Sam stared out across the mall, eyes covered in goggles sweeping the area. His daughter, Hannah, sat at his left, munching on her pretzel bites. When Sam saw what he was looking for, he nudged Hannah's side to get her attention. She giggled and squirmed away from his grasp, but jumped to her feet to half stumble, half run to stand beside Sam's chair. The creeper hybrid nodded towards two people placing Christmas decorations in the window, toys lined up beside a wooden Santa and plastic reindeer. Hannah clapped in delight, grinning brightly as she remembered the festive holiday coming.

"What do you want for Christmas, rosebud?" Sam asked with his own pleasant smile. He didn't care about the holiday or the gift giving, but Hannah was young enough to enjoy the 'magic' of Christmas. Sam may have been stubborn, but his will crumbled at the idea of making Hannah happy. He would have done anything for his daughter so long as she said the word.

"Hmmm... I want..." Hannah placed a finger against her lips as she gave it some thought. What did she want? She had everything she needed. Maybe some new gardening tools? Hannah wondered if she was finally old enough to get the big kid kind. Hannah was about to ask when she saw a kid smaller than her grab her cup of pretzel bites and run off with it. "Hey!" She cried as she followed, Sam stumbling to his feet to get back his daughter.

Hannah chased the kid all the way to the last storefront, where he ducked into the doors. Hannah looked around before spotting his blonde hair weaving between the women's clothes section. Hannah chased after him, cornering him in a long hallway. The boy dove into an empty shelving, body pulled tight so the shadows would whisk him away, out of Hannah's attention. It didn't work because Hannah leaned down on her knees before him.

Hannah had been upset, but now she felt the anger dip away. This wasn't some petty thief. It was a small kid, probably half her age, with muddy hair and torn clothes. He was missing one shoe, and the other foot had the sole of a shoe strapped onto it with duct tape. He growled menacingly at Hannah as he pulled the cup of pretzel bites to his chest, keeping them safe like that was all he cared for. Hannah hadn't been expecting someone so broken. She felt stupid for being mad.

"Hi, I'm Hannah," She spoke softly to put the boy at ease. He flinched back instead. "It's okay. You can have the pretzel bites. In fact, we can get you one just for yourself. I've already eaten some of those, so it might not fill you up." Hannah slowly lifted her hand, and the boy stared at it, eyes flickering between the palm and Hannah's face. Hannah kept reaching a hand out until her arm was extended to the boy. Hesitantly, his arm flinching back ever so often, he grabbed Hannah's hand, allowing her to pull him forwards.

"I'm Tommy," He whispered as his feet hit the ground, curling up with his knees pressed to his chest. Hannah gave him a smile, opening her arms without moving. She was offering a hug but not forcing it if Tommy didn't want it. He glared up at her before edging into her grasp, his hold light so he could flee whenever he needed to. Hannah closed her arms, keeping her own touch barely perceptible so she didn't spook him.

"Hannah!" Sam said as he finally found his daughter. He stopped when he saw a flash of blonde hair huddle behind Hannah, pushing her in front so Sam couldn't see who it was. Hannah gave her father a half hearted smile, lips quirking up as she kept a hand behind her. Unbeknownst to Sam, Tommy was gripping Hannah's palm like a lifeline, squeezing so hard that she was scared it would bruise.

"That's my Dad, Tommy. He's nice, I promise. His name is Sam," Hannah whispered behind her, moving out of the way slowly so Sam could see who she was hiding. Sam walked forwards with a gasp as he saw the fragile child that wanted Hannah to protect him. "Dad, this is Tommy. I think he's just hungry. That's why he took my pretzel bites. Can we get him some?"

"I think that's a wonderful idea, sweetie. Tommy, do you need help standing?" Sam asked softly, keeping his movements slow and voice quiet. Tommy squirmed where he was, looking away as he came to his feet. With how tall he was, Sam would have said he was maybe 3 or 4. With the way his knees buckled immediately, Sam would say that he was older but suffering from malnourishment. Tommy refused to let anyone help him, pushing himself onto his feet again and again until he managed it. Hannah was by his side the entire time, offering warm smiles and reassurance while he gripped her hand. Sam watched with parental worry, waiting for something to go wrong.

"Come on, kiddos. I'm sure we're all hungry," Sam said as he walked behind Hannah and Tommy, his hand on Hannah's shoulder to guide her where to go.

——

It had been a year since Tommy was found by Hannah and adopted by Sam. He always felt ashamed that all it took was them offering him food for him to be putty in their hands. Once his belly was full with pretzel bites, he spilled the beans of him being an orphan, and was half asleep when he accepted Sam's proposal to stay at their house until the child service workers came. Tommy, despite his untrusting nature, clung to Hannah, and threw a fit when they tried taking him away. The workers and Sam finally came to a truce with Tommy being added to Sam's household.

Today, he was at school. He had been going for about a month and had some nice friends. His best friend, Tubbo, was sick that day, so Tommy was left to sit at a table all by himself. He was extremely bored. Bored enough to where he took a piece of construction paper and started drawing with crayons. He drew a small figure on one side, using the black for the body and the yellow for swirly lines of hair. He smiled at his drawing, taking the black again to draw a big figure in the middle. He gave that one green hair with a gray square on his face that was meant to be a mask. The last figure was taller than the first but shorter than the second, on the opposite side of the blonde figure. He gave this one brown hair with red flowers made of five petals because he couldn't remember what roses looked like. He used the gray to draw wings behind the figure, making lines in the wings like spider webs. Tommy lifted his work in the air, smiling happily to himself. He wondered what else he should add. Should the figures be holding hands, or maybe they should be outside?

"Who's that?" A girl asked, coming up behind Tommy. The boy jumped in his seat, eyes transforming into a glare as he looked back at the girl who was holding a bunny stuffed animal tightly to her chest with one arm. Tommy didn't remember what her name was. Ann, maybe?

"This is me, my dad, and my sister!" Tommy said like it was obvious as he pointed at the figures one by one.

"Why don't any of you look alike?" The girl asked, gesturing to the picture. Tommy had asked that before. He wondered why other kids in his class looked like their parents while him and Hannah looked nothing like Sam. The adult had to explain to Tommy what adoption was.

"Me and my sister are adopted," He pronounced that wrong but what did the girl know? "That means I came from a Mommy and a Daddy who didn't want me. Sam did. So Sam became my Dad! Hannah is just like me, so she's my sister!"

"That's not how families work. Families need a mommy. You don't have one which means you're not a family," The girl argued, putting a hand on her hip.

"No, they don't. Sam is my Dad and Hannah is my sister. We don't have a mommy," Tommy argued.

"So, you're not family," The girl said matter-of-factly. Tommy was about to yell at her when the teacher called her over. Tommy had to watch as a woman and a man scooped the girl up in their arms, looking exactly like the girl. Tommy held his picture close to his chest. He didn't know why it irked him. That girl had no idea what she was talking about. Sam and Hannah were Tommy's family, even though they didn't look alike or share any blood. Tommy didn't need a mommy to be happy. So, why was he upset? Why did his nose burn, the first sign of tears coming?

"Tommy, your dad is here," the teacher called to him. Tommy blinked out of his thoughts, small hands grabbing the items from his cubby. He pulled on his backpack, and walked to his teacher who helped guide him to where Sam was helping Hannah with something. The teacher gave him a warm smile before returning to the class.

"Tommy!" Hannah called as she dove in for a hug. Sam yelled some warning to be careful as Hannah clung to Tommy. The latter didn't return the hug, tears building up in his eyes. Before he could stop himself, Tommy was sobbing like a baby in his sister's shoulder. "Tommy?"

"Hey, buddy, what's wrong?" Sam asked slowly. Tommy wasn't one to cry. Even when he got hurt, Tommy would resort to yelling at whatever hurt him instead of crying. It was an odd sight to see, and Tommy was extremely worried as he came closer.

"S-some girl said w-we weren't family because we didn't have a mommy. I w-wanna be Hannah's br-brother," Tommy whimpered as he made grabby hands at Sam, his picture forgotten on the ground. Sam picked Tommy up as Hannah took the picture, smiling as she traced the figures with her hand.

"Oh, Tommy, it's okay. She was wrong, you hear me? You're my son and Hannah's brother. We may not share blood or have a mother, but that doesn't make us any less family. I love you, and you love me. You love Hannah, and Hannah loves you. Doesn't that make us a family?" Sam asked as he pulled Hannah in with the hug. The girl nodded along, telling Tommy she loved him.

"I-I guess s-so," Tommy whispered as he buried his face in Sam's shoulder, returning the hug tightly.

"You're my little brother!" Hannah clapped her hands together while giving Tommy a kiss on the cheek.