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Wanda lovingly caressed her sons cheek, tipping his head up so he could meet her gaze. “You are not a failure after one bad day! Do you know how many times me and your father have messed up?”.
Cosmo chuckled. “Too many to count!”.
Peri Cosma was laid upon his parents couch, his head in his mothers lap, with his father sat on the floor comfortingly patting his arm. He was sure he’d start to feel smothered by their presence by not too long, but until then he was content to lay there on their garishly patterned couch, and pretend that he was still a young fairy without so much weight on his shoulders.
Peri would not admit that was he wallowing in pity- because he wasn’t! He was just, overwhelmed with everything that had happened in the past few hours. Overwhelmed with the fact that his first ever godchild had used his own magic against him to wish him gone.
”He literally wished for me to be gone!”. Peri voiced his dreadful thoughts out loud. “I just thought this would all come naturally for me, like it does for you two”. The young fairy sighed. “Family business and all.. but it’s just been so difficult!”.
“The academy doesn’t train you for everything”. Cosmo shrugged, pausing in where he had returned to his knitting, one of the many hobbies he’d picked up during retirement- and one of the few that he actually kept up with since returning to the fairy godparent job field. “There’s tons of stuff you have to learn in the field”.
Peri’s frustration returned. “But he hates me! He can wish for anything he wants in the entire world, and he wished for me to leave! I offered him an extra fun birthday wish just before it happened and he looked like I’d spat right in his birthday cake!”.
Cosmo and Wanda shared a look that said more than Peri could even start to comprehend. Endless centuries of being a couple tended to let them communicate easily without even having to speak.
“Sweetie, I know the academy preps you on wishes and magic and all that but..”. She paused as she tried to figure out the right way to say it. “It sounds like you’re putting too much emphasis on the fairy part and not the godparent part of the job”.
”Ooh yeah”. Cosmo nodded along. “That’s definitely it. I thought maybe he was just an academy flunker”.
His wife and son both turned to glare at him and he balked. “Not that grades matter in this house!”.
Peri sighed. “What does that even mean? I’ve been granting his wishes! As much as I can considering most of them violate Da’ Rules in some way or another. He’s never even grateful!”. He crossed his arms with a frown.
Cosmo tutted. “Oh, I get it now!”. His wings twitched with the underlying restless energy that he always seemed to have. “You can’t just rely on magic for everything. Which sounds totally silly, I know. But it’s true!”.
Wanda smiled. “It is true. There’s a lot of magic involved in the job but, the kids we work for don’t just need magic. They need actual love and attention too. There’s a reason why they are given fairies. They need people to ask about their day, or make sure they’ve eaten, or just to listen to them when no one else will”.
She and Cosmo shared another wistful glance.
“It can be harder than the magic part, to be honest. But it’s important”.
Peri paused to think about that. He supposed that he really didn’t do a lot of listening to Dev. When the child complained Peri zoned it out or when he wished for something that was a violation of Da’ Rules Peri shot it down without really explaining why.
“I guess I hadn’t really thought of it that way”.
”And I did say that Dev was a doozy”. Wanda shook her head. “That boy has a lot of issues. He can be straight up mean. And conniving. And he’s caused our Hazel a heaping load of problems but-“.
”There’s good in him”. Cosmo interrupted absentmindedly. He seemed to have gotten his stitches in order and his mess of yarn was looking less like a craft store vomited and more like an actual hat. “There usually always is”.
Peri couldn’t help but scowl, even though he was now. “But he can be such a brat!”.
Cosmo and Wanda shared another look, this one much more melancholy. “Reminds me of someone”.
That deep grating sadness that echoed around his entire body, that pulsed until he got a headache and felt nauseous, and made him want to not speak to anyone for years or burn the Da’ Rules book to ashes, came up again. The same way it always did when someone mentioned him.
Mentioned his older brother.
And he didn’t care what any stupid book said, Timmy was his brother- memories or not.
Peri glared down at his feet. The anger over the entire situation simmered inside him, but the anger of losing his brother had stifled with time, had sizzled out into a smolder. He doubted the fire would ever fully go out, but the all consuming rage that he’d felt about it years ago was faded. It had exhausted him at the time, and it wore him out just thinking about it now.
Wanda spoke while petting her sons hair. ”Dev is only ten. A lot of kids aren’t good at communicating how they really feel”.
”And his dads a certified crashout”. Cosmo added helpfully.
Peri protested. “Hazel is! She’s always aware of her feelings. And always being nice! Especially to Dev! She’s given him about a dozen second chances by now!”.
”It’s only been like...”. Cosmo paused to count on his fingers. “Three. And she was raised by kooky genius therapists”.
”And”. Wanda raised her brows. “Even she struggles with communicating what she needs. Especially to adults. She’s got this fear of failing to seem mature enough. Every kid is different. It’s up to you to learn how to best work with yours. Communication is a two way street”.
-
“Hey”.
Peri starts, his tone low and his words echoing around the quiet dark bedroom, the only sound being an expensive looking noise machine blaring ocean wave sounds.
The fairy was half hoping that Dev was asleep so he could avoid this conversation for another few hours, but the blankets on the bed shuffle around for a moment before a mussy haired ginger head peaks out. His glare is matched with red rimmed heterochromic eyes, that Peri isn’t used to seeing not covered up by very expensive shades.
He’s obviously been crying.
“What are you doing here?”. Dev’s voice is rough. “Come to formally quit once and for all?”.
”I’m sorry”. Peri interrupts before the air can get too hostile or he loses his nerve.
Dev froze. “..What?”.
Sucking in a deep breath, Peri continues. “I’m sorry. For leaving. You wished for me to but I shouldn’t have. I wasn’t being a good godparent. I wasn’t listening to what you wanted. And I kept ditching you to hang out with my parents because I haven’t seen them in forever”.
“But that wasn’t very fair of me. My job is working to help you. And I haven’t really been doing that. So, I’m sorry. If you’ll have me back, I’ll try to do better. And if not then.. well you can submit papers for a transfer and get someone better-“.
”No!”.
The shout makes Peri startle, and Dev apparently hadn’t expected it either because he startles too. Listening in the quiet for the sound of if they’d been heard, though he knew well enough that his dad wouldn’t care enough to come up here unless there was a complete and total ruckus. He looks hesitant, before he opens his mouth to speak.
“I don’t want anybody else”. The words sound like he says it through gritted teeth; but all that matters to Peri is that he says it at all.
The fairy was still very much taken aback by the admission. “But…you seemed to like Irep as your godparent much more than me?”.
Dev shrugged, avoiding eye contact. “Well I still don’t like all the dumb rules you have to follow but.. I dunno. I don’t want Irep to replace you or anything. He was kinda bossy. And that’s supposed to be my job!” His bravado slowly faded as he seemed to wrestle with himself on what to say next.
“I just thought you hated me”. The confession is said softer than anything else the ten year old had said so far; so vulnerable that Peri knows he cannot mess up how he handles this.
”What?!”
Okay, he hadn’t quite meant for that to be his carefully curated response.
”You always groan or complain about my wishes! And you were hardly ever around!”
Peri couldn’t deny either of those statements, and he felt his face heat up with shame. He really had been doing a shoddy job of this, hadn’t he? His very first and only godchild thought he hated him!
”Your wishes tend to be a bit.. unique. But, you’re right. I shouldn’t shoot down every Wish you make. It’s just that Da’ Rules may have loopholes and majorly suck sometimes, trust me on that, but they do exist for a reason. Without them, the world would’ve ended via fairy magic wishes a long time ago”.
“And me and my parents are…complicated. But that’s not your problem. I need to deal with that on my own time. I’m supposed to be there for you”.
”So .. you don’t hate me?”
“Hate you?!”. Peri did double take. “Of course not! You’re my very first god kid, I just wanted to do a good job! I want to do a good job”.
”So it’s just a job to you?”. Dev’s usual scowl appeared on his face.
”Wha- no! Hey, stop twisting my words to make everything seem awful. I’m not a big fan of Da’ Rules either y’know! It’s a part of my job. I don’t have a choice”.
Dev raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you like the rules?”.
Peri sighed, that familiar fiery rage simmering in his gut . This was that opening up stuff that his mother had talked about wasn’t it?
“Da’ Rules are the reason my brother doesn’t even know I exist anymore. He was my parents god kid..ages ago. But it feels like it was yesterday. When he grew up he had to give up his fairies, and any memories related to magic. And that included me”. Peri clenched his fists together, that recognizable anger smoldering in his chest again, blazing uncomfortably hot. “There isn’t anything I can do about it”.
It was quiet for a moment before two words echoed in the silence, breaking through Peri’s solemn feelings.
”I’m sorry“.
Peri’s head shot up so fast he thought he’d get whiplash. “What?”.
Dev bashfully repeated himself. I said sorry. That actually really sucks”.
Peri was touched, but couldn’t resist the opportunity to tease his god kid just a bit. “Is the great and mighty Dev Dimmadone actually apologizing?”.
Dev’s cheeks flushed pink and he scowled. “Ha ha, very funny. Shut up!”.
”Alright alright, I’m just teasing”. Peri relented, hands held up placatingly. “And thanks. So… you want to be my god kid again?”.
Dev hesitated for a moment, but his nod was firm.
Peri smiled, and Dev tentatively smiled back.
“Good. I’m glad. And I swear I’ll try harder this time. If you can try harder to work with me too?” His smile became rueful. “I was recently told that communication is a two way street”.
Dev once again hesitated, but ultimately firmly nodded. “Okay”.
“I’ll shove that right in Irep’s face”. The fairy muttered spitefully after a moment, resulting in Dev raising an eyebrow.
“Why don’t you like Irep? He’s cool. Y’know, when he’s not being a bossy emo weirdo”.
”Cool? He’s the biggest dork I know! And I should know, he’s my ex “.
”What?!”