Do I Need It? (Am I Under Control?)

More Than A Feeling

They moved away from Wilbur's room to Techno's which was opposite. Techno opened his door and waves of the most horrible smell ever reached Tommy's nose. He looked inside the room to see bags of rotting blood, fungus growing out of the discarded bags. On every part of the floor, a leaking bag lay, causing the most terrible stink.

"What's with the bag? It reeks!" Techno held his head down in shame and nervousness. Phil turned his face towards Tommy revealing his face of concern. "Techno... Techno used to be very starved before his turning. He now has a bit of a hoarding issue but we're working on it, right mate?" Techno nodded and Phil appeared to have sufficiently dealt with the situation and resumed his silence.

Tommy walked into Techno's room (trying to breathe as little as possible) and looked in awe at his surroundings. "Woah, you have so many swords!" Tommy breathed. It was true. Hundreds of swords, knives and various other expensive, old looking blades lay hung up on his walls, many appearing well-polished despite their age. Now, they were covered in dust but ready to be used again.

"I've been missing my swords. They don't call me Technoblade for nothin'" Tommy's eyes widened. "People call you fucking Techno Blade! That's so cool!" "It's not cool when people see you as just a weapon. I have to deal with this all the time. Promise me you won't call me a blade, okay?"
"I promise..." Tommy said, completely certain. "I love you, Techno. I- I don't want to upset you." Techno smiled slightly and Phil coughed, signaling it was time to move on.

They continued on the the room next to Techno's. Phil's probably, considering the order of rooms. He was proven to be correct when the door opened to reveal various bird- crow pictures as well as many paintings hung on the wall. "Guess Wilbur's bird man jokes have some sense now." Tommy said, happy to finally understand the inside joke now.

Phil laughed paternally, happy to see his children work together, even at his expense. "I'm not that into birds!" Phil protested as though Tommy would stop if he did. "Is Dad shagging bird- no! He's the Crowfather!" A round of laughter filled the room, any tiny bit of tension at all relieved from the room. After a while, Tommy became bored and looked at the weirdest thing in the room: the bed.

There, on the floor was a mattress covered in a- a nest? Because it was a nest, built up with blankets, pillow and other soft objects and toys. "This is the nest..." Tommy breathed, his excitement evident. "Yep!" Wilbur confirmed. "Why are you showing me this? Tommy asked, "I'm not part of your coven so... Aren't they sacred?"

Phil sighed and held Tommy's hand, somehow warming him up inside despite the opposite effect occuring physically. "Tommy mate, we see you as part of our coven, vampire or not! Of course you'd be allowed in the nest! It's yours too!" Phil explained, touching Tommy to his very core. "Now, how about we have dinner?"

Tommy nodded and followed the Crafts back to his room where he dropped the bag he'd actually forgotten he'd been holding. They then walked through the winding corridors, somehow ending up back at the balcony and down to the kitchen.

"I'm not very hungry and it's getting late. If you have some can I just have some beans on toast, give some blood and go to bed?" He asked, exhausted from the journey. "Sure." Techno said, well-aware of the power he had as it was his feeding night. He decided when he got his meal. If it was at ten thirty or three in the morning, Tommy was contractually made to stay awake unless allowed otherwise.

"I'll tell you when tea's ready." Phil decided as the best chef of the house. Tommy then noticed that the entire kitchen was fully stocked with food. Techno soon noticed Tommy's confusion. "The help came here just after you agreed to the job. They got here about an hour ago with all of your favourite foods from the shop. " Techno explained.

Wilbur decided to help Phil cook and so opened the cupboard and picked out the can of beans only to be slapped away, the can taken away upon the slap. "Oh no you don't!" Phil ordered. "You're not going anywhere near the kitchen for the next eternity. You remember the incident as well as I do!" Actually, they all remembered the incident.

Wilbur blushed as he remembered the incessant beeping of Tommy's apartment's fire alarm when he burnt the fucking water he was supposed to boil for the pasta. Tommy knew it was good in the long run. Wilbur was a shit chef and he knew it.

Wilbur, Tommy and Techno spoke idly around the kitchen table while Phil cooked as usual. Cooking was weirdly enough one of the skills Phil had honed in his immortality. It was confusing to Tommy. He really wasn't sure why Phil was learn the art of cooking. It wasn't like he could eat the food he cooked but he sure as fuck could smell it considering his enhanced sense of smell. Why would anyone put themselves through such torture?

The beans on toast was soon prepared and plated and Tommy wolfed his dinner down, eager to get to bed. The moment he was done, Tommy sat still.

He stilled even further, careful not to move an inch as Techno's fangs met his wrist- Techno's favoured spot. His bite was the worst, the equivalent of a thousand mosquitoes. Techno sucked and sucked, not releasing any venom. Tommy waited patiently at first, hoping Techno would soon release his venom. 1...2...3...4...5... Tommy counted again and again. 10...9...8...7... he counted, hoping, praying the pain was stop. Tears rolled down his fragile face. He could not move, this was the only way he could express anything.

He looked up at his family for assistance, his pleading eyes meeting Phil and Wilbur's.

They did nothing.

Tommy's breath hitched and realised his pulse was getting slower and slower. He had to take matters into his own hand. He had to."Techno... Venom... Now!" He shouted. Techno sighed but released doses of venom all the same, flooding Tommy's body with waves of calm. Tommy had no time to feel the relief of his pain easing before the world started to spin out of control, wildly. More than ever before.

Tommy had no time to think before the world went dark.

"Well now you've done it!" Wilbur yelled. "What? I teased him a little, big deal! We're brothers, he can handle it!" Techno protested. Wilbur crossed his arms, an angry expression plastered on his face. "Techno." Phil interjected, "I'm not mad at you, but you don't do venomless feedings, especially to your brother." Phil stated, confidence radiating from the vampire. "I've done them before to Tommy. What's the problem?" Techno asked, turning to walk away. Phil put his arm out to stop him.

"I know you've done them before, but Tommy expressed how he didn't want you to do them venomless. Also, he's your brother, a human! You have to protect him and be nice. You love him, right?" He asked. Techno turned back around and looked at his brother passed out on his chair. "I do, Phil. I love him."

Phil smiled at his son, proud of his maturity. "Now, remember how Tommy used to be abused?" Phil asked. "Yeah, he told us that's how he ended up a seller..." Phil realised he'd have to explain his reasonings to his son. Despite Techno being great at all things strategy and academia, emotions and socialisation had never been his strong suit.

"Abuse can often start off as one little slap and get more and more usual until it's an every day occurrence. Tommy's just moved here with us, who's to say venomless feedings won't get more and more common until it's every day?" Techno thought for a moment, allowing Phil's words to sink in fully. He looked up at his sire in understanding. "I'm sorry." He decided. "I'm not the one you should be apologising to." Phil lectured, as though Techno was a small child getting in trouble for shouving a friend.

"He's unconscious, Techno. What I think you should do is go upstairs and put him to bed, okay? You can apologise tomorrow. You have to show you're sorry, not just say it. Be nice, okay?" He asked. Techno nodded and Phil dismissed him. He ran over to the chair, wiping a smudged bit of blood off of his face and carried his little brother up to bed, tucking him in comfortably in the way he knew Tommy slept.

He focused on Tommy's pulse allowing it's sound to flood into his ears, blocking out the sounds that filled his ears otherwise. His chat. His pulse was there, slow, soft yet unmistakable. All was good, all was calm.

Techno ran into his own room, jumping around the rotting blood bags that filled every crevice of his room and opened the lid to his coffin.

As he injected himself with his serum, he could hear the quiet noise of Wilbur opening his own coffin's lid next to him. Below, he could hear the relaxed clicking of Phil's typewriter in his office.

All was calm as the world faded into darkness.

All was calm as the night hours began.

All was calm as a new dawn started.