A story for my peach
Wind wound its way through the woods, shaking the trees and sending their delicate leaves cascading to the forest floor. The crisp spirit of fall was taking hold, cooling the forest and yet warming its colors into a swirl of chocolate, honey, and pumpkin hues. The people of the wood were settling in for the season, harvesting what they had grown and storing it away to see them through lonely, haunted nights or merry visits from friends. Nights like those would require a crackling fire fed with seasoned wood, and perhaps that is what sent one woodsman making his way between the mottled trunks and leaves of the forest.
The woodsman crept through the trees, each careful step scarcely breaking a twig and allowing only the shushing of the fallen leaves to let his presence to be known. Now and again he'd lay his ax gently in the damp soil and take a moment to stretch, his arms and back flexing against his red-, yellow-, and green-checkered work shirt before filling his firm chest with the brisk air and continuing on. The woodsman smiled to himself as he walked deeper into the wood. The solitude comforted him, and the autumn colors made him feel as though the forest was welcoming him as a guest with its most beautiful dΓ©cor. But he couldn't stay long, and he wasn't as alone as he thought. Trudging up a small hill, the woodsman paused for a moment, tilting his head as what sounded like laughter played on the breeze. He glanced around, but nothing stood out amidst the bushes and branches. At least not to him.
Huddled behind a tree ringed with bushes, the fairy of the forest clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. Although she was practically invisible in the dappled woods, she wasn't used to the need for stealth and care. More often than not the forest was hers without question, a sanctuary that bore the same autumnal colors as her hair. She watched visitors from afar or ignored them entirely so long as they were harmless or boring, but today she couldn't seem to stop herself from creeping closer and closer to the man that had come into her forest. This one was interesting.
Darting from her hiding place in the tree and into a bush, she'd watched him press deeper and deeper into her world. She watched how his calloused hands took hold of branches and gently bent them away to clear a path, and how his measured footsteps never disturbed the forest floor. He wasn't like the hunters with their clumsy, snuffling hounds or the bandits whose waste littered the ground in jagged messes. His broad back and shoulders carried confidence along with his pack, a wooden frame piled with heavy split logs. He radiated a calm safety, and there was something almost funny about how much she was enjoying watching him. The fairy peered through the bushes at her woodsman as he turned his back, nearly laughing again as she caught sight of how his pants clung to his round ass and accentuated every pivot and step. Her hungry smile gleamed between the leaves and a warm desire spread between the fairy's legs. She wanted him. And she was barely a foot away...
Somewhere in the trees a twig snapped and the woodsman whirled around, his leg treading into the bush where the fairy hid. A squeak escaped the fairy's mouth as her body tensed in terror. The man's eyes shot down, piercing through the gaps in the leaves and locking on her. For the first time in her life, the fairy felt the intent gaze of a human. Before she could spring away, his hands plunged into the bush and closed around her shoulders. The fairy felt the comforting cover of leaves give way as she was wrenched upward and into the fading sunlight.
The woodsman could hardly believe what he held clamped in his hands. A woman, impossibly beautiful and impossibly light, trembled in his grip. But this wasn't some bandit or lost fellow traveler, this woman was different from anyone he had seen before. Her skin glowed pale and pearlescent like a white candle in the orange of the forest, and shoulder-length mahogany curls swished back and forth around a moon-shaped face. A short, thin dress that looked to be woven from leaves covered her frame. His eyes couldn't help but dart from her pert breasts across the curve of her hips and down long, nimble legs.
"Get away!" she cried, and as her body twisted the woodsman glimpsed a shimmer of light behind her back. Pulling the woman closer, he realized that a pair of gossamer wings emerged from between her shoulders, fine and delicate as a spider's web and almost invisible until the light caught them just so. This wasn't a human woman.
He'd caught a fairy.
The woodsman was too stunned to move, and a moment passed as the forest breeze sighed around them. The fairy paused to catch her breath and hazarded a glance at her captor's face. A short, slightly scruffy beard traced the young man's jaw, and a tiny scar marked his right cheek. His hazel eyes peered at her, startled but curious. Her fear dried up and blew away with the fall breeze as she sunk deeper into those eyes. He had her gripped tight, but his eyes were still safe and she found herself smiling again. The woodsman's grip loosened as he smiled as well. A sparkle played in his eyes and the fairy's stomach erupted into flutterings. She pressed her legs tightly together as more desire seeped from her body.
The woodsman lowered her to the ground and let go of her shoulders. Part of her mind told her to fly away into the forest as fast as she could, but as the cool air of the woods licked at her bare skin, the warmth flowing out of those eyes beckoned her to reach for his face. She'd never touched a human before, never dared to cross into their noisy, meddlesome world. But this human's smiling, bearded cheek was strong yet soft and inviting. She curled her fingers and dragged her nails up his cheek and around to the back of his head. She squeezed a handful of his thick brown hair, just a bit shaggy, and sighed as it flowed between her fingers. The woodsman reached out his own hand, grazing her collarbone and snaking to the nape of her neck. An electric tingling spread over the fairy's entire body and her smile grew more confident. She tightened her grip on her woodsman's hair and cocked her head, daring him. He responded with a short laugh and pulled gently at her neck. They pulled each other closer, closer.
The fairy's eyes closed as her lips met the woodsman's and began a dance. He drew her in, his lips enveloping hers and coaxing her tongue and teeth to explore and play. She let loose a moan as their tongues brushed against each other again and again. In the wet, warm darkness she felt the his other hand snake its way to her side, gripping her hip and pulling her even tighter and closer to his chest. The woodsman gently bit her lower lip, tugging and releasing it with a smack as the kiss broke. The pair opened their eyes, both panting and flushed. Despite his stupor, the woodsman's hazel eyes almost glowed against the setting sun. The fairy's eyelids drooped, her face burned, and with another sigh she buried her face in his sturdy, warm chest. His hands moved from gripping her hip and neck to hugging her tight. Her woodsman's heartbeat pulsed through the thick cloth, mixing with the muffled sounds of the settling forest and her ragged breathing. She could have stayed in this loving cocoon forever, but this encounter invigorated her as much as it exhausted her.