A dragon's anger burned.
It festered and grew and for Tommy, it was not a foreign thing, he'd been upset before. But a sire enraged at having their hoard put in danger? That was not something he had ever felt. Combined with his frustration over how difficult his treasures were being, it was close to overwhelming.
"Technoblade!" Wilbur was still screaming, making a racket while Tommy had shifted into his full dragon form to face the intruder. The man narrowed their eyes at him.
To their credit - and just a trace of amusement on Tommy's part - they didn't seem intimidated by having a dragon in front of them.
They looked a lot like Wilbur. Their eyes were the same hazel color, and had the same wrinkles near the corners when they scowled. From what Tommy could tell, their hair was a similar tint of brown too with a slight curl to it. But they had dyed it a faded pastel pink in that way humans sometimes did.
They were probably a little smaller than their brother, but also bulkier. More suited to farming - or fighting. They held the sword with experienced hands, giving an indication that they knew how to use it.
And when Tommy stepped closer, the beginnings of dragon's breathe building deep within his throat, they did not shy away but growled right back at him.
"Stay away from my family!"
Had he been in his human form, Tommy would have laughed.
Part of him could respect the clear protectiveness on display here. It was almost admirable that this man had seen a dragon take off with his brother, and his first instinct was to grab a sword and run after them. Stupid, but admirable.
A bigger part of Tommy was charmed. This little fledgling huffing and puffing bravely when faced with something so much more powerful than them, throwing a tantrum? It was adorable.
Both of these things chased off some of the unreasonable anger he had been feeling. Not enough for him to stop, not enough for him to be any less defensive of his hoard. But true rage was hard to maintain towards what was clearly not a real threat.
(had this been another dragon instead of a mere human, Tommy would have fought tooth and claw to protect his hoard)
With little hesitation, the man charged at him. Tommy let them. They'd be easier to swat away if they got closer. But when he reared back to do that, their reflexes surprised him. They ducked and rolled under his paw, then swung up the sword to catch the underside of it.
The steel did nothing, except maybe dent against Tommy's rock-hard scales. Yet the fact they'd managed to touch him at all was unexpected. He snapped his fangs and brought the claw down hard enough to shake the entire cave system. They dodged again.
Oh, Tommy thought suddenly, as they watched his movements with blazing eyes to predict where the next attack would come from, this is kinda fun.
Dragons weren't known for playing with their prey. Tommy found their species had been missing out.
Even the yelling of his treasures had died down, stunned at watching the display. The man - Technoblade - snarled with a growing temper. And the angrier he got, the less angry Tommy got. Because sue him, this was funny. This was hilarious. As a sire, it would never not be Tommy's task to protect the lair and keep his wyvern safe from attackers. But this little fledgling would challenge him with such bravery, engaging in a fight they wouldn't win?
Tommy liked that about them.
After a while though, it grew boring. And Tommy knew he would have to put an end to it eventually.
Once again he lashed out, but this time only pretended to strike. Predictably enough the human was fooled and dodged out of the way, which allowed Tommy to slam his tail into them from the other side. Their body was tossed like a ragdoll and hit the wall of the cavern with an unpleasant thud. Tommy's treasures went back to making a fuss but he ignored them.
He'd already leaped over, now watching as the man tried to move, dazed and with blood streaming down their face. Tommy put his claw on top of their chest and pressed down.
They made a noise - pained and choking. He could hear it when one of their ribs snapped under his force.
Tommy should kill them. He should put an end to them for even daring to think they could enter his lair.
(this man didn't come here to hurt his wyvern though, or to steal his treasure. he'd chased them because he was trying to save them, to protect them. He followed Tommy because he was angry and upset.
He did it because he didn't want to be left alone without a family)
Despite the slowly increasing pressure on his ribcage, Techno was scowling at him, nails trying to tear into Tommy's leg even as his movements became weaker, his coughing more frequent and eyelids sliding shut because of blood loss or a lack of oxygen.
Tommy didn't want to kill him anymore.
He stepped off, before bending down instead and carefully - gently - grabbing his newest treasure by the back of his shirt.
Just as carefully he put Techno into the nest, watching as both Phil and Wilbur immediately started ignoring him in favor of checking on Techno's injuries. He'd allow it for now, even if Tommy was convinced they were being rather dramatic. Techno was a human, yes. He was fragile compared to a dragon. But Tommy could have killed him so easily - and he didn't. Really, they should be showing some gratitude.
That at least seemed to occur to Phil also. He turned around, facing Tommy again. He'd positioned himself a bit to the front, arms spread discreetly and his sons pushed behind him. As if he was scared Tommy would still change his mind and kill them.
How little he had learned.
"Why did you…" Phil must have realized the silliness of his own words, changing course midsentence. "I'm glad you didn't kill him. Thank you for that. I'm still really fucking confused."
Tommy shifted back into his human form to speak. "I didn't feel like it." It really was as simple as that. "Besides, you'd be real pissy if I did right?" he added. "Kinda didn't want to have to deal with that."
"And you didn't think we'd be pissy about the serial kidnapping?" Wilbur shot back.
"It's not a kidnapping," Tommy said. "I'm just taking what belongs to me."
"People can't belong to other peo-"
Whatever Wilbur was about to say was forgotten when Techno coughed again, harder than before. There was blood leaking out from between his lips, eyebrows were drawn together in pain.
"Techno?" Phil touched his shoulder, concerned. "Shit, is he-"
"Hold on." Tommy pushed him out of the way and hovered his hands over the wounded human's body. He closed his eyes, listening for the faltering heartbeat in his newest treasure's chest. The broken rib piercing a lung.
Okay, maybe Tommy had been playing a little rougher than intended.
Nothing he couldn't handle though. It was fine. He just needed to fix this. He was the sire after all. He'd look after any fledglings in the wyvern.
(if he couldn't do this, then what was he good for?)
He exhaled, pouring some of that energy into the very tips of his fingers. They glowed a warm yellow with the conjured magic. "Careful," he warned, and Wilbur pulled Phil away slightly so Tommy could work on the healing. It only took a minute or two at most.
"There." He smiled. "All better. Turns out my douchebag of a dad did something useful after all." He'd been the one who had taught Tommy mending magic. He'd also been the one to tell him to never waste it on a human, but Tommy was nothing if not contrary. That old lizard could be rolling over in his grave for all he cared.
"Your father?" Phil asked. Tommy's head shot up, almost anger flaring in his chest again. But then he remembered. Phil was the one who read the books, who knew about wyverns and family structures. He probably knew more about it than Tommy did then.
"He's dead," Tommy said. "It's just me now."
Just us, something inside him hissed. But he swallowed that down.
"That sucks," Wilbur said. He sounded sincere.
Tommy shrugged. He didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Yeah, well. It's just like that I guess. He never fucking cared so, I'm fine on my own. I don't need anybody."
"You know, that statement would have been a whole lot more convincing if you weren't saying it to the three people you're holding captive."
Tommy frowned down at Techno, who had his eyes open again.
"You're an insolent little fledgling, aren't you?" Tommy said.
The human stared at him. "... What?"
"Don't worry about it." Tommy stretched his arms, shifting back as he did so. "It's late, it's been a long day. I think we should take a nap."
"Aren't we going to talk about-" Wilbur started, but Phil poked him with an elbow.
"Trust me mate, it's better to do what he says."
Tommy had forgotten he used magic to put Phil under earlier. He could do so again if they refused to sleep, his treasures would be a lot easier to deal with once rest had eased their stress away. But to his pleasant surprise, Phil pulled Wilbur to lie down with him, wing draped over his shoulder as if it was a makeshift blanket. Tommy did the same for Techno, before curling around all three of them.
Technoblade had to stay in the nest for two more weeks.
Tommy's healing magic was - to put it bluntly - absolute crap. And it didn't help that as a sire, his instincts were quite adamant about not letting the unruly fledgling stray from his sight when he was hurt. Phil and Wilbur, while still very human and very much idiots, at least seemed like they had a grain of self-preservation in them. After establishing the bond with them which meant Tommy would be able to sense them wherever they went, meaning they could wander around his domain unguarded, he permitted them to explore. On the condition that they'd always be back before sundown.
Techno could not be granted that leniency. Especially since Tommy had to drag him back to the nest multiple times a day because the little shit tried to get out. Something about going stir crazy? Tommy didn't really care, but since he had agreed on not using his binding magic on them anymore (a demand from Phil before accepting the bond), Tommy just had to sit on him instead.
Techno hated it, which meant Tommy found it incredibly funny.
When those two weeks were up, Tommy finally allowed them all to stray. They always went to the same place during the day - that fucking cabin of theirs in the woods. Tommy didn't like that, it wasn't technically part of his domain. But so long as they came back for the evening it was fine. So long as he could fall asleep each night knowing his treasures were protected and safe. So long as he could keep track of where they were during the day.
He didn't care that they didn't want to stay with him always. They didn't want him around.
(they were his now, surely. That had to be enough)
"We have something to show you," Phil said. Tommy could pick up on his accelerated heartbeat, a clear sign of his excitement.
"You always follow us home," Wilbur began. Tommy tried not to frown at the word. "So we thought… why not make it easier on all of us. Instead of having to travel back and forth all the time."
"What do you mean?"
They led him into a room. It was small, but cozy. Instead of a bed, it had a medium-sized, makeshift nest. Crudely constructed but piled high with pillows in a clear effort to imitate the one in his lair. On a bookshelf against the wall were all the books about ender species Phil owned, Tommy recognized the one on End Dragons. Techno had been reading it to him, occasionally.
"This way, we're saving ourselves a lot of walking," Wilbur said proudly. "It was my idea."
"Yeah, and I did most of the work." Techno didn't sound very bitter about it.
"You can keep your main lair, but if you nest here your domain should gradually expand on its own to include your new home and the direct surroundings," Phil said. "That's what the book said at least. We won't know if it works until we try it though. But it'd be pretty convenient for all four of us."
Your home. Us.
"Let's try it right fucking now!" Tommy demanded. And his three humans knew better by now than to try and resist when Tommy had his mind set on something.
His other nest was bigger, so they really had to pack together. Tommy had to curl around them even tighter to fit, ending up with his tail draped over them, coiled protectively. But despite the clear downgrade in size, he couldn't be happier.
For at long last, Tommy felt his hoard was complete.