Taste the rainbow!

[thatrcooper]

I have had way too much cranberry juice (without even any vodka in it, boo) and eaten like a bajillion (three) See's Marshmallow Easter Eggs. Yet somehow I am still in a good mood (and not puking my guts out).

I know right? I wish I had something deeper to add, but I don't, so, cracky Some Kind of Magic EXCERPT:

...

Ray scratched his nose, tried to clear his senses, but then moved when he couldn’t. He headed out, pushing past Ross without an apology and ignoring his offers of help.

He just needed out. Now. Fresh air. It had been too long since a hunt, or a trip beyond the city. And this case. Cal. Ray just needed clean air.

A dirty parking lot would have to do. He gulped in oxygen until his nostrils weren’t stinging and his blood wasn’t hot with the need to hunt, and then he turned, unsurprised to hear Cal approaching. He was dressed today, in a tight t-shirt and jeans. How considerate of him. He looked good, but it was nothing to how he smelled, and he was studying Ray so carefully that Ray wanted to ask what he looked like to Cal, if he shined.

“So Penn looked it up in the car, and she says there’s a werewolf who lives in the woods outside of town that this guy tried to beat up in a biker bar a few months ago.”

He didn’t seem to be reacting any differently than he always did to Ray’s presence, so Ray nodded slowly, returning to the present. “The case was pending.” He paid attention to werewolf cases, rare as they were. This one had been a simple assault charge, or not so simple, as the charge had been against the human.

“So…” Cal shifted, came closer, bright and immediately calming with his echoes of cottoncandybubblegum. Childhood pleasure in what was in front of him. Need. No fear.

Why him? Ray almost asked himself again, but couldn’t when the funhouse, carnival midway scent of Cal was so near and dear to him. He was probably staring, mooning, but for once Cal didn’t seem to notice.

“Maybe it’s not related, but she says you have to check it out.” Cal shifted position again, staring out at the cars and the road and not Ray. They weren’t touching, but when Ray glanced down he could see his shoes getting covered in glitter. Cal abruptly, finally looked at him again, reading something in Ray’s face that made him sigh.

“What?” Ray wondered. It was as close as he could get to asking the rest, what Cal saw when he looked at him. There was too much hope in his voice as it was. Cal sighed again, then shook his head.

“So I was thinking…” Cal paused, rolling one hand and trying to look more beautiful, or persuasive, Ray wasn’t sure, but he managed to do both. “…Road trip?” he asked finally, then hopped when Ray lifted one brow. It wasn’t a no and they both knew it. “Sweet! I call shotgun!”

Damn Ray wanted to smile. He had to fight to sound stern, to wonder where his dark mood had gone.

“No way. You take the back again.” Then he stopped, looking past the yellow tape and over at poor Benedict, who still looked queasy, then to Penn, who was watching them from the car. He looked back into green and gold and chocolate eyes. Shiny. Yes, Cal was shiny to him. “You sure you want to ride in a car with a savage, murderous werewolf, Petunia?”

Cal wrinkled his nose. It was irritatingly cute.

“You want to ride in a car with a hyper, weak, no good half-fairy, Fifi?” he inquired smoothly, then danced toward the car with a crazy pirouette.

Ray grinned after him, faintly.

“You forgot slutty,” he shouted.

“Please!” Cal didn’t even bother to turn back to him. “Pixies are way sluttier. Besides, half-fairy, remember?”

...


Act fast with a request and I'll commentfic them for you. :P

On a semi-related note, Cal would totally suck dick for Skittles.

Comments

[r-cooper.livejournal.com]

One thing about fairies that not too many people knew was that they didn't especially like winter. Ray certainly hadn't known it until he'd lived with one, and as the days got shorter and darker and the sun was more often than not covered by clouds, a lot of the fairy seemed to lose some of their spark.

He should have noticed before. After all, he lived in a state known for its mild winters, which was one of the reasons it had such a large fairy population. Even in his days as beat cop he'd noticed many fairies traveling south for the winter, migrating to the tropics, visiting warm beaches for months at a time. He'd just assumed fairies went where the parties went, when he'd thought about it all.

He had even noticed a dimming of Cal's radiance around Christmas and New Year's, but on the few occasions he'd asked, Cal had waived him off and gone back to mainlining bags of brown sugar.

Now that they lived together he could see it, a heaviness in Cal's motions--when he moved at all--and a marked decrease in his glitter production. Worse was how Cal himself seemed to shrink, perhaps affected by some fairy version of Seasonal Affective Disorder, or perhaps dwarfed by the layers of clothes he suddenly required to stay warm. Fairies were creatures of sunshine, Ray shouldn't have forgotten.

But cold had never been a problem for Ray. He ran hot as it was, and if he did get chilled, he only had to shift for a nice layer of fur. But he didn't say anything when the heater started being set to higher and higher temperatures and the house was like a sauna; he just came home, stripped off his clothes and sank down next to a moody, clingy Cal.

Of course, "moody" Cal meant Cal about the same but quieter, and "clingy" wasn't much different from his normal tendency to have grabby hands when Ray was around. But Ray noticed the difference, felt it, and he couldn't stand it anymore.

He took a half day and showed up at the house mid afternoon, when he knew Cal was home. The house was blazing. Ray ignored that as he walked in, hauled a stunned Cal up off the couch and pulled a fuzzy, knitted cap over his head, making sure to cover the chilly, pointed tips of his ears.

"Ray, wha...?" Cal started, slower than he would normally have been. Ray just spun him around, then started to slip him into the heavy pink parka he kept by the door. He had to be careful of Cal's wings, but Cal held still, just looking at him.

That worried Ray more then he could say. Cal should have had a thousand questions, and kisses, and smiles, as Ray walked through the door. Ray grabbed the long scarf with the puffballs all over it and wrapped it carefully around Cal's neck. He put on his gloves, then bent down to put on warmer socks over Cal's other pair of socks and then work his feet into boots.

Then he kissed the tip of Cal's nose and handed him the peppermint hot chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles that he'd brought home just for him.

"Aw," Cal said, like he was going to make a joke, but then gave a sniff, like he might cry. "Oh, Ray Ray." He licked at the whipped cream and then took a sip of his drink. There was a small, but distinct burst of brighter glitter about him and Ray suppressed a relieved sigh. "Where are we going?"

"The arboretum. They have a butterfly exhibit."

"Butterflies!" Cal's voice rose. Color entered his cheeks. Ray was pretty sure he could hear his wings trying to flap against the parka. "I like butterflies! And it's so warm in the arboretum! And butterflies! This hot chocolate is good! Is that peppermint?"

"I know." Ray had to keep his voice low, or he'd probably be growling and snuffling against Cal's ear as he grabbed him and held him close. Cal was talking again, thinking again, excited. It was beautiful. Ray held out his hand. "Come on."

He hear Cal humming and slurping his chocolate as they walked out together into the mild, breezy 65 degree afternoon.

[dlasta.livejournal.com]

I hate you. You make me like mushy stuff.

First I lost my mojo, now my cool is gone.
:)

[r-cooper.livejournal.com]

Where did your mojo go? Did it slink out, embarrassed, as Cal and Ray got all mushy and cuddly?

[dlasta.livejournal.com]

Pretty much, yes.:)