As the weeks passed and spring turned to summer, it became clear that while Seb really liked being with Niles and Ashton, he kept trying to hide it. He especially seemed to like Niles, but he held himself back a lot in favor of shy glances, ducking away, and glaring.

Eventually, though, Seb finally started resting on Niles' shoulder or curling up beside him on the couch without making an elaborate excuse to be there. His pride didn't allow him to accept the same type of contact with Ashton, however, as he seemed to think the two of them were locked into some kind of war for Niles' attention.

As for Ashton, the older faerie absolutely adored the tiny pixie, and he always wanted to hold or snuggle Seb when he wasn't trying to rile him up. Seb would usually snarl or bat his hands away, but Niles noticed that the child often hovered around Ashton like he was inviting him to catch him, and he always settled into Ashton's hands comfortably whenever Ashton did manage to get ahold of him.

Like other faeries, Seb preferred to spend most of his time in the garden, and he slept in the faerie house that he shared with Rylan. But he always made it a point to check up on whatever Niles or Ashton were doing.

It struck Niles as odd that a pixie child would want to spend so much time with humans instead of other faeries, but one day, he quickly figured out why.

Niles was working in the garden when he heard tiny voices yelling. He looked over at the squash plant to see Seb gesturing angrily to a group of older pixies, pointing at the squash they were standing on and shaking his little hands.

Curious and concerned, Niles drifted closer to see what was going on.

"...everybody knows that, you dunderheads! Are your brains full of rotten cabbage or something?" Seb was yelling, and the older pixies just looked at him in disgust.

When they caught sight of Niles, they looked relieved. "Niles," one of them called. "Can you come get Seb? He's being a pain in the butt right now. He won't even listen to Rylan!"

Niles glanced over at the older pixie brother, who wasn't even remotely engaged in the conversation. Instead, he was busy sampling the honeysuckle vine.

Niles tried not to laugh. If Seb was overly confrontational, then Rylan was the exact opposite. He just didn't care enough about anything to get mad like his little brother.

Speaking of his little brother... the littlest pixie whirled around to glare at Niles. "Am not!" he insisted. "They're just trying to harvest this squash before it's ripe! They can't do that! It will taste bad!"

Niles looked over at the squash to see that Seb was, in fact, right about the squash. But that wasn't the issue right now. Niles just needed to deescalate the situation and get Seb away to calm down.

"Hmm, let me see," Niles said, getting closer. The pixies moved aside and looked at him expectantly.

After inspecting the squash, Niles turned to the older faeries. "It will be ripe in a few more days," he told them. "So, don't touch it yet, ok?" He pointed at the blackberry bushes. "Go get some blackberries if you're hungry. Those are ripe."

They grumbled to themselves for a bit before flying off, leaving Niles with the pixie child.

Seb still looked peeved despite being proven right. Niles stared at the angry little thing. He and Ashton might find his temper cute, but it was clear that no one else did. No wonder the lonely thing didn't have any friends in the garden if this was how he talked to them.

"Seb," he finally called, gesturing to the little pixie. "Come here for a minute. Let me hold you."

Seb jerked his head back and scowled harder. "I don't want to be held!" he shot back.

"Just for a minute," Niles assured him, still waving him forward. If anything, Seb was probably just tired. Niles wanted to see if Ashton's little trick of holding Seb would work in getting the tiny thing to settle down.

When Seb didn't move, Niles called out to him again. "I'll rub your back," he coaxed, and Seb's tiny, pointed ears twitched.

Niles had tried that the other day when Ashton had snagged an angry Seb and handed him off to Niles. The little faerie had actually fallen dead silent for once, and by the way he had maneuvered himself around to give Niles easier access to his wings made Niles believe that he really liked it.

Grumbling to himself, Seb finally flew over to Niles, perching on his hand and flopping onto his side with his back facing Niles.

True to his word, Niles moved his fingers over Seb's crystal blue wings, rubbing his back and tiny arms. "Let's go inside, hmm?" he suggested.

Seb didn't protest, so Niles got up, a now silent Seb still cupped in his hands. Back in the house, he sat on the couch and focused on the pixie. 

Seb didn't seem too keen on talking yet, so Niles stayed quiet. Unsurprisingly, the little boy soon fell asleep, and Niles couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Ashton walked in a few minutes later. Now that it was summer, he had taken to babysitting James' niece and nephew every now and then when James or their mother couldn't watch them.

Ashton's face lit up. "Is that our boy?" he asked, and Niles nodded. Ashton especially liked Seb, and it was cute watching them argue.

"Who else?" he answered, opening his hands to let Ashton get a peek at the sleeping pixie.

Ashton leaned down until his lips were right by Seb's pointed ear. "I love you, Seb," he whispered loudly, and the pixie batted him away, still fast asleep.

Niles smiled and then offered Seb to Ashton. "Can you take him?" Niles asked. "I still have work today, and I need both hands free."

Ashton immediately held his hands out and nodded eagerly. Niles carefully tipped Seb into his waiting hands and made sure the little pixie was settled comfortably before giving Ashton a quick kiss and heading towards his office.

"I'll see you at dinner," he called over his shoulder.

***

When Niles left his office later that afternoon, he was surprised to hear voices in the living room. Wandering closer, he could see Ashton sitting on the couch, chatting with Seb, who was perched on his knee and pointing at the TV.

"Who's that?" the pixie demanded.

"How am I supposed to know?" Ashton asked. "I haven't seen this show before, either. Just be quiet and watch. They'll probably explain who it is in a minute."

Niles was too far to make out what Seb did next, but he did see Ashton grin.

"Ow, Seb," he said good naturedly. "Don't kick me."

Niles sighed and walked fully into the living room. Both Ashton and Seb turned to look at him, and Ashton's face lit up. 

"Look, Niles!" he exclaimed, pointing at Seb. "Look who's finally up!"

"I see that," Niles said, holding his hands out. Seb flew to him immediately and sat cross legged in his cupped palms.

"Seb, will you help me make dinner, please?" Niles asked politely. The little pixie rolled his eyes but nodded. Niles couldn't help but notice that he looked distinctly pleased at having been given a task.

***

Seb looked a lot less grumpy after he had slept and eaten, so Niles decided it would be a good time to talk to him about the squash incident.

Seb hadn't been in the garden all that long, and he was already quite disliked by the older pixies. Niles didn't want that to keep being an issue, especially since the pixie child was obviously lonely. But his temper certainly didn't help him win many friends.

Seb didn't even get along with Lucy, which was more her fault than anything else. Niles had tried to introduce them back when Seb first arrived, thinking Seb might do well with another pixie to mentor him. 

Unfortunately, Seb had a particularly nasty expression on his face when they first met, and Lucy, of course, took that personally. 

"Well, aren't you a piece of work," Lucy had remarked, placing her hands on her hips and looking the younger pixie up and down. "What's with that scowl on your face? Didn't anyone ever teach you to respect your elders?"

Seb just stuck his tongue out at her and zoomed away, leaving Niles to glare at Lucy.

"Luce!" he complained, and she fluttered her wings dismissively. "C'mon, you're almost 40! Why are you picking a fight with a kid?"

"What?" she demanded. "He started it." She clucked her tongue. "With his bad attitude and all." 

Mara cut in before Niles could. "Sunflower, this is why your mom doesn't think you can be trusted with younglings," she pointed out, and Niles nodded in agreement.

He had tried to smooth things over between Seb and Lucy several times the last few weeks, but to no avail. And after today, Niles realized that Seb wasn't getting along any better with the other pixies.

"Seb, buddy, let's talk about what happened in the garden today," Niles began after putting away the dishes and rejoining Seb at the dinner table. 

Ashton was out in the garden to see if any of the pixies wanted leftovers, so Niles figured it would be a good time to talk to Seb without Ashton around to rile him up. However, Seb still immediately clammed up.

"It's ok," Niles murmured, reaching out and stroking the gap between his wings to soothe him. "I'm not mad. I'm just trying to figure out what happened. Can you tell me what happened?"

Seb crossed his arms and frowned, his little eyebrows creasing. "It's dumb," he huffed. "The other pixies kept wanting to cut the squash from the vine, but it wasn't ripe yet. I told them and told them, but they wouldn't listen to me, even when I yelled at them."

"Hmm," Niles mused. "Why was it so important to you that they believed you about the squash?"

Seb looked at him in disbelief. "They were about to waste a whole, perfectly good squash!" he exclaimed. "You shouldn't waste food!"

Niles looked at Seb, wondering where the little thing had been before he ended up in his garden. "Have you lived in places where it was hard to find food, Seb?" he asked, and the pixie shrugged.

"Some gardens were better than others," was all he said, and Niles patted his shoulder with a careful finger.

Ah, Niles thought. That's probably it. Poor thing.

"You're right, we shouldn't needlessly waste food," Niles agreed "And it is better to wait until the squash is ripe, but it's not the end of the world to lose one squash. There were other squashes on the vine, too, you know."

Seb just pouted, so Niles continued.

"I know it's frustrating when people don't believe you, but please don't just yell at them when you're angry," Niles told him.

Seb clearly didn't like that advice, his downturned ears twitching angrily from where they stuck out from his mop of brown curls. "But what if they're being stupid?" he shot back. "What if they aren't listening to me?"

Niles smiled at him. "You still shouldn't get mean like that. You can feel angry and frustrated, but it's not safe for you or others to let those feelings control your behavior." 

He cupped a hand behind Seb and rubbed his wings to help him settle down. "Does what I'm saying make sense?" he asked gently.

Seb just crossed his little arms and turned his face away. "I can't help it," he said. "They just make me so mad, and I have to yell at them."

Niles tried not to laugh at the funny little thing in his hand. Seb really was weird for a pixie. Pixies rarely got so worked up about, well, anything.

"Hmm, next time you feel yourself getting mad and wanting to yell, just come find me instead," he suggested. "I'll hold you until you feel more like yourself again, ok?"

"Fine," Seb grumbled, still not looking at Niles. He sat there for a minute and let Niles rub his back before glancing up and eyeing him appraisingly.

"Then, will you tell the other faeries when they're being dumb?" he asked suddenly. "They listen to you."

Niles did laugh at that. "Sure," he relented. "If you need me to intervene, I'll come check out what the issue is, ok? Deal?"

"I guess."

A sudden tap at the kitchen window startled both of them, and Niles hurried to open it. Rylan swooped right in.

"Hi, Niles," the pixie greeted him. "Have you seen Seb?"

Niles was about to answer when Seb's grumpy little voice piped up from the table. "I'm right here," he said. "Not like you would care."

Rylan looked a little taken aback by Seb's hostility, as usual, and Niles tried not to sigh. He really needed to have a talk with these two sometime. It was just hard to coordinate something with Rylan being gone so often.

"Umm... ok..." Rylan said slowly. He jerked his head in the direction of the garden. "You coming home, or what?"

Seb's little lip quivered. Home. Oddly enough, he and Rylan both seemed to want somewhere to call home. But Niles didn't know if Seb felt at home with Rylan yet, though the boy clearly wanted to.

"Go on, Seb," Niles encouraged before the proud little thing could flatly refuse out of spite. "I'll bring you both some oranges tomorrow, ok?"

Throwing in that little bribe seemed to do the trick, as Seb wordlessly got up and flew out the window without a look back.

Rylan looked confused, as usual, but he shrugged at Niles before turning around to follow his brother.

"Ah, Rylan, wait," Niles cut in quickly before the older pixie could take off.

Rylan looked over his shoulder quizzically.

"Don't bring up the squash incident with Seb," Niles suggested. "He and I already talked about it. He's fine."

Rylan looked more confused than ever. "What squash incident?"

Niles tried not to face palm. Oh, Rylan, he thought. You really are the most oblivious person I've ever met.

"Don't worry about it," Niles added quickly. "Forget I said anything. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

_____________________________________________________________

A/N: Niles has a bad habit of adopting all the faeries he encounters. They're all his babies, even the ones who are way older than him. He's just like... "ok, guess I'm your dad now." And then he makes them a house or something. 

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote or comment and see you in the next part!