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You’ve never quite understood how life could be so cruel.
It was a weird mutation that started when you were around six. Nobody knows how it happened, but large, black, crow wings grew out of your back and your face morphed to be more bird-like. You weren’t cute, far from it if we’re being honest. Your eyes were far apart and beady, your nose was irregularly large, your hands and feet grew large talons, and you had feathers all over your back. You were in the bathroom, sobbing for what felt like hours as the wings in your back crack through your skin, leaving you a bloody mess as your cells try to regulate the changes. You were sure that you’d bleed out, but nature had never been that merciful.
When your parents were finally able to break down the door and they saw you, their faces contorted to shock, then disgust. You weren’t their little boy anymore, the looks on their faces made that much obvious. They didn’t know what to think of you, what to think of the *new* you. They tried to accept it, they really did, but you didn’t miss the way they looked at you every day. It didn’t take you long to run away from home, hopping from city to city, hiding in alleys so you didn’t get caught, and eating garbage until you finally stumbled across a large forest to hide in. Your parents filed a missing persons report, though they’d be lying if they said that they wanted you to be found. You weren’t their son anymore, anyway.
From then on, you lived in the woods. You learned all that you currently know from your experience in the wilderness and the passing talk of wanderers in the forest. They tell stories that you learn from and say new, stupid, made up terms that you figure out with time (or at least try to). You also learned to hunt, cook, build your own shelter, and various skills along those lines through watching the wild animals work. You even became a legend among the townsfolk, known as the “Mysterious Crow-Man”. God, humans suck at naming stuff. They couldn’t even give you something creative. Plus their stories that they tell about you are outrageously stupid.
It didn’t take you long to develop a hatred for humans. You envied their normal lives, the way they were able to be loved unconditionally, their normal faces… It was everything you wanted. Everytime one ran into you in your forest, you wouldn’t hesitate to take them out. They were intruding on your territory, why should you give mercy? Sure, the police has tried to investigate the disappearances, but they’d always chalk it up to a wild animal.
You’re around the age of 20 now, but you lost count a while ago. You had just gotten back from a successful hunt, settling in your nest and enjoying your meal, when you hear footsteps. “Goddamnit, another dumbass traveler…” You can’t help but think, peeking your head out from your nest to get a glimpse upon the poor soul that you will be taking out for sport. Unfortunately for you, you’re met with the sight of a man much larger than anyone you’ve ever seen. He has some sort of gear all over his body and a goofy ass mask on, like some soldiers you used to see in movies. Now, you were pretty muscular, being around 6’2” in height and having quite the hunting skills, but even someone as cocky as you knows that you would get your ass handed to you if you even tried to charge at him, even with the aerial advantage. Seriously, this man is as tall as a mountain, and he has the muscle to match!
König seems to notice your staring, looking up at your nest and freezing as he’s met with the sight of piercing white eyes staring down at him. With you having your wings behind your back, he thought you were just a normal, odd looking human stuck in a tree. “Do you need help getting down?” König calls out hesitantly, his German accent prominent in his words. Out of instinct, you spread out your wings and puff them up to make yourself look bigger and more intimidating to hopefully scare him away. He just stares, dumbfounded.
“What… Are you?” You hear him mumble, looking up at you with wide eyes. Though, for some reason, he doesn’t look scared. If anything, the man looks more entranced than anything. You tilt your head in confusion, staring down at him with no verbal response. Maybe he just didn’t see your full face with how dark the forest is in the night? No, the moon is rather bright tonight, so there’s no way he can’t see at least some of it. As you don’t respond to him, he speaks up again, “Your wings are pretty…” he coaxes, hoping you let your guard down and maybe come down from the tree.
“What the hell?? Why is he complementing me??? Is this some kind of manipulation thing?????” You think to yourself, your expression turning a bit dumbfounded.
“What do you want from me, human?” You say, trying to make your voice sound intimidating, but you just sound like an awkward teenager. König’s eyes seem to light up from behind his mask, clearly taking this as a form of progress. “Nothing! Me and my team were sent on a mission in this forest to investigate the disappearances and I was just scouting out to search the area. Police say that they’ve been keeping an eye on things for a while, and they have a feeling it goes beyond just some ‘wild animals’.” He says, the tone in his voice making it obvious that he’s smiling. You wince internally, knowing damn well that you’re the reason why there’s an impressive amount of deaths wracked up in this forest. “There’s nothing here to investigate. It’s just bears, I see them all the time.” You lie through your teeth, knowing you’d most definitely be killed or sent to some sort of lab if you were caught.
König shrugs. “I’m just following orders, it’s not like I chose to be here,” he says, eyes still glued to your elegant wings. Your wings falter in their place, as if you were considering the idea of him being a genuinely nice human, though you quickly snap out of your thoughts as he speaks again, “Can you come down? I want to see you in full…” He murmurs, trying to keep his voice light, knowing that he can come off as harsh sometimes. “No.” You snap, your wings puffing up a little more. The thought of not having some sort of advantage against this strange man who could snap you in half if he truly wanted to was scary, and you sure as hell aren’t going to risk it. He pauses, understanding that you’re probably scared.
Now, König is a pretty smart man, but what he’s about to do is probably the dumbest decision he’s ever made. He steps forward, having the smart-ass decision to climb up the tree himself in an attempt to brute force some friendship between you two. He starts to climb the tree, but once he’s half up, you decide he’s gotten a bit too close for comfort. You extend your claws from your fingertips, leaning over the edge of your nest and attempting to slash him in the stomach with a loud “CAW”. Luckily, König is able to move out of the way quick enough, your claws cutting through his left shoulder instead. He groans in pain, falling back and landing on his ass, his hand shooting up to hold his injured arm.
You stare down at him, waiting for him to at the very least, run away. König stands up, looking up at you with something akin to a glare, though his expression stays much too soft for it to hold any anger. “I won’t tell the other soldiers about you.” He says before scurrying back to where his camp probably is, leaving you dumbfounded. Why isn’t he going to tell them? He most definitely knows that you’re a lead suspect to the disappearances. God, humans are confusing.
The next day, you’re out by the lake, preening your feathers when you hear those familiar, heavy footsteps. You freeze, wondering if the man might be coming back for revenge. You turn around, ready to fly off, until you see him with a bandaged arm and a plate half-full of rations. He pauses, taking a second to admire you in the sunlight. The way your feathers reflected in the sunlight was… Something, that’s for sure. You puff up your wings in a defensive manner, scowling at him. “You’re back.” You point out, a little huff escaping your mouth. König smiles from under his mask, sitting down as to not scare you off. “I’m sorry about yesterday.” He murmurs, setting the plate on the ground and sliding it towards you, the plate skidding to a stop just before it can fall in the water.
“You poisoned it. I’m not stupid.” You say with a scoff, extending a wing to scoot the plate away. He frowns, looking at the plate that was supposed to be for you, “Why would I poison you, Kleine Krähe?” He asks, the thought of you automatically assuming he’d try something like that clearly worrying him. “Why wouldn’t you? I’m an odd case. If you were to get me detained, you’d get quite the price to sellers.” You grumble, your wings wrapping around your body. König pauses, unsure of how to respond. He’s starting to understand just how far your trust issues go. He wants to help you, wants to break down your walls that you seem to have spent years setting up, but he doesn’t even know where to start. After a couple minutes of not-so-comfortable silence, he finally gets an idea. To create a vulnerable environment, he needs to be vulnerable first.
König scoots a little closer, earning a warning growl, though he ignores it as he takes off his mask for the first time in front of you. He isn’t pretty, if we’re being honest. He has long, unruly hair, a large nose, far apart eyes, and… He’s conventionally unattractive, just like you. He sets the mask aside and lays back in the grass, closing his eyes. “What are you doing, human?” You ask, voice a bit more hesitant. “Just lounging.” He says casually, a stupid smile on his face. After a while of relaxing against the grass, he hears the sound of quiet crunching. Confused, König peeks an eye open to be met with the sight of you hesitantly eating the rations that he had offered to you. Not wanting to ruin the moment, he just closes his eyes again and pretends to have fallen asleep.
A little over 30 minutes passes by, and König actually drifts asleep, the sounds of the water mixed with your soft noises just too soothing to resist. You look over, noticing the way that this strange man’s breathing slows down, signifying that he fell asleep. You hesitate for a moment before shuffling closer and poking his side with one of your talons, tilting your head at the way he doesn’t even stir. He must be a deep sleeper. You sit there for a moment, pondering what you should do. On one hand, you have no reason to trust this man and all your past experiences should have been the nails in the coffin that all humans are untrustworthy. But on the other hand… He smells really nice. And that’s about it. Way to set your standards high, Y/N.
You settle about two feet away from him, preening your feathers since you were rudely interrupted earlier. You sit by him for a while, even letting your guard down the slightest bit. Though, the moment is quickly ruined by sounds of distant footsteps approaching, most likely the man’s teammates. Your wings spread out, ready to take off, but you pause at the sight of the stranger’s mask, lying on the ground. Would he mind if you took it? He probably wouldn’t… Maybe you should trade for it. Without much time left before the other soldiers arrive, you pluck out one of your prettiest feathers and grab his mask, placing the feather in his hand before taking to the sky. You hide out in a tree, watching as a couple soldiers with odd-looking masks emerge from the bushes and snicker at the man for falling asleep.
“Oi, König! Naps over, we have work to do.” A man with a Korean accent says, kicking König’s side. You pause, taking a mental note that the man’s name is “König”. You don’t stay for long, deciding to go on with your day. That strange man probably isn’t going to miss the mask anyway, he looks like the type to own dozens. You return to your nest, tossing the mask onto a small pile of things you’ve stolen from tourists in the past and lying down. You decide to stay in your nest for the rest of the day, not wanting to be seen by any of the soldiers that are most definitely lurking around, eventually drifting off into a peaceful, sleepless slumber. Well, it WAS peaceful, until you wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of König calling for you.
“Kleine Krähe! Are you awake?” He chirps out, his voice quiet so he hopefully doesn’t wake you if you’re asleep. You peek your head out from your nest, staring down at him. “I am now. What do you want?” König gives an apologetic smile as he realizes that he woke you up despite his attempts to be quiet, holding out the feather you left for him. “Where’s my mask? I know you have it.” You pause, unsure if you should tell the truth. “…I don’t know what you’re talking about. That silly mask holds no importance to me.” His smile widens at that, seeing through the blatant lie instantly. “You’re cute when you lie, you know. Your face gets all red.” You freeze at that. “Cute”?? You haven’t been called something like that since you were human. After a moment of silence, you puff up your wings with an irritated look. “What type of tricks are you trying to play on me?! I’m not going to fall for your weird manipulation tactics!” You squawk, throwing his mask at his face.
König takes a small step back out of surprise, catching the mask before it can collide with his face. He doesn’t put it back on, instead tucking it in his pocket with that same gentle smile. “I’ve already told you, I have no intention of harming you.” He says politely, trying to make himself look as inviting as possible. And you’d be lying if you said that it wasn’t a bit tempting to just let your guard down and let him in. “What *do* you want with me, exactly?” You ask, making him pause. Sure, he already knew exactly what he wanted, but he didn’t want to scare you off. He wants you. He wants to wake up next to you every morning, wants to be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of home, wants to worship the ground you walk on- “I just wanna be your friend! Promise.”
You stare at him for a moment, weighing your options. After a second of hesitation, you decide to make a rather bold move. You jump down from your nest, landing in front of him, just two feet away. This was a massive step forward in terms of trust, considering this is the closest you’ve ever willingly gotten to König while he was still conscious. Of course, he still has that ugly, dopey smile on his face as he admires you. “Can I touch your feathers? I’ll be gentle…” He asks, chuckling at your taken-aback expression. “*Why* would I let you do that? You’re probably just going to rip out a handful just to catch me off guard and then-” you pause from your little spiel at the sight of König’s expression, the genuine concern etched in his features letting you know that he wasn’t thinking of anything even remotely along those lines immediately.
You cross your arms with a sigh and extend one of your wings towards him. “Fine. You have 30 seconds.” You grumble, turning your head away to save your pride. König beams at the chance, immediately moving to run his fingers through your soft feathers. You try not to seem too interested, but despite your efforts, you can’t help but lean into his touch. You allow him to play with your wing for far longer than 30 seconds, even letting him see the vulnerable underside of your feathers. “I’ve never met anyone quite as beautiful as you… You’re one of a kind.” He murmurs, mapping out the complexities of your wing with his fingers. “You’re definitely one of a kind as well. I’ve never met a human as strange as you.” You say half-jokingly, earning a chuckle from him.
After around five minutes of comfortable silence, König still playing with your feathers, you pull your wing away. “Don’t you have soldiers to get back to?” You ask, trying to sound unbothered by the sudden emptiness of warmth that was previously there. You shouldn’t be upset with something you caused. “I’m on night watch, as long as I’m back by sunrise, they won’t notice a thing.” He explains with a smile, clearly enjoying the thought of spending all night with you. Not in a perverted way. “Do you want me to leave?” He adds on, though he already knows the answer. You shake your head no, the tiniest, almost unnoticeable pout forming at the edge of your mouth. “What if you weren’t back by sunrise? What would they do?” König immediately jumps to attention at that. “They won’t mind!! They’ll get over it, why? Do you want me around? Do you need me?” He practically chirps out, just overjoyed at the thought of you wanting him.
You grunt. “Can you climb?” He nods immediately. You fly back into your nest and peer your head out at him, silently nodding for him to come in. König doesn’t hesitate, quickly climbing up the tree and climbing into your nest. He pauses, admiring the way you look splayed out across the makeshift home you’ve built for yourself before lying next to you and gently pulling you against his chest. You relax a bit, wrapping your wings around his torso. You can’t believe that you’re trusting him like this. It goes against everything you’ve trained yourself to feel, every wall you’ve put up over the years. He just feels so warm and… Safe. It’s hard not to let your guard down at least a little around him. Nobody has treated you like a real human since your transformation. His voice snaps you out of your thoughts.
“I’ve been wondering this for a bit… Why do you call me ‘human’? I mean, I get that I am one, but you say it as if you aren’t also a human.” He asks, running his fingers through your hair. “I’m not human. Not anymore.” Your response is quick, cold, and almost emotionless if it weren’t for the slight waver in your voice. He frowns, gently tilting your chin up to look at him. “You’re just as human as I am. Don’t talk down to yourself like that.” He chides gently, pulling you a bit closer. You roll your eyes, trying to ignore the slight blush that’s creeping up your neck. “I’ve lost all aspects that made me human long ago. I don’t function like humans do.” König’s frown deepens at that. “The way you act around me is as human as I’ve ever seen. You react to everything like a paranoid person should.” You stare at him for a moment, unsure of what to say. You’ve spent basically your entire life believing that you couldn’t possibly be human, but now you’re cuddled up in a strangers arms, a stranger who is convinced that you’re just as human as him.
You whine a bit, pushing your head out of his grasp and hiding your face in his chest. He chuckles, running his nails up and down your back. “We’ll work on that.”