Iggy - Prized Catch

The sun had started to rise over the wetlands; tinting the tall grass and murky water with a reddish-orange glow. The muddy river bank was covered in dozens of alligators lazily sprawled about, mouths agape as they waited for sun to warm their thick hides. Iggy and Craw paid them no mind, stepping around or over gators as they walked down the bank, side by side. A few plastic buckets tied with string were draped over Craw’s back, similar to horse saddle bags. Iggy let out a soft sigh, feeling the first rays of warmth across his green and black banded skin. With a blissful smile, he tenderly brushed his head and neck under Craw’s red dewlap. His long, soft spikes folded towards his body, quickly springing back up when he pulled his head away from his beloved suchomimus. Craw looked down at the smaller male before giving him a playful boop with his long snout. He gave a few of Iggy’s shoulder spikes a gentle nibble. They should have been paying more attention to where they were walking. Iggy suddenly tripped over one of the basking alligators. The startled reptile hissed and spun around, preparing to bite the cryolophosaurus. 

Craw swiftly placed a muddy, grey foot on its snout with just enough force to stop it from opening its mouth. He craned his neck down to push Iggy with his snout.
“You okay?” he asked calmly.
“Yeah,” Iggy chuckled, taking a few tries to push himself to his feet, out of the slippery mud.
Craw turned his attention to the gator below his foot, letting out a quiet bellow as he scanned them from head to tail. Well, half of a tail.
“Silly Kobi,” he spoke softly, bringing his face closer to the gator’s head, “it’s just Iggy not looking where he’s walking.”
“Hey, you weren’t looking either!” Iggy retorted in a playfully shocked tone, mud dripping from his white undersides.
“Well, I wasn’t nearly chomped by Kobi,” Craw gave a toothy smirk.
He stepped off the gator, using his powerful legs to push forwards quickly. Neither dinosaur looked back at the alligator as they continued their walk; they already knew the large male would simply return to basking.

They continued down the bank for a few minutes, before reaching an area where the forest encroached on the river. Here, trees with light greyish-brown trunks grew on the river, their thick roots reaching into the water.
“Here it is!” Craw exclaimed as he hurriedly waded towards the trees.
Iggy trailed behind, taking his time to look at the trees. He had seen these trees before, but never investigated them. He quickly started probing his snout into the branches as he looked for… something.

Craw turned around with a round, yellow fruit in his mouth. He waited for Iggy to join him in the warm water. Once together, Craw carefully placed the fruit in Iggy’s mouth. Iggy thought about it for a few moments, gazing at Craw’s expectant face, before biting down on the fruit. The flesh was a light custard colour and tasted somewhat like a mango, though not as sweet. There were large brown seeds that his teeth couldn’t break.

“This is pond apple,” Craw smiled, turning his head to the branches to forage for more, “I saw the gators eat them when I was younger, and I copied them,” the grey suchomimus paused as he lined up a few apples in his long snout. With his mouth so full, he spilled pieces of the apples into the water as he ate. Iggy watched his partner with a warm smile as he continued to speak, “and I like feeding them to the gators when they’re in season.”
“A little bit of apple picking with the boyfriend,” Iggy grinned as he began to climb one of the trees with his hooked claws, “how cute.”
Craw blushed, subtle against his red jowls.
“Make sure you pick the yellow ones,” Craw said, “the green ones aren’t ripe.”

The two spent a while collecting apples; Iggy clambering through the trees and Craw grabbing low hanging fruits or those that had already fallen. After filling their buckets with apples, they made their way back to the fishing cabin they called home. It was around noon, and the rest of the boys had joined the couple around the river bank outside; Ozzie, Rhyn and Dweller. They helped remove the buckets from Craw; who started chucking pond apples to the alligators.
“Bet I can throw one further,” Iggy playfully bumped up against Craw’s flank, before launching an apple into the river. Not as far as Craw… But now the whole group had started throwing apples into the river, cheering wildly whenever someone hit a record. Ozzie the acrocanthosaurus tended to manage the biggest throws, which the three small cryolophosaurus claimed was unfair because he was much larger than them.

With just a few apples left, which they had decided to save for themselves to eat, the group watched their beloved alligators enjoying the thrown apples. In the middle of the river, Iggy spotted a particularly bright, yellow apple; none of the others he had seen had been as ripe as that one.
“I bet I can get that apple before any of the gators do!” He suddenly declared amid the silence, “for my precious boyfriend,” with a small hop to kiss Craw.
“Swimming through a group of hungry, feeding gators to steal their food?” Rhyn said, “bet.”
Iggy approached the water’s edge, before dramatically turning to face the group, “I’m Iggy, and welcome to Jackass!”
He sprinted into the river. Ozzie waded in slightly, ready to rescue the stupid idiot. Iggy’s feet no longer touched against the mud as he swam. 

Most of the alligators didn’t seem to mind him, preferring to let the apples drift to them to lazily snap them up. Any that did try to bite him got a swift whip to the face, with his long, flat tail. He had nearly reached the golden apple, when he noticed a large alligator swimming towards it. It wasn’t fast; but they could swim much faster than him with no effort. He paddled harder; he wasn’t sure if he was going to make it. The gator opened its mouth for the apple. Iggy slammed into the side of its head, shoving it out of the way. The gator tried to bite Iggy in its surprise, but he had managed to grapple it, redirecting it away from him. The loud popping sound it made as its jaws snapped shut earned a gasp from his audience. Iggy turned to grab the apple with a pissed off gator behind him, where he saw Ozzie rushing towards him. Iggy managed to land a tail whip; at which point the gator gave up with a hiss. He lifted his head high as he swam back to land, looking rather smug as he passed Ozzie. Not even a thank you for trying to rescue him.

Once he was back on land, Iggy didn't even glance at the others, his green eyes locked on Craw's as he strutted up to him. He bowed, with his head lifted up to present his golden apple to his prized catch.
"For you, my love."