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Chapter Text

Peri misses Dev, and he couldn't think of much else after the battle of the big wand. The poor kid was just going back to the way everything was before, when he had no adult to look after him.  That was very upsetting to Peri.

He has been just rotting in his parents house at this point, since he's had nothing to do after being separated from the kid.

I mean, he could always talk to Hazel, but he didn't have much to say to her. And he didn't really want to talk to his parents either, they were a bit...suffocating sometimes.

If only there was some way he could be around Dev again.

Wait... 

An idea popped into the fairy's head.

What if he disguised himself! His parents did that all the time, why couldn't he?

But what could he disguise himself as... human wouldn't work, there's no way Dale would hire a babysitter... maybe a pet? He couldn't talk to Dev as an animal, but that was something! 

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Dev was slowly walking home from school. He usually would ride on his au-pairs, it's faster and takes less effort. 

But he had a lot on his mind...or a lack thereof, he couldn't seem to remember much of anything that happened ever since founders day and that bothered him. 

Every time he tried to remember, everything felt all fuzzy and he got a headache, it frustrated him whenever he thought back and all that was there were fuzzy shapes and colors. 

What he did know though was that the color purple was strangely comforting to him.

He never cared for purple before, so something important must have happened, something important was missing from his memory.

mrrrow

Dev payed no mind to the sound, animals never interested him much, and that's something that stayed the same even through the missing memories. He continued walking home. 

His head still hurt.

meooooow

Where was that sound even coming from, and could it shut up? 

He wanted to get home and go to sleep, maybe then he would stop thinking so much and the headache would go away.

meoooooooooooooww

He felt it brush against his leg, he finally looked down since he couldn't really ignore it anymore.

There was a cat, obviously given the sound it made. But there was something strange about it.

Why the hell was it purple?

The purple cat sat Infront of him, looking up at the kid.

(if you can't see the image, go to Here )

"What the hell do you want?" Dev asked, though it was kind of pointless since cats couldn't understand human words.

mrrp

The cat rubbed against him again. 

"Go back to your owner" The kid lightly shoved him away with his foot. Gods could he just get home and rest already?

And then the cat clung to his leg.

"What? do you want to come with me that bad?" Dev lifted the leg that the cat clung to, with an annoyed expression on his face. 

The cat climbed up onto his shoulder and headbutted his face. 

"My dad wouldn't be happy if I brought a cat in." 

mrow

"Ugh, fine, but you better not cause any problems."  Dev continued walking back home, a cat now on his shoulders, his expression softening slightly. 

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Dev finally made it home and went straight to his room, the cat jumped off his shoulders and onto the soft bed.

"I gotta think of a name for you huh?" He sat next to the cat.

All of the sudden, the cat grabbed his tablet and typed something into Google.

"Wh- how do you know how to do that!?" Dev watched with wide, confused eyes.

He looked at the screen after the cat backed up, Periwinkles? "Is that what you want your name to be? periwinkle? I guess it is fitting, you being...weirdly purple and all that." Dev picked up the tablet.

"Periwinkle is kinda long though, so I'm gonna shorten it, how does just Peri sound?" The kid placed a hand on the cats head as he meowed and leaned into the touch. 

Dev took that as a good answer. Peri the cat, now living in his room. 

Stupid name, but something about it was nice.

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Who knew it would be so easy to get the kid to guess his name! Peri was finally back with Dev, his mission was a success, even if communication was a little more difficult. 

He went over to where Dev was sitting on the bed, now playing a video game on his tablet. Peri curled up on the kids lap and purred, if Peri wanted to be a cat he'd have to act like it after all. 

"Well you're definitely more social than my dad..." The kid gave a sad smile towards the cat, petting his head lightly.

Peri noted how tired Dev looked, small bags forming under his eyes. But he couldn't really convince the kid to sleep when he was a cat and couldn't actually talk to him.

The cat thought for a moment, and then sat on top of Dev's tablet. 

"Hey! what gives!" The kid gave him an annoyed look.

mrrp :3

"Sigh, I guess it is a bit late to be on games." He grabbed the tablet out from under Peri and placed it on the small table next to his bed.

After Dev pulled the blankets over himself, Peri moved to curl up right next to him. 

"Night night Periwinkle" Dev hugged Peri and closed his eyes.

He would figure out getting stuff for the cat tomorrow. 

Chapter Text

The morning came, and Dev had to wake up for school. He felt relieved when he found his headache was finally gone for now. 

So he got up from his bed, waking Peri in the process. 

Oh right, he has a cat now... He's gonna have to go to the pet store right after school to get some things for him.

The cat stayed on the bed while Dev got ready for school, though there wasn't much getting ready to be done since he never actually changed out of his usual outfit when he went to bed.

After grabbing his school bag, he gave Peri a small pet on the head before walking out the door.

It was pretty cold outside, winter was right around the corner after all. Though Dev didn't really like the cold all that much.

And worst of all, he was still trying to figure out whatever was missing in his head.

Come to think of it, something about the purple cat seemed oddly familiar. Is that why he was so quick to give in and take it home?

Ugh, his head was starting to hurt again, couldn't he catch a break?

He walked into class, only paying any attention to the fuzzy ache in his head and the fuzzy purple blob in the back of his mind that seemed just so, so important.

He couldn't seem to pay any attention to whatever the teacher was blabbing about. That was ok though, his au-pairs were taking notes for him.

Dev couldn't help but notice a strange look on Hazel's face.

Wait, why was she looking at him in the first place?

Didn't she hate him?

Didn't he hate her?

Or wait, they made up at some point right? When was that... 

Gods his head hurt more and more as he tried to find the answers.

Answers?

Wait, the teacher called on him to answer a question, shit.

What was the question?

Oh right, math.

Easy peasy, something he was good at.

He wasted no more time answering the question, not having to think all that hard on it. 

He examined Hazel's face a little.

Was that... worry?

Why would she worry about him, all he's ever been to her was a jerk. He was just fine on his own! No reason for her to worry at all.

The headache was starting to make him feel sick...or was it the headache?

He just wanted to know what was missing, why did it hurt him so bad? 

A loud ringing filled his ears.

Oh, it was just the lunch bell.

Finally, maybe some food would make him feel better, he had forgotten to eat breakfast after all. His mind was too focused on other things.

Maybe that's why he was feeling sick. Maybe he was just hungry? 

He grabbed his lunch and sat down in his usual spot, away from people. 

He poked at his food. 

Maybe he wasn't hungry...

Should he go home early? That was probably a good idea.

But what would his dad think? He hated when Dev missed school for such small things.

He didn't have a fever, or any contagious sickness, so there was no reason he should miss important education.

"Hey Dev?"

...

When the hell did Hazel get here?

"Dev?" She gave him that concerned look again... He hated it.

"What do you want Hardhat." He gave her the usual attitude.

Or were they friends again? He couldn't remember.

Why couldn't he remember?!

It was starting to piss him off. 

It hurt his head more.

"I was just uh, wondering if you were ok? You've been acting kinda... off." She sat down in the seat across from him, placing her hands on the table.

"Off how exactly?" 

"Well, first off you haven't eaten, I've noticed you've kinda just been...poking at your food." She points to the fork stabbed into whatever fancy food was on Dev's plate.

"I'm fine, just... thinking." He pokes his fork at his food again.

Then he thinks for a moment.

"Wait, why does this even bother you?!" The fork stabs through the paper plate.

"Woa chill, I just wanted to check on you, it's not often you're this quiet, you've barely insulted me all day." Hazel lifts her hands off of where they were sitting on the table.

"Do you want me to insult you or something?" 

"No! its just... different? I'm not used to it." 

"Ugh!" Dev placed a hand to his head as the pain throbbed. 

"Dev, seriously, what's wrong?" Her hand went towards him.

He slapped the hand away.

"Your giving me a headache, fuck off!" 

The look of surprise on Hazel's face would've been funny had his brain not been stabbing him. 

"Woa ok, uh...interesting choice of words, I'll just go..." She stood up from the seat, grabbing the fidgets she always had with her that Dev hadn't even noticed were placed on the table.

Wait, has she never heard him swear before?

Whatever, it wasn't a huge deal-

Oh.

Why is he getting dizzy?

Is the headache that bad?

Could headaches even do that? Probably, but this has never happened to him before.

Maybe he's been thinking too much today.

He fell off his seat, darkness creeping through his vision.

Hazel was infront of him again, the worried look returned.

But he couldn't make out what she was saying.

His ears were ringing too much.

His head hurt.

And then everything went dark. 

Chapter Text

Hazel had just been walking away from Dev after he had told her to leave in a very... not PG way. Then she heard a thump coming from where she had just left. 

She turns around, obviously curious about the source of the noise. 

What she didn't expect to see was Dev on the ground, looking dazed and exhausted. 

His sunglasses had fallen off when he fell, leaving the bags under his eyes visible to Hazel.

She knew something was wrong before, but this?

Hazel ran over to where Dev had collapsed, shaking him gently and trying to speak to him.

When he didn't wake up, she called over her friends to help carry him to the nurses office.

It took a moment to actually pick him up in a semi-comfortable way, since none of them had all that much physical strength.

But as soon as they got situated, they went straight to the nurses office and got Dev onto a bed.

After a little examination from the nurse, it turned out it was just a mixture of stress and dehydration.

The nurse carefully poured water down the kids throat and waved Hazel and her friends back to class since lunch had ended while they were on the way there. 

"He will be alright, go back to class." 

So they went back to class, and Hazel decided she would just stop by Dev's place later to check up on him.

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"Ugh" Dev groaned as he woke up. 

Where the hell-

Oh, someone took him to the nurses office huh? Wonder who...

Probably just a teacher.

"Good to see you awake." The nurse turned to him from her chair.

Dev just looked at her, not really knowing what to say.

"I've called your dad to come pick you up, he will be here shortly." She hands him a cup of water.

His dad was coming?

Oh.

He knows damn well his dad doesn't like to be disturbed from his work.

He was not going to be happy about this...

Dev chugged the water.

Just as the nurse said, his dad arrived only a couple minutes after he drank the water.

So now Dev sat right across from his dad in the helicopter.

"So, Devin." His father did not look away from the laptop he was working on.

"Hm?" The kid replied.

"What is this all about." 

"I uh...kinda fainted?" Dev looked away from his dad.

"I am aware, but why?" Dale took his eyes off the screen for a moment. 

"I was... dehydrated or something." He fidgeted with his sleeves, nervousness creeping into his tone.

"You should know better than to forget simple self care, this could effect my- our image you know." He glared

"Mhm..." He looked anywhere but his dad's face.

"So what do you have to say for yourself Devin." The man looks back at his screen.

"Sorry..." He mumbled

"Speak up, I can't hear you when your mumbling like that." 

"I'm sorry." Dev replied with slightly more attitude.

Dale gave a slightly annoyed look at the boy's tone, but said no words.

Dev believed the look might have been worse than words anyways...

"And this better not happen again, I do not have the time to be picking you up from school." 

"It... it won't happen again" Dev brought his knees up to his chest. 

It didn't take long for them to arrive back at the Dimmadome tower.

Dev went straight to his room, not wanting to be around his dad any longer.

That man always knew how to make him feel like shit...

Though his mood was quickly improved when he was greeted by the sweet little kitty he had brought in the other day.

Mrow? The cat seemed confused, maybe because how early Dev had returned.

"Hey kitty, I'm home a bit early." Dev placed a hand on top of Peri's head. 

"I kinda passed out or whatever... I need to rest for a bit, but then I can take you shopping for some food and stuff" He layed down on the bed.

Peri gave him a very shocked and concerned look, but then settled to curl up next to him.

"Sorry you gotta wait a bit, I'll make sure to get you the best fanciest food." Dev pulled the cat closer to him and turned on the TV. 

"I don't think I can sleep right now, what do you think about watching the new animated version of Prime Meridian Love." 

Meow. Peri tilted his head, he remembered Dev liked the manga, but didn't know there was an animated series.

"You probably don't even know what that is, huh?" He turned on the show and put the remote back down. 

A few episodes in, he heard the doorbell go off. 

He didn't think his dad was expecting anyone, so who could be there?

Dev got up to check, Peri jumping on his shoulders to join him.

He opened the front door to see... Hazel and her neighbors?

Why were they here? Was Hazel really that worried about him?

The neighbors stared at his cat for some reason.

Peri stared right back.

Both sides with an unreadable expression on their faces.

Mrow...

"Where did that cat come from?"  The pink haired woman Pam? asked. 

Chapter Text

"Uh...I got him from the street? He just kinda followed me home." Dev pet his cat, a tad confused by the look on the adults faces.

And also the look on his cats face...did Peri know these people? He did have a collar... Maybe they were his actual owners-

Why didn't he think about the fact that this cat probably had owners already.

"Oh! shit- is this your cat?" Dev panicked for a second.

"Oh no- he just uh...looks like someone we know- yea, that..." Pam seemed a bit panicked too.

Was her name Pam?

Where did that even come from...

He's never met her before.

Right?

The headache returned.

"Ugh... What are you guys doing here anyways?" Dev's tone switched to one closer to annoyance, unsure if it was because Hazel existing, or because his headache.

"I wanted to check up on you after... earlier, y'know? You feeling any better?" Hazel stepped a little closer to him.

"I'm fine." Dev almost snapped.

Peri gave him a slightly worried look. He knew something was wrong.

Mrr... He pawed at Dev's face a little.

"Oh right! I still need to do some shopping for you huh?" He scratched the cats head gently.

Peri facepawed, that is not why he was doing that...

"Ooh! can we come with you?" Hazel gave him a look that made it so hard to turn her down, almost like a puppy.

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They arrived at the pet store, a pretty fancy one that Hazel didn't even know existed until now. Not that she was surprised though, she didn't really expect Dev of all people to go to your average pet store anyways.

"Would you stop staring and just go inside already? I get that your poor and have never seen a store like this before, but I've been holding the door open for 5 minutes." Dev gave her a mildly annoyed look.

But he couldn't stay annoyed at her, he would never admit out loud, but Hazel's amazed look was kinda cute.

Wait what was he thinking?

Whatever, they were inside the store now, Hazel's weird neighbors close behind.

"Alright Periwinkle, if you see anything you like here just like... paw at it or something." Dev still felt exhausted from earlier, and it began to show in his tone.

The headache also wasn't helping, though it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been at school.

As they walked around the store, grabbing whatever Peri had interest in (which was mostly star themed things for some reason Dev didn't know), their attention went to a very large dog someone had brought into the store.

The dogs attention went to them too.

To Peri.

To the dog, Peri looked like something to chase around.

The very large dog that could very easily break out of its owners grasp.

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Dev barely knew what was going on anymore, all he knew was he was now knocked on the ground, there was a lot of really loud barking, panicked yelling, and Peri was no longer on his shoulder.

Where was his cat?

"Periwinkle?" He mumbled as he slowly sat up

He looked around, trying to make sense of everything.

Peri was now on top of a tall shelf to get away from the dog, fur standing straight up in fear.

The dog was barking up at him.

There were several adults trying to pull the dog away.

Oh and Hazel was now crouched next to him, hands hovering over him, asking if he was ok. How was that not the first thing he noticed?

"Oh uh... I'm ok, yea." Dev waved her hand away.

The pain in his head was a little worse though.

Maybe he hit it on the ground when the dog knocked him over.

"You sure? you hit the ground pretty hard." Hazel sat down next to him.

"Mhm. Is Periwinkle ok?" He brought a hand to the back of his head to feel where he hit it.

"Yea, I don't think hes been hurt yet."

"That's good."

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Peri barely knew what was going on, but what he did know was there was a dog 10x his size chasing him, and his back legs hurt.

His legs did that sometimes, but he never knew why.

He had been trying to see his doctor about it, but it kept getting rescheduled.

Periwinkle jumped on top of a big shelf, the dog couldn't reach him here.

He could finally rest his aching legs.

The cat looked around for a moment to assess his surroundings properly.

Humans trying to hold the dog back.

His parents were there too.

And Dev.... Where was Dev?

Oh Fuzz-nuggets.

Dev had gotten knocked over by the dog and hit his head.

He saw his kid in the distance sitting on the floor trying to pull himself together.

At least Hazel was there to help him.

Suddenly, his mom's hands were held out to him.

The dog was gone!

Peri jumped into Wanda's arms.

Ow

He forgot his legs hurt for a sec, too focused on Dev.

"Peri are you ok?!" His mothers worried voice cut into the silence he only just noticed.

"Yea, I'm ok mom... is Dev?"

"He'll be ok. But speaking of, your not supposed to be around him anymore! Whats going on?" Wanda placed her son on the ground.

Ow, legs.

"He was my first godkid... I couldn't just leave him to go back to his miserable life."

...

"He still needs me... Even if its not as a fairy." Peri looked a little sad now, thinking about how horrible Dev's average life was.

How his sorry excuse for a father was.

Actually thinking of how Dale treats Dev made him more pissed off than sad.

"I understand, just... hope that Jorgen doesn't find out." Wanda shudders at the idea of her son getting in trouble with Jorgen.

Chills run up Peri's spine at the thought.

"Yea- Anyways, I'm gonna go check on Dev." The cat stands up from where he sat, pushing through the ache in his legs to get back to his kid.

He only made it a few steps before his legs gave out under him.

Ow.

"You sure your ok? That dog didn't hurt you right?" Wanda crouched down near Peri.

"The dog didn't hurt me... My legs just hate me." Peri tries to stand back up on shaky, unstable legs.

Then he is picked up by his mom.

"I can take you to Dev, don't push yourself." She hugged him.

Periwinkle smiled and leaned into the hold, purring lightly.

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Both Peri and Dev were sat in the cart while they finished their shopping, which they decided to cut a little short. They only grabbed a couple other things before going to pay for everything.

Pam Wanda insisted on carrying Dev along with Peri to avoid either of them being in any more pain than they already were, even though Dev insisted he could walk himself.

It didn't take long for them to return to the Dimmadome tower.

Hazel insisted she stay over for a bit to make sure Dev was ok.

His head injury was looked at and it really wasn't that bad, no blood or anything, just a little bruised.

They all decided to just watch the animated version of Prime Meridian Love the rest of the night and eventually fell asleep.

Little did Dev know, Hazel liked to latch onto things in her sleep.

Chapter Text

The sun had risen long before everyone woke up, luckily its a weekend now so there's no concern for being late to school.

Cosmo and Wanda woke up first, getting ready for the day and poofing breakfast for the kids into existence before Dev woke up.

Peri woke up next, watching his parents get breakfast set up.

Then he looked over at the kids.

Hazel was latched on to Dev's side like a koala.

Adorable.

Dev woke up to the smell of breakfast, still feeling a dull ache in his head, not super bad though.

He tried to sit up but was stopped by something.

He looked down to see arms wrapped around him.

Hazel's arms.

His face went red.

Whelp, the morning grogginess was gone now at least.

His mind still felt a little weird though.

Hazel woke up, moving her arm to rub her eyes.

"Thanks for finally freeing me." Dev sat up.

It took a sec for her to realize what he meant.

"OH- So sorry!" Hazel sat up quickly.

"I have a habit of latching onto things in my sleep." She rubs the back of her head.

"It's... It's fine." Dev avoided eye contact with her.

And then he felt a hand on his head.

"Your hair- its curly!" Hazel had that amazed look on her face again.

"Wh- I didn't take the gel out last night, how-" Dev put his own hand on his hair.

He noticed his contact was gone too.

Quickly, before Hazel could notice, he grabbed the case where his contacts were in off his bedside table and put it back into his eye.

He didn't take it out, how did that happen?

Peri gives him a look he can't understand.

"I think it looks nice." Hazel's voice cuts through the silence.

"Wha?"

"The curly hair."

"Oh, uh- thanks I guess."

Periwinkle walks over (a little wobbly) and rubs against Dev's arm.

"Hehe, good morning to you too kitty." Dev picks him up and holds him close. That weird feeling in his brain from before made itself a little more known.

Kinda fuzzy.

Almost childish, well, more childish than he was.

"We made breakfast!" Wanda walked over with two plates of food for Dev and Hazel.

"Pancakes!" Cosmo said with excitement.

Both kids eyes lit up at the sight and smell of the pancakes.

They grabbed their plates and ate them pretty quickly.

After the food was eaten and the plates were put away, everyone sat back down on Dev's bed.

"Whatcha wanna do now?" Hazel asked.

"I dunno." Dev responded in a slightly higher pitched tone than usual.

And for some reason he had the urge to put something in his mouth.

But he didn't really have anything that was meant for that.

"Maybe we could watch a show?" Hazel suggested.

"Cartoon?" Dev added to the suggestion.

"Yea!"

So they turned the Tv on, and after some convincing from Hazel, turned on My Little Pony.

Dev was against the idea at first, but he found the show actually pretty enjoyable. Rainbow dash was cool.

The fuzzy childish feeling grew.

One of Dev's fingers had made it to his mouth at some point, earning him a confused look from Peri that he didn't even notice, too focused on the show.

(If you cant see it, go Here )

Hazel and her neighbors didn't notice though, so that was fine.

He didn't want questions he doesn't know how to answer anyways.

Peri moved right next to Dev and curled up into a little cat ball.

The kid picked him up with his free hand and hugged him for a long period of time.

Dev refused to call it cuddling.

He does not need childish things like cuddles.

He does not need to do childish things like putting stuff in his mouth.

But he does those things anyways.

And maybe that's ok.

He let himself relax a little.

Chapter Text

After a while of binge watching Prime Meridian Love, Hazel and her neighbors finally left, leaving Dev alone in his room.

Well, not completely alone, Periwinkle was still there of course.

The silence was nice.

Only the sound of Dev's calm breathing and Peri's soft purring could be heard.

But of course that didn't last long.

Dale entered the room.

That never meant anything good.

Of course he had his laptop in hand, he never stopped work, even when he needed to talk to his son.

Dale only ever comes to Dev's room when he's done something wrong.

"Devin." The man starts.

"Yes?" The child responds.

"Were you hanging out with that girl... what was her name?"

"Hazel? Yea, why?" Dev gave his dad a slightly confused look.

"You can't do that anymore." Dale didn't even look up from his laptop as he spoke.

"What?! Why??"

"She is a bad influence on you."

"How is she a bad influence on me?"

"Look at yourself. Your hair is a mess." He finally looks up from his laptop, gesturing to the curls that sat on top of Dev's head.

But then he noticed something else.

"Where did that come from?" He points at the cat.

"He just... kinda followed me home a couple days ago?" Dev brought Peri into his arms, nervously rubbing a thumb through his fur.

"Get rid of it, you know we don't do pets in this house."

"Wha- No!" He raises his voice slightly and holds the purple cat tighter.

"Did you just raise your voice at me?" Dale closed his laptop, almost slamming it.

Dev flinched back.

Oh no, Dale was pissed now.

"Get. Rid. Of. The. Cat." The man grabbed the cat by the scruff, lifting him out of Dev's hands.

Peri panicked.

HISSSS.

Scratch.

Dale dropped the cat.

Fur stood on end.

Wait.

What did he just do?

"Development Devin Dimmadome." Oh he was super pissed now,

"GET THAT CAT OUT OF THIS HOUSE!" He yelled.

Dale hardly ever yelled like that.

"But-" Dev tried to speak.

"No buts. I don't even get why you're so attached, cats don't even actually care about people."

"Well- Well OBVIOUSLY he cares more about me than YOU!" Dev stood up and pointed accusingly at his sorry excuse for a father.

Dale looked at the boy in shock.

"If you're gonna be so ungrateful maybe you should leave this house too."

What?

Is...Is Dale kicking his own son out of the house?

"Take your disgusting street cat and get out of my house."

Yep- That's definitely what was happening.

Dev scooped Peri back into his arms and got up off the bed, shaking in his boots as tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"FINE!" Dev yelled right before running out the door.

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After scratching Dale, Peri had no idea what happened.

He was too focused on the scratch.

He had scratched Dale.

He harmed a human.

One of the first rules in Da Rules stated that a fairy could not harm a human.

He just broke that rule.

Dale was bleeding because of him.

And then suddenly, they were outside.

It's raining.

Dev is running with tears streaming down his eyes.

What in the fiddlesticks happened?

After a couple more minutes of running, Dev dropped to the ground, now leaning against a tree in the park.

He was breathing really fast.

Faster than a human should be, Peri took note of.

Meow?

Peri tried to get his attention.

But Dev did not calm down, only holding the cat tighter and shoving his face into the soft fur.

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Dev felt like he couldn't breathe.

What was going on?

He didn't like this.

Why couldn't he stop shaking?

Peri was meowing and pawing at him.

He stuffed his face in the soft fur, maybe he could muffle his sobs a little.

He started to feel kinda dizzy.

That probably wasn't good.

Maybe if he could actually breathe.

He fell the rest of the way to the ground.

Or maybe he could just pass out.

At least then he wouldn't be suffering like this.

And that he did.

Darkness creeped into his vision until there was nothing.

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His kid just passed out.

Outside.

In the middle of the rain.

Great! Just great.

Peri paced around nearby. He needed to think of something.

Wait.

If Dev was unconscious, that meant he could use magic and the kid would never know!

He quickly went back to Dev and teleported them to his parents house.

Cosmo and Wanda heard a soft thunk by the front door of their apartment.

"Peri? What are you doing here?" Wanda's gaze drifted to the side of her son, eyes widening.

"What happened to Dev?!" She got up from the couch and quickly picked up the young boy, bringing him back to the couch and laying him down.

"Is he dead?!" Cosmo gasped.

"What? No! he just fainted." Peri looked at his dad.

"How? What happened? And why did you bring him here instead of taking him home?" Cosmo really liked asking questions huh?

"Oh boy, where do I start..." Peri sighed.

"So-" He was suddenly cut off by Hazel entering the apartment, a few rocks in her hands.

Everyone stared at her for a moment.

"I feel like I missed something important..." She says somewhat awkwardly.

Chapter Text

"So.... What happened? You look soaked." Hazel asked as she walked over to the couch.

"Oh yea it's raining outside... and uh, your gonna wanna sit down for this." Peri poofed back into his usual fairy form, and sat down on the table in front of the couch.

Hazel sat on the floor, since Dev was taking up half the couch. She eyed Dev for a moment before looking back at Peri, her expression now more concerned.

So Peri explained everything.

From when Dale entered Dev's room, to Dev being kicked out into the rain, to now.

"Oh and also I scratched Dale!" Peri remembered.

Oh boy...

"I broke one of the most important rules-" He moved a hand over to his head.

"Oh gods, I've been breaking Da rules this entire time haven't I? Just by being around Dev..." His breath began to speed up.

He was supposed to be a rule abiding fairy, what the hell was he doing?

Gods breathing was hard.

But that wasn't the point, Jorgen was gonna be pissed at him!

His hand moved to squeeze his arm as he curled into himself.

He couldn't stop shaking.

His wings buzzed almost as much as his thoughts did.

(if you cant see the drawing, go here! )

What was he gonna do?!

He was spiraling and couldn't get out of it.

At least until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

His mom was in front of him now, guiding him with deep breaths.

It took a moment, but eventually he was able to follow them, and he could hear the soft voice of his mom, telling him he was gonna be ok.

He took one more deep breath, calming his shaking before-

"PERIWINKLE FAIRYWINKLE-COSMA!"

Jorgen.

Everyone's attention instantly went to the huge, insanely buff fairy.

"You have broken multiple of Da Rules!" Jorgen pointed an accusing finger at Peri.

"Yea... I am fully aware." Oh hey the shaking was back.

No. He was not gonna start on that again! He has to be confident and give Jorgen his reasoning for Da rule breaking.

He took another deep breath.

"Before you do anything, let me tell you why I did that stuff." Peri stood up on the table, to be a little closer to Jorgen's height.

Ow, right he forgot his legs fuzzing suck.

He picked up his wand-cane, leaning most of his weight on it.

"I do not think just leaving Dev is an option. He still needs some sort of support, fairy or not." Peri began his explanation.

Jorgen stayed quiet, allowing the purple fairy to continue.

"What he needs isn't something that can be given to him with magic. I didn't realize that before, so I want to make it up to him by giving him at least a little bit of that support however I can."

"Without magic?" Jorgen asks.

"Without magic." Peri confirms.

"I see, and the other rule you broke?" Jorgen crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow.

"I felt threatened, and my first instinct was to fight."

"You harmed a human."

"He grabbed me by the back of my neck! What was I supposed to do?! At least I didn't hurt him with magic!"

"Fair enough." Jorgen puts his arms back down, and then sighed.

Then he thinks for a moment, moving a hand to his chin.

"I will allow you to continue supporting this child on the condition that you do not let him find out you are a fairy, got that?"

"Yes sir."

"Good." Jorgen taps his wand on the ground and poofs away.

Peri lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding as he sank back down to sitting on the table.

"Yay! you can keep being around Dev!" Cosmo exclaims, and then knocks his son down in a big hug.

"Ack- Dad!" Peri tries to push him off, which fails as Wanda and Hazel join the hug.

Their little group hug is cut short when they hear Dev begin to wake up.

Peri quickly poofs back into his cat form, while his parents turn to their human forms.

Mrow?

Peri jumps over to where Dev is on the couch.

"Mmm... Periwinkle?" Dev's eyes crack open to see everyone hovering over him with worried expressions on their faces.

"Dev!" Hazel hugged him.

"Wh- What are you doing?" Dev froze, unsure if he wanted to lean towards or away from the touch.

"Hugging you! I was worried!" Hazel squeezes him tighter.

"That- Makes sense." He decided to lean into the touch, she was warm and he felt cold, probably because he got soaked from running in the rain.

"Are you feeling ok?" Wanda asked.

He thought for a moment.

He could trust these people, right?

"No... I-I'm not." His voice cracked.

Chapter Text

Tears welled in the boy's eyes after what he admitted. A small sob shook him as he curled into himself, leaning further into Hazel's touch. A hand clutched the fabric of her shirt.

He tried to wipe the tears that built, but more replaced them and they began to slip down his face.

"I-" Dev tried to speak, but he couldn't bring himself to say what was on his mind.

I hate him.

"It's ok Dev, Let it out." Hazel moved a hand to brush through his curls.

He buried his head into her shoulder and sobbed, letting it out like he was told.

His sobs filled all the silence in the room.

He felt Peri lean on his back, nuzzling him and letting out gentle, comforting purrs.

Hazel's head leaned on top of his.

Wow.

Dev thinks back, and can't seem to think of a time hes ever felt this comforted, this accepted by anyone.

Or was there...

Ow, headache.

That's besides the point.

Eventually his sobs began to die down, now he just rested in Hazel's arms.

That odd fuzzy feeling from before began to return, he felt so small in Hazel's arms despite being taller than her by a few inches.

"How are you feeling now?" The young girl asked.

Dev didn't know how to respond, he didn't know what the fuzzy feeling was.

"I dunno..." Dev responded in a slightly higher pitched tone than usual.

Hazel gave him a look he couldn't describe as she noticed the very obvious change in the way he spoke.

Dev usually spoke pretty confidently, or attempted to when he was upset. But now it seemed like he wasn't even trying, he almost sounded like a toddler or something.

Peri was also surprised by the way the boy spoke, he had never seen Dev like this before, even during the time he godparented the boy.

Cosmo and Wanda however, just gave the young boy a soft understanding look, like they had seen things like this before. Perhaps from previous godparenting experiences?

"Do you need anything kiddo? like a snack or something to drink?" Wanda leans down a bit to ask the boy.

Dev was silent for a minute or so, thinking over his answer.

"D' you have any juice?" He asked, his voice still in that strange tone nobody was used to.

"Of course, whatever you want, anything specific?"

"Lemon... Lemonade?" He sounded a little unsure of himself, but asked anyways.

Wanda nodded and walked off to the kitchen.

It took her a lot less time than Dev had expected. She walked back into the living room with one of those water bottles with the squishy silicone straws.

"Lemonade for the little lemon-drop!" Wanda handed the lemonade filled bottle to the young boy, who giggled slightly at the nickname, a tiny crack of a smile appearing on his face for the first time in a while.

Dev moved himself off of Hazel even though he didn't want to move away from the touch, to make it easier to hold the drink, he was now sitting semi-curled up next to her.

He took a sip of the lemonade, it was really good.

That was the first time he ever had lemonade, because his dad never let him.

"Do you like it?" Hazel asked.

"Mhm." He nodded as he drank a little more.

Dev decided lemonade was now his favorite drink.

They sat there in silence for a while while the young boy enjoyed his bottle of lemonade, biting on the rubbery straw even when he wasn't drinking the lemonade.

...

"Sooo... do you wanna watch a show or something?" Hazel suggested, getting a tiny bit bored by the silence.

Dev thought for a moment before nodding, he was honestly getting a little bored too.

Wanda turned the Tv on and scrolled through the options till they found something both kids could agree on, which didn't take very long.

Prime Meridian Love obviously.

They decided on one of the more chill episodes, it's been a long day after all.

Peri climbed up onto Dev's shoulders as they watched, nuzzling into the boy's face and purring.

Dev leaned into the cat's touch and moved his hand up to pet him.

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Eventually, once Dev decided he was done with the lemonade for now and put the bottle down on the table, he decided to take Peri off his shoulders and give him a big hug.

He began to mumble something nobody could really make out, though the words 'good kitty' were somewhere in the jumbled up mess of noises.

Wanda giggled and gave Dev a little pat on the head and he gave her a slightly confused look.

Dev didn't really understand, no adults had ever treated him this nicely that he can remember.

H e a d a c h e

He let out a soft whimper at the sudden jolt of pain in his head, and Wanda's hand pulled back as she gave him a worried look.

Nooo... that's not why he was whimpering, he wanted the touch, he wanted to be held and never let go of.

He didn't know why Wanda was being so nice and gentle with him, not that he didn't like it, especially with the odd state of mind he was in right now.

And Wanda hadn't been quite like this with him before, yea she was nice and all, but never quite like this.

Maybe it was because he was upset? or maybe she caught on to whatever was going on with his brain making him feel like a little...er kid.

Dev decided to not think too hard about it, and brought his attention back to the show.

He was distracted enough by the show that he didn't even notice when Hazel pulled Wanda off to another room.

Chapter Text

Hazel pulled Wanda off to a different room, a questioning look on both of the girl's faces, but not for the same reason.

"What's the matter Hazel?" Wanda asked after they stopped.

"Dev is acting... weird. And you're acting like its nothing, do you know whats going on with him?" Hazel asks.

"Well, I've got a pretty good hunch."

"What is it? How do you know what it is? Is it just because hes upset? I need answers!!!" Hazel grabs Wanda by the shoulders and shakes her.

"One question at a time. I know because past godparenting experience, it's something every godparent becomes familiar with eventually."

Wanda paused, thinking of what to say.

"And, it could have been triggered by him being upset... But I don't think I can tell you what it is until I know for sure, and if Dev is even comfortable with it." Wanda continued.

"Why wouldn't he be comfortable with it? I'm sure by now he knows I wont judge him for anything." Hazel questions.

"This is... Something a lot of people don't understand."

"Oh." But she really wanted to know.

...

"I just wanna help him." Hazel looked a little sad.

"I know, and I'm sure you can, just let me handle this little bit. Just be there for him." Wanda puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder. 

"Ok..."

Wanda moves her hand to Hazel and they head back out to the living room.

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Dev lost focus on the show eventually and was now laying on his stomach on the floor, a cat toy in hand waving around Peri.

Peri never knew playing with cat toys would be so fun! He thought as he pawed at the fuzz hanging off a stick. 

Dev giggled as he watched the cat playfully bat his paws at the toy.

Cosmo sat nearby and watched with a smile.

It was nice seeing his son having so much fun with something so simple.

But why wasn't he using his legs at all?

Hm...

Dev slowed the movement for a moment.

"Where's Wanda n' Hazel?" Dev asked.

"Uh- Wait they aren't here?" Cosmo seemed to also have just noticed.

Peri also didn't notice.

"Buh why they leave?" Dev tilted his head to the side a bit. He looked so innocent and sweet. 

Peri's head tilted with him.

"Probably girl stuff?" Cosmo shrugged. 

"Ah." Dev's attention went back to the sweet little kitty.

Hazel and Wanda return.

"How was the girl stuff?" Cosmo asks.

Both of the girls give him a very confused look.

"Good." Wanda responds with a little smile from her husband's mild stupidity.

"Yay!" Cosmo cheers.

Hazel looks towards Dev to see him playing with Peri. She lets out a small giggle at the silliness and walks over to join them. 

Wanda moves to sit next to Cosmo on the couch and watch the kids play.

Something didn't feel right, but that was an issue for another time, for now the kids should get to be happy.

The sound of a stomach grumbling is heard over the giggles.

"Sound like it's dinner time!" Cosmo stands up from the couch.

"Yay!" Dev and Hazel cheer in unison.

Everyone follows Cosmo to the kitchen and goes to sit at the island.

The green man grabs some things out of the freezer and sets it all out on a tray to put in the oven.

The oven is pre-heated and everything's put in.

It doesn't take long for everything to be fully cooked and put on plates for everyone.

Fish and chips!

Hazel's eyes instantly light up at the sight of the fries.

She eats her food pretty quickly.

Dev eats his food a lot slower, his mind still all fuzzy.

He looks over at Peri, a little confused on why he also got a plate. Was this food even safe for cats to eat?

Eh, probably, cats like fish.

The meal was enjoyed by everyone, and it was getting late, maybe it was time for everyone to sleep now.

Wanda brought Dev to an extra room (that was actually Peri's room) they had in the apartment, and Hazel went back to her place.

As soon as Dev got comfortable in the bed, his cat jumped up and got himself comfortable too, right in Dev's arms.

"G'night kitty." Dev buries his face in the blankets as he falls asleep.

And as soon as Peri is sure Dev is asleep.

"Goodnight kid." 

Chapter Text

Dev woke up from a surprisingly good sleep, he hadn't had that in a while.

He sat up in bed and stretched his arms out, accidentally waking Peri in the process.

Mrrp Peri stretched with a big yawn.

"Morning Peri." Dev gave the cat a little pat on the head.

Peri gently paws at the kid's face.

"Alright, time to get up." Dev gets out of bed, picking up his cat in the process.

They head out of the room, Peri’s legs dangling in the young boy’s grip. They are greeted by the smell of breakfast as soon as they arrived downstairs.

Cosmo was making eggs, toast, and bacon. Smells like it's almost done.

Dev is surprised Cosmo could cook so well. He also did that yesterday, but the boy never really processed it properly.

He should figure out what was going on with his brain, that fuzzy feeling seems to be a recurring thing.

That wasn't super important though, he's hungry, and there's food.

"Food's ready!" Cosmo yells happily as he places a few plates down, including one for Peri... again.

Why does he keep feeding the cat human food?

Is this all stuff that's safe for cats? Cosmo’s an adult, he probably knows more about cats than Dev.

"Good morning kiddo!" Wanda walks in from the living room and sits down next to him.

"Morning." Dev tried some of the food, and after deciding it was good, began shoving it in his face.

Yummy.

"Hazel was wondering if you wanted to stop by her apartment and hang out for a bit." Wanda placed down her fork after finishing her food.

"Oh! Uh, sure!" Dev puts his plate in the sink.

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Dev sat in Hazel’s room while she gathered a few activities for them to do. Asking Dev what he may or may not be interested in.

After a lot of convincing, they decided on painting their nails.

Meanwhile, Peri decided to sit on a nearby shelf to simply observe.

"What color do you want?" Hazel asked.

"Uh... Purple maybe?" Dev seemed a little unsure... And the headache was starting to come back. Was he dehydrated again?

Maybe he should get that checked out, having headaches this often couldn't be a good thing.

"Like this?" Hazel held up a purple color that actually kinda matched Peri's fur.

"Sure." Dev held out a hand for the girl to start.

“I used to do this a lot with my brother, so don’t worry! It's gonna look great!” Hazel gently took Dev's hand as she began to paint his nails.

The boy’s face reddened slightly, he looked away.

"This is a nice color on you!" Hazel comments.

"Thanks- I guess." That only made him feel more flustered.

It didn't take long for Hazel to finish, and she put the lid back on the nail polish.

It was time for Dev to paint her nails.

But he'd never done that before, it's probably gonna suck. He wouldn’t be surprised if she took it off later.

She handed him two colors of nail polish, pink and green, like her neighbors.

"This uh, might suck by the way." Dev opens the pink one.

Right before he could start though, there’s a knock on the door.

Hazel's mom opens the door gently. "Hey, sorry to interrupt, but Dev's dad is here to pick him up."

What-

"Wait- he... What?" Dev stutters. Why is he here? He just kicked him out yesterday.

Hazel seems surprised too. Why though? She doesn't know what happened.

He doesn’t think he ever told her.

Maybe she wasn't expecting Dev to be picked up so early?

"Well... I guess I should go then." Dev slowly gets up, and then looks at Peri for a moment.

The cat jumps off the shelf and right to Dev's shoulders.

He purrs against his neck, Dev is nervous. He has to help the kid feel better.

The feeling of Peri being there helps to calm the kid's nerves a little.

Hazel gives a worried look that he didn’t see, he didn't look back as he walked out the door.

Dev walks out to the living room to see his dad standing by the door.

He looks up from his tablet.

His face turns to one of mild disgust at the sight of the cat still there.

"Hey... dad." Dev tries to keep his voice confident... Key word, tries.

His voice ended up sounding quieter and more awkward than he wanted it to.

"Devin, it's time to go home." Dale waves him over.

And what else could Dev do but follow his fathers every order.

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They sit on opposite sides from each other in the helicopter, both of them staring at their tablets, neither saying a word for most of the ride.

Until Dale noticed his son's nails of course.

"Devin." He glanced up for a moment, to make sure the kid heard him.

"What." Dev gave an irritated look up at his dad.

"Your nails." His tone is cold and disapproving.

"It's nail polish, is there a problem?" Dev’s hold on his tablet tightens.

"Don't give me that tone young man. You know Dimmadomes have an image to uphold." Dale makes a gesture with his hand, as to make a point.

"I cannot have you wearing things like... nail polish, especially in a color like that . It's off brand.”  The man finally decides to keep his eyes off his tablet.

"Whatever." Dev turns his attention to his own tablet. Why did his dad even decide to bring him back if he was just gonna complain about his decisions again?

A sigh comes from the older man, it's full of disappointment.

"I thought you would've learned not to give me attitude after yesterday."

Dev doesn't respond, only curling into himself a bit. The reminder of what happened that day made him uncomfortable.

Peri curls himself a little tighter around the kid’s neck, purring and rubbing his face against the boy’s cheek.

The rest of the ride home is silent.

Dev walks silently to his bedroom and flops onto the bed, Peri jumps off and onto the soft fabric in the process.

This kinda reminds him of this one meme... What was it?

Something about being back in a fucking building... Again.

A building he did not want to be in.