Chapter Text
Tommy sat on the edge of the bed next to his father. His dad was by far the greatest man to be born on earth. He had blonde hair and blue eyes just like Tommy, it was Tommy's favourite part of himself. His chest puffed out with pride when the townspeople told him he looked like his dad. But Tommy’s dad had one feature that made him the best man in the whole wide world. Tommy’s dad had wings. Big, glorious, feathered wings, which he was using to wrap around Tommy, hiding him from the rest of the world.
“Our home was destroyed by the people of Es Empea. Everything was gone, our streets, our houses, your mother was lost that night. But in our darkest moment we were given our miracle,” Tommy had heard this story many times before but he was content to continue listening, content to lay in his father’s arms.
“We were given a new home” His dad continued, “We were given gifts to protect the people around us,” his dad’s wings shifted around Tommy as the young boy let out a yawn cuddling closer as his father chuckled “and tonight you will get yours,” that woke Tommy right up.
“Really. Like Wilby’s?” Tommy asked excitedly.
“Yes,” he chuckled, “a gift as special as you.”
~*~
Tommy walked through the streets of the town his best friend Tubbo walked next to him.
“He’s an asshole for saying that, you know that right. He is so wrong,” Tubbo rambled, “we’re gonna march right over there and give him a piece of our minds. Right Tommy?” Tommy hummed absentmindedly.
“Tommy?” Tubbo stopped
“Huh?” Tommy looked up
“You’re not listening are you?” Tubbo fixed Tommy with a knowing look.
“What do you mean? I totally was” Tommy laughed awkwardly.
“Mhm, sure,” Tubbo rolled his eyes, “What’s bothering you, come on.”
“Nothing” Tubbo raised his eyebrow,
“Fine, it’s just that Fundy's ceremony is coming up and I’m just getting nervous. What if it doesn’t work again and he’s stuck without a gift. We all know he deserves one more than anyone,” once Tommy started talking he couldn’t stop.
“Ok, ok. Callate,” Tubbo put a hand on Tommy's shoulder, “Fundy will be fine and we all know that even if he isn’t you’ll be there. Anyway it would probably take Señor perfecto Wilbur down a notch anyway,” that drew a laugh out of Tommy.
“Yeah, he would be devastated,” Tommy smiled
“Hey, can’t say he doesn’t deserve it.” Tubbo smiled back.
The house was crazy with movement. People rushing to decorate and ensure the night was perfect. Tommy managed to escape to the dining room for a second.
“Hola, Casita” Tommy smiled as the tiles around him rose in greeting.
There was a tapestry hanging on the wall depicting the family tree. It didn’t go back that far and had a lot of room to expand. First there was Phil, Tommy’s father and Kristin, his mother. His mum had died shortly after Tommy was born leaving him only with photos and old stories he overheard being told to Fundy. His dad was the first to receive a gift from their so-called “miracle.” He was given large black wings. They allowed him to fly around like an actual bird, he also guarded the candle, the source of the miracle.
Then there was Wilbur and Techno. They were twins but Wilbur loved to tell everyone how he was older by 14 minutes. Wilbur had the ability to create music. It was kinda shit in Tommy’s opinion but everyone seemed to love him anyway. Techno had basic enhanced strength. He was more bearable than Wilbur but the gift was still kinda lame. Look, it was basic. Useful, but basic.
Then there was Tommy. He never got a gift. He was the outcast of the family and no one would let him forget it. Tubbo would sometimes say he was special by not being special but Tommy wasn’t so sure. While everyone in his family danced around with their little miracles, Tommy was alone. Except for Sally and until today Fundy. Sally was Wilbur’s wife. She was the pretty girl in the village, perfect for Wilbur and together they had Fundy.
Sally was usually pretty sweet to Tommy, teaching him things to keep himself distracted like embroidery and baking. She was quite sweet and Fundy definitely took after her. As an uncle Tommy absolutely spoiled Fundy. The two had shared a room for a while but tonight Fundy would likely receive his gift today and move out leaving Tommy alone again.
When Tommy finally left the living room with some prompting from Casita. Right that was another part of the miracle, the house itself was alive. Not to brag but Tommy was something of a favourite to Casita. Although he would admit it was kinda pathetic the only person in the house that actually liked him was the house itself.
Outside was still terribly busy. People rushing passed. In the centre was Wilbur and Sally. Sally gave him a small wave while Wilbur continued walking around like he owned the place. His stupid guitar was strapped to his back.
“Techno! Bring the piano downstairs alright,” Wilbur called out
“Got it!” Techno called out faintly from far away.
“Wilbur, congratulations. This is such a special night,” One of the townspeople who was delivering some streamers and flowers told Wilbur. Tommy rolled his eyes and slipped off to his room
~*~
Tommy flipped through the pages of his old photo album. It was the only place he could find photos of himself when he was younger. A small sniff was heard from the other side of the room. The nursery really.
“You alright there Fundy, buddy?” Tommy looked up at the small boy curled up on a beanbag.
“Nervous” Tommy smiled standing up from his bed. The little boy nodded silently. “It's alright bud. You’re going to go out there and you're going to get the most poggers gift in the world.”
“Really” Fundy finally looked up at Tommy.
“Course,” Tommy smiled. One of the closet doors opened and closed trying to get their attention while the floorboard next to the door lifted up to make a waving motion.
“Come on. Looks like it’s time” Tommy gripped the young boy’s hand tightly
Tommy stood off to the side while Wilbur hugged Fundy tightly.
“You’re going to do amazing, son.” Wilbur ruffled the boy’s head. Tommy’s heart ached remembering when the same motion had been performed on Tommy on the night of his own ceremony. “We’re so proud. Oh my little champion” Wilbur continued,
“You’re going to crush him honey” Sally smiled softly, “Good luck Fundy, we’re so proud of you.”
Both Sally and Wilbur left to join Phil at Fundy’s door. Tommy was the only one left with Fundy. They could faintly hear Phil talking to the people outside. Finally the curtain opened and the crowd cheered. Fundy was frozen, not even a strand of his red hair moved an inch.
“Come on” Tommy whispered to himself.
Fundy finally turned and the surprising part was it was to Tommy offering the older boy his hand.
“Please,” Fundy whispered. Tommy glanced over at the crowd of people gathered to watch the ceremony. “I- I can’t,”
Tommy sighed.“Okay” Tommy whispered more to himself than anything as he walked into view blinking to try to adjust to the bright light.
It felt like a memory walking up the stairs. He felt like it was back on the day of his own ceremony. The nerves, the starting faces and Phil smiling down. But this time Phil wasn’t smiling at Tommy and Wilbur looked absolutely disgusted at Tommy’s presence next to his son. Tommy stepped off to the side next to Techno as Fundy went to stand in front of Phil.
Phil bent down to offer Fundy the candle. The candle was beautiful with intricate blue glowing detailing in the wax. The two feathered wings stood out in the centre of the candle’s body. Fundy’s little hands touched the candle carefully as though it could go out even if it had been burning for pretty much 16 years.
The door glowed innocently with a doorknob engraved with an ornate F for Fundy. The boy’s fingers met the metal and for a second Tommy's breath caught as nothing happened. Then Fundy let out a sneeze somehow mid sneeze turning from himself to a fox then Tommy? To Wilbur then back to himself. Huh.
“Woah” The little boy gasped as the door gained an intricate glowing design with him in the centre with outlines of other people rippling out from himself. There was the outline of a fox with some other smaller animals weaving itself through the boy's legs. It was beautiful.
Fundy seemed entranced by the door as he reached for the handle. The room was pretty basic. Very spacious and the walls were covered with photographs of different people and animals. The bed was filled with animal soft toys. There was a large open space in the middle of the room with a raised platform.
Everyone filtered in through the door to see the room. Phil rushed forward to Fundy.
“Oh my. Finally a new gift. You’ve made your family so proud Fundito,” Phil smiled.
“A new gift. My son has a gift. This calls for a song,” Wilbur called out to the crowd.
“Yes, yes. Let us celebrate,” Phil agreed, “We need a photo, everyone gather round,”
The camera clicked. It felt like everything froze. Tommy was left behind. Of course he was. Poor little giftless Tommy, never able to live up to the expectations. He wasn’t part of this family. That much was obvious. He turned away from the celebrating people in front of him leaving through the door through the house of celebrating citizens down the streets of the town.
He didn’t come back to the nursery that night. He stayed in a shed he and tubbo had turned into a hideout. No one came looking. That night there was a storm. The thunder rang out through the valley, the bright flickers of light making Tommy curl up in his blanket on the makeshift couch just a little tighter.
~*~
The morning was filled with bits of sun peaking out from behind the stips of clouds. The house was slow with everyone having had a long night. So it wasn’t hard for Tommy to slip back into the house unnoticed. Techno was already out doing his chores and Phil was probably catching up with some of the townspeople.
That left Wilbur and Sally with Fundy. They were probably having a “Fun day” as they called it to celebrate the boy. It usually consisted of doing whatever the boy wanted and spoiling him rotten. Tommy honestly couldn’t be that annoyed, the boy deserved it but that didn’t stop little tendrils of resentment curling around Tommy’s chest.
All Tommy got these days were tom-orrow days. Tommy laughed a little in his head. He was always put on the backburner. Sometimes he wondered who would notice if he disappeared. Tubbo would but that was about it. Maybe Fundy but he’s sure the boy would quickly be distracted by his parents.
Casita’s floor tiles trembled a bit as though they knew what he was thinking. Tommy didn’t notice the tile behind him crack down the middle as he walked up the stairs.
There was now a singular bed in the nursery. It was just Tommy's with orange bed sheets. His family was still under the impression that was his favourite colour despite it actually being red for about 5 years now. He supposed orange was close to red. Tommy rammed his shoulder into the dresser shoving it out of place to reveal a wall of paintings.
There were a few sketchbooks lying where the dresser used to be 5 seconds ago along with some brushes and paint. The drawing depicted different landscapes and miscellaneous objects. There was a rainbow in the middle. It was the first thing he ever painted. The whole space was now filled. No room for more. He was honestly only here to reminisce. And get his paints.
His more recent work was on the inside of his dresser door. There were lines of blue, painted in a way to look like they glowed. There was a person that looked like Tommy in the centre. I was made to look like the door he never got. Since there was no power he simply painted the things he was good at.
There was a paintbrush in door-Tommy’s hand and a flower behind his ear there was an unfinished sun in the background as a tribute to his old nickname before his ceremony, “Sunshine” Wilbur had called him.
The frame of the door was mostly unfinished. Tommy was having trouble deciding how to play his cards. Wilbur’s door had more curvy, whimsical lines making up the edge of his door while Techno had more stiff, crisscrossing lines for his.
Tommy sighed as he added a few more strokes to the sun and decided to stop for the day. This was like many things his family never knew about. They never asked so he never told. Fundy never really looked too closely. Usually Tommy would work on his art when Fundy was out with his parents. The kid had seen Tommy's sketchbook a few times but that was all any of his family had seen.
There was a knock on the door a little after Tommy moved the dresser back into place. No one ever came over here so he assumed it was probably Tubbo but he was disappointed to see Sally instead.
“Hey Tommy, I just need to grab the last of Fundy’s things,” She smiled. Tommy sat quietly as she piled some clothing out of a draw into a basket.
“Bye, that is everything. I hope you enjoy the whole place to yourself now.” Sally meant it in a nice way but Tommy couldn’t find it in himself to really smile as she left.