A Dragon's Whimsies

Jack was terribly confused.

The source of his confusion was his idol and longtime crush, Chase Young, which, by itself, was not too out of the ordinary.

However, it became out of the ordinary upon the specific consideration of the actions by said dragonlord that had the genius confused in the first place.

It all began somewhere upwards of a month or two ago. Jack had been returning from an absence in the Xiaolin-Heylin circle that he had taken because of the horrid and embarrassing effects puberty had begun to wreak upon his body.

Of course, he had already entered puberty when he’d become involved in the mystical mess that surrounded the Shen Gong Wu, but it hadn’t really…done much to him. The albino had found out that the real flood of hormones had merely been delayed a year or so when, upon reaching sixteen years of age, he was struck down with severe acne, startling growth spurts, and several other typical puberty-related afflictions.

He always had been something of a late bloomer.

Perhaps it’d been a bit melodramatic to do so, but Jack had gone into hiding, of a sort. Both the monks and whatever ‘allies’ he had on the Heylin side already mocked him mercilessly; how much worse would it have gotten had he begun to show up to Showdowns looking like a greasy, pizza-faced tree?

He hadn’t wanted to find out. He didn’t feel he could take the juvenile teasing.

Conveniently, his parents had announced that they would be making their mansion in Germany their main home from now on, and that Jack was still welcome to remain in the mansion in China should he wish, but that they would prefer him to move to Stuttgart with them (‘with them’ being a relative phrase, as they naturally intended to never be home, but they would be keeping their favorite stuff in the German mansion instead of the Chinese one).

Jack, wanting to be nowhere near his enemies and tentative allies looking as he looked, had agreed. Besides, the time in Germany would give him an excuse to visit Nana Spicer, the ex-Nazi woman that’d first steered him towards the path of Evil and had most largely raised him in the stead of his MIA parents.

The time in Stuttgart had done him good. Nana had made it her official business to take the teenage genius under her wing and train him past the childish notions of Evil he’d had before and into real Evil. Like a drill-instructor, the octogenarian woman had taught him in a myriad of matters, which included, but weren’t limited to combat, weapons-usage, torture, and even flat-out murder.

Some might call her a crazy, demented old bat, but Jack called her a great fucking mentor, not to mention the only one that would actually teach him (the Heylin side could bitch, complain, and mock his incompetence all they wanted, but would any of them consent to pushing him past it and helping him to learn anything? The answer was a resounding, ‘Hell no’).

The training sharpened his mind and body and allowed him to feel comfortable in his own skin as an Evil genius as opposed to the wishy-washy insecurity of his younger days, not to mention the fact of the physical activity allowing him an outlet for the flood of testosterone that had overwhelmed him.

Moving past the acne and the awkward growth-spurts, at nineteen years of age, Jack boasted an impressive height of seven feet and two inches (‘freakishly tall’ ran in the family) with limbs that were long and elegant instead of graceless and gangly. His body was nicely-muscled and overall well-defined in a sleek, compact sort of build, and his face nicely added to the attractiveness it provided. The goth had officially lost any and all traces of baby-fat that still lingered, giving him a firm, masculine set of the jaw along with allowing him to pleasingly grow into his features.

He had become quite popular amongst the Deutsch meine Damen: it seemed that all it took to get them swooning and fawning over him was one glimpse of his handsome face and flawless, white complexion; a half-grin and a ruby-eyed wink if he wanted a few to squeal.

It was around then that Nana officially declared his training finished and suggested he go back to China to test out his new skills, or if nothing else, then simply to rub the fact of his maturation in the faces of those that’d mocked him.

This Jack found a capital idea and, giving his thanks to his father’s mother for all she’d done, he packed up his things and returned to the mansion in Chongqing.

The first Showdown he’d attended back in China was like a dream. He remembered so clearly how the monks had stared at him as if he were some sort of alien before asking who he was. Kimiko had asked, specifically; the fact that she was asking with dreamy eyes and near-drooling only made it better to firmly and confidently inform, “I’m Jack Spicer, Evil genius. Don’t tell me you forgot me already?”

The looks on their faces were beautiful, and things only got better when the actual Showdown began and he whooped their asses in a four-on-one physical fight, then proceeding to shoot Wuya in the foot with a concealed pistol when she appeared and attempted to seduce the Wu he’d won from him.

Jack was strong, intimidating, victorious, and cool in that Showdown, just as he’d always wanted to be, and he doubted he’d ever felt better about himself in his life.

And then…the second Showdown since his return had happened, and so began the Chase Young-induced confusion. Jack had gotten there before the monks, and so had easily taken the Wu for his own.

That was when Chase had shown up.

The man looked at him long and hard before declaring that he wouldn’t have believed it had he not seen it for himself. Apparently, Wuya had relayed the previous Showdown to him in detail and, of the things that he found unbelievable, one of them was that the albino had grown up handsome.

Jack had been tempted to blush and squeal like a woman at such a compliment from the overlord, but he’d admirably held himself in check and thanked Chase, instead. This, of course, brought up the topic of the goth’s newfound maturity, and eventually, the two men got to talking about just what Jack had been up to during his three-year absence.

It was both strange and exhilarating all at once to be having an actual conversation with his idol, and Jack had adored every minute of it.

Then, of course, the monks had to show up and ruin it.

They saw Jack holding the newly-activated Shen Gong Wu and didn’t even ask questions: they simply launched themselves at the young man, attacking him immediately.

Nana had trained him quite well back in Stuttgart, and naturally, he had been thoroughly prepared for situations in which he was thrown into combat with multiple enemies and with no warning.

He fended them off with his skills for awhile (one-handed, might he proudly add, with the Wu in his right), and then, just as he’d been reaching for his concealed pistol to end it, Chase had intervened on his behalf.

As it turned out, Evil, immortal overlords don’t really like it when their conversations are interrupted by impudent brats picking stupid fights.

In any case, the man had turned dragon and lunged at the monks, fangs bared in a snarl as he roared hatred at the Xiaolin. Obviously, they were soon fleeing in terror from the just-shy-of-a-solid-ton of claws, scales and teeth that was angry with them.

This done and the monks gone, the beast had reared up on its hind-legs, clearly intent on returning to human form. It took a slight whiff of the air…

…and froze utterly.

Chase, in his reptilian body, had sniffed for a few more moments; dropping to all fours once more in order to better investigate whatever it smelled. Soon enough, he judged that Jack was the source of the interesting scent and prowled closer to the young man, snuffling about his legs and feet like a bloodhound on a trail.

This was about where the weird part began.

The dragonlord’s long, snake-like tongue had flicked out at him several times, as if tasting the air around the goth.

Whatever it was that the air around Jack tasted like appeared to please the beast, and he made an odd sort of purring noise in the back of his throat, cocking his scaled head upwards to fix golden eyes with slit pupils upon the redheaded youth.

Jack was unnerved at this point, even despite the fact that he considered his cowardice to be a thing of the past. Then again…in the face of a dragon such as Chase, an apex-predator that, unlike most predators, was not a mindless animal and had the ability of cognitive thought; to think and strategize…

Even the bravest of soldiers or marines or what-have-you would’ve done precisely what the albino did: run.

Well…he didn’t so much run, as that likely would’ve engaged Chase’s predatory instincts and made him dragon-food, but he did hurriedly excuse himself and slowly inch away. The lizard followed him curiously for a few steps before the genius got the message that no matter how far he walked, Chase was not about to stay put and let him go away, upon which realization he activated his tried and true helipack and instead flew away.

Upon arriving home at the mansion, Jack had hidden his Wu away where no breaking-and-entering monks would find it and then went off to contemplate that strange business with Chase.

Why had he licked at him like that? Why had he been fascinated with his scent? Why had he seemed so…fixated on him?

No matter how hard the genius thought, he could turn up no answers and had decided to dismiss it; pretending it’d never happened with the knowledge that it would likely never happen again.

Unfortunately, Chase’s strange behavior did not, in fact, cease after that incident.

Some manner of hours later, just as night was beginning to fall, Jack heard noises coming from outside his mansion. Curious and perhaps just a bit nervous, the goth went to the window and threw open the curtains.

There, in the garden his bedroom overlooked, was Chase, still dragon-formed and roaring wordlessly up at the window. The roaring stopped the moment the youth parted the curtains, and for a few long-long moments, the reptile stared blankly up at him, not moving or making a sound.

After awhile of this, with Jack becoming more unnerved by the second, Chase tilted his head as if confused.

The genius had no idea what the dragonlord wanted or what he was doing here and, in his lack of knowing anything better to do, he raised his hand and waved stiffly, offering an unheard, ‘hi’ from behind the glass pane.

For some reason, this seemed to be what Chase had wanted, for his head perked and his tail began wagging back and forth slowly like a pleased dog before he stalked out of the garden altogether.

Jack had been relieved…until he went downstairs moments later to watch some TV and heard gentle scratching at the front door.

Knowing there was no one other than Chase who could be scratching and being a good deal more than simply anxious and annoyed at that point, the albino had given the frustrated call of, “Go away!”

The scratching had paused, almost uncertainly, and then one more hesitant scratch upon the door was made.

Jack had asserted, “No, Chase, go away!” and, though he felt very much like a pet owner yelling at an animal who’d just been let outside and yet already wanted in again, it had worked: the scratching stopped, and Chase had gone away.

The youth had wondered afterwards why the dragonlord hadn’t simply come in, anyways. His claws were sharp enough to cut through the door; his form was powerful enough to break it down…and yet, when Jack had told him ‘no,’ he’d gone away.

This, like the prior incident, was put out of the goth’s mind and forgotten, allowing him to go about the rest of his night in peace.

Things had been fine for some time, and no further incident had occurred.

Or, at least it was fine until the next Showdown the Evil genius attended.

At this particular mystical match, the Xiaolin had arrived there first and gotten the Wu. Jack had come mere moments later, and the monks had attempted to trash-talk him about not winning the Shen Gong Wu and how, now that it was in their righteous hands, he never would be getting it.

The goth had been in mid-retort about how he would get it when he was abruptly pounced upon and tackled to the ground by something hard and fast.

Upon regaining the breath that’d been knocked out of him, Jack realized it was Chase he was pinned under and began to struggle when he glanced towards the sky and saw the monks smugly flying off with the Wu.

His efforts, unfortunately, proved useless: Chase, even out of dragon-form as he was, happened to be stronger than he was and heavier what with the weight of his armor, and so despite the frantic fighting and squirming, the youth could not free himself.

Realizing this, he’d attempted to reason with the overlord as he was manhandled from his back to his belly, even as he kicked and wriggled within the powerful arms that felt like steel-bands. “Chase,” he’d frantically begged, “lemme go, they’re getting away!”

Chase, for his part, acted as if he hadn’t even heard the pleading words and finally succeeded in rolling the albino all the way over, then proceeding to hold him tightly to the ground without a word.

Jack had realized quite abruptly the suggestiveness of their position and had flushed a very delicate pink; struggling a little more. “Chase,” he’d whined in a slightly more subdued voice, “get off…It feels like…Just get off…”

The overlord paid no heed to the request and yanked Jack’s arms out in front of him, catching the teen’s booted ankles with his own and pulling his legs straight, as well.

This rendered Jack entirely helpless, and while it was a very vulnerable and frightening position to be in knowing it was Chase Young putting you in it…nothing happened.

With the goth’s struggling effectively stemmed at the source, the elder man simply held Jack where he was and pressed him dominantly into the ground.

The teen had finally begun to calm down at this realization, his pulse slowing and his breaths growing deeper in his uneasy relaxation…and then, Chase’s behavior had grown even weirder.

The dragonlord gently rested his chin on the goth’s head, breathing in the scent of the youth’s shampoo before just…rubbing his jaw amidst the soft nest of red hair.

Jack meeped at the odd sensation due to startlement, but a soft growl from Chase nipped this in the bud quickly.

Admittedly, it was weird, and Jack was soundly freaked out by the action, but…he couldn’t deny that it felt at least a little nice; that the strange nuzzling conveyed something almost like affection that was unendingly pleasant to feel.

Having no words to say to his idol and crush, the albino simply relaxed and allowed the man to do as he wished to him, which he then proceeded to do for a good twenty minutes.

Afterwards, Chase simply stood, allowing Jack to get to his feet, as well. The man glanced at him, nodded curtly, and was then gone, leaving the genius all by himself as he pondered, ‘WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?’

Like before, absolutely no answers came, and so, feeling weird and confused, Jack simply went home, intending to put the whole incident out of his mind again.

Unfortunately, once more, things got weirder.

It was sometime in the middle of the Chinese summer-heat when the next incident occurred. Due to his terrible luck, the air-conditioning in the mansion just ‘happened’ to break down, and in the forty minutes it had already taken his bots to begin work on fixing the thing (they’d informed him it would be a difficult job, as it looked as if it’d been clawed to pieces by a monster of some kind), the entire home had become something of a sauna.

Though he was extremely suspicious, he really had no choice, and the albino donned an old, black pair of swim trunks, grabbed a towel, and headed towards the indoor swimming pool.

He wasn’t too surprised to walk in and find Chase already there, gliding through the water skillfully in his alligator-like body.

“What the fuck are you doing in my pool, Chase?” the goth had demanded.

Chase poked his head a bit out of the water, looking very much like an alligator, indeed, as he inspected the intruder’s appearance and offered a pretty-sounding trill in approval of it.

Jack correctly took it to be admiration of his physical form in the just-a-pinch-too-tight swimming shorts and blushed, wrapping the towel he’d brought with him around himself in the way a woman would wear it so as to conceal as much of him as possible.

Chase had not liked this, and the scaly beast appeared to frown before dipping further beneath the water. His head and tail remained above the surface, but his midsection sunk down as he arched his back and then…well, he must’ve done something, because the water directly above his back began to sprinkle upwards in a beautiful display.

The goth was captivated by it; the little droplets of water that sprung up and danced in the air for a brief-brief moment before falling back down to rejoin the rest of the pool-water. It was lovely…

…but Jack really didn’t have time for this sort of thing right now.

He started to speak, half-asking, “What are you…” only to cut off and decide, “No. Just…no. I can’t deal with…whatever the hell you’re doing right now, Chase. It’s way too hot. I’m going to a public pool or something.”

And with that, the teen had turned and left the pool area, ignoring the noise of the pretty trill that sounded behind him, obviously meant to coax him back for a swim.

When he’d returned home, his bots had told him that the air-conditioner was repaired and, with a quick check to some of the security cameras, Jack was confident that there was no longer a humanoid dragon swimming around in his pool.

There had been about a month of nothing after that: no Chase stalking him or scratching at his door, no Chase at any Showdowns, and no Chase pinning him down to anything.

Jack had thought whatever the hell was up with the everlord was over.

He was wrong.

The next and, to date, the last encounter with the man had occurred last night.

Jack was tired: it’d been a long day of multiple Showdowns (the last two or three he’d lost due to exhaustion), and feeling justified in doing so, he crawled upstairs to bed and flopped down onto the mattress, flicking off the lights with a snap of his fingers. He didn’t even bother undressing himself or getting under the covers: he was only interested in sleeping.

That was when Chase had made his presence in the room known, straddling the youth’s waist and lying atop him; mimicking their positions from that one mid-Showdown encounter.

The goth tensed immediately, coming half-awake and going to struggle. Chase had put a stop to that by pressing the younger man firmly to the mattress and once more stretching Jack’s body into the vulnerable position.

Too tired to even want to bother, the youth hadn’t, and had gone limp in the overlord’s grasp.

A pleased hum sounded from the dragonlord and he’d bent, once more rubbing his jaw into Jack’s red hair, but this time, there was more. One of Chase’s hands released itself from holding slender, white wrists; one hand being sufficient to do the job of keeping them together.

It traveled down to the goth’s back and scratched. The goth grunted at the hardness of the scratch, feeling somewhat painful even through the leather of his trench coat. Gauging the reaction he received with that amount of pressure, Chase adjusted his next scratch so that Jack could still feel it through his clothing, but without pain.

This scratch was nice, and the youth sighed, the feeling pleasant to his tired, aching body.

The scratching continued rhythmically, syncing up perfectly with the chin-nuzzling, and the goth found himself utterly melting at how good it felt to be touched and fawned over as exhausted as he was.

The nuzzling had stopped abruptly, and just as Jack offered a groan of protest, a warm tongue swiped across his cheek.

He had tensed, as is the natural human response to an unwarranted lick, but he soon relaxed as the back-scratching resumed. Even when Chase licked him once more and then again, Jack remained relaxed, deciding the scratching was much too nice to be upset or grossed out over the licking.

Eventually, the combination of his hard day and the pleasant treatment from his idol and crush relaxed him to the point that his sleepiness was overwhelming: he drifted off right there, with a wicked, immortal dragonlord that had been acting somewhat unstable for the past month or so on top of him.

Jack had woken up the next morning, stripped down to his underwear and tucked into bed.

Confused and disoriented to the point that he refused to go through all this…whatever-the-hell-Chase-was-doing without any knowledge, he turned to the internet for answers.

A frown on his face and determination in his eyes, the genius typed in the URL of a search engine and then a list of all the strange behaviors Chase had been exhibiting lately.

The very first link on the page boasted of containing all of those things, and so the young man clicked it and began reading.

What he saw…was shocking.

The site that contained all of these behaviors claimed to be an internet-database of…lizard mating behaviors!

It described the very first incident, of tongue-flicking, as a technique used by male Komodo dragons to gain information about a female’s receptivity. It described roaring as a method used by alligators to attract mates, and…it even spoke of circumduction, a wave of a foreleg, to mean submission to a superior in bearded dragons.

So…in the beginning of all this, when Chase had sniffed at the air and then flicked his tongue out at the albino…he was smelling the scent of a potential adult mate and then checking said potential mate for receptivity. And when Chase had followed the genius home…he had roared at the window to attract a mate, and Jack had appeared, and then…he’d submitted to the dragonlord by waving.

That would explain why Chase had come to the door then, and why he’d left after being told ‘no.’ Jack remembered overhearing the elder man denouncing rape as a disgusting crime to Wuya, so it would make sense that he would be highly against engaging in it himself; despite the apparently conflicting signals Jack had given him.

The youth continued reading and discovered that in Mangrove Monitor Lizards, a characteristic of courting exhibited by males involved showing both physical and behavioral control over the female. That would explain the ‘holding him down’ thing…

The water display, as well, was apparently an American alligator-trick used for wooing females, called ‘water dancing.’ While a male partially-submerged himself, he used something called infrasound, which was too low for humans to hear, to vibrate the water just above his back so that it would come sprinkling upwards in that pretty way and attract a mate.

There was even record of the licking and back-scratching on the site, under additional Komodo courtship behaviors!

His genius brain taking quite awhile to process the whole thing, Jack closed the open window he had along with his laptop, placing it on his desk. He sat in his computer chair for a long, long moment, thinking over everything he’d just learned side-by-side with Chase’s odd behavior for the past two months.

So, he thought slowly, logically, Chase is courting me. Chase wants to…mate with me.

This knowledge finally seemed to hit him, and softly, Jack muttered, “…oh…” before sliding out of his chair and into a dead faint.

~~~~~~~~ Back to Xiaolin Showdown ~~~~~~~~

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