Chapter Text
When Tommy opened his eyes, he knew one thing: hunger.
His stomach seemed to be eating itself, desperate for anything edible. It growled and flipped in place, twisting uneasily.
Tommy opened his mouth slowly.
Chirp!
Once one sound flowed up, a dozen followed. Tommy couldn’t even process the fact that he shouldn’t be able to make those sounds. He knew they were a way to shout hungry-hungry-hungry!
Tommy was somewhere dark; he couldn’t see two feet in front of his face. But where ever he was, it made his weird inhuman sounds echo off the walls, making them painfully loud. But despite his ears hurting, he couldn’t stop the sounds. He needed food! He was starving! Someone was supposed to help!
“Hey, hey.”
Tommy perked up, his weird chirps growing even louder.
“Shhh! Hey, uh, crap, I don’t know how to- fudge. Am I gonna– frick. Come on.”
Something clashed, like a fist banging against something metal.
“SHUT UP.” That was… Quackity, right? Quackity who-
Hunger pains flared through Tommy’s stomach, making his chirps higher pitched and more pathetic sounding.
“I can’t,” someone whimpered. There was someone else and they weren’t feeding Tommy! He chirped his complaint loudly. “Oh, god. Oh, god. Okay, you can do this, Ranboo. You got this. Just–”
Mid-chirp, something shoved itself into Tommy’s mouth. Immediately, he bit down and started to chew. Whatever it was, wasn’t easy to rip apart in his mouth. It was tough, thin, and boney.
After a few too many aggressive bites, something wet and cold flooded Tommy’s mouth. He’d never tasted anything so sweet. Instantly, the gears started turning in his head as he sucked, swallowing greedy mouthfuls of whatever godsent liquid he discovered.
Every swallow had him melting more inside, making his thoughts less and less coherent. Everything was perfect. He felt warm and fuzzy inside.
“This is how I die, isn’t it?” Sire muttered. “At least you quieted down.”
Sire? Something new clicked in his brain, sending a shockwave through his body, like a new memory was unlocked. Sire was feeding him. Sire was taking care of him. Sire. Sire. Sire. Tommy loved Sire.
Sire-sire-love Tommy pushed (what he was pushing at? He had no idea. It just felt right).
Tommy stopped drinking the liquid, his stomach content with the amount he got. Yet, his bones were putty. He tipped over, crashing into something– no, someone. His sire. Tommy beamed at the sensation of touching his sire. He couldn’t imagine being separated from them for even a second.
He left the thing in his mouth, too tired to unclamp his jaw. He simply curled into his sire, practically purring from the pure joy he felt. His life had never been that amazing or perfect.
Tommy loved his sire.
Tommy would never leave his sire.
Tired-tired-need-sleep Sire pushed back at Tommy.
Sire was so right. Sleep sounded amazing.
♡
The next time Tommy came to, his stomach still ached, but not nearly as bad as the first time.
He groaned, lazily rubbing his eyes. When he opened them– did he open them? He couldn’t see anything. Why couldn’t he see? Did he go blind?! Holy shit. Fuck. Fuck. No!
Tommy’s breathing picked up instantly, getting faster until his lips parted and out came a high-pitched CHIRP!
He gasped, slapping a hand over his mouth and holding his breath. What the fuck was that? What was that?! That sound… came from Tommy. That shouldn’t be possible. What? How?
“Hey.”
Tommy startled, jumping at the voice. Another chirp escaped, and Tommy freaked out further. There was someone near him. He couldn’t see anything. And he kept making these weird sounds! What was happening to him?!
“Woah, woah, breathe. You still need to breathe, right?”
Tommy tried looking around and following the voice, but there was just a void around him. He had no sense of direction.
“What’s going on?” he whispered between gasps.
“Listen, you need to relax. You’re okay,” they said, but Tommy didn’t believe a word of that. What about his situation was okay?
“I- I can’t see,” Tommy nervously admitted, tears wetting his unworking eyes. “I can’t- can’t see. Why can’t I see?”
The other person stayed quiet for several beats too long. The only sound was Tommy’s rapid breaths.
“You can’t see?” they asked after a while.
“NO!” Tommy shrieked, full-blown panic taking over. “WHY CAN’T I SEE?”
“Shh!” they hissed and suddenly a hand slapped itself over Tommy’s mouth. Instinctively, Tommy grabbed onto the hand and arm. He wanted to somehow panic more, but something stirred in the back of his mind.
Sire-safe-calm.
That damned voice! Tommy wanted to screech and demand answers. But he found his body unconsciously relaxing and clinging to the person covering his mouth. Something about them was soothing. A weird chirp escaped, sounding softer and wavier than the other sounds.
“No, no, no, are you serious?” they hissed. “How did you not bond with your real sire?!”
Tommy had no clue what those words meant. He whimpered, tracing a hand down his sire’s arm to find the rest of their body. They seemed to get the memo, shifting to pull Tommy into their side.
Wait.
Tommy shook his head, desperately trying to pull himself out of the foggy state.
“Stop,” he whispered, having no fight to move away. “What is happening? What did you do to me?”
They sighed. Who even were they?
“This really can’t get worse, can it?” they groaned, mindlessly rubbing Tommy’s arm in a way that made thinking unnecessarily difficult.
“Explain,” Tommy shortly demanded. Though he had no energy to argue if they refused, it was worth a shot. He’d really like his vision back. And his logical brain. And his normal life.
“You can’t see, right?” they asked softly. Tommy shook his head. Despite not being able to see the person he was leaning against, they somehow interpreted his movements. “So you were like just turned, huh?”
Turned? What? Why did people keep insisting that? Tommy wasn’t a vampire!
“Usually fledglings start getting night vision within a few days. So, if you can’t see…”
“I’m not a vampire!” Tommy insisted.
“Really? You drank my blood earlier. And you were just chirping. Humans usually don’t do those things, in case you haven’t noticed.”
Tommy opened his mouth, ready to argue, but nothing came to mind. To his dismay, those were valid points. Hang on.
“The fuck do you mean I drank your blood?!”
They sighed heavily. “You don’t remember, do you?”
“Just tell me what’s going on, damn it!”
“Geez, you’re pushy.”
“Fuck you! Explain!”
They took a deep breath, and then, “you’re a vampire. Plain and simple. The sooner you accept it, the better.”
“That doesn’t explain anything! I’m not a fucking vampire!” Tommy denied.
“Okay, can you stop for just a split second and use your brain cells?” Tommy scoffed, ready to chew this asshole out. “Before you get all snappy, just think. What is the last thing you remember?”
Tommy could’ve argued and cussed them out, but he hesitated. They seemed to have a better understanding of what was going on. They were the only person around. Maybe making enemies wasn’t the best decision. They could be the key to getting answers.
Tommy stayed quiet, racking through his hazy memories.
“The last thing I remember,” Tommy began slowly, “was waking up in a weird room with a really big bed.”
“That would be your coven’s nest.” His what? “Okay, and before that?”
That was where the memories got really confusing. But one thing clearly stood out. “I was– I have– had this friend. He wanted to introduce me to his dad, so I went over to his place. But his dad was a vampire. They were both vampires. His dad attacked me after I was in the house.”
“Did it hurt?”
“What do you fucking think, asshole?” Tommy nearly screamed. A vampire chewed on his neck like a dog would a bone. “The fucker tried ripping my damn throat out. Of course, it fucking hurt!”
“Okay, okay, calm down, man,” they sighed. “I think I get it now. You weren’t a willing turn. Your coven made that decision for you, didn’t they?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Let me back up a bit. When vampires drink blood, they put some of their venom into the human’s bloodstream. It makes the process painless and relaxes the person. It’s some predator-and-prey crap about making hunting easier. But nowadays people just want to get high off of it. That’s a different can of worms.”
Tommy raised a skeptical eyebrow, but in the dark, no one could see it. Or maybe this guy could? He said something about night vision. There was so much happening, Tommy didn’t know what was what.
“Anyways, when vampires turn someone, they can’t use any of that venom. It’s excruciatingly painful for the person being turned. But they usually pass out within a minute or two. It’s a survival thing so there aren’t hundreds of thousands of vampires running around.”
“What are you talking about?” Tommy huffed. “You sound insane, I hope you know that.”
They scoffed. “Says the one who won’t accept he’s a vampire when everything points to you being one!”
“They just wanted to drink my blood!” Tommy argued, blindly shoving at the prick. Right! The original problem, he can’t see shit!! Mr. Know-It-All still hadn’t explained that part.
“Then it wouldn’t have hurt!” the asshole shot back. “Are those bandages around your neck from the turning?”
“No! They’re from him–” Tommy stopped. “How can you see those?”
“Because I’ve developed my night vision. I’m older than you, genius. I’m not some instinct-driven feral child.”
“OI! I’m not instinct-driven or a child! What is wrong with you?”
“Oh, really? So, if I do this, you’ll be fine?”
They unhooked their arm from Tommy’s shoulder and shoved him away, eliminating all points of contact.
Tommy’s brain screeched.
SIRE-SIRE-SIRE-HELP-NOT-SAFE-SIRE-SIRE
His eyeballs felt like they were going to explode from the sudden pain exploding in his head.
And to make things worse, his lips parted, and out came a violent series of CHIRP! CHIRP! CHIRP!
They were loud and needy, making his throat hurt.
Why did his sire push him away?? Did they not love him? Did they reject him? Tommy needed his sire to hold him! Please! Sire!
SIRE-NEED!!
CHIRP! CHIRP! CHIRP!
Tommy’s eyes welled up with tears; some began flowing freely down his face. He just– where was Sire? Why did they- was he not- he needed-
Two hands grabbed onto him and yanked him over.
Everything in his brain settled all at once. The chirps stopped. The pounding in his head stopped. That obnoxious voice quieted down and muttered softer safe-sire-love-happy.
Tommy sighed contently, shifting to be as close as physically possible. He was probably sprawled across their lap, clinging to them like a koala bear.
“Man, you’re a disaster,” Sire exhaled. “You’re lucky I’ve got nowhere to go.”
With his mind at ease, other problems presented themselves to Tommy. He was hungry.
Without his consent, an odd-sounding chirp bubbled its way out. It didn’t sound anything like the others. It wasn’t nearly as whiny or demanding. But Tommy somehow knew what it meant.
Food?
Sire inhaled sharply, sounding scared? That didn’t make sense. They were together. They were safe. They didn’t need to be scared.
Unless they did. If Sire was scared, should Tommy be scared?
His breath hitched before he whined slightly. That made Sire do something.
“Shhh, no, stop, don’t panic,” they hurriedly murmured. “I’ll feed you. Yup. I’m gonna do that now. Yeah. It’s fine. You need blood more than me. I can do this. I got this. Everything’s fine. What could go wrong? Ha!”
Sire’s comical tone turned serious and quiet. But he began playing with Tommy’s hair, so his words didn’t matter much. “We’re both going to die in here, won’t we? Who knows? Maybe you can live long enough to get rescued. I’m sure your coven is looking for you, right? I hope so. You’re so young. Too young. Why? Why did you end up here?”
Tommy huffed out another hungry chirp. Sire needed to stop talking and feed him.
“Right, sorry,” he chuckled humorlessly. “You’re starving, aren’t you? You’ll get used to it eventually.”
For the second time, Tommy fell asleep after drinking his Sire’s blood, leaving their arm a gory mess of dull bitemarks.
Right before falling asleep, he felt Sire give a small push of hopeless through the bond.
♡
Acceptance came around fairly quickly when there was nothing to do but sit and think. Tommy couldn’t deny the facts. He was becoming a vampire, despite his still beating heart and breathing lungs.
The other vampire tried to explain things, but Tommy didn’t pay much attention. It became difficult to.
As the days passed, Tommy became less and less conscious. Somewhere in his hazy memories, he picked up the name Ranboo. He guessed that was his sire’s name.
But Ranboo didn’t talk as much as they used to. Once, Tommy bit into their arm, not to draw blood, but because his teeth were feeling weird. The first time, Ranboo screeched and told him not to do it again.
Tommy continued doing it. But their reaction got less and less dramatic over time. Now, Tommy was chewing on their arm, alleviating some of that pain, but Ranboo said nothing. They didn’t stir or move.
When they fed Tommy, it was for shorter periods of time. He’d only get a few mouthfuls if he was lucky before getting pushed away.
Tommy’s stomach always hurt now.
“Ran?” Tommy hoarsely whispered. He could barely hear himself speak.
The two of them were curled together in a corner, limbs mixed together awkwardly. Tommy didn’t know how long it’d been since they moved from that position.
Wilbur used to say vampires didn’t need to sleep, but that was all Ranboo and Tommy wanted to do. Keeping their eyes open seemed like more work than it was worth.
“Mm?” his sire quietly grunted, clearly only half awake, if that.
“Hungry,” Tommy complained. Weakly, he tried to bite into Ranboo’s arm. He could tell one of his teeth was starting to come loose and wiggled around when he tried to bite anything. If he had more energy, he’d tried to pull it out. It was uncomfortable.
Ranboo didn’t say anything in response.
Tommy attempted to jab an elbow into Ranboo’s side or any part of them really. He just wanted their attention.
Again, Ranboo gave no reaction.
It didn’t help that the older vampire didn’t need to breathe. Tommy couldn’t tell if they were sleeping or dead dead. Not just undead.
Tommy softly exhaled, every ounce of hope leaving his body with the breath. The bond had become especially quiet.
“We’re dying, aren’t we?” Tommy muttered.
“Yeah,” Ranboo replied, barely audible. They didn’t move a muscle apart from their jaw. They stayed curled up tight, their chin on Tommy’s head and arms wrapped around his torso. “We are.”
Tommy knew they were. It was apparent from the way they both slept through most of the days and nights. They had no real way to tell the time in the pitch-black shipping crate apart from counting when Quackity would throw a pack of human blood in on occasion.
Ranboo used to drink the blood, claiming Tommy couldn’t digest human blood yet, so it wasn’t safe. But they hadn’t done that in a while.
So, he knew they were both dying. But hearing them admit it made it sink in and stick.
“I don’t want to die,” Tommy admitted.
Ranboo didn’t say anything.
Tommy closed his eyes and tried to sleep. He didn’t know if he’d wake back up.
♡
Tommy couldn’t move.
He woke up less and less often. When he did, it was only for short periods of time. He didn’t eat anymore.
Ranboo mentioned something sometime about vampires being able to hibernate. Was that what was happening?
One time, he woke up, nauseous and confused. He tried to stretch his limbs, but the second he moved a muscle he was met with violent hissing.
Sire-mad-stop-stop-submit-stop
Tommy instinctually froze, too exhausted to try fighting it. Why was Ranboo mad?
A high-pitched whine came from his throat, a sound Tommy had never been able to make before. But he let his body react however it wanted. He was nothing more than a passenger in his body, watching from the backseat.
The hands around his body tightened, pulling Tommy somehow even closer to Ranboo’s body. They hissed again, this time softer and less aggressive.
It still made Tommy’s head spin.
Ranboo began petting Tommy’s hair, forcing his head against their collarbone. Tommy almost wished he had a heartbeat to listen to, but being that close to his sire was comforting enough.
Ranboo made a new, strange sound. It was somewhere between a dolphin clicking and a bird chirping and a pig snorting. It was strange.
What was even stranger was the way Tommy melted, and any thoughts he was trying to form vanished. His head became empty. He thought one thing and one thing only.
Sire-sire-love-safe-love-coven-nest
Tommy didn’t resist when his eyes closed and the world disappeared again.
♡
“I want to go home,” Tommy told her.
“You will soon, little bird,” she promised. “He’s on his way.”
“Who?”
She laughed. “Patience. Just rest. The next time you wake up, you’ll be back where you belong.”
“Home?” Tommy asked hopefully. He missed… who did he miss? What was their name? Why couldn’t he remember? It was something with a T. Tony? Toby? Theo? Tub… Tub something. No, that wasn’t right.
“You’re overthinking again,” she scolded. And like that, the thoughts were gone. Tommy was going home. He’d be okay.
“I’m ready to go.”
“I know, songbird. I’m sorry you had to wait this long.”
“It’s okay,” Tommy sighed.
“It’s not, but we’ll worry about that later. I’ll make sure he takes care of everything. This won’t happen to another one of mine ever again,” she said darkly.
Mine. Tommy’s heart swelled at that.
“Yours?” he murmured.
“Yes, love. Mine. Always mine.”
“Yours,” Tommy sleepily parroted. “Always yours.”
“Always ours.”