"I'm seventeen, Seth. I'm not going to be anything."
"So am I, Ryan. I've never let that stop me before. You've got to start getting into the holiday spirit. Think about it. All the candy you can eat, the chance to wear a costume without looking like a dork, and sanctioned pranking. How can you not love that?"
"I don't know, I guess it's just not my thing."
"Well, what did you do for Halloween when you were a kid? Wait, don't tell me. You trick or treated, and all your friends got candy, and you got a rock."
Ryan glared at him. "My dad took us trick or treating once, before he went to prison. He drove us outside of town, where there were nicer houses. Nobody in Chino gave good candy. We didn't really have costumes, and I'm sure the people knew we didn't belong there."
"That sounds kind of bad. I'm sorry." Seth never knew what to say when he heard Chino horror stories. He just wanted to make sure Ryan's future would be happier.
"It's actually a pretty good memory, considering. The next year dad was gone, and my mom took us to the same neighborhood. She made us give her all our UNICEF money. Told us now that we didn't have a father, we needed it more than some kids in a country she'd never heard of."
Seth didn't press the issue, figuring Ryan would come up with something on his own, and if not, at least he'd be there with him for the event.
When Ryan walked into the kitchen on Halloween morning, he had the leather jacket he'd brought back from Theresa's wrapped around his shoulders, and a darkly glowering look on his face. Seth guessed he'd woken up on the wrong side of the bed, but he didn't know why.
Checking to see that his parents were nowhere around, he quickly kissed Ryan, hoping to change his mood. "Who's the crap apple today?"
"What the hell did you do to me last night, Seth?"
"How quickly we forget. Nothing you didn't enjoy, as far as I could tell by your moaning and writhing."
"Not that, Seth. This," Ryan pulled off his jacket, revealing what looked like a very convincing pair of wings attached to his shoulder blades. Extremely convincing, as Seth couldn't detect how Ryan had got them on. In fact, they were flexing and waving as if they were real.
'I've got to commend your finally getting into the Halloween spirit, dude. But that's a really strange costume. What are you, the ghost of James Dean?"
"I didn't do this on purpose! I just woke up, and there they were." He shrugged, and the wings flapped rapidly, stirring the newspaper that lay open on the kitchen counter.
"This is totally weird, but not unprecedented. Okay, first we need to figure out what this all means. " Seth walked over to the cupboard. "We're going to need some sustenance for this. I wish we still had some CapN Crunch, but I forgot to put it on the list."
POOF! A shower of glittery powder erupted from Ryan's general direction, and an economy sized box of Seth's favorite cereal suddenly appeared on the shelf.
"Okay, that was weird," Ryan said. "I could have sworn that wasn't there before."
"It wasn't." Seth was wide eyed. "But now I know what happened to you."
Ryan raised an eyebrow. It was his "this had better be good," eyebrow lift, as opposed to his "don't fuck with me" one, or his "no, I don't want any more orange juice" expression. "Are you going to tell me?"
"Obviously, you woke up Fairy."
"I woke up Fairy. Seth, that's ridiculous."
"How else would you explain it? Dude, you've got wings! Big, pretty wings that match the color of your eyes." Actually, they kind of went from light grey to the blue green of the ocean view from Seth's house.
"Well, wings don't necessarily have to mean I'm a fairy, right? I could be some other kind of mythological creature that doesn't exist."
"That's kind of redundant, Ryan. And clearly, you do exist. Anyway, you're a fairy because I made a wish, and you spouted glitter and it came true. Thanks, by the way, for granting it."
"So you're saying it was fairy dust?"
"Or pixie dust, same thing. It definitely wasn't angel dust, or we'd be in some '70s tv movie with what'sherface from Twister and that 90s show about annoying married people."
"Focus, Seth."
"Sorry. Yeah, anyway, the question is, what are you going to do about it? I mean you can pass it off as a costume for now, but it's going to look kind of weird when you're still wearing it after Halloween is over."
"If you think I'm going anywhere like this, you're crazy."
'Dude, you've got the entirely wrong attitude here. Think about all the cool stuff you can do. Hey, I bet you can fly!"
"I hope the hell not. You know I hate heights."
"You know, for someone who just had the coolest thing ever happen to him, you're a real spoilsport."
"It'd be cool if it happened to you. In fact, it's just the kind of thing I'd expect to happen to you. But it's just not me."
"Why not? Besides, that's usually how these things work."
"Don't you think that's a little bit minty?"
"Way to borrow my vernacular, dude. Anyway, I hate to break it to you, but judging by the amazing blow-job you gave me last night, I don't think that's an especially new concern."
"Well it is to me. At least before I could tell myself what you and I had was situational, that I wasn't - you know - 'that way.'"
"I'm a little hurt, dude. That makes me sound like somebody you met in prison. Not that you've been to prison, I know. Juvie is entirely different." Seth tried to cover his blunder.
"That's not what I meant. I meant, I don't feel that way about any other guys. I certainly don't want to do what we do with anyone else, and believe me, I've had offers."
"I'm sure you have, dude. I'm just glad it's me you want to---"
"Seth, we're not talking about you right now. We're trying to figure out how I woke up with great big iridescent feathers sprouting out of my back. Do you have any idea what that's going to do to my street cred, not to mention my reputation as a brooding loner?"
"Oh, come on. You're just upset the wings ruin the line of your wifebeater. And they don't, believe me."
Ryan shook his head miserably. 'I just wish they would go-" He startled as Seth clapped a hand over his mouth, preventing him from finishing his sentence.
"You can't say that!"
"Why not?"
"You're a fairy! Fairies grant wishes. Though come to think of it, they can't usually wish their fairyness to disappear. So probably we're okay."
"Damn."
"Hey, why don't you test it? Wish for something else."
"I wish your parents would go out before they see me like this."
There was a noise from the hallway. Seth's dad's voice came wafting around. "Kids, Kirsten and I are going away for the weekend. You guys can handle things all right, can't you?"
"Sure, Dad. Have fun."
"Thanks, kiddo. Hey, sorry we'll miss your costumes. Be sure and take pictures."
"Bye, honey," his mom echoed. "Try to enjoy the holiday a little, Ryan." The door closed.
"Oh my god, it worked! Ryan, this is so fucking cool. You can do anything.
They spent the next little while testing out wishes. When they were done, there was a foot tall pile of fairy dust, and Seth had all the X-Men comics he'd ever wanted. However, it didn't work when Ryan tried to wish for really big things, or stuff that might harm someone.
"I guess there are forced limitations on your powers. That's probably a good thing," he told Ryan, when Ryan's "I wish you would turn into a toad" didn't come true. Ryan didn't mean it anyway, he hoped.
"Why does it not surprise me that you're an expert on these things?"
"Hey, just be glad Peter Pan was my favorite book and movie when I was a little kid."
"So you do believe in fairies, you do, you do!"
"Well, I believe in this fairy." Seth smiled, and leaned in to kiss Ryan, running his hands down Ryan's shoulders and softly stroking the fluttering wings. "Oh my God, Ryan. They feel incredible. What's it feel like to you?"
Ryan gestured down to his lap. Apparently these wings had an added benefit, though it might be a drawback when random people wanted to touch them. "Like you were stroking my dick."
"Really? Wow. That's kind of lucky. Most fairies are fairly asexual, if I recall correctly."
"That definitely doesn't seem to be an issue here."
"You know, Ryan. You're kind of like the best of all possible worlds for me here."
"Well, since this is all about you, I'm so glad. What do you mean?"
"As a boyfriend, you couldn't be better. You're still sexy and you care about me like you did before. And, you wish for stuff and it happens, just like Summer. Plus, you're one with the glitter, the way Anna was."
'You're telling me I'm part girl now?"
"Well, fairies are pretty and dainty. Ow!" Seth yelped when Ryan smacked him. "But no, of course not. Believe me, you're all guy. With wings. You're like Paul McCartney, as my dad would say."
"That joke's been old since before we were born."
"So has my dad."
"True. Seth, what the hell are we going to do about this?" Ryan flapped his wings again, and produced a few spurts of fairy dust, but not enough to make much happen.
"Maybe it's a temporary Halloween thing, and you'll wake up tomorrow and it'll be back to normal. I kind of hope not, though. For now we'll just say it's your costume. Hey, I know! Wait here."
"Believe me, I have no plans to go anywhere."
Seth ran to his bedroom to call Summer. She was finally back to talking to him, which was good. Just because they weren't dating, didn't mean Seth liked it when she was pissed at him. She still scared him. She picked up the phone, and he explained what he needed from her.
"Cohen, that's weird, even for you. You're saying he just woke up like that?"
"Yeah. He's hoping it's temporary. Anyway, can you bring that stuff over? And try not to wig out about it in front of him. Pretend you think it's just a costume."
"Okay. But you owe me."
"For everything. I know." Seth hung up. He hoped Ryan wouldn't be pissed that he's sort of spread the word. But this was just too good an opportunity to waste.
The doorbell rang just a little while later. Summer was there, carrying a small bag. She handed it to Seth, saying, "Here, hope this fits. Now where is he?"
"Kitchen. Brooding over a cup of coffee and some pastries I think."
"Fairy cakes?" She laughed.
"Seth! I heard that. I told you not to say anything." Ryan yelled from the other room. Summer followed Seth into the kitchen.
"Ryan! I have to say I didn't really believe him when he told me what happened. This is so cool. Hey, are you a real fairy?"
"Meaning?" Ryan grumbled at her.
"I wish I had a new pair of Jimmy Choo's." Poof! She looked down at her feet, and there they were, in all their spike-heeled glory. "Wow."
"Summer, you don't need me for that. Just go pout at your dad." Ryan pointed out. "Why are you here, anyway?"
"To help with your costume. Yours and Seth's, I mean. Put this on."Summer handed him a bright green sleeveless t shirt, that he hoped would fit over his wings. Then she took Seth off to go change, telling Ryan to stay away from Seth's bedroom and bathroom until they said he could look. "I promise, everyone will think it's just a costume, and we can figure out what to do about the real issue later."
"Fine." Ryan went out to the pool-house, to put on his costume, and presumably to lament about his lot in life. Meanwhile, Summer helped Seth with his costume. When they came back down and got Ryan, he couldn't stop laughing.
"Oh my God, now I get it. You're Timmy Turner. And I'm Cosmo?" Ryan looked him over. Seth was wearing a bright pink baseball cap, and huge fake buck teeth made out of cardboard. He handed Ryan a wand Seth had made from a drumstick and some electrical tape. "But what about Wanda?"
"That's right!" Seth beamed. "We'll have to stop at the pet store to pick her up. She's still in the bowl. Man, we are so going to win the contest tonight at the party."
"Well, that makes everything all right then."
"Ryan, come on. It'll be fine. I promise." Seth assured him as they drove onto the country club's grounds. "We'll have fun, and later on we'll all laugh about it."
"That's what I'm afraid of. I think I liked it better when people thought I was the dangerous outsider."
"Those days are long gone, my friend. You're a part of us now." Seth was damn well not going to pretend to be unhappy about that.
"Yeah, I guess I am. You know, I remember wishing for some excitement in my life. Something to change. Obviously I didn't expect - this."
"I know, man. Me too. But that's not a bad thing, is it?"
"No, not at all. Sometimes wishes do come true." Ryan kissed Seth, and opened the door. It was time to face the music.
Seth had been right when he said Ryan's new look wouldn't be a problem at the party. Except for the fact that it made people ogle him even more, wanting to touch his wings. But Ryan was his, and he knew it. After a few "take your hands off my boyfriend" looks, people got the hint. Of course Seth didn't spell it out. He just said 'The makeup is kind of fragile, so be careful," whenever anyone got too close.
And he was right when he said they would win the contest. Nobody else's contest came close. Julie Cooper handed them their prize, a trophy and a gift certificate for an improv mystery weekend at a nearby hotel. She grudgingly acknowledged that Ryan's wings looked "almost real."
"You have no idea," Seth told her, leading Ryan out of the party.