Work Text:
I'm TommyInit! I'm absolutely fine! I have friends, I have family, I have good acquaintances who are also working as heroes!!!
Ranboo makes breakfast for me and Tubbo every day. Spaghetti again. Ranboo can't cook anything else, but that's okay, I don't like spaghetti anyway, so I give my portion to Tubbo and he's happy with it.
Philza wakes up and tells everyone how much he loves us, that we are his beloved children, and goes off to patrol the city to protect all citizens, just like the heroes do in cartoons!!! Wilbur wakes up soon, hugs me, and goes back to his room to practice his guitar. His patrol is tomorrow night!!!
Then Techno wakes up. He makes himself breakfast, coffee and a cheese sandwich, and pats my head!
Everyone loves me, because I am the great TommyInnit, no one will stand in front of my charming face!
I'm chatting with Tubbo and Techno comes up to me asking what I'm doing.
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– Tommy, what are you doing? - Dave asks casually, taking a sip of coffee. He doesn't care, but is mildly curious.
– I'm talking to Tubbo!!! - I answer with a smile.
Dave frowns and then takes a deep breath.
– Tommy, have you taken your pills?
I don't understand what he's talking about. What pills? I don't need any pills, I'm a great TommyInnit!!!
– No.
Dave takes a deep breath and then returns with a pack of pills. They're simple, white, and oblong. Their complex name, "hallucination pills," floats vaguely through my mind.
– I won't drink this, it's bitter...
– ...Tommy, please.
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– Techno, can I have a sip of your coffee? Please!!!
– Of course, Tommy, it's not bitter at all. Tommy, take a mug, please.
I reach out for Techno's mug, but it's too heavy. I drop it.
– Oh, Tommy... This is fine. I'll just pour you some regular water in a new mug.
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– Tommy!!! Be careful, damn it! This is the second mug you've dropped! Maybe I should buy some plastic cups to give you water to wash down your pills with?
– ...
I don't want to drink them. The pills, I mean. Water's fine, but it's tasteless, and it usually contains sleeping pills or sedatives. For some reason, I feel like that's not how it should be.
– Techie, I'm tired.
Dave looks at me with bewilderment.
– Tommy? I'm a humanities person, not a techie.
---
– Techie, I'm tired.
– It's okay, Tommy. We'll help you sleep!
Techno picks me up and carries me to the bed. Tubbo and Ranboo follow us. Techno calls Wilbur, who takes out his guitar and sings my favorite lullaby.
I may be a big, gorgeous TommyInnit, but I can still enjoy lullabies!
Tubbo, Ranboo, and Techno sing along with Wilbur. Together, they tire me out, and I fall asleep.
When I wake up, Philza wakes me up!!! He asks me to help him cook.
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When I wake up abruptly, my dad wakes me up and asks me to help him cook. I smell alcohol on him, but I go with him.
Phil is shaking. He can't even reach the salt and knocks it over. I start laughing.
Dad is angry with me. He frowns. He slaps me and calls Dave to help him up, and deprives me of dinner.
Dave, as usual, is cooking instead of Dad. Dave's eye twitches. He's clearly tired. Dad has once again interrupted Dave from writing something for the session...
I'm standing in the corner because I'm grounded. My stomach is growling, but Dad forbade me to eat today. My head is spinning. I haven't eaten in a long time. We haven't eaten anything but spaghetti or potatoes in a long time. No greens or meat...
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Philza is so clumsy! He spills salt on himself, but he doesn't get angry. He cooks, and I serve him the food. Meat, greens, rice! We haven't tried this in a long time.
Philza recounts his patrol. No one committed a crime because everyone was captivated by the photo of the great TommyInnit on the billboard!
I sit down at the table, and Techno, Wilby, Tubbo, and Ranboo join us. We all sit down and discuss how awesome I am!
And we also talk about heroes. About Bur, who is actually Wilbur, about Za, who is actually Philza, about Blade, who is actually Techno.
Tubbo continues to admire me, saying I'm just as much of a hero as Philza, Techno, and Wilby, and Ranboo says there are other heroes out there. We all agree that George is too sleepy, but a little cool. And Dream is just good!!! But not as cool as me, the great TommyInnit!
---
Dave and Phil are sitting at the table. I'm watching from the corner. Strange. Where's William?
– Dad?
Phil puts out the cigarette he was smoking on the table with displeasure and looks at me.
– What? What do you want from me, brat?
– Where is William? - I ask.
Dave is shaking. For some reason he felt sick and went to the bathroom. William is his twin brother. Phil is our father.
– I don't care about him, Tommy, - Phil rolls his eyes. - He probably overdosed and died a long time ago.
Overdosed? But what? What is my father talking about? I don't understand.
– What did William overdose on?
---
Techno looks at Wilbur for a moment and then kneels in front of him.
– Wilbur, Wilbur, you won't overdo it, will you? Please, just don't do it.
Wilbur rolls his eyes.
– Don't be dramatic, Techno. I'm just using...
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– ...Drugs, - father answers honestly. - Your brother was a hardened drug addict, brat.
- What are drugs?
Dave comes back from the bathroom. He looks like he's been crying and throwing up.
– Tommy, drugs are bad. Never try them.
– Okay, - I answer.
---
Tubbo and Ranboo are busy because... Because!!! Tubbo loves me very much, but he's asleep. And Ranboo... And Ranboo loves Tubbo more than me, but that's okay, he's just blind to the great TommyInnit!
Wilbur is playing guitar in his room, Techno is writing something on his laptop, Philza is on patrol!
I'm going to my other friends. Dream and Not Found. Or Clay and George.
They're a couple! They love each other. They kiss and hug and do all the other things couples do!
They let me into their house and play games with me, and also ask about my family. I don't mind telling them!
---
I knock on the door. A sleepy George opens it. Lately, Dad has been yelling at Dave more and more often, and I often go to our neighbors, a gay couple, George and Clay.
Dad says being gay is a sin, but they seem happy, and Dave said drinking alcohol is a sin, and Dad drinks a lot. So I guess we're all sinners.
George lets me in and calls Clay. Clay comes over to me, sits me down on the couch, and starts playing question and answer with me. The idea of the game is simple! We take turns asking each other questions and answering honestly.
– Tommy, why is it so noisy in your apartment? - Clay asks.
– Dad's just arguing with Dave, like he always does, like he always has. Like he always has since William left us.
– William? Who is it? - George asks.
I shake my head. It's my turn to ask questions!!!
– No, no, George, I'm asking a question. What are drugs?
George tenses, and so does Clay. Clay reaches for his phone, but I don't pay much attention to his screen. I wait for George's answer.
– Drugs are... - George begins. - They're bad stuff, Tommy. Like alcohol. Don't ever try any of that stuff.
I nod and George asks Clay if he loves him. Clay agrees and then looks at me.
– Tommy, did your father ever hit you?
---
Not Found, Dream, and I are playing tsuef. I'm winning!
I hear Dream asking if my father ever beat me. No, no, Philza isn't like that! He's a great man!
He's wonderful, he loves us, he doesn't drink alcohol, he didn't get Wilbur hooked on drugs!
---
– A couple of times... Once, while Dave wasn't home, he was at university, my father got angry at me for no reason and gave me a hard slap. He knocked out my bad tooth. However, it was already loose, so everything was fine.
George looks at Clay, Clay looks at George, and they seem to communicate with their eyes. George carries me to their bedroom and tells me a story from memory while Clay seems to be making a phone call.
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Dream calls Philza! Dream calls him and tells him how charming and wonderful I am, TommyInnit, and Not Found tells me what a cool hero I'll be!
---
Clay calls the police. He says a child from the apartment next door is being abu-sed. I don't know what this means, probably that my dad loves me.
Clay tells us our address and says there's also screaming and the sound of breaking glass. And also moans, like someone's being killed.
George distracts me by stroking my hair. I'm content with that, clinging to his arm. I pretend George is Tubbo, or Ranboo, or both.
---
Not Found and I hug! We smile, and Dream ends his call. A siren can be heard outside the window; someone must have gotten sick and an ambulance has come for them.
---
I'm sitting in a strange, large place. There are a lot of people. Dad is sitting across from me. Dave is nowhere to be found. I'm sitting with Clay and George. A man in a white wig is reading out the charges against my father.
– You, Philip John Watson, are charged with the premeditated murder of your two children, Dave Alexis Watson and William Richard Watson, while intoxicated, and the negligent care of your third son, Tommy Theseus Watson. What do you say in your justification?
Dad mumbles something, and then the sentence is pronounced. Many, many years in prison. I'm sent to some strange place, a "shelter."
I close my eyes. I want to go back to that reality. Why can't everything be like this? Why can't everyone be happy?
---
I open my eyes. Tubbo and Ranboo are hugging me. It's always been the three of us, we have good friends, Clay and George. We've always been alone. We'll always be together...
I don't need to wake up anymore.