Cerulean Feathers

Chapter 31

John chuckled as he listened to the old stories that were tossed over the table, the mix of second genders around him laughing as the currently speaking Beta threw his hands in the air.

"I thought every butterfly was the tooth fairy! I waved at every fucking one like a dumbass!"

Laughter again tumbled around the table, smiles impossible to wipe off faces even as the clocks ticked toward 4 am.

Toby was sitting between Swagger and Cam, his brown feathers trembling as he giggled at Swagger's story. Cam had a tired grin on his lips, his gazelle horns resting on the wall behind him as he leaned his head back. Matt was stretching in his seat, narrowly avoiding chipping the paint off the cramped walls with his blackbuck horns. John was seated between Swagger and Matt, hands in his gray hoodie. He hadn't been able to find his black one.

Mason and Jay had been sent to bed around midnight, the teens grumbling before vanishing to their rooms.

"And then this one time-"

"Fiiiiiitz, your laptop is being annoying again."

Swagger was cut off by a whine from the stairs, and all eyes trained on the cardinal Omega that was perched at the top of the steps.

"Go back to bed Mason,"

Cam hushed,

"I'll fix it in a bit."

"He refuses to go to bed, Toby!"

Jay's wail proved the young Alpha was also still awake, probably prodded awake by Mason.

"I can't sleeeeeep!"

The Omega crowed again, pouting when Jay appeared and leaned an arm on his head.

"Fine, I'll be right there."

Cameron huffed, tugging the cardinal to his feet and leading Jay, the half-asleep ram-horn, back to their shared room.

In the silence of the small kitchen, John and the others could hear the sound of an alarm blaring from Cameron's room.

"Cam must've left his alarm on again,"

Toby said with a chuckle, shaking his head with a small smile.

"Who sets an alarm at 4:20?"

John scoffed at Matt's question, Swagger making a small comment about the boss doing dumb shit when he was tripping on acid.

They waited for Cameron for a while.

Swagger took a puff of his vape and let the white cloud stream through his nose and mouth.

It smelled like nicotine.

A clock ticked on the wall.

A cricket chirped somewhere in the walls.

John scrolled through his phone, ignoring the worried scents of Matt and Toby as orange-clove and freshly mown grass began to attack his nose.

Swagger rapped his fingers on the table as he took another puff.

The clock read 4:47.

"Where is he?"

Swagger asked finally, dropping his vape on the table in agitation.

"Dunno. Maybe he's reading Mason a story,"

John offered, pocketing his phone. Toby shook his head.

"Mason's attention span wouldn't last this long; no offence to the kid."

There was a clatter and several thuds upstairs.