Chapter Text
When Tommy woke up he knew something was wrong. His back was burning, his brian was fuzzy, and his limbs felt like lead. He wondered whether or not he was sick, but he had no energy to get up and test that theory. He rolled over onto his back and was met with a spike of stabbing pain.
He yelped, a surprised sound erupting from his throat. He sat up immediately, his back still stinging with pain as he screamed into his closed mouth.
“Tommy?” He heard his brother call from downstairs. His brother’s voice sounded muted and almost sad from the next room.
Tommy looked behind himself trying to see his back and whatever had caused that pain. He didn’t see anything but the back of his shirt and the rest of his bed. He lifted his hand to his head, rubbing his forehead to try and relieve his headache.
“Toms?” Tubbo asked, from the other side of his door.
Tommy didn’t answer, he just whimpered quietly, trying to ignore the pain in his back.
Tubbo cracked the door open to see Tommy still sitting in bed. The brunet walked into the room, his brow furrowing as he got closer to his younger brother. He frowned at the sight of the room without the interior he’d come to expect.
Tommy looked up to the older, frowning and holding out his hands for a hug, as soon as he saw him.
Tubbo saw the tiny tears pricking his brother’s eyes, and moved quicker over to the bed, until he was sitting next to him. Tubbo sat down hugging the younger, who winced when Tubbo’s hands laid against his back.
“What’s wrong?” Tubbo asked, pulling back so Tommy could sign out his answer if he didn’t want to speak. Tommy shook his head, his tears running down his face now, as he tried to reach out for Tubbo again for another hug.
Tubbo frowned. Tubbo hugged Tommy back again, pulling the younger into his lap. Tommy was fully crying now, his fingers squeezing Tubbo’s nightshirt. Tommy buried his head into Tubbo’s shoulder, as Tubbo tried to comfort him. The younger was still tired from the day before where he’d screamed his lungs out. The blond’s throat scratchy from screaming and from even speaking.
“Did you have a bad dream?” Tubbo asked, confused.
Tommy shook his head. Tommy pushed him back, and his hands started moving quickly, as he cried trying to sign out whatever had happened to make him sob. His hands switched between signing out his sentence and wiping his face.
Tubbo’s brow furrowed, as he tried to understand the signs as quickly Tommy was moving.
“Your back hurts?” Tubbo clarified. Tommy nodded, shakily. “Okay, do you want to get Ranboo to look at it?”
Tommy nodded again. Tubbo knew their sibling would be better at knowing if something was wrong with his back than him. Tubbo offered his hand and helped the younger up from the bed.
Tubbo walked Tommy out of the room, his younger brother crying into his shoulder the more they moved. Tommy nails dug into Tubbo’s arm causing the brunet to wince in the claw-like grip.
Tubbo walked downstairs, Tommy whimpering every time they moved down a step. When the brunet landed on the first floor of their home, he called for the last brother.
“Ranboo! Ranboo- Tommy needs help!” Tubbo shouted, through the house. Tommy whined with Tubbo’s voice right next to his ears. Tommy could feel his ears twitch at the high sound, in an uncomfortable way. Tommy rubbed his ears with his hands.
Ranboo turned the corner from the kitchen into the living room, confusion marking his face. The raven haired boy was carrying a towel he’d been using to dry his hands off. “What’s wrong?” He asked as soon as he saw Tommy crying.
Tubbo peeked over Tommy’s blond hair to answer, “He says his back hurts, like really bad.”
Ranboo frowned, “What do you want me to do about it?” He asked, completely unaware of what to do.
“You could check and see what’s hurting him, for starters.” Tubbo huffed.
“How would I know?” Ranboo huffed back, crossing his arms.
“You know that kind of stuff,” Tubbo tried, before giving up, “Just check.”
Ranboo sighed, before dragging Tubbo by the back of his shirt over to the couch. Tubbo sat down, with Tommy sitting next to him so Ranboo could see his back. Tommy was starting to wet Tubbo’s shirt enough that even the brunet was squirming.
Ranboo sat down on the floor, before lifting the younger’s shirt up just a tad to see his back. Ranboo’s brow furrowed, as he looked at what seemed to be completely normal. “I don’t see anything. Are you sure that’s what’s hurting him?”
Tubbo rolled his eyes, “Of course I am. He said so.”
“Maybe you understood him wrong.” Ranboo replied.
“Maybe you’re not looking hard enough.” Tubbo shot back.
Ranboo glared at his brother, “It could just be something internal. Some after effects of the other day, you know.” Tommy squirmed in Tubbo’s hold, turning to face Ranboo. The other sibling frowned seeing the youngest’s red face marked with dried tears, even as more continued. Tommy pushed Ranboo as hard as he could, throwing a fit. Tommy hit Tubbo’s legs with his hands balled up into fists. He tried to hit Tubbo in the chest but the older didn’t really seem to care too much. Instead he just started bouncing his leg up and down, and trying to grab the blond’s hands.
“Hey, stop it.” Tubbo reprimanded, trying to get Tommy to calm down. Tommy whined, pushing against Tubbo even more. Tubbo let go of the boy's hands, and the blond began signing words to the two kids immediately.
Ranboo frowned, as Tommy repeated what seemed to be the same sentence of his back hurting over and over again.
“Should we call Phil?” Tubbo mumbled, continuing to bounce his leg up and down in a mixture of anxiety and trying to calm down his brother.
Ranboo was quiet for a moment. Their father was at work, he’d left the three of them at home till at least lunch time. None of them were too happy with their father at the moment and none of them wanted to ask him for anything after what had happened. Ranboo frowned, thinking about the night before and the past few months, before shaking his head. “No. No, I don’t think we should.”
Tubbo sighed, “I’m mad at him, too, but what if something’s really wrong?”
“Do you really think he’d do anything? That he’d even know what to do?” Ranboo asked, knowing the answer. Tubbo was silent. The room was quiet except for Tommy’s loud sobs and whimpering.
“Then what do we do?” Tubbo asked, “Phil’s our dad. He should know what’s wrong. He should know what to do.”
Ranboo huffed, standing up with a stomp, “Yeah! And what does that have to do with anything! Dad didn’t know Tommy was allergic to chocolate, Grian did. Dad didn’t know how to calm Tommy down, Grian did. Dad doesn’t even know what Tommy likes! He barely knows Tommy, he barely even pays attention to him!” Ranboo shouted, angrily, although none of it was directed at his brother. Tubbo frowned, as he watched Tommy in his lap. Ranboo sighed, going a bit quieter, “Phil spent all of last night taking away everything we owned that was either Grian’s or Mom’s. He took everything Tommy loved and he took our stuff mom gave us.I don’t know why. I don’t get it, but something’s going on and Phil knows it. Phil knows it and he isn’t going to help. Nothing he’s doing should count as helping. I don’t care what he says. He barely cares about Tommy the way we do.”
Tubbo shook his head, “Don’t say that. Don’t say that. Dad loves all of us-he loves Tommy. You can’t say that.” Tubbo snapped, hugging the blond closer. Tommy whined once Tubbo had his arms around him, his back burning with pressure on it. Tommy hit his brother’s hands, biting his arm to let him go. Tubbo snapped back quickly, apologizing as he did.
“You can’t say you don’t see it.” Ranboo muttered, sadly.
Tubbo bit his lip, shaking his head, “No. No, I don’t believe it. I’m calling, Phil.” Tubbo carefully pushed Tommy off his lap, and onto the couch. Tommy curled up into a ball, leaning on the edge of the couch, against the armrest. Tubbo stood up quickly, rushing into the kitchen to grab the phone to call Phil.
“Tubbo!” Ranboo shouted, after his brother as he ran after him. They didn’t see how Tommy curled closer in on himself at their shouting, or how his ears perked up and twitched at the noise.
Ranboo chased his brother into the kitchen, where Tubbo was searching for their father’s work number. Ranboo grabbed his brother’s hands before they could reach the phone. “Tubbo, stop it.”
“No. Phil needs to know.” Tubbo said, sharply.
“You don’t even call him dad!” Ranboo said, quickly, making Tubbo stop in his tracks. Tubbo paused, right as his fingers brushed the phone.
“Yeah, I do.” Tubbo scoffed, nervously.
“No, you don’t. You didn’t. You said Phil. And he never corrects you.” Ranboo pointed out.
“So?” Tubbo shrugged, snatching his hands back.
“I think you see it and you’re just not acknowledging it.” Ranboo pointed out, grabbing the phone from Tubbo’s hands and pulling.
Tubbo paused, but pulled the phone back, “I don’t know what you're talking about.”
“He obviously doesn’t treat Tommy the same way he treats us.” Ranboo argued, pulling the phone back and was met with Tubbo having a stronger grip on it.
“So he’s a little unorthodox.” Tubbo excused with a scoff, eye shaking around the floor.
“Tubbo, admit it. He’s a dick to Tommy. You’ve seen it. Do you really think he’d care enough? Do you really think he’ll drop what he’s doing because Tommy’s back hurts ?” Ranboo snapped, snatching the phone back, hooking it back on the wall.
Tubbo glared at him, “Don’t say that.”
“You mean don’t point out the fact that you’re trying to ignore?” Ranboo huffed, motioning to the living room from the kitchen, “Look, I love him as much as you do, but you got to admit he’s an asshole!”
Tubbo shook his head, taking a step away from his sibling and pacing the room. “Then what do you suggest we do?” He ran a hand through his hair.
Ranboo shrugged, looking back at Tommy curled up on the couch hugging himself as best he could. “If it gets worse we’ll call someone.” Ranboo decided on, before walking past his brother to the cabinets, “For now we can treat symptoms? I’m sure dad has something for pain.”
Ranboo opened the medicine cabinet pulling down bottles of medicine searching the instructions. Tubbo watched, anxiously as his brother looked through the bottles. The brunet left the kitchen, settling down next to his younger brother.
Tommy shifted in his spot, squinting his eyes shut and clenching his jaw. Tubbo saw as he tensed up his shoulders and his fingers flexed. Tubbo raised an eyebrow as something moved underneath his shirt.
After another wince, Tubbo went back to brushing the blond’s hair out of his face. “Have you found anything yet?” He called loudly to Ranboo.
“Give me a second!” Ranboo huffed, the sound of bottles falling as he tried to search quicker and quicker.
Tubbo frowned, running his hand over blond curls until his fingers felt something different. He looked back to the kid next to him, his hand was still tangled into his hair but there was a different texture there. It didn’t feel like his normal curls and strands of hair, it felt harder?
It was harder in the center and then sprouted on either side with a softer, stiff feeling. Tubbo pinched whatever it was and brought his hand out from behind the kid’s ear. Tommy barely flinched, but once Tubbo saw what it was he froze.
A feather.
There was a feather in his brother’s hair?
“Ranboo?”
“Give me a second, Tubbo!” Ranboo snapped, groaning as he picked up another bottle.
“No! Come here! Now!” Tubbo informed, panic falling into his voice and he stood up about to meet his brother halfway. The feather was still in his hands as he stared at the yellow and white fluff.
Ranboo stopped in the middle of the doorway, his eyes still reading instructions when Tubbo shoved the feather at him.
“Look at this. Why was this in his hair? Where did this come from?” Tubbo stammered, “He hasn’t gone outside.”
Ranboo blinked, carefully taking the feather from his brother’s hands and inspecting it. “He probably got it from some bird.” Ranboo brushed it off.
Tubbo bit his lip and looked back to his little brother. He sat back down next to him, watching him carefully looking for any kind of sign things were getting worse. That’s when he saw the movement under his shirt again.
It was right between his shoulder blades-like his back was twitching. Tubbo frowned, raising the back of his shirt just above his shoulder blades to see whatever was moving. He saw nothing.
“What are you doing?” Ranboo asked, when he finally looked up.
“Watch.” Tubbo instructed, watching himself carefully. Ranboo sighed, but obliged. Tommy whined as something poked his skin right between his shoulder blades. Something had poked from inside his skin.
“What?” Ranboo muttered, as Tubbo gagged.
“Ew.” Tubbo groaned, cringing.
Ranboo shooed his brother away, “scoot.” He said, and Tubbo got off the couch to make way for his brother.
Before Ranboo could even trace over the space where something had tried to poke through, there was blood pooling for two vertical cuts along his back. The cuts appeared so quickly and were instantly covered by something poking out of both of them. They were small, bent at the top to make a triangle shape that eased into something curved. They were completely bare and covered in blood.
And the movement was anything but quiet.
Tommy screamed.
Ranboo and Tubbo jumped at the sudden noise of their little brother screaming at the top of his lungs as these things sprouted from his back. Little feathers fell to the ground at the same time as if the sudden motion had ripped them from their original places.
Tommy’s scream quieted into a sob as the pressure and pain in his back subsided into exhaustion.
“What the hell? What the hell! What the hell!” Tubbo shouted, jumping back another step as he stared at the things now attached to his brother’s back. “What the fuck is that!”
Ranboo stared at the things, eyes wide and fearful as he watched the blood pool underneath them. “We need towels now!” He shouted at his brother, before running into their bathroom and grabbing them himself.
Tubbo didn’t move a bit, standing completely still as he panicked. His breath coming in and out too fast and shallow for him to even think. His hands sank into his hair as he pulled on the brown tufts to try and calm himself down.
Tommy didn’t seem at all brother with the two new extensions, in fact he seemed at peace. The pain was finally gone and he sank into the couch, his mind all fuzzy and blank. He couldn’t think of anything other than the fact that the pain was gone and how good it felt now that the pain was gone.
Ranboo ran back into the room, quickly pressing towels against his brother’s back with as much strength as he could. Tommy flinched at the pressure and winced but didn’t complain.
“Don’t just stand there, Wil!” Ranboo shouted, nodding to the towels he’d brought. Tubbo finally looked down and grabbed a towel before getting to work. He wiped the towels over the limbs as Ranboo tried to stop the bleeding in his back. Tubbo’s knees were pressed against feathers that had fallen into a pile under them, the brunet tried not to think about what they could possibly be.
“We need to call Phil.” Tubbo demanded. Phil would know what to do. Phil had to know what to do. Right?
“No!” Ranboo shouted and Tommy winced at the noise. He wanted quiet! He wanted to take a nap!
“What the hell do you mean no?” Tubbo snapped.
Ranboo grimaced, “I told you! Phil sees one look at this mess, who knows what’s gonna happen.”
“We can’t let him fucking bleed out on our couch!” Tubbo shouted back, as he shut his eyes so he couldn’t see as much blood as he tried to clean up the red that covered the younger’s back.
“He’s not gonna bleed out.” Ranboo whispered, although he didn’t sound too sure.
“Real convincing!” Tubbo muttered, he lifted the towel off of the limbs and had a second look at the clean-ish things. He gasped, eyes shining with concern and awe, “What are these things?”
Ranboo looked up, worried, lightening his pressure now that the blood wasn’t flowing as quickly. They shook their head, “I don’t know. They look like wings.”
“Wings.” Tubbo whispered, “Tommy has wings…wait, why does Tommy get wings!” Tubbo complained, crossing his arms forgetting the blood that was currently on his hands and now spreading across his shirt.
Ranboo shook his head, “I don’t know! Why are you complaining!” He huffed, taking the towel fully away, and dropping it on the floor. They looked around, “This is bad.”
“Yeah, Tommy’s never gonna let us live this down!” Tubbo huffed.
“No! Tubbo, look around! This place looks like a murder scene! How are we going to explain any of this to dad!” Ranboo panicked, he shook his head, “We need to clean.”
Tubbo bit the inside of his cheek, “We need to get him to hospital.” He said pointing to the younger.
Ranboo stood up, gathered towels they’d used and tried to wipe up as much blood from the floors and couch. “And tell them what?” He stressed, “Oh yeah! You see our brother here, his back was hurting and now he’s sprouted wings out of his back! And by the way, don’t tell our dad because he won’t come! That’s sound’s insane!”
“It’s not like we don’t have proof!” Tubbo motioned to Tommy who had lost consciousness and was now sleeping soundly. The boy didn’t even seem to mind the two new things sprouting from his back.
“Just help me clean!” Ranboo shouted, finishing the argument as Tubbo gave in and started to help.
________________________________________
Cleaning up the living room wasn’t as hard as Ranboo had thought it would be. The hard part was Tommy.
After an hour of cleaning, the living was close enough to its former glory rather than the murder scene it had been. At least enough to fool their father. Tommy, however, was still covered in his own blood and looked sick. He was pale, he had bags under his eyes from exhaustion and tears stains on his cheeks. His shirt was a mess and Tubbo just decided to throw it out.
Waking him up had been a challenge on its own.
Tubbo shook the seven year old’s shoulder, earning a whine as he batted his hands away.
“Tommy, please wake up. Phil’s gonna be home soon.” Tubbo whispered, a bit frantic as he and Ranboo desperately tried to figure out what to do.
Tommy didn’t open his eyes, and the new wings curled around him like a blanket. The limbs carefully lay over his body, moving on their own. Tubbo flinched back not wanting to get in the way of the extension of his little brother’s body.
Tubbo looked back to Ranboo who shifted on their feet at the edge of the stairwell. “What do we do?”
“We could take him up to his room? Let him sleep in there?” Ranboo offered, shrugging.
“But what do we tell Phil?” Tubbo pressed.
“Tommy barely eats dinner anyway. Dad’ll believe it if we say he’s still mad at him.” Ranboo explained, sighing, “They haven’t seen each other since then anyway.”
Tubb frowned, “I don’t like the idea of leaving him though, what if he wakes up and freaks out? What if he starts hurting again?”
Ranboo ran a hand through his hair, “Then we take turns staying with him till he wakes up.”
“Won’t that be suspicious?” Tubbo asked.
“Only if you’re bad at keeping a low profile.” Ranboo decided, walking towards the couch and reaching underneath their younger brother’s limbs. He picked up the seven year old, who didn’t stir much at the movement. The new limbs went limp on his back falling over Ranboo’s arms as he picked him up. The wings felt sticky and leathery, but there were tiny pinpricks of feathers starting to regrow.
Tubbo followed his brother up the stairs till the youngests room. It looked bare without any of the toys, books or posters that normally adorned everything. It felt empty and sad.
Ranboo laid the blond in his bed, covering him with his blanket. The wings didn’t seem to like the blanket and stuck out, twitching and moving everytime they were touched. Ranboo furrowed his brow, trying again to tuck his little sibling in but the wings made it difficult to do. He groaned, finally giving up after three tries and laughter from the other sibling.
“You try!” Ranboo huffed, crossing their arms and walking away. “I’m gonna go make sure we didn’t miss anything.” he finished, sadly, before walking out of the room.
Tubbo rolled his eyes, he sat down on the bed. Tubbo stared at his brother for a moment, watching the new limbs before speaking to himself.
“Are you some kind of alien?” Tubbo asked the empty room, “Is that why Phil acts so weird? You’re some kind of alien he took home. Wait-no that doesn’t make sense-cause then what would that make Uncle Grian…” Tubbo thought for a moment. Then he froze, he felt a shiver run down his spine. He looked back around the room, his mind racing.
Uncle Grian…
Where did he fit into all this?
Uncle Grian and Phil were always arguing.
Uncle Grian loved birds.
Uncle Grian had a cane with a parrot on it.
He knew about birds…
“Uncle Grian…” Tubbo whispered to himself. He thought back to the red envelope. He chewed on his lip thinking. He checked the clock next to him, they still had another hour or so until Phil got home. He looked back at his brother sleeping soundly and shot out of the room quickly to find Ranboo.
“Ranboo! Ranboo!” Tubbo shouted, he ran down the stairs startling Ranboo who was picking up a pile of feathers. The ravenet jumped, flinching.
“What? What happened?” They panicked, racing forward, “Is Tommy okay?”
“Ranboo, it’s Uncle Grian!” Tubbo said as if he’d solved a puzzle. Ranboo stared at him in confusion.
“What?”
“It’s Uncle Grian. He knows something. He has too.” Tubbo explained, “Where’s that letter he sent!” Tubbo asked, looking around the living room before venturing into the kitchen. Once he saw the trash can, he raced over and started to dig out a red envelope.
“Tubbo!” Ranboo shouted, following their brother, “What are you doing!”
“Ran, Tommy just grew wings.” Tubbo said, as if Ranboo hadn’t been there for the horrifying process, “Uncle Grian loves birds. He has a parrot on his cane! If anyone knows what happened it would be him! He’s got to know what’s going on! If we just show him, he’ll know what to do!”
Tubbo searched through the trash until he finally found the red envelope and letter he was looking for. He pulled it out, forgoing washing his hands, and started looking through it again for any way to contact him.
“Are you crazy!” Ranboo whisper-shouted, “Uncle Grian isn’t going to know what to do about someone growing wings!”
Tubbo sent a sharp look to his sibling, “Would you rather hide Tommy from Phil our entire lives, or ask the one guy who might know something?”
Ranboo opened his mouth to speak but paused, they thought, “Well-”
“Then we’re settled, help me find a way to contact him.” Tubbo decided, rerereading the letter.
“He said he was coming back in a week.” Ranboo offered, “It’s already been two days.”
“You want to hide Tommy for five whole days.” Tubbo balked at his sibling.
Ranboo shrugged, throwing the feathers into the trash can. “What choice do we have?”