Work Text:
Wilbur and Technoblade were rabbit hybrids.
Considering they were twins, it wasn’t surprising that they both had long and tall ears and had the ability to shift into the form of a rabbit. It wasn’t surprising that they would spend long evenings in their rabbit form, snuggled up together like in those cute pictures Tommy would see on the internet.
Tommy was not a rabbit hybrid.
Tommy was a mouse hybrid. He had large, round ears where Wilbur and Technoblade had long, thin ones. Where Wilbur and Technoblade turned into adorable fluffy creatures, Tommy turned into a small rodent.
When Tommy was younger, Phil had caught Tommy wearing plastic rabbit ears that they had found at the dollar store one day.
“Aw, mate, are you looking like your brothers?” Phil had asked, sounding endeared to the idea.
Tommy had nodded quickly, causing the plastic headband to shift on his head. Tommy’s hands instantly flew up to correct the error.
“I wanna be just like them!” Tommy had exclaimed excitedly. “When I’m old enough to turn into an animal, I’m gonna turn into a bunny so I can snuggle with them too!”
Phil had looked sad at that, even though Tommy hadn’t understood why at the time.
“Mate, you’re a mouse hybrid,” Phil explained gently. “You’re going to turn into a mouse.”
Tommy shook his head. “No,” he said, as though it were that simple. “I’m going to change into a bunny.”
Phil clearly hadn’t had the heart to tell him otherwise.
When Tommy did finally learn how to shift at the ripe age of six, he came to the terrible realization that he could not in fact, turn into a bunny. Tommy was a mouse hybrid, and therefore Tommy would forever stay a mouse. Tommy would forever be a disgusting creature many would like to trod on as opposed to an animal that everyone would like to cuddle.
Sure, his family had pretended to be excited for him. Wilbur said he was cute, but he was just saying that. Technoblade started talking about the mischief Tommy could get into with that form, but Tommy could only think of his body being crushed underneath a mouse trap or accidentally eating rat poison. Phil said that he was very proud of Tommy, but Phil was his dad. He had to say that.
Tommy hated his stupid mouse body as much as he hated his stupid mouse ears. He hated it when the kids at school would mock him, calling him vermin when they thought Tommy couldn’t hear.
Tommy started wearing oversized hoodies to cover his round ears. He started distancing himself from the rest of his family.
They clearly didn’t want to live with vermin like Tommy, so there was no point in making them miserable. They clearly also didn’t have the guts to just straight up kick Tommy out, so Tommy decided to make it easier on them.
He spent more and more time in his bedroom. He stopped peskering Wil and Techno to hang out with him. He stopped going downstairs unless he was called for dinner.
It was lonely, and Tommy’s skin began to crawl a month in the process. Ocassionally, Wil and Techno would check in to see what was wrong, and Tommy just put on a smile and insisted that everything was fine, that he just had a lot of homework to get done.
Wilbur and Techno believed Tommy, and Phil was always too busy at work to properly realize how much Tommy had been isolating himself.
It was fine, though! Tommy wanted to do this. Tommy wanted to stay away from his family. Tommy didn’t want his father and brothers to be weighed down by Tommy’s stupid genetic code.
He spent more time in the shower in the second month, imaging the hot water on his skin was warm touch. At the dinner table, he joked around and put a bright smile on his face as he always did, and everyone was none the wiser to the despair that felt like it was trying to consume Tommy whole.
He remembered when he was younger and desperate to be a bunny so that he cuddle up against Wilbur and Techno’s soft bodies. He remembered when he first shifted and was too ashamed to ask.
Not much had changed since he was six.
One night, Tommy shifted into a mouse and curled up on top of his bed, imagining Wilbur and Technoblade curled up beside him. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and imagined them nuzzling his small face.
Tommy felt cold.
Maybe it would be better for his family if he just left altogether. Maybe it would be better if he just let his family be happy without him.
The next day, after school, Tommy didn’t go home. Instead, he sat on a lonely park bench, watching all of the children play with their parents with bright smiles on their faces.
He didn’t move when it started to rain. He just brought his knees to his chest and hugged his legs close, pretending it was enough to grant him warmth.
He pretended the hot tears that had begun to roll down his cheeks were nothing more than more rain. He pretended that he was perfectly ordinary and perfectly loved.
An hour later, Wilbur found him.
“Oh, Toms,” Wilbur murmured, “What are you doing here?”
Tommy looked away and shrugged, pretending that he wasn’t shivering.
To Tommy’s horror, Wilbur took off his jacket and draped it over Tommy’s body. Tommy instinctually wrapped it more tightly around himself, but he quickly came to his senses and tried to hand it back to Wilbur.
“Don’t want it,” he muttered, his teeth clattering together slightly.
Wilbur looked horrified. “You’re going to get sick,” he said, pushing the jacket back into Tommy’s arms.
“So?”
This time, Wilbur really did look like he was going to burst into tears, and Tommy took the jacket in the hopes that it could stop him from being too sad.
“What are you doing here?” Tommy asked once the jacket was securely around him.
“Looking for you?”
Wilbur pulled out his phone and texted something, presumably to tell Technoblade and Phil that he had found Tommy.
“Why?”
Now Wilbur looked genuinely perplexed. “Because I care about you?”
“But… you shouldn’t.”
Uh oh, Wilbur was going to cry again. “We can talk about this at home,” Wilbur whispered.
Tommy felt too guilty to protest, and he followed Wilbur back to their house, where Phil and Technoblade were already waiting. Phil seemed to have a cup of hot chocolate in his hand, and Technoblade had a pile of blankets in his lap.
“Go take a shower and change into some dry clothes,” Wilbur instructed. “We can talk when you’re no longer sopping wet.”
Tommy obeyed, trudging up the stairs to the bathroom. He probably spent way more time in the shower than was necessary, but he was dreading the conversation to come.
Tommy couldn’t wait forever, however, and he stepped out of the shower, changed into some warm clothes and walked back down the stairs.
Tommy sat down next to Wilbur on the sofa, and Technoblade quickly draped the blankets on top of Tommy. Phil handed Tommy his mug of hot chocolate, and Tommy now felt strangely cared for, which was weird, because he could’ve sworn his family would’ve been happy by his departure.
“Why are you doing this?” Tommy whispered into the mug of steaming hot chocolate.
“Because I’m worried,” Phil admitted. “You didn’t come home from school, you sat in the rain, and I’m worried about you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re my son?” Phil gave Tommy a gentle smile. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
A lump was beginning to form in Tommy’s throat. “Even if… even if I’m vermin?”
The stunned silence in the roam was painfully loud, annunciated by shocked breathing and the hum of the washing machine a few rooms over.
“Who told you that?” Technoblade demanded, his voice low and threatening.
Tommy winced. “Just some… just some kids at school,” he explained stutteringly. “They’re right, though. I’m a rodent.”
“You’re not a rodent,” Wilbur whispered, his voice choked. “You’re a person. You’re a person who can shift into the most adorable mouse I have ever seen, but a person none the less.”
Tommy frowned. “Oh.”
He didn’t really believe Wilbur.
“Why do they call you that?” Phil asked.
“Because of my hybrid features?” Tommy gestured to his giant ears. He looked back down at his drink. “I guess I just thought… that you guys didn’t want me, because you were all good animals, and I was just… gross.”
“That’s not true,” Phil insisted. “You are not gross.”
Tears were building up in Tommy’s eyes now, and Tommy felt helpless to stop them. “But… but Wilbur and Technoblade are rabbits, which are adorable and comforting, and you’re a bird, and I’m just a mouse.
“And you’re an adorable and comforting mouse,” Wilbur insisted. “And we love you so much for it.”
Tommy blinked. Was that really true? Did they really love him for his mouse features?
“Oh.”
“You wouldn’t exactly be the same if you somehow sprouted rabbit ears in place of those big round ones,” Technoblade added.
Tommy’s face was wet, and Tommy suddenly realized he was crying. Horrified, Tommy tried to wipe away his tears, but more seemed to come.
“Oh, Toms. Can I give you a hug?”
Tommy nodded.
Wilbur wrapped his arms around Tommy, holding him close. Tommy’s breathing shuddered at the touch, because it felt so good. It felt like it had been ages since Tommy had been held like this, since Tommy had been touched so lovingly, and it made Tommy cry all the harder.
Phil and Technoblade quickly followed suit, and Tommy found himself in the center of a hug pile.
“Does this mean…” Tommy swallowed. “Does this mean I’m allowed to cuddle with you when you’re hybrids?”
“Of course,” Wilbur whispered. “We can do it right now.”
Wilbur and Technoblade shifted into their rabbit forms, crawling into Tommy’s lap, and Phil turned into a crow, sitting on Tommy’s shoulder and nuzzling his cheek.
Tommy smiled at the affection. Maybe… maybe his family did love him after all.
He shut his eyes and shifted into a mouse, and he let his small body get squished in between the soft fur of Technoblade and Wilbur. He shuffled deeper into their warmth, chittering in soft satisfaction.
Tommy was safe. Tommy was warm.
Tommy was loved.