Another trigger warning for blood in this chapter. Also, one side note before this chapter should be that I made up a currency called "suns". One sun is equal to about $2 USD for reference (since most of my viewers are from the U.S.). Each coin is one sun and there are also half-suns and quarter-suns that are just smaller coins.

"Und…Under…Understood," Umber read. "I will try to get the as…assignment completed on time," he struggled.

He looked out of the window and could see that the sun was high in the sky. They had been reading for an hour at this point and Umber was getting pretty exhausted from struggling with so many words. Flame had just gone out and bought a new series of scrolls since they had read every scroll from before multiple times, so Umber couldn't remember what word was coming up and try to say it from memory. The new scrolls had slightly bigger letters and he could definitely tell that these didn't use complicated words, especially ones he struggled with.

"I should get going," Umber realized. "It's noon and I still have to go out and check a few things just to make sure that they're ready for tomorrow."

"Just one more? Please?" Flame begged. "You're getting so much better!"

"We can read later," Umber said. "Our anniversary is tomorrow and I still have a few things to check."

Thank the moon's Avalanche said she would try and get me a spot in one of her friend's restaurants! Umber thought. His body was filled with happiness and anxiety at the same time. I don't know if I would have found a place in time!

A couple days earlier

Flame and Umber decided that they would go over to Avalanche's house to visit. Even though they had just planned and celebrated a whole hatching party a few days ago with her, Flame still found himself missing her and urged Umber to take a little while off of planning to visit. Since it wasn't going to be long, Umber agreed even though their anniversary was in a few days and he still didn't have a restaurant for them to eat at and he was beginning to get stressed out about it.

It had taken them an hour to get to Possibility, and it would take them an hour to get back so Umber wasn't exactly excited to visit someone for the first time in his life.

"We better make this quick," Umber said while knocking on the door. "I've still got a lot to do."

"You didn't even have to come, you know," Flame reminded.

"Well you're the one who begged me to come along," Umber recalled.

The door swung open and Umber could see Avalanche standing there looking pretty annoyed. He guessed that it might have been Chromis giving her a hard time since he did that a lot. A few times when they were over, they had to convince Chromis to listen to Avalanche whether that be by bribing him with ice cream; or playing some sort of game that tricked him into doing what she asked.

"I already told you that I don't want your- oh, hey you two!" Avalanche said. "I've just been being bugged all morning by these stupid salesdragons that won't go away no matter how many times I tell them I don't want what they're selling. Anyways, come in!"

Umber looked past her and could see Chromis was on the couch reading a scroll with Shrimp. They weren't underwater reading it like Shrimp promised they would do though. As he listened, he heard Chromis get stuck on a few words that he had already learned and was relieved that a one-year-old dragonet couldn't read better than him.

As he walked in, he stepped on a brown mat that matched the floor that said "WELCOME" on it. This wasn't here last time, so Umber assumed that they had just bought it. The mat wasn't dirty or anything either so that only added to the idea of it being new.

He wiped his paws against the rug as his eyes adjusted to the dim light. There were only a few windows and candles lighting the small room. The air was cooler in here and he felt instantly relieved as the air cooled his scales down; it was considerably hot outside today. That was one of the reasons Umber didn't want to spend hours flying to Possibility and back for a dragon he was talking to all day the other day.

"It feels so much nicer in here than outside," Umber commented.

"Hot day today, huh?" Avalanche asked. "I haven't gone outside yet. I was planning on coming over today to talk to you about something, but you're here already so I guess that saves me the trouble of flying."

Umber shot his death stare at Flame who immediately backed up a few steps and was giving him his "sorry" eyes.

We came all the way out here for nothing! Umber thought. She was already going to come over and we wasted time coming out here! Now planning this is going to be cut even closer!

He was pretty annoyed at this, especially with all of the stress of their anniversary weighing him down; he was also curious about what Avalanche wanted to talk to him about though so he didn't say anything about it.

What does she want to talk to me about though? It must be important if she was willing to fly two hours from Possibility to the Sky Kingdom to say, Umber thought.

"What do you need to talk to him about?" Flame asked curiously.

"That is none of your concern," Avalanche said. "Umber, how about we go outside and talk about it? Flame can't be around for what I'm about to tell you."

"Why can't I hear it?!" Flame interjected. "What are you two talking about that I can't hear about?" Umber noticed the look on his face and could tell that he was getting angry.

"Uh- yeah," Umber said. "what is it you need to talk to me about?"

"It's anniversary stuff," Avalanche said. "now go read with Chromis or something Flame."

"Fine," Flame agreed. "but you better not be saying anything about me!"

Avalanche grabbed Umber's talons and dragged him outside and down the street a little so that Flame couldn't eavesdrop on them. Umber picked up on this and looked behind him every couple of seconds so that he could make sure that Flame wasn't creeping behind them or anything.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Umber asked. "It must be important if you were going to fly from Possibility and back."

"Well, I was going to ask you…" she stopped for a few seconds and took a few glances behind her. "if you would like a free reservation at one of my old Talons of Peace friend's restaurants," she whispered.

"R-Really? Umber was conflicted with shock and excitement and could barely formulate a sentence. "You would do that?"

"Of course!" Avalanche said. "We were close and bumped into each other while we were out shopping at the Sky Kingdom. One thing led to another, and he asked if you would want a free reservation."

"This is perfect!" Umber said. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"Well, it wasn't one hundred percent yet, so I wanted to wait until I had to go ahead to tell you. I got a letter about it last night," she said.

"Thank you so much!" Umber leaned in for a hug which Avalanche awkwardly accepted. "I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to find a place in time because everything was either fully booked, too expensive, or didn't have any good food."

"Oh, I forgot to mention that everything's free up to a hundred suns," Avalanche said.

"A HUNDRED?!" Umber exclaimed. "You have to tell him how grateful I am! I mean, this is perfect! Flame will be able to get whatever he wants!"

"Oh don't worry, I'll tell him every detail of your freakout about it," she laughed. "Just make sure to check in on your reservation every day though. The place is called "Where Ends Meat" and it should be near the outskirts of your town."

I never checked the outskirts, Umber thought. I didn't think anyone would build a restaurant there.

Present

"Fine." Flame said. "We're reading extra tomorrow night though!"

"We'll see," Umber said as he left through the door. "I'll be back later!"

He closed the door behind him and looked up at the evening sky. He had checked that restaurant a few times before to see if his reservation was in, but it hadn't been yet and he was starting to get a little nervous about it since their anniversary was tomorrow and he had nothing else planned except a couple of spots for them to lay in the grass and stargaze after dinner.

What if something happened? What if he forgot about the reservation? What if there was a mix-up and the reservation wasn't put on the list? he worried as he lifted off into the air.

As he flew over to the restaurant, he couldn't help but constantly try and think about what he would do if the reservation didn't work out, but he couldn't come up with anything, and that only brought up his anxiety about the whole situation. As much as he trusted Avalanche, he had no idea who her Talons of Peace friend was.

What if he is just like that SkyWing and doesn't like the fact that I'm dating Flame? What if…what if he was the SkyWing from before? he thought.

This did seem a little far-fetched to him though, so he didn't think of that possibility too much. He tried reassuring himself by telling himself that it was just his imagination getting the better of him, but he still couldn't stop thinking of the million different ways this could backfire on him.

At last, he was reaching the edge of the town and could see the restaurant in the distance. He could see a different dragon at the door today, which he thought was odd because all of the other times he's come over to the restaurant there was the same SandWing checking reservations. This time, a NightWing was standing there with a clipboard in his talons which Umber presumed to be a list of everyone with a reservation.

Oh, thank the moon's it's someone different, Umber thought. I think that SandWing was getting annoyed with me for constantly checking for a reservation that might not even exist.

He thumped down on the path in one of the spots that didn't have dragons walking everywhere and began toward the restaurant. The building had a big red sign on it that read "Where Ends Meat" in fancy letters that Umber could barely read.

Once he was finally at the door, the NightWing stared him in the eyes and was looking around him to see if there were any other dragons following him. He felt a little embarrassed going to a fancy restaurant like this alone but he was only checking for a reservation so the embarrassment was short-lived.

"Reservation?" the NightWing said.

"Is there any reservation for Umber tomorrow night?" Umber asked.

He watched as the NightWing took his talon and started scrolling through the list. After a few seconds of this, he began getting nervous that he still hadn't been on the reservation and that he would have to make up completely new plans in the span of a few hours. He felt a jolt of relief though when the NightWing stopped his talon somewhere near the middle of the list.

"Oh! Yes, I completely forgot," he said. "Maelstrom has put in a special request for you tomorrow night."

A SeaWing owner? Umber thought. Haven't seen many of those around. At least it isn't that SkyWing though.

"Thank the moons!" Umber said. "I only found out a couple of days ago about this reservation. It's cut really short now and I've been planning this anniversary for weeks now!"

"Anniversary? Who's the lucky lady?" he said.

"Uhm- well it's not a lady," Umber laughed nervously. "It's more of a handsome-"

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO NOT COME BACK HERE!" a voice behind him interrupted.

Umber quickly swung around as fast as he could, almost knocking the clipboard out of the NightWings talons with his tail. Standing there was the SkyWing from a little under two weeks ago. He was staring Umber up and down, pinning him down with just his glare. It felt like his gaze was completely paralyzing Umber from the neck down and his scales were as heavy as gold. His heart was racing and all he wanted to do was run away and hide until the sunset, but something about him was keeping him from running away. It was almost as if he had cast a spell to keep him from running and hiding and was forced to stand there and take anything he said. He was much bigger than Umber and could probably snap his neck in one swift motion if he wanted.

"Nobody wants you or your boyfriend here! Don't you see that?! Why are you so hellbent on coming back?!" he continued. He began glaring Umber up and down and his face lit up when he saw something. "That necklace looks nice. Give it to me. A dragon like you doesn't deserve something as nice as that and I could probably sell it for a lot of money to someone who deserves it anyways."

My necklace? I can't give it to him though… Flame just got his necklace and now mine is about to be taken? Umber thought. No. I'm not letting this SkyWing bully me into giving him my necklace. I can't.

"I think you should leave," the NightWing said. "before I get security to make you leave."

"As if I give a shit about your security," the SkyWing said. "This disgusting MudWing is the one who should be forced to leave! Now give me the necklace before I make you give it to me!"

"N-No," Umber stuttered out. His voice was shaky and he wanted to run now more than ever. "I'm not giving you anything!"

"Did you just talk back to me?" the SkyWing said.

Umber could see the anger all over his face at this point. His eyes were fiery and all he looked like he wanted to do was claw him for even daring to say anything back instead of just giving him the necklace and leaving, but Umber didn't think he'd do anything; except he did.

Without hesitation, the SkyWing raised his talon and slapped Umber across the right side of his face, leaving a long scratch along his cheek and sent him stumbling into the NightWing who caught him before he could fall. He was too shocked to say anything and didn't even notice that there was already blood dripping down his face and onto the ground. He knew what was going to happen the moment he saw his talon raise though and was about to dodge it, but an image of Icicle popped into his head as she lunged at him and that made him freeze up as if he was being frozen by her ice breath herself.

After a few seconds, he recovered and could feel the pain of the scratch now. He noticed that there was already blood trickling down his face and dripping onto the gravel path. He quickly took his talons and covered the scratch to prevent any more blood from dripping.

He could feel the blood soak his talons as they met his face, so he took a quick look at them and could see that there was blood all over them, soaking his paw. Part of him was in pain and the other part was in complete shock and disbelief at what had just happened and all he could think to do was to stand there and let the rest play out by itself.

"SECURITY!" the NightWing yelled.

Another SkyWing that was a little bigger than Umber quickly ran over and split the two up. The SkyWing looked to have a scar over his right eye, but Umber could hardly see it because of the black eyepatch he had covering it. Other than that, he looked like every other SkyWing in this town. He just had a necklace, an earring, a small pouch on his front right leg, and a wristband that had many different colored gems in it. Despite all of this though, something about him gave Umber the impression that he must be important in some way.

"O-Oh my! A-Are you okay?" the helpful SkyWing stuttered out. "L-Let me get you s-something for that." He pulled out a large roll of some sort of sticky bandage, ripped a piece off, and put it on his face.

"I'll be fine," Umber said. "I've had worse."

Immediately, the blood started soaking into the bandage and the helpful SkyWing started ripping a few more bandages off of the roll and sticking them on his face so that the blood didn't soak through the bandages. After a few more being stuck to his cheek, the bleeding seemed to stop for the time being. But the aggressive SkyWing from before was still standing there with a smirk on his face, looking like he was proud of what he had just done.

What is wrong with him?! Umber thought. He needs help!

Finally, a couple of rather large SandWings showed up and grabbed his shoulders while keeping their tail barbs raised in case he tried anything.

"LET GO OF ME!" the SkyWing screamed.

"T-Take him to the Queen if possible," he said. "Tell her that Turvar s-sent him."

Turvar, huh? Umber thought. What connection does he have to Queen Ruby?

"We don't listen to anyone but Maelstrom, Turvar," one of the SandWings said. "We have this under control, so how about you go home?"

"T-That's Prince Turvar to you," Turvar said. "Now, t-take him to Queen Ruby." The SandWing shot him a growl and continued walking. He was definitely not happy about that.

Prince Turvar? Umber thought. When did he become a prince and how? I've never heard of him before. He's so nervous for a prince. Shouldn't he not be scared of anyone?

"Prince?" Umber questioned. "No disrespect, but I've never heard of you before and I've read all about the princes and princesses." He put his talons up to his cheek to stop some of the pain.

"No s-surprise there, ha," Turvar said. "Ruby adopted me fairly r-recently actually. My m-mother threw me out once I t-turned seven because of my eye." He scratched his neck nervously.

"Oh," Umber said sympathetically. "I'm so sorry. What happened to your eye if you don't mind me asking?"

"Natural b-born defect," Turvar said. "I don't r-really like talking to other d-dragons, but what did you do to piss him o-off?"

"I- uhm, I'm sort of…dating another male" he paused. "and he doesn't like that idea too much. I ran into him a couple of weeks ago and I said too much, and now he's seen me again."

"I don't s-see a problem with t-that," Turvar said. "As long a-as you're happy, I think it's f-fine."

"Me and Flame- uh- my boyfriend are happy together. He's had a violent past but he's changed a lot. I don't know how he'll respond to this though." Umber said.

"I'll make s-sure he gets what h-he deserves, don't worry," Turvar said.

"Thank you," Umber said. "I really don't know what I would've done without you."

"I-It's no problem," Turvar said. "Just g-get home safe."

Umber bowed his head down in appreciation and then began walking away. He could still feel the pain on his cheek and his heart was still racing and his talons were still shaky as ever. All he wanted to do was go home for today and lay down next to Flame and fall asleep on his shoulder.

There was one problem with this though; Flame was going to see the scratch on his face and no doubt go crazy over it.

Flame, please just leave this be, Umber thought. He knew he wouldn't, but all he could do was hope at this point. Flame was far too protective of Umber and he knew it.

He took off into the air, leaving Turvar and the restaurant behind. He spotted the SandWings from before escorting the SkyWing to the palace. They couldn't fly with him because they had no restraints and they kept their tail barbs pointing at him as they walked, being careful to keep them away from any other SkyWings that they might run into.

As he flew, he tried distracting himself from what had just happened by looking around at the different plants, birds, and any other wildlife he could see and tried to admire them or guess what kind of plant it was. He flew low to the ground so he could see the plants, but they were still almost impossible for him to make out. So he moved on to the birds but he already knew every single bird species there was in the area. Nothing could distract him from having to face Flame; not even the calming wind that would blow in his face and around his wings could get it off of his mind.

After a few minutes, he spotted their house. Strangely, no dragonets were playing outside right now like there usually were. He was a little disappointed that he didn't have their roars and laughs to calm him and distract him but was also a little grateful. If they saw his scratch then they would no doubt ask him questions and hold him up. Maybe even Flame would notice what was happening and yell at them because of how angry he'd be about the scratch.

He thumped down on the gravel path in front of their house, his heart beating so fast that he was sure it would explode any second now. He slowly crept toward the doorway, stalling as he tried to find any excuse for him to go back to the town; but there was no excuse, there was nothing he could do to turn back now because the anniversary was already set up and ready for tomorrow. The only thing he had to do now was walk in the door and listen to Flame get angry and try his best to calm him.

He reached his talons toward the door handle and turned it with a little push and felt the cool air hit his scales from inside their house. The table was cleaned off from any graphicolls from earlier but there was no sight of Flame. Umber assumed that he was in another room so he took a couple more steps in, closing the door behind him with a thud. Once he was inside, he could smell the strong smell of eggs in the air and immediately knew where Flame was.

"Umber? Is that you?" Flame said from the kitchen. "You're back early." He walked into the living room. "I just made some eggs, do you want some-" he paused "What happened to your face?!"


Umber had just left only a few minutes ago and Flame was cleaning the graphicolls off of the table and putting them in the box. They were running out of space in the box and Flame had been thinking of giving the graphicolls he's already read to Chromis. Sure, he would be a little sad to see most of his collection go if he decided to, but seeing the happiness in Chromis's eyes would be worth it in the end.

I'm getting hungry, Flame thought. Hopefully Umber won't mind if I make something to eat.

He slid the box under the table and made his way over to the kitchen and began washing his talons in the sink. As he looked out of the window above the sink, he didn't see any dragonets playing outside like usual which he thought was odd since there weren't many days when there weren't dragonets playing outside.

He began thinking of what to make and ultimately decided to make something quick and simple; eggs.

He turned the faucet off and started drying his talons. Once he was satisfied with the dryness of them, he walked over to the fridge and grabbed the eggs, milk, and butter which were all either on the top shelf or the one below it. He went over to the cupboard and grabbed a fork, bowl, plate, pan, and spatula. He cracked a few eggs into the bowl and began whisking them, adding a little milk every few seconds.

I really hope Umber knows what he's doing, Flame thought. I don't want this to be a disaster, for his sake.

Flame was nervous for Umber whenever he wasn't in sight for him to protect him, more than ever since that SkyWing a couple weeks ago. He knew he needed to stop being so protective though, but he didn't know where to start. As much as he trusted Umber to be able to handle himself he still had a sinking feeling of worry that he was out on the paths, alone, with nobody to protect him.

He was also worried about him ever since that dream he had. He's tried asking him about what happened multiple times since then, but he still wouldn't budge and insisted that nothing was wrong. He just wished that Umber would trust him as much as he trusted Umber, but he didn't blame him since he rarely had to talk to Flame about his emotions so there weren't many chances to build that trust anyways.

Umber, why won't you just tell me what's wrong? Flame thought. We can work through this together! Something must have happened during that war, I just know it.

There was also the fact that he was stressed; Flame knew it by the way he would always avoid talking about their anniversary. He would try to play it off as him keeping it a secret, but Flame knew that wasn't the case. There was so much going on with Umber and Flame felt bad about it but there was nothing he could do if he wouldn't tell him.

Once the eggs were fully mixed he set the bowl down and lit the stove and scooped out a little butter from the butter container, threw it in the pan, and lit the stove.

He watched as the butter melted, then threw in the eggs and began stirring. After a few seconds, the pan heated up enough, and began cooking the eggs as he was mixing them around to avoid them burning all while he was chopping them up at the same time.

After a few minutes of this, the eggs were fully cooked. He picked up the pan and brought it over to the counter and dumped the eggs on the plate, making sure to scoop out every little bit.

Flame didn't like his eggs with an overpowering spice flavor, so he just kept it simple with salt and pepper.

Just as he was finished putting everything away, he heard the door creak open.

Umber? he thought. Why's he back so early?

Umber? Is that you?" Flame called out. "You're back early." He began walking out into the living room. "I just made some eggs, do you want some-"

He immediately stopped what he was saying as he looked at Umber's face. There were bloody bandages wrapped on his upper cheek and he could see dried blood on his scales and talons. He took a second to recognize that his injuries were even real.

"What happened to your face?!" he yelled.

"I- uhm…I fell and scratched it on the corner of a table," Umber said.

"Umber, don't fuck with me right now," Flame said seriously. "Who did this to you?!"

All he could feel right now was anger and he felt about ready to beat the dragon who did this to death. He clenched his talons against the floor and completely forgot about how hungry he was. This is exactly what he was worried about; a situation like this.

"It's nothing Flame," Umber said softly as he walked towards him, putting his talons on his shoulder. "How about you just calm down and we can go read some graphi-"

"NO!" Flame screamed, batting Umber's talons away. "Tell me who the fuck did this to you so I can go down there and beat the shit out of them!"

"Wait! No! He's already been taken care of!" Umber admittedly yelled. "He's probably already being talked to by Queen Ruby right now!"

"So he's at the palace then. Got it." He shoved past Umber who was intentionally blocking the door and reached for the door handle.

"Flame! Stop!" Umber grabbed his talons. "Please stay here! You're going to get in trouble!"

"I don't give a shit Umber!" Flame yelled. "He hurt you, now let go so I can teach him a lesson!"

"He's already going to get punished! Please stop! I can't lose you over something so pointless!" he cried.

As Flame looked back, he could see the worry and tears trickling down Umber's face and dripping on the floor. He noticed that his cut had started bleeding again and could see the blood soaking even more of the bandage with a bright red spot, probably from yelling again and opening it back up. His body immediately went from tensed up and angry to relaxed and worried. The moment of realization that he had lost control again hit him like a barrel full of watermelons that had their stands kicked out and he lowered his arm and came out of the rage-driven rampage he was going through.

FUCK! he screamed in his head.

"I…I'm sorry," Flame said. "I lost control again, didn't I?"

"Just a bit." Umber let go of his talons. "Can we please just stop this now? We can go and buy a proper bandage if you want and just forget about this whole thing." He wiped the tears off of his scales.

"Y-Yeah," Flame said. "I just…I can't stand seeing you hurt like this. I mean, I let you go out there. This is my fault."

"Flame, I'm the one who offered to go out there!" Umber said. "I wanted to set up our anniversary, so don't beat yourself up over this. Besides, it's better me than you because if that dragon had done this to you, I don't think he'd be alive to tell the tale." He forced a laugh.

"Maybe…" Flame said. "L-Let's just go out and buy a bandage now. I need to clear my head."

"And once we get home we can read some graphicolls, alright?" Umber said. Flame just gave a little nod to this.

"I-I'm going back to my old ways…aren't I?" Flame said after a long pause.

"Flame, I don't blame you for freaking out," Umber said. "but we can forget about this now because you stopped and didn't follow through with it."

"Please just…promise to stop me if I ever do that again," Flame said.

"I promise," Umber said. "Let's go now before the bandage soaks up too much blood." He grabbed Flame's talons and opened the door and led him out.

The air outside was warm and was a nice change of scenery for him since he had been stuck in the house all day. They had just been hanging around and reading mostly, so Flame hadn't gotten the chance to go outside yet. It was nice out and he started regretting not coming out earlier, especially since winter was coming soon and nice days like this would be about as scarce as Flame remembering to bathe without Umber reminding him.

They took off in the air with Flame quickly slowing down and gliding every couple of seconds to keep up with Umber but keeping a few meters ahead of him so that he didn't have to look at his face because he didn't want to see the disappointment spread across it. He was sure that at this moment, Umber must have been more disappointed than he ever had been with him before, and he was ashamed.

He looked down at the dragons, the houses, shops, and different animals as he zoned out while thinking of what him freaking out meant and what this changes about their relationship. Flame thought he had figured himself out when he officially started dating Umber, but it turns out that he just delayed another rampage. He was so lost in thought about this that he hardly even noticed that Umber wasn't behind him anymore and was gliding down to the markets without him, so he quickly turned to a dive and began following him.

He landed down on the path with a thump, sending gravel through the air not far behind Umber. They landed in front of a pharmaceutical store that had a big, red plus on the front of it and said "Med Center" above it. They had been here multiple times and that was usually to get some ointment or rubbing alcohol for burns whenever they were cooking. Flame rarely burnt himself but when he did, it was always bad and extremely painful.

He followed Umber into the store with his head down and meandered behind him through the multiple isles as he skimmed his talons against many different large bandages. Some were already dipped in rubbing alcohol, some weren't, and some were way too small for Umber's cut. He ultimately picked out one that was the perfect size and was already alcohol dipped and began walking toward the counter when he saw Flame staring at the ground.

"Flame?" Umber grabbed his attention. "Are you okay?"

"I-I just can't believe I went on another rampage like that," Flame said. "I thought I changed, but obviously I didn't. I'm so sorry Umber. I just keep screwing up so much."

"You were only protecting me Flame." Umber put his talon on his shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up over this. We all make mistakes and learn from them. So please, don't get so angry at yourself."

Hearing these words come from Umber meant the world to him. Hearing this confirmed to Flame that Umber wasn't disappointed or mad at him, but just wanted to help him. He thought carefully about his words for a few more seconds before realizing that he did need to stop being so hard on himself. Every time he does something wrong, he would get angry at himself for a few days. It has been especially happening often too.

He's right, Flame thought. I need to learn to forgive myself.

"You're right," Flame said. "I really do need to stop.

"Wha- really?" Umber's tone was a mix of confusion and happiness. "You're…actually going to? I didn't expect you to agree so easily."

"Well, you did have a point," Flame said. "I'm always getting angry at myself for the tiniest things and I need to stop."

"So does this mean we're good now?" Umber questioned.

"Yeah…I guess it does," Flame said.

"Good. I'm a bit tired though so can we just cuddle when we get home instead of reading?" Umber asked.

"Yeah, sure," Flame said. "Whatever you want. You've had a rough day."

They both brought the bandage up to the counter and paid for it and the price ended up being a half-sun. Once they were outside, Flame took the bandage and slowly took the bloody bandage off of Umber's face, being careful not to touch the wound. Then, he took the bandage and slowly stuck it to his cheek, and discarded the packaging. The scratch hadn't been bleeding anymore either which was good because the blood would ruin the new one in an instant.

On the flight home, Flame began thinking about why a dragon would've wanted to do that to Umber. He thought that it couldn't have been something random and they had to have had a past encounter before, so he started there. He thought back through all of the things that have happened in the last few weeks, then it clicked.

THAT SKYWING! he realized. Does us being together piss you off that much?! What the hell is wrong with some dragons? He better get what's coming to him!

Once they could see their house in the distance and Flame could see dragonets playing outside now. Their screams and laughs filled the air as they got closer and all he could think about was how he wished that they were never oppressed like Umber was today. In love with the same gender or not, a dragon like Umber doesn't deserve to be treated the way he was.

They finally landed on the path in front of their house and went inside. Immediately, Flame could smell the aroma of the eggs he had made before still sitting on a plate in the kitchen; they were most definitely cold now and he could already feel his stomach rumbling again once he realized.

"Gah! I forgot about the eggs I made," Flame realized.

"We can make more if you want," Umber said.

"Nah, it's fine. I'll just make something else later." Flame walked over to the couch and sat down with his wing open. "You coming?"

"Oh, yeah." Umber walked over to the other side of the couch and sat down next to Flame, hugging him close.

As their scales met, the usual calm feeling came over Flame and he tightened his wing around Umber and rested his head against his shoulder. He closed his eyes and began gently caressing his talons against his back. His thoughts started going blank and all he could think about was Umber's warmth.

Soon enough, he could feel his eyelids getting heavier and heavier by the second as his talons gradually moved and slower until they came to a complete stop and his body went limp as sleep pulled him in like the smell of perfect food would in the markets whenever he was too lazy to make anything.


Author's note: Another early upload haha. I actually finished the chapter Tuesday and couldn't wait any longer (don't ask me how I did it so fast). Also, Responding to KDracen, tysm! I work really hard to improve at least something with my writing each chapter whether it be small or big, and that gave me a much needed confidence boost. And a massive thanks to Jewels Nightcap for letting me use his OC, Prince Turvar, in this chapter haha. He's pretty fun to write since I can relate to him so much in real life lol. I have a few ideas for him in the future that I'm really excited to write. I'll be taking a couple more OC requests for this, so dm me on discord at Amisgal#8679 if you want me to add yours!