Work Text:
todd was 6 when he realized for the first time that his parents didn’t love him. he spent a lot of time watching other people, he had never been good at playing with the other kids. he saw the other family’s and how the mom would kiss the scrapes and bruises, how the dad would push the kids on swings and play with them.
todd’s parents never did any of that. he rarely saw them for more than an hour each day.
todd was 10 when he realized that he was gonna die young. he just didn’t have enough love to keep him going.
he spent his days floating around the halls of whatever boarding prep school his parents shipped him off to, to tired to do work and to awake to sleep.
todd was 17 when he met neil perry. suddenly he had friends. they were loud and obnoxious and some of them could be massive assholes but they all loved each other.
todd was 17 when he fell in love. neil perry was like a ray of sunshine coming through a boarded up window, making the dust in the air glow.
todd was 17 when he decided he didn’t want to die young.
todd was 17 when neil perry did.