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Tubbo awoke to the soft sound of rain crashing against his window. The sky was dark, but small rays of sun were glimpsed through the clouds.
Another day in England.
He lazily stretched out, rolling up the sheets that covered his body. He rubbed his eyes wearily, as he tried unsuccessfully to check what time it was on his new cell phone (yes, Lucia had bought him a new phone, since the old one was completely broken).
When he managed to reach his phone, the screen lit up at the touch, showing the time.
08:50 am.
The brunette smiled slightly, it was the first time that he slept so much since... well, since his father almost murdered him in front of his friends. He winced a little at the thought, squeezing his cell phone tighter.
With a sigh, he got out of bed and prepared for a new day: He made his bed, tidied up his room (Tommy and Ranboo went to visit him the night before and left the room in a mess) and changed his clothes - he wasn't going to go with pajamas all day, no matter how much your body asked for it.
Without waking anyone, he slowly made his way down the stairs to the kitchen. Since the day before he had hardly eaten anything since he still has not gotten used to having unlimited food whenever he wants, he decided to prepare breakfast for everyone (and for himself, obviously).
As he headed to the kitchen, he mentally prepared everything he was going to make: 2 pancakes for everyone in the house (4 for Tommy, that boy has a black hole for a stomach), orange juice, and coffee (with lots of caffeine for Lucía, with milk for Gray, decaf for Lani and Teagan, mocha for Ranboo and plain coffee for him. Yes, Tommy is forbidden to drink coffee, so he made a cup of milk with cola-cao).
"Honey? What are you doing up so early?" the soft, tired voice of his new mother sounded down the empty hall, startling Tubbo.
"Oh! Hi Ma. Sorry, I was just going to make you breakfast…" he muttered, looking down at her feet. She was wearing yellow slippers, shiny like her. Lucía hugged him tightly.
"Awww honey, you didn't have to do that!" she whispered, not wanting to wake the rest of the house. Tubbo returned the hug with the same force. "Besides, you shouldn't even be awake at this hour, it's too early." She added, affectionately shaking her head.
The boy raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Why?"
Lucía was going to answer, but her girlfriend interrupted her. "Because today is a special day, so he goes back to bed and tries to get some sleep."
Tubbo was still confused. Special day? Had he forgotten something? What day was today?
Unintentionally, he started to panic.
"I… Uhh…" he gulped, looking anywhere but at his mother. "Did I forget something? I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Is it your anniversary? Is it… Is it the birthday of one of my sisters? Of Tommy? Ranboo? Should I-?" Gray interrupted her son before his anxiety turned into a full-blown panic attack.
"Hey, hey… Take it easy. Remember what the psychologist told you, breathe in for 10, breathe out for 8." She said, approaching her son. Fortunately, he listened to her, and slowly controlled his anxiety.
"Am I in trouble, Mommy?" he whispered, looking into her mother's brown eyes. The police officer gently shook her head, smiling.
"Not at all sweetie. Don't worry. Now go back to bed, you need to sleep. And, even if you don't sleep, try to stay in your room at least until 10:30." She encouraged him, playfully pushing him back to the stairs.
"But mom, what day is it-?" he insisted, still somewhat worried that he had forgotten something important.
"Uh-uh. Don't worry Toby, it's just a special day because… because… Uh… what was it?" Lucía was silent, looking urgently at her girlfriend. Gray laughed silently.
"It's a special day because I got promoted, but apparently your mother forgot too. We were going to surprise everyone together at breakfast, but apparently we're bad at keeping secrets." Tubbo, relieved now, laughed sweetly. His mothers smiled fondly.
"Congratulations mom. You deserve it" he said softly, kissing his mother on the cheek. Gray ruffled her hair fondly.
"Thanks Toby, now come back to bed. We'll let you know when we're done with everything, okay?" Tubbo nodded and went immediately to his room.
When his son disappeared from their fields of vision, they both sighed.
"I can't believe he forgot his own birthday." Lucía mused, somewhat anguished.
"It's no wonder to me. Considering the parents he had, I'm not surprised they never celebrated his birthday," Gray added, crossing her arms. Lucía nodded, an idea already forming in her mind.
"Honey, let's wake up the rest." The brunette smirked at the shorter one.
"What do you have in mind love?"
"We're going to throw the best birthday party ever for him. And everyone is going to help."
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"Can you explain to me why I have to hang all the decorations?" Ranboo muttered, perched on a chair as he held up a banner.
"Because you're the tallest of the six, so technically it's your fault for being so tall, bossman" Tommy laughed , who was packing the (previously purchased) gifts with Lani.
As Lucía finished breakfast, Gray and Teagan arranged the final details in the living room.
"Tea, honey. Can I ask you something?" the brunette asked in a low voice, looking at her daughter.
"Mhm. What's wrong mom?" Teagan replied without looking at her, too focused on perfectly placing the little plush doll she had made last week on top of the fireplace.
"Have you ever celebrated your birthday?"
Tea stayed still, looking at the doll. "Yes, when we were younger we did celebrate it but…" The older sister trailed off, looking away from the plush doll, who was staring back at her with empty eyes. Gray put a hand on her shoulder, encouraging her to keep talking. "We stopped celebrating when Toby turned 11."
Her foster mother nodded, taking in the information. "Can I ask why?".
Teagan smiled wryly, hatred burning in her eyes. "Apparently 'the little monster' was old enough not to celebrate such things." She scoffed but didn't raise her voice. "I still celebrated my birthday until I was 14, and Lani celebrated it to this day." Tea frowned, hatred turning to guilt.
"Hey, that you have celebrated your birthday longer than Toby is not your fault. And neither is your sister's, you know that right?"
"Yes, I know" she said, not very convinced. "But I still feel a little guilty. At first we would sneak into Toby's room and give him something. Something handmade, since we couldn't buy anything for him. But over time… I guess we stopped celebrating." Teagan fell silent, her jaw clenched.
Gray let the conversation die. Her daughter didn't need to bring up any more bad memories, and it was obvious that she didn't want to talk about it anymore. It will be the subject of conversation with her psychologist.
"Maaa, I think we're done with the presents" Lani screamed in a whisper, full of zeal. Lucía laughed silently, not wanting to wake her son.
"Okay honey, can you go wake him up please?" Lani nodded happily, getting up from the floor to go to her brother's room. "But first take off all the pieces of zeal, come on" her mother mocked her, unable to hold back the laughter.
"We should wrap you too Lani, you just need the wrapping paper." Ranboo joked, getting down from the chair. Lani looked at him poker-faced
"Haha very funny." She muttered pretending to be angry, but she couldn't contain her laughter. She peeled off the pieces of tape with Tommy's help and, with a quick kiss on Lucia's cheek, she ran up the stairs.
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Tubbo woke up again to the sound of knocking on the door.
Disoriented, he tensed at the sound. Knocking on the door was a bad thing, his parents never knocked on the door, they always yelled at him or directly entered his room without permission. He couldn't open the door, he couldn't ...
He turned his attention to the soft sheets of his bed. His gaze swept over the little wave patterns that decorated his quilt. He looked up to see his new set-up in the corner of his room, his closet full of stickers from his fans and pictures of his sisters, his piano across the room, which he was next to his guitar and ukuleles ...
He wasn't at the Smiths' house. He was at his home.
He inhaled and exhaled shakily to calm his nerves.
"Tobyyy, are you awake?" the muffled voice of his little sister broke the silence.
"Yes! You can enter!" He screamed, so his sister could hear him.
She entered softly, a wide smile on her face.
"Heyy little brother! Ma and Mommy say they have something to tell us." She commented, turning on the light in the room. Tubbo smiled unconsciously. He was very happy for Gray, and he was even happier for being the first to know (well, the second).
"Sure! I'll be right away" he assured her, showing her a big smile. Lani smiled back, and walked back to the living room.
He quickly got dressed again (yes, he put his pajamas on before him to crawl back into bed) and ran downstairs, not wanting to keep his family waiting.
"I'm he-!"
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOBY!" The serpentine flew through the air, landing on the brunette, who was completely in shock.
Was it his birthday?
It was his birthday!
Tears began to fall down his cheeks, unable to contain the sobs. Lucía's maternal instincts immediately took over.
"Honey! Are you okay? I'm sorry my darling, was it too loud? Did we scare you too much? It wasn't our intention at all, I-" She was interrupted by her son's watery laugh.
"Ma, I'm fine. I'm happy, nothing more." He wiped away his tears, a royal smile gracing his face. His mother reciprocated his smile.
"Good thing, because you were driving your mother into an anxiety attack" Gray joked, kissing him on the top of his head. "Happy birthday kiddo. We love you so much."
"We have many gifts for you!" Lani yelled, grabbing his hands to guide him to where Tommy and Ranboo were.
"Yes! We have wrapped all the presents, so open them carefully" smiled Tommy proudly, with a pompom in his hair. Ranboo laughed.
"You can destroy them all if you want." Ranboo walked over to Tubbo, and hugged him tightly. "Happy birthday Toby, you deserve it."
"Guuuys, you are going to make me cry!" Toby complained, wiping his eyes.
"Come on! Open the presents!" his older sister insisted, handing him one of the packages.
"And let's not forget about breakfast! Mom made cake!" Lani squealed excitedly, jumping up and down.
"Everything in its time children" Lucía laughed, while she recorded everything.
Tubbo looked at his family and friends as if they were the universe itself.
"Thank you guys, I love you. I don't know what I did to deserve you" he murmured, crying as he smiled. Tommy stared into his eyes, a big genuine smile gracing his face.
"Be you, Tubs, be you."