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“Usually when ya say we’re goin’ out on a patrol we uh….actually go out on patrol. You said we were gonna be lookin fer stuff.” And then it clicked. “This ain’t work is it?”
The aviant turned to his rather massive companion and narrowed his eyes at him, clicking his beak impatiently. Oh no, Benedict wasn’t happy about this. “Look if this is another one a’ yer touchy-feely, dumbass muscle headed sapfests in the makin’ I want absolutely no part in it, ya hear me?”
Montana raised his hands, palms out, defensively- laughing. “No, no it’s nothing like that. Just had to get you some fresh air somehow, Oscar said you’ve been cooped up fiddlin’ with your rockets for days now and that just isn’t healthy man, we’re worried about you.” The giant really hadn’t had much of a plan, other than making sure the alien got out and got fresh air, and was actually taking care of himself. He took his duty of keeping spirits high very seriously after all, and it didn’t take a genius to realize that Ben hadn’t been okay for a long time- even if he hid it well. They were close enough that he had gathered as much pretty quickly after all.
Falcon eyes narrowed further, as the bird-like alien stared at him, the gears in his brain all but audibly grinding as he processed the words. “Was that….was that a pun?”
“No, absolutely not.” The behemoth of a man noted quickly, furrowing his brow and scrunching his face up a bit in response. Was he really spending so much time with Benedict that his habit of making bird puns was rubbing off on him? No, no it absolutely couldn’t be that.
“I’ll let it slide this time big guy.” He snorted, looking Montana over for a moment, noting that the big man was blushed a deep red. For a moment he very seriously considered taking another jab at him for making such a terrible pun- an echo of one he had made some time prior- but he decided against it. It was obvious his friend was concerned for him, and well…who could really blame him. He realized he had been moping a bit lately- it had to be pretty obvious if Oscar was noticing.
There was silence over the two as they walked, taking in the sights (relatively uninteresting) and sounds (also uninteresting) for a long while. Benedict considered that the fresh air was actually quite nice, nice enough to put him in a friendly mood, and he couldn’t help but let a smile begin to shine in his eyes. Honestly, it was kind of nice- not that he would ever want to let anybody know that. No, he had an image to uphold after all.
“Y’know….thanks man.” Benedict said softly, looking anywhere but at Montana. He’d needed this, he just didn’t want to admit to needing it.
The bigger man seemed rather surprised by this, raising his eyebrows in shock as he looked at the aviant. It was uncharacteristic to hear such things from Benedict, and he really hadn’t expected anything like that. Still…he smiled softly, looking rather touched.
“Jus’….don’t go tellin’ folks I said that eh?” He took on a serious look there, feathers fluffing slightly. “Especially don’t go tellin’ Oscar, he’s got no damn idea how t’keep his damn mouth shut.”
That drew a laugh from the giant, who shook his head, pausing a moment in his steps to look towards his companion. “No, I don’t think I’m gonna tell him. If he asks, you were a complete downer the entire time, nothing nice happened.” Friends looked out for their friends, and if Ben was a bit sensitive about his feelings and expressing gratitude who cared? He wasn’t going to tell anyone, that would just be disrespectful- even if the aviant could be rather frustrating at times….he’d been through a lot.
At least, Montana figured, the plan had worked- their little hike had done Ben some good, and he’d gotten to see something pretty damn rare too. That was the kind of thing you treasured in times like this, he thought. He’d probably still be thinking about it weeks from then, and something told him that was okay.