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Tommy woke to a terrible pain rippling through back.
He gasped sharply, barely awake. He pulled off his shirt, trying to relieve some of the pressure off of his back, only for another spasm to ripple through his shoulder blades.
A horrible realization dawned on him.
His wings were coming in.
That's fantastic, a joyous occasion even! If not for the fact he was being held hostage from the Syndicate, one of the biggest organized super villain organizations around.
The Syndicate hadn't done anything to hurt Tommy, he was just being used for political gain or whatever. They wanted to get back at Dream, but jokes on them, Dream wasn't going to come looking for him.
Tommy may have been his apprentice, but Tommy was easily replaceable. It stung that Dream hadn't even tried finding him, but Tommy understood. The ransom was ridiculously high, and Tommy understood that, but he'd been Dreams apprentice for two and a half years.
It stung even more that it's been three fucking weeks, but atleast the stay hasn't been bad. It was actually kind of nice, believe or not. Tommy had a whole room to himself with a comfortable cot.
The Syndicate wasn't torturing him, and they gave him three balanced meals a day. They did little for entertainment, but that's alright. Tommy spent the time sleeping. Tommy was at first skeptical if they were drugging him, but they had no reason to. Tommy wasn't even trying to fight back.
Training with Dream was rigorous and painful. Dream never allowed him a moment of rest, and Tommy fully intended on catching up on some well needed sleep.
Apparently his body thought he was a little too rested, because now was apparently a good time to sprout his wings.
This was bad, really really bad. Not only are supervillains going to have to help Tommy, but his wings were supposed to take the span over a couple weeks.
Not overnight.
He didn't have any other symptoms. No sort of sign that his wings were coming in, other than a slight tenderness to his shoulder blades.
He cried into his pillow as a stronger contraction rippled throughout his back. His back was hot to the touch, and every spasm shot through his entire body.
He needed to get up and press the emergency button. Blade threatened to chop off his fingers if it wasn't an emergency and he did it just to pester them, but Tommy thought this was a pretty good reason for an emergency.
Tommy didn't think he could stand let alone make it clear across the room. He felt something sharp stabbing into his shoulder blades. Tommy swallowed thickly and stumbled out of bed. He didn't care if it was Sirens dumb fucking face as long as he had some sort of support.
When wings came in, it was a big event for avian families. The closest sort of family Tommy had was Dream. He used to have Tubbo, but Dream had forbidden him from seeing him again and their friendship fell apart.
He leaned against the wall as his feet wobbled underneath him. He felt like throwing up, he felt like crying. He was so fucking far away from the button, even though he was maybe five feet away.
He was maybe three feet away, when another agonizing cramp rippled through his back. He gasped sharply when something hot and sticky dripped down his back. He was so close to the dumb fucking button, why couldn't they put it close to his bed?
He screamed as a limb forcefully tore through his back. He collapsed onto the floor as his wing made itself known. He looked back to see a fleshy bloody appendage that didn't even have down feathers on it.
He felt like passing out, but he still had one wing to go. He tried to stumble back onto his feet, but he slipped and fell back onto the floor.
He cried into his arm, he was so tired and in so much pain. He prayed to prime herself that someone would hear him crying and screaming, but he highly doubted it. If he didn't get up right now, no one would find him until morning.
Tommy didn't think he could stand even if he wanted to though. His limbs felt like jelly. His exposed wing was jolting with pain with every shift. They were supposed to be wrapped until the down feathers came in. He curled up in the fetal position, trying to bear through the pain.
There was a lull between spasms, and he took that moment to cry. He just wanted it to be over. He wanted Tubbo. Fuck, he wanted Angel. He'd take Dream at this point. His instincts were crying for someone, anyone, but no one could hear him down here.
Tommy took a sharp breath in. He could do this, he just needed to summon the strength. He struggled to his knees. He nearly slipped on the blood puddle on the floor. Don't think about that. Just seeing the blood on the floor made Tommy queasy. He wasn't sure if that was a safe amount of blood or too much, and he didn't want to go into shock.
Tommy pushed down the need to vomit, and finally crawled to the emergency button. He raised a shaky bloodied hand, and pressed the emergency button.
The emergency beeped and a red flashing light came on. Tommy sighed and rested his head against the cold wall. He curled back onto the floor. His other wing was going to come in at any time, but thankfully, hopefully someone will come to his aid.
It was the dead of night, but hopefully someone was on their way. He just needed to be patient. He wanted to crawl to his bed to grab his blanket, but he simply didn't have the strength. He shuddered as the cold tile pressed into his body, leeching away his warmth.
Any time. They'll be here any minute.
—
Tommy hazily heard the thundering sound of footsteps. When had he fallen asleep? He blinked his eyes open. He was still on the floor, with his freshly emerged wings behind him.
His other wing must've emerged late into the night. Weird he didn't feel it coming in. Actually, he couldn't feel much right now other than the bitter cold of the floor and a terrible numbness floating through his body. The numbness ironically did nothing to help with the pain. Was he in shock?
Everything was awfully fuzzy and painful. His wings throbbed. He lazily watched the door as it slammed open.
"Tommy?" Angel called as he flicked the light on. Angel immediately zoned in on Tommy and gasped.
"Oh mate" he whispered, crouching down. Tommy gasped in pain as Angel lifted him up by his armpits. Angel shushed him as he brought him in close. Tommy clung onto his cloak for dear life, chirping a flock call.
Angel froze, but hesitantly accepted his call. Flock-flock. Tommy sunk his face into his neck. Tommy felt a hand brush against his back and flinched.
"I know, I'm sorry. I'm just seeing the damage mate." Tommy sat still as Phil gently prodded his new wings, the fleshy appendages. "You did fantastic mate, look at them" he admired. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner, but you did great"
Tommy chirped sleepily. Angel adjusted and gently lifted Tommy into his arms. Tommy dozed off back into his arms, savoring his warmth. It was such a vast contrast to the cold hard floor.
"My name's Phil, mate" Phil said as he ran a hand through his hair. "You're not going anywhere for a long time, are you?" Tommy shook his head. He didn't want to go anywhere. He especially didn't want to go back to Dream, not with the state he was in.
Phil held him like he was precious, like he was worth something. Phil cooed at him, and that drove Tommy deeper into his instincts.
After a while, Tommy was set on something soft. Tommy burrowed deeper into the blankets. Phil touched his back with something wet and warm. Tommy shifted uncomfortably trying to get away from the foul texture touching his back.
"I know kiddo. We just gotta get you clean and wrapped and then you can go back to sleep. Your wings came out beautifully" he said in awe. Tommy tried to not to flinch as Phil softly scrubbed his back from the dried tacky blood stuck to his skin.
Tommy fell into a haze of half consciousness, lulled into a floaty instinct head space. There was a knock at the door and Tommy grumbled in discontent.
"Ya mate?" Phil called.
"Oh holy shit" Siren said as he walked into the room. "Why didn't he tell us he was an avian?" He felt the bed shift beside him.
Tommy opened his eyes and glared at him. Whomst the fuck is in his nest?
Phil chuckled and stroked his head. "Easy mate. Wilburs a flockmate"
Tommy's hiss died in his throat, but continued to watch Wilbur. Wilbur sputtered. "What?! Phil, what happened to the ransom?!"
"Plans changed" Phil shrugged. "His wings should've emerged at the latest a year ago. I don't doubt the stress he was under prevented them, and they literally came over night. We're keeping him"
Wilbur tsked and came closer. "He's kinda ugly, but I suppose we can keep him" Tommy kicked him in the leg.
"Oy! You two behave!" Phil demanded. "Not even five minutes and you guys are already fighting" he tsked, and pulled Tommy closer. Wilbur grumbled and crawled into the nest. Tommy ignored Wilbur and tucked his head into Phils arm.
Tommy sunk deeper into his instincts. Tommy hadn't been this content in years, even if Tommy had imprinted on the fucking Syndicate. However, that was a problem for later Tommy.
Tommy would be a supervillain if it meant it was this nice all of the time. Screw being a hero, Dream sucked anyways.
Wilbur snickered. "Technos not gonna be too pleased, he's stealing his spot."
Phil snorted. "He'll get over it"
—
Tommy hummed as he shook his spraycan, smiling to himself.
Tommy was in the middle of committing the crime of vandalizing the hero's building. Phil had forbid him from doing any serious crime activity until he was in his twenties, but fuck Phil.
After two and a half years Tommy was finally allowed out into the city. Tommy was gonna cause some issues.
Tommy could paint dicks on the side of the hero building as he pleases. Plus! He was extremely careful and he hadn't gotten caught. It's not like Dreams around to catch him and yell at him. Since he's joined Syndicate, Dream mysteriously went missing after he told them what happened.
Weird.
He's been drawing dicks all over town, and no one's caught him, not even his family. He sneaks out after The Syndicate goes to bed and he'd been perfectly sneaky. Phil said he should've grown a raccoon tail instead of growing wings because of how much of a little shit he was, and Tommy couldn't agree more.
Tommy finished his beautiful masterpiece and he was about to take off, when someone grabbed the back of his collar and hoisted him up. He definitely did not squeak when he came face to face with his older brother.
His wings puffed out in surprise "Blade! Techno! How ya doin?" Techno sighed, pinching the bridge of his snout. "What're you doin' Tommy?"
Tommy chuckled nervously. "Just strollin around town, Blade no biggy!" Techno snorted.
"The poorly done art that might get you jail time has nothing to do with it?" Tommy quickly shook his head. Techno had a face of disappointment and disbelief. Techno sighed and started marching the way home.
Tommy groaned. "You're not gonna tell Phil are you?"
Techno chuckled. "Oh yeah, nah you're gonna be grounded for the next foreseeable future. Have fun in the nest" Tommy whined and slumped in his grip. At least the nest wasn't so bad. Maybe he could get all of them to watch a movie. Up sounded nice.