Chapter Text
He sits in the back of Jennifer’s car as she drives him to his next foster home. They have been driving for longer than usual as Jennifer said that his next foster home would be in a smaller town away from the busy city. He knows it is because he has been with all of the foster families already, even staying at one house twice for the last two days waiting for his new placement. He has his bag with him, all of his belongings in his backpack. He clutches it closer as he closes his eyes. He can hear the cars pass by them as they drive, and before long, sleep has taken him.
Tommy is startled awake by a hand on his shoulder; when he looks up, he sees Jennifer softly smiling at him, “we are here, Toms, let’s go inside and look around, kay?” Tommy only nods at her while unbuckling his seatbelt. When he steps outside, he can see that it’s late, probably around 8 pm; he has no way of knowing as he has never owned a phone or even a watch. Jennifer walks ahead of him up the driveway and to the front door. There she waits for him; she knows that he hates going to new foster homes; they have done this so many times before.
Tommy stands behind Jennifer, feeling safer if he doesn’t have to be the first thing his new foster sees. They never liked seeing him first. As Jennifer raises her hand to ring the doorbell, Tommy grips his bag harder than before. From outside, Tommy can hear the doorbell ring on the inside; he hears some commotion and then finally, the door opens. “Hello, Jennifer, right?” Jennifer nods her head, “Ahh, you are both welcome insides, take your shoes off at the door though,” Tommy doesn’t dare to look at the man; he keeps his head low as he steps inside and takes his shoes off.
The man leads them to a dining table; Tommy sits down next to Jennifer while the man is opposites them. “So, let’s get this started, Tommy, that is Phil, Phil that is Tommy.” Tommy doesn’t want to look up at the man, but he is curious. He looks up at Phil but quickly looks back down as Phil was looking at him already. “Is it okay if Tommy and I walk around the place?” Phil nods and asks if he should join in, “No worries, just trying to find all the candy you hide.” Phil laughs along with Jennifer as she stands up. “You coming, Toms?” Tommy jumps up from his seat and goes beside Jennifer.
On their walk around their house, they find the kitchen, a cosy place but filled with food, the living room has a big comfortable couch and a tv, they stumble upon a bathroom before heading upstairs. As soon as they are upstairs, they can see that two of the doors are close. The first door is open, and as they look inside, they guess that this would be Phil’s room; not spending too long inside there, they move down the hall. Beside Phil’s room, there is a closed-door; they know not to open the door as Phil’s two sons are waiting in their own rooms to give Tommy his privacy. Right in front of the closed door, there is another bathroom, this one is bigger than the one downstairs as more people use this one. On the opposite end of the hallway, there are two doors; one is closed while the other is open. Tommy knows that the open door will be his room and makes his way to it. When Tommy steps into the room, it is pretty blank there is a small double bed with plain white bedding. On one wall there is a desk with a black chair. Just the simple look of a spare bedroom nobody uses. Tommy sets his bag on the bed and sits down beside it.
“I like it; you have a blank canvas to work with; we like that, right?” Jennifer sits in front of him, Tommy nods hesitantly.
“I like it,” Tommy’s voice is quiet, but Jennifer hears it loud and clear; this is a good sign from him. Jennifer grabs his hands and rubs her thumbs in circles on the back of his hands.
“Tommy, can we try to make this last? Phil seems nice, and I… we don’t have many options anymore. You got to try this time, for yourself; you deserve to stay somewhere safe, okay?” Tommy mumbles a response and quickly gives Jennifer a hug; he doesn’t want her to see the tears forming in his eyes. He knows this is his last chance, the last chance to have someone who cares about him. “You got this Tommy, give them a chance to get to know you.”
After Jennifer left the house, it is eerily quiet again. Tommy is sitting on the sofa while Phil is working in the kitchen. “Tommy, are you hungry for something?” Instead of answering, Tommy stands up and slowly makes his way to the kitchen; Phil sees him in the entryway, looking like the vulnerable kid he is. “We got lots of snacks in the cupboard right there; take what you want.” Tommy opens the cupboard and sees the cabinet overflowing with all types of snacks; Tommy reaches for a pack of Oreos, almost instantly downing the whole pack. “You won’t meet the boys until tomorrow after they come home from school. They are both excited even though they probably won’t show it.” Tommy doesn’t respond but looks up at Phil, Phil takes the guess that Tommy won’t start to talk to him right away. “Did you find your room?” Tommy nodded, “That is great Tommy, I am sorry that it is bland but we can fix that sometime this week, that okay?” Tommy hesitantly nods his head, he has never gone shopping for room supplies before, he never lasts that long in the house.
“Tommy, I am tired and looking forward to laying in my bed, do you want to go upstairs to your room? It is getting quite late,” Phil says while finishing his cup of tea. Tommy just nods his head agreeing that it is probably getting late. Phil lets Tommy walk first up the stairs and turns off all the lights on the way. They make it all the way to Tommy’s door before Phil speaks up again. “If you need anything my door will be open all night, don’t hesitate, okay?” Tommy nods his head unsure of what to do now. Phil makes his way to his room and calls a quiet good night to all the residents of the house. Tommy hears two quiet good nights back from behind the doors. Yawning his way to the bathroom Tommy closes the door and locks it, finally alone he takes a breather. He looks better at the bathroom and finds a red toothbrush still in its package with a sticky note on top of it. It reads Tommy’s. It’s his own toothbrush, a new one and completely unused.
After brushing his teeth and getting into comfier clothes Tommy finally gets under the covers and tries to close his eyes. He can hear his heart beating, it’s loud and fast. I am safe. I am going to be okay, tomorrow… tomorrow will be fine. I am safe. This is my last chance, I don’t want to fuck it up. I am safe. His eyes begin to feel heavier as his breath evens out.