✓Updated

Song: Youth

Artist: Glass Animals

A/N:

I'm super duper happy with this chapter, so have it a day early :)

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•CHAPTER SIX•

| Devotion |

With the first touchdown of snow, Tommy decided to snoop around the house some. He respectfully avoided Y/N's bedroom but he counted everything else as free game in his quest to find something to elevate his boredom.

Y/N had vanished sometime after breakfast, a final round on her property, she had said, and he trusted her.

(However, Tommy can't shrug off her strange behaviour from last night after their conversation on the Stronghold. She had bounced back this morning but...talking about the Stronghold seemed to seriously freak her out in some way. He wondered why...well he understood the dangers it had but...he can't help the weird nervous feeling about her behaviour. Concern maybe? Had she had problems with other people?)

(Best to just listen to her and stay the hell away from it.)

He found himself stumbling into a small spare room used for storage. It was somewhat full of chests but unlike every other chest, these ones weren't labelled oddly enough. Maybe this was where Y/N kept the useable stuff that she didn't want to chuck?

Y/N seems like a low-key hoarder to Tommy after everything else he had seen, so he wouldn't be surprised.

For a moment, Tommy didn't see any point of investigating just what she kept in here if that was the case but was hit with a sudden do it, snoop sensation and promptly moved further into the room.

The place looked dusty, so she mustn't use it often, right? There weren't any windows, only the light from a hanging lantern she had in here. Overall, it just looked like a small storage cupboard. So he opened the first chest and frowned.

...Items...

A jewellery box with floral patterning, some old books that had been wrapped up with care, a pair of swords with engravings on the sheath, there was a headband that looked akin to a crown made from iron...

They were rather random items but clearly held sentimental value to Y/N if she kept them. Why not display them then? Were they from family or friends?

No offence to Y/N but she didn't seem the kind to go out and meet new people unless they stumbled on her land as he had.

Tommy made sure not to touch anything in case he damaged them because he didn't want to anger Y/N if they were important to her, and moved on to the next chest. Again there were more items, there was however a bigger box which he quickly discovered was full of drawings.

He sucked in a breath, hesitating a beat about whether he should peek or not. Fuck it, he pulled the first one out and it was of Y/N but younger, her cheeks were rounder, her hair longer. There was a child-like innocence in her eyes, whoever had drawn her had really managed to really capture the emotion in her eyes. She had to be around his age in the image. The back said age nineteen. Huh.

He gently folded the paper and put it away, taking out the next one. A girl, Tigra, it said and she looked far younger than Y/N had; her hair a white blonde with earthy brown eyes. But her most notable feature was the rabbit ears on her head.

A rabbit hybrid.

The back said age thirteen.

Tommy was expecting another head portrait but what he got was a group drawing. He spotted Y/N immediately, her wings a very focal point that made her stand out, then it was Tigra who was sat at the foot of the settee. On Y/N's right was a guy, a wolf looking hybrid. He was smirking, gaze on an oblivious Y/N. On Y/N's left was another woman wearing the headband he had seen, closer to Y/N in age in the photo. A guy who looked too similar to the girl to be anything other than twins. He had a familiar sword across his lap.

Maybe the jewellery box (and jewellery?) belonged to Tigra? Then what belonged to the wolf hybrid? The books?

If that was the case...Why did Y/N have them? What happened to these people?

So baffled by what he had found, Tommy failed to hear footsteps until they stopped.

"Hey."

Tommy flinched, "XD! What the fuck woman!"

He turned, flustered at being caught off guard and the fact he was very clearly snooping through her things.

He's surprised, however, by the tender look on her face as she looked around the room. Her eyes are sad, her ears are dipped even lower than normal and for a moment, Tommy thought she might start crying.

"...Sorry," he starts, setting the box down to stand, "I shouldn't have been—"

"It's fine," she smiled tenderly, "I'm honestly surprised you hadn't come in here sooner."

"Oh..." is all he can say in response, too confused—was she not angry?

Y/N stepped into the room and to his, yet again, surprise, she sits down and pats for him to as well. Unsure about what else to do, Tommy sat back down beside her as Y/N picked up the group photo, gently dragging a finger across the paper.

"These were my friends."

"Were?" he questioned softly.

"Hmm," she nodded, "...I'm..." her purple gaze grew sad, "I'm the only one left."

Tommy swallowed thickly.

A short bitter chuckle escaped Y/N, "It was stupid really. It could have been avoided. Tigra, she was only fourteen at the time, already on her last life when it happened."

Jeez, Tommy bit back a grimace but also felt himself internally panic.

"I'm on my last too," He admits quietly.

Y/N stills beside him, then turned her teary eyes onto him, "I'm sorry you've had to lose so much so young."

Once more, Tommy swallow that lump in his throat, "I'd like to think they were worth it," he tries to lighten the atmosphere with a joking tone and he seems to succeed when Y/N cracks a small smile.

Y/N raised a hand to her throat, where Tommy had long noticed the scarred skin. A sliced throat, if he had guessed. Y/N wore a turtle neck most of the time to hide it, but sometimes with enough movement, it would slide down to reveal more of it and it must have been a deep one to have left such traumatic scarring.

It had made his stomach drop the first time he had seen more of it. Just the idea of how much pressure would have been needed to cause such an incision in the first place...

Tommy took a breath as to not bring his breakfast back up.

"Dying isn't fun," Y/N smiled bitterly, "But it hurts more knowing it could have all been avoided if only we'd—" She cut herself off, sucking in a sharp breath, held it, then released, "These are all the things I have left of them, and most of the time I can't bear to have them out in the open. So knowing they're being kept safe in here gives me peace of mind."

Some more silence as Tommy watched as Y/N admired the drawing, holding it like it was the most delicate thing in the world.

"They were almost like family," she finally added with a sniffle and Y/N didn't try to stifle the sob that choked her.

Tommy bit his lip, unsure what to do or how to comfort her. He had always been shit at it, so he awkwardly set a hand on her shoulder and pat, "...There there."

She choked out a wet laugh, rubbing her eyes of tears, "You're just so cute, you know that, right?"

"Cute?" he squawked, cheeks glowing red but was internally relieved to see Y/N was slowly stopping her crying, "Excuse you! I'm handsome!"

More laughter escaped from Y/N.

After several moments where she calmed herself, Tommy shifted awkwardly and wet his lips. Quietly, he admitted, "I've never had a sister figure before. Is...I've only had brothers and...I mean you took me in without a problem and—and you've had no issues with me and...you've been so kind to me, that it almost reminds me of my brothers..."

There was an ounce of unsurety in his voice as he trailed off and he barely stopped himself from melting into Y/N's embrace when she wrapped an arm around his shoulder, rubbing his back.

She sniffled some, still recovering from her crying but she was smiling down at him, "I'd be honoured, Tommy. I've come to care about you a lot in the short time we've known each other and that's not going to change, got it? So I would be glad to call you my brother."

He wasn't crying, he wasn't crying, he simply had something in his eyes—oh fuck it, he was crying. He sucked in a shuddering breath and wrapped his arms around Y/N's waist to squeeze her tightly.

He felt the soft press of a kiss to his scalp and the dam broke, letting him break down into long-held back tears.

"I've got ya," Y/N hummed softly, rocking them side to side, "We've got all day and nowhere to be, Tom. Don't hold back."

He doesn't.