by JS Harker
But the car had switches and knobs, all with tiny symbols. Derek had a wheel in front of him—used for operating, that much Flynn knew—and he stuck a key into a slot near the wheel. A fine layer of dust coated the ledge nearest the front window. So Derek didn’t treat his car like the nobles did their carriages. Then again, Flynn supposed it was harder to clean without magic.
Derek turned the key, and the engine roared to life. It should have been louder. Television had misled Flynn in that regard. He would have to tell Lulu.
As the car began to move, a blaring ding sounded over and over. Flynn hissed and clapped his hands over his ears. The noise didn’t stop until Derek did something with a giant stick stuck into the side of the wheel. Derek frowned at the car, glancing at the space between various numbers and lines before him. Cars weren’t supposed to make that noise. Good. If television had lied that much, Flynn was never watching another episode of anything.
Derek continued his assessment, concern bunching his forehead. Then suddenly his face smoothed. “You didn’t buckle up.”
Flynn had heard this phrase. What did it mean? When Derek motioned to something behind him, Flynn turned in his seat. Ah, a buckle. Silly him. He took hold of it and pulled a strap from the side of the car. It stayed attached.
“What does this have to do with the noise?” Flynn asked.
“Newer car,” Derek replied. “It gets mad when you don’t wear your belt.”
A belt implied it went around a person, but how? Flynn scowled and examined Derek. He had a strap of gray going across his chest and down. Oh, there was a matching thing on Flynn’s side. He pushed the buckle into it. It made a satisfying click and stayed in place.
After they were moving again—this time without the extra noise—Derek asked, “Haven’t you been in a car?”
“No.” Flynn snuck into a carriage once when he was little. The car was almost as magical. It was like flying through the wind without the effort of magic. He could see so much more than he would by wind travel. The car had a funny smell as well. Industry—an entirely mortal stink.
“Didn’t you have to buckle up on the plane?” Derek said.
That would be an amazing contraption to try. Really flying, high up in the sky. Flynn stared at the stars. How close did planes get to them? Did they reach the space station Derek mentioned? “I’ve never been in one.”
“Okay, if you don’t have a car and you’ve never been in one, how do you get around town?”
Derek had as many questions about him as Flynn had about the whole of humanity. A small, warm glow spread through him. No one bothered asking him anything about his experience. They didn’t really care to know. Derek was genuinely interested.
“I take the bus or I walk,” Flynn said.
“Even to the store?”
“Yes.” Flynn’s ear twitched. “You think me strange?”
“Different,” Derek said. “I haven’t been driving that long, but most people around here know how to.”
“I hear them complaining about it.” Flynn bumped his head against the window because he forgot the glass was there for a second. When he tried to lean far forward, the belt made an odd sound and pulled tightly on him. Flynn yanked on the belt, but it stayed in place. “What did I do wrong?”
“You stretched it out. Unbuckle, roll it back, and then buckle it again.”
Flynn went to do so. The loud dinging assaulted his ears until he got the belt fastened. “Why does it have to do that?”
“To remind people to do it.”
“People forget it constantly?”
“More like they don’t always do it. With the noise, they have to so it’ll stop.”
“Why have it at all?” Flynn asked.
“Other than it’s the law?” Derek said. “Right. Um, you don’t know much about physics either. It’s in case of accidents. So you don’t go flying through the windshield or wind up too close to the air bag—those are things that come out of the dash to stop you from hitting your head on it and getting a concussion.”
Humans were a lot more fragile than Flynn originally thought. “If it’s so dangerous, why do you need reminders to stay safe?”
Derek snorted. “Have you met people? They like to do whatever they want.”
Lulu said the same frequently. “You have a point.”
They reached the diner, which had a sign reading Open 24 Hours. Strange how some places never considered taking a rest. Much as Queen Mab wanted, some places in the feylands were the same, but it had an effect. The places wore out.
Business in the diner was slow enough they were able to choose their seats. Flynn wanted a spot where they could look outside. A window overlooked a patch of field between the restaurant and the store next door. It was a dismal piece of nature, but it was covered in snow, and Flynn missed home. Derek was kind enough to go along with his desire, so they sat on opposite sides of a booth. Flynn tugged off his jacket and set it on the seat beside him.
“Did you lose a fight with a fairy?” Derek asked.
Flynn gaped at him. Derek’s tone suggested he was joking, but did he think Lulu was real after all? Did he think he’d overheard a serious argument between them? He hadn’t said anything on the whole drive over, and he couldn’t understand the dialect of the Winter fey. While Flynn floundered for an answer, Derek motioned at his shoulders.
Oh! Pixie dust covered his T-shirt. Flynn had grown so accustomed to it he didn’t bother trying to get it off his clothes, which wasn’t an explanation he could give to Derek.
“My roommate likes it,” Flynn said cautiously. Lulu did love the way she sparkled, so he hadn’t lied. But Derek might not believe him.
“My sister’s that way,” Derek said. “She keeps loading my birthday card with it, and I get covered every year. And I have to open them because I’m supposed to be nice to her. Three months later, and I still find it in my clothes. I keep hoping she’ll grow out of it, but she’s nine. This could last awhile.”
A waitress came to their table with menus. Picking out the English words wasn’t easy, but the menu had plenty of pictures, including of holiday specials. Derek ordered a soda and an omelet. The menu had so many choices, so many things Flynn had never tried. He ordered coffee, fries, bacon, a fruit cup, a cinnamon roll, and a waffle covered in some sort of red-and-green syrup and whipped cream.
Derek’s eyes went wide as the waitress walked away. “You can eat all that?”
“Is it unusual?” Flynn asked.
“That much food’s how I put on the freshman fifteen two years in a row,” Derek replied.
“Um, the freshman fifteen?”
“Pounds. Weight.”
Flynn liked how Derek answered questions as if they weren’t bothersome. Derek had such pretty brown eyes too. He leaned in closer to get a better look at them. “And gaining this freshman fifteen isn’t ideal?”
“It’s not great. My mother likes to nag me, but then she turns around and sends me off with three pounds of cheese and a million leftovers.”
Providing food for family was common practice, but perhaps the amount wasn’t good. “And that’s counterproductive.”
“Yeah,” Derek said. “Um, why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m trying to figure out how amber your eyes are,” Flynn said.
“My eyes are boring.”
“I like their color.”
Derek frowned. Compliments were supposed to please the recipient. “Did I mention seeing a fairy earlier?”
“Yes,” Flynn said slowly. “Why?”
“She mentioned my eye color too.”
“Then she has good taste.”
Derek scrunched his face more. “You’re not worried about it? You don’t think I’m weird?”
How could he be when Derek saw the truth? Flynn shrugged, attempting a noncommittal attitude. “Who can dictate what is and isn’t true?”
That seemed to worry Derek more than comfort him.
The waitress inte
rrupted them by dropping off their drinks. Flynn took three packets of sugar from the black plastic container on their table and added them to his coffee. Then he added enough creamer to fill it to the brim. Coffee, sugar, and creamer were hard to come by in the feylands, but they were everywhere in America.
“You really like sugar,” Derek said.
“It’s tasty. So were the cookies you gave me yesterday.”
“My mom made them. She makes a lot more than that too.”
More cookies? Flynn could hardly sit still. “I’d like to try them.”
“I make fudge,” Derek blurted. His cheeks turned red right after he spoke.
What had happened to make him embarrassed to show enthusiasm? Flynn wanted to find out, but asking so soon for a secret wouldn’t go well, especially as Derek fidgeted in his seat. He was uncomfortable for some reason. Better for Flynn to act as if he didn’t see the embarrassment, though he found Derek charming.
“Is that the chocolate squares?” Flynn asked.
“That’s one way to cut it,” Derek replied. His face was returning to a normal shade. “My family’s recipe has marshmallows and chocolate chips and some other stuff.”
“That sounds perfect. I love all the different sweets you have. Candy bars and soda and even little packets of sugar on the table.” Flynn picked one up, tore it open, and dumped it into his mouth.
Derek looked shocked. “I guess they don’t have sugar where you’re from?”
“Not in the same way,” Flynn said. “It’s prized and kept under protection, otherwise it’d be eaten right away.”
Derek blinked at him. Blazing iron, Flynn had said something too weird. He waited for Derek to break their conversation by slinging an insult or calling him a liar. A dagger to the gut was preferable. At least Flynn could heal physical damage quicker than the disappointment over losing a new companion.
But no malice came to Derek’s eyes. He simply said, “That must suck.”
And that was all he said. Flynn smiled and relaxed. His instincts had been right. Derek wasn’t one of the mean, rude humans that were everywhere.
“So what do you do when you’re not an elf?” Derek asked.
“Watch movies, hang out with my friend,” Flynn replied.
“I mean in the off-season.”
“I’m still deciding.” Flynn leaned back in his seat before he counted Derek’s eyelashes. “What about you?”
“I’m a comp sci major. I plan on working in IT.”
Flynn blinked at him. Those were syllables, and they sounded like English. Flynn knew a few other human languages, but he still didn’t understand what Derek said. “I don’t know what any of that meant.”
“I’m studying computers because I want to fix them for a career.”
“And that makes you happy?”
Derek shrugged. “It’ll pay the bills. That’s the important thing, isn’t it?”
Flynn had never heard such a depressing idea in his life. Or he had, but he hadn’t expected the human reality to be so ingrained in one as young as Derek. He even lost some of the sparkle in his eyes as he said it.
There had to be a way to bring magic into his life. “Shouldn’t life be about something more?”
Derek fussed with his napkin. His gaze was firmly on the table between them, which was worse. Flynn hadn’t meant to make him more insecure. But then he sighed and raised his gaze. “I guess I’ve got to find some way of surviving first. Everything else has sort of come second. Wow, that sounds way more depressing out loud.”
Depressing did not make for fun conversation. Flynn switched topics. “Do you ever find the mall too everything? Too loud, too busy, too noisy?”
“Sometimes. I mostly focus on my store. I guess where you are, you don’t have that luxury.”
“I’ve had a few problems. There are so many shiny and bright things. So much music and noise. It’s distracting.”
Derek nodded. “I know what you mean. That one song that starts with the sleigh bells for a solid twenty seconds? It’s just noise, and I want to scream every time it comes on.”
Derek did understand. Flynn said, “Yes! Bells should sound more delicate. That’s like a crashing avalanche without any poetry.”
“There’s poetry in an avalanche?”
He had to be joking, but Flynn couldn’t be sure. “Have you seen one?”
“Not in person.”
Flynn pulled out his phone. “I found some on the internet. Hold on.”
Flynn had a few videos of avalanches saved to his account on a streaming website. He loaded one and turned the phone so Derek could watch it too.
Tons of snow plowed over pine trees as the wave made its way downhill toward the camera. The mass of tiny snowflakes coalesced into one magnificent force of nature. It was an unyielding, grinding power of nature. Harsher than any magic Flynn knew. Only the laws of the mortal realm could bring it to a conclusion, entropy working its way. Flynn wanted to write and sing about even this pathetic attempt to capture an avalanche’s beauty.
Derek frowned at the screen. He continued staring at the phone even after the video ended. “Play it again?”
Flynn slid the little red ball back across its line and hit play.
“I’ve never stopped to think about it before,” Derek said. “Snow’s kind of this thing that happens. Some years we see a lot, some we don’t. But it’s this thing that disrupts our normal and demands a place in the world, right up until it melts. Avalanches are fleeting too. Unstoppable for a limited time only.”
Flynn smiled. Derek understood. “Exactly.”
Their food arrived, and they chatted while they ate. Derek hadn’t had time for television, and Flynn was quickly figuring out he had spent too much time with programming instead of people. The food was some of the best he’d had in the mortal realm. He needed to buy whole bottles of syrup and find a way to smuggle them into the feylands.
After dinner Derek offered to drive him home, and Flynn accepted. He remembered to buckle the blasted seat belt, though it hindered his ability to turn in his seat. Everything was the same and different. In the mall his isolation from nature was slightly more pronounced, but it was the same sights over and over. Other humans distracted him whenever he rode the bus. He’d never really seen the mortal world quite like this. Plain. Magical in its ordinary feel. He longed to ask Derek to drive around more, but that was too big a favor.
“Nice place,” Derek said as he parked the car in front of the cabin.
“I enjoy it. I enjoyed our meal too. I hope to see you again soon.” Flynn grabbed the door handle.
“Flynn?” Derek asked, his voice squeaking at the end. His cheeks pinked, and he cleared his throat. “I, um, do you want to go on a date? With me?”
Derek’s shyness was charming. He had a bit of hope in his eyes. Flynn had felt the same way coming through the portal from the feylands for the first time. Not knowing what lay on the other side, wondering if exploring was worth risking his safety. Derek was brave, kind, and attractive. Flynn hadn’t met any other human he wanted to spend time with so badly.
“I get off work at four tomorrow,” Flynn said.
“Oh! I, uh, three. I get out at three. We can do something after?”
“I’d like that.”
Derek smiled, and it was like the first few precious snowflakes of the season. “Okay, it’s a date.”
Flynn kissed Derek’s cheek. He was so warm. But he didn’t linger to explore, instead climbing out of the car quickly. He would have time to pursue Derek later. On their date.
Chapter Five
GETTING through work was a nightmare. Derek couldn’t focus on anything but how slowly time inched along toward the end of his shift. When the time finally came, he had a rush of relief until he remembered Flynn still had work for another hour. A whole hour. He should spend some of that time studying, but the mere thought of going to his dorm room was a trap. Too easy to chicken out and stay there.
Instead he went sh
opping. He’d promised his mother he’d do his own shopping this year, which meant figuring out presents for his family and for the white elephant at the big family party. So Derek plodded along to each of the stores. The result was keeping the Winter Wonderland in plain view the whole time he attempted to shop. His concentration went to the same place it had lingered all day.
Flynn had kissed him. On the cheek, sure. But he said yes to a date and he kissed him. Despite whatever Gregory said and how dorky Derek was, Flynn wanted to spend time with him. Maybe Derek needed to think of a Christmas present for Flynn too. He still had a couple of weeks, though it’d be really early in their relationship.
Assuming they even got to the relationship point. They could go on one date and Flynn could say no to any others. Nervousness overtook Derek, and he buzzed through the mall in under forty minutes. Great. He’d used up his one thing to kill time.
Hold on. Flynn liked coffee and sugar. He didn’t seem to be too familiar with what Derek took for common stuff, so he probably hadn’t had a peppermint mocha yet. A little predate coffee would give him something to do, and he’d have something warm to drink at the beginning of their adventure. New path determined, Derek turned around.
He smacked right into a scowling older man. “S-sorry.”
The man only scowled more.
There was a strange presence to him. Derek had plenty of rude customers in the store, but this guy didn’t leave the same impression. For some reason, he reminded Derek of the woman who accused him of ruining Christmas.
The man looked Derek up and down, snorted, and then walked away.
Someone wasn’t in the holiday spirit. Derek shivered and tried to put the weirdness out of his mind. Which led him to thinking about Flynn kissing his cheek. Voluntarily. Out of nowhere. Derek’s cheeks were warm, and butterflies threatened to breed in his stomach. Right. Coffee, and then he could hang around Winter Wonderland until Flynn got off work.