Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A lot of the time Tommy thought he was more animal than human.

He’d been human once, a long time ago. Human was his first shape he remembered having, all those years ago before he learnt to shift.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like being in the shape of a person. The thumbs were absolutely fucking amazing for a start, plus people were less likely to run away screaming compared to when he was a bear or a wolf, but equally less likely to approach than if he was something little and cute.

There was a weird divide he found, between what people found cute and what they found disgusting. Like mice for example, mice were great for when he wanted to get somewhere small, they were quick and amazing climbers once he got used to the limbs, and Tommy personally thought they were quite cute. But most people screamed when they saw him.

But there was a freedom that came with shifting that he couldn’t find anywhere else. Even if he wasn’t very good at it yet.

But could you blame him? There wasn’t exactly anyone to teach him, and shifters weren’t common knowledge. Shifting ran in bloodlines and most bloodlines had been ended, in the early years by hunters but more recently it was by people in white coats who wanted the power for themselves.

Tommy didn’t like them.

But he was getting distracted. The point was he sort of learnt shifting by trial and error, and he wasn’t very good at it.

Which led him to where he was now. Sat in the back of a car with some lady driving him somewhere, and with a police officer watching him like a hawk. Tommy would know, he’d managed to shift into a hawk once and the eyesight was fucking incredible.

He wasn’t able to fly though. The shape was weird enough, he’d spent most of the time trying to figure out how to take a couple of steps without falling over, let alone the wings. But there was another problem. Tommy found whenever he shifted, he’d end up the equivalent age in whatever shape he took. And Tommy was a bit on the young side as a human.

The police officer called him a minor. Tommy didn’t like that, he was definitely a major.

Admittedly, Tommy’s language skills were not the greatest. He knew all the important words like fuck and shit and piss, but everyone had kept throwing words he didn’t understand around like malnourished and possible abuse and feral. He liked the sound of that last one.

Animals were easier, everything was done through body language and smells and occasionally noises. Humans were just difficult to read, they’d say one thing and mean another, and they had complicated facial expressions that were different to their body language, and he just didn’t understand it.

It was probably the reason he had the police officer next to him. He’d bitten someone earlier because they wouldn’t leave him alone, but apparently humans didn’t go around biting each other.

Not normally anyway.

It was all just a huge mess. Shifting took energy and focus, and even then Tommy struggled. He’d had many attempts where he’d try to shift into one thing and end up as something else, or as a weird hybrid thing.

And not an actual hybrid, those were even harder to try and shift into. Not to mention the instincts that came with it was a nightmare to deal with. But just a weird mix of animals that probably shouldn’t be amalgamated.

So Tommy had somehow managed to get himself stuck as a human. It was probably his fault, he had been shifting into one less and less, and he wasn’t the best at shifting on a good day, so now something had gone wrong and he was stuck.

Temporarily he hoped, but he’d tried several times to shift into something else and had so far been unsuccessful. And then someone had reported to the police about some feral dirty human child eating out of a bin in an alleyway, something else humans apparently didn’t do.

Tommy didn’t understand that, why waste such good food and then not let other people finish it off for you?

So then police officers had turned up and tried to take him away, and then one of them had grabbed him, so he’d bitten them.

Tommy didn’t like these humans. Except maybe the lady driving him, she’d called herself Clara and she had nice soft eyes. She’d asked lots of weird questions like where his parents were and how old he was. Tommy felt slightly bad when he couldn’t answer them, but only because she seemed like a nice lady, but he did tell her his name and she’d smiled really nicely when he did.

She’d had an argument with another not very nice lady about where he was going to stay. The nasty lady wanted him in a group home whatever that was, but Clara didn’t seem to like it so now Tommy didn’t like it.

But Clara had argued against the group home, she’d made a lot of phone calls and now Tommy was bundled in the back of her car with a police officer next to him, on his way to somewhere. Tommy wasn’t exactly sure where yet.

“You doing alright there Tommy?” Clara called from the driver’s seat, eyes flashing up to the rearview mirror to meet his. Tommy nodded, wrapping his arms around himself. Clara had given him a hoodie that was a bit too big for him, but it meant he could wrap himself up in it and it almost felt like he was wearing fur. Almost.

“We’re almost there, I’m taking you to an old friend of mine. Do you want me to tell you about him?”

Tommy stared out the window, the sun had long since set and the sky looked almost black from inside the car, they’d left the city limits, streetlights giving way to trees. Clara kept talking.

“His name’s Phil, he’s really nice. He’s got two kids he’s adopted that are a bit older than you I think. Techno is seventeen and Wilbur is sixteen, I actually used to handle their cases and I introduced them both to Phil so I know him pretty well. He’s agreed to let you stay with them until I can figure out something more long-term.”

Yeah right. The minute Tommy can shift again he’s out of there. And he’s going to never shift into a human again, there are way too many rules and consequences.

A short while later, (Tommy struggled with reading the time) they pulled up the drive of a big house. It looked nicer than the city houses, more natural and less—blocky. There was a forest on the left side that curled around the back of the house where Tommy could see a small garden. A family car was parked in front of the house.

Clara turned the key and the rumble of the car cut off, the floor stopping shaking beneath his feet. Everything suddenly felt eerily quiet, with his human ears Tommy couldn’t hear anything outside the car. Clara turned around to face him.

“One more thing. They’re all hybrids.”

Tommy’s chest constricted. Hybrids had only ever been trouble for him, they had all the complications of humans with extra complications stuck on the top. It was hard enough trying to understand humans with their strange unspoken rules and facial expressions, but then adding on instincts and cultures on top just made them impossible to understand.

Hybrids used to be like shifters, hunted out of fear or greed. But now they lived with the humans, they didn’t need to worry about white coats dragging them off in the middle of the night.

“Now I don’t know how much interaction you’ve had with hybrids, but Phil’s fostered humans before. And he’s really good at explaining things so if you don’t understand anything or if something confuses or frightens you, you just need to tell him and he’ll explain it all, ok?”

Tommy nodded nervously, licking his lips. He was never going to ask anything, but it made Clara smile.

“Alright. Shall we go in and meet them?”

Tommy didn’t want to move but the police officer had already gotten out the car and was walking around to open his door. Tommy balled the sleeves of his hoodie up in his fists, glancing around nervously. It was dark outside, too hard for his human eyes to make out more than vague shapes, but he betted the forest would be the best place to run to once he could shift. Or maybe even before.

The door opened and Tommy slid across the seat, feet crunching onto gravel. Clara was waiting with her hand outstretched and a gentle smile on her face, like Tommy had seen parents do with their kids. It made his throat close up slightly, and he walked up to her but didn’t take the hand.

Clara walked towards the front door slowly, Tommy feeling herded by the officer behind him. She raised a hand and knocked three times on the door, and Tommy found himself leaning backwards slightly.

After a moment Tommy heard the door click and it swung open to reveal a man. He looked—a bit like Tommy. He had blond hair, but it was lighter and wispier. And he had deep blue eyes with crinkles around them, like he smiled a lot. Tommy liked them better than his dull brown eyes.

But the most striking thing about the man was the enormous pair of black wings attached to his back. They had a wicked claw on the joints at the top that looked about the size of Tommy’s hand. The wings looked like they’d barely fit through the front door, and even with the dark sky above them they seemed to shine and sparkle. They looked soft and silky, and heavy. Like a weighted blanket.

An avian. Great. Avians were hugely flock focused, so Tommy was definitely going to be ignored in favour of his actual children.

“Clara!” The man exclaimed, face splitting into a wide grin. “It’s been a while!”

“Hi Phil!” Clara chuckled, leaning forwards to give the avian a hug.

“And you must be Tommy.” Phil smiled gently down at him, feathers ruffling slightly behind him and catching Tommy’s attention immediately. “Why don’t you all come in for a hot drink, it’s getting pretty late.”

He moved back and Clara stepped over the threshold, guiding Tommy with her. The police officer followed in last, shutting the front door behind him.

Great. Now Tommy was trapped.

They followed Phil into a kitchen and Phil filled something metal with water and switched it on, it started making a weird rumble crackling noise. It was vaguely familiar, Tommy thought he’d seen one before but the name escaped him.

“Tea? Coffee? Something else?”

“Tea please.” Clara smiled, sitting herself down and gestured for Tommy to sit down with her. The policeman also asked for tea but didn’t sit, he stood by the door as though expecting Tommy to make a run for it.

Which he was seriously considering but not now with him stood there.

“Tommy? You want anything?”

Tommy shook his head, avoiding eye-contact.

“How are the boys?” Clara asked as Phil put bags of something into cups.

“They’re both great! They’ll probably be down in a minute, I woke them up and told them you were on your way.”

Clara winced. “Sorry about the time, I know it’s late.” Phil flapped a hand at her while he poured steaming water into the mugs.

“Nonsense. Anyways the boys would probably murder me if I let them miss you coming around.”

Right on cue Tommy heard a few thumps from the stairs, as though someone was falling down them. Phil winced in front of him.

The kitchen door burst open to reveal two figures. At the front was a tall lanky boy with curly brown hair, sparkling brown eyes and wire framed glasses sat askew on his nose. He was wearing pyjama bottoms and a yellow sweater. He had fins flaring on the sides of his head were his ears should be and as he grinned his teeth seemed sharper than usual.

Sirens were rare now but not unheard of, and everything Tommy had heard about them was bad. They were seriously territorial and just generally malicious.

Behind him was stood a slightly shorter boy with bright pink hair. He was in similar clothing and had a pair of reading glasses on, but his eyes were bright red and tusks jutted out on either side of his jaw. His ears were larger than a humans and slightly pointed, and were covered in gold piercings. Except for the bottom of his left ear, which had a green emerald hanging down from it.

Fucking fantastic. A piglin. Extremely possessive and aggressive. This was going so well.

How an avian, a siren and a piglin managed to coexist under the same roof Tommy didn’t want to know. Nor did he particularly want to find out. Maybe Phil drugged the water or the food or something.

Both the newcomers were grinning widely at Clara, who spun around and jumped up. Tommy curled his arms around himself, feeling suddenly vulnerable.

“Wilbur! Techno!” Clara exclaimed, engulfing them both in a hug that Tommy was definitely not jealous of. Not at all.

“Hey Clara!” The siren one grinned, voice muffled from where he was hugging her back tightly.

“Wilbur I swear you get taller every time I see you.” Clara pulled back to look the siren up and down. That must be Wilbur then, and the other one Techno.

“Maybe if you came to visit more often he wouldn’t have time to grow as much.” The piglin, Techno, pointed out but he was grinning too, tusks on full display. They looked like they could rip out Tommy’s throat.

Tommy shivered and glanced past them towards the kitchen door. The police officer met his gaze immediately and Tommy looked away.

“This is Tommy.” Clara said, pulling Tommy’s attention away from planning his quick escape.

“Hey.” Both hybrids said in unison, not coldly but certainly not with the same warmth they gave Clara.

Tommy shifted slightly, throat closed up too much to speak. He settled for jolting his head slightly. That was something humans did, right?

No one seemed to care anyways, Clara looked past Tommy towards Phil.

“Shall we get all the formalities out the way then?”

“Sure.” Phil answered. “Wilbur, Techno, why don’t you show Tommy where he’s staying. I’m sure he’s tired after such a long day.”

“Sure.” Techno grunted, grabbing Wilbur by the shoulder and pulling him out the door, not waiting to see if Tommy was following. Tommy turned helplessly to Clara.

“Go on.” She said gently, smiling with encouragement.

Tommy trailed after them, ignoring the eyes on his back. Techno and Wilbur were already halfway up the stairs, and he hurried after them.

At the top of the stair case was a landing. “That’s Phil’s room.” Wilbur said, gesturing to the door on the left. “He’s got a study downstairs so if you can’t find him he’ll either be in there or his room. Knock and wait, don’t just barge in.”

Tommy shivered at the slightly hostile tone. He’d barely been here five minutes and he was already in trouble.

Techno moved on. “This is mine, Wilbur’s is the one on the right. Don’t go in them.”

“This is the bathroom.” Wilbur pointed out. There’s a lock on the inside but Phil has a key so don’t get any ideas.”

Techno moved to the door at the end. “This is the spare room. You’ll be staying here.”

Tommy didn’t miss how it was the spare room. It was a spare room before he came, and it’ll be a spare room when he leaves. He’s an intruder here.

Not that it matters, he’ll be out of here as soon as he could shift. Which based on the welcome he’ was getting had better be sooner rather than later.

“That’s it. Dad will take you shopping at some point, I didn’t see a bag with you.”

Tommy shook his head. He’d never more than whatever was on his person.

“Ok well that’s everything. I’ll tell Dad you need some pyjamas for tonight.”

Both the hybrids started back down the stairs, leaving Tommy stood outside the spare room. He cautiously reached out a hand and pushed on the handle.

The door swung open to a bare room, a large bed in the middle. There was a window on the opposite side of the room and Tommy crossed over quickly, rattling the latch quietly. The window didn’t budge, Tommy bet it was locked.

There was a wardrobe in the corner but nothing in it. The walls were bare, the room felt cold. Honestly Tommy just wanted to sleep in the forest.

He could hear voices from the kitchen so he quietly made his way down the stairs. Techno and Wilbur had left the door slightly ajar so even with his human ears Tommy could hear Phil’s voice drifting through.

“There’s nothing on his file Clara. And you weren’t exactly clear on the phone. Hell, this doesn’t even have his age.”

“I don’t know his age.” Clara admitted. “It’s a weird case Phil, not one I’ve delt with before. He was found in an alleyway digging through bins for food, and we’ve not had reports of a missing kid that match his description for the last 3 years.”

“And before that?”

“The records aren’t that well-kept. You know the system Phil.”

There was a sigh. “What do you know about him?”

“He’s a flight risk.” The police officer spoke up. Tommy frowned. He didn’t have wings, how could he be a flight risk? “And he’s bitten an officer already.”

“He bit someone who grabbed him when he was terrified out of his mind.” Clara said sharply. “What else did you expect him to do?”

There was silence, followed by another sigh.

“I’d put him somewhere in the eleven to fourteen range for age. It’s hard to tell with how malnourished he is. And I haven’t seen any clear hybrid traits but it wouldn’t surprise me if he had traces in his blood.”

“He doesn’t speak a lot.” Wilbur piped up.

“No, the only thing he’s said to me was his name.” There was a shuffle. “He’s going to be a tricky case Phil, but he couldn’t go to a group home in his state. I just need time to find a place to put him.”

“I know Clara, and I know you wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t desperate. Whatever I can do to help.”

“Thank you.” Clara sounded relieved. “Here.” There was a shuffle of papers. “This is a dietary plan to try and get some weight on him. And at some point we’re going to need to get him to a doctor to check his health. I don’t know if he’s been vaccinated or anything.”

“Might be worth looking into therapy as well.” Phil said thoughtfully. “But I imagine that’ll be something to look at once he’s in a long-term foster.”

“Here.” The police officer said, more papers shuffling. “Sign here. And watch him, he’s already eyeing up escape routes. If he proves too much trouble let us know, we have some things to help with flight risks.”

“Thank you,” Phil said, but there was something cold and sharp under his tone, “but I’m sure they won’t be necessary.” Tommy shivered.

There was a scrape of chairs. “And you two,” Clara said, slightly sternly. “Be nice. He’s been through a lot, I’m sure you can empathise.”

“Yes Clara.” Wilbur said quietly.

“I’m so proud of you both.” Clara said, there was a ruffle as though she was hugging them both again. “I’ll come back and visit soon.”

“To see Tommy?” Techno asked bitterly.

“To see all of you.” Clara corrected. “I’ll still keep visiting after he’s settled elsewhere.”

“Ok.” Techno whispered.

Footsteps approached the door and Tommy scabbled back up the stairs to the spare room, pausing just inside. He could hear people walking into the hall and someone paused at the bottom of the stairs.

“Tommy?” Clara called up. Tommy shuffled out the room to the top of the stairs. Clara smiled when she saw him.

“I’m off now.”

Tommy’s gaze grew wide and he tensed. He knew it was coming but he wasn’t ready for her to go yet. Clara’s gaze softened.

“Hey, come here.”

Tommy trudged heavily down the stairs, stopping just out of reach.

“I’ll be back soon.” She promised. “And remember, they’re a good family. I wouldn’t leave you with people I didn’t trust.” She reached out slowly but Tommy flinched away and she stopped, sadness clouding her vision. “Just—” she sighed. “Try and be good. Ok?”

Tommy didn’t move, but Clara smiled anyway. “I’ll see you soon.” She reiterated, following the officer out the front door, placing a quick hand on Phil’s shoulder before stepping out. Phil shut the door behind her and turned to Tommy, blue eyes sparkling slightly in the light. Tommy braced.

“Hey mate.”

Tommy blinked.

“You want anything to eat? Or to drink?”

Tommy stared for a moment before slowly shaking his head.

“Ok. The boys mentioned you need some pyjamas, we can get you your own soon but for now are you happy with a pair of Techno’s?”

Tommy was sure Techno was fucking elated at the idea of giving Tommy his pyjamas. But it was either him or Wilbur, at least the piglin was more likely to be outright in his anger rather than the siren who’d be manipulative instead. So he hesitantly nodded.

Phil grinned. “Great!” There’s some spare toothbrush and toothpaste in the bathroom, it’s pretty late so I suggest we all head to bed and go over house rules and stuff in the morning. One of us’ll knock on your door for breakfast but I don’t mind if you’d rather sleep in instead.”

Tommy groaned internally. Fucking house rules, what was it with humans and rules? And there was bound to be something hidden behind it, some sort of hidden trap that he was definitely going to get caught in. But he didn’t want to get on Phil’s bad side just yet, so he just settled for nodding. Phil’s blue eyes crinkled as he smiled, they were really nice eyes.

“Alright, I’ll see you in the morning then.”

Tommy stood for a moment watching before he realised that must’ve been some sort of cue, he turned rather robotically and walked obediently up the stairs to the spare room, not stopping until the door was shut behind him.

He didn’t bother changing into the pyjamas Phil had given him, he didn’t want to get his scent on them for one in case Techno got more pissy about it than he expected, but he also couldn’t be bothered.

He collapsed on the bed and immediately sunk into the mattress. It was soft and squishy, but he also felt like he was drowning in it.

He pulled the pillows and duvet off the bed and piled them on the floor in a heap, adjusting it until he could curl up while still facing the door. This was somewhat better, but Tommy couldn’t help the tears that stung his eyes.

He ached for the weight of a fur coat, or better ears to hear if anyone was walking towards his door, or sharp teeth to defend himself with. He wanted the quiet of being outdoors, not this house that seemed to hum and creak, not the horrible fake sunlight that filtered under his door from downstairs.

Tommy buried his head in the horribly soft pillows and sobbed.

Chapter Text

“But when will I get to be like you?”

“Not for a couple of years yet, you need to be a bit older.”

“I’m older now!”

“Nice try sweetheart.”

Tommy jumped as someone knocked, breath catching in his throat and his heart beating rapidly. He blinked staring around as he slowly started to remember where he was.

Fucking shit.

He stared down at his hands, his disappointingly human hands, and tried to get a grasp on his shift. But it was like running at a brick wall, there was a slight pressure in his head and that was it. He was definitely still fucking human.

Another knock jolted him out of his thoughts, this time accompanied by Phil’s voice.

“Tommy mate? You awake?”

Tommy was too tired for this shit. He was supposed to answer right? Phil’s voice had gone up at the end, they did that when they had a question. So Tommy was supposed to answer. Except he really didn’t want to.

There was another knock. “I don’t mind if you want to skip breakfast this morning mate, but I’ve got to check your still in there. Can I come in and check?”

Nope nope nope Tommy did not want Phil coming in this room. He licked his lips nervously.

“I’m awake.” He called out hoarsely, quickly grabbing the blankets and pillows off the floor and dumping them on the bed. “I’m coming.”

He quickly shuffled over to the door and opened it, Phil was stood just outside, black feathers puffed up. Some of them were a bit crooked Tommy noticed, like they get messed up when he slept. Tommy watched them as they rustled gently together, they looked soft. Maybe softer than his bed had been.

Tommy had shifted into a bird two or three times. It wasn’t his favourite, the feathers weren’t gleaming and silky and long like Phil’s looked, they were short and fluffy. They got matted when it rained and they itched. Plus he couldn’t fly, and that made him easy prey for things that liked to eat birds.

“Morning mate.” Tommy reluctantly looked away from Phil’s wings, meeting his gaze for a moment before fixating on his shoes. “Did you slee—”

Phil cut himself off so suddenly Tommy looked up startled. Phil was frowning at him and he started to panic. The fuck had he done this early in the morning to already be in trouble? Had he missed a pillow on the floor or something? Was he not supposed to look Phil in the eye? Oh shit, he wasn’t wearing Techno’s pyjamas, was that a thing in avian culture? Had Tommy just seriously offended Phil and his entire family by not wearing fucking pyjamas?

“Are you—?” Phil started, squinting hard. Then he shook his head. “Sorry, lack of sleep.” He chuckled, and Tommy winced at the reminder of how late he arrived last night.

Phil’s gaze slid past Tommy and he frowned. “Did you sleep? Bed hardly looks slept in.”

Tommy licked his lips nervously, and Phil picked up on it.

“First night in a new place right?” Phil said awkwardly, wings shifting. “There’s breakfast downstairs if you want it.”

Tommy nodded, but pointed into the bathroom.

“Oh, need the bathroom?” Tommy nodded again. “Alright mate, I’ll see you downstairs in a minute.”

Phil disappeared down the stairs leaving Tommy outside the spare room. Tommy waited until he could no longer see Phil’s wings before sprinting to the bathroom, shutting the door as quickly as he dared. He leaned back against it with a sigh, his head resting on the wood.

This was not a good start to the morning.

Tommy took a breath and stumbled over to the mirror above the sink, gripping the edges of the bowl as he stared at his reflection.

There were large black circles underneath his eyes and a slight sheen of sweat covered his forehead.

Tommy groaned, clutching his hair tightly. His magic buzzed underneath his skin and he desperately threw himself against the barrier in his mind, hoping to escape breakfast.

No such escape came.

-----

Techno and Wilbur were already at the table by the time Tommy arrived in the kitchen. Wilbur was slumped face down on the table, hiding his eyes from the light. Techno had his head in a book, he extracted himself momentarily to blink at Tommy as he entered before diving straight back in.

Phil seemed to be the only cheery one in the room, he was currently flipping pancakes and whistling. Tommy couldn’t help but pause at the doorway, he didn’t know if it was an avian thing or not but Phil was fucking amazing at whistling.

Phil paused though as he spotted Tommy in the doorway. “Come sit down mate, you good with pancakes?”

Tommy had never had pancakes. He nodded.

There were two empty chairs at the table, one at the head of the table and one on the side opposite Wilbur. Tommy worried his lip between his teeth, he bet this was one of those unspoken human rule things where he was supposed to know which chair was his, there must be some hierarchical structure that revolved around this table and if Tommy didn’t figure it out—

Techno cleared his throat, not looking up from his book, and indicated to the chair opposite Wilbur. Tommy breathed a sigh of relief, crossing the kitchen and slumping into the chair. Crisis averted. He could do this.

Phil placed a plate full of brown fluffy things Tommy assumed were the pancakes on the table, and Tommy noticed the glinting silver items sat innocently either side of his plate.

Fuck.

Tommy could not do this.

He vaguely remembered these, this was the stuff the humans used to eat with instead of their hands! Except for when they didn’t, there seemed to be an unspoken rule with what foods you use it for and what foods you don’t.

Wilbur emerged bleary eyed from his arms, eyes focusing on the pancakes. The fins on the side of his head twitched, and from the way his eyes narrowed slightly Tommy full on expected him to pounce on the plate. But he merely yawned, showing an impressive display of sharpened teeth, and reached for a pancake.

Techno did the same, still not looking up from his book. Phil was still bustling around the kitchen, his wings sending little drafts everywhere, so Tommy assumed it was his turn. He reached hesitantly, and when no one told him off he snatched up a pancake and held it tightly, afraid someone would take it away from him.

Wilbur stared at him oddly. Tommy saw that his pancake lying on his plate, and he unclenched his fingers to place his pancake gingerly on his own.

Techno put his book down and picked up the shiny metal. He stabbed the pancake with the prongy one, and sliced it with the other one.

Tommy didn’t realise eating was this violent.

Wilbur was drizzling something on his, it was sort of gloopy and looked thicker and more golden than water. He noticed Tommy staring and Tommy saw his lip twitch as though he wanted to curl it. He looked immediately down at his plate.

Wilbur sighed. “You want syrup?”

Tommy had no idea what syrup was, but Wilbur had offered so he nodded quickly and reached to grab the offered bottle. Wilbur started eating his own pancake, just as violently as Techno had been.

Tommy squinted at the bottle. He could make out the word “syrup” on the side, not that he would’ve known how to pronounce it if Wilbur hadn’t told him, but there were no pictures that told him what it was. In the end he decided to just copy Wilbur, and he turned the bottle upside down and watched the stuff ooze out.

It ran much more slowly than water, and if Tommy gently moved the bottle around it made pretty patterns on his pancakes, so he soon forgot everything else and tried his best to draw something with the syrup.

“Are you trying to drown ‘em?”

Tommy looked up to see Techno staring at his pancakes. He quickly turned the bottle the right way around, flushing as he looked back down. He’d tried to draw a smiley face but he couldn’t get the syrup to stop running, so now it looked like it was crying and there was something coming out its nose.

Trembling slightly he picked up the metal stuff. It felt weirdly heavy in his hands, and way too thin to grip properly. He watched out of the corner of his eye at how Techno was holding his, and tried his best to copy.

Techno had somehow managed to balance the bits of metal between his fingers, but it just felt weird and uncomfortable in is fingers, his stabbing one slipped through his grasp and clattered on the table, the noise loud and jarring on Tommy’s human ears, let alone the three hybrids in the room.

Wilbur glared at him across the table, but Phil just said “oops!” and sat down at the head of the table, grabbing himself a pancake.

Tommy gave up holding the metal thing normally and just clenched it in his fist, stabbing it straight into the pancake.

“Has it personally offended you mate?” Phil said with a small laugh. It sounded like a joke, but Tommy was so pent up it didn’t register. He just focused on using the other one to cut the pancake up.

“What are you all up to today then.” Phil asked as he ate his own pancake.

“Think I’ll head into town.” Wilbur yawned. “There’s a few people heading off on holiday soon so we won’t see them for a while.” He turned to Techno. “Wanna come?”

“Sure.” Techno grunted. “Was meaning to head to the library anyway, see if I could get a summer job.”

Tommy brought the pancake up to his mouth. It was soft and fluffy in his mouth, and the syrup was sweet and made his eyes blow wide at the flavour. This was absolutely the best fucking meal he’d ever had.

“Well mate that leaves you and me!” Phil said to Tommy. “You could do with some clothes and such, maybe some stuff for the room. How does that sound?”

A day surrounded by more people, trying to understand strange human things and no way of escape? It sounded like actual torture. Tommy swallowed his pancake.

“Good.” He whispered.

“Wow he speaks.” Wilbur said with an eyebrow raised. Techno kicked him under the table.

------------

Once breakfast was finished and cleared away Phil cleared his throat a little awkwardly.

“Is everyone okay going through some house rules?”

“Fine.” Wilbur shrugged, Techno nodded. Tommy nodded quickly when Phil turned to him.

“Right. Well, I’ll give the boys a chance to discuss their own rules, but as for the main house there’s not a lot. Always knock and wait before entering someone’s room or my study, the only exception is an emergency or if you don’t feel safe. I don’t tolerate any sort of abuse, verbal or physical. Food is a free-for-all, but I ask you try and not ruin your appetite for meals.”

Phil paused here, biting the inside of his cheek, and Tommy shuffled uncomfortably. It felt like whatever this next one was, it was not going to be good.

“Tommy do you understand what happens to foster kids who are labelled as flight risks?”

Tommy shook his head. He still didn’t understand this, he thought it was very obvious he didn’t have wings.

“They’re labelled as a flight risk if it is believed they will run away if they get the chance.” Phil explained. “So if you were labelled as one, you would end up with a tracking bracelet from the police station, the doors would have to be locked, there would be a lot less freedom. Do you understand?”

Tommy shivered. He didn’t like the sound of that. What if the bracelet didn’t come off when he shifted? He’d be stuck running away from police forever as well as the white coats.

“Now the officer who dropped you off wanted to label you as one, but from my understanding Clara held him off. But it does mean that if you were to run off, there is nothing I can do to stop them labelling you as one. Do you understand?”

Tommy bit his lip. Technically all he had to do was not make any escape attempts until he could shift, and then he never had to come back again.

So he nodded, and Phil’s face became the picture of relief.

“Okay, good. Well then, to start with I need you to tell someone when you’re going out, and where you’re going. We’ll get you a phone as well so we can reach you when you’re out. I’m also going to set a curfew of 6pm for the first couple of weeks, but if you have something specific you need to stay out longer for then I’m open to discussion.”

Tommy didn’t understand what a curfew was but he guessed it wasn’t important. He also didn’t know how to tell Phil he couldn’t read time. So he just nodded again.

“The last thing is just that I ask you talk to us if you need something, if something is upsetting you, and definitely if you don’t understand. We do get caught up in instincts sometimes, but more than that we are human and prone to making mistakes, and I need you to tell us when that is making you uncomfortable. Or if you can’t tell us, please tell Clara. We’ll put her number in your phone when we get it.”

Phil sighed, apparently done with his rules. “Boys, you got anything you’d like to add?”

Techno shrugged, picking his book back up. “Don’t touch my stuff.”

“Same.” Wilbur said stiffly. “And don’t make too much noise in the mornings. I get migraines.”

Right. Full blooded Sirens were primarily nocturnal, something their hybrid counterpart struggled with.

“Anything from you Tommy? Anything you feel uncomfortable with?”

Tommy swallowed heavily. “Just. Don’t touch me.” He muttered, eyes in his lap.

“Ok. Well finish up your pancakes and we’ll get ready to go out.”

-------

The pancakes sat heavily on his stomach as Tommy made his way towards the car with Phil. He glanced towards the forest around the back of the house, feeling the desperation to shift crawling underneath his skin.

Phil cleared his throat and Tommy jolted back to himself. Phil had the backseat car door open with one eyebrow raised slightly, and Tommy remembered his warning. His face flushed slightly and he hurried to get into the car. It would do him no good when he finally could shift if he wasn’t able to escape.

The car ride was awkward to say the least. Tommy wasn’t sure if Phil was starting to pick up on his lacking knowledge of human things, but it wasn’t his fault if he didn’t know his favourite book or movie, or if he had a favourite band or any hobbies he enjoyed.

Eventually Phil gave up on the questions and they spent the rest of the car ride in silence, Tommy staring out the window as the trees turned into buildings as they neared the centre of town.

Phil pulled into a carpark and switched the engine off. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and turned to face Tommy.

“You see anything you like, let me know okay? We’ll start with clothes and stuff, and then see if there’s anything you want in your room.”

He opened the drivers door but paused before he got out. “And stay close, I don’t want to lose you.”

Tommy was pretty sure that was Phil warning him not to run off, but he didn’t want to run off here, especially if he couldn’t shift. There were too many people and he was bound to get caught before he made it far.

Might as well wait for a better chance.

Phil led him towards the shopping centre. Tommy had to physically steel himself before they joined the throng of people, retreating as far back into his mind as he could. But between the people constantly brushing past him and his slight – worry – of losing Phil in the crowd this became pretty difficult.

Well Phil was the one giving him free food. It would be bad survival skills to lose him.

There were a lot of hybrids here Tommy noticed, more hybrids than humans. Not many avians like Phil which wasn’t surprising given how rare they were, but that was definitely an axolotl hybrid over there, and what looked like an allay hybrid over there, and they weren’t exactly commonplace.

Eventually they made their way to the clothing stores and the mass of people reduced slightly. The air became easier to breathe.

Tommy missed the trees.

They started in the shirt section. It was painfully awkward, Phil would pull out a shirt and Tommy would shrug, and the shirt would go back. He wasn’t trying to be difficult, but Phil kept asking about colours and textures and it all just went straight over Tommy’s head.

But then Phil brought out a red and white baseball tee-shirt, and Tommy bit his lip.

He quite often shifted into things like cats and dogs. Mainly because they were familiar to humans, and so easier to get around with. Also because people were more likely to stop and stroke a dog or cat than a racoon.

But the eyesight sucked.

It didn’t really matter when Tommy was shifted, but now he was stuck as a human he could see all the colours he was missing.

Especially the reds.

Phil noticed his hesitation and smiled, plopping the T-shirt in the basket, moving on before Tommy had a chance to process it.

It continued like this, every time Tommy hesitated over a piece of clothing, Phil took that as a win and it went into the basket. In the end the majority of Tommy’s shirts were red or green, he had a red hoodie and a black one, two pairs of jeans, some tracksuit bottoms and a pair of pyjamas.

Obviously Tommy wasn’t staying long, but Tommy was surprised they bought as much as they did. Phil said he could take it all to his next house.

Tommy tensed at that.

He couldn’t take anything with him when he shifted. He was lucky enough that his clothes shifted with him, but anything in pockets wouldn’t shift, and he couldn’t just drag spare clothes or other possessions around the entire time.

Maybe if he just left them on his bed Phil could return them when he was gone.

“I got you a coat.”

Tommy blinked to see Phil holding out a bright red coat. It looked warm. He’d always liked red coats.

“Well we definitely aren’t going to lose you.” Phil joked. “You might even glow in the dark with how bright that is.”

Tommy took the coat hesitantly, running his hands over the fabric. Was that why Phil had chosen it, so he could see him in the dark?

Or maybe because most of the things he hesitated over were red.

This was confusing.

Tommy followed silently as they paid for the items. Phil turned to him as they walked away.

“So we need to get you a phone, is there anything else you think you’ll want?”

Tommy looked around. Honestly he didn’t understand what most of the shops were selling, and he wasn’t about to go and ask Phil what they were.

Also anything he bought now he’d have to just leave behind anyway.

So he shook his head. Phil opened his mouth hesitantly, but then he shut it and offered a gentle smile instead.

“Ok, well while you’re with us just let me know if you need anything, ok?”

Yeah right.

Tommy nodded.

They stopped for lunch on the way back. Phil ended up having to choose for Tommy, who’d done his best to look at the pictures on the menu but honestly he had no idea what he was looking for.

It didn’t matter though, the chicken nuggets Phil got him were worth it.

There were less hybrids in here Tommy noticed. In fact it looked like Phil was the only one.

Phil sat opposite him as they ate, and Tommy focused on keeping his mouth as full as possible so he didn’t have to talk to the avian, but he couldn’t help but notice Phil’s ears twitching and his wings bristling every now and then.

Phil caught Tommy staring and let out a strained smile, and at that moment Tommy’s painfully human ears finally caught onto the conversation on the table behind them.

“—bringing filthy germs in, I mean who knows what those feathers are carrying?”

“Honestly the shame of it.”

“It’s even making the kid feel uncomfortable, look how hunched over he is! I would be too if I had a monster like that sat in front of me.”

“Maybe it’s a kidnapping? You’ve seen it, on the news and such, something about instincts holding onto them? Maybe it’s kidnapping the kid.”

Tommy felt the heat rise up his neck. He wasn’t exactly pleased with the situation he’d ended up in, but that wasn’t Phil’s fault! His magic buzzed under his fingertips, he wanted nothing more to let them extend into claws and show the people exactly who the monster actually was.

But his magic was locked away, and there was nothing he could do.

Except—

Tommy took a deep breath in and out, reached over the table and grabbed Phil’s clenched hand. His skin prickled where held onto the avian, he didn’t remember the last time he’d touched a human. Or actually, the last time he’d touched anything living.

Phil’s hand was warm, Tommy focused on that instead of Phil’s sharp inhalation and the wide blue eyes that stared. He focused on the prickling in his own hand that was quickly becoming a burning, so different from his magic buzzing under the surface, that felt like it hurt but Tommy still didn’t let go.

Then Phil got over his shock and held Tommy’s hand back, and the burning intensified. He almost flinched back but managed to steel himself in time, his arm just sort of jolting instead. Tommy could feel his magic actually rushing towards his fingertips, throwing itself against Tommy’s skin as though it wanted to wrap around Phil himself, and he could hear his heart in his ears and the blood pounding around his head—

Tommy let go.

When his heart rate had slowed enough for Tommy to be able to hear again, the table behind him was packing up and leaving. He glanced over his shoulder and one of them gave him a nasty sneer before walking out the door.

Phil gave an audible sigh and Tommy immediately snapped back, worried he’d done something wrong.

“Sorry about that mate.” Phil didn’t sound mad, he just sounded—tired.

Tommy went back to his chicken nuggets, but before he could stuff his mouth again he found himself speaking.

“I thought hybrids were—”

“What? Integrated or whatever they call it?” Phil chuckled. “It’s not as bad as it used to be, that’s for sure. Things like that aren’t usual, but not too uncommon either.”

“Oh.” Tommy pushed a nugget around his plate. He glanced up shyly. “Does it bother you?”

“Not much.” Phil shrugged. “It bothered me that you had to witness it, but I don’t really care what they think. It’s only a small amount of humans now that have a problem with us.”

“I’m sorry.” Tommy offered, not really knowing what to say.

“Not your fault.” Phil said, shaking his wings out slightly. Tommy’s eyes were drawn to them instinctively, they glistened and shone in the artificial light. How anyone could think they were dirty was beyond him.

They finished their food in silence, Phil seemed a lot calmer but Tommy couldn’t stop thinking about grabbing Phil’s hand. He’d made it clear he wasn’t comfortable with it, but was Phil going to take this as an invitation?

Because he wasn’t sure if he wanted it or not. But he also really didn’t want to bring it up.

Thankfully when they stood to leave Phil made no effort to try and touch him, he kept an arm’s length away from Tommy and pulled his wings in tight to stop them accidentally brushing him.

Tommy didn’t argue. This was for the best.

Chapter Text

“Faster!” Tommy squealed, gripping onto the hulking mass of fur underneath him. He screamed with excitement as they sped up suddenly, the landscape blurring past in flashed off greens. His tiny hands started to slip from the fur, but at that moment the bear disappeared underneath him and he was flying through the air, weightless, falling—

“Gotcha.” A man grinned where the bear had just been, cradling Tommy gently and swooping him up to press their foreheads together.

“More!” Tommy giggled, reaching out a hand to press against his Dad’s face. His Dad chuckled.

“Later maybe.” He looked up towards the sky. “We need to figure out where your mother disappeared off to.”

At that moment a bird landed on his Dad’s shoulder and leaned down to gently preen through Tommy’s hair. Tommy laughed and reached out to run a hand through the feathers.

The journey back was no less excruciating than the way there, Tommy kept his eyes focused on the scenery around him and tried his best to keep still. His magic was buzzing under his skin, not enough to be painful but enough to be a nuisance.

He hoped that meant he could shift soon.

They pulled into the drive and Tommy was quick out the car, grabbing the bag his clothes were in and following Phil back into the house. He quickly slipped off his shoes, and almost started making his way up the stairs, before he winced internally. Phil probably wouldn’t appreciate him just leaving.

He paused with a hand on the banister awkwardly, rising up and down on his toes. But Phil had already disappeared into the kitchen so he assumed it was ok. Still, he made his way up silently just in case.

Wilbur and Techno’s rooms were silent so he assumed they were both still out. Thankfully. Tommy didn’t know what it was but he didn’t like how they made him feel.

He went into the guest bedroom and shut the door behind him with a sigh. He debated the floor but decided if he was going to be leaving soon he might as well make the most of the bed.

It was just as uncomfortably comfortable as last time, and Tommy had to struggle for a moment to stay upright. He was never going to get used to this.

He pulled out his new clothes and stared at them for a moment, not entirely sure what to do with them. So he just sort of left them there and pulled out instead the phone Phil had bought him.

It took him a moment to figure out how to open the box, and then he was faced with a whole load of instructions that he had no idea how to read. He picked up the phone instead, but it wouldn’t turn on when he tapped it like he’d seen Wilbur and Techno use theirs.

Tommy huffed. Phil was downstairs, he’d probably help Tommy figure it out.

Or he could just—not.

It seemed clear in his mind which one to do.

He felt his magic buzz again and he tried to reach for it, but the brick wall was still there. He mentally pressed up against it, he could feel the magic on the other side, pulsing and swirling in its own way, but the wall held tight against him.

Tommy groaned and flopped backwards on the bed, hating how he sank so much it felt like he was drowning.

How much longer was this going to take?

//

Sometime later the front door opened and shut again and Tommy heard Techno and Wilbur’s voices in the hall. He tiptoed to the door and cracked it open slightly to hear better.

“—nice time?” Phil was asking.

“Techno got the summer job.” Wilbur crowed excitedly, Tommy could hear the siren undertone in his voice humming with his excitement and felt his own bubble up in response.

Before he roughly shoved it down.

“Wilbur actually got a job at that records shop.” Techno butted in. “The guy was walking around town, saw Wilbur and recognised him and just offered the job.”

“Well done both of you!”

Tommy gently shut the door again, the taste of bitterness welling in his mouth. This wasn’t his family, he didn’t need Phil’s praise or Wilbur to get excited over something he did or Techno’s quiet admiration. He didn’t need any of it.

He dragged the pillows and blankets off the bed and into the corner, resolving to stay there until dinner.

Turns out it was a while until dinner, almost long enough to force him out of the room. Tommy could hear the pots and pans being knocked around and the occasional laughter drifting up the stairs. And Tommy had nothing to distract him from the buzzing underneath his skin and the loneliness in his chest.

Eventually Tommy heard someone coming up the stairs, and moments later there was a knock on his door followed by a gruff “dinner’s ready.”

Techno.

Tommy extracted himself from his pile of blankets and pillows and opened the door a crack. Techno was already half way down the stairs so Tommy pulled the door shut behind him and followed.

Tommy sat quietly while the others talked, his eyes drawn to Phil’s hands every time he brushed against Wilbur or Techno, his own itching where he tried to balance the cutlery—apparently that was what it was called—in his hands. A lifetime of adapting to strange limbs meant he was thankfully picking it up fast, he didn’t know how many more weird looks he could stand from Wilbur.

 He clenched his hand around his knife as his magic bubbled again. It was obviously trying to do something, but with the barrier in his mind and the three hybrids in front of him there wasn’t exactly much he could do.

His mind wandered slightly as he tried to remember exactly how long it had been since he last shifted. He regretted ever shifting into a human in the first place, but he was cold and hungry and lost, and he thought maybe if they saw a little human they might help.

Of course they hadn’t. And now he was stuck.

The table suddenly went quiet and Tommy snapped out of his thoughts to see all three hybrids staring at him. His mouth went dry.

“Sorry?”

“I asked if the phone was alright mate.” Phil said gently. Tommy hunched in on himself.

“I’m not sure how—” he started.

“I’ll do it.” Wilbur interrupted. “Bring it down.”

“Thanks Wil.” Phil said, standing to collect the dishes. “Tommy? You want to go grab it?”

Tommy excused himself wordlessly, taking as much time as he could retrieving the phone from upstairs. Wilbur held his hand out when he came back in.

Tommy stood awkwardly while Wilbur fiddled around, too nervous to ask what he was doing and too tired to figure it out by himself. After a few minutes Wilbur held the phone back out, his eyes expressionless.

“Thanks.” Tommy muttered. Wilbur just turned away.

Phil wiped his hands and looked up at them both, eyes darting between Wilbur and Tommy, his mouth twisting ever so slightly. Great. If Wilbur didn’t like him Phil was now not going to like him.

Not that it mattered. He was leaving soon one way or another.

“Did you want a shower mate? Probably should have asked before but everything seems to have moved pretty quickly.”

Fuck yeah Tommy wanted a shower. He actually couldn’t remember the last time he’d had running hot water. He nodded.

“Just pull the top handle towards you, and twist the bottom for temperature. There’s some shampoo you can use in the little black bottle and there should be a brown towel in there already.”

Tommy shuffled back up the stairs to the bathroom. He’d noticed there was a bath in there as well which he really hoped to use. He’d swum in lakes and rivers and stuff, and while the cold didn’t necessarily bother him as an animal, it wasn’t the same as hot water.

He pulled the bathroom door shut and peered around. The brown towel was on the side.

He pulled of his clothes, discarding them on the floor and turned the shower on. Water shot out of the shower head and Tommy almost yelped, stopping himself just in time. He was sure yelping when the shower turned on wasn’t exactly a human thing.

He fiddled with the temperature for a while before he was happy, cupping his hands underneath the water as they hit his skin and bounced off. It felt funny on his skin, like rain but heavier and warmer.

He inched himself in, the water falling over his arms and then his shoulders. It was heavy on his shoulders but not in an unpleasant way, and the warmth seemed to seep into his bones. He stood there for a moment a bit too wary to put his head underneath but relishing in the warmth, before opening his eyes and looking at the bottles.

There were—a lot. And Tommy had a slight problem with the fact he couldn’t read, but thankfully there was only one black bottle. Tommy picked it up gingerly, almost dropping it when it slid in his grasp. There was a hole in the top so he turned it upside down and squeezed, and a load of clear, cold and thick liquid squirted onto his palm.

He stared at it for a moment, it had the texture of really smooth mud but smelled like strange flowers. He wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it so he ended up slapping it all over. It bubbled slightly when it hit the water and he became distracted by trying to make as much foam as possible. Then he wondered If he could make a foamy hat with it.

He squeezed another load directly onto his head and sort of patted it around a bit. He could make his hair stand up on end like this, so he gave himself some spikes. Fuck yeah. He needed more of this shampoo stuff.

As he was pouring another load onto his palm a knock sounded on the door which made him jump, before he froze with the bottle pouring shampoo all over his hand.

“Tommy?” Phil’s voice floated through. “You’ve been a little while mate, which is absolutely fine but I just want to check you’re ok.”

Tommy mouth went dry and he dropped the shampoo bottle with a thump, slapping the stuff on his palm straight onto his head.

“Tommy?” Phil said alarmed. “You ok mate?”

Tommy panicked and his head went under the shower head, water bouncing off his head and running down his face. He spluttered, squeezing his eyes shut but the slimy mud shampoo got into his eyes and they suddenly started to burn.

Tommy’s face scrunched with pain and he started to rub at his eyes, but that just made them sting worse. He tried to open his eyes but with the water running down his face they felt even more sore.

There was a knock again at the door and Tommy spluttered, flinging a hand out and managing to turn the water off.

“Hey mate, can you just tap on the door if you’re ok? That was quite a big thump there.”

Tommy’s foot slipped as he stepped out the shower and he bit back a curse as he rolled his ankle. This was really not how he pictured the shower going.

The reached the door and knocked it.

“Alright thanks mate.”

Tommy pressed his head against the door, squeezing his eyes shut. Fuck they hurt.

He stumbled over to the sink and let it run, splashing his face with cold water. They soothed his eyes from a burning to just being sore, it was like his eyes were dried out.

Tommy made a mental note never to put shampoo in his eyes again.

He still had some in his hair so he picked up the brown towel and rubbed it until he couldn’t see any more. He smelled of the flowers now, which admittedly was not the worst he had smelled, but it was foreign and fake smelling enough to wrinkle his nose unpleasantly.

At least he wasn’t staying long.

Tommy got dressed into the new pyjamas they’d bought that morning, they were softer than the ones he’d been wearing all day and he felt the tension just drain from his body.

So pyjamas were a win, shampoo was a no. Tommy’s mental list was expanding.

He quietly exited the bathroom to take refuge in the spare room but ran into Techno just before he could slip in. There was an awkward pause for a moment, then Techno held out the phone Tommy had left downstairs.

“I picked it up before Wilbur could yoink it.” He said by word of explanation, tail flicking behind him.

Tommy took it and tried to say thank you. “Yoink?” He asked instead.

“Umm, like steal? But less maliciously.”

“Oh.” Tommy said staring down at his phone. “Malicious?”

Tommy could see Techno mentally buffer. “Maybe that was the wrong word.” He muttered. “I just—umm—night.”

Tommy watched Techno slip into his own room, clutching his phone to his chest dumbly. That was—strange to say the least.

He shut his door and crawled into his floor-nest. Today had been—a lot to say the least. And his eyes still hurt, in fact now he was thinking about it, it felt like his magic was pushing against them. Yet no matter how much he tried the barrier stayed firm.

This had to be the longest Tommy had ever gone without shifting. Not counting the time before he could shift, but that felt like so long ago.

He missed it.

He rubbed his eyes again and curled up on the floor, allowing himself to drift off into an uneasy sleep.

Morning came and as before Phil was the one to open the door. This time Tommy was ready for him, and he opened the door prepared to go down to breakfast, but before he could Phil did a double-take.

“Are your eyes blue?” Phil asked, squinting.

Tommy mentally stuttered. He was pretty sure his eyes were brown last time he checked in the mirror, and he’d never thought about changing it. Unless—

Something has got to be fucking with him.

So he’s stuck as a shitty human, but his weird shifty powers take one look at Phil’s blue eyes and decide to steal them?

No wait, what was that word Techno used last night?

Oh yeah, yoink. That was better. His powers decided to yoink Phil’s eyes.

Ha.

Haha.

Tommy would laugh if he wasn’t so nervous, he was currently mentally fumbling around for some kind of excuse as to why his definitely normal very human eyes would suddenly turn from brown to blue in the space of a night. And he was getting nowhere.

“Huh.” Phil said, shaking his head. “Must just be the light.” He turned on his heel. “Come down when you’re ready,” he called.

Tommy bolted to the bathroom.

Shit.

He blinked at his reflection, reaching out to touch it in case his brain was fucking with him or something.

Nope.

The eyes that stared back at him were definitely Phil’s.

Tommy groaned and dropped his head down to his chest. His shifting powers liked to do things like this, one time he’d been happily shifting through garbage as a raccoon when he’d caught sight of this beautiful yellowish golden coat that looked warm and fluffy and so so cozy. When he’d woken up the next morning his fur was golden, the same as the coat.

It might’ve looked nice but it meant he was very easy to spot, animal control had been called within the day and Tommy barely escaped them, he had to hide out in the woods until he had managed to shift into a mouse and thankfully the gold faded with the coat.

And now it seemed it had taken a liking to eyes. Specifically blue eyes. Even more specifically, Phil’s blue eyes.

Tommy prayed it wouldn’t take a liking to anything else.

Wilbur wasn’t at breakfast. That should have been the first sign. At the time Tommy didn’t think much of it, sirens were nocturnal after all so it made sense their hybrid counterparts were somewhat affected. He’d probably had a late night and then slept in.

Tommy didn’t do a lot that morning, he figured out that phones needed to be charged to work so he learnt how to do that, and then he discovered the wonders of television.

Phil introduced him to it, showing him how to flick through the channels and such, and Tommy spent a good while flicking through stuff trying to figure out what to watch.

There was some stuff that seemed funny, at least it hard some invisible people laughing a lot at the people on screen even if Tommy didn’t understand the jokes. There was some violent stuff that Tommy was very quick to flick past.

Then he found one about some dogs. Except the dogs were blue and orange. Tommy didn’t think they were real, he’d never seen talking blue dogs before.

Maybe they were shifters?

“Hey mate, whatcha watching?”

Tommy looked up to see Phil walking in. He glanced at the TV and smiled.

“Ah, the boys love these cartoons. You enjoying them?”

Tommy nodded, another thing to the mental list. Cartoons were awesome. Especially ones about talking dogs.

“Alright, well I need to head out for a little bit but I won’t be long. Techno’s awake so go to him if you need anything. Try your best not to wake Wilbur, he can get a bit cranky in the mornings.”

Tommy couldn’t help the tension leaking into his shoulders. Phil he trusted the most out of all of them, it seemed like he at least tried to be friendly and who knew what the other two hybrids would do if Phil wasn’t here. But he couldn’t just ask Phil not to go.

He could just stay here right? No one could blame him surely if he just stayed watching the television, after all Phil was the one to show him how to use it. Right?

“Mate?”

Tommy startled, realising he’d just been staring blankly at Phil for the past few seconds.

“That ok?”

Tommy nodded quickly.

“Ok, I won’t be long.”

Tommy waited for Phil to leave before pressing play again, but it took a few minutes before he properly started paying attention again. And even longer to be able to relax.

Tommy wasn’t sure how long he watched the cartoons for curled up on the sofa, but for the first time since he arrived his magic stopped buzzing. He wasn’t sure if his eyes changing had been enough of an outlet for it, or whether his magic was just as entertained by the cartoon dogs as he was, but he wasn’t going to question it. He was just going to enjoy it for as long as he could.

A couple of episodes later there were footsteps coming down the stairs, heavy and angry, and Tommy was instantly on alert. He paused the television, ears straining.

The footsteps stopped in the kitchen.

Then they came towards him.

Tommy curled up tight against the side of the sofa as his magic flared, desperately trying to escape in the form of something small. But Tommy was painfully human and the footsteps were still coming.

Wilbur stormed in. His fins were twitching and as he locked gazes with Tommy his lip curled up slightly to reveal bared teeth.

“You’re in my seat.” He hissed.

That was definitely a cue for Tommy to leave, but his legs were locked with adrenaline. He felt like a mouse beneath a cat’s hunting gaze, and that was actually a position he had been in before and it still wasn’t as terrifying as this.

Wilbur stalked closer, letting out a sinister hum that sent a bolt of fear straight up Tommy’s spine. The hair on the back of his neck rose, and he didn’t think he could move now if he wanted to. The rest of the room was fading, he couldn’t look away from Wilbur’s eyes, were they glowing? It looked like they were glowing and his heart was in his ears and he was getting closer and closer and there was a horrible rattle—

“Wilbur.”

Wilbur snapped up, glaring at the door. Techno was stood there completely rigidly, staring straight at him. Wilbur gave a little hiss that Techno answered with a growl.

The hiss was cut off and Wilbur took a few steps backwards. He turned back to Tommy who flinched and raised his hand, pointing a finger directly at him. Tommy realised distantly that Wilbur’s hands were shaking.

“Stay out of my seat.”

He turned on his heel and stormed out, brushing past Techno who watched him go, ears twitching. Techno paused for a moment to look at Tommy before turning and following his brother. Tommy heard two pairs of footsteps walk up the stairs, and the sound of one door shutting.

Tommy let out a shaky breath, the adrenaline flooding his system. Fucking Sirens.

He let his head fall back as his body started to catch up, starting to tremble as goosebumps rose on his skin. If he’d been capable of shifting it would have happened instinctively under the stress, he knew that from experience. It was like a defence mechanism.

One that wasn’t working now.

There was the sound of the car outside as Phil pulled back into the drive and Tommy swallowed. He didn’t know what the two younger hybrids would do if he said anything to Phil, but he could imagine.

Tommy heard the keys jangle in the front door before it clicked. He was still frozen against the sofa, and he worked on unclenching his fists first, trying to slow his heart.

He shakily pressed play on the television to cover up the sounds of him breathing as he heard Phil take off his shoes and walk into the kitchen. He buried his hands in the sleeves of his jumper so they weren’t shaking so visibly.

Phil walked into the living room.

“Everything alright mate?”

Tommy nodded, clenching his jaw. Phil frowned. “You sure?”

Tommy nodded again, trying to make it more convincing. He just needed Phil to leave.

“Ok.” Phil said, not sounding convinced at all. “Well not long till lunch, do you want to go up and tell the boys? Wilbur should be up by now.”

Tommy literally had to bite down a whimper, no he did not want to go tell them anything, he was really hoping to avoid them both for as long as possible. And he doubted either of them wanted to see him either.

But Phil had turned and walked back into the kitchen and was not witnessing Tommy’s internal panic, which left him to go face one hybrid that possibly hated him and one that definitely did. Tommy wasn’t even sure what he did to upset them.

Wait.

Tommy forced himself to stand, anger settling in his bones. He hadn’t done anything, he didn’t even want to be here!

No. Tommy shook his head, walking towards the stairs. This was not his fault, they were the ones deciding to be dicks about it.

He took the stairs two at a time, Techno’s door was open which meant both the hybrids were in Wilbur’s room, and he could hear voices behind the door. Before his newfound courage could fail him he raised his fist and knocked determinedly.

The voices stopped and there was a creak. Wilbur opened the door, staring down at Tommy with something unreadable in his eyes.

“Lunch.” Tommy said, proud of the way his voice barely trembled. He could see Techno sat upright on Wilbur’s bed, red eyes watching them closely.

Wilbur narrowed his eyes at him. “What did you tell Phil?” He said accusingly.

Tommy felt a flare of annoyance. “Nothing.” He spat. “Get your ass downstairs.”

And he escaped as slowly as he dared, leaving Wilbur’s shocked face stood at the door. He made immediately for Phil, he was definitely the most reasonable of the three and hopefully the other two wouldn’t do anything around him.

Tommy was sat at the table by the time Wilbur and Techno made their way downstairs, and he pointedly avoided both of their gazes. Phil greeted them both, completely oblivious to the tension in the room.

Lunch was a quiet affair, Tommy’s magic spiked every time he glanced at Wilbur and Wilbur was completely silent throughout. Techno pushed his food around his plate and Phil looked between all three of them, becoming increasingly confused.

“Okay.” Phil said, placing his cutlery down and lacing his fingers together. “What’s going on. What’s happened.” He didn’t say it as a question, more as an invitation but Tommy kept his eyes glued to his plate. He was not going to be the one to say something.

Apparently neither were Techno and Wilbur. The silence spread on and on as all three of them sat there. Techno stopped pushing his food around.

Phil sighed. “This isn’t going to work unless we talk to each other.”

Wilbur clenched his cutlery tightly, refusing to look up from his food and Phil noticed.

“Wilbur?”

“It’s fine.” Tommy cut in, shrinking back in his seat when all three hybrids looked up at him.

Phil turned back to Wilbur. “Is it?”

Wilbur glanced up at Tommy for a moment, before looking back at his plate and giving a small nod. Phil’s feathers puffed up but he left it alone, going back to his food. Tommy let out a silent breath, not daring to look back up at Wilbur.

This was really not going well.

Chapter Text

“Can you teach me?”

“Aww Tommy.” His mother combed a hand through his hair. “You have to wait a while first.”

“I’ve been waiting!”

“I didn’t shift until I was six.” His father cut in, leaning over the back of the sofa. “Your mother didn’t until she was five. It’s not something you can hurry Tommy.”

His mother hummed in agreement. “And how old are you Tommy?”

“Three.” Tommy pouted. “But what if I try really hard?”

//

It had been about a week since Tommy had first arrived at the house, and aside from the since dubbed ‘Wilbur incident’, nothing else had really gone wrong. Admittedly, Tommy spent all his time either in his room, or when Wilbur and Techno weren’t around he’d venture out into the rest of the house.

Phil tried to entice him out when he could, but if Tommy could avoid being in the same room as Wilbur and Techno then he was absolutely going to.

But one afternoon Tommy was up the spare room when he heard strained voices from downstairs and curiosity got the better of him. He crept over to the door and opened it just enough to peek his head out.

Wilbur’s and Techno’s rooms were shut but Tommy could hear all three voices drifting up the stairs, so he snuck to the top and crouched, listening intently.

That was definitely Wilbur’s voice, and Tommy felt a faint stir of unease that he didn’t think was his own emotion. In the limited interaction Tommy had had with the siren, he found that Wilbur’s emotion was shown in his voice. Literally. Whatever the siren was feeling was projected through his voice for everyone to feel for themselves.

However the voices were still too muffled to make out what they were saying, so biting his lip nervously Tommy very quietly crept down the stairs.

Following the voices it seemed they were coming from Phil’s office, and the door sounded like it was shut. Tommy stayed crouched at the bottom of the stairs, he could just about make out the words here.

“I understand it’s not what either of you agreed to.” Phil was saying, voice high with stress. Tommy could imagine how his wings were puffed up.

“No it’s not.” Wilbur cut him off. “You said emergency, and only a few days. It’s already been a week.”

Tommy felt dread pool in his stomach. He had a horrible feeling he knew what this was about.

Wilbur was still going. “—and I can’t seem to get used to him either. I’m trying I swear Dad, but—” he trailed off.

“Doesn’t help he never comes out of his room.” Techno chimed in. “Surely there’s somewhere better for him, I don’t know what they were thinking putting him with three hybrids like us, we aren’t exactly meant for fostering long term.”

“Apparently is was either this or the group home.”

There was a pause for a moment, then Phil sighed.

“Look, I get this is hard. You’ve both done more than I asked of you, and I’m sorry to have to ask you to do more. But if you’re done, I’ll tell Clara no. He can go to the group home and he’ll never know otherwise.”

Tommy felt his magic start to tingle as it urged to run and his eyes burned with unshed tears. He thought he was doing the right thing staying out of everyone’s way, but apparently that might be his undoing.

“Can—” Wilbur hesitated. “Can we have some time to think about it?”

“Not long. I’ve got three days to give Clara an answer.”

Tommy heard shuffling behind the door and quickly fled back up the stairs, hearing the study door open as he reached the spare room. He silently shut the door and collapsed on the bed, drawing his knees up to his chest and shaking silently.

He didn’t want to go to a group home, Clara didn’t like them so why would he? All he wanted was his magic back, he wanted to be able to shift and run away where to where things made sense and there were no strange rules and everything was simple and easy.

Except—the other animals tended to stay clear of him. Like they knew there was something inherently wrong with him. Like they knew he wasn’t actually one of them.

Maybe that’s what the three hybrids felt. Maybe that’s why they didn’t like him.

He was just wrong.

Tommy stared numbly at his hands. What if this was it? What if his magic stayed trapped behind the wall forever, and he was forever stuck as a human with Phil’s blue eyes? Seeing him every time he looked in a mirror?

There were footsteps up the stairs and Tommy heard one door shut. Fucking Wilbur and Techno, probably sat deciding whether or not to keep him, like he was some sort of pet.

What had Techno said? Not meant for fostering long term? Well they all somehow managed to co-exist in the same household, obviously it was Tommy that was the problem.

Clara’s words chose that moment to float back to him.

“Phil’s fostered humans before. And he’s really good at explaining things so if you don’t understand anything or if something confuses or frightens you, you just need to tell him and he’ll explain it all, ok?”

Yeah right. Tommy shoved that thought down with a vengeance. He wasn’t asking shit.

If they were so keen to kick him out, he wasn’t going to bother.

//

Tommy might spontaneously combust.

After he’d heard the hybrids discussing his future he refused to come out of the spare room for the entire day, even for meals. This prompted Phil to come knocking at his door, and while the avian did leave food outside the door, Tommy couldn’t help but think that he’d given up rather easily when Tommy hadn’t answered.

Tommy didn’t know why that hurt. It was obvious none of them wanted him here.

But his magic was itching under his skin, burning at his fingertips. It had been uncomfortable before, sure, but this was the first time it was becoming almost painful. It was also making it impossible to sit still. And so he’d accepted defeat and come out the spare room.

As it turns out, Tommy was not very subtle about it either.

He was curled up on the sofa, he’d heard Wilbur leave that morning and assumed Techno had gone with him. Apparently he was wrong, either that or he was imagining his voice in the kitchen.

“I think he’s bored.”

Phil hummed, very aware Tommy was in the next room. “Well you would be too if you were stuck inside.”

“Can’t you do something? His constant fidgeting is stressing me out—”

Phil coughed and Techno shut up very quickly. “I—uh—I mean—”

“That’s an idea!” Phil chirped. “Why don’t you take him outside? Take a walk in the woods or something.”

Nuh-uh. Nope. Nope nope nopenopenopenope

“No wait Dad I—”

“Yeah I’ll go tell Tommy!”

That gave Tommy about four seconds to compose his currently frozen face before Phil appeared.

“Hey mate! Thought you’d like to get out of the house for a bit and Techno has offered to take you!”

There was a strangled snort from the kitchen.

“Go pop some clothes on, I’ll lend you a pair of Wilbur’s walking shoes so you don’t ruin your ones.”

Phil started walking out before he turned around and frowned. “That reminds me, we only bought you one pair of pyjamas right?”

Tommy was too stunned to nod but Phil took his silence as confirmation anyway. “Thought so, I’ll get Techno’s old ones back and you can use those so we can give yours a wash, sound good?”

Phil didn’t wait for an answer, he was out the door before Tommy could blink, leaving him mentally spiralling at the thought of spending time alone with Techno.

Tommy could hear Techno hissing something at Phil, obviously the piglin was just as excited as Tommy was.

Eventually though Techno stomped upstairs, probably to get dressed and so Tommy scrambled up from the coach, desperate to not make Techno angrier by making him wait.

He pulled on clothes, barely noticing what he was wearing, and was still pulling his socks on his feet by the time he was downstairs. Techno was sat lacing up shoes, and he glanced up as Tommy came in.

“Here!” Phil chirped happily, passing over a pair of shoes. “These should fit you.”

Tommy sat and pulled them on his feet, not missing the betrayed look Techno gave Phil. Phil was right, the shoes were fine but he still hadn’t figured out how to tie laces on shoes. When he’d shifted into a human he didn’t have shoes, so he’d gone mostly barefoot. Then Clara gave him a pair of shoes, but Tommy just tucked the laces under the soles of his feet.

Why bother learning to tie shoes when he was leaving soon anyway?

So when Phil disappeared Tommy tried to tuck the laces away, but Techno caught him.

“You’ll want to tie them.” Techno said gruffly. Tommy froze not looking up, fingers trembling slightly. Techno shuffled. “You do—do you know how to tie them?”

Tommy bit the inside of his cheek, still refusing to look up. Techno sighed painfully and strode over, Tommy flinched back violently and Techno paused.

“I’m just gonna tie your laces, don’t freak out.”

Techno slowly knelt down and deftly tied Tommy’s lace. Tommy peeked down, marvelling at how the shoe felt snug on his foot. Techno slowly looked up and Tommy froze under his stare.

Techno sighed again, more gently this time and leaned down to Tommy’s other shoe.

“Look.” Techno said, taking a lace in each hand. “You cross them over like this, and then thread this one through the hole in the middle to make a knot, see?” Techno pulled the laces and the knot tightened. “Then you make a loop with this one, and wrap the other one around the neck, here.”

Techno wrapped the lace around while Tommy watched, and Tommy couldn’t help but feel intrigued by what he was doing.

“Then you grab the middle of this one through the loop—” Techno demonstrated, “and pull.” Techno pulled and the knot became a bow. “When you want to untie it you just pull one of these.” Techno flapped the loose ends of the laces and Tommy’s mouth twitched into an almost-smile. Techno’s eyes widened slightly.

“Umm—yeah—and then you do this to double knot it.” Techno cleared his throat and finished knotting the lace, standing up and brushing his hands on his trousers. “Yeah, that makes it more secure or something.” He mumbled.

Tommy wriggled his feet and pushed himself onto his feet. Huh. His shoes didn’t feel like they were going to fall off anymore.

Techno cleared his throat again and Tommy looked up to see he had a hand on the back door. “You ready?”

Tommy nodded, following Techno out the door.

The cool air hit him as he stepped out, soothing the burning under his skin as he took a deep breath. He’d missed the smells, the fresh air, all of it.

Techno led him through the garden to a little wooden gate at the bottom, where Tommy could see the woods beyond. Techno swung the gate open and for a moment Tommy was tempted by the freedom he’d been longing for.

The trees rustled invitingly, stretching out for miles in either direction. A perfect place to hide away until he could shift.

“Don’t think about it.” Techno warned and Tommy jumped, but Techno wasn’t even looking at him. “They’ll find you and then it’ll all be a lot harder. It’s not worth it.”

No, maybe it wasn’t. Not until he could shift anyway.

Tommy followed Techno through the woods, maintaining what he hoped was a safe distance from the piglin, but it was hard not to get distracted by the nature around him. And the colours, he’d forgotten how many different shades of green there were.

There was a gentle breeze that drifted through lazily as they walked, bringing the sounds of singing birds down from the tops of the trees. There was a earthy smell that clung to the ground around him, sort of musky and fresh and freeing.

Everything felt quieter somehow, like there had been a constant buzz in the back of his head that he was only noticing was gone now.

Walking became a repetitive soothing motion, and Tommy found himself zoning in and out. He could almost forget Techno was there, or the fact that he only had two feet and there were shoes on them, or the itchy clothes, or how blind and senseless he felt.

Almost.

He did however get so distracted that he didn’t notice Techno had stopped walking until he almost collided with the back of him. They were stood in a glade, there huge fallen tree in the middle and the sun was shining through the leaves.

“If you sit here long enough you usually get deer in here.” Techno said quietly. It was the first words either of them had spoken since leaving the house and it was slightly jarring against the gentle leaves rustling and the birds chirping. “All it takes is a little patience.”

This was probably one of those things humans did where they put underlying meanings in seemingly ordinary sentences. Anyway Tommy wasn’t going to go digging for it.

Techno turned abruptly and carried on walking, Tommy rushing to catch up with him.

“You don’t talk much.” Techno said suddenly, tail twitching slightly.

Tommy licked his lips. “Nothing much to say.” He said hoarsely. Techno side-eyed him with an eyebrow raised.

“Well it’s kinda hard to get to know someone if you don’t talk and don’t come out of your room.”

Tommy felt a flash of anger at that. “Kinda hard to get to know someone when they freeze you in place and hiss at you.”

Techno fully turned his head to look at Tommy, frowning. “That’s just a siren thing.”

“And I was meant to know that—why exactly?”

“How.”

“What?”

Techno ducked underneath a hanging branch, Tommy scrabbling to follow him. “Not why. How. You were meant to know that—how exactly.”

Tommy scowled and scuffed the shoe on the ground angrily. “Whatever.”

“You could’ve asked Phil.” Techno pointed out.

Tommy shrugged. “What’s the point when I’m leaving anyways.”

Techno shut up at that and they continued on in silence.

“We—” Techno started hesitantly, “It’s an instinct thing.”

“Right because that literally explains everything.” Tommy said sarcastically. He was getting better at sarcasm.

Techno growled, tail lashing before he caught himself, but it was enough to make Tommy’s eyes wide with fear and he flinched, faltering in his steps. Techno stopped, shaking his head.

“Sorry that wasn’t—” He stopped, looking up at the canopy and taking a breath. “Siren’s, well all three of us, are territorial species, Phil and Wilbur especially. Wilbur’s instincts don’t recognise you, so they see you as a threat.”

“Then how come Phil doesn’t rattle at me every time I come out of the spare room.” Tommy bit back.

“Because Phil is a lot older for one, but also you’re a kid. And avians love kids.”

“Oh.”

Techno snorted. “Yeah. But none of us can get used to you because you’re never around.”

“Well I didn’t know that.” Tommy said defensively.

“No, you didn’t.” Techno agreed heavily.

They continued walking for a while, Tommy processing what Techno had said.

“I’ll make you a deal.” Techno said slowly. “You come out of your room once in a while, I’ll try and keep Wilbur in check until his instincts settle.”

“What about you? Do your instincts hate me too?”

“Mine are—different.”

“Different?”

“Yup.” Techno sped up and Tommy assumed that was everything Techno was going to say about that.

Tommy hurried up after him, focusing on not tripping up over his own feet. “What if he tries to eat me?”

Techno scoffed. “Only full-blooded sirens eat people.”

“He’s still half a siren.”

“Did they not teach you anything about hybrids before they sent you here?”

Tommy went quiet. “No.”

“Oh.” Techno faltered, glancing sideways at him. Tommy couldn’t read the expression on his face. “He won’t eat you.”

Tommy hummed doubtfully but didn’t push the subject any further.

//

The walk back was pretty much silent, but Tommy’s magic had somewhat lessened enough that it no longer buzzed painfully under his skin. Phil was coming out of his office when they walked back in the house.

“How was it?” He smiled.

Techno and Tommy glanced at each other, looked back at Phil and shrugged. Phil’s face fell momentarily, before he plastered one of his big fake smiles back on his face.

“Nice to get out the house I bet.” He said to Tommy who nodded quickly, automatically shuffling for the staircase and a quick exit. Techno cleared his throat behind him and Tommy winced.

“Um yeah it was nice.” He muttered. “Thank you.”

Phil’s eyes widened minutely and his eyes flashed towards Techno. “I’m glad mate.”

“We’re going to have a movie night tonight.” Techno interrupted and Tommy shot him a panicked look which he ignored, walking to the tap to grab a drink of water. He offered one to Tommy who hesitantly accepted. “Not too late though, I’ve got a shift at the library tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah that’s great!” Phil’s wings fluttered slightly behind him and Tommy downed his water to prevent him having to contribute. The phone rang suddenly from Phil’s office, and Phil excused himself, leaving Tommy with Techno again.

“Thanks for the heads up on that one.” Tommy muttered and Techno snorted.

“I couldn’t give you a chance to say no.”

“What makes you think I would’ve done?”

Techno raised a singular eyebrow at him and Tommy shuffled uncomfortably. Techno sighed.

“Just try.” He said. “I’m tired of being the only one in this household who actually communicates properly, it’s draining.”

Yeah imagine being me. Tommy thought, watching Techno walk away and up the stairs out of sight. There was a distant click as his door closed.

Tommy immediately bolted for the stairs, refusing to relax until the spare room door was shut behind him and he was leaning against it, mind reeling.

//

When the dreaded evening arrived Tommy was the first one in the living room, curled up in the chair the furthest away from the seat Wilbur had claimed was his.

Techno and Wilbur came in together, Techno nodded at Tommy but Wilbur ignored him completely, collapsing in his seat and clenching his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white.

This was going to be great.

“Right.” Phil said happily as he walked in, wings puffed up behind him. “What are we watching?”

“The Conjuring.” Wilbur said immediately. Techno turned to him disbelievingly.

“Wilbur you hat—”

Wilbur stared at him and the words died out of Techno’s mouth, his face becoming slightly slack. Wilbur cleared his throat. “I think we should watch The Conjuring.”

“Yes.” Techno said slowly, not looking away from Wilbur. “I want to watch The Conjuring.”

Phil was staring hard at Wilbur who looked back innocently. “Wilbur—” He started in a warning voice.

“Please Dad?” Wilbur interrupted pleadingly.

Phil’s eyebrows soothed out slightly for a moment. Then he blinked hard, narrowing his eyes at Wilbur who sank back into the cushions, pouting.

“Tommy—” Phil started, but Wilbur cut him off again.

“You don’t mind horror right Tommy? I mean its fine if you do, not everyone has got the stomach for it of course.”

Tommy scowled back at him. “The Conjuring is fine.”

Truthfully Tommy had no idea what The Conjuring was about, and he hadn’t ever watched a horror movie. But if Wilbur was going to be like this then Tommy was going to meet him half way.

“Then it’s settled.” Wilbur said, grinning all teeth and cold eyes.

Phil was looking between Tommy and Wilbur like he wanted to say something, but in the end he just collapsed into a chair, wings flopped out to the side and massaging his temples with his fingers.

Wilbur took that as his cue and pulled up The Conjuring, pressing play and reclining back into the chair. Techno finally looked away from Wilbur, blinking hard and a scowl settled on his face.

//

Tommy did not like horror movies.

It was all well and good in the beginning, dolls didn’t scare him too much and he was content to sit there and chant not real not real in his head.

Until the movie conveniently revealed that it was based on a true story.

From then on every little detail in the movie became more and more terrifying. He clutched the sides of the sofa with trembling white fists and jumped at every small noise. At one point he had to squeeze his eyes shut but that didn’t block out the screaming.

After hours of adrenaline fuelled paralysis, the movie finally ended. Tommy shakily unclenched his fingers and vowed to never look in a mirror ever again. He waited until he thought he could stand without his legs shaking, bid a quick goodnight and made his escape.

He fumbled with the lights in the spare room and collapsed on the pile of blankets and pillows in the corner, backing himself into a corner so he could see everything. There was a space on top of the wardrobe just like the one in the film—

No. He wasn’t going there.

The house creaked and Tommy flinched, digging his fingers into the blankets. This was going to be a long night.

//

Tommy didn’t sleep. He gave up trying once the moon had passed its peak, and was now more concerned with his parched throat. He didn’t think the others would mind him getting up to get a glass of water, but he was terrified that he was going to wake one of them.

So he just had to be really sneaky.

If this were normal times Tommy would just shift into a mouse or something and scurry down the stairs silently. But he was stuck with these big feet that just seemed to be made for noise.

He crept to the door and gently turned the handle, the small click echoing in the silence. The light from his bedroom casting shadows across the hallway, and Tommy felt his neck prickle at the thought of something hiding in them. Stupid humans with stupid vision.

The stairs creaked under his weight and Tommy found himself holding his breath after a particularly loud one. But the house slept on.

Tommy breathed a silent sigh of relief when he reached the bottom of the stairs, walking into the kitchen on his tiptoes and gently shutting the door behind him. He leaned his forehead against the door, slumping against it and allowing a small smile to appear on his face. Maybe he was getting the hang of being human after all.

“What are you doing.”

Tommy didn’t scream but it was a near thing. Instead he yelped, jumped about five feet in the air and spun around, just as the kitchen lights were flicked on. He blinked against them harshly, and when his eyes adjusted he saw a certain, tired looking siren hybrid stood with oversized pyjamas and fluffy socks.

They stared at each other for a moment while Tommy’s heart recovered. Tommy felt his magic start to tingle, aching against his skin, stabbing into his bones, desperate to break free.

He instinctively reached for it and was met with a white hot resistance, making him jolt and bite his tongue to stop himself crying out.

Guess the shifting was still a no.

The Siren was still staring at him and Tommy dug his nails into his palm, grounding himself and meeting the gaze head on.

Eventually Wilbur spoke again.

“I said what are you doing?”

Tommy swallowed heavily and set his shoulders back. “Getting water.” He shot back. “Is that illegal?”

Wilbur’s fins flared and his mouth sneered as he prepared to fire back another taunt before his eyes shifted and his jaw went slack.

“Are those Techno’s pyjamas?” He asked incredulously.

Tommy hugged his arms around him. Right, Phil had given him a pair of Techno’s pyjamas so they could wash the other ones.

“I didn’t steal them!” He said defensively. “Phil gave them to me.”

Wilbur kept staring at him, fins gently expanding and contracting with his breaths. Honestly it was starting to freak Tommy out, was Techno lying? Did Siren hybrids actually eat people? Was Wilbur going to eat him because Tommy was wearing his brothers pyjamas? Because honestly that was kind of a shitty way to go.

Eventually Wilbur swallowed and pushed determinedly past Tommy, making his way far less quietly up the stairs. Tommy didn’t move until he heard the quiet click of his door shutting. Then he slumped against the wall, dragging a hand down his face.

He hated this. He hated all of this.

He wasn’t sure how long he could hold out here, if the Siren or one of the other hybrids didn’t kill him then his magic just might.

Tommy clenched his jaw and pushed himself off the wall, steadying himself with a palm pressed flat against it.

He still had two days before they made up their mind about whether to send away or not.

Tommy had no intention of going to a group home.

Shift or no shift, Tommy would rather take his chances out in the wilderness.

Chapter Text

There were clothes being thrown in the bag, Tommy watched as they rushed around the room, snatching things off hook and shelves. They moved fast, Tommy could feel the crackle of their magic spiking through the air.

“Mummy?”

His mother threw a jumper in the bag and looked up at him. Tommy saw the flash of fear on her face before she schooled her expression, but it was enough to make his eyes water.

His mother crouched in front of him and took his hands in hers, giving him a wobbly smile.

“I’m sorry sweetheart, this is all a bit scary isn’t it?” She said gently and Tommy sniffled and nodded, wiping his face on his shoulder. She pulled him in towards her chest and Tommy buried his face in her jumper so she couldn’t see the tears.

“Well,” his mother started, and Tommy felt her chest vibrate with her words, “we’re actually going on an adventure!”

Tommy let out a final sniffle and pulled back. His mother swept a curl behind his ear and smiled more confidently at him.

“An adventure?” Tommy whispered, wiping his nose on his sleeve.

“Yes.” His mother whispered back, squeezing his hands. “A very special and exciting adventure.”

“All of us?” Tommy breathed, a slow smile spreading across his face.

“All of us.” His mother confirmed. “And we have to go very soon, so do you think you can help us get ready?”

Tommy nodded excitedly and followed his mother to his room. She started pulling out clothes and putting them on the bed.

“Can I take Henry?” Tommy asked, picking his cow up and cuddling him close to his chest. “And Shroud, and—”

“Just one Tommy, I’m sorry.”

Tommy stared down at his friends and tried not to let his bottom lip wobble. “But—but they all want to come on an adventure.”

“I know.” His mother said, stopping for a moment to press a kiss to the top of his head. “And I’m really sorry they can’t come, but we don’t have enough room.”

Tommy turned back to his friends with Henry clenched in his fists.

“I really want to take you.” He told all of them. “But Henry will be the saddest if he doesn’t come.”

His friends stared up at him sadly.

“Don’t worry.” Tommy said, leaning forward and hugging them tightly. “We won’t be gone too long, and then I’ll make it up to you all when I come back!”

With his face buried Tommy didn’t see the expression on his mother’s face.

Tommy sat in the back with Henry, watching the scenery flash past. He was tired and hungry, they’d been driving for forever and they’d only stopped twice to go to the toilet. It was now dark outside, they’d eaten all the food in the car and they kept making sharp turns and twists which were making him feel sick.

It had started off alright, they’d played eye spy over and over again until they got bored, and his parents had tried to entertain Tommy for as long as possible, but eventually everyone got tired and the car got quieter and quieter.

Tommy had given up asking where they were going or how long it was going to take. He was now trying his hardest not to fall asleep, but honestly this adventure was proving to not be as exciting as he had hoped it would be and eventually his eyes became too heavy to hold open.

He was woken by his father picking him up, he sleepily raised his arms around his fathers neck and rested his head against his shoulder.

“’re we there?” He slurred sleepily, fighting against the drag of sleep.

His father hushed him, running a hand up and down his back soothingly. “Almost Tommy, we just need to walk a little bit. Your mum and I need to carry things though, do you think you can walk?”

Tommy turned his head and forced his eyes open. He couldn’t see anything except a dark forest in front of him, but he supposed this must be part of the adventure. He nodded sleepily and his Dad gently set him down.

His parents grabbed things out the car while Tommy stood there, rubbing his eyes, and then they started walking. His legs hurt and he felt cold, and he was so close to crying that he had to stuff a fist in his mouth to stop a sob from bursting out.

After what felt like forever he caught sight of a little cottage in front of them in a clearing, bathed in moonlight and covered in overgrown bushes. As they walked closer he saw cracks in the stone and one of the windows looked shattered.

His mother put down the bags she was carrying and disappeared, shifting in front of them into something too small to see in the dark, and a moment later the door opened from the inside, his mother standing there.

“Careful, there’s glass on the floor.”

Tommy was swept into his dad’s arms and passed over to her while his started to bring the bags in, and Tommy sleepily rubbed his eyes and yawned. There was a cold draught coming from somewhere and he snuggled closer to hide from the chill.

There was a shuffle as his father squeezed in the doorway with the last of the bags, gently dropping them in the hall.

“Any lights?” Tommy’s mum whispered.

There was a click and Tommy could vaguely make out the shape of his dad flicking the switch by the door.

“Nothing.” He said.

Tommy sat more upright in his mothers arms to properly look around. “It looks old.” He told his parents.

“It’ll look better in the morning.” His mother whispered, pressing a kiss to his temple.

Tommy pressed his forehead against hers, closing his eyes. “It’s pretty.” He said in a hushed voice. “Like a proper adventure.”

“I guess it is isn’t it.” She hummed. “Like something out of a fairytale.”

There was a rustle and they pulled apart to see his father pulling sleeping bags out of one of the bags. “Well if this is a proper adventure then I think we need to have a sleepover, don’t you?”

Tommy giggled and kicked his feet until his mother put him down, where he ran over to his father to help pull the rest of the sleeping bags and pillows out. His mother peeked her head into the rooms either side of them.

“I think this would be a good place to make camp.” She said, helping Tommy carry his things through to the room. “We can all sleep here together.”

It looked like it might’ve been a dining room at one point, but the table was broken in two and only one of the chairs still had four legs. They put Tommy’s stuff on the broken table, and his mother poked around until she found a broom.

There was a thin layer of dust covering the floor, and it got into Tommy’s eyes and his nose and made him sneeze.

There was a clink as the broom collected broken glass and through the darkness Tommy saw his mother’s mouth twist.

It was at that moment Tommy realised he didn’t have Henry, so he toddled back towards the front of the house. He looked through the bags but couldn’t find him, he wasn’t on the floor and he wasn’t with the rest of Tommy’s stuff.

Oh.

Tommy slumped. Henry was still in the car. Tommy must’ve forgotten to grab him when they left.

The car felt like such a long way away, but Tommy couldn’t do anything without Henry, so there was only really one thing to do.

“Tommy?”

Tommy stopped at the sound of his fathers panicked voice. His father gently took his shoulder and guided him away from the door. “What are you doing?”

“Henry.” Tommy said by way of explanation, waving towards the open door. “Need Henry.”

His dad turned him fully around until they were face to face, and Tommy could see the worry in his face.

“This is very important Tommy, I need you to promise me that you will not go outside.”

“Why?”

His dad bit his lip and looked towards the door. “This is an adventure, right?” He said slowly and Tommy nodded. “Well we don’t know what’s out there, so it’s very important you stay inside where it’s safe, do you understand me?”

Tommy looked back towards the open door and felt a flash of fear. “But Henry?” He whimpered.

“I’ll go get Henry, but you have to promise me, do you understand?”

Tommy nodded shakily and his dad pulled him in for a quick hug. “Stay here, okay?”

Tommy heard his mother walk back out into the hall. “Where are you going?”

“Left Henry in the car.” His dad said gently. “I won’t be long.”

With that his Dad shifted in front of him and took off in a whirlwind of feathers, out into the night.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

The wind rustled through the trees as Tommy stood in the doorway, the dark seemed to creep out through the trees towards him.

Something cracked, like a twig snapped and Tommy jumped. His hair rose on the back of his neck, like something was watching him.

Something in the trees.

Tommy wanted his dad.

He wanted Henry.

None of this would’ve happened if he’d just remembered to bring Henry with him.

His mother walked forward and shut the door quietly, before wrapping an arm around him. “It’s ok.” She whispered. “we’re ok. We’re going to go wait for your dad in here ok?”

She gently guided him back towards the sleeping bags, and sat down, tugging Tommy down into her lap and curling around him.

“I’m scared.” Tommy whispered, clutching his mum’s top. “I want dad.”

“I know.” She said kissing his head. “It’s ok. He’ll be back in a moment.”

“There was something out there.”

She curled further around him. “Just your imagination.”

“It was staring at me.”

“Did you see it?”

Tommy shivered. “No but it was there.”

“Maybe it was a deer.” She hummed, stroking through his hair. “Or a rabbit.”

Something tapped on the door.

His mother shifted beneath him, skin becoming fur, limbs elongating and expanding, and suddenly Tommy was on the floor and there was a hulking mass stood over him. He couldn’t see, he couldn’t hear, he couldn’t breathe—

“It’s just me.”

The weight disappeared and Tommy’s mum stood back up, Tommy could see her trembling slightly but she squeezed his shoulder and walked back out into the hall.

Tommy scrabbled up to follow her, barrelling straight into his dad and gripping him tightly.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered.

His dad knelt down and pressed Henry into his chest. “Hey, I’m ok. We’re all ok. I’m sorry for scaring you.”

“Tommy?”

“I don’t think I like this adventure.” Tommy sniffled. “Can we go home?”

His parents exchanged glances and his mum knelt down next to his dad so they were eye level.

“I know it’s scary at the moment sweetheart, but everything will look better in the morning.”

“Hey, Tommy?”

“Anyway, I don’t know about you but I really want to have a sleepover!” His dad grinned, ruffling Tommy’s hair. “Do you know where I’m sleeping?”

Tommy nodded, taking his dad’s hand and pulling him towards the makeshift camp.

“Wake up!”

Tommy sat bolt upright, tangling himself in the blankets and feeling like he was drowning. There was someone rapping on the door and his heart was beating out of his chest.

The rapping stopped and there was a shuffle. “Are you up yet?”

Techno.

“Y-yeah.” Tommy croaked, voice feeling hoarse. “I’m awake.”

“Right. Listen, Dad and Wilbur had to go out and are now stuck in traffic, and I’ve got to go to work so you need to get dressed.”

Tommy dragged his palms over his eyes and down his face. “Why?”

“Because I don’t trust you not to make a run for it when you’re alone.” Techno said bluntly. “You only need to come until Dad gets back.”

Tommy sighed, flopping back onto the bed. He was finally getting used to it, it was definitely one of the things he was going to miss most.

There was another rap at the door. “20 minutes, get dressed.”

Tommy reluctantly followed Techno into the library. There was a musky smell that wasn’t unpleasant, and there were plants hanging by the windowsill that gave it a light airy feel. But Tommy refused to allow himself to appreciate it, he wasn’t going to give Techno the satisfaction.

“Go grab a book and entertain yourself until Dad gets here.” Techno said, gesturing towards the shelves and shelves off books. “And don’t even think about walking out that door. You won’t get far.”

Ignoring the obvious threat Tommy stomped over towards the books, but he faltered as he got closer.

There was a slight problem here.

He bit his lip as he looked at the spines of the books, all decorated in nice colours with pretty pictures. But the lines and squiggles on them gave him a headache.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t read. There were lots of things he could read, but generally they were important words like pizza and danger and poison.

He didn’t think there were lots of books on those here.

Eventually he ran a hand along the spines and stopped on one at random. He pulled it out and flipped it over in his hands. It had a pretty boring cover, and he couldn’t read the title but it was better than nothing, so he shrugged and was opened it to the first page.

“Nope.” The book was tugged out his hands harshly and Tommy spun around to see Techno stood there, eyebrow raised and the book in his hands.

“What?” Tommy shot back. “I’m doing what you said.”

Techno’s eyebrow somehow seemed to rise higher. “Not this book you aren’t.”

Tommy folded his arms and scowled at him. “Why not.”

“Bruh I am not explaining to Dad why you are reading 50 Shades of Grey when he comes in to collect you.”

“Why, what’s it about?”

“Nothing.” Techno reshelved the book and pulled out a different one. “Try this one instead.”

“Why, what’s this one about?” Tommy asked, taking the book and squinting at it. Techno tapped the cover.

“Just read it, you might even enjoy it.”

Techno turned and walked back to the front desk.

“Not if I can’t read it asshole.” Tommy muttered. But he sat down in an armchair and opened the book up, letting his eyes drift down the page aimlessly.

The words became more and more like smudged ink the longer he sat there, and Tommy started to flick through the pages aimlessly. There were a couple of drawings which were far more interesting, and looked like they depicted strange looking hybrids that were usually being fought or defeated by humans.

Tommy ran a hand over the page depicting a huge bull hybrid with a sword being driven through its head by a man and he shivered.

Tommy kept flicking through, occasionally stopping on certain pictures and running a hand down the page. Eventually he stopped on a page depicting a large wolf, and he ran a finger down its nose. It looked like it was almost able to leap out the pages at him.

The bell jingled and Tommy looked up to see Phil walking in, looking around. He spotted Tommy and made his way over.

“Hey mate, what you got there?”

Tommy lifted up the book to show him and Phil peered at it and chuckled.

“Should’ve known Techno would get you straight on Greek myths. How are you enjoying it?”

Tommy shrugged, but the wolf kept staring at him. “Whose this?”

Phil looked at the wolf and shook his head slowly.

“Not sure mate, you’ll want to ask Techno about this kind of thing. He loves it.”

Yeah right. Tommy tucked the book underneath his arm anyway, at least the pictures were kind of cool to look at.

Phil led him back towards the door, calling out to Techno that they were leaving and Tommy was taking the book. Techno looked up and his eyes caught on the book tucked under Tommy’s arm, and Tommy could’ve sworn for half a moment there, a small smile touched his face.

Then Techno was waving them on and Tommy was stepping out the bookshop clutching onto the book slightly.

“Sorry about disappearing off mate.” Phil chatted. “Early morning traffic and what not, you know.”

No, Tommy did not ‘Know.’ But he nodded anyway and immediately opened the book back up, stroking his hand back along the wolf drawing.

Tommy had shifted into a wolf a few times. They were honestly one of his favourites, although Tommy had often run nose first into things because he wasn’t sure how large his snout was. And it was awkward in the sense that he was unable to not see his nose. Everywhere he looked, his nose was right in his eyesight.

He also tended to take on much more of a puppy appearance than the wolf in the drawing. He didn’t have the lean muscle or the proportions of an adult wolf, his paws and ears were too large for his body and he was clumsy.

But the sense of smell made up for everything.

“You’ll want to be careful you don’t get carsick mate.” Phil said and Tommy nodded absentmindedly. He had no idea what that was.

Tommy was going to be sick.

Apparently reading books in the car made you feel sick, and now Tommy was breathing in and out heavily through his nose, trying his best to not throw up inside Phil’s car.

Thankfully they stopped soon afterwards and Tommy took great, heaving lungful’s of air to settle his stomach.

“Steady on mate, you ok?” Phil checked, automatically reaching out to steady him. Tommy reflexively jerked back and Phil paused, guilt visible on his face.

“Sorry I didn’t think—

“No it’s fine.” Tommy cut him off, shaking himself rather like a dog and stepping inside the house, trying to banish the incidence to the back of his head.

“Everything ok?” A voice called from the kitchen and Wilbur appeared into view. He didn’t sneer at Tommy but he certainly didn’t look happy to see him.

In fact, Tommy would’ve even said he looked puzzled.

“All good.” Phil said walking into the kitchen. “Tommy loaned a new book out.”

Wilbur looked over at him and Tommy instinctively hugged the book closer to his chest, curling around it slightly.

“Cool.” Wilbur said. “What on?”

Tommy blinked. That was—unexpected? Wilbur was still staring at him so he shuffled and answered “Greek mythology.”

“Techno chose it then.” Wilbur grimaced, although it might’ve been an attempt at a smile. Honestly Tommy struggled to tell the difference a lot. Wilbur turned on his heel and went to join Phil in the kitchen, leaving Tommy free to go up to the spare room.

Tommy seized the opportunity and lay on the bed, flicking through the pages and finding the pictures he liked most.

He spent ages trying to read about the wolf, but the words were meaningless on the page and the harder he tried, the more frustrated he came.

Tommy’s eyes grew heavy, he hadn’t slept well what with his dreams and everything else. And the harder he tried to keep his eyes open the harder it became.

Eventually Tommy rested his head down and let his eyes close.

The door was open. Tommy could hear the birds calling from outside and the trees swaying gently. There was sunlight dancing on the grass outside.

He hadn’t been allowed outside since they started their adventure, which was ages ago and he missed it. He missed his mum and dad shifting, the running and the flying. The laughing.

They never went outside anymore, his mum and dad kept saying there were dangerous creatures out there but the only thing he’d seen come out of these woods was a deer, and they weren’t scary!

Maybe, if he was very quiet and very quick, Tommy could go outside and back in again. His dad was out and had forgotten to shut the door, and his mum was upstairs somewhere.

She wouldn’t miss him if he was outside for a moment.

Tommy stuck his head out the front door and went straight back in again, holding his hands over his mouth to stifle his giggles. He did it again but this time went further.

Then he took a step out, holding onto the door. Then another. And another.

Then Tommy took a deep breath, took one last look around, and bolted for the woods.

His little legs pumped faster and faster, he had to concentrate to not fall over any of the tree roots but he dashed into the woods, reaching out to let his fingers brush the bark and leaves. He slowed to a halt, bending down and prodding at the dirt with his finger.

A little beetle wriggled by his finger and Tommy giggled. Why hadn’t he done this before?

He was much bigger he thinks than the last time he was outside. He’d celebrated a whole two birthdays since their adventure had started, and Tommy though he’d grown even taller.

A squirrel leapt from a tree above his head and Tommy gasped, grinning and waving energetically. The squirrel didn’t wave back but Tommy didn’t mind, he probably couldn’t because he was holding on to the bark.

Honestly, Tommy was lonely. He didn’t like to tell his parents that because they became sad when he told them. But he only had Henry. The others he had to leave at home, and he promised he’d come back after the adventure.

But he’d had two birthdays and they hadn’t come back.

Tommy bit his lip, looking towards the house. He—didn’t really want to go back there.

Maybe—Tommy slowly turned to look out in the woods. Maybe he could find more friends?

Yeah! Tommy took a couple of paces away from the house, looking back nervously. As long as he wasn’t too long and they didn’t notice he was missing.

Tommy was lonely.

He wanted new friends.

Tommy took a step away from the house. Then another. Then another.

Unaware of the eyes watching him from the bush.

Chapter Text

“Tommy listen to me.”

“Who is it mummy?”

“Just listen sweetheart, I need you to go hide ok? Like how we play hide and seek?”

“I don’t want to play, you’re scaring me!”

“I know, I know honey I’m so sorry, but I need you to do this for me okay?”

The knocking at the door intensified and Tommy gripped onto his mother’s trouser leg. “Please don’t make me leave you.” He begged.

His mother bent down a pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I love you, I will always love you no matter what, do you understand?”

Tommy nodded, tears welling in his eyes. He didn’t understand, he wanted all of this to stop.

“Ok go hide now.” His mothers whispered, gently pushing him away. “Don’t come out for anything, do you understand me?”

Tommy sat bolt upright in bed, gasping and shivering as his hands and feet scrabbled against the bedding. He couldn’t see, he was trapped, he was being too loud and they were going to find him—

His eyes adjusted to the dark and it took a moment for him to recognise his surroundings. His heart struggled to free itself from his chest and energy raced up and down his limbs, desperate to escape. He needed to shift, he needed to get out.

But nothing happened.

Tommy grabbed a pillow and let out a muffled scream, winding his fingers through his hair and tugging as hard as he could, focusing on the weight and the pain instead. He held himself there, breathing heavily as the tingling rush started to retreat away from his fingertips, leaving him feeling cold and shaking.

Eventually Tommy unclenched his fingers, leaving his scalp sore and aching and let the pillow fall from his grasp. He stared unseeing in front of him, his lungs burning like he’d just run a marathon.

Just listen sweetheart

Tommy flinched at the voice, curling his shoulders around himself and wrapping his arms around himself in a poor imitation of a hug.

Please don’t make me leave you

Tommy squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, trying to dislodge the voice and everything that came with it.

Don’t come out for anything.

Tommy barely registered he was out of the bed until his hand was on the doorknob, hardly feeling the metal in his grasp as he tugged the door open, and then he was staggering down the stairs, looking, searching, needing—

Tommy didn’t realise there was someone in the kitchen until he was stood in front of them, wide eyed and trembling in Techno’s pyjamas. And it just happened to be the person he really did not want to see.

“What are you doing up?” Wilbur sighed, but his voice lacked its usual sharp edge.

Tommy shuffled, focusing on calming his breaths and locking down his expression. He didn’t really feel like explaining his nightmare to the Siren, especially when it might be used against him later.

Wilbur watched him for a minute before sighing again, but it sounded defeated rather than annoyed. “You sure don’t talk much.” He chuckled without much humour. “Techno was the same.”

There was silence for a moment, before Wilbur pulled out a chair. “Don’t just stand there, you hovering makes me nervous.”

Tommy walked over on eggshells, waiting for Wilbur to snap or laugh or do something. But he was silent as Tommy slipped into the seat, sitting stiffly.

There was an awkward tension between them in the air, Tommy focused on the cool countertop underneath his fingers and Wilbur looked around aimlessly. Neither of them looked at each other.

“You want hot chocolate?” Wilbur blurted out suddenly, looking surprised at himself for the sudden outburst. “I—well it’s not – I find it helps sometimes if I can’t sleep.”

Tommy bit his lip and didn’t answer. He didn’t know what hot chocolate was, but if the Siren was offering it then it probably wasn’t good.

The hybrid opposite blinked at his silence. “You’ve never had hot chocolate.” He said rhetorically, but Tommy shook his head anyway.

Wilbur heaved himself up and turned on the stove, ferreting in the cupboard and pulling out a saucepan to place on it. “We don’t have powdered cocoa.” He said suddenly after a moment of silence. “One of the first things Dad taught me to do when I moved in was how to make a good hot chocolate.”

Tommy watched as he heated the milk and sugar and chocolate in the pan, and kitchen was soon filled with the warm sweet scent.

“It was of the things I struggled with.” Wilbur rambled as he stirred the mixture. “Sleeping that is, especially on full moons. I used to get stressed out when I couldn’t fall asleep, which just made it harder.”

Tommy listened quietly. He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on with Wilbur but he didn’t want to interrupt him.

“Phil was the one who helped me understand it was just part of who I was.” Wilbur said as he picked out two mugs and tipped the hot chocolate between them. “That it was something I couldn’t control, just learn how to deal with it.”

He handed over the mug to Tommy. “Careful, it’s hot.” He warned.

Tommy took it gingerly and blew over the surface, watching the heat curl upwards into the air. The smell made his mouth water, and he carefully took a sip, letting the flavour run over his tongue.

He hummed with contentment, the rich sweet taste warming him inside and out and making the back of his brain buzz gently. This was quite honestly one of the best things he’d ever tasted.

“Good right?” Wilbur chuckled and Tommy nodded, taking another sip. “It’s still one of the only things that actually helps.”

Tommy took another sip. “What else?” He whispered.

Wilbur side-eyed him. “What?”

Tommy cleared his throat. “What else helps?” He said hoarsely.

“Oh.” Wilbur took a sip of his own hot chocolate, leaning back against the chair and humming thoughtfully. “I suppose singing helps. Full-blooded sirens sing almost all the time, so not doing it for a while feels like having a load of energy trapped with no way to release it.”

Tommy nodded, feeling his own energy swirling around his fingertips. He knew how that felt.

“But, I suppose just being around people helps.” Wilbur continued. “Only I don’t like waking people up.”

Tommy leg bounced as he continued to sip the hot chocolate. “Wouldn’t Phil want you to wake him up?”

Wilbur smiled ruefully. “Yeah, yeah he would. When I first arrived I used to wake him every time I couldn’t sleep.” He took another sip. “Except then I realised he wasn’t getting enough sleep, and I felt like I was bothering him. And as a foster, I was so terrified of losing this home that it didn’t seem worth it.”

There was silence as they both continued to sip at their drinks. Slowly the adrenaline from the nightmare started to fade out of Tommy’s system, even if his magic stayed at his fingertips.

It was prickling slightly, not enough to be painful but enough of an itch that Tommy couldn’t ignore it. He started to scratch the skin as though that might relieve it, but the itch just felt too deep to reach properly.

“What about you?” Wilbur said suddenly. “Why are you up?”

“Nightmare.” Tommy answered automatically, still trying to get at the itch, before his mouth caught up with his brain and he froze.

But Wilbur just said “oh.” and carried on drinking his hot chocolate. There were no questions, no sneering, no probing. Just an “oh.”

The siren started to hum gently, a simple tune that reverberated through Tommy’s bones. It had an otherworldly quality about it, like a gentle undertone that made it sound like multiple voices instead of just one, and made Tommy want to listen closer.

 It gently drained away any tension left in his shoulders and quietened his magic, not making it disappear but just soothing it, calming it until it was no longer as annoying.

Tommy’s vision seemed to shrink slightly, as though everything just wasn’t important anymore. The drink in front of him became fuzzy, and the most important thing in the world was that the song kept going.

Tommy didn’t notice himself starting to sway until there was a gentle hand on his shoulder. Normally this was where he would flinch or back away, but instead he leaned into it heavily, wanting to get closer to the sound.

Tommy felt his magic lazily curl around his shoulder where the hand was, gently pulsing against the skin as though trying to reach out and touch the hand. It felt strangely familiar, but the music was far too important for Tommy to worry. He just kept leaning further and further into the hand until he was leaning against a chest, an arm coming up around him to support him.

If he leaned his ear against the chest, he could feel it vibrate underneath him with the strength of the sound.

Sleep the music whispered, and Tommy felt the weight on his eyelids and the exhaustion in his bones.

Sleep the music sang, and Tommy felt his mind drift away, safe in the arms around him with his magic gently swirling.

Sleep the music said, and Tommy slept.

When Tommy woke he felt calm.

It took him a moment to realise he was lying on the spare bed, and an even longer moment to remember what had happened last night.

Or at least, most of what had happened last night. Tommy sat up, clutching onto the faint memory. There had been music, some sort of singing maybe? And he’d felt peaceful and calm, in a way he hadn’t been for a long time.

It was nice.

Tommy squeezed his eyes shut as more memories resurfaced. Wilbur had been there, they’d had—hot chocolate?

Tommy frowned. Surely that couldn’t be right, in what reality would the siren ever make him hot chocolate?

Except he had, hadn’t he? Tommy ran a hand through his hair and—

Wait.

Tommy raised his other hand and felt over his hair, running his fingers through it, grabbing a strand and pulling it down towards his eyes.

Because this wasn’t his hair.

The strand in front of him was blonde, the same blonde Tommy was growing used to. But this was not his hair.

It was longer and fluffy. Tommy’s hair had lay flat on his head before, now it stuck out over his forehead like a fluffy cloud.

Tommy groaned and buried his face in his knees. There was only one person he knew with a ridiculous hairstyle like this, only one person his magic could have locked onto in the last twelve hours with hair that felt like this.

There was a knock on the door at that moment and Tommy dragged himself upright and opened the door a fraction.

Speak of the devil.

Or in this case, summon the Siren.

Wilbur’s eyes drifted upwards and he raised his eyebrows at Tommy’s hairstyle. Tommy opened his mouth, not sure exactly what he was going to say to explain this, but Wilbur beat him to it.

“Bad hair day?”

Tommy mentally buffered. “Huh?”

Wilbur gestured at the hair, biting his lip with something that might have been amusement. “I mean unless you intentionally styled it like that?”

“No.” Tommy groaned. “I didn’t.”

Wilbur’s mouth twitched towards a grin. “It suits you.”

There was a clatter from downstairs and Wilbur blinked, and the ghost of a grin disappeared. “Look, about last night—”

“Thanks.” Tommy blurted out. At Wilbur’s obvious confusion he clarified. “For the hot chocolate. And for not pushing about the nightmare.”

“Right.” Wilbur said, turning on his heel and starting to walk away from the door. He stopped, looked back with his mouth open as though about to say something else, before he thought better of it and carried on downstairs.

Tommy clicked the door shut and slid down the closed door, tugging on Wilbur’s hair with despair. First Phil’s eyes, now Wilbur’s hair. What else was he going to steal from this family? What was his magic going to take a liking to next?

And more importantly, how did he stop it?

Chapter Text

Tommy pressed back against the back of the wardrobe, there was a small gap where the doors didn’t quite meet and he could see the room beyond. The wood creaked as he shifted and he held his breath, heart in his mouth and blood roaring through his ears.

His chest prickled slightly as he forced himself to take deeper breaths, his hands tingled and shook with adrenaline.

There were sounds of a scuffle from downstairs. Tommy could hear his mum struggling and fighting and it brought tears to his eyes. But he stayed still, after all he had promised her.

Eventually there was a loud cry and then silence. Tommy had to stifle his own sob, the silence seemed so much worse than the fighting.

“There’s another one in here somewhere, find it.”

Footsteps on the stairs, Tommy could hear others in the kitchen. There were crashes and thumps and he covered his mouth with his sleeve, pressing against the back of the wardrobe until his back hurt.

The door to the bedroom opened slowly and they came in.

There were two of them, Tommy could make out the white coats and the shoes. The pristine, white shoes that stood out against the floor with a blinding brilliance.

The white shoes with a splash of red on the toe.

One of them bent down to peer under the bed, the other started pulling open random cupboards at random.

Tommy felt the prickling get worse and fought the urge to whimper, they were going to find him, it was only a matter of time.

The one looking under the bed stood up and looked around.

His eyes locked with the wardrobe.

His eyes locked with Tommy’s.

Tommy had one day left.

Wilbur had been nicer since the nightmare, or at least he hadn’t been openly hostile.

Techno had been the same as before, Tommy hadn’t forgotten their agreement in the woods so he did his best to not go hide in his room, and in turn Techno made sure Wilbur and Tommy weren’t alone together for prolonged periods of time.

Phil was stressed.

Not openly, but Tommy was used to having to pick things up fast. He saw how Phil’s wings were often held close into his body, how he ate less and less at meals despite covering it up with mindless chatter.

Tommy wasn’t sure why it bothered him, but he didn’t like it.

He hadn’t heard the hybrids discuss his leaving since that first conversation in Phil’s office. And he’d given them plenty of opportunities to do so.

Tommy would make strategic retreats back to his room after meals and hover by the top of the stairs, just in case one of them brought it up.

But none of them did.

Again, Tommy wasn’t sure why he cared, but he’d really like to not be caught unawares. Whether he was leaving or staying, he’d rather like to know beforehand to make it easier to eventually escape.

Except none of them brought it up and Tommy had one day left. He was running out of time.

This time tomorrow he would either be back in that car or here. And honestly Tommy wasn’t sure which one he preferred.

His magic that seemed to have settled after deciding Wilbur’s haircut was the new thing was slowly rising to the surface again as his anxieties grew, to the point that Tommy found himself pacing after dinner, not sure exactly what to do with this uncontainable energy.

Part of him was tempted to ask Techno to go on another walk to at least try to let out some energy, the other half of him wanted to curl in a ball in the corner and hide from the world.

Tommy tried that, it didn’t work.

Which led to him taking the book Techno had pulled out for him at the library and curling up in a chair downstairs. Not Wilbur’s chair obviously, Tommy still avoided that like the plague.

Tommy flicked through the book until he landed on the wolf picture and absorbed himself in the drawing. The wolf’s eyes stared back at him, etched forever in grey.

Tommy pulled his eyes away from the picture and ran a hand down the words, straining to make out what the words might mean. But they blurred on the page, they could just be scribbles for all Tommy knew.

Tommy’s eyes found the wolf again. It was a shame that he’d never know what the story was about.

“How are you finding it?”

Tommy glanced up at the gruff voice, he hadn’t heard Techno come in. The piglin was walking towards him, tea in one hand, eyes shifting between the book and Tommy with something Tommy couldn’t read in his eyes.

Tommy shrugged. “It’s alright.” He mumbled.

Techno leaned over. “They say he was the first werewolf you know.”

Tommy furrowed his brow. “What’s a werewolf?”

Techno’s eyes flicked up at him and then back down. “A mythical creature, a person who becomes a wolf on full moons.”

Tommy froze. “What, like they shift into wolves?”

Techno sat on the other side of Tommy and placed the tea down on a table next to him. “I guess? There are a few mythical creatures like that who crop up in stories.”

“Like what?”

“Well selkies are one, people who became seals, then there were vampires who could supposedly shapeshift into bats, or there were the kitsune who were foxes.” Techno paused. “You can see shapeshifters throughout most folklore and mythology, which makes you wonder.”

“Wonder what?”

Techno shrugged. “Well, were these shapeshifters just the human’s way of describing hybrids before they knew what we were? Or were there actually shapeshifters once?”

Tommy felt his heart start to race, his pulse reaching his fingertips, his magic curling around his heart and expanding outwards. There was no way Techno could know, could he? Tommy hadn’t even shifted properly, but maybe the eyes and hair were enough of a giveaway—”

“Anyway.” Techno shook his head and looked back at the book. “Werewolves were another kind, or they were also known as lycanthropes. And it was said Lycaon was the first.”

“This is Lycaon?” Tommy checked, pointing to the wolf in the drawing and focusing on not letting his hands shake.

“Have you read it yet?”

Tommy gripped the edges of the book, biting his lip. He could feel Techno’s eyes on him but he didn’t know how to explain.

“Want me to help?”

Tommy breathed a huge sigh of relief, the tension draining out his shoulders and his magic starting to simmer back down. “Yes please.”

“Here.” Techno gently grabbed the book and as he did his hand brushed Tommy’s, and Tommy felt electricity jerk down his arm. His magic struck out, coiling like a snake and shoving towards Techno so violently Tommy almost jerked with the force of it.

As quick as it appeared it was gone, and Tommy was left with the sinking feeling his magic had just taken a liking to the last member of the hybrid family.

Techno remained oblivious, he started to read to Tommy about some dude who tricked the king of the Gods into eating human flesh, and how the God decided to turn him into a wolf as punishment, and Tommy tried his best to focus on the words and not worry about what part of him was going to change next.

It had taken almost half a day with Phil. A couple of hours with Wilbur. Tommy had the feeling his magic was slowly becoming more active, and not in a helpful way.

But despite this, Tommy found himself being drawn into the story. He even asked Techno questions at the end which Techno seemed happy to answer.

“Are there other stories in here?”

“Well this was one of my favourite books.” Techno said flicking through the pages. “It takes you right from the age of the Titans to the age of Heroes. It’s even got the Trojan war somewhere.”

 “Trojan War?”

Techno turned to the relevant page in the book and pointed to a large, rather crude wooden horse. “It’s where we get the term ‘Trojan Horse’ from. The Greeks pretended to leave and left behind a large wooden horse as a gift. The Trojans brought the wooden horse in, not knowing there were soldiers concealed inside, and that allowed the Greeks to get inside and win the war.”

“Smart.” Tommy said. Techno laughed.

Tommy realised he liked Techno’s laugh. It felt warm and it made him feel proud inside, like he’d just achieved something.

And although that scared him slightly, he found he wanted to make Techno laugh again.

That was until Phil came in, trying to hide the stress on his face, and Tommy’s stomach dropped.

“Tech, mind if I chat to you a minute?”

“Sure.” Techno handed the book back to Tommy who took it robotically and stood, grabbing his tea to follow his father out in the direction of Phil’s study.

Tommy heard him put the cup on the side and held the book to his chest while he waited to hear the door shut before he moved, standing quietly and tiptoeing towards the study. There were muffled voices filtering through it and he held his breath, listening intently.

“—at is it?” Techno was saying.

There was a moment of silence before Phil spoke.

“I’ve called Clara.”

At that moment there was a searing pain down Tommy’s spine, so violent it made him jerk forward and he had to bite his tongue to prevent a cry escaping his lips.

His magic had decided this was the perfect time.

Tommy hobbled towards the spare room, his spine throbbing with each step. It felt like something was pulling at it, stretching it out and he fought to contain whatever it was until he was in the room.

He was rewarded with another painful spasm.

Tommy made it to the room and pushed the door shut as gently as he could before releasing his hold on the magic, feeling it rush through his body like water. His spine stretched uncomfortably and there was a slight itch to his skin.

There was nothing Tommy could do but wait, so he did his best to tune out the world and retreat into his mind while his magic worked.

Eventually the magic retreated somewhat and Tommy started to bring himself back towards the surface. He blinked slowly, letting the feeling settle back into himself and—

There was something different.

This was not like with Phil and Wilbur, where they were small changes that took Tommy a moment to notice.

This was not something he could pass off on a bad hair day or bad lighting.

Tommy reached behind himself to feel—

Yep.

Tommy had a tail.

Tommy gripped his—Wilbur’s hair in his hands, squeezing his—no—Phil’s eyes shut. This could not be happening, this just couldn’t.

He peered behind himself.

It had ripped a hole through his trousers, pink with a tuft on the end, and it completely had a mind of its own.

It was currently gently swaying off its own accord, and as Tommy shifted the tail shifted as well and Tommy found himself stumbling to counteract the balance.

Except as he stumbled the tail lashed out, thwacking loudly against the wall with a sound loud enough to carry down the stairs. Tommy cursed and pushed away from the wall, the tail lashing with his emotion and curling like a whip.

Tommy reached behind himself and grabbed the tail with both hands, holding on tightly. The tail continued to thrash violently, Tommy managed to slap himself in the face a few times before he successfully entangled the tail with his hands, leaving just the tuft wriggling.

Tommy stared down at the tail in disbelief. He couldn’t ever remember growing limbs as a human, he was always either one animal or another.

He couldn’t even remember his par—

Tommy shook himself before he could start down that path, fixating on the problem in front of him. This was obviously going to be hard to hide from the hybrids—

Except—

“I’ve called Clara.”

Tommy tried to sit on the bed but the tail got in the way, so he ended up curled on his side clutching the tail to his chest.

His magic hadn’t retreated like it had done with Phil and Wilbur, he could feel it simmering somewhere around his chest and it spiked as his emotions rose.

Clara hadn’t wanted him to go to a group home. She’d fought against it right at the very beginning.

Tommy slowly felt his mind set. He didn’t want to go to a group home.

Clara would most likely be here tomorrow, which gave him the rest of the night to come up with a plan.

Obviously the woods felt like the best choice, but Techno had seen him eyeing them up on multiple occasions so it would be the first place they checked.

Tommy couldn’t outrun a car, so roads were a no go.

Tommy dug his nails into the tail, wincing at the sharp pain. If he could shift properly this would all be a lot easier.

Maybe he could use the woods, and then just keep walking? If he timed it right, they wouldn’t know he was missing until morning, and who knows where he would be by then.

Tommy released the pressure on the tail as he formulated the plan. The first thing to do was wait for the opportune moment. And in the meantime, he needed to figure out how to stop this tail from whipping all over the room every time he turned.

The moment was taking a while.

Tommy knew Wilbur was a night owl, but usually the others were in bed before the moon rose this high in the night sky. And yet Tommy could hear Phil in the living room, the television on low.

Tommy paced up and down, loosely holding the tail. He’d sort of gotten the hang of it, except it had a mind of it’s own when he was feeling a particularly strong emotion. Like now.

He was afraid of waiting much longer, he wanted a proper head-start before they started searching.

Which felt like it left him with only one option.

Tommy took a few deep breaths and opened the door.

He kept one hand on the tail as he silently slipped down the stairs, his magic pulsing to his heartbeat. He could hear the television playing and hoped it was enough to disguise any sounds he made.

Tommy’s feet hit the floor and he tiptoed towards the back door. Techno’s teacup was sat on the side from earlier. Wilbur’s boots were still sat by the backdoor and Tommy stood a moment, debating while his bare toes curled and uncurled on the floor.

Mentally cursing, he grabbed the boots and slipped them on his feet, clumsily tying the laces as Techno had. They looked nothing like Techno’s beautiful bows and he ended up knotting the laces together chaotically, but they stayed on his feet.

He touched the door handle—

—And for a moment Tommy hesitated.

His magic thrummed underneath the surface.

And still Tommy hesitated.

Knock Knock.

Tommy’s breath got caught in his throat.

The knocking at the door intensified and Tommy gripped onto his mother’s trouser leg. “Please don’t make me leave you.” He begged.

The television stopped and Tommy heard someone walk to the front door. He pressed back against the still closed backdoor.

Footsteps on the stairs, Tommy could hear others in the kitchen. There were crashes and thumps and he covered his mouth with his sleeve, pressing against the back of the wardrobe until his back hurt.

In his panic Tommy let go of his tail and it lashed out, striking the tea cup. In slow motion Tommy watched it fall, watched his hand reach out to grab it, watched it smash on the tile.

Then he was shoving on the doorhandle and falling backwards.

The door to the bedroom opened slowly and they came in.

Tommy’s palms stung, he looked down and saw cuts and scrapes where he hit the ground, welling up with red.

The white shoes with a splash of red on the toe.

“Tommy?”

There was a call from somewhere in the house, panicked and frightened, and Tommy was scrambling to his feet, shaking with adrenaline. He slipped and stumbled away, praying the darkness would hide him before they reached him.

He dived for the undergrowth just as another call echoed out, lying completely still on the ground. There were muffled shouts coming from the house, and Tommy raised his head to see—

Tommy felt the prickling get worse and fought the urge to whimper, they were going to find him, it was only a matter of time.

His magic swirled and spiralled, Wilbur was looking worriedly out the backdoor while Phil pulled on some shoes.

Techno appeared suddenly at the door and—

His eyes locked with Tommy’s.

His eyes locked with Tommy’s.

The man walked closer to the wardrobe and Tommy felt—

— a full body shiver, a rush of cold and warmth, fear and freedom and panic and pain combining with the desperate need to run—

—And it was like he felt everything and nothing, the world shrunk and grew at the same time and time stopped as Tommy sped up—

—And it rippled outwards, everything felt like water, like air, like energy—

And Tommy shifted.

And Tommy shifted.

And Tommy ran.

And Tommy ran.

Chapter Text

Knock knock.

The door knocked and Phil stood up, switching the television off.

Wilbur and Techno looked between him and the door, Wilbur’s knee was bouncing and Techno’s tail was twitching but both seemed reasonably calm. Phil took a deep breath and smoothed out his wings.

He walked towards the front door, focusing on smoothing out his feathers as he did. He needed to be calm for this to work.

As he was reaching for the door there was a crash from the kitchen and he jumped.

Techno and Wilbur were still in the living room, which meant—

“Tommy?”

His voice was high and panicked, and he immediately forgot about the front door and hurried towards the kitchen where he’d heard the crash. Wilbur echoed his call and Phil heard him and Techno both moving swiftly.

When he reached the kitchen the backdoor was wide open and Phil felt hit stomach drop.

He froze for a moment, fixated on the gently swinging door, the cold air rushing in.

Tommy was gone.

Wilbur made a beeline for the open door and peered out into the dark. “I don’t see him.” He said worriedly.

Phil felt a hand on his shoulder and Techno was there, holding out a pair of shoes.

“We need to find him.”

Phil nodded, pulling on the shoes while Techno hurried next to Wilbur, straining out into the darkness.

“He’s th—!” Techno cut himself off squinting hard.

“Where?” Wilbur said leaning halfway out the door. Phil finished tying the shoelace and rushed towards them. Techno was shaking his head with confusion on his face.

“Thought I saw—” he muttered. “Nothing. Go find him Dad.”

Phil leapt out the door and spread his wings, sweeping down in one huge beat to carry him airborne.

Tommy shouldn’t be hard to spot from the air.

“We need to help.” Wilbur said, rushing to grab his own boots, Techno grabbing a coat.

Knock knock.

Both boys froze, staring towards the door.

“Go.” Techno said, thrusting the coat at Wilbur. “I’ll deal with this.”

“Stay here unless he comes back.” Wilbur instructed, and then he was dashing out to follow his father into the night. Techno squared his shoulders and marched towards the front door, pulling it open to reveal—

“Techno!” Clara said, smiling warmly. “How are you all?”

Tommy was running.

The shrubbery was flashing past his tunnelled vision, bushes loomed out of the darkness, twigs whipping up to slash at him as he fled. His heart was everywhere, Tommy could feel it shaking him with each beat.

Nothing existed in that moment except for the need to run.

He ran until his legs trembled beneath him, until his lungs felt like they were about to burst and his heart give up. He ran until he could remember why he was running.

There was a hollow tree ahead and Tommy dashed towards it, skidding inside and pressing against the back of the rotten bark. He strained to see out into the darkness, his ears pricked, trembling with each outbreath.

The ground was still beneath his feet, Tommy could hear the creak of the trees around him and his own heart in his ears, pulsing manically.

He shuffled his feet together, hunching over and focused on catching his breath. His ears twitched back and forth with every slight noise and Tommy could feel his nose twitching involuntarily, searching for the danger he knew must be out there somewhere.

But nothing moved.

The tension started to drain out of his body and Tommy felt his heart start to slow. He could feel his feet trembling beneath him as he shifted, and he took a moment to get used to his new body.

Tommy could feel fur covering him, the air moving through it gently. He could feel sensitive whiskers on his face, twitching with every little brush against the hollow tree. His ears had a mind of their own, swivelling in different directions.

He could tell his eyes were on the side of his head. Honestly Tommy was amazed he hadn’t tripped up in his escape from the house, his vision was skewed compared to the humans and if Tommy hadn’t spent more time in animal form than human he probably would have run headfirst into a tree.

He could see behind him, he could see his hind legs tucked beneath him and a glimpse of a tail. He could see the roof of the hollow tree above his head.

The first time Tommy had shifted it made him feel nauseous.

Tommy took a deep breath, feeling the ground beneath his paws as he continued to feel for danger. Shifting into animals always brought out certain ingrained instincts, and shifting into a rabbit meant he felt on constant high alert.

A twig snapped outside and Tommy froze, shrinking backwards. His brain was a scramble of thought, fear coursing through his veins, a mantra repeating in his head.

Predator, predator, predator.

“Tommy?”

There was a voice outside, something large was brushing against leaves and ferns, Tommy could feel the ground shake every time he stepped. There was a rustle as the wind moved through something, someone else could have mistaken it for grass or leaves, but Tommy knew it was feathers.

“Tommy?” Phil called again. “Can you come out mate? You aren’t in trouble but its not safe for you out here.”

Tommy could see part of the forest through the opening in the hollow tree, and he saw as Phil came into view, wings held in close to his chest, searching through the undergrowth.

Phil’s head moved slowly, scanning the surroundings and as his head turned his eyes reflected the moonlight, glowing ominously in the dark and Tommy shrunk back further, back pressing against the hollow tree.

There was a slight noise as his body scrapped the wood and Phil snapped towards the sound, as Tommy’s mind screamed Predator, Predator, Predator.

Avians were known for their sharp eyesight but Tommy wasn’t expecting Phil to actually spot him, and he thought his heart stopped when Phil’s eyes locked with his.

For a moment or maybe longer they stared at each other, bird and rabbit, predator and prey, adult and child. Tommy didn’t think he was capable of moving even if he wanted to, his vision narrowed until all he could see was those glowing eyes.

And then Phil looked away.

“Tommy?” He called again, moving away from the tree. “Mate I really need you to come out, you’re not in trouble.”

Tommy heard his footsteps retreat and his grow quieter as he crouched huddled.

Phil didn’t know.

The realisation was startling, Tommy had fled pretty quickly but he was certain Techno had locked eye contact with him and had seen him shift.

Unless maybe he hadn’t?

It was times like these Tommy really wished he’d asked more about hybrids. He didn’t know whether piglin hybrids had good eyesight, especially in the dark.

Either Techno had seen him or he hadn’t. Which meant either Techno was keeping it from Phil, or he didn’t see.

Either way, Tommy couldn’t stay here all night. He needed to keep moving, now he was able to shift he could go back to before. Back when there weren’t strange rules Tommy didn’t understand, and everything made sense. Everything was better.

Everything was lonely. His traitorous mind whispered. Tommy shook his head, flattening his ears against his head as he loped out slowly, testing the air for danger.

The forest was quiet as Tommy made his way further out, ears swivelling in every direction. He had forgotten how much bigger everything looked from down here, how the bushes seemed to loom over him like trees.

Tommy shook himself out, relieving the stress that was clinging to his fur and twitched his nose. There was the faint smell of petrol-food-humans in one direction, giving him a strange feeling in his chest so he loped in the other, listening intently.

It was slow going, Tommy stopped every few hops to listen intently, sitting back on his haunches to get a better view. The night didn’t seem as dark as a rabbit, his eyes picking up little details he missed while stuck in the stupid humans body.

Tommy flattened his ears as he hopped further, mentally rolling his eyes at himself. Honestly, he thought, what exactly was good about being a human anyway? He could hear more like this, he could see more, he could smell more. There were no expectations, no difficulties to navigate. Everything was simple.

Alone.

I’m fine with being alone. Tommy argued. This was what he’s prayed for since he first got stuck at that stupid house, to shift and run away, go back to how it was before.

Maybe if Tommy was less stuck in his own head he would’ve picked up on it before it was too late, but one moment he was loping one direction, the next his ears pricked up and he felt this tug in his core. There was something drifting through the woods, something that needed him, something he needed.

There was a gentle song on the air, calling and reassuring and gentle and safe. It wound through the trees, it was almost like Tommy could see it drifting towards him, beckoning him.

Safe. It whispered to him, the melody sinking into his head. This way.

Tommy slowly followed the music, he imagined this was how it must feel to be drunk. He was sinking into the back of his head, the music there to cushion and cradle him as it guided him forward, still whispering reassurances and beckoning him closer.

Tommy was no longer aware of the ground beneath his feet, it felt like he was floating upwards, he couldn’t feel his legs moving underneath him, he couldn’t feel the rest of his body at all. His ears were the only thing still tense, straining towards the song.

At some point he appeared in front of Tommy. He was sat cross-legged on the floor, gently swaying with his eyes shut as the melody poured out of his mouth. It sounded like his voice had an echo, the music seeping into his bones and pulling him forward.

Tommy didn’t know what he was singing, but he did notice when the siren opened his eyes and caught sight of him, the music dying in his mouth.

Tommy leaned forward, hoping to hear more of the song, except his legs felt like they weighted down with a tonne of rocks and he stumbled forward.

“Oops.” Wilbur said, scooping Tommy up with a hand underneath his chest and the other coming around to cradle him. “Careful there little one.”

Tommy snuggled closer into Wilbur, pressing against his warmth. As the music faded from his body it left him drained and tired and cold.

“Sorry little one.” Wilbur hummed, and the hum sent a shiver of warmth down Tommy’s spine. “That song wasn’t meant to be for you.”

Tommy let his weight go completely, lying limp in Wilbur’s lap. He felt a hand come up to gently massage one of his ears and he sighed.

“You’re a friendly little thing aren’t you?” Wilbur said quietly, Tommy could still hear the power in his voice. “Usually you lot snap out of it pretty quickly, and that song wasn’t meant for you anyway.”

Tommy snuggled deeper, pressing his nose underneath Wilbur’s arm and burying himself away from the cold. Wilbur chuckled.

“I kind of need to keep singing little one, but I can’t do that with you here.”

Tommy didn’t move, Wilbur’s words were washing over him gently and all he could feel was the warmth beneath him and the desperate need to hear more singing.

Wilbur hummed again, stroking a hand down Tommy’s flank. “There’s someone else out here.” He explained. “And I sort of need to find him. But I can’t sing anymore with you here or it could get dangerous.”

Tommy could hear the words swirling around his brain but he couldn’t make sense of what the siren was saying. He just wanted to hear more.

There was a sigh above him and Tommy felt them move, swaying gently as they moved through the forest, Wilbur humming gently. It didn’t feel quite like the singing, but it was enough for Tommy to sink into it, letting himself fall into a numb sort of trance.

He didn’t notice when the music stopped, but when he came to the forest was silent around him and he was curled up in the shelter of a rocky crevice.

It took a few moments for Tommy to find the balance to stand upright but when he did his ears were immediately pricked, searching for the song again.

Barely a breeze drifted through the trees.

Tommy took a few hesitant steps forward, ears still straining. He didn’t know where he was anymore, the wind had stopped carrying the scent of the humans so he couldn’t orientate himself. There was the faint smell of Wilbur on the floor though, and Tommy cautiously started to follow it.

His nose wasn’t built for tracking but Tommy was determined, focusing entirely on the scent in front of him.

Wilbur-forest-Wilbur

Wilbur had kept walking deeper into the forest, Tommy lost his smell for a moment over a rocky part but after some searching he picked it up again a little further across.

Wilbur-fox?-Wilbur

Tommy’s nose twitched, he kept his nose twitching by the ground as he moved slowly.

Wilbur-fox?-forest-fox-Wilbur

Tommy stopped, nose twitching harder.

Wilbur-fox-fox-fox

Tommy bolted not a moment too soon, hind legs spraying up dirt behind him as he felt teeth graze him, the hot breath on his back legs and the terrible horrible stench of his own fear.

The fox snarled behind him, Tommy could see the flash of red and white giving chase, the moonlight reflecting off the deathly white teeth just inches behind him.

Tommy could feel the adrenaline building, and the fear and the energy and the sudden heat somewhere in his chest, and his front legs were lengthening, his paws widening, his ears shrinking, his tail growing. His vision shrunk and whirled fast enough to make him feel sick, the forest became sharper and he could physically see his snout growing in front of him.

The fear abated somewhat and before the shift had finished Tommy spun around to face the fox, letting out a snarl.

The fox screeched, skidding to a halt and bolting in the opposite direction, it’s cries of alarm echoing through the forest like a warning. Tommy panted, watching the last of the red disappear as he felt the last of the shift settle.

This felt more comfortable, he’d been a wolf for most of his time beforehand.

He shook himself to relieve the stress and flicked his tongue out to lick his lips, turning to gaze around him. There were so many new smells bombarding his now sensitive nose, Tommy could smell the humans again and they were closer than before.

Tommy turned away from the smell, ears pricked and panting slightly as he started to trot away.

Until he stopped.

He had shifted again. It wasn’t a one time fluke before, it actually felt like his magic was back, sitting inside him, curling around his chest like a familiar weight.

Tommy tugged on it slightly and felt it respond and he shifted his paws underneath him, thinking.

He could shift.

Tommy stared down at his paws. They didn’t have thumbs on them.

He shook his head violently, baring his teeth at his own treacherous thoughts. What was wrong with him?

Even so he found himself turning to look back at where the human smell had come from, and felt his magic stir slightly in his chest, a small prickling heat, almost longing—

Tommy growled, snatching his head away and stalking in the opposite direction, but he was stopped as his magic practically dragged him to a halt, forcing a whine from his chest.

He stood there uncertainly, tail low and licking his lips as he tried to figure out what was happening. His magic had always felt like it had a small mind of its own, especially with the recent stealing from the hybrids, but it had never done this before.

He tried to take another step away and felt it spike again. Tommy let out a noise of frustration, a mixture between a growl and a whine.

It was right there, his freedom, everything he wanted was right there in front of him.

Not everything.

Tommy snapped at the air in annoyance, planting his haunches on the ground and growling at nothing. His magic tugged again and he curled his lip, turning his head.

Techno laughed.

Tommy realised he liked Techno’s laugh. It felt warm and it made him feel proud inside, like he’d just achieved something.

Tommy hunched over himself as the memories trickled in. He could remember Techno’s patience, the way he felt when Techno laughed.

He handed over the mug to Tommy. “Careful, it’s hot.” He warned.

Tommy took it gingerly and blew over the surface, watching the heat curl upwards into the air. The smell made his mouth water, and he carefully took a sip, letting the flavour run over his tongue.

He hummed with contentment, the rich sweet taste warming him inside and out and making the back of his brain buzz gently. This was quite honestly one of the best things he’d ever tasted.

“Good right?” Wilbur chuckled and Tommy nodded, taking another sip.

Tommy could practically taste the hot chocolate on his tongue, he could hear Wilbur’s music reverberating through his bones. He could feel the gentle quiet as they sat together that night.

Tommy took a deep breath in and out, reached over the table and grabbed Phil’s clenched hand. His skin prickled where held onto the avian, he didn’t remember the last time he’d touched a human. Or actually, the last time he’d touched anything living.

Phil’s gentle reassurance, the way he’d always ask Tommy before doing something.

Tommy’s magic tugged again, slightly less violently and Tommy shuffled.

He did have a way out now. Assuming Techno hadn’t seen him shift that was, and if they would take him back after this.

Tommy was sure now he could escape, the question was now how much being rejected would hurt.

His magic gave a little tug again and Tommy sighed, standing and shaking out his fur. He looked out at the forest, before he turned towards the humans and slowly made his way back.

Chapter Text

Tommy shifted at some point, trading his four paws for two feet, feeling himself lengthen as he stood upright, the change in height disorientating him for a moment. He closed his eyes a moment as his vision spun, he hadn’t shifted so frequently in a very long time and the change from wolf vision to human was enough to make anyone’s stomach roll.

There was a deep set ache, like muscles after being worked too hard, except this seemed to reverberate from his very soul, and Tommy winced slightly.

He breathed deeply, letting himself settle back into the human shape before opening his eyes. He rolled his shoulders, feeling his magic gently retreat back towards the centre of his chest, and flicked his tail—

Tommy swore and turned around. A pink tail with a tuft on the end waved at his innocently, moving more and more chaotically as he stared at it in despair.

Tommy honestly didn’t understand his magic very much. Sometimes it felt like part of him, other times it felt like an entirely different entity.

Certain things had always remained the same. Before Tommy could shift, he had had blond hair and, until recently, brown eyes. No matter what else happened, this was the baseline in which he returned back to whenever he shifted to human.

For whatever reason, his clothes always shifted with him. Never anything he was carrying, or things in his pockets. Except for one occasion, Tommy had shifted from a wolf to a racoon and the food he had been carrying in his mouth disappeared into the ether.

Tommy hadn’t tried since, there were only so many missed meals he could sacrifice.

But for whatever reason, his magic had decided that Techno’s tail was definitely something he could not live without.

Tommy bit his lip and hesitantly raised his hand towards his hair, sighing defeatedly when he felt the unfamiliar long, puffiness of Wilbur’s hair. And if he had any money, he’d bet it all that he’d see Phil’s eyes when he looked in the mirror.

“You can’t be serious.” Tommy muttered to himself tugging a strand harshly and sighing. The eyes and hair he could get away with, in fact it would probably be more conspicuous if it disappeared.

But the tail had to go.

Tommy frowned with concentration, focusing on forcing the tail away. His magic swirled for a moment before recoiling sharply, making him gasp.

He grit his teeth together and tried again, feeling his magic tingle where he tried to force it to co-operate. His magic fought against him again, sending sharp jolts of pain like a twinging muscle. He struggled harder, feeling a droplet of sweat bead on his forehead.

His magic snapped again, recoiling and Tommy gasped. “Oh come on.” Tommy growled at his magic.

His magic retreated further and Tommy had to physically stop himself from throwing his hands up. He never thought his magic could act like a toddler, and yet here it was throwing a tantrum like a petulant child.

The tail swished behind him, agitated and Tommy glared sullenly at it. There was no way he could go and hide an entire extra limb, let alone one he had barely any control over.

Tommy sighed, closing his eyes and gathering whatever patience he had. “You can have something else.” He told his magic defeatedly. “But an entire extra limb is off the table.”

His magic remained stubbornly out of reach.

Tommy took a deep breath and thought hard. Maybe there was a way he could hide the tail away without getting rid of it completely?

There were hybrids that could make certain features appear and disappear at will, if Tommy could just figure out how they did it maybe he could do the same with the tail.

He concentrated again, but instead of trying to make the tail disappear, he tried to just fold it away.

His magic was slightly more co-operative this time, Tommy imagined there was a little pocket and all he was doing was folding the tail away.

With a gentle popping sound the tail folded away, the bizarre feeling making Tommy lurch forward. He swayed experimentally, the tail was nowhere to be seen but it felt like he had a sack attached to his lower back.

This was going to take some getting used to.

Tommy refocused in on his surroundings. He was a little way away from the house, but close enough that he could see the lights from the house through the darkness.

He swallowed heavily and started making his way robotically towards the house. His mind was flooded with what if’s and buts while his magic swirled in his chest, so his let his conscious mind just sort of drift backwards, coming to rest somewhere in the back of his head.

Before he knew it he was robotically reaching out for the back door, the light harsh in his eyes and the handle cold in his grasp.

Before he could think, he pushed open the door, keeping his gaze fixed on the floor. There was a scrape of chairs and Tommy saw figures rushing towards him in his peripheral vision and he instinctively flinched back.

The figures halted, Tommy kept his eyes fixed on the floor.

“Tommy?” Techno’s voice asked hesitantly.

“’m sorry.” Tommy mumbled, shaking slightly. What if he was wrong, what if Phil lied, what if they were going to be angry?

“Why are you sorry Tommy?” Another, slightly familiar voice said and Tommy looked up shocked to see Clara crouching a little way away from him.

“Clara?” He whispered. Clara smiled gently.

“Hey Tommy, good to see you again.”

Tommy stared at her in shock, before his heart dropped to his stomach. He was wrong, she was here to take him away, take him to a group home somewhere. He should’ve stayed in the woods, run while he had the chance.

They’d lied.

Tommy probably shouldn’t have expected differently. He’d heard them talking on Phil’s office, he knew this was going to happen.

And yet he had still believed differently.

Techno was talking on the phone, his voice buzzing slightly through the air and Tommy blinked slowly. The space where Techno’s tail was tucked away became heavier, reminding him of how much he had stolen from this family.

Hopefully it would all disappear soon, and Tommy wouldn’t have to be reminded every time he looked in the mirror of what a thief he was.

Clara was reaching out hesitantly, and Tommy moved back to prevent her touching him. She pulled back apologetically, but ushered him towards the living room, gently guiding him to sit on one of the chairs.

Not Wilbur’s chair though. Never Wilbur’s chair.

Clara sat on one of the other chairs, talking in the same soothing, calm voice she had used when she first met Tommy, the one that felt easy to zone out. Tommy let himself stay in the back of his head, he’d have to have all his wits about him to escape this group home.

Or wherever they ended up taking him next.

After a minute Techno followed them in, having finished talking on the phone. He flashed a look of concern towards Clara who met his gaze, still talking to Tommy.

The world felt like a blur, if it wasn’t for the gentle ache of his magic like a strained muscle, Tommy would’ve worried he was dead. He couldn’t hear his heartbeat, it barely felt like he was breathing. And Clara’s voice washed over him, or maybe even through him, like he wasn’t even there.

Tommy let himself go further and further, wrapping himself in a cocoon in his mind. Even the dull ache of his magic slowly ebbed away.

Tommy didn’t know how long he stayed here, he was quite content to just let things happen without having to actively participate in any of it.

At one point a gentle humming started, not abruptly or loudly, but just enough to be noticed. It grew louder and more soothing, until Tommy could feel it gently start to pull him back to the front of his head.

He blinked and Wilbur’s face came into sharp focus, crouched in front of him, not quite touching. As soon as Tomm’s eyes sharpened the humming stopped, much to Tommy’s disappointment, and Wilbur shuffled backwards as Phil took his place, crouching in front of him.

“Tommy?” Phil said softly. “You back with us?”

Tommy debated not answering, but he would rather this whole thing wasn’t dragged out, so he nodded tiredly.

Phil smiled gently, just like he had done since Tommy arrived, and it filled Tommy’s mouth with a bitter taste.

“Hey mate.” Phil said, still smiling. “We lost you for a minute there.”

Tommy let his eyes drift off Phil to rest on Clara. She was still sat, feet flat on the floor and on the edge of the seat as though she was prepared to jump upright.

Honestly it was little bit unnerving.

Wilbur had moved to join Techno, sat on the couch shoulder to shoulder, leaning into each other slightly. Depending on each other, supporting each other, just as they always would.

The pang of jealousy did nothing to ease the bitter taste in his mouth.

Phil was still looking at him, and he opened his mouth as Tommy looked back.

“I’m glad you came back.”

Tommy couldn’t hide the surprise on his face, that was honestly not what he was expecting,

Phil’s smile twitched minutely at Tommy’s expression, and he carried on.

“Could you tell us what it was that made you need to run in the first place? So we can avoid it next time?”

Tommy bit his tongue, the sharp pain grounding him. There was no point talking about it, he’d be out the next place within an hour.

“You don’t need to talk about it now if you don’t want to.” Phil said, picking up on Tommy’s reluctance. “But I would like to talk about it at some point if that’s ok.”

Tommy’s gaze flicked back towards Clara, who smiled reassuringly at him. He wasn’t sure when he was going to have time to talk to Phil, he didn’t imagine Clara would be able to stay very long before they’d have to leave.

Sure enough, Phil turned to Clara. “I guess there’s paperwork to fill out then?”

Clara smiled. “When is there not?” She reached into her bag and brought out a few sheets of paper and a pen.

Phil stood up slowly, groaning about his knees and walked over to take the papers, scanning them quickly. Tommy felt his throat tighten and decided he didn’t want to drag this out longer than necessary, so he stood up to, causing the others to all get to their feet rather quickly.

“I’ll go grab my stuff.” Tommy said hoarsely, pushing past them and heading for the stairs.

“Grab your stuff?” Phil echoed confused, looking up from the papers. “Why do you need to grab your stuff?”

Tommy felt his throat close off further to the point he could barely breath. He wondered if humans were able to suffocate from this feeling, it certainly felt like he was about to. Of course Phil would want to keep his belongings, most of it was barely worn so he could probably return it and get the money back. “Right, sorry.”

“Sorry?” Phil repeated, eyebrows raising higher. “Why are you sorry?”

Tommy felt himself start to tremble slightly, freezing under Phil’s gaze as though the rabbit was still hiding in his hindbrain somewhere and freezing under the gaze of the predator.

Clara put a hand on Phil’s shoulder and gently drew him backwards, coming to stand a little in front of Tommy.

“Tommy? Can you explain to me what you think is happening right now?”

Tommy stared at the floor, shuffling awkwardly. “Well, you’re moving me aren’t you?” He said awkwardly. “I overheard Phil talking to Wilbur and Techno.”

There was a moment of silence and Tommy felt all their eyes on him. “I didn’t mean to hear.” He said quicky, feeling the words start to tumble out his mouth from the nerves. “”Well I guess I sort of did, I heard you saying you had three days to make up your mind about whether to keep me or not, and then I was listening to see if you’d made up your mind and I heard you say you’d called Clara and that meant I was going to a group home—” his rambles trailed off and he shuffled anxiously.

Phil opened and closed his mouth a few times before taking a deep breath. “Okay.” He said, exhaling slowly. “Okay, I think there’s been some misunderstandings here, all of which could have been avoided if I had communicated properly. I’ve caused you a lot of unnecessary stress, and for that I apologise.”

Tommy blinked confused at him. Of all the things he had been expecting, Phil apologising was not one of them.

Phil held out the paper to Tommy. “Here,” he said, “have a look.”

Tommy took the pages and stared down at them, unable to make out a single word but unwilling to tell Phil that.

Techno moved forward so Tommy’s gaze snapped up to meet his. “You’re staying here.” Techno said slowly and clearly. “We’re going to be your long term foster.”

Tommy felt his magic twitch and a faint tinge of hope bubbled in his chest.

“Long term foster?” He repeated hesitantly, looking at Clara. “So no group home?”

Clara shook her head gently. “No group home.” She repeated. “Unless you’d prefer that?”

“No.” Tommy cut her off, his magic starting to spread to his fingertips and warming him instantly. “No I’d like to stay here. Please.” He added on quickly.

“Okay.” Clara said smiling. “Can Phil have the papers back? He has to fill out the forms.”

Tommy handed back the forms, wincing slightly when he saw mud on the corners. He looked down to see his hands covered in mud, clearly from where he’d shifted.

Phil glanced down at his hands but his expression didn’t change. “Do you want a shower mate?”

Tommy nodded.

“Might as well have it now, it’s going to take a minute to fill these out.” Phil said, walking towards the table.

Tommy waited hesitantly for a moment before darting up the stairs, trying not to get mud anywhere.

This time he managed to keep the bubbled out of his eyes, but the water did run an interesting brown colour where it hit him.

Tommy took as long as he dared, turning the temperature up until it was almost painful, and letting the warmth from the water seep into his bones and ease the gentle ache of his magic. The bathroom slowly steamed up, and by the time Tommy stumbled out of the shower, tiredness weighing him down, his shoulders were red from the hot water.

He dried himself quickly and threw on Techno’s old pyjamas, before slowly making his way back down to the kitchen.

The scene was familiar, Phil and Clara were sat with hot drinks, chatting amicably while Wilbur and Techno listened. But this time it wasn’t just Clara who smiled when he came in.

Tommy sat awkwardly, trying to find his words as they kept talking. Eventually there was a pause in the conversation, and the words blurted out.

“What now?”

“Now?” Clara said, looking at him. “It’s pretty much the same as before, there might be a few changes like getting you enrolled with a school, seeing a doctor, but most of it stays the same.”

“No—” Tommy hesitated, wondering whether he should bring it up.” I mean—I ran.”

Phil nodded in understanding. “You mean about being a flight risk?”

Tommy nodded, staring fixatedly at his hands, tension lining his shoulders. He saw Phil shrug out the corner of his eye.

“I spoke to Clara, we think this was a special case.”

Tommy looked up hopefully at him as Phil continued. “I drove you to run by not communicating properly, and I think it would be unfair if you were labelled as a flight risk from this one incident.”

Tommy took a deep breath.

“But.” Phil said, and Tommy froze. “This is on the understanding that you talk to me next time you feel like running so I can help fix it. This does not mean you have complete free license, if I feel you need to be labelled as a flight risk for your own safety, that is not something I can overlook. Does that make sense?”

Tommy let out the breath he had been holding and nodded in understanding.

Clara picked up the files on the counter and gave half of them to Phil, placing the rest in her bag. “Well then, that’s everything.” She smiled. “Thanks for the tea Phil.”

“Anytime.”

“And it was lovely seeing you two again.” Clara said to Wilbur and Techno, who echoes back their own thanks.

Clara turned to Tommy, just like she had the first time she had dropped him off here.

“Be good.” She said, echoing her words from last time. Then she smiled. “It was nice seeing you Tommy.”

“You too.” Tommy mumbled back, and Clara adjusted the bag on her shoulder and followed Phil to the front door. Tommy heard them exchange their goodbyes, followed by the click of the door as it shut.

Tommy let the last of the tension drain out his shoulders as Phil walked back in, smiling tiredly.

“I think that’s enough excitement for one night, don’t you think?” He chuckled, and Techno agreed with a yawn. “I think it’s time for bed.”

Tommy followed Techno and Wilbur up the stairs and they all peeled off into their separate rooms, except for Phil who followed Tommy to the spar—to his room. Phil stopped at the door, hand on the door handle.

“Sleep well Tommy.”

“Sleep well Phil.” Tommy yawned, collapsing onto his bed.

Phil pulled the door shut and Tommy shut his eyes, snuggling into the bed contentedly.

Yeah, he would’ve really missed this bed.

Chapter Text

Tommy was not sure what he expected when Phil said he was going to foster him long-term. But he did expect things to be different.

But nothing had really changed. And it was making Tommy anxious.

His magic was different, quieter in some ways and louder in others. It still tingled and buzzed and curled around his chest, but there was less of an itch, less of a desperate need to shift.

Instead it was really fucking annoying.

It loved the hybrids, Tommy could practically feel it straining towards them whenever he was near, desperate for them to touch so it could curl around them. He could feel the tail straining in it’s strange invisible pocket, wanting to curl around their legs like he saw Techno’s doing.

It got to the point where Tommy was having to physically focus on holding his magic back, which led to him not concentrating in conversations. He was pretty sure it was kind of rude, but it was better than the alternative of him having to explain why there was an entire extra limb attached to him.

But the hybrids didn’t seem to mind too much. At least they never mentioned it.

But other than his magic, there was not a lot else going on. Things continued pretty much as they had been, none of them sought each other out for company but they didn’t outright avoid each other either.

Until things did change.

Phil had first mentioned it at dinner, three days after Tommy shifted and fled into the woods. He’d said it so casually Tommy really didn’t think anything of it.

“Tommy mate, I know a doctor not too far from here who’d be willing to give you a checkup if that’s ok?”

Tommy paused for a moment, looking up from his meal. He wasn’t hugely excited about meeting yet another human. “Are they nice?”

Phil smiled. “Yeah he’s lovely, he’s looked after me and the boys for years now. And I can be there with you if you’d like.”

Tommy hesitated for a moment, but no one seemed worried. Truthfully he had no idea what a doctor was, but based on how casually everyone was acting it couldn’t be that bad.

“Sure.” He answered, digging into the potatoes that had quickly become one of his favourite foods. There was so much you could do with them, the possibilities were endless!

“Ok, I’ll get us booked in for tomorrow afternoon.”

Tommy didn’t think much of it.

The next afternoon Tommy was sat in the car, watching the scenery flash past the window. There were a few nerves in the pit of his stomach, but nothing crippling.

Tommy had thought about asking Phil what exactly was going to happen, but the doctor seemed to be a regular thing for normal humans and it felt like it was going to draw too much attention to him. So he sat quietly, letting Phil ramble on and on about whatever it was on his mind.

They pulled next to a rather large square building and Phil stopped the car,  turning to look at Tommy.

“Ready?”

The nerves heightened slightly in Tommy’s stomach for some reason, but Phil seemed calm and unworried so Tommy nodded.

The first thing Tommy noticed when they walked in was the air had a strange smell to it, enough that Tommy’s nose wrinkled. It smelt chemically and it felt like it burnt slightly when he breathed it in, even to Tommy’s weak, human senses.

There were posters on the wall of humans and hybrids with large words on them that Tommy couldn’t read, but nothing to explain what this place was.

Phil guided him up to a large wooden desk with a lady sat behind it and cleared his throat. The lady looked up, she had large rounded ears poking out from the side of her head which pricked up slightly.

“Phil!” The lady greeted him, smiling broadly. “And I assume this is Tommy?”

Tommy very slightly moved closer to Phil, being careful not to brush against him. Not because he was scared or anything. It was purely tactical.

Phil nodded, glancing down at Tommy with a small smile. “Yes, this is Tommy.”

“Have a seat in the waiting room, Ponk will call you shortly.”

Phil thanked her and led Tommy towards a room filled with chairs and sofas. As they walked away Tommy glanced back to see the woman had hooves and a tail and he stood on tiptoes to whisper to Phil.

“What kind of hybrid is she?”

“Cow.” Phil said, sitting down in a comfy armchair and relaxing back. “This practice does both humans and hybrids, Ponk is a human but has also specialised in hybrids.”

Tommy frowned down in his lap. None of this was helping him figure out what a doctor was so he questioned further. “You have to specialise?”

Phil shrugged. “Doctors in school now have to learn both hybrid and human anatomy, but that’s a relatively recent rule. Most current practicing doctors learn human anatomy and then have to specialise further.”

Tommy mouthed the word anatomy, trying to get his tongue around it. It wasn’t one he was familiar with. “What’s anatomy?”

If Phil found the question odd he didn’t show it. “It’s like the structure of living things. So it’s everything you can see on the outside but also all the things hidden on the inside.”

Tommy felt his mouth go slightly dry and swallowed heavily. “Structure of—me?” He said, fighting to keep his voice steady.

“Yep, so as a human you share lots of similarities with other humans.” Phil said, oblivious to Tommy’s growing panic. Tommy felt his tail twitch in it’s strange pocket.

“And—and Ponk is going to look at it?”

Phil nodded. “He’ll do a routine checkup, more the stuff on the outside than the inside.” Phil frowned slightly as Tommy felt his face go white. “Are you alright Tommy?”

“Tommy?” A voice called from the entrance to the waiting room. “Dr Ponk is ready for you.”

Tommy felt himself shake distantly as he stood up, Phil following him still staring worriedly at him. He followed the lady as she led him down a corridor with what felt like endless doors, until she stopped at one and knocked.

A voice responded from inside, but it was too quiet for Tommy to hear over his own shallow breaths. The lady opened the door and beckoned Tommy through.

White coat

There was a faint buzz in his ears and Tommy felt his magic coil and stretch, felt his legs lock in place as he froze with fear.

White coat

It was the only thing in focus in the entire room, there was a fuzzy outline of a man wearing the coat who might’ve been looking at him but Tommy wasn’t sure. It was so bright, so artificial, and so terrifying.

They’d lied. Phil had lied. All this time running, hiding, they found him anyway.

Phil had brought him to them.

The white coat reached out towards him and Tommy unfroze, stumbling backwards, his magic rushing to his fingertips and he felt the start of the shift happening automatically.

A hand landed on his shoulder, tentative but definitely there and Tommy flinched, his shifting paused and he broke eye contact with the white coat and looked up to see blue.

Blue eyes. His eyes.

No, Phil’s eyes.

Phil’s eyes were wide, worried. His mouth was moving and Tommy distantly realised he was speaking. Strange. He couldn’t hear any of the words.

Tommy tried to look back at white coat but Phil gently cupped the side of his face to prevent him turning his head, still speaking. His wing spread out as well, blocking off his peripheral vision and making him feel trapped.

Tommy drew back at the contact, flinching away but Phil’s hand followed. It made his breath catch in his throat and his magic swirl to an almost sickening level.

Tommy felt his fingers start to tingle as his magic fought between desperately needing to escape and latching onto Phil. Right as he thought he was about to implode Phil’s hand withdrew.

Tommy spun around immediately, heart thumping wildly. But white coat was gone. The room was empty except for him and Phil.

Tommy looked around frantically, searching for where white coat might’ve gone. The buzzing in his ears slowly settled to a low hum and Tommy became vaguely aware of someone speaking, as though underwater.

“—eathe –mmy. –eathe.”

Tommy felt his shallow breaths getting caught somewhere around his chest, as though his chest was just too tight to let the air pass. The world was becoming slightly dizzy, whether from his still swirling magic or something else he didn’t know.

Phil’s voice broke through the fog in his mind. “Breathe Tommy. Deep breaths, with me.”

Tommy gasped, air bursting through his chest painfully.

“Good, good job Tommy. Again.”

Tommy took another halting stuttered breath, it felt like he was inhaling knives into his chest.

“Hold it.” Phil instructed, and Tommy tried but his chest contracted and the air was forced out.

“Again.”

Together they took deep breaths, holding the air in and exhaling slowly. It took time, Tommy kept having his breath forced out or sucked in too quickly but Phil never became angry or impatient. He just kept going until Tommy’s magic slowly crept from his fingertips back into his chest, and he could breathe without the stabbing pains in his chest.

Eventually he looked away from Phil, his breaths still slightly shaky.

“Can you talk to me Tommy?”

Tommy licked his lips, his throat felt hoarse and dry and the air crackled as it passed over it. “Yes.”

“Okay, do you know what it was that triggered it? Was it the doctor?”

Tommy grit his teeth together and nodded jerkily.

“Do you want a different one?”

Tommy shook his head frantically, his breathing starting to speed up again. Phil mimed taking a deep breath again and Tommy focused on filling his lungs with air.

“Can you tell me what it was about the doctor?”

Tommy hesitated, biting his lip. Now his thoughts were moving at a more manageable pace, he felt worried about how he had reacted. He was sure walking into the doctors and immediately freaking out wasn’t a usual reaction based on how calm Phil had been beforehand.

Phil picked up on his hesitation. “It’s perfectly fine if there is Tommy, and if you tell us we might be able to change it. When Techno first started coming, he always had to have a piece of his hoard with him.”

Tommy had no idea what a ‘hoard’ was, but it did make him feel slightly better. He licked his lips again and spoke croakily.

“Wh—white coat.”

Phil nodded easily. “If he took the coat off, do you think he could come back in?”

Tommy froze and Phil clarified quickly.

“Just to talk mate. He won’t do anything you don’t want to.”

Tommy nodded slowly, he could feel hands shaking where they were balled into fists.

“Thank you for telling me.” Phil said steadily. “Are you ok with me going outside and telling Ponk to take his coat off?”

Another nod.

Phil walked slowly and deliberately to the door and slipped out, closing it gently behind him. Tommy took the opportunity to let his legs buckle, leaning back against the wall to steady himself. He focused on taking deep lungful’s of air, on calming the racing heartbeat in his ears.

Tommy had barely managed to collect himself before the door knocked and Phil re-entered with Ponk in tow. Ponk had shed his white coat and seemed to have thrown on a comfortable hoodie instead.

Tommy licked his lips and pushed himself shakily off the wall, eyes fixed on Ponk.

It was easier to focus on the doctors face now that the white coat was gone. He had a kind smile and wrinkles around the eyes.

Phil had wrinkles around his eyes too. Tommy used to think it was from squinting too much, that people with these wrinkles couldn’t see very well. But now he was learning it was from smiling, so he decided he liked wrinkled eyes.

Ponk was stood casually, a complete contrast to Tommy’s clear tension and despite himself Tommy felt himself relax minutely.

“Tommy, this is Ponk.” Phil introduced, speaking in the same gentle voice he used when he first introduced himself to Tommy.

“Nice to meet you Tommy.” Ponk said, smiling and nodding his head slightly. He reached out his hand, extending it towards Tommy with the palm facing sideways.

There was a nagging thought in the back of Tommy’s head, like he was supposed to know what it was, but couldn’t quite remember. Instead he stared confused at the hand, what was he supposed to do?

Ponk retracted his hand after a moment, and Tommy panicked, wondering if he’d just been rude. But Ponk was still smiling gently so he assumed it wasn’t too bad.

“Do you want to sit or stand while we talk?”

Tommy shrugged, looking down at his shoes and rocking slightly forwards and backwards on his heels.

“Why don’t we sit for a bit.” Phil answered, glancing up to check Tommy’s expression. Ponk gestured towards a pair of chairs and Tommy followed Phil to sit on a chair. Ponk sat opposite what looked like a miniature TV, Tommy had seen a similar looking thing in Phil’s office and had found out it was a computer.

“So you’ve been staying at Phil’s residence for—” Ponk checked, “Just less than three weeks, is that right?”

Tommy, who had not really mastered the concept of time properly and definitely hadn’t been counting the days, nodded.

Ponk nodded and carried on reading through before letting out a low whistle. “Wow. You’re a little bit of a puzzle Tommy.” He grinned at him and Tommy swallowed.

Ponk adjusted himself in the seat until he was leaning forwards slightly, elbows on his knees and hands clasped together underneath his chin.

“So I’m just going to ask a few questions if that’s ok? Feel free to ask any of your own, I’ll try to answer them as best as possible.”

Ponk waited for Tommy to nod his understanding before continuing. “Do you know how old you are?”

Tommy shook his head slowly.

“Have you ever been to see a doctor before?”

Tommy hesitated. He still wasn’t sure what a doctor was, were all white coats doctors? Or only some of them? If so, was Ponk still a doctor if he wasn’t wearing his white coat?

His hesitation must’ve shown on his face because Ponk smiled reassuringly. “It’s ok if you don’t know.”

Tommy shook his head, more hesitantly than last time.

“Ok, last question. Is there anything you’re currently very worried about? Anything happening to you out of the ordinary, any strange aches or pains or emotions you can’t quite explain?”

Tommy doubted Ponk would be able to explain why his magic had suddenly started acting like a child, or why it was demanding things and stealing physical appearances from the hybrids around him. So he shook his head.

Ponk spun back to the computer and cleared his throat, addressing both him and Phil.

“Well, ideally we want to do a physical examination, check for healthy development, take some bloods to check all that, and we will want to do some of the critical vaccinations. If you have had them before it shouldn’t do any harm to have them again.”

Ponk nodded to himself, then continued. “But I think we should take this slowly, so I’d suggest repeated visits lasting maybe fifteen minutes each.”

Now, as for your age—” Ponk tapped his cheek. “Teeth are actually the best way to tell a person’s age between toddler and aged twenty one, so we’d take a scan of those and estimate your age from there.”

Tommy ran his tongue along his teeth nervously.

“If we can do that today, it would make a lot of things easier.” Ponk said gently.

Tommy looked up at Phil who smiled reassuringly. “I can be here the whole time.” He murmured, just too quiet for Pon to hear, but his wing stretched out behind him. Not quite touching, but enough that it felt like he was shielding Tommy.

Honestly, it was kind of nice.

“Ok, well we actually have a dental practice just through here—” Ponk said, ushering them out and guiding them through more corridors and doors, chatting all the while about trivial things. Tommy stuck like glue to Phil’s leg, staring around wide eyed.

Ponk led them into a room. There was a very strange machine in the middle, but it made Tommy’s heart jump to his throat.

“So, this is a dental scanner.” Ponk said, walking over to a desk with lots of buttons on it. “Do you want to see how it works?”

Tommy nodded.

“So you sit in the middle here.” Ponk gestured. “And I hit this button here, and this top bit is going to move around your head and take a whole scan, how does that sound?”

Tommy didn’t know how it sounded. But Phil was smiling encouragingly and so he nodded.

Ponk guided him into the machine and fiddled about slightly, Tommy couldn’t help but flinch slightly when he got a little close and Ponk paused.

“These things are going to spin a little fast.” He warned, “just try to stay as still as you can.”

Tommy closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Ready?” Ponk checked, and Tommy nodded as much as he could without moving too much. He heard Ponk hit the button, the whir of the machine as it spun around his head, but he kept his eyes shut tight.

It was over fairly quickly and Tommy slipped out the machine as soon as Ponk gave him the go ahead, making a beeline for Phil and standing as close as he dared. Phil silently stretched his wing out and Tommy took a breath.

Ponk spent a few minutes peering over the results before he sat back with a sigh.

“My best guess it you’re around fourteen.” He told Tommy, “now of course this isn’t entirely accurate but it’s the most accurate we can be.”

“Any baby teeth left?” Phil asked curiously, and Ponk shook his head.

“Nope, all gone. No tooth fairy trips for you young man.” He winked at Tommy.

Tommy blinked. The fuck was a tooth fairy?

Phil just chuckled. “Fourteen, we can get you enrolled into the same school Techno and Wilbur are at.”

Tommy narrowed his eyes. School was another word like doctor, a word Tommy didn’t know.

He hoped that school would be less traumatic.

Tommy zoned out while Phil and Ponk chatted a bit more, he tried listening to start with but they started talking about something called ‘calcium’ and he was lost.

Ponk arranged some new dates for Tommy to come back, and he promised to not wear his white coat. Tommy decided he liked Ponk.

They said goodbye to each other and Tommy followed Phil back out towards the car, his mind running through the whole experience.

Honestly, he still wasn’t sure what a doctor was.

Chapter Text

Tommy was bored.

Phil didn’t mention the doctor when they got home, which Tommy was grateful. But it meant there wasn’t exactly much to do.

Tommy spent his days mostly watching more episodes of the cartoon dog family. Every now and then, everyone had to go do something and so Tommy would tag along with one of them so he wasn’t left alone.

Mostly he had to go with Techno to the library. And while Tommy could still not read a word of the book Techno had fished out for him, he enjoyed the quiet of it.

Except for when Phil came to collect him and he was reminded that Techno was just babysitting him.

 Seems they were taking the whole “flight risk” thing pretty seriously.

And while his shifting ability was back, there wasn’t much opportunity to use it.

Tommy had occasionally let out some of the energy by shifting in his room, ears strained to check no one was about to burst in to check on him.

But there was only so much time he could spend by himself before his magic would start to poke him towards going to find one of the hybrids. So there was always some pent up energy somewhere, like a knot he couldn’t quite release or an itch he couldn’t quite scratch.

And this was proving a challenge.

Or more precisely, the fucking tail was proving to be a pain in the ass.

Tommy spent many nights trying to force the tail away, and every time his magic resisted. It was like it was permanently attached or something, Tommy felt he might have more luck trying to make one of his own arms disappear.

Now, if the tail behaved itself as it should, and stayed tucked away in the strange little pocket Tommy had managed to find, he probably would’ve accepted defeat by now.

As it was, the tail was not behaving.

Turns out, most things piglin related are driven by emotion. Something Tommy seriously wouldn’t have guessed based on Techno’s—well—unemotional behaviour. Nevertheless, whenever Tommy became overly anxious the tail would strain to be free, and there had been some close calls.

Tommy had been sat at dinner the other night when Phil brought up finding some animal hairs on Tommy’s sheets when he washed his bedding, and asked Tommy if he’d been letting any strays into the house.

Apparently Tommy hadn’t been good enough at getting rid of the evidence from when he shifted at night.

He stumbled and stuttered his way around the question, but then he felt something at the base of his spine twitch as his panic rose, and he had to quickly excuse himself and slip off to the bathroom.

The tail had broken free just as he shut the door behind him, and Tommy became so annoyed he actually gripped the tail and tried to tug, the offending limb thrashing in his grip.

Obviously the tail was attached to him, and so Tommy had to muffle his yelp and blink furiously as his eyes watered.

Stupid fucking piglins.

The tail had thrashed aggressively behind him, and it took a moment for Tommy to calm himself enough to be able to shove the tail away again.

When he returned to the table, no one brought up the animal hairs again.

And for the moment, Tommy had stopped shifting in his room, worried that someone might arrive unannounced to see if he was actually sneaking strays in.

So, what with the tail doing its best to announce its presence to the others and Tommy’s lack of shifting, he found himself in the same position he had been a few weeks earlier.

And that was ready to explode.

He was now sat on the edge of his bed, hand tapping rapidly while he stared unseeingly at his bedroom door. It took him a moment to realise it was knocking.

“Yeah?” He said, throat slightly raspy.

Techno opened the door and Tommy immediately knew something was off. His eyes were staring at the floor, his ears were low and his tail was whipping side to side, just like it did when Tommy got anxious.

Techno stood there, awkwardly shuffling from side to side as Tommy stared. Eventually Tommy spoke again.

“You ok?”

Techno nodded, still not making eye contact. “I—uh—” His hand twitched, and Tommy noticed it was clasped behind his back.

Techno blinked hard and his tail went unnaturally still. His hand jerked out in front of him, holding something out, but he still didn’t make eye contact.

“I found this when I was cleaning my room and it doesn’t fit me anymore and I thought you could have it.”

The words tumbled out of his mouth and it took Tommy a moment to understand what he had just said. Tommy’s gaze shifted to Techno’s hand, and there in his upturned palm was a small gold ring.

Tommy had heard the phrase ‘stunned to silence’ before, but assumed it was one of those humany things where they exaggerate stuff. Now he felt like he understood what they meant. It was like the ability to speak had just been robbed from him, like he’d shifted into something without a mouth.

Was Techno offering him jewellery?

Thoughts flashed through his head like lightning. Was this a trap? Why would Techno offer him jewellery? What was he supposed to do with it? It’s not like he could carry much jewellery around with him when he shifted, and what was he supposed to do with a gold ring anyway?

And Techno was still not looking him in the eye. Almost like he was afraid.

What would a piglin have to be afraid about? Was this a test? Was Tommy supposed to take the ring? Or maybe he was supposed to not take the ring?

And Techno was still standing there.

Tommy’s mouth opened and closed but no words came out. Techno said he was cleaning his room, but his room was spotless. He wouldn’t have just found a ring lying around and randomly through to give it to the one member of the household who wasn’t family.

And still, Techno was stood in the doorway.

After another excruciatingly long moment Techno closed his fist sharply over the ring, every part of him tense, shoulders hunched and Tommy flinched.

“Don’t worry.” Techno said flatly, still not looking Tommy in the eyes. “I just—never mind.”

And the piglin spun on his heels and disappeared in a blink, leaving Tommy staring after him open mouthed.

Tommy heard him hurry down the stairs, his steps uncharacteristically stiff, and went straight to the back door.

Phil and Wilbur were both out, so it was a shock when Tommy heard the door shut sharply. He darted to the window in time to see a flash of pink disappear into the woods.

Tommy breathed shallowly, eyes darting as he thought hard. He hadn’t been left alone in the house since he first arrived, and he doubted they’d suddenly just decided to trust him.

No, the way Techno’s shoulders were hunched, the way he was unwilling to meet Tommy’s eyes. This was something else.

Tommy’s magic barely had to tug before Tommy leapt to his feet, thundering down the stairs after Techno. In a flash he found himself in a familiar situation, hand on the doorhandle of the backdoor, about to flee outside.

Tommy paused for a moment, heart hammering and he stared towards the front door. Phil and Wilbur could be back any minute, and if Tommy was missing—well he doubted he’d be let off this time.

But there was something wrong, Tommy could almost feel it. And his magic gave another tug deep in his soul, the tail twitching as it fought to break free.

Tommy’s gaze shifted and he saw there, on the side, the gold ring Techno had held out. Something was wrong.

Tommy closed his eyes and took a deep breath, in through the nose and out through the mouth, trying to calm the writhing in his stomach. It felt like he had swallowed a pit of snakes, and they were trying to strangle him from the inside.

His magic gave another tug and Tommy bit his lip. If he was fast—perhaps Phil wouldn’t even notice he was gone.

Tommy shoved the door open and shifted before his feet hit the ground.

Techno’s scent was new and Tommy’s sensitive nose had little trouble following it as it wove deeper into the woods. The scenery looked vaguely familiar, but most of Tommy’s attention was focused on following the trail.

He kept his ears pricked, tongue lolling out occasionally to scent the air, his very wolfish tail held up to avoid dragging it along the ground.

The fact the piglin tail had little trouble disappearing when Tommy shifted but refused to leave when he was human did make his lip curl in annoyance.

Techno’s scent continued to get stronger, and after a moment something shifted ahead of him that made him pause, paw raised off the ground, ears straining and nose twitching.

Tommy crept forwards, low to the ground, until he caught a glimpse of pink. He stopped hidden in the bush on the edge of a glade.

Techno was sat on a rather familiar looking fallen tree in the middle of the glade, staring at the ground, his shoulders dipped as though he was carrying a heavy backpack. His hands were tapping rapidly, like Tommy’s had been back in his bedroom, and Tommy wondered for a moment if Techno just wanted to get rid of some energy too.

Except—there just felt like there was something wrong. And whether it was his magic or not Tommy didn’t know, but it made him feel uncomfortable. And he didn’t like it.

Tommy looked around the glade, suddenly realising why it was familiar. It was the same glade he had walked through with Techno, when Phil had shoved them both out to go on a walk. It felt like so long ago.

“If you sit here long enough you usually get deer in here.” Techno said quietly.

Tommy shook his wolf head and turned to go back. Techno was probably fine, he’d come back to the house when he was ready.

And yet, before Tommy’s magic got a chance to tug with indignation, Tommy found his paws digging into the dirt.

It just—didn’t feel right. Tommy shook to try and release the feeling, but it continued to coil in his stomach and Tommy very almost let a whine slip loose right there and then. His tail tucked between his legs and he licked his nose, the feeling intensifying.

Tommy turned back, head lowered as he peered through the bushes to where the lone pink figure was sat. Techno seemed to radiate emotion, Tommy couldn’t tell what it was but it smelt bitter and strong and it made him feel sad.

Tommy let out a long wolfish sigh and plonked his haunches down, thinking hard. He obviously didn’t want to go over there as human Tommy, that would raise a lot of awkward questions and he doubted that Techno would really want to see him right now.

The wolf could go, but Tommy wasn’t sure how common wolves were in this part. And he’d had enough run ins with animal control to know that humans or hybrids didn’t really like animals in the wrong places.

Tommy perked his head up, ears twitching. He’d never tried it, but he’d seen them before so how hard could it be really?

Tommy stood up and shook again, gathering his thoughts. He let the shift ripple through him, his legs thinning and lengthening, his vision widening, until eventually he tottered forward and faceplanted out of the bush and into the glade.

Techno snapped his head up, looking straight at Tommy, and Tommy froze.

Predator. The voice inside his head whispered.

Ah. Yes. Tommy had forgotten that little problem. Deer were definitely prey animals, and Techno was not.

Still, Tommy shook his head to clear the thoughts and focused on standing. His legs felt long and uncoordinated, like he was balancing on stilts. He kept his front legs folded and tried straightening his back ones.

They shook like he was a fawn.

Tommy had to suppress his annoyance. Of course, of course he would be a fawn. He just hoped he got the shift right, he would rather avoid the conversation over dinner of the strange mutated deer Techno had met in the woods.

Techno was sat completely still on the log, barely breathing and his eyes were wide. But it didn’t seem to be disgust or fear, so Tommy hoped he had gotten it right.

Tommy locked his back knees and shakily stood fully upright, swaying as he tried to keep his balance. How deer managed to move so gracefully will always be beyond him.

Tommy took a few stuttering steps towards Techno, legs uncoordinated and shaky, and Techno’s breath hitched.

Tommy looked up at him and—bleated?

The sound shocked him, and he fell backwards onto his bottom, his legs splayed out in front of him. He didn’t realise deer made that noise.

Techno chuckled, hiding his laughter behind a hand as though worried about spooking Tommy, but the noise made Tommy’s ears prick up and a stared up at Techno.

Techno lowered his hand from his mouth. “Hey there.”

Tommy focused on standing back up again, managing it in a slightly shorter time, and took a few more tottering steps towards Techno.

Techno stiffened slightly, but the bitter smell was fading. “You’re a brave little thing aren’t you.” Techno murmured, barely moving his mouth. “You guys never get this close.”

Techno’s hand reached out, palm up and Tommy stretched his neck out to smell it.

He underestimated the weight of his head, his legs stumbling forwards, before—

A warm hand on his chest stopped him from face planted and Tommy looked up to see Techno right above him, his eyes alight with wonder.

“Hi.” Techno said again, withdrawing his hand. Tommy found himself following the warmth subconsciously, leaning slightly into Techno’s leg.

“Careful,” Techno murmured. “You don’t want your mummy to smell me on you.”

Tommy bleated again, rather enjoying the strange noise coming out his throat and Techno laughed. The rest of the bitter smell faded away and Tommy felt a strange warmth well in his chest and he tried to laugh too, the noise coming out as another bleat.

“You’re sweet.” Techno said gently, and for a moment Tommy felt a pang of envy.

Of course the deer is sweet. He mentally scolded himself. Even if the human inside him tugged slightly.

Techno was calling a random deer fawn sweet. Techno liked the random deer fawn. The deer fawn wasn’t the Tommy Techno knew.

Of course Techno would find it sweet.

Tommy shook himself and focused back on Techno. There was a smile on his lips and he looked better. More relaxed. Tommy shoved himself towards Techno’s leg, letting his legs fold underneath him and ending up tucked into a ball on Techno’s foot.

“I really hope you aren’t imprinting or something.” Techno muttered, but there was no trace of bitterness in his voice. Tommy yawned. He had no idea what imprinting was.

A gentle hand traced Tommy’s ear and it twitched instinctively, the touch far more gentle than Tommy realised Techno could be. It was—nice. He shoved his nose into Techno’s palm, his nostrils flooded with his scent, and it smelt nice. Comforting.

“You seem part cat.” Techno chuckled, thumb gently rubbing under Tommy’s eye. “Wilbur would love you.” He paused. “Probably Tommy too.”

Tommy almost froze but forced himself to keep going, even as his heart rate rose. Techno sighed deeply.

“I’m not sure what to do.” Techno said, and the bitter scent tanged the air slightly. “I can’t force him to take the ring, but it still hurts.”

Tommy did pause at that. He was right, it was a test! Techno wanted him to take the ring.

His mouth went dry. Tommy had failed.

Techno was still speaking, completely unaware the fawn had frozen beneath him. “Maybe I need to do more, maybe then he’ll accept it. Except I don’t know why I tried to give it to him in the first place.”

Techno used his other hand to rub the bridge of his nose. “It was definitely easier before.”

Tommy felt his heart rise to the top of his throat and threaten to choke him. Easier before what? Before Tommy was dropped here? He thought they’d made their decision to let him stay, was Techno going to change his mind?

Tommy knew as soon as Wilbur or Techno changed their minds, Phil would send him away immediately. Him staying here relied on Techno and Wilbur wanting him to stay here.

And his magic wanted to stay here.

Tommy needed the ring. And he needed it now.

Tommy shakily got to his knees and pushed himself up. Techno drew his hand back, looking at Tommy confused.

Tommy pushed his nose into Techno’s hand, thoughts racing, before tottering off back towards the undergrowth.

“I hope I see you again!” Techno called softly after him, and Tommy had just enough control left to give an answering bleat before he was in the undergrowth, and he was trading hooves for paws and bounding through the undergrowth at full speed, mind set on that ring.

He barely remembered to shift before he came into view of the house, stumbling in through the backdoor.

The ring was where Techno had left it and Tommy snatched it up, immediately slipping it onto his finger, heart still pounding.

The metal was cold and heavy on his skin, but as Tommy admired it in the light he began to like how it looked on his finger. The metal was pleasantly smooth, and it was polished so well that Tommy could see his face in it.

And something behind him.

“Where have you been.”

Tommy spun around to see Phil with his hands on his hips and a stern look on his face.

Fuck.

Chapter Text

Phil raised his eyebrow while he waited for Tommy to speak, but the words got caught in Tommy’s throat. What was he supposed to say?

Haha, hey Phil don’t mind me. I snuck out of the house as a deer to go comfort your son because he seemed pretty upset for some reason and it might’ve been my fault but I don’t really understand why.

Yeah Tommy did not see that going well.

But he had to say something, Phil’s eyebrow was about to disappear off his face with how high it was rising, and Tommy really did not want to do this whole flight risk thing. He’d only just got his shifting powers back.

“I went for a walk.” Tommy blurted out. It was technically the truth.

“A walk.” Phil repeated, not sounding convinced at all. “On your own.” He frowned suddenly, peering past Tommy. “Where’s Techno? He was supposed to be watching you.”

“Techno?” Oh yeah, he’s probably still having whatever mental breakdown that was in the middle of the woods. “He err—came with me.”

Phil didn’t even have the grace to look disbelieving. His face was completely devoid of emotion and Tommy knew in his gut he was screwed.

“Tommy.” Phil said levelly, and Tommy didn’t realise the amount of disappointment his name could hold until that moment. “Think long and hard before you answer me. Where were you.”

Tommy swallowed heavily. His mind flooded with a million excuses, each more far-fetched than the last. “I—”

“Dad?”

Tommy spun around, heart beating wildly to see Techno stood in the doorway, his shoes still on and frowning at the two of them. He had his phone in one hand, the other was still holding onto the door handle.

He looked better than he had done in the woods, more alert, and his gaze was flicking between Tommy and Phil as the confusion built on his face. Tommy shifted uncomfortably and Techno’s gaze dropped down to his hand, straight to the ring now around his finger.

Tommy could’ve sworn his pupils just grew about ten times larger.

“Techno.” Phil said, with the same stern voice he was using to talk to Tommy. “Were you meant to be watching Tommy this afternoon?”

Tommy’s heart sunk slightly. It wasn’t just him in trouble, Techno was about to be in trouble as well if Phil didn’t believe them. Techno was still staring at the ring, looking as though he hadn’t heard Phil at all.

“I told you, we were out for a—”

“Thank you Tommy but I’d quite like to hear Techno’s side as well.” Phil interrupted firmly but not harshly, his eyes still fixed on Techno, who slowly dragged his eyes upward to blink heavily at them both, looking strangely out of it. Tommy just hoped Techno caught onto what he was trying to say.

Techno’s eyes flashed slightly as his gaze moved sluggishly between the two of them, and he caught onto what Tommy was saying. “Tommy got restless so we went for a walk.” He said slowly.

Phil raised his eyebrows again but Techno met his gaze unflinchingly, his pupils slowly returning to normal size. Tommy felt like if he reached out he could almost snap the tension with his fist.

Phil nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. “Ok. You did the right thing, but next time leave a note or text or something, you understand I had no idea where the two of you were?”

Tommy and Techno looked at the floor and nodded, faces the twin pictures of guilt. Tommy had completely forgotten what it was like to be told off, his stomach was squirming in ways that made him feel uncomfortable and cold, like he needed to apologise.

“Sorry Dad.” Techno mumbled. “I wasn’t thinking.”

Phil shook his head fondly. “Did you have fun at least?”

Tommy nodded along with Techno, hoping the conversation was near to finishing. He felt like he was three steps away from spilling the entire truth in front of Phil just to stop the horrible feeling.

Phil smiled again and moved away, and Tommy took the opportunity to slip away, Techno following.

They paused at the top of the stairs, looking at each other awkwardly. Techno was the first to speak, his gaze drawn back to the ring.

“We went for a walk?”

Tommy winced, thinking fast. He twisted the ring nervously on his finger, still getting used to the weight. “I was pretty taken aback when you offered this to me, I didn’t get a chance to say thank you.”

A strange growling cough erupted from Techno’s chest that made the tail Tommy’s powers had stolen twitch uncomfortably where it was hidden away, and Techno thumped his fist against his chest a few times, clearing his throat. “It’s nothing.” He said, his voice had a strange roughness to it. “Do you—” he blinked a few times and dragged his gaze up to meet Tommy’s eyes, shaking his head slightly.

“Do you want to explain why I have fifteen missed calls from Dad?” He held up his phone to make his point.

Tommy looked between the phone and Techno, a small feeling of relief settling on his stomach. He didn’t realise he got a choice about whether to explain or not. “No.”

Techno’s eyes raised higher. “No?”

Tommy nodded. “No I don’t want to explain.”

“I wasn’t really giving you a choice.”

Tommy frowned. “But you just said you were.”

Techno sighed. “You ran off?”

“But I came back.” Tommy countered. “And I wouldn’t have run off if someone had been watching me.”

Techno’s eyes narrowed but the side of his lip twitched. “Fair enough.” He shook his head, glancing down at the ring again before dragging his eyes back up. “You can’t make it a habit though.”

“Don’t plan on it.” Tommy mumbled, and with a final glance at the ring Techno disappeared off to his room, leaving Tommy alone on the top of the stairs with a million questions and a gold ring sat heavily on his finger.

No one mentioned it again over the next few days. Tommy went back to the doctor with Phil, and it admittedly went better than last time. Ponk didn’t wear his coat for the entire time, and even let Tommy watch cartoons. There was a bit where he poked Tommy with something sharp, but Tommy was too engrossed in the cartoons to notice much, and it didn’t sting too bad.

Techno had been acting slightly strange though. It wasn’t like he was avoiding Tommy, or actively seeking him out. But he did sort of start hovering awkwardly in doorways, as though trying to make up his mind about whether to come in or not.

Most of the time he would hover for a moment, as though checking Tommy was there, before disappearing off again, but occasionally he would end up actually coming into the room. This led to quite a few nights of them silently sitting in front of the television together, and Tommy found himself quietly enjoying himself.

As for Wilbur, the siren seemed to have picked up on Techno’s strange behaviour and it was puzzling him as much as it was confusing Tommy. That was until he spotted the gold ring around Tommy’s finger, at which point he rolled his eyes rather pointedly at the piglin and wandered off.

Tommy found himself fiddling with the ring constantly, wondering what all the fuss was about. It obviously had some sort of meaning to Techno that Tommy wasn’t aware of, and he had a feeling it was a piglin related instinct considering neither Phil or Wilbur cared much.

Surprisingly it was Wilbur who ended up explaining.

Tommy had just taken a shower and had taken the ring off beforehand, and forgotten to put it back on when he got changed. He was shaking his head as he came back out his room, confused as to why it was less effective as a human compared to a wolf, when he bumped straight into Wilbur, reaching out to steady himself.

“What are you, a dog?” Wilbur said, wrinkling his nose. Tommy started to draw back before Wilbur’s hand struck out, catching his wrist firmly.

“Where’s the ring?”

The change in tone caught Tommy off guard and he blanked. “What ring?”

“Techno’s ring.” Wilbur said, dropping his wrist and pushing past him into Tommy’s bedroom. “Did you do it on purpose?”

“What on purpose?” Tommy said, completely baffled. Wilbur grabbed the ring off the windowsill Tommy had placed it on and dropped it in Tommy’s palm.

“Put it on.”

“I just forgot.” Tommy mumbled, sliding the ring back on. “I took it off to shower.”

Wilbur shook his head disbelievingly and started to walk away, but Tommy seized the opportunity.

“What’s the big deal about the ring anyway?”

Wilbur stopped and turned comically slowly. “It’s Techno’s gold ring.” He said, annunciating every word as though that was all the answer Tommy needed.

Tommy frowned at the ring, holding his hand up until the gold caught the light. “Is it important to him?”

“It’s gold?” Wilbur said questioningly, as though he couldn’t quite believe what Tommy was saying. “He’s a piglin?”

“And that’s important because…?” Tommy trailed off expectantly.

Wilbur looked at him as though he’d grown a second head. Which considering Tommy’s rather erratic magic lately, might be a possibility. “Do you know anything about piglins?”

Tommy bristled slightly, but Wilbur’s tone didn’t sound harsh, just confused. “I know bits.”

Wilbur blinked for a moment before sighing and looking down the stairs. Tommy could hear Techno and Phil in the kitchen, and Wilbur mumbled something about “this is supposed to be dad’s job” before pushing Tommy back into his room, closing the door behind them both.

Wilbur took a long breath before he looked Tommy dead in the eye. “Piglins worship gold.” He said very seriously. “It’s one of their most sacred things, an old instinct that’s engrained deep in their hybrid counterparts.”

Tommy fiddled nervously with the ring. “I should give this back the—”

“No!” Wilbur cut him off hastily. “No, Techno gave that to you because his instincts drove him to, and Phil is very serious about us embracing and allowing our instincts to show instead of locking them away.”

Tommy’s tail twitched nervously and he had to hide the flinch.

“So because you are living with us, Techno’s instincts are trying to recognise that.” Wilbur continued gesturing to the ring. “And that is how they do it.” Wilbur pulled his sleeve up and Tommy saw his wrist was decorated with gold bracelets that clinked together.

“Phil has one as well. They help Techno’s instincts to settle slightly.”

Tommy swallowed nervously. Here he was thinking human things were hard, now he was learning there were a whole different set of rules for hybrids that he didn’t know about? “I didn’t know that.”

“Evidently.” Wilbur snorted, but there was a lack of bite to his words. “Just—don’t let Techno see you without it on. It sends him into a whole spiral.”

That would explain the breakdown in the woods. Tommy thought to himself.

“Okay.” Tommy mumbled, wondering if it would be easier to just permanently attach the ring to his skin. “Are there things Sirens like?”

“I won’t be starting to chuck seashells at you if that’s what you mean.” Wilbur said flatly, his hand on Tommy’s door. “But Phil might steal your clothes from time to time so watch out for that.”

“Why?” Tommy frowned. “I don’t think they’d fit him.”

Wilbur rolled his eyes. “Not to wear, he likes to weave things into his nest. I have to keep stealing my favourite jumper back from him after every wash.”

“Okay.” In truth Tommy had no idea why Phil would want to weave clothes into a nest, but he was imagining a giant bowl of sticks in Phil’s room and he supposed they would dig into Phil when he tried to lie down? It certainly didn’t sound very comfortable, and Tommy supposed the clothes made it slightly comfier.

Wilbur pulled the door open before pausing again. “Did they not cover any of this before they sent you here?”

Tommy shook his head and Wilbur bit his lip. “You should ask Phil, he’s better at explaining this stuff than I am.”

With that Wilbur left the room and Tommy heard him head downstairs to join the others. Tommy kept spinning the ring on his finger, watching the gold glint in the light. It certainly was pretty to look at, the light seemed to bend in the gold in mesmerising swirls, and Tommy’s tail twitched.

Tommy blinked and shook himself, following Wilbur down the stairs.

Everyone was in the kitchen chatting, and Phil looked up with a grin when Tommy came in.

“Tommy! Good news, I got you enrolled in school! And they said you can start next week!”

Tommy forced his mouth to twitch into a pained smile. After that first visit to the doctor, he was pretty nervous about anything new, but it couldn’t be any worse than that first visit.”

Right?

Chapter Text

Tommy had no idea where to start with school.

Techno and Wilbur had been complaining about having to go back, something about their summer break not being nearly long enough, so Tommy assumed that school wasn’t much fun.

Phil had gone shopping for a load of supplies which Tommy was currently packing into a brand new rucksack, not really paying attention to any of it.

Phil, Techno and Wilbur all seemed to assume he knew what school was, and Tommy didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that he had no idea. So he was sort of struggling blindly in the dark while trying to pretend everything was fine.

He was getting enough questions from him not knowing about instincts, he didn’t want to start making them even more suspicious.

Phil kept asking if he was feeling alright about school, if he was nervous or excited, and each time Tommy lied between his teeth.

It couldn’t be that bad, right?

It was.

It didn’t start well. Phil woke Tommy up early, much earlier than he ever had before. Tommy could literally feel his eyelids trying to cling shut, and he almost fell asleep standing when he washed his hands under warm water.

There was a slightly frantic rush about the place that morning, with Techno and Wilbur sprinting around to remember last minute items. Tommy stood unsurely in the hallway by the door, clinging onto his bag with both hands, wondering if there was something he was meant to bring that he didn’t know about.

Phil ushered them all into the car and they drove a little way, pulling up outside a bunch of large grey buildings.

There were people everywhere. Everyone had bags on their backs, stood in groups chatting or laughing. Tommy could see one group shoving each other around roughly with large grins on their faces.

Wilbur was quick to yell his goodbyes, jumping out the car and dashing towards the grey buildings with Techno following more calmly. Tommy watched as the Siren practically slammed into someone with pink hair similar to Techno’s. She turned around and Tommy spotted a pair of fins on the side of her head, the same as Wilbur’s. Another Siren.

Tommy shrunk down in the backseat, feeling suddenly very small. A part of him had hoped he could just follow Techno and Wilbur around all day, but that might be hard with another Siren around, even if she seemed to be laughing easily with Techno and Wilbur.

Phil turned around from the driver’s seat, smiling gently. “You doing alright mate?”

Tommy forced himself to nod, trying not to wince when someone screamed with excitement outside. It was all very loud and very confusing, and he just wanted to sit in the safety of the car until it all went away.

Unfortunately Phil had other ideas. “Come on then.” He smiled gently. “Let’s get you up to reception and we can get you to your class.”

Tommy swallowed heavily but grabbed the doorhandle on the car, opening it and stepping out. He gripped his bag tightly to his chest as though it was his lifeline, watching the humans and hybrids as they chatted and screamed and yelled and shoved.

Phil beckoned Tommy and he led him through the crowd. Tommy stuck closer than he would care to admit, trying not to look at anyone in particular. There were just as many hybrids as human and who knows, eye contact with the wrong one could end up causing trouble.

Phil held the door open for him and Tommy slipped inside, the screaming and shouting muffling instantly as the door closed. The floor was shiny and squeaky, and the same colour as the walls and ceiling. It felt like it was all closing in around him, and Tommy focused instead on Phil’s wings, watching how they captured the light as he followed him down the corridor.

Their footsteps echoed loudly as they made their way along the corridor. There were things along the walls, photographs and pieces of paper with writing on them.

Tommy hoped there would be more pictures and less writing involved with school. He still couldn’t read beyond the odd word.

At the end of the corridor there was another set of doors, and then a larger carpeted space. It was more brightly coloured than the rest of the building and had a large desk that Phil walked up to, smiling at the lady behind it.

“Hello, this is Tommy’s first day?”

The lady looked up and her gaze flicked to Tommy, smiling widely. “Hello Tommy, excited for your first day?”

Tommy nodded quietly, resisting the urge to duck behind Phil and hide behind his wings. The lady pulled out a piece of paper and walked around the desk.

“I’ll take you to your first class, and then I’ll get one of the kids to show you the rest of them, sound ok?”

Tommy nodded again, mouth suddenly feeling very dry. He looked up nervously at Phil who smiled reassuringly at him.

“I’ll see you at the end of the day, okay?” He said gently. “Look for Techno and Wilbur outside, and if you can’t find one just ask a teacher, ok?”

Tommy nodded, even though it really wasn’t ok and he wasn’t sure what a teacher was. The lady was still waiting for Tommy to follow, so he shouldered his backpack and followed after her nervously, glancing back a few times at Phil.

Phil stayed there, smiling encouragingly, until they turned a corner and he was out of sight.

“So you are in Mr Awesamdude’s class.” The lady said as she led them briskly through the building, Tommy stumbling slightly to keep up. “He teaches English, and then you’ll have other teachers for your other subjects. One of the kids will show you where all the classes are.”

Tommy frowned slightly as she spoke. So was Mr Awesamdude a teacher? And he teaches English? Like the language? Tommy was actually pretty good at speaking English, so maybe this would be easier than he thought.

The lady knocked on a door and opened it, not waiting for an answer. Inside the room there was a man sat behind a desk. He looked for a moment, but when he looked up Tommy saw his eyes were an unnaturally bright shade of green. He had a pair of glasses on his nose, and when he looked up he had the same wrinkled eyes Phil had, so he probably smiled a lot.

“This is Tommy, it’s his first day here.” The lady explained, stepping to the side and gesturing at Tommy.

“Nice to meet you Tommy, I’m Mr Awesamdude.” The man said, standing up from the desk and smiling. Tommy was right, he had a nice smile.

Tommy’s wasn’t exactly sure what to say back, so he settled with a quiet “hello” and hoped that was enough.

“Well!” The lady said, walking back towards the door. “I’ll leave you two to get better acquainted. Make sure one of the other kids shows Tommy where his classes are.”

With that the lady exited the room, leaving just Tommy stood there awkwardly with Mr Awesamdude. Tommy licked his lips nervously, not quite sure what he was supposed to do now.

“We’ve got a spare desk here.” Mr Awesamdude said, pointing to a desk a few rows from the back. “There should be spare desks in every classroom but if you’re unsure just ask a teacher and they’ll point one out, okay?”

Tommy nodded, fairly confident that Mr Awesamdude was one of these teachers, so he just had to find the person with the biggest desk and ask them.

Mr Awesamdude turned away, and at that moment there was an ear-splitting ringing noise, Tommy dropped his bag and clamped his hands over his ears, gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut. The noise seemed to go on for forever, even to his dull human ears.

The noise eventually stopped and Tommy opened his eyes cautiously. Mr Awesamdude was kneeling in front of him, not quite touching but close and it was enough to make Tommy flinch backwards slightly.

“You alright Tommy?” Mr Awesamdude said gently, ignoring the flinch but not moving any closer. Tommy nodded, slowly removing his hands from his ears and looking around nervously. “That’s the bell.” He said, pointing to a metal thing on the wall. “We have one at the end of every class to tell people it’s time to go to the next one.”

Tommy glanced nervously at the bell, wondering if it was about to go off again. Why humans needed a bell that loud he didn’t know, but he could now hear loud chattering voices in the corridor, getting louder and louder as the building seemed to shake under the footsteps.

Tommy had a really horrible feeling that school wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d hoped.

At that moment the door burst open and people flooded in, all chatting loudly. Tommy quickly moved to the desk Mr Awesamdude had pointed out and sat, hugging his bag to his chest, determinedly looking in front of him. He decided to treat school like prey would treat a predator. As long as he stayed still and silent, no one would notice him.

From the corner of his eye he noticed most of the people seemed to be the same sort of age as him, and they were all sitting at their own desks. There were a couple of confused glances thrown his way, but other than that he was ignored, and that suited him just fine.

“Alright settle down!” Mr Awesamdude called from the front of the classroom, waiting patiently while the chattering died down. “I know you’re all desperate to catch up with each other about your summers, and you will have time to do that. But for now we have a new student joining us!”

No no no nonono

“Everyone, this is Tommy!” Mr Awesamdude said, and then he even pointed at Tommy. So much for not being noticed. “It’s his first day here so everyone be nice, you all remember your first days at a new school.”

Absolute silence greeted those words, and Tommy felt his face grow hotter and hotter as he sank lower and lower in his seat. His heart pounded and his magic buzzed under his skin, trying to make himself shrink under so many gazes.

Thankfully Mr Awesamdude started talking again which took some of the eyes off of Tommy, but he couldn’t hear him properly. His heartbeat was pounding in his ears as he stared unseeingly ahead of him.

Phil’s voice broke through the fog in his mind. “Breathe Tommy. Deep breaths, with me.”

Tommy focused on taking a deep breath, filling his lungs with as much air as he could, imagining Phil was in front of him.

Breathe.

Tommy focused on pulling his magic back towards his core. The last thing he needed was to shift right in the middle of school.

“—kay?”

Tommy glanced up to see a boy leaning towards him, almost falling off his chair in the process. He had brown shaggy hair that fell slightly over his eyes and a pair of thick curled horns that just poked out of his hair. He was staring expectantly at Tommy.

“What?”

“I said are you okay?” The boy half-whispered again, watching Tommy curiously.

“Fine.” Tommy whispered back rather bewilderedly.

“Mr Awesamdude’s pretty nice.” The boy said, rather conversationally considering the man was still talking at the front of the class. “Don’t let his first introduction put you off. Teachers just can’t seem to understand how embarrassing it is to be called on in your first day.”

“Right.” Tommy said back, trying to relax slightly. Hopefully this would be the worst thing to happen all day, and he’d survive after all.

“I’m Tubbo.” The boy said, grinning widely.

“Tommy.” Tommy said, smiling hesitantly back.

The chairs suddenly scrapped either side of them and Tommy flinched as the people either side of them stood up, the noise increasing again as people started chatting.

“What’s going on?”

“Time for our first class.” Tubbo said solemnly, and Tommy felt as if he had just swallowed a stone. Tubbo must’ve seen the look on his face because he rolled his eyes.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got a pretty nice morning. But I’m not looking forward to maths later.” Tubbo stuck his tongue out in disgust. “Imagine giving us maths on the first day back.”

“Yeah.” Tommy muttered, having no idea what maths was, as Mr Awesamdude came over.

“Tommy, have you met Tubbo? Tubbo, Tommy is in all your classes, so I’m putting you in charge of making sure he finds his way around, okay?”

“Yep.” Tubbo said, standing and swinging his bag onto his back. Tommy scrambled to his feet, pulling his bag with him. “Come on Tommy.”

“Have a good day!” Mr Awesamdude called after them as Tubbo darted on the door, Tommy hot on his heels.

The corridor was crowded. There was absolutely nowhere to go, people were moving in streams either side and there were humans and hybrids pressing in on every side, shoving their way through the crowd.

“This way!” Tubbo said, grabbing Tommy’s hand. Tommy instinctively jerked backwards but then Tubbo was pulling him through the crowd and Tommy was gripping as tight as he could, terrified that the crowd was about to pull him away and he would lose Tubbo.

Tommy literally felt like he couldn’t breathe as Tubbo dragged him through, squeezing through tiny gaps and snaking down the corridor. Then all of a sudden they were stumbling through a door into much airier room, full of all sorts of strange stuff.

Tommy distantly realised he was still gripping onto Tubbo’s hand with a death grip and worked to unclench his fist. “Come sit over here.” Tubbo said, completely unphased by what they had just had to navigate through.

“Music class is one of my favourites.” He carried on and Tommy perked up slightly. He liked music, at least he was pretty sure he did, but he didn’t know what he was supposed to do.

They both sat on the floor, a change from the chairs they had just been sat on as more people filtered in.

Tommy licked his lips nervously and cleared his throat, summoning some courage. “What do we do?” He whispered to Tubbo.

Much to Tommy’s relief, Tubbo didn’t seem phased by the question. “The teacher will explain it all, but don’t worry about being able to read music or anything. Music usually just ends up being a load of noise anyway.”

Tommy was about to ask what the strange objects around the room were when the ridiculously loud bell rang, and had him clapping his hands over his ears again.

“Yeah I hate that thing.” Tubbo said when it had stopped ringing. “You’ll get used to it though.”

Tommy doubted that.

Tubbo was completely right, after distributing some of the strange objects, which Tommy learnt were called instruments, around the room, the teacher had everyone go around and play their instrument.

Tommy was given something metal and oddly shaped, which Tubbo called a triangle. It made a strange chiming noise when he hit it with the metal rod, and Tommy was pretty sure he nailed it first time.

Despite himself, Tommy ended up enjoying music, and he left the room feeling significantly more relaxed than when he went in.

The next class they went to was called French. Tommy enjoyed this a lot less, he could not understand a word the teacher was saying, but on the plus side neither did Tubbo. The two ended up doodling to each other throughout the entirety of the class, tucked away at the back away from the teacher’s gaze.

Tommy liked Tubbo.

After French they got a break, and Tubbo showed him the toilets. Tommy very almost went into the wrong one apparently, Tubbo had to pull him back quickly and shove him into a different one. Although how the toilets were different, Tommy didn’t know.

After that Tubbo dragged him outside to show him the courtyard, and Tommy stopped flinching away from Tubbo’s grasp.

Things were actually going well.

And then break ended.

Tubbo led him to a similar looking classroom to Mr Awesamdude’s, except this one had a ton of posters dotted around the room and books on every desk.

“You can sit here.” Tubbo said, pointing to the desk next to his. Tommy sat down, fiddling with the book nervously. This was the first class that had a book on the desk, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.

A stern looking teacher was stood at the front, and before the bell had stopped ringing she was clapping her hands together. “Alright class! I know it’s the first day back but we’re going to crack right on.” She pointed at the books in front of them. “Turn to page twenty and we’ll start reading together.”

There was a groan that seemed to float around the room slightly but Tommy was staring down in growing horror at the book on the desk.

Everyone around him was flipping open their books, Tommy could hear pages rustling as they were turned. Feeling very sick he opened the book, staring down blankly at the words on the page. He had no idea which page page twenty was, let alone what it said.

He flicked randomly through the book and stopped on a random page, staring as hard as he could at the words as though they’d suddenly just make sense.

The teacher was slowly walking down the rows, watching as everyone bent to read the text in front of them. Tommy could hear each of her steps as she got closer and closer, and his breathing started to speed up, faster and faster as she got closer and closer.

He could see her pink shoes walking in front of him, they made a horrible clicking noise when they hit the ground and they were shaped weirdly, so that she always had to stand on her toes.

He watched as those shoes came to a halt right in front of his desk.

“Thomas, right?”

Tommy looked up meekly. This woman didn’t have smile lines around her eyes, he realised.

“I’m Tommy?” He said nervously.

“If you could turn to page twenty please.”

Tommy swallowed heavily and started turning pages painfully slowly, his fingers trembling awfully. He could feel eyes watching him and he fought to keep his magic down as his fear rose.

The teacher tutted. “You’re on page thirty two.” She pointed out, not that Tommy knew what that meant. “Turn back to page twenty.”

Tommy felt tears well in his eyes and he bit his lip to hold them back, starting to flick backwards in the book.

The teacher sighed. “Thomas, I do not like timewasters in my classroom.” She bent over and flicked the pages, before pointing with one long finger. “Now, read out loud from here to the rest of the class.”

Tommy felt his chest contract and something rose in his throat, making him feel sick. Even if he could read, his vision was shaking so much that the words were blurring in front of him. His magic was practically humming in his ears, drowning out the teacher calling his name with more and more impatience.

His skin was prickling, there were eyes, so many eyes on him and nowhere to hide, his magic was coiling ready to snap.

And Tommy did what he did best.

He ran.

His chair skidded back as he flung himself up and he was out the door before his feet registered he was running, almost tripping over himself as he tried to find his balance.

He could feel something desperate to break free and hide, but he had enough awareness to force himself into the bathroom Tubbo had shown him, locking himself in one of the cubicles just as his skin shivered.

The magic burst, his heart sped up until it was just a hum in his ears, his ears that were growing larger and larger as he became smaller and smaller, his entire body shaking from the force of his heart and his breathing, until the world around him grew and Tommy was shivering on the cold floor, tail curled around him.

His whiskers twitched as he stayed frozen, hearing the teacher getting closer and yelling, and he scrabbled to hide as close to the back of the cubicle as he could.

His magic liked to shift into the form it decided was most helpful in the moment, and while Tommy would agree that a mouse was a good form to use to hide, it came with some rather unhelpful side effects.

Like how Tommy felt like he was about to die of fright with every heartbeat and every breath.

The door banged against the wall with force and those horrible weirdly shaped pink shoes came strutting into the bathroom. Tommy shrank backwards, squeezing his eyes shut and trembling.

“Thomas!”

The door rattled and Tommy flinched. He couldn’t make a noise, even if he wanted to. It felt like his voice was completely gone as the door rattled again.

“Thomas you have three seconds to open this door!”

Tommy looked across the floor, he could make a dash for it under the cubicle wall but all the other toilets had doors wide open, and Tommy wasn’t sure how the school would handle mice, let alone boys that turned into one.

“Three!”

Tommy had no control, his magic was in full flight mode and had locked into shape.

“Two!”

Tommy distantly wondered if this counted as a flight risk.

“One!”

Tommy squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the door to slam.

Chapter Text

“What’s going on here?”

Tommy eye’s snapped open and a pair of polished black shoes joined the horrible pink ones. The voice was vaguely recognisable, but Tommy was too stuck in flight mode to think.

There was a rather heated discussion outside, but Tommy could barely hear it over his own heartbeat.

Eventually the pink shoes turned and walked out, leaving just the black ones. Tommy heard the door shut, but still the black shoes hadn’t moved.

“Tommy?”

Tommy couldn’t place the voice, it was like the world had shrunk until he was looking out of a window in his own eyes.

“Tommy it’s Mr Awesamdude, you remember me from earlier?”

That explained the recognisable voice. His body was still thrumming with fear however, limbs locked in place as he crouched, trembling on the cold floor.

“Whatever it is, we can fix this together, okay? I’m going to just stay out here for a bit if that’s ok, come out whenever you feel ready.”

Tommy watched his shoes move over to the sinks and there was a sigh as Mr Awesamdude leaned up against the wall.

“I had a really rubbish first day at school you know.” Mr Awesamdude said conversationally. “I hated it. I went home to my parents and begged for them to not send me back the next day.”

Tommy found his legs relaxing slightly as he spoke. His magic still swirled but it was gentler somehow. More controlled.

“They sent me back anyway.” Mr Awesamdude continued. “And the next day still sucked, but it sucked less.”

There was another gentle sigh. “The point is first days are usually rubbish. But it doesn’t mean the rest of the days have to be as well. And if you’d let me Tommy, I’d like to be able to help with that. And the first thing we need to do is open that door.”

Tommy’s nose twitched as he tried to get a grasp on his magic. He couldn’t stay as a mouse forever.

“You think we can do that Tommy?”

Tommy shivered and gasped as the magic ran up him, feeling everything shrink around him until his human shape was crouched on the floor, head between his knees and hands on the floor, shaking.

“Tommy?”

Tommy used the sides of the cubicle to pull himself upright, his legs threatening to buckle under his weight. He slid the bolt and let the door slowly fall open, staring at the floor.

There was silence for a moment and Tommy had a sudden panic that he still had mouse ears or something.

“Hey Tommy.” Mr Awesamdude said gently. “Do you want to come back to my office with me?”

Tommy nodded and Mr Awesamdude held the door open for him. Tommy had expected the hallway to be crowded but there was no one there.

Turns out Mr Awesamdude’s office was different to his classroom, they took a different route through the school and ended up at a smaller room. It had a desk and a chair and a sofa in the corner which Tommy liked. There was a picture of a giant white dog on the desk and Tommy absentmindedly reached out to touch it.

“That’s Fran.” Mr Awesamdude said, gesturing to the dog. “She’s the definition of a gentle giant, she wouldn’t step on a fly if it crawled underneath her paw.”

Tommy nodded, he wasn’t sure why Mr Awesamdude was telling him about flies but Fran seemed like a nice dog.

Mr Awesamdude sat down on the chair by his desk and gestured for Tommy to sit on the sofa. “Now,” he said, clasping his hands together. “You want to talk about what happened?”

Tommy shrugged helplessly. He wasn’t sure what to do, he couldn’t exactly say “oh I forgot to mention that I can’t read and I actually never went to school” and expect Mr Awesamdude to just—accept that fact.

“It can be daunting being called on like that, especially on your first day.” Mr Awesamdude said gently, his eyes searching Tommy’s. Tommy ducked his head and nodded. “Is that what it was?”

Tommy opened his mouth, not entirely sure what was about to come out, when there was a knock on the door. Mr Awesamdude sighed. “Come in.”

The door opened and Tubbo stuck his head around. “I just wanted to check Tommy was ok.”

Mr Awesamdude smiled. “Yes, thanks for coming to get me Tubbo.” He stood up and gestured for Tubbo to come in. “Why don’t you both stay here for a moment while I go have a little chat with your history teacher.”

Tubbo nodded and flopped down on the sofa next to Tommy. He waited until Mr Awesamdude had shut the door behind him before turning to Tommy.

“Are you like me?”

Tommy’s entire world stuttered. Like me? Did that mean like me as in, a shifter? Was Tubbo a shifter too? Was Tommy actually not as alone in the world as he thought? Tommy wrestled with the words on the tip of his tongue, trying to find some air.

“What?” He managed to squeak out, staring wide eyed at Tubbo.

Tubbo grinned slightly. “It’s ok if you are, I know lots of people who are. Puffy says it’s a superpower, although it doesn’t feel like it most of the time.”

Tommy’s mouth went dry and his heart rose. He wasn’t alone, there were others like him! Not just Tubbo, he said he knew lots of people! Tommy let out a breathless laugh.

“I didn’t think there was.” He croaked out. “I—I’ve never—”

“Schools are rubbish at catching it.” Tubbo said, rolling his eyes, which seemed a bit of an odd thing to say. “Took me until I was eleven for them to find me out.”

“They found you out?” Tommy said nervously, looking at the door as though white coated men were about to burst in.

“Yeah, this school’s pretty good though, they give me extra time for things and Mr Awesamdude helps me with my reading.”

Tommy frowned, that didn’t feel like it made much sense. “Really? They give us extra time just for being—different?”

Tubbo bit his lip slightly. “Puffy says our brains are just better at processing some things better than others.” The line sounded rehearsed and Tubbo fixed his gaze on Tommy’s shoulder instead of his gaze. He almost looked like the mouse Tommy had been not too long ago.

“Sorry.” Tommy said awkwardly, not sure if that was the right thing to say. Tubbo met his gaze again though so he assumed it was right.

“It’s ok, I just hate it lots of the time. It doesn’t feel much like a superpower, and I’d prefer if I was the same as everyone else. Seems a lot easier that way.”

Tommy thought of the tail he had stolen tucked away in it’s strange pocket. “I get what you mean.” He said quietly.

Tubbo shook himself slightly. “So do you have it with numbers too? It’s got a similar name to dyslexia but I can’t remember what it is.”

Tommy frowned. “What’s dyslexia?”

Tubbo stared at him confused for a moment. “The thing we—I thought—well it seemed like you were struggling with reading so I assumed—” he trailed off. “It’s like difficulty reading or writing and stuff. I don’t remember the actual definition.” He stared down at the floor, his face going slightly red. “Sorry, I thought you were like me.”

Tommy felt a sudden weight of crushing disappointment. Tubbo wasn’t a shifter.

He wasn’t sure what he expected. The only people like him were his parents and they were dead. For some reason it still stung.

But Tommy looked up and saw Tubbo looking—disappointed? Whatever it was, Tommy didn’t like it. So he tried to make Tubbo feel a bit better.

“Well I do struggle with reading and writing.” He said slowly, which was completely true. “It’s just no one ever told me what dyslexia was.” Another truth, even if Tommy was fudging it slightly. But this seemed more reasonable than telling Tubbo that the reason he couldn’t read was because he never learnt. Either way, it seemed to brighten Tubbo up somewhat though.

“Well Mr Awesamdude can help with that.” He said, before hesitating slightly. “And maybe we can help each other? Like in lessons and stuff?”

There was an intense relief that settled on Tommy’s shoulders, like he suddenly wasn’t as alone. Maybe Tubbo didn’t need to be a shifter for them to be able to help each other.

“I’d like that.” Tommy said quietly, and Tubbo grinned happily.

//

Tubbo talked to Mr Awesamdude when he came back in, Tommy zoned out most of it until Mr Awesamdude turned to him with a gentle smile.

“Well we can certainly get you tested, but in the meantime why don’t you join Tubbo and me on Tuesday afternoons? We tend to go mainly through English homework, there’s a lot of reading in that one, but I can try my best to help with any others as well.”

Tommy nodded, a mixture of guilt and relief and nerves settling in his stomach, like his insides had started to twist around each other. He wasn’t sure exactly how long he could keep this up before Mr Awesamdude realised the truth, he figured running to the bathroom wouldn’t be an excuse he could fall back on repeatedly.

But someone was reaching out to help, and for once it didn’t feel like a trap. And Tommy was not going to turn that down.

“Thank you.” Tommy said sincerely, and Mr Awesamdude smiled.

//

“So, how was school?”

Tommy was sat curled up in the backseat of Phil’s car, Techno next to him and Wilbur in the front. Phil was half twisted in the drivers seat to see him, a nervous smile on his face.

“Was ok.” Tommy mumbled, pressing his chin into his knees and staring determinedly at the floor of the car. The school had phoned Phil, of course they had. Tommy was learning that adults loved to snitch just as much as kids did. But Phil hadn’t brought it up and thankfully neither had Wilbur or Techno.

“First day’s the worst.” Phil said, nodding as though that would solve all the problems ever. “It’ll get easier.”

Tommy closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the head rest, strange squiggles dancing behind his eyelids, and wondered whether that might be true.

//

Phil was a fucking liar.

The days did not get better. They got worse.

Apparently being the new student did not mean Tommy would not be picked on by teachers. And here Tommy was thinking the human children would be the real danger.

Tommy, what does Kipling mean when he says this?

Tommy, what did you get for question four?

Tommy, what is the mitochondria?

And each time his face burned red as he stumbled over words, sinking lower and lower into his chair. None of the words got clearer as he struggled over textbooks, and more often than not Tommy found himself crying silently at the back of classrooms, hiding the tears behind books he couldn’t read.

Phil noticed. So did Techno and Wilbur. They noticed how he was slower and slower to get up for school in the mornings, how he’d hang around outside the school building for as long as possible before class. How he stayed silent and curled up in the backseat of the car, and disappeared straight off to his room as soon as the car pulled into the drive.

The only thing keeping Tommy from outright refusing was Tubbo,  tirelessly whispering answers when the teachers weren’t looking and shielding him from the awkward glances of other students.

But he couldn’t shield Tommy from Mr Awesamdude’s growing concern, and Tommy knew it was coming. But he foolishly held out hope, even as he saw the frown growing on Mr Awesamdude’s face every time he stumbled over a question.

Until it eventually happened.

//

“You’re illiterate.”

It was Techno that stood in front of him in the sitting room, with something close to a frown on his face. Tommy looked up, the eyes he had stolen from Phil had dulled slightly in the last few days until they almost looked grey and Tommy wondered if it was his powers messing around again. But the eyes were unfamiliar so he wasn’t sure who he had stolen them from.

They had dark circles beneath them, like the ones Wilbur had after a particularly bad night, but he hadn’t felt his powers steal those so he had to wonder where they were coming from.

“What?”

“I heard Mr Awesamdude on the phone with Phil. He said he thinks you’re illiterate.”

Tommy blinked slowly. “What does illiterate mean?”

“You can’t read or write.”

Tommy’s mouth dried up and he swallowed. He knew it had been coming, but he hoped he would have had a little longer before he was found out like that.

Techno tilted his head. “You never told us.”

Tommy shrugged helplessly. He felt tired down to his very bones in a way he hadn’t done before, and he just wanted it all to stop. The fear, the lies, the loneliness.

He thought he had been lonely before, but it turns out there is a difference between being lonely and being alone. And although for the first time in a long time Tommy was not alone, he had never felt more lonely.

For a moment the truth was on the tip of his tongue. The need for someone, anyone, to actually, fully and completely understand all of him drove the words to the edge of his lips, drowning out the paranoia he’d been living with constantly since his parents died. He took an inhale—

“You’re not in trouble.”

The words died before they left his mouth and Tommy stuttered.

“What?”

Techno shrugged. “It’s not your fault, or anything, but I thought I’d come warn you before Dad comes to sit you down for a very long winded explanation about why he’s not sending you back to school.”

Tommy’s chest loosened slightly and his shoulders rose. “I don’t have to go back?”

Techno opened his mouth but just then Phil walked wearily into the room, pausing at the sight of them. He dragged a hand down his face and his wings drooped.

“Did you tell him?”

“Saved you the trouble.” Techno shrugged, spinning on his heel and shuffling away. “You can explain the rest.”

Phil sighed and slowly lowered himself into a chair, his wings curling slightly around him and his face lined with an emotion Tommy couldn’t place.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” Tommy echoed, pulling his knees up to wrap his arms around his legs protectively. “Why are you sorry?”

“I can’t imagine how stressful this must have all been for you.” Phil said quietly, and Tommy realised then that Phil felt guilty. “And I’m sorry you felt like you couldn’t tell me.”

Tommy stared down at the floor, his fingers digging slightly into his arms. “I don’t have to go back?” He asked again.

“You don’t have to go back.” Phil confirmed. “I’m going to get you a tutor instead.”

“Tutor?”

“Someone to come here and teach you.” Phil said and Tommy tensed. “Not like school, this will just be you and the tutor and you can take it at whatever pace you want to.”

“What if I don’t want to?” Tommy dared to ask, glancing up.

“I ask that you try.” Phil said firmly but gently. “These are things that are invaluable when you’re older, and life will be so much harder if you don’t have these skills.”

Invaluable. Tommy frowned at the unfamiliar word, but Phil took it as uncertainty.

“If you don’t like the tutor we can find different ones until one fits.” A small smile appeared on his strained face. “And it is actually illegal for you not to be in education, and while Techno is all for anarchy I would quite like to keep custody of my children.”

The corner of Tommy’s mouth twitched at that. “Can I still see Tubbo?”

“Of course, he can come around whenever he likes.” Phil said, not hiding the relief that lifted his wings off the floor.  

Tommy nodded slowly. “Ok.” He whispered.

11:34 on Monday 7^th September the machine detected anomaly at site [REDACTED]

Coordinates [REDACTED]

Energy signatures match those detected at [REDACTED]

Recovery team dispatched but no asset recovered

Repeat testing advised

Chapter Text

Tommy didn’t have much to do the next few days while Phil looked for a tutor. Life was like it had been before, except Techno and Wilbur were at school for the day and so the house felt rather empty.

It was nice in a way though. The nerves that had been strangling Tommy’s insides every morning no longer woke him up and kept him tied to the bed. There was nothing to do in the day except what he wanted to do, and while he wasn’t allowed out by himself there was a certain freedom that came with it.

He started to follow Phil around the house, cautiously at first but more boldly when the avian didn’t mention it. He watched the things Phil did, how he held the peeler when preparing vegetables, how he dug out certain plants in the garden by their roots but left other ones, and slowly he started to copy.

It was clumsy to start with and Tommy was hesitant, caught between wanting to learn and worrying about doing it wrong. But Phil never pushed, never scolded or was impatient. He would just shuffle over slightly to create room, a wing drawing back in invitation.

Tommy would slip in, keeping his distance, and Phil would just slow down whatever he was doing until Tommy could copy. Tommy would unconsciously drift closer as he watched and Phil’s wing would spread out behind him. Close but not quite touching.

Tommy would still jerk his hand back if they accidentally touched but Phi never drew attention to it. He held his wing at an awkward angle so the feathers didn’t accidentally brush against him, even if it caused the wing muscles to ache.

By far the best thing however, happened one evening after Techno had come home from school. Tommy was busing himself with washing the plates after dinner, a new routine he’d started that made him feel helpful, but he mostly just enjoyed the way the bubbles squished between his hands.

Phil was having to buy a lot of washing up liquid, but he didn’t mention it.

This time Tommy wasn’t focusing as much on the bubbles as usual. His mind was elsewhere, trying to draw together the right words.

Techno walked in carrying the rest of the plates and placed them in the sink. “Thanks Tommy.”

Tommy nodded absentmindedly, but as Techno turned away he blurted out.

“Teach me to read?”

Techno paused and turned back startled. “Me?”

Tommy shrugged, feeling his ears burn with embarrassment. “I—well yeah.”

Techno coughed strangely and Tommy’s tail twitched. “Wouldn’t you prefer for an actual tutor to do it?”

Tommy shook his head. “Phil hasn’t found one yet, and I want to learn, can we just try? Please?”

Techno’s eyes went suddenly very dark and he coughed again. Tommy had to grit his teeth to stop the tail from willing itself back into existence, he had no idea why his magic had started to act up all of a sudden but he really didn’t want to explain how exactly Tommy had stolen Techno’s tail.

Techno squeezed his eyes shut and cleared his throat. When he opened them again they were a normal colour. “Come on then.”

“Now?” Tommy asked excitedly, shaking the water off his hands and splashing Techno in the process. “Oops, sorry.”

“No time like the present.” Techno said gruffly, already walking into the living room, grabbing a notebook and pen from a nearby shelf, Tommy following behind.

They sat on the sofa and Techno drew a shape on the paper. “This is A.”

“What’s A?”

“A letter.”

“Oh.” Tommy stared at the squiggle. He had seen it before. “I’ve seen this before.”

“It’s quite common.”

Tommy was starting to regret this.

It turned out there were a lot of letters. And they could either be big or small which just seemed like it overcomplicated things. And they were split into vowels and cons—consti—constun—the other one.

Some letters were more important than others, like E seemed to come up a lot, whereas X didn’t.

By the time Phil walked in, three hours later, to tell them they really needed to go to bed, Tommy had memorised the entire alphabet and had practiced tracing the letters over and over again. It didn’t feel like much, but it was a start.

//

The next morning Tommy got up to have breakfast with Techno and Wilbur before they headed to school, and tasked himself with naming all the letters on the back of the cereal box. He gave up after about three sentences, why there had to be so many words on a cereal box he didn’t know.

Phil’s phone buzzed and he glanced at it before doing a double take, frowning slightly.

“Everything okay?” Wilbur asked, leaning over to see what he was looking at.

“You’ve got bloods today.” Phil said, not sounding worried but more confused. “Apparently they’ve detected cases in other schools so they’re testing early.”

“Bloods?” Tommy asked as Wilbur and Techno sighed at the news.

“Government mandated blood tests.” Techno groaned. “There’s a few diseases that affect hybrids and humans differently, so they always do blood tests just before Christmas to check no one’s infected.”

“This is early.” Phil frowned. “Must have them worried.”

“Do I need them?” Tommy asked, and Phil shook his head.

“Nah, it’s only done in schools where stuff can be transmitted pretty quickly. And Ponk checked your blood for diseases and didn’t find anything.”

“Still a pain in the ass.” Wilbur complained, his head flopping into his hands. “I hate needles.”

Tommy silently agreed. He doubted the school would let Wilbur watch cartoons like Ponk had.

//

After Phil had dropped Techno and Wilbur at school, he sat with Tommy in his study as they looked for tutors.

“How about this one?”

Phil turned the screen to Tommy could see. There was a rather serious looking man on the screen with a beard. Tommy thought about it for a moment, then shook his head slowly.

Phil scrolled down the page slightly and an older woman appeared. She had grey hair and wrinkles lining her face and she looked kind. Tommy contemplated her for a moment before his eyes flicked further down the page.

There was another woman underneath, younger than the previous one, and the first thing Tommy noticed was the crinkles around her eyes. He immediately decided he liked her.

“This one?” Tommy asked, pointing at the picture. Phil leaned forward.

“Her name is Hannah.” Phil read out. “She used to be a school teacher but wants to work with students on more of a one to one basis.” He nodded slowly. “She seems to know her stuff. Want to give her a try?”

Tommy nodded and Phil pulled the laptop back towards him to start typing out a message. He sent it off and sat back with a sigh.

“Now we wait.” He grinned at Tommy. “How are you feeling about it?”

“Excited, I think.” Tommy said, wringing his hands slightly. “And a bit nervous.”

“Hey, if it doesn’t work out we just try a different one.” Phil shrugged. He paused slightly, as though gathering his thoughts.

“Tommy, do you mind if I ask you something?”

Tommy looked up warily. There was something in the tone of Phil’s voice that put him on edge slightly. “What?”

Phil took a gentle controlled breath. “Well Clara and I have been looking and we can’t find any sort of background information on you.”

Tommy focused on keeping his hands steady and looked stubbornly at the desk even as his heart started to thud. It hadn’t even occurred to him that they would still be looking into his background, he kind of assumed everything had been forgotten.

“I think it would help a load if there’s anything you can tell us? A last name, birthday, parents? Previous foster homes?”

Tommy swallowed heavily. “I don’t remember.”

Phil looked at him disbelievingly. “Nothing?”

Tommy felt his palms grow clammy and his magic thrummed deep in his bones. This felt like a trap, telling Phil a false name would surely get him found out but there was no way he could tell the truth.

“I don’t remember my parents.” Tommy said, the lie tasting bitter on his tongue. “They died when I was young.”

“I’m sorry.” Phil said sincerely, his wings fluffing out slightly. “Did you go into foster care then?”

Tommy clenched his fists to stop them trembling. “I don’t like to talk about it.”

Phil sighed gently. “I understand, and I realise this is hard for you, but I promise I just want to help.”

Tommy fought to keep his breathing under control, but Phil caught on.

“Hey, Tommy breathe.”

What was it with these humans and breathing? Every time, their response was to just breathe, as though everything in the world could be solved by breathing. If anything, Tommy’s breathing sped up when his stomach became twisty like this.

Still it seemed to make Phil feel better when he took exaggerated breaths so Tommy did that, watching Phil’s feathers slowly smooth down from where they had been fluffed up.

As usual, whenever Tommy’s stomach did that weird thing, Phil would back off from questioning him, which was actually kind of useful.

He had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t last.

//

Tommy was slightly nervous when Techno and Wilbur came back home, he remembered feeling a bit dizzy after Ponk had taken his bloods. But Wilbur and Techno almost seemed to have forgotten that it happened so he guessed it wasn’t a big deal.

Then he wondered why he cared.

Truth was, as much as Tommy still tried to place all the blame on his clingy magic, he—wasn’t hating life here anymore. Especially now he wasn’t having to go to school.

Humans had always been difficult to interact with, stuck in their own skins and their own lives, having to do wild and crazy things to get the same freedom Tommy could find by slipping into a different shape. Hybrids were even worse.

And yet there were times when it didn’t quite feel like that. Tommy might usually struggle to read the meaning behind a human’s words, but he could tell when Wilbur was stressed by the slight twitch of the fins on the side of his head. He knew when Techno was anxious by the way his eyes would flick to the jewellery around their wrists. He knew when Phil was on edge by the way his wings would ever so slightly fluff up.

It was a bit like learning to read. It was taking practice, but every time he got it right it cemented further in his head and it got easier to spot the next time.

He wondered if this was how most people felt all the time.

//

Hannah turned up two days later. Phil had let Tommy know she was coming, which led to Tommy being seated on the edge of his bed, ears strained towards the front door, leg bouncing erratically as he waited.

His magic might’ve slightly enhanced his hearing so he flinched and winced when someone knocked on his door, the rapping bouncing around in his head.

“Yeah?”

“You doing alright?”

Phil sounded a little nervous himself which didn’t help Tommy’s own fears.

“Yeah.”

“Ok, just let me know if I can do anything.”

Tommy went back to bouncing his leg.

A short time later the doorbell rang and Tommy practically shot off the bed, opening the door a crack and peering out into the hall.

Phil opened the door, Tommy could see how he was forcing his feathers flat, but his voice was cheery as he spoke.

“Hannah? I’m Phil, lovely to meet you.”

“And you!” A gentle voice sounded back. “Sorry I’m a little early.”

“No, no worries at all! Please, come in!”

Phil stepped to the side and Tommy caught a glimpse of long brown hair as Hannah stepped inside. “Is Tommy here?”

“Just upstairs at the moment.” Phil said, and Tommy flinched back out of view as Hannah’s eyes flicked upwards. “Is there anything you want to ask before you get started?”

“No, I think your email gave me a good idea of what’s needed.”

Phil nodded as he shut the front door behind them before calling up the stairs.

“Tommy? Come meet Hannah!”

Tommy swallowed heavily and opened his door fully. Hannah was stood smiling gently in the hall as he walked down to them both.

“Nice to meet you Tommy! I’m Hannah.”

“Hullo.” Tommy said quietly.

“Where’s best for you to work?” Phil asked, leading them both through the house. “My study is through here, or the kitchen?”

Hannah turned to Tommy. “Where would you like to work Tommy?”

Tommy looked up bewildered. “Um, I don’t mind?”

Hannah kept looking at him expectantly. “The living room?” He said questioningly and Hannah smiled.

“Sure!”

Phil led them both through. “I guess I’ll leave you to it?”

“We won’t do long today, just enough to start to get to know each other.”

Phil nodded, gave Tommy a little wink and left, shutting the door behind him. Hannah sighed and collapsed on one of the armchairs.

“This is cozy, I like it!”

Tommy nodded awkwardly, shuffling his feet slightly from the middle of the room. Hannah gestured at the chairs. “Feel free to sit if you want to.”

Tommy hesitated slightly before crossing the room and sitting down on the edge of one of the chairs, wringing his hands in his lap.

“So.” Hannah said, putting one leg over the other. “What do you want to do?”

Tommy looked around awkwardly. “Isn’t that your job?”

“Not today!” Hannah grinned. “I thought we’d just get to know each other, since we’re going to be spending a load of time together.”

“Oh.” Tommy said, looking at the floor. “I don’t really know.”

Hannah reached into her bag and pulled out a small carboard box. “You ever played uno?”

Tommy eyed the cardboard box. “No.”

“I’ll teach you.” Hannah said, starting to mix the cards up. “First we shuffle them like this.”

She started dealing out the cards, then paused.

“One question before we start. Why do you think I’m here?”

Tommy looked up, certain this was a trick question. But Hannah had the soft smile that made creases around her eyes. “To teach me how to read and do maths and stuff?”

“Hmm.” Hannah hummed. She carried on dealing the cards out. “Let’s play.”

//

Uno was intense.

Tommy was somewhat reluctant at first. All the cards had numbers on them and he was worried this would be something to do with maths, but then Hannah explained the rules and promised that they’d go slow to start.

Tommy actually got the hang of it pretty quickly after watching Hannah. It wasn’t super complicated to understand, and the worst part was counting up the numbers when he lost.

Hannah brought out some shiny coloured counters to help him, and Tommy slowly found it easier and easier.

“UNO!” Tommy yelled, slapping down the red card and leaning as far forward as he could. Hannah grinned and put down a wild card.

“Sorry Tommy, change the colour to blue and uno.”

Tommy looked down at his card and let his face fall. “Oh Hannah.”

“My deepest apologies Tommy.”

“Hannah, Hannah, Hannah.” Tommy said, shaking his head forlornly. “You are so close to victory.” He slowly put down his last card, a blue five. “And yet so far! I win!”

Tommy cackled as Hannah put her face in her hands. “I don’t believe it.”

Tommy grinned, feeling pleasantly warm. Proud he realised. “Don’t worry, I don’t imagine it’ll happen again.”

Hannah started reshuffling the cards. “Why do you think that?”

Tommy shrugged, avoiding eye contact. “Well I’m sure it was an accident is what I mean. I’m not very—” he gestured around, trying to find the right words. “Smart.”

Hannah gently put the cards down and faced Tommy squarely. “Tommy, what do you think being smart means?”

Tommy chewed his lip nervously. “I don’t know, like knowing things? Being able to read things and do maths and stuff?”

Hannah nodded slowly. “I see what you mean. But do you think someone can be smart without all that?”

Tommy went to shake his head but Hannah interrupted him. “Don’t just answer, think about it.”

A car drove past the house and Tommy tracked it with his eyes, thinking. “Well, I suppose— I have a friend. And he said he struggles with reading, but he’s really smart.”

“Good!” Hannah praised him. “So do you think the same can be applied with you?”

“It’s different with me.” Tommy argued, unsure exactly why he felt so strongly about this. “Tubbo has dis—duslex—what do you call it?”

“Dyslexia?”

“Yes, so he is really good at processing things in different ways. I’m just stupid.”

Hannah raised an eyebrow. “First rule while I am tutoring you, we never call anyone stupid. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect.”

“I can’t call myself stupid?” Tommy said, confused.

“We treat everyone with respect.” Hannah repeatedly firmly. “That includes ourselves.”

Tommy shook his head but continued. “Well it’s true.”

Hannah sighed and lent forward slightly but her face was patient and kind. “I understand this is all frustrating, that you feel like you should be able to do things other people can. But there’s more to being smart than just knowing facts and being able to do big sums in your head.”

She gestured at the uno laying forgotten on the table. “You learnt to play this game just by watching me. You went from knowing nothing about numbers to being able to add things up in less than an hour.”

She shifted even further forward in her seat. “But it’s more than that. From what Phil tells me, you’ve gone from knowing little to nothing about hybrids to living with three, rather complicated ones. That’s something any person would struggle with, and yet your managing to not only to adapt but it looks like you fit in here. I can tell you see the world in ways no one else does. You are smart Tommy, you just need to learn to understand yourself better.”

Tommy blinked, taken aback. That was a lot to be thrown in his direction at once, but there was only one thing on his mind. “I don’t believe you.”

Hannah smiled. “And that is why I am here.”

Chapter Text

There was a simple routine now.

Every morning, when Wilbur and Techno went to school, Hannah would come round. Sometimes they did fun little games, other times they did more serious stuff. But none of it was like school had been.

Hannah never made him feel stupid or slow. She never rushed him or was impatient. And Tommy actually found himself enjoying learning, much more than he ever did at school.

There was something about Hannah that made it a lot easier for Tommy to forget that this wasn’t normal. There were times when his magic would itch and he would instinctively reach for it, only catching himself at the last minute.

And as much as Tommy was enjoying this new sense of freedom, those little moments always reminded him of the hurt. Knowing that he was one little slip from throwing everything away.

These close shaves would happen more and more the longer Tommy kept from shifting, which led to his next favourite part of the day.

After many, many long conversations with Phil, Tommy was finally allowed to have one walk on his own every week. Phil had downloaded this weird tracking thing onto Tommy’s phone, which Tommy didn’t really like, but it gave him that extra bit of freedom he needed.

The first few times, Tommy had walked stiffly through the forest behind the house, not daring to shift, convinced that Phil was following a few steps behind. He was back at the house before the agreed time, heart thrumming with fear as though Phil could see through him and read his very thoughts.

But nothing happened. And nothing happened the time after that. Or the time after.

The time after that, Tommy paused behind a tree to glance behind him. He could hear the birds fluttering in the canopy above his head, and he closed his eyes and reached for a little bit of magic to hear better.

There were deer in a clearing deeper in the woods, Tommy could hear the crack as their antlers crashed and locked together. There were mice under the ground beneath his feet, Tommy could hear their little paws scrabbling at the earth as they tunnelled their way through the soil. But there were no heavy footsteps, no rustling of feathers.

Tommy opened his eyes back up, he could feel his magic coiling and curling impatiently and it was all too easy to call it forward, to let it wrap itself around him, releasing all the tension he didn’t realise he had been holding. And it was like he could breathe again.

When Tommy collapsed into bed that night, his muscles ached horribly, his hair felt tangled and he felt exhausted. He hadn’t shifted that much for a while, it was so much harder than he remembered and he seemed to be a bit out of practice, but his magic felt warm and lazy in a way it hadn’t for years.

//

It didn’t last however. After that first initial burst, shifting became harder to control.

It was easy to reach for, especially if he was feeling pent up or stressed, but harder to shape in the way that he wanted. Little things, like when he tried to shift into a wolf his paws were the wrong shape, or as a mouse his tail was too long. At one point his concentration slipped mid shift and he ended up with a weird mixture of a squirrel and a fox.

It wasn’t exactly painful when it messed up like this, more like an ache he couldn’t quite stretch. And when he shifted back he felt more shaky and sore.

But more than that, it was frustrating. Tommy couldn’t figure out what it was he was doing wrong, but he was feeling more and more inadequate with each shift that wasn’t right. What used to be his favourite part of his week started to become a chore. And there was no one he could talk to about it.

Unless…..

“Hannah?”

“Yes Tommy?”

“How to people go from… this—” Tommy said, gesturing at the words on the scrabble board— “To being able to write full on books?”

Hannah shrugged, placing another word on the board. “Like everything in life. You start small and you work your way up.”

“And that works?” Tommy said doubtfully. There seemed to be a big jump between putting a few letters on a scrabble board and writing some of the book Tommy would convince Techno to read to him.

Hannah picked up one of the scrabble tiles and held it a little way off the table. “Imagine this is where you’re trying to get to.”

“The tile?”

“Imagine the tile represents writing the book.”  Hannah explained patiently. “Now if I let go of the tile now, what’ll happen?”

Tommy raised his eyebrows. “It’ll fall.”

“Right.” Hannah said, dropping the tile. “But. If you take the time to build a proper foundation—” she started to stack a few other tiles on top of each other, “it might take longer but eventually you’ll have a strong support.”

She balanced the tile representing the book on the top. “See?”

Tommy stared at the tile for the rest of the game, and when they were packing up he slipped it into his pocket.

//

That evening after dinner, Tommy excused himself and went upstairs. He shut the door quietly and turned towards the middle of the room, wringing his hands slightly.

“You start small and you work your way up.”

Tommy felt in his pocket and pulled out the scrabble tile from earlier. He gripped it in his hand for a moment before putting it on his shelf, breathing deeply and using it to focus himself.

With how nervous he was, shifting inside the house with the others only a few walls away, it didn’t take much to reach for his magic. But for a moment that was all he did. He just let himself feel it for a moment, the way it swirled about inside, the way it fizzed and bubbled like hot water on the kitchen stove.

Usually when he shifted it was a quick thing. Sometimes powered by fear, sometimes he was just impatient. He’d never really taken the time to actually feel it, and it made him shiver slightly.

Tommy took a breath and closed his eyes. Instead of just letting the magic consume him, he deliberately tried to channel it, push it where he wanted it to go.

He pushed it upward and the hairs on the back of his neck rose as his magic did. Tommy screwed up his face with concentration as his scalp prickled.

He was rewarded with the strange feeling of his ears popping, and then he let his magic settle back down. He reached up a hand to his head and his ears jerked as he brushed them. They were larger and silkier, and they twitched independently of each other.

Tommy hadn’t had a specific idea in mind so he wasn’t sure what animal he had mimicked, but he’d managed to contain it to just his head which already felt like progress.

He took another breath and this time focused on shifting his ears back. It took a bit more concentration, but when he reached up they felt like his own ears again.

Tommy looked at the scrabble tile on the shelf.

It was a start at least.

//

The weather was getting chillier, the days becoming darker and shorter. Tommy had spent a fair few winters out in the cold, he was looking forward to spending this one in the warm.

Surprisingly, Tommy seemed to be the one most looking forward to the cold. Wilbur would spend his days muttering and whining about ‘cold fins’ and donning a hideous collection of knitted jumpers.

(Donning was the newest word Tommy had learnt in his game of scrabble, and it made him feel incredibly smart to say.)

Tommy was convinced there was only so many times the Siren could complain about the weather, but so far Wilbur hadn’t shown any signs of relenting. Especially when it was raining.

“Don’t Siren’s originate from water?” Tommy desperately asked Phil one morning, after having to deal with another meal where Wilbur complained that it was ‘completely unjust’ for the weather to still be raining.

“I fear society is turning hybrids soft.” Phil stage whispered, making Wilbur hiss at him.

Techno, who was usually a fairly early riser, was sleeping in later and later, and when he did eventually emerge he usually brought his duvet with him. He sat in the kitchen with a cup of coffee, huddled in his duvet like one of those tortoises Tommy had seen once on the television.

Tommy hadn’t yet tried to shift into a tortoise. He was a little scared of how shifting into an animal with a shell would turn out.

Phil was probably the most normal out of all of them, except his feathers were fluffed out a little more. Which made it a lot easier for Tommy to ‘accidentally’ brush against his wings when he walked past him.

But with Techno in his tortoise era and Wilbur being a whiny little bitch, that left Tommy on his own a lot of the time when Hannah wasn’t around. Which gave him lots of time to practice.

Like right now.

There was a loud crash from Tommy’s bedroom, and a few moments later there was a rather frantic knock sounded at his door.

“Tommy? You alright?” Phil called alarmed through the door.

Tommy stifled a groan where he was lying on the floor and rubbed his nose with a wince. “Fine!” He called back, trying not to sound desperate. “Just slipped.”

“Alright mate, be careful.” Phil said as he walked away. Tommy shook his head slightly, trying to clear the stars from his eyes. Over the past few days he’d been trying to shift individual parts of his body, trying to find some control. This time it had been his legs, only he hadn’t considered that his balance would go as much as it did.

Tommy didn’t get up immediately, he lay on the floor looking up at the ceiling. His heart was pounding, Phil had been just outside. If he had just opened the door instead of knocking—

Tommy shut his eyes and mentally shook himself. He was fine. It was fine.

The weather wasn’t the only thing changing. According to Hannah, Tommy was picking everything up with brilliant speed. According to Tommy, Tommy was the most gifted person in the universe ever.

Unfortunately, this incredible kind of brilliance came with a catch. Because everything in the universe had to balance out or some shit.

“Tommy?” Hannah asked, putting down her pen where she’d been marking some of Tommy’s latest work. In all honesty Tommy definitely preferred playing games to having to do actual physical school work, but Hannah balanced it fairly.

“Hannah.” Tommy said seriously, looking at her from where he was lying on the rug, staring at the ceiling.

“You thought about what it is you want to do? When you’re older?”

Tommy frowned. “No.”

Hannah hummed. “Might be something worth thinking about. You’re dedicated enough to get wherever it is you want to go, but if you know what that is then maybe I can help you.”

Tommy made a noncommittal grunting sound, and Hannah went back to marking the work. Tommy rolled onto his side, facing away from Hannah and curling up slightly.

He didn’t have a plan for the future. He had no idea what it was that he enjoyed, except he supposed shifting but he couldn’t exactly turn that into a career. Not legally anyway.

He could vaguely remember that his parents had careers. He had no idea what it was they did, he wasn’t sure if he even ever asked them. But they had been good at hiding, and they’d still been caught.

Tommy hadn’t expected to get this far in life, let alone any further. He hadn’t thought about a next step because he knew the likelihood of him getting to it was slim.

He didn’t want to think about a next step because that was just giving himself false hope.

But then again. Tommy hadn’t imagined himself living in a house again and here he was. He certainly hadn’t imagined himself being able to read and right and do stupid maths questions that he was certain would never be used again in his life. And here he was.

So what if he could? What if he could get a job and his own house? What if he could have his own space, his own life?

Maybe it was false hope. But then maybe it was also worth holding onto.

Memo [redacted]

Blood test results: Negative

Machine tested for faulty detection.

Result: Negative

Files requested

Subject: Pending…

Chapter Text

“What time is it?”

Phil showed no sign of irritation and glanced yet again at the clock. “10:52.”

“And he said he’d be here at 11.”

“Yep.”

“So that’s..” Tommy counted on his fingers determinedly. “In eight minutes.”

“That’s right.”

Tommy scowled. “What time is it now?”

“Still 10:52 mate.”

Tommy groaned and threw himself backwards onto the couch. “That’s not fair.”

“It’s time mate, unfortunately there’s not a lot we can do about it. He’ll be here soon.”

“How come sometimes it goes really fast, and sometimes it doesn’t move at all?” Tommy whined. “I don’t think all minutes are equal. Someone’s lying. I bet it’s the government.”

Phil glanced sideways at Tommy and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I need to start limiting your contact with Techno.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, one of his absolute favourite things to do, and fingered the new shiny gold bracelet on his wrist. Techno had given it to him the last reading lesson they’d done together, claiming gruffly that it was gathering dust in his room. But Tommy had accepted it with enthusiasm as soon as he’d seen it, his stolen tail fighting to free itself, and Techno had coughed hard.

“Chuffing.” Phil had clarified when Tommy had gingerly brought it up. “It’s a positive vocalisation. A positive sound.” He added when Tommy stared blankly. “It’s affectionate.”

A few months ago, the concept of Techno being affectionate was insane. It was still a bit weird. But a nice kind of weird.

Tommy stared up at the ceiling, arms spread eagled and mentally cursing whatever was making time go so slowly. “What time is it now?”

Phil, patient as ever, glanced at the clock and waited a few seconds.

“10:53.”

Tommy groaned loudly, making the resident Siren poke his head into the living room as he wandered past the door in yet another woollen jumper.

“Dad, why’s Tommy dying?”

“Because time is a bitch.” Tommy answered, ignoring Phil’s sigh.

It was the winter holidays, or so Tommy had been told, and so Techno and Wilbur were at home most of the day. Tommy refused to admit it, even in the privacy of his own head, but it was nice to have everyone home. Everything felt more complete somehow.

The cold and dark that was causing Wilbur’s frequent weather complaints and Techno’s mobile blanket fort had awoken something feral in Tommy. He felt more alive, more awake. And a whole lot more confident.

Maybe it was the fact all four of them were around each other more. Maybe the weather was the reason. But the house no longer smelled strange or foreign to Tommy, he no longer dreaded footsteps approaching or even the occasional accidental touch—

Nope. Tommy slammed a mental door on that fast. Fuck that.

In any case, Tommy had accidentally dropped a plate and yelled ‘shit!’ at the top of his lungs a few days ago. Phil wasn’t mad at all about the plate but had let out an actual squawk at the language, leaving Techno and Wilbur in hysterics and Tommy fighting back a grin.

“Who taught you language like that?” Phil had asked, feathers fluffing up.

“Dad doesn’t really mind swearing.” Wilbur said once he was able to breathe. “I just don’t think he was expecting it.”

“I fucking love swearing.” Tommy had said. Phil had raised his eyes to the ceiling.

Wilbur mumbled something intelligible and shuffled past the door towards the kitchen, leaving Tommy to suffer the curse of time alone.

“What tim—”

There was a rap on the front door and Tommy practically levitated off the couch, sprinting towards the door and nearly wrenching it off it’s hinges with the force he opened it.

A blur of shaggy brown hair barrelled into him and Tommy had the wind knocked out of him by a pair of thick horns.

“Tommy!” Tubbo yelled excitedly.

“Tubbo!” Tommy did his best to answer between wheezes.

“Oops sorry!” Tubbo said, releasing Tommy with a wide grin. “I think they’re getting bigger!” He lowered his head, and Tommy could see an extra ring around the base of the horn that he couldn’t remember seeing before.

“I think you’re right! Do you think you could knock down a tree with those?”

“We won’t be testing that.” Phil said as he joined them, smiling welcomingly at Tubbo. “Nice to see you again Tubbo.”

“You too, thanks for letting Tommy hang out!” Tubbo grinned, grabbing Tommy’s hand and starting to pull him out the house.

“He’s always welcome to, as long as you don’t start knocking down trees!” Phil called after them with a fond shake of his head. Tommy waved an acknowledgement but was focused on Tubbo’s warm hand.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like physical touch. But he still caught himself flinching away whenever the others came too close to quickly, or when his magic curled around his skin violently. And after so many months of avoiding contact with the others, they now tended to be more careful, and it seemed better this way.

That way, if he had to leave, it would be one less thing to miss.

But Tubbo had never given an option. He’d grabbed hold and dragged Tommy around on his first day at school like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Tommy was surprised his magic hadn’t latched onto Tubbo in the same way it had with Phil, Techno and Wilbur. It still lazily coiled around him, gently pushing into his fingertips, but no more.

“So where are we off to?” Tubbo asked, stopping tugging Tommy along and letting go of his hand. Tommy quickly rubbed it to dispel the last of the magic lingering under the skin.

“I dunno, you were dragging me.” Tommy answered, glancing up at the sky. It was a cloudless day, the blue sky looked crisp and cold and the sun was shining brightly. Tubbo blew warm air into his hands, rubbing them together.

“Coffee?” Tubbo suggested, and Tommy wrinkled his nose. He’d snuck a sip of Phil’s cup once, why on earth anyone would want to drink something that bitter for fun was just beyond him, something he pointed out to Tubbo.

“You’ve just got underdeveloped taste buds.” Tubbo sniffed, making Tommy scoff.

They continued walking down the street, debating the merits of coffee, until Tommy glanced back and caught sight of the forest stretching out behind the house.

“Why don’t we go in the woods?” He suggested.

“It’s cold.” Tubbo complained, wrapping his arms around his body. Tommy shoved him lightly.

“It’s not that cold, we can always head back to mine if it gets too bad.”

Tubbo sighed theatrically. “Fine. But when my fingers turn blue and black and fall off, I’m blaming you.”

Tommy forced a grin but glanced a little nervously at Tubbo’s hands. He’d never heard of people’s limbs falling off, human or hybrid. But he wasn’t exactly an expert on the subject. Tubbo seemed to have spotted the look on his face, because he elbowed Tommy playfully.

“I’m being sarcastic, it’s not cold enough for frostbite.”

Tommy wasn’t sure who Frost was, or why he went around biting people when it was cold, but chose not to tell Tubbo that.

Most of the trees were bare of leaves but it was still noticeably darker as they wandered deeper into the forest, chatting aimlessly. It was quiet aside from their voices and footsteps, and the occasional cry of a bird perched high above them or a rustle in the bush.

Whether on purpose or by accident they arrived at the glade with the large fallen tree in the middle. They sat in the sunshine on the grass, Tommy could feel the ground was cold and hard beneath him from the weather, but the warmth from the sun felt like it was heating his bones.

Eventually they stopped talking and just sat in the quiet. Tubbo closed his eyes and tilted his face towards the sun.

Tommy curled his fingers around a piece of grass and tugged. His magic was stirring, not uncomfortably, like a vague itch he couldn’t scratch.

Not for the first time recently, he wondered about what life would be like if shifters weren’t hunted.

His parents would still be alive.

But then he’d never have made it here. Probably never would’ve been stuck as a human in the first place, and he’d have a much better understanding of his magic. Maybe he would’ve gone to school and learnt things like everyone else.

It wasn’t fair. Tommy thought to himself, ripping the grass up angrily. He’d never asked to be like this. He was sure his parents hadn’t either. All his magic did was cause trouble and make everything harder.

It bubbled up a little inside him and he roughly shoved it away. He hated it. He hated it.

A sharp pain sliced through his finger and he hissed, releasing the grass and turning his hand over. A little thorn was embedded in the pad of his finger, and as he pulled it out a small bead of blood welled. Tommy absentmindedly squeezed his finger, making the bead grow until it dripped off his finger and soaked into the ground.

Tommy rubbed the pad of his finger thoughtfully.

“Tubbo?”

“Yes Bossman.” Tubbo opened his eyes and looked over at Tommy.

“Do you ever…” Tommy trailed off, not sure how to phrase it. “I mean, have you ever wanted to be human?”

Tubbo frowned and Tommy tensed, but he looked more thoughtful than angry. “Not really. Maybe if I didn’t live here, but there’s more hybrids than humans in this part. Plus there’s not a lot different about me compared to other hybrids, I’ve got the horns and stuff, but it’s not like I’ve got an extra set of limbs or anything. And my instincts are really mild and easily either ignored or satisfied.”

“But if you wanted to be, could you?” Tommy asked.

Tubbo reached up to touch his horns, an emotion on his face that Tommy couldn’t name. “They used to cut and burn our horns off not too long ago, when hybrids didn’t have rights. They’d never grow back again.” He dropped his hand. “I’m sure some doctor out there would do it if I asked, and then I’d look human, but I’m still me. Being a hybrid isn’t about what’s on the outside, it’s in me.”

He glanced back at Tommy. “Why’d you ask?”

Tommy glanced down at his hands and bit the inside of his cheek. He could tell Tubbo, right then and there. Shift in front of him and deal with the consequences later. Tubbo was his friend, at least he hoped he was. He wouldn’t tell the white coats, he’d see whatever Tommy shifted into and still just see Tommy. Not a monster, not an abomination. Tommy.

But he couldn’t do it. The words were right on the tip of his tongue, his magic at his fingertips. He just needed to shift.

“I..” Tommy started, squeezing his hands into tight fists. “I don’t like what I am.” He said, heart pounding in his chest, his magic expanding so far he thought his body might burst.

“What you are?” Tubbo repeated quietly. Tommy nodded jerkily. “Different?”

Tommy swallowed hard, his stomach in knots. His hands were shaking in their fists. “Different.” He echoed shakily.

“From Phil and Techno and Wilbur?”

Tommy nodded again, glancing at the forest in front of them like he expected to see white coats come bursting out at any moment.

Tubbo sighed and shuffled a little closer until their shoulders were touching. “It must feel weird, to be the only human in a house full of hybrids.”

Tommy’s magic snapped back like a rubber band and he relaxed his hands, staring at the crescent dents in his palms from his nails. “Yeah. Human.” His voice sounded off to his own ears, flat and distant. His heart started to slow and a heavy weight seemed to settle in his stomach.

“Especially three hybrids like them, full of instincts and differences.” Tubbo continued sympathetically, nudging Tommy gently. “But I like who you are.”

Tommy’s mouth tasted bitter and he swallowed hard. “But if I could change, be more normal…” He whispered, trailing off.

“You can’t change who you are at your centre any more than you can change how fast the Earth spins.” Tubbo said very seriously. Then he grinned. “Puffy told me that. Look, Bossman. You can dress, act, be who you want and I’ll always support you. But don’t go changing into something you’re not just to fit in. You deserve better than that.”

They sat quietly in the glade, shoulders touching. Tubbo blew into his hands again and gave a little shiver.

“Let’s go back, I can’t feel my toes anymore.”

Tommy forced a small laugh and got up, brushing his trousers down. “Let’s go this way back, it’s faster.” He said as he started to walk back in the direction of the house.

Tubbo caught up quickly and fell into stride beside him.

“Do you think Jack Frost was originally a strange snowman hybrid?” Tubbo said randomly.

“Who the fuck is Jack Frost?”