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Tommy has been in this new pod for more than a month and he’s still treading on seashells. The pod is nice, far better than any of his old ones. His foster father is younger than the ones he has had before. The man has long pink hair and a blood-red tail. Scars litter his face and body and Tommy is too afraid to ask the story behind them.
Techno, his foster father, has a small pod. With only his brother, Wilbur, and father, Phil, being a part of it. They live just down the street. Constantly visiting every night for dinner and games. They don’t ask much of Tommy, practically nothing.
That however is the issue. No one has told him what to do. Day in and out Tommy is peeking around corners, praying that they have a chore for him. Anything that would make them less likely to send him away. He knows he isn’t pulling his weight, and he knows that responsibilities are what make a pod, a pod.
He had been told this thousands of times. Told that he will never be accepted into a pod if he doesn’t help out. He will never find his place if he doesn’t show that he is worthy of one. All the pods before this one had no problem showing him how he could help. Giving him a bulk of the chores in order to find where he fit best. He never fit, but at least then he had hope.
In this pod, he doesn’t think he will last another month. He has done nothing to help out. Like a barnacle clinging to the ship, he just slows them down. More of a burden than anything.
It's not like he hasn’t tried. Every opportunity he sees to help he takes. Every time Techno goes hunting, he is by his side asking to come with him. Every time Wilbur is cleaning the dens, he has a broom in his hand. Every time a shark wanders too close to the entrance of the cave he is rushing outside with Phil to defend the home.
But every time Techno tells him that he doesn’t need to help. Every time Wilbur takes the broom from his hand telling him to go play. Every time Phil yells for Wilbur to pull him back into the safety of the den, holding tightly to him as Phil scares the shark off.
They aren’t letting him help, so he decides to take matters into his own hands. He sneaks out that night. The water is never truly dark, the moon always illuminating their small cove. The shadows of night swimmers slither by.
Tommy swims slowly, eyes scanning for movement. It doesn’t take long for him to spot the slight shimmer of scales. He zeros in on the movement, floating closer with a quiet paddle of his tail. The tuna is small, one he can easily take down. It would be a perfect dinner, a perfect way to prove himself as a hunter.
He strikes quickly, sinking his claws into the fish's flesh. It flops in his hands trying to escape, but he doesn’t let it, holding it tightly as its tail hits him repeatedly. Slowly its movements die down as it gives up. Tommy smiles, as he looks at it, if he can catch a few more of these it will be perfect.
By the end of the night, Tommy has a pile of ten fish. It's overkill, by a lot. The tuna alone would have been enough for dinner, but he wanted to make sure they knew he was worth the effort. So he dragged the fish into the den. Getting the last one in just as the day breaks through the waves.
He is placing the fish on the table when Techno rushes in looking frantic. When he catches sight of Tommy his shoulders drop and he takes a deep breath.
“There you are runt,” He says before a confused look takes over his face. “What is all this? Where did it come from?” Techno asks, looking around as if Tommy didn’t catch it.
So he puffs up his chest placing his hands on his hips as he proudly exclaims “I hunted it!”
The only problem is that Technos doesn’t look proud, in fact, he doesn’t even look happy. His eyes have a worried look in them as he stares at the large pile. “How long did it take you to catch this Tommy.” He speaks cautiously as if scared of the answer.
“Not longer than I could handle,” Tommy tells him, but he is cut off by a yawn halfway through his sentence.
“Let's get you to bed runt. Come on,” Techno leads him towards the nest, watching as he lays down. “You really don’t have to do that. It's ok if you want to help, and I’ll let you if that means you won’t go out by yourself. Just promise me you will talk to me next time, ok? Then we can go out whenever you want.” Techno tells him. It's supposed to be reassuring Tommy knows that, but all it does is leave him with a stone in his stomach. He messed up again.
He needed to do better. He had to. So if Techno didn’t want him to hunt, he would do something else.
The next day he steals Wilbur's supplies. Wilbur kept the den clean and safe. He sorted the nest, watched over Tommy when Techno was out, and kept everything in order. So Tommy took the brooms, the seaweed, and a bucket of random supplies. He hid it in the nest, ignoring Wilbur's complaints about it missing.
That night he cleans the whole space from top to bottom. The walls and floor sparkle like they never have. The coral shines with new life and the beds have been replaced with the softest of seaweed.
Again Techno comes downstairs to him finishing the floors. He looks bewildered as he looks up and down the home. “Tommy, did you do this?” He asks. And Tommy, full of hope this time, nods. Techno looks crushed.
“I thought we talked about this?” Techno says his shoulders are slumping. “I thought you said you would promise to talk to me and I would help you, so you didn’t overwork yourself.”
“That was about hunting though. I thought if I couldn’t help out by hunting then I could do the cleaning.” Tommy tells him.
“It was about this too. I guess I should have been more clear though.” Techno says with a sigh. “Tommy You don’t have to help around the house, not with the cleaning or the hunt. You should just do what you want.”
Tommy nodded. He failed again. He needed to try harder.
So Tommy picks up the hardest job, defending the den. He waits and watches. All day and night. Phil only comes out when Techno and Wilbur alert him, so if Tommy can get there before anyone see he could be useful.
Days pass before something comes up. A shark swims right towards the entrance, chasing the fish in the reef. The only thing that makes Tommy pause is the shark is big. At least double the size of him. It was an old great white with jagged scars that showed that it had won more battles than it lost.
But Tommy can’t lose this chance. So he takes a deep breath and swims outside. The shark notices him immediately. Freezing as it watches him, waiting to see who makes the first move. Tommy has an uncomfortably large spear in his hand. It's obviously Phil’s with how it nearly makes him tilt over due to the weight of it.
Tommy strikes first. Wobbly charging towards the shark as he has seen Phil do a hundred times before. Unlike what he sees with Phil the shark doesn’t immediately flee. It doesn’t stop Tommy, as he rushes in angling the spear at the shark's heart.
It bounces off the shark.
It bounced off the fucking shark. Tommy stares with wide eyes as the spear sinks slowly to the ground. “Fuck.” Is all he has time to mutter before the shark lunges.
Teeth snap right where his tail was as he quickly swims away. The shark is fast to recover, chasing after him as he desperately tries to swim away. Tommy can hear the snap of the creature's jaw as it gets closer.
Tommy yells out a scared trill as he swims toward the den. He can only hope that someone hears him. He still has a few hundred meters till he reaches the den, plenty of time for the shark to reach him.
Tommy's heart is beating fast as he pushes himself to go faster. He wants to live. The shark lunges again, this time he can feel its teeth brush against his scales. It only takes a moment for him to realize he won’t escape this with his life if he keeps running.
So he spins around, diving below the shark's belly. His claws scrape against the soft underskin, but it barely leaves a mark. A chirp for help rings through the reef as the shark shifts quickly, going for Tommy's arm.
He doesn’t have time to escape this time. Razor-sharp teeth dig into his skin. Red fills the water as Tommy yells out.
The shark's teeth pull out of his skin quickly as it flies across the reef. Tommy looks up startled at Phil. The man is angrier than he has ever seen. He lets out an earth-shaking growl as he faces the shark head-on.
Tommy watches in a mix of horror and amazement as the older mer rag dolls the shark, tossing it back and forth. He is only brought out of his starring as the shark leaves Phil, instead charging at him again. He lets out a fearful squeak as he swims away.
“Techno!” Phil screams as he grabs the shark by its tail, yanking it back. “Get the pup out of here!” He yells. It only takes a few seconds for Tommy to be grabbed, pulled into a restricting grip. He tries to fight it, pushing against whatever has him. Only for a soft calming trill to make him stop.
Techno drags him back into the safety of the den. Holding onto Tommy so tight it's almost hard to breathe. He doesn’t let him go either as Wilbur bandages his wound. Doesn’t let go as Phil drags in the now-dead shark, leaving it in a pile of fish by the kitchen. Doesn’t let go as the pod leaves happy that he is alright.
He doesn’t let go even as he starts to talk.
“Tommy,” He sighs, and he sounds exhausted. “Why does this keep happening?”
“What?” Tommy questions, his voice laced with confusion. This was the first time he had tried to fight off anything. The first time he had really been hurt.
“Why do you keep putting yourself in harm's way to do jobs that are already taken care of? You don’t need to stay up all night to hunt or clean. You don’t need to throw yourself at a fish triple your size to… I don’t even know what. Why would you do that?” Techno asks, holding Tommy just a bit closer the more he lists off.
Tommy's mind blanks. Is he not doing enough? Does Techno want him to work on something else? Panic fills him the more he thinks. Maybe Techno doesn’t want him to do anything. Maybe he just wants him to leave.
“Do you… not want me anymore?” He asks hesitantly. Techno’s face lights up in horror, his hands flash in front of him, causing Tommy to flinch back. But they don’t hit him, instead, they shake manically as he stumbles to speak.
“No, no of course not. I could never send you away Tommy. Especially not for something like this. I’m just… worried.” Techno starts. “I appreciate your help, I really do, but a pup shouldn’t be putting this much weight into helping the pod. The most someone your age should be doing is learning how to hunt, with your pod by your side. Not alone, and never as often as you do.” Techno speaks softly, keeping his hands facing Tommy, palms up.
“I just want you to enjoy being a kid. And I don’t know why you aren’t.” Techno finishes with a defeated sigh.
“I do enjoy this!” Tommy argues. “This is the best pod I’ve ever had, I just want to pull my weight so I can stay.” He states. It's obvious to him, but for some reason, Techno looks horrified at what he says.
“Tommy, you already are a part of this pod. Without doing anything you are a part of this pod. You don’t need to prove anything, neither Wilbur, Phil, nor I will ever get rid of you. In fact, we weren’t going to tell you so soon but we have already started talking about you becoming a permanent member of the pod. And that's because of you. Not the work you do.” Techno tells him. His voice is strong as he speaks, not wavering once.
“Really?” Tommy asks, tears filling his eyes. He might have a pod for the first time ever. Might be able to have a home for the rest of his life.
“Of course. You will always be my pup.” Techno tells him. Tommy smiles as he hugs his dad. He has a dad! He has a family!