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Teddy woke up the next morning in a familiar tangle of limbs, with a headache to rival the one he'd had after he, Hermes, and Poppy had raided Uncle Scott's liquor supply the previous month in celebration of Hermes’ 17th birthday. It was a stroke of luck that Poppy and Hermes had thought to move them off the couch and back to the nesting corner, though he couldn’t remember when that had happened.
He’d laid there for a while, not wanting to move and disturb Hermes or Poppy - and honestly just enjoying the feeling of safety. It didn’t last too long, as Poppy and Hermes roused quickly after he had. They had a quick breakfast - some toast and an apple split between them - before the two alpha’s walked Teddy home. He had wanted to be upset, or at least mildly annoyed about it, but he was instead mostly content, even if it was all undercut by some sadness.
The contentedness edges out for nervousness the closer they get closer to home, and Teddy finds his pace slowing with it.
‘What’s wrong?’ Hermes asks when Teddy slows enough to fall behind and pause fully as the house comes into view, the light breeze sweeping away the bulk of his scent, but Teddy has no doubt that the alpha can still find the souring notes he exudes.
“They’re gonna be so mad at me,” He whispers, scratching lightly at his wrist, “I came back and just- I disappeared. I didn’t even message them to tell them I’m ok, they’re gon be-”
“They knew you were ok,” Poppy cuts off his rambling before he can truly work himself up, “I had Hermes tell them that much last night. No details, though they might suspect something’s up.”
Teddy tries to formulate a response, but all he manages is a very quiet thank you and a grateful smile.
Sure, going home to his dad and pop’s worry isn’t exactly easy, but it’s only worry. Teddy will explain himself, and he’ll probably cry again, he’ll spend a long while crying, he’s sure, but his pop will reassure him, his dad will have some pep talk, and they will hold him and tell him what he needs to hear, and it will get easier, eventually.
Poppy and Hermes will facilitate sleepovers, and upon hearing the news Beau, Phoenix, and Sunny will invite him for a guys night and come up with ridiculous plans and pranks that are sure to fail. Lilac and Ember will be around to spar when the sadness gives way to anger, and Maple will sit and ramble on about whatever new frog facts she had learned when he needs something to distract him.
Teddy will be ok eventually, but until then, he won’t be alone.
Christmas creeps up quicker than expected, and Teddy finds himself far more excited than he had expected the month previous. He had spent more or less the last week sequestered off in his art room, finishing the last touches on his gifts. He had drawn Maple for secret santa this year and had made a layered glass cube he had painted to create a lake scene that he had positively filled with frogs for her to find. It had taken a full week and several pieces of broken glass to get right, but Teddy was so proud of the outcome.
He had made his pop a new “this is a ____ free zone” with an increasing number of names of it, the chief of which being all the GoodTimes family. It wouldn't work to keep any of them out, of course, they would all know it, but his pop always enjoyed when he tried newer things and wood burning was an experience - one he had no plan on returning to very often, but it had been enjoyable. For his dad, he made him an admittedly simple jewelry set with some metal working tools he hadn't touched in months, three rings and a simple circlet of gold, all inset with small emeralds. He was annoyed with how wobbly they had turned out, but he was trying to be easier on himself about the little mistakes. He had other things for them the next day, on Christmas proper, but he always liked giving his dads a little something at the party as well.
If only he could get the last two gifts he had planned to work out. He had been struggling with both piece for months, having planned them back in September, but neither of them seemed to turn out as he wanted them. Which brings him to now, staring at them the day of party, wondering if he should even bother with them if they weren't exactly right.
Realistically, he knew no one would care if they weren't 100% perfect, but there was an itch in his mind that wouldn't quiet down no matter what he did. In the end, he put both gifts in the bags he got them, but he still wasn't happy.
When he got to the party, he hesitates again, ultimately deciding to keep the two gifts in his shulker. Maybe later he can work up the courage to give them to the intended recipients, but not yet.
“Hey Teddy!” A hand grabs him by the arm, pulling him towards a side room. He quickly realized it's Sunny, dressed nicely in a collard shirt and a pair of black slacks, pulling him with all the determination and strength in his 12 year old body, “COH party is over here and way cooler than the adult stuff!”
“Ok, ok, I'm going,” Teddy let himself be led without issue to the side room. COH, an acronym for Children of Hermits, had been something Poppy had come up with when she had been old enough to grasp the concept of HOG and old enough to be annoyed she was excluded. It was a silly thing, but it stuck around as an easy way for the adults to refer to the various age groups the younger generation found spanned across.
“Here, sit!” Sunny directed Teddy to a beanbag chair and immediately joined him in it, “Poppy said to be extra nice to you in case you are sad today, so you can snuggle with me for a bit.”
Teddy bit back a laugh. Nodding solemnly at Sunny. He - or rather Poppy - wasn't entirely wrong, Teddy had been a little sad with the upcoming holiday (or would be, had he not been burying himself in projects to avoid just that) but he wasn’t going to wallow. Still, it was nice of Sunny to so graciously offer his assistance in not being sad.
“I also said you shouldn't bring it up,” a voice from the door called, and Teddy looked to find Poppy standing there. She looked lovely in the purple dress she wore, her dark curls were pinned up, a few loose pieces hanging to frame her face and showing off the silver emerald necklace and earring set she wore, “I'm sorry, Teddy, you don't have to sit with him.”
“Yes he does!” Sunny insisted, “Mama says everything is better after a cuddle, so I'm making him feel better!”
“It's fine Poppy,” Teddy reassures her, allowing himself to settle more comfortably into the beanbag, in turn allowing Sunny to sink more comfortably into him, “The kids not a half back cuddle partner and I have a very convenient excuse to not have to help with anything for the foreseeable future.”
Poppy laughs at that, settling into her own beanbag nearby and they begin chatting, mostly about menial things as the rest of the COH co. shuffled in, Maple taking one look at Teddy and Sunny lounging together and joining them, her new jasmine scent immediately going soft and content.
It was the other reason Teddy had been fine with letting Sunny cuddle him for a while. He remembered the first few months after his own presentation, how easy it had been to get overwhelmed when scents suddenly seemed that much stronger, how he had often wanted nothing more than to curl into the nearest pile of fabrics and warmth he could find, but finding it slightly embarrassing - even being reassured constantly that it was ok and that there was nothing wrong with settling his instincts. He figured if Maple, who had only presented a month or so before her thirteenth birthday, saw the two of them cuddled together, she might be comfortable enough to join. He was glad he was right.
Beau followed her in not long after, a smile blooming on his face at the pile, before sitting by Poppy on another free beanbag. Lilac joined them next - having been caught up in conversation with False about some new fighting move she'd been trying to learn - huffing at pile, but a pleased smile tugging at the corners of her lips, her own relatively new alpha instincts likely pleased by the soft scents filling the room.
Ember and Phoenix joined them next. Ember beelining to Lilac and striking up a conversation, and Phoenix taking one look at the beanbag pile and deciding to take up the last available space and sealing Teddy's fate of becoming one with the beanbag until such time everyone decided to get off him.
Not that he minded. The sweet happy scent wafting off Maple was putting his own instincts at ease and the warm weight that covered him was reassuring that the youngest of the pack were there safe, and if a few content purrs slipped out on occasion, well he just hoped no one would mention it.
It was a little while still before their next interruption.
“Oh, hey Hermes, I was wondering when you’d get here,” Teddy heard Poppy call, but was unable to see the doorway from where he is covered in 12 and 13 year olds. There was a silence as Hermes presumably replied before Poppy burst out laughing, “Yeah, Teddy’s here, he’s currently buried on the beanbag.”
A few moments later, Hermes comes into his limited view obviously trying not to laugh.
’Comfy?’ He asks, hands jolting with the force of his barely contained laughter.
“I will have you know I am quite comfortable indeed, Hermes.” Teddy told him, and though there was humor in his voice, it wasn’t even a little bit of a lie. The combination of happy, safe scents around him, mixed with the warm bodies of his youngest packmates had soothed pretty well every last piece of Teddy’s instinct, “You should join us.”
This caused him to actually laugh this time, shaking his head, ‘There’s no room for me to join. I think I’ll just sit with Poppy and keep watch.’
“Suit yourself,” Teddy called as Hermes retreated from view, “But you’re missing out!”
To be honest, Teddy wasn't too upset about it as his purrs grew a little stronger and Maple, Sunny, and Phoenix shifted some to get more comfortable. It was nice to know that he and Poppy were keeping watch. His alphas would make sure no threat would reach the young in his nest and-
Teddy blinked for a moment.
Where had that come from?
He shook his head, trying to clear the fog. Clearly his instincts were getting the better of him. Nothing to worry about, of course, but still odd. The cuddle pile must be getting to him is all.
Nonetheless, Teddy didn’t move. Time moved in that syrupy slow way that often accompanies half sleep and before long there was a new scent entering the room, but the sweet berry scent was no cause for alarm, the scene still clinging slightly to the jasmine scent near him.
“Hey you guys ready for-” Bdubs started, before cutting himself off with a gasp, “Oh my god, this is the most adorable thing I have ever seen in my life. I will be right back.”
The scent fades, though the words tug at Teddy’s mind and he finds himself coming back from the edges of sleep as several other new but safe scents enter the room.
“Oh my god, this is so cute.”
“They’re all piled together, it's adorable!”
“They seem so cozy.”
“Oh listen, Teddy’s purring!”
“Oh my god, someone take a photo right now!”
That fully snapped Teddy out of his daze.
“No!” He called, wiggling to try and get up from where he was pinned, “No photos!”
He manages to sit up enough to look over everyone, finding all of their parents in the doorway. He feels himself flush in embarrassment, and it grows worse when he realizes that he can’t get his purring to stop.
Luckily, Phoenix and Sunny both take pity on the poor creeper hybrid, and while obviously a little slow and dozy still, they move to stand, stretching as they did so. Maple, however, just moves more squarely onto Teddy’s chest, pumping out so much content scent that he couldn’t bring himself to move her himself. Etho, much to Teddy’s relief, did not seem to have the same issue, coming over and rubbing a hand on her back.
“Come on, little leaf,” He says, trying to gently detangle the younger omega, “You gotta let Teddy get up now.”
Maple said nothing, just huffed and clung tighter to Teddy's sweater vest.
“Come on, don't you want to open presents?” Etho tried bribing her as he tried a little more forcefully to get her to let Teddy go, but it did nothing to help.
“No” Maple huffed with a small growl, “I don’t want to go.”
There was a quick drop in her scent, the full bloomed scent become wilted and rotting in distress. It was pretty obvious the young girl had fallen deep into her instincts and was now very unwilling to leave the little safe bubble Teddy had created. Teddy could feel the way it rubbed roughly on his own instincts and had to fight not to pull Maple closer, knowing it wouldn’t help in the moment. It did help, however, when Bdubs came over to help his mate, his soft sweet berry scent already calming.
“How about,” Teddy began thinking quick, a rough plan coming to mind “we bring the beanbag out and you can sit with me while we open gifts?”
“That sounds like a great idea, don’t you sweetie?!” Bdubs asks, his scent getting just a little bit stronger, after a moment, Maple nods, somewhat reluctantly standing up, still blinking a little heavy, “Here, you head out with pops there and find a good spot, and I’ll help Teddy move the beanbag for you guys.”
Maple nodded, already seeming to be waking up as she followed Etho out of room - which Teddy realized had emptied, likely when everyone realized what was up with Maple to not overwhelm her. Though he did see Poppy and Hermes hovering not to far from the door.
“Well that could have gone worse,” Bdubs said, offering Teddy a hand up, quick thinking on the offer there.”
“Oh, it was nothing,” Teddy dismissed, stretching to get his slightly stiff body, “I’m pretty sure it’s at least mostly my fault, anyways. I wasn’t thinking earlier when-“
“Nonsense! It hasn’t even been two months, most things can send her into her instincts. At least this was just because she was cozy, much easier to ease her out of. I bet by the time we get out there she’ll be fine, you probably won’t even have to sit with her, if you’d rather sit with Hermes and Poppy.”
Teddy paused where he had gone to help Bdubs move the beanbag, furrowing his brows some, “I mean, I don’t mind sitting with her if it helps. I don’t have to sit with Hermes and Poppy, we aren’t joined at the hips or anything.”
“Well no,” he concedes, “I guess it’s just normal, to see you three together. Always a little odd to see one without the others.”
“Well yeah, we’re friends. It’s not that weird… is it?”
“No, no, not at all! It’s just, you know,” Bdubs shrugged, picking up the beanbag and lowering his voice, “Before they started dating we had a bit of a betting pool going on about which one of them would end up courting you. You guys were always so close and everything.”
With that, he turned, carrying the beanbag out to the main tree, and Teddy was left gaping after him.
‘Everything alright?’ Hermes asked, peaking in, and Teddy just stares at him a moment. Surely Bdubs is wrong. Teddy had always seen Poppy and Hermes as an inevitably, they complimented each other perfectly. Kind, caring, their senses of humor, not to mention how good they looked together. It was like they were crafted especially for one another, and Teddy had always been happy to be along for the ride, watching it unfold. But maybe…
“Teddy?” Poppy called, waving a hand in front of his face. Teddy shook his head, dispelling the thought, “Are you ok? You've kinda just been staring into space.”
“Yeah, fine,” He assured her with a smile. “Just Bdubs being Bdubs, he said something odd and I just… forget about it. We have gifts to open.”
Teddy moved past them, heading to the main room where a giant tree stood tall, decorated perfectly. Several presents sat, ready to be exchanged. He spots Maple, stood by her parents and the newly moved beanbag and he quickly made his way over.
“There they are!” Scar calls enthusiastically as he gets closer, Poppy and Hermes not far behind, they move past him when he reaches the Slabs, heading to one of the loveseats that had been brought over, “Gather round everyone, present time!”
“Sorry about earlier, Teddy,” Maple says quietly, playing with the hem of her shirt, “You don't actually have to sit with me, you know.”
“Of course I do!” He replies, sounding as if any thought to the contrary would be absurd, “We've gotta stick together you and I, we can't let them outnumber us. Besides, I can open presents sitting next to you on this very spacious and comfortable beanbag chair, or squeeze onto the loveseat with Hermes and Poppy and have to put up with her squawking and his jostling.”
Teddy couldn't help but laugh along with Maple and everyone else at the indignant “hey!” Poppy had called across the room and Hermes outraged ‘I don't jostle!’
Getting comfortable, he pulls Maple to his side, settling the younger omega against him as gifts are passed out, enjoying the happy atmosphere. As expected, his dads had both been extremely pleased with their gifts - and Grian had immediately informed pop that his sign wouldn’t work if he just didn't read it, getting a good laugh out of everyone. One by one, gifts and secret santas were given out until eventually, it’s his tur, passing the well wrapped box to Maple.
“Careful, it’s heavy and breakable.” He warns gently. She sits up, letting him carefully place it in her lap before pulling it open and taking it out of the box, “It’s something new I wanted to try, everything lines up, so it looks almost 3d and-”
“Are those frogs?” Maple’s eyes sparkle as she looks up to him, a huge smile crossing her face.
“Sure are, I couldn’t just have a lake with no one hanging around, now could I?”
“This is amazing! Thank you so much!” Her excitement is contagious, and Teddy smiles back just as wide as she gets up to show off her new art piece, “Mama! Mama look at all the frogs! There are so many!”
They spend a few more minutes letting Maple excitedly show off her new gift and complement Teddy on his work before herding her back into her seat.
“Speaking of Teddy,” Joe says, grabbing the next box, “I got you for secret santa this year!”
Teddy took the gift, which was on the larger size and on the heavier side as well. Unwrapping it with much curiosity he first saw the bottles of ink, a few in black, but also almost every colour in the rainbow as well.
“Oh cool, did you get me new art supplies?” It was a fairly standard gift to get him, but always greatly appreciated, “Thanks Uncle Joe.”
“That’s not all,” Joe had an excited look on his face and was leaning forward, “Keep looking.”
Pulling out a few more bottles of ink, he found a box of gloves, an empty squeeze bottle, several sheets of what looked like a tan silicone, wipes, and a container of blam, but it wasn’t until he uncovered another box at the bottom that he realized what exactly he had gotten.
“You didn’t!” Teddy’s excitement was palpable in the air around him, springing up to tackle Joe in a hug, “I can’t believe you!”
“You had seemed so interested,” Joe replied, hugging him back, “And, once you’ve gotten the basics down, you’ve got your first client all lined up.”
Teddy was too excited to truly answer him for a few moments.
“What exactly did he get you that’s got you so excited, little dude?” His dad asks, and Teddy pulls away from his hug to go back to his gift and pull out the box.
“He got me a tattoo machine!” He shows off excitedly, “We were talking about tattoos a few months ago, because I thought it was cool that people liked the idea or look of something so much to get it permanently into your skin, and how cool of an art form it is in general! I hadn’t expected him to actually get me one!”
“Oh, sick!” Phoenix cried, “Will you give me one?”
“Not until you are at least 16, he won’t!” Jimmy calls back immediately.
“But ma!” Phoenix whines back, and the room devolves into mild arguing and chaos.
“Thank you,” Teddy said again to Joe, over the chaos and noise, “Seriously, this is so cool.”
“No problem, Teddy,” He replies, leaning back with his glass of eggnog and watching the room with a slight smirk, “Besides, free entertainment.”
Teddy laughs, taking in the room around him. He couldn’t deny that his family was a lot, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything.
A while later, once everyone had calmed down and the last of the gifts were handed out, Teddy found himself on the balcony, watching the sun setting. The shulker in his inventory with the last two gifts felt like a lead weight, though he knew realistically that they didn’t weigh anything. He couldn’t help but turn Bdubs words over in his head.
‘We had a bit of a betting pool going on about which one of them would end up courting you.’
He said it so easily, as if it would have been a given that they’d have gone for him. He tried to imagine it, Hermes or Poppy bringing him courting gifts, getting one of them something in return. The idea wasn’t crazy or anything, not even a thought he’d never imagined he just-
It was always just a small side thought, they fit together so well, were so happy together, Teddy couldn’t truly imagine getting between them. It was just… Natural, to imagine himself in one of their places, when their relationship was so perfect.
Perfect. Without him.
‘You guys were always so close and everything.’
‘Were,’ he’d said, as if they weren’t anymore. And well… Teddy supposed he wasn’t wrong. The two had been dating almost a year at this point, and while it was common to see the two together most of the time Hermes spent on Hermitcraft, Teddy was becoming a slightly less common sight with them.
But that’s to be expected! They were dating, and for a while, Teddy had a partner as well, and it’s not like they never hung out or anything!
They hadn’t abandoned him or anything, they usually tried to include him, it was his choice to back out and give them more space. It was to be expected.
Right?
“There you are!” Speak of the devil, Teddy thinks to himself, turning to find Poppy and Hermes joining him on the balcony, “We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
“Sorry,” Teddy said, trying to push away the thoughts, “Did you guys need something?”
‘We just had a gift for you,’ Hermes explains before pulling out a wrapped box the size of his palm, ‘We thought about giving it to you in the party, but figured it’d be a little nice away from everything. Luckily, you beat us to finding somewhere quiet.’
Teddy laughs quietly before setting down the shulker with the paintings for them, “I guess it’s a good a time as any to give you your gifts too then.”
‘You first,’ Hermes urges, pulling the shulker closer while Teddy unwraps a small box, opening the hinged case he all but melts. Sitting on a silk pillow is a thin chain, at the end is a miniature compass slightly larger than the pad of his thumb with two needles, one red and one purple, that point almost in the exact same direction.
“I know we haven’t been spending as much time together,” Poppy says, pulling his eyes away from the beautiful design with her ability to perfectly read his mind, “But we thought it might be nice to have a reminder, you know, that you can always come to us, no matter what.”
“They point to you guys?” Teddy asks, moving the compass, and sure enough, the needles move to follow the slight changes, “How’d you manage that?"
“Well, they technically don’t follow us, but it follows the matching pair.” Out of their pockets, both Hermes pulled out copies of the same necklace, but they both had a green needle.
“It’s amazing,” He breathes, eyes going back to his own compass. On the face he sees something written, moving closer to the light filtering out from the glass door now that the sun had mostly fallen.
‘Home is where somebody notices when you are no longer there.’
Teddy recognized the quote as one from The Lazarus Project, which he had read earlier that year and had mentioned a couple of times. He hadn’t thought they were listening to him when he had talked about it. Certainly not enough to go through and find one of the quotes that had stuck with Teddy for days afterwards.
Our turn,” Poppy calls out, and every cell in Teddy’s body freezes.
“Oh gods, you can’t!” Teddy cries, heart plummeting when he notices they’ve already gotten them open, “I’m sorry, I know they aren’t that great, I had just… The new season’s starting soon, and I know you guys were gonna build a base together for whenever Hermes is here, and I wanted to make a couple pieces, but they aren’t… That great. Especially not compared to the necklace you guys made and-”
"Are you kidding me?” Poppy cries, “This is amazing! Hermes, look at this!”
She holds up the painting, showing Hermes the poppy he had painted to look like it was made out of glowing redstone. In response, Hermes showed her the painting he’d done for him, which was a landscape portrait of Hermes in his travel gear, staring past the painting perspective, cloak billowing in the wind.
“I couldn’t get the redstone to look like its glowing properly, and it didn’t look like it’s laying super naturally,” Teddy explains, his face hot, “Not to mention that the purple in Hermes painting is off by a few shades, and the shading of his cloak make no sense with the lighting of the rest of the piece. I can work on them, make them better, you don’t have too-”
“They are perfect,” Poppy’s arms wrap around him, her scent is light and happy, not a hint of anything upset.
‘They are going directly in the entryway,’ Hermes signs, moving over to join them, 'I want everyone to see it first thing when they come in.’
Teddy’s heart rate settles as they hold him, geosmin and petrichor settle around him, mixing soothingly and it doesn’t take long for his own scent to join in softly, now that he knows that he’s less worried.
They liked his gifts! They liked them so much they were planning not only to use them but to put them up where everyone could see them! It was perfect! Now everyone would be able to visit them and see that Teddy was-
Teddy was what? Their friend? That didn’t sit right.
‘We had a bit of a betting pool going on,’ It hadn’t sat right with Teddy, ‘About which one of them would end up courting you.’
‘One’
‘One’
Of course it didn’t sit right with him.
Hermes and Poppy had let him go at this point, both were engrossed with his painting, he could hear them pointing out some of the little details. He looked back down at the compass he was still holding, watching the two needles move ever so slightly as they moved around. He thought about how much effort he had put into their gifts, how even having put in more effort than he could recall ever putting into a single project before it hadn’t felt right to give them. How his instincts fought tooth and nail so that he could make the gifts perfect for them.
Both of them.
The realization hit him like a truck, that he didn’t want to just make them perfect because they were Christmas gifts, that the positive response wasn’t just settling because he didn’t want to upset his friends.
He thought back to the day Tiffany had broken up with him. How quickly the scents of his best friends had soothed him, how easily they helped put things together again. How they had always been the two people Teddy could go to for anything.
He watched as they smiled, a breathless laugh coming from Poppy, the light in Hermes eyes as he looked at her.
He wanted that.
Not one of them but…
Both.
Teddy was screwed.