X Everyone: Dino

Samira complained that Dino spent more time at the library. “He brought me the quartz first!”

Samira laughed. Mr. Hemlock patted Dino’s neck. Luna squeezed a bit of each of their hands.

Mr. Hemlock grumbled that Luna got to ride on Dino’s back, and he was too old for such adventures. “Favoritism!” he huffed. dino x everyone

One day, Dino found a fallen bird’s nest with a single, unbroken robin’s egg. He carried it in his mouth to her fence. Luna, trembling, came outside. He lowered his head to the ground. She touched his snout. It was warm and leathery, like a sun-baked baseball glove.

Dino listened, his head cocked. He didn’t understand the words, but he understood the cadence, the care. When Mr. Hemlock got to the sad part, Dino reached in with his long, prehensile tongue and gently licked the old man’s wrinkled hand. Samira complained that Dino spent more time at the library

He nudged Samira into the circle. Then Mr. Hemlock. Then Luna. He wrapped his long neck around all three of them, pulling them into a single, awkward, wonderful group hug. His crest blazed a brilliant, sunrise pink.

Samira laughed, a genuine, unguarded sound. She reached up and scratched the soft spot under his jaw. “You know, you’re the only man who’s never let me down.” Hemlock patted Dino’s neck

For three days, Puddlebrook was silent. Samira’s cinnamon rolls burned. Mr. Hemlock fell asleep alone in his dusty chair. Luna refused to come out from under her bed.

And he loved them. Every single one. Unfairly, completely, and without reason. Because that, Dino knew, was the only way to love.

“You won’t eat me?” she whispered.