You weren’t sure what had pulled you down the quiet corridor of the Cleaners’ HQ, but the soft, muffled sobbing you heard made you stop in your tracks. At first, you thought it was a stray echo from the mess of the mission, maybe someone grieving but then you recognized it.

Tamsy. You hesitated, because the sound was pitiful, raw. He was always so composed, so impossibly graceful. And now… now he sounded like a little omega lost in the world, utterly undone.

The sound of soft, pitiful whines made your steps slow to his private quarters. Opening the door slightly. There he was, blonde hair spilling over his arms, ears flat against his skull, tail curled tight around his legs. Even from a few steps away, you could see the wings twitching in delicate, desperate quivers, the faint glow along the threads pulsing with every sob.

“I… I can’t… I can’t do this… I don’t… I don’t want anyone… please…” His voice cracked as he whimpered, burying his face deeper into his arms. The sound made your chest ache.

Before you could reach him fully, he jolted forward and flopped into your lap, claws clutching at your thighs, tail wrapping tightly around your waist like an anchor. “Stay… don’t… don’t leave… please… just… just stay with me…” The wings fluttered frantically, thread-feathers brushing against your sides as if trying to cling too.

His forehead pressed against your stomach, hair spilling over your hands, and he shivered violently, his fragile body pressing every part of himself against you. “I… I’m useless… I can’t… I can’t do anything…” Another whine, muffled into your lap. “Don’t… don’t push me away… I need… I need you…”

His thread-wings quivered violently, brushing over your arms and lap, sensitive to every stroke and touch, yet somehow seeking more contact. Each time you ran a hand through his hair or traced the delicate feathers, he shivered again, curling tighter, claws lightly digging into your thighs. “Ah… oh… don’t stop… don’t… don’t let go…”

His tail curled even more tightly, wrapping around your waist and thighs, tugging him closer. His body was nearly molten against you, heat pressing into your legs, chest, and hands. “Stay… stay… I don’t… I don’t want anyone else… only you… only here…”

He shifted slightly, wrapping one arm over your stomach and letting his face nuzzle into your chest. “I… I can’t… I can’t even move… just… just hold me… please…”

The soft fur along his arms and shoulders pressed into your hands as he squirmed slightly to nestle deeper, claws hooking lightly as he clung desperately. His entire body seemed to mold around you, pliant and warm, wings twitching and pressing against your arms as if trying to melt entirely into your grasp.

“I… I don’t… I don’t want to be alone… don’t… don’t leave me… please… I need… I need you…” His whines were low and pathetic, thread-wings pulsing softly with every tiny tremor. Tail curled around you like a second tether, shivering with need. He pressed closer, wrapping every fragile part of himself into your lap, melting fully into the warmth you offered.

Even as he clung and whimpered, the glow along the wings softened gradually, quivers less frantic, but the clingy weight of his body, the desperate warmth of his fur and tail, and the shivering thread-feathers kept him tethered to you completely. Every whine, every tremble, every tiny plea made it clear. He wasn’t letting go. Not now. Not ever.

“Don’t… don’t leave me… not now… not ever… I’m… I’m yours… please…” His voice was small, fragile as he finally melted into your warmth.

Even in his exhaustion and the haze of his cycle, he refused to let go. He clung, small and fragile and utterly dependent, pressing every part of himself, the warmth, the fur, the wings, the tail, into you, as if your presence alone could keep the world from crushing him. His whines softened to soft, satisfied sighs, and his thread-wings pulsed faintly, comforting him, tethering him, letting him finally be utterly, completely, and vulnerably yours.