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Fukumoto Ten and Fukumoto Shi were born with wings.
Well, it would be more accurate to say they were born with six small lumps on their backs and two on their heads, and that those lumps grew into limbs, and then those limbs grew feathers, and bam. Wings.
Obviously, the doctors assumed that their quirks would have something to do with the wings, or the two red demon-like horns on their heads, or their mismatched eyes, or their fangs, or maybe, somehow, all of the above, though no-one could figure out any specifics.
The doctors and their parents encouraged them to play, to learn, to try things out, and as their wings grew stronger and they found their legs and balance and selves, their experiments evolved with them.
This led to two small children with too many wings and too many hopes sitting high up in the giant old cedar tree at the end of their garden, knowing only that they wanted to fly.
—
Ten was excited.
Ten was often excited, but today they were even more excited than usual, because they had just got back from the doctors, and the doctors had said that their wings were strong and basically fully grown now! Well, not fully grown, but close enough! They had said that Ten was apparently slightly heavier than Shi, but they had also said that a weight difference was not too weird, so it was fine!
Obviously, as soon as they had gotten home, Shi had whispered and gestured excitedly about testing out their wings now that they were ready, and tugged Ten outside and into the small but dense patch of trees that served as an awesome den/hiding place for them in their garden.
Shi scrambled quickly up the tree, eager to test out their whispered idea, wings twitching and flexing in anticipation, but Ten felt more nervous, hesitating at the base of the tree, watching as Shi became obscured by low leaves and branches, and wings hunched in with nerves.
Shi apparently noticed their tension. They paused where they were about to scramble even further upwards, and glanced down at their sibling, before crouching where they were still standing on a sturdy branch, using their wings to balance themself as they stretched out their hand and smiled widely in encouragement.
Ten grinned back, and gripped Shi’s outstretched hand so they could be pulled up, boosting Ten up so they were grinning face to face, holding each other on the branch.
The two kept scrambling their way up, steadying and helping each other as they went, and soon they were on the branch Shi had picked specifically for this purpose; a conveniently sturdy branch high up enough to give the twins some leeway in terms of landing and falling, and relatively clear of other branches that might get in the way, angled away from the house so their parents wouldn’t be able to see and stop them.
Neither twin was concerned that the branch was too high, and that falling off would hurt them. They were going to fly after all! They were ready!
They took a moment to plan out their approach, the two pointing out good spots to aim for when landing and going back and forth about the best way to use their wings.
Shi suggested starting off with just trying to glide, to slow their fall, because while they really wanted to fly already, they could grudgingly admit that they didn’t really know how.
Eventually, after everything was decided and the conversation died down, the twins sat quietly for a moment, full of excitement and uncertainty and just a little bit of fear, both of them simultaneously eager and hesitant to be the first to go.
Shi broke the silence.
“I’ll go first.”
And that was that.
They shuffled along the branch, crouched and holding onto it so they could adjust themself without having to rely on their wings, and then they spread them, readying themself to jump.
They instinctively reared back a bit, flexing their wings, and both twins took a deep breath.
Shi tensed, and then launched themself off the tree.
There was a moment where they were just falling, but then their wings snapped out instinctively, and after a moment of wobbling, they began falling slower, almost gliding a little to the ground, where they stumbled and fell to the dirt.
There was a moment of surprised silence and then the twins simultaneously cheered, throwing hands up in the air in celebration. Shi laughed in glee, and then immediately began egging Ten on to give it a try, explaining in their own childish way how it had felt and what to do.
Ten was still nervous, but they began sidling along the branch, Shi’s excitement contagious and their success giving them hope. They were excited, and couldn’t wait to be able to fly!
They braced themself, took a deep breath, and jumped.
There was a moment of freedom, of feeling like they were suspended in midair, like they were flying , and then their stomach dropped out from under them and they were falling, falling, trying desperately to right themself but just losing where they were and they were still falling and-
CRACK
The twins screamed, and Ten blacked out.
—
Ten woke up in increments.
First, they felt smooth, cool sheets and an itchy blanket surrounding them, and a weird, numb feeling coming from their left arm and where their wings were. They were too groggy and confused to figure out exactly which, but they realised they had been lying on their front, and their neck felt a little stiff, which wasn’t very fun.
Next, they heard the general shuffling of several people moving around a small room, and the familiar, slightly wheezy breathing of Shi, asleep close to their ear. They shifted a little, trying to move, and heard the rustling of the sheets and their feathers, then settled again when that just made the numb feeling turn to a deep ache.
Finally, they opened their eyes to Shi, fast asleep and drooling onto a clean, white bed, and an unfamiliar room, stark white and smelling of disinfectant.
They shifted again, trying not to disturb Shi, and shuffled so they were looking in the other direction, grunting in effort, which alerted the nurse they could now see talking to their parents, who looked tired and worried and maybe also a little angry, somewhere deep down.
The three moved over to the side of their bed, asking some questions about how they were feeling, which they mostly answered with grunts and groans and the occasional actual answer, and then their mom was holding their hands while the nurse asked Ten if they remembered what had happened.
They looked a little worriedly at their parents, because they were very much not allowed to climb trees without telling them, let alone jump out of them, but then the memory of falling came back, and they teared up, remembering just how scared and panicked they had been when they were falling, a moment stretched to a hundred, and they spilled the whole thing.
The nurse nodded, and their parents gave them a look that said they would be having words later, and then the nurse told them what had happened.
Three broken bones.
They had landed on their left side, bouncing their head off the ground and knocking themself out, and the impact bad broken two bones in their left centre wing and one of the bones in their left arm.
Ten was trying not to cry, because they really didn’t like this situation, but then Shi woke up, and they were crying too, and it all just flooded out.
Shi was apologising, saying they should never have done that and that they would never make Ten do anything ever again, and Ten was just scared of the pain the nurse had said would come, and scared of the thought of trying again.
One of their parents was patting their back, and the other was gently stroking their hair, and while they weren’t okay now, and definitely didn’t want to try flying again any time soon, they were just glad that their family was there for them, and they always would be.
Ten (right) and Shi (left) - art by me
