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Sovi had been in a mood for the past couple days. He’d try and act like everything was normal; laughing at jokes and smiling once making eye-contact, but it had become awfully clear that he was irritated.
“Dude, fuck this stupid ass game, shit ass–”
“Okay, man, calm down” Daukey laughed out, slight concern in his tone.
“I can’t– fucking–!” Sovi yelled, cutting his sentence short by—repeatedly—slamming his fist down on the table in front of them.
“…Sovi?” Daukey asked, wide-eyed.
“No– man, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to crash out on you like that–”
“What’s going on, man?” Daukey asked, comforting smile on his face.
“It’s… fuck…” Sovi cursed under his breath.
“Dude?”
“No, bro…”
“C’mon man. You’ve been like this since you got here! If you need something you can always ask, you know–?”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s just…” Sovi sighed out wearily; “it’s lowkey embarrassing…” He dragged a palm across his face.
“What could possibly be so embarrassing, dude?” Daukey asked, letting out a chuckle as he tried to ease up the tension in the air.
“Fuck, okay.” Sovi let out, airily, as he recomposed himself on the couch, turning to face his friend. “I’ve been having some difficulties preening; I don’t know why, I don’t know. But it’s been fucking bothering me, I’m cold all the time, and it feels weighty and dirty, and–” He began rambling, progressively getting more riled up and physical in his mannerisms.
“Damn, okay…” Daukey giggled out, grabbing onto his friend’s hands as to calm him down. “…do you–uhm” He cleared his throat as his eyes danced around the room; “Do you want help–”
“What–? No, that’s… nah, I’m good. I’ll figure it out!” Sovi blabbered out with a forced smile, trying to downplay his surprise at such a statement.
Truth is he and Daukey had been friends for a while, and it wasn’t all that crazy for him to offer a sympathetic foot. Still, Sovi hadn’t ever experienced preening from another person before. He wanted to play it cool, but his emotions got the best of him.
“I mean,… I don’t mind helping, if that’s what you’re worried about– ”
“What– no man, it’s just… I don’t know.”
“Okay, sure,” Daukey said with an accepting voice; “but remember… if you change your mind, I’m willing to help, Austen.”
“Sure… thanks Aidan.” Sovi said, not able to repress the grin that grew on his face at his friend’s disposition to help.
The rest of the evening went by more calmly than it had the previous days. The guys decided to stay up late and watch a comedy movie they found randomly while wandering through the internet. It was a five at best, but just being within each other’s vicinity managed to make both men erupt in laughter at any mind-dumbing joke or over-dramatized glance they shared.
Such a great time almost made Sovi forget about his peeve-ish situation; almost. The outside cold seemed to seep in between the window frames into the apartment. Sovi tried shifting his wings, pressing them closer to his body, but it still wasn’t warm enough. He looked over at Daukey, who was cuddling himself with a small blanket, not seeming to be as bothered by the cold as him.
“You alright, man?” Daukey asked, catching a glance of the staring man besides him.
“Mh? Oh! Yeah, yeah…”
“Dude, you’re visibly shivering.” Daukey said with a stern look on his face.
“I–” Sovi tried to oppose, but found no words to do so.
“You?” Daukey mocked, corner hiding under his bullying
“I’m fucking cold man” Sovi finally succumbed.
“I can see that” He let out a dim laugh; “are you ready to stop being so stubborn and accept some help?”
“M…maybe?”
“Okay– c’mere” Daukey said, uncovering himself from the blanket and patting next to him as to telling Sovi to close the distance in between them.
The man of purple feathers complied, moving only inches away from his friend. He remained stiff, unable to relax at the situation he found himself in. Nevertheless, Daukey tried warming up to him, showing how he preened himself and grabbing gently onto Sovi’s hand, giving a couple caresses as he tried to ask for his approval via eye-contact.
“Dude–” Sovi chuckled; “Man, why you looking at me like that–”
“Like what?” Daukey laughed along.
“Man, I don’t know if this is a good idea–”
“I mean, I’m not gonna do it if you don’t want me to–”
“No, no! It’s not that–” He exhaled shakily, searching for words that explained how he felt in this moment; “It’s just… too much?”
“I mean, if you want you can turn around–”
“Pause–”
“No, man, not like that!” He yelled with a wheeze. “I’m just saying, in case it helps you relax not acknowledging someone else is preening you–”
“Okay, okay–!” He needed Daukey to stop talking. “Gimme a sec.” He moved in his seat, facing away from Daukey, occasionally brushing his feathers against his friend’s face with a low “sorry.” and a giggle from the other.
“All good?” Daukey asked, his voice acquiring a softer tone than usual, sending a shiver down Sovi’s spine.
“Yeah, yeah.” He said, shutting his eyes closed and trying to focus on anything rather than now and here.
The motion was gentle and progressive; first he felt a pair of hands place themselves on top of his left wing—which slightly hung off from the couch—, brushing a careful stroke from the top of almost pure black until the tip of worn out purple hued feathers. A slight jerk from the wing at the prolonged touch earned a muffled laugh from the man sitting behind him; somehow the laugh managed to calm him down, feeling an inside warmth for a smile on his face.
“Man, you gotta be more careful, you almost took out my hand with all that motion–” Daukey teased, massaging the limb in his grasp.
“Sorry Aidan.” Replied Sovi, slightly turning his head as to indicate genuinity in his words.
“Yeah, don’t worry, man” Daukey mentioned, brushing through the colour gradient of feathers.
“Mhm, mhm.” He nodded his head.
Daukey probed deeper into the mess of feathers, using his hands to probe at the tangles and lumps of fluff. His fingers took time to feel every feather in search of leftover debris and build up dirt. As he ran his left hand through the top coat of feathers, his right tried to warm itself up to the bottom layer of the wingspan. The sudden physical contact stumped Sovi, who felt a choked back hum in his throat. He shut his eyes in hopes Daukey hadn’t heard it, trying to ignore the way in which the man’s motion had come to a halt. Still, Daukey made no comment and instead continued to ease himself through the feathers.
He tried to not laugh at the way the man under his grasp tried to stay still, small jolts as his hand pressed heavier against the fluffed tissue. Once the left wing seemed done un-tangling, Daukey reached over and smeared a little of preening oil across the wing.
Sovi turned his head at the unknown, weird feeling in his back. The slow turn almost made Daukey wheeze.
“My bad– My bad, don’t worry. It’s just some preening oil.” Daukey said through an audible smile.
“Okay, sure thing dude. Just maybe a heads up before I feel a wet patch in my back, yeah?” He said in a comical voice, earning a chuckle from the man behind.
“Yeah, yeah. All good though, right?”
“Yeah…just, continue… please.”
“Oh, you’re enjoying this?” Daukey teased.
“Mmmm ‘you’re enjoying this’– so what if I am, huh?” Sovi replied in a defensive tone.
Daukey only laughed as he continued to groom the wing.
Quickly enough, he switched his attention to Sovi’s right wing.
“Could you turn a bit–” Daukey requested as he grabbed onto the right wing with his right hand and the other’s back with his left.
“Sure.”
“No– just, a little forward–” He put his right at the meeting point of his friend’s wing and his back, a harsher grasp as he tried to keep it from moving spasmodically.
“Aidan– wait just a second–” Sovi tried to say in between nervous giggling.
“Just, here let me–” Daukey laughed impulsively at the sound of his friend.
He let the space in between his thumbs and index fingers cup at the axillars, applying slight pressure as to lift them out of the way. The rest of his hands barely clawed onto the clothed back of his friend. Simultaneously, he hoovered over his friend, just enough to shift his own seating. His laughter bounced off the nape of his friend.
“Aidan, please–” Sovi let out in almost a whine; the overwhelmness of the different sensation hitting him like a brick as his wings spanned out—his left hitting slightly the table while his right remained restricted by the couch’s backrest. “Fuck, sorry.”
“Oh, uhm–I’m sorry, I didn’t– I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable–”
“it’s not– I’m fine… It’s just… a lot…” Sovi sighted.
“I… Do you want me to stop–?” Daukey caressed the still held onto wings, now folding back.
“No!” Sovi was—maybe too quick— to answer. “No– I mean… I’ve never been preened by someone else… It feels– different–? I just… never expected it to feel like this.”
“And… is this feeling good? Or…”
“Yes– only somewhat strange, you know?”
“I think I do…” Daukey let out a heavy exhale.
They both stayed in silence for a couple minutes. Daukey stayed inches apart from Sovi’s back; the latter could feel every warm breath the other exhaled, trying to regulate his heartbeat. Each breath became closer as Daukey lowered his head against the other’s right wing, rustling it slightly and carefully not to surpass any boundary; but it was a little too late for that, was it? After all, they were doing an intimate activity, Daukey knew that from the start; but the truth is Daukey didn’t mind anything as long as it meant it would help Sovi feel better—still, he didn’t want to read too deep in between the lines of what that implied.
“Aidan…” Sovi spoke low and timid, quite uncharacteristic of him. Still, Daukey felt his tail wag slightly at the mere sound of the other’s voice.
“…Do you… want me to keep going?” He asked, decided to not let this moment fall into uncomfortableness.
“Yes, please.” The other replied, more energetic than before. Daukey smiled into the feathers as his hand began trailing under the wing.
Sovi’s demeanor felt much more calm and comfortable, leaning into the other’s embrace. Daukey could sense him gripping tightly onto his knees, trying to keep a grip on himself as Daukey physically explored parts of his mind he’d never—unironically—seen before.
“Is oil okay?” He asked in a whisper, making Sovi melt more into his brace.
“Yeah…”
“Mhm. I’m gonna smear some now, okay?”
“Yes… thank you.”
“Yeah?”
The purple winged man replied with a pleased hum as Daukey brushed oil along his feathers, much more tenderness than he’d done to himself during his demonstration. His fingers teased at different feathers scattered along the limb. His face, still pressed onto the fluffness, warmed up with every small attempt of Sovi to keep still despite his sensitivity; he found it quite sweet and attentive.
Slowly and quietly, Daukey’s left hand crept upwards from the wing, reaching the nape that had experienced so much warmth from the puffed out air from his own lungs. The hand began caressing at the nuchal region, massaging upwards and downwards at the neck muscles as the fingertips reached gently into the packed curls, careful not to mess them up. The head applied pressure as it tilted backwards, searching to prolong the loving cradle.
The wings twitched and shifted in their place, searching for a way to ease the itch that the newfound pet had scratched. Suddenly, Daukey felt the wings move much more abruptly, resembling some sort of rousing. It surprised him how comfortable Sovi had gotten after showing just a little vulnerability.
Daukey stood up from the couch only to sit down in front of Sovi, kneeling in front of him at eye-level and cupping his face in his own hands. He looked at him tenderly, not saying anything so as to not break the moment. Then, Sovi took him into an embrace which they kept as they laid on the couch and drifted off into calm, clean and tidy sleep.