[APH] Drabbles

Student!France x Child!Reader - The Little Birds

Note : This is for a contest on deviantART, so don't be surprised if you see it there. ;U

________

"Silky."

"Hmm?" You mumbled, eyes shut and thoughts concentrated fully on each stroke of the Frenchman's hand.

He was combing his long fingers through your hair, admiring it. "Your hair, it's really silky."

"Oh, thanks."

Quiet was the room, soft was your hair and happy were the two of you. Your hands, neatly folded in your lap, twitched. Your right leg shook. Francis hummed his anthem, and all was well. But it wasn't, you knew, and Francis needed to be confronted on a single matter that had taken a large part of your afternoon and also of the night before. 

"Francis?" You said. 

"What is it, mon chaton?"

Kitten. He had called you a kitten. "Meow."

He stopped braiding your hair and rested his hands on your shoulders. He leaned in and whispered, "Woof."

You smiled and he continued to braid and unbraid the strands of your hair. Seemingly uncontent with each outcome, he would furrow his brow and open the braid, then combing through your hair with his fingers and starting the process all over again. 

"My question." You cleared your throat afterwards, trying to grasp his attention. 

He kept humming along, stopping only to mumble a quick, "which is?"

"The birds."

"Tweet tweet, those birds?"

You nodded, causing him to pull your hair just a bit, followed by an apology which you ignored. "Yes those birds."

The braid was finished, but as before, he didn't like it. Again, he unraveled it. "What about them?"

"How many are there."

He glanced at the birds, squinting in order to count them. "Three." He continued his work. 

"Those are adult birds." You said, watching them put together a shabby nest. "Why are there three when there can only be a mommy and a daddy?"

He shrugged his shoulders, unseen by your eyes. "I haven't a clue. Maybe the male birds are still trying to impress the mommy bird."

You shut your eyes, not wanting to look at the birds which confused you. Francis accidentally pulled on a knot in your hair. "Ow!"

"Sorry." 

You groaned. "Why do you play with my hair so much?" 

"Silky." He said.

The birds were finished with their nest. You watched as the—you presumed—female bird began to hop near the larger bird. The smaller male tried to make his way to the female, but the couple began to move away from it, chirping whenever it got near them. After some time of this, the small bird left, leaving the two alone. 

For some reason, Francis felt like kissing your hair, and he did so. He brought his head to your hair and kissed your sweet locks. Braiding and unbraiding, once again. 

"Francis! Francis, did you see that?!" You said, louder than you had wished. You pointed at the birds' nest, now occupying two.

"See what?"

"The birds! The two birds kicked out that one bird! Why did they do that, Francis? The small bird helped build the nest just as much as the other two, why did they kick him out?" You didn't stop between sentences, rushing to get the words out. Your face was a bit heated from the lack of air, but nevertheless, you were fine.

"Birds are cruel, mon petit oiseau." He said lovingly.

My little bird. "I'm not a bird, Francis, don't call me a bird!"

"My apologies. Why do the birds bother you?" Braid; unbraid. 

"I don't know, they just do. The birds yelled at the smaller one!" Having not slept much the night before, you hadn't the concentration to think properly, let alone keep your emotions intact. Tears of frustration welled up. "That's not fair!"

His hands dropped. No more did he braid your hair. Instead, he walked around and sat beside you on the bench. "You said before, there can only be a mommy and daddy."

"But still-"

"They couldn't have three birds in one nest, that's too many!"

You pouted and hissed, "Let me finish. The small bird helped the others build the nest, why did they yell at him? Couldn't they say a 'thank you'?"

The two unruly birds hipped and hopped on the branch of the tree, happily making the final touches on their new nest. 

"I guess that was their way of saying 'Two's company, but three's a crowd.'"

You scrunched your nose at the thought. "What's that mean?"

"It means they wanted the small birdy to go away so they could be alone. People do it too." He sighed. Grabbing a small book from his pocket, he opened it and scanned the pages, looking for a certain part. Thwip, thwip.  

"People do that? That's mean! Why don't they all hang out? They can have a party and dress up." It made perfect sense that way, there wasn't a reason for them to kick out the third person. 

Thwip. His fingers swiped across each thin page, a soft sound coming from the grinding of paper. Thwip, thwip. "You can't see it that way, dear. They wanted alone time, the main reason for them making the nest in the first time is to start a family."

Once again you felt hot tears. You made a small whine, which gave Francis a hint on your exhaustion. "Why couldn't there just be three birds in that family? Three birds will make it better."

He let out another sigh, standing up and stretching, his finger held in betwixt the needed pages. You hadn't noticed the pages had stopped flipping. "I guess birds don't think like that."

"_______!" Called a woman's voice. 

You turned around, sitting on your knees as you watched your mother stride to you. "Mama!" You called, jumping off the bench and running to her. 

Bending down, she kissed your forehead and smiled. "Baby, did Francis watch you well?"

You nodded. "Yes, he was just telling me about the birds!"

"The birds?"

"The birds!" You repeated. 

She grabbed your hand. "Isn't that nice? Thank you for watching her, Francis."

"Not a problem." He said, "She's like my little sister."

"That's sweet." Cooed your mother.

"Oh!" He muttered, jogging back up to you. "_______, I almost forgot to show you this."

Looking down at the page he held open, you saw a blue bird with a white face and a red scruff on the top of its head. You laughed at the bird's bright hat. "It looks kinda silly!"

"Yes, this is the Acorn Woodpecker, and it's a male because of the red cap on its head. What's interesting about it is that they practice cooperative breeding. So they build nests and live in larger groups than just two."

You gasped and then smiled, looking back up at him. "So these birds don't kick each other out of the nest?" 

He shook his head. "Not at all, they build the nest and take care of the babies together."

"Ah, thank you, again, Francis, but we have to go." Your mother looked at her watch. "I'm going to be late to Barbara's."

"Okay, no need to hold you up." 

You ran up to him and hung your arms around his neck, squeezing him in a tight hug. "Thanks, Francis!"

"You're welcome, ______."