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"I've got it!" Sapnap yelled into the house, rushing to open the door before Quackity. He was met with a pair of goat horns and a grinning face.
"Hey Sapnap!" Tubbo greeted, "I'll trade you Michael for your duck boy! Karl said he would babysit." Quackity appeared behind him, carrying his axe and a huge coat.
"Oh, are you guys going to Snowchester?" Sapnap asked, moving out of the way.
"Yep!" Quackity said, carefully mauvering out of the house. "Hey, big guy! Have fun with Sapnap while we're out." he told Michael, patting him on the head.
"Gonna have fun!" Michael agreed, letting go of his dad's hand and taking Sapnaps.
"Awesome. Tubbo, flying with an axe isn't all that safe so we're gonna want to pearl there." Quackity reported. "Oh, and Sap, Karl isn't home after all, so it'll be just the two of you! Bye!"
"Wait, where did Karl-" the two pearled away "- go...?"
Sapnap stood there for a moment, and Michael waved goodbye to the purple ender particles left behind. He reached out to try and catch one, making him teleport three inches forward. Sapnap jumped, and laughed at the look of shock on the small piglin's face.
"You'd make a good enderman, Michael." he told the boy, crouching down to his height. "I guess it really is just you and me today, huh? Sorry Karl isn't here, he must be in his library today."
"Papa has a lie-berry!" Michael exclaimed, his eye lighting up. "Lots of books. Papa loves books."
"Oh, yeah?" Sapnap asked, moving over to the bookshelf. "Bet he doesn't have this book."
Michael scooted into Sapnap's lap and stared hard at the book cover. It had a purple cover and a black trim. Karl had drawn swirls on the front to make it look like a nether portal, but the marker faded over time. After a minute of examining the book, Michael looked at Sapnap and announced:
"I can't read yet."
"Oh, um - it says Into the Fire." he read. "It's my favorite book."
"Papa doesn't have that." Michael whispered seriously.
"Do you wanna read it?" the little piglin's eye grew wide.
"I can't read yet, Snapnap!"
The blaze hybrid pulled his godson close and opened the book. "I can teach you some words! This book has a lot of important words about the Nether."
"Like me?" he asked. "Papa says I'm in the Nether."
"Do you mean you're from the Nether?"
Michael thought hard for a moment.
"Yes."
"I'm from the Nether too!" Sapnap told him. Michael petted the book's spine.
"I know! You smell like blaze!"
Sapnap opened his mouth, and closed it again. Piglins did have an incredible sense of smell, so it wasn't that surprising that Michael picked up on his origins quickly. Though usually, smelling like blaze wasn't a compliment in the overworld. He decided to open the book and change the subject.
"Look," he turned to the page with a picture of a fully grown zombie piglin. "That's what you might look like when you grow up!" Michael shook his head, and his ears flopped across his head.
"Nope! I'm gonna be like you."
Sapnap was quiet. That was really sweet. "I'm a blaze, buddy. Remember? You can't change your origin."
"No," Michael huffed, frustrated. "I'm gonna look like you! You and uncle Techno!"
"Me and... oh! You mean you're gonna look more human?" Michael nodded enthusiastically.
"Technoblade and I can change between - do you wanna see?" he nodded again. "Promise you won't get scared? I'm pretty spooky!"
"I'm brave!" Michael promised.
He mostly transformed himself in battle or when he needed to be loud, but nonetheless he could switch between fluently. His ears and teeth grew pointed, and his eyes switched from brown to red. His aura grew warmer, but Michael was unbothered. He sent a burst of hot air through his hair just to show off a little.
Then it caught fire and Michael started giggling.
"Pat down," he muttered, grinning despite himself as he patted out the flame. "Pretty cool huh?"
"Yup!" Michael tugged on his shirt sleeve and scrunched his nose. With a small pop! it shrank into a human nose.
"What the-" Sapnap rubbed his eyes, and when he opened them he was met with a head of fluffy pink hair, a familiar eyepatch and tusks. He had copied his godfather's pointed ears, too. "How did you-"
"Look!" he used his hands to push his hair up for a moment and frantically patted his on head. "Pat down! Pat down!"
"Can you change back too?" Sapnap asked, excited. Michael grinned and changed back. It was a bit strange, but still cool as hell. "Were you able to do that before?"
"I dunno!" he giggled. "Can I have an apple?"
~
"Sapnap, Michael! We're back!" Quackity shouted, letting himself and Tubbo back into the house. Michael and Sapnap thumped down the hall to meet them like excited puppies. Sapnap barreled into Quackity at full speed, and his fiance nearly fell over, having to spread his wings to regain his balance.
"Easy, tiger!" he smiled, kissing the top of his head. He noticed the pointed ears sticking out of his hair and chuckled. "Showing off your hellfire for Michael, huh?"
Sapnap nodded. "Wait till you see," he whispered.
"Easy, tiger!" Michael yelled, smacking into his dad's leg and hugging it tight. Tubbo picked him up and spun him in a circle.
"Did ya have fun with Sapnap today?" he asked, setting the giggling piglin down.
"Look, dad! I'm like Snapnap!" he squealed, changing his form to look human. Tubbo bleated in surprise, and Quackity gave Sapnap a look of 'did you teach him that?'
Sapnap just shrugged.
"Holy shi- er, crap. Michael, how did you do that?!" Michael butted his dad's knee with the top of his head.
"Snapnap showed me!" he told him matter-of-factly. "Show dad, Snapnap!" the blaze-hybrid grinned and changed his own form.
"We should get going, but what did you do to get him to switch? Ranboo and I were starting to think he couldn't!" Tubbo picked his son up and watched him with interest as he changed his nose between human and pig over and over.
"I dunno, he just did it."
"I think it's cool as hell, big man!" Quackity told Michael, ruffling his hair (much to the piglin's delight).
"Bye Quacky! Bye Snapnap!" he paused. "Bye Karl!" Tubbo closed the door behind him, leaving the two to look at each other, confused.
"Was Michael just a human?" Karl said from behind his fiances, scaring them.
"Where the fuck did you come from?!"