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The city was blanketed in a hushed, crystalline white. It was a winter morning that felt like it had been pulled from a dream, crisp, silent, and biting. The frost on the windowpane of the apartment looked like delicate dragon scales, but inside, the air was thick with the scent of fresh coffee and the low, resonant hum of a recovering god.
Kaelan stood in front of the hallway mirror, struggling with the physics of his wardrobe. Over the last few weeks of Ignis's return, the seed had decided that dormancy was a thing of the past now. His belly had grown bigger again, transforming from a subtle bump into a distinct, heavy curve that broadcasted its presence with every movement.
To hide it, Kaelan had resorted to wearing oversized hoodies, specifically a thick, charcoal grey one that made him look like a very cozy, very cute marshmallow.
"I look like I'm smuggling a bowling ball," Kaelan muttered, his black panther ears flattening against his head as he tried to pull the hem down. "I hope the person who invented pregnancy is currently being chased by geese.may this hoodie never shrinks, or I'm going to have to start wearing bedsheets."
"You look like a treasure that has been well guarded," Ignis rumbled, stepping up behind him.
Ignis looked remarkably different. He was still thin, and the scars on his hands were silver reminders of his sacrifice, but his eyes had regained that gold luster. He was dressed in a simple human pea coat and a scarf Kaelan had forced him to wear. The King of the Solar Peaks was, for the first time in an eternity, a man about to go on a normal date.
"Don't start with the narcissistic poetry, Ignis," Kaelan snapped, though he didn't pull away when Ignis's hand settled warmly on the curve of the hoodie. "The apartment is too quiet. I'm still not used to it."
It was true. The chaos of the last month had subsided. Tamsin, Marcus, and little Mina had packed their bags and gone overseas for a long term research project (and to give Mina a chance to terrorize a different continent's wildlife). Even Kehlani had finally been sent off to a prestigious academy in the Eastern Realm to begin her formal Draconic studies.
For the first time in years, it was just the Panther and the Dragon.
"Where are we going?" Kaelan asked as they stepped out into the biting morning air. The sidewalk crunched beneath their boots.
"To the park by the river," Ignis said, his voice a low purr. "I want to see the sun hit the ice. And I heard there is a merchant who sells dough fried in fat and covered in sugar."
"You mean a donut stand? You went through two-nine-nine years of divine torture and your first request is a donut?" Kaelan shook his head, a jaded smirk tugging at his lips. "You really are a scaly disaster."
As they walked, the winter wind whipped at Kaelan's hood. He felt the seed kick—a solid, energetic thump that made him stumble. Ignis was there in a heartbeat, his hand steadying Kaelan's elbow.
"Careful, my cat," Ignis murmured, his eyes scanning the area with a possessive sharpness that hadn't faded with his power.
"I'm fine! Stop hovering!" Kaelan scolded, his short temper flaring up like a match. "I am a fully grown adult with a degree in finance! I can walk on frozen water without a bodyguard! You're acting like a mother hen with a god complex. If you keep treating me like I'm made of glass, I'm going to trip you into that snowbank!"
Ignis stopped walking. He looked at Kaelan, who was standing there in his giant hoodie, face flushed red from the cold, slit pupils narrowed in a deadly glare, and his finger pointing accusingly at the King's chest.
Ignis didn't get angry. He didn't roar. He just looked at Kaelan's puffed up cheeks and the way his panther ears were twitching with irritation.
A low, bubbling sound started in Ignis's chest. It grew into a rich, genuine laugh—a sound of pure, unadulterated joy that echoed off the frozen buildings.
Kaelan blinked, his anger faltering. "What? What's so funny, you arrogant lizard?"
"You," Ignis gasped, wiping a tear of mirth from his eye. "Even with a King's child in your belly and the world at your feet, you are still the most livid, stubborn, and beautiful thing I have ever encountered. I missed your scolding more than I missed the sun, Kaelan."
Kaelan tried to maintain his jaded expression, but the sight of Ignis laughing, really laughing, without the weight of the throne or the chains—was too much. A small, reluctant chuckle escaped his lips, and then he was laughing too, a light, musical sound that mingled with the winter air.
"You're an idiot," Kaelan said, though the venom was gone. "A complete and utter idiotic fool."
"And you are mine," Ignis replied softly.
He reached out and took Kaelan's hand, his long fingers interlacing with Kaelan's. They began to walk again, hand in hand, through the snow.
They weren't Kings or Consorts. They weren't legends or prisoners. They were just two people in the middle of a normal winter morning, one wearing a hoodie that was too big, and the other wearing a heart that was finally full.
"If the donut stand is closed, I'm blaming you," Kaelan muttered, squeezing Ignis's hand.
"Then I shall simply have to find another way to satisfy your cravings," Ignis whispered, his manic eyes glowing with a promise of a very long, very happy future.
Kaelan leaned his head against Ignis's shoulder as they walked toward the rising sun. "Shut up and keep walking, Ignis."
"Yes, my cat."