You Set My Heart Aflutter (Dad/Tavros)

Robert had to call in to work and tell them he would be taking a personal day, since he now had to pick up Strider from the airport. He was so tired that he fell asleep while sitting at the edge of his bed after he let his birds out for the night.

He didn't even wake up when his alarm went off.

After Tavros woke up and got ready for work, he headed downstairs, confused when he saw no sign of Dad anywhere. Usually he was awake before him. He wondered if maybe Dad had gotten up even earlier and had left before he had. That didn't seem unlikely, so maybe it was safe to stick around and make himself some breakfast?

Tavros wheeled into the kitchen, opening a few kitchen pantries before finding where the cereal was kept and taking a box out. He got out the rest of the basic essentials for cereal and wheeled into place at the table, speedily eating up his breakfast before he missed his bus.

Robert's birds enjoyed their nighttime freedom, nesting on his pillows. When they woke, they were quiet for a while, but when Robert showed no sign of waking, they began to chirp and sing.

Tavros finished eating and rinsed his bowl out in the sink, heading out and just passing by Dad's room when he heard the birds chirping from the other side of the door. They sounded louder than he remembered them being last time and he considered going in to check up on them, but that would mean he would be invading Mr. Egbert's bedroom and that was a very rude thing to do.

But what if something was wrong? What if one of the birds had hurt themselves? And... why was there an alarm going off? Tavros hesitated to open the door, yet eventually his worry won over his fear of breaking the polite code of respecting someone's privacy and he cracked the door open a bit. That's when one of the birds, Daisy, flew out the door and circled around the living room, causing Tavros to panic a bit, wondering how the birds got out of the cage until he wheeled inside and saw Dad slumped at the edge of the bed.

He hurried to Mr. Egbert's side, shutting off his alarm and tapping his shoulder. "Dad-- Dad, are you okay?" He pressed the back of his hand to the man's forehead, wondering if maybe he had gotten sick.

Robert groaned sleepily, his eyes flickering open. "Is it morning already?" he mumbled, forcing himself to sit up. He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm. "I must have over slept. Thank you for waking me, Tavros"

Tavros calmed down a notch when Dad woke up, retracting his hand from his forehead. "Uh, yeah, no problem." He looked back over at the alarm, his eyes widening at the time. "Do you think you'll be able to make it into work on time?"

"I'm not going" Robert yawned. "Our dear friend, Mr. Strider, took it upon himself to come for a visit and his flight arrives around lunch time." He leaned over and shut the alarm off, giving a whistle that brought Ruby, Jude and Daisy fluttering to him.

"Visiting?" Tavros asked, wondering why Dave's brother would fly all the way up here just to visit. Was there a smuppet parade going on in Washington that he hadn't heard about?

"Is today, uh, an Earth holiday?" He had thought that he had gotten them all marked on his calendar by this point, but maybe he missed one?

"No" Robert yawned. "Your guess is as good as mine as to why he's coming."

"Uh, well, okay, good luck with that." Tavros watched the birds fly back to Dad, smiling slightly at them. "If you're sure you're alright, then, I guess I'm heading out to work. Sorry for barging in, I got worried when I heard your alarm going off."

"Its quite alright. I appologise for not having dinner ready last night, or breakfast this morning." Robert smiled. "I hope you have a better day than I did yesterday"

Tavros shook his head, raising his hands and waving Dad off. "I should be the one who is sorry that you have been having a rough time, I didn't-- I didn't mean to put so much on your mind. I never should have brought it up."

Robert made a little shoo motion with his hand. "Its quite all right. off with you before you miss your bus"

"Alright, have a safe trip," Tavros called back as he wheeled out of the room, shutting the door behind him carefully so that the birds wouldn't try flying out again. Once he was outside and had locked the front door, he wheeled like mad to his bus stop, his heart racing when he saw it at the stop sign at the street ahead. He only made it because luckily it was one of the nicer bus drivers who actually waited for him to get to the bus rather than taking off because no one was at the bus stop yet or hadn't noticed him wheeling towards it in the background.

Robert sighed, going through his normal morning routine before putting the birds away and moving to the kitchen to get something to eat. By the time he was fed and dressed, he had to leave for the airport.

It was another typical day at work for Tavros. No zebras, no kangaroos, no animals mauling veterinarians. However, in the far back of his very busy mind, he was plagued with the question of, "Why was Bro really coming up to Washington to visit them?" There was no way that Dad didn't know why after he had such a long chat with Bro on the phone just the other day. He guessed that he would just have to wait for when Bro got home to find out what was really going on.

At the airport, Bro had just gotten off his flight and was escaping the ear bleeding torture of the sweaty fat guy he had been sitting next to the whole time. It had been a friendly nightmare of eternal, nonsensical rambling, regardless of Bro's input on the matter as it was always ignored by a much larger tangent of thought that the other man simply felt that he must convey to Bro. Even when Bro was trying to catch some sleep, the guy's chubby lips and double chin wouldn't quit wobbling and jabbering at him like he was the last psychiatrist on Earth.

Robert was waiting for him at the baggage claim. Though he had much more than his usual amount of rest, he still looked exhausted under the brim of his fedora. He still didn't see why Bro insisted on coming up to Washington for a few days to play mediator between himself and Tavros, they were mature adults and could handle everything on their own. Tavros had seemed fine this morning, hadn't he?

Bro slipped through the crowds with ease once there was enough space for him to do his flash-stepping magic, easily winding his way up to the baggage claim. When he spotted that distinct all white suit, hat and shoes standing in a sparse crowd, Bro smirked to himself, saddling up to Dad's side and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. He grinned at him, then back to the conveyer belt, keeping an eye out for his luggage consisting of a typical black traveling case on wheels and a Hello Kitty messenger bag. "Sup, Pops?"

"My blood pressure." Robert replied dryly. "I think it has something to do with you. I never had so many headaches until I met you, you know"

"Don't blame your old age on me," Bro teased, giving Mr. Egbert a friendly pat on the back.

"What do you blame your old age on then?" Robert smirked.

"Dave." Bro smirked knowingly as he slid off of Egbert and grabbed his belongings from the conveyor belt. "Ready to head out?" He asked, shouldering his Hello Kitty messenger bag.

"I need to stop by the market on the way home. Otherwise there won't be enough for dinner for all three of us" Robert stated.

"What you got on the menu tonight, Robert?" Bro wheeled around a kid as he started heading towards the airport's entrance, head tilted towards Mr. Egbert.

"Chicken curry" Robert replied. "Mild, though I can add spice on the side if that's what you like"