He was back.

He returned every summer.

He entered the homely cottage.

A pair of eyes watched him.

This time, he was different.

He had grown to be more mature.

He wondered… did he believe in fairies anymore?

He turned away.

---

“Sehun?” he called, carefully stepping through the tall grasses.

“Sehun, are you there?” A small head popped out from within a daisy.

“Sehun!” The fairy smiled and shook out his silver-tinted wings.

“I thought you might have forgotten about me. Or that maybe you had stopped believing.”

“I would never! You’re my best friend.”

---

It had been the hottest summer since the last decade.

Sehun had been sitting on a leaf under the tree by the stream.

Suddenly, a huge thing had plopped down next to him.

He had darted up, frightened.

The thing had gasped.

The thing was a human.

Sehun had been seen.

He rushed away.

The human had called out behind him, “Wait!”

And something had made Sehun wait.

“I don’t want to hurt you. I’m sorry if I scared you. I didn’t know you were there.”

Sehun had turned.

“I’m Luhan. My grandmother lives here. I’ll be coming every summer so she won’t get lonely. My grandfather died last month.”

Sehun had fluttered back and sat down on Luhan’s knee.

“I did hear a lot of crying last month… is that why?”

Luhan nodded.

“I love my grandmother, but I don’t want to spend all my time with her. I mean, it’s a little boring, talking about old woman stuff.”

Sehun decided to take a risk and made a spontaneous decision.

“I’ll be your friend.”

Oh, how Luhan’s eyes had lit up…

“Really??”

“For as long as you stay here, and as long as you come back.”

Even though it was daytime, Sehun had seen stars.

He saw them in Luhan’s deep eyes.

Brightly shining stars.

---

They sit by the stream.

The tree had long since grown taller.

Taller and wider.

They are both ten years older than they were that day.

“You should be sixteen now?” Luhan asks.

“Mhm. You’re… you’re twenty.”

Sehun is shocked by the age difference.

“Haha, most twenty-year-olds wouldn’t believe that there are fairies in the world.”

Luhan’s voice is resigned.

Resigned and sad.

“But you do.”

Sehun’s voice is determined.

Determined and desperate.

Luhan looks at him.

“Of course.”

Sehun fixes him with a stare.

“But will you? Forever?”

Luhan stares back.

He cannot answer that question.

Sehun takes to the air.

“I hear my brother.”

Luhan watches him fly away.

He watches his silver wings.

It is daytime, but Luhan sees stars.

He sees them on Sehun’s wings.

Brightly shining stars.

---

“Back already?” Junmyeon calls from the kitchen.

“Mhm,” Sehun replies noncommittally.

“Hey hey hey, that’s too casual.”

The two are not true brothers. They live together with Jongdae and Chanyeol.

In another hollow of a nearby forest tree live Baekhyun, Jongin, Minseok, and Yixing.

They are all brothers, and yet they are not.

“Yes.” Sehun doesn’t have the energy to argue.

Junmyeon notices.

“What’s wrong?” He knows about Luhan, but not… not… this.

“Tired,” Sehun lies. “I’ll be in my room.”

And he shuts the door on Junmyeon, three years older than he.

---

Sehun’s room is a masterpiece.

He is the youngest, and so naturally, the others let him have the best room.

It has two windows. One looks over the meadow. The other, the river.

The walls are covered in beautiful drawings.

Some are pencil sketches. Others, watercolor paintings.

The paint is made from various plants.

Fairies are not Borrowers. They take what is needed from Nature.

No more, no less.

…usually.

The house is an old thing.

The previous owner had believed in fairies.

Her name was Taeyeon, and she had willingly given the dollhouse to her fairy friends.

But of course, she grew up.

And stopped believing.

They had kept the house, situated in a large hollow, empty on both sides, high on the trunk.

Its placement was perfect, for no human could spot it from any angle.

The house had a lot of bedrooms.

Being the oldest, Junmyeon had first pick.

But, then again, being Junmyeon, he had chosen the small, stuffy attic.

Chanyeol took the room closest to the kitchen.

Jongdae insisted on a room on the other side of the house.

Baekhyun, when they visited, usually slept with Chanyeol.

Jongin usually shared with Sehun.

Minseok would take a room close to Jongdae.

And Yixing would then be stuck with the living room.

Not that any of them minded, of course.

---

“Luhan!”

“Sehun! You’re back!”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well… I thought maybe you were still mad at me.”

Sometimes, Luhan could act even younger than Sehun.

“I wasn’t really mad… hey, uh… I need to tell you something…”

“Hm? Yeah?”

“I-I… I l-”

“Luhan.”

It’s Junmyeon.

Sehun flushes a dark pink.

“Junmyeon!”

With a flutter of red-dusted wings, Junmyeon alights on Luhan’s hand.

“Continue, Sehun?” he urges with a very Junmyeon-like gaze.

“…it’s not important…” Oh, but it is.

It is very important.

“Ok, but will you tell me later?” Luhan’s eyes sparkle.

Sehun’s mouth quirks.

“Later.”

Junmyeon bites back a laugh.

He knows all too well what it was that Sehun hadn’t the courage to say in front of him.

Sehun sleeptalks in less languages than he.

---

“Eyyyy, what’re we eating tonight?”

Chanyeol drops onto the branch, shaking out his peach-colored wings.

“Please, Chanyeol. Do you have the key?” Jongdae’s sunset wings shimmer in annoyance.

“Yeah, right h… uh…”

“…Chanyeol!”

“I’m sorry!”

“…I have it. But wait, how… I wasn’t… CHANYEOL!”

But Chanyeol, cackling, had already snatched the key, unlocked the door, and darted inside.

“What’s into him?” Junmyeon asks, at the stove. Sehun is lying on the couch, waiting for food.

“He’s just happy that Baekhyun and them are visiting tomorrow.”

Sehun sits up from his previous position on the couch.

“What.”

---

Baekhyun does not approve of fairies and humans interacting.

Minseok is completely fine with it.

Yixing doesn’t mind at all.

And Jongin is neutral.

Jongdae’s eyebrows furrow.

“…oh.”

“‘Oh’ indeed.” Junmyeon sets down his cooking utensils.

“I don’t want Chanyeol blabbing…” Sehun seems to shrink into the couch.

Jongdae sits down beside him, rubbing his back.

“We’ll figure something out…”

They had tried to prevent Chanyeol from finding out.

When that had failed, they had tried to limit their visits to Baekhyun, and his visits to them.

“Wait, Sehun-ah, your situation…”

“Speak of the devil,” Junmyeon intones softly. “Chanyeol, he cannot know.”

Chanyeol’s eyebrows knit together.

“But he’s our friend…”

“Friend or not,” Jongdae speaks forcefully. “He cannot know.”

“I don’t want him kicking Sehun out.” Junmyeon’s quiet voice penetrates the room easily.

“Junmyeon, you’re the oldest!” Sehun bursts out.

“Minseok is the eldest. And he usually abides to Baekhyun.”

“But-”

“No buts. Chanyeol, either you keep quiet about this or we lock you up and make up an excuse.”

In the end, Jongdae prevails.

The food is tasteless that night.

Each goes to bed dreading the next day.

---

“Sehun?” Luhan whispers to the grass. “Are you there?”

“Luhan.”

It’s Junmyeon again.

“Where’s Sehun?”

“Baekhyun is coming soon.”

And Luhan understands.

“I’ll go back.”

“Tomorrow. Evening.”

“Tomorrow evening.”

---

Luhan remembers when Sehun had told him about Baekhyun.

“He doesn’t like humans and fairies interacting…”

“Why not?”

“It’s… we’ve been hurt too much by humans in the past.”

“Oh, but-”

“No. I mean physically.”

“…oh.”

“Some of them see us as butterflies. Others see hideous freaks of nature.”

“…they destroy you.”

“…you’ve seen.”

“…yes.”

“Baekhyun just doesn’t want to see any of us hurt.”

“Hey, Sehun?”

“What?”

“You look like Tinker Bell.”

And indeed, Sehun had dressed in light green that day.

“W-well-”

“And if you’re Tinker Bell, then I must be Peter Pan.”

“And we go on adventures together.”

“And you live in Pixie Hollow.”

“And you have your Lost Boys.”

“Hehe, I have my own Tinker Bell.”

“I don’t have fairy dust yet, you know…”

“Not now, but soon.”

“…and then…”

And then you could be a fairy too.

“And then what, Sehun?”

“And then I’ll be an adult.”

“Ah… yes.”

---

And so Luhan waits. He sits in the shade of the porch and stares into space, into the meadow.

“What are you doing back here on a nice day like this?”

It’s his grandmother.

“Grandmother, sit here. I was just, uh…”

“Fairies,” she replies calmly.

“Uh?”

“There are fairies in the meadow. I’ve seen them, as a little girl.”

“Uh.”

He is much too shocked to respond with anything else.

“Yes… there was a beautiful girl fairy with flowing black hair. Her name was… Yoona.”

“…did you meet a boy fairy called Kris?”

“Hmm… I don’t think so. I mostly talked with Yoona and her friends, Jessica, Tiffany, and Sunny. But they may have known a Kris.”

“Oh…”

“Why? Have you met any fairies?”

“…”

“It’s ok if you don’t want to say, dear.”

And she starts to wheel herself back inside.

“But they are beautiful, aren’t they?”

“Yes… they truly are.”

“Ah, and you know…”

“Yes?”

“There is a legend…”

The old woman’s brown eyes twinkle.

“Yes? What does it say?”

“Once, there was a boy. He believed in fairies.”

Like me.

“Once, there was a fairy. He believed that not all humans were bad.”

Like Sehun.

“This boy and this fairy, both very lonely, became the closest of friends. But another fairy, one of his friends, did not approve of human-fairy relationships.”

Like Baekhyun.

“As you know, fairies obtain fairy dust when they turn of age. This fairy dust, seemingly useless, has a secret…”

“…what is it?”

“It can turn humans into fairies.”

!! …that… that… that’s what he… that’s what he wanted to do…

“Did he do it? Did he succeed?”

“The fairy did try. And succeed he did… but…”

“But?”

“…he died in the process. He used too much dust…”

“…”

“The boy, after being turned into a fairy, was then immortal, because the dust had been full of the fairy’s love. Even in death, the fairy had no regrets.”

“…and what happened to him, the boy who turned?”

“Legend has it he still wanders this very meadow, searching for his fairy…”

“…is he still here?”

“It’s an old legend, dear. But legends… usually do have a hint of truth.”

And Luhan is left alone on the porch, still trying to process the story.

Trying not to run to Sehun and beg him to please don’t try to turn him.

Please don’t go…

---

“Sehun! You’ve grown!”

“Aw, but you never seem to age, Minseok.”

“Pfft, nor does Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun fixes his elder with a piercing glare.

Minseok stares back with a gaze devoid of its usual warmth.

“Hey, no need to argue. Neither of you seem old, ok? You’re still both young.”

Junmyeon watches Chanyeol separate the two.

He knows exactly what has made the two so mad.

Baekhyun’s sunshine wings shudder in rage.

Minseok’s rosy wings remain calm and still.

Yixing steps between them, grass-tinted wings acting as a shield.

Jongin watches from the couch, lazily folding gray-stained wings.

“Well, well, well. Look at that,” someone says from the doorway.

A short figure with ocean-colored wings steps in.

“Kyungsoo!”

The party forgets about their fight and rushes to embrace the newcomer.

Kyungsoo is suddenly overwhelmed with hugs.

“Uh, no, stop, really-”

“How was your trip? Did you find out a lot?”

Sehun and Jongin bounce around like grasshoppers.

Kyungsoo exchanges glances with Baekhyun.

“It was very informational. I’ll tell you about it at dinner.”

“JUNMYEON, MAKE FOOD!” yells Jongdae. “I WANT TO HEAR THIS STORY!”

“Wait, I’ll cook,” Kyungsoo offers. “It’s a new recipe I learned from faraway lands.”

Chanyeol snickers.

“I bet it’s just mush from those folks on the other side of the stream.”

“Shut up.”

Baekhyun administers him a slap on the side of the head.

“It’s too crowded. I’m going out for some air. Want to come, Baek?”

Minseok’s gaze shoots a hole through Baekhyun, but he spreads his wings anyway.

As soon as they are out of earshot, the latter wastes no time whatsoever.

“Don’t you DARE mention my age. You KNOW how dangerous it is.

“I didn’t mention your age.”

“My APPEARANCE as opposed to my age.”

“And what of me?”

“You’re different. You actually age.”

“…Baekhyun… he’s gone.”

“HE IS NOT.”

“He is, and you know it. And that is why you hate human-fairy interactions so much.”

“YOU-”

“Byun Baekhyun…”

Baekhyun’s shoulders tremble, whether in rage or grief.

Minseok’s eyes are soft as he watches him.

Suddenly, Baekhyun shoots past Minseok and dives into the meadow.

Moonlight illuminates his delicate yellow wings.

The light reflects back.

Minseok sees stars.

Brightly shining stars.

---

Later, after Kyungsoo has recounted countlessly of his encounters with wild squirrels, raccoons, and the like, Sehun asks Junmyeon why Baekhyun and Minseok were fighting.

Junmyeon runs a hand through his hair, mouth set in a line, and refuses to answer.

“That is not for me to say.”

Sehun watches his elder shoot out of their home and across the meadow.

His red wings sparkle, like rubies under the stars.

Fairy dust.

If only Sehun had fairy dust…

And suddenly, there it is.

He understands.

Why Baekhyun never seems to age.

Why Baekhyun hates human-fairy relations.

Why Baekhyun always has so much dust clinging to his wings.

Baekhyun was the human-turned-fairy.

---

“LUHAN!”

Sehun screams for his friend, tearing through the grass.

Luhan bolts up.

“Sehun! What’s wrong??”

“You, legend, old, you know?”

“What?”

“Human, turned fairy, old legend, you know?”

“Yeah, just heard it today. That’s why you want dust so badly!”

“Yeah, yeah, but no, listen…”

It takes Sehun a while to get his breath back.

 “Baekhyun. Baekhyun was the one turned.”

And suddenly, it all makes sense.

“Baekhyun… he…”

“OH SEHUN!”

Speak of the devil.

An enraged Baekhyun charges towards them at full speed.

“BYUN BAEKHYUN!”

Minseok and Junmyeon are hot on his trail, followed by everyone else, including Kyungsoo.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING??”

The shouts are echoed from every fairy present, and the air smells of gunpowder.

Sehun hovers in front of Luhan, standing his ground.

Baekhyun’s face contorts in fury.

But that is nothing compared to the wrath of Yixing, usually the calmest of them all.

“BYUN. BAEK. HYUN.”

He tackles Baekhyun to the ground, enunciating each syllable clearly.

“Yixing, let go of him.”

Kyungsoo arrives breathless.

“Let me talk to him.”

“He can talk like this.”

Jongdae, as always, is merciless.

Even Minseok and Junmyeon do nothing to stop him.

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes to the Heavens and sighs.

“Yes. Baekhyun is the human-turned-fairy. It happened a long time ago. So long ago that the story is now legend. The fairy’s name-”

“NO!”

“-was-”

“STOP!”

“-Zitao.”

Baekhyun thrashes, as if unable to bear the pain of the reopening of an old wound.

“There was nothing romantic between them,” Kyungsoo continues, oblivious.

“No, you’re wrong.”

“Am I?”

“He loved me. But I, I could see him as no more than a brother.”

“Mhm. Yes, well… Zitao turned himself into dust to turn Baekhyun.”

“Neither of us had anything to lose…”

Baekhyun’s face distorts into something of contempt.

“I was an orphan, and he, unloved. If it had worked, we would have been together forever.”

“It did work, but as with everything, it came with a price.”

“A price much too high.”

For a moment, it seemed as if Baekhyun might cry.

But he had already been.

Then he looks up at Sehun, and his face is pure rage.

“Now do you understand?” he spits. “I was only trying to protect them.”

“Them?” Junmyeon scoffs, expression incredulous, voice carefully controlled. “US?”

Softly, Jongin speaks for the first time.

“You could not stop us, Baekhyun. If we chose, as Sehun did, to love, you could not stop us.”

“No, but I could try, couldn’t I? You would only get hurt-”

“But it would be worth it.”

Luhan raises his head, eyes sincere.

“Love is worth all the pain. Wouldn’t you agree, Baekhyun? You have the memories.”

“Do not speak to me, human,” Baekhyun hisses, turning his head.

“You know it’s true,” Minseok says. “You had so much fun…”

“I,” Kyungsoo breaks in. “I went on that trip to find out if Zitao was indeed still alive, and if not, could he ever be revived.”

Baekhyun’s eyes alight with a hopeful fire.

“He is not alive, and cannot be revived.”

The flames extinguish.

“But I did find that… far away… in a place called Pixie Hollow…”

Luhan’s eyes widen.

“…where it meets a place called Fairyland…”

The fairies turn to each other.

“…there is fairy dust… a special kind… that can turn humans into fairies… if only temporarily.”

Sehun gasps.

Kyungsoo holds out his hand.

In it lays a golden locket.

“This locket holds fourteen pinches of fairy dust. It is enough for seven turns.”

Baekhyun’s dark, brooding eyes never leave Sehun and Luhan’s wonderstruck faces.

“None of you actually need it…”

Sehun and Luhan’s faces, though they try not to show it, fall.

“And I was sponsored by Baekhyun…”

“Give it to them.”

Baekhyun’s head is lowered, and he speaks huskily, as if he were crying yet again.

“Let them have what I could not. Let them be together, as fairies. If only for seven turns.”

Luhan… Sehun…

“…”

Kyungsoo offers Luhan the locket.

He takes it, and with trembling fingers, flips it open.

The dust is a light purple, similar to grape-flavored sugar.

“One pinch,” Kyungsoo reminds.

Luhan abides, and in a whirl of white light, he is a fairy.

“Your wings…”

Minseok points out.

Luhan stretches to see behind.

And indeed, his wings are amethyst.

But they are feminine.

The fairies, especially Jongdae and Chanyeol, laugh uproariously.

Even Baekhyun manages a small smile.

But Sehun could not care less.

Luhan takes his outstretched hand, and together, they fly across the field.

They are bathed in moonlight.

And resting upon their wings… are stars.

Brightly shining stars.

-------

That night, Jongin will bunk with Jongdae.

Sehun and Luhan will share a room.

Junmyeon, just to be annoying, hands everyone a pair of earplugs, right in front of the couple.

“Enjoy the night, boys.”

Sehun blushes furiously, wings turning a deep, opaque silver.

Luhan, with royal purple wings, only brings Sehun’s face to his.

And he kisses him.

Soft and slow.

Right then and there.

Baekhyun, expression unreadable but soft, turns away.

He wishes them well.

And he takes to the air.

They watch him go.

And, midflight, a silver moonbeam strikes him.

And Byun Baekhyun, the human-turned-fairy…

Dissolves.

Golden fairy dust hovers, and collapses.

They watch the dust float to the ground, staining the grass gold.

“According to legend…”

Kyungsoo’s voice is thick with tears.

“Zitao had disappeared at that very location.”