Work Text:
Tommy tugged and pulled at his coat, trying to break it loose from the hold a man had on it without losing his grip on the sleek fur himself. The harsh ocean spray from the waves that crashed over the ship certainly didn’t help either party. After weeks of being trapped in that hell, he wouldn’t let himself go back. Not a chance in hell. Tommy rolled his hands into the sleeve he still had a hold on and yanked as hard as he possibly could as a wave slammed into the side of the ship, rocking it to the side sending everything sliding towards the rails.
The back of his knees collided with the cold metal rails and he was sent toppling straight into the sea. He watched for the split second before the water swallowed him whole as the man tried reaching over to catch him.
He did his best to tug his coat back on, but the rolling waves seemed content to slam him straight into the ocean floor. Rocks and sharp coral dug deep into his back and he was barely able to hold back a scream of pain. That would practically be a death sentence, he couldn’t breath the salty liquid even with his coat on, but each time he tried to free himself from the tidal break, the current pulled him right back in.
It was a struggle he would certainly never win, he was pulled in an endless tug of war until suddenly he felt his head collide into something with a sharp crack. At least he would die in his home, left as shark food instead of trapped in a cage for gods know how many years. That was the last thought he had before the world slipped into an inky black.
—
“Come on man, hurry up!” Tubbo groaned impatiently, waiting for Ranboo to pull on yet another coat.
His friend only rolled their eyes, stepping through the door into the chilled winter air. “Yeah, yeah. You know I can’t stand it when I get water on me.”
“Oh please,” Tubbo scoffed, skipping down the front steps towards the sidewalk. “We’re going to the beach, you’re more likely to get your feet wet than your arms.”
Ranboo fell into step beside him, clearly slowing his pace so he wouldn’t outrun Tubbo. “I can just avoid the waves, but if it starts raining I won’t be able to do anything about it.”
Tubbo quirked a brow. “Umbrella?”
“Oh, I have one of those too.” Ranboo pulled a small umbrella out of his coat pocket, waving it back and forth as if Tubbo could miss the damn thing.
“Of course you did. Also, it wouldn’t rain here anyways, way too cold.”
Ranboo shrugged. “Rain, snow, same difference.”
They fell into a short silence, which was soon interrupted by Ranboo shooting a questioning glance at Tubbo. “Soooo, why are we going to the beach again?”
“Are you kidding man? Didn’t you see the blizzard last night? There’s gotta be a bunch of cool shit that washed up after a storm like that!” Tubbo exclaimed, throwing his arms out.
“Right, why would you want beach junk though?”
“Did you not hear what I said about cool stuff?”
Ranboo sighed. “I don’t know why I even asked, you'd go dumpster diving for a faulty redstone contraption.”
Tubbo shot an offended glare. “Because I could probably fix it or make something better !
“Now come on,” He grabbed Ranboo’s wrist, pulling them along as he started to sprint towards the sand and sleet covered wooden steps that led down to one of Snowchesters many beaches. “We’re almost there!”
“Slow down! You’ll slip and get yourself hurt!” Ranboo scolded, but didn’t slow down either despite their own warning.
With the amount of steps they skipped on their way down the rickety staircase, it was an amazing feat neither of them slipped. Tubbo took one last leap, flying into the snow covered sand. There were small ice caps scattered around the water, unable to remain intact long enough on the harsh break to become anything near sheets or icebergs. Soon enough they would become nothing but slush.
“How exactly are we supposed to find anything out here? It’s all covered in snow.” Ranboo pointed out.
“I don’t know, kick around at the shoreline, there’s gotta be something there.”
“So what? We kick at the beach for a while and then meet back up here?” Ranboo asked.
“Yeah pretty much.” Tubbo shrugged, already heading off down the beach.
Tubbo was only able to find a few useful things, but most of it was old fishing nets and buoys. The old rusty can opener was pretty funny though, in his opinion. Admittedly, Ranboo was right about most of the things washing up being junk, there were a few old car pieces that seemed kind of worthwhile at least, though Tubbo had no clue how they wound up in the water in the first place. There was hardly enough rust on them to have broken off from an old wreck.
He stopped his musings when his foot knocked into a snow covered mound, at first he thought it would be a rock or a log, but those ideas were quickly vanquished when he realized whatever it was was oddly… squishy and let out what sounded like a pained grunt.
Crouching down next to whatever it was, Tubbo began brushing the thin layer of snow off of it. Probably some poor animal that got caught out in the storm. The… whatever it was seemed pretty lacking in the fur department, and it was covered in cuts, gashes and bruises. It didn’t look like any animal Tubbo had ever seen in his life.
It was only when he grabbed ahold of the creature's side and rolled it over that he realized it wasn’t an animal at all, it was a person . They were well past the point of shivering, practically blue. They had white curly hair -though there was clearly blood in it, which was pretty concerning- and their cheeks were dotted in dark freckles. Tubbo also took not of what looked to be a thick fur coat clutched to their chest and he had to question just how stupid they were to not be wearing it.
He lifted his head up, cupping his hands around his mouth and calling out to his friend all the way on the other side of the beach. “Hey Ranboo, come here! I found a body!”
“YOU WHAT ?!” Tubbo laughed, watching Ranboo sprint all the way across the beach to reach him, nearly tripping over their own feet multiple times. They stumbled to a stop beside him, taking heaving breaths and resting their hands on their knees, staring down at the mystery person. “Holy- Are they actually dead ?”
Tubbo shrugged. “Nah, I just wanted to scare you.”
“What the hell, Tubbo?! You can’t just say you found a body to scare me! I thought we’d actually have to call the police or something!” Ranboo whacked Tubbo upside the head, though there was no real intention to hurt him.
“But seriously man, what do we do? If we just leave ‘em, they’ll die anyway.”
“I- I dunno? How'd they even get out here? No one should’ve been outside in that storm.”
“Maybe they’re homeless or something?” Tubbo suggested.
Ranboo’s eyebrows drew together. “Aren’t the shelters and churches supposed to take people in? Plus, I feel like we would recognize them, they don’t look like anyone I’ve seen around town and the highways were closed all day yesterday in preparation for the storm. No way they took a bus or walked.”
“So what, you think they just washed up on the beach or something?”
“Maybe, I don’t know. It’s possible.”
Tubbo shook the odd person, trying to wake them. “Hey, hey dead guy, wake up.” They groaned, hands flexing into their coat. Other than that, they hardly even stirred.
“Well that didn’t work, what now?” Ranboo asked.
“Take ‘em to your house? I don’t know about you, but I really don’t feel like dealing with paramedics or anything, and from the look of this guy, they won’t be able to pay the bills anyway.”
“Why does it have to be my house?!”
“You live closer, duh.” Tubbo deadpanned. “Plus, you have a fireplace, which will probably help warm them up.”
“You have a fireplace too, Tubbo. Everyone in town does.”
“Yeah but we don’t actually use it, it’s basically just become another shelf at this point. Also your parents are out of town for the weekend, aren’t they?”
“Wouldn’t having an adult around actually help in this situation?”
“But they’d probably just take whoever this is to the hospital anyways, and I wanna ask them some questions and shit.” Tubbo said, already lifting the person off the ground. “Damn, this motherfucker is light.”
“Wouldn’t that be better though?If they have a family looking for them, the hospital would be able to find them.”
“But what if their family is shitty? Like come on man, who lets their kid walk around in the middle of a snowstorm?”
“That’s a good point, I guess.”
“Of course it is, now come on leg boy, let's get this dead bitch some fire.” Tubbo began marching back towards the staircase up to the street.
“You make it sound like we’re burning a body.”
“Maybe we will, anything can happen.” Tubbo laughed at the distressed noise Ranboo made, jogging ahead and leaving them in the dust.
—
The smell of woodsmoke and sound of a crackling fire were the first things to hit Tommy when he was pulled into wakefulness. The next was a dull ache, and an odd tightness all around his chest along with more around his head, as if he were wearing some kind of headband.
He blinked his eyes open, looking around an unfamiliar room. He was laying on a couch with a blanket pulled over his shoulders, though it slipped down as he sat up. There was a lit fireplace off to his side, and as he noticed the couch seemed slightly out of place with the chairs, pushed a little too far from the wall, probably so he would be closer to the fire.
The last thing he remembered was getting caught in a fishing net and pulled onto a ship and- Oh, oh right.
“Am I dead? Mom, are you here?”
“I hope you aren’t dead, then I’d have to explain to the cops why I had a body in my house.” A voice spoke behind him, startling him so much he fell onto the floor.
“What the hell?!” Tommy’s head snapped up to the intruder, some weirdo with hair that split black and white down the middle, they also had dual toned glasses and a mask. “Who the fuck are you?! Where am I!?”
Tommy paled only moments after. “Oh gods I’ve been kidnapped again.”
“Wait what? Is that what happened to you?” The weirdo rounded the couch and crouched down right in front of Tommy. “We found you washed up on the beach, I wanted to take you to a hospital, but my friend Tubbo thought that wouldn’t be a good idea.”
“Hospital?”
“Yeah, you were in pretty bad shape, still are if I’m being honest.”
That didn’t ease Tommy’s confusion in the slightest. “No, I mean what the hell is a hospital?”
The weirdo looked at him as if he was the crazy one. “You mean you… don’t know what a hospital is?”
“No. Should I?”
“I mean, yeah? I think just about everyone on the planet knows what it is. To summarize though, it’s where sick and injured people go to get help and heal.”
“Huh, I didn’t know anything like that existed.”
“You- Where are you even from ?”
“Poseidon's Gully.” Tommy answered shortly.
“Poseidon’s-” Weird guy’s eyebrows shot up and they stared at Tommy in surprise. “You're a mer?”
“Uhh, something like that.” Tommy had to be cautious of what he told land dwellers, just by all the warnings his brothers and father always gave him, and judging by his first impression with anyone from the surface, those warnings were best to be heeded.
“Alright, explains why you were washed up on the shore,” Weird guy mused. “But- and I’m sorry if this sounds rude- I didn’t see any scales or gills on you. How are you able to breathe underwater?”
Ah, shit. Tommy forgot about that fact. “I can’t, big man, can hold my breath really long though.”
“How do you sleep then?”
“The gully is on a reef, right? There's small islands made from sand banks for people like me.”
“Huh, I never knew that.”
“Of course you wouldn’t, we like to keep our personal space, y’know?” And it was for good reason, Tommy should know, he found out first hand just how bad land dwellers could be.
“Oh, uh, yeah. So what’s your name anyways?”
“Tommy, what about you, weird guy?”
Weird guy had the gall to look offended. “ Weird -?!”
“Ranboo, you dick!” Yet another person appeared, giving Tommy a near heart attack. “I told you I wanted to ask the questions!”
“Hello to you too, Tubbo.” Ranboo deadpanned.
“Do all surface fucks just show up like that? What the hell, man?!” Tommy clutched at his still pounding heart.
“Surface fucks?” The new person, Tubbo, cocked his head.
“Mer, or… part mer?”
Tommy just nodded, not really answering Ranboo’s half question.
“Ohh, right, right. Makes sense.” Tubbo nodded, as if it answered every question he could possibly have, then turned to Ranboo. “See, I told you a hospital would be a bad idea.”
Tommy shot a worried glance between them, hardly trying to mask his nervousness. “Wait, why would it be a bad idea, I thought you said that’s where healers are?”
“Well yeah, but it’s not often any sort of mer washes up. They might wanna do experiments or some shit like that.” Tubbo said it as if there was nothing disturbing about the sentence.
“ What ?! That’s- that can’t be allowed, right? There’s gotta be rules against that kind of shit, like treaties or something.” Panic clearly laced Tommy’s voice.
“There are .” Ranboo cut in. “He’s just trying to scare you.”
“Am not! I’m speaking truth, you never know what scumbags are lurking around the corner!”
Ranboo groaned. “You watch way too many movies, man.”
“But I’m right .” Tubbo protested.
“You really, really aren’t.” Ranboo pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I mean, he kinda is though, isn’t he?” Tommy piped up.
Both turned to face him and he felt himself shrink back.
“What do you mean?” Ranboo asked, oddly gentle.
“I- Well that’s what I was always told, that land dwellers will like… Hurt people like me.” Tommy bit out nervously. “And I’m kinda inclined to believe it, since someone fished me up in a net and tried to steal my pelt-”
His eyes widened and his jaw clicked shut, realizing what he’d said. Maybe if he was lucky though, they didn’t know, or missed it.
“Pelt?” Tubbo asked, leaning forward to drape himself over the back of the couch before his face lit up. “Wait, holy shit are you a selkie? That’s so fucking cool man!”
Tommy blinked, taken aback. “What?”
“Yeah man, I’ve only heard of selkies in really old stories, you’re like a myth made real!”
Tommy’s face scrunched up, why were these people so weird . “I mean, I guess? We’re not all that common- well, most like to live at places that have beaches, but also lots of snow. Cold weather is really nice since we can keep our coats on us all the time.”
“Really? So that means that they would like this town, wouldn’t they? It’s almost exactly how you described.” Ranboo pointed out.
“Probably, but chances are they’re hiding out real well, if they haven’t been hunted out already.”
“Why would anyone wanna hunt other people?” Tubbo asked, clearly perplexed.
“You tell me, man. I’m not the expert on surface people and all their motives. I just know what’ll keep me alive.” Tommy honestly had no clue why they did what they did, he just followed what he was told for the most part.
“I was being rhetorical.”
“Oh, right, yeah of course you were.” God, this guy was fucking confusing.
“Well,” Ranboo began. “Now that we know where you’re from, how do we get you back? Poseidon’s Gully is well over three hundred miles away, and boats are pretty expensive and commercial ones won’t get anywhere near close enough for you to safely swim the rest of the way.”
All three seemed to be at somewhat of a loss.
“I guess we wait until my family comes looking? Or if there’s any nomadic pods that pass through, I’m sure they’ll let me travel with them.”
“They don’t come around until mid summer though,” Tubbo explained. “And it’s in the dead of winter. So that’s like, a whole half a year.”
Tommy sighed. “Well, unless you can come up with a better idea, I’ll have to wait for whatever comes first.”
It was a bit of a grim realization for Tommy, the fact that he wouldn’t have his family around for gods knew how long, he was practically stranded, beached, if you will. Hopefully he could feign patience long enough.
—
Tommy had been getting dragged around the small town of Snowchester for days now, Tubbo apparently wanting him to “see what the surface had to offer”. Tommy really didn’t want to, he would much rather stay hiding out in that very small room in Ranboo’s house that had all sorts of comfortable clothes that made a perfect bed. He also didn’t like having to climb out Ranboo’s window whenever Tubbo wanted to drag them around town.
On the other hand, Tommy would really rather not be left alone. Not to mention they frequently hung out on the beach (though Tommy avoided swimming, since he would prefer not being discovered by any passersby.)
Right now, Tubbo was bringing them through a bakery, saying the owner of the shop made the best pastries in town, and possibly even the whole coast. Tommy found that a little hard to believe, but he had to admit, the sweets were pretty damn good.
As they stepped back out onto the street, they were greeted by a bustling crowd. One person pushed through and called out to the trio. “Tubbo, Ranboo! Wait up!” The two turned, given the stranger a moment to catch their breath.
“What’s up, Quackity.” Tubbo greeted.
“Dude, apparently there’s like, a group of mer at the docs!”
Tommy’s eyes widened, excitement mixed with longing and relief pumping through his veins. “What?! Tubbo we- We gotta get down there!”
“Already know the shortest route, come on.” Tubbo’s hand gripped Tommy’s own and the next thing he knew, the three of them were running down the street so fast Tommy could barely keep his footing.
They cut through alleyways, sometimes climbing over boxes filled with putrid smelling junk and scaling chain link fences. Tommy’s heart felt like it was beating out of his chest and tears burned at the corners of his eyes as he gasped for breath, but he still didn’t slow down, he couldn’t slow down. If there was even a chance that somehow his family had reached him, and so soon, no less, he had to see them.
The moment the reached the doc, Tommy began shoving his way through the crowd. The further he got, the thicker it became until he was practically being trampled trying to shove his way through. Through the sea of other sounds and chatter, he was able to catch some familiar voices and began pushing through the crowd with a renowned vigor.
“-see, so I suppose he must not be here either then, boys, let’s move along.”
No . Tommy wouldn’t be left behind, he wanted to go home dammit!
“Dad!” He called out as loud as his lungs would allow. “Dad, wait, I’m here! I’m right here!”
The crowd seemed to part and Tommy slipped away into freedom, he didn’t even look before he leapt right off the doc, earning a few startled shouts that were cut off by water filling his ears. His eyes snapped open and he stared through the crystalline water. He could recognize the shapes and colors of each family member's tail.
Techno’s was the largest out of all of them, black and white pattern of an orca clear as day. Wilbur and their Dad, Phil, were both large rays. Tommy always jokes that their large fins looked like wings. Techno always seemed inclined to agree though.
Tommy resurfaced seconds later, blinking the water out of his eyes, he couldn’t tell if it was from the ocean, or tears. He was almost instantly tackled into a bone crushing hug.
“Holy fuck, Tommy! Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been?!” Tommy curled in on himself at Wilbur's scolding.
“Sorry I- I wasn’t sure how to get back, I wanted to, really I did, but…”
“You’re fine, Theseus.” Techno interrupted. “He’s just being dramatic. Not to say we weren’t worried of course, but clearly you’ve handled yourself just fine.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that I was all on my own…” Tommy muttered sheepishly.
“You had help? From who?” Phil questioned. Tommy couldn’t quite place the mix of emotions on his dad's face, but surprise was certainly one of them.
Tommy turned, wriggling out of Wilbur’s grip to face the doc. He only had to search the crowd for a second before he spotted his friends, pointing so his family could see. “Them, right there. Tubbo and Ranboo found me washed up on a beach after I got caught up in a storm. They’ve been letting me stay with them since and keeping an eye out for me.”
“Really now,” Phil hummed, swimming closer to address the two. “Well, I suppose I owe you both my thanks then. I appreciate you looking out for Tommy, I can’t possibly give you enough of a reward.”
“Actually, please don’t. He’s been staying in my room for the last month and my parents had no idea and they would totally chew me out if they knew.” Ranboo cut in.
Phil’s eyes twinkled with mirth as he scanned the crowd. “Not to point out the obvious, mate, but I think they’ll know either way, what with how gossip tends to travel. You might as well take the option you actually get something more than a scolding out of.”
“I-” Ranboo’s face fell, a comedic mix of grief and realization crossing it that had both Tommy and Tubbo rolling with laughter. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Phil nodded, seemingly happy to have won what was hardly even an argument. “Well, now that that’s settled. We’ll be sure to have compensation delivered. We should be getting ourselves home by now, though.”
They all nodded, and Tommy looked to Tubbo and Ranboo once again, giving his goodbyes.
“Wait,” Tubbo called, just before they could dive. “Will we ever see you again?”
Tommy paused, uncertain. “I’m not sure, but I hope so, someday.”
“Oh, well goodbye then, Tommy.”
“Goodbye, Tubbo, Ranboo. I’ll do my best to make sure we can meet again!” That was as much of a promise as he was comfortable giving, in all truth, he could never know if he would actually be able to see them again. Or how long it would take if he could .
He would hold the last month close to his heart despite it, intent to never forget them.