Glitches // OxO // Closed

Nyx grimaced. "Three people in how big of a space?" he asked, looking at Jude as they headed for the next exhibit. He was smiling softly as they walked.

Jude let out a breathy laugh, "Not big at all," He smiled, "I wanna say it was…half? Half the size of the place I'm living in now. I was still in high school at the time, so only paying a third of the rent made it a little less suffocating."

He shook his head. "Gross." he replied. "Sounds terrible." he made a face, then kissed Jude's cheek with a soft smile.

"Mhh, it was." Jude sighed, smiling at Nyx's affection, "But it was also chaotic, but fun– in a way. One time, we locked ourselves out on the roof, and one of my roommates– Lachlan, he had to climb down the fire escape ladder, which was litterally about to fall off, and sneak through our window to let us back in."

He let out a soft laugh. "That sounds terrifying." he replied, his hand still in Jude's as they walked. He was smiling, too, just happy to be out here.

"Terrifying for Lachlan, poor guy," Jude chuckled, making a mental note to shoot him a text some time. "Worse things have happened," He shrugged, eyeing the sign that read 'Birds of Prey.'

He nodded. "Well yeah, but still." he looked at the sign curiously. "More birds?" he asked, a hint of excitement in his voice.

"More birds," Jude confirmed with nod, smiling at Nyx's eagerness.

Nyx bounced a little bit, excited and happy. Hell, if he was this excited about birds, what would his reaction be to other animals?

"Okay, first up: the Bald Eagle," Jude smiled, looking through the long glass barrier that separated them from the large habitat, and the large bird perched on the highest branch.

Nyx looked at the bird, raising his eyebrows slightly as he looked. "But…it's not bald." He pointed out, frowning slightly.

Jude let out a short laugh, "No, it's not," He said, moving closer to the board of information and fun facts regarding it, "Hmm– it says here that it gets its name from the Middle English word piebald."

Nyx nodded slowly. "Oh, that makes sense." He replied, looking at the eagle again. "Since I don't see how anyone could think it was bald."

"Mhm, unless it was some poor-sighted explorer who just squinted at it and shrugged like 'sure, okay. Bald Eagle.'" Jude chuckled, smiling at the stern-looking bird.

He snorted softly, laughing a little bit as he looked up at the Eagle, leaning against Jude for a moment. He kissed Jude's cheek again, shaking his head. "Hmm maybe so."

"Maybe so," Jude echoed, nodding with a quiet laugh and placing his own kiss on Nyx's cheek, twirling a lock of his hair before looking back at the bird.

Nyx leaned against Jude a little bit as he watched the Bald Eagle in the enclosure. "Are there any other animals at this zoo, or is it just birds?" he asked after a moment, looking over at Jude.

"Pff, come on– of course, there are other animals," Jude smiled, glancing at the path that led down to the reptiles and the Zoo Center.

(I have to say– this entire time they've been looking at birds I'm having intense flashbacks to this one time I was with my friend in a bird park (her dad ran/owned it) we just wanted to get ice cream, and we were chased by pelicans for a good while I just can't ahahhha)

Nyx wrinkled his nose. "But we haven't seen any other animals." he pointed out, looking at Jude and cocking his head to one side.

(lmaooo oof)

"Lemurs." Jude said, raising his eyebrows at Nyx, "Penguins." He pointed at the sign ahead, "And soon– snakes and other reptiles."

"Oh yeahhh." Nyx said, remembering. "Right. I wanna see the other ones." he shrugged, and leaned against Jude slightly.

"Mhm, and you will, in about thirty seconds," Jude said, smiling as they walked into the reptilian section of the zoo filled with snakes, lizards, and frogs.

Nyx walked with Jude, smiling as they walked into the reptilian section. "So these are animals that don't have fur, right?" He asked curiously.

"No fur, yeah." Jude nodded, chuckling at a colourful poisonous frog, "They're all cold-blooded."

He nodded slightly. "Oh, okay." He replied, looking at the different animals with a faint, contented smile.

Jude spotted something long and slow-moving in the corner of his eye, and he let out a sound of excitement and disgust,"Mhhh! An anaconda…oh." He pointed out, his eyes widening at the sight of the giant snake.

Nyx grimaced. "Eww. It's another big belt animal." He said with a soft laugh, looking up at Jude, then at the snake.

"Belt animal," Jude repeated himself, smiling as he shook his head. "God, I'm still terrified of these. You know they're the heaviest of snakes? And they basically strangle their prey…it's just…ugh." He shivered with a strained laugh.

Nyx grimaced. "Gross. That's disgusting." He replied, shaking his head slightly.

"Yeah, well, twelve-year-old me didn't seem to think so," Jude smiled at the memory, "I loved snakes as a kid. They scared the shit out of me, but, still."