Quadrant Feathers

Chapter 37: "It's Only Me"

Kwared paused staring at Phandrin who let go of his wrists.

"Are your wings alright? Can I see-?" He said turning Kwared to the side before he could respond.

He felt Phandrin grip his wings, his posture stiffening before Phandrin run a hand down the feathers. He relaxed his shoulders a bit as he told himself that it was only Phandrin.

He shifted some of Kwareds feathers revealing the gash that was likely cause by the yanking and then continuous movement.

"It's not too bad," he paused pushing Kwareds wingspan further.

"Your feathers should develop within the next hour and the gash should be gone," Phandrin finished keeping his hands on the wings.

"That's good.. I'm gonna need them to fight Kertia," Kwared said quietly as Phandrin nodded to himself.

Kwared turned back around as Phandrin smiled at him. The air was tense as Kwared stared down at the floor, Phandrin taking a second to think.

"You're at eye level with me today.. you're wearing different shoes?" Phandrin tried to lighten the mood as Kwared laughed airily.

"What's it to you? My height shouldn't matter," Kwared smiled as Phandrin raised a brow.

"It has to be if you need platforms." He deadpanned as Kwared scoffed.

"If it's not a bother can I see how tall you are without them?" Phandrin smirked as Kwared huffed.

"Were we not just confessing our apologies how did it turn to this," Kwared said before kicking the back of his heel.

The metal straps unlocked as he pulled the platforms off stepping down.

Phandrins eyes widened as a smile plastered on his face holding back a laugh.

Kwareds height almost dropped by a whole 2 and a half centimeters and Phandrin was now eye to hairline with the boy.

"Shut up it's like, a 4 centinere difference,"
(for reference just think of your pinky)
Phandrin nodded still smiling.

"Yeah but you're so much less intimidating, and you hit Ace in the face with those? Jesus Christ she probably felt like she was being hit with cement," Phandrin said as his laughs escaped between his words. Kwared smiled briefly at the laughter as he put his shoes back on standing taller than Phandrin again.

"I like it better when I'm taller," Kwared said before they heard a shift at the door and a knock.

"Wha-? Why's the bathroom locked-" a voice called as Phandrin turned.

"It's occupied," Phandrin said loudly as a noise of confusion came from the other side.

"There's 4 stalls??" The voice said as Kwared growled.

"Bloody accident. Go find another bathroom," he barked as the person silenced. Phandrin heard steps retreating and raised his eyebrows at Kwared.

"Don't tell me you're gonna fuckin kill me now-" Phandrin mocked as Kwared shrugged.

"It'd be pretty easy~," he smirked lengthening his nails. Phandrin stared at him with a stern look, a smile at the boys statement.

"It may be easy in a sense of predator and prey, but you can't kill me," Phandrin said with a smile leaning towards him letting the boys nails near to his neck.

"Or hurt me," he finished grabbing the boys wrist. Kwared sheathed his nails when Phandrin brought them too close to his neck.

"See?" Phandrin mocked as Kwared rolled his eyes.

"It's because I can't commit a crime or have a mess before an important fight," Kwared stated quickly as Phandrin nodded sarcastically.

"Now.. before our hour runs out..," Phandrins demeanor turned a but more closed.

"As I was saying earlier, I do want you to show more emotions, even if it's just with me," he said as Kwared nodded slowly, hesitation in his movements as he looked back at the mirror.

"You teared up, that's a good start. We need to talk when something's wrong, we can't just run off," Phandrin said making Kwared face him again.

"Well neither of us are very good at that," Kwared said raising a brow as he grabbed Phandrins hand and turned it over

"You have told me a few things, but how can it be fair," Kwared finished leaving a print on the boys wrist.

Phandrin sighed under his breath as he turned his hand to grip Kwareds. Kwared hesitated loosening his grip a bit only for Phandrin to tighten it reassuring him.

"I know and I will, it's only fair. I want to be able to help best possible, and we can't let anyone get in the way," Phandrin said as Kwared nodded agreeing.

"Which means if you're mad we need to try to talk, I don't want you to go into a mania because it's obviously not good," Phandrin said straight forward as Kwared stayed quiet.

"Do you wanna try that?" Phandrin said cutting the silence as Kwared nodded.

"I'll try.. I'm letting the last of my anger out in this fight though," Kwared said as Phandrin nodded.

"As long as you don't mutilate eachother.. I always hated quadrant fighting," Phandrin mumbled as Kwared sighed.

"We have alot to work on.. before we can even think about our feathers,"