Niles was exhausted.

He had 40 minutes before his next class, and he knew he should use that time to go over his students' papers, but he was too tired. He lay his head on his desk with a sigh, weighing the pros and cons of walking down to the lounge to get his fifth cup of coffee of the morning.

The last few years had brought a lot of new challenges and opportunities for Niles. He had been offered a part time university position teaching two courses on faeries: one on fae culture and the other on fae anatomy and medical treatment.

He only taught twice a week, but he was currently talking to the school board about including a course on fae ethics. He still worked at the clinic on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and he volunteered to teach a class to a group of faeries about human culture and laws on the weekends. Niles enjoyed being busy in a cause he was passionate about, but he was burnt out.

"Dr. Howton? Umm... excuse me? Dr. Howton?"

Niles sat up with a jerk. Did I actually fall asleep? he thought in disbelief. He ran a hand roughly through his hair and grabbed his glasses, putting them back on. Blinking in the direction of the voice, he saw two of his students, Mindy and Caroline, standing there.

"Umm hi, sorry we woke you up," Mindy said, looking embarrassed. Caroline nodded in agreement, holding her textbook closer to her chest.

"Ah, no, no it's fine, you didn't... wake me up..." Niles said unconvincingly. He glanced furtively at the clock over the classroom door and breathed a sigh of relief. His next class didn't start for another 15 minutes.

Mindy looked at him skeptically, and he cleared his throat. "Ok, fine, you may have woken me up, but class is starting soon anyway, so thank you. Anyway, what can I do for you guys?"

Mindy and Caroline glanced at each other, and Caroline gestured for Mindy to answer. She nodded and pulled out her phone. Niles watched them, curious and confused.

"We were just wondering if you've seen this," Mindy said, holding her phone out to him. He took it and squinted at the screen before turning back to Mindy. "You're asking me if I've seen..." he glanced at it again. "Emma Dawson's socials?" he asked.

Caroline snorted, and Mindy rolled her eyes in exasperation. "No!" she exclaimed. "I'm asking if you've seen the video she tagged you in!"

Niles looked at the phone again and sure enough, her most recent post had his name tagged in it. As one of the leading experts on faeries, he got so many tags and mentions online that he had turned off the notifications long ago and only checked his feed once or twice a week to answer questions and share educational posts.

Now, he clicked on the video thumbnail. A young woman's face filled the screen. "Hi, I'm trying to get ahold of Dr. Niles Howton," she explained. "I just met a guy who's claiming to be a patient of his from four years ago, and he's trying to find him. I'll stitch in his video message, and if you guys can share this so that Dr. Howton can see it, that'd be great! This patient really wants to see him again!"

Former patient? Niles wondered. Four years ago? He waited for the video message of his alleged former patient to play. I treated a lot of patients four years ago, but my main one was... Ashton.

As if summoned by that last thought, Ashton suddenly appeared on the screen. Niles gasped and dropped the phone. It clattered against his desk, and Mindy and Caroline jumped in surprise.

Niles grimaced apologetically at Mindy and grabbed the phone, holding it close to his face. Are my eyes playing tricks on me? he wondered. 

He had thought about Ashton off and on over the last few years and wondered how he was doing, but Niles had never expected to see him again, let alone know if he was alright. Maybe my curiosity is making me see things, he thought.

"Umm, hi, Niles," the man with Ashton's face was saying. He gave a cute little wave to the camera, and Niles stared. Surely this wasn't truly Ashton? He was human sized, for starters. And his eyes were bright. Gone were the dead-eyed stares and fearful, furtive glances from years ago. And was that... a smile? Niles had rarely seen Ashton fully smile before.

Niles noted that this Ashton doppelganger even had pointed teeth like Ashton. Humans certainly didn't have that trait... so maybe... this really was Ashton? But how? Niles sat there, stumped as he stared at the video.

Faeries don't have enough magic anymore to do something big like turn one of their own into a human... right? he thought. What on earth is happening?

The Ashton lookalike continued. "I'm not really sure how this video thing works, but I hope you see this." He gestured down at himself. "Umm, I don't know if you can tell, but I'm human now." He touched the sides of his neck, where his gills were, looking thoughtful. "Well, more or less."

He shook his head. "But anyway, I'm here, and I'm trying to find you." He looked around for a bit and shrugged. "I don't really know where I am, but I'm in a park somewhere."

He turned his head and pointed at a gazebo overlooking a pond behind him. "I'll wait over there for the next few days in case you do see this. Then..." he tapped on his chin, thinking. "Then I'll probably keep trying to find you on my own."

He smiled and waved again. "That's about it. I called your clinic, too, so hopefully I'll see you pretty soon."

The video cut back to the young woman's face again. "Anyway, I met Ashton at Brinton Park. He says he'll be there for a few days while he's waiting for Dr. Howton. So spread this video, guys!"

The video cut off, and Niles stared at the black screen in shock. "Umm, Dr. Howton?" He heard Mindy. She sounded far away. Suddenly, she was snapping in his face. "Dr. Howton!"

Niles jumped and looked up at her and Caroline. They both wore matching expressions of concern.

"Soooo..." Mindy began. "Was that guy really your patient?"

Niles blinked. "I... I think so?"

Caroline finally spoke. "You think so? You mean you don't know?"

Niles shook his head. "They look like the same person, but the patient I treated four years ago was a faerie."

Understanding dawned in their eyes. "Ooohhh," Caroline said.

"That guy was definitely a lot bigger than a faerie," Mindy pointed out.

Niles laughed and glanced back down at the phone. The date at the top of the video jumped out at him— it had been posted three days ago.

"Shit," Niles exclaimed. He jumped out of his chair and grabbed his coat from the back of his chair, removing his phone, keys, and wallet from his desk drawer. His students stepped back in surprise.

He hurriedly typed "Brinton park" into his phone and pulled up directions— it was several towns to the north of him— about a two-hour drive away. He chewed on his lip, thinking.

Ashton had said he would wait around for only a few days. He might have already left, in which case, Niles wouldn't see him even if he went to find him right now. He glanced back up at the door. It was almost 11, and his students were starting to trickle in for his next class.

He glanced at Mindy and Caroline helplessly, and they both stared back at him. His TA, Jonathon, was setting up the day's PowerPoint. "Are you going to go find him or...?" Caroline finally asked.

An image of Ashton sitting in the gazebo, waiting and alone, flashed in his mind, and he groaned. Of course he was going. He walked up to Jonathon and laid a hand on his shoulder. Jonathon looked up, startled, and took one of his headphones out.

"Yeah, what's up, Niles?" he asked. He looked Niles up and down and frowned. "Why do you have your coat on?"

"I had a bit of an emergency come up," Niles explained breathlessly. "I'm going to have to step out for the rest of the day. Can you please handle class and office hours today?"

Jonathon's mouth dropped open. Niles had never missed a class before. He recovered quickly. "Yeah, of course, teach," he said, nodding. "I've got you covered."

"Thank you!" Niles called over his shoulder, halfway out the door. "I owe you one!"

He didn't bother waiting for the elevator, choosing instead to race down the stairs, taking them two at a time, until he reached the parking garage. He ran to his car, threw his coat into the backseat, and popped his phone into its holder.

"Come on, come on," he muttered to himself, backing out of his parking space.

The drive was simultaneously the slowest and fastest two hours of his life. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel anxiously, his mind racing. Was that really Ashton? If so, how is he here? As a human? Why is he looking for me? Is he still at Brinton Park? What am I going to even say to him?

Niles suddenly found himself pulling into the park's car lot, and he blinked, amazed that he hadn't caused any accidents on the way there. He got out of the car shakily and hurried over to the park map that sat at the end of the parking lot.

"Pond... gazebo..." Niles scanned the park's map, tracing its landmarks and trying to find where Ashton said he would be. He found it and caught his breath. It was about a quarter mile from the park's entrance. 

How the hell did Ashton find this place? Niles wondered, taking off for the gazebo. It's so random.

He finally saw it from a distance, and slowed to a walk, heart hammering in his chest. He didn't know which possibility scared him more— that Ashton would be there or that he wouldn't.

As Niles got closer, he could just make out a figure lying on a bench in the gazebo. His breath caught in his throat. The early afternoon light caught in the figure's light brown hair, bringing out its blonde highlights.

Niles thought that he was being quiet, but the figure's pointed ears twitched, and suddenly the person was sitting up, staring at where Niles stood in the entryway of the gazebo. 

"Niles," the man breathed, his voice filled with both wonder and relief.

Niles froze on the spot, and his mouth dropped open. Sure enough, it was Ashton's face that was staring at him. How was this possible?

Before Niles could say a word, Ashton stood up and grabbed his arm to sweep him up in a tight hug. Niles gingerly reached up to return the embrace, completely thrown off to discover that human-sized Ashton was almost a full head taller than him.

Eventually, Ashton pulled away to stare down into his face. Niles stared back in bewilderment, eyes flitting across Ashton's face for tell-tale signs that it was really him. This... lookalike... had the same harsh, angular features that Ashton did. The same cat-like hazel eyes. The same loose, light brown curls, though his hair was shorter now and tied back. The same rows of pointed teeth. He certainly looked like Ashton, right down to the pointed ears and gills on his neck.

Niles tore his eyes away from Ashton's face to look him up and down, and he frowned. Ashton's pants were fine, made in the traditional woodlands style, but he was barefoot and wearing an open jacket over his bare chest. Niles suspected that Ashton, like most faeries, had probably been shirtless and that some kind human had gifted him a jacket when they found him wandering around.

"I... umm... hmm," Niles hesitated, keeping one hand on Ashton's arm— whether to steady himself or to make sure Ashton was real, he couldn't tell. Ashton looked down at him expectantly. "Are you really... Ashton?" he finally asked.

Ashton cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. "You mean you can't tell?" he asked.

Niles shook his head, embarrassed. "It's not that. It's just... how is this possible? How are you here? Are you... here? Is this you or..." a horrible idea occurred to him. "Is this some sort of glamour?"

Do I even have any faerie enemies that would want to trick me by glamouring a human to look like Ashton? he wondered frantically. Faerie glamours were simple little tricks. Lucy used to pull pranks on him with it all the time once she figured out how to use magic. But why would someone choose Ashton's face of all people?

Ashton shook his head emphatically. "No, no, it's not a trick or a glamour. Here, look."

Ashton stepped back from Niles and shrugged out of his jacket, turning around as he did so.

Niles could barely suppress his gasp at the reappearance of Ashton's scars. He hadn't seen them in almost four years, and they were just as horrible as he remembered. He reached out hesitantly to touch them, noting how cool Ashton's skin was— also just like he remembered.

As Niles felt the uneven scar tissue and the slight stumps that remained, a lump rose up in his throat. Glamours were visual illusions only. They certainly couldn't replicate the complex texture of a scar like this. And he had touched Ashton's scars enough in the past to know exactly what they felt like. He bet he could recognize them even with his eyes closed.

Ashton glanced over his shoulder. "They've healed up a bi.... huh? Why are you crying?"

Niles wiped at his eyes hurriedly as Ashton pulled his jacket back on and turned around to face Niles again. He laid a hand on Niles' arm and peered into his face concernedly. "Are you ok?"

Niles nodded and managed a faint smile. "Yeah. But, uh, I don't understand what's happening, so how about we get you home first, and you can eat and get cleaned up. Then you can tell me what's going on." He paused. "Unless there's somewhere else you need to be? I can take you there instead."

Ashton shook his head and gripped Niles' sleeve, staring intently into his eyes. Niles got the impression that Ashton was trying to make sure that he was real, too. "No," Ashton said. "I want to go with you. Let's go home."

***

When Ashton laid eyes on Niles by the pond, he thought he was dreaming. He used to dream about Niles every night during his first year back home, and while those dreams had mostly petered out, he still had them from time to time.

He thought he was in such a dream now, staring at Niles standing frozen at the entrance of the little building that he had been waiting in.

Niles' black hair had gotten longer, now falling to his collarbone instead of his chin. His face remained unchanged— the same narrow jaw, pointed chin, and dark, patient eyes.

Ashton couldn't help himself— before he knew it, he was reaching out for Niles and burying his head into his shoulder. He breathed in deeply, and sure enough, there it was— the comforting scent that felt like home, the ghost of a memory he had been chasing for the last three and a half years. Niles' scent.

A sob welled up in his throat, and he pushed it back down. There would be time for that later. For now, he needed to talk to Niles. He was sure that Niles had plenty of questions for him.

He finally pulled back, and Niles smiled confusedly up at him. Ashton melted at the sight of the dimple in his left cheek. He'd been dreaming about that dimple for years. 

Home, Ashton realized, staring into Niles' gentle eyes. I'm finally home. 

_________________________________________________________________________

A/N: That's it, that's the end of the story. Thanks for reading. You can go home now.

Jk. There is still SO. MUCH. to cover. What do you think happens next? Wrong answers only. 

Thanks for reading and see you in the next part!

Also, fifth cup of coffee is crazy. Idk how Niles' heart hasn't exploded yet. Don't be like Niles. Be better. Drink six cups of coffee. Show him how a pro does it. 

Jk, jk please don't actually drink six cups of coffee. I don't want to be liable if your heart explodes.