After you and Fizzle stopped for a lunch break at the bottom of a beautifully massive waterfall in the forest, you finish up your ration and begin to clean up the mess left over. It wasn't a huge mess of course, but you were never one to litter. Especially in a beautiful place like this.

Unlike Sentinel, but he was always the lazy one out of you two.

You stand up and begin to store all the trash in a couple of plastic trash bags you brought, with Fizzle helping you out as well. After a couple of minutes, you and him finish up and begin to pack up, before walking back the way you came, with the albino dragon beside you.

"Thanks again for showing me that spot, Fizzle. I'm definitely gonna make a note to come back to that place sometime. That waterfall was an incredible sight on its own."

"I-it's no problem! H-hehe... I'm glad you... I'm glad you liked it as much as I do." He rubs his arm and, although he doesn't look at you directly, a genuine smile forms as he blushes a little bit.

"Th-that food you gave me wasn't half as bad as you said it was, by the way..." He added, yawning and stretching a little bit as you both continue back onto the path.

You chuckle and shrug, "Then you must have not really eaten much in your life aside from gems and water."

Fizzle lets out a small nervous chuckle and shrugs a little bit, still smiling like a goofball, "I-I actually have eaten a couple different kinds of fruit before, after Garble and some others from the pack did a raid on a huge caravan near the border."

"So it was them who did that... I'm not surprised in the slightest." You mutter, which is picked up by Fizzle, who begins to grow a bit more nervous as he fidgets around with his claws.

"I-I swear I wasn't involved in that r-raid though Anon! Y-you believe me... r-right?"

You laugh and nod, "Of course I do. But now I'm curious... what kind of fruit did you eat?"

"W-well... I really, really liked this one kind of fruit that nobody else wanted...I don't know why, it was sooo good! I don't know what it's called, but it was yellowish red and so, so sweet... mmm~"

"Uhh... heheh, did it have a soft, fuzzy exterior? Cause if it did, it's called a mango." You ask. He shrugs a little, blushing at how slightly over the top he got for just speaking about it.

"I-I can't exactly remember... I ate them so fast... h-haha"

"Tell you what, if I ever get the chance, I'll get you some choice fruits for you to try them all out, that sound good?"

"O-okay, Anon... th-thank you..." He blushes and fidgets a little with his claws, smiling at the sheer thought.

In terms of sheer cuteness, he easily ranked as 'hyper-lethal'.

As you both continue to walk the forest in relative silence, you notice that Fizzle has move slightly closer to you now. You pretend not to notice, but you do think to yourself as to how hard Fizzle seems to have fallen for you in such a short period of time.

...And you begin to ask yourself if you're actually starting to fall for him.

Or if you were really getting this lonely, this quickly.

...It has been quite a while since you've held someone like how you did last night.

Longer than you'd like to remember.

...Maybe this was some really bad case of 'puppy love'. For the both of you.

Yeah... yeah, that's it.

Then, as soon as your deployment is over, you'll both move on with your normal lives and this'll all just be nothing but a memory for you two. A memory for you to think over from time to time.

Maybe think about the things that could have happened... but never did.

Because it was never meant to be.

...

You feel your breathing beginning to shorten at the sheer thought, as well as noticing that you're walking a bit slower than usual.

...No. Now wasn't the time to get all down in the dumps. Especially when Fizzle's around.

C'mon, Anon... suck it up.

...ugh. If anything... it at least makes Fizzle happy. That's what should matter here.

Besides, from what you know so far, he's been through a hell of a lot. This is probably the first time someone has even shown any sort of kindness to him in a while.

He should enjoy it while it lasts.

Maybe you should too. It's been way, way too long...

You involuntarily let out a soft sigh, which makes Fizzle's ears perk up as he looks at you directly, his eyes previously directed at your person in general.

"I-is everything okay, Anon...?"

"Yeah... I'm alright. Why?" You ask, looking back at Fizzle. You notice that he already has a slightly worried look on his face, walking a bit slower than you as he opens his mouth to try and answer, but he mentally gives up and looks down at the ground.

"N... nothing. I was just curious is all..."

Curious huh...

"Curious? How so?"

-You notice that Fizzle looks a bit more uncomfortable now as he clicks his claws together, thinking of what to ask.

"...are you...a-ah...w...w-well.."

"...am I the only dragon you know, Anon?"

You feel as if that is not the question Fizzle really wanted to ask, but you go along with it anyway, "Yeah... yeah, you are. The only one I've ever actually seen in person, let alone tried to get to know. The only other one is this small drake named Spike. Dunno if you've heard of him."

"I have. I've only seen him once, and it was quite a while ago... I always see him with Garble and other ponies though... and h-he always says mean things about him... really... mean things..."

"I've heard him talk about some red dragon asshole before, but I didn't think much of it. Small world, I suppose."

"Y-yeah..."

"...I kinda envy him though..."

"Why?"

"He gets to live in Equestria... a place where he can be whatever he likes to be... express himself and s-stuff... b-but uh... well, y-you know... h-heh..."

"Yeah, I can see why one would be jealous of that... I'm guessing the Badlands aren't too... uhm... accepting? Or too controlling?"

Fizzle nods a little bit, "I-it's relatively lawless... but it's not a p-place where you can be who you wanna be and... y-yeah..."

"...well... if it counts as anything, I'm glad that I met you, Fizzy."

Fizzle looks up at you, a look of surprise on his face and a blush quickly forming due to the cute pet name,"R...r-really?"

"Yeah, I am. I might've not gotten the best first impressions, but you're at least a shining example that not all dragons are like that."

"I...I..."
"Plus, at least I know that not all dragons look ugly as sin."

"...y-you don't think I'm... ugly?"

You chuckle and shake your head, refusing to go any further than that. Although from the looks of it, it seems like Fizzle is in a state of delightful bliss, if his derpy little smile and distant look is anything to go by.

After following the trail and patrolling with Fizzle for most of the day, it was time to head back to camp. You estimated that there was about fifteen minutes or so of daylight left and you never did really like patrolling out in the dark. Makes for easy ambushes and stuff.

You both were relatively silent for the most part, mainly just enjoying each other's company. You honestly like it when you have someone around, especially during patrols. You weren't a social butterfly by any means, but it still felt nice to have someone to talk to.

Plus, it was kinda cute to see Fizzle try his hardest to help you out, as ironic as it was. He was your so called 'eye in the sky' for a majority of the patrol, doing his absolute best to keep and eye out for other dragons or Guard patrols

Even if his attention was focused on you more often than not, he still meant well. And that made you smile.

Now, Fizzle looked quite tired, but still kept close to you and listened out for anything odd. Though you hoped to whatever gods exist that nothing comes out and spooks the poor dragon, the last thing you both need is an uncontrollable forest fire.

"Nnnnh... h-how close are we to camp, Anon?"

"Just a few more minutes. It should be just up ahead, don't worry." You reassure him. He stretches his wings a little bit and yawns quite cutely. You smile at him when he yawns, then you look up at the sky and realize that it's gotten pretty damn cloudy. You couldn't exactly tell if it was smoke blowing in from the Badlands, storm clouds or both.

"Hey Fizzle, do you think those look like smoke clouds? Or just normal rain clouds?"

Before Fizzle could answer, you see him noticably flinch at something, before he goes cross-eyed and looks at his nose. You then feel a couple droplets of water begin to fall on you, confirming your previous thoughts.

You silently curse and walk at a faster pace with Fizzle following close behind, using his own wings as a way to shield himself from getting wet.

"God damn it... I wasn't expecting rain here at all. Damn Pegasi squadrons were supposed to keep the skies clear all week long. Guess they got lazy, or weather intel was fucked like always."

Fizzle nods as he quickly follows beside you, "I-it rarely ever rains here in these parts of the forests... I usually avoid coming here whenever it does actually rain, cause of how wet and c-cold it gets..."

As you both begin to arrive at the camp, you hear a loud crack not too far off in the distance, as well as a very loud squeak that came from behind you.

When you turn around, you see that Fizzle is standing in place, his wings wrapped around his body protectively as he shivers, refusing to move.

Awww... Poor Fizzy must be afraid of lightning...

You quickly rush over to him and gently push away one of his wings, grabbing his claw and forcefully pulling him towards you, making him follow you all the way to the camp.

You and Fizzle are now at camp, and although the tree tops above stopped most of the rain, the firewood was already way too moist to reheat, and Fizzle didn't seem to be in a mood to do something like that anytime soon.

"You okay, Fizzy?..." You quickly ask him and he nods, rapidly, still shaking.

"S-s-sorry A-Anon... I'm j-just... I... I-I don't like thunder o-or lightning..."

"...i-it's why I avoid the forests during storms like this... it's t-too... s-scary..." He whimpers softly, still holding himself very tightly. As for you, you are almost completely soaked at this point.

"It's fine, Fizzle. I won't judge you for it, let's just get inside the tent for now, okay?" He nods and you quickly zip down the tent, throwing your wet pack to the corner of the tent, crawling in and turning around to help Fizzle inside.

As he crawls in with you, another lightning bolt cracks through the sky, making Fizzle squeak louder this time as he scurries into the tent, tail tucked in between his legs as he goes to his makeshift bed, still holding himself tighter than before. Once he's inside, you make sure to actually close the tent flap this time.

You realize that Fizzle is actually more soaked than you are... his wings only did so much to help. You quickly take off your jacket and move closer to him, before you drape your semi-dry jacket around him

He's shaking a lot... jesus... You think to yourself as you also begin to wrap one of the blankets around him, helping him warm up a little bit better.

"Th-th-th-thank you A-Anon..." Fizzle stammers through chattering teeth. Despite how cold he is, it looks like his face is definitely heating up, if his blush was indication of anything.

"Don't mention it. Tomorrow we're gonna relocate to the the camp area where we met. That place has a better location to set up a camp."

He nods and holds the jacket closer, noticing that his shivering has decreased significantly, but his muzzle is still buried in your jacket and you see his ear twitch a little.

Stupid adorable dragons, I swear.

"...it's... i-it's still k-kind of cold..." He says softly to himself, looking at you now and then with a glimmer of hope in his eyes, until he yelps and jumps a little when more distant thunder begins to occur, indirectly moving himself closer to you in the process.

You look at Fizzle for a while, running several scenarios a second, before finally making up your mind and letting out a sigh.

...

You reach over to Fizzle, who looks at you with a nervously curious look. He then proceeds to make a muffled squee sound when you pull him close to you, his head resting just under your chin.

He looks like he's about to faint, but you don't care. You and him are both cold right now and this is the best way to generate heat.

...besides, he's soft to the touch.

"A-a-a-anon...?!" He stutters hopelessly as he tries to look up at you, but you simply shut him up with a simple 'hush' and give him a squeeze.

Fizzle tries to stutter out a more coherent response, but you simply squeeze him harder, which makes him squeal quietly and blush a lot harder than he's ever blushed before.

For a while, you both simply sit there, with you holding the soft albino dragon tightly in your arms, your head resting over his, and soon enough, you both fall asleep.

You've never really been one with the cold, so you're really just happy to be warm again.

...and happy to have someone to hold onto for once.

...

And they say dragons are the greediest.

Fizzle is stuck in a hurricane of so many emotions, that he can barely keep track of them all. They all race through his head at a million miles a second. Never before has he felt this way. It almost feels like it's too much for his mind to handle.

Shock, nervousness, fear, excitement, worry...

...and hope.

...if there was one emotion that overcame all the others right now, it was definitely hope.

Hope for what exactly? Fizzle mentally asks himself, a voice in the back of his head speaking the things he never wanted to hear, Hope that you can finally leave that gods-forsaken place you call home once and for all?

W-w-what...?

Don't fool yourself, Fizz. You and I both know you're only using him as a means to another end. As soon as you get the chance, you'd leave this hairless ape because he'd outlive his usefulness to you.

Wh-wh... no...no! I wouldn't do that!

...w...w-would I...?

Don't you dare try to convince yourself that you 'hope' Anon likes you. You know damn well that's not why. Shit, Garble and the others were always right about you all along.

...I...

-...I l like him though... why w-would I hu-

You should have been left to take the beating.

Always useless, always fucking up. Never good enough. Can't wait to see how you'll fuck this one up for yourself. Bet Garble and the others are gonna have a hell of a laugh because of this.

And you call Garble an opportunist.

Fizzle lets out a choked whimper, before his eyes suddenly flutter open, his vision blurred due to the tears that formed while he slept. He looks around and notices that he is now laying down beside you, who is now holding him like a teddy bear this time. One of his wings is now also slightly draped across his body.

...and your jacket is still wrapped around his body comfortably.

Fizzle looks at Anon's face, admiring the peaceful look on his face for a couple of seconds, before he looks down at the jacket and nuzzles into it, sniffing it a little all while pressing his entire body closer into yours. His ears perk up when you begin to mumble something incoherent, but he does pick up his name in there somewhere, which is enough to make him blush and wiggle a little bit out of sheer embarrassment.

He sniffs your jacket again.

...Anon smells really good...

...I wonder how long he'll let me wear his jacket for...

Author's Note

Late chapter this week, I know. I apologize if things seem a bit rushed, but with how I have the story planned, I don't want this story to be too long. Just relatively 'short' and sweet... and hot, but that'll come sooner rather than later. uwu

Also, all of the chapter names have been changed ~~because I always spend an hour thinking of a decent title~~ for the sake of simplicity.