Chapter Text
Tommy sighed, staring up at the building. He didn’t want to fucking be there, but when he had told Techno that he wanted to ditch, the only thing he got in return was “I trust Phil’s judgment. If he wants you to go, you’re going.”
And so Techno threw Tommy out of the car and drove off before he could protest. And instead of going in, Tommy just glared at the door. To spite him.
“East Santa Lucia Mental Health Resources,” the sign read, the sticker peeling off in the corners.
Tommy figured there was no use in trying to spite someone who had already driven off. And he was starting to get uncomfortably warm standing in the sun. Even though it was September.
He fucking hated California.
Regardless, he sighed and pushed open the door, walking into the familiar waiting room. The receptionist (A very nice girl who he could never remember the name of) recognized him, and waved him in.
“Phil let me know you’d be joining the group session today. Don’t worry about signing in.” She smiled at him. Tommy smiled back, just to be polite, before pushing through the doors, and walking down the hallway. Muscle memory led him to Phil’s office, and before he knew it he was knocking on the door.
“Tommy!” Phil laughed, swinging open the door. “You don’t have to knock, just come on in.” Tommy nodded, and stepped into the room.
It was already a fairly small office, but with the other people there, it felt incredibly cramped. Phil was in his normal office chair, but the couch that Tommy was used to stretching out across was occupied by three people, all sitting shoulder to shoulder. They looked pretty comfortable with each other, at least.
“Hey guys, this is Tommy. I told you he’d be joining us today.”
“Hi Tommy!” One of the people on the couch said. “I’m Niki! This is Karl, and Tubbo.” Niki gestured to the two people beside her. Karl and Tubbo both smiled. Tommy waved at them, and sat in one of the two bean bags that had been pulled out and placed on the floor. He had to sit criss cross, as the coffee table was where his legs should’ve been, but that was alright.
“So, we’re just waiting on Ranboo, correct?” Phil addressed the group. “Tubbo, do you know why he’s running late?”
“Don’t know why you’re asking me. I don’t keep tabs on him.” Tubbo shrugged.
“Because you guys literally have a kid together?” Karl chimed in.
“Listen, the baby was in the picture long before I even knew who Ranboo was. He has nothing to do with this.”
Tommy was about to ask about said baby, when the door flew open, and a very panicked-looking teenager stood in the doorway, with a very young toddler balanced on his hip. The first thing Tommy noticed was that the man was very tall. The second thing he noticed was that he and the kid sported almost identical vitiligo.
“I’m so sorry I’m late.” He rambled. “I spent like 20 minutes trying to find someone to watch Micheal and Mom kept saying she’d watch him but you know how she is, there’s no way I was doing that and she started getting really angry so I just kinda took him with me and yeah. Micheal’s here today. Hope you guys don’t mind.”
“Not at all.” Phil smiled at him. “Ranboo, this is Tommy. Tommy, Ranboo.”
“Hey man.” Tommy smiled at him.
“Hi.” Ranboo smiled at him, as the kid (Micheal, apparently) began reaching for someone on the couch. “Oh, yeah, go say hi to Papa. I’m sure he misses you.” Ranboo addressed the baby, before quickly handing him off to Tubbo.
“Not even a ‘hello.’ Just hand the kid to me. I see what you think of me, Boo.” Tubbo teased Ranboo, but he didn’t even attempt to hide the adoring look on his face as he adjusted Micheal in his arms.
“Sorry. I’m just...really tired.” Ranboo sighed, settling into the other bean bag chair, and tipping his head against the wall.
And with that, there were seven people in a room that could really only comfortably fit two. It made the whole thing feel incredibly intimate. Tommy felt like an intruder.
“Alright, so.” Phil reached behind him to lock the door. “Unless anyone’s got something they’re dying to share, I figured we could just go in a circle and explain why we’re here?”
“Fine by me,” Karl said, leaning back on the couch.
“Well, I guess we can start with me, and we’ll go in a circle. Hi, I’m Phil. I’m a therapist who specializes in issues with parent-child relationships. I do lots of things, but these group therapy sessions are probably my favorite. Now, I'm sure you all know what you have in common…”
“Trauma which comes from a lack of healthy parental figures.” The group echoed back, sounding incredibly bored. Tommy had heard Phil use that phrase before. He figured he too would have it memorized soon.
“Bingo. Anyway, that’s it for me. Karl?”
“Hi, I’m Karl-”
“And I’m an alcoholic,” Tubbo muttered under his breath. Tommy couldn’t help but giggle at that.
“-No, we’re not starting this again.” Karl laughed, reaching across Niki to lightly smack Tubbo.
“You assault me in front of my son! How dare you!” Tubbo exclaimed dramatically, pulling Micheal close to his chest.
“Hi. I’m Karl.” Karl spoke through his teeth, enunciating every word. Tubbo laughed, but let him continue this time. “I’m here because my parents were never really around much, I guess.”
“No, Karl, we talked about this. You need to stop undermining what you’ve been through. Try again.” Phil scolded. That was another phrase of Phil’s that Tommy was very familiar with. He was glad that he wasn’t the only one it was being used on.
“Fine. I’m here because my parents ‘severely neglected me as a child.’” Karl made it a point to mock Phil with his phrasing. “Is that better?”
“Much.” Phil nodded. “Continue.”
“Then I developed MDD to try and cope with it all and now I’m here,” Karl said.
“MDD?” Tommy asked.
“Maladaptive Daydreaming Disorder. Basically super intense daydreaming. It really gets in the way of things sometimes, it’s very annoying.”
“Ah.” Tommy nodded.
“I’m done now though. Niki?”
“Hi. Well, I’m Niki-”
“And I’m an alcoholic.”
Niki whipped around to smack him, but stopped when she saw Micheal in his arms. She settled for just glaring at him, and Tubbo grinned at her. He made eye contact with Tommy and winked.
Niki went to begin talking again, when Micheal started crying. Loudly.
It was a bit amusing to see Tubbo and Ranboo snap into dad mode. Tubbo instantly started bouncing him on his knee, quietly shushing him, while Ranboo began frantically digging through his bag for something. He pulled out an applesauce pouch, snapped off the cap, and offered it to Micheal.
Micheal stopped crying to look at it in curiosity.
“...Dada?”
“Eat it,” Ranboo spoke softly, gently pushing it toward the baby. Micheal stared at it for a few seconds before hesitantly reaching out, grabbing it in his tiny hands.
Tommy had a thing where he pretended to not like little kids. But the secret child lover in the back of his mind was screaming about how cute he was.
“There you go.” Tubbo encouraged, lightly scratching Micheal’s head.
“Dada!” Micheal said again, giggling this time.
“No! I’m Papa!” Tubbo sighed. “ He’s Dada.”
Micheal just stared at him, and began eating his applesauce.
“It’s okay Tubbo, he can only have one favorite parent. It’s alright that it isn’t you.” Ranboo teased.
“Oh, you just wait until he knows how to say more than one word. Then we’ll see who’s the real favorite.” Tubbo shot back.
“I’m sure he likes you both the same. He’s just too young to express his emotions with words.”
“Fuck off Phil this isn’t about you.” Tubbo teased.
“I see how it is.” Phil laughed, throwing his hands up in surrender. “By all means, keep arguing. I get paid to sit here and listen to it.”
“Fine.” Tubbo glared at him, although there was no malice behind it. “We will stop arguing. But only because we paid to be here. Not because I’m letting Ranboo win.”
“Of course, of course.” Phil nodded.
“Niki, continue please.” Tubbo prompted.
“Well!” Niki giggled. “I’m here kind of for the opposite reason as Karl. My parents were always really...helicoptery. Always micromanaging where I was and what I was doing. It got worse when I was a teenager, and it got to the point that they started literally stalking me. I had to get a restraining order on them when I moved out, but they still hired a private investigator to watch me anyway. And now I’ve got like three different paranoia disorders!” She laughed, trying to lighten the mood. “Tubbo?”
“Hi, my name’s Tubbo.”
“And I’m an alcoholic!” The whole group shouted, stumbling on their words in their attempt to interrupt him. Tubbo laughed like a maniac, leaning back on the couch. Micheal, noticing the happy atmosphere, started laughing along too.
They all cooed at him for that, but Tommy couldn’t help but notice the special fondness in Tubbo and Ranboo’s eyes.
Which was quickly ruined when Micheal threw his empty applesauce at Ranboo. It caused another round of giggles from the group, and Micheal clapped his hands together, obviously delighted.
“No!” Ranboo whined. “Don’t laugh at that! You’re encouraging his behavior!”
“Sorry. No emotions. I do not encourage bad behavior.” Karl said. It would’ve been more convincing if he didn’t have to immediately stifle another giggle.
“Thank you.” Ranboo smiled at him, before handing the applesauce back to Micheal.
Ranboo barely settled in his seat before Micheal was chucking it back at him.
“Oh my god.” Ranboo sighed. “Please don’t do this right now, baby.” He picked up the applesauce and once again placed it back into Micheal’s hand.
“Dada?” Micheal asked, hesitantly reaching to hand the trash to Ranboo.
“There you go.” Ranboo grinned, reaching out to take it. He tapped Micheal on the nose before retracing his hand. “Sorry about that, guys. I gotta let him throw it. We’re doing the whole gentle parenting thing. What were you saying, Tubbo?”
“Phil approved parenting methods in action.” Tubbo nodded. “But! I guess I’m kind of the outlier here. Because my parents were actually pretty great. When they were alive. We went to Oregon for the Fourth of July one year. And people do their own fireworks up there, you know? And it was pretty cool, until one of them fucking exploded early. Boom. No more parents!” Tubbo tried to keep the mood light, but he could tell that he was trying to mask the pain that came with the memory. A tactic that Tommy was very familiar with. “So I had one foster family and they were shit and my foster brother was so fucking mean to me so I just got emancipated.” Tubbo ended his story with a thumbs up to Tommy.
“Well!” Ranboo clapped his hands together. “I guess it’s my turn now. I’m Ranboo”
“And I’m an-”
“No, Tubbo.” Ranboo gave him a warning glare.
“Alcoholic,” Tubbo whispered, barely audible. Tommy smiled to himself. He liked Tubbo. Tubbo was pretty funny.
“I’m kinda in the same boat as Tubbo. My parents were perfectly fine until about a year and a half ago.”
“What happened a year and a half ago?” Tommy asked.
Ranboo lifted up his hands to portray the conversation. Well. If that was how he wanted to convey serious information then Tommy would accept it. To each their own, he supposed.
“‘Hey, Mom, Dad, my sister who we haven’t seen in years just dropped off a literal baby and I’m kind of freaking out. Can you help me?’ ‘No we can’t and also we hate you now for not leaving him to die.’ ‘Mom, Dad, I’m only 17 and now I’m suddenly a father. Can you help me?.’ ‘We don’t care. We are not happy that the baby lives in our house. We will threaten the baby. We will threaten you. That is logical and also something that good parents and grandparents do.’”
“Shit.” Tommy cringed. “Must be tough.”
“Well, it is sometimes. But I met Tubbo like six months ago and he’s made everything so much better. He’s the reason I come to these things now and they really help. And if I’m really afraid that my parents are actually going to do something to Micheal, I can always send him over to Tubbo’s for the night.”
“I really don’t do much.” Tubbo shrugged, bouncing Micheal on his knee. “I kind of just hang out with the kid.”
“Tubbo. Stop undermining your achievements. You do a lot and are a wonderful father to Micheal.” Phil piped up.
“You’re like a soundboard, Phil. You just tell us all the same three things over and over again.”
“Well, that’s because it hasn’t gotten through your thick skulls yet.” Phil laughed. “Anyway, I think we’ve gone through everyone. So, Tommy. Tell us a bit about why you’re here.”