Part the first: The Happy Hungry Bunch (And the Dark Dragon)

The telltale rumble and growl vibrated the air. Another batch was coming through town. The spring was warm, dry, and it called out the swarms and the packs and the gangs.

Here they come. Kroom, kroom, kroomkroomkroom. Five right in a row. Matching jackets. A club.

Upon closer look, you would see there were actually seven. A sidecar and someone clinging to the back of another rider. Anyone who noticed was surprised by the sleek purple bike at the forefront and the little red-headed rider perched on its saddle. She guided the way. A tall, broad-shouldered man hung back to her right on his dark blue motorcycle. A yellow airbrushed tiger careened along its flank. Dark green with an extra passenger, white, and lighter blue with a sidecar, they followed close behind.

An odd, flamboyant bunch.

The Happy Hungry Bunch.

They had a personal sign language. This gesture meant 'bathroom break.' This gesture meant 'hungry.' This gesture meant 'seriously, bathroom break.' This gesture meant 'tired.' This gesture meant 'holy shit, bathroom break.' (The 'bathroom break' evolutionary line progressed simply with an expected increase in urgency and range of motion.) There were innumerable other signs that meant so many other things.

The gesture the leader displayed now was a mixture of 'Oooo, restaurant' and 'hungry.'

And if she was even slightly interested in something, the whole group wanted to indulge her. So the gang came roaring into the parking lot. They sidled into the parking spaces, about two for each set of lines. Except for the one with the sidecar. He got his own space.

The leader kicked her stand out and unbuckled her helmet. She shook out the rest of her brilliant hair and ran gloved fingers through the locks.

"Pizza?" The man next to her asked, taking off his own headgear (he never used to wear a helmet until she ordered him to do it for his own safety, and he had a hard time denying her when she was all concerned and vehement).

"Mmmhmm," she hummed cheerfully, smiling at him. "That okay with you?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, I really don't care."

"Zeno wants pizza!" exclaimed the man hopping off the back of the green bike. He thrusted his hands into the air energetically, and his wild blond hair tumbled down his shoulders.

"You'd eat damn near anything," the man next to her, Hak, mumbled. "You and the quiet one. You two would probably eat roadkill if you had to."

The man on the white motorcycle shuddered. "Ugh, why do you have to say such grotesque things."

Now that Zeno wasn't wrapped around him, Jae-ha could dismount and stretch his legs. "Because it's the truth."

Shin-ah, as usual, made no comment as they went into the small mom-and-pop diner.

Yoon, the one relegated to the sidecar, muttered, "It wouldn't be the first time." If it was fresh enough and mostly intact, it tasted just like normal meat.

The waitress regarded the group with wide eyes. Leather-clad and young and handsome. And the girl at the forefront, she was pretty.

Yona smiled. "Table for seven, please."

"Umm, right this way," the girl, had to be a teenager, said, and led them to a big round booth.

Yona slid in first, and it was first-come-first-serve on who got to sit next to her. Of course, Hak muscled his way to her right side, and Yoon managed to slip in to her left. The rest filed in with minimal disappointment. They'd get other chances.

"Uh…" the waitress began, handing out menus and blushing when seven sets of eyes leveled on her. "Can I start you off with some beverages?"

Yoon, pretty-boy genius and mother figure that he denied being, cut in, "Water for everyone, please."

Hak groaned childishly. "Yoon…"

"No! Don't start that with me! We are all probably dehydrated, and sweet drinks are only going to make it worse!" the youngest of the bunch nagged.

Kaylee, as the name tag titled her, scribbled down on her pad. "Okay, I'll go get those while you figure out what to order."

"Thanks, dear," Jae-ha simpered, and Hak elbowed him in the gut.

"Stop being a creep."

"Jae-ha was just being polite," Kija said, glaring reproachfully at the man locally known as 'The Thunder Beast.'

Meanwhile, Zeno and Shin-ah were perusing the menus with hungry wonder.

"So, what do you guys want?" Yona asked, looking down at her own. "I personally want pizza. But we know from experience one large pizza isn't going to feed all of us, so you should get whatever you want."

"Zeno wants pizza!" Zeno said.

"You should act your age, old man," Jae-ha, Hak, and Yoon said simultaneously.

"You're never too old to be young," he chirped back.

Kija was assessing the pasta section. "I'd want the linguine if it didn't have shrimp in it…"

"Pansy," Hak muttered, and Yona stepped on his foot. With his arm draped over the booth behind her, he leaned in, a stiff smile stretching his lips. "What was that for, Princess?"

The pet name always brought a torrid red that he so admired to her cheeks. "Stop being a grouch, Hak. And don't call me that."

That was one order he simply couldn't follow. "No can do, Princess."

She crossed her arms and looked away, a flustered pout on her face. "You're such a jerk." He chuckled and mussed her hair. She glared at him, but it was half-hearted and kind of soft and kind of affectionate.

In the end, they ended up ordering three plates of mozzarella sticks, garlic knots, shrimp-free linguine, and a large meat lovers' pizza (quiet request of Shin-ah).

While they waited for the meal, they chatted in lively conversation. Hak kept his arm along the top of the seat, and eventually Yona leaned back into it. Neither made any outward acknowledgement of it.

"Mozzarella, mozzarella, mozzarella," Zeno chanted as the waitress brought out their appetizers.

Shin-ah's green-gold eyes looked at the weird food things in wonder and confusion. "What…" he poked one.

Kija noticed the befuddlement. "Have you never eaten mozzarella sticks before?"

The blue-haired young man shook his head.

"They're yummy!" Zeno hummed, picking one up and breaking it. Gooey white cheese oozed a ropey bridge between the two halves. "Fried cheese!"

Shin-ah's lips were parted in awe and hunger.

"Try one!"

He did. And he ate a whole plate of them.

Food eaten, bill paid, and waitress tipped, the group moved back out into the parking lot.

"That was good," Yona said. "We should come here again sometime."

"You made a good choice for once, Princess," Hak teased, pleased when she thumped a fist on his chest.

"Be quiet!"

"But you're so cute when you're mad at me."

Jae-ha rolled his eyes. Lovebirds. Angry, confusing, frustrating lovebirds.

"Where are we headed? Back home?" Yoon asked, for the sake of the others, since he wasn't driving. Not that he wanted to, either.

"Is that okay with you guys?" She inquired, turning to the others.

Nods and shrugs and an enthusiastic double fist pump were her answers. Just as they were about to mount their bikes, another, smaller group of motorcyclists roared into the parking lot. Guys, about their age, maybe younger. Maybe not a club, but their necks were definitely a bit rougher than those of the Happy Hungry Bunch.

One cat-called Yona, his grin sleezy as his hair. "Hey, baby! You-"

The collective glare from the six men at her side quickly shut him up.

Yona frowned. "Was he saying something?"

"No," six voices replied.

"Huh. Okay. Homeward bound!"

END PART

"So, this is pretty much just for shits and giggles, if I'm going to be perfectly honest. Mostly relaxed, some HakxYona, maybe fill in some background on how they all met up. Nothing too serious, and not too much of a commitment for me as a writer or you guys as readers," Draconicmaw explains, gesturing with a mozzarella stick in each hand. "After all, I got AnH going on -" She admits this is a total advertisement ploy "- and that takes up a lot of my 'writing for pleasure' time." She eats both mozzarella sticks simultaneously. Screw lactose intolerance. "I hope you've enjoyed reading this!"