Michael and I

A Little Bit More Of Innocence

Arc 1: Love for a child (named after the song Love For A Child by Jason Mraz)

Two figures walked hand and hand through a forest. The woods around them were deathly silent with trees that seemed to touch the sky and vibrant flowers that had a sickeningly sweet smell. As if trying not to disturb the peace, the two boys carefully stepped over any stray branches in their way as they continued down an overgrown path that had long been taken back by the Earth. The older of the two boys, Tommy, a teenager with golden blonde hair and blue eyes, couldn't help but think everything was overgrown now. After the apocalypse started most of humanity died out and the people who remained tended to hide away from the rest of the world.

Tommy honestly wasn't even exactly sure how the apocalypse had even begun. He was just lucky enough to be with his best friends Tubbo and Ranboo when it started. Ranboo was an anxious teen whose humor consisted of mostly puns. He was very tall, lanky with black and white split dyed hair, and could normally be found wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Tubbo on the other hand, despite looking innocent at first, was one of the most chaotic people Tommy has ever met. The teen had a love for nuclear weapons and everything that had to do with coding. He was shorter than both Tommy and Ranboo and had curly brown hair that reached past his eyes.

Tubbo and Ranboo had met in the system and became friends a while back and they were luckily adopted by people who lived near each other. Tubbo was adopted by a retired naval officer by the name of Captain Puffy and Ranboo was adopted by a baker named Nikki. Then a while later the two met Tommy at school after sharing a few classes with him and their duo soon became a trio. The three of them spent days together in Nikki's basement to the point Tommy thinks he might have spent more time there than at his own home. Not long after Tommy became friends with Ranboo and Tubbo, Nikki started fostering a toddler named Michael.

The day the apocalypse began was like many others before it: the three teens and Michael were hanging out in Nikki's basement as they waited for her to come home from work. Ranboo sat on the couch with Michael on his lap eating crisps while Tubbo and Tommy sat on the floor having a heated argument over which dinosaur chicken nugget was superior (clearly it was the T Rex). They had the T.V. playing in the background acting as background noise to their banter. The only one who even seemed to be remotely interested in the T.V. was Michael who was practically falling asleep.

"I should probably leave soon huh," Tommy said as he checked his phone. It was only eight and he knew his parents wouldn't care if he stayed out a bit longer but Tommy had a Chemistry test the next day that he had to study for.

"Come on big man," Tubbo said as he joking shoved Tommy's shoulder, "You should stay at least a little bit longer we were planning on playing Monopoly,"

"Fine," Tommy sighed as he leaned further back against the couch. He knew that when Tubbo set his mind on something there was practically nothing you could do about it.

"Yes! I'll go get the game!" Tubbo exclaimed excitedly as he stood up from where he was sitting to go get the game.

Tommy and Ranboo fell into a light banter as they waited for the third member of their group to return. But their conversation quickly ended as the T.V. show they were previously watching switched to an emergency news report.

Tommy and Ranboo looked at each other warily. Neither of them remembered seeing something about an incoming storm or earthquake on the news earlier that day.

"What do you think that's about?" Ranboo asked as he nervously ran his fingers through his hair (a habit Tommy picked up on after years of knowing him). Tommy could only shrug in response as they both anxiously waited for the report to start.