“Yifan!” the cry of his elder brother came practically before Yifan had even dismounted from Kyungsoo’s neck but it still caused a smile to bloom onto the young prince’s face. Luhan, forgoing his usual royal attire since they were meeting at a smaller family home on the outskirts of the town so as not to startle the residents by the arrival of nine dragons, rushed forward to pull his youngest brother into his arms and hug him dearly. “My goodness, look at you!” Luhan practically cried, immediately fussing over the youngster and faffing on with him like he was some kind of precious little person whom had not been seen in a long time. Which ironically was exactly what the situation was.

“I don’t believe it, you’re already taller and looking so handsome that I could practically eat you up,” Luhan continued to praise, his fingers pinching at the youngers cheeks in nothing short of adoration, “No one is going to recognise you in the slightest! They’ll all be demanding to know where you were kept hidden.”

“Luhan!” Yifan whined playfully, finally managing to pry his brothers hands off his cheeks which were taking on a red hue because of all the pinching, “They probably won’t even notice me.” Suddenly the young prince threw his arms tightly around Luhan’s frame, catching the elder off guard and balance for a few seconds before he managed to easily regain it and returned the strong, fond hug to his little brother. For a few moments, the pair just remained like that, still as statutes and clearly enjoying the freedom to openly express their joint feelings for one another.

Which was interrupted by a pair of thin arms wrapping themselves around Yifan’s middle in an attempt to haul him back. “Yifan...mine,” a deep voice practically growled out in warning towards the other and for a second Luhan was worried about the stake he held on his life. Though the next moment the fear was gone as the fierce sounding man let out a terrified squeak of his own when Kai popped into existence right next to him, sword drawn and pointed at the assailant’s throat with a cool stare which was more of a warning than anything else.

But for poor Sehun who had never encountered that sort of aggression, it was downright terrifying. Immediately all pretences of being a mean, scary dragon in human form were dropped and were replaced by a terrified, shaking youngster with rainbow coloured hair and the biggest eyes going.

Yifan had to fight back the urge to laugh at Sehun’s misfortune because he did not want a sulking hatchling to deal with on top of everything else. Gently he sighed and patted the others hair, “Sehun, what have I told you about being too overprotective of me? This is my elder brother Luhan whom I am allowed to cuddle with and this is Kai, his bodyguard who reacts in just the same way as you do when you think that I’m being threatened.”

Sehun quietly peaked out from behind Yifan’s shoulder in order to take a look at the two aforementioned men, only to be greeted with a soft welcoming smile from Luhan and a pointed, rather angry looking expression from Kai. Sehun squeaked in fear once again and ducked back behind Yifan, showing his age more than the young Prince could ever remember him doing before.

There did come a chuckle this time, but it came from Suho who quietly placed his hands onto Sehun’s bare form in order to pry him off and pass him over to Chen in order to actually get dressed. “Ah, the foolishness of the young is always something that we treasure is it not?” Suho spoke formally before bowing in respect towards Luhan, “You must forgive Sehun, he is still extremely young and learning how to interact with the world.”

“And is unduly besotted with Yifan,” Xiumin spoke, with a challenging grin, “to the point where he even tries to give us hell for hugging onto Yifan.”

Kai chuckled, “Oh the joys of young love.”

“Says the man who very nearly beat one of my friends up for having the audacity to kiss me on the cheek in greeting,” Luhan responded towards his bodyguard who immediately flushed and started to splutter in an incoherent manner.

It was Kyungsoo who laughed first at the misfortune of the bodyguard and he gently shook his head as he reached out to snag Yixing in order to actually put his overcoat on the right way around as it was clear that the healer dragon was fascinated by everything but what he was supposed to be doing. “Well at least you’ve been able to identify it as what it is straight away,” he grinned happily, “Sehun is still completely bewildered and just keeps acting on instinct.”

“It’ll settle as he gets older,” Baekhyun said with a dismissive wave, “I still remember when Chanyeol fell in love with that...”

Chanyeol’s hand s out and slammed itself firmly over the light dragon’s mouth, “We do not talk of that. Ever.”

Immediately Yifan’s curiosity was caught but before he could ask any probing questions about that particular situation, there came another squeak as Tao lost his balance and fell to the floor. The elders were straight to the youngster but it was Sehun who slung the black dragons arm over his shoulder and hoisted him up so that he could help him to walk.

Kai blinked at the black dragon, studying him with a critical eye though Luhan knew that it was more of a case of concern. In the course of his training, Kai had taken on many roles so that he could be a suitable bodyguard for the crown prince and medical knowledge had been one of the items at the forefront. Carefully he stepped in front of Sehun and his new companion, holding his hands up gently so that he could kneel down and lift the hem of Tao’s robes to look at his bare feet. For a moment or two he paused and then glanced up, “I think you’re going to need a physician to look at these feet of yours.”

Tao blinked towards the human, barely understanding what had been said to him though thankfully Yifan instinctively translated for the youngster. A series of clicks and whistles were his response but Kai understood the fright. “Not straight away of course but maybe later,” Kai smiled as he rose to a standing position, “Right now though I think some food and drink would be a good idea.”

That placated both the young dragons and Kai started to lead everyone inside, unaware that the two human brothers were standing side by side watching them go. Yifan smirked ever so slightly and turned to look up at his elder brother, finding it somewhat strange that he did not have to crane his neck as much now in order to do it. “You never told me that Kai had dragon blood in him?” Yifan teased, finally able to work out how come Luhan appeared to know everything about where to find the Isle and how he was the Dragon Prince.

Luhan blushed a little, “There are some things which are best kept secret. Kai has long guarded his and it was only by chance that I happened to learn of it. You don’t mind me keeping him, do you?”

Yifan burst into a fresh wave of laughter, “He is yours as far as I’m concerned, Gege, I very much doubt that I could keep Kai away from you for long since he practically threatened Sehun for merely growling at you.”

The crown prince chuckled along with his younger brother before coming to a natural stop and reaching forward to brush a few stray strands of hair out of the boy’s face. He smile with affection before leaning close and pressing a kiss to his forehead, “The world will be certainly grateful to see you in your right place, Yifan. I just wish that Jiaheng could be here to witness it all with you.”

Sadly, Yifan smiled, before bringing his hand to his heart, “Jiaheng is with me. Just in a way that I cannot see. But now is not the time for sadness, dear brother, you are to become Emperor soon.”

“Don’t remind me,” Luhan pouted, pulling Yifan closer, “I wish this whole thing would just blow over. I’m going to be useless at this, I just know it.”

It was very tempting to argue the point that Luhan was already well respected and would more than likely have the heads of state under his thumb within a day of him taking the throne but Yifan knew that his big brother would never believe him and instead just wrapped his hand tightly around the familiar fingers with a smile. “Gege, you’ll be fine. It’ll be me that’ll be useless and probably kicked out for being a silly little fool,” Yifan added a pout for dramatic effect, knowing immediately the response it would cause from his elder brother who fell for it hook, line and sinker.

Of course, it took the better part of ten minutes and Yifan being pounced upon by a playful feeling Chen to get Luhan to realise just what he had been tricked into and the crown prince could not help but playfully tackle his brother with a series of tickles until neither one of them could breath. Of course, in order to placate Sehun who was fuming, Luhan had to do the same tickle attack onto the dragon which ended hilariously as the rainbow dragon ended up hiccupping after a few minutes and turned into an all too familiar kitten.

Kai burst out laughing, “Oh my goodness! What on earth?”

“Oh, I guess the potion must still be in his system,” Yixing said with an apologetic smile towards the now grumbling kitten who was desperately trying not to purr as Yifan held him close, “We’ll probably have to make him have hiccups again to make him back to a human.”

There came a distinct mewl from the kitten which everyone recognised as, “I hate hiccups.”