Dragonet Drabbles

Chapter 2

"I'm starting to think maybe this is going to be harder than I thought," Flame grumbled. Shaken by Chromis' near death experience (not that Chromis was bothered by it), Umber had been able to convinced Flame to at least skim over the scroll of rules his mother had written. Considering the dragonet's energetic personality, perhaps Avalanche had had good reason to insist on so many rules. They had picked a relatively quiet place in the Healing Center gardens to look over the extensive list. Flame was reclined on the soft grass; scroll in talons while he watched Chromis chase a butterfly. A puff of smoke curled out of his nostrils in irritation. "At least running around in the grass isn't against the rules." A strange expression crossed over Flame's face. Umber couldn't decide if it was pained or irritated. It was gone as quickly as it came, replaced by frown. Flame re-rolled the scroll and huffed.

Umber flopped down beside him offering a comforting smile. "Aw, come on, it's not so bad. I know it's a little stressful and all considering neither one of us has had any experience with dragonets at all and we now have to watch a dragonet on our own and that dragonet is a vortex of chaos that wreaks destructions wherever he goes and also if anything happens to him your mother will make curtains out of us," Umber took in a gasp of air, "but it could be worse."

Flame blew away the smoke that curled around his horns. "Gee, when you put it like that it sounds so much better."

Umber playfully nudged Flame's shoulder with his snout. "Your positive can-do attitude never fails to impress me."

Flame took his eyes off the frolicking dragonet to give his full attention to Umber. "Excuse you; I absolutely do have a positive attitude." Amusement danced in his eyes. "As much as I adored the blissfully innocent dragon you were when I met you, I gotta say I appreciate your new found love of sarcasm."

Umber wrinkled his nose and shoved Flame's arm. "Blissfully innocent! No I was not! I was heroic and brave and a warrior. Totally the opposite of blissfully innocent."

Flame's mouth turned up in a smile. It wasn't a smug smile or a playful smile or even a smirk. It was the kind of smile that made Umber's stomach flutter. "You're still heroic and brave," Flame said, and then added a little more slyly, "but you were the teensiest bit gullible. Remember that time I pranked you? When we were carrying those pigs up from the storerooms?"

"Ugh." Umber buried his face under his talons. "Of course I remember that! I was completely freaking out." He poked Flame's snout with his talon. "You were such a meanie back then, taking advantage of my kind and trusting nature." It had been meant as a joke, but the SkyWing subtly winced and his wings pinched closed like the wilting leaves of a dying plant. Umber's stomach dropped. He hadn't meant to make Flame feel bad. Thinking fast, Umber clasped their talons together, forcing Flame to drop the scroll he had been holding.

"Hey now, don't worry about it. I was only teasing. It was a funny prank. Hilarious!" Umber flared his wings as if making himself bigger would push out all the bad feelings Flame was having. "Remember the part when Starfish was banging on the door? I thought I was going to faint right then and there!"

Umber gave Flame his widest smile. The SkyWing didn't say anything for a moment; his brows were furrowed into striking deep lines between his eyes which made his appear older. Older and troubled. Umber would give up eating cows forever just to know what Flame was thinking. Just as Umber was beginning to wonder if he should say something else, Flame finally moved. He gently re-arranged their talons so that Umber's were now safely between red talons. He locked eyes with Umber and took a breath.

"Umber... you don't have to say that stuff. I remember what I was like; I know I was – well – you know." He squeezed Umber's talons and shook his wings out as if shaking off a memory. He sighed. "Anyway, it's not your job to make me feel better about stuff that made you feel bad."

The MudWing blinked in surprise. "But... I don't want you to feel bad. Ever. About anything!"

Flame skewed up his snout and looked at the ground. It took Umber a moment to realize he was trying to hide a blush. Without saying a word Flame brought Umber's talons up to his mouth and pressed them against his lips. Umber's heart was pounding in his ears, completely overpowering the gentle wooshing of the breeze through the gardens or the distance sounds of chattering dragons. Umber shivered when Flame put the tiniest of kisses on the MudWing's knuckles before pulling them away from his face. Umber could feel his face burning and it probably showed, but he didn't care. In fact he was trying to figure out what to say to make Flame do that again.

"Sometimes feeling bad is good," Flame went on as if he hadn't just made Umber swoon. "Sort of. It's something Starf and I have been going over," Flame tried to explain. "I dunno. I don't feel great about stuff in the past but it makes me try even harder to be better." Flame tried to give a nonchalant shrug that came off more timid than anything. "It's something I'll have to learn to deal with but – I just want to do right by you. So long as you're happy, er, well as long as we're both happy and stuff and..." Flame released Umber's talons to pick at the long strands of grass below them. He draped his tail over his talons to hide his fidgeting. "I don't even know what I'm trying to say. Ignore me."

Golden warmth spread through Umber's chest; it felt as though the sun had been plucked from the sky and placed in his chest as his heart. He grasped Flame's face and pulled him in to plant a wet kiss on his cheek. "Ignore a cute face like that? No way, not in a million years."

Thrown off balance Flame stumbled forward into Umber and then tried to right himself and stumbled backward. "Umber!" he cried incredulously but the smile on his face nourished Umber's very soul like the deepest warmest pool of mud. "You can't just do that! Not in front of Chromis! He'll be so..." Flame trialed off as he lifted his head to look for the little dragonet. His goofy expression fell like a stone. He sat up and looked around. "Oh crap. Chromis?"

Umber turned to scan the space where Chromis had been playing just moments ago. There was no sign of the dragonet anywhere.

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Author's Note:

As you can see, Flame and Umber are bad at their job. Also hello, long time no see.

For those who want more of an update from me I have made a note in my dashboard instead of blabbing away here. All I really want to say is, sorry if the vibes are not the same as they used to be. I'm trying to keep writing fun instead of stressing over word count or other things. I just hope Flame and Umber still read like Flame and Umber after all these years.