*cracks knuckles* ive been busy, have some food that ended up longer than i thought it would be:
āhello! ācle āommy!ā micheal squealed out through his bedroom window as tommy approached the mansion.
āhello micheal!ā tommy called back, waving his arm at the toddler. fundy, who had tagged along when he heard tommy was visiting snowchester, bristled slightly at the nickname the child called out.
āāuncle tommyā?ā fundy asked. tommy laughed, bright and warm into the cold air, āyeah thatās what michealās taken to calling me.ā
fundy fell silent at that, something churning in his chest while tommy continued on, oblivious to the problem fundy seemed to be facing. something that fundy thought heād gotten rid of ever since wilbur had died.
āyāknow...ā fundy started hesitantly once theyāve entered the huge build, āyouāre also technically myāā
āoh hello tommy! fundy!ā tubbo exclaimed from the descending stairway. tommy perked up from where he was standing and immediately strode forward to meet the other boy halfway.
ātubbo! my friend! how have you been?ā
tommy fell into easy conversation with tubbo, leaving fundy to stew in his conflicting feelings at the bottom of the stairwell. he doesnāt know why he feels uncomfortable with some other child calling tommy āuncleā. itās ridiculous even, because of course thatās how micheal would see tommy as someone who was a brother figure to his parents. fundy canāt possibly be jealous of that! besides, tommy is, in a way, younger than him and it would be weird for fundy to see him as some sort of guardian figure.
āfundy?ā ranboo called from behind him, interrupting the rant inside his head, āare you alright?ā
fundy sighed, shaking away his thoughts for later, ānothing ranboo, just thinking. lets just catch up man! i havenāt seen you in a while!ā
ranbooās answering smile at that almost made him forget about his current dillema.
unfortunately, what they were here for apparently was to babysit micheal. tommy seemed delighted even with the way he complained to tubbo and ranboo. his mouth quirked upwards and he bounced on his toes in the manner he usually did when he was happy about something.
fundy tried to seem excited but he didnāt think there could be a worse possible time for him to be lumped with babysitting duty considering his current crisis.
so here he was sitting awkwardly to the side while tommy cooed at and rocked micheal in his arms.
āyou seem awfully good at this,ā fundy commented while tommy brought out a laugh from micheal for the hundredth time this past hour.
āi was surprised too,ā tommy replied, āi guess itās all that time helping wilbur take care of you,ā
the speed in which fundy whipped his head to look at tommy, eyes wide, was enough to startle micheal in the teenagerās grasp, āyou helped wil take care of me?ā then, āsorry micheal,ā
micheal giggled in response then lifted his arms towards the fox and making grabby hands at him āfung-y! fung-y!ā
āwhat, you think wilbur could raise you on his own with the way that he is?ā tommy asked as he brought micheal into fundyās hold, āman canāt even keep a plant alive,ā
āhe raised you, didnāt he?ā
tommy rolled his eyes, āyouāre different, youāre his son,ā
fundyās mouth fell to a hard line, but he sighed and awkwardly manoeuvred micheal into a more comfortable position. the toddler looked at him curiously with his one eye and fundy gave back a hesitant smile.
tommy stared at both of them with an unreadable expression before shrugging and sitting down on the carpet. he turned his head to gaze out the window.
āhe was also afraid,ā
fundy blinked, āafraid of what?ā
āof failing, maybe. your mom didnāt really stick around yāknow? and wilās never been the most stable of people,ā
āprobably why heās such a shit dad,ā
āhe was a shit brother too. but,ā tommy shook his head, his blonde curls bobbing at the motion and catching michealās eye, āsomehow he was also the best brother iāve ever had,ā
āand youāve proved yourself to be all of wilās legacy and more,ā he whispered. fundy felt his heart swell.
āgold! ācle āommy!ā micheal cooed.
āthats right big m!ā tommy grinned, āmy hairs kinda like gold, innit?ā
āgold, gold!ā micheal chanted as tommy took him into his arms again. he wasted no time reaching out to play with tommyās curls.
tommy met fundyās eye before reaching and holding the foxās face with his free hand. fundy let out a breath of air he didnāt know he was holding. proud of him, tommyās proud of him. no oneās ever really been proud of him.
ādonāt think too hard about it, nephew,ā tommy said, teasing and good natured. fundy felt something wet build up at his eyes.
āwhen did you start sounding so old?ā he choked out, crawling to sit beside tommy and micheal, āitās weird cause youāre younger and smaller than me,ā
tommy gasped, offended, letting out a flurry of swears that probably should not be said in front of a child. fundy wiped at his eyes and let himself have a wobbly smile. maybe this wasnāt too bad.