A Monster Like Me

Chuuya's Height Insecurities

Dazai slept better than he had in years, and probably would have slept all morning if he didn't roll around so much in his sleep. As it was, he had rolled a little too far this time, and woke up suddenly as he slid off Chuuya's side and onto the ground. 

"Ugh... morning, Chuuya," Dazai groaned, staggering to his feet and wrapping his blanket around himself. It seemed that he'd lost his pillow sometime in the night, and now had the pattern of Chuuya's scales impressed on his cheek. The dragon stirred at his voice, and opened his brown eye sleepily. 

"Morning, shitty Dazai..." Chuuya got to his feet, and almost nuzzled Dazai affectionately before he woke up all the way and stopped himself. He smelled old blood, and remembered how many ferocious monsters Dazai had taken out the day before. I'm going to catch the most ferocious monster to show Dazai that I'm better at hunting! Chuuya thought, his ego threatened by how competent Dazai was with a knife. 

"We're going to sell these today, right? How's that going to work when you're, well, a dragon?" Dazai asked, his eyes going to his kills as well. 

"Don't worry about it, I can change form. Go ahead and start a fire, I'll be back with breakfast soon," Chuuya said, then took off into the air. Why's he off in such a hurry? Does he have to go to the bathroom? Dazai wondered, snickering to himself as he watched Chuuya go. He didn't mind being left alone again, though he would have liked to ask more questions about how Chuuya changed form. Could he turn into a human? Dazai wanted to see that.

Yesterday, it had only taken Chuuya a little over fifteen minutes to hunt, so Dazai got right to making the fire. Then he sat down and waited, and waited, and waited... What's taking him so long? Dazai wondered as the morning slowly passed by. Finally, he saw the serpentine form of Chuuya round a nearby mountain peak, clutching something large in his paws. Why couldn't the idiot catch something more modest like another sheep, or hell, even a bear? Dazai wondered, shaking his head as he watched Chuuya eagerly fly his way.

"Is that a gryphon?" Dazai asked with amused resignation as Chuuya landed beside him, his tail swishing eagerly as if he expected praise. The creature was impressive; with rich golden brown feathers and long hooked claws as sharp as knives. 

"Yep! It was a tough monster to take down, but I'm way stronger!" The dragon proclaimed. 

"You did good I guess, but you sure took a long time. I've been waiting here awhile, you know," Dazai said with a smirk, thinking that Chuuya's ego needed to be taken down a few notches. Chuuya snorted smoke, his wagging tail slamming into the ground.

"It's bigger and tougher than any of the monsters you took down yesterday!" 

"Yeah, yeah, but you're also a lot bigger and tougher than me, so its not that impressive," Dazai said with a shrug, feigning indifference as Chuuya seethed. 

"I didn't catch it to impress you anyway," He huffed, the lie obvious. He'd spent all morning trying to find the biggest and coolest monster to bring back for Dazai, and now the little shit was making him feel stupid about it. Dazai smirked, thoroughly entertained by how easy it was to get under Chuuya's scales. He didn't push too hard, though; he didn't want Chuuya to pout and refuse to take him to town. 

Chuuya was still feeling a little put out after Dazai's casual dismissal of his hunting abilities, but he still consented to take him to buy his 'stupid human stuff.' He even allowed the man to climb onto his back this time since they were flying farther.

Dazai enjoyed the view from Chuuya's back, feeling a bit more like a passenger and less like luggage on their flight. He clutched his mane tightly as they soared into the air, flying higher and faster than he'd gone before.