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Roadie hadn't given much thought to the coyote hybrid leering at him.
It wasn't exactly anything new to him, no- the bird hybrid was plenty used to being leered at by predator hybrids. And this one-
Roadie spared a glance at the coyote sitting on a nearby rock.
Well. This one was nothing new.
He wasn't anything special, really, just a coyote hybrid with the same goal as every other dog hybrid that had stopped by before. A mat of chestnut hair sat on his head put up in a small bun, his face framed by bangs of lighter colored hair. His eyes were piercing, those of a predator looking for his next meal. A pair of leather goggles sat on his head, right in front of two very long, fluffy ears that seemed to swivel around at any sound made in the desert.
Again, Roadie thought, this coyote was nothing new. Sure he looked a little more… put together then the others, but aside from that the coyote was nothing special. He was barely worth Roadie’s time. Better coyotes had tried to catch him before and all had failed. He doubted this one would be any different. All coyotes were slaves to their hunger, after all.
The bird couldn’t help the little scoff that escaped him. He turned from watching the coyote to instead look at the horizon in front of him. The New Mexico desert achingly laid out before him, ready for his daily run.
Roadie made one lap around the desert. A dust trail of sand and grit followed in his path. The coyote was still there, watching, when he came back. He made a second. The coyote had taken out what looked like a sketchbook, the pages a brilliant blue. The third. The coyote was furiously jotting something down on the blue pages. The fourth, more jotting. The fifth was about the same. The sixth had him measuring, holding up his pen between his artist gloved clad hand. Measuring Roadie.
For a second, Roadie stopped his running, head tilting to the side in confusion. The coyote, seemingly satisfied, once again began jotting something down in his sketchbook.
That was something new.
For an utterly unimpressive coyote, he certainly was showing Roadie something… interesting.
Never had a predator sketched him before.
Roadie blinked at this new development. The coyote hybrid continued to stare at his notebook, eyes not bothering to glance up at the roadrunner hybrid again.
Said roadrunner scoffed. How could he draw him without looking at him? There was no way the coyote had already memorized what he had looked like just with a few simple glances. Especially not since the roadrunner had been running laps around the desert so fast that he was sure the coyote couldn’t see anything but a blue blur. The roadrunner blew a lock of blue hair out of his eyes. It landed right back where it had been before.
He decided to run another lap. Surely the coyote would look back at him eventually.
On the seventh lap, the coyote was still jotting something down in his notebook. The eighth went about the same. The ninth, the same. The tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth showed no change aside from the coyote sticking out his tongue on the fourteenth lap, clearly thinking about consuming the roadrunner whole.
Or maybe he wasn’t considering he hadn’t once looked up.
Roadie stopped once again.
The coyote’s head remained down.
That was it. Roadie was done. He scoffed again, stomping his foot into the sand, throwing his own mini tantrum even though the coyote refused to even look at him. If the coyote was going to ignore him, then he was going to give that dog something he simply couldn’t ignore.
“Beep beep!”
With that the coyote slammed his sketchbook shut, his pencil dropping from its held position in his hand. His head swiveled, taken off guard by the beeps. They were so loud, so alarming, so, so annoying. A silent growl slipped past his lips, top lip pulled up in disgust. He looked back and forth behind him. His tail swayed rapidly, a sign he was ready to pounce on whoever had interrupted his drawing session.
Only for him to come nose to nose with the very subject of his sketches.
“Beep beep!” The roadrunner beeped right at his face.
The coyote opened his mouth to let out a little arf but nothing came out aside from a puff of air. He fell back onto the rock he had been sitting on. His hands scrambled behind him, stopping him from hitting his head on the sharp rocks and sand below. His sketchbook fell to the side, abandoned in his attempt to keep him from hitting his head.
Roadie couldn’t help but smile. There was another thing different about this coyote. He didn’t seem to have the ability to speak or growl or yip or bark like any of the others before him could. And now, up close, Roadie could tell that the coyote hybrid was small. Not height wise, he was rather lanky, actually, but in the way that his ribs seemed to jut out from underneath his white tank top and leather jacket.
Idly, Roadie wondered how in the world this coyote was going to catch him when he clearly couldn’t even take care of himself.
The roadrunner tilted his head, blinking at the coyote.
The coyote, caught off guard, blinked back. He shook his head, straightened a tie that wasn’t there, and cleared his throat. Before reaching into his hammerspace and coming back out with a small, slightly yellowed card. He held it out for the roadrunner hybrid to take.
On one side, Wile E. Coyote. Beneath it, Super Genius. Have Brain. Will Travel. Roadie laughed- actually the first time Wile E had heard him make any noise aside from his beeps- but it was clear that was how Wile E always was. He introduced himself with everything he had and that confidence made Roadie's heart race in his chest. An almost uncomfortable warm feeling settled there as he looked the card over before banishing it to his hammerspace.
Maybe this coyote wasn’t like the others after all.
None of them had ever given him a gift before.
The roadrunner glanced up at the coyote only to see him sitting up straight and tall, acting as if the bird hybrid hadn’t just scared him half to death.
I’ll be living here from now on, the coyote- Wile E, Roadie reminded himself- signed. Roadie almost missed it, too focused on trying to get a glimpse at the art in Wile E’s shut sketchbook.
Here? In my desert? Roadie shook his head, though his cheeks had taken on a soft rosy hue. What makes you any different from the coyotes that have been here before?
“Ah,” it was the first sound Roadie had heard the coyote make aside from his pencil scratchings. It wasn’t really a noise, more like an escape of breath. I’m not your average coyote, my dear blue headed bird.
Wile E paused to pull open his sketchbook. Inside laid a sketch of Roadie- a sketch of him in a metal cage, his eyes wide and shining with tears. Wile E had captured every single little detail about him - his blue hair, his dark eyes, the freckles that painted his tan face like little stars. He even had drawn his tail feathers correctly, beautiful blues and details painting the scene. Roadie felt heat rise to his cheeks. One of his hands covered his mouth as he looked over every detail the coyote had captured. Next to his drawing was a crude sketch of Wile E happily wagging his tail and wearing a “Let’s Eat!” bib around his neck.
Roadie felt a pleasant shiver run down his spine.
Unlike them, Wile E grinned, all teeth, yellow eyes squinting up with a grin, I’m going to catch you.
Roadie tilted his head, another laugh playing at his lips.
And that’s when the coyote reached out and wrapped his hands around the bird’s neck-
Or, at least, he would have if Roadie hadn’t stepped one inch to the left, leaving Wile E to grab at the air wildly.
You’re going to have to be faster than that, Roadie smirked.
That’s what the trap is for. Wile E grinned back.
The bird laughed again, Grabbing for my neck isn’t much of a trap.
No, no, my dear, The coyote’s lips turned, mouth opening in an almost silent little chuckle. That was the distraction.
Distraction? Roadie tilted his head. He glanced at the still open sketchbook that laid at Wile E’s side. The picture of the cage was clear, planned to hang above Roadie and catch him when he least expected it.
Slowly, his eyes drifted upwards. Up and up until they landed on the bright shiny new metal cage hanging above where the two stood.
Another idle thought entered Roadie’s brain. When had Wile E had time to build that? How did he even have the strength to build that? The man was all skin and bones, no muscle definition unless he was hiding it underneath his jacket where Roadie couldn’t see. How could he have possibly have lifted the obviously heavy cage so high up?
All of the roadrunner’s questions and more were soon answered as the cage came down. Hard. Fast. Wile E had pulled the lever to his side, releasing the elaborate pulley system he had set up inbetween Roadie's laps around the desert. It fell and left a puff of sand and dirt and grit and rocks - sharp rocks that Wile E didn’t care for in his food - raining around them.
Wile E waved a hand in front of his face. He felt sand in his ears and eyes and lungs and nose. He coughed and coughed as the sand cloud slowly settled around him. Through it all, he grinned. He had caught the roadrunner. He knew he had. His plan was full proof. He had been planning it for months now - go to the desert, catch the mysterious roadrunner, and bring him back for a nice dinner with his pack friends.
But as the dust cleared…
Wile E blinked. The metal grates of the cage he had so meticulously built stared back at him.
And on the other side stood the dastardly roadrunner hybrid. He titled his head again, another laugh falling from his perfect lips. Wile E would never admit it, but he stared at those lips. Hard. As the other man laughed and laughed and laughed until he was doubled over, laughing more. Bright little beep beep sounding chuckles escaped him, slowly coming to an end as the coyote glowered at him. He stepped up to the bars, crossing his arms over his chest.
Wile E pounced with all his might. His finger tips barely just grazed the light blue crop top the bird hybrid wore.
Knowing he was stuck for the time being, Wile E stood back and leered at roadrunner.
Roadie stuck his tongue out at him, letting out another little “Beep beep!” He’d never admit it, but that leer made his cheeks even rosier than before.
Maybe there was something special about this new coyote after all.