An Unexpected Trip Pt 08
Digitalis reached over to grab the remote off the living room table and waited for Arthur to stretch before settling back against him. They were having a movie night with Arthur's older brother Fox and Fox's partner Caspia. Fox and Caspia's kids were out staying at friends' houses, so the four adults had the house to themselves for the night. It didn't make any difference in what movies they watched, but it freed up space on the U-shaped sectional couch and allowed them to drink more.
Arthur and Fox sat wedged comfortably in the corners, Arthur with his jet-black feathered wings slung over the backrest and Fox with his graying magpie-like wings tucked neatly beneath him. Caspia lay across Fox's lap, stretching her black-and-white striped wings across the couch to one side. She was petite for an Andyne, standing at about chest height compared to Fox and Arthur, and wore a set of heather gray sweats that matched Fox's.
Digitalis's wings were blue, with distinct bluejay stripes. He had light blue hair and amber eyes with an odd lack of visible pupils, which was the only outward indication that he was half human.
The recent snow hadn't melted, but the city plows had finally reached their street, and life was slowly working its way back to normal. If all went as planned, Arthur and Fox's late father would be cremated sometime in the next two days, after which they would schedule the memorial service. Once that was over with, it was just a matter of waiting until the weather cleared enough for Digitalis and Arthur to go home.
"Hey Arty and Digit," said Caspia, sitting up on top of Fox. "Do either of you want the last of the Kannar or do you mind if I finish it?"
"I'd like to try it," said Digitalis. His bladder was already close to bursting, partially because he'd been drinking a glass of water for each bottle of Renoige beer he'd consumed. Digitalis and Arthur were also filling up for a holding contest later that night. He hoped it wouldn't be too much later, and eyed the shorter films and shows as he scrolled through the onscreen catalog.
"We have some allergy meds in the medicine cabinet if you need them," said Fox. His concerned expression made him almost a mirror image of his brother, though he lacked Arthur's dark freckles. Fox had the same olive skin as his brother and the same wavy dark hair; Arthur's was almost to his waist, sitting over his shoulder in a braid, while Fox's was kept short.
"It should be okay as long as he can use his wings," said Caspia leaning over to hand Digitalis the bottle. Fox grunted, squirming as she shifted. Caspia was a toxicologist for the local biological station. "It doesn't matter if you're part human, it matters whether or not your wings are functional. It means your body makes the right enzymes to process the dagger root."
"Cas, that was my bladder," Fox mumbled in Caspia's ear before turning to Digitalis. "You've talked about doing some gliding before, right, Digit?"
Digitalis sniffed the bottle, and the intense sweet-spicy scent was strong enough to make Arthur pull back a little behind him.
"I'm fully functional," said Digitalis. He tipped the bottle up, took a carefully-measured sip, and felt his face scrunch up involuntarily: the Kannar tasted like acrid, flowery cough syrup. "I'm out of practice, but I can glide pretty far if I have to."
Digitalis held the bottle out to Fox, who took it and drained it.
"Hey, I thought you needed to pee," Caspia teased Fox.
"What did you think this was for?" asked Fox, grinning and shaking the empty bottle. Caspia blushed.
"I was hoping you'd be open to taking this outside, actually," said Caspia, her blush brightening. Digitalis felt his face redden, and wasn't sure whether it was sympathetic because he also needed to pee, or because of her tone.
Fox shrugged. "It's cold, but I'm up for it if everyone else is."
"Would you two be up for a pissing contest out back?" asked Caspia.
Digitalis exchanged a glance with Arthur, who saw the surprise on Digitalis's face and spoke up.
"Well, we did already have...um...some plans of that nature tonight," said Arthur slowly. "But if Digit's okay with it then I am too."
"What's the contest for?" gulped Digitalis.
Caspia stood up and stretched, holding out her hand for Fox. "We were thinking of taking you two out on the town for lunch tomorrow before we pick up the kids from their friends' place. How about the loser buys dessert after?"
"So aren't you from the Homeworld?" asked Caspia, trailing Fox out the sliding back door into the snowy backyard. The cold seemed to scrape at Digitalis's exposed skin, and he regretted not wearing slippers. The covered cement walkway outside the back door led to a garden patio, opposite the small mother-in-law house where Arthur and Digitalis were currently staying. Much of the chest-deep snow in the backyard had been trampled and piled up from Arthur's family's activities in the past few days, but the snow around the patio was pristine. The sparkling rounded shapes seemed to muffle all sound and amplify the silence, except for the occasional resounding crack of branches from the neighboring trees.
"Yes, but I stayed in the staff quarters, and went to school off-world for most of the year," said Digitalis.
The patio was open to the backyard, overlooking the hillside around their house over Fox's prized rose bushes, lovingly pruned and mounded over for the cold weather under the snow. Fox stopped at the low wall separating the pavement from the flowerbed.
Fox fidgeted with the tie on his sweatpants while Caspia whipped out her phone to use the stopwatch. Digitalis stood next to them on the patio. His bladder was throbbing, he couldn't feel the bottoms of his feet, and he didn't know how he felt about pissing on his hosts' rosebushes, especially right in front of both of them.
In one fluid movement, Caspia pulled the front of Fox's heather gray sweatpants down, aimed his penis, and held her finger over the timer with her other hand. "We're ready," she announced.
"Are you sure you're okay with this, Digit?" asked Arthur quietly. Behind him, Fox bounced impatiently on the balls of his feet.
"Have you done this before?" Digitalis asked.
"Yeah," said Arthur. "It's one of those Andyne cultural things-" Arthur paused when his brother let out a sigh of relief behind him, sending an impressive stream over the flower bed. "It's still a bit much for me sometimes. If you'd like to sit it out that's alright."
"I'd like to try," said Digitalis, taking out his phone while Arthur pushed down the waistband of his pants. "I'm not ready for anything like switching partners though."