Yifan sat there on the windowsill for the longest time that morning as he watched the human boy inside the room sleep. It was past noon and yet the human hadn’t stirred in the slightest. The sun was a bit much as it shone down on Yifan’s wings and he’d be paying for the time that he spent in the sunlight later. When Chanyeol was rubbing some aloe on his sunburn. But that was the least of his problems right now.

He was merely amazed by the fact that the human boy still fast asleep, wrapped up in the bundle of white and baby blue blankets, when usually he was already up and burying himself in his books and the odd box that displayed a person every so often.

The fairy had made note of the boy’s routine every day because he liked watching the human as he went about his day, disappearing in and out of the doorway at certain times. The boy stared at a book for the longest time, sometimes scratching his head, and sometimes taking the book and tossing it across the room. That scene almost always tickled Yifan, along with seeing the way the boy practically pouted at the discarded book.

But right now, he was simply enjoying seeing the boy sleep.

The tulips and roses could be watered later, and if anyone asked, he’d already taken care of the daisies for the day. Chanyeol was busy with his task of helping one of the nearby birds find food for their babies, so there was nothing pressing on Yifan’s schedule today.

Almost an hour later, the bundle of white blankets started shifting and moving about. The boy pushed off one of the blankets and a sheet from over his head, squinting his eyes at the light that poured through the window where Yifan was perched against. He quickly ducked down, hoping that he hadn’t been seen, but upon the loud curse and then the loud thud meeting the floor of the room, Yifan was quick to look back in on the scene.

He had to cover his mouth to keep from giggling when he saw the boy on the floor, scrambling to untangle himself from the blankets and trying to stand up. After the fight with the white sheet that still had his foot encased, the boy was quick to put on his glasses. He picked up the weird rectangle box that lit up and then the boy was quickly moving over to the bigger box, turning it on, and was quickly banging on the rectangle part of the box that made loud clacking noises.

Yifan could hear the sound of the boy’s fingers hitting the buttons through the window. He watched as the boy finally changed the pictures on the box and then there was the familiar face of the older man on the screen. The black haired boy bowed his head towards the box and started talking to the screen.

As everything fell back into almost the same routine as the regular one that Yifan knew of the boy’s, Yifan finally pulled himself from the windowsill and grabbed his pink watering can. He threw one glance back at the human boy before flying off the windowsill into the direction of the tulips.

Junmyeon was focused on the white board behind his professor as he wrote out the equation. He was in such a panicked state from oversleeping and because his alarm clock had been shut off for some reason, but as he started his lesson, he began calming down. The professor accepted his apology and hadn’t held it against him, this is the first time he’d ever overslept for his class.

He started to write down the equation in his notebook when he caught the sight of something pink glistening in the sunlight outside his window. He thought he was seeing things when he glanced over and saw what looked like two pink tinted transparent wings disappearing into the distance. He stared for a moment until the professor’s voice drew his attention back for the next equation.

“You’re going to burn to a crisp one day if you don’t stop watching that guy,” Chanyeol tsked, rubbing the gooey nectar of the aloe vera against Yifan’s neck where his hair hadn’t protected his skin from the sun. “Honestly why do you find him so fascinating?”

Yifan shrugged, wincing when he did so as his shoulder rubbed against the fabric of his shirt, “I like him. Can’t I like him?"

Chanyeol’s eyebrow rose, “I could already tell that when the winter passed and you grew amazed by the sight of the guy when he planted those shrubs.” The red haired fairy pointed towards the pink azaleas. They’d been helping to keep them alive since the human decided to visit the garden outside the walls he lived in.

“He’s beautiful,” Yifan murmured, a dreamy expression falling over his face. “He’s strange, he talks to boxes and sometimes the boxes talk back to him. He stares at books for hours on end before slamming them shut or throwing them. He’s… interesting.”

“Hmm… well, you talk to your watering can… you’re not much different.”

Yifan scowled, “When it becomes empty, why wouldn’t I complain to it?”

Chanyeol rubbed more aloe onto Yifan’s shoulders, “It’s not the watering can’s fault that you forgot to refill it, dummy.” He moved his hands around the areas where Yifan’s wings sprouted from between his shoulder blades. “Besides, it’s not like you can actually let him see you or even meet you.”

Those words caused Yifan’s bottom lip to poke out, his gaze turning sad, “I know… but I just… I just like him.”

“Just be careful.”

Yifan was careful when it came to the watching of his human, he made sure to duck down any time that the human came too close to the window or looked in his direction. He was sure that he had not been spotted, because he was quick to react. He took Chanyeol’s words to heart, be careful, he was being careful.

So when one morning, he found his human missing from the room, he grew to worry as he moved here and there to try and see further into the room. Looking high and low for the black haired boy. But no such luck at finding him in the room.

Yifan was about to fly to another window of the the house to see if he could spot the black haired boy in another room when the curtain to the window was pulled back. And when Yifan looked up, his eyes widened as did the boy’s when they saw each other. He could see the shock on the boy’s face, his mouth hanging open, his eyes large, and Yifan knew he resembled the boy’s expression.

The human was quicker to recover, much to Yifan’s grief, his hand came up to the window and started opening it, his mouth moving and sounded muffled through the glass. Yifan used the time that the boy took to open his window to quickly fly off back into the garden. His heartbeat in his ears, his wings flapping hard against the wind as he flew fast back into the shadows of the tall trees.

Junmyeon stood in shock as he watched the pink clad being dart off the windowsill and disappear into the trees. He was going to open the window and, at least, say hello to whoever it was that was watching him, but the small being took off. He felt like he was going crazy when he pulled back the curtain and saw the tiny being standing there.

The little being, he believed was male, due to the features, couldn’t have been bigger than Junmyeon’s hand. The wings probably added to the being’s height, but everything about the creature was pink, from the pants to the shirt to the creature’s transparent wings. The only thing that wasn’t pink was the mess of black hair. He finally realized what he saw the other day during class must’ve been this pink creature.

“Aw, I was just going to introduce myself,” Junmyeon muttered to himself. He was about to close his window but then an idea struck him. He left the window slightly open at the bottom… just in case.

Just in case of what? If he had startled the little creature that badly moments ago, odds are, the creature wouldn’t come back. But… they might. Who knows, maybe the little creature might use the open window to come into his room?

In that instance, he knew he must’ve been crazier. What if the little creature was some magical being that could turn Junmyeon into a tree or something? He shook his head, chuckling to himself, surely something like that wouldn’t happen… would it?

He bit his lip as he stared at the way he left his window slightly open, then finally shrugged and left it that way.

If the little creature turned him into a plant, at least he wouldn’t have to worry about finals anymore.

Chanyeol rubbed Yifan’s back gently as the younger fairy cried into his shoulder, his little being shaking, and his hands clung to the red head’s shirt. “There, there. I told you to be careful, Yifan.”

“I-I-I was!” Yifan sobbed, “He-He-I didn’t-I didn’t know he was the-there!”

“At least he didn’t do anything to you,” Chanyeol reminded him. “Kyungsoo told me of the little human that started swatting at him when she saw him. Almost as if he were a nuisance.”

Yifan shook his head, “He wouldn’t do that to me.”

It certainly seemed like the human wasn’t coming after him to hurt him. The whole reason why Yifan was crying and clinging to Chanyeol was because it startled him so badly. His little heart couldn’t take surprises like that. But he truly believed his human hadn’t meant any harm.

“Maybe not,” Chanyeol hummed, then pulled back from Yifan to look him in the eye, “I can already tell you’re going to go back to watch him again, but please, be careful, yeah?”

Yifan his bottom lip, nodding, “I will.” He eyed Chanyeol, “How’d you know I was going to go back?”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes, “We were born from the same vine, dummy. I know you’re as hardheaded as I am.”

Chanyeol wasn’t wrong about that. Yifan was stubborn. And after the older fairy had comforted him that evening, the first thing that Yifan did the next morning was make his way back to the windowsill. To his surprise, the window was cracked open at the bottom, something that he wondered if it was intentional or not. It had been closed this whole time, he didn’t believe the window even opened, but apparently it did.

He peered inside to see the human boy sleeping, the bundle of white and blue blankets covering the human. The soft snores could be heard from the crack in the open window. If the human was asleep, maybe… maybe he could check out the inside of the human’s room?

Maybe even see what the box was made out of that the human talked to every so often.

As he bent down and moved under the gap in the window and the windowsill, he could tell that the air in the room felt different than the air outside. It was thicker… if that made sense. It was also a bit warmer too. Especially with him being on this side of the window with the sun blaring down.

The first thing he did was fly over to the box that had fascinated him. He poked at it, made it move slightly, then he poked at the rectangle board below it. The one that made a clacking noise when the buttons were hit. He stepped on one, making a softer clacking noise, then moved over to another one, causing another clacking noise. He grinned down when he stepped on more, the sound growing louder until he heard a shifting of the blankets.

He froze, eyes turning to the pile of blankets but he didn’t see anyone peeking out from under the blankets. The snores were still coming from the bundle. He mimicked wiping sweat from his brow, he was safe for now.

Flying up from the rectangle board, he looked around the room. There wasn’t much stuff in the room. There were the books that the human abused every now and then, there was the smaller rectangle box that made a jingle when it was time for the human to wake up. There was a tall pole with a weird hat on top with a string coming from it.

Yifan grabbed onto the string with both his hands and pulled, the bright light that came from the hat startled him. He backed away from it, leaving the glowing hat alone now. When he turned back to the bundle of blankets on the bed, he was surprised to see that the human had moved the blanket off his face.

His mouth was open, drool falling from it onto his pillow, snores filled the air. Yifan thought he looked cute as he moved closer to the bed. He was going to land on the side of the bed when he finally noticed the half-dead philodendrons that was in the corner he hadn’t explored yet. He looked back and forth between the human and the plant.

The instinct was great in him to go back and grab his watering can to take care and bring back to life the plant, but at the same time, he wanted to watch his human as he slept. He could hear the philodendrons crying out for help but he really wanted to ignore it. Just for a few minutes? Please?

But the plant wasn’t letting up in its calling until Yifan finally groaned heavily and dramatically.

“Fine, fine, I’ll get you some water,” he rolled his eyes, sticking his tongue out at the plant as he flew back to the windowsill to grab his watering can.

Just as he started back to the philodendron, he froze when he saw the human sitting up in his bed and staring at Yifan. It was much like yesterday, the human boy was in shock, but he didn’t look threatening. He didn’t look like he was about to raise his hand and smack Yifan like he was a fly or mosquito.

“Please don’t get scared again,” the human held out his hands, almost as if to show he meant no harm. The words were fast, as if he were sure that Yifan was about to fly back out of the window much like he did yesterday. “I won’t hurt you.”

Yifan was still frozen in his spot. The only thing moving was his wings to keep him from falling out of the air. He saw the human’s gaze kept moving from Yifan’s to his wings behind him.

When it was more than obvious that Yifan wasn’t about to say anything or do anything, the human spoke again, voice softer this time. “You’re a fairy, aren’t you? Or one of the fae?”

Yifan slowly nodded, he’d heard that word before from Chanyeol. That’s what they were, or what humans referred to them as. They were just nature’s helpers. Other than helper, Yifan wasn’t sure what else to call himself.

Even during this time of panic and uncertainty, the philodendron was still crying out to Yifan for water. Much to the fairy’s irritation. Here he was in the middle of a panicked crisis and all the plant cared about was getting water from him. He made the mistake of looking away from the human to the plant to glare at it because when he looked back to the human, the boy had followed his gaze.

“Oh, , sorry,” the human boy rubbed at the back of his head sheepishly, “Is that why you’ve been outside my window? Were you trying to get to my houseplant?” Yifan still didn’t say anything or correct his human. “I keep forgetting to water it, I’m sorry.”

Yifan shook his head, “Y-You’re okay.” His voice must’ve surprised the human because his eyes widened when Yifan finally spoke. Yifan was about to say something else but the plant was practically screaming at him now for water. He growled softly, and keeping his gaze on the human, he flew over to the plant, finally giving it the water that would shut it up.

He kept pouring until his watering can came up empty, he quietly whispered, “Sorry, that’s all you get.” The watering can was a little over half full when he started pouring, the plant should be happy with what it got now.

“I’ll try to remember to water it from now on, I’m still sorry,” the human’s voice drew Yifan’s attention back to him. “You can come back tomorrow and watch me water it, so you know I’m not lying to you.”

That statement had Yifan perking up. He’d already be back tomorrow anyway to watch his human, in secret, but now the human would be looking forward to him coming back. He couldn’t get away with his staring now.

The soft jingle coming from the smaller rectangle box had the boy’s attention drawn elsewhere, and Yifan used that as his chance to escape. He heard his human call for him again but he was out of the window and back towards the shadows of the trees once more.

Junmyeon stared after the pink-clad creature before turning his gaze towards the philodendron. It looked like it had been completely restored from the drooping leaves and the pale green color it was before. It was luscious with green now.

Maybe there was something more to the water the fairy gave it than what Junmyeon gave it?

Over the next few days, Yifan had been perching himself on the windowsill of his human’s room, careful to stay out of sight of the boy as he watched him take a bottle of water and pour into the philodendron every morning after he got up. The plant still cried for more water from Yifan’s watering can, but luckily it wasn’t too loud so the fairy elected to ignore the plant. It was getting fed, it wasn’t like it was starving anymore.

Yifan noticed the way the boy looked towards the windowsill, having opted to leave it cracked like before, but the human’s eyes were always searching, never landing on where Yifan was hidden at. He smiled to himself as things were practically back to normal.

It lasted like that for a week, the same routine as before, with the addition of the boy watering his plant, until Yifan found the window opened that morning and there was humming coming from it.

Creeping up and staying close to any trees or vines that would provide shelter, Yifan made his way to the windowsill and was about to peer in when he came face to face with the human boy. He was seated in front of the window and looking out at the sky overhead.

“Oh, there you are,” the human murmured. “I thought you’d left me.”

Yifan wondered what had changed with the boy’s routine. He should be staring at the person on that weird box, he should be talking to the box, he should’ve been making the clacking noise again with that rectangle board. What was up with the change?

“I’m tired, little one,” his human mumbled. The windowsill was big enough for the boy to cross his arms on it and soon lay his head down on his folded arms. His eyes closed and Yifan was a bit shocked to find the human drifting off to sleep.

He wasn’t sure what to do at first, leave the boy there? The window was open, anything could come in… he turned back and glared at any insects that he could see trying to make a beeline over to the open window. Surely his human wouldn’t want a mosquito or fly to get inside his room, yeah?

Setting down his watering can, Yifan perched himself on the side of the windowsill and guarded the open window. He looked back at the boy, seeing the way that his eyelids fluttered as he slept, the way his mouth moved, his lips smacked before settling. It was just like when he slept in the bed, but no bundle of white and blue blankets covering him.

The human said he was tired. Was he tired of talking to the person in that box? Was he tired of throwing the books across the room or reading them? Yifan could understand the last part. Was he tired of making clacking noises on that rectangle board? Yifan really enjoyed that, he couldn’t find that tiring.

What was his human tired of?

Later that evening when the human started to stir awake, Yifan quickly disappeared back into the shadows of the garden. He sought out his answer in Chanyeol. Since Chanyeol knew so much more than he did.

“Sometimes humans get tired,” Chanyeol shrugged. “You said he has almost the same routine every day, he’s probably sick of it.”

Yifan frowned, looking up from the puddle that the two were washing off in, “Is there anything I can do to help him?”

Chanyeol glanced over at him, chuckling, “It’s just something that humans go through, Yifan.” Yifan didn’t like that answer though. He didn’t want his human getting tired. “What’s something that makes you feel better, Yifan?”

“I like dew drops… they make me feel better,” Yifan replied, but he was already putting together what Chanyeol was getting at. “Dew drops are too small for him to drink.”

“Anything else?”

Yifan shrugged, looking disheartened, “Anything I like would be too small for him.”

Chanyeol hummed, he reached over and ruffled Yifan’s wet hair, “Humans do like flowers. The azaleas he planted before are in bloom, why not gift him a few of the blossoms?”

“Will that make him feel better? To not feel tired?”

Chanyeol shrugged again, “It’s worth a shot.”

So the very next day, Yifan scoped out where his human had planted the few azalea shrubs in the garden. They were in full bloom now and the flowers were so rich with their pink color. It was a shade darker than Yifan’s clothes, and the two blossoms he took from the shrub, with a small apology and murmur of thankfulness to the shrub, were almost the same size as he was.

It was a bit of a feat to carry them over to the windowsill but he did, feeling rather proud of himself. The window was cracked open like it had been and when he looked inside, he saw his human sitting in front of that box again. He was writing something down while the box had a white screen with some scribbles on it.

Yifan didn’t want to interrupt his human’s time with the talking box, but he didn’t want the blossoms to wilt before seeing them. He drug the two blossoms under the window and into the room, placing them out of the sun pouring through the window to keep from wilting faster. When he turned back, he saw that he’d caught his human’s attention because he was staring right at him with a small smile and curious expression on his face.

“Is that for me?” His human asked, sparing a glance back at the box that was still the white screen with scribbles on it, then he turned back to Yifan. Hesitantly, he got up from the desk and moved over to where Yifan was staring up at him from the windowsill.

Yifan didn’t say anything at first as he watched the human pick up one of the blossoms and put it to his nose, smelling it. The smile and the way that the boy’s eyes lit up when he inhaled the scent caused a smile to cross Yifan’s lips as he stared up at his human. He liked when the boy smiled.

“Thank you for the gift,” the boy nodded towards the blossom in his hand. “This is a… what is this? I have no idea what different flowers are.” He shook his head, laughing to himself, “I know, I know, weird since I have a garden outside and, okay, one houseplant but the garden was there when I got the house. And the houseplant was a gift from a friend as a house warming gift.”

That explanation had Yifan’s head tilting to the side in confusion. Why didn’t the boy know what flower it was? He was the one that planted the shrubs. A small voice in his head that sounded like Chanyeol’s provided the answer for him for his human. Dummy.

To stop the rambling of his human’s because he realized that the boy’s mouth was still moving, but Yifan had tuned it out with his confusion, he decided to inform the boy of what the blossom was in his hand. “I-It’s an azalea. From your shrub… you planted it last year.”

The human’s eyes widened at that, then his cheeks tinted red, “Oh.”

Chanyeol’s voice rang back through Yifan’s head in a singalong tune, dummy. And okay, maybe his human could be Yifan’s dummy since Yifan was already Chanyeol’s.

“I don’t want you to think I’m stupid, those shrubs, azaleas, were another gift,” the boy shrugged, “I’m not that much of a nature person… sorry.”

What an odd thing to say to a creature that was nature’s helper, but Yifan shrugged it off. The important question here was his next one. “So you’re not tired anymore? Did the blossoms work?”

The uplifting of the human’s eyebrow told Yifan that he wasn’t sure what he was talking about. Then the boy’s features lit up, like a light bulb going off in his head, “Oh! You’re talking about the other day,” at Yifan’s curt nod, he continued, motioning towards the azalea bloom in his hand, “Was this a gift to make me feel better?”

“Chanyeol told me to give you something that might make you feel better,” Yifan replied, he didn’t feel as shy or as nervous right now. “I was going to get you some dew drops or some nectar from one of the honeysuckles but they’re too small for a human.”

“Oh, well, thank you for the flowers,” the boy was probably wondering who Chanyeol was now that Yifan realized he’d spoken of the other fairy, but he didn’t question it. “I do feel better now, little one.”

Yifan cocked his head to the side, there was that nickname again. “Yifan. I’m Yifan.” Was it dangerous to give humans a fairy’s name? He didn’t know, but now the boy knew his name. He wouldn’t have to call him little one or whatever other nicknames that were insulting to his height.

“Yifan,” the boy repeated, smiling, and the sound of his human saying his name made the fairy brighten up. “My name is Junmyeon. I read you’re not supposed to give fairies your name, but you seem harmless… at least… I hope…?”

Yifan hadn’t heard anything like that before, he’d only heard of humans spraying chemicals or swatting at fairies like they were a nuisance. He was never told that he shouldn’t get humans’ names, because what reason would he need for the name? Other than giving a certain noise to draw a certain human’s attention.

“Are you going to stick around my window now? Or have you been?” Junmyeon asked, then pointed back towards the philodendron, “I’ve been watering my plant now. Every morning. Unless you think that’s too much? I read online how much I should be watering it. Is every morning okay?”

Chuckling softly, Yifan listened to the human ramble on about the stupid plant until he finally decided to ease the boy’s mind. “Every morning is good for it.” Even though he could hear the plant’s disagreement to that, something he simply stuck his tongue out at.

His actions made Junmyeon laugh quietly, “Well, I’ve got to get back to my assignments. You’re more than welcome to stick around, if you’d like. Or not. You don’t have to.”

When Junmyeon went back over to the desk, both of the azalea blooms in his hand, he stuck one over his ear, making Yifan’s wings flutter with how cute the human looked now. The other was placed in his sight on the desk, under the talking box. Seeing his human happy made Yifan happy now. He hadn’t realized just how much he liked seeing a smile on the human’s face, or just watching his daily routine. He didn’t want the human to mope again like he did before.

He’d probably strip both of the azalea shrubs clean of any blooms to gift to his human, Junmyeon, to make sure he was happy. Maybe one day he’d even lure the boy out of the house and out to the garden that Chanyeol and himself had been taking care of since their creations. To show him there were so many more blooms and blossoms to bring a smile to his face and lighten his spirit.

Maybe in exchange for letting Yifan step on more of the buttons on the rectangle board?