Till Death Do Us Part

Parents

Michael was silent as they walked to the community house, which had apparently been rebuilt in Tommy's absence. The quiet between them felt off, and Tommy started to think that maybe he should break it, just to stop the weird tension between them. Luckily for him, Michael broke it first.

"What's it like, being a Dad?" He asked hesitantly. Tommy looked at him wearily.

"Why? You aren't planning to be a parent yet, I hope."

Michael flustered and waved his hands in front of his face. "Oh, no I- um- no I just wanted to know..."

Tommy smiled gently. "Just messing with you. Being a parent is nice, I guess. I didn't really have a choice, but Isaac's nice. And I would do anything for him."

Michael nodded awkwardly. "Well I-" He cut himself off, looking troubled. "I never really liked my parents."

"Oh." Tommy didn't really know what to say to that. "That sucks."

"I ran away when I was six, actually." Michael continued, ignoring Tommy's pathetic response. "They never let me outside, locked me in the attic and left me alone. They forgot about me, dinner came only twice a week and I'm probably only alive today because I'm not-"

Michael cut off, staring silently ahead. He had quickly gone from the youthfully naive boy Tommy met a few hours ago to someone that closely resembled Tommy's own broken demeanour.

And as taken aback as he was at his first insight into Michael's past, Tommy wanted to ask, know more. Maybe try and help, because he didn't want Michael to end up like him. He didn't want any kid to end up like him, which was probably why he didn't reject Isaac all those years ago. But he couldn't bring himself to question the kid while he looked so forlorn.

"How long are you going to be in Esempi for?" Tommy found himself asking instead.

"I don't know." Michael replied. He looked up suddenly as if realising something. "Actually you wouldn't happen to know anyone called Wilbur around would you? We're supposed to be looking for him."

Tommy almost fell on his face. A cold shock ran up his spine, freezing him from the inside out. His voice shook in his next words. "Sorry Michael, but Wilbur's been dead for a while."

Michael shook his head absently. "Nah, he's been revived for a few years apparently. The people I'm with only found out recently, this place really seems to like to cover up all it's blemishes from the rest of the world."

Tommy could feel himself shaking. It had been a long time since he'd even thought of Wilbur, and he'd been planning to spend the rest of his life that way. Memories were flashing through his mind, each one playing out behind his eyes. He relived his every moment with Wilbur in a matter of seconds, and when he came back to himself, he realised he'd stopped breathing.

Michael was watching him in poorly concealed concern. Tommy could've slapped himself for flashing back near the kid. But to be fair, he hadn't had an incident like this for years.

"Sorry." Tommy cleared his throat, hating the way it had gone hoarse. Like he'd spent the last hour screaming like he did when he lost Wilbur to the button room. "Look, I have to go, Isaac will probably be waking up soon. Just keep following the path and take a left when it ends, yeah?"

Michael looked dubious, but said goodbye with little issue.

"Maybe I'll see you around? I can come visit before you leave." Michael said before they parted.

"Maybe." Tommy replied with a tight smile. And then he turned and walked away, allowing the last bits of his composure to crumble as silent tears ran down his face.

He guessed he might be staying in Esempi for a little while longer.

...

LONG A/N

Just realised Tommy's like thirty atm in this, I really have no sense of the timeline, so I'm probably going to try and figure that out over the next few days. If I missed anything, feel welcome to point it out, it's been awhile. I also passed up on nationals to write this fic, cause I've been on hiatus so long while training, so I thought it would be good to at least try to make significant progress over the next few weeks. I was also reading All The Young Dudes lol.

Should Ranboo be dead? I know that it probably would've been one of those things Tubbo would've mentioned to Tommy when he first saw him, but also I really like the idea of Tubbo being in complete denial of Ranboo's death, especially after losing his son.

Also next chapter of MICHAEL will be out soon!