glow
“Dan, you’re telling me that you went out on one of your forest walks after the storm broke up, found an injured fairy, brought him home, and now he’s eating a very small ham sandwich… What did you slip me this morning?”
Arin flips the older human off, munching on his tiny sandwich while Dan chuckles. “It’s only until the storm passes and his wing heals up.”
“Which it seems to be doing quickly. His wing, not the storm.”
Arin nods, fluttering the almost totally healed wing gently. “Being in a warmer environment helps with that.. just waiting on the storm.” He finishes the sandwich, experimentally hovering off of the counter. He grins when it doesn’t feel like his wing is being torn off, doing a few short laps around Dan and leaving a trail of pink sparkles.
Brian laughs. “Don’t be sprinkling your pixie dust everywhere, Dan doesn’t need to be flying.”
Arin darts over to him, hovering in front of his nose. “Oh, come on, I’m sure lanky over there would be just fine with a set of wings on him.”
“Not like you could do it. I can’t doubt fairies are real now, but I know magic isn’t.”
He scoffs. “Excuse you, sir, magic is absolutely real and I happen to be very skilled in transformation. I could turn you into a cat.”
“No you couldn’t.”
“Okay, maybe I can only make forest animals. But I could totally turn Dan into a fairy.”
“No, you–” He’s cut off by an excited squeal from Dan.
“You could!? That would be so fucking cool–as long as you could turn me back, I mean, we kinda have a job..”
Arin laughs and goes to stand on Dan’s shoulder. “Not right now I can’t. I have to be closer to the forest, and I’d probably just enchant a necklace or something, that’s way easier.”
“Can you do any magic away from the forest, or are you super connected?”
“I can do some magic. Like this.” He grins and jumps off of Dan’s shoulder, and with a thump, lands as a full size human. His wings are gone, but he’s still wearing his tunic and leggings. “See? Super cool.”
Dan squeals once again and tackles Arin in a hug, while Brian checks for whether his eardrums are bleeding. “You can be tall, that’s so cool!”
The fairy blushes at the contact, his glow intensifying just a hint. “Yeah, it’s useful for humans that don’t respect the woods, you know. A fairy can’t do shit besides turn them into trees, but another human can whoop their asses.”
Brian raises an eyebrow. “You can turn Dan into a tree, that’s fine.”
Dan pouts, and Arin snorts. “I was kidding about the tree thing. I’m the only fairy still here anyway.”
“Why’s that?” Dan looks at him, and he looks away.
“Humans. Deforesting, trampling, kidnapping… I’ve been alone for a few years..”
He looks so sad, pulling Arin closer. “I’m sorry, dude, I… if I’d known fairies were real, I’d have been right there helping keep you safe..”
Arin smiles, shrinking back to his normal size and fluttering to Dan’s shoulder. “It’s okay dude. In the past and all that. If I hadn’t met you, though, I’d have definitely died, so obviously not all humans are awful like that.”
Brian huffs. “Being connected to the forest must be hard when they come in to cut..”
“Like a stab in the heart every time.” He sighs, flying over to the window and looking out. “Oh, the storm is letting up.”
Dan smiles, almost remorsefully. “You probably want to be getting home, then, huh?”
Arin flies back, hovering in front of Dan. “Come with me, I wanna show you where I live.”
“You.. you want to show me your house?”
“Yeah, it’ll be fun!”
“Alright, I won’t say no to another nature walk. I’ll bring an umbrella you can fly underneath.”
Arin grins, and Brian just sets his head on the counter with a thunk.
The pink fairy leads Dan through the woods, along an overgrown path. He chirps and trills at the birds they pass by, even flying over to a deer to pat its head.
Suddenly, he stops, pointing at a thick redwood with a hole in the trunk. “There, that one’s mine!”
Dan grins and moves towards it, looking up at the tiny hole. Arin darts right in, disappearing into the trunk. After a few minutes, he pushes something out of the hole, and it lands right on Dan’s head. “Put that on!”
He turns the pendant over in his hand, a blue crystalline tulip, before sliding it on. It has a comforting warmth to it, and then he’s falling, falling, and the umbrella is falling towards him, and–
a pink blur shoots down, catching him before he hits the ground or is crushed by the umbrella.
Arin lands on the lip of the hole, holding Dan bridal style. “Probably should have told you to put that down, huh?”
“You think?” Dan can’t help a grin, as Arin sets him down on the inside. It’s a cozy little living room, complete with a tiny sofa, rug and coffee table. There’s a kitchen attached, with a small fireplace lined with rocks to keep from burning anything. Stairs spiral down from the side of the room, leading to presumably Arin’s bedroom. “Woah… this is so cool. How’d you do this?”
The pink fairy chuckles. “Free time. Lots of free time.” He smiles at him, and Dan smiles back. Now he can see the details in Arin’s wings, how they’re mostly opaque but catch the light to create a beautiful glow, the soft glitter of dust along the tips of his wings. It brings out a soft flutter in his heart, and weirdly, in his back.
“Oh!” Arin moves behind him, pulling his jacket off and pressing on his back. The pain is sharp despite the gentle touch, and he pulls his dagger out as Dan gasps with the sudden pain. “Hold still, okay?”
A few seconds later, the pain sharpens, but then relents, and it feels like stretching out after laying still. “Shit, what’d you do?”
Arin says nothing, pulling Dan over to a mirror made from a discarded compact. He gasps when he sees the soft blue wings, sharper and thinner than Arin’s, but wings all the same. “You.. you turned me into a fairy?”
“I wasn’t kidding, and you seemed pretty excited about it, so.. yeah.” He smiles, and Dan grins like an idiot, tackling him in another hug. “Holy shit, this is so cool! I gotta send a picture to Bri–oh hell, my phone is in the car!”
“I can go get it. Stay here, okay?” Arin grins, hopping back out of the little hole and darting off.
Dan smiles, going about exploring the tiny room.
Arin’s back ten minutes later, pushing the smartphone through the hole. It’s a tight fit, but he manages it without even scratching the screen. He looks around and spots Dan curled up on the couch, fast asleep. With a grin, he shakes the other’s shoulder, leaning down to ask the unlock code. Of course, Dan’s sleepy mind answers truthfully, and Arin pulls the phone over to take a picture of him. It takes a bit to figure it out, and the shutter sound about knocks him on his ass, but he manages.
Then comes sending the picture. He knows how, having used a flip phone way long ago, but this is almost a different beast, especially when he’s only a little bigger than the device. Ten minutes later he’s at least found Brian’s contact, and another five minutes pass to get the picture attached. Only a moment to draft a short message and send it off, then another ten to figure out how to silence the phone as he sets it in an empty corner.
It takes no time at all for him to pick Dan up and carry him downstairs to his room, set him on the bed, curl up with him, and fall asleep.
Brian’s phone goes off with a ding.
Looks like he got tired. I’ll bring him back safe in the morning. -Arin
The picture is unmistakably Dan with bright blue wings, and Brian groans. Now he was wrong and his band partner had a magic fairy friend that could probably turn him into a unicorn.
But mostly, he was wrong. Dan would never let him live that down, and if he’d made friends so quick, Arin never would either.
Well fuck.
