#poor ryo

“Kento? I need to talk to you for a sec.”

“Sure, Dad.” Kento climbed down from the ladder he was using to dust the shelves and pat himself off. “What is it?”

Ryo cleared his throat, looking nervous. “Well... Ise, he’s turning fifteen soon, right?”

“Uh... yeah,” Kento frowned, not liking where this discussion was heading. “What about it?”

“Remember what we talked about when you turned fifteen?” Ryo asked, looking at him pointedly and meaningfully.

“...Oh.” Kento winced, realizing what his adoptive father was trying to say. He dropped the feather duster in his hand as the weight of the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He went over to Touma’s desk and barely managed to pull back the chair before he all but collapsed onto it. “Crap, we have to give him the Talk, don’t we?”

Ryo nodded grimly. “And there’s another issue. Ise is a dragon. And there isn’t much information about dragons, especially about their... mating...” he trailed off awkwardly. “Point is... what applies to us humans may not apply to him at all...”

“Please don’t talk about my baby and mating in the same sentence,” Kento groaned. 

“Kento, you have to realize, he isn’t your baby anymore. He’s growing up. He’s entering high school, for god’s sake.” Ryo chided. “You can’t keep thinking of him as the puppy-sized dragon that hatched out of an egg from a Wonder Ride Book.”

“I know, I know... but still...” Kento sighed, leaning his elbows on the desk and burying his face in his palms. “So... what you’re saying is... we’re basically on our own here.”

“...Yeah.” Ryo sighed heavily. “I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.”

“No, it’s fine... I’ll talk with the others, we’ll figure something out,” Kento said. “Hopefully...”

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“Uh... did I do something wrong?” Ise asked as his mother lead him to the couch in their living room. “Why do you guys look so serious?”

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong, sweetie,” Mei reassured her son. “We just... need to talk to you about something.”

“...That sounds ominous,” Ise said with suspicion. “Should I be scared?”

“Well... honestly, we’re kinda scared too, son.” Touma tried to force a chuckle, but couldn’t really manage it. 

“You know, with the way you sound, it’s like you’re about to give me the Talk or something...” he trailed off as his parents gave each other a look. “...Wait, are you guys giving me the Talk?” he asked incredulously.

“Well... not exactly.” Ise gave Rintaro a confused look. “While we can talk about some of the mechanics of it while you are in your human form...” He waved at his son’s current state. “In actuality, you’re a dragon, Ise. Who knows how many of our rules apply to you.”

“...Oh. Yeah, I didn’t think about that.” Ise admitted ruefully. 

“So... you have to understand that we are asking you to exercise your discretion in such things,” Kento said. “We’ll try to answer as many questions as we can, but, in most cases, you probably have to find the answers on your own, through... experience.” He barely managed to get the last word out. “We’re just asking you to be careful when you... try it for yourself.”

Ise stared at his Papa like he’d grown a second head and made a face. “Oh, don’t worry about that... I’m not planning on doing that anytime soon.”

“...Is that so,” Touma said, looking rather relieved. Rintaro, Kento and Mei also relaxed, reassured by their son’s words.

“But... I do have some questions though.”