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“Poor Tommy,” Wilbur says, putting a hand over his heart as he shakes his head with a solemn look in his grey eyes. “Dead at such a young age...What a tragedy.”
Phil turns to look at the phantom disapprovingly as Tommy whimpers and hides his face on his father’s chest once more. No one comments on the loud sniffles the boy lets out or the snot stain he’s leaving behind on the man’s usually pristine clothes. Techno slaps the back of Wilbur’s head before he fades away from view, giggling.
“Don’t listen to him, Tommy,” The human says, moving over to put a wet cloth over the boy’s forehead. “Wilbur is being cringey again.”
The four of them are at the top of the Pube, in an office converted into a nice temporary room for Tommy while the Avian figured out a place to build his house; now however the room looked more like a giant, sticky pillow fort, with blankets, pillows and different stuffed animals all around the room, as well as a few used tissues thrown around. Jack had found the poor kid hacking up a lung with his head half inside a toilet bowl not too long ago and immediately used his com to call the boy’s father as well as Techno, since the man seemed to possess some knowledge that often alluded the hybrids due to them living so far off from civilization.
The blaze was thankfully correct and not soon after the Pube was put on quarantine, no one allowed in so the hybrids who were too different from the humans and therefore harder for Techno to care for didn’t catch the same awful bug that had kept the boy bed ridden.
Wilbur however, saw this as a great opportunity to pester the quarentined since he couldn't get sick as colateral of being long dead.
“Am I dying?” Tommy asks weakly, resting against Phil as if feeding off the touch. He groans, shaking himself a bit to shed some weak feathers that are making him itchy all over. “I feel like I’m dying…”
Phil snorts and presses a soft kiss to the top of the boys head, not caring about the thin layer of sweat clinging to the teenager’s forehead or the fact that he will most definitely also get sick if he continues so close to Tommy. Not that he cares, really, it’s a sacrifice he’s willing to make. “You’re fine, mate, I promise,” He smiles, settling his large wings as a sort of protective wall around the two of them. “Wilbur is just being a prick.”
There is a soft gasp somewhere before them and Wilbur materializes directly in front of the two, grasping at his chest with a faux offended look on his face. As usual his reappearance has Techno startling and mumbling something very aggressive under his breath, most likely something about how he’ll never get used to the phantom’s habit of changing to visible or invisible whenever he feels like it.
“I’m just worried, that's all” He says, and Phil rolls his eyes at the absurd acting from the man. Wilbur leans in conspiratorially, voice changing to be more of a stage whisper. “That’s how I died, y’know? I can’t wait for you to be a phantom like me.”
Tommy’s eyes grow as wide as saucers and he grabs his father’s shirt tightly. “ Phiiiil, ” He whines pitifully, breaking into a full cough as the man uses his wing to wack a now giggling Wilbur on the stomach for scaring the boy. “Tell him to stoooop !”
“He’s just trying to scare you, Tommy,” Techno says, coming to sit on the edge of the bed/nest the two feathery hybrids had put together before to pat the young Avian’s leg. It was oddly comfortable, their weird little nest, with borrowed clothes from the whole commune and blankets as it’s walls making him feel weirdly protected and cozy. “You’re not dying or turning into a phantom anytime soon,” He continues before pausing and looking at Phil with a somewhat concerned look in his eyes. “Right?”
Phil lets out a quiet laugh into his hand, shaking his head fondly. While Techno is a smart young man who is knowledgeable over many things such as basic medicine, history and weaponry, he certainly knew very little about hybrids like them and their way of life, which wasn’t that surprising considering their existence was a secret for the rest of the world and he had never met anyone like them until stumbling onto their commune.
They had been unsure about the man at first, of course, but now Techno was considered one of them, and his effort to understand them and their culture didn’t go unnoticed.
“Right, Wilbur’s...condition was very different from this, remember?” Phil asks softly, brushing the hair out of the boy’s eyes as he nods.
“He got all cold,” Tommy mumbles quietly, and for whatever it’s worth, Wilbur seems somewhat regretful of having brought the topic up. Tommy wasn’t there when Wilbur died, Phil made sure to ship him off to stay with friends before so the young boy, still a child at the time, didn’t have to witness, but he was still there for the weeks leading up to it, and Wilbur hates that his brother saw him like that, Phil knows however that it would have been much worse for all of them if Tommy was gone the entire time. “ ‘M even hotter than usual.”
Techno snorts and shakes his head, a bad decision on his part because the second Tommy hears him he’s reminded that the human is there. Like an owl navigating around through sound alone, the boy sluggishly detaches himself from Phil and crawls over to a wide eyed Techno before throwing his arms around the man and burying his head on the man’s shoulder with a groan.
Techno doesn’t seem to particularly enjoy the contact, but he doesn’t move away, in fact, Phil is pretty sure he sees the human adjust slightly so Tommy has more space for his small wings.
“And Tommy is already a hybrid,” Phil continues, a soft smile on his face at the display of affection. “Wil had the Phantom genes from birth, he died because of it, not the other way around. None of us can be double hybrids.”
Tommy unhooks his arms from Techno’s shoulder in order to toss a sheep plushie at Wilbur. He doesn’t even have to phase away, the boy is weak enough that the sheep barely makes it beyond their little nest.
“Oof,” Techno lets out, grabbing the back of Tommy’s head and pushing him back to the position he was before to spare him of any further embarrassment. Phil laughs as his son lets out a long whine. “That was bad, Tommy, truly. Take the L man, ‘cus that was one of your saddest things I’ve seen.”
“Fuck you” Tommy mumbles, face still fully burried on Techno’s shoulder. “I hate all of you, you’re all bastards.”
Tommy doesn’t let go of Techno for a second, Phil and Wilbur share an amused look as the human pats his back pityingly.
“Sorry, Tommy” Wilbur says eventually, moving to sit between Phil and Techno so he can ruffle the boy’s hair. He grumbles slightly, but fully leans into the touch. “I was just messing with you, just trying to be funny.”
“‘ou fucking suck at being funny,” Tommy says, turning his face towards his brother and poking his tongue out. “You’re just a big bitch.”
“Of course, of course.” Wilbur agrees, nodding solemnly.
“I thought the good part of being sick was that no one could make fun of me,” he whines, wiping his nose on the shirt of a very affronted Technoblade. “And I could do whatever I wanted, innit?”
“Trust me,” Techno says, coldly. “If you weren’t sick you would be dropped on the floor right now.”
Tommy grips Techno harder, who sighs and once again adjusts his position to accommodate the teenager in his arms. He glares at Wilbur when he snickers at it.
“What do you wanna do then, Tommy?” Phil asks, taking pity on the boy. “I mean, we don’t have a lot of options since you can’t go out but we can figure something out.”
They turn their eyes to Tommy, waiting for a response. After a beat or two of silence Phil frowns.
“Toms?” He repeats softly, slightly concerned. “Did you-”
He is interrupted by loud snoring, and the whole room has to keep themselves from laughing.
“Of course,” Techno groans, but when he peers down at the boy his eyes are soft. “He’s gonna drool all over me.”
“You can put him down now, he won’t notice,” Wilbur tells him, rubbing the boy’s back to ease him up and keep him from holding Techno like a lifeline. In the end, it’s a bit of a toss up over who between the three of them is less willing to let the other go, but after a bit the boy is curled up against Wilbur’s side, still snoring softly. “But he’ll be twice as clingy when he wakes up.”
Techno’s eyes widen. “No way, that’s not possible.”
Wilbur and Phil share a knowing look but say nothing, choosing to instead just watch the up and down of Tommy’s chest, wanting to be sure he’s doing ok.
It’s not until after dark that Tommy wakes up. By Wilbur is the only one still awake, his nocturnal habits had him sleep during the day while his father and Techno both waited for nightfall to succumb to the boredom that was being alone in the pub and letting themselves collapse on the nest with Tommy between them, the boy half hidden by Phil’s protective wing.
“Wilby?” He asks, still slightly out of it. He doesn’t bother moving until he feels the mattress beneath him shift, and then he moves to attach himself at his brother's side. He hears a soft chuckle.
“Hey, Toms” He greets and soon there are long, cold fingers running through his hair which he shamelessly leans into. “You doing any better?”
The boy shakes his head with a whine and presses his head further into his Wilbur’s, cool, phantasmagorical shoulder. “Am I really dying, Wil?” He asks quietly “Feels like I am.”
If Tommy had his eyes opened instead of glued shut by sleep he would have seen regret and adoration flash past his brother’s eyes. “No, Tommy” He responds just as softly, his fingers continuing to card through the boy’s hair. “You just feel bad cus you got an annoying stomach bug; you’ll be better in a few days, I promise.”
Tommy doesn't respond, choosing to hum instead of speaking. He knows his brother often becomes quiet and clingy when sick, the usual spitfire in him calming down the second his temperature rises, but Wilbur can’t help to feel concern as he often does when he sees Tommy unhappy, having to hold the boy back just as he holds him to be sure he will be okay.
Just because Wilbur isn’t a bird hybrid, it doesn’t mean he isn’t allowed to mother-hen his little brother.
“I think-” Tommy starts, only to get interrupted by a small cough. Wilbur rubs his back and waits patiently for him to continue. “I think I like being sick.”
“You just said you felt like you were dying, Toms” Wilbur questions, chuckling slightly. Mabe the boy is still out of it.
“Yeah, but I like being with Phil, and Techno, and you,” He mumbles, half his words practically intelligible but after years of helping take care of Tommy, Wilbur can tell what he means. I’m never letting this one go , he thinks to himself, smirking at his baby brother, I’m going to tell everyone how much of a sap you are when you’re doing better. “Plus I-I like this.”
“This?” The phantom asks, confused.
“You,” Tommy clarifies and Wilbur’s heart melts. “I can’t-When it’s cold it’s not so fun to hug you cus you are cold, like-like water, like Niki’s lake in autumn. I don’t care though,even if it makes me shiver because I love you even when you’re a bitch.”
Maybe Wilbur would giggle or push his brother over the insult if he wasn’t too busy holding back tears.
“But now I’m all hot and sweaty and gross and stuff, and you’re like...nice,” He continues,shifting position so he’s lying down with his head on Wilbur’s lap, the boy smiling when his neck hits fridged skin.”You’re always nice, but I can hug you forever like this without getting a cold or something. I like it.”
“Well,” Wilbur says, voice wobbly and absolutely adoring. “I like you.”
“Gross, I’m a minor.” Tommy says, still sounding very out of it but Wilbur cackles loudly, not really minding when both Phil and Techno stirr. The teenager takes his brother’s hand anyway, yawning loudly. “Promise you’ll keep hugging me until I wake up?”
Tommy smiles, dropping a kiss on his brother’s forehead who pulls a face but doesn’t move. “Promise, Toms. Go back to sleep, I’ll keep you company until you’re awake.” He mumbles, watching as his brother falls once more into a sleep he hardly left. Determined to keep word.
And he does.
And he will.