dot.

Dad.

  Although the past week had been hard, and neither Tiro nor Dot had enjoyed getting back into the swing of things with trials again, at least none of them had been too painful. The worst, perhaps, had been when Tiro had returned to the room with injection holes all the way up his arm, each one surrounded with a neat swollen red circle. He had come and sat in the corner and sobbed miserably for a while, until Felix felt sorry enough for the man to come over and give him a hug.

  They were all in the same place now anyway, so what good would it do to reject one of them? In Dot's mind, this was his karma for what he had done to him: but even then, the hybrid still believed he was worthy of sympathy.

  But the week was over now, done, finished; never to be seen again. The second Nimue had returned she had burst into the room all teary eyed and snatched Tiro up, rushing him out of the room as fast as she could, and neither of the pair had been seen since.

  "Go fish." Felix said, frustrated that he was losing the card game they were playing.

  Dot had improved massively with his skill in these sorts of games, and while he still needed Felix's help to move the cards around, he had been winning more and more. The joy it brought the hybrid eased the humiliation Felix had from losing not only to someone many years younger than him, but who was also part animal.

  On the other hand, Dot's confidence had plummeted. He hadn't hissed, spat or scratched since the first time Digorn had taken him out, and each time he returned from trials with a freshly healed cut, teary eyes or a swollen limb he would cuddle up into Felix, making him speak the whole night long until his throat was raw and he had no more words to say.

  Digorn hadn't done anything to Felix yet aside from the occasional hard slap or kick to the ribs when he tried to stop him from taking Dot, and it was making him extremely nervous.

  Why had the other two been put through so much? Was it because they had animal parts, and he didn't? He looked down at his missing finger and furrowed his brow, biting his bottom lip. Was there even a reason they had taken it from him? There had been no talk of the finger since it had been cut off, which was another thing that made him nervous. The sheer frustration at not being able to find out anything about his future and not being able to protect Dot was weighing on his mind, heavily pushing down all his other thoughts so it could continue to reign dominant.

  The hybrid in question had irritatingly just won another game of cards, whisper-giggling as he covered his face with his wings to hide from Felix's mock anger.

  "Seriously?! What is this?!" Felix picked him up and threw him high into the air, catching him safely and tickling him. "Why d'ya keep winning, eh? Are you cheating?"

  Dot shook his head as he kicked about and laughed silently, doing his best to keep away from Felix's evil fingers and failing miserably. His punishment for winning too many times in a row was to be tickled until he couldn't take it anymore, and then to lie down afterwards with a content sigh.

  When Felix turned his back to clean up the cards, the hybrid spotted an opportunity to get him back for his now aching sides and curled his good leg beneath him like a spring, wiggling his butt a little bit like cats do as he prepared himself.

  Just before the man had finished tidying up the cards, Dot pounced on him and tackled him towards the ground, rolling him over so that he was on top and could look down at the man with an expression that said 'I win!'

  Felix merely responded by shoving him away and jumping up, running a few paces away and jeering lightheartedly as Dot scrambled to catch up with him.

  The man managed to avoid Dot for a few minutes but was finally caught and brought back down to the ground with a thud, the hybrid clambering on top of him and sitting there so he had no chance of escape.

  "Alright, alright, you win." He chuckled, and looked to the pile of cards he had so neatly made, which was now scattered all across the room. "See, why'd you have to go and do that then?" He pretended to be annoyed, but really, it was hard to keep irritated at Dot when he was so happy. He had a very sweet smile; Felix wanted nothing more than to keep it shining forever.

  "Tell you what," he said, putting a hand on Dot's head. "Screw Digorn. He's a crap dad anyway." He stared at the hybrid fondly and grabbed him to hug him tight, making him whisper-giggle again.

  "If you had a choice, if you wanted to, I mean-" Felix had been planning to say this for a while, but now the time had finally come he was tripping over his words and could feel his face getting redder.

  "I mean, I was just asking if... maybe, when we get out, I..." He took a deep breath. "Maybe I could be your dad? Maybe, only if you wanted to, of course, oh no I'm being stupid- sorry, this is stupid, yikes." He put his hands over his face and exhaled. "Yikes."

  Dot just laughed breathlessly and wrapped his wings around the man, tucking his head into his chest and nodding.

  "Ah, I knew you'd say no- wait, what?" He saw that Dot was nodding and hugged him back just as tight, planting hundreds of little kisses on his forehead to make sure he knew he was loved.

  The hybrid stayed snuggled up against him for almost the whole day after that- and even the usually cool glass of his butterfly pendant felt warm that night, because Felix had gifted it to him, and Felix loved him.