

There was a pause. It is, and there’s a reason for it.

He could sense her discomfort. Is something wrong?

No, not exactly, but I should let you know that this body is a female.

Now it was Ryan’s turn to stay quiet. Excuse me?

Yyyyyyeah… So, this suit was really hard to make and took a long time. Sculpting guy parts would’ve made it take even longer. That’s why your voice sounds different. I hope you don’t mind.

Ryan thought he would but didn’t really. What gender norms were there for a massive dragon? If there were any, who the hell was going to judge him? Maybe it would’ve bothered him if he was still a frail, little bunny, but as a colossal sky lizard it hardly mattered. Nah, I think it’s fine. Not like I was gonna use the guy parts if I had them. I mean, it’s just a suit. Not my actual body.

Whew. That’s good to hear. Probably should’ve told you ahead of time.

It’s fine.

Cool. Now, how do you feel about flying?

Flying? I can fly? But that was a stupid question, wasn’t it? Of course he could fly. He turned his neck and saw a pair of broad wings folded neatly on his back. Oh shit. I totally can, can’t I?

Yeah, but if you don’t mind, I think you should let me take the reins first. I’ll do the taking off and the landing, stuff I’ve done plenty of times.

Ryan had no complaints. However awesome the thought of flying was, the thought of falling out of the sky made his tummy churn. Yeah, you go ahead. I think I might let you do all of the flying.

OK. If you change your mind, just let me know. Now switch with me.

Switch with you?

Yeah, let me take over. Just kind of relax your mind. Go limp.

Ryan didn’t know how that was supposed to work, but he tried it anyway. He loosened the muscles in his legs and went into a sort of meditative state. He imagined a fuzzy television to clear his mind, and slowly he felt his consciousness retract. Suddenly he wasn’t looking out of the eyes anymore. Rather, he watched a feed of what the eyes were seeing. Though he could still feel the environment around him, the control over his movement was gone. It was a pure out-of-body moment, like his own body wasn’t his anymore.

It really wasn’t, because now Brittany was in the pilot’s seat while Ryan sat in the booster right behind. She gave the dragon body a shake like a dog coming out of water. Yeah, that feels awesome, she said. The wings unfurled from its back, blossoming into an evangelic wingspan almost as wide as the dragon was long. They flapped down with a terrific whoosh, throwing out a storm of wind which swayed the trees on their foundations. She flapped faster and harder until a veritable hurricane tore through the woods, kicking up a swarm of leaves and debris which ripped through the air like the pebbles of a sandstorm. Brittany looked up into the cloud-blotted sky, catching the glint of the sun. The dragon reared on its hindlegs, and with a mighty pounce it launched heavenwards.

Ryan felt the G-forces pushing on him, the wind across his scales and the resistance on the wings. That lengthy tail hung straight down as they achieved an exponential swerve into pure verticality. The clouds zoomed towards them until the snout breached through their underside and burst from the pillowy roofs. Above them was nothing but blue until slowly Brittany leveled with the Earth and went into a slow glide. All around were the bubbly cumuli drifting lazily, a green patchwork of civilization stretched to the infinite. Legs folded to the belly, wings stretched taut, Ryan and Brittany soared above it all.

Holy shit. Holy shit, chanted Ryan. Inwardly he was smiling from ear to ear. I’m flying. We’re flying. Oh my God.

Damn right, we are. Ryan could hear the pride in her voice. You know, I fly almost every day, but I’ve never even come close to this high.

Really?

Yeah. I never went above a thousand feet.

Just that height made Ryan queasy. And how high are we now?

Right now? She took a moment to gauge it. 12, 13 thousand feet, maybe. I think we can hit 20 if we try hard enough.

Chills through the dragon’s belly, courtesy of Ryan. Holy shit.

Holy shit is right. Wanna try and go that high?

‘No’ would’ve been the rational response, but on such an adrenaline-fueled high, Ryan could only ask for more. Hell yeah. Do it.

Roger that. The dragon veered upwards with a few added flaps of the wings. They soared higher and higher, that diorama of green and white shrinking even more. This ascent was more serene, leaving them in a weightlessness more pleasant than the shock of taking off. Soon the air was too thin, and Brittany leveled off again. This is as high as we’re going, it looks like. We’re about 17 to 18 thousand feet up. More than three miles.

That’s fucking cool, said Ryan.

Yeah, agreed Brittany. I think so too.

They spent the next few moments maintaining that blissful glide. For a moment Ryan forgot that he was a rabbit, one who worked a menial job within the burdensome shadow of his talented girlfriend. Now, he was a dragon along side of her, one with her. The restaurant and her business were but a speck on the canvas sprawled in front of them, unnoticeable and insignificant. All of that was behind him, or rather below him, not worth an ounce of his thought.

The only disturbance came when Brittany asked him, You wanna give it a shot?

Uh, yeah, but like… Is it safe? I don’t know how to do this.

Well, it’s pretty automatic. Everything this body does is hardwired into the brain. You remember how easy it was to walk? This is just like that. Don’t overthink it. Let the dragon do the work, and you’ll do just fine. Anything goes wrong, and just relax like you did earlier so I can take over.

You make it sound easy.

It is easy. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.

Ryan thought about it. No, I do want to. Give me the controls.

Ryan felt what would’ve been a smile on her face. Have at it.

Slowly Ryan’s vision filed into the dragon’s eyes, and they became his own again. Control over the body fell on him all at once, and he realized that he was flying. His heart started to race again. Don’t think. Don’t think. Just fly. Brittany didn’t comment, not wanting to distract him. He kept the wings unfurled. The most he did on his own was curl his toes if just to remind himself that he was in control. For now, all he did was glide. That by itself was more exhilarating than when they’d taken flight.

You’re doing great! chirped Brittany. Now let’s try banking into a turn. Just picture yourself doing it. The body will follow.

OK. OK. Ryan saw the dragon in flight in his mind, then pictured it tilting. Sure enough, his body did the same. He felt the tug of gravity on his limp legs. The wind caught on the bottom wing, and with a slight curve to the spine the dragon went into a soft bank. Haha! I’m doing it!

Great! Now bank the other way.

Ryan leveled out again before turning the opposite way. I think I’m getting a hang of it. This body knows what it’s doing.

And you will too if you keep it up. Show me what else this puppy can do.

Yeah. Don’t mind if I do. He performed another bank, this one going into a tight spiral which swooped him closer to the earth. With thousands of feet between them, he had plenty of room to keep it going. He did for some hundreds of feet before breaking into another glide. A steep ascent like when they’d taken off regained altitude before he started curling backwards until the dragon was upside down, feet above them. Momentum swung them along, the rush of air past the ears at a deafening roar. WOOOOOOHOOOOOO! Banks, spirals, loop-de-loops, barrel rolls, aerial rolls, every move that Ryan knew about was performed with expert flow and precision.

Brittany was just along for the ride, adoring how happy he was. Having fun? Ryan just laughed, sounding like a kid on a rollercoaster. Heh, happy to hear.

The pair spent the remaining hour flying about, taking turns at the reins. It might not have been Brittany’s first time flying, but it was her first time being able to perform such blazing stunts. It was like experiencing flight for the very first time, something she hadn’t experienced since she was a young girl. She found herself hooting and cheering as loudly as Ryan had. Like she had been when he was in control, it made him happy just to watch her having fun. That they were experiencing it together made it all the better.

Ryan was the one flying when finally, the dragon leveled off. He felt the adrenaline withdrawing from his muscles, causing them to shiver. Wow. That was amazing. I still can’t believe we did that, he said.

Neither can I, said Brittany, sounding just as excited. And I’ve flown before.

Can this thing breathe fire? Ryan asked.

It should. I don’t know how well, though. I was never the fire breathing type.

Yeah, I’ve never seen you do it. Have you?

A long time ago. Nothing bigger than a poof, but I’m willing to bet this puppy can brew something a hell of a lot bigger and hotter. If we try and do that we should do it over the ocean. I don’t want to scare any more people than we already have.

Shit, I didn’t think about that.

It’s OK. We’re not the first western dragon to fly around these parts.

Yeah, but we gotta be the first at this size.

Then maybe we’ll get our face in the paper. Don’t worry about it. Let’s just go to the sea and light up some fire. I’ll get us there. Ryan surrendered the dragon to Brittany who banked it towards the east where the ocean was. It wasn’t too far, less than an hour away. Being able to fly over everything without having to worry about roads and traffic made a smooth journey. Eventually the horizon peeled back to reveal a frame of aquamarine. The salty sea air filled their nostrils, and they joined the flocks of sea gulls and pelicans who made that place their home. Their shadow passed over that glassy acrylic textured by the waves.

Ryan commented, You know, I didn’t think I’d be going to the beach today.

Sometimes life throws us curveballs, doesn’t it?

I think you were at the pitcher’s mound for this one, not that I’m complaining.

Heh, you better not.

Yeah, so how do we get this fire going?

Just give me a second. There was a throaty choking sound when the dragon regurgitated the oil that was kept in a special pouch just above the stomach. The moment before it spewed from the gullet, Brittany clacked a special organ that resided near the rear of her palate. Sharp as flint, it generated a white-hot spark that ignited the oil at the same moment it left her throat.

WHOOOOOOOOOSH!

Out from the dragon’s puckered lips rocketed a massive tear of blue-hot flame which stretched and blossomed into a tree of orange tongues splaying outwards, gushing black smoke. The jet’s reach exceeded twice the dragon’s length. Brittany aimed it beneath them, wisely preventing them from flying into it. She maintained if for less than a second, shocked by the pure force and ferocity she had produced. Holy shit!!! she hollered. I wasn’t expecting all that!

Ryan, meanwhile, was laughing his ass off. Oh, that was awesome! They could feel the heat singeing their lips; if it were not plated in specially evolved heat-proof scaled they likely would’ve melted off. Oddly, the inside of their mouth remained cool. Come on. Let me have a shot. How do I do it?

The hesitation was in her voice. Well, just like all those moves you did, imagine yourself spewing the oil and igniting it with your flint at the back of your mouth. Be careful. I know we’re over the water but this shit is strong.

I know. That’s why I wanna try it. Come on.

Fine, here you go. Brittany surrendered control, putting a giddy Ryan at the wheel.

Like when he was first trying to fly, he envisioned the dragon spitting out the oil. He felt it gurgle up from the root of his throat and quickly rise up his esophagus. The moment it was at his gullet he clicked the flint. The impact echoed through his skull, and with puckered lips he launched a jet of fire into the air below him. The light glinted in the dragon’s eyes and Ryan’s soul. It was so much more invigorating now that he was the one letting loose. So powerful! When the temperature on his lips grew too hot, he relented, leaving a trail of vaporous black to rise and disperse behind him.

Brittany was just glad he hadn’t hurt the dragon body. Pretty cool, huh?

Hell yeah! Ryan made the dragon go into a dive, plummeting them towards the ocean until they were just a couple hundred feet above it. He saw the dragon’s reflection in the rippling blue before it was violently blotted out by another jet of flame. The water boiled where it was struck, a dust trail of white steam mixed with black smoke following the dragon’s warpath. It was a magnificent sight, but a short-lived one. The flames started to die down like a hose being squeezed off until only a puff of smoke was left.

Looks like we’re out of oil, Brittany said sadly.

Damn, and I was having so much fun. How long does it take dragons to produce that stuff?

A full tank? At this size, at least a month. Taking the suit off won’t reset it either.

Really? That long?

Yeah. Shit’s expensive to the body. It’s why you don’t see us burning it all willy-nilly like you just did.

Damn, well it was fun while it lasted.

Get some altitude. I’ll fly us back to the house. It’s starting to get late.

Just like that, Ryan was reminded of his life as a bunny and his job as a fry cook. Yeah, you’re right. I hope my boss isn’t too pissed. Definitely gonna have to make up for it with some overtime, that is if my ass isn’t fired.

Hey, don’t worry about him yet. Let’s just go home.

And so they did, making the journey back home while the sun made slow descent into a glowing orange. It was dark when they made it back home. Brittany circled the hole they had woken up in that morning and made a gradual descent before landing and folding the wings away.

I guess it’s time to take the suit off, Ryan said.

Yeah. I saw some of the neighbors out watching. We might have some explaining to do, but I’m ready for that.

Yeah, I bet. So how does this thing come off? Like, do we just shrink back down and come out as our regular selves?

Something like that. Just sit back a sec. I got it covered. Brittany closed the dragon’s eyes and fell silent. Ryan was left in the dark, patiently waiting for something to happen. A major part of him didn’t want anything to happen so that he could stay a dragon for just a few seconds longer. He didn’t want to be a rabbit anymore, or at least not one with all the responsibilities it had. A few more moments passed, and Ryan felt nothing different.

Is everything OK? he asked.

Just wait. I’m… Hold on. That didn’t sound like everything was OK. Ryan continued to wait until finally Brittany gave a despondent Oh no…

Oh no? What do you mean, Oh no? What’s wrong?

The dragon’s eyes opened. I… Oh God.

Tell me what’s wrong!

I… I think we’re stuck like this.

Ryan’s heart seized. Stuck? What do you mean? How are we stuck? Stuck in this form?

Right now, yes. God! I’m such an idiot. I think I enchanted the zipper wrong. It’s what makes us able to revert back to our normal selves. All those years working…

Britanny… His tone was hung with the gravity of the situation. Are you telling me we’re gonna be like this forever?

Maybe not forever. If we can find someone to do the magic to get us out of this, we’re golden. But I can’t do is in this state, and finding someone who can do it to a body this big is gonna be hard. I don’t even know if I could. Oh God, Ryan, I’m so sorry.

No, he said abruptly. Don’t be sorry.

Ryan?

I think this might be for the better. You know, today’s the first time in so long I’ve had any real fun. Flying and spitting fire made me feel so alive. I got to do that with you. I feel like we’re so much closer now. I mean, we’re in the same body after all, and we worked together seamlessly. It’s like the first thing we’ve done together ever since I got that shitty job as a frycook. Hell, now I don’t have to do that anymore, at least as long as I’m like this. Way I see it, being a dragon means I don’t have to live such a boring life anymore, and I get to live it with you.

Brittany didn’t know what to say. Wow… Do you really mean that?

Yeah, I do. You know I always loved you, but being in a relationship with someone so amazingly talented as you was always kind of a bummer because I was always comparing myself to you. I was just a average Joe, and here you were making a name for yourself as one of the world’s greatest enchanters. I never blamed you. I still thought it was awesome the stuff you did, but because I was never able to get over myself, I always felt kind of lowly. Ryan cringed inwardly. It was his turn to apologize. I’m sorry.

No, no it’s OK. I’m glad you told me that. I didn’t know you felt that way. I just wish you’d told me sooner.

Ryan chuckled. I guess now that we’re in this body, we’re gonna be telling a lot of things about each other.

She laughed. Yeah, definitely. You think you can get used to life like this?

He thought about flying, breathing fire, a life without modern luxuries and trappings, what his diet would become, and a body that was female. Then he thought about spending every second of it with Brittany. Yeah, he said. I think I can.

He could feel the corners of the dragon’s lips smiling. Yeah, me too. Brittany lowered the dragon down to the earth with its legs folded into its tummy. The neck and tail curled inwards and the eyes closed. See you in the morning.

See you in the morning, he said back, happy to fall asleep knowing someone would be there with him when he woke up.


THE END