Chapter Text
Tommy’s eyes drifted out the window as they drove past streets of picture perfect houses, like the ones in those teen movies, all white picket fences and perfectly mowed lawns. They passed by in a blur of white and oranges, the bricks all blending together.
He was bored and jittery. His leg wouldn’t stop shaking, the sole of his trainer tapping relentlessly against the floor of the car, no matter how many times he tried to stop it. He picked at his nails subconsciously, scraping dirt out from under them.
His social worker glanced over at him from the driver's seat, she looked concerned but Tommy refused to give her the satisfaction of eye contact, instead choosing to stare resolutely at the passing trees, music blasting in his ears through a pair of small red earphones.
“It won’t be as bad as you think. I know Wilbur well enough to know that he won’t do anything you’re not comfortable with”
Tommy continued to stare resolutely out the window, gaze hard and unyielding.
Niki sighed, exasperated. Her hand came off of the steering wheel as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Just promise me you won’t get into any trouble on purpose”
Tommy clenched his jaw, teeth clicking together. His gaze remained fixed on the outside world as he spoke.
“Fine.”
The answer was short and aggressive, but was enough to placate Niki for the moment.
“Thank you”
She spoke with a fondness in her voice that Tommy didn’t hear often, a small smile gracing her features.
Tommy didn’t reply. The rest of the drive was silent.
When they finally arrived at the house, Tommy was surprised to find that it wasn’t nearly as pristine as the others that they had been passing before. It looked well-worn, lived in. Like the owner didn't mind the small graffitied stars and flowers that painted the bricks in an array of dim colours.
The front garden was full of leaves and flowers bursting from their spots on the grass around the path to the front door. White and red roses grew from bushes near a metal fence encasing the garden, dandelions poked out from gaps in the stone path and peonies were dotted around randomly, surrounded by small patches of daisies and buttercups.
They exited the car quickly, giving no time for hesitation as Tommy’s door shut a bit harder than he had intended and he flinched at the sudden noise, a small yelp leaving his mouth as he did.
“Shit”. His voice was quiet as he spoke the word, not wanting to be scolded by Niki as he tried to calm down after the slight jumpscare. The anticipation of a new adult wasn’t helping his pounding heart.
He took a shaky breath as he began to walk towards where Niki had opened the front gate and was holding it open for him, a slight look of concern on her face as she studied his demeanor, her scrutinising gaze, again, not helping his anxiety about the situation.
You got this Tom. You’re the biggest man that’s ever lived, no pussy adult is gonna take that away from you so easily. He sounded a lot more confident inside his head than out of it.
They had reached the door by that point, Niki now knocking loudly on the wood. It wasn’t painted a specific colour, instead, a deep brown, stained cleanly with little carvings of intricate designs in the woodwork. They swirled together like waves, twisting around each other with grace.
Tommy decided to look back at his scuffed shoes, the mud and occasional leaf, a familiar comfort compared to the cleanliness of the place in front of him.
The door opened, pulling him away from his thoughts as a tall man stepped into the opening. His hair was curly and brown, the slight sun that poked through the cloud cover, cast golden shadows on his face.
He wore a burgundy jumper with a shirt underneath, the white collar poking above the neck of the sweater. He had necklaces on too, silver, one with a small crow pendant, the other a crown. His deep brown sailor trousers were adorned with gold embroidery and he had shoes on for some reason, like a wrongun.
Seriously, who wore shoes inside of their own house? Weirdo.
“Hey, you must be Tommy then, right?” He pointed at him as he said his name, Niki nodding kindly when he got it right.
“Yeah, Wil, this is Tommy. Can we come in?”
“Oh, yeah, sure, sorry.” Wilbur stepped out of the way to let them through, closing the door behind him and walking ahead to lead them through to the dining room.
As Tommy entered the room, he noted the emptiness of the walls, only a few small picture frames rested neatly on a fireplace, pictures of two boys with short brown hair, no older than four and a blond man with a small emerald-coloured earring.
As Tommy was focused on the pictures, Wilbur and Niki had begun talking to each other about his arrangements. Eating habits, what to watch out for in his mental health, the little things that he does when anxious or upset. He had hated when this had happened the first time, but by now, he was used to hearing it, knowing that the conversation would happen eventually.
What he wasn’t ready for, however, was when Wilbur decided he wanted to take Tommy’s feelings on the matter into account.
“Hey, Tommy, do you want to leave the room so it doesn’t feel like we’re ignoring your presence entirely? Maybe check out your new room?”
Tommy fumbled a bit at the question, struggling to get words out.
“I- Yeah, oka- sure, yeah. Where is it?”
“Upstairs, second door on the right. You can look around everywhere else too if you want, nothing’s off bounds.” Wilbur spoke with a warm smile on his face, not showing anything but genuine sincerity.
Tommy didn’t trust it one bit.
“Okay.”
He walked out of the dining room, back to the hallway that they had entered from, having walked past the stairs to get into the house properly. His steps were slow and precise, making note of which steps creaked and which didn’t, just in case.
When he reached his room, he didn't know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t what he found there, probably the opposite, if he was honest.
The room was large, first of all. At least the size that the dining room had been, with high ceilings and a walk-in wardrobe who’s door sat neatly aside in the back corner. His bed was a high-sleeper, made of sturdy-looking wood and adorned with bright red covers on each pillow and a red and white duvet cover.
There was a desk set up underneath it, sharpened pencils and fancy pens neatly arranged atop it and a large pile of notebook and sketchbooks lay next to a shiny, new laptop. A switch with a custom case was next to that and a few new pairs of shoes sat beneath it.
One pair was a new set of red and white trainers, with wing details painted onto the outside of the ankle area. There was a pair of boots next to them, dark brown faux leather that would cover his ankle. A larger pair of boots was next to them, this time platforms that would reach his knees, a shiny black colour, with silver adorning each one.
On the opposite side of the room, a large bookcase was filled with hardcovers, paperbacks, you name it. A few plants were placed in gaps in the books, deep greens blending with the dark brown of the wooden shelves. Most of the books seemed to be older, rather than more modern stories, he offhandedly wondered how Wilbur would have known he liked older books more.
The closet was large as he stepped into it, a massive amount of clothing was hanging around the walls of it and Tommy flicked through it, skimming the clothing. There was a lot of red and white but also some blues and browns, yellows and greens, oranges and greys, dotted in the mix.
The clothing itself was varied too. Shirts, jumpers, cardigans, trousers, shorts, skirts, a couple pairs of fishnets and a massive amount of socks, whether they be ankle socks or thigh-highs.
He was in awe. The amount of things that had been bought specifically for him made him wonder if Wilbur had already owned most of this or if he had tried to foster a child before. But, the way that the things seemed mostly tailored to his favourites threw him off.
He still didn’t think that he could trust Wilbur, especially with the electronics and how expensive he knew they were. They must have been a mistake, otherwise, why would he give them to a kid he hadn't even met before. Maybe he had just left them there accidentally. Yeah, that was probably it.
Tommy would just tell him once Niki had left. Yeah, he’d do that.
Niki was leaving, Tommy knew because he could hear her footsteps as she made her way up the stairs to say bye to him. Plus, he had done this same thing enough times to know what the end of a foster parent and social worker's conversation sounded like. He could hear the awkward goodbye’s already.
Just as he expected, there was a small knock on the door to his room where he had been sat writing in one of the notebooks that was laid out on the desk. If they were there, he was gonna make the most of them while he still could. He never knew when they would be taken off of him.
“Yeah”
His voice wasn’t loud and it cracked a little when he raised it, but Niki heard it nonetheless and opened the door, coming through into the room properly and closing it behind her. She had a small smile on her face as she walked towards him.
“Hey, Tommy, can I hug you?”
“Yeah, sure…” His voice was small.
Niki moved towards him slowly, careful to not startle the boy as she wrapped her arms around him. The hug was nice. Tommy felt safe.
They stayed like that for at least two minutes, neither wanting to let go. Niki had been nice to Tommy, she cared and he didn’t want that to be taken away from him yet. But, eventually, they had to part.
Niki pulled away first, leaving Tommy with a small feeling of emptiness as they said their goodbyes.
“Hey, I’ll be back in a week to check in, you’ll be fine, promise.”
Niki held out her pinky with a sad smile on her face.
“Okay.” Tommy shook it with his own as he spoke, his voice small as he looked down at the carpeted floor below him.
Niki ruffled his hair as she stood, sending one last smile his way before she turned and walked out of his room. Tommy refused to acknowledge the small tears running down his cheeks. They’ve done this so many times before, he shouldn’t be crying now.
He steeled himself as he heard the front door close and the sound of a car pulling out from the curb at the front of the house. He took a deep breath in, slightly shaky as he did.
“You got this.” the words were sighed into the air, quiet even in the relative silence of the house.
Tommy picked up the laptop and the switch, again, steeling himself as he made his way out of his room and down the stairs to where he thought Wilbur would be.
As he stepped into the dining room that Wilbur and Niki had been speaking in, Tommy’s steps slowed a bit when he saw that Wilbur wasn’t there anymore. He looked around a bit, taking small steps into the room, wondering where the man could be before he heard the sound of glass on wood.
He filled the noise through the dining room to what seemed to be the kitchen. Wilbur was there, pulling a bottle of red liquid out of the fridge as another glass sat on the countertop above him. Tommy froze up when he saw the older, his words getting stuck in his throat.
Wilbur glanced up at him, expression questioning as he looked at Tommy holding the electronics.
“I- You left these in the room”
Tommy held the devices out, diverting his eyes from Wilbur’s gaze, refusing to look at him.
“Oh. Um- No, I did that on purpose, They’re for you”
Tommy looked up at that, still holding his arms in front of him, refusing to believe that Wilbur had bought these for a kid he hadn’t even met.
Tommy studied the man’s face, searching for any hint of dishonesty in his expression. He didn’t find any.
“If you don’t like them, I can buy you something different if you-”
“No!” Tommy panicked, he hadn’t raised his voice like that in a while but his mind was running too fast to think about that.
Why is he being so nice to some random foster child? Why did he care so much about some random kid he had just met that day? It was throwing him off.
“It’s- They’re fine. Good. I just didn’t think they were mine is all.”
Tommy was muttering by the end of his sentence but Wilbur heard him clear enough.
“Okay.” He looked to visibly relax at that. “That’s fine, just want you to be comfortable while you’re here” Wilbur smiled. It was warm.
“Okay, well, I’ll just, go back upstairs” Tommy's eyes were down-turned, looking at the floor rather than at the other.
“Oh, while you’re here, would you like pizza or chicken for dinner tonight?”
Tommy’s brain stuttered, not expecting to be asked his opinion.
“I- Pizza’s good"
“Okay” Wilbur turned back to his drink with that warm smile.
Tommy continued his walk out of the room, heading back towards the bedroom, devices still clutched in his shaking hands. He stumbled a little on the stairs, but made it to the bedroom nonetheless.
Wilbur’s genuine concern was new to him, most other foster parents he had had wouldn’t have given him a second glance, nevermind the worry that was evident on Wilbur’s face when he thought Tommy didn’t like the ‘gifts’ he had been given.
It was different. Tommy hated different.
See, Tommy was used to dealing with the same stuff over and over again. He could work with mean comments or even physical violence, as he had time and time again. But kindness, concern, they were new.
Sure, occasionally, there would be a nice kid in the household that would help him, but adults had always been mean or at the very least dismissive. Wilbur seemed to be a genuinely nice person and it was ruining him.
He was already beginning to fall apart, the shaking hands had just been the beginning, tripping on the stairs only worsened the process faster.
As soon as he had arrived in the room, he had shut the door, managing to find the lock that was on it, probably for privacy reasons and Tommy couldn’t thank enough Gods that it was there.
His breathing had become uneven and he had closed his eyes to try and will away the breakdown that he knew had been sneaking up on him slowly from as soon as he had seen the front door of this damned house.
A couple tears leaked out of his closed eyes as he laid his head against the door. He didn’t know when he had sat down, but he had, his shirt had ridden up as his back slid down the wood.
It was cold against his back, but he didn’t think he had the energy to move away from the contact, despite how uncomfortable it made him.
There was too much happening, it felt like he was being smothered, surrounded on all sides, being squished by an invisible force.
He waved his hands about as he sat on the carpeted floor, not wanting to touch anything accidentally, he kept them up in the air, making fists as he moved his fingers back and forth. His nails occasionally made contact with the skin of his palm, the slight sting helping to bring his mind back to its place in his body.
Tommy sat there for a while, at least he thinks it was a while, it was hard to tell from how he had been pretty much in his own little world for the majority of the time.
He looked up a bit, watching the sky as it was visible through his window. It was darker outside than it had been earlier, not quite night, but definitely later in the evening. The sun had mostly disappeared below the skyline and the sky was mostly a grey colour.
Stars had begun to appear, some shining brightly behind thin, wispy clouds that floated slowly over the melancholic scene. It was a bit of a downer, though Tommy guessed it kind of suited the mood he was in at that moment.
He moved his eyes away from the outside, instead focusing on the devices that he had discarded in favour of a meltdown earlier on. They sat neatly beside him and didn’t appear to have been dropped at least. Seemed he held some respect for the expensive items even when he was in the state that he was.
His fingers ran over the textured surface of the laptop gently, like he was just reminding himself that he was in the room at that moment, rather than being somewhere a lot less safe than the locked bedroom.
“Tommy!”
Wilbur’s voice burst through the silence that had formed in the room, cutting through the out-of-body feeling that had taken over Tommy’s mind.
“Yeah?!” Tommy’s voice was shaky as he replied.
“Dinner’s ready!”
Oh yeah, Tommy had forgotten Wilbur was making food. He was used to having to do it himself, past foster parents either not caring enough to remember him or not being home to make food for him in the first place.
He stood shakily, his legs threatening to give out under the weight of his body. He clenched his fists once more as shivers racked his body and his head swam.
He steeled his expression and took a step forward, opening the bedroom door and making his way down the hallway to the stairs.
He latched onto the banister and carefully made his way down towards the dining room.
He moved slowly, the occasional shiver still raking through his body, making him hesitate in his movements.
As he got to the bottom of the stairs, the world seemed to spin for a moment, his vision darkened and flickered and he fell forwards, only staying upright because of the hand he had still tightly holding the banister.
He righted himself after a few seconds, allowing the blackness to seep from his vision fully. He kept walking towards the dining room, the smell from the pizza Wilbur had made keeping him grounded for the most part.
When he finally got to the room, he steeled himself fully, brushing away any signs of weakness before he stepped through the doorway.
There were two places set at the table, the extra two seats empty. The places set weren’t next to each other which Tommy was thankful for, he didn’t really feel like sitting directly next to a stranger.
He made his way over to one of the chairs, taking note of the candles burning in the middle of the table as he sat down. The flames were small, but still large enough that he could sense them quite easily if he focused.
As he waited, he could hear Wilbur in the kitchen, obviously trying to grab everything at once (and failing judging by the faint swearing Tommy could hear).
He debated going to help, but ultimately decided against it, he didn’t think that he could handle it after his minor meltdown earlier, he was still shaking slightly.
Eventually, the sound died down and Wilbur walked out of the kitchen seemingly having decided to just take two trips as he placed down Tommy and his plates in their respective places.
“Do you need any sauces or anything?” Wilbur’s voice was calmer than it had been when he was struggling, softer.
“No, it’s fine” Tommy’s voice broke a little when he spoke, coming out quieter than he had intended.
“Okay” Wilbur turned away with a smile, going back into the kitchen before he returned a few seconds later with two cans of coke zero and sauce for himself.
“Niki told me you liked coke and I refuse to buy full sugar, so I hope you’re okay with zero” Wilbur handed him the can.
“Yeah, that’s fine” Tommy took it from the man, opening it, startling slightly at the hiss it made.
He took a drink, ignoring Wilbur’s questioning gaze until he turned back to his own plate.
The meal went alright after that, Wilbur tried to make conversation, but the short answers Tommy made weren’t helping the attempt, so he eventually resorted to playing some music quietly over a small speaker to fill the silence.
After Tommy had finished eating, he made his way back up to the room he had been given, placing his plate near the sink at Wilbur’s insistence that he’d wash up.
The shivers had mostly stopped by that point, but his hands still shook ever so slightly and the plate had made another loud noise as he placed it down, again causing Tommy to flinch back minutely.
He earned another concerned gaze from Wilbur at that.
He ignored it once more.
His steps were fast as he went up the staircase, but still rather light on the carpeted floor, a trick he had learned a few years back in a particularly bad house. Niki had gotten him out of that one in record time.
He still had a couple scars though. Instant health could only do so much.
Once he had made it to the room, he made a point to make sure that he locked the door, he didn’t particularly want a repeat of house number 3.
Once he was sure that the door was locked properly, he made his way over to the desk in the room, opening one of the smaller sketchbooks and grabbing a pencil.
His lines were smooth and steady as he lay the graphite onto the blank page, something he had done countless times before.
The symbols he created were complex, twisting and twirling on the page like a maze of shapes and lines.
Tommy moved the pencil with practiced grace, as though the drawing was an infinite dance, waiting to stop.
It was infinite, in a way.
The lines had existed for eternity and would keep existing for long after this world had stopped spinning, they were just… lost.
Tommy hadn’t found them alone, in fact, he doesn’t think he could be credited with finding them at all.
It had been a voice. Soft and calming.
It had carried over the wind and rain of a goop storm, somehow managing to block out any other sound from the world around him.
At the time he had stopped. Just frozen in place, wondering if he had actually heard anything or if it was another trick, someone waiting to catch him out.
Then he had heard it again.
It was slightly louder the second time, as though it was spiting him for doubting it had existed. He didn’t know what it had said the first time, he wasn’t expecting anything, so he missed the word it had said. He heard it then though.
“Tommy”
It was still quiet, but the word was still clear to Tommy.
“Yeah?” He felt weird speaking to no-one, but it wasn’t like he could ignore a disembodied voice speaking directly to him.
“Oh, you can hear me, thank goodness” The voice sounded relieved, “I wasn’t sure this would work”
“Who are you?” Irritation was starting to build up as Tommy became more and more confused.
“Oh, right, sorry, I am goop, but you can just call me Sally” It sounded like the voice was smiling, as though they had just told a funny joke.
“Okay… Sally, what do you want from me?”
“Goodness, no need to be hostile, I don’t particularly NEED anything from you, Tommy.” Tommy frowned.
“Then why are you here?”
“Ah, well, while I don’t need anything from you, there is something that I would like for you to do”
“And that is?”
“That tree in front of you? The big oak one?” Tommy walked over to the tree in front of him, Sally was right, it was definitely big. He raised an eyebrow in question.
“Yes, that one! Can you trace a circle onto there please, just lightly, it doesn’t need to be perfect”
Tommy turned back to the tree, he wondered why he was even doing this in the first place, this voice could easily be trying to trick him. He didn’t think it was though and he liked to think that he was a good judge of character.
He traced a circle into the bark with his finger.
It began to glow.
He stumbled back from it as it shone brighter and brighter, not enough to hurt, but enough for him to know it wasn’t a hallucination at least.
“What the fuck!?”
“Right, apologies, I probably should have explained more, ah, I may have given you the smallest bit of magic”
“What.”
“Yes, um, it’ll feel a bit weird at first, but you should get used to it over time. There shouldn’t be any major side effects, but you’ll be able to feel the world around you a lot more closely than other people might.”
“SHOULDN’T be side effects?”
“Yes, if I have done everything correctly, which I am certain I have, then you should be fine”
“And if you messed something up?”
“You, might, become a little less, human than you are right now”
“In what way?!”
“No need to shout, it’d be painless. You may start to present some features of an animal or plant that you closely relate to, not in a physical way, more, spiritual, I suppose”
“Okay. Okay. Sure, why not? Yup. Mhm. Totally fine with this if you couldn’t tell”
Tommy knew he was muttering and that people usually found that annoying, but he couldn’t be bothered to care at that moment, more focused on the ‘side effects’ Sally had failed to mention before she decided to possibly afflict him with them.
His breathing had picked up in the silence, coming out in quick, short gasps, his chest rising and falling at an even faster pace than when he was running into the forest in the first place.
He faintly registered Sally’s voice in the background as he panicked. She seemed to be calling his name, but he didn’t have enough control to hear her properly, she could have been right next to him and he still wouldn’t have heard her in that moment.
“Tommy!” Sally was beginning to panic too as she shouted the boy’s name as loud as she could with her flimsy connection.
She was only a minor goddess compared to the others, if she messed up here, not only would Tommy have to endure the pain of losing the magic he had been given, but she would be punished alongside him. Right now, knocking him out of his panic was her only priority though.
“Tommy, you need to try and calm yourself, I know you have techniques that you use for these scenarios, I know you can do this.”
Tommy’s hand twitched slightly from its place over his chest and Sally’s own hand became visible over the top of his. Her semi-corporeal form guided his hand to her own chest as she slowed her own breathing.
“Come on kid, just match my breathing, I know you can do it, c’mon sunshine”
Tommy’s breathing began to even out and his eyes focused into the world around him again, locking on Sally’s face from where she looked down at him with a soft smile, whispering goop to him all the way.
His breathing had evened out fully after a while, neither of them were sure how long, but by the end, the look of awe that had bloomed in Tommy’s face when he first saw Sally had mostly dissipated, although a small fragment of that expression remained on his features.
“You’re her”
“Yes, I didn’t know void travel was possible through a connection this weak, but I suppose I can’t object to it”
“You’re very pretty”
“Thank you” Sally smiled at him, “You’re very pretty too.” A small smile crawled its way onto Tommy’s own face at the compliment, Sally knew he didn’t get enough of those.
“Sunshine, I’m going to have to leave soon, the connection won’t hold with me here.
“I know, you can still talk though?"
“Not very often, but I promise to check in when I can, make sure you’re doing okay, maybe help with the magic training”
Tommy’s face fell a little, “Right.”
“Hey, magic is nothing to be scared of and to create a balance, you will need to practise with it” She continued to smile at him, “You have been given a gift, I promise you the magic will work with you to help, it will guide you if you let it and sit back out of the way when you do not want it there. It is alive like you and I, it will not hurt or attack anyone that you care about as it has a connection to you. You have been brought closer to every living thing on this planet, that is a gift.”
Sally’s gaze softened.
“You are a gift.”