You have no idea how long I've been working on this. I started it, lost inspiration, forgot about it for ages, then I got some inspiration for what Duman and Stella could do together after reading 'Like a Lady' by Lonelybiscuit, and also from some chats with Devilheartsblog on Tumblr, when we talked about something involving Gantlos. So, I hope you enjoy!

'I am so bored!' Duman complained, sagging frustratedly back against a pipe.

'Then do something,' Ogron replied distractedly, staring intently down at a pile of papers covered in team strategies and other things Duman would inevitably ignore.

'What?' Duman asked.

'I don't know.' Ogron frowned and wrote something on one of his plans.

Duman groaned loudly.

'Duman, could you not do that?' Ogron said, scratching something else out and glaring frustratedly at whatever apparently inadequate plan he'd come up with.

Duman rolled his eyes, but stopped groaning. He stared up at the ceiling, drumming his fingers against his arm irritably. He was so bored! There was nothing to do since they'd hid out down here! Scratch that, there'd been basically nothing to do since they'd come to Gardenia. It was fine for Ogron, he actually thought that whatever it was he was doing was interesting! Sometimes Duman really didn't understand Ogron. (Actually, he didn't understand Ogron most of the time. And not just because the guy talked like a thesaurus.)

He flopped down onto the floor and sighed loudly, tapping his foot on the stone.

Ogron frowned. 'Duman.'

Duman resumed drumming his fingers on his arm.

Ogron's eye started to twitch. 'Duman.'

Duman began distractedly humming the tune to one of the songs that he'd overheard at the Frutti Music Bar.

Ogron's head snapped around to glare at him. 'Duman! I am trying to work!'

Duman groaned. 'But what am I supposed to do?'

Ogron scowled at him. 'I don't know, but I'd highly recommend not doing it here!'

Duman sighed, but got up from the floor and wandered off down the passage outside the alcove he and his friends were living in. He could smell Anagan a little way away; maybe he'd have a solution to his crushing boredom.

'Anagan?' He rounded a corner and found Anagan sitting cross-legged, eyes closed, breathing slowly. '…Are you asleep sitting up?'

Anagan opened his eyes and laughed softly. 'Hi, Duman. No, I'm not asleep sitting up. I'm meditating.'

'Oh.' Duman leaned against the wall, and Anagan raised an eyebrow.

'Is…everything okay?'

Duman groaned. 'I'm bored, and Ogron needed to focus on…something, so he didn't want me around.'

'Ah.' Anagan smiled sympathetically. 'Well, you're welcome to join me.'

Duman raised an eyebrow skeptically, but walked over nonetheless. '…Okay. What do I do?'

'Sit down, and cross your legs.'

Duman sat and stared at Anagan's complicated leg position. '…How'd you do that?' He tried to wrestle his own legs into submission, but just ended up feeling like that time he'd turned into a snake and somehow tied himself onto a chair.

Anagan shook his head at his antics. 'Duman, just sit however you're comfortable. …Seriously, Duman, stop that.' Duman sighed and gave it up, placing his hands on his knees like Anagan. 'Alright, now close your eyes and take deep breaths.'

Duman complied. In…out. In…out. In…out. He cracked one eye open. 'Now what?'

Anagan opened his eyes too. 'Nothing. We just keep doing this.' He closed his eyes again, and Duman reluctantly did the same. In…out. In…out. In…Oh God, this was boring. This was even more boring than just standing around doing nothing. His fingers started twitching; he hated sitting still. His foot began tapping.

'Duman…' Anagan murmured, and Duman stopped tapping. He took a deep breath, holding it as long as he could in an attempt to stay still. This failed spectacularly as he started to feel like he was on fire, and he let out his breath in a great groaning sigh, flopping backwards and covering his face with his hands.

'Gaaaaah!'

Anagan opened his eyes and sighed at the sight of Duman sprawled on the floor.

'I can't meditate,' Duman mumbled into his hands.

'Yeah, I was starting to get that feeling,' Anagan replied.

Duman rolled over. 'How do you do that? Doesn't it make you crazy, sitting still for all that time?'

Anagan shook his head. 'No.'

Duman raised an eyebrow. 'You have super-speed; wouldn't you rather be running around?'

'No. I like meditating; it relaxes me.'

Duman got to his feet. 'We relax differently. I'm gonna go find something to do that doesn't make me feel like I'm dying a really slow, boring death. No offence.'

Anagan rolled his eyes. 'None taken. I think.'

Duman waved, leaving Anagan to his meditation, thinking that perhaps he didn't really understand Anagan either. How a person could stay still for that long was beyond him. If he sat still and quiet for much longer than a minute, his skin started to feel too tight. Right then, it felt like a prison, and he shifted into a wolf as he walked forwards, sighing with relief as the change in form gave him a sense of freedom. Enjoying the changes, he shifted into a cat. Then an badger. Then a sheep. A horse. A monkey. An armadillo.

Continuing to shift, he wandered back into the alcove he'd come from. Ogron was still staring down at his plans, muttering to himself.

'So then if we…no, Bloom will just…but what if…no…' Duman raised an eyebrow at his muttering and changed into a bison.

Hearing the sound of Duman's new form, Ogron blinked with surprise. 'Huh…? Wait…what if…' He began writing furiously, and Duman began cycling through forms faster. A frown appeared on Ogron's face, growing deeper and deeper with every new transformation. 'And then we can…'

Duman changed into a lion, which was apparently the last straw.

'DUMAN!' Ogron's head snapped around to glare furiously at Duman. 'Will you STOP that incessant shifting! I am trying to focus!'

'What's going on?' Gantlos ran into the alcove, closely followed by Anagan. 'I heard yelling.' He stared at Duman, who was still a lion, and Ogron, whose face was rapidly approaching the colour of his hair.

Ogron scowled at Duman. 'I am trying to think of a plan that works, and your boyfriend is turning into everything under the sun!' Duman cocked his head, and Ogron gritted his teeth. 'Would you please return to your own form when I am talking to you?'

Duman shifted back, rolling his eyes. 'Lighten up, Ogron. You said do something.'

'I meant read a book or go for a walk, not make it your life's mission to destroy my sanity!'

'Don't you think you're being a little dramatic?' Ogron gave him a furious glare, but he remained unfazed. 'You need to stop taking everything so seriously.' He shifted into a cat and leapt up onto a pipe, eliciting a barely contained growl from Ogron.

'Stop taking everything so seriously? I'm trying to come up with a plan to get the White Circle so the Winx don't free the Earth Fairies, who will inevitably want to kill us! You don't think that warrants taking it seriously?!' Duman stretched, as though to show that no, he didn't.

'Duman.' Duman turned to look at Gantlos. His boyfriend had his arms folded, with a serious expression on his face. 'I get that there isn't much for you to do, but...'

Duman sagged and glowed white, preparing to shift back to being human.

'Duman, wait-' Anagan tried to exclaim, before Duman changed human again, sitting on a pipe that definitely did not posses the ability to support his weight. The pipe burst away from the wall, water jetting out of it in a powerful geyser. Duman shifted into a bird and flew up and away. Unfortunately, Ogron did not have shapeshifting powers.

'Akpth! Duman!' Duman winced as Ogron held his hands up in a futile attempt to stop the stream of water. Gantlos quickly levitated the pipe back into position.

'Duman!' Ogron yelled, pushing soaking wet hair out of his face.

'It was an accident. You'll dry.' This was clearly not the right thing to say.

'That is it! You are driving me crazy! I don't care what you do, but just don't do it here!'

'Are you telling me to leave?'

'Yes!'

Duman winced. He hadn't thought he'd managed to push Ogron quite this far.

'Anagan? Gantlos?'

Anagan looked away awkwardly, and Gantlos sighed. 'Look, Duman… I'm sorry, but I think maybe it'd be better if you gave Ogron some space.'

'So you all want me to leave.'

'I…'

Duman scowled. 'No, no. I'll just get out of your hair. Enjoy your Duman-free peace and quiet.' He stalked out of the alcove.

Gantlos moved to follow him. 'Duman…'

'It's fine, Gantlos. See you later.'

'Bloom?' Stella tapped her friend on the shoulder.

'…Hm?' Bloom looked up from the appointments book she'd been staring at. 'What is it, Stell?'

'The store's closed; what do you say we all go shopping? I saw this great dress the other day, and I'd love to-'

Bloom shook her head. 'Sorry, Stella, but we're somehow double-booked for like, six appointments tomorrow. I gotta fix this.'

'Oh.' Stella sagged. 'Maybe later?'

'…Maybe.'

Stella sighed as Bloom's attention quickly returned to the appointment book. 'It doesn't have to be shopping,' Stella tried. 'We could go to the Frutti Music Bar; I know you like going there.'

'Maybe, Stella.' Stella knew what maybe meant. It meant 'No way, no how, I'm too busy'.

'Okay then. Bye.'

Bloom raised a hand in a distracted wave, blinking with surprise at something in her book. 'What in the…We don't even sell swimming pools. Who the hell has been writing in here? Belle?'

Stella left Bloom to her confusion, wandering over to Flora's workstation. 'Hey, Flora.' She hopped up onto the counter, and Flora frowned.

'Stella, could you not? I have to reorganise these potions.'

Stella stared down at about thirty almost-identical bottles. '…They look the same.'

'Well, they contain very different things. Now, please, get down from there.'

'Alright,' Stella huffed, hopping down and leaning towards her friend. 'Hey, what do you say we go to the park? We can hang out…'

'Stella, I'd love to, but I've just got too much to do.'

Stella pouted. 'Everyone's got too much to do. The store is closed; we're not at work! Why is everyone working?'

'Stella!' Tecna called. 'Could you keep it down? I'm upgrading our website's firewall!'

Stella huffed. 'I'm going upstairs.' She stomped up the stairs. 'Hellooo?' She wandered into her and her friends' loft. 'Girls?'

There was a loud thud, and she blinked with surprise to see Aisha punching and kicking a Morphix punching bag. 'Hey-' Thud. 'Hey-' Thud. 'Hey, Aisha!'

Aisha stopped her assault of the Morphix, looking at Stella with confusion. 'Hey, Stella. What is it?'

'What are you doing?'

'Kickboxing.' She punched the bag hard enough to make it spin. 'Even with our Believix and the faith of Gardenia, it can't hurt to have some extra-' She kicked the bag '-insurance against the wizards.'

Stella winced. 'Wow. Kinda feeling bad for the wizards if they tick you off. So, are you almost done there? Because I was thinking that we could hang out-'

'Sorry, Stella. I've only just started. I gotta train hard if I wanna be ready for a fight.'

Stella rolled her eyes. 'Of course you do. You seen Musa?'

'Over there somewhere.' Aisha gestured behind her, going back to striking the bag with a force and ferocity that would put her on an even playing-field with any guy from Red Fountain.

'Musa?' Musa was sitting on her bed, headphones on, strumming her guitar. 'Musa? Musa?' She sat down next to her. No response. 'Musa? Musa!' She pulled her headphones off, and Musa started.

'What?! Stella! Give me back my headphones!' She snatched her headphones back from Stella. 'What are you doing?'

'You wanna go hang out?'

'Not now, Stella. Jason wants to talk about cutting an album, so I'm gonna need an album, and I still gotta write three songs.'

Stella pulled her legs up onto the bed.

'Oooh, cool! I'll help!' She seized the notebook on Musa's legs, skimming the song lyrics written inside. 'We can call this crazy, we can call this insane, but your face is tattooed on my brain. It's dumb and it's stupid, gonna go down in flames, but I just can't forget your name.' She nodded approvingly. 'I like it!' A smirk tugged at her lips. 'Is it about Riven? Cause I thought you two were through.'

Musa blushed furiously and grabbed her notebook.

'No! It's just a song. That I made up. About no one in particular.' Stella smiled knowingly, and Musa pointedly put her headphones back on. 'I don't need any help, Stell. I just need to focus.' Stella didn't move. 'Alone.' Stella's face fell.

'Oh.' She got up. 'I'll just go, then.'

She wandered back downstairs, not bothering to try and strike up a conversation with her friends; they were too busy for her.

She pulled out her phone, dialling Brandon's number. After an unpleasant number of rings, he picked up, sounding stressed and harried.

'Hey, Stella, what's up?'

'Brandon! What do you say we go to the park and-'

'Sorry, Sunbeam, I can't. I'm slammed at the bar.'

'Oh. But, Brandon…'

'Sorry, Stell, gotta go.' There was a click, and Stella stared sadly down at her phone. So even her boyfriend was too busy for her?

'Hmph,' she huffed under her breath, stalking over to her station. Why did everyone suddenly have more important things to do? It was Sunday, for Solaria's sake! Why was everyone working? Well, if everyone else was working, she guessed she'd do the same. Ginger needed a bath anyway.

She started grumpily filling the pet bath with water, squirting in bubble-bath. Squirt. Why was everyone so busy? Squirt. Bloom had appointments to fix. Squirt. Flora had medicines to organise. Squirt. Tecna had to do tech stuff. Squirt. Aisha had to train. Squirt. Musa had to write songs. Squirt. Alone. Squirt. And Brandon had to work! Squirt. And nobody wanted to spend time with her.

She blinked with surprise as she squeezed the bottle and nothing came out but air. …How much bubble-bath had she just used?

She felt an odd sensation in her shoes, and she looked down to see fragrant, bubbly water spilling forth from the sink, flooding the floor. Too much! Way too much! It'd be okay; she'd just use a spell to fix it. Palladium had taught them a shrinking spell in the first year of Alfea. Easy-peasy. How had it gone?

'Exaggero Feliris,' she muttered. Hold on, was it Exaggero or Exaggeran? She shrugged. What difference could it make?

As it turned out, it could make a pretty big difference. The bubbles vibrated for a moment, trembling in place, before they burst and hundreds more suds spilled forth, crashing away from her station. Uh-oh…

There was a loud shriek, and she winced as the tidal wave doused Bloom with lavender-scented suds.

'What in the- Stella!' Bloom waded out of the fragrant flood, looking incensed. 'What did you do?!'

Stella bit her lip. 'Sorry, Bloom. It was an accident…'

Bloom did not appear mollified. 'How did you even do this?' she demanded furiously. 'The store is a mess! And we're booked solid tomorrow!'

'It's okay, I'll just fix this with a spell-'

'No!' Bloom caught her wrist as she prepared to dispel the bubbles. 'I don't know how you managed this, but I can tell a poorly-executed spell factors in somewhere!'

'What's going on?' Musa and Aisha appeared at the bottom of the stairs, their mouths dropping open as they stared at the scene before them. '…What happened?'

Musa poked at a pile of suds with her foot. 'I'm gonna guess…Stella?'

Bloom nodded, and Stella frowned. 'Hey, it was an accident! I can help clean it up!'

Bloom shook her head, rubbing her temples. 'No, Stella. We'll clean this up. You've been making it pretty clear you don't want to be here, so why don't you go wherever it is you want, and we'll clean this up and I can try to salvage what I can of our appointments book.'

'…Are you telling me to leave?'

Bloom folded her arms. 'You've been asking to leave all morning; why don't you?'

'Oh.' Stella bit her lip. 'Well, fine. I'll just leave, then. Enjoy your Stella-free peace and quiet!' She grabbed her bag and stalked out of the store.

'Stella…' Flora tried, but she ignored her. If nobody wanted her there, then Bloom was right: she should just leave.

'Leaving seemed like a better plan before I realised I didn't know where I was going,' Stella muttered to herself as she wandered aimlessly through Gardenia Park. She'd have gone to the Frutti Music Bar, but Brandon had made it pretty clear he was too busy right then, and she wouldn't sit alone, so she was randomly walking through a park.

She turned down a small side path, walking through thick foliage. Ugh, what was she thinking, coming to a park? She had tree in her hair. She yanked a branch out of her golden locks. Screw it, she was going shopping. She turned to leave the park, but she froze as her gaze caught on a flash of pink through the trees. She knew that shade of pink…

Keeping her footsteps quiet, she crept through the trees, peeping into a sunny clearing. To her shock, sitting under a tree, staring dejectedly down at the ground, was Duman. What was he doing there? Alone. She and her friends were stronger than the wizards right then; she could totally take him!

'Duman!' She stepped into the clearing, tensed for a fight. Duman raised an eyebrow at her, looking surprisingly unfazed by the presence of someone that could probably knock him out and arrest him (well, she couldn't technically arrest him, but she could tie him up until someone that could arrest him got there, so, same difference).

'I'm really not in the mood, Stella.' Her stance relaxed a little. He looked…well, like she felt. He went back to staring at the ground, pulling his knees up to his chest. 'My friends didn't want me around, and my boyfriend agreed with them.' Stella winced. No wonder he looked like she felt. He felt the way she felt.

She huffed and threw herself onto the ground under the tree next to him.

'Join the club.' Duman looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. 'I just wanted to spend time with my friends, but everyone was too busy for me.'

Duman wrinkled his nose. '…Why do you smell like super-strong lavender?'

Stella sniffed her wrist and winced. 'I…may have had a bit of an incident with some bubble-bath. Bloom got the worst of it. I…might have accidentally hit her with a bubbly tidal wave.'

Duman snorted. 'I may have broken a pipe and drenched Ogron.'

Stella stifled a laugh; that was a funny, funny image. 'So…we've both somehow managed to completely soak our leaders?'

Duman nodded. 'Apparently. Going off your expression, I'm gonna guess we've both been asked to leave by our leaders, too.'

Stella harrumphed. 'I just wanted to hang out with my friends! We're always running the store or fighting you people! We need time to relax and just be friends! Bloom's always working on administrative stuff for Love & Pet; she never has time for me anymore! None of us seem to have time for anything.'

Duman nodded slowly. '…Yeah. Ogron's always on-edge, trying to come up with plans to obliterate you people.'

Stella raised an eyebrow. 'Like what?'

Duman shrugged. 'Who knows?'

'…I feel like maybe you should.'

Duman sighed. 'What is it with people assuming I need to know what Ogron's plans are? Do you know what all of Bloom's plans are?'

'We don't usually have a plan. We just charge in, go all 'Winx Believix' and the problem gets fixed.'

'Dammit, why can't we do that?' Duman grumbled. 'I'd suit that so much better.'

Stella grimaced apologetically. 'Sorry. Maybe if you had a transformation name you could yell.'

'What, like this? Duman, wolfix.' There was a flash of violet light, and sitting in Duman's place was a black wolf, flicking its tail and looking up at her with questioning golden eyes.

'No, but that's honestly cool as hell.' Stella's hand moved to touch Duman's fur, before she caught herself and realised how weird that was. 'Sorry. Boundaries.'

Duman glanced down at her hand, then up at her, did a semblance of a shrug, before headbutting her hand and moving so she stroked him.

'Wow…' Stella breathed. 'I can't believe you can change so easily.' She grinned as she petted her arch enemy. 'You're really soft.' She frowned, deliberating over saying more, but hey, Duman was the only one actually listening to her. 'Is it weird? Changing your whole body?'

'Nope.' Duman shook his head, his voice a little growly as a result of his wolf form. 'This is my body too. And this.' He turned human. 'And this.' He turned into a cat. A snake. A spider. Some kind of strange combination of a rat and a crow. 'And this!' He rolled over, turning back into a wolf. 'They're all me.'

'Hm…' Stella frowned, thinking. 'So…how come you're in the body I usually see you in most of the time? If these forms are all equally you?'

Duman shrugged, turning human again and lying back against the tree. 'This is the body I was born into. It's the one I fall into most easily, and I tend to slip into it when I'm panicked or in pain.'

'Oh. That's cool.'

Duman raised an eyebrow.

'What?' Stella asked.

'I'm kinda surprised you think so. People usually think it's weird. I don't really fit into boxes, and that freaks them out.'

Stella frowned. 'That's not fair.'

Duman shrugged. 'That's life.'

Stella picked at the grass, sighing. 'Life sucks.'

'Yep.'

They were both quiet for a while, and Stella found herself wondering what they did now. Just…sit there? Quietly? She never did anything quietly. She never did anything alone, either. She was a people person, and her life felt sad and grey without her people. But today, all her people had decided they didn't want to be around her. But…

She glanced at Duman. He was around her. He was talking to her. He didn't mind her asking questions and chattering away.

'Hey…' she started, a little nervous. 'You…you wanna hang out? Since our friends didn't want us around?'

Duman raised an eyebrow. 'You know I'm your enemy, right?'

'Is that a problem?'

'No, I just wanted to make sure you remembered.' Duman paused, thinking, and Stella held her breath. '…Yeah, alright. But what would we even do? I spent all morning trying to think of something, and all I wound up doing was drenching Ogron.'

'Well, as much as I now want to also drench Ogron, because the image is crazy funny, we should probably do something else. When I hang out with my friends, we usually hit up the Frutti Music Bar, but since everyone will recognise you, so I guess that's off the table.'

'Stella, I'm a shapeshifter.' Duman folded his arms, his body glowing and reshaping into a guy that looked an interesting amount like Brandon. 'Problem solved.'

Stella shook her head, biting her lip. 'Our group tends to read way too much into everything and turn it into drama, Duman. If I show up somewhere with some new guy, everyone will jump on it.'

Duman rolled his eyes. 'Okay, how do you people get through the day with all the drama you create? I'm in a relationship, and I do just fine without getting jealous of every person that breathes near Gantlos.'

Stella grimaced. Most of the jealousy problems so far had come from the guys, but she knew she was one of the worst offenders. She actually had got jealous of a girl for breathing near Brandon. Of course, Mitzi had kissed him first, but after that, any kind of proximity was enough to get her blood boiling.

'But if you people are really that immature…' Duman sighed. 'How's this?' He shifted again, and his hair lengthened into soft, bouncy blue-black waves, his facial features softened, and his lean muscles morphed into gentle curves. 'Better?'

'Damn, Duman!' Stella exclaimed. 'You make a really hot girl.'

Duman shrugged. 'Thank you.'

'Wow…' Stella murmured. 'So…what you said before…all these bodies being you…'

'Yep, this is me too. Just with longer hair and curves.'

Stella frowned, noting his (her?) outfit. '…How come your clothes changed with you?' Duman, formerly dressed in the same punk goth look as the other wizards, was now wearing a blue leather jacket, black t-shirt and and ripped jeans.

'Spellcraft, mainly. I've kinda…hooked them up to my powers.'

'You can do that?'

'I can do most things I put my mind to.'

Stella grinned, jumping to her feet. 'Well, then. To the beach!'

'So…this is where you people hang out?' Duman asked, following Stella inside the bar.

'Mhm! Nice, isn't it?'

Duman shrugged, watching the people with a mischievous glint in his (their?) new brown eyes. 'Plenty of people to screw with…'

'Let's try not to cause havoc,' Stella cautioned. She didn't want Klaus to ban her and her new friend from the bar. Of course, Duman probably wouldn't mind getting banned, plus he could just shift into someone else to get back in, but Stella needed to be here. This was where her boyfriend and friends were most days. Well, most days when Bloom wasn't drenched with lavender bubble bath.

'What if we cause some by accident?' Duman asked innocently.

Stella paused, before allowing herself a mischievous smirk. 'Well, just make sure I have my phone out to film it.'

'Look who's more fun than she seems…'

They settled at a table in the back, away from where the guys might ask questions, or Roxy would risk sensing Duman's energy. That was a complication they really didn't need.

'The guy that designed this place sure likes fruit, huh…?' Duman muttered, nudging the orange-shaped table with their foot.

'Well sure,' Stella chirped. 'This is the Frutti Music Bar. Not the Regular Boring Furniture Music Bar.'

'Stella!' Riven made his way carefully through the crowd, waving. 'Hey. What brings you here?'

'Got kicked out of the store. Bloom smells like lavender now.'

Riven blinked, evidently trying to connect those two points together in a way that made any kind of sense. '…Sorry?'

'Eh, it's fine.'

Riven raised an eyebrow as he took in Duman, disguised as a girl. 'Who's your friend?'

'Oh, Riven, this is…' Dammit. She realised she had absolutely no idea what name Duman was going by. She could hardly say 'Oh, this is Duman, just disguised as a girl,' could she?

Thankfully, Duman slid effortlessly into the introduction, smiling a little coyly at the Specialist. 'Nim. And you are…Riven?'

'How'd you know?'

''Nim'' smirked. 'Blondie just said it. You not been paying attention?'

Riven blushed slightly, rolling his eyes. 'So, I haven't seen you around before. How do you know Stella?'

'We just met,' Duman replied. 'I was having kind of a sucky day, and so was she, so we agreed to hang out until our friends stop finding us so annoying.' Stella was impressed by how close that answer was to the truth.

'Really?' Riven asked, raising an eyebrow. 'Well, now who could find you annoying?'

'Lots of people. My friends, my boss, my enemies…'

'Uh, Riven?' Stella snapped her fingers, getting the Specialist's attention. 'Do you mind if we order?'

'Huh?' Riven quickly shook himself out of staring at the (admittedly gorgeous) body Duman had made for himself. 'Yeah, sure. Sorry. What would you like?'

'I will have strawberries and cream, and…' Stella paused, remembering that Duman was a girl right now, 'she will have…'

'Just bring whatever,' Duman said, waving a hand. 'I trust the judgement of a smoothie professional such as you.'

'You got it.'

Stella giggled as Riven backed away from the table, shooting Duman a questioning smile. 'So, I notice when you mentioned the people that might find you annoying, you didn't put your boyfriend on the list.'

Duman shrugged. 'It's just way too much fun watching him stare. If you feel like calling up your musician friend and letting her know her ex is checking out your new friend, we can have some real fun.'

Stella sighed, rolling her eyes. 'She'd probably be too busy crushing on her new producer.'

'How do you all have the time to fight us with all the drama you have going on?'

'Who knows?'

Once Riven had delivered their smoothies, Stella hesitantly brought up something she'd been puzzling over. '…Sorry if this is a weird, or offensive thing to ask, but…when you're in this body…what pronouns do you want me to use?'

'Huh?'

'Well, are you still a he, or a she, or would something else work better?'

Duman shrugged. 'I'd use she in front of your friends, or else their singular brain cells might spark to life and notice something, but other than that, just use whatever. I'm good with he, she, they…anything other than 'it' is fine.'

Stella frowned. 'It? Who'd call you an 'it'?'

Duman sighed, their shoulders slumping. 'More people than you'd think…' Stella could sense the change of tone from the light, teasing demeanour Duman had displayed for most of their interactions. They (she was going with they for now) seemed really down.

'That's really uncool.'

'Mhm.' Duman picked at the textured paint on the side of the table. 'Don't know whether it's different where you're from, but here, people don't love it when you can be anything. Change the role they think you were assigned as easily as breathing. I've been called worse than 'it'. Demon, monster, Saten…' They kicked the table with an irritated tap of their foot. 'Kinda sucks.'

'I'm really sorry,' Stella murmured. 'For what it's worth, I think your powers are awesome. I mean, in a fight, I don't love that you can turn into stuff that can crush me, but that's just because I have this weird aversion to getting crushed.'

'Yeah, I have that too.'

The two of them exchanged a tentative smile, the moment sweet and beautiful right up until someone everyone wished would just hurry up and be narratively assassinated came along and ruined it.

'Well look who's sporting a new accessory.'

Stella stiffened, and Duman raised an eyebrow at the screechy voice.

'Mitzi,' Stella said through gritted teeth. Brandon had promised her Mitzi was nothing to worry about. She had believed him. She had told herself she was going to be civil and mature. She told herself a lot of things. 'What are you doing here?'

'I think the better question is, what are you doing here without your little fairy clique?' Mitzi leaned over the table, smirking. 'You get kicked out?'

'No.' Stella gestured to Duman, who was regarding Mitzi as though they were strongly considering turning into a tarantula and jumping on her. 'I just decided to hang out with one of my other friends.'

'You have other friends?'

'Unless I'm in her imagination, yes.' Duman cleared their throat, giving Mitzi a vaguely threatening bare of their teeth when she looked over. 'Hi.'

'And you would be?'

'The human incarnation of Saten, summoned to this Earth to ring in an era of chaos and destruction.' Mitzi gasped at them, and Duman laughed. 'I'm just kidding. I'm not the incarnation of Saten. I'm just gonna ring in a new era of chaos and destruction.' They held out their hand. 'I'm Nim.' Just as Mitzi glanced down at the outstretched hand, Duman grimaced, pulling it back. 'Actually…Imma pass on that handshake. Your skin is really oily and gross.'

Stella stifled a giggle at Mitzi's expression. Cheap shot, but oh so satisfying!

'And where did you come from?' Mitzi demanded.

Duman shrugged. 'The Middle Ages.'

'Wait, what?'

'Mars.'

'Mars?!'

'Oh, sorry, I meant 'none of your goddamn business'.' Duman smirked, a jibe flickering in their eyes. 'Hey, weren't you on the news?'

Mitzi seemed unable to decide between being embarrassed at her dark fairy stint being brought up, or preening over receiving attention. She made her choice pretty quickly as Duman continued.

'You looked like a confused Bratz doll.'

Turning pink, Mitzi gave up on Duman entirely, whipping back around to Stella. 'So, I see your boyfriend didn't feel like hanging out with you. He finally get sick of staring at that cheap dye job?'

Stella swallowed her ire and drew on her royal training to give Mitzi a clenched smile. 'No, Mitzi. He's working.'

'At the bar you're at? And he didn't come over?'

'I didn't announce my presence.'

'Aw, so sad. Even you know he's bored with you.'

Mitzi flounced off as soon as she saw Stella's lip tremble, her work done.

'Well isn't she a delight,' Duman grumbled, subtly giving Mitzi's back the finger. 'You okay?'

'Fine.' Stella's statement was fairly undermined by her quiet sniffling, and Duman raised an eyebrow.

'Okay, I get that she was pretty nasty, but you know everything she said was just lies, right? Of course your boyfriend isn't bored with you. Unless he's an idiot. Is he an idiot?'

'No…'

'Then he can't possibly be bored with you!' Duman leaned back in their chair, watching Mitzi with confusion as she practically jumped up and down to get Brandon's attention. 'Why do you care, anyways? I've seen most of this drama, with the whole 'she gave him a peck on the cheek' thing, and I gotta say, you had nothing to worry about. So why the reaction?'

Stella sighed, deciding to ignore the fact Duman had apparently been spying on them. 'I was a child. I know that. She kissed him, all he did was stand there, and I blew up like that faucet Bloom said she can fix, but I know she just doesn't want to pay for a plumber because we're a tiny bit broke. But…it just hurt. Watching another girl get so close to him.'

'I get that, but he loves you. You gotta trust him.'

'I do trust him!' Stella burst out, her voice a tad sharper than she had intended. When Duman raised an eyebrow at her tone, she took a deep breath, continuing more calmly. 'It's her I don't trust. I don't trust her not to weave her little web of lies and crack and manipulate her way into his life until he doesn't know up from down, and suddenly she's his girlfriend and I don't matter anymore!' She had to choke back tears as it all reached a crescendo. Her breath caught in her throat as Duman put a tentative hand on her shoulder.

'Hey…' They offered her a small smile. 'Not be be presumptuous, but it feels like maybe this goes a bit deeper than some mean-girl kissing your boyfriend.'

'How'd you know?'

Duman shrugged. 'Spend enough time with Ogron, you'll learn when someone has repressed trauma too. So what's going on?'

Stella couldn't believe she was confiding in one of the Wizards of the Black Circle, but what the hell? He'd noticed this ran deeper than a temper-tantrum, and that meant a lot to her.

'…About a year ago, I went home to Solaria for my princess ball. You know what that is?'

'Think so. That's when a bunch of entitled aristocrats get together to celebrate their good fortune to be born with more money and privilege than other people, right?'

Stella rolled her eyes. 'Close enough. Anyway, I um…I thought my parents might be getting back together - they're divorced. Acrimoniously. But it turned out that…they weren't. Instead, my dad was engaged to this…this woman. Countess Cassandra. She was a very important noble, and I knew her, but I didn't know she and my dad had anything but a professional relationship. He blindsided me, and in that moment I just had to…deal, I guess. I didn't see it coming, just like I didn't see the divorce happen. Things change too fast for me to anticipate, and that scares me.'

'Wow. That's pretty sucky of your dad to just throw that at you. Especially on your entitled princess day.'

Stella shook her head, laughing sadly. 'Oh, that's not the end. You ever hear of Valtor?'

Duman actually looked slightly affronted. 'You seriously think I, an insanely powerful wizard, haven't heard of Valtor?'

'Fair point. Well, Valtor came to Solaria looking to steal the power of the Second Sun. He gave Cassandra and her daughter, Chimera, new powers. Chimera used hers to turn me into a monster, and Cassandra…' Stella took a deep breath, her hands shaking. 'Cassandra used hers to bewitch my father. Turned him against me. He couldn't recognise me. He sent the guards after me. Tried to…tried to kill me.'

Duman's eyes widened. '…Wow. You've been through some serious hell.'

'It's easy not to notice when you're the smiley blonde airhead,' Stella admitted with a sad smile. 'Cassandra took my daddy away. Wormed her way into his life, tore him away, and left me with nothing. No father, no kingdom, no home…we fixed it in the end, but it doesn't stop hurting. And now…now I'm just so scared. Scared that someone will take my Brandon away. It feels like it'd be so easy for someone to get their hooks into him, and I don't want to be this clingy and possessive, but…'

'I get it.' Duman smiled sympathetically. 'I know exactly how it feels to be scared of getting left. I've had some issues with being kinda clingy myself. Thankfully, Gantlos puts up with me.'

'I just wish Brandon would tell her to just…just go away! Stop being polite and just tell her to leave him the hell alone!' Stella slumped miserably. 'But I can't.'

Duman looked confused. 'Why not? He's your boyfriend, and you're uncomfortable with the situation. He should accommodate that. And if he can't, then he can explain why. Your relationship doesn't work if you can't talk about something this important.' They squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, the gesture pleasant and friendly. 'Trust me, after all that stuff he said when I was pretending to be him, no way is that a guy who wouldn't tell his stalker to back off for you.'

'You…really think so?'

'Hell yeah! Just talk to him later.' Duman's eyes flickered with mischief as they glanced at Mitzi. 'But first…she was really awful to you. How about a little payback?'

Stella quirked an eyebrow. 'What kind of payback?'

Duman glanced around furtively to check nobody would notice, before grinning and shifting into a very large, very hairy spider.

Stella squeaked with surprise, before leaning in curiously. 'Ooh, this could be fun…'

'This form always is. Be my ride?'

Stella hesitantly held out her arm, shivering slightly as Duman's new eight legs scuttled up her to rest on her shoulder, hidden by her thick curtain of hair. This was such a childish prank, but screw it. She wanted to be childish. Just this once.

'Brandon!' she called, taking some measure of satisfaction in how her boyfriend turned right away, despite Mitzi having been trying to flirt with him for the past few minutes.

'Hey, Sunbeam! Sorry, I'm totally slammed right now. Give me five minutes?' A horde of customers shouted orders, and Brandon looked at her helplessly. 'Ten minutes?'

'Sure, sweetie!' Stella gave him a sunny smile, sidling up to Mitzi.

'He doesn't want to hang out with you,' Mitzi crowed triumphantly. Stella just smiled, feeling Duman jump across onto Mitzi. Oh, this was going to be funny…

'Oh, Mitzi?' She was practically bursting with childlike anticipation as she stared down at Duman setting up camp on Mitzi's shoulder. 'You…you got a little something…' She pointed to Mitzi's shoulder. Mitzi looked down. Saw Duman. And screamed.

'Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! Get it offffff!'

Stella was in hysterics as Mitzi hopped around the bar, trying to swat at Duman without actually having to touch him, falling backwards against the bar as Duman made it to Mitzi's head and swept a little bow as Mitzi jolted her head back and forth to try and dislodge him.

'Mitzi…' she giggled. 'It's just a little spider! Grow up.'

'Easy for you to say, it's not on you!' Mitzi shrieked. 'Get it off get it off get it off!'

'Well, if you're going to be such a child about a little bug…' Stella eased her way into Mitzi's circle of thrashing limbs, calmly holding her hand out. Duman scuttled across immediately, and Stella held her hand up to show Mitzi.

'See? Not scary. Just a little spider.'

'It's huge!' Mitzi shrieked, scrambling backwards, and Stella exchanged a glance with Duman, who did an eight-shouldered shrug. Mitzi looked frantically between them. 'Did…did that thing just shrug?!'

Stella shook her head as though speaking to a small child. 'Oh, Mitzi. Spiders don't shrug.' She shot a meaningful glance towards Brandon, before saying, 'You're delusional.' Her triumphant smirk switched to a sunny smile, and she turned on her heel, sashaying out of the bar. 'Now, I'm gonna get this little guy outside. Later.' She blew Brandon a kiss. 'See you tonight, baby.'

As soon as they were outside and away from prying eyes, Duman hopped off her hand, turning back into the form she knew him as best.

'That was brilliant!' Stella gasped through hysterical laughter. 'Did you see her face? She was hopping around like a rabbit!'

'That was the most fun I've had in ages!' Duman snickered. He held up his hand, and Stella high-fived him, fizzing with enthusiasm.

'I know! Same!' There were a few minutes of muffled giggling, before they both finally got themselves under control.

'So…' Stella glanced at her phone, grimacing as she noted how late it had got. 'I…I think I should get back to my friends. Bloom deserves an apology.'

Duman grimaced. 'Ugh. Well, now I'm obligated to apologise to Ogron. Are you happy?'

'Are you kidding? I just watched Mitzi hop around screaming at a spider; I am never going to not be happy again.'

'True. That's gonna live rent-free in my head forever.' Duman stepped back, shifting into a hawk and hovering in front of her. 'I had fun today. Thanks, Stella.'

'Likewise. If your friends are ever like this again, you can always hit me up for some ill-advised shenanigans.'

Duman grinned, doing an excited loop-de-loop. 'Those are my favourite kind of shenanigans! I'll take you up on that. But for now, see you next time we're trying to obliterate each other.'

'Catch you later.' Stella watched as Duman soared off across the city, beaming at how well the day had turned out.

She was just about to head home when she heard a very familiar voice calling her. 'Sunbeam! Wait up!'

'Brandon?'

Brandon ran up to her, looking utterly frazzled, but fully focused on her. 'Sunbeam, I just wanted to be able to talk to you. I felt so awful about having to brush you off, and I'm sorry about Mitzi. She just won't leave me alone, and I've tried to drop hints, but she won't pick up on them.'

Stella thought back to Duman's words, and took a deep breath. Steeling herself, she said, 'Then stop hinting. Brandon, I know you don't have feelings for her, but I just…I'm not comfortable with her constantly trying to flirt with you. After Cassandra manipulated her way into stealing my dad, I'm just…sensitive about people that snakey worming their way into the lives of the people I love.'

Brandon's eyes widened, filling with concern. 'Sunbeam, why didn't you just say that?'

'I thought I was being unreasonable. I know, that sounds stupid after how childishly I acted, but, well, I was acting like a child. I wasn't thinking. And I am so, so sorry for putting my issues on you without even telling you what they were. But…please. Just flat-out tell her to leave you alone.'

'Okay.'

Stella's heart fluttered. 'Really?'

'Of course! Stella, I didn't realise just how uncomfortable you were with this. I'll tell Mitzi it's not happening. Because it's not. It's never happening, Sunbeam. You're my moon and stars. My everything.'

Stella flung her arms around him, beaming as their lips met. She couldn't believe she'd ever thought she couldn't talk to Brandon about this. They were adults, for Solaria's sake! Adults very much in love.

Duman's steps gradually slowed as he approached the sewer alcove. What if Ogron was still mad at him? Stalking off had felt good at the time, but, in hindsight, he should just have apologised.

'Ogron? Hey, I'm- Oof!'

'There you are!' Gantlos pulled back from his sudden hug, frowning. 'Where were you? You've been gone for hours, and you didn't reply to any of my telepathic messages.'

Duman winced. He'd been pretty sulky, and then pretty distracted. Telepathic communication attempts had been missed or ignored, which was a bit of a delicate area with Gantlos. His boyfriend worried a lot, even more so now that they were all weaker and Ogron had almost been killed by that train, so not answering when he tried to check in was an excellent way to give him a heart attack.

'Sorry. I was…busy.'

Gantlos raised an eyebrow, but Duman didn't elaborate.

'Where's Ogron?'

'I see you got tired of your huff,' remarked the wizard in question.

'Nevermind, I'll just follow the snark.' Probably not the best way to start his apology, but Ogron was gonna have to take what he could get.

With a deep breath as though he could somehow inhale maturity, Duman walked past Gantlos to face Ogron. 'Hey, Ogron.'

Ogron glared at him, his hair still slightly damp from his earlier encounter with Duman's carelessness. 'And where have you been?'

Duman knew that 'I was hanging out with one of our mortal enemies' would probably not go over so well, so he just opted for that age-old vague excuse of: 'Out.'

'Out?' Ogron repeated. 'Out where?'

'The International Space Station. Look, where I was doesn't matter. What matters is that you are wet, and that is my fault, and I'm trying to apologise but you are a very difficult individual, so it's hard.' Duman gritted his teeth, reminding himself that he loved Ogron very much, and even though Ogron had yelled at him, that didn't absolve Duman of his own less than perfect behaviour. 'I'm sorry I drenched you. And that I didn't take what you were doing seriously. And that I was distracting and generally annoying.'

Ogron was quiet for a moment, before huffing and saying, 'I accept your apology.'

Anagan cleared his throat rather pointedly, and Ogron looked at him askance. 'What?' Anagan gestured to Duman. Ogron rolled his eyes in a long-suffering manner. 'Oh, alright, fine. Duman…' He looked away, unable to meet Duman's gaze. 'I…probably shouldn't have shouted at you.'

'Probably?' Anagan queried, and Ogron sighed.

'Oh, alright, I just shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm sorry.' He shot a glare at Anagan. 'Are you happy now?'

'Very.'

'So where did you go?' Gantlos asked later, once Ogron was back to his planning and Anagan was back to reminding Ogron that he was a human person that had to eat and sleep.

'Somebody's curious…'

Gantlos frowned. 'I can sense fairy magic, Duman. It's weak, but it's there. Did you get into a fight? Because you know I would have backed you up-'

'No! No, don't worry, I'm fine.' Duman paused, thinking it over. '…Okay, I'll tell you, but this has to go in the sacred boyfriend vault of eternal secrecy.'

Gantlos rolled his eyes. 'Duman, you can just say it stays between us; I'll know what you mean.'

'Must you always ruin my attempts to dramatically name things?' Gantlos looked at him expectantly, and he sighed. 'Okay, it stays between us.'

'Mhm.'

'…I ran into Stella.'

Gantlos's eyes widened. 'You just said you weren't in a fight!'

'I wasn't!' Duman held his hands up, grimacing as Gantlos's eyes immediately began scanning him for injuries. 'I wasn't, okay? I'm fine. We…um…well, her friends had kicked her out too…'

'We didn't kick you out,' Gantlos interjected, but Duman just raised an eyebrow.

'Anyway, we'd both been kicked out, and she suggested we…hang out.'

'So you've…you've just been hanging out with our enemy this whole time?'

Duman shrugged. 'She's pretty fun.'

Gantlos facepalmed. 'Duman…'

'Hey…I was safe. And I didn't give away team secrets. Promise.' Duman sighed, tapping his fingers anxiously. 'And honestly, I think I kinda needed it.' Gantlos looked at him with confusion, and he continued. 'It's just…I needed an afternoon where I did something other than talk about how to get the White Circle. And Stella matched my energy.'

'…Oh.' Duman frowned as Gantlos looked away, evidently a little upset by the remark.

'Hey, don't get jealous. You're still my favourite person in all of existence.' Duman guided Gantlos to look at him. 'Promise.'

'I'm not jealous.'

'Good. So then can I tell you that we pranked that god-awful Mitzi girl?'

Despite his distaste for Duman's choice of companion that afternoon, Gantlos's eyes flickered with interest. 'The one we gave dark magic to?'

'Mhm! So, she was being really horrible to Stella…'

Gantlos was shaking with laughter by the time Duman had finished the story, and Duman beamed at having made his stoic boyfriend laugh.

'Don't ever tell Ogron you said she looked like a confused Bratz doll,' Gantlos said through stifled laughs. 'He came up with those fairy forms; he'd lose it.'

'I probably have ticked him off enough for one day, huh?'

'Probably.'

The store still smelled like lavender. The floor was still somewhat sudsy, and Bloom was scrubbing irritatedly at it as Stella walked in.

Wordlessly, she grabbed a sponge from the bucket next to Bloom and got down on her knees like a maid, scrubbing alongside her best friend. She was going to ruin her manicure, but what the hell?

A few minutes passed with no sound the scrubbing of suds, until Stella finally broke the silence. 'I'm so sorry.'

Bloom didn't respond for a moment, before she looked up, biting her lip. '…Me too. This was an accident. I kinda overreacted.'

'You probably didn't. We both know I'm a bit of a disaster.'

'Yeah, but you're my disaster. And I should probably have tried to pay you a little more attention lately.'

Stella sighed, leaning back on her heels. 'You think this is part of growing up? Of leaving Alfea? Maybe we're supposed to have less time. Do…adult stuff.'

Bloom made a face. 'I've been doing 'adult stuff' all day, and I can tell you it really sucks.'

'I wish we could just go back to Alfea for the rest of time. Magically go back to being sixteen.'

Bloom laughed softly, putting the cleaning supplies back in the bucket. 'That'd be nice. But maybe we just work on finding a balance between work, fighting evil, and just being the best friends to ever walk the halls of Alfea.'

'Sounds like a plan. So, you want to go do something? Or I can help you with appointments…?'

Bloom glanced to her salvaged appointment book, before shrugging. 'Screw it. Let's go to the bar.'

Stella remembered her and Duman's prank, and a grin crept across her lips. 'Oh, on the way over, have I got a story for you…'