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Beside himself, Revali shuffled closer to him and sat up on his knees so that he was taller than Meelo. They were close enough that they were breathing the same air.
Meelo’s own feathers puffed outward.
“Well,” Revali murmured, unwrapping the blue scarf that Zelda made over a century ago from his neck. “I think you’re someone that means something. I think you’re wonderful.”
Meelo stared with those two stars of his, beak hung delicately open, while Revali wrapped his Champion scarf around his pencil neck.
“And if there is ever a time that we need another Champion, I believe that you’re worthy enough to fulfill that role.”
The wonder that filled Meelo’s eyes shone a fleeting glimmer of worry and shame. “R-Revali, I-”
Revali silenced him by tightening the scarf around his neck, and Meelo let out an almost comical surprised squawk.
“I said you’re worthy. Do not sell yourself short. You deserve more than that…” His rigid tone eased into one of honey and silk as something overcame him, making him raise a hand to Meelo’s face.
Without thinking, he brushed aside a tuft of feathers before cupping his cheek in his hand. And all Meelo did was gape up at him, feathers still out.
He really was so cute and handsome. Revali never let himself admit it, but here he was now, studying his face and hoping the moment wouldn’t have to end.
“Thank you for telling me. I feel I understand you a lot more now,” Revali said, but so quietly and smoothly he wasn’t sure if it came out.
It must have, because Meelo simply nodded his head, not able to speak.
Revali smiled at him. A kind of smile he hadn’t used in more than a hundred years.
He was so lovely. A melancholy, timid, soft-spoken soul. With an odd sense of mystery. Knowing that there was something unsolved there, but understanding that it might never be solved, and finding endearment in that.
Revali brushed his cheek with his thumb. Meelo shuddered from the touch.
With wide eyes, brim with wonder and delight just waiting to burst through. A smile that could put the sun herself to shame. A laugh that could rival the sweetness of a fairy’s.
Gods, he wanted to kiss him.
He wanted to kiss him so badly that he quickly began to imagine what it would be like to press their beaks together. Imagine what he would taste like.
Meelo must’ve sensed it because he nervously closed his eyes.
His feathers were the color of gold, gold that shone in the daylight as bright as his little grins and smiles. His wide eyes were the color of a deep silver, or perhaps even the moon on a dark night.
Fuck, he wanted to kiss him. Then embrace him. Then whatever happened next.
He wanted to kiss him.
He had to kiss him.
He had to.
He had to.
He had to.
And so he did.
He leaned further in and Meelo did the same so that their beaks met in the middle. The ends of their beaks knocked into each other awkwardly for a second, but it wasn’t long before they found the perfect position and sunk their beaks into each other.
And something incredible, undescribable, exploded inside of Revali’s chest as he closed his eyes and went in deeper and deeper, encompassing himself in Meelo’s warmth and tasting him.
During their kiss that had become so much harder and rougher than Revali meant to, his free hand mindlessly fumbled around to find Meelo’s so they could interlock and tighten in each other’s grip.
Both being out of breath, they reluctantly pulled away to heave in air and gaze into each other’s eyes, but they stayed close enough that the ends of their beaks still touched.
In the glow of the fire, Meelo’s eyes brightened even further as he gulped, breathed, and then finally whispered amongst their clumsy breaths, “I love you.”
Again, an explosion rattled in Revali, spreading ardent heat throughout his whole body; to his cheeks, to the ends of his fingers and the tips of his toes. It felt like someone in his stomach opened a massive cage of butterflies, letting them go loose and tickle his insides so much he almost shivered.
He said…
Revali’s gaze grew intense as he scooted forward on his knees onto Meelo, his fingers contracting in Meelo’s hand.
“Say that again," Revali murmured softly, both pleading and ordering.
"I love you," Meelo repeated, his voice as clear as a bell.
"Again."
Revali continued to shuffle closer, practically crawling onto Meelo at that point while the other watched with sultry eyes, feathers raising and standing on end.
Meelo's free hand rose to slide onto Revali waist, then hips, as he repeated himself again, a tremor in his words. "I love you."
Releasing Meelo's hand from his own, Revali untangled his fingers so that he could hold Meelo' head with both hands, gingerly tipping it up so his straying, nervous eyes would focus on him again.
"Again."
Meelo's breathing shook and his hands trembled. Slowly and gently, he pulled Revali in so that he was fully on his lap, legs now curled around him.
"I love you, Revali. I love you."
After taking a second to look down at Meelo with a sly, coquettish smirk, he yanked him up, back into his break and tongue.
Foolishly, he had thought that their kissing had been on the rough side before, and he was wrong, for it was nothing compared to this.
Again their beaks knocked together and grinded, but it was much more violent and unruly, all the while Meelo's hands hesitantly wandered and Revali's pulled him further and further in.
And it was almost as if Meelo was reverting back to the person that he saw take down that bear. Showing how brave and strong and bold he could be. He held Revali with firm hands, however hesitant, to make sure he was sturdy and secure during their trifle. Shockingly, he even made the effort to take over and lead a few times. It was a side of him that Revali hadn't seen before that day, but it was something he already loved.
I love you.
To be loved so deeply and passionately...To be cherished and held and adored and surrounded by love so big and bright…
That's all Revali wanted. And it was here. And it was happening.
Maybe this wasn't as graceful as he'd have preferred, what with the clinging onto each other so tightly and tongues slathering over each other, but this was it.
He could feel it. He could actually feel how much he was loved.
And so they sat there on the cold wood floor, kissing and embracing, murmuring and whispering quiet things for only them in between kisses and breaths and small, soft moans.
And Revali could feel like his heart could burst, finally being granted a moment he had yearned for forever.
Though, again, it certainly wasn't as graceful and not nearly as tasteful as he would have liked, but he didn't care and still loved it with every beat of his heart.
Once they spent what felt like hours kissing, Revali, completely carried away, tore Meelo's face away from his and brought it to his neck.
"A-Are you sure?" Meelo asked anxiously in the navy plumage, the first clear thing he had said from the beginning.
Pathetically, Revali nodded and breathed, "Please."
Meelo did as he was told and nipped at Revali's neck, circling around and occasionally falling to the bridge of his shoulder. Revali's legs, still wrapped around Meelo, tightened.
Goddess, it was lovely. Very lovely.
Meelo really shouldn't have been good at all of this. He really honestly shouldn't have. It was too unexpected and sucked Revali further in than he had meant to.
Revali hummed and purred in delight, popping his neck or shoulder out at different times to guide Meelo to where he wanted him next.
"Teba should- Ah, mmm...Teba should be here soon. I think...I think his shift should almost be over by now," Revali choked out.
Meelo tensed and stopped, then threw his head back up to reveal wide eyes.
"Well, I didn't tell you to stop. I was only letting you know," Revali groaned with a snap and tried pulling him back by the scarf, but Meelo resisted.
“Oh, I want to. I really really very very very much want to. Keep kissing your, er, neck I mean,” Meelo babbled. “But I am way more afraid of Teba catching us like this-”
“Don’t worry,” Revali cooed, making sure his voice was as alluring as possible. “He beats his wings so loudly I can hear him from a mile away. I told you just so that you knew it might be cut short.”
“I don’t...I dunno…” Meelo’s beak folded.
With his smirk returning, Revali brushed his chin amorously.
Meelo visibly shuddered, his feathers ruffling where he touched him.
“Please? I always do hear him before he gets here…”
Meelo’s face folded more and scrunched and rumpled until he gave in. “Okay…”
And so he leaned back down and went back at it, but this time going for the shoulder blades and front of the neck.
Heavens above, that was even better.
Revali went back to closing his eyes and humming, until-
“I knew it!”
Both Revali and Meelo jumped nearly a foot in the air and jolted to twist their heads around toward the familiar, gruff voice.
And there, alas, was Teba, standing in the doorway to the landing with his hands on his hips, brows furrowed and a proud grin on his face.
“I told them! I told them, but they didn’t believe me! I knew there was something going on here.” The annoying smugness deepened into almost a sneer that Revali wanted to smack off. Quietly, he added to himself, “Though honestly, I thought the roles would be reversed. But whatever, I’m right either way.”
Meelo covered his face in shame, every single one of his feathers puffing out to their full extent to make him look like a cotton ball. “I thought that you said you would hear him coming from a mile away!”
Against his will, Revali’s feathers puffed out the same way so that they were two cotton balls frantically scooting away from each other. “I’m sorry! I lied!” Revali spat like a kid caught in a lie. “I said that because I wanted to keep going. Honestly, he’s practically silent when he flies! It’s actually quite impressive!”
Teba let out a pleased huff. “Ah, thank you.”
“You better not tell anyone about this, Tebitch!” Revali screamed, clenching his eyes shut.
“Hey! You said you would stop calling me that!” Teba crowed, his sneer squeezing into a tight frown.
Meelo briskly stood up, his feathers not faltering and sticking out in place still. “I- I think I’m gonna go. I’m...I’m just gonna leave. Yes. Yup.” He nimbly headed toward the door to get to the landing, but before he could get past, Teba spread his arm out to keep him from going.
“It’s fine, you don’t have to go. I can leave you two alone if you need it.”
It would have been a kind gesture if there wasn’t such a smug undertone to it that made Revali wanted to strangle him and throw him off the cliff.
“N-No, it’s okay. C-Come to think of it, I left my water running anyway, so I really should get going,” Meelo stammered as he buckled his knees to crouch under Teba’s arm and weasel out to the landing.
“You don’t even have a sink. No one in the village does,” Teba asserted.
“Well, I do and it is running and so I will go now, sorry, sorry, sorry, bye!”
And so then he took off, the absolute fastest anyone has ever seen him do so.
Once he was gone, the two left over swung their heads to each other, displaying two very different emotions on their faces.
“What the hell, Teba!”
“What, I was only trying to be supportive,” Teba said with a sarcastic shrug.
“Well, all you did is make me want to kill you!” Revali barked, swinging his wing around to grab the iron poker he was fidgeting with much earlier.
Teba’s eyes widened fearfully and his sneer fell while he held his hands up defensively.
“Oh, don’t flatter yourself! I’m only fixing the fire.”
“Right. Right. Of course. Right,” Teba muttered and relaxed.
Revali gave him a good glare before twirling back to face the fire and poke it as he said he would, but much more violently than intended.
What should he do, he wondered to himself. Should he go after Meelo, or would that only make him feel much more embarrassed?
Still, however, he felt Teba’s eyes on him, boring at him like there was something else he wanted to say.
“What?!” Revali barked.
“Nothing. It was just,” Teba huffed under his breath. “I noticed that he was...uh...wearing your scarf.” He took a second to cough into his fist. “And I always had assumed that you were going to give it to me one day…”
Revali blankly stared at him and Teba stiffly looked back.
“Well that was a stupid assumption! Especially now!”
“Right,” Teba croaked.
Revali gave him one last glare before going back to the fire and stabbing at it.