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Claws scrape harshly against the cliff rock as Kim Dokja struggles for a hold of the roots that make up the perch of the entrance to their cave and pushes the curtain of vines aside to slip in, escaping the moon’s view. Eyes adjusting to the dense darkness reveal no movement. He ducks his head and pulls his wings out as he hops from the opening to the floor level, scattered with stray bones and leaves that someone forgot to clean up. Dokja rolls his eyes at the sight. For all the time they spend cleaning, the main cave is never spotless.
The burrows line the walls of the cave, set high up in the jagged walls, invisible to the unsearching eye. The others are likely asleep amongst those deep tunnels. But only one is the focus of his journey. He continues straight ahead, and on powerful legs and a simple swish of his wings, he pushes up and enters his own burrow, careful to not cause too much noise, lest he-
“Oi, are you finally back, you bastard?” Han Sooyoung calls sleepily from further down the tunnels. His claws traverse the familiar path. The nest is as he left it—the wood sticks overlaid in wool and cushions and blankets to make for a comfortable sleeping space. Sooyoung is there, looking up at him in distaste, wings covering the five fledgelings- Five?! Now, Dokja doesn’t particularly care for things like tradition. But instincts are a cruel master and immediately they set the avian on high alert at the intruders in his nest.
Dokja recounts. Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung are curled closely to Sooyoung, absorbing the warmth they’re still a bit too young to go without, sleeping at ease. Biyoo is pressed into Sooyoung’s cheek. The two that stand out are sleeping in a sat-up position against the outer edges of the nest, Lee Jihye and Yoo Mia, a respectful distance away but still definitely inside the nest. Dokja’s instincts reluctantly chill at the identities of the fledgelings. Not intruders. Just the wayward children of-
“The other bastard dropped his spawn off a bit ago,” Sooyoung yawns and rubs her eyes before pressing her face back into the nest. “Don’t ask why, I don’t know. Now get in the nest and go to sleep, or I’m setting your treasure room on fire,” Her voice is muffled but Dokja knows the threat is more than real. Dokja sighs, he’ll have to save that Yoo Joonghyuk from whatever half-baked plan he made in the morning.
He settles down beside Sooyoung, spreading out his wings alongside her own. The kids gravitate over to him and soon Dokja is once again held down by his children’s grasps. Mia and Jihye twitch but don’t wake up. That bastard. Dokja is surprised they haven’t gotten an abandonment syndrome by now. Kim Dokja is a hypocrite, this he knows, but at least he tells his kids where he is going. Most of the time. Not leaving them in someone else’s nest where the fledgelings could be hurt or lost or- Dokja shakes his head as he suppresses the instinct to hold them close. No no, those two are Joonghyuk’s problem, and they don’t even like Dokja. He’s honestly more surprised that they haven’t wandered away already in search of-
“If you think one more thought, I’m going to drown you,” Sooyoung threatens from next to him. Kim Dokja gulps, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She accepts the treaty.
“Goodnight Sooyoung,” Dokja whispers.
“Night loser.”
Finally, he allows the darkness to swallow his mind.
- - -
There is trouble near the burrow. That is the first thought that he wakes up to, a message from his subconscious avian brain to warn him about danger. Shit.
Kim Dokja pulls himself up. Or attempts to. He is weighed down by a number of bodies. Ah, right, children. He levers himself into a sitting position. Gilyoung, Yoosung, and Jihye are wrapped around his chest. Biyoo is nestled into his hair and Mia is clutching tightly to Jihye. Dokja sighs. Maybe his heart warms at the sight of all of his fledgelings sleeping peacefully and safe but that would be a secret he takes to the grave. (They already mock him enough for mother-henning as it is.)
Sooyoung is notably missing.
The sound of metal hitting rock echoes through the tunnels. Dokja debates his situation. Get up and wake up the children, potentially having to deal with grumpy fledgelings all day, or waste precious time escaping their limbs and let the babies sleep while he goes to knock sense into whoever has decided to be a nuisance in what must be the early hours of the morning. It’s a funny thought, he knows the decision was made a long time ago.
Dokja disentangles himself from his children (plus two), carefully sets Biyoo down into a cushion—and though his instincts beg for him to turn around and protect the nest—makes his way out of the room. He’s fairly successful if the lack of sad chirping is anything to go by.
As he thought, the sound is coming from the cave and not any of the tunnels of his burrow. On the cave floor are a couple of people gathered around a fallen avian. Lee Seolhwa and Sooyoung. Likely case of injuries. And he is certain he knows who is injured. He flutters down to the ground.
“I told you not to bother with them. And what do you know?” Sooyoung mocks from above where Yoo Joonghyuk is crumpled on the floor, his back squishing his black wings beneath him. Blood is running down his nose and there are bruises peeking past his sleeves, but his eyes are slits, glaring at Sooyoung. Seolhwa is at his side, rubbing some ointment on the bleeding patches of skin. “I told you so,” Sooyoung declares simply.
“Did you lose a fight with the mountain?” Kim Dokja jokes as he approaches. The other man’s gaze snaps to him. Yikes, he’s really in a pissy mood. Dokja redirects, “And you-” He begins and turns a critical glare to Sooyoung.
She rolls her shoulders, “Look, if I told you he was out raiding the wingless’s supplies, you would have been out there too. And then I would have had two idiots to save and not just one.”
“You went out?” Dokja accuses. She would have had to have left immediately after Dokja conked out for the night. Sooyoung freezes, realizing her mistake, before scoffing.
“One of us had to watch the nest,” She says and flicks his wing. He guesses she’s right, the fledgelings- Agh, Dokja hates how well she knows him. If he ever got the chance to go back in time, he… probably wouldn’t keep them from meeting—that loneliness seemed so terribly fatal—but that doesn’t mean he won’t lie about it. He should have known she was trouble when they met all those years ago and flown for the farthest hills. Dokja scowls at her.
“I hate you,” Dokja decides.
“Uh huh, and that’s why you’ll never-” Sooyoung is interrupted by a grunt from the floor’s companion.
“Kim Dokja,” Yoo Joonghyuk says seriously.
“Oi, I was talking, asshole!” Sooyoung seethes. She opens her mouth to say something else but then crosses her arms and huffs in annoyance. Dokja rolls his eyes at their dramatics and kneels down at the man’s side.
“Yes, Yoo Joonghyuk?” Dokja starts, a faux-calm over his face. The man’s face pales and he opens his mouth to speak, but Dokja immediately steam rolls over him, “Do you have something you would like to say? Like, maybe, ‘Sorry for ditching my fledgelings with you without telling you?’” Joonghyuk knows. He knows that all of the fledglings in their care have all already gone through either purposeful abandonment or lost their previous flock to the wingless. And he also knows why Dokja takes it so personally.
The man’s brows furrow and a sad expression pulls over his face for a moment before his eternal glower returns.
“I told Sooyoung.”
Sooyoung scoffs at the words, miming them back to the man. Clearly there wasn’t much communication going on there.
Lee Seolhwa clears her throat.
“His wounds aren’t fatal, but he will be resting for a couple of days,” She commands, sending a pointed look at Joonghyuk at the last part. The judge has spoken and the gavel resounds. Doctor’s orders. Joonghyuk closes his eyes in what is either acceptance or pain. “And that means in a proper nest, not at the top of some random tree that doesn’t have any shelter, we’re not animals.” This causes him to grimace, lips ever so slightly downturned, easily missed by anyone that wasn’t looking. Kim Dokja was always looking though.
Yoo Joonghyuk opens his eyes again and looks up at them. If anyone else had seen it, they might call it pleading.
“Kim Dokja,” He says again.
“You can use other words, you know,” Sooyoung taunts but starts lowering to help anyway.
“Yeah yeah, we’ll take care of you,” Dokja sighs and bends down to pull the injured avian’s arm around his shoulder. The other man’s wings flick weakly. “Can you fly?”
“No need,” Sooyoung says as she takes the man’s other arm. “We will be accepting no less than seventy percent of the supplies you looted as payment for this great act of kindness.”
Joonghyuk grunts in acknowledgement.
“Alright, I’ll make some more medicine and leave the rest of the ointment at your burrow entrance, make sure to apply it every day,” Seolhwa says firmly. She gathers the rest of her materials and wipes off the dust from her jacket.
Sooyoung salutes playfully as Seolhwa takes off to her own burrow and Dokja nods.
“Alright, you ready?” Dokja stretches his wings.
“Hmm,” Joonghyuk replies.
“Wasn’t asking you,” Dokja mocks and at Sooyoung’s nod, they push off. The short trip to the burrow takes hardly a few seconds, but Joonghyuk is breathing painfully the second they land.
“Damn, they really did a number on you,” Dokja notes as they pull the man through the tunnels to the nest. It’s a bit of a tight squeeze, but this isn’t the first time they’ve had to do this and the motions are practiced.
“Brother!”
“Master!”
The two voices call at their entry. Dammit, he tried so hard not to wake the kids.
Sooyoung and Dokja deposit his body into the center of the nest and the other’s fledgelings are immediately at his side. A new weight wraps around Dokja’s waist. The kids clinging, one arm around Dokja and one hand wrapped in Sooyoung’s shirt. He sees the way she softens but doesn’t say anything, he knows she has a soft spot. But if he says anything, then she’ll say something and he prefers not coming back to the burrow with all his belongings suddenly missing.
“I could have helped you!” Jihye insists, hands wrapped in her mentor’s cloak. They probably should have taken it off before they let him in the nest—he’s definitely going to get dried blood everywhere.
But Yoo Joonghyuk must be even more out of it than he thought because instead of immediately passing out or grunting in response, he raises a hand and rests it on Jihye’s head.
“You took care of Mia, thank you,” He says simply. For anyone else, who hadn’t known Joonghyuk for as long as they all had, perhaps the words wouldn’t have made much sense. As it is, the message is clear. Jihye silences, face twisted up in emotion, and instead clings to the other, burying her face in his cloak. Mia does the same on his other side. Surprisingly, he doesn’t knock out there. His eyes slide back open and he looks up at Sooyoung and Dokja, who have been trying to rearrange the other kids back into a suitable position for sleep.
“Thank you,” He says. Joonghyuk says. Yoo Joonghyuk. Sooyoung and Dokja share a look.
“I’ll get Seolhwa,” Sooyoung says but she’s already hurrying out of the nest. Dokja is quick to examine the other man for head wounds.
Even when Seolhwa insists that the man doesn’t have a concussion, they still keep a close eye on him. And maybe it’s nice to just have them all in the nest together. A break from their chaotic world. Just for a bit. A little while to breathe.