Summary: He found himself never wanting her to leave. He found himself wishing she’d stay with him longer. He found himself falling in love every single summer. And it was torture not being able to touch her.
A hotarubi no mori e inspired AU
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He remembers the day he first found her.
She was so small, fragile, he remembers how his first thought that came to mind when he laid eyes on her was how much she resembled a daisy.
Her hair was short back then, cropped and always styled with a red bow. He always used to joke about how the red bow made her look like a small gift. If it weren’t for his...predicament, he’s sure her feisty little self would’ve punched him. He smiles at the thought.
It surprised him how she wasn’t scared. He was certain that she’d run away and cry once he revealed his little tragedy, that he was a human-born spirit. Wasn’t that how all human children were? Crying little messes? That’s how he was.
But she didn’t run, nor did she cry. In fact, a smile broke out onto the young girl’s face. It took his breath away, he would never admit that though. That child-like grin was so pure, innocent, it held promise of friendship, loyalty, of adventure. He almost forgot that he was the magical one for a second.
She was so odd. He remembers his disbelief when she told him that she’d come again to see him. The idea baffled his mind, the idea that someone would come back for him. Honestly, even to this day, he didn’t know what made her want to stay. She could be spending her days with other people her age, people she could actually touch, people she could develop strong bonds with without the fear of losing them due to something as mundane as a brush of the hand.
Yet here she was, time and time again.
Every first day of summer, he’d wait by that dried up fountain with a bit of uncertainty. There was this lingering fear that rested within the deepest part of his mind, this fear that one day she wouldn’t be there to greet him, that one day… she would forget to visit him.
As each second passed, waiting for her, this bothersome fear grew and grew. He didn’t know why it irked him so much, the idea that one day she’d just up and leave. Really, she was just a human girl. The lives of humans were fleeting, he knew that pretty well. So why did the idea of her moving on make him want to disappear? Why did he find himself wanting to touch her?
He knew that one day she would grow up to appear older than him, that his slow aging would stab him in the back, forcing him to watch her grow up without him. He knew that one day she’d find someone else to spend her summers with, someone who wasn’t so fragile. Oh but how he wished the world would grant him a miracle.
Dangerous, dark questions plagued his mind until finally…. She would prove him wrong and appear before the tall, lush, green trees, wearing that signature smile of hers.
