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Tommy had often wondered what life would be like if he had wings of his own. He had seen people walking down the street; long deep blue wings with flecks of white like stars, short black wings that seemed they would barely hold the persons weight and yet they did, flash golden wings that he was almost certain were not their natural colour but who was he to judge.
It wasn’t uncommon, something similar to the genes for hair colour or eye colour, every now and then you got the gene for wings, or maybe it was for horns, or antlers, hooves, any number of different traits and characteristics could be found among the sea of people he knew.
He often wondered what having wings would be like.
Turns out it would be quite inconvenient.
Tommy turned half awake and tried to stretch his arms up only to find his shoulder caught under something soft and heavy. He half-heartedly tried to free himself from whatever he had trapped himself but felt a jolt of pain as he pulled on what his shoulder was caught in.
“Ow what the fuck?” he mumbled, in another attempt to free himself he rolled sideways only to realise all too late that he was on the edge of the bed. He fell the short distance from his bed to the floor and landed with a heavy thud, his foot still somehow tangled in the blanket.
“Tubbo? Tubbo!” he called as he freed himself from the clutches of the blanket. The weight of whatever he had himself trapped under seemed to persist on his shoulders and Tommy had a sinking feeling he knew what it was.
He reached a hand up and when he drew it back he was holding a short bright red feather with a tuft of down attached.
He still hadn’t heard movement from Tubbo’s room, so he called again, his voice a little more panicked this time, “TUBBO GET THE FUCK IN HERE!” Through the thin walls of their flat he hear a mumble followed by the sound of a dead weight hitting the floor. Half a minute later his own door creaked open.
“What man it’s too fuckin early for this” Tubbo mumbled, half attempting to blearily blink the sleep from his eyes.
Tommy stared at Tubbo half in disbelief half in despair while he waited for this situation to click.
“OH WHAT THE FUCK?”
“YEAH I FUCKING KNOW WHAT THE FUCK?!” Tommy shouted back.
“How long have you had those?”
“Oh you know me I like to keep giant wings a secret from my best friend for the entirety of the time I’ve known him. I like to wake up each morning and think ‘oh yes I will continue in my silly little lie to Tubbo because it will be funny’ and then I retract my wings into my skin, so you never see them. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK TUBBO I’M AS SURPRISED BY THEM AS YOU ARE!” Tommy’s feathers ruffled slightly, “ok what the fuck was that?”
“Did you just ruffle your feathers?” Tubbo asked, trying, and utterly failing to stifle a chuckle. Tommy reached back and launched a pillow at Tubbo which hit him squarely in the face.
“What the fuck am I going to do?” Tommy asked with a sigh, dropping back down onto the bed with a sigh then a wince, “god I can’t even sit down properly anymore? DO I GET NO PEACE FROM THIS SUFFERING?”
“Just tuck your wings in” Tubbo suggested, and then after a brief moment of consideration, “dramatic bitch.”
Tommy shot Tubbo a reproachful look, “if I knew how to tuck them in I wouldn’t be in this situation you dick. Oh mememe I’m Tubbo and I know how wings work functionally here Tommy just tuck them in it’s so easy memememe. Dick.”
“This really sounds like a you problem why did you call me in here except for to show off the latest additions to your freakishly proportioned body?”
“I AM NOT FREAKISHLY PROPORTIONED!”
“YOU ARE LIKE 98% LEGS WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN THAT IS SO FREAKISHLY PROPORTIONED?!”
“I got stuck” Tommy finally admitted, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly, “in the blankets and probably my wings” he shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot, “and then I fell out of bed.” He finished.
There was a beat of silence before Tubbo doubled over in fits of laughter, between breaths and more laughs he just about managed to get out, “oh. My. Fucking. God. Please tell me it hurt!”
“Sorry to disappoint but I only seem to have bruised my pride.” Tommy mumbled, which only seemed to further Tubbo’s giggling. “Fuck you I’m gonna get changed and head down to the library to see if there’s anything on spontaneous wing growth or something to that effect.”
Tommy pushed Tubbo, who was still giggling to himself, backwards into the hallway before shutting the door with a sigh. He turned and grabbed a t-shirt from the pile on his chair and went to pull it over his head before stopping. “MOTHERFUCKER. TUBBO!”
Tubbo pushed the door open again, “I literally can’t have done anything this time what’s up?”
“I can’t wear my t-shirts.” Tommy said with a sigh.
“You can’t wear your t-shirts?” Tubbo said with an incredulous tone. “And why’s that, have they done something to annoy you or?”
“I can’t fit my wings through them properly, I don’t have wing-fitting clothes because you know, up until this morning I didn’t have wings?”
“Oh shit”
“Yeah oh shit indeed, I’m fairly certain the library has got rules against showing up without a shirt on.”
“What if you just wore a big baggie hoodie would that work?” Tubbo suggested, grabbing one of Tommy’s hoodies and turning it in his hands, looking it over as if the solution would somehow make itself clearer to Tubbo than it would to Tommy.
“It still pins the wings down and I promise you it felt weird enough sleeping on them I really don’t think a hoodie is going to help.” Tommy said with a sigh, pacing the room a little trying to think of something.
“Ok, I have an idea. You aren’t going to like it, but I have an idea nonetheless. Stay here.” Tubbo said before turning and sprinting straight back out the door he had come through.
Finally Tubbo re-emerged holding a pair of scissors. “No.”
“It’s the only way!”
“NO IT FUCKING ISN’T TUBBO!”
“I’m sorry Tommy you’ll have to trust me on this it’s all going to be fine I promise just come here-“
“TUBBO NO PLEASE PLEASE IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY”
“I’m sorry Tommy but there’s no other options.”
“Maybe the library will let me in anyway? I mean do I really need a shirt that much it’s only-“ he pulled his phone out to check the weather, “-six degrees and storming. What’s a bit of hypothermia ever done to anyone anyway I mean really it’s just a harmless little thing I think actually I’ll be just fine if you just let me-“
“I’m so sorry Tommy.” Tubbo repeated before advancing on Tommy with the scissors.
“NOOOOO!” Tommy cried out, the fear and agony evident in his voice. “That was my favourite shirt” he said mournfully as Tubbo began making haphazard cuts into the back of it.
“And you’re still denying that you’re dramatic?” Tubbo rolled his eyes as he continued to cut the back out of Tommy’s t-shirt. “There all done you can stop the hysterics now.”
Tommy took the tattered ruin of his once favourite shirt and pulled it over his head. With no back to hold them together the sides drooped loosely beside him, “Tubbo I look ridiculous, one strong breeze and I may as well not be wearing this.”
“Ok, ok alright well just give me a second then we can fix that!” Tubbo said, giving Tommy no time to respond before rushing back out of the room once again.
When he once again returned he was holding a roll of duct tape.
“Oh you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“This is humiliating” Tommy mumbled as he kicked a rock down the street, “can’t believe she wouldn’t let me in the library ‘oh no we have to insist upon asking you to leave you’re scaring the other patrons you can’t be in here with an outfit like that’ mememe I know more than you I’m the library god.”
Tommy ducked into a nearby alleyway, twisting slightly to fit his wings through the gap, still unable to tuck them in himself. “THIS ISN’T FUCKING FAIR” He shouted, kicking the rock sending it sailing down before it clattered to a stop at the foot of a man he hadn’t noticed.
“I CAN’T EVEN GO INTO A FUCKING LIBRARY BECAUSE OF THESE STUPID FUCKING WINGS THAT I DIDN’T EVEN ASK FOR!” He tried to turn around in the alley and sent debris and rubbish scattering across the floor, “piece of shit wings” he muttered, kicking a can away from him.
“You ok mate?” a voice called from the bottom of the alley. Tommy stopped his rampage abruptly and swung himself around to face the direction the voice was coming from.
In a hasty attempt to hide some of the mess he had made Tommy shuffled forwards in front of it, “yeah, yeah I’m fine just- nothing for you to worry about!” he called back in what he could only hope was a cheery placating voice.
Still the man continued his approach towards him, “couldn’t help but overhear you, you seem a little frustrated anything I could help with?”
“Well not unless you know how to undo spontaneous wing growth then nope just carry on about your day!” Tommy called back.
“I might be of some help” the man called back, while he wasn’t much more than a silhouette to Tommy it was an impressive one nonetheless. Long wings that seemed to trail the floor slowly outstretched as he continued his approach. “I’m Phil, and you are?”
Tommy sighed, weighing his options. Between feeling slightly humiliated by a stranger or returning home to Tubbo no more knowledgeable than he was over an hour ago he thought the former was just slightly more acceptable. “I’m Tommy.”
“What’s up Tommy, what’s going on?”
“I just- I didn’t have these yesterday” he said, gesturing vaguely to the wings dragging roughly against the brick walls either side of him. “And I don’t know what to do, I can’t- they’re stuck I can’t get them in and none of my clothes fit and Tubbo spent half the morning laughing at him I mean it’s not like he was wings so he wouldn’t really be of any help anyway and I just- can you help?”
“Yeah, yeah I can help mate, come on. First stop we’re gonna have to get you something halfway decent to wear because no-ones letting you in anywhere looking like that” Phil said gesturing to the mess of shredded t shirt and duct tape that Tubbo had attempted to turn into something vaguely acceptable earlier.
“You know I really don’t think we need to do that, I’m a big man you know I could just-“
“Come on!” Phil called, already four paces ahead of Tommy and showing no signs of slowing any time soon.
“I look ridiculous”
“I’m sure you look fine come out and show me” Phil reassured, scrolling absentmindedly on his phone while he waited.
“Phil I’m serious this is so stupid are you sure this is all they have for people with wings in my size?”
Phil cast a glance over to the section he had very quickly walked Tommy past in favour of what he was sure Tommy would call ‘posh prick section’. “Oh yeah I’m sure there was absolutely nothing else for people with wings now come out and show me how it looks Tommy!” he called back, getting his camera at the ready.
The curtain was pulled back to reveal Tommy in the most ridiculous get-up Phil had ever seen, the jeans he had been wearing earlier replaced by a pair of black slacks into which Tommy had tucked the starched white poet shirt Phil had picked out, his wings folded neatly between the long trench coat which; in Phil’s opinion, really completed the ridiculous mid eighteenth century look he had been going for.
He managed to snap exactly three photos before busting into laughter. Tommy slammed the curtain closed in front of him once again. “I FUCKING KNEW YOU WERE HAVING ME ON!”
“I’m sorry it was too good an opportunity!” Phil managed to get out through the breaths in his laughter, “it’s a rite of passage mate my brother did the same to me when mine came in if it’s any consolation!”
“Bullying! Abuse! I’m calling fucking ChildLine and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!” to huffed, then quieter, “can you please get me something that is somewhat acceptable in this the year 2023 Phil I don’t want to look like a pretentious dick.”
“Yeah alright mate I’ll go grab you some stuff stay there” Phil relented, though the smile on his face had not broken.
A few moments later Phil returned with a handful of jeans, t shirts and hoodies and threw them at the curtain where they landed with a soft thud.
“Phil you dick now my clothes are gonna be all floor dirty” Tommy whined, still his hand shot out to grab them nonetheless.
“I mean I can take them back if you don’t want them”
“No.”
“We could always get you more poet shirts” Phil taunted, a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Phil please I beg do not”
“I reckon they might even have a hat for you, me hearty arghhh”
“I am calling the police, you are actively committing a disturbance of the peace.”
Phil barked out a laugh, “ha- disturbance of the peace? I feel like you enter within a ten mile radius of people, and they start getting negative debuffs, seeing all those swirling potion effects as their vision blurs when you get closer.”
“You are such a fucking nerd” Tommy said, finally making his way out of the changing room in a red hoodie, his wings not quite tucked as neatly as he would hope but he had gained some slight modicum of control over them than he had had that morning.
“Ok but you got that reference so if I’m a nerd you are too” Phil pointed out, “come on we’ve been in here for like an hour already can we just get the clothes and go?”
“Yeah alright just let me get changed back into my other clothes and I’ll be out-“ Tommy turned to re-enter the changing room only to be blocked by Phil’s arm.
“Tommy we did not spend and hour finding clothes for you to put back on the thing that is at this point 99% duct tape and like 1% fabric, let me just-“ he reached up to the collar and pulled the tag off the clothes Tommy was still wearing.
“There, just give that to the nice lady at the checkout when we’re getting the rest of the stuff and we can drop that-“ he pointed to the shredded t-shirt “into a bin and set it on fire for all I care.”
“But that’s my favourite t-shirt!” Tommy whined, trailing behind Phil as they headed towards the checkout, “I’ve had it for so long and now it’s just ruined? A tattered memory? What am I supposed to do now? How can I live without it Phil it’s all I’ve ever known all I’ve ever needed it- you aren’t even paying me any attention. PHIL!”
“I’m listening, I’m just ignoring you while you’re acting like a little shit” Phil pointed out, steering Tommy out of the way of oncoming people while he dragged his heels and continued to complain. “Come on this way.”
“Wow. Wow I cannot believe you. First you fucking kidnap me into some strange shop, you force me into old people clothes and now you’re ignoring me? You are the worst person I have ever had the misfortune to meet.” Tommy huffed, crossing his arms and turning his face away from Phil.
Phil rolled his eyes, “and you kicked a rock, then a can at me down a creepy alleyway, and then threw more rubbish at me with your total lack of control on those wings, and then you caused a scene? If anyone has suffered a misfortune today it’s me!”
They continued bickering back and forth until they reached the checkout, and continued bickering again until the lady at the checkout cleared her throat.
“£77.95 please” she said in a bored tone.
Tommy moved to pull his phone out, Phil sighed a little before pulling his own wallet out and tapping his card on the card reader.
“Do you want a receipt?” she asked in that same bored tone that Phil knew all too well.
“No we’re ok thank you” he said quickly before grabbing the back from the counter and pushing Tommy towards the exit.
“I am perfectly capable of paying for my own clothes you know I’m a big man.” He sulked as they made their way along the street to a nearby café.
“I’m sure you are but you’ve guilted me enough for one day I didn’t need to hear you bitching about how you had to spend oh so much money because of me for the rest of the day” Phil said with a grin.
“I DO NOT BITCH!”
“So you just grew them overnight? Like you didn’t do anything to make them come in or anything?” Phil asked, taking a sip of his slightly too hot latte and grimacing when the milk burnt his tongue.
Tommy glared at his hot chocolate, then at Phil’s latte, and then back to his hot chocolate. “You know I still don’t see why-“
“I’m not giving you caffeine you’re enough of a gremlin on your own you don’t need to add shit to make you worse” Phil cut him off, already knowing what Tommy was about to complain about given that he had just heard the same argument the entire time they were in the queue to get their drinks, and then the entire time after having paid while they were waiting for them.
Tommy sighed and took a sip of his drink, his wings ruffled slightly which made Phil smile.
“Yeah, I just- I went to bed last night, no wings. I woke up this morning? Wings. You tell me how the fuck that works mr oh I’m an expert in the whole wings thing.” Tommy mocked.
“I mean I’m not like a fucking doctor or anything – I don’t know why you grew them I just figured you might want some help figuring them out you know?” Phil offered.
“But do you even know how to teach someone about it? Like I get it you have wings and I’m sure you know how to use them just fine yourself because you grew up with them but I’m a little old to be flying the nest don’t you think?”
“Flying the nest? That’s assuming you have some degree of choice in this whole thing Tommy” Phil said with a grin that Tommy wasn’t sure he liked the look of. “You’ve got wings like it or not, the least you could do is learn how not to be a complete menace with them.”
Tommy took another sip of his hot chocolate, contemplating for a moment what to do. “You’re a dick you know that right?”
“Did you or did you not want to learn how not to knock yourself out with your own wings?” Phil asked, smugly draining the last of his latte.
“Well yeah but-“
“Shut the fuck up then” he grinned, and Tommy couldn’t help but smile back.
“Phil are you sure there isn’t a better way to learn this?” Tommy called back, teetering nervously on the edge of a cliff, “how about an indoor skydiving place? A diving board into a pool? What about a huge ball pit?”
“Nope!” Phil called back gleefully, “and besides there’s water underneath us!”
“THAT’S THE FUCKING OCEAN PHIL AND IM LIKE 99% CERTAIN THERES ROCKS THAT ARE DEFINIETLY OUT TO KILL ME IN THE WATER TOO!” Tommy shouted over the wind that whipped around them.
Under any other circumstances Tommy might have marvelled about how pretty the view was, even on an overcast day like today there was something special about the way the waves crashed against the rocky cliff face.
He wasn’t sure he would enjoy the view from halfway down quite as much.
“Come on, we’ll start easy I promise! Just a simple glide you don’t even have to move your wings just let the air carry you down you’ll be fine!” Phil said, leaping from the cliff beside Tommy, doing an all too acrobatic somersault in the air, and landing gracefully next to him once again.
“That didn’t exactly look nice and easy” Tommy muttered, shifting under the weight of his own wings.
It had taken a bit of practice for Tommy to even figure out how to open and shut his wings, he was fairly certain that this was too much a jump in skills for one day.
“Listen mate, we’ve all had to do something scary in our lives once or twice, it’s just one of those things. If you don’t take the leap then you’ll be stuck on that cliffs edge for the rest of your life.” Phil said softly, gently laying a hand on Tommy’s shoulder.
“I know, I know I just- I’m scared Phil, it’s a long way down and what if I get hurt?”
“Ah come on, you think id let you get hurt?”
“I have known you for all of like three hours Phil you really think I’m in any place to judge what you would, and wouldn’t-“ Tommy did not manage to finish his sentence before the hand that had been gently resting on his shoulder tipped him forwards over the edge of the cliff and let him drop.
“PHIL YOU FUCK!” Tommy managed to shout before twisting and falling over the side, falling faster than he thought would have been possible.
Phil launched off the side of the cliff moments after and quickly found himself next to Tommy, “OPEN YOUR WINGS MATE YOU’LL GLIDE I PROMISE JUST OPEN THEM!” Phil tried to shout, but the rushing of the wind in Tommy’s ears and the rising panic were deafening him to anything but the sound of his racing heart.
“YOUR WINGS TOMMY OPEN YOUR WINGS!” Phil tried again, the smile now wiped from his face replaced with one of slight panic as they quickly approached the sea.
Tommy was not sure at what point he had started screaming, something about the impending sense of doom that had washed over him was doing a good job of making him numb to everything apart from itself. So much so that Tommy didn’t notice a pair of arms wrapping around him. He didn’t feel the slowing of his own descent, nor did he hear the soft laughter from Phil as they landed safely on the beach below.
“Tommy-“
“FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU!”
“Tommy we’re on the beach-“
“FUCK YOU PHIL FUCK YOU FUCK YOU!”
“TOMMY!” finally Tommy cracked his eyes open and looked around at his surroundings.
“You’re a fucking dick” he muttered, awkwardly letting himself roll out of Phil’s arms and drop the few feet to the soft sand below.
“In my defence you’re the one that didn’t open their wings!” Phil replied with a chuckle, the withering look Tommy shot at him only served to make him laugh harder. “Oh come on I didn’t let you get hurt!”
“I could have died!”
“You are so fucking dramatic oh my god Tommy” Phil rolled his eyes, “I don’t reckon you would have died if I caught you anyway I mean sand is soft enough right? Wings add wind resistance? I reckon you’d be fine!”
“What happened to opening your wings? Gliding is literally the easiest thing to do with wings mate honestly” Phil said with a shit-eating grin.
“Phil, I do not know how much clearer to express to you that I ONLY GOT THESE FUCKING WINGS LAST NIGHT!” Tommy huffed, kicking sand up at Phil.
“Oi you little shit!” Phil dodged back a little before using his wings to blow sand back at Tommy. “Come on, we’ll try it again you’ll get it next time.”
With a soft smile Phil offered Tommy his hand and together the two of them made their way back up the cliff to try again.