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Even after all they’ve been through on Amphoreus, Caelus still can’t quite get used to Dan Heng’s new look.
Sure, it’s not quite as big a difference as his Vidyadhara transformation, but it’s not like Dan Heng had stayed in that particular form for very long. He’d reverted back to his normal self as soon as they’d left the Xianzhou, his translucent horns disappearing like they’d never been there in the first place. Now, Caelus is pretty sure that Dan Heng wouldn’t be able to get rid of his new dromas horns even if he wanted to, unless he chopped them off or something.
(Caelus hopes he doesn’t do that. They look nice on him.)
The biggest adjustment, though, is the tail. Not that Caelus has an issue with it or anything! It’s actually pretty funny to see the way Dan Heng unconsciously swishes it around when he’s annoyed, or how he uses it to hold his place in whatever book he’s reading when someone (usually Caelus) interrupts his deep dive into the archives.
No, the problem is…
“Hey Caelus, can you help me with these boxes?” Himeko calls from the hallway.
“Sure!” Caelus replies.
He gets up from where he’d been idly browsing the Edo Star files in the archives, but a light tug at his foot stops him before he can take a step forward. Frowning, he looks down.
On the floor in front of him is Dan Heng’s tail, the end of it curled lightly around his ankle. Caelus blinks, then tries to pull himself free, but the tail only tightens its grip.
“Um… Dan Heng?” Caelus says.
“Mm?” Dan Heng turns another page in his book, deeply engrossed.
“Mind letting me go?”
Dan Heng looks up, confused. “What are you —”
His gaze falls down to Caelus’s ankle, trapped in place.
“Oh!” Dan Heng retracts his tail with startling speed. “Sorry. I don’t… I didn't mean to do that.”
“All good, bro!” Caelus says with a smile, giving him a double thumbs up.
Dan Heng blinks at him, then quickly looks away, picking his book back up. Caelus almost thinks he can see a light dusting of pink on his cheeks, but that’s impossible. Dan Heng doesn’t blush.
“Go and help Himeko,” Dan Heng mutters.
“Roger that!”
***
The thing is, it doesn’t stop there.
During mealtimes in the dining car, Dan Heng’s tail absently coils around Caelus’s calf under the table, going unnoticed by either of them until Caelus tries to get up. When Caelus shows him his latest pulls in his favorite gacha game, there’s a light touch on his shoulder as Dan Heng’s tail tugs him in closer for a better look. Once, while they were bracing themselves on the couch during a warp jump, Dan Heng’s tail had secured itself over Caelus’s lap like a makeshift seatbelt. Dan Heng doesn’t seem to realize what he’s doing until it’s already happening — as soon as he notices it, he pulls his tail away immediately, mumbling quick apologies. Caelus doesn’t really mind it, though. It’s fun seeing Dan Heng get embarrassed.
Naturally, it doesn’t take long for the others on the Astral Express to notice, but Welt and Sunday mostly don’t comment on it. Caelus sometimes catches Himeko hiding a smile behind her hand, but she doesn’t say much either. March, on the other hand, gets a real kick out of ribbing Dan Heng about it any chance she gets.
“How come no one else gets the privilege of being felt up by your tail, huh?” she teases once. “What makes Caelus so special?”
“March!” Dan Heng hisses. There’s that hint of pink on his cheeks again, so faint that Caelus almost thinks he’s imagining it. “It’s not like that.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” March laughs, giving him an exaggerated wink.
It all comes to a head when they make a stop at the Xianzhou Luofu. Welt says it’s mostly to refuel and replenish their supplies, but Himeko also wants to consult Fu Xuan about any possible dangers that lie ahead at Edo Star. Given how underprepared they were for Amphoreus, it makes sense to be more careful this time around. The supplies shopping and refueling goes by much faster than expected, though, so Welt sets them free to do whatever they want for the rest of the day. Which is how Caelus finds himself at Aurum Alley, looking at food stalls with Dan Heng.
March had actually been the one to drag them here, insisting on trying to find some crazy new street food she’d seen in Guinaifen’s videos. Funnily enough, they actually run into Guinaifen and Sushang not long after they arrive, and after a few minutes of the two girls fawning over March’s new clothes, Guinaifen whisks her away to be a part of her latest vlog. That leaves Caelus and Dan Heng to explore the rest of the street fair without her, but that’s alright. More than anything, Caelus is just glad to see March acting like her old self again with people other than the Astral Express crew.
“Ooh, berrypheasant skewers!” Caelus says, peering at the racks of candied fruit at a nearby stall. He turns to ask if Dan Heng wants one, only to find Dan Heng already buying them a skewer each.
Caelus happily crunches through the hardened sugar shell as they keep walking, the tart berries bursting in his mouth. Dan Heng looks more pensive, though, his own skewer going uneaten as he frowns at the ground.
“Whatcha thinking about?” Caelus asks, lightly bumping his shoulder with his own.
Dan Heng starts. “Oh, it’s nothing, I just —”
Out of the corner of Caelus’s eye, something moves in the shadows.
Before Caelus can even so much as reach for his lance, a sharp tug on his arm swiftly pulls him out of the way. As he stumbles backwards, he looks down and finds Dan Heng’s tail wrapped tightly around his wrist. Dan Heng himself is already in a fighting stance, spear out and ready.
“What the — put that away!” hisses a high-pitched voice from the dark alleyway. “You’re gonna get me caught if you make a scene!”
Dan Heng blinks. Then he sighs, straightening up and putting away his spear.
“Miss Bailu,” he says sternly. “You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.”
Bailu huffs as she walks out into the light. “I can’t believe you even saw me back there.”
“Hi Bailu!” Caelus waves. “Snuck out of the Alchemy Commission again?”
“Only because they never let me go to fun stuff like this!” Bailu pouts. She glances over at Dan Heng, eyeing the untouched berrypheaseant skewer in his hand. “Are you gonna eat that?”
Dan Heng obligingly hands over the skewer, and Bailu wastes no time digging in.
“Thanks, Dan Heng,” she chirps as she munches on the candied fruit. “By the way, I like the new transformation! I see you’ve finally got a tail now.”
Dan Heng’s eyes widen, and he looks over at Caelus, whose hand is still enveloped by his tail. Dan Heng pulls it away quickly, wrapping it around his own arm instead.
“Right,” Dan Heng mumbles. “It’s been… an adjustment.”
“Wait, maybe we should tell Bailu about how your tail is acting up recently!” Caelus says. “She might know what’s causing it.”
Dan Heng shakes his head, fast. “No, I don’t —”
“Acting up?” Bailu asks, curious.
“Yeah, it’s always grabbing me by accident!”
As Caelus details Dan Heng’s various tail incidents over the past week, Bailu’s eyebrows creep up higher and higher on her forehead, until they practically disappear into her hair.
“So yeah, we’re not sure what’s going on,” Caelus finishes. “Also, it only ever happens with me for some reason! But maybe it’s because Dan Heng’s still not used to having a tail?”
He looks over at Dan Heng, who’s refusing to make eye contact with anyone for some reason.
“That certainly could be part of it,” Bailu says slowly, a little smile growing on her face. “You know, the Vidyadhara have a saying about tails.”
“Really?” Caelus says.
Bailu nods. “Yeah, it goes like —”
“Lady Bailu?”
Caelus glances over his shoulder and spots a group from the Alchemy Commission.
“Drat, they’ve found me!” Bailu swears.
“Lady Bailu, get back here!” yells one of the workers.
Bailu waves. “Gotta go, see you guys later!”
With that, Bailu runs off, and Caelus watches as various Alchemy Commission workers chase after her.
“May the Aeons aid your escape,” Caelus says solemnly.
Dan Heng pinches his nose. “Let’s go back to the market, Caelus.”
“Okay!”
***
It doesn’t take them long to explore the rest of the market, buying a few snacks on the way. Dan Heng mostly stays quiet as they wander around, and Caelus ponders different ways to get him to talk about what’s on his mind. His friend is a tough nut to crack even at the best of times, but that doesn’t mean Caelus won’t give it a shot anyway!
But in the end, it happens without him even trying.
While Dan Heng is busy buying a souvenir for March, Caelus sneaks off to a nearby alleyway to check out some of the garbage cans. Sue him, he’s found some cool stuff in the trash before! Plus, these particular ones were really calling his name. Dan Heng hates it when he does this, though, so he has to make it —
“Caelus!”
Caelus jumps at the sound, dropping the trash can lid on the ground. He tries to act casual as he turns around, putting his hands on his hips.
“Oh, hey Dan Heng!” he says nonchalantly. “I definitely wasn’t rooting through the garbage or anything. Nope.”
Dan Heng looks at him for a long moment, then shakes his head. “Sometimes I wonder why I’m still friends with you.”
Caelus pouts. “Aw, you don’t mean that, do you?”
Dan Heng sighs. “Just get out of the trash, please.”
Caelus hangs his head like a sad dog and heads towards Dan Heng. But as he’s walking, his foot gets caught on the edge of the fallen trash can lid, and he trips, hard.
“Yikes!” Caelus manages to get out, bracing himself for a tumble into a pile of garbage.
Suddenly, something coils around his stomach and yanks him forward. Before he can even blink, Caelus finds himself pressed into a warm chest, a pair of hands landing on his waist to steady him.
“D — Dan Heng?” Caelus squeaks out.
“Sorry!” Dan Heng says, flustered. “I didn’t mean to — I’m trying to let you go, but it won’t —”
Caelus tries to pull away, but Dan Heng’s tail only tightens itself around Caelus’s hips, effectively trapping him in place. He can feel the warmth of Dan Heng’s quick breaths on his shoulder.
“Maybe we should sit down somewhere and wait it out?” Caelus suggests.
It’s the best plan they’ve got, so they find a nearby bench and sit down. Unfortunately, the whole wrapped-up-in-a-tail predicament means Caelus is stuck perched on Dan Heng’s lap, essentially straddling him, which isn’t much of an improvement.
Dan Heng makes a frustrated noise. “I’m so sorry about this, Caelus.”
“It’s okay,” Caelus reassures him. “It’s not your fault.”
Dan Heng shakes his head. “No, it is my fault. I was trying my best to get it under control, but…”
“Get what under control?” Caelus asks. Then, “Does this have something to do with what Bailu was saying? Something about a common Vidyadhara phrase?”
“Sort of,” Dan Heng says with a sigh. “The saying itself is, ‘the tail is the window to the heart.’”
“Which means…?” Caelus frowns, thinking hard.
“It’s part of the reason I didn’t like having my tail out in my other form,” Dan Heng says quietly. “Because no matter how much you try to hide your emotions or your thoughts, your tail will always betray what you’re really feeling.”
Caelus tilts his head. “And what you’re really feeling is related to me?”
“All this, it’s happening because…” Dan Heng bites his lip. “Because I missed you, Caelus.”
Caelus stares at him for a long moment, then the realization dawns.
“Oh, Dan Heng,” he says softly. “I really kept you waiting, didn’t I?”
After leaving Amphoreus, Dan Heng had flat-out refused to talk about all the time he’d spent waiting for Caelus to come, but Caelus should have known it was still weighing on him. How could it not?
“Now that you’re finally back, I just — I get nervous when you’re not by my side,” Dan Heng admits. “It’s ridiculous, I know. You’re your own person, and you can take care of yourself. But I just… I can’t help wanting to keep you close.”
Dan Heng knocks his head into Caelus’s chest, letting out another sigh. “I’m sorry. I really thought I had it all under control.”
Caelus threads a hand into Dan Heng’s hair, swallowing hard. “No, I’m the one who should be sorry. I shouldn’t have left you alone for so long.”
“It’s not your fault,” Dan Heng says, pulling away to look up at him. “And… you came back. That’s all that matters in the end.”
Caelus slides his hand down to Dan Heng’s cheek, cupping it gently in his palm. “No matter what happens, I’ll always come back,” he says. “You know that, right?”
Dan Heng’s piercing eyes meet Caelus’s. “Promise?”
“Promise,” Caelus vows.
Dan Heng holds his gaze for a second longer before he closes his eyes. “Okay,” he whispers.
Suddenly, the tight grip around Caelus’s waist slackens, and Dan Heng’s tail finally relinquishes him.
“Oh, great, talking it out worked,” Dan Heng says a little too loudly, the way he always does when he’s feeling awkward. “You can get off me now, C—”
Caelus leans in and kisses him.
Dan Heng’s lips are soft against his own, frozen as they are with surprise. But it only takes him a few seconds to come alive under Caelus’s mouth, one hand tugging Caelus in closer by the nape of his neck. Dan Heng’s other hand finds its way to the side of Caelus’s face, tilting his head down to deepen the kiss, and oh.
Caelus melts into Dan Heng’s touch, losing himself in the warmth of his mouth.
Eventually, he has to pull back, panting hard. Dan Heng looks equally wrecked, his face flushed red as he also catches his breath.
“So you can blush,” Caelus murmurs, more to himself than anything. He runs a thumb over Dan Heng’s cheek, fascinated. He’s got to make that happen more often.
“What was that for?” Dan Heng asks.
“Dunno,” Caelus admits. “Just felt like it.”
Dan Heng hums, leaning his head into Caelus’s palm. “Then… can I —?”
Click!
The two of them startle at the loud noise, heads whipping around to find the source.
“What the — March!” Dan Heng gasps.
March grins as she lowers her camera. “Oh, you lovebirds finally noticed me over here, did you?”
Caelus lunges for the camera, but March dances easily out of the way. Caelus topples over, very nearly bashing his face into the ground, but a shimmering green tail wraps around his torso and cushions his fall. There’s another click as March takes a second photo.
“Delete that right now!” Caelus yells.
“Make me!” March laughs.
Caelus and Dan Heng exchange looks.
“Get her!”
Together, they chase March all the way to the Express, laughing despite themselves.
All in all, it’s a good day.