Chapter Text
Keeping himself entertained was not easy. Tommy still wasn’t quite sure where everything on the ship was yet and what he was allowed to touch. And if Wilbur was going to be a grump then he was no help to Tommy either.
He honestly wanted to become friends with Wilbur, he really did. But Wilbur was making it so hard. Tommy knew that there had to be a reason Wilbur didn’t like him. It must be really bad for Wilbur to have reacted like that when he asked.
Tommy let out a sigh. Thinking about it wasn’t going to help him out. He wandered out of the common area of the ship. Sure he had been given a mini tour after introductions to the crew and the first incident with Wilbur, but maybe he could find some new places or even hiding spots he could use.
He aimlessly wandered through the corridors, running his hand along the walls as he whistled an old tune he remembered from back on Earth.
Earth. It’s not a place he thought of often, that’s for sure. He passed one of the windows and paused, looking out at the infinite terrain of foliage before him. There were so many strange plants, the trees looking like a mutated and oversized version of daffodils with strange green fruits hanging off of them. Orange vine-like tendrils snaking up the stems, some even dangling off of the petal like leaves on the strange trees.
As strangely beautiful it was, it wasn’t Earth. He remembers his first planet he visited after leaving Earth, a strange and barren planet known only by its assigned code, D-37. D-37 was one of the many deserted planets that held civilization long ago, but the only thing remaining on its surface was a single station for ships trading goods or crewmates. It’s where he was passed off to his first crew.
Tommy grimaced at the thought. He learned the hard way that lying through his teeth to get into space was the worst decision of his life. He was surprised that they believed him though. Apparently he looked the part he was attempting to play, otherwise he wouldn’t be here today. He let out a small breath of a laugh, wondering what those officials did when they realized the truth. It was too late now but still, their reactions had to have been priceless.
But he was scared. D-37 wasn’t home and his first crew was not family. He was expected to be a perfect crewmate, which led to him being dumped at the nearest station only two days later. He remembers crying that day. It was not a fun memory to relive.
And sometimes Tommy still looks out the window when he visits a new planet, in awe of the unique scenery. And sometimes he bitterly wishes it was Earth. He misses the pale blue sky and the green ankle high grass and the asphalt roads running through cities.
He’s not sure he’ll ever see it again. It’s the only reason he’ll occasionally regret his decision to come out here. He misses Earth.
But not the people. Never the people.
Suddenly, a loud crash sounded from somewhere in the ship and Tommy immediately tensed and whipped to the noise. His eyes widened as he realized the direction it came from. That wasn’t where Wilbur’s room was. That wasn’t Wilbur.
As soon as Tommy realized the potential severity of the situation, he scrambled towards Wilbur’s room, taking care to be as quiet as he could be. He was silently panting for breath as he reached Wilbur’s door and he all but punched the button to open said door.
A startled Wilbur whipped to glare at Tommy, eyes narrowed in irritation.
“I thought I told you not to… Tommy?”
Some of the irritation seeped out of Wilbur’s face as he began to notice how out of breath Tommy was and how scared the human looked. He could feel a small twinge of terror creep inside of him as Tommy look relieved to see him here.
Like he wasn’t expecting to actually see Wilbur in his room.
Tommy wordlessly walked towards Wilbur with poorly concealed panic in his eyes and reached out to cup his hand around Wilbur’s head. Tommy didn’t miss the way Wilbur’s eyes darted to the hand that was the same size as his head with some worry in his expression.
Tommy looked over Wilbur, looking for something that Wilbur wasn’t sure of what it was.
“What are you-?”
“We need to hide. Now. ”
Tommy stood up to full height as a crash sounded from in the ship, definitely closer than it was earlier. Wilbur whipped his head towards the noise, eyes dilated into slits as he finally began to realize what was happening. Two gravelly voices could be heard approaching, raising the panic in the two shipmates.
Tommy quickly scooped Wilbur into his arms and scanned the room before his eyes landed on the closet. That would do.
Wilbur didn’t have a chance to protest before Tommy flung it open and set him inside. Tommy gave Wilbur a small, nervous smile.
“Just stay here ok?”
Tommy began to close the door when suddenly Wilbur flung his clawed hand out and gripped the door. Tommy looked down at the lizard and was surprised to see an unreadable expression on his face.
“You are not fighting them alone. If you die or even get hurt, Phil is going to fucking kill me. We defend this ship together, you hear?”
Tommy froze in surprise and stared at Wilbur like he was crazy. The two of them glanced out of the room in a panic as footsteps seemed to grow closer. Wilbur grabbed Tommy’s clothes and pulled the human closer to his level with a snarl.
“Together. We fight together.” Wilbur only whispered and kept an angry expression on his face, but Tommy could easily hear the fearful waiver in his voice. He wanted to argue for the lizard to stay here, that if he was scared he didn’t have to help. But Tommy had already figured out how headstrong this alien could get, he wouldn’t just listen to Tommy. Especially not Tommy seeing how much he hates him.
Tommy stood up and nodded to Wilbur. “Fine. But they’re close. Let’s get them out of here.”
Tommy slowly made his way back to the door of the room, Wilbur trailing quietly behind him. The two peeked out of the room to see two aliens currently rummaging through the storage closet, complaining about the lack of valuable possessions.
Tommy had to keep himself from snickering at the two aliens, he was smart enough to know that the valuable junk weren’t generally kept in those closets on crewships like these. Amatuers. Even Tommy could do better.
Tommy was going to make a move until Wilbur suddenly scurried out from behind him and ran at and tackled the closer alien to the ground. They let out a surprised yell as they fell to the ground, their horns making a sickening sound as they hit the ground. They were bound to have cracks at a minimum after that fall.
He watched in amazement as Wilbur kept the ram-like alien pinned to the ground, using his body weight to hold them down and tightly holding their damaged horn to the ground. Wilbur hissed as they let out a bleat and tried to swipe at him, applying more pressure to the horn and earning another crack at the pressure. Tommy hadn’t realized quite how strong Wilbur’s species was until now, he could probably take an alien a foot taller than himself with enough willpower.
The other ram-like alien let out a cry and immediately began running towards Wilbur to knock him off of their companion. Tommy narrowed his eyes and quickly pushed himself off of the doorframe and quickly placed himself in between Wilbur and the second ram.
At the sight of Tommy, their eyes widened and they immediately began to try and stop themselves, only making themselves trip and fall forwards from their own momentum, right at Tommy’s feet. They were quick to flip over and get back to their hooves to try and make a break for it, but Tommy grabbed a hold of their clothes and lifted them into the air. They weren’t exactly light but Tommy’s held heavier aliens before.
Tommy tsked. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret now, just give us our stuff back and you two can scamper off.” Tommy was glad that the ram alien in his grip had much less fight than the one Wilbur was holding, though their fearful bleats were pulling at his heartstrings. He’d rather not hurt anyone but these two were going to steal from the crew.
“Yo! Lizard boy! Tell your fucking pet to unhand my friend and we’ll leave without a fight. We ain’t gonna mess with no human guard dog of yours, promise.”
Tommy froze. He watched as the ram he was holding earnestly nodded along with their buddy’s remarks, stuttering out vague agreements. Tommy slowly turned to face the alien that Wilbur was holding down and locked eyes with them, their expression growing more fearful by the second. He missed how even Wilbur had froze and stared at the alien in shock, in pure disbelief at what they said.
“What did you call me?”
Tommy’s words came out slow and calculated. The ram immediately blanched and tried backpedaling, stuttering out a vague mess of apologies and pleads to Wilbur to protect them. None of the apologies were remotely close to being directed towards Tommy.
Tommy narrowed his eyes and brought his gaze over to Wilbur. “Get off of him Wilbur. I’ll finish this.”
For the first time, Wilbur listened to Tommy and scurried off of them with no hesitation. He watched as the lizard quickly pressed himself into a corner, out of the way. Good, can’t have Wilbur getting caught up in this.
The ram on the ground took a moment to realize what was happening. He tried to get up to his feet to run but as soon as he was standing, Tommy threw his companion at him and knocked the two back to the ground.
They both stared at Tommy who was now standing right above them, glowering at the two robbers.
“You chose the wrong ship to rob. Nobody messes with my crew or calls me a fucking pet. Nobody. ”
Tommy wrung his hands, ready to fight the two aliens in front of him. But then he glanced back towards Wilbur. He hadn’t noticed earlier but the lizard looked terrified. Of Tommy .
He sighed and brought his gaze back towards the two rams on the ground. He wordlessly stuck out his hand, making a small grabbing motion. The two thieves quickly scrambled to grab their bags full of stolen goods and all but shoved them into Tommy’s arms.
“Now leave our fucking ship.” Neither hesitated and both of the rams quickly scrambled to their feet and ran out of the ship as fast as they could.
As soon as the two were out of sight, Tommy dropped the bags with a sigh. That was a lot. And they now would have to put everything back and check for anything broken on the ship. Based on the crashing from earlier there was at least something broken.
But right now Tommy had bigger worries. He nervously glanced over to where Wilbur was still standing in the corner, his gaze locked onto Tommy. He could see Wilbur trembling, and Tommy was positive it was from a mixture of fear and adrenaline.
If Wilbur wasn’t scared of him before he most definitely was now. Tommy wasn’t sure if he could ever truly be friends with Wilbur now.