Archive of Our Own ^beta

Tommy was 6 when he learned what a birthday was. He’d been in his kindergarten class, with a teacher he genuinely liked. She was nice and calm and never seemed to pay him any mind. He could sit quietly, while the other students ran around and cried. He’d always been one of the best behaved kids, and his teachers always reminded him of that.

So when it came to learn about his birthday, his teacher was in a bit of shock.

“Tommy, your birthday is very soon. Why haven’t you said anything? Class, tomorrow is Tommy’s birthday.” His teacher said at the front of the class. His class was sitting on the big blue rug at the very front. All the students gasped dramatically like kids do to the little things. 

Tommy sat silent, he looked up confused at the teacher. His classmates asked him questions about what he’d be doing and what he’d get. 

The teacher caught the boy’s confused look, “Tommy, your birthday is tomorrow. Are you celebrating it with your family?”

Tommy shook his head. It was rare for him to actually speak in class. He was all mumbled words and quiet sentences. The teacher tilted her head, “Alright, everybody go back to your seats and we’ll start making our paper cakes. Tommy, can you come here for a second?”

Everyone scattered to their tables and grabbed their crayons from their desks. Tommy stumbled to stand up and walked up to his teacher, who now sat at her desk. He stood a little bit away to give her some space, but the teacher only beckoned him closer.

“Why aren’t you celebrating your birthday?” She whispered, hoping the rest of the students wouldn’t hear.

Tommy only ever spoke when he was around his teacher privately, “I don’ know.”

His teacher hummed, “Well, your birthday’s tomorrow, and while I would say we could celebrate in clas; today’s Friday. We won’t be in class tomorrow. How about you go home and talk to your parents. I’m sure they’ve been planning something special, you’re turning seven after all.”

Tommy walked home that day a little slower than most. Part of him was excited to talk about his birthday with his mom. Sally must have just forgotten to mention it before. He could remind her and they’d have a huge party, like all the other kids in his class. The other part of him worried about her response.

He jumped up to reach the doorknob to the front door and it swung open. He closed it behind him, with a stench of his hand. He was a little short, sure, but he was still a very big man. 

He wandered around the house looking for Sally. He checked the kitchen, the living room, the backyard, the bathrooms, and even her bedroom. He wasn’t allowed in there often. He still couldn’t find her. 

He huffed and turned on his heels, stomping over to his bedroom door. He jumped onto his bed, where Clara the astronaut sat. 

“Clara, do you have a birthday?” He asked the doll.

“I hope it’s soon, because then I get to celebrate it with you.” He said, after a  second of waiting for the stuffed toy to reply. “My teacher said tha’ birthdays are special to every-body. Tha’ it marks the time you’ve spen’ on Earth. Which means mine’s ‘morrow. Everybody was super happy, but I don’t think we’re celebrating.”

The toy didn’t reply. 

“I don’ know why, though. Mom hasn’ said anything ‘bout it.” The boy said. He grabbed his bag and took out the little folder his teacher gave each student at the end of the day. He opened it up to show his toy the homework he had. 

“I hav’ to finish counting the cows.” He pointed to the number of cows in a pastre. He fingers traced over a sticky-note attached to the other side of the folder. He peeled it off and read the note.

Dear Miss Salmone,

We were talking about birthdays in class today and it has come to my attention that tomorrow is Tommy's birthday. It has been a pleasure to have him in my class, but he is extremely quiet. Today, as I called out the birthday’s, he said he wouldn’t be celebrating it. I do hope there has been something planned out for him. And if not I would be more than happy to host something in class on Monday.

Tommy tried to read the note over and over again, some words just not sounding right in his head. He didn’t know what some meant and was getting tired of reading all the words. He huffed and stuck it back on the folder. He pulled out the homework and started. 

When he heard the door slam shut downstairs he knew Sally was home. His excitement overtook any doubt or worries he had. He threw the homework out of his lap and over his bed, and raced out of his bedroom. 

He stumbled down the steps, almost tripping over his own legs. He hopped off the last step and saw Sally shoving food into cabinets. 

“Mom! Mom! Guess what?!” Tommy flapped his hands excitedly. He jumped up and down, trying his best to climb up on the counters. Sally turned around quickly and glared at the boy. Her snarl slowed the boy’s jumping, and he shrunk in on himself.

“What do you want, brat? Can’t you see I’m doing something?” She snapped. Tommy flinched back, his hands gripping his t-shirt. The excitement drained from him and left only anxiety and fear.

“I-just wanted to-It’s my-I can” He stuttered, his eyes clenching shut.

“Get on with it, I don’t have all day!” She spoke frustrated as she tapped her foot on the ground. Tommy swallowed.

“It’s my birthday tomorrow.” He muttered under his breath. Sally raised a brow.

“Yeah, so what? You want me to celebrate the day my life got ruined? Why would I ever be happy that you're around?” She huffed out. Tommy flinched back, that wasn’t fair. Everybody else got to celebrate their birthdays!

“But-But everybody else-they have- they…um-” He mumbled nervously, his heart racing. If he remembered correctly the man in the white coat said something bad would happy if he got this bad. The man in the white coat was normally right, but he didn’t remember what to do. He felt tears sting his eyes, and bubble up from the corners. 

“Well, newsflash, kid. You’re not like everyone else. You see, other families wanted those kids.” Sally said, pointed a finger at the blonde bitterly. Her smile was anything but kind, and had sharp teeth that Tommy didn’t like to look at. “I never wanted you. I never wanted a kid! But for some reason your dad decided to be himself and do what he does best: screw up other people’s lives! No one will ever celebrate you.”

Tommy bit his lip, his fingernails digging into his skin. He never liked it when Sally brought up his dad. It was odd. Sally would hate and hate on his dad so much, she cursed him out and yelled at no one. But when Jared was actually around her, she loved him. She talked so highly of Jared by name, but his dad was a whole other thing. It never made sense. He looked at the ground trying to hide away from the conversation.

“But- but my teacher-she said-” He tried again, maybe he could make Sally see things right. Maybe if he showed Sally the note his teacher left-

“Your teacher?” She mocked sweetly, “Oh, yes, I should listen to that old croon. Look here, you little sh*t, people don’t celebrate birthdays because you're a year older and blah blah blah. No! It’s a day to remind us all that we got stuck with you brats! It’s a day that everyone will loathe. Try to celebrate it Tommy. See how far it gets you.”

Tommy did end up trying to celebrate. The next day, he created his own decorations and put them up in his room. He wrote happy birthday on his wall with his crayons and created his own paper cake. He couldn’t eat it but it was good enough. 

He didn’t leave his room. He never did on Saturdays, he didn’t know where Sally or Jared would be. He was pretty sure they had an apartment somewhere else in the city they stayed at. Still as he sat in his room, pretending to have a party with his one stuffed toy, he felt a pit in his stomach. 

It didn’t help when Sally came in that night and tore apart his room of every decoration. Each item was thrown into the bin or burned in front of him. His face was bruised and marked red from where she’d slapped him. His eyes burning with tears and his heart racing so fast he passed out. 

It was the first and last birthday he ever celebrated.

The only birthday,

Because that was when he realized he would never ever be cared for enough to have one.

_______________________________

It was a quiet Sunday when Wilbur started to notice something was wrong. Normally on a Sunday, Tommy would be out with Tubbo and Ranboo at the crack of dawn. Techno would be down in the diner reading, while Phil and Kristen served the morning rush, (Of about seven people). 

Normally, Wilbur would have the upstairs apartment to himself. He’d be able to sit on the barstool in the kitchen drinking his coffee, and scrolling his phone. He’d wait for his brother to get bored downstairs or for Tommy to stroll in with Tubbo or Ranboo on his tail. He was still sitting in the kitchen, drinking his coffee and he was in fact on his phone. 

What he hadn’t expected was for a door to creak down the hallway. 

He turned and looked down the hallway to see Tommy just leaving his bedroom. 

The boy’s hair was a mess, and blonde curls poked out everywhere. His blue eyes were dull and the dark circles underneath his eyes had come back. He wore an old baseball t-shirt and sleeping pants. The pants were a little too big for him and dragged across the floor. His feet slapping on the wood floors. 

He rubbed his eyes and yawned, ignoring the confused look Wilbur was casting him.

“Tommy?” Wilbur asked, confusion in his voice. Tommy hummed and crawled onto the barstool next to Wilbur. He laid his head onto his arms and closed his eyes. Wilbur frowned. “Toms, why aren’t you with Tubbo and Ranboo? You normally want to hang out with them on Sundays.”

Tommy didn’t speak, he just shrugged his shoulders and buried his head deeper into his arms. 

“Do you want something to eat? I can fix you some breakfast.” Wilbur offered, already standing to do so. Tommy often forgot to eat breakfast anyway, it would be good to give the kid some food. He opened up the fridge and scanned through it. 

Tommy didn’t answer again. WIlbur turned around and sighed. He closed the fridge and grabbed some bread from a cabinet. He placed the pieces of bread in a toaster. 

Tommy jumped when the pieces popped out, though his head never moved from its safety in his arms. Wilbur bit the inside of his cheek and placed the toast onto a plate and slid it towards the blonde.

“Eat.” Wilbur said, pointing to the toast even though Tommy wasn’t looking at him. Tommy hummed and finally looked up. His eyes switched from Wilbur to the toast and back and forth. He slowly started eating the toast quietly. 

Wilbur huffed and sat back down next to his son. He pulled his phone back out and texted Niki to ask if Ranboo had already left for the park that morning. He glanced at Tommy a few times, watching the boy poke at the toast and slowly devour it. He sighed, placing his phone back into his pocket.

“Alright, what’s going on? What’s wrong, Tommy?” Wilbur asked. Tommy looked up, his eyes widened just a tad. 

The boy looked away and found interest in his feet. “I’m serious, Tommy. What’s going on?”

Tommy shook his head, and stood up from the barstool. He grabbed the plate, only half of the toast had been eaten. He threw the toast away and cleaned the plate before turning to a worried Wilbur. 

Wilbur’s brow was knit together and his mouth was opened as he tried to find a sentence to say. 

Tommy huffed out, it sounded like it was supposed to be a laugh but had failed. He turned and shuffled back down the hallway and back into his room. He shut the door so quietly, Wilbur thought he’d left it open. 

And that was just the start.

Tommy didn’t leave his room for the rest of the day. When Wilbur asked Tommy to come down with him for lunch, he was met with stone silence. It was at lunch he told his family what had happened.

“So he’s just not talking, at all?” Techno asked, a pink eyebrow raised. The pinkette was sitting in his normal spot at the very back of the diner. Wilbur had come down to join him for lunch. His original plan had been to bring the blonde down as well and have Techno help him pry whatever was bothering him out. It hadn’t worked. 

“No, he’s just silent. I’ve never seen him this silent. I mean when we first met, yeah it was quiet, but this is like he just can’t talk. I know something has to be bothering him, he didn’t even go to the park this morning. He’s gone to that park every Sunday since he got here.” Wilbur groaned out, his arms crossed. The diner was pretty quiet, the chatter of the twins' parents filling the kitchen behind them.

Techno hummed and took a sip from his drink, “You sure he wasn’t just tired?”

“I know my kid, Tech.” Wilbur spoke back immediately.

Techno held up his hands, “Never said you didn’t. I’m just saying you might be over analyzing this. Kid’s probably just tired, or sick. That’s also an option.” He said.

Wilbur huffed, “You say that like it would be any better.”

Techno smirked, “It wouldn’t, no. But there are other options, Wil.”

Wilbur nodded, still unconvinced. His foot tapped anxiously under the table, and Techno could sense his twin’s nerves. He sighed, “If it makes you feel better, I’ll check on him. Scare him straight and all that.” He waved his hand in the air to brush off his own words.

Wilbur smiled sadly, but nodded. “Don’t actually scare him.”

Techno chuckled, “No promises.”

_____________________________________

It was late in the day when Techno actually got around to checking on the blonde. Wilbur had gone down the road to his shop, and the two lovebirds were still in the diner. Which left Techno and Tommy in the apartment upstairs. Normally, Techno would leave the boy be, and let him do whatever chaos came to his mind. But Wilbur had asked him to do this, so he had a responsibility. He was the kid’s uncle afterall.

He shrugged off the thought of being any kid’s uncle, and knocked on the door. It was always a weird thought to think about his brother having a child. 

No answer came from the door.

Techno knocked again.

Nothing.

He raised an eyebrow, “uh, kid, you in there?” 

Tommy always answered his door pretty quickly, what was keeping him away? There was some shuffling on the other side of the door, and Techno understood that he was in fact in the room.

“Okay? Wil said you were being pretty quiet this morning. He’s not here right now, but um…do you want to talk about it?” Techno guessed, his voice cracking at the thought. He had no clue how to deal with kids. He’d only ever been around Tubbo and Ranboo before Tommy came along. And the two before him had barely bothered Techno.

(Except for the firework incident with Tubbo, and the numerous accounts of Ranboo talking to him.)

No answer came from the door. No sound of shuffling, it was deathly silent. Techno hummed, this was pretty odd for the boy. He’d been quiet before but never silent. A pit grew in his stomach when he realized that this had been going on all day. 

Tommy hadn’t spoken a word all day. Not even when Wilbur was around that morning. No wonder WIlbur had been so stressed at lunch, his kid had locked himself away, said nothing, and was completely alone. Techno bit the inside of his cheek, there was one that Tommy never denied. He always took up the offer when it was given.

“Do you want to come down to the bookstore with me, I can help you pick out a new book? Or maybe we go down to Wil’s shop, I’m sure he’d be glad to see you.” Techno offered, “I’ve been meaning to catch up on some Greek myths anyway.”

Nothing.

Techno swallowed, trying to think of something else to coax the kid out of his room. “Niki’s?”

“You’re not making this easy on me, kid.” Techno sighed, he wasn’t getting anything out of the kid. He wasn’t going to either. “Alright, I’ll leave you alone.” He sighed.

All he could do was hope the kid would get better. That maybe he’d stop holding himself up in his room, maybe he’d speak again later. Maybe he’d let them in on whatever was going through his head.

_____________________________

He didn’t.

He didn’t come out of his room.

He didn’t speak.

He didn’t do anything.

Every day it seemed to get worse.

On Monday the kid went to school, giving the whole family the silent treatment before he left. Wilbur had gone to pick him up, to just ask Puffy if anything had happened. Puffy said that the boy hadn’t spoken to anyone. Ranboo and Tubbo had tried to get him to talk to them, and had tried to get him to play with the other kids. He’d gone but only after a lot of convincing.

On Tuesday, the boy went to school and the same thing happened. When Wilbur went to pick him up, not entirely trusting the boy to walk home, Puffy explained that Ranboo and Tubbo had been unable to convince him to do anything. The boy sat on the bench during recess and was completely silent during the entire school day. He’d done his work, but it was the only action they got out of him.

On Wednesday, the boy shuffled to school after being dragged out of bed by a concerned Techno. He’d gone to school and sat as far away from everyone as possible, he didn’t even go near Ranboo or Tubbo. That was where Puffy drew the line.

“Tommy, can you come here?” Puffy asked quietly. Normally in a class of 11 year olds, when someone was called up by the teacher the room would erupt into a loud ‘Ooo’. But everyone had noticed the difference in the blonde. Everyone knew something was wrong, and the whole room sat silent trying to find out what. 

Ranboo and Tubbo sat in there normal spots, near the back corner where the window was. But Tommy had chosen a new seat a few desks away. He was closer to Billzo and Aimsey. Both looked over in concern to Ranboo and Tubbo who only shrugged.

Tommy stood up and walked over to Puffy, his feet dragging on the floor. Puffy caught on to the pairs of eyes that followed them. “Let’s take this outside, yeah?”

And outside they went. Out of earshot from the rest of the class.

“What do you think is wrong with him?” Ranboo asked his brunette friend. Tubbo only shrugged.

“There’s no telling what’s going on in his head.” Tubbo muttered.

“So you guys don’t know either?” Aimsey asked once she’d made they’re way over. Right behind them was Billzo, her little brother only by a year or two.

“Not a clue.” Ranboo mumbled.

“Any guesses?” Bill asked, a smirk on his face.

“I don’t feel comfortable guessing what has one of my best friends completely mute and catatonic.” Tubbo grumbled, his hands on his hips as he glared at Bill who stumbled.

“Cata-Catawhat?” He asked. Tubbo rolled his eyes.

“Nevermind. Just don’t guess what has him like this, that’s like-super invasive.” Tubbo mumbled, while Ranboo nodded along.

“He’ll tell us when he’s ready.” He added on for extra measures.

_________________________

He didn’t.

He didn’t tell anyone anything.

Because of course, he wasn’t speaking.

On Thursday, not even Techno could get the kid out of bed. So he didn’t go to school. He didn’t leave his room. Wilbur left food outside his door and knocked continuously to try and speak. But each time was met with no response. 

It’d been almost a week and no one had heard the kid’s voice.

_____________________________

On Friday, Wilbur dragged the boy out of his room.

“Come on, up and at ‘em.” Wilbur huffed, as he threw a pillow on top of the boy’s head. The most noise he got out of him was a squawk. The blonde immediately grabbed a pillow and aimed it for Wilbur’s head in retaliation. 

Wilbur brightened as soon as the boy lifted the pillow. It was some reaction. Something other than a shrug or a nod, it was some show of emotion. He grinned widely at the fact that finally Tommy might be better. He might finally understand what had happened and how he could stop it from ever happening again. 

But as soon as dull gray eyes met the chocolate brown ones, the pillow was lowered. Tommy gave up. 

Wilbur’s smile dropped and he looked between the pillow, now fallen on the ground and the dejected look on Tommy’s face. He sighed, he’d been that close.

“Hey, you okay?” He asked, and knelt down to the floor, so the boy was higher up on the bed. Tommy nodded. “You’re obviously not, sunshine. You haven’t spoken a word in almost a week. I’m worried. So is everybody else. Can you just tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it?”

Tommy shook his head.

“Alright, well, you’re not staying in here to fester away in your thoughts. Come on,” Wilbur said and pulled the boy by the wrist out of his bed. Tommy landed on his feet with a thump . Wilbur pointed to the closet, “Go ahead and get changed into something comfortable, okay? Then we can head downstairs for breakfast.”

And they did just that. Wilbur nudged Tommy into the diner, after the boy had gotten dressed. He still looked like he’d just woken up. His blonde hair poked out everywhere. His clothes were wrinkled, and thrown on a harsh contrast to Wilbur. He had dark circles under his eyes, although they matched the ones that etched on his father’s face. 

They sat with Techno in the far corner. At this point the whole town had heard about the weird way the blonde had been acting. And it was no surprise that the diner was filled with alot more people than normal. George, Dream, Sapnap, Karl and Quackity all sat in one of the largest booths in a corner. Niki and Jack sat at the bar talking to Kristen in hushed tones. Even Slime had come in to grab food for Tally Hall, his gaze flicking over to the blonde every now and then. 

But even with food in his stomach and all the people around him, Tommy was still away. 

_________________________

Wilbur had to literally push Tommy into the park that afternoon. The boy had just wanted to turn around and leave when it came into sight, but Wilbur was stubborn and dragged him on wards. 

“Tommy, please. You love going to see Tubbo and Ranboo. What is going on?” Wilbur asked. Tommy didn’t answer, he just hummed in response, aggravated with the older. 

“Tommy!” Tubbo shouted as soon as the two were in sight. The brunette ran up to greet them, followed by the more lanky boy. Tommy sighed and nodded in response. He didn’t miss how Tubbo almost pouted from the lack of words. “Still silent, then.” He muttered.

Ranboo elbowed the blonde in the gut. Wilbur sighed, one arm wrapped around Tommy the other laying limping in his pocket.

“I have to go meet with Schlatt, he isn’t going to leave me alone if I don’t give him back his sh*t. So I thought you three could catch up?” WIlbur said, the silent ‘please watch him’ being heard by both parties. 

Ranboo and Tubbo both nodded. 

After Wilbur left, Tubbo and Ranboo began to recall tales of what happened at school for the past two days their friend had missed. They expected for the boy to laugh or joke, to jibe at every idiotic thing they’d done. But nothing happened. 

It wasn’t until Micheal and Shroud came running up that anything changed in the boy’s expression. 

“Tubs! Tubs!” Micheal shouted as he ran up, his pig-like bag hitting against his bag. Shroud was right behind him, his hand raised, in it a black folder. He was waving it around widely. 

Tubbo startled a bit at the shouts, but calmed down when he noticed his little brothers. He sighed and turned his attention away from Tommy and to the two five year olds. Ranboo kept his eyes on Tommy though. 

“Tubs, guess wha’ we learned ’bout today!” Micheal said, happily clapping his hands together. Tubbo hummed.

“Hm, I don’t know. What?” He asked, indulging in his little brother’s antics.

“We learned ‘bout birfdays!” Micheal yelled, crawling up onto the bench the trio were sitting on. 

Ranboo and Tubbo noticed how Tommy tensed at the mention of the birthdays. Tubbo’s eyebrow raised and he nodded for Micheal to continue, although his focus was now on Tommy.

“Yeah! We learned whens our birfdays. Can we have birfday parties?” Micheal continued. Tubbo watched as Tommy clenched his fists and his nails dug into his skin. The blonde was looking anywhere ubt Micheal and Shroud. 

“You okay, Tommy?” Ranboo whispered. Tommy nodded, and swallowed. 

“Well, it would have to be your birthday to have a party, and I think your birthday is still a few months away. I’m sure we’ll have something planned out though.” Tubbo explained to his brother. Shroud nodded and walked over to Tommy. Shroud and Tommy had a great relationship, after a few months the boy finally got the courage to speak around Tommy. If only in short spurts.

“T’mom? T’mom?” Shroud asked, tapping Tommy on the knee. Tommy looked up and stared at the boy’s black eyes. He tried to smile at the boy, but struggled and strained.

“Shroud, it’s Tommy. You know that.” Tubbo admonished, getting his hair tugged by Micheal who was jealous of the attention his brother was getting. “Micheal stop pulling my hair.” 

“When’s your birfday?” Shroud asked Tommy. 

Tommy tensed, his nails finally breaking skin. He swallowed and was visibly shaken by the question. Ranboo placed a hand on Tommy's shoulder trying to get his attention. Tears were bubbling up in Tommy’s eyes, and before they had any warning Tommy was crying.

It was the first emotion anyone had seen from him in the past week.

And he was crying.

“TomTom?” Shroud mumbled, patting Tommy’s knees. The ravenette looked up to his brother with sad eyes, “Tubs? TomTom sad.” 

Tubbo stared at the blonde, “Tommy, Tommy is everything okay?”

Tommy rubbed his tears away, and nodded. Ranboo huffed. 

“Okay, stop asking if everything is okay, because we already know it’s not. What’s going on Tommy?” Ranboo asked, his eyes gazing into the blondes. Behind his mask, Tommy could tell he was frowning. 

“I-I’m sorry.” Tommy’s voice rasped out. His voice cracking from the lack of use for the past days. He mumbled to himself repeating the phrase. Tubbo frowned and looked at Micheal and Shroud who were staring in horror at their friend crying. 

“Micheal, Shroud go home. Now. No detours.” Tubbo demanded pointing out the park and down the road to Tally Hall. Micheal pouted and was about to speak when Shroud beat him to it.

“But-Tom sad.” Shroud pouted, patting Tommy’s knee as some sort of comfort. Tommy tried to smile at the boy, but it was a choked out sob instead. Tubbo shook his head, “Go.”

The two boys started walking down the road back to Tally Hall, leaving the trio alone in the park. Tommy cried into his hands. His sobs broken up by the odd phrase of “I’m sorry.” or “It’s my fault.”

Ranboo made a wounded sound and hugged the blonde. Tommy turned and let Ranboo hold him, Tubbo only looking between them for any answers.

“Tommy, can you just explain, boss man. Whatever it is, we're your friends. It’s-it’s not going to change.” Tubbo mumbled.

“I don’t-I can’t-I don’t have a birthday. I-I mean I do. It-you- you just don’t celebrate it, because you’re not-not supposed to celebrate my birthday.” Tommy sobbed out. Ranboo made a noise for him to continue.

“I-It’s-” Tommy tried again, but could seem to get his words out.

“That’s why you’ve been so silent? Because of your birthday?” Tubbo asked, confused. “Tommy, I don’t understand. Why do you have to go silent for your birthday?”

Tommy shook his head, “Not for my-my birthday. My birthday’s not like others. Mine’s not right. My birthday is a day mom hates. She-She hates it, the whole week.” Tommy rubbed his eyes, daring to continue when his throat closed up. “‘M supposed to stay quiet so people can forget. So they don’t-so they don’t-she won’t..” He didn’t finish it. Tubbo understood though, his eyes widening and his mouth falling open. 

“No. Nonono. Tommy, no, that’s not going to happen. Wilbur wouldn’t-no one would-Tommy’s it’s your birthday. It’s you f*cking birthday and you didn’t even say anything! Tommy, when’s your birthday?” Tubbo asked, jumping up from the bench. Tommy rubbed away the tears again. Ranboo tilted his head to the side waiting for Tommy’s answer. The taller still had his arms around the blonde.

“Tomorrow.” Tommy mumbled. 

“Okay, okay, we can still fix this.” Tubbo said, running a hand through his hair. 

“What?” Tommy asked, but Tubbo was already running away and out of the park.

“Ran! Take Tommy to Niki’s! I’m gonna go get the Crafts!” 

____________________________________________

Tubbo slammed open the doors to the diner like a cowboy in an old western movie. His head bowed and looked up to see Kristen with an amused smile on her face. 

“Kristen, I need your help! Is Music Man here? Maybe Techno? Phil?” Tubbo rambled, rushing forward to the bar and climbing onto a stool. Kristen tilted her head like a bird.

“Phil’s in the back, Techno’s upstairs and Wilbur went to meet up with Schlatt. I thought Tommy was with you?” She asked, politely as ever. 

“He’s with Ran, can you get them here? Please, it’s super important!” Tubbo rambled off. 

Kristen rolled her eyes fondly, but nodded, “Give me a minute.”

It didn’t take long for the other three to arrive. And soon they were all in the diner eating area. Kristen and Phil standing behind the counter, WIlbur sitting on top of the counter, and Techno leaning up against the counter, all of them watching Tubbo pace the room. 

“Alright, kid, what’s going on?” Techno asked, assuming no one was going to start the conversation. Tubbo sighed and looked up at his pseudo-family.

“I figured out what was wrong with Tommy.” He muttered. His words immediately caught Wilbur’s attention. 

“What? What happened, what’s wrong? Did he tell you? Did I do something?” Wilbur ranted, his hands moving to grip his hair and beanie. He pulled of his beanie and rung it out in his hands. Tubbo shook his head.

“Not yet at least.” He muttered, and shook his head.

“Then what is it?” Techno asked, sternly wanting to know exactly what was wrong with his nephew. And what had been wrong for the past week. 

“It’s his birthday.” 

Glass shattered and Wilbur dropped his beanie. The glass Phil had been holding was shattered on the ground. Wilbur’s eyes were wide and unseeing as he stared out at nothing. His mouth opened in shock, and his brow was knit in concern and horror. He’d forgotten his son’s birthday. He’d never f*cking asked for his son’s birthday!

“It’s-It’s his what?” Phil choked out. Tubbo only nodded clarifying the horror the family was now facing. 

“His birthday is tomorrow.” Tubbo said again.

“It’s tomorrow, so there’s still time.” Wilbur said, and threw his beanie back on and raced to the door of the diner. He was caught by the tiny hand of Tubbo around his wrist. Wilbur turned and stared down at his pseudo-son. 

“Wil, he hates his birthday. He doesn’t-He doesn’t understand what it is.” Tubbo explained as best as he could. He didn’t fully understand Tommy’s mind, but he’d gotten that much out of him. Techno straightened, “What do you mean?”

Wilbur nodded in agreement with the question, “Can you elaborate, Tubbo?” The brunette knelt down to the younger’s height and used his knee to prop up his arm. 

“He just-Micheal and Shroud had come back and were excited about learning their birthdays. When they mentioned them, Tommy just got scared. We could just see his reaction to the word, I don’t know what he saw but it was bad. Then when Shroud asked when his birthday was he just started crying. He was sobbing, I told Micheal and Shroud to go home and then Tommy explained a little bit. He said that his birthday is different from everyone else's. Because his isn’t meant to be celebrated, it’s supposed to be hated. Like he expects us to just hate him for being born!” Tubbo ranted, his hands flailing around as he got more and more angry.

“Because he does.” Wilbur muttered with a sigh. Tubbo looked up at the brunette in confusion. The rest of the Crafts seemed to understand what the older meant but Tubbo was left in the dark. 

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“Tommy expects us to hate him for being born, Tubbo. That’s all he’s known for most of his life. Remember everything that happened in the court case, all those awful things said about Tommy?” Tubbo nodded, he could see the sad look in the older’s eyes. The dark circles that surrounded them from the lack of sleep. 

“Of course, they were jerks.”

“Tubbo, Tommy had to live with that. All those horrible things said to him and about him for his entire life. He’s going to think some things that are a little different than how we think. Sally-She made him think that way, so did Jared.” Wilbur explained as softly as he could. 

“How do we fix it?” Tubbo asked, right after the man was finished speaking.

Wilbur sighed, “It’s not an easy, immediate fix, Tubs. It’s going to take a while, but for this problem. We have about-” Wilbur checked the watch on his arm, “seven hours to plan a party for Toms.” 

_________________________________________

Wilbur rushed into Niki’s bakery, his coat swaying behind him. He huffed out a breath when he reached the counter of the shop. He’d run to the bakery after getting Tubbo home and trying his best to act normal around Tommy when the boy walked into the apartment. Now that he knew what was wrong he wanted nothing more than to wrap up the kid in a blanket and force him onto the couch to keep him away from everything else in the world. 

He was alone in the bakery either. Dream, George, and Sapnap were all sitting in the corner eating color coordinated cupcakes. Fundy sat at the bar, he had a screwdriver in hand and was working with a piece of metal and wires. Niki worked behind the counter, her focus on a bowl with different ingredients in it. Lastly there was Quackity who stood near the doorway, he was obviously waiting for someone to arrive.

“Niki!” Wilbur shouted, startling everyone in the room. Niki almost dropped her bowl and Fundy did drop his gadget. He muttered a curse and dropped down to pick it up. 

“Wilbur, you don’t have to shout. I’m right in front of you.” Niki said, as she turned. She gave Wilbur one look over before her gaze softened into worry, “What happened?”

The question caught everyone in the room’s attention. They all looked at the frazzled man standing in front of the counter. His coat was thrown on and his beanie covered his mop of hair that looked wet. He had dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep and stress. His shoes weren’t even completely on, one shoe was hanging onto his foot by a string.

“How fast can you whip up a birthday cake?” Wilbur asked, ignoring the question.

Niki was taken aback by the question and stumbled for an answer, “I uh, don’t know. It depends really.”

“Whose birthday did you forget this time, Soot?” Dream laughed from his spot. 

“It's someone's birthday?” George whispered loudly to Sapnap, who shrugged. 

“No one that I know of.” Quackity answered, before Sapnap could.

“It’s Tommy’s birthday.” Wilbur muttered, but it was loud enough for the whole room to hear. Niki winced.

“I’ll start working on it. Do you know a flavor or icing? Anything?” Niki asked quickly.

“What?” Quackity mumbled under his breath.

The dream team in the corner had shut up and were now just staring at the scene in shock and awe. Fundy stared at the two in horror of being caught up in the conversation. 

“You know just as much as I do, Niki.” Wilbur muttered, “But I need this done by tomorrow, Niki. His birthday is tomorrow.”

“It’s as good as done, Wil. Go get everything else ready, I know you’re already stressed enough. Leave the baking to me.” She smiled. Wilbur sighed, he could always count on her. 

“Thank you, Niki. I just have to get everything else set up and get people to come.” Wilbur said, almost laughing to himself even though there was nothing amusing about the situation. Niki nodded.

“Where’s it going to be at?” She asked, giving the Dream Team a look of ‘you better listen’. 

“The park, it’ll be easier to get him there.” Wilbur sighed. Niki nodded.

“Is he still acting ‘different’?” Dream asked, they all knew what he meant by ‘different’.

Wilbur sighed, “I’m hoping this will fix anything that has already happened.” 

And that was all they got out of him.

“Alright, Dream Team, go spread the news about the party at the park tomorrow. And make it quick, I want you three back here to help me with the food.” Niki commanded. The trio saluted and ran out of the bakery before Wilbur could protest.

“Niki, you really didn’t have to-”

“Shush, you know those three will be faster at it anyway. You just worry about getting it set up. I’ll handle the food and those three will handle the invites.” Niki decided, leaving no room for an argument. “I’ll even get Ran to give me a hand when he gets done with his homework.”

“Karl and I will work out presents, and help the others with them, too.” Quackity added from his spot. Wilbur smiled, maybe this could actually work.

“Thank you.” Wilbur muttered.

“Just get him back to normal, Wil. We’ll handle the rest.” Fundy finished.

___________________________________

In the end, the Dream team were in charge of invitations. Niki, Ranboo, George, Phil and Kristen worked on the food. Quackity, Karl, Techno and Jack decorated the park. Tubbo, Bill, Aimsey, Ranboo, Freddie and Eryn came up with games. Eret was going to supply the face-painting. Bad and Skeppy handled the balloons. Foolish would bring the tables and chairs. And everyone would bring a present.

Tommy walked into his dad’s music shop, stumbling a little as his walker caught on the steps. His dad sat on the counter, his guitar in hand, his fingers strumming over the strings anxiously. Tommy could tell he had something on his mind.

Tommy sighed and sat down on the plush yellow couch in the center of the store. Wilbur looked up and smiled at the blonde. Tommy still was quiet and didn’t speak, he just nodded for Wilbur to continue. And the brunette did.

When the clock hit 3:30, Wilbur placed the guitar down.

“Why don’t we see if Tubbo and Ranboo are at the park, hm?” He asked. Tommy shrugged, but stood anyway. He followed everything his dad said, not letting his body argue. Wilbur’s smile strained as he watched Tommy force himself to get up and leave the shop. He sighed, as Tommy exited the shop.

 “I’m gonna fix this. I’m gonna fix this.” He mumbled repeatedly, grabbed the guitar and headed out. 

He was going to fix it.

Tommy gripped Wilbur’s coat tail and followed the older down the road. The town was silent, only Wilbur knew why. Everyone was already at the park and the shops were all closed. 

It wasn’t until they were one turn away from the park that Wilbur turned to speak to the younger. 

“Tommy, you know I’m not going to act like Sally did, right?” Wilbur asked, looking down at dull blue eyes. Tommy frowned, but nodded shakily. Wilbur bit his lip, he didn’t fully believe the nod.

“What Sally did was wrong, remember? She got punished for it.” Wilbur reminded him. He knelt down to the younger’s height, and sat on his knees. His coat flowed behind him. Tommy tilted his head, but nodded again.

Wilbur sighed, “Then why are you still acting like she was right? Why are you still following those awful things she said?” 

Tommy didn’t answer, he found interest in the floor and stayed silent. Wilbur sank, realizing he wasn’t going to get an answer. Today was supposed to celebrate the boy, not make him question himself. But the Tommy spoke up,

“She wasn’t the only one responsible, dad.” He muttered out, as if he’d finally given up. Wilbur raised an eyebrow, wondering what in the world he could mean. 

“Yes-I know, Jared also-”

“I’m not talking about Jared.” Tommy cut him off. 

“Then who?” Wilbur asked.

“Me,” Tommy mumbled, part of him hoping he wouldn’t hear. Wilbur winced, but listened, “I could’ve done something. I locked myself away in my room. I would stay up all night finishing work. I did those things to myself. I’m partly the cause of all of this-” He motioned to himself, “If Sally was punished for doing that to me, do I need to be punished for-”

Wilbur didn’t let him finish, before pulling him into a hug. 

He wrapped his arms around the boy and held him close, his nose buried in the golden curls. Tommy squeaked from the sudden action and tried to argue.

“Wil!” He tried to yell, but his voice cracked with the little use. 

“No, you don’t get to finish that sentence.” Wilbur said firmly, he pulled the boy closer to his chest. “You did not do those things to yourself, baby. You locked yourself away because you were scared. You finished work because you were scared. You did all those things because you were scared. Sally and Jared made you scared, they made you hurt and they made you unsure of everything that you deserve. You deserve so much, sunshine. So much more that you know. You did everything right, you did everything you could.” 

Wilbur pulled away to look at him. He cupped his face with his hands and looked him in the eye. Tommy stared in awe at the man, but behind his gaze Wilbur could see the sadness and uncertainty. 

“I’m so so proud of you. You just have to let me take care of the rest.” Wilbur whispered, and pressed a kiss to his boy’s forehead. 

Wilbur smiled. Tommy’s eyes bubbled with tears but he rubbed them away before  they could fall. Wilbur huffed out a laugh, “Alright, come on. Can’t leave them waiting can we?”

“Leave who?” Tommy asked, quietly.

Wilbur hummed, and they turned down the road to the park. As they stepped onto the green grass, the people shouted and hollered. 

“Happy Birthday!!”

________________

It took a few minutes to calm Tommy down once everyone was done shouting out a ‘happy birthday’. 

“Oh, sh*t.” (Phil)

“Maybe we shouldn’t have yelled that?” (George)

“You think?” (Quackity)

“Tommy, you okay?” (Niki)

“Just try to breathe, sweetheart.” (Wilbur)

“Probably should have thought this through a bit more.” (Fundy)

“You try planning a party in a day.” (Techno)

Once Tommy had fully calmed down and was able to actually comprehend what was happening. Well, he had another panic attack. Apparently, throwing a birthday party for the birthday boy who was taught to believe that his birth was a horrible thing and a reminder of the lives he ruined wasn’t a good idea. 

“You can’t-Why are-you shouldn’t do this!” Tommy tried to reason with his dad, pulling on the man’s coat sleeve.

“Why not? It’s your birthday.” Wilbur answered.

“How did you even know?!” 

“I kind of had to tell them, boss man?” Tubbo interrupted, a death grip on his ukulele. Behind him was Micheal and Shroud. 

“No-you didn’t have to say anything!” Tommy tried again.

“Tommy, you can’t go around believing what Sally taught you was true. She was angry and fueled by hatred for us.” Phil spoke up, his eyes tired but still kind as he watched everything. Kristen stood next to him nodded, above them a few crows sat perched in the trees.

“She saw us in you and took it out on you.” Techno added.

“Your birthday will never be something awful-” Dream started.

“Or feared-” George said.

“Or even forgotten.” Sapnap finished. 

“It’s going to be celebrated like all of ours!” Ranboo shouted up. 

“Because to us, it is a reminder of all the greatness that is Tommy Innit Craft-Soot.” Niki chuckled out. 

“And we will never ever not celebrate that.” Wilbur finished, his smile kind and sad. 

Tommy couldn’t help the tears that fell from his eyes this time. They fell and trailed down his cheeks as he looked around. He remembered that on his sixth birthday he’d tried to decorate his room. He’d written on the walls and covered his ceiling in paper decor. 

But this was different. 

Everything he could think of was there. It was anything he could ever imagine. 

“I don’t-What do I-What do I even do?” He mumbled out through the small tear tracks.

“Whatever you want, sunshine.” Wilbur answered, with a chuckle. Tubbo seemed to have a different idea though.

“Open the gifts! Open the gifts! Open the gifts!” Tubbo chanted out. Tommy laughed something strained and sad, but genuine.

“What gifts?” He asked, confused. 

“Every birthday, your friends and family give you presents! You open them and they're yours! You can get whatever you want as a present, and you won’t know what it is until you unwrap it!” Ranboo explained. 

“But what do you give in return?” Tommy asked.

“You don’t give anything! That’s the best part!” Tubbo shouted in response. “So~Open the gifts! Open the gifts!” He chanted again, gaining more voices to his chant as Ranboo, Micheal, Shroud, Aimsey, Bill, Freddie, and Eyrn joined in. 

Wilbur laughed, causing Tommy to turn and face the brunette.

“Are they telling the truth, you just get stuff?” Tommy asked, he was prepared for everything to be ripped out from underneath him. For Wilbur to turn around and say ‘no’, even though deep down he knew Wilbur would never do such a thing.

“Yes, they’re telling the truth, Toms. You can open them now if you want to.” Wilbur answered. 

As Wilbur answered, more voices joined into Tubbo’s chants. Including Dream, George, Sapnap, Quackity, Karl, Fundy, and a few others.  

“Open the gifts! Open the gifts!”

“Okay, okay. I’ll do it. I’ll do it.” Tommy complied. 

“Hell yeah!” Tubbo pumped his fist in the air, and grabbed Tommy by the wrist. He dragged the blonde over to a table that was filled with presents. Boxes and boxes covered in colorful wrapping and bags with colorful tissue paper inside. A rainbow of colors Tommy had never seen.

“How do I do this?” Tommy asked Tubbo, as everyone gathered around to watch. 

“Just pick one out, and open it.” He answered as if it was obvious, because to him it was. Tommy shivered in his skin, preparing to do something that was so normal to everyone else in front of a crowd. 

“How will I know who gave it to me?” Tommy asked. 

Tubbo huffed, “It’s on the tag, boss man. Here, just do this one first.” Tubbo grabbed a random present from the pile and set it down in front of Tommy. Tommy gulped and gently tore through the colored paper to get to what was inside. 

Tommy took out the wrapped up item and inspected it. When he could finally reveal what the thing was, he laughed. He pulled it out for everyone to see.

“Alright which one of you f*ckers gave my son an ax?” Wilbur huffed out, taking the item out of Tommy’s hands before he could hurt himself at all with it. The ax had the words ‘ax of peace’ engraved on the handle. 

“I think we all know who it was, Wilbur.” Dream laughed, glancing at Techno who was leaning up against a tree with a smirk growing on his face. 

“You can’t give a child a knife Techno!” Wilbur shouted, his voice a mixture of confusion, aggravation and amusement. 

“It’s not a knife, it's an ax.” Techno said, calmly. 

“You little-” Wilbur cut himself off with a sigh. He turned back to Tommy. “How about you just open another one?” 

Tommy chuckled but nodded. And he opened the rest of the presents. In the end he got a lot of toys, each one he could imagine the person who gave it to him, without needing to look at the tags. 

Tubbo gave him a red bandana to match the brunette’s green one. Ranboo gave him the game Minecraft, to which everyone agreed was a fantastic gift. Phil and Kristen gave a gift together of a new walking cane and things to decorate it with. Niki gave him new yarn and sewing supplies. The Dream Team gave a collective gift of Nerf guns to terrorize the town with. And so much more from everyone in town.

But Tommy’s favorite gift had to be from Wilbur, his dad.

His gifts were these two music disks, cat and mellohi, and a promise.

A promise to never let him go through anything alone again.