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Well, this is quite the predicament, now isn’t it? One Phil didn’t think he’d ever find himself in, but welp. Here we are, aren’t we? Being held in the talons of a fucking dragon, flying to gods know where.
Dragons usually kept to themselves, leaving humans and other creatures alone. Phil oftentimes saw small silhouettes of dragons in the sky from his cottage in the woods. They’d always fascinated him; the ability to fly through the sky, free from any worries. Phil wanted to fly since he was a kid, but alas, he was only human. That was not something he could ever experience. That is until he was scooped up by a dragon with scales the colour of blood, and pinks and golds scattered about its wings. Honestly, Phil thought it was a sight to behold, but he would rather behold it from the ground than in its claw high up in the air, probably on his way to become dinner.
He'd struggled against the dragon’s claws the first 30 seconds and then promptly stopped. Phil wasn’t an idiot, after all. Sure, he wanted to be released but he also didn’t want to be a splatter of blood, guts and bones on the ground, as they’d reached an incredible height fast.
So now here Phil is, honestly quite bored after the initial scare of being kidnapped by a dragon. They’d been flying for what seemed like hours at this point, and though the dragon’s grip on Phil is quite gentle, his body is starting to hurt all over at the awkward position he’s held in.
Phil moves about a bit to try and ease the soreness, something the dragon seems to notice as it tilts its head down to look at him slightly and then softens its grip even further. Not so much that Phil would be able to escape the hold, but enough that he’s less uncomfortable and with more room to move. If Phil didn’t know better, he’d say this wasn’t the first time the dragon had snatched up a human. That the dragon actually cared about how Phil was. But that was crazy. Right? If this dragon had taken another human before him, he surely would’ve heard about it when he went to visit the village. And even though Phil was a bit of a loner, people would still notice him going missing and get worried.
With more room to move and get comfortable in the dragon’s grasp, Phil does just that. And dozes off. Hey, he’s had a long day, okay? And then getting snatched up by a dragon to then fly for a very long time? It’ll leave a man exhausted, let me tell you.
He’s jolted awake as the dragon lands in the opening of a huge cave. Phil looks around disorientated. The sun has set fully, he notes. The landscape he can see from the cave opening is wild, untouched by human hands, and most importantly, he doesn’t recognise it at all. Even if he isn’t going to be dinner, there’s no way he’ll be able to find his way home from here.
The dragon huffs and moves to hold him with only one hand. Paw? Doesn’t matter. Point is, he’s not being put down and the dragon is moving further into the cave, away from freedom. At least he can see the soft glow of torches the deeper they go. In the light that reaches them, he moves his gaze to the walls of the cavern and realises it’s filled with beautiful patterns. It’s obvious to Phil that this cave is not one created by nature, but rather the strong and sharp talons of dragons. Everyone’s always on about how dragons are mindless dangerous creatures yet here Phil has more evidence of the opposite than the dragon study books in the village library.
A low rumble brings Phil back to the present and the situation he’s in. He looks up at the dragon walking on three legs to find it looking at him with an expression Phil only could describe as fond. Phil smiles back unsurely (think Hiccup from HTTYD when he smiles at Toothless after having eaten a bite of raw fish, I don’t know how else to explain it lmao). The dragon responds with a show of teeth of its own. From Phil’s position, it looks rather unnerving, but perhaps it’s not meant as such? I mean, if you had a jaw full of razor-sharp teeth and were to smile at someone, you’d look unnerving to them as well, and with the fact that Phil still hadn’t been eaten or mistreated (besides being, you know, kidnapped), he’s giving it the benefit of the doubt.
The dragon looks ahead again and gives a quiet warble as they reach their destination: a huge open space with a pile of gold and other kinds of treasure. However, that’s not what has Phil gaping in disbelief. No, it’s the fact that a bed sits right in front of it. A human bed. With a human-looking bundle under the covers. A bundle that starts slowly moving at the dragon's warble. What the fuck is going on??
Blonde locks of hair are the first Phil sees of the bed’s occupant. They groan at having been woken up by the dragon’s arrival. “Ugh. ‘ive more m’n’ts, Wil,” they complain, the rest of their head still buried in the pillow. The dragon huffs, a sound Phil can only describe as being fond. It moves closer to the bed and gently puts Phil down next to it before lying down a few feet away from him, effectively blocking the way they came in, trapping Phil. It holds its head high as it looks down at Phil and the bed, an expectant look in its eyes. Phil has no idea what it wants from him. So, he looks around the cave and notes a few large hallways leading further into the mountain the cave is carved into. They are well-lit up with large torch pedestals befit of dragons. The pile of treasure gathered behind the bed is very impressive in size as well; Phil’s never seen this much gold and jewels in his life. He wonders where the dragon could’ve gotten them from.
The man looks back at the dragon, its intelligent eyes still watching his every move. It had responded to the person on the bed, Phil realises, so he might be able to reason with it to let him leave, go home. Or it might not understand him at all and he’s just gonna make a fool of himself. Worth a shot, at least, since he doesn’t appear to be on the menu just yet.
Phil takes a careful step towards the dragon, hands held up in a sign of surrender. Its eyes glisten as they follow him. “Hi mate,” he says in a soft voice. He’s answered with a head tilt. “Listen, I-” And a crash and a swear from behind him.
The dragon immediately turns its attention towards the cause of the noise, a frown overtaking its beforehand calm features. Phil has half a mind to just run for it then and there, with the dragon’s attention away from him but quickly pushes that idea away. The dragon would easily catch up with him and then he might actually become dinner. So he turns to the source of the noise as well, just maybe a bit curious as to who made it.
The person previously on the bed had fallen off it and onto the coins littering the ground. Phil makes a concerned noise and, without thinking, moves to help them. “Oh shit, you alright mate?” he asks as he goes to help the person still very much tangled up in their blanket. After a bit of struggling and a lot of swearing, they finally manage to pull them free from it, and Phil comes face-to-face with the face of a young blonde boy. Phil wagers he's not even 16 years old.
The boy seems to freeze when he sees Phil. He looks him up and down, eyes lingering on Phil’s hair before moving to the dragon watching the entire thing with a near-smirk, and then back to Phil. “You too, huh?” is all the boy says with a grin now plastered on his face, catching Phil entirely off-guard.
Stunned, Phil sits there for a long moment, mouth gaping open and shut like a goldfish before he gathers his senses. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean??” Phil all but cries. He’s so lost right now. And he may or may not have forgotten that there’s a fucking huge dragon behind him that may see an outburst as something hostile. To hell with all common sense when there’s a kid literally just chilling on a bed deep in a dragon’s den. Right in front of its treasure, no less.
The kid just starts laughing at Phil. The dragon makes an almost offended noise, reminding Phil of its presence. He looks back at it with an almost pleading look. “What does he mean?? I know you can understand me, it’d be nice with some explanation here,” Phil all but demands and the dragon has the mind to actually look abashed like a scolded child (Phil’s gonna overthink that one later cuz, huh??). The kid just laughs even harder at that. “Alright, that’s it. I’m walking out this cave right now if no one’s gonna explain. I don’t even care if I’m gonna become dinner at this point,” Phil exclaims as he stands up, turns around and then promptly walks to the exit. He doesn’t have time for this bullshit. He’s got a horse back home he needs to… well, it’s good on its own, really. Got plenty of grass all around it as well as access to a nice little lake for water.
Before he gets too far, however, a large red tail slams in front of Phil with a low warning growl from the dragon. Phil yelps loudly as he jumps back in surprise before shooting a scowl toward the dragon who now seems all too pleased with itself.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you, dude. Techno get’s pretty possessive- yes you do, don’t even try denying it!” the boy barks at the dragon’s growling at his verbal prodding at it. The dragon rolls its eyes and continued its growling, it almost sounds like it’s talking…
“Oh, fuck off, I know Wil’s just as bad, I mean,” the boy says loudly as he gestures wildly around and to himself. “I’m still here, aren’t I?”
“Wait wait wait, you can understand it??” Phil interrupts their, what appears to be, conversation, gesturing wildly to the dragon. The dragon now looks mildly offended.
“Yeah! They’ve been teaching me ever since Wilbur scooped me up and brought me home. They can understand common perfectly but they can’t actually speak it cuz their voice box thingy can’t make the sounds, so they’ve been teaching me dragon so we can talk!” the boy speaks excitedly, apparently happy to have another human to talk to.
“Hold on, ‘they’? ‘Wilbur’? As in, more than one dragon here?” Phil realises a bit too late. He’s really in it deep, huh? Great. And he still doesn’t actually know why.
“Oh, yeah, hey Techno, where is Wil?” the boy asks the red dragon as he realises it’s just the three of them in the treasure cave. “Uh-huh, uh-huh, ah, okay, mhm” he nods as the dragon growls – and sometimes chirps and clicks?? – at him. When the dragon stops they’re just left in silence.
“Well? What did he say?” Phil asks after a good thirty seconds of silence has passed.
The boy turns to him and grins. “I have absolutely no fucking idea!” to which Phil literally facepalms. “Listen! I’ve only been here for what, a year maybe? I haven’t learnt their entire fucking language yet, it’s a work in progress,” the boy squawks undignified.
Phil sighs and sits down on the bed. “So what you’re saying is, I’m not gonna be leaving here anytime soon? Great.” Just what Phil needs. The kid looks a bit conflicted at that, and something protective flares up in Phil. “Well, if I’m gonna be staying here, introductions should be in order, right? I’m Philza, but Phil’s just fine,” he smiles at the boy. Hopefully, that will bring back the energy that seems to just be radiating from him.
And it works, surprisingly, as he practically jumps on the bed. “Hi big man, I’m Tommy! The biggest man ever! I know, you must be in total awe at being in my presence,” the kid – Tommy – exclaims with the biggest grin on his face Phil has seen so far.
“Yeah?” Phil laughs. “Biggest man ever, eh?” Tommy nods resolutely with that grin never fading. “Sure about that? You’re what, 16? You are but a child,” Phil teases him.
“FUCK YOU PHIL I’M NOT A CHILD I’M 17!” Tommy outrages toward Phil, who just laughs even harder. As does the dragon – Techno, if Phil remembers correctly – and Tommy then turns to him with puffed-up cheeks. “WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT TECHNO?!”
While Tommy bickers with the dragon, Phil hears the faint noise of claws scraping against stone down one of the corridors. Or rather, talons. That must be the other dragon Tommy mentioned, reacting to the bickering between boy and dragon. How would it react to seeing Phil there? Neither Tommy nor Techno seem to realise who’s approaching.
Phil shrinks in on himself minutely when he sees the shadow of the dragon getting closer. Though the first dragon was the one who brought him here, who’s to say the second agrees with that decision?
The shadow grows larger and larger and then a muddy red dragon comes into view, not nearly as burly as Techno, but still powerful and intimidating in its own right. Its attention first goes to the two bickering, a fond shake of its head soon following, then it seems to realise Phil is also there and it stops in its tracks, cocking its head to the side, looking at Phil with such intelligent eyes. It doesn’t seem mad that he’s there, thank the gods, just curious. Phil braves a small smile and a wave toward the dragon. It returns the gesture with a small bow of its head with closed eyes.
The two kinda just stand there in silence, watching Tommy and Techno bicker before the new dragon ends up sighing deeply, lying down, as it becomes apparent his presence has not been registered and Phil’s is all but forgotten.
Phil just kinda, sits there on the bed, awkwardly, fidgeting his hands together. He looks at the new dragon and gives it an awkward smile and a shrug when it looks back.
Eventually, the dragon has enough of being ignored by the two bickering about whatever, and just fucking coughs. Loudly. Dramatically.
Tommy and Techno both snap their heads towards them and freeze, seemingly remembering they’re not the only ones in the cave. The boy is the first to break out of his stupor and smiles brightly. “Sup, bitch boy! Finally awake, huh?” Tommy teases the second dragon. Phil’s eyes widen as it rolls its eyes and responds with some high growls that make Tommy sputter in indignation. Phil could almost guess what it was saying; ‘you’re one to talk’.
“So…” Phil finally buds in after the two started a staring contest. “Mind telling me why the fuck I’m here again? Because that never really got clarified.” The second dragon – who Phil is assuming is Wilbur – looks at Techno with such exasperation in its eyes Phil is impressed. And Techno, once again, looks abashed. Yup, definitely more to dragons than is in any books. Phil’s gonna have to right that wrong one day.
Tommy shoots up from the bed excitedly. “Oh, right!” he exclaims. It seems he’s been waiting for a chance to explain this to anyone who wanna listen, that isn’t the two dragons looming over him, and is jumping around, looking for something. He starts digging around in the treasure hoard behind the bed as he begins his explanation. “So, basically, dragons have these instincts, right? That like, make them go all ‘ooh, shiny, I need that’ whenever they see gold shit. Usually, these two idiots can keep those instincts in check, but sometimes they can’t. That’s why we’re here. They saw our hair in the sunlight and their instincts took over and now we’re technically part of their hoard!” Tommy emerges from the pile of gold with a large book in his hands and a triumphant smile on his face.
The man just blinks. Phil had been snatched up by a dragon. Because of the colour of his hair? Had this ever happened before? Well, obviously. Tommy was living proof of that, but had it ever happened previously? Or was this just because the dragons lived this close to human settlements? It’s widely known that dragons tend to live far away from humans which is why so little is known about them, so maybe this could just be an isolated incident? And if Phil now is part of a dragon’s treasure, will he ever be able to return home and live a semi-normal life?
Not noticing Phil’s inner turmoil and endless questions, Tommy merely continues talking, putting the book down on top of Phil. “That’s why Techno’s looking so embarrassed right now, because he kept teasing Wilbur about losing to his instincts when he brought me home, and kept saying that he’d never lose it that badly, the dumbass, but here you are and now he’s super embarrassed and Wil’s looking awfully smug,” Tommy finished. “That answer everything?”
Phil just stares wide-eyed at Tommy before looking down at the book. “I mean, some of it. Doesn’t answer why you gave me this book or if I can go home,” he says after a few seconds of silence.
“That’s why I gave you the book! That’s how they explained it to me, the thing about being a living being in a dragon’s hoard and about going home and shit. I didn’t really need it all too much as I just lived on my own, travelling from village to village, living in the woods and such, before Wilbur found me. Not much need for knowing the rules about going home when you didn’t really have one, to begin with, eh?” Tommy just shrugs, and oh, if that didn’t make Phil’s heart ache for the boy even more. “But what I do know, is Techno wouldn’t have scooped you up if you’d been living in a village, even in an instinct-induced haze. If that’s any consolation?”
And it was, actually. That, at least, answered some more questions he has. It seemed to just be an isolated incident, him and Tommy having been added to a dragon’s hoard. And how Tommy seems to be content with living with dragons and not having a care in the world about people who might’ve been missing him. Phil slowly opens the book, nodding absentmindedly. Maybe he would stay if nothing more than just for Tommy.
He hums as he reads through the contents of the book. It seemed he would be able to leave, after a bit, when it’s become obvious to other dragons that he belongs to a hoard. However, he’d have to come back regularly. It is a bit weird for Phil to acknowledge that he’s part of a dragon’s hoard now, but from what the book tells him, it just means the dragons will just see him as part of their family instead of an object, something Phil is glad to know. If he were to be treated as merely an object, he would fling himself off a cliff.
When he’s gotten past the information he actually wanted to know, he started just skimming the pages, making it obvious he was satisfied with what he wanted to know and it was okay to start talking again or doing whatever dragons do. He’s not gonna leave for a while, that much he understands clearly. Besides, it would be interesting to learn more about dragons and their behaviour and language. If anything, being picked up by Techno just gave him the opportunity of a lifetime; to learn about dragons. And he also wanted to keep tabs on Tommy and make sure he had the skills needed to survive and more, even if he did live with two dragons.
Tommy had already started talking again when Phil realises there is more in the book than just explanations of the rules regarding a dragon’s hoard and family. Is that… “Are these magic spells?” Phil asks, looking up at Techno, the dragon who brought him here, the dragon whose hoard he is now part of. He obviously knew magic existed, but had never seen it first-hand because of people’s weariness of it.
“Yo, there’s magic in the book?! I never bothered getting that far, I just assumed it was more boring stuff about rules that don’t matter to me,” Tommy all but gawks when Phil shows him the page he’s on. Techno huffs before slowly coming closer, looking at what page Phil’s on. He squints at it before turning to Tommy and growling softly. Tommy turns to Phil a bit confused. “Techno says to look five pages forward, I think?” He looks at Techno again for confirmation and receives a small nod.
Phil does as he’s told and turns three pages. He stares down at a translation spell. A spell that would allow him to communicate with Techno and Wilbur without the language barrier! It looks to be a quite simple spell, but then again, maybe it wasn’t. What did Phil know? He’s never seen anything regarding magic before. Phil looks up at Techno with confusion in his eyes. Why hadn’t they just cast this spell themselves, when Tommy arrived? Surely they could read common, otherwise, Techno wouldn’t have known what page to refer Phil to. Right? And it is thought that dragons are magical creatures themselves, so this would be a breeze to do. Unless…
Tommy leans into Phil’s space to see what’s on the page and his eyes land on the translation spell. “Wait, so you’re telling me I didn’t actually have to learn your language this whole time?! You could’ve just cast a spell that did it for us?! Dude. Not cool. Do you know how shit your growling is to learn to understand?? You fucking piece of- oh, it says here it can only be performed by a human. Okay. But then why didn’t you show it to me the first time around? Would’ve made everything so much easier but instead, I had to play fucking charades and shit,” Tommy rambles. Honestly, Phil’s not even sure he’s stopped to take a breath of air the entire time. Out of the corner of his eye, Phil can see Wilbur rolling his eyes once again before huffing loudly, snarking something at Tommy that makes the boy pause. “Well, no, but-” He’s interrupted again. “Fiiiine, I guess I’ll let Phil do it, then.” The boy slouches down on the bed, crossing his arms with a pout.
Phil looks from boy to dragon before looking back at the spell again, and sure enough, when he takes a closer look at the writing, it says only a human can perform the spells in the book, as it’s a different kind of magic to what dragons have. And at the bottom of the page, both pages, actually, it says only a fully grown adult will be able to perform any of the spells without problem; a warning to children who should try them out, that the magic would either drive them mad or consume them. Which is why they never showed it to Tommy. That makes sense.
Phil is brought out of his thoughts by a yawn. The adrenaline from being kidnapped by a dragon finally wore off, leaving him tired after flying for so long and then everything that happened after. He’ll study the book and its spells later. Right now, he needs a nap. Something Tommy and the two dragons smirk at, having stopped talking at Phil yawning. Something’s about to happen if Tommy’s mischievous smirk is anything to go by. Phil closes the book and makes sure it’s out of harm's way before he’s tackled down into the bed by the boy, dragons moving around to surround the two humans in a protective circle while also somehow entangling a limb into the pile of humans on the bed.
Soon enough, the cave is silent, save for the occasional snore from Tommy and deep breaths from Techno and Wilbur.
Phil lies there, thinking about everything that had happened today with a fond smile creeping up on his face, shaking his head.
“I really should’ve taken Niki up on her offer of dyeing my hair, shouldn’t I?” Phil laughs to himself, stuck in a cuddle pile of two dragons and a teen.