Chapter Text
“Uncle Delbiiiin!” a baby purple dragon whined. “When is dad coming back? He’s never been gone this long. Is he okay?”
His red dragon godfather was more focused on the canvas in front of him than his anxiety about his father. “Trust me, Spyro, he’s fine.” Delbin grabbed a small canvas from a pile behind him. “Why don’t you paint with me? Painting always helps me when I’m feeling down.”
“But I already painted a picture.” Spyro nudged a still damp canvas to his uncle. It was a painting of his pet dragonfly, Sparx.
Delbin pet his godson on the head with a paint-stained hand. “And it’s a masterpiece, Spyro. Why don’t you make another? This time, put your emotions into it.”
“My emotions?” Spyro questioned. “Like...feelings?”
“Yeah,” Delbin replied, attention shifted back to his in-progress painting of a waterfall. “Think about something that describes how you feel, then just paint.”
The young purple dragon pondered for a moment, running over every possible thing that his 4-year-old brain could use to describe his emotions. Rain cloud? Nope. A boxing glove? Nah. Hmm...I got it. “I’m gonna draw fire!”
“Fire?” Delbin asked with worry laced in his vocal cords.
Spyro bounced up and down frantically. “Yeah! I’m angry right now, and I wanna burn something down!” Delbin watched in horror as young Spyro inhaled air into his mouth. Fortunately, all that was exhaled was a small puff of smoke.
“Thank the heavens,” Delbin mumbled under his breath. “Let’s save the fire for the paintbrush, yeah?”
“Look up here!” a voice called from the skies.
Spyro looked up as the familiar voice instructed and was filled with joy. “Dad!” Spyro was so excited that he knocked his canvas over with his wagging tail. “Dad! I missed you so much! Are you-“ Spyro took notice of another dragon that was next to his father. “Dad? Who’s that?”
The large green dragon that was Spyro’s father wrapped an arm around the big, blue, pink-bellied dragon standing beside him. “Spyro, this is my…” the green and blue dragons exchanged looks for a brief moment. “Friend? Friend. This is my friend, Bubba.”
Spyro’s eyes shifted from his father to Bubba. Bubba back to his father. Then his father back to Bubba. Spyro awkwardly wiggled his tiny foot. “H-h-hi…”
Bubba crouched down, which didn’t help much as he still towered over the miniature purple dragon, and extended his big, taloned hand. “Hi there, little buddy. Nice to meet you.”
Spyro’s gaze bounced from Bubba’s hand to his father. His father gave him an encouraging smile and a thumbs up. Spyro gently tapped his foot on the massive palm. “Nice to meet you, too.”
Spyro’s father faked a smile. He’d never seen Spyro act this reserved before. “How was he, Delbin?”
“He was great, Nestor!” Delbin sang. He grabbed the painting Spyro did of his dragonfly. “Look at what he painted! A true artist in the making!”
Nestor gasped with delight as he examined his son’s work. “You did this, Spyro?”
The purple dragon’s face turned as red as his godfather’s. “It was nothing.”
“No!” Nestor declared. “This is going on the fridge. No, the living room. I want everyone to see what a wonderful artist you are.”
Now Spyro was more red than his uncle. “Dad, you’re embarrassing me.”
Nestor cradled his son with his tail. “Thanks for watching him, Del.”
“No problem. Just let me know when the little guy needs a babysitter, or if he wants an art lesson.”
Nestor scooped his son into his has and waved goodbye to his godbrother. On the way back home, Spyro snuck stares at Bubba, but would look away when the blue dragon returned a glance. The walk was very uncomfortable to the point even Nestor felt the tension.
“So, Spyro,” Nestor said to air the stench of awkwardness out of the room. “Anything interesting happen today?”
“No.”
“Nothing at all?”
“No.” Spyro reassured.
“Oh, okay.” Nestor sighed with failure. “By the way, Bubba is going to stay for dinner. Is that okay?”
Spyro felt like he was just shot. “This freak is staying in our house?!” He wanted to shout to the Dream Weavers, but instead opted with, “Yeah.”
“Bubba’s making his family famous Southern Style Spicy Fried Chicken, and I’m making, your favorite, deep dish mac and cheese. How’s that sound?”
Spyro wasn’t too big a fan of spicy foods ironically. But if it meant getting his mac and cheese, he was open to it.