// unintentional neglect, injury, car accidents
Hybrid/Foster AU where elytrian!Tommy, an endangered species, is fostered by the closest related species — avians.
Except there's a few... key differences between them. *Important* differences.
But Tommy's not going to make a fuss about it.
For one, he's weaker. More fragile.
It's clear from his first shopping trip with the Watsons, arms shaking under the weight of bags of clothes & toys. Things he didn't expect (or deserve).
Phil even offers to carry them. Tommy lets him.
And regrets it, just a week later.
Wilbur's face is pinched, a crate of gardening tools in his arms, glaring at Tommy who's hunched on the back step.
And it pinches more when Phil waves him off.
"He's not strong enough, mate. Let him relax."
It's true. Elytrian's bones are hollower, their muscles thinner, their wings larger & harder to balance.
But only one of those differences is visible. And with how endangered elytrians are, there's little research for the Watsons to find.
They only know what Tommy tells them.
"Could I go fencing with you?"
Techno pauses at the door, fencing bag in hand. Tommy fidgets, clutching the wall to counterbalance his wings, desperately wishing, *Please let me spend time with you.*
"I don't think so. Dad said you're fragile—"
Techno pauses, and Tommy's heart soars.
"Yeah," Tommy squeezes out. "We're... pretty much just avians with bigger wings. We're the same."
(A tiny part of him whispers, *We can be brothers.*)
The best (worst) part is, Techno believes him. Just like that.
And he's gentle when he takes jabs at Tommy with the training rapier, even helps him up no matter how many times he topples to the mat.
(Not gentle enough — for an elytrian, that is. Tommy's covered in bruises.)
But it's better than being left at 'home.'
Supper that night is perfect (even if the Watson's herbivore diet doesn't quite nourish an elytrian.) Tommy laughs like he's one of them. Like he's family.
And he's swiftly reminded when Wilbur corners him after.
Tommy goes still. (Not fight-or-flight, like an avian. Just... freezing.)
'You lied.' Maybe Wilbur knows about the bruises beneath Tommy's sweater (special-made for his sensitive skin. *Expensive.*) Maybe... maybe he's going to offer to help—
Tommy's whisper does nothing to calm the fury on Wilbur's face.
"You could've helped Dad unpack. You could do chores. But you're lying, so you can fucking— *sit around.*"
Tommy flinches. He wants to speak, but mind frenzied with fear & pain, only a clicking warble comes out.
Wilbur's eyes widen as he reels back, suddenly silent.
And then he sneers, all curled lips and bared teeth.
"For fuck's sake, Tommy. Fine. I see how it is."
(But he doesn't. Neither of them do.
The clicking warble? An apology, in elytrian. A plea only used in utter desperation.
And in avian... a sound of scorn. Revulsion at even being *around* someone.
And Wilbur takes that to heart.
Maybe Tommy never belonged with them anyways.)
"When we get home, I'm telling dad."
Tommy's head snaps up, meeting Wilbur's eyes in the rearview mirror. The twins had picked him up from school, after Tommy'd fallen ill (yet again). A lie, Wilbur thinks.
And now he, too busy sneering at Tommy, swerves off the road.
The car could've flipped twice, not just once. There could've been fire, not just warning smoke.
But two out of three people in that car are fine, wings flailing as they dangle — bruises, scraped feathers, a bit shaken up.
"Just unbuckle the fucking seatbelt, Tommy."
It's a good thing Wilbur's screaming. Tommy wouldn't have been able to hear him otherwise, ears ringing in agony.
Wrist. Ribs. Chest. They all burn, like the marks from fencing with Techno.
But these aren't bruises.
He passes out before the twins even touch him, fighting to drag his too-large wings through the shattered window.
Strange, that the last thing he remembers is Wilbur shouting, "He can get out himself, Techno."
And the first thing he hears upon waking is, "He could've *died.*"
It's Phil yelling. Tommy drifts, head buried in a hospital pillow.
"He had a fucking seatbelt," Wilbur yells back. "He should've been fine."
"No, he fucking *lied* about that, Dad."
Silence. Enough to hear Tommy's heartbeat monitor, chirping far too slow.
"Lied?" Phil says quietly.
"He— he's not *weak.* He's just as strong as an avian, he's not made of fucking glass and we don't have to *coddle* him. He lied to—"
"Does this look like a lie to you?"
It's only then that Tommy manages to open his eyes, breath shuddering as he tries to force air into the broken cage of his ribs.
And the first thing he does warble an apology towards Wilbur.
Or, how it sounds to avians, pure scorn.
Phil & Techno blink, expressions faltering.
But unlike Wilbur, who jumps to betrayed indignation (and... maybe just a little pain), they pause.
"What does that mean, mate?"
"It means I'm... 'm sorry?"
Wilbur goes still, understanding creeping across his face (slowly, slowly realizing that Tommy'd only lied to be loved).
But only he only freezes for a second. After all, he's an avian.
And when they're afraid (...ashamed, horrified, and broken with guilt)?
At least Phil & Techno stay.
At least they listen when Tommy finds the air to speak, explaining himself — the truth, for once. They hold him as he sobs, hurting his shattered ribs that much more.
At least they tell the truth.
"When you're healed, we want you to come home."
(And at that home, Wilbur waits.
He'd immediately moved every single one of his nest's blankets & pillows to Tommy's room. Hell, he even bought *more.*
He forces his guilt-ridden tears to stop, only so he can do some research. *Elytrian* research.
He won't let Tommy lie anymore — that's stayed the same.
But now, it's out of a desperate, broken love, revealed the moment that car crashed and Wilbur quietly prayed, *Please let my brothers be okay.*
He won't let anything hurt Tommy.