A Safe Place II SBI (on hiatus)

Chapter 35: Just Ignore It

It was only 5 weeks after that day. 

It wasn't long from that early morning he spoke with his kids, yet, even so, it felt like the longest 5 weeks of their lives.

So much had happened and above all else, Phil, Wilbur, and Techno were all fretting days upon days over their plan to propose the idea of adoption to Tommy, deliberating the right time and planning out that day from top to bottom and in the end, they decided that on Christmas day they would ask the question.

It was the best option. It gave them time to plan, time before they had to be forced to break the news to the kid that his biological father was being trialed and possibly set free soon.

Thomas's trial...

That was another highlight of the month. Another detail that made the 35 days longer than it felt. The news of this man being free'd spread like wildfire around their town, with people in stores whispering about the entire drama. It was overwhelming. Truly none of them ever had a brake from him.

His trial was held out yet again for some reason which gave them another 2 months and a half before they truly had to think about him, before they had to even bring a single gaze to him.

Fortunately, though, that wasn't the only thing that took up that month and a half, thank notch.

After Phil and Tommy spoke about his uneasiness around people, the kid decided he wanted to not give up on trying to get better in crowds. He decided he wouldn't give up, not by a long shot. He wanted to challenge that fear, to break the very thing that crept chills up his spine and everything that kicked his panic into overdrive. He wanted to end the constant fear of going to places with strangers, with eyes piercing his very soul, and people that held a twisted expression of hatred, too similar and vivid for him to forget...And yet it was too much to handle all at once, to much head-on for the kid and somehow, his words brought Phil back to the first few months he brought Techno into his home, how much he despised being around other people during the first few weeks which included Phil at first, of course. 

The pinkette didn't trust him whatsoever really. He was petrified of him and thanks to his deadbeat 'father', and non existent 'mother' who stopped loving him the moment she labeled him a 'freak', he wouldn't be opening up to anyone for a while. 

And that was to be expected. It's the exact reason why they needed her, the first person that connected with him. He needed a mother figure and that he got, even if it was for a little while. She gave him all of the exposure he needed, all of the love his own mother should have given him and through that long journey, he grew to love them both and call them family.

 He remembers Techno being enrolled to school and months prior, staying up all night with her and making a regimen that helped him practice handling social situations and crowds. And it seemed Phil was already prepped with an idea of a plan for Tommy as well.

With a little convincing on Phil's part, they decided that Every morning before Phil would go to work, they would walk through their completely quiet and spread out neighborhood until they would reach their goal which was the park, or until the blonde had reached his limit. The houses of their quiet semi-rural neighborhood were tons of feet apart, a small chance of anyone being out and about so early in the morning. It was the best start to trying to get better.

The first time it was rough, Phil couldn't deny it. That morning, the blonde seemed tense and all stiff. He couldn't stomach anything the night before and when the time came, he was trembling at the front door, his plush cow gripped tightly against his chest.  On their first walk together, not a single word was mumbled out of the kid.