Chapter Text
Inviting Berdly over for the night was maybe not the best idea Kris Dreemurr had had in the past month. Probably not even in the past year.
But their mother had gone out with bone man, and Asriel was too deep into college work to chat with them and play games online, and… something within them wanted to see that nerd bird again. Whatever it was, whatever inexplicable part of their subconscious they'd been battling against… it seemed dead set on keeping watch over Berdly, almost looking out for him. It was so embarrassing to feel something like that and not even have a proper explanation for it.
Kris had been getting increasingly frustrated with themselves as of late. Feeling weird compulsions when around Berdly, something oddly protective that they couldn't quite place… it was all starting to pile up into a complicated mess of emotions and cravings that they would really rather pretend weren't there.
Maybe they should just… let it happen. Maybe if they do whatever the hell their brain wants them to, it'll explain everything.
(Yeah, I'm sure that'll fix all your problems, kid.) YOU snarked in their head.
…And they should get the SOUL out of the picture soon, while they're at it.
A rap at the door broke them out of their thoughts. Pushing away the entity's presence and the singsong tone with which it was mocking them, they made their way to it sluggishly, recognizing the knocking pattern.
They nearly went back on their idea when they opened the door to find Berdly standing in front of them, fluffed up against the cold air and bringing along several pillows and blankets in huge shopping bags, and their urges told them to pull him close to them and never let go.
“Evening, Kris.” he greeted with a small smile. “Where should I leave my- Gwuh?!”
Kris wasn't a pussy. As embarrassing as the impulse was, they stuck to their word and pulled him to them as soon as he walked in, practically curling themselves around him in a snake-like fashion. His bags dropped to the ground with a muffled thump.
“Ah- Er- I-I am glad to see you too, Kris!” the bluebird stammered with an awkward laugh, but he didn't make an attempt to push them away, one of his wings lingering awkwardly on their back as if he didn't know how hugs worked.
(The proximity was worsening their compulsions. They could feel his fluffed up neck feathers tickling their face, and it was making them want to do something else. Something they couldn't just do spontaneously.)
They pulled away quickly in fear that their impulsive thoughts took over, choosing to disregard the deranged urge that passed through their mind and allowing Berdly to take a breather. The bluebird looked startled, feathers rounding out his features even further, this time at what had spooked him rather than the night chill.
“Hi.” they mumbled shyly. Angel, their face was burning. Why the hell was their face burning?!
“Unusual greeting.” he said in reply. “B-but I can't say I'm opposed.” he added quickly with a nervous chuckle.
Kris let their eyes wander over his frame. His feathers were left messy in the places they'd hugged him in, and his beak was curved in an awkward smile, eyes wide and cheeks flushed. Noticing the way their eyes lingered on him, Berdly suddenly flinched out of whatever trance he was in, scrambling to pick up his bags and properly walk in.
“You like my hugs?” the words were out of their mouth before they could stop themselves.
“They're passable.” he replied quickly as he shut the door behind him. Kris was almost a little disappointed when his feathers went smooth against his skin once again.
They couldn't help the soft little laugh that passed through their lips at the sight of his fluster. He was so strangely… endearing. Curse these inexplicable urges.
“W-well in any case!” Berdly quickly recovered, averting his eyes. “Apologies for my tardiness. I would have liked to be here earlier, but my parents will be returning soon, so there were a lot of meals to prepare this afternoon.”
“That's okay.” a voice passing for Kris's own spoke. “I'm glad you're here at all.”
The blush that had begun fading out of the bluebird's face flared up with a vengeance, his pupils darting to meet Kris's eyes. They clenched their jaw as soon as the words were out. Couldn't their SOUL mind its own business?! They thought it'd grown out of doing that!
(I'm wingmanning!) it answered their disgruntled thoughts unhelpfully. (You need all the help you can get, kiddo.)
They pushed it aside, praying such a decision wouldn't bite them in the ass again. Berdly brought a wing to scratch at the back of his head, talons rapping on the floor nervously.
(His tail was wagging slowly behind him. Kris didn't know why their brain focused on that.)
“I'm, ah…” he murmured. “I-I'm glad I'm here as well. It's nice to… s-spend time with you.”
Allowing Berdly little time to sit with the entity's intrusion, Kris piped up to fill the silence. “So what do you wanna do now?”
The bluebird they harbored confusing feelings for thankfully did not question the lightning-quick topic change, simply following them to the couch and sitting next to them. He tucked his tail close to his body so that he could lean back on the cushions.
“Perhaps we could just… play Smashing Fighters for a bit.” he suggested while absently preening a wing feather.
“We do that all the time.”
“Well, I never said I came here for a change of pace, did I?”
Kris chuckled. “I guess not.”
They should have expected the following events to unroll after they set up the game and the two started to play. The first few matches started off normal, Kris in the lead with Berdly snatching a couple of victories for himself amidst all his annoyed grumbling about the inherent unfairness of cheap exploits like Darth's grab or ledge-camping (which, in his defense, Kris had pinky promised they'd stop doing - too bad Berdly didn't have any pinkies to bind the oath with). It was fun, and it was normal. For a while, the weird feelings stayed at bay as Kris just allowed themselves to have fun kicking Berdly's feathery ass in videogame form.
But then YOU decided to get involved. And, as it tended to happen, everything immediately went to shit.
They'd noticed Berdly had inched closer to them at some point, but when the entity roused their limbs to life, the distance between the two of them became nearly negligible with the way it'd led them along the cushions to meet the bluebird halfway. Their shoulder brushing against his sent shivers down their spine in an uncomfortably enjoyable way, and it took all in their being to avoid flinching back and breaking the light contact. Not like Berdly was moving anyways.
(Their playing was sloppier for a while, but maybe it was worth it to experience Berdly's obnoxious gloating. There was something about his scratchy, somewhat nasally voice that had Kris itching to hear it again.)
It was when YOU tried to hook their leg with Berdly's, however, that Kris finally realized how lenient they were being with the frustrating parasite in their chest and mashed the pause button with shaky fingers. Berdly turned to look at them, shooting them an inquisitive stare.
“Gotta go to the bathroom.” they blurted out the first thing they could think of.
“Hmm.” the bluebird hummed, stroking the underside of his beak with his index feather in thought. “Or perhaps you're just tired of losing?”
“Score's sixteen to seven right now. You're losing bad.”
“That- I-it's a matter of perspective!”
Kris scoff-laughed. The birdbrain was weirdly endearing when he wanted to be. “Sure.”
They would have quite liked to keep teasing Berdly for his ridiculous replies to their trash talk, but there were more pressing matters to attend to. The entity had kept control over them for too long. Swiftly, they speedwalked up the stairs to their room, frustration building under their skin the more YOU tried to fight back, and once they were safely locked inside their room, they grabbed a pillow between their teeth to muffle the inevitable yowls of pain when they reached into their chest.
It was an absolutely destructive process, blood that immediately disappeared inexplicably coating their hand when it emerged from the inside of their chest, clutching the culmination of their being between the fingers. The red heart-shaped object buzzed and thrummed sickeningly in their hold in a way that almost made them want to puke, were it not for the fact that they were already used to tearing their SOUL out of their chest.
(Hey, what gives?!) YOU grumbled. (I was just trying to help!)
“Not helping.” Kris nearly snarled back at it, gripping it tighter in their hand. “Just… making everything worse.”
(So you're gonna lock me here?!) the entity hissed as if it was gawking. (You know you've been getting worse at staying SOULless, right?)
“Don't care.” they fumbled with the lock in the birdcage's door before throwing it open haphazardly. “Need to talk to him. You're getting in the way.”
(I mean, yay direct and honest communication, but-) it cut itself off. (Th-this could be seriously dangerous for you!)
“Better to get in danger than have to listen to you.”
(You certainly have your priorities straight.) YOU snarked. (Fine. Go kiss your bird boyfriend or whatever. And don't die along the way.)
“Shut the fuck up.” Kris growled, before throwing the heart-shaped object into its cage and watching it slam against the bars.
Ignoring the SOUL's obnoxious comments on how they could (stand to be a bit gentler), the human made their way out of their room, locking the door behind them for good measure, and practically skipped down the stairs. Terrible idea, seeing as the lack of a SOUL was already starting to affect their physical abilities and pain still seared through their chest from the action of ripping it out, but they couldn't afford to care. They had to get to Berdly. They had to unload everything they'd been itching to tell him now that there were no prying eyes around.
Their hasty arrival back in the living room startled Berdly into a squawk, head swiveling to meet them as he stood up from the couch like a meerkat. He looked visibly unnerved for a second. Kris supposed they understood why: seeing his rival heaving like they'd just found out they could breathe, limbs shaky and posture completely crooked like a tree branch, was probably at least a little unsettling to witness.
“Kris!” he squawked, audibly worried. “Are you- Wh-what in the world happened to you?!”
“'M fine. Nothing to worry about.” they decided to walk over the rest of the way to him in the hopes it'd stress him out less, but their shaking was still so strong it wracked their whole body, and Berdly remained concerned. “Just gotta talk to you.”
“Talk?!” he screeched, wide-eyed. “You look and sound like you're about to faint! What could possibly be so important that you have to-”
“I feel fucking crazy, Berdly.” Kris blurted out, feeling in control of themselves in the most destructively chaotic way possible. “For the past few weeks, just- every time that you're around, I get this urge to… I don't know! Keep an eye on you?? Stay close by like your fucking bodyguard?! What the hell is that all about?! That's weird, right???”
They could feel Berdly's gaze on them, making their skin ripple with goosebumps. He'd gone completely quiet since they started speaking again, feathers switching between fluffing erratically and spreading out in a circular manner.
“…Wh-what kind of… urge?” the bluebird murmured in the vaguest tone they'd ever heard from him. There was something hidden behind the forceful neutrality in it, but they couldn't quite place it.
For a brief moment, Kris felt like tearing their hair out would be the objective best solution to all of their current problems. So they tried it out, and while it did sort of help, it wasn't as useful as they'd hoped. Not to mention, Berdly looked a lot more startled now.
“I have no clue!” they hissed. “I can't explain it! It just happens! It's so frustrating, it's like a parasite that takes over my whole body and makes me want-”
Kris snapped their mouth shut, jaw clacking with the awkward way it closed. The word right on the tip of their tongue made their brain chorus the loud clack of their jaw with its own clicking noise of sudden realization that practically echoed inside their skull.
Finally, after all this time, they'd figured out what that itch in the back of their brain wanted from them, why they'd do such wildly inexplicable things almost on instinct only in relation to that dumb bird. It made perfect sense in hindsight. They should have known sooner. They should have understood these were the kind of deranged impulses only a person in their situation would have.
It was Berdly. They wanted Berdly.
“…You.” they finally said, blank-faced, almost like a whisper.
They fell into silence again, eyes slowly drifting towards the bluebird as they walked just a little closer to him. His greenish eyes met theirs in turn. His pupils had begun to shrink into tinier dots, and there was a soft dark blue blush settling across his cheeks, which were fluffed up in surprise and… something else. Or maybe that was wishful thinking on their part.
(Never before had they allowed themselves to point out how fucking pretty he was.)
“Er- K-Kris?” the birdbrain in question stammered, brows lightly furrowed. “Wh-what are you… Is something… wrong?”
Their mind was still reeling from tearing their SOUL out of their body and locking it up in their room, their hands shaky when they gripped Berdly and pulled him right to them. He chirped in surprise, fluffing up in that adorable way he always did when he was startled, but he didn't look afraid, just caught off-guard. Or at least they thought he didn't. They hoped so - they could barely think straight over the need to have him.
“Tell me if you want this, Berdly.” they begged, a tone so unlike them, raspy and desperate. “Please, just- I don't think I can keep it at bay anymore. I need to know.”
Berdly's breath audibly hitched in his throat, beak parted in surprise. His greenish eyes were wide, his pupils tiny within the irises, and his face had darkened into such a deep shade of cobalt that it had nearly spread across the feathers in his neck. He swallowed dryly, his gaze wavering for just a moment, flicking down, then right back up as if he'd gotten embarrassed. Kris nearly scoffed. What the hell did he have to be embarrassed about?
As if they weren't the embarrassing one here. As if they weren't clinging to the bluebird they'd just realized they were obsessively in love with, desperately pleading for his explicit consent before they lost their bearing on reality. As if they weren't hoping he would allow them to cover him in so many marks there would be no doubt as to who he belonged to. Angel, the blood in their veins rushed like a rapid the more they thought about it.
Finally, the object of their affections spoke.
“Don't… D-don't hold back, then.” he breathed out, keeping his eyes on theirs in a surprising show of boldness. “Or are you a coward?”
They barely let him finish his second sentence before crashing into him, mashing their lips with his stupid, dumb, pointed beak so aggressively they feared they'd actually hurt him somehow. He clung to them in turn, pulling them closer, kissing them deeper, and a wave of white-hot relief swamped their entire body as they realized he wanted this too. Maybe as much as they did, if his quiet chirps of appreciation and hasty scrambling for a better hold on their sweater were anything to go by.
Once he deemed them close enough, Berdly's wings moved to spread all over their back almost protectively, one of them burying itself in their hair and tugging, practically forcing them closer and closer to him as he hummed into their mouth, the noise accompanied by a medley of chirps and warbles that drove Kris absolutely insane. Angel, he really was shameless, wasn't he? Good thing they were able and willing to match his enthusiasm.
Sooner than they'd hoped, their oxygen depleted due to their worsened breath capacity when not bound to their SOUL. Berdly blinked as they pulled back, breathing heavily, looking woozy and thoroughly kissed. He was so close to wobbling in place when he desperately tried to follow after them, making a quiet little whimpering noise that had the human fighting the urge to cave into their horrible cuteness aggression, that Kris had to tighten their grip on instinct to avoid him falling.
“D-doesn't… taste like apples.” he blurted out dumbly, staring blankly at nothing in particular.
Kris felt their face grow warm, far too warm. God dammit. That nerdy bird knew just the kind of stupid bullshit to say to get them dizzy, huh? They really were whipped. What the hell was even happening anymore?
Berdly's wings slipped out of their back and smushed against their cheeks, nearly smothering their entire face with how big they were. His eyes focused back on them, pupils no more than tiny pinpricks in the veldt that were his greenish-yellow irises. Kris had never before felt like they were at the whims of the typically inoffensive bluebird. It was an exhilarating sensation.
“Let me… try again.” he mumbled through uneven breaths, before pulling them back in, feathers curling around their jaw to tilt it up and receive his kiss.
He was so eager to get back into it, so clumsy with his hasty attempt at making ends meet, that he lost his balance when he pulled them in, falling back onto the couch and breaking the kiss for only a second before he slotted their lips and his beak back together, pulling them in even closer now that he had something to fall back on. At this, Kris released all of their inhibitions and climbed on top of him, practically wrapping themselves around him, grazing his beak with their teeth in hopes that he'd take the hint.
Berdly was smart enough to get it, of course. He opened his mouth immediately, allowed Kris a feel for the inside of it, moaned and trembled under them the deeper they went into the kiss. He broke their link to take in more air again, glasses foggy with both of their warm breaths, panting like he'd ran a marathon but oh so smugly satisfied.
“Butterscotch.” he breathed triumphantly. “You taste like butterscotch.”
If Kris still had their SOUL tethered to their body, it would definitely be hammering in their chest now, the way in which he'd spoken spawning a brand new colony of pesky insects inside their stomach, this time vicious wasps rather than the much more manageable butterflies. They scoffed at his ridiculous “discovery”, too flustered by it to face him head-on.
“Fucking weirdo.” they choked out in a strained tone, feeling feverish with the embarrassment and elation coursing through their body.
Berdly cawed under his breath, his unbearable smugness only intensifying. Kris glared at him. They'd wipe that smirk off his face just yet. He'd soon find out who was really in control here.
“Pot, meet kettle.” the bluebird managed to sneer back, eyes shining with bliss.
They pulled him back in before he could get too cocky, hoisting him into a more upright stance as their hands firmly gripped his waist. This time, he was the one to prod them for a deeper kiss, but they didn't give in, purposefully keeping the kiss as simple as possible to put him in his place.
His frustrated growls were music to their ears, the needy way he tugged at their sweater almost enticing enough to make them cave. But they powered through, slowly dropping down into his lap, kissing him in the most languid way they could manage, until the frustration got too much for him and he pushed them away petulantly, managing to glare at them even in spite of his kiss-drunk haze.
“What, outmatched already?” he snapped in a low hiss. His beak was barely an inch away from their lips. “With the way you were just begging to have me, I'd thought you had more in you.”
Kris let out a deep chuckle, watching Berdly's feathers ripple along his body like reverse-dominoes and his breath noticeably hitch in his throat. Slowly, they pulled away, just a little bit, and his poofed feathers went from messy to upright in mere seconds, eyes narrowing further in distaste.
Such annoyance was short-lived, though, because when they leaned down and stationed themselves right above the side of his neck, their purposefully long exhale ruffling the plumage, the bluebird choked out a breathy gasp and went rigid in their embrace.
(In the back of their mind, they noticed how he craned his neck ever so slightly to give them more space to work with.)
“I've been holding back.” they murmured in a sultry tone.
Berdly didn't reply at first. Kris chose to entice him into it by brushing their lips over the feathers just enough for him to feel it. A thin, warbling whimper escaped his beak, before he cut the sound off prematurely.
“Well, don't.” Berdly attempted to sound confident, but his voice faltered into what almost sounded like a plea at the last word.
“Wasn't planning to anymore.” they replied, before throwing all caution to the wind and latching onto his neck like a leech.
Berdly yelped in surprise when their lips made contact with him, shuddering at the sensation of them gliding over the plumage as Kris peppered it with soft kisses, to prepare him for what was to come. No surface of his neck was safe: his collar, his jawline, his nape, the spot below where his beak met his face… Kris intended to let him know just where they were going to mark him. The little smooches weren't just corny displays of affection - they were like crosses on a treasure map, leading them to the burial spot.
The bluebird seemed to realize this, too, because as their kisses sped up and the grip they had on his waist got firmer, he got more desperate, more fidgety, sounding like he was struggling just to keep himself together. Kris felt a buzz of warmth spreading over their chest. They hadn't even done anything yet, and they already had him wrapped around their finger. He was so easy to please.
His need for their kisses, the way he whimpered as they got rougher and rougher, made pure adrenaline rush through their body. Unwillingly, a devilish little giggle passed through their lips.
They heard Berdly scoff shakily above them. “Wh-what's so f-”
His derisive snark was cut short by a muffled moan as Kris chose to leave their first mark, aggressively, to make absolutely sure it'd stay for a long while. He needed to remember where those marks had come from. He needed to remember who owned him. As fucking ridiculous as that was, it was equally as exhilarating.
“You're mine.” they snarled in between sharp breaths as they kept marking his neck all over, not giving him any time to breathe. “Don't you dare forget it, pretty bird.”
They moved their hands up and wrapped their legs around his waist, nosing up on his neck as an indirect way to force him to tilt his head up until his beak was practically facing the ceiling. They left a hickey right below his beak, feeling his warbles of bliss vibrating against their lips with how close to his voicebox they were.
“I'll tell you as many times as I have to…”
Berdly struggled to find a place for his wings to settle as Kris went on biting him, painting the canvas that was his neck navy blue with the magic that rose to the surface. They felt his feather-fingers rake through their hair softly, even despite his shaky limbs and tumbling whimpers of please Kris I need you please please please please please-
“I'll mark you up as much as I can…”
Kris wrapped their arms around him and clawed at his back like a wild animal, determined to drive him as insane with their touch as they possibly could. It certainly seemed to be working, if the ways he cried out their name in a needy whimper and the grip he had on them tightened were anything to go by.
“Other people won't know because of your pretty feathers, but I will.” they hissed with another well-timed nip that sent Berdly over the edge, pulling a drawly chirrup out of him. “I'll know how you let me do whatever I wanted to you. How you just laid here and begged me to claim you.”
Berdly actively gripped their hair then, chirruping at their (undeniably cringy) words and forcing their head so close to him their nose buried into his neck as well. The intense urge to see what he smelled like overwhelmed them until they couldn't help but inhale deeply, breathing in his cedarwood smell and watching him shudder with the realization of what they were doing.
An odd wave of relaxation swamped over them at his warmth and the sound of his stuttering breaths, clearly still expecting something else, something more. Kris bit their lip to avoid giggling. They almost wished they still had their SOUL with them - that way they'd be able to fight off their exhaustion and keep giving him what he clearly desired.
“You're warm.” they mumbled into his neck, heaving in the most inconspicuous way they could manage. Their lack of a SOUL was seriously catching up to them.
“Thanks. It comes with being alive.” Berdly snarked, but his voice was adorably shaky. “A-are you… done?”
(He sounded a little disappointed. Kris couldn't help but feel a dangerous level of glee at the thought that he was still unsatisfied, even after they'd painted him dark blue like an empty canvas. How annoying.)
“I guess so, yeah.” Kris replied nonchalantly, bringing a hand up to course through his feathery neck. “You're aaaaaall marked up now. Good luck forgetting who you belong to.”
To their surprise, a giddy little chuckle came from the bluebird below them, grating yet strangely melodic in its own way. The way they could feel the sound rumbling in his throat from where they leaned on his shoulder made ecstatic goosebumps ripple across their skin.
“I wouldn't dream of it.” he replied breezily.
Kris's face felt too hot now. They weren't used to Berdly speaking in such a warm, fond tone, free of its usual vocal inflection, nor were they used to feeling that warmth and fondness spreading through their chest. They let out a huff. This stupid bird was making them feel too many new and undiscovered emotions. It was humiliating, and even worse than that, they didn't hate it. They had to take back their control of the situation before things got too mushy.
So they did the only logical thing and slumped on top of him, listening to him wheeze like a deflating bouncy castle as the little oxygen he'd amassed was promptly knocked out of him again for a completely different reason. He flailed under them, but they refused to budge, even when he barraged them with pecks on their forearms.
“Kris!” he hissed with the last of his strength.
“Payback.” they replied simply, snickering at the outraged sputtering that followed.
They allowed their body to fully relax into his frame, tucking their legs closer to them as if they were attempting to loaf on top of him. The bluebird under them groan-sighed overdramatically, as if he hadn't been struggling to breathe just a few seconds ago.
“…Fine.” they heard him hiss under his breath, before his wings properly blanketed them until they could feel the feathers spreading all over their back.
Berdly nuzzled closer without a second thought, resting his head on Kris's shoulder. He wasn't just breathing, they noticed. If they focused hard enough, they could pick up on the way he was inhaling, too quick to be a normal intake of air, yet not shaky or uneven enough that it implied something they should be concerned about. His breaths were too evenly spaced out, too calculated. Plus, they could almost feel the tip of his beak nudging their nape, with how close he was to burying his face in the crook of their neck.
A giddy grin spread across their face. This couldn't be real. There was no way.
“Are you sniffing me?” they asked, tone somewhere between playful and teasing.
Berdly stopped breathing altogether. For a while, he didn't reply. Kris could feel his feathers fluffing up and tickling their neck.
“No.” he said unconvincingly.
Kris snickered under their breath, feeling him agitate in their hold. He was adorable. This was so unfair.
“You're a real freak, man.” their voice came out so affectionate it nearly made them want to puke.
Berdly pulled away from their hold to stare at them, aghast. His rounded face was so flushed his feathers might as well have gotten darker. The sight made Kris want to worsen the problem.
“I wasn't doing that!” he lied with a whiny yelp. “A-and besides, you just-”
He craned his neck and hastily parted the feathers on the surrounding area, showing scattered hickeys all over the surface. Something dark and heavy settled in the depths of Kris's gut at the sight, their eyes locking onto the marks like a target. There were so many of them the skin below was closer to the dark blue of his magic than the normal pinkish tinge. The human's fingers twitched on Berdly's waist with the urge to mark him again, but they kept it at bay this time.
“L-look what you did!!” he screeched, aggressively pointing at the marks, but his pupils were minuscule and Kris was pretty sure the swishing sounds they were hearing were his tail wagging behind him. “You're the freak!”
His strained, flustered tone pulled a soft little chuckle out of them, affection filling their heart like a cup of fruit juice (odd simile, but extremely applicable). They brought a hand to the underside of his beak to pull him closer, grabbing it between their thumb and their index finger. His brows loosened and his breath hitched as they placed little feather-light kisses across his cheek, gentle strokes of a paintbrush on a deeply warm, deeply blue canvas. He relaxed in their hold immediately, churring softly under his breath.
“M'sorry.” Kris mumbled into the feathers. “Want me to renew them?”
Berdly's churr broke into a squawk of surprise, but he didn't even try to move away. Insatiable indeed.
“Renew?!” he parroted, appalled. “They haven't aged! Th-they-”
Kris nipped his cheek lightly, Berdly chirping in turn. He flinched away from the bite, but only slightly, because Kris cradled his face right after and such a simple action rendered him completely immobile.
“Don't worry, pretty bird.” they crooned, watching how Berdly reacted so visibly to the pet name that it was almost laughable - in a good way, of course; the best way. “Just teasing.”
The room had begun to darken as the two laid together in blissful mundanity. Sluggish from making out with Berdly until there was so little oxygen in their system they felt lightheaded, Kris didn't protest when the bluebird they were horribly infatuated with coaxed them into getting ready to sleep, agreeable enough to help him make a temporary nest for the two to share (though they did cling to him half of the time the two spent on that).
Before long, the pillows and blankets had been arranged to their liking, and Kris didn't even hesitate before pulling Berdly to them and tipping back until the two of them crashed into the nest, Berdly scrambling to get off of them in fear that he was squishing them while they cackled and jailed him with their arms possessively until he gave up, curling up against them in a spooning position. It was so disgustingly perfect. Kris wouldn't have it any other way.
After the laughs came a comforting silence, letting the events of that evening linger in the air while they melted into each other's embrace. Berdly was extremely comfortable, Kris soon found out. His well-kempt feathers made for a perfect pillow, and the steady thrum of his SOUL under their head kept any worries about their own current lack of SOUL at bay. It made that protective - or maybe possessive? - spark within them flick into an ember that threatened to set fire to their entire being if they didn't keep it somewhat contained. Did he even know how much of an effect he had on them? He had to know that they were infatuated with him, somehow.
“Mm…” Kris hummed under their breath, rubbing their cheek into Berdly's neck. “Love you, Berdly. 'M yours.”
Berdly didn't reply at first, but Kris knew he was awake from the way his feathers rose along his body and he craned his neck slightly to allow Kris to nuzzle under his chin. His wings, already draped protectively on their back, spread even further over it, squeezing them to his chest. A little trill rang out in the silence of the room, heard only by the two of them. The thing possessing Kris's SOUL wouldn't get to know how their breaths mingled as they melted into each other's embrace, their bodies so intertwined they didn't know whose limb was whose.
“…You too.” he finally murmured.
“What was that?” they teased in a thin, mildly obnoxious voice. “I didn't quite catch it.”
Berdly made a frustrated, deeply embarrassed grumble in the back of his throat, before nuzzling his beak into the back of their head. His next sentence was quiet, muffled by Kris's hair, but there was no real hesitance in it.
“…I love you too.”
Kris smiled cheekily. His difficulty being honest about his emotions was as adorable as it was concerning. Maybe they'd have to make sure he knew how much he was loved some other time. For now, they would sleep, canoodling in a nest made together with love and care.
“And you're mine?” they prodded him, just a little bit. It had always been fun to ruffle his feathers. Maybe more than anyone else. Maybe in a literal way, too.
“I didn't think it was necessary to add that.” Berdly replied with a quiet scoff, but his voice was wavering.
“Well, it is.”
Berdly scoffed again, audibly more embarrassed than before.
“You're so whiny.”
“I wasn't the one whining for my partner to ki- Ow!”
Berdly pecked them, hard. It probably should have hurt them more, but all they felt was a brief sting of pain. They couldn't bring themselves to care about anything else but the feeling of his feathers fluffed up around their frame.
Silence filled the air, broken only by their even, desynced breaths. The bluebird shuffled under them, the wings on their back moving up and down just a little bit.
“Partners, then?” he piped up in a hesitant murmur.
“…Was that not what was implied?” Kris questioned slowly.
“I suppose it was.” he replied. “I just… didn't expect it.”
Kris ran a hand up the side of his body gently, relishing in the way he shivered at the contact. His breath caught in his throat briefly, but he scrambled to hide it.
“Well, no better time to start.” they crooned.
Berdly let out a soft little laugh, cooing when he nuzzled into them. His wings on their back grew hastier, like he was making sure they were there, making sure this was real. Kris decided to aid in this confirmation with a swift peck on his lower jaw. Their boyfriend's succeeding squawk of surprise was priceless. This moment was everything they could hope for.
Both of them would rest soundly that night, content in the knowledge that they yearned for one another the same.