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“Tommy!” Wilbur shouted, swimming after Tommy’s sinking body.
Tommy didn’t have a tail, he couldn’t swim fast enough to get back to the surface. He’d drown. Thankfully, Wilbur did have a tail, and reached Tommy in a matter of seconds. The blond child tried to fight him for a moment, but Tommy was too weak from being underwater for so long, and Wilbur’s strength was far more superior.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay, baby,” Wilbur reassured, his voice weaving magic between the words. He was aware he was doing it, but Tommy wasn’t, because this is the first time Tommy has heard him do it.
Tommy was still thrashing, and Wilbur got Tommy’s arms pinned at his sides. His thrashing became more like wiggling.
While Tommy was distracted with trying to get free, Wilbur was hauling them both towards the cove where his family always is. It’s their little home. And they were about to add another member to that family. The thought made Wilbur smile.
Tommy’s fight was beginning to slow, and the magic Wilbur had whispered was beginning to take effect.
“ Relax, sunshine. You may rest now. You are safe, ” Wilbur whispered into Tommy’s ear. The effect of Wilbur’s siren voice was immediate. Tommy’s fight left immediately, muscles untensing in Wilbur’s gentle hold, and his little one’s eyes slid shut.
Wilbur finally entered the little cove, his father and older brother already waiting for him. When they saw the little boy they heard so much about, they swam towards him quickly.
“Is this him?” Techno asked, looking at Tommy with a blank expression, but a hint of fondness in his eyes.
“Yes, this is Tommy. I found him drowning. I don’t know what happened,” Wilbur said, sadness in his voice at his little baby going through something.
“Well, he’s really cute, mate,” Phil said, swimming close enough to reach Tommy. Wilbur almost pulled back, his possessive want to protect his vulnerable little child, but this was his father. It was okay.
Phil ran a webbed hand through Tommy’s hair, the boy shivering in his unconscious state. Phil smiled to himself, loving the idea of having a third son. Having a third son who is a little baby. Or maybe even being a grandparent, if Wilbur decided to go the more parental route.
“Do you know how old he is?” Techno asked, beating Phil to the question.
“He’s ten in human years, which is a hatchling. He’s a tiny little baby,” Wilbur cooed, holding Tommy closer to his chest.
“He’s only a hatchling? What is he doing out on his own!” There goes Phil’s dad instincts .
“Yes, Dad, he’s a hatchling. I may have already enchanted him, and then started his turning process,” Wilbur admitted sheepishly.
“That’s fine, mate. I’m sure you had a good reason,” Phil told him, scratching Wilbur right behind the ears. Wilbur purred at the contact, and it seemed his purring made Tommy melt into him ever more.
He smiled and kept up his purring, bringing Tommy over to the corner of the cove, a bed of sea grasses and kelp prepared for this amazing day. He laid himself and Tommy down on the bed, curling around the smaller figure.
Tommy wouldn’t be able to produce enough body heat for a while, since he’s still a hatchling, but that’s okay! That just meant he had to cling to Wilbur for heat. It was basically a win-win situation.
“I’ll protect you, sunshine. Always. No matter what,” Wilbur promised to the sleeping hatchling. He stayed awake, keeping watch, and not wanting to miss Tommy waking up.
When Tommy eventually opened his eyes, he looked dazed. It had only been about four hours,
“W-Wilbur? Wilby, please, I-I’m scared,” Tommy pleaded, tears interrupting his sentence.
“It’s okay, Tommy. You’re okay. We’re safe. You’re safe,” Wilbur told him, trying his best to reassure Tommy without spelling him on accident.
Tommy did not calm down. His breathing picked up, and tears leaked down his face.
“Wilby, they-they said they’d kill me, Wilby. Please, I-I don’t want to die,” Tommy begged, still trapped in a horrible nightmare. Or even worse: a memory.
Wilbur’s jaw clenched, and Techno and Phil had swum over to see what was going on. They stopped farther away, but close enough for their sharp hearing to pick up on Tommy’s hushed pleads.
“Toms, you’re okay. No one is here but me and my family. You’re okay,” Wilbur repeated, like saying it more would help Tommy understand.
“What if they find me? They’ll drown me—they’ll kill me. I don’t want to die yet, Wilbur. They’ll kill you too. And you’re family. It'll be my fault,” Tommy sobbed out quietly, like he was afraid of someone hearing.
“Can you open your eyes for me, Toms?” At the shake of Tommy’s head, Wilbur tried again, “Please, sunshine? For me? I want you to know that you’re safe.”
Tommy peaked open one blue eye, and saw Wilbur at his bedside. He started sobbing, and it sounded like it was out of relief.
“Can I hug you, hatchling?” Wilbur asked gently.
“Why did you call me-,” Tommy was cut off by himself, finally figuring out what was different about him. He let out a fearful chirp, and that did not reassure him in the slightest. If anything, it made him freak out even more.
“Why am I- what did you do?” Tommy sounded fearful now, and it made Wilbur feel such great sadness at his little sunshine being afraid of something he did.
“Do you remember what happened before you woke up, Toms?” Wilbur was still aware of the other two sirens hiding at the edge of the cove.
“Y-Yeah,” Tommy answered, sounding like he’d rather not acknowledge that it happened at all.
“I found you drowning, sunshine. You wouldn’t have made it,” Wilbur admitted, his voice breaking a bit. He didn’t want to think about what could’ve happened if he wasn’t there to save Tommy.
“Oh,” Tommy said, sounding resigned, staring down at the floor. He absentmindedly stared at his newly webbed hands, rubbing them along his new tail.
“Can you tell me what happened?” Wilbur lightly pressed, aware that Tommy was not in the mood for talking, or being vulnerable.
“I don’t want to. I don’t want to think about them,” Tommy said bitterly, “I want to forget that they exist.”
Now, Wilbur didn’t know who these people were, but they obviously wronged his sunshine in some way.
“You don’t have to tell me now, Toms. You can tell me whenever you’re ready,” Wilbur told him, making sure to keep the offer casual, “Would you be okay with my family joining us here?”
“Your dad and big brother?” Tommy asked, head tilted to the side a bit. At Wilbur’s nod, Tommy said, “Okay. As long as they’re nice.”
Wilbur laughed at that comment in particular, finding it adorable (and a bit sad) that Tommy was asking such a thing.
“They’ll be nice, don’t worry. Otherwise, I’ll kick them out,” Wilbur lightheartedly threatened as the two sirens swam into the room. They came in slowly, trying not to scare the young siren. They did have quite large, intimidating frames compared to a hatchling.
“Hey, mate. I’m Will’s dad, and this is his brother, Techno,” The oldest siren introduced.
“I-I’m Tommy,” He replied, even though these people probably already knew who he was.
“I’ve heard a lot about you. All good things, I assure,” Phil kept talking, saying enough for the both of them.
“You won’t- you won’t hurt me?” Tommy asked, as if to double check they wouldn’t go back on what they said.
“Never, Tommy. We will never hurt you,” The other siren, Techno, swore.
“Okay,” Tommy mumbled, a bit disbelieving, “Can I go to sleep, Wilby? I’m tired.”
“Of course, Tommy,” Wilbur said with a smile, guiding the hatchling to lay down on the bed.
Tommy laid his head on the pillow of kelp, and curdled up on his side. He looked like he was trying to take up the least amount of space possible.
“Goodnight, Toms. We’ll talk again when you wake up, okay?” Wilbur was sure that Tommy didn’t want to talk about it, and would try to avoid the topic for as long as he lived, but Wilbur needed to know what he had to protect Tommy from.
“Stay?” Tommy asked, a childish whine in his voice that reminded Wilbur that this is just a hatchling, who almost drowned and wouldn’t tell Wilbur why.
“Of course, Tommy. I’ll stay in here with you while you sleep,” Wilbur assured the sleepy siren.
Tommy smiled to himself for a moment, before falling asleep again, curled up in a tight ball.
“I’m assuming you’re keeping him?” Phil asked, swimming a bit closer to Wilbur and Tommy.
“Of course I’m keeping him!” Wilbur nearly shouted, offended at the thought of abandoning his ray of sunshine.
Phil put up his hands placatingly, “Okay, Will, I get it.”
Wilbur grinned, and sat by Tommy’s bedside, keeping watch for anyone coming too close. A clawed hand grabbed at his side, and he nearly hissed at the person grabbing him, but then he relaxed when he saw who it was.
Tommy was grabbing for him, even in sleep. He was trying to curl into him, like he was searching for shelter. Tommy doesn’t have enough body heat. I’m so stupid. Wilbur laid down around Tommy, cuddling him close, and heating the hatchling up.
Wilbur fell asleep like that, curled up around his hatchling, keeping him safe and protected from the monsters on the surface.