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It was a hot summer day, one of those days where you just want to be outside at the park or at the beach. Eating a frozen treat, out with your family and enjoying the ever-quickening end of the kids’ summer vacation. Just anything except working, because if you worked inside, you missed all the nice weather, and if you worked outside, it was too godsdamned hot.
And yet, that was exactly what Wilbur was doing.
He was standing on a rooftop in the scorching heat, his black jacket long since tied around his waist. This left him in his absurdly tight hero outfit, that he’d already decided he was going to be talking to head office about once this mission was over. He should absolutely not be sweating this much in the so called “breathable” fabric they’d allegedly made his uniform out of.
He was sure his daughter was having the time of her life with her grandfather that afternoon. From what Wilbur remembered, Phil’s plan was to take Tallulah and Chayanne to the boardwalk for ice cream and the little splash pad they had there.
Wilbur wished he could’ve joined them. In fact, Wilbur could think of at least five things he would rather be doing than sitting here on the hot ass abandoned building, waiting as Parrot’s backup in case her reconnaissance went to shit or something. It likely wouldn’t- Parrot was good at her job after all, or so Wilbur had heard.
He didn’t work head on with her very often, but her usual partner was out on his honeymoon, so that meant that Wilbur got to sub in for him on his usual day off. He didn’t do a lot of reconnaissance missions; he and Quackity, or rather, Spades, were better suited for patrols.
So not only was he working in the heat today, he wasn’t even on a fun mission. Wilbur stood from his crouched position spotting the coastline peeking behind the rows of rooftops. Tallulah was somewhere down there, missing him and worrying about his safety.
He didn’t have to tell her what he did for a living. She was smart, smarter than he’d been at her age. She knew her papa came home late, tired and often hurt. And Wilbur knew she could see how Phil worried about him.
Wilbur wanted nothing more than for this mission to wrap up early so he and Parrot could just get out of there and go home. And then his earpiece crackled to life.
“Phantom? Ah- shit, no- get away ! Second floor! South windows!” Parrot shouted, sounding out of breath and quite panicked.
Instantly, Wilbur hopped into motion. It wasn’t easy controlling your own mass in general, much less to float , but Wilbur was well-practiced, and all of his attention was on keeping himself in the air. He ran to the edge of the roof and dropped himself off of it, falling until he reached the second floor. It felt as though he’d dived into a lake, and was swimming beneath the surface.
He didn’t have to guess which room Parrot needed his help in though, because the minute he’d breached the second floor a thick-looking metal pipe was launched out of the window. Wilbur just barely managed to catch the damn thing mid air before it hit something down below.
Propelling himself forward until he made contact with the ledge, Wilbur let go of himself, and gravity took full force of him once more. It didn’t take long to realize what had happened, especially not once he saw Blaze, decked out in his eye-bleeding neon red costume, his fist burning and aimed directly for Parrot.
Blaze was notorious for noticing every little thing the Hero Committee threw at him. Wilbur wasn’t shocked this plan failed too, just like every other one that involved this stupid blond asshole. Behind him stood a person Wilbur didn’t recognize; they wore all black and were frantically typing something into a computer.
Wilbur wasted no time accelerating his speed, and practically threw himself at Blaze. He pulled him off of Parrot, with surprising ease, and sent him crashing to the ground. His fist, still on fire, made contact with a curtain, sending flames shooting up the fabric.
“Oh, fuck you!” Blaze shouted, launching himself at Wilbur. “Do you know how fucking long I spent making this place nice?!” His fist reignited and it was aimed for Wilbur’s face.
Dodging out of the way, Wilbur grabbed the pipe’s mass, and hurled it Blaze’s way. It connected with his shoulder, knocking him back, and putting out the budding fire in his fist.
“You think you’re so fucking cool? Hm? Hm?! Well, your name is fucking Phantom- you’re not even ghost-y!” Blaze taunted, throwing another burning fist Wilbur’s way.
It connected with his shoulder, singeing his costume and leaving him with a searing sensation in his skin.
“Yeah? Well, it’s better than
Blaze,
at least!” Wilbur retorted, kneeing Blaze in the gut. “And! I didn’t even name myself! What’s your fuckin’ excuse!”
The next thirty seconds or so were an absolute blur, he and Blaze exchanged quips and blows, neither quite getting the upper hand. Wilbur was sure they were both going to ache tomorrow.
That was, until the computer smashed to the floor, glass shattering everywhere. Everyone froze. Parrot stood on top of the desk, Blaze’s ally was sitting on the floor clutching their shoulder, and Wilbur and Blaze ceased their fighting, just for a moment.
Nobody moved, nobody even dared to breathe. Something in Blaze shifted at that, his expression growing more serious, his eyebrows narrowed. “Why the fuck did you do that?” He said, voice cold. “You ruined everything.”
Blaze ran at him then, so fast that Wilbur didn’t even have time to process it. His arm connected with Wilbur, and he was forced back, hard.
Wilbur felt his back connect with the wall with a loud crack, red hot pain shooting across his shoulder blades. His vision blurred, and he could feel the heat from the flames on the curtains beside him.
He watched Blaze grab what remained of the curtain, and pull. The rod pulled off the drywall and fell, Wilbur just barely managing to focus enough through the pain to catch it before it fell, launching it away from their reach.
Blaze stood over him, near completely unrecognizable to the way he usually looked. The smirk that usually rested on his face was replaced with anger, not just frustration at his plans being foiled, like Wilbur’d expected, pure unbridled fury.
As subtly as he could, Wilbur felt around for some kind of weapon that he could use to get away. He found the pipe, and gripped it tightly. But before he could so much as start to swing, Blaze grabbed it out of his hand.
And then everything went black.
-
Waking up in medical was always a disorienting experience. The lingering warmth and tiredness from the healing potions and spells used, the pins and needles sensation in once-broken bones, the discomfort in sealed cuts; Wilbur was all too familiar with this whole ordeal.
Once the initial nausea wore off, he’d been discharged and sent home, which he was more than thankful for. Apparently, Parrot, or rather Jaiden, now that they were off of the field, had taken care of both of their paperwork.
Blaze had gotten away, but the data in his computer was destroyed, so the mission wasn’t all for nothing. Which, Wilbur supposed was a good thing, but he was just so worn, that he couldn’t bring himself to even care. His back was still sore, and he had a pounding headache. It was better than it would’ve been without the healing, but unpleasant nonetheless.
It was about five past ten at night by the time he got out of there and into his car, long past Tallulah’s bedtime, which squashed any hope Wilbur had had earlier of seeing her that day. Healing took time, he knew, but he hadn’t even wanted to have gone out on a job that day.
Wilbur was just thankful that he’d been given three days of leave to recuperate from his injuries.
A darker part of him considered getting hurt more often if that meant he could see his daughter more, but Phil would catch on eventually- his father was smart like that, even if he’d been retired ever since he’d adopted Chayanne.
Now, Wilbur was glad that his adoptive brother wouldn’t grow up the same way he had. Long nights spent curled up on the couch, waiting for his father to come home, the television on quietly as he forced himself to stay awake. But Wilbur also knew that Phil fixing mistakes with his second child wouldn’t make up for the pain and anxiety he’d caused Wilbur.
And he’d long come to terms with it, it was why he’d trusted Phil to watch Tallulah after all, but that didn’t mean it didn’t still sting sometimes, like an old wound would ache when the sky bled.
There was a long period of time where he and Phil didn’t talk about it, living their lives as though there was no tension between him. Phil trained him to become a proper hero, and they spent holidays together.
Phil rarely called him for non-hero things, and Wilbur rarely called him at all.
And then Tallulah had come into Wilbur’s life, and he knew he had to do better, lest they end up the same way he and Phil did. Wilbur knew he was doing to her near-exactly what Phil did to him.
Which is why, when he properly returned home, he was unsurprised to find Tallulah curled up on his couch, a thin blanket thrown over her shoulders as she tucked herself as closely to Phil as she could. The main light was off, but Phil had a lamp on, casting a warm yellow glow over the living room.
“Hey, Wil.” Phil greeted him, closing the book he was reading and set it aside. “How was it?” He asked, keeping his voice low so as to not wake Tallulah.
Wilbur sighed, setting the bag that held his uniform inside it down. “ It was technically over hours ago, but I spent a while in medical, and then debrief and what the fuck ever.” He grumbled kicking his shoes off. “How long was she up?”
Phil looked to the girl beside him, brushing curls out of her face. “She fell asleep at nine.”
“Gods.” Wilbur breathed, pushing his glasses up his nose. “I’m just gonna go straight to bed, I think, I’m so fucking tired.” He looked back where Tallulah was lying. “Do you think you can carry her? I hurt my back.”
With no struggle, Phil picked her up, tucking her close to her chest.
Tallulah didn’t so much as stir.
“Before you sleep, can we talk?” Phil asked, dropping his voice even lower.
Wilbur nodded, and entered the bathroom. He usually took better showers than just standing under the water after ‘Phantom’ days, but tonight the mere thought of extending the effort to scrub made him feel exhausted.
He stood under the water stream much longer than was probably necessary, but the cool water did wonders after the heat he’d been in all day. It also had this fun bonus effect of alleviating the pain in his head and back, which was absolutely welcome.
Once he was out and dressed in a warm set of pajamas he crept back out into the living room and found Phil with his book in his hands once more. If Wilbur had more energy in him, he would’ve lifted his mass from the floor a bit, just to startle his father. But, unfortunately for him, he was simply too tired.
Wilbur dropped himself on the couch then, leaning his head against the wall, shutting both his eyes.
“Should I be checking you for injuries, or did you actually get discharged this time?” Phil asked, and without looking, Wilbur could feel his eyes on him.
Without moving his head, Wilbur looked over at Phil. “I got discharged, I was out while they were healing me.” Wilbur explained. “I had a concussion, and one of my shoulderblades was fractured.”
Phil nodded, but said nothing else, letting a brief silence fall over them. And then, “Have you considered retirement?”
Laughing, Wilbur closed his eyes again. “Retirement? Phil, I’m twenty-six. Not old and- and shit like you, I can’t retire.”
“Except you can , Wil.” Phil said. “I know how it feels, being in that position. Feeling like you need to fix this city simply because you were born with the ability to do something about it. But you don’t owe your life to them, and you sure as hell don’t owe Tallulah’s life to them.”
Wilbur sat up then, turning to look at Phil with a look he’s sure others could decide as crazed. “Is she in danger?” Wilbur asked, something dangerous in his voice.
“No.” Phil stated, leaving Wilbur no room to even consider disagreeing. “But by giving your everything to this job, you’re going to miss her grow up, or you will die. And it will forever be your deepest regret.”
There was nothing Wilbur could think to say. Phil was right, of course, and Wilbur knew he was right. But he couldn’t just retire, could he?
Noticing his silence, Phil spoke. “I’m going to go home, but just… promise me you’ll think about it, okay?”
“I promise.”
With that, Phil had said his goodbyes, and returned to his home. Wilbur couldn’t deny that his father looked a lot more relaxed than he had as Wilbur was growing up. He was envious of him for that, wishing that for just one day the weight be taken off his shoulders.
Wilbur stood in the living space for a few moments more considering the conversation they’d just had. He quickly realized that he was far too tired to come to any conclusions however, despite how much part of him ached to just do what Phil had suggested without thinking it through.
He buried that part away, and walked up the hall to where his bedroom was, but instead of entering his room, he turned left and stood in front of Tallulah’s room. Wilbur had something to do first.
Opening Tallulah’s door with a creak, Wilbur crept across the room.
He may not have had the energy to use his power, but he’d been a parent for years now, he knew how to keep his footsteps light enough to not wake his child up. He stayed away at first, watching her sleep as though crossing any further would disturb her peace.
Tallulah’s arms were wrapped tightly around her stuffed turtle, and her lips were parted ever so slightly as she dreamt. She was so big now- Wilbur still remembered how small she was the day he’d found her, alone and wailing. Where did all the time go?
Refusing to reflect on it, Wilbur instead leaned over, giving her a soft kiss on her forehead. He then pulled her soft quilt up higher, resting at her shoulders. “Goodnight, my petal.” He whispered, before heading off to bed himself.
-
The next three days had passed in a blur. Wilbur had expected this, of course, but that didn’t mean he was prepared for how excited Tallulah was to hang out with him every single day. He was just glad it was summer vacation; it’d be impossible to get her to school if she knew he was off.
They’d had pancake breakfasts every morning.
Tallulah’s were being soaked in a little more syrup than was probably good for her, but she’d insisted on showing him how well she could do it. She ate them all though, and told Wilbur about all the fun things she and Chayanne had been up to since they’d last had a ‘Tallulah day’.
Then, like every ‘Tallulah day’ before, she’d given him a list of things she wanted to do that day. Of course, most of it was told through crude crayon drawings, but Wilbur got the gist anyway.
On the first day, he and Tallulah had gone to their local park so she could run around and pick flowers while Wilbur recovered from being injured the day before. They’d met up with a friend from Tallulah’s school, Pomme, and one of her parents, Etoiles.
The two girls had chased each other around all morning, and Wilbur had looked the other way when he noticed that Tallulah had torn yet another pair of her favourite socks. He didn’t want to ruin her fun, and if he was honest, he was more impressed that she’d been able to just shrug it off and keep playing. If it had been months earlier, she would’ve been upset enough to just want to go home and cut their playtime shorter.
And that wasn’t the only example of his little girl being so much more grown-up than he remembered. Sure, she’d cried later that day when Wilbur couldn’t play another song for her and Pomme in the park, but she’d given what was left of her ice cream to Dapper after he’d dropped his when they’d met up with him and Bad the next day.
Wilbur tried to ignore the conversation he’d had with Phil, and just focus instead on spending time with the best person in his life. But how could he ignore it when the proof of what Phil was saying stood right in front of him. Taller than he remembered, with a missing tooth in her smile.
Their last day together was cut short, however.
Tallulah had insisted they go to their local aquarium, and she’d started showing him around like they hadn’t already been there countless times. Wilbur did his best to act surprised when she showed him the starfish exhibit of course. He didn’t want her to think he wasn’t invested.
They were in the gift shop, picking out another turtle stuffed animal for her to take home, when his phone rang.
The call was brief, not much could be said that wouldn’t risk a security breach in this line of work of course. But, the thesis was simple. They’d caught Blaze, and Wilbur was expected to come in as soon as possible for interrogation.
Wilbur knew he would regret his next decision tomorrow, when he was officially back at work. But seeing Tallulah, with stars in her eyes holding up a stuffed crab, asking him if she could have it, Wilbur knew he couldn’t ruin this day for her.
“Papi? Who was that?” She asked, grabbing his offered hand as they made their way to the till.
He shrugged, and helped her set the crab on the counter for the cashier to ring up. “Just Abuelito, he’s excited for our dinner plans tonight.” Wilbur lied, but Tallulah was none the wiser.
-
Wilbur had thought he was in for the lecture of a lifetime when he arrived at the agency the next morning.
But instead, he was immediately taken to the Interrogation and holding Cell floor. Jaiden was waiting for him there, which Wilbur had expected- after all, she had been the one in the warehouse with him.
Her usual black and purple Parrot outfit was missing, and instead, she was just in her everyday clothes, which made Wilbur feel better about not having time to get changed.
“Hey!” She greeted once she noticed Wilbur, handing him a simple black domino mask. “The boss wanted us to get started asap, he says we’re ‘already behind,’ or whatever.”
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Wilbur put the domino mask on.
“So, how did they end up getting this fucker?” He asked, following Jaiden up the hall to where he assumed Blaze was being kept.
“They didn’t, he turned himself in.” She explained, ponytail bouncing with each step. “Nobody has any idea why, he won’t talk, and they figure because we went after him last..” Jaiden trailed off, stopping in front of room 0-5.
“They think we can get through to him.” Wilbur filled in, sighing. “Gods, this was not worth calling me in on my day off.”
Jaiden laughed, fiddling around in one of her pockets for her keycard. “It sure wasn’t, but the boss is pissed you didn’t show yesterday.” She explained, holding her card up to the scanner.
Huffing, Wilbur tightened his domino mask. “Well, if the boss wants, I can break his ribs for him and make him come in two days later.”
Then the door unlocked with a quiet click, and all humour drained from both heroes, their expressions falling into carefully neutral ones. Jaiden entered first, her hands stuffed into both of her pockets, and Wilbur stood off to the side of her, doing his best to appear loose.
Blaze looked up from where he was sitting at a table, his hands wrapped in solid metal cuffs, preventing him from using his powers. Wilbur sat, and Jaiden stood behind him, leaning on the back wall. Tension was thick in the dull room, weighing on all of their shoulders.
He looked quite pathetic, if Wilbur was completely honest with himself. Blaze was a far cry from the villain who’d struck Wilbur down at the beginning of the week.
Wilbur was one of the agencies go-to interrogators; he was a known wordsmith who’d succeeded at getting through to many criminals before Blaze. In the back of his mind was a little voice reminding him that they need you to do this . Breathing deeply, Wilbur pushed it down. That wasn’t important now, he could think more on his decision once this was all over.
Before speaking, Wilbur began applying a light pressure to everything in the room, causing everyone inside slight discomfort, including himself.
“Hello, Blaze. I heard you turned yourself in. I was wondering if you could explain to me, and my partner here, why you did that.” Wilbur stated, voice emotionless.
Blaze was still masked, of course, but even with the mask Wilbur could tell that he was trying to look everywhere in the room except at the other two people inside it.
“I just- realized what I was doing was wrong, and decided I needed to put a stop to it.” Blaze explained, voice oddly high pitched. Wilbur knew he must be lying, which, considering what he was saying, wasn’t a surprise.
Wilbur hummed, tapping his fingers on the table. “I don’t think you even believed that lie. I’m not here to hurt you, I just want to understand.”
He said nothing, his lips pressed into a thin line.
Even in the dim light of the interrogation room Blaze’s outfit still managed to appear eyebleeding. Wilbur was almost impressed, most villains he’d seen did their best to create outfits that wouldn’t cause much attention to themselves. But not Blaze.
Jaiden piped up then. “You’ve been trying to access classified data. If you tell us what you’re looking for, we might be able to help you.” She crossed the room, leaning against the table beside Wilbur. “But we can’t help you if you don’t tell us why .”
That seemed to stir something in Blaze, as he pulled his gaze from the wall. Eyes focused on Wilbur and Jaiden once more. “How do I know you’ll actually help me, and not just throw me in a cell once you know what you want?”
“We could throw you in a cell now, and it wouldn’t change a thing for us.” Wilbur argued. “But, the agency would hate to throw a barely-adult boy in a cell to rot, especially not when we could get you off the field in a more civil way, by putting down the mask and living a regular, minorly supervised life. No civilian has ever been truly hurt by you, and the higher-ups see that, that’s why we can offer you a deal like this.”
To be truthful, Wilbur had known nothing about the deal ahead of time. He was a little ticked off, if he was going to be honest- the agency loved to throw him into interrogations without every detail. It was a little too inconvenient to actually inform him properly apparently. But Blaze didn’t know that, nor did he need to know.
Silence fell over the room, and the light flickered overhead. The chains of Blaze’s cuffs dragged across the desk as he settled into a more relaxed posture. “I was trying to look through the files on the villains you guys have in prison.” He admitted, voice heavy. “I was looking for my brother.”
“Your brother?” Wilbur pushed, ignoring the way the words had tugged at his heart. Blaze didn’t know about his own current inner turmoil, and he couldn’t let him know. He needed to push past it. “Why would your brother be in one of our prisons?”
The words spilled out of Blaze’s mouth like a bucket that had been overfilled. “Because I think he was Ichor- he disappeared the same time the villain did.” Blaze explained, any facade of being put-together dropped. “It was my last resort, I just didn’t realize how hard it was to get in your fucking system.”
Wilbur shot Jaiden a look, one that she thankfully recognized to mean that he wanted the room to himself. Heroes generally got good at reading each other after being in one life-or-death situation together.
Once she was gone, he turned his attention back to Blaze. “I’m going to be one-hundred-percent transparent with you here we never captured Ichor.”
Blaze’s face dropped, pure misery coating each of his visible features. “What? What do you mean? You have to have him, I- I don’t know where else he could be!” Blaze argued, trying to stand before being forced back down by the chains. “Stop lying! Where’s my fucking brother!” He shouted, the sound bouncing off the walls of the room.
“I’m not lying.” Wilbur said, bringing some sympathy into his expression. “We conducted a raid on a base we believed Ichor was operating out of, and we didn’t find anyone. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth.”
He slouched over, any fight fading from his body. “So that means-” Blaze began, cutting himself off with a heavy breath. “That this was all for nothing, and my stupid idiot villain brother just- just abandoned me.”
Wilbur opened his mouth to speak, he wasn’t sure how to reply but he knew he had to say something. He didn’t get a chance though, because Blaze was talking again.
“I just- he was all I had, and he just fucking left! Without any word or- or anything.” Blaze began leaning further and further off his chair, not even acknowledging Wilbur anymore. “How could he do that to me? I thought we were in this shit together?”
Blaze continued to ramble to himself as Wilbur watched on awkwardly. He wasn’t sure how to cut in, if he even should cut in. But, he couldn’t leave Blaze on his own, he wasn’t allowed to for starters, and Wilbur wasn’t even sure he wanted to. Not when he looked so much like Wilbur had at his age, or when he looked so much like Tallulah did when she was told Wilbur wouldn’t be off the next day.
Just so alone, and forgotten. So desperate for a family and to be loved only to be denied that at every turn. And it wasn’t fair, Wilbur knew it wasn’t and he was sure, or at least he hoped that somewhere out there Ichor was wondering about his brother and hoping to one day get back to him.
But he couldn’t say any of that to Blaze, so instead he sat.
Eventually, he seemed to remember Wilbur was there, his gaze falling on him once more. “I- um, you can tell your boss I’m not gonna be a problem anymore. I give up. I’m done being Blaze.”
Wilbur nodded, pushing himself to his feet. But before he left the room, he paused. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about what you’re going through. This business sucks, and it just- it ruins families.”
Blaze said nothing, and Wilbur left, feeling hollow.
His decision was made. He was going to retire, he wouldn’t do that to Tallulah. He couldn’t she was his entire world and he refused to break her the way he’d been broken, the way Blaze had been broken. The city would be fine without him, it was fine before he was born and it’d continue being fine in his absence.
But Tallulah? She needed him, now more than ever. Even if he took a desk job with the agency he would get to see her significantly more often than he’d been able to before.
Being Phantom was… exhausting on the best of days, and dangerous on the worst. And despite the ache in his chest at losing that aspect of his life, he knew it was for the best.
Wilbur just needed to muster the courage, and make the change.
-
In the end, it had been a lot easier than Wilbur was expecting.
His boss had admitted that he’d been expecting Wilbur to retire to some degree once Phil did. He told Wilbur that he was honestly more surprised that Wilbur had lasted that long as Phantom. Which was embarrassing to say the least.
Wilbur didn’t care though, because he was free of the job that suffocated him, and he was able to see his daughter every single day. And, at the end of it all, what else was he saving the city for if not for her.
It had taken a while for it to set in for Tallulah that she would really be seeing her papa every day, but once it did she was absolutely thrilled. ‘Tallulah Days’ became less often, however, because as his daughter so maturely said. “They’re not super special anymore, because I see you every day, Papa!”
Things were good, even if Quackity had complained to Wilbur for months about being reassigned to some trainee. But, Wilbur knew that the trainee and Quackity got along well, even if he was in denial about it.
And, Wilbur had to admit, he really enjoyed his new job too, monitoring reformed villains to ensure they stuck to their promises of changing and getting better. Blaze, or rather, Tommy Innit, had struggled a lot at first, from what he’d told Wilbur. He hadn’t known what he was supposed to do with himself if he wasn’t looking for his brother.
In the end, Tommy had opted to go to a local community college, to find some purpose. Which, Wilbur could attest, had been great for the guy. Even if his brother was still a no-show.
Which brought him to the present.
Tallulah’s sixth birthday. A purple paper crown was tucked on top of her beanie, and cake was smeared along her cheeks as she chased the other children at the party down.
It was a far-cry from her fifth birthday, Wilbur had missed that one because of an unforeseen work emergency. Phil told him that Tallulah had had a good time even without him there, but she wasn’t smiling as big in the photos from last year as she was this year.
He was sitting with the other adults, talking and laughing about their lives, occasionally yelling out to their children to be more careful, or to watch for the tables or something. Wilbur couldn’t remember a time when he was working as Phantom where he felt this light, where nothing hurt and their was no true weight on his shoulders.
Life was a lot more simple, and a lot more preferable to what it had been.
And it was all worth it when, at the end of the night, after Tallulah had said her goodbyes and thank yous to her last guest, she’d run up to him, throwing herself in his arms.
Wilbur wasn’t too sore or too tired to catch her, and he held her close to his chest. She looked at Wilbur, grinning from ear to ear as she proclaimed oh so loudly, “Papa! This was the best birthday ever!”
He wouldn’t change this life for the world.
And maybe, if things could work out so well for him and his family. Maybe Tommy would find his brother one day, it was a long shot, Wilbur knew, but he truly believed that Ichor was just waiting there to get back to his brother. And eventually, they could have this life too.
Because, truly, this was more worth it than anything else in the whole entire world.