The Dragon's Treasure (BL)

 "She is beautiful," Brunhilde said, the small baby already latching to her, suckling away. 

Pan felt uneasy. He felt like he was intruding on this tender moment. As he looked at Brandon, who was slowly taking away all the towels he had used to keep the mother clean, Pan looked at his feet. 

"She is so precious," Brandon said, chuckling. "And I think Pan is a fine name for her."

Pan took a deep breath. He had almost messed it up. Had felt as Brandon had stiffened as Pan had cut the cord.

And yet, the mother looked healthy enough, and the baby, who had cried after Pan had slapped it, was now eating its first meal. Its little face next to its mother's naked breast.

Basking in the song of her heartbeat, or so Pan believed.

"Ah, no! This is a Brenda, not a Pan," Brunhilde said, as she eyed Pan. "And you really should grow a backbone, boy!"

 Brandon sighed. Brunhilde never minced her words. She must have felt as Pan panicked. 

"Now, now, Brunhilde, be kinder. Pan is new at this whole healing thing. And this was my first time doing this alone, as well. If you can be kind towards me, why not towards him?" Brandon asked. 

"I know he messed up," Brunhilde said, but then she shook her head. "But my baby's alive, and it took the mana of both of you to heal my wounds, didn't it?"

"Well, yes, but Brandon did all the work," Pan had to admit it, for he felt that he was going to steal Brandon's spotlight if he did not.

"Well, that's good to know," Brunhilde said. 

The small baby finally let go of its mother and gave a yawn.

Brunhilde had never seen anything as precious. She cradled her little daughter next to her breast and kissed her little head.

"But no, this is a Brenda! I want for my baby to be just like you, Brandon! Calm, collected, brave!" She kissed her baby again.

 Pan looked down at his feet. He was neither calm, nor collected, or even brave. If he had been brave, then he would have actually managed to find Brandon on his own. 

Oh, he wanted to be a true hero, but true heroes were made by fate itself. By fate, choosing them as such.

He was simply an apple tree nymph who was way over his head. 

"Brunhilde, I think you should wash up now," Brandon said as he took a small squirt bottle and handed it to Brunhilde. "Let me just take the baby. I need to check her over."

 Brunhilde handed her daughter to Brandon, who placed her in a small rune box.

Everything looked to be fine. The baby was a little bit weak from the fact that the cord had been around its neck. It yawned once more. 

"Let her stay in the rune for the night. I'll give her to you when it's time for you to feed her again?" Brandon said as he helped Brunhilde out of the bed. 

"And I will let the nurses wash you. And Pan, well..., I need to tell him a couple of things," Brandon said, as he led Brunhilde out of the room and gave her over to one of the many nurses. Who were actually just servants Brandon had hired in order for someone to help him with the patients.

A kind nurse took her hand with a smile and escorted her to the bathroom. 

"Pan," Brandon said as soon as the door clicked behind him. 

"I'm sorry, Brandon. I had no mana and the woman was going to...," Pan began, only for Brandon to close the distance between them and take a hold of him. 

Brandon stood there, his nose pressed against Pan's nose as he looked him in the eyes. 

"Do you know what I am?" Brandon asked.

 It was pretty obvious that Pan knew. Had he not known, he wouldn't have taken from his mana without permission.

 "A dragon," Pan breathed out. 

He leaned backwards, only for Brandon to right him back into his arms.

 "Yes, a dragon. And you just took a dragon's mana inside of you," Brandon said as he buried his nose in Pan's nape. 

"I'm sorry. I..." Pan didn't like this. He didn't like the fact that he was reduced to being a stuttering mess every time Brandon came close to him.

 He didn't like the control Brandon had over him. 

"And now I want more," Brandon said as he laid a kiss on soft skin. 

"Brandon, I just, I just," Pan couldn't think straight.

 He pushed against Brandon. Forcing him to fall on to the bed.

 Pan made a couple of steps backwards, and as the door opened again, a nurse coming in, Pan rushed past her and ran out of the room.

 "Sir, the mother, she..." Pan heard. He did not stay to listen.

He just wanted to run away! The scale was in the roots of his apple sapling. The sapling was in the cottage!

 If he just followed the steps Horace left, he could reach the cottage before nightfall!

 He just hoped that the tracks were not snowed over. He had to pack his apple sapling back into his bottomless bag! Before Brandon...

"Pan!" he heard a yell behind him, but he did not turn around. He ran up the snowy mountain, trying to find the road. Hoping he could find the cottage.

0000

 As Brandon cleaned Brunhilde, who was relaxing in a rune-covered chair that was meant to ease her pain, he could not help but think. 

Pan wanted him. He really did. Brandon knew it in his heart. How could he not? 

They were soulmates. 

But why was the nymph so hesitant? Did he really think that Brandon was going to hurt him?

"And that mate of yours, he is not actually brave. No, he was only brave back when a baby's life was on the line," Brunhilde said. 

Brandon sighed. 

"Why are you being so harsh on him? He's a healer. He helped you," Brandon asked. 

His lips were still tingling from the kiss. From that fateful kiss that had saved not one, but two lives.

 "Because you deserve someone brave, Brandon. You deserve someone who can be by your side. Not run away at the first sign of trouble," Brunhilde said. 

"In every relationship, one of the lovers is braver than the other. One of the lovers loves the other more," Brandon countered. "And that's what makes that lover, the one who does not love as strongly, or is not as brave, so much sweeter. For what is better than to protect the one you love?"

Brunhilde chuckled.

 "Oh, you're hopeless, Dragon," Brunhilde said as Brandon continued to wash away the bloody mess from her.