Fuck

Al was single.

For the vast majority of his life, he'd been alone in his love life, and that was for the best or so he thought.

"Take care of her!" The proud lizardmen patted Al's shoulder.

Shining sun, lots of heat.

At the very edge of the village, by the desert-

Two lizards and some guard lizards had come to see the duo off.

Yes, duo.

"I-" Al couldn't bring himself to cough up the words.

He just couldn't.

How-

Why-

What?

"Don't worry mother, I'll take good care of him!" The lizard woman beside Al pumped her arms, a soft smile. The very same lizard who Al happened to spend the night with…

'Wait- this was a female?' All this time, Al thought the proud lizardman- was a man…

Then the weeping lizard-

Was the father?

Anyway-

A large sigh. "I-I did things, so I hav-ve to take responsibility, and I will," Al said. "That's one thing, I can definitely promise."

But honestly, he didn't want to take responsibility.

He just wanted to run away.

After all-

Sigh…

"Let's go-" The lizard woman chirped.

The guards waved, the parents wept and that was about it.

That was the farewell-

Except-

'Seriously, the fuck even happened?'

Al remembered drinking something-

But that something happened to be alcoholic which he didn't know or care at the time.

He danced, made out with the lizard and well… did things.

And now-

It was either he take responsibility or receive the capital punishment of being beheaded.

And though he was skilled, even Al couldn't just take on the whole damn village with just one darn knife.

Even if he could, was it really right to just slaughter a whole village for this one thing?

His mistake?

He wanted to eradicate feelings, not the people.

And that's why-

That's why, he married the lizard and didn't protest.

"How long till we get to the nearest city?" Al asked.

They walked on foot.

The villagers provided farewell gifts in the forms of food and water; rations.

Yes, Al did make sure it was water this time around.

"We should be nearing the city in less than a week."

"A week?" He groaned.

As for the lizardwoman, she didn't appear to be a woman.

She wore some cloth over her crotch, assuming that place was her crotch, a bit over her chest and that was it. It was slightly puffed but-

Did lizards even have chests though? That was the question indeed.

"Are you dissatisfied with walking? Do you require me to carry you?"

Her voice appeared to be somewhere in the middle of feminine and masculine, leaning a bit on the feminine side but not quite. And her tone, always strong-

"No, I'm fine. This heat is a bit too much."

"Hmm… perhaps. The heat this year, is a bit much even for us Alzariu."

"Oh yeah, are you okay with this? I mean, marrying a human?" Yes, he'd been meaning to ask- all this time.

Cracked earth-

No clouds-

No winds-

Just the scorching dry desert-

And the two of them…

Yet- all this time, Al's mind was just filled with- 'I married a lizard…'

"It is fine. We honor first mates for life." A hand on her chest, staring with pride.

"Fi- ahem… you were my first as well…" Al managed… a tear in his eye… desperately trying to hold in the sniffles.

A faint smile- assuming lizards could smile- "I'm glad."

They didn't have much to talk about.

Frankly because Al was still in denial.

Yet-

From time to time, he asked questions.

About what she- Froza- liked. What she disliked- more about her.

Purely out of courtesy.

The desert didn't quite have less heat than yesterday.

But with Froza's help finding proper shade during midday and water rations, things were definitely easier…

***

It was the night when the real problem started though.

Froza had been a good lass the whole day, and always supportive.

But after dinner, under the stars- she'd slowly crept over Al- staring-

"Um… can I help you?" Al managed- staring- at those red eyes… at those fangs… at those scales and- gulped.

No tents, they didn't have one.

They were just out in the open, huddling by a fire-

"Don't humans procreate daily before midnight?" She asked… innocence apparent in her tone.

Breath a bit rough, tail wagging-

She was definitely ready to roll.

"Um… sometimes but not always…. Can we- not do it tonight?" Al averted his gaze-

The younger master of the Blademaster family… the next heir- that's what people used to call him.

And yet- Al-

Couldn't even look directly into the eyes of the lizard.

"Very well-" She made her bed next to Al- and just laid down.

Meanwhile-

Al turned to his side- 'Holy fuck….'

Yeah-

Just what the fuck was he expecting?

The lizard turning into a hot babe at night?

Fuck!

'A man could dream a little, right?' Again, he had to hold in the sniffles…

Maybe he shouldn't have dreamt so high.

However, whether he liked it or not, he'd done something and now he had to take responsibility.

If he couldn't-

What kind of a man was he?