Work Text:
Theseus woke to the calming sensation of the evening, the orange sun greeted him at his level almost covered by the vast forest that surrounded his village.
He overslept again, he was sure of it.
Perhaps he was sick? Nah, Phil would never let him lie. Part of his hoard's creed, never be deceitful, Theseus personally found that rule stupid. He wasn't even part of his family's dumb hoard, with their dumb nest, and their dumb wings, it was all stupid! Okay, never mind that rude. But he was just so... tired.
Speaking of tiredness, how was he going to explain his lack of getting up "bright and early, ready for school!" Fuck...
His head thrummed, his nose was runny, he was way too warm, for his personal comfort, yet when he left his bed he immediately felt shivers. His mouth was as dry as as one of those brussels sprouts he had at Christmas Dinner back when he was little, -however, Wilbur would argue he was still little being 9 years old- Techno had insisted that he made the dinner as he needed to truly test up on his "cooking expertise" safe to say the dinner was shit, the everything was either way to undercooked or overcooked. Some of it was also pretty dry but nothing could compare to those damn brussels sprouts. The only thing that was decent were the potatoes. Soon enough, potatoes became Techno's expertise instead and he cooked them for eternity onwards.
Luckily, Phil (God praise the man) prepared for this situation and already bought a pre-made Christmas dinner from the store, (though some still question where he got that from, in a small village where there were only a milkman, a butcher, a few vegetable stalls and a bakery started by a family friend of the Crafts, Niki) and all they had to do was put it all in the microwave for a few minutes. Albeit Techno was a bit discouraged about their little trust in him in his cooking skills, he lightened up eventually. The atmosphere was warm, Theseus cracked jokes with his brother Wilbur that made Phil do his signature belly laugh. After dinner, they had a movie night where they binged every Christmas movie known to man though, Techno and Wilbur bickered about if Nightmare before Christmas counted as such as Theseus munched on his popcorn like he was watching pro boxers box each other in the ring. Phil tried to calm the two tweens to no avail. Still it was nice, Theseus missed days like those.
He pushed himself off his bed, he had a rather small bedroom, more akin to a storage room. His brothers had a much larger room than him, not that he was jealous of course, they needed it due to being dragon-shifters and all that. They needed space for their respective collections, Theseus remembered seeing Techno's once. He had all sorts of jewellery, some rare books and somehow a weapon that Phil allowed him to keep. It was an axe, on the handle of it, there was a carving, "axe of peace" it said. 5 year old Theseus was enchanted by the axe and tried to reach out for it with his grubby hands, when Techno was in the sitting room. Safe to say, it did not end well...
His bedroom was like any other 9 year old, filled to the brim with old toys he got for cheap at the annual toy sale. His favourite was a stuffed cow that he declared to be Henry, a toy that he got from his brother Will, he stopped talking to Techno after the incident with the axe. Instead of having a full wardrobe he instead had little cardboard boxes filled with second hand clothes from his older relatives from when they were kids, under his single bed. He never liked any of the clothes he had, they were all either way too oversized or itchy beyond belief. The only thing that was relatively comfortable was his one red hoodie he loved so much and a pair of bell bottom jeans from the 80s. Since he was sick he figured he wouldn't want to ruin his only pair of clothes he could physically wear so instead he settled for a yellow jumper that he stole from Wilbur that he never gave back and some black joggers.
After getting ready, he slowly tranced down the stairs in a lazy manner, eyes barely focused on his surroundings. An unwise decision going down the stairs like that, as when he was at the last step he tumbled down. Luckily, Wilbur was ready to catch him just in time.
"Hello, sunshine!"
"Hi..."
The man who caught him wore a long brown jacket with large pockets and rounded, black sunglasses with combat boots. He had a toothy, smug smile underneath his long brown curls. Behind him were Phil and Techno. The height difference between the two men was almost laughable. Phil looked as if he were toad next to the large 7ft Techno. Phil wore a green bucket hat atop his blonde hair, that he wore only on special occasions, and a heart necklace that was once given to him by Mumza before she well... passed to say the least. A short emerald jinbei and a black haori underneath, paired with sandals. Close to him, Techno and his long bubblegum pink hair, wore a full set of dusty, red armour that covered him head to toe. The only thing you see of the man was his dark brown eyes, that in the lighting looked to be a bloody red.
Theseus was very confused and it seemed that his puzzlement seemed to be evident in his expression since the very next thing that was said explained the situation.
" -Ahem-, hello Theseus." Phil said in a honey-toned voice. "Your brothers and I are going on a trip, we won't be long, a few hours at longest, maybe less. If you are in need of a snack we made a PB and J sandwich for you in the fridge."
"Can I come?"
"Oh well..."
Theseus already knew the answer to his question, yet his eyes still started dim at Phil's frantic explanation as to why he couldn't come. It was easier when they left before as Mumza was there to keep him company, now she was gone.
"So you see..."
"Phil, we really ought to get going now," Techno said, monotone as ever, Looking at Phil right in the eyes, not paying attention to Theseus who was now standing straight, loose of his brother's hold. "Right!" Phil exasperated, "As I said before if you need anything, Puffy is right next we'll be back at around 7 pm sharp."
And in a flash of a second the Three men left to the door.
"Bye..." Theseus spoke to no avail, no answer could be heard as the wooden door was shut hard.
Theseus sat in the rain with his PB & J sandwich. It was now dark, stars could be seen in the sky. Theseus had gotten better from his evening flu though now his nose was stuffed and he found it hard to breathe. He looked up at the sky and saw Prime in the stars. He closed his eyes and wished to be a dragon-shifter, or at the very least be recognised by his family. He wanted to hate them so very badly, then at least he could find it easier to leave when he had the means to do so. Being out in the rain was not helping his flu, yet he found it relaxing. He loved the sound, the feel and the memories of rain. It made it easier to conceal tears when he cried such as now.
Eventually, the boy realised that he should be getting back now for if Phil or Wilbur found him in the rain like this he would surely be punished. As went to get off the soggy grass something caught the corner of his eye.
Was it a firefly, no it was too big for that. He couldn't see what the flying ball of light actually was except that it had 2 pairs of bug wings. Presumingly ones of a moth. But that wasn't right, moths don't glow, in fact no bug glowed as much as the one before him. The boy was about to run away when the (maybe) bug nicked his half eaten PB & J sandwich and flew off into the forest.
Now, a reasonable person would shrug it off and leave to go into the house where it was safe. However, Theseus really liked that PB & J sandwich even if it was soggy from being in the rain. And he didn't like thieves, and that maybe bug stole his sandwich , so one would argue he was justified in his decision to go run after the little cretin.