Chapter Text
Jackie wasn’t sure if she could take this anymore.
She hadn’t thought much of the weird pins-and-needles feeling between her shoulder blades when she’d woken up this morning, assuming that she must have slept wrong or something.
She’d thought it would go away after a minute of stretching or two. And when that didn’t work, maybe once she’d gotten up and ready for school. Or after breakfast and a hot cup of tea? Maybe once she finished pulling her shoes on and shoving her books into her backpack.
When the sensation still hadn’t gone away a few minutes after she hopped in Shauna’s car on their way to school, she started to worry if something was wrong.
Jackie took a few deep breaths and tried to focus on the faint music Shauna had playing and the sound of her friend’s voice as she complained about her calculus teacher moving their test up a day because some of the boys had been messing around and just had to ruin it for everyone—instead of the gut feeling inside her telling her that something was off.
She had been able to ignore the feeling throughout first period history, and for most of second period chem. But now, near the end of third period, trig, which also happened to be her least favorite class of the day, the prickling in her back started increasing in intensity. She was squirming in her seat and tapping the side of her desk, praying that whatever this was would be over soon when Natalie leaned over from the desk beside Jackie’s.
“Hey, Jackie. You good? You’ve been like, out of it for the past hour.”
God, it must really be bad if Nat of all people was worried about her.
“I’m fine,” Jackie forced out. “Just…didn’t get enough sleep or something.”
Nat raised an eyebrow in suspicion before leaning back to her desk. “Whatever you say, Captain.”
She put a sarcastic emphasis on the word ‘captain,’ but Jackie didn’t have the energy to deal with Nat’s snark right now.
Jackie sighed in relief when the bell signaling the end of class rang. One more class down. Just a few more until she could go home…and do what? She might have to go to the doctor or even the hospital if this keeps up all day. Which would mean letting her parents know, which would then involve things like phone calls and paperwork and doctor bills, and she'd just end up being a burden if it ended up being nothing. But she couldn’t think about that right now. First she had to get through lunch. Then three more classes. Then soccer practice. She could do this.
She made it through lunch somehow, even with Shauna’s concerned stares and her weird silence. Jackie was a little annoyed that Shauna was able to tell right away that something was wrong, even though she’d put in so much effort into masking it to keep her from worrying. But Shauna didn’t pry, at least not yet, so Jackie just focused on trying to sit still and stomach whatever food she was able.
The rest of her classes went by in a blur, and so did practice, luckily, apart from the feeling in her back getting stronger throughout the afternoon. It wasn’t even pain that she was feeling, just the constant tingling growing steadily as if pressure was building up, ready to burst open at any moment. Which…wasn’t exactly the best visual to imagine in her head.
Jackie shook her head, trying to clear the image from her mind as she jogged off the soccer field with the others to head back to the locker rooms. Practice hadn’t gone as badly as she’d expected; thankfully the rush of endorphins from running around along with the warmth of the sun on her face had made for a slight distraction from her situation.
However, she was quickly reminded of her predicament once her breathing and heart rate slowed to their usual steady rhythms and she entered through the locker room doors, bringing her back to reality with the tingly feeling coming back seemingly stronger than it had been all day. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be relenting like it had during practice, not when she stepped into the showers, or when she changed into fresh clothes, or when she declined Lottie’s invitation to some party that some of the team members were going to later, which earned her a few weird looks from the others who had picked up on her strange behavior.
Shauna in particular seemed even more worried than she had at lunch.
“Jackie.” She confronted her while they were in her car on the way to drop Jackie off.
“What?” She honestly just needed to go home at this point. Maybe a nap would give her some temporary relief.
“Are you okay?” She glanced at Jackie in the rear view mirror.
Jackie looked away. “Yeah, I’m fine, just tired.”
Shauna’s brows were knitted with worry but she silently accepted Jackie’s answer as she pulled into her driveway.
“Jax, just call if you need anything, okay?” Shauna exclaimed as Jackie stepped out of the car.
Jackie nodded and her eyes lingered on Shauna’s for just half a second too long before she turned around and made her way inside.
Jackie couldn’t sleep.
This was something she soon realized after approximately three minutes of tossing and turning uncomfortably, trying to find a spot that lessened the tingling, to no avail.
Fuck. She was running out of options.
Jackie made her way into her bathroom to splash some cold water onto her face while she tried to think of what to do: her parents weren’t home and she didn’t want to bother them at work, she didn’t have a car so she wouldn’t be able to go anywhere on her own, which meant…ugh, she seriously didn’t want to have to call Shauna to take her to the hospital. She knew Shauna wouldn’t object to the request or judge her, but still…she was team captain, for fuck’s sake! She didn’t want to make people worry about her, or show weakness in front of Shauna or the team, for that matter. But still, what if she had some rare disease or something…
Just as Jackie actually started to consider asking Shauna for help, a sudden wave of warmth washed over her body from head to toe, leaving her light-headed and gasping for breath.
She squeezed her eyes shut and gripped onto the sides of her bathroom sink hard, letting the feeling consume her. Soon, the dizziness subsided, leaving only a warm, pleasant heat around her shoulders, radiating off of her back in waves. That’s when she realized…the tingling was gone. Jackie waited for a moment, just to be sure, then she sighed in relief, feeling the pressure finally being released.
She opened her eyes and looked back in the mirror, a grateful smile starting to form on her face as she thanked whatever gods out there that this was over, ready to put this whole incident behind her as some sort of weird symptom of not getting enough vitamin A or something.
But then her eyebrows furrowed as she noticed something in her reflection. Her shirt seemed lumpier behind her, like there was something underneath it on her back. What the hell?
She had definitely celebrated too soon. Jackie stood there frozen for a moment, afraid of what might happen if she so much as moved a muscle. And that’s when the warm feeling in her back faded completely, and she noticed a new sensation there: a slight heaviness behind her in both her shoulders and the brush of something soft, pressing against her shoulders and back.
She snapped out of whatever daze she was in and quickly pulled her shirt off and over her head, leaving her standing in just her bra in front of the mirror.
Jackie didn’t know exactly what she was expecting, but what she did know was that nothing could have prepared her for this.
She slowly took in her reflection, taking a few seconds to fully process what she was seeing. Soon, once she was able to form coherent thoughts again, the reality of what was staring her right in the face came rushing in.
Jackie’s eyes widened and she gasped softly, her hands slipping slightly from their grip on the sink in shock. She exhaled shakily and blinked a few times to convince herself that she was seeing things right.
Because, resting neatly above her shoulders like they had always been there, were two white, feathered wings sprouting from her back.
“Holy shit,” she whispered.
This wasn’t real, right? She must have fallen asleep when she’d gotten home after all, and this was some sort of weird dream caused by whatever disease she must have.
Jackie swallowed and looked over her shoulder, but the mirror wasn’t playing any tricks on her.
They were still there. Wings. Her wings.
God, what was she going to tell her parents? And what would her friends and the team think if they saw her? How was she even going to hide something like this?
There were too many questions rushing through her mind right now. She shook her head and breathed out, looking back at the mirror. Jackie hesitantly reached a hand over her shoulder, her fingers lightly brushing the top of one of her wings. The feathers there were soft and smooth to the touch. Jackie tried to reach her hand back further but the muscles in her arm were straining from stretching this far. She must have triggered a reflex or something because one of her wings fluttered open, spreading out just a little.
Cautiously, Jackie tried to flex the new muscles she felt there, pulling her hand back to her side and turning around so she could glance over her shoulder in the mirror and see the place where the bones that formed the base of her wings jutted out from in between her shoulder blades.
Her other wing opened up just barely with the flex of her muscles, a little feebly, with Jackie attempting to get used to the feel of them. She huffed out a breath, frustrated with how weak her new joints felt.
She worked her shoulders in circles, bending her wings inwards a little and folding them in and out, until she felt as if she’d gained a little more control.
She stretched her arms out to her sides, then spread her wings as wide as she could along with them, the tips of her feathers reaching just a bit past her fingertips at her full wingspan.
A breath of stunned laughter escaped through Jackie’s nose. “This is so insane,” she uttered to her reflection and tucked her wings back behind herself.
Jackie pulled her shirt back on haphazardly before frowning and taking right off again, the feeling of her wings being trapped underneath the fabric too uncomfortable to bear. She looked back at herself and at the mirror again.
…Wow.
Jackie actually had wings.
She tried not to reel too much again over the concept. Honestly, this wasn’t actually all that bad. She’d take it over the insistent tingling feeling from earlier, at least. Really, this didn’t have to be a big deal or anything. Nope. Not at all. Jackie was just a normal high school girl who just happened to randomly grow wings one day. In fact, it might even be kinda cool. She’d definitely stand out now…not that she could actually tell anyone about this, or they might turn her in to the government to get experimented on or something. Well, except maybe…
She inhaled suddenly before rushing out of the bathroom to find the phone, remembering the one person who she might actually be able to trust with this.
She had to call Shauna.
Shauna was lying on her bed, trying to focus on the novel she was attempting to read when the phone rang.
She jumped up to answer it immediately, on the chance that it was Jackie (which was pretty high, since there weren’t many other people who regularly called her at this hour). Something had definitely been off with her at school; she wasn’t making eye contact, she’d kept fidgeting in her seat, and she’d been weirdly quiet all day. Now that she was home, Shauna regretted leaving Jackie alone to deal with whatever was bothering her, the feeling increasing as worse and worse scenarios had filled her head involuntarily.
Shauna picked up the phone. “Hello?” She held her breath.
“Shauna. Thank god.” Jackie. “ Can you come over? Right now? It’s kind of an emergency.” Jackie’s voice sounded frantic and urgent.
Shauna’s face immediately filled with worry. “What? I—Jackie, are you okay? Tell me what’s going on, are you hurt?”
“Don’t worry, I’m fine, Shauna, I just…can you come? I’ll explain when you’re here. Well, it’ll probably explain itself, but…” she trailed off.
“Yeah, of course, Jax. I’m on my way.” Shauna had no idea what was going on with Jackie but she sounded like she needed her right now, so of course it was a no-brainer.
She heard Jackie sigh in relief on the other end. “Thanks, Shipman. See you soon?”
“See you soon. Love you.”
Shauna quickly hung up the phone and shrugged on a flannel over her t-shirt before shoving her socks and sneakers over her feet and rushing downstairs, grabbing her keys and flinging the front door open before her mom could ask her where she was going.
She tried not to worry too much on the drive to Jackie’s house as she zoned out from the road in front of her, every turn embedded into her mind like second nature, but she still breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled into Jackie’s driveway for the third time that day, being one step closer to figuring out whatever was bothering her friend.
Both her parents’ cars were missing from the driveway, as usual. At least they weren’t there to berate Jackie if she was having an emotional breakdown or something.
Shauna let herself in the front door, calling out to alert Jackie of her presence before climbing the stairs to her room. The door was shut. She hesitated, then knocked softly.
“Jackie, I’m here. Are you okay?” she said softly. Normally the door would be open, and if it wasn’t she’d just walk in, but Shauna didn’t want to startle her in her potentially emotionally vulnerable state.
The door swung open.
Jackie’s eyes were wide and her hair looked a little frazzled, and she was breathing heavier than normal, with her lips parted slightly, but other than that she looked okay, physically, at least. Shauna’s mind then registered that Jackie wasn’t wearing a shirt; she was standing there in just a bra and a pair of sweatpants. But she didn’t have time to dwell on that for long as her eyes were drawn to the spot just behind Jackie’s shoulders, upon which what looked like a pair of feathery wings were spread out from her back.
Shauna blinked a few times.
“Hi,” Jackie breathed.
“Um,” said Shauna, entranced. “Hey.”
She quickly snapped out of it. “Jackie, what’s going on? Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?”
Jackie’s eyebrow raised. "That's seriously what you’re looking at?”
Shauna’s eyes quickly snapped up from Jackie’s bare torso, where she hadn’t realized she’d been staring, back to her eyes, then the wings behind her.
Jackie rolled her eyes then grabbed Shauna by the wrist, dragging her inside and pulling the door shut. She flopped down at the foot of her bed, leaving Shauna standing above her in disbelief.
“Are you messing with me?” Shauna asked, squinting her eyes accusingly. “Halloween was months ago, Jackie. You had me thinking something was seriously wrong!”
Jackie’s eyebrows furrowed. “Halloween?…Oh.” She stood up slowly and Shauna turned away slightly, still flustered by her less-than-fully-clothed state.
“Shauna…I’m not wearing a costume.” Her tone was light but tentative. “They’re real. See?”
Jackie twisted around so her back was facing Shauna, who inhaled sharply, sucking air through her teeth at the sight of the extra bones jutting out of Jackie’s back by her shoulders, extending upwards to form the white, feathered appendages stretching out behind her.
“Holy shit.” Shauna said.
Jackie turned back around to face her. “Yeah,” she exhaled. “It’s crazy, right?” She fluttered her wings a little and bent them back towards herself just barely.
“Holy shit,” she repeated, slower.
She had to sit down.
Shauna carefully settled herself next to where Jackie was seated on the bed before she lost her balance. This was completely insane. She couldn’t think of a single logical explanation for how Jackie could have just…sprouted wings all of the sudden.
“Jackie…um, what— how did— ? How do you have…wings?” She looked at her and tried to voice her confusion, although it didn’t come out as eloquently as she would have liked.
Jackie fidgeted with her hands. “I don’t really know. Well I don’t know why, at least. Just that I woke up this morning with this weird feeling in my back and it kept going on all day until I came home and I started getting these hot flashes or something…then when they stopped, these,” she shrugged her wings up behind her, “were just…here.”
Shauna blinked a few times, trying to make sense of it all, even though it was starting to become obvious that this might just not be something that could be easily explained. She wanted to pry more on Jackie’s story, but she still seemed a little out of it so she decided to hold off on the questioning.
“…Okay, well. It’s gonna be okay, Jackie. Just…relax for now and try to calm down. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it together.”
Jackie breathed out a shaky sigh and nodded. Shauna instinctively reached out an arm to comfort her, needing to just wrap around her middle and hold her close, but then her hand brushed against the tip of one of Jackie’s wings. She froze for a second, then pulled away quickly, afraid that the touch would hurt her somehow or weird her out.
Shauna felt her face heat up when Jackie stared at her, wide-eyed, a similar blush seeming to be creeping up her neck as well. At least she didn’t flinch away or look like she was in any sort of pain. Jackie pursed her lips like she wanted to say something, but Shauna stood back up before she could get any words out.
“Do you have a pair of scissors?”
Confusion washed over Jackie’s face but she replied, “Um, yeah. There should be a pair downstairs in the top drawer by the kitchen—”
Shauna promptly spun and swung the door back open, exiting Jackie’s room to retrieve the pair of scissors from downstairs. When she returned to the bedroom, she delicately shut the door behind her, careful not to slam it, and instructed Jackie: “Give me your shirt.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Um, okay?”
Jackie leaned down and picked up the shirt she’d been wearing earlier, which had been lying on the floor haphazardly, as if it’d been tossed there and forgotten about.
Shauna took the top from her, a long-sleeved shirt with blue and white stripes. She posed the scissors at the back of the shirt then glanced at Jackie. “Can I cut it?”
Jackie contemplated this idea for a good few seconds, her lip curling reluctantly before giving a grudging nod.
Shauna bunched up the fabric in the back, then cut through it, creating a small hole as Jackie winced. She carefully extended the hole up and around into a longer oval shape until it looked about big enough.
“Does this look okay?” Shauna asked, returning the shirt to Jackie.
“Should be good.” Jackie held it up and nodded again, then pulled it over her shoulders, shrugging her wings through the hole. It was a sloppy solution, but Jackie’s wings fit all the way through, and she looked a little more comfortable, so it would have to do for now.
Shauna flopped back onto the bed with Jackie, watching as she adjusted her shirt and tucked her wings together neatly, and the way they folded against her back snugly like it was the most natural thing in the world had Shauna’s head feeling sort of fuzzy.
And even though this afternoon had sort of felt like one big, crazy dream so far, there was one thing that Shauna was absolutely sure of by this point: that if Jackie hadn’t been blessed by the gods before, well, she certainly was now.
Jackie could feel Shauna staring at her. She pretended not to notice as she settled into the makeshift shirt and smoothed out her hair, trying not to think of the possibility that Shauna was totally disgusted with her and was planning her escape at this very moment.
“Thanks.” She cleared her throat. “For the shirt, um…thing.” Jackie finally looked over at Shauna, who thankfully didn’t look angry or grossed out. She did still seem a little distraught though, her face a mixture of nervousness and astonishment. Jackie’s words seemed to snap Shauna out of whatever daze she was in.
“Oh, uh. Yeah, no problem.” she said.
Before Jackie could hesitate or think about the words she was about to speak, she blurted out: “You can touch them. If you want. I-I mean, you don’t have to, just— like, you know, if you wanted to.” She trailed off and bit her lip while silently cursing herself. If that didn’t scare Shauna off, she didn’t know what would.
But Shauna just blinked and replied, “Oh. Are–are you sure?”
“Only if you want to,” Jackie repeated quickly.
Shauna seemed to ponder it for a moment before smiling timidly. “Okay.”
Jackie shifted a bit closer to her on the bed, waiting expectantly. She didn’t want to say it out loud, but earlier, when Shauna’s hand had accidentally brushed against her wing, it hadn’t felt…bad, by any means, and she sort of wanted to feel more of it, just to see what it was like.
Shauna lingered there for a few moments before seeming to gain a bit of confidence. She reached her arm out hesitantly, giving Jackie a questioning look as if to ask if this was really okay. Jackie nodded, trying not to look too eager.
Shauna pressed forward, and her fingers brushed the side of Jackie’s wing, still folded up against her back. A slight shiver ran through Jackie’s body at the new sensation. She sucked in a breath. Shauna’s touch was light and gentle, exciting the nerves where her fingers grazed.
Her hand extended down the back of Jackie’s wing, softly stroking her silky-smooth feathers. Jackie tried not to react too visibly, the satisfying thrill running through her almost too much to keep contained. Still, she sighed a little and unfurled her wings so they opened up a bit wider for her.
“Wow, Jackie…this is…wow.” Shauna breathed out, her voice almost a whisper.
Jackie tried grinning to reassure her, but it ended up feeling like more of a shaky smile.
Jackie bit her lip as Shauna gently ran her fingertips along the feathers coating the thin bones near the bend of her wing. It kinda tickled, but in a pleasant sort of way. Jackie let out a content exhale.
“That feels…nice.”
“Really?” Shauna asked, and Jackie nodded.
“Good.” Shauna blinked. “That's…good.” Her face looked a little flushed, but she continued.
Shauna's soft touch became more confident as she seemed to lose herself in the sensation, not that Jackie was complaining. She held back another breathy sigh as Shauna's fingers grazed a particular sweet spot, and her wings shuddered slightly.
But then Shauna moved her hand toward the base of Jackie's wings, gently rubbing the place where the bone jutted out from her shoulder blades, her fingers almost brushing against her back. Suddenly, Jackie felt a jolt rush through her from the place Shauna’s hand rested and let out a sharp gasp, eyes fluttering and heart pounding.
Shauna jerked her hand away. “Fuck. Sorry! Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” Her eyes were panicked and filled with concern, scanning Jackie’s face for signs of pain, a slight flush still present on her own features.
Jackie swallowed, feeling her own face heat up.
What was that?
It definitely wasn’t pain, and it wasn’t surprise or disgust or anything like that, either.
She recalled the way Shauna had just been touching her with such care and gentleness with her soft fingers and light breathing, all while she was looking at Jackie and her wings with those big brown eyes, an expression of reverence and affection and something else taking over her features, and then when she’d brushed against that spot it had all come rushing to Jackie in a spike of—
“I-I’m fine!” Jackie sat up straighter and folded her wings back behind her, shoving that feeling away to be examined later. “You didn't. Hurt me or anything. I—uh, I think maybe my…wings are just, um…sensitive. Or something,” she mumbled, feeling embarrassment creeping further up her neck.
“Oh.”
Shauna fidgeted nervously and Jackie took a deep breath to calm herself down. She glanced over at Shauna, who still looked relatively calm, given the whole awkward situation.
“Do you want to just stay over?” Jackie exclaimed without thinking again. “I think you’re like, the only thing keeping me from not totally freaking out about this whole thing.”
Shauna flashed her a half-smile. “Yeah, sure. I think you’ll need me to help you handle it if you wake up tomorrow with a second head or something.”
“Hey, don’t say that! At this point that’s not even entirely outside the realm of possibility!” Jackie shoved Shauna’s shoulder lightly, her expression of mock horror giving way to a reluctant grin.
Shauna stood up and stretched, glancing out the window at the sky, tinted slightly orange by the just-now-setting sun.
She looked back at Jackie, and her playful smile softened into something slightly more sincere.
“Yeah, well, no matter what’s next, just know that I’ll be here for you, okay?”
Jackie raised her eyebrows and grinned wider, reaching up to her chest to touch her necklace.
“Sure thing, Shipman.”
“Is this okay?” Jackie whispered.
The sun had now dipped just below the horizon, and Jackie and Shauna had settled into Jackie’s bed after brushing their teeth (Shauna had a spare toothbrush at Jackie’s house) and changing into pajamas (Another hole had to be cut in one of Jackie’s t-shirts, to her disdain).
They were nestled together in Jackie’s bed like usual, their limbs entwined so they could barely tell each other apart, the only difference from their standard cuddling being one of Jackie’s wings curled around Shauna’s side under the blanket, holding her close protectively while the other one stayed tucked against her back.
“Mmm. Yeah,” Shauna answered, her voice a quiet murmur as sleep threatened to overtake her, even though they’d just turned out the lights. “This feels nice,” she yawned, “Warm.”
Jackie held back a smile even though Shauna couldn’t see her face anyway in the dark. “Warm? Don’t you have the blanket for that?”
“This is better.”
Jackie listened to Shauna’s breathing even out to soft snores as she drifted off, letting out a gratified sigh as she held Shauna just a little tighter.
And as Jackie finally closed her eyes and let herself succumb to sleep, Shauna’s words from earlier in the day echoed in her mind, filling her dreams with soft smiles and kind brown eyes.
"Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it together.”