Chapter Text
Wind rushed past his face as the night sky surrounded the teen flying through the sky, adrenaline pumping through his veins. Beating his wings faster he gained altitude, stopping his motion for a moment letting gravity take its course. The lights of the city far below caught his eye as he looked over the streets full of people, cars making their way to wherever.
Grunk loved this feeling, the feeling of freedom to go wherever he wanted in one night. The feeling he could take over the world if he wanted to but he resided, leaning toward making videos with his friends, and entertaining as many people as he could.
With his friends.
He smiled to himself as he recalled the events a couple nights ago, the truth finally coming to light that his friends were also monsters. Grunk called it from a mile away, after all it takes one to know one.
Slowing to a stop above a city street, city noises got softer as he moved away from the main roads, observing relatively nothing below him. It was nice being friends with monsters but his parents' personal experience still stuck to him, always prevalent in the back of his mind.
The harpy shook his head before flying away from the area, no clear destination on his mind before a scene of dread made its way into the back of his mind. Looking around he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary before the feeling grew louder.
Before he could react, claws gripped his wing, sending whoever was attacking him and Grunk tumbling to the ground. Pure instinct drove the harpy as he shrieked, retaliating against the attacker. The pavement greeted them as Grunk flung the attacker away, trying in vain to move away before the other harpy lunged at him.
WHAT DOES THIS GUY WANT!? He thought, clawing for air.
Everything was moving way too fast as they continued to fight, everything else seemingly drowned out. Grunk didn’t know when someone intervened or when he started to sprint the other way, all he knew was that everything hurt and there was no way he was going to be able to fly back to the house.
He blinked sluggishly as he somehow found himself at the back door of the shared house, his wing limp and his tail dragging against the floor he pushed the door open. The harpy couldn’t feel anything but pain before darkness enveloped him.
***POV change - Yumi***
A small stream of light snuck in as a groan escaped the zombie as he pried his eyes open, checking the time. 4:13 am.
Yumi sighed as he pulled the covers over his head, attempting to go to sleep again. It didn’t work. He slowly pulled the covers off of him, rubbing his eye as he propped himself up against the mattress, gathering strength to get out of bed.
Finally making his way out of the bed he realized his limp wasn’t as prevalent anymore, after a small celebration he made his way out of the room. The living space was quiet and peaceful as he made his way down the stairs, heading toward the fridge.
Something was off as he walked over to the fridge, looking through the contents before a door hinge creaking behind him sounded. Yumi shut the fridge as tapping against the tile sounded and his non beating heart seemingly dropped.
Tanner and Larry were kept in the spare room and no one else walks like that so who… he quickly spun around so face whoever was breaking in. His eyes widened as he took in the sight before him.
A harpy stood in the doorway, right wing limp as the other was tucked close to the figure, who was currently breathing heavily while blood and scratches littered their body. Yumi stared at the figure as it stared back, eyes drooping and starting to sway. Wait… he knew that figure…
He yelled as Grunk fell forward, the zombie lunging to catch him as he almost hit the floor. Calling for Issac and Nick he lifted the kid into his arms as he heard doors opening and footsteps rapidly approaching.
“What happened?! WHO IS THAT?!” Nick questioned, as Isaac ran up to the zombie.
“It’s Grunk!” Yumi hissed, setting the harpy on the couch softly. “I don’t know what happened but he just came in like this, I don’t know, he’s… I-”
Isaac moved swiftly toward the unconscious boy while Nick tried calming down the zombie, leading him to sit on the couch while Nick ran to the bathroom, grabbing tons of bandages.
Yumi felt horrible as he continued to fidget with his hands, watching as Issac scrambled to patch up what he could as blood continued to spill on the floor. The harpy looked so small compared to Isaac, who had Grunk on his side.
“Shoot, his wing’s broken and his arm is ripped to shreds,” the man assessed. “We need to stitch his arm up and sling the wing before anything else. I already put some of my blood on his arm to heal it up but it isn’t enough.”
Nick nodded as he ran to change into something else, sprinting out of the house to get the stitches. Isaac and Yumi sat in silence, both watching Grunk’s chest rise and fall, dread planting a seed in their minds.
“How did we not know?” Yumi whispered.
“I’ve seen monsters be able to hide some parts just by thinking about it, but it makes sense why he never takes off his shoes or wears any shorts,” Isaac explained, carefully placing Grunk on his stomach. “Gosh his wings look horrible.”
The zombie couldn’t watch any longer as he pulled himself off of the couch, walking toward the island, leaning against the countertop. He was going to kill the kid when he woke up.
It’s been a couple hours since then, Nick had gotten back from the store and Isaac had stitched up the kid's major arm injuries after getting his wing slung. Tanner and Larry were let out, first very skeptical of Grunk only to recognize him and attempt to wake him up. Yumi had pulled them away for a second, distracting them with ham before letting them get close to the unconscious harpy.
Tension took over the group as Grunk didn’t wake up so they decided to put him in a room upstairs so he could rest. The merman’s knee bounced as he tried to focus on Spongebob, mind wandering elsewhere.
Yumi wasn’t doing better either, pacing back and forth behind the couch, trying to work off excess energy. The feeling of Grunk’s limp body in his arms stayed as Yumi tried to forget it.
Nick was currently flying around the house in his bat form, the stress of waiting getting to him. Nothing was happening which was a problem, something was always happening in the house, a video, some random show being played, at least some form of chaos, not like this, it was rarely ever silent.
A soft thud sounded from above them and the trio looked at each other in worry, Tanner and Larry already racing up the stairs. Isaac ran up the stairs as Nick flew, Tanner pawing at the door as Larry barked loudly.
Yumi made his way up a few seconds later, pushing the wolves out of the way as Isaac pushed open the door. The kid looked like a mess as he was crouched down, staring wide eyed at the men entering his room.
“Yo, you good man?” the merman asked, taking a step forward. The harpy backed up a step, a low growl escaping him as his tail wrapped around his ankle. Yumi looked between the two, slowly walking toward the young adult like a wild dog.
“You’re fine man,” he assured. “Not gonna hurt you, none of us are, ok?”
Yumi continued to shuffle towards the harpy, trying his best to keep him from moving his wing or arm any further. The boy only backed up further until he stumbled backward onto the bed, breathing speeding up quickly.
Yumi didn’t know what to do as he stood there, contemplating the next step before he saw Larry trot up to the bed, Isaac whispered a small “hey!” as the wolf jumped on the bed. The kid’s breathing stuttered as Larry budded his snout into the harpy, who reached out to pet the wolf.
The soft thump of the wolf's tail against the mattress was a comforting sound as Grunk's mind slowly became clearer. His breathing evened out as Larry rested his head on the birds lap. Blinking rapidly, his vision cleared and he realized Yumi, Nick, and Isaac were sitting on the floor, while Tanner lay at his feet.
What happened?
“We dunno,” Nick commented. “All we know is Yumi found you almost bleeding to death and roughed up real bad.”
Oh, what was he doing? He remembered flying through the air…. A feeling of nervousness then…. Pain. Flying.. Nervousness… oh… wait… DOES HE STILL HAVE HIS WINGS OUT!? No no no no no, he thought he hid them!!
“Shoot, shoot, shoot,” he whispered to himself, trying to fold his wings in only for pain to rack his entire body. “Oww.”
“Don’t try to move it. It’s damaged pretty badly,” Isaac commented, walking up to the bed and sitting close to the edge. “What happened?”
“I- I think I was… attacked? I remember, well, flying then something, or maybe someone, dragging me to the ground but after that I can’t remember anything…”
Everyone remained silent as Grunk shifted under their stares, Larry grumbling in response. Nick sighed, picking himself off of the ground.
“I really don’t think we could find whoever attacked you by now but at least take it easy for the next few days,” he explained. “Could you call your parents and tell them that you’ll need a couple extra days?”
Grunk’s stomach dropped at the thought of telling his parents, he’d already had to practically beg them just to talk to the group in general. The thought of letting them know he’d been hurt while visiting them was beyond him.
“Yeah.”
“Alright, do you need anything?” Yumi asked, standing to head out of the room. Grunk shook his head, waving off their concerns. As if he didn’t have enough of his own.
The trio left, leaving Grunk and Larry on their own. The bird sighed, continuing to pet the wolf on his lap. He was so screwed, his parents might kill him if they weren’t so far away…. They wouldn’t have to be so far away if they weren’t sold out… NO! DON’T THINK LIKE THAT! His friends weren’t going to sell him out… were they?
His thinking was abruptly interrupted as the wolf on his lap started to grow. Larry transformed from his wolf form to human before Grunk could react, watching with some amusement as Larry’s head rested on his lap.
The black haired man’s ears perked up as he pried his eyes open, realizing he was resting on someone he scrambled up. Grunk watched as Larry and Tanner both realized where they were, turning to him. The trio stared at each other for a solid minute or so before reality caught up to them.
“GRUNK?!”