"Mr. Elderstone, are you listening?"

Lucian snapped back to attention. He'd spent the last twenty minutes on his phone under his desk playing games, but he sat in the back of the class and didn't think anyone would notice. Clearly, he should have given Ms. Miller more credit.

"Of course I'm listening," he said smoothly, slipping his phone into his pocket and flashing Ms. Miller a winning smile. "I would never ignore a lesson from my favorite teacher in the whole school. And, may I say, what lovely earrings you're wearing today."

Ms. Miller rolled her eyes at him, before tapping the board with her finger. "Yeah, keep joking around, see where it gets you. Please put your phone away and pay attention."

Luke nodded and gestured for her to continue, fully intending to tune out again once her attention was diverted to something else. What was the point, anyway? There was only one more day left in the school year, so it wasn't as though anything important was being taught today. But movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention.

Another boy in his class - What's his name? Carver? - was rubbing his shoulders and wincing. Luke ran a hand over his own shoulder, where his tattoo was safely camouflaged. His mind began racing.

This boy is old enough that if he were one of us, he would probably know. But the boy's face was only confused. It's possible that his genes are just maturing late. If his wings come out right here, it will not go well for anyone. Especially him.

The boy raised his hand with some amount of effort, keeping his other hand pressed against his shoulder.

"Mr. Duvall, is there something you need?" Ms. Miller asked skeptically.

"I think I may have pulled a muscle or something in my shoulder. Can I quickly go see the nurse?" His voice was shaky.

Their teacher scanned him for a moment before nodding and waving him towards the door. "Please be fast."

The boy stood hastily and stumbled out of the classroom. As he left, Luke squinted. He thought he could make out a trace of ink peeking out of the boy's collar. If there's even a chance this kid is one of us, I have to make sure he's okay.

Luke smacked his gum in his mouth. He'd been chewing it subtly all class, but thankfully no one had noticed. Until now.

Ms. Miller's head swiveled around as though her neck had been snapped, the way all teachers did when they heard someone chewing gum. "Mr. Elderstone, is that gum? You are fully aware that gum is not permitted during the class period, are you not?"

"Sorry, Ms. Miller," he said quickly, getting up from his desk and heading towards the door. "I'll go find a trash can and throw it away." He turned the handle and pulled the door open.

"There's a trash can right here-" Ms. Miller began.

"Can't hear you!" Luke shouted behind him, already running down the hall to catch up to the other boy.

✵✵✵

Luke was fast and caught up to him quickly. Besides, he was clearly not in the best shape to walk. His face was starting to shine with sweat and he couldn't stop massaging his shoulders. On closer inspection, there was definitely a tattoo forming.

Luke grabbed his arm and started pulling him in the opposite direction he had been going. "Come with me."

"What?" The boy was obviously confused, and Luke wasn't surprised. The first time he'd unfurled his wings he'd been ecstatic, but he could see why it would be terrifying to others. To the boy's credit, he didn't fight and adjusted his course to match Luke's. "Who are you? Where do you-?"

"Shut up and follow me," Luke hissed in his ear. The hallways were pretty much empty since everyone was in class, but the risk of discovery was still just as dire and he didn't know how much time they had until the pain became unbearable and the boy's wings emerged. While they made their way to the locker rooms down the hall, Luke whispered, "I'm Lucian. Luke for short. There's something wrong with your shoulders, but I know what it is, and I can help. So just do what I tell you and I'll explain everything later."

Luke opened the door to the boys' locker room and shoved his new companion in before himself. He then whipped out a crumpled piece of notepaper he kept in his pocket and used a sharpie tied to a nearby bulletin board to write in his awful handwriting, "CLOSED FOR RENOVATION". He then spat out his gum and used it to stick the paper to the door. He went in and closed the door behind him, locking it.

"Alright," the boy gasped, rubbing his back. "We're alone. Now, will you please tell me what the hell is going on?"

"What's your name?" Luke asked.

"Carter."

"Alright Carter, this is going to sound weird, but, uh... take off your shirt."

Carter's eyes widened, his level of confusion rising exponentially. "What? I appreciate the attention, but I thought you said you wanted to help me, not-"

"Please trust me. If you don't want that shirt to get ripped up beyond repair, you'll take it off."

Carter tugged at the hem of his shirt hesitantly. "First tell me why. Why is it going to get ripped?"

Luke paused, trying to find a way to put it delicately, before deciding, Screw it, and blurting, "You're sprouting wings."

Carter immediately pulled his shirt off and threw it across the room like it had caught on fire. Luke tried to focus on his brown eyes instead of the curves of his muscular abdomen. "I'm what? How is that even possible? Humans don't just grow wings out of nowhere."

Luke saw no easy way to explain, so opted to show him instead. He started to take off his own shirt while explaining, "It happened to me, too. I was much younger, but it was a lot like this. Shoulder pains, right? Pretty mild for the past few days, but they've been getting worse, until now, when it feels like something is trying to break through your skin? Those are your wings."

Once his shirt was over his head, Luke turned around and changed the color of his tattoos back to normal. They darkened instantly, the detailed feather patterns starting from his shoulder blades and falling to his lower back.

"Those aren't wings. Those are tattoos," Carter pointed out.

Luke smiled over his shoulder at him. "They are right now. But..." He started to unfold his wings, letting the brown and gold feathers expand until the full glory of his wings were exposed.

Carter was at a loss for words, and given the expression on his face, believed Luke one hundred percent. "So am I going to get a tattoo?"

"You already have one," Luke pointed out. He was right; Carter looked over his shoulder at the ink that was darkening on his back.

"Oh my god, that's insane!" He winced again and pressed a hand to the base of his neck. "How do I make the pain stop?"

"You're trying to hold your wings in. You need to let them out, otherwise the pain will just get worse until you can't take it and they come out anyway."

Carter's confusion turned into concern. "How do I let them out? I'm not trying to hold them back or anything, so what am I doing wrong?"

Luke placed his hands on Carter's shoulders and held him still. Unconsciously, he pulled his wings back into himself, as they always remained during the school day. "Relax. You might not think you're holding them back, but you are. Relax your muscles. Look at me. Relax." He tried to make his voice soothing, which was an alien feeling to his usually-sarcastic vocal chords, but he hoped at least Carter was buying it.

Carter took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes. He exhaled slowly, and Luke felt his skin shift. The tattoos started to peel off his body, becoming three-dimensional and gaining texture. They became saturated with new pigments, the solid color dappling with silver and gray. His feathers were orderly, smooth and soft. The full wing was sharp, without gaps between the feathers. It was like a razor, ready to slice through the air like a blade.

Once they were fully out, Carter let out a sigh. "It's gone. The pain, I mean. Are my wings out?"

Luke nodded. He ran a hand down Carter's left wing. "Judging by the shape and color, yours must be a kind of falcon. That's so cool." He looked into Carter's eyes and smiled. "We don't have any falcons in the flock."

Carter perked up. "There's a whole flock of you guys? I mean, of us? There's more of us?"

"There's tons of us. All over the place." He nodded at the look of amazement on Carter's face. "And now that you're one of us, you should meet the rest of us."

"Is there like a group chat or something? How do I join you guys?"

"It's not nearly that official. We're meeting up today for dinner at a friend's house. You should come. We have to get back to class, like, now-ish, but if you meet us there we can explain everything to you."

"You've known me for three minutes and you're already asking me out? Bold move, but I accept."

"Hey!" Luke playfully smacked the side of Carter's head. "Flirting with random people is my job."

Carter shrugged. "Looks like now you have competition."

Luke let out a huff of laughter and started to put his shirt back on. "Ms. Miller is definitely suspicious by now. We have to get back." He turned to go.

"Uh, Luke?"

"Hm?"

Carter gestured to his new wings. "How do I hide these, exactly?" 

A/N: And there it is! Apologies for the severely lacking length of this chapter, but I'm trying to get the first few out relatively quickly which means, unfortunately, they're pretty short. If you noticed any errors or mistakes please point them out to me, I don't judge. 

Thanks for reading, vote and spam the comments, and keep an eye out for Chapter 2 which should be out soon! Love you guys!