a locket of self desire

running in circles

CW: jealousy, shame, joking mention of killing, repression, parent snapping at child, yelling/arguing, fear of abandonment, general shittiness of the foster system, mentions of memory loss/issues, stress, brief mention of self harm

"What the fuck is that thing?" Tommy asks as Ranboo takes the seat across from him on the bus."

"What? Oh, this?" Ranboo asks, waving at the baby carrier he carries as if it's not completely out of place and there's something else that Tommy's talking about.

"Yeah that," Tommy says, deadpan.

"This is Michael!" Ranboo introduces. And then he reaches into the carrier and ever so gently pulls out a baby. What the fuck.

It's head turns slightly and Tommy jumps back. It's beady eyes state at him, before softly closing as Ranboo tilts him slightly.

It's then Tommy realizes that the baby isn't real. It turns when Ranboo moves and it's eyes open and close with gravity. It's plastic and has realistic rolls of baby fat that unrealistically stay stock still. It's diaper is a poor imitation and the pacifier Ranboo sticks onto the front is a magnet.

"Demon baby," Tommy says, absolutely horrified.

"Hey!" Ranboo protests, "don't talk to my son that way," he protests.

"Your son?"

"Yeah, we and Tubbo are doing a project together. We have to take care of a baby for health. We named him michael."

"I know," Tommy says, because he's heard this before, "you told me a few days ago."

Ranboo frowns.

"Oh. I did?"

Tommy nods.

"Huh. Well uh, this is him."

And as if the robot baby knew that it was being talked about, it broke into mechanical sobbing noises as it began to screech.

"Oh shoot!" Ranboo says, pulling the baby away from Tommy's inspection and bringing it close as he stares down at the thing.

"Jesus!" Tommy yelps, scrambling away from it. He waits for Ranboo to shut the noise off, but seconds later he's still staring at the thing.

"Turn it off!" Tommy insists. Oher kids have started to look at them, turning to inspect the small screaming demon plastic ball with varying expressions of interest, amusement, and annoyment.

"It's a baby, I can't just turn it off," Ranboo explains.

"It's a hunk of plastic with a voice box," Tommy bites back. "Doesn't it have a way you can make it stop crying?"

"Kind of, I think?" Ranboo says, "Here take him for a minute." Ranboo shoves the child towards Tommy before letting go and turning to his backpack.

It's at that exact moment that Tommy pales and says, "what?" before jerking away.

Which means the baby falls to the floor. It's back and head hits it and it starts to scream even louder.

"Tommy!" Ranboo scolds, "His neck could have broken."

He scrambles to pick up the baby, holding it protectively and away from Tommy.

A wave of something washes over Tommy and his stomach feels heavy. It's not even fucking real, it's just a dumb toy. But even so, Tommy feels bad.

Ranboo just gave him an imitation baby and Tommy had dropped it. He had dropped it on it's head. God that was- that was pretty bad, huh? And now Ranboo had to hold the baby in one hand- still screaming- while he searched through his backpack, looking for the notes.