Chapter Text
Saitama was six when he met his dragon for the first time and all things considered, he took it pretty well.
Most children, even the few who are older than him, run or scream and that's the normal reaction. It isn't every day that a winged lizard comes barging into your home and won't leave you alone.
It can honestly be pretty scary, even if they start out kitten size and only get to be as big as an adult rabbit.
The day Saitama met his dragon was, in a word, quiet. The storm raging above has died down. No birds had come out of hiding to chirp at the sky. The only noise to be heard were the soft sounds of water dripping slowly off the roof and of his mother in her study, probably working on more healing potions.
Saitama was in his room, fiddling with a gold locket his mother was mourning not being able to close. After not being able to figure out the problem, she had just given it to her son to play with. It wasn't like he could make it any worse.
He had been at it for nearly ten minutes (no small feat for a child with a short attention span) when suddenly something was pulling on the chain.
With wide eyes, he looked down to see a small, partly furred, mostly scaled creature trying to tug the chain away from him. After a moment of watching, the curious boy jerked on the chain to get it off. No luck.
Saitama pulled again, this time to bring both creature and object closer.
The determined animal was no bigger than his mother's hand and a soft sandy color all over beside the dark brown tuffs of fur on his chest, neck, the tip of his tail and the top of his head. It paid no mind to the boy observing him and continued it's effort.
Bored, Saitama let go off his part of the chain and watched the scrawny dragon fall backward onto its butt in surprise. Wide gold eyes stared at him for a moment before it turned it's attention to the locket.
After watching it paw (claw?) the cover open, Saitama observed the young dragon start poking at the broken clasp.
Not a minute later, the dragon shut the locket, watched it close properly and looked up, its eyes gleaming with the power of its success.
With careful hands, Saitama picked up the delicate piece of jewelry and turned it over to check for damage. Finding none, he looked back to the dragon who was patiently waiting for approval.
"You're a smart little guy, aren't you?" Saitama mumbled as he reached out to pat its head.
The dragon chirped happily and puffed up his chest before rubbing its antelope-like horns against his finger.
"Saitama!"
The young boy jumped at his mother's call.
"I've got to go," he mumbled as he stood up. "You stay here and-"
He froze as the dragon immediately leaped and flew up to his shoulder and landed with a muted "merf".
"Or you could come with me I guess."
"Saitama?" his mother called again.
"Coming!" Saitama shouted back before making an attempt to walk with his heavier-than-they-look companion on his shoulder.
Sensing his off-kilter walk, the little dragon jumped to land next to the boy's feet and continued to walk with him.
Reaching his mother's study, Saitama poked his head through the door. When she didn't acknowledge him, he spoke up.
"I found a dragon."
A book thumped to her desk as Saitama's mom froze in place.
Now Lin had had her fair share of what motherhood could throw at you. Sleepless nights, sick days, kid getting into her magic stuff. (After that she always kept the antidote for every ingredient she owned on hand.) But some days, no matter how well you think you know your kid, life throws you something new.
After a moment of contemplation, she carefully turned her chair and responded, "You did?"
Saitama nodded and pointed to the dragon now climbing onto a shelf next to his head, dangerously close to a glass bottle which was in prime knocking off the shelf position.
Partially in awe, she silently watched as the little guy carefully wrapped his long tail around the bottle and pulled it back further into the shelf.
"They seem quite nice," Lin mumbled watching the dragon drop back next to Saitama.
"What's wrong?"
Shaking herself out of her stupor, she smiled gently at her son.
"Nothing, sweetheart. It's just that..." she fought for a good answer, "...most boys and girls don't meet their dragon until they're a little older."
Okay, white lies work too.
"Their dragon?"
She sighed and ran a hand through her soft, black hair and laughed tightly. "Yes, almost all boys and girls have a dragon. Honestly, I thought I'd have more time to prepare, but here goes."
She reached back to stifle the fire burning under the potion she was working on and capped the remaining liquid.
She angled her chair to sit with the back to one of her bookshelves and gestured to Saitama to come sit on her knee.
After settling her son on her lap and his dragon on his, she pulled a large book off the shelf next to her, settled it on her other leg and began to read.
"There comes a time in every young child's life when they meet their dragon for the first time. Every dragon is different and may act even a bit odd..."
She paused and set the little dragon with a look.
"...but they will soon become your best friend. For you see, there is someone in the world that is your perfect match, a companion so perfect that you will realize that you were only half a person before you met them. A person so-"
Lin had to bite back a sigh when her son yawned.
"Too wordy?"
The child nodded and curled further into her arms
"Okay. How about...your dragon is going to help you find your soulmate."
This perked Saitama up.
"Really?"
Lin nodded.
"Yes. Your dragon acts like your soulmate, same personality, interests and tendencies. Maybe a bit exaggerated at times, but they're still similar."
Saitama's eyes were wide with wonderment.
"Just a heads up. If your dragon starts to act strangely around another dragon, maybe tripping over nothing while they are around or acting sheepish or bringing them gifts such as wildflowers or jewels, that's a pretty good indicator that they've found their soulmate and yours isn't too far behind. Understand?"
The look on Saitama's face said no.
Lin couldn't help but let out a sharp bark of laughter.
"Just keep an eye out if your dragon starts acting goofy."
Saitama stared at her for another moment but nodded with Lin gently mimicking the action before speaking again.
"So wha-"
"Where's your's?"
Lin stopped mid-word and had to brace herself for this conversation.
"Where's what, sweetie?"
"Your dragon?"
Lin's heart squeezed painfully at the innocence in that question. Without thinking, she glanced down at the dragon sitting on Saitama's lap and saw their expectant look. The guy/gal who was apparently going to steal Saitama's heart was definitely going to be the quizzical type.
She took a long, deep breath before continuing.
"I don't have one. Some people just don't have dragons or soulmates."
Saitama tilted his head back to try and look her in the face, his own painted with concern.
"Do you want one?"
Lin thought carefully before answering.
"No. No, I don't."
Saitama's little eyebrows furrowed for a moment before he nodded decidedly.
"Good. You shouldn't have a pet if you don't want one, so you shouldn't have a soulmate if you don't want one."
Lin froze for a second before shaking her head and smiling, a sharp laugh bubbling out of her throat.
"You are smarter than most adults."
"Okay...?"
When Saitama said nothing more, she patted his shoulder and reached around to pick up the little dragon from her lap.
"So what are you going to name them?" She asked as she lifted the currently angrily chirping dragon (who apparently did not like being picked up).
"I can name them?"
Lin nodded and set the dragon down before reaching for the book again and starting to flip through the pages.
"There's lots of common ones like Ember, Spike, Crawler, Scaly, maybe the names of gods, Smaug if you want to get dramatic, Sparky-"
"Sparky!" Saitama suddenly shouted back."
Lin smiled for a second before her eyebrows furrowed.
"Saitama, Sparky isn't really a scholar-class dragon name. I really should have been listing names more like Aristotle, or Thoth or Icarus or-"
"I wanna call them Sparky."
For a long moment, Lin considered trying to argue that Scholar-class dragons did not breathe fire or create sparks at all, but it was Saitama. Its pretty damn hard to argue with Saitama when he's determined.
"Alright, we'll call them Sparky. but do you know what a scholarly class dragon is?"
When Saitama shook his head, his mother only nodded and opened the book to another page.
"There are three main classes of dragons and dozens of subcategories. Because of his intelligent and quizzical nature, I think Sparky fits under scholarly class. He could also be under warrior class, but he's a little small for that. Or elemental class, but he hasn't started coughing up fire or...and I lost you again."
"Sorry momma," Saitama mumbled, his voice cracking slightly.
Lin shifted the book off her knee again and brought Saitama closer into a hug.
"I talk too much, that's part of being me. You don't understand when I talk too much, that's part of being you. Don't be sorry for being you. Understand?"
Saitama turned and nodded into his mother's shirt, trying to hide frustrated tears. It wasn't a moment later that Sparky jumped down onto his shoulder and started softly cooing into his ear.
"Thank you, Sparky. Now, how's about helping me get some chicken started for dinner? It'll be a treat. Does that sound good?"
Saitama nodded again, this time reaching to scoop Sparky up in his arms.
"While I go grab firewood and start the fire, you go to your room and settle Sparky in," Lin said to her son. "There should be an extra blanket under your bed. Let him choose the place to put it."
Saitama nodded for the last time and carefully slid off of his mom's lap.
"Now don't be too long. I know you've got a really bad taste for spices and I don't think you want to recreate the curry incident from last month."
Saitama's eyes widened before darting out the study door a back into his room.
In a moment of joy, Lin couldn't help but laugh softly at that. Saitama was impartial to a lot of things, but preventing a mouthful of curry powder was not one of them.
With a little protest from her knees, she stood and gave a cursory look around the room before gathering her things.
Without a second thought, she grabbed her book on dragons and tucked it under her arm. Saitama would probably need to start looking through it. Even if it was only for the pictures.
As she passed by the door to Saitama's room, her curiosity increasing, she peeked in.
She resisted the urge to place a hand over her smile when she saw that instead of making Sparky a bed, a phonics book had been pulled off of his shelf and the pair was laying in the middle of the floor.
Sparky was pointing at each individual syllable with hit tail and Saitama was following, slowly, but steadily, pronouncing each part with certainty. Even if he messed a few up.
"They are going to be pretty good for him, whoever they are," Lin hummed to herself as she thought of Saitama's soulmate.
Her attention was brought back when she heard Saitama huff and angrily push the book away when Sparky kept making him pronounce a word again and again.
"Just let them have the patience of a god."