The King of Crows

A Distracting Message

As I hand washed his coat, Philza thoroughly cleaned the murder of crows. He was worried about getting his shirt dirty from the soon-to-be mucky water and dirty crows, so he was now shirtless. Gently scrubbing the dry dirt off the birds with as much force as possible. I only knew he was shirtless as he warned me in advance, after that I hadn't been looking at him. Back or front. I didn't want to be weird, perverted, anything of those sorts. It would obviously be wrong for the both of us, so I stayed at the sink. My eyes locked onto cleaning his coat as best I could. I was lucky that he was outside cleaning all the crows, I could hear them chirping and trilling with so much excitement. The faint sound of some of their wings flapping as they may have hopped closer to wait for their turn, I could easily imagine that. It was so funny to think of. Though there was a window to the right of me, I never thought of even taking a glimpse at Phil's shirtless frame.

I slapped my cheek, trying my hardest not to let my imagination go a little in the wild side. Though the thought of imagining, or even seeing, Phil shirtless was quite intriguing, I promised myself that I wouldn't dare do that to my friend.

As I carefully took out his coat, I noticed just how much cleaner it was now. Even if it was half covered in bubbles. I grabbed a towel I'd placed nearby, gently drying the coat as I best I could with harshness as well. The bubbles needed to go! Philza would kill me if I didn't, and I'd do the same to him if he didn't dry the crows properly. The bubbles would get in their feathers, annoying their flight. Sure, they could just shake it off or let the wind destroy the bubbles but I loved those crows, they needed a full pampering treatment from either of us.

"Phil! Ya coat's clean!!" I screamed from the bathroom, thankful I'd kept the window creaked open. I extended my arms out in front of my body, letting his coat drape down. It almost touched the floor it was that long!

"Okay, I'm coming!" Phil's voice echoed through the house, his booted footsteps heavily walking up the stairs. Faint caws and trills slowly got louder as the crows followed their father. I scrunch my eyes closed, not wanting to see him shirtless. My vision was darkness, the bright light now turned off before I closed them, the bathroom door opening up for Phil to see me with his coat. Now properly cleaned, or 'cleansed' in his case. "Thank you for keeping your eyes closed for me Y/N. I appreciate that at least; I do not enjoy people seeing me shirtless. Even my late wife rarely witnessed such a thing."

"You're welcome Phil," I smiled, hearing his calm chuckling fill the bathroom. My eyes still shut, I waited for him to inform me when he was ready. Which thankfully didn't take long, as I was able to open my eyes at his command. "There, good as new on you. It even looks brighter than normal."

"It appears so," Phil looked down at his coat, smiling just as bright as his freshly cleaned coat. He grabbed my wrist, earning a gasp out of me, moving my hand to his coat-covered chest. Another gasp slipped out of my mouth, feeling the amazing texture of his clean coat. His coat was soft when I first met him {somehow}, but now it was cleaned up of all the dried dirt it was tremendously soft. I couldn't describe how soft it was - was there even another soft enough thing to compare it to? Probably. I just couldn't think of anything worthy enough. "You find it soft? If so, I very much appreciate it."

"I do, silly," I chuckled, feeling his arms comfortingly wrapped around my torso. Strands of his slightly dirty blonde hair began to carelessly caress my face. The trills of the crows sung into my ears, as I felt them prop their little talons into mine and Phil's shoulders. "Don't tear your claws into my skin okay?"

I only got caws in response, a soft vibration in my pocket caught me off guard instead though. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, it turned out I had gotten a notification from Twitter. Which was... odd, I rarely ever got notifications from there; usually it was from my blog or from my Instagram. Mostly my blog more than anything else. I almost only ever used my Twitter for liking and retweeting other things I found interesting. It was a shocker how my followers knew of its existence in all honesty.

"What was that confusing vibration about?" Phil asked me, looking furrowed at my phone. It took a second for him to realise it was indeed my phone and not something else. Which would've been scary if true. "On your... phone's device."

"Just 'phone' Phil," I reminded him, a small nod in return helped me continue speaking. "Just a notification from Twitter, of all places, popped up."

"I understood nothing, but please continue on your little answering quest," I couldn't help but laugh after hearing that, hearing how confusing modern day technology is for Philza is kind of funny. Especially hearing what he has to say after saying words he definitely doesn't understand in the slightest. Phil glared at me as I laughed at his misery, only being able to calm down when one of the crows began to peck me.

"Sorry, sorry," I apologised, waving around my free hand. Looking back down at my phone after my vision cleared up, I checked what the notification was even about to begin with in the first place. "Al... Altern- Altern? What the fuck? How do you say this fucking word?!"

"Alton Towers?" He asked, peering over my shoulder to read what was on my phone. I clicked my fingers together, smacking my forehead straight after, realising how dumb I was to not be able to pronounce Alton. Though, I'd rarely ever gone there actually, probably only once in my life so far, so it made sense. "What is this place? May we go together, maybe they would allow my murder to join in with this mysterious place."

"I love the way you phrase things sometimes Phil, I swear I do," I stifled a laughter caught in my throat, not wanting to get glared and pecked at again. "But sure, I guess. Alton Towers is an amusement park. Rides, games, a lot of lines. And a lot of waiting if you don't get a fast pass."

"Then we shall just get that pass," Phil confidently spoke, crossing his arms with a smile. "Would they even let a murder join in?"

"Well it is an open area," My voice trailed off, looking around at all the other crows attaching their claws onto anything else in the bathroom. "So the staff there probably wouldn't care that much. Hopefully."

I began typing on my blog, listening in on Philza's conversation with the whole squad of crows. I was informing everyone that followed my blog about my trip to Alton Towers; you know, a fun trip. After finishing the quick update, I shoved my phone back into my pocket and looked at him. Holding one of the crows in his palms, using his nose to snuggle the baby crow. His smile so bright. It was beautiful. I shook my head, not wanting my thoughts to ramble off on one.

"Should we go in two days?" I asked him, my eyes locked onto his own steel-blue eyes. His head looked up to meet my eyes as well, his smile not fading from his lips. "That way we have enough time to get everything ready."

"A marvellous idea Y/N!" The old king exclaimed, his eyes averting to the baby crow happily chirping along. So cute.