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Parrot had been in the paragon for months.
And of course, with time, his wings were getting more unkempt.
The various escape attempts, the dirt and water, and the wear and tear over time had taken a poll to his feathers. He tried to keep his wings together to the best of his ability, he was mindful of using them, and took care of the feathers in his reach. However, a problem was beginning to build with the areas he couldn't reach.
Parrot couldn’t reach any of the feathers on his back. He couldn't preen them and keep them maintained in the way he wanted. It was starting to bother him. It was getting painful to fly, and irritating to his wings.
Wifies of course noticed. Parrot couldn’t hide anything from him. He kept bringing it up, to Parrot’s annoyance. Making offhanded comments about how his wings looked, saying Parrot should probably get them properly preened, implying that he would be the one to preen them. Parrot didn’t want Wifies anywhere near his wings. Not after everything he’d done.
Despite the resentment Parrot had built against him, he spent a lot of time with Wifies. What else was there to do? He had nobody else, and spending at least some time with Wifies was keeping him from spiraling due to the isolation. Plus, he still had to get on Wifies good side so he could form his next escape plan. He desperately missed the outside world, the paragon was boring and repetitive. It was…quite boring without the danger. There was nobody to help, no mysteries to solve, no last second plans to form to get out of bad situations.
He was sick of it. He needed to leave.
Yet, here he was. Sitting at the edge of a dock he’d built with Wifies by the lake, fishing with him. Neither of them were talking. Wifies knew Parrot was hanging out with him reluctantly, and was satisfied with any time he got. It was better than when Parrot refused to see him entirely. God, Parrot wished he could do that, but it wouldn’t turn out well. Being with Wifies put a lump in his throat and a weight in his chest. Just seeing him triggered the wave of anger, guilt, grief, and hatred all at once.
Parrot tilted his head back and sighed. He shouldn’t let the gravity of everything swallow him. He needed to focus on another escape plan. He’d been too distracted by his emotions lately to come up with anything.
He stretched out his wings briefly. He could feel Wifies staring at him.
Wifies cleared his throat, and Parrot immediately felt a pang of frustration at the fact Wifies was going to break the silence “Your wings—” Wifies started.
“I know,” Parrot hissed. Wifies wouldn’t stop bringing it up.
Wifies fell silent for a brief moment again. “They’re not looking good.”
“I'm working on it.”
“I can help,” he said, glancing over at Parrot. “I normally do.”
“I've got it under control.”
“You don't,” Wifies said plainly. “You can’t reach most of the areas, I don't know how you'd be taking care of your wings by yourself.”
“It's fine. I'm managing.”
“Seriously, you’re not. I can tell, Parrot.”
Wifies really wasn’t going to drop it this time. “Wifies, you need to stay out of business.”
“Your business? It's your safety, Parrot. I can tell they’re irritating you, don’t pretend it doesn’t.”
Parrot put his fishing rod back into his inventory and stood up.
“Are you seriously leaving?” Wifies asked, a twinge of annoyance seeping into his voice.
“What, are you gonna stop me?”
Wifies didn’t answer.
Parrot sighed, and left the dock, leaving Wifies alone at the end of it. He should head home. It was getting late anyways. The day was almost over, and he really needed some sleep. He’d spent the last few nights tossing and turning.
He paused and stopped walking. He’d made a new house a ways away from Wifies place. His legs ached and he didn’t want to deal with walking all the way back. The terrain was tall and rough as well.
Parrot flexed his wings, and it sent a small jolt of pain to him. His wings were getting bad. He needed to try and preen them better, there had to be a way to fix it.
Ignoring the pain and the smart move, he decided he was going to fly anyways. He carefully flexed his wings again, then boosted himself up into the air. There was immediate pain. Still, Parrot persevered, and forced himself to get higher to maintain a glide towards his house.
He didn’t enjoy flying anymore. The breeze made him shiver, his muscles burned, and the giant obsidian wall in view just reminded him that he was trapped. Flying wasn’t any use to him when he was stuck in a cage. It took away the freedom and thrill of it.
Parrot’s reminiscing distracted him, and he lost focus of paying attention to where he was going. Suddenly, as he refocused his eyes, he realized he was barreling straight towards a tree.
“Shit!” He yelped, making a last minute fall of his wings to shoot up and narrowly avoid crashing into it.
The quick maneuver was too much for his misshapen wings. Parrot was quickly losing control of his flight and struggling to maintain height and direction. His house was just in the distance, only a hundred blocks away. He could probably scale that distance before his wings gave out.
Parrot dove down, aiming right for the porch he’d built. His wings were too out of shape to control his direction, he was fighting to keep himself moving straight towards the house. He barely made it onto the deck rather than smashing into the trees beside it. He crashed onto the wood and skidded across the floor, slamming into the door of the house.
He let himself lay on the floor for a moment, panting to catch his breath. His wings felt like they were on fire, pain was flaring up all over his back. Fuck, he really shouldn’t have flown.
He needed to make sure his wings were okay. Parrot slowly sat up, and leaned back against the door, fighting the parts of his body screaming at him to stop moving. He carefully moved his wings in front of him, staring at them. He gently grazed his hand over the bones under the feathers, and let out a sigh of relief. Despite the pain, nothing seemed badly damaged. He was lucky.
He dragged himself to his feet, and shuffled into his house. He was surprised no guards showed up, but he wasn’t complaining. Not bothering to sit on his bed, he plopped down in the middle of his room. He pulled his wings in front of him again, and decided it’d be best to try and preen them again.
He wasn’t able to do much, because he still couldn’t reach the areas that really needed the attention, but he fixed up any feathers that he could that got fucked up in his crash landing. Sunset came and went quickly, and he was still sitting on the floor doing all he could to improve the condition his wings were in.
After a while, he caught the glimpse of a figure in the corner of his eyes. He didn't need to look to know it was Wifies. Who else would it be? And Wifies had a habit of appearing behind him weirdly enough. It made him mad.
“What’s with you and your ominous entrances?” Parrot scoffed, shooting a glance over at Wifies. He was standing in the doorway, crossing his arms. “Why the fuck do you always have to be watching me!?”
Wifies didn’t answer. He stepped into the house and walked over. Parrot started to scoot away, but Wifies came up to him and grabbed his wing.
“Fuck! Hey—don’t touch that!” Parrot yelped, trying to pull away.
Wifies didn’t listen. He lifted up Parrot’s wing, carefully looking over the feathers. Parrot reluctantly let him. “It looks bad.”
“I know,” Parrot snapped. “How many times are you gonna say that?”
“How much is it hurting?”
“Not that much,” he lied.
“No. You were struggling to fly. I noticed.”
“Of course you did.”
Wifies stepped behind him, crouching down and taking a closer look at his feathers. Parrot shifted awkwardly. He didn’t quite trust Wifies to be so close to his wings. He had threatened to clip them down one time if Parrot continued trying to escape by flying out.
“I'll preen them,” Wifies said. It sounded more like a demand than an offer.
Parrot didn’t answer. He wasn’t in a position to say no, his wings were in really bad shape. He’d left them neglected for too long.
Wifies sensed his hesitance. “I’m not gonna hurt you,” he said gently.
Parrot stayed silent again.
“You don’t need to be so scared of me, Parrot. I'm only trying to help you. I’m here to keep you safe. You can trust me.”
Parrot sat up and spread his wings out. “Get it over with,” he sighed.
Wifies nodded and sat down, starting to preen his wings. He didn't have to tell Wifies what to do. Wifies knew Parrot’s wings like the back of his hand. He knew what spots needed the most attention, he knew which feathers to pull, which areas were sensitive.
The first time Wifies tried to preen his wings, Parrot had to micromanage every movement he made, because Wifies kept accidentally pulling the wrong feathers. Wifies kept apologizing and felt terrible after. He said he shouldn’t try to preen Parrot’s wings again because he'd just mess up again. But, next time Parrot needed to preen the areas he couldn't reach, there was nobody else to do it. Wifies didn't want to, worried he’d hurt Parrot again. Parrot had to talk him into it, saying it was going to hurt a hell of a lot more if he didn't do it at all.
It became a routine. Wifies would preen Parrot’s wings whenever he needed, and he eventually stopped messing up. Eventually, Wifies started offering to do it more often. He’d stroke the back of Parrot’s wings and run his hand down Parrot’s back whenever they were side by side. Parrot hated people touching his wings unless absolutely necessary, but…he found himself comfortable with Wifies doing it. Wifies loved his wings. He loved the colors, the softness of the feathers, the shape.
Parrot tilted his head back and leaned back into Wifies a bit.
He didn't feel worried, for the first time in a while. He knew he shouldn't be so comfortable with this, but it was Wifies. Wifies was careful. He always was, this wasn’t any different.
He stopped himself in that train of thought. He couldn't ignore the fact this wasn't the old Wifies anymore. No matter how gentle and careful, this wasn’t his Wifies. He couldn’t let himself lose sight of that.
He missed his Wifies.
There was a loneliness eating at him everyday. It felt like grieving Wifies while he was alive was worse than when he thought he was dead. When he thought Wifies was dead he knew he had nobody. No solution, no fix, nothing he could do. With Wifies alive…he had to sit knowing Wifies was right there but he couldn’t have him. It was like a punch to the gut. Wifies was right in front of him, but he was out of reach. The universe was taunting him.
Parrot let himself slip away from his thoughts for the rest of the time Wifies worked on his wings. He was ashamed he did, but he’d hadn’t had his wings taken care of like this in a long time. It was relaxing. He ended up closing his eyes and resting his head back onto Wifies shoulder.
Eventually, Wifies hands stopped arranging and pulling at feathers, and he started to just gently run his hands through them.
“Are you done?” Parrot asked. He didn't open his eyes.
“Yeah.”
Neither of them moved.
Wifies hands continued to absentmindedly run across his feathers and trace his back. It was just like what he used to do. Spending some nights in Parrot’s bed, just gently caressing his feathers while Parrot fell asleep. Wifies really liked…his wings.
Maybe tonight could be like what it used to be. Wifies could stay the rest of the night. They could lay in the small bed together, both awake but thinking the other was asleep, with their arms loosely wrapped around the other. Just like how it used to be. Maybe his Wifies was still in there.
“Wifies…?”
“Mhm?”
“I think you should go.”
Wifies didn't answer for a moment. His hands pulled away from Parrot’s wings. “Parrot, I—” he started. He sounded surprised.
“You should leave.” Parrot cut him off. He forced himself to pull away from Wifies and sit up. He was immediately hit with grief over the loss of contact. He’d forgotten how nice it was when Wifies preened his wings.
He wanted to change his mind, turn back to Wifies and tell him to stay. He wouldn’t be alone, he wouldn’t spend the night on the floor staring up at the ceiling, with his isolation eating him alive.
“Leave,” he repeated.
Wifies was hesitant, but pulled away. He stood up, and walked to the doorway, pausing. It seemed like he wanted to say something. But he didn’t look back, and after a moment he left.
Parrot sighed, and stood up, shuffling his feet over to his bed. He threw himself onto the sheets and rolled over to stare at the ceiling. He was wrong for being lulled into a false sense of security. He had to keep his priorities straight, even if it meant he’d suffer because of it. Wifies was gone, he needed to get that to his head. He couldn’t keep second guessing himself, it was only going to make things harder. No amount of sweet talk and careful preening of Parrot’s wings was going to change that.
A lump started to build in his throat and his eyes started to sting.
He was going to find a way out.