"Gotcha!" Flame yelled as he tackled Umber in mid-air

They had been playing air tag for the last forty-five minutes at this point, waiting for it to get dark. Flame had the idea that they played the game; though Umber called out a clear disadvantage on his end, he played anyway though because it was better than doing nothing.

Falling through the air now, Flame let go of Umber, spreading his wings and leaving Umber to fall for a couple more seconds until he flew back up to him. He was laughing and smiling, definitely excited for what he was about to show Flame next — little did he know, Flame already knew what he had planned though.

I wonder if he knows that I know we're going to a restaurant, Flame thought. Oh well, I'll just act surprised so that I don't make him feel bad.

He was tempted to go up to Umber a few times though and ask him where they would be going next, then act like he read his mind like Darkstalker could and tell him. These were all just silly intrusive thoughts though and he didn't want to actually tell Umber that he knew everything as much as he thought he wanted to.

As Flame looked up in the sky, he could see that the sun was setting which meant it was getting about time for them to leave for the restaurant. He noticed that Umber picked up on this at the same time he did — he got a weird giddy excited look on his face with a huge smile forming within a matter of seconds.

"Flame!" Umber called out with excitement flooding through his voice. Their wingbeats were loud, so he had to yell over them. "It's almost time for my last surprise!"

"Well, we better hurry then, MudWing!" Flame said, matching his excitement. Then, Umber turned around and started flying toward the direction that Flame assumed was the restaurant.

He began flapping his wings, following close beside Umber, looking around the surrounding area to see if he could spot the restaurant before they got to it. As he was looking though, he spotted a big building that was lit up like a candle. It was decently sized and it looked pretty fancy from the outside with complicated arches made of black stone with a bunch of windows — he wondered if he could fit through one of them if he needed to. There were also many different complicated designs, and finally, a massive sign on the front that read "Where Ends Meat".

This has to be it, Flame thought. I mean, look at this place! This is definitely something that Umber would do. Wait…how much does this all cost?!

As much as he wanted to get mad at Umber right now, everything was probably already set in stone and there was nothing that he could do about it now. He remembered that he had already said that he figured everything out beforehand though. He trusted Umber more than any other dragon in Pyrrhia, so they must have the money for it or he would've probably found another place to eat.

Regardless, he wasn't going to buy anything too expensive because the entry fee was most likely already enough.

"Alright," Umber said, immediately interrupting Flame's thought. "this is the place." He swooped down toward the path and landed in a clearing next to the restaurant, and Flame quickly did the same.

"Looks…expensive," Flame commented.

"Oh, just you wait," Umber replied as he started walking.

Flame quickly followed, looking at the front door the whole time. Once they got close, he could see that there was a NightWing at the front door, watching for anyone who might be coming up. He seemed to be looking around the crowd for someone specific which he thought was weird because greeters can hardly even remember your name usually.

Whoever it is must be pretty damn important if even he remembers them, Flame thought.

That's when he looked over at them and immediately stopped his search as he eyed them both down as they walked near. He could even make out the familiar look of guilt trickle along his face for a couple of seconds, which Flame thought was a little weird. But he ultimately summed it up to him misreading his expression.

Once they were in earshot of the door, the NightWing finally spoke up instead of just staring at them like a creep.

"Umber!" the NightWing exclaimed amicably. "I assume this must be your…significant other." He seemed a little awkward about the fact of male-on-male relationships, but that wasn't the thing Flame was focusing on the most right now.

How does he know Umber? How does he know I'm dating Umber? He really must've gone all out on this whole anniversary thing. Way further than I would be willing to go.

"I just want to say I'm sorry for what happened yesterday," the NightWing continued. "and for that reason, Maelstrom has raised the limit from one hundred to one hundred and fifty suns."

"Really?!" Umber said in disbelief. "That's great! Do you hear that Flame? We can get all of that food for free!"

Wait, what the fuck? Flame thought with a mix of surprise and confusion. How did he manage to convince the owner to give up a hundred and fifty suns for free?!

"Umber…how did you even get all of this for free?" Flame questioned.

"Well, I'd be lying if I said that your mom didn't have something to do with it," Umber admitted.

"She set this all up? How? When did she get that kind of money?" Flame interrogated.

"I'll tell you all about it once we're inside," Umber said hurriedly. "I want to see what kind of food they have already!"

Flame looked past the NightWing, through the window on the door, and could see the inside was just as fancy as the outside with red carpets and shiny tables that had a candle, silverware, a menu, and a napkin holder that was full of napkins on each. The place was packed full of dragons, leaving only a couple of seats left for the two of them: one by the window, and one near the middle of the restaurant. He wanted to be seated in the one in the middle because he personally didn't like window seats; regardless though, he wasn't going to say anything about it.

There was also a door to the kitchen which looked extremely out of place. It was a white metal door that had its top rounded instead of it being rectangular. This was probably on purpose though so that dragons didn't just walk into the kitchen without realizing.

They walked in and the smell of all of the food smacked him in the face. The different aromas of the perfect steak, fish, stews, soups, and pastas flooded the air like a symphony of smells, circling around his face and making his mouth want to water. He resisted the urge to do that though; he wasn't going to stoop down to a MudWing's level. Not in front of all of these dragons at least.

Once he was inside, he could see that there were many different tapestries on the ceiling. Some being of the beautiful night sky filled with stars, and others being wildlife in their natural habitat. One even depicted dragons flying through the sky over a beautiful savanna with the sun setting in the background, spewing its vibrant oranges, reds, and yellows all throughout the tapestry.

There's so many, Flame thought in amazement. This place must've cost a fortune to build! I can't believe that Umber managed to get in here for free!

The NightWing from before followed them in and guided them to their seat which was the one near the middle of the restaurant, which gave Flame a bit of strange relief that he didn't have to get stared at by a bunch of dragons while he was eating.

As they were walking, he looked at many other dragons sitting down and eating while talking to each other. Now that he was close, he could see that they all had expensive jewelry on. Most of them had gems embedded in their scales with a necklace or bracelet, and others didn't — they probably didn't want to go through the painful process of getting one in because they just had more necklaces and bracelets instead.

He assumed that most of these dragons were probably on a date if they weren't already together. The others were most likely family since most of the tables were two-seaters except for a select few that were long tables, mostly full of dragons.

Finally, they got to the table and were seated with Flame sitting on one end and Umber sitting on the other, similar to how it was at the tea place. He had to put his tail in between the holes in the chair which wasn't something he usually did because it could get stepped on by accident; this chair was small though, so he had to.

The NightWing quickly blew a tiny plume of fire onto the candle on their table before sliding it to the middle so that it was between both of them.

Flame could already feel his love growing for Umber right now and all he wanted to do was kiss him, but he wasn't going to do that yet, not in front of all of these dragons; that was going to be saved for later. Right now, he was going to enjoy the nice food instead.

"You two have a wonderful time here," the NightWing said before walking back to the door to watch for any other dragons who might be coming.

Once Flame was sure that the NightWing was gone, he stared at Umber with a faint smile — enough of a smile to be recognizable as a smile anyways.

"Umber…you really went all out for this," Flame said sincerely. "This is like…anything I'd ever be able to do times a thousand!"

"Well, I'm glad you like it," Umber said with a light laugh, mirroring his expression. "I went through a lot to get in here. If it wasn't for Avalanche, I think we'd probably be eating at one of those stands right now!"

"How did she help you with all of this anyways?" Flame asked.

"Well, it turns out that a former member of the Talons of Peace owns this restaurant," Umber answered. "She just so happenes to be close with him, so she pulled a few strings and got us everything for free!"

All of that for us? Flame thought. I'll have to visit her tomorrow to thank her.

"Anyways," Umber continued. "How about we read the menu and get ready to order? I'm sure someone is going to be checking on us soon."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that part," Flame said with a chuckle.

He picked up the paper menu and began reading through all of the different things he could order. There were filet mignons, tenderloins, many different types of fish and lobster, vegetable stews and soups, meat stews and soups, different wines, and even caviar as a side.

He ultimately chose that he was going to order some pan-seared salmon with a side of caviar and a glass of wine. He wasn't much of a drinker though — actually, he's never had a sip of alcohol in his life until today. He was excited to try it though.

All of the other fancy dragons drink it so it can't be THAT bad, Flame thought.

"What are you gonna order?" Flame asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Umber said. "I think I'm probably just going to get a couple of steaks."

"Oh, C'mon MudWing," Flame protested. "you can do better than that! I mean, look at this menu!"

"Ugh, fine," Umber scoffed sarcastically. "I'll just have to order more food then."

He looked back down at the menu for a couple more minutes, probably reading off all of the options before coming to a decision. I mean, how could he only order a couple steaks? There was so much on this menu that it was impossible to only order one thing!

"Uhm…I think I'll get…two steaks, the shrimp scampi pasta, and…maybe a little bit of red wine?" Umber said — though, that last part sounded more like a question that it did him saying he would, but Flame wasn't going to answer a yes or no; he could get whatever he wanted. He was an adult after all. "Yeah, I'll get the red wine," he said with a bit more confidence. "What are you getting?"

"I think I'm gonna get the pan-seared salmon with a side of caviar, and some red wine, too," Flame said.

"Ooo, fancy, " Umber commented.

They sat in silence for a few minutes and Flame looked around the restaurant, staring as the waiters walked around with plates of food, setting it on dragons tables, who instantly began digging into the delicious meal as they talked. Some of the bigger tables had all of the food stacked in the middle like a feast with them taking whatever they could onto their plate.

Must be a special thing they do here, Flame thought. I've never seen a restaurant do that before.

Finally, a waiter got to them. He was a SkyWing with fancy necklaces and bracelets on with a plug in his ear. It wasn't too big, but it seemed pretty painful to have put in and Flame winced at just the thought of it.

"Are you two gentlemen ready to order?" he asked in a very distinguished voice.

"Yeah, I'll get the pan-seared salmon with a side of caviar, and some red wine." Flame paused, giving him a minute to write everything down. "And he'll get a couple steaks, shrimp scampi pasta, and some red wine too."

"And how would you like your steak done?" the waiter asked.

"Medium rare," Umber quickly said.

"Alright, I'll get that with you two shortly," he said as he began to walk away in the direction of the kitchen door.

As he left, Flame turned his head back to look at Umber and gazed affectionately at him with a smile while he admired his face, thinking about how he must be the most handsome dragon in Pyrrhia by far.

Umber was staring back, mirroring his expression once again, and was probably thinking the exact same thing if Flame were to guess. They did this for a couple of minutes before he heard the talonsteps of a dragon walking behind him and he turned around to see a different waiter from before, holding a big plate with breadsticks and dip on it.

"Here are your appetizers," the waitress said politely. "If you run out, you can call one of us over and ask for more at no extra cost."

"Oh- thank you," Umber said, picking up one of the breadsticks, dipping one in the sauce, and putting it in his mouth. Immediately, his eyes went wide and he went back for seconds, dunking the breadstick back in the sauce and into his mouth.

"Ah, come on Umber! Don't double dip!" Flame said playfully.

Umber tried saying something back, but it only ended in him spitting up crumbs of fresh bread all over the table. He quickly swept them off like any distinguished dragon would and swallowed the mouthful of bread he had.

"You'll put your tongue in my mouth, but you won't dip your breadsticks in the same dip I put mine in?" Umber said wryly. "Anyways, you should try these breadsticks! They're so good!"

"Well, first of all, you do it too! And second of all, that's different," Flame protested as he grabbed one of the breadsticks. They were soft and warm, and he could see that there was salt sprinkled on the top — definitely fresh as ever.

He dipped it in the yellow-beige colored sauce, making sure to get a reasonable amount on the end of the breadstick before putting it in his mouth. Sure enough, he was immediately hit with the perfect balance of tangy and savory with a bit of garlic and salt, making him immediately want to go back for more just like Umber had.

These are better than my breadsticks! How did they manage to get these to taste so good? It has to be some sort of old secret recipe!

"These are actually really good," Flame said nonchalantly as if he didn't just have the best damn breadsticks he's ever had in his life. He couldn't tell if it was a bit of jealousy, or the fact that he didn't want to stoop down to Umber's level and go back for more — or a mix of both.

"Flame, you need to figure out how to make these!" Umber begged.

"I can try, but no promises, MudWing," Flame said. "I doubt they'll just give me the recipe."

"Well, I guess that means we'll have to savor them while they last then," Umber said, picking up another breadstick and dipping it in the sauce, but making sure to eat it suspiciously clean.

Seeing this made Flame stifle a bit of a laugh in an attempt to not break out in hysteria in front of all these dragons. Somehow, seeing Umber eat normally for once was the funniest thing in the world. The fake smug look on his face only added to the act.

"What?" Umber said in his most distinguished voice, obviously noticing Flame's face. "This is how I normally eat." He took another bite of the breadstick.

Seeing this made Flame break out into a laugh; he couldn't hold it back anymore. Umber was just acting too much like all of the stuck-up, self-important dragons around here while also managing to seem like the least stuck-up, self-important dragon in the restaurant.

Obviously, seeing Flame's reaction was funny enough to Umber that he broke out into a laugh with him. They sat there and laughed for a couple more seconds before finally calming down and realizing that a few dragons had been staring at them the whole time with disgusted looks on their faces. Flame didn't care though; he would've done the same thing as Umber did to their face right now if it didn't mean that he'd break out into another hysterical laughter.

"So," Umber said as he calmed down. "how have I done so far?"

Flame was kind of taken aback by this question because he thought that it was already pretty obvious how well he's managed to pull everything off so far. This was better than their first date! Regardless though, he knew Umber was looking for some sort of confirmation.

"Umber, so far this has been one of the best days of my life!" Flame said enthusiastically. "Only second to the day we met of course." He paused, taking Umber's talons into his and immediately switching the mood with an affectionate gaze. "Umber, I love you, and I can't imagine my life without you. If it weren't for you, I'd probably still hate everyone and everything around me."

"I-I love you too," Umber said, obviously caught off guard a little by Flame's answer. Flame swore he could feel his heart jump and begin to speed up at this, so now there was only one thing left to do.

Time felt like it had slowed down to a halt around them as Flame reached his neck across the table and closed his eyes, only to meet Umber's lips soon after, their talons still touching. He immediately felt a rush accompanied by a warm bubbly feeling in his chest as they kissed. A wave of emotions had rolled over him, only making him feel one thing: love. He wished that he could stay in this moment forever, with Umber's hot breath against his face.

After a couple of seconds, Umber finally pulled away to catch his breath all while staring into Flame's eyes intimately and all he wanted to do was go back in for seconds, but he couldn't; not here. They were already getting even more looks than before, but he didn't care. He did have the decency though, to not make out with Umber right in front of everyone.

He slowly sat back down in his seat, smiling with contentment about everything that's happened so far today.

Umber looked pretty embarrassed when he saw the stares they were getting, so Flame looked around at a few of the dragons that were staring and growled at them, baring his teeth and giving them a keep-staring-and-I'll-rip-your-fucking-nose-off face and they immediately retreated. This definitely made Umber feel a bit better judging by how his expression relaxed a bit and there was a hint of a smile now.

"I- uhm- here's your food!" one of the waitresses said who had been watching the whole scene. She quickly put a plate, bowl, and glass of wine in front of Flame. Then she set down a plate, a tin, and a glass of wine in front of Umber and quickly scurried off.

He looked at the plate and could see that there were two steaks on it and a bowl that had some sort of pasta in it. That's when he realized that the waitress was so flustered that she had given him Umber's order instead of his.

He looked up at Umber and chuckled a bit before they awkwardly switched their meals while trying to dodge the candle the whole time so that they didn't burn themselves.

They snickered about it for a couple of minutes before Flame finally picked up his fork and knife and began cutting into the fish in front of him, stabbing it with the fork and throwing it into his mouth. He had been excited to try food from this place; it had been hyped up so much after all with all of the tapestries, fancy dragons sitting around, and the fact the owner was able to just give Umber a hundred and fifty suns like it was nothing.

As soon as he bit into it, he could already tell that it was better than anything he could make. It was perfectly salty, with a strong fish flavor. It was definitely put into some sort of marinate — probably another secret recipe the restaurant had, if they had any secret recipe at all.

Maybe they're just naturally good cooks, Flame thought. That or this Maelstrom guy has some sort of secret flavor-enhancing spice that he has them put on everything here.

"Umber, how did you get so lucky to get a free pass here?" Flame asked jokingly. "I mean, this food is better than my cooking!"

"You mean how did you get so lucky," Umber corrected. "Avalanche is the reason we're here in the first place, you know."

"I'll have to fly out there tomorrow to thank her or something," Flame said. Umber stifled a bit of a laugh at this. "What?" he asked.

"It's just that I knew you would say that!" Umber admitted with little laughs slipping through as he spoke.

"Well, it looks like you know me well, MudWing." Flame unconsciously picked up the glass of wine next to his plate and took a sip because he was getting thirsty.

He subtly spit the wine back into the glass immediately after tasting it, trying not to draw any more attention than he already has from everyone in the restaurant. He didn't want for someone to complain about them not having proper etiquette or some bullshit like that; it would definitely ruin Umber's plans.

"Delicious," Flame said sarcastically, being rewarded with a faint chuckle from Umber.

Umber then took out his fork and knife and began cutting a big portion of his steak, struggling a bit and sending the juices to flow out over the plate. From Flame's perspective, he could tell that it was nice and tender and looked to be a perfect medium-rare.

He stabbed the steak with his fork and threw it down his maw, and his eyes immediately lit up with glee. It was as if he had just eaten his first bite of meat in years — that definitely wasn't the case though. Umber would probably die before giving up meat for that long.

"This is even better than the breadsticks!" Umber said with excitement running through his voice.

"Yeah? And you've got some disgusting overpriced grape juice to wash it all down," Flame joked.

"Oh, come on Flame," Umber scoffed. "It can't be that bad." He took a sip of his wine and immediately spit it back out into the glass, just like Flame had. He scrunched up his face a bit, which is something he rarely did since basically anything and everything he ate was good. "Nevermind, it's that bad."

He took his knife and began cutting into another slice of steak. That was until he completely gave up and took the whole piece of meat in his talons and chomped down on it, ripping a big chunk off before chewing and swallowing it.

Just an average MudWing at an average restaurant, Flame thought. Well, kind of average, but also really expensive. The prices on the menu were crazy! His single fish had cost 30 suns!

He habitually looked around once again and could see that the dragons around them were hardly even batting an eye; they probably didn't want to be on the other end of Flame's glare again. He had to agree though, it was pretty scary whenever he really wanted it to be.

Yeah, that's right, Flame thought. Say something, I fucking dare you.

Whether it was by instinct, or the fact he felt like he needed to make sure that Umber didn't feel embarrassed, he contradicted his thoughts earlier about never stooping down to a MudWing's level. He grabbed his piece of fish with his bare talons and took a big bite of it, just like Umber had.

He — once again — was met with the perfect flavor of the fish. All the way from the saltiness of the meat to the way it fell apart so easily was perfect, and he was just now realizing why Umber ate like this. Of course, he wasn't going to eat like this unironically; this was just a one time thing.

Maybe MudWings know something I don't after all, Flame thought.

He looked up at Umber with a smile and his talons covered in smooshed fish from gripping it too hard; he hadn't been accustomed to the MudWing way of eating yet, but he was learning. Umber cracked a smile as well, taking another bite of the beef in his hand while keeping eye contact with Flame the whole time.

Before they knew it, both of their pieces of meat had been completely gone. Of course, Umber still had one more and he had the one-ounce tin of caviar he ordered. He heard that it was good alone though, so he wiped his talons on one of the napkins at the table, picked up the tiny spoon he was given with the tin, and scooped a little bit in his mouth.

The flavor was unique, but nothing special, and certainly not worth the twenty suns he paid for it. Well, technically he didn't pay for it, Maelstrom did.

"Was it good?" Umber asked.

"Meh," Flame admitted. "It's free though, so who cares."

"I guess you're right," Umber said. "I just don't want to take any more money from Maelstrom than we already have." His voice got a little low. "I mean, he seems like such a nice guy!"

"Umber, you're the only dragon in Pyrrhia that would feel bad about getting free food," Flame joked. "Besides, if he cared so much about the money, then he wouldn't have given us fifty more suns on top of the hundred from before!"

"Yeah, you're probably right," Umber sighed. "I think we should be getting home soon though." He gestured toward one of the windows, where the sky was beginning to darken and the sun was lowering under the horizon and the moons were beginning to shine.

Flame could tell that he was nervous though, and he knew why. It was because once they got home, Umber would have to tell him all about his dream, which was definitely going to be hard seeing his reaction to being woken up before.

"Hey, Umber," Flame said, grabbing Umber's attention who was still staring out of the window. "It's okay to be scared to tell me about…everything. If it's bothering you this much, I really think you need to tell me."

Umber didn't turn away from the window and only gave a quiet "mhm" back. He looked down at his talons and could see that they were starting to get a little shaky, so he called the waiter over so that they could leave.

"Are you two ready to go?" the waitress asked.

"Y-Yeah," Flame stammered.

"Alright. Would you like a to-go box for that?" She nodded her head toward Umber's steak and pasta, which he would definitely want to eat right after their talk tonight.

"Oh- yes, thank you," Flame said politely.

"No problem. I'll be right back with your box," she said.

They sat there in silence for a minute, and Flame looked over at Umber's expression. He was obviously full of anxiety and nervousness right now, and he couldn't help but feel a little sorry. Whatever it was, it must have been something serious to get this kind of reaction out of him.

"Alright, here's your to-go box! Have a wonderful night," the waitress from before said, setting down two decently sized brown cardboard boxes that seemed like they could be shut securely without opening on the fly home.

Flame reached over the table and grabbed Umber's plate and knife, stabbing the piece of steak and throwing it into the box before snapping it shut, and dumping the pasta into the other one and doing the same. He stacked them both on top of each other and lifted them both up with both talons.

"Alright Umber, let's go," Flame said. Umber was obviously stuck in some sort of trance by the way he snapped his head over at him, before standing up and beginning to walk down the red carpet path.

Flame stood up and followed him through the restaurant and to the door, but something stopped them both in their tracks as they were walking out. The NightWing at the door before had been gone, probably in the kitchen or something. That wasn't the odd thing though. There was a scavenger that seemed to have taken the opportunity of the NightWing leaving his post to sneak in and was on top of one of the tables that had a candle and red cloth over it by the door.

It looked to have long, brown hair that drooped past its shoulders, and onto its chest, with a raggedy shirt on, and its pants were just of just a piece of cloth that dangled from its torso, and it looked like it hadn't bathed in at least a week from all of the dirt plastered around its body.

How the fuck did a scavenger make it this far into the Sky Kingdom? Flame thought.

That's when the scavenger spotted their eyes gazing directly at them. With a jump, it quickly tried to flee, but it slipped on the cloth on the table, sending it to fall a couple of feet onto the floor to which they quickly recovered and ran straight through the door.

One thing that also fell alongside the scavenger though, was the candle on the table, which landed on the carpet and immediately made it begin to burn a bright orange, charring up in mere seconds.

Before they knew it, the fire had spread to even more of the carpet, raging into a large fire that blocked the front door and was already spreading to some of the wooden chairs and tables around, lighting menus on fire and burning the napkins up in an instant.

The fire was quickly creeping up on them both now, burning everything to a crisp as the seconds passed, like the fury of a gruesome death staring them dead in the eyes, daring them to try and leave.


Author's note: ;-;