Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I grin as Mommy says that I can go to work with her. How idiotic I was back them Apparently because if was the last day before she took maternity leave she was allowed to bring me. I love going to work with her, all of the kids are so nice and they love when he joins them. I’m still smiling when I’m put in the car next to Wilby and Techie, as well as the whole drive.

The day starts normal and the kids are really happy to see me. I should have known it wouldn’t last. It’s after lunch that things start going wrong.

The class is doing a worksheet and all was peaceful, if only it stayed that way but then the loudspeaker announced,”Lockdown, lockdown, this is not a drill” and chaos erupted. Mommy grabbed me and shoved me under her desk and told me to shhh.

”Class get to to the cubby area”, Mommy said as she ran to turn off the lights and close the blinds. I wanted to cry, what’s going on. I peek out from the desk while still keeping hidden. We wait silently for what seems like days, when suddenly someone breaks down the door and runs in.

The new person quickly grads Mommy before anyone else can react and holds a weird black thing to her head before shouting,”Nobody move!”

All of a sudden police ran in ignoring that first person repeating their prior statement. And their is a deafening silence for a split second before.

Click...BANG

And suddenly Mommy is bleeding and the police who were previously aiming their own weird black things at the other person freeze before shooting them. Most of the officers leave with the person while one of them stays,"Hello, my name is Sam. Its safe to come out now, just don't be to loud. Before we call anyone I need to know how many kids are in this class, and how many should be in the room." , the officer.. no Sam, Sam says.

One of the students I recognize as Niki, one of my favorite and, Techie and Wilby's friend, speaks up,"There are 27 students in this class, three students from the halls, and Mrs.Kristin's three year old son Tommy."

"Thanks kid. You said there's a three year old hear, were is he 'cause he should probably be brought to the hospital with Mrs.Kristin." Sam says. Niki responds by walking over to me and offering her had, which I immediately take.

"Here he is Sam", Niki says before turning and quietly asking me,"Hey Tom's you okay with going with Sam over there", she gestures towards him while saying this,"he's just going to take you with your mommy to the hospital where you'll meet up with Daddy, Techie, and Wilby. Okay?" she asks after explaining.

I go to answer but the words won't come out of my throat, like something is squeezing my neck and stopping anything but air from leaving. I take a deep breath like Mommy taught me and try again, but it still won't work. I start to feel the tears I had been trying so hard to stop start spilling out as I simply nod in answer, seeing as I can't do anything else right now. 

"Okay then, I'm going to stay here until an another officer arrives unless the ambulance arrives after as I'll be meeting them at the hospital in that case", he says to the whole class before addressing me specifically, "Tommy will you be alright riding in the ambulance next to your mom?" I nod because the pressure is still there. "Can I have some verbal recognition", he asks. I shake my head no. Sam sighs before telling me to sit down and moving on to comfort the rest of the class.

Its not long before I hear the tell tail sound of ambulances who take Mommy and sit me down it the back after one of them briefly talking to Sam, I think his name is Ponk but I'm not sure having tuned out most of what they said. I feel as though I'm not really their while still being their, almost like the word has slowed down and time speed up(I know realize I had been dissociating). I don't remember any of what happened during the ride all I know is that Ponk(?) told me I had to leave and brought me outside of Mommy's room.

Not long later Wilby, Techie, and Daddy are standing next to me and asking if I'm okay, I simply nod before turning away.

Soon the doctors tell us Mommy and Clementine gone and there was never any hope of saving them. That night we all cried ourselves to sleep even though I didn't full understand what was wrong, I knew I should be sad.

Days eventually turned into weeks, which turned into a month and yet I still hadn't spoken yet it would still be another year before I got my diagnosis.

Chapter Text

Tommy frowned watching his Dada talk on the phone. He had wanted to show him the drawing he’d made at daycare but Dada seemed angry and he didn’t want to bother him. He was about to walk up to him anyways Dada had hung up the phone but then he shouted and Tommy flinched before running off. 

He still wanted to show off the drawing, it was his favorite one yet with the whole family holding hands, so instead he went to Wilby and Techie’s room. He knocked on the door and Wilby was quick to answer, “Hey Toms,” he whispered, “What brings you here?” he asked, still whispering. Tommy immediately shoved the photo into his hands, jumping up and down excitedly, Wilby looked at it and smiled weird, “Very nice,” he praised, “But where's Mom?” Tommy frowned and tilted his head. He knew Mom, they always talked about how nice she was and he did remember her somewhat but she wasn’t there anymore so clearly she didn’t matter that much. 

Tommy shrugged before running into the room and jumping on Techie’s bed who looked up at him briefly before starting to read aloud. He’d always loved his brother's reading, not that he understood what it was most of the time. Wilby walked over and pinned the drawing on his board before plopping down next to him and wrapping him in a hug that he leaned into. They stayed like that for hours, even when Techie had to get a new book to read he’d only grabbed one from his stack and started reading again.

After a while Dada called them down for dinner and so they rushed down to eat. Sitting down Dada asked them about their days like always, and like always Wilby and Techie went on a rant about what they’d done but when it came Tommy’s turn the words wouldn’t form and they refused to come out. Just like alway everyone looked sad when he failed to answer, however unlike normal Dada said that Tommy had a doctors appointment later that week and it was really important. Tommy had pouted and tried to argue but nothing came out and Dada had scolded him so he did his best to stop. 

The routine continued, without Dada getting angry on the phone, and until eventually the day of the doctor's appointment arrived. Dada woke him up later than normal and got him dressed nicer than normal as well as letting him take his favorite stuffy, Henry, with him which he didn’t normally do. He was quick to get Tommy in the car before driving him to an unfamiliar building where he checked Tommy in before holding his hand tightly while they waited for him to be called.

It didn’t take long for him to be called in and have doctors talking mostly to Dada, occasionally they did address him but after a while they left him completely alone and he pouted. It didn’t take much longer for them to hand him some paper that he wrote on before Dada took his hand and brought him to the car. He turned on some music and didn’t talk which made Tommy sad, but then he pulled into a candy store and allowed him to pick out as much as he wanted for just him that he wouldn’t have to share which helped. He also bought a tablet that he put nearby before picking up Wilby and Techie from school and driving home.

Once they were home Dada sent Wilby and Techie up to do their homework before sitting Tommy down and pulling out the tablet he’d bought. “This is for you,” he explained, “Because you can’t talk, you have this thing called selective mutism, so the doctors we talked to today recommended this as a solution while we learned this thing called sign language. Sign language doesn’t have talking so you can use it to talk once all of us have learned it”

So Dada showed him how to use that tablet and taught him how to spell a few things before showing him examples of sign language and signing the whole family up for classes. And so at four years old Tommy, joined by his whole family started learning how to work with the diagnosis, at four years old Tommy started therapy, and at four years old Tommy was first deemed an outcast by his peers although he doesn’t know it yet.

Tommy had only first noticed kids were treating him differently when they ignored him expressly asking for things when he got his tablet. He noticed again when nobody asked if he wanted to play with them during play time and when he asked they only agreed when reminded that they had to let everyone join. He next noticed that less and less people were eating with him, while before they’d just ignored him this was actively avoiding. 

Tommy still didn’t know why when kids started teasing him in ways that hurt while he wasn’t around, but he was determined to change that. He walked over to one of the kids everyone seemed to like and typed on his tablet before tapping the button to read it aloud. The weird voice spoke and the kid looked at him, “Why don’t include?” it read, the only version of the question he could spell and the kid shrugged. 

“You’re no fun, you don’t talk so everything would be boring,” the kid answered and Tommy frown, “Just talk and we’ll include you again, you were pretty fun before” they’d added and he simply nodded and walked away. It hurt that people didn’t like him, but he couldn’t do anything about it because he couldn’t speak so he did his best to move on.

That day at dinner Tommy talked about how kids didn’t like him because he didn’t speak and Dada had gotten mad so he decided not to talk about it because mad people were scary. So he stayed quiet as kids started ignoring his entire existence as well, bumping into him and completely ignoring anything he asked.

Chapter Text

So... it's been over two and a half years since I started this fic and posted that first chapter and a lot has changed. There's a couple obvious things, like the information about some creators I'd rather not name coming out, but also I've gone through a lot personally and my interests have changed.

However, this was my first ever fic and I don't want to just abandon it, especially because I know there's a fair chance at least one person would want to read it. Because of this I want to ask, is anyone interested in me finishing this? I have it planned out, and I could probably write it before I fully switch over to writing for my current interests even if it does take some editing. If a single person lets me know they want to see this completed I will do my very best to finish it because I really do want to at least try. And if you do think you want me to finish it I'd also like to know if I should change the story to remove some of the characters who are based on people that I personally no longer support (I ask because I'm pretty big on separating content from creator, and the characters I've made are not based on the real people but rather the characters they created.)

That's pretty much all I have to say right now, if you want this to be finished please let me know because I won't be doing it otherwise. And on an unrelated note if you like my writing and happen to be interested in either Lego Ninjago, DC, and potentially LoZ then you should be very excited for the future.