Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I’d like that, please,” Awsten says, holding his plate under the heating lamp to hand it to the foodservice worker. The person behind the hot food bar today— a middle-aged half-fairy named Donna— gives him a very tired look. She takes his plate.

Awsten smiles politely and points at the pan again. It’s full of something he’s never seen before. Something that’s most definitely not from this realm.

It’s something he probably shouldn’t eat, but he wants to try it, just once. It can’t hurt.

Mrs. Donna scoops out a portion. “Anything else?” she says.

“Nope, that’s good,” Awsten says. “Thank you!”

“Enjoy your lunch,” Donna says as she hands the plate back.

Awsten gets some fresh fruit and vegetables, a drink, and then hurries over to an empty table. If this is going to work, he can’t let anyone stop—

“What the hell is on your plate?”

Awsten jumps a little. “Shh!” he tells Otto. “I just need to try it, once.”

Otto sits down across from him. “Oh I can’t wait to see this blow up in your face. Hopefully literally.”

Awsten sticks a fork into the iridescent mound of what’s probably meat and vegetables. It feels like food. Sort of like stir fry or something. He picks up one of the things that looks like it might be a vegetable and lifts it up to his face.

He puts it in his mouth.

Otto leans a bit closer.

The flavor of the thing… okay, it’s definitely some kind of vegetable. It’s sort of like a carrot, but also nothing like any carrot Awsten’s ever tasted in his entire life. The texture isn’t bad, and the sauce or whatever-it-is on it coats the inside of his mouth with the pleasant taste of… something. Fuck, it’s good. It’s tangy, but in a really pleasant way that soon gives way to a touch of heat.

“What’s it like?” Otto says. “You feel like you’re going to grow polka dot spots or something?”

“No, it’s good,” Awsten says, covering his mouth for a second. He eats another bite, and this next one tastes like some kind of meat. Still amazing.

He eats a bit faster, starting to entertain the idea of going back for a second helping. But then—

“Awsten!” Geoff grabs his arm as Awsten’s about to take another bite of the fairy food. “That’s not— that’s fairy food!”

“It’s my food!” Awsten says, his voice muffled from all the goodness inside his mouth. He swallows it before Geoff can hit his back to make him— Yeah, exactly what he’s doing now. Awsten doesn’t cough up anything, thankfully.

“It’s not for monsters like you!” Geoff says. He tries to take the plate away. Awsten shields it from him.

“Says who!” Awsten says. “It’s just not for humans! Monsters are probably fine eating it! I’m a werewolf, not a human.”

Geoff groans. “Didn’t you ever take health class? They told us all about fairy—”

“I went to human middle school,” Awsten interrupts. “Didn’t really get around to talking about fairy cuisine. And it tastes great, you should try it!”

Geoff looks over at Otto instead. “Why did you just let him do this?”

Otto shrugs. “It’s funny. Look at his face, he’s sparkling.”

“What!” Awsten says, grabbing at his face. He can something like static on his face. Oh, and now he’s starting to get a bit lightheaded. He takes a drink of his pink lemonade and it helps the lightheadedness. “Is there anything else happening?” he asks.

“Oh, your hair’s turning pink now,” Otto says. He laughs openly as Geoff tries to conceal his amusement. “Can’t wait for your boyfriends to see that.”