The Bet.

Rosetta asked Alex to come to the Tea room, and he already knew why.

See Rosetta has spent many, many, many seasons trying to get a certain tinker and dust-keeper together, but all attempts had ended in failure.

Alex was a sparrow man with shaggy flaming red hair and green eyes. He worked as Fairy Gary's right-hand man in the Dust-keeper's depot. With Alex's laid back attitude, things can get chaotic, and leave it to Terence, his best friend, to clean up.

As soon as Alex got to the tearoom, Rosetta right there, on her knees, begging.

"Please, please, Alex, I'm begging you!" Rosetta exclaimed. "I'm all out of ideas! Silvermist is out of ideas, Iridessa is out of ideas; heck, even Fairy Mary is out of ideas."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "I thought Fairy Mary didn't want to get involved?"

"Yeah, I convinced her to help after promising her I'd redo her entire garden, but that's not the point right now. Help me!"

"How?"

"Be matchmaker, and try to get those two clueless worker bees together!"

'Actually, it's just Tinkerbell who's clueless. Terence is just not going to admit that he likes her…' thought Alex. "I'm surprised you didn't come to me sooner, I've got loads of ideas."

Rosetta looked up at the sparrowman before hugging him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She then straightened herself out and fluffed her hair. "Now, what is your plan?"

Alex placed a hand on Rosetta's shoulder. "Have you heard of the saying 'Absence makes the heart fonder?'"

Of course, Rosetta had no idea what Alex was planning.

"Where were you yesterday?" Alex asked Terence as the blonde dust-keeper did his work.

"I was working, Alex, where else could I be?" a hint of red dusted Terence's cheeks.

"Maybe, helping a certain tinker fairy, I presume?" Alex joked.

"Yeah, what about it? She's my best friend, and best friends help each other out," Terence explained, trying not blush.

"You're my best friend, and you always hate me whenever you help me out."

"I wonder why. Every time you mess up, I get double the work. I'm surprised Fairy Gary hasn't demoted you yet from right hand man."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Well, it's not about me right now, it's about how you won't admit that you have a crush Tinkerbell."

Terence nearly dropped the bag of pixiedust he was holding. "I don't like Tinkerbell like that. She's just a friend."

"Yeah, uh huh, denial," Alex said, waving at a bunch of fairies who walked into the depot. "Yeah, best friends bring food and pixie dust to each other every day. Best friends help clean the house, best friends help each other out every single day. Best friends risk their lives looking for each other in a sunken pirate ship with evil rats."

"And your point is?" Terence asked.

Alex really wanted to face palm. 'Geeze, Terence is stubborn,' he thought. 'Then again, so is Tinkerbell.' "Look, you guys act like you're more than friends, and neither of you are willing to admit that."

"I'm not willing to admit anything because there's nothing for me to admit," Terence said, trying not to lose his head.

Alex laughed. "Please, you couldn't go one day without seeing Tinkerbell, much less one season!" he laughed.

"Oh yeah? Try me," Terence challenged, hoping to get Alex to shush up about Tink.

The red head stopped laughing. "You're serious?"

"Dead serious. Just what are the agreements of your bet?" Terence asked, somewhat suspicious of Alex.

"Well, for one whole season, which starts tomorrow, you cannot see Tinkerbell at all. If you win, I'll take up your shift at the depot, and one week of deliveries for an entire season," Alex was sorely hoping Terence wasn't going to make it in this bet. "If I win, you have to tell Tinkerbell that you like her, and…" Alex whispered the last part to Terence, who blushed immensely at the thought.

Terence was skeptical, but he was willing to do anything to get Alex to stop teasing him on a daily basis. "I'll do it." He flew off to ask Fairy Gary to change his shift for the summer season. Tinkerbell was staying on the Mainland, so Terence needed to stay in Pixie Hollow.

Alex rubbed his hands together. "Hooked, line, and sinker. Rosetta is going to love me after this."

"You did what?" Fawn exclaimed in Terence's ear. Terence winced at the volume.

"I made a bet with Alex, what's the big deal?" the dust-keeper shrugged.

The animal airy shook her head. "Everyone knows better than to make a bet with Alex! The last time he made a bet with someone, it was a music talent, who by the way is a dweeb. He had his instrument snapped in half. He cried so much, it gave water talents a run for their pixiedust."

"This time it's different," explained Terence. "All I have to do is not see Tink for the entire summer. Easy."

Fawn gaped at the clueless sparrowman. "You honestly don't know Alex enough, as in every bet, he'll stop at nothing to win, and he usually does."

Terence paled, and then blushed at what would happen if he lost. "If I win, you have to tell Tinkerbell that you like her, and you have to kiss her." Alex's voice ringed in his head. "Fawn, help me! I cannot lose this bet." Terence pleaded.

Fawn gave him a smirk. "Don't worry Terence; Alex is going to get a taste of his own medicine."

Tinkerbell woke and prepared herself for another summer on the Mainland, She was just about to leave, when she heard a knock at her door.

"Coming!" she flew over to the door, and opened it to find Alex holding a bag with her daily pixiedust. "Hi Alex, is Terence extra busy today?"

Alex smiled on the inside. 'This is going to be fun.' "Yeah, he has a ton of work to do for Fairy Gary, so I decided to bring you your pixiedust before you left for summer."

"Aw, you're so cute," Tinkerbell grabbed her bags. "Well, gotta get to the Mainland. Tell Terence I'll see him later." She flew off into the distance, unaware of the bet.

"I thought you're going with us to the Mainland today," said Iridessa, seeing Terence working in the depot.

Terence scratched his head nervously. "Yeah, about that…"

"He made a bet with Alex," Fawn said bluntly.

"Who made a bet with Alex?" Silvermist said, flying into the depot with Bess, an art fairy.

"Terence did," Iridessa answered.

Silvermist gasped. "Why?"

"Because he kept teasing me about Tink, okay," Terence admitted.

"Well, do you even know why he's Fairy Gary's right hand man?" said Bess. "It's because Gary made a bet with him, guess how that turned out."

Terence groaned and slammed his head into the nearby wall. "I'm doomed."

Fawn patted him on the shoulder. "Not really. Alex plays dirty, so we'll play dirty."

"Two wrongs don't make a right," warned Iridessa.

"Unless you're Alex," said Silvermist.

Bess nodded in agreement. "It's true. He may be a friend, but he doesn't go easy on us."

"So, what is the bet anyways?" asked Iridessa.

Terence sighed. "I cannot see Tink for an entire summer."

"Oh no," Silvermist exclaimed. "She's going to get so mad."

"And come looking for you, thus losing the bet," Bess pointed out.

"I know, and since Alex is Alex, he'll make sure I'll lose," Terence pouted.

"Oh come on, it's not like he's going to make you do something completely embarrassing, right?" Iridessa said.

Terence paled at the thought of what he'd have to do if he lost. He's going to need a lot of help.

"Clank! Bobble!" Tinkerbell called out as soon as she arrived at the camp. The two tinkers were working on some sort of contraption, when they heard her voice.

"Greetings Miss Bell! How is your morning?" Bobble asked.

"Great, but I haven't seen anyone else besides you two and Alex. Have you seen them?"

Clank shook his head. "Sorry, Miss Bell; can't say we have."

Tinkerbell frowned slightly, but then perked up a little. "Alright," she went inside the camp, which she said was like Pixie Hollow under one tree.

A few weeks later…

"What? But why, Fairy Gary?" Terence pleaded. 'Why me?'

"Well, Stone has caught a cold from jumping into the ice cold creek yesterday, so I need you to bring pixiedust to the Mainland today," said Fairy Gary in his thick accent. He handed Terence the list, then went to handle other matters in the depot.

Terence nervously looked through the list, and saw he has to go straight to the Tinker camp. He missed his tinker friend a lot, but then he remembered the bet.

"What's that, Terence?" Alex came up next to his friend, who was sulking.

"Stone caught a cold, so I'm stuck with today's Mainland deliveries."

Alex maintained a poker face throughout the conversation. "Well, that sucks, man. But hey, I can't wait to see the look on Tinkerbell's face when you tell her about your feelings," he remembered the events the day before…

"Alright, Stone, I bet you aren't brave enough to jump into the creek," Alex challenged. The creek was in the Winter Woods, so it must've been freezing.

Stone laughed. "Hah! If frost can keep the cold out of my wings, then I'm no chicken to jumping into a creek!"

Alex smirked. "Well then, go on ahead."

Terence felt his face heat up at the thought. "W-Whatever, Alex, I'm going to win, no matter what."

Alex just shrugged, "If you say so."

The blonde dust-keeper flew off in the direction of the Mainland. Hopefully, Fawn can help…

Fawn was painting butterfly wings, when she was startled by a particular dust talent.

"Fawn, you got to help me. Stone got sick and now I have to deliver to the tinker fairies and-"Terence spoke really fast.

Fawn stopped him. "Slow down Terence, this is just one of Alex's tricks. Either he bribed Stone or just actually pushed him into the creek, now, all we got to do, is trick Fairy Gary."

Terence gulped. "Trick Fairy Gary? How?"

Fawn giggled. "It's nothing what a little tinker's camp accident can do."

Terence was confused, but he went with it anyways.

"What is wrong with Tinkerbell? Why, ever since she's been here at the beginning of summer, she's been down in the dumps!" piped Fairy Mary.

Clank shrugged. "We don't know either."

Bobble looked at the down tinker, who was doing busy work, which was very unlike Tink. "The poor tinker, I really wonder what's gotten her down."

In truth, Tinkerbell really missed Terence for some reason. It just wasn't the same without someone to help her out or having a laugh. She sighed when she was done the pile of busy work. Before she could move on to another pile, she heard a loud crash.

"What was that?!" a fairy shouted.

The sack that kept the week's supply of pixiedust was ripped, and pixiedust was everywhere. Fairy Mary was livid.

"What happened here?" Fawn flew down next to Fairy Mary. "We heard a crash over in the animal camp."

'1…2…3…4…5…6…' "Fawn, can you get Fairy Gary? I don't think we tinkers can get pixiedust cleaned up as quickly as dust-keepers," Mary asked Fawn.

The animal talent saluted. "On my way!"

Even though Terence was still sad about not seeing Tink, he was happy that he was no longer losing the bet thanks to his friend's dirty trick. Fawn came into the depot and explained the mishap at the tinker camp to Fairy Gary. Gary ordered Terence to go and ask the sewing talents to create patches for the ripped sack of pixiedust, while Gary and a few others went to clean up the pixiedust. Bolt said he'll take the dust delivery to the tinkers.

Terence hummed to himself as he came back into the depot and helped out there. Fawn came flying in, whistling innocently.

"I owe ya one, Fawn."

She looked at him oddly. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She winked.

Terence caught on, right as Alex appeared.

"Did you hear what happened at the tinker camp?" Terence asked.

"Yeah… aren't you supposed to be delivering the pixiedust to them?" Alex questioned.

"Bolt said he'd do it, but after that mess, I'm pretty sure the tinkers don't want anything to do with pixiedust for a while," Terence joked.

Alex laughed at his friend's joke, but he caught a glimpse of Fawn leaving the depot. 'Fawn…'

"Curse you Fawn!" Alex sat down in a tree, scheming. He knew this was payback for causing the skunk incident, which made Fawn go around smelling like the Stink Bug Incident Part II, which of course, everyone vowed to never speak of again. "Rosetta is going to kill me if I don't get Terence to confess to Tinkerbell."

"Oh, those two again…" a familiar voice of a fast-flying fairy echoed in Alex's ear. "Honestly, when are those two going to get together?" Vidia said, obviously annoyed by the antics caused by Terence's crush on Tinkerbell and Tinkerbell being oblivious.

"Ah, Vidia, just the fairy I was looking for. How would you like to participate in some mischievous match-making?" Alex proposed to the fast-flyer.

"Hmm… if it gets the gossip about them to stop, then yes," Vidia agreed. "Why can't anyone talk about anything else besides Tinkerbell's love life?"

Alex shrugged. "Well, pretty soon, they'll have to find something else to talk about."

Vidia sighed. "Good."

"Alright, you need to convince Tinkerbell to come back to Pixie Hollow, and we're in business," the red-haired dust-keeper explained.

The fast flyer crossed her arms. "How? What will that accomplish?"

"Well, I tricked Terence into a bet that he cannot see Tinkerbell for an entire summer. If he loses, he has to confess to Tink. In order for Tinkerbell to come back to Pixie Hollow, we have to make her jealous."

"Make her jealous about what?"

"Look at her, she misses Terence's company. Make up a little white lie or something, just to get her going,"

Vidia groaned and rolled her eyes. 'Great, I'm lying to a friend just to stop gossip. Thanks Alex.' The fast-flyer flew down to the moping tinker, sitting at her desk in the camp. Pixie dust was still everywhere, but in smaller quantities.

Tinkerbell continued going her busywork; she didn't know why she was so upset. 'It's just for one summer, and I've gone a few days without seeing Terence, of course that's when we were fighting…'

"Hey, Tinkerbell!" Vidia greeted. Tink immediately perked up.

"Hi Vidia? What's kickin'?" she greeted in a cheery voice.

Vidia was taken aback by the sudden mood swing. 'Well, she gets over it fast.' "Oh, well, I just got my refill of pixiedust from the dust-keepers, you know, the usual."

Tinkerbell's face fell at the mention of dust-keepers. "Oh, anything new from them, like Fairy Gary, Alex, Terence…"

Vidia nodded. "Apparently, there's a new girl working there. She's really pretty, and talented at what she does. All of the guys are going crazy for her."

Tinkerbell felt a wave of anger mixed in with jealousy wash over her. "Who is this new girl?"

"I don't know, but whoever she is, she's got an eye out for your boyfriend,"

Tinkerbell turned red. "He's not my boyfriend!" She stood up suddenly, startling Vidia. "So he's ditched me to be with some new girl? Humph!" Tink flew off in a huff, towards Pixie Hollow.

As soon as she was out of sight, Alex came into view. "Nice lie. How angry you bet she's going to be when there is no new girl?"

Vidia smiled. "Poor Terence, I hope he'll live after this,"

Fawn saw Tinkerbell flying towards the Hollow in anger. She turned to Silvermist, who was putting dew drops on a spider web. "Silvermist, can you create a distraction at the Tinker camp?"

The water fairy understood, and flew off humming quietly. Fawn had to fly as fast as she could to catch up with the angered tinker.

"Tink! Um, what are you doing?" Fawn asked, out of breath.

Tinkerbell was bright red. "I'm going to go give Terence a piece of my mind!" She was about to march off, but Fawn grabbed her by the arm. "Let go!"

"But there's an emergency!" Fawn cried out. Tinkerbell immediately forgot about her rage.

"Where? Where?"

Clank and Bobble were calling for Tinkerbell. "Miss Bell? Tink?" They spotted the tiny tinker with Fawn, and swiftly flew to them.

"Fairy Mary needs you!" breathed Clank, out of breath.

"Something happened in the camp!" said Bobble.

Tinkerbell went with Clank and Bobble back to the camp to see what happened. Silvermist and Iridessa caught up with Fawn, who was rubbing her hands together deviously.

"Hehe, that'll teach him for causing me to go around smelling like a skunk for a week!"

"Uh, Fawn?" Iridessa said.

Fawn stopped and faced the light and water talents. "Oh, sorry," she grinned sheepishly.

Iridessa only shook her head.

"45…46…47…48…49…50…" Fairy Mary counted. Tinkerbell, Clank, and Bobble arrived to calm the freaked out Mary.

"Fairy Mary, what happened here?" Tink asked.

"The sorting machine you created collapsed. 51…52…"

Tinkerbell looked over the damage. It would take the rest of the summer to fix it. Tink slumped down into the dirt, and began counting. "1…2…3…4…"

Clank and Bobble just looked at each other and shrugged.

"Darn it!" Alex kicked a stone into the creek. "Leave it to Fawn to foil my plan! Ugh."

Vidia sat on a giant rock, playing with the breeze. "Well, you shouldn't have made Fawn mad in the first place."

"Yeah well, if Rosetta doesn't see Tink and Terence together, she's gonna be ten times worse than Fawn!" Alex grumbled. "I'm all out of ideas."

"So what? It's not like you've never lost a bet before,"

"See, that's where you're wrong, Vidia. I've never ever lost a bet, get it memorized," Alex pointed to his head for emphasis. "I'm doomed."

Fairy Gary noticed that Terence was slower, and a little more down than usual. Of course, he wasn't always sad, but he was most of the summer. Gary thought it was summer sadness, but then he realized that there was no such thing.

Terence quietly worked, not humming, nor whistling. He was silent.

Alex kept carrying on, trying to get Terence to lose the bet. It seemed Terence missed Tinkerbell a little too much.

"What's wrong with Terence?" Fairy Gary asked his right-hand man. "He's been down in the dumps lately."

"He misses Tinkerbell, who's on the Mainland," Alex simply answered.

"Ahh," Gary grinned. "Well, summer's almost over, so he'll be back to the same ol' Terence we all know."

Alex's face fell. "Yeah, summer's over indeed."

Fairy Gary looked oddly at the red head. "Not ye too!"

Then suddenly, Alex had the most brilliant idea come to mind. "That's it!" he flew off and out of the Pixiedust Tree. Fairy Gary didn't understand how youngsters can have such mood swings. He simply shrugged and went back to work.

Tinkerbell searched fervently for her pixiedust bag. "Ugh, where is it?" Then a thought struck her. The only two people who would steal her pixiedust were the dust-keepers. 'Either it was Alex, or Terence.'

She flew off, and saw a suspicious figure with her pixiedust bag in their hand. "Hey!" She called out. The figure flew off in a rush to get away from the irritated tinker.

"Get back here with my pixiedust!"

Terence was in such a good mood today, and everyone knew why. He happily hummed as he was about to head out for his deliveries for Tinker's Nook.

Alex was getting tired from evading Tinkerbell's wrath. 'Geeze, doesn't Tink ever lighten up?' Luckily, he spotted an unsuspecting Terence flying about. He made a dive, and swiftly flew by the blonde dust-keeper, placing Tinkerbell's pixiedust bag in his hands.

"She's all yours, buddy," Alex said, flying off, leaving a confused Terence behind.

Terence looked up, only to see an angered Tinkerbell heading straight towards him.

'Uh oh,' Terence thought.

"Terence!" Tinkerbell stopped right in front of him, redder than Rosetta's hair. She glared at him, and snatched the pixiedust from his hands. "Did you take my dust?"

Terence was taken back. "No, Alex did that."

Tink lightened up a little. "Okay good…" she then remembered the lonely summer without her best friend. "Wait a minute! Why weren't you at fairy camp ALL summer?!" she shouted.

'This is almost as bad as when I accidentally broke the moon scepter.' "Uh…" Terence stuttered. Tinkerbell would kill him if she found out about the bet. "They really needed me in the depot; something about everyone catching colds and stuff."

Tinkerbell still remained red. "Please, never, ever abandon me again," asked, in a weirdly calm voice.

"If it makes you feel better Tink, I really missed you, a lot," reassured Terence. Tink's red face went down, and she embraced him.

"Terence, you're so sweet," she whispered. Terence could feel his face heat up from the comment. Tink let him go. "Well, I'd better go get my stuff from camp." She flew off, but not before kissing Terence on the cheek.

Terence lifted up a hand to feel his cheek, in a daze. He was snapped out of it by Alex clapping his hands. "Well, guess I won the bet then."

The blonde looked at his friend oddly. "What are you talking about? Today's the first day of autumn."

The red head stopped clapping. "What? No, it's the last day of summer."

"Actually, it is the first day of autumn," said Vidia, who came out of the Pixiedust Tree with her refill. "It says so on my calendar." She handed Alex her chart, and it is indeed, the first day of autumn.

"Looks like I won, Alex," Terence gave the gaping red head a smug look.

'FAWN!' Alex shouted mentally in his head.

"Can you hand me the sharp thingy?" Tinkerbell asked Terence.

"Of course, Tink," he handed the tinkering tinker the sharp pointer from the broken compass Tink once used.

For a while now, Tinkerbell was wondering why Terence had a lot more free time to help her out. She figured that he was doing this to make up for the entire summer.

Of course, she didn't know the real reason.

Alex grumbled as he made the pixiedust deliveries for Terence, as he promised. When he delivered to the animal talents, boy did Fawn really laugh in his face.

'Curse you Fawn. Curse you Terence. Curse you Rosetta for getting me into this mess in the first place! Next time you want more match-making schemes, count me out!' Alex cursed in his thoughts. He flew by the working tinker and dust-keeper.

"Hey, Alex!" Terence waved, smiling.

Tinkerbell looked up from what she was doing. "Oh yeah, hi Alex!"

Alex paid them no attention. "Hi," he continued on, still lost in his thoughts.

Tinkerbell was baffled by Alex's attitude. Terence gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry; it's just Alex going through a mood swing.

Tink nodded and went back to work. Terence went back to watching and helping her. He may like her, and one day he'll get the courage to tell her.

Just not today.

Hello there! I'm a big fan of Tink and Terence, and are surprised at the lack of fanfictions on them. So, I decided to contribute my own.

This is my first time writing these characters. (save for Alex, because I "borrowed" him from somewhere else.) So it's not as good or as in character as I'd like. But hey, I'll get better in time.

Please review. ^_^

Also, I just found out who plays Captain Hook in the next Tinkerbell movie. Tom Hiddleston.

TOM.

HIDDLESTON.

Loki is playing Captain Hook. I'm so happy! *does happy dance*