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Nagisa wouldn’t lie to himself, buying children’s teeth from a guy in a trenchcoat in the back alley of the local McDonalds was not something he was proud of doing. He’d done several weird and shady activities like this for the sake of his job. Sometimes he questioned how he ended up where he was, but he always remembers how interesting his goals were.
A cryptid hunter, that was his job description. He looked into folklore and strange tales and tried to prove they were true, or sometimes that they weren’t. He hadn’t had many successful cases on the proving right front.. actually he had none. But this time he was determined, he would succeed.
He was going to get a picture of the tooth fairy.
Now, most adults might tell you the tooth fairy is a made up story parents use to get their kids to not do weird stuff with their fallen out teeth or to stop them from being too upset over it. The equation was simple: kid-tooth+money= no tears. The idea is sort of capitalistic.
But here’s the thing, Nagisa knew the tooth fairy had to be real. At the age of seven, he’d lost his first tooth. Nagisa, being the social child he was, had heard of tooth fairy stories many times from his peers and was ready to earn some cash himself. So, that night, he put his tooth under his pillow. At first he wanted to stay awake, but he was seven and very tired, so that didn’t happen.
The outcome was logical: a tooth had appeared under his pillow. Little Nagisa hadn’t thought much of it, but adult Nagisa knows something his up. He was quite familiar with his mother’s character and there was no way she’d put the money there for him. He personally thought his reasoning was flawless, his friend Kayano said it was kind of sad.
It didn’t matter what his friends said, however. Nagisa knew the tooth fairy was real and with these shady acquired teeth he would prove it. He wasn’t afraid to put some unknown kid’s teeth under his pillow… Okay maybe he was a little grossed out but he was willing to do a lot for this picture.
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He had an entire set up ready. He’d be in his bed, now rocking some cars 2 (™) bedsheets to keep up the appearance of a kid’s room, wearing his usual gear and surrounded by several hidden motion cameras in the room.
His gear consisted of comfortable outdoor clothes, usually more compatible for long forrest searched like mothman, and many straps with necessities on it such as(but not limited too): Pepper Spray, a stun gun, and a swiss army knife. He’d also made sure to have a gopro strapped to his chest, in case the motion cameras through the room and his own favourite camera he’d keep in his hands would be compromised for whatever reason.
After checking everything in the room several times he decided he was ready. He got out the bag with two fallen out children’s teeth and emptied the content under his pillow, trying very hard to make sure he wouldn’t have to touch them. He then decided at 22.32 that it was time to go pretend to sleep.
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22.51 Complete silence, nothing seems to have happened.
23.15 Complete silence, nothing seems to have happened.
23.22 Complete silence, nothing seems to have happened.
23.34 A noise outside of the window!
23.35 the noise turned out to be an owl.
23.56 Complete silence, nothing seems to have happened
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It was 00.35 when Nagisa started to get impatient and also a little tired. Sure, he’d made sure to sleep enough the day before, but he was still getting a little tired. His mind argued with itself. He couldn’t go to sleep, not now. He wanted to slap his cheeks, to wake himself up, when he suddenly heard a noise.
This noise definitely wasn’t an owl. He had to admit it sounded a little like wings flapping… but there were other things that had wings that weren’t birds. Such as… fairies!
He kept silent for a bit longer, not wanting to ruin things by jumping up to quickly and giving his visitor a chance to leave before he could get his picture. That moment of tension seemed to last forever as he didn’t notice much else happening. Then, all of a sudden, he noted his pillow moving ever so slightly. ‘he’s grabbing the teeth, now’s your chance’
Before he could reconsider any of his life choices he threw off his covers and rolled out of bed smoothly, landing on his feet with his camera in hand. He wanted nothing more than to take a picture of the tooth-related enigma but before he could he took a quick look at who was in front of him. His glance at the figure left him motionless in surprise.
In front of him stood a boy, seemingly around the same age as him, yet much taller. He had bright red hair and piercing eyes Nagisa would much rather avoid looking at. He seemed sort of muscular, but not in an over the top kind of way. The odd thing however, was that he was a relatively strong man wearing a pink tutu and tightly fitting unitard underneath that.
As if a man in a pink ballerina outfit wasn’t enough, he also owned a pair of pink glittery barbie doll fairy wings. It was...an odd sight.
Even considering the weird image of this male figure in what was clearly a ballerina outfit in front of him, there was really only one thought that dominated Nagisa’s mind at that moment. Regrettably, it wasn’t the thought to take his picture already. It was in fact, a much more distracting thought.
‘shit, the tooth fairy is kinda hot…’
Said tooth fairy looked at Nagisa in surprise. He didn’t move and remained where he was, as if in shock about the situation. Lucky for him Nagisa was doing just about the same. Both seemed a little shaken by what they had just encountered.
It was the fairy that ultimately broke the silence with his intelligent remark: “...You’re not a kid.” For some reason that’s what bothered him about the situation.
“no, I am not.”
“look enough like it, I guess.”
Nagisa did not like that comment. His face turned red and he needed a moment to look for a reaction. A few beginnings of words came out but it took him several seconds before he uttered an actual sentence.
“well, you’re a man!”
“...yes.”
“in a tutu .”
The condescending smirk the fairy had been portraying disappeared. he averted his eyes, sighed deeply, and nodded. He himself seemed disappointed by whatever life choice had gotten him in that outfit.
All of a sudden Nagisa was reminded of the camera in his hand and the mission he was on. He needed to get that picture. Before the two could continue their lovely conversation he raised his camera and pressed the button. “say cheese!”
The flash surprised his picture’s target and he blinked heavily as Nagisa’s camera finished its destined action. Nagisa lowered the camera and portrayed a bright smile. ‘I really did it!’
Right as he was about to celebrate, the fairy understood what happened and flew over the smaller boy’s bed, taking ahold of Nagisa and pushing him against the wall. Nagisa was now stuck, pinned to the wall by the tooth fairy.
Oh, what a situation he’d gotten himself into now.
“Delete that” The fairy said, obviously trying to threaten him. “No one gets to see that picture.” His face was inches away from Nagisa’s as he spoke, Nagisa couldn’t say he hated that… he didn’t particularly like the threatening though. He also wasn’t sure he was into the ballerina outfit on a man.
“Well it’s….not a digital camera…” He noted, his nerves slightly shining through his voice. “I can’t just...delete it… I have to develop the picture and-”
He was interrupted by the other man snatching the camera out of his hand, breaking the strap holding it to Nagisa’s neck. However, the sudden pulling motion made Nagisa lunge forward, falling against the fairy. Both were so surprised by the occurrence that they fell to the ground.
What followed was a fight for the camera. Both struggled to keep the camera out of the hands of the other. Nagisa had the benefit of being small and crawling away from the fairy but endured the bad luck of being physically overpowered by the fairy as well. Nagisa was about to get out his swiss army knife, ready to ever so slightly hurt the fairy when said fairy also made a smart move, by simply flying away too fast for Nagisa to follow.
Who knew fairy wings were such a fast manner of transport?
“Wait!” Nagisa shouted at him, not wanting the fairy to leave just yet. “Please I need that picture! It’s my only successful proof of… literally anything I want to prove!” It was clear from his voice how desperate he was, even the fairy seemed to notice.
“you’re trying to prove… the tooth fairy is real...as an adult?” He raised an eyebrow. Nagisa realised how weird his actions were but he was not about to back down.
He nodded. He tried to keep a determined face, hoping it would convince the fairy to listen to him. It seemed to be working because he did in fact seem interested.
The fairy landed again, but kept the camera tightly to his chest. “What’s your name?” A surprising question to Nagisa.
“I’m… I’m Nagisa.” He doubted how much he should say here. “I’m a cryptid hunter… I need that picture to proof you uh… well that you exist.”
There were many possible reactions the fairy could have given him. Nagisa had expected a little anger, someone was trying to ruin his secret after all. A small part of Nagisa wanted him to be scared, it would mean he’d be taken serious, like a real threat. Out of all possible reactions, he definitely expected some confusion. Instead, he got something that took him completely by surprise.
The fairy laughed.
laughed.
After a moment of Nagisa standing there in confusion the fairy even wiped away a tear his laughter had brought on. Nagisa felt a little offended. He definitely did not feel taken serious.
The fairy sighed, ending his fit of laughter and looked Nagisa in the eye. “The name’s Karma,” He said. “and I’m a toothfairy. There’s more of us.” Now that was a fact that surprised Nagisa.
The fairy, apparently named Karma, looked at the camera in his hand for a moment. “You know, you’re an interesting person, but I cannot let you develop that picture.” Nagisa felt looked down upon with the tone of voice Karma was using. “It’s kind of against protocol. Can’t let anyone see us, let alone take a picture, no matter how pretty said person is.”
Now, Nagisa was pretty sure he did not imagine that. Did- Did a tooth fairy just call him pretty? He couldn’t help but be a little speechless at that. As weird as the clothing was, a relatively hot guy just called him pretty. He liked that.
“You- I- uh...I do- I do want my camera back.” He managed to say. He had his priorities straight, even if he himself wasn’t entirely.
Karma let out a scoff. “Sure, I’ll bring it back tomorrow night, I wouldn’t mind having another talk with a…. ‘cryptid searcher’ or whatever interesting title you gave yourself.” He said.
“Hunter, cryptid hunter.” Nagisa corrected him. “w-wait you’re coming back tomorrow?” Something told Nagisa tooth fairies wouldn’t usually come back for unnecessary second rounds… especially not for adults who didn’t even lose teeth...and tried to reveal their big secret.
“Well, yeah. I’m sure this camera is precious enough to you. Plus the job is boring anyways, sooo… see you tomorrow.” Karma said, lifting of the ground and making his way to leave Nagisa’s bedroom, apparently by passing through the wall. Before he left, he turned back and looked at Nagisa to say one more thing: “Do try to wear normal clothes, sleeping with all that stuff on can not be good for your back.”
And then he was gone.
For a moment Nagisa kept staring at the wall his fairy friend had just phased through. The thought of changing barely made it to his mind, seeing as he was way too distracted thinking about what on earth had just happened. Of all things, a male fairy dressed in pink just stole his camera and promised to return it back the next day, and he seemed to want to come by. He basically said visiting him was better than his actual job.
did he- did he just score a date with the tooth fairy?!?