Upon These Wings

Priveleges

I was woken by a sharp rap on the door, but which door it was I didn't know. I grumbled and tucked my wings tighter around me, wanting to drift back to sleep. I'd been having such a lovely dream...

"Three," Dark's voice came through the door. "Get up."

"Why," I groaned.

"Breakfast." I heard him walk away.

I sighed and pushed myself up, yawning and stretching. I didn't have enough space to stretch my wings out all the way, so bleary-eyed I stumbled down to the living room.

"Good morning," Dark said from the kitchen, where he was working at the stove. Anti was sitting on one of the bar stools with a cup of coffee, watching me with amusement.

"Morning," I yawned, stretching again now that I had room to fully extend and shake out my wings. "Much better," I hummed.

"Coffee?" Dark asked, waving a hand toward a coffeepot next to the sink.

I shook my head. "Makes me jittery."

Dark shrugged and went back to cooking.

"Sooo..." I started, acutely aware of Anti's mismatched eyes still locked onto me, "do you always cook?"

"Most of the time," Dark said.

"What about Anti?"

The man in question giggled, the first sound he'd made all morning. "I don't have the privilege," he said, voice grating as he glitched.

My brow furrowed. "How do they keep you from cooking though?"

Dark turned around and pointed at a drawer next to the stove. "Keypad locked drawers. He can't get the knives."

"Just the knives?"

"Not even for butter," Dark said, turning back to the frying pan. The smell was mouthwatering.

I hesitated. "Can I ask... why?"

Anti giggled harder, and kept laughing until I looked fully at him. He glitched. "Three guesses," he snickered.

"I regret asking," I mumbled, shuffling my wings.

"No, no," Anti pressed, leaning forward with a manic grin, coffee cup clunking on the counter. "Give us your guesses!"

I glanced at Dark, who shrugged without looking up from his cooking.

I licked my lips. What was safe to guess? "Um, you don't know how to use them?" I said faintly.

Anti doubled over cackling, then with terrifying suddenness his head snapped back up and he was staring at me, face deadly serious, voice rough and gravelly. "Guess again."

Dark still didn't come to my rescue and I leaned slightly away from Anti. "You suck at cooking?"

This earned a small huff from Dark that might have been amusement, and Anti snickered before hopping up to perch on his seat like he had my first visit. "Wrong again!" he sang, and then his voice deepened again. "One more try."

I shifted uncomfortably. "Um..." I swallowed and glanced in vain at Dark one last time. I took a deep breath and met Anti's unsettling gaze. "Is it because... you're dangerous?"

The grin that split Anti's face was quite possibly the most unnerving expression I'd seen him wear yet. A deep bubbling sound that began as a growl and ended as a laugh shook his body. I watched with wide eyes as he jerked with a series of glitches.