Helping Out
Della coughed as the billow of smoke invaded her lungs, swatting her hands to clear the air around her. Her feathery hair was frazzled, covered in soot that she tried to brush off, attempting to stand up on her legs.
“Attempt” is the key word here because she found herself crashing back to the ground, realizing she was unbalanced. What was..?
Oh. She looked down at her legs, with her metal one noticeably missing. All these times of being in a crash due to Launchpad, this was the first time her prosthetic limb was separated from her.
“Grreaat..” She took a moment to grumble, but she didn’t have the patience to lay there pathetically and wait for someone to rescue her. She’d find her leg and fly her and Launchpad back home herself.
‘Speak of the devil..’ Della thought to herself, though LP was far from the devil, something Della herself can admit. He as always seemed giddy after what he considered a “good” crash, reveling in the experience of just being in a plane, thinking that crashing was part of it.
“Hey, Ms. D.” His voice held a small smile, though his beak frowned at the corners when he saw the state of Della, having finally gained her balance on one foot, hopping half an inch each time to attempt to get over and search for her leg.
“Lose your leg?” He asked her, earning an exasperated, hard, and sarcastic chuckle in response.
“NOOO, Launchpad! I just decided it’d be fun to toss my leg out to who knows where and play a fun game of hide and seek with it.”
“OOOH! Can I seek it next??”
“NOT… even going to dignify that with a response.” She muttered under her breath, turning back to her task at hand.
There was a beat of silence, the only sound being Della’s grunting in the effort as she hopped inch by inch, taking a moment to breathe before repeating the process.
“Need some help??” Launchpad called out to her, his footsteps becoming closer behind her.
“Thanks, but no. I’d rather you not touch my leg.” Her voice suddenly got low, shaking her head. “Who knows what you’ll do to it..”
The pilot didn’t seem to take offense to that, clearing his throat and appearing just behind Della.
“Oh, that’s okay! I meant more like..”
He let his actions finish the sentence for him, quite literally sweeping Della off her feet. Er, foot in this case. He held onto her, bridal style.
“HEY! What makes you think you can just-”
She gulped, her words becoming stuck in her throat as she looked up at Launchpad. And.. this was the first time she felt she was REALLY looking at him.
His face held a gentle, thoughtless smile. His eyes are the same, just happy to help in any way he thinks is right. His orange hair wavered slightly in the soft breeze, and his hold on her was gentle despite his strong arms. She began to notice her cheek brushed against his chest, noticing just how soft it was.
Della almost felt her heart drop into her stomach when the feeling of a blush started creeping across the bill of her beak.
No.. nononononono this wasn’t happening to her. Especially not with LAUNCHPAD. Sure, he was.. Kind. Sometimes slow to understand things, definitely reckless when it came to being a pilot. And sure his eyes looked at her with that shine in his eyes, as if he knew what he was doing to her. But he couldn’t know, cause he didn’t know anything. But then why…
“Everything alright?”
“Huuh??” Della was pulled from the internal struggle within herself, shaking her head. She looked up at him, seeing a small smile, and his eyebrows knitted in a confused concern.
“NO! I mean. Y-yes. I just. Want to find my leg. And you’re carrying me is distracting.”
Della turned her face, squeezing the fabric of her scarf, silently begging for her blush to go away.
“OH! Noo problem. No problem at all,” Launchpad nodded, missing the implication of her statement. He started to put her down but was stopped by Della as her hands gripped the sides of his jacket.
“Nooooo I mean, I.. figured since you want to help so badly, I can at least let you carry me over so I can try and find my leg. It’s the least I can do to let you help.”
“You got it!” Launchpad beamed, once again pulling Della back into his arms and holding her securely, his movements swift but gentle so as to not bring her any discomfort.
‘Aw, geez, Della..’ She thought to herself, her head resting against Launchpad’s chest, her eyes drifting close. ‘What have you got yourself into?’