Work Text:
Ever since he was a child. David Miller knew his father wasn’t a good man. He’d hoped and begged the universe for it to not be true, but the universe never answered.
At a young age, he didnt understand what was it that made his dad so strict and aggressive. He didn’t understand how a single person could hold so much anger, and for seemingly no reason at all. He’d known his friends dads, and the way his classmates would talk about their parents, and he immediately knew his family was different somehow.
Unfortunately, as he grew older, he never found a conclusive answer as to what caused his father’s temper, so he started to blame himself.
He saw the way he treated his twin sister, Brenda, compared to how he treated him.
The way he would smile and laugh with her, but raise his voice at him and expect him to “do better”. He used words that he wouldn’t understand the meaning of until much later in life, but the tone he said them with was enough for David to understand that they weren’t good.
When he was nine, he constantly saw how Exer, his best friend, had a loving relationship with Mr. Harry, his dad. Every time he was over at the Campbell’s he could feel the contrast with his own home. How they trusted each other, and how Exer had only ever talked positively about him, When all David could do was describe the man who raised him on a surface level, which was rarely positive, if at all.
When his parents separated, he was distraught at the fact that he and his sister wouldn’t live together anymore. But what had confused him the most was that he was staying with his father. And David had all the hope in the world that things would change.
Yet he still believed he had fo earn his dad’s affection to some degree. So he joined the football team.
He’d convinced Exer to join alongside him, which made practice less boring, and he quickly became one of the best player in his school.
This would continue into his high school years, securing both his and Exer’s places as star players, as well as the kings of the school.
At first, his father would attend the games, and it made David believe that he was doing something right. He was finally earning his approval.
But as the years went by, That man payed less attention to the games, often missing them entirely. And yet David never stopped playing.
He wasn’t a massive fan of the sport, but he’d put so much of his life into it that he couldn’t just back out out of nowhere.
…
For a while during his senior year, the waters stayed calm. His father stayed at work late most of the time, David spent most of his day either at school or at Exer’s house, and when he was home, Linda, his father’s new wife, was usually the one there.
Linda was such a kind person, it made David wonder what she saw in his father.
But alas.
…
As the months went by, things headed downhill rather quickly. It was all one big snowball effect that no one had seen coming.
Senior year was far from normal, and he couldn’t seem to catch a break.
For starters, he’d fallen in love with his best friend (though he believed that he’d fallen in love years before. He just chose to ignore it, out of fear) and someone (Ron) had found out before he himself was ready to acknowledge it.
He’d almost lost said best friend.
He momentarily believed his relationship with his sister was ruined.
He almost outed himself.
The fights.
The magic.
The cat.
Everything.
Even then, his father’s regular absence at the dinner table remained one of the few constants in his life. And for a while, he was fine with that. He even preferred it that way.
He kept his head up high, and tried with every fiber in his being to keep going. Pretend everything was fine, that he was fine.
He played so much into that role that he started to believe that he was in fact fine, when he had just simply attempted to shield his eyes from the fire that slowly started to grow around him.
Unfortunately, even having your eyes closed, and holding your hands in front of your face, wont sheild you from the fire itself.
He tried not to look at it. Tried to pay it no mind. But he could still tell it was there. Burning. And it was only a matter of time before the flame reached him.
But suddenly, for a moment.
He could forget about his father. He could forget about what had been worrying him for so long.
Exer liked him back, and it seemed like things could in fact go well for David. And they did.
Briefly.
Things started to look up, only for the universe to send them crashing down again.
He’d always been so careful. Always making sure to carefully curate what he would say or do around his dad. But he was somewhere safe, he thought.
That man wasn’t supposed to be at the café. He wasn’t supposed to see them. He wasn’t supposed to know.
But he’s in the driver’s seat.
And now there’s nothing else David can do.
After all, he was only delaying the raging fire.
He knew he wouldnt take it well. He knew. He knew. Oh how he knew. But he still wasn’t prepared for the reaction he was met with.
“Get out of my house.”
There it was.
He wasted no time gathering his things (as much as he could, anyways).
He wiped the blood from his chin as he opened his(?) house door for one last time.
And he looked back.
As much as he didnt want to face the man who had disowned him just moment earlier, he wanted to confirm his suspicions.
He wanted to know if he would look as he walked away.
Maybe if he looked away, and avoided looking at David as he left, suitcase in hand, it would’ve meant he still cared.
If he averted his gaze, it could mean that it hurt to see him go. It would show some remorse.
But he didn’t.
That man looked directly at David every step of the way. He made sure David took every step away from the house.
And David saw it in his eyes.
That man never cared.
He never did.
…
The image of the man he called his father at some point was etched into his memory. He wanted to forget it, he wanted to just forget any of it ever happened.
We wanted things to be normal. He didn’t want everyone else to know how destroyed he felt. But it didnt matter how much he tried, the memory was always replaying itself in his mind.
It started messing with his studies, having to apologize to Pamela repeatedly for being distracted when he should’ve been paying attention to their assignment on the Titanic.
But even when he was met with nothing but pure compassion and understanding from her, he still felt terrible. He hated being a burden.
Everyone (especially Exer) would remind him all the time that he wasn’t a burden. But no amount of reassurance would shake the lingering feeling that he was.
Healing would be a slow process. He was gld to have his friends and family to support him.
Uncertainty still plagued him. Fear consumed most of his waking thoughts, and his nightmares didn’t show any signs of slowing down.
And yet, he had one thing that he was sure of.
One thing he decided a long time ago, but that had been fully cemented in the past months.
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” he’d been taught.
But would NEVER be who William was.