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Thunder crashed, the loud booms from outside gradually harmonising with the rhythm of rain, droplets softly pitter-pattering against the smooth surface of shiny glass.
The castle looked like something straight out of a fairytale, like someone had taken the exact components of a fantasy and made it a reality, it didn't look real. It's intricate designing and careful attention to the detailing on every single surface, this build was definitely made with efficiency, but if was also made with care, that was obvious for sure.
Though, to be fair, when you have someone like Horace orchestrating the build, it was bound to be nothing but absolutely perfect.
It was just the castle Parrot had wanted, something so beautiful it would perfectly encapsulate all the dreams he had for his time as a King. He wanted to change this server for the better, give everyone a comfortable home with enough food to last for weeks on end, all he wanted was for equal opportunities for everyone.
He made sure of it, too.
He made that promise in his first speech as King, to give all players the opportunity to actually play, to live a life they wanted, to follow their dreams and chase them until their lungs gave out, he would know, because he was just like them at one point.
He and his team went out, making farms, homes, and even a quaint little town just outside of spawn, not to mention the giant castle. Instead of spawning on a mess of Withers and frantically placed cobblestone bridges, it was another gorgeously built structure, with blue roofs to compliment the creamy colouring of the walls, once again constructed by Horace and his team.
Parrot had worked tirelessly for ages, hiring people, paying workers, even doing a pretty big chunk of the work himself (while having his bodyguard, Theo, accompany him), like getting the first chicken for the new chicken farm, he thought that for certain, maybe he would finally be respected for his efforts and all the work he put in to making the server a better place for everyone, regardless of affiliation.
So why did it still feel like everyone hated him?
No matter where he went, there were still hoards of people who would publicly shame him, hurling snowballs at him and his beloved steed, treating him as if he were a mere joke rather than the King of the server they played on. Obviously, with his status, he could quite easily have them banished, imprisoned, or even executed if he wanted to, but he chose to be a pacifist. No matter his role on this server, he would rather spare those he didn't like rather than take away their lives.
However, even if he spared them and allowed them the opportunity to live, being constantly berated merely just for existing leaves a bitter feeling in a lot of people, Parrot especially. He didn't want to admit that it upset him, or even sometimes made him a little angry, but the thought always came creeping back, and with each insult, the thoughts grew, becoming more unbearable and leaving him even angrier, even if he never wanted to admit it.
Over time, it had really started getting to Parrot, and it had bled into his usual routines. He was less talkative, which wasn't noticed immediately by most, since Parrot was usually decently quiet anyway. Normally, Parrot would go on a weekly trip with Theo on their horses - or in Theo's case, his donkey, Dingus - but Parrot started to turn up less to these small trips. Theo didn't think too much of it to begin with, he had thought that originally Parrot had just been tired and needed a one-off break, so he had no reason to question it.
But he started to become gradually more concerned as the trips went from weekly, to bi-weekly, and then by this point, it had been at least a month since they had actually gone on one of these little adventures. By this point, Theo had more than definitely realised that something was wrong.
The problem?
Parrot would not budge.
Whenever Theo had asked about Parrot and how he was doing, the shorter avian's immediate response was that he was 'fine', however the response always felt automatic, as if Parrot was in some kind of droning autopilot.
Theo had guessed that maybe he was not the person to talk to Parrot about these kinda things, sure, they were good friends, Theo would even argue best friends, but his methods of motivation would always be more practical and.. maybe unintentionally demanding? Of course Theo meant no harm, he loved his best friend and was his sworn bodyguard, he'd do anything to make sure Parrot was safe.. but touchy feelings? He was.. not very good with those.
Luckily, Theo knew who might have a better shot at cheering his friend up.. he'd hope.
Parrot's gaze outside and at the water droplets was suddenly startled and interrupted by the sound of the doorknob turning, slowly followed by the hinges creaking as the door shuffled open, allowing a sombre yellow light to softly bleed into the room.
"Parrot? Is everything alright? Theo came to me and asked me if I could check up on you.."
Wifies.. Wifies?!
Theo seriously went and got Wifies?! Oh my gosh- this.. this idiot! This is the last person Parrot had wanted to see him, especially like this..
"Wifies-"
Parrot shifted off of the windowsill, slowly balancing his weight as he shifted on the wooden planks of his giant bedroom, he was ansty, anxious and completely lost.
"Look, I don't know what Theo's told you but I'm fine. I mean- come on man, what kinda King would I be if I was getting upset over.. over little things."
Wifies, clearly not buying the lie, cocked his head to the side, the wisps of his hair following suite in an unnervingly smooth flow of locks, his little ears shifting too. He had a soft look on his face as he looked at his avian friend, unfortunately for Parrot, Wifies knew him too well.. Parrot hated it.
"You wanna talk about it?"
Parrot's gaze shifted from the ground to Wifies' face, his black eyes meeting with Wifies' purple ones. Parrot really hated how Wifies had this innate ability to convince him with so little words. Theo had spent at least an hour trying to get Parrot to say anything other than "I'm fine".
Wifies did it in 5 minutes.
Parrot let out a sigh of defeat, his wings slightly puffing out, fluttering in the dim room. This caught the attention of Wifies.. naturally.
"Do you want me to preen those as well? They look really.. messy."
Parrot let out a huff of shock and maybe even slight offense, nobody ever comments on his wings and hearing that from his closest friend is.. weird.
"Are you saying I don't take care of my wings?!"
"In this instance, no. You don't look like you've taken care of yourself in general, which is why I wanna help."
This caused Parrot to go silent again, facepalming to himself. Was it really getting that obvious..?
"Alright, alright.. fine. I'll talk, but only because I know you literally will not leave until you get answers out of me."
Parrot climbed onto his bed, sitting crossed-legged as he felt the weight of the mattress shift, signifying that Wifies had also gotten onto the bed. He felt Wifies' finger carefully brush against a section of Parrot's wings, despite all his confident talk from earlier, Wifies still seemed ever so slightly hesitant.
"You can't just spout all that big talk and then not do anything, you can preen them, dude, I don't mind."
Eventually, Parrot felt the familiar feeling of Wifies beginning to preen his wings, this wasn't the first time Wifies had done this for him, so Parrot had no idea why he seemed so hesitant to do it this time around. But he'd ask about that later..
He sighed, his body relaxing as he properly prepared himself to talk.. and it was almost like Wifies had read his mind.
"So.. what's been bothering you, Parrot?"
"Okay.. so y'know, obviously the whole King thing.."
"Mhm"
"I thought with, well, all the effort I've been putting in to try and give everyone a stable home, I kinda assumed that maybe.. more people would like me?"
"And they don't?"
"No! It feels like nobody likes me! Like my friends and my apprentices obviously at least.. tolerate me, but the actual citizens of Unstable? All they do is throw snowballs at me and my horse whenever I show up!"
Parrot felt his eyebrows furrow, just talking about it.. it was frustrating at the very least, it was the first time he'd ever opened up about how this actually made him feel.
"It feels like everything I'm doing is like.. pointless if nobody actually appreciates what I'm doing for them. I wanted to make this server better for everyone, but my very appearance seems to just upset people!"
Wifies listened carefully as he moved layers and layers of feathers, fixing them and organising them slowly. The thing about Wifies is that he was very precise with his actions and did almost everything with a secondary intention, this blends well with Parrot's preening problems, because as much as he hates to admit it.. it usually takes him hours to preen his own wings.
Wifies, sensing that Parrot had finished speaking for this portion of the conversation, decided to add his own input.
"To be fair, this was an anarchy server, this server quite literally promoted violence, peace, while ideal, was never the first goal.. although your efforts really shouldn't be ignored and ridiculed like they have been."
Parrot's wings fluttered slightly in annoyance, a dry rustle following.
"That's what I don't understand! They all loved Lettuce, I mean adored him! And he built his whole reputation on false hope and lies! But when I actually stick to my word and do as I promise, people don't seem to like it!"
Wifies nodded, humming in response, watching multitudes of feathers flick as they settled down. There was a moment of silence as Wifies put together the thoughts in his head, thinking about how to word what he was planning to say.
"I will say I don't like how you've been treated."
His tone becoming more flat than intented, causing Parrot to tense a little bit in worry.
".. Well I can definitely see that now."
"Sorry- was that too blunt?"
"No, no- it's not what you said, it's how you.. said it."
"Oohhh.. my bad."
This made Parrot snicker a little bit, trying to hide the smirk on his face.
"At least you're not like Theo, he's genuinely nearly killed people over stuff like this."
Wifies laughed, his hands pausing in the middle of moving some of Parrot's feathers.
"Oh, I can imagine, I've seen what he's like."
Parrot smiled more, temporarily distracting him from all the stress plaguing his mind currently.
"Y'know.. you and Theo should really talk more, I think you'd get along."
"Mm.. you think so? I think we're pretty.. uh.. opposite.. in a few ways."
He had a point, Theo was very loud and active, whereas Wifies was extremely quiet and reserved.
"Well, I don't know for certain, but.. I think it'd be cool if you guys spoke."
The room fell into silence again, it felt natural and calm, allowing for the sound of thunder outside to fill the room, the storm still ongoing and raging. It was quiet for a while, only being interrupted by Wifies preening the last of Parrot's feathers.
"Is there anything else that's been on your mind recently? Like.. regarding the stress and all.."
".. I think that's the majority of it, I just haven't been feeling great at all because of it all to be honest, I didn't expect everyone to immediately like me but I've been the King for at least 5 months now, and.. y'know, I thought people would've at least warmed up to me a little. It's draining constantly being ridiculed by the people you wanna help."
Wifies hummed.
"Mhm, I understand. You do know that if you ever need to talk to me about anything, you can come to me, right? I'm always available if you need something. I care about you Parrot."
That made Parrot stop. His mind drifting.
Care.
A word he didn't hear all too often, an act shown more through physical protection by most. Of course, people protecting him did show that they care, but hearing someone actually say it felt.. new, different.
And Parrot didn't hate it.
He and Wifies had been friends for an extremely long time at this point, and obviously they knew subconsciously that they cared about eachother. However.. hearing Wifies of all people say it.. someone who was usually so stoic and closed off. It felt special, real.
Parrot's eyes drifted to the single earring dangling to his side, the model shaped like a yin-yang, Wifies' defining symbol. His eyes then looked back at the necklace Wifies was wearing, at the centre, one of Parrot's own feathers was attached by a pearl. It was their way of matching eachother, a subtle detail that spoke silent words about their friendship.
Eventually, Wifies lowered his hands, having finished his work on preening Parrot's feathers, he shifted back slightly, the weight on the bed following his movements. Parrot did soon come back to his senses after realising that Wifies had moved. He turned around to face Wifies, looking at his best friend.
"Wifies.."
"Yeah, Parrot?"
A slight pause, the rain trickled and the thunder boomed outside.. and as if on cue, the lightning crashed and Parrot threw himself into Wifies' arms.
Wifies, slightly startled by the sudden hug, eventually settled and hugged Parrot back, his arms loosely wrapped around his upper torso.
"Hey.. you okay?"
Parrot nodded, his head settled against Wifies' shoulder, it was clear Parrot hadn't been hugged in a good while, the reason unclear. Whether it had been due to his avoidance of everyone or the lack of any actual downtime as of recently.
"I'm just.. god.."
Parrot felt the tears begin to prick at the corners of his eyes, a clear indicator that he has left some other feelings bottled up for a pretty long time.
Wifies, sensing that Parrot needed a little push, gently rubbed Parrot's back, a small act of reassurance that silently told the avian; "you can cry, you're okay."
It seemed to work, as Parrot began to quietly sob into the other man's shoulder, Wifies didn't have to say anything, he let Parrot cry for as long as he needed to, he wasn't planning on leaving until Parrot felt okay again (or as okay as he could get).
The sound of Parrot's deathly silent crying was another layer of sound added to the spacious room, being mixed in with the ongoing storm outside, lightning still occasionally crashing.
Wifies could feel his shirt getting slightly wet, but it was the least of his worries, he was not leaving Parrot, not for a while.
After a while of crying, Parrot seemed to eventually slow down, his breaths becoming more regulated as he slowly composed himself, doing simple breathing exercises to calm down. Wifies was still gently rubbing his back, helping Parrot calm down further.
"You feel any better..?"
Parrot nodded, sniffling as he lifted his head. His eyes were puffy and slightly glossy, his lip still quivering a little as a result of his long session of crying.
"Yeah- yeah.. I'm okay.."
..
"Wifies.."
"Yeah, Parrot?"
".."
"Thank you for being my friend.. my best friend.."
Wifies smiled, his gaze gentle as he looked as Parrot, his purple eyes stood out in the dim lights that coloured the room.
"Of course, dude.. anytime."
Parrot looked at the shoulder he had been crying on, seeing the small stain that'd been left by his tears.
"Oh- crap- sorry about that-"
Wifies laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he ran a hand through his own hair.
"Really? You just sat here crying for 20 minutes and your first concern is my shirt??"
"I mean- I don't wanna stain it or ruin it!!"
Wifies gently grabbed hold of Parrot's wrist, causing the avian to look at him.
"I promise you, it'll dry, if I really have to I'll just wash it, really it's not a big deal at all."
This reassured Parrot a little more, sighing.
"Okay.. sure."
"And.. by the way, wasn't that the breathing exercise I taught you when we first met?"
Parrot thought for a moment, oh.. it was.
"Oh, yeah it is.. huh. I must've just remembered it."
Wifies snickered,
"Maybe I am cut out to be a therapist after all."
Parrot snorted, shoving Wifies' shoulder and nearly pushing him over, Wifies laughed and shoved him back. Eventually it turned into a silly game of pushing and shoving, both of them snorting like little kids on a lone playground.
"Wifies, you're an idiot."
"If I'm an idiot then you're a brick."
Parrot gasped in mock offense, pretending to take the joke to heart.
"Wow. I can't believe you would say that..! How could you say this to me!!"
Parrot dramatically flopped over, lying back on the bed in a fake attempt to pretend like he passed out, causing the other to laugh even more, he pulled Parrot up and their shared laughter started to die down.
Eventually, they found themselves hugging again, a reminder of their shared bond and care for eachother.
"Wifies.. thank you again."
"Hm.. of course, you're my best friend, nothing will ever change that."
"It's raining a lot tonight, do you wanna just stay here?"
"Mm? Really?"
"Well, yeah."
"I don't have any pyjamas with me."
"Dude, just take some of my spare clothes, I literally have tons you can use for one night."
"Huh, whatever you say, your royal highness."
"Shut up and get changed."
Wifies laughed as he got up, moving into the closet and then into the bathroom.
They both settled, taking either side of the bed to give eachother enough room. Wifies had taken one of Parrot's bigger spare t-shirts as he had always preferred more loose clothes for sleep.
"Wifies."
"Mhm?"
"Thank you again. Genuinely I appreciate it so much.."
"Anytime, Parrot.. goodnight."
"G'night, Wifies."
They smiled at eachother for the final time that night, turning their backs to eachother and settling down properly to go to bed.
Parrot would probably never be able to feel like he could repay Wifies for this, there weren't enough words to express how much he appreciated his best friend. And he really hoped Wifies knew that.
Of course, Wifies knew everything.
And he appreciated Parrot, too.