(Make sure to read the previous chapter first. It updated fairly recently.) 

His babe had fallen back asleep shortly after their shower. Ash, however, was still quite energetic, but also quite mad at himself. Ru hadn't told him no or tried to push him away at all earlier, but he still realized, after the fact, that there had been enough signs for him to have realized that he needed a break. 

Running his fingers gently through Ru's feathered hair as the man rested in his arms, he frowned, pursed his lips, then sighed for the hundredth time. 

Your feathers are still in your hair while you're sleeping, too. 

They were sometimes just there, but considering the sheer amount of them, Ash had no misconceptions. He'd stressed out his love... while trying to show him love. 

Leaning his head back on the pillows, Ash was about to close his eyes to try and finally relax a little when his phone vibrated beside him, drawing his attention and making him reach over to check the screen. 

Oh crap! 

He nearly jerked into a sitting position right then and there but caught himself at the last second so that he didn't startle Ruru. Instead, he took a deep breath and gently leaned forward to press a kiss to Ru's hair. 

"Ruru? Sweetheart? It's just about dinner time," he whispered against his soft feathers, trying to coax him back to consciousness as gently as possible. 

He noticed his feathers slowly lift a little in his hair at the same time his body began to languidly stretch out against his own. 

So cute...

A yawn finally followed, but before he could see his love open his beautiful eyes his human form wavered, then vanished! 

E-eh? 

His mind took a moment to process what had happened, but before he could grab the blanket and lift it up to reveal the crow likely beneath it, he felt something abruptly tug at the piercing he had between his legs! 

"O-ouch!" 

That got his own butt out of bed quickly! 

Turning as he rubbed himself, Ash scowled at the black bird now nonchalantly staring up at the ceiling from within a ring of their piled-up blanket. 

"Rucrow, that was not appropriate," he grumbled, even though, internally, he felt like he'd deserved it a bit. 

But only once! 

Shaking off his slight frustration as the pain ebbed, Ash turned and began getting dressed. He could feel Rucrow watching him the entire time, but that didn't bother him at all. 

Once he was ready to go in a pair of black cargo pants and a light blue button up T-shirt, he slid on his tennis shoes and walked back over to the quirky bird.

"I'm guessing you're coming to dinner like that?" he said as he knelt down in front of it in order to be at eye level. 

Rucrow rustled its feathers, then tilted its head and clacked its beak once. 

"Hmm, I'm going to take that as a yes." 

He was just about to offer to pick him up when he realized something and looked toward the door. 

Ah, right! The little sweater mum made for you! 

He'd already put the harness in a safe place after unclipping it from the man's pants earlier, but he'd lost track of the sweater. 

He'd dropped it while I'd been giving him a... yeah. 

Walking over, he picked up the little clothing item, then walked back to kneel down again before holding it up. 

"Do you like it, hun? It will keep you warm," he said, excited to show off his mother's work to its intended wearer. 

Rucrow, however, didn't seem all that impressed. 

He tilted his head this way and that, leaned forward, then back. Heck, he even nipped it a few times, but then, in the end, simply rustled his feathers and gave a dismissing caw. 

But... mum worked really hard on this for you. 

She wouldn't show it outwardly, but she would probably be pretty upset on the inside if he didn't at least wear it once. 

Hmm...

Standing back up, Ash took the little sweater into his horde room, leaving the door open incase Rucrow wanted to browse again... which he did. Immediately. 

The beautiful bird quickly ran inside and began sorting through this and that, but he was fine with it. Rucrow was very careful with each item, and also quite practiced at handling valuable things. 

Except my piercings...

Grinning slightly, he sifted through his little dresser of jewelry and pulled out something that might work. He then carefully affixed the ruby earrings he'd retrieved to the little spots where the stitched dragon had its eyes. 

"Hey Rucrow, what do you think of it now?" he asked as he sat himself down against the dresser and held up the little garment, drawing the crow's attention after a few more moments of sorting shinnies. 

Noticing the rubies, it hurriedly hopped over, flapping its pretty wings until it was walking along one of his crossed legs. 

"Like it better now? They sure are pretty, right? Everyone will be jealous of you..." he said, then held out something else, drawing Rucrow's eyes over to the new item. 

"I think I can slip this between your feathers, too, if you'd like? It would go well with the outfit."

In his other hand was a light pink diamond that was shaped into a spear-like form with a little clasp at the end. It was meant to hang from a necklace, but it was also light enough, and the clasp looked strong enough, to turn it into a little birdie hairpin, too. 

When Rucrow reached out for the hairpin, Ash let him take it, but when the bird began trying to slip it into his wing feathers, he couldn't help but chuckle and reach forward. 

Rucrow wasn't happy with his diamond being taken back so soon, but when Ash gently reached up and fastened it to a few sturdy feathers, then held up a little mirror for him to look in, the bird quickly settled down. 

"Pretty, right? I think it looks great on you." 

Rucrow turned a little to each side, then looked over each wing at his reflection in the mirror. His feathers still looked pretty messy, but that wasn't something fixable. The hairpin, however, really did look quite nice. 

Ash was all smiles as the bird seemed to approve of the trinket, but then, things suddenly took a turn and Rucrow began plucking his feathers out! 

"H-hey, let's not do that, okay? You're a really pretty bird. No need to pull those out," he said, scrambling to try and gently block the bird's beak as he yanked out one after another. 

He didn't think crows could be so quick, but feathers after feather kept dropping to the floor before he could stop it! 

I can't let him keep hurting himself like this...

While he didn't want to force him, Ash knew that he had to do something and quickly grabbed the little sweater, then waited for the perfect chance before yanking it quickly but gently over the bird's head and body!

Rucrow froze for a solid three seconds in response, clearly startled by the sudden application of the sweater. It gave him just enough time to tug his little wings through the correct slits before the crow gave out an ear-piercing caw and began flapping around the little room like a crazy chicken with its head cut off! 

Caw caw caw was heard as the poor bird scrambled about flapping its wings and making little hops up into the air, its instincts clearly overriding its knowledge of the fact that it could no longer fly, and hadn't been able to for years. 

Ash wanted to catch it and try to calm it down, but he knew that doing so would likely give the poor little guy a heart attack. 

Instead, he thought for a moment before remembering something he kept around for Ashy. Getting back up on his knees and turning around, he reached behind the little storage dresser he'd been leaning against and tugged out a nice sized mirror. 

He quickly leaned it against the wall, then moved aside and held his breath, waiting for Ru's crow to notice itself in it. 

It took the bird a bit, but after about three more minutes of panicking, it began to grow tired and eventually slowed down enough to notice itself in the large mirror. 

Ash bit his tongue on saying anything at that point, deciding to just remain quiet as Rucrow cautiously stepped closer. It got within about a foot or so of the mirror before glaring at him and cawing loudly. 

Ah, right. 

"Sorry, moving right now," he said as he hurriedly scooted away until he was leaning against the far wall. A good five feet away. 

Rucrow seemed content with that distance, because he quickly finished approaching the mirror and began examining himself in it. He tried to tug off the sweater, at first, too, but then it noticed something that made him pause. 

The next thing Ash knew, Rucrow was all about his new sweater! The bird flexed its beautiful black wings as it turned slowly in a circle, then preened a few tiny feathers here and there... but no plucking! 

"It really does look good on you, right?" he said, grinning as the bird finally gave him a look that didn't say you torture me!

In fact, not only did the little sweater look good and seem to fit well, but it also hid the majority of the bird's messed up feathers, possibly giving him a little more confidence and peace of mind. 

He did notice, however, that after a few minutes of checking out his new outfit, Rucrow did begin to tug at little misaligned feathers on his wings. 

 You're so pretty already, no need for that...

Of course, he knew better than to say it out loud anymore. So, instead, he scooted over to a little table he used for sorting and grabbed the little pair of scissors he always left there. 

Then, he moved back to where he'd been sitting and smiled. 

"Hey Rucrow? Would you like me to take care of those pesky little ones? You don't have to pull them out. I can clip whatever you'd like so that it looks nice and neat," he said as he held up the little scissors. 

He wasn't sure what the bird would do, to be honest, but when it only hesitated for a moment, then ran over to hop up onto his knee, Ash couldn't help but smile wider. 

"Alright, where would you like me to touch up your feathers for you?" he asked, right before Rucrow promptly stretched out one wing, then nibbled at a few messed up bits of plumage near the middle and top. Then did the same for the other. 

"Gotcha, just hold still one second, please," he said as he carefully brought the scissors up to the birds wing, then delicately trimmed off the little bits that had grown askew. 

He likely wouldn't have even dared to do what he was with any other bird, but Rucrow already couldn't fly, and he clearly disliked the way he looked because of his messy feathers...

If Ruru loves to keep himself looking perfect, then Rucrow is likely similar. 

It was no wonder that he barely saw his shift much. 

Thankfully, though, the feather trim only took a few moments, and when he leaned away and gave an approving nod, Rucrow cawed and hurried back to the mirror for another inspection. 

He never thought he'd ever seen a bird so visibly happy before, but when Rucrow stepped back in front of the mirror, then did a slow spin to check his whole body, Ash could practically see his dark eyes light up!

There we go. 

Before he knew it Rucrow was back on his knee, hopping up and down as he cawed excitedly! 

"You're a pretty baby, aren't you?" he cheered as he gently caught Rucrow and held him up in the air a little. 

"Such a beautiful bird! The prettiest I've ever seen," he said as Rucrow flapped his wings and clicked his beak excitedly. 

Ash celebrated with him for a few more moments before he gently set him down on his shoulder and, unsurprisingly, began getting preened almost immediately. 

"I think we're both ready to go to dinner now, yeah?" he said as he finally got up and walked out of his horde room. 

Rucrow gave him a quiet caw in response, but didn't bother even removing his beak from the hair he was currently rearranging to his heart's content. 

I'll take that as a yes. I'm glad I could help you, sweetheart.

So, with his own content smile, Ash turned and locked his horde room, then grabbed his keycard and wallet before heading out the door with his handsome, sharply-dressed crow to meet his mum for dinner.