Work Text:
Albert laid comfortably on his bed, stomach down with his chin hoisted up on a pillow. He mindlessly scrolled on his phone, contemplating if he should get up or not. The click of his bedroom door opening caught his attention. Averting his gaze away from his screen he saw Jake standing in the doorframe. He looked puzzled, scanning the room with his eyes as if he was searching for something.
“Whatre you looking for?” Albert asked as if he could be of any help in finding whatever was missing. Jake pursed his lips, seemingly deep in thought until he spoke, “I lost my brush. The one with the really fine bristles. The fur brush.” Jake has been shedding a lot lately and it's been driving the both of them insane. They often found clumps of Jake's fur in the most random or inconvenient places in the house, for example, Albert found a soft cluster of orange fur in their cupboard the other day. How did it get there? No one knows. They vacuum the house so frequently that they fear their vacuum will eventually break. Jake didn't even have that much fur, only his ears and tail were truly furry so they didn't know why he shed so much so vigorously.
“I haven't seen it anywhere, but you can use mine if you want.” Albert rolled himself over to the edge of the bed and opened his drawer. He reached in and took out a normal looking hairbrush. It wouldn't be nearly as effective as Jake's designated brush but he figured it'd get the job done. Jake came over and sat on the foot of the bed, watching as Albert handed him the brush, waiting for him to grab it. However, Jake was lazy. And he wanted Albert to touch him. Lifting his hands up under his chin, he clasped them together and looked at Albert with wide eyes, maintaining eye contact. Albert eyed him up and down until he let out a deep sigh of agreement, with one condition though, “As long as you promise to preen my feathers after.”
“Yeah, yeah I will, I promise.” Jake was already crawling towards Albert, who was no longer laying but rather sitting criss-cross apple sauce. He curled up on the others lap, much like an actual house cat, and smiled as he felt Albert drag the brush from the base to the end of his tail. Gently, he repeated the motions, slowly picking up fur as the brush slid along his tail. Jake took his glasses off and closed his eyes, feeling as if he could fall asleep any second. Albert felt a faint rumble against his thigh, coming from the place Jake laid his chest. He had no control over it and he always did it involuntarily, he started purring. Soon enough it was followed up by Jake weakly kneading his claws into the mattress, a tired feeling washing over him. He relaxed in Albert's lap, a sense of security seeping in and settling in his body.
Albert would probably never say it out loud, but he found Jake profoundly cute when he let the kitten-ish aspects of himself shine. He felt like he was obligated to take care of him and make sure he’s okay. He almost felt maternal towards him in moments like this. Even though Albert was aware that he got all of the loose fur out of his tail, he figured that it wouldn't hurt to graze over it a few more times with his bare hands. Jake's fur was very soft, Albert assumed it was a product of his consistent cleaning. He continued to rub the mid part of Jake's tail until he halted. He watched in admiration as the fluff lightly wrapped around his wrist, not firmly or anything alike, more so hovering above his wrist. He realized that Jake must’ve fallen asleep or something akin to that, because he never would've done something like this consciously.
Albert decided to let his hand rest against the fur, paying more attention to Jake's ears instead. He lifted his other hand and rubbed circles into Jake's ear with his fingers. They were warm, soft and sensitive. He observed the way his ear twitched when he first made contact. He continued to play with his ear, cherishing the sound of Jake's purring growing louder. Delicately, he shifted his administrations to the crown of his head, tangling his hand in the others hair. He rubbed his scalp with the tips of his fingers, hairs wrapping around them as if they were locking them in place.
Shortly after a few minutes passed he realized that Jake was definitely asleep. Albert had no intention of waking him up though. So, he attempted to nudge him off of his lap. Steadily he pulled his legs out from under him one by one and, with sorrow, removed his hand from Jake's tail. He rested his head against his arm whilst he laid next to Jake who was fast asleep. He couldn't help but admire him, listen to the soft snores and purrs he would let out, notice the strands of brunette hair that carelessly scattered across his forehead. He looked so at peace like this, like he didn't have a care in the whole entire world. Albert really couldn't help it. He really couldn't. Not like he wanted to that much anyway. He reached his hand out and pushed some of the hair to the side, out of Jake's face, but he just wanted an excuse to touch him. Running his fingertips against Jake's cheek, he felt the stubble on his face under them. He let his hand linger there a little longer than it was probably supposed to. If it were up to Albert, he would never take it back.
And right now, it was up to Albert. He didn't move it. Just kept it there, letting it absorb the heat radiating off of Jake. Albert felt himself grow drowsy, he yawned and scooted a bit closer to the other boy. Just close enough to be able to embrace him. He opened his wing and snaked it around him with so much tenderness that it almost felt more intimate than a kiss. He kept a gentle but nearly overpowering hold around him, as if someone was going to steal this moment from him at any given second. And he definitely wasn't ready nor willing to let go of right now. Frankly, he wasn't sure if he would be ready to do it after he woke up either. But right now, that really didn't matter to him.