I'll Cover You

Notes: The setting is on Avalon, about a month or so (Avalon time) before the arrival of the Archmage. The story focuses on two of Angela's brothers, so I guess they count as OC's. Aindreas is based on the green gargoyle that got his wing clawed by Demona. Jophiel is my own creation. I may add more chapters later.

Recently, I've been going by a superstition to give all my Gargoyle fics titles that began with S. Since that doesn't seem to be working, I've called this one:

I'll Cover You

"Oh, Camaela, those flowers are lovely! And Eistir, that ivy would be perfect! Ophelia and Katherine are in the master bedroom. You can bring it to them. Azrael, could you and Sanvi move that arch just a tad to the left? Great! Gabriel, where are you going?"

"I wanted to say something to Ophelia."

"Katherine says it's bad luck. Wait until after the wedding."

"Angela!" the blond gargoyle scoffed. "You know 'bad luck' and superstitions are for hatchlings."

"I'm not taking any chances. Now scoot!" She shooed him away. "You got the cake, Finella? Good, you'll find coconut frosting and raspberry filling in the cellar. Aindreas! What are you doing?"

"I'm putting sauce on the boar like you asked."

"No, no, not until later, when the boar is nearly done. And even then, don't just throw spoonfuls at it like that! You'll just waste the sauce." Angela took the spoon and held it over the boar rotating on the spit to demonstrate. "You slowly drizzle it all over the boar, get it all over." The blue gargoyle turning the spit snickered. "And what's so funny, Jophiel?"

"Your hair." he laughed. Angela did look a sight with her hair tied up all over her head with strips of cloth.

Angela sighed. "It was all Katherine's idea." she said. "She said the bride and maid of honor at least should have their hair washed and curled. As soon as I'm done here, I'm taking these ties out and putting on a new dress. Ah, Zadkiel!" A large gargoyle with big horns approached carrying an immense crystal punch bowl filled with golden red liquid. "Put that over here. Not too close to the fire. Pineapple rings; nice touch! Thanks, Zadkiel." Angela turned her attention back to Jophiel. "Jophiel, I saw the sculpture you did. It's perfect. But, could you turn the spit a little faster? I'd like that boar done before the ceremony's over."

"Maybe I should go hunt down another boar." said Aindreas. "The meat of this one is too pink and it might clash with the flowers." Jophiel laughed.

"Look," Angela put a hand to her forehead, not knowing that one of her brothers was behind her, aping the gesture. "This is the only wedding Ophelia and Gabriel are going to have!" Aindreas and Jophiel tried hard not to laugh as their brother mocked Angela's body language and opened and shut his beak in an exaggerated manner. "Everything has to be just right! You have to pay attention! You have to take direction!" Aindreas and Jophiel choked on their laughter. "You have to...." Angela turned to see the grey beaked gargoyle instantly change into his "I'm an innocent angel!" look. "Don't you have somewhere you need to be, Uriel?"

"I just wanted to bask in the warm glow of your company!" Uriel said with a smile.

"Bask somewhere else. I have to go get dressed."

"Can I help you?" Uriel offered.

"I think I can manage, thank you." she said evenly before walking off.

"Hey, brothers!" said Uriel. "Keep a secret?" Uriel revealed a wineskin hidden under his tunic. "I'd be derelict in my best man duties if I didn't make this party a good one!" He poured the contents into the bowl and put a finger to his beak in a gesture requesting silence. "Shh...you didn't see that!" he whispered and winked before sauntering off.

"Angela will not be amused." said Aindreas.

"Who gives a damn?" asked Jophiel. "Hey, Aindreas, this spit has two sides. Why don't you turn one?"

Aindreas grabbed the other end of the spit and started turning, trying to find the rhythm Jophiel was using. "You mean you're actually one of few males on Avalon who isn't absolutely smitten with Angela?"

"You're exaggerating." said Jophiel. "Not every male is moping over her. In fact, Marius and Tuwahel both found new interests within a week of getting the 'I love you like a brother' speech. Only Uriel can't take a hint."

"They say she's putting off choosing a mate so she can play with the unicorns."

"So I've heard. Can't say if it's true."

"I always thought Angela would end up with Gabriel."

"From what I heard, she's the one who got Ophelia and Gabriel together."

"That's Angela." sighed Aindreas. "Always poking into things, being bossy."

"Now, she's not a bad sort." said Jophiel. "OK, so she's curious about things. That's no big fault."

"She keeps talking about the world outside. Is Avalon not good enough?"

"I'm sure she loves us all, Aindreas." Jophiel said. "And I'll admit, she can be a bit bossy, but she is second in command, after all. She's particular, but not overbearing. She's kind, she's friendly, she's fun."

"So why don't you marry her?" Aindreas said a bit more sharply than he intended.

"Well...she just isn't my type."

"Ah, you like blondes then?" Aindreas asked with a smile.

"No! No, brown hair is pretty. I like...light brown hair." Jophiel blushed as he looked at the two locks of light brown hair that framed Aindreas' face. /His hair looks like it would be so soft./ Jophiel thought. /And his eyes sparkle in firelight./

"Well," said Aindreas. "Ophelia better not be on your list! Then again, I'd say her hair is more auburn. Hanielle's hair is light brown. And Sandy got her name from her hair color." /Look at those biceps!/ Aindreas watched Jophiel's arms flex as they turned the spit. /That is just beautiful!/

"Sandy is short for Sandalphonia, you know that." /Aindreas is so beautiful. I want to sculpt him. I want to run my hands over him..../

"I know." /He's smiling at me! He has such a nice smile. Cute little fangs..../ "Erm, you know what brought this whole wedding thing on, right?" Aindreas needed to talk about something to get his mind off his brother's body. "Well, I heard from Raphaela that Gabriel and Ophelia went at it in one of the bedrooms. Well, it turns out that sometimes when a female loses her maidenhead, she bleeds a bit."

"Does she? Er- she does."

"You don't have to pretend with me, Jophiel!" Aindreas laughed. /Even if I must with you./ "Anyway, Gabriel panicked and went to Raphaela for help. She thought it might be something serious, so she insisted on going to Katherine, who knew then what had been going on. She wasn't upset, but she told Gabriel he should 'do the honorable thing'. I guess this is what she meant by that. Poor Gabriel."

"Yes, poor Gabriel." /Poor me. I'm in love with a male!/

The ceremony went off simply enough. Princess Katherine stood at the alter under the arch. Magus was on one side, holding a pillow carrying the two bracelets Tom forged for them. Gabriel waited on the other side, dressed in a crisp tartan tunic. Sandalphonia and Cecilia played a duet on harp and flute as Ophelia came down the aisle on Tom's arm. He wore his armor. She wore a gown of white silk fit for a queen, a flower garland over her crest and carried a bouquet of roses and ivy. Uriel and Angela followed, each carrying a candle. Uriel wore a tunic much like Gabriel's. Angela's hair fell in waves with a small braided lock over each shoulder. Her gown was bold red and off the shoulders.

Gabriel smiled brightly at his bride. Katherine joined their hands and made a speech about love and companionship. Ophelia and Gabriel took the candles from their attendants and vowed their eternal love as the used two candles to light one candle. They exchanged bracelets, both unable to wear rings. Katherine declared them mated for life and told Gabriel to kiss the bride, which he graciously did.

The party afterwords started out peacefully. Sandalphonia and Cecilia played a waltz for the couple, accompanied by Israfel on lute and Metatron on drums. After a good round of dancing, dinner was served. That's when things started getting weird. Angela got hiccups in the middle of her toast and said she'd finish after she had some more punch. Uriel's toast was a tad on the raunchy side. The band was called on to play again. Metatron beat the drums in double time. The dances became a bit wilder and more unrestrained, much to Katherine's dismay. She relaxed considerably after Tom gave her some punch. Ophelia and Gabriel began making out in plain sight as Yahoel, Ariel, Willeam and Xenia started a kick line. Angela declared that mere words couldn't describe how she felt about Gabriel and Ophelia, so she'd act it out in an interpretive dance. Muriel asked if anyone would hold her hair back while she got sick behind the bushes. Raziel and Kokabiel shoved cake in each others' faces. Noah started singing a rude song about a mermaid and a naughty dolphin. Donal put a saucepan on his head and rode around on Perseus' back, declaring himself knight of the realm. Boudicca and Quittera lapped up the punch and started chasing each others' tails.

"This party's getting a bit wilder than we thought, isn't it?" Aindreas asked Jophiel as sat under a tree a good distance from the party, slowly nursing their drinks.

"Tell me about it." said Jophiel. "Think we should move my sculpture? I don't want it getting broken."

"Well, marble is hard to break on accident. Then again, it does have this delicate build to it. Let's move it." Aindreas gulped down the rest of his drink and stood. He offered Jophiel a hand up. To his surprise, the bigger gargoyle took it. Aindreas wondered if he was imagining that Jophiel was gazing into his eyes as they stood holding hands. All to soon, Jophiel let go and turned to the party.

"We better go before one of those drunken clowns knock it over."

"Jophreas! Aindriel!" Angela shrieked as she slung her arms over their shoulders, the bouquet in her hand. "I jusht wanna tell you two, that I love you. You're my bruzers and I love ya!" She kissed them both on the cheek. "Lookee lookee! I caught the boo-" She hiccuped. "The boo-" She hiccuped again. "Deez here flowers! Ima gonna get married next! Eeder ya wanna be my groom?"

"Uh, no thanks." said Jophiel. "Angela, how much punch have you had?"

"Oh, jusht a teenshy weenshy bit, like dish....jusht like dish..." Angela mimed delicately sipping before dry heaving. "Oh, I don' wanna get puke all over dish dresh!"

"Michelle!" Aindreas called a female gargoyle over. "You look reasonably sober. Help out Angela here, would you?

"Meeshell!" Angela embraced her. "I love you! You're shucha good shishter."

"Uh, you too." Michelle patted her back.

Angela turned back to her brothers while leaning on Michelle. "Like I wuz shayin', I don' wanna ruin dish dresh. Kat'rine shays iz too shlutty, but I like it! How 'bout you boysh? Do ya think I look shlutty or shmexy?"

"Uh, you look great, Angela." Aindreas said uncertainly.

"Thanksh!" slurred Angela. "Hey, Meeshell, shing a shong wit me! Ring-ding-diddle-iddle-awww-dee-oh! Ring-daw-diddle-aww-oh!"

The two hefted up the statue and moved it a good distance. "It really is beautiful." said Aindreas. "Those two swans look like they could fly away at any moment."

"Thanks." said Jophiel. "I got the idea when I was fishing by the pond one evening. I saw these two swans on the water, billing and cooing together. Their bright white feathers made them nearly glow in the moonlight. They were just so beautiful, gliding across the lake together, that I couldn't take my eyes off them. Then, they flapped their great wings and flew away together. I dropped my fishing pole and followed them because I still wanted to watch them." Jophiel gave a self-depreciating smile. "Stupid, huh?

"No, no, I understand completely." said Aindreas. "When you see something so beautiful it grabs your heart, you don't want to let go." He almost touched Jophiel's shoulder, but stopped himself.

"I followed as long as I could. I even climbed a tree and spread my wings to keep up with them. Those bright white feathers against the night sky. Those long, graceful necks. Those powerful wings beating in time with each other. As soon as I lost track of them, I had to come find you. Er, you know, to help me bring some marble down from the mountain so I could get to sculpting." /Oh, Aindreas./ Jophiel's heart ached to tell him what he really felt.

Aindreas ran a talon over the delicate neck of one of the swans. "You really are talented, Jophiel. Maybe you should go out into the outside world and share your art with everyone out there."

Jophiel shook his head. "I have no idea if that would work. So much time has passed, people might not like sculptures like these anymore."

"How could they not?" asked Aindreas.

"And from what the Guardians told us, It sounds like not many people would be fond of a sculptor who happened to be a gargoyle."

"Like you said, a lot of time has passed. Maybe people have changed."

"At any rate, Aindreas, I'd never leave Avalon." He couldn't resist stroking one of the heavy light brown locks that framed Aindreas' face. "How could I? Everything I want is here."

"J-Jophiel?" Aindreas' heart was in his throat. "How...how much of that punch have you had to drink?"

/He's not brushing my hand away./ Jophiel observed. /That's a good sign./ "I only had half a cup. Just enough to give me the courage to say what I need to say." /I won't hide it any longer./ "Aindreas, I love you! I don't mean as a brother. I want you to be mine and I want to be yours. I-I'll understand if you don't feel..." Jophiel was cut off by a fierce kiss as Aindreas pounced on him.

/He loves me! He loves me!/ Aindreas thought joyfully as he kissed his beloved. Aindreas had never kissed anyone beyond a brotherly peck on the cheek, but he found this passionate kiss both easy and exciting. It was a while before they both needed to break apart to breathe. "Jophiel!" Aindreas sighed and leaned against the firm blue chest. "I love you so much. I want to make love with you, Jophiel. I want to touch you, kiss you, hold you, feel you...."

Jophiel smiled and ran a talon over an emerald green horn. "You'll have to be gentle with me." he said.

Aindreas blushed. "I-I've never been with anyone either." he confessed. "Do you...do you think it will hurt?"

"It couldn't hurt more than wanting you." Jophiel rained soft kisses on the lovely green face that held his heart. He kissed the throat and nuzzled the ears. Aindreas was running his hands up and down Jophiel's arms and chanting his name. Jophiel had Aindreas lay back against the tree that was shielding them from the raucous party and left nibbling kisses on Andreas' shoulders and collar bone. His lips went lower, tracing the shape of Aindreas' pectorals. Aindreas let out a sharp cry as Jophiel kissed his ribs. He moaned and shivered as the lips caressed his abdomen. And now, Jophiel was rising Aindreas' loincloth.

Aindreas thought he would faint when he felt Jophiel's lips softly kiss the length of his member. Jophiel tucked the loincloth into Aindreas' belt to free his hands to squeeze and caress Aindreas' firm thighs. He began licking the member as Aindreas sighed and laid back against the tree trunk. Aindreas dug his talons into the bark as Jophiel took the organ into his mouth and started sucking. Aindreas sighed Jophiel's name as he gently thrust his hips into the damp warmth of his lover's mouth. /Jophiel! You are indeed the Beauty of God!/ Aindreas thought, panting as he gazed up at the stars. /This feels so good! I love you, I love you, I love you....oh...oh...It feels even better! Oh God! Nothing has ever felt this good! I'm about to cum! I'm gonna cum right in his..../ "Jophiel! Jophiel, I'm so close!" /He's not stopping! If anything, he's sucking me harder! Oh...it's coming...oh, Jophiel...oh...oh....OH!/

Jophiel gagged a bit at the sudden burst in the back of his throat. He licked and swallowed as much of the issue as he could. /It's not a very bad flavor./ Jophiel marveled. /A bit salty. Like seawater, only thicker./ Aindreas pulled Jophiel up to his feet and kissed him, tasting himself. Aindreas held Jophiel close and stoked his hair as he kissed him, Jophiel caressed Aindreas' face. /Tears? Is he crying?/ Jophiel pulled away. "Aindreas, what's wrong?"

"Not a thing!" he said with a dazzling smile as he tried to dash away tears. "I'm just so happy! I've wanted this for so long!"

"How long have you wanted me, Aindreas?"

"Jophiel, I've loved you all my life. I've wanted to make love to you since I was old enough to understand what it meant. It's just...I was afraid you'd give me the old 'I love you like a brother.' speech."

Jophiel kissed Aindreas on the forehead. "I never said anything because I valued our friendship. I wanted more, but I didn't want to risk what we had. I was afraid for so long that if I told you how I felt you'd be angry at me, maybe you'd even hate me."

"Hate you? Jophiel, I'd never hate you. Here." He switched places with Jophiel so that Jophiel had his back to the tree. "Let me show you how good you made me feel!" Aindreas tucked Jophiel's loincloth out of the way and knelt down to lovingly lick at the deep blue penis.

Jophiel layed back against the tree and sighed as Aindreas' tongue circled the tip of his member. Aindreas gave him a little squeeze and lapped at the slit, tasting a tart drop of precum. Jophiel let out a gasp as Aindreas sucked in his penis. /Warm. Wet. Pressure. Love. Pleasure. Heat. Yes, yes! Aindreas! Oh God! Pleasure! PLEASURE!/ Jophiel let out a yell as he came. He looked down to see his own semen trickling from Aindreas' mouth.

Jophiel readjusted his loincloth as Aindreas tried to wipe the cum away with his hand. Jophiel pulled him close and licked the corners of his mouth. The hugged each other tight, feeling each others' skin and inhaling each others' scent.

"The sun will be up soon." Aindreas whispered. "I want to watch it come up with you." They climbed up the tree and sat in the branches facing east. The wild wedding party showed no signs of abating. The two lovers smiled at each other as the sky steaked with pink. The sun came up, freezing the reveling gargoyles in stone.

Author's Notes: On The Naming of the Avalon Clan. It has been suggested that most of the members of Clan Avalon are named after angels. (I won't use the name Archangel. It's just stupid.) Since most angels deemed important enough to name were male, many of the females on Avalon have feminine versions of angel names. Instead of Raphael and Michael, there's a Raphaela and a Michelle. (Katherine is half French. She might prefer that spelling to Michaela.) Since Hamlet was not yet written, it's presumable that Ophelia was named after Opiel, the angel invoked by those who search for true love. (Other possibilities are the Greek word "ophis" meaning "snake" or "ophelos" meaning "help".) Katherine named one of the eggs after Finella. Tom wanted to name one Mary after his mother, but it turned out to be a boy, so he named him Marius. Everyone else is named after a hero or a saint. (Aindreas is the Gaelic form of Andrew.)

If you'd like to see what Angela looked like in her bride's maid gown, go here: http://bri-chan.deviantart.com/art/gargoyle-in-red-25952874 That's what I based the image on. I figured Titania left behind a closet of clothes when she left Avalon.