Chapter Text
“…that can’t be good..”
Peri’s eyes lingered on the disgusting purple and blue sparkling mess that had just come out of his mouth. He took a deep breath, and used his cane to wish it away.
He let out a nervous little chuckle. “No, no, that can’t be magical backup again! Can it?”
No it really couldn’t. While his recent, if brief, experience with magical backup had shaken him… this wasn’t the same. For one the color was wrong. Not that he really wanted to think about the color or his own barf.
There was also the fact that the last wish he granted hadn’t been that long ago. It’s true that since he had begun hanging out with Irep, Dev had been a bit distant, and his wishes a bit more scarce. Not to mention lackluster, which was unusual for him. Probably expected though after their little break. Still, he was making wishes. And that was all that was needed to prevent magical backup.
So… it was probably just something he ate! Right? Right. After all, his stomach did feel a bit odd. Probably ate too much sugar or something. Letting his sweet tooth get the best of him.
He pressed a hand to his belly instinctively as he thought that. That was when he noticed it was bigger.
Lifting his shirt up slightly, he examined his stomach. It wasn’t hard to notice the curve pushing out from his mostly flat frontside. And the faint lines of stretch marks were forming.
“Uh oh-”
Now that- that wasn’t just from stomach troubles. It took Peri a moment to put the pieces together simply because well. He hadn’t expected it to happen! Why would he? It wasn’t particularly common even these days. At least not for fairies. And now…
Wait. Shit! What time was it?
Peri quickly checks the hour, realizing it was around the time Dev would usually start making wishes. And he didn’t want the kid to end up even more distant than he already was. Even now, he barely made a couple wishes a day.
“Okay… okay I can hide this! How about I just-”
He spent a minute loosening his suspenders and un-tucking his shirt a bit, trying to make the curve of his stomach less visibly strained and prominent. It’s not like he wanted anyone noticing. Not yet. Especially not Dev.
Would Dev care? Maybe. He didn’t really want to find out.
After figuring out the best position to hide his little bump, Peri poofed over to the cereal bar before appearing in Dev’s room.
“Hey! Morning Dev! I got you your favorite cereal for breakfast today!… again.” His jaw clenched, straining to keep a smile on his face when he already knew what the response from his godkid would be.
“Well it’s about time,” Dev said, snatching the cereal bowl and eating it. Not a thank you to be heard. But that was typical.
Peri let out a sigh. Though as he did so, he felt something stirring. A tug at the back of his throat and-
Gross. GROSS. Peri swallowed heavily, choking down the substance that had almost been projected out of his mouth. He wanted to let it out, his body felt like it was being poisoned, but there was no way on Earth Dev would react kindly to something that disgusting.
His strained smile felt like it would crack any second, but he tried to keep his voice light-hearted.
“So… any particular wishing you wanna do before school today?” Peri asked. “Maybe for something that’ll help you win back Hazel’s frie-”
“I wish for an outfit that’s so cool, everyone will think I look better than them!” Dev said, clearly not listening.
“ Sigh. Of course.”
Peri lifted his cane and there was a puff of magic smoke around Dev. His outfit becoming more flashy and cool in a moment. However when Dev looked down, he seemed a little… disgusted? Disappointed?
“Do you not like it? I can make tweaks to it if you’d actually tell me what you don’t like about it!” Peri said.
Dev scowled. “Whatever.”
And there it was again. Lately he would repeatedly show dissatisfaction with his wishes and then he would just. Not ask for better. Peri honestly couldn’t decide whether it was better or worse than the brief period of Dev throwing out “I bet Irep could do better” every time something wasn’t perfect.
Still, it was not helping his mood. Neither was the nausea. The emotional and physical discomfort bubbling within Peri was almost too much to bear at this point. He needed a way out.
“So Dev…” Peri chuckled nervously. “I have some uh, important fairy business I need to take care of. Alone! It needs to be alone. You’d be okay on your own for the rest of the day, right? You wouldn’t get into any trouble?”
For a moment Dev’s eyes visibly widened. This early in the morning he wasn’t wearing his sunglasses and it felt like they really could be a window to the soul-
Then he scrunched up his face and turned away. “Yeah. Go ahead, I can handle myself fine.”
Right.
Peri gave Dev one last look before poofing himself away. He had to have a conversation with the person who was also responsible for his predicament.