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“it’s been a while since i’ve done this,” woogie chuckled nervously. “so don’t yell at me if i mess up.”
woogie’s hands were hovering near to parrot’s outspread wings, hesitant. parrot had asked him earlier in the day if he could help preen his feathers that were difficult to reach. woogie agreed, seeing no reason to decline since they were on the same team and woogie had prior experience from other seasons.
now here they were, sitting on some chairs that were pushed together. the backrest of parrot’s chair was in front of parrot, allowing him to cross his arms over it while also letting the back of his wings face woogie. his back was somewhat visible from where his wings had an opening in his shirt.
parrot then looked over his shoulder at woogie. “you still remember how to do it, right?” he asked. woogie’s eyes met his; parrot appeared normal minus the slight tension in his shoulders.
woogie replied, “yeah, of course. it’s just— yknow. it’s been a while.” (being on opposing sides of a war tends to do that).
as parrot turned his head back to face forward, he made a small hum in agreement. “it has.”
nodding, woogie stared at the array of feathers, looking for a place to start. then, he began working on the messy feathers he saw, carefully yet firmly rearranging them properly. the old routine of sorting through the disorganized feathers was remembered quickly through muscle memory. with time passing, parrot noticeably relaxed.
as woogie sorted through the feathers, he noticed a couple newly healed arrow scars on parrot’s back. he frowned, absentmindedly moving his thumb across one. upon feeling parrot stiffen at the motion, woogie snapped out of it. “sorry, just— noticed you have some scars.” he paused. “they’re healing fine though.”
“ohh yeah,” parrot tilted his head slightly to the side. “those are from our fight.” parrot didn’t sound stirred, instead sounding more neutral than anything. woogie couldn’t tell if parrot genuinely didn’t care too much or if he was acting— either was possible.
(the arrows were painful, the tipped ones parrot had shot him with.
a lot of them had struck his armor in the fight but as his armor broke and his movements became sloppier, the arrows piercing his skin hurt like hell.
woogie recalled how after his death he could feel the freshly made scars that littered his body with every step he took.
he wondered if parrot had the same troubles, if parrot ached for days after too.)
not wanting to contemplate it for too long, woogie murmured a quick, “makes sense.” and returned back to tending for parrot’s wings.
after some time, woogie exhaled. “there,” he pulled his hands away from parrot’s wings. “that good?”
woogie couldn’t see parrot’s expression, but based off of parrot’s relieved sigh as he fully opened his wings, woogie guessed he did good. parrot’s wings were always impressive to woogie— he couldn’t imagine having large wings on his back all the time, especially ones that constantly had to be taken care of. parrot then folded his wings in, taking a deep breath.
“yeah,” parrot answered, eyes closed as he lied back and rested his head on woogie’s shoulder. “thanks.”
blinking, woogie shook off his surprise and leaned into the touch with a smile, tilting his head to press his cheek gently on parrot’s head. “anytime.”