//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Marking // by SugarHoneyIceTea123 //------------------------------// Much as Gallus wanted to, he couldn’t hide in his dorm-room forever. The weekend came and passed and Gallus couldn’t just play hooky until Smolder just gave up on her little hunt. Not without grabbing the faculty’s attention and starting a conversation that Gallus really did not want to have. He was more alert than usual, poking his head around every corner to see if he could spot any orange and purple before continuing on. He must have looked ridiculous, he realized, sneaking around like he was in a spy movie. Worse yet, he was trying to hide from one of his best friends.  What exactly is the plan here? Gallus thought to himself. Avoid Smolder for the rest of my life because I can’t handle a little kiss? For Tartarus’ sake! They’re not even that bad! Gallus sobered a bit at thinking that. They really weren’t that bad. End of the day, all Smolder was doing was kissing him. Heck, it wouldn’t even be the first time one of his friends put their mouths on his face.  Silverstream once kissed him on the cheek, though she had been in a real good mood that day and pretty much kissed all of their friends on the cheek. That was just Silverstream being Silverstream. Yona kissed him once for a dare. Ocellus and him got caught under a mistletoe once during a Hearth’s Warming party. Even Sandbar gave him a totally platonic kiss on the head once when he had to babysit Gallus who was coming down from a bad batch of catnip. He said it before, his friends have always been mushy and overly affectionate with each other and it still never went anywhere beyond platonic. So why was Smolder having such a profound effect on him? Gallus realized… It’s because he still had no idea why Smolder was even doing it! If any of his other friends kissed him, he could give a pretty good guess as to why. They were just being affectionate or they wanted to comfort him. But Smolder’s kisses deliberately took him out of his comfort zone, deliberately made him freeze up and mentally check-out. And given Smolder’s reaction every time, this was clearly the desired effect. The more Gallus thought about this, the more he realized that, eventually, he was gonna have to confront Smolder and ask her, straight up, what her deal was. But not without doing some research first. --- Ideally, Gallus would have wanted to ask another dragon about a dragon’s behaviour. But Smolder was, so far, the only dragon student at the school and Spike had recently moved back to Canterlot after Headmare Twilight’s coronation. Not that Spike might have any useful insight on dragon behaviour to begin with, Gallus admitted. So, the next best thing was to consult an expert on many different subjects and hope that draconic psychology was somewhere in there. Thus, Gallus made his way to the library where luck finally went his way for once as he spotted Ocellus reading a book in her favorite reading chair in the corner, as she is usually wont to do. Gallus quietly approached her, stepping lightly around the tables where many of his schoolmates were studying up on this or that, careful not to disturb them. “Hey, Ocellus.” Gallus whispered as he got closer, pulling Ocellus out of whatever reverie her book had her in. “Hmm? Oh, hey Gallus.” Ocellus whispered back, maintaining the sanctity of library silence. “What’s going on?” “Can I poke your brain for something? It’s… for a project.” Gallus lied, not really ready to discuss what was really going on with any of his friends. Ocellus smiled, holding up a hoof to her mouth in a shushing motion before pointing to a doorway off to the side of the library. Gallus knew the layout of the school well enough to know that those doors led to a balcony overlooking the school’s garden where students studying for hours on end could clear their heads in the fresh air. Catching her meaning, Gallus nodded as Ocellus hopped to her hooves, gently placing her book at an end table set aside for anycreature making use of that particular corner. The two made their way to the balcony and took in a quick breath before Ocellus spoke in a normal volume. “So, what seems to be the problem?” She asked. “So, uh… You wouldn’t happen to read up on… dragon courtship rituals or anything of the like, would you?” Gallus asked, mentally slapping himself for how sloppy of a cover that was. “Dragon… courtship?” Ocellus echoed dryly, raising an eyebrow. The slightest smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Now why in Equestria would you want to know about that, I wonder?” Gallus started to sweat. “Uhh… Y’know, it’s a… A biology project. Extra credit and stuff.” “Biology?” “Uh! I mean… Sociology! No, wait, anthropology?” “Gallus,” Ocellus interrupted, placing a gentle hoof on Gallus’ arm as she giggled. “Is this about what’s been going on with Smolder?” Gallus sighed, realizing there was no point putting it off. “You’ve heard about that, huh?” “Ponies like to gossip, and Smolder hasn’t exactly been subtle.” Ocellus said, rolling her eyes. “The rest of us haven’t said anything cause we figured this was something the two of you had to figure out between yourselves.” “Well, that’s kinda what I’m trying to do.” Gallus admitted. “Figure this out. The fact is… I have no idea why Smolder suddenly decided to friggin’ assault me with lipstick! Everytime I turn a corner, there’s Smolder ready to plant one on me.” Gallus leaned his arms against the railing of the balcony, looking out across the garden square. “This isn’t just… flirting. I could handle it if it was just flirting. Heck, I’d… I’d probably flirt back, if that’s what Smolder wanted. But I don’t know what she wants! It’s like it’s a game to her, except I don’t know what the rules are!” Ocellus sighed. “Look, I might have a theory, but I can’t say for certain.” Gallus raised an eyebrow but gestured for Ocellus to continue. “Smolder once told me about, when her brother was her age, how he started getting marked for the first time.” Ocellus explained. “Marked?” Gallus repeated. “Apparently, the way Smolder described it, when young dragons start getting an… interest in each other, they’ll burn little scorch marks on each other’s scales.” “Wait, hold up.” Gallus said, holding up his hands to pause Ocellus’ explanation. “You’re saying dragons set each other on fire when they like each other?” “They’re fireproof, Gallus. It’s not like it hurts.” “Oh, right…” “Anyway…” Ocellus resumed, somewhat annoyed at being interrupted. “These scorch marks are basically a show of claiming a dragon as yours, basically a message to any other dragons that this dragon belongs to you.” “Sheesh, and I thought dragons couldn’t get any scarier.” Gallus said, letting out a whistle. A moment passed before his face screwed in sudden apprehension. “Wait, what does that have to do with Smolder…?” “Well, you’re not exactly fireproof, Gallus. If Smolder wanted to mark any of us, she couldn’t exactly do it the usual way.” Ocellus explained. “My theory, and I have to specify that this is only a theory, is that Smolder’s little ‘lipstick attacks’ are her way of marking you without hurting you.” Gallus stared at Ocellus, gobsmacked. “W-Wait, so you're saying that when Smolder is planting a lipstick mark on me, she’s…” “Basically telling the whole school that you belong to her, yes.” Ocellus said. “Chances are, she may not even realize that that’s what she’s doing. She did say it was a lot like hoarding, more instinctive than conscious.” Ocellus, focused as she was on relaying this information, took a second to notice that Gallus had suddenly gone deathly silent, staring out to the treeline of the woods beyond the border of the school. “Uh… Gallus? You okay, there?” Gallus took in a breath, held it, then slowly exhaled. “I need to talk to Smolder.” --- It didn’t take him too long to track Smolder down. Classes were just ending for the day, so it stood to reason that she would be making a beeline for her locker to put away her stuff before embracing freedom from academia. Lo and behold, there she was as Gallus rounded the corner to the hall of lockers, shuffling things around in what Gallus knew to be an absolute horror show of her locker’s interior. Taking another deep breath, Gallus steeled himself and approached, thankful that Smolder’s messy locker meant she had to stay behind for a few more minutes than her schoolmates that would have also been depositing their equipment. It was just the two of them. With a grunt, Smolder shoved her textbook into whatever wedge she could find before realizing that Gallus was standing only a few feet away. She wasn’t wearing any lipstick. “Well, hello there, Gallus~” Smolder said, lidding her eyes as she flashed another of her shark-smirks at him. “If you just wanna wait right there, I think I got a new tube of cherry red I wanna try. Think it’ll look good on ya…” Gallus just stood there, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked away from Smolder, not willing to meet her eye. “Er… You, uh… You gonna say anything? Do anything?” Smolder asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, you gotta give me somethin’ to work with here, Gal.” Gallus finally met her eyes, and Smolder was taken a bit aback when his gaze met her. “Smolder…” Gallus finally said. “What are these kisses to you?” Smolder was silent, stunned for a sec by the bluntness of Gallus’ question. As Gallus predicted, she went on the defensive, scoffing as she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall of lockers.  “W-Well, what are they to you?” Gallus had to admit, it was a good question. Really, at any point, Gallus could have just straight up said to Smolder ‘Stop’ and she probably would have. She wasn’t a bully, she knew where the boundaries were. “I like them.” Gallus admitted, just as much to himself as he did to Smolder. “You… You like them?” Smolder repeated, as though she were unsure she heard him right. Gallus could swear that she was fighting to keep the corners of her mouth from pulling into a smile. “Yeah. They’re a bit more… wild than a normal kiss, but you’ve always been a wild kinda girl. They always throw me for a loop when you do it, but… it’s kinda thrilling not knowing when it’s gonna happen or what you're gonna do next.” Gallus explained, and he found himself meaning every word. “Plus, I’m just gonna be a ‘guy’ and say it: You do look really good in lipstick.” “I… I see.” Smolder said, turning her back to Gallus and stuffing her face into her locker. “W-Well, then I guess I won’t be doing it anymore! I-I mean, it’s no fun if you’re enjoying it, y’know? Kinda defeats the whole purpose!” “Smolder…” Gallus said softly, placing a claw on her shoulder. Smolder sighed, pulling herself out of her locker to face Gallus again. “I, uh… I might have taken things a little too far, haven’t I?” She said, rubbing her arm as she refused to meet Gallus’ eye. Gallus winced. “Maybe just a tad?” He said, holding his finger and his thumb within a hair’s breadth of each other. Smolder groaned, hitting the back of her head against the locker wall. “Argh! I’m sorry, okay! I was just… I was just having so much fun! The first time I did it was such a spur of the moment thing, and you just looked so ridiculous! Like a deer in a spotlight! I just… I loved that I had that kind of power over you! That I could get such a huge reaction out of a tube of lipstick.” Despite everything Smolder had put him through these last few days… Gallus had to chuckle. “Yeah, I guess it could be kinda funny on the other shoe.” Gallus gave a sideways glance to the young dragoness. “So… this was all just, like, a dragon dominance thing?” Smolder scoffed. “Of course it was a dragon dominance thing, who the heck are you kidding?” “Right…” Gallus said simply. “But… It’s done now.” Smolder said. “I think at this point, the joke has run its course. So you can rest easy of any more smooches in the future.” Smolder turned once more to her locker to finish the colossal task ahead of her of trying to jam her stubborn textbook in her locker. It… was over? Did Gallus want it to be over? Was that why he decided to talk to Smolder? “Ocellus told me… That you might have been trying to mark me.” Gallus said. Smolder’s book fell to the ground. “M-Mark you?” Smolder said, carefully choosing her words. “Gallus… You do understand what that means, right?” “I only know what you told Ocellus. And, well…”  “Okay!” Smolder said, raising her voice a little. “And- And so you know that when a dragon marks someone, we give them a scorch mark! Right?! We don’t use lipstick! That’d be just silly! Dragon’s don’t do lipstick!” “You do.” Gallus said, simply. “I ain’t exactly a normal dragon, Gallus!” Smolder yelled, she was starting to get angry. “And I’m not exactly fireproof.” Gallus countered. “That’s-! I-I mean, you don’t-!” Smolder stammered, getting red in the face. “I’m sorry, when the heck did we turn this back around on me!? You’re the one who said you apparently like it when I plant a smacker on you!” “I do like it.” Gallus said. “Do you?” “I-!” Smolder stammered before finally exploding. “Yes! Okay!? I like putting my lips on you! I like rubbing my lipstick off on you! I like seeing my kiss on you! I like seeing proof that I’m the one that gets to kiss you! Because… Because I was marking you, okay!? I wanted everyone who saw that lipstick on your face to know that I was the one who put it there!” Smolder huffed and puffed, her heart on display as Gallus just stood there, shocked and absorbing it all. “Because…” Smolder continued, forcing herself to say it. “Because I like you.” The two stood there, staring at each other. Nothing else existed at this moment but the two of them. “I like you, too.” Gallus finally admitted. Smolder was silent as she took in his confession, stress, confusion, elation all flashed across her face at light-speed. “Can…?” Smolder began. “Can I kiss you?” Gallus placed a tentative, experimental claw on Smolder’s cheek before leaning in, brushing her lips with his beak. It was a great deal more gentle, more tender than any other kiss the two shared within the past several days. But it meant so much more. --- All things considered, nothing really changed all that much. Gallus and Smolder still went to classes as usual, still learned lessons about friendship and harmony as usual, still hung out with their friends as usual. But, at the same time, nothing was the same. It was difficult to put into words, but both Gallus and Smolder knew that there was a new dynamic, a new dimension, to each and every interaction, no matter how familiar. A lingering look, a hand brushing over the other. Even among their most affectionate friends, there was definitely a different boundary of affection just for the two of them. The group slowly, but surely, settled into a new normal where Gallus and Smolder were just a tad closer to each other than they were before. And, occasionally, more than a tad. Though moments like those were kept in private, just for each other. One such moment, while the group were walking together to the library, Smolder and Gallus brought up the rear when Smolder got her usual wicked grin. One that Gallus had come to look forward to every time he saw it. While Ocellus kept the other’s attention with talks over the upcoming group project they were all to work on together, Smolder hooked her arm around Gallus, giggling silently as she pulled him away from the group and into one of the school’s many supply closets. Another example of dragon dominance, Gallus thought. Keeping him all to herself. Gallus smiled at his girlfriend’s mischievousness, already giving her a gentle kiss as she closed the door, leaving the two in near darkness save for a grimy window bathing the two in a dull light. Smolder happily returned the kiss, wrapping her arms around Gallus’ neck. For a while, this gentle affection was enough… until Smolder pulled away… And pulled out a tube of red lipstick. “Seriously?” Gallus asked, feigning exasperation though he and Smolder both knew that he was going to enjoy what was coming. “Sorry, Gallus…” Smolder said with absolutely no apology in her voice. She puckered her lips, making an exaggerated show of applying the crimson red so that Gallus could see every stroke. She definitely knew how to tease the poor griff. “But everycreature should know who you belong to.” Gallus smiled nervously. Although they had both come to admit that this was equally enjoyable for both of them, a primal part of Gallus’ brain still reacted with fearful apprehension from, essentially, giving himself up to her, letting her win… Letting her claim him. Smolder suddenly grasped his arms as she pushed him against the wall of the closet, bringing her face close to his. “Pucker up, bird-boy…” “Mwah!” --- Several minutes later (almost seven, to be exact), the door to the supply closet opened as a very smug looking dragoness practically sauntered out, her lipstick almost completely worn off. Smolder turned back to the closet and the sole remaining denizen therein. “I’ll see ya at the library with the others. Y’know… Once you get a chance to clean up.” Blowing a kiss into the closet, Smolder turned and started to make her way to the library. “Love ya, Gal.” Gallus, weak in the knees, slumped against the wall of the closet as he fell to the floor. He looked down at his body and saw countless marks of red lips dotted haphazardly across his chest and arms. He knew there were at least six or seven identical marks on his face alone. Possibly more considering Smolder had to reapply her lipstick halfway through.  As Gallus gave a hearty sigh, finally able to breathe after Smolder’s non-stop onslaught, a single thought broke through the haze of ecstasy. Everyday should be a lipstick day.