Chapter Text
Jake invited George to hang out in his bedroom. It was a decent size for NYC standards, it was your typical boys' bedroom. The walls and shelves have all things dragon-related.
"Subtle," George said playfully.
Jake transformed into his middle form, with only his dragon head, wings, tail, and scales. He still wore his red jacket and cargo shorts.
Jake rolled his eyes and faked a laugh, "Ha ha ha. Very funny."
"Hey, I never said it was wrong," said George, as he put his book bag down. "Besides, my family is like this too."
"I know, man, it's all good," Jake sat on his bed. Today has been interesting, he was just expecting some old family friends that mom knew. But he wasn't expecting them to be dragon researchers. Then a thought popped up in Jake's head, "Hey man, can I ask you something?"
George replied, "Shoot."
"Are guys wizards or something?" Asked Jake.
"Nah," Answered George.
Jake wasn't surprised, but "Wait, so you guys just go out of your way to watch and study dragons without any magical powers? Like you're all just regular humans?"
George stopped to think for a bit and then said, "Yeah, pretty much."
"Woah, that sounds pretty- that sounds pretty cool!" Jake was genuinely excited. He never met any human who wasn't a magic user who could survive a dragon or another magical creature. Even though most magical creatures are civilized, they are still very powerful and Jake has first hand experience of getting his butt kicked, even as a dragon.
"It's nothing, we mostly just visit dragons, observe, and sometimes talk to them," said George as he looked at Jake's collection of dragon toys. "Unless they're out in the wild, far away from civilization, but that's a whole other thing."
George turned around and asked, "Enough about me. What about you?"
Jake flopped on his bed, "Hmm. I don't know where to start. Ask me something."
"Do you have a dad?" George said bluntly.
'Wow, straight to the point,' Jake thought. "Yeah, he works as a marketer, and he travels a lot. He's in Chicago at the moment."
"He sounds like my dad," said George as he sat next to Jake.
"Well, my dad doesn't know that dragons and magic exist." Said Jake, with embarrassment and regret. He looked to see George's reaction, but he showed no emotion. Jake was again confused, which he realized was a pattern for him today.
George asked casually, "So, like you never told him." Then it came to George, "Wait, is your dad a regular human. Like just a normal guy?"
"Yes, he is a normal human. Mom decided not to tell him about it, she says it's complicated and never really asks for any more details." Jake felt awkward and hoped to change the topic.
"Huh, I thought he was a Western Dragon. You looked like a cross-species hybrid," George continued, "I hope I'm not making this weird for you."
Jake decided to be honest, "Yeah, you kinda made it awkward…"
Now it was George's turn to feel embarrassed, apologizing, "Sorry about that, dude."
"Don't sweat it, I know you didn't mean to," Jake reassured. He can tell George wasn't much of a social person by just the way he talks and interacts. But it didn't bother Jake.
"Okay, change of subject, how about…" George thought for a couple of seconds.
"Oh, how did you become the American Dragon anyway? Like, is there a process or…"
Jake answered, "Oh well, my grandpa was the Chinese Dragon, and the council picked me."
George didn't say anything, shrugged, and nodded. After there was a short but awkward silence. The type of awkward silence when you have nothing else to say to each other, especially on the topic that you were talking about?
So Jake broke the silence, "So you wanna YouTube videos?"
"Like what?"
"I don't know Smosh, animated gmod videos, or sfm videos."
Georges' eyes lit up, "FUCK YEAH!"
So the two watched videos together. Jake had a laptop that his dad bought him for his 13th birthday. With the laying on their stomachs watching YouTube videos. Ranging from Smosh videos, to Pewdiepie, Team Fortress 2 videos, both Gmod and SFM. But they also watch YTPs, mostly Spongebob stuff, which was the funniest for the two boys.
Several hours had passed, and the two boys had finished watching every video, either from a recommendation, finding new ones, or re-watching their favorites. George rolled out of Jake's bed and walked over to retrieve his backpack.
"I'm about to go home soon, but I wanted to give you something," George said, pulling out worn-out books.
Jake looked on, seeing the title of the top book, Dragonology 101. He picked it up, it felt heavy, and he flipped the pages, seeing text and images. He stopped at one page that caught his eye, which was a page dedicated to the dragons of East Asia. The drawings were detailed, showcasing dragons of different colors, showing the habitats, culture, and magical abilities. Jake uttered a simple, "Woah…"
George said, "Yeah, my dad wanted to give you a gift that can help you understand your dragon self." He stopped to rub his hand on the back of his hand, not giving eye contact, "We have a lot in our library, and these books are all beginner-friendly, by the way."
"I don't know how to thank ya," Jake smiled.
"No need. Oh, and one more thing," George pulled out a CD and gave it to Jake.
Jake held it, and on the case was written in black Sharpie that spelled, Dragon mixtape. Jake was ecstatic, giving a wide smile.
"Dude, this is sick! You made this?"
"Well, I got help from my dad and Chris. Dad and I picked the music. Chri-"
Jake gave George a bear hug, which would've likely broken George's spine in half if he didn't control his strength. Jake's tail was also wagging in delight like a dog. George was trying to say other words, and Jake caught them just in time.
"Woah, sorry dude. Sorry, dude." Jake apologized.
George was catching his breath, "All good…"
"Besides, I should've been sorry."
Jake asked, "For what?"
"For saying hell yeah out loud, that was unprofessional of me."
"Dude, don't sweat it, man! I would've done the same!"
After George and his family left, Jake ate leftovers from dinner as he seemed to miss it while watching his YouTube marathon.
So Jake was lying on his bed in full dragon form, luckily the bed could fit his size, which was very convenient. He was reading one of the dragonology books, listening on a CD player from his childhood that he found, and had the desk lamp being his only light source. Technically, he didn't need it as his dragon eyesight can see very clearly in the dark, but he just liked it because it made him feel comfortable.
What made it better was the music that Jake was listening to, which was the mixtape. It played all types of songs. Most of them are rock songs that Jake knew that Arthur personally picked, and it's the type that all dads have probably listened to, which Jake nicknamed, Dad Rock.
Of course, there were other songs, ones he heard in dinosaur tribute videos, which were probably one of the Drake siblings' picks. There was some techno here, and some pop songs he had heard before that were pretty recent.
But his favorite where the songs that had a fantasy vibe, which he wonder if they have a name for it. This included the rock songs, but also synth instrumentals.
Jake flipped the old pages, careful not to rip them with his claws. The pages were beautiful, similar to the 101 book, but they had much more information. There were notes written on pages, which seemed to be new information. Jake wondered if it was either Arthur, Sophia, or maybe some other dragonologist.
The book showed dragons living in all types of cities. Cities built on the side of mountains, some were built into the mountains, underwater cities where asian dragons lived, and in human cities disguised as humans. The page illustrations were more realistic, but they had a style to them. Another awesome detail is that they moved! The dragons would fly off the page and disappear, of course, they would come back and repeat the process.
When Jake flipped another page, he saw dragons in the middle forms. Now, Jake is no fashion historian, but he can tell they were 1980s clothing. It was the guy dragons wearing booty shorts and tank tops. Jake chuckled and wondered if someday newer books would have the same thing for his generation.
Jake was getting close to the end of the book. Sleep began to roll in, and yawning, his eyes felt heavy. Jake was probably past his bedtime, but he could handle it anyway, as it wasn't the first time he had done it.
A song began to play, with the gentle tone of the guitar and the sound of wind chimes. Jake heard the band; it sounded like a mantra, with instrumentals continuing after it.
Then he heard them sing.
Wise old man
Telling tales of long ago.
Spoke of you
Temple towns above the snow.
Where dragons
Guard the doors.
Jake closed his eyes, laying the book on his scaled chest. He let the song play. Slowly, he begins to drift off to sleep.