Under the Whitethorn Tree

2.Fish, fish and fish

New keeps his instructions simple and brief. The magic only lasts for a day or even shorter than that,  Gun can only be in the shape of a human for that long hours which is more than enough to quench his thirst for adventure- atleast for now. 

So he immediately implements his plan soon after sneaking out of their magical realm. 

He is taken aback even by his own transformation, wobbling and feeling a little nauseated as he held his head in his hands fearing that he might be bursting open. 

The loss of his translucent yet glimmering wings with intricate patterns running along like veins of a leaf-  his pride- even for a minute makes his heart mourn. They'll come back to him later, once he gets back to his tiny self. But oh the thrill of doing this, he'll relieve these moments for long as he can. 

He looks at his human hands and giggles. From the distance, the whitethorn tree appears more inviting than usual, his wanderlust creeps in as he gets pulled towards it by its magnetic force. 

Abrutly gets collided into something that entirely wasn't solid. That was not in his plan and the force of this collision gives him a taste of the bare ground covering a vast expanse that goes beyond one's imagination.  

Whatever that collided with him swears in an undertone, Gun clenches his shorts in fear and absentmindedly mumbles words of relief that his transformation didn't strip him off his clothes, it would have been more embarrassing otherwise. 

"Off you lost. I reached the tree first.  It's your turn to fetch dinner.'' 

Someone from afar yells, in an unpleasantly loud voice and some more movements entail in the background all the while Gun keeps his eyes to the ground, not shifting a muscle like a statue set up in an entirely wrong place. 

From the corner of his eyes, Gun can see a shadow being casted over his body, shielding him from the harshness of the summer sun. 

He wants it to go away. It doesn't.  

He shifts his head in annoyance,  directing a hostile glare at the source of the shadow. It's a real live human standing near him with a condescending grin tugged on to his lips, with his eyes as sharp as daggers peering the sorry figure of Gun.  

"Are you planning to sit all day like that? Or you have plans of helping me out a little?'' The human talks. 

"Why should I help you?'' Gun asks in a low voice. 

"Because YOU…" the human points his finger accusedly at Gun and continues " just made me lose the game and now I have to go fishing for some losers.'' 

The quirk of the eyebrows and mannerism of speech of this human only add to Gun's annoyance. However the mention of ''fish'' does catch Gun's attention.

 Interesting. 

He doesn't remember agreeing to help but he remembers following the human curiously towards an unbroken stream of water flowing with no end in view. 

As soon as he sees it, he runs into the river breaking its glossy layer, splashing water all over the place in excitement. It feels novel. It feels refreshing. 

Alive. 

"You'll startle the fish, pretty boy''  Instead of Gun startling the fish, Off manages to startle him and Gun not used to being called ''pretty boy'' by anyone (although he is aware that he is pretty ) now blinks rapidly at this garrulous human. 

"Oops bad influence. Don't learn from me kid. I don't actually think it through when I speak.'' Off waves his hand infront of his face as if those words he uttered linger in the air and he could magically erase them. 

"I'm no kid. In fact I might be older than you.'' Gun lashes out and he wonders why he omitted commenting on the pretty boy part. 

"Yeah whatever. Just don't scare off my dinner, big brother.'' The human makes an annoyingly smug face. 

Gun purses his lips at the audacity of this human to keep on annoying a precious and beautiful fairy. Instead of lashing out like earlier he simply orients his gaze on the flowing currents of water and enjoys the reviving caress of the river circling around his legs. 

He doesn't notice when Off fixes his gaze on him taking a couple of minutes to study him. 

When he finally snaps out of his reverie, Gun is greeted with a reassuring smile, one that doesn't feel forced or phony and in the face of that simple gesture Gun feels his heart bloom, teeming with affection like never before.
When was the last time someone other than his two friends smiled at him like this before? 

The next moment however he jerks as something bit his leg making him stagger and fall into the river. Soaked wet below his waist, he tilts his head to capture the human's reaction only to be outraged by a suppressed chuckle which threatens to turn into a fit of laughter any minute now.

Off seems to notice the shooting glare of his new companion and miraclulously stops himself from laughing at such a comic display. Thankfully,  the culprit in Gun's case gets caught in Off's fishing rod so that he swiftly pulls the rod and secures his dinner. 

Their catch is not much but Off says he is content with what they got so far and Gun feels content too at having had fun for the first time in so many years even if that came at the expense of his dignity.  He smiles in return.