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Tommy gulped, his hand hovering over the door. Did he really want to do this? It was embarrassing enough that he was 16 and still didn't know how to fly ,but asking someone who wasn't part of your blood line to teach you how to... God, he'll just laugh at him. He's being stupid, why would anyone go out of their way to teach another Avians kid how to fly?
He could hear the happy lovers inside, he was just bothering them, it was getting late the sun was starting to set... He could always come back another time, or never at all, yeah that sounds nice.
Tommy sighed and ran his hand down his face, took a deep breathe and knocked on the door. It was quiet for a while.
"Welp guess their too busy" Tommy quickly turned around but before he could get far he heard the door open behind him.
Sapnap was the one who answered the door, his happy smile turning into a confused one.
"Tommy? Where you trying to ding-dong-ditch us?" Sapnap chuckled. Tommy turned around , welp.. It's now or never.
"Uh.. No, I was here for Quackity, Actually" Tommy picked at his nails, avoiding eye contact.
"Ok.." Sapnap turned his head and called for Quackity inside. The duck hybrid went over, his blaze hybrid fiance opening the door completely to let him through as he leaned on the door frame watching them.
"Hey Tommy, you're hear for me?" The short man walked over .
"Yeah um... I was wondering.. If you could... Teachmehowtofly" Quackity chuckled a bit "Sorry but what was that last part?"
"Can you teach me how to fly!" Quackity stood stunned, Tommy didn't know to fly?
"Phil never really... He wasn't around that much, not even there for when the damn things came in and ...we're not exactly on speaking terms... And you're the only other person I trust with this.. I don't know how to fly or how to even preen that good"
Quackity's mouth hung open, Phil always seemed like such a good father but... An Avians kid going to a non-flock person to teach them these things? It was... Something...
"Wait- you don't know how to preen?!" Quackity finally said.
Tommy flinched ,"Yeah... That's why they're.. Like this" He gestured to his unkempt wings, clearly done by inexperienced hands.
"Yeah I didn't say anything cause I didn't want to be rude but.. They're pretty bad, it looks like it hurts,man" Tommy's face turned red.
"Will you teach me or not?" Tommy growled, still meeting Quackity's eyes.
"Are you kidding? Of course Big Man!" Tommy snapped his head towards Quackity, shock and relief painted on his face.
"Wait really?" A small smile threatened to make it's way to the young chicks face.
"Yeah man, come inside, we're having dinner right now so we'll have to eat and then get to the classes" Quackity gestured to his house and started making his way inside, Tommy following eagerly, Sapnap closing the door behind then .
"Hey Tommy" Karl looked up from his pot of stew he was making, "Would you like a bowl too? It's rabbit stew"
"Oh no I wouldn't want to intrude..." Karl waved him off "Oh it's fine, we've got plenty!" The brown haired man smiled and started to pour out a bowl for the boy.
"Come on,Chick ,let's eat first and then we can start on preening" Quackity got his own bowl of stew.
Tommy squacked ,"Hey! I'm not a chick! Take that back bastard!"
Dinner was nice, a lot nicer then many dinners he's had, when was the last time he been in such a domestic setting? He watched Karl try some of Sapnap's stew and started coughing up a storm with the amount of spice he added to his, Quackity rushing to grab him some milk while laughing his ass off.
After dinner Quackity brought him up to a room he had that was specifically made for his nest.Tommy sat criss-crossed in it, feeling happy Quackity trusted him enough to be allowed into his nest.
"Ok so I said we'd work on preening first," Quackity sat behind of him after getting a plastic bag, "this is for any fallen out feathers" Tommy nodded, concentrating on soaking up the information.
"First spread your wings, obviously" Tommy opened one of his wings up and Quackity went through as gently as he could with how bad the state of his wings were in, Tommy melted at the touch. It felt like getting the biggest ,warmest hug from a loved one after being in the cold, away from them for weeks.
It took a while, but Quackity finished half of his wing. "Ok, so know I want you to show me what you can do, try to copy my previous movements. Then I'll tell you if there's any mistakes so you can do better on the your other wing, where we will preen them together" Tommy nodded and did what he could remember from Quackity's preening.
He did relatively ok ,Quackity correcting any wrong gestures, telling him not to pluck out any feathers, just very loose ones. When they finished, Tommy's back didn't feel so sore anymore, like could finally breathe correctly.
Tommy stood up and stretched ,"Man, I feel amazing!". Quackity laughed, "Yeah preening is great, like taking a nice long cold shower after being in the sun, working for hours" Tommy nodded in agreement.
"Now remember, you should preen at least 2 times a week, more if they get dirty or your molting, which could happen do to stress" Quackity said, leading Tommy to the front door.
"Well damn no wonder my wings were wrecked, I'm always stressed, maybe my feathers have just been falling out the entire time" Tommy joked but Quackity nervously chuckled, worried by what that meant.
"And come back first thing in the morning for your flying lessons!" He called out to Tommy who ran out, turning back to wave at the shorter man yelling, "Will do!"
The next Tommy woke up bright and early, just as promised. He throw off his covers, quickly got ready, flung open the door aaaand-
It's still dark out, go back inside-
He didn't want to seem desperate!
So he preened his wings while he was waiting for the sun to rise, he had to show Quackity he was learning and was not a lost cause so he won't leave him to the wolves and tell everyone how much of a useless excuse for an Avian he was.
Oh god, what if he messes this up and he does go around telling people that? 'Everyone already hates me, they would all laugh and maybe use my lack of flight against me like how I couldn't fly away in exile?' Tommy gulped and made his way to Quackity's house, a lot less excited then before.
"Ok so I'll just be teaching you how my Mama taught me, easy right?" Quackity said. The two Avians stood on top of his hotel ,nothing on the floor to catch Tommy if he didn't make it.
'It'll be fine, everything's fine, he's not trying to kill you' Tommy took a deep breathe.
"We'll start off with gliding , it'll be a lot easier to adjust to the winds when flying if you know how to navigate them first " The chick nodded ,soaking up the information like a sponge. The last thing he wants to do is get this wrong.
"When going to fly or glide you always bend your knees ,gives you a head start when you start flying " Quackity bent his knees a bit, his wings angling themselves lower,before jumping off the hotel and letting the wind carry him out to the ground.
"Woah .." Tommy looked at him mouth agape as Quackity flied back up to the top of the hotel.
"You think you can do it?" The black haired man smirked. Tommy nodded his head eagerly , quietly praying he didn't look like a fool.
They spent a good three hours just jumping off the hotel, learning how to maneuver his wings .Everytime he got something wrong he always got so nervous. But his teacher didn't get made, he just waited patiently. Quackity felt like true mother ,even if he was usually an uncle. He felt happy that he got to share these moments with Tommy, even if he felt a little sad he didn't spend them with his actual father.
The older avian smiled, "Alright I think that's enough, let's go eat something and get back to it" .Tommy nodded ,willing the sweat from his forehead. Flying ,even gliding, took so much energy.
They both glided down towards the entrance of the hotel, Sam Nook serving them some rabbit soup. The blonde didn't know what type of avian they were, never really looking into it, but he was grateful he wasn't bound to veganism.
He looked up to Quackity ,he was really glad to have another avain on his side, made him feel a little less lonely.
"Hey Quacks, we're kinda like a club now that I'm thinking about it. An avain club" He chuckled.
"Those are called Folks , Tommy" ,His teacher responded, "basically close avains, like a family" . Tommy blushed and looked down, did he really just call Quackity family?! Man shoes you one once of attention and now you clung to him like a baby chick.
The older man saw Tommy's reaction and laughed, causing the boy's cheeks to redden.
"I would love to be your flock Tommy" Quackity smiled after he calmed down.
"R-really?" He asked, almost scared that Quackity would just laugh again and say no and make fun of him for ever thinking he could have a family.
"I'll be there for you, I'll continue teaching ya how to fly
You deserve it kid"
And if Tommy cried ,it was no body's business but his.