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"Here's ma favorite little rascal!"
Tommy lunged towards the fox, grabbing him in a tight embrace and lifting him off the ground. His body was protesting against the physical effort given the grueling work he had just finished but, as he did with many things, he ignored it, focusing on lifting the little boy as high as he could.
He was already started to have his weird hybrid accelerated growth that Tommy still didn't fully understand but, he knew it meant that soon he wouldn't be able to lift the boy even an inch off the ground without possibly breaking something. So the pain he felt now felt justified, more justified than the pain he felt on the battlefront.
Because this pain brought screams of joy instead of cries for mercy.
"Put me down!" Fundy giggled as he flung his legs and arms managing to hit Tommy square in the nose.
"Shit! No wait- fuck," he spoke before remembering how Wilbur made him promise he wouldn't swear in front of the kid again.
His failed attempt at masking his language was reworded with even more laughter from the fox which finally stopped squirming around, choosing instead to put his paws over his snout to try to stifle his high-pitched laughs.
"Oi! Who you laughing at?" He let the boy slip from his hands and the fox imminently started running , looking behind to see if Tommy would follow him.
And what could Tommy do but run after him? "Come here you!"
The two ran across the military camp, running past soldiers who were polishing their guns or stitching holes in their uniforms. Some of them laughed quietly as they saw the two kids chase after each other while others looked at them with a stern expression that Tommy hoped Fundy wouldn't notice.
Both of them knew the camp like the back of their hands (or paws respectively) so they knew which areas to avoid and which areas were free to play in, though the places where the kids could loudly have fun in had started to get smaller and smaller as the military operations started to expand.
Tommy was careful not let Fundy to run in the places he knew a lot of people would be in. He didn't want to boy to be chastised again and he wasn't sure Wilbur would stick up for them again, given how hands off he had been in the last couple of months with anything that was regarding his kid.
As these thoughts made way into the teen's mind, his steps started to slow down, until what was once an energetic run became an anxious tip-toe.
He wasn't as much scared for himself, he was more than used to getting yelled at by people who were considered more important than him. He had become sort of numb to it, tuning out the screaming until they were done venting their anger at him and letting him run free again.
But he knew Fundy wasn't the same. How could he? He was still just a kid who was put in the middle of a bunch of angry, overworked and overwhelmed adults who had long lost their emotional intelligence and who were more than ready to yell at a small child for the crime of being loud and energetic.
"Tommy?"
Fundy's voice was soft, almost fearful as he inched closer to the teen, rubbing his paws together as he looked everywhere but at Tommy.
"Did I do something bad again?"
"What? No, no, no, no, why would you think that?!" As he spoke he got closer to the fox which in turn made Fundy take a step back.
"You seemed upset so I thought I might have done something…" The kid was trying to suppress his sniffles to little success and as Tommy finally closed the distance between them and squatted down to his level, he used the sleeve of his coat to clean away some of the tears that were started to form in the kids eyes.
"You didn't do anything! I just got- I got tired alright? You are so fast you know, with your fox genes I couldn't-" Despite his attempt at comforting the kid, the moment he mentioned his hybrid nature Fundy's started to sob even harder.
He pushed Tommy away and put his paws over his snout, trying to stop the hiccups that he now had as tears continued to wet his fur. His ears were flat on his head, his tail was tucked between his legs and he was slightly hunched over, making himself even smaller than he already was.
"I'm s-sorry I- I didn't mean to be s-so fast I-"
The boy was shaking, jumping slightly when Tommy grabbed his shoulders.
He could feel the eyes of the other soldiers on them and the teen knew that it wouldn't be long before they could call Wilbur which would undoubtedly make the situation much worse.
"How about we go to your room first, hm? I can make you some hot choco," he added when the fox didn't reply.
This seemed to calm him down a little since he didn't protest when Tommy picked him up and quickly let him to the biggest tent in the whole camp which was situated on the outskirts of the area, giving it an air of privacy that many people there couldn't even dream of.
The tent was more of a small house if Tommy was being honest. Oak planks had been made specifically to support the weight of this place and it even had it's own generator. It was divided into three sections, a kitchen, a small room that had been designated as Fundy's room and a much bigger study that doubled as Wilbur's sleeping area.
Tommy knew this place in and out. Every ink stain, every unwashed dish, every pile of unreadable papers that Wilbur insisted were critical to their operation. He knew every part of it.
He quickly made his way into the kids room, gently lowering him on the soft bedding.
As soon as he was in the bed, the fox grabbed the blanket and threw it over his head, curling into himself as quite sobs continued to be heard from under the sheets.
"C'mon big guy," Tommy tried to sooth him but his demeanor was more anxious than anything. "I'm sorry for upsetting you I didn't-"
"It's my fault!" The fox finally yelled, sticking his head out and looking at Tommy in a way that made his heart want to shatter. His eyes had a gaze in them that would look more so at home on the face of one of the soldiers. It was filled with a quite pain that made him seem so, so much older than his young body.
"How so?"
The teens voice was filled with a false confidence, trying desperately to not show any sort of sadness on his face as to not upset the boy even further.
"It's because I'm like this! I'm not normal! This is why I can't help dad with anything and why I always get in trouble!" His tears had stopped as he continued to scream, his claws digging into the skin of his paws as his face morphed from fear and distressed into anger, not at Tommy or anyone else, but at himself.
"Being a hybrid is so cool though!" the teen countered, trying to sound as excited as possible. "You're so much better at climbing and running and a lot of physical shit than me- not to mention that you look so awesome!"
The kid looked at him with distrust before looking down as his paws and scrunching his nose. "People look at me funny."
"Well those people are idiots."
The teen smiled as he heard the fox let out a small but audible laugh. His tears had fully stopped by now but his brow was still furrowed, still not fully convinced of the truth in Tommy's words.
"Plus, Wilbut is also a hybrid! You're both part fox, that's-"
As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew that he had said something wrong. Fundy's face changed yet again. It was as if a dark cloud had fallen over him, his eyes focusing as he grabbed the blanket hard enough to poke holes through it with his claws.
"Dad doesn't like being a fox."
"Of course he-"
"He's always in his normal form!" Fundy snapped back before Tommy had a chance to speak. "He- he always make sure to not have any orange hairs or- or any whiskers and he doesn't even have claws anymore!"
The teen bit his tongue as a painful memory made way into his mind. Wilbur had asked him to make sure nobody was near the medical tent as he underwent his "removal" as he had called it. After the surgery was done, both of his hands had been covered in bloody bandages and he had been unable to use them for a full month before regaining some of his motor skills. Tommy had asked why he did it and the only reason Wilbur had ever given him was that "Animals don't run countries."
"And-" Fundy continued, snapping Tommy out of his thoughts, "He says that i should start filling my nails and cut my fur short." Tears began to fill up in his eyes yet again as his voice got shakier. "I don't like being like this, I want dad to not be upset with me," his voice was no more than a whisper now, the teen having to strain his ears in order to catch everything he was saying. "I just want to be normal."
Silence fell in the room as Tommy wracked his brain trying to find something, anything to say to comfort his nephew. But, he couldn't come up with anything.
What Fundy was saying was true, Wilbur did wish to hide any and all of his hybrid traits in order to appear 'more presentable' and he had started pushing those ideas onto his child. He had clothing tailored for him that kept his tail hidden, that had sleeves big enough to cover his paws, boots that didn't fit the boys more fox like feet but that gave the impression of normalcy.
And as Tommy thoughts about those things, he started feeling one thing.
Rage.
Rage that he hadn't stopped Wilbur, rage that Fundy felt this way, rage that he was powerless to stop the judging eyes of the other soldiers.
Rage that he couldn't protect Fundy.
Before he could think, he had already started to talk, the anger in his voice giving his words an almost manic edge to them. "Well, Wilbur can go fuck himself."
The kid stopped sniffling and looked up at with those big brown eyes that Tommy couldn't understand how anyone could look in and choose to be cruel to him.
"He's a shithead who knows nothing. You're awesome Fundy and people who think that are weird as fuck. Who wouldn't want cool animal traits? It's basically a superpower!"
This managed to get a small giggle out of the boy which only encouraged Tommy to keep going. He grabbed Fundy's paws which in turn made the kid look deeply at him, with a sort of admiration the teen wasn't used to.
"And whoever thinks that you're not the coolest fucking furry around are a bunch of dumbasses!"
"I'm not a furry!" the boy retorted, but he was laughing as he did so, the sadness beginning to fade away and be replaced by exhaustion, his eye-lids starting to get heavy as he snuggled further into his bed.
"Sure you are, look at that furry face!" He grabbed his cheeks with only made the fox laugh louder. "Now, to bed with ya!"
As Tommy started to let go of his paws, Fundy grabbed them harder. "C-can you sleep with me tonight?"
"Well, how could I say no to my favorite nephew."
He quickly pushed the boy aside and got on the bed, putting the blanket over the two of them.
"I'm your only nephew," the kid fought back but his eyes were already closed and his words slowly became nothing more than a mumble.
"You don't know that, I could have an army of secret nephews who are fighting for my adoration as the best uncle ever!" Tommy exclaimed, but the fox was already asleep.
He put his hand on the boy's head and gave him a couple of gentle pats. "Sleep well Fundy," was all he said before falling in a similarly blissful sleep.