Title: A Wing and a Prayer
Fandom: Show by Rock!! - implied Rom/Crow
Rating: T
Length: 900
Content notes: Fluff
Summary: Crow's dreams of a fancy stage outfit are quickly ruined. Luckily, sometimes a marker pen is just as good.

Author notes: For the fan_flashworks challenge wings, and the bingo square rock. Thanks to ldybastet for the beta! :)



“Damn it, not again!”

Crow cursed as he stormed out of rehearsals, a makeshift, broken wing sagging from the strip it had torn from his shirt and trailing black feathers behind him.

He was quickly realising that his dreams for their shows couldn’t quite hold up to reality. More than anything, he wanted everything to be dark and dramatic, and seriously flashy, something that would knock the cattle off their feet. Like… They could all come out on to the stage in pitch-black darkness. Or in big, concealing robes. Or both! And apart from maybe a spotlight on him, because you had to show off the star, the lights wouldn’t come on at all until they hit the chorus. And then, then, as the song reached a crescendo, a pair of jet black wings would erupt from his back, showering feathers over the audience. How awesome would that be, yeah?

But no, he couldn’t even get one stupid wing to stay on one stupid shirt.

It was a consequence of being a relatively small band, he knew that, but it still rankled. He bet that glittery bastard from Trichronika just had to snap his fingers and he could get whatever stage outfit he wanted. It just wasn’t fair!

It took Crow a moment to realise that he wasn’t alone, Rom having followed him and keeping a couple of paces behind. For once, Crow wasn’t happy to see him - the last thing he wanted was a pep talk when all he wanted to do was sulk.

They turned into the tiny dressing room, Rom leaving Crow to inspect the damage to his shirt in the dressing table mirror covering most of the wall while he rummaged through the pile of their things.

“You’ve got a spare shirt somewhere, right?”

“Yeah, in my bag.” Crow twisted and turned trying to get a better view of how bad the tear was. The wing flopped around sadly with each movement, moulting what few feathers it had left. It could’ve been worse – at least it looked like he could stitch it up pretty easily once he removed the wing and his jacket would cover the damage, but… Damn it, he really was going to run out of shirts at this rate.

Rom appeared behind him in the mirror, replacement shirt in hand and gazing sadly at the rather pathetic sight of Crow’s latest experiment. “I keep telling you, you need a proper rig for these things. You can’t just sew them on the back of a shirt and expect them to work.”

Crow snorted as he took the shirt out of Rom’s hands and tossed it on the table in front of him. He started unbuttoning his shirt. “Like Maple’s going to give us the money for that.”

“It’ll happen. You just have to be...” Rom trailed off, attention suddenly shifting to the table.

“Don’t you dare say patient!” Crow didn’t seem to realise the shift in Rom’s attention, not until he felt a tug and his ruined shirt was pulled away from him. Crow quickly put his arms up to cover his chest. “H-hey!”

“What? It’s not like I haven’t seen it before.” With a grin that never failed to make Crow blush, Rom placed his hands firmly on Crow’s shoulders and urged him to turn. “I’ve got an idea. Turn around.”

Crow could hear Rom rummaging around on the table as he turned away, then something pointed and kinda wet was run along his shoulder, making him jump. “What-“

“Shh. Stand still and let me finish.”

The chemical scent of a marker pen quickly filled the small room. Rom moved the pen along Crow’s shoulders in long sweeping strokes, first across and then dipping down the length of his back, then went back to fill in whatever it was he’d drawn. It took all of Crow’s effort to stay still and not try and twist around and see exactly what Rom was doing, not even when the nib brushed against a particularly sensitive or ticklish bit of skin and he had to suppress a shudder.

Eventually, it was over. Rom let go of Crow’s shoulders and stepped back to appraise his handiwork before nodding in approval. “There. Take a look.”

Crow turned and examined himself in the mirror. On his back, in black ink, were the wings he’d been hoping for. Ok, they were a little shakier than he’d imagined, the outline going a little wide in places where Rom’s hand had slipped or he’d coloured outside the line, and, of course, no real feathers, but…

“Happy now?”

“Yeah, I… Thanks, Rom, you’re the best!” On impulse, Crow launched himself forwards and wrapped his arms around Rom’s chest in a hug.

Cool as always, Rom winked back and gave him a thumbs up. His other arm wrapped itself around Crow’s waist to hug back, low enough to avoid smudging the wings. “Don’t mention it. Now hurry up and get dressed, rehearsal’s nearly over and I’m not wasting another minute!”

Once Rom had left, Crow grabbed the replacement shirt, started to pull it on, then hesitated. He turned his back and admired himself in the mirror one last time. They did look pretty cool. And Rom was right, he would get what he wanted eventually, he just had to be patient.

He smiled at himself in the mirror. It would definitely do for now.