Magic

After all of the craziness that Jay had been through the past few days, he was really looking forward to his Saturday morning run. Hey, his houseguest—His Highness—usually was never up before ten, so he figured he could get out, take a mile and be back before he was even missed. The second his running shoes his the pavement, the fact that he had a fairy tale prince camping out in his living room seemed about a million miles away.

Ultimately, he ended up taking a couple miles, and felt so much better for it by the time he got back to his apartment. He pulled the cords of his earphones out before unlocking the front door and stepping inside, locking the door and starting for the kitchen—and then stopping cold. "Neil."

Neil looked up at the sound of Jay's voice, and his expression, which had been quite serious when Jay had first entered, brightened. "Good morning!" he greeted before turning back to the project before him—an open box of Tampax sat next to him, and he reached into it and pulled out one of the tampons therein. With care that bordered on surgical in its precision, he opened the wrapper and removed the plastic plunger. "I finally mastered your Sir Coffee Maker and—"

"What the hell are you doing?" Jay asked, feeling color rushing to his cheeks.

"I found these in your toilet cupboard," Neil explained, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. He held the plastic barrel between two fingers and pressed up on the plunger with his thumb, his brow furrowing as the cotton and string within were pushed out and onto his lap. All three items he laid on the coffee table—the wrapper, the plastic and the cotton each in its own pile, which made Jay realize with growing horror and agitation that this was far from the first tampon with which Neil had toyed. "They're fascinating devices, but I can't fathom what they are or their use." He looked up at Jay with genuine curiosity. "What are they and what is their use?"

Jay's feet were moving before his mouth even opened, and he snatched the box out of Neil's reach. "They're mine, and it's none of your business what they're for," he grumbled.

"You said I could come to you with my questions, did you not?" Neil reminded. "Then why can I not come to you with this question?"

"Because that's kind of a personal question!" Jay cried, closing the box and tucking it under his arm. He hated these things, why was he suddenly so defensive of them?  

"How personal?" Neil asked, tossing his fair head.

Jay heaved a sigh. Sometimes, this guy just wouldn't let up, and he suspected that this was going to be one of those times. "These are… ladies' things," he finally conceded.

The answer seemed to cheer Neil, and he all but leapt off the couch. "You have a fair lady then? Wonderful! When may I meet her?"  

Oh God, why did he ask those kinds of questions? Jay rubbed the back of his neck before depositing the box on the coffee table and lifting his arms. "…You're lookin' at her."

Neil blinked once… twice… three times before looking past Jay at the empty entryway. "I see only you, Jay," he announced.

"My…" Jay swallowed hard. He really didn't want to have this conversation—not here, not with this guy. "Technically speaking—" As he spoke, he pulled off his T-shirt; underneath, where Neil's chest would have no doubt been bare, Jay's chest was compressed on itself with what appeared to be a sort of undershirt. "I'm a girl." Jay didn't lower his gaze—if he was going to have a problem because of this, he was going to meet it head-on this go around.

Neil's head tilted to the side as he considered Jay's form—the curves at Jay's sides and hips, and even compressed the swell at his chest, were decidedly feminine. "I don't understand," he finally announced. "You present yourself as a gentleman, but your body is that of a fair lady."

"I'm…" Jay blew a puff of air through his nose. Explaining his gender identity was hard enough, but to someone like Neil was going to be a challenge. He elected to go for the honest approach. "I'm a transman."

Neil blinked, but gave no indication that he grasped what Jay had just said. "Male to female transgendered?" Jay tried again.

"I don't understand," Neil repeated, shaking his head.

"You don't have transgendered people in your fairy tale?" Jay asked, shrugging back into his shirt.

"If we do, I don't know about them," Neil admitted.

Jay couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. So much for representation. "The world sees me as a woman," he explained, "but when I look at myself, I see—I want to see a man. That's why there's…" He trailed off when he noticed Neil's blank look, then tried again. "Let's look at it this way—" He laid a hand over his heart. "I'm a gentleman, but I was cursed, so now I'm a gentleman trapped in the body of a fair lady." He waved a hand dismissively at his curves. "Do you understand now?"  

Neil's eyes widened. "You were cursed as a child?" he whispered.  

Okay, that seemed to get through with minimal translation errors. "Sure, I was cursed as a child," Jay agreed quickly before turning towards the kitchen. "So you said there's coffee?"

Neil, however, was not so quick to let the topic drop. "If you were cursed as a boy—" He quickly joined Jay and started to steer him toward the couch—"then there's only one thing to do about that." He planted his hands on Jay's shoulders and gently pushed him into a sitting position. "For every curse, there's a blessing to counter it—I'm sure I know one that can fix this."  

Was this guy seriously going to—? "Look, Neil—" Jay began.

"Hush," Neil scolded. He stepped back, planted his feet and closed his eyes, fingers steepled in front of his face. His expression was somber, and when he spoke, it was in a quiet chant in a language Jay couldn't even begin to understand. After a few moments, Neil knelt in front of Jay and gently pressed his hands on top of Jay's head. "There," he announced, opening his eyes and smiling warmly. "The curse has been lifted."

Jay's mouth twisted slightly as he lifted the hem of his shirt, exposing his bindings. "Still cursed."

Neil's expression became one of disappointment and upset, and his mouth opened and closed several times as his eyes flicked from Jay's face to his underclothes and back. "I don't understand," he finally moaned, reaching over and lightly touching the bindings. "I did everything right—you should be a gentleman again." His face lifted to meet Jay's, and he looked almost… sorrowful. "How powerful was the curse?"

"It's not that," Jay replied, gently shooing Neil away and pulling his shirt back down.

"Then what?" Neil asked. "Whatever magic I have to learn to help you—"

"Magic doesn't work here," Jay finally said.  

Neil stopped, looking taken aback by this. "Of course it does!" he retorted. "Magic works everywhere!"

"No, it doesn't," Jay corrected, shaking his head. "Magic isn’t going to make my problems go away." He looked over at Neil and forced a smiled. "But thanks for trying anyway."

If only it were that easy.