That weekend, Niles was making some coffee when Ashton wandered into the kitchen.

"Hey, Ash, good morning," Niles said, glancing up at him. "Want some coffee?"

Ashton looked disgusted, and Niles laughed. The faerie grabbed an apple instead and sat at the table.

"What are we doing today?" he asked, as he did most mornings.

Niles smiled. There was something cute about Ashton's inherent expectation that whatever was happening that day, they would be doing it together. 

"My friend James just moved down here to be closer to family, and I'm going over to his new house to help him move," Niles explained. "Do you want to come?"

Ashton paused in eating his apple to blink at him.

At his silence, Niles continued. "You remember James, right?" he asked uncertainly. "He was the first doctor you stayed with after you got out of the hospital."

"Hmm," Ashton said in response. He made a face at the mention of James' name, and Niles wondered what that meant. "Yeah, I remember him."

Niles was confused by the sour look on Ashton's face. Ashton hadn't been with James long enough for the faerie to have formed a bad opinion of him. Or so Niles thought.

"Ashton... do you dislike James?" Niles asked curiously when Ashton didn't say anything else.

Ashton shrugged. "Well, he brought me to you, so it's not like I hate him."

"But...?" Niles prompted

"He cut my nails," Ashton said distastefully, referring to an incident that had occurred back when James was taking care of him. "I didn't like that at all."

Niles couldn't help but laugh at the surprising reason, and Ashton scowled at him.

"Don't worry," he assured Ashton, touching the faerie's arm. "I won't let him cut your nails this time around."

***

Once they arrived at the James human's house, Niles walked right inside, calling out to James that they were there. Ashton trailed behind, less than enthused about meeting his first human doctor again.

It's not that James had mistreated him. It's just that... he wasn't Niles. From what little Ashton remembered of him, he was a competent doctor. He was good at handling fae carefully and efficiently. But he lacked Niles' gentle warmth and compassionate nature.

And, of course, he had cut Ashton's talons. Even if it was to protect Ashton from scratching himself, Ashton was still miffed about it.

They finally found James at the back of the house, chatting with some other people who were also probably helping with this whole moving thing. 

"Niles, Ashton!" that James human exclaimed, a wide smile spreading across his face. He gave Niles a quick hug before holding his hand out to Ashton.  Ashton just stared at it distastefully. James' hands weren't nearly as nice as Niles'.

"Ah, Ash, you're supposed to shake his hand," Niles quickly explained. He demonstrated by grabbing James' offered hand himself and giving it a firm shake. "See?"

"Why?" Ashton asked, genuinely confused.

Niles smiled. "It's just how humans greet each other."

Ashton raised his eyebrows, but he did as he was told. James' hands were a little warmer than Niles'. Ashton didn't like it, and he pulled his hand back quickly.

James didn't seem offended. "Thanks for coming out, you guys," he said. "And it's good to see you again, Ashton." He turned to the other humans. "Here, let's go out to the truck, and I'll explain what's going on."

***

After James' instructions, Ashton found himself walking back and forth between the truck and the house, moving box after box. It wasn't hard, and the other humans were nice enough. Everyone looked at him funny at first, but they quickly realized how strong he was. They all wanted to be his best friend after that, roping him into carrying the heavier boxes and pieces of furniture into the house.

It didn't bother Ashton, as none of the boxes that the other humans huffed and puffed over were heavy to him. The only downside to this whole moving experience was that Niles had been whisked away to help with something else, so Ashton didn't get to see him that much.

As Ashton worked, he noticed a small human girl peeking at him from around the side of the moving truck. She didn't say anything to him, so he ignored her. He figured she would talk to him if she wanted to.

And he was right. After a few minutes of this, she stepped right out into the open, staring up at him in wonder. Ashton stared back at her, a large box in his hands.

"Are you a monster?" she finally asked, tone curious.

Ashton blinked at her. "Umm, no," he responded. He brushed past her and made his way to the front door of the house. He dropped the box off in the doorway and walked back towards the moving truck, the little girl trailing after him.

"Then what's wrong with your neck?" she wondered aloud, not to be deterred. "And why are your ears so pointy? And why...."

Ashton pushed a small moving box into her hands, and she staggered back in surprise. Ashton ignored her and grabbed his own box before walking back towards the house.

"Hey!" she protested, scurrying after him.

"If you're going to talk, you should at least work," he called over his shoulder. 

"Will you answer my questions, then?" she yelled.

"Sure."

She ran to catch up, huffing as her little legs struggled to match Ashton's long strides. "What's your name?" she wanted to know.

"Ashton." He set the box down beside the first one and took a good look at the human girl, who put her own box down with a relieved sigh. She was small for a human and wore her dark hair in two neat braids.

"I'm Margaret," she said, brushing her bangs off her sweaty forehead.

Ashton stuck out his hand. He really didn't know why humans greeted each other like this, but apparently it was the polite thing to do.

Margaret stared at his talons and shook his offered hand gingerly. She opened her mouth to speak, probably to ask about his claws, but he beat her to it.

"I'm a faerie," he informed her. "Or rather... was a faerie."

Her mouth dropped open, and Ashton saw that she was missing her two front teeth. He turned to go back to the moving truck, and she grabbed his hand, walking alongside him.

"You can't be a faerie!" she protested. "You're too big!"

"I made a wish," he said, trying not to smile. "A wish to be human. That's why I'm big now."

"Oh," Margaret was quiet for a minute. She squinted up at him. "Did you live in a mushroom?"

Ashton did laugh at that, and he shook his head. Where do these humans get their ideas from? he wondered. Margaret looked put out.

"No, I lived in a tree," he told her. "And sometimes in a pond." He pointed to the gills on his neck. "See? These help me breathe underwater."

"Wow," she looked up at him in wonder. "I gotta go tell my brother. He'll be so mad at me if he doesn't get to meet you!"

She let go of his hand and dashed away. "Don't go anywhere!" she yelled over her shoulder.

***

Niles wandered around the house, concerned that Ashton had disappeared. He had seen him periodically throughout the day, hauling boxes from the truck or moving items and furniture into the house, but now it was like he had vanished.

When Niles found Ashton at last, he had three kids hanging off of him: James' niece— Margaret— was perched on his shoulders, her little brother dangled from his arm, and a third neighborhood kid hugged him around his waist.

"Ashton?" he asked in bewilderment, and the faerie turned to look at him, kids whooping excitedly at the sudden movement.

"Niles," he said, looking relieved. "Here to rescue me?"

"Hey!" Margaret protested, and Ashton flashed a pointed grin in response. Niles smiled back, glad to see that Ashton wasn't having nearly as bad of a time as he was pretending.

"We just finished setting up the trampoline in the backyard," Niles told the kids, hoping to distract them enough to get his faerie back. "Why don't you go check it out?"

Unfortunately, that just had the opposite effect, as Margaret and the boys cheered before dragging Ashton off to the backyard. Niles sighed and followed them.

The boys climbed into the trampoline immediately, but Margaret paused when Ashton didn't get any closer, eyes wide as he took in the strange new contraption.

"Come on!" Margaret insisted when Ashton just stood there. "Let's go inside!"

Ashton hesitated and looked over his shoulder at Niles, who nodded encouragingly. That did the trick, and Ashton followed Margaret up the ladder and onto the trampoline, ducking under the net that surrounded it.

Niles watched them, curious to see Ashton's reaction. Margaret started jumping right away, and Ashton just stood on the edge and watched her. The other two kids quickly joined, squealing with excitement and jumping as hard as their little legs could go.

Margaret started yelling at Ashton to jump, and he did so, cautiously at first. His eyes filled with wonder as he went higher than expected, and soon he was jumping with the other kids, going higher than Niles had ever seen anyone. The kids screamed with delight as Ashton's added weight launched them through the air, and Ashton looked like he was having the time of his life.

Niles watched him, unaware of the soft smile filling his face. This is probably the closest he's come to flying in a long time, he thought.

James came out of the house, about to call for the kids, when he noticed the look on Niles' face. He raised an eyebrow and sidled up to him.

"What's that look for?" he asked in Niles' ear.

Niles jumped, the smile disappearing instantly as he whirled around on James.

"Look? What look?" he asked, knitting his eyebrows in confusion.

James just laughed and clapped him on the back. "It's the same look that Ashton gives you," he said. "That's all."

Niles was about to ask him what he meant when James turned back to look at the trampoline. The two of them watched quietly as the kids made Ashton take turns tossing them up in the air and catching them again.

"He's unrecognizable, isn't he?" James murmured, and Niles nodded. He had almost forgotten that James used to take care of Ashton before he did, so he knew full well what Ashton used to be like— a fearful, cowering little slip of a faerie who flinched at shadows and cried at the sight of human hands.

But now, here Ashton was, smiling like the sun and laughing hysterically as Margaret's little brother tried to climb up to his shoulders.

Niles couldn't help but laugh, too, and even James smiled, though he was starting to look concerned about the safety of his niece and nephew.

"I'm going to go tell them to jump normally or get off," he muttered, heading towards the trampoline.

Niles watched as James yelled at everyone on the trampoline, kids still shrieking over him and drowning him out.

How he... looks at me? Niles repeated in his head. He had no idea what James meant, so he stopped to look at Ashton, really look at him.

The faerie was still grinning, laughing as the kids screamed and ran away from James as he entered the trampoline to grab them. As Niles watched, Ashton paused and looked at him, catching his eye.

Niles waved, and Ashton's eyes lit up, softening again as he smiled back. Niles' heart thumped in his chest at that look, and his hand flew up to touch the locket around his neck.

Oh.

_______________________________________________________________________

A/N: Ashton's big brother mode: activated

Also, Niles is an observant person, but it did take, like, 9 chapters and a comment from James for him to realize that something was up.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to vote and comment if you want. See you in the next part! We are finally, finally getting somewhere.