Nobody's POV
Tommy splashed through the puddles on the sidewalk as he practically sprinted home with a wide smile on his face. He looked down again at the paper in his hand, hardly believing it was real. He had gotten a 96% on his test!
Now to some, this might not seem like much, but to Tommy it was everything. Tommy tried so hard in school, but somehow always came up with B's or C's unlike his brothers who always seemed to have perfect grades.
Hell, Techno was probably the smartest in the school. Tommy would say Wilbur was in the top 20 and Tubbo somewhere in the top 50 at least.
But Tommy, well Tommy was no where near any of them. He tried so very hard. He stayed up countless nights and spent many hours studying and writing and reading. He just wanted to be like them, to make them proud... to make Philza proud.
To not be the embarrassment of the family.
It was definitely taking a toll on his health of course... he wasn't eating much anymore, there was no time and he didn't really feel like he deserved to relieve himself of the pain of hunger. Not until he could make them proud. He had large eye bags and was sickly pale, his family didn't notice much due to Tommy keeping up his facade of a boisterous personality, but even he was starting to let that slip due to how tired he was. He can't remember the last time he truly slept. He had even checked his heart rate the other day in medical class and was surprised to see it far above the average for his age despite him feeling more tired than ever. He had even had an incident earlier today where he had fallen asleep in Environmental Science.
All the books and scrawl of his handwriting on his desk proved his work ethic. He had worked so very hard. He had recently been making high B's on his tests as well, but every time he would try to mention it, someone would speak over him about their perfect A or their recent songwriting. So instead, he had felt worthless once again deciding that he wasn't good enough and crumpled up the test, throwing it under his desk.
But that didn't matter anymore because he had done it! He looked down again at the bright red letter in thick marker. It was next to a big smiley face and a small note from his teacher that said, "Great Work!" She had been noticing his improvement.
Somehow, looking at the letter that he had worked so very hard for caused his smile to grow even larger. He was going to make sure they knew, they would have no choice, but to pay him some attention now. He was going to get the only thing he had ever wanted, the only thing he had ever cared about...
for them to finally be proud of him.
He felt some light rain start to drizzle down from the clouds. He smiled up at the sky embracing the cold chill of the raindrops before once again picking up his pace towards his home barely able to contain his excitement.
It had started to rain quite a bit now and his clothing had managed to get pretty soaked, but it didn't bother him. He turned the final corner and onto the street of his house. He let out a whoop of joy that echoed down the long street of houses, not caring how the neighbor letting his dog out across the street looked at him with surprise and evident distaste.
He nearly knocked the door down as he barged into his house, paper still clenched tightly in his hand and yelled, "Hey guyssssss! Guess who's home?!!"
He was immediately met with the smell of spaghetti coming from the kitchen. Tommy grinned, he knew that would make Tubbo happy since it's his favorite. He walked in and was met with the rest of his family scattered happily around the kitchen.
Techno sat at the counter with coffee in one hand and a book in the other, he didn't seem to be very interested in whatever he was reading as he seemed to be conversing with the rest of his family.
Wilbur stood leaning against the refrigerator with a smile also on his face and Tubbo stood near Phil who was busy making spaghetti. This was great! They were already in such good moods and now he was about to make them so much better!
His brothers spared him a glance and paused from their conversation, but Philza stayed focused on dinner trying not to mess up the now boiling noodles. Wilbur's face morphed into a look of distaste.
"Tommy! You're dripping all over the floor!" Wilbur shrieked and Philza turned around locking eyes with Tommy. Tommy saw disapproval fill Phil's eyes as he sternly told Tommy to go change and next time try not to make such a mess.
Tommy felt his heart deflate a little, but turned and ran up the stairs nonetheless. He quickly changed, eager to get back downstairs. He felt hurt that he'd upset them, but at the same time his good mood was definitely still there. He smiled as he pulled the dry shirt over his head and grabbed his test from his desk. He practically sprinted back downstairs.
"Guyssss, I'm back" Tommy said gleefully grabbing a glass and filling it with water.
Techno rolled his eyes as he looked over towards him, "I was beginning to wonder why it was so peaceful."
That statement sent a bit of pain into Tommy's heart, but he pushed it aside nonetheless. Tommy's face fell for a moment before he chuckled to play it off. Wilbur murmured an agreement with Techno's statement.
Tommy always felt like he wasn't good enough to be a part of this family, but now things would change because he had worked so hard for them and now they were finally going to see. They were going to be proud of him.
Tommy opened up his mouth and began to speak, "Guess what, you guys?"
"What?" Philza says.
"Oh god, don't encourage the child," Wilbur remarks.
Tommy looked over at Tubbo who looked like he was excited and about to blurt something out as well, but that's okay, Tubbo could talk later. This was his moment. Tommy continued, ignoring Wilbur even if his remark was hurtful.
"So, today in math we had this giant test and-"
"I got a 100%!" Tubbo screams out of nowhere. Tommy and Tubbo were in the same math class and it seems that Tubbo managed to get a perfect score on the test, however, he hadn't studied at all.
Techno raised his eyebrows in surprise and Wilbur looked baffled. Wilbur speaks first, "The math unit tests? Those are crazy difficult! Barely anyone makes over a C let alone a perfect score! That's awesome, Tubbo!"
Philza chimes in with pride in his tone, "And that's why I'm making his favorite meal, in celebration of my son's intelligence." Tubbo beams at Phil and Phil beams right back at him with a look of pure acceptance and happiness on his face.
"I'm proud of you, kid." Techno says, his voice had a bit of emotion that everyone rarely heard.
Tommy looked down at his paper now frowning at the pitiful 96%. It wasn't good enough, he was never good enough. He could never make them proud, make Phil proud. Not like Tubbo did. Or Techno. Or Wilbur.
Wilbur suddenly had a thought and laughed a little, "I don't even want to think about what Tommy probably got on that test!" Laughter fills the room, but after Wil looks over to Tommy and sees his glistening eyes and a devastated expression, his older brother's face fills with concern instead of joy.
Everyone else is also quick to notice the absence of the boy's usually loud and obnoxious laughter. "Tommy, are you alright?" Tubbo says with worry in his tone. Philza turns away from the stove and his eyes go wide at Tommy's face.
Silence.
Wilbur breaks the quiet, "What did you make on your test, Tommy?"
Tommy looks back down at his paper before looking back up to his family and saying barely above a whisper, "I failed all of you."
Now, the others took this statement very differently than what Tommy had meant. They saw it as the boy failing the test that makes up most of his grade. Failing wasn't normal in this family, so to his father and brothers it was a lot more extreme than what most might think of it.
Philza filled with rage. Maybe another day he would've heard Tommy for what he meant, or seen his crestfallen expression and tried to talk with him... like really talk with him for the first time in weeks. Maybe if he'd gotten more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep the previous night due to work, he would've been more inclined to comfort the boy and less inclined to feel the rising anger in his chest.
But not today.
Today, he saw a lazy boy that did nothing but lay around and stay holed up in his room doing who knows what. Today, he saw his children, one with a perfect score and another who had apparently failed. Today, he remembered how hard he worked for Tommy to have the clothes on his back and the food on his table only for him to treat school like a circus and do nothing in return.
Today, he remembered all the times each of his sons had come home exclaiming about their recent accomplishments and he could not remember Tommy being in a single one of those memories.
So today he was angry,
So today he yelled.
"Thomas, do you realize how unacceptable that is? For this family? For one of MY sons?" Philza's voice grew louder and even Techno slightly backed away from him.
"I DO EVERYTHING FOR YOU AND IN RETURN I GET NOTHING. NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I FELT THIS ASHAMED OF ONE OF MY OWN SONS. YOUR LAZINESS AND PROCRASTINATION ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR THIS FAMILY.
FOR ME.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"
There was silence, Phil spoke again, louder this time,
"I SAID DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, THOMAS?"
Crash.
The glass that Tommy had been holding a few seconds ago was now in pieces on the floor. Bits of it shattered on Tommy's feet causing thick pieces of glass to stab deep into the skin. Tears drip from Tommy's eyes and Phil's eyes go wide as he realizes that Tommy's shaking. He had just meant to scold him, he hadn't meant for it to come out like that.
For Tommy to react like this.
Techno jumped out of his chair at the sight of his brother with blood all over his feet and Wilbur took a step towards him softly saying his name. Tubbo just stood horrified. Tommy didn't seem to feel the pain though, his eyes looked as if they were glazed over now. Then, he suddenly snapped back into reality and he looked down at the broken glass.
He looked back at up at his father with eyes full of sorrow and horror, "O-oh, I- D-Dad, I-I'm s-sorry, I-I was t-trying my best, I-I'm sorry it w-wasn't en-nough." The boy muttered before turning and darting upstairs. He didn't even flinch as the glass crunched under his feet causing him to leave behind bloody footprints.
He was in his room in a second with the door locked behind him, all of it, none of it was enough.
He wasn't enough.
He heard knocks and muffled distressed shouts on the other side of the door, but it didn't matter because it was all catching up to him, it had finally caught up to him.
He felt every missing hour of sleep start to crash down on him as blackness emerged in the edges of his vision. He wrapped his arms around his stomach and cried out at the hunger pains that were now raging and violent. He couldn't think of anything except his failure, he had tried too hard, for too long... and it had come to this.
The boy didn't have the strength to keep fighting, to keep trying and failing to gain their love and pride.
The boy didn't have the strength to hold all of his burdens and sorrows on his shoulders any longer.
The boy didn't have the strength to walk around and pretend everything was alright... because it wasn't... nothing was alright.
The boy wouldn't, he couldn't handle all of the pressure anymore, to stand against all of the negative thoughts that weighed him down like boulders when he just wished to soar with the rest of his family.
The boy didn't have the strength.
And so the boy fell.
~2127 words~
(Yes there will definitely be a part two to this!)