Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You’re being clingy.”

The eleven year old curled closer into the older.

“I’m being clingy? I finally have my baby, and he calls me clingy.” The older said, long arms holding the younger close. The two were sitting together on the couch, up in the apartment above Crow’s Diner. The sounds of cooking, talking, and rustling echoed from downstairs. Downstairs where the rest of the family was, they normally left the two alone to make up for lost time.

Not two weeks ago the two had never met, and now the two were inseparable. Wilbur had always wanted to meet his son, he wanted to see him grow up, and although he didn’t get the chance to see the first eleven years of his life. He planned to be there for the rest, no matter what. When he first met the boy, he had been crying in his music shop. After spending two days looking for someone he had never met: looking for Wilbur. His dad. Within the next two weeks of Tommy’s stay, he noticed a lot of things about him. Some things he adored: the way Tommy could be caught speaking to a random animal, how the blue cardigan he wore was embroidered with different characters and items, how he clung to the stuffed toy Kristen had knitted, or maybe it was just the fact that the boy had the brightest smile that infected everything around him. But there also things that concerned him: like how the boy had dark circles around his eyes that persisted even after two weeks, how the boy had a hard time breathing at some points, how the scar that ran across right eye seemed to bug him, the slight flinch whenever someone came near him, or maybe just the surprised look on his face whenever something was given to him. It all painted a picture that Wilbur despised. He didn’t know what his boy had gone through, he just knew he had to help undo it. But over everything else, he loved him.

“Yes. I am.” Tommy said, as Wilbur buried his nose into the younger’s hair. Tommy was curled up in Wilbur lap as the two sat content for the first moments in their lives. This had become a normal routine for the two in the past week. When the two just sat together to reassure the other that for once they were actually together.
“Says the one currently using me as a human pillow.” Wilbur retaliated, Tommy was normally tired. It was something that they had learned about the boy within the time they knew him. He would get tired easily and when running around with Tubbo and Ranboo he’d take breaks, it was odd but no one had questioned it. So, yes, Tommy was using Wilbur as a pillow but that was only because he had extremely soft sweaters. So it was his fault for being warm and comfortable.

Nonetheless, though, Tommy immediately sat up and stared at Wilbur. His blue eyes meeting chocolate brown. “I can stop.” He says quietly, before finding his feet interesting.

That was also something Wilbur noticed. Tommy was always backing down. It didn’t matter what he was doing, if someone made a comment he’d stop whether it was negative or positive. Wilbur ran his hand through the younger’s hair, catching his attention back.

“You’re fine, love.” He whispered and pulled the boy back to his original position. The boy rested his head on the older’s shoulder, and let out a content sigh as he felt the older’s chin rest on his hair. Wilbur’s arms curled around the younger, encasing him in a hug.

“Wil?” Tommy’s voice was soft and almost drowned out by the noise of the house. Wilbur looked down at the boy in his arms, who one minute would be loud and chaotic but then the next would be this broken bundle in his arms. Wilbur hummed his response, holding a hand out for the younger to take. The boy did and while Wilbur trailed one hand through his hair, Tommy held his other inspecting each finger like it held a secret map. “You…You want me here, right?”

Wilbur’s hand paused in his hair, and the older looked down to the boy with wide eyes. The boy himself did not look up, keeping his head leaning on Wilbur’s shoulder and attention on the hand in his own.

“Of course, I want you here, love. Why would you ever think I didn’t?” Wilbur asked. Tommy curled into himself more, so that he could hide his face within his knees. Wilbur listened to his son’s mumbled answer.

“Toms, can you look at me?” He asked, moving his hand from the boy’s hair to cup his face. Tommy faced him but kept his eyes anywhere but the man in front of him. Wilbur curled his fingers around the younger’s chin gently guiding him to look at him. “Baby, I love you. I’ve wanted you here from the moment I knew about you. I tried so hard to meet you, to get to know you, Sally just didn’t want me in her life anymore. In turn, that hurt you. But, love, can you tell me why you thought that way?”

Wilbur pushed the boy’s curls from his face, allowing his hand to scratch his scalp. Tommy looked down back to Wilbur’s hand he still held. His forehead hit Wilbur’s shoulder as he gave up trying to hold the bricks in his head. Wilbur frowned, and rubbed the boy’s neck where baby hairs were still growing.

“It’s weird…” Tommy mumbled, pulling on Wilbur’s fingers.

“Yeah?” Wilbur inquired, hoping to guide the younger into speaking. He pressed his chin on top of the curls of the other. His son’s curls were the color of a beautiful sunshine, and as he ran his hand through it. It felt like holding sunshine in his own hands. Even from miles away, Tommy had been brightening his every moment without even knowing it.

“It’s different-Sally-She never…Mom never did this. She worked late a lot, and left early in the mornings. I never really saw her unless it was late at night. She’d be home for dinner, sometimes. But…she was never really around..like you.” Tommy paused and looked up at the older. He seemed to be tracing the older’s face in his mind. Wilbur tilted his head and hummed for the younger to continue. Over the time he’d know his boy, Tommy had shown him a new side to Sally that he’d not seen before. The more he learned, the more he began to hate the woman for all the love she never seemed to show the boy.

“I just…Jared always told me he never wanted me around.” Tommy continued, curled up underneath Wilbur’s embrace. Wilbur bit down the snarl at the mention of the man. He’d long had his own differences with the man, but the more he learned of his part in his own son’s life, the more he hated. “I guess I just ignored it for a while. But then Sally-mom started, too. They made it sound like I wasn’t supposed to be around. That-That was why I left. They didn’t want me anymore, or at least I finally understood they never wanted me in the first place. But if they never wanted me, why did you want me? You didn’t even know me until two weeks ago.” Tommy finished, his voice quiet and muffled in Wilbur’s sweater. Wilbur’s grip tightened around him. Tommy was safe in his arms, Wilbur reminded himself, no one could hurt the living sunshine in his arms. No one could rip him away from him, and no one could tell him hurtful statements he should never hear. Wilbur pressed a kiss into the younger’s curls, before he started untangling the knots growing in his hair.

“Love, I spend time with you because I care about you. I’ll tell you that everyday, if it takes, for you to believe me. I promise to never leave you, because I want you around. I want to be able to wake up and hear your voice. I want to see that smile of yours. I want to know your stories. I want to be in your life. I always did. I want you. I may not have been there in the beginning, but I’ll be here until the end.” Wilbur spoke with certainty as if reading a poem he was writing in his mind. Tommy decided that Wilbur’s words were like a poem, but it was a poem meant for him and only him. It was something special. Wilbur rolled his hands through the younger’s hair, pulling out tufts and curling them in his fingers. Tommy melted into the touch as he normally did, he chased after Wilbur’s fingers in his hair. “And you wanna know a secret?” Wilbur whispered, into the younger’s ear.

Tommy looked up, eyes widening at the thought of knowing a secret. He looked up to the older with his goldfish-like look. Wilbur chuckled something warm and kind. “What?” Tommy asked.

“These have been the best two weeks of my life. Just because you’re here.” Wilbur finished. Tommy looked up at him, his lips slightly upturning into a tiny smile.

“Really?” Tommy asked, voice still small and unbelieving. Wilbur hated the fact his own son couldn’t believe that he actually loved him. Like it was something that was an achievement he hadn’t already earned by just being there and alive. Wilbur nodded, and was attacked by a hug by the younger. Tommy wrapped himself around the older, arms around his neck and legs around his waist. Wilbur laughed as he was trapped by his koala-like hold.

“My little sun. Little sunshine. Just a lovely little thing. I love you so much, Sunrise. I’ll love you until the world goes dark and you’re the only one who can brighten my days. My baby.” The older said nose buried into the curls of the younger, with hands wrapped around him.

It’s unclear how long the two stayed there. Tommy rested in Wilbur’s hold, as his eyes closed and sleep consumed him. Wilbur only stayed and let himself think of all the moments he finally got back after all these years. Eleven years and he finally got his son back. He had spent eleven years unsure of what to do with his life. He had shut down his own store a year after Sally left. He only visited the store when he needed time away from everyone, when his thoughts got too much and he needed to think of all he’d lost. He’d sent letters and postcards met only with silence. After a few years, he’d started helping out with his friend’s, Schlatt, kids. Tubbo was always a good kid. The kid always cared for his two younger brothers. He remembered having to leave the room when Ranboo first called him an Uncle. He remembered going silent when Tubbo had called him a second dad in a joke, even though they all knew he was serious. He had always and still cared about the kids but it had never amounted to how much he loved his own blood. Nothing could amount to this moment. His own blood asleep in his arms.

Of course it had to be broken by something.

Wilbur grimaced when the phone rang. The phone was in the next room, the kitchen, and all other members of the household were out. Leaving it to Wilbur, who had a child in his arms, to get it. He groaned at having to get up, the ringing in the next room waking the one in his arms.

Tommy hummed, opening one of his eyes. Wilbur let out a puff of air as he stood, still cradling the younger in his arms. The older walked over to the ringing phone, with the human koala attached to him. Wilbur picked up the phone and answered.

“Hello?” He said. He didn’t really know why anyone would call in the first place. If someone needed something from one of the Crafts all they had to do was walk into the diner. No one ever called them, it was just easier to talk in person at the diner or book store. So for someone to call was an odd occurrence.

“Wilbur?” The voice on the other side asked, there was the sound of a door closing and some rustling. The voice was deep and it sounded familiar, Wilbur just couldn’t place it.

“That’s me. Who is this?” He asked.

“It’s Sam, from the police station. Think you can make your way over here?” Sam asked. Sam came by the diner every once and a while when he was on break. He was sort of a regular. There wasn’t a lot of crime in L’manberg, unless you counted Schlatt and Quackity just being themselves. Then again Schlatt was the mayor. It all raised the question of why Sam needed Wilbur at the station.

“Does Quackity need someone to bail him out again?” Wilbur asked.

“No-” Sam answered, his voice scratching over the line.

“Tubbo then?” Wilbur cut the other off.

“No, again Wil-”

“Dream?” Wilbur asked, trying to think of anyone in town who could’ve gotten in trouble and decided to ask him for help. Maybe Dream had gotten in trouble during that game of Manhunt he, George and Sapnap were always playing. The game was too confusing for Wilbur to learn the rules. He just knew that as soon as Dream yelled Manhunt they had to chase him until they caught him, it didn’t matter where they were.

“Wilbur. No. I just need you at the station for a few minutes…Bring Tommy with you. I’ll talk to you when you get here.” Sam sounded almost upset about the thought. He hung up. Wilbur froze, he didn’t know what was happening but the thought of taking Tommy down to a police station to talk to the town’s sheriff seemed to be a bad thing. Wilbur took a deep breath, placing the phone back.

“What’s wrong?” Tommy asked, his head finally leaving the older’s shoulder to look up. Wilbur shook his head, to get the thoughts and ideas that were piling out.

“Nothing. Just gotta go meet someone. Are you up for that?” Wilbur asked, placing the younger on the ground much to both of their dismay. Tommy was actually quite shorter than Wilbur only reaching a bit above his waist. Tommy nodded. “Alright go grab your shoes.”

Tommy ran off in the direction of the guest bedroom, which had recently been slowly turning into his own. The room had first been just for storage, but after the announcement of a new member of the family, it had turned into a nursery. A very colorful one at that, since none of the Crafts could fully agree on a theme. It stayed a nursery even after Sally left, until the room was converted into a guest room to take away the hurt anyone felt when they walked past the door. The guest room was kept plain and white, but over the past two weeks Tommy had started giving the room his own personality. From the crochet-works that he’d hang up on the walls to the more store bought items Wil was already showering the kid with.

Wilbur slipped on his shoes by the door and waited for the pitter-patter of footsteps to come running up behind him. As he grabbed his coat from the hook he felt the sudden weight of another on his back, as Tommy hugged him from behind.

“Hi.” Wilbur said, as he slipped on the coat covering the younger behind him. Tommy giggled and slipped out from underneath the brown trench coat. Wilbur smiled and opened the door, leading himself and the boy out.

They walked down the iron staircase and onto the sidewalk of mainstreet. Over the past two weeks Tommy had gotten used to the tiny town, having met almost every person and immediately becoming friends. Wilbur smiled, his son had the charisma of a fluffy pup, he made anyone around him just adore him. He couldn’t understand how anyone would think differently. Tommy hopped over the cracks in the sidewalk, taking after Ranboo and dodging in and out of invisible people. He waved to the people inside of Niki’s Bakery, and shouted hello at Tubbo and Jack Manifold.

They turned down one of the off roads and headed up towards a smaller building. The almost black walls were cut up by tall gray columns, and a dark green door. The windows had a tinted color that was cut up by bars, it looked like a police station Tommy would have seen on T.v. The sign above the door was faded and some letters were missing. It looked to be one of the lesser cared for buildings. The sign must have said ‘L’manberg Police station’ at one time it was now just ‘l’ma b rg Polic tat on’.

Wilbur and Tommy walked into the building and were met with a large room, with a reception desk in the back. Wilbur sat down on one of the plush couches to wait, while Tommy looked around the room. The station was silent, and it didn’t seem to be housing anyone inside except for the two. Tommy inspected the pictures and couches before settling on the chair behind the reception desk. Bored, he spun in the chair till the door to the rest of the station opened, and a man with dyed green hair stepped.

The guy had a packet of paper in his hands and was searching the papers for something. He wore a normal officer outfit with the polished badge sitting on his breast pocket. He looked up and gave a shaky smile, “Wilbur.”

“What did you need, Sam? You don’t normally call, not unless someone needs a bail.” Wilbur said, his gaze hardened on the man in front of him. He stood and crossed his arms, his nervous energy escaping through the taping of his foot. Tommy noticed the exchange and walked behind Wilbur, lightly gripping his coat.

“I-follow me.” Sam said, as he looked between the two. Tommy had never met Sam before. He seemed okay, he guessed. In his old town, he only saw the police once when they came by Sally’s house to talk to her. He never saw them after that. Sally had said something about getting a new job that day, but she never went to it afterwards. Sam led them down a hallway and into an office across from one of the mugshot stations Tommy had seen on T.v. Sam sat down at the desk, his computer screen still alight with some information. There were papers scattered on his desk, pens and pencils spread out like he’d been frantically trying to get something written. Wilbur sat at the edge of his seat on the couch across from the desk. Tommy followed his dad’s lead and sat next to him, their shoulders touching.

“Stop beating around the bush, Sam. What’s going on?” Wilbur said, Tommy could hear the irritability in his voice. He was glad it wasn’t directed at him. Sam eyed the boy next to the older man, and sighed. He pushed a packet of paper towards Wilbur, who picked it up before Tommy got a look at it. Wilbur inspected the paper, as his eyes widened as he looked between the paper, Tommy and Sam before back to the paper. Tommy grabbed Wilbur’s hands trying to get him to lower the paper for him to see. Wilbur held strong though, not letting the younger see.

“She can’t be serious?” Wilbur said. His fingers tightening its hold on the paper. Wilbur felt his own breath hitch as Sam nodded. “She didn’t do anything, though?” Wilbur’s voice seemed to be getting angrier, as the paper crinkled in his hold.

“It doesn’t matter. She still has legal custody. You have to hand him over.” Sam said sadly, motioning to the youngest. Tommy sputtered and turned to his dad. He grabbed Wilbur’s wrist involuntarily and squeezed it trying to get the older’s attention back on him. Wilbur looked down at him and Tommy saw the broken, worried look that was being held behind angry eyes.

“What’s going on?” Tommy asked, hating how the conversation had completely gone over his head. Wilbur bit his lip before sharing the paper with the smaller. He pointed to a small picture at the top left corner under the missing person’s title.

“That’s you, bud. Sally put up a missing person alert for you.” Wilbur said, softly.

“What does that mean, though?” Tommy asked, taking the paper and trying to skim over the paragraphs for information. Wilbur was about to explain when Sam interrupted.

“It means your dad legally needs to hand you over before he gets himself in trouble, he can’t get himself out of.” Sam said, earning a glare from Wilbur.

“But I ran away…” Tommy stated, limply grabbing Wilbur’s extended hand.

“Doesn’t matter, your mom still has legal custody over you. Unless Wilbur can get custody of you, he can’t exactly house a missing person.” Sam explained motioning to the legal records strewn across his desk.

“Who says I can’t?” Wilbur challenged. Sam sighed.

“Unless you want to get fined and imprisoned for kidnapping, the law.” Wilbur rolled his eyes, foot tapping on the ground as he squeezed his son’s hand. Tommy was quiet, he didn’t want to get Wilbur in trouble. He just wanted to meet his dad and get away from his mom for a while. He thought that things could be normal if he found his dad. He could have friends, a good school, a new life. He didn’t mean to make his dad a criminal for just housing him. Tommy’s brow furrowed as he thought about having to go back to his old home. Sally would be mad. No, she’d be furious, so would Jared. They’d be even more angry then when he left them. They just wanted to make their family, and Tommy got in the middle of it. They hadn’t even wanted him, but now they were calling a missing person case. It was confusing. They wanted him there but also didn't. He didn't understand. He ran a hand through his hair thinking.

He hid his face in his hands. He didn’t want to go back. He could already feel the phantom pain of Sally’s cups and bottles. The phantom hands that were Jared’s angry fists after a long day at work. The phantom hands that pulled him from his body and made the whole world seem fuzzy. He felt the tingling in his fingers and toes grow. His mind filled with cotton and words died on his tongue at the memories of waking up at home alone. Walking home alone to find the house cold and abandoned until the clip clop of heels filled his mind with the hits and angry shouts. The station office around him fizzled out until he was back in his bare room, until he was hiding under the covers, Clara next to him standing watch as he rested his eyes.

Wilbur watched as his son’s eyes glazed over, and the hand in his own went limp. No strength behind the hold. The boy’s eyes funneled around the room searching for something, some real thing to pin onto and focus on. Wilbur grasped the boy’s hands in his own and rubbed his thumbs over the boy’s palm’s to ground him in some way. He turned to the officer, hands not leaving the younger.

“What can I do?”

Sam sighed, “The best option is to send him home, gather information and create a case. So you can get custody over him. You need to get custody, or at least visitation rights before anything else.” Wilbur shook his head.

“No. I’m not sending him back. No way, he’s not going anywhere near that d*mn house. There has to be another option. Sam, give me another option, please.” Wilbur looked back to the younger whose eyes still swam around the room unseeing, “I can’t send him back.”

Sam looked between the two, before giving in, “Wilbur. The only other option… It's risky. One wrong move and you get in huge trouble. Are you sure you want to go through with that?”

Wilbur shook his head and looked back to the officer, “I’m not letting anything else happen to him. If something happens to me, he’ll at least still have Phil, Kristen and Techno. I’m willing to do it, Sam. You can’t seriously think it’s a good idea to send him back, you’ve seen him. You’ve met Sally, she hasn’t changed. If anything she’s gotten worse. And…I have no words for Jared.”

“Wilbur, you have to understand I don’t want to send him back anymore than you do. I’ve spent the past three days trying to find other options. But I guess going deeper into the hole, you’ll come out somewhere.” Sam sighed, and Wilbur smirked. Wilbur pulled the boy, who still hadn’t fully come back yet, into his lap. He rested his chin on top of the boy’s curls offering another grounding pressure.

“I have an apartment in the city. I don’t use it alot, only when I get special calls. If you go up there with him, get him back into a normal routine. Tell Sally where he is, and explain the situation to the cops there. We might be able to get past this. But that also means you have to start that legal battle as soon as possible. Preferably before you even head out. It’s risky, but I’ll try my best to pull some strings. Got it?” Sam explained, typing some things on the computer. Wilbur nodded, eyes trained on the youngest.

“How do I get the custody battle going?”

They spent the next hour getting Wilbur’s case started, filing information and calling an attorney. Wilbur and Sam started the process, while Tommy rested in Wilbur’s lap. Documents were written, paperwork filled out, and signatures signed, later the two were walking out with more nerves than they walked in with.

The walk back to diner was a quiet one, neither speaking. Tommy didn’t jump around or wave to the passer-bys when they waved. He didn’t call back when Ranboo shouted down from the top story of Niki’s bakery. Wilbur didn’t comment when Schlatt, Quackity and Sapnap tried to start a conversation. He ignored Jack when he asked for help dealing with one certain dumpster diver. He just held the boy next to him close and kept walking. The two held an air of nerves and quiet sadness. Tommy’s eyes were still searching for a pinpoint in his view, while Wilbur still applied pressure to his shoulder trying to get the boy to gain some sort of coherence. A rain cloud had formed above the two’s heads and was drenching them as they walked away from the police station.

The silence followed the two into the apartment above Crow’s Diner. It followed them when Tommy left to hide away in the guest room. It stayed when Wilbur fell onto the couch, head being held in his hands as he replayed the afternoon scene by scene. It stayed when Techno came in and noticed his brother sitting silently on the couch alone, it was a scene he’d deemed normal before, but after the past two weeks Wilbur was never alone. The silence hovered over them when Techno tried to talk to his brother, and was met with stone silence. It followed when Phil and Kristen came in confused at a visibly worried Techno sitting next to a lone Wilbur. It covered the room when only four ate at the dinner table instead of the newly five. The silence never left until Wilbur walked out that night onto the iron staircase and saw Tommy for the first time since he left the station with him.

Wilbur sat down next to his son on the iron staircase. Wilbur’s hair was stuffed up into his normal maroon beanie, and his brown coat covered the yellow sweater he wore underneath. Tommy’s hair had been haphazardly covered by a knitted blue beanie, and his blue cardigan with animals and flowers embroidered on it covered his red and white striped shirt. They looked like an odd mirror of each other.

“It’s nice to actually see the stars. You can’t find them when you’re in the city.” Wilbur whispered, head tilted back as he looked at the bright suns in the night sky. Tommy nodded.

“I’m gonna miss having Niki’s pastries down the road.” Wilbur tried to joke, his strained laugh filled the still air around them. Tommy made no movement, or noise. Wilbur was about to give up and walk inside when the boy spoke.

“You don’t have to do this, you know?” His voice was slow, and quiet. Wilbur stopped and looked back at the boy next to him. His face barely visibly with the dim porch light and dying neon signs, but Wilbur noticed the tiny tear tracks that ran down his cheeks. “I’m not-I’m not your responsibility. If Sally really wants me back, I can leave. You don’t have to do this, Wil. It was-It was dumb of me to come here anyway.” The boy shoved a fist into his crying eyes to wipe the tears away.

Wilbur had never really known how to parent anyone, but after all Phil had done for him and all he’d helped around the town he liked to think he at least knew something. But he had no idea how to help his own kid. It was like a whole new puzzle he was having to figure out by himself and he just couldn’t get the hang of it.

“Toms, do you remember what you asked me this morning?” Wilbur asked, elbows rested on his knees as he picked at his fingernails. Tommy shook his head as he sniffled. “You-You asked me if I wanted you. And remember what I told you?”

“You said you wanted to be around me, that you always did.” Tommy answered, his tears slowing.

“I told you I love you. I still do, sunrise. None of this. None of it will make that any different. Toms, I want you safe and I want you happy. I don’t know why Sally does half the things she does, but what Sally does doesn’t matter. Because we’re talking about you, and you’re life. I want to know what you want. You ran away from Sally. You haven’t told me why, and you don’t have to but if it was because you felt unsafe or uncomfortable. Then I need to know. You don’t have to give me specifics. Just-Tommy if you feel unsafe with Sally and Jared, then you feel unsafe. There’s no if, buts, or whatever’s about it. I’m going to help.” Wilbur said, and he rested a hand on the younger’s knee.

Tommy looked up at the man across him and back down to his bare feet. He didn’t really know what it meant to have a ‘safe’ family. But if it was anything like having Wilbur, Techno, Phil, Kristen, Ranboo, Niki, Tubbo around then…

“I ran because…” Tommy started but the words clogged up his throat and died on his tongue. He hated thinking about that night, he tried pushing it away so hard but every moment he was alone he thought back to the words they said. How easy it was for them to throw those words with so much venom. Wilbur squeezed his knee lightly, a small ‘I’m right here’ left silent in the air.

“Mom-Sally had called Jared over for dinner. They wanted to talk about something. So when we had dinner they started talking. They-They wanted to have a family together. One that didn’t include me. Like-they’d have me around but I wasn’t supposed to go near them. They acted like I was some disease that they could catch. I told them we were a family, and Jared got mad. He said I was never his family, like normal. Sally just sided with him. They started arguing-about me. I tried to calm them down, but they didn’t listen. They just turned on me. They started yelling and Sally grabbed her bottle and I ran. I ran up to her room. My door was broken. I hid under her bed and I found the box. I don’t know how long I stayed under the bed, but I got out and took the box. I came here soon afterwards.”

The two were silent.

Tommy didn’t look at Wilbur. He didn’t want to see the broken, sad, concerned gaze Wilbur had. He could already feel it etching its way into his skin. He could feel when Wilbur’s arms wrapped around him, and pulled him impossibly closer. How he got pulled into his lap and wrapped in a protective embrace away from the cold air. He felt when Wilbur’s chin rested on his head and when Wilbur’s hands started to run through his hair.

“Sunflower, that’s why I want to do this. You don’t deserve to go through that. No one does. That’s why I’m doing this. That’s why I’m going to keep doing this. Because I love you, Sunrise.” Wilbur whispered. Tommy nodded. Wilbur didn’t need to voice how much he was wishing he’d pushed Sally more into letting him see him. He didn’t say how much he despised Sally for doing this. He didn’t say how much he hated the man that helped. He just held the boy and knew he would be there for the after effects of it all. “How about we go inside before we both catch a cold?”

And the two walked inside.

Chapter Text

After explaining everything to the rest of his family, Wilbur immediately started packing. Techno and Phil had both tried to get him to come up with some other solution that would result in both Tommy and Wilbur staying. Wilbur had explained that he didn’t have another option to go with. Tommy had stayed silent the entire time Wilbur explained, his only reaction being a sudden surprise on his face when the rest of the Craft’s got angry with Sally.

Wilbur had told Tommy to go to bed when it started getting late, and although it took a lot of persuasion he did get the kid down. Wilbur had no idea a kid could be that ‘persuasive’. Phil and Kristen had just watched with amused faces, and shrugged their shoulders when he looked for help.

So with Tommy in bed, Phil and Kristen helping with the custody petition, Wilbur started packing. He laid a suitcase across his bed when his brother appeared at the door.

“How do you plan to go about this?” Techno asked, a mug in hand that no doubt was full of hot chocolate. Wilbur didn’t look up to his twin, after a lifetime of Techno sneaking up on him, he’d lost any fear that came with it.

“Go to town, talk to Sally, fix this as fast as possible, get custody and come back.” Wilbur said, folding sweater after sweater into his bag. He had some sort of weird obsession with the clothing. Techno shook his head.

“That’s not a plan. That’s a list. What do you actually plan to say to Sally?” He asked, taking a sip of his drink. He walked into the room and sat down on the bed next to Wilbur’s suitcase.

Wilbur rolled his eyes, “How about ‘what’s up b-tch give me my son back. He’s never coming around you or that rat b-st-rd again.’” He said with full venom in his voice.

Techno took another sip of his drip before looking his twin up and down, “While I fully endorse that, it won’t work and you know that. She’s not going to listen to you.”

“I know that, Techno. Why do you think I’m trying to get the court to make her listen?” Wilbur said, throwing his hands in the air.

“I’m just saying, if you don’t go about this right it’ll make things a whole that harder.” Techno sighed, placing his mug down on the nightstand, “As much as I hate Sally, and believe me I hate her, you can’t mess this up. Go in there calm. Maybe you can get her to give up custody with a law battle.”

Techno stood and walked over to look his brother in the eyes. The two were just about the same height, Wilbur was only a bit taller. It never mattered who was taller, though, Techno had always been the one to act like the older brother. Wilbur stopped his pacing and packing to look at his twin.

“And what do I do if I have to go through with this?” Wilbur asked, a bit of doubt was left in his voice. Wilbur didn’t like showing his doubt around his family. He wouldn’t show it in front of his parents, they’d just tell him everything would work out even if it was a lie. He couldn’t show it to his friends, the last time had ended up with Fundy pretending to be his son for a father’s day gift. And he definitely wasn’t showing it to Tommy, the kid needed someone to take his doubt away. It wouldn’t do anything to just feed the kid’s scarred mind. But he could show it to his brother, he could show it to Techno. Techno would tell him the truth, even if it was something he didn’t want to hear.

Techno sighed, he knew the question was more than just about the custody battle. Wilbur had always been so worried about becoming a dad. In the beginning, he’d been a nervous wreck trying to ask Phil questions every two seconds. And when Sally left, it only fed the idea he wouldn’t be good enough. And now he was here, a son in the next room with no idea of how to be a parent.

“Wilbur, you do what you think is right.” Techno said, a grounding hand on his twin's shoulder, “If it were me though, I’d punch Sally in the face, but you’re not me. I think we’re all lucky for that.”

Wilbur let out a stiff laugh, he ran a hand through his hair, “Holy sh-t, this is actually happening.” He mumbled. Techno guided his brother to sit down on the ground, with their backs pressed against the bed. Techno grabbed his mug from the nightstand and listened to his brother’s shaky breaths.

Even after two weeks the entire situation hadn’t caught up with the man, until now at least, “Techno, I have my kid.”

“You do.” Techno said, nodding along to his brother’s panicked tone. Wilbur’s hands held his head as he let the past two weeks catch up to him.

“I have no idea how to be a parent.” He whispered.

“You don’t have to. You’ve been doing well so far. You can’t be as bad as Jared and Sally.” Techno said, mumbling the last part. Wilbur smiled. “You just have to keep doing what you’ve been doing. Be consistent. Be there for him. This is going to be hard on him. We might be over those idiots, but the kid’s been living with them for the past eleven years. They're the only family he’s known.”

Wilbur’s smile faltered at that, and he nodded, “I can’t believe it got this bad.”

Techno nodded, “How are you holding up? Are you sure you want to see Sally again? Think you can manage to not punch Jared in the face?”

“I don’t think I care about those two anymore. They made their choices and I made mine. What I do care about is Toms, and I’ve messed up his life enough already. It’s time I fixed it.” Wilbur said, a little power finally coming back into his voice.

“Don’t go around blaming yourself for Sally and Jared’s mistakes.” Techno glared at his brother over the top of his mug, Wilbur gave a small smile.

“I won’t. So did you just come in here to do this?” Wilbur asked. Techno shook his head, and covered his smirk with his mug.

“No. I actually came in here to tell you Toms is still awake. He’s sitting in his window seat knitting something.” Techno said, watching as his brother’s eyes widened and he shot up from his relaxed position. He took another sip of his drink as his brother raced out of his room.

“Tommy, I told you to go to bed. You can’t keep spending every night knitting.” Wilbur called out walking into the next room to probably wrestle the kid to sleep. Techno only laughed as he watched his brother’s frustrated but fond face disappear from his view. He heard Tommy’s squeak of surprise from the other room, and the thud that came after.

Well, that’s what the kid gets for jumpscaring each family member at least twice from being awake so late at night.

Techno smiled when he saw his brother’s form enter the room. His hair was a mess, and he looked like he’d gotten out of a fight. He straightened his wire glasses that had gone askew. He let out a breath as he plopped down on the ground next to Techno again.

“He’s down.” Wilbur said, looking like he’d gone to war and was having flashbacks. Techno nodded.

“I told you, you’d be a good dad.”

<><><><><><>>><><><><><>

“You ready?” Wilbur asked, as it neared the time for the only bus to stop. They had about fifteen minutes before the bus stopped. Tommy stood beside him, his small backpack thrown over his shoulder. Tommy nodded, and Wilbur turned around to say goodbye to the people who’d shown up to see them off. Which to be fair was more people then Tommy had ever seen in one place.

“You got everything, mate?” Phil asked, while Kristen hugged Tommy. Wilbur nodded and rolled his eyes.

“Yes, dad~, for the last time I have everything. No need to worry your head off old man.” Wilbur said, smirking. Phil gave a laugh and shook his head.

“I think I’m the only one who gets to make those jokes now, Wil. Seeing as you have a child next to you.” Techno said, from next to Phil. Wilbur looked appalled while Tommy ran up to the man and gave a big hug.

“Bye Uncle Techno.”

“I’m only five minutes older than you!” They both said at the same time. Techno rolled his eyes and knelt down next to his nephew.

“Make sure you screw with him enough for the both of us, okay?” He whispered, earning a large grin from the kid. Wilbur only groaned.

“Don’t encourage him, Tech.”

Tommy reluctantly tore away from the hug and walked over to Wilbur’s side. Wilbur held the kid close to his side, as he looked to the others who had gathered to say goodbye.

“Glad to be rid of you for a while, Soot.” Schlatt said, earning an elbow to the gut from Quackity.

“He means we’ll be waiting for you to get back.” Quackity said, as Schlatt doubled over in pain. A small ‘no I don’t’ could be heard from the man, as Dream caming running up. The guy was obviously out of breath, and had been running for a while but stopped when he reached the group.

“Sorry, I can’t stay for too long. I called a ‘Manhunt’ like five minutes ago. George and Sapnap should be making their way over here in a minute. Anyway, have fun out there. And if you can make sure to kick Jared’s butt for me-” Dream said, taking pauses to catch his breath. He was doubled over, with his hands resting on his knees as he caught his breath. He was interrupted by Sapnap’s yelling.

“Dream!!”

“That’s my cue to leave, see you around!” And with that the man was gone. In fact he was replaced by three people, Ranboo, Niki and jack.

Tommy immediately went to hug Ranboo and say goodbye to his sort-of cousin. The two had come up with the name after about a week of trying to explain their relationship. Since Niki had been sort-of adopted into the Craft’s family by Techno, and Niki was Ranboo’s sort-of guardian it only made sense for them to be sort of cousins.

“It’ll be good to be rid of at least one of the three chaotic kids.” Jack said, rolling his eyes, as he shook Wilbur’s hand. Niki shook her head and handed Wilbur a pink and white box. Wilbur smiled already knowing what was inside.

“A few treats for the road. It’ll be weird without you around.” Niki said with her notable smile.

“It’ll be weird to not walk down to your bakery every morning.” Wilbur replied with a chuckle.

“You’re not gonna forget us, right?” Ranboo asked Tommy, when the two were a bit away from the adults. Enough so they were in line of sight, but out of ear shot.

“Of course! How could I forget this! This has been like the best experience of my life! And I’m coming back man, this isn’t the end.” Tommy said, lightly punching the other’s arm. Ranboo just gave a small pout.

“I know. It’s just Niki said there was a chance you won’t, and if you don’t- I just want to be sure. You’ll remember us. And when you’re older you’ll visit?” Ranboo asked. Tommy nodded.

“If it comes down to that, yes, I will visit when I get older. But it won’t. I’m coming back.” Tommy said.

“Yeah! There’s no way I’m losing my partner in crime this early on. We haven’t even pulled the best heist yet!” A voice called from within the tree line. The two knew who it was as soon as they heard the voice and both turned to look at their trash covered friend. Though it wasn’t like he lived in the trash, no, Tubbo just enjoyed dumpster diving a little too much.

“Tubs, you stink.” Tommy exclaimed as he held his nose and waved away the air around him. Ranboo only cringed, being used to the smell of his friend for a while now.

“Well it was either this, or I went home and took a shower and missed you leaving. So be happy I chose here. Micheal and Shroud also say bye, they couldn’t miss Puffy’s lessons today though.” Tubbo explained. Tommy nodded, he hadn’t met Puffy yet, but everyone said she was a great teacher.

“Incoming!” Another shout was heard across the field and Sapnap and George ran straight into Jack. The trio snickered as they went back to the adults.

“For the last time! I am not your personal landing strip!” Jack yelled, pushing Sapnap off of him. George laughed as he stood and looked at the crowd around them.

“Whoops, have fun in the city, Soot! Have fun getting no sleep at night because of the noise.” George prodded before running off again to catch up with Dream.

“Yeah, uh…what he said.” Sapnap called back as he ran away as well. Tommy walked back up to Wilbur and slowly took his larger hand into his own. Catching the man’s attention, he looked down at the boy.

“You ready to go?” He asked, softly as the bus pulled into the bus stop. Tommy let out a shaky breath and nodded. He was going back, but he was going back with Wilbur. He was going back with his dad. He could do this. No more scary nights alone. No more cleaning up wounds by himself after a bad day at school.
No more yelling matches between parents. No more hospital trips where he was alone and stuck with the nurses until his mom remembered him. No more of his mom’s disappointed looks, or Jared’s constant insults. No more of their hands connecting with his face and no more hurt they could cause him. He had Wilbur and that was all he needed.

Wilbur seemed to notice his distressed look and squeezed his hand as the bus doors opened. He looked down at that kid next to him, who had already been through too much. He was going to fix that, he was going to be there now.

“You can do it, sunshine.” He whispered, and that was all the encouragement Tommy needed.

He boarded the bus.

><><<><><><><><><

The two arrived at the apartment Sam lent them first.

It was small but cozy. It had two bedrooms, across from each other on the second floor. The front door led into the living room which was separated from the kitchen. After setting their stuff down, and lightly unpacking it was near mid-afternoon. Wilbur, deciding he wanted to get it over with as fast as possible, asked Tommy if he’d like to show him around town.

Tommy agreed with a goofy smile on his face, as he started talking about how he knew much more about the city than Wilbur would ever know. Wilbur only rolled his eyes and the two started to walk around. It took a minute for Tommy to orient himself with a place he was familiar with, but after that Tommy was none-stop talking. He showed Wilbur around the city and shared small memories he had with the tiniest things.

You see that empty lot of there, that’s where Tommy saw the circus. (He didn’t explain that he just saw the outside of the circus and not the inside.)

That tree over in the park, it's where Tommy does his homework during the spring.

That swingset, Tommy got pushed off of it when he was younger.

All the things in the city seemed to have some memory attached, but Wilbur noticed how none of the memories had Sally or Jared in them, or anybody else. He was the only one in the stories, not even when the story involved Tommy getting pushed off of the swing. The perpetrators remained a mystery.

“Toms, I know this is soon, but do you want to go and talk to Sally? It would just be us talking about the legal battle. That’s it. Nothing more. We’d just tell her about it and leave. It’s called a serve, I think. Where you inform the person you’re suing that you’re actually suing.” Wilbur asked, softly. He didn’t want to force the kid into anything, but he had no idea where Sally lived and he needed to talk to her. He gave the kid time to think about it as they sat on a park bench. Tommy was silent for a moment, but nodded.

“Her house is this way.” He said, it was like the mood had completely dropped. Tommy’s once bright demoner was shoved away and now there was just an empty boy guiding Wilbur down streets silently.

He didn’t mention any memories. He didn’t point out the street names. He didn’t put parallels between the city and L’manberg, he was just silent.

He led Wilbur down street after street and with every turn Wilbur expected the kid to stop and point to a house. To exclaim that that was his home. That right there was his house, but he didn’t.

The pristine, nice two story houses that looked like they belonged in a picture book slowly faded away. The houses with big front yards and happy children playing in the streets disappeared. They walked along the road until Tommy turned down another street and it was all silent. It was like, the life was sucked out of everyone and everything around.

The homes were disheveled and broken, the wood rotting and bricks falling apart. The street was cracked and the sidewalk barely existed; it was mainly just dead grass. Wilbur cringed at how terrible the neighborhood had been kept. Nothing like this would stand in L’manberg. How anyone could let a street fall into such disrepair was a mystery to him. He frowned, realizing that this is the street Tommy lived on. This was where his little sunshine had grown up. Tommy had lived here for eleven years. He had to get used to this pit in his stomach of fear and worry. He had to be cautious of just walking home. Not to mention the fact that after he got home he was no safer.

Tommy never flinched though, he kept moving. He was used to the odd noises, the screaming coming from some houses, the cat yowls from the alley and the rustling of footsteps that felt too close. In all honesty, WIlbur wanted to grab Tommy and just walk the other direction. He knew where to find Sally now, he could just ask around later, he didn’t want Tommy in this neighborhood any longer. It sent a chill down his spine to think of the dangers that lurked in the dark corners. He swallowed.

Tommy stopped in front of a run-down two story house. The windows were broken and the porch was rotting away. The steps were broken and the brick pathway was covered in dead grass and tree limbs. The wooden fence that lined the front looked like it had been run over with a car and judging by the treadmarks in the dirt, it had been. Wilbur’s eyes widened and his mouth was agape when Tommy spoke again.

“This is it.” He said it with so much sadness and desperation that Wilbur wanted to throw up. He wasn’t embarrassed by it, he was just sad. Wilbur looked towards the boy next to him, when he had met the kid he’d seemed like an absolute Sun. He still did, but… he wondered how a Sun so bright could come from such a dark place.

Tommy moved to walk up the pathway but Wilbur stopped him. He placed a hand on his shoulder and bent down to his level. Tommy looked at the man confused. He tilted his head, he didn’t understand why Wilbur was looking at him like that. All sad and confused, he almost looked shocked in a weird way. Before Tommy could ask what was wrong, Wilbur spoke,

“Tommy, are you sure you want to do this?” He asked, so softly like any harsher would break the boy in front of him. Tommy looked between his old house and his new home.

“We have to…” Tommy whispered, he couldn’t bring himself to be any louder. It didn’t feel right to be himself this close to his old home. Wilbur shook his head.

“No. I mean do you want to speak with Sally? You do not have to. I can go up there by myself, if need be. You can wait out here-Actually scratch that, I don’t want you waiting out here. We can head back to the apartment. I’ll walk back out here and talk to her by myself. You do not have to see her, sweetheart.” Wilbur explained, a softness in his eyes Tommy hadn’t seen before. He looked so sad.

Tommy contemplated the offer. He really didn’t want to see Sally or Jared. He was still afraid that they were mad. He knew they would be mad. He’d run away. He’d left in the middle of the night, and ran away to his real dad. The person Sally and Jared seemed to hate the most. After seeing what could have been his life for the past two weeks, going back to his old home felt like a step in the wrong direction. Sally could yell and scream all she wanted at him, locking him in his room as a punishment for running away. Not to mention, Jared was still pissed from the argument. Jared never saw him as family, just a parasite that was leeching off of him. And no one wanted a leech.

“Wilbur, I’m pretty sure you’d get lost if you walked back here.” Tommy chuckled nervously, he wanted to try and lighten the mood with humor. Wilbur just looked at him with a furrowed brow and frown. The hand on his shoulder squeezed and Tommy sighed.

“I’m serious, Toms.”

“You’ll be right there, right?” Tommy asked quietly, as he looked between Wilbur and the floor.

Wilbur nodded.

“Then as long as you’re there I’ll be okay. That’s how this works right?” Tommy asked, his voice wavering a bit towards the end. Wilbur nodded sadly, and took the boy's hand in his own.

“You can do this. We’ll as soon as you say so, okay? I’ll be right there.” Wilbur said, as he led Tommy up the broken steps and to the rotting porch. Tommy stood behind him, one hand holding Wilbur’s and the other gripping the man’s coat. Wilbur had one protective arm in front of the kid and the other knocked on the door.

It was quiet for a moment. No sound came from the house, so Wilbur knocked again this time harder. Then a shout sounded and he could hear the clip clop of heels hitting the floorboards. The door swung open violently and revealed the red-head that Wilbur was looking for.

In all honesty, she looked mostly the same as before. Her red curls still fell down past her shoulders and she still had the cold blue eyes he remembered. She looked a little worse for wear in the facial features, stress lines were prominent along her forehead and eyes, but her lips were pulled in a tight disapproving frown. It looked like her face was constantly in that position. If Wilbur had to describe what she wore, he’d say she looked like she just got back from partying with a bunch of drunk lunatics.

“What?” Sally yelled as she answered the door. She hadn’t even opened the door fully when she started. Her snarl grew when she realized who was on the other side. “Soot. What do you want?”

Wilbur rolled his eyes, glaring at her and into the house. The inside, from what he could see, looked worse than the outside. Sally, luckily, hadn’t realized there was someone behind him, which just left the conversation to the two of them.

“I want to talk to you.” Wilbur said, trying his best to stay calm, like Techno had told him. It was difficult, though. Hearing the mess from Tommy and Sam was different than actually seeing it in front of him. This was a disaster waiting to happen, if it hadn’t already.

Sally looked Wilbur up and down, she was about to close the door when she saw the light blue cardigan poke out from behind Wilbur.

“What the hell?! Why the f-ck do you have him?” She screamed, immediately trying to grab the boy, who had finally gathered the courage to look her in the eye. Wilbur held strong, though, and lightly pushed Tommy away from the angry woman. They stepped back, out of arm's reach and Wilbur continued.

“He came to me. And he told me what’s been going on, and even if he hadn’t after seeing this,” Wilbur gestured around the house with his hand that wasn’t protecting Tommy, “I think I’d see a problem.”

Sally rolled her eyes, “There isn’t a problem here, Wilbur. He’s just being a brat. Just hand him over and we’ll forget this ever happened.” She made another move to grab Tommy’s arm, but Wilbur pushed him behind him. Sally glared at Wilbur, her whole body gave off the sense of annoyance. She tapped her heeled foot on the ground.

“No.” Wilbur said, firmly.

“What?” Sally paused. It was like someone had pressed a reload button above her head.

“I said no. I’m not ‘handing him over’.” Wilbur said, part of his anger starting to show, as he took a step forward. He jabbed a finger at the woman in front of him, “I want custody, Sally.”

Sally looked at Wilbur with wide eyes, before she turned to the smaller. Tommy had been watching the entire scene with worry in his eyes. He was still a bit behind Wilbur, but he was poking his head out to get a view of what was happening. He jolted back when Sally turned to him.

“What the hell did you tell him?! Why the hell does he want custody over you?” She spat out the last part with venom, like it was an insult. Tommy's shoulders rose and his chin hit his chest as he looked at the ground. He didn’t want to hear Sally anymore, and he definitely didn’t want to see her. Wilbur was making progress, though, he hoped. He wouldn’t make him stop now. He just had to push through his fear. Even if he felt his whole body shake, and his heart beat fast against his chest.

He didn’t want Wilbur to know about his heart problem. He wanted to keep it a secret. If Wilbur knew how messed up he was, he wouldn’t want him. Sally had done enough to screw with him when she was still pregnant; he just hated that he had to live with the consequences now. There would always be that piece of her that messed with his life. That piece that made every moment of his life dangerous if he so much as breathed wrong.

Wilbur stepped in front of him fully, blocking any sight of Sally.

“He didn’t do anything, but tell me what sh-t you’ve been doing. I want custody because he is my kid just as much as he is yours. Although, you’ve made it pretty f-cking clear you don’t want him here anymore. So I’m asking nicely, Sally, give me custody over him and we put this behind us.” Wilbur spat out.

“Whatever he told you is a lie. He’s nothing but a liar. You’re an absolute lunatic to believe any word he says. I have been doing a fine job raising that brat. He just thinks he’s entitled to something more.” Sally shot back, her insults made Tommy shrink more. Wilbur noticed the sudden pressure on his back as Tommy leaned against him, and moved his arm to wrap around the boy's shoulder to bring him to his side. He wanted Tommy away from Sally, but he wanted the boy to know he was there too. He squeezed his shoulder and shook his head at Sally.

“He is entitled to more than this. From what I’ve heard you scared the crap out of him! You’ve always scared the crap out of him! He told me that you and Jared were going to start a family, and while that’s all fine and dandy, he acted like Tommy was a parasite! You screamed and yelled at him when he just wanted to be a part of your lives! And don’t you dare get me started on Jared. He better not touch another hair on my kid again. Tommy hid underneath your bed, because he was so afraid of you. That’s where he found that box! That’s where he found out about me! From a box, Sally! Don’t you dare call my kid a liar when I have seen that box myself. I want custody, Sally, and this is me asking nicely.” Wilbur shouted, Tommy flinched at the tone of voice and memories he brought up but stayed silent. He made no effort to move, just stayed where he knew he was safe, underneath Wilbur’s arm.

“Or what?” Sally challenged.

“Or I’m suing you.” Wilbur said flatly, glaring daggers at Sally. She faltered and looked between the two. Tommy had no idea what was going on in her head. Her emotions went from surprise to fear to anger to frustration and just kept changing. It was getting confusing to understand.

“You’re bluffing. Tommy, come here.” Sally demanded, pointing to the ground next to her. Tommy flinched and started to move towards her. It was a bad idea to challenge Sally. Part of him knew Wilbur couldn’t win this. Sally was his family, even if he wished Wilbur was. Wilbur’s hold on his shoulder tightened. Tommy stopped and looked up at the man, who was looking down at him with worried eyes.

“Tommy, now.” Sally snarled, stilled pointing to her side. Tommy made no effort to move, and Wilbur let out a sigh of relief. Wilbur pulled out an envelope from his pocket and held it out for the woman to take. Sally snatched it from his hand and almost ripped it open, before turning to glare at Wilbur.

“What is this?” She spat out, opening the letter.

“I’m suing for for child endangerment, child abuse, and child neglect. I want full custody over Tommy, we can decide if you deserve visitation rights later.” Wilbur explained, calmly. His grip on Tommy’s shoulder loosened but still grounding him to the floor next to him. Tommy let out a shaky grip and allowed a small sad smile to etch onto his face. Sally was gobsmacked as she stared at the letter in her hands. “I wouldn’t bluff about this.”

“Fine. Fine! I’ll play your little game. But I’m not going down easy, Wilbur.” Sally spewed, she looked disgusted when she mentioned the man’s name. Wilbur nodded.

“You never do.” He said. Sally turned to the boy next to Wilbur.

“You’re an ungrateful brat, you know.” She spat with enough venom to kill, before slamming the door in their faces. The two were silent for a moment, before Wilbur turned to the younger and bent down.

Wilbur grabbed hold of the younger and hugged him tightly. He felt the boy's sporadic breaths hit his shoulder as his whole body shook. Wilbur rubbed his back and pressed a kiss to his forehead. He tried his best to hide the kid from the world around them and let his chin hit the boy’s curls.

“We’re done. It’s over. You did really well.” Wilbur said, softly. Tommy nodded into his shoulder and Wilbur felt little wet drops hit his clothes. He kept rubbing circles in the boy’s back and reassuring him. He wanted to get away from the house as soon as possible, but with how shaky Tommy’s legs were he wasn’t sure if the kid could walk. “You gotta calm down, sweetheart. It’s over. You’re safe. We’re going to fix this.”

Tommy slowly evened out his breathing and his shaking stopped. Tommy pulled away from the hug but still maintained contact with Wilbur’s hand. He held it in his own as they started walking away. The two walked in silence as they made their way back to the apartment. They didn’t speak until they entered the small apartment. Tommy was about to go finish unpacking when Wilbur stopped him.

“Hey, Toms?” Wilbur said quietly, hangin his coat up. Tommy stopped on the second step of the stairs, and looked to his dad.

“I’m really proud of you.”

Tommy looked like someone had hit him in the face with a baseball after that. The shock on his face and widened eyes weren't what Wilbur was expecting but he smiled nonetheless. Tommy breathed out and smiled back.

“Thanks.” He ran up the stairs.

><><><><><><><><><><><><><

The next week was stressful for Wilbur.

He was constantly trying to help the case he and his lawyer were planning. Phil, Techno, and Kristen were helping as best they could from so far away. But that still left Wilbur to work on getting the facts straight and settling documents. He’d tried multiple times to get Sally to listen and make it easier for the both of them, but Sally was stubborn. He also knew that it went deeper than Sally being stubborn, he just hadn’t figured it all out yet.

Tommy went back to school within the first two days. Wilbur had gotten lost trying to find the kid’s school and headed back to the apartment to call the school, when he saw Tommy sitting on the couch. It had been a surprise to both of them, neither one expecting the other. After a lot of convincing Tommy got Wilbur to let him walk home from school alone. And it took a lot of convincing.

During the times when Tommy was at school though, Wilbur would get calls from Sally constantly. The types of calls would range though, and honestly he was going to block her number a few times. The calls ranged from a drunk Sally calling him to insult and laugh at him to a very angry Sally calling with threats. None of the threats ever went through, and before long he was just annoyed by the interruptions.

Jared wasn’t any better. He’d call through Sally’s phone and do the exact same thing as her, only he was much more prepared to insult the kid than Wilbur himself. The arguments through the phone were some of the most annoying moments Wilbur thought he’d ever experience. Having to keep a calm exterior while he wanting nothing more than to bury the two six feet under.

He never wanted to call it off though. Every time Tommy walked through the front door. Or started a conversation with him. Or recalled an old story. Anytime the kid opened his mouth and made a joke. He remembered why he was doing it. He remembered who he was doing it for, and he never ever regretted the arguments. He never regretted sitting at the island in the kitchen, typing away on that laptop working it all out.

He didn’t want Tommy to know about setbacks, or the mountains he was having to climb. To Tommy it was going smoothly. The kid didn’t deserve to worry about this. He just wanted Tommy to be able to be a kid again.

And to Wilbur everything was perfect.

Even if he had to fight with Sally and Jared everyday.

Even if he had to protect his kid from the world.

Even if he had to fight just to have his boy safe.

He was going to do it.

Everything was good.

But that was what Wilbur thought.

And maybe hiding things ran in the family.

><><><><><><><><><><><

Tommy yanked open his locker door. He wanted to get out of the hallways as quickly as possible. Hallways in the boy’s school were anarchy. No teachers ever patrolled the hallways, all stuffed away into their classrooms. It mainly became land of the older students. And ever since Tommy was little, the older students had picked him out as a weak link.

He never complained to any teachers, there was never any point. The teachers would only call his mom. And his mom never did anything.

It ended up being free reign for the older students.

Tommy searched through the locker when he heard the heavy steps of students making their way over. He could hear five students in all. Two more heavy steps, while the other three were lighter. It didn’t matter, he could tell from the gate the students were walking with they would overpower him easily. He grabbed the book he was looking for and was about to make his way into the nearest classroom when the student called out.

“Hey, Tommy.”

Tommy sighed, he’d been caught.

“Hi.” He said, quietly. There were in fact five students and they were just as Tommy described them. He recognized a few of them. He knew them because they were some of the more violent kids. He could handle the teasing and he could handle the backhanded insults, but the more violent kids always got his heart beating fast.

He could already feel his skin starting to tingle and tried to settle his beating heart. He breathed in and out, he prepared to run off but the kids had other ideas.

“You went missing for a while there, kid.” One of the larger kids said. He was looking the boy up and down, an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah… M-mom took me on vacation.” Tommy lied, taking a step back. The kids shared a look, one of disgust and confusion.

“I thought his parents hated him.” One whispered to another who shrugged. Tommy shivered, his parents did hate him but he didn’t want anyone to know that.

“M-mom doesn’t hate me!” Tommy yelled, letting the tiny flame of anger in his chest come out. For once his eyes had a bit of fire in them, and it was a very big change from the old kid the bullies were used to.

“Woah! Someone got brave.” A larger kid laughed with his friends.

“Yeah, kid. I’m pretty sure your parents think you’re a parasite, I mean that’s what I would think. My mom was talking about it at dinner! Your mom does nothing but complain about you.”

“Shut up! She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” Tommy yelled, his fear was pumping his heart fast. He needed to calm down. If he didn’t his heart wouldn’t be able to handle it, and not to mention the more he riled up the kids the worse it was going to get. But he’d never felt this anger before. He’d never been able to stand up for himself. He didn’t know what was different, but for once he felt like he had some worth. He had worth in himself and he wasn’t going to let these idiots take it away from him.

“Are you kidding? The kid thinks he’s got worth!”

“Who are you calling idiots?”

Oh, he’d said that last part out loud. He felt his heart stop for a second as laughter erupted from the group. They were laughing at him. He froze. He wanted to run, he wanted to hide in a classroom or the bathroom, but his legs wouldn’t move. He could feel tears pricking his eyes from the pain in his chest and the fear. He tried to push the tears down and the pain away but that only made it come back full force.

“Oh my god, he’s crying. I’ve never even seen him cry before!”

“I heard his mom doesn’t even want him anymore! She’s just trying to hide all the crap that is him.”

“Bet she’s worried ‘bout the amount of trouble she’ll get in, living with a worthless thing. I mean she did create him.”

“And he called us idiots!”

Tommy bit his lips and squeezed his fists. His palms started to hurt from how his nails were digging into them, but he couldn’t care. He was scared and frozen in place. His chest was hurting alot now, worse than it had in a long time. He couldn’t tell why.

He let out a shaky breath, “I am not worthless.”

He glared at the group like he’d see Wilbur glare at Sally. He stood up straight and tried to make himself look bigger. He could do this. He could get them to leave him alone. He just had to show them that they couldn’t-

He felt a red-hot blaring pain connect with his face.

The force of the punch knocked him to the ground where he hit his head and shoulder on the floor. He was breathing hard now, as he moved his hand to cup his cheek. He couldn’t hear the laughing of the other students, only the ringing in his ears as a kick landed on his head.

He moved his hand away from his cheek to check for blood, when he saw no red substance he sighed. His chest was burning from how fast his heart was moving, how much air his lungs were taking in. His head hurt from the recurring kicks and the painful punch that had landed on his cheek. He blocked the kicks with his arms as best as he could.

He could feel the bruises starting to form on his arms and head, but he was trying too hard to breath to understand the pain.

In for six, hold for three, out for four.

In for six, hold for three, out for four.

He repeated in his head, as the beating continued, calming down his beating heart. It wasn’t working though, the pain was just continuing. As long as those -ssholes were there, his fear wasn’t going to go down. His heart was going to keep beating too fast.

The last thing he remembered before he blacked out was the sound of someone screaming.

><><><><><><><><><><

Wilbur was sitting in the kitchen when he got the phone call.

He was working on another google doc of all the worrying things he’d seen or heard of Sally and Jared. He had a full bullet point list so far and was working on going in depth about a few. The kitchen barstool wasn’t the most comfortable but it gave him a good view through the window.

The phone ringing made him jump in his seat. He looked over to the device to see it was Sally calling. He wanted to ignore it, but something told him he needed to answer this one. He picked up the device and swiped to answer the call. He put it on speaker and let out a very annoyed greeting.

“And you call me~ irresponsible! Ha!” Sally’s drunken voice sung over the phone. Wilbur cringed and looked back to the bullet list where the word ‘drunk’ could be seen. Wilbur sighed. He didn’t want to start another argument. Tommy would be home soon and he didn’t want the kid walking in when he was in the middle of cussing Sally out, or vice versa.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Wilbur asked, he wasn’t exactly interested but he could at least play it off. Sally would get bored and hang up soon.

“The kid~ You said I was a bad parent, look at yourself~!” She giggled out. Wilbur turned to the phone and wrinkled his nose. He felt like he could smell the alcohol just from the phone call.

“How many drinks have you had, Sally?” He asked. He ignored the act of trying to get the conversation on Tommy. He’d avoid that topic as best as possible. This wasn’t the time to argue.

“Twenty-something fifteen?” Sally mumbled, she didn’t sound entirely sure herself. Wilbur rolled his eyes, he guessed the amount didn’t really matter. “Didn’t even call the school did ya~?

That one was confusing. Why did Tommy’s school have anything to do with this? Wilbur stopped his typing and picked up the phone. A pit in his stomach was suddenly growing and he wanted to go grab his coat.

“What does that mean?” He asked standing up.

“The school~,” Sally started, like it was some sort of achievement, “called me! They said~ the brat’s in the hospital! Ha! Responsible my butt, Soot. Got ya son in the hospital in the first week~”

Wilbur’s stomach dropped, and his feet were moving before he could figure out where he was going. He grabbed his coat and shoes, throwing it all on. He changed the line from speaker to handheld.

“Where is he? What happened?” Wilbur almost yelled. He was out the door already, and was about to get on the elevator.

“I dunno? None of my business, right, Mr. Custody?” Sally sang.

“Sally, I swear! Tell me where the f-ck my child is, right now.” Wilbur spat. The people in the elevator took a step away from him. Wilbur shook his head, and listened as Sally groaned on the other side.

“Just call the school…worrywart.” Sally hung up. Wilbur cursed under his breath and dialed the school’s number.

His feet were tapping against the elevator floor as he waited, worry was etching into his stomach. Questions were piling up in his head. How the hell did Tommy end up in the hospital? What happened at school that caused this? Was he okay? Wilbur ran out of the elevator, shouting apologies to the people that were stuck with him on the ride down.

“Hello, this is Smp School office. How can I help you?” A voice called from the other side of the line. Wilbur let out a shaky breath.

“My name is Wilbur Soot-Craft. I’m Tommy Salmone’s dad. I got a call from my ex saying he’s in the hospital. Is this true? Is he okay?” Wilbur ranted out. The person on the other side of the line was silent.

“I’m afraid I can’t hand over that information unless you’re in his files. You aren’t.” The voice was quiet, almost apologetic.

“I know. I know. I’m working on that. How can I change that?” He asked quickly.

“We’d need confirmation from the parent or guardian that is in his files. Which would be one, Sally Salmone.”

“Okay, Okay. Look, I’m trying my best to get custody over Tommy right now. I’m working with the court and my lawyer, is there any other way we can do this without involving Sally.” Wilbur pleaded. He was standing on the side of the road, he didn’t know where he was going. He needed this school to tell him.

The person sighed, “Do you have any documents that prove this?”

Wilbur nodded, even though the person couldn’t see. “Yes. Yes, I do. I can send them to you.” He opened the documents he’d been gathering over the past week. He sent them to the school, and waited for the person’s response. He was holding his breath and hoping beyond hope this worked out. It took a moment but the person came back and started to talk.

“Alright, Mr. Soot, we’ve checked over the documents. They all seem to be legitimate. We still need confirmation from Ms. Salmone, to change the official documents here. But I am able to give you information. Tommy had a health problem here at the school, I am unable to tell you what happened. We called an ambulance and he was admitted to the Smp’s children’s hospital.”

Wilbur felt his breath knocked out of him. He stared at the ground.

“Sir, are you still there?”

“Yes. Yes, I am. How do I- How do I get there?” He asked, his voice filled with panic and worry.

“Sir, I need to get back to my job.” The person hung up.

Wilbur pulled his phone back and stared at the blank screen. He stayed still for only two seconds before pulling up a map on his phone. He was terrified. His breathing became sporadic and his hands were fumbling on the keyboard. He pulled up the map and started to follow the path it led him on.

He called his family while he was at it. He couldn’t be left alone to his thoughts right now. He knew how bad that could be. He clicked on his brother’s contact and waited for his twin to pick it up.

“Wil?” Techno’s monotone voice said over the line. He seemed confused. He probably was, Wilbur had called them last night and said he would be extremely busy the next day. Wilbur stayed silent, his harsh breathing falling over the line.

“Wilbur, I need you to talk to me.” Techno said, his voice was calm. He already knew something was up when his brother hadn’t replied within the first seconds. And Wilbur’s harsh breathing was just another giveaway.

“I-I can’t.” He whispered, speed-walking down the sidewalks. There was rustling. coming from the other side of the line.

“Yes. You can. You called me, Wil. You need something, what’s going on?” Techno said, calm but firm. Wilbur sighed.

“T-Tommy’s in the hospital.” The words shot out of his mouth so fast he wasn’t prepared for it. Saying it aloud just made it more real and the more real it got the more the pit in his stomach grew. There was a sharp inhale from the other side.

“What happened?” Techno said, a harshness in his voice. Wilbur knew it wasn’t directed at him. More rustling came from the line, along with more voices.

“Are mom and dad there?” Wilbur asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yes. Do you want them?” Techno asked.

“Speaker.” Was all Wilbur answered with. He was put on speaker right after the words left his mouth. Phil and Kristen greeted him brightly, but as Techno told them the situation their moods dropped.

“What happened, mate?” Phil asked, calmly. On the inside he was panicking.

Wilbur explained the situation with all his knowledge. He explained everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours. His breathing finally evening out as Phil, Kristen and Techno offered advice. He hung up the call, when he got to the hospital and walked inside.

It took just as much convincing for the receptionist to send him back as it had the person at the school. He gave them all the information he had, and they only let him back when Tommy gave the okay.

Wilbur was led down hallway after hallway until they stopped at a normal white door. Wilbur knew it wasn’t normal on the inside. On the inside it was going to be terrifying. He had no idea what was waiting for him on the other side of the door, and he didn’t know if he was prepared for whatever it was. The nurse opened the door and nodded for him to go in.

><><><><><><><><><><

In all honesty, Tommy did not want Wilbur to come get him.

He’d much rather Sally come get him. At least Sally knew why he was there in the first place. Wilbur had no idea, and Tommy wanted to keep it that way. Wilbur had no idea there was something wrong with his heart. Wilbur didn’t know he could possibly need medical help. Wilbur didn’t know he was a bigger case to handle than he first thought. Wilbur thought he was Tommy, not messed up Tommy.

Tommy was sitting up in the medical bed, even after many nurses had asked him to lay down. He still had the medical gown on and he could feel all the machines hooked up to him. He could hear that annoying beeping of the heart monitor that was making sure he was alive. He didn’t want to be reminded of his heart. He wanted to just crack the screen and block out that f-cking sound. He hated it. He clenched his fist together, he wanted to tune the noise out.

He gripped the thin blankets and pulled them up closer to him, the hospital was always so cold. He had long abandoned the oxygen mask he had had to wear for the first few hours. He had gotten used to the I.V stuck in his arm, but it was still annoying to move. In fact all of this was annoying.

He’d gotten beat up in the hallway at school, then had a heart episode and was forced to the hospital. His entire streak of three months is gone. Three whole months without visiting the hospital and here he was. The bruises on his arms had been wrapped with white bandages and an ice pack was sitting next to him on a nightstand. The nurse had had him hold it to his arms for a while, but he stopped when she left. He was pretty sure he had a black eye, and a bruise on his cheek too.

He sighed, and rubbed his face. He winced when he hit the bruise. He heard the door creak open and knew his quiet had been interrupted. He expected Wilbur to just run in and start asking questions, maybe complain about his episode. He had no idea if Wilbur could even pay the medical bills, he knew Jared and Sally never could.

Instead though, Wilbur’s soft footsteps took a long time to enter his vision. Tommy could see he had haphazardly pulled his coat, beanie, and shoes on. His shoes weren’t even tied. He was breathing heavily, like he’d been running for a while. His face was even worse, it made Tommy shrink in on himself. Wilbur looked terrified, sad and concerned all at once. Tommy couldn’t find a trace of anger in his eyes, which made him all the more confused.

The door clicked shut behind Wilbur. The nurse had closed it.

Wilbur walked up to Tommy’s bed and sat in the chair next to the medical bed. Tommy didn’t say anything, he just watched as Wilbur caught his breath. The man looked around the room, his eyes catching on the heart monitor, the I.V. the oxygen mask and the bandages wrapped around him. His gaze turned to Tommy slowly, as he held his head in his hands.

“What happened?” Wilbur asked, his voice was shaky. Tommy looked up from his lap and opened his mouth to answer before shutting it. He still just didn’t want to say it. Wilbur frowned.

“Tommy, I need to know.” He said, trying to lean into Tommy’s view, “I-I know this is hard, but I need you to trust me. I can’t help what I don’t know. And I don’t know what’s happening, Toms.” He spoke as softly as he could. He wanted Tommy to trust him, he wanted to be able to fix this. He didn’t understand why he was here bruised and beaten, hooked up to so many machines. He didn’t understand why his son had a heart monitor and oxygen mask.

Tommy stayed silent. He continued to fiddle with the thin blankets and look anywhere but Wilbur.

“You have to talk to me, Sunshine. I-I got a call from Sally, she-she said you were here. I called your school afterwards. They confirmed it. They said you had a health complication.” Wilbur said, quietly and watched when Tommy froze at the last sentence. The boy’s sharp inhale told him the kid was trying to hide that. “T-They didn’t tell me what! Just that they had to send you here. I-I came here as fast as possible. Although some of it doesn’t look like a health complication.” Wilbur mumbled the last part, getting a snicker from Tommy. He smiled at the huffed out laughter. That was progress, right?

“I want to help you, Tommy. I’m going to help you, no matter what, okay? You just have to let me.” Wilbur finished, he showed Tommy his hand palm up. Tommy held his hand above Wilbur’s, he looked like he was fighting to just grab onto the older’s hand. Reluctantly, the kid grabbed hold of Wilbur’s hand.

“Sally liked to drink…when I was-before I was born.” Tommy started, and Wilbur nodded.

“She did.” Wilbur said. He knew Sally had a drinking problem. When he heard the news it would most likely affect their kid, he’d been furious. He had writing a pretty strongly worded letter, if he remembered correctly.

“Well…the alcohol affected my um…my heart.” Tommy said. Wilbur looked him up and down, and turned his attention to the heart monitor. “My heart became like..underdeveloped or something. Or I have, like, a hole in a valve or something, I don’t normally pay a lot of attention to what the doctors say. I just know that when my heart rate goes up, then I need to calm down quickly.” He stopped and looked at Wilbur’s worried face.

“O-or what?” Wilbur stuttered, his eyes were wide and the grip on Tommy’s hand had tightened. Tommy sighed.

“Or this happens. I pass out and then need medical treatment. The doctors have to get my heartbeat back to normal so the blood can pump back into my body.” Tommy answered sadly. He was disappointed in himself for having to explain this. He could feel tears in his eyes but pushed them away. Wilbur squeezed his hand.

“Toms, you can cry, you know. Can you tell me what happened at school? Tell me what happened that got you all bruised up?” Wilbur asked. He stood up from the chair and sat down on the edge of the medical bed. He was right next to Tommy’s knees and still holding onto the younger’s hand.

Tommy paused. He didn’t want Wilbur to know about the bullies. Sally had never done anything when the school called her, so why would WIlbur do anything. School was supposed to have bullies, bigger kids who picked on the runts. If it wasn’t Tommy then it would be someone else. Tommy was protecting the smaller kids. He could be a punching bag if it meant someone else walked freely. Sally would have just told him to suck it up, why would Wilbur be any different.

“When I passed out, I fell down some stairs. That’s why I got bruised.” Tommy lied. He was a good liar. Wilbur seemed to look him over again, if there was a bit of doubt in his eyes he didn’t show it. He just nodded.

“Is there…Is there a way to help? To help you?” Wilbur asked. Tommy faltered at that, he’d never really asked for any ways to help himself. He only knew to avoid the situations. Sally never asked for help, so Tommy never got the help.

“I don’t know…” Tommy mumbled. Wilbur just nodded and pulled out his phone. He started typing on it and Tommy tried to sit up more to see. He winced when felt pain in his chest again, and Wilbur immediately looked up.

“What’s wrong?” He asked quickly, his eyes wide.

“Nothing. Nothing. I just tried to move. What are you doing?” Tommy answered back, trying to calm Wilbur down. He pointed at his phone. Wilbur let out a deep breath before showing Tommy his phone.

“I’m texting Phil, Techno and Kristen. They wanted to know what was going on.” He showed Tommy the text explaining the situation. Tommy cringed at the mention of his heart problems but nodded anyway. “I’m also going to look up some stuff about helping your heart.”

“Oh…” Was all Tommy could manage out. Wilbur looked up, concerned.

“What do you mean, oh?”

“I just wasn’t expecting it…Sally never really had the money for stuff like this. It's just… I wasn’t expecting you to do..that. You don’t have to, you know? I can manage it just fine.” Tommy rambled. Wilbur put his phone down next to him and looked Tommy in the eyes.

“Tommy, look at me. You may be able to manage it ‘fine’, but you shouldn’t have to. If there is a way to help you, then I want to do it. I told you in the beginning, before you told me, that I was going to help. I’m not going back on that, baby.” Wilbur explained, “And, Toms, I want you to remember that I’m not Sally. I’m not Jared. If you are ever worried or concerned because Jared did this, Sally did this and you think I would do it, I want you to tell me. We are different people, Sunshine. I’m not going to make you walk home if you’re uncomfortable. I’m not going to yell at you. I’m not going to make you deal with this alone. I’m not going to leave you home alone for hours on end. I’m going to be there.”

Tommy just nodded, staying silent. Wilbur could see tears forming in the younger’s eyes. He could see the little shake of his hands and the heart monitor going up and down. It wasn’t dangerous though. He breathed out before asking his next question.

“Sunshine, can I hug you?” he asked, softly.

Wilbur wasn’t sure if he’d get an answer or not, it took a moment for his voice to register in Tommy’s mind. The boy nodded.

Wilbur hugged the boy carefully, making sure not to hit any of the machines. Wilbur situated himself so he was sat next to Tommy on the medical bed. He pressed his back against the wall behind them and wrapped one arm around the younger. He rested his chin on Tommy’s hair and hugged him close.

“You know, I thought I had lost you for a moment.” Wilbur whispered. Tommy looked up at him with questioning eyes. Wilbur nodded in affirmation. “I did. I was worried I had lost you after finally getting you back. I love you, Sunflower, and I really don’t want to lose you.”

Tommy sighed, and looked at his lap where his hands rested, “Well get used to it. You’ll be feeling that way a lot.”

“Don’t say that, I will cry.”

Chapter Text

It was late at night when Wilbur finally left the hospital. He had stayed by Tommy’s side the entire time, as doctors and nurses came in and out to check on them. He only left around diner time to go grab himself something to eat, Tommy’s food was delivered to the room.

After grabbing something from a random restaurant across the street, he went straight back. Tommy swore it wasn’t even fifteen minutes. They tried to keep the conversation light, distracting themselves from the melancholy. At some point they ended up calling Techno again.

The phone sat on the bed so both of them could hear and talk to the others. Techno acted as a middle man, conversing back and forth, before giving up and turning the phone to speaker on his side. They talked for almost two hours, from how Schlatt and Quackity already were having a disagreement to how the legal battle was going. By the time they ended the call it was almost nine o’clock.

Tommy had argued that Wilbur should go back to the apartment for the night.

“And leave you by yourself all night? Not happening.” Wilbur had stated firmly. Tommy didn’t stop though, he just rolled his eyes.

“I can handle myself, Wilbur. I’ve done it before, I can do it again.” Tommy crossed his arms best he could with the I.V drip still in. The last 24 hours had made him extremely tired. He’d had to deal with bullies, having a bad heart episode, going to the hospital and now dealing with Wilbur’s clinginess. It was all tiring. He was honestly ready to just sleep.

“That doesn’t help your case, Toms.” Wilbur said, a pointed stare at the younger, but there was only fondness behind his eyes. Tommy sighed.

“Wil, you look like sh-t. Just go back to the apartment and sleep.” It wasn’t a lie. Wilbu’s hair was a mess from how many times he’d run his hand through it, and his sweater and trousers were wrinkled. His face had become a constant state of tiredness and worry. In all fairness, he looked like how any caring parent would when they found out their kid was having to stay overnight in a hospital because of heart problems, however Tommy had never had that caring parent to care before.

“Oh, I look bad?” Wilbur said, his voice filled with sarcasm. From Wilbur’s perspective, the whole situation was reversed. Tommy was the one who looked bad.

Tommy nodded, lazily. He had dark bags underneath his eyes that seemed to never truly leave. A nasty scar across his right eye, which the kid refused to talk about, and a very bruised face. The bruises stretched from his right cheek to a darkened left eye. His arms had been bandaged and occasionally needed ice packs. Not to mention the multiple machines hooked up to him, just to check on his vitals at all times. He looked paler than normal with a bluish tint around his fingers and toes; all of his body was shaky. “The worst.” Was all Tommy muttered out.

WIlbur rolled his eyes, “I’m so hurt.” He drew out the middle word.

“I’m serious, Wilbur. That chair won’t be comfortable for your old man back.” Tommy mocked, pointing to the chair with a shaky hand.

“You little gremlin.” Wilbur chuckled, causing Tommy to smirk. WIlbur looked him up and down before his tone shifted and Tommy knew his attempts to make jokes were failing. “I’m not leaving, Tommy. I wouldn’t forgive myself if something happened and I wasn’t here.”

Tommy groaned, “Well, I’m not going to be able to sleep with you creepily watching me!”

“I guess we’ll both suffer, then.” Tommy was not letting this man win.

“Yeah? What if I got a nurse to tell you I was fine. Would you leave then?”

“Nope.”

“What if it was a doctor?”

“No.”

“Can I bribe you with money?”

“No, Tommy.” Tommy huffed out in defeat. Wilbur rubbed his eyes, sighing, “I will only leave if I get an overnight nurse to check on you every hour.”

“Deal!” Tommy yelled, already picking up the phone to call the front desk. Wilbur grabbed the phone from his hands to make the call himself.

In the end, Wilbur did go back to the apartment. He spent a pretty restless night, constantly checking his phone for any messages. When the light finally shined through the window he was up again. He quickly got dressed and ready to leave, he walked back to the hospital. He spent a good bit of the morning in the room with Tommy, who had groaned when he walked in(even if there was a smile on his face).

Tommy, in fact, looked much better the next day. The bluish tint in his fingers and toes had vanished. He also looked a lot less tired. His eyes had become a much brighter color, and the shakiness had turned into small trembles.

Wilbur talked with the medical professionals about what to do next. Seeing as Sally had never gone that far. He didn’t think he’d forget the shocked look Tommy’s nurse, Clementine, had when he asked the question. The woman looked like she might have cried, she didn’t, instead she rambled on about options. Wilbur decided he was glad Tommy had the nurse in his life.

It was around early afternoon when Wilbur decided to make the trek down to Sally’s neighborhood. He may or may not have a few choice words for the woman. The entire way, from the city center to the outskirts, only made his anger fester and linger.

Wilbur walked up the broken stairs and knocked on the door hard. His hands fell to his sides as they curled into fists. He was beyond annoyed with Sally this time. He’d been trying his best to keep calm throughout this entire situation but this had to be the last straw.

The door opened and revealed a disheveled Jared.

F-cking Jared.

Wilbur snarled at the man. He hadn’t had the ‘pleasure’ of seeing the man in person, yet, let's just say he wished it stayed that way. When Wilbur had first met Jared, he was a fancy lawyer coming into L’manberg for exposure. He wore a fancy suit and tie, now he only dawned a dark blue t-shirt and khakis.

“Jared.” Wilbur greeted, glaring down at the man. Somehow within the past three weeks he’d learned to hate the man more. Jared held the same stare.

“Soot.” Jared made a move to close the door, but Wilbur placed his foot between the door and the frame. He pushed the door lightly back, and stared the man in the eye.

“I want to talk to Sally.” Wilbur demanded. Jared rolled his eyes.

“Whatever you wanna say to her, you can say to me.” He challenged, Wilbur only shrugged.

“Okay, we can all talk. All three of us. Together. Now.” Wilbur stated. If Jared wanted to be in this conversation he’d be in this conversation, although he wouldn’t like it. The man backed away from the door and into the house. Wilbur followed him, walking into the home of his son for the first time.

It was a mess.

A foyer in the middle, that separated the living room and the dining room. The living room was dark and the two couches were old and torn. There was trash covering the floor and broken glass near the chairs. The dining room wasn’t any better, it looked like it had been abandoned for years. The table was covered in dust and there were only two chairs. The foyer also opened up to the second floor through the tall staircase.

Wilbur looked around the rooms, cringing as he stepped on broken glass under his boot. He heard Sally before he saw her. Her heels making a clip clop sound down the hallway upstairs. She walked downstairs holding her head in one hand and supporting herself with the other.

“What’s with all the rackit?” Sally said before her eyes caught the sight of Wilbur’s notable brown coat. “Oh… You.”

“Sally.” Wilbur greeted calmly, although his fists said otherwise. Sally had a red robe on and her curls showed she had most likely just woken up.

“What? Come here to file a new lawsuit against us?” Sally spat, marching into the kitchen that was connected with the dining room. Wilbur scoffed and followed after her. Jared only leaned against the banisters and watched.

“No, actually. I came to ask you a question.” Wilbur let out a slow low breath, “A question of what the f-ck you think you were doing these last eleven years? I’ve tried being nice with you. I’ve tried to be calm and go about this mature, but you Sally will never grow up! Not even when you have endangered the life of a child!”

“Woah, Soot. You’re theatre kids showing.” Jared scoffed. Wilbur turned to face the man with lightning speed.

“Shut up, Jared! You wanted to hear the conversation. You get to hear the conversation! That does not mean you get to be a part of the conversation! You didn’t have to be here if you didn’t want to be. So don’t complain to me about anything!” Wilbur shouted. He could see the moment Jared’s annoyance turned into anger.

“You come into my house!” Jared yelled, but Wilbur cut him off.

“And you put your hands on my child!” Wilbur shouted, cutting the air with his hand. Jared stepped back shocked, but it allowed his anger to fester.

“Wilbur!” Sally called out, slamming her hand down on the counter. The brunette turned to Sally with a new fire in his eyes. He had a reason to fight now, and he was going to.

“What, Sally? What do you possibly have to say for yourself?!” He yelled.

“You have no idea what has gone on here for the past eleven years! All you know are the lies the little sh-t told you! Everything was fine until that brat had his pity party and ran to you! You’ve got no need to push yourselves into our lives!” Sally argued, long nails pointing in every direction.

“I’ve seen nothing to say Tommy is lying! In fact, I have seen so much to prove what he’s told me! You call him running away a ‘pity party’ because you scared the living out of him! I came here because you have hurt him for too long, Sally. Jared, you are not exempt from this.” Wilbur argued. Sally and Jared looked at him in shock.

“What do you think we’ve done with him?” Sally scoffed.

“You acted like he was a parasite. Neglected and abused him, and allowed his health conditions to worsen over the years without any help! He’s in the hospital right now. And while I would much rather be helping him I’m here having to argue with you two idiots!” Wilbur glared them both down, trying to stifle the rest of his ranting.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to start a real family with a constant reminder of ‘you’ around!” Sally jabbed.

“Did you only come here to rant and rave, f-cker?” Jared glared.

“I came to get custody over Tommy. To get an answer for why you haven’t helped him. To understand why you thought it would be a good idea to continue drinking like it hasn’t affected Tommy in the slightest way.” Wilbur pointed at the two.

“So much for being kind.” Sally scoffed.

“I’m done being kind with you, Sally. I’m done, Tommy deserves better. He shouldn’t have to deal with this.” Wilbur shook his head, he gestured around the house. He refused to call it a home, “This! This isn’t a home a child should grow up in. You’ve hurt him.”

“You have no right to come in and judge our lifestyles.” Jared argued.

“When it is affecting my child, then yes I do. I don’t care what you do with your lives, but it’s hurt Tommy. I don’t understand you, Sally, you act like you don't care about him but the second I come to get custody It’s a problem. I don’t understand you and I don’t think I ever will.” Wilbur turned on his heels, and started walking away.

“I want to see his room.” He said, standing in the middle of the foyer. Sally’s heels stomped their way over to him. He didn’t care where Jared went, he was glad the man had gone. He felt close to punching the man.

“Fine.” She said shortly, already walking up the stairs. “It’s up here.”

Wilbur followed up the stairs and wasn’t shocked to see the hallway in the same state as the downstairs. Sally led him into a room far down the hallway. The door was wooden, and creaked when Sally opened it.

Wilbur stood stock still when he saw the room.

It was small. There was a daybed in the corner with a shear blanket and a pillow. The pillowcase itself looked hand sewn with little cows on it. Wilbur wondered if Tommy was the one who had sewn it, after only a few weeks of knowing the boy he’d seen him hold a needle and thread multiple times. His room also showed it, the walls were mostly bare white, but here and there were little artworks: some were knitted, some embroidered, some were sewn, some looked to be school art projects. There was an old wooden desk across from the bed, but the room was so small, you could use the bed as a chair. On the little desk was a basket, a stack of papers, and a cardboard box. Above the desk were two shelves, a few random supplies and books were placed on them but not much. And right next to the bed was the small dresser.

Wilbur stifled a gasp with a sigh and walked into the room. The room was so small he wasn’t sure if it could even fit two people inside. He looked inside the cardboard box to find nothing inside. It would work. He lifted the box and placed it on the little floor that could be seen, and he started to pack.

“What are you doing?” Sally grimaced, as Wilbur carefully un-taped a poor painting of a flower. Wilbur let out a very tired sigh as he placed the painting into the box.

“If you won’t do what you should have been doing from the start I will.” Was all he said. He continued to un-tape all the artwork on the wall, all looked to be tilted and skewed like a child had done it. Sally looked around like she was seeing the world for the first time.

“What?” She said suddenly.

“He’s staying with me until this mess is over so he might as well have his stuff.” He shrugged.

“Wilbur, that is kidnapping!” Sally shouted.

Wilbur looked up and stared at her dead in the eyes, “You can charge me if you’d like, I’m sure it would only bring our case up into closer inspection. Which I’m sure you’d enjoy, right? A full inspection of your parenting and this house, I wonder how people would react?” He deadpanned.

Sally gapped like a fish out of water.

She turned and walked down the stairs calling out, “Just leave when you’re done.”

Wilbur nodded, even if she couldn’t see it. He started looking through his son’s old room more. He had felt that Tommy knew more about him than he did the other. The younger had met all his friends before him of course, there was no telling what stories they told him. So he thought it was the best time to learn about Tommy.

He picked up the basket from the desk and looked inside. It was filled with an odd assortment of items: rocks, plants, flowers, pencils, some yarn, fabric parts, and the boy’s needles, threads and embroidery rings. Wilbur smiled as he looked through the items, some even had labels on them. A few pencils were specified to which month he’d used them and what year. A couple rocks were painted. He placed the basket and everything inside into the box with care.

He looked over to the stack of papers on the other side of the desk. He recognized almost instantly it was a script of some sort. It was all handwritten too. Wilbur immediately felt a wave of curiosity and pride, but he set the script inside the box. If Tommy wanted to share it, he would on his own time.

Wilbur took the school supplies and three books off of the shelves and placed them inside as well. He turned the dresser next, it was only three drawers high, but the clothes inside didn’t even fill them up. Every item of clothing had something embroidered on it. It seemed the kid had run out of other options to sew on. Wilbur chuckled at the thought of Tommy’s angry kitten face as he tried to embroider a raccoon onto his jeans. He placed all the clothing on top of the box, which only left the bed.

The bed that consisted of only a blanket and pillow. Wilbur folded the blanket as nicely as possible and laid it across his shoulder. He grabbed the pillowcase gently, upon closer inspection it had been hand sewn. Wilbur could also see that it had to be Tommy’s first work. It was the oldest of the bunch and it showed, rips and tears poorly sewn back together. The first stitching had also been done poorly, it was jagged and loose in some places while tight in others. Either way, Wilbur could tell his mother’s choice in animals had been correct. The little cows on his pillow case showed the boy’s favorite animals perfectly.

When he was finished, he walked down the stairs, box in his hands. He didn’t see Jared or Sally on his way out but slammed the door either way.

He walked back to the apartment and started setting up Tommy’s bedroom. He decided the kid really deserved something nice to come back to after being in the hospital. He placed the old pillow and blanket on the boy’s bed. He had a lot more blankets and pillows now, but the kid had made that pillow. He set the basket of items and script down on the desk just like Tommy had had them. He filled the dresser with the boy’s old clothes, intermixed with the new ones they’d bought not long ago. He set the school supplies and books inside the desk drawers before grabbing things to actually hang up the boy’s artworks. He hung each work up with care and made sure not to mess them up at all. After that he set up a place for the kid to work on his projects in peace. A little corner filled with yarn, fabric, thread, needles, embroidery rings, and patterns all organized perfectly.

When he was finally done with his work and happy with it all, he turned out the light and closed the door lightly. He then grabbed his coat and started the trek to the hospital. The walk to the town center wasn’t too bad, Sam’s apartment was actually quite close by.

Wilbur walked up to the hospital grounds and was about to turn up the stairs when he saw a figure sitting in the grass a bit away. He instantly ran towards it.

“Tommy! What in the world are you doing?” Wilbur asked quickly, frightened at the fact that the boy was outside of the hospital room. The boy was sitting alone in a grassy patch in the middle of the parking lot near a busy street. He was leaning up against a light post. He looked up at Wilbur with wide blue eyes.

“Oh, Hi Wilbur.” Tommy said, hugging his knees. He was still a pale color and his hands still shook a little, Wilbur was starting to wonder if they ever stopped. He’d changed from his medical gown to his red and white striped t-shirt, blue cardigan and jeans. His eyes still held a tired stare, and his smile still felt a bit forced. Wilbur sighed and sat down next to him, wrapping an arm around the younger.

“Why are you not in the hospital room, Toms?” Wilbur asked softer this time. Tommy shrugged.

“I was waiting for you to come.” He said quietly, leaning his head onto Wilbur’s shoulder.

“Yeah? Why didn’t you wait in the room, sunshine?” Wilbur asked, brushing his hand through the boy’s hair.

“They discharged me a while ago.” Tommy said. Wilbur hummed acknowledgement. The rumble making Tommy even more tired.

“How long ago was that?” Wilbur asked, pulling the smaller closer after realizing how tired the kid was.

“Like…” Tommy trailed off, “two hours ago? It was like thirty minutes after you left.”

Wilbur looked down at the younger in shock, “Baby, that was two hours and thirty minutes ago. Why didn’t you just stay inside?” His brain started running through all the possible things that could have happened in the last three hours. He could have gotten hurt. He could’ve gotten kidnapped. He could’ve had a heat-stroke. Tommy hummed out his answer before saying, “I usually just leave and go back to Sally’s. That’s why they let me go. I was gonna walk over to her’s but then I remembered. I remembered I couldn’t go back. So I just sat to wait for you.”

“You could have at least walked inside, sunshine.” Wilbur explained, brushing his hand through the boy’s hair again.

“Didn’t want to bother them anymore, already stayed there long enough.” Tommy mumbled out, his eyes trying to slip shut. Wilbur shook his head.

“No, you’re not bothering people. You could have gotten hurt, okay? If you’re ever in a situation like this again, which I hope you won’t be, but you go find a trusted adult. Like someone in that hospital, a nurse or receptionist.” Wilbur said. Tommy hummed and nodded.

“Say you’ll do that, Tommy. I need you to say it.”

“I’ll go find a trusted adult.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.” Wilbur whispered, and kissed his forehead. Tommy hummed again. “Alright, come on. You’re tired and we should get back anyway. You can have a nap when we get to the apartment.” Wilbur smiled, thinking of the boy’s room. He was excited to see the boy’s face when he walked in. Tommy nodded and lifted his head up. Wilbur stood up from the grass and held a hand out for the younger. Tommy stumbled but steadied himself as they started their walk.

Wilbur opened the door to the apartment as Tommy stumbled through. Tommy stepped into the living room to see the mess Wilbur had made that morning. He looked over to the man.

“Really?” Tommy raised an eyebrow. Wilbur just shrugged and rubbed his neck.

“Heh, yeah, sort of rushed out of here this morning.” Wilbur chuckled. Tommy shook his head and walked over to the stairs, ready to take a nap. “Oh, wait, Toms, I have a surprise for you.”

Tommy paused and looked over to the older. His face turned into complete confusion. Wilbur only smiled at the disgruntled kitten face. Wilbur nodded and walked up to the younger, nudging him slightly to continue walking up the stairs. Tommy shook off the confusion before climbing the stairs.

Wilbur led the younger to his bedroom door and smiled. Tommy stopped in front of his door and gave a questioning look to Wilbur.

“Go on.” Wilbur encouraged. Tommy opened the door, hsi hand slowly falling from his door as he looked around shocked. His eyes were huge sapphires as he looked inside.

Tommy, although tired, was feeling a million emotions at once. Here in this new room were all his old belongings. Among the blankets that kept him warm during the night was the one blanket he’d called his own for years. His collection of items weren’t stuffed into a basket but placed out in a display. The entire room filled him with nostalgia of his old life, except this new one seemed much better. Very little was added to the room, but it was all he’d ever owned. It showed him something new, something he wasn’t sure he was ready to see, the fact that everything was changing. He had caused it all to change. Showed him the fact that for his entire life he’d never had this much, and here he was with that.

Tommy took a slow step inside the room, he was afraid that as soon as he set his foot down the floor would crumble. His eyes traced the room expecting it to wash away, but the room stayed in place. The floor never crumbled underneath him. The walls didn’t decay. And the pit in his stomach that was threatening to swallow him whole slowly disappeared, it was replaced by a shock and incitement that rocked his brain.

He walked up to the old artwork on display above the desk. He remembered making each piece, he remembered the moments filled with pride when he taped them up in his room. He knew each story that filled the piece and the emotions he pushed into them.

“How did you do this?” Tommy asked, his voice wavered but he tried to keep it still. He could feel Wilbur smirk.

“I went by Sally’s this morning,” Tommy turned to the man quickly, his eyes questioning and wide with worry, “I just wanted to talk to her. I packed up your stuff while I was there.”

“She didn’t try to stop you?” Tommy asked, looking over his collection of items; nothing was missing.

“I didn’t really give her a choice, bud.”

“Does this mean I’m staying with you? Like officially?” Tommy asked, he was really ready to just leave this all behind him. Wilbur sighed, and Tommy knew the answer wasn’t the one he’d hoped for. The older could see the moment Tommy deflated, the way his eyes instantly dropped to the floor and his hands glued to his sides.

“I’m not going to stop trying. Give me two more weeks.” Tommy didn’t have the energy to disagree. He just nodded, and looked to the rest of his room. He moved over to a corner with shelves filled with patterns, fabrics and yarn. Wilbur’s frown lifted a little into a sad smile.

“I noticed you had a lot of tools and stuff, I thought you might want a place where you could work in peace. Give you a better set up and all.” Tommy nodded and pulled out the unfinished works from a shelf. He smiled at the little self portrait. It was an embroidered him sitting in the field outside his school. It wasn’t finished, he’d given up on it. It hadn’t looked right, him sitting alone. Maybe one day he’d finish it.

“Thanks, Wil.” Tommy whispered, but it was sincere. It was filled with every emotion he was feeling, down to the little tears pricking his eyes. Wilbur walked away from the doorway he’d been standing in to ruffle the younger’s hair. Tommy scoffed and pushed the man’s hands away.

“You’re welcome, Toms. Now take a nap. I’m serious.” Wilbur said. Tommy raised an eyebrow at the man’s poor try at being serious. Wilbur was still getting the hang of the whole ‘parent’ thing, which caused him to sound a little confused.

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Tommy rolled his eyes, and lightly pushed the older man out of the room. Wilbur chuckled and let Tommy practically kick him out. Tommy closed the door, letting Wilbur’s laugh fade away, and slipped into the bed. With the addition of his old pillow and blanket.

><><><><><

“Pass me another drink, Q!”

“Schlatt, I’ve already let you have enough to kill a man. I’m not getting you another one.” Quackity said from his spot behind the bar. Schlatt was playing a game of blackjack with Dream, George, Subpoena and Karl. Although Karl wasn’t really playing just going around and looking at everyone’s cards.

“Come on, I’m gonna need another one if I keep having to deal with this lot.” He called out again. Surprisingly the man hadn’t gotten drunk yet, and was still competent. That didn’t mean Quackity was going to test the waters. He’d rather not give the town’s mayor alcohol poisoning.

“Just be lucky, you have us around. If we weren’t here you’d be complaining about having no one to play with.” George quipped, “I’m holding.”

“Hit,” Dream mumbled to Sapnap, who passed over a card, “Yeah, without Wilbur here, you don’t really have any other options.” Schlatt grumbled something under his breath, rolling his eyes.

“Hey are any of you guys hungry? I was thinking about getting something from Phil’s but I’m not sure.” Karl butted in from behind George.

“Karl, I literally sell food here.” Quackity said, washing out a glass for the fourth time. To be honest he was quite bored, but he had patrons for once, so it was a plus.

“Yeah, but it's like chips and snack stuff. I’m thinking of, like, a full meal.” Karl explained, his eyes widening and mouth forming an ‘o’ as he looked at George’s cards. Quackity sighed, and shook his head.

“I could eat.” Sapnap said, while the others agreed in nods or grumbles.

“Fine, I’ll go grab something from Crow’s. Do not burn the place down, while I’m gone.” Quackity gave up, and hooked his apron up. He walked out of the pub and started down the street to the Diner.

He walked into a quiet Diner.

Which was odd.

The Diner was never quiet. Ever. It didn’t matter if it had no customer’s, Phil would still be cooking. Kristen would still be walking around. Techno might have even been reading in his designated corner. But there was no one. He walked up to the counter where Kristen would normally be lurking. Concerned, he strained his ears to pick up any noises. He didn’t hear anything except quiet footsteps and hushed voices.

Now, look, Quackity was never really an eavesdropper, but there wasn’t really any need to be in this town. Everyone basically told everyone, everything. There weren’t a lot of secrets. Ever Schlatt’s whole mayoral crap wasn’t a secret, but that was mostly because the guy liked to talk while drunk. But the Craft family were probably the most secretive out of everybody. It mainly strived from what had happened years ago, but this was different. It felt different. So, yes, maybe Quackity did eavesdrop a bit.

“What do you think happened?” It sounded like Kristen.

“No idea. Whatever happened, Wil will tell us.” That sounded like Phil.

“I know. It’s just, what in the world could have happened in the last 12 hours for him to land in the hospital.”

Quackity took in a deep breath, someone had landed themselves in the hospital, he thought. He wanted to stop listening then, this was obviously something private, but he didn’t.

“12 hours is a long time. All it takes is one minute for something to go wrong. It doesn’t sit right with me, either. Wilbur said the only reason he knew was because Sally called him drunk. Something happened and a drunk Sally knew about it before Wilbur did. And whatever happened ended with Tommy in a hospital bed.”

“There isn’t much we can do here.” Kristen’s footsteps slowly got louder and louder as she moved towards the door. Quackity stumbled backwards and ran out of the Diner before she could see him. He speed-walked back to his pub and slammed the doors open. Somehow, Tommy, the kid he had only known for two weeks, had ended up in a hospital. Tommy may have only been in the town for two weeks, but he kid had won over everybody in town. There was no way this was going to go over smoothly. And if Sally did have something to do with this, he may have a few choice words himself for the lady. He didn’t think he could hate the lady more.

“Woah, what’s your problem?” Schlatt grumbled from his spot behind the bar. The man was pouring himself a drink from the tap, and if Quackity wasn’t spooked enough by what he heard, he’d probably have yelled at the man. The others who still sat at the table playing cards looked up at him.

“Where’s the food?” George asked, looking Quackity up and down behind his glasses. Quackity, who was still catching his breath, shook his head.

“I am not going back there.”

“What? What’s wrong?” Dream asked, suddenly aware of the situation. Even behind the white face mask he wore, Q could see the worry that lace his eyes.

“You will not believe what I heard…”

It doesn’t take long for rumors to spread around L’manberg, even when those rumors are untrue. All it takes is for one person to let it slide and the whole town knows. Which is why the town had barely any secrets between themselves. There was no reason to keep things from each other when everybody knew everything. So when Quackity told his friends, there at the pub, word spread like a wildfire. All it took was one drunk Schlatt to tell a nervous Puffy who would tell a tired Niki to tell a worried Ranboo.

Ranboo walked into Puffy’s classroom and plopped down in his regular seat. The seat had a nice few of the street outside and was in the back corner of the classroom. Most of the younger kids sat up front to see better. Last night, Niki had spilled what had happened to Tommy after a long day at her bakery. She hadn’t meant to at first, but once Ranboo had asked if she’d heard anything it slipped. It had then struck Ranboo as a very dangerous thing, he didn’t know why his ‘sort-of’ cousin was in the hospital. But he knew going there meant something very serious had happened.

So he planned to tell Tubbo.

Tubbo would want to know, and it would be unfor for only one of them to know what was happening. It might have also been because he couldn’t bare thinking about it alone anymore. So he was going to tell his friend, if he hadn’t fallen asleep first.

Ranboo was shaken awake by a brunette figure above him, “I’m awake! I’m awake! What- Tubbo!” He only half-way yelled. Tubbo just gave him a devilish smirk and sat down at his own desk. Their desks had always been next to each other, it was how they met. Tubbo had made a large entrance as the mayor’s son before sitting down next to the sleeping kid. He thought he was getting a lazy classmate who wouldn’t care about what he did, instead he got a chaotic but anxious friend.

“You suck.” Ranboo said, rubbing his face that had been pressed against the wooden desk. Tubbo snickered.

“Would you rather me have let you sleep through class?” He asked, taking out a green folder, with drawings of bees, spiders and pigs on it. He let out a huff of air mumbling, “I told Shroud and Micheal to stop drawing on my stuff…”

Ranboo laughed at the 6 year old’s drawings, before he remembered what he had wanted to say to his friend. Ms. Puffy walked up to the center of the room about to grab a few things from her desk before she started teaching. Ranboo reached over and tugged on his friend's green sleeve.

“Tubbo..I need to tell you something.” He whispered, catching the other’s attention. Tubbo looked over a raised eyebrow and spark of interest in his eyes.

“What?” He asked, the spark in his eyes not dying even with the sorrowful look in Ranboo’s. Underneath the two-colored mask the boy was frowning.

“I-I heard something…about Tommy. Niki told me something. S-she heard it from Puffy. I think Puffy heard it from Schlatt, and I think he heard it from Quackity. And maybe Quackity heard it from Phil? I’m not sure.” Ranboo mumbled. Tubbo’s interest slowly died and was replaced with worry to confusion.

“I’m not following. What’s going on, what’s wrong with Tommy, boss man?” Tubbo asked. Ranboo sighed.

“He’s in the hospital.”

Tubbo faltered. His best friend was in the hospital. His partner in crime was in the hospital. Tommy was in the hospital. Tommy was hurt. Why was Tommy hurt? What had happened? Did he and Wilbur get in trouble with something? With someone? How badly is he hurt? Is he still coming back to L’manberg? Is he dead?

“I’m worried.” Ranboo cut through Tubbo’s thoughts. Tubbo nodded, a lump in his throat formed making it hard to speak. He didn’t remember his breath speeding up but know it was slowly down. They sat in silence for a moment, both thinking. The start of Puffy’s lesson drowning out their thoughts until a worksheet was passed out and the two had to think. They couldn’t focus though. Tubbo hadn’t even picked up his pencil and Ranboo hadn’t written a single word on his paper. Tubbo let out a deep shaky breath, catching Ranboo’s attention.

“We call him after school.” It wasn’t a question. It was plan.

><><><><><><><><

Tommy woke up from his nap around four o’clock. He shoved the blankets away from his, his whole body still feeling sluggish. He hopped off the soft mattress, yawning. He could hear Wilbur downstairs trying to do something in the kitchen, he only hoped the man hadn’t started a fire.

He took a deep breath looking around his room again. Two worlds had collided and he still couldn’t process which he was still in. It was like the two words were fighting for his attention and he couldn’t focus on either of them. The whole world felt shaky underneath his feet, even though the floor stayed still.

Tommy shook out the thoughts in his mind and dragged himself over to the little nook Wilbur had created. Everything looked perfectly organized, he almost didn’t want to touch it. He worried he’d only ruin it. He was Tommy that’s what he did best. He grabbed the unfinished embroidery and placed it on the desk. He pulled out threads of all sorts of colors and needles of different sizes, organizing them on the desk next to him.

Most of the items on the desk were things Tommy was sure were Sam’s: the computer, the pens, broken walkie-talkie and other items. Other items on the desk were his own that he’d added over his time there. He hadn’t used the computer, though. He didn’t have a reason to.

Instead, Tommy picked up the needle and thread and got to work. He finally knew what to with his work after months of not. He worked in silence, a soft humming erupting from him as he pushed the needle in and out. Downstairs, Wilbur could be heard do whatever the man did in his spare time. Tommy imagined it was something stupid and pretencious, just like the man himself.

He didn’t know how long he worked, but he jumped when the sudden sound of rining erupted from the computer. The needle falling onto the desk as he caught his breath. He glared at the computer, that was now blinking a blue light. He grabbed the mouse and clicked on the white button on the center of the screen.

A separate screen opened, this one with words. It had two options at the bottom one to decline and the other to answer. Tommy read over the caller I.D.

“Who the f*ck is ‘the beloved’?” He whispered, his curiosity guiding him to click accept. He let out a loud squeak and fell out of his chair as a very up-close face came into frame.

“Tubbo move. I can’t see, you’re too close!” A voice Tommy recognized, even over the scratchy audio, said. The person who had their face so close to the camera let out a huff.

“Fine.” The person moved back, and Tommy recognized the brunette. He wasn’t trash covered, luckily, instead he was wearing a nice green button down shirt. He also had his hair down so it covered up most of his forehead only stopping just before his eyes.

“Hi Tommy!” The voice from before said, and moved into frame. Tommy immediately recognized the masked figure. The other dirty blond character had their regular white shirt and red cardigan on, with the addition of a black bow-tie.

“Hi? How did you guys manage this?” Tommy asked confused as to how the two hacked Sam’s computer.

“I threatened Sam with a knife I found in the trash to tell us how to contain you after school.” Tubbo said with a giant grin on his face. Tommy recognized the two were sitting in the apartment above Niki’s bakery, in Ranboo’s room.

“Sam was more worried about you getting tinnitus than you stabbing him.” Ranboo clarified.

“Either way he told us how to do this, even helped setting it up on Ran’s laptop.” Tubbo explained, motioning behind him. Ranboo nodded. Tommy looked between the two boys on the computer and the embroidery in front of him, he tossed the work to the side.

“Why did you do that, anyway?” He asked, still concerned with why they tried to threaten the town police. Somehow getting away scratch free, too.

“Well…” Ranboo started but was cut off by Tubbo’s streaming.

“Why the f*ck were you in the hospital, you d*ckhead?!” Tubbo yelled, causing Tommy to almost fall off his chair again.

“What?” He wondered how the two even knew about that. He’d been admitted yesterday, and the only people who knew were Wilbur, Sally, Phil, Techno and Kristen. So how did Tubbo and Ranboo find out?

“We heard you were in the hospital. Are you okay?” Ranboo cut off Tubbo before he could speak again.

“I’m fine, guys. How did you even figure it out?” Tommy asked.

“Well I found out from Ranboo.”

“I found out from Niki.”

“Niki found out from Puffy.”

“Puffy found out from Schlatt.”

“Schlatt found out from Quackity.”

“And Quackity found out from the Diner.” The two said finishing each other’s sentences. Tommy drew the lines together in the air as the two kept adding people.

“You guys spread rumors too much.” Tommy sighed.

“Well excuse us for being worried our friend was hurt!” Tubbo yelled back, “You haven’t even explained the situation to us!”

Tommy rolled his eyes, and propped his head up with his arm. He knew he could mess with them, he just didn’t know if he had the energy. He decided to anyway.

“Who said I would tell you guys, anything?” He asked, a smirk growing on his face. Ranboo looked gutted from behind the mask, while Tubbo looked like he wanted to rip out the other boy’s organs.

“You better f*cking tell us, or else I’ll call Wilbur! Music Man will definitely tell me.” Tubbo crossed his arms and looked away from the camera, Tommy could see his eyes checking for a reaction, though. Tommy chuckled at their reactions.

“Wilbur won’t tell you sh*t, b*tch.” Tommy laughed, the pain in his chest finally lifting.

“That’s so unfair! We just want to know what happened, it’s not like we’re going to do anything! We’re stuck here!” Ranboo butted in.

“I know, Big man. It just happens sometimes, I guess.”

“What happens?” Ranboo asked his ‘sort of’ cousin.

“Going to the clinic and all.” Tommy answered. Ranboo hummed a sad response while Tubbo shook his head.

“Going to a doctor does not happen often, boss man. You don’t get to ride this off as a normal visit.” Tommy sighed at Tubbo's misunderstanding.

“Tubbo, I’m saying that sometimes I have to go. It’s not normal, but I have to.” Tommy explained to the two confused faces across his screen. He really didn’t want to have to explain this again. He hated this part of him. This part that made him so different from other kid’s and made his life so much more dangerous than others. “When I was born I had complications with my heart, because of some stuff my mom did. So now I have to be extra careful about that. My heart just isn’t normal. I’m not entirely sure how, but I know it doesn’t like to pump my blood correctly when my breathing gets sporadic. Which is what causes these episodes. When my heart isn’t able to keep up with the rest of my body, I’ll pass out and need to go to the E.R.”

The call was silent for a moment at the heavy explanation. Ranboo had resorted to fiddling with his red jacket, while Tubbo was looking at the ground contemplating something. Tommy looked between them, he’d never seen two kid’s his age this concerned for him. It was odd.

“So…your heart could just, like, stop?” Ranboo asked nervously, he was looking Tommy up and down with concerned eyes. Behind the mask, Tommy could see the outline of a frown.

“It was more dangerous when I was really little. It’s gotten better over the years.” That was a lie. It would’ve gotten better if Sally had done what she was supposed to. “Now, I just have to monitor myself. I’m not going to die, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Tommy hid the sad thought of a different life behind a laugh.

“If it had gotten better, then why did you have an episode? Why didn’t Wilbur help? What do you do to help that situation? You said ‘you’ have to monitor it, can other people not help? Or have they just not in the past? Is there a way we can help? If you do end up coming back to L’manberg will you be able to get help here if something bad happens?” Tubbo rambled, the questions falling off his tongue easily. Ranboo ran a hand down his face at the amount of questions. It was normal for Tubbo to ask many questions all at once, but no one could keep up with him when he did.

“Something happened at school that caused me to panic and messed me up. Wilbur didn’t know about it. The best thing I can do in that situation is level my breathing so my heart beat evens out. I’ve always had to monitor it myself, I’m not sure if other people even know it’s happening when it does. I don’t think there’s anything you guys can do to help. I’m sure I’ll figure it out when that actually happens, Tubs.” No one except Tommy.

“So Wilbur knows now, right?” Ranboo asked, catching that part of the conversation.

“Yeah, I couldn’t really keep it away from him when Sally called telling him I was there. So the cat kind of came out of the bag then.” Tommy explained. Ranboo let out a sigh of relief and nodded.

“But you’re okay now, right?” Tubbo asked, looking the other up and down again for anything worrying. “Your hands are all wrapped up?” He pointed out.

Tommy looked down, he’d forgotten about the white wrappings. Ranboo’s head perked up and looked for himself, before starring Tommy down.
“What’s that for?” He asked, no levity at all in his voice. Tommy shuddered.

“I fell down the stairs when I passed out, it’s fine. Really, guys.” He said, trying to keep his voice confident. In reality, he couldn’t stop thinking about the older kids pushing him down and kicking him. Punching him until he passed out from his heart being unable to keep up with his panicked breaths. The whole situation was playing through his head, and all he wanted was to block it out. To make himself understand that there were better people in the world. That his life wouldn’t always be surrounded by these people who kicked him down every time he got back up.

“Okay, we’ll stop interrogating. Do you want us to tell people what you’ve told us?” Ranboo said, stopping Tubbo from disagreeing.

“No more rumors, please. Phil, Kristen and Techno know, but I'd rather not walk back into town with everyone knowing my life story.” Tommy answered, hugging himself as he curled up in the chair. Tubbo frowned but nodded anyway.

“Yeah, we’ll stop the rumors and we won’t spread this anymore. It’s gotten to far anyway. Pretty sure Aimsey and Bill were talking about it, and you’ve never even met them.” Tubbo said, catching Ranboo attention.

“Wait! You don’t know Bill?! Tommy, you have to meet him! Aimsey’s awesome! How have you not met them, yet? When you get back I’m so introducing you to them! Until then, allow us to fill you in on the cricket incident.” Ranboo started to tell a very detailed story about a cricket, Billzo, Aimsey, Tubbo, himself and one other and thirty dollars. The three talked for a long time, each of them losing track of time as they caught up. Tommy told them about everything he knew with the ongoing trail, and they explained all the mishaps in town that the Crafts were keeping a secret.

Their talk only ended when Wilbur knocked on Tommy’s door.

“Come in.” Tommy called, as Wilbur opened the door and smiled.

“Who are you talking to?” He asked, smile on his face but his brow was furrowed with confusion.

“Tubbo threatened Sam with a knife he found in the trash to get the information on how to call us here. So I’m talking to Ranboo and Tubbo. Did you know Schlatt paid Quackity a hundred dollars to walk around town in his underwear for a whole day?” Tommy said brightly, although his face twisted into confusion as Wilbur’s turned to horror with the last sentence.

“He did what?” The man was cringing so much, that Tommy thought he might turn to dust then and there. “Okay, that’s enough L’manberg information for today, for the both of us I think.” He said drawing out the first word.

“Hey, Music Man!” Tubbo screamed from the screen. Wilbur just sighed at the nickname.

“Hello Tubbo. Hey, Ranboo. How are you two?” He asked.

“Fine. I’d be better if I didn’t have to see Quackity yesterday.” Ranboo answered, looking like he was witnessing a flashback. Tubbo only laughed.

“Yeah, I think we’d all be a bit better.” Wilbur chuckled, “Tell him, I said hello and not to take any more bets without me. There’s no telling what he’ll do. Unfortunately, though, I just finished dinner. So…”

“Seriously? Did you actually finish it, or have you just decided to order take out again?” Tommy asked, not wanting to end the call with his friends. Wilbur ruffled his hair as he snickered to the younger’s protests.

“You’ll just have to see. Now say bye to Tubbo and Ranboo. Bye, kids.” Wilbur said, walking out the already open door. Tommy huffed and turned to the camera smoothing out his hair.

“I guess I gotta listen to the old man, huh?”

<><><><><><><<

Tommy went back to school after two days of staying at the apartment. Wilbur had wanted him to stay home until they had a good idea of what to do in those situations again.

Tommy had watched from the stairwell as Wilbur looked for hours searching for information. He spent the entire evening researching and calling people.It was different, and a small part of Tommy enjoyed the fact that someone was going out of their way to help. That one person looked past the problems and still helped with the ones he couldn’t do anything about. So, Tommy watched with a sad smile as Wilbur worked. Wilbur didn’t really know he was still up after all. The man thought he’d gone to sleep an hour ago, but even then he didn’t give up. Maybe that was what made the bubble in Tommy’s heart jump. The fact that it didn’t matter if he was watching or not the man was the same either way. A constant he’d never seen in Jared or Sally.

Tommy walked up the stairs quietly, leaving the brunette downstairs none the wiser. He walked into the room the man had gone through so much to help make it feel like a home. He flopped down on the bed and curled up with Henry in his hands, falling asleep.

It took two days for Wilbur to get an answer he thought would work. Apparently it included a certain type of medicine that would strengthen his heart. It took convincing to even get the doctors to give away that information, but without legal guardianship it would be almost impossible to get. So while Wilbur got the legal parts sorted out, Tommy was sent back to school. This time however with a way to contact Wilbur if something bad happened.

Tommy walked to school, a pit growing in his stomach at the thought of seeing his classmates. The days after an episode were always the worst. The classmates always wanted to know what had happened, some would pretend to care only to gain more to spread rumors about. It was well-known that Sally wasn’t the best parent. It was well-known that Jared was even worse when he did show up. And it was very well-known that above it all Tommy was a f*cked up kid. An easy picking for those who needed a way to get their anger out.

He knew what was coming when he walked into that classroom, but it didn’t make it any better. He sat down in his regular seat in the middle. Being in the middle of the classroom was safest, away from the trouble-makers in the back and goody-two shoes in the front. The middle was a safe ground.
Everything was fine and normal until the middle of his first class. The two students on either side of him suddenly turned to him. He was working on a paper, when something hit his face. He looked over to the student who’d thrown his pencil at him.

“Where were you, pipsqueak? You just disappeared after throwing that tantrum in the hall two days ago.” The girl’s voice lifted like she was talking down to a baby. Tommy cringed, and turned back to his paper. He was going to ignore these idiots if it was the last thing he did. He was not a child. He may be smaller than the other kids his age but he was not a child. He was just as big a person as the others.

“Your parents finally decide to deal with you properly?” The other student beside him asked, he was unsure of what they were implying.

“Just stop talking to me.” Tommy whispered out, he didn’t have the mental energy to deal with them.

“We were just trying to be nice. Just trying to start a conversation with the school backend.” The first girl scoffed.

Tommy shook the conversation out of his head and continued with his work. He ignored the snickering behind him and the whispered conversations. He only moved when the bell sounded the end of class. He spent the next class holed up in the corner doing his work silently. He avoided every student who sent a glance towards him. Pitying eyes followed him as he walked to the lunch line during his third class. He tried his best to ignore the conversations and laughter that surrounded him, until his brain got foggy and he walked to the bathroom. The bathroom he spent lots of lunches in to get away from prying eyes.

The last stall had become like a second home after so long. He spent made days in there away from other students. He knew many saw him enter and not come out for atleast an hour, but no one ever stopped him. No one ever stalked him inside, to lazy to even continue there bullying if it took walking to a different scenery. That’s what made the restroom so safe, of course Tommy couldn’t have that safety forever.

His heart jumped when the door creaked open, footsteps, heavy and slow, entered. He shut his eyes tightly and let his breathing calm down, before placing his backpack on the hook. He lifted his legs up and curled in on himself to try and hide away.

Then there was the banging on the doors, one at a time down the line of stalls. A few snickers could be heard from behind the growling voice.

“Come out, kid! We know you’re in here! We just want to talk? You can’t disappear for days and come back like nothings wrong?” They called out.

He didn’t respond but that didn’t seem to matter. The sound of the paper towels being ripped filled his ears, and the students started throwing the balled up paper over the stalls. Tommy squeaked when the paper hit him on the head.

“Last stall, we know you're in there.” A student called, and Tommy was trapped. He sighed. He knew his fate before his feet hit the tiled floor. There was no way to escape it. These kids weren’t leaving and he’d have to get to his next class soon enough. He’d trapped himself in the last safe place he knew. The last place that had stayed constant was gone. He wondered if Tubbo an Ranboo had ever delt with this. He smiled as he grabbed his backpack. Tubbo would have stabbed these f*ckers before they even got a word out. Ranboo would have come up with some unworldly insult that would confuse and intimidate the kids. Either of them would have had something to protect themselves. Tommy just had Tommy, nothing else.

He opened the stall door and was immediately semi-circled by five students. Behind him was the stall and in front of him were the bullies that helped ruin his life.

“So, what happened, tiny? You just pass out in the hallway and disappear?”

“I mean you pass out all the time. Your parents finally have enough of you racking up the medical bills? Bet you just faked some sickness to get out of school.”

“What happened is none of your business, d*ckhead.” Tommy spat, a confidence bursting in him. If a dumpster diving trash bandit ukulele playing idiot could stab these dumb*sses then he could do something. If an anxious narcoleptic talkative numbskull could make fun of these crude old goons then he could do something.

“Hey! Watch it, Sally ain’t gonna want a bleeding child coming home today.”

“Actual Sally wouldn’t give a sh*t, and neither do I. I don’t give a sh*t about what you want.” Tommy rolled his shoulders back a little standing up taller. He was still smaller. The other kids suddenly looked more interested by something Tommy had said. What had he said?

“Really? Sally finally kick you out, pipsqueak? Makes sense, she gave up a long time ago with you, before you were even born from what I heard.”

Tommy’s nose scrunched up and his hands bunched into fists without his consent. He shook his head, he was so tired of these idiots talking like that. That he was still living with her. That he was still uncared for. He had someone who loved him. He had a whole f*cking town of them, and he wanted these b*st*rds to know.

“You know what? I have someone who cares about me! I have a whole town of them! I have a dad! And he is one of the best out there! You’re probably just jealous because yours left you for a jug of milk. You don’t have to tell me your parents never loved you because you show it everyday. If you lot have enough time to come mess with a kid who’s got nothing left to lose then you better be prepared to get your butt’s given to you. I’m tired of dealing with you sh*ts. I’m not a human punching bag for you to come get your hormonal anger out on. How about instead you use that energy and go find someone who cares about your *sses.” His words echoed over the bare tiled walls. Tommy felt his breathing pick up as he heard his own words in his mind for the first time. He shoved his hands over his mouth to stop any other words from coming out as his eyes widened at the pissed of teens.

“What did you just say?” One said with clenched teeth, they were cracking their knuckles.

“It thinks someone cares.” One whispered in a sickening sweet tone.

“I’ve had enough of the child talking.”

“You got a lot of nerve, kid.”

Then Tommy felt the first punch.

><><><><><><><><

It was about one hour from when Tommy got home that the doorbell rang. Wilbur looked from the guitar sitting in his lap, he hadn’t had a lot of time to practice. He laid the instrument down and walked over to the door. He wasn’t expecting anyone, so the random visitor had caught him off guard.

He opened the door enough to see outside and sighed. He almost closed the door in her face, almost.

“Sally.” Wilbur greeted from the now fully opened doorway. Sally looked up from her phone and nodded to the man.

“Wilbur.”

“What do you want?” Wilbur asked. He wanted to get this over with and quickly. He didn’t want Tommy coming back to him and Sally arguing. He’s sure the kid had seen enough of that for a lifetime. Sally looked him up and down before answering.

“I want to have a calm and orderly conversation with you about this situation.” Sally gestured for him to let her inside. Wilbur begrudgingly did so, but not quietly.

“If calm is in your vocabulary.” He mumbled. Sally walked inside glaring at his offhand remark. Wilbur closed the door, letting his back hit the wood. He ran a hand through his hair and down his face as he watched Sally inspect the apartment. He had no mental energy to deal with this red-head, but he was not going to be the one to break. If she wanted calm she was getting calm, but she was not getting orderly. Not after all the crap she’d done.

Sally ran her fingers down the end table of the living room, she cringed as she looked around the room again. Wilbur only scoffed at thinking something in the room had pissed her off.

“So you steal the apartment or what?” Sally mumbled.

“No.” He rolled his eyes, “A friend lent it to us. The old police man in L’manberg, Sam.” Wilbur wondered if she remembered any of it. If she would even care enough to pretend to remember, if she felt the need to shove all the memories underneath her bed.

“The green-haired one?” Wilbur nodded. Sally looked at the guitar laying on the couch before she turned to the man.

“You still play?”

“Is this your poor attempt at small talk? Just,” He sighed and rubbed his eyes, “What do you want, Sally?”

Sally groaned, “I want you to drop the case.”

Wilbur stared at the woman like she had turned into a fish. She couldn’t actually think he’d just drop it. There was no way that was happening. How had he not made that clear? After a few seconds of silence, Wilbur chuckled.

“You seriously think I’m just going to drop it?” Wilbur laughed out, before getting serious, “I’m not dropping it, Sally.”

“Wilbur, just listen, do you really want to even be a dad? Are you even sure?” Sally asked, obviously grasping for some reasoning.

“I was sure eleven years ago, Sally!” Wilbur yelled, he sometimes wondered if the woman even lived in the same world as him. Sally walked back over to him and stared him down in the foyer of the apartment.

“Things can change in eleven years…” Saly mumbled, crossing her arms. Wilbur shook his head, sighing.

“Let me make this extremely clear for you, I have always been sure. I was okay with it. You were the one who ran. You were the one who left with Jared. Even after eleven years, I would still be that kid’s dad. I never stopped being that kid’s dad no matter what you or he thinks. Got it?” Wilbur exaggerated, his voice sounding purposefully condescending.

Sally scoffed but had no come back for the other. Wilbur looked at the clock on the wall above them, Tommy would be home soon. His foot tapped anxiously on the ground, he needed to get Sally out now. He ran through options in his head to run the woman out, but the more he thought the more time he was using. He didn’t want Tommy to come in on this; the two of them arguing about the custody battle. He’d been trying to keep the situation away from the kid as much as possible, he had enough to worry about on his own. He didn’t want the boy to have to relive every bad moment in his life the second he saw the red-head. The amount of times the boy had just gone unresponsive from the mere mention of her or her counterpart were enough to testament to it.

“I don’t even understand this! You never wanted a kid. You have made it so clear you don’t care! You have made it clear you don’t want this, yet you keep fighting for custody. You don’t make sense, Sally, one moment you are fighting me for custody the next you're complaining about having to be a parent! What is your problem?” Wilbur stressed, he couldn’t keep his cool with the worry of Tommy coming home so soon.

“You sued me!” Sally yelled back.

Wilbur faltered. His brain trying to wrap around the sentence. She’d yelled about the suing not about the custody battle. She’d said nothing about the custody battle. Her problem was the charges. She didn’t care about having custody over Tommy, she just wanted the charges dropped. Wilbur’s blood boiled at that. His face suddenly went dark and eyes widened. Sally couldn’t live with the fact that her perfect life would be changed with the consequences of her own actions. Sally just ran from her problems, it’s all she’d ever done. Even after a decade of growing and maturing she was still the cowardice woman he’d used to know.

“You don’t f*cking care about him, do you?! You’re so caught up in your own f*cking life, that the second you face some consequences you run from them. You are a coward, Sally Salmone! You won’t let anyone come before you, not even your own d*mn son! Child endangerment is serious, Sally! You have neglected that kid his enter life, you’ve caused him a lifetime of pain and won’t accept a f*cking punishment. He has to live with the problems you caused him and he has no control over and you don’t feel the tiniest bit guilty! You are deranged!” Wilbur’s blood was at its boiling point and all he could see was the red that melted into the woman’s hair in front of him. There was no way in hell he was letting her get away with this. No way she was walking away from this with no consequence.

“Do not call me deranged!” She yelled back, her voice blocking the sound of the door next to them opening. Wilbur bit back insults as he glared at the woman down. He had never been a violent person that was more his brother’s deal, but he’d never been this angry at a person. He knew for a fact that if he was Techno, his brother would have punched her in the face but he wasn’t Techno. He just really wished he was.

“Well then would you like another name then? I’m sure there are a lot to fit the absolute f*ckery that is your brain. That boy does not deserve to live with someone who chooses their own life of drinking and partying over the consequences to the actions that have hurt someone so deeply. You are so selfish that it is sickening! I will not drop those charges! Prime knows you deserve a few repercussions! You are not above people, Sally. You need to get over your little god complex and take a moment to look at the people you’re f*cking hurt-”

“Dad, I think you can stop.” A tiny voice spoke from beside the two. The two adults turned to the child who’d walked in on the scene. Wilbur’s mouth clamped shut when he heard the voice and his entire presence shrunk. He looked back to the boy, who was staring up at the two with sad eyes.

Wilbur was about to start spouting excuses about the whole situation when he noticed the actual state of the boy.

The boy’s face was bruised and broken beyond belief. He had a nasty bruise on his eye, and bruises covering his hands and arms. There were a few hastily placed bandages on his fingers and face. Two large red handprints on his throat that had left little bruises. There was a bloody cut running from the bottom of his nose to his chin that ran across his lips. A red knot was growing on his forehead and little patches of blood were scattered in his blonde hair. His clothes were ruffled and untucked. One of his pant legs was lifted to see his left foot wrapped in white bandages.

“Toms?” Wilbur whispered, he worried the boy would topple over then and there. He looked one second away from passing out, not from a heart problem, just from exhaustion. “Hey, what happened?”

“We were kind of in the middle of something, kid.” Sally mumbled from where she was leaning on the wall. Tommy’s eyes were pricked with tears and he looked between the two adults before deciding the floor was more important. Wilbur was breathing out smoke at this point.

“Sally, you either stay quiet or you leave. Make your choice.” He turned back to the woman pointing a finger at her, before turning back to the hurt boy.

“You can’t be serious! He’s fine, right, Tommy?” Sally asked the boy. Tommy nodded slowly, while Wilbur looked horrified. The boy’s eyes glazed over and his body became limp standing up. Wilbur sighed knowing the boy had already gone deep into his mind and was not going to come back out easily.

“He just needs to suck it up.” That was the last straw for Wilbur. Quite frankly, the entire situation was the last straw for him. There was no way in hell he was sending Tommy back to live with her and Jared. He was not dropping charges. And he was not letting Sally stay in this apartment and terrify his son.

“Get out.”

“What?” Sally scoffed, but Wilbur didn’t move. He only glared harder at the woman and pointed at the door.

“I said get the f*ck out. Now. And do not come back.” Wilbur growled, he almost fully pushed the woman out the door. “I am not dropping charges. In fact, I’ll be calling the attorney right after this. I’ll see you in court, Sally. I do not want to talk to you again unless a lawyer and Judge are involved.”

Sally was forced out of the doorway as Wilbur slammed the wood in front of her. The sound echoed through the building. Tommy flinched from the rumbling underneath his feet, he felt his legs turn to jello. Wilbur pressed his back against the door and listened to the clip clop of Sally’s shoes slowly disappear. He breathed out the air he’d been holding in.

He slowly moved forward to the boy in front of him. Tommy was facing away from him and flinched when Wilbur’s arm wrapped around his shoulder. Wilbur’s breath turned sharp as the boy closed his eyes tightly to try and look away from the man. Wilbur grasped the boy’s shoulders to try and gain his attention, but the boy flinched away.

“Okay.” Wilbur breathed out, “I won’t touch you.”

Wilbur watched as the boy took a step away from him. His eyes were glazing over and his whole body shook violently. Wilbur recognized the motions from when he and the kid had first seen Sally again. He knew only a few things about it, but he knew that what Tommy was seeing and feeling wasn’t actually happening. He was running deep into his own mind to escape from reality where he thought danger was. He needed to get the kid out of his own head and to focus on him, not whatever the kid was imagining.

Tommy took another wobbling step back and fell to the ground. On the ground he’d be a target, Tommy knew that, he was easy pickings on the ground. He either needed to get up and run, or block whatever was coming. But his legs weren’t listening to his brain, so that left the second option. He raised his arms on instinct and covered his head, surprising the older. Wilbur was a lot taller than him when he was on the floor, he was a giant.

But the giant was lowering himself down, down to Tommy’s level. That wasn’t supposed to happen. The giants stayed up high, Tommy stayed below where he belonged.

Wilbur had wanted to pull Tommy up as soon as he had fallen, but with how his other attempts to touch him ended he decided not to. Wilbur lowered himself to the ground so he was sitting across from Tommy. His back was against the couch and he was suddenly reminded of the first time he’d met Tommy. The boy crying in his music shop alone, listening to his song he’d written for the boy. He remembered how the music had actually helped calm him down. Wilbur inched closer to the couch, he just had to get close enough to grab the instrument.

His fingers brushed the item, the instrument rocked back and forth before falling onto the floor. The crash made both jump, Tommy yelped and curled in on himself more. His hands no longer covering but pulling on his blonde curls. Wilbur jumped his heart racing but not for the same reason as his son, he grabbed the instrument and placed it in his lap. He strummed the strings lightly, letting the sound echo through the quiet room. Tommy’s soft sniffles and ragged breathing were tuned out by the noise of the music.

Tommy couldn’t feel anything. He couldn’t feel the pain in his ankle and he couldn’t feel the sharp stabbing that erupted from all the bruises. He just knew that he needed to stay still. He needed to hide away from any more pain. He’d heard the arguing and with arguing came the anger. He didn’t want the anger. He didn’t want the anger again. The anger was gone. It was gone, right? He’d left that. He left that when he crawled underneath his mom’s bed that day. Then why was he still walking into arguments about him? Why was he still covered in bruises and pain?

Muffled music sounded in his ears, it was quiet and soft. It caught his attention, music wasn’t allowed in the house. They didn’t like the noise. So why was there the soft strumming of a guitar, next to him? And when did the music get so close?

Wilbur continued the soft song until Tommy was slightly back to reality. When the boy’s arms lowered from his face, Wilbur placed the guitar silently on the couch. Tommy’s eyes looked around the room searching for something, but he never locked in on one thing. WIlbur inched forward to the boy and only stopped when the boy looked at him. There was still a glazed over look of fear and worry in the boy’s eye, Wilbur just ignored the pit in his stomach that grew as he saw it.

“There you go. Come on, you can do it, Toms. Focus on me, bud.” Wilbur whispered, offering his hands to the boy palms up. Tommy’s eyes shifted back and forth looking the man over before landing on his hands. The boy watched his hands for a moment before shakily placing his own down. Wilbur didn’t move when he felt the boy’s hands in his own, he just kept talking.

“Talk to me, Sunshine.” He said. Tommy whimpered and his breathing became shaky. He shook his head and looked down to the floor. He didn’t think he even could speak. He wanted to, he wanted to tell Wilbur everything that was happening in his mind but no words exited his mind.

“Look at me. One thing at a time, okay? Just try and come back; fully back. I need all of Tommy back. What’s my name, yeah? What’s my name, Toms?” He was grasping for something to get the kid’s mind on something else. Something to get the kid to focus and come back from the house he’d built up in his head.

Tommy searched his face for features, something to distinguish between the colors and the flat details. He couldn’t tell who the person was, the way the colors kept changing from blue to brown, from red to yellow. The person was changing and he couldn’t choose which one was correct. There was suddenly a small amount of pressure on his hands. He looked down, oh, the man was holding his hands. The man was rubbing his thumb along his palms. He looked back up to see the man had grown brown hair and a yellow sweater. Tommy only knew one person you dressed like that.

“W-wilbur?” He hated how his voice wavered so much. The man, Wilbur, nodded and squeezed his hands.

“Good. How old are you, Toms?”

Tommy didn’t remember that. He knew he wasn’t a child, he was a big man, but how old he wasn’t sure. Everything felt so fuzzy and reaching into the past to find a specific date was like reaching into a sand pit. Everything felt slow but fused together. He knew he’d never had Wilbur in his life before, so he must be old.

“Eleven?” Tommy said, unsure. The number felt right but he couldn’t think straight. Wilbur nodded happily though, he got it right then. Tommy gave the man a dopey smile.

“Where are you right now, baby?” Wilbur asked.

Tommy looked around the colors and shapes becoming items and furniture. The whole place soon fell back into an apartment.

“Not…home.” He whispered shakily, like he didn’t believe it. His smile didn’t leave, and if that didn’t hurt Wilbur. The fact his son was so happy to not be at what he called a home.

“Yeah, you’re not there. You are not there, you do not have to go back there, baby. I would not make you go back there.” The tears in Tommy’s eyes started falling as he looked around the apartment for affirmation. “Sally’s gone.” Wilbur said, wiping away the tears on the younger’s cheeks. Tommy nodded, his sniffles becoming a full on sob. He jumped into Wilbur’s arms and wrapped himself around the older.

Wilbur held the younger close as he rested his head on the boy’s curls. The boy’s sobs and shaky breathing filled the flat, as Wilbur tried to calm him down. Any words spoken were met with no reply, as Tommy shook his head into Wilbur’s shoulder. After many unsuccessful tries at talking, he resorted to just humming. The soft rumbling of music mixed with the crying boy in his arms led to a song he didn’t think he’d ever hear. He rubbed his son’s back and buried his nose into the blonde curls.

“I can’t do it. I can’t do it. I can’t do it.” Tommy mumbled, his words cut off by hiccups and sobs.

“Yes, you can. You can, baby, just keep breathing. It’s going to be better. I promise. You’ll get through this.” Wilbur murmured, running a hand through the boy’s tangled knots.

Tommy just chased after the feeling of comfort after reliving the awful memories. He didn’t want to listen to Wilbur say everything would work out, he didn’t want to hear him say everything would be fine, because he didn’t know if it would. Wilbur couldn’t tell the future. Tommy just wanted this moment, where he could for once show the world how messed up he was and not be met with hurt in return. Because for some reason Wilbur was different. Wilbur just let him hug him without reason, Wilbur just cared for him like a decent person.

“Don’ want to go back. Don’ wanna go back. ‘M not gonna be okay. Wanna be okay.” His words slurring together with the tears.

“I’ve got you, sunshine. Okay? You’re going to be okay. I want you to remember that, baby. I need you to remember that I’m going to catch you if you fall. I’m going to be there. I will not, ever, hurt you. I will never neglect, or hate, or hurt you. I love you. I always have and I always will, sweetheart. You did not deserve what they gave you, you deserve so much more.”

Tommy nodded into the others shoulder, he didn’t know if he believed him but it sounded like something he should agree with. He felt a kiss pressed on his forehead and looked up to the soft brown eyes that looked down on him with concern. Wilbur wiped away the straw tears that still fell on the younger’s cheeks.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t there, baby. I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you sooner. I should have pressed harder, but I’m going to make up for it. I’m going to fix this. You’re my sunshine and I need you in my world. But I want you to know, I meant what I said. Sally’s not going to bother you. Jared’s not going to bother you anymore. And if they ever do, I need you to tell me, sweetheart. Can you promise me you will?” Wilbur asked softly, running a hand through the boy’s hair. Tommy nodded, chasing after the man’s fingers in his hair. “I need you to say it, sunshine.”

“I promise to tell you if they bother me.” Tommy whispered, his voice still betraying him. His throat hurt from being strangled in the school restroom. It burned to talk out of and it felt so scratchy just sitting there.

“And I meant what I said about Sally not getting away with this. The two of them are not getting out of this, okay. They're going to get some consequences for what they’ve done to you. You deserve so much more than what they gave you, I’ll tell you that everyday.” Wilbur hugged his son tightly, rocking him back and forth as they sat together. Wilbur wished he could go back to when they were sitting alone on that couch before Sam had called. He wished that he could do something so Tommy had never had to live through it all. But he could do nothing but comfort and hold the aftermath of it all. And hope that in the end it will work out okay.

Tommy melted into the hug, with his koala-like grip on the man. His loud sobs turned into quiet cries, turned into silent sniffles. He slowly calmed down, but didn’t let himself let go of the man, afraid that if he did he’d disappear. Wilbur continued to hum and let music flood Tommy's ears.

Wilbur sighed, one problem down, he thought, one more to go.

“Tommy, sunshine, can you look at me? I want to check your eye.” WIlbur asked softly, not wanting to scare the boy off after finally calming him down. Tommy looked up slowly, almost ashamed of the painful splotches that colored his skin. Wilbur cupped his cheeks and checked over his face, there were so many bruises and cuts, some minor other’s major.

“Toms,” Wilbur started, he really dreaded the answer, “what happened?”

Tommy was silent. He thought over his options quickly, “I fell down the stairs.” He mumbled. Wilbur took in a sharp breath, before looking at the boy with even more concerned eyes. It was the same lie he’d heard before, it hadn’t seemed true then and it seemed otherworldly now. Wilbur shook his head.

“I need the truth, Tommy.” Tommy looked down ashamed, he didn’t know what Wilbur would think of him when he told him. Wilbur would think he was such a loser for not being able to deal with the bullies in the beginning. Tubbo and Ranboo would have done such a better job.

“I-it’s just some kids at school…they’ve always done this. It’s not a big deal. I try not to make it a big deal. Mom-Sally always said to just suck it up and go along with it. Sometimes she said I deserved it.” Tommy whispered, saying it out aloud made it feel so real. That everything around him was actually happening. He expected Wilbur to just dump him. To just stand up and leave, to say exactly what Sally said and forget about it. Instead, the man just hugged him tighter.

“No, absolutely not. You do not deserve that. There is nothing that you could do to deserve this. Do not listen to what she said. You do not have to ‘suck it up’, Tommy. This is not a suck it up moment. If people hurt you to this extent to any extent it does not mean you suck it up and go along with it. You come tell me, or you tell another adult. You do not just let it happen, understand?” Wilbur said. He sounded stern when he said it, but there was a waver in his voice of worry and nerves. Tommy could see it in the man’s eye, the way he was looking him over in horror and concern. Tommy just found interest in the floor instead of having to watch the man unravel everything that happened in his own brain. He heard Wilbur sigh, “Come on.”

Suddenly he was being lifted upwards. He looked around to find Wilbur was carrying him.

“What are you doing?” Tommy asked.

“I’m going to find a first aid kit. Sam’s got to have one around here somewhere.” WIlbur mumbled, as he placed Tommy on the counter of the kitchen. The boy’s legs didn’t even hit the floor from where he sat. Wilbur opened cabinets and drawers, riffling through each one until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out what looked to be a medical bag from underneath the island of the kitchen.

“I knew Sam was a survivalist.” Wilbur mumbled pulling the duffle bag of medical supplies onto the counter. He unzipped it and started looking through it.

“What hurts the worst?” He asked, head almost fully in the bag. Tommy watched in confusion at the man. He looked himself over before coming up with a self report.

“They punched my face a couple times but that much is obvious. One of the guys found some broken glass and that’s what cut my lip. It hurt worse before, but now it’s just getting numb. They got one or two kicks to my stomach before I started running. I slipped on some water though and fell, I landed wrong on my ankle. The nurse thinks I sprained it.” Tommy whispered, keeping his eyes away from the brunette who was looking at him horrified again. Tommy shoved the feeling of wanting to cry again down deep into a pit in his brain. Wilbur was silent, but he grabbed a few things and got to work.

At first he just washed away the blood and dirt from the boy’s face and arms. Then he cleaned the cut on the boy’s lip, muttering apologies when he winced. The cut was going to leave a scar, when he said as much to the boy he just nodded, saying it went along with the scar on his eye. Wilbur still had no idea where the scar came from but he didn’t want to know if it was anything like this. Wilbur placed a few bandages on the smaller cuts and handed the boy an ice pack for the black eye.

Wilbur stepped back for a moment, he wasn’t done, but he needed to ask at least a few more questions. He looked the boy up and down before asking, “How long? How long have they been bothering you?”

Tommy looked up, he wasn’t expecting the question. He was expecting Wilbur to just ignore it. But like always Wilbur had to be different. “All my life really. As soon as they realized they could get me easily that was it. No repercussions for picking on the kid who no one cares about.”

Wilbur let out a shaky breath, Tommy knew it wasn’t a nervous one though, it was an angry one. Wilbur was mad. “What’s with this town and letting people get away with sh*t.” Wilbur muttered. “All this could be fixed if I just stopped Sally a long time ago.”

“You can’t control her.” Tommy mumbled, but it was loud enough for Wilbur to hear. Wilbur looked at the boy confused, “You can’t control what she does. You can’t control what Jared does. There both *ssholes, but we can’t stop them from screwing with us. The best thing we can do is to let them know they shouldn’t and that when they do you give them consequences. You hold them to what they’ve done, good or bad.”

Wilbur smiled, “That’s very mature, Toms. Is it this ankle?”

Wilbur lightly pulled off the boy’s shoe and unwrapped the bandages. His foot was swollen and bruised, he shouldn’t have been walking on it. What might have been a sprain was now most definitely a fracture. Tommy whimpered whenever his foot was touched, Wilbur apologized everytime.

“We might need to visit the clinic a little earlier than expected, bud.” Wilbur sighed, and wrapped an ice pack to the boy's ankle. Tommy nodded and cringed as the ice pack touched the burning pain in his foot. Wilbur stood and looked him over once more.

“Can you tell me what happened to your neck?” Wilbur asked lightly. Tommy’s eyes widened and his hand flew up to check his neck himself, he winced when his fingers touched the hand prints.

“I thought you wouldn’t be able to see it…” Tommy whispered, Wilbur visibly deflated. “One of the kid’s grabbed me before I ran to the nurse. They just wanted to get back at me for all I said.”

Wilbur’s eyebrow rose as he grabbed more bandages and looked the boy’s neck over. “What did you say?”

“I got tired of it. I finally just got fed up with them. I thought that if Tubbo and Ranboo could do something about this then why couldn’t I? I was being a coward. I just needed to stand up for myself. Standing up for myself didn’t get me very far though.” Tommy shrugged. Wilbur chuckled as he brought a third ice pack for the boy’s throat. Tommy stared at the man like he’d grown a second head, catching his attention.

“Sorry, sorry,” He said between laughs, “It’s just you said, Tubbo and Ranboo could have dealt with something like that. Toms, I know you think you know those two, but I’ve known them since they were small. Ranboo as the backbone of a chocolate eclair, he’d probably have been gaslighted into believing it was a birthday present. And Tubbo, he may act like he’s tough but the second that kid sees a wasp he’ll run for the hills. You may call yourself a coward, but I’d think you’re pretty brave for dealing with it. You stood up to them. I’m proud of you. Even if it took you believing those nimrods could do better, I’m still very proud of you.”

Tommy was awestruck. His mouth agape as he stared at Wilbur with wide eyes. He stayed like that for so long Wilbur though he’d frozen in time.

“Toms, you’re going to catch flies with your mouth open for that long.” Wilbur pretended to swat away the flies, Tommy shut his mouth but still looked at the man like he was holding the sun.

“What?” Wilbur laughed.

“You said you were proud of me.” Tommy pointed out, like the second he did, Wilbur would revoke the sentence and cut off all ties with him. Wilbur stopped and remembered what he’d spoken just seconds beforehand. Wilbur opened his mouth to say something, when Tommy cut him off, “No one’s ever said, they were proud of me.”

Wilbur’s concern turned into a grin, as he lifted the boy up again and set him on the ground. He stabilized him by holding him by the arms so he wasn’t putting too much weight on his foot. “Well, then I just have to say it ten times more now.”

Wilbur lifted the boy’s chin so they were looking eye to eye, “I am so so proud of you.”

And for once the tears that fell down Tommy’s face weren’t of sadness,anger or fear but of genuine happiness.

Later that night, after Wilbur was triple positive that Tommy was actually asleep and not hiding around somewhere he called the attorney. He’d planned on doing so early in the day, but things seemed to keep coming up. Wilbur had called the boy’s school and sorted out the entire situation. He hoped that would keep those kids away for the time being. He just needed a bit more time before the two could move out of the city and be back at L’manberg. Wilbur was positive that Puffy’s school would be ten times better than the hellhole Tommy was used to.

Wilbur called the attorney and the man picked up on the second ring.

“Mr. Soot-Craft, a pleasure to hear from you. I have some news for you. I planned on calling you tomorrow but it seems you’ve beat me to it.”

“Yeah, look, I really need this case to be over soon.” Wilbur whispered over the phone, he was far away from Tommy’s room but still didn’t want to wake the kid up. He needed some sleep.

“Exactly the reason for my calling tomorrow. I have some good news and some bad news.”

“What’s the good news?” Wilbur asked, a sense of dread filling him.

“Good news is your case has moved over to the next section. The judge and Cps should be looking over it soon, along with a bunch of other cases. It could take them days or it could take them months, who knows. But your case is making its way through the system. You should get a hearing date soon.”

“So what’s the bad news?” Wilbur stuttered out.

“Bad news is legally your son needs to go back into the care of Ms. Sally Salmone, as she has current legal guardianship over him. He’ll need to stay with her until the hearing date is over and you have the final verdict.”

“what?”

Chapter Text

The day after he was told the news he explained the situation to Tommy. The kid didn’t complain or argue, he just stared at him. Tommy eventually moved up to the room he’d been staying in and started to pack, never saying a word to Wilbur. He knew the kid didn’t blame him, that was the only time the boy had spoken, was when Wilbur complained about the situation.

“I’m going to fix this, Tommy. I would never send you back on purpose.” Wilbur spoke fast trying to get his words out. Tommy looked up from his spot where he was packing away clothes, he gave the man a sad smile.

“It’s okay. I get it.” Tommy whispered.

“No. No it’s not, Tommy. This is not okay.” Wilbur rambled, running a hand though his hair. “I can…I might be able to…there has got to be a way around this-”

“Wilbur.” Tommy muttered, stuffing his sweaters into his backpack.

“I could talk to Sam, or I could call back and ask for other solutions-”

“Wilbur.” Tommy’s voice rose, but still sat unheard by the man.

“If I explain, they might work with us-”

“Dad!” Tommy finally yelled catching the man’s attention. Tommy barely ever yelled. Wilbur looked at him with worryful eyes. “I’ll be fine. Just help me pack, please?”

They finished packing before Wilbur would have liked. Tommy had become a husk of himself, moving in robotic motions. He avoided most of his possessions when packing only taking his necessities. He left all the decorations, the blankets and pillows, the artworks and sewing supplies. He packed everything he wanted into the small red bag he’d had since day one. And then, he was walking down the stairs and sitting by the front door waiting. Wilbur followed his movements the entire time, only leaving when the boy was sat, unmoving, at the front door.

Tommy could see the hurt and worry that filled Wilbur’s eyes, but he didn’t have the energy or care to do anything about it. He knew that is was all futile, he had just hoped that it would go well. He watched, guilt and sadness growing in his chest when Wilbur walked away, head hung low.

Neither spoke as Wilbur called Sally.

Neither spoke as they walked down the streets to her house.

Neither spoke until Tommy was about to step onto the property.

Sally was waiting in the front lawn when they arrived. Scowl already prominent on her face as she held her wine glass. She grimaced when she saw the brown trench coat signally Wilbur’s appearance. The house looked no better than Tommy remembered it, in fact it looked worse. It was more dilapidated than just a few weeks ago, he didn’t even know how it was possible.

“You two finally decide to show up. Hand over the kid, Wilbur.” Sally mused.

Tommy’s head sunk lower as he took a step forward. He wasn’t expecting Wilbur’s hand to hold his shoulder and turned him around to face him. Tommy looked up to the man, who looked like he was about to start crying. Tommy wondered if he looked the same, if he was showing any emotion at all. In his mind, Tommy felt numb. He didn’t know what to think about the situation, but no emotion was triggered.

“Fine, have your moment or whatever, just make it quick.” Sally cringed.

Wilbur ignored the woman and kept his attention on the littlest one. He looked him up and down, frown growing on his face. Tommy didn’t get a chance to say anything before he was pulled into a hug.

“Please be careful.” Wilbur whispered into his ear, his eyes squeezing shut. Tommy gasped, he felt the emotions before he recognized them. The second he felt Wilbur’s arms wrap around him, his eyes began to water. It was like his brain short circuited and suddenly he was aware of what was happening. Tommy swallowed, feeling the tears running down his cheeks.

When Tommy’s mind finally returned to him, he wrapped his arms around the older. Wilbur squeezed the boy against him and ran a hand through his yellow curls. He let the boy’s tears fall onto his shoulder, as he did his best to comfort him.

“You’re gonna be okay. I’ve got your back, okay?” Wilbur said, Tommy shook his head against his shoulder.

“I can’t go back.” He whispered, hoping Sally wouldn’t hear.

“I know, baby. It’s just for a little bit, I’m gonna fix this. You know where I am, and you come get me if you need anything.” Wilbur sighed, pulling away from the hug to cup the boy’s face in his hands.

“Two weeks, sunshine. Just two weeks, and then we put this all behind us.” Wilbur wiped away the tears running down his son’s cheeks. Tommy nodded, his heart pounding in his chest from nerves and the hatred of the goodbye.

“You won’t…” He paused, he didn’t want to ask but he needed to know. He needed to know that this wasn’t for nothing. He needed to know that when he when to that door and closed it Wilbur would still be behind it when he opened it later, “You won’t give up, right? You’re not leaving?”

“Oh, sweetheart, no I’m not leaving.” Wilbur said, he let his own tears fall but continued to wipe away those that fell from Tommy’s eyes. He couldn’t let the boy cry at the mistakes of others. He hated that this was happening but had no choice in what the law said. “I’m going to continue this. I’m not backing down, no matter what, baby. I will see you on the 16th, and we will get this sorted. You remember that, it’s just two weeks.”

“I’m scared.”

Wilbur’s breath was stolen out of him, he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know how to take away that fear that plagued the boy’s entire existence. He let out a stuttered breath as he tried to find words. He hadn’t known weeks ago he’d be standing outside his son’s home, mother to the side ignoring them, as his son sobbed about a fear of going home. So he didn’t say anything, he just pulled him back into a tight hug.

Tommy sobbed into his shoulder, grasping a yellow sweater like a lifeline, as Wilbur desperately tried to calm him down before handing him over. He didn’t feel like seeing Sally’s parenting method, he’d heard enough about it already.

Wilbur rubbed shapes on his back, “I’m sorry. I can’t take that fear. I know you’re scared, but you have to be brave, sunshine. You can do that. Right, Sunflower? You can be brave. Remember, you’re a big man. You’re the biggest man, Sunflower, so I know you’re going to be okay.”

Tommy limply nodded.

“Alright! You two have been crying for like ten minutes, can we hurry this up any?” Sally called out irritably. Wilbur scowled underneath his breath, but his face turned gentle and kind to look at Tommy.

“Promise me two things, Sunflower.” He said. Tommy pulled away and nodded, wiping his face with the sleeve of his sweater.

“Promise me, that you’ll be careful and safe, and that you’ll be brave for me.” Wilbur asked, his voice becoming serious but still laced with honey and warmth.

“I promise.” Tommy said, quietly. Wilbur let a small smile find a way onto his face. Tommy’s head slowly turned towards the house that shaded the sun from their conversation. The house that casted a storm over their heads, his worry and fear fell back onto this face. He looked to his mother who was glaring down at him already, her foot tapping away on the rocky path. Wilbur watched him and sighed, he let his fingers grip the boy’s chin gently. He turned the boy’s face to look at him and not the angered woman.

Tommy looked up at him with wide, confused eyes and a light frown that plagued his face.

“I love you. I love you, Tommy. So does Phil, Techno, Kristen, Ranboo and Tubbo and everyone else in L’manberg. If they don’t that’s their problem. You don’t let that change you. Because I love you for who you are, not the rules they set up around you. Not the walls they placed, Sunshine. You. Only you. Anytime you need it, you tell yourself, that ‘I love you’. You’re the sunshine in my life and that’s all that matters.” Wilbur said, the warm blanket of his words covering Tommy like a cape of protection.

In Tommy’s mind, that’s exactly what they were. He had Wilbur’s word, that’s all he needed. He could use those words. Those honey-laced words would wrap around him at night like a blanket and pillow. Those warm declarations would protect him from all the harsh insults his mother would through and act as a shield against the punches of Jared. It was his superpower. And he was about to walk up to Sally with his superpower now unlocked, for good.

Tommy hugged Wilbur tightly around his waist, his head not even reaching above Wilbur’s elbow. His dad chuckled and ruffled his hair.

“Thank you, dad. I-I love you, too” Tommy whispered. Wilbur only shook his head.

“There is nothing for you to thank me for.”

Tommy let go and walked up the rocky path to Sally, chest out and his steps held a new power he’d never felt. Sally looked him over, her head cocking to the front door in a silent effort to get him to leave. Tommy’s confidence didn’t leave though he pulled himself up the porch and walked right up to the door, only turning around to wave to Wilbur. The man waved lightly back a sad smile on his face.

And Tommy walked inside.

Only when the door closed did Sally speak, “Well, we’re done here. You can leave.” She turned to leave, when Wilbur’s voice rang out again.

“I want your word, Sally.”

Sally turned around, she saw the man’s eye hadn’t left the spot were Tommy just stood. His hands clenched into fists and his eyes now held an angry light to them. It reminded her of his twin.

“For what?” She laughed.

“You won’t lay a hand on him.” Wilbur demanded. Sally gave a small smile.

“Of course. Goodbye, Wilbur. I’ll see you all on the 16th. I’m assuming the town will show up, they never did mind their own business.” She stated, turning around and walking away without a look back.

____________________________________

Tommy was halfway up the stairs when he heard the door close. He could see his door to his old ‘bedroom’ when he heard the clip clop of her shoes. He was at the top of the stairs when he heard her voice.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Sally demanded, her voice sharp and crisp. It was so different from Wilbur's poetry. He turned on his heels to look down at her, the confidence from Wilbur still pumping through his veins.

“I’m putting my stuff away.” He said, his voice louder than it had ever been inside these walls. His mother almost cringed at the difference in tone. She only rolled her eyes, though.

“Yeah, no. Come here.” She pointed to the spot in front of her at the edge of the bottom stairs. Tommy reluctantly walked back down the creaky staircase to meet her. He stared up at her in the eye, something he had never had the courage to do before.

His mother stayed quiet when he got there, so he motioned for her to get on with it. He just wanted to be in the solitude of his old room. He didn’t want to be around when Jared came home.

“You seem to have forgotten what’s going on.” His mother spat, “Might I remind you that you were the one who ran away! Do you realize how much sh*t you have caused from your little pity party! Not to mention how many rules you broke in the process! You, brat, are way out of line! So I’ll give you a little run-down. You had an uncalled for outburst in front of me and Jared, do you know how embarrassing that is. Then you run! Now, I don’t care where the hell you go, to be completely honest I don’t give a sh*t what you do with your life. But you have affected mine and Jared’s, and you don’t even have an apology for yourself! You ran to L’manberg! L’manberg, of all places! And found that dead-beat-”

“I don’t think you know the definition of that word…” Tommy muttered, confidence rolling off him. His pride fueling it as he stood up against the woman for once. Sally only scowled and looked like she was about to scream more.

“You little sh*t! I’m not done! So you can leave your snide comments to someone who cares. You find him! And bring him here and start this whole legal crap! You are an ungrateful thing I wish I’d never met!”

Deep down Tommy felt a piece of his heart break even more at hearing that. The same pieces that had been torn and ripped to shreds what felt like a decade ago. He swallowed a thick sob and reminded himself of Wilbur’s words. He let the sentences and promises pour into his brain and shield from the screaming words. He promised to be brave. He can do that. He promised, and brave meant staying put.

“I had a right to know about him.” Tommy said, the words seemed to come from nowhere. He didn’t care though, he’d said something. He didn’t let her walk all over him. He was going to make Wilbur proud.

“Yeah? And how’d that go? He here with you right now? I didn’t think so!” Sally yelled, “you think he cares about you! Just wait, he’ll forget you exist in a day.”

“No. No he won’t.” Tommy let the words fall out of his mouth, he was not going to let her speak poorly of Wilbur. Wilbur was his dad. He was the best parent he’d ever had. The only parent. “He’s going to win the case. I’m going to go home with him.”

“We’ll see about that. That case is going to be the worst d*mn day of my life, and it’s your fault. This whole legal crap is so f*cking expensive! Do you think we have the money for this? Because we don’t! And I’m not paying for it, Jared’s not paying for it! So guess who’s paying?” She spat with venom. The amount of yelling was wearing thin on Tommy. He was getting tired of trying to stand up to his mother, she sucked the energy out of him like no one else. He was getting too tired of the conversation; her words didn’t even register in his brain.

“You are. You’re gonna pay for this entire thing!”

“What?” Tommy’s voice raised to the loudest it had ever been in this house. Even if that counted to most as his regular voice. “I can’t pay.”

“Well you better figure it out! Find some money, get your new family to do it for you. I don’t care. But I won’t spend a dime on this attention seeking ploy you’ve got going on.”

“Mom, I can’t. I’m eleven. I don’t have money.” Tommy mumbled, he hoped she’d understand. She just had to. He couldn’t pay this. He couldn’t even pay for lunch at school. How was he going to pay for legal services?

“What, do you want me to solve your problem?” She was only met with silence, “Fine. You can pay in a different way, I don’t want to say your face. You will stay in your room and you won’t come out. I do not want to see a hair on you head in the house, got it? You won’t join us for dinner, breakfast, or lunch. You can go to school, I don’t care, but when you come back I better not see you. And I’ll be checking, Jared was nice enough to fix the lock on your door. He was even nice enough to switch the lock to the outside. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Was all that left Tommy’s mouth, his movements becoming robotic. His entire system shutting down to lessen the effects of the woman’s anger. His mother nodded and pointed to the staircase.

“Go.”

And just like that the superpower was ripped away from him.
_______________________________

On the first day in his room, everything was calm. He was more so scared of what was on the outside of his door than the inside. His mother had locked the door and no matter how hard Tommy pulled the handle it wouldn’t give. The only human contact he got was that night when someone threw a plate of food on the ground. How much did his family hate him, he wondered, that they can’t even look at him.

The second and third day were much like the first. Silence in his room, only challenged by the yelling and crashes from downstairs. He hated how bare his room was without the decorations he’d spent hours putting up. He had nothing to do except wait out the minutes until it was all over. His only food source was dinner when the plate of food was on the ground near the door. The plates started to stack up, Tommy wondered if they would come get them. But the plates were paper and so they sat collecting ants and bugs to feed off the scraps.

On the fourth day his body started fighting against him. His stomach was starving for more food than the little they gave him, and he was mostly sleeping through the day. Nowhere felt comfortable against his skin. He remembered eating with his family, his real one his brain supplied, and the food tasted amazing. Phil and Kristen worked together in the kitchen, while Techno read in the living room waiting to be the taste tester. And Wilbur sat nearby, guitar in hand keeping the youngest entertained. He missed that.

On the fifth day he was completely out of his senses. He was bored most of the days and that led to his brain desperately searching for something to entertain himself with. He’d create stories from the bugs that were taking away the scraps of food, he’d let himself believe they were more hungry than him. Even though he could feel his stomach eating itself inside.

On the sixth day, he was numb. The pain hadn’t subsided but it was lessened by the fact that he was so far away from his body. His fingers were tingling and he felt like he was playing a video game with the character being his own body. He was so far away that he didn’t hear the yelling downstairs growing. He didn’t hear the loud smashes and bangs that came from the kitchen. He didn’t hear his mother’s shrill voice screaming at someone who wasn’t even there. He was just numb.

It was on the seventh day he remembered school existed. He scratched at his arms from the nerves until his arms were bleeding red. He could hear his mother yelling at what he assumed was the phone. He knew it was about missing school. He just couldn’t bring himself to care, he just sat the numb feeling coming back as a bang sounded on his door. He felt the tingling in his fingers come back as the door was thrown open revealing a very mad Sally.

She screamed and yelled but the numb feeling in Tommy’s body kept him from understanding the words. His eyes were glazed over, as he took in the sight of another human being that he hadn’t seen in a week. His body was begging for him to hold her hand, to hug her, to just let himself have this one moment. He moved to stand, but his legs wobbled and he was pushed to the ground by the taller woman.

He couldn’t stand on his own and he couldn’t keep himself from shaking even when his brain felt like it was full of cotton. The fuzziness made the thoughts in his head mumbled and difficult to understand. Just as soon as Sally appeared she was gone locking the door behind her.

The eight and ninth days were the same fuzziness as the former. He no longer had the energy to even move around the room, he stayed in one spot looking out his tiny window wondering where Wilbur was. He reminded himself of the words Wilbur had said,

‘I love you.’

They stopped having a meaning after a while

It was the tenth day things changed, and they changed drastically.

Tommy was sat in his room, the same fuzzy cotton stuffed in his brain when the door opened with a slam. He looked up towards a steaming Sally. She seemed to grimace at the state of the room and pulled Tommy up by the back-scruff of his blue cardigan. Tommy let out a squeak at the sudden movement and his legs tried to reach the ground, Sally only lifted him higher. His sudden loss of weight made it easier to pick him up.

She tossed the boy on the ground of the hallway. Tommy stumbled and tried to gain control of his arms to scurry a bit away. His stomach grumbled, it was around dinner time and he was so used to getting food then that his stomach was churning without it. He was shaking violently, as Sally seemed to calm herself down.

“Downstairs. Now. We need to talk.” She demanded and walked away. She disappeared from his view, leaving the boy to pull himself up. Tommy fumbled trying to stand, falling once then twice until he held the wall for support. He stumbled down the stairs, clinging to the wall as he went. His bare feet hit the glass shards on the floor of the dining room.

Jared stood in the walkway between the dining room and kitchen. Sally sat in a chair with her food plated and drink next to her. The two scowled at each other, and their angry looks turned to Tommy as he entered.

Out of habit Tommy sat down in his seat and waited for the conversation to start. The food was never placed in front of him and the silence was thick. His arms were still scarred from the scratches he’d given himself and he let his nails dig into the old scars. He didn’t let go of his arms until a trickle of blood was rolling down. The pain was at least something to focus on besides the hunger in his stomach.

“We’re moving.” Sally stated. Tommy looked up from his lap and stared at the woman with wide eyes. Moving? They couldn’t move, it’d ruin everything. No one would tell Wilbur and Wilbur would never know. They’d never find him. He’d never see L’manberg again. He’d never see Tubbo or Ranboo again. He’d never see Techno, Phil or Kristen again. L’manberg would be nothing more than a sad memory of lost hope. He couldn’t do that. They can’t run!

“You’ve caused more trouble than you’re worth, so now we’re forced to take drastic measures. We leave tomorrow, seeing as you have nothing to pack, it shouldn't take you long to get ready.” Sally explained. Tommy shook his head.

“No. No, you can’t do that.” He stuttered, his words stumbling over his tongue. “T-The sixteenth. Wilbur-”

“Is no longer important. We aren’t going on the sixteenth. I’m tired of all this nonsense, we both are.” She gestured to herself and Jared who glared at Tommy, “You are not to tell anyone where we are going, when or that we are leaving. Got it?”

“Y-You’re just running away! You c-can’t do that! Wilbur says-s that’s all you ever do, and he’s right…You just run away. Stop r-running away.” Tommy cried, he was already exhausted and didn’t have enough energy to keep up with the adults. They had weeks of food in their system; he only had a small meal everyday.

“Do not yell at your mother!” Jared yelled, “You brought this on yourself! You will deal with it yourself! You have ruined what little peace we had with this shenagain, and have cost us so much! Do you know how hard it’s going to be to raise a family on the lam? All because of you!” Tommy felt the tears rolling down his check and the thundering in his chest as the man got closer. The fuzziness in his brain wasn’t helping anymore, the numbness in his limbs was making it harder to run away.

“P-please, stop. I-I wanna go back. Just let me leave. I-I can leave.” Tommy muttered. He gripped his chair and swayed away from the adults. He wanted Wilbur. He wanted anyone but them. Anyone.

“You did leave! And instead of being a good kid and running away to an alley way or something never bothering us again, you ran to your dad. You caused this entire mess. How do you think we can let you leave again, when that happened last time. What, are you gonna bring the police here next?” Sally slammed on the table rattling her plate and drink. Jared was steaming over in the corner, his eyes showing the gears turning in his mind.

“I’m done. I’m done with this, brat. Sally it’s me or the kid. Decide now. I’m not getting dragged down by his f*ckery anymore.” Jared seethed. Sally’s eyes were blown wide as she looked between the two. All of a sudden her attention was off of Tommy, he didn’t know whether he liked that or not.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sally asked, her annoyance showing. Jared just rolled his eyes and left towards the kitchen. Sally watched, her eyes narrowed as he left.

<(Seriously stop here and skip if sensitive to topics of abuse, violence, knives, death, and blood.)>

Jared walked back in the dining room and Tommy felt his heart jump out of his chest.

In his hands was a kitchen knife.

He pointed the knife at Tommy who stumbled off his chair. His eyes blown wide in fear of what was about to happen. Jared had been mad before, sure, he’d punch and he’d kick but he’d never grabbed a weapon. This was new. And new was terrifying.

“Me or him, Sally. I’m done with this. I’m solving this whole thing once and for all.” He seethed. Tommy looked up to Sally, she looked scared. She looked nervous but her eyes were narrowed and she was contemplating.

“By murder? Are you insane? We’d be in bigger trouble than we already are!” She yelled. Murder? Jared was planning to kill him. Tommy curled, worry springing through his veins as he hid his face from the man. He needed protection. He had to stay alive. He didn’t want to die. He was eleven. He hadn’t even got to spend time with everyone in L’manberg, yet. He’d never reached his twelfth birthday. His breathing increased and his heart was pounding in his chest. He tried to remember the breathing routine. He tried to settle his beating heart, but it wasn’t working.

Screw it, he thought, there’s no way I can hold this together.

“At least, we’d have him off our backs. If we’re running I don’t want a parasite like him, the reason we’re here in the first place, leeching off of us. So, decide Sally.” Jared said, he was standing over Tommy now. Tommy couldn’t take his eyes off of the knife, he was already seeing his own blood painting the thing.

He wondered if Wilbur would care when he died. If he would mourn or go live his life like normal.

Sally didn’t answer, she just looked between the two. It was clear she didn’t want to let Jared leave, but she couldn’t admit to letting a child die in front of her.

“Mom, please.” Tommy whispered to the woman, begging her to choose to let him live. His cheeks were already stained with tears but the water hadn’t stopped flowing. Sally looked him up and down, she shook her head.

“I won’t decide.” She decided. Tommy felt his breath be stolen out of him as his mother decided his fate in front of him. Jared scowled and picked Tommy up by the scruff of his shirt, he was pushed into a wall. His head banged against the hard wall as the fuzziness funneled back in. It blocked out the noise of Jared’s screaming at both him and his mother.

The fuzziness protected him from the second hit against the wall. He felt something sticky spread across the back of his head as he hit the wall a third time. Black spots danced across his eyes but he forced himself to stay awake. The fear of dying here fueling his alertness.

He was thrown to the floor again and his head hit the ground hard. His shoulder hurt from taking the blunt of the fall, he turned over to face the man. His mouth was still moving but a numbness had spread over Tommy as he landed a kick to the stomach. He could hear shrill yelling from a corner, and then Jared seemed to move his attention. They argued back and forth until Jared gave up and there was a second kick to the stomach.

Tommy stumbled against the wall to pick himself up, he sat up back against the cool surface. He wrapped a protective arm around his stomach, which churned from the hits and lack of food. He felt like he was going to throw up, but there was nothing to throw up. Just the acid in his stomach eating away inside him. Jared stood over him, knife still in hand as he seethed and breathed roughly.

The boy watched as his mother came into view, a bottle of alcohol in her hand as he smashed it over his head. The alcohol poured out onto the man and Tommy, it burned the scratch marks on his arms and the wound that was developing on his head. He winced and whined as the pain proceeded to make itself known.

Sally was yelling something at the man who was now bleeding from the glass cuts in his head. The same glass that was pouring down onto the boy and cutting his skin. Jared didn’t let up though, his anger only festering and feeding into itself as he pushed the woman back and away from the scene. The fuzziness died down just enough for Tommy to recognize a few words being yelled.

“If you won’t make a decision then I will!” Jared screamed. And Tommy knew this was it before the man even raised the knife. He squeaked and winced from the movement when the knife came down and lodged into his shoulder.

That was the first time Tommy recognized his own screaming.

He was screaming.

He’d been screaming the whole time.

But the numbness was leaving and was replaced by pain. Pain all over his body. It burned, it was horrible. The blood was seeping down his shirt and sweater, the knife still lodged into his shoulder. The man above him seethed and threw a punch to the face for good measure. Tommy spit out blood and coughed. The sticky substance was running down his face and spilling out of his mouth.

This is it, he thought, no more Tommy.

His head was picked up by the hair in rough hands and slammed into the ground. He winced at the contact and the ringing in his ears. It got louder and louder and louder. The ringing suddenly turned into a different noise. It got closer and closer until there was banging on the door.

Oh, that wasn’t ringing, that was sirens.
______________________________________
(For those who skipped, it’s safe to read now. Still be careful, though)

Wilbur had spent the last week and a half trying desperately to move things along as quickly as possible. The court date was coming up and he had spoken to his lawyers almost twice a day. They had evidence aplenty, it was just a waiting game now.

So now Wilbur was sitting in the apartment video-calling his family to get updated.

“So after that rumor had spread, I dealt with Quackity myself.” Techno explained. Phil sighed from beside him and shook his head, while Kristen gave Techno a proud smile.

“Well, I’m glad that’s solved. It gave Tommy a pretty big scare when Ranboo and Tubbo called about it.” Wilbur said, a sad smile on his face.

“I hope they didn’t bother you too much.” Kristen said, her warm smile making the room brighter. Wilbur shook his head.

“No, no. They were fine. I think Toms needed the distraction.” Wilbur yawned, and looked to his family through the computer with tired eyes.

“I think you need a distraction, too, mate. When was the last time you slept?” Phil asked, it was something Wilbur had been avoiding. To be honest, he hadn’t slept well at all since Tommy left. Too worried about what could happen or what had already happened.

“I don’t even remember, maybe a few days ago.” It was definitely longer than that. Kristen clicked her tongue and Phil sighed. His twin just gave him a look that said, ‘you’re in for it now’.

“Wilbur, take a break. You’ve done enough. Tommy’s going to be fine. But you’re no help to him if you can’t take care of yourself. I mean how many times have you had to tell this to him, hm? Maybe it’s time you take your own advice.” Kristen supplied, while her husband nodded along. Both twins rolled their eyes at the comment. Wilbur gave the trio a smile, though and nodded.

“I will, do you three know when you’ll get here? I think Tommy will like the surprise. I just want to know if you’ll get here in time.” Wilbur asked.

“We leave tomorrow, mate. Already packed and all. I know some other people in town are coming a bit later than us. Shlatt’s taking Tubbo, but he has to drop of the smaller ones at Puffy’s first. Niki should be bringing Ranboo, too. And I believe Dream, Sapnap, George, Karl, and Quackity are going to be heading over there, too. They all leave a day after us, mate. We’ll be there.” Phil answered, counting the people on his fingers.

Wilbur nodded and was about to continue the conversation when the phone rang. His brow furrowed showing his confusion to the rest of his family who sprang in responses.

“Who is that?” Techno.

“Are you alright, mate?” Phil.

“What’s wrong?” Kristen.

“It’s just…not many people call here.” Wilbur mumbled, just loud enough for his family to hear. He grabbed the phone and answered.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Wilbur Soot-Craft, father of Tommy Salmone.” The voice called over the phone. There was yelling in the background, along with sirens and shouts. Wilbur stalled, his breath stolen and his eyes wide showing his distress to his family.

“Wil?” His father called, Wilbur ignored him.

“Yes, That’s me. What’s going on?” He answered quickly.

“I’m a representative of Child Protective Services. You see the police got a call from a neighbor explaining that they heard screams coming from the house next door. When the police arrived they analyzed the scene and called me. Is it possible for you to make your way here? I can give you the address.” The person explained.

“Yes, I’ll be there.” He said, and the person gave him the address of Sally’s home. The phone was hung up moments later. Wilbur slowly lowered the phone from his ear and let the sounds of his family’s frantic questions form in his ears.

“Wilbur?” His twin asked, his calm but stern voice filtering through them all.

“Is it possible for you guys to come sooner?” Was all he answered with.
_______________________________

Wilbur was out of breath when he arrived at the scene. He stalled looking at the caution tape wrapped around the house blocking people from entering the premises. Three cop cars were pulled out in front, an ambulance off to the side with loud sirens blaring. Shouts and calls of words that didn’t make much sense to him flew over his head.

The moon was rising over the blaring lights, as the day darkened into night. He walked up to the caution tape, catching his breath from running so far. He gripped the tape and looked up at the house horrified. How in the world did it go so wrong so quickly?

He fumbled to try and create scenarios. Where was Tommy? Was he safe? What happened? Where were Sally and Jared? Why were the police called? Did Tommy call the cops? Why didn’t they contact him sooner?

His eyes danced over the scene trying to catch any familiar face in the crowd of officers and paramedics. A face was forced into his vision in front of him.

“Sir, please step back.” The paramedic said. Wilbur gazed over them and stumbled over his words.

“I-I’m Wilbur. I’m Tommy’s dad. W-where is he? Is-Is he alright?”

The paramedic’s eyes widened, “I got the dad over here!” They shouted over the crowd. Two people who were talking a bit away turned to them and started walking over; one was an officer, the other a lady wearing a blue suit with a pin on the lepel.The paramedic left when the two arrived.

“You’re Tommy Salmone’s biological father?” The officer asked, unimpressed. The lady shook her head and looked up to Wilbur with a smile on her face.

“Sorry about him. I’m the representative from CPS, identification name Folds.” She stuck her hand out for Wilbur to take, but the man was behind introductions.

“Where is he?” His worry showed in his voice as he scanned the crowd. The woman bit her lip and sighed.

“Do you have any identification on you?” The officer asked, he didn’t seem to be in that much of a rush. Wilbur was on edge and these two were not helping. He stuffed his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out his wallet. He shoved it into the man’s hand and looked up to the representative.

“Please. What happened?”

The officer looked over the cards and handed the wallet back to Wilbur. Wilbur shoved it back into his pocket, his foot tapping anxiously on the ground.

“We can’t explain everything right now, we have a few questions for you about the situation and your child. Paramedics are over there, one of them is looking for medical information on your son. If you would answer them and head back over to us, we’ll finish up the questioning and fill you in.” The officer explained, turning on his heels and leaving. Wilbur was left mouth agape as the representative followed, giving him a sad smile.

Wilbur huffed and walked quickly over to the waiting paramedic. His patience for this city was wearing thin, if not non-existent. The paramedic looked up from their notepad, to see the anxious man.

“Does your son have any allergies? Like, to any type of medicine?”

“No, not that I’m aware of.” Wilbur answered.

“Any pre-existing medical conditions?”

“He had a heart condition, underdeveloped and a hole in the left valve.” Wilbur sighed, “Please, tell me how bad it is? Is he alright? I need something.”

“We’re doing everything we can, sir.” And if those words didn’t break Wilbur’s heart even more. He winced. “Has he had surgery on his heart yet?”

“No, his mother never did anything about it.” Wilbur seethed. The questioning continued, Wilbur’s worry only growing with the types of questions. What type of blood did he have? Has he suffered from previous head trauma? What was his regular diet? The questions made Wilbur hate the fact he’d ever taken his eye off of him.

He walked back over to the officer and representative when the questioning was done. The representative nodded at his arrival and he was led into the house past the caution tape. He looked around at the assumed crime scene. It was horrific.

He passed the entrance to the dining room that had even more caution tape surrounding it. He saw the specks of blood covering the walls and floor, the broken glass and the overturned furniture. He stopped to look at the scene. Two officers were inside, one taking pictures the other writing down information on a notepad. Everywhere he looked his image of the situation grew more and more morbid. He felt a hand on his shoulder and saw the representative was nodding to the living room.

He sat across the two on the couch. He knew what an interrogation looked like, and he knew he was about to be in one. He never thought he’d be one of those people he’d watched on T.v. He looked at his hands, which shook violently. His legs were wobbling, he wondered what his face looked like. He just knew it wasn’t a good look.

“Where were you tonight?” The officer asked.

“I was at an apartment I borrowed from an old friend. I was calling my parents and brother. We were talking.” Wilbur remembered how calm it had been just hours ago, when he called his family to have just a bit of banter to fill the silence. The officer nodded and wrote down in a notepad.

“You don’t have custody over Tommy, is there a reason for that?” The representative asked.

“Me and Sally were a thing a long time ago. When she got pregnant we were already broken up. She left town before the kid was even born, I never got to meet him. She never spoke about me to him, she had cut me and that part of her life completely out.”

“Tommy knows you now, though?” The officer asked.

Wilbur nodded, “He came to my town a month or so ago, he had run away. He’d found out about me from a box underneath his mother’s, Sally’s, bed. I only met him then.”

“You’re fighting for custody over him, if I am correct. We’ve gotten a few calls about the situation.” The representative said.

“I am. When I figured out the situation I started working on getting custody.”

“And what is that situation?” The officer asked, his eyes narrowing.

“Sally and Jared are not fit to be Tommy’s parental figures. Sally has neglected him and verbally abused him, I’ve heard such things from him myself. Jared has put his hands on him many times, I have seen the marks myself to understand that. I’ve sued them for child endangerment, child neglect and child abuse, my case just hasn’t arrived at court yet. It will be on the 16th.” The officer nodded and stood up to leave.

The representative looked back at Wilbur and smiled, “Just excuse him. You’re done with questioning.”

“Then will you please, just explain where my son is. Is he alright?” Wilbur stressed, a hand running through his hair. She nodded.

“A neighbor called the police after a large amount of screaming was heard at this house. The police arrived and found Tommy passed out in the dining room. I do not know the extent of his injuries, but I do know he had head trauma, a stab wound, cuts on his arms and was extremely malnourished.”

Wilbur couldn’t breathe, “Sally Salmone was found unconscious in the same room, her injuries were not as major as Tommy’s. It seemed she was just pushed the wrong way. Jared was nowhere to be found. We later found him hiding out in a neighbor’s shed. Both Sally and Jared were taken into questioning, after Sally woke and was examined, of course, the two have finished questioning and are under police supervision at the moment. Tommy should be out in the ambulance getting treated, they plan to move out in a few minutes.” She continued.

Wilbur felt light headed as the information was dumped onto him. He grabbed his head and pulled at his hair. He didn’t know what to do. He looked up to the woman, “Am I able to see Tommy?”

“I believe so, I’m unsure if he’s awake at the moment or not.” She said and motioned for him to follow. She led Wilbur out of the house, Wilbur was unable to look at the dining room without feeling the need to throw up. Wilbur walked up to the ambulance and saw the gurney that held the small boy. Paramedics worked around the boy, all trying their best to help the boy survive. A paramedic showed Wilbur to a seat in the ambulance as they worked on the boy.

Uncaring of the other people around, Wilbur spoke, “Hey, Toms…”

Tommy didn’t speak.

He didn’t open his eyes.

Wilbur looked over his son more, he could see the bloody sweater had been cut off as well as his shirt. The stab wound was in his shoulder, the knife still lodged into his shoulder. He noticed the tiny scratch marks and cuts that lined his arms, most had been sanitized and wrapped in bandages. His head had also been bandaged, but it was slowly bleeding through the wrappings. He had machines hooked up already and an I.V. hooked into his arm. The only sign of his life was the slow heartbeat shown on the monitor.

“You know, you were very right.” Wilbur whispered, his eyes burning from tears that were forcing their way down. He remembered the boy telling him he’d be facing death very often. He still wished it hadn’t happened so soon.

“You’re going to get through this, right?” He said, grabbing a hold of the boy's free hand. He cupped the small hand in his much larger hands. “You gotta make it to see all your friends again. Remember? Ranboo and Tubbo. You got to see Uncle Techno and Grandma and Grandpa. They’d all be so upset if you don’t make it, sunshine. I don’t know what I would do.”

The ambulance jostled a bit and Tommy whimpered in his unconscious state. Wilbur winced in sympathy and he muttered his own apology. The pained look on his face didn’t leave, so Wilbur brushed his thumb over the boy’s expression, smoothing out the creases.

“You’re okay. You’re okay.” Wilbur said more so for himself than the unconscious kid next to him. “ I’m so sorry, baby. You’re going to be okay. It’s just a little longer, you can do that. You’ve been so brave, I’m so proud of you, sunflower. Just stay brave a little longer. Just stay alive.”

“Sir, we’re going to be heading to the hospital now. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave. You can always meet us back at Smp hospital.” A paramedic said. Wilbur nodded, wiping away the tears on his cheeks. He squeezed Tommy’s hand one last time before leaving the car. He watched silently as tears ran down his cheeks as the ambulance sped away.

He was interrupted by a cough from behind him. He turned quickly to see the representative from before. He scrubbed his face with the sleeve of his coat, “I’m sorry, did you need something?” He asked, his exhaustion showing in his voice.

The lady gave him a pitiful smile, “No, no, I’m sorry. This entire situation is surely hard. But I do have some news. I’ve spoken to Sally Salmone and gotten a good look at the situation myself. I thought I’d inform you of what we know happened.”

Wilbur nodded, he wanted to know how badly he could screw with the two’s lives after this. “Please.”

“Sally has admitted to locking Tommy in his room over the time period he has stayed with her since his departure from you. He was only given dinner, which explains the horrific scene upstairs in the closet.”

“That’d be his ‘bedroom’” Wilbur muttered, the representative sighed.

“Even better.” She mumbled, Wilbur could tell the woman was as pissed about it as he was, “She also admitted that tonight they’d planned on running away. She explained that Jared made her decide to choose between himself and Tommy. She did not choose, Jared then took the situation in his own hands and planned to murder him. The neighbor just caught him in the act.”

“Oh.” Was all Wilbur could muster up. “She admitted to all of this.”

“She explained that the situation was such a shock to her, that it still hasn’t caught up to her. With the new set of information, we can pretty much guarantee your legal victory in the upcoming court case. As a representative of CPS, I’m going to talk to the judge personally and get custody transferred over to you after tonight. Basically, you’re court case will not be a custody battle, as you have already won that in my professional opinion, but instead it will be about the charges of child endangerment, child abuse, and child neglect. If the changes of legal guardianship have not been made within the week, contact me.” She handed Wilbur a business card. Wilbur gasped as a smile grew onto his face.

“Thank you.”
______________________________________

When Tommy woke up it was blinding white lights all around him. His body felt heavy underneath him, and his eyes were fighting to stay close. His mind didn’t seem to be all there, the world around him was muffled and didn’t make sense.

He could hear the muffled beeping that he’d grown used to in a hospital. He could hear his own heartbeat from the outside world instead of his own body. He tried to turn his head but his body didn’t respond to the command.

The pain in his shoulder came next. It sent a sharp spike down his core, he shuddered and winced. It didn’t stop or lessen, it just stayed as a constant reminder. His breath became shaky under the burning sensation.

“Toms?”

Tommy recognized the voice, it covered like a warm blanket that he remembered. It was soaked in honey and candy. He smiled subconsciously, his eyes still fighting to stay open.

“Hey, you awake, bud?” The voice called again, this time there was a pressure placed on his hand. It curled around his fingers and squeezed, it was warm and a little shaky. Tommy tried to nod, but it was a jerky pointless movement. “Yeah? That’s good.”

Tommy opened his eyes to the blinding lights again and forced his head to turn over to the voice. He was met with Wilbur. Wilbur who looked like he’d been crying for hours. Wilbur who was giving him a sad tired smile. Wilbur who had dark circles underneath his eyes just like his own. Wilbur who still wore that dumb yellow sweater.

Tommy smiled up at the man, something dopey.

Wilbur chuckled, “You’re still not completely off that anesthesia. You’re probably still a bit tired.”

Tommy was, he was extremely tired, but he wanted to stay awake and talk to Wilbur. He wanted to stay with him and not go back to the dark world that was sleeping. He moved his head, that he realized was laying on something soft, to look around the room he was in. As he turned his head to look at the other side a pounding ache bore into his head. He winced and shut his eyes tight trying to breathe through the pain.

“Try not to move your head, Toms. It’s gonna hurt for a while. You’re in the hospital.” Wilbur said, Tommy looked back at him, confusion lacing his face. Wilbur opened his mouth to answer the silent question, but it shut just as quickly.

“I-I think you’ll remember what happened when you wake up more…” Wilbur mumbled. “You’ve…You’ve been asleep for a while. Almost a full day.”

He sounded so sad when he said it. Tommy frowned and tried to grip Wilbur’s hand better. His shoulder stabbed when he tried to move his arm. He hissed in pain, Wilbur looked up with worry etched on his face.

“What’s wrong? Does your shoulder hurt? Is it your head? Do you want me to call a nurse? I-I’ll just call a nurse and tell them you’re awake.” Wilbur rambled, standing up from his chair and sped-walking out of Tommy’s eye-sight.

Tommy tried to move and look at the rest of his body, or at least the room but with every move came another wave of pain. He gave up and melted against what he assumed was a bed. His head sinking into the pillow. He heard the click of the door opening and two sets of footsteps, one faster than the other.

Wilbur sat back down in his chair and looked over the younger. The second person was someone Tommy didn’t recognize but assumed was a nurse. She started working, writing things down on a notepad and looking over his injuries.

“Do you have any pain in your shoulder or head?” The nurse asked. Tommy tried to answer but his mouth wasn’t working, he couldn’t force the words out. He gave another jerky nod.

“Yes, he’s winced every time he’d tried to move.” Wilbur answered for him. The nurse nodded.

“We can give a few pain medications but they will put you to sleep for a little while. Are you alright with that?”

Tommy didn’t really want to go back to sleep, he’d rather stay awake. He wanted to know what was going on. He looked over at Wilbur, trying to communicate his opinion without words. Wilbur bit his lip and fear was laced in his eyes. He ran a hand through his hair and looked back up at the nurse.

“Yeah, that’s fine. Just help him, please.” Wilbur said quietly, like he knew the answer was not what Tommy wanted. Tommy tried to scowl at the man and communicate the line of curses he was saying in his head. He didn’t want to go back to sleep. If he did he wouldn’t know what was happening. He already didn’t know what was happening. Somehow he’d ended up in the hospital with pain all over his body, and Wilbur watching over him. Wilbur looked awful, if he fell asleep how bad would it be for Wilbur. He couldn’t help the man if he was asleep.

To be honest, he was afraid.

Sleep meant the unknown. Tommy had never liked the unknown.

Wilbur grabbed his hand in the same way he always did to be comforting. He looked at him with soft sad eyes lined in dark circles.

“I know you're scared.” Somehow the man could always read his mind. “But remember, you’re brave. You can do this. You’ll go to sleep for a while and you won’t be hurting. Then you’ll wake up, and I’ll still be here. You’re brave, Tommy, and I’m so so proud of you.”

Tommy felt a poke in his arm, he looked over to see the nurse had injected another needle. He hadn’t even realized Wilbur was distracting him. He could feel the medicine beginning to work as his eyes got heavier and heavier. The last thing he heard was Wilbur’s voice,

“Just promise me you’ll wake up.”
_________________________________

When Tommy woke up a second time it was to quiet voices. They were muffled and whispered over his head, but both voices sounded familiar. One light, and honey-laced the other monotone and grounding. He blinked open his eyes to see two figures sitting next to him.

He turned his head, alerting the pinkette who stared at him with wide eyes. His normally calm exterior was replaced by a fearful look. The brunette stopped talking and followed the pinkette’s eyeline to Tommy. The man sighed with a smile on his face as he looked at him.

“Hi, Tommy.” Wilbur whispered, his voice low and quiet. Tommy gave him the same dopey smile as before, still drugged up on painkillers. “How are you feeling?”

“Be’er.” Tommy mumbled, his words slurred. Wilbur nodded.

“That’s good. Techno’s here, you know.” Wilbur said, there was some sadness laced in his tone that made his voice wobbly. Tommy looked over to the pinkette, who he finally realized was Techno. The man’s mouth was down turned and his eyebrows brought up in concern.

“Hi.” Tommy stumbled.

“Hey, kiddo, you know when I said mess with your dad. I didn’t know that would entail you ending up in the hospital…twice.” Techno said, trying to bring light into the conversation. Tommy smiled and chuckled a little, rattling his ribs, causing him to break out into a coughing fit.

“Careful.” Wilbur warned, he grabbed a glass of water from a corner table and handed it over to the boy. Techno frowned, but helped lift Tommy up into a sitting position. Tommy took the water and gulped it down using his right hand. His left still burning from the stab wound.

“Phil and Kristen are here too, they just went out to get us some lunch. Most likely meaning they went to a restaurant and decided it wasn’t good enough then went to the apartment to cook themselves. They should be back in about thirty minutes.” Techno supplied, taking the cup away from Tommy when he was done.

“Wha’s happ’ning?” Tommy asked, his tongue feeling too big for his mouth.

“What was the last thing you remember, sunshine?” Wilbur asked, leaning forward and laying a hand on Tommy’s knee. Techno sat back in his seat, arms crossed, he was thinking about something, Tommy wasn’t sure what.

“W’s stuck in my room. Mom got me, said running ‘way. ‘Ared go’ mad, hur’ me, pass out.” Tommy answered, he was getting annoyed with the way his words were slurring. It didn’t sound right. He cringed at his sentences, Techno caught his look and explained.

“It’s just ‘cause you got off those painkillers, kid. Once you wake up more, and your body starts responding better, it’ll go away.” Wilbur nodded to Techno’s words.

“Yeah, I’m glad you remember. A neighbor called the police and the police called me. I got there as soon as I could, baby. They brought you to the hospital not too long after. You had to go into surgery to get the knife out of your shoulder, which is why you were on anesthesia beforehand. After you woke up, you were in pain so I got a nurse to give you some painkillers that put you to sleep. Techno, Phil and Kristen arrived yesterday night, we planned on surprising you at the hearing.” Wilbur explained.

“Then your dad told us to come earlier than expected. Which brings us here. I’m pretty sure some others aren’t too far behind us, either.” Techno finished.

“When was the last time you ate, Tommy? You got diagnosed with malnutrition, and the doctors are trying to get you back to a normal routine.” Wilbur asked.

“Don’ know. Mom g’ve me dinner on the ninth day.”

“Okay, that was a while ago, do you think you’d be able to eat something small?”

Tommy nodded, and watched as Wilbur stood and left the room. Tommy assumed he was going to get food. So now, it was just Techno and Tommy.

“You gave him a big scare, you know.” Techno said he wasn’t looking at Tommy, he was looking at the floor. Tommy nodded, he knew Wilbur most likely had a heart attack when he heard. He didn’t really want a lecture from Techno about it.

“It must have been pretty scary for you, too.” That wasn’t what Tommy was expecting. He looked up at Techno who was now looking directly at him. Tommy took a deep breath that rattled his ribs. He felt the bandages that were wrapped around his torso. Broken ribs, too, his mind supplied.

“It-It was.” Tommy stuttered, he didn’t really want to remember the fear as Jared stood over him, knife in hand. He was prepared to die. He hadn’t wanted to but he hadn’t had a choice. He was meant to die, and yet, he was still here. Still waiting on Wilbur and Techno and Phil and Kristen and everyone else. He hadn’t died.

His mom and ex-dad tried to kill him.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Techno asked, Tommy could tell he was out of his comfort zone, but appreciated it all the same. Tommy gave him a sad smile.

“No.” He didn’t want to bother Uncle Techno with all his problems it was his to deal with. It was unfair to Techno. The words didn’t stop the anxiety that plagued Techno, though. He was still worried about the mental stability of his nephew. The kid just had two people try to kill him, but he knew there was no way to force the kid to talk.

“We’re here for you, kid. If you want to talk to us about it or someone else, we’ll let you. You shouldn’t have had to go through that. I’m sorry about that. We just want you to be okay; physically and mentally.” Techno said. He knew that once Phil talked to the kid again, the man would sign him up for therapy as soon as possible. There was no running from a worried Phil, this kid was going to therapy.

Tommy nodded, “I know. Thank you.”

Techno sighed, “Well, I’m going to tell you this, because I’m sure Wilbur is not. The court date is tomorrow. Sally and Jared are both in police custody right now and will be there. If you want to sit it out, you can. I’m sure Wilbur is going to make you sit it out and be here, but I thought I’d give you the option. Do you still want to go?”

“Hell yeah! I wanna be there when we kick their butts!” Tommy tried to yelled, his voice still scratchy. Techno chuckled, as the door clicked open, to reveal Wilbur with a tray of food.

“What’s this about kicking people’s butts?” Wilbur asked, his eyebrow raised towards his twin for an explanation. Techno just smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

“No idea, Wil.”

“We’re gonna kick Sally’s butt tomorrow!” Tommy tried to shout again, his throat hurting from the use, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to act like himself again.

“Tommy, stop shouting, you're going to hurt your throat worse. And Techno, you told him!” Wilbur admonished, he glared at his twin. He set the tray down in Tommy’s lap. Food that would be easy on his stomach, such as bread, milk and some strawberries.

“I’ll get you more if you feel up for it.” Wilbur said, brushing some fallen curls out of Tommy’s face.

“It’s not like you were going to tell him.” Techno grumbled, as Tommy picked up the cup of milk to soothe his throat.

“Because I wasn’t.” Wilbur said to his twin, before turning to the younger, “You’re not going.”

Tommy paused and looked up at Wilbur with wide eyes, “What? Why not?”

“What do you mean ‘Why not’, Tommy, you’re in the hospital. You had to go into emergency surgery! I am not letting you go into a courtroom right after all this! I swear if another thing happens to you that ends you up here, I’m going to have a heart attack.” Wilbur pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes.

“Nothing is going to happen to me!” Tommy called out, tears were pricking his eyes from all the shouting.

“Tommy, they tried to kill you.” Wilbur said.

“I know that!” Tears broke through and ran down Tommy’s face, he squeezed his eyes shut. He wiped his face and clenched his hands into fists trying to suck the tears back. “I know that.” He whispered.

Wilbur didn’t say anything, he just sighed and refused to look at the youngest. He sat down next to his twin, his back slouched as he watched the floor. Techno nudged Wilbur and nodded towards the younger.

‘Say something,’ Techno mouthed to his twin. Wilbur looked back and forth to his twin and kid. He gave up and spoke to the youngest.

“I know you know.” Wilbur sighed, his sadness heavy in the words. “But I have some good news.” He tried to smile and lighten the mood.

Tommy looked up at him, his eyes still watery and his tears still wet his cheeks. “Really?” He didn’t exactly believe there could be good news. Wilbur nodded, that tired smile painting his face. Techno watched the conversation quiet, but a tiny upturn on his mouth.

“I do. I talked to someone very important to the custody battle and got it all sorted out. So you don’t have to worry about that anymore. It’s done.” Wilbur dried Tommy’s cheeks with his sleeve, Tommy shoved his hand away.

“What does that mean?” Tommy asked, slapping Wilbur’s hands away.

“It means I’m legally your dad now. You don’t have to live with Sally or Jared again. Tomorrow’s court case is going to incarcerate them, if all goes well.” Wilbur smiled fully as he brushed Tommy’s hair out of his face again. He let his hand sit on the boy’s head and tucked away the few stray curls.

“What’s in-car-cer-ate mean?” Tommy narrowed his eyes at Wilbur, suspicion high. Techno chuckled.

“It means to imprison them, kid.” He defined. Tommy ‘oh’ed and listened to Wilbur’s laugh ring out.

“So you’re really my dad now? Like legally? We won? I can go home with you?” Tommy rambled, his excitement shined in his dull blue eyes. Wilbur sat down on the bed and wrapped an arm around the boy. He rested his chin on Tommy’s hair.

“Yup, I’m ‘legally’ your dad. I don’t think I could ever stop, though.” Wilbur squeezed the boy in his arms, who squeaked out.

“Wilbur-” Tommy groaned, “You’re being clingy.”

Wilbur rolled his eyes and ruffled the boy's hair. Techno shook his head, fondly.

“I still wanna go.” Tommy mumbled. Wilbur pulled away and sighed.

“I know, I know you want to go. I’m just…I’m just not sure if you should.” WIlbur started, “Tommy, I want you to be safe. And if those two are willing to go so far to get out of some responsibility, I don't want something else to happen.”

“But you would be there. So would Techno and Grandpa and Grandma. So many other people would be there too, it’s not like I’m going to be alone again. I would be fine.” Tommy offered. Wilbur bit his lip, unsure.

“But don’t you think you’d feel better here?”

“No.” Tommy drugged it out, “I would feel worse not knowing what’s happening there.”

Wilbur pinched the bridge of his nose, running a hand through his hair. He shook his head and looked to Techno for support. His twin only shrugged. Wilbur glared at him, giving a silent look of ‘you’re really a great help’.

“Okay, fine, if I get an okay from a doctor, you can go-”

“Yes!”

“But, you come back here for a check up afterwards and you make sure you’re with someone at all times. I mean it, Tommy, the whole time.” Wilbur gave the boy a stern look, and Tommy sunk into the bed.

“Okay, fine, deal.” He mumbled, a smile on his face.

“Now finish your food,” Wilbur pointed to the abandoned tray in Tommy’s lap, “please.”

Chapter Text

“I don’t get why I have to be in this thing.” Tommy grumbled, as he tried to get comfortable in the wheelchair he was sitting in. After leaving the hospital, they’d made him use a wheelchair to get around for the next few weeks. He honestly had no clue why. It was truly uncomfortable. He picked at the pieces of fabric that were coming undone.

“It’s just for a few weeks, Toms.” Wilbur whispered, and placed his hand on top of the boy’s to stop his picking.

They were sitting at the prosecution bench waiting for the court to begin. The official time not being for five more minutes. Wilbur, Tommy and their Attorney sat at the front waiting for the defendants to come. Tommy didn’t even know what the attorney’s name was, he just kept calling them Mr. Attorney.

Behind them in the gallery were friends and family members. Phil, Kristen, Techno, Ranboo, Niki and Tubbo sat right behind them. Tommy would turn around every once and a while to joke with his friends, only for Wilbur to remind him to face the front. He didn’t listen, though. Dream, Karl, George, Quackity, Schlatt and Sapnap sat farther in the back. A few other civilians had come to watch the court proceedings as well.

On the other side, sat the defendants. Sally and Jared sat with their attorney, Tommy didn’t recognize any of the people sitting behind them. He did, however, catch many of the L’manbergian’s sending the two death glares. Tubbo had even threatened to steal their organs when he saw Tommy for the first time. It had been a long conversation with lots of worried people when Wilbur explained why Tommy was in a wheelchair.

Even though Tommy didn’t understand why he couldn’t just walk around like normal. Wilbur had said it was because his body wasn’t strong enough to hold his body weight. Even the dumb doctors argeed with him, saying it was because of the ‘malnourishment’. Tommy huffed and sunk into the chair.

Tommy looked over to the twelve jurors who whispered to each other. They sat together in the box a bit away. Mr. Attorney looked over to Tommy and Wilbur from his papers.

“Are you two ready?” Mr. Attorney asked.

Tommy looked back to Wilbur who smiled down at him, something comforting. Wilbur nodded, offering his hand to Tommy. Wilbur leaned down to whisper into Tommy’s ear.

“Remember, even if we don’t win we still get to go back to L’manberg. We’ve already won, Toms. We’ll win this, too.”

Tommy nodded, as the bailiff finally spoke.

“All rise” She yelled over the courtroom, everyone following the order. (Except Tommy who was stuck in a wheelchair) “Department One of the Smp court is now in session. Judge Harold Harvy presiding. Please be seated.”

The judge entered and sat at the large desk at the very front. Everyone sat down after him.

“Good morning, Ladies, Gentleman, people of undisclosed genders. I am calling the case of Soot v.s. Salmone. Are both sides ready?” The judge spoke.

Mr. Attorney stood, “ Ready for the prosecution, Your Honor.” He sat back down.

The other attorney stood, Tommy decided to call them Clarencio. He looked like a Clarencio. “Ready for the defense, Your Honor.” They said.

“Will the clerk please swear in the jury?” The judge said.

“Will the jury please stand and raise your right hand? Do each of you swear that you will fairly try the case before this court, and that you will return a true verdict according to the evidence and the instructions of the court, so help you? Please say ‘I do’.” The jurors repeated the sentence, “You may be seated.”

The jurors sat down.

“The prosecution may do their opening statements.”

Mr. Attorney stood and walked to the center of the room, he turned towards the jury.

“Your Honor and people of the jury: the defendant had been charged with child endangerment, child abuse and child neglect. The evidence will show that for the past eleven years Tommy Salmone has been neglected and abused by the defendants. Evidence will also show that the defendants are the reason Tommy Salmone was in the hospital just hours ago and the reason he is in a wheelchair now. Jared Floyd is also being tried for attempt of murder, as he stabbed Tommy Salmone when the boy did not agree to come with them as they tried to run away. The evidence I provide will prove defendants guilty.” Mr. Attorney stated, before walking back and sitting down. Clarencio stood and moved to the same area Mr. Attorney was at.

“Your Honor and people of the jury: under court of law my client is presumed innocent until proven guilty. You will find that Jared Floyd and Sally Salmone provided as best they could for Tommy Salmone. They have given the boy a roof over his head, food and water as any parent would. Their way of parenting is not subject to court opinions. Therefore my client is not guilty.” Clarencio stated, nodding to the jury and moving back to his seat. The judge seemed to think for a moment before speaking.

“The prosecution may call their first witness to the stand.” Judge Harvey said.

Mr. Attorney stood, “The prosecution calls Sally Salmone to the stand.”
Sally huffed and walked up to the witness box, her heels hitting the floor and echoing around the room. Tommy could feel the scowls from behind him that were being sent her way. He looked up to Wilbur who was biting his lip, Wilbur noticed and tried to give him a comforting nod. Tommy sighed and felt a small pressure set on his knee where Wilbur’s hand was. Tommy tried to smile.

“Raise your right hand. Do you promise that the testimony you give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you, Prime?”

“I do.” Sally rolled her eyes.

“Please restrain from giving my clerk attitude, Ms. Salmone.” The judge glared down. Sally sighed and plopped down onto the chair. Mr. Attorney walked up to begin his questioning.

“Ms. Salmone, you are the biological mother of Tommy Salmone, am I correct?”

“Yes. You are.”

“Then might I ask why Tommy Salmone was found malnourished, bleeding out from his shoulder and injured in your own home?”

“You might ask that.” Sally deferred.

“Answer the question, Ms. Salmone.” The judge interrupted.

“Tommy is one of the more clumsy children. I wouldn’t be surprised if he fell down the stairs. I’m sure that it was a misunderstanding and he simply had a tumble.”

“Tommy, your son, was bleeding out though. Do you expect us to believe that he was bleeding out from a fall?” Mr. Attorney asked. Tommy could see Wilbur’s foot tapping underneath the desk. Wilbur was getting agitated with Sally’s answers. Tommy just hoped the jury wouldn’t believe the claims. Tommy watched as Wilbur blew out air he’d been holding in.

“Yes.” Sally declared, confidently.

“Thank you, I would like to bring attention to Exhibit C, Your Honor.”

Judge Harvey nodded.

Mr. Attorney walked over to a table with a row of evidence. Each labeled with a letter. He pointed to the one labeled C and Tommy saw something that took his breath out of him. It was the same knife that had been plunged into his shoulder.

His breath came out shaky as he remembered the pain of the sharp object being stuck in his skin. The blood that had left his body and made him feel too tired to keep his eyes open. The knife still had his blood on it. It still had his blood. He could see his blood, right in front of him. It was like watching a car crash. He wanted to look away from the sight of it but couldn’t. How vulnerable would he be if he just looked away for a second. That knife could still find a way into his skin, and this time not let him go.

Tommy sunk deeper into the wheelchair and winced quietly. No one could hear him, except Wilbur. The older turned to the younger and saw the bit of fear that trailed his eyes. Wilbur raised his hand to block the younger’s vision from the sharp object.

“You’re okay. It’s nowhere near you, sunshine.” Wilbur whispered.

“This is the knife that was found plunged into Mr. Tommy Salmone. He was found alone on the floor of a dining room in your home. Might I remind you, that you were also found unconscious in the very same room. Would you have us believe that your son tumbled into a knife that got lodged into his shoulder?” Mr. Attorney continued. Sally stayed calm, though.

“You just stated that I myself was unconscious. I have no idea what happened that night. I had just a bit too much to drink that night.”

“In your previous statement you said you believed your son took a tumble which is how he ended up hurt.”

“It’s the only thing I can imagine happening.”

“Mr. Tommy Salmone was also quite malnourished when he entered the hospital, I would like to ask why that is.”

“We don’t really have a lot of money at the moment. We find it hard to pay for everything from the bills to the food. We keep ourselves as well fed as possible.”

“Yet you seem to be perfectly healthy. If you were having trouble paying for all three of yourselves, why did you not send your son to his father?”

“I didn’t believe it would be any better, to send him away to such a small underdeveloped hole of a town. I mean you can see for yourself it’s barely on any map, I wouldn’t even be sure if he made it there.”

The L’manbergians groaned at the insult to their town, it was so unified Tommy almost laughed.

Mr. Attorney hummed underneath his breath, “Thank you, I have no further questions.”

“Does the defense have any questions at this time?” Judge Harvey called, as Mr. Attorney went back to his seat. Clarencio stood, “Yes, Your Honor.”

Clarencio walked up to the witness box, “Sally, did you make sure your child was fed at least once a day?”

“I did.”

“And did you ensure that he had a roof over his head?”

“I did.”

“When Tommy was injured do you believe you did everything in your power to help him?”

“I do.”

“I have no further questions, Your Honor.” Clarencio ended. The judge nodded.

“The witness is excused,” Judge Harvey stated, Sally wasted no time when he left back to her seat. The Judge looked back to the prosecution, “The prosecution may call the next witness.”

Mr. Attorney stood, “The prosecution calls Wilbur Soot to the stand.”

Tommy took a sharp inhale and looked over to Wilbur. Did Wilbur know he was going to get called on? Why was Wilbur going up there? What was he going to say? What was Tommy supposed to do while Wilbur was up there?

Wilbur didn’t seem bothered at all though, if anything he seemed more calm than when Sally was up at the stand. Wilbur let out a deep breath and stood, he squeezed Tommy’s unhurt shoulder. Wilbur gave Tommy a small smile, and he walked up to the clerk and swore in. He sat down in the box.

Mr. Attorney walked up to speak, “Mr. Soot when did you find out about Tommy?”

“I knew Sally was pregnant from the beginning, we had already broken up when she told me. I had never seen him though, until Tommy came to L’manberg almost a month and a half ago.” Wilbur said calmly as he held his hands together.

“Is there a reason you never saw him, or met him beforehand?”

“I don’t believe so. I always wanted to have him in my life, his mother moved away before I got the chance to meet him. I wish I had the ability to come down and visit him, but she never told me anything. Every letter I sent was ignored.”

“Were you ever worried for Mr. Salmone’s health while he was in the custody of his mother?”

“Yes. I had been fighting for custody and when I got the call that he needed to go back into her custody, I was exceptionally worried.”

“I would like to introduce Exhibit B for my next questions.” Mr. Attorney walked back over to the table and pointed to a certain yellow box, with three documents laying next to it. “You wrote these documents did you not?”

“I did.”

“Can you explain each?”

“I can. The first is a letter I wrote to Sally after receiving the news that she was continuously drinking while pregnant. The doctor had explained that it could cause permanent damage to the child once born and even before. I wrote it to try and convince her to take better care.”

“I am sorry to interrupt, Mr. Soot, but when the child was born did her drinking cause any problems?” Mr. Attorney asked. Tommy wilted in on himself, he didn’t really like being talked about like he wasn’t there. He especially didn’t like all the attention on his medical conditions. He could feel the juror’s eyes switching from Wilbur to him. It was odd being the only one sitting at the desk, everyone’s eyes on him and his family; judging.

Wilbur looked at him with a sad smile as if to say, ‘I’m sorry’. Wilbur knew he didn’t like talking about his heart. “It did. It caused him to have stunted growth, a hole in his heart as well as it being underdeveloped. We have medical records to prove this.”

“Exactly me point, Exhibit D in fact. You may continue with your previous explanation of the documents in Exhibit B.” Mr. Attorney stated. Wilbur nodded.

“The second letter was a postcard from my hometown L’manberg. One I would not call underdeveloped. I was asking to see him, Sally never replied. The third letter was one I intended for Tommy himself. A private conversation that I had hoped would not involve Sally. Unfortunately, none of these letters made it past her, and they were never turned over to him.”

“Are you saying, Ms. Salmone hid information about you from Tommy?”

“I am.”

“Do you have any idea why she would do such a thing?”

“No I do not, I made it very clear to her that I was willing to keep Tommy if she did not want him in her life.”

“You say, she didn’t want him in her life. What makes you believe so?”

“Sally never seemed like the one to have a kid. She was constantly partying and drinking, she didn’t want to settle. She still continues this lifestyle today, and I am still prepared to have Tommy in my life. She has never wanted anyone to come in between her and her lifestyle.” Wilbur stared straight at the woman as he spoke. Mr. Attorney nodded.

“Do you believe her lifestyle affects Tommy in a bad way?”

“Yes.”

“Did it ever affect the case in any way?”

“Neither wanted me to continue the lawsuit.” Wilbur stated, plainly.

“Your Honor to prove this I’d like to show Exhibit F.” Mr. Attorney walked over to the table again and picked up a tape recorder. “This is a recording of phone calls between Mr. Soot and Ms. Salmone.” Wilbur looked up from the box and to the attorney, he didn’t know he had those. Wilbur tried to keep calm but he’d tried hard to keep those conversations away from Tommy. He looked towards his twin in the gallery and could tell Techno knew what was going on in his head. His twin demonstrated taking deep breaths from far away and Wilbur tried to copy him.

The attorney pressed play, and the conversation began. Everything was there, from drunk Sally, to an angry Jared spewing curses and yelling over the phone. Jared's voice rang out with the same insults towards Tommy that Wilbur had had to sit through. L’manbergian’s in the gallery all watched with wide eyes as they listened. Techno glared at Jared from his spot, his eyes alight with a new type of fire. Phil and Kristen sat stock still as they listened, their faces blank of emotion. Tubbo and Ranboo were devastated looking between Tommy, Wilbur and the defendants. Tubbo looked more angry though and was grabbing for something in his pocket. Others farther in the pack sat wide eyed, in utter shock.

But Wilbur wasn’t paying attention to his friends and family, he was watching Tommy. Tommy, who was sat in a wheelchair staring at his feet. Tommy who looked on the verge of tears from the recording. Tommy who was gripping his arms tightly enough to leave marks. He had tried so hard to keep Tommy away from these people who fought so hard to bring him down in every possible way.

The recording ended and the attorney came back to the center.

“From what we just heard, it’s easy to believe Ms. Salmone and Jared Floyd were trying to keep the court from proceeding. Do you agree to this, that these phone calls are not in any way faked?” Mr. Attorney said.

“I do, they are not faked.” Wilbur mumbled. The attorney nodded.

“The prosecution has no more questions.” Mr. Attorney turned on his heels and left. He sat back down next to Tommy, who tried his best to scoot away in his fixed spot. Wilbur sighed.

“Does the defense have any questions?” Judge Harvey asked.

Clarencio stood, “Yes, Your Honor.” They walked up and stood in front of Wilbur.

“Mr. Soot, what makes you believe you would be any more fit to parent Tommy Salmone, than Ms. Salmone?” They asked, but before Wilbur could answer the prosecution attorney stood.

“Objection, Your Honor!”

“On what grounds do you make your objection?” Judge Harvey asked.

“This court trial is to find if Ms. Salmone and Mr. Floyd are guilty of child abuse, child neglect, attempt of murder and child endangerment, not if Mr. Soot is a fit parent. That case has already been absolved under child protective services, and is not of importance in this courtroom.” Mr. Attorney explained.

“Sustained.” The Judge called, and Clarencio grumbled under his breath.

The court continued on, when Wilbur was finally let off of the stand he walked back up to Tommy. He hugged the boy as best he could from the wheelchair the other was in. He whispered an apology to the boy, and let the boy hold his hand for the rest of the trail. Tommy kept interest in Wilbur’s hand for the rest of the trial, trying to ignore the memories that came when witnesses were asked questions. He tried to repress the guilt and sadness from the words he’d heard over the recording. He instead kept his focus on his lap where Wilbur’s hand laid in his, so he could trace the lines in his calloused fingers.

The court called many people, from old teachers and neighbors even to members of L’manberg. Evidence was introduced and examined by the jurors and Judge. Everything filtered out in Tommy’s mind and he was able to go back into a fuzzy safeness. The calm tingle in his toes and fingers, letting himself breathe without any worry. Until Mr. Attorney’s voie ruined that,

“I would like to call Tommy Salmone to the stand.”

Tommy felt Wilbur freeze next to him. He looked up to see Wilbur staring at him with wide, concerned eyes. Tommy could already feel his heart thumping inside his chest, he had no clue what he was doing. What would he do when he was up there? What if he had no answer? What if they called him out for something? What if he said something wrong? Would he be the one to ruin all this? He swallowed hard and looked up to find the bailiff was already rolling his wheelchair to the stand.

“Raise your right hand.” The clerk asked, kindly. It was obvious she had changed her voice to be a bit more soft for the younger. Tommy cringed, but raised a shaky right hand. It was difficult to keep his arm raised for a long time, he hoped this went quickly. “Do you promise that the testimony you give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?”

“Yeah, I-I mean, I do.” Tommy tried to say loudly. His voice cracked a little. The clerk nodded, and Tommy was wheeled to the witness box. He looked up at the Judge who gave him a small smile, he was sure it was supposed to be kind. It only felt patronizing though.

“I’ll start from the beginning, Mr. Salmone. You ran away from your home after finding out about your father, did you not?” Mr. Attorney asked.

“I did.” Tommy said, worry catching in his throat.

“You found out about your father from Exhibit B when you saw it underneath your mother’s bed, correct?”

“Yeah.” Mr. Attorney nodded.

“Why were you underneath your mother’s bed?” Tommy’s breath caught. That was something he’d only told Wilbur. He’d told Wilbur that in confidence, he couldn’t tell a whole room that. But he said he’d tell the truth…

“Mom was…They..”

“Take your time, Mr. Salmone.” Judge Harvey interrupted.

“Mom and Jared were talking and it got heated. So I ran, I ran to her room. It was the only room with a lock on it, mine was broken. I hid under her bed. I was scared.” Tommy said, looking away from the crowd of people in front of him. He hated admitting to the fear he felt that night.

“Let it go on record that Mr. Salmone just said he was scared to be around his mother. Scared enough to hide underneath a bed.” Tommy huffed, as the man repeated it, like rubbing it in his face.

“When you lived with your mother, when you were younger did you feel like you were treated the same as other children? Did you find your life fair in comparison to others?”

“It was different. Mom was never home when I got back from school. She came back late in the day, but she didn’t have a job. I didn’t really know where she was going for so long. She didn’t act like other moms I would see, and Jared never acted like other dads. I thought it was my fault.” Wilbur looked up at him with a very sad smile and concerned eyes.

“We recently heard some disturbing things said about you by the defendants in Exhibit F. Were things like that ever said to your face?” Tommy felt the entire court room’s eyes on him. This was it. This was the question. They all wanted to know, Tommy let out a shaky breath. He saw the way every L’manbergian looked at him with concern and fear lacing their expressions.

“Yeah, they…um..they’ve said that stuff before. To me. They made their opinions very clear.” Tommy wanted to mumble but forced his voice loud for others to hear. Tommy looked down, he couldn’t look at the people in the courtroom. He couldn’t look at all the looks of pity they gave him. He didn’t want to see it. He just wanted to curl up next to his dad, his real one, and cry. Just forget this all happened.

“We have in Exhibit D, medical records speaking of your heart condition. It was caused by your mother’s drinking habits. Has she ever tried to seek medical attention with you?”

“No.” It was a simple answer, but it was all he was going to give.

“You visit the hospital a lot, recently you visited it because of a heart episode you had at school. It was caused when you were bullied majorly. Has your mother ever tried to contact the school to get this to stop? Have the bullies ever been punished?”

“No. It was my problem. She didn’t care.”

“I’m afraid I have to bring this up, and I apologize beforehand for doing so. The night you were found stabbed in the dining room, what happened? What is your statement on it? Your mother says you took a tumble wrong. We have already heard from a neighbor that screams were heard that night. What say you?”

Tommy let out a deep breath. No one knew what happened that night, not even Wilbur. This would be the first time anyone and everyone heard the story. The full story. Tommy didn’t know if he could be the one to explain it. But it had to be him. Jared had already lied on the stand, and so had Sally. He was the only other person there that night, and he was the victim of the attack. He had the say. It was just the question of if he could say it.

“After…After I went back into Sally’s custody.” Tommy looked up he wanted to catch the expression of everyone in the room before the bomb was dropped on them. For now they were at least somewhat happy, in the next second they wouldn’t be able to smile. “She locked me in my room. The lock which I previously stated was broken, was fixed to lock from the outside. She wanted me to pay for the lawyer’s and stuff. But I couldn’t, so I had to pay in a different way. When I was there, I had nothing. All my belongings had been moved over to dad’s while I was staying there. I was stuck in that room. They gave me food once every day, and that was it. Most of the time it was bread and some water, maybe some scraps from their dinner.”

Tommy looked up to see the horror written on the L’manbergian’s faces and the anger that was apparent on Wilbur’s. Tommy could tell the man was pissed, he was glaring at the defendants. When he caught Tommy’s eye, his expression changed to one of worry, concern, fear and horror like the rest. Tommy continued on, though.

“It was like that for ten days. I was counting until the court date. Wilbur had said I’d see him then and everything would get fixed. On the tenth day, Sally came in and told me that we had to talk. She left the door open, so I followed her out. I did fall down the stairs a bit, but only because it was hard to walk. When I got down, they explained that we were going to leave. They wanted to run away. I didn’t want to go with them so I argued. Jared-He got- He was-mad. He was mad. He left the room and grabbed a knife. He made Sally decide to either keep me around and lose him or I left; permanently. Mom didn’t decide though, she just let it happen.

Jared grabbed me and attacked me. He stabbed me in the shoulder and tried to kill me. He kicked me and bashed my head against the wall and floor. Sally hit him over the head with her wine bottle but the glass just fell onto me. Jared pushed her away and I guess that’s where she passed out. He didn’t stop. The last thing I remember was the sirens.” Tommy relayed. He looked up, tears pricking his eyes from the horrifying memories of laying helpless on the floor. He still felt the pain all over his body. The courtroom was silent. No one spoke.

“The prosecution has no further questions, Y-You Honor.” Mr. Attorney said quietly, for once he actually stumbled over his words. The judge looked up at the noise, he seemed startled from the sentence.

“Oh, right, yes. Does the defense have any questions?” Judge Harvey asked, he kept looking back at Tommy as he said it, like he couldn’t take his eyes off of the boy. Clarencio stood.

“N-No, Your Honor.” He said, and sat back down. The bailiff came back up and wheeled Tommy back to his spot next to Wilbur. The woman continued to look to Tommy to see if she was hurting him in any way. Tommy started to hate this attention. He kept his eyes to the floor when he was next to Wilbur. He couldn’t look at the man right now. Or anyone for that matter. He knew what he would see and it was something he was so unfamiliar with.

“All evidence and witnesses have been examined, at this time would either side like to call upon a witness for re-examination?” The Judge asked.

“No, Your Honor.” Both attorneys said.

“People of the Jury, I will remind you that for the defendants to be proven guilty. There must be evidence that they physically hurt Mr. Tommy Salmone, neglected his wellbeing and health, in some way endangered his life, and attempted to end his life at some point. Prosecution, you may begin your closing statements.”

Mr. Attorney stood. “Your Honor, People of the Jury, I will keep this short. With the evidence and witnesses the prosecution has provided, it is clear that the defendants have endangered the life of Tommy Salmone and have tried to kill him. It is clear that he has been subject to major amounts of child neglect and child abuse. We have heard recorded phone calls where the defendants have made their opinions of said child extremely clear. We have heard the statement of the child of how the attempt of killing was done. We have seen letters written by the child’s true father and heard from the true father the amount of effort that was put through to keep him out of Tommy’s life. We have seen the weapon used against Tommy Salmone. With all this, you must find the defendant’s guilty.”

Mr. Attorney sat back down, “Defense, your closing statements?” The Judge called.

Clarencio stood, “The defendants have done their best to raise a child under their hard circumstances. Tommy Salmone has already been transferred over to the custody of Mr. Soot. My clients are just doing their absolute best, they have already explained the accidental incidents that led to the injuries of Tommy Salmone. Therefore my clients are not guilty.”

“We will take a short recess while the Jury makes a decision.” The Judge said and exited, as the Jury also exited. The courtroom erupted into chaos of voices.

Members of the city began to speak in small conversations. On the other side, all the L’manbergians talked together in a flurry of worried questions.

“Are you okay, Tommy?” Niki asked.

“D*mn, kid.” Quackity mumbled under his breath.

“Oh, Tommy…” Kristen whispered.

“Hey, Techno, I think I found us a new sparring partner?” Dream said, nudging the pinkette.

“Bet.” Techno grumbled with a smirk, still sending death glares at the two adults across the room, who whispered to each other.

“Techno…” Phil reprimanded, the pinkette just rolled his eyes.

“You were bullied?” Ranboo asked, quietly. His eyebrows shot up in concern, but his mouth was still concealed by the two colored mask.

“Oh, I am so beating up those bullies!” Tubbo yelled, earning a small smack to the head from Schlatt.

“No beating up kids.” He said, sternly.

“What? Why? They don’t even go to my school! I wouldn’t even get in trouble!” Tubbo retaliated.

“True. Nevermind then. I’m sure you’ll figure out something.” Shlatt shrugged, Phil turned and gave him the ‘really?’ look.

“Do not tell your kid to go beat up kids, Schlatt.” He reprimanded.

“Don’t tell me how to parent, Phil. You’re kid was gonna do the same thing.”

Tommy just sat in the wheelchair and watched it all unfold. He’d never really seen them all interacting together before, and now he could see why everyone in the town were such good friends. He sunk in his chair. His shoulders hunched in a way that only one hurt. His arms still sore from scratches and cuts. He was overall just exhausted from everything. How long had they been in the courtroom? The walls felt so tight and closed in.

“Are you alright, baby?”

Tommy looked up to see Wilbur kneeling down beside him. The rest of the other conversations drowned out. Phil was trying to talk Techno, Dream and Tubbo out of beating people up, while Kristen only refuted everything he said. George, Karl, Quackity and Sapnap seemed to be in their own world, while Schlatt watched from afar and messed with them. Niki and Ranboo were the only ones sitting calmly.

Wilbur had the same look of concern the others had, except his felt less patronizing, more comforting. He placed a hand on top of the one Tommy had been gripping the chair with. Tears were already rimming Tommy’s eyes, and Wilbur must have caught on.

“Do you want to talk about it, sweetheart?” He asked, quietly. None of the others had caught on to the conversation or they were just ignoring it. Tommy shook his head.

“Do you want to go outside and get some fresh air, then?” He asked. Tommy smiled and nodded, words not wanting to come to his mouth. The fuzzy feeling in the back of his head becoming more prominent. The little tingle in his bones coming and he felt his brain fill with cotton. “Okay, let me tell Phil and then we’ll go.”

Wilbur wheeled Tommy out into a little courtyard, after telling the old man where they were going. The courtyard was connected to the court so people could use it during recesses. Wilbur sat down on a bench, next to Tommy. They were quiet for a while, just listening to the birds chirp and watching the wind blow through the trees. Tommy sat happily watching as the butterflies and bees danced around the flowers.

“You never told me some of that stuff.” Wilbur whispered. Tommy’s smile faltered.

“Wil, I said I didn’t want to talk about it.” He said. The cotton in his brain made it hard to communicate but he was going to try.

“I know. I know.” Wilbur mumbled, running a hand through his hair as he normally did when stressed. “It’s just…” He sighed, “I wish you would have.”

“There isn’t much you could’ve done, dad.” Tommy said.

“I wish there was, though. I wish I could change it.”

“Well that's never going to happen.” Tommy tried to laugh, he gave Wilbur a light punch. Wilbur just looked at him with the same concern, no smile or chuckle. Tommy sighed, “What’s done is done.”

Tommy held back tears as he thought of all the things he wished he could have changed himself. They were silent again, neither speaking. This time neither listened to the birds chirping or watched the butterflies.

“Tommy?” Tommy looked up to the older man, he looked so sad. “I think…I think I’m going to sign you up for therapy.” Tommy’s eyebrows shot up.

“What? Why?” He asked, suddenly. Why did he need therapy? He was fine right? Everything was fine? Was there something wrong with him? Did he say or do something wrong?

“Toms, you went through something that was extremely traumatic.” Wilbur explained, holding out his hands. He explained it calmly like just the word ‘traumatic’ would set Tommy off in some way.

“No. No. Wilbur, I’m fine. Right?” Tommy started confident, but the look Wilbur gave him sucked it right out of him.

“Sunshine, they tried to kill you. That’s…that’s horrible. They said those awful things to you. They hurt you. Baby, that’s not ‘fine’.” Wilbur said.

“But-But I’m not ‘that’ messed up, r-right?” Tommy stuttered, the tears he’d been blocking starting to fall. They fell down his cheeks, and he tried to lift his arm to wipe them away. His arm shook and after multiple movements gave up on him. Wilbur frowned, and cupped his face with his hands.

“No. No. You’re not messed up, baby. What happened to you was the problem. You are not the problem, sunshine. You could never be a problem. Therapy is for people who just need a little help sometimes. Everyone can go to therapy. Everyone and anyone. I just want you to go so that you don’t break down like this.” His voice was soft, just like it always was. Honey-dipped and warm. He wiped away the falling tears with his thumbs and Tommy gave a tired smile. Wilbur smiled back, and let a hand find its way into Tommy’s hair to tuck away stray curls.

“W-why?” Tommy mumbled.

“Well, this can’t be fun, right?” Tommy shook his head, “yeah, I think it would help you.”

“But I-I’m fine.” It sounded more like a question than he wanted it to. Wilbur hummed, he pulled Tommy out of the wheelchair and into his lap. One hand latched to the boy’s hair as he combed through it, the other wiping away the tears that continued to fall down his face.

“Sunshine, you couldn’t look at that knife. And don’t think I haven't noticed you disassociating, these little breakdowns are bad for you, Toms. You keep having them and soon I’m scared they might lead to something major. More major than this, you may think you’re fine. But I think deep down you know you’re not. And that’s okay, sunflower. Sometimes, we’re just not okay. Just try it for me? Just for a little while?” Wilbur pressed a kiss to his forehead. Tommy slowly nodded.

“‘M sorry.” Tommy whispered, through a sob. Wilbur looked at him, confusion lacing his face.

“What are you apologizing for?”

“‘M not bein’ brave.”

“No. No. You are. You’re being very brave. You went into that courtroom even though you knew Sally and Jared would be there. You went in there even when you knew it might be scary. Being brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared, it means you face your fears. And you faced them, sunshine. And I am so so proud of you.” Another kiss was placed on his forehead.

They sat there together, Tommy’s head hooked underneath Wilbur’s chin as he rocked them back and forth. Tommy was still crying but was slowly calmly down thanks to Wilbur’s humming. The younger tried to fight through the cotton in his head and focus on the birds above, but all he could hear was the clip clop of heels getting louder.

Wilbur saw them first and Tommy felt his snarl from under his chin. Wilbur reluctantly placed Tommy back into the wheelchair and unhooked himself from the koala-like hold the kid had. Tommy silently pouted in the chair. Wilbur turned to the two sets of footsteps slowly growing. He grimaced when he was met with two familiar faces.

“Is he crying?” Sally cringed, finding the show of emotion disgusting.

“Yes.”

“No.” Both Wilbur and Tommy said at the same time, respectively. Tommy was desperately trying to wipe away the tears. Jared groaned.

“You two really just have to play the victims don’t you. How many problems have you actually caused people here? Like seriously, especially you brat.” Jared spat.

Tommy hunched in on himself, but Wilbur was done with this. He looked around and noticed that no one else was even in the courtyard so it wouldn’t really matter if he…

Wilbur punched Jared square in the face.

“What the f*ck!” The man yelled, as Wilbur shook out his hand. The other man’s nose was now bleeding lightly, as Sally just stared between the two.

“I have been wanting to do that for a f*cking long time.” Wilbur yelled, “I don’t want to see either of you near me or my son ever again, got it? If you are not found guilty I’m putting a restraining order on the both of you. Now get out of my sight before I f*cking punch you again, d*ckhead.”

The two didn’t waste any time before scurrying away. Wilbur turned back around to see Tommy looking up at him like he’d caught the sun in his hands.

“You punched him…” He whispered, like he didn’t believe what he’d just seen.

“I did.” Wilbur said, “And I’d do it again.”

Wilbur wheeled Tommy back into the courtroom with about two minutes to spare. The two sat back down in their original spots. Mr. Attorney right next to them. Behind them Wilbur could hear a small conversation.

“Why is Jared’s nose bleeding?” Techno asked, Wilbur turned around to his twin.

“Oh, I punched him.” The other’s eyes widened.

“Wilbur, no, please. You did not punch him. I just got done telling Techno and Dream they couldn’t.” Phil sighed, rubbing his eyes as Kristen clapped lightly beside him, “Kristen don’t encourage them.”

“I can live with that.” Techno nodded, his twin giving a prideful smile.

The jury entered and all attention was at the front. The bailiff called for the judge to enter, and so began the sentencing.

“Will the jury spokesperson please stand?” A man at the front of the jury stood, “Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict?” The judge asked.

“Yes, Your Honor.” The man said. “ The jury finds the defendants guilty of child abuse, child neglect, child endangerment, attempt of murder and contempt of court.”

The judge nodded, “Thank you, Jury. You are excused. The court sentences Sally Salmone and Jared Floyd to life sentences in prison without parole. And a fine of 4,000 dollars to Mr. Soot for medical bills. Court is dismissed.” The judge raised and hit the gavel onto his podium.

The courtroom became a flurry of hollers and cheers. Tubbo and Ranboo being some of the loudest. Niki and Kristen clapped, as Dream, Quackity, Sapnap, Schlatt, Karl, and George flipped off Sally and Jared. Phil and Techno stood with everyone else proudly, but silently only offering the occasion laughter. Wilbur knelt down next to Tommy who looked in awe of everything around him.

“You ready to go home for real this time?” Wilbur asked him.

And Tommy couldn’t say no.

“Yes!”