Chapter Text
Wemmbu is nice to him so far.. It was already far better than the way their father and his own mother had treated him.So when their father announced that he would be leaving him in his older brother’s care, Parrot found himself feeling quite relieved.
He doesn’t know how his older brother acts, if he acts just like father or if he’s the total opposite of him. But he’s sure it’s anything better than the shit hole he was from.
The moment Wemmbu ushered him into his home, he could see that there were toys scattered all around the living room, half build block towers were in the middle of the room and a few dragon figures were laying beside the tower. If Parrot were to guess, they were probably building towers and smashing them down with the dragons.
If his mother were to see this mess, he would have gotten all of his toys thrown out, if he had this many toys anyways.
Wemmbu had wrapped him with the blanket that he had gotten from the couch. He immediately relaxed into the warmth of the blanket. His wings flapped a bit.
Wemmbu then suddenly lifted Parrot up and carried him upstairs towards his bedroom. Wemmbu gently sat him down on his bed and made his way towards the bathroom, preparing him for a bath.
Oh he hopes Wemmbu lets him bathe on his own. Back at his place, the maids always used to ‘help’ bathing him. By helping he means pulling on his scalp while washing his hair and almost plucking out one side of his wings.
Looking at his wings, almost all the feathers on his wings were gone, save for the new feathers growing at the marginal corvets and the secondary corvets.
“Hey Parrot, is it okay if you bathe yourself?” Wemmbu asked while handing him a towel.
“Yea I can bathe myself..” He said barely above a whisper, taking the towel.
“Great! I put your clothes on the toilet counter, I’m going to go check on the twins for a moment kay?”
Parrot quietly closed the bathroom door behind him, the soft click making the room feel strangely peaceful. He stood there for a moment, towel clutched tightly against his chest as he looked around. Everything was neat and tidy. A fresh set of clothes rested on the toilet counter just like Wemmbu had said
While he was showering, he could hear the twins from the other side of the wall. They were arguing about who gets the last slice of chocolate fudge cake in the fridge, then he heard a thump coming from them. He could also hear Wemmbu yelling at Flame..? to stop pulling in his brother's hair.
Huh, maybe Wemmbu isn’t like their father after all.
The shirt that Wemmbu had given him fit him quite nicely. He was wearing a washed out orange shirt with little floral patterns on the hem of the shirt and shorts that reached his knee.
But his wings sit uncomfortably underneath the shirt, almost squeezing them together.
Ehh
He makes use of what he has. He doesn’t want to bother Wemmbu anymore then he has to.
Then there was a sharp knock on the door. “Hey kid, are you done yet?”
Parrot opened the door of the bedroom, letting Wemmbu in. “Oh shit I lowkey forgot about your wings..” Wemmbu said in guilt.
“Oh no it’s fine..”
“Nah nah kid it’s fine, we can make holes in the shirt for you” Wemmbu held up a pair of scissors.
“Wait, isn’t this one of their shirts..?” Parrot asked, not wanting to ruin a perfectly good shirt just for his wings.
“I’m sure he won’t mind kid, he hasn't use this shirt in like ages” Wemmbu said while dragging the last sentence.
Wemmbu started to cut the back of the shirt, cutting small circles and slowly making it larger. Parrot wings isn’t that large if he was going to be honest, only spanning around 38 cm give or take. It’s quite small compared to the other bird hybrids he had babysit.
Aren’t Macaws supposed to have a larger wing span? He should ask Mrs. Jovie tomorrow about this.
Wemmbu gently pulled the wings out from underneath the shirt and out. He could see there were new, growing feathers still enclosed in the protective keratin sheath.
“Do you want me to preen your wings?” He asked while playing a bit with the new feathers.
“Uhm if you know how..”
“Of course I do! I’ve preen a few chicks before!” Technically he wasn’t lying, he had a few experience preening wings before. But it’s been a while since he had done them. The last he had preen someone's wings before was Mrs. Jovie's son a few months back.
Eh he’s sure it’s fine.
Wemmbu softly groomed his fingers between the feathers, he gently pinched the dry white pin feathers between his thumb and forefinger. The sheath crumbled away and the new baby feathers opened.
Some of the tattered feathers fell in the process.
Is it molting season already? This kid looks so patchy and… bald.
They need a lot of protein and vitamins right? Scrambled eggs and sweet potatoes should be good for him.
Without realising, the parrot hybrid started to chatter soft , rhythmic sounds. Grinding his upper teeth down. The content noises filling up the room
Heh, it’s like he’s purring.
Wemmbu smiled to himself as he carefully eased the last stubborn feather free. It slipped into his palm without a fight, leaving behind a patch of fresh, pristine feathers. The new feathers were silky smooth, still carrying that soft, downy fluff at their base, and they settled neatly into place with a tiny ruffle while the edges are sharp and clean.
“There we go,” Wemmbu murmured, brushing his hand over the newly grown feathers to make sure none were bent out of place.
The parrot hybrid continued his quiet chattering, completely relaxed now that the uncomfortable molt was finally over.
From previous experience with Mrs. Jovie son, they usually become more shy or clingier during molding season.
Lord he hopes Parrot isn’t like Theo, he’s clingy as shit during molding season. The last time he went over to babysit him, he left with so many yellow feathers in his hair. The chick put up quite a fight when he tried to leave.
Luckily Parrot wasn’t as clingy as Theo, he’s quite independent surprisingly.
Parrot started to nod off, obviously trying to fight sleep. Every time his head dipped, he’d jerk it back up with a tiny, stubborn blink.
“Come kid, let’s get you to bed.” Wemmbu pushed himself off the bed and started to dust off the molted feather off the bed, letting it fall to the floor.
“…M’not sleepy,” Parrot mumbled, his words slurring together.
“D’araightt sure you are, you’re doing a terrible job proving it kid.”
Parrot gave a weak little huff, puffing out his feathers in protest before settling them again. For a moment he managed to keep his eyes open, staring blankly at Wemmbu.
The kid finally gave up and laid down with a thud. His wings and hair sprawling on the bed.
Wemmbu chuckled a bit at him. Since there was little else to do while Parrot rested, he wandered over to the corner of the room and picked up a broom that had been leaning against the wall.
Returning to where Parrot had been molting earlier, Wemmbu began sweeping the scattered feathers into small, tidy piles. The floor was covered with soft down and loose feathers of all sizes.
After a while he finally managed to pile all the contour feathers into a corner. The dustpan is down stairs all the way to the wet area of the kitchen and he’s damn lazy going all the way down. He leaned the broom against the wall and made his way over to the bed.
Damn
Parrots wings are covering like two-fourth of the bed. Gah damn how large are his wings. Wemmbu can’t even scoot over into the bed, I mean, he can but like he’s scared that he might crush the wings in his sleep.
Hah guess he’s going downstairs after all..
Wemmbu took a few spare pillows from the cupboards and trotted his way downstairs. He threw the pillows on the larger couch and took the thin throw blanket that was on the other couch.
Literally why the fuck does he own such a thin piece of blanket.
Wemmbu wrapped himself with the blanket and threw himself on the couch. Lord, he had such a long day today. He just needs a good sleep until the next morning. He closed his eyes and dozed off to sleep. Finally getting the rest he deserved.
“Wemmbu..?”
Dammit
Wemmbu opened his eyes just to see Flame wide awake staring at him with his bright red eyes, startling him a bit.
“Fuck kid why are you awake at this hour..?” Wemmbu squinted his eyes at Flame, his voice laced with sleep.
“I can’t sleep.. Why are you awake?” Flame tilted his head a bit, he was clutching his brand new plushie in his hands and his tail was wrapped around his leg.
“Parrot has his wings sprawled out on the bed and I’m scared of crushing it so I’m sleeping here for today..” He explained.
Flame stared a bit at Wemmbu before he threw his plushie at him before running upstairs.
“Ow this kid has such a strong throw.” The demon thought to himself while rubbing his head, the same spot where the plushie had hit him.
But it’s true though, ever since Mane and Flame started training, their strength had increased quite a lot, especially Mane. He had seen Mane tackle down a grown man that was harassing Wemmbu for the rotten apples that Wemmbu had “gave” him. He swore all the apples were fresh.. He hand picked them!
Wemmbu was snapped out of his thoughts by Flame running down the stairs while holding his pillows and dragging his thick blanket, his tail wrapped around the blanket that was falling, making sure he doesn’t trip.
Flame went over to Wemmbu and practically ripped the blanket off of him and replaced it with his own fiery blanket.
“Flame.. what are you doing..?” Wemmbu asked, his elf like ears twitching.
“Making sure you don’t get cold.. you always do the same thing for me and Mane..” Flame whispered, he laid his pillow right beside Wemmbu and laid down right next to him.
Wemmbu smiled to himself and hugged Flame tighter to him, he could feel Flames' tail intertwining with his own tail.
“How am I so lucky to have the both of you as my brothers..” Wemmbu softly said and snuggled into the top of Flames head, making sure not to disturb his horns. His arm’s softly rubbing up and down against Flames back.
The motion caused Flame to start chuffing really loudly , which also caused Wembu to start purring. Wemmbu continued to rub against Flame’s back before finally falling asleep. The sleep that Wemmbu definitely deserved after a long day today.