To the left, to the right. Up and then down.

Orien was definitely looking everywhere except straight ahead, where his death was patiently waiting with raised eyebrows and golden eyes.

Obviously, he had not thought something so terrible would happen to him today. He truly did not.

But before the baby dragon could attempt to will himself and the little sprite into magical disappearance, a savior stepped out from behind the dragon of dragons.

Riley.

He slipped out from behind Kael’s imposing figure and gently placed a hand on his mate’s arm as he stepped forward. Then he gave Kael a look. A very specific look. The kind that wordlessly said, Stop terrorizing the children.

Kael rolled his eyes. But, to his credit, he stopped looking (glaring) at the frightened kids who were gripping each other like their lives depended on it.

Riley walked toward the bed, stopping at the end of it. His expression softened the moment he saw Liam’s face peeking out again. The little boy was trying to be brave, but the hesitation clung to him like a shadow.

Riley’s heart squeezed.

He opened his arms.

"You two," he called gently, "don’t I get a hug today? What happened to that written promise of a daily big hug?"

There was a pause.

A long one.

Because the two children were still trying to process several things at once. The loud events of earlier. The presence of a dragon lord silently judging them. Their own fear. And now the sudden invitation from someone they both adored, or at least tolerated in Orien’s vocabulary.

Liam blinked.

Then blinked again.

Then he looked up at his big brother’s warm smile, at the open arms waiting for him.

Something inside the small child snapped loose.

With tears gathering in his eyes once again, Liam clutched the dragonling beside him, as if dragging Orien along were part of the instructions, and launched himself toward Riley.

He dove into his brother’s arms, sobbing again, holding on tight with the desperation of someone who had feared losing something precious.

Orien was dragged along for the ride, dangling in Riley’s embrace just thankful for the sudden safety net.

Then again, the golden dragonling thought that it was kind of nice, and if he’d known that hugs would have helped the little guy with his problems then he would’ve given him one earlier.

After all, with someone as great as Orien, surely a hug from him could cure diseases, right?

__

Well, it probably would, though today in particular Riley was willing to give Orien special treats because the little guy had somehow managed to say all the right things.

Of course, there were some statements that did not make sense and should never be repeated to other human children who were not privy to dragon logic. But still, Riley could not deny that Orien had said them with so much sincerity that even he had paused to think.

They had arrived by accident. The five of them had walked instead of teleporting directly into the room, because none of them wanted to scare the children by suddenly appearing out of nowhere.

But as they got closer and closer, Riley’s steps slowed.

He could hear voices.

Clear voices.

And they weren’t even close to the door yet.

Apparently, his hearing had improved so much that even the faintest sound slipping through a tiny crack was enough for him to pick up entire sentences.

That unsettling discovery came with a string of questions about how much everyone else had heard before, but he set that aside for later. One crisis at a time.

In truth, he didn’t want to eavesdrop. He had been fully prepared to knock before walking right in.

But then he heard something so heart-wrenching that he froze on the spot.

That small, breaking voice saying he did not want to lose his brother.

It hit Riley so hard that for a moment he forgot how to breathe.

And then he panicked, because what was he supposed to say?

He had not prepared for this. None of them had. Until the seal broke, even his parents would not have been able to speak about any of it.

Unfortunately, they had failed to realize that Liam, his sensitive sweet boy of a brother, had already pieced everything together before they even arrived to explain it properly.

So what could he offer him? What reassurance would even be enough when he himself had spiraled into a massive panic earlier?

But then, unexpectedly, Orien spoke.

And what do you know, maybe children truly had a different way of thinking, regardless of race, because even Riley had never once considered the idea of simply having more people who cared for him.

More love. More family.

What a good way to look at things.

Then again, as the black dragon thought about the strange source of Orien’s sage-like wisdom, he figured the dragonling himself would need a different kind of reassurance later.

But for now, Riley ought to focus on the sweetest and kindest baby brother in the world because he felt that any more crying and the child would start choking.

__

Who knew how long the crying went on. The two brothers together with the live dragonling had been at it for quite a while, and by the end of it, even Riley was close enough to looking like a goldfish.

It was embarrassing, terribly so, but Liam couldn’t help it. The moment he realized his brother had heard their earlier conversation, all his tears came spilling out at once. At first he was terrified. He had said terrible things. Awful things. Things a good brother should never think.

But instead of being angry or disappointed, Riley had apologized.

Liam had blinked through his tears, confused. Why would his big brother apologize?

Riley explained softly that he was apologizing for several things. For placing such a burden on a child. For not reassuring him earlier. For letting him find out in such a frightening way. For not receiving information that might have helped explain things better.

But most importantly, Riley apologized for not being there when Liam needed him. Especially because despite being an actual adult, he himself had needed so much support earlier just to process everything that had happened. So what more for a child?

Hearing that, Liam only cried harder. Because he knew he could not have been much of a support at all. Because he had thought terrible thoughts. Jealous thoughts. Thoughts he was ashamed of. He clung to Riley’s sleeve and sobbed that he was very sorry for being mean and for acting like a bad brother.

But Riley simply pinched his cheek, gentle but firm, and shook his head.

"That’s not true. Feelings are not something we can fault people for having. In fact, I had them too."

"!"

"I thought, what if my family didn’t want me anymore? I thought about Mom and Dad treating me differently, or you hating me and not wanting to be my baby brother anymore. I had terrible thoughts too."

Liam stared at him, stunned. This was his big brother. His kind and perfect brother.

"How could that be?!" the child squeaked. "How could I not want to be your brother?!"

He sounded so alarmed that Riley almost laughed, though it came out soft and watery. But Liam froze in surprise when Riley said, very simply, "Exactly. I didn’t know. And if I hadn’t talked to you about it now, I would have lived the next days wondering if you still wanted to be my family."

Liam blinked.

"Imagine if I had bottled everything up and avoided talking about something so difficult. I would never have known that you and I were thinking the same thing."

"Oh."

Riley watched the young boy gain clarity, his small face shifting as understanding slowly settled in.

He continued, speaking with a soft honesty that made Liam listen through the lingering tears.

"There are times when people will have feelings that aren’t noble or mature. That’s just how it is. We can’t always control what we feel, because feelings don’t follow rules. And while there are dangerous ways to force someone to feel differently, doing that would just tamper with a person’s mind and free will."

"Think about it like this, would you want someone to love you just because you said so and not because they just do?"

The child nodded vehemently.

Riley brushed Liam’s hair back, smiling a little through his own red and puffy eyes.

"But that doesn’t mean we let people run around acting on every emotion, especially if those emotions turn dangerous. Which is why what matters in the end is how we choose to act on those feelings. Now, that part is something we can generally control."

He tapped Liam’s forehead lightly, affectionate and proud.

"Like what we’re doing now. We’re talking about our feelings instead of locking people up or running away because of them. And that’s a very good thing, Liam."

The child hiccupped again, but this time the tears were different. Softer. Lighter. Because his brother didn’t hate him. And more importantly, his big brother wanted exactly what he wanted.

To remain brothers.

Always.