Musician Rivals

Continuation of Toma's POV:

I heard the door to the treasure room open suddenly. "Toma, Ross! I want you two to get ready for the ball I'm throwing for your birthday Toma. Now remember, tell everyone thank you for coming like a good dragon you are~ Make sure you're both upstairs in five. We're kicking this celebration off early this year." I heard Sera telling us before leaving the room entirely to go on with her duties. She was still helping Kingsley, being his head advisor. She was just really quite adored by Kingsley in my opinion. She's a great vampire. Sera is very kind when she wants to be. I snuck out from under Ross's wings. "I need to go find my outfit for tonight that Sera had designed for me," I told him. "I think it's in Dmitri's room. I guess I will be seeing you later~" I purred to him and licked his head. He looked towards me and purred, licking me back.

"Alright birthday boy, go get ready. I will see you in the ballroom. Save your first dance for me," he told me and then nuzzled me out of the nest, following me with a purr. "Run along little mate," he teased me with a small playfully dominate growl then nipped at me with his sharp teeth that has marked me only a few minutes ago. I growled playfully towards him.

"I'm not little anymore," I told him and turned my back on him. I left the treasure room and went directly towards Dmitri's room. I made sure to adjust my size to fit through the doorways. When I reached his room I transformed back into my human form and went for the closet. I rushed in and slipped on the outfit laid out inside with my name on it. I walked out when I had it on and walked up to the kimono I ditched and stole the bottle of catnip from it then tucked it into my pocket. I walked into the bathroom and slicked my hair back with the oils and other products before walking back out. I went out into the hall with a small sigh of relief. I looked around before heading downstairs. I paused at a door when I heard a flute on the other side, someone was playing it. I smirked in amusement as I stood by the door and listened in. I saw a younger boy with black hair and blue eyes with orange flecks with them walking up to the room then paused, frowning. He listened for a few seconds then tsked, looking to the door.

"Giovanni is in there," he mumbled and then pursed his lips. "Thinks he's better than me.... I'll show him... I will.... Now where was that piano I saw earlier? Was it in here?" He opened the door then without a second hesitation, putting a blank look on his face as he looked inside for the piano, ignoring the boy on the flute. I heard the flute stop quickly and eyes darted over before a pissed growl escaped from another boy in the room. Oh boy. I gave a small laugh as a boy with dark brown hair- more curly than Lyles was inside the room. His eyes were a bright orange that shot daggers at us.

"E puka aku i waho o kēia lumi e hoʻokani wau i kaʻohe!" (Get out of this room while I'm playing the flute!) He was speaking Hawaiian. I recognized the language immediately. The boy shouted- He must be Giovanni and he was shouting towards the boy that walked in. He settled the flute to his side as he glared his brother down. Yes, they're both sons of Silas and Rei. The boy looked at him calmly and then frowned.

"The piano isn't in here," he mumbled, looking disappointed. He walked up to the boy then looked towards the flute. "Which one is it?" He asked curiously, looking towards the body of the flute for the name brand. He purred with amusement like he was trying to irritate his brother on purpose. Giovanni sat the flute down quickly and grabbed his brother by his shirt before exposing his fangs.

"ʻO Devil." Giovanni let him go with a shove. "E hele i kahi'ē aʻe." (Go someplace else.) He looked annoyed towards his brother.

"That reminds me," the boy mumbled, rubbing his lips. "I haven't eaten in a few days. Do you mind?" He asked sweetly.

"Piss off," Giovanni told him and rolled his eyes before turning back to his music sheets and turned them a few pages before picking up his flute.

"Oh, that piece? I played that about a month ago. It's so easy," the boy said and laughed, looking over the music then ruffled Giovanni's hair. "Whatever pleases you and is easiest for you, brother."

"I hate to tell you but I'm not playing this for it's difficulty. I'm playing it because I don't want you knowing my secret pieces I do play. Now get lost. Take a bath you swine."

"Such coarse language," the boy purred in amusement. "That's why mommy loves me more." He started walking slowly towards the door then, taking his time. "I bet I'll be asked to join the band tonight if I charm Mrs. Sera."

"You're not good enough for that," Giovanni scoffed. "You don't even know what division is... let me give you a hint. There's only one musician needed in this family and soon enough they'll be subtracting you from the equation. Say goodbye." The boy twitched then and narrowed his eyes, looking pissed. I could see his fangs sharpening as he stayed right where he was, his body tensing up in anger.

"What... was that?" He asked, his voice dripping with poison as he slowly started to turn around to face his brother.

"Aloha," Giovanni said in sour. "That's what they'll be saying to you." The boy growled then and attacked Giovanni out of the chair, biting into his neck as the flute clattered a few feet away. The boy tensed then and sat up quickly as he heard it hit the floor then looked towards it quickly.

"OH MY LORD IT HIT THE FLOOR!" He went after it quickly with worry and picked it up. "Did you get hurt? I'm sorry," he said sweetly to the flute, looking it over. Giovanni stood up then and towered over his brother before smacking him across the face and took his flute from him. He sat it down in the chair before shoving his brother back.

"GET OUT!" He yelled at him. He pulled out his phone and called someone then. "Dad? He bit me again!" The boy rubbed his cheek, clenching his jaw as he held back from attacking his brother again, eyeing the phone down. He narrowed his eyes then.

"Kāheaʻana i kou makuakāne? Ua koʻikoʻiʻo ia iāʻoe," he hissed (Crying to dad? That's so mature of you). Giovanni looked pleased as he listened into the phone.

"Dad wants to see you. Now." Giovanni told his brother and hung up the phone.

"You're the worst brother ever," the boy hissed then, going towards the door in irritation.

"Huh, that's funny because that's exactly the same to you." Giovanni picked up his flute and examined the dent on it. The boy glanced over his shoulder then.

"Screw is loose on the upper body. You might not be able to get out a few notes," he told him, noting the damage himself as he got to the door. He smirked a bit then.

"Lock the door on your way out. I don't want you coming back in here during my practice hours."

"Whatever you say, brother. I'll see you later... with you right in the front row when I get my amazing spot on stage," he purred. "It may be tonight... tomorrow... weeks from now... or on your own birthday."

"Your music is the last thing I want to hear on my birthday," Giovanni scoffed. "Go kiss up to daddy and tell him how innocent you are."

"I am innocent!" The boy complained then stopped. "You just don't think so because I'm your competition."

"Maybe if you have chosen another passion I might have like you.... But you had to choose exactly what I want. You are competition."

"Awww, you recognize me as your competition," he purred with amusement. "I wish I had thought to record it. Daddy will be so pleased to hear you're bonding with me."

"It's not bonding. Now go away. You're so annoying."

"You're annoying," the boy shot back. Giovanni glanced around him before picking up a full bottle of blood and threw it at his brother.

"Drink that," Giovanni snarled. He looked towards the bottle of blood and then cracked it open, starting to drink from it.

"Hmm, this is the first I've eaten in awhile," the boy mumbled thoughtfully. "I really should put an alarm on my phone so I remember...." He walked out and shut the door behind him then looked towards me. "Who're you?"

"The birthday boy," I told him and smirked. "My name is Toma. I'm a dragon." He gave me a huge smile then.

"That's really cool! A dragon huh? You won't steal my little brother away, will you? Lots of dragons try to steal him."

"Hesper?" I asked him. "Ross just defeated a dragon earlier that was after him. He really needs to stay inside before he gets taken away by someone that's not me or Ross. That would be very terrifying for him."

"Yeah, but he'll be fine," he hummed out and took a sip of his blood then gave me a smile. "Happy birthday Toma the dragon. I might write you a piece if I have enough time to do it.... I think I do."

"How nice of you to offer," I purred towards him. "You better run off and find your father." He frowned a bit then took another sip of his blood.

"I'm going to finish this first. I don't want father to see I forgot to feed myself again."

"Rei's children are a handful," I noted to myself as I looked the boy over. "There's no way I would ever have sixteen children... Maybe two or three."

"Imagine being born with fifteen other siblings," the boy mumbled and looked at the bottle of blood. "I know only a few well and the others do their own things."

"What's your name?" I asked him. He perked up and looked at me.

"Amadeus," he told me and grinned. "I'm Amadeus Rosario Suoh and I'm thirteen," he told me and laughed, taking my hand and shaking it.

"Thirteen?" I asked him and spun him around with his hand. "You don't look thirteen." I kissed the top of his head before letting him go. "I'm off to the ball room. Stay out of trouble," I warned him. He looked up at me with wide eyes and nodded quickly.

"Yes Mr. Toma," he said respectively. "I will," he promised and then giggled. "WHERE'S MY SHEET MUSIC?!" He ran off quickly towards the bedrooms to go find it, probably to write that song for me. I tsked as I watched him. He's supposed to go to his father... He's going to get in trouble. I heard a few notes breaking as Giovanni was testing the flute out.

"LITTLE SWINE!" Giovanni yelled in anger. "I'll kill him!" Amadeus heard it halfway down the hall then came back, opening the door and poking his head in.

"You can use mine~" He purred with amusement, finishing the bottle of blood.

"I don't want yours!" Giovanni snarled. "Stay out of my music room or I swear I will burn you with an iron rod! I'll feed you to the jelly fish!" He rushed towards the door then and shoved his brother out of the room and slammed the door shut, locking it. Amadeus stood there and frowned, looking towards the door.

"An iron rod? That's a bit far," he mumbled. "I think I should tell daddy that he's threatening to burn me...." He pulled out his phone then and started to call his dad. Giovanni opened the door then and tackled Amadeus and bared his fangs.

"LOOK YOU LITTLE TWIT!" He hissed. Amadeus purred and dropped his phone, leaving it ringing on the floor by his head on speaker phone. He trapped his brother then and kissed his cheek.

"Twit? That's one of the nicer things you've said to me all night~" He teased.

"Amadeus? You better be on your way to see me!" I heard Rei hissing into the phone. Giovanni gave his brother a disgusted look.

"Daddy!" Amadeus looked towards the phone then, holding down his brother. "Brother was talking about trying to burn me with an iron rod, and I wanted to let you know just how much I love you. That piece I'm writing for you is almost done- part twenty that is!"

"Suck up," Giovanni hissed towards Amadeus.

"That's it. You're both grounded. I want your little butts right here with all your instruments. ALL of them Giovanni. You too Amadeus. I want them in my room before ten or you're both going to be forced to sell and give up your musically passion until you're eighteen." Amadeus's eyes widened.

"Daddy, please no! I love my music! Don't make me give them up," he begged, starting to cry quickly. "I won't fight Vanni anymore! I promise! I'll leave him alone! Don't ground me!"

"THAT'S NOT MY NAME. IT'S GIOVANNI! GIO-VAN-NI! Get it right!" Giovanni hissed. "Now get off me so I can get my instruments to him before he grounds me until I'm eighteen from them." Amadeus whined and let him go then picked up his phone.

"Daddy, can we have another chance? Pleaaaaaaaase? I met Toma and I want to write him a song! I will leave my brother alone," he promised, trembling with fear at the idea of losing his instruments.

"Absolutely not. I made my mind up now don't question my motives. You'll both hand over your sheet music and instruments until I decide to give them back to you. I'm absolutely serious that you're both grounded from them. Do you want yours to me taken away longer for questioning me?" Amadeus yelped.

"No!" He said quickly. "But... but it's not fair dad! He constantly looks down on me, and I won't know what to do without them," he cried out. He frowned and then looked at the phone, hurt. "Fine, you can have my instruments dad," he muttered and then got to his feet. "I hope you're happy." I heard his father hang up on him then. Giovanni had disappeared into the room to get his stuff together as ordered. Amadeus started to sulk and walked off to go get his instruments, looking extremely unhappy about it. "He's going to regret it," he muttered under his breath. "Dad will see he's making our lives miserable and Vonni and I will end up fighting a lot more and he'll be forced to give them back to us." I frowned as I watched the poor kids then made my way to the ball room anyways. Poor kids. If they'd quit fighting then they wouldn't be grounded. Rei probably has a good reason for taking their instruments away from them. I walked into the ball room and found Sera talking with Alfred about the ball room decorations. Dmitri was sitting off to the side, playing with his hair slightly and then looked towards me as I walked in and gave me a huge smile.

"Hey cutie," he purred to me. "How's the birthday boy?"

"Well I've been stumbling across a lot of Rei's children and it's very amusing." I walked up to him as I told him.

"Well he's got sixteen of them. I think one of them is running- ah there she is," he purred as a little girl with light purple hair came streaking out from under a table and jumped up into his lap with a giggle.

"Got you!" She said sweetly. Silas walked in then and looked relieved when she saw the girl.

"Echo! There you are," she purred and walked up. Echo looked towards her mommy and smiled sweetly.

"Mommy! I want Kool-Aid," she said and reached for her as Silas picked her up. "Grape!"

"You spilled it in your hair last time," Silas groaned out and then tapped her nose. "Your pretty white hair got spoiled because of it." I laughed at the thought of what happened to her hair. I bet it smells good too. Probably tastes good as well.

"It's pwetty purple though," Echo pointed out and giggled. Silas smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"Okay, we can get you some Kool-Aid," she said sweetly then glanced my way. "Toma! It's been awhile. Happy birthday," she told me and then ruffled my hair. "You've gotten so big. I bet you're a hit with the ladies," she teased me. Dmitri laughed a little then.

"I guess we'll find out tonight unless Toma has something else on his mind," he teased, looking at me then towards my neck then back at me. "Like a certain older dragon?" Silas widened her eyes then.

"An older dragon? Already?" She asked in amazement. "I'm surprised.... Wait, are they mated or does Toma simply have a crush? It's Ross, isn't it?" She asked excitedly and laughed. "He's the only other older dragon around." I blushed and looked down at my feet.

"It's not a crush," I mumbled. "We're mates now." I placed my hands in my pants pockets and looked towards Silas. "He choose me and I don't mind being his mate at all." Silas nodded then.

"So he likes younger dragons and snatched you up since you were in his nest?" She teased slightly. "You make it sound like you're just going along with it, but the blush says otherwise. Poor Dmitri, having to watch you grow up in front of his eyes." Dmitri laughed then.

"I'm fine with it. I've had awhile to get used to them being around each other. He first marked Toma when he was four while high on catnip," he told Silas softly.

"That young?" Silas asked and frowned.

"They haven't done anything that I know of," Dmitri assured her. "It was the catnip talking that got Toma marked at four."

"We haven't done anything!" I shouted and shook my head. "I promise!" Dmitri laughed and looked towards me in amusement.

"I know sweetie. I know you haven't because if you had, you wouldn't be up here with me. You'd probably be all over him right now if you two had officially mated with each other. I doubt you've marked him back too," he hummed out. "Last I checked, you hadn't."

"No...." I trailed off. "I haven't." I rubbed my wrist. "I'm not sure when I want to." He nodded and then gave me a smile.

"Take your time," he told me softly. "Make sure he is what you want before you mark him. You might just be letting him because he's the only dragon you know."

"No, that's not true! I do like him. It's not just because he's the only dragon I know." I shook my head. He smiled then and nodded.

"Alright then," he purred to me. "You'll mark him when you're ready then. If he's a good dragon mate for you, he'll wait to do anything with you until you're ready. If not, let me know he's pestering you and I'll make sure he doesn't," he promised me and smiled. "I want you to be happy." Silas smiled at us and started to walk away with Echo, taking her to get her more Kool-Aid. I gave a nod towards Dmitri and heard Kingsley walk into the ballroom with Aurelio by his side. There they are. Dmitri looked towards them curiously and smiled as he saw them, starting to get to his feet to go talk with them, grabbing my hand. Ross walked in right behind them, snatching up Kingsley's hand with a purr as he stayed on the side that Aurelio wasn't on. Aurelio's eyes glared daggers at Ross.

"Hey, this is my king so bug off!" Aurelio told him and wrapped an arm around Kingsley.

"Be nice," Kingsley warned. Ross frowned and gripped Kingsley's hand a little tighter.

"He is your king, but he's also my jewel too!" Ross told Aurelio. "He's one of my treasures."

"Yeah but he was mine first!" Aurelio hissed.

"He's MY jewel!" Ross hissed back then. "I made him my jewel before he married you, and I get to hold his hand at least," he said quickly and tugged on Kingsley's hand slightly, growling dominantly towards Aurelio. "You can let me hold my jewel's hand." I felt suddenly attracted to something behind them and watched as Hesper ran past them and giggled, running straight for the tables to hide under them. Ross looked dead at him, his eyes glancing the kid over before he chased after him with a purr, ditching Kingsley. Hesper got under one of the tables, giggling like he was hiding from someone to come into the ball room. His eyes widened when they caught Ross coming for him. I let out a small purr, glancing at the jewelry he had on that was so eye catching. Ross transformed into a tiny dragon, forgetting about having to stay human for his clothes as he dove under the table and crawled into Hesper's pocket, turning small enough to do so and growled possessively from the space. Hesper looked down into his pocket and pulled Ross out, rubbing up under his chin. I saw Ross melting at the touch, purring as he snuggled up to Hesper's hand and curled his claws around his fingers, moving to entwine himself around them so that it would be hard to take him away. He purred and leaned into the hand that was petting him, looking like he was enjoying it immensely as he started to rub his head against Hesper's hand as he petted him. Hesper giggled as he watched Ross with interest.

"Good lizard!" He giggled out.

"I'm not a lizard," Ross complained and nipped at Hesper's fingers before he rubbed his face against them sweetly. "I'm a fire breathing dragon!" He told him then puffed smoke towards Hesper's fingers playfully before he slipped out of his hand and dove for his pocket. Hesper's eyes glanced out from under the table and caught my eyes watching him. He gave me a smile before going further under the table. I heard Ross growl from the movement, not having expected Hesper to move. I heard feet running then and a girl slipped past me.

"I can smell you Hesper!" She yelled. The little girl looked around six. Her hair was a silver color that curled around her face and ears, staying short. Her eyes were like emeralds which reminded me of treasure. She's Flora. I could tell by her floral dress she was wearing. Probably gifted to her by Aurelio. "You can't hide forever! I counted to one hundred!"

"I think you skipped a few numbers!" Hesper yelled back. "I'm still on six!" I saw Ross dart out from under the table, not wanting to get caught up in it as he dove for his clothes and got in his tux, curling up inside it in his dragon form as he poked his head out and watched the kids. Flora pointed to the table then and giggled.

"You're under the table Hesper! Only dragons are attracted to one of us and that's you! Show yourself and help me find our sisters Lacey and Chiharu!"

"AW! No fair! I'm not playing find girls! I said I agreed to hide not find!"

"You lost anyways and you'll have to find all three of us next round!"

"No I won't!" Hesper told her and crawled out from under the table. "I'm gonna hang out with someone else."

"JERK!" Flora yelled and ran off giggling to go find the other two. Ross watched her leave and then looked at Hesper before he slowly started stalking back towards him, being sneaky about it till he pounced at his shoes and growled. Hesper giggled and ran for it, getting on top of the table quickly. Ross growled challengingly and flew up onto the table, tackling his shoulder and then curled up by Hesper's neck, licking it. Hesper looked at Ross and exposed his tiny fangs at him. Ross growled at him and sat up on his shoulder, extending his wings to threaten him back, rearing his head up and puffing smoke at him. Hesper stared at him with wide eyes before whipping the smoke off his face. He tucked his fangs away as soon as his little silver bracelets clattered together. Ross tucked his wings back to his side and let out a purr, looking towards the bracelets then at Hesper in amusement before he moved back to his neck and curled up against it. I stared over the bracelets he had on him, tons that clattered together whenever he moved his arms. He also had a few gold necklaces on, these jewels looked like they were stolen from his parent's closets and he just happened to convince them he'd give them back eventually and it was okay for him to wear them for now. I laughed as I spotted a wedding ring on him. Ross nipped at his ear then before he crawled up onto Hesper's head and looked around the room, scoping out the place. Hesper giggled and bounced off the table and ran for the windows to glance out at the full moon. Ross looked out and then jumped off Hesper's head, starting to go towards Sera before he leapt up onto her shoulder and purred, nuzzling his face into her cheek as he turned into the size of a small cat to be larger. Sera looked him over and started to rub his head. I frowned. He's not going to come to me? He just marked me too! He glanced my way and he started to purr loudly as his eyes looked me over. He twitched his wings and then looked towards Sera happily.

"Sera! Sera! I found a mate," he told her quickly, seeing that he had some news for her. He started to get excited, moving his wings a bit.

"Is it Toma?" She asked. Ross purred loudly and rubbed his face and neck against her cheek.

"Uh huh! I made him mine," he told her sweetly. "I marked him for real today~ He wanted to be mated~! I've got a mate again!"

"Are you two going to have babies soon?" She asked curiously.

"I would have to talk to Aurelio or find someone else to help," he told her, pausing in his rubbing. He looked up into her eyes then and purred. "Do you want little versions of me running around?" He asked sweetly.

"As long as they're not little Toma's running around. I heard he was vicious when he hatched and scared off everyone. I don't want that running around." Sera said and laughed.

"My babies won't be evil," he promised her and fluttered his wings. "They'll be half me, so they can't be as mean as Toma was when he hatched."

"Oh I don't know about that...." Sera told him and shook her head. "So you two better let me know when you're having little hatchlings."

"I will," he purred to her. "I'll let you know as soon as the first egg is in the nest," he said sweetly, nuzzling his face against hers. "I still have yet to mate him to me completely," he whispered to her then looked towards me. "He has yet to mark me too...." I blushed a bright red and looked away. I don't even know what he means by completely! He purred sweetly and then leapt down from her shoulder, coming after me. He crawled up my pants and then up onto my shoulder, nuzzling his face up under my chin and rubbing his scales against my sensitive spot. I gasped and blushed slightly before looking him over.

"Ross?" I asked softly. "What do you mean by completely? We are already." He purred to me and looked up at me, removing his face from my neck.

"We are... but I was talking about the fact that I haven't mated with you in our nest yet," he told me lovingly. "That's all I meant by it. We are mates."

"But you marked me in the nest," I mumbled. He purred to me then.

"I did mark you in the nest," he purred and nipped at my ear. "I meant that I haven't had sex with you yet, little mate."

"O-oh!" I blushed and nodded. "I think I know what you're talking about. Like that deep scene in Twilight when Edward and her break the bed and then a scene later her stomach was growing?" He looked at me then.

"I didn't tell you about sex, did I?" He asked me and then looked towards Sera before he looked at me. He leapt off my shoulder then and transformed into his human form, walking over to Sera with a sweet smile. "Can I borrow your phone?" He asked sweetly.

"Maybe you should have Dmitri talk to him about it," She told him sweetly.

"Yeah, but videos work too," he trailed off. Dmitri widened his eyes.

"Don't ruin his innocent eyes with that!"

"Did you purposely hold back information from me about relationships?" I asked Dmitri.

"No... I forgot about it," he told me innocently. "I thought Ross told you.... I guess we should go for a walk before Ross shows you something dirty," he told me and then grabbed my hand, starting to take me towards the door nervously. "I didn't realize I'd be giving you this talk today."

"Dirty? Should I get into something dirt friendly?" I asked him.

Whoa whoa whoa~ Just to make sure you don't flip out, if you're not interested in reading about Toma learning what females and males do in bed together or same gender with same gender, then you better skip to the next bolded text.

"No," he told me quickly and laughed a bit. "You'll understand in a few minutes... maybe thirty." He took me out of the room then and into another where we were alone and sat me down, sitting beside me. He looked towards me and then gave me a nervous smile, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess I could start with where babies come from, huh? Then I could work back to what Ross means." I blushed as I looked him over in confusion.

"From eggs right?" I asked. He nodded.

"For you, yes, they'll come from eggs, but others, like me, carry children inside- only females though," he told me. "You're a male, I'm a male, Ross is a male, but Sera is female," he explained. "I did tell you about what your downstairs means, right? How to tell who's a boy and who's a girl?"

"You said that I'm a male because of it.... Women don't have it?" He shook his head no.

"Every male has what you have downstairs, but female have something else down there and they have large chests usually... some have smaller ones and are called flat chested," he explained then pulled out his phone. He shook his head. "I think I better show you. It's a little awkward trying to describe it, and if you ever end up seeing it, I don't want you to freak out," he told me and then pulled up something on his phone and handed it to me. "That's what women have." I dropped the phone quickly at the horror. "Aren't you glad you're a boy?" He asked me and laughed, picking up the phone. "Women bleed down there too once a month for a week when they become teenagers and do it up till  they're too old to have children- but that doesn't happen for vampires. Men and women can have babies together because of it," he told me softly. "Women have eggs and men have sperm and the sperm turns the egg into a baby," he explained.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," I told him and looked away in disgust from the image from before. How do they pee if they don't have what I got?! He rubbed my back and put his phone on his lap.

"You'll be fine.... Anyways, when you become a certain age, you'll want to be with someone... like you've been wanting to be with Ross. You wanted to be his mate... but I forgot to tell you what it means," he told me and laughed nervously. "It means you're going to be a couple until one of you dies or one of you gets really mad at the other and breaks up with them," he told me and ran his fingers through my hair. "He wants to have sex with you which is what adults do when they're in a relationship... and you're old enough to have sex with him if you want to.... Women and men can have sex and get babies from it, but you two won't be able to get babies from it because neither of you are female or have eggs. You'd have to get help from someone who could either turn you into a female- like Charles- or get help to be able to magically have eggs and be able to manifest dragon eggs. I think Aurelio can do that, but he might still have to turn one of you female. I'm not sure how getting Aurelio's help would turn out. I'm not sure what he's capable of."

"I don't want to be a female!" I yelled. "NO NO NO NO NO!" I held my manhood quickly. He laughed a little.

"Then you better find out what exactly Aurelio can do for you two. He might be able to get it to where you can both have kids together but both stay males. If not, you better ask Ross to become a female for you," he purred to me.

"ROSS!" I yelled quickly. No way am I EVER gonna be female.

"Hey, don't go calling for him just yet," he told me and laughed. "I still have to tell you a bit more and maybe show you something. I don't know. Do you want to know what sex is or do you want to find out when Ross goes to have sex with you?"

"I'm not sure," I said softly. He nodded.

"You might not want to have sex with him if I show you," he whispered to me. "You might think it looks really painful and not want to do it with him. He'd get upset... but it doesn't hurt," he warned. "Well, it does at first, but it doesn't once you get used to it and then it feels amazing. If you let Ross just show you, you might be more comfortable with the idea of having sex and losing your virginity- your first time that is. It's special when you're having sex for the first time."

"It hurts?" I asked him and widened my eyes. He bit his bottom lip.

"Only for a little bit that is," he told me. "Mostly if you're on the bottom I think...."

"The bottom?" I asked. "Treasure," I whispered. He watched me and then picked up his phone.

"I think I best show you then.... It's a lot to explain, and it's easier to just show you... and I'll even make it a gay one," he told me and then pulled up a video with two boys. He pulled me to him and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, holding the phone so I could see and hit play. I widened my eyes as I watched the video until halfway and paused it.

"I don't want to see anymore," I told him and blushed. He nodded and put his phone up then looked at me.

"Y-yeah, sorry about that...." He gave me a nervous smile. "That's what sex is. Mates do it, and if one is a girl, you get a kid from it if you don't use protection... or have the girl take a special medicine." I blushed and avoided looking at him.

This should be good enough to pick up reading at.

"Can I sleep with you today?" I asked softly. He frowned then and looked at me.

"I-I guess, but... what are you going to tell Ross? You can't avoid him forever, and if you don't want to be his mate after learning what it means, you need to tell him," he told me and rubbed my cheek.

"I just want to sleep with you today," I told him and transformed into my smaller dragon form and got inside his pocket. He sighed softly and looked at me then rubbed his head.

"Yeah, you can sleep in my room today.... You'll have to tell Ross that though. He deserves to know... and if you don't want sex, just tell him that," he told me. "I mean... sure it's scary, but it can feel really good," he mumbled. "You shouldn't be too afraid of it... or Ross... but if you are, I guess that's alright. You just aren't ready to be mated." I puffed out smoke as I remembered watching the videos.

"Yeah, I know Dmitri. I just want to sleep with you today. I know they must've been having fun from the moaning on the video but I just want to sleep with you." He sighed.

"Alright... but I mean it. If you don't want to have sex with him and that's why you're all of a sudden wanting to stay in my room, you need to tell him that so you two can think about your options. You don't have to have sex at all for your entire life if you want," he hummed out. "Ross might not like that though, especially since he likes the idea of having kids, so he'll probably search for a different mate if that happens," he told me and got to his feet. "Don't leave Ross in the dark for too long Toma."

"Treasure," I hissed. "I don't want more advice from you when you don't have a mate so hush." He growled then.

"I did have a mate. He died right before you hatched," he told me, tensing up.

"Well that's a good thing because I would have ate him!"

"He let me keep you," he mumbled. "I wouldn't have you if it wasn't for him. He was killed by Silas."

"You didn't kill Silas for it?" I asked.

"No... I was imprisoned in a cell for a bit... and then they brought you to me after I screamed for your egg for awhile, and then you hatched in my cell with me and my sister," he whispered to me. "I had to take care of you... and I wanted to raise you and be your treasure, and I lost any inkling of revenge for it. I didn't know him very long... but I met him because he raided my base and he took me as his prisoner... and then he tried to change me to suit him when we found out we were mates. He wanted me to stop hunting humans to drink from," he told me and then pulled me out of his pocket gently, looking at me. "I was trying to be a little bit better for him, and he let me keep your egg so I could take care of you when I found you."

"Well that's too bad he died," I whispered to him. He gave me a soft smile then and rubbed my head.

"It's alright. I would've never have suited him in the end," he told me and kissed the top of my head gently. "I'd rather have been able to devote my every second to raising you than spending my time trying to please him when he was so hard to please. I love being your treasure more," he purred and tapped my nose with a sweet smile.

"Good! You don't need a mate! You have me." I purred. "I'm all you need." He laughed then and nodded.

"No, I don't need a mate," he told me and laughed, putting me on his shoulder. "Now don't think I don't know what I'm talking about next time when I'm trying to tell you something," he purred at me and gave me a smile. "I do know what I'm talking about. I even slept with my previous mate, so I even know what I'm talking about there."

"Okay," I whispered in his ear and nibbled at it. He yelped and then laughed at me.

"Cutie," he teased me. "Are you ready to go back yet birthday boy?" He asked me.

"I guess so," I huffed out. He smiled and started for the door, putting his phone in his back pocket then picked up my clothes along the way.

"You'll be fine," he promised me. "Ross is a good dragon. He won't do anything you don't want him to," he told me softly. "You shouldn't be afraid of him, but you'll sleep with me tonight because you asked."

"I'm not afraid," I grumbled to him. "I'm not afraid of anything." He smiled then and laughed.

"Alright my big boy," he told me and laughed some more. He rubbed my head. "You're brave," he purred and kissed the top of my head as he took me out of the room and back to the ballroom. Ross looked over as soon as we entered and looked towards me with a curious look, glancing between me and Dmitri as he stayed by Sera. He had redressed already in my absence, getting his suit back on from when he had transformed. I curled up between the collar of Dmitri's shirt and his neck, purring in his ear. I found Giovanni sitting next to Hesper by the window and holding his hand as he examined some of the bracelets. Ross watched me and frowned a little before he turned to Sera and started talking to her, tugging on the cuff of his suit to pull it over his white sleeve under it, seeming a bit disappointed. I whined slightly. He's not disappointed in me, is he? He grabbed Sera's hand then and gave her a small smile, starting to lead her over to the refreshment table as more people started coming in. I noticed the room had been decorated while I had been gone as well, the party probably going to get started soon. Ross picked out a glass of blood and gave it to her, giving her a sweet look.

"There you go Sera," he said lovingly, purring to her. "This should be the best one for you." I heard footsteps approaching as Lyle walked up to us suddenly.

"I want to talk with you and Silas later," Lyle told Dmitri. "I think it's something that's ready to be approached." Dmitri frowned but nodded.

"I can.... Toma, you'll have to go up to my room later tonight on your own so I can go talk to Lyle," he told me and gave me a smile, rubbing my head then looked at Lyle. "I'll meet you two in the library after my birthday boy's party?"

"It can wait until after if that's what you want. It just means we'll have to leave the party to have our discussion before dawn." Lyle looked towards me then. "Happy birthday Toma," he purred.

"Thanks Lyle," I said softly. Dmitri smiled.

"Well... I don't want you to be pressed for time...." He told Lyle and then looked towards me. "Do you mind if I'm a little late to the party? I can go talk to him now and then take you to bed myself," he suggested. "I'm sure it'll be better for Silas that way too. She has so many kids to put to sleep at dawn." He started to pull me off his shoulder then and sat me in the floor. "I'll be back," he promised and then grabbed Lyle's hand, starting to walk towards the door with him.

"I'll text Silas," Lyle said as he pulled out his phone. I frowned. Ditched? I watched them walk out of the ball room before heading straight for Ross without thinking and crawled up his body and got inside a pocket. I heard him yelp and then he peeked down at me and frowned a bit.

"Toma?" He asked softly.

"Dmitri had to go talk with Lyle," I told him. "You don't mind me camping out here, do you?" I asked sweetly.

"N-no... I don't mind," he mumbled and looked at me then looked away with a frown. I crawled up to his shoulder then and snuggled against his neck.

"Dmitri explained it to me," I whispered in dragon tongue to him. I heard him start to purr then at hearing it in dragon and looked over at me.

"I figured," he whispered back in dragon to me. "You kept your distance when he brought you back."

"I didn't think I'd have to flee to you so quickly when coming back. Did you miss me that much?" He frowned.

"You are my mate," he told me softly in dragon. "I did miss you, and I was worried you changed your mind. I thought you knew what being mates meant... and you didn't come to me when you found out.... Did you change your mind?" He asked worriedly, rubbing my head. "I won't be mad.... It's not your fault you didn't know exactly what mates do because you were so innocent."

"No, I haven't changed my mind. I do however want to plan it all out now that I know how much pleasure it'll bring to us. I'm definitely going to set up a whole romantic setting!" I told him, still talking to him in dragon since no one would be able to tell what we were discussing. Especially the children. His eyes lit up in delight and he purred to me, giving me a loving look.

"You want to plan it?" He purred happily. "I was thinking it would be fun to put catnip in the nest- Wait, would you rather have it for your first in our nest or in a bed?" He asked me sweetly, rubbing my head. I blushed at the thought.

"You don't sleep in beds," I told him softly.

"I can still get us a bed if you want," he purred to me. "Either we can be surrounded by my treasure and in the nest where we've been since you were four... or we can get a bed for it," he told me. "I don't mind."

"I don't mind the nest," I told him. He purred and then kissed the top of my head.

"I'll make sure to put extra pillows and bedding in there then to make it luxurious for you," he said sweetly and then started to rub under my chin. "We can get some candles too if you want, and we'll put some catnip throughout the nest for us~ I think we should also take a bath in the rose oils you like so much before we go into the nest. You'd like that," he purred in my ear. "We could get some rose petals in the nest too if you want... and if you want some music, I could easily get us some romantic music to mate with each other~" He playfully licked my neck then. "I could get it done for tonight if you want~ For your twenty first birthday and the day I marked you as my mate officially~ Or do you want to wait a bit longer? I don't mind. We could go down to take a bath and then the nest after the party and mate or we could wait and set up some fishing before hand then the bath...." 

"I'm supposed to plan this, no fair!" I told him. "Besides... I'm sleeping with Dmitri tonight." He frowned.

"Well... I guess that's... alright," he mumbled. "You could go sleep with Dmitri if you want.... He is your treasure after all and he was there when you hatched. We can save it for another day," he hummed out and then tapped my nose. "After all, it gives me more time to get things and maybe come up with more ideas for it.... I'll make you wait." He smirked then.

"I'm. the. one. planning." I glared at him then. "You're not supposed to be the one planning!" He picked up a piece of sushi off the table and stuffed it into my mouth.

"I'll plan it~ You're going to be sleeping with Dmitri until I have the nest ready... might be a few weeks," he tagged on teasingly and then winked. "Maybe a few months before you're allowed in the treasure hoard again."

"You can't do that to me! I love treasure and that's not fair! I'm the one planning it! I already said I was going to plan it before you!" I growled as I swallowed the sushi down. He can't just take over my planning! That's rude. He purred in amusement.

"Too bad it can't be tonight," he hummed out then rubbed my head. "Oh well~ I'll have fun planning it and I'll lock up the treasure room so you can't peak."

"ROSS!" I hissed and bit his ear. "I'm the one planning it! I'll eat you!" I warned him.

"You haven't even marked me," he pointed out as he held back a yelp from me biting his ear. "I get to plan it!" He hissed back. "SERA!" He called out, finally breaking our dragon conversation and switching back to English. "Tell him I get to plan it!"

"Plan what darling?" Sera asked in confusion.

"NO YOU'RE NOT!" I roared. "I called dibs first!" He frowned as I yelled in dragon next to his ear.

"I'm planning the equivalent of a wedding night!" He told her and whined. "He keeps telling me that I can't plan it, but I should because it's my treasure room and I marked him first and I knew what being mated meant before he did! I should be the one to plan it, and he's ditching me anyways to sleep with Dmitri!" Sera walked over then and looked me directly in the eyes.

"Toma, sweetie~ Ross has had a mate before you, he's a much older dragon, he tried to have hatchlings before but it didn't work, he friended you first, he's let you share the treasure room, you two share a nest together, he marked you first, he's gotten to watch you grow up, he taught you so much, and you're ditching him for Dmitri tonight to sleep with him." She kept eye contact as she nodded. "So cutie, make sure when you're planning out your delicious night with this older dragon, make sure you do it to your liking and not what you think he'd like... Odds are he's had it done for his first mate. So you go full out and max some credit cards~" She kissed the top of my head. Ross's jaw dropped then.

"Sera! How come I can't plan it?" He whined. "That's not fair.... It's my treasure room," he mumbled. "He's ditching me too. I should at least get to plan it when I'm sleeping in the cold treasure by myself. Besides, I would do it tonight, but he's DITCHING me."

"You can sleep with me tonight Ross if it bugs you about being lonely during the day. Let Toma plan it. After all he's giving his virginity to you so he needs to ideally set it up how he wants it not the way you do." Sera tapped him on the nose. "You let him win this one." Ross pouted then and looked at her before he nodded.

"F-fine... he can plan what he wants...." He looked down at his feet then and sighed. "He can win this time... but I better be allowed in my treasure room."

"Nope," I told him in English. "You're going to sleep with Sera while I set up your treasure room." He growled towards me then and looked away from me.

"Good. I'll let Alfred know he'll assist you in maxing out a credit card," Sera told me sweetly.