#g!tommy

The types of feelings that burrow deep into your soul, and stomach, and gurgle and squeeze anxiously. The type that make you realize how dumb you fumble around and how much space you take up as a giant in the small world around you.

Hyperawareness. Discomfort. Some secret third thing Tommy spent the majority of his time trying to identify now. It was an odd sensation that came up anytime he was around, or thought of, a human.

He didn’t dare bring it up to anyone, worried in the back of his mind what it could be. He wasn’t stupid. There were stories and fears about how giants sometimes ate humans. That’s something Tommy definitely didn’t have any mixed feelings towards whatsoever, nope! It wasn’t like every moment he came into contact with his peers at school, his stomach churned hungrily and intrusively snuck thoughts of slipping them into his mouth- not at all.

But just in case, Tommy decided it was best to isolate socially from humans. Completely ignore and avoid them, because that’s definitely healthy and the right way to cope.

Clumsy, uncomfortable Tommy stumbled through the hallways, rushing his way to the last class of the day.

The only luck Tommy had was his school being more developed than when Wilbur was taking classes. The blonde’s school was actually suited for giant students and housed them comfortably.

But now the teen had made it to the class, stupid math. He carefully stepped past the front side of the room, which seated the human students, and made his way to relax in his own seat.

Classes could snugly fit about three giant students each, while dozens of humans could fit. Meaning, if you didn’t like your same-sized peers, you’re not only a giant blemish to the humans, but to the giants as well. That was typically Tommy.

In math, he was sat beside Punz, and only Punz. He was a senior, contrasting Tommy’s being a freshman.

The brief consideration passed Tommy to try and make friends, though Punz had a cold hard face that told him he was not at all interested. So, of course, Tommy struck up conversation with the platinum blonde.

“AYUP, how do?”

Punz gave him a bewildered side glance, before fully turning, expression clouded in disgust at the very fact Tommy was even acknowledging him.

“Who,” Punz bared sharpened teeth, “are you?”

“They call me Tommy,” he nodded, “most people say I’m annoying, but only at first, nice to meet ya, what’s your name, mate?”

Punz’s expression returned to normal; normal being incredibly bored and done-with-people looking, but still.

“Punz,” he answered. Tommy smiled, despite already knowing from the older one's reputation that spread like wildfire around the school.

Punz. He was a monster. Every giant stereotype Tommy could really think of was true for him. Loud, brash, violent. Punz was the type to start fights and he was certainly strong enough to have people wishing themselves dead. Tommy heard Punz had once broken someone’s arm! He was a threat of a giant, strong and cruel. And Tommy was all the more concerned with befriending him.

It was simple, having friends was good anyway. But having someone tough on your side always played to one’s advantage. As well as the fact Punz was a cold person who needed a heater to warm him up, metaphorically. If Tommy could be that, letting the giant trust someone, he’d consider himself having done a good job. Plus, softening Punz would do all the much to push giantkind in the eyes of acceptance.

Maybe Tommy was considering too much.

“You’re staring.”

“WHOOPS,” Tommy laughed it off nervously, “Sorry, big man, sometimes a boys gotta stare, ya know?”

“…What are you talking about?”

Tommy continued to chuckle, playing off his discomfort, “Ay, big guy, maybe we could spend time together after school, yeah?”

The giant’s nose curled and the word ‘no’ was on his lips, but a sudden thought took Punz aback, and he softened his face again, “Actually, I was spending time with some friends after school, you can come,” there was something dark in that invitation, but Tommy couldn’t detect it.

“Hell yeah!” His voice was a bit loud, the teacher hushed him.

Tommy smiled and quieted, flashing his toothy grin to Punz before focusing on maths.

As much as Tommy was a klutz and a social embarrassment, he still wanted to try with giants. Humans were completely out of the picture; his feelings and intrusive thoughts messed him up too much to bother, but at least he could talk to giants. They were on the same level, literally, and he felt all the more comfortable just in their presence than the small little breakable creatures that were humans. It was too dangerous to allow himself by them. And Tommy would avoid humans, he swore upon it, for his and their sakes.

Class went alright, and Tommy kept serving one liners and quips to Punz to butter him up. He really wanted the older one to like him. It meant so much with every giggle and small twitch of the corners of Punz’s lips he caught. The blonde didn’t think he’d be able to stand being an extrovert with no friends.

Maths was over soon enough, and the two giants parted ways, walking down the giant sized hallway to their lockers. The humans walked along a small, lifted up, walkway that was guided by a railing. They were high enough that they walked the same height up to an average giant’s chest. The school feared if they were waking down too low, they’d be stepped on, so everything for humans was raised more or less.

The freshman tore his gaze from the small walkers. He didn’t want to tempt the nagging urge anymore than it already ached. It was a foggy sensation that was trying to overtake his logistics, that settled unkindly in the back of his head. Stupid foggy feeling, ruining his high school experience.

The blonde met his locker shortly after leaving the class, as the hallways for giants were quite short and twisted in loops around previously human-built rooms. Tommy input his combination, fumbling slightly with recalling the exact numbers, before swinging open the door. Inside was nothing but his backpack, blue and plain. He’d meant to decorate it with patches, pins, and whatever else he could get his claws on, but had yet to do so. He ignored that his wish was to do so with human friends.

Tommy slipped the bag over his shoulders and walked back through the hallway. Slight anxiety met his mind when he realized Punz never told him where he’d be waiting for the younger.

It didn’t matter, as Punz turned the corner immediately, a duo of giants behind him.

“Hey, ready?” Punz offered a clawed hand.

Tommy beamed, “Yep!”

“This is Quota,” The brunette one raised a polite hand, “And Jake,” The one with glasses smiled, baring teeth.

He’d seen these two as passersby in the hallway before. He knew every giant’s face at this point, by how much staring he’d accidentally done. It was easy though to know every other person of giantkind, considering they were still a minority, especially in this school.

“Hello!” Tommy tried his best to make a perfect first impression, grin wide as day with an outstretched hand to give out handshakes. Quota shook his palm firmly, but Jake denied the contact. Tommy cringed internally, but coolly played it off.

Punz nodded to the three of them, “Let’s get going.”

Tommy nodded back, bold expression all proud of himself and totally not lame looking. The two giants beside him gave glances and turned away.

As the group made their way along to the front entrance of the school building, Tommy found that the rest of the giants were taking small glimpses over on the railings where the humans were walking. Tommy swore for a second he caught sight of Jake licking his lips just for a split moment, and his heart sank in the way of the possibility they might, too, understand this cruel feeling inflicted upon him.

It was a great deal of time later they had spent just walking and chatting, casual topics, that Tommy’s legs were just starting to pang after having used them for so long straight. He was about to speak up and protest, when his complaints were shot down by Punz taking lead talking instead.

He said, “Here we are,” And Tommy looked up to see the movie theater. Shit, he never brought money to school, they were gonna have to pay for him. How much more awkward could the teen get around his peers?

The group piled into the theater, and Tommy bashfully peered down to the floor, embarrassed to admit that he couldn't afford anything. Before he could say a word, again, Punz was first to open his mouth, “I’ll buy everyone’s tickets. Tommy, you’re new, want popcorn?”

Tommy blushed, “Uh, yes.”

“Are you the kind that likes lots of butter…?” The question was so simple, but felt like if he ‘got it wrong’ he’d be kicked out of the building quicker than he joined the trio.

So honest it was, he wasn’t Honest Tom for no reason (nobody called him that).

“Painfully buttery.”

“My man,” Punz approved, and as he handed over the money and was given the striped bag, he gave the honor of buttering it to Tommy, who absolutely slathered that delicious yellow all over the little buds of delight. Hell fucking yeah.

Jake and Quota got their candies, which Tommy politely asked not to have (he already felt guilty spending Punz’s money on popcorn and a ticket), they all made their way deeper into the building. Punz had bought them all tickets to whatever the only giant starring movie there was. It was rare to see a movie even about giants without them being demonized, so supporting them when they were correctly shown in the media must be important to Punz. Tommy respected that.

Tommy had the important job of carrying the popcorn in and they filed into the room, where they took their seats around the back, where the giant sized seats were. Jake scrunched up his nose, pushing his glasses up at the same time.

Punz groaned, “Don’t you hate that we’re stuck back here?”

Tommy was being stared at, “Y-yeah!” He didn’t have that strong of an opinion, but it must matter to Punz a lot. Jake and Quota seemed to profusely agree.

Quota echoed behind him, “It’s not fair that we’re treated like ‘others’, look not a single human even wanted to see a movie about giants!”

Tommy hadn’t noticed. Now that he was looking at the dozens of rows of empty spots, he realized the situation. At least, he thought hopefully, now he wouldn’t have to worry about the mind-numbing sensation of the ‘desire to eat people’ thing, which he totally wasn’t dealing with behind the scenes.

“It’s disgusting,” Jake curled his lip upwards, “How are we meant to trust the narrative of ‘accepting, welcoming’ humans when they don’t acknowledge we even exist?”

“You’re right…” Tommy felt uncomfortable in the knowingness. Like it was some type of poison traveling down his throat to be so hyperaware of a human’s discomfort with the idea of him. It made the odd intrusive thoughts seem even worse. How evil was he for wanting to eat those who turned their back on him?

Punz lifted his soda, “To giants, and each other, the only ones we can trust.”

Jake and Quota cheered with Punz, and a duo of giants that were also in the building smiled at the scene. Tommy reluctantly joined, afraid of sticking out like the sad, sorry, red thumb he was.

It was a few previews in, and a human entered the building, to every giant’s surprise. Punz jeered at the poor thing as she walked in and chose a seat closer to the screen. She whipped around all nervous, but ultimately ignored Punz’s distasteful choice of words.

Tommy suddenly felt like a stranger to his own skin, tenfold of what he normally experienced. It was like he wasn’t even in his body, viewing from a distance outside himself. It was nauseating, and so he excused himself away to the bathroom, leaving the bucket of buttery popcorn there with his new friends. If he could call them that, yet.

The giant felt sick, tumbling his way into the stalls, he bent over and kneeled there. Over the toilet, he just sat on his knees, and waited. It was a few minutes ticking slowly and painfully by, that nothing ended up happening. He was thankful at least, his breath wouldn’t be rotten when he got back to the trio, but the sensation of dizziness and the urge to vomit didn’t let up. It lessened slightly after a dozen more minutes, and Tommy felt fine enough to stand once more.

He couldn’t explain what had just happened. Something about the way Punz was cussing out that human for what seemed like merely entering the room disturbed Tommy greatly. He’d have to ask about what that was for at some point, if he planned on even making friends. It was starting to seem a little foreign to him. Maybe he was in the wrong for thinking like that, though. He should, as Punz said, support his fellow giantkind. It was only fair.

As he abandoned the bathroom, Tommy slowly made his way back to the theater room, begrudgingly tracing the striped walls as he walked.

Upon turning the corner into the room, the first thing Tommy realized is that the human was gone. He hoped that she hadn’t ditched the movie over Punz’s jeering.

Tommy reached the back of the room with the giant seats, and took his place beside his new friends like he was before. He didn’t notice the way Punz proudly displayed his hand upon his stomach, which was being pushed against furiously, acting like he just had a wonderful feast, meanwhile the popcorn was untouched.

The movie had since started, and was about a third into it when Tommy sat back down. He felt bad for missing so much of what Punz had paid for, but the platinum blonde didn’t seem to mind.

“Psst, Tommy,” Quota whispered over, “We’re gonna ditch this place, the movie is awful anyway.”

Tommy made an audible ‘oh’, and stood as the trio did, making their way out of the building and down the next few streets.

Punz explained, leading the group, “We’re going over to my house.”

The blonde nodded back, “Oh, uhm, I might go home actually. I wasn’t feeling that great back there, uh…”

Punz huffed, “After school tomorrow?”

“Yeah! I can do that,” He smiled brightly, happy they’d still accept him even if he left right now. Maybe he wasn’t the total loser he thought he was, and actually proved he could make friends with people, specially, the scariest giant who might have a secret soft spot. Tommy vowed to find that special little spot, and worm his way into Punz’s heart.

He waved a giddy goodbye to Quota, Jake, and Punz, as he turned and headed the opposite direction, down and over a good amount of streets. He eventually made his way to Allen Drive, where his house was. The bright wooden shingles welcomed him home as entered through the front door. It was a tiring and long day, and even though dinner smelled good in the kitchen,

Technoblade wasn’t like other borrowers.

Other borrowers didn’t have voices in their heads, who screamed at him for blood, grew emotionally attached to the most random things, or know things that helped him evade capture multiple times.

Other borrowers didn’t have memories that never existed, searing into his brain at moments when he loses themselves, of friendships with beings of power, of him being a being of power, of falling from the clouds for a crime he did not do.

When his sword is stained red from those who wronged him, then in his head it rings. When the voices, or as he called them, Chat, started chanting. It never made sense, what they chanted.

Blood for the blood god

And it scared him, not knowing what it meant. But he couldn’t dwell on it now, just like he couldn’t dwell on it yesterday. He was a borrower, and that meant he needed to borrow.

Techno stepped outside of the comfort that was the shelter that he had been using for the past week. Being a wandering borrower, he didn’t have a home, exactly. He wandered from place to place, travelling lightly and swiftly, being able to escape at a moment's notice.

He had bases in some places, so he could restock and rest for a bit, but he was exploring a new area and that came with the consequence of not knowing where safety lay, so if a bean were to see him, he might not be able to get out of there fast enough.

But it wouldn’t come to that. Techno was an amazing borrower, and his motto was literally ‘Technoblade never dies’. He started walking through the long grass, humming to himself. He wouldn’t get caught, he was certain of it.

So why did he feel so uneasy?

. . .

“Hey- Hey! Stop it!” He whispered, whipping his sword out as an act of defence. The crow squawked defiantly but didn’t stop trying to pick him up with its beak.

Techno groaned. Crows were always nice to him, and they were one of the few things that gave him those memories other than blood. 

Memories of black wings surrounding him, feeling safety and warmth, and when he looked into those eyes-

Other things that did this were music, especially guitars or discs, the colour red, and that one statue. It had been in some rich fucker’s garden, and from what he had overheard the people in it were gods, whatever that was.

Their names, according to the beans he had been eavesdropping on, were Philza, Angel of Death, a golden blonde man with large black crow wings, a fatherly expression on his face as he stared at Soot, the god of music and chaos, a brunette who was laughing and ruffling the hair of Innit, god of discs and the wilderness.

And, standing a little bit away from the others, was a statue with its head gone. According to one of the beans, it was because they had been banished from the kingdom above, for a crime so terrible, and therefore been erased from history.

He also heard them say that it turned out to be an accident, that DreamXD, had framed him. But by that time it was discovered, it was too late, and he had been cast down, though it is said those three gods still search for him, in the hopes that they could bring him back.

They said his name was Blade, the god of war and blood. And that’s how he got his name. 

Technoblade.

And, another funny thing is, no matter how hard he sees those gods as Philza, Soot, and Innit, like the man described, some hidden part of his mind changes that to Phil, Wilbur, and Tommy. But that was beside the point.

The point was, that no matter how nice the crows were to him, they kept trying to take him somewhere.

Usually, they’d stop if he complained or shouted, or drew his sword (never intending to kill, just to scare them off) and they’d stop. But this one was even more persistent, and Techno realised now that he’d either have to fight it (something he would like to avoid if possible, he liked crows and they sometimes brought him gifts) or run.

He chose the latter, dashing to the side the moment the crow grabbed him. It squawked in outrage and Techno realised that it couldn’t chase after him on foot, with its legs like sticks. Birds were meant to fly, not walk.

‘Looks like I win this time, eh?’

He thinks, grinning to himself. The crow that he escaped from cawed loudly, and he only had a split second to wonder what that could mean before another crow SWOOPS down out of nowhere and yoinks (he’s not even sure what that word means but it seems about right for this situation) him up in its claws.

He had jinxed it. Techno didn’t believe in superstition, but he was certain that was what had happened.

The pinkette struggled in the crow's grasp, desperate to get free before it took him to… Well, wherever it was taking him. But it was no use. He wondered why it was so determined to bring him wherever it was going. Techno supposed he’d find out, soon enough.

Eventually, after a few minutes of flying, the borrower noticed something very, very strange. The crow was taking him up. And by that, he meant really, really high up. The world below was barely visible, as they went higher and higher, through the clouds.

And once they came out of the clouds, Techno couldn’t believe his eyes.

“The kingdom above… Fucking hell it’s real…”

He muttered to himself in awe. It was made out of pristine white shining material that might’ve been made out of the clouds themselves, with magical glowing lanterns floating in the air.

Techno’s first thought was that it belonged to the ruler of this kingdom, or at least some kind of person in power, I mean it was so fine and well-kept that it had to be, right? Wrong.

On closer inspection, he realised that the people walking down below were… Normal. This was a normal town here, and these were normal civilians.

The crow flew past it though, taking Techno with it. Its wingbeats never slowed, and it showed no sign of tiredness. This was no ordinary crow, he was sure of it.

And this was no ordinary place. Chat had stopped talking altogether, and his mind felt as if it was his own, at last. It was as if someone wanted him to be peaceful, but that was silly since he was literally getting kidnapped by a bird.

What a great day Techno was having, right?

Aaaaand now the crow was flying down, towards three people that looked awfully familiar, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it and then-

Oh fuck that’s Philza, Soot and Innit. He’d recognize them anywhere, after the incident with the statue. Oh, he’s fucked. He’s going to die, oh stars he needs to get out of this mess-

‘But aren’t the gods his family?’

He brushed that thought off with a shudder. Why on earth did he keep thinking stuff like that!? It didn’t make any sense, and you better believe that he was gonna get to the bottom of this.

Not today though. He was about to get caught by some of the most powerful beings in the entire universe, and he’d actually rather not. He valued his life, after all. So he did what any self-respecting borrower would do and fucking stab the bird.

Techno hadn’t particularly wanted to stab the crow. As he might’ve mentioned before, he liked crows. There just hadn’t been another choice. 

And it had worked.

The crow dropped him with a screech, alerting the three gods immediately. Their gazes fell on the bleeding crow who flew over to them with a lot of effort and landed on Philza’s outstretched arm. It healed almost instantly.

But the pinkette didn’t know any of this, because he happened to be falling when that situation had played out. And when Techno hit the ground, he felt his body scream out in pain and his head ring in agony.

The world around him felt loud and blurry. His head seemed to be sticky with what he could only assume was blood. He forced himself to stand, he needed to get out of here, needed to be safe-

Chat was back now,  just as incoherent and jumbled as his thoughts, and from what he managed to make out, delusional. They kept saying something about… Dadza? Who the hell was- Oh. Wait what!?

So Chat was no help. 

Techno winced. He couldn’t think, everything was just so loud and it hurt so damn much and he couldn’t understand and oh fuck did one of the Gods? beans just spot him and oh no they’re all walking towards him now.

The borrower’s eyes widen, and he couldn’t help but shrink back as the three gods towered over him, eyeing him over with such a strange expression of hope and longing that made Techno wonder if he actually was delusional.

The silence was broken when one of the gods, Innit, spoke up, voice breaking slightly and eyes glazed, as if holding back tears.

“Holy shit… Is it him? Like, really him?”

Philza responded, managing to sound calm and yet so desperate that it made Techno’s cold heart shatter, though he was not sure why.

“I don’t know Tommy (wait WHAT-), why don’t we ask him instead of talking over his head?” The angel of death suggested, and now they were all staring at him again, possibly even more intensely than before.

“So,” Philza said curiously. “Who are you, why did you stab my crow and why did it try to bring you here?”

There was no malice in his voice, it was just confusion and subtle amusement, but that just made Techno’s nerves worse. The only reason he could think of that would involve the god being amused about his half-dead state was-

Oh fuck, were they going to torture him?

“I’m Technoblade,” He said, after a few moments of hesitation. The pinkette ignored the sharp gasp of air from above, acting like he didn’t hear it, because he did not want to think of why the god might be shocked, and instead continued.

“I stabbed your crow because I was about to get seen (and look how that ended up) and I have no clue why it brought me here.” Techno knew it was not a smart idea to lie to a god, and he was anything but stupid. His injuries throbbed painfully, but the gods either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

Techno wasn’t about to guess which one…

After a very long while (in which Techno was trying his absolute hardest not to die on the spot) Soot spoke up. “So that’s a- a yes, then? It’s him?” He asked, voice cracking slightly. “Yes, Wilbur, (WHAT THE FUCK) It’s really him.”

The borrower didn’t have time to question what in the world he meant by that, because at that moment  Philza reached down, and Techno realised what was about to happen a second too late.

He scrambled backwards as the hand came towards him, absolutely terrified out of his wits, but the god paid no mind to that, plucking him off the ground by his waist easily. 

Techno struggled in his grasp but fell limp almost immediately. There was no way he was escaping from Philza, even though he wanted to, and besides, it just made his injuries worse. The tight grip the god had him in didn’t help either.

“What do you want from me!?”

He shouted, glaring at the gods, though it quickly fell as he remembered how easily they could crush him. Soot made a small noise (pity?) but he ignored it. “You- you really don’t remember us?” Asked Innit, with a look of despair on his face.

‘Remember you? I’ve never seen you before in my life!’ 

Not in this one you haven’t.

 Responded one of the voices, before it faded back into the clutter of noise. “Chat?” Philza asked, and Techno almost responded with ‘Yeah, it’s making no sense…’ when he remembered that he never told them about Chat.

Something clicked behind Soot’s eyes, and he spoke up. “So you really don’t know who we are… Right?” Techno nodded. Where exactly was (Wilbur) Soot going with this? “So that means…” “Means what? I’m not about to sit around all day waiting while you give me half-formed answers,” the borrower responded, with more challenge in his tone than was wise.

It’s not like you could stop them from doing that…

Said another one of those loud voices unhelpfully. ‘Thanks a lot…’ He thought to himself irritatedly and stared at Soot expectantly, which was harder than it seemed because his eyes kept unfocusing, and the corners of his vision were blurry and stained red. ‘Blood?’

“Listen, Technoblade, I don’t know what species you think you are, but…” He hesitated again, before continuing.

“You're a god, and our brother, at that.” Soot paused, and then started saying something more. “I’m so glad we finally found you, we’ve-”

But Techno didn’t get to hear what they’d done, the blood loss had finally caught up to him, and he passed out, darkness now surrounding him as he finally drifted into a dreamless sleep.

. . .

Aaaaaand that's it, folks! Great ending we got there, right? Hope you liked it :] Big thanks to Beckyu for helping me choose how to end it, and start next chapter.

That reminds me...

@i-am-beckyu and @brick-a-doodle-do, thank you for wanting to be tagged! If you want to be tagged, comment, ask or dm me and I'll add you! :D

You scrambled through the forest as Sam chased after you, rain pitter-pattering on the muddy ground. "Just stop running already! Quackity and I just want to talk!" You knew damn well Sam was lying. If he 'just wanted to talk', then he wouldn't have his trident out.

The event was clear in your mind. You owned a home near Quackity's casino in Las Nevadas, and Quackity had called you, asking you to come to his office one last time to have a 'friendly chat.' He then threw a weird, cyan splash potion that shrank you to a fraction of your height and ordered Sam to kill you.

You couldn't outrun Sam. You knew you couldn't. He was far faster than you could ever be. But that didn't mean he was smarter.

Well, he probably was smarter, but he relied on some sort of thermal vision to find keep track of where you were going. He was never much of a tracker, so he had to be tracking something that wasn't scent, since the gas mask would throw that off. Your eyes darted around the forest floor, desperately looking for something you could throw at him or something. You then spotted a puddle of mud.

I saw a guy do this in a toothpaste ad once, you thought to yourself as you covered yourself in mud. You grimaced at its weird texture as it partially dried, but it was either that or getting caught by Sam.

Sam slowed to a stop near you, looking around and sniffing the air. Eventually, he walked right past you, continuing his search. You breathed a sigh of relief once he was out of earshot, but then you heard footsteps. Loud footsteps. And... crying?

Suddenly, Tommyinnit burst through some nearby foliage. From what you'd heard, Dream was messing with Tommy while he was in exile. By the looks of it, Dream had taken things too far.

Unlike Sam, who relied on thermal vison to see you, Tommy spotted you almost immediately. "Reader? Is that you? What are you doing here?" "I- long story."

Suddenly, you heard paws impacting against the muddy ground. Sam was coming back. He'd probably heard you and Tommy talking. Tommy could tell from the fear in your eyes that you needed to hide.

Tommy went through his options in his head. He could shove you in his pocket and run, but Sam would hear him. He could put you in his hoodie pocket, but Sam would hear him and his favorite hoodie would be ruined. There was only one more option, but you wouldn't like it.

"Reader, I have an idea on how we can get out of here, but you need to trust me." "Okay. What's the plan?" "There's no time to explain. You're completely sure that you trust me?" "Yes! Now hurry up!"

Tommy grabbed you with both hands, and you immediately regretted telling him to hurry up. He haphazardly shoved you in his mouth, licking the mud off your clothes and face as you tried not to scream, desperately hoping he wasn't going to do what you thought he was.

Those hopes were immediately crushed as his tongue guided you to the back of his mouth and towards his throat, you bit your tongue until it bled to keep yourself from screaming.

You slid down his esophagus and into his stomach with a wet plop. There, you cried as quietly as you could, hearing Tommy talk to Sam.

"Tommy, have you seen Reader anywhere? I was just looking for them." "Nope. Sorry, big man."

Sam sighed, then walked away. Tommy tried to find a spot next to the tree that wasn't muddy. He sat down, resting one hand on his stomach.

"Alright, so I've got a bit of explaining to do." "No shit, sherlock! What made you think that was a good idea?!" "I dunno, man! I was just..."

|<>|

Wilbur was a complete idiot. But in his defense, the lake wasn’t that far from the cabin ok?! He just wanted to attempt to find that pretty salmon again, but he had completely forgotten that it was winter and that meant the fish were gone. Along with any other sensible animal. It also wasn’t his fault that the universe truly seemed to hate him and decided a blizzard would be wonderful right as Wilbur decided to head home. He cursed bitterly as he narrowly avoided another tree that just seemed to appear out of nowhere. Prime, he could barely see 5 feet ahead in this stupid blizzard. He could practically hear Techno’s annoying droning about his pathetic lack of survival skills. Then he saw it. In the distance. A giant opening to a cave. Wilbur laughed incredulously. Maybe the universe didn’t completely loathe him after all!

With a bit more spring in his step, Wilbur hurried over to the entrance to the cave. He didn’t even pause to think about how the vastness of the cave felt a bit…off. All he knew was he was finally out of that gods-forsaken blizzard, with what felt like 3 out of his 4 limbs still intact. He waddled further into the cave, still shivering from the cold that had taken root in his bones. He eventually found a dry spot against a cave wall and settled down, content to pass out for a bit, before he heard it. A strange whooshing sound. Wilbur glanced further into the darkness of the cave, where the sound had come from. The sound came again and Wilbur sat up. What can he say, he’s a curious person. He slowly made her way towards the increasingly loud noise until he saw a vague form in the darkness.

He got closer and slowly became horrified at the sight of what looked to be a child. He could barely make out a head of blonde curly hair. Wilbur couldn’t see far enough to see the kids lower half, but he desperately hoped he was wearing a thick pair of pants, because the kid didn’t appear to be wearing anything for a top. There was no way that the poor thing wasn’t practically frozen solid. Without another thought, Wib began sprinting with energy he didn’t know he had towards the fallen child. He realized soon that he had seriously miscalculated the distance between him and the kid and that the kid was a lot closer than he had thought. But- that doesn’t make sense, that would mean that either he had poor eyesight or that the kid…was…humongous.

Wilbur stared in increasing horror into the large face of an unconscious giant child. No,wait. Not unconscious. The kid’s eyebrows were furrowed tightly and he was breathing unevenly, letting out short puffs of cold air. “That explains the weird huffing sound” Wilbur thought grimly. The child’s cheeks were a harsh red, his eyes were squeezed shut as he weakly fought off the cold. And even though this was a giant (who shouldn’t exist, by the way), it was a giant child. And Wilbur had a chronically bleeding heart. So he made his decision. He didn’t know how, but he was gonna help this kid, whatever it took. Besides, he was raised by the Blood God and the Angel of Death. He was no stranger to the impossible.

So Wib steeled his nerves and marched up right in front of the child’s nose. Even if he was on the verge of unconsciousness, Wilbur couldn’t help but feel a bit intimidated by the poor kid, but he pushed those thoughts away. The kid let out another violent puff of air, blowing Wilbur’s hair away from his face and in sort of a knee jerk reaction, Wilbur placed his hand on the tip of the kid’s nose, though it probably looked more like a slap. Not that Wilbur had time to worry about it since he heard a sharp intake of air and 2 things happened in quick succession.

One, Wilbur watched as the boy’s eyes shot open, pupils constricting into thin slits as they landed on his comparatively small form, and he barely had a second to think ‘blue, just like Phil’ before the second thing happened. He felt something cold and smooth wrap around his ankle before his whole world was flipped upside down. Wilbur tried to see what was hanging him upside down and he only caught a glimpse of red before he heard a small pained groan. He turned to see that he was being held up at about eye level with the giant boy, who was slowly sitting up on shaky pale arms. Both arms. So how…? And then he looked and saw what was holding him up. A giant red scaled reptilian tail. One that was connected to the giant boy. Oh no. When the boy had finally sat up, his icy blue eyes focused on Wilbur and suddenly he felt paralyzed. He couldn’t move. He could hardly breathe. All he could see were those icy blue eyes. A naga. An honest to gods naga was staring Wilbur down with an emotion that he couldn’t focus enough to pick apart. Judgment? Or gods forbid, hunger.

In Wilbur’s trance of fear, he didn’t notice the boy’s quivering mouth, or his winces of pain with every minute movement. He did notice when the boy ground out a question.

“A-are you fucking stupid?”

Wilbur’s brain lagged as he processed the question. What?

“Why the hell are you here? I’m not sure if you noticed, but there is very much a blizzard outside right now. In fact, how did you even get here?” the naga snarked

When Wilbur did not respond, the tail holding him gently shook side to side.

“Hello? Did you die of cold already? Or did my awesomeness shock you into silence?” the naga asked, as if he wasn’t shivering violently every other second.

There was another moment of silence before Wilbur swallowed, channeling Technos monotone deadpan.

“Well maybe if you quit hanging me upside down, i could probably form a coherent sentence and respond to you.” he droned. He didn’t expect the kid to jolt like he’d had a sudden realization and a flash of remorse to slide across his face before he was suddenly flipped right side back up.

“Come to think of it, aren’t snakes supposed to be asleep for the winter or whatever? That would mean that you would need to be as well” Wilbur said as a dry attempt at a joke. Surprisingly, the kids' eyebrows furrowed at the remark.

“I can't hibernate yet, I have to wait for my…master to come back.” he said sheepishly

It was then that Wilbur looked the child in the eyes for the first time.

“How long have you been waiting for your ‘master’ to come back, exactly?” Wilbur asked, studying the child’s expression.

“Only a little while. It doesn’t matter anyways, because my master is coming back.” the naga snapped.

Wilbur raised his hands in surrender and it was quiet for all of 5 seconds before he started up again.

“Why do you need your master to hibernate anyways?” Wilbur asked, leaning lazily against the tail that still held him captive.

The kid's ears twitched as he replied “He might need me, what’ll happen if he’s in danger and needs protecting and I’m off somewhere snoozing the winter away. And besides, for me to hibernate, conditions have to be met.”

“What, like it has to be 30° exactly for the little snake to get some sleep?” Wilbur teased with a huff of laughter.

“There has to be someone in my storage.” the kid deadpanned.

It was then that the kid looked at Wilbur. Who couldn’t move. A glint grew in the child’s eye. A glint Wilbur did not want to touch with a 60 ft pole.

“You know… I don’t have to hibernate all in one go. I can sleep in sections.” The naga stated.

Wilbur felt a bead of sweat make its way down the back of his neck. “That's… interesting,” he mumbled.

“Yeah it is. It also means I don’t necessarily have to wait for my master to get back to get a little bit of sleep” the kid purred.

“Um, yes you do- what are you doing?” Wilbur cried out as the tail that was holding him abruptly dropped him into a giant hand.

“Finally getting some real sleep, I hope. I haven’t slept properly in 3 winters…” the naga said quietly as he pinched Wilbur’s waist between two clawed fingers.

Wilbur felt a brief flash of sympathy wash over him before it was quickly overshadowed by fear as he was raised above the fanged mouth of the young naga.

“Wait! Don’t do this man please!” He cried, desperately trying to wiggle out of the nagas hold, to no avail.

The naga paused and brought Wilbur back to eye level. Wilbur let himself hope that maybe he had talked some sense into the naga. That is, until he opened his mouth.

“I promise you won’t die. It won’t even hurt! I swear on the gods.I just have to do this.” the naga croaked before closing his eyes, tilting his head back, opening his mouth and raising Wilbur above it once more.

“No no NO!” Wilbur cried, panicking as he was lowered into naga’s mouth. He barely saw how the naga’s eyebrows furrowed more and more with every desperate cry.

He yelped as he was dropped into the unpleasantly warm cavern. He instantly tried to scramble back to the front of the mouth but the naga had quickly snapped his teeth shut, nearly taking Wilburs hand and effectively sealing his fate in the same breath. Wilbur began to breathe harshly as the world slowly tilted backwards, making him slide to the back of the mouth. He let out one last desperate cry before was gulped down. The whole way down the nagas throat, Wilbur hardly let himself move. This was really happening. His journey came to an end when he finally fell into what looked like the nagas stomach.

Wilbur sat panting in the stomach of the naga, trying his damndest not to cry. What kind of cruel fate was this? To die to a giant sickly snake child? He felt the naga sluggishly poking at him from the outside, but he couldn’t even bring himself to lash out at him.

“Little dude?” the naga asked, the voice reverberating all around him, causing Wilbur to cringe slightly.

“How could you do this to me?” Wilbur muttered, grieving quietly for the life he was supposed to live.

He felt the naga flinch slightly at his words. He heard a gulp above him and Wilbur felt a tendril of dark satisfaction curl around his heart, pleased that the naga was nervous.

“I told you, I can't go another winter alone.” the naga whimpered.

“So you fucking swallow me? Kid, the solution to loneliness isn’t murder!” Wilbur bellowed.

The naga flinched again before two hands pressed against the stomach. “B-but it isn’t murder! You aren’t going to die, I-I promised!”

Wilbur laughed humorlessly. “The gig is up, you’ve already swallowed me so I’m not going anywhere. You don’t have to keep up with that ridiculous lie.”

“I’m not lying! You're in my storage stomach idiot!” the naga cried indignantly.

“Yeah! A stomach! I don’t care what words you put in front of it, a stomach is a stomach, which means I'm going to… die.” Wilbur stressed, voice breaking at the last word.

“Nono! Nagas have two stomachs, one for consumption and one for storage. The one for storage doesn’t have any acids that can kill you.” the naga explained hurriedly.

Wilbur took in the information silently.

“So…i’ll be ok?” he asked tentatively

“Yes,” the naga exhaled, sounding relieved. “Like I promised.”

“You did promise, didn’t you?” Wilbur said, letting out a tired laugh

The naga didn’t respond and Wilbur felt his surroundings shift as the naga curled up quietly.

It was silent for a moment and Wilbur felt his eyes drooping. How absurd. He was quite literally lying in the belly of the beast right now. He leaned back against the walls of the stomach and made himself comfortable. Although the kid had reassured him thoroughly that he wasn’t going to die, he’d also made it very clear that he wasn’t letting Wilbur go. At least for a little while. He might as well get cozy in his new prison. Just as he was dozing off, he heard a yawn from above followed by a hum.

“Tommy”

“…What” Wilbur murmured, only half conscious.

“My name is Tommy. Just so you know” The naga- Tommy confessed.

It was silent for a moment before Wilbur huffed, softly amused.

Cold. That was what led to this. Tommy’s tail slithered over the fresh snow as his human family trailed next to him. As a Naga, you’d think he would be freezing right now, with stiff limbs and a slowed heart while he slept in his brumation period. But Tommy wasn’t like most Nagas. As the biggest man alive, he was able to block out the cold with his thick scales and stay nice and warm from his human half.

The snowstorm took them completely by surprise while the misfit family spent a day in a nice field Tommy had found. It was sunny and warm earlier in the day as Tommy basked in the sun, Tubbo convincing Ranboo to join him in climbing Tommy’s tail while Wilbur watched from a few feet away. The weather changed quickly after that and as the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up; they tried leaving to beat the storm home. This didn’t work as planned. Now all of them were stuck walking in the forest as more snow drifted down to taunt them.

“Guys, I’m tired,” Tubbo groaned. “Can you carry me the rest of the way, Toms?”

When Tommy looked over to make a snarky comment about laziness, he was met with the one thing he couldn’t say no to: Tubbo’s puppy eyes at full force. Tommy had to take a stuttering second to collect his thoughts from the sudden look. Tubbo used his puppy eyes occasionally, whenever he wanted something fast, or just to mess with people, but it caught Tommy off guard every time. 

Finally, he gave in with a sigh and scooped up Tubbo with no warning, earning a startled noise.

The four continued on their way through the Forest, one now getting a reluctant, free ride. Eventually, as Tommy was in a deep focus on moving forward, and the small life in his hands that felt so small, so fragile-

There was a sudden weight on his tail, and he stopped. Tommy’s first instinct was to curl around the thing and squeeze. 

But Tommy’s a big man and big men don’t live off of their instincts, not anymore, so he instead turned to look at it. There, sitting like a king on a scaled throne, was his older brother, Wilbur. He let out a sigh of relief, still riled up from the scare.

“Hey, warn a guy next time, why don’t ya,” Tommy scoffed, slightly annoyed, “and get off my tail!”

“If Tubbo gets a free ride, then I’m not walking. "

“…fine”

Tommy gave in. It made sense to just carry all of them, really. He was faster, after all. Besides, even an idiot could see the side eyes Ranboo was giving him, it’d be a lot easier if he just asked to be picked up though.

“What are you waiting for, Ranboo? Get up here,”

With only a small hesitation, Ranboo made his way up, claiming a spot next to Wilbur on Tommy’s red scales. Tommy started hopefully the way they came earlier, now with two more added passengers. But for some reason, that instinct of squeezing something stayed, even after calming down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been a few minutes of Tommy slithering on the fresh snow when Wilbur and Ranboo moved from his tail to his hands, where Tubbo was sitting. Apparently, his human hands were much warmer than his scaled tail and none of them were dressed right for the cold weather to begin with.

With his friends held gently to his chest, blocking out the cold, the conversation lulled into a comfortable silence, letting their minds wander. Tommy’s mind especially had the tendency to wander far.

Every so often he would get this feeling, a sense of dread. It would only grow as his small family got closer to him. Most of the time it just stayed in the back of his mind, but right now he had nothing but the forest in front of him to concentrate on. 

Tommy could feel the slight shivers of his family against his chest as he tried his best to protect them from the cold. How do they survive anything being this small? He could hold all of them in his hands, no problem, he could do anything to them with ease. 

Suddenly, those instincts were back with one simple thought: squeeze them. 

Tommy felt horrified when he heard that, doing his best to shake the thought out of his head, but it wasn’t working. 

A human is just so so fragile, it wouldn’t take much for it to break.

Them. His family aren’t ‘it’s. What was he thinking? 

But imagine how satisfying it would be, the fear in their eyes. It’s been so long since he saw them like that. Their first meeting was so long ago and since then, they’d gotten used to him quickly.

Just a bit of fear wouldn’t hurt anyone. He’s a naga, he’s made to do a lot worse than scare these little creatures.

“Uh…toms?”

Wilbur’s voice echoed in his ears, snapping him out of his trance. What was happening again? They were going home, right? And he’s holding them- he’s holding them too tight-

Looking down at his family, he could see some uncertainty in their eyes. They would look much more worried if they could read his thoughts. But what he was petrified of was feeling his hold on them loosen as they took a collective gasp of air.

He was squeezing them. He was squeezing them. Not hard enough to hurt or even bruise, but it could have been if he zoned out any longer.

“What’s going on?” Ranboo said, concerned, but Tommy couldn’t miss the edges of fear in his voice. “A-Are you ok Tommy?”

“I.. yea, yea, I-I’m fine. Just tired from having to carry my lazy friends. "

He tried joking to change the subject. It mostly worked, as they gave him a few offended remarks before starting a new conversation. But Tommy couldn’t focus on what was being said. He had almost hurt his family.

He couldn’t help it when he stared at the surrounding snow, breaths coming in short and shaking.

They trust him so much and he wants to scare them..wants to hurt them. 

No, he doesn’t want that. It’s his stupid instincts that want him to throw away all the trust he knows he doesn’t deserve. He’s better than this! 

Looking in the distance, he can see a familiar cave opening and rushes the rest of the way inside, wanting to put the fragile lives in his hands down before something else happens.

“Finally, I thought we’d be stuck out there all night!” 

Tommy tried to laugh at Tubbo’s joke, but it came out forced. He had to get away from them.

He jumped as something cold stroked his scales

squeeze it

No! 

He looked to see Ranboo petting the side of his tail. He looked concerned. He found his other family members had similar expressions. 

“Tommy, you can tell us if something’s bothering you,” Ranboo said. “You know that, right?”

“Yea! We’re family, and that means you can tell us all your secrets. "

“What Tubbo means to say is, we care about you and if something’s wrong, we want to know. "

Wilbur sounded so sincere, they all did. Maybe he was just overreacting. With a sigh, Tommy tried opening up about everything that had happened that night.

“W-well, it’s nothing really, I mean not nothing nothing but also nothing to worry about, I promise. I'm just overreacting… it’s nothing serious but, ..every once in a while I get, uh. I-I getthesethoghtstohurtyouguyseventhoughIwouldntdothatbecauseyourmyfamilyand- “

“Woah, woah, woah calm down toms, it’s alright.” Wilbur tried reassuring, “just breath and try this again, slowly”

“… Sometimes I get thoughts that tell me to hurt you guys. I-I wouldn’t ever do it though! They just show up when I don’t want them to. And sometimes I get these instincts in the back of my mind telling me what to do… they just got really bad. I’m so sorry, please don’t leave. I promise I can learn to stop.”

The three humans on the floor seemed shocked as Tommy rambled. How had they never realized, of course, Tommy would have instincts like this. He’s a naga. Even though they’re close, it’s still ingrained in his head. 

It must be so hard for him to deal with all this alone.

They weren’t gonna let that happen anymore.

It took some time, but eventually, the humans got Tommy to calm down and told him they had no plans of leaving him. Never.

And as the commotion from the inside of the cave grew quiet, if a hiking human were to wander in past the brush hiding the entrance, they would see not a fearsome naga with its helpless victims, but a family held close together with trust.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~