Chapter Text
Wemmbu can tell by the silence in the car that he’s done something wrong.
Adults think they’re so secretive, but he can see the pattern of when they’re thinking about giving him back again.
He picks at the scabs drying where his knuckles split on Flame’s sharp teeth.
But he was right to punch Flame. He took something from Jaden, and Jaden is Wemmbu’s friend.
So it’s okay if Arachnid gives him back.
He protected his friend.
The fuzz that has become his peripheral vision only comes back into focus when Arachnid reaches to unbuckle Wemmbu’s seatbelt and carries him out of the car.
Wemmbu’s tail flicks with annoyance. He can walk by himself.
He leans his head on Arachnid’s shoulder anyway, because he is scared doesn’t want to get yelled at.
Arachnid doesn’t seem too angry yet, but Wemmbu figures he shouldn’t push his luck.
Yungy is ahead of them. Wemmbu catches his stern look when he opens the door for them to follow him inside.
“Wemmbu,” Arachnid sets him down on a chair and crouches in front of him, “we don’t hit people.”
”But—“
”No. We don’t hit people. That was bad.”
”But he—!”
”No,” Arachnid interrupts again, not listening to Wemmbu’s side of the story.
Arachnid reaches for him, and he jumps down from the chair and bolts.
Yungy grabs him just before he reaches the doorway, wrapping arms around his middle and saying something Wemmbu doesn’t care to listen to.
He screams and wiggles and fights until he frees himself.
No one follows him when he runs up the stairs to the room he’s staying in.
He closes the door behind himself and hides under the bed, watching for anyone who tries to enter.
When no one intrudes long enough for his heart to stop pounding, he climbs on top of the bed and snuggles into the blankets.
He covers himself completely, so the darkness can hold and hide him.
Thinking about today is hard, and it makes him sad and angry.
So, his mind drifts to yesterday, and the colour of darkness, and—
He flinches when someone puts a hand on his back through the blankets.
They don’t speak, or try to coax him out. Their hand gently rubs the space on his back between his wings.
It’s silent for a little while. Wemmbu pushes a purr back down his throat before it surfaces.
”Wemmbu,” the person, Arachnid, finally speaks, “can you come out here?”
…
Wemmbu wipes tears from his eyes and pokes his head out from the blankets, slow and hesitant.
Arachnid doesn’t force him, just adjusts so Wemmbu’s head is in his lap.
He keeps the peace, staying quiet and brushing a hand through Wemmbu’s hair.
”Do you understand what you did wrong?”
Wemmbu only whines. He doesn’t want to have this conversation.
“Words, please.”
“…P’odected Jaden,” He whispers, because he did protect Jaden. Or made things right or whatever.
Arachnid is quiet for a moment, hand stilling in purple strands.
“Protected,” he corrects, “and that was noble of you,” the hand resumes its gentle pets, “but you hurt one of the other kids.”
Wemmbu sits up and presses his face into his foster father’s chest.
”Hurt Flame…” he mutters.
”Yes, you did.”
”P’odected Jaden.”
”Protected.”
”Prodected.”
”Close enough,” Arachnid sighs, “and that didn’t make it okay for you to hurt someone.”
Wemmbu huffs, pulling his head back to look up at Arachnid.
”So… what?”
”Hm?”
”What was I ‘pposed to do?”
“Tell an adult,” Arachnid instructs, “next time something like that happens, tell one of the adults there.”
Wemmbu uses the heel of his palm to wipe a remaining tear from his eye.
”’Kay…”
“Thank you,” Arachnid’s fangs click together in a way Wemmbu doesn’t understand.
”And now,” the spider holds onto him a little tighter, “you need a bath.”
Wemmbu freezes in Arachnid’s arms, then immediately starts wiggling and pulling away.
He squeaks unhappily when the spider hybrid starts carrying him to the bathroom, where the tub has been strategically filled in advance.
Flame doesn’t like how his brother fusses over him when he gets hurt.
He gets one little bruise, and now Mane is thinking about taking him out of school! Flame wants to go to school. There are other kids there.
Even if Wemmbu is one of those other kids.
He can’t help being a little salty about being caught off guard when his face stings from the ice pack Mane is pressing to his cheek.
”Why does he play so rough?” He complains to Mane, snuggled up in his older brother’s den.
The hand in his hair pauses in brushing over his tiger ears.
”Who does?”
”Wemmbu!”
”The kid who punched you?”
Flame nods, and his brother scratches behind his flattened ears to relax the tense muscles.
”I don’t think he was playing, bro.”
Flame turns his head to face his brother, who sighs and explains.
”That’s how I play with you, because you’re my little brother,” Mane ruffles his hair, “but other kids don’t usually play like that.”
Flame stills as he recalls the events leading up to Wemmbu punching him.
Holding some of the little plastic pieces Jaden had been using to build a pirate ship out of the other boy’s reach, goading him into play.
He didn’t understand why Jaden hadn’t tackled him like how he and Mane would play.
“Other kids don’t usually play like that.”
His ears press flat against his head.
”Give that back!”
Mane holds him a little tighter.
Wemmbu had been the one to demand the pieces back. Jaden hadn’t seemed nearly as bothered as the dragon, despite being Flame’s target.
But Jaden didn't see it as play, and Wemmbu saw it as a fight.
A fist met his face before he could even try to give the pieces back.
Mane never hit him.
Mane tackled. Grabbed him and took them both down to the ground.
His brother never hurt him. He let up when Flame yielded, loosened his grip when he whined, and backed off completely if Flame ever hissed at him.
Wemmbu hit him hard enough for there to be blood. It took the combined force of an adult and Jaden to get him to settle down.
And then Flame had to go home.
Home is fine, and home is safe, but it’s just him and Mane here.
Maybe he’ll try to apologize to Jaden when he gets back to school.
If Mane even allows it.