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Something Tommy realized pretty early on about space is that you should never try to understand it.
He tried, many many times, to wrap his head around how everything worked. It was in his nature he guesses, to explain the unexplainable. Wilbur had said something about how humans were a fast growing species once and that was because of their thirst for knowledge. He also said it was very human-like to question things. He doesn’t know if that was a complement or not.
Either way, he learned to roll with the punches. It was easy enough. Tommy grew up on the streets of Britain, his height not making adults take two looks in his direction. And when they did, well, he just ran. He knew all the hiding spots, every alley that led to a hop-able fence. He squared up against drunks, potheads and angry street cats looking at his lengthy body like it was a brand new scratching post.
To say Tommy didn’t know how to roll with the punches is a bullshit lie. Even so now than ever, as he finds himself thousands of miles outside of the Milky Way. With aliens as friends and a ship he calls home. So he knew how to work around not knowing jack. It just came with being the only human to reach this far out into the galaxy.
So really, with all of this in mind, Tommy has no reason to worry about the stomach ache that has greeted him this morning. He’s felt worse after all, been worse. An ache wasn’t going to stop him. So after cracking his back and stretching he got up and shuffled over to his dresser, ready to start the day.
“Clementine?” He yawns, looking at his bed head in the mirror. A second later there’s a little chime and then the beam holding up the mirror blinks a multitude of colours before landing on a soft blue. He smiles, watching as the mirror's edge seems to fog up, leaving the center clear for him to look at himself.
“Hello Tommy Innit, I hope you’ve had a restful sleep cycle.” Comes a lady’s voice, ascent far from any human or alien one he’s ever heard. When he had first met Clementine he had thought he was losing his mind. She sounded so much like his math teacher back on Earth, Ms Smith. He swore the evil woman had followed him all the way to space.
But no, it just turned out to be a very smart AI built into the ship. Which was also named Clementine for convenience. He had asked her to change her voice after a few days of being here, finding it quite startling. Now she doesn’t sound like anyone he's met before. “I did, thank you for asking.” Tommy ignores the bags under his eyes, knowing if he puts it off maybe no one else here would notice. “What time is it?”
There’s a few seconds of silence, then the chime comes again. “It seems to be seven thirty in your home regen.” Clementine says, Tommy nodding along. “Everyone else in the ship is awake. Should I notify them that you should be arriving?” She asks, to which he hums. There’s a ding sound soon after, signalling that she let everyone else know he was up.
At first he thought it was weird, everyone knowing when he wakes up in the morning. But he soon learned that it’s because of some stupid protocol set in place. Phil and Techno must be notified if a crew member is awake, as he’s the captain and the latter is security. Apparently Phil only sleeps every two days for nine hours while Techno hardly sleeps at all. Something about the Piglin’s home planet being too dangerous to sleep in for too long. Either way he got used to it.
After making sure that he wasn’t going to die on his feet Tommy grabbed his clothes for the day - which consisted of a white and brick red suit, the crew's logo stitched into the cuffs with gold coloured string, his boxers and a binder - and headed into the washroom. He set the pile onto the sink before taking off his pyjamas.
After that he tossed them into the hamper. Or at least what he assumed was the hamper. Everyone else called it something different that didn’t have a direct translation to English. Tommy turned to the shower and climbed in, turning towards the panel. Space showers were weird, with too many buttons and pressure settings. He’s embarrassed to say it took way too long to figure it out in the beginning.
Tommy set it to his normal settings and grabbed the soap. He let his muscles relax against the heat of the water, the hotness doing wonders for his aching stomach. He almost forgets he was feeling ill at all. Soon though he’s done washing his body and hair, having to shut the water off.
He steps out and quickly dries himself off with a very fluffy towel before turning to face his pile of clothes. He puts on his boxers first then moves onto his binder. He grips the skin coloured fabric, careful not to pull on the exposed seams. It’s quite old, something he’s had for a while. Honestly, he’s lucky his chest didn’t grow much during puberty. He doesn’t know what he would have done if he couldn’t wear this anymore.
He probably shouldn’t be wearing it at all, with it not being the right size and all. But it wasn’t like space had binders, or bras for that matter. Did space have bras? Tommy stared down at the object in thought. “Does… Do aliens have boobs?” He asks himself. Surely they do, right? Humans can’t have been the only people who needed chest support. Right?
“Other species do have what you would call boobs, yes.” Clementine’s voice suddenly sounds out, causing Tommy to yelp as he jolts backwards. He whips his head towards the mirror, where the edges are fogged up. The frame was a glowing blue, showing that Clementine was activated here.
“Jesus- warn a guy next time!” He shouts, fumbling to put the binder on. He feels way too weird talking to the AI while half naked.
“Sorry.” She apologizes, not sounding at all sorry for scaring him. He just huffs, forcing the binder down more onto his body. “But to your earlier question, boobs are a wildly common feature. But some don’t require them until they are pregnant. Or like enderian’s, where both sexes have a flat chest as the hatchling doesn’t require to suckle on-“
“Okay that’s all I want to hear about that!” Tommy suddenly says, taken aback. He didn’t expect her to actually go into it. Clementine does shut up after that, having gotten the obvious hint. He quickly changes into the rest of his clothes, ignoring the tightness around his chest. He spares a few seconds to style his hair into a half tamed fluff before making his way out of the washroom.
Now with being all ready for the day Tommy heads out of his room and down the halls. He checks over himself as he goes, making sure he puts on everything right. The suit he wore was a little loose in some places but overall adhered to all his measurements. He still couldn’t get over how excited he gets any time he passes a mirror while wearing it.
It was the official uniform everyone wore on the ship, colour coded and everything. Red meaning unknown or jobless. Technically he did a bit of everything, with helping Wilbur organize the med bay and helping to keep Techno company while he patrolled the halls. Overall he liked to think he was an important member of this ship.
The closer he gets to the kitchen the more voices he hears. The noise makes him hurry down the hall, steps speeding up as he makes his way over to the door. Once he gets there he quickly scans his palm, the door sliding open to let him in. The voices die down for only a second before craning back up again.
“Good to see you rise, Tommy.” Phil’s the first one to greet him as the door slides closed behind himself. If he was to link the man to anything back on Earth it would have to be a bird. A very pretty and huge bird. Phil, like everyone on this ship, was bipedal. He was also the shortest of them. The man had a kinda human looking face, with blonde hair, - feathers? - deep blue eyes and a normal looking nose.
But that’s where the similarities ended with him. His arms were covered with black feathers, his ears sporting the same kinds. His hands were more like monster claws, his fingers a dark gray with spark talon like nails. His cheeks were covered with blue to purple freckles, like the galaxy itself sneezed on him.
His legs were bent weirdly, made for him to spring off them and take flight. His knees had a sort of spike in it, silver looking. His feet looked like a cross, with the other only having three toes each foot. His claws - toe claws? - were larger than the ones on his hands. They don’t look like much but he knows better than to think that way. His feet are like a second set of hands, able to cling on to stuff easily.
He’s had Phil grab him right off the floor with them in the past. It’s both amazing and terrifying. “Good morning to you too.” He yawns, settling himself between Techno and Wilbur at the circular table. “Now what the hell is for breakfast?” He asks, looking around.
Wilbur rolls his eyes as he gets up, heading to the counter where an untouched plate sat. “Of course the ghostling is already yapping about food.” Wilbur currs out, grabbing a plate for him.
“I’m not a fucking ghostling!” He yells, straightening up in his chair. His voice lacks any bite, but that doesn’t mean he’s just going to lay over. The phantom turns to face him, his pointed ears perked up. It’s a phantom’s equivalent to an eyebrow raise. “I’m not!” He says again, earning the others ears to perk up even higher.
“You know what? You're right. A ghostling wouldn’t be so loud.” Wilbur teases, setting down the plate in front of him. Tommy flips him off, relishing in the fact the others haven’t figured out what it ment yet. With the other sitting back down he goes to eat, choosing to let Wilbur’s fake win sink in for a bit. He’d get him back later today anyways.
Wilbur was a phantom, which somehow kinda lived up to its human name. Wilbur’s skin was a pale blue, his limbs looking way too long for his body. Even by Tommy’s standards. His legs and arms faded to a glittery kind of transparency. It was like a camera lens was dirtied when you took a picture. If you looked hard enough you could see his clawed fingers, but if you weren’t it looked like he didn’t have the lower part of his forearms.
His eyes were bigger than humans too, the whites of them pitch black. His slit pupils were a bright neon green, able to glow in the dark. They were also sunken in a bit, like his eyes were falling into his skull. Wilbur’s nose was a darker shade of blue, like he rubbed soot on it. It was also shaped kinda like a dogs. There were two slices of bone across his cheek, like his cheekbones split through his skin and just healed like that.
He doesn’t look that strange, like he was just a ghost you’d see on TV. But Tommy knew to always knock before entering the others room for a very particular difference. That one being he didn’t have a fucking middle. Just a spine, with wispy black things coming from the upper and lower part of his stomach. He really doesn’t want to repeat the scream he made when he walked in on Wilbur putting a shirt on.
“Stop poking your vegetables.” Techno chides, kicking his leg. Tommy pokes it again, earning a warning growl from the older alien. He ignores it as he continues to poke and prod at the dark green food. It looks weirdly like an orange. He knows it doesn’t though, he knows it tastes like fucking spinach.
“How about you make me.” He shoots back, watching as Techno’s hand joint makes a loud crack sound. He doesn’t flinch or make any move to stop, earning another crack sound from the other. Then another and another-
“Stop threatening him, Techno. And Tommy? Eat your vegetables.” Phil says, a chirping sound filling alongside his words. He huffs, finally stabbing the horrendous thing and shoving it into his mouth. Techno just turns away from him, continuing with his own breakfast. The table erupts back into friendly chatter as they eat, Tommy now sitting beside them as they talk about the day's plans.
Techno was not that weird, at least compared to other aliens he’s seen. Definitely not as scaring as Wilbur not having a visible stomach. He’s like a huge bipedal furry pig thing. Well, if a huge furry pig had four arms, white eyes and giant tusks that framed his mouth. Also with bones that crack and pop constantly depending on what he’s up to. Like how he was chastising him earlier with his wrist popping.
He tunes back into the conversation just in time to catch the few final words of Phil as he talks to the other two. “-so that leaves Wilbur with checking over the navigational system.” Oh! Navigation, something that Tommy has indeed not been able to play with yet.
“Can I join with navigation?” He asks, putting his fork down.
Wilbur looks like he already has a no on the tip of his tongue, but before he could one of Phil’s wings raise, shutting him up instantly. Oh, did he mention the other had two big ass black wings? Ya, they're pretty cool. More so when they catch the light and they shine with a million shades of blue, purple and sometimes hot pinks.
“If you promise not to touch any of the controls I don’t see why not.” Phil said, one of his toe claws tapping on the floor approvingly. Wilbur made a gag sound, body fading in and out of visibility.
“Why do I have to be on baby watch duty!?” He could hear the joke lining his voice, of the dramatics of the other. He knew it was played up, just some teasing in the morning. But calling him a child, well, that just won’t do! Tommy leaps from his seat, not giving the other the chance as he lunges.
Following Wilbur to navigation seemed to be a whole job in itself. Even with their scruffle Wilbur did what he always did. Chatted up to fill the empty space. They all seemed to do that, even Techno. Who was the quietest of them. And Tommy took interest in it, even if he had no clue half the stuff the other was saying. Aline tech was weird, but a cool weird. Like jello cups.
“It’s more than just getting somewhere Tommy. Clementine is part of navigation as well, as she is especially the ship itself!” Wilbur goes on to explain what they are actually doing, leading him down a multitude of halls.
“So you're not just a medic, but also an AI medic?” He chuckles, earning a low hollow wind sound from the other.
“I guess, if you want to see it that way. I fix systems, it being organic or otherwise. I like knowing what makes things run and how to fix them. Really, the only thing I haven’t figured out here is you.” He reaches for his neck, setting his palm against it. His slightly chilly skin does nothing but make him shiver.
Tommy doesn’t move to push the other off, instead thinking over his words. “Is it because humans haven’t gone out this far before?” He asks, looking at Wilbur’s suit. It was white with bright yellow accents. He guesses it’s the colour for the ‘fixers’ on the ship.
“Yep, your species is very weird when it comes to outer space. And your biology is, how do I put this?” Wilbur tilts his head back, like he was thinking very hard about his next bunch of words. “Fascinating?” He crosses, looking back down to him.
“I could say the same thing about you.” He points out with a smirk. The smile he gets back is much sharper than his own. Tommy goes to say something else, probably insult him on something, if this lighthearted conversation we’re to continue. But he’s stopped by a sudden stabbing pain deep into his side, causing him to stutter step. It’s like someone’s pressing down on a blade lodged in his side.
It nearly knocks the wind out of him as he stiffens up, hands balling themselves into fists. But then a second later the pain duals back into a thumping ache in his side. He thinks he hears yelling, but he’s too focused on what the hell just happened to try and comprehend the Common that’s being spoken to him. That wasn’t like any stomach ache he’s ever felt before-
And then he feels it. The wetness of something that’s not supposed to be there. Then it clicks and Tommy’s left spiraling. It’s his period. Tommy’s fucking scewed. It wouldn’t have been a big deal back on Earth, actually no. It still would have been a big deal, as he had no money for sanitary products. But it’s worse here, thousands of miles into space. And it’s his first period.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t know, he’s not an idiot. Actually retract that statement, he’s a total idiot. How did he not know from this morning!? It was bound to happen, he’s seventeen. A very late bloomer, but not a bloomer at all. Oh god, he’s unprepared. He has nothing here, no shops to run to or street kids to bargain with.
Tommy’s snapped out of his spiraling thoughts by something patting the back of his neck, drawing his attention back to now. Wilbur was in front of him, ears casted downwards as low chitters escaped him. “Are you alright!?” He says, voice high pitched with worry. He takes a couple seconds to breathe, nodding to the other. Wilbur lets out a harsh exhale as he lets him go. “Okay, that’s good. I was worried a bit there-“
“I have to go to the washroom!” Tommy suddenly yells, cutting the other off as he backs up a few steps. Wilbur looks a bit startled, but he doesn’t get the chance to say anything as he turns on his heels and runs down the hall. He hears the other yell to wait but he doesn’t. He’s wearing a white suit and he’s not getting it stained. “Clementine, where's the nearest bathroom!?”
“Take a left at the first fork in the hall and it should be the first door on the right.” He waves her off, sliding across the hall as he turns right where she told him to. Thankfully the door wasn’t too far as he slams it open, only to slam it back shut. “Tommy, your heart rate is indicating breathlessness. Is something wrong? Is it another panic attack? Should I contact one of the others?”
“No! Don’t do that, I’m fine. I was just running, I’m fine Clem.” He lies, unzipping his pants as he grabs a whole roll of toilet paper. This will have to do. Tommy takes the next couple minutes cleaning up and packing his boxers full of toilet paper. Thankfully nothing was ruined in that whole freak out. Well, maybe his pride. Wilbur was sure to question him later on him suddenly sprinting away.
Tommy quickly washes his hands before leaving the washroom, looking both ways to make sure no one was here. “I can deal with this.” He whispers, rubbing his wet hands onto his pants. “I just need to wait it out.” He might not know much about his current situation, but he does know that he’s not letting anyone find out about it. Not even Clementine.
He nods to his nonexistent plan as he heads down the hall, away from where Wilbur was probably still waiting for him. If he ignores his problems, then he doesn’t need to face them. And this is a problem he surely doesn’t want to face, not now at least. Tommy heads down to the more outer parts of the ship, knowing he can’t return to his room in case Phil or Techno was over there. He has no idea what they're doing today so he has to play it safe.
This train of thought has him ending up near some of the windows. Long panes of glass stretching across the hallways. This was a place on the ship he doesn’t come to very much. He doesn’t know why, it’s very beautiful. Space was right outside, stars shining. He doesn’t recognize any constellations, not that he really cared. He wasn’t really one of those space geeks before this.
Now though, Tommy thinks he puts all those people to shame. He walks up to the large window, leaning in close to it. His breath fogs up the glass. Tommy raises his hand and presses his palm to the cold surface. He sometimes wonders if one of those dots in the sky was Earth. That if he’s still close enough to home to actually see it.
A yawn rips its way out of his throat, causing him to slump his shoulders. Running around the ship and almost having a panic attack has made him quite tired. Tommy looks down the hall, when he sees no one he turns his head to peer down the other. There’s no chance someone will find him if he decides to just… rest.
It isn’t like he hasn’t slept somewhere on the ship before that wasn’t his bedroom. Tommy lowered himself to the floor, head resting against the cold glass as he curled in on himself. He couldn’t help but think this feels kind like how he used to sleep while he was on Earth. Curled up into a ball in some far to reach place. With the cold licking at his bones and fear pumping through his heart.
There was no wind and he was pretty sure the fear he’s feeling is more annoyance now, but it’s close enough. He lets his eyes close as he relaxes onto her floor. Sleep has never felt so nostalgic.
Tommy’s awoken by a sharp pain in his side. He bolts up, hands raised to defend himself from whoever was shanking him in his sleep. Only to pause when no one else was nearby. The pain persists however, making him groan and wrap his arms around himself. “Stupid cramps.” He hisses through grit teeth. What kinda damage did Eve do to piss off God so much that he cursed all female bodies like this!?
His thought ramble was stopped when he heard the thudding of footsteps. Tommy looked to the right just in time to see Techno rounding the corner. The piglin was heaving slightly, hand held securely on the sword at his hip. It radiated heat, just like his home planet. Techno spots him quietly enough, a cracking sound ringing out. Tommy has no clue where it came from, so either he’s alright or Techno’s mad at him and going to give it to him. “Hey big man-“
“Why did you run away from Wilbur?” The other questioned, voice tight as he stopped a few paces from him. His hand fell from his weapon, staying slightly raised as he narrowed his eyes at him.
“I didn’t run away.” He says, standing up from his spot on the ground. “I uh, I jogged. It’s different.” Sleep still clung to his bone. Tommy shook his hands out, trying to get the extra drowsiness to leave him alone.
Techno snapped his jaw, causing Tommy to flinch and look at his eyes. Okay so Techno was definitely mad. “Okay then, Tommy, why did you ‘jog’ away from Wilbur? You scared him half to life when you didn’t come back after thirty minutes. He called me to go look for you. I had to ask Clementine where the stars you were!”
He winces at that, looking up at the ceiling in slight anger. The bitch ratted him out. That was not cool. At the sound of the other snapping his jaw again Tommy looked back down. Techno was closer now, hands seemingly ready to grab him in case he runs. He thinks it’s kinda warranted. The older man always treated him like he was his species. And after watching a few too many videos on piglin’s Tommy got to understand the other more.
Piglin children are easily the most exhausting things to chase after when they want to bolt. It’s a survival tactic so they don’t get eaten by hoaglins. But it’s also terrible when their parents are trying to get them. Tommy feels sort of offended that Techno’s treating him like a child right now. “I don’t know.” He lies, crossing his arms. “But you found me, so no need to get pissed.”
Techno grunted at that, lowering his arms fully. “You may be done with me but Phil’s going to run you through with questions. Now come on, he’s already freaking out…” His voice trails off, eyes snapping over to the ground near the window. Then after a couple seconds he looks back at him, then to the spot again.
What the heck was he looking at? Tommy looks down to where the piglin was looking, only to freeze when he sees a spot of red in the hallway. He doesn’t need to be a genius to know what happened while he was sleeping. “Tommy, where are you hurt?” Techno says, startling him. He looks over to the other, who’s walking towards him. Oh god, he saw the blood. He knows , he definitely knows.
Techno was already mad that he ran off. He was going to throw him out the airlock, he’s sure of it. Tommy takes a step back, hands clenched into fists at his sides. Techno hesitants, snout moving quicker. They both seem to understand what he’s about to do at the same time as Tommy turns and bolts. Techno’s hands reach out to grab him. He just misses getting yanked back by the other as he runs down the hall.
“Tommy!” Techno shouts, giving chase. He ignores the yell as he speeds up in his sprint. Tommy knows he can’t out run Techno for a long period of time, but he does know he’s faster than the other.
“Clementine, where's the nearest lockable room!?” He shouts, turning a corner.
He hears Techno curse as he skids to the side at the abrupt turn. “Don’t answer him-“
“Down the next hall to the left.” Clementine cuts the other off. Tommy can’t help but feel she’s made up for her past betrayal. He follows her directions and whips over the first door he sees. Thankful that she wasn’t lying about the lock as Tommy slams the door shut. He’s quick to lock the door. A second later he hears Techno get right outside the door and try to open it. The lock holds up.
Tommy collapses to the ground, his limbs burning from all the running. That is no doubt the first time he’s ever actually gotten away from Techno. “Tommy open the door.” Well, kind of. He curls in on himself, pushing himself into the shallow corner of the closet he’s found himself in. He has no idea why a closet has a lock on it but he’s not going to question it.
He coughs into his knees, breaths getting cut off short. Everything hurts and Tommy just wants it to stop. His sides and stomach hurts, his chest hurts, his head hurts. He sniffles, wiping at his face harshly. He refuses to cry right now, hormones be damned. He coughs again, air getting thin as he runs his hands through his hair, tugging at blonde strands. It doesn’t do much to calm him, but at least it’s something.
“I can hear you panicking.” Techno says, a rumble starting up in his chest. “Can you unlock the door? I can help you, or I can call for Phil or Wilbur.” He adds, sounding a bit like he was pleading.
“Just fuck off!” Tommy shouts, wrapping his arms around his legs. It’s getting harder to breathe by the second. “Leave me alone.” His friends are going to hate him if they find out his secret. That he wasn’t born a he. Everyone hates him after they find out that he’s trans, that he has a girl's body, that he wasn’t named Tommy when he was born. His own parents hated him when he told them.
He didn’t want them to hate him like they did. He doesn’t want them to throw him out. “I’m not mad, if that’s what’s stopping you.” The other says softly, well, as soft as a piglin could sound. “But I need you to open the door so I can help you. Or you can at least tell me where your hurt-“
“I’m not hurt!” He cuts the other off, voice rough.
He hears the other take a swift breath in and then out. Like he was calming himself. “You're bleeding, you're obviously injured.” He insists, trying the door handle again. The lock clinks, not letting the door open. After a few seconds he hears shuffling, then a thud as the other sits down outside the door. “You know, back on my home planet squeakers would hide their injuries too.”
“I’m not a squeaker.” Tommy says defensively. The other keeps going, not caring about his interruption.
“They would think it makes them strong to tuff it out. Well, it’s not. Wounds get infected, the young ones get sick and then they die. So Tommy, tell me what’s going on. Or I’m going to override the lock and see for myself.” He threatens, the determination sending a shiver down his spine. Techno was serious about barging in.
He sucks in a large breath, half of it not going in. The cramps have died down now, back to an annoying painful thud in his side. The other was going to come in either way, wasn’t he? Drag him out and have him explain himself. Tommy didn’t want to come out like that, didn’t want to be forced to say his life long secret. He thinks, if he was going to be thrown onto the nearest survivable planet, he would have wanted to dig that grave himself. “I’m bleeding.” He states, looking up at the door. It tells him nothing.
Techno is quick to talk back. “I can see that. From where?” He questions, half snarky.
“It’s uh...” Tommy buries his head in his knees further. Leave it to him to teach an alien about fucking puberty. “From inside. I-I’m fine though! I’m not hurt or anything, it’s just…” He stops talking then, looking down at his stomach. This is embarrassing and he swears if he was to carry on he’s going to break something. Or cry, he kinda feels like crying right now.
“Just what?” Tommy doesn’t answer the question, another sharp pain ringing out through his side. He bites the inside of his cheek. “I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s going on.” The other sighed.
“I’m on my period okay!? Are you happy now!?” Tommy yells, biting back the other snarky responses he wants to yell. His side twists and turns, like someone was driving a screwdriver through it. He had to use English to say period as there’s no common word he knows that means it. There was no reason before to figure it out if there was one.
There’s a pause in the conversation, Techno most likely thinking over the words. “…Is it a human thing?” He asks hesitantly.
“Yes it’s a human thing.” Tommy is quick to say, wanting this embarrassing thing over and done with. Then, like the complete idiot that he is thinks to tell Techno the truth. Which is stupid because he ran in here to specifically not tell the other the truth. He literally scared the hell out of Wilbur so he couldn’t find out. But with the other right outside the door and sounding nothing but worried, he can’t help but feel safe.
And if the others hate him for it, then isn’t that a good thing that he finds out now? They're not really friends if they're so easy to hate him. And maybe it’s for his own peace of mind but Tommy wants to know if this was real. That the love they say they have for him isn’t tactical. “Girls bleed every month, it’s this whole shit show thing that the body does.”
There’s a pause, like there was before. Techno’s quiet on the other side, not even the sound of his breathing coming through. Tommy uncurls from his ball, taking deep breaths. His chest hurts and it’s hard to get air, but he’s more focused on the other right now. Maybe leading with that wasn’t the best decision…
“But you're a boy.” The other states, yet sounding hesitant. “Unless we assumed wrong.”
“You didn’t.” He’s quick to shut that idea down, a shiver running up his spine. Yep, they definitely assumed right. “It’s just.” He takes a calming second to think over his next words. “I was born in a girl’s body, but my mind didn’t match it, I guess? So I have girl parts, but I don’t want them. It isn’t me .” Tommy stops his rambling, leaning back on whatever was behind himself.
Techno doesn’t reply right away again, just letting him stew in the silence. It bothered him to not know what the other was thinking, what he was feeling. But he guesses maybe it was for the better he didn’t know how Techno thought about this whole thing. He could probably live in the vents like some kind of space squirrel or vent rat. At least until they went planet side and he could escape.
“Okay.” Techno finally says, sounding unbothered. Which couldn’t be right, could it? He was supposed to be angry, frustrated. Throw him out the airlock. Not say ‘okay’ like this was some kind of normal thing.
Tommy gets up from the floor on unsteady legs, walking a few steps towards the door. “You aren’t… mad?” He questions, wondering if the other got what he said right.
Techno makes a rumbling sound deep in his chest, a few popping sounds accompanying it. “Well I’m mad you didn’t tell one of us about this thing you're going through, for safety reasons and health wise. But I’m not mad your body is a girls one. It makes no difference to me what you want to identify as.” A pause, a bated breath. “We call them soul switchers back on Nether. When a piglin’s soul doesn’t match their body when they are born. It’s just something that happens, as long as you can fight and provide for the bastion no one cares.”
“…Thank you.” He ends up whispering, voice wavering. He doesn’t even know he’s crying until tears run down his cheeks and as sniffles ring out. The rumbling gets louder in his ears, like Techno was right outside the door. Before thinking to long about what he was going to do Tommy unlocked the door and opened it.
Instantly hands were around him, pulling him into a hug. Vibrations ring out through his body as he curls his arms around the other. “Stop crying, I didn’t even say anything bad about you humans.” Techno says, rubbing his sides. It’s a weird piglin huh thing, but he can’t find himself to make fun of him for it.
“But you accepted me.” He mumbles into the pink furr of the other. “You didn’t throw me out the airlock.”
“Heh!?” Techno pulls away, looking at him up and down. “Why would I throw you out the airlock!?” At his confused and ridiculous face Tommy bursts out crying, wiping at his eyes. “Tommy, this isn’t funny. You basically implied I would kill you.” He just laughed harder at that, his chest squeezing painfully.
He can’t believe he thought this big teddy pig was going to do anything like that to him. “I should probably wash up and get changed.” He mentions, pointing down the hallway. “And get this fucking suficating binder off before I explode.”
“You're going to explode!?” Techno streaks, eyes widening. Tommy couldn’t help but double over in laughter. Ya, they were definitely not going to throw him out for this. “Tommy how do I make you not explode!? This isn’t a laughing matter!”
“It’s a figure of speech!” He gets out through giggles, hands covering his mouth. “God Techno you're so clueless sometimes.”
“You humans are too complicated.” He gets out through grit teeth, clearly pouting. “Now move it, you said you needed to clean up.”
“Oh shit you're right!”