a/n: Little Angel is referred to as "he" because he has yet to discover his true identity! P
…
Angel's father slammed the door do hard the walls shook. Angel cautiously took his pillow off his head and went into the kitchen to find his mother sitting at the table, angry tears drying on her cheeks.
"I'm sorry, Mama."
She turned, and tried to put on a brave face. "Angel, this is not your fault."
Angel frowned. He'd stopped listening when his father's words had started to make him cry, but as far as he could tell, the general point of the conversation had been, I don't want a damn fairy for a son.
"But…"
"Angel, listen to me. Your father just got mad, and said some things he shouldn't have said. It's not your fault."
"He said he wanted a son, not a daughter," Angel said, hugging himself. "I am a son, aren't I?"
"Darling, if you want to be a daughter, I will make you dresses myself."
Angel blushed. "I'm sorry I tried on your clothes, too."
His mother smiled. "You looked beautiful."
Angel beamed, then remembered his father's reaction to his innocent dress-up game.
"Papa was mad, though. He said…"
Angel's mother hugged him tightly. "Don't worry about what he said," she told him, smiling. "You can wear my clothes any time you want."
Angel still looked upset, so she led him to her bedroom and sat him down in front of her mirror. She opened the top drawer of her dressing table and pulled out a bottle of blue nail polish that shimmered when it caught the light.
"Look, I'll do your nails for you," she grinned. "You can be a beautiful princess. We can match."
She showed Angel her hand. Her nails sparkled with blue magic. Angel held out his hands eagerly.
…
The next day, Angel walked into school with his head held high, confident that his magic blue fingers would keep the normal taunts and insults at bay. It was only five minutes before Blayne, the biggest boy in Angel's class, caught sight of his hands and yelled out, "Hey, look! Angel thinks he's a girl!"
The rest of the class crowded around Angel to see what was so funny.
"Ew! He's got nail polish on!" a girl squealed.
Tears of hurt welled up in Angel's eyes as he tried to escape their laughter. Why hadn't his mother's magic worked? He stumbled through the playground and accidentally ran into someone.
"Sorry," he murmured, staring at the ground and hiding his hands behind his back.
The girl he'd bumped into was about six, darkly tanned from playing in the sun too much, and had a mass of wild, curly hair. She stuck her hand out.
"Hi," she smiled, brimming with confidence. "I'm Mimi."
Angel shook her hand shyly. "Angel."
She gasped, and Angel prepared himself for more torment.
"I love your nails," Mimi announced. "They're like… Like a fairy. Or a princess."
She took him by the hand and led him over to where a group of girls were playing with dolls.
"Come play with us, Angel."
That night, Angel couldn't stop talking about Mimi.
"See, Mama, they really are magic!" he beamed, twinkling his fingers at her excitedly.
…
Angel and Mimi soon became best friends. Even though he was two years older than her, he was still smaller, and she became his protector, picking a fight with anyone who dared to pick on him. She got suspended for breaking Blayne's nose, but she didn't care. She and Angel walked home together arm in arm, Mimi proudly showing off her battle scars.
A few weeks after Mimi returned to school, Angel found her in an empty classroom, crying.
"Mimi?"
She wiped at her face, as if she were angry at her tears for even being there.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Okay." Angel sat next to her. "Do you want to come to my house after school? I have something for you."
"What is it?" Mimi sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve.
"A surprise."
…
The first thing Angel did when they got inside was to introduce Mimi to his mother, who smiled. "I've heard a lot about you, Mimi."
"I hope it was good," Mimi replied.
"Of course it was, stupid," Angel smiled, then grabbed her hand and dragged her into his mother's bedroom.
"Is this where the surprise is?"
Angel nodded excitedly, picking the bottle of blue nail polish up off the dressing table. "I want you to have the magic too."
Mimi squealed and hugged her friend.
"It makes everything better," Angel said as he uncapped the bottle and began carefully applying polish to Mimi's thumbnail.
She was thrilled, but still slightly sceptical. "But… how do you know it works?"
Angel blushed, but didn't look up from his work. "It brought me to you."
…
And so it began…Review? I'll be your friend and make you feel speciaaal when it sucks to be you…