ruffled feathers

sick grian

mumbo sighed as he placed a cold cloth on grians forehead. that was the second one in an hour, grian had a wicked fever and mumbo felt incredibly guilty for putting him through so much. 

grian had been asleep for almost a full day, mumbo had carried the passed out bird back to his house and lay him down on his bed. mumbo opted for his sofa at night.

as mumbo  applied the cold cloth grain mumbled something.

"hey grian, you're okay. your in my house cause you passed out. you are pretty sick though. look... i'm really sorry, i was upset but i put you in danger and that was really horrible, i hope we can still be friends but i completely get if you don't want to. i don't even know if you can here me"
mumbo confessed, he fiddles with his thumbs nervously. he knew he would have to repeat this when grian was actually conscious and not living in a fever dream but this was practice he supposed.

grian grumbled in his sleep and turned over. he stirred a little and slowly sat up. rubbing his eyes

"mumbo? can i give you a dare"

he muttered, blinking slowly.

"sure bud but don't you want to rest first?"

grian shook his head slowly before feebly lifting one of his wings. he cringed at their bedraggled state and looked away from both his feathers and mumbo. he kept his gaze fixed on his hands which fidgeted nervously.

"can you preen my wings? it's weird but they are uncomfortable and i feel like... a dead mole rat"

mumbo gulped, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt grian, he didn't know the first thing about preening, he barely trusted himself not to trip down the stairs in the morning let alone this.  but mumbo looked at his nervous friend and knew he couldn't refuse so mumbo did what he does best, he read a book: more specifically one he had on avians and the preening process.

with the book propped up and grians left wing over his legs mumbo began to softly sift through the bright colours.

mumbo used careful precision to remove any broken feathers or singed ones, then all the sand, mud, grass, leaves and stones from his friends wing, occasionally grian would hum in content but aside from that he stayed silent.

mumbo became transfixed on the soft movements and soon found himself running his hands idly over the feathers as he read.  no longer tense and nervous, instead relaxed.

what snapped him out of it was a small paragraph near the bottom.

if an avian creature asks another to clean their wings and the other agrees, it is a sign of affection, trust and love. an action like this will not be forgotten or taken lightly to both the avian and the other who preens them. it is a unspoken bond between the two. this is an intimate activity as the wings are sensitive.

mumbo shot a glance at the ill bird. deducting he couldn't even think straight let alone  remember this. he convinced himself it was fine and mumbo visibly relaxed. he hurriedly left to make tea before he found any other facts he would prefer not to know, after all- ignorance is bliss.

no sugar and a drop of milk for him, three sugars and 1/5 milk for grian.

mumbo peeked round the door, his heart melting at the sight of grian curled up and encased in his wings.

mumbo carefully placed the tea on the bedside table and gently shook the sleeping blond.
grian gave a small grumble and looked at mumbo. his eyes appeared to have a sheen of gold but mumbl payed little attention to that instead  he offered the tea which grian gratefully took, they sat in silence sipping their warm beverages.

once grian was done he easily fell back asleep, his chest softly rising in a blissful slumber. mumbo get closer and brushed a strand of his sandy blond hair out his eyes, a small smile on his face. mumbo felt his forehead, a wave of relief washed over him as finally grians fever had gone down.

without warning grians hand shot out, he pulled mumbo towards him, still out like a light. mumbo fell into grians warm embrace, facing the somehow still asleep avian, the redstoners cheeks were now a deep crimson and he tried to get out, not wanting grian to freak out when he woke up, not to mention he felt like a creep.

he made to get up but grian murmured disapprovingly and wrapped his now clean wings round his friend.

mumbo lay there, listening to the steady heartbeat of his smaller friend. he tried to fight off sleep but the wings provided an odd amount of comfort and warmth to the red stone engineer. his eyes began feeling heavier and soon the two were together in a deep sleep.

guys idk. it's j cute cuz... sleepy grian is cute.