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Chay loves the fact that Kim is afraid of the dark. Big, bad, living weapon Khimhant Theerapanyakul cannot live with the lights off. He sleeps with a bedside light on, has nightlights in every room, and he even drives at night with the cabin light on. Chay thinks it's adorable. Kim has candles in every room that he lights during storms in case the power goes out, which Chay finds particularly romantic. Currently, moonlight washes over Kim, the bedside lamp casting a yellow glow over his body, as Kim curls up on Chay's chest, watching The Great British Bake Off on the bedroom TV, Chay stroking Kim's hair.
"Not a Genoise sponge!" Kim yells at the TV as Chay giggles.
"What do you know about baking?" Chay asks.
"It's season nine. I know a lot by now."
"Think you could make me a cake shaped like a guitar?"
"Why not a cake shaped like me?"
Off in the distance, Chay hears a loud pop, like a small explosion, and suddenly the power goes out. Kim stiffens on top of Chay, and, anticipating panic, Chay wraps his arms around Kim's waist, squeezing tightly. As moonlight floods the suddenly dark room, Chay makes out strange projections coming from Kim's back and pauses. Kim looks up at Chay, frozen in horror, and Kim blinks. Chay blinks back.
"Don't look!" Kim yelps, rolling out of Chay's arms, off the bed, poised to run.
"P'Kim? What--"
"I said, don't look!"
"Too late! P'Kim!"
Chay stares at Kim, frozen in the moonlight, and notes that Kim's face is lit by what appear to be two bobbing white lights at the ends of antennae that extend from his forehead. Wings sprout from his back, long and translucent, like a dragonfly's, and the thin, membranous wings shiver in the evening air.
"P'Kim! You're beautiful!" Chay breathes in awe. "How--"
"I look like a freak!" Kim sighs.
"No! P'Kim! I can't believe how gorgeous you are. Come here. Let me look at you."
Kim hesitates, expression torn, and his wings fold up behind him with a flick, trailing down his back.
"Your ears! P'Kim! This is amazing!"
"They get all pointy when I'm like this," Kim sighs miserably.
"Come here. Please?"
Kim hesitantly crawls back into bed and sits cross-legged in front of Chay, face crumpled in shame. Chay reaches out an inquisitive finger, pokes one of the lights on Kim's antenna, and the light wiggles back and forth in the air.
"What is this?" Chay asks in wonder.
"My mom called them fae lights. They only appear in the dark."
"Why do you have them?" Chay asks, running his fingers over Kim's pointed ear.
"My grandmother was British. She passed her genes down to my mom, who passed them down to me," Kim explains in a small voice.
"Are you-- Are you a fairy?"
"Sort of. Technically, I'm a pixie."
"Like Tinkerbell?"
"Yeah."
Chay claps his hands, a burst of applause for Kim, and the fae lights bobbing over Kim's head brighten to the point that they blind.
"Quit that," Kim scolds.
"That's amazing!" Chay breathes in awe.
"Side effect of being a pixie," Kim sighs.
"Can I see your wings?"
With a papery rustle, Kim extends his wings, and Chay reaches out to stroke them. As Chay runs his hands over the diaphanous wings, Kim shivers.
"Does that hurt?" Chay asks worriedly.
"No," Kim gasps.
Chay's hands explore the junction of chitinous wing and skin, and Kim moans.
"Are you sure it doesn't hurt?"
"My wings are sensitive," Kim murmurs.
"How sensitive?"
"If you keep this up, I will come," Kim states baldly.
"Oh!" Chay yelps, snatching his hand back.
"I'm so sorry, Chay. I never wanted you to see this side of me."
"Oh no! P'Kim! I love this! I love you!"
"I'm a freak, Chay."
"No, you're gorgeous! Look at you!"
"I have wings, screwed up ears, freaky lights on my head..."
"You're so beautiful!" Chay assures Kim, taking his hands, pressing kisses to Kim's knuckles.
"Really?" Kim asks uneasily.
"You're stunning! I'm in awe!"
"My father thinks it's disgusting. He thought it was pretty when it was my mom, but I'm a boy."
"Does P'Kinn have wings?"
"No. Neither does Khun, though Khun got some of the other fae traits."
"What else? Do you grant wishes?"
Kim looks at Chay guiltily and sighs.
"Wait, you do?" Chay asks.
"If I own someone, I can make their wishes come true."
"What do you mean if you own someone? How can you own someone?"
"Fae rules. If someone gives me their true name, if someone accepts a gift from my hand, and if someone acknowledges a debt to me, it gives me supreme power over them."
"Like, own them? Their soul?"
"Yeah."
"Wait. I gave you my true name," Chay points out.
"I know."
"And I've accepted gifts from your hand."
"I know," Kim says, squirming.
"Have I ever acknowledged a debt to you?"
"When you thanked me for the tutoring," Kim admits.
"You own me?"
"Technically. But I'm not going to steal you and whisk you off to the Summerlands. At least, not yet."
"What are the Summerlands?"
"It's the realm of the Fae."
"Wait... are you immortal?"
"No, I'm only a quarter Fae. I'll live a long time in this world, but I'm not immortal. Not like my grandmother. Not unless I go live in the Summerlands."
"What's a long time? Like, a few hundred years?"
"No, maybe a hundred," Kim admits.
"So a normal human lifespan."
"A long one, but yeah."
"Have you granted wishes for me?" Chay asks.
"Please don't ask me that."
"Why not?"
"Because the Fae can't lie. We can twist the truth, but we can't lie."
"P'Kim, you lied to me all the time."
"No, I didn't."
"You used me to get to Hia. You lied about all of it."
"I really didn't."
"I asked how you knew I had a brother at our first tutoring session. You said you saw his picture on my phone."
"I did see the picture on your phone. That wasn't how I knew you were brothers, but I didn't lie," Kim corrects.
"I asked you if you ever loved me when I confronted you outside after my kidnapping. You said no."
"No, I said I'm sorry. And I was."
"You've never lied to me?"
"I have manipulated the truth, but I've never lied."
Chay throws himself in Kim's arms, hugging him tightly, tumbling him to the bed. Kim's lighted antennae bonk Chay on the head, and Chay giggles.
"Have you ever granted my wishes?" Chay asks.
"Yes," Kim admits.
"What wishes have you granted?"
"I granted your wish to get into Ananthamekha."
"I didn't get in on my own?"
"This is why I didn't want to tell you. You absolutely earned your spot in Ananthamekha. But I couldn't take the chance of you not getting in. So I used my powers."
"What else have you used your powers for?"
"I got you your lead singer gig with your band. You earned that too, but you really wanted it, so I got you in."
"P'Kim!" Chay scolds.
"I would give you the world, Chay."
"You need to let me earn things on my own, P'Kim."
"I do, mostly!"
"Don't grant my wishes anymore, P'Kim."
Kim whines, antennae pulsing in distress, and Chay brushes kisses over the glowing orbs bobbing in the air.
"Chay, I have to grant your wishes. It's my nature."
"I want to do things for myself!"
"But Chay!"
"It's my wish!"
Kim's antennae pulse wildly, and his body starts to glow. Kim claps his hands over the lights bobbing over his head and glares at Chay.
"If you wish for me not to grant your wishes, you create a paradox that makes my power flare," Kim scolds.
"How are you so pretty?" Chay gasps.
As a flush crawls up Kim's cheeks, his wings flare open and beat wildly for a few seconds, tousling Chay's hair.
"So, can you fly?" Chay asks.
"In theory, but I don't know how. Mama died before my wings got big enough, so I never learned."
"I thought you had to think happy thoughts."
"I haven't had a lot of happy thoughts since my wings grew in. Not until you."
"Think a happy thought."
"Like what?"
"Like how I'm going to ask you to marry me next year."
Kim's lights flicker madly as his wings flap desperately, lifting Kim a few inches off the bed. Chay gasps as his hair ruffles in the wind generated by Kim's flickering wings, standing up on the bed to take Kim's hands.
"You're doing it!" Chay crows.
"You're going to ask me to marry you?" Kim breathes in awe.
"I already have the ring and everything."
"Why next year? Why not wait until you graduate?"
"I can't wait that long. I would ask you now, but Hia won't let me. I need to turn twenty."
"Stupid Porsche," Kim spits, losing altitude.
"No! No. Happy thoughts. I thought we'd get married on Koh Samui, on the beach, in a Western ceremony. I want to take you for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part."
With every word of the vows, Kim's antennae get brighter and brighter until Chay has to shield his eyes from the glare. Kim lets out a surprised squeak as his head hits the ceiling, and Chay tugs him back down. Kim hovers about six inches above the bed, and Chay pulls him into a kiss.
"I'm flying!" Kim says in awe.
"You're so amazing, P'Kim! I love you so much!"
"I love you so much, angel!"
"What is on my face?" Chay asks, wiping his mouth after kissing Kim.
"Sorry. It's probably pixie dust. When we're happy, we shed."
"If you get a bunch on me, can I fly?"
"In theory."
Chay squashes Kim in his arms, rubbing up against him, burying his face in the crook of Kim's neck. Glowing dust transfers from Kim to Chay, and as Chay rubs his itchy nose, his dust-covered hands start to shine.
"You are going to have to shower after this experiment," Kim points out.
"I'd have to shower anyway. Now what?"
"Think happy thoughts."
"Kiss me, P'Kim!"
"What?"
"Kiss me!"
Kim grabs Chay by the chin and kisses him, soft and sweet, and Chay melts against Kim. Chay slowly rises off the bed until he hovers about a meter in the air, and lets out a blinding smile.
"I'm flying! Well, floating!" Chay crows.
"You did it!"
"But I'm-- I'm-- Achoo!"
Chay lets out a ferocious sneeze and sails off the bed, ricocheting off the far wall, tumbling to the ground. Chay sneezes again, rocketing up towards the ceiling, and Kim lunges to intercept, catching Chay around the waist.
"Careful!" Kim warns.
"I think I'm allergic to pixie dust!" Chay cries, muffling another sneeze.
"I'm sorry."
"No, don't be-- be-- Achoo!"
Chay's sneeze hurtles both of them across the room, squashing Kim against the bedroom window, leaving a dusty outline of Kim's wings on the glass. Chay sneezes again, plunging them towards the floor, and Kim flaps his wings frantically, pulling them up, guiding them back towards the bed. As Kim and Chay hover over the mattress, Chay's face contorts, about to sneeze again.
"Kinn and Porsche fucked in your room!" Kim says hurriedly.
The glow from the pixie dust on Chay disappears as Chay abruptly drops to the bed with a puff of dust, face contorted in an expression of disgust and confusion.
"Why would you tell me that?" Chay complains.
"I needed you to stop thinking happy thoughts so you would land."
"In my room? In my bed?"
"On your sofa. I was coming in to wait for you to come home from school and caught them. Kinn blackmailed me into keeping quiet."
"Blackmailed you with what?"
Kim's glow dims as his wings fold behind his back with a snicking sound, and Kim lands on the duvet with a soft thud.
"Kinn has a picture of me. He threatened to show it to you," Kim sighs.
"A picture of what?"
"Me. When I was six years old, Khun convinced me that pixie dust would make me invisible if I took off my clothes. I tried to sneak up on the guards stark naked, and Kinn took a picture."
"Did you think I would laugh at you?"
"I thought you would ask for a copy."
"I wouldn't keep a naked picture of you. I can't believe P'Kinn keeps a naked picture of you," Chay objects.
"It's how he makes me do stuff for him. Every time he wants me to do something, he threatens to post it on Twitter."
"I'll get P'Kinn's phone and delete the photo."
"How are you going to manage that?" Kim asks.
"I have full access to Hia and P'Kinn's suite. I'll just sneak in tonight and grab P'Kinn's phone."
"Do you know how many of Pa's parties we can get out of if Kinn doesn't have that picture?"
"I'm on it!" Chay chirps.
"Thank you, baby," Kim murmurs, nuzzling into Chay's neck.
Chay brings his hands up to stroke Kim's wings carefully, and Kim shivers in arousal.
"We should make love with you like this," Chay whispers.
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why not?"
"Do you know how happy you make me? As soon as you push inside me, I'll fly."
"We could have mid-air sex!" Chay gasps.
"Chay, look what happened when you were sneezing! We were ricocheting around the room. What do you think is going to happen during sex?"
"I could be gentle!"
"Chay, every thrust would knock me out of your arms. We'd be flung apart."
"It just sounds so cool," Chay sulks.
"It wouldn't work. I'm sorry."
"What about in the shower? We wouldn't be able to move that much?"
"Only if we pad the floor. I don't want to hurt you if we suddenly lose altitude."
"Sweet!" Chay chirps.
The lights flare back on, the TV crackles to life, and Chay makes a mournful noise as Kim's wings and antennae disappear with a pop. Chay reaches up to caress the now rounded ears of Kim, and Kim turns to press a kiss to Chay's palm. Chay sneezes violently one more time, spraying Kim, and Kim laughs, wiping his face.
"Gross, baby!" Kim giggles.
"I'm so sorry, P'Kim!"
"I don't know how you think we're going to have flying sex when you can't stop sneezing? You'll need to rub pixie dust all over you."
"I'll take a pill."
"You really want to have flying sex, don't you?"
"Don't you?"
"I'll do anything you want, Chay."
"Anything?" Chay asks.
"Absolutely anything."
"Can you wash this pixie dust off me before I sneeze myself to death?"
"Of course, angel. Let's go shower."
"Can we shower in the dark? I want to wash your wings."
"You'll have to be careful. They're delicate," Kim warns.
"I'll be so careful!" Chay vows.
Kim reaches across Chay, turns off the bedside lamp, and switches off the TV. In the moonlight, Kim's wings appear with a quiet poof, and his lighted antennae bob gently over his forehead. Chay lifts his head and presses a kiss to the glowing tip of each antenna, and Kim laughs.
"That's ticklish," Kim giggles.
"Yeah?"
Chay lunges towards Kim and licks one of Kim's antennae, causing Kim to shriek and laugh, wriggling in Chay's arms.
"Stooop!" Kim laughs.
Chay attacks Kim's face with kisses, and, unable to help himself, a joyous Kim sheds pixie dust all over Chay. Chay explodes into sneezes, and Kim tugs off his t-shirt, wiping dust from Chay's face.
"I warned you that I shed when I'm happy," Kim says.
"It's-- achoo! Okay."
"Come on. Let's shower."
Chay gazes at Kim's face, bathed in the soft glow from his antennae, and presses a soft kiss to Kim's lips. Kim's wings flutter in happiness, raining pixie dust on the bedsheets, and Chay sneezes violently.
"Okay. Shower," Kim says, tugging Chay off the bed.
They make their way into the bathroom, Kim's antennae lighting the way. As Chay starts the shower, he tugs Kim into his arms, hugging Kim around the waist, gently stroking his twitching wings.
"Thank you for showing me this side of you, P'Kim."
"I didn't, though. Not really. I never wanted you to see this."
"What did I tell you at our first tutoring session?"
"What?"
"Any side will do. I like them all."
"Even if I'm one quarter pixie?" Kim asks quietly.
"Especially if you're one quarter pixie."
Kim raises a few inches off the floor, a shy smile on his face as Chay strips quickly, stepping under the spray of the shower. Kim strips his pants off and joins Chay in the cubicle, wings crowding Chay against the tile wall.
"We need a bigger shower," Chay giggles.
"I think it's the perfect size," Kim says, capturing Chay's lips in a kiss. "Anything that gets me closer to you."