Being told that he would have to let Elias spend a lot of time resting left Andrew bored out of his mind. He had woken up feeling back to normal, and while he felt bad about the prince being stuck in bed, Andrew wished he could have the other up and around with him.

It would—according to the doctor—take a week for Elias to be healed enough to go out with him. The prince apologized for that about a million times, and Andrew had to continue promising him over and over that it didn’t bother him. And, for the most part, it didn’t. He was used to being alone and finding things to keep himself occupied. Sure, that place didn’t have a phone for him to scroll on, or a computer to play games, but there did happen to be magic, and that would have to be enough for him.

Andrew wandered the halls one morning, his body fully rested and his mind sluggish from all the sleep and food he made sure to have. It had been a few days since they returned to the castle, and he had been taking it easy with Elias, so his body eventually became restless. 

Leaving the castle without the prince there to protect and guide him sounded a lot scarier than he would ever admit out loud, so walking around and learning the layout of the place became his only pass time.

A library, the staff bedrooms, the kitchen, and several different areas filled with collections of weapons and heirlooms were all it had to show, and Andrew couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed in the lack of cool secrets.

How could a family of royal dragons not have something interesting about their castle?

There had to be something, and Andrew’s boredom demanded that he find it. Though, he had combed through the halls as thoroughly as he could on his own, so he would need something to help him look beyond what his walk showed him.

“Using the magic to help me find things hasn’t tired me out, so it should be fine to use now,” he mumbled to himself. Andrew looked up and down the long hall, glad to see it empty of anyone else. “Alright, uh, magic? I wish you would show me something interesting.”

Andrew looked at the ground, expecting to see a glittery blue light trail leading him somewhere that would get rid of his boredom.

Nothing. The stone floor and fancy rug remained free of any blue light.

“Okay, I doubt the stuff runs out, so maybe…” Andrew leaned against the wall and tapped his chin. “Maybe I was too vague? Do you need me to be more specific?” How was he supposed to ask the magic for something if he didn’t know what he was looking for? And how could he be sure that was even the problem?

“Fine then,” he huffed. He would have to keep trying. “Show me… I wish you would show me a secret room?”

Nothing again.

“Ugh, c’mon, I’m bored! I wish you would tell me how you worked!” He stomped his foot down, half thinking that the force of it would shake the magic out.

And yet, again, nothing happened.

He slid down the wall, sitting on the floor and staring at the wall across from him. What had he done differently before to make it respond so quickly? Did his new belief in the place make the magic shy or something?

“I see how it is, I finally start to think you might be real, then you hide from me. Whatever, I’ll just go and see if Elias is awake yet. And if he’s not, then… Then I’ll just lay with him. Again. And stare at the wall, waiting for him to…” Andrew clenched his jaw. Needing someone else to be entertained had never been a problem for him before. Granted, being in a new place did change things, but he still didn’t like that he suddenly needed another person to make his life more interesting. “I just have to figure out what I used to do on my own that kept me going through the days. Aside from work, my phone… A few video games…”

Andrew fell silent, his hands slipping off of his lap and onto the floor beside him.

His computer and phone were all he had. He hadn’t needed another person to entertain him because he always had those and only those.

“No, nope, nuh-uh, I’m not going through this kind of self-therapy right now.” Andrew stood up abruptly and marched down the hall, heading towards Elias’ room. “I wanted to come to terms with being in this magical, fairyland, not think about my life choices!”

Coming up to the prince’s door, Andrew took a moment to breathe and cool off. His anger over the inability to be alright on his own would have to wait to be dealt with. One thing at a time.

“Hey, are you up?” he said softly, opening the door slowly.

Elias’ room didn’t have much light in it aside from the window, and his curtains were blocking out most of it, so at first, he couldn’t see anything other than the prince’s outline. But then the other lazily flapped one of his wings and turned over to face the door.

“I’m awake, yes. You're welcome to come in, Andrew.”

The prince’s deep, groggy morning voice sent chills up Andrew’s spine, but he ignored them in favor of slipping into the room and making his way over to the bed.

“Sorry if I woke you up. You don’t have to get up or anything, I’m just…” Admitting he couldn’t find something to do on his own didn’t feel great, but Andrew hadn’t come up with another excuse. “Bored out of my mind? Which isn’t your fault, and I know you need rest and all that so I don’t expect you to entertain me or whatever, but I just thought that maybe if you were awake I could at least come and sit with you and talk. Unless you want to sleep more, that’s fine, too. I can just hang out in here, or my room.”

Elias laughed, got out from under the covers, and walked right up to Andrew, moving more confidently and smoothly than he had been able to since being hurt. “You’re alright, Andrew. I have been awake since the doctor wanted to come in and give me some more medicine for any pain I might be in.” He walked right up to Andrew and wrapped his arms around him, leaning his head on top of his. “I’m glad you came in to see me, actually. I’ve been worried about you walking around on your own ever since we’ve realized that using too much of the magic tires you out so much.”

The way the prince melted against him told Andrew all he needed to know about just how strong the painkillers the doctor gave him were. “You don’t have to worry about that,” he grumbled. “It didn’t seem to want to work for me a minute ago when I tried it.”

“It didn’t? Oh no, I’m sorry, Andrew.” Elias effortlessly picked him up and carried him over to the bed, dropping onto it and laying over him. The prince was careful not to squish him, but that didn’t stop Andrew from being buried under his massive body. “I can’t use it like you can, and I only know so much about it, but when I’m better, we’ll make it work for you again. If you want that, anyway.”

“Okay, well, we’ll worry about that later.” Andrew patted Elias’ arm, stifling a laugh. The prince was slurring his words and had closed his eyes again, probably about to fall asleep. “I think you need to just worry about getting better and waiting out the loopy part of these pain pills, or whatever form of medicine you guys have here. Potions? Wild plants? I don’t know, but whatever she gave you, you’re probably going to need to sleep it off.”

Elias growled, though it was half-hearted. “I don’t want to sleep, I want to talk to you. You’re bored, so I should… Stay up, and…”

Andrew sighed with a laugh, watching Elias’ head lull to the side. He wasn’t even a little tired, and being stuck in bed wasn’t ideal, but at least there he wasn’t alone, thinking himself into corners he didn’t want to face. And it wasn’t like he had a choice to get up anymore at that point. Elias had a good grip on him, and being stuck under someone of his size meant that Andrew had no hopes of getting out of bed until the other rolled over or got up again.

And from how deep his sudden sleep looked and sounded, Andrew had a feeling that he wasn’t going to be free of the prince’s grasp any time soon.

“Have a nice nap,” he said with another sigh. “Maybe my boredom will let me take one, too.”