He Awakens - Book One in the Kingdom Series

= 15 - Firebug =

Mitch and Jerome had traveled quite a bit of ground that day and had settled into a small clearing they found as the evening crept closer, the sun kissing the treetops. Mitch was currently on the ground, head propped up with his arm and his feet dipped in the fire as if it was the warm water of a lake, his pants pulled up to his knees and his shoes sitting beside him. He may be fireproof, but his clothing sure wasn't. He could never handle fireproof clothing, he always found a way to ruin it other than by flames, so he just went with normal clothes and just made sure to carry a few spares on him in case he decided he wanted to spontaneously combust.

"Mmmm..." Mitch grinned, gazing into the fire, specifically the hunk of meat on a stick that looked blackened and far from edible. That is, to everyone but Mitch, because Mitch's mouth was watering just at the sight of it.

"Is that even meat anymore Mitch?" Jerome joked. "All I'm seeing is a hunk of charcoal on the end of a stick."

Not even seeming to have heard the statement, Mitch pouted slightly as he noticed the stick he'd been using was beginning to burn and, not wanting to drop his food into the fire, pulled it out of the flames. He then promptly grabbed the 'meat' from the end of it and tore into it like a vulture to a corpse, being the terribly uncivilized fire dragon he was.

"You animal Mitch," Jerome chuckled, shaking his head, even though he had done just about the same thing to his food, though that was when his had finished cooking half an hour before Mitch.

"Shut up, this is delicious," he responded, but it was through a mouthful of the food, so it sounded more like 'phut uh dif if de-he-hef' than anything coherent.

Before long, Mitch had eaten the meat down to the bone and was busy licking it clean. Many predator hybrids had the little quirk of having little raised spines on their tongue to help them do just that, lick meat from the bone, including Mitch, which got the job done quite quickly.

The two had settled next to the fire a few feet apart (mainly because Mitch wanted to stick his feet into the fire and Jerome didn't want to be nearly that close to the flames still licking at Mitch's legs). Once he was done eating, though, he pulled his feet out and scooted over to Jerome. "Who should we pay a visit to tomorrow?" Mitch hummed, glancing over to Jerome, yawning and stretching out across said male as he did so.

"You're like a cat, you know that right?" Jerome hummed. "Down to knocking things over..." Mitch grinned as he turned his head to Jerome, crawling up onto Jerome further. "I was thinking we head over to the feathered devil," he responded to Mitch's question.

Mitch stifled a snort, muttering, "I seriously still can't believe you have the balls to call him that," as he basically just splayed himself out on top of Jerome.

"It's what he is! You have too much respect for him and mister shivers."

Mitch couldn't help the outburst of laughter that slipped through his lips before he could even think about stopping it, the male on top of Jerome practically shaking he was laughing so hard.

"What! He wears full winter gear 25/7! Mister shivers!" Mitch was in a fit of laughter by then, his predator-like teeth very blatantly displayed with his lips curled into a grin. "Alright shark teeth, it's not that funny." Jerome rolled his eyes. "So what ya think? Good old crow wing should be in town 'bout now."

If Mitch had been beginning to come anywhere close to calming down, that made him crack right back up again, though it was more of a giggle now as he laid his head on Jerome's chest.

"Are my nicknames that funny?" Mitch continued to giggle as he settled on Jerome completely now, basically resigning to not move anymore unless needed. "So we gonna go see um?"

"Mmmmmhm," Mitch hummed, smiling as his giggles died down and he nuzzled into Jerome's shoulder, now just wanting cuddles.

"You gonna put out the fire there buddy?"

He whined out, "Nooo, the fire's warm though..."

"Put it out firebug."

"Nu uh, I don't wanna..." he whined, clinging to Jerome, trying to make it difficult for either of them to complete that task. He even went as far as to try and wrap his wings around Jerome, his tail already curled around his leg.

"Mitch, I know I'm warm and you're always freezing, but let go of me and put out the fire so we can get moving," Jerome stated, slightly annoyed.

"But cuddles..." he whined. "Warm cuddles..." Being a fire dragon, his version of a comfortable temperature was quite a bit higher than a normal person's would be, so he was constantly cold unless around Jerome or fire, the two things being warm enough to keep him nice and toasty.

"For Infurnel's sake Mitch.." Jerome sighed, though said male simply continued to cling to him, giving Jerome his very best and most convincing puppy eyes, trying to get Jerome to cave.

"Fine, one more hour..."