A/N: Short and sweet. This idea kept playing in my head til I was forced to write it down. Also, it explains the quote, "At the end of the day, he goes to his room and I go to mine." (-Bartleby, from a cut scene) So many Dogma fics! I have one more, should be out tomorrow. Still needs a title. *shrugs* Disclaimer: I'm Kevin Smith! Really! Okay, not really. But sometimes I wish I was. No money for me. How sad!

In the Darkness

It was quiet and peaceful in the dark bedroom. The lights of the town filtered through the window, accenting their pale skin. City sounds were soft and muted, a soothing, offbeat tempo. They lay curled about one another, not making love, merely delighting in the feel of skin against skin. Warmth. Protection. Happiness.

"We couldn't do this before." Loki mentioned sleepily.

"Hmm?" Bartleby mumbled, his lips moving against Loki's bare shoulder.

"Sleep together."

"Well, yeah, we didn't have-"

"No, I mean, actually sleeping."

Bartleby yawned. "Nope. Cuz-"

"Our wings would have gotten in the way."

"Yeah."

Loki's hands absently stroked Bartleby's back, centering on his shoulder blades. Bartleby smiled and closed his eyes, absorbed by the *touch* of Loki. He had almost fallen asleep, when Loki remarked, "So how did you lose your wings again?" and his eyes snapped open. //Uh-oh, he's been thinking about...//

"They were shot off. By the stoner prophet." he said carefully.

"Oh."

"I don't think I ever told you."

"Did it hurt?"

With that question, Bartleby knew that his beloved was thinking about that day again, that stupid day, and though he didn't want to, he remembered it perfectly.

flashback

"Wings, now."

"I'm feeling a little exposed here..."

He turned around, yelled it in Loki's face. "Do it!"

Loki raised his hands defensively. "Alright man, don't have a fuckin' cow." He tore open his shirt as Bartleby had down, revealing armor, and slipped it off. Closing his eyes, he stretched his wings to their full length, stretching them out. When he opened his eyes, Bartleby was standing in front of him, knife in hand. There was a strange expression on his face, and, not for the first time that day, Loki felt a twinge of fear.

"Turn around," Bartleby ordered. Loki stared at the knife in his hand, mesmerized by the way the light flashed off of it. He was stalling. And Bartleby knew it. "It'll be all right," the taller one assured him, and for a moment, Loki searched his face for signs of the old B. But no, Bartleby spun him around and jabbed the knife into his left wing. Loki shuddered, the sensation was terribly odd... but a few seconds later, when nearly half of it was torn and hanging from his body, riotous pain he'd never known, never *imagined*, seared through his body.

A scream tore through his throat and he arched away from Bartleby, stumbling down the steps of the church and feeling warm blood flowing from his wounded body.

Bartleby followed at a leisurely pace. "Loki!" he called. He approached the bleeding angel. "Let's finish this."

Loki shook his head. "No man, fuck this, I'm going back to Wisconsin, with you or without you-"

Bartleby slammed him against the gatepost and Loki let out a cry of pain. "You will *not* stop me. We are going home!" he hissed into Loki's ear, pinning him down, and then with his bare hands he ripped off the rest of the wing. Loki screamed again and tried to twist away, but Bartleby held him there. Another bright flash of agony coursed through his nerves as Bartleby hacked at the remaining wing.

"No B, *stop*, please, oh shit it *hurts*..." he sobbed. With one last thrust, Bartleby tossed the feathered thing, the last vestige of Loki's divinity, to the ground. He turned his now mortal companion around and handed him the bloody knife. "Now me," he instructed.

"No." The knife dropped from his nerveless grasp. "No fuckin' way."

"Dammit Loki! Can't you do this one thing for me?!"

"I won't do that to you, B. I'm going to get drunk now." He staggered off in search of alcohol to numb the pulsing ache, leaving behind a crazed and desperate angel.

end flashback

"Yes." Bartleby closed his eyes, a few tears escaping them. "It hurt." Warm breath ghosted across his face as Loki pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Do you... do you miss them? The wings?" he asked.

"Hmm I dunno, wings for a dick, that seems like a fair trade." he laughed hollowly.

"Seriously." Bartleby said, fearing the answer.

"It doesn't matter," he said after a while. "I'm still with you."

Bartleby laughed, pulled Loki closer to him. Loki smiled at him, then snuggled into him, blue eyes closing gradually. In the darkness, Loki was in his arms. In the darkness, there was perfection.

end

There was sap, angst, and then more sap! Yay! How *do* I do it? anyway, review?

"Jay tells us you're going to sleep with him?"

"Don't do it!"

*giggle*

~RainShadow