Work Text:
Perched quietly on a cliff edge, with his feet hanging over and swinging in the breeze, Yamaguchi stared at the ocean below, his speckled wings wrapped around him subconsciously. He used his fingertips to preen his secondary converts, ruffling through the sleek feathers, pretending that he wasn’t intentionally plucking a few messy feathers out. Earlier that day, he’d tried flying in the pine forest, and had quickly crashed into a tree. The pine needles were still rooted in his aching wing. Embarrassed, he’d limped away to his current spot. His second eyelid fluttered over his pupil to flush out saltwater. He was the only one of his murder with the inability to fly. When the other fledglings played, they’d intentionally stay low to the ground for Yamaguchi to run along after them. Running was much slower then flying, and used much more stamina. He could only play for a maximum five minutes at a time. His neck hurt from constantly straining up at the sky, watching the clouds he longed to touch and the wingmates he wished he could fly with.
The open cliff had become his favourite spot. Here, he could spread his wings, close his eyes, and feel the strong sea breeze filtering through every feather. He could pretend he was airborne. There was a stark difference between pretend and real though.
“Yamaguchi!” He was startled as a shadow passed over him. The sun was behind him, so the shadow was elongated and larger than the person, whose wings beat against the air as he came in to land. Quickly, he dropped his wings to the dust, although the person would have certainly seen what he was doing.
“A-aha, hi Daichi~.” Daichi had these huge, black wings that could block out the sun. They were powerful and strong, ideal for endurance flying. He could soar above the oceans in even the greatest storms, diving into the waves and emerging with fish on his spear. In winter months when storms were rife, Daichi kept the murder fed and sturdy.
He was also adept at landing silently, so Yamaguchi wasn’t sure why he had made his descent so noisy. Swash from a large wave below brushed the sole of his foot. Ah, that was probably why. He hadn’t wanted to scare Yamaguchi over the edge. Currently, Daichi folded his wings behind him, arms crossed as he frowned down at the flightless fledgling, his brow furrowed in concern.
“What are you doing all the way out here? It’s dangerous.”
“You mean dangerous for me, right?” The self-depreciating tone in his voice had Daichi sigh.
“You could fall, Yamaguchi. These cliffs are dangerous for all fledglings, but you especially. Until we’re sure you can at least gain lift on a breeze, please be careful.”
“I- I’m sorry...” A large hand was held out to him and he offered a weak smile as he took it, pulled to his feet. An uplift of sea air brushed through his primaries, and he couldn’t help but wistfully close his eyes, spread his freckled wings, and grin brightly. Daichi’s gaze softened as he watched the younger. He himself had been a late bloomer, but not this late. He understood the craving to be in the sky, and the pain of being left behind. On the other hand, Yamaguchi lacked a determination that the captain had possessed from hatching.
The gust dropped to still air, and Yamaguchi’s wings dropped with it. He carelessly dragged the tips of his feather in the dust behind him as he walked. What was the point of looking after his wings if they were useless? Reaching the edge of the pine forest, Daichi automatically leapt up into the low branches. He could easily have gone higher, to satisfy the instinct to return to the air, but this level he maintained allowed him to watch over the fledgling. In this part of the forest, there were mountain lions, foxes, and bears. Predators that would swiftly take down a wingman, if he could not escape to the skies. It was one of the reasons they had only four fledglings this year.
Many hatchlings tumbled out of their nests before gaining their flight feathers, the soft down of the scapular not enough to give them escape. Fledglings that required constant breaks because they were still learning were also at risk. They were hunted by carnivores, and only four had made it through. Daichi still wasn’t sure how Yamaguchi had done it. He practically lived on the ground, yet no predators ever took him. His wings fluffed in concern as he saw the Barbet wingchild trip, landing on his secondaries as his wings automatically curled around him.
“Are you alright?” It was rough to land on one’s own feathers, and Daichi hopped down from the height of the pines to check the fledging over. Yamaguchi sat up, punching the ground in frustration. His nose crinkled as he fought back tears of anger. Anger at his clumsiness. Anger at his flightlessness. Anger at even having wings in the first place. ‘What a waste of wings. I should have been a normal human.’
“Yamaguchi...?” A handful of dirt in his clenched, trembling palm, he faked a smile up at the murder leader.
“I- I’m okay! Just a trip! My wings are used to it now.” Daichi hesitated for a moment, then nodded. He returned to the low hanging branches, his large Egret wings picking up the slightest breeze and allowing him to fly from pine to pine. He reached the edge of their community first. Treetop houses, built from twigs, branches, and debris of the forest provided shelter for the grown wingmen, living in small units of three for safety and protection. They were high up, and the only way of reaching them was to fly.
Casting a look to the ground, Daichi noticed as Yamaguchi crawled into a small nest shape in the ground, fabricated from the dead pine needles of the forest. It was uncomfortable, and extremely dangerous. A different wingmate stayed with him each night, guarding him from night predators and proving the social comfort that a wingman needed.
Yamaguchi’s favourite was Tsukishima. For all the complaining he did about the ground, he never spoke of how wondrous the sky was. He would curve his snowy-white Crane feathers around them both, blocking out the stars and the breeze so that Yamaguchi could sleep. It was nowhere near time to sleep yet. Lying on his back, enjoying the pressure on his scapular, Yamaguchi observed the community above him.
The very outer ring was the homes of those who could fly. Roughly 600 meters in, the secondary ring was the social care. Preening rooms, an infirmary, a kitchen, and a storage area for their food all lay around this ring. Finally, in the centre, the largest nest that could be safely constructed. It was big enough to comfortably hold 32 hatchlings, which unfortunately meant only 16 fledglings, unless it was an emergency where everyone huddled together awkwardly. By the time they were of average size, however, they could mostly fly and were assigned to their homes of three. Yamaguchi couldn’t even get to the nest. He was grounded, a useless wingman that couldn’t fly.
“I hope you like salmon~.” Yamaguchi jumped as the voice came from his blind spot. He sat up, shaking pine needles out of his hair and smiled gently as Suga laughed. He was holding a plate with some wonderfully cooked fish on it, and Yamaguchi felt his stomach growl in appreciation. He nodded and took the offered plate, not hesitating to start eating. A soft hand brushed across his primary converts and he automatically stretched his wing out. Suga kneeled down and begun to gently preen through the feathers, tenderly picking out dirt and debris. The entire wing shuddered as he brushed over a painful spot where Yamaguchi had pulled out a handful of feathers earlier, a punishment he gave himself for lacking flight. The exposed skin beneath it was raw and Suga’s touched had made dry blood flake away to expose the sensitive pores.
“You’re hurt...”
“N-not really. It was my fault anyways.”
“You crashed again...?” With a sigh, Yamaguchi wiped at his mouth with his sleeve and pushed the empty plate aside.
“I wish I could fly. But, I’m taking this last crash as a kind of... Sign.”
“Oh, Yamaguchi, please tell me you’re not giving up.” He averted his gaze, trying to pull his wing away from the soft touch before he could chirrup. Suga lightly smacked his shoulder to tell him off, moving his fingers to the alula. He scratched through them, removing dust particles in little clouds. Yamaguchi couldn’t stop a delightful chirrup at the sensation.
“I’m tired of failing. I don’t know how much more my wings can take, so it’s best if I stop whilst they’re in one piece.” Blue Jay wings pitched downwards as Suga sighed softly. He cupped his hands around Yamaguchi’s face and looked into his eyes seriously.
“You can do it. It’ll take time, but it will happen. Every wingman gains flight at some point in their life.”
“There’s a first for everything.”
“Don’t sass me. You’ll make this, okay?” Yamaguchi nodded, maybe, just perhaps, a little convinced to keep trying.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yamaguchi stirred in the cold night air. Nishinoya was warm, but his small body and even smaller Flycatcher wings, in black and orange, did nothing to cloak him from the harsh chill and faint breeze. It was enough of an icy draught that it prevented Yamaguchi from getting sleep. A swoosh cut through the air up above, and he sat up.
That wasn’t the sound of the trees in the wind. The sound was followed by the same chilly brush of air, and Yamaguchi turned his head skyward. In the light of the moon, a shadowy figure swept over the community. He was airborne, but... He wasn’t flying. The figure leapt from a tree, shaping his wings into a parachute to descend slowly, then folded the wings behind him as he hit an updraft, diving into it and spreading his feathers like a scoop to be carried upwards, higher than where he had first jumped from. Yamaguchi watched with such awe and amazement, he didn’t sound the alarm as the stranger entered the community. It was only when he landed, on the platform of the storage, that Yamaguchi gasped and realised; they were about to be robbed!
He stumbled to his feet, tripping over his primary feathers as his wings fluttered whilst he ran to the edge of the tree that supported the storage. Curling his toes around and moving his feet to lie horizontally on the sides the trees, he dug his fingernails into little holds he had mapped out and started to awkwardly shuffle up the tree. This was the only tree he could do it on, and he could only reach halfway, but at least from this point, he would be able to catch a glimpse of the wings as the... They didn’t fly, yet the stranger still had lift. He wondered what he could call it, but all he knew was that he had to see how it happened. If there was a way to reach the skies without flight, Yamaguchi was desperate to know. He knew that he was potentially acting as a partner in crime, allowing the thief to escape, but he needed to see how they reached the sky!
A rustle from above alerted him to the crook emerging from the storage, and Yamaguchi hugged himself closer to the tree in hopes of not being seen. His black feathers were perfectly adapted for night, but he could only hope that the white spots, mirroring his freckles, were invisible in the darkness. The shadow up above moved, and then, it fell. Yamaguchi gasped as the stranger not only willingly fell backwards over the edge, he twisted in midair and curved his wings to slide along with the breeze. As he passed under a streak of moonlight, Yamaguchi’s sharp eyes captured his species.
‘A Japanese Grey Bunting? They don’t live in the pine area...’ He watched, stunned, as the adult wingman descended to the ground as if he had floated all the way from his jump. The sudden realisation startled Yamaguchi from his place. The thief was on the ground! The Grey Bunting wasn’t from these areas; he didn’t know these forest floors. Yamaguchi knew them with his eyes closed.
He scrambled down the tree at a fast pace, folding his Barbet wings behind him, and gave chase. The Grey Bunting was fast, but he was in a strange forest and weighed down by his steal. Yamaguchi caught up quickly, taking thinner paths that looked inaccessible to the eye, unless one knew exactly when to duck, dive, jump, and dodge. For once, Yamaguchi was pleased with his experience on the ground. He ran up a fallen tree, jumping the last two meters to directly land on top of the thief. He was careful to only land on the scapula, not wanting to cause painful damage. The Grey Bunting struggled, rolling over under his grasp.
For some reason, he didn’t look that upset at being caught.
“You must be the flightless fledgling Ukai told me about~.”
“E- Eh?” Ukai was the grand master of the Karasuno murder, a Lidth’s Jay who only intervened in matters of the murder if he thought Daichi needed assistance. Yamaguchi had no idea how he was in cahoots with the thief. The Grey Bunting laughed, his glasses moving on his face as his nose scrunched.
“Sorry, sorry~. I should introduce myself first. I’m Shimada, from the rock face area. I used to be in a murder with Ukai, so I know him very well~.” Yamaguchi didn’t know what it was, but something convinced him this wingman was telling the truth. He shuffled off him, rapidly snatching the bag stolen from the storage, just in case Shimada was plotting to run off with it. Shimada stood, brushing dust and pine needles off his alula.
“Ukai contacted me a few nights ago and asked me to do this. He said that there was flightless fledgling who needed to see me glide.”
“G- Glide...?”
“Mhm! That’s how I get in the air. I’m flightless too~.” Yamaguchi blinked, staring at him dumbly. Another flightless wingman...? He was so starstruck, he almost didn’t notice large iridescent wings of dark blue and copper fluttering down behind him. He did, however, notice the heavy hand that landed on his shoulder. His wings instantly unfolded, thrusting up defensively.
“Easy, easy!” Ukai squeezed softly to convince the fledgling that he was no threat, noticing the tremble of adrenaline in Yamaguchi’s wings. He reached his other hand out, his wing curling around to fondly brush his primary feathers against Shimada’s. Shimada went to shake his hand before they ended up doing a complex handshake, formed through years of friendship.
“Thanks for coming all this way, Makoto. I see you’ve already met Yamaguchi.”
“Yes! He caught me, just as you said he would!” The two men laughed, casual as Yamaguchi stood there in utter confusion. He felt Ukai’s other wing wrap around him almost proudly, pushing Yamaguchi forwards.
“Yamaguchi, this is Shimada. He’s going to teach you how to touch the sky.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It had been three weeks since Yamaguchi had first since met Shimada. Despite the confusing and somewhat abnormal terms on which they met, they had fast become friends. Yamaguchi looked up to Shimada as something of an older brother, guiding him carefully whilst also messing him about. Currently, Yamaguchi was face-down in the dirt with his butt in the air after misjudging the distance between two trees. Instead of helping him up, like a good big brother, Shimada leaned against the tree Yamaguchi had been aiming for and laughed. He cackled until his face turned red as Yamaguchi sat up, spitting out pine needles. He frowned and pouted, bringing his spotted wings around to encase himself in a cocoon of feathers.
“A-Aw, don’t be like that, Tadashi~. It just takes practice, is all!” Shimada instantly sobered up and stopped teasing when he heard the light sniffles from inside. Pulling a face of concern, he moved in and crouched down, slowly brushing his fingers through Yamaguchi’s median converts.
“You’re doing great, okay? That’s only seventeen near misses, and you were really close this time!” The spotted tertials moved aside and red-rimmed eyes peered out.
“Y-You’re just saying that...”
“No, no! I’m serious, look!” Shimada stretched out, one hand still lingering over Yamaguchi’s feathers, the other brushing his fingertips over the bark of a tree.
“See? If you’d twisted just a tiny bit earlier, you would have made it.” The freckled boy sighed, unravelling his wings and allowing himself to be pulled from his feet.
“One more then... Just one more. If I don’t make it, then I’d like to stop for today, please.”
“Alright, but if you need a break for a few days, just ask.” Yamaguchi nodded his head in acknowledgement, heading back to the tree he had been practicing jumping then floating – gliding – from. He’d grown more familiar with it than the storage tree after this intense practicing. His aching limbs pulled him onto a branch midway up the tree, and he groaned as he positioned himself on it. The ground was a dizzying distance below, and Yamaguchi wasn’t sure he could take much more of the abuse to body.
With a grimace that turned into a sigh, he turned to face the breeze, spread his arms and wings out, then fell backwards. He quickly tucked his wings in, forming a bullet shape as he hurtled towards the ground. His alula twitched, and he twisted to ride on a gust, his winds hooded over as he floated on the air. The updraft lifted him higher than the branch he had leapt from, and he broke out into a successful grin because this was the first time he’d gotten so high. It was like his craving for the sky had been fulfilled, his heart soaring with his wings and a cheerful whistle of a song escaping his lips. He was approaching the target tree fast, and he realised he was going to make it! He wasn’t going to end up on the ground!
“Yamaguchi, look out!” A strong squall burst through the forest, and Yamaguchi was propelled forwards.
“Oof!” Once more, he found himself on the ground, this time with an imprint of bark on his face. Shimada rushed over to his side.
“That looked painful! Are you okay?”
‘Apart from crippling failure, yes, I am fine thank you.’ He didn’t say his thoughts, instead nodding and managing a small hum. His scapulars had done a wonderful job of cushioning his fall, so whilst his wings stung and ached, they weren’t broken. Yamaguchi couldn’t say the same for his left arm, which he had instinctively brought between the tree and his chest in an attempt to protect his ribcage.
“You would have made that if it wasn’t for the squall... There must be a typhoon coming in. Hurry, let’s get you home.” Yamaguchi was unnerved by how intensely serious and on edge Shimada suddenly was, rushing the Barbet to his feet and dragging him towards the Karasuno murder with urgency.
“A- A typhoon?”
“Yes. Think of a storm so powerful, it can destroy whole communities and tear forests to splinters. The last one happened when I was a hatchling, so this will be your first.”
“It- It can tear forests to splinters?!” Shimada nodded over his shoulder, picking up the pace as another tempest blew through the pines.
“Depending on how powerful it is. It brings flooding as well, which is why I’m desperate to get you back in time. Neither of us can fly, so we’ll need to be lifted to a safe height.” The critical tone in Shimada’s voice pushed Yamaguchi closer to the edge of panicking, so the sight of his community up ahead was a welcome one. Both Ukai and Takeda had seemed to pick up on the same signals of a typhoon, the Lidth’s Jay calling out with his big booming voice for missing members to return, and Takeda ushering them into an organised group, the Azure-winged Magpie making sure everyone knew their duties before retreating to the nest in the centre of their community.
Currently, a Japanese Skylark and Grey Thrush were helping a Japanese White Eye to pull together the shield that had been constructed years earlier. Kinoshita, Narita, and Ennoshita were the three in charge of that, pulling together the contraption that would give them shelter. A flash of orange captured Yamaguchi’s attention, watching as Hinata whizzed back and forth through the very tree-tops, delivering updates from every corner of their territory about how fast the winds were, how close the eye probably was, and how dangerous it was. The Ryukyu robin was extremely serious in this situation, his usual goofiness replaced by a striving for a survival. Speaking of goofiness...
Yamaguchi whipped his head around, searching for the one bird he hadn’t noticed. He would recognise the striking feathers of a Japanese Waxwing from a mile away if he saw it, but the soft grey down with blue primaries and striped secondaries was completely absent.
Shimada dragged Yamaguchi over towards Ukai, who quickly called for help. Shimada himself was capable of reaching a good height, but there was no way he could reach the shelter of the nest by himself. Ukai and Takeda would help him once they’d finished organising the murder. The Magpie called with a low whistle, followed by a quavering chirp, to summon Asahi and Tsukishima to help Yamaguchi. Their wingspans, being an Enggeno Scops Owl and a Japanese Crane, were larger than anyone else other than Daichi, who was helping Suga transfer vital food storage into the nest. Yamaguchi folded his wings tightly behind him so that they weren’t in the way as the duo took one of his arms each. They carried him up to the nest with ease. From up here, he could see everyone present, but the Japanese Waxwing was still worryingly absent.
“Wh-Where’s Tanaka?!” Asahi bit into his bottom lip, wringing his hands together as his wings raised anxiously.
“We- We haven’t seen him since this morning... He- He left to go tend the rice fields just before you went for practice...” Yamaguchi felt soft feathers brushing against his own primaries, a subtle gesture of comfort from his best friend. The pure white of Tsukishima’s wings testified the constant calm he always felt, speaking lowly with no hint of panic or concern.
“Noya and Kageyama are looking for him, bringing updates from the rock face, and Hinata is keeping an eye out from the ocean front.” Asahi nodded in agreement. His wings fluttered with another omen, the strong typhoon winds building up. He quickly moved to help Ennoshita in tying down a vine that threatened to snap loose, leaving Yamaguchi alone with Tsukishima. The blond sighed, looking at the pitiful ,shaking state of his friend. He knew how much Yamaguchi feared for anyone lost, possibly grounded. The freckled boy knew the dangers of the ground better than any of them.
“I’ll talk to Ukai, see if he’ll let you go looking for Tanaka. After the storm.”
“Th-Thanks, Tsukki~.” The Crane nodded with a barely noticeably hum, leaping elegantly from the nest with his large wings flapping steadily to bring him in for a soft landing. Yamaguchi peered over the edge of the nest as he watched, almost biting his fingernails with how nervous he was. A few words were exchanged, and then, Takeda gave an elongated, sharp whistle. Within a single minute, Hinata, Noya, and Kageyama were in front of him. They were ordered up into the nest with the others, and then Shimada was carried up by Ukai alone. There was still no sign of Tanaka. Yamaguchi had a really bad feeling...
Tsukishima landed next to him again, pretending as if he didn’t care whilst wrapping a wing around Yamaguchi. With this many in the nest, and full grown as well, it was going to be a tight squeeze. They were going to have some wings overlapped, others folded in tightly, and their bodies squished together in curled up balls. Yamaguchi moved close in to Tsukishima’s side, his eyes following the hood of the shelter as it was pulled over them. Noya looked ready to run off to find his best friend, if his responsibility wasn’t keeping him here. Noya didn’t know the ground either. But Yamaguchi did. He exhaled shakily, and then whispered softly under his breath, quiet enough that only Tsukishima would hear.
“Tsukki, I’m about to do something really stupid...”
“Ah? Did you want me to stop you?”
“No. Please, keep your wing curled as if I’m still here...”
“As if you’re still...? Yamaguchi?” His eyes wide, Tsukishima faced forwards and tried to pretend nothing was happening as Yamaguchi slipped underneath his secondaries, and rolled out the back of the nest. The only thing the blond could do, with the shelter lid closing where Yamaguchi had been a second ago, was to act like he was still there. Whilst Tsukishima was holding his wing curled tightly, Yamaguchi was spreading his. He twisted in the air and flattened his alula, steering himself towards the ground. He couldn’t land on other trees yet, but his jump-float let him glide safely to the ground where he immediately started running. He didn’t know what possessed him to come this way, over towards the northern sector, where the rice fields and mountains lay. If Tanaka had been tending to them earlier, he would most likely be around the storage area to the east. But Yamaguchi knew differently. Maybe it was the wind speaking to him. Maybe it was the vibrations of the forest, trembling though his wingtips and instinctively guiding him.
“Tanaka! Tanaka-Senpai?! Where are you?!” Raindrops were starting to fall from the sky, impacting like bullets as the tempest whipped around. It was dangerous to be out. It was dangerous to be on the ground. But even more so, it was dangerous to be alone, and Yamaguchi had loyalty like no other. He wouldn’t abandon any of his wingmates to this weather. The peril became even more menacing as hailstones were pelted from the thick clouds above, the wind howling as Yamaguchi raised his voice to compete and strained his ears. It was only by absolute chance that he heard a quiet whistle, not orchestrated by the gust through the trees. His feet took him in the right direction, expertly travelling the forest floor as he came upon the open rice fields.
At least, they had been open. A landslide from the mountain flattened much of their produce, and for a moment, Yamaguchi was frozen in shock. Then, he heard the whistle again, longer and louder. He returned it with his own call, identifying himself for whoever it was. He was sure he already knew. Three short pips, a low chirp, another pip, and a higher pitched chirrup. Ta-Na-Ka-Ryuu-On-Suke. Yamaguchi almost cried with relief. He dashed over towards the repetitive call, pushing aside smaller rocks. An outstretched grey wing, tipped with lighter blue on one side and stripy on the other greeted him. He used the force of his body to push away a boulder. The wing lifted free weakly, cheerful eyes hiding a great amount of pain gleaming at him.
“Yamaguchi! How did you know I was here~?” He breathed heavily as he continued shunting the rocks, pebbles and boulders, hoping to free Tanaka before the worst of the typhoon reached them. Shimada had said there would be flooding.
“Gut instinct! Something felt changed about this territory!” He used the back of his hand the flick away his soaked fringe, shuttering his second eyelid as the rain increased, almost blinding him. His wings were plastered to his back, as useless as they’d ever been. He was used to that, but Tanaka wasn’t. With his downpour-soaked wings, there was no way he would fly, even if they hadn’t been crushed by rocks. As he helped Tanaka emerge from what could have been his rocky tomb, he noticed that the Waxwing had his right wing bent at an impossible angle, and blood sticking to the feathers. In a flash of lightening, he gasped sharply. What he had thought was a lighter grey feather, poking out above the rest, was splintered bone. Tanaka followed his gaze and then rubbed the back of his head dumbly.
“... That would explain the twinge.”
“S-Senpai, we have to get you somewhere safe... There could be floods, so-so it needs to be high... We won’t reach the nest in time, and it’s sealed anyways... Oh! Follow me, but be careful! It’s slippery in the rain!” Yamaguchi extended his wing out and lay his heavy, sodden primary feathers over Tanaka’s shoulder, the only way that they would be able to ‘see’ each other in this storm. At times, he had thought Tanaka had collapsed from the pain because his wing suddenly dropped, but then the contact was there again as Tanaka regained his footing on the ground. The dirt and rock beneath their feet lead upwards. Whilst this part was new to Yamaguchi, he was experienced enough to walk on this newly exposed land, the landslide having opened multiple cave systems. He roughly drew his palms over the rock of each entrance, until he found one that wasn’t soft, sedimentary stone.
“We’ll be safe in here!” Tanaka followed him in, making it halfway into the cave before he fell to the floor with a grunt, landing on his hands and knees. Every inch of his body shivered from the cold, trembled from shock, and quivered with agony from his broken wing. Yamaguchi dragged him further in, away from the freezing gust at the entrance and the small puddles from when the wind curled around. He could see, from the light provided by every burst of lightening, that the whole forest was being shoved and blown around, as if the giant pines were nothing more than blades of grass. He hoped the nest would hold out against this force of nature. Tanaka groaned from his lap, and Yamaguchi quickly moved to check that he was still conscious. He sighed in relief when Tanaka tapped the back of his hand, in response to a squeeze.
“I’m going to have to straighten your wing out.. Please bear with me.” He gently took hold of Tanaka’s broken wing, one hand either side of the break. The sight of the bone protruding through the flesh made him feel nauseous, but he had to do this. He moved it, inch by inch, until the wing was straight again and the bone lined up where it should be. Yamaguchi didn’t comment on the sounds Tanaka made, unable to hold back every instance of agony.
He grabbed a random tree root from the ground, biting into it multiple times until it came free. He spat the dirt back out onto the ground. Lining the tree root up along the realigned bone, Yamaguchi ripped one of his pants legs off and tore it into strips. He had to very carefully weave the material through Tanaka’s feathers, until he could tie the broken bone in place, the tree root acting as a secure splint.
“It- It’s going to be okay... You’ll be okay...” He gently ran his hands over Tanaka’s uninjured wing, trying to comfort the Waxwing by softly brushing the lesser converts and massaging the median converts, before running his hand back to the scapulars and stroking it, sweeping away the beads of water that clung to the soft downing, further chilling Tanaka. He had fluffed up what he could, but with the rainwater weighting down each individual quill, it was hard for him to gain enough airspace to warm up. All Yamaguchi could do was try and sweep away the droplets, and warm the flesh beneath soft rubbing.
He kept switching his gaze between Tanaka and the outside, swallowing down a lump in his throat as he watched floodwaters retract, carrying with them entire trees and boulders, the water stained a muddy colour from where it had grazed the land. Yamaguchi could only hope and pray that the nest was safe, that all his wingmates were unharmed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The typhoon raged for forty minutes. After the first ten, it had descended into tense silence where Yamaguchi was constantly checking for a pulse if his wingmate was unconscious. The first streaks of sunlight breaking through the clouds were the end to a nightmarish ordeal and Yamaguchi felt his body go slack in relief. They had not only survived, but they had been sheltered and safe throughout the whole thing.
“Tanaka, you need to wake up... Please... Please!”
“M’awake...” Yamaguchi exhaled thankfully as Tanaka finally stirred. He sat up, looking stronger. Resting, it seemed, had done him good. Yamaguchi checked the impromptu wing fix, holding his hands up in mock surrender as Tanaka hissed at him at one point. He didn’t blame the Waxwing, not at all. A break was extremely painful, especially along the top ridge of the wing.
“Looks like you’re good to go. I- I hope there’s a nest to return to...”
“Ev’ryone got the shelter up in time?”
“M-Mhm~. I slipped out at the last second. Aha, I think I actually lost a couple of feathers... Tsukishima is covering for me, so, umm, we should hurry...” Tanaka laughed, weak compared to his normal boom, but an effort to sound normal all the same.
“Ooh, Ukai’s gonna be so mad at us!” Yamaguchi huffed a little as he led the way out of the mountainside cave, shaking his wings free of their saturated prison. He knew Tanaka was right behind, because unlike before, he could hear him. The chatter, whilst complete gobbledegook to the fledgling, was entirely welcome because Tanaka had almost been lost. It had almost been a situation in which they’d never hear him again. As they approached the community, Yamaguchi was happy to see only one tree had fallen, an empty home toppled to the ground. It could easily be rebuilt. Yamaguchi was about to give a whistle and chirrup to signal that everything was okay, but the the wingman next to him took a deep breath, filled his lungs, and poured every ounce of his energy into his voice.
“HELLO! DIDJA FORGET ABOUT ME?!” There was excited squawking from above, and then the shelter lid opened. Immediately, like a bolt of lightning from earlier, Nishinoya was propelling himself towards Tanaka like a bullet, flycatcher wings folded sleekly. Yamaguchi stepped in the way and extended an arm so that Noya spun on that first before pulling Tanaka into a tight hug. The time he had taken to rotate around Yamaguchi’s arm had given Noya fair timing to notice the injury. The rest of the murder emerged from the nest, each running over to welcome back their previously lost wingmate. Yamaguchi stood to the side, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment as Tanaka started recounting how he’d been saved by their flightless companion. The majority were happy. On the other hand, there was Ukai.
“YAMAGUCHI!” He stormed over, his expression soften with each step as he saw the younger shrink into himself, hunching his wings around himself protectively. The mud-stained, heavily saturated wings were testament to the difficult he had just had to face, all whilst taking care of an injured wingmate. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“I don’t know what you were thinking running off like that! You could have ended up getting yourself killed! ... But, you didn’t, and you rescued a wingmate too, so... Thank you.” The Lidth’s Jay opened his arms awkwardly and suddenly had a fledgling embracing him tightly. He rolled his eyes, trying to deny the way his lips turned up at the corners. Although disgusted by the state of his storm-ruined speckled feathers, Ukai run his thumb over them softly, holding Yamaguchi back very gently in comfort.
“M’proud of you, kid. You might have weak wings, but you have the strongest heart of us all.”