Arthur wasn't special. He wasn't like the people who could explore the skies and fly alongside planes. He didn't have beautiful feathers of every colour of the rainbow or leathery bat wings. He was an ordinary human and that was all he'd ever be. For the rest of his life. No new age technology could change that. And no matter how much he wanted to know what it was like to take flight without a plan, he didn't really mind. Or so he told himself.
He was walking home from the convenience store, plastic bag of 'food' and whatever else he could afford in his hand. Since his parents weren't going to be home any time soon, he had to take care of himself for the day. And if that meant having a ten day old, barely cooked hotdog and some ramen, then so be it. He sighed, wishing that his parents could come home quickly to save him from food poisoning.
He wasn't focused on his surroundings at all. Aside from the hard, cement ground below him, he didn't really focus on much else. The last thing he was going to focus on was the sky.
"...K OUT!" Arthur practically jumped out of his skin, looking around him to see nothing except for a few people walking on the streets around him. No trucks or cars were coming and no one was doing anything particularly reckless. Maybe a bike rider here and there, but this area was safe. Arthur was probably just hearing things.
As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he felt something hit him and push him to the ground, where he tumbled and rolled a few times. The plastic bag had ripped and hot dog and ramen spilled out onto the sidewalk. His arm had scraped against the sidewalk and all he could feel was pain in his wrist. He also managed to hit his head pretty hard and felt that he might have been bleeding.
After recovering from the initial shock, he felt the back of his head, wincing in pain. He was indeed bleeding. And his arm was definitely scraped and bleeding as well.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" It was then that Arthur noticed the weight on top of him and the feathers that had fallen to the ground beside him. Arthur dared to look up, his eyes meeting with light blue eyes. He instantly felt embarrassment. He should have watched where he was going!
"Ah-no! No! Don't worry. I should have been more careful." He said as the winged stranger that had just crashed into him got up. The winged stranger put out his hand and Arthur took it, allowing himself to be helped up. Arthur patted himself down, making sure to get the dust and dirt off of himself. He then looked up to the stranger. "It's fine, really."
The stranger went from concerned to happy much too fast and he basically bounced from excitement. "That's great! My name is Alfred, by the way!" This stranger named Alfred jutted his hand out once again, this time as a form of greeting. Arthur took his hand, shaking it. He felt he should introduce himself as well. "And I'm...Arthur." Alfred nodded, letting go of Arthur's hand and checking on his wings. He flapped them once before looking back at the ground.
"Ah, you dropped your stuff. I'll help you pick this up." Alfred bent down, picking up a cold hot dog, ramen, and a cheap off-brand soda. The bag had ripped, so he had to stand there with those items in his hands. "Want me to help you take them home?" Arthur had spaced out, but came to with a jump. He instantly shook his head. "No, it's no problem. You don't have to-"
"I think I should. Where do you live?" Arthur paused, registering what had happened. Alfred seemed to have misheard 'no, you don't have to' as 'yes, please'. But Arthur didn't argue. He merely led the way to his town house just a few minutes away.
Arthur pulled out the key to his home, unlocking the door and holding it open for Alfred. Alfred walked in, instantly placing the cheap 'food' on the counter. He turned to Arthur who had just locked the door back and then, looked around the town house. It was decent sized and was decorated as if a rich person lived there. But both knew that no rich person lived in this town house. Especially considering that off-brand soda and ramen was all that Arthur could afford.
Coming back to reality, Arthur looked over Alfred. Or rather, his wings. Alfred had the wings of an eagle and Arthur imagined that his wingspan was large. The feathers seemed soft and Arthur had the urge to run his hand over them, but he didn't. Alfred was a stranger after all. The wings were brown, darkest at the very ends of the feathers and they lined up perfectly. Alfred's wings were perfect and there wasn't a single blemish or fault.
Arthur averted his attention to Alfred, however, and he felt embarrassment as he realized that Alfred had caught him staring. He tried to come up with an explanation, but he was shocked when Alfred spread his left wing just enough to show Arthur what they really looked like.
"You seem to be fascinated with my wings. Have you never seen winged people before?" Alfred asked this in a mocking tone, of course. Arthur had seen people with wings before. It's just that he hadn't seen them so close up. And if he had, they usually just walked past him. But he was right in front of Alfred and had the opportunity to actually see his wings. And it would be a lie to say that he didn't like to sight of them.
"You can touch them, ya know. I don't mind." Alfred flapped slightly and Arthur tried his best to not seem excited. Though, in reality, he was. He walked closer to Alfred, reaching out until he felt the softness of his feathers. He ran his hand down to the lightest part of Alfred's wings before letting his hand fall to his side. Just as Arthur predicted, Alfred's wings felt perfect as well.
"Ah-Why don't you sit down and I'll just-" Arthur didn't want to give Alfred off-brand soda, but it was all he had. And he did want Alfred to stay. Just for a little while longer.
Alfred nodded, sitting down on the tan couch and waiting for whatever else Arthur was going to tell him. Arthur set down a glass of off-brand grape soda and sat in the arm chair just diagonal of Alfred. He didn't know what he wanted to talk about, but he did want to talk to Alfred more. And it'd still be a couple of hours before Arthur's parents came back home.
"So, what were you doing today? Before crashing into me?" Arthur asked, nervously sipping from his own glass.
"Oh! I was practicing! I want to join the air force when I get older, so I'm practicing my flight skills!" Arthur wasn't expecting to hear that, but he did think it was fitting. The air Alfred gave off just seemed like that. He seemed like someone who was ambitious. And it was no surprise for someone like him to want to do something like that in his future. "The air force, huh?" Alfred nodded in excitement. He seemed passionate about it as well.
"Well, I hope to hear about you being the hero and saving millions of people." Arthur sipped from his glass once again, sinking into his chair. Alfred nodded again. "I assure you that I will!"
The two had been talking for hours, occasionally pausing to watch the television, but their time together was well spent and the two had definitely learned things about each other. Such as how Alfred's father, who was winged as well, was in the air force. And how Arthur had been in the school band when he was younger. The two had very interesting conversations and, surprisingly, had fun together. But that time had come to an end as Arthur's parents were probably almost home by now. So, Arthur had to say his goodbyes or risk getting in trouble.
"I'm really sorry, but you should get going. Thank you for the help and talk, Alfred." Arthur got up, unlocking the door and opening it just slightly. Alfred nodded, getting up and looking around. He caught sight of what he wanted and bent down, so he was level with the coffee table.
Arthur waited patiently as Alfred wrote something down, though he didn't know what. He focused on the world outside before Alfred handed a piece of paper to him.
"Read it." Alfred said. Arthur opened the piece of paper to see a number. It had a phone number written on it along with a message that read 'text me any time you want'. Arthur looked up at Alfred who was about to walk out of the door before being stopped.
"Ah, thank you. I'll text you later?" Arthur asked, looking at the paper and back to Alfred. Alfred paused for a second, but nodded excitedly.
"Yeah! Text ya later, Arthur!" He ran to the sidewalk, waving Arthur goodbye before taking flight.
Arthur searched for his phone, pulling it out of his pocket and looking back down at the paper. He had said later, but he was shaking with anticipation and just wanted to text Alfred now. But he calmed himself, reminding himself that he would be able to talk to Alfred in the next few hours. He stuffed the number into his pocket and cleaned up the left over glasses just as his mother walked in the house.
