Dino X Everyone -

Then there was Luna, the mayor’s daughter, who was allergic to everything and terrified of her own shadow. She’d watch Dino from her bedroom window, binoculars pressed to her face.

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.”

He blew a soft, warm puff of air into her hair. She giggled—the first laugh her father had heard in a year. Dino became her guardian. He’d let her braid his tail with dandelions and use his back as a slide. Her fear didn’t vanish, but it had a friend now.

Not with one person. But with everyone.

It started with Samira, the baker. Every morning, Dino would poke his long neck through the open back door of "Samira's Sourdough Sanctuary," his nostrils flaring at the scent of cinnamon and proofing yeast.

He didn’t understand. He had never chosen. He had simply… loved.

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.

He watched her work, mesmerized by the way she cracked eggs with one hand and hummed off-key. When she offered him a sticky, still-warm cinnamon roll, he took it gently between his lips. The sugar melted on his tongue. He let out a happy chirp, his crest glowing bright pink.