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Tommy woke up to a quiet home, nothing but the wind running through the trees of the forest outside breaking the silence. In not too long, surely, the birds would start singing, and the natural sound of the day would seep in. But for now, all that his ears could find was the wind in the leaves and his own breathing.
Hauling himself up, he started going about his usual routine, if only to chase away the threads of dread that tried to snag at his mind.
Well, maybe ‘routine’ was putting it a bit strongly, honestly. A loose habit, more like. Checking out the windows, scanning the treeline for the figure that would always show up, finding nothing quite yet. Then he was settling in that perfect position that was upright enough to stay awake but relaxed enough to lounge, waiting for the morning to break.
This quiet life really wasn’t for Tommy. It wasn’t something that he had ever wanted, always chasing after adventure. An adrenaline junkie of sorts, he supposed, though he never wanted true danger. Just the fun that came with it.
He despised the quiet, most days. Tommy wasn’t made for silence, for the unbroken drone of a static world pressing in on his ears. He was always humming, scuffing his heels across the wooden floors of his home, clicking his teeth together to break the monotonous quiet when he was alone. He was made for bright, loud noises, shouts and echoing laughter, movement that made him unable to keep still enough to settle into what would otherwise be a peaceful morning.
As the first rays of day truly began to touch the sky, and the birds began to sing, he finally relaxed.
Honestly, he probably wouldn’t have survived in this life for very long if he had succumbed to the silence. Here among the forest, in his little cottage, he was alone among the magic of the wilds. Abandoned, left for dead, forced out from the last place that he had tried to call home. The people of the nearby town had been pricks, anyway.
For the first days of his impromptu exile, he had tried to leave - tried to find a way to claw past the invisible barriers that now kept him from sight of the town, just a touch too far through the trees to hope to catch a glimpse. The humans had set that up, to keep the monsters of the forest at bay, and apparently to keep out fellow humans that were foolish enough to think that thieving was an acceptable way to get enough food to survive.
It had been a year or so now, and it still stung to think about. He was just a kid, trying not to starve, did he really deserve this?
Despite how he might have gotten there, once Tommy had wandered further in, he had been led to the cottage that he now called his own. He had started slipping into the rhythm of life here, the silence of the forest at night and the singing of birds during the day.
Tommy would have been driven insane with the crushing loneliness, he was sure. Humans were meant to be social creatures, weren’t they? Maybe he was built to be especially sociable.
Thankfully, he wasn’t alone. With another person, he could keep the silence at bay, and save his sanity for a little while longer.
Turning to his door as the first rays of light started filtering in through the windows, there was a knock on the door. Just on time, just as always.
Swinging in through the door, Wilbur gave a bright grin.
“Tommy! You’re actually up for once!”
“I’m always up by now, prick,” he grumbled, elbowing the fae beside him as the tall brunette slung an arm over his shoulder. “You’re just here to steal my breakfast.”
“How dare!” The fae gave a laugh that was filled with the chime of bells, musical in nature as he always was. “I’m here to make you breakfast, gremlin, now sit down!”
Tommy huffed, shoving at Wilbur’s shoulder. “You’re just going to enchant my food and get me stuck here!”
“You’re already stuck here, Toms,” the fae said with a smirk. “Let me make you food?”
“Only if you promise to not enchant my food.” He gave a glare in return. It was a familiar argument between them, something that they had done dozens, hundreds of times before.
The fae rolled his eyes, sighing. “Child. Fine, I promise that I won’t enchant any of your food today. Happy?”
“Or any of my drinks, either,” Tommy reminded. “Or, y’know, anything that you give to me to consume.”
A huff, and Wilbur flicked the blonde’s nose. “You’ve learned too much. Not even your desserts?”
“No, Wilbur,” he said firmly. Despite the fact that he couldn’t go back to the human’s town, that didn’t mean that he would want to stay here in this cottage forever. Eventually he would want to move on, find somewhere else to settle, make some friends outside of a creepy fae that tried to keep him as a pet every other day.
“Fine, then I won’t enchant anything that I give you.” He ruffled the blonde’s hair, making Tommy squawk in offense. “Now can I make the two of us some breakfast already?”
The boy threw up his hands. “Fine, fine! If you want to burn our food-”
“When have I ever-”
“Then you can make food on your own!”
Wilbur laughed again, throwing his head back with a lovely sort of elation. “Tommy, when have you ever helped me cook, anyway?!”
“I help!”
“Taste testing doesn’t count!”
Tommy pointed at him, eyes narrowed. “Taste testing absolutely counts, bitch. I can’t let you fuck up the flavor of our food just because your fae shit makes everything taste weird-”
Wilbur made a noise of offense, holding up a pan that he laid over the wood of the fire, a snap of his fingers making the entire thing ignite with a whoosh of heated air. “How does it taste weird? It tastes good, it’s not my fault that your human gremlin tastebuds are broken.”
“My tongue is not broken, your shit food just tastes weird!”
The fae just rolled his eyes. “Whatever- you still have some meat from yesterday, right?”
Tommy stuck his tongue out at the other, and in another few minutes, the cottage was filled with the scent of cooking food. Tommy gave a moment to stare at his daily companion while Wilbur was focused on flipping the slabs of ham that he was cooking, thinking.
Tommy was very much aware that he talked to the fae in a way that few others could. It really was just pure luck that he had been given a chance - when he had been forced out into the forest, he had cussed out the fae as soon as he had come close. Most fae would have taken great offense to such a display from a human of all creatures, but Wilbur had only taken it with a laugh and a spark of interest in his eye.
He had been the one to lead Tommy to the cottage, the one to show him where to find food that wouldn’t kill him, and the one to make sure that he wasn’t going mad on his own out here in the woods. It was… nice, honestly, to have a friend that was so willing to take care of him, even if Tommy didn’t need it. He would’ve survived on his own, one way or another, he was sure of it. It just… wouldn’t have exactly been preferable.
The thought of traveling someday called to him, even if it wasn’t today, or tomorrow, or even for a few years yet. He wanted the feeling of new trails passing underneath his feet as the forest finally grew too small for his roaming, he craved the fulfillment of his wanderlust. But if he was going to be free one day, he couldn’t let the fae enchant him with magicked food and get him stuck here within the trees.
Though, Tommy couldn’t say that Wilbur wasn’t going to be missed, when that happened. He considered asking the fae if there was any way for the two of them to meet after he eventually left the forest. But no - it wasn’t the right moment for that, it would only upset the peace and fun they had together at the moment. He’d figure it out later, when he actually felt ready to leave - for now there was food in front of him, and he was starving after waking up so early.
With a grin, Tommy blew some of the steam away from his food and shoveled a bite into his mouth, cursing as it burnt his tongue despite Wilbur’s warnings to be patient. He took another bite, just to be spiteful, and nearly spit it out as he tried to breathe through his mouth to cool it faster.
“Gremlin child,” the fae said with a fond tone, rolling his eyes. “You’re so impulsive, you’ve already waited this long for your food, can’t you wait a few seconds longer?”
“Ab’olutely not,” Tommy said around his food, chewing with his mouth open before swallowing and sticking his tongue out at the fae again. “I’ve already waited too long to eat, I’m hungry.”
Wilbur snorted. “You could have made your own food before I got here, you know. You didn’t have to wait for me.”
A wave of his hand, and Tommy dismissed the idea entirely. “Eating alone makes me seem sad, though, I need someone to mess with.”
“Ah yes, you mean that you need someone to horrify with your terrible table manners.”
Tommy gave him a grin, taking another bite before speaking through it again. “Exactly!”
“Gremlin,” the fae said sagely, nodding to himself. “Now, do you want to come out with me today?”
At that, Tommy sat up, staring at his friend curiously. Yes, the two of them usually wandered through the forest during the day, but this sounded like an invitation to somewhere special. “Where are we going?”
The fae gave him a smile that held just a flash of too-sharp teeth, glee written across his features. “We’re going to go to one of my favorite places in the forest. I think you’ll like it, I haven’t shown you it before.”
“Why not?” The boy stood up, grabbing the fae’s plate as he cleared the last of his food from its surface. “Where is it?”
“Well, it’s deeper into the forest than we usually go…”
Tommy gave a suspicious glare. “Are we going into the fae forest?”
Wilbur hummed, making a so-so motion with his hand. “Technically this is all already in the fae’s forest, Tommy - but yes, our destination is within what humans would consider the proper forest, not just the edges of it.”
“... and I won’t get stuck there?”
The fae smiled, giving a quiet chuckle. “Not as long as you don’t want to, Toms.”
“No- tell me that I won’t.”
“I can’t promise that unexpected circumstances won’t arise, but I promise that I will do everything in my power to bring you back here before nightfall.” Wilbur smiled up at him, a soft expression now. “I think you’ll be fine though, you already know most everything you’d ever need to know about how to defend yourself against any strangers that come across us.”
Tommy stared at him for a few moments, before giving a simple shrug. “Alright, let’s go then. Is it gonna be a hike?”
Wilbur laughed, waving a hand dismissively. “Not as much as you think. Travel in the forest is odd, we can be there in half an hour if you want it to be a short trip.”
“Hmm… I mean, the sooner we get there, the longer we can spend there?” The boy shrugged, feeling a sort of excitement build in his chest. He had never properly been into the fae’s forest - it was a dangerous place. Of course that wouldn’t have stopped him on its own, but Wilbur had always warned him away from wandering in without him.
According to the brunette, he didn’t want any other fae getting the bright idea to snatch him away before Wilbur could. Selfish bastard.
But now, seeing the grin that built on the fae’s face, he knew that his friend was just as excited as he was.
~~~
It really didn’t take long for them to get into the forest. Tommy could feel the difference almost immediately, the moment he stepped through the underbrush and felt the pressure of pure magic hanging in the air. It was barely tangible, tugging at him like a thick swath of cobwebs in the corners of the cottage before he had cleared them out.
And when he pushed past, he had to blink a few times, as the darkening forest turned bright, almost blinding. The colors of the trees around him were odd, too saturated to seem real, subtle swirls of different hues moving and creeping through the air with minds of their own. Vines wrapped around ancient trunks, slithering their way into branches like snakes, curling and gently writhing where they hung in the air.
Tommy looked around, rubbing at his eyes, as Wilbur watched him with a smile.
“Do you like it?” The fae asked with an excited gleam in his eyes.
The boy looked around, seeing the too-large flowers and lush, spring-like state of the trees around them. “I… yeah, it’s beautiful,” he said, awed by everything he saw around him.
Wilbur grinned, and it looked like the threads of humanity that he had held onto outside the heart of the forest were stripped away with the step into the magic of the fae homeland. His teeth were far sharper, his ears longer and more apparent, eyes a deep swirling gold as he gazed upon the human. “Good- I’m glad that you like it! It’s wonderful Tommy, you’ll love the islands-”
“But where were you going to take me?”
“We’re going there first!” He laughed brightly, taking the blonde’s hand and pulling him through the forest on feet that didn’t waver even when Tommy tripped over roots and stones in the invisible path that he was led along.
By the time they slowed, Tommy had no idea which way they were going. He nearly crashed into Wilbur’s back when he suddenly stopped at the edge of a glade, doubling over to catch his breath and cursing the fae under his breath. Damn magical creature, having so much stamina- it wasn’t fair on his painfully human lungs.
But when he looked up, he first found Wilbur’s eyes staring down at him with a grin - and then he looked past and saw the glade.
It was… beautiful. Full of flowers, the sky above them fading into a soft dusk even though Tommy knew for a fact that it had barely been late morning when they had left his cottage. It bathed everything in a soft, orange-ish light, making the glade seem to glow.
He knew his eyes had gone wide, but Wilbur didn’t say anything for a long moment. The fae just watched, smiling, before eventually pulling him forward once again.
“I assume the silence means that you like it?”
Tommy shook himself out of his awe, nodding quickly. “It- fuck, I mean yeah, Wil, this is great,” he said.
Wilbur giggled, leading him through the glade, the boy following after him with careful footsteps, trying to avoid stepping on any flowers underfoot. They settled into a little circle of flower-less grass, and the fae flopped down onto his back, sighing in contentment.
“This is my favorite place in the forest. It’s a perfect place to just sit and relax, I think.”
“Yeah… do you really just- sit here though?” Tommy raised an eyebrow at him. Wilbur knew that the teen wasn’t the type to just laze around and do nothing, so hopefully that wasn't what the fae was expecting him to do.
“Do you know how to make flower crowns?” The fae sat up again as Tommy settled next to him, his too-sharp grin growing as the blonde shrugged. “Here, I’ll teach you, they’re not too hard once you get the hang of it.”
Tommy gave him a suspicious look, humming, but shrugged. “Fuck it, alright, if you’re so insistent on teaching me.”
Wilbur directed him into gathering bundles of flowers for their crafting, the fae reassured Tommy that he wasn't doing any true damage to the glade by picking them. Once they had the flowers they needed, they settled back down in their circle of grass. Then Wilbur started weaving the stems of the flowers together, showing the blonde how to thread them together in a tight pattern.
It wasn’t quite tight enough to break the delicate plant matter, but enough to push them into submission so that the entire formation stayed put. Step by repeating step, the fae walked him through it, until Tommy tried to start his own.
There were a few attempts, until he huffed in annoyance and nearly threw it down in frustration - but then Wilbur took his hands and led him through the motions directly. The next time he tried, he nearly got it - and the next, it stuck. And then it went more smoothly, copying the movements that the fae taught him, until the brunette helped him finish it off as well.
By the time they were both done, Wilbur had masterfully crafted a crown that had all sorts of different flowers evenly woven into a beautiful pattern, and Tommy had… admittedly, a much lesser crown. It was loose, threatening to fall apart even now, with only yellow flowers that didn't quite have all of their petals anymore after his handling of them. But it was a crown nonetheless, and Wilbur was quick to lift it from his hands and place it upon his own brown curls with a grin.
That felt like it was enough of a gift, as Tommy grinned at him with pride, but then Wilbur took the crown that he had carefully woven, and placed it upon his golden hair.
“Perfect,” the fae said, grinning. “You look like you could be a proper fae like that.”
Tommy snorted, glancing at his worn, lightly mud-stained clothes. “I think that I’d be a pretty shit fae, personally.”
Wilbur laughed, warm as the sunshine that filtered through the edges of the glade. “Nonsense, Tommy. You have the heart of a fae already, I think you’d fit in just fine, no matter what clothes you wore. Though, you could probably use some new pants that don’t have holes in the knees, hm?”
“Fuck off, prick,” he shouted back, kicking at his friend, and everything was right with the world.
They stayed there in the eternal dusk of the glade, until Wilbur finally called Tommy back to him, straightening the crown of flowers on his head with a smile. Slower than they had earlier, they made their way back through the forest to return to Tommy's cottage, and Wilbur left the blonde in his bed for the night. In the morning it would all repeat, and Tommy would promise himself that he would leave this place eventually.
But for now, given a crown of flowers whose petals never wilted, he was content to stay for a while longer. He didn’t have to leave anytime soon, anyway, not when he had nowhere but the forest for his heart to go.