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It’s so cold.
They've left yet again. Tommy exhaled a sigh; he has been patiently waiting in his room since this morning, and it is now getting close to dusk. For them, Tommy has always had to make use of his patience.
The young prince, who should have known they would forget, slowly gives in to the cold and sinks into his bed covers. Whether it's the cold or the oncoming flood of tears, his lip trembles.
That night, Tommy cries himself to sleep.
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Tommy has never been a fan of being angry; when he becomes enraged, he loses control and destroys everything in his path. They're your family, he tries to console himself, but perhaps that's why they don't come to see him because he's too much to handle.
He is aware. Of course, his father, who is the king of an entire realm, wouldn't have time for Tommy. His brother, the heir to the throne, is always busy with tutors and the kingdom. His elder brother, a commander in the kingdom's army, is preparing to defend the land from any potential conflicts. Tommy needs to understand that although they are busy, he is not. Family is supposed to be there for each other, he pleads with himself. He doesn’t deserve to be left alone.
It’s fine, he’ll understand.
He is awakened by loud knocking, but unless he gets out of bed and faces the people who have caused him anguish over the last few days, the knocking won't stop. He grudgingly gets out of bed, opens his bedroom door, and enables the attendants to dress him. It's awkward since he has never liked having to be dressed and prepped by them, but his father ordered it, and he is powerless to resist his father.
He made an effort to move as slowly as he could toward the dining room because he wasn't quite ready to face his family and was still feeling raw and vulnerable from the previous night. He made a concerted effort to move slowly, but before he realized it, he had arrived in the dining room. He only needs to open the dining room doors, be silent, and eat; otherwise, nothing will go wrong because they won't see him. Before opening the doors, he exhaled.
Time to face the music.
As soon as he enters the room, he hears the conversation gradually die down. He can also feel eyes on him, but he keeps his head down and looks at the floor instead of turning to face them. Wilbur cooed into the developing uncomfortable stillness, before looking up with a quick breath, "Good morning, gremlin child." He was still upset and lacked the energy to answer or go along with their peculiar little mind tricks to convince him that he doesn't deserve to think poorly of them. They all stare at him expectantly, Wilbur peering at him from across the table with an odd intensity in his eyes.
As the wild animals that are sitting nearby and observing him approach, he begins to move cautiously as though one sudden motion could startle them. Before he could even reach for his spoon, a hand firmly grasped his wrist. He hissed at the strength of the grip, thinking that he should have known better. Wilbur wasn't one to enjoy being ignored.
“I said good morning, did you not hear me?” Despite being so courteous, Wilbur growled out, and he could hear the distaste and danger in those words. "Wil, try not to be so harsh with your brother." His father smiles broadly, trying to talk his son down from hurting anyone in the room—but not Tommy, never Tommy. "He appears to have had a horrible night."
Wilbur took another look at him before his muscles grew more relaxed, his face softening, and his lips curling into a gentle smile. “Oh, sunshine.” Tommy didn’t like it when Wilbur got this way, he’d feel so small being treated like a child by his family members and later be dragged away into their rooms for a whole day, but after that, they’d leave, they’d leave him for days on end, making him crave them more, but the craving has grown into pain, he feels worthless compared to his family, his family leaving him further adds onto that thought.
Technoblade's grumbling interrupted his train of thought. He had been quiet up until this point; why did he now decide to participate? "He wouldn't be having bad nights if he slept in my room," Yeah, right, like he wouldn't just leave in the morning. "Did our baby have a nightmare, hm?" asked Wilbur, his hand holding his wrist, moving in place to caress his cheek. "Is this the reason you seem so worn out?" Tommy scowled; he detests this entire conversation.
He coughs and brushes Wilbur's hand away, causing Wilbur's lips to twitch slightly. "I just didn't sleep right, that's all," Is all he can come up with, before immediately starting on his breakfast, he needs to get out of here as fast as he can.
Tommy hates this, he absolutely despises this.
The fact that Wilbur took the initiative to pull Tommy to his room immediately following breakfast suggests that he was still upset about Tommy ignoring him earlier in the meal. In return, Tommy will probably act out to show them just how upset he is as well.
He was cut off from his thoughts by the restraining hold his brother had on him, “You know how I feel about being ignored, Toms” He pouted, using a free hand to comb through Tommy’s hair. “You’ve been so distant these days, tell me why.” Though it sounded kind, he knew it was a command. “You forgot.” Was all he offered, Wilbur looked at him with a raised brow, a silent gesture to continue. “You promised you’d spend the entire day with me yesterday, but you left, you all did.”
Wilbur softened, “Oh, sweetheart.” Wilbur cooed, leaning over to kiss him gently on the forehead, Tommy couldn’t help but break, he sobbed. “I’m so sorry, Toms, it completely slipped my mind, I was so busy.” It took Tommy all his strength to push Wilbur away, “You’re always busy! You have no more time for me at all.” Wilbur's brow furrowed, ready to defend his case, “Do I not belong to you anymore, Wilbur?”
In the blink of an eye, Wilbur’s hand was immediately on Tommy’s wrist roughly pulling him off the bed and out of the room. Tommy couldn’t bring himself to say anything, especially with how Wilbur’s eyes looked sharp and intense, and with how he held Tommy so tightly, it felt as though his bones ground against each other, he couldn’t help the whine that came out of him.
Before he knew it, the door to his father's office slammed open and he was thrown inside. He got up to see both Technoblade and Phil staring right at both him and Wilbur, “What’s going on, mate?” Wilbur’s intense eyes found their way to Tommy once again, “Tommy here questioned if he still belonged to us.” He can feel the tense air growing sharper, freezing on the spot, he looked down, refusing to make any eye contact with anyone in the room.
“Theseus,” A strong grip on his chin forced him to look up at the three men in the room, they all looked tense, angry. “Would you mind telling us why you would say that to Wilbur?” He couldn’t do this, he can only be vulnerable with one person in the room, he can’t do it with all three of them, but did he really have a choice? “You-you promised you’d spend the entire day with me yesterday, but you all left me alone, you forgot.” Tommy’s lip quivered, tears welling up in his eyes. “And you’re always so busy, you always leave me!” He sobbed. “Aw, my dear, is that it? We’re sorry, honey. We promise to make it up to you this time.” Tommy clenched his fist, is that all? No, that wasn’t enough, he wanted more.
“No, you don’t care about me anymore!” Wilbur gasped, falling to his knees right next to Tommy, cupping his face closer to his. “Honey, that’s not true, you are ours as we are yours, of course, we care.” Tommy knew they were getting upset, and that’s what he wanted, but he wanted even more. “The servants take care of me more than you do, maybe I belong to them more than I belong to you.” Tommy knew he was in dangerous waters when he felt the hands on his face become firmer and tighter. Wilbur’s face was tense, his eyes were sharp and intimidating, he shrunk, he felt so small.
“Would you care to repeat that, Tommy?” Wilbur’s tone was quiet, but he knew he had to choose his words carefully. “It’s just that you never spend time with me anymore, and when you’re not there, I think about that and you’re not there to assure me.” He explained slowly, careful of the words that came out of his mouth. He knew he did well when he saw their faces soften, and how Wilbur’s grip became less restraining.
“We’re sorry, sunshine, really we are. We can spend the whole day together today, okay?” Phil spoke up, leaning over to rub his back, Tommy hiccups. “Don’t worry, Theseus. You’re ours and ours alone. We’ll remind you,
until you never forget.”