A Functionally Dysfunctional Family

{27} Dᴇsᴘᴏɴᴅᴇɴᴄᴇ {27}

The water was freezing.

He tried to swim up, but he could never reach the top.

The water always surrounded him, making him numb all over.

Even in the freezing cold, he was all alone.

The pressure of the water was making it harder to breathe.

He took a gasp of air.

But instead of his lungs filling with air, they filled with freezing cold water.

He was drowning.

But he couldn't die.

He wouldn't let himself.

So, despite the water in his lungs, he swam up.

And, miraculously, he found air.

He took a large gasp of air.

And woke up.

~<•>~

Tommy sat up in a cold sweat.

Should've known that taking a nap would've been a bad idea.

He hardly slept peacefully anymore, so why would a nap be any different?

He was still alone, even in his dreams.

He looked at the clock, and silently cursed under his breath.

Tubbo would be here in thirty minutes, and he was hardly late.

Right now, Wilbur was in the kitchen, making dinner for once. Kristin was setting the table, and Phil was getting Fundy dressed.

"I suggest you make yourself presentable," Phil said. "I don't care if it's just Tubbo, your hair is a mess and you and your shirt is covered in sweat. You don't have to look fancy, just presentable."

Tommy nodded as he got up and went to his room, changing into a maroon sweater that was (mostly) clean. He ran to the bathroom and wiped the sweat (and drool) off, before running back to the dining room with ten minutes to spare.

Normally, Tommy would go find Techno and bother him, but unfortunately, his hybrid brother was no longer here—living in a completely new dimension.

He was alone, it seemed.

Sighing, he decided to play on his phone.

~<•>~

Tubbo and his adoptive father, Schlatt, arrived two minutes early. Dinner was nearly ready (it would've already been done by now if Wilbur knew how to fucking cook), so the teens were free to converse while the adults finished setting everything up.

"Hi."

"Hi."

And just like that, their conversation died.

The two teens awkwardly sat side by side. Fundy eventually joined them—crawling into his uncle's lap—but the teens mostly ignored him.

Schlatt then decided to see what the kids were up to.

"Hey!" Schlatt greeted Tommy and Fundy. "Lemme guess....you're Tommy," he gestured to the blond, "and that's Fundy." He gestured towards the toddler, getting a nod from Tubbo.

"Ya know, Tubbo here told me a lot about you."

Tommy couldn't look more disinterested even if he tried. "He has, has he?"

Schlatt nodded, ignoring the teen's bored expression. "Yeah. He told me that the two of you have been friends forever. Basically brothers, from the way he put it."

Schlatt talked more, but Tommy didn't hear him.

He didn't care enough to.

~<•>~

480 words