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Jake and Albert had gotten permission to go out and spend time with each other in a park nearby Jake's house, after they'd go back to his house and have a sleepover (Albert made sure to bring his matching pajamas). They were ecstatic.
Albert was dropped off an hour earlier than planned, little boy was too excited he couldn't wait, and neither could Jake it seems, since he arrived a few ten minutes later.
When they saw each other they rushed and hugged, holding the other tight in the embrace, not wanting to let go.
"Jakey!!" Albert mutters in his friends shoulder, his pink little wings fluttering.
The tiger wraps his tail around Albert, giggling. "I've told you, stop calling me that!" He says, pulling away from the embrace to look at his pretty friend.
Albert laughs rebelliously. "Well guess what? I'm not stopping!" He said, wings fluttering, oh this seven year old sure has a lot of evil and mischief in him, calling his bestie Jakey.
Jake groans, blushing. This makes the avian smile so much. He grabs Jake's chin and kisses his cheek, getting on his tippy toes to do so.
The feline's fur spikes up, flustered. He felt like a kaleidoscope with dozens of colorful and beautiful butterflies was in his stomach.
Albert runs to the swings. He jumps onto them excitedly and starts going up and down, fluttering his wings as a little boost. The feline is left staring at his friend, completely love struck.
The avian's giggles were music to Jake's ears. The tiger ears go flat on his head as he zones out, thinking about Albert, the prettiest, sweetest, cutest boy he's ever met, he wishes to see a future with him. Oh how he loves- Wait, WAIT?? WHAT IS HE THINKING??
Jake wraps his tail around his leg, an embarrassed habit of his.
"Jakeyyyy come on the swings with me." Albert whines.
The feline nods and runs to the swings, trying to use them as a distraction from his definitely not gay thoughts of his best friend. He sits on the other swing and pushes himself off the ground using his feet, swaying his legs up and down, looking as Albert was swinging at the same time as him, in sync.
"You're so lucky, you can use your wings as a boost!" Jake says.
"Yeah!" Albert starts flapping his wings even faster, now going higher and faster than the feline. Jake tries to catch up, but gets too tired and slows down to jump off the swings.
"Not fair!" Jake pouts, crossing his arms.
Albert chuckles and jumps off the swing. "I bet I could fly with these!"
Jake hums. "I don't know, I don't think your wings are big enough to fly." He says, his little ear twitching.
The avian huffs. "Nah, you're not the one with wings here, so you shouldn't talk."
Albert starts flapping his wings intensely, Jake moving aside. He was groaning and jumping, trying as hard as he could. After a few weak attempts, he manages to float off the ground for a few seconds.
His eyes lit up, a big smile starts to spread across his face. "Did you see!?" He practically yelled, running up to Jake and grabbing his hands. There were definitely imaginary stars in his brown eyes.
Jake giggles. "That was so cool!" He said, smiling, his orange tail wagging happily behind his back.
"I know what I can do now!" Albert says, as he gets on one of the park's monkey bars, standing one foot on one bar and the other on another bar.
The feline's smile falters a bit, his tail slowing down. "Albert- I-I don't think that's a good idea" He muttered out, worried.
Albert huffs "I was able to fly before, I'll be fine!" He said, before jumping off and starting to flap his wings really hard, but sadly, he only stayed up in the air for a second, before he started falling. His eyes widened in horror. It was a big fall for a seven year old.
Thanks to Jake's feline reflexes, he sprints over to where Albert was about to fall and caught him in his arms. "Are you okay?" He asks, eyes furrowed in worry.
Albert pauses for a moment, before hugging Jake. "Thanks to you I am" That made Jake's cheeks redden.
"Stop being so… cheesy…" The feline whispered. His legs got a little wobbly, Albert's weight pulling him down.
Albert jumps out of Jake's arms, all happy. "I'm going to try again!" He exclaims.
"Albert, you really shouldn't" Jake mutters, but his insistence leaves no effect. Albert got on the monkey bars again, same pose as before.
The feline sighs and accepts defeat in this intense war. "Before you try, let me drink some water please." He says, while walking to a drinking fountain and bending his back a bit, lapping the water up with his tongue while pressing the stone button with his hand.
Once he was well hydrated, he stood straight, sighing. He was about to wipe the little bit of water on his chin off, but paused when he heard a loud thump, something heavy hitting against the ground.
He spun around and saw Albert, face first in the hard ground. He ran over and kneeled down in front of him, pulling him up and onto his lap. He noticed the humid eyes and the slight quiver in his lip. "Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah, it was just a small scratch" The avian lied, voice weak, trying to hide his pain and not seem weak.
Jake is not dumb, he catches onto the lie pretty quick. "Where does it hurt?"
"Jake, I told you, I'm fine" Albert insists, his voice getting higher and quieter.
"I'm not stupid, I know you hurt yourself!" The feline yells, he didn't mean to raise his voice.
Albert's eyes well up, now quivering a bit like a kicked kitten. "My knees, and nose…" He whispered.
Jake quickly examines those spots, noticing a few small wounds on his knees, a tiny bit of blood peaking through the opening. He also notices Albert's nose was a bit swollen and that a bit of blood was peaking through his nostril.
"Does it hurt a lot?" Jake asks, tucking a soft tuft of hair behind Albert's ear to get a better view of his face and eyes that look like smoky quartz because of the tears, still pretty even when injured.
The little avian nods.
The feline's eyebrows furrow in worry as he stands up and started looking through his pockets, eventually finding a packet of tissues he remembers a few months back his mom made him take everywhere because he had a really runny nose in winter.
He pulls out a soft tissue and gets on his knees in front of Albert again, gently dabbing the blood on his knees off. Once he cleaned all the blood off and it stopped bleeding he pulled out another tissue and rolled it up and gently shoved it up Albert's bleeding nose.
"Better?" Jake asks, his voice soft and reassuring.
Albert nods, sniffling. "A little."
The feline kisses his friend's small wound and his nose, making a rose color dust onto both of their faces.
"A lot better, actually" The avian mutters, wiping his tears and cracking a little smile. "You never kiss me"
Jake huffs. "Well, today is an exception, since you got hurt" He smirks and starts kissing Albert all over his face, hugging him and holding him close.
The avian is left red faced and speechless. "Maybe I should get hurt more often if that means you kiss me more." He said, a flustered smile on his face.
"I'll start kissing you daily if that means you won't hurt yourself" Jake says, he truly cared about Albert deeply, and would hurt himself if that means he keeps him safe.
Albert smiles. "Is that an offer?"
"I guess it is"
The avian's wings flutter happily. He rests his head on his friends shoulder and got comfy as the sky got darker. The street lamps were already turned on.
They watched in a comfortable silence as the sky was drawing patterns, stars telling stories, some of people who sacrificed themselves for their loved ones and turned into constellations. Something these two would do for each other.
Jake's tail was wagging calmly from side to side, he knows that when he gets home his mom will get mad at him for staying up so late.
The two little boys, curled up together, fitting each other's embrace better than two puzzle pieces. They watched the stars shine.
Jake points his finger to two bright stars in the sky that are t¡right next to each other, one was orange and the other one blue. "You're the orange one and I'm the blue one" He says.
The avian smiles, he's going to remember those two stars for the rest of his life now. "When we're home you wanna play Roblox?" Albert mumbles.
"Definitely" Jake wants to spend every waking moment with this boy. He really loves him.