I was lounging on my couch. It was a rainy day, so I settled in with a mug of tea beside me and a handheld video game. The windows were tightly shuttered, but the air was still damp. With the smell of rain in the air, I didn't notice Yoryn's return. Unlike Sacha, he never landed with a heavy thump. He either climbed up the ladder or landed so softly that his touchdown was barely audible.

He burst through the door to escape the rain, and I was startled so badly that my console went flying. It landed with a clatter on the ground as Yoryn quickly shut the door behind him. He was soaked to the bone. Harpies had a sixth sense for the weather. I had known by the taste of the air that rain would come today. I guess dragons didn't have the same gifts. I picked up my game, its bright fantasy music still ringing through the speaker. The console was still intact, thankfully, so I paused and saved before turning it off.

"I take it the rain is putting a pause on your workday?" I put the kettle on, prepping another cup of tea. Yoryn grunted. It sounded like a noise of affirmation.

He wordlessly started removing his wet shirt, peeling the fabric off and tossing it in the hamper in the corner. His bare chest had a dusting of hair and well-defined pecs, and he had a soft-looking stomach I wanted to run my hands over. Rivulets of water streamed down his torso, disappearing at the edge of his soaked jeans. I swallowed around a sudden lump in my throat. Something warm and giddy stirred in my gut. The urge to run my tongue along his skin made me flush, and I busied myself with pouring the now hot water over a bag of earl gray tea. The smell of bergamot calmed me, and I figured the light touch of caffeine would do him some good.

"Honey?" I asked, holding up the mug and a bottle of bear-shaped honey.

He startled, finally turning to look at me. His eyes were wide. He blinked a few times, saying nothing. Dribbles of water streaked down his strong jaw.

"Are you okay?" I asked. Maybe he didn't hear me. "Do you want honey with your tea?"

He blinked again, his eyes finally seeming to register the items in my hand. He nodded wordlessly before he found his voice. "Yes, um, yeah. Thank you."

Handing him the steaming mug, I motioned to the door and what lay beyond. "Pretty nasty, isn't it?"

He sighed and took a sip from the mug. It was astonishing to see the heat not bother him, but I guess if you can breathe fire then hot water probably doesn't do much to your tongue. "Put us behind," he finally said, voice tired. "We were putting up some wards. We always draw them in chalk or spray chalk first before we put down the permanent markings, and the rain just came and—" He wiped empty air with his hand "—washed everything away."

"I'm sorry," I said, a frown working its way onto my face. "It must be hard to have so much progress just...disappear like that."

Yoryn shrugged, studying the shiny surface of his tea. "It happens sometimes. Wasn't the first, won't be the last, but yeah, it's frustrating."

"How's the town coming along anyway?" I plopped myself back down on the couch.

He set his mug down before disappearing behind a changing screen. It was plain and cream-colored with a small simple pattern of leaves on it. Originally, it was in my bedroom, but since that has a door, I moved it out here so he'd have a space to change clothes without me seeing. I could hear the shift and plop of wet clothing falling to the floor.

"It's looking good," Yoryn said. "Library's just about finished. We've got most of the physical items in a storage unit. We'll shelve them once the building's done and the shelves are installed. There's a diner that's basically finished. We've still got to set up import schedules with a few different witch supply companies. They'll teleport or portal regular supplies to the island, so the food will be pretty fresh. There's also a grocery store, a liquor store, and a tailor too."

I snorted. That sounded a little too fancy. "Why a tailor?"

I could see the vague outline of Yoryn's shoulders. The lighting inside my treehouse was dim, so it was close to impossible to see anything on the other side without a bright light directly behind it. "Apparently, it's more cost-effective to have personalized clothing than trying to put an outlet store out here. I didn't look into it myself, but it's not like I've got a degree in business. So, I'm gonna leave it to the guys in charge."

"Hey, fair enough," I reasoned. "So, what else is there?"

"There'll be a few magic supply stores—" And he was cut off as lightning struck and a huge clap of thunder sounded at almost the exact same time. It sent a flash of blue-white light through the cracks of my shutters, briefly illuminating his figure through the screen. It was only for a moment, but it was enough for the image to be burned into my eyes. He had a great body, that was obvious even through his clothes, but the image I saw was mouth-watering. The curve of his round ass, the muscles of his thighs. His naked silhouette was a work of art, and my heart skipped like a scared rabbit's in my chest.

I hissed as, distractedly, I tilted my mug too far to the side, spilling hot tea on my thigh. Thankfully, I was wearing shorts, so I didn't stain anything. "Fuck," I mumbled quietly, rubbing at the spot and setting down my mug before I could do more damage.

"It's getting pretty bad, huh?" he said, finally emerging in a tight tee and sweatpants.

"It'll be over soon," I promised. I knew it in my gut. "It'll come down pretty hard for a while, but it'll be clear again before the day's up."

He stared at me for a moment, and I wanted to squirm under the redness of his gaze. He had this intensity to him, to his eyes. It was like he understood things faster, at a deeper level than anyone else I knew. It was like just a sentence was enough for him to read me, to pick me apart like a puzzle. I felt studied under his gaze, and I didn't hate it.

"Can't get too comfortable, then," he said with a sigh. "I'll head back out once it clears." He picked up his mug again, sitting down on the other end of the couch. I thought about scooting closer, cuddling while the rain pattered on the roof above us, but that was way too familiar territory.

I thought about the way he held me after my nightmare. We didn't talk about it, and there was a heaviness ever since. It was like we crossed some kind of invisible boundary. Then again, I don't think most people asked the houseguest they barely knew to sleep next to them shortly after meeting them. We'd barely reached a point of getting along, and I had to go and fuck it up by being a needy bird with nightmares and baggage.

"You okay?" Yoryn finally said. His eyebrows were pinched, and his head was tilted to the side like a dog's.

I smiled at him, and it was only half-forced. "Yeah, sorry, I just got lost in thought." I cleared my throat and drank some tea to buy myself time. "Tell me more about your work. Any coworkers you want to complain about?"

He barked out a laugh, and a real grin took over my face. "Maybe," he said with a wry smile. "There's this guy I work with, total dickwad."

"Ooh," I said, snuggling deeper into the couch. I poked him with a sock-clad foot. "Tell me more."

"His name's Sacha—"

"Wait! Harpy? White hair? Osprey wings?"

He nodded, looking shell-shocked. "Yeah...you know him?"

"He's a total creep!" I groaned, leaning back against the couch. "He won't leave me alone."

Yoryn's expression was serious as he looked at me. "Do I need to 'talk' to him?"

I shook my head, a little flustered. "It's not that bad, but he's convinced I'm going to date him. I've tried being nice about it, but he refuses to get the hint that I'm not interested."

"Maybe you need to be mean about it," Yoryn suggested.

I laughed at that. "Wow, you really don't like him, do you? I didn't realize he'd also be a pain at work. Why do you not like him?"

"He's a bit of a know-it-all," Yoryn said. "He thinks he knows everything about anything, and he's got this...savior complex. He needs to solve everyone's problems and save the day. It's frustrating. He just ends up doing more harm than good." He straightened on the couch and leaned forward, eyes fiery. "Today, he tried 'fixing' one of our wards, only to fuck it up and set us behind." Yoryn shook his head. "It's why we didn't finish before the rain started. He also got that wrong. He said it wouldn't rain until tonight." He rubbed at his buzzed head, and I frowned. Sacha should've known about the rain. Why would he sabotage their work intentionally? Unless...Was he trying to make the SDF look bad? "I'm trying not to be mean. I get the urge to impress people, especially new coworkers. I just wish he'd tone it down."

"Yeah, Sacha doesn't do 'toning it down'," I murmured. "He tried a mating dance with me before he even knew my name." My tea was gone, so I stood and moved toward the sink. "As if I'd do a mating ritual with a complete stranger."

"Mating dance?" He was doing that cute head tilt again. "I don't know much about Harpy courting rituals. What does it entail?" He had this look, the kind I only ever saw on the faces of academics. It made me smile. If I could just put him in a tweed jacket and give him a pair of glasses, he'd look the part.

"Well, mating dances are what Harpies do to secure a lifelong mate." I turned on the faucet and rinsed my mug. "They vary by couple and individual, but there are some standard moves. It's a lot of wing movement and flying acrobatics."

"What do you do if your mate can't fly?"

I paused at that. "I'm...not sure." Had I ever seen an injured Harpy participate in a mating dance? I've definitely never seen any interspecies ones. "I suppose they can still be done on the ground like human dances if one of the partners can't fly, but it's not something I've ever seen."

"Well, what would you do?"

I turned back to Yoryn. His elbows were propped on his knees, and he was studying me. Fat raindrops clattering on the roof filled the silence. "If I'm being honest," I said softly, barely audible over the rain. "I've never really thought about my own mating dance." I shook my head, a sad smile forming on my face. "I'm not exactly the cream of the crop here." I shrugged, hoping to shed some of the awkwardness. "I've resigned myself to a life of solitude," I said haughtily, hoping to break the sudden tension with a joke.

But Yoryn kept looking at me with that studious, eager-to-learn look on his face. "But if you had an ideal mate, and an ideal dance. What would it be like?"

I found myself thinking about it. Usually, I wouldn't let myself. But there was something about another person asking that made it okay to fantasize, to be a little selfish. "My partner leads," I blurt before I can stop myself. I turn back to the sink and busy myself with washing my cup so I don't have to look at him. "They ask me to dance, and they take the lead, at first, because they know I'd be nervous." It's easy to let a smile build on my face as I let my imagination run wild. I don't mention that my ideal mate looks a little something like Yoryn. "It's close to a rumba, but we use our wings, or just my wings, to accent the dance moves. And we're alone together because I hate crowds. Hell, maybe we switch who leads." I place my cup on the drying rack to my right. "I like the idea of being equals, of being respected like that."

"Sounds romantic," Yoryn says softly.

"It's silly is what it is," I say with an almost bitter laugh. "Good luck finding a Harpy that'll have me. I'm not pleasant enough to be so demanding, especially with small wings like mine."

"Who says you have to mate a Harpy?" And that gets me to look at him. His eyes are intense in a way I've never seen before. I'm half convinced he's going to confess his love to me, to get down on one knee then and there and ask me to dance. I blink the thought away, and he keeps talking. "You're a kind soul," he says. "You put up with a lot from me." And that's an amused smile I spot on his face. It puts a matching one on my face, too. "You're allowed to ask for a lot, especially from someone you'll be with for life. And if you ask me," he says, a slight flush on his cheeks, "you deserve someone who wouldn't mind the effort."

Stunned into silence, I was helpless to do anything but stare at him as the rain poured down around us.