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Twenty-eight years had passed.
Almost twenty-nine, actually.
Twenty-eight years and three-hundred and fifty-two days, if you’re really counting.
Twenty-eight years and three-hundred and fifty-two days since Mike Wheeler became Tammy. Nothing more, never more.
Not that Mike wanted to be more.
He didn’t.
Doesn’t.
He has a family now. Kids.
Not a wife, she left him a long time ago. But that wasn’t for any fault of his. Supposedly, he has an “inability to express romantic love” which is completely fucking ridiculous because Mike is very romantic. He even said “I love you” in his wedding vows. Honestly, it seems like a her problem to Mike.
So, no, he doesn’t want to be anything more than Will’s Tammy.
Even if he still dreams of Will sometimes. And maybe he got a little too drunk and cried a little too hard when gay marriage was legalized, and contemplated calling Will. But that doesn’t mean anything.
Because he is happy with his life. Happy.
What more could a guy want, crouching around his kitchen table with his son, painting miniatures together for another DND campaign? This is what he wants. All right here. The dream.
“Dad, you’re using the wrong shade of green. I literally labelled them.”
“I know what I’m doing, Tommy.”
“But-”
The screen door creaked open, followed by the shuffling of feet against wood.
“Sarah, shut the damn door, you’ll let the bugs in.”
“I’m shutting it, Dad,” Sarah mumbled from the hall. Sarah doesn’t mumble. Sarah speaks in a number of ways, most loud and enthusiastic, none of them mumbling.
Mike and Tommy look up at each other in a comical unison. Mike was sure the imaginary audience watching them could hear the cheesy laugh track right now.
“...Everything okay, kid?”
Sarah didn’t answer. After a second or two, she appeared in the kitchen doorway, holding the hand of a short girl with curly black hair.
“Um.. Dad? This is Tammy. She’s…” Sarah paused, and Tammy squeezed her hand, casting her a soft glance.
“She’s my girlfriend,” Sarah said.
Mike stared at the two, slackjawed. Not at Sarah liking girls, that was obvious already. He saw all those posters on her walls.
Not at Tammy, either, she seemed like a perfectly nice girl.
But that name… every time he heard that name it was a slap in the face.
Now his daughter had a girlfriend named Tammy. A Tammy. A Tammy that was… more. More than just best friends.
“Dad…?”
“That’s… that’s good for you, honey,” he choked out.
Tommy kicked him from under the table, shooting him an is that it? look.
“I’m glad you’re happy,” Mike managed.
Sarah smiled nervously, shuffling Tammy away. “Okay, goodbye Dad!”
“Bye, honey…”
Tommy put down his paintbrush.
“I can’t believe you.”
“What?”
“Your best friend is gay, but when it’s your daughter, it’s too much for you?”
Mike flinched at that.
“I never said that, Tommy. I don’t care that she’s a lesbian, you know that?”
“You look like she just shot you!”
“No, I just… I think I need to talk to an old friend.”
“What?”
“I just… I want to be that Tammy, not me Tammy.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean.”
Mike stood up.
“I need to make a call, I’ll be right back. Just… keep painting.”
Tommy gaped at him as Mike slipped down the hall into his room. He pulled out his phone, shaky hands fumbling for the buttons. Finally, he managed to call who he needed.
“Hello? Mike?” Will asked, sounding confused.
“I don’t want to be Tammy anymore. I’m not Tammy.”
Will was silent.
“I’m sorry, Will. I’m sorry. I should have done this sooner. But I’m here now, if you’ll have me. I can’t be Tammy anymore. I won’t.”
Will didn’t speak for a very long time. Then he said,
“God, it took you long enough.”