Chapter Text
Phil didn’t know how much time he spent sitting on the ground with a kit in lap. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours, he didn’t care. At some point Tommy had fallen asleep, Phil felt his breath even out on his neck. He kept rocking back and forth even after Tommy was asleep.
With the dark bags under the kits eyes Phil could only imagine how much sleep the poor kid actually got. While Tommy was asleep Phil was able to look for any injuries that needed immediate attention.
Most of the bruises on his body looked old, there were only a few new ones on his arms. Phil let out a quiet growl when he realized they looked suspiciously like hand prints. The cuts on Tommy were Phil"s biggest worry right now, while none of them were bleeding per say, they certainly needed to be cleaned.
Give the kit a bath he thought That would take care of the cleaning the cuts and the dirt. Phil sighed as he accepted the battle that would take place over the bath. Something telling him Tommy probably wouldn"t be all too happy with it.
As if sensing Phil was thinking about him, Tommy’s ear flicked as he snuggled impossibly closer to the older hybrid. Phil smiled down at the kit and placed a feather light kiss to the top of his head, resuming his efforts in lightly scratching Tommy"s scalp.
Tommy sighed lightly in his sleep as he leaned up into his hand, his kit wa-
Wait
Phil froze as his words finally caught up to him without his instants clouding his mind.
His kit?
Tommy wasn’t his kit, as much as it pained him to say, he was a foster at the facility. Once he was back in good health (both mentally and physically) he would be back with his family and living a good life away from here. Phil would one day have to say goodbye to Tommy. The thought already making his heart ache.
He sighed as he looked down at Tommy sleeping peacefully in his arms. Focus Phil, kit first future later.
******
When it became clear he would be staying here for a while, not that he cared either way, he slowly made his way to the closet wall giving his back a break. As Tommy slept on, Phil decided to take a closer look at the kits file. Tommy put up no fight while Phil took the clipboard out of his coat.
With a deep breath he finally got to reading the file after just skimming it earlier. The first thing Phil looked over was Tommy’s history. There was not a lot of information anywhere on the kits file, but when Phil looked at the small paragraph he wished he had more information.
The first thing he read made him hug the kit in his arms a little tighter. Tommy had been with his captors for 4 years. The thought of Tommy spending half of his life with hybrid traffickers was enough to bring tears to his eyes.
Keep it together, Phil thought, he is never going back there ever again.
The rest of his history didn’t provide too much information, there were no parents listed anywhere on the file, he glanced back up at the report done on scene to find he was indeed alone in the cage. A little hope died when he realized that meant he was all alone in there too.
With no other significant information to learn, Phil put the clipboard down beside him and turned his attention back to the kit again. As much as he would love to let the kit sleep, he needed to get Tommy a bath.
He didn’t want to move to a different room with Tommy unaware, afraid that would lose any trust he had already gained. So after sending a quick text to Puffy saying he was going to be moving Tommy into one of the housing rooms in the facility, and that he would deal with the paperwork after. Phil started to gently shake the kit awake.
Tommy grumbled lowly and let out a barely audible chitter telling Phil to knock it off. He chucked letting out a soft wake-up-kit. Tommy grumbled one last time before he slowly blinked and opened his eyes.
Dull blue eyes meet Phil’s brighter ones as he chitters a hello-kit-how-are-you. Tommy scrunched up his nose and let out an adorable yawn that almost killed Phil with the cuteness of it.
Tommy looked around as he started to wake up fully and froze when his eyes landed on the cage. He turned back to Phil with fear in his eyes as he chittered out a frantic I’m-sorry-please-don’t-hurt-me-
Phil put a stop to the fast chitters with a no-hurt-kit-not-in-trouble. Tommy looked close to crying when he replied but-out-of-cage-without-permission he said as he looked down at Phil’s lap.
Phil’s heart broke yet again as put a hand on the kits check, lifting it slowly so Tommy was looking at him. Not-in-trouble-kit-no-more-cage, he chittered as he watched Tommy take it all in, no-more-cage? The kit looked almost lost at that declaration, yes-kit-no-more-cage-I-promise Phil replied honestly.
Tommy looked like he didn’t fully believe Phil, but that was alright, he would learn eventually that he would never be in a cage again.
With that conversation over Phil moved on to the next battle he’d be facing with Tommy.
A bath.
Phil looked down at the kit as he chittered a kit-needs-a-bath. Tommy looked out right offended at that as he growled a loud no-bath at Phil. Everyone-needs-a-bath-kit, he said with what he hopes is a comforting smile.
Tommy was having none of it however, as he crossed his arms and hissed at Phil. It-will-feel-good-kit-nice-and-clean-no-more-itchy-dirt, he tried next, trying to convince Tommy that it would be a good thing.
The kit took a second to consider this as he stared at his dirty arms, then his ears folded back with a wine as he chittered it-will-be-cold, Phil was quick to respond with no-kit-bath-will-be-warm-with-bubbles.
Phil couldn’t hide his smile when he saw Tommy perk up at the mention of bubbles, you-promise-I-get-bubbles he asked with a hopeful expression on his face. Yes-I-promise, he replied with the same smile. I-want-all-the-bubbles Tommy chittered with a smile Phil hoped to see more often.
After making sure Tommy was alright with being picked up, and putting the kits file back in his coat, Phil started to make his way to one of the open housing rooms in the facility. Leaving the bowl of water and cage in the room for someone else to deal with.
Phil was lucky he didn’t run into anyone in the short trip to Tommy’s new room. The kit in question was looking around nervously chittering to himself. Once they arrived he saw that Puffy had already reserved and set up a room for Tommy. Silently thanking Puffy for her efforts, Phil walks into Tommy’s new home here at the facility.
It was nothing special, just a room with a bed, dresser, closet and some small toys laid about. More akin to a hotel room than anything else. He lets the kit look around while he gets the bath ready.
Phil starts the water, and after making sure it was the perfect temperature, he puts the plug in and adds the bubbles. He sees Tommy enter the bathroom out of the corner of his eye and lets out a friendly chitter to the kit. Tommy returns it timidly and slowly makes his way over to Phil.
Is-it-cold?, he asks, and Phil replies with an honest no-not-cold-kit-I-promise-come-feel, the kit looks down at the filling tub with curiosity as he slowly puts a hand in the water. Tommy lets out a happy chitter as moves his hand around to play with the forming bubbles.
Phil is reminded of just how much Tommy needs this bath as some dirt comes off his hand. Kit-get-in-now? He asks Tommy when the bath finishes filling. The kit chitters nervously as he looks at Phil. Can-you-help-me he asks in the quietest voice Phil has heard yet. Of-course-kit-always Phil replies.
After closing his eyes and turning around for the kit to get in, he starts to take the cup left by the bath and rinses away the dirt on Tommy’s skin and fur. After that he takes the shampoo and starts to wash the kits fur and hair.
Tommy meanwhile doesn"t pay any attention to what Phil is doing, too busy playing with all the bubbles he gathered in front of him like a castle. Phil swears every time he hears Tommy giggle it makes his heart fill with warmth.
They end up having to change the water a few times with all the dirt Tommy collected in his fur. With every rinse his coat gets lighter and lighter till it’s a pale brown. Phil has to cover his anger at the scars covering the kits stomach and back. He’s not there anymore, Phil thought he will not have any more scars.
The whole thing lasted about an hour and a half, Tommy getting more and more tired as it went on. By the time Phil got him out and dried him off, the kit was practically falling asleep in his arms. So Phil made quick work of getting him a change of clothes, and tucked into bed for a nap.
As he was pulling away though, he felt tiny claws grab his sleeve. Tommy let out a soft whine as he tugged at Phil’s sleeve. With a fond sigh he went to sit beside the kits bed, Tommy had already closed his eyes and looked close to falling asleep already.
This kid, Phil thought as he started rubbing behind the ears of the purring kit, will be the death of me.