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Tommy’s gaze flickered mindlessly over the billowing smoke, his eyes glazed and his thoughts enveloped in a sea of white noise as he lifted an idle hand to wipe a streak of blood from his cheek. The amber flames were almost blinding against the deep blue sky, the heat floating into the air and distorting the view around the house. As he thought, Tommy heard a part of the woodwork collapse, a stunning crash echoing throughout the woods nearby, and he subconsciously wondered what part of the house it was.
Was it the living room, where he’d shared so many laughs and jokes? Maybe the kitchen, where he’d made a mess and had fun while trying to learn a new skill? It could’ve been the dining room, where three times a day, they’d all gather, happy and smiling. Tommy considered, maybe it was his own bedroom, where he’d spent so many nights crying into his pillow; where he’d stayed awake all night, only his demons to accompany him; where he’d absently go through the same grey motions every day and every night.
His bedroom: where the fire inside him started.
“What the fuck have you done?” Wilbur called from the bottom of the tree Tommy had perched himself on, giving him a good and safe view of the house. With an upset click of his tongue, Tommy tore his eyes from the magnificent flames to Will’s tear-streaked face, the purest look of unbridled emotion layered in them.
Hesitating a moment, Tommy decided that the question didn’t require a response; it was quite clear what he’d done — impossible to miss, in fact. He looked back to the fire, swallowing the house he’d once loved so dearly into nothing more than ash and soot.
Soot. Tommy cracked a smile.
“Tommy...” Phil had arrived at the bottom of the tree too, a spluttering and stained Techno leant against his shoulder, Techno’s right leg bent out of place and bloody, “Come down here. C’mon.”
And yet, Tommy didn’t move. The more he stared at the fire, the more entranced by it he became, not realising how much he relished in it until he saw the sight with his own eyes. Maybe it was because Tommy himself was like fire: warm and comforting, but dangerous and unpredictable when pushed too hard. Unforgiving and raging. That was Tommy.
“Tommy, I thought—!” Wilbur shouted, cutting himself off with a choked sob that he’d clearly been trying to hold back, “—I thought you cared about us! Why?!”
Unable to help himself, Tommy barked out a laugh at that, clutching his stomach and cackling, despite knowing damn well that it wasn’t funny. Despite his persona, Tommy was a fucking smart kid, and he understood just how to push Wilbur in the right places to anger him. Being a brother to someone will do that to you.
“If you really thought that I cared about any of you,” Tommy began, his voice booming over the crackles and creaks of the fire, and he knew that he was lying, but they didn’t, “Then you’re every bit delusional as I am selfish!”
The statement struck each of the men below like a lightning bolt, shaking then to their cores and sending shudders down their spines. Sure, maybe Tommy had said that in the spur of the moment, but the amount of bottled emotion and honesty behind his tone told a different story. Wilbur stumbled over his words, not sure what to reply to the boy he still cared for, and Techno was practically rendered mute as he continued coughing from the smoke he’d inhaled, so Phil took matters into his own hands.
“Tommy, please. Come down here. We care about you.” Phil assured, figuring out what the underlying issue was and trying to comfort Tommy in any way he could. The kid he knew wouldn’t just do this without an incredible force pushing him to the edge, and the only thing strong enough to hurt Tommy was himself, “It’s okay. We can find a new home.”
“We?” Tommy shouted, finally looking down at his once-family, “You think I want to spend another moment with any of you?!” He felt tears prick behind his eyes and squeezed them shut in a futile attempt to stop them, “Do you understand how much you hurt me? All the insults, the bullying, the comments?! You thought they didn’t mean anything to me? Well, they fucking did!” The sobs built up in his throat, and he stopped nothing to stop them, having hidden his emotions far too many times, “Y-You hurt me.” His body shook with the force of his upset, frail and small.
“Tommy—“ Phil began, but he was interrupted by Techno, who had stabilised himself enough to talk, albeit croakily.
“You should’ve said something,” Techno suggested, rubbing his throat with one hand and holding Phil with the other, “We would’ve helped you.”
“Well now I have said something!” Tommy shouted, standing on the branch and gesturing widely to the blazing house, which was slowly crumbling before his very eyes, “Oh, I’ve said something alright, and it’s louder than anything else I could’ve told you!”
Overcome with rage, Tommy fumbled in his jean pocket, pulling out the red lighter and screaming, throwing it to the ground below him, letting out a shaking breath as it clattered before Wilbur’s feet, a reminder of what he’d done. Will toed the cracked plastic, pushing it over and examining it, noting the worn trigger and the faded plastic. Had Tommy planned to do this before?
“You know what?” Tommy asked, his fists clenched and his breaths uneven, “I’m better without you.”
And with that, Tommy scurried around the tree, climbing to another one and making his way through the forest over the treetops. Phil sighed, turning and staring at the ablaze house, the distinct stench of smoke and hatred in the air.
“Y’know,” Wilbur’s voice was soft, tears still streaming down his face as he also spun to face the fire, “I used to know the kid who did this.”
“You did?” Phil hummed, voice cracked and broken, shattered like his heart.
“What were they like..?” Techno breathed, wiping a streak of ash across his face in an attempt to clean himself and straightening his glasses.
“Well, he was going to change the world.” Will sighed, and Phil chuckled sadly at that, wrapping an arm around both of his boys and missing the third one he used to do this with too.
‘He was going to change the world.’
And right before them, the world burned.