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Blink and Troy both watched as Aeon stormed into the closet, slamming the door shut after she blew up on Blink and called him a bad friend. Troy was not just going to stand by and let Blink fold like that.
“Okay dude,” he said, grabbing him by the shoulders to steady him, “you have until she comes out of that closet to think about what you want to say to her.”
Blink looked unsure. “I don’t think I’m gonna be able to convince her to race with us…”
Troy sighed a little bit. He was really disappointed to hear that, but this was about Blink right now. “And that’s fine, because really what matters— it’s not about her, it’s about winning the argument.”
That got a chuckle out of Blink, which made Troy smile brightly until he focused in on the issue again.
“No but for real for real,” he said, more serious this time, “you can’t let her talk to you like that. Maybe you can explain why you did what you did or something.”
“Yeah, I guess,” he replied hesitantly. “I don’t even really know why I did what I did. It was just…” Blink struggled for the words momentarily, “a hard time for me.”
Nodding in understanding, Troy tightened his grip around his shoulders and said, “Dude, that’s okay. Like, you dealt with it one way, and she clearly dealt with it another.”
Troy watched as Blink’s brows furrowed with a bit more resolve. “And she never came to check on me, either.”
“That’s right.” Seeing that small amount of self-respect from Blink made Troy grin widely. “There you go, there you go! There he is!” he encouraged in true hype-man fashion.
The encouragement made Blink bolder. “That’s fucked up, you know?”
Troy nodded more passionately. “That is fucked up!”
Blink gestured between himself and where Aeon was once standing. “Like, this is a two way street!”
“It is a two way street!” He patted his back now, guiding him forward just a bit. “Okay, Blink!”
The feathers around Blink’s neck and shoulders ruffled as he shook out the nerves. “Hey! Aeon!” he called with confidence. “I’m coming in that closet right now!”
“Go get her, champ!”
Troy’s smile got even bigger and more devilish. This was Blink’s chance, dude! And Troy had always been a great wingman. Even if Blink denied it, Troy could totally tell that he still had some kind of feelings for her.
As soon as Blink stormed in and the door clicked shut, Troy moved in, holding it firmly in place. The circumstances couldn’t have been more perfect for a round of one of the best party games in Wonder.
“Okay, dude,” he whispered to Blink, even when he knew he couldn’t hear, “you’ve got seven minutes.”
After that, he continued to mumble under his breath, keeping track of the time. He had only gotten down to six minutes and fifty-one seconds, though, when something occurred to him.
Wait, how was Blink supposed to kiss someone when he had a beak?
Huh. He hadn't really thought about that before. Blink didn't really have lips, just, like, bone or whatever beaks are made out of. Slowly, he brought a hand to his chin. Figuring out this problem was going to take some serious Troy Math.
So, normally, lips + lips = kiss. Take away one of those lips, and you now have lips + something = kiss. In that case, maybe lips touching the beak would still count? Like, if someone were to plant their lips on the front of his beak, that could count as a kiss, right? But that would mean Blink would just be on the receiving end; he wouldn't be giving anything back. Thinking about it that way, it would be kinda similar to kissing someone's nose. Still a kiss, sure, but not exactly the same.
Oh, wait— he had gotten so distracted thinking this over that he had lost count of his seven minute timer. Thinking he should probably just start from the last number he remembered saying, he muttered, “Shit. Uh, six minutes and fifty-one seconds, six minutes and fifty seconds…”
Maybe Troy’s initial equation was thinking too narrowly. Lip-to-lip contact was not all that kissing was about; it involved the whole mouth. He was going to need to totally widen his perspective if he wanted to consider all of the possibilities; tongue and teeth were also on the table.
Obviously, touching tongues would count as a sloppy kiss. However, the logistics of actually getting the tongues near each other would be difficult. Unless he was maybe kissing a frog person with a freakishly long tongue, then the only way it could really work is if Blink opened really wide and stuck his entire beak around the other person’s mouth. It could be doable, but it didn’t sound all that fun for anybody involved.
That left the option of teeth. Well, Blink didn't actually have any teeth, but his beak could be used to bite things. The bird equivalent of kissing could be nipping at the other person. So like, maybe Blink could kiss someone by lightly biting at their lips, or their cheeks, or maybe even quick nips up and down their neck if things were going really well.
It might leave some cuts or bruises down on the neck if his beak was too sharp. Those might be hard to hide, unless you had a scarf or a tall collar, like, theoretically, one on a sledding suit.
Troy pulled his collar up a bit. Why was it suddenly so hot in here? It made him lose count again.
“Fuck, Troy, focus. Uh, six minutes and fifty-one seconds, six minutes and fifty seconds…”
Just to be clear, Troy was not thinking about Blink kissing him. That's not at all what was happening here, dude. That would be, like, a totally freako thing to do. Blink was just a friend, and also a guy.
But as soon as Troy pointed out to himself that he wasn't thinking about Blink kissing him, that's when his brain realized it could think about that. Now the image of being chomped on by that weird beak while all of those soft feathers brushed against his skin…
Fuck.
With a face that was steadily getting redder, Troy began to defend himself in his own head. Okay, so what if he was thinking about Blink kissing him?! And so what if he was starting to get a bit lightheaded at the thought?! It's not like it's that big of a deal, anyways! Like, c’mon, man, everyone thinks about kissing guys sometimes! It’s natural curiosity. ‘Cause like, women are great and all, but everyone wonders every once in a while about whether kissing a dude would be the same as kissing a girl. The lips are the same either way, right? Well, unless you're a bird, he supposed.
Even if Troy was actually into guys— which he wasn't— but if he was, that wouldn't be the end of the world either. Honestly, that would just mean even more options, so it would totally be a win. It was actually kind of lame that he wasn't! Dating a dude would be way easier than dating a chick. He could never figure out what they wanted from him, but guys are straight up with what they need. Especially after he and Blink had that talk on the mountain, Blink was not afraid to say the reasons why he was mad at him or give him a pat on the back when he did a good job. He almost wished he was into guys. It would make his life so much easier.
Damnit, he lost count again.
“Six minutes and fifty-one seconds—“ he started with a sharp exhale.
Before he could count any further, something pushed against the door, toppling him to the ground with a quiet oof. Aeon strolled out, giving him a cocky smirk as she stepped over him on the floor. He could see from the red around her eyes, though, that she had been crying.
“Uh— how’d it go?” he asked her with a nervous smile.
She just huffed out a short laugh, saying, “I don’t wanna hear it,” and continuing to walk away.
Before anything else could happen, Blink’s taloned feet were in front of him. He crouched down, offering a hand to help him up. Troy’s eyes lingered— hopefully for only a second or two, but it could’ve been longer— on his beak before he could finally shake out the thought and accept the hand.
Yeah. It was just natural curiosity, dude. Nothing more than that.