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“You were going to give me the pearls back, regardless?”
Wemmbu sounded exasperated, his tail flicking in annoyance, like he was expecting something less than what he was offered. Flame felt his heart sink. Something isn’t right, he thought.
But—
“YES I was gonna give you the pearls back regardless!” Flame said, “Like, I know we’re rivals and all, but I would also say we’re friends and friends don’t ban each other’s friends..that’s- that’s not what friends do.”
“I just wanted a duel, bro” Flame continued, “tha- that’s just really it…But if you’re not going to give me that, then…What are we even doing? Like. I’m just wasting my supplies, honestly.” Flame is exhausted, but the latter stiffened a little more as if to prepare to attack again.
“So you’re..keeping the pearls?—” “—Look.”
Flame cut him off, “You can have the pearls..”
Wemmbu shifted uncomfortably as Flame paused. “But you gotta promise me; one day.. we’ll do an actual fight where you’re actually trying?” He finished.
The dragon seemed to contemplate that for a split second before he gave a sly smirk and said, “Yeah...yeah, ok.” He swayed slightly.
And then he passed out.
Flame ran forward to catch him as he fell forward, worry slowly rising to his throat threatening to voice Flame’s concern. “What the…” he muttered. Well, now he can’t just leave him here. This guy.
~•~
Flame was patching the both of them up at his base. He had finished with himself, which wasn’t hard because he mainly had minor cuts and bruises and maybe a broken rib.
While Wemmbu was way worse. The guy had looked terrible when he first pulled up, cuts everywhere, his hair had seen better days, and one of his horns were broken—that being what unsettled him the most.
Wemmbu was out cold, so it didn’t really phase the dragon much when Flame started to care for his wounds and such. He had an excessive amount of bruises and small cuts, and specific gashes that were dealt by Flame’s own sword. Specifically the one on his calf, that one would take a while to heal. So he went on with the process of dousing the bandages with a regeneration pot and wrapping it around the heavily assaulted areas, and pouring the rest on other small bruises.
Another thing that disturbs Flame is that his wings look terrible. See, now, Wemmbu is a very neat person, yes the guy is a being of chaos, but he also likes to keep himself well-groomed. But what Flame is seeing right now is absolute trenches. His wings, for being such a high-maintenance appendage look completely neglected. He also hasn’t worn his classic outfit since he joined Arachnid’s civilization, just black cargo pants and a short-sleeved turtleneck. Flame’s tail sways in worry as he goes about preening the gunpowder from his wings, a little thing he learned from Parrot.
Wemmbu’s face suddenly scrunched up in disdain as he murmured something unintelligible. His wings were twitching violently as he started shaking. Flame’s face twinged with pity as he finished up the final bandage on the dragon’s calf, an absolutely nasty cut. He slid his hand around Wemmbu’s waist to put it at the base of his wings and put a small amount of pressure there, hoping to be at least a bit comforting. Wemmbu slightly relaxed for a second before tensing again with his murmurs getting louder. What an odd reaction-
“No…no, no, no, no, fuUCK EGG-” Wemmbu woke with a start and promptly kicked Flame with both of his legs, sending the poor guy off the couch they were on, and scrambled backwards against the wall.
Wemmbu’s reaction was another strange thing coming from him. He’s a pretty laid back guy that just lounges around when he’s not actively doing anything, so the initial reaction was odd, to say the least. And the things he said before he woke up were…What’s up with Egg anyways? As Flame was pouting over his assaulted ribs he studied Wemmbu’s face.
“Wh- where..?” His breathing shallow and ragged as his eyes frantically flicked around the room until landing on, “Flame?”
Flame, quickly reading the room, slowly stood up with his hands out, as if not to startle the other, as if he were a wild animal. He was still shaking
“Wemmbu..” He said carefully as the other hissed in pain from standing on a wounded leg, “You need to sit down.”
Wemmbu had a complicated expression on his face while he quickly assessed the situation he was in. Then after a moment he bolted out the door like his life depended on it.
“WoAH WAIT HOLD ON!” Flame dashed after him, hot on his heels.
~•~
They ran for hours, Wemmbu with depleting stamina and literally no armor, and an agitated Flame bounding behind him, wondering how in the nether this guy was still sprinting with a terrible gash in his calf and horrid health conditions.
After the longest time of running, Flame decided to make a pit stop for his shulker of swiftness and with those he ended the chase catching up to Wemmbu and stopping him by grabbing his arm. This guy is gonna drive me nuts, bro, Flame thought.
“No! STOP. I need to go saVE EGG BRO GO AWAY!” Wemmbu uselessly winged as Flame pulled him closer. Wemmbu tried to push him off, but to no avail, he was too weak at the moment anyways. Flame pulled him into his chest as Wemmbu just started repeatedly muttering, “Sorry, sorry, I’m sorry..” in the most broken tone. He also began shaking again from the wearing adrenaline and just the weight of it all.
“It’s ok, Wemm. Egg will be fine.” Flame whispered sweet nothings into his hair as he picked up the other with ease and carried him back to his base.
~•~
They had gotten back to the base and Flame had decided to let Wemmbu take his bed while he went to the couch. But. Wemmbu, objectively not wanting the comforting warmth of Flame to leave, latched on to him like a life line from where he sat on the bed.
“Wemmbu, bro, I gotta go lay down, bro” he grumbled, starting to fall asleep where he stood.
“Don’t leave me.” Wemmbu said, shamelessly.
That made Flame sober up real quick. The absolute trust coming from the guy that was sprinting from him for an hour straight was now not wanting him to leave. He muttered a small “okay, bro” and laid down next to Wemmbu, slinking his arms around his midsection, under his wings, and laying his head on top of other’s. Wemmbu curled into him, promptly melting into Flame’s hold, tail wrapping around the other, head tucked into his neck, and legs tangled together.
It was oddly comfortable because of his consistent body heat compared to Wemmbu’s constant coldness clashing together, making both of them comfortable enough to fall into a sleepy haze.
But then Flame heard it. A soft rumble coming from the dragon hybrid beneath him. Wemmbu was purring. Flame held in a snicker and decided to simply wallow in the moment. He started to card his hands through Wemmbu’s hair as he waited for sleep to take him under, and the purring just gets more intense.
Flame smiles to himself. Maybe this is okay, he thinks. As sleep finally drags him under.