Chapter Text
This wasn’t the first time Winter had had Moon and Qibli both visit him in Sanctuary. Far from it, in fact. What made this particular visit different from past ones, however, what made him feel a bit less enthusiastic about seeing them now, were the dreams he’d been having.
Specifically, the dreams he’d had of all three of them engaging in a lot of… incredibly scandalous things together. At first, they just featured Moon, but after many regular visits from him, seeing him semi-frequently and just idly thinking about him, Qibli somehow became involved in those dreams as well.
Winter hadn’t had too much time to feel confused over this sudden twist before he was having dreams of all three of them… doing it. It was still embarrassing for him to think about.
Never before had the former Icewing prince been so grateful for the Skyfire bracelet on his wrist. He didn’t think he could bear it if Moon read his mind and found out about all that .
Winter managed to get through Moon’s and Qibli’s greetings and pleasantries without giving anything away easily enough (having the etiquette lessons of an Icewing prince helped with that), and saw them off as they made their way back to Sanctuary’s one and only inn.
Winter sighed, his emotions a mix of relief and regret at having to see them walk away again. Still, better to keep his distance until he could forget those damn dreams. That was the plan, at least.
Instead, a few days later, the Nightwing and Sandwing came over to tell him that their room had somehow been wrecked while they’d been out in the town (“How?!” The two dragons only shrugged), and not knowing too many other dragons in Sanctuary, they’d decided to come to Winter for help. The Icewing couldn’t help but groan internally.
On one talon, Winter didn’t really relish the thought of potentially having one of those dreams while the subjects of said dream were only one room away. On the other talon, they were right in that there wasn’t really anyone else for them to turn to in this situation. And anyway, he couldn’t countenance the thought of turning them away; not after the way he’d treated them both in the past.
So he allowed them to stay over at his house, thankful he did have a spare room for them. The downside was that said room was right next to his, which didn’t help with Winter’s apprehensions. Still, as long as his skyfire bracelet stayed on, it should be fine. The Icewing instinctively rubbed his wrist as he thought about that.
‘Just a few more days, and they’ll be gone, and I can go back to being humiliated in complete privacy.’ That was what Winter thought. He had no idea just how far away from that assumption things would turn out, so quickly.
It started when Winter found himself waking in the middle of the night, a night and day after Moon and Qibli started staying over. Waking up with the vestiges of a sex-related dream, and an erect and throbbing cock.
Winter’s thoughts were namely ‘Not again…’ and ‘Of course this had to happen now…’
This was, obviously, not the first time this had happened, but the fact that Moon and Qibli were sleeping in the next room over made it much more unwelcome. Still, the Icewing was aroused, and his member was demanding attention, too much for him to go back to sleep easily.
Gritting his teeth, Winter wrapped his talons around his dick, and began slowly stroking himself, painfully aware of his two guests next door, making sure to keep his pleasured sounds down.
It was still a bit of a struggle, the former prince not being used to having dragons actually stay over; dragons just came to him for assistance about something before heading back to their own homes once they were done. Having to suppress his moans as he masturbated was something Winter thought he’d left behind along with Jade Mountain Academy and the Ice Kingdom. Of course, there had to be exceptions to that rule.
Still, despite that, Winter made to prolong the moment; if his dick wanted so much attention so badly, he’d give it what it wanted.
So he made languid jerking motions with his talons at first, pumping it slowly, up and down, then gradually upping the pace of his talon’s movement, spurred on by the lingering memories of his dreams, until he finally got to a point where he couldn’t take the teasing pace anymore, abandoning it in favour of chasing his climax, jerking off faster and faster, until finally his orgasm overcame him.
In the midst of his high, the ex-prince couldn’t help but let out a low moan, “Moon… Qibli… Fuck–”
That was all he could manage to say coherently, everything else was wordless gasps and groans as his member twitched and shot ropes of cum all over himself.
Needless to say, the “post-nut clarity” (as Winter had been told it was called, even if he himself thought the name was more akin to one of Qibli’s bad jokes) hit him particularly hard, strongly bringing out the guilt in him of masturbating to two dragons who were not only dating each other, who he’d heavily wronged before, but were sleeping with only one thin wall separating them.
Speaking of which, Winter winced as he realised he’d cried out the couple’s names in the throes of passion, and prayed hard to the Three Moons and Great Ice Dragon that neither of them were awake to potentially hear that. Maybe Moon wouldn’t recognise the sounds, but something told Winter that Qibli most definitely would, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know how the Sandwing would react.
Shaking those thoughts out of his head, Winter hastily cleaned up the mess and tucked himself back in, trying to fall asleep as soon as possible to get away from what he’d done faster.
So of course the Icewing found himself not sleeping after that for hours, so that by the time he had to get up for the day, he was bone tired as he reluctantly climbed out of bed and got out for breakfast.
He’d secretly been hoping he’d been early enough that Moon and Qibli would still be in bed, but, just his luck, there the two of them were, the Sandwing in the kitchen preparing the first meal of the day, and the Nightwing sitting at the dining table, watching him with a small smile on her face. It was a smile that had Winter’s heart ache a little bit, yearning for what could have been, but there wasn’t much he could do about that but try to move on.
Of course, moving on was a tad bit difficult when the same dragons he was trying to move on from kept showing up, and his mind kept conjuring up saucy images of them in his sleep, but Winter didn’t want to hurt or push them away again, especially when Moon and Qibli were clearly making an effort to not make him feel left behind after they’d graduated, what with him dropping out of Jade Mountain early.
As if sensing his presence, even with the skyfire on, Moon turned to see Winter standing a bit awkwardly in the doorway, her smile still on even as she switched focus.
“Good morning!” she chirped pleasantly, before noticing his rather dishevelled state. Her smile dropped slightly as she asked, “Did… did you sleep well last night?”
Winter gave her a curt response, “Well enough.”
Not giving her a chance to probe further, the Icewing glanced at Qibli as he worked the Icewing’s (obviously) barely used stove, flipping a (just as disused) pan over. “What are you doing?”
“Making some breakfast,” Qibli replied over his shoulder, “took some ingredients from your, uhh, what was it, icebox? Anyway, I took some leftovers from yesterday in there, as well as some of the food we had with us.” The Sandwing gave a quick, sheepish glance at Winter. “I hope you don’t mind, me and Moon were really hungry.”
The former prince shook his head. Once upon a time, he would’ve been outraged at the idea of any dragons pawing through his food without his permission like that, but Winter had stopped being that way a while ago. At least, he hoped he had. And anyway, he didn’t have the heart to scold Moon and Qibli for that. Or much of anything, to be honest.
So with that, Winter steeled himself and sat down for breakfast with the two. Thankfully, neither dragon seemed to want to ask him more about his sleep, or lack thereof, and it wasn’t too long before breakfast was served, raw hawk for him as opposed to the cooked and marinated hawk for Moon and Qibli. At least the Sandwing had been self-aware enough to leave him a cold version.
Turning to look over to him as he ate, the Sandwing gave him a once-over. “You know, you don’t look so good, Pri– buddy. Have you really been sleeping well?”
So much for not asking questions.
“I told you, I’m fine,” Winter replied shortly, hurriedly stuffing his mouth with more hawk before he could be asked if he was sure.
As soon as he was done eating, Winter wasted no time in rushing out the door, telling Moon and Qibli that they were “free to do whatever” while he was at work, the two of them no doubt wondering what was up with him. The ex-prince tried not to think about how they’d interpret the last part he said.
Instead, he almost immediately threw himself completely into his work as soon as he got there, studying the scavengers’ movements and actions and taking note at regular intervals with more vigour than usual. At least nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary in that regard, based on what he’d seen previously. And if anyone else at work thought he was acting strangely, they didn’t speak up about it.
Unfortunately, there was only so long he could work, and by sundown, he was persuaded (read: forced) to head back home for dinner. Winter, of course, didn’t, couldn’t, explain his reluctance to head back home to his co-workers, but due to the fact he was extremely exhausted now, thanks to having less sleep than usual and relentlessly working the whole day, even skipping lunch, Winter finally decided to head back.
Unsurprisingly, Moon and Qibli were waiting for him back at his house, preparing dinner when he stepped through the front door.
“Welcome back,” Moon greeted him warmly, even though it was tempered by her slightly concerned expression. “How was work?”
“Work was… alright,” Winter slowly replied.
“That’s great to hear, bud,” beamed Qibli. “We were just waiting for you before we got started on dinner.”
The Icewing had to suppress a wince at that; another meal with Moon and Qibli. However, he couldn’t deny he was incredibly hungry, caught up as he was at work.
As if to punctuate that point, his stomach loudly growled.
“Alright, I could use some food,” Winter muttered sheepishly.
“Yeah, you sound like you need it,” Qibli agreed, looking slightly impressed at how loud that growl was.
“Did you even eat, Winter?”
Trying not to grimace at hearing Moon say his name so sternly, and flashing back to how her personality and assertiveness had changed overtime, the Icewing sheepishly replied, “I… might have been a bit… busy at work…”
“Winter!” Another wince to hide there. “You shouldn’t do that, that isn’t good for you!” Moon admonished him.
“Yeah, bud, that’s not healthy,” the Sandwing chimed in. “We need to get some food for you, right now.”
The two of them wasted no time in ushering Winter to the dining room, chiding him for not eating earlier all the while, making him sit down at the table while Qibli took the opportunity to start cooking for them again.
The former prince didn’t really know how to react to the situation, with how quickly things were suddenly going, so he simply went along with it and silently sat down as Qibli started up the oven, loading it with fresh firewood and breathing flames onto the logs.
As the fire got going, the Sandwing took out several ingredients, like some meat and herbs, from the icebox, mixing and kneading them together.
As Qibli warmed up for the cooking, Moon took the time to examine him with a critical eye, before asking, “Long day at work?”
“You could say that,” Winter answered as neutrally as possible.
The Nightwing gave him a look, but she didn’t ask any further, Winter feeling relieved for that.
Soon enough, the stove was hot enough for the Sandwing to start cooking up dinner, this time incorporating some animals he and Moon seemed to have caught earlier. A short time after, the aroma of herb-marinated roasting meat permeated through the air again, a scent the Icewing wasn’t quite used to in his own house. At least the Sandwing was leaving aside more cold meat for him.
Winter watched as Qibli rather gracefully moved to prepare and cook their meal, his swift and practised movements speaking of great experience at cooking.
Noticing how the Icewing was observing Qibli at work, Moon told him, “He insists on cooking most meals for us, and he’s gotten really good at it, if I have to say so; almost can’t get enough of his cooking!”
“Anything for you, darling,” the Sandwing chirped over his shoulder, a wide smile on his face. “And besides, I actually enjoy this a lot!”
“Is that so?”
Winter made sure to keep his voice level, but inside, he was aching again at the reminder that these two were in an undoubtedly happy relationship, an incredibly happy one. As touched as he was at their efforts to cook him food when he needed it, their concern for his well-being, he knew that was just the type of dragons they were; kind, caring, compassionate, empathetic, almost to a fault, and the Icewing knew painfully well he wasn’t like that, not really.
He had to admit to himself that Moon and Qibli were a far better match for each other compared to if Winter got together with either of them. A relationship with himself included wouldn’t work; the ex-prince had seen what had happened when he tried to get close with both of them, and he wasn’t willing to get his hopes up again.
If only his damn mind would accept that fact and stop constantly coming up with those vivid wet dreams!
‘I need to stop thinking about this!’
Abruptly standing up, Winter stiffly walked over to his icebox and pulled out a pair of wine bottles, reaching around Qibli to open a cabinet and grabbing three goblets from it. Returning to the table, he poured the chilled liquid into each cup, pushing them around the table roughly to where each dragon was, or would be.
He made to drink, raising the cup to his mouth in a familiar motion, before Moon suddenly grabbed his wrist.
“Winter, what are you doing? You can’t drink on an empty stomach!”
“Yeah, that’s a bad idea,” Qibli chimed in, “You’d get really drunk, really quickly. Like, really, really drunk. Not to mention violently sick.”
‘That’s the plan,’ Winter thought, but didn’t say it aloud.
“Apologies for that, it’s just… work has been stressful, you know? Really stressful.” He went for that as an excuse.
“Yeah,” Qibli agreed. “Some days, there’s sooo much paperwork for me to go through that I wish I could have a drink to make it more bearable; Thorn always tries to pick up as much slack as she can, but I always tell her she has better things to do elsewhere, that I can handle some desk work.”
Moon nodded along, her face stretched into a grimace, clearly remembering something… unpleasant, to say the least.
“You really should take some time off, both of you; working yourselves to exhaustion really doesn’t help anyone, least of all you.”
“Don’t worry, Thorn’s already on my case about that,” Qibli reassured her, an easy smile on his face that had Winter avert his eyes before his bashful expression could raise questions.
“You should take it easy too, Winter,” Moon turned to him. “You’re a dragon too, and every dragon needs to take a break at some point.”
‘I don’t want to,’ the Icewing thought, almost petulantly. ‘I want to forget about how much we hurt each other. How much I hurt you. How much I still hopelessly long for you, both of you, even after everything.’
Aloud, he only replied, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You better,” Moon mock-sternly warned him as she slowly let go of his wrist.
Winter couldn’t help but smile a bit at her tone, before quickly wiping it away. He couldn’t get too comfortable; this was just the way they treated most dragons, after all, and he was no exception, despite their past experiences.
Thankfully, the food was ready not long after. The Icewing couldn’t say anything much about the flavours for his own meal, but from the delighted sounds Moon was making, it seemed she was enjoying it a lot. Qibli was looking at her lovingly as she ate, his soft smile enough to make Winter look away again.
How he so badly wished that smile was aimed at him in more than a friendly gesture now, when he’d once thought that it was a sign of a dragon that thought too much of himself. He knew better now. Knew better, and too late. And the worst part was that, for the most part, he had only himself to blame for that.
He had nothing, now. No love, next to no family, his tribe and homeland were distant to him, and all he did these days was sit around, examining scavengers, or “humans”, as they called themselves, in the middle of nowhere, helped by all the other dregs and rejects of society. It may have been his dream hobby, a great passion of his, to study scavengers so much, so closely, but it felt utterly hollow on its own. He had gambled, hard, and lost almost everything he’d cared about in return. Scavenger research felt like a poor consolation prize, in comparison.
As the ex-prince had turned away, he caught sight of his reflection in the wine he’d poured for himself. The visage that faced him was… melancholic, to say the least. Drained, exhausted, even a little… depressed.
Staring at the dark red liquid, the Icewing in it staring back, seeing how hurt and vulnerable he looked in that moment, the reasons for that hurt and vulnerability sitting at the same table he was… Winter made a decision.
Hurriedly finishing his food, and taking the chance while Moon and Qibli were distracted with each other, the Icewing downed and poured multiple cups of wine in rapid succession. By the time the couple noticed what was happening and tried to stop it, the ex-prince was already feeling woozy, but he was still able to ward off the Nightwing and Sandwing’s efforts to get him to stop drinking and pouring more wine for a time.
After who knew how many cups of wine, and after the Icewing was well and truly drunk, one of them– Winter didn’t know who– finally managed to grab his wrist and force him to drop his goblet, while the other grabbed the wine bottles, taking them to who knew where.
Winter wouldn’t remember many details of that moment afterward, save for a few flashes of him yelling something at his two guests, the feeling of tears running down his cheeks. Then, it was him trying to, unsteadily, walk back to his bedroom, before having to lean against a wall for support with how much his head was swimming.
He pushed himself off the wall, trying to keep walking, and was surprised by the feeling of two warmer bodies pressing up against both his sides, looking up to see Moon and Qibli propping him up, helping him slowly make it to his bedroom. He didn’t remember if he’d said anything to them, but he did remember their expressions; full of guilt and sorrow. What for, the Icewing couldn’t fathom at the time, but he could also recall feeling those same emotions when he saw them.
After that… Winter knew no more, as his alcohol-addled brain chose that exact moment to completely black out on him for the last time.
Winter was shaking as he watched Moon slowly lick the length of his cock on one side, while Qibli expertly worked his own tongue on the other, travelling from base to tip and back, their combined efforts resulting in unbridled amounts of pleasure shooting up Winter’s body, making him shiver.
It wasn’t the first time Winter had had this dream, and yet, something about this one felt… off to him.
Their eyes were… less bright somehow, and their expressions were far less euphoric and sensual than before. More… disappointed in him.
It was a look Winter was painfully familiar with. What he didn’t get was why it was now his two lovers looking at him like that.
“Moon? Qibli? What’s wrong?”
At least, that’s what he wanted to ask them, but a sudden lump in his throat choked off what he was trying to say.
The two of them stood up suddenly, stopping their ministrations and staring at him with those so, so disappointed and distant eyes.
He tried to ask them again, but his throat acted up once more; even worse now, there were tears flowing from his eyes.
Slowly, the two of them shook their heads, before turning around and heading out of the room.
Winter tried to get up, to hold them back, his mouth opening to try and call them, but his body had become paralysed, unable to move, and his voice still refused to work, forcing Winter to watch helplessly as the two dragons he loved the most, the two dragons he wished to be with, turned their backs on him, their eyes cold with contempt, and left him.
Left him alone, again.
Waking up was an ordeal, to say the least.
Opening his eyes, the Icewing groaned, his throat feeling rather gravelly, and covered his eyes from the sunlight coming through his window, the light giving him a truly painful migraine, along with a strong bout of nausea.
Fighting to keep his stomach down, Winter slowly sat up.
He was in his bedroom, in his bed, which was… something, he supposed. It might have been worse; he could have woken up with Moon and Qibli. He shook his head at thought; those two weren’t so foolish as to bring a drunken Winter into their bedroom.
Sitting there, he tried to recall what happened last night, what had had him sporting what felt like a massive hangover. When he did remember, the former prince buried his face in his talons in abject embarrassment.
To think he’d try to get himself drunk in front of Moon and Qibli, and to think he’d actually succeeded. He may not have remembered what he said to them, but it probably wasn’t anything good. And what little of that dream he remembered… the more he could forget about that, the better.
Rubbing his eyes in frustration, Winter’s palms came away with dried bits of tears all over them. The Icewing hissed. As if getting drunk in front of Moon and Qibli wasn’t bad enough, he’d been crying too. What about, the ex-prince didn’t think he wanted to know or remember at the moment.
Grumbling, Winter carefully got out of bed, trying not to wince at his hangover-induced headache as he gingerly stepped up to his door.
Opening it a touch, he tried to listen for any signs of the Nightwing and Sandwing being awake, and indeed, he caught the sounds of them talking in the living area, though it was too indistinct to really make out. However, Winter had no doubt they were discussing last night. Discussing him .
Swallowing, the Icewing silently shut the door and retreated further into his room.
He could already see it; their pitying gazes and hollow reassurances, the promises that they couldn’t possibly keep, him stubbornly, almost fearfully holding back all the true reasons for his sorrow. And most of all, the embarrassing, shameful, even taboo secret that was him greatly lusting over them on top of his heartache for the two.
No, Winter didn’t feel like dealing with that at all, but he had no choice in that; they were still stuck with each other for another 3 days, and Moon and Qibli were sure to want answers about what happened last night. Answers Winter wasn’t sure he was willing to give.
However, there was one thing Winter could do to delay that inevitable conversation.
Grabbing the essentials he needed for the day, the Icewing slowly and silently slinked his way out of his bedroom window, and onto his backyard; thank the Moons his bedroom window wasn’t facing the street, otherwise he might’ve taken his chances of having an awkward morning with Moon and Qibli then and there.
Winter wasted no time, hurrying over to his workplace and getting away from his house (from the two dragons in it) as quickly as he could, not caring if he looked less than stellar at the moment.
On the way to work, he made sure to grab some light breakfast and plenty of water for his dry throat; it wasn’t much, but it would hopefully tide him over until lunch.
Considering his frazzled state of mind, the lingering effects of his hangover, and just his general stress about everything, it probably wasn’t surprising that it was well after he’d started work that Winter noticed his Skyfire bracelet was missing, and froze.
‘Shit…’ was all Winter could think, ‘shit, has my mind been open this whole time?’
The prospect that his mind had been completely unguarded for who knew how long was frankly terrifying for Winter.
Sure, Moon probably hadn’t been trying to read his mind, but considering how frantically he’d been thinking this morning and, depending on when the bracelet came off, how drunk he was last night, it meant that Moon might have still heard some of the thoughts he hadn’t meant for anyone to know, least of all her. It meant Moon, and by extension Qibli, knew what had had him acting up last night, and all the underlying emotional baggage beneath that.
It meant that the two of them had even more of a reason to be repulsed and revolted by him. Even more of a reason to leave him alone.
He banged his head on his desk, and groaned with frustration and no small amount of panic and despair.
‘This evening will certainly be a memorable one,’ Winter thought ruefully, before the reality of the consequences began to sink in again. ‘I am so… so screwed.’
A knock came at his office door, before opening to reveal Riptide, his second-in-command. Judging from the serious look on his face, Winter felt he was about to have a stern talking to. What for, he wasn’t sure.
“Winter,” the Seawing greeted him.
“Riptide.”
“Winter, look, I… just wanted to let you know that… well, a lot of us have seen how…” The Seawing paused, clearly trying to tell him something that might hurt Winter’s feelings without actually hurting his feelings.
Winter sighed, and answered for him, “I know, I look terrible today, Riptide, no need to be so polite about it.”
“Oh… I mean, alright then,” Riptide said, relieved. “Well, seeing how… unkempt you are, everyone here, myself included, have decided that it’s best for you to head back home early.”
Winter had to blink, almost not believing what he was hearing for a moment. “Head back… early?”
“You heard me,” Riptide replied firmly. “You’re not well today, Winter, and you’ve been working yourself ragged for the past few days. You need a break, seriously.”
Winter tried to protest, only to falter as he realised his subordinate had a point. From an objective standpoint, Winter really did need some time off, based on what Riptide and the others would have seen. And of course, Winter couldn’t say why he didn’t want to go home, nor did he want to. Sighing, the Icewing realised he had no other choice.
“Alright, alright… I’ll take a day off, if you insist.”
“We do,” the Seawing said sincerely. “It’s no good if you keep exhausting yourself like this, Winter, or if you try working in your condition right now; every dragon needs to rest at some point, you know?”
“I do, I do…” Winter muttered, remembering a certain Nightwing’s similar words from last night.
Three Moons, this was going to be a long day-off to get through…
“Well, I suppose I’d better go now.”
“I’d say that’s for the best, yeah,” Riptide agreed.
Sighing internally, the Icewing got up, walked out and started heading back home, the sun still high in the sky. “See you tomorrow, Riptide.”
“You too, Winter. Rest well.”
‘I doubt I’ll be resting well today, but I appreciate the sentiment.’
As he made his way back, Winter couldn’t help the apprehension building up through his body, now that he was walking toward what would probably become an interrogation for him. An extremely personal and embarrassing one, at that. The Icewing swallowed.
He could only hope that Moon and Qibli went easy on him as soon as he got back. Hey, an Icewing could have high hopes, couldn’t he?