Chapter Text
When Tommy had come into the kitchen Techno and Wilbur had ignored him at first, because why wouldn’t they? Tommy was loud, annoying, dramatic, and inconsiderate. Not someone they’d like to spend time with, so when Tommy asked to hang out with them Techno responded harshly while Wilbur just rolled his eyes and huffed a little. To them -probably everyone, right?- his existence was already enough of an inconvenience.
Neither of them noticed how Tommy looked off, even more than usual. He always seemed a bit down, but not this down. But because no one noticed anything, no one did anything and nothing was prevented.
After only a few minutes Wilbur went up to his room to go look for the hoodie he got from the school’s music program. He needed it for some group picture with other last years in the program. But when he couldn’t find it he figured that Techno wouldn’t need it, Phil didn’t go through his stuff, and Tommy was also in the program.
Tommy had probably taken it because he’d somehow messed up his own hoodie while being clumsy. Had Wilbur already mentioned that Tommy was clumsy? Tommy was a lot of things if you’d ask Wilbur, it was just really sad that whenever he described his brother he’d only name Tommy’s negative qualities. He’d leave out that Tommy was really musically talented and could play any song after hearing it just once, or how Tommy used to make him laugh when they were younger, and how wild his imagination used to be, and when Techno, Tommy and him played in the yard Tommy would always come up with the most elaborate and fun stories to play out. They used to get along so well, but something had changed that. Wilbur blamed Tommy.
When Wilbur busted into Tommy’s room, scolding him for taking his hoodie -still without any proof of course- he was insanely confused to find his brother, eyes closed, on the floor next to his bed. The fuck? Was this some trend Wilbur missed out on? He wasn’t all that active on social media, so maybe- no, this was just weird.
“Tommy, get the fuck up. Where’d you put my hoodie?” Wilbur demanded loudly, scanning over Tommy’s room to find it. Fucking hell, it was a huge mess, even bigger than Wilbur ever remembered. Did this kid clean it, like, ever? And why the hell was there an empty pill bottle on the desk? Was Tommy on medication? Wilbur never remembered Tommy getting prescribed anything, or visiting the doctor for that matter.
“Tommy, get up. What is wrong with you?” Wilbur gave Tommy a small kick in the stomach, making Tommy fall onto his back. What. The. Actual. Fuck. Wilbur rushed to his knees next to Tommy and had his hand on Tommy’s neck to check for a pulse.
“Tommy? This is not fucking funny, answer me!” The room remained quiet “Please for fuck’s sake, say something?” Wilbur sounded desperate. Tommy didn’t move, didn’t make a sound. Nothing. “Toms, please- Techno! Get the fuck up here!” Wilbur was screaming now.
Within seconds Techno could be heard rushing up the stairs, first he went to check for Wilbur in Wilbur’s room but when he found it empty he realised Tommy’s door was slightly ajar. Tommy always closed his door, what was this about then, huh? When Techno heard Wilbur scream his name a second time he rushed into Tommy’s room to be met with Wilbur holding onto an asleep Tommy. Why was Tommy sleeping on the floor?
“Why’s he on the floor?” Techno asked, keeping his distance and looking around the room to figure out what happened.
“You need to call a fucking ambulance, I think he took something,” Wilbur replied softly and quickly, leaving Techno without anything to say for a few seconds.
“Are you sure-?” Techno asked, praying that this was the most fucked up joke Wilbur and Tommy had ever pulled off. This had to be a joke. Tommy wouldn’t overdose. The kid had everything he needed, a roof over his head, food, and- well those are the most important things anyways.
“Just call a fucking ambulance Techno, I don’t want to lose him too!” Wilbur yelled again. Techno nodded swiftly before grabbing his phone and dialling 999. The man on the other side of the line was much calmer than Techno was, and definitely more so than Wilbur.
Wilbur couldn’t focus on anything other than Tommy anymore. He didn’t hear Techno talk to the operator, or Techno trying to tell him that the ambulance was on its way. All Wilbur could focus on was whether or not Tommy’s chest was still going up and down.
How could he let this happen to Tommy, his baby brother? The kid that, only a few years ago, he would have fought an entire war for. He loved Tommy, really, he did. Did Tommy not know that? God, when was the last time Wilbur said he loved Tommy? Or even looked at him?
Wilbur hadn’t noticed the note on Tommy’s desk. Techno, however, did. He snatched it from the desk, scanning over the pages. It wasn’t just one page, they had hurt Tommy so much that he wasn’t even able to put it on one page. Techno could feel himself deteriorate right that moment. What the fuck was going on?
The paramedics arrived within a few minutes. They had to practically peel Wilbur off of Tommy as he refused to let go of him. Even when Tommy got put in the ambulance, Wilbur refused to leave his side. There was no way he was letting Tommy out of his sight ever again.
Techno and Wilbur went in the back of the ambulance with Tommy and a paramedic. While Techno was trying to keep his calm, Wilbur was wiping his own tears off of his cheeks, not being able to look away from their little brother.
The drive to the hospital was fast and before they knew it Tommy was being rolled into the hospital and hooked up to all different kinds of machines. The boys had no clue what they were. They didn’t even have time to ask before they were ushered out of the room.
Techno was the first to realise that they needed to contact Phil and tell him what was going on. Wilbur on the other hand was sitting on the floor, knees pulled up to his chest as he was trying to keep his calm and not freak out any more than he already was.
Of course, Phil picked up after the first ring, being confused as to why Techno would be calling him in the middle of the day. It wasn’t a common occurrence at all. They’d usually text whenever they needed to communicate, but Techno felt that this situation begged for a more ‘emergency’ approach.
“Techno, what’s going on, why are you calling?” Phil’s voice sounded worried. He should be worried, his son is in the goddamn hospital. Not that Phil knew that or anything, but still.
“You need to come to the hospital, something happened to-” Techno didn’t even get to finish his sentence before Phil cut in, now sounding even more worried than before.
“What happened to Wilbur, is he okay?” Of course, Phil’s first guess would be that something happened to Wilbur. Not because Wilbur was clumsy -no, Wilbur wasn’t anything like that at all- but because something happening to Tommy would never even faze Phil. Maybe that infuriated Techno a bit or a whole lot.
“No. Tommy. Tommy is in the hospital and you need to come, Phil. ” Techno was getting more annoyed with Phil with the second. Why couldn’t Phil think of Tommy for one second, just for once?
Phil let out a groan from the other side of the line. “What did he do, stub his toe? Jesus, I don’t have time for this, Tech. Just let me know when you will be home,” Phil said, his tone indication that he thought Techno was joking.
How can a father care so little about his own goddamn son? It’s simply infuriating. Techno didn’t think he’d ever been this pissed at his father before. He knew, he really did, that he hadn’t been nice to Tommy as of late either, but come on, Phil was really pushing it here. He couldn’t even be bothered to be slightly worried about why his youngest would be in the hospital.
“Phil, he tried to kill himself for god's sake! You need to get over here now!” Techno yelled. Why couldn’t Phil be considerate for just one second, just one, for Tommy’s sake? For Techno and Wilbur’s little brother that had just passed out because he overdosed, all because Phil couldn’t spare him even a little bit of love throughout his life, or just a simple glance for that matter.
“Jesus, I’m on my way, for fuck sake, you need to calm down. It’s not even that big of a deal, he’s probably just faking it or something. He already made himself throw up today to get out of school,” Phil groaned. “He’s just wasting everyone’s time.”.
Techno was left speechless. What was he even supposed to say to that? He already told Phil to get his shit together and it didn’t work the first time. It felt futile to keep arguing about this. But Techno really wanted to try for Tommy, because he had so much to make up for. At least Techno could recognize that, unlike Phil.
“Phil, you need to get your shit together. Tommy tried to end his own life! Do you even hear yourself?!” Techno yelled into the phone. The line was silent on the other side for a few seconds.
A sigh could be heard from the other side before Phil spoke up again, “Fine, I’m on my way. I’ll be there in, like, twenty minutes, or whatever.” It sounded so dismissive Techno almost started crying about it. It hurt him that his father couldn’t give a single shit about his youngest, but it hurt, even more, knowing that Tommy had dealt with that his entire life and that that has been his ‘normal’. He mightn’t ever know what it feels like to have a parent actually care about you.
Phil was the one to hang up the phone, not giving Techno any room to scold him more, which, realistically, Techno would’ve done. Now Techno could finally focus on his other brother who was sitting next to him, knees pulled up to his chest, arms wrapping around his legs and head low, occasionally wiping the tears or trying to muffle his cries.
It was a sad sight, to put it simply. But if you’d ask Techno to really describe it he’d say it was agonising seeing his brother like that. His stomach took an even bigger turn when he remembered Tommy being hooked up to a million machines.
“Will, look at me. It’s going to be ok, I promise,” Techno said, kneeling down in front of Wilbur and putting a hand on his shoulder.
Wilbur shook his head and sniffed his nose, “You don’t know that.” Wilbur’s voice was muffled as his face was still slightly covered by his hands.
Techno let out a sigh because, of course, he didn’t know if everything was going to be ok. Everything seemed too far from ok right now, but he could at least try to have an optimistic outlook, right? No one will be helped if he’s just going to sit in some uncomfortable hospital chair, being all pessimistic and thinking that his brother is dead. Now, if you think about it, being optimistic isn’t necessarily going to help Tommy’s case either, but at least it could help make someone feel better.
“I don’t, you’re right. But I do know that Tommy is a strong kid. Remember when we took him to the park for his fifth birthday and some kid tried to steal his popsicle and he almost beat the shit out of that kid,” A small chuckle left Wilbur’s mouth, “So I think he’s got some pretty good chances.”
“Those two things aren’t the same, though,” Wilbur said, finally making eye contact with Techno, who by now had seated himself to Wilbur’s right. He would’ve complained about sitting on the floor if it weren’t for the bigger issues they were dealing with at that moment.
“No, they’re not. But Tommy will get through this, we just need to focus on the future and not on the present or past because that won’t help anyone.” Techno was glad Wilbur didn’t say anything after that anymore, because he wasn’t quite sure if he could keep telling someone else everything was going to be fine when even he himself didn’t know what to do other than sit and wait.
So they sat in comfortable silence, waiting for Phil to finally show up because, of course, he wasn’t there in twenty minutes. God no, could he ever? Eventually, after what felt like hours, but was probably only fifty minutes, a doctor came up to them telling them that Tommy was going to be alright.
Wilbur almost started crying again, but this time rather out of happiness and relief. Techno smiled as well but quickly thanked the doctor before asking if they could go see him.
While they were allowed to go in, they were also informed that Tommy wasn’t awake yet and that it might take a bit before he does. The boys said that they understood before rushing into the room Tommy had been put in.
Although Wilbur had managed to suppress his tears the past half hour, seeing his brother in this position made him break down again. Techno was quick to pull out a chair next to Tommy’s bed and set Wilbur on it before taking in the scene himself.
Tommy was laid on a hospital bed, some bag of whatever was hooked up to his left arm while he had one of those heartbeat things on his finger -Techno didn’t know the words, and he never wanted to learn them, not after this, anyways- The blanket was pulled up to around the middle of his stomach.
Techno wanted to cry as well, actually, but he didn’t think he could do anything anymore. He just felt empty inside, staring at his unconscious brother. Although he knew the doctor said Tommy was going to be fine, it didn’t assure Techno everything would actually be fine.
Sure, Tommy might make a full recovery, but changing the way they -mostly Phil- treated Tommy wasn’t going to be easy. Phil didn’t even want to come to the hospital in the first place. He wasn’t even worried or slightly fazed. The only thing Phil was, was cruel.
“He’s in this room, his brothers are already with him but-” Techno turned around to see Phil walking into the room with a doctor behind him who was trying to tell him something about Tommy’s status, which was clearly something Phil wasn’t interested in.
“Dad, you said twenty minutes, it’s been at least an hour.” Phil gave Techno somewhat of an apologetic look, but it didn’t feel like he meant it, more like he was just trying to get Techno off of his back for being a liar and giving zero fucks.
“Look, traffic was busy and stuff, but I’m here now. That is what matters anyways. Is he ready to go home yet?” Phil asked after a short moment of awkward silence. Wilbur let out a small noise of annoyance, all while still refusing to take his gaze away from Tommy. He wasn’t letting him out of his sight again, no fucking way.
“Like I was trying to say, Tommy is still unconscious but he will most likely wake up within the next hour.” The doctor said before leaving the room after his pager beeped.
“Fucking hell, I’m sorry Thomas has been causing you boys so much trouble today. You two can go home and I’ll wait for him to wake up and take him back home.” Phil didn’t even sound pleased with his own suggestion. He didn’t want to shouldn’t be alone with Tommy, everyone knew.
“Absolutely not, we’re not leaving Tommy alone with you ever again,” Techno said harshly, somehow managing to take Phil by surprise as he widened his eyes and his mouth fell agape.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!” Phil sneered, looking at Techno for an answer as if he was clueless, as if he was completely unaware that he’d treated Tommy unfairly. Phil was in some fake denial ass shit and Techno was so not having it.
“You know exactly what that means, Phil ,” Techno said through gritted teeth. Phil looked back at him in an offended manner. Techno knew that Phil knew exactly what he meant but that they were going to have to go a long way before Phil would come even close to admitting that he straight-up neglected Tommy.
“It doesn’t matter, I’m his father. I am staying.” Phil crossed his arms, giving Techno a stare that was only reserved for Tommy most of the time. However, Techno wasn’t about to back off anytime soon. If he was going to ever make Phil realise how bad he was treating Tommy it would have to start now.
“You might be that kid's father but you were never his dad. You never picked up from school, Will and I did. You never came to a single one of his school performances, Will and I did-”
“No you fucking didn’t, you went once,” Phil cut in, staring at Techno as if he had caught him.
“At least we did! You never gave a fuck about Tommy and you’re clearly not ready to do so now. So, no, we’re not going to leave you alone with him after he just tried to overdose. He’s here because of you, because you refuse to get over something that happened sixteen years ago which wasn’t even his fault!” Techno was pretty sure the entire hospital had heard their commotion by now.
“Don’t bring your mother into this. If he wasn’t here she would still be alive. I have every right to be upset!” Phil was now screaming as well. Wilbur was holding onto Tommy’s bed for dear life as if Tommy would drift away if he let go. Techno was staring at Phil with pure anger. No one was having a good time.
“Of course you can be upset, but don’t take everything out on Tommy! He didn’t kill her!” Techno yelled, completely focused on the conversation. He was so focused he didn’t even notice Tommy shifting in the bed and Wilbur trying to get their attention.
“He did! He killed her! I’m so ‘sorry’ that I can’t love a monster!” Phil said, every word in his last sentence filled with sarcasm.
Techno scoffed. Then, Techno slapped Phil across the face. The doctors that came into the room to check up on the commotion quickly pulled them apart and took Techno out of the room.
“Hey, Toms. Don’t worry about them, how are you feeling?” Wilbur asked as soon as he saw Tommy staring at Techno being ushered out of the room and Phil being checked on by a doctor.
“I- what?” Tommy’s voice was quiet and scratchy, far from pleasant, but Wilbur couldn’t find himself being annoyed like he usually would be. He only found himself pitying his brother.
“Is he finally awake? That means we can finally go home, right?” Phil said with a slight smile on his face.
Tommy could hear Techno, from outside of the room, demanding to be let in to see his little brother, saying that their father deserved it. Overall, Tommy was pretty confused. He was pretty sure he saw Techno give Phil a full-on bitch slap. Oh yeah, and he was in the hospital? And not like, you know, fucking dead like he was supposed to be.
Tommy might’ve been a bit irritated at that, but having watched his brother give Phil a full-on bitch slap definitely lightened the disappointment. It didn’t fix it or anything, but it did do something.
“Unfortunately we’re unable to discharge him just yet, we’ll have to see and make sure his body will be able to recover from the overdoses on its own before we can send him off.” The doctor didn’t look at Phil while speaking but kept his eyes focused on Tommy, as did Phil.
Tommy swore he could hear Phil mutter a small “Bulshit” under his breath, but maybe he was making that up to villainize Phil or some shit, who knew? Tommy surely didn’t. His brain was fuzzy as hell and everything that was happening felt like a fever dream.
After a few tests, the doctor left Tommy alone with Phil and Wilbur. Techno was nowhere to be found, but no one seemed to be too focused on that. Phil eventually sat down with a sigh and a huff on a chair to Tommy’s right. Wilbur was still on Tommy’s left and refused to let go of Tommy’s hand, even when Tommy was softly trying to wiggle out of there.
And for a while, they just sat in silence, no one said anything or did anything. Well, at least until Phil decided to share his opinion on the situation.
“This is extremely inconvenient, you know”- Of course Tommy trying to kill himself was inconvenient and not a horrible tragedy that Phil wished he had prevented -“I had to take the rest of the day off, I had to cash in half a vacation day, Thomas. All because of your little shitty stunt,” Phil said, staring at Tommy who gave him a blank stare back.
“Please, dad,” Wilbur whimpered from the other side of Tommy’s bed, finally letting Tommy’s hand go free. “You can’t be serious, he just woke up from trying to- you know- fucking- this is not the time!” Wilbur groaned, dragging a hand over his face.
“I’m just saying that the next time he considers doing something stupid he needs to think of the consequences for the people around him.” Wilbur stared at Phil with red eyes from all the previous crying. Tommy just sat between them wishing the pills had taken him out like they were supposed to.
These situations were what led Tommy to take all those pills. They ate him up from the inside out until Tommy had decided he had had enough and didn’t want to feel the hurt anymore. But, apparently, it wasn’t going to be that easy to get away from them, and especially not Phil.
“Dad, please- just please leave the room,” Wilbur said, trying to sound as strong as he could, not that strong of course, it was Wilbur. He was no Techno but he cared about Tommy, and Phil was being an absolute shithead to him at the moment so he was just going to have to collect every bit of courage he had to express how he felt.
“Jesus, no- fine. sure, whatever,” Phil muttered as he got up and left the room, continuing to mutter something inaudible. It didn’t take more than a minute before Phil was back in the room.
A tall man with brown hair walked into Tommy’s room with Phil close behind him saying things along the lines of ‘that’s not needed’ and ‘that’s not true’. Tommy was wide awake now and looking at the man and his clipboard as he started introducing himself.
“Hello, I am Eret, I am with Child Protected Services and I would like to speak to Thomas Watson alone, please.” And just like that, Wilbur’s world came crashing down. Tommy was more confused than before and Phil was taken aback for the first time in a while.
“What’s this all about? You’re saying I abuse my kids or some shit?” Phil said as he stood up.
The Eret guy quickly put his hands up in surrender. “No one is being accused of anything right now. This is standard procedure. The hospital legally has to call CPS in case a child attempts to commit suicide. I am just going to ask everyone a few questions and then talk with my higher-ups if anything needs to happen. There is nothing to worry about, everything is in everyone’s best interest,” He said.
Phil muttered something again before motioning for Wilbur to follow him out of the room. And all of a sudden Tommy was left with a random man he had never seen before in his life.
“Alright, Thomas, I understand this can all be a bit overwhelming but I am going to need you to answer these questions to the best of your ability, can you do that for me?” They asked with a kind smile as he sat down.
“It’s Tommy,” Tommy said softly.
The man nodded before scribbling something down “Thank you for telling me, Tommy. Now, Tommy, do you like it at home?” Eret asked, looking at Tommy like only Mr. Foolish did, with a kind smile and some pity lingering around in the background.
“Sometimes,” Tommy murmured, keeping his eyes on his sheets.
“Could you elaborate on that?” Eret asked. Tommy didn’t know if he was supposed to lie. Sure, he didn’t like how Phil treated him, but if he was too honest, could that mess up Phil’s life? Tommy didn’t want that. Phil was a great dad to Techno and Wilbur, and he didn’t want to take that away from them. But he wanted that sweet, kind, and caring Phil too. He wanted the fucking chicken soup when he was sick and the adoring looks aimed at him for once.
“I like playing the piano at home but I don’t like it when they’re being very loud downstairs while I am upstairs.” Tommy didn’t lie, because he did hate it when he could hear them laugh and joke together downstairs while he was in his room trying to figure out if life was worth living, so this wasn’t a lie, was it?
Eret scribbled down some more stuff. “And how do you feel about your dad?” Eret asked, looking at Tommy again.
Tommy was convinced that Eret saw him flinch at the mention of Phil. It’s not like he would normally jump at Phil being mentioned- but just that Eret called Phil his dad made something in Tommy's turn. Phil wasn’t his dad- Phil- well he was his dad but also not.
“He’s okay” Tommy mumbled as he started fidgeting with his sheets. They were so white and clean, he should wash his sheets when he got home. He’s pretty sure he hasn’t changed them in at least two months. Phil probably cleaned Wilbur and Techno’s sheets for them.
Eret gave him a small look of disbelief, “Are you sure?” His tone was far from annoyed but more filled with concern.
“No,” Tommy sighed before leaning back into his bed. Of course, he didn’t think positively about Phil, how could anyone? He was a fucking dick, and even that was an understatement.
“Does your dad ever hurt you?” Eret asked slowly like he expected everything to spill out as soon as the words had left his mouth. Unfortunately, Tommy’s head was such a mess that he found it hard to give an actual useful answer. If Eret had asked him any day before this Tommy would’ve shared everything just to see Phil’s life shatter, even if it was only a little bit. But now he knew that it didn’t matter what he did, he could kill himself and Phil wouldn’t even be fazed.
“He’s never hit me,” Tommy said, trying to recall every memory he had to make sure Phil hadn’t actually. Sure, the bottle had gotten close to his head but had missed him nonetheless.
“Okay, that’s good. Has he ever hurt your feelings?” Eret asked, even slower than last time.
Yes of fucking course, that was literally the only thing Phil had ever done to Tommy. “Yes,” Tommy mumbled, much softer than he would’ve liked it to be. Like he was scared Phil was right outside of the room and would hear him if he spoke too loud.
“And what kind of things does he say then?” Eret asked, keeping his focus on Tommy almost to the point Tommy wanted to die on the spot out of awkwardness.
“Just stuff about my mom, and other stuff- it’s not that bad, I swear,” Tommy mumbled the first bit before quickly adding on the last bit a bit louder.
Eret sighed before putting his pen down, “Tommy, I am here to help you, okay? Everything you tell me is confidential, I won’t tell your dad or your brothers anything. I just need you to tell me the truth so I can help you. What does Phil say to you about your mother?”
Tommy looked back down before answering the question. “Just, you know, that I killed her and stuff,” Tommy said quietly, “But Phil isn’t a bad person! He’s great with Wilbur and Techno, just not with me, but that is my fault anyways” Tommy said after quickly.
“Tommy.” Eret’s tone sounded disappointed, like, the kind of tone where someone is more sad than actually disappointed. “I promise you what Phil says isn’t true,” Eret said. He quickly scribbled some stuff down before standing up. “Thank you for telling me this, Tommy, I am glad you trusted me enough to share this with me. I promise I won’t tell Phil a thing. On that note, I am now going to talk to your brothers and Phil. I’ll see you next time” Eret said as he stood up and left.
Tommy could let out a small “bye” Before Eret had already left and Tommy was left alone in the room.