Archive of Our Own

“And this involves me… how, exactly?”

“I can’t go by myself!” Kevin explains, as if it’s obvious. “I mean, I’m a hunter, but… I’m… you know. And what if something happens at the ball? If the other Daybreak hunters actually saw me completely transformed, I’m not sure I would make it out of there alive…”

“So take Elfo.”

“And watch him look like a kicked puppy when I tell him I just wanna go as friends? No thanks!”

“Tella.”

“That was a joke, right?”

“Yes,” Alex admits. “Darla?”

“I’m kind of avoiding her…”

Alex rolls his eyes, wracking his brain for anyone who could possibly be willing to accompany Kevin to the ball. He taps his fingers against the familiar table, sipping from his drink as he glances around the restaurant as though it’ll give him ideas. “Eros?”

“You want me to take Elfo’s sister’s partner?”

“What’s wrong with them?”

“… I guess nothing… But they just kind of appeared out of nowhere one day, it was kind of sketchy. And they act like they were born yesterday, sometimes!”

Alex sighs. “I don’t know if a ball is a good idea for me right now, Kevin.”

Before Kevin can reply—probably with a protest—something hits Alex in the back of the head, and he frowns as he turns around. The young woman in the booth behind him is already poised to throw another crumpled-up napkin. Alex waits, and figures she or one of her three friends can speak first.

She doesn’t make him wait for very long. “Hey, Alexander. Heard you were thinking about the ball?”

Aha. So she’s another Daybreak hunter. “Just now, yes.”

One of the woman’s friends scoffs. Alex tries very hard to place him, but he can’t for his life remember the man’s name. “You’re not going,” the man says, “are you?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, it’s just…” The man trails off.

And the woman quickly picks up his slack. “Look, Alexander. You were a good hunter, once. But ever since that… shadow incident, you’ve just had this nightfall energy about you. Surely you know how it looks.”

“How does it look?” Kevin asks, patience clearly thinning.

“It looks like dirty Nightfall scum in our otherwise beautiful ballroom.”

Alex’s unnatural eyes, with their black sclera and purple irises and void-like pupils, sting and water slightly—possibly an attempt by a certain goddess at comfort and support. More likely a reaction to Alex’s own dull grief at the loss of his reputation.

“We’re good at our job,” Kevin argues, though he looks just as uncertain as he always does when forced to confront his own spectrum of monstrosity. “We have a right to be there!”

“All I’m saying,” the woman says slowly, “is that you will be walking right into a room filled to the brim with monster hunters.” She very obviously looks them both up and down, and then raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Seems like a gamble on your part.”

The man sets a pile of currency on the table for their meal and then scoops up some of their bags, and the woman and their other friends slide out of the booth after him. “Have a blessed day,” he sneers as they go, and Alex takes to staring down at the cup in his hands.

It’s silent. Alex wonders—not for the first time and surely not for the last—exactly how much Shar’s gift has changed him. He wonders—not for the first time and surely not for the last—exactly how much he wanted it to.

“Don’t listen to them,” Kevin says after a moment. “We have as much of a right to be there as they do. …Right?”

“Of course,” Alex says. He doesn’t continue.

Kevin, at least, seems reassured. “Right! So, will you go with me?”

“I’ll think about it,” Alex says.

He probably won’t.

☼☼☼

Alex yawns as he flips through his old notebooks. The lights are all off—Shar’s gift is not always a burden. In fact, Alex would typically consider it an asset. It’s only in the eyes of other hunters that it suddenly becomes a curse.

Now, though, they are helpful, allowing him to make out his own rushed handwriting in the decades-old books. When his phone lights up with a text, it nearly blinds him all over again. Once he’s adjusted, he reaches over to read Kevin’s message.

From: Kevin

12:42 am

Won’t be home tonight! :D Staying with a frrrieeend! ;)

Knowing Kevin, they probably aren’t doing much more than ‘getting to know each other.’ Genuinely. While perhaps a little fast for Alex’s tastes, Alex has never known him to pursue anything with only surface-deep interest. So, whatever Kevin is doing, Alex is sure he cares a great deal about it.

That doesn’t make it any less inconvenient.

When Alex hears a loud clattering followed by a shout from the direction of the armory, he suddenly finds it much harder to be in support of his friend’s pursuits. But, while Kevin is typically the better damage-dealer out of the two of them, Alex still has a wand and an unhealthy obsession with fire. He’s sure he’ll be fine.

All the same, when he sneakily enters the armory, he’s expecting a difficult encounter; anyone who’s managed to break into the haven, of all places, must be pretty powerful. So Alex is expecting an experienced wizard infiltrator, or someone augmented with the power of the gods, or- or anything, really, that would make more sense than what Alex actually sees when he walks through that door.

Ey are small, first of all—which is no measure of power, of course, ey’re only a few inches shorter than Alex, and Alex would consider himself quite the caster. But ey don’t look like a typical magic-type; eir clothes are less than practical, contrasting fabrics draped arbitrarily across each other, and flimsy orange wings extend from eir shoulder blades, thin enough to see through. Ey aren’t equipped with a wand of any kind, though it’s difficult to tell what with the massive pile of armory weapons ey’ve gotten emself trapped under. That must have been the clattering, an entire shelf’s worth of weapons falling onto this poor… intruder?

Alex doesn’t have the heart to fire at em when ey’re in such a state. In fact, he’s almost worried.

Muffled swears come from beneath the many weapons, and then there’s a soft pop sound before the intruder suddenly disappears from under the weapon pile and reappears beside it. Ey huff and puff out eir chest as ey try to save face, and now Alex can see the bright pink glowing freckles sprinkled across eir flushed blue cheeks. Alex makes a split-second decision as he comes to the conclusion that this person could not possibly be any sort of threat.

“And who might you be?” he asks, intentionally keeping his tone calm. He steps closer to the winged being. “I hope you aren’t hurt.”

“I’m not,” the person huffs, seeming almost annoyed. Eir navy blue hair falls over eir eyes, and ey scowl and snap eir fingers. With a burst of rainbow magic, eir hair stands up straight again.

Interesting.

“Your name, then?” Alex asks patiently.

“Ileao,” the person replies. Ey cross eir arms and smirk, eir confidence apparently regained. “And I am your fairy godparent- wait what the fuck?”

Alex blinks. He’s not sure what’s happening. “What?” he asks anyway.

Ileao narrows eir eyes, moving closer to Alex and examining his face. “I was supposed to be assigned to a Daybreak hunter,” ey impatiently explain. “Are you a Daybreak hunter?”

Oh. That’s great, even the magical fairy person is judging him. “Yes. There was an accident,” Alex says, forcing his voice to remain even. He can’t decide whether he’s hurt, embarrassed, or just plain tired. “I lost my sight on a hunt. The goddess of shadows and grief took pity on me and offered me my current eyes as a replacement.”

Ileao hums. “What’d she want in return?”

Ey want to know more? Alex’s confusion quickly overwhelms every other emotion that was warring in his chest, but he tries his best to continue the conversation anyway. “Nothing horrible. I escorted a young mage to a safe area in the jungle-”

“Oh shit, Debbie?”

Alex’s eyes widen. “Yes?”

“I got to dress her up a couple weeks ago! She didn’t actually have anywhere special to go, she just didn’t have any friends and wanted to go to a pretend dance.” Ey shrug, abruptly looking much more upset. “She had a great time. Just because I taught her some curse words on accident doesn’t mean I deserved to be taken off her case!”

“Who are you?” Alex asks, completely baffled.

“Oh, right! Well, since you are the Daybreak hunter I was assigned to-”

“You’re still going to work with me, even after the Shar story…?”

“Stop interrupting, damn!” Ileao huffs. “But, yeah, duh. Would’ve helped you anyway, honestly, I just wouldn’t have shared all the details with my supervisor. But you are the case I was assigned to, weird grief goddess eyes or not, so… Yeah, congratulations! You have a fairy godparent.”

Ileao starts slowly circling Alex, scanning him up and down, and Alex can’t help but feel self-conscious. “Care to explain what that means?” he asks, still feigning indifference with the situation.

“Means I’m gonna get you ready for this fuckin’ ball,” Ileao says confidently. “And everyone’s eyes will be on you.”

“That sounds horrible.”

Ileao raises an eyebrow. “Okaaaay… Fine. Maybe I need to know a little more about you before I get started. What’s your fashion sense like, generally?”

Alex rubs his temples, trying to make sense of any of this. “Bollocks, I’m not-” He stops, taking a deep breath before he looks up at Ileao and speaks again. “It’s past one in the morning. I’m going to bed, and if you’re still real and here in the morning, then we can talk.”

Ileao shrugs, giving Alex a lazy two-finger salute. “Sure thing, mortal. I’ll be back at eight am, sharp!”

And then, with no more warning than the gentle pop and chromatic spark of eir magic, Ileao is gone. Alex pinches himself. He is awake. Somehow.

He decides the armory is not worth cleaning up right now. He retreats to his bedroom, head in a daze.

To: Kevin

1:13 am

I may have a fairy problem in the morning.

Alex doesn’t wait for a reply before he falls asleep.

☼☼☼

“Alex! Come on, you can’t text me something that cryptic and then just drop off the map!”

“I’m in our house,” Alex mumbles, blinking awake and pausing to rub at his eyes. Kevin is shaking his shoulders in an attempt to wake him.

“Yeah, but you were asleep in it!” Finally accepting that Alex is awake, Kevin watches Alex expectantly. “Sooo?”

Alex yawns as he sits up. “So what-”

The fairy.

“What time is it?” Alex asks, frantically looking around for a clock. He is suddenly much more awake.

“I don’t know, like nine?”

Alex winces and stands up, heading for the armory since that’s where he saw Ileao last. “Have you seen the fairy yet?” he asks. He sounds a little more panicked than he’d like, but it’s hard to feign nonchalance at the moment. Is it possible for a fairy to reject their charge for being late?

Kevin runs along after him as he tears through the haven, looking for any sign of the fairy. “I have not, no,” Kevin says, sounding concerned, so Alex ignores him and keeps searching.

It’s not until he’s checked every room in the haven that he’s finally willing to admit Ileao’s not here. He ends up back in the kitchen, staring into space at the dining table. …He didn’t imagine last night, did he?

“Old age finally get the best of you?” Kevin asks jokingly as he sits down next to him. Despite the teasing, Alex can hear the concern he’s trying his hardest to hide beneath humor.

But Alex can’t really find it in himself to laugh. He manages a smile and weakly waves Kevin off; Alex isn’t sure why, but he was… really looking forward to that whole fairy thing. Maybe he’s lonely. He doesn’t exactly have many friends, besides Kevin and the occasional grateful citizen from towns he saves. Not to mention, without a supernatural being egging him on, he’s really not sure how to justify his presence at the ball. Honestly, he probably won’t go.

That thought gives him a pang of guilt when he catches another glimpse of Kevin’s obvious concern. But it just wouldn’t be a good idea.

“I’m fine,” Alex says simply, though he can’t quite keep the disappointment out of his tone. He sighs. “I only-”

“Holy shit!” says the fairy that suddenly crashes into existence on their kitchen table.

Kevin scrambles back, all but falling out of his chair in his effort to put distance between himself and the fairy that he is surely having trouble comprehending right now. Ileao is a disaster, sprawled across the table and covered in fabric samples and color swatches. Ey blink slowly as ey try to adjust, slowly sitting up and brushing emself off. Ey settle for just sitting with eir legs crossed in the center of the table, and then ey shoot Alex a big, confident grin—smirk?—as though ey aren’t two hours late to this meeting.

“You’re late,” Alex says.

Ileao shrugs, completely uncaring. “Human time is different,” ey explain, but then Alex catches a glimpse of a human watch on eir wrist, so ey definitely just forgot. “Who’s this fuckwad?”

Kevin looks hurt for a moment, and then offended, and then just confused. “Who are you!?” he asks, eyes wide.

“Oh, right. Name’s Ileao, I’m your friend’s fairy godparent. I’ll be getting him ready for the ball.” Ey eye Kevin for a few seconds, raising an eyebrow. “Though you clearly need just as much help.”

“What’s wrong with me!?”

“You’re wearing a full battle-tier magic robe while relaxing in your own home!”

Kevin frowns and, after a brief moment of deliberation, leans towards Alex to whisper, “Do ey know?”

Before Alex can even answer, Ileao asks, “What, that you’re a werewolf?”

Kevin’s eyes widen, and he abruptly takes several more steps back.

“Calm down,” Ileao says, waving him off. “It’s a fairy thing. I just know.”

Kevin still looks on edge, but his expression changes to be more hurt than anything else. “Is that why you’ve been so mean?”

Ileao snorts. “Nah, I’m a dick to everyone. You’re not special.”

“Well?” Alex asks tiredly. “What do you think, Kevin?”

“I think your fairy’s a jerk!” he replies.

Alex just nods. “Yes, but should I accept eir help?”

Kevin hesitates. “Well… You probably wouldn’t go to the ball otherwise… And I really want you to go.”

“Then it’s settled.” Alex turns back to Ileao, who is watching them curiously. “I would appreciate your help with the ball.”

“Yeah, duh,” Ileao says, rolling eir eyes with a smile. “I’m a fairy. Fairies are way better at fashion than humans!”

“Somehow, I find that hard to believe,” Alex says, very clearly examining Ileao’s strange outfit.

Ileao gasps in offense. “Wha- I’ve worn this for centuries, I don’t have time to do my own fashion!”

“Then let us hope your track record as a fairy godparent is better than your personal style.”

Ileao’s wings stutter in what had previously been a series of rhythmic, idle flaps, and eir freckles suddenly turn void-black instead of the neutral blue they’d been when ey arrived.

“Just tell me what you wanna wear,” Ileao huffs, “and I’ll do what I can.” Ey scoot back on the table and spread out the fabric samples and color swatches, gesturing towards the display (and, Alex notes, completely avoiding any and all eye contact).

Alex catches Kevin shooting him a confused look out of the corner of his eye, but his gaze never quite leaves Ileao as the fairy continues to busy emself with needlessly adjusting the samples. “I don’t think I have much of a preference with material,” Alex says. He doubts he can figure out what upset em without em actually telling him, and ey are clearly not open to chat as of now. “White and gold seem like good Daybreak colors, though.”

Ileao’s eyes narrow as ey glance between the white and gold color swatches. “Yeah, that works. Definitely a common theme with the Daybreaks, all high and mighty and everything.”

Alex senses that ey’re not quite done. “But…?”

“But,” ey say, gathering a handful of different purples and blacks, “I bet you’d look great in black and purple. Like, if your eyes are following such a heavy aesthetic, you might as well take advantage of it and plan your outfit to match, right?”

Alex furrows his eyebrows. “I was under the impression that you would be changing my eyes for the ball?”

“Why would I do that?” Ileao asks, looking up from eir color palettes.

“They are very… ‘Nightfall,’” Alex says carefully, slightly afraid he could still scare em away. “Most of the other Daybreak hunters we interact with are not too fond of the ‘aesthetic’ you mentioned.”

Ileao scoffs. “That’s the most major bullshit I’ve heard all week. And I live with fairies, for fuck’s sake!” Ey set down the color swatches and lean forward, and Alex can’t look away. “You’re fine, Alex. Perfect just as you are, and all that. I’m only here to give you the resources to make an entrance.”

Even after Ileao leans back, no longer laser-focused on Alex, Alex can’t manage to stop watching em. Eir freckles turned a sparkling golden color as ey spoke, and even now eir eyes flicker with lingering fury on Alex’s behalf. He knows that his fear is a rational one, that his eyes do make him somewhat of a target for the other hunters, that Shar’s gift is often seen as something far less than ideal. But having had Ileao’s fiery eyes locked onto his own, having listened to em dispel his concerns with such strong conviction, Alex suddenly finds it much more difficult to think negatively about his eyes at all.

“I’m willing to reevaluate my opinion of your fairy, Alex,” Kevin says, and while his tone is joking, Alex knows that his intentions are anything but.

Ileao doesn’t seem to notice Alex’s crisis and doesn’t seem to care about Kevin’s comment, and Alex is grateful. It’s been too long since he’s had a normal interaction with anyone but Kevin—normal in the sense that he isn’t treated differently because of his ‘nightfall curse.’ It’s clearly not normal otherwise. Point being that Alex would really like to keep this little bit of normalcy going, which means he needs to not make it painfully obvious how long it’s been since he’s gotten a little moral validation.

So he tries to move on, following Ileao’s lead and leaning over the table to examine all the different fabrics. He still doesn’t have much of a preference for the fabrics themselves, but he’ll admit that Ileao might be onto something with the black and purple combo. At some point, he tentatively suggests using a chain as an accessory, which gets him a disbelieving look from Kevin and a gleeful one from Ileao.

After that, Alex doesn’t hesitate to voice even his craziest thoughts.

☼☼☼

It’s only been a little under two hours when Kevin suddenly stands up, announcing that it is lunch time and they need to eat.

“Especially since you didn’t even eat breakfast,” Kevin adds.

Ileao squints. “What the fuck are… those things you just said?”

“Lunch? Breakfast?” Kevin asks, eyes widening in surprise. Ileao squints more. “Do you not eat!?”

“Assuming that’s the mouth thing, then, no.”

“Oh, you have to have lunch with us!” Kevin says excitedly.

It doesn’t take him long to come up with an easy lunch for the three of them, though Ileao seems wary of the food and doesn’t take anything but a single bread roll. Ileao has both the boys’ eyes on em as ey tentatively nibble at the bread roll before finally taking a bite.

“Well? What do you think?” Kevin asks.

Alex watches in amusement as Ileao’s face screws up, eir nose wrinkling in distaste. “I think it’s shit,” ey say, seeming very displeased to have to actually swallow the stuff. Ey gag dramatically. “The one and only perk of being a fairy: I don’t have to deal with this!”

Kevin is laughing, and Alex can’t help his own muted chuckles. “Surely it’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be,” Alex says, smiling.

“Yeah, we like food! Especially bread rolls,” Kevin adds.

Ileao gives them both a look of total bewilderment. “You’re both horrible,” ey say after a moment, and Kevin bursts out laughing again. Ileao huffs and shakes eir head as ey push eir chair back and jump to eir feet. “Yeah, no more of that, thanks. I’ll be right back.”

Ey don’t even teleport, ey just walk out of the room, which is more than a little alarming given that Alex has never actually seen em move before, come to think of it. Kevin seems just as concerned, his amusement turning into a grimace as he watches the door Ileao left through. “Aw, man. I should probably go after em and make sure ey’re okay.”

“I’ll go,” Alex says, and Kevin gives him a smile that is far too knowing. Alex pretends he’s not blushing and completely ignores Kevin in favor of going after Ileao.

Unfortunately, he only finds Ileao because he hears retching coming from the bathroom. He knocks on the door and Ileao calls out weakly, not even turning to look at him when he carefully opens the door.

“Fuck,” Ileao says after a moment, wiping eir mouth from where ey’re crouched in front of the toilet. “Sorry.”

“I didn’t know you couldn’t eat food,” Alex says, his eyes widening in alarm as he moves to sit next to em. “I’m sorry, we shouldn’t have pushed you to try some.”

“No, no, it’s- Alex, it’s fine,” Ileao says, laughing weakly as ey try and fail to dodge him laying a hand across eir forehead, as though he knows anything at all about angel physiology. Eh. It’s the thought that counts. “Even I didn’t know my dumb fairy body was this resistant to food of all things. And, I mean-” Ey sighs, smile dimming. “I wanted to try it. Like, really fucking badly.” Eir smile returns, this time significantly more wistful in nature. “There are so many human things that I’ve always wanted to try, but as a fairy I just can’t. Or I’m not allowed. One or the other.”

Alex tilts his head. “What do you mean?”

Ileao shrugs, leaning back against the wall. “I don’t know. Just- I would love to be able to do some of the things I’ve heard my charges talking about. Like eating, for example. Or watching movies, or going places, or fucking around with fashion! I’m actually not allowed to change my outfit, it’s magical anyway and I’m not supposed to use fairy powers for my own benefit.”

“Your entire job is to design magical outfits for people, but you’re not allowed to change your own clothes?” Alex asks, confused.

“There are a lot of restrictions,” Ileao admits. “I can’t do… uh, most things, honestly. Gods, if I were a human? I would break every rule. I’d definitely be a criminal.”

Alex feels a smile creeping onto his face despite himself. “A criminal?”

“At least a little.”

“Well,” Alex says, thinking, “surely there must be a way to stop being a fairy?”

Ileao laughs humorlessly, eir gaze falling to the floor. “Ironically, my own powers could turn me into a human. But fairies can’t use big magic outside of the one very specific, human-instructed circumstance where it’s allowed. So I’m pretty much fucked.”

Alex frowns and opens his mouth to ask more questions, but Ileao shakes eir head and pushes emself to eir feet. Ey snap eir fingers and chromatic magic—small magic, Alex assumes—sparkles around eir body; in only a moment, ey look as though ey were never sick to begin with, and ey smile as ey hold out a hand which Alex gladly accepts, allowing em to pull him to his feet.

“It’s fine,” Ileao says with a smile, though Alex notes that it looks a lot less real than it did in the kitchen. “You’re my charge, I shouldn’t be saying shit like this to begin with.”

“Ileao-”

“We should get back to Kevin! Gotta figure this outfit shit out before the ball tomorrow, right?”

“Right,” Alex says, letting em lead him out of the room. “But, for the record… I didn’t mind listening.”

Ileao pauses, surprised, and it takes em a moment or two to recover and force a laugh. “Sure, Alex. If you say so.”

He very much does.

☼☼☼

They don’t get very far that day, due mostly to the fact that Ileao—as Alex learns—loves to be contrary. At first, ey just make sure to speak up in disapproval of literally anything Kevin says, and it’s not until an hour and a half after the lunch incident that Kevin and Alex finally realize ey don’t actually give a shit. After that, things go a bit smoother, because Alex and Kevin don’t waste time trying to make their cases when Ileao argues with them.

(Except that sometimes Alex does, just to see the shit-eating grin on eir face as ey do eir best to get under his skin. In the same way that it takes the boys some time to realize Ileao doesn’t really think all their ideas are “the dumbest fucking thing ey’ve ever heard,” it takes Ileao a good while to recognize that Alex intentionally engages em out of fondness and interest, not condescension. When ey finally do reach that conclusion, Alex watches with growing fondness as eir eyes widen in surprise and eir posture relaxes out of the defensive position ey’d had since ey arrived. After that, it goes a lot smoother, and Ileao no longer shows a flash of fear in eir expression when Alex or Kevin argues back.)

All the same, they don’t accomplish much. When Kevin starts to complain about needing a break, Ileao looks sad, looks scared, and Alex’s heart pangs at how very little ey seem to want to return to… wherever the fairies live. It doesn’t take him long to come up with an excuse to keep em around.

“I believe it would help you to know more about my tastes,” Alex speaks up. Ileao tilts eir head in confusion, and Kevin sends him another Look. He ignores it. “Wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Ileao crosses eir arms, suspicious. “What do you have in mind?”

Alex is slightly concerned about what eir past charges could have possibly asked of em for em to respond with such caution, but he brushes that feeling aside in favor of dispelling eir worries as quickly as possible. “A movie night,” he says.

Ileao furrows eir eyebrows, but confusion is better than fear, in Alex’s opinion. “Alex, I’m not allowed to watch movies. I’m always on the job.”

“Yes,” Alex says, unable to hold back his smile, “which is why you’ll be spending your time watching my favorite movies to learn more of my interests, instead of- what did you call it?”

“Fucking off for the night,” ey say bluntly.

He laughs. “Right, that. Instead of that, I’ll show you the things I like, so you can do your job better.”

Ileao bites eir lip nervously, eir wings stuttering out of their usual steady rhythm, and Alex moves to rest a gentle hand on eir arm.

“I’m asking you to,” Alex says. “It’s a request from your charge.”

Ileao’s wings fall slightly as ey relax, eir nervous expression giving way to a smile so soft that it makes Alex’s heart beat double-time in his chest. Seeming relatively confident in what ey expect Alex’s answer to be, ey ask, “And you won’t tell my supervisor I was slacking off?”

“You won’t be,” Alex replies. “Like I said, learning about my interests. But no, I wouldn’t have turned you in anyway, Ileao.”

Ileao’s soft smile turns into a blinding grin, and Alex is sure ey don’t even notice when eir hand slips down into his as ey excitedly lead him to the common room. Kevin is hiding a laugh behind his hand as he follows much more calmly behind them, and Alex hopes against all hope that the light of the magical television will not be enough to reveal to Ileao the absurdly strong blush dusting Alex’s cheeks.

Once ey reach the common room, Alex points out a shelf full of movie titles. “Pick out one that looks interesting,” he says, and Ileao smirks and raises an eyebrow.

“Thought I was supposed to be ‘learning about your tastes.’”

“I enjoy all of these movies. So you can pick your favorite.”

Ileao smiles and shakes eir head, but ey pick out a movie anyway, and Alex helps em set it up. Then they retreat to the sofa, Alex sitting in the middle with Ileao on his left and Kevin on his right.

(With Ileao very close on his left, and Kevin an actual reasonable distance away on his right. Kevin gives him another Look. Alex refuses to acknowledge it.)

Immediately, Ileao is totally entranced by the movie, staring wide-eyed at the magical screen. Somehow, ey end up leaning against Alex, clinging to his arm, and as much as Alex’s face burns from the contact, he can’t find it in himself to bring it up. Kevin, of course, is not nearly as forgiving, though Alex silently thanks Shar that Ileao is too engaged with the movie to notice when Kevin leans over to whisper in Alex’s ear.

“So, what’s this about?” Kevin asks, his grin scarily playful.

“Nothing,” Alex says coolly. Well, he aims for ‘coolly.’ In reality, he probably sounds exactly as infatuated as he feels. This is ridiculous. “I’m only helping em experience something ey’ve never been able to before. Any decent person would.”

Kevin fakes a cough. “Sure, sure… If you say so.” After that, he’s kind enough to ignore Alex’s embarrassingly visible blush.

☼☼☼

They’ve just barely started the third movie when Ileao quietly yawns, and it occurs to Alex that ey haven’t commented on anything in a while. He looks over to see em struggling to keep eir eyes open, leaning heavily against Alex.

“If you’re tired, you can sleep here,” Alex says, careful to keep his voice as soft as possible.

“‘M not supposed to sleep,” Ileao mumbles, half-asleep already. “Not supposed to stay either, if I’m not working. I’ll just be back tomorrow, when you’re ready to deal with me again.”

“I’m ready to deal with you now,” Alex replies. “Really, you’re welcome to sleep on the couch. I won’t tell.”

Ileao frowns, worried. “I don’t know… If my charge isn’t-”

“I’ll stay with you.”

Ileao blinks in surprise, seeming to wake up a little as ey look up at Alex with wide eyes. “What?”

“I’ll turn the movie down low but leave it running. If you just so happen to fall asleep on my shoulder, then that’s hardly your fault, right?”

Ileao looks at Alex like he hung the moon, and it does something funny to Alex’s heart. Slowly, ey nod, that same soft smile creeping onto eir face, and ey look more relaxed than ey’ve been all day as ey allow emself to rest eir head on his shoulder, eyes fluttering shut. Alex can’t even muster up the energy to be embarrassed when Kevin taps his hand and gives him another knowing grin.

“Nothing, huh? Any decent person?” Kevin asks, raising an eyebrow.

Still, Alex tries to protest. “Ey’re helping me out. I want to help em, too.”

Kevin hums and leaves the room only to return a few minutes later with a fluffy blanket that he drapes over Alex and Ileao. “If you’re serious about this, you might want to start thinking about what will happen when the ball is over.”

“Ileao hates being a fairy. Ey said there’s a way for em to quit, but ey’re not allowed.” Alex looks down at Ileao, pleased to see em totally relaxed in eir sleep. “Ey’re not allowed to sleep, either.”

Kevin nods and smiles in understanding as he turns to head into his own bedroom for the night. “I get it,” he says as he goes. “You’ll figure it out.”

☼☼☼

“Well?” asks an unfamiliar voice, and Alex slowly blinks the sleep out of his eyes.

It’s just him on the couch, and the space beside him has long since lost its heat; though that may not mean much, since Ileao seems to run pretty cold. All the same, Alex frowns at the loss, stretching his arms above his head as he tries to wake himself up a little more thoroughly.

“Well what?” asks another voice, but Alex recognizes this one as Ileao’s. It’s coming from the direction of the kitchen, and while Alex knows he shouldn’t listen in, the combination of the unfamiliar presence and the pain in Ileao’s voice convinces him otherwise.

“Well,” the unfamiliar voice says condescendingly, “has he asked for a replacement fairy yet?”

“No!”

There’s a short silence. Someone sighs. “Have you told him that’s an option?” the stranger asks.

Ileao’s voice is barely audible when ey reply with a quiet “no.”

“Then tell him, Ileao,” the stranger snaps. “You’re lying to him. Manipulating him.”

“No I’m not!” Ileao insists, a note of panic in eir tone. “I- I didn’t even think- I didn’t mean to-”

“Tell him, Ileao. He deserves a better fairy, don’t you think?”

There’s another brief silence. Ileao sniffles. “Yeah. I’ll tell him.”

“That’s a good little fairy,” the stranger mockingly coos. “I’ll keep an eye out for his swap request.”

Alex can’t really justify not stepping in anymore, so he pushes himself to his feet and moves toward the kitchen, intending to tell Ileao’s fairy friend to either be civil or get out of his haven. But when he slips through the door, Ileao sits with eir head in eir hands at the table, completely alone.

Silently, Alex slides into the chair next to em, and ey jump slightly, startled. “What was that about?” he asks, torn between curiosity and concern.

“Oh, shit, you heard that? Ugh…” Ileao groans, pressing the palms of eir hands against eir eyes. “It’s… Fuck. You deserve to know.”

That’s concerning. “Know what?”

“Fairy assignments… aren’t set in stone. A fairy can be, uh… replaced.”

“Oh.” Alex furrows his eyebrows, thinking back to their first encounter. “Like with Debbie?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you being replaced?” Alex asks worriedly.

Ileao puts eir hands down, offering Alex a very half-hearted smile. “If you want,” ey say weakly, and Alex frantically shakes his head.

“No, of course not! Bollocks, why would I want that?”

“Why wouldn’t you?” Ileao fires back. Ey visibly deflate, slumping against the table. “If my charge complains to me or just outright requests a swap, I have to report it to my supervisor. And then I get replaced, so the charge can have a better fairy experience.” Ileao hesitates, and when ey next speak, ey sound exhausted. “I haven’t completed a job in centuries, because no one ever wants me to stick around.”

“That’s absurd,” Alex replies, frowning at the dark, solemn blue of eir freckles.

“It’s really not,” Ileao says, as though it’s obvious. “My magic is strong, but it can be unpredictable, and it’s always short-lived. I get it, Alex. And I like you. I don’t want you to be stuck with me.”

That hurts for a second, before Alex registers what it means altogether and feels the pieces click into understanding. Oh. Hmm. Worrying.

Alex opens his mouth to protest, but then Kevin strolls into the kitchen, stretching tiredly. “Good morning,” he yawns, and Alex frowns at the interruption.

“All you have to do is say the word,” Ileao whispers to Alex, “and I’ll put the swap request through. Easy as that.”

Alex pretends not to hear.

☼☼☼

Kevin suggests they go out for breakfast, which Alex is completely on board with, if only because it will force Ileao to move on from the swap thing. And, speaking of Ileao…

This time, ey don’t try nearly as hard to stay strong about the fairy rules. It only takes Alex a couple of reassuring words and gentle, subtle touches to convince em, and then ey are thrilled.

As the three of them walk into town—despite Ileao’s insistence that ey “could totally turn any object in this haven into a carriage”—Ileao’s excitement only grows. “Where are we going?” ey ask, and that is excitement is very thinly veiled. Alex isn’t sure why ey bother trying to hide it.

“I dunno,” Kevin replies, shrugging indifferently. “Alex? Any ideas?”

Alex hums. Internally, he falsely reassures himself that it is definitely not Ileao’s hand brushing up against his that is causing his slow response. “I suppose we could just go to the Three Story Stay,” he says after far too long a pause.

Kevin looks worried. “But what if-” He stops himself, shaking his head. “Well, what are the odds we’ll get approached again so soon?”

“Wait,” Ileao says, “what happened?”

“We’re not the most well-liked at the Daybreak guild, what with the shadow eyes and the werewolf transformation,” Alex explains.

Ileao narrows eir eyes. “Was someone bothering you?”

“’Bothering’ is one word for it!” Kevin says.

“I will kick their asses so goddamn hard.”

Alex just blinks for a moment before choking out a laugh, surprised by the completely deadpan delivery. Though, when he glances over at Ileao- yeah, ey’re not kidding.

“Then let us hope for their sake that we’re not ‘bothered’ again today,” Alex replies right as they reach the restaurant doors.

It doesn’t take long for them to get seated inside, although Ileao only barely avoids getting into a fight with the host. Alex is still uncertain as to what ey were even mad about, but, to eir credit, the host was equally upset.

All the same, they end up safely seated at Alex and Kevin’s usual booth, and Kevin looks over the menu while Alex tries to distract Ileao from eir obvious desire to go bully the host a little more. “We’ve learned that you can’t eat,” he says, “but are you able to drink things?”

“Not sure?” Ileao shrugs from where ey’re seated alone across from the boys. “I can definitely drink alcohol, though. Got fairy-smashed after a swap a century and a half ago.”

Alex frowns. “What happened?”

“Eh.” Ileao waves him off, resting eir chin in eir hand and giving off a strong air of boredom despite eir concerning words. “My charge wanted a fairy swap, but she wasn’t really the type to do things the easy way. Going for the wings was a low fuckin’ blow, but they healed pretty fast so it wasn’t a huge deal.”

Alex’s eyes widen, and his voice is thick with disbelief. “She hurt you?”

“Yeah, but that didn’t change anything so then she just put in a normal swap request.” Ey shrug again, eyes following the host on the other side of the room. “Kinda sucks. I was actually trying with that one.”

“That’s messed up,” Kevin says, his eyebrows furrowed. His menu is long-since abandoned. “Ileao, really, that’s horrible.”

“I probably deserved it.”

Kevin’s eyes widen, and he sends Alex a slightly panicked look. “What the heck?” he mouths as Ileao continues watching the host, and Alex just shakes his head, unable to come up with an answer. “Talk to em about it!” Kevin whispers frantically to Alex, and then he abruptly stands up. “I’m going to the bathroom!” he says at a normal volume. It is the utter opposite of inconspicuous, but Ileao doesn’t seem to suspect anything, just waves idly to him as he leaves the table.

Alex isn’t particularly certain how he’s supposed to start this conversation—or, rather, restart the old one. When the waiter comes by asking for their drink orders, he’s grateful for the brief distraction. He orders his and Kevin’s usuals, plus an absurdly sweet tea for Ileao to try.

And then his excuses are gone, so he decides to just jump right in. Maybe starting with this morning will help. Somehow.

“Who was that other fairy in the kitchen this morning?” he asks bluntly.

Ileao finally looks away from the host, eir posture straightening slightly as ey tune in. “Oh, that- That was Zabrell. Xe’s my supervisor, and… and my best friend.”

“Your best friend?” Alex asks, more than a little worried.

Ileao huffs, crossing eir arms. “Fine, gods, only friend. Asshole.”

“That isn’t what I meant,” Alex says. “Xe just didn’t seem like a very good friend, is all.”

Ileao’s shoulders raise defensively. “What? No, Zabrell’s a great friend! Xe’s really good at hir job, and really nice.”

“To you?” Alex asks doubtfully.

“Yes!”

“In the kitchen this morning,” he says slowly, “is that what you mean by ‘nice?’”

“…Yeah.”

“Ileao, sweetheart, that… that wasn’t ‘nice.’”

Ileao’s face flushes a much deeper blue. “You just haven’t seen what it’s like back home! I’m the worst, everyone fuckin’ hates me. Zabrell’s way nicer than them!”

“Okay,” Alex says, reaching across the table to stop em from absentmindedly yanking at eir hair in eir distress. “Xe’s nicer, then.” He pulls eir hand back down to the table and then intertwines his fingers with eirs—just to give em something to occupy emself with, of course. “But is xe actually nice? Friendly, or helpful? Ever?”

Ileao won’t look at him anymore, keeping eir eyes glued to their joined hands. “No,” ey quietly admit after a few tense moments. “Xe’s really, really not. But- But xe at least tries to be subtle about hating me, and that’s a mercy I’m not typically afforded with the other fairies.”

Ey shut eir eyes tightly, and Alex gently squeezes eir hand. “Ileao-”

Ileao opens eir eyes and quickly shakes eir head, looking almost manic as ey hurry on. “Uh, but xe’s really nice to most people! Not to me, obviously, ‘cause I’m me, but- Xe’s the picture-perfect fairy godparent, the golden standard. And if you want, I can make sure Zabrell’s the one to replace me after I file your swap request-”

“Ileao!” Alex interrupts em, spurned onward by the quick spike of fear that crops up at the mere suggestion of getting another fairy. “I don’t want another fairy. Please believe me, I am perfectly content with you!”

Ileao looks like ey want to argue, but ey’re just doubtful enough that ey back down when Alex squeezes eir hand again. “…Okay,” ey grudgingly agree, and ey can’t hide the relief on eir face afterward. Alex is feeling pretty relieved himself; he doesn’t know how long fairies are supposed to stick around for, but he knows that however long it is, it won’t be long enough, and he doesn’t want to cut it a minute short.

The waiter returns and exchanges their drinks for their table’s order, and Ileao tilts eir head when ey see three drinks instead of two. Carefully, Alex pushes the tea toward em. “You seem like you’d like sweet things, if you could actually consume them,” he explains when ey only look further confused. “This is sweet tea. I think you’ll like it, if you’re able to drink it.”

Ileao smiles, eir face lighting up with excitement yet again. Then it dims just slightly, and ey hesitantly ask, “Can I sit by you?”

Alex silently prays to Shar that Ileao won’t think anything of the surely very visible blush across his cheeks. “Of course,” he says, and barely manages to keep his voice steady.

Kevin returns as Ileao is crawling under the table (despite Alex’s instruction to just stand up and walk around), and Alex nods to let him know all is well. …All is mostly well.

“Did you guys get cold?” Kevin asks innocently as he sits on the other side of the table, and Alex’s face heats up even more as Ileao scoots close enough for their thighs to touch.

“Freezing!” Ileao chirps, happily sipping eir tea through a straw.

Kevin laughs, and Ileao immediately launches into a continuation of eir earlier rant about the many, many things ey can turn into a carriage. Kevin’s and Alex’s meals arrive only a few minutes later, and for a good hour or so, the three of them are able to enjoy a relaxed breakfast. Ileao gets distracted within minutes and begins to stray from the theme of ‘fairy godparent helping Alex prepare for the ball,’ but Alex loves getting to talk to em about non-ball things. It’s less stressful, Ileao clearly feels less pressure to stay focused, and Alex gets to learn about eir actual interests (most of which involve chaos in one form or another).

Kevin and Ileao are in the middle of a heated argument about match and fire safety when their peaceful morning is finally interrupted.

“-which is why I don’t see any problem with lighting a match in a sewer!” Ileao says loudly.

“Now there’s an idea,” Alex says, cutting off Kevin’s indignant reply. “Perhaps a fire-themed suit for the ball.”

“You want me to make an entire outfit for you… And then set it on fire,” Ileao says slowly, and then ey practically get stars in eir eyes. “You’re a genius, Alex. A beautiful genius.”

Alex blushes. “I said fire-themed, not on fire, but yes that works too,” he says. “Whatever helps me ‘make an entrance,’ as you said.”

“Talk about ‘hot,’” Kevin pipes up.

“If you are on fire, I can guarantee that everyone in the ball will be looking at you,” Ileao says, nodding solemnly.

Alex smiles. “I thought we established that I did not want that?”

Before Ileao can reply, a new voice joins the fray, and Alex is less than thrilled when he recognizes it as one of the Daybreak hunters that was ‘bothering’ them the other day. “Oh, don’t tell me you’re still considering going to the ball,” the woman says snidely, and Alex sighs.

“Just leave us alone,” Kevin says, crossing his arms, and Ileao tilts eir head, eyes narrowing as ey silently look over the small group of hunters.

“Rest assured,” the woman replies, “we would love nothing more than for you to be out of our sight. Unfortunately, that means that we have to stick around a little longer to make sure you know better than to come to the ball.”

Alex rubs his temples, already tired of this conversation. “We’ve already eaten,” he says, nudging Ileao’s arm to try to direct em out of the booth. “We can just go home.”

“You really can’t,” says one of the woman’s friends, a man. “If you would just confirm that you won’t be crashing the ball, then you could go ahead and get out of our way.”

“Hi, hello, new to the party,” Ileao suddenly cuts in, eir piercing gaze set firmly on the man. “Why shouldn’t they go to the ball?”

“Oh!” The woman does a bit of a double take, as though none of them had even noticed Ileao’s presence before now—and maybe they hadn’t, Alex doesn’t know the details of fairy magic. Maybe ey get to choose who can see em. Regardless, the hunters definitely see em now, and their eyes immediately zero in on eir very Daybreak-styled wings. “Oh, sweetheart, you don’t need to be hanging around these troublemakers,” the woman coos.

“Don’t call me that,” Ileao says sharply. “And answer my question.”

She sighs, shooting Alex an accusatory look. “I see they’ve already gotten to you. These two are more, ahem-” She lowers her voice to a whisper. “Nightfall-aligned.”

“But they work for the Daybreaks, just like you,” Ileao says, eir expression carefully neutral. “So they are welcome at the ball.”

“Ileao, let it go,” Alex says quietly.

“No thanks.”

The woman purses her lips. “He got those eyes from the goddess of grief. And this one here is a-” She gags. “A werewolf!”

“Okay,” Ileao says, rolling up eir sleeves and getting to eir feet. The hunters eye em warily as they back up to give em space to stand. “So, here’s the deal. You’re the dumbest motherfuckers I’ve ever had the displeasure of talking to, and while Alex seems to have plenty of patience for your inability to understand basic ideas, I do not.”

“Is that a threat?” the man asks, sounding scandalized.

“‘Threat’ kind of implies that you could do something to stop me from following through,” Ileao says, materializing a strange otherworldly bag in eir hands. Ey swing it around by the straps, and it becomes clear that the bag is very full of some very heavy things. “But I’m pretty sure we’re past that.”

“Alright,” Alex says, jumping to his feet to take Ileao’s arm. “Come on, Ileao, we’re done here.”

Kevin stands, too, though he doesn’t look happy about it. “I don’t know, I wouldn’t mind letting em talk a little longer…”

“Ey’re not going to just ‘talk’ and you know it.”

“Excuse me!” the woman huffs, drawing their attention again. “We are Daybreak hunters! You can’t threaten us.” Ileao opens eir mouth to argue, and she cuts em off with a glare. “Or attack us.”

“I definitely can though,” ey say. “In the same way that you can try to exclude a couple of Daybreak hunters just because they’re a little different, even though Lathandar’s all about redemption and ‘good’ or whatever-the-fuck. Not supposed to, but we’re definitely capable.”

“They’re not just ‘a little different,’” the woman says through gritted teeth. “The old man’s tainted. The kid’s a goddamn monster!”

“Funny, ‘cause you’re looking awfully monstrous yourself.”

With that, Ileao tries to outright attack her, and Alex only barely grabs eir arm in time to hold em back again. “Ileao,” he hisses, trying and failing to tug em towards the door. “We are going!”

“We’re monstrous!?” the woman furiously echoes. “Did you miss the part where Kevin is an actual monster?” She draws a sword, and Alex mentally does the sign of the (shadow) cross.

“Call him a monster one more time and I will smack you into next week!” Ileao snarls.

“Yeah, alright, you were right about not just talking,” Kevin mumbles, joining Alex’s effort to pull em towards the exit.

“What do you expect to get out of this?” the woman asks, holding out her sword as though about to attack. Ileao yanks eir non-bag-wielding arm out of Kevin’s grasp to instead hold it out protectively in front of him. “Is there something wrong with you, too? You think the only place you’ll fit in is with the misfits?”

“God, you have some fuckin’ nerve! I have goddamn Daybreak wings! Is that not cluing you in that maybe I’m fucking right and you should not be arguing with one of Lathandar’s fairies!?” Ileao asks. Alex pulls em backward just in time to stop em from tanking a sword slash, and the woman scowls as she nearly stumbles in the follow-through.

“I think that if one of Lathandar’s fairies is standing up for these sinners, then maybe that fairy was a defect and shouldn’t be acting out of line to begin with!” The woman rolls her eyes, and it’s a good thing Kevin gets in the way fast enough to make Ileao abort eir attack, because there was no way she was going to dodge that with how little attention she was paying. “What, were you not good enough for the fairy plane? Had to cozy up with some sub-tier mortals just to pretend you belong?” She laughs, and Ileao prepares another attack. “If you’re fucked up enough to be turning to them, do you really think they’re going to want to keep you?”

Ileao freezes. It’s not for long, and in fact it happens quickly enough that it appears more like a stutter in eir movements than anything else, but Alex recognizes it for what it is: that last comment hit a little too close to home. Alex has a feeling he’s about to get asked about that fairy swap thing again… but even that would be preferable to letting Ileao beat the shit out of this mostly innocent woman, so Alex will just have to be ready with reassurances.

“You have a lot of nerve, talking to em like that!” Kevin shouts, and Ileao actually flinches from the noise, which is more than a little worrying. At least the Daybreak hunters don’t seem to notice.

“A lot of nerve, and very little common sense,” Alex agrees, taking Ileao’s bag weapon—Shar, that’s heavy—and intertwining eir newly-freed hand with his own. This time, when he starts toward the restaurant’s exit, ey don’t fight back. Still, Alex stops at the door, turning back for just a moment to look at the hunters who are clearly debating whether or not it’s worth it to run after them. “It’s not helping us for you to continue bothering us with your close-minded remarks, and it’s obviously not helping you either. If you draw a weapon on Ileao again, I do not care who started it. I will burn you to the ground.”

The woman’s eyes widen, and one of her groupies shouts, “But ey got hostile first!”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t make em angry,” Alex says simply.

“Fuck you,” Ileao adds. Ey sparkle with eir distinct chromatic magic and then there is suddenly an elegant carriage in the middle of the restaurant where previously there was the Daybreak woman.

“Did you kill her!?” Kevin asks, his voice squeaking.

“Nah, she’s still sentient and stuff,” Ileao assures him. “And she’ll be human again in a few hours anyway.” Ey shrug and flip off the woman-carriage and the remaining hunters, and then ey turn to Alex, grin, and say, “Told you I could make a carriage out of anything!”

It’s the most morally-gray reaction to a fight that Alex has ever seen, and somehow, it only cements the fact that he is totally infatuated with this chaotic mess of a fairy. What in the world is he going to do after the ball? He hasn’t felt this way in years, decades maybe, and he’s not looking forward to losing it so soon.

“That was a very well-earned ‘I told you so,’” Alex admits, and Ileao laughs as ey’re dragged out of the restaurant by him and Kevin.

Shamefully, Alex is just happy to see em smile.

☼☼☼

Back at the haven, Ileao doesn’t give any of them so much as a second to try to talk about what happened. Instead, ey drag Alex into the center of the common room and start slowly circling around him, all the while crackling with familiar chromatic energy.

“I feel ridiculous,” Alex says after ey finish eir third circle.

“Too bad,” Ileao says, waving him off and continuing eir examination.

“Ridiculous or not, you really lucked out with this fairy thing!” Kevin says, watching them amusedly from the couch. “I still don’t have a clue what I’ll be wearing.”

Ileao stops walking, looking up at Kevin to instead study him for a moment or two. “…Fuck it, get up here,” ey sigh. “I’ll help you too.”

Kevin’s eyes widen. “Wait, really? Why?”

Ileao shrugs. “Because you’re nice, and I like you, and because you’ll actually let me.”

Alex thinks those three things are maybe a much bigger deal than Ileao would like them to believe, but before he can think more about that, he gets an idea. “If you’re doing both of us,” he says, “then we might as well dress you up, too, right?”

Ileao pauses again, but this time ey look like ey might take a little longer to recover.

“I know you’re not usually allowed,” Alex continues, “but your supervisor doesn’t have to know. It’ll be fun, and if you do get found out, we’ll say I was feeling self-conscious about being the only one dressed up.”

“But Kevin is also getting dressed up.”

“Kevin can leave the room if your supervisor appears.”

Kevin laughs, and that seems to be enough to convince Ileao to finally relax. Eir smile slowly grows until ey’re looking absolutely elated, and Alex thinks ey might as well be glowing with how happy ey look.

Hours later, they’re actually ready to leave for the ball—or, at least, they’re close to ready. They got distracted multiple times, but now Ileao has returned to pacing around for a final look-over of their outfits. “And you’re sure I can’t put a dress on either of you?” ey ask, crossing eir arms.

“I think our suits will do just fine,” Alex chuckles as he straightens out the cuffs on his jacket. Ileao has him all fancied up in a plain black suit with purple accents and a variety of chains hanging from the pants pockets—Alex is fairly certain that the chains are the only reason he got away with having such a tame outfit otherwise. Still, ey insisted on doing his hair up with much fancier hair tie equivalents than he’s used to, and the inside of his jacket is a glittery purple gradient that he will likely do his best to keep hidden.

Kevin was much more accepting of Ileao’s eccentric ideas, though even he had his limits. He ends up in a brown jacket over a brown vest with forest green buttons and a pale green shirt—Ileao even managed to talk him into a patterned tie to tuck into the vest, and at that point, Kevin was in deep enough that he agreed to the formal green cape, too. “Yeah, this is way better than the normal tux I probably would have settled with otherwise!” Kevin says.

Ileao narrows eir eyes but eventually huffs and nods, giving up. Ey’re wearing an absurdly flashy layered dress that’s purple down to eir knees and forest green down to eir ankles, plus a silky green ribbon around eir waist that ey insisted was crucial to the outfit. Somehow, ey’ve managed to become the perfect halfway point between Kevin and Alex, at least in the way of color palettes, and while ey match both of them equally, Alex can’t stop thinking about how good he and Ileao specifically would look linked arm in arm. “Fine,” Ileao groans, snapping Alex out of his daydreams. “I guess this is good enough.”

“It’s amazing, Ileao, really,” Alex assures em. He can’t help but hesitate after, though, his thoughts drifting back to those Daybreak hunters until he finally blurts out, “Are you sure you don’t want to do something about my eyes?”

Ileao’s expression falls out of uncertainty and right into a fondness so clear that even Alex can’t deny it. “Alex,” ey say, stepping closer to take his hands, and Alex swears his heart jumps into his throat. “You are perfect. You’re the best fucking mortal I’ve ever met, and you deserve to feel confident in yourself.”

Alex can’t look away as Ileao smiles up at him, cheeks glowing with eir soft pink freckles. He doesn’t realize he’s stepped closer until Ileao’s breath hitches from the sheer lack of space between them. He forces himself to speak. “You- You promise?”

“Swear to every shitty god I know,” Ileao confirms, nodding resolutely. But then ey hesitate, just for a second. “But- Look, Alex, if this is really what you want, then I can change your eyes for the night. I just really, really don’t think it’s necessary. If someone doesn’t like it, that’s their problem, not yours.”

“It’s their problem until they decide to approach me and make it mine.”

“It continues to be their problem as I beat the shit out of them!” Ileao huffs, crossing eir arms as ey stubbornly hold eye contact.

Oh, gods, Alex really, really likes em. He likes em a lot, too much perhaps, and if he’s not careful he’s going to get too used to having em around. If he’s being honest with himself, he’s already to used to it; having Ileao in his corner makes him feel safer despite eir tendency towards chaos, and having em around in general makes him feel a thousand times less lonely. It’s one thing to have Kevin nearby, and Alex appreciates Kevin, he does! But Alex’s relationship with Ileao is different, and Alex wants more than anything to have the time to watch it grow.

But the ball is tonight.

“Hey, Kev, why are people so pissy at Shar to begin with? Like, did she nuke a town or something? Because Lathandar did, and everyone was fine with that,” Ileao is saying when Alex tunes back in.

“Lathandar nuked a town!?” Kevin asks.

“Yeah, Zabrell got to oversee it for some dumbass reason. They nearly disintegrated a bunch of randos just to counter some gnolls.”

“No way, Alex lost his eyes in a light-exploding gnoll fight!”

“See, what are the odds of that happening twice? Lathandar’s up to all kinds of shit. And I’m supposed to believe that Shar is somehow worse?”

Unprovoked, Alex’s eyes start stinging and watering again. Well, maybe it was provoked—they were talking about Shar, after all. Still, it’s been a while since his eyes have stung this badly, like Shar is actively calling him to her. Yeah, he should probably do something about that… Plus, the longer he can put off the ball, the longer he can keep Ileao around.

“Excuse me, I need a moment,” Alex mumbles, and then he slips his hands out of Ileao’s and quickly retreats down the hallway to his bedroom, where he then turns off every single light source he can find before closing his eyes.

When he opens them again, he finds himself in a familiar void. He expects the typical over-dramatic buildup, the near and far and small and large and everything else, but instead it is mere moments—or maybe hours, maybe she can’t let go of the contradictions so easily after all—until she appears before him, her soft, skeletal expression both knowing and kind.

“Alexander,” she greets him, and while he’s typically all too happy to indulge his lady, right now he can’t stop thinking about the limited time he could be spending with Ileao instead. She must realize his train of thought, because she soon mentions it. “This will not take long, I assure you. I only have some reassurances, and… a suggestion.”

“Of course,” Alex replies, trying call upon the patience that usually comes so easily to him. “I am listening.”

“Good. To begin with, you may rest assured that if you are attacked at the ball due to your supposedly ‘monstrous’ traits, I will do my best to get you and Kevin out alive. And, since your fairy will remain assigned to you for another twelve or so hours at least, I will do what I can to help em as well, if needed.”

“Oh,” Alex says, pleasantly surprised. “Thank you, my lady.” He hesitates, and almost decides against speaking his thoughts… but Shar has always encouraged individualism, and she has shown infinite patience in regards to his personal life, so he may as well give it a try. “May I ask you some questions about fairy godparents?”

“You may ask me one,” Shar says, with the amused tone of voice that implies she thinks that is all he will need.

Alex takes his time, then, to decide on his actual question. In the end, he figures there’s one question that will provide him more options for the future than any other. “Where do they go when they’re done with a job?”

Shar smiles. “It depends on the type of fairy,” she replies. “Ileao is one of Lathandar’s, assigned only to Lathandar’s followers.”

“Do I really count as a follower of Lathandar?”

“No,” she laughs, the sound echoing and warm, “but you work for the Daybreaks, and so their records say otherwise. May I continue?” Alex flushes and nods, and she laughs once more before speaking again. “Lathandar’s fairies come from and return to the plane of Elysium.”

Alex opens his mouth to ask another question, and she shakes her head, answer before he can even speak. “It would be a true challenge for a mortal to travel there, if it is even possible at all,” she says, and he frowns.

“But…”

“Alex, Ileao’s type of fairy is closely affiliated with Lathandar.”

“Yes, I-”

“But Ileao emself is not.”

Alex furrows his eyebrows, trying to work out what that means for them. “What can I do with this information?” he eventually asks.

Shar does not shrug, but she manages to give off the impression that she is shrugging. “Ileao does not belong with the fairies,” she says cryptically, “and ey would likely be better off… anywhere else.”

Alex swears she winks.

☼☼☼

“Did I say something bad?” Ileao asks worriedly as soon as Alex returns, and Alex spends a good ten minutes convincing em that ey did nothing wrong and he is completely unharmed and there is no one for Ileao to beat up on his behalf.

For the entire walk to the Daybreak headquarters—Alex refuses to let Ileao continue turning his belongings into carriages—Alex’s mind is racing with various interpretations of Shar’s words. Ileao would be better off somewhere else? Alex could’ve come to that conclusion on his own—hell, he already did. But how is he supposed to act on that?

Oblivious to his internal struggle, Ileao speaks up as they round the corner to be in view of the ballroom doors. “Now, remember,” ey say sternly, “my magic won’t last very long. You have until midnight on the dot!”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it!” Kevin replies, playing excitedly with the lapels of his jacket. “I’m going in, see you guys in a bit!”

Kevin darts through the huge double doors, all his fears forgotten, and Ileao rolls eir eyes as ey reach out to stop Alex from doing the same. “Midnight,” ey repeat firmly. “I mean it. And keep track of Kevin, too!”

“Of course,” Alex replies. “You can help me.”

Ileao’s gaze drops to the ground, and Alex gets a sinking feeling in his stomach. Surely not so soon? “I can’t go in with you, Alex,” ey say quietly. “I mean, staying over and going out and dressing up, all that is one thing… but there’s no way I can justify actually going into the dance with you.”

“Why?” Alex asks, unable to keep all the distress out of his voice. “Do you have to go now?”

“I have to go after I’ve finished helping you,” Ileao clarifies. “And there is one last perk to getting assigned a fairy godparent-”

There’s a loud pop sound, and Ileao is interrupted by the appearance of a tall, intimidatingly buff fairy a few feet away from em. Ileao’s eyes widen in something like fear, and Alex immediately goes on high-alert.

“Ileao!” the new fairy says, and Alex is more than a little upset to recognize hir voice as that of the one who upset Ileao in the kitchen last night, the one who Ileao considered ‘eir best and only friend.’ Xe strolls closer, hir stride confident and planned, and rests a hand on Ileao’s shoulder. Alex doesn’t miss the way ey flinch at the contact. “It’s getting around to the time when even your most patient charges begin to complain about you, so…” The fairy turns to Alex with a blinding smile. “Tired of em yet?”

Ileao shrinks back, stepping away from Alex and slightly behind Zabrell instead, and Alex furrows his eyebrows. “We’re doing just fine, actually,” he says tersely. He’s not sure he has the energy to be polite with this fairy.

Zabrell looks worried, concerned for Alex, which only angers him further. “Oh, dear, ey really are sorry for the lackluster service. Most of our fairies are far kinder and more competent—I’ll even personally take on your case to apologize for whatever Ileao did.”

“Ey didn’t do anything wrong,” Alex repeats. He feels his impatience growing for every second that Ileao is by Zabrell’s side instead of his.

Though certainly caught off guard for a second, Zabrell maintains hir smooth tone as xe jumps right back into the customer service. “Ey would have before the night’s end. I assure you, Alexander, you can afford to have much higher standards! No Daybreak hunter should have to settle for Ileao.” Xe pushes Ileao further behind hirself, not caring when Ileao stumbles from the sudden pressure. “Is there anything I can fix for you before you enter the ball?”

Alex is at the end of his rope and is just opening his mouth to say so when Zabrell suddenly steps closer. Xe sighs, reaching out to brush his hair back, and Alex jerks back in alarm. “Ey definitely could have done better,” xe mutters. “Well, maybe ey couldn’t have. But my point stands.” Xe puts hir hands on Alex’s shoulders, turning him back and forth slightly as Alex tries to figure out what the bloody hell is going on. “I could make you look younger, perhaps? Smooth out these wrinkles, dye your hair for the night, get you set up with a…” Xe coughs. “More appropriate style of clothing. And, oh, of course fix your eyes to look at least somewhat normal-”

“Okay, what the fuck, Zabrell!?” Ileao yells, shoving at hir arm to get hir attention, and Zabrell turns with idle amusement playing on hir face. “Why are you being such an ass?”

“What do you mean? You didn’t do your job-”

“No, fuck you, this isn’t about me! This about you being a total dick to Alex for no goddamn reason!” Ey scowl, crossing eir arms. “He’s going to the dance as himself, not some goddamn stranger!”

“Ileao-” Zabrell pauses, raising an eyebrow as xe looks em over. “Wait, what are you wearing-”

“Fuck off, stop deflecting! Alex looks fucking stunning, he’s pretty as fuck, and the fact that you apparently have zero taste is something you need to deal with on your own time!”

Alex’s face has reached record-breaking temperatures, he’s sure. Ileao isn’t even looking at him—thank the gods—but the more ey talk, the more he blushes, it seems.

“You’re being childish,” Zabrell says.

“The hell? No, I’m being reasonable for once! Look into this motherfucker’s sparkling goddamn anime eyes and tell me he’s not hot as shit.”

Zabrell laughs, quickly covering hir mouth afterward to hide it. “Oh my, I’m sorry, Alexander,” xe says after xe’s recovered. “I shouldn’t be laughing, this must be very uncomfortable for you. I assure you, ey’ll be gone soon.”

“Apologize to Alex, bitch!”

Zabrell pinches the bridge of hir nose, amusement fading along with hir patience. “Alright, spare us the drama, Ileao.” Xe rolls hir eyes and looks back over at Alex, who hopes to god his face isn’t as red as it feels. “Alexander, would you like any changes?”

Ileao seems to be on pretty thin ice, but Alex thinks he might be able to get away with this anyway if he throws enough of a fit. He takes a deep breath, trying to dispel the blush from his cheeks before he speaks. “Actually,” he begins, “you’re right. I am missing something. Honestly, I’m not sure how I ever thought I could attend the dance like this.” Ileao frowns, Zabrell get this obnoxiously smug look on hir face, but Alex just looks right past hir at Ileao and continues. “I can’t go in without a date, of course. Ileao, would you…?”

Alex holds out his arm for Ileao to take, and eir eyes widen in something like awe even as Zabrell moves to be fully between them. “Nonsense!” xe says loudly, doing a poor job of hiding hir confusion and hir anger both. “A fairy charge deserves only the best, and thus I will accompany you myself.” Xe does a dramatic half-bow, holding out hir hand with a ‘charming’ smile, and Alex finds himself wholly unimpressed.

“I didn’t want you, though,” Alex replies, unflinching. “I want Ileao.” He steps to the side to be in view of Ileao, and Ileao takes one tiny, tentative step closer.

Zabrell scowls, charming act abandoned. “If you walk into that ball with Ileao on your arm, you’ll be laughed out before you even reach the dance floor,” xe says lowly.

Ileao stiffens, and Alex shakes his head and pulls em close to offer as much comfort as he can. “If that is the case, it will be their loss. Their problem.” He looks at Ileao, relieved to see eir small but fast-growing smile as ey begin to relax a little. “Not ours.”

Zabrell says something else that Alex doesn’t bother to listen to as he pulls Ileao gently towards the ballroom doors. “That was ballsy as fuck,” Ileao whispers as they cross the threshold, and Alex bursts out laughing.

“All that, and this is your reaction?” he asks playfully, and Ileao’s face flushes as eir freckles turn back to that light, pastel pink.

“I’ve never seen someone talk to Zabrell like that, okay!? You know, you’re a real ass sometimes.” Eir lighthearted smile betrays eir true thoughts, and Alex rolls his eyes as he pulls em toward the dance floor, catching Kevin’s eye as he goes.

Kevin winks at him from across the room. At this point, the idea of Ileao not noticing is just wishful thinking.

“Could I have this dance?” Alex asks.

“Depends,” Ileao replies. “Can you keep up with fairy dance moves?”

(As it turns out, he cannot, but Ileao’s laughter is worth the embarrassment.)

☼☼☼

It’s nearing midnight when Ileao suddenly looks at the clock and curses loudly, dragging Alex over to Kevin. “Hey, chucklefucks, time to go!”

Kevin shrugs. “Yeah, okay. I had a really good time!”

“Yes, I think I’m content with my night,” Alex agrees. “I had a very lovely date.”

Ileao flushes, ignoring that last comment. “Well, good- wait, wait, really? You’re just, like… cool with leaving?”

“We’ve been here for hours!” Kevin says.

“Huh,” Ileao says slowly. “Yeah. Gods, it’s like all the common sense my charges have been missing over the years was transferred into you two.”

“Mostly me,” Alex cuts in. “Kevin didn’t get much of it.”

“Hey!” Kevin laughs, unable to keep up the angry act for even a second.

Ileao smiles, and Alex is very pleased to realize ey haven’t gotten overly anxious even once since entering the ballroom. He hopes it’s helpful to have at least one night where ey aren’t afraid of Zabrell randomly appearing to ruin eir mood.

They walk home amidst a comfortable silence, broken only when they enter the haven and Kevin stops to thank Ileao for eir help before he goes to bed for the night. It’s incredibly heartfelt, and it’s not until Kevin leaves the room that Alex realizes it was because he was saying goodbye.

“You can’t leave,” Alex blurts the moment he realizes what it’s coming to. This is too soon! He hasn’t figured out what Shar meant yet, he doesn’t understand how knowing that Ileao wants to leave helps him to actually get em out!

“I have to,” Ileao says, eir voice breaking halfway through. “I’m sorry, Alex, but I can’t- I have to go. I helped you to have the best possible time at the ball, and now…”

“Please don’t,” Alex practically begs em, pulling em close.

“I’ll be assigned to another charge soon,” Ileao says, eir voice tight with resignation. Ey won’t look him in the eye. “I won’t see you again.”

“When?” Alex asks desperately, grabbing eir hand. “When do you have to leave?”

“A couple hours at most,” ey reply, “because there’s one last thing I get to do for you.” Ey squeeze Alex’s hand as ey finally look up at him, eir expression painfully fond. “Our goal is not only to achieve your happiness, but to then sustain it, even after I’m gone. So you get… a ‘wish,’ sort of. Like a genie wish, except the only rule is that I have to agree to carry it out.” At Alex’s curious look, ey just shrug. “Supposed to encourage fairies not to grant stupid wishes, since the blame will be on us if shit hits the fan.”

Alex’s mind is whirring—surely it wouldn’t be this easy? Then again, it might line up with what Shar said… “So I can wish for basically anything as long as I can convince you it’s worth it?” he asks carefully.

“Pretty much?”

“Okay,” Alex says, regaining confidence. “Then I wish for you to stay.”

Ileao freezes, and eir eyes widen. “You- What!?”

“I wish for you to be able to leave your job as a fairy godparent and become a mortal, instead,” Alex clarifies. “You’ll be able to do everything you’ve always wanted to, and you won’t have to deal with all the abuse from your charges and the other fairies. You- You can stay here, with me and Kevin, in the haven.”

Ileao stays silent, eir eyes still comically wide, the only sign ey’re listening being the sudden neon orange of eir freckles.

And Alex starts to get a little nervous. “It’s up to you,” he reminds em. “If you don’t want to become a mortal, if I misread your situation or you just don’t want to risk it, I understand. It is completely your decision whether or not you carry out my wish.”

Ileao sniffles, tears welling up in eir eyes as eir freckles begin to cycle through what seems like the entire rainbow.

“Bollocks- I’m sorry, sweetie, I didn’t mean-”

“Why are you so nice?”

Alex’s eyes widen in alarm as Ileao’s tear spill over onto eir cheeks and ey carelessly swipe eir hand across eir eyes. “Why wouldn’t I be nice to someone I care so much about?” he asks softly.

“Fuck! Alex! Why?” Ey’re full-on crying now, and Alex is trying very hard not to panic.

So he hugs em.

Ileao quiets, sniffling as ey press eir face against Alex’s now-normal shirt. “I don’t think I deserve someone like you in my life,” ey laugh tearfully, still sounding resigned.

“I think you deserve to want better for yourself. You have been dealt a terrible hand, but you have the chance to discard it and find something better. Please, Ileao. Please let yourself have this.”

Ey’re silent for long enough that Alex almost starts to doubt again, but then ey tentatively ask, “I could stay with you?”

“For as long as you want,” Alex promises.

“And you’re sure you want to put up with me for that long?”

“I want more than anything to get to know you better,” he replies. “Believe me when I say that I want you around.”

“What about Zabrell?” Ileao asks nervously, still clinging to Alex. “What if-”

“Zabrell doesn’t matter,” Alex says firmly. “You deserve to be happy. If Zabrell tries something, we’ll deal with it together. I know Kevin will want to help you, too.”

“Okay,” Ileao whispers.

“Okay?”

“Okay,” ey repeat, pulling back to look up at Alex again. Ey wipe eir eyes again and give him a watery smile, eir freckles finally settling on pastel pink. “Wish granted.”

Alex huffs out a laugh, disbelieving but relieved. “Really?”

“Fuck it,” Ileao replies, and then ey back a few feet away and snap eir fingers, and chromatic magic swirls around em. It’s more magic than Alex has ever seen from Ileao, brighter and faster and seeming to almost absorb light as it grows. Then, all at once, it falls to the ground and seeps back into eir feet, and Alex lurches forward to catch Ileao when ey suddenly stumble forward.

“Are you okay?” he asks quickly, holding up most of eir weight as ey adjust.

“I… think so? I think it’ll take a little longer for me to be one hundred percent mortal, uh- I mean, I’ve never done this before. I guess I don’t really know what’ll happen.” Ey take a deep breath, eir eyes fluttering shut. “Fuck, why do I feel so heavy?”

“Let’s sit on the couch,” Alex offers, continuing to support eir weight as he turns toward the common room.

“Maybe it’ll be done tomorrow morning,” Ileao mumbles.

“Then we’ll watch your favorite movie from the other night and I’ll stay up with you.”

They end up settled in the middle of the couch, leaning against each other as they re-watch Ileao’s favorite movie. For a while, they just talk quietly over it, but it’s not long before Ileao falls asleep on Alex’s shoulder again, and Alex can do nothing but smile as he wraps his arms around em protectively and falls asleep himself.

☼☼☼

“Ileao’s still here!”

“Good fucking gods,” Ileao grumbles, and Alex blinks awake to see Ileao pressing eir face against his shoulder, refusing to face the bright light that Kevin has flipped on.

“Are you guys just ignoring this!?” Kevin asks, seeming completely baffled as he stands in the middle of the common room.

“You woke us up,” Alex explains, his voice rough with sleep. “And it was the first night ey’ve ever needed sleep. Cut em a break.”

“What- Needed- Can someone please explain things!?”

“Long story short,” Ileao yawns, “I think I can eat now?”

Alex and Kevin exchange a glance, and then Alex pulls Ileao and himself to their feet, running after Kevin to the kitchen. Kevin immediately starts dragging things out of the cabinets, and Alex opens the fridge and starts scanning it for the strangest food items they own.

To everyone’s delight, Ileao can now consume food. Ey still hate it, but ey’re willing to keep eating it anyway, for science.

“So Ileao’s just… human now?” Kevin asks incredulously as he watches Ileao poke at a cup of jello with a butter knife.

“Ey’re an elf, I think,” Alex answers, finishing a plate of eggs that Ileao refused to so much as look at.

“And you live here now?” Kevin asks, actually directing his question at Ileao this time.

“Are you gonna tell me I don’t?” Ileao asks, sounding fairly confident that Kevin will do no such thing. Ey narrow eir eyes at the jello and then tentatively lick it, only to then mutter “what the fuck” ten times in a row as ey shake eir head and push the mostly-untouched cup towards Alex.

“No,” Kevin admits, intercepting the jello cup to eat it himself.

“That’s not a very good breakfast,” Alex points out.

“Then why’d you give it to Ileao?”

Alex hums. “Good point. Not sure I have an answer for that.”

“Hey, Ileao,” Kevin says, already distracted. “Check this out. It’s a blender.” He chucks the empty jello cup into the trash and then hauls the magically-powered blender over to the table, and Ileao squints at it.

“What’s it do?” ey ask warily.

“It turns food into drinks.”

Ileao’s eyes widen, and ey frantically begin dumping food items into the blender. Alex doesn’t bother to stop em. Ey have been robbed of mortal experimentation for too long.

“So, what’s the first thing you’re gonna do now that you’re mortal?” Kevin asks curiously as he sits back down to watch Ileao create eir horrid concoction.

“Besides drink whatever the fuck this is about to become?” ey ask, eyes trained on the blender.

“We’ve done most of the things you mentioned that first day,” Alex muses. “Except commit crimes, I suppose.”

As Ileao blends eir custom monstrosity, Kevin’s face abruptly gains a horrified pallor. “We are not killing anyone!” he yells over the noise.

“Wow, you really jumped to extremes,” Ileao comments as ey pour eir newly-blended masterpiece into a fancy glass. Ey glare at it for a few seconds and then say, “Bottoms up!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t-”

Ileao chugs it.

“That wasn’t that bad,” Ileao says appraisingly after a brief pause.

“We are not going to look into why you prefer that over a single lick of jello,” Alex says, pushing himself to his feet. “Instead we will vandalize a Daybreak meeting room.”

Ileao’s eyes widen in awe. “Wait, what?”

“You’re kidding,” Kevin says. He almost sounds like he’s pleading.

“I am not,” Alex assures him. “Those hunters who were bothering us at the Three Story Stay have a meeting room in the Daybreak headquarters. I believe it’s mostly use for storing their equipment, but that just makes it the perfect place for Ileao to commit eir first crime.”

“And our first crime!” Kevin says, putting his head in his hands.

“You don’t have to come,” Ileao offers.

“No, I’m coming,” Kevin says, and off they go.

☼☼☼

It is upsettingly easy to sneak into those hunters’ meeting-turned-storage room, and just as upsettingly (but far more predictably) easy to convince Ileao to go ahead and destroy it. Kevin, despite his clear guilt, provides spray cans of paint, and Alex provides less-than-moral support. Ileao looks like a kid in a candy shop, and Alex is all too happy just to watch em enjoying emself.

“You convinced a supernatural being to abandon eir entire life just to hang out with you,” Kevin says quietly a few minutes in, while Ileao writes the word “fuck” three times on the same bookshelf. “I’ve never even seen you flirt before this!”

Alex blushes, refusing to look over at Kevin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just wanted to help out a new friend that I really appreciate.”

“Yeah, you appreciate em alright. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so-”

“Fine, so maybe I appreciate em a little more than I would appreciate a friend,” Alex admits, if only to make Kevin stop talking.

Kevin grins. “Are you going to do anything about it?”

“Yes, I think so,” Alex says, smiling softly. Ileao cackles to emself as ey push a long-abandoned glass of water off the desk like a cat, and Alex feels a wave of fondness roll through him. “But not yet. I don’t want em to agree to a date with me just because I helped em out of a bad situation.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Kevin asks, raising his eyebrows. “Ey’ve been making heart eyes at you ever since you went after em when ey got sick. Eir freckles are always pink around you, and I’m pretty sure that means ey’re flustered, at least most of the time.”

“Then I have nothing to fear when I choose to ask em,” Alex replies, his smile widening despite himself at the new knowledge. “But I’m still not going to ask em right away.”

Kevin nods in understanding. Ileao has rearranged the furniture in the shape of an anarchy symbol.

And then Zabrell appears.

It’s sudden enough that none of them are expecting it; there’s no warning whatsoever, and then Zabrell and another fairy are standing in the middle of Ileao’s furniture anarchy, and Ileao is freezing in fear. Alex and Kevin jump to their feet, Kevin concerned over who these people are and Alex preparing for a fight.

“Alex,” Ileao says quietly, eir voice squeaky and afraid. Alex darts around the furniture circle to stand beside em, and ey immediately cling to his arm, eir freckles oscillating between white and gold. Kevin catches on pretty quickly to the fact that these fairies are not friends, and he draws his wand from the other side of the room.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Zabrell asks in a low, angry tone, and Alex realizes that Ileao is trembling.

“Human things,” Ileao weakly replies. “Because I’m human.”

Zabrell scoffs, stepping over a bag of weapons to get closer to em and Alex. “You aren’t fucking human,” xe hisses. “You’re one of my fairies, and you haven’t reported back on your last assignment.”

“And I’m not going to,” Ileao says stubbornly. “I’m not going back.”

“Ileao,” Zabrell says slowly, still getting closer, “do you really think this is a good idea? Do you really think things are going to end well for you if you directly oppose me?”

“I’m not going back,” Ileao repeats, though eir voice shakes, and eir freckles have settled on white.

Zabrell scowls. “What’s your plan, then, Ileao? You’re going to bother this human for a while?” Xe huffs. “Okay, but then what? You think he’s not going to get tired of you?”

Ileao glances over at Alex for just a moment, and eir freckles flicker into void black for a few seconds until Alex takes eir hand in his, reminding em he’s here to stay. “I’m not going to get tired of em,” Alex says firmly.

“And you have no right to march in here and talk about em like that!” Kevin shouts.

“I can do whatever I want,” Zabrell retorts. “And you,” xe says, glaring at Ileao, “are going to have a lot of reeducation classes to get through.”

Zabrell reaches out to grab Ileao’s arm, presumably to take em back to Elysium, but Alex pulls em out of the way and hugs em to his side. “This was my wish,” Alex says, staring up into Zabrell’s eyes. “I wanted em to stop being a fairy and stay with me. For as long as ey wanted.”

Zabrell frowns, furrowing hir eyebrows for a moment before rolling hir eyes and carrying on. “Well, carrying out such a wish was clearly a poor decision on your fairy’s part, which means the fairy will have to be punished-”

“What fairy?” Alex asks smugly. “Ileao here is a human.”

“…Fuck.”

Alex really didn’t expect Zabrell to care that much about a technicality, but when xe anxiously glances back at the fairy xe brought with hir, it becomes clear that it’s not Zabrell who’s going to stick to the rules.

“Hiero,” Zabrell says slowly, watching hir fairy friend as though she is a ticking time bomb, “Ileao broke the rules by granting that wish. Ey can’t-”

“Ileao is no longer a fairy,” ‘Hiero’ says, and her tone leaves no room for argument.

But Zabrell still tries. Hir anger seems to grow as xe says, “Hierodattyus, I am in charge of my fairies-”

“They are Lathandar’s fairies,” she replies, unyielding. “And he is in charge of you.”

Slowly, Zabrell turns back to Ileao and Alex. “Alexander,” xe says through gritted teeth, “I will be patiently waiting for when you inevitably tire of em in the next few days, and come begging for me to take em off your hands. When that happens, you can reach me by-”

“That’s okay,” Alex says, cutting hir off. “That won’t happen.”

Zabrell grinds hir teeth. “Okay, but when it does, you can get my attention by just-”

“HEY Ileao, I really love your wall-art!” Kevin yells, burying Zabrell’s voice beneath his own as he points at a wall reading “Zabrell eat my ass” with three exclamation points.

Zabrell snarls at Kevin before whirling back around to point at Ileao. “This isn’t over,” xe hisses, and then xe pops out of the room.

“Thanks, Hi,” Ileao says quietly, and Hiero only waves before popping away herself.

The destroyed Daybreak storage room is perfectly silent.

“Oh my gods that actually worked,” Ileao breathes out all at once, and Alex chuckles as ey dramatically collapse in his arms. “Holy shit I thought I was gonna have to fistfight Zabrell. I would’ve totally lost.”

“I would’ve helped,” Alex says.

“Then we would’ve totally lost.”

“It’s a good thing you didn’t have to fistfight, then!” Kevin laughs, and Ileao grins at him.

“Thank you, both of you,” ey say breathily, disbelieving but endlessly fond.

“I am happy to help,” Alex replies, just as softly.

“What the fuck is this!?” shouts a new voice, and all three of them whip around to see the Daybreak hunter group standing in the doorway, looking around in both fury and awe at the absolute disaster Ileao has made of their storage room.

Ileao shrieks with laughter, and Kevin calls out a series of quips as Alex drags the both of them out of the room and then the building, before anyone can start an actual fight. He has a feeling this’ll come back to bite him in the ass, but at the moment, he hardly cares.

When they slow to a stop a while away from the guild building with Kevin still laughing to himself and Alex panting for breath and Ileao losing eir shit as ey lean against him, Alex cares even less about the consequences. All he cares about are these two people, and their happiness.

Together, they are happy. Alex doesn’t care what he has to do to make sure they can stay happy—attend a stuffy social event, vandalize a Daybreak office, or directly challenge Lathandar’s court of otherworldly fairies. No matter what it is, he’ll do it.

Consequences be damned.