A/N: Hey, everyone! I'm canceling the hiatus until I get to Costa Rica in March, so I'll be attempting to finish up the stories I've got going before then. Sorry this took like 5 months for me to update  -____- 

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Quick thinking and equally quick action on Seunghyun’s part was the only thing that kept his mother from noticing that the man in the bathtub with him wasn’t exactly human. The writer wrapped his arms around Jiyong and pulled his winged back against his chest, hiding the diaphanous appendages from her view. The fairy struggled for a moment as he wiped the water and bubbles from his face, but calmed considerably once he realized Seunghyun was effectively hugging him from behind. . The mischievous smile came back even as the last of his startled scream died on his lips.

Seunghyun’s mother, however, hadn’t recovered quite as quickly.

“Oh, oh my God!” she yelped, hands rising from her chest to flutter anxiously at her red cheeks. “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t realize you had company, sweetheart!”

“Hi! I’m Jiyong,” the fairy blurted as the embarrassed woman turned around and slipped out of the bathroom. Seunghyun clamped a hand over Jiyong’s mouth to keep him from saying something he shouldn’t, but the smaller man bit him in retaliation. He turned to face Seunghyun, and frowned. “Is that your mother?” he asked, brows furrowed. “Why would she run away?”

“Because we’re and bathing together, and I’m sure the sight took ten years off her life,” Seunghyun groaned, releasing Jiyong from his arms. The fairy slid back to the other side of the tub, mouth still turned down in an unhappy expression. “I should have known something like this would happen.”

Seunghyun quickly pulled Jiyong into his bedroom after wrapping him in the largest towel he could find, and threw several items of loose clothing at him. The confused boy only stared at the sweatshirt, pants, and robe as if they were the strangest things he’d ever seen.

“Put those on,” Seunghyun said, donning his own clothing. “You’ve got to keep your wings hidden from my mother. She won’t understand.”

Jiyong struggled with the sweatshirt. Seunghyun helped him pull it over his pink-and-blue head, ruffling his hair once he was done. “Please try not to speak unless she asks you something directly. Hopefully this won’t be a long visit.” Seunghyun glanced down to find Jiyong staring up at him with a very sad expression. He cupped the fairy’s still-flushed cheek and frowned. “What’s the matter?”

“You… are you ashamed of me?” he asked, voice a whisper in the silence of the room. “You pushed me under the water, and now you don’t want me to speak. Did I do something wrong?”

Seunghyun saw his chin wobble; tears welled up in his bright blue eyes. He pulled Jiyong to his chest and kissed the top of his wild hair. “No no no, nothing like that. I just wasn’t prepared for my mother to find us in the bathtub together. I reacted badly. I’m sorry.”

The fairy sniffled, but gave him a tiny smile. “Okay. I’ll be good. I want your mother to like me.”

Something in his chest tightened at that. God, but he could be adorable when he wasn’t being a huge pain in the .

“She’s going to love you; how could she not?” Pink eyelashes fluttered over equally pink cheeks, and Seunghyun caught a flash of white teeth before Jiyong ducked his head. With a grin of his own, he wrapped the smaller boy in his red flannel bathrobe, then tied the sash around his slim waist. “Good to go.”

They walked into the kitchen, where Seunghyun could hear ceramic clinking against maple. The sound of a fork scraping across china almost made him laugh. When his mother got nervous, she ate. They found the tiny blonde at the table, three pieces and the remainder of a blueberry pie set out across the spread.

“Oh, sweetheart!” she mumbled through a mouthful of pastry, “I brought you a pie!” A guilty look flashed over her gentle features as she glanced down at her half-eaten piece. Seunghyun settled Jiyong into a chair, then kissed his mother’s cheek.

“Looks great, mom. But what brought you all the way out here? I wasn’t expecting you and dad until Thanksgiving.”

“Well, I decided to drop in on your aunt for the weekend, and thought I’d make a quick detour before I head to the coast. I suppose I should have called first,” she murmured, green eyes squinting in mirth as she smiled kindly at Jiyong. “Hello, I’m Elaine.”

“I knew you weren’t Korean!” the fairy answered, mouth full of the pie he’d so eagerly dug into the second he’d sat down. Seunghyun fought the urge to hit himself in the face. “I’m Jiyong. I’m not Korean, either!”

“Oh, really?” Her confusion was understandable, seeing as Jiyong looked Korean, spoke Korean, and had a Korean name. But Seunghyun wasn’t about to tell her why he wasn’t actually Korean. “Where did you and Seunghyun meet?”

“At an art exhibit at the local university,” Seunghyun said, squeezing Jiyong’s leg under the table. He hoped he knew that was the signal to keep quiet. “Jiyong’s studying the influence of counterculture on popular culture. It’s fascinating if you’re into that kind of stuff, but really boring if you’re not,” he finished, knowing full well his mother wasn’t interested in art of any kind, unless it involved baking.

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t be able to keep up, but I’m sure you two have some wonderful conversations.”

“Oh, we do!” Jiyong nodded enthusiastically. “I do most of the talking, though. Seunghyun is so quiet, and I’m a loudmouth. That’s what he calls me, anyway, but I don’t get it. How can a mouth be loud? This pie is delicious!” He glanced over at Seunghyun and blushed at the bewildered look on his face. “I might still be a little drunk.”

Elaine giggled at his forthrightness. Jiyong only blushed harder.

“I’m sorry I burst in on you boys earlier,” she apologized, “but your front door was wide open, sweetheart.”

“That’s my fault,” Jiyong admitted. “I didn’t shut it when I flew- I mean flung it open. I was just really excited to see Seunghyun.”

If his mother didn’t seem so taken with the blue-eyed boy, Seunghyun would have groaned at that. Not that he felt the need to hide much of anything from her besides Jiyong’s non-human status (she’d known he was gay before he’d realized it himself), but if the conversation continued in this direction, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t be listening to Jiyong describe the ways in which he’d tried to seduce the abstinent writer. To his mother. Which, given Jiyong’s lack of filter and shame, was a definite possibility.

“Were we going to start that Piers Anthony novel tonight?” he asked Jiyong before the fairy could begin explaining why he’d been excited to see him. “I didn’t realize you were that fond of puns.”

“I’m not,” the pink-and-blue haired boy confirmed, lips curled up into that mischievous smile Seunghyun both dreaded and adored. “I’m fond of you.”

The conversation continued until after Jiyong had finished off his second piece of blueberry pie. The fact that his teeth were stained a deep purple didn’t stop him from flashing them at Elaine several more times. The writer found it absurdly charming. He was sure Jiyong and his mother would have talked each other’s ears off (mostly about him) if the fairy hadn’t started yawning after he’d taken his last bite of pie.

“Seunghyun, I’m sleepy,” he whispered, yanking at the sleeve of his robe. “I might have to… to go soon,” he said, eyebrows raised conspiratorially. If there was one thing neither of them wanted Elaine to see, it would be Jiyong suddenly transforming into a foot-tall, flying thing.

They said their goodbyes at the door. Elaine surprised Jiyong with a quick hug, and came away from the embrace looking a bit confused. She’d probably felt Jiyong’s wings under all the layers of cotton in which Seunghyun had wrapped them, he realized. His blood ran cold for a brief second, until his mother gathered him into her arms and kissed his cheek.

“I’m glad you’ve found someone sweet like him,” she whispered, squeezing him tightly. “Even if he is a little odd.” Seunghyun could feel his ears turning red when they parted, but he smiled down at her all the same.

“You do realize who you’re talking to, don’t you?”

Elaine rolled her eyes and patted his cheek. “Yes, yes, my eccentric son. I love you.”

“I love you too, mom.”

As soon as the door was shut, he walked into his living room, sat down on the couch, and let out a very relieved sigh. In the next second, Jiyong was all over him. He draped himself across the bigger man’s lap, arms looping around his neck and nose digging into his throat.

“I really like your mother,” he said, hot breath skating across the sensitive skin under Seunghyun’s chin. “And I think she likes me, too.”

“I’m not surprised you two got along so well,” the older man replied, suppressing a shudder when Jiyong’s eyelashes fluttered against his neck.

“Why’s that?”

“Because you’d both talk to a wall if there was no one else around.”

Jiyong yanked Seunghyun’s hair playfully and poked him in the cheek, and he did absolutely nothing to stop him. There were times when Jiyong’s handsiness was bothersome, but this little bit of perhaps-deserved abuse felt right –like it was exactly what should be happening between them. Seunghyun grinned up at his ceiling and nipped at the other boy’s fingers when they poked too close to his upturned lips. The fairy’s muted laughter only made him smile more.

“Seunghyun?” Jiyong prodded a few moments later, once he’d grown bored of tormenting the writer. “Elaine isn’t your real mother, is she?”

Coming from anyone else, that question might have sounded intrusive. In fact, someone had once asked him that very same thing when he was in high school. His classmate hadn’t been curious so much as angling to start a fight, however, and he’d couched his inquiry in language implying Elaine was more hooker than hero. Seunghyun had given him his answer in the form of a solid right hook. Jiyong was many things, but malicious wasn’t one of them, so the brunette just grinned at him and shook his head.

“She’s not my biological mother, but she’s the only one I’ve ever known. She came over from America in the 80s to study under a famous pastry chef in Seoul. My dad met her in Itaewon one night, told her she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and they’ve been madly in love ever since. My real mother died giving birth to me.” Jiyong gave a tiny gasp at that bit of news, and tightened his grip on the front of Seunghyun’s shirt. “I would have loved to meet her, but Elaine is the best mother anyone could hope for. Especially a gay kid in Korea.”

“What’s ‘gay’?” the fairy wondered, eyebrows drawn together in confusion. Seunghyun snorted.

“You’re telling me there’s no such thing as ‘homouality’ in fairy society?”

“Um, I don’t know what that word means. So, no.”

“’Homouality’ is when a man is attracted to men, ually, or a woman is attracted to other women.”

“Humans have a name for that?” Seunghyun nodded. “And do humans consider ‘homouality’ bad?”

“I don’t think all humans do, but in Korea, being gay is looked down upon. My mom is one of the only people who never made me feel like I was a freak just for being who I am. She’s supported me in everything I’ve done, and I wouldn’t trade her for the world.”

Small arms went back around his neck, and he found himself being pulled into a tight hug. “I’m sorry anyone ever made you feel bad about yourself, and I’m so glad your mother is such a wonderful person. I knew she must be special even before I met her.”

“Oh, yeah?” Seunghyun asked. He let his own hands rest at the small of the fairy’s back, and his eyes drifted shut. “How’s that?”

“Because she raised you.”

His heart leapt into his throat at that. All he could do was pull Jiyong closer to him, and smile into his cotton candy hair. It really wasn’t fair. One minute Jiyong could be mortifyingly naïve, and the next so endearing Seunghyun could think of nothing he’d like more than to spend the rest of his years in this old house with his mischievous fairy.

His. The thought didn’t even give him pause. Instead, it gave him a very peaceful, tranquil feeling that seemed to radiate from the very center of his being.

“And… Seunghyun?”

“Yeah, Ji?”

His absurdly beautiful fairy pulled back to smile brightly at him, blue eyes shining.

“Next week, I want to take you to meet my family!”