A/N: a one-shot to CampionSayn's one-shot Some Other World, Some Other World. I liked it so much I asked if I could write a companion piece to it, and she said yes. There was a condition, she wanted to write a companion piece to one of my works, but I don't know when that'll be written and I don't mind; I was just wanting to write this :)
Zak had always had a sense that there was an entire side of Pips' life that he knew nothing about. Which of course was a given considering it was the life of a fairy they were talking about, and at the best of times the red-head wasn't great at relaying messages. Almost losing his job, missing dates set by family, and nearly getting evicted from the apartment they shared twice was a pretty good indication of Pips' lack of communication skills beyond snarking. However, that aside, Zak would have thought a fifteen year old circus performer who had shown Pips the basics of human society would have at least been mentioned. Looking at the girl Budgie Jones, Zak had to come to terms with the fact that, obviously he and Pips needed better communication. But honestly, you'd think that Budgie would come up. Though Zak had to grudgingly admit that he'd never actually questioned why Pips knew how to operate televisions and microwaves, or where he'd even learned how in the first place. It was just one of those things he'd kind of wondered at, but forgotten why it was important.
Well, he knew about Budgie now, and he supposed that was a good thing. He finally had someone who got the whole 'well-meaning fairy who checks up on me to make sure I'm helping the environment' deal, though she was arguably the first one to get the treatment. Watching them, though, Zak got the feeling of being left out. The girl had shown Pips his first movie (Godzilla), given him his first piece of candy (cotton candy), showed him how to use the sink faucet (this explained why he said 'waterfall on, waterfall off' every time he used it; Budgie had a thing for theatrics), and had generally done what Zak had had a vague feeling he should be doing, when Pips had first found him and subsequently moved in.
The way Budgie had found them was simple; Central Park was housing her circus and Pips had bugged Zak into taking him. They'd been waiting in line for cotton candy ("Why do I have to stay beside you, I'm not a youngling!" "Considering the last time I let you wander around on your own in a place like this was the zoo, I'm not taking any chances" "…it was only the monkey exhibit…") when Pips had run off without a word, Zak double-checking and chasing after the fairy-turned-human who made their wood floors in the apartment grow seedlings just by walking barefoot in a really good mood, because if he wasn't watching, Pips might accidentally pull a Mother Nature move again and how was anyone going to be able to explain that?
By the time Zak had caught up to Pips, the redhead was deep in conversation with a teenaged girl in a clown costume. There were some quick introductions, rushed explanations on both parts, and Zak getting a discount on everything because they were friends of Budgie's. Budgie, on her part, was still rather shell-shocked that the little fairy she used to be able to tuck into her front pocket was around six feet tall, wearing jeans, and was managing to effectively hide away as a human. She wasn't as surprised (much to Pip's annoyance, because in his opinion he made a better human than most humans) about Zak becoming a sort of wingless fairy for a bit, and gaining some magic. Zak was hardly surprised at all when they found that Pips had done something on accident to Budgie, giving her the ability to levitate a few inches if she wasn't concentrating on staying on the ground. Considering Zak's new gift with plants, he took it for what it was. At least they had another person to ignore the hobgoblins with, though to both boy's surprise, Budgie actually got them to do what she said half the time.
Finally, they had to go, with promises to meet again soon, and Pips nudged Zak. As usual, he was perceptive to moods, but clueless to why they were there. Usually. Today was the exception. "Hey, Zak, she might have shown me my first movie, but you're still my first human" Somehow, that made everything better.