Day 04 - Dragon Taming
(Was originally 'On a Date', but I've already written that so)
"Wahhh, oof!" Bart -literally, not figuratively- face plants the floor.
He can hear the other boys in the class laughing, and his face turns a lovely vibrant red. Distantly, he can also hear the class teacher trying (and failing) to cease their laughter, as Ibn Al circles above.
The dragon, standing a mere 15 metres tall, is the smallest of the class. And the most brutal, the most vicious and also Bart's.
Why oh why had he been the last to arrive on their first day?! God damn Gary, getting their just before him and taking the last nicely tempered dragon.
Being the smallest did have it's advantages, though; Ibn Al was by far the fastest. Which Bart was kind of extremely okay with - or, at least he would be, if he could stay on the damned thing for more than two minutes.
He could still hear chortles of laughter echoing through the woods, and it made Bart's eyes sting.
After he blinks them away, hard and fast, they refocus to find a hand extended in front of him.
Looking up, he sees it belongs to classmate (and best friend if he was totally honest) Jaime.
Smiling, Bart accepts the hand and is hauled to his feet. He pats his clothes, beating away the dust.
"You okay?" Jaime asks, inspecting him for any obvious damage. Bart nods,
"Yeah. Just the usual." He looks over to where Ibn Al has thumped to the ground, his tail swishing viciously.
"You literally just ran and jumped on his back," Jaime states, a bemused look on his face as he too observes the dragon.
"Well," Bart exclaims, throwing his arms up in exasperation. He's rather glad they're a bit too far out of hearing range for the other classmates. "What else was I supposed to do?! He's unapproachable!"
"Tempt him with food," Jaime supplies,
"Really, you don't think I've tried that." Bart dead pans, giving Jaime a rather frightening look.
"Sorry," Jaime apologises, and Bart waves it off.
"Maybe if you try a different kind of food? Khaji Da refused to take the meat off me at first… He'll only eat it now if it's been left for several weeks. He prefers fruit."
"Oh." Is all Bart can say to that, because really, why hadn't he thought of it before? "Do you-"
"Here," Jaime hands Bart a slab of raw meat. It's part of a deer, he can feel by the texture. Usually he would offer chicken.
Bart, using the information that he does actually learn in class, contrary to popular belief, stays humped as he approaches Ibn Al, the hand with the meat in extended.
He makes it a few metres forward before Ibn Al starts reacting, hissing and throwing a miniature fit.
He can kind of maybe hear Jaime and some other people calling him to come back before Ibn Al takes a swipe and sends him to the infirmary (again) but really this is actually the closest he has gotten to the animal in months and he is so not backing down.
He stands still, and let's Ibn Al's tempter subside as he gets used to Bart being so close.
It takes several long breath baited moments for there to be a change, but eventually Bart can feel breath puffing down onto his hand.
The weight is lifted, and Bart looks up through his lashes to see Ibn Al chomping on the meat he offered.
Huh.
Bart smiles widely as Ibn Al inspects his hand again, sniffing for more food, and slowly, ever so slowly, Bart turns his hand over and places it on Ibn Al's face, just above the mouth.
When the dragon doesn't jerk back from the contact, Bart takes it as a sign to move his hand up and down in a stroking motion.
He succeeds, and when Ibn Al realised that maybe being touched by this little creature isn't so bad, he begins to lean into Bart's touch.
Bart is delighted. Like, really really delighted, so he turns back to look at Jaime.
"I'm stroking him. Oh my god, Jaime, I'm stroking him! I have conquered the dragon! Tamed the mighty beast! Found the Holy Gra-uuumpf!" In his (sweet, sweet) victory, Bart had failed to notice one fatal flaw:
Ibn Al's tail, now swishing in content, heading straight for his side.
And sending him flying to, once again, face plant the floor.
Except he didn't face plant the floor.
Oh lord no.
He face planted Jaime.
Jaime's face.
Jaime's lips.
And if the teacher could barely control the class before, he had absolutely no hope now, because Bart and Jaime were K-I-S-S-I-N-G.
The ending was based on the scene from Naruto where that kid elbows Naruto into Sasuke...
And I love dragons. And I wonder if anyone knows who Ibn Al was named after...