﻿Richard walks into the cave, moving slowly as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. “Anyone home?” he called, shrugging his backpack off of one shoulder. From deeper in the cool cavern, heavy footsteps and the clicking of claws against stone echo towards him. With a smile on his face, he walked faster towards the sounds. “‘Cause if not, I heard something about a big pile of gold with pretty much no repercussions for stealing.”





A deep, growling voice resounds from surprisingly close to the backpacker, “Don’t you want to talk awhile before you make me want to eat you?” Turning to his left, Richard finds himself scarcely a dozen feet from a massive, blue-scaled beast, baring its fangs, larger than the man’s forearm, at him. Even in the low light, the dragon’s golden slit-pupil eyes appear to glow slightly.





Richard breaks into a wide grin, and he tosses his pack aside and strides forward to hug the smiling dragon’s snout, rubbing the broad scales. “C’mon, Azurel, I thought that was your normal thought pattern. Whatever did I do to make you not want to eat me?” Laughing jovially, he pulls away from his embrace to go sit by the dragon’s side, propping himself up on Azurel’s belly. “Anyway, good to see you again. How’ve you been?”





Azurel turns his head to track the man, shifting his wings higher and out of the way between Richard and his belly-scales. “Eat you for good, then. I do like talking to you, so it would be a real shame if you did something stupid to earn yourself a one-way trip past those scales you’re resting on.” He pauses for a moment, then remembers the rest of his friend’s question and beams at him. “Oh, and I’ve been quite well. I won’t go into detail, of course, but a nearby dragoness went through heat since the last time you visited, with all that that entails. And with the warmer weather, more wonderfully tasty, squirming humans have been out and about! Still not sure how they don’t notice my effect on you guys’ population, but I’m not about to complain. How about you, what have you been up to?”





The human shudders a little at his friend’s casual mention of his diet. “Eh, the usual. School’s a massive pain - I swear, Azu, I’m this close to asking my english TA if I can start the group project over again, but on my own this time.” Richard sighs loudly and collapsed back against the dragon, then starts to rub the tough hide vigorously with an arm. “So, if it ever gets too much, I just steal something from your hoard, yeah?”





His petting is interrupted when Azurel thumps his tail into Richard’s chest. “Hey, hey, none of that,” the dragon says, holding his friend to his side, “if I ever hear you thinking like that, I’d still grab you in my jaws, but I just wouldn’t let you out until you get over it. Besides, being eaten by me means no more talking, never again rubbing my scales... oh, and you’d never get to sit in my mouth.”





A frown crosses the man’s face, and he sighs. “Yeah, alright, you’ve convinced me. Doesn’t make me like my situation any more.” He pushes against the restricting tail, and stands back up when the dragon lifts it away from him. Glancing around quickly, Richard walks towards his bag, then crouches next to it. “Before I forget, though, I promised I’d bring some rope so you could safely swallow me. Er... you’re absolutely sure you won’t choke, and that you’ll be able to pull me back out, right?” He pulls out a coil of thick, sturdy rope and sets about crisscrossing it over himself a few times, forming a makeshift harness, secured with several strong knots.





“Of course. I’ve done it with a couple others before you, remember? The difference is that I’m not going to sever your rope after a few times.” Fiddling with the other end of the rope between his claws, Azurel stretches his neck out next to his friend, then easily bites through the rope, stretched to his head. “Just make sure all that’s tight, okay? I’m terrible at throwing up on cue, and it’d be a damn shame to lose you after I just gave you that pep talk about not eating you.”





Richard pulls at each knot in turn, then takes up the loose end of the rope, making it into a loop, and approaches the blue dragon’s head. “Tight as I can get ‘em. Open up, buddy, I want to feed you something.” Smiling, the large predator opens his jaws, revealing his mouth’s pink interior, dripping with saliva. The human grabs hold of a white fang and pulls himself over the line of threatening-looking teeth, landing with a wet squish on the dragon’s tongue. Turning around and looking out of his friend’s jaws, Richard loops the rope around one of the dragon’s frontmost teeth, pulling firmly to tighten his lifeline securely, then lays back on the soft tongue and sighs happily, drool soaking into his clothing. “Mind if I just lie here for a moment? I’ll give the rope a tug so you know when to swallow.” He rubs the inside of the dragon’s mouth, eliciting a low purr as the teeth in front of him slowly, carefully close, leaving the man alone in the humid cavern.





After resting in the sauna-like maw for a few minutes, listening to his friend’s slow breath and the wet noises of flesh against flesh and occasionally having a warm glob of drool drip down onto him from the roof of the mouth, Richard turns over and faces towards the front of the mouth, then pulls on his tether. Soon, his surroundings begin to shift as Azurel lifts his head and begins to tilt back, resisting the urge to unhook the rope with his tongue and send the tasty morsel deeper than he’d like. With his body thoroughly covered in slippery saliva, the human easily slides backwards over the soft tongue and towards the dragon’s eager gullet. Hot, engulfing flesh tenses around Richard’s legs as a quick gulp pulls them into the throat. Instinctively, the human grabs for the rope, survival overriding the rational thought that his tether will keep him safe. Unfortunately for his instincts, his friend’s gullet easily proves stronger than his grip on the rope, and another swallow pulls the human’s body entirely into the rippling passage, peristalsis kneading firmly at his body as the dragon’s neck tries to work Richard down to his stomach.





Despite having a long neck, it’s hardly more than a second before Richard receives a firm jolt from in front of him as the rope reaches its full length, keeping him suspended in his friend’s throat. For a couple of seconds, the dragon’s gullet keeps trying to drag him down towards his deadly stomach, pressing in around him as rings of muscle work over his form, squeezing the hot,wet flesh against him. Then, the rope begins to pull harder at him, and Richard feels himself sliding headfirst through the surrounding throat, until finally, he’s yanked free of the confining passageway, dangling in front of Azurel’s smiling muzzle. The blue dragon flicks his forked tongue out, and the human, shivering from the sudden change in temperature, gladly embraces the warm appendage and accepts the licks all over before being lowered to the ground beside the dragon. Exhausted, he slumps against the dragon’s side, wiping away the drool from his face while Azurel calmly drapes a large, blue wing over him and nestles his own head under as well.





The dragon smiles broadly, illuminating the space under his wing with a subtle glow in his eyes. “Have I ever told you that you’re very, very tasty?” He snakes his tongue out, pressing it firmly against the human’s front and sliding the slimy appendage up, coating his friend once more in drool.





Sputtering, Richard clears Azurel’s saliva away from his face once more. “Only every time you’ve had me in your mouth, so you could really stand to do it more often.” He grins back at the dragon and reaches his arm out, patting him on the snout, then yawns. “Ah, sorry. That was really tiring for me, although it seems like you could do that a few times over again.” The human leans back against the dragon’s belly, which chooses that moment to let out an audible gurgle. Richard gives a tired laugh, patting the tough scales. “Sounds like it’s disappointed the rope worked. Man, I wish there was a way to keep me safe in there; I’d love to be able to rub your belly from either side.”





The dragon emits a low chuckle. “If such a thing existed, you might spend more time in my gut than outside of it. You look tired, though. Could this be the first time you stop talking before me?”





“Possibly. Absolutely worth it, though. If you don’t mind, I’d love to do this more often.” Another yawn escapes the human, and Azurel helpfully provides his tail to rest against, which is gratefully accepted. “I really hope you’re okay with me falling asleep on you like this.”





Azurel watches his friend get comfortable, then sneaks in one last lick, accidentally tasting his own tail as well as Richard’s legs. “Go right ahead, Richard. And don’t worry, this is far from the last time I swallow you, my tasty human.” The dragon pulls his head out from under his wing and settles in to wait for him to wake up.