Do I Need It? (Am I Under Control?)

The Art Of Shitter Apologies

Tommy sat straight up in the chair, looking in awe at the room around him. He'd never been in a room so fancy, and it made a lot of sense that the room was for coven only. Tommy knew with all his heart that if he owned a room like that, nobody would ever know.

He'd be a sneaky, dirty crime boy and not report it to the tax people, and then he'd shoot someone or something. That was what they did in films, anyway, and everything the Craft's owned was like stuff from a film.

The table was a gorgeous dark wood which he found to be very on brand with the whole vampire aesthetic. The only thing that ruined the aesthetic was the awkward silence that filled the room with such violence.

Tommy could barely sit still: it took all he had to suppress every attempt to lean back or to scratch the table a bit, slightly out of spite. Eat the rich, as they say.

"So, we all know what this coven meeting's for, the situation. The... inappropriate way we dealt with Techno's misconduct. So, Tommy, welcome to the coven headquarters. When living here, we meet about once a month and discuss recent events." Phil explained, though Tommy tuned it all out once Phil started talking about boring stuff like meeting dates and misconduct.

Tommy didn't care, either Techno apologised or he left. He didn't think it was that hard, not at all.

"Phil, can you just get on with it? I literally don't see why we have to waste all this time doing weird vampire formalities and stuff. Just say sorry and stuff, maybe pay me more, and move on." Tommy snarked, ignoring the way Wilbur and Techno seemed to freeze and look up at their sire.

Tommy didn't really care, what would Phil even do? Kill him? They all loved his blood far too much for that, Tommy definitely didn't have to worry about his life.

"Mate, that was a bit rude," Phil began, to the shock and horror of his fledglings. Ha! Tommy knew he was the favourite child, and that was even more damning proof than he'd had before.

Seeing Phil's casual reaction to Tommy doing something so taboo for them was something Tommy knew would energise him for decades to come, should no accidents happen.

"But I think we can allow that, considering your experience with us these past few days... What we did wasn't fair at all, and we should have thought higher of you, human or not. You aren't cattle, you're Wilbur and Techno's brother and my son. We should treat you better, and we haven't. We're all sorry, mate, and we'll do our best to help you feel comfortable. Is that okay?" Phil asked, reclining into his throne-seat like the badass vampire dad he was.

Phil wore a halfhearted smile Tommy knew was Phil's attempt at looking hopeful, which wasn't much considering the affects death had on facial expressions.

Tommy nodded along, making sure to make himself an active participant rather than someone following along. Tommy had been taught to do that once, when he first started dealing with vampires.

If you want a vampire to respect you, the lady had said, you must make yourself a person in their mind rather than a puppet, as a vampire's mind is hard to change once it's set a certain way. Tommy had used that advice well and thoroughly, and it was getting used once again, just as she had intended.

Wilbur seemed to unfreeze, like Anna from frozen becoming a real person again. Or so Tommy thought. (He never went to the children's Saturday cinema club just because it was cheap entertainment. Why would you ever accuse Tommy of that?)

Wilbur's face instantly turned into a wide smile, like the smile of a man who'd just got his kids back after a long and arduous custody battle. Wilbur also appeared to be attempting to hide it, but all that caused was his face to weirdly flip-flop back between the two in a way Tommy associated entirely with Vampires.

"Tommy, I'm really sorry too. I should've been a better brother, I should have stood by your side instead of followed my coven leader like a lost little fledgling. I'm not 50 anymore, and I should have known better. Please, can you forgive me?" Wilbur asked, his red eyes full of emotion and pain.

While Tommy wasn't one to be emotionally manipulated (well, not anymore), he did know when it was best to crack a smile, so Tommy let himself express himself in the ultimate way, his face soon matching Wilbur's own.

They looked just like brothers, wide smiles with shared memories falling off the red slopes like water out of a fountain. For the first time in days, he felt connected fully with the man that had changed his life, his brother and one of his favourite people.

"I- Yeah, Wilbur. I think- I think I can forgive you." Tommy breathed, as if he himself didn't believe his words. That didn't matter, all four of the men knew the excruciating journey they had ahead, but equally so knew an apology was a good step in the right direction.

Tommy in that moment didn't think about the pain and suffering they'd caused him, nor the trauma they'd triggered without a second thought. Instead, Tommy's mind was filled with the future, a future Tommy hoped he could be a part of as much as he'd been a part of their past.

"Thank- Thank you, Tommy. I just- You don't understand how much this whole situation's been for me." Wilbur muttered, half under his non-breath.
Tommy heard, and he didn't particularly like what he heard.

"Well, Wilbur, it's not like I don't understand, I was in the same situation as you, I probably had it worse, actually. I- You've been fucking pricks to me, and you keep pretending you haven't. I- you said sorry, Wilbur. But we do need help, as a family, to understand what sorry means, and how we're going to do this. I like you- I know it's all sappy and stuff, but I like you a lot, but you all need to start owning up to stuff, and admitting when you're in the wrong, you know?" Tommy explained, moving his hands around expressively as he told them his opinion.

Tommy in that moment didn't care what they thought in the moment, instead focused on helping to build them the best future possible.