Chapter Text
Tommy sat on the floor of the spaceship, his nervousness returning tenfold compared to when he was just waiting for the ship. Philza, who was very insistent that Tommy not call him captain for whatever reason despite literally being the captain, told him he was grabbing the rest of the crew to meet him as they took off. Tommy figured someone else was doing liftoff before joining them, so he just waited.
He looked longingly at one of the chairs. They looked terribly comfortable but they were all a bit small for him. Philza said they were going to make a pit stop and get some furniture more suited to Tommy’s size, and the human couldn’t be more thankful. But at the same time, he was itching to have some furniture his own size again, it has been much too long since he’s had anything like that.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when a buzzing noise seemed to rapidly approach him until he was suddenly face to face with a small bee-like alien. Tommy hadn’t met this kind of alien before, he had only read about them while doing research on different alien species. Two sets of fragile looking wings buzzed behind the tiny alien and four arms fidgeted excitedly in front of them. Their pale yellow skin was even adorned with black tiger stripes. Tommy was in utter awe at how small they were, they were closer to the size of the hummingbird alien, so even smaller than Philza.
They suddenly thrust a hand out, keeping the others close to their body, obviously trying to contain their excitement and failing miserably.
“You must be Human Tommy! I’m Tubbo! I’m an Apian!” Tommy reached out and gently grabbed Tubbo’s hand, earning a relieved sigh. Tommy looked quizzically at the apian, earning him a guilty smile as he pulled his arm back. “In my research I found that humans shook hands as a greeting, but I wasn’t quite sure if it was right… glad it was!”
“Handshakes are a good greeting among strangers, you did good research.” Tommy grinned as the buzzing seemed to get louder as the apian’s smile grew. He watched their little antenna flicker as they flew a quick, excited circle in the air with an excited buzz before positioning himself right back in front of Tommy again.
“Among strangers? Oh, you humans have different types of greetings too! You have to teach me one of these days, ok?” Tubbo flipped himself over to be hovering upside down in front of Tommy, earning a chuckle and nod.
“Interesting. You’re… bigger than I thought you would be.”
“Hah! Who’s small now, bitch!”
Tommy froze as new voices sounded behind him and a loud smack sounded after the second voice stopped speaking. A glance at Tubbo showed the bee alien, who had already put himself in an upright position again, still smiling like this was normal, so Tommy stood up and turned towards them. Both aliens in front of him immediately shut up, and stared up at him in awe.
“Oh wait, why is he so tall? Phil said nothing about him being this big!” The strange lizard-like alien spoke up with some annoyance in his tone, earning himself a second smack from the bigger alien beside him.
“He can understand us you know, stop being rude.” The lizard alien grumbled and crossed his arms across his chest.
Studying the two new aliens, Tommy realized just how much bigger he was than everyone else on the ship. Phil had mentioned Tommy being nearly twice the height of the biggest alien on their ship, and he was fairly certain the boar-like alien was the closest in size to Tommy. He was covered in fluffy pink fur that looked like it was standing on end as he examined the human. Tommy swallowed nervously as the red eyes scanned over him, his own eyes landing on the cracked tusks on either side of his face. Tommy idly registered that there were two little horns on top of his head by his large, floppy ears.
If he didn’t look so terrifying and not covered in scars, Tommy would’ve tried cuddling with him in a heartbeat. But he’s barely spoken and Tommy is fairly certain that this man could kill him in a heartbeat.
“Don’t worry about the lizard brain over here, he doesn’t know how to be polite. I’m Technoblade, but uh, call me Techno.” Techno fidgeted with his hands for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. Tommy was about to speak up until Tubbo stage whispered over.
“Stick out your hand and let him grab it!” Techno nodded and stiffly reached out towards Tommy, leaving a hooved hand in front of the human. Tommy smiled softly at Techno. He was only trying to properly greet him, maybe he wasn’t too bad. Still scary though.
Tommy reached out and grabbed the offered hand, shaking it slightly before pulling back. “It’s called a handshake by the way, a common greeting among human strangers or general acquaintances. Also a formal greeting.” The boar nodded, seeming to take mental note of what Tommy said. He gestured towards the lizard alien who was still very pointedly not looking at Tommy.
“This here is Wilbur, he’s not normally this grumpy. He’ll probably open up by tomorrow.” Tommy nodded, his grin faltering slightly.
Wilbur looked annoyed that Tommy was even here. He was definitely one of the crewmates that was against having Tommy join the crew. He wasn’t sure who the other was, but he was sort of happy he couldn’t tell.
He looked strange too. Wilbur seemed to have blue and slightly transparent skin, making Tommy wonder if he would be able to see his insides. That would be so cool. But if Wilbur’s obvious disgust for him and the metal looking plating covering his body said anything, he wouldn’t even have the chance to see. The large black markings under his eyes were fascinating though, hopefully Tommy would be able to ask what their purpose was since it looked like they were the only black markings on his body.
Finally, slitted and unblinking eyes glanced at him and Wilbur sneered. Tommy reeled back from the nasty look. That was unprovoked.
Techno growled at Wilbur and took a step towards him. “Wilbur, can’t you be polite for two seconds? He’s our-”
“I know. And frankly I don’t care. The only good thing about him being here is that someone is finally taller than you.” Wilbur looked Tommy dead in the eyes with a venomous glare. “I hope Phil gets sick of you quickly.”
That felt like a sword to his chest. Tommy looked to the ground, slight tears building up in his eyes. Normally it took longer for people to gain a disliking for him.
“WILBUR! WHAT THE FUCK?!”
Wilbur stared at the angry Techno and Tubbo before shrugging and walking off. All Tommy did was stare at the floor and fiddle with his hands, trying hard to not cry. He didn’t fit in anywhere, he knew that. But being told that they were waiting for him to be dumped? That hurt.
Suddenly, a small weight pressed against his cheek and a buzzing filled his head. He glanced to where the pressure was and saw the small bee alien snuggling up close. Only a few seconds later and there was someone patting his thigh, and he glanced down to see Techno trying to pat him awkwardly, in what Tommy assumed was supposed to be a comforting touch.
Tommy sniffled and wiped his nose with a finger. “Thanks.” He only whispered the word but the two of them definitely heard him as Tubbo pressed closer and Techno leaned against him in what Tommy assumed was supposed to be a comforting gesture among his own species.
The three of them stayed like that for a few minutes that honestly began feeling like an eternity until wingbeats approached the room. They all looked up to see a happy Phil chirping as he entered the room, only for his face to fall as he saw the sight before him.
Phil’s expression immediately filled with anger as he realized what may have just happened. He quickly changed to a sharp and sickly sweet smile. Tommy realized why Phil was captain. He might be small but this was the scariest person on this ship by far.
“Which one of you little shits did this?”
Silence followed for a moment. Tommy glanced at Tubbo and Techno, both of whom were also obviously terrified of Phil’s current anger.
“W-wil told Tommy he ho-hoped you would get sick of him quickly.”
Phil’s angry grin grew.
“Oh, did he now?” Phil took a deep breath and turned to the corridor, his wingbeats seeming to pick up in his agitation. “I’ll be right back.”
Phil quickly flew out of the room and down the corridor that Wilbur left through. The three of them relaxed before immediately tensing up again as a sharp yell sounded through the hallway.
“WILBUR! WHAT THE FUCK?!”