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Efflo nipped at the nose suddenly turned his way, then pushed Gabby's face away with a laugh.

"Fine, I promise to stop kicking you, as long as you don't drop me... And start walking. Pleeeease?" He snuggled onto the dragon's back, nuzzling his chin cutely over Gabby's shoulder.

"If you don't... I just might forget... I think, ahh, it's leaving me, Gabriel... Gabr... Gabb..."

Efflo leaned forward with a smirk, giving his boilfriend's pouty expression an affectionate kiss on the lips. He lingered a moment before pulling away, and nestling back against him with a contented sigh.

"It's good to be back. I missed you, Grumpy."

Tucked against Gabby, there were a million things he could babble on about but he settled for falling into silence as they walked, the admission of Gabby missing him too curling tenderly around his heart. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to fully express what being in that other world had been like. He vaguely wondered if it was unhealthy, to consider a world without Gabby one not worth living, but in the end it didn’t matter whether it was good or bad, only that it was and nothing could change the fact that it had been how he felt and that it was still how he felt. Rediscovering Gabby’s existence in that world had been as though an extinguished light had flickered back on and suddenly he had had hope, and the courage to continue on. In all honesty, without even knowing it, Gabriel had saved him from that world, and from himself. He really did owe him his utmost gratitude, and his life.

He nuzzled his face against the dragon’s shoulder gently, his breath warm against the cool air emanating even through Gabby’s jacket. He had missed this, all of this. He had missed coolness against his skin, the soft wispy white strands of Gabby’s hair, the arms holding him. He had even missed the dragon’s uncanny ability to drive him up the wall, yet make him love him even more at the same time. Gabby frustrated him, but he loved Efflo, and Efflo loved Gabby. And so, though his mind was reeling with a million different threads of thoughts and feelings, Efflo chose to focus on that most important one.

“I love you,” he whispered happily.

Efflo knew.

He sank into the kiss, and into Gabby’s arms, and he knew. He knew he was wanted, and he knew he was loved, and it was wonderful. To have such strong feelings for another being of any sort was foreign to Efflo but his heart swelled every time he looked at the handsome boil in front of him, and knew that those feelings were returned just the same. He reached up with gentle fingers, to tuck some wayward strands of hair behind Gabby’s ear, smiling into the kiss.

“You know,” he whispered against Gabby’s lips, laughing softly, “We’re supposed to be on a walk, but I can still see your dorms.”

“We tried,” Efflo said with another quiet laugh, nuzzling his nose against Gabby’s.

Efflo couldn’t even bring himself to be disappointed; after all, he was at least partially responsible for the failure of their walk. Gabby lifted him with ease, and Efflo didn’t let out so much as a whimper, nothing mattered at the moment but the arms that carried him. He could worry about what getting carried like this was doing for his image later, for now he was content to be perfectly close to Gabby, and to oblige his wish to go home.

Home, Efflo thought, Gabby’s dorm. No, he thought, it wasn’t Gabby’s room that was home; it was Gabby himself that was home. It didn’t matter where they went, so long as it was together and Efflo snuggled happily into Gabby’s arms. There was no place else he’d rather be.