Tonight, when Spoke would normally be out traipsing through someone else's base, he was inside. He itched to do something, anything at this point. But he just hasn't calmed down all the way, Spoke told himself. There was still some extra energy in his body that needed to be spent.
Normally he would satisfy that urge with the fear and uneasiness that came from sneaking around in places that he shouldn't be, and god, he wanted to be doing that now. But Parrot had grabbed him by the back of his turtleneck, dragged him inside, and locked the door. Spoke knew that he had the freedom to unlock it and leave, but he got the message. Now he sat on a bed frowning, legs folded underneath himself and chin propped on his hands. Being so achingly still made Spoke want to scream, but he couldn't make himself move.
The sound of shuffling fabric and fetters dragging on the floor announced Parrot's entrance to the room. He had shed his outer layer of clothes and switched to a different shirt, one with an open back to be more comfortable for his wings. Spoke sighed as Parrot sat on the bed opposite him, glancing up at him through his bangs.
"How's the energy, bro?" Parrot asked as he carded a hand through Spoke's hair, it fell loose around his face now that his headband was off. Spoke leaned into the touch momentarily before his hamster wheel of a brain caught up and he snapped backwards.
"Ugh, it's-" Spoke cut himself off with a growl, energy expelling all at once. He rocketed from one to one thousand in seconds, shaking his hands so fast they blurred in his peripheral vision. Once he put himself just a tiny bit in motion, he felt like he couldn't stop. His energy level kept accelerating faster and faster. Parrot jerked his head backwards in surprise but didn't make any motion to stop Spoke.
"I'm-" Spoke continued. What he was trying to say was relatively simple, he just couldn't fit it in words at the moment. Which was really annoying. He let out an angry huff of air and tried again. And again.
After a couple more failed sentence fragments, Spoke flopped down on his back and settled for rapidly kicking his feet in the air. His eyes settled on one spot on the ceiling and stayed there, comfortable in stillness now that his legs were in motion.
Once he realized Spoke was staying in one spot, Parrot lowered himself to his elbow, putting him at eye level with Spoke. Spoke didn't look over to make eye contact, Parrot was the one who forced him into this situation, so he was going to have to deal with whatever Spoke decided to do next.
"It's brain energy right?" Parrot asked, deciding to break the silence. Above Spoke's face he circled one of his fingers, pointing at Spoke's nose. Spoke's eyes strayed from the ceiling to follow it, making his legs slow down while his attention was diverted.
"So you need to do something that involves thinking to calm down," Parrot advised. Spoke frowned at the ceiling again and sped up his kicking, determined to not be distracted. Parrot was probably right, but brain energy? That sounded like way too much work to Spoke.
"You can preen my wings, if that would help," Parrot ventured. One of his wings reached over and brushed Spoke's leg, careful to press some weight into the touch.
"No, bro. No," Spoke huffed. He didn't even know what he wanted to do right now, it was getting really overwhelming. Violently, he flipped himself to his side, facing Parrot, and snatched Parrot's free hand to his chest. Curled around Parrot's arm, Spoke tried to focus on his fingers. Brain energy , he repeated to himself while he counted the knuckles on Parrot's hand.
Several counts to five later, Spoke tossed Parrot's arm back at its owner and turned over to scream into a pillow. It was just so annoying, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get rid of his extra energy. The kicking didn't even help, it barely made a dent in Spoke's internal urge to just do something. And he felt tired too! The juxtaposition was so strange, no matter how familiar it was.
