Chapter Text
“Tommy, I don’t think you comprehend the severity of your actions.” The principal looked down at him. Tommy looked back.
Face impassive as ever, “And I don’t think you understand that specifically you trying to sound professional only makes you sound pretentious.” Tommy bit back. watching in glee as the principal’s face scrunched before smoothing down.
“I see you’ve learned some things from your brother. If only he taught you better.” He sighed. Tommy tensed. “By the way is he almost here?”
Tommy ignored the previous comment and checked the time before jumping onto an app tracking where Wilbur is, just a few more minutes. “He’ll be here soon.” The principal nodded.
Tommy finally settled down. Already having been briefly lectured about his actions again. He looked down at his stained shirt. Who wouldn’t start a food fight with someone when that someone poured that nasty chocolate milk on them?
The office was filled with the soft sounds of typing and the occasional scratch of pen against paper. The principal working as Tommy sat there waiting for his brother.
There was a knock at the door and Wilbur poked his head in. Smiling at Tommy before nodding his greeting at the principal. He sat down on the chair next to Tommy. “Good evening, what did he do this time?” he asked the principal with a kind smile.
The principal greeted him back before putting on a serious face, “This young man started a food fight in the cafeteria. This behavior is unacceptable and punishable on school grounds.”
“Are the other kids involved getting punished?” Wilbur questioned.
The principal shuffled in his seat. Ready for how Wilbur might try to protect and justify this one. “Yes, however Tommy here started the fight.”
Tommy didn’t get to defend his honor before Wilbur threw another question. “Yes, that much has been made clear. But if a food fight happened, there should be another responsible party. Tommy can't just start it without aiming at someone.”
The principal went silent. And Tommy took the chance. “It’s that smoking senior, the one that took my bag last time and threw it into a puddle.”
Wilbur turned to him. “Didn’t I tell you to avoid him?”
Tommy nodded, turning back at the principal. “Been trying to tell that to him this past hour, but he just won't listen when I say that he was the one who messed with me first by pouring that nasty ass milk on me.” The principal’s brow furrowed at the swearing, but he seemed to understand Tommy’s frustration for now.
Wilbur turned back, “Well, I think the only thing my brother is responsible for is standing up for himself. if people want to follow his lead like a bunch of brainless monkeys that’s on them.” Wilbur stood up and Tommy followed. “Reduce his punishment or whatever pompous word you want to call it to something lighter.”
The principal tiredly sighed and rubbed his temple before murmuring his agreement. Tommy grinned from ear to ear, before following Wilbur out. They walked to Wilbur’s car and Tommy was given a clean shirt.
They went for ice cream before going home. Wilbur’s mother wasn’t there, as is usually expected. They binged on a few shows and Tommy chose to ignore and procrastinate on his work.
Then Wilbur spoke up in the middle of the movie. “You know you need to be less impulsive, right?” Tommy looked at him, frowning.
“I’m not gonna let people walk over me man.” He argued back watching as Wilbur stared back at him, sighing at the response. Okay, not the response he wanted. “I’ll let him throw shit at me next time and not speak up don’t worry.”
Wilbur’s brow twitched in annoyance. “Tommy.” he said sternly.
“Look if you’re going to start some sort of argument again, I’ll just go to bed.” He got up and picked up his plate of leftovers. Wilbur let out a grumbled fine, wishing Tommy a good night before facing back towards the movie.
Tommy did just that, washing his dish and trudging up the stairs to his room. By the time he had gotten ready for bed the tv downstairs had turned off and Wilbur’s door was closed.
-
Tommy woke up early the next morning. He looked down the hall towards Wilbur’s room, debating about waking him up. He decided against. Instead, he went downstairs and made breakfast. Taking note of the dirty dishes on the table. He sighed and washed them before starting breakfast.
He took out a couple of eggs and the last few strips of bacon. He set his space up and began to work. Quickly putting the coffee to brew before starting.
Around twenty minutes later Wilbur came slinking down the stairs in the way ridiculously tall people do. Tommy turned off the heat for the bacon and quickly took them out. Filling a cup of coffee and walking over to Wilbur already sat down at the table. “Thanks.” Tommy only nodded before going back into the kitchen and serving both of them eggs and toast, putting the bacon on another separate plate.
Wilbur smiled graciously before digging in like there was no tomorrow.
When they were done Wilbur was more of a person than the zombified version of a man. Tommy cringed as he heard his brother’s back pop into action as he stood up and stretched. “Alright, let’s go.” He groaned out as he slumped back down into his horrible, curved posture. Tommy stifled a laugh, quickly picking his and Wilbur’s plate and rinsing them. He’ll clean them after school.
“Tommy! Hurry up!” Wilbur yelled from outside.
“I AM!” Tommy’s screech came as a response. He stuffed his phone in his pocket and picked up his backpack from the living room, everything still inside and with one strap ready to tear.
He ran out the door, locking it, and right into Wilbur’s car. By the time he had put his seatbelt on Wilbur was speeding down their road. School wasn’t all that far but Tommy preferred taking a ride with Wilbur for the few extra minutes home.
“Why do you listen to this shit man?” Came Tommy’s first sentence since his good morning. Leaning over to change the radio station. Wilbur glared at Tommy’s hand with all his might throughout the ordeal.
“You just don’t have class.”
“And you coming down the stairs looking like you’ve aged hundreds of years over night is?”
A sigh could be heard. “Are you still upset?”
“No.”
Wilbur hummed, drumming his fingers on the wheel for a moment, “I’m sorry. But you know I worry. And I don’t want mom to get another phone call only to come home pissed.” Wilbur grumbled.
Tommy paused. “You think she still remembers our names?”
“I don’t know, last time we saw her she kept calling me William and you Toms. At least she was close that time.” Wilbur grinned. Tommy let himself laugh before looking to the side.
“I guess I'm also sorry, since I'm man enough to recognize my mistakes.” Tommy grumbled. Wilbur smiled, having stopped at a red light. He leaned over and lightly budged Tommy after a bit of silence. Humming for him to continue, eliciting a dramatically long sigh from Tommy. “ and, I guess I am a little impulsive sometimes, and maybe I disregard everything you say sometimes.”
The tense air lifted a bit. Wilbur kept driving as the car in front of him moved forwards. “And I guess it’s a little hypocritical of me to scold you when I was much worse than you.” Tommy scoffed and nodded, looking at Wilbur with a half-hearted glare.
They turned one more time before the school came into view. For a high school it was pretty big. Although, as nice and pristine as it may seem, only the surface looks nice, the inside was rotten. The student body was horrible, and the staff were petty and strict. But as a prestigious school it lives up to its reputation. Somewhat.
Tommy sighed as the car came to a stop, he groaned loudly as he pulled his bag and got out of the car. “Hey,” Tommy stopped his action in closing the door, his colorful farewell at the tip of his tongue as he looks at Wilbur, brow raised for him to continue, “win if you’re going to fight dumbass.” Wilbur smirked.
Tommy huffed, “Ok, can I, you know, leave now or do you have something else to say to me?”
“I am very fond of you.”
Tommy slammed the door closed halfway through that feared phrase. He flicked Wilbur off through the window and ignored Wilbur’s cackling figure, he stared in horror as Wilbur rolled the window down, “no but seriously, I promised to keep you safe, and I can't do that if you’re losing half of your fights.”
And Tommy, well Tommy would forever deny the way his entire demeanor softened and as he looked back at Wilbur with a small smile, clearly remembering that rainy night when he had run away only for Wilbur to come running through the mud in the park and to him, looking a million times better when Tommy was within his personal bubble.
It sounded stupid now and Tommy sometimes groaned out of embarrassment whenever he was reminded that he ran away to get his mother’s attention.
“Yeah, I know.” Where his last words to Wilbur before a car behind him honked and Wilbur glared at his rearview mirror. Waving at Tommy and shifting his car into drive.
Tommy walked with a pep up to the school, having seen Wilbur leave the school’s drop off in the front, and off to his job. Admittedly, Tommy didn’t have a lot of friends, not really close ones at least, but he did know a lot of people and walked through the halls waving or nodding in different people’s directions. Some even stopped him to ask about what the principal said and why he wasn’t suspended. Tommy had no real answer, so he just shrugged and gave the usual ‘don’t worry about it’.
He put a few things into his locker, though he didn’t really need to use it. but he liked the feeling of having his life organized in some way or another. Even if he didn’t.
The bell rang, signaling for students to start flowing into their classes already. And Tommy did just that, he picked his bag up again and began walking over to his first class. Happily waving at the one teacher that didn’t suck complete ass in the building. The teacher smiled and greeted him with a gentle good morning.
It all went up in flames when the bell for sixth period rang. Tommy threw the remainder of his school lunch away and started walking back inside the school building.
It was like any other time, he started his long walk back to his class. He carried his bag on one shoulder and walked, music going through one ear and half listening to the world around him. He takes a detour to avoid going near where the senior he fought usually stands with his group of friends, which is going around half of the building and then entering through the doors on the other side.
The loud chatter quiets down and soon it’s just Tommy walking down the sidewalk and thinking if he should change his regular routine to walking outside the building when he can, it’s late spring, and the weather is nice.
As he enters the building. And as he walks down the empty gym and down towards where the stairwell leads up, he hears it, too late now, the whispers and the sudden opening of a door. And then he hears himself colliding against the garbage bin.
“WHAT THE F- AH!” Tommy yells out in pain as a foot comes down harshly onto his hand, as he works on standing back up.
He feels before he sees two hands holding him back and lifting him in a half up half lying position as his hair is pulled to look up at the bitch who stomped him so rudely.
And Tommy pales. Who knew the guy who immaturely started a food fight with him had gone mad and most likely had been stalking him and had his whole schedule down. Tommy sure didn’t. But that doesn’t stop him from snarking up at the guy.
“What the hell man! I get you’re mad, I'm also pretty upset but I'm not going evil supervillain mode rubbing my hands together and plotting your demise!” Tommy looked at the senior in a mix of anger panic and his typical dickwad energy when treating with this asshole.
His friends laughed behind Tommy and Tommy had the delight in seeing the guy above him frown further. “Haha. I see you’re still stupid besides the obvious threat.”
“What threat? All I see is a sad loser who is angry and embarrassed that mommy is disappointed in him.” Tommy didn’t see the kick aimed at his face. too pleased with his clever retort, short lived as it was.
Next Tommy saw as the floor below him began sporting circular droplets of scarlet red. He felt blood trickle from his nose. Fucking soccer players and their kicks. Tommy groaned looking back up at the senior, hatred in his eyes as he tensed his arms and tugged on them lightly to test how hard they had him held down.
The senior smirked down at him, elated to have Tommy, a freshman who was just minding his damn business after their previous squabble, on his knees and bleeding from a well-aimed kick to the face. “Not so spiky now, huh?” the senior sneered as his buddies laughed behind Tommy.
Tommy pulled one of his arms away from the one with the weakest hold on him and scratched and punched at what he could. By the time he could properly stand one of the senior’s buddies had run out and some students from nearby classes had heard the scuffle and were recording as the senior repeatedly came for Tommy despite beginning to sport a couple bruises and scratches himself.
Tommy though?
Tommy wasn’t even trying to come out on top. He knows he can't really win against the senior as much as he buffs about it. And the terrible scratch on his cheek and the fact that one of his eyes is narrowed after an ugly punch is proof.
He hears adults screaming and sees as the vice principal is trying to push his way through the kids to no avail. With everyone holding their phones up and one even livestreaming.
Tommy steps aside from another punch and keeps close to the wall to avoid a straight kick from the guy again. He’s caged. And it feels like the senior in front of him is a vicious animal. “Stop dodging you son of a bitch! What are you? A pussy?!” The senior screamed enraged, not caring about the consequences.
And well Tommy isn't too different. He pushes the senior away as he gets too close for comfort. One of the guy’s buddies yelling at him. “If anything, the guy pulling in someone who has clearly been avoiding him is more idiotic, don’t you think?” Tommy smirked, a front as he took the second to breathe and look at the students that had gathered into the bathroom. The shitheads just ‘oh’ed and ‘ah’ed at the exchange between him and the senior. Not one moving out the way or coming forward to stop the fight. Some looked ready to jump into it though.
“Move the FUCK out the way!” Came in a voice, and Tommy watched in amazement as his brother pushed through the student body with the principal behind him. Tommy would’ve stepped forward and taken the way out. Would’ve.
If the senior hadn’t seized the moment of his distraction and grabbed a fistful of his hair, earning a harsh yelp in response. Half of a curse rang out before it was interrupted by a sickening crack.
All Tommy saw as he looked behind him for a second was a tilted world and the senior’s cold expression, at the edge of his vision a rapidly approaching blur of white. Before that was overtaken by a flash of searing hot pain and dark spots before blacking out. He thinks he remembers maybe hearing a yell oddly similar sounding.
Wilbur rushed forward. The principal was threatening suspension for the kids watching if they didn’t leave now so the way became easier for him. security entered a second after him but that was all the time Wilbur needed to get the threat off of his brother. The mongrel was just standing there, looking down at Tommy’s crumpled form in satisfaction as blood oozed from Tommy’s head.
Wilbur aimed his fist right into the guy’s obnoxiously long neck leaving him sputtering before grabbing a fistful of hair just as he had done for Tommy and throwing him into a stall. The security yelled out in alarm, but Wilbur didn’t go after the senior even through his enraged state, his priority was Tommy. Tommy, who had acted brave and uncaring about the situation when his eyes betrayed his thoughts of entrapment and the desperate need to get out.
“Has anyone called a fucking ambulance?!” He yelled at the principal who looked at him with a lost expression as Wilbur carefully maneuvered around Tommy. He knew better than to jostle him if he could have a concussion from the impact.
The principal cleared his throat, “Yes, my vice principal contacted me earlier that the student’s injuries may need attention.
Tommy let out a whine as his face morphed into one of discomfort. Wilbur’s attention was immediately caught. “Tommy!” He loomed over his brother, lightly tapping him, if he’s waking up it’s for the best he doesn’t go back under. “Tommy open your eyes and look at me.” He gently instructed.
Tommy did no such thing, scrunching up his nose and turning his head just an inch towards his brother’s voice. “Wilbur?” Wilbur hummed and asked again nicely. This time he only groaned before opening his eyes, trying his best to concentrate on what was in front of him. The blood from the cut of his forehead had seeped into one of his eyes and caused his whites to become red.
Wilbur winces as he looks at Tommy. “Wilbur.” Came the principal’s voice behind him, “The paramedics are here, they’ll take care of Tommy, ok?”
Numbly Wilbur slowly lets the paramedics enter and take Tommy from him as they did a quick examination on him before carrying him out. Wilbur followed silently through it all. He ended up sitting down at the small half wall surrounding the flowerbed of the gardening club Tommy was in. He stares at the purple flowers that Tommy always complained about. Something about being difficult to maintain and nobody knowing where they came from.
“Are you the guardian of Thomas Ines Moore?” Wilbur turned his head to look up at the paramedic, he quickly nodded before pausing.
“Well, no. Our mom is busy right now, but I know everything you need about my brother, so I hope that isn't a bother.” Wilbur slowly stood up to be courteous.
The paramedic paused before looking at the police officer on the side who had asked about the events earlier. He sighed, “I suppose the actual guardian is preferred but if they’re too busy to come and give a statement for their kid then I suppose you can fill in their spot for now. However, we do need her to fill out a few legal forms about what happened and contact a lawyer in case the others want to press charges or take it to court.” Wilbur nodded as he watched the paramedic pull out a small notepad. “He thankfully didn’t crack his skull or anything like that, but he did gain a mild concussion which given with the videos we’ve seen of how he hit the sink it is mildly surprising it isn't worse.”
Wilbur sighed in relief as he heard that, he had begun thinking about the worst case scenarios in his time just sitting down and instructed to give the paramedics space. He opened his eyes, having closed them momentarily, and stared at the ambulance where Tommy was currently in, “Um, what about the gash on this head? Is it bad? It was bleeding a lot earlier.”
“It is completely normal for cuts on the head to bleed heavily, don’t worry. But he did lose quite a bit of blood, so I recommend you just watch out for the wound and make sure he’s healthy.” The paramedic said before turning to the police officer and talking about the injuries and more technical terms Wilbur didn’t care to stick around for when he could go check on Tommy.
He slowly walked up to the ambulance before slipping inside. Tommy was sitting up and drinking some water. He squinted at Wilbur through the light, “Oh, hey Wil.”
“Hey, Tommy.” He slowly shuffled over to him and talked with the stationary paramedic inside that accompanied Tommy to make sure he was okay and comfortable.
Wilbur took Tommy in. He looked heavily disheveled, with a sweaty face and ruffled clothing. He had bandaging around his head and partially over one bruised eye. Hair sticking through every so often curly and unruly, some bits looked wet with either blood or sweat. Not to mention his swollen nose with blood still smeared about. Wilbur made a face. And Tommy took only a second longer to bristle up, “What?” was his rough question.
Wilbur looked down at him in the eyes and shrugged. He looked at the paramedic still inside, “Does he need to go to the hospital, or can he stay with me?”
“One second,” was their immediate response before asking through her walkie talkie, a moment later they nodded and smiled, “You have the all clear for now. I’ll help you set him on his feet, and you can take him outside to walk, we’ll be here a little longer so if he feels worse we’ll be here.”
With their help Tommy was able to properly stand and get off the ambulance. Wincing at the natural light and looking around. He scrutinizes the place before realizing where he’s at, looking over to the flowers and plants growing neatly on the small plot designated to them.
“Want to go sit over there? I saw those flowers you talk about.” Tommy nodded and smiled as he too spotted the troublesome flowers once he was close enough. They sat a little further where they had a better view of the baseball field where a pack of students were crawling around. Some showing up to learn more about what just transpired and maybe get a glimpse at them. Most were just wandering about if they weren’t part of the baseball team that was currently completing its stretches before the day ended.
The two stayed there sitting, answering repeated questions about the incident and their information every now and then. The officers that had been with the senior had come over to them at some point to get a short version of the story before they walked over to another officer.
They sat there until the bell rang for the end of the day. Tommy wincing at the sound. Wilbur threw an arm around him in an attempt to comfort him. “We’ll have to go soon.”
Tommy hummed, his brows furrowed, “Wait, did you call mom?” He looked up at Wilbur beside him.
“Yeah, but you know. She’s too busy to answer her kids.” Wilbur scoffed. Tommy snorted softly, yeah sounds about right.
Despite being the one to suggest they leave soon, Wilbur was not the one who made the move to leave. Tommy groaned before getting up with some level of difficulty. He looked down at Wilbur who was still sitting down staring at him worriedly, “You sure you’re good?” Wilbur asked as he stared at Tommy sway slightly.
“Yeah.” Tommy lied. He was not in fact good. His head hurt and ached, and his body felt stiff. He knew Wilbur didn’t believe him and searched desperately for something else to latch onto before Wilbur denied his statement. And that’s when he noticed it. “Who the fuck tore my flowers out.” Tommy said as he stared in shock at the torn-up soil where some of his purple flowers were planted this morning when he checked. He had raised them since he joined the damn club and even the other seniors in the club had officially declared the flowers to be sanctioned after Tommy had subtly swayed them with his amazing baking skills.
So, to see the flowers missing with some pieces remaining looking torn and uprooted came as a surprise, an unpleasant one. Wilbur sensed his discomfort and frowned, “Maybe some dumbass thought they were pretty and took them?” He gave a weak suggestion watching as Tommy only gave him an ‘are you fucking kidding me’ look. “Or maybe not… how about we go home? It has been a pretty long day for you, and I don’t think you want to cry in front of the student body over flowers.”
Tommy tore his eyes from where his flowers used to be. He has complained and ranted about them to Wilbur as if it were something he would rather not be tending to, but he had really gotten into the flower lover mentality when it came to his little patch of flowers. He sighed and glanced around the garden for some clue or something to signify that it wasn’t just his flowers. He noticed a few other plants having broken stems and seemingly disturbed but none looked torn or missing. He looked at Wil, already standing a few steps away as he stretched and waited for him. “Yeah, sure. At least now I don’t have to do that geometry project due tomorrow.”
Wilbur smiled and stepped forward, lightly patting him. “Now, I shouldn’t encourage this, but it is almost the end of the school year so you could take advantage of your injuries and ‘doctor’s orders’” Wilbur joked as they both began walking to the parking lot. Tommy grinned, he so will take advantage of his weak and poor state, too feeble to pick up his pencil and focus.
He glanced back at the field and watched as the baseball team gathered around and cheered as their coach joined them and began his bit of being a war general. Yelling out orders and sending the kids into groups to start a warm-up game. Normally he stayed behind a little because at the end everyone sells and buys the snacks and drinks people bring under the supervision of the teachers and the surprisingly competent student council.
Tommy yawns and turns around. Yeah, home, where a very comfortable bed is waiting for him, sounds good.