They Rely On Hope. What Do I Rely On? - Tommyinnit Adoption AU

Chapter 40

⚠️TW: SH, abuse, blood, description of SH happening⚠️

A/N: this is a pretty heavy one, read with care

As soon as the two were out of sight, Tommy sped to the cashier, quickly paying for everything and then grabbing his bags he slipped easily and quickly outside. From there he ran, needing to get back to the house faster then ever. He couldn't let them catch him.

Tommy skidded to a stop outside Dream's house, before silently letting himself in, not making a noise. He quietly put everything away and then slipped upstairs, where he got out his notes from music. He had no idea what he was doing but he knew he had to learn quickly. He studied each note and their types, making sure he knew the difference between a semibreve, a minim, a crotchet, a quaver and a semiquaver and more. By the end he could quickly pick out what each symbol was. From there he moved onto memorising which note was in which line or space. When he finally had that all together he combined the two. By the time he needed to go downstairs to make dinner, his mind was reeling with new knowledge. It was weird, but he knew it and that's all that mattered.

He walked downstairs, silently as ever, and began to make dinner. He went through the movements he knew far too well easily and silently. When, he was finally done, he served it up onto the plates and placed it at the table, only a moment before Dream arrived. Perfect, as he knew he had to be.

Dream sat down, not making any notion that he even noticed Tommy had worked hard to be perfect, simply eating the food and glaring daggers. When he was done he shoved his plate forward and as always, Tommy picked it up, moving it to the kitchen and beginning to wash it.

"Tommy?" Dream's voice called as Tommy began to clean. He flinched, just barely catching the movement before the plate smashed against the side of the sink.

He turned slowly, still holding the dirty plate, and Dream was standing now, less then a meter away.

"Yes sir?"

"Do you remember what I said last night?" Dream asked and Tommy suppressed a shudder, memories of the many words Dream had said surging forward. Memories of the agonising pain that it had caused, still was causing. Memories he had tried so hard to suppress, but even now each word rang loudly throughout his head. "I'm disappointed Tommy." "If it weren't for you, your twin would still be alive." "You were too fucking annoying and you drove him to death." "It's your fault he's dead." "Brothers should go down together." "Well, maybe you should follow in his footsteps. You don't deserve to be in this world." "You're a monster. You killed your own brother." "You. Killed. Him." Tommy knew Dream was right. He knew he could've been better. He knew he could've saved Tubbo. If he'd just been there. If he'd just known, but he hadn't. He hadn't known, he hadn't understood, and that had killed Tubbo.

"Answer me when I speak!" Dream snapped and Tommy held back a whimper.

"Yes sir, I remember."

"Good." Dream said as he stepped closer to Tommy, reaching an arm around behind him. Tommy stood still, too terrified to move. He had no idea what Dream was doing, all he knew was his own fucking terror.

Dream pulled his arm back slowly, and in his hand was a small knife, sharp enough to cut, but not big enough to kill. It was different to the one Dream had wielded the previous night, but still Tommy wilted back in fear, preparing himself for the pain he knew was to come.

He watched Dream and the man smirked, twirling the knife around in a way that proved he knew how to wield one. It was a practised, fluid movement as Dream twirled the knife around and around in front of Tommy's eyes. All too quickly he stopped, the knife held out to Tommy, sitting flat in Dream's palm, handle towards Tommy.