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Ze can't remember when they first appeared. It was some time between when he first properly left the hole and when he finally broke and told Regect and Moe properly about his experiences within the Down Under. His back had started burning as needle pointed calamus broke the skin's surface, growing slowly into long thin rachis for which the barbs grew out of in turn. Layers of down and contour feathers made their way across his back over time, until one day the new limbs he had been gifted finally burst free and grew in length just between his shoulder blades.
Ze couldn't say how it felt, too preoccupied with losing his consciousness completely the moment it happened while hidden away in his room. He woke with thick bandages wrapped around his chest and back with care. Without getting a chance to ask a single question, Moe carefully pressed a glass of water and some pain killers into his hands as he adjusted to sit up.
He thought about how he was lucky to have some sort of support system. Prior to the incident within the Down Under, he wouldn't have considered Moe and Regect much more than just friends he occasionally hung out with, given the way they both acted around him. Even if they did live together, Ze couldn't help but think of them as anything more than friends, at the time.
Regect never came off as someone who cared so deeply. Especially not of something to this extent.
Moe was practically just as closed off about herself as Regect was, but Ze figured they were all sort of like that, so it wasn't exactly fair to judge her for her secrets kept.
It took time for trust to properly form between the three of them, which was exactly why Ze did all he could to push the two away during the first months with the newly grown wings.
This doesn't last long, not with Moe and Regect. The two of them are stubborn in a good way and eventually knock some sense into his head before he goes out of his way to hurt himself further with the unfamiliar limbs. Moe was a sphinx, she knew well enough how to care for wings, and Regect was Regect. Sure he didn't have wings, but Ze knows he's helped Moe more than once with preening hard to reach areas. So he relents, and he sits, and he lets them do their worst.
Their worst, of course, is their best. Moe is gentle when shuffling between the feathers as she breaks dry keratin while rubbing in new oils, and Regect is ever so careful each time he pulls one loose from its place to be replaced by a fresh new pinfeather in return. Ze feels at ease. Safe. Comfortable. He can't really remember when he last felt that way, not since the experience with the eyes. He sighs, adjusts a bit more comfortably between them in bed while they work away, neither making a single comment about how vulnerable he was acting, and Ze refusing to let his head get the better of him about how vulnerable he felt.
Moe honks something gentle and quiet that makes Regect laugh ever so faintly.
Ze scrunches his nose, "'M not falling asleep. Just comfortable."
But he does fall asleep.
He falls asleep there between them with fresh wings stretched blanketing across their laps. Neither makes any move to get up and leave, perfectly comfortable there beside him while he rests. Moe tucks herself further beneath the feathers, and Regect stays up to keep watch while he continues to fiddle between the pins.
One comfortable session of preening quickly becomes something of a nightly routine between the three. Before they know it, they're all sharing a proper king sized bed rather than squished upon a twin not meant for three people.
It was Moe's idea before anyone else, much to Ze's surprise, and he would be lying if he said he was against the idea of the three of them sharing a proper room.
It turns out having people there that you trust enough with wings forced upon you can help with the sheer anxiety of something more changing. Ze finds that he doesn't like being left alone to his own devices anymore. He finds that being alone leaves him to think too deeply about what he had gone through in the Down Under and before it. He doesn't like thinking much about his past, and he certainly doesn't like thinking about what could be after him in the future.
There's a rumbling beside him that pulls Ze from his thoughts before his ever anxious mind could attempt to spiral further.
"Dude…you purr?"
Regect's paws still for a moment, antenna twitching as if caught in the act of a crime.
"Uh- yeah? I thought you knew already."
"Aren't you an ant?"
"Do ants normally have spider paws?"
"Fair enough." Ze snorts, wings shifting slightly. Regect's paws immediately pick up where they left off, tending to whatever leftover casings were stuck on Ze's back plumage. There's no comment when the purring picks back up again, the sound comforting enough to lull him to sleep. Moe makes a mental note to purr more often alongside Regect.
Time passes, preening continues, and the pain of the wings fades with it. There's always days where Ze's back feels strained with the extra weight. Days where the shoulders ache and his body screams for rest. There are even days where Ze can't bring himself to look upon the wings and not feel a sick wave of resentment when the false eyes upon the feathers stare right back at him.
But maybe it was, for now, okay. Ze had Regect and Ze had Moe. Maybe if he considered reaching out more, he would even have Mason and Ptolemy when Regect and Moe couldn't always be there. Had he told Mason of the wings yet? No. Did he plan to? That was something to worry about for the future.
For now, there he laid during the nightly routine, tucked comfortably between Regect and Moe. Ze happily indulged himself in the act of feeling safe, and warm, and loved. Just for the time being.