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Tommy isn’t surprised to find himself in the passenger seat of his social workers car on his way to yet another foster home. He’s been in the foster system a long time, longer then he remembers, longer then he’s wanted to be.
So he’s used to this. To the new families, to the new schools, to the new towns, to not having anything constant and solid in his life.
He stopped hoping for anything of the sorts since house five from after. Because before, he had something, had someone and then after the eighth house from before, they were separated.
And Tommy was left alone.
See, before (because everything is separated into before and after) Tommy had had his brother, Wilbur, his best friend, his only constant, his everything.
He had alway had Wilbur, Wilbur who was older and cooler and who Tommy trusted with his entire being but, then their social worker had come and taken Wilbur to another house without him and left Tommy kicking and screaming for his brother to come back.
(He had promised to come back).
Tommy had screamed for days, for his brother, for them to be together again because in ten long years he’s never been without him and he wasn’t ready to start now.
Then before long Tommy was taken to another house in another town with another social worker and they hadn’t bothered telling him where Wilbur was and when they’d see each other again, just empty promises of seeing him if Tommy behaved in this next house.
It didn’t matter if he behaved, didn’t matter how long he stayed, how long he spent enduring the abuse, the promises were never kept.
(He was getting used to broken promises).
So here he was, in the passenger seat of his social workers car on his way to his new family.
She’s talking about them; he’s not listening. Something about two sons, how this one is the one, how she knows his last social workers and last houses have always let him down but this one, this one will work out.
He doesn’t believe her, this is his eleventh house since before (which is nineteenth all together, but that’s too many for it not to be his fault so they’ll stay separated into before and after), he knows this one isn’t it.
“We’re here.” His social worker, who’s name he hasn’t bothered to learn, says as she pulls into the driveway. “You ready?” She asks, she seems nice but Tommy has been doing this for far too long to even act friendly with her at this point.
“Does it matter?” He mutters, grabbing his backpack and getting out of the car before she can reply. He waits for her to get out and follows behind her to the door.
She glances at him, a subtle warning to be good, before she knocks.
He takes a deep breath in and holds it while he waits, he hears clanging and a few muffled words before the door swings open, he lets out the breath as he looks up and-
Oh.
The door slams shut just as quickly as it opened, he blinks, breath catching, was that who he thought it was? Six years is a long time but god, he looked so familiar.
When the door is reopened a shorter man with blond hair and a slightly embarrassed smile on his face is there.
“Sorry about that.” He chuckles, standing to the side and gesturing them into the house. “Will has a thing for being dramatic.” His voice is sickeningly fond and the name is stuck to Tommy’s brain like glue as the man leads them to the living room.
He thought that maybe he’d been seeing things, that maybe he was wrong, he had hoped he was wrong.
“I’m Phil,” He introduces himself with a smile. “You must be Tommy.”
He nods, hoping that it will be enough of an answer, he can think of more than a few houses that would’ve punished him for that but he just-
He just can’t right now, he’s just glad his social worker is still here because at least they can’t hurt him while she’s here.
“I have to inform you,” She interrupts before the awkward interactions can continue for any longer. “Tommy has a history of running and getting into fights.”
That doesn’t seem completely fair, he only runs when he has to, when he’s so scared of what will happen to him if he doesn’t that he can’t sleep or eat or breathe without the fear clawing at him from the inside out.
But she doesn’t know all that, how could she. He doesn’t tell her why he runs, all she knows is that he does and she’s probably heard that he used to run from his first house’s alone because he wanted, needed to get back to Wilbur.
He doesn’t need that anymore, hasn’t for a long time now so he wishes that they would take that off of his fucking file because he’s sick of locked doors and locked windows and handing his stuff over so they can search through it because they don’t trust him even though they know nothing about him.
It’s not like he can say that, he doesn’t have the fight for it, so he sits angrily in silence while they talk about him like he isn’t even here until his social worker is standing and asking for him to walk her to the door.
“You have my number right?” She asks as she does at every house, the numbers have been engraved into his head for longer than he cares to remember.
“I don’t want to stay here.” He whispers, eyes flicking to where Phils stood at the bottom of the stairs, he’s looking up them and talking to someone, probably either Wilbur (fucking Wilbur) or his other son.
“What?” She asks somewhat loudly, following his gaze for a moment before looking back. He sees Phil look at them, obviously interested in what they were saying he looks confused by his social worker's sudden outburst.
“I don’t want to stay here, take me somewhere else.” He's on the verge of begging. Phils probably noticed, he doesn’t care he can’t stay here not with Wilbur being here.
“Tommy, I told you there is nowhere else.” She at least has the decency to look sorry, but what good does sorry do for him?
“Please.” It’s definitely begging now, he needs to leave he can’t stay. Phils definitely listening now and Tommy can hear the footsteps of two people coming down the stairs. “Please. I’ll be good I promise, please.”
“I’m sorry, Tommy, I really wish there was somewhere else.” She glances at Phil, and where you can now see his two sons stood on the bottom stairs. “Look, I’ll be back in a couple months and if you still want to leave then and there’s somewhere else available I’ll move you, okay?”
“Please?” He whispers one more time, she shakes her head softly and he knows that she’s not going to change her mind anytime soon.
“I’ll see you soon.” She promises, waving to Phil as she opens the door and exits through it, leaving Tommy all alone once again.
It’s silent for a moment, for two, before Phil steps forward, smiling softly like he was in the living room and at the door, it’s like he never stops.
“I’m sure you’re tired, so I thought we’d do quick introductions before I show you your room, is that okay?” He asks, Tommy turns from where he was still staring at the door, eyes immediately passing Phil and latching onto Wilbur.
He nods, turning to look back at his new foster father.
“Like I said, I’m Phil. I mostly work from home so if you need me I’m normally about somewhere.” He turns to the others. “The one with the pink hair is Techno,” He leans towards Tommy slightly. “He looks more intimidating than he actually is so don’t let him scare you.”
He says it in a stage whisper, smiling as though it’s some inside joke between the two of them and Tommy should be in on it when he's not.
He goes to interrupt Phil, before he has the chance to introduce Wilbur, to say ‘hey Will, long time no see. How are you doing, brother.’ but Wilburs talking before he can.
“I’m Wilbur.” He says stepping forward, holding his hand out for Tommy to shake. “You’re Tommy, right?”
And ouch, if that wasn’t a punch in the gut.
“Yeah.” He mutters, taking the hand, gripping it a little harder than necessary and shaking it. He watches Wilburs face as he does, he’s trying to act indifferent but Tommy has always been able to read him better than anything and it’s almost poetic that that hasn’t changed.
The others don’t notice the obvious tension, or maybe they ignore it but Phils leading him to his room and before he knows it he’s once again alone.
-
They don’t talk about it.
Or rather, Tommy doesn’t talk about it. Wilbur tries, at some point, he comes into Tommy’s room looking as guilty as ever with an apology on the tip of his tongue but he’s cut off before he has the chance.
“Leave it.” Tommy says from where he’s tucked up on his bed in the furthest corner from the door. “It’s fine, I get it.”
He doesn’t, get it that is. Doesn’t understand how Wilbur got adopted and how his family doesn’t know who he is, how all of this came to be how it is but this is Wilbur's life, not his and he’ll be gone soon enough so he’ll keep his mouth shut even if his heart aches at just the thought.
“Toms-”
“Don’t call me that.” He cuts him off, it’s been so long, he doesn’t have the right to call him that anymore. “Like I said, it's fine.” He shrugs.
It’s not but it is what it is. This is Wilburs house, Phil is Wilburs dad. He has all the power here, if he wants Tommy gone, he’s gone and Tommy doesn’t want to find out how angry Phil can really be so early on.
He looks like he has more to say but Phils calling them for dinner before he has the chance and Tommy’s grateful for this conversation to be over.
-
This house isn’t bad, he has three meals a day, no ones even attempted to hurt or yell at him so far and they were nice enough to buy him new clothes as well as allowed him a few days of settling in before he had to start school.
He gets along just fine with Phil, he even made a few friends at school. Techno seems to notice the tension between Tommy and Wilbur, who won’t stop looking at Tommy like a kicked puppy, but decided at some point that it wasn’t his business.
So this house is fine, good even if he’s willing to ignore all the history between him and his no-longer-his-brother foster brother.
And he’s fine with doing that, he’s ignored a lot worse in houses for a lot less and he’s used to being uncomfortable in the houses he’s staying in, it’s fine.
Just a couple more weeks,
“Have you guys met before?” Techno asks at dinner when the tension is so thick even a knife could cut it. He seems to be done with ignoring it when it didn’t go away quite like he hoped.
“What?” Wilbur snaps his head to look at Techno, he’d previously been poking at his dinner and sparing glances across the table to where Tommy was sitting every two seconds.
“You’ve been acting weird since he got here and you’ve been staring at him pretty much constantly.” He shrugs, noncommittally taking a bite of his food he looks at Phil. “You notice it too, right?”
Phil looks sheepish as he nods, rubbing the back of his neck. “I didn’t want to say anything.” He chuckles uncomfortably.
“Well actually-” Wilbur starts, planning on telling them everything but Tommy stop him because fuck that and fuck him.
He doesn’t get to do that after almost two weeks of nothing.
“We have.” He says surprising everyone at the table. “It was a long time ago though, I barely remember it. Right, Wilbur?” He looks at the older man pointedly, he sighs but agrees nonetheless.
Dinners are no less awkward from then on.
-
It takes a barbecue for everything to go to shit. Phil had told him that on the first hot day each year the boys invite all their friends round and he makes burgers and hotdogs and they hang out until late into the night with s’mores and a fire.
He’s allowed to invite Tubbo and Ranboo, who have come a few times before because Techno is friends with Tubbos brother, Dream and Wilbur is friends with Ranboos sister, Niki.
It’s was supposed to be fun and Tommy had even started to look forward to it. Excited to see his friends outside of school and for them to be able to hang out.
The food ended up being surprisingly good and the company even better. They had a lot of fun and even as sun started to set the fun kept going, they all migrated to the fire pit and huddled around it with blankets and marshmallows in hand.
It had been going so well, Tommy should have expected it to go downhill eventually.
“What about you Tommy?” Tubbo asked, everyone’s eyes turning to him. “You ever been in a fight?” He’s been in a lot, too many to count.
Tommy feigns innocence as he turns to Tubbo with a dramatic gasp. “Me? In a fight? I could never!” The scars on his body say otherwise but everyone laughs along with him, Phil acts as though he’s disappointed as the responsible adult he is but everyone can see the amusement in his smile.
“No, seriously dude!” Sapnap says between giggles, he’s laying against George with his legs in Quackity’s lap, he looks as though he’s about to listen to a bedtime story, it’s endearing.
“Yeah come on Toms.” Wilbur joins in, eyes filled with something Tommy can’t get a read on. Something akin to affection and worry at the same time.
“Don’t call me that.” Tommy snaps, uneasiness settling in the air between them. It’s silent for a minute too long.
“Sorry.” He mutters, when it’s too much to bare and the panic starts itching at the back of his mind.
“Nah, my faults I forgot.” Wilbur shrugs, Tommy can see the hurt in his eyes but it’s gone before he can comment on it.
“I was in this one fight, in my fourth house after.” He says, because if there’s one thing Tommy is good at its talking and he can’t let this night be ruined when it had been going so well. “I was like thirteen and I punched my foster dad even though he was like twice the size of me because he said-”
He cuts himself off, he hadn’t thought about where this story was going. It wasn’t how it ended (a broken arm, a black eye and more bruises than he can count) but more what was said to start the fight.
“He was just being a dick you know?” He continues, before anyone can say anything. “Was telling me that my- uh-” He didn’t have to tell them the whole truth, he just wouldn’t give names, it’ll be fine. It has to be fine. “That my brother wasn’t coming back and so I should stop talking so much about him and me being me, I threw a fuckin’ plate and clarted him in the face before running and hiding in the tree in the back garden.”
He laughs, somewhat bitterly, that story wasn’t as funny as he thought in hein sight.
“You have a brother?” Phil asks, sitting up in his seat beside Techno. Everyone seems more interested in this than whatever fights he could have been in. “It didn’t say that in your file.”
“Yeah.” He shrugs like that doesn’t hurt. Like the system hasn’t fucked him over yet again, they took out the fact he has a brother. He never stood a chance did he? “I did. We got split up like six years ago and he aged out of the system a few years back.”
“You should look for him!” Tubbo yells, excited at the idea of having to search for Tommy's mysterious brother. Tommy smiles sadly at him.
“If you want to look, we can help Tommy.” Phil agrees, like it was the easiest decision he’d ever had to make, like he would do anything to help make Tommy happy.
“It’s been a long time.” Tommy says, similar to what he said at dinner last week. “He’s had plenty of time to come get me.”
“Maybe he didn’t know where to find you?” Wilbur butts in, sitting straighter in his chair, he’s using this chance to explain. “Or how to get legal custody of you?”
“He didn’t try.” He sounds so sure of himself, so confident in his answer that everyone feels their hearts break just a little.
“You don’t know that-” Techno tries in a rare attempt at comforting the younger.
“I do.” His eyes don’t stray from Wilbur, he’s sure everyone noticed by the way they all fall into silence. He’s putting the ball in Wilburs court, he just has to back off and Tommy will drop it, go back to pretending they barely know each other.
“You don’t.” Wilbur presses, desperately. He’s argument is weak, they both know it but it’s all he has, right now.
“He left me.” Tommy counters, shrugging, it’s nonchalant but his mind is a whirlwind. He’s not nearly as calm as he’s trying to seem.
“He didn’t.” He thinks he heard Phil softly telling Wilbur to stop, to leave this alone, that maybe it’s time to call it a night but god, Wilburs always been stubborn. “He tried.”
“No-”
“He looked-”
“He didn’t-”
“He did-”
“You left me!” Tommy yells suddenly as he stands, cutting the argument off. He gave him the chance to leave this alone but he didn’t, Phil even gave him the chance but if he wants to do this then fine they’ll do it. “You promised!”
Tommy had been so sure that he was over this, that he was fine now. That he could deal with seeing Wilbur and that he was over him leaving but, he was wrong.
“Will?” Phil turns to his eldest son, confused.
“You said that once you got out, you’d come back for me but you didn’t!” Tommy carries on ignoring everyone else completely. “I waited for you! I waited but it turns out you’ve been here this whole time!”
“How many houses? How many houses before this one?” He asks, he can feel the tears pricking at his eyes. Wilbur looks guilty, more guilty than he ever has before. “How many?” He whispers.
“Two.” He replies looking anywhere but Tommy.
“Two? Two?” Tommy says in disbelief. “That’s all it took? Fucking two houses for you to forget about me?
“I didn’t forget-”
“Yes you did!” He yells. “I ran from houses to get back to you! I stayed in houses that were worse than the one that broke my arm for being too loud because they told me if I was good and that there were no problems they would let me see you again!”
“Tommy-” He tries again.
“No fuck you, Wilbur!” He’s pretty sure he’s crying but he doesn’t care enough to check. “I’ve been fine for the last ten houses without you and I’ll be fine for the next ten!”
The silence is heavy, it’s gone again before anyone had the chance to sit in it.
“I want to hate you.” He says finally. “I want to hate you so fucking bad but I can’t and I-” He takes breath “I don’t know what I’m supposed with all this anger that I still have because hating you? It isn’t an option so what does that leave me with?”
He doesn’t wait any longer before turning and walking in the direction of the house.
“Tommy?” Phil calls, getting up to follow the teen. He stops in his tracks turning to face the older man.
“I’m sorry for yelling and ruining the evening, may I go to my room?” He asks, as if on autopilot and his first response is to do everything possible to protect himself from getting hurt.
“Yeah of course, mate I just-” He pauses. “Are you okay?” He asks, the answer should be obvious but what else can he do.
“No.” He replies honestly, before turning and disappearing inside.