Demonic Influence (I hate my co-workers)

Birds of a Feather

"Wings?" Brett laughed nervously. His eyes darted around the room as though searching for the nearest exit.

Eddy stepped slowly inside of the room, setting the teacup down on Brett's dresser. Brett looked almost like a cornered animal. "Come on, dude," he said softly, pausing as the ghost of a smirk crossed his face. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

There was a brief pause. Neither of them laughed. Then, Brett nodded his head just the slightest bit, his eyes still wide with a healthy dose of fear.

"Fair enough," Eddy sighed. He hadn't actually expected that to work. Carefully, he shrugged off his black hoodie, moving from there to pull his shirt over his shoulders and struggling only momentarily with the dark fabric. Finally, Eddy rolled his shoulders, beginning to feel the prickly sensation in his upper back. He closed his eyes.

Eddy's wings seemed to fill up the whole room, as Gabriel's before him had. They were a deep, almost obsidian black, and almost seemed to suck in the light around them. Brett inhaled sharply, almost unable to take his eyes off of the darkened plumage. He knew that demons had darker feathers simply because everyone knew that, it was common knowledge, but he had never really understood what they looked like in person.

For belonging to such a minor demon, Eddy's wings just felt powerful. The slightly curved feathers rustled slightly as he shook them out, flexing his wings after keeping them contained for so long. It looked like Eddy kept them well groomed, the dark feathers shining in the low light of Brett's room. Angels usually didn't bother with their wings too often, just making sure to properly groom them every now and then so they didn't get to scraggly looking. Unfortunately, this action was usually done in pairs, but Brett usually just did his best to groom his own wings, so he knew they never looked as good as they should.

He felt his cheeks heat up even as he stood there, still transfixed by the demon in front of him.

Eddy let out a weak chuckle, tucking his wings in closer to himself after he finished stretching them out. "Come on dude, don't just keep staring at them, it's weird," he said softly.

Brett shook his head a little, snapping out of it. I don't even want to see my wings, let alone show them to him... If Brett's time on Earth had taught him anything, it was that the oddities about a person were best left concealed, and he had been so frightened of being discovered that he almost didn't even stretch his wings in private, in the safety of his own house. Plus, Gabriel had told him that if anyone found out that he was an angel, he would be immediately recalled to heaven and demoted.

For an angel who put himself through so much just to adhere to the rules, it was truly amazing that he had fucked up that badly...

Eddy was looking at him expectantly, with just a touch of concern. Brett set down his cheap plastic trash can, nodding to himself. He focused as well, feeling a slight ripple under his skin before his wings burst forth, causing him to wince in pain. It had never hurt to stretch them before, but the sharp spikes of pain running through his shoulder blades and back were enough to halt his movements almost entirely with a sharp hiss.

Eddy looked sadly at him. "Oh, Brett," he whispered softly. His expression was pained as he looked upon his love's painfully thinned out plumage. The feathers, once a soft, pure white, were rumpled and tousled, bent and broken, and too many of them to count had fallen out, scattered across the room during Brett's initial panic. What once would have been a beauty to look at just seemed withered and dead, a hollow imitation of the angel's former glory.

Brett squeezed his eyes shut, biting his lip as he turned away from Eddy. His wings curled in, closer to his body. He could feel bile rising in his throat, and he felt sick to his stomach. I don't know what's wrong with me.

Eddy was taking careful steps in the direction of the now shaking boy, and making small soothing sounds. When he finally reached him, he ran his hands very slowly up and down Brett's arms, before tugging him closer to him, hugging him. Brett latched onto him, hugging him back and doing his best to ignore the burning tears that had began to prick in the corners of his eyes.

Now that he was there, in Eddy's arms, Eddy could see the other, glaringly obvious problem with Brett's wings. Very slowly, he reached out to touch one of Brett's remaining feathers, the blackened tip crunching slightly just under his gentle touch. Eddy noticeably winced at the odd sensation, running his fingers through what once were silky soft feathers.

Brett had initially stiffened at the forreign feeling of Eddy's hands on his wings, though he relaxed quickly as the demon absentmindedly began to straighten out the feathers still on his wings, running his fingers carefully through the fragile feathers again and again. He wasn't going to lie, it actually felt really nice to have someone else work through them for once.

"How bad are they, really?" Brett finally whispered into the open air. "I'm afraid to look."

Eddy contemplated this for a moment. Brett's wings looked like they'd been through hell and back. They were dirty, rumpled, or just plain missing, sitting around them on the floor. He had never seen an angel's wings before, but he was pretty sure they weren't supposed to blacken at the tips. Eventually, he just gave Brett a sad kind of smile. "I've seen worse," he said quietly.

Brett buried his head back into the crook of Eddy's neck, keeping his eyes closed.

"Does it hurt?" The next question sounded almost guilty.

Brett nodded slowly, he wasn't going to lie to Eddy, his wings were throbbing. Though from what, he couldn't exactly pinpoint. "A little, dull pain."

Eddy didn't seem to have an answer to that, but his touch became somewhat gentler. So, when Eddy grabbed his shoulders and very carefully began to turn him around so that he could see the wings better, Brett didn't complain. He just turned, letting himself get lost in the feeling of Eddy's fingers running through the feathers, again, and again, and again.

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A/N: Some more clues as to what's happening to Brett...

I had so much fun writing this chapter, so I hope you all like it as much as I do! Your support has meant the world to me. :D