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At first , Aki doesn't see a problem with Angel. He's been doing the usual , looking as usual and acting the usual , nothing out of the ordinary . It did start a few weeks ago ,Aki and Angel were out after a mission , taking a break from their work . It was summer which meant it was hot most of the time , hot enough to make you wanna sleep naked , even outside .
Aki always buys Angel ice-cream , it wasn't that big of a deal , he's already got to deal with two fiends at home , does it even matter if there's a devil in plus ? He's pretty stable financially at least . Angel just finished his fourth one by now , if he keeps asking for more he'll have a brain freeze because he ate them in 10 minutes ,unless devils are immune to this side effect of eating ice cream too quickly . But no , instead he just grabs his wing and starts fiddling with his feathers , hes probably just heated because of them , Aki wouldn't like having something on his back at a time like this , it's just a heat stroke awaiting to come .
There's a silence for another 10 minutes and then Angel finally gets up " Okay , let's go " he tells Aki with a hoarse voice .
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Then the second time he notices feathers all around the place , at first he thought that Power might've stole a chicken and done whoever knows what to it , but the feathers were pretty big to belong to a chicken ,goose or whatever bird Power would want to eat . Aki and Angel are currently on patrol , Power and Denji were supposed to be here as well but they ran off with Beam , whatever , as long as they don't get in trouble it's fine .
Angel keeps on stopping and turning around , rearranging his suit and messing with his wings . He was restless that was something new , he wouldn't even wannna walk before and now he moves a bit too much . " Hnn how much time until we can go back ? " Angel asked stopped in his tracks . " We should be done in around 15 minutes " Aki replied in his monotone voice .
" That's too much " the devil complains , eyeing for a bench around the place . " I want to sit down " he continued and Aki rolled his eyes , he should've been used to his partners complains by now , it was a miracle that Aki didn't just comment back most of the time , but he wasn't going to lie he was kinda tired as well , they've only been patrolling for half a hour which is not a lot , but sometimes being lazy just seemed like the best way to get out .
They don't talk for the rest of the patrol , but it wasn't a bad thing in the end , they accepted eachothers presence long ago , you don't have to say anything when you know whats usually on your partner's mind . In the end Aki calls Makima to confirm that nothing is out of the ordinary , but that she'll also have to try calling for Denji to see how things were on their side because they ran off .
After the call finished , Aki turned his head to look for Angel but- he wasn't here anymore ? Where the hell did he go in such a small amount of time ? Did he go searching for a bench to finally take a break ? There was a park around here so maybe . " Hey , can't we go back to the headquarters now ? " Angel spoke from behind Aki , the noiret shivered at the sudden words , he really did not notice him , maybe it was the height .. " We probably should anyways , I'll drop you off and then I'll go searching for those two idiots ."
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But maybe it was really just a coincidence , a weird coincidence but one nonetheless . Angel would have no actual reason to pluck his own feathers out anyways , right ?
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There was something red on his wings , Aki noticed first thing in the morning . He should try asking Angel what's up and if he could be helped in any way .
" Morning , what are you staring at ? " Angel questions , damn devil they might really have eyes on the back of their head because there was no way he could've just noticed him staring " just your wings " he blurted out suddenly , not even thinking about it . Angel let out a low hum , turning around " What about them ? You've probably seen them enough already .. we've been partners for a while " . And that is true , but this is the first time he actually sees something that shouldn't be there , most probably . " Is that blood ? " He replies , with the same amount of confusion as Angel's question .
Surprisingly the question made Angel rub his forehead " It is , but it'll heal up in no time , you just caught it in the worst time possible ". Aki tilted his head " Did something happen to your feathers ? Are you molting or something ? "
Silence . Silence filled the apartment that Aki decided to let Angel sleep in for a day because hey , spending some more time together wouldn't be that bad
"I'm not a fucking bird " Angel explained , yeah ok that was visible enough , but it's still wings right ? " Ahem , right . Why are you bleeding then ?"
" I plucked some of my feathers out "
It was Aki's turn to be silent , why would he even do that ? .
" look -i don't know how to call it , they're just annoying me and I have to do something to them " the devil explains " but it doesn't hurt , they regenerate in a few minutes , or hours , depends . " Why is this even important ? He thinks in his mind , it's just a dumb habit of his
" So , you want to groom your wings but you're failing , that's what I'm getting at "
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" This is stupid Aki ,I don't need help " Angel complained with a whine , which is either out of annoyance or tiredness , or both . To stop Angel from harming himself Aki decided that maybe he should take the matter in his own hands , however he could . It was a risk anyways , he had to buy gloves , two pairs , just to be sure that there won't be any actual contact in between the two , if there were to be , it's be a tragedy .
" If you can't do it yourself , I'm gonna do it then , this is my house my rules " Aki explained lazily . " No wonder Denji and Power want to get away from you " it was a joke obviously , the two would simply die without Aki or a human to cook for them .
Now back on subject , Aki never touched Angel's wings , he's never really even thought of it, nor about the halo , they just seemed like more private parts of the devil , even through gloves they seemed really soft . Angel tried to stay still on the chair he was sat on as much as he could , but he just couldn't , he was getting restless again . He was right though , the feathers already got replaces with new ones that looked like all the others , who knows for how he's been doing this without anyone noticing ?