“...No, unfortunately. And even if I were halfway decent, I’m too tired to think about math.” Cinead admitted, giving his head a disparaging shake.

“And yes, this is the part where we say good night and goodbye..” unless...” he trailed off as an idea occurred to him. “ unless you would be willing to drop me off at the campus. My car is still sitting in the parking lot.” He gave her a lopsided smile.

Anna nodded her head. “It’s fine. We have a similar weakness when it comes to equations. I have to do it a bunch before I start really understanding, so I’ll watch some YouTube or something to catch me up.” She reassured as she got her keys and unlocked the door to her car.

He then came up with a suggestion to prolong their time together. She turned to him and chuckled. “Very true. What kind of girl would I be if I left the guy I liked without a car?” She joked, unlocking the passenger side door for him. “Come on in!”

Cinead’s gaze had flickered curiously in her direction at the mention of yet another term he did not understand. He made a mental note to ask her what YouTube meant later, simply nodding his head for the time being. His expression brightened considerably as she excepted the idea of driving him over to the school, a smile playing around the corners of his mouth. “I Think the word you’re looking for is cruel.” He teased lightly as he once again got into the passenger seat, buckling himself in. “ I appreciate your desire to not leave me in a situation where I would have to walk to the campus.”

“Hey! You weren’t supposed to answer!” She laughed. “Besides, it could also be an excuse for me to pick you up in the morning and maybe grab coffee if we’re early enough. Have you ever tried that by the way?” She buckled herself in and started the engine, making the somewhat short trip towards the campus.

Cinead adopted his best innocent face, though he wasn’t sure he had gotten it quite right, before releasing a soft chuckle himself. “ you could still pick me up in the morning, if you so desired. I have never tried coffee before. It’s some sort of drink, right?” He asked, Trying to remember if he had ever come across the substance before.

“Nah, it’s ok. You have your own errands you may need to run and I have a few myself for tomorrow. As for the coffee, we can try it with lunch tomorrow? We can head to a deli or something so you can get some sort of ultimate meat lover’s sandwich.” It was at this time she realized how much Cin hadn’t known. Ok, they’d have a lot to do for dates and things for the next few months. Nothing she couldn’t handle.

After a moment of consideration, Cinead finally nodded his head, reaching over and taking one of her hands so that he could give it a gentle squeeze. “ that sounds fine. If I end up not liking this coffee, I have a wonderfully delicious sandwich to fall back on.” He couldn’t help but grin at the idea, remembering that it was in a sandwich shop that they had first bumped into each other.

As they pulled up next to his car, sitting alone in the parking lot, Cinead leaned across the center consul, pressing his lips to Anna‘s forehead. “ I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. May your studying prove fruitful.” He murmured sincerely before sliding out of the car and stepping back, giving his mate a small wave of farewell.

Anna chuckled at his gesture, squeezing a little in return. It seemed he was a touchy type of lover, if a bit reserved at times. Her mate was an enigma, but one she was going to crack. “That, and they’d probably have other types of drinks available.” She chuckled. “Have you tried soda? I think you have?” She was a bit bummed that they arrived at the parking lot, wanting to talk a bit longer. But she had studying to do and she shouldn’t try to use Cin to procrastinate.

She blushed a little when he kissed her, trying to stop her smile from growing. “Ah, thank you! Have a good night Cin.” She waved back and blew a kiss. Wait, did he know that gesture?

At the mention of soda, Cinead had almost immediately pulled a face. “ yes, I have tried soda. I disliked the carbonation very much.” He stated bluntly, nose wrinkling at the memory of the ticklish, bubbly, almost painful sensation of the beverage.

As he stood outside the car now, she returned his wave, adding another gesture as well. She had kissed the fingers of her own hand, before moving the hand down away from her face, her lips puckering in an almost blowing motion... He tilted his Head curiously. The only interpretation he could fathom for the gesture was that she was sending him a kiss born on the wind of her breath through the air to him. The idea made him smile. He mimicked the motion, feeling a little foolish. But he rather liked the concept. Tomorrow, he would have to remember to ask her if he had gotten it right.

Anna could tell by the face he pulled that he had before he even said it. She held back a giggle as she thought about the idea of soda from the perspective of someone who didn’t know what it was. It would be rather...interesting and unlikeable. Good thing he tried, it crossed one thing off the list.

She felt like she could see the cogs in his brain turning as he quickly went from confusion to shaky understanding, but one that he seemingly liked before reciprocating the gesture. She winked and started pulling away to head back to her own apartment.

As Anna’s tail lights slowly disappeared into the night, the smile that had been playing around Cinead’s mouth finally faded away, though it still lingered in his eyes. Releasing a long sigh, He finally turned to his car, retrieved the hidden key that he had never thought he would need to use from under the front bumper, and got inside. He drove back to his apartment complex, pulled into his assigned space, and made his way back to his home, The weariness from earlier finally crashing down on him once again. He just managed to stumble his way up the stairs, kick off his shoes at the door, lock the door behind him, and shuffle down the hallway to his bedroom, collapsing on top of his bed and falling almost instantly to sleep.

Hours later, With the gray sunlight of early morning starting to spill in through the window, Cinead was abruptly woken up by a persistent chiming that started issuing from his phone. Head jerking up off of his pillow with a soft snarl, his head swiveled around to locate the noise that had woken him up, blinking his eyes blearily. He stared uncomprehendingly at his phone on top of the blue comforter for several seconds, human Hazel eyes unfocused and confused. Then his brain finally seemed to catch up with the situation and he snorted, snatching the phone up from the bed. His phone, unaffected by the sour expression on his face, continued to vibrate and chime, displaying the time and an alert of an alarm on it screen.

‘And life goes on...‘ Cinead couldn’t help but think as he stopped the alarm, rolling onto his back and putting the phone on to his stomach. But go on it did, despite the fact that there was someone who now knew his secret.

As he lay with his thoughts pondering on Anna, their mate bond, upon being a dragon, Cinead’s eyes suddenly opened, turning to stare at his phone. For a name had suddenly floated to the forefront of his thoughts, a friend he hadn’t been in contact with for quite some time... Aerwyna, another Dragon who had taken to hiding among humans. He wondered if she were having any similar experiences, if she had found a human mate herself. If she had, did that mean that she too had revealed their secret? Or were they only mates on the surface and not true mates?

Picking up his phone, Cinead opened up his messaging app, backing out of the only open conversation that he had going with Anna and pressing a button he had never had need to touch before, Starting up a new conversation to Aerwyna. He smiled briefly as he tapped out a message, momentarily imagining the other dragon being surprised by his use of technology.

Hello Aerwyna. It has been quite sometime since we last spoke. How are things going for you? He sent before setting the phone once more onto his stomach and closing his eyes again.

Anna had then ran on a bit of an autopilot moments after getting into the parking lot to her own apartment.

She was dating a dragon. The very creature she’d only hear when it was guarding a damsel in distress or a companion of a more...pet-like variety. Never in her dreams would she have imagined that she would see, be up close to, touch, kiss..! And now they were together. She supposed the whole damsel in distress thing gave way to somewhat darker ideas now that she was with Cin. She snapped out of it for a moment and just scurried inside. She had bigger fish to fry at the moment than thinking of what could just be weird stereotypes. Besides, Cin was quite reserved for someone who could breathe fire at will.

One could even say that she expected him to be a...hothead. She laughed at her own stupid pun. The rest of the night was dedicated to misty studying and making a few lizard related puns whenever she got distracted or was on break.

~

The next morning, a few cities over from where the newly mated couple resided, another dragon grunted in annoyance and slight longing as she felt the space next to her in bed as empty. Her mate had snuck out for work. How dare he.

She made sure to send feelings of annoyance promptly through their bond. After a few minutes, he sent back a bit of happiness and she rolled her eyes. They’d see each other later but she still wanted to see him now as well. She sat up and started stretching when her phone started to chime. She grabbed it and looked at the notification. Cinnead? She smiled and started to type back her response.

I have been well! It is nice to hear from you, Cinnead. How have you been?

Cinead had to admit that he was surprised by the swiftness of the response he received, his phone making a soft beeping sound as it vibrated on his stomach. He smiled at the sound. It reminded him of Anna, who had helped him figure out how to change the alert from what he had considered to be quite an obnoxious sound before. Picking up the device, he read over the message quickly, eyebrows lifting. Maybe she hadn’t been as surprised by a text message as he thought she would have been...

I am glad to hear that things are well! Life has been good for me. Surprising. Is there a chance we could get together later to talk?

Quietly, he wondered to himself if a conversation with Aerwyna would prove to be of any use in the end. They had been out of touch for a little while now, he had no idea if she had had any of the same experiences that he was currently going through.

Aerwyna has decided to eat before she bathed this morning, mainly so if Cinnead wished to talk more, he wouldn’t have to wait an hour or 2 before she left the bathroom. The tub reminded her of home...and she got nostalgic about it easily.

As she was checking what she had as options, her phone vibrated again. She grabbed her phone and raised her eyebrows. Cinnead the shy requesting an outing? Why, something must’ve happened.

Maybe I’ll to double check with my mate and be sure. Is there a specific time you wish to meet? Did she ever tell Cinnead about her mate? She supposed he’d find out now. It’s not like he would even be interested but she preferred to be open, just so there would be no misunderstandings.

Having finally rolled off the bed, Cinead had shuffled his way into his small kitchen, rubbing at his eyes as he shook off the last of the sleep. Pulling out a frying pan and a package of bacon he had in the refrigerator, he went about making himself breakfast. Sometimes, he regretted the process of cooking his food, but he had found out the hard way that his human body didn’t handle raw meat as well as his true body did... Grimacing slightly at the memory, he peeled away some of the strips of bacon and put them into the frying pan, where they almost instantly started to pop and sizzle.

His phone vibrated loudly from the top of the microwave, the metal frame amplifying the sound. Cinead washed his hands swiftly before picking it up, opening the screen and almost immediately looking surprised.

“So she does have a mate...” He murmured to himself, leaning back against the counter as he typed out a message.

‘That’s just fine. I was thinking sometime this afternoon, perhaps for lunch. I have a test that I need to get to this morning.’

Aerwyna had decided on a ‘cold cut’ sandwich. She wasn’t in the mood to cook, mainly because she was a bit hungrier than previously thought. She was finishing up said sandwich when her phone vibrated again. She grabbed it and read the message.

Ok! I will most likely be free to meet! May I ask why the sudden invitation? Do you need a few questions answered?”

She then set her phone down and started to inhale her sandwich. Hm, Black Forest ham wasn’t among her favorites, but her hunger possibly made it taste a bit better that morning.