dsmp oneshots

stress moulting

tw/cw: self-harm

♡

sapnap takes a bag of popcorn kettles out of the cupboard, debating using the microwave like a normal person before deciding to just pop them with his hands, sparking a small flame onto his palm and holding it under the bag.

his fiancés were already getting comfy on the couch and he couldn't be bothered to wait for the microwave to take three minutes to do something he could do in seconds.

he stepped out of the kitchen to see karl giggling, holding a palm over the side of his face while quackity profusely apologised. "i'm so sorry karl, they were just like sensitive and-"

"what happened?" sapnap asked playfully, sensing it's not serious by karl's unfaltering laughter- though the shortest boy did look genuinely guilty.

karl opened his mouth to explain before cutting himself off by giggling again.

"he tried to cuddle up to me and accidentally hit a sensitive patch on my wing," quackity explained remorsefully, "they sort of flapped in defence and i hit him in the face."

sapnap winced slightly, knowing from experience that the small wings could do a lot of damage when acting off a whim. "how bad is it?" sapnap asked, still carrying a light-hearted energy in his tone as karl smiled up at him. he stopped to stand in front of the brunette and reached out to gently move karl's hand away from where it was cupping his face. there was a pinkie-sized graze marked along his cheekbone, though it didn't look too bad at all. plus, the shimmers of colours swimming in karl's eyes were distracting enough. "oh, just a little mark."

"it doesn't even hurt," karl spoke honestly, chuckling lightly. "i wish you'd seen it sap, the way they flap is so cute."

"i've seen them before," sapnap pointed out, looking down to quackity whose cheeks were blushed dark red from the attention, his yellow wings fanning slightly behind him.

"no, this was different," karl argued with a wide grin, "i thought he was going to like, take off!"

"they're just sensitive recently!" quackity defended, small wings unintentionally curling around his shoulders protectively.

sapnap's eyebrows furrowed just slightly, "why? are they alright?" he asked.

for a split second, a look only describable as horror flashed over quackity's face before being quickly replaced by a small smile- the expression was gone in a flash, but sapnap saw. "no, they're fine," he dismissed, "i haven't noticed anything wrong with them."

"let me have a look," sapnap offered, handing the popcorn down to karl and making his way around to the back of the couch. quackity seemed tense as sapnap stood behind him, so the ravenette ran a gentle hand down the spine of the wings -the spot the other loved most- and marvelled in the way he instantly relaxed under the touch. once the ravenette seemed to loosen up, sapnap got to quick work checking over the soft yellow feathers. he trailed delicate touches up and along the tops, before trailing slowly down through the multitude of layers building up the beautiful wings.

all seemed fine, until sapnap reached the bottom-most layer.

the feathers all seemed in perfect condition, much like elsewhere, but here there were many patches the feathers didn't occupy, the layer beneath left red and patchy. sapnap couldn't help but grimace, looking to the left wing to see the same featherless clumps- it looked painful.