&fic;

 

The Bells, and After

by sugargroupie

PG-13, 1339 words

Summary: in his defense, he really tried not to freak out.

Disclaimer: This portrayal is entirely fictional.

Notes: Written for wisdomeagle in the 2008 Pretty Lights Actor ficathon. Thanks to Shannon for the quick beta. All mistakes are mine.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

every time a bell rings, pretty people fucking get their wings.

Ben distinctly remembered having one beer, and maybe, possibly, taking one shot after it was forced into his hand by Gigi who, contrary to appearance, really could hold her liquor.

He certainly hadn't drunk enough to warrant this disoriented feeling the morning after. At the same time he felt oddly well-rested, which could account for how deeply he was burrowed beneath the covers of a bed that felt familiar and yet wasn?.

Damn. He had no clue where the hell he was, which was also odd considering he wasn't hung over.

Ben gingerly sat up in the bed, taking stock of his current condition. He rubbed a hand down his face, blinking bleary eyes until his vision was less hazy. He felt lines from his right temple and down his cheek. Ok, sleeping like the dead, check. He looked down and plucked a feather from his bare thigh, holding it up for closer inspection. What the hell happened, he wondered, quirking his brow. There was obviously a pillow fight and the loser lost his clothes.

Looking around, he realized he was in an apartment and not a hotel room as he first assumed. Of course, he also realized why the bed was familiar. He'd been in it before.

The sound of glass shattering in the background caught his attention and he leapt from the bed, naked and limbs sore, like he'd put in a good workout before falling asleep. He left the bedroom and crossed a short hallway with quiet steps to peer around a wall that stretched into a great living room. What Ben saw lodged the perplexed Huh? in his throat.

There Claudia stood, turning to watch her naked profile in the mirror from various angles, with goddamn wings on her back. Wings.

That explains the feathers, he thought idly. Then a sharp pain ran up and down his back, forcing him to keel over at the intensity. He felt his skin breaking to make way for shifting bones, and an excruciating pain so overwhelming he couldn't help crying out. He fell to the floor in a heap, barely noting Claudia's footsteps marching toward him before a dark fog swallowed him whole.

*

Ben woke up the second time that day with his face nestled into a pillow and feathers clinging to his body. He was also still naked.

When he sat up, his memory of the short time before he passed out came back in a rush. He glanced over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of wings (wings, for fuck's sake) extending from his back as if they'd been there all along.

Fuck, he could still feel his bones as they shifted into place to make room for his new parts. That was when he jumped up, knocking over a picture frame and a glass of water that was in the path of his wings.

In his defense, he really tried not to freak out.

* * *

Claudia had been too occupied with her own pair of wings to help Ben when his inevitably sprouted. But one didn't grow wings every day, and she hadn't wanted to ruin the experience for him. It was painful in the beginning, but well worth it once they were fully borne; feathered and white and fluttering almost of their own accord.

She wondered if that was something they'd have to learn to control.

Claudia had done her best to make Ben comfortable. After turning him on his side, she'd put a pillow beneath his head and had a glass of water for him nearby once he'd regained consciousness. Then, she'd pulled her attention away from her reflection in the mirror to study him. He was gorgeous, in that I'm-completely-unaware-of-it way. She may have even mentioned it to him last night, but her memory was still in pieces, so it was hard to remember.

Later, when Ben woke, Claudia had perched herself on the edge of her couch, careful not to sit on her wings and bend them. She'd had some difficulty, what with them being large and there and inescapable, really. In that way, they were a bit of a nuisance.

She'd watched as Ben rolled to his feet, his wings catching and turning things over with his every move. She'd smiled widely, thought about how silly she must've looked doing the same thing. Come to think of it, she had realized, that was probably what drew his attention to the living room in the first place.

* * *

Once Ben realized that no, the wings weren't going anywhere by just his will alone, he sat next to Claudia on her couch and sighed in frustration. "Why aren't you freaking out about this?"

Claudia met his eyes with a grin and patted his hands folded in his lap. "You're doing a well enough job for the both of us."

He huffed in annoyance but remained silent.

Claudia jumped up from her seat; actually, Claudia maneuvered from the couch as quickly as she could with the new attachments on her back. "Come on, Ben! You have to admit, this is pretty cool. We woke up this morning with wings. Who does that?"

"Apparently, we do."

"Exactly!"

Ben shook his head, his lips turning up gently at the corners. "How are we supposed to explain this," he asked, gesturing wildly between them.

Propping her hands on her hips, she narrowed her eyes, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. Ben tried not to focus on how naked they both still were, or how exposed he was now to every sexual stray thought. He usually spent half his working hours fighting an erection when he was around Claudia in those sexy as all hell leather pants. And now he couldn't help staring at the dark patch of hair between her legs, and her breasts and those nipples he loved sucking.

Look away, he told himself. Hell, it wasn't working.

Ben's eyes finally drifted up to her face and his cock got hard. She was grinning at him.

Claudia walked toward him, stopping when their knees touched. "Now who's being a naughty angel," she teased.

His laugh was husky. He knew how much it turned Claudia on, his voice, but he also couldn't quite control it this time. Bringing his hands to rest on her waist, he laid his thumb just beneath her belly button, felt her stomach muscles clench with every deep breath.

Just like that, he was distracted. Ben had a habit, he admitted, of letting Claudia distract him. Sometimes he wondered if he'd ever had a choice.

And it was only sometimes that the answer mattered.

"Just because the feathers are white, don't make me an angel," he murmured, and reaching up, he cupped the back of her neck to bring her face closer.

"Well," she sighed, her voice low in his ear, "I have an idea." She slowly straddled his lap, and yeah it was a little awkward with the extra hardware, but soon he felt her smooth skin on his thighs and the slight weight of her wings on his legs. They'd make do.

Ben kissed her for the first time that morning and remembered the last kiss they shared the previous night. It was deep and wet, and ended moments before they both fell asleep.

Claudia laughed in his mouth and said, "We have plenty of time for that. I doubt we'll be going out anytime soon with these things on our backs."

Ben shook his head. "No," he said simply.

"So, back to my idea." She shifted closer until she could grind intimately against him. "I've been thinking about this since before you woke up, and we have to try it." She leaned in until her lips brushed the side of his mouth. "Mhmm, but fair warning it's a bit kinky."

"Claud," Ben groaned, but pressed closer. He couldn't decide which was hotter: hot, kinky sex or hot, kinky wing sex, with Claudia; but he was about to find out.

*

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