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Now today is as good a day as any for the smartest student in school! Or it would be… if his FEATHERS WOULD STAY IN. That’s right… the unfortunate truth of the schools most intelligent gamer… is molting. Stress molting, to be precise. Why? Because it is the RARE (very rare, Berdly insists) occasion that he is… unprepared for a test. Not just any test either, but an exam that accounts for a MAJORITY OF THE GRADE.
Now typically this wouldn’t be a problem when one has a reliable study partner such as Noelle! However… this time Noelle is pursuing other, more purple and toothy interests. He’s supportive of course! If not a bit miffed one as observant as him hadn’t noticed sooner- BUT! He digresses. The issue now is the fact he’s STRESS MOLTING. HIM!! THE TOP STUDENT AND GAMER IN HOMETOWN!! Reduced to… an unfortunate looking bluebird…
For what feels like the umpteenth time in the past half hour, Berdly looks at himself in the mirror with tired eyes. As disheveled looking as he was the last time he checked, he’s eyes still rove over the reflection of himself with an inspecting gaze as he attempts, keyword being attempts, to preen himself into something more presentable. But it’s to no avail, as small and large tufts of plumage continue to flutter down across the bathroom floor in an almost shameful manner, furthering the frankly pathetic look of the spiraling avian monster.
But of course an intellect such as himself always has a plan to proceed with! With an approved request sent to Ms. Alphys for an extension on the tests due date sent via email, Berdly is fully equipped to-! … NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE FOR THE NEXT TO WEEKS!! Mulling over his mental schedule all over again, the bird is nodding almost smugly as he pushes his glasses back into place like usual. It’s ingenious really, and honestly would anything less be expected of him? As an expert gamer he’s fully aware of his own expected regen time from this ailment of stress and molting, so of course the best way to go about it is to hide away until his plumage is back to its full and neatly preened blue glory (avian monsters are a vain type after all, much like actual male birds). He has it all figured out. He’ll work the day-to-day assignments online, all the while recovering and cramming his already stuffed-full-of-knowledge brain with even MORE factoids so that he’ll be thoroughly prepared for the most important exam of his LIFE…. So far.
If you’d asked him (nobody did) he’d say he’s quite proud of figuring out a plan that doesn’t rely on his dear friend Noelle. She’s free to fulfill her sapphic pining as much as she wants now! Of course there’s only one difficult obstacle he has to deal with… a partner of his who, to anyone’s surprise, is much more attached than you’d assume. That’s right… Kris the human, an exquisite partner for a scholar of his caliber, and a mighty gaming rival to boot, what more could he have asked for!!! Still… he now has to find away to dissuade said humans strange habit of climbing into his room through the window, despite how they know FULL WELL they’re just allowed to knock on the front door and walk on in (after all he’s their boyfriend of course they’d be welcomed).
Today 2:16pm
ME (the smartest):
“Dearest Kristopher!! I’ve been meaning to message so that you may know..”
“I’m going on a long vacation!“
“So don’t bother invading my room for the next couple of weeks hahah!”
“And try not to miss me too much ;}”
Sending each text in quick succession, Berdly gives a self assured huff as he sets his phone on the nightstand and bundles up on his nest of a bed again, ready to disregard every aspect of the outside world for the next two weeks. It’s all perfect now.. cozied up under the blankets, ready to start a cycle of sleep eat study sleep eat and study again… or it would be perfect if not for the two notifications that ring out from his phone in quick succession to each other. Immediately sitting up (as he is wont to do when it comes to notifications) and scrambling to open his phone again, he sees two messages from Kris in response to his own.
Kris ‘moss eater’ topher:
‘not my name still’
‘and omw’
Now, usually Berdly’s first instinct is to roll his eyes at the lack of any regard for proper grammar or punctuation, and that’s an instinct he follows through on. Immediately after though, his (lesser amount of) feathers puff up at the realized implications of that tiny little ‘omw’. Kris would be coming over?? BUT WHY?? Frantically Berdly is trying to respond before Kris can make any meaningful progress in what would be only a short trek to his abode.
Today 2:21pm
Me (the smartest):
“Ahaha- whatever would you be doing that for my Kristine??”
“You can infer from my message that I’ve already departed you know!”
It’s a flawless deflection in Berdly’s mind, but hardly an effective deterrent, as proven by Kris’ swift response.
Kris ‘moss eater’ topher:
‘k, gonna raid your room of minecrap merch’
‘thanks in advance berdie <3’
GASP. Truly striking at the bluebirds weakness… that heart emoticon has Berdly’s gamer heart of steel quickly draining of any arguments OR witty retorts. Instead, with a heavy sigh, he bundles himself in the blanket again and accept what will soon be his fate of having his lie, and subsequently his bad-feather day, exposed.
Facing the wall, it isn’t long till Berdly hears the (now familiar) sound of his rooms window being slid open. After all when you have a partner who’s seemingly allergic to entering someone’s house through the front door, you get used to a couple rattling noises at your window. A thump on his rooms carpeted floor follows the noise, then the rattling of his window again as it’s shut by the very human that just ‘broke in’. A couple steps, and said human is now waiting at the side of Berdly’s bed, already giving a questioning (if not somewhat amused) look to the lump that is so clearly housing their boyfriend.
“I knew you weren’t on vacation.” Comes a familiar voice, the slight teasing in the cadence and tone practically palpable as far as conversation with Kris goes.
“Wh- now how could you have known that huh??” A muffled response in turn, given the fact Berdly isn’t much more than a feathery burrito at the moment.
“Aaaa little birdy told me.”
“Har har, horrible..” Berdly’s attempt at an unimpressed retort falls flat given the stifled snickers that came falling from his beak. “Is Noelle suddenly a bird monster now?”
Kris shrugs, despite the fact the other obviously won’t see it, and blatantly ignores the second half of that response. “Not going to look at me? You love my visits.”
With a scoff, Berdly is lazily rolling over, burritoed state proving to be fairly compliant with the movement as he now looks at the human, barely peaking through the blanket at all. After all he still wants to maintain privacy of his… everything. Patchy feathering is embarrassing yknow!
“Tired of speaking today?”
As the birds quip, no voice comes in response, but Kris is grinning slightly as they sigh out a reply instead.
‘Of course you noticed. So what was the lie for? You’re obviously here, at home.’
Kris cuts straight to the point, as expected of the human. Berdly’s grown accustomed to the bluntness that seems to follow every conversation with the other hut he still pauses nonetheless.
With a huff the bluebird gives possibly the vaguest reply possible. “For bird things, of a birdly nature.”
A raised eyebrow (because yes, Berdly can tell despite the fact his partners hair often obscures most of their expressions thankyouverymuch), a mildly amused huff, and Kris follows back with a swift retort.
‘Who’s punning now?’ They sign, head tilted slightly to emphasize the point in a way they know will rile the other up.
Under any other circumstance, Berdly would be sitting up, huffing and puffing (quite literally in the case of his feathers) before crossing his arms and giving some indignant response. However this time.. the most Kris gets is the indignant response part, with Berdly snapping out a,
“It wasn’t intentional you- doltish human!!”
The tone isn’t nearly as harsh as you’d think, instead filled with a sense of affection and fueled by the flustered attitude that Berdly always seemed to easily give in to.
Kris pauses for a moment, a slight frown settling on the humans face as they find themselves disappointed by the lack of huffing and puffing (again, a literal part of how the others feathers react). One of their favorite parts of riling up their boyfriend is seeing his feathers puff up in tandem with his indignant replies, so being denied that… well obviously they need to work harder for it.
They step closer, nudging the burrito roll that’s currently named ‘Berdly’ for a moment before signing again, ‘Stop being buried, I’m trying to have my fun here Berdie.’
“A-ABSOLUTELY NOT!!” Comes a swift squawk of rejection as Berdly imagines every reaction his appearance might garner from the human if he were to sit up and reveal himself. The reaction is so firm and instant that it has Kris surprised for a moment. Only a moment though… cause soon after they’re crossing their arms and looking around the room, before they start creeping towards the bluebirds computer with a mischievous air about them.*
“Guess you won’t miss your hardcore Minecrap world then..” They mutter out as they step closer, shrugging as if it’s a causal offhand comment and not the threat of the century. (At least to Berdly’s superior gamer soul).
“OKAY DON’T BE RASH.” Is the first response to tumblr out of Berdly’s beak as he shoots on from his bed and into a sitting position, comforters and blankets falling to setting around him within rustling sounds. Such a reaction immediately garners the attention of the human once more, and Kris is already looking back with another one of their signature strange grins before their sights zero in on the noticeably lacking feathers on the others face. Patches of once-hidden pink skin are now more noticeable, and Berdly is quick to slap his wings over his face and duck his head from sheer embarrassment at having acted so irrationally. Since when is an intellectual like him so careless!??
“Snrk-“ The sound barely escapes from Kris before they’re clapping their own mouth in restraint.
A moment, two, and then.. a muffled voice from the currently hiding bird monster. “You’re laughing…”
“Only a little…” It’s a hardly apologetic response, but they offer it anyways.
“It’s AWFUL.”
“It isn’t that bad…” A swift denial, smart move Kristopher.
Berdly’s head shoot’s up again, expression more distressed than before as he exclaimed, “IT IS THOUGH, THAT STUPID TEST HAS ME STRESS MOLTING!!”
Another snicker barely escaped Kris as they step closer, hands raised in a placating manner before they switch back to signing.
‘Okay we’ll just prepare you for the test then and your feathers will grow back.’
A sniffle, and Berdly is looking up at them in a way that can best be described as a pathetic wet cat making an ‘I just frew up’ face.
“You mean it..?”
‘I’ll even help myself.’ Comes the humans respond as they reach a hand out to try carding through feathers like they usually would. However, they’re only met with rejection as Berdly dodges the attempt at contact to instead grab textbooks.
“OH KRISTOPHER YOU LIFE SAVER!! Together our great gamer minds will surely succeed at this!” He exclaims in what’s probably an over dramatic sense of joy before waving a dismissive arm at Kris’ own head, eyes narrowed at the limb as if it’s offensive to him personally. “And none of the petting stuff until my feathers are back to normal, you’ll just make more fall out!!”
Kris’ expression is quick to fall, arm going as they process the sheer amount of textbooks being spread across a desk now, Berdly already pulling up a spare chair he (conveniently) has for studying, and the realization that they aren’t allowed to run their fingers through soft blue feather for the foreseeable future slowly sinking in.
“Never mind.. this is awful… the worst..” And now it’s Berdly’s turn to suppress laughter as the grumbling human sinks into the seat behind him, and suddenly molting doesn’t feel like the worst thing in the world…
Now if you’ll excuse him he has the title of smartest to maintain!!