Falling for you - Qinter Fic

17. Alone Time

Finally some pure Qinter-time! Yay!

With Sundrop at daycare, Qibli and Winter officially had alone time.Well, they thought.But as soon as Kinkajou, Sunny and Qinter returned to the school, Sunny began telling them things to do.

"Okay, so after class, which starts in half an hour, I was hoping you could go with the rest of your Winglet and collect fruit for tomorrow morning's fruit-day.Then, sense you'll be in the rainforest, you can pick up Sundrop on the way home.You will, won't you?"

"Sure,"Winter shrugged, his usual frown adorning his snout.

But I-

"Okay..."Qibli sighed. "Of course we will, Sunny."he faked a smile, saluting.

"Thanks.You guys are the best."Sunny beamed. "Kinkajou, you can tell the rest of the Winglet.I'll see you guys after classes."

"Let's go."Qibli brushed past Winter, heading for their first class: History.
Qibli was pretty good at history, because he had a good memory, but he just wasn't feeling it.He wanted do something more exciting, rather than sitting in a seat for an hour or so.

Oh well- once this is over with, we get to go hunting!

***
After their classes they met up with the rest of the winglet, ready to head out and start collecting fruit.

"I am SO excited for the fruit-day tomorrow!"Kinkajou beamed, yelping so loudly Turtle flinched beside her.
"I'm going to collect SO MUCH FRUIT!"

"Kinkajou, do you really like fruit that much?"Turtle chuckled, but then his eyes widened as Kinkajou grasped his forearm, pulling him toward the rain forest.

"Come on, guys, let's go."Moon called airily, shoving Carnelian and Umber toward where Kinkajou and Turtle had disappeared.

Qibli and Winter trailed along behind them, flying down to the forest floor and walking along quietly and slowly.
Their wings brushed occasionally as they searched the treetops for ripe, dangling fruits.

Turtle and Kinkajou were deep in conversation, not even sparing a glance at the treetops.Turtle looked dreamily at Kinkajou, who looked more enthralled in her conversation than Turtle.

Carnelian and Umber were standing awkwardly beside each other, actually trying to find fruit.Carnelian snapped up into the air, landing quickly with a mushy mango in her talon.The sweet and sticky juice ran down her red scales, dripping to the ground.

"Hey, Qibli, Winter? Can I hang out with you two?"Moon asked quietly, stopping in her stop to turn and face them. "I don't think Kinkajou wants to talk to me right now."

Qibli frowned. "I guess so, Moon."

Winter remained silent, not even sparing Moon a glance when she walks in line with Qibli.She bit her lip nervously, glancing over at them.

"What is it, Moon?"Qibli asked her, wishing silently that the NightWing would leave them alone.He had been hoping to spend some them alone with Winter, just to talk like they used to.

"Well, it's just-"Moon frowned, pausing in conversation. "I went on a da- I went to hang out with this girl named Flux.
She's a MudWing/SkyWing/NightWing hybrid, and she's really lonely.I want to make her less sad, but she doesn't want to open up to me.She always has this sad frown on her face.What should I do?"Moon glanced at Qibli expectantly.

"Really, Moon? You're asking this guy for advice? You should know by now that his advice never works out."
Winter snorted in amusement, glancing over Qibli's head to smirk at her.She nodded slightly in agreement.

"Hey!"Qibli faked hurt, glaring lightly at his....well, he wasn't really sure what Winter was to him.He was more than a crush, but was he his boyfriend? His wife-? That made Qibli excited.

"Okay, then, mr.awesomeadvice.Help Moon with her lover problems."Qibli smirked at Winter, who sent Qibli his signature scowl.

"Fine- because I was once like this...Flux...I suggest spending more time with her.Once she gets more warmed up to you, she'll probably tell you.She needs to gain your trust first."
Winter explained with a shrug.

Moon was quiet for a moment. "That- actually makes sense.Thanks."

"Now come on, let's do what we came to do instead of gossiping."Qibli chuckled, grasping Winter's forearm and pulled him up into the trees.

***
After they'd collected a ton of fruit in large brown sacks, they paused by a stream, washing sticky juice off their talons.They handed all the bags to Carnelian, Turtle, Moon, Kinkajou, and Umber, then flew off toward the rain forest to get Sundrop.

They flew at a slow pace, dodging trees and vines. "So, I was thinking..."
Qibli started slowly, curling his claws up tight into balls.

"Of course you were,"Winter chuckled softly. "I would be shocked if you weren't thinking, Qibs."

"Hey- that's true.But I'm serious, Winter.What are we? Like, we haven't really talked about it.Sundrop thinks you are her mom, and I'm her dad.But does that mean we're, like, fully together? You're my gir-boyfriend?"
Qibli stumbled over his words.

"Well- Umm....Is now the time to say I don't like you?"Winter smiled sheepishly.

"What!? Camel-crap-"Qibli cursed under his breath. "You're such a liar!"

They flew down to the forest floor, facing each other.Winter looked amused, and that surprised Qibli.
He was usually the joking one...

"I'm not lying.You suck."Winter snorted. "I hate you so much."

Qibli glared at him, and Winter just smirked. "You are having so much fun being smug, aren't you?"

"Yeah.I am.I get why you're like this so often."Winter nodded.

Qibli groaned lightly. "Seriously, what are we? It's an easy question.I know you know I like you."

Winter looked away, his face flushed. "Well, I thought we were boyfriends already..."

"Oh.Yeah, sure.I mean, that makes sense."Qibli nodded, staring awkwardly at anything other than Winter.

"Yep."

Qibli cleared his throat. "Well- should we go get Sundrop?"

"Soon,"Winter murmured, moving a bit closer to Qibli and placing his freezing cold talon on Qibli's warm one.

Woah- he's really pretty.

For staring at it so often, he always found more beautiful and interesting things about Winter's face that he'd never noticed before.

Winter actually had the lightest of blue freckles if you looked close enough.Like, really hard and really close.Qibli hoped no one had ever seen Winter's freckles before.

"Qibli- you're freaking me out with how intensely you're staring at me."Winter snorted, eyes unblinking as he gazed back at Qibli.

"You're just so beautiful."Qibli breathed in awe.

Winter's face became very blue at that moment, and Qibli chuckled. "Shut up.You are so weird."

"Why is it weird to call my sweet little boyfriend beautiful?"

"I'm not 'your sweet little boyfriend'
I am your tough and intimidating boyfriend."Winter huffed grumpily.

"Fine.But you're also my sassy wife, according to Sundrop."Qibli smirked.
Now it was his time to be smug.

"Oh my moons, Qibli shut up!"Winter whined, running a talon along his muzzle.

"Why don't you make me?"

Man, Qibli, you are so smooth. Imma give myself a nice o'l pat on the back.

Winter did.He pressed a short kiss to Qibli's awaiting snout.It lasted only a few moments, but it was perfect to Qibli.

"I'm glad we finally got some time to talk.."Qibli whispered, desperately trying not to ruin the moment.

"Yeah, now let's go get our daughter."Winter smiled lightly, twining his tail carefully with Qibli's.