Gold and dragon feathers

Meeting somone you already know for the first time

Despite becoming more and more brave when it comes to flying and leaving the cave he took as a den earlier and earlier Tommy has yet to fly in daylight (Thanks to work, Tubbo picking him up and helping around the household he's been busy to say the least). Especially when he's been working all week due to the seasonal traffic the normally quiet townis having all for the next week or two and preparations for the weather growing colder. Today, however, he was let out of work early and Tubbo was so busy getting the garden ready to harvest that he had already agreed not to pick him up.

Meaning that he finally has the time and he's not going to waste it. He jumps out of the den with a dull thud and looks over the town in daylight, the blue sky and wooden buildings looking far more alive than the slumber of night that he's grown used to. He also becomes almost painfully aware of how his dark feathers seem to absorb the light, leaving him as a dark splotch that is bound to be noticed if it hasn't already been.

He shakes his body free of anxiety and leaps, catching himself with practiced ease.

He circles the mountain as he climbs, wind moving through his feathers like the world's largest brush. He lets out a strange-bark like sound and rises above the mountain, smaller and smaller circles until he's almost chasing his own tail with the tips of his wings grazing the clouds. As he abandons the spiral and bursts through the small cloud he can't help but compare flying to a dance.

He weaves through instinctual steps of his dance, flying through the clouds that are making patchwork in the sky only to return to circling the mountain or diving dangerously close to the field and buildings below. He lets himself enjoy the warmth soaking his skin and the energized murmurs and shouts of any person he gets close enough to to hear. He knows that Tubbo is going to be pissed that he was in the garden when the rest of the down got to watch his dance but if he's not ready he isn't ready.

He rises gracefully once more with a spin, too entranced by his dance to notice the inhuman eyes watching him from the forest beyond the mountain with unearned hatred.

He circles the mountain once more only for his peaceful dance to be interrupted by a piercing shriek from behind him. He lands with a thud and spins around just in time to become face to face with a ugly red griffin. He hisses at it and it caws back, angered that he dare fly so close to the forest it lives in.

Tommy's eyes are drawn to the talons on its legs and realizes why it deems itself worthy to challenge a dragon, even one slightly larger than it.

His tail lashes besides him as he tries to ignore his instincts and devise a better plan to deal with the large bird.

The bird, however, does not wait.

Tommy suddenly feels a sharp pain on both of his sides as he's thrown into the cliff, claws raking his haunches.

He bites back, a furry leg bleeding into his mouth as he forces the griffin to jump back.

He takes the moment as a chance to get away, he has no idea how to fight as a dragon and even he can guess that when he's being attacked by the matriarch of a pride of griffins that migrate near the town once a year isn't the best time to learn.

Luckily it gives up the chase as soon as he crosses over the town but his instincts refuse to shut up and he finds himself almost crashing into his roof. His body trembles and each breath his hot. His claws dig into the red-brown tiles and he stares at them until his feathers flatten against his skin. He lets out a huff, extremely mad about the feathered lioness's intrusion.

He shifts his body and inspects the scratch on his side, relieved to see that it hardly broke skin and thick blue blood scabs over it in moments. He perches on the top of the house and just begins to close his eyes, the familiar smell of his home and the warmth of his dark feathers soaking up sunlight lulling him into a tired daze (like a cat) until a gasp catches his attention. He looks down with a flick of his ear and freezes as his brain registers the familiar face.

Tubbo stares at him, one hand peeling his bangs from his face and a face of pure shock and awe staring back at the dragon. They hold eye contact for a moment before Tommy huffs uncomfortably, seemingly snapping Tubbo out of his trance. The goat hybrid bleats nervously and looks around the yard with an almost panicked expression before darting back into the house.

"Wait right there please! I'll be right back!"

Tommy's stupid dragon brain imediatly feels the need to leave, not liking being told what to do but Tommy squashes it, unwilling to cause Tubbo any more hardship than the boy already has.

Instead he waits patiently, knowing exactly what Tubbo is going to get. He's heard Tubbo read that book about dragon training more times than he's seen a caterpillar. The first step is to offer a gift to the dragon, something handmade and expensive and close your eyes. The dragon is supposed to either leave, kill you or accept it. Accepting the gift is no less than agreeing to at least try being partners (not romantically, obviously).

Tubbo runs out of the house and looks to the ground, holding something above his head and towards the dragon. Tommy inspects it closely, his breath moving Tubbo's hair. It's a statchue of a goat made from redwood and about the size of a cantaloupe. Its edges are rough and even if it's made of redwood (that Tubbo saved for a long time while he practiced on branches and other wood scraps until he could feel confident) even the most expensive woods aren't even mentioned in the possible gifts listed by the book. Instead all listed stachues are made with marble, glass or bronze.

Still, Tommy would never dream of calling it worthless. He cant when he watched Tubbo slave over it and pore every second and every dollar possible into the small creature. He knows that even if it's not gold or marble it's worth everything to the boy who offers it.

He can see how Tubbo is trembling and he can see the swiftly dimming light bounce off of the black buttons hot glued in as replacements for eyes.

He takes it gently into his mouth as if it were made from glass, careful not to let the small thing that looks more like an orange than a cantaloupe in his mouth splinter or break in any way.

He watches as Tubbo slowly, cautiously lowers his hands and looks up to meet him. Pure emotion wells up in the boy's eyes and Tommy lets him touch the face leaning down from the roof to him, once, before taking off. He lands in the den and places the wood in the center of the cavern. He stares at it lovingly, his instincts agreeing on its value now that it's his.

It takes every ounce of willpower he has to transform and walk home to let Tubbo tell him all about it in his hushed tone he uses when excited instead of letting himself curl up around his new hoard and sleep there.

Ranboo and Tommy see tubbo happier than ever when they get home, the boy in shock but trembling with energy from the encounter.

It feels like Tommy was a lot more ready than he thought he was to hear it, maybe he should thank the bird-brain that drove him home...maybe...his legs do still sting from her claws, afterall..

(Welp there were going to be more filler of like work or how a normal day goes but I decided I want dragon Tom now so you know- hopefully you enjoyed this chapter! )