Bryan continued to live his life, never forgetting the sun changing. He was no longer with Jack. His friend... was a lot more.. distant now. He only communicated by text messages, after he got some new scholarship far away. He was actually proud for him really, and hoped he would do well (even if it was... so damn quick that he left without a proper goodbye.)
Without Jack around, Bryan devoted all his efforts to studying the changed, taking a keen interest in biology. He didn't really have aspirations to find a 'cure' exactly (He... really didn't have that as a motive, unlike many others.) He would study everything about how they lived, the different kinds, and would categorise them on a database of his own making. He spent a year just... watching them all, and any peculiar habits he might witness.
Once Bryan finished college, he realised though there was no university subject that would satisfy his interest or curiosity in the world as it was. He wanted to be out there, not reading more books! His academics were sufficient enough that he decided to put further studying on hold- much to the desperation of his mother. But Bryan was different now. He had learned not to let opportunities pass up
...because... he had already missed, the greatest possible opportunity, a person like him could possibly have.
"What could I have been?" He often wondered. He saw so many strange things- and when he finally had the conviction and courage (albeit, under influence of alcohol) to go into the rainbow sunlight... it changed back.
Many other people changed back too... not everyone, but certainly enough to notice.
Now Bryan wanted a job, and it was not long before he found one. There was a spa of a kind, opening for the changed. The concept intrigued the human boy greatly. It was a lot more then a spa though, it was what one might consider a body shop where a changed person could have anything they might require that human services did not provide easily. They employed people from all over the place. There were hair dressers, fur cleaners, even people with expertise on how to preen feathers.
...they were very surprised though, for a human boy to apply for a job there. It wasn't that there was a segregation between humans and the changed 'exactly', it was just that the needs of the changed could be quite intimate- and there was a concern that a human may not be able to understand well enough, or empathise what it meant to be different from such human norms.
Bryan however, was willing to convince them otherwise, and showed a very devoted and caring nature to any task asked of him as the only human employed. They started him small of course. He would check the temperature of the pools, and ensured it was clean enough for the merfolk and to keep it clean. The merfolk quickly got to know him as 'the pool boy', the maidens sometimes blew him kisses of appreciation which... was certainly not what he expected.
Bryan liked the merfolk. He would wheel them in and out of the building and cars, and stayed professional in his behaviour. If there was any discomfort to him not being a changed, (Or even because he was male), he would remain courteous and find someone more receptacle to them without a fuss- though it was rare that this ever happened. Most were quite happy to have any help and Bryan had become very good at his job.
Eventually Bryan moved on to fur-brushing. This was... certainly a trickier job, and he was very nervous as it did bring him towards a somewhat more intimate contact with the changed. He started on males, but many females claimed they would not mind. He performed well in this too, building great trust and often the changed found his touch very pleasant- in much the same way a hairdresser's touch could be considered pleasant.
Finally, the human boy learned the arts of cleaning feathers, and trimming talons of the bird-folk. Oddly enough, this was probably the hardest task to learn because it was just so very different. The bird folk could not easily cut their own talons. However, they also needed their nails to retain a certain sharpness as blunt talons caused a strange- discomfort.
And even then, there were still so many other things to learn. He even had to learn pruning, when a very strange plant-changed came into the spa and asked to get a tree that was growing from her head 'under control'.
So Bryan continued to work doing this, helping the changed in this new industry. He learned all the trades he could. It was a completely different direction to what he thought he would do in his life, and he did enjoy it a lot more then working in some office somewhere.
...yet still he wondered...
what could he have been?
But even so, thanks to Puck's spell, his life was going to change dramatically. It may not have been quite what the fairy had in mind... but then, few spells ever worked out as originally intended.
Such is, another story.
