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"Let me hear your roar, come on."

Nero cleared his throat and turned to look at Liq.

"You seem to think your roar is better than mine for some reason."

The other dragon chuckled and scratched his chest with a smug grin.

"I mean... yeah. It can't be helped if I'm the better dragon. You should stop trying and concede defeat, pal."

"Like I'd do that!"

Nero was used to Liq being all cocky about how his wings were larger, his tail longer and thicker and the general disposition of his body more in line with the draconic ideal of beauty, but even his patience had a limit. He was a dragon as well and as such he had the need to keep his pride intact.

And Liq's wings weren't even that large, no matter how much he liked to fold them as a cape on his back and walk around like a show-off!

He took a deep breath and let out a roar, trying to make sure the other dragon would know who he was dealing with.

It was an intense roar. Not ear-piercingly loud, but loud nonetheless. It had a canine quality to it, like a rolling growl at the end of its cadence. Nero was quite proud of how it turned out.

"Hmm. Acceptable," Liq teased him.

Nero turned to look at him, fire in his eyes.

"What do you mean acceptable?"

The slightly taller dragon held his gaze, those purple eyes sparkling with the glow of a thousand stars. When Nero gazed into them, he felt as if the universe was swirling inside those pupils.

"Nothing," Liq answered, fangs showing through his open mouth. "Nothing at all."

* * *

"Oh? What have you got there?"

Nero chuckled. This time, he knew Liq would be impressed by his efforts to be the better dragon. Nothing screamed 'dragon' like 'hoarding'.

And nothing screamed 'hoarding' like 'gold'.

"It's not much," Nero said, trying to hide a smug grin. Not like Liq would have done the same for him, but still! "Just my little collection."

The taller dragon looked over his shoulder and chuckled softly.

"Oh, wow. Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"See?" Nero closed his eyes proudly and crossed his arms over his chest. Then, after having processed what Liq had just said, he opened one of them. "Wait. What do you mean you suppose I'm right? Isn't this collection impressive enough?"

"Uh, yeah, it is," Liq agreed. There was still a smile on his lips, one that Nero didn't like at all. "But you know... gold is..."

"What?" Nero asked, fearing not even such a praiseworthy collection would be enough for Liq.

"... well, very traditional," Liq resolved. "Too traditional. Like something somebody on his sixties would hoard."

Nero turned to look at him very slowly.

"You're kidding me," he muttered.

"I'm not. Look, dragons who were been born during this century usually hoard other things... like, I don't know, Funko Pops. Or Legos."

"So what do you hoard?" Nero asked, raising an eyebrow.

Liq chuckled.

"I do hoard plushies. And wolves, obviously," the dragon added cheekily.

"Wait, what?"

"I'm just kidding," Liq reassured him, a mysterious gleam in his deep, purple eyes. "I'm not saying you hoarding gold isn't respectable. It's just a little... obsolete."

Nero clenched his fists.

"Yeah? Well, in my opinion, dragons used to hoard gold for a reason. And the reason is that it's the shiniest, most beautiful thing to keep close."

"More beautiful than my eyes?" Liq asked, tilting his head.

The question caught Nero off-guard.

"U-uh no," he managed to answer. "Not that."

That smug grin was back on Liq's face. His gaze was piercing through Nero's eyes and he felt as if gravity was failing him, his body lifting from the ground like a ball of cotton in a hurricane.

"That's what I thought," Liq whispered, closing the distance that kept him separated.

And Nero got lost in the purple abyss.

* * *

Gravity didn't mean a thing for dragons.

They were supposed to fly high over the Earth, watching the ground from above as the landscape became tiny and unimportant. Nero enjoyed the feeling of flying as the wind whistled in his ears, even though he'd felt a twinge of panic the moment his clawed feet had left the ground.

He hadn't said anything, though. He was pretty sure Liq would mention how he never had the slightest feeling of vertigo and how that made him a much better dragon. And anyway, Nero was too busy enjoying the beautiful sunset that had dyed the sky a deep purple. The mountains below were blurry as he flew over them.

"Hey, you look like you're having fun!" the other dragon mentioned. He'd been flying at some distance for a while before getting closer to glide by his side.

Nero scoffed.

"Of course I am! What did you expect?"

"Nothing too different, if I'm honest," Liq admitted. "From the moment I set my eyes on you, I had a feeling you had been born for floating and flying."

"That's about right," Nero boasted, a wide grin on his face. "I was born for floating and flying, baby!"

Liq chuckled.

"Yeah," he said to himself. "I had a feeling you'd agree..."

* * *

A dark grey wolf was paddling on the carpet, his arms slowly moving back and forth as he muttered words that were practically inaudible. A collection of coins was scattered all over the floor around him. Liq watched from above, a knowing grin on his face. He'd known that would be the outcome of their little bet, but it was still fun to witness the wolf making such a cute fool of himself.

When Nero had mentioned he would make a better dragon than Liq was, he'd had an impulse. And of course, Nero had decided to let him go with the flow.

Not like he would have had much other choice once the dragon's eyes had begun swirling, of course.

"Born for floating... flying... born for... floating..." the wolf kept droning on, a thin trickle of drool dampening the carpet as he moved his 'wings'.

"That's right, Nero," Liq found himself saying, crouching next to the hypnotized wolf to stroke that exposed back with a pointy claw. "And you make a really, really good dragon."