(no subject)
Title: Little Magic
Genre: Fantasy, Original Fiction
Rating: PG
A/N: It’s innocent fairy/ human slash. Merry Christmas!
Noel found an open window in the basement and flew in. He was more nervous than the first time he’d met Jonathan all those years ago. He flew past the Christmas tree that shone in the middle of the living room, and there was ginger bread and mince pies on the dining room table.
Jonathan was fast asleep, and Noel sighed in relief. He looked at the clock on the wall. It was five minutes before midnight, so he watched and waited. When it was merely seconds until Christmas day, he went to stand behind the curtains not to scare Jonathan when he changed in case he woke up. The clock ticked, and Noel prayed he’d done the right thing. He breathed and felt his body turn heavy as his limbs suddenly grew. The transformation only took a few seconds. He felt a little unbalanced, nearly tripping on his own feet. They were so long! He stepped out from behind the curtains. The first thing he noticed was that his wings were missing. He winced a little because it was so weird. Then he looked at Jonathan who was still fast a sleep.
Unsure what to do next he stepped closer to the bed. Could he do it? With sudden braveness he pulled the covers up so that he could crawl next to Jonathan and then pulled them back down over them both. It was so very warm next to him. He looked at Jonathan’s face; he looked exactly the same as every other time Noel had been watching him- just watching-except that now Noel could hold him like a person. So he wrapped his arms around Jonathan carefully and then he stayed like that until he fell asleep.
He woke up from the cold floor, his back hurting. He opened his eyes and tried focus them. The room looked funny; everything was so small. Or maybe he was big? Noel looked down at himself and remembered the night before just as he heard Jonathan’s voice above him.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
Noel turned his head towards the source of the voice and stared.
“What were you doing in my bed?” Jonathan questioned. He looked angry.
“Uh…” Noel said, his voice rough. He coughed. He sat up and Jonathan’s eyes grew wider.
“Well?” Jonathan questioned.
“I’m Noel,” he answered.
“Well, that was helpful,” Jonathan sneered, sarcastically. “Who are you?”
“Jonathan, I- “
“How do you know my name?”
“Let me explain.” Noel was growing impatient. What had he done?
“Then explain.”
“I was here the other night,” he offered. And every other night, he added in his mind.
Jonathan’s eyes widened even more. “What do you mean?”
“I think you remember.”
“You can’t mean that-“ he whispered.
“My name is Noel and I know a lot about you, Jonathan,” Noel said quickly.
Jonathan just stared.
“Look, I can go if you want.” Noel stood up and walked to the door, wobbly, but walked nevertheless.
“Wait!” Jonathan whispered just as Noel was about to open the door. He turned and saw that a small smile had appeared on Jonathan’s face. He smiled back carefully.
“Okay,” he said. He wasn’t sure where to go but he sat on the edge of the bed as far from Jonathan as possible not to scare him again. “Wait, did you push me from the bed?”
“Well, what was I meant to do when I found this naked guy in my bed?” Jonathan asked.
Noel blushed. “Oh…” he said. “I didn’t think of that.”
“So, tell me everything,” Jonathan said.
~ ~ ~
Noel was wearing a pair of light blue jeans and a loose long sleeved black shirt. He wasn’t used to human clothes but had accepted them gratefully. He walked downstairs behind Jonathan who had to support Noel in the stairs since he had nearly fallen down the first step he took. He was much more used to flying than stairs.
“Just act normal,” Jonathan whispered when they entered the living room. Normal? Noel thought. Jonathan dragged him by his arm behind him.
“Merry Christmas, honey,” Jonathan’s mother said when she saw him. Then she stopped half way to him.
“Mum, this is Noel. His family went away for Christmas so I invited him over,” Jonathan introduced him.
“Hello,” Jonathan’s mother said and smiled somewhat rigid.
“Hello,” Noel replied.
“Is it fine that he stays for a while?” Jonathan asked.
“Sure, honey,” she said and looked at Noel again. “It’s nice for you to have a friend over.”
Noel watched the family open their presents. It was weird; he knew all their traditions but he had never been a part of them. He’d always been watching from the shadows. The room was decorated the same way as every other Christmas. There was a golden star on top of the tall tree. A wooden deer that Jonathan had made at school stood on the side table. Noel had always liked it because it was the same size as he’d been. Sometimes he’d pretended to ride it. It was silly, but it had amused him.
Noel excused himself after a while and went to Jonathan’s room. It didn’t feel right being present when the family spent the Christmas morning together. He stood in the room and studied himself for the first time since he’d changed. His fair, wavy hair still reached his chin. He pushed it behind his ears and noticed that they were different shape as before; they were human ears. He couldn’t hear very well either. He used to head the wind and animals even when he was in the house but now he couldn’t. He touched his face. It felt the same as before. He suspected his eyes were still the same shade of dark green that they used to be. His new body felt clumsy and awkward compared to his tiny, slender fairy body. He took it all in and he was excited with the novelty of his new body.
“Hey,” Jonathan spoke behind him.
Noel turned around and saw him in the door way.
“Are you okay?” Jonathan asked. “I’m sure it’s weird for you. I mean I would be-“
“No, I’m fine,” Noel cut it.
They looked at each other for a while. Jonathan shook his head as if still in shock. Noel had told Jonathan who he was and for some wonderful reason Jonathan had decided to believe Noel.
“Want to go out?” he asked then. “It’s snowing.”
“I’d love to,” Noel smiled.
They went downstairs and Jonathan gave Noel a thick winter coat. Jonathan smirked when Noel put a wrong arm in the sleeve of the coat.
“This way,” Jonathan said and helped the fairy.
“Sorry, I don’t normally wear- I mean I’m warm anyway.”
“It’s okay,” Jonathan said. “Oh, wait.” He pulled a blue woollen hat over Noel’s head. “There. Now you’re ready.”
Jonathan led their way through the snowy streets. Noel appreciated how slowly Jonathan was walking and how he kept an eye on Noel who had to concentrate on every step. They didn’t talk much until they arrived near a small park.
“Let’s make a snowman,” Jonathan suggested.
“Okay,” Noel said, beginning to make a snow ball and rolling it on the ground. As it got bigger Jonathan helped to push it.
“I used to watch you making snowmen when you were little,” Noel said when he watched the snow ball getting quite huge. Little Jonathan’s snowmen used to be half the size of this one. Noel remembered him wearing brightly coloured hats, mittens and snow boots at winter. Now he was in black, apart from his turquoise scarf. His dark hair kept falling over his left eye. Noel made a smaller snow ball for the man’s head.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yes.”
Suddenly a snowball the size of an apple hit Noel on his shoulder making him lose his balance, and he fell down on his bottom.
“Oops. Sorry,” Jonathan whispered with a guilty look on his face and hurried to his side.
“You little nuisance,” Noel laughed. “I should have known.”
Not caring it was cold, Jonathan sat down next to Noel, his face now serious. “I wish I’d known you when I was younger. I know I just met you, but when you tell me about my childhood, it makes me feel like I had a friend who I never knew. And I could have used a friend.”
“Why do you say that?” Noel asked, feeling as though Jonathan had revealed something important.
“I don’t have many friends but maybe you know that already,” Jonathan answered, avoiding eye contact.
Noel sensed that Jonathan was reluctant to talk about the subject deeper and left it alone, but made a mental note to bring it up later. He was determined to know everything before he left.
“Actually you did know me when you were young. You just don’t remember,” Noel said, steering to the conversation back to Jonathan’s comment.
Jonathan looked at him expectantly.
“I used to keep you company when you couldn’t sleep,” Noel explained. “You had about a thousand teddy bears in your bed, and one… Well, me.”
Jonathan laughed. “Well, it’s a shame I don’t remember.”
Noel got up to his feet carefully and said, “I always wished you’d remember because those memories mean a lot to me.”
Jonathan looked surprised by his confession, and Noel blushed slightly. Did he say too much?
“Why?” he asked.
“Because we had a connection even though you were so young and later I couldn’t let you see me anymore.”
“I see what you mean,” Jonathan said thoughtfully. He stumbled back on his feet and started to look for a stick for their snowman’s nose and when he found one he stuck it to the snow ball. “There,” he said. “You couldn’t let me see you until the other night,” Jonathan pointed out.
“That was an accident,” Noel said quietly.
Jonathan ignored the regret in Noel’s voice. “I’m glad I saw you,” he said firmly.
“I am too now, though I got really scared. It wasn’t supposed to happen. I was being careless.”
Jonathan smiled and stepped closer. “I don’t care.”
“Do you want to know why I came back… as a boy?” Noel asked, rather nervously.
“Why?”
Noel closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around Jonathan. They were the same height and even though Noel’s build was more fragile he could easily pull the surprised boy against his body. The boy stiffened in his arms for a second but then Noel could feel him relaxing. He released him and said, “So that I could do this. I thought you needed it.”
Jonathan fidgeted his hands awkwardly before looking at Noel, “You were right,” he said.
Noel smiled sadly and took Jonathan’s hands. “In that case…” he whispered, pulling Jonathan close to him for a second time. This time Jonathan clung to Noel, his hands grabbing the material of this coat. He’d done the right thing, Noel thought. The boy in his arms shook.
“Are you cold?” Noel asked.
“No,” Jonathan whispered back.
Noel stepped back and Jonathan let go of him. Without sharing a word, they started walking back to Jonathan’s house. Noel noted Jonathan kept glancing at him when he thought he could see. He felt happiness at what he had achieved during their talk, and he was going to dig in deeper to Jonathan’s thoughts before the day ended.