Chapter Text
“Stupid pickles,” Minho grumbled, gripping the jar even tighter as he twisted the lid. Or rather, as he tried to twist the lid. For some reason, that jar was particularly stubborn; he’d been trying to open it for fifteen solid minutes, and at that point, his continued attempts were mostly out of spite than anything else. Some bells tinkled faintly, probably someone’s windchimes outside sounding through the cracked window. It may have been raining, but for some reason, his cats Soonie, Doongie, and Dori loved the smell of the rain, so he’d try to always leave the window open a little during storms.
Huffing out a breath, Minho stomped over to one of the kitchen drawers, wrenching it open and pulling out his rubber jar openers. He hated the feeling of the thin rubber on his hands, but the situation was getting dire, and dammit, he wanted to get that jar open. Taking a deep breath, he gripped the jar tightly and tried his hardest yet to unscrew the lid, and–
Nothing.
It wouldn’t budge.
Minho sighed in defeat, leaning his forehead against the fridge next to him. Suddenly, he heard even louder bells, followed by an unfamiliar voice huffing out, “Ugh. Just let me do it. I’m sick of watching you struggle.”
He whipped around, the jar dropping from his hands as he turned to find a strange man standing in the middle of his living room.
Naturally, Minho screamed.
“Whoa, whoa, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Stop– stop shrieking!” The man waved his hands frantically, his pretty brown doe eyes wide as he stared at the freaked-out Minho, who was finally able to get a grip of himself and quiet down. He kept staring at the man, whose chest was heaving with rapid breaths as he backed towards the far wall of the room. “I-I didn't mean to scare you, I just–” That’s when Minho saw them: a pair of delicate, shimmering green wings on the man’s back.
He rubbed a hand over his face with a defeated sigh. “Oh, great. A cosplayer’s come to kill me.”
The man’s eyebrows stitched up in confusion. “A what’s come to– wait, I’m not here to kill you!”
Minho blinked, folding his arms over his puffed-out chest. “Then why are you here, strange man I’ve never seen before?”
“I was just looking for somewhere to rest to keep my wings dry until the end of the storm,” the man said quietly, his wings twitching ever so slightly. How is he doing that? They must be robotic. “Oh, and I’m not a man. I’m a fairy.”
He stared at the man for a moment before bursting into laughter, clutching at his stomach as he doubled over. “A– a fairy? For real?”
The man crossed his arms, the cutest little angry pout forming on his face. “Yes, a fairy. What’s your problem with fairies?”
“What’s my problem with–” Minho shook his head. “Fairies don’t exist. They aren’t real.” Oh god. The strange man in my apartment is insane, too. Of course that would be my luck.
“You think I’m not real?” The man stood up, his wings fluttering in irritation as he walked closer. “How’s this for real?” Before Minho knew what was happening, the man grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulled him closer, and kissed him. For a moment, Minho was frozen, so surprised at the man’s actions that he was unable to do anything but stand there. Then his brain finally kicked back into gear, his hands landing on the man’s tiny waist, pulling him closer as they both melted into the kiss. The man’s hands tangled in Minho’s hair, and his lips were so inhumanly soft, parting immediately when Minho licked across his bottom lip to ask for entrance. He tasted like sugar, and strawberries, and, somehow, the feeling of lying in a warm meadow on a sunny day. When they broke apart, Minho chased the man’s lips as he pulled back, making the man giggle and hide his face in his hands. When he peeked between his fingers, Minho saw the pink flush on the man’s cheeks as he murmured, “That real enough for you?”
Minho couldn’t hold back a smile. “You’re so cute.”
The man’s eyes widened, and before Minho realized what was happening, a cloud of glitter came off his wings with a poof, dusting both of them, and the living room, with sparkles.
“What the-“
“I am so sorry! Oh my god!” The man started frantically brushing the sparkles off of Minho’s shoulders. “I swear this never happens, I-“
“What just happened?”
The man’s cheeks flushed even deeper. “I um… I sometimes poof pixie dust when I’m excited, or nervous, or angry, or scared, or- well, you get the idea.”
“Pixie dust,” Minho hummed, his eyes flitting over the sparkling winged man in front of him. “Oh, shit. You really are a fairy.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying!” The fairy threw his hands up in exasperation, a little cloud of pixie dust poofing into the air with the motion. “What’s your name, anyway?”
“Oh no, no way am I telling you my name,” Minho shook his head. “I’ve heard the stories.”
“Those are all lies! Would it help if I told you mine first? It’s Jisung.”
“Jisung,” Minho murmured, watching the fairy’s cheeks tint pink.
“It sounds much prettier when you say it,” Jisung mumbled, averting his gaze and shuffling his feet as his wings fluttered shyly.
Shit. He was already enamored with the pretty fairy. Honestly, he could’ve asked Minho for anything, and he probably would’ve said yes. He sighed. “Minho.”
Jisung’s eyes flicked up, roaming over Minho’s face as his cheeks flushed deeper. “A pretty name for a pretty man.” It was Minho’s turn to blush, unable to suppress a smile as he looked at the fairy, who took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen, gesturing at the broken jar of pickles on the floor with a shrug.”Well, problem solved, I guess?” Jisung dropped down, just about to grab a pickle up off the pile of broken glass.
“No!” Minho grabbed the fairy’s wrist, making him look up at the human with wide, shocked eyes. “Th-There’s broken glass, we can’t eat those anymore. You’ll get hurt.”
Jisung blinked, his fingers slowly closing around the air as his wrist relaxed in Minho’s hold, and the human couldn’t resist rubbing his thumb back and forth over the fairy’s soft skin as the fairy whispered, “You care if I get hurt?”
Minho nodded, a soft smile tugging at his lips. “Of course I do.” The fairy’s cheeks flushed, and he covered his face with his free hand, whining softly into his fingers. Cute. “By the way, how did you get in here?”
“Oh!” Jisung stood quickly, losing his balance a little. Minho reached out, wrapping an arm around the fairy’s waist to steady him. Jisung’s hands landed on his chest, making the fairy’s blush deepen as he looked up at Minho. “I-I flew in your window.”
“Wha– how?” Minho’s jaw dropped, blinking at the human-sized fairy in confusion. He knew he hadn’t left his window open wide enough for an entire person to fit through.
The fairy pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. “Well– We can kind of change size. Like, I can shrink down super tiny, or I can be this size.”
“You can shrink yourself?”
Jisung nodded, then stepped back from Minho– the human immediately mourning the loss– before waving his hand and, in a cloud of pixie dust, shrunk down to only a few inches tall. The fairy’s wings fluttered as he floated in the air in front of Minho’s face, his hands gesturing wildly as the sound of tinkling bells filled the air.
“The bells,” Minho murmured, staring in awe at the tiny fairy in front of him. Jisung paused, visibly sighed, then with another wave of his hand and another poof of pixie dust, he was back to his full human size– and back in Minho’s arms. He couldn’t help but pull the fairy closer, trying not to be too obvious about it, though it didn’t seem like Jisung minded.
“I forgot humans can’t understand us when we’re tiny,” Jisung chuckled, a sheepish grin on his face. Minho almost thought the fairy leaned further into his hold, but then again, why would he? They’d only just met, and sure, Jisung had kissed him, but maybe that was just how fairies greeted each other? “Hellooo, Minho?”
Minho blinked, his eyes coming back to focus to find Jisung waving a hand in front of his face. “Sorry, this is just–”
“A lot?” Jisung chuckled, shifting closer– this time, Minho was sure. Especially when the fairy pecked his cheek. “Well, you’re handling it exceptionally well. I’ve had humans who completely lost their shit when they saw me before. One person even tried to feed me to their cats!”
A laugh broke out of him at that, making the fairy in his arms pout. He pulled Jisung closer, resting their foreheads together. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh, it’s just– I have three cats, and I think if anyone tried to get them to eat anything other than their fancy food or churu, they’d look at them like they were nuts.”
“Th-Three?” Jisung stammered, his eyes blowing wide with fear as he looked around the apartment in panic. “Where? Are you sure they don’t eat fairies?”
He lifted a hand to cradle one of Jisung’s cheeks, using it to turn the fairy’s face towards his. “I’m sure. You’re safe here, I promise.”
Jisung’s cheeks flushed their brightest shade of red yet, and he leaned into Minho’s touch, a tiny cloud of pixie dust poofing off his wings. “I believe you.”
𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ⋆˚࿔⊹𐀔