Chapter Text
Quick and Heavy footsteps rushed down the asphalt. Heavy breathing as the two boys ran, breathless but unable to stop. They shot around corners, stumbling over cracks in the pavement and dodging light posts and abandoned cars.
“Come on, Tubbo!” Tommy shouted, reaching behind him and grabbing Tubbo’s outstretched hand as they sprinted. His throat felt like sandpaper, and his lungs were bursting. He had to keep them going, they didn’t have time to stop for breath, they had to make it to the suburbs before the- whoever they were, caught up with them.
Tommy had only seen two guys. Easy enough for him and Tubbo to take on, even if they were taller, older. Tubbo had a shotgun and Tommy had his mower blade that he’d fashioned into a sword from a few months back.
He’d thought it was the coolest thing ever. They’d found the old mower turned on it’s side from a wind storm, and he’d pried it off with a pair of hedge clippers they’d found in someone’s garage, wound duct tape around the end, and that was that.
Tubbo called it “impractical and dangerous”, but that’s just because he wasn’t seeing the absolute badassery of it.
When they’d approached the two men with a rifle aimed at one and Tommy’s mower-sword trained on the other, they hadn’t been prepared for three other guys to appear from inside a nearby storefront. Suddenly it was five-on-two, and the odds for Tommy and Tubbo weren’t looking good. Tommy had already started running when Tubbo decided to spend precious seconds aiming his rifle and firing, only for the shell to get jammed. With no time to spend fixing it, he dropped the gun and started booking it after Tommy. That had been their last round of ammo anyway, after that shot the thing would’ve had no more use to them than a paperweight.
City streets were difficult to navigate. At times it felt like the giant skyscrapers were leaning over them, blocking all light from view, like they’d never see the sun again. Tommy took a sharp right and continued sprinting, not daring to look back. Tubbo was lagging behind now, Tommy was having a hard time keeping a hold on his friend’s arm but they couldn’t stop. Not yet. Not here.
They ran until Tommy’s feet throbbed, until the buildings no longer touched the sky, instead leaving the clouds open and bare for the sun to shine on them. They ran until finally, they couldn’t run anymore.
Tommy wasn’t sure when they’d stopped being followed, but he honestly couldn’t care. He fell to his knees in the middle of the road, then his chest, then flipped himself onto his back so he could breathe properly. He stared at the sky, blue starting to turn purple with the evening fast approaching.
“Tommy…” Tubbo exhaled from beside him, when had Tubbo laid down?- “I can’t… feel my feet.”
“Lucky... mine feel like they're gonna... fall off.” He replied between panting breaths.
They laid there for a long while just letting the sun fall behind the horizon, watching the stars shine through the haze. Out in the open wasn’t safe though, they needed to get inside somewhere before they were found. There were people out there looking for them now.
“C’mon Tubs, let’s get going.” He said with effort as he pushed himself up onto his feet. Tubbo groaned from beside him, but took his outstretched hand when he offered it. Together they found a nearby building, a library by the looks of it, to spend the night in.
They stepped inside through the shattered entrance, glass crunching under their trainers. The moment they stepped in it felt like all the extra little sounds from the outside slipped away, they’d entered a different world. Tubbo guessed that was due to the books, since paper absorbed sound like fabric. The library was a calm escape from the wind and noise outside. There were plenty of couches and chairs to choose from, most of the inside had been left untouched by the riots, food and survival supplies had been fought over more than literature, however there did seem to be a few chunks of books missing from the non fiction section, probably from missing survival guides or atlases, if he had to guess.
He and Tommy settled in for the night, the whistling of wind making them wince every time it picked up enough to make the building creak and groan; they feared that would be the end, but it wasn’t. They didn’t stray far from one another, worried they’d need to make a quick break for it at any time.
No one expected it when the weather started acting up. First it had been the coasts, hurricanes and floods all over the world. Whole islands were being swallowed up, Japan, Ireland, England, Hawaii, all underwater. Australia was three-quarters the size it had been. Then half, then gone. Then the heat started turning up. Africa and Brazil were in flames, as well as most countries along the Meridian. Wind storms and Tornadoes ripped apart the American Midwest. Conversely everything closer to the poles was freezing up. America and Canada were under eight feet of snow, people were freezing to death.
For a while Tommy and Tubbo’s families had been traveling together, staying as a group was safer for everyone. But one day they’d been jumped by a group of young hard-hitting men that had been faster, stronger than any of them. They didn’t realize it at the time, but they had been the only two of the group that hadn’t been jumped. Tubbo still had nightmares about their shouts.
Their parents had screamed for them to run, so Tubbo grabbed Tommy’s wrist and started sprinting in the opposite direction. He’d ran, and ran, and ran. They’d had to stop when Tommy couldn’t breathe through his sobs anymore, Tubbo’s hands and knees shook for an hour. Tommy didn’t speak to him for days.
Now they were alone. Alone with one another, at least. Tommy held his grudge for a good long while, but even then he knew it hadn’t been Tubbo’s fault. If Tubbo hadn’t gotten them both moving, they might not be alive now.
That was four years ago. Or maybe three… three and a half? It wasn’t more than five, Tubbo was certain.
In the morning Tubbo woke up to the sound of pages flipping. He sat up and noticed Tommy sitting to his right, cross-legged on a stuffed chair with a map in his hands.
“Where’d you get that?” He mumbled as he got to his feet and stretched.
“Found it in a display case, had to take it apart, but look at this-” he motioned to Tubbo, who leaned over to see “-look at this bit of land here. Between England and France. See that?” He asks, pointing to a part of France that jutted out into the English channel.
“Tommy, this map is hardly accurate now. We have no idea-”
“Just- Just humor me, would you? This has got to be at least a bit on an indicator. I remember the news saying that France and Germany were on some kind of sweet spot in this whole weather thing. It’s not nearly as bad along this line as it is anywhere else.” He traces an invisible line across the map that ran along the 50-degree mark.
“We need to head there if we want to have any chance of surviving the winter.”
Tubbo listened to his plan, weighing the pros and cons in his head. It sounded solid enough, he remembered those tv broadcasts too, before the networks had shut down. There were flaws though, they had no idea to what degree the channel had flooded, there was no way to tell what was between them and getting to that ‘sweet-spot’.
“...We’d need to get a boat to cross the channel.”
“We can find one when we get to the coast.”
Tubbo pondered it for a while longer before giving his friend a nod.
“Alright, fine. I like it. If we’re really going to do this, we should head out in that direction then.”
Tommy grinned, and then gasped softly. “Oh! I just remembered, I found something else-” he reached into his pocket and fished out a long copper chain, tugging it out to reveal a round…
“Is that a compass?” Tubbo asked, taking the thing in his hands. “Where did you-”
“Like I said, there was a display case! C’mon Tubbo, isn’t it kinda cool-looking?”
“Tommy, we can’t take this, it looks… fancy. It was under glass!”
Tommy waves his hand dismissively. “Oh, who’s going to miss it? Besides, compasses are a tool, they’re meant to be used in adventures!”
Tubbo rolled his eyes, but took the compass from Tommy’s hands.
They set out after that. At least now with this new plan, they felt like they had more of a purpose than just aimlessly wandering the streets in search of their next meal. The next place they’d sleep. Now they had a plan, and that was good. With winter on their heels, London was going to quickly become inhospitable, and possibly even uninhabitable altogether.
Already they’d had to swim through parts of downtown, ruining most of the supplies they’d managed to gather. They’d spent the remainder of that day sprawled on the asphalt, just trying to dry their clothes. Some days it was manageable, other days it felt like the sky was falling with how much rain just poured down in sheets for hours on end. When it wasn’t the rain it was the wind, gusts so strong it could topple trees and break windows.
Once when they were walking in a windstorm Tommy had had to hold on to Tubbo as he was picked up by a particularly intense bout of wind. After that they’d decided not to travel when it got too rough, even without the rain. The fear of just getting whisked away and thrown to the ground was terrifying enough to keep both boys up at night.
They left the library early that morning, no rain and no wind, but neither of the boys wanted to get their hopes up that the nice weather would hold. They ate a quick breakfast (one granola bar split between each of them. Tubbo made a mental note to keep an eye out for any food stores, they’d been running low) and headed southeast.
It wasn’t very exciting, walking. They walked over bridges mostly, trying to stay away from the water if they could. Rivers and ponds had long ago flooded over into the streets so pretty much every step they took was in a puddle. They played a few games like eye-spy and twenty questions, but after their eighteenth round of “is-it-bigger-than-a-bread-box” Tommy complained of a headache and from then on they’d continued in relative silence.
The water started as a slight patter under their feet when they took a step. You could barely even call it a puddle. But then it became an inch, then four inches, then it was up to their ankles, their knees.
“Tommy, we should turn back. Find a way around this.” Tubbo protested as he trudged through the water.
“Good idea, Tubs. Why don’t you pull up google maps and we can- oh wait.” Tommy replies sarcastically from a few feet ahead, the map still grasped in his hands. “We can’t because there’s literally no one we can ask for directions. I forgot.”
“Oh get off it, you dick.” Tubbo mumbled as he felt the water rise above his knees.
Tommy grumbled to himself as he studied to map. It wasn’t like he could do anything about the water. The path they were on was a straight shot to the coast… he was pretty certain.
Fairly certain.
He held the map sideways for a moment to see if that made more sense.
Was he holding the map the right way? He felt like one of those cartoon characters who didn’t know where they were going.
Uh-oh.
“Uuuuh… Tubbo?” He asked, his voice getting a bit higher at the end of his question.
“What did you do.” He dead-panned, giving Tommy a glare from behind.
“I maybe… don’t know where we’re going.” He admitted, a sheepish look on his face.
“Oh my god you cannot be serious.” Tubbo said as he aggressively splashed his way to Tommy’s side. He glared over his shoulder at the map, and rolled his eyes. “There’s- I can’t read this! And if you can’t read it either then we are actually literally fucked, Tommy.”
“I- I’m sorry! Jesus, I thought we were going the right direction, I swear! And then- well…” He trailed off with a shrug. “I just… realized I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.”
Tubbo exhaled slowly through his nose, trying to relax. It wasn’t Tommy’s fault. Neither of them had ever really been taught to read a map like this. They’d always been able to rely on phones and computers to tell them where they were, where they needed to be, and how long it would take them to get there. Now without that, they were lost.
“Alright- take it easy big man. Just… look, we’ve got the compass. If we just keep heading southeast from where we are now, we’ll either hit the coast or make our way to this spot here.” He says, tracing his finger down to the edge of England.
“There’s some forested bits around there but if we skirt around the edge we should be fine. Once we get past that we should make it to the southern coast and be able to boat across the channel like we planned.”
Tommy looked at him with a slightly awed expression.
“That’s… really smart, Tubbo.”
He smiles, a determined look in his eyes. “All in the plan, boss-man. Let’s keep walking.”
Notes:
I have a LOT planned for the next few chapters.
As of right now I'm not really sure what the end-point is for this fic? Honestly, I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any!
I actually hadn't planned on doing much with this when I started writing it, but after I wrote the prologue and got into the main part of the story so far, I felt it would be fun the share! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I can't wait to continue working on it ^^
Chapter Text
Tommy wasn’t really sure which city it was. England wasn’t huge but he wasn’t that big into geography and honestly he didn’t like traveling that much, so memorizing town names had never been something he’d been particularly adept at. Whatever name the city had had in the past, it hardly mattered now. The entire place was underwater.
Some parts were shallower than others, but for the most part he and Tubbo had been up to their knees. Sometimes it tapered down, sometimes it rose as high as his chest. At one point Tubbo had climbed onto his back as they walked through a particularly deep section. Something about feeling a fish under his foot or something like that.
As far as they’d come, the water had never risen above their heads, but Tommy looked at the stretch of road before them with a sickening feeling in his gut.
“It doesn’t taper off… and look at how the buildings slant like that.” He motions to Tubbo, bringing attention to the angle of the houses. The steepness.
“I noticed it too. Let’s just… let’s scout around, there might be a walking bridge nearby that goes above it.”
Tommy gives him a nod, and they wade off the path, searching for anything that could get them across. But after searching for half an hour and finding nothing of the sort, they resorted to just swimming across and hoping for the best.
“Tommy, I think I felt another fish…” Tubbo whined as they swam.
“It’s nothing, Tubbo! So what if it was a fish? Fish are cool!”
He whined regardless, but said nothing more. They were nearly a quarter of the way across, and Tommy was already feeling the tiredness in his arms. They’d been walking for hours, and his feet were absolutely soaked. His trainers were falling apart, and what little food supplies they had left was probably useless now that they’d once again had to swim with it.
They made their way to the otherside with no hiccups, which was a blessing. The moment they’d hit ground Tommy sighed loud and obnoxious. He didn’t care that it wasn’t dry land, the water only reached their ankles there and he had basked in it, laying down and staring at the sky. Tubbo had quickly followed suit.
“I hate water.” He groaned.
“I hate water more than you.”
Tubbo looked over at Tommy with a scowl, but he couldn’t hide his smile.
“Why must you make every single breath a competition?”
“Because, my dear Tubbo, life is a competition and I am fucking WINNING!!”
Food ran out.
They should’ve known it would happen eventually. They’d been running off of granola bars and snickers for about three days. That and the fact that pretty much everything in the bag had been soaked from swimming, there really was just nothing left. Still, it hurt to open the bag and see that there was nothing inside. Tommy’s stomach growled hollowly, and he shut his eyes in a wince. London had been absolutely barren for food, and they hadn’t really found a good stockpile along the way except for a gas station where they’d snagged the candybars. Now they were left with nothing.
Worse came to worse when their shoes actually fell apart as they walked. First it had been Tommy’s right sole just popping off as he took a step. Then it was Tubbo’s left shoe. Eventually they got to the point where it was more of a hassle to stop and try to fix them than it was to just leave them and continue on. There was nothing for it. They had no food, no fresh water, and now, no shoes.
They were fucked.
“Tommy…” Tubbo whimpered from his left.
“Yeah, Tubs?” He replied, his voice oddly soft.
“I-.... n-nothing. Sorry, I forgot.” He mumbled, his arm looping through his.
Tommy knew what he was going to say. He’d been saying it for the past two hours as they walked. ‘Tommy, my feet hurt. Tommy, my feet hurt. Tommy, my feet hurt.’ and it’s not like Tommy could even blame him, his feet hurt too. They’d been walking for hours.
“It’s alright, Tubbo. Let’s… let’s stop for the night.” He mumbles, looking around for somewhere they could hide for at least a few hours. The sun had barely even begun to set, but he knew Tubbo was even more exhausted than he was. They were running on empty.
Luckily there was a small workshed near the road up ahead, probably the property of someone who’d lived further down the path, but it was there for the taking now.
Tubbo whined from behind him as they approached the shed, and he was about to chide him for being ungrateful when he noticed the lock on the handle of the shed.
“Nooo…” Tubbo groaned. He nearly sounded on the edge of tears, and Tommy made an effort to comfort him momentarily before focusing on the task at hand. The lock was sturdy, it hadn’t budged an inch over the years it had been secured here. If anything, the orange colored rust around the joints would only serve as glue for it to stick in place. No, the lock definitely wasn’t budging. But… the doors were made of wood. The whole shed was made of wood. Quickly, he walked around the perimeter of the shed, and let out a wave of relief when he found an old rotted out corner on the back wall.
“Tubbo! Look, we can get in here.” He said, getting down on his stomach to crawl through the tiny gap. Once inside, he helped pull Tubbo through, and they stood up together to assess their new surroundings.
“This isn’t so bad.” Tubbo said with a hint of optimism in his voice. The shed was small, sure, but there was plenty of room for both of them, and if Tommy squinted he could make out the shapes of… things. There might be useful supplies in here for them.
“Take a load off, Tubs. Let’s get some sleep.” Tommy said as he felt around for anything soft he could use as a pillow. His hand landed on something vaguely soft, if a bit scratchy, and plush. He adjusted it a bit and held it close to the hole they’d come in through to get a glimpse at it, and found it was a burlap sack. Curious, he opened it up and inside…
If he shed a few tears at the sight of some dried meat, then screw him. He cried. He shared the entire thing with Tubbo, and after having nothing to eat for two days, with finally full bellies, the boys fell asleep on the floor of the shed.
“Look at this. I think we’re here.” Tubbo says, pointing to the map. His finger skirts the outline of a small green patch. “This is Joshua Forest, It’s absolutely massive. We’ll either have to continue in the direction we’re going here, or double back a bit and take this route if we’re gonna get around it. If we’d been better at reading maps maybe we could’ve aimed ourselves more this way, but well… I think we can make it work.”
Tommy sighs as he studies the map over their breakfast of leftover dried meat. They really should’ve rationed it out, but with the shitty month they’d been having so far he felt they’d deserved a little joy. It was early morning, dew covered the thick grass that sprouted all along the side of the road, and it dampened the seat and cuffs of Tommy and Tubbo’s jeans. They were lounging against the outside of the shed, the map in Tommy’s hands as Tubbo pointed out where he was fairly certain they’d traveled.
“Either way if we keep going or double back, it’s going to take us a week at least to get around this forest.” He says with a sigh. As he’s chewing he absent mindedly traces a finger from their approximate location dead straight through the patch of green on the map. It wouldn’t be a life-saving solution, but if they were able to cut through the forest, then they’d get to the coast in, what, four days?
“No way, we can’t go through. Look- it would’ve been dangerous before, but now we’ve got no shoes, all we have for food is beef-jerky crumbs.”
“What if there’s food on the coast? You think we can survive a week’s journey with no food, no water? We could reach the beach and find food three days before we’d find it if we go ‘round the forest.”
“Tommy, it’s just not an option. Our feet-”
“The pavement is messing up your feet, Tubbo. The forest is literally grass! It would probably be better than taking the path, honestly.”
“Oh, like your feet don’t hurt?”
“That’s not-!” Tommy sighs through his nose, “that’s not the point. The point is, even if it’s a risk, it’s a risk we should take because it means finding resources faster, do you see what I mean?” He asked, his eyes pleading with Tubbo to find the reasoning in his words. His friend scrunched his face up in thought, weighing each of their options. Eventually he sighs, closing his eyes.
“...Fine. We’ll take the forest. But if there’s any scary witches in there, I’m totally sacrificing you so save myself.”
“I would expect nothing less, my good man.” Tommy replies.
Honestly, the forest was a nice change of scenery for the boys. The air felt cleaner, and Tommy had been right about the grassy floor of the forest being easier to walk on than the pebbly asphalt road. They heard birds for the first time in a long time. Tubbo had stopped Tommy to watch a pair of tiny swallows battling one another, fluttering about and calling out to one another.
Tommy missed seeing that look of wonder on his friend’s face, how his face would split into an open-mouth grin, like he just couldn’t contain his excitement. Tommy wondered if Tubbo felt the same way about him.
They’d been walking for probably a little over three hours. The tall trees obscured the sky and air around them, and the branches lower to the ground masked the path forward, and back.
“Stick close. I’ve heard stories about people getting lost just from stepping a few feet away from one another in the woods.” Tubbo mumbled, holding tight to the sleeve of Tommy's shirt. Tommy raised a hand to Tubbo’s and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
“Don’t worry Tubs, I’m right here. We’re stuck together, you and me.”
Tubbo used his other hand to hold out the compass in front of them, swaying it gently this way and that in order to make sure they were still heading southeast.
The sky turned downcast alarmingly quickly. A chill raced up Tommy’s spine, and after a few minutes both boys were absolutely quaking. It had been cold up to that point, but never like this. Tommy felt his teeth chattering in his skull, he felt Tubbo’s fingernails in his arm. “Tubs, my arm-” He asked, wincing as Tubbo had to manually unclench his fingers, unsticking his nails from Tommy’s skin.
“It’s… c-cold.” Tubbo stuttered, waiting for Tommy to bark out a loud laugh, or yell ‘NO SHIT’ or just… do anything. But all he did was give Tubbo a shivering nod and a quiet “yeah.”
Not good.
It was already not good when they were shivering hard enough to give themselves headaches, but when it started snowing Tubbo knew it was the end.
“Tommy- Tommy.” He pulled Tommy’s attention to the sky, just pointing upwards. His eyes widened, and he looked at Tubbo with one of the most scared expressions he’d ever seen on his face.
“We need to… run.” He muttered, not really sure why. Maybe because running keeps your body heat up, maybe he thought they could out-run the storm. Either way they started to jog as quickly as they could through the forest, carefully dodging trees and jumping over the occasional log that blocked their path.
The snow began as a powder that got stuck in the strands of their hair, and quickly dissolved on their clothes, but quickly became a carpet under their feet and a blinding force in front of them. They’d stopped running about five minutes after Tommy suggested they do so, as the snow began to thicken around their feet and become a nuisance. He shielded his eyes with his arm, holding Tubbo so close they were pressed against one another’s sides. Despite it still being around noon, the cloud cover and endless coat of snow made the whole world feel like a perpetual dusk.
They wouldn’t last much longer out in this with the clothes they had. Tubbo was slightly better off than Tommy was, with his hoodie. All he had was a white long sleeved shirt, with red sleeves. Tubbo was clinging to him, more for his sake than his own, Tommy thought. Tubbo was desperately trying to share whatever warmth they had left. Meanwhile Tommy was scouting, keeping his eyes open for something, anything they could use for shelter.
It had been maybe thirty minutes since the snow began, and there was just no chance they could make it back to the shed before it became unbearable. Besides, the shed would quickly become their final resting place unless they could by some miracle build a fire.
Up ahead, was that- Tommy didn’t want to allow himself to hope, not until he knew for sure, but the closer they got the more apparent it became that there was a golden yellow light peeking through the torrential snow that threatened to bury them where they stood.
“Tubbo, Tubbo look-” Tommy guided Tubbo’s head up, the boy’s eyes barely opening at all. Tommy decided not to waste anymore time, and he practically carried Tubbo as they both staggered toward the lit house in the distance.
As they got closer Tommy could see the light they’d been able to make out from a distance was a porch light, but not only that, an oil lamp porch light. He found it odd, but didn’t waste a moment on it, instead focusing on the front door.
The house was locked up tight, Tommy deposited Tubbo against a wall, and got to work on the door. First, he tried the knob, and of course, no luck. He searched around for a key, but found no spare. Finally, he just decided he had to do what he had to do. With a few nervous practice tries, he stepped back and punched a hole through the glass window, reaching in and feeling around for the door knob. The unlocked the deadbolt and grabbed the handle, turning it from the inside and opening the door.
Even just from standing outside, he could feel the warmth emanating from within. Tubbo pulled himself up and latched onto Tommy as they walked inside, Tommy closing the door behind them.
The inside was beautiful. A livingroom to their left with a big brick fireplace, and to their right a kitchen table with a small kitchen beyond that. Tommy fell to his knees in relief. No one was home.
Tommy gently laid Tubbo on a stuffed sofa that leaned against the living room wall where he promptly passed out.
Tommy sat beside him on the floor with a strained sigh, taking a moment to assess himself. He pulled his sleeves up and looked at his arms. A few small cuts and scrapes from the trees and from falling occasionally on the pavement. No big deal. More of the same on his legs, though there was a pretty large gash in his left that he hadn’t noticed. Maybe from crawling in and out of that rotten shed. His feet were the big issue. He didn’t really want to look at them because he knew he wouldn’t like what he saw, but if there was a time to take stock of damage it was when they were somewhere where there was probably medical supplies.
Cautiously he takes a look at the soles of his feet, and winces. They were black with dirt and asphalt, there were tiny itty-bitty little scrapes where pebbles had torn away at his skin, not to mention his feet were absolutely swollen from walking for days and days on end.
Knowing there was something wrong always made the pain worse. This was no exception, and as Tommy got up to find a first aid kit, he couldn’t help the way he limped and soft whimper that escaped him. He checked the first door he’d seen when he opened the house, but apparently that was the entrance to a basement of some kind, and he’d rather check around this floor before he forced himself to walk down a flight of stairs to find some fucking neosporin.
Luckily a trip past the kitchen revealed a bathroom to the right, hidden behind the stairwell to the basement, along with a backdoor. He opened the bathroom door to find a small room with white linoleum tiles and dingy white walls. Mounted above the sink was a medicine cabinet, and Tommy rooted through the entire thing, dumping bandages and medicine into the basin before he found the tube he was searching for. Sitting on the cool floor of the bathroom he opened the cap and applied the medicine to the soles of his feet, wrapping them up with some gauze he’d found as well. He tucked the tube and bandages into his pocket to give to Tubbo later.
Feeling a bit better, he ventured back out into the kitchen. He opened the fridge first, but was disappointed to see that it wasn’t on. However, whoever was living here was using it for shelves, and there was a good amount of canned goods and a loaf of bread on the shelf. It wasn’t cut though, so Tommy decided to skip it for now, they could make sandwiches later. He checked the rest of the cupboards, finding more of the same. However there was one cupboard full of boxed food. Crackers, Chips, even a tin of cookies. Tommy felt a bit bad stealing whoever lived here’s treats though, so he left them be for the moment.
He walked back to the living room to check on Tubbo, noticing he was awake when they caught eyes.
“Hey, boss man.” Tubbo mumbled.
Tommy knelt down beside him with a smile, taking his hand. “Hey Tubbo. You alright?”
He nods, sitting up. “Just felt real dizzy there for a lil’ bit. I think I’m alright now.”
“Good. Here, for your feet.” He says, handing the medicine and bandages to Tubbo.
“Oh sweet! Thanks.”
Tommy lays down on the carpeted floor, looking up at the ceiling. He closes his eyes and listens to the sounds of the snow outside, the Tubbo on the couch, to the house as it creaks and settles around them. For the first time in a long time he really, truly felt like he could relax.
“Tommy?” He heard Tubbo’s voice, opening his eyes.
“Hey, you dozed off for a couple hours.” Tubbo muttered softly, kneeling next to him, still on the living room floor, except now he had a pillow beneath his head and like- two hefty blankets stacked on top of him.
Had he fallen asleep? It felt like he’d closed his eyes just a second ago.
“Wh- Wh’sup?” He mumbles, his voice coated in sleep.
“Nothing, nothing. Just thought you might be comfier sleeping on the couch or something.” Tubbo said kindly. He helped Tommy to his feet, then to the couch, and laid him down. “You were shaking pretty bad in your sleep, so I got you some blankets. I checked the kitchen too, do you want some tea?”
Tommy couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up inside of him. Tea. Fucking tea.
“Yeah, I’ll take some tea.”
Tubbo smiled too and gave him one big nod before heading to the kitchen. Tommy was really glad he got up when he did, because tears started falling down his cheeks pretty much the moment Tubbo left. They weren’t sad, or happy. Maybe he was relieved, or maybe it was nostalgia. Fucking tea nostaliga. He remembered how his mom would make him tea sometimes if he was ill or stressed, it had been so trivial it was sickening, but now all he wanted was to hear his mom’s knock on his door with a mug of tea and a soft “how are you doing?”
Tubbo was back in just a few minutes with a steaming white mug of tea, and one for himself. Tommy’s had a chip on the rim, he wondered if Tubbo had given him that one on purpose.
They drank their tea together quietly, Tommy asked if Tubbo’s feet felt any better, which Tubbo affirmed delightedly. After a short while Tubbo hunkered down on the floor, insisting Tommy have the couch.
For the first time in a long time, the boys slept like the dead, no nightmares to jolt them awake, no dreams, just deep and peaceful rest.
Outside, the storm wailed on.
Phil slung his pack over his shoulder, pulling his garder up over his nose to the point that if he pulled it any higher, he wouldn’t be able to see. He dragged a sled behind him with his catches, a deer, which was already amazing. Three rabbits, four squirrels; it was his most successful hunting trip to date. But with the snow picking up the way it had, he had to cut things short and head back to camp, which wasn’t far, but snow made things difficult.
He honestly couldn’t wait to get home. It was a day’s journey with the sled, at least. But the hunting trips were worth it to get the meat that was essential for surviving. Tomorrow, early in the morning when the snow would be still, he’d set out for home.
Hopefully he’d make it before nightfall.
Notes:
Ooooo we're getting introduced to our next character!!! Phil has no idea what's happening at his house rn
The next three chapters after this are the first part of what I wrote, all this so far has been prologue, so get ready for the fun part!!
Chapter Text
Tubbo woke to the smell of something cooking.
He pushed himself up from his bed of blankets on the living room floor and stretched his arms above his head with a yawn. Getting up, he noticed his feet felt a bit odd. When he looked down he remembered last night. Finding the house, Tommy waking him up with the medicine, falling asleep on the floor. He looked down at the clean white bandages wrapped around his… honestly filthy feet. Not that the rest of him wasn’t filthy as well.
“Is there a shower here?” He asked as he rounded the corner into the kitchen.
Tommy was stood in front of the stove, apparently perfectly content to use whatever food supply was available while they had access to it. Thievery be damned.
“There’s one in the bathroom back here, but I don’t know how warm the water’s gonna be. It’s still snowing outside.”
“Do you think the water’s running?” He asks as he peeks in the little room.
“Sink works fine in the kitchen, I don’t see why the shower wouldn’t.” Tommy calls from behind him as he slides whatever he was cooking from the skillet to a plate.
Tubbo walks back into the kitchen, noting down that he definitely wanted to try out the shower.
“Can I have some?” He asked, eying whatever was on Tommy’s plate. Eggs maybe? Withe bits of meat in it?
“Made some ‘specially for you, Tub’s. On the counter.” He says before digging in. Tubbo grins and runs to grab the plate, sitting down across from Tommy.
It was eggs, as he’d suspected. Where the hell had the person living here gotten eggs?! Not to mention the little bits of pork or chicken or something in the eggs.
“Did you make this?” He asked, looking at Tommy. But the boy shook his head.
“Nah, found it outside in an ice box. Must be someone’s leftovers.”
Tubbo relaxed a bit at that. At least they weren’t actively wasting food that hadn’t already been prepared. For some reason that made him feel a little better.
After breakfast Tubbo did end up taking a shower, which turned cold in approximately 0.5 seconds. He screeched so loud Tommy had banged on the door, asking what the hell had happened, and Tubbo had to sheepishly explain to him that he’d been bamboozled by the water temperature.
Once he’d gotten out, he found Tommy sitting in front of a lit fireplace in the living room, which Tubbo quickly took up residence in front of beside him. Tommy also took an icy shower, and both boys spent a good amount of time just sitting there trying to warm up.
Their clothes were also filthy, but there wasn’t much they could really do about it at the moment. Searching through the coat closet and wardrobe revealed the person here was an older man, larger than either of them, and none of his clothes would’ve fit. Not that either of them would’ve felt okay putting on a stranger’s clothes. Stealing their food was one thing, but clothes… there was just something about it that both boys decided was a no-go.
After some more searching the boys discovered the house also had a record player (it wouldn’t work- Tommy suggested there was probably a generator somewhere for electric things) along with a plethora of records, an entire three shelves full of books (mostly non-fiction, Tommy called the man a stuck-up prick who couldn’t understand good storytelling if it hit him in the face) and some fun knick knacks that they’d both found interesting (A perfectly square block of coral. Like- seriously, where the hell did he get that? The thing was a flawless square).
They also found a ladder that led upstairs to some sort of lofted bedroom, but once again the exploration of that room felt too private for the boys and they declared the room ‘off-limits’.
But there was still one room they hadn’t entered. They both peeked down the wooden stairs that led to the basement. About half way down the light from the main floor filtered out, leaving the bottom a mystery.
“How far down do you think it goes?” Tubbo asked timidly, to which Tommy scoffed and rolled his eyes, grabbing a black pen off of a nearby end table and chucking it into the void. Hearing a soft clattering just a second later, Tubbo sighed with relief.
“At least we’re not walking into an endless pit.” He mumbled as both boys traversed the steps, each one creaking and groaning with discomfort.
“Can you see anything?” He asked in a hushed tone, squinting into the darkness.
“Tubbo, shush.” Tommy muttered as he felt around for anything to grab on to. His hand hit something to his left, and he reached out more cautiously to find a thin cylindrical object. Picking it up, he found a button and flicked it on.
“Oh good, a torch.” He said with a relieved smile, shining it around the room.
“Wha- HOLY SHIT!!” He shouted, waving the flashlight around to illuminate the room. “What the FUCK?! LOOK AT ALL THIS SHIT!!”
Tubbo gaped as the room was revealed to be literally packed with… things. Random things, by the looks of it. The way Tommy was waving the light around made it difficult to spot details, but he picked out a glass vase, a lamp with no lamp shade, a bunch of cardboard boxes all stacked on top of one another all over the place, some more lamps and electronics stacked on shelves- lots of shelves. It was like the library all over again, except instead of books, the shelves were filled with… just, random stuff. The air hung heavy with the smell of metal and old books.
Tommy explored into the basement further, leaving Tubbo to his own devices for the time being. He noticed the glint of polished metal from a nearby shelf. His bare feet scuffed against the concrete floor as he approached, reaching out his hand to grab what had caught the light. A cylindrical tin that he could’ve mistaken for food, had it not been for the crank attached to one side. When he plucked it off the shelf it left a ring of dust behind. Obviously had not been touched in a very, very long time.
As he held the cool metal in his palm. He noticed how light it was, and flipped it upside down to reveal that the bottom was hollow. Inside was an odd mechanism. A tiny flat piece of metal with slits cut all up one side, placed against some kind of thick tube covered in tiny bumps. He could see little gears that must be controlled by the crank.
Curious, he grabbed the small handle between his fingers and wound it. He was so surprised when it started making noise he nearly dropped it altogether, but managed to keep a grasp on the thing.
“Tommy! Tommy, come look at this!” He called out to the other. He couldn't take his eyes off the little contraption as he heard Tommy draw nearer. “Listen.” Is all he says before winding the thing once more. As he turns the handle, the high pitched ‘plink, plink, plink’s coming from the can once more, and Tommy tenses at the brash noise.
“Shh, just listen, listen!” He urges gently, not wanting to scare the other boy off. They stand like that for a while, listening to the eerie but calming melody emanating around the room.
“It’s… music.” Tommy breathes, Tubbo nods with a smile.
It had been so long since either of them had heard a tune that hadn’t been made with their own voices. Neither of them considered themselves to be particularly good singers, but regardless it helped fill the silence that blanketed the world around them so thickly. They stood together there for a moment longer, Tubbo gently humming along with the tune as it repeated.
“Bom, Bom, Bum… Bom, Bom, Bum…”
Tommy couldn’t help but smile at the sight. Tubbo had always been the more musically inclined of the two of them.
Once on their travels through a larger city, they’d come across an old abandoned building that could’ve been a pub a long time ago. Old rotted creaking floorboards and a long polished bar, long fogged over with dust and varnish. Toppled bar stools, tables, tattered remnants of posters and broken glass all littered the floor, crunching under their boots. Tommy had been looting around behind the bar for anything of use, preferably food, when he heard Tubbo’s sharp gasp. It had been so abrupt he nearly mistook it for a shriek, and he’d shot up so fast he bashed the back of his head against a shelf, wincing.
‘Tubbo! Tubbo, what is it?!’ he’d shouted as he scrambled to his feet.
‘Look at this!’ Tubbo exclaimed as he ran to the corner of the room, brushing his hand along a piece of furniture Tommy didn’t immediately recognize.
‘What, What about it?’
‘It’s a piano!’
Tommy scowled slightly, rubbing the back of his head. ‘That’s nice, Tubbo.’
‘No, really!’ He said as he pulled the bench out, sitting down despite the layer of dust that covered it. He pulled the hood of the piano up, sliding it into the body to reveal old yellow and black keys, cracked with age. His breath caught at the sight, but Tommy didn’t see the appeal.
‘So what? Tubbo, we need to keep-’
Tubbo pressed down on middle C, effectively silencing Tommy. He began to play a slow but jaunty ragtime tune that seemed both very fitting and completely out of the blue. He stepped closer, leaning a hand on the side of the instrument and watching as his friend’s fingers danced across the keys, like that’s exactly where they belonged.
It lasted for only a few moments. Tubbo’s hands stilled. Tommy wanted to beg him to continue.
‘When did you-?’
‘Parents.’ Tubbo interrupted, shrugging with a smile on his face. ‘They wanted me to learn, and I just- fell in love with it. I can’t believe this thing still works! Sure it’s wildly out of tune, but- it must be near a hundred years old.’
Tommy leaned even closer, reaching out and tapping his index finger on a key. The sound was deep and hollow, and he could feel the tug of the wire on the key as it fed back into the body, and was hit by the hammer within it. Old. Very old. He glanced up at Tubbo and watched as he stared fondly down at the instrument in front of him. Particles of dust floated through a pane of golden light behind him and Tommy could just picture him practicing at home in the evening light, music flowing through his old house into the living room and kitchen. A place filled with melody
‘Would you.. Play some more? Please.’ He asked so quietly.
Tubbo reached out again, no further prodding required, and began to play another tune, this one more twittery and bright. Tommy liked this even more than the first, a smile brimming on his face that matched Tubbo’s.
They’d stood there for a long while, Tommy tapped his foot to the beat and swayed as Tubbo filled the old hall with music it probably hadn’t heard in decades.
He was suddenly pulled from his memory by a distant but menacing sound. One that tore him away from the music maker.
“Tubbo…” He started, his eyes glued to the floorboards above their heads.
“Tubbo, shut it off. Now.”
The sound drew closer. ‘Thump, Thump, Thump’.
Footsteps.
“Tubbo, now, now, now!” He hissed, turning to him and grabbing the thing in his hands. But Tubbo held fast.
“It- It doesn’t have an off switch! Tommy, I can’t-”
“Hide! Hide, Just hide!” He pushed Tubbo back, making him drop the little thing. It clattered to the ground with a loud ‘TWANG’, rolling around on the floor until it settled neatly in the middle of the room. Tommy could hear a stutter in the footsteps above.
They had no time.
Notes:
Dun dun DUN the boys are in trouble now (or are they)
AAaaaaaA I LOVE WRITING THIS SO MUCH
okay
This is just the beginning of my favorite part soooo NEXT CHAPTER GOGOGOGOGO
Chapter Text
As Phil had predicted, the snow ceased in the early morning hours. He exited his tent with a deep sigh and a stretch, reaching for the overcast sky. Just because the snow had let up for a moment didn’t mean it would stay that way for long, and so he packed up what little supplies he’d brought with him onto his sled, and started trudging toward home.
Phil was a pretty tall guy, not crazy insane tall, but he managed just fine. Just one night of snowfall and already the snow banks reached his upper calves. Thankfully the sled was lightweight enough that it glided over top for most of the journey. Phil wasn’t sure how he’d cope out here without it. The trip home was long, even with the sled. He hoped he’d be hope by nightfall, if he kept this pace up he’d be fine. He hoped.
Hours passed, Phil checked his map, once pristine but now littered with calculated lines and a few scrawled notes. He was certain he was still on the path he’d made, but it never hurt to double-check, especially with snow. The same patch of forest that you’ve seen a hundred times can look absolutely foreign in the snow, so he checks. Everything was fine.
He stopped for a late lunch/early supper and checked his watch. Remarkably it was still running even after all these years, the display had faded but it read:
“3:57:42”
“9/13/22”
September already. There wasn’t much use to counting the days at this point, nothing other than an arbitrary marker for a system that no longer existed, but it gave him peace of mind for some reason. As if as long as he knew the date, he had control.
It was Wil’s birthday tomorrow.
God, he hoped the boy’s were doing alright. They’d tried staying in contact regularly but with the way the world worked now there was just no way. They’d promised to visit in the summer and winter, Phil prayed that when he got home he’d see the familiar footprints in the snow, smoke pouring from the chimney, the silhouette of his boys in the windows.
He just wanted to see them again.
Time passed again and he was certain it was close to midnight now. He’d lit his lantern about an hour ago, and the yellow light did much for his vision as the snow had once again picked up as the day progressed. It was really coming down now. Up ahead he could just barely make out the shape of his house, and he almost sighed with relief. Finally, finally he was back. It had been over a week since he’d seen his house, and the sight of it made his chest warm. Sleeping in his bed instead of a sleeping bag, cooking something on the stove instead of over an open fire.
As he got closer his heart skipped a beat. He could see candlelight filtering through the curtains, and smoke from the chimney. His boys! Wil and Tech, thank god. Thank god they were safe. He picked up his pace, leaving the sled a dozen yards or so from the house in favor of just running up to the door.
He stopped in his tracks at the foot of his steps, though. His eyes landed on the shattered glass of his front door. Cautiously, he stepped up and approached the door, reaching out to trace a finger over the jagged edge. He paused, contemplating his options. He could burst in and confront them, hope it was just a few people, try to get them to leave peacefully if he could. He stepped back down the stairs and went to grab the sled, pulling it around the side of the house so it was out of sight from the front windows. He hadn’t seen anyone yet, but he couldn’t be too careful.
How long had they been here? Phil had been out for a week, they could have come at any time. Had they eaten his food? Stolen his supplies?
He crept around the back of the house and made his way up the back steps, silently opening the backdoor. Stepping inside his boots shed snow on the floor in mounds, creating puddles on the linoleum kitchen tiles.
He crouched low as he snuck through his house, taking stock of what he could see.
The bathroom door was open, and Phil could tell the shower had been used. His medicine cabinet had been raided. So the person was probably sick, or injured in some way. All the kitchen candles had been lit, there were dishes in the sink, but not many. If they’d been here for very long they’d eaten maybe one or two meals. He peeked around the corner and checked the living room where he found a bed of blankets on the floor and couch, the fireplace roaring. Two people. They’d also raided his firewood stock from the kitchen, which he hadn’t originally noticed.
There was something else though. If he was quiet, if he strained his ears… there.
Music.
Notes:
PHIL IS HOMEEEEEE
and the bois are scared
Chapter Text
He kept pushing Tubbo back, back into the hall of shelves that shrouded them from the light that emanated from the upper floor. The torch had long been forgotten somewhere deeper in the basement.
He let go of Tubbo just then, they wouldn’t be able to hide together, there wasn’t enough space for two of them. He was able to catch a glimpse of Tubbo ducking behind a wooden crate just as he pressed his back against the other side of the shelf that faced the rest of the room.
They’d apparently hid just in time, as Tommy saw Tubbo pull his foot behind the box, the door to the basement opened with a creak and a pair of boots appeared on the first step.
Tubbo stopped breathing.
Tommy couldn’t blink.
They watched as the boots descended the wooden stairs, and then became a man. He couldn’t tell much from behind but he wore his blond hair long, the ends just an inch or so past his shoulders with a brown cloak that brushed against his ankles. There was a long nosed hunting rifle slung across his back.
Tommy glanced at Tubbo. He was shaking.
The stranger stepped forward, leaning down to grab the music maker just as it’s song ended. He stood in silence, scanning the room around him. He turned toward the stairs and Tommy could almost make out his face. He caught his jaw, his nose, the scruff of a beard on his chin. He went to place the thing back on the shelf in the exact spot Tubbo had found it.
The boys watched silently as he continued his scan of the room. It was like he had infrared vision, like he was playing one of those “spot the difference” games that Tubbo loved so much in the activity books they occasionally discovered in the remnants of libraries or middle schools.
Their eyes meet.
Tubbo froze, his heart in his throat. He dared not move a muscle. The room was absolutely silent.
Slowly, the man sank down to squat at Tubbo’s level, their eyes never straying from one another’s. He held his hands out in front of him as if calming a wild animal.
“It’s alright.” He whispered, voice gentler than Tubbo would’ve guessed at the sight of him.
“You’re not in trouble. You don’t need to be scared.”
Tubbo leaned back, pressing his shoulders against the shelf behind him. His eyes never strayed as he watched the man sit down on the concrete floor.
“My name is Phil. What about you? Can you tell me your name?”
Tubbo tried his best to school his expression into something slightly less terrified. He kept eying the rifle that was still sticking up from behind ‘Phil’s’ shoulder. He seemed to notice Tubbo’s shifting gaze and glanced behind him, suddenly realizing how he must’ve looked.
“Oh! Jesus, I-I’m not going to hurt you. Look, look-”
He grabbed the rifle by the nose, pulling the strap off from around his back and slid it across the floor so it was safely away from both of them.
“No weapons. Nothing scary, see? I just came back from a hunting trip, that’s all. I would never hurt anyone.”
Phil could see the way he shook in fear. It sent an arrow through his heart to think he’d scared someone so badly, especially someone so young. He pulled himself up to a kneeling position and reached out a gloved hand to the boy when suddenly another figure stepped between them. It sent a shock through him and he stumbled backward, landing on his hands.
“D-Don’t touch him.” A shaky voice demanded. Phil looked up to see another kid, this one with blonde choppy hair. The first boy quickly scrambled to his feet and put a hand on the blonde’s shoulder from behind, peeking at him.
Phil stood and took three steps back, recalculating the situation. Two kids was more complicated than one. They both looked scared out of their minds, which wasn’t going to help; wild and bright-eyed in a dangerous way. He suddenly noticed how skinny both of them were, how their clothes hung off them loosely as if they’d once fit but the boys had shrunk. Neither of them wore shoes.
“How did you two get all the way out here with no shoes?” He wondered aloud before he could stop himself.
The boys seemed to ignore the question, as the brown-haired kid spoke up: “We… We want food. A-and shoes! Give us your shoes, and your food and um… your… gun! We want your gun too!”
Phil couldn’t help the soft chuckle that escaped him, but he regretted it when he saw how it made the blonde kid’s stare turn icy cold. Not the time for amusement.
“I can’t give you my things, their mine.” he tried to reason, “But how about we work something out? Like a deal? If you do some things for me, I’ll give you what you're asking for,” He paused, “accept the gun. The gun is off the table.”
He leaned back, gauging the boy’s reactions to the offer. In reality just the fact they seemed to be considering it at all was a good sign in Phil’s mind. They were calming down from that adrenaline high.
They whispered amongst one another for a moment, their voices too hushed for Phil to hear.
“What kind of things would you want us to do?” The blonde mumbled. Phil noticed how he still guarded his friend like he expected Phil to just tackle the two of them at any moment.
“Well, I need help tending the garden. I just brought in some fresh meat that needs to be prepared for storing. I’d like to build a new shed before the snow starts setting in.”
“You want us to help with your food supplies?” he asked, his voice raised in something akin to hope. Phil took that as a good sign.
“Sure, if you’re willing to. In exchange, you’ll get three hot meals every day, clean water, a bed. Uh… I have books if you’re interested-”
“Can I have that little thing?” The brown haired one asks, timidly pointing to Phil’s left. He looks behind him momentarily, and notices how one thing on the shelf glints in the light shining from the stairs.
“You like this little thing?” He asks softly, picking up the music maker in his hands before looking back at the boy. He nodded.
“You like music?” He asked, “me too. Found that little thing in an old shipwreck, near the coast. Not sure what the song is, but I liked it so much I decided to keep it with me, tucked it in my pocket. That was back when I was still roaming around the coast, hadn’t settled in like I have now.”
He smiles a bit at the memory, holding the music box out for him to take. “It’s yours. You can keep it.”
He watched as the kid’s eyes brightened, and he almost went to reach for the music box when the other one stopped him with a hand. Quietly, they started whispering with one another. Phil again couldn’t make out much, but he caught the phrase ‘Hang on Tubs, think about this-’
“Tub’s?” He asked with a cautious smile, looking at the two boys curiously. The blond was the first to respond, a scowl on his face.
“Yeah, what about it? Don’t-”
“My name’s Tubbo.” The other kid, ’Tubbo’, interrupted, making the blonde one smack his arm.
“What are you doing, giving a stranger your name?!”
“What? He gave us his!” Tubbo argued, gesturing toward Phil. “Why don’t we stay here? It’s not like we have anywhere else to go.”
“He doesn’t know that!”
“Well now I do.” Phil interjected, leaning back against the shelf behind him.
He chuckled at the way the kid sputtered after that, glaring at Phil and then at Tubbo. They bickered for a few moments longer before Tubbo appeared to win. They turned back toward Phil and the blonde huffed out a breath.
“I’m.. Tom. You call me Tom.”
“Well then, Tom. A deal’s a deal.” He stated, holding the music maker out in one hand. Tubbo eyed it with intrigue, and slowly, with silent permission from Tom, reached out and took it.
Their hands grazed one another for a moment, and Phil watched how Tubbo flinched backwards as he held the tin to his chest. Eyes wide. Tom looked as if he was contemplating decking Phil right then and there, so he decided to take a few more steps backward to give the boys room. He couldn’t do much more for them than that, so with caution he stepped toward the stairs, the boys’ eyes never leaving him.
Tommy watched as the stranger walked back up the steps and closed the basement door behind him. They stood absolutely motionless for a few long moments just taking in what had just happened. Tommy’s arm was still wrapped around Tubbo, and Tubbo’s fingers were clamped to the surface of the tin music maker like a lifeline.
“...Tommy?” His voice came as little more than a breath.
“I’m here, Tubs.”
They both sighed heavily, letting go of one another to pace the room.
“Fuck, fuck, oh fuck-” Tommy started, his hands pulling at his hair. “What do we do? What the hell are we supposed to do?!”
“I guess we go upstairs.” Tubbo suggested with a shrug.
“You really think he’s just going to sit down with us over dinner? Fucking hell, he’s probably up ther p-polishing his rifle. He need to get out of here-”
“He left it.” Tubbo interjected.
“He what?”
“He left it over there.” Tubbo said, pointing to the corner of the basement. “He left this too.” He added, picking up the lantern from the floor where Phil had set it down.
Tommy stared at the corner and worried his lip between his teeth, bringing his hands up to his face as he contemplated their next move. Before he could think of much though, Tubbo headed for the steps.
“Whatever, I’m going to talk to him.”
“Tubbo! Are you crazy?!” Tommy rushed over and grabbed his arm, a pleading look in his eye. “Don’t go up there by yourself!”
‘Don’t leave me alone down here’ is what he didn’t say.
Instead of pulling away, Tubbo twisted his arm around so he was the one holding onto Tommy, he had a determined look on his face.
“Come on, Tommy. Let’s go.”
Phil supposed it was a safety thing, but honestly it scared him a bit. The way they clung to one another, like they were afraid they’d be ripped apart at any moment. Both boys were still frightened and even if he’d managed to coax them upstairs that didn’t mean they weren’t scared.
Tom walked around like he was a cat ready to pounce, like he had every muscle tensed, like he was ready to have to fight at any moment. Tubbo was less outwardly defensive, but his shyness and refusal to do more than sit in the same room as Phil made it clear how he felt about the situation.
Dinner needed to be prepared and now that he had… guests, it was going to be a bigger ordeal than usual. He tasked Tubbo with stirring the pot of broth on the stove, and had Tommy cutting vegetables with him.
“Do you want to cut onions, or peel potatoes?” Phil asked as they sat across from one another at the table. Tom had his head down and was fiddling with his fingers in front of him, but after a moment he grabbed an onion and the knife, and began to chop. Phil took up the potatoes and the peeler and they began their separate tasks.
“...Travel much? Got family near here?” Phil tried to ask as casually as possible after some time had passed.
Tom scoffed. “Is there literally anything near here? Not to burst your bubble, but you live in the middle of fucking nowhere.”
Phil can’t help but chuckle at that. He had a point. “I guess I walked right into that one didn’t I? So you’re not from around here I take it. Where’d you two come from?”
“North. Snow’s coming down in blankets back home. We’re getting to the meridian for the winter, praying the heat isn’t too intense.”
He didn’t miss how Tom dodged his initial question, but sure, they can talk about this for a bit. It’d be nice to know where the kid’s were heading once they left. Phil had to give it to them, it was a solid goal. He’d heard rumors of the north being an arctic tundra at this point. There was a twinge of worry for his cabin, but he was fairly confident even if he got snowed in he’d be able to survive.
“Wanting to get to the meridian is one thing, but getting there is something completely different. You’ve got to cross the channel, not to mention all the rivers and the fuckin’ Mediterranean.”
“It’s not impossible,” Tubbo piped up from the kitchen, “if we find a boat traveling by sea would be easy. Maybe even easier than walking. Safer too.”
That… honestly wasn’t a bad idea. Traveling through cities and over obstacles would take longer than a straight shot across the water. The only issue he could see was either motor or manpower, they’d get tired rowing all that way, and a motor would need gas. Besides, where the hell were they going to find a boat? He hadn’t been to the coast since the apocalypse started, but were boats just lining the shores? That’s not even starting on the possibilities of drowning…
The sound of water boiling over brought him out of his thoughts. While he’d been sitting silent, Tubbo had been staring at him, waiting for his response, and had let the pot boil over. The kid made a tight panic-y noise and his hands flew away from the stove as he took several quick steps backward. Phil pulled himself out of his chair and swung around the counter, reaching out to turn the dial down as Tubbo stepped away.
“Easy! Easy. It’s alright.” He reassured him as he put the lid back on the pot.
“Sorry- sorry, I’m-” Tubbo was nearly in tears, his hands covering his face.
Phil hadn’t realized Tom had left his seat until he turned to look at Tubbo and saw that he was standing in front of him.
“It’s alright you two, the stove will survive. Let’s all just- calm down, okay?”
It took him a moment to notice the kitchen knife in Tom’s hand. He could tell Tom noticed him noticing, but they both said nothing and the moment passed as quickly as it came. Tom pulled Tubbo along with him as he sat back down at the kitchen table to finish cutting the onions, and Tubbo silently took up Phil’s position peeling potatoes.
Guess he was on pot-duty now.
They didn’t talk much after that. Phil felt the boys had definitely had enough stress for one day, and they ate in silence as well.
After dinner was through, he led the boys into a small room just off the living room that had several large crate-sized boxes stacked against the wall in one corner. The rest of the space in the room was occupied by a bed and a wooden dresser with a mirror hanging above it.
“Sorry, this is the only spare room I’ve got. I keep my stores in here, hope you both don’t mind. Unless you’d prefer sleeping on the sofa in the living room.”
Phil watched the way Tom froze in front of the mirror, staring into his reflection. Phil briefly wondered when the last time he’d gotten a good look at himself was.
“You mean… these boxes are all full of food?” Tom asked as he looked around.
“Yeah, well not all of them. A few are full of blankets, and there’s some candles and fuel around here somewhere. For food there’s a lot of dry meat and fruit, a lot of canned stuff too. Here-” He tugs the lid off of one of the crates and pulls out a medium-sized burlap bag, holding it out for Tom to take. He does so carefully and pulls open the drawstring, revealing the inside was full of dried salted meat.
“You want some? Try it.” Phil watched as Tom reached in and took one, biting into it and pulling it apart.
“It’s… pretty good.” He conceded, handing the bag back to Phil quickly. He took it and pulled out another piece, handing it to Tubbo.
“As long as you’re here, you’re welcome to my food. All you’ve got to do is ask, I’ll almost always say yes, okay? This room is for my long-storage food though, so I ask that you don’t mess with it. This is what I’ll be using for food through the winter. Understand?”
Both boys give him affirming nods, and he ties the bag back up, placing it in the crate once more.
“Good. Now, I know you’re both tired, so get some rest.” Phil noticed how Tubbo’s eyelids drooped, and Tom didn’t look far from doing the same. Hopefully the warm meal and a rest in a real bed would do all of them some good.
Phil let them be for the rest of the night, letting them know he’d be upstairs and to call for him if they needed anything, and that was that. He had two new kids to look after, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about it. He wasn’t about to kick them out for trying to survive in this world that had become so much harsher than it had been. It was getting harder to find people to trust. He wanted to give these kids something they could trust in, someone they could always come back to.
He thought briefly of his boys again. Tech and Wil. He hoped they were alright. He hoped they’d come back to visit him soon.
He drifted off into fitful sleep.
Notes:
Aaaand there we go!
Honestly this is where I thought this would end, but after I wrote this I just.... kinda kept going? There were so many loose ends that I made and I felt like I had a duty to tie them up, cause as a reader I know that kind of stuff bothers me.
As always, I'm open to revisions and suggestions from everyone! If you find a spelling error pleasepleasePLEASE tell me so I can fix it
Chapter Text
“How old are you guys anyway? Or will I have to guess?”
Phil asked the next morning as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
That morning Tubbo had been the first one up. Phil had walked into the kitchen to find him searching the cabinets for something to eat, but when he’d noticed Phil’s presence he’d snapped the doors closed and started apologizing, to which Phil simply raised a hand with a kind smile, offering to cook him something.
Tommy had been the last one up, and he practically burst through the door when he noticed Tubbo wasn’t in the room with him. It had taken several moments for the kid to calm back down, but once he had he’d taken up residence in front of the basement door, where he sat now. Phil noticed how Tommy shifted his legs from side to side as he sat, some kind of nervous tick maybe.
“I’d like to know your guess as to how old we are.” Tubbo replied from across the kitchen table.
Phil leaned back in his chair, scratching his chin as he stared at Tubbo with mock-intensity.
“My guess is… thirteen.”
The laugh was unexpected, but not unwelcome. It made Phil jump slightly.
“No way! You’re so off, oh my god. What about him? How old do you think he is?” He asked eagerly, pointing over to where Tom sat.
“Fuck off, I don’t want to play this stupid game.” He called back, folding his legs.
“Twelve.”
There was silence for a long moment, if Phil could’ve seen Tom’s face, he probably would’ve laughed.
“I’M NOT FUCKING TWELVE YOU FUCKIN’ MORON!!” He screamed, turning and looking at Phil with an angry wide-eyed glare. Tubbo lost it, holding his sides as he leaned against the wall. Phil couldn’t help himself, he laughed too.
“Shut up, both of you! I do not look fucking twelve, I’m a big man! I’m fucking amazing!”
“Tommy, shut up!” Tubbo shouted through his laughter, looking at his friend with a grin. That seemed to shut the kid up. He looked rather pleased with himself actually, and instead of sitting back against the basement door he moved to lean on the wall across from the kitchen.
Small steps, Phil thought.
“I used to have these two boys who’d always hang around this area. Wil and Tech.” Phil explained as the three of them ate breakfast. “Honestly, you look a bit like Wil, Tubbo. Same hair, maybe.” He smiles distantly, his eyes somewhere else. “I swear those fought like dogs sometimes, but I could tell they cared for each other like brothers.”
Tubbo couldn’t help but think of himself and Tommy. They’d gotten into their fair share of scrapes together, sometimes against one another. But at the end of the day he’d always have Tommy’s back and he knew Tommy had his.
“I’m sorry.”
Phil looked up in surprise. He’d been fiddling with the cuff of his shirt for a moment and Tubbo’s voice had caught him off guard.
“Sorry? For what, mate?”
“For your loss. Those boys. You seem to have cared about them an awful lot.” Tubbo’s voice was low and somber, the mood of the room shifting downward.
“What- no, no! Will and Techno are fine. They’re just off traveling. They still come around sometimes, mostly in the summer.”
“Oh” was all Tubbo could say. Why had that been his initial assumption? To assume that these boys were dead?
“What’s Techno like?” Tom asks, pulling Phil’s attention back.
“Oh, kid’s a mammoth. An absolute behemoth. He’s the toughest guy I’ve ever met, and he’s only what, twenty? Wil’s a bit older, I think he’s twenty-four. Or well, twenty-five now I suppose. Today’s the kid’s birthday.” He says with that same distant smile.
Tommy’s eyebrows raise. “Wait- you know the date today? What is it?”
“It’s September Fourteenth.” Phil supplies.
“O-Of what year? How many years has it been?” He was on his feet now. Phil pulled his shirt sleeve down to check his watch. The numbers were starting to flicker more, and he silently prayed by some miracle he’d find a battery for it somewhere soon.
“Uh, it’s 2022. So I guess it’s been about four years since… everything.”
Tommy looked like he’d been shot. He staggered back a step and fell against the wall.
“...I’m sixteen. Oh my god I’ve been sixteen for a while…”
Phil didn’t have to look at Tubbo to know he had a similar look on his face. They’d had so much of their youth stolen from them. Four years gone in a flash, replaced with awful hardship and memories that no one would want to remember. Thinking on his feet, Phil stood up and headed to the kitchen with a definitive stride.
“Well then, You two have a lot of birthday-ing to make up for, don’t you? I think I’ve got some biscuits around here somewhere, maybe we can scrounge up some decorations from the basement.”
He pulls a box of frosted animal crackers from the cupboard with a triumphant feeling in his chest.
“You… want to celebrate our birthdays?” Tubbo asked as he watched Phil set a box of cookies down on the counter.
“Of course. I still celebrate my birthday. It keeps me going, you know? It’s like winning a contest.”
“-winning a contest.” Tom finished his sentence, looking up at Phil.
“Exactly.” Phil said, “if nothing else, I can say I lived another day just to spite the world.”
Phil was an interesting character, Tommy could give him that. A man on his own, surviving the apocalypse by just sheer isolation. He hadn’t seen another person in months- according to Phil, Will and Techno had visited in May before heading out once more once August came around. It was now late November -and he hadn’t gone insane. In fact, the man seemed so in his element it made Tommy wonder what he’d done before the apocalypse. Had he always been such a hermit? What was he like before the mysterious “Will and Techno” showed up?
“They’re not stale, but I didn’t exactly get them last week.” Phil digresses, handing the box to Tommy as he rounded the counter to see what Phil had. Tubbo joins them and reaches in, taking one out and popping it in his mouth. His eyes light up.
“They’re still pretty good!”
Tommy takes a few, eating them one at a time out of his hand.
A knock at the door interrupted them, and made Phil freeze.
‘Knock... Knock. Knock… Knock… Knock. Knock.’
He knew that knock.
Phil dashed around the counter and ran to the door, pulling it open.
In front of him stood a tall lanky figure in a thick winter coat, covered absolutely head-to-toe, but he recognized him instantly. He tackled them with a hug, making both of the strangers laugh.
“Philza!” Wil cried as he buried his face in Phil’s shoulder. Techno pulled them both into a bear hug on the porch steps.
“Oh my god, it’s been six months! Where the hell have you two been?!”
“We got caught up in a storm near Ireland and had to turn back. Tech wanted to keep going but the risk was way too high, we ended up having to wait another two months before we were able to cross.”
Phil pulled away, his hands resting on Wil’s shoulders. “Any news?” he asked with a hint of desperation, to which Wil shook his head.
“I’m sorry. It’s just more of the same.”
Phil sighed, but shook his head to bring himself back to the present. “Come inside boys, there’s food, and I want you to meet-”
“Phil?” A voice called from behind him, making him turn back inside.
“Just a second, Tubbo!”
“Tub-what?” Wil asked curiously, peeking around Phil to see who was inside. “Was that a kid?”
“Come in.” Was all Phil said before beckoning them inside. They followed him in, shaking the snow off their boots and both removing their coats. Wil pulled his mask down and took his hat off, shaking out his hair.
“What happened to your door, Phil?” Techno asked with a gruff voice as he pulled his gloves off.
“Oh! I- Uh-”
“Looks like someone punched a hole through your window.”
“That was me.” Tommy called from the kitchen, waving a bandaged hand toward them. Wilbur shared a look with Techno before both their gazes landed on Phil.
He scratched the nape of his neck with a nervous chuckle. “Uh, it’s no big deal?...” He says it more like a question than an explanation, and Techno rolled his eyes.
“You really will just adopt anything that rolls onto your doorstep, won’t you.”
“HEY-” “Rude!!”
The younger boys protested from the kitchen, making Wil chuckle.
“Come on Tech what’s worse, breaking into someone’s house or attempting to rob them at fucking knife-point?”
“That’s a tough one, let me think about it.” He replied as he stepped into the house, taking a look around. He headed for the kitchen, stopping short when both the younger boys backed away from him.
“Uuuh…”
He looked to Phil with confusion, and Phil gently grabbed his shoulder, leaning up to mumble in his ear:
“They’ve had a rough time. Go easy on ‘em, Tech. Please.”
He nods as he leans away, a more understanding expression covering his features. He changes course and takes a heavy seat on one of the kitchen chairs, waving Wilbur over.
“Sorry if we stumbled back in at an inconvenient time, it’s heard to plan these kinds of things-”
“Really it’s fine.” Phil said with an endearing smile on his face. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed two more mugs, setting them in front of each boy and pouring them some coffee. “I was talking with the boys about birthdays before you came. Wil, did you know it’s your birthday today?”
Wilburs eyes widened and he choked on his coffee, sputtering into his sleeve. “It’s- It’s my what?”
From behind him he could hear the sounds of the younger two giggling.
“Birthdays, Wil. You’re twenty-four now if I’m remembering correctly.” Phil explains with a smirk. “Did you forget to keep track?”
Wil stuck his chest out pridefully and shook his head. “No, as a matter of fact I ran out of ink in my pen because I was keeping track so well.” He pulls up the sleeve of his coat, revealing a pale bare forearm. Well, except for the dozens upon dozens of blue tick marks that littered his skin. “When you don’t have a fancy-schmancy watch sometimes you just have to make due. I ran out of ink on August eighth, since then Tech and I have just been guessing at the date and time.”
“We thought it was still August.” Tech replied with a chuckle. “The sky’s so dark with clouds constantly, it’s hard to tell when the sun comes up.”
“Well with the way this snow’s pouring in it’s going to be dark for a while.” Phil added. He felt Tubbo at his side and looked over to see the shorter boy was standing close to him, watching their conversation quietly. He glanced around for Tom and saw the other boy was still standing awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen, his arms folded across his chest.
He hoped the intrusion wasn’t unwelcome for the boys. So much had happened so suddenly for all of them. The storm, finding them, welcoming them into his house, and now two more strangers suddenly invading their space. With the snow storm in full swing there was no way for them to leave, and Phil couldn’t let them even if they wanted to. Out there, in the frost and cold, it was a death sentence. Wil and Tech were suited up for the weather, but Tom and Tubbo were wearing clothes meant for a warm summer day, not the arctic tundra.
And that’s what the world had become. Maybe tomorrow the snow would melt and turn the forest into a flooded mudslide, but the facts were the same. This new world they found themselves in was unpredictable, and these kids were just… they’re just kids. At the end of their teens, not even in their twenties yet.
Phil had found Wilbur and Techno in the early stages of catastrophe. Techno had been only seventeen. Wilbur was twenty, and sure that had given him some knowledge over the other but neither of them had even experienced the world as it was. They’d never needed to be prepared for the earth to split open and eat them alive. But the world had changed, and they changed with it.
“-at’s the plan, Phil?” He heard Wilbur ask, bringing him back to the present.
“Hm? What?”
“Your plan, Phil. Do you have one?” He asks again.
“A plan… Well, winter’s come early. I know you boy’s just got here but if you could help me haul some firewood into the kitchen that’d be good. Food stock is full, but we’ve got two more bellies to feed so we’ll have to keep meals light. We might not be able to go hunting again for a while.”
“What about us?” Tubbo asked. Their eyes turn to him. “We can help.”
“It’s alright, Tubbo.” Phil said with a kind smile. “Tech, Wil and I can manage the preparations. Besides, you don’t even have winter coats. I can’t let you go out in a blizzard like that.”
Tubbo seemed to wilt at the answer, but said nothing. Phil put a hand on his shoulder. “Take Tom and go sit in the living room. I’ve got a surprise for both of you once we finish, alright?” The kid brightened a bit at that and gave Phil a nod, waving for Tommy to follow him while Phil, Wilbur, and Techno all prepared to head outside.
The moment Phil stepped out the door he was hit with an icy gust of wind that ripped his scarf from around his neck. Luckily Tech caught it before it was whisked away, but the icy chill remained. They worked quickly to bring in a good pile of wood, and they were about to head inside when Wilbur grabbed Phil’s shoulder, holding him back. Even from behind his facemask and beneath his hood, Phil could see the cold look in his eyes.
“Phil. About earlier… When I said there wasn’t any news, I wasn’t exactly telling the entire truth.”
Phil turned to him with raised brows. The wind whistled around them as they stood on the small porch, an oil lantern creaking and waving above their heads.
His voice was deathly quiet, an intense look behind his eyes. “While we were in Ireland, we ran into a group of guys, all around our age. They had fucking- I don’t even know, assault rifles and fucking grenades, Phil. I don’t know where they got them but they threatened us that if we didn’t join them, they’d bomb our boat.”
Phil tried to process what Wilbur was telling him. He squeezed his eyes closed. “Jesus- what the hell. Did you learn anything else? Where did they come from?”
Wilbur shakes his head. “There was this one guy, wore a white bandana around his forehead. I think he was American, actually now that I think about it, a lot of them were American. There was this squirrel-y brown haired guy that threatened to shoot Techno if we didn’t give them all our gear.”
“Did you?”
“No, we managed to get out of there before any bullets fired. But Phil…”
“I know. I know. Did they say anything about if they were headed this way? You weren’t followed, were you?”
Again Wil shakes his head. “If they’d been tailing us at all, there was a storm on our way back that we just barely made it through. They probably either turned back or… or drowned.”
Phil felt a bit bad for being relieved at the news, but he sighed anyway. “If you’re certain, then we don’t have much to worry about. With this snow storm there’s hardly a chance anyone would brave coming here, even a group like that. You said they were American?” Wilbur nodded silently. “How the hell did they get across the Atlantic…”
“Maybe they were here when everything went down.”
Phil nodded. That was the likely reason.
“Let’s get inside, it’s fuckin’ freezing.”
Techno closed the door behind them, and Phil instructed the two to rekindle the fire in the living room and keep the boys occupied while he prepared a surprise for them.
“Uugh, I hate kids..” Techno mumbled as he pulled off his boots.
“Their like, sixteen Techno, it’s not like we’re dealing with children.” Wil retorted, giving his friend a small laugh.
When they round the corner into the living room, the two boys are sitting on the floor, quietly chatting with one another. When they enter though the blonde one goes silent, staring up at them. The other, the one Phil had called Tubbo, turned to look at them as well. They didn’t seem frightened, but they were on edge, Wil could tell. He nudged Techno.
“Will you work on the fire?” He asked quietly, knowing he’d rather do a task than attempt small-talk. Wil sat on the couch and pulled his jacket off, setting it beside him.
“So, I know your name is Tubbo.” He said, looking at the brown haired kid. “-but did Phil tell us your name?”
“Tom.” He replied. To his right, Tubbo snickered under his breath, hiding his face. Tom sent him a side-eyed scowl, but didn’t say anything.
“What, is it a fake name or something?” Wil asked with a laugh, watching the way the two boys silently bickered. Tom’s eyes flicked over to Wil.
“No! It’s not, he’s just being a dick.”
“Am not, you just think it’s cool for all them to call you Tom.”
“So what? They don’t need to call me To- what you call me.” He says as he folds his arms.
Tubbo and Wil both laugh. “Alright, alright, so it’s Tom. I know Phil introduced us, but my name is Wilbur, and this is my friend Techno.”
“Hullo.” Techno calls from in front of the fireplace, where he’d gotten a good-sized fire started. The whole room began to warm up, and he and Wil sighed with relief.
“Finally, it feels like my fingers have been numb for hours. Where’d Phil say he was going?”
“Here!” His voice rang out from the basement stairs, surprising all of them. He appeared in the doorway with a pile of thin boxes in his arms. “Surprise!!”
“What are those?” Tech asked, squinting from across the room.
“Well, I’ve got Monopoly, Sorry, Checkers, Chess, uuuh… I’ve got-”
“Chess?! You’ve got Chess?!” Tubbo jumped to his feet and ran over, his fingers running along the boxes like the spines of books before he pulled one out of the stack.
“Oop! Careful mate, take it easy. The games aren’t going anywhere.” He said with a laugh as Tubbo held the box up, the pieces rattling about inside.
“Who wants to play? I’ll beat every single one of you! I’m unstoppable at chess!”
All three men laughed, and Techno took him up on the offer. “Get ready kid, I’m an undefeated champion.” He said as he sat down cross-legged on the other side of the board.
“Really?” Tubbo said with a kind of awe in his voice. Techno back-tracked “-Well uh, I’ve played like, three games. I think Phil let me win the first time.”
“I did not! I never ‘let’ people win against me in chess.”
“Is that why you always lose?” Wilbur asked from his spot on the couch, making Phil sputter for an answer.
Tom watched as Phil sat down across from him and set the stack of games between them. “Have you got one in mind that you want to play, Tom?” He asked with a hint of gentleness in his tone.
“...I’m not very good at board games.” He mumbled, looking away.
“Well we’ve got card games too. You like those?”
“I could go for a round of Uno, if you’ve got it Phil.” Wilbur said as he slipped from the couch to the floor. Phil took a small box from the top of the pile and started handing out cards, dealing Tom in as well.
The five of them spent the rest of the afternoon playing games on the living room carpet. After Wilbur won the first round of Uno, and Tech lost their game of chess, they all played a round together.
“You can’t do that!” Tubbo complained as Techno added yet another +4 card on top of Wilbur’s and Tom’s.
“That’s house rules, Tubbo. Read ‘em and weep.” He said with a smirk as the kid drew twelve cards. Tom chuckled.
As they played, Phil noticed the way Tom slowly came out of his meticulously-crafted shell. He could tell that at first, he’d tried to mask his cheer when he won, his anger when something didn’t go his way. But slowly he let himself go, he laughed when Wilbur’s turn was skipped three times in a row, he shouted at Techno when he +4ed him.
“You bitch! Oh my god, I can’t fucking believe this!! How could you do this to me?!”
“I do what I must to survive.” Techno replied in a monotone voice.
“It’s fucking Uno, Techno.” Wilbur said as he glanced at him with a lop-sided smile.
“Hey, Uno’s cut-throat. I’m playin to win unlike some people.”
After Tom won three games in a row, he was declared Uno champion, and they decided to take a break from games for a while. But Phil could see the way Tom had changed still. He sat on the floor next to Tubbo, Wilbur on the couch to his other side. As the boys talked he leaned against Wilbur’s leg as nodding along as Tubbo told him about something, maybe chess strategies. Maybe he didn’t notice it, but Phil looked up at Wilbur and their eyes met. Wil had noticed, and he smiled knowingly, then leaned back in his seat and continued reading a book he’d had in his hands.
It wasn’t a miracle, but it was a start.
Notes:
WIL AND TECH WIL AND TECH WIL AND TECH
love them as a duo, they're like little messenger pigeons Phil sends out to go get re-con
Also Phil gives off big "when will my husband return from war" vibes in this fic. Accept it's more like "when will by two adopted sons return from Ireland"
Chapter Text
The snow was relentless, pouring down on the cabin at all hours, day and night. Phil was silently thankful that he’d been smart enough to leave his camp when he had, those few hours of calm before the blizzard started were probably the reason he’d made it home at all. He wondered what would’ve happened if he hadn’t come back. Would Tom and Tubbo still have been here when Wilbur and Techno arrived? Would they have gained their trust the way Phil had?
It had been a week since Phil found Tubbo and Tom in his basement. A week since Wilbur and Techno had arrived home. Life was good, if a bit isolated. Out in the woods there wasn’t much to do except drink coffee and stoke a fire. Luckily Tubbo and Tom seemed content to explore the basement for hours on end. He wasn’t exactly sure what was so interesting down there, it was just full of things he’d managed to pick up on his ventures out of the forest, or things he planned on fixing up to bring upstairs at some point.
The older two were harder to please. Wil and Techno spent most of their days sleeping, recounting supplies, poking at the fire in the fireplace, and occasionally helping Phil cook. With five people to feed, their supplies were being eaten through at a concerning pace. They were stood around the stockpile room, which was still doubling as Tom and Tubbo’s bedroom for the moment. It used to be that when they’d come to visit, they’d sleep in the stock room. It had worked well for the three of them.
The moment Tubbo had brought up the fact that they’d snagged Wilbur and Tech’s bedroom, Tech waved him off with a hand, saying that it wasn’t an issue. The boys could have the room if they liked. He protested though, saying it wasn’t fair.
“It’s your guys’s room, isn’t it? Tommy and I can sleep on the couch, I feel bad taking your room.”
“Well if we wanna get technical, it’s really Phil’s room isn’t it?” Techno asked, and Tubbo hesitantly nodded. “Phil!”
“What?!” Phil’s voice called from the loft.
“Can Tom and Tubbo have the bed in the store room?!” He shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth to carry his voice.
“They’ve been sleeping there you moron! I’m busy!”
“But is it okay that they’re sleeping there?!”
“YES!! Techno, I’m BUSY RIGHT NOW!!”
Techno shrugs, looking back at Tubbo. “He seems fine with it.”
The smile Tubbo gave him made his chest feel a bit warmer.
So Techno and Wilbur were spending nights sleeping on the couch and floor of the living room. It wasn’t a big thing. They were still allowed into the store room, on Tubbo’s go-ahead. Sorting and counting supplies was one of Wilburs preferred time-wasting activities, mostly because it at least felt like he was doing something productive.
As it stood, Wilbur and Techno were mulling about the small room, crates and totes of supplies all opened and disorganized around them as they counted and recounted the stock.
“...Techno.” Wilbur mumbled as he bit on the end of his pencil, his eyes not leaving the crate of supplies he’d been counting.
“Hm?”
“Look at this.” He motioned for Techno to join him, standing over one of the larger boxes. Techno recognized it as the box that they’d been taking their daily meals out of for the past few weeks. He gestured to the box with his clipboard. “Notice anything?”
Tech squinted at the box for a few seconds. “It’s a box full of food.”
“It’s a box half full of food. We’re three days ahead of our supplies.” His voice lowers to a heated whisper, pulling Techno closer. “At this rate we’re going to be out of food by November. We shouldn’t be running this low already, even with five people to feed.”
Techno could hear the worry in his voice, even if he was coming off a tad bit aggressive. “So what?”
“I think Tom’s stealing food.” He said gravely, putting a hand on Techno’s shoulder and looking him dead in the eyes.
Techno pulled away in surprise. “What? Wil, why the hell would he steal, it’s literally his food.”
Wil sighed and folds his arms, sticking the eraser of his pencil back in his mouth. “I’m not an expert or anything, but… the world’s gone to shit. It’s been shit for four years. Those boys have been out there, living off of who-knows-what. I think he’s hoarding.”
“Hoarding?” Techno asked.
“People who’ve experienced food shortages do it. It’s a survival instinct, or something. I heard about it on the Discovery Channel once, I think.”
Techno scoffs, but takes a moment to consider the possibility. “...Why do you think it’s only Tom?”
Wilbur stills for a moment, looking up at Techno. “...Tubbo is more trusting to us. I think he trusts Phil, and he’s warming up to you and I. He would tell us, or at least ask us if he thought there was a problem with the food. But Tom, I-... I’m not sure. He’s still so hesitant to put his faith in anyone except himself. And, well, Tubbo.”
Techno nodded. “We should talk to him. At the very least, this is something Phil needs to know about pronto.”
Phil wasn’t kidding when he said he was a collector of everything. Clothes, mirrors, records, music boxes, books and games and everything in between. There was a box Tommy was currently looking through a box that was full of shoes, all kinds of shoes. Women’s, Men’s, even kids shoes, all different colors and styles, but none of them matched. He pulled the box down from where it was stacked and dumped the entire thing onto the floor, and started sorting them.
33 shoes, not a single one had a pair in the box. What’s that about?
There were plenty of other collections of less strange things to look through. He walked over to a pile of books laying ontop of a wooden antique-looking dresser and discovered they were all crossword books. Every single one, and there must’ve been at least a hundred of them piled there. Every page filled out.
Tommy hoped Phil still had some unfinished booklets upstairs, he loved crosswords.
There were footsteps on the stairs, and Techno called down to them: “Hey Tom, come up here for a second, would ya?”
“Coming!” He shouted, setting down the book he’d been flipping through. He told Tubbo he’d be right back down, the other boy was shuffling through another box on the other side of the room, Tommy couldn’t tell what was in it. He followed Techno up the stairs and into the living room where Wilbur and Phil were sitting.
Suddenly he felt like he’d just entered the principal’s office. “Uuuuh, what’s this?” He asked warily, looking at the three of them as Techno took a seat on the couch next to Wilbur.
“We’ve just have a couple questions for you, Tom. You’re not in trouble or anything like that” Phil answered with a gentle tone and a smile, seeing how the boy’s shoulders tensed up. “Is that alright?”
Tom scoffed and rolled his eyes, his voice cracking somewhere in the middle as he ran a hand slickly through his hair. “Yeah, fine. It’s whatever.” He mumbled, shifting his weight between his feet idly. He radiated anxiousness.
Phil paused for a moment, not sure how to broach the topic gently. He decided to just outright ask the question they were all wanting the answer to. There was no point in beating around the bush.
“Have you been taking food?”
His eyes widened, and he immediately shook his head. “No! I’m not stealing, I-I would never-”
Wil’s expression turned concerned as Tom began to ramble, interrupting him. “Tom, calm down. We’re not accusing you of anything. All we know is that some food is gone, and we’re not sure where it went. You’re not in trouble.” He reiterated, trying to get the kid to relax. But it wasn’t working, Tom still looked on edge.
“Do you know if Tubbo’s taking food?” Phil asked, and again Tom shook his head fervently.
“No! No, he wouldn’t. Tubbo doesn’t like hoarding food.”
Techno leaned forward now, his forearms resting on his thighs. “You two’ve talked about this before?”
Tom looked away and shrugged his shoulders, one hand coming up to scratch at his other arm. “I just know he doesn’t like it.”
Techno schooled his expression and leaned back on the couch, but Phil could tell he was trying to find the meaning in Tom’s words. So Tom and Tubbo had at least talked about food hoarding before.
They let Tom go, and Wil asked Tubbo to come up and talk to them next.
He was considerably more nervous than Tom had been, his eyes shifting between Phil and Techno as he too rocked back and forth from foot-to-foot.
“Hoarding food? I-... Um, well…” Tubbo mumbled, looking away.
Wilbur spoke up. “We’re not pointing any fingers, Tubbo. We’re just wondering if you’ve been taking extra food. You’re not in trouble.” It felt like an infinite mantra. ‘You’re not in trouble, you’re not in trouble, you’re not in trouble’. Wil worried about the kids. They obviously had some time in their past when they’d been accused of stealing, he was certain of it.
Tubbo wrung his hands in front of him, “I- Uh… Well, It wasn’t…” He froze. The room was deathly quiet, save for the kid’s shaky breathing.
Phil leaned forward, holding a hand out to him. “It wasn’t what, Tubbo?”
Tubbo looked at his hand, the whole room was still. And then all of a sudden Phil watched as fat tears started rolling down the boy’s cheeks, his breath catching in his throat. “It- It wasn’t on purpose a-at first, I swear, I’m sorry, I’m sorry-'' He ran to Phil as he opened his arms to him, and hugged him tightly.
“Shh, hey, it’s okay. You’re not in trouble. You’re okay.” He hushed, holding the kid close.
“Please, please don’t hurt Tommy. It’s not his fault, he just- he just does this sometimes, he just-”
“Woah! Woah, woah, we’re not doing anything to Tom.” Techno said as he got up out of his chair. “Like we said, you guys aren’t in any trouble. We meant that.”
Tubbo sniffles and lets go of Phil, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt.
“You okay?” He asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. He nodded, but leaned into Techno, hugging him. It took him a second, but he wrapped his arms around the kid and hushed him as quiet tears fell down his cheeks. He glances over at Wilbur, who was sitting on the couch with smug smirk on his face, arms crossed over his chest as he observed Techno.
“Uugh, I hate kids..”
“Their like, sixteen Techno, it’s not like we’re dealing with children.”
Suck it, Wilbur. So what if he was a hypocrite. What was he supposed to do, not hug a crying child?
“Let’s go talk to Tom.” Phil whispered. The others followed him downstairs, Tubbo still holding onto Techno.
“Tom?” He called down, his voice echoing in the darkness. They heard the sound of shuffling from further back, somewhere out of sight. “Come out, We need to talk.” Phil stepped to the ground, the others loitering on the last few steps.
Slowly Tom appeared from behind one of the shelves in front of them. Even from where they stood, Phil could see how his shoulders shook. Thinking back to what Tubbo said earlier, Phil held his hands up placatingly, taking a cautious step forward.
“Tom, you’re not in trouble. You’re not going to get hurt here, understand?” Phil’s voice was the only sound in the whole space, he spoke just above a whisper and yet this words rang around the room loud enough for everyone to hear.
Tom doesn’t respond for a long time, instead he just stands, his arms stiff at his sides. Phil didn’t know what to do. They had to settle this, for all their sakes, but Tom looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack, and Phil had no idea what this boy needed right now.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and flinched slightly, looking to his left, he was surprised to see Wilbur at his side. “Let me talk to him.” He said softly, giving Phil a nod. Together he, Tubbo, and Techno headed back upstairs, shutting the door behind them, leaving Wilbur alone with Tom in the basement.
“It’s kinda dark down here.” He mumbled after a long pause, looking around the basement as his eyes adjusted to the dim candlelight. He sat on the floor with a groan. “it’s a good thing Phil has so many candles, bet that helps when you and Tubbo go exploring, right?”
Wilbur could hear the way Tom’s breath shook in his throat. The sound oddly loud. He swallowed a bout of nervousness before speaking again in a calm voice that he hoped was soothing. “How about we both sit down, I think that might make you feel better.”
He watched as he slowly used the shelf to his left to lower himself to the ground, sitting with his legs splayed to the side, half-underneath him. The flicker of a candle next to Tom cast heavy shadows across his face, the hot wax treading down the length of the candle as it slowly melted. He wasn’t looking at Wilbur anymore. Worry grew heavy in his chest.
Panic attacks were scary. Wil understood that from personal experience. He’d had to talk himself down from a lot of overwhelming experiences, but he’d never really had to talk someone else out of one. He tried to remember the things that helped ground him when he felt overwhelmed.
“Can you tell me my name, Tom?” He asked quietly, searching for any kind of reaction from the boy.
“Do you know my name?”
At first Wilbur worried he’d done the wrong thing. Tom showed no sign of recognition, Wilbur didn’t even think Tom knew he was there. But he waited patiently, not pushing or rushing. Then he heard it. A soft reply.
“...Wulb’r.” He heard Tom mumble. Wilber nodded, a relieved smile on his face.
“Good, Tom. That’s really good. Whose house is this? Where are you right now?”
The reply came quicker this time, Tom blinked rapidly, his eyes shining in the candlelight. “Ph-Phil’s house.” His voice was little more than a whisper.
Suddenly he took a sharp and shivering breath inward, tears treading down his cheeks. Wilbur watched as he looked up at him with a terrified look in his eyes, his arms wrapping around himself. Wilbur was quick to reassure him. “Hey, hey, it’s okay Tommy. You’re okay. You’re not in trouble, remember?”
His breathing picked up, but he nodded, his eyes locked on Wilbur.
Hesitantly, Wilbur took a step forward. He didn’t want to frighten Tom if he could help it, but the kid just looked so goddamn scared. He wanted to comfort him so badly. “Is it okay if I touch you?” He asked, holding one hand out, palm open for Tom to take. He stared at Wilbur for a long moment, his eyes wide like saucers and blue as ice. He reached out with a shaky hand and placed it in Wilburs, where he gently curled his hand around Tom’s.
“Can you take me to where you’ve been keeping the food?” Wilbur whispered. He nodded again, and Wilbur followed him as they made their way through a maze of shelves that led to the back of the basement with shuffling stiff footsteps. On the far wall behind the stairs, Tom pulled an old suitcase off one of the lower shelves and unclipped the latches to reveal three bags of dried food. He was sobbing now, and Wilbur turned and wrapped his arms around Tom, hugging him loosely. He leaned in and pressed his head to Wil’s shoulder, Wil whispering that mantra of ‘it’s alright, you’re not in trouble, everything’s okay’ to him as they walk back to the steps.
“Are you ready to go upstairs?” He asked. Tommy hesitated for a moment. He let go of Wilbur, leaving his side feeling much colder than before. Straightening his posture, he wiped his face of tears and nodded. They walked upstairs together, and the moment Tommy saw Tubbo, saw the look on his tear-streaked face as he rounded the corner into the living room, they both fell apart all over again. Tubbo ran to him, and Tommy held him as they cried into one another. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry-” “It’s okay, I’m sorry-” They spoke over one another, apologies muddling together.
Phil looked to Wilbur, concern present in his face. “Did everything go okay?”
Wilbur nodded reassuringly. “He’s alright. Just needed someone to help talk him out of his head.”
“How about the food?” Techno mumbled, joining in the conversation.
“He showed it to me. We can get it later.”
Phil turned to the two boys, who’d calmed down a bit now and beckoned them into the living room. They walked over slowly, Tom still holding onto Tubbo.
“You boys understand now that there should be no taking food from the stockpile, right?” He studied each of them as they nodded. “Alright. And Tom.” Tom’s head shoots up from where he’d been looking at the floor, and Phil hates the way he can tell how afraid he still is. “You know that you can tell me, Wilbur, and Techno anything, right? If you’re worried about food, you can ask us. We would never, never keep anything from you. You don’t have to worry about food, because we’ll always make sure you have enough to eat.”
Tom nodded, and Phil gave him a tentative smile. And that was the end of it. The missing food was returned to the stockpile room, and food stopped disappearing from storage.
Tommy seemed to warm up to all of them a bit more. Especially Wilbur. Over the week since they’d arrived, what little time Tommy had spent with the others had been spent ignoring most of them in favor of talking to Tubbo. After the food issue was solved, he started asking Wil to come explore the basement with them, Wil started inviting Tommy to cook with him and Phil. Everything started to mesh together. Sometimes during the day Tommy would ask when they would be eating next, and Wil would know he was worried about food again. All they needed to do was reassure him they’d be eating soon, and it was fine. “We’ll eat in an hour” “we’ll eat when Phil gets back” whatever he needed to hear to feel safe, they’d do that for him.
Notes:
Okay!! I just finished reworking this chapter thanks to advice from User: Squishie in the comments, and I'm a lot happier with it. I hope you all enjoyed! <3
Chapter Text
It started out with little things, like most catastrophes do.
Phil noticed it first. Maybe it was the dad in him, but he always had an eye on the boys. Tommy was eating less than usual at meals. It wouldn’t be a big deal normally, maybe he just wasn’t hungry, but after they went through an entire meal and Tommy didn’t touch a single thing on his plate, not even his water, Phil took him aside to talk.
“Are you feeling alright?” He asked, a hand on Tom’s shoulder.
“Yeah, I’ve just been really tired lately. Not hungry.” He mumbled with a shrug. Phil let out a sigh.
“You didn’t eat a single thing at dinner, are you sure? You know you can tell me-”
“I’m sure! I’m sure.” Tom raised his voice in annoyance, shrugging Phil’s hand off his shoulder. “I’m gonna go hang out with Tubbo.” He mumbled before heading downstairs.
He’s just getting cabin fever.” Wilbur offered after Phil told him about their talk. “I can see it in his eyes, he’s an extrovert. Not to mention he’s probably used to walking around outside for hours on end, now he’s stuck in a tiny cube with four other people, I’d probably go crazy too if I were him.”
“It’s not just that, he’s not eating, he’s sleeping most of the day-”
“I sleep most of the day too, Phil.”
“-He’s a kid! Kid’s don’t spend eleven hours sleeping, only to get up and not eat, then go right back to bed.”
“He’s depressed! Give him a pair of boots and tell him to get lost for a couple hours out in the snow. Give him a reason to sleep for eleven hours.”
Against his better judgement, Phil took Wilbur’s advice.
“These are for you.” He said, handing Tommy a pair of Wilbur’s old snow boots. He looked at them like Phil just gave him the keys to a ferrari.
“You and Tubbo’ll have to share them, they’re the smallest pair of snow boots we’ve got, and you’ll have to wear three pairs of socks to get them to fit right, but-”
“Thank you!! Thank you thank you, thank you!!” Tom yelled as he threw his arms around Phil’s shoulders. He was so surprised he didn’t even realize it happened until Tom was racing down the basement stairs calling for Tubbo so he could show him what he’d just been given.
“Alright, you ready?” Techno asked Tom as they stood by the front door. He gave Techno a proud nod, adjusting his hat slightly to tug it down further on the back of his head. Tom had been outfitted in the smallest coat they had, along with any snow gear that wasn’t absolutely huge on the boy. He and Wilbur were nearly the same size so most of what he had on were hand-me-downs from him. A pair of snow pants, two coats, a sweatshirt, and the snow boots Phil had gifted to him. To top everything off Wil had let him borrow (“very specifically, you are BORROWING this-”) his red hat.
Techno looked to the west, to the direction they’d be heading for the day. “Alright then, let’s go.”
It was a really simple errand to run. Just head west, about two and a half kilometers away was an old barn that used to be part of a larger property, but was now abandoned. Phil had discovered it while he’d been hunting and had wanted to move some of the tools and supplies that were still salvageable into the basement for use at home, but he’d already been over carrying capacity and had had to leave it. They’d run out of fuel for the generator earlier that day at the house and Phil asked Techno to take Tom out to fetch at least one canister from the old place.
”Let me be clear, this is a very quick trip.” Phil had explained in hushed tones to Techno the previous evening.
“Yeah, I get it. The kid needs some fresh air, no sweat. We’ll be back before dinner.”
”I’m worried about him. He hasn’t been eating. Wilbur says ‘let him go out for a bit’ and I’m-... I’m worried he’s going to fall in a snow drift and-”
”Phil, he’s going to be fine. I’ll keep an eye on him. If he so much as sneezes, we’ll head back. Okay?”
”Thank you, Tech.”
Tom bounded ahead of Techno, kicking up clouds of white that clung to his clothes and hair. “Wooo! Finally! This is awesome!!”
“Cool your jets! We’ve still gotta get there.” Techno teased from behind him, not bothering to try to keep up as the kid practically bounced with enthusiasm.
“First time out of the house is WEEKS and I get to go to a fuckin’ abandoned spooky barn, with ghosts and shit!”
“Ghosts and shit?” He repeated with an amused tone. “Why do you think there’d be ghosts and shit in the barn? It’s a barn.”
“Abandoned buildings always have ghosts in them, it’s like they’re called to ‘em or whatever.”
Techno chuckled softly as they continued trudging forward. Tom prattled on the whole way about what Techno could only determine to be literally anything and everything in the entire world. Dogs, fishing, his favorite color, birds, dogs again, why he thinks the queen definitely survived the apocalypse-
“-she definitely has a bunker for these sorts of things, I guarantee it. She’s out there living her life und- hey! Look!!” He shouted, making Techno’s head shoot up from where he’d been watching his feet disappear into the snow as he walked. “What? What is it?”
Tom pointed toward a building in the distance with a smile, before absolutely booking it in that direction. Well, booking it was a strong term. With all the snow blocking their path, he did more of an awkward hopping-run. Techno just watched him amusedly as he made his own way there, albeit a bit more slowly. Nope. Not running. Every so often Tom would stop running to double back and pull on Techno’s arm or goad him forward, but he just kept his pace up, hoping eventually the kid would tire himself out.
On the last homestretch, Techno watched as Tom full on SPRINTED toward the barn, crashing into the side of it with a loud ‘THUD’, falling onto his back breathlessly. He didn’t get up for a second. That made Techno pick up his pace, running up to where Tom laid on the ground.
“JESUS! Tom what-... what the hell?! Why the hell would you do that?!” He shouted as he quickly approached the barn, a twinge of genuine concern masked as anger.
“Beat you to it... bitch.” Tom huffed from the ground, taking Techno’s hand when he offered it to him. He pulled Tom to his feet and looked up at the barn with a heavy sigh.
“Let’s… let’s get the fuel and head back, I’m already tired.”
“Yeah… not me.” Tom retorted with a smirk as they entered the barn.
It was wide and cavernous on the inside, obviously the upper floor had collapsed in some places, leaving holes and dangerously hanging planks of wood.
“Careful, Tom.” Techno cautioned him, looking up at the ceiling. “Snow must’ve caused a cave in, or somethin’.”
“Probably…” Tom mumbled from behind him, following a bit closer than before.
It had been nearly an hour. If they’d found it by now they could’ve been back at how at this point. Techno pushed a pile of empty wooden crates to the side, not bothering to fix them when they toppled to the ground with a loud crash. Stupid fuel. Stuid plan. Stupid Phil not coming and getting it himself. He was freezing his ass off!
“Come ON this is ridiculous! Where the hell could it be hiding?!” Techno shouted angrily, tossing an empty burlap sack to the side. He didn’t usually let his anger boil over about little things, but this was really starting to get on his nerves. He wondered once or twice if Phil had just lied about the fuel in order for Techno to take Tom on a stupid errand just to get him out of the house, but Techno trashed that idea pretty much as soon as he thought of it, Phil wouldn’t do something like that. No, it was just that Techno was so incompetant at finding things that he couldn’t find something that was likely in a bright red container, literally made to be easily visible.
“Techno?” He heard Tom shout from somewhere across the barn, and picked his head up, jogging over to the place where he’d heard his voice.
“Did you find fuel?” He asked as he approached. He didn’t see Tom, but there was a wall between them. Maybe he was just searching… Or maybe he was laying on the ground, sprawled out like he’d just crashed there. Techno stumbled for a second as he took in the sight. “Tom?!” He rushed to him and knelt down at his side, a hand flying to the side of his face. He looked up at Techno, his eyes foggy and cheeks bright and rosy.
“Hey, Techno… Just really felt dizzy all of a sudden’… now I’m on the ground.”
Techno pulled his gloves off and pressed the back of his hand to Tom’s forehead. He was hot to the touch, eyes unfocused, and sweating. Tommy was sick.
Really sick
And Techno had just taken him on a fucking hike.
“Can you stand?” He asked, his voice softer than normal. Moving his hands from Tom’s head to his arms, he got ready to help pull him to his feet. Tom tried, he pushed himself up and held onto Techno, his legs shaking beneath him. But he couldn’t keep himself steady and ended up crashing, the taller of the two being the only reason he didn’t end up back on the ground.
“Easy! Easy..” He slowly lowered them both back down, pulling Tom closer to him as he began to shiver more prevalently.
What should he do,
What should he do,
What should he do.
“Techno?”
“What’s up, Tommy?”
“I don’t feel good. Think… I think we should go back.”
Despite the situation Techno laughed. He’d spent little time with Tom, and yet from the time they’d had he knew: Tom never gave up. Never backed down. He always had to be the first, or the best, or at very least the bravest in whatever they did. To hear him say “Let’s go back” was like… it was like someone declaring the sky was green. It just wasn’t right.
Techno paused. What should they do? Tommy couldn’t stand, let alone walk back home in two-and-a-half feet of snow. If only he had a phone, or a walkie-talkie or something. They were only two miles from home, and yet at the same time they were an eternity away.
“Phil…” He mumbled, his eyes locked to the east. Toward the house. If he stared long and hard enough, he felt like he could see the smoke rising from their chimney against the background of ashy grey clouds that seemed to hang infinitely over the landscape. Slowly, Techno pushed his arms beneath Tommy, one under his knees, the other around his shoulders. He hefted him up, making the kid wince in his arms. “Sorry, sorry. You alright?” He apologized, looking down at Tom with a furrow between his brows. The kid nodded, his eyes slid back closed and his head lolled against Techno’s shoulder.
It was going to be a difficult journey back.
Phil was pacing the living room, his hands held up to his face in a praying motion, but his eyes open, deep in thought.
Wilbur was sitting on the couch, less nervous to the untrained eye, but Phil saw the way his leg bounced, the way he flipped the pages of his book too quickly to properly read them. He was more nervous than Phil.
“They should’ve been back hours ago.” He muttered, turning back around again.
“You’re going to worry a hole into your floor if you keep pacing like that.” Wilbur mumbled quietly as he flipped another unread page.
“Oh and you’re not worried.” Phil deadpanned with a glare, only to be shushed by Wilbur.
‘Quiet.” He whispered, motioning with his head to his left where Tubbo laid against his shoulder, fast asleep.
When Techno and Tom hadn’t arrived back on time the three of them had agreed to wait together. Tubbo had been just as worried as they were now, but he’d burnt himself out much earlier on in the way, already worrying from the moment Tom said he’d be going out on his own (with Techno). It was best that he get some sleep anyhow, he needed the rest. Techno and Tommy would get back soon, they were just… late.
Phil checked his watch:
“01:43:44”
“10/26/22”
Very, very, very, very late.
A knock at the door had Wilbur up in a flash, already behind Phil who was grabbing the door knob. He swung the door open. They both drew in a sharp breath when Techno carried in a small and frail-looking Tommy in his arms.
“What happened?” Phil asked gravely as Techno pushed his way inside.
“He got sick. Really sick… really, really fast.” Techno replied, his voice rough and coated in anxiety. Phil went into dad-mode immediately, running to get a cold press and medicine from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Walking through the living room and into Tommy and Tubbo’s bedroom, Techno laid him down on the bed, not caring that they were still covered in snow.
Tommy cracked his eyes open to look around him, seeing Techno above him, and two shapes behind him.
“Techno… we’re back home?”
He nodded. “Mhm. You still doin’ okay, Tommy?”
He nodded, and Techno didn’t realize Tom had grabbed his hand until he had to pull his hand away to stand up. He gently let go, squeezing Tom’s fingers once before placing his hand down on his chest. Wilbur sat on the edge of the mattress. “Did you and Tech have a good trip outside? Apart from you getting sick?” Tom nodded with a smile, ignoring the way Wilbur leaned up and pressed the back of his hand against his forehead. “Mhm, we went out to get fuel, and… there was a barn, and.. Saw some dogs…” He mumbled, closing his eyes.
Wilbur pulled his hand away with a long sigh. “He’s got a really bad fever. Really, really bad. Where’s Phil with the-”
“Here.” The older of the three walked in, Wil and Tech’s eyes on him, and set down a bucket of water by the bedside, pulling a folded cloth from it and pressing it to Tommy’s forehead. Instantly he sighed with relief, his eyes still closed.
“Bet that feels better, huh?” Phil asked, Tommy didn’t respond. Maybe he was asleep, or totally out of it. Either way, it was Techno who spoke next, surprising Wilbur and Phil with the sheer amount of grief that filled his words.
“It’s all my fault.”
Wil picked his head up and looked at Techno, an almost shocked expression on his face. “What? This is your fault? How?”
“I let him go out there, I should’ve known… I should’ve been able to tell.” He said as he scrutinized his thoughts from earlier that day, trying to remember if he’d even for a moment suspected Tom had been ill.
“I’m the one who suggested Phil take Tommy out on a walk.” Wilbur said hollowly, hanging his head. “If there’s anyone to blame for this, it’s me.”
“No one here has any blame.” Phil said, pulling their attention away from their self-pity. “Wil, you had no idea why Tommy was acting oddly, none of us did. Same to you Techno, Tommy didn’t even know he was sick, so how were you two supposed to tell?”
Wil smiled and laughed softly “Says the man who always berated himself for missing the little things.”
They all laugh, and it definitely helps the two younger men feel better about their actions. They’d done what they did in Tommy’s best interest, it was no one’s fault he was sick. He’d get better in a few days, with rest and medicine.
Medicine.
Medicine.
They were out of Medicine.
Phil pulled every single bottle they had in the medicine cabinet off the shelves, searching for something, anything they could use. The only thing he found was a few pills in an otherwise empty bottle of expired Ibuprofen.
“FUCK!” He shouted, throwing the bottle into the garbage with a loud ‘THWACK’ as plastic-hit-plastic.
Wilbur winced from his seat at the kitchen table, where he and Techno had been discussing the situation. They’d been aware of the medicine shortage, as had Phil. But none of them had been getting sick, so it was low on the priority list, lower than fuel for the generator. Now it was at the top.
The other worrying factor was that since they’d come home, Tubbo hadn’t left Tommy’s side. As honorable and commendable as that was, the kid was a loyal friend, none of them doubted that- they were worried they’d soon have two sick boys instead of one.
“Someone has to go get supplies.” Techno said, matter-of-fact. Wil nodded.
“I remember seeing a pharmacy in town a few miles from the forest line to the south. We could head that way.”
“You think Phil will let us go?” Techno mumbled, glancing over toward the bathroom where Phil was sitting, reading medicine bottle labels. They turn back to one another.
“Phil knows it’s a priority. We’re the best fit to go, and Phil and Tubbo can take care of Tommy while we’re gone.”
“We don’t even know what’s wrong with him. What if he’s got Pneumonia? Chicken Pox? Influenza? What if he’s contagious?”
’What if he dies before we get back’ He doesn’t say.
Wil gives him a long look, chewing the inside of his cheek. “We’ll make it back before that becomes an issue.” Is all he says before getting up and walking to the bathroom.
There wasn’t enough room inside for Wil to enter, so he leans against the wall and stares at Phil, sitting on the linoleum tiles. He crossed his arms.
“...Are you just going to stand there or are you going to help me?” Phil asked, his voice angry to hide the exhaustion he felt. Wil knelt down in front of him.
“Techno and I are going to go out-”
“No-”
“-and find some medicine for Tommy. Phil, he needs something we don’t have. It’ll take a few days with the snow, but Tech and I have gone through worse for less.”
Phil sighs wetly and holds his face in his hands, dropping the pill bottles he’d been holding. “I can’t lose him, Wil. I can’t lose you-”
Wil sat down in front of him with his legs splayed to either side, and leaned in to hug him. Phil sighed, returning the hug with a squeeze.
“Please hurry. Please.”
Wil nods, not letting go. He tightens his embrace for a moment. “We’ll be back in four days.”
Wilbur knocked softly before entering the boys’ room, opening the door with a soft creak. He and Techno had come to tell them where they were going, that they’d be back soon. Tubbo was sitting on the floor next to the bed, Tommy laid on his side as they were apparently reading something together.
“-Luke told her. Somehow it sem-s...seemed important to start with the woods came-coming down, so it tear-torned-”
“ ‘turned’, Tubbo.” Tommy corrected weakly as they read, his face half-obscured by the blankets. Techno cleared his throat to catch their attention, and both boys glanced to the door at the same time, making Wilbur chuckle softly as Tubbo scrambled to his feet.
“Hey! What’s up?” He asked as they stepped into the room.
“We’re heading out for a bit.” Wilbur explained, watching how Tubbo and Tommy both deflated a bit at the news.
“You’re leaving again?...” Tom mumbled as he looked up at them. Wilbur smiled sadly and knelt down beside the bed so they were eye-to-eye.
“We have to go and get you some medicine. We’ll be back in four days, alright?”
“I don’t want you to go…” He croaked, and Wilbur’s heart broke as tears fell down Tommy’s face not for the first time that day. He gently brushed his bangs away to feel his forehead and found the fever present as ever.
“Tommy, you’re not well. Techno and I will be back very very soon. But until then you need to try to get better, okay? Sleep lots, and listen to Tubbo and Phil.”
Tommy gave a small indignated noise and pouted “I always listen to Tubbo.”
“Not true.” His friend called from behind Wilbur with a smirk. Wilbur chuckled and turned back to Tom.
“We’ll be back soon. Promise.”
They began to head for the door, but as Techno reached for the handle they heard a shout-
“Wait!” Tubbo called from the back room. He ran out a few moments later with something shiny clutched in his hands. Stopping in front of Wilbur, he held it out, opening his palms to reveal a-
“Is that a compass?” He asked, reaching out to take it from Tubbo’s hands. He nodded.
“Tommy found it a while ago. He gave it to me, and I thought… You could use it.”
Wilbur smiled as he held the compass close to his chest. “I’ll make sure to keep it safe for you.”
They say one last goodbye to Tubbo, the boy leaving them both with big hugs and a wave from the front door. Even as they walked away, Wilbur turned back to see Tubbo watching them from the living room window. He raised a hand and could just barely make out the shape of Tubbo raising a hand back to him before they were far enough away that he just became another shape in the distance.
Now came the difficult bit.
Notes:
I'm a sucker for sickfics, I knew when I published this I'd have to include at least a little bit of sickfic flare into it, otherwise I wouldn't be able to live with myself, lmao.
Next chapter we get a glimpse into Wilbur and Techno exploring the world together!! It's been a hot second since they left the house, so hopefully this'll be interesting ^^
Thanks for reading! As always I'm open to suggestions for future chapters and if you find any errors please PLEASE tell me so I can correct them! Thank you!
Chapter Text
They couldn’t wait for the snow to die down before heading out this time. Wilbur and Techno left the house at mid-day, but there was absolutely no light anywhere, save for the yellow glow of the oil lamp that hung from Phil’s front porch. As they travelled further and further away that glow became a dim and blurry point in the distance, and then vanished altogether, leaving the two of them alone in the darkness with little more than a compass to guide them.
“What was that about?” Techno shouted to him over the sound of whistling wind and the shuffling of snow.
“What was what about?” Wilbur called back.
“You and Tom. What are you, the kid’s dad or something?”
“The Kid is sick, Techno! The least I can do is comfort him. Besides he…”
Techno waits, wondering if maybe he missed the last end of Wilbur’s answer before his voice rang out again.
“...he reminds me of me, I think.”
“Well, he likes you, that’s for certain.”
Wilbur nods, the motion lost as they trudged onward. “I can’t let him down now that he needs me.”
Techno spared Wibur a glance, and saw a raw determination in his eyes that he’d never seen before. Techno had seen Wilbur do many, many things. But he’d never seen him look more stoic. More determined, than he did right in that moment.
“I’ll make sure you don’t.” Was all he could think to reply before they lapsed back into silence.
It was hard to tell time with the sun constantly obscured, but when Phil knocked on their door to tell Tubbo it was dinner time, he was a bit surprised.
Before Wilbur and Techno left they’d all sat down for breakfast, save Tommy. Tubbo had brought him something light to eat after that, but he hadn’t touched it. Instead they’d sat down and read together.
Well, Tommy read. Tubbo was doing a sudoku puzzle in a book Phil had found in one of the kitchen drawers. After finding some unfinished puzzles he handed the book to Tubbo, knowing the kid would have more fun solving them than he would.
After about an hour, Tommy had quietly asked Tubbo if he would take the book and read it out loud. His head was aching and his eyes were blurry, he’d explained, but Tubbo shushed him and just asked where he left off, picking up the story from there.
Then Wilbur and Techno had come in to say goodbye, Tubbo had given them the compass, and that had been that. They went back to reading for the next few hours, apparently skipping lunch, and after a while Tubbo noticed that Tommy was fast asleep, so he slipped a piece of paper into the book to mark their page, and picked his sudoku puzzle back up. A few minutes later Phil had called him out quietly for dinner.
“Is Tommy doing alright?” Phil asked as they sat across from one another.
Tubbo nodded. It felt odd, having only two people sitting at the kitchen table. It had always at least been him, Phil, and Tommy. But now with Tommy sick and Wilbur and Techno gone, they were the only ones to eat together.
“I’m… sorry I haven’t checked in on him yet. I just…”
“It’s alright Phil.” Tubbo says softly, taking a bite. “He’s been asleep mostly. If you want we can talk to him after we eat.”
Phil smiled and laughed softly, looking at Tubbo with an oddly proud expression. “You’re quite the responsible kid, aren’t you?” Tubbo grinned and looked down bashfully.
“Sometimes.”
“Tommy’s lucky to have a friend like you.”
It was meant to be honoring, Tubbo knew. But all he could think of was his parents screaming, of Tommy crying. Tommy not speaking to him for days.
’Tommy’s lucky to have a friend like you.’
Gunshots. Fire. Running. Tommy sitting in a corner, his back to Tubbo.
’Tommy’s lucky to have a friend like you.’
Suddenly he wasn’t hungry anymore. The food in his mouth tasted like cardboard.
Phil noticed Tubbo’s change in mood, but didn’t want to push him. He’d had a rough few days, they all had, so when he asked if he could be excused with half his food still left on his plate, Phil let him go. He prayed it was just a bad mood and not… whatever illness Tommy had.
He followed Tubbo into the storeroom and walked over to the bed, sitting down on the end. Tom was asleep, his eyes closed and his chest moving up and down with long, even breaths. Tubbo sat on the floor at the other end, his back resting against the side of the mattress.
“Should we wake him?” He whispered, to which Phil shook his head.
“No, let him sleep. He needs it. Just… thought I should check on him.” Phil says quietly before standing. He looked down at the faces of the two boys he’d found barely a month ago, remembering the first time they saw one another. How scared they’d been, how scared he’d been. They’d grown a lot closer now, and Phil hoped he’d gained their trust. He hoped they knew they could depend on him.
He couldn’t fail them now.
Wil and Techno had been gone for two days.
He knew they had said they’d be gone for at least four, but Phil couldn’t help but worry. He felt like the only thing he did these days was worry.
Tommy had been mostly stable. He’d checked on him more and more, coming in every few hours to find them either playing a board game, reading, or sleeping. He worried for both of them.
He wondered what their lives were like four years ago, before the world ended. Had they had pets? Siblings? Friends? He hoped so. He hoped they’d had amazing lives, with good memories. He hoped they’d always remember those days, back when the world wasn’t crazy.
Phil had been out shopping with his wife when everything went down. They’d been standing in a shopping mall, Kristen had said something to him about needing a new pair of running shoes, so they’d gone together to get a bite to eat. One moment everything had been normal, the chatter of spread out crowds echoing through the wide open mall and then- chaos.
Phil hadn’t even been sure what exactly happened, all he knew was that everyone was running past them in a giant mass. Kristen had grabbed his arm and started running before he’d even had a chance to think. They kept moving, running, he tried to yell above the crowd to ask her what had happened, what had she seen, when she was suddenly ripped from his grasp by the crowd. He stumbled, and then he was on the ground. He covered his head with his hands and pulled his legs up to his chest, feeling the weight of people stepping on his back and legs as they sprinted toward the exits.
It had all happened so quickly, when he stood up, there was no one around. The mall was completely abandoned.
“...Kristen...Kristen!!” He shouted, turning in a circle as he took in the surroundings. Everything was destroyed. It looked like the whole building had… shaken. An earthquake?
“KRISTEN!!” He ran down the giant corridor to the exits, shoving the doors open and running into the parking lot. The sky above him was shrouded in clouds so dense he couldn’t see the sun.
The worst part was that he never knew what happened to her. He prayed she was still alive out there somewhere.
“What are you doing?”
Tubbo’s voice snapped Phil out of the daydream he’d been trapped in, he blinked in surprise and cleared his throat, looking down at the book in his hands.
“I was just… thinking.” He answered.
Tubbo nodded, and Phil noticed he was wearing one of Techno’s old hoodies. A red one with his college’s emblem on the front. Or- the college he’d wanted to go to, Phil reminded himself.
“Where’d you find that? Raid Techno’s closet?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.
Tubbo shrugged, rolling the sleeves a few times. “It’s comfy, and he’s not using it.”
“I see.” Phil teased as he picked his book back up. “You’d better ask him when he gets back. That’s one of his favorites I think.”
Tubbo shrugged before heading back into the bedroom. “You feeling any better?” He asked when he noticed Tommy was awake. He shrugs, his eyes not leaving the book in his hands.
“Feel ‘bout the same I think.” He mumbled as he flipped to the next page.
“You ready to sleep?”
Tommy paused for a second before he sighed and nodded, closing his book. “Yeah… wasn’t even really reading it anyways. Words kept getting blurrier.”
“Your head bothering you again?”
He nodded.
“Want me to get you a cold press?”
He shook his head.
Tubbo sighed, but didn’t press it. “Goodnight, Tommy.”
“G’night, Tubso.”
Tubbo didn’t need to see the sky to know it was deep into the night. He wasn’t sure what exactly woke him until he heard the same sound again, soft but still there.
“Tubbo…” He heard Tommy mumble, watching as a hand reached out over the side of the bed. Immediately he got up onto his knees, lifting himself up to check on Tommy.
“Hey, hey. You alright?” He asked, his eyes still adjusting to the dimness of the room.
“Tubbo, I can’t… there’s these things…” He mumbled, waving an arm haphazardly near his face. Tubbo leaned forward and reached a hand out, checking his temperature. He pulled back quickly, realizing how hot Tommy was. They needed Phil, now.
He got to his feet and was about to head out the door when a searing hot hand grabbed his wrist. “Tubbo!” He cried, sitting up.
“Tommy, it’s okay! It’s okay.” He tried to be reassuring, but he was scared. He needed Phil here. “You’re sick. You’ve got a really bad fever. I need to go get Phil so he can help.”
“Don’t leave, please, please.” Tears were streaming down his face, Tubbo couldn’t leave him like this.
“Come with me, okay? Come on-” Tubbo tried to pull Tommy to his feet, but it didn’t seem like he could get his legs to work. Tubbo couldn’t carry him, and Tommy couldn’t stand. “Just- Just wait, okay? I promise, I’ll be right back.” He says as he backs toward the door, noticing the way Tommy slumps onto his side. He turns and rushes out the door, shouting for Phil as he climbs the ladder to the loft.
When he pokes his head through the trap door, Phil is already on his feet, tossing a t-shirt over his head.
“He’s really hot, like- he’s burning up Phil. I don’t know what to do!”
Phil waved for Tubbo to head back down the ladder, which he did as fast as he could. “What’s changed?” He asked first, his voice grave and serious.
“H-he was mumbling about things, waving his hand around and, he was so hot, Phil- I think he’s really scared.” Tubbo stammered, following behind as they re-entered the bedroom.
“Tom?” Phil called as he walked up to the bedside. There was no response from the figure on the bed. Tubbo’s eyes widened, but Phil just asked again. “Tommy, what’s the matter, are you okay?” He took stock of what he could see. Red cheeks, pale skin, he was shivering.
He wasn’t waking up.
“How long has he been like this?” Phil asked Tubbo seriously, not looking away from Tommy.
“H-he was fine just a minute ago! I swear, he sat up and grabbed my wrist right before I came to get you!”
Phil nodded. “Alright, calm down now. Grab a bucket of water from under the sink, and get some cloths from the drawer.”
He stayed with Tommy, checking his pulse and forehead. Tubbo was right, he was absolutely burning. He’d been sleeping just a moment earlier, if he hadn’t woken up-
Now wasn’t the time. A wet cloth wasn’t going to do anything for him now. Phil pulled Tommy into his arms and carried him out of the bedroom, passing by Tubbo in the kitchen. He stopped filling the bucket in the sink and instead followed Phil as he brought Tommy into the bathroom and sat with him on the shower floor.
“Tubbo, turn on the water.” He instructed, gently moving Tommy’s head to a more comfortable position.
“What? But you said-”
“Tubbo now, please!” Phil raised his voice, and Tubbo pulled the knob, freezing cold water gushing from the shower head.
Phil had to hold back a cry from the freezing water. He’d survive. He looked down at where Tommy’s cheek rested against his chest. His eyes closed.
“Come on Tommy wake up, wake up-”
Tubbo knelt on the floor next to them, reaching out to take one of Tommy’s hands in his. For a long time, nothing happened. The three of them sat there in silence, except for the occasional sniffle from Tubbo. They both silently pleaded to Tommy to wake up. Wake up, please please please…
Phil watched as his eyes cracked open, looking around as he laid still against Phil. He brushed wet bangs from Tommy’s eyes.
“Tommy? Oh my god, Tommy?!”
“Phil?” He whispered, his voice absolutely gone. “Phil?...”
He hugged him, cradling his head as he cried into Tommy’s hair.
“Whas’ ‘appuned?... Tubbo?” He asked, lifting his head to look to his right, where Tubbo had buried his face in his side. He suddenly realizes he’s being pelted with rain, but doesn’t really mind too much. It felt good, he’d felt so hot before. “...‘S raining.” He mumbled, resting his head back on Phil’s chest. He suddenly felt a lot more tired.
Tommy was put under twenty-four hour watch on Phil’s orders. The rest of that night, Phil sat up in a chair, just watching the rise and fall of Tommy’s chest, reminding himself he was alive. He was right there. He was going to be okay.
The fever scared Tubbo too. He didn’t sleep for the rest of the night, and the next day he woke Tommy nearly in tears when he heard him mumbling in his sleep.
Tommy didn’t seem to remember the night’s events. When Phil asked him about it he said he didn’t remember waking up, grabbing Tubbo. He vaguely remembered the shower, he recalled thinking it was raining, but that was about it. Phil decided it was better that way. Better he not be frightened. He wished he could say the same for Tubbo. The kid was in shambles after that night. Phil tried to console him but he just didn’t know how to help.
Phil thinks he would probably be a shit dad, if he’d ever managed to have kids. All he could hope for was that Wil and Techno would come home soon.
Notes:
This chapter was FOURTEEN PAGES in my Google doc!!!!!!! WHAT!!!!!!!?!?!?!?!?
I originally contemplated splitting this into two chapters, but I couldn't really pick a place in the middle to split it, so I just decided to upload it as it is.
We got a LOT of info in this chapter though. Techno and Tommy got some bonding time, Tommy is sick, Wilbur and Techno left, and to top it all off Tommy gets REALLY sick and Phil and Tubbo had to save him!!!!
I know you all just read that but like- that's so much!!!!
As always I hope you enjoyed!! Stick around for more chapters to come, I swear dream team and co. will be included..... eventually. Still working that bit out.Next chapter: Wilbur and Techno Time!! Very excited to get back out into the world of this fic. I'm a big fan of post-weather-apocalypse cityscapes.
Chapter 10: Tuned into Frequency ":]"
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Winter wasn’t just isolated to the forest, despite Techno’s wistful hopes. The snow didn’t stop when they reached the edge of the forest. It blanketed the entire world, absorbing every sound until they were left with only the crunch under their boots. To them, the world felt deathly silent. A graveyard.
Street lamps stood along the road every few yards, a grim reminder of the past, and where they were now. Useless poles buried in the ground, what could they do for them now? They were little more than a place for birds to perch and sing.
Wilbur and Techno walked along what they assumed was a road, it was hard to tell with three feet of snow covering everything, but they followed it nonetheless.
“Tech, look up there.” He whispered, pointing up ahead to a small building in the distance that sat on the side of the road. “Was that there before?”
“This isn’t the path we took before, Wil. We’re further south now.” Techno corrected as they approached the building, which he could now see was just a small tool shed. “It’s nothin’. Let’s keep moving.”
“Wait Techno, look-” Wilbur bounded over the snow, stopping at the side of the shed. “It’s all rotted out. Look at this.”
“Wilbur, I hate to rush you but we’ve kinda got to get going.” Techno urged him tensely, motioning for Wilbur to follow him. “I’m not waitin’ around for you to explore every shed we pass this time. Let’s go.”
“Last time we explored a shed, I found a .44 snub pistol inside.”
“Uh-huh, and what happened to that pistol?”
Wilbur goes silent for a moment, his shoulders slumping. “I dropped it in the channel…”
“You dropped it in the channel.”
Wilbur and Techno both knew the southern part of England was underwater. Phil’s cabin was comfortably situated in the heart of Joseph National Forest, which was a highground in the southern part of the country. The surrounding towns and their landscapes did not escape the water so easily.
“We have to head north. We’re leaning too far to the west, we should be-”
“Heading north from here would put us in an ice field. Wilbur I love you to death, you’re like a brother to me, but there’s a reason you’re the scavver and I’m the navver.”
Wilbur rolls his eyes and mutters under his breath, “screw you, Technoblade...”
Ohohoh, Oh so we’re bringin’ out the ‘Blade now huh? We’re doin’ full names, mister Will-i-am? Mister ‘Will-i-am Bur Soot’?”
Wilbur grins smugly at Techno. “You don’t know my full name, Technoblade.”
“...Mister WILL-I-AM?!”
He broke at that, letting large peels of laughter ring out, echoing against the flat faces of the buildings surrounding them. “Shut up!! You’re insufferable.”
“Yeah, well so are you, Soot.”
“Thanks, Blade.”
They walk well into the night before settling down in the open maw of some broken shop-front. Wil took a moment to look around and noticed something odd. “Tech, didn’t Tubbo mention something about finding this compass in a library?”
Techno looked up from where he’d been untying one of his boots to look back at Wilbur. “Uuuh, maybe? I think so. Why?”
“Look at where we are.” He gestured to the inner part of what they’d assumed to be a store, but was actually a much larger space than Techno had originally thought. Books lined the walls and tall shelves stood in rows further into the room. “What if this is the same library the boy’s stayed in?”
“I highly doubt-”
“Look! Techno, bring the lamp over here!”
He sighs, mumbling something about wasting oil on this as he got up and shone the light over whatever Wilbur wanted to show him. “Heh?”
“Look at this: ‘Navigational Tools of Great Discovery?’ There’s a map missing from the wall, and look- this plaque.” He takes the lamp from Techno and shines it on the inscription. “There’s a fucking picture of Tubbo’s compass here.” He takes the copper compass out of his jacket pocket, holding it up for comparison and sure enough, it was exactly the same. “This is the same library Tom and Tubbo stayed in, before they went to Philza’s house.”
Techno wasn’t sure why the thought felt eerie to him, but he could tell Wilbur felt the same way. It was like ghost stories. The wind blew against the building in a particularly forceful way making both men flinch. Techno was the first to recover, taking a long look around the empty room.
“I wonder what they were thinking when they slept here.” He whispered, not really sure if he was talking to Wilbur or himself.
“...I bet they were scared.” Wilbur replied. He didn’t think that was the answer Techno had wanted, but it was the only answer he could think of. “I bet… they were wondering what they were going to eat next. Where they were going to sleep next… I bet they were thinking about when they were going to have to fend for their lives next-”
“Wilbur, I’m sorry, But I’m just suddenly not in the mood.” Techno interrupted with a wave of his hand, stalking back to where he’d been taking off his boots. He sat back down on an overturned book case and pulled his other boot off with a harsh tug.
Wilbur meandered his way back over to Techno, sitting down beside him silently for a long moment as they both sat, just watching out the broken windows as snow and ice and wind blew around outside in a whirlwind. What little light that came from outside didn’t make it far into their little nook. Techno’s eyes followed the light as it softly diffused into the darkness he and Wilbur hid in.
“...I bet they’re happy they found Phil.” He whispered, his eyes following a trail of snow as it got licked up by the wind. “I bet they’re happy they met us too.”
Wilbur smiled and nodded. “I’m happy I met them.”
The third day of traveling, Techno found a car.
They’d been walking down the middle of a desolate city street, Techno leading the way with Wilbur scouting the area, staying within a certain radius of Techno as they walked. This was their system, and it worked well. Despite needing glasses, Wilbur’s eyes were arguably better than Techno’s, so he was incharge of scavenging supplies and finding useful resources they might miss otherwise. Techno was better with directions, so he was designated the ‘navigator’ and was put incharge of leading their expeditions. Sure it was only the two of them, but having roles to play gave them both peace of mind.
They had control, in a sense.
Wilbur peeked through the frosty window of an abandoned car and blinked back in surprise when he noticed that the keys were sitting right on the passenger seat.
“Techno! Check this out!” He calls his friend over and he bends over, looking into the car’s interior. It wasn’t a particularly fancy car, just some old mom-style minivan. He also noticed the keys.
“Do you think we can get in?” Wlibur asked quietly.
Techno stood up and gently pushed Wilbur back with his arm before trying the door handle. As he’d suspected, it was locked. So he resorted to option two.
‘CRASH!!’
Reaching through the shattered window, Techno grabbed the keys from the seat and unlocked the passenger door, opening it for Wilbur, who was still stood in surprise at watching Techno punch in a car door window.
“Uh- thanks, big guy.” He said with a chuckle as he ducked into the seat. As Techno walked around the car to the driver’s side Wilbur leaned over and unlocked his door for him. Once they were both in, they tried the key and-
......‘wrWRWRWRWRWRWRWRRRrrrr…..’
That wasn’t a good sound.
......‘wrWRWRWRWRWRWRWRRRrrrr…..’
“Come on, come on...” Techno pleaded, giving the thing a harsh smack with his first before he tried again, turning the key.
......‘wrWRWRWRWRWRWRWRWRWWRWRRRrrrr…..’
Wilbur sighed from the passenger seat, hitting the back of his head against the headrest. “Please, please, please work. Please please work…”
With a car, the four day trip could turn into just a few hours there and back. They could be back home with Tom’s medicine, and an entire carload of supplies, in less than a day.
......‘wrWRWRWRWRWRWRWRWRWWRWRRRrrrr…..’
Techno hit the steering wheel several times in quick succession, prompting Wilbur to lean away nervously.
“Come ON you stupid car!! We need this, I know we can make this work. Just-... just fucking RUN!!”
......‘wrWRWRWRWWRWRRR-RUMBLE’
The engine roared to live under the hood, and Wilbur found himself speechless as Techno looked up at him with a smug grin. He cracked a smile, laughing and smacking his hands together.
“Alright Blade, let’s fucking RIDE!!”
The gas gage showed they were at about half-a-tank, which was good considering Techno had no idea where the hell they were going to get more gas in the middle of the city. They headed north, dodging trash cans, wrecked cars, and toppled-over light posts. They made it out of the drowned city in a matter of minutes, making Wilbur’s hopes soar. They were going to get to the pharmacy in no time. They could gather supplies, bring backpacks full of food, medicine, maybe they could even look around for some ammo for Phil’s hunting rifle.
Techno reached down to the radio and flicked it on, the car filled with the sound of static as he tuned the frequency. Wilbur held his hands over his ear, removing one to quickly turn the volume dial waaaaaay way down.
“Jesus, Tech! Warn a guy before you blow his eardrums out.” He watches as Techno glances between the road and the radio dial for a few moments. “...What are you doing? Radio’s gone, we knew that already.”
“Shut up, Wilbur.” Was all he said. Wilbur huffed and leaned back in his seat, folding his arms as they rode in silence, aside from Techno’s radio scanning.
................”-don’t even thINK-”
Wilbur and Techno both shot up in their seats, leaning into the radio to see if they’d really heard what they just heard.
“Turn it back! Go back!”
“I am, I am!” Techno shouted as he backed up the dial.
.....Tha-... -going to give you any favors.” the voice on the radio was fuzzy and a bit distorted, but it was there. Techno pulled over to the side of the road and turned the engine off, both of them watching the radio like if they looked hard enough they could see the person on the other end.
“What the fuck.” Was all Wilbur could say.
”You’re not getting out of this so easily.”
”No please, please, I’m sorry!”
”Sorry means NOTHING to ANYONE here! You stole from us and now you’re SORRY?!”
”Please!”
Wlibur and Techno shared a look between the two of them, concern heavy in their features.
”No!! You get NOTHING! NO MERCY!! THERE IS NO MERCY FOR YOU HERE!”
Wilbur flinched when gunshots rang out from the radio speakers, and Techno turned the radio off, just sitting back in his seat. The silence deafening.
“...I passed that station three times.” He mumbled. Wilbur’s eyes turned to him. “We just started picking up this frequency, meaning we’ve just entered it’s radius. We’re heading straight into… That.”
Wilbur sighed and mumbled something along the lines of oh fucking jesus as he held his face in his hands. He inhaled sharply.
“We can’t turn back. Not now.”
“I know.” Techno said with a nod. “But we need to be ready if the time comes that… we run into this guy.” He pointed to the radio, now silent. Wilbur also nodded.
They took stock of the supplies they’d brought with them. Two torches (meant only to be used in absolute emergencies), three days' food rations, a swiss-army knife, climbing rope, blanket, matches, a half-full canister of lamp oil, not much in terms of weaponry. Each man had a pistol on them with three bullets each, the last of their ammo, and Techno had a good-sized hunting knife, but that was it.
Techno pulled his pistol out and emptied the cartridge into his hands, holding the three bullets out to Wilbur.
“Here, take ‘em.”
Wilbur paused, looking from Techno’s outstretched hand to his face, and back again. “Tech, I’m not taking-”
“You’re a better shot than I am, and I’ve got my knife. Sometimes I’ll even forget to pull my gun out when we’re hunting. You’ll find them more useful than I probably would.” He reaches forward and takes Wilburs hand, depositing the small pieces of metal into his palm. “It’s just in case, Wilbur.”
’In case one of us doesn’t make it back.’ He doesn’t say.
Wilbur hesitantly closes his fingers around the bullents and sits back straight in his seat as Techno turns the car back on. He takes out his own pistol and loads the bullets in. One magazine, six bullets, that’s all he had. And now Techno only had a knife.
They were so fucked.
Notes:
WOOOOOOO WHO'S THAT ON THE RADIO????? IT'S YA BOI SMILEY FACE
I was absolutely winging this chapter, but I think it turned out well! Most of these chapters are really just "stream-of-conciousness" writing accept I go back a few times and edit them so they make sense, lmao.
Hope you enjoyed!!! I'm thinking Dream team and co. will show up either next chapter or the one after.
Leave a comment of you have suggestions or if you spot a spelling mistake!
Chapter 11: My Brother, Tom
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Travelling north was a breeze compared to what Techno knew would be a hellish return trip. Ice was terrible for driving, as anyone could tell you, the further north they got the warmer it became, and soon there wasn’t a frozen pond or icey city in sight. It was almost peaceful, riding on the road this way. There were no cars, no traffic… no other people anywhere.
The radio message still haunted Techno, but he didn’t want to tune back in without Wilbur’s go-ahead. His friend had seemed more shaken about the possibility of raiders than he’d thought he would be.
Before, Techno and Wilbur had gone up against gangs in the past. Over the three years they’d been traveling together they’d run into plenty of strangers with less-than-friendly intentions. There had been multiple instances of the boys needing to flee from bullets or battery, but they’d always made it out okay, sometimes by the skin of their teeth, but they survived nonetheless.
That was back when they didn’t have anyone depending on them to return home, though.
Techno could feel it too, that pull deep in his chest where Phil, Tubbo, and Tom had all burrowed into his once cold and stony heart. He felt weak, knowing they had so much pull over him. This man, these children, he… He knew he couldn’t let them down. He imagined Phil and Tubbo, waiting for them to come home as Tommy got sicker and sicker. His fingers gripped the steering wheel harder. He wouldn’t let that happen.
The tank was running low, so when Wilbur spotted a gas station on the road up ahead, they stopped briefly to refuel and perhaps scrounge up something to eat. Wilbur went to check and see if there was anything worth taking inside while Techno stayed with the car and siphoned fuel from the pump. He gaged as gasoline entered his mouth and he quickly shoved the spigot into the gas tank as he spat on the ground. Gross.
A few minutes later, Wilbur walked out with two plastic grocery bags filled with what Techno hoped was food, or maybe toothpaste. That gas tasted disgusting.
“What’ve you got?” He called as Wilbur approached with a grin on his face.
“Check it out, Blade. We’ve got cola, orange soda, grape soda, sour candies, chocolate, some beef jerky-”
“Pass-”
“And some first aid stuff I found under one of the shelves. Just some bandaids and Ibuprofen, but it’s something.”
Tech nods approvingly, taking a bag of sour candies. “Next time we stop for gas, you’re siphoning it.” He popped the candy into his mouth and climbed in the driver's seat, Wilbur not far behind.
They’d been traveling for another two or so hours when Wilbur suddenly leaned forward from where he’d been staring out the window to turn the radio on. Techno gave him a concerned look.
“You sure you want to tune back into that?”
Wilbur nodded coldly. “We should at least know what we’re going into.”
He leaned back, and they listened as the radio crackled to life.
”....Hello? Is this thing on? Hello, hello?”
This voice was different from the previous person. Another American, Techno noticed. He sounded less angry than whoever had been speaking before.
”Hey! Uh, If anyone’s listening, this is Karl! I’m in charge of the radio now, I guess. Sapnap used to be the radio guy, but he’s... in trouble because he kept leaving it on overnight and uh- well, anyways!”
The voice, Karl, laughed nervously. Wilbur and Techno listened intently.
”If anyone around London is looking to trade, we have lots to offer! Come to the southern bridge and wait until midday, we’re always looking for new trading partners- Oh, hey! Uh, radio listeners, Sapnap has come by to say hello again!. Say hi, Sapnap!” He whispers the last bit, pulling away from the microphone. Suddenly a new voice was on, this one lower and gravlier. ”Hey guys, how’s it goin’?”
”How do we know if anyone’s listening?” Karl asked.
”We don’t, just keep talking. Maybe someone’ll show up someday.” They could hear the sounds of footsteps on gravel getting quieter.
”Oh, uh… well I guess that’s all Sapnap had to say. Uh- well anyway, if you’re looking to trade-”
Wilbur shuts off the radio, sinking down in his seat as he chewed on the nail of his thumb.
“What’re you thinkin’?” Techno asked, glancing to his side at Wilbur.
“I’m thinking yesterday was a fluke. Some guy named Sapnap left the radio on while whoever’s in charge was threatening… killing people. Maybe on purpose, maybe not.”
Techno nodded solemnly in agreement. “You think we should do something?”
Wilbur shakes his head immediately. “No way. We’ve got other priorities. But… we should steer clear of the southern bridge. We should bank left, to the west.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
Wilbur grinned, hitting Techno in the arm. “What was that you were saying before? Something about ‘you’re the scavver, I’m the navver’?”
“Shut up, Soot.”
It took another hour of driving than they’d anticipated to avoid the southern bridge, but both men felt better about their chances of avoiding the source of the threatening radio signal. It was dark outside now, but Techno didn’t really want to use the headlights if he didn’t have to. Headlights drained the car battery, and he had no idea what they’d do if the battery gave out on them. They were betting on this car getting them back home.
They entered the city, Techno driving slow and cautious as they passed by abandoned stores and eerily silent buildings. Even at night, the city was supposed to be full of life. Now there wasn’t a single sound to be heard other than the steady rumble of the car engine. At least the relative silence meant they were alone. Hopefully far away from the radio signal source.
“We’re getting close.” Wilbur mutters as he begins to recognize the city streets they’re driving past. He remembered the bakery he and his mom used to go to for breakfast. The coffee shop down the street he used to work at. This was supposed to be home, but… now all it was was a ghost town.
“We’re here.”
Techno stops the car and the two of them get out, heading to the storefront Wilbur had recognized as a pharmaceutical office he’d been to a few times to pick up medicine for various illnesses between him and his mom over the years. He stepped through the broken glass window, not bothering with the door. The broken shards crunched under his boots as they entered. Techno relit the lantern and set it in the middle of the room.
“Alright… Start searchin’, I guess.” He mumbled, pulling the zipper of his backpack open. Wilbur did the same as they started scouring the isles for anything that could be useful. Just grabbing random bottles wouldn’t do them any good, medicine was tricky, and they needed to make sure to get the right things.
Wilbur found a bottle shoved in the back of a shelf that read “Anti-Inflamatory” and immediately snagged it, shoving it into his bag. There were some other useful things. Cough syrup, Pain Relievers, Allergy Medication, but there wasn’t anything strong enough on the shelves to treat what Tommy had.
Techno headed to the back of the store and examined the very protected back room. The glass separator was cracked, but not broken. And it looked like someone had tried to smash in the door, but with no luck. He pressed his face against the glass, cupping his hands to try and see. His eyes widened when he saw what was back there. Rows and rows of medication just sitting on the shelves. Prescriptions waiting to be filled, or bags of pills waiting to be put in orange bottles. He could smash the glass, but that would make a mess, and they didn’t want to get cut. The door would be harder to open, but probably safer in the long run.
Wilbur noticed Techno standing in the back and walked over to join him, looking at the scene before them. “What’s the plan?”
Techno rubbed his face with his hand idly, thinking.
“I think we smash the door. It’d be safer than the glass.”
Wilbur nods and sighs, trying to prep himself for smashing through a very obviously tough metal door. Techno cracked his knuckles and took his place beside wilbur, their backs to one another.
“On three we run full speed. Don’t hold back. We might be able to get this in one go.” Techno instructed as he lowered himself, getting ready to sprint. Wilbur nodded next to him.
“One… Two… Three!”
They both rammed their shoulders against the door, hearing a groan of protest from the metal. But it held strong. There was a very clear and serious indent in the door now, and Wilbur’s shoulder hurt like a bitch.
“Again, again! Come on, this is the one.” Techno insisted, taking a few steps back. Wilbur joined him after a moment, taking a few quick breaths and readying himself to barrage the door again.
They didn’t need to count the second time. Techno tensed and Wilbur could feel him readying. They rush the door again, and this time they feel the hinges give way, metal screeching on metal, and Wilbur’s shoulder flew forward through the doorway, and suddenly he was on the floor.
“Ow! Jesus fuck, Techno!” He cried, pushing himself up off the floor. Tech grabbed his uninjured arm and pulled him to his feet, giving him a moment to orient himself.
“You alright?” He asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. Wilbur nodded.
“Fine, I’m fine. Let’s just get the meds and get out of here.”
They started searching again, this time being more forgiving about labels. Anything with a label pertaining to fever was thrown in the bags, along with anything that had the word ‘influenza’, which wasn’t much, but there were a few bottles. Their biggest worry now was dosage. They didn’t want to give Tom too much medicine, that could be arguably worse than having no medicine at all. Maybe. Wilbur wasn’t really sure.
Techno picked his head up from where he’d been reading a label. A noise. From outside, not too far away. He froze. Wilbur either ignored him or didn’t notice as he continued toward the car.
He heard it again, something in the distance that sounded like…
“Get in the car.” He mumbled, his eyes unmoving from the direction he heard the noise.
Wilbur picked his head up, looking around in confusion. “What?...”
“Now. Get in the car. Now.”
Wilbur knew that tone. That was Techno’s ‘shut up and do what I say so we can both make it out of this alive’ tone. He grabbed one last fist full of pill bottles, praying he got what they needed and crouched down, zipping the bag closed. Techno did the same, slowly creeping toward the door as the sounds became louder. He could hear it more clearly now. Voices.
They both stopped in their tracks, waiting to see what the people outside would do. Hopefully they’d just pass by.
“...- think is going on at camp?” One voice, a man with an American accent.
“I think Dream is being over dramatic. They literally took like, one extra box of crackers, or something. I don’t remember.” Another voice. This one was british. They were getting closer.
“Seriously, killing that guy was crossing a line. He needs to know that.” Another voice, jesus how many were there?!
Wilbur shook Techno’s shoulder silently, but the taller shook his head, pressing his mouth shut. They weren’t moving, not until the danger passed.
“Yo! Guys! Was this van here before?”
Shit.
Wilbur squeezed his eyes closed, silently praying that they’d just leave it. Leave their car alone and pass along.
“The engine is still warm. Someone’s close by.”
“Hellooooo? Who’s out here?!”
They could hear laughing after that. Techno looked down at the keyfob in his hand, silently relieved that he’d remembered to bring it with them.
“You think the doors are locked?”
Fuck.
Afraid of losing the car, and without thinking, Techno pressed the ‘lock’ button on the fob, and he heard a scream from outside.
“Oh my god oh my god, it locked right as I pulled the handle!”
Techno smirked, serves ‘em right for trying to steal their car. The car they stole, but whatever. Serves ‘em right.
“We know you’re here!! We know you can hear us!” One of the Americans called out, making Wilbur shrink inward on himself. Techno took him by the arm and pulled him forward, inching forward to peek through the gap of the door.
He could see the tops of two heads just past the entrance of the pharmacy, out the window. One silhouette was closer, and seemed to be examining the entrance. If they had any chance of leaving quietly they needed to do it now.
When he was certain the closer figure was looking away, he opened the backroom door and crept out, making sure Wilbur was right behind him. He had WIlbur’s arm in one hand, the other on his knife at his side, which he pulled from it’s holster. “You think they’re still here?” He heard the British guy whisper. They were at the front of the store now, Techno could peek over the ledge of the window and see the closest figure just a few feet away. He was a thin guy, around his age with curly brown hair. He quickly ducked back down, not wanting to draw his attention.
“George, Karl, search the buildings around here. I’ll stay with the car.”
Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Techno doubled back, pulling Wilbur along with him as they started heading toward the Pharmacy.
“Stop!!” Wilbur called out, making the footsteps freeze. Techno glared at him with wide eyes, mouthing: ‘What the fuck?!’
“Who’s there?” The commanding voice replied. “What are you doing in there?”
Wilbur’s brain short-circuited. He didn’t have a plan.
“We-... We needed some medicine!” That was true. They were in a pharmacy. That was logical. They couldn’t get mad at them for that, right?
“We?” He asked.
“Me and.. My friend.” Wilbur answered hesitantly.
“Just one friend?”
He sighed shakily, but decided being honest here was a good option.
“Yes. Just… Just the two of us.”
“You said you needed medicine. Are you sick? Injured?”
“My… my brother is sick.” He didn’t really feel like explaining his very nuanced relationship with Tommy to this possibly violent stranger, so screw him for skipping the details, whatever.
“Your brother?...”
The voice was silent for a few long, strained moments before he spoke again.
“Put down your guns. We’re putting down our weapons! You can come out!”
Wilbur looked to Techno to take the lead, and he sighed, nodding his head. Together they both slowly stood up, looking out over the half-wall to see a group of three men staring back at them.
They didn’t really look all that intimidating now that Wilbur had eyes on them. They were all shorter than he was. The guns on the ground at their feet made both Wilbur and Techno hesitate.
The one standing closest to the car held his hands up over his head, prompting the other two to follow his lead. Techno noticed how he had a long thin slash across his face, starting above his right temple and passing just under his eye, ending at the top of his lip.
“We’re not going to hurt you. Just… just get out of here, alright? Don’t come back.”
Against his better judgment, Techno opens his mouth:
“That’s a nasty scar you got there.”
The guy shrugged, but nodded. “Yeah. Got a couple nasty scars over the years.”
Are you Sapnap?”
All three of them tense at the name. His eyes narrow and he takes a step forward, lowering his hands from above his head
“Who are you? How do you know that?”
“We heard your broadcast on the radio.” He explained as they stepped over the wall, Techno helping Wilbur with his bad shoulder. “Heard two guys, Sapnap, and some kid named Karl.”
“Hey!!” The scrawny guy to their right called in protest.
“You guys from around here?” Sapnap asked. Techno shook his head.
“Wait a minute… I recognize you two! You were in Ireland!”
Everyone turned to look at the third man, apparently named George, Wilbur had to guess. His heart sprang to his throat. Shit. Shit- these guys were the same one’s they’d seen in Ireland?!
“How did you make it through that storm?!” He asked. “We had to turn back, we thought you drowned in the channel.”
‘Nope.” Techno said, pulling Wilbur a little closer to his side. He could feel Wilbur shaking under his hand.
“L-listen, we came a long way to get these pills, To-... my brother, he’s… he’s really sick. We need to leave, now.”
Sapnap nodded, and motioned for the other two men to step aside.
“I hope your brother gets better.” Was the last thing they heard him say before Techno pulled the car door closed, and they sped off down the road.
Wilbur watched the rear window for a long time after they stopped being able to see Sapnap, George, and Karl in the distance.
“Sit down forward and put your seatbelt on.” Techno scolded. “They’re gone, Wil.”
He did as Techno asked, clipping the belt into the buckle. They’d let them go, just like that. Wilbur had a strong feeling that saying Tommy was his brother had something to do with it. Maybe Sapnap felt pity for him. Sick brother in the apocalypse sounded like a death sentence when he thought about it.
He shook his head. Tommy was fine. He was going to get the medicine he needed and he was going to get better and he was going to be fine.
Notes:
SAP-NAP!! SAP-NAP!! SAP-NAP!! SAP-NAP!! SAP-NAP!!
We got just a little taste of the "and co." part of Dream Team and co. Really happy with this chapter ^^ Can't wait to finally have Tommy feeling better!!
What Will Wil do when he hears about Tommy's accident while he was gone? Or will Phil tell him? :0 even I don't know, I haven't decided yet, lmao.
Thank you for leaving comments and kudos!
Chapter 12: Get Out
Notes:
This is just an extra little snippit I wanted to write for the dream team and co.! Im not sure when we'll see them again and it felt like we didn't really get to see a lot of them, so... tada!!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Sapnap didn’t look up from the knife he was sharpening when he heard his door creak open. He didn’t look up when he heard slow and steady footsteps approaching him from behind, meandering around him before sitting in the folding chair across from him.
“George told me something interesting yesterday.”
He sharpens his knife. “George has some pretty fun stories.”
“He told me you ran into some people at the pharmacy on Eddington street.”
He glances at Dream's shoes. He’s tapping his heel against the ground.
“Maybe we did.”
“Cut the shit Sapnap. Don’t make me slice your face again.”
His gaze is ice cold as he finally meets Dream’s stare. He looked dead, the way his eyes didn’t seem to reflect any light. Pupils dark like a never ending trench. “What do you want Dream?”
“I want to know why you let two men take a car full of meds without shooting their heads off.”
Sapnap made an indignant sound in the back of his throat as he tossed his sharpening tools to the side. Both boys stood up at the same time, eye-to-eye like a pair of brawling dogs.
“George is lying to you. Those men took two bags of meds, not a car load. Did he mention that one of them had a sick brother?-”
“He lied to you Sapnap!! You really trust a complete stranger's word on a whim like that?!”
“So what?! Who cares?! It’s not like we need the meds!!”
They were screaming at one another, loud enough that Sapnap could hear people gathering outside his room.
“The safety and control of our camp is MY number one priority. What’s yours?!” Dream shouted, poking a finger at Sapnap’s chest.
“My priority is not going FUCKING CRAZY LIKE YOU!!” He screamed, shoving Dream backwards hard enough to knock him into the wall.
Sapnap stood his ground, his hands balled into fists at his sides as he watched Dream pick himself back up.
“Get out.”
“Wh-...what?”
“Get out of camp. I want you gone by morning.” Dream said calmly, looking Sapnap dead in the eye. “If I see your face after that, I won’t hesitate like last time.”
A deep chill ran down Sapnap’s spine as Dream left. He spotted Karl as the door opened, a scared look on his face.
Was Dream… really going to kick him out? Not just kick him out, exile him, hunt him down if he stuck around, and… probably kill him.
He started packing.
Notes:
Sapnap angst T^T I hope my boy will be okay, I have no idea what's going to happen to him now.
Like I said, this isn't really a new chapter, more of a sneak peek into the Dream Team and co. camp in London.
I've said this before, but I'm pretty much totally winging this at this point. I don't have anything solid planned for the future of this fic, so I hope whatever happened next is exciting for everyone!!
As always, please leave suggestions in the comments and thank you for leaving kudos! <3
Chapter 13: Delivery Reunion
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Techno and Wilbur drove through the night to get home. If they just kept driving and didn’t stop, they could make it back to the forest’s edge in three hours. The walk to the cabin would take another hour and a half, and then that’d be it.
Despite his anxiety, Wilbur had managed to fall asleep in the car. Leaving Techno alone with the duty of driving. He wasn’t mad though, his friend had very quickly become very deeply attached to the kids that Phil had discovered and taken under his wing.
They were good kids too, he could hardly blame him. Tubbo was the smartest kid he’d ever met, and he was pretty sure Tommy would take on the world if Tubbo asked him to. He’d lasso the moon if Tubbo asked him to. Wilbur wasn’t quite so open about his pride as Tommy was. Wilbur had a lot of pride in himself, in his ability not only to survive, but to thrive in the new world they’d found themselves in was a constant boost to his ego.
Techno thought back to the first time he’d realized what had happened, or more specifically, what was going to happen to him. He had been alone, defenseless, just a kid like Tommy and Tubbo. Accept he hadn’t had anyone to help him.
Techno had been on vacation when the world decided to end.
Not the best start to an international trip, in his opinion. It had been a gift from his parents for his seventeenth birthday. Normally, parents might be a little apprehensive about sending their child to a country across the ocean by himself, but Techno’s parents weren’t normal, and neither was he. He was cool with that. It meant he got to go cool places by himself, like England.
He’d been walking around near the center of the city when all of a sudden giant rain clouds began to accumulate out of nowhere. Seriously, the sky has been crystal clear like five minutes prior, and then clouds so dense they blocked out all sunlight gathered above them, and began pouring rain down in a relentless flood.
He quickly ran for the nearest shop he could see to get out of the storm. He stood in the doorway, breathless and soaked to the bone. The shopkeeper gave him a kind, if pitying smile as he entered. He sighed heavily and headed for the back of the store where he could see a small sitting area for customers.
After an hour the rain had only gotten worse, pounding against the shop’s windows so forcefully he thought they might break. Water filled the streets as the drains overflowed. He started to feel anxiety blooming in his chest.
He checked his phone, typing a quick message to his mom:
[“Streets are flooding. Staying in some random bookstore rn.”]
She still hadn’t responded to his last text either, which made him worry. She always replied to him super quickly. He tried calling her again, but it just went to voicemail, like the last two times he tried. He tried his dad’s number again. No answer. He tried his sister’s number. His Aunt’s number. His Uncle’s. His Grandma’s.
He was getting visibly upset now, the shop keeper kept giving him a concerning look as he jammed his finger against his phone screen. When his Uncle didn’t pick up for the fifth time, he shoved his phone back in his pocket and sat down with his head in his hands, trying to take deep breaths. Why wasn’t anyone answering him?! Couldn’t they tell he was scared? He’d called each of them at least THREE times!!
Exasperated and feeling on edge, he walks outside and stands beneath the awning that was being absolutely pelted with fat raindrops. The wind pushed him with so much force he had to hold onto the door handle in order to stay on his feet. What the hell kind of storm was this?! The weather forecast didn’t say anything about rain, let alone a fucking hurricane!
Going outside was a bad idea, so he quickly reentered the shop and closed the door behind him with a slam. The shopkeeper had apparently disappeared from sight as he looked around, his wet hair sticking to his cheeks. He took in deep breaths, trying to calm down.
He heard it before he saw it. The sound of rushing water, different from the rain. As he turned to look outside a wave of water rushed down the street, so tall and so fast that it pushed cars onto the pavement, plucking people off the street and washing them away.
“Hello?! Hello?!?!” He called into the shop, remembering the lady from behind the counter. She had to be in here somewhere. He stalked around the back of the store looking for an employee room or a back closet, anywhere she could’ve escaped to. He found a door in the back labeled “do not enter, employee lounge” and banged his fist on the door, not caring that he sounded fucking insane. “Open up!! You got a phone or something? You got a radio?!”
“Go away!” A shrill voice from behind the door shouted back.
“There’s a fucking flood outside, do you have a tv back there? A radio?! ” He called again. This time he got no response. He tried the handle, but of course she’d locked it. He banged on the door so hard it rattled on its hinges, but still no response.
He backed away, and was about to run outside to check a different store when he skipped to a stop at the sight of the front window. The glass was all spiderwebbed and cracking, water seeping through the seam of the door.
“Holy-... H-Holy shit…”
Crash.
A wall of water hit him in the chest, slamming him back against the floor. For a few terrifying moments he couldn’t breathe, his ears and nose filled with water making him choke. When he finally managed to push himself above the shallow pool, water was still pouring in the windows, thankfully slower than the initial wave. A waterfall cascaded down the front wall of the shop, slowly filling the inside. Books and papers and shards of glass all swam around him, he felt something sharp cut his leg, making him wince. His hand went to the wound and when he brought it back up water and blood clung to his skin.
He stared at his hand, his pupils retracting into pinpoints. He couldn’t look away. His hand was-
“Tech, Techno wake up.” Wilbur shook his shoulder, waking Techno with a harsh jolt. He flinches back, holding his hands up in front of him. “Easy, take it easy. You were talking in your sleep. You okay?”
Techno blinked a few times, bringing himself out of the memory. “I’m fine, I’m… I’m okay.”
“What were you dreaming about? Sounded scary in there.” Wilbur mumbled, giving Techno an out to ignore him if he didn’t want to share. He didn’t, so he let Techno be.
They’d switched seats about an hour ago, and Techno had promptly fallen asleep the moment Wilbur started the car. They were driving slow now, Techno noticed they were at the edge of a treeline.
“Is ‘at Joshua forest?” He mumbled, leaning up to get a better look. Wilbur nodded.
“Trying to find that old shed again. We could park the car there, keep it hidden.”
“Good plan.”
They find the little shed within a few more minutes and park the car discreetly behind it, picking up a few fallen branches and praying the never ending snowfall would do them some good for once and bury the vehicle for the time being.
The trek back on foot was filled with anxious silence. There was a not-so-small part of Wilbur that was genuinely terrified that they’d come back to two people and a body to bury. Tommy had been bad when they left. He can’t have gotten better while they were gone. He knew Techno had similar fears.
It felt like an eternity before they saw the familiar welcoming glow of oil lamps in the distance. Wilbur ran as quickly as he could, the pill bottles in his backpack clattering together in a cacophony of noise. He could see a figure on the porch waving to them which only made him run faster. Techno was right on his tail.
“Phil!!” He shouted as they got closer.
“Hurry! Come on!” He heard Phil call back, the panic in the older man’s voice sent a shiver through Wil. If he could run any faster in that moment, he would have.
Techno and Wilbur are breathless when they reach the porch. Phil ushered them inside with little formality, closing the door with a clatter behind them. Wil immediately removed his backpack and set it on the kitchen table, pulling the zippers open to reveal the meds inside. He heard Phil mutter ‘Holy shit’ as he reached in and dug around, pulling out a few prescriptions he thought could work, handing those to Phil.
“This is… this is all we could find.” He panted, still catching his breath from running.
Phil puts a hand on his shoulder. “You did amazing Wil. Come on now, let’s go.”
Now that the medicine had finally been delivered, Wilbur allowed himself a moment to breathe. Really breathe. Techno had already pulled off his own coat and gloves, and he hadn’t realized he’d been helping Wilbur with his coat until it was already tossed on the couch beside him.
“Deep breaths, Wilbur. You’re okay.” He heard Techno say in a soft voice. He only used that voice around Wilbur when he was having a freak-out. Was he? Why the hell would he be having a panic attack right now? They’d just gotten home, they’d delivered the meds, the mission had been successful, so why was he so worked up?
“Tech-... Techno…” Oh wow, he really was breathless. Maybe running hadn’t been a good idea.
“Breathe Wil, breathe. Everything’s okay.”
“But T-Tommy, we need to check… check on him.”
Techno nodded, removing Wilbur’s gloves. “We will, once you calm down, okay?”
Wilbur nods, trying his best to take a slow, deep breath. It comes in shaky and convulsive, but Techno encouraged him anyway.
“Good. Give me another one just like that.”
He tried again. And again. They breathed together for another few seconds until Wilbur was finally able to take in an even breath. Techno made him take three more even breaths in a row before he finally,
“Alright. Let’s go check on Tommy.”
Wil lead them into the room, Techno still had a hand on his shoulder for reassurance. The door creaked as he opened it. He saw Tubbo first. The boy was sitting on a kitchen chair that had been moved into the room, and was leaning against the wall. He had his legs tucked up underneath him and was chewing on a nail, watching Phil with an anxious stare. Phil was kneeling in front of Tommy, trying to get the boy’s attention, or maybe trying to wake him up. He spoke in a hushed whisper, shaking his shoulder.
“Tommy, look. Open your eyes and look who’s back.”
Techno pushed Wilbur forward gently. He took the hint and crouched beside Phil, watching as Tommy slowly opened his bleary eyes. He caught eyes with Wilbur, and the older let out a wet laugh at the smile Tommy gave him, as sick as he was.
“Wul’bur…” He said, lifting a hand in his direction. Wilbur took it in both if his, holding it tight. He could feel the fever burning there.
“Hey Tommy. We’re back.”
“We’re back…” He repeated, his eyes drifting closed.
“Hey, hey. Keep those eyes open.” Phil mumbled, shaking Tommy’s shoulder again. The kid made a soft sound of protest, but opened his eyes again.
“Sorry, sorry… just really tired…”
“We brought you something to help with that, hopefully. You think you can sit up for a couple seconds?”
Phil was already slipping a hand around his shoulders as Tommy mumbled a quiet ‘I dunno…’, lifting him up.
“Do you think you can take these for me?” He asked, holding the pills out.
“Mm… mhm.” Tommy mumbled, reaching out and completely missing as his hand fell back to the covers, pill-less.
“Oh, sorry… Can’t really see where’m goin’...” He mumbled, causing Wilbur’s heart to pick up in pace again. He reached down and let the pills fall from his hand to Tommy’s. Cupping his hands around in case they fell again, but luckily he was able to take them on his own. Phil handed him a glass of water, which he drank like he was dying of thirst. Wilbur noticed how Phil kept one hand on the cup even as Tommy held it, seeing the weak grip he had on it.
He groans when the cup is taken away and he’s moved back to the mattress, mumbling something about the bad taste.
After a few minutes he was asleep again, and all four of them quietly made their way out of the room to give him some space to rest.
“He’s gotten worse since you’ve been gone.” Phil said coldly as they walked into the living room.
“I noticed.” Wil agreed, sitting down on the couch. “He’s burning up like a furnace. I’ve never seen an illness progress this quickly.”
Phil nods, but seems hesitant to continue. He paused for a long time, making Wilbur worry. “It’s… more than that, Wil. While you were gone he- last night, Tubbo and I, we had to…” He covered his mouth and took a deep, shaking breath. “His fever spiked, and I… If we hadn’t caught it, I don’t think he would’ve made it, Wil.”
He wasn’t sure what to do. How to react. His body felt like a block of ice.
“What happened?” Techno asked from beside him.
“He woke me up in the middle of the night.” Tubbo said, “He was mumbling something and waving his hand in front of his face. When I moved to get Phil he shot up out of bed and grabbed my wrist-” He touched his wrist, grabbing it like Tommy had, “-I had to pull away from him to go get Phil.”
“His fever was so high Wilbur.” He could hear the pain in Phil’s voice. “Ice packs weren’t going to help, they just weren’t, and I- I couldn’t-”
“Phil, Phil, it’s okay. He’s going to be okay.” Wilbur consoled, wrapping his arms around him. He’d done so much to protect Tommy, he’d been fighting so hard for him, and now that Wilbur and Techno were back he just fell apart. The four of them stood together for a long time then, just trying to keep everything together.
After a few minutes, Tubbo quietly excused himself to check on Tommy while the three older boys took a step back to assess the situation.
“I guess I’ll start on dinner.” Phil said with a sigh, trying to hide the tear tracks on his cheeks.
“I’ll join you.”
Techno hesitated, thinking for a moment about the two boys. “You two go ahead. I think I’m gonna check on Tubbo.”
Wil turned back to him with an encouraging nod. “Good idea. Let him know food’s on the way too, will you?”
Techno had never been good with kids, even when he was a kid. He didn’t fit in well when they were his peers, and he didn’t like the responsibility that came with being in charge of them. But something struck a chord in him with Tommy and Tubbo. He wasn’t really sure what it was, but something about them just made it easy. He didn’t know what ‘it’ was, but whatever it was, it was important. And he liked having the boys around.
“Hey. How are you doin, Tubbo?” He asked quietly as he entered the bedroom, seeing the kid knelt by the head of the bed. Tommy was still asleep. He could see the lines of worry on the kid’s face, the way he looked tired, but on-edge.
“...’m okay.” He mumbled, resting his arms on his knees.
Techno sat across from him, crossing his legs. “You sure? You look tired.” He kept his voice low, as did Tubbo. The boy yawned widely.
“I am, just… Have had to keep watch on Tommy. His fever an’ all that. He’s been…” He yawned again. “...Just been real tired.”
Something in Techno’s heart shifted, and his tone went gentler. “Why don’t you lay down, get some rest. Now that Wilbur and I are here we can help you keep watch. I’ll keep an eye on him for you.”
Tubbo was already laying down before Techno even finished speaking. He didn’t bother with pillows or blankets, he just closed his eyes and mumbled something about getting Phil if the fever… something-something, Techno couldn’t make out the rest as his words turned into soft snoring. He stretched to his left and grabbed a blanket from the floor, draping it over Tubbo. He couldn’t do much for a pillow without risking waking him, so he let it slide in favor of leaving him be. He needed the rest just like everyone else did. He’d done so well taking care of Tommy, Techno could tell the weight of it had taken a toll on him.
“Get some sleep, kid.” He whispered as he leaned his head back against the mattress. He couldn’t close his eyes. He promised Tubbo he’d keep watch over Tommy. But it felt nice to finally relax again.
He kept guard over the sleeping boys for the rest of the night.
Notes:
FINALLY SOME COMFORT
I've been waiting for that Tommy-Wilbur reunion T^T and Techno and Tubbo seem to be getting along well! I like that relationship ^^ they're all good boys. I missed having them all together.
Phil did end up telling Wilbur about the fever freak-out! I thought it would be more dramatic, but *shrug* what can you do.
All in all, a very good chapter. I'm still continuing this work though, don't be fooled!! We're nowhere near the end yet, so stay tuned!
As always if you spot an error or have a suggestion, leave a comment! Thank you!! <3
Chapter 14: To James (mini chapter)
Summary:
Heyy!
I'm currently struggling with the direction I want to take this fic, so please enjoy this chapter and the next chapter, which are just smaller stories about the boys that happen between the last big plot point and the next (which is still being determined what it IS, so bare with me)
So in the meantime, please enjoy this small not plot-related mini chapter! <3
Chapter Text
Candlelight flickered throughout the entire house, a soft golden warmth that eased the tension-filled air that had settled so thickly around the cabin in the days Wilbur and Techno were gone.
Phil abandoned dinner when he realized he was the only one left awake. Wilbur had mentioned to him that Techno had fallen asleep in the boys’ room, which was fine. He was glad Tubbo was finally getting some rest, he hadn’t slept since Tommy’s fever spiked. The few hours he’d gotten before that had been the only sleep he’d gotten since Techno and Wilbur left for the medicine.
He’d looked into the living room to find Wilbur dozing in the stuffed chair that faced the fireplace, his legs stretched out in front of him and his arms crossed across his chest. He still had his boots on. Phil woke him gently, only to have him remove the boots and move to the couch, where he knew he’d be more comfortable.
Phil was about to head to the loft himself to finally get some shut eye when he noticed a candle had been left burning in the kitchen. Slowly, he descended the ladder to extinguish it, but was surprised to find Techno sitting at the table.
“I thought you were in with the boys.” Phil whispered, grabbing the taller man’s attention.
“I got antsy. Didn’t want to wake them.” He replied. Phil had thought he saw a mug in Techno’s hands, but now that he was closer he realized it was one of the many orange pill bottles he and Wilbur had brought back from the city. He took a seat across from Techno, the light of the single candle flame danced across his face, casting dark shadows over his cheeks.
“What’s that you’ve got?”
Techno let a breath out through his nose, placing the pill bottle on the table between them. “Tommy’s medicine.” He explained, turning the bottle so he could read the label. “Anderson, James. Diagnosed with Influenza. Take two tablets by mouth daily until symptoms cease.” He looked up at Phil with an unreadable expression. Something not quite angry, not quite sad, not quite… anything else, either. “That kid saved Tommy’s life. We don’t know who he is, where he is, or… if he’s still alive. But Tommy probably wouldn’t be here without him.”
Phil nods, gently taking the bottle off the table. The pills inside clack together as he tips it, before setting it back down. “I’ll make some coffee.”
Neither of them should really be awake, it was late, slowly turning into the early house of morning. But Phil could already tell They weren’t going to get any sleep. Phil was far too used to staying up to check on Tommy, and Techno just seemed determined to evade sleep. He poured two mugs of coffee, his socked feet padding against the wood floor as he walked back to the table and set one mug in front of Tech, keeping the other for himself. Once he sat, he took his mug by the handle and raised it, looking Techno in the eye with a determined expression.
“To James Anderson. He saved our boy. May he find peace, wherever he may be in this wretched world.”
Techno nods, taking his mug and clanking it against Phil’s.
“To James.”
Chapter 15: Take A Breath (mini chapter)
Summary:
I really felt like I've been ignoring Tubbo for the last few chapters, and I feel bad that the first time I'm refocusing on his is in the mini chapter, but for all those Tubbo-stans out there, I'll try to incorporate him more into the limelight in the next big chapter, which SHOULD be the chapter after this one. Once I write it.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
They knew Tommy wasn’t going to get better overnight. That’s just not how medicine worked, but when Tubbo woke up the next morning and saw Tommy looking down at him from the mattress with half-open eyes, he dared to hope.
“Hey boss-man. How are you?”
“Tubso… Feeling bad, my man.” He mumbled, watching as Tubbo sat up and moved closer. He squinted. “...Why d’you look so happy? You’re all smile-y and shit.”
Tubbo suddenly noticed himself that he was smiling, and tried his best to school his expression. “Sorry, it’s just… you’ve been asleep a lot of the time for the last couple days. This is the first time you’ve been awake before me in a while.”
“I’m always usually up before you.” Tommy said with a curious lilt in his voice. “I guess it was the fever. Have I been very sick?”
“Yeah.” Tubbo said with a laugh, more out of surprise than amusement. “Yeah, you have been.”
Tommy’s eyes widened lightly, and he leaned forward, wiping a tear from Tubbo’s cheek with his thumb. “Tubbo, you’re crying!” He says, his voice cracking in the middle.
Tubbo’s hand flew to his face where he found salty tear tracks on his skin. He looked at Tommy, who was searching his face for an explanation, and that’s when the dam broke.
Tubbo fell forward into Tommy, his fists balled up in the front of his shirt as tears fell freely down his face. “You were really, really, really sick, Tommy. I… we almost lost you. And I know you’re still not better but- but I just-”
“Tubbo! Tubbo, It’s alright. It’s alright.” His friend hushed him and held him, letting Tubbo cry into the mattress. He wired patiently until crying turned into hushed, stuttered breathing. “I don’t want to lose you. I don’t know what I’d do. You’re my best friend.”
“And you’re mine.” Tommy said.
Tubbo lifted his head from the mattress and Tommy took his hand, holding it tight.
“You and me, Tubbo? We’re brothers. Brothers stick together no matter what. That’s a promise.”
“That’s a promise.” Tubbo repeated with a nod, tears still staining his cheeks.
It took five days of taking medication and staying in bed for Tommy to finally push through the last remnants of illness. By the time that fifth day rolled around he was fighting Wilbur and Techno to get out of bed.
“I said let me go, you assholes!” He complained, sitting up in bed with an annoyed look on his face. He was fine now. He’d been fine since yesterday!
“Come on, Tommy just let him take your temperature.” Wilbur said, his voice a combination of concern and annoyance.
He huffed loudly, but reached out and took the thermometer from Phil’s hand, sticking it in his mouth. “Fine, if it’ll make you two mother hens leave me alone!”
“Shut up you cretin.” Wilbur mumbled as they waited for the device to beep. Tommy took it out, and read the screen with a triumphant glint in his eye.
“Hah! Thirty-Seven degrees! Take that!” He handed it back to Phil, who nodded approvingly.
“Alright. You can-”
“I’M FREE!” He shouted, pushing past both Phil and Wilbur. “Where the hell is Tubbo? TUBBO!!” They could already hear him running down the basement steps in search of the other boy.
Phil sighed. “Well, at least he’s back to his old self.”
Wilbur nodded, a fond smile on his face. “I definitely prefer shouty-obnoxious Tommy over sick Tommy.”
The day progressed as normal, which seemed so odd now that their normal had been turned on its head for the past few days. Techno and Wilbur helped Phil with chores, chopping wood and prepping the rest of Phil’s hunting catches to be stored in the icebox outside. Tommy and Tubbo had their fair share of jobs as well. Doing the dishes and laundry had become the boys’ job. And while it wasn’t the most exciting thing to do, it became a daily ritual for the boys to do their jobs, filling the small house with noise and motion. Phil loved it, even if it was hard work. He’d liked the quiet of the cabin, the silence that came with it. But in the ruckus there was a certain type of calm. A reassurance.
The older boys and Phil usually had their jobs finished around afternoon, but Tommy and Tubbo liked to procrastinate, leaving them to finish their tasks in the evening. While they were reading books or listening to Phil’s collection of records upstairs, they could hear the sounds of Tommy and Tubbo messing around in the basement where they did the laundry.
Wilbur hated distractions, especially when he was reading. But something about the way the boys just made each other laugh as they worked made him smile. Their voices would carry upstairs, muffled by the door but loud enough that he could hear them talking, occasionally splashing one another with the water.
When he smiled, he noticed Techno stifling a chuckle. And then all of a sudden all three of them were chuckling together, having been thoroughly distracted by the noise coming from the basement.
“Goddamnit, I can’t focus with them hollering like that.” Phil said, and Wilbur agreed. “I’ve been trying to read the same stupid line in this book for the last three minutes.”
“I don’t even know what I’m reading, I’ve just been flippin’ pages listening to them argue with one another.” Techno explained.
”That’s IT!” they hear Tubbo shout, and then quick sock-footed steps running up the basement stairs. The door opens with a ‘WHOOSH’ and Tubbo enters the living room, a huffed expression on his face. “Phil, tell Tommy he’s being an idiot!”
“I AM NOT BEING AN IDIOT!” Tommy yelled in defense as they heard another pair of footsteps following after Tubbo.
“Tell him we need to sort the laundry, otherwise it’ll all get muddy!”
“It will not!! That only happens the first time you wash-”
“That’s not true!”
“It is!!”
“Is NOT!!!”
Phil and Wilbur were absolutely cackling, Phil was holding his sides, and Wilbur laughed so hard he slipped off the couch, which only made him laugh more. Seeing Wilbur fall made Techno crack and he joined in the cacophony, slamming a fist on the arm of the couch.
“What?...” Tubbo looked at the three of them, dumbfounded. “What’s so funny?”
Techno falls off the couch as well, joining Wilbur on the floor.
“Stop laughing!! It’s not funny!”
Wilbur was wheezing on the floor, unable to take a breath. “Tubbo, Tubbo please I can’t!-” He begs as tears stream down his face.
“What?! I have no idea what’s going on-”
Tommy came up the stairs behind him and stared at the scene before him, Techno and Wilbur rolling on the floor, and Phil laughing himself off his chair.
“...What’s wrong with them?” He whispered.
“I have no idea.” Tubbo deadpanned.
Together they slowly backed toward the basement door, and closed it behind them, leaving the older boys to themselves while they finished the laundry, their argument seemingly forgotten.
Notes:
Tubbo takes back the spotlight in this mini chapter! Yay! Everyone gets a good laugh in, which is something I wanted to do since this fic has been so serious so far. Don't worry though, we're getting right back into the gritty storyline next chapter!
...I think. I haven't written it yet.
Or figured out what it's going to be about.
Stay tuned.
<3
Chapter 16: Not Quite Cranberries
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“These are edible. See these?” Techno muttered to Tubbo, bringing him close to study a bush of dark purple berries. “Chokeberries. Phil will be happy we found these.”
Tubbo started picking the dark colored berries from the bush and dropped them into a bag he had on his side, closing it once he’d collected a fair amount. “Are they good?”
Techno chuckles. “God no, they taste bitter as hell.”
“But you said they’re edible!”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, they won’t kill you, but they’re better used for wounds. Good medical salve when you crush them up.”
Tubbo ‘oh’s quietly, following after Techno as they continue searching the recently thawed forest surrounding the house.
It had been about a month and a half since Tommy’s recovery. In that time, about a week after, the sun had just suddenly begun to beat down through the clouds, forcing them apart and melting the snow that so thickly hid the ground beneath it. Tommy and Tubbo had been begging to go outside, and with the relenting weather, Phil had finally given them the go-ahead a few days earlier. They’d spent every possible second they could out in the yard, playing catch, reading, just talking or eating. Everything had to be done outside now, if they wanted the boys involved.
“Look what I’ve got!” They heard Tommy’s voice call out from the left, followed by incense crashing through the foliage. He appeared in front of Techno and Tubbo with a large bouquet of yellow flowers clutched in one hand, a proud grin on his face.
Tubbo snickered, covering his mouth with one hand. “Tommy, we’re looking for food, not pretty flowers.”
Techno however, leaned forward and took from Tommy’s hands, examining it. After a quiet moment, he nodded in approval. “Good find, Tommy. This is Sweet Goldenrod. Not much for food, but I bet Phil could make it into tea.”
“Hah!” Tommy pointedly looks at Tubbo with a snide smirk. “I found something cool>”
“Oh yeah? Well- I’m gonna find something even cooler than your stupid tea flowers.”
“Like what?” Tommy asked as he folded his arms, sending tiny yellow pedals cascading to the green ground below them.
“Like- I dunno! Just wait. Impatient.” He grumbled and followed after Techno, who’d continued walking further into the forest as the boy’s had been stood arguing.
They continued on for a long while. Techno seemed to thrive in the silence, but Tubbo and Tommy were getting antsy. Not to mention Tubbo’s feet were killing him.
Since the boys still didn’t have proper fitting shoes, aside from the snow boots that Phil had gifted them, Wilbur had donated his sneakers to Tommy for the day. Tubbo had been stuck with an old pair of Phil’s shoes, and nothing against the man, but his feet were a lot bigger than Tubbos. The fabric of the heel rubbed his skin raw even through his socks, and he’d taken off the uncomfortable things about half an hour into their hike.
Techno had caught him about five minutes later when he caught Tubbo climbing over a log. He’d scolded him right then and there, ordering him to put the shoes back on and giving him a lecture on why it was important to blah blah blah, Tubbo had stopped listening about fifteen seconds in. After Techno finally left him alone again, he took the shoes off the first moment he could. He didn’t mind walking barefoot. He and Tommy had traveled through the forest barefoot in snow. The tall sweetgrass felt nice compared to the alternative.
“Why haven’t you got your shoes on?” Tommy asked him. Tubbo immediately shushed him and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him closer.
“Phil’s shoes suck. Techno won’t let me take them off, but I don’t want to wear them.”
Tommy eyed him sceptically. “Tubbo, you need to wear your shoes.”
“Why?!” He whispered with indignation. “You and me walked through the forest in bare feet, what’s the difference?”
“Tubbo, we didn’t have a choice. And the snow probably protected our feet from a lot of what was under it.”
He sighed. “I’m not putting them on. I’d rather have a few scrapes than bloody heels, thank you very much.”
Tommy’s brows drew together with concern. “Tubbo, if they're really hurting you that badly I could carry you for a bit. But you’ve got to put your shoes-”
“What’re you two talkin’ about?” Techno called from a dozen yards ahead of them. “You’re slowin’ us down, keep up okay? Don’t want you getting lost.”
“Sorry! We’re coming!” Tubbo called, giving Tommy a look that said ‘Not a word’. The taller sighed loudly, but continued on behind Tubbo, bringing up the rear.
“Hey Tubbo! Come look at this.” Techno called from up ahead, prompting Tubbo to pick up his pace. He jogged to meet up with Techno, who was bent over looking at a tiny red-leaved plant. As he heard Tubbo approach, he picked a long stalked plant and presented it to Tubbo. “This is called ‘Starry False-Solomon's Seal’. It’s supposed to taste like sweetened cranberries, I hear.”
Tubbo grinned and reached forward, plucking a berry from the stalk and popping it in his mouth. He smiled and gave Techno a large nod. “They do!”
Techno chuckled, picking one for himself, and handing one to Tommy as he joined them.
“I say we try to transfer these plants back to base. Maybe we can try starting up a garden.”
“What if it snows again?” Tommy asked, a hint of anxiousness in his voice.
“Hm.. maybe we can build a greenhouse, some way to grow plants even in the snow.”
The boys both brightened at that. Having a greenhouse would be cool.
Techno handed Tubbo the remaining berries from the Starry False Solomon’s Seal plants, and at that he decided it was probably time for them to head back home. On their way back Techno still led his little troop, leaving Tubbo and Tommy to their own devices. Tubbo still wanted something to one-up Tommy’s goldenrod. Stupid tea plant… he could find something way cooler. Something useful.
As they walked, Tubbo noticed a cropping of tiny white flowers, all blooming from tall stalks that grew outward from only a few points on the ground. It reminded him of a plant Techno had shown them in an almanac. Wild carrots.
“Hey!” He called out, grabbing both Tommy and Techno’s attention. “Look at this! Techno, come look!” He was reaching out to grab the stalky stem of the plant when he heard Techno’s voice ring out:
“DON’T TOUCH THAT!!”
He flinched backwards so hard he tripped, falling onto his back as Techno doubled back toward him.
“Tubbo, don’t ever ever touch those! Do you know what this is?!”
Tubbo shook his head rapidly, his eyes never leaving Techno’s as the man stood over him, his shadow cast over Tubbo, blocking the sun.
“It’s called Hogweed. It’s poisonous, Tubbo! It burns your skin!”
Tubbo didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing, just holding his hand that had been outstretched toward the plant to his chest.
“Did you touch it?! What did you- TUBBO WHERE ARE YOUR SHOES?!” He yelled, his hands running through his pink hair. Tubbo had never seen Techno so upset before.
“I-I-I took them off, because-”
“No! No, you know what? No more outside for you. You can stay inside with Phil all day-”
“No!-”
“-and help him with chores. You disobeyed my very very simple order. And it was for your own good, Tubbo! Why the hell couldn’t you-”
“That’s ENOUGH!” Tommy shouted, standing between Tubbo and Techno. He stared into Techno’s eyes with something akin to anger. Lot’s of fear there too, Techno noticed. “Stop yelling at him, he just wanted to help! His feet were hurting, so- so don’t yell at him!”
Techno screwed his face up in anger, folding his arms across his chest. “We’re going back to the house, and when we get there Tubbo, you will tell Phil what happened and you will help him with anything that needs done inside.”
“No.”
Techno froze, and looked down at Tubbo. “No?”
“No.” he repeated, standing up. “You’re not my father. You don’t get to punish me as if I’m your son. So… no. I won’t be doing that.”
Techno felt anger bubble up in his chest. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides.
“We're going home. Now.”
“It’s like he- he wanted to get hurt Phil! And the way he looked at me when I told him, I said ‘you’re going to tell Phil-’ and he just completely disrespected me! He disobeyed me!” Techno was absolutely fuming, pacing the kitchen like a tiger locked in a cage. Phil was sat at the kitchen table with a mug of hot tea, watching him pace.
“I understand where your anger is coming from, Tech. I do. But you can’t just dole out punishment on them like you’re a parent. You’re barely older than these kids. I’m glad you kept Tubbo safe, and I’m sorry he disrespected you, but you should’ve waited until you got home for me to determine what should happen.”
Techno made a frustrated noise, pulling at his hair with a sigh. “Why can’t he see that what he did was wrong, though?!”
“Tubbo!” Phil calls out, waiting for a response.
After a few seconds the boy in question appears from around the corner, and leans against the kitchen wall. Techno pulled a chair out, scraping the wooden legs on the kitchen linoleum floor before sitting down in a huff.
“Techno and I are talking about what happened in the forest today.” He explained, Tubbo rolled his eyes. “I was wondering if you could give me your side of the story.”
“Well.” Tubbo started, ready right off the bat to tell them what happened. “Your shoes were really hurting my feet, so I took them off. Techno got all upset and made me put them back on, and then I took them off again later, and he started yelling at me. Then he said I was going to have to stay inside, and I said no, cause he’s not my dad.”
Phil couldn’t help the amused snort that escaped him at the wording, he cleared his throat and sighed. “Tubbo, I agree with Techno that you shouldn’t have taken off the shoes.”
Tubbo looked like he was about to report when Phil held up a palm, silencing him.
“I also agree with you that Techno shouldn’t have decided punishment was necessary. But now I’m not sure what to do. I agree with both of you, but also disagree with both of you. So let me ask you, Tubbo. What do you think I should do?”
Tubbo stood, surprised for a long moment. Techno seemed a bit surprised himself, but he said nothing, waiting to hear what Tubbo thought. “I think… I want Techno to apologise.”
“You want ME to ap-”
“Techno, quiet.” Phil said sharply.
Tubbo hesitated, but continued on after a moment: “I just… I’m sorry for not doing what you said. For not putting my shoes back on, a-and for almost touching the hogweed.”
Techno’s angered expression lessened at the last remark, fading into something more tired. He sighed. “Tubbo, I wasn’t mad at you for almost touching the hogweed. I was scared that you were going to get hurt. I was trying to protect you, and… I ended up scaring you instead. I was angry you took your shoes off after I told you not to. But it was because you weren’t doing something that I asked you to do for your own safety.”
Phil nodded approvingly. “Alright you two. Are we good now? Tubbo, you’ll listen to Techno when he asks you to do certain things?”
Tubbo nodded.
“And Techno, you’ll respect Tubbo, and understand that he’s not a child?”
“Eeh, that last bit is debatable.” Techno says, shifting his hand in an ‘iffy’ motion. Tubbo snickers, and the two shake on it.
“We cool?” Tech asks.
“Yeah, we cool.” Tubbo responds with a small smile.
Techno turns to Phil once Tubbo leaves. “Thanks for that. I… I know I can get a little aggressive at times.”
Phil shrugs with an easy-going smile. “No worries, mate. You both can be a bit hot-headed if I’m being honest. Tubbo’s got an aggressive side himself.”
Techno raised a brow. “Really? I’d like to see that.”
“Nooo ya wouldn’t.” Phil says quickly, hiding a chuckle.
“I’m not gonna lie Phil, I uh… I came here for something a little more pressing.” Techno mutters, a more serious expression on his face. “I found something out in the woods. Something that wasn’t berries.”
Phil laughs. “What, you discover bigfoot or somethin’?”
“Something like that.” He responds, sliding a piece of fabric across the table. Phil eyed it curiously, picking it up and examining it. It looked like a sash, or maybe a tie. It was dingy white and covered in dirt and dried blood.
“The hell is this?” Phil asked, setting the ribbon down in the center of the table.
“That’s the same headband one of the guys in London was wearing when Wilbur and I went to get meds.” Techno explained. “Some guy named Sapnap. Him and two other guys jumped us at the pharmacy with heavy guns. We managed to talk our way out, but… well.” He trailed off, waiting for Phil’s reaction to the news. He sat there for a few moments, his eyes not leaving the ribbon.
“How did it get here?”
“That’s my worry.” Techno agreed. “If this is Sapnaps, and I’m not saying it is, but we could have company out in the forest.”
Phil nodded, a solemn look on his face. “...Secure the house. Make sure all the doors and windows are locked. No one goes outside alone.”
Sapnap woke to bright sunlight in his face. He winced, pulling his shirt above his head, but it did little to block out the brightness. Deciding he might as well get up, he stood and stretched his arms and legs, hearing several ‘pops’.
From a few feet away, he heard shuffling.
“You up already?” He called, his voice still groggy.
“I’ve been up, you nerd.” Karl called from the other side of the wall with a laugh. “Come on, I found some stuff to eat.”
“Holy shit, for real?” He asked as he rounded the corner and sat beside Karl, who was sorting through a bag of berries and vegetables he’d apparently scavenged from around the dilapidated barn they were currently calling home. Karl covered his face with the sleeve of his hoodie and let out a string of wet coughs that hurt just to listen to. Sapnap did not envy Karl. Somewhere in the week and a half-long journey from Londond to… wherever the hell they were, Karl had developed some dingy chest cold that kept them both up at night. It sucked, but he wasn’t dying, so there’s the bright side.
“Have some.” Karl said as he handed a fistful of berries to Sapnap. He chucked them back, feeling the fruit burst in his mouth. He smiled.
“Tastes kinda like cranberries.”
Notes:
HOOOOOOOOOOOO
I just thought of this idea like yesterday and I could NOT wait to get it down. I'm so stoked I'm so STOKED for the next chapter!!! Just you guys wait, I have a doozy in mind
As always, thanks for leaving comments and kudos! <3
Chapter 17: Exile
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Four Years, Seven Months, Twenty-Three Days Ago.
They’d finally saved up enough money to take a trip that spring. Sapnap, Karl, Dream, and Quackity were all college dorm-mates who lived in the same building on campus. Over drinks, Dream had mentioned to the others that he had a friend in the UK, a guy named George, who he’d been planning to visit for a while. The others immediately hopped on board and insisted that they come with as a spring break getaway. What cooler place to go than Europe? Added bonus that they’d finally get to meet George, who’d become just as much a part of the group as any one of them there. To finally hang out in person would be amazing.
So plans were made, money was saved, and plane tickets were purchased as the college boys anticipated the next two weeks. Karl was actually going to miss like, three days of classes because of his AP schedule, but he managed to sweet talk the teachers into giving him the work he needed early so he could join the trip. There was no way any of them were missing this.
As they boarded the plane, Dream caught Sapnap’s attention, motioning for him to sit beside him. He ducked into the seat and gave Dream a look.
“What?”
“Shh, check this out.” He whispered as he pulled something out of the pocket of his hoodie. Sapnap’s eyes widened in shock.
“Dude, what the fuck?!”
“Shh!! Quiet! You’re gonna get me in trouble.”
”Why the fuck do you have a knife!?” He hissed, looking at Dream like he’d completely lost it. “How did you even get that past security?!”
“Cause, dumbass, it’s not a knife. Watch.”
Sapnap glanced around them, peeking his eyes above the seats. He spotted an airplane hostess about a dozen rows away. He ducked back down with a sigh. “Alright, show me.”
He watched as Dream bent the knife in half, it warped and flexed like jelly in his hands, and his eyes widened again, taking the knife from Dream. “What the hell- it’s fake? It looks so real!”
Dream laughed softly and nodded, watching Sapnap bend it back and forth. “I got it from some movie-magic shop. It’s the same kind they use in those spy movies and shit. It’s made of rubber, or silicone or something.”
Sapnap dragged his finger down the serrated edge of the knife. His brain told him he should be feeling pain, it should be cutting him, he could feel the sharp point it came to, but when he pulled his finger away there was nothing. Maybe a sliver of a papercut in his skin, but no pain.
“...Why did you feel the need to bring a rubber knife on a plane?” He whispered, handing the thing back to Dream, who slipped it into his pocket once again.
“Because, we’re going to Europe. We’re tourists, and people like to jump tourists who look dumb and easy to trick.”
Sapnap looked a little offended. “We don’t look easy to trick.”
Dream narrowed his eyes into a deadpan glare and nonchalantly pointed across the isle to where Karl was animatedly talking with Quackity about a Tamagotchi he’d gotten in one of the airport stores before they boarded the plane.
Sapnap sighed. “Alright, fine. But still, it’s a little overkill, don’t you think?”
Dream shrugged and leaned back in his seat. “I dunno, you tell me if it’s overkill when you get mugged in a back alley city street. Come crying to me then, see what happens.”
Sapnap rolls his eyes and laughs a breathless laugh. “Whatever, dickhead.”
One Month, Thirteen Days Ago.
Sapnap gathered what little supplies he owned into a backpack, shoving his things in angrily. His eyes were downcast, but behind them there was hot rage brewing. He was being banished, exiled from the London camp. From Dream’s camp. He’d never been on his own before. He’d always been able to count on George, or Quackity. Karl.
Karl.
He heard a quiet knock on his door and looked up from his bag.
“Come in.”
Karl pushed the door open, an anxious look on his face. “Hey, Sapnap. I-... How are you?”
He laughed dryly, turning back to shove a jacket into his pack. “I’m just dandy. How about you Karl?”
“I’m… okay. I’m kinda sad though.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. My best friend is getting kicked out of camp.”
Sapnap sighed, stilling his hands again. He turned to Karl, and for the first time in a long time he let his vulnerability show. He was scared. “Karl- I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
His friend rushed to him, wrapping him in a huge hug that Sapnap returned gratefully.
“You’re not going to be alone.” Karl said, his voice muffled by Sapnap’s jacket. They pulled away, and for the first time Sapnap noticed Karl had his own bag on his back.
“Karl, what-”
“I’m coming with you.”
Sapnap shook his head. “Karl, no. You shouldn’t do this. I- neither of us know how to survive out there. I don’t want-”
“Two heads are better than one, right? Together I’m sure we can figure something out. We’ve managed this far.”
“Yeah, with Dream! He’s always called the shots. Now he wants me gone, and…”
Karl rolled his eyes. “Dream’s not as great as he pretends to be. He doesn’t know everything.” Karl puts a hand on Sapnap’s shoulder, squeezing it gently. “I’m coming with you. That’s the end of it.”
Sapnap smiled, he never could get Karl to change his mind when he got stuck on something like this.
“Alright, fine. We leave in an hour. You sure you’ve got everything?”
Karl nodded.
“Alright then. Meet me at the end of the Southern bridge. Be quiet, don’t let anyone see you.”
He nodded again, and that’s where they left each other. They’d have to be fast and quiet if they wanted to get out without too many questions. Sapnap had already said goodbye to George and Quackity, who both seemed sad but… not devastated that he was leaving. Dicks, the both of them. He didn’t bother saying goodbye to Dream in fear he’d just slice him down right then and there. So he headed off.
It was dark, and traveling the city alone at night was even more terrifying without the streetlamps or car lights to brighten the air around him. It took about ten minutes for him to reach the Southern bridge, crossing it was like entering a different world. Cars sat overturned on their sides, pebbles or gravel and glass crunched under his feet. He could see the other end now, and his heart jumped to his throat when he saw that he was alone. Had Karl decided not to-?
Just as he was thinking of doubling back, he watched as a figure silhouetted in moonlight emerged from the shape of an abandoned car, and turned to face him. He lifted a hand high above his head in greeting, and Karl did the same.
They turned to the open road before them, and started walking.
Today.
“Do you think Dream hates us?” Karl asked as he stared up at the sky, laying next to Sapnap in the grass outside the barn.
“I don’t think he hates you.” Sapnap corrected. “He might hate me.”
“I don’t think he hates you.” Karl said softly. “Maybe this whole thing was a misunderstanding. Dream gets mad pretty easily these days. Maybe he just-”
“I don’t really want to talk about it, Karl.” Sapnap interrupts.
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
They lay in silence for a long time, the tiny fier they’d managed to build was slowly dying out, just enough light left to trace the outline of the planes of their faces. Karl looked over at Sapnap, wondering what he was thinking.
“You starin’ at me?” He asked, his eyes glancing in Karl’s direction.
“A little. I can never figure out what you’re thinking in that head of yours.”
They both paused for a moment. Sapnap knew what he meant. He didn’t want to answer. But Karl asked him anyway, his voice barely a whisper:
“...Why didn’t you just shoot those guys?”
Sapnap let out a long sigh, the air still cold enough at night that he could see his breath carried away on the wind.
“I’m not sure.”
“I think you are.” Karl insisted, sitting up now. Sapnap looked over at him and saw how the red light of the flames turned Karl into a black silhouette against the forest and the sky. “I think you know exactly why, and you don’t want to admit it.”
All of a sudden, Karl let out a long string of wet coughing, long enough that Sapnap sat up and moved closer, placing a hand on his back.
“You’re alright. Breathe, Karl. Breathe.”
The coughing went on for far longer than Sapnap would’ve liked. Leaving Karl breathless and tear-stained. He leaned into Sapnap and shuddered against the cold.
“Let’s go to sleep, Karl. Try to get some rest.”
They both knew Sapnap was avoiding the subject, using Karl as an excuse to dodge the question, but Karl was too exhausted to really care at the moment, his throat raw. “Yeah… Fine.”
They both settled in for the night, Sapnap threw a few more branches into their fire, trying to salvage what little warmth they had left. He moved Karl as close to the fire as he dared without the danger of burning, and laid down beside him, his hands pillowed beneath his head as he looked up into the clear sky, seeing stars that had been hidden from them for the past few days. He’d never seen a brighter night sky than he did right then.
He hoped they’d find better shelter soon. Maybe heading west would be a good option. He hoped Karl would get better, but he knew they needed medicine. If they’d caught it earlier he might’ve been able to sneak into that pharmacy and snag some cough syrup or something, but Karl had only begun to get sick when they were already far to the South, and there were no Pharmacys in sight on the path they’d taken. He hoped he’d be able to get a full night’s sleep sometime soon.
Absent-mindedly, he fiddled with the knife in his pocket. It was a pretty sizable thing, but he wasn’t worried about it cutting his clothes though. If he remembered correctly, it was made of rubber, or silicone or something.
Notes:
Some dream team and co. backstory for you! Plus a little look at where Sapnap and Karl are now.
I'm getting some more ideas slowly on what I want to do next, and I think it's gonna be pretty rad, so as always, stay tuned!
Thank you for leaving comments and kudos! <3
Chapter 18: A Man in The Woods
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The noise outside the cabin was a bit difficult to ignore, but the fact that they were finally getting a shed built for storing food was a relief for Phil. He felt like an old man with how little work he had to do around the house these days. Techno and Wilbur were out working on the shed, and Tommy and Tubbo were in the kitchen scanning one of Phil’s many cook books, trying to decide what they could make for dinner with the ingredients they had on hand. Phil was lounging on the sofa, rereading one of his favorite novels as a record spun in lazy circles to his left. Life was pretty good.
The worry of strangers in the forest was still prevalent, and it was something that Phil had constantly on his mind, even now. They hadn’t wanted the boys to be scared, but they did tell them that all outside activities would have to be monitored by one of the older boys, or Phil. It wasn’t like that was a new thing, but even when Tommy and Tubbo just wanted to mess around in the yard, they had to ask Techno or Wilbur to come with, which sometimes just wasn’t an option since they all had jobs to do. Outside time became rare again, which wasn’t something either of the younger boys enjoyed.
“Phil, when we’re done cooking can Tommy and I go out to play cards on the porch?” Tubbo asked from the kitchen.
“Sure, that’s fine. Let Techno and Wilbur know so they can keep an extra eye out.”
The boys cheered softly, and Phil couldn’t hide a smile as they both hurriedly pushed the books back into the kitchen shelf and ran to the front door, which now had a small slab of wood nailed in above the knob where Tommy had smashed it through.
That first day seemed so long ago now, like a dream. But there were little reminders like that around every now and then. Tommy still sometimes worried about food, Tubbo would sometimes wind the tin music box Phil had so cautiously handed to him that day. The music it played would always remind him of his boys now.
He heard the soft music play from the open porch window. They’d set up a card table on the porch beneath it, and Tubbo must’ve opened it to get a breeze while they were still inside. The sound was nice and soft, drifting in on a breeze. Phil stopped the record player and leaned back, closing his eyes.
Tommy and Tubbo looked at one another as they crouched beneath the window. Tubbo slowly turned the handle of his music box, and set it on the table just below the open window, letting it play. At once, the two boys vaulted the porch railing, booking it toward the forest the moment they landed on their feet. Tubbo, as per usual, lagged behind Tommy who was absolutely sprinting. Once they were a safe distance away, Tommy began whooping and hollering, Tubbo did the same as they bounded over fallen trees and through puddles of melted snow-water.
For once, they ran because they wanted to, because it felt good to feel the blood pumping in their veins, it felt good to have to drag in a ragged breath, not from fear, but from excitement and adrenaline.
Eventually Tommy had to stop, his legs wobbling beneath him as he leaned against a tree to catch his breath. Tubbo wasn’t far behind, he joined Tommy and sat in the soft grass, heaving heavy breathes, but grinning all the same.
“You want to keep going?” He asked, but Tubbo shook his head. “No, no, I think if I kept going I wouldn’t be able to walk back.” He said with a laugh, standing to his feet. Tommy grabbed a water bottle he’d clipped to his belt loop and twisted it open, taking a long swig before handing it off to Tubbo, who drank it greedily.
“Ey, ey! Don’t drink it all now. You’ll be thirsty on the way home.” Tommy chided as he stole the bottle back and screwed the cap on again.
They walked for a while longer, the need to get that pent-up energy out finally fulfilled.
“Why do you think Phil suddenly locked the cabin up? You think he’s worried about another storm?”
Tommy shook his head, squinching his face up. “Nah, I think it’s Techno. Ever since we went out picking berries last time, he’s been on edge. Or, more on edge than usual.” They both chuckled at that. “They're just being paranoid about animals, maybe. Phil’s got Techno and Wilbur building that shed out back, I think they’re moving the storage in there so there’s less chance of raccoons or some shit getting in.”
“That makes sense.” Tubbo said as he hopped over a puddle. “Raccoons are cool though, they’re like little trash thieves.”
“Not when you see them up close. They’ll get all angry and scratch your eyes out!” Tommy said with a snarl, grabbing Tubbo’s shoulder with pointed fingers. “They’ll scratch you and bite you, and then you’ll get rabies!”
“No! Stop it!” Tubbo shouted as he pushed Tommy off of him.
Tubbo looked up at Tommy with a grin, but it quickly fell from his face, replaced by something more panicked. He grabbed Tommy’s arm, his eyes drifting between Tommy and something over his shoulder.
“Tubbo, what-” Tommy turned behind him and froze. There, about ten yards away. A person. And he was staring right at the two of them.
“Tommy.” Tubbo hissed from behind him, his hand tight on Tommy’s arm. He could hear Tubbo’s breathing pick up by his ear.
“Hey! Hey!!” The guy shouted, waving his arm to get their attention.
“What do we do?!” Tubbo whispered urgently. But Tommy seemed frozen. “Tommy!!”
The guy approached them, palms raised. “It’s okay! It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” He said, just a few feet away now. Tommy reflexively backed up, pushing himself and Tubbo against a tree. “What are two kids doing out in the woods by yourselves?”
“W-what are you doing out in the woods by yourself?” Tubbo retorted, hating the way his voice shook.
“I’m just… surviving.” Was all he said, shrugging. “But hey- do you guys live around here? Where are your parents?”
There was a certain disparity in his eyes that made Tommy uneasy. So, he lied. “No. We live to the West, in- in Dorchester.”
“Dorchester?” He whistled low. “That’s a long way away. How’d you get here?”
“How did you get here? You’re American, aren’t you?”
He chuckled and nodded. “Uh, yeah. I got trapped here on vacation when everything… happened.”
Tubbo studied him quizzically. “...What happened to your face?” He asked, pointing to the pink scar that ran down the left side of his face. He sighed and self-consciously covered it with one hand.
“I uh, got in a fight with someone.”
“Did you win?” Tubbo asked. He snorted, shaking his head.
“No.”
“What’s your name?” Tommy asked, his voice low.
To that, the guy paused, his hand moving from his face to scratch the back of his neck with a sheepish smile. “My friends call me Sapnap.”
“Sap-nap?” Tommy said with a laugh. That made Sapnap laugh, and Tubbo joined in too, a bit of tension releasing from the three.
“Yeah, just a nickname. I like it.”
“Well, we’ve got a guy named Techno, so like- it’s not the weirdest name.” Tubbo said with a small smile.
“Nah, ‘Sapnap’ is a way weirder name.” Tommy replied, and again all three of them shared a laugh.
Sapnap gave them a smile, and it was hard for the boys to really see him as a threat after that. He looked… friendly, and honestly he looked thin, like he hadn’t been eating. Both boys knew what that looked like, what it felt like. He noticed the boys studying him again, and he laughed a bit nervously. “Hey, don’t go quiet like that. Can I get your names?”
Tubbo stepped out from behind Tommy and adjusted his shirt. “Well, I’m Tubbo, and this is Tommy.”
Sapnap’s brows raised at Tommy’s name. But he quickly schooled his expression into something more casual. “Oh, well, it’s nice to meet both of you. Say, why don’t you come by my camp? It’s just me and my friend Karl. We’re holed up in an old barn a short walk from here.”
Tommy’s eyes widened. “You’re in the barn? I’ve been there! Well, sort-of.”
Sapnap snickered at that, and the three of them begin walking. “What do you mean sort-of?”
Tommy walked alongside Sapnap and began to tell the story. “I was out with Techno getting supplies from the barn, and well, I’d been feeling ill before that, but I hadn’t told anyone, I really really wanted to go out, but I hadn’t realized how bad it had gotten, and uh… Techno ended up having to carry me home.” He said bashfully, rubbing the back of his hair.
“So you got sick?” Sapnap asked, a curious look on his face. He held back his questions for now. Something told him now wasn’t the time.
Tommy nodded. “Yup.” Popping the ‘p’. “Got a real bad fever. Don’t remember much, but I gave Tubbo a scare.”
“Sure did.” Tubbo said as he punched Tommy in the arm. “Still haven’t quite forgiven him for that.”
“Ow! You bitch!”
Sapnap laughed at the two, stuffing his hands in his pockets as they walked. They were getting closer now, and in just a few yards Sapnap could begin to see the barn through the trees.
As they finally approached the giant building, Sapnap jogged ahead to pull open a rickety door on the side, ushering the two boys in.
“Alright, here we are. Karl?” He called out, looking around for his friend.
“Over here...” They heard a weak voice reply from the back-right corner. Sapnap jogged over to the spot and knelt down, and as the boys rounded the corner they saw Sapnap’s friend sitting propped up against the wall, his face ashen.
“Karl, you okay?” Sapnap asked in a hushed voice. Tommy and Tubbo stopped a few feet away, not wanting to crowd the sick guy.
“I- cough, cough -just… need a breath.” He mumbled, leaning against Sapnap’s shoulder.
He glanced between the two kids in front of him and Karl, a scared look in his eyes. “I-... He wasn’t this bad when I left.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Tommy asked, squatting down to be more at level with Karl and Sapnap. Tubbo did the same.
“We don’t know. Just- we were walking, and it just started out as a little thing, it’s been about a week and a half since it started, if I had to guess.”
“Hey, guys? I’m right here.” Karl mumbled hoarsely as he opened his eyes.
“Sorry, I know.” Sapnap said apologetically.
“We’ve been camped here for about four days,” Karl started, “It only got bad about yesterday.”
Tommy and Tubbo shared a look, weighing the pros and cons of helping Karl. On one hand, they’d definitely be getting in trouble when they got back, regardless of whether they told Phil they’d met strangers. Telling him about Sapnap and Karl would probably just make Phil put them under house arrest. But there was no way they could just leave Karl there. He was… He looked like he was dying.
Tommy cleared his throat, grabbing everyone’s attention. “If we said… hypothetically… that we had some medicine that could help. Would you want-”
Sapnap was already nodding his head. “Anything. Name your price, I’ll give you all we’ve got for it.” Karl put a hand on his chest, shaking his head.
“Sap, no don’t-”
“Woah, hold up! We’re not going to sell it to you. We’d just give it to you.” Tubbo said, holding his hands up. “We just-... We need your word. Promise that you won’t follow us.”
Sapnap nodded fervently, holding out his hand to Tommy and Tubbo. “I promise. Please, just hurry.”
The boys quickly shake Sapnap’s hand, and Tubbo puts a hand on Karl’s shoulder, promising that they’d be back soon.
Phil paced the living room for the second time. These boys were going to kill him. He was going to have a heart attack and die. This time Wilbur didn’t try to mask his worry, he sat in Phils chair, his leg bouncing as he chewed his cuticles, staring intensely at the legs of the sofa, his mind somewhere else.
“What’s Techno doing?” Phil asked.
“Cleaning your hunting rifle.”
“Why?”
“I think he’s going to shoot them when they get back.”
Phil sends him a deadpan glare. “Don’t joke about things like that. That’s not funny.”
Wilbur sighs. “He is cleaning your rifle. I don’t know why, you’ll have to ask him.”
Phil sighed exasperatedly and headed down the basement steps, lighting the oil lamp as he went. “Tech?”
“Down here.” He called, and Phil could see that Wilbur wasn’t kidding. His rifle sat in disassembled pieces, and Techno sat cross legged in the middle of the floor with a rag.
“Techno, no offense, but what the hell are you doing?”
He doesn’t look up from his task. “I’m going to go find Sapnap, and Shoot him.”
What is it with you and Wilbur and threatening to shoot people tonight? Or well, I guess he threatened for you to shoot someone, but still.”
“It can’t be a coincidence that we found that bandana two days before the boys suddenly go missing. I’m taking the gun, and I’m gonna go find them.” He spoke so matter-of-factly that Phil had a hard time disagreeing. Techno was a force of nature, but in stature and personality. Trying to stop him when he had his mind made up was like trying to stop the current in a river, you just can’t.
“...Please, be careful. And take Wilbur with you. I still don’t want anyone going out there alone.”
Tommy and Tubbo crept around the back of the house, the oil lanterns hanging above the door casting orange and yellow light down on their heads. Tommy led them up the stairs, and cautiously peeked through the backdoor window. He could see the kitchen to his right, and the edge of the bathroom door to his left. Their destination. He motioned to Tubbo to wait, and slowly, slowly he turned the handle, sliding the lock out of place. Inch by inch, he opened the door which so often creaked and rattled. It took over a minute, but Tommy finally had a space big enough for him to slip through.
He slid the door closed just as cautiously, and was thankful that he’d remembered to remove his shoes before he entered. With socked feet, he was practically silent. He could hear the voices of Phil and Techno echoing from the open basement door, and Wilbur was nowhere to be seen. He hadn’t been outside, so the only possible places he could be were the loft, the bedroom, or the living room, which were all conveniently hidden around the corner. He got lucky again when he noticed the bathroom door had been left open, a gap large enough that he could walk through easily. He gently unlatched the cabinet door and pulled it open, searching for cough syrup. He found what he was looking for in the back of the middle shelf. Careful as to not clatter the pills together, he removed orange prescription bottles one by one until he was able to effortlessly lift the bottle out that he was after.
With the mission being a success, he slipped back out into the kitchen and began the arduous task of opening and closing the creaky back door once again. As he did so, he noticed a pair of gloves laying on the counter by the door. Remembering the way Karl’s hands had shook, and had been gloveless, he grabbed them and shoved them in his pockets, closing the door behind them.
“Did you get it?” Tubbo whispered. Tommy nodded. He stretched up and grabbed the oil lamp that hung above the door, and the two of them slipped back into the trees, jogging toward the barn.
“We got it!! We got it!!” Tubbo shouted as they sprinted toward the barn. Sapnap was already waiting for them outside, and he watched as a yellow light bounded toward him. The boys stopped a few feet away, and Tommy pulled the bottle of thick red liquid from his hoodie pocket, holding it out for Sapnap to take.
“This is… Thank you. Thank you.”
“These are for you too!” Tommy said as he pulled a pair of gloves from his pants pocket. “And the lamp too, I didn’t have time to get you some extra oil, but-”
Sapnap hugged Tommy, letting go just a moment later. “I can’t thank you kids enough. I- You really don’t want anything?”
Tubbo shook his head. “Nah, keep your stuff. We just wanted to make sure your friend was okay.” Tommy nodded in agreement, still holding the lamp out for Sapnap to take.
Sapnap does take it from him, holding it between them so the glow warmed them both. “You’re sure you’ll be able to make it back without the light?”
Tommy nodded. “We’ll be fine. You think Karl will be okay?”
“I hope so.”
Even as the boys made it to the treeline, Tubbo looked over his shoulder and saw a golden light waving them goodbye.
Notes:
The boys are in trouble now oooooooooo
Hope you guys didn't mind the little dark humor between Wilbur and Techno there in the middle, if it makes you feel better they were both kidding...... mostly.
Next chapter Tommy and Tubbo feel the wrath of their consequences, will they tell Phil about Sapnap and Karl? Who knows!!! Not me!
As always, thank you for leaving comments and Kudos! Stay tuned for chapter 19!!
Chapter 19: Three Days
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The walk back to the cabin was cold and dark, now that they’d given their lantern away. It felt like the beginning of spring, when the trees and grass are green but the air is still frigid. Tubbo put an arm around Tommy, who was shivering in the night air.
“Want my hoodie?”
He shook his head. “No, we’ll be home soon, I’ll be okay.”
“You sure we’re going to right way? It’s dark…”
Tommy nodded. “We’re not too far now. M-maybe ten more minutes.”
“That’s it, take my hoodie.” Tubbo pulled on Tommy’s arm to stop him, tugged his sweatshirt off, and held it out to him. “You’re shivering so bad your teeth are chattering. I’ll survive without it for ten minutes.”
Tommy sighed, but took the sweater nonetheless. “Thanks, man.”
Tubbo gave him a smile, and looked like he was about to say something when both boys heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Just as Tommy pulled his head through the sweater, Tubbo grabbed his arm again and dragged him off the path, into some bushes. They both held their breath as a flashlight shined on the woods around them. Heavy footfalls crushed grass and branches beneath their boots. Suddenly the flashlight shined in Tubbo’s eyes, making him wince.
“Tommy? Tubbo?!”
“T-Techno?” Tommy mumbled, standing to his feet. The flashlight was moved away, revealing Techno and Wilbur with shocked expressions. Wilbur ran to both of them, wrapping them in a hug.
“Jesus, you scared the shit out of us! Where were you?! What happened?!”
Tommy noticed the rifle slung across Techno’s back, and a pang of fear shot through him for a moment. “You guys were looking for us?”
“Of course we were looking for you! We’ve been searching for two hours!” Wilbur pulled away and sighed, giving the boys some room. “Let’s get home, it’s freezing out here.”
Phil looked at the pair of boys sitting on the sofa in front of him. He paced back and forth, his mouth a thin line as he tried to decide what to say first. Wilbur and Techno had both been ‘excused’ which just meant Phil didn’t want them there to interject while he spoke with Tommy and Tubbo. He let out a long, slow sigh before he began.
“I didn’t explain to you the danger we were trying to protect you from, and for that I’m sorry. I should’ve known you’d be curious and feel the distance that we put between you two and the forest. On the other hand, this is no longer just breaking the rules. This isn’t like skipping class.” He paused, looking down at Tommy, who couldn’t meet his eye. “I may not have explained to you my reasons at the time, but I hoped that you boys would have enough faith in me to understand that when I say something, when I tell you to do something, there’s a reason behind it.”
“We just-”
“You disobeyed a very clear rule. Don’t leave the house unsupervised. Don’t wander off.” He emphasized, standing in front of them. Tubbo’s shoulders hunched together, his hair hanging in his face.
“I’ll have you two know, the reason we were locking up the house was because there are men out in the forest.”
Tommy’s head shoots up, looking at Phil with wide eyes. He continued:
“One man that we know of, but Techno suspects there are more. Armed, and dangerous. What do you think would’ve happened if they found you?”
Tommy thought back to Sapnap. Smiley, joking Sapnap, with a gentle voice and a sick friend. Armed? Dangerous? They’d barely had more than the clothes on their backs. And Sapnap didn’t look like he could hurt a fly even if he wanted to.
Phil paused, looking at Tommy again. “What?”
He blinked, looking away. “N-nothing, I was just… thinking.”
“Good. You should start doing that more. Think before you run into the woods by yourselves.”
Tubbo flinched at his words. He waited a moment, looking at both boys with disappointment plain on his face. “You will not leave the house for one week. All your chores, all your meals, everything will be done inside. And I’ll keep you busy, so don’t worry about that. Now. Bed. Sleep. I’ll see you two in the morning.”
Tommy stared up at the ceiling of the bedroom, listening to the noises of the house around him. The creaking wood boards and the wind whistling against the siding.
“Do you think Phil hates us now?” Tubbo asked him. Tommy took a breath and sighed.
“Didn’t think you were still awake, Tubs.”
“Do you think he hates us?” He asked again, more quiet.
Tommy stared at the ceiling. Pondering.
“I don’t think so.”
“Do you hate Phil?”
He laughed and shook his head. “No, Tubbo.”
“Do you want to stay, still?”
Tommy took in a quiet sharp breath, unprepared for that question.
“...Do you still want to stay?”
Tubbo didn’t answer him right away, which worried Tommy. Did Tubbo want to leave?
“...I’m not sure.”
They let that thought sit in the air for a long time, the two staying silent as Tommy thought about everything that had happened since they found the cabin. Meeting Phil, Wilbur, and Techno, the food hoarding incident, getting sick, chores with Tubbo, playing games with everyone, growing closer with Wilbur, dancing in the kitchen, picking Berries with Techno, cooking with Phil, arguing, singing, playing, just- living. He felt like for the first time in four years, he could act like a kid again. He didn’t have to worry about food, finding shelter, when the next storm would come.
But lately all they’d done was fight and argue. Phil was distant, and Techno and Wilbur were always busy. The few moments of calm they had were always spent wondering what they’d be doing next. It felt like… poison. Like their lives had been poisoned.
“How long until you’re sure?” Tommy whispered.
He waited a long time, and part of him wondered if Tubbo had fallen asleep while he’d been thinking. Then, in the darkness, he heard Tubbo’s answer:
“Three days.”
Notes:
AAAAAAAAAAA this is SUCH a downer and I'm SORRY
It was also a pretty short chapter again, so double-sorry
I don't know what Tommy and Tubbo's decision is going to be, so if you want to help decide by commenting what you think should happen, I'd honestly appreciate it because this decision is going to determine the trajectory of like... the next five or six chapters, probably.
As always thank you for leaving kudos, and if you find a spelling error or have suggestions for anything, including the outcome of Tommy and Tubbo's decision, leave a comment!
Stay Tuned! <3
Chapter 20: Dear Phil
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
It didn’t feel good, keeping secrets from Phil, Techno, and Wilbur. Especially Wilbur. Tommy really liked Wilbur, and if he thought there was even a chance he’d come with them if they left, Tommy would ask him to. But He knew Wilbur and Tech were like him and Tubbo. They stuck together.
If Tubbo wanted to leave, then Tommy would follow him. That’s not to say he wouldn’t miss the older boys, but they had a pact. They were brothers, and brothers stick together no matter what. Tubbo had been with Tommy through everything the last four years had thrown at them. He had saved Tommy’s life more than once, and Tommy had done the same.
”You’re insufferable. I’m leaving.” Tubbo said with an eye roll, but he couldn’t hide his smile.
”Tommy grinned. “Oh please, you couldn’t get rid of me even if you wanted to.”
He sighed. Back when it had been just the two of them, before things got complicated. Before he got attached. Things had been so much simpler. Sure, they were a hell of a lot harder too, but all the same. If it came down to it, they could survive on their own, without Phil.
The two older boys were outside working on the shed again today, and Tommy couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. He and Tubbo were stuck inside cleaning while they worked under the sun. It was hard work, but at that point Tommy would’ve traded places with them if he could. The house felt dark, even with all the windows open.
“How’re you boys doing?” Phil asked as he rounded the corner, checking on them.
“Fine.” Tubbo and Tommy muttered in unison.
Phil had been absolutely breathing down their necks since the night they left. It had only been a day, but already Tommy could tell Tubbo was getting fed up. He wondered what would happen if he snapped.
“You still sure about that answer?” Tommy mumbled once Phil left the room.
Tubbo nodded. “It’s not about being annoyed. It’s about deciding if it’s worth it.” He explained, dropping the conversation after that. The boys worked in silence, because if they got rowdy Phil would just eye them like a hawk until they quieted back down.
“I’m worried about Tommy and Tubbo.” Wilbur said as he sat at the kitchen table. Both boys had forgone dinner in favor of going to bed early that night, but Phil also knew they didn’t want to sit at the table, surrounded by the older boys. They’d been growing more and more distant, and Phil couldn’t help but feel responsible.
“I am too. Maybe I was too harsh with them..”
Techno shook his head. “They’re just upset ‘cause they finally got the consequences of their actions. I’m not saying I don’t feel sorry for them, but I am saying they deserve it. A little.”
Wilbur disagreed. “I say we veto the punishment. End it early. They’ve been working hard for three days, and they haven’t spoken a word to Techno and I the entire time.”
Techno faked puppy eyes at Wil, sarcasm coating his voice: “Aww, poor Wilbur. You miss your little brother? You miss Tommy bothering you all day?” He rolls his eyes. “Those kids have no idea what respect is. You can’t let up on them just because you feel bad. Sometimes you just gotta put your foot down and do what needs done. Besides, it’s a week of chores, it’s not going to kill them.”
Wilbur sighed and folded his arms, shaking his head. “It’s not just that, though. They’re pulling away. I read somewhere once that-”
“Wibur, for fuck’s sake, you’re not a psychiastrist. Stop acting like you know a damn thing about what’s going on.”
“Technoblade!” Phil raised his voice, setting his mug down on the table more forcefully than necessary. “That is enough!”
Wilbur shrunk back in his seat, hiding his face in the neck of his hoodie. “Fine, nevermind then. Fuck off, I guess.”
Techno got up from his seat and shoved the chair back into the table. “I’m going to bed.”
Phil sighed and turned to Wilbur with an apologetic look. “Wil, you know he didn’t mean-”
“I know. But he needs to learn to keep his fucking temper.”
Phil nods solemnly, folding his hands on the table. “He’s just as concerned as you are. He just- shows it differently.”
“Boy, does he. I’ve spent three years traveling with the guy. He has certain ways of showing his emotions.”
“I think you’ve rubbed off on him a bit though, over the years. In a good way.” Phil said with a hesitant smile. “He’s gotten better about some things, just like you have. Remember when I first met you two?”
Wilbur chuckled. “Techno was a fucking firecracker back then. God.”
“You were the meekest kid I’d ever met. Twenty years old and stood behind Technoblade like he was your big brother.”
Wilbur tried to look offended, but he couldn’t hide his smile. “He was twice my size! You want me to stand in front of him and look intimidating?”
They both laugh together, but when it dies down Wilbur gets serious again.
“What are you going to do about the kids?”
Phil sighed, staring out the window at the swaying trees. “I dunno yet. Maybe Techno’s right, and I put my foot down. Or well, I mean… They’ve been doing really well. They haven’t complained to me once.”
“I say go easy on them.” Wilbur said with a nod, resting his head in his hands. “They’ve done enough.”
Phil nods. “I’ll have a talk with them tomorrow.”
Tommy wasn’t really sure what Tubbo was deciding on. It didn’t seem like what Phil or Techno or Wilbur did was having any effect on his decision.
“What are you thinking about?” Tommy asked as they laid in bed. It was a basic question, but Tubbo understood his meaning.
“I told you, I’m weighing the pros and cons.”
Tommy paused for a moment. “...Which one is winning right now?”
He sighs, not looking at Tommy.
“You said you’d decide in three days.”
“I know, I just- I don’t want you to regret it.” Tubbo mumbled, turning on his side to face Tommy.
“So you have decided then.”
Tubbo nodded. “I’m gonna leave. I just- I think coming here was a mistake. It turned into a happy accident, but… the way Phil talked about Sapnap, the way everything has just been going downhill, I-”
“I get it. Come on, let’s get ready.” Tommy said, pulling the covers away. Tubbo sat up in surprise.
“You… you’re not mad?”
Tommy shook his head. “No. Like I said, I get it. I’ve been watching the same things happening. I trust you, Tubbo.” He said with a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Tubbo got out of bed as well, and looked to Tommy.
“What should we do first?”
The boys gathered the supplies they could from their bedroom, dragging their old backpacks out from under the bed. They hadn’t been used in months, but Tubbo smiled when they took them out. His old school backpack. He missed it.
They shoved as much food into Tubbo’s bag as they could, and Tommy crept out into the livingroom to look for other things they’d need. He headed to the bathroom, grabbing any medicine that they had doubles of. He didn’t want to take anything that the older three might need later.
He headed down to the basement and looked around, grabbing Wilbur’s old snow boots that they’d stored away for the time being from under the stairs. He searched the box of shoes until he found two sneakers that were Tubbo’s size. They didn’t match, but they didn’t really have room to complain. They were already stealing. Taking one last look around, he spotted glinting metal from the left, and went to investigate. Pulling out a box that had been hastily shoved under a shelf, he pushed the lid aside and found a pistol.
“Woah…” He whispered, hesitantly reaching into the box and pulling it out. It was a lot heavier than he thought it would be. He found a button on the side, and pressed it, flinching back when the magazine fell out. He picked it up from where it clattered on the floor, silently praying it hadn’t woken anyone.
Six bullets.
He pushed the magazine back in and shoved the gun in his belt, walking back up the stairs quietly.
“What was that?” Tubbo whispered to him as he snuck back into the room.
“This.” He said as he pulled the pistol out. Tubbo gasped, putting his hand over it.
“Tommy, we can’t take that! That’s Wilbur’s!” He hissed, but Tommy held a finger to his lips, glancing back at the door.
“Quiet, Tubbo! They’ve got two rifles. What if we need it?”
Tubbo shook his head, but Tommy still packed the pistol into his bag.
“Oh, these are for you by the way.” He said as he handed Tubbo the sneakers. He groaned, but tried them on anyway, finding they didn’t hurt like Phil’s had.
“They’re not that bad. Feels a little weird, having two different shoes on.”
Tommy laughed softly. “Just help me pack this. Let’s go.”
Phil woke up in the early hours of the morning, like he usually did. He sat up in bed and stretched his arm above his head, yawning widely. The house was still quiet, and he smiled softly in the rare peace he found in these moments alone.
Quietly, he descended the ladder and walked to the kitchen to brew some coffee. He could hear Wilbur and Techno snoring in the living room, the two having gotten used to sleeping on the floor.
Hopefully they wouldn’t mind sharing a room with the younger boys once the storage got moved to the new shed. Sleeping in a bed would be preferable to the floor, even in a tiny room like that. He had a spare mattress in the basement, all they’d need to do was get it cleaned up. He was sure he had an extra set of sheets around down there somewhere too.
He was about to walk out to the porch when the glint of something metal caught his eye. He looked down at the ground and noticed Tubbo’s music box, sitting in the center of the doormat in front of the back door. He walked over and picked it up, surprised to see a little sheet of paper fall out from inside of it.
“What the-”
He leaned back down and grabbed the paper, unfolding it in one hand, the , music box in the other.
Dear Phil/Wilbur/Techno,
We didn’t want you to worry about us, so we’re leaving this note so you know we’re leaving-
Phil dropped the music box. He ran to the kitchen counter and grabbed a pair of reading glasses. There was no way this could be right. He must’ve misread it. This has to be a joke-
We didn’t want you to worry about us, so we’re leaving this note so you know we’re leaving. Tommy and I still want to head to the Meridian, and we thought it would be best to leave while the weather is still warming up. Sorry about taking your food, and medicine. We also took a pair of shoes, a lantern, and some matches, and a pi
Thank you for looking after us for so long. We know you didn’t have to, and we’re really glad we did. We’re really glad we met you, Phil. And Wilbur and Techno too.
-Tommy and Tubbo
“WILBUR!! TECHNO!!”
Notes:
I was choked up the enter time I wrote this, even now my eyes are all watery T^T Tommy and Tubbo why!!!!!!!!!
I'm so sad. My boys are out on their own again. I swear, this is so not where I thought this fic would go, but also I'm absolutely living for this ANGST
As always, comments and kudos are appreciated! Let me know if you cried!!!!
Stay Tuned! <3Also!! This fic is officially over 100 pages long! WOW!!!!
Chapter 21: Travelling
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Wilbur held the scrap of notebook paper in his hands, his eyes flying across the page. It was really short, just a few lines of scribbled writing. Most of it was Tubbo apologising for taking supplies.
”Fuck-” Wilbur said, slamming the piece of paper down on the table and standing out of his chair, the legs scraping across the ground loudly. He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes and when he pulled them away his face was red with fat tears trailing down his chin. “Fuck!!”
“They can’t have gotten far, could they?” Tech asked in a fierce tone as he looked at Phil, whose face was still marked with dried tear tracks.
“I don’t know! Neither of you heard anything last night?”
The two shook their heads, and Techno picked up the letter from where it had fallen off the table, reading it again.
“What’s this about the Meridian? Why do they want to go there?”
Phil sighed and wiped his hands over his face. “I- I don’t know, it was something they told me the first night they were here. Said they travelled here from London and were going to try to cross the channel.”
Wilbur’s eyes widened. “The channel?! Phil, the channel is super dangerous! Techno and I barely made it across on our journey, and we had a boat!”
“I know, I know! I-I didn’t think they were still planning on going! I… If they’d told me, I would’ve helped them, I would’ve gone with them-”
“They didn’t want you to.” Techno said hollowly from his seat, setting the paper down again. “If they’d wanted any of us to come with, they would’ve asked. They wanted to do this alone, and they just-... didn’t know how to say goodbye.”
Wilbur slid his back down the wall so he was sitting on the floor, his head in his hands. “Tech, we have to find them. If they try to cross the channel on their own, they’ll drown.”
The three men look at one another with understanding.
“I’ll grab my bag.”
“I’ll pack the food.”
“We meet out front in ten. Let’s find our boys.”
Tommy and Tubbo stumbled through the woods, their packs feeling heavier than they ever had. Tubbo reminded himself that was a good thing. A heavy bag meant they had lots of supplies. The sounds of the forest surrounded them, birds flying above their heads, grass and twigs crunching beneath their shoes, trees swaying in the breeze. The sun beat down on them from overhead, turning the damp air around them hot and misty. Tubbo looked around at the scenery, noticing a bird take off near his left.
“You think they noticed we’re gone yet?”
Tommy nodded. “Yeah. Probably.”
“...You think they’re looking for us?”
“...Yeah.”
Tubbo scanned Tommy’s face. “What’re you thinkin’ about?”
Tommy groaned and looked up at the sky, stretching his arms. “I’m thinkin’ we didn’t sleep last night, and we’re gonna need to travel a long way to get to where we can sleep again.”
Without really thinking about it, they’d pointed themselves toward the not-so abandoned barn. They needed to head east regardless, and the trail leading that way was easier to travel than through the un-marked forest. It wasn’t long until they could spot the old structure in the distance, and see a pair of figures walking along the side. Tubbo smiled, waving a hand in greeting. “Sapnap!! Karl!!”
Even from that distance, they could see the two older boys pause and wave back. Their voices small but carried on the breeze. Tommy and Tubbo picked up their pace, jogging over to meet them.
“Hey!!” They called, meeting the boys halfway, out in the field.
“Karl, you’re better!” Tubbo exclaimed happily. Karl smiled back at him and threw his arms around the shorter boy.
Sapnap gave both boys a solid handshake. “It’s good to see you again. What are you doing out here? We haven’t seen you two for a couple days.”
“We’re heading to the Meridian.” Tommy explained.
Sapnap and Karl shared a concerned look for a moment. “You’re going to try to cross tha channel? That’s an awfully long trip.”
Sapnap nodded. “We did it. Twice. Neither time was very fun. You guys are going to need a good boat if you’re planning on sailing across.”
“Yeah, we already have a plan for that.” Tubbo said with a grin, but declined to share more.
Karl gave them each a sad smile. “Will we… ever see you guys again?”
It was Tommy and Tubbo’s turn to share a look, this one more apologetic. “I guess… Probably not, actually.”
“Well, if this is goodbye, then good luck. If you change your mind, we’ll be here.”
Tommy smiled at Sapnap, not letting it reach his eyes as they shook hands one last time. “Thank you. Good luck to you as well.”
Sapnap and Karl waved the boys off from the barn as they headed to the south. As they were about to walk back into the treeline, Tommy called back to them:
“Sapnap!! Karl!!
“Yeah?!”
“Don’t tell anyone we were here!!”
Sapnap blinked in surprise at the request. He watched the kids disappear into the trees. “Don’t tell anyone we were here?” He repeated, looking to Karl. “Who would we tell?” Karl made some indecisive noise, shrugging his shoulders.
Phil led them through the forest, heading East. It was a little past midday. He would’ve liked to have left earlier, but they’d needed more time to prepare, especially if they were going to have to cross the channel to find the boys. He checked his watch:
“11/22/22”
“03:02:45”
This had to be the first December Phil could remember that didn’t have any snow. Sure, there’d been a blizzard, but that had come and gone in a matter of weeks. Now it was nearly Christmas and it looked like spring. The world felt like it was on its head, nothing made sense.
“You doing okay, Phil?” Techno asked, resting a hand on his shoulder.
“I… I’m okay. We need to keep going.” They pressed onward as Phil wiped stray tears from his cheeks.
“Remind me again why you didn’t bring your pistol?” Techno called to Wilbur from a few feet back, annoyance in his voice.
“I just don’t really see the point, what with you and Phil having yours. Besides, Tommy and Tubbo don’t like guns. You two are going to freak them out when we find them.”
Wilbur had been against taking the guns, but Phil and Techno both agreed that for their safety it was a good idea. They walked in a line, Phil in front and Tech in back, Wilbur, the only one without a firearm, walked in the middle.
“They don’t like guns because they’ve never used one before.” Techno mumbled as he walked a bit faster, matching Wilbur’s gate. “Once we convince ‘em to come back, I’ll give them some shooting lessons. Once they know how to use one, the guns won’t seem as scary.”
“That sounds like a terrible idea.”
“You’re a terrible idea.” Techno said with a snort before returning to his spot in the back.
They were passing by the barn when Techno noticed some movement in the corner of his eye. He stopped, looking out at the building in the distance. There. In the back left corner, something- no, someone.
“Phil, Wilbur.” He whispered, pointing toward the barn. The two older men crouched down in the foliage, studying the barn from a distance.
“What’s that?” Wilbur asked, squinting his eyes.
“I’m seeing two figures. Can’t tell much from here. You think it’s Sapnap?” Phil asked, glancing over at Techno.
His eyes were narrowed, and he took a long moment to respond as he watched the figures in the distance. “Let’s go talk.”
Sapnap was sorting through what little provisions he and Karl had when he heard the sound of voices approaching the barn. At first he thought it was Tom and Tubbo, back from whatever little escapade they’d been on. But when he turned and saw three large figures approaching, the smile fell from his face.
“Karl, get behind me.” He whispered, pulling his friend to his feet and hiding him behind him.
Techno was leading with Wilbur on his right and Phil on his left. Phil had his rifle in his hands, but Wilbur had convinced Techno to go into the situation hoping for peace, his gun still slung across his back.
“Sapnap?” He called out.
Sapnap squinted his eyes, taking a hesitant step forward. Once they got closer, he finally recognized two of the men approaching them. “...You! What the hell are you doing here?”
“Last time we saw you, you were in London.” Techno spoke with a loud, commanding voice, not bothering to answer Sapnap’s question.
“A lot has changed since then.” He mumbled, eyeing Techno warily.
Techno leaned to the side, catching Karl’s eye. “Karl, right?”
“Yeah…” He answered softly, one hand holding onto Sapnap’s arm. “You were the guy getting medicine for your brother.”
Techno shrugged, rolling his eyes. “Well, that was actually Wilbur.” He sticks a thumb over his shoulder at his friend. “But more or less, yeah. That’s us.”
“I met your brother.” Sapnap said, looking Techno in the eye. That got his attention. Techno took five long strides and suddenly he was right in Sapnap’s face, leaning over him menacingly.
“When.”
Sapnap’s heart was beating in his throat, he took a step back, making Karl stumble slightly. “Couple days ago. He gave Karl some medicine.”
Techno took up straight, still staring into Sapnap’s eyes like the grim reaper. “He give you anything else?”
Sapnap looked away, trying to think. “Some gloves. He gave Karl a pair of gloves, and uh, an old lantern.”
“Ey, that’s mine!” Phil protested, walking up to Sapnap. “That’s my oil lamp he gave you, and I want it back!”
“Y-you can have it back.” Karl said, stepping into the barn momentarily. He came back out a second later with the metal lantern in one hand. “We were pretty sure the stuff they gave us was stolen. Just- here.” He held the lantern out to Phil, who took it from him hastily. Karl also removed his gloves.
Phil held his hand up. “Eeh- those aren’t mine.”
“They’re mine.” Wilbur said, stepping forward. “Keep ‘em, I found some new ones.” Karl seemed happy that he got to keep the gloves, putting them back on despite the day’s warm temperature.
“Anything else?” Techno asked. Both Sapnap and Karl shook their heads. “Alright, good. Now how about this: Did they come by today? Maybe just a few hours ago?”
Sapnap and Karl shared a look, wondering how much they should share. Karl decided to speak first. “Are they okay? They told us they were heading for the Meridian.”
Techno sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Okay, so they were here. That’s where they said they were going in the letter.”
“Are they in some kind of trouble?” Karl asked, looking up at Techno with genuine concern in his eyes. Sapnap held an arm around his friend’s shoulders. As Techno looked between the two of them, he could see the anxiety in each of them. “...You’re worried about ‘em?”
Karl laughed softly. “Well- yeah, of course! They’re just kids, they could get into a lot of trouble on their own. We didn’t know where their family was, or if they had anyone they were trying to look for- I was kinda hoping they were on their way home. But I guess they’re sorta doing the opposite…”
Techno looked away, guilt swimming in his stomach. “Yeah, they… They don’t really have much family, from what we’ve been able to gather.”
Sapnap looks at him with a sad expression. “It’s getting more and more rare these days to find anyone with family. They’re good kids, and I know they probably broke some rules to help us, but I don’t know what I would’ve done if I hadn’t run into them out here.”
Phil smiles, thinking of the boys. They had their own rules they followed, even if it went against what Phil, Wil, and Techno said. Sometimes it’s hard for him to realize that they were surviving on their own before Phil met them. For four year those boys braved the world by themselves, living by their own rules. It would be hard to go from that to obeying orders from adults again.
Giving medicine to strangers they met in the forest, knowing full well they’d get in trouble, but doing it anyway because it was the right thing to do. He felt proud, even if they did break his rules.
“Do you know which way they went?” Techno asked.
“Yeah! They headed that way.” Karl said, pointing to the right. “Don’t tell them we told you. We were sworn to secrecy.”
Phil laughed softly, giving boy boys a quiet thanks. “You got anything to do for the next day or two? The more eyes we have, the better.” He asked.
“Uh, well...we’d love to, but I don’t think you’d want us. Karl’s still recovering, and uh- neither of us are very good on our feet as of late.” Sapnap said, scratching at the back of his neck.
Wilbur raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
He looked away, not wanting to answer, so Karl butted in for him. “We’ve kinda been living off of berries and cough syrup for the past couple days, not gonna lie.”
Phil, ever the dad-friend, took off his pack and started rifling through the contents until he found what he was looking for. Pulling out a small tin, he handed it to the boys. “Here. It’s not much, so don’t eat it all at once. It’s all we can spare right now.”
Karl took the tin from him, opening the lid to reveal dried meat, potatoes, and carrots.
“Our cabin is about an hour and a half walk due west of here. The doors are locked, but there’s a shed out back you can stay in. It’s not much, but it’s better than this place.”
The two boys looked at one another with relieved expressions before facing Phil again. “Thank you. If you guys ever need anything, really, just ask. You’ve done so much for us, you three and the boys too.”
“Don’t sweat it.” Phil said with a smile, turning to discuss their travel plans with Wilbur. Techno stepped up and placed a hand heavily on Sapnap’s shoulder, his expression kind but his tone menacing.
“If you steal anything, I will know. And I will find you.”
And with that, leaving Sapnap and Karl a bit shaken, but ready to head to their new destination, the three men set off to the south, and hopefully, toward Tommy and Tubbo.
“You think telling those guys where the cabin is was a good idea?” Wilbur said as they followed Techno through a break in the trees. Phil sighed
“They were starving, Wil. I can’t leave people out in the elements when there’s something I could do to help. They’ve got no weapons, food, barely any shelter. I don’t think they can do much harm.”
“Well, if we get back and the cabin is burnt down, I don’t want to be the one to say ‘I told you so’.”
The sky turned lavender and violet as Tommy and Tubbo stumbled down the cracked pavement, exhausted. Tommy pressed them forward though. If he knew Techno, the three of them would be right on their tails. Every so often he’d glance behind them expecting to see three silhouettes in the distance, but there never was. They must be further along than he thought. Still, they couldn’t rest yet. It felt like they were constantly running from everything, even the people he thought they could trust.
Could they trust Phil? Techno? Could he trust Wilbur?... He’d wanted to so badly. But he had to keep his promise to Tubbo. He had wanted to leave, so they left. Tommy trusted him. Still, it hurt to know the weeks they’d spent in the cabin had been spent in the company of people he really hadn’t fully known. When he thought about it, he really knew nothing about any of them. He’d been so quick to trust, even after he’d tried so hard to build up a wall.
They’d started walking at dawn, and hadn’t stopped since. To say they were exhausted was an understatement. The moment Tommy laid down that night, he knew he’d be out like a light.
“Let’s… let’s stop.” Tubbo panted, his feet stilled. Tommy looked around, they were surrounded by fields of tall grass, not a building in sight.
“Tubbo, where are we going to sleep?” He asked.
“I… I dunno. I just can’t walk anymore.” He mumbled, sitting down on the road.
Tommy sighed, but picked up Tubbo’s pack from where he let it slip off his shoulder.
“I’ll try to set up a camp. Just take a break.”
He managed to find a spot out in the pasture that was well hidden, a small hill disguising most of the land just behind it. If they laid down, they’d be basically invisible from the road. He laid out a blanket they’d brought with them and pulled out a tin of food, popping it open.
“C’mon, Tubbo. Come eat!”
The promise of food got Tubbo moving. He dragged his feet along the ground as he walked over to join Tommy.
“It’s like a picnic.” He said with a laugh, sitting beside him. They shared the tin, watching as the sunset turned from purple to magenta, to dark blue, then black. The stars shined above as the boys laid on their backs, looking up at it all.
“...Are you sure you’re okay with leaving England behind? I know you miss Wilbur.” Tubbo asked as they stargazed. Tommy nodded, mostly to himself.
“I do. I miss Wilbur; and Phil, and Techno. And I know you do too, despite how much you want to deny it.” Tubbo made a face, even though he knew Tommy couldn’t see him. “They’re good people. But… I don’t know. Maybe the thing that was wrong was us.”
Tubbo sat up then, looking down at Tommy with a confused and slightly surprised look on his face. “What do you mean?”
“I mean- look, They’d been working together for what, two? Three years? And only when we showed up did things start going bad. Always fighting and getting into trouble with them. And when we weren’t fighting, they fought with one another. Maybe we didn’t fit, and we just pretended we did because… because we wanted it to work so badly.”
Tubbo didn’t need to see Tommy to know he was crying. He could hear the wetness in his voice, the way he cleared his throat afterwards. “Tommy…”
“It’s fine. I’m okay. It just- I tried so hard to make it work, Tubbo. I wanted it to work so badly, and it just-”
Tubbo pulled Tommy up into a hug, squeezing him tightly. “It’s okay to be sad. I’m… I am too. But you’ve got me. You’ll always have me Tommy. We’re brothers, right?”
Tommy nods, his arms wrapping around Tubbo’s middle.
“Okay. Now, let’s sleep. We’ve got a lot of walking to do in the morning.”
Notes:
I really wanted them to get to the coast this chapter, but a lot has already happened, so I'll save it for next time.
Phil is such a dad to everyone I swear. He's great but honestly? A little risky.
Thank you for leaving comments and kudos! Stay tuned for chapter 22! <3
Chapter 22: To Family
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
There was a not-so small part of Techno that deeply regretted not taking the car. He knew the boys would probably be following the roads, but there was another part of him that said if they weren’t following the roads, and they somehow got to the channel before they could locate them, he’d never forgive himself.
They didn’t really understand the science of it. Meteorology was never something he’d been interested in studying, but the channel was a nightmare. He suspected any body of water was the same, including the oceans. Churning waves and unpredictable storms. When Wilbur and Techno crossed the channel the first time, they’d been lucky.
The skies had been clear for the most part, but once they got to Ireland the weather had taken a bad turn, and hadn’t let up even when they fled. Their boat had been struck by lightning about halfway across and had lost power for about five minutes, leaving them hopelessly stranded in the middle of a thunderstorm. But by some miracle the engine had sprung back to life, and they were able to get back to the docks. But that five minutes… that five minutes he’d contemplated his whole life, he thought he was going to die there. Both he and Wilbur did. They sat in the cabin together as they waited for the end to come, but it never did. The rumble of the engine returned, and they’d sailed to shore.
They’d gotten lucky. Twice. He wasn’t willing to bet the channel would be that forgiving a third time.
Techno had forced them to stop and rest for a few hours, not even bothering to make a fire. He knew none of them would be able to sleep, but they would need energy to continue searching in the morning. After about three hours Wilbur started packing up his blanket, and everyone took that as the cue to continue onwards.
They were nearly to the coast now, they could see the edge of the water on the horizon line. Wilbur’s heart beat faster. If the boy’s hadn’t left the docks yet they might still be able to catch them. Unconsciously all three men quickened their pace, the scenery around them slowly turning from fields into town, into city. The gravel road under their feet turned to asphalt. They had to get there in time. Not only that, but they had to search the docks. Tommy and Tubbo could be anywhere looking for a boat, and there were plenty of boats to choose from.
The ground under them quickly turned wet, and soon they were wading through waist deep water.
“Watch your step, boys.” Phil cautioned as they trudged onward. Wil winced as he stepped in a pothole, the water sloshing up to his chest momentarily. Techno managed to climb onto the roof of a submerged car, looking out toward the coast. “It gets shallower up ahead, about twenty yards from here.”
“Good eye, Tech.” Phil said as they continued. Soon they found themselves in shallower water, and Wilbur sighed with relief.
“I hate the city.” He mumbled, making Techno laugh.
“C’mon, we have to keep movin’.”
They woke up later than they would’ve liked, but it was still before noon, so Tubbo was confident that if they were being followed, they still had a good amount of distance between them and Phil. They packed up the blanket and the food tin before setting off for the city.
Tommy despised traveling in the city. They were up to their necks in water, and he couldn’t help but think back a few months prior. Before Phil, before everything. Swimming across drowned valleys. Maybe things would be easier if they’d never met. He felt like his heart would be hurting less without all the memories. It felt like he was being weighed down by everything.
“You okay?” He heard Tubbo ask. He took a deep breath.
“Yeah. Yeah, let’s keep going.”
They reached the coast in about a half hour, feeling breathless and soaked to the bone. Most of the docks were underwater, held down by heavy chains that weren’t long enough to allow the buoyant platforms to reach the surface. Over the years of strain though, a few had managed to break free and float to the top. Before they took the dive and swam out though, Tommy and Tubbo sat on the roof of a truck and pulled off their shoes, chucking them into the drink.
“Bye, shoes.” Tubbo mumbled as they watched them slowly float away. Tommy’s boots were so heavy they sank, which made him even more glad they were leaving them behind.
They had to swim out about thirty yards to get to the closest one. When they did, they stood up and looked around at the eerie calm that stagnated above the water. There were barely any waves, the sun shining down on them, making it feel like midsummer.
“It’s so quiet.” Tubbo whispered, his voice reflected back at them by the surface of the water. Tommy nodded. They sat there for a long time, drying off in the sun. Tommy rolled up his jeans and Tubbo took off his sweater, laying it out on the platform to dry. It would be a while before they got another chance to relax like this, so they savored it while they could.
Tommy took the time to examine the boats that float aimlessly around them. There were plenty to choose from, as he suspected there would be. He’d gone sailing with his parents once, but it’s not like they’d let him drive the boat. They’d need something simple, but effective. He spotted a boat about a hundred yards away that appeared to be usable. A small fishing boat with a motor that looked mostly undamaged. He pointed the boat out to Tubbo, who nodded in approval.
The clear sky was beginning to darken with grey storm clouds, so they jumped off the dock and swam for it, making it to the boat breathless and once again, soaked. The air was beginning to turn cold, the wind picking up.
Tubbo was the first to make it in, swimming around to the other side and using Tommy as a counter-weight to pull himself up. Getting Tommy in was harder. He was exhausted from walking and swimming, and it took a few tries for Tubbo to pull him up. Once they were both in, they took stock of what they could see.
The boat was a lot smaller than it looked from the outside, and there was a bit of water sloshing around in the bottom. There was a small compartment at the back where the motor was kept, and Tommy was grateful that they found a half-full canister of fuel inside as well. At the front of the boat there was another compartment, this one had a fishing lure crate in it, which the boys chucked overboard. It was no use to them without a fishing pole. They shoved their bags in the front compartment instead.
“Ready?” Tubbo asked. It sounded so final. He hesitated, looking out over the city surrounding them. He stood, steadying himself in the small boat. The wind rustled his hair and clothes as he took it all in one last time.
“...Goodbye, England.”
“TOMMY!!”
Wilbur screamed, climbing desperately onto the top of a nearby car. He could see the two boys floating in a dingy little fishing boat about a hundred yards away. Tommy was standing, why was he standing?!
“TUBBO!!! TOMMY!!”
Tubbo’s hand stilled on the motor, looking up at Wilbur with wide eyes.
“Wilbur?” Tommy whispered, his breath catching in his throat. Thunder rumbled overhead. “WILBUR!! What- WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” He yelled back, staggering a bit when the boat began to rock. He quickly sat back down, grabbing the side of the boat to lift himself back up.
Wilbur shouted something else to them, but he couldn’t hear it over the wind. He turned to Tubbo. “Can we get any closer?”
Tubbo grabbed the lever and pushed it, the Motor rumbling noncommittally for a moment before coming to life. He aimed the boat toward Wilbur and picked up speed just enough to get them closer, shutting it off again when they were about twenty feet away.
“Tommy! Tubbo, what are you doing?!” He shouted from the roof of the car, a terrified look on his face.
Tommy didn’t know what to say. He didn’t think they’d actually find them before they left. He wasn’t even really sure they were being followed, and now…
“We-... We’re going to the Meridian!” He called out.
“Tom- Tommy, you can’t cross the channel! It’s too dangerous! You won’t survive!”
Tubbo noticed Phil and Techno from around the corner of a nearby building. They really were all here, they’d been looking for them-
“Y-You can’t come with us!” He shouted, not really sure what he meant, but knowing it was the truth. “We have to go alone!”
Wilbur felt a patter on his sleeves and looked up, realizing it was raining. He looked back at the boys, drifting just a few feet away, but slowly getting dragged by the waves.
“Why? Why do you have to go alone?!” He raised his voice to be heard above the wind, his jacket fluttering behind him. He saw the pained look on Tommy’s face. “What if we come with you?”
“No!!” Tommy shouted, his breath quick and shaky. Tears were forming in the corners of his eyes. “We’ll just- It’ll all get messed up again!”
Wilbur didn’t understand. Messed up?... “What do you mean, Tommy? What was messed up?!”
“We messed everything up! And- And we messed you guys up!” Tears fell down his cheeks as rain wet his hair and shoulders. “It’s just… It will be better this way!”
Wilbur stepped off the car, not caring that he was wading through water. He couldn’t let this happen. He couldn’t let them do this to themselves. “Neither of you messed up! You could never mess us up!” His breath caught in his throat, and he had to swallow down the lump in his throat to keep talking. His voice shook terribly as he continued:
“I know, sometimes we fight, and sometimes we get upset-” Wilbur felt tears fall from his eyes “-but we would never, never want you to go away. We came here because we want to bring you back home!”
Tommy sobbed, his shoulders shaking as he looked at Wilbur with red-rimmed eyes.
“-And I think that’s what you want too! I think that’s what you’ve both been wanting this whole time, is to have a home again! To have a family again!!” He shouted, holding his arms open.
“So come home to us!”
Tommy jumped from the boat, and Tubbo followed him, wading through chest-high water to reach Wilbur, who embraced both of them deeply.
Techno and Phil joined them, and Tubbo ran to Techno, who caught him in open arms. He practically lifted Tubbo out of the water in a hug, before setting him down and leaning back to look at him. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I ever made you feel like you had to- to leave-”
Tubbo just hugged him tighter, shaking his head into Techno’s soaked jacket. He stopped talking, just holding him close.
Wilbur wiped tears from Tommy’s face with his thumbs, which did little against the rain that was now pouring down on them. He held an arm around Tommy’s shoulders as they joined Phil and Techno. Tommy hing his head as he faced Phil, but before he could even say anything Phil swooped down and wrapped him in a hug.
“I’m so sorry. If I’d known- I just-... I would never want you two to leave. I would never never ever want you to leave. I’m so so so sorry.” Tommy nodded, taking in a shuddering breath.
Tubbo trudged over to the two of them soaked to the bone, and hugged Phil as well. He pulled both boys close. “You two are a part of my family. I didn’t tell you that enough, and that’s my fault. I should’ve told you more, how much it meant having you there. Having you home.”
The crackle of thunder brought all five of them back to the moment. Phil put an arm around either boy and ushered them back toward the city, Techno and Wilbur following behind as quickly as they could in the water.
It took two days for them to walk home. But when they got their, they were greeted by Sapnap and Karl, who had been able to find the cabin and had been taking shelter in the shed since they’d set out to find Tommy and Tubbo. When they set eyes on the two boys, they ran to them and hugged them like they hadn’t seen them in months, and Tubbo and Tommy hugged them right back, grinning. They all ate together outside that night, a giant feast that all five of them helped prepare. As they sat in the front yard on blankets and pillows, with mis-matched dinnerware and glasses of wine, Phil stood and raised his cup.
“Everyone, to life!”
“To Life!” They all cheered.
“To new friends!” Phil shouted, raising his cup in the direction of Sapnap and Karl, the two nodding to him graciously.
“To new friends!”
“To Family!” He looked to Tommy and Tubbo, who nudged one another and laughed, looking back up at Phil with adoration.
“To Family!”
Phil looked around at his family, sitting together under candlelight as the stars began to shine through the dusk. Laughing, Talking, Eating together. Living. Really living.
They all had people. Their pasts. But in this moment they were together. That didn’t change that the past happened, that they had loved, and lost. But here. Now. They had each other.
That’s all that mattered.
Notes:
Fin!
That's a wrap, folks!! Oh my gosh, I really nearly cried when I wrote this last scene.
When I started writing this story I didn't think it would go anywhere. I didn't intend to finish it. I just challenged myself to write something that was 10,000 words, and it ended up being over 50,000!!! It all started with one scene inspired by a song, and the rest just bloomed from there.Thank you so so so much for reading. As I'm typing this right now, the fic has 960 hits, and that's just within the first week of publishing it. I can't thank all of you enough for the amount of love this has received. It was an absolute joy to write.
A special thanks to user:Squishie for leaving some lovely and encouraging comments as I wrote this, you're part of the reason I finished this fic, thank you Squishie!
Thank you all for tuning in, and hopefully I'll see you again in another fic! <3
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SerineOpal on Chapter 1 Mon 27 Sep 2021 10:14PM UTC
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Briggan11 (Guest) on Chapter 1 Sun 26 Mar 2023 02:40PM UTC
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Thebeeloved on Chapter 2 Thu 12 May 2022 01:15AM UTC
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Grove1703 on Chapter 3 Sun 19 Sep 2021 05:38PM UTC
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Kodamark on Chapter 3 Sun 19 Sep 2021 05:46PM UTC
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Briggan11 (Guest) on Chapter 5 Sun 26 Mar 2023 03:46PM UTC
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Kodamark on Chapter 5 Sun 26 Mar 2023 06:11PM UTC
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Briggan11 (Guest) on Chapter 6 Sun 26 Mar 2023 04:31PM UTC
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Squishie (Guest) on Chapter 7 Thu 20 May 2021 06:58PM UTC
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xCorrodedz on Chapter 9 Wed 11 May 2022 07:58AM UTC
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JoneyTV on Chapter 10 Fri 06 Aug 2021 06:01PM UTC
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Person who exists (Guest) on Chapter 11 Mon 24 May 2021 10:39PM UTC
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Briggan11 (Guest) on Chapter 11 Sun 26 Mar 2023 06:53PM UTC
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Thebeeloved on Chapter 12 Thu 12 May 2022 03:01AM UTC
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Civil_Human on Chapter 12 Sun 02 Oct 2022 03:07PM UTC
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Kilmar_arte on Chapter 13 Sat 21 Aug 2021 07:16AM UTC
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Ilikeblue094 on Chapter 14 Mon 24 May 2021 01:41PM UTC
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JoneyTV on Chapter 14 Fri 06 Aug 2021 06:45PM UTC
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Squishie (Guest) on Chapter 15 Mon 24 May 2021 05:05AM UTC
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Kodamark on Chapter 15 Mon 24 May 2021 05:07AM UTC
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Civil_Human on Chapter 16 Sun 02 Oct 2022 03:19PM UTC
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xCorrodedz on Chapter 18 Wed 11 May 2022 08:48AM UTC
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Briggan11 (Guest) on Chapter 18 Sun 26 Mar 2023 10:17PM UTC
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Squishie (Guest) on Chapter 19 Tue 25 May 2021 04:04AM UTC
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