# One Big Family 9: Support

By: TheDragonBoy

## Content

*slosh*

*flap* *flap* *flap*

*slosh*!

*flap* *flap* *flap* *flap* *flap*

Toby felt the pull of inertia, tugging him in unexpected directions; pressing him to one side and then the other; leaving him weightless and then suddenly much heavier than his little body usually seemed. But the fleshy walls held him tight and snug, securely pressed into the innards of his younger brother’s belly- ‘younger’ by their family standards, that is.

None of his siblings were actually behind him in age, only a few of his cousins. Rather, Kint was hatched from their parents’ more recent clutch of eggs, the younger clutch. For Toby, this meant a tongue that didn’t quite lift him off the ground every time he received a lick, an extra gulp or two on the way down, a much tighter, squelchier squeeze through his brother’s throat, and most noticeable at this moment, a much less-spacious stomach to hold him, one where he needed to curl up into a ball and the walls stretched to fit him inside, bulging out the scales beyond.

But Toby never complained, he loved all his family members, and all their bellies, big, medium and small (or, more accurately, big, bigger and huge). And besides, a tight belly made flying practice much more comfortable. No getting tossed around by the flapping and the turning, the diving and rising, instead the walls held him in a firm, secure embrace, packed right up tight for the ride. While the other contents of his sibling’s belly sloshed and spilled through the gaps around his arms and legs, he himself hardly seemed to move at all relative to the slimy, wrinkly walls.

Of course, he would have gladly volunteered to help any of his larger-bellied siblings with flying practice too, but they were never the ones who needed it.

“You okay in there?” came his brother’s rumbling voice around him, over all the other sounds of the dragon’s body.

“Uh-huh,” Toby replied. He noticed Kint sounded pretty tired, but also excited. And Toby was excited too; he knew with every flap he felt, that he was helping his scaly sibling get even bigger and stronger, and gain important experience.

Kint was already a very good flier, but what the young dragon really wanted to do was hunt, like their older siblings did. They were bringing huge, tasty meals back to the cave for everyone to enjoy while he was only ever sent out to fetch firewood. But before he could hunt for the family, he had to get even stronger, and he had to practice flying with the extra weight of a meal dragging him down.

And that’s where Toby came in. Of course, Toby was no meal, and he wasn’t nearly as heavy as most of the catches Clak or Averi brought back, and Kint would have to get used to carrying the weight in his claws rather than his belly. But it was a start. And the extra weight did take its toll on his wings.

“How high are we now?” Toby asked from those cramped confines.

“Almost up to the snow,” came his brother’s labored reply between wingbeats.

For a moment, Toby tried to imagine that he could see through the red walls and the scales on the other side, out into the world. He’d seen the snow that covered the higher parts of their mountain home, but only very little. He spent almost all of his time in the caves, so his young mind strained to think what it must be like to see the world from so far up in the sky.

“What does everything look like?” he asked curiously.

“Tiny,” Kint replied, “Really tiny. Except for the clouds, they’re huge.”

Clouds always looked huge when Toby saw them from the cave, but he bet they looked even huger up close.

But something started to distract him from his excited imagination. His brother’s heart was beating faster and harder- even faster and harder than a few seconds ago. He could hear the air rushing in and out of the dragon’s chest, lungs pressing rhythmically against him through the stomach walls; they sounded very tired.

“Are you okay, Kint?” he asked. He didn’t mean to sound worried, but he couldn’t help it.

“Yeah, I’m fine… but I… think I… whoo.”

Toby noticed himself feeling lighter again as his brother leveled off and the flapping slowed to a stop. As they glided, he could hear the tired breathing and the pounding heartbeat start calming down too.

“That’s… hard… Clak makes it look so easy.”

“Yeah, but I’m sure you’ll make it look easy too if you keep practicing,” Toby replied.

“You think so?”

“Yeah! You’ll get big and strong just like him.”

Toby felt an affectionate little squeeze from the walls around him, along with a little gurgle.

“Thanks,” his brother replied. “For now though, I think I should give my wings a rest. And maybe get something to eat, what do you think?” It was hard for the dragon to tell, since he didn’t feel hungry with his little human sibling filling his belly, but he knew he hadn’t eaten any actual food for a while, and he wouldn’t grow any stronger if he didn’t give his body some fuel it could actually melt down.

“It is pretty empty in here besides me,” Toby confirmed.

“Alright then, down we go.”

Toby felt his weight shift again, growing lighter. And he focused his attention again on the movements of his brother’s body surrounding him. Packed tight inside him like this, it almost felt like he was a part of the dragon, like he was the one flying. He could feel a hint of the rush he always saw in Kint’s eyes, in the eyes of most of his younger siblings, how excited they seemed to spread their wings and go out into the world.

He wished he could do that. Not even that he could fly, just that he could go out and see the world; see the forest up close instead of just from up in the caves. Maybe… maybe he could? Was he ready now? Other family members his age had outside chores to do, but they also had scales and wings and pointy teeth and claws. They were only squishy on the inside, but he was squishy on the outside. Still… he really did want to…

Suddenly his body grew much heavier, and he felt a firm thud. He heard Kint fold his wings, and then came the familiar sounds of footsteps as the belly holding him swayed and jiggled. They were back inside.

“Thanks again, Toby,” came the dragon’s voice after a moment once the walking stopped. “Maybe we can do more later, after I do my chores.”

The walls tensed around him, and then began to squeeze. Curled into a ball, the pressure built around his feet and rear, and then an opening grew around his head, and he began to slide. He felt the firm, strong muscles of his brother’s throat push him gently upwards, slipping through the slick passage, and then suddenly out popped his head into the cool cave air.

Kint curled his tongue to cradle the boy’s body as he was released from the dragon’s throat, keeping him from slipping headfirst onto the hard ground. Toby climbed out, leaving saliva handprints on the stone next to a sizable puddle of slime. Kint smiled happily in compassionate gratitude, and Toby smiled back… but not quite in his usual, Toby way.

“You okay?” the dragon sibling asked. For a moment, he worried he might have hurt his brother in his belly somehow, even though the little boy didn’t look injured.

“I just wish I could go out into the forest like you do.”

“You wanna go out?”

“I know it’s probably too dangerous for me, but…” There was a pause for a moment as Toby trailed off before Kint replied.

“I know exactly how you feel.”

“You do?”

“Exploring the forest is so much fun. When I started flying it was like all I wanted to do! Sure, you don’t have your own wings, but one of us could fly you down there no problem.”

“Yeah, but… but it would be too dangerous, mom and dad wouldn’t want me to go.”

“Not if a bunch of us went with you! Protecting you out there would be like an extra outside chore, but I’d totally do that if you wanted to. I bet lots of us would! We all know what it’s like to want to get out.”

“Do you really think mom and dad would be okay?” Toby asked, starting to feel a bit hopeful.

“We should go find some of the others and all ask together. If we all ask, I’m sure they’ll say yes.”

Toby’s big, literally glowing smile began to light up his face again. He ran forward and hugged one of his brother’s legs, unintentionally splattering drool and stomach slime all across the scales.

“Thanks, Kint,” the little boy said.

Originally Published: 11-Apr-2022