Till Death Do Us Part

Sleep

After listening to Tommy talk for hours on end, Michael looks on the verge of sleep. He'd listened vigilantly throughout Tommy's story, laughing and sympathising when necessary. Tommy had started from the very beginning, recounting tales from a palace far away to a brother and a drug van, to a war and a rebellion and so much more. Whenever Tommy would describe Tubbo, the Tubbo who sung with him by the fire and stick by his side ever-loyal, Michael's eyes would mist and avert. Neither of them talked about it.

The Techno and Phil Tommy described were different too, more vivid and violent, war gods each in their own write. An all-powerful and distant father and a brother who was always just out of reach. Tommy's heart aches thinking of how close they are now.

How there's always going to be someone missing.

"They miss you," Michael whispers at one point. Tommy hesitates for a moment, letting those words curl up in a hidden corner of his heart. He continues without acknowledging it.

Tommy doesn't go into too much detail about his exile and his escape from it. The details are blurry from years of suppression and trauma-blocking. Thinking about it always makes the fuzzy corners clearer, and Tommy prefers those memories untouched, invisible under the dust of time. And the escape from exile was only an ongoing adrenaline rush. Those years were lost to his need to survive; he was wild then.

Finally, he brought the story to a close, glossing over the warmer touch of his home with tears on his waterline. He feels stupid, thirty and homesick, but Tommy never got to grow up, did he? He's nothing but a tall child playing at father.

The thought surprises him a little. He never questioned his validity as a father before now, but all the talking and the people and the rehashing of his past makes him realise just the type of man he grew into. It's not a bad image, really. Compared to Tubbo, or the visage Wilbur was before he... left. But Tommy is so uncertain of himself, how can he pave a clear path for a child?

Something slumps next to him and he turns, remembering the clear exhaustion in Michaels eye. The boy had fallen asleep, collapsed with his head by Isaacs smaller one. Together they're almost the picture of perfect peace, Isaacs red cheeks and sniffling a subtle reminder that all is not well. Tommy sighs. He raises his hand uncertainly from where it lays on Isaac's arm, moving to push Michaels hair back.

In the short time Tommy has known Michael, he's become protective of him, the piglin reminding him of himself. The quiet intrigue he'd shown in Tommy's story had been endearing, and Tommy could see some of Isaac there too, in the buzzing excitement and youthful joy they both exhibited.

Fuck, Tommy misses his son.

But he knows there's not much to be done sitting around and moping. He stands, fussing over Isaac for a moment before scooping up Michael, pausing to let the boy subconsciously adjust in his arms and carrying him off to one of the guest rooms.

"Tommy," he hears a hiss while he's on his way, turning and seeing Niki standing there. "Tommy, what happened? Who is that?"

Tommy gave her a weak smile. "I'll explain in the morning Niki. Can he stay here the night?"

"Sure," Niki said uncertainly. Tommy nods in thanks and starts walking away again. "Wait, Tommy?"

"Yes?" Tommy looks over his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Niki asks softly. Her ears are open and earnest, searching his face. Tommy ponders over the question for a few, it being something he often wonders himself.

"Yeah," Tommy says finally. He looks down at Michael's sleeping face, body cradled in his arms. Thinks of Isaac, sleepy but slowly recovering. His family waiting to receive him. The past he's survived and thrived from. The friends he's made and the foes he's never had to see again. It gives him hope. It makes that small feeling of pure happiness jump and fizzle. He's okay. He's going to be okay.

"Yeah, I think I am."

...

Sozzles, I wrote this in liek 20mins just then cause I realised with what I have planned for what's coming up (get excited)(actually pls don't) I'm gonna need like a bridging chapter so I decided to just chuck this out quickly so you don't wait all that time again for about her boring chapter.

Also it's holidays now for a couple of weeks. Literally expect nothing but like jic I do post more often (unlikely) be aware it's for a reason