Chapter Text
Haven comes up slowly. There's no rush.
He blinks to focus his eyes, yawns to settle into the body, feels his hands and his legs and toes and Haven is alive again.
"Hi," he mumbles, looking at the two who hover over him in worry. Sapnap has a glass of ice water in his hand, condensation dripping down his wrist as blood drips down Haven’s.
"Hi," George replies in turn. "Who's this?"
Haven smiles, wobbly and a bit unsure of itself. "'S Haven. A bit older. Seven? Hi, Georgie."
"Are you alright?" Sapnap interrupts, eyebrows creased in concern.
"'M okay," Haven whispers, curling up and tucking his knees to his chest. His hands ball into fists and tap against his collarbones in sets of three. "Dream is sad."
George frowns. It doesn’t look sad, or mad, and Haven doesn’t know how to place the emotion. "I know," George says, and then that’s when Haven finds the word. Regret. It’s a nice-sounding word. Haven rolls it around in his mouth a little before yawning.
"I'm sorry.” It’s George again, speaking up, and Haven looks up at him mid-yawn.
"Why sorry?" Haven tilts his head in confusion. George hasn’t done anything since he’s got here, right?
“We…” George hesitates. “We were fighting. Dream got scared.”
A head tilt the other way. “You scared Dream.”
It’s not a question, it’s a statement.
“Yeah,” Sapnap admits, and he sounds regretful as well. “I– I hit George.”
“Oh,” Haven says, quiet as ever. “Will you hit me too?”
He should be scared. By all means, he should be scared. He’s not. A presence makes itself known at the back of his head, draping over Haven’s consciousness with its own, and he smiles a little inwardly. That’s why he can’t be scared– he actually just can’t.
‘Hi, Tommy,’ Haven greets, feeling the familiar floaty feeling wash over him like a warm hug.
‘Hey! Let me take this, okay?’ Tommy ruffles Haven’s ears, scratching around the base of his ears, and Haven’s tail thumps on the ground. Tommy’s own tail twitches in response, spade tip lashing across the ground as his leathery wings reach out and stretch to the sky.
‘Okay,’ Haven agrees easily. He doesn’t want to get hurt. He doesn’t want Tommy to get hurt, but Tommy never gets hurt. When they got attacked that one night, it was Tommy who fought them off, Tommy who bandaged their wounds, Tommy who kept them calm. He trusts Tommy to take care of himself.
Haven leans back and lets the darkness wash over him. George says something, but Haven doesn’t hear.
–
When Tommy takes front, George and Sapnap are staring at him.
“Fuck you,” he says automatically, shaking his hair out and running a hand through it quickly.
Sapnap blinks. George frowns. Tommy stares at them both; a challenge.
“Fuck you,” Tommy says again, forcefully. “Stay away from Dream.”
Tommy stands suddenly, towering over George, and he feels powerful. He’s strong. He’s strong, he’s brave, he’s not a fucking coward. He’s not going to let Sapnap and George hurt him or the rest of the system, no matter how close they are.
He bares his teeth, feeling the phantom sensation of his wings spread wide up into the air; an intimidation tactic. He’s not going to let himself get hurt: he has a family to protect.
Sapnap takes a step forward, placing the glass of water down on the coffee table. Tommy growls.
“Hey,” Sapnap says, quiet, and Tommy snarls, lunging forward. He slams into Sapnap, tackling him to the floor. Tommy scrambles up, standing over Sapnap, and bolts. He runs towards their room and bursts in, slamming the door behind him and locking it.
‘Tommy? What’re you doing?’
‘Clay,’ Tommy says stiffly, hackles raised, staring at the door as footsteps grow closer and closer. ‘Go away. I’ve got this.’
‘They’re our friends, Tommy,’ Clay says, exasperated. ‘Dream is literally dating them. They’re not going to hurt us. You’re fine.’
‘They are,’ Tommy snaps, eyes snapping back to the door from where they strayed as the handle shakes.
“Go away!” He calls, taking a step back from the door.
“Hey,” George soothes, “you’re fine. What’s your name?” It’s a bit muffled through the wooden door, but Tommy’s able to hear him alright.
Tommy hesitates at the question. Is it safe? They can’t do anything with his name, right?
“...Tommy,” he says reluctantly, and there’s a long pause from behind the door before Sapnap speaks up.
“Like… Tommy? Tommyinnit?”
“Yeah? What about it, bitch?” Tommy bares his teeth, feeling his whip-thin tail wrap around his leg. He doesn’t look down because he knows that it won’t be there, but he can dream.
“Nothing,” George says. “Nothing. Will you let us in, Tommy? We just want to talk.”
“Yeah, right,” Tommy scoffs, snarling at the door despite knowing that Sapnap and George can’t see it. “I’m not fucking stupid.”
They don’t want to talk. They want to hurt. Tommy probably hurt Sapnap– he’s bigger than him, in this body, and he knows there will be consequences for that. He can wait them out– they stockpile food in various hiding places in their room, and it’s enough to live for a while.
‘Tommy,’ Clay snaps. ‘Get out, let me take care of this.’
“Fuck you,” Tommy says out loud, to both Clay and the pair hovering outside the door. “Fuck you. Leave me alone.”
Clay sighs, ever tired, and Tommy feels a bit bad, but not bad enough to apologize.
‘That’s it,’ Clay says at the same time Sapnap says “will you let us in please, Tommy?”
“No,” Tommy says, knowing all of them will think it’s for them. To Clay, he says ‘if you take front from me, I will fucking kill you.’
Clay laughs. It’s humorless. ‘Big words,’ he says, and then body checks Tommy out of front.