Chapter 5---Morning at the Beach

"Good Morning!"

Norm groaned in annoyance. "Go away…" He growled, pulling the blanket over his head. "Too early…"

Cosmo pouted childishly. "Aw, come on! It's a nice day!"

The genie growled again in response. "Big deal… It's just a day." He rolled over, turning his back to Cosmo.

"Norm."

Ignored…

"Norm!"

Again, the genie didn't move.

Fed up, Cosmo pounced on Norm, who jumped in surprise.

"Hey! What the hell?!" Norm said, glaring at the fairy in his lap. Oh, jeez. Norm blushed, remembering his dream from the previous night. "Umm… Could you get off me?"

Cosmo cocked his head to the side. "Why? I'm waking you up."

"That's not all you're waking up…" Norm muttered under his breath.

Fortunately, Cosmo didn't catch that and smiled. "There's a carnival today. You wanna go?"

"Carnival?"

"Yeah. The Beach Summer Carnival starts today." Cosmo crawled off Norm and stood up beside the bed. "So, do you wanna go or not?" He smiled brightly.

Norm returned the smile and nodded. At least Cosmo was feeling better. Norm sat up and looked around the room. It looked even worse in daylight. He frowned. "When we come back here, I'm redecorating. This place reeks of mold and dust!"

Cosmo blushed in embarrassment. "Well, I'm not one to keep things very clean… Besides, I haven't been back here since maybe two or three years before Poof was born… So, it's been about five years…" Cosmo walked over to the bedroom door. "Coming?"

Norm nodded and stood up. He followed Cosmo through the living room and out the front door. Norm blinked several times to adjust his eyes to the sunlight. "It's bright out here…" Norm's eyes finally got used to the sun and he looked around. Now that he could see it in broad daylight, the beach was very beautiful.

The genie glanced over at the grinning Cosmo, who had abandoned his normal attire for swim shorts and a floral shirt. The fairy had hidden his wings within the clothing and he had turned his wand into a pendant.

"Why don't you change clothes?" Cosmo suggested.

Norm thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. He snapped his fingers and GONGed into a beach outfit; button-up shirt (unbuttoned, of course.), shorts, and, of course, his sexy sunglasses. He glanced at Cosmo, who was pointing at Norm's tail. Norm looked down and guessed that Cosmo was saying 'get rid of the tail, people will stare.' He snapped again and his tail became legs.

Cosmo led the way to a set of tents further down the beach. He was still smiling. Norm had to wonder if Cosmo had forgotten about what happened yesterday or if he was suppressing what happened, which wasn't healthy. Norm figured the fairy was ignoring it or he just forgot. The latter seemed much more likely.

"Aren't you still upset?" Norm decided to ask.

"About what?" Still smiling.

"About yesterday. With Wanda and Timmy."

The smile faltered. Cosmo stopped walking. He looked down at his feet.

"Cosmo?"

Cosmo blinked and looked up at Norm. "Huh? What were we talking about?"

So… He is trying to bottle it up… Norm thought sadly. Wait. Why was he sad? He had nothing to feel bad for. Norm facepalmed. This is ridiculous! Why should I care? It's not my problem. Norm was selfish, he'd admit that in a heartbeat. So, why did he feel for Cosmo?

Norm had kept walking and now he stopped, noticing Cosmo wasn't beside him anymore. He turned around and saw Cosmo sitting at the shore, staring at a crab. Norm smiled and walked back over to him. "Interesting crab?" He asked, sitting next to Cosmo.

The fairy smiled at Norm. "He has a family." He pointed to the little crabs following the big one.

Norm noticed how sad Cosmo looked. He doubted that Cosmo even realized it. The fairy seemed to be on the verge of tears. Norm watched as Cosmo put his head in his hands and cried.

Poor kid… Norm thought, patting Cosmo on the back. "Come on, dude… It's okay…" He wasn't used to comforting anyone like this. It was… weird… But, it was a good weird… It felt nice, consoling someone.

Cosmo turned and threw his arms around Norm and cried even harder. This continued for a good five minutes before Cosmo's breathing evened out. "Norm? Am I a bad person?" He asked suddenly, clinging to Norm's shirt.

Norm was startled by the question. Why would Cosmo ask something like that? He may have done stupid things fairly often, and those things might have been bad for someone, but they weren't intentionally bad. No. If anyone was the bad guy here, it was Norm. He should have talked Cosmo into letting him go, and then Wanda and Timmy wouldn't have gotten mad at the poor fairy. Norm shook his head. If they found out he freed Norm, Cosmo would have been in even more trouble.

"No… You're not a bad person, Cosmo. You're a really nice, albeit stupid, guy. You have done nothing wrong. I think Turner and Wanda overreacted." Norm smiled at Cosmo, who returned the smile sadly.

"Thanks Norm!" Cosmo grinned widely, erasing all his sadness and hugging Norm.