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Philza looked at the small child huddling in the between two dumpsters. The child was shaking, and even with the chill in the air Philza knew that the kid was probably shaking because they’re scared.
It made Philza’s heart hurt to even look at the child.
“Hello, are you okay kid?”
He could see the kid’s eyes, they were so expressive Philza could see the pure fear in them. The kid’s arms looked thin but he couldn't quite make out anything else in the shadows of the ally.
He waited for the kid to respond, for anything other than the piercing stare the kid was giving him now. The kid hardly blinked, and when he did it was quick. Philza waited for a few more seconds to pass before he spoke up again.
“It’s okay, I’m, I just want to know if you’re alright.”
“Go-go away!” The kid demanded, but his voice shook with nerves and it sounded so weak. He also sounded really young.
“I’ll go away once I know you’re okay.”
“No! Just go away! I-I don’t want you!”
“Do you want someone else? Can I help you find your family?”
The kid’s eyes squeezed shut at that and he made a sad whimper, it hurt Philza’s heart more to hear. He realized that the kid probably didn’t have any family, that’s why he was here squeezed between two dumpsters.
“Well what about I buy you some food and get you a blanket. I can’t in good conscience leave you here.”
“I don’t want it, just go away!”
Philza sighed, wondering just how he was going to help this kid out. He wanted to know that the kid was okay and he didn’t want to just leave the kid in an alley.
“Winter’s approaching soon kid, let me get you a blanket so you can stay warm.”
“I don’t need your pity!” The kid’s voice cracked, and as much as he was trying to strain his voice to yell and be demanding it became weaker and weaker.
“Well what about some water, so you won’t get dehydrated.”
“I’m don’t need water! And go-go away!” The kid was pleading with him now.
“Please kid, just let me do something for you. I’ll leave if you just let me give you food or water.”
“No you won’t! You’ll grab me and try to send me to the orphanage. I’m not going back there. I won’t!” The kid’s voice truly broke, and he clearly tried to speak and yell more but nothing could be heard.
Sighing again Philza took a glance to Technoblade, who was standing at the edge of the ally waiting for Philza. Patient and stoic on the outside, but Philza knew that he was waiting for the kid to get out so he could make sure the ‘runt’ was okay. A true softie for street kids, just like Philza.
Philza took out his water canteen and waterfall some into his mouth, trying to show the kid it was safe to drink.
“Here kid,” he shuffled closer to the dumpsters and held out his canteen, “just take a few sips to help your voice, okay?”
The kid’s eyes flicked down to the canteen and back up to Philza’s face. He tried to speak but only a whispered croak came out, clearly frustrated the kid tried to talk again but nothing. He huffed and shook his head.
Philza could see the kid a bit clearer now that he was closer, the kid was pretty dirty and it looked like he had some dried blood on his cheek.
“Please?” Philza asked, trying again to help.
The kid looked back down to the canteen held out to him, to Philza’s face, and back down again.
Philza had quick reaction times, he could launch into battle and fight at a moments notice. So when this kid lurched forward to make a grab at the canteen Philza tensed and had to force down his natural reaction so the kid wouldn’t freak out.
The canteen was ripped from his hand and the kid pushed back into the wall of the alley, taking a long drink from the canteen.
Technoblade had noticed Philza suddenly got tense, of course he would, and had taken a precautionary step to Philza. Philza kept looking at the kid, not wanting to freak him out if he realized someone else was here.
After a few moments the kid spluttered and choked, the canteen lowered but the kid was sent into a coughing spit. The water probably went down the wrong pipe.
“Shit kid, it’s alright just try and cough really hard to get it out. Always works for me.”
The kid actually started to cough harder, hopefully he was taking Philza’s advice. That was, a good start actually. First taking the water at all, and now heeding his advice.
“There you go.” He said once the coughing died down again. “Take a few breaths before finishing the water, okay?”
He didn’t respond, and instead lifted the canteen up and started drinking the rest of the water.
They had other canteens, the kid could actually keep it and Philza wouldn’t have minded.
“Alright kid, can I buy you some food and that blanket now?”
The kid shook his head but tossed the canteen at him, Philza tensed again as he caught it but corrected himself and dropped the tension.
“Please?” It had worked the first time, maybe it would work again.
“No. Go away.” He had tried talking again and the ‘no’ came out weak but the ‘go away’ was stronger, the water had helped the kid’s voice.
“What about just the food then, a warm fresh meal? I’ll pay for it, and I don’t even have to stay. You can just eat it and go off wherever you want.”
The kid hesitated, and then his stomach growled, blue eyes flicking down to his stomach in betrayal.
“You’ll pay for it and won’t eat with me?”
“Yes I will.”
“You won’t follow me afterwards?”
“I won’t.”
“Do you promise?”
“I promise.”
It took a few moments but then the kid shuffled a bit forward. Philza slowly stood up and took a few steps back, letting the kid have plenty of space to get out.
He wondered where he should take the kid to eat, he said a warm meal, so a restaurant or a vendor with hopefully healthy fresh food. Preferably nothing fried. He also felt a bit bad because while he promised that he wouldn’t do those things, Technoblade had made no such promises.
And when the kid came out of between the dumpsters and Philza saw the kid clearer, he was immensely grateful Technoblade had made no such promises.
The first thing he noticed was that the kid was pretty short, clearly very young. He was dressed in shabby and loose clothing that was covered in dirt and mud.
The second thing he noticed were the wings.
The kid had wings.
Small fluffy, puffed out in baby aggression and warning. They were so dirty and desperately needed to be preened. A baby avian. A fledgling. Philza’s eyes dilated as he stared at the kid. He tried to hold it together for the kid’s sake. He was fucked.
His own wings were hidden carefully away behind his cloak but they strained from where he had them, they wanted to wrap themselves around the fledgling and keep him safe and sheltered. What was a fledgling doing out here! Alone in an ally! Where was his flock!
Blearily Philza remembered how the kid reacted to him asking if he had any family, the kid might be an orphan. Might have no flock. That just made Philza’s avian instincts go a bit more wild in wanting to protect the fledgling.
“What’s, what’s your name?” Philza asked carefully, thankful the kid hadn’t spotted Technoblade yet.
“My name’s Tommy.”
“Tommy, it’s nice to meet you.” He took a breath in to try and calm down. “Well Tommy, I’m Philza and the lurker over there is Technoblade.”
The kid’s head turned sharply to Technoblade and the wings puffed out even more.
Philza’s heart strained as the kid tried to appear strong and brave, but the little wings were ruining that. He was so young he shouldn’t be having to try and be brave, he should be safe in a nest with a flock that could protect him.
“You didn’t say there was someone else here!” The kid accused Philza and Philza nodded. Unfortunately the fledgling stepped back towards the dumpsters.
He slammed down the instinct that was telling him to make sure the fledgling didn’t retreat again by doing something stupid like grabbing him or chirping at him.
“Well you didn’t ask. Don’t worry about Technoblade, he’s actually quite a big softie once you get to know him.”
“My brand Philza, my precious brand. Don’t go and tell kids that.” Technoblade huffed, it was just a show of annoyance they both knew the truth.
“Well you should have told me!” Tommy glared at him.
“I’m sorry Tommy, I should have you’re right.” Philza apologized to the kid and it seemed to shock him that he did. His wings lowered at bit and he looked surprised.
“You’re buying me tacos.”
“Sure kid, I’ll buy you tacos.” Tacos with some vegetables and meat on them, and preferably a healthier taco stand at that.
Tommy brightened up when he said yes and turned to the ally and back to Philza.
“Lead the way, Phil-za.”
Philza did not want to lead the way. He actually wanted Tommy to lead the way so he could take a look at the wings and seem if they were actually hurt. He also wanted to make sure that Tommy wouldn’t suddenly run away and it was easier to know if he had if the fledgling was in front of them.
But Tommy had also just been between two dumpsters so no one found him, the kid was cautious. And Philza really wanted him to trust them.
“Okay, but I don’t know where a good taco stand is.”
“I’ll tell you, but you’re going to be in the front.
“Why?”
“So in case I need to run away.”
The kid was so blunt, it felt like he had been on the streets for a while with the way he thought about needing to run away from two people who wanted to help out.
“Alright. Let’s go.” Philza smiled at Tommy and turned to head out the ally. Technoblade looked at Tommy for a few more seconds before turning to walk alongside Philza.
“Turn right.”
And just like that they were being herded to, hopefully, a taco place. Tommy told them the directions and they dutifully followed them. They even refrained from looking back to Tommy so they wouldn't weird him out by constantly checking in to see if he was still there. It took around 5 minutes before Tommy told them to turn left and Philza spotted a Taco stand.
It was busy, with a line trailing from the main stall. And even if they were a bit aways from it he could already smell it, it smelled good.
“Smells good.” Technoblade said, it was the first thing he had said as they were herded here.
“They are good. I only have them sometimes when Maria is working because she makes me a small one from the broken taco shells. But she’s not working tonight.”
“Well how many do you want?”
“Um,” Tommy paused for a moment, “four!”
“Four it is.” Philza was buying five, maybe six. No, the fledgling probably didn’t eat very much so buying him too many wasn’t smart. But he really wanted to get more than what the fledgling asked for so he could prove that he was able to provide for him. Stupid instincts, hopefully following them paid off.
“Do you want any Techno?”
“Sure.” The three of them joined the line of people, and Philza hoped that no one tried to scare Tommy off.
“Do they have different kinds of taco’s Tommy?”
“Well they have chicken, and beef, and pork.”
“Which one’s do you like more?” Philza tilted his head questioningly, turned to face Tommy.
“I like the chicken and beef.”
“I’ll get the beef then.”
“Chicken.” Techno said monotone.
They looked to Tommy to see what he asked for.
The kid just stared back, blinking a few times.
Philza realized that in the light of the street Tommy’s eyes were bright, they looked blue like the sky.
“Uh, both?”
“Sure.” If the kid wanted both, then the kid wanted both.
Philza tried to devise a plan on how to get the kid the extra taco without him realizing what was going on. He also needed to figure out how much Techno wanted.
He might be able to eat 8 or 9 tacos? It was safer instinct wise to go 9, but realistically he should go with 8. He could always buy Techno more later if he wanted it.
He’d go with 10 chicken tacos, so Tommy would have two of them. And then for himself he could eat around 6, so 9 beef tacos? The line was going by a lot quicker than he thought it would and a few people did join the line after them. Tommy seemed nervous with people behind him like this.
“Tommy.”
“What?” Tommy looked at Technoblade when his name was said.
“Get in front of us, please.”
Technoblade’s instincts were probably going haywire with a ‘runt’ around like this that Philza was trying to help out. Never did Technoblade get like this if Philza wasn’t like this, some kind of Piglin sounder thing. When a member of a sounder showed interest in a runt then the other members started to show interest as well.
“Why?”
“To protect you, it’s safer when we can see you.”
Philza watched as Tommy’s eyes dilated and he stepped forward. Quickly Philza took the moment and stepped back so he could be behind Tommy. It was a dirty move to take advantage of Tommy’s fledgling instincts when he couldn’t control them, but Philza was all for dirty moves when it came to fledglings.
He would probably use more later, he knew himself.
It took a few seconds before Tommy seemed to shake himself out of his instinct but by that point it was too late, he was in front of the two and he probably would have a hard time moving away from them until he had his food. It wasn’t impossible, like if he thought they were about to hurt him he could run but just waiting for food like this his instincts made him want to stick to the potential providers of food.
Tommy huffed and turned away from them.
Philza smiled at Techno, showing his thanks for getting Tommy to be in front of them. Techno smiled back.
The line moved forwards again, and then again, before it was their turn for the order.
“Anything you don’t want on your tacos Tommy?”
“I like it all.”
“Alright then,” Philza leaned over Tommy and to the Taco stand worker that was going to take their order. “10 chicken tacos, and 9 beef tacos please. One plate of the chicken and another of the beef and a third empty plate please. And load all of them up with everything.”
Tommy glanced up at Philza for a second, his expression was a bit unreadable though.
“Sure, sir.” The worker started to make the tacos, needing to recruit another to get the order in a timely manner. They got to the register and Philza paid for them, not caring about the price too much.
The plates were held out to the three and Philza took initiative and handed the chicken taco plate to Techno, the empty to Tommy, and took the beef one. It was strategic to do it this way.
“Let’s step away and then we’ll give you yours, okay Tommy?”
“Okay.” The fledgling’s voice went back to the quiet tone it was earlier in the alley. He seemed nervous again.
They stepped away and Philza put the devious strategy to work. You see, Tommy was starting out with an empty plate, no food, and the other two had the food. And by giving it off of their plates they were clearly providing for him. It wasn’t just Philza giving the food either, it was Techno too. They both had the chance to show Tommy’s fledgling instincts they could provide for him.
Philza bent down to Tommy’s eye level and took three tacos and put them on Tommy’s empty plate. Tommy’s pupils widened a bit again, as his instincts seemed to catch on a bit. Technoblade caught on too and bent down and placed two chicken tacos onto the plate.
Five tacos, more from the actual avian but still a close to even amount of food given to the fledgling. And most importantly they met him at eye level and gave him more than he had nervously asked for.
Tommy’s eyes were wide and his pupils dilated, as he stared down at the taco’s hungirly.
“Do you still want me to leave you alone when you eat, we can stay or just Techno can?” Techno had never promised Tommy to leave him alone. But Philza was showing that he was respecting the promise already in place but was offering Tommy not to hold him to it, if he wanted it broken then it could be broken so he could stay with Tommy.
Tommy kept staring at the taco’s, like he was trying to keep his eyes on them.
“You can stay.”
He wanted to trill in victory at the fledgling accepting to eat with him. Instead he smiled.
“Thank you, Tommy.” Philza sat down right where he stood and waited, wanting Tommy to take the first bite.
Tommy followed and sat down, staring at Technoblade until he sat down as well.
And then Tommy took a bite of a taco, the crunch was satisfying to hear as he started to eat. Philza joined him but Technoblade would probably wait until Tommy was done eating the first taco. Their instincts had some overlap but there still were differences.
The three ate sitting on the street, no talking. Techno ate fast but Tommy gave him a run for his money, by the time Techno had eaten 3 of his tacos Tommy had finished two. Techno would still eat faster, he always did, but still Tommy ate quick. Philza ate at a normal pace, thank you very much, he didn’t have a need to eat that quick. Not hunger nor instincts.
He finished eating a few minutes after they had, and Tommy had been smiling. His wings puffed out in contentment this time instead of aggression.
“Well those were good tacos, thank you for showing us this place.” Philza smiled at Tommy.
“They were good tacos, thank you Tommy.”
“Oh, uh, you’re welcome!” The fledgling sat up straighter.
Philza looked at Tommy and then Techno, who looked back. They had silent conversations all of the time, after knowing someone for so long they had a way to communicate like this. Philza tilted his head toward Tommy and gave Techno a pleading look.
Techno in return tilted his head toward Tommy and smiled, it was a soft, very rare smile. One that Techno only used when he was letting himself be soft. Techno was fully giving Philza the go ahead to try and get Tommy to be flock, to let Techno and Philza provide for him.
It was their only chance to try, as if Tommy’s avian instincts straight up rejected Philza right now, he would never like him. And it truly was pointless to keep trying. He hoped that Tommy would be flock, the fledgling deserved a good flock that could protect and provide. And Philza wanted to protect and provide for a fledgling. It was rare that they came across a fledgling at all, rarer that one was without flock.
Philza didn’t want to do it right here though, he wanted to be able to show Tommy his wings first before he tried to chirp to the fledgling. To try and get the fledgling to imprint on him.
“Well Tommy, we are staying in town for a few days but I don’t know if we can find our way back. Can you help us find where were staying?” They didn’t actually need help, they had great directional instincts. Technoblade would rather get arrested than ask for directions from someone. This was about getting Tommy to spend a few more minutes with them, and maybe finding a good opportunity.
“Sure!” Tommy smiled at the two of them, and Philza noticed that there was a bit of sauce on his cheek. As well as the dried blood from earlier
“Here Tommy, you have something.” he leaned toward the fledgling, bringing a bit of cloth out and pouring some of his extra water onto it. Gently he wiped Tommy’s face, looking closely he noticed a few scattered freckles that were hiding underneath the dirt. “There you go.”
Tommy blinked at him a few times, just staring. His eyes were still wide and dilated, which was a good sign. Tommy suddenly broke the eye contact and stood up.
“So where are you two staying?”
—
It was only a minute later when Tommy stopped being the one leading them, and instead Technoblade was leading and Tommy was barely behind him, and Philza was behind Tommy. The fledgling was safest being led like this, well being held or holding his hand would actually be safer but still. He wasn’t even sure Tommy noticed that that was what was going on.
Technoblade didn’t mind leading, it helped part the crowds when people saw a tall muscular man staring dead forward and walking with a purpose. It had scared Philza the first time he saw it and Technoblade had admitted later he wasn’t angry at all; it was just the best way to get through a crowd.
And then suddenly Tommy stopped walking, nearly causing Philza to walk into him, and then the fledgling boltled. Truly bolted. He was quick earlier in the alley and he was quicker now on the street. Philza took a moment to see why before going after, and saw a few lanky teens that were running towards Tommy.
Philza got angry quick, but he got worried faster, and so he took off after Tommy.
“Tommy!” He tried to get Tommy to stop but when the teens behind him started yelling
Tommy’s name he knew it was no use to try and call out.
He hoped Technoblade noticed quick, and then beat these fuckers up for scaring his poor fledgling.
He had to weave in and out of the crowds, keeping an eye on Tommy’s messy fledgling wings. Tommy dipped into an alley and while it was smart to use alley’s to get away he wanted the fledgling not to be running away from him right now.
He was only a few seconds behind when he got into the alley and then he was sprinting full speed to catch up, Tommy was already almost out of the alley.
The crowd on the other side of the alley was large, a busy street and Philza knew that the fledgling might actually escape if he went into it.
Philza was not going to let that happen.
He chirped, letting out a sound of avian parents telling their fledglings to stop. Philza was desperate to stop Tommy and let out the first sound he thought appropriate.
Surprisingly Tommy stopped completely in his tracks, legs prepared to take another step but as soon as he heard the chirp he froze. Philza ran up and grabbed Tommy, spinning around to keep a hold of him and also get in front of him. He needed to see Tommy’s reaction.
The fledgling was crying, pupils almost completely taking over his eyes and tears running down his face. Philza dropped to his knees in front of Tommy.
“Aw.” Philza coo’ed gently, wiping the tears away and cooing again as the fledgling leaned into the hand. From behind Tommy he saw one of the teens run into the ally, with a bit of a panicked rush. There was a low growl that echoed through the alley and then Technoblade rounded the corner, fast as ever as he grabbed the teen’s hoodie and tossed him effortlessly into the wall.
Tommy flinched at the sounds and tried to turn to see what was going on.
Philza grabbed and held his face gently, making Tommy look at him instead.
“Shhh, just look at me little fledgling. Techno’s just doing a little protecting, nothing to worry about, okay?”
Tommy gave a little nod that had Philza smiling gently at.
“There you go.”
Techno grabbed and pulled the teen off the ground, muttering something before dropping the teen to the ground. Who quickly scrambled away and out of the ally the way he came.
Technos snapped his head to Tommy and Philza and Philza smiled at him over Tommy’s head.
“See, Technoblade just needed to protect you, you’re okay.” He dropped a hand from Tommy’s face so he could turn and look at Techno. As he turned his head as Techno dropped into a crouch, still a good bit away from the two of them.
“Hello.”
“You, stopped them?”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“To protect you. They scared you. You needed protection.”
Maybe the two of them were over reacting just a bit, but it was a flockless fledgling for crying out loud! They were bound to react like this when they had been searching for another flock member for years now.
While Philza couldn’t see Tommy’s eyes, he was positive the pupil’s widened even more. They were almost taking over all of his eyes, and when they did that meant Tommy might actually imprint on them!
Philza let out a small twitter to draw Tommy’s attention back on him, it worked.
“You probably already figured it out, but I’m an avian. Like you. And well, I wanted to do this a bit later but I should do it now.” Regretfully he had to remove the hand holding Tommy’s face so he could undo his cloak.
When it was removed he allowed his wings to show, the magic that kept them hidden released and he habitually fluffed them out. Tommy’s eyes once again grew large as he looked at the healthy black feathers of Philza’s wings.
Philza was showing him that he was strong, and healthy, and earlier he showed he was able to provide, and Techno just showed he was able to protect. Now there was just one more thing to show Tommy.
“I know that it’s probably really scary to have this be happening, we met in an alley for nether’s sake.” Philza chuckled, but smiled fondly as he stared at Tommy. “But when I saw you, a little kid alone between two dumpsters I really wanted to help. In any way you would let me. And when I saw you’re a little fledgling I knew I wanted to see if you wanted to be my flock. You’re a really smart kid, and me and Techno’s instincts have gone wild trying to prove to you that we could be a good flock for you.”
He placed his hands back on Tommy’s cheeks.
“So I wanted to ask you, if you wanted to be our flock.”
Tommy was crying again, trying to blink the tears away with large black filled eyes. Philza wiped away a few tears and made sure to hold eye contact as he asked a question.
Fledgling-Flock-Fledgling? Philza crooned out. Hopeful. Asking Tommy if he wanted to be flock.
Flock-Protector-Flock. Tommy responded. Saying he wanted Philza to be his protector, saying yes.
Tommy crumbled into Philza’s arms, the little fledgling starting to bawl as he imprinted onto Philza. Philza crooned comfortingly as he gathered the fledgling into his arms, ready to carry him to where they were staying so he could be the temporary nest with them. Any nest right now would do with a fledgling as young as Tommy who might be imprinting for the first or second time. Tommy clung onto Philza, pushing his face into the crook of Philza’s neck as he sobbed.
Techno stood and walked over to the two of them, ruffling Tommy’s hair affectionately.
Techno grunted out a word in piglin, one Philza recognized as ‘sounder’ the piglin version of flock.
“Alright, Techno can you lead the way again?”
“Of course.” He said with an eagerness to provide.
“See Tommy, Techno’s going to lead us to the nest, and he’s going to protect us at the same time. You’re safe with us, always safe with us little fledgling.”
Fledgling-Safe-Fledgling. Philza crooned, holding on tightly to his new son.
After years of searching now they were a little family of three, and Philza was sure the wait to find Tommy was worth it. He couldn’t wait to see what the future held for them.