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"I don't...lie to you, do I?"

There was a long moment of silence in the air, as the two pairs of eves burned into each other. That question seemed to catch them both off-guard, and the large monitor pursed his scaly lips, as if unsure if he should have said it. His new and very important friend's admission of his ability was surprising, even exciting...but it was a lot for the fairly simple Dalas to take in.

The Maned Wolf, dwarfed by height and volume, had paused. This in itself was almost shocking, the Maned Wolf so used to opening his mouth and letting rivers flow. But, for once, Arken wanted to answer honestly. The words came out slow; he was not sure how the answer would be taken.

"No...you don't. And...it's strange to me."

"I hope that's not a problem...is it?" Dalas replied slowly, just as unsure. "I don't want to...I don't know..."

His scaly face, usually so peaceful, had emoted something new. Conflict. Concern. Mixed feelings, all with a very clear emotion at their heart.

"No, no!" The Maned Wolf quickly rushed to fix the situation, trying to hide his panic. "It's not! It's just-"

He'd messed up already. That was a lie. That was a very big, and very clear lie...and he had let it slip.

It was a problem.

"...it's just...how can you be so...open?" Arken eventually asked, letting his growing incredulity slip out. "Everyone lies. Even stupid little lies like not being free on Fridays or not eating something when you clearly did or... something."

Arken's words trailed off, and he scratched the side of his collarbone. It was rare that it popped up, a nervous habit that had been birthed in childhood and silently carried with him all these years. After all, why would he ever be nervous, right?

"It's not a problem. It's just... different. Confusing. I can't come up with answers as to why you're so honest."

The large monitor stared for a long moment, still as a statue across from the fidgety canine. It was as if he was trying to decode the words he was hearing.

"I don't...mean to be. I don't know...I don't try to tell the truth, it just doesn't occur to me..."

This was simply not enough. The monitor's eyes were still filled with their same confusion, less of hurt but more the face of a man grasping at straws. Just as Arken could not understand this beast...Dalas did not understand this soft, warm soul he'd come to love. He wanted to understand so much, maybe this would prove he did care...

"I'm sorry...I just want to be real for you. I'm sorry."

"Don't be!"

Arken's mouth moved before his mind had a chance to reassess his words. Closing the gap between them in a single step, his hands grasped Dalas' shoulders tightly, hanging on tight even as he stumbled a little. The monitor let out a surprised hiss, his boyfriend's soft, lithe little fingers holding him with a shocking amount of force. It was as if he was trying to hold on to the carefree, happy, lazy lizard he'd been with a few moments ago, pull him back.

"Please... don't be sorry."

Dalas' slit pupils gazed down into those mismatched eyes staring desperately up at him, seeing a cocktail of emotion he wasn't used to seeing from the Maned Wolf. In those pools of blue and brown, he saw a mix of desperation, longing, and even fear...

...and though he lacked the power, he felt no reason to doubt his veracity...

...and yet...

"Do...you lie to me?"

The Maned Wolf felt his heart lump into his throat. That question...he should have expected it. When he was at his peak prowess, he would have been able to slip by a simple question like Dalas' without a problem.

But, after that day he found himself at the hands of the human, the day he lost everything and everyone he thought he loved...

It was easy to tell that Arken was afraid. His grip loosened. His arms began to shiver. His eyes moved away from Dalas', and when he spoke, it was a low mutter that held no strength behind it at all. Not even his own powers could make his lie truthful.

"Of...course not."

Just as Arken's powers could not save him from passing, Dalas' lack of powers did not stop him from seeing right through his lover. Arken often had to use what of his powers and intuition remained to read the lizardfolk, as their faces communicated little. Until now, however, he'd not needed to work hard with Dalas, as he was always warm. Always happy...

Until now.

For the first time, Arken saw his lover's eyes harden, his shoulders droop, and his lips tighten over his fangs. What he could not see, he heard as Dalas spoke.

"Oh. That's good."

A long pause, followed by a swallow as he forced himself to look Arken in the eyes, his voice a bit forced, pleading to someone not there.

"I trust you."

Normally, a statement such as that would send a sharp feeling down Arken's spine. A tingle, and then a whisper. The truth would soon follow after statements that were untrue. Such was the nature of his power, one of the few abilities he still possessed.

He didn't feel it here.

The Maned Wolf grit his teeth, trying to hold back a rage welling within him. He was able to reign it in momentarily... but it did not last long before he exploded.

"WHY!?"

Arken slammed his palms on Dalas' chest, the monitor not moving an inch as he pushed himself away. A sputtering moment of incredulity passed before his voice rang out even louder.

"Why trust me!? How could you even say that without knowing something was up in the first place!? Didn't I make it obvious that I wasn't telling the truth!?"

The Maned Wolf grasped his hair, threatening to tear it all out as he snarled from between clenched fangs.

"I don't get it! How could you trust me!? I've done so much horrible shit! I've...I've lied so much that I don't know what's true anymore! Why do you trust me!?"

His screams cracked his voice, and he panted in exertion as he tried to catch his breath. After a long, tense moment, paws on his knees and doubled over in hyperventilation, he stood back up, staring at Dalas. Eventually, he sniffled, arms outstretched in questioning and eyes brimming with tears. Confused and desperate for answers, he repeated himself, his voice threatening to break again.

"Why...do you trust me?"

Throughout Arken's wild, confused, tearful dance, Dalas had merely stood there, immobile as a lump of sandstone as the winds of emotions broke upon his chest. He'd never seen this level of emotion from the charming dog, having rarely even caught a glimmer.

The silence was deafening, the Maned Wolf's words so loud and emphatic that they rang around in his skull, blurring his thoughts. The monitor did not know what the canine wanted, what he was expecting.

Dalas lifted his hands just a half foot, reaching out to the poor, sad excuse of a dog. Even as they stopped, they hung in the air, waiting to embrace Arken. Waiting until the one he'd hoped to always call his boyfriend would run back into his arms...or out the door.

"Because I want to."

Arken took a step back as if the monitor had struck him across the face.

The lizard's words were like his own. His reasoning for everything had always been "because I can". Back then lying was a fun game he did to get things he wanted. He could do anything. What could stop him?

Because I want to.

Those words had no hint of malice. No hidden messages. No lies. Most shocking to Arken was that Dalaswanted to trust him. He didn't do it because he could, or should. He volunteered his trust, rather than holding it just out of reach.

Baffled by these words and frustrated by the lizard's kindness, Arken clenched his fist, curled lips and raised hackles baring his fangs. Dalas' hands fell back to his side, and he took in a little breath to steady himself, some subconscious padding for the punch he was about to take. Sure enough, with a snarl, the Maned Wolf charged back toward him, his body language intent on punching the foolish man for ever trusting someone like him. For volunteering himself to being close to a criminal.

His eyes had just started to crinkle as the Maned Wolf rushed toward him, and in the second before the fist landed, he'd resigned himself to this being the moment the one would become two-

It was not Arken's paw that collided with Dalas, but his entire lanky body crashing against him like a wave breaking on the shore. Rather than throwing a punch, Arken threw his arms around the more pronounced body, wrapping him tight in an embrace. Finally, with clumsy, forceful motions, Arken closed the rest of the gap between them, as he pushed their lips together.

It took maybe a moment for the monitor to realize it was his lover's muzzle against his own, and not his fist. A muffled hiss of shock, uncorked as Arken pulled away from what was a rather ungraceful kiss.

Confused, alarmed, and even daring to feel relieved, Dalas stared down in shock at the little mammal, who held his face in his black-furred hands, staring up at him with a face made ugly with tears and snot matting his fur. It was odd, for in that moment the handsome canine looked like an utter mess, yet he had never looked so raw. So truthful. After all this time, Dalas finally saw the one he'd fallen in love with as he truly was.

Not suave, not smooth, not in control...but so small, so lost, and so desperate for something real.

In that long moment, Arken was silent aside from panting heavily and teetering on the edge of a breakdown. Wordlessly, he stared, just to find some hint of a lie in his boyfriend's face, sense something in his words. Anything.

When he found nothing, he tried to kiss him again but his heart finally gave out, and with a solemn wail, Arken buried his head into Dalas' shoulder.

He trusts me! Someone trusts me! Someone loves me!

Those words, a jubilant cry shouted from the rooftops, blazed through Arken's mind. He'd have screamed it out loud were he not sobbing and shaking with great heaves of emotion, likely soaking the fabric of his lover's tunic with a revolting mixture of liquids and tickling his nose with a giant ear.

Dalas did not mind. In fact, he'd begun beaming so bright he could have dazzled the room. Lowering one of his massive arms all the way down, he hooked his forearm under his boyfriend's cute little rear and lifted him with ease into his arms. Wrapping both arms properly around his waist, he supported Arken's lithe frame, letting him cling for safety.

The truth was clear. The Maned Wolf was home.