{Possible trigger warnings: thunderstorms
If I miss something, I apologize and please let me know}
Roman ended up spending ten minutes reframing a whole storyline in his campaign. He told them he'd usually just do it on the fly, but this was so convoluted in the overall story that he needed to sit and think about it. They ended for the night shortly after that.
Logan fumed silently in the car as he drove back home. Dorrian was curled up in the passenger seat, reading the book he'd picked from Logan's shelf before they left earlier that evening.
"Go to the window we came through the other night." He told Dorrian as he parked. "I'll let you in."
There was only one light on in the house, so Logan wasn't too worried about his parents seeing. He jingled his keys as he walked towards the front door, hoping the sound would slip through the open window of the living room and catch their attention.
His dad was sitting in the living room, tapping away at his laptop.
"How was game night?"
"Frustrating." Logan sighed and shook his head.
Dad looked up. "Something happen?"
He just shrugged. "Roman decided he needed to be annoying... I'm going to bed, 'night Dad."
"Goodnight Fish."
Logan made his way downstairs quickly and kicked his shoes off, jumping up on the bed to unlatch the window and push it open.
'What took so long?' Dorrian complained once he was standing next to Logan. 'It's cold out.'
"I apologize, Dad was awake and wanted to know how the game went. I tried to keep it brief."
Logan climbed down off the bed after closing the window. "Perhaps you should change, you look cold." He picked up his pajamas and stepped into the small bathroom that had once connected to the living room that had been down here.
Once he'd changed and stepped out again, Logan paused. Dorrian was standing with his back to him, picking up a shirt.
"Before you put that on, let me check that cut again." He crouched to pick up the mini-medkit he'd bought a few days ago. "It should be fully healed by now but I want to make sure."
Dorrian paused, nodding, and held still as Logan peeled the bandage away.
Sure enough, the cut was finally healed. Logan ran his fingertips over the space it had been and nodded to himself.
"You're all clear. I told you it would heal up."
Dorrian turned to him and offered a tiny, hesitant smile. The scales on the side of his face hindered it a bit, but Logan understood the gist of it.
They went about their night routines, and Logan sat down on the edge of his bed, about to say goodnight.
'Roman didn't mean harm tonight.' Dorrian signed as he settled into the papasan.
Logan sighed and dragged a hand over his face. "I'm aware. But regardless, it was a rather ill thought out on his part to just keep going instead of trying to change the character."
'There was nothing malicious. I have heard much worse.'
"That shouldn't excuse it." Logan looked up at him. "The way you were treated by those people was disgusting, no human being should be treated that way."
Dorrian offered him a wry smile.
'I don't think I'm quite human.'
He rolled himself up in the blankets before Logan could protest, letting silence blanket the room.
Logan sighed and checked his phone one last time. He had a text from Roman.
Roman G.
-hey, is Dorrian ok-
-He is fine. Why do you ask?-
-I didn't mean to upset him, I just wanted to make sure he was alright-
-I truly should have remembered the Yuan-ti, I could have fixed it beforehand, or changed the character-
-He doesn't seem very bothered by it-
-I, however, am irritated.-
-Oh I know-
-Look, just because Yuan-ti are often used as antagonists doesn't mean they have to be-
-Storyline Secrecy and all that because I'm the DM but the character I created, Ehsa, is not evil-
-Neutral good alignment, actually-
-Whatever, Roman.-
-I will see you in class tomorrow.-
-Goodnight.-
-Night-
Logan set his phone aside and pinched the bridge of his nose. Of course Roman meant well, but it still irked him.
Yuan-ti spurned their human heritage, and Dorrian had been taught very early on that people did not view him as human, or as worth the time. He didn't want anything to reinforce that, because it was not true.
Logan got up from the bed and crossed the room silently, picking a book from his shelf and setting it on the desk to page through it.
He'd been trying for days to figure out if Dorrian's scales were that of a specific snake species. Many patches were different colors, but the overall theme seemed to be shades of yellow.
Some parts looked like they were grafted together of different snake skin. All the scales had been lined up so they ran the same way as much as possible.
He wasn't finding any serious matches. Tired and knowing he had intense classes first thing in the morning, Logan got up and went back to his bed, curling up under the covers after turning the lights off.
~~~ Two AM ~~~
Logan startled awake to a roaring crack of thunder. He shot upright in bed, gasping a little.
The room was dark, but as lightning flashed outside he saw Dorrian standing up on the papasan, peering out one of the windows.
"Dorrian?"
Logan got up, using his phone as a flashlight. Dorrian spun around, awestruck.
'I've never seen that before.'
Logan smiled a little at the childlike wonder on his roommate's face. He checked the time, then walked over to the papasan and offered Dorrian a hand.
"Come on. I want to show you something."
The living room upstairs had huge bay windows that stretched all the way across one wall. Logan threw the curtains open and tossed the pillows from the couch onto the floor in front of them.
They sat down together, Dorrian watching avidly as lightning raced across the sky. Logan found more interest in watching the snake boy.
Who could ever see a monster, a freakshow attraction, in this gentle beauty?
YOU ARE READING
Snake Boy
Fanfiction"Ever since I was a child, I've always been quite enamored with snakes. They're fascinating. Shedding their skin, eating larger animals by unhinging their jaws, and there are over three thousand species. I've been learning about them for years, find...
