*cracks knuckles* ive been busy, have some food that ended up longer than i thought it would be:
“hello! ‘cle ‘ommy!” micheal squealed out through his bedroom window as tommy approached the mansion.
“hello micheal!” 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.
“‘uncle tommy’?” fundy asked. tommy laughed, bright and warm into the cold air, “yeah that’s what micheal’s taken to calling me.”
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 he’d gotten rid of ever since wilbur had died.
“y’know...” fundy started hesitantly once they’ve entered the huge build, “you’re also technically my—“
“oh hello tommy! fundy!” tubbo exclaimed from the descending stairway. tommy perked up from where he was standing and immediately strode forward to meet the other boy halfway.
“tubbo! my friend! how have you been?”
tommy fell into easy conversation with tubbo, leaving fundy to stew in his conflicting feelings at the bottom of the stairwell. he doesn’t know why he feels uncomfortable with some other child calling tommy ‘uncle’. it’s ridiculous even, because of course that’s how micheal would see tommy as someone who was a brother figure to his parents. fundy can’t 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.
“fundy?” ranboo called from behind him, interrupting the rant inside his head, “are you alright?”
fundy sighed, shaking away his thoughts for later, “nothing ranboo, just thinking. lets just catch up man! i haven’t seen you in a while!”
ranboo’s 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 didn’t 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.
“you seem awfully good at this,” fundy commented while tommy brought out a laugh from micheal for the hundredth time this past hour.
“i was surprised too,” tommy replied, “i guess it’s all that time helping wilbur take care of you,”
the speed in which fundy whipped his head to look at tommy, eyes wide, was enough to startle micheal in the teenager’s grasp, “you helped wil take care of me?” then, “sorry micheal,”
micheal giggled in response then lifted his arms towards the fox and making grabby hands at him “fung-y! fung-y!”
“what, you think wilbur could raise you on his own with the way that he is?” tommy asked as he brought micheal into fundy’s hold, “man can’t even keep a plant alive,”
“he raised you, didn’t he?”
tommy rolled his eyes, “you’re different, you’re his son,”
fundy’s 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.
fundy blinked, “afraid of what?”
“of failing, maybe. your mom didn’t really stick around y’know? and wil’s never been the most stable of people,”
“probably why he’s such a shit dad,”
“he was a shit brother too. but,” tommy shook his head, his blonde curls bobbing at the motion and catching micheal’s eye, “somehow he was also the best brother i’ve ever had,”
“and you’ve proved yourself to be all of wil’s legacy and more,” he whispered. fundy felt his heart swell.
“gold! ‘cle ‘ommy!” micheal cooed.
“thats right big m!” tommy grinned, “my hairs kinda like gold, innit?”
“gold, gold!” micheal chanted as tommy took him into his arms again. he wasted no time reaching out to play with tommy’s curls.
tommy met fundy’s eye before reaching and holding the fox’s face with his free hand. fundy let out a breath of air he didn’t know he was holding. proud of him, tommy’s proud of him. no one’s ever really been proud of him.
“don’t think too hard about it, nephew,” tommy said, teasing and good natured. fundy felt something wet build up at his eyes.
“when did you start sounding so old?” he choked out, crawling to sit beside tommy and micheal, “it’s weird cause you’re younger and smaller than me,”
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 wasn’t too bad.