Him & I - Allium Duo Angst

Chapter 1

Tommy's POV

TW: mentions death, mentions house fires, mentions bullying, the foster system, swearing

I ended stream and then made sure it was completely off before pulling out my watercolour sketchbook, paints, and brushes. I ran my fingers across the surface of the textured, cold pressed paper like I always did. It just felt nice, y'know?

I mixed the colours on the palette. A light orange, some yellow and just a tad bit of white. I watched as the colour formed before my eyes, amazed that I could make such a pretty shade.

Almost as pretty as women. Not quite but almost.

I began to stipple a very imperfect circle onto the paper and gave it a quick border. Then I began to do some small, curved lines around the perimeter.

I did some more of the lines, getting larger as I moved outwards from the middle.

I loved watching the brush strokes get wider and wider, yet I could still envision what I was painting. And it was turning out perfectly.

As I enlarged the curves I worked more water into the paint so that my flower got lighter and lighter as it expanded, making it what I believe is called ombré.

Soon I finished and I gazed down at my masterpiece. A yellow rose, one of my favourite flowers. After alliums of course. Which was what I was going to paint next.

I began to do small dots and strokes to create the texture of a fully blossomed allium, in various shades of blues, indigos and purples.

The circular flower was coming together, quickly and easily. Alliums were one of the first flowers I learnt how to paint because of how easy they were to draw, with their simple yet beautiful shape.

I'd learnt off some of my foster parents.

I should probably introduce myself, shouldn't I! Even though there's no one here. Sometimes I like practicing introductions in my head for the future.

I'm Tommy. I live at a foster home. Not like one of those shitty ones you see in movies. It's actually pretty okay and all the staff care about us.

My parents died a few years ago in a house fire, just after I started streaming- or more accurately when my streaming started to blow up. I was put into the system. The workers let me keep streaming. So I did. But I didn't tell anyone about the fire. I didn't want people to pity me or say I was only doing it for attention.

I got fostered once. There were two ladies. They were both really nice. I can't remember their names because it was a few years ago but her and her wife were art teachers. They noticed how stressed I got with streaming sometimes so they showed me how to do watercolour paintings.

I began to use painting as a stress relief.

But then they returned me to the foster home. They couldn't afford to keep me.

I was thrown into an environment of kids who would constantly tease me about painting, saying it was weird.

So I kept that a secret from all my viewers too.

I became the loud gamer that everyone knew. I made friends that way.

Tubbo, Ranboo, Wilbur, Technoblade, Dream, George, Jack Manifold, Nihachu and everyone else.

But my mind stuck on one name.

Ranboo.

He'd always intrigued me. He'd shared so little about himself on the internet.

Not his name, not what country he lived in, not his face- heck he hasn't even done a face cam stream. (A/N for plot reasons he hasn't done any of these things.)

We talked fairly often off camera. And he hasn't shared any of these with me. I didn't want to pressure him, obviously. But I was curious.

"Maybe one day I'll know..." I mumbled before one of the workers came into my room.

"Get ready for the class this afternoon."

"Shit."

"Language."

I could hardly bring myself to care. I'd forgotten I was going to the watercolour classes today. Mx. Emara had paid for the classes after she saw how passionate I was about my art.

"I'll be right out." I said, forcing a smile.

Once they left the room I began desperately digging through my wardrobe for something clean to wear. Because there was no way I was wearing two day old sweats. I had to make a decent impression on everyone else in the class and the teacher.

Time Skip to when he's at the class

"You're Tommy right? I'm Mrs. Casey, the teacher of the class." The kind lady I now knew as Mrs. Casey explained. "You'll be teamed up with one of our more experienced students if that's okay?" When I nodded she called over another student. "Taurus come over here!" I turned to see someone who looked around my age but a hell of a lot taller. I had to look up to see the person's face, and I didn't do that often.

But I was not prepared for the shock to come across their face.