Where Butterflies Never Die

Chapter 3: Pulling tides of clarity

Chapter Content: Past child abuse, scenes with graphic violence

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Meet me on your best behavior, meet me at your worst.

For there will be no stone unturned, or bubble left to burst.

-Meet Me on the Equinox

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After he had cleaned himself up in the gas station bathroom he had walked to the closest fast food place and ordered himself dinner. He made sure to go cheap to save as much of the cash he had. He didn't know when he would be able to get more.

Once he had eaten he had looked for a safe place to sleep, as he was walking up and down the street he had found an alley that wasn't completely disgusting. He hugged himself as he walked, he wasn't wearing anything too heavy and the night had gotten chilly leaving Tommy shivering. As he wandered down the alley something odd had caught his attention.

Between two dumpsters, sitting on a crate was a dark red blanket that had a little white ribbon tied around it, it was out of the way but just out in the open enough for someone who was looking to find it. He had cautiously walked towards it and picked it up making sure there were no rats or hell knows what else could have crawled in there and made a home. The blanket was soft and fluffy whoever left it there was a fool.

He had found a few boxes nearby from where he had found the blanket and decided to make himself a makeshift bed out of them. It didn't take him long to set it up, once inside his little shelter of cardboard he hoped sleep would come quickly. His mind raced with the events of the day, so much had happened in such a little bit of time. He could feel tears begin to fall down his cheek, burning against his cold skin. He wished he could message his friends but his phone was broken.

He hated that he felt so horribly useless. He shouldn't have run away, his father was going to find him and he would be in so much trouble. Even as he laid there he could still feel the phantom pain on his neck from hands grabbing onto it. He shook his head trying to get rid of those memories. He wished he could call Sapnap he missed the man. He was always there to give Tommy hugs when he was able to spend the night. That had been a month before he had turned fourteen.

He remembered it clearly, he had been begging his father for over a year to let him stay over at Sapnap's. He finally agreed as he had to go do something that was work-related for longer than he wished and Sapnap had said it was fine. Sapnap was Tommy's favorite out of all of his father's friends, he also happened to be his godfather. He was loud and funny and liked having Tommy around. He had two boyfriends and he liked both of them too, Quackity though was his favorite person of all time.

Don't get him wrong he loved Sapanp but Big Q was just the best. He always seemed so interested in talking to Tommy, and Tommy found himself telling him everything and anything on his mind. The man would just smile and nod before asking him if he wanted to do something that he knew his father would disapprove of. It was their little secret, and not only that but Quackity was the only person that knew of Tommy's online friends.

Sapnap's house was nice. Like his father's, he was also in the heart of the city. It was a nice fancy house with three bedrooms. Sapnap used one of the bedrooms as an office for Quackity and the other bedroom was a guest room for when someone was over. He thought the guest room looked really nice. It was pretty plain with its decor but the walls and sheets were painted in warm colors that gave the room a nice cozy feel.