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They didn’t know where they were running to.
All they knew was that they had to run.
Blood dripped down in front of their eye, but they raised a hand and rubbed it away. All around them, rain pounded down, the streetlights bouncing off of puddles on the asphalt. Under normal circumstances, if they’d been in a car and had their phone with them, then Eret would have taken a picture.
But this wasn’t a normal circumstance.
They weren’t in a car. They didn’t even have shoes. They had nothing, no bag and no phone and no family no family aether this had been a mistake they were such an idiot they never should have told anyone. Sobbing, they rubbed at their face again. It didn’t matter at this point. If someone saw them, maybe they’d get help.
Or maybe they’d be back home. Maybe they’d end up back with him. Or sitting in a jail cell as water dripped from their hair and their shoulders. No, no. No they couldn’t go back if they went back they died they died—Mom and Dad said he would still love you but you should have known you should have known that wasn’t true that wasn’t what they meant he loves fake you not this you.
Skidding to a stop, concrete scraping against the soles of sore feet, Eret glanced at their outfit. Their clothes were drenched. Definitely not made for being in rain, let alone running in it. The thin material of their cardigan, a sheer black thing they’d bought off Sahara a while back, clung to their shoulders, framed out their whole body and the white tanktop did nothing to hide how skinny they’d gotten from stress. Their shorts were going to be hell to sleep in, aether knew denim never dried quickly. With no shoes…they wouldn’t get far at all, no. No one would believe them.
They didn’t have any money. Even patting themself down, praying that maybe they’d forgotten some the last time they wore that outfit, they knew. No money. No card, nothing. They didn’t have an ID, or a backpack…they had nothing.
“Get out!” The harsh words snapped through their mind and Eret walked over to the edge of the bridge, bracing their arms against the railing. Rough wood brushed against their palms and they sucked in a few breaths through an open mouth. Unruly curls hung in front of their eyes. As water dripped off, it glittered in the red and green glow of the stoplights. Their heart was clenching in their chest. Every breath rasped and clawed at their throat with thorns. Am I having a panic attack?
He wanted to kill me. He wanted to kill me. He’d thrown a table at them. Why were they shocked. He’d never been supportive. Their own brother and he’d thrown a table at them. Of course, Mom and Dad probably wouldn’t be thrilled when they got home.
Home.
Eret had nothing. Everything was gone. They’d run off and now they couldn’t go back they’d lost everything all their contacts all their friends they—
They didn’t have anything left.
And it wasn’t like they could just get a job or something. They couldn’t drive. They’d never had a job before. They didn’t have money to put a down payment on a house they couldn’t get groceries and don’t even get them started on the issues in their city sure Eret was over six foot but that didn’t mean anything when a strong wind could blow them over. No one was expecting them home. All it would take was one person driving by in a white van and then—
Gasping, they dug their fingers into the wood, bent over the railing like it was a lifeline. Rain and tears (they couldn’t tell them apart anymore) dripped into the water below. All of a sudden, an idea sprouted up in their head.
They didn’t have anything left—if they just disappeared, no one would care.
If they died, no one would care.
So why not take matters into their own hands?
+++
Carefully, Phil lifted up the puppy, playing with its paws.
“Just remember to take your time looking at them, they’ll be here for a while.” The breeder, Annie, said from where she was by the pups’ mother. Stroking the Lab’s head, she added, “Any particular reason why you’re getting a puppy?”
“We’re trying to train a service dog.” Phil explained. Beside him, Techno had one of the other pups, a little chocolate Lab, sitting in his lap. The Blood God looked remarkably unthreatening as he stroked the little dog’s fur. “A new foster of mine. I just want to make sure he’s well taken care of, and this would help him a lot.”
Nodding, Annie mused, “You may want to check with Stephanie, then. She’s got this eighteen-month-old pup that might be perfect. Sweet thing, probably going to be massive, though—do you know if the kid needs DPT or LPT?”
“Not yet.” Annie’s own service dog, Dahlia, padded over with her husband Liam and nosed her shoulder. “Well, we’ll figure it out soon. Thank you for letting us check them out.”
“Of course. I’ll be sure to let Steph know y’all might be coming over to look at the dog.” Handing over a slip of paper, Annie took the puppy from Phil and made some kissy faces at it. Then, she looked to Phil and Techno, “You might want to get home soon, this storm’s only going to get worse.”
“Right. Well, thanks again. See you soon.” Phil and Techno started heading out, walking down the pavement towards the parking garage they’d put Techno’s truck in. It wasn’t like they needed to hurry, although Annie did have a point. The storm was going to get worse. Somewhere, a small part of Phil regretted not parking closer to the breeders’ place.
Looking back later, he was glad that they parked in that garage.
Beside him, Techno froze. “Phil.” Glancing over, he met his adopted son’s gaze, then glanced back where the young man was looking. Standing on the edge of the bridge’s railing was a person.
Clearly, they weren’t prepared for the weather.
No socks, no shoes. Just a thin black cardigan-looking thing, a tanktop, and shorts. Not good, not good. Glancing to each side, Phil quickly jaywalked across the street. Behind him, he could hear Techno following. Neon lights bounced on the puddles around them and the wind kicked up, pushing at his wings. He kept them stubbornly folded against his back.
“Hey!” He called, and the person jolted. “You don’t have to jump.” Still on the bridge railing, the person slowly turned to meet his gaze. White eyes rimmed with red met his, and he smiled weakly. “Why don’t you come down from there? You look like you’re freezing.”
Swallowing visibly, the kid glanced between Phil and the water far below them.
They didn’t say anything. Slowly, though, they seemed to toss the options over in their mind, then slowly, ever so slowly, they blinked and looked down…and started getting off the railing. Phil and Techno both helped. Of course they did. “That’s good, that’s alright.” Holding onto their arm, Phil met their gaze. “You alright?”
Blank eyes met his. Not blank in the way they had no colour, but blank in the way Tommy sometimes got when his hypoglycaemia was acting up. When he’d space out, staring off into the distance until they got some food into him and it processed properly. Alright, they might be nonverbal.
Behind them, Techno shrugged out of his jacket and then wrapped it around their shoulders. “Phil, why don’t we get them home. We can work things out from there.” Glancing over, mouth drawn into a thin line, Phil nodded and then met their gaze.
“Hey. We’re not going to hurt you, but we need you to come with us. It’s not safe leaving you out here on your own.” The person shakily nodded, still apparently unable to talk. “Do you think you can walk across the street? Or just walk—nah, you know what. Tech, mind carrying them? I don’t want them to step on glass or anything.” Nodding, Techno carefully picked them up, bridal-style. It was slow going, he was giving them plenty of time to move away or indicate they weren’t okay. Still, they didn’t, and soon they were in the parking garage and walking to the car.
As they were driving back, rain smattering the windshield and Techno driving, Phil kept glancing back at them. They were young, older than Tommy but still younger than Wilbur and Techno were, even if only by a little bit. Maybe less than a year. Whoever they were, they were half-awake, eyes fluttering from open and shut as they leaned against the window. Rain streaked the glass, glittering red and green and white in the streetlights as they drove on through the rain.
Time seemed to stretch on, and Techno turned on some quiet music. It was something soothing, and Phil saw the kid’s head dipping lower and lower before they were finally just asleep. Already, his mind was going through where they could put the poor kid. We have a cot, maybe borrow some of the boys’ clothes if that’s alright. They might be Wilbur’s size, we could have some extra clothes—we should start having a stock just in case someone comes in. Get them home, start—
“Phil?” Glancing over, he met Techno’s gaze. “We can get the guest room set up, Wilbur, Dream, and Tommy washed the sheets earlier today. Apparently they were bored and Tubbo couldn’t come over, and they were in a cleaning mood. Dream can be moved into Wilbur’s room, I don’t think they’d mind.”
Nodding, Phil started tallying up the inventory of what they had to make. Maybe they could ask the kid if they were allergic to anything?
Either way, they had a lot of work to do.
+++
When Phil and Techno came in, they were carrying a very soaked person wrapped in Techno’s coat.
Looking up from the coffee table where Dream was showing Tommy how to play Solitaire after soundly thrashing them in sixteen games of Go Fish, Wilbur slowly got to his feet. Walking over, he asked, “What do you need me to do?”
“Do you mind getting some of your old clothes if you have any clean ones?” Phil asked as Techno carried the person into the hallway towards the guest room. Nodding, Wilbur bolted back into his room, ducking up the stairs and immediately going to his closet. Downstairs, Phil was giving orders to Tommy.
“Do you need any help?” Dream’s voice asked. Turning, Wilbur met their green eyes, then smiled graciously and stepped to the side. “They just need to have some clean clothes, right?”
“Yeah. They’re somewhere between our sizes, I think.” Wilbur mused, and Dream nodded before pulling out a black shirt of theirs and some grey sweatpants. “You can take from mi—”
“No offence, Wilbur, but you’re super tall and I think they’re closer to my height. Besides, you’re scrawny.” The two of them exchanged another look, and Dream stretched their shoulders before musing, “Hopefully they don’t get sick. It’s pounding out there.”
Nodding, Wilbur took the clothes and headed into the hallway, Dream’s soft tread right behind him.
+++
They did, in fact, get sick.
Not too badly, and Phil had a feeling it was more of from stress if anything. They still walked around, wrote down their name—Eret—on a slip of paper. If they could talk, they decided not to.
Walking inside from another trip to look at potential dogs and to the store to pick up some soups, Phil saw Dream sitting with Eret. It’d been a day or two since Techno and Phil had found them, and they knew from the distinct lack of missing persons’ posters matching their descriptions and the way they were acting that it’d been a kick out situation, not a runaway. There was also the cut on the side of their face. It was saddening, really, how many kids were being left out in the dust or hurt because something wasn’t “right” with them. Techno, Wilbur, Tommy, Dream…all of them had suffered, too.
Setting a grocery bag filled with soup cans on the counter, Phil forced a smile onto his face and walked into the living room. “Morning, Eret, Dream. How are the two of you doing?”
Eret’s eyes flicked to him for a second, and they blinked a few times before looking back to the carpet. One of their hands wandered up to rub at their shirt. They hadn’t showered in the time they’d been there, hadn’t changed clothes, either. Thankfully, though, the bloody cut above their eye and then the bruises were starting to get better.
“Things have been pretty slow. We watched a movie today!” On the stairs, there were a few more padding footsteps. Techno was out with Tommy while he got his blood drawn (it was the worst for anyone and they did not want Tommy passing out in the back of a clinic again). Wilbur appeared, smiling softly and waving.
“Hey, Wilbur.”
“Dad.” Settling down by Eret, Wilbur reached over and touched their wrist. Eret’s fingers jolted and almost unknowingly, they grabbed Wilbur’s hand. “So, what’s the plan for dinner tonight?”
“I was thinking chicken noodle soup and toast. How does that sound? Eret?” Phil glanced over and noticed them looking at him. Some sort of message must have passed between Wilbur and Eret, because Wilbur nodded and shot him a thumbs-up. “Great. It’ll be ready in a couple hours. Oh, Tommy and Techno should be home soon they’re just at a doctor’s appointment.”
He went about making dinner quietly, wondering how Kristin was doing. She was off with some family, taking care of something, and he had stayed behind to help take care of the kids. In the main room, he could hear Wilbur and Dream chattering along, voices soft and gentle the whole time.
Techno and Tommy did arrive, Techno giving Tommy a piggyback ride and Tommy clinging to his older brother’s neck with closed eyes. “He’s good. Still no change.” Smiling, Phil reached up and ruffled Tommy’s hair, and Techno grinned before taking the youngest to the living room. He greeted the others with a low grunt, then dropped Tommy on the closest bean bags and threw a blanket over him before settling into one of their recliners with a book. Wilbur and Dream started chatting him up about it, even while Phil asked them to set the table.
“Ooh, is there romance?” Dream teased, tipping their head to the side.
“Yes, and it’s gay.” Flipping the page with his nose, Techno threw some napkins down and added, “and it’s also very interesting because the pilot is—”
“Ahhh! Don’t spoil it!” Glaring at him, Wilbur snapped, “That’s I Met Him Up in Delaware!”
“What’s I Met Him Up in Delaware?” Dream asked, glancing over. Cracking his knuckles, Wilbur replied.
“It’s a story where a gay American college student meets this British nurse at a gay bar in Delaware during a Christmas Eve party. They dance—”
“I thought you said no spoilers, Soot.”
“Shut up, Blade. Anyways, they dance at the Christmas Eve party and then WWII breaks out and stuff happens. It’s cute. Actually, I think they’re making a movie about it right now.”
“Oh, worm?”
“Isn’t that meme dead?”
Pretty soon, they were all finally sitting down for dinner, and Phil glanced over at Eret. They were staring at the soup like it was giving them anxiety. “Eret, you alright?” Phil asked, and Eret looked up and swallowed.
“Do you—” Their voice cut off, and they glanced nervously at Techno, picking at the tablecloth, “do you think I could borrow that—when you’re done?”
Techno glanced down at the book, shoved his little marker in, and then pushed it across the table. “Go ahead.” Eret’s eyes widened and they took the book with shaking hands. Their whole expression was shocked, even a little excited, and Phil glanced over at the others.
(A couple days later, he asked if Eret wanted to say for a little while, and they said yes.
Best decision Phil ever made.)