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Rating/Warning : none

Chanyeol spent his following days sneaking out of his realm and went to Wu Mountain to sing for Yifan. The dragon was always outside, waiting patiently for his arrival. It made Chanyeol felt special.

Yifan used to spend his days alone and enjoyed it. But ever since Chanyeol, he felt his days weren’t complete without the phoenix. He liked Chanyeol’s deep voice. He liked it even more when he knew that Chanyeol only sang for him. It made Yifan felt special.

They developed a routine; Yifan curling up while Chanyeol sang. On a good day, Yifan would add his own roar to counterpoint Chanyeol’s warble. On a bad day when Chanyeol didn’t feel like singing, Yifan would ask the phoenix to fly with him.

They would soar in the sky, Chanyeol’s small frame would dart here and there and Yifan would playfully chase him around, letting out small breath of fire that was more for show than anything else. At the end of the flight, Chanyeol’s mood would have return and he would sing again for Yifan again before he had to go home.

The first break of their routine came in the form of a lone human carrying a shining spear. Yifan had sensed the human’s presence and sent Chanyeol inside his cave after making the fiery bird promised that he wouldn’t come out unless Yifan told him to. The dragon then stood in front of the opening, guarding the entrance. It wasn’t that Yifan feared for Chanyeol’s safety, he just didn’t want to share the phoenix with another being, even if it was just a puny human.

The human finally reached the top of the mountain, and started to spout out dignified speech about ‘justice, honor, glory, duty’ and whatnots. Yifan tried so hard not to squish the human with his paw, because contrary to popular belief he wasn’t a cruel dragon, he was just indifferent towards everything that held no interest to him, and that included humans.

After finishing his spiel, the human charged toward Yifan with a fervor and bravado that Yifan grudgingly acknowledged. The dragon pretended to fight back with all his might, when in reality he was just entertaining the human. When he deemed it enough, he ‘accidentally’ exposed his belly, the so called ‘dragon’s weak point’ to the human.

The human took the opportunity to strike and managed to land a ‘killing blow’ to Yifan’s underside. With a shriek and a roar, Yifan ‘fell’ down to the ground and gave a series of ‘theatrical twitches’ before he finally stilled. It was playing dead at its finest.

The human seemed to be overjoyed at having beaten the fearsome dragon. He took several of Yifan’s shiny black scales as proof before he made his way down, high on the feeling of being victorious. After the human was completely out of range, Yifan shook his body and stood back up.

“Phoenix, you can come out now.” He called softly.

Chanyeol flew to him instantly, his smaller frame made contact with Yifan’s neck.

“Are you hurt?” He asked frantically as he checked Yifan’s entire body, looking for any signs of injury.

Yifan chuckled and puffed in amusement. “No, I was just pretending. I’ve had my shares of champions trying to kill me, and I learned that it was better to pretend to die. It kept them from coming back with more people. It also gave me a human-free mountain for five or six decades. Eventually they will return for another challenge, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.” Yifan explained to the disturbed Chanyeol.

Warbling in relief, Chanyeol took his usual spot on the flat rock. “I was worried for a while. But I’m glad you’re alri… Oh Heavens! Your scales!” Chanyeol screeched as he saw some scales fell off of Yifan’s body.

Yifan laughed and shook his body, dislodging more of the black scales. “Don’t worry. I’m just shedding my outer scales.” He said trying to assuage the phoenix’s worry.

True to his words, Chanyeol could see another layer of scales underneath the black ones. Chanyeol whistled in appreciation as he saw the crimson red scales peeking through the places where the black scales had peeled off.

“It’ll take about three days for the old scales to completely shed.” Yifan said as he shook his body again making the black scales rained down to the ground.

Chanyeol bended and picked up a stray scale with his claw. “Do you mind if I kept one?” He asked in a small voice.

Yifan was pleasantly surprised at the request. “Of course you can. But not that one.” He added quickly. “The best scales are the ones on my forehead. I’ll save the shiniest one for you.”

Chanyeol nodded but kept the scale he had picked up. “Thank you Dragon. I’ll hold on to this until you gave me the best then.” He said.

Yifan puffed out a smoke as realization dawned on him. “We haven’t been properly introduced. My name is Yifan of the Wu Mountain.” He bowed his head at the phoenix.

Chanyeol returned the gesture and introduced himself in his deep voice. “And I am Chanyeol of the Park Realm.”

They shared a smile then Yifan returned to his curled up position while Chanyeol sang to him.