Her shoulders relax as her little brown eyes lock onto her favourite pair of greens.

“Hey, pretty girl,” Jonah says softly, clicking the door behind him.

Her heart swells as she drops the hair from her hand, turning around to really look at him.

She sat with her knees on the wood of the desk, craning her head up as he walked over to meet her there.

“Hey, Jonah.”

He crouches, hands braced on the desk to steady himself as his face comes down to her level.

Jonah had a great face. A slightly rugged air to him, yes, but he was far from rough-looking. She wondered if his confidence helped with it at all. Maybe her fears showed through her stature, too.

Despite all the giggle-inducing conversations the fae had surrounding him, Jelissa could never see him in that light. She couldn’t imagine how lonely she would be if he was anything but her friend. With how tongue tied she already was around Shawn… she probably wouldn’t have made it this far to begin with if that were the case.

“What’re you doing up here, Jels? All by yourself?”

She opens her mouth to speak, jaw working a bit before the words come out.

“I’m… I’m, just not…” she takes a shaky breath. “Feeling it right now, I guess.”

He brings his hand on top of the wood, unfurling his fingers and resting it flat beside her.

“Come. We can go hang out in the backyard.”

Her lips pull together, holding back her smile as she crawls forward, hoisting herself up onto his palm. He waits, thumb ready to support her if she needed it.

Sure enough, her little hands find purchase against the digit, pulling herself onto the uneven surface of his hand, wings flapping gently behind her.

Jonah draws her close to his chest, standing up from his spot on the floor.

“Wanna talk?” he whispers, knowing she was close enough to hear it.

She nods, scooting near the edge to wrap her arms and legs around his thumb entirely, resting her cheek against the print as he carries her out.

---

“You’ve been gone for sss…o long,” she comments, slipping her hands through the gaps between his fingers to wrap around a blade of grass, without actually leaving his hold. “I missed you.”

The sun cast a golden glow over the backyard, illuminating Jonah’s face from above her. He lay on his stomach, cupping the fairy in both hands with his elbows digging into the earth. The house was far back, but behind her, the grass stretched on for miles. Sparse trees and an endless horizon.

“I missed you too,” he chuckles softly. “All of you, but especially you.”

Her cheeks heat up, and she avoids eye contact, snuggling closer into his hand, curled up on her side.

“How have things been with… you know who?” he tries, tilting his hands back and forth, depositing her from palm to palm, mindlessly.

She giggles at the sensation, appreciative of his pacing, allowing her to go limp like a ragdoll and roll between his fingers as though she were a fistful of sand.

“They’re okay, Sh… shhh… Shawn,” she huffs. “Shawn, and I have been talking a little more, so… I think I’m making progress. If that’s what you’d ca… ll it.”

He hums in acknowledgment. “It doesn’t have to be some sort of goal you’re working towards, you know. You can just be friends. He’s great as one of those, too.”

“I know.” she whispers.

Shawn wasn’t the sun in her world, but it sure felt like it at times. Even when she was staring into the mirror she wondered how it would be if he was looking at her, instead. How she’d feel then. If it would be just as terrible or if she’d forget all about it.

He holds his hands still, giving her a second to catch her bearings.

“And what about the designs? Have you been sketching?”

She perks up at this, pushing herself up into a seat.

“I want skorts. Or, I want to make some, I can’t pick. Maybe both.”

He grins. “I can help with that.”

She smiles back, subconsciously smoothing down the ruffled fabric of her skirt.

Although he hadn’t been around for a while, Jonah still thought about how passionate she was in that area. All the little ballet flats, the cardigans and skirts and butterfly clips. She had such a distinct, sweet sense of style.

Even now, she was sporting a white tennis skirt and a pastel pink top with lantern sleeves. Miniscule, cream sneakers dotted with even tinier pink and yellow flowers. To Jonah, and to anyone else with a set of eyes, it was beyond adorable. He often had to resist the urge to reach over and squish her face between the tips of his fingers, although she wouldn’t mind if he did so.

She was just too cute for his own good.

It ached. She was one of the only fae who gave him near as much attention as he did her, to top it off.

Jelissa sighs, puffing air into her cheeks before sticking one hand in the air and gesturing for Jonah to come closer.

“L…. Lay… Lay down, come.”

He complies instantly, parting his hands to let her drop gently onto the grass. He adjusts himself, turning onto his side and resting his head on the ground beside her, face close enough to touch.

A breeze dances through the air then, running through her hair.

She plants her elbows into the ground behind her, getting into a comfortable position on her back. Jonah’s hand comes over to push aside the longer blades of grass, giving her a flat patch to lay on.

Jelissa sighs.

“I’m a really jealous person, Jonah.”

He mirrors her, resting flat on his back and staring at the expanse of clouds above them. “It’s natural.”

“Hm. It doesn’t feel… that way, though. No one else cares. But I care.”

“You have every right to care… your heart’s big and it needs somewhere to go.”

She frowns affectionately, always so struck by his choice of words.

“It’s not just a fae thing, though. You guys do get jelly sometimes.”

Jonah laughs at that. “Yeah? What have you seen.”

She runs a hand through her hair, twirling the ends around her fingers.

“Eli.”

“Really?” Jonah turns back onto his side, facing her. “I know Misty gets riled up, but he seems pretty tame in that department.”

She shakes her head, smiling to herself. “He doesn’t… like it when other people… hold her. He won’t say, because he doesn’t want to seem possessive. But it bothers him, Jonah.”

“Huh.” He nods to himself. “I mean, Misty doesn’t like it when other people hold her, either. It’s a pretty even split.”

Jelissa’s shoulders tense as she hears the pitter-patter of crawling from behind her, eyes widening and instantly locking onto Jonah’s for reassurance.

His brows furrow as he takes a peek behind her.

“It’s just a ladybug.”

Jelissa props herself up, turning around to see for herself.

It was, in fact, just a ladybug, wonky and making its way closer to them with soft clicks.

“Are you scared?”

Her chest tightens as Jonah lowers his hand, extending his finger out towards it. As expected, the bug crawls on, skittering across the pad of his fingertip before ending up upside down, swirling across his knuckle. It was so mind-rattling to see something that big, appear so tiny when it was on him.

“No… No, I’m okay,” she breathes out.

Jonah had grown so accustomed to the feeling of little hands and feet and wings all over him that the ladybug barely registered, pattering its way down to round over his wrist.

“There we go,” he mumbles.

Jelissa watches as he lifts his hand, carrying it over to the other side of his torso and guiding it onto the patch of grass behind him.

He returns, tucking his hand underneath his cheek and looking back at the fairy.

She pushes herself onto her knees, reaching her arm out to run her hand over the bridge of his nose.

He keeps his greens locked onto her, soft breaths smoothing over her hair. She could’ve sworn his lids went heavy in response.

As she moves on to his cheek, tiny fingers tracing patterns into the skin, she mutters softly to herself.

“You’d be a great dad.”

His breathing hitches, startled by the sudden switch in conversation.

“Yeah? What makes you say that?”

She shrugs, squeezing the skin just below his cheekbone, soaking up the warmth.

“I don’t know, just… you’re not the same as the other humans here. They’re fun, but, I actually feel like I can be myself, around you. I don’t get nervous.”

“You get nervous around everyone else? Not just Shawn?” he pries.

She nods. “Everyone.”

“Do you want kids?” She lets go of him, bringing her hand back to her chest.

“I don’t know. Not really?”

“You’re just so good with all things little… like… all of us, and then that ladybug… and… and— and that alley cat.”

His eyes turn back to the sky. “Well, I don’t know if that qualifies as a fatherly trait. A lot of the guys are great with fae.”

She frowns. “Maybe I’m just not explaining it, properly.”

“It’s okay,” he whispers with a smile. “I’m still taking it as a compliment.”

Jelissa nods, forcing a sigh out of her lungs once more. “I guess… I don’t know, this is stupid.”

“No, no, talk.”

She rests her chin on her knees. “I kinda see you that way. Like a brother, too, but it’s a mix of both. Like when you called me pretty back at… the… house. It was like my dad was saying it.”

The silence that followed made the back of her neck burn, anticipating his reaction.

Her breathing catches as Jonah rolls onto his front, hand cupping behind her and lifting her up to his face.

“Jelly,” he says softly, lowering himself further to press a kiss against her stomach, then a few more soft pecks along her arms and legs, prompting her to giggle and curl up onto her side.

“Jonah,” she laughs, wings fluttering like a hummingbird’s.

“You’re the cutest,” Jonah coos, trailing another quick round of kisses along her back and wings before adjusting, nuzzling her with the tip of his nose.

Breathless, she feels tears prick her eyes as he murmurs against her.

“I kinda see you that way, too. But not a daughter per se,” he laughs.

She nods against him, beaming so hard her cheeks hurt. “Yeah. There isn’t a word for it.”

He smiles, mindlessly feeding her wings through the gap between two fingers.

“That’s just it, Jels. You don’t have to put a label on everything.”

She hugs tighter onto his nose, sighing deeply.

“Maybe you’re right. We can just…”

He gives her a second, eyes full of sparkle. The sun’s yellow glow had turned orange by now, her shadow dancing across his face.

“It can… just be.”

———