You Can't Spell Stupid Without U and I

by CherishedBlue

Summary:

Tommy and Tubbo have been friends since before they were able to remember. They had grown up together, fought together, and faced every single challenge that came their way back to back. Recently however, a new face has made its way into Origins, and while Tubbo seems more than excited to accept them, Tommy seems reluctant. (Origins SMP Season 2 Based)

Chapter 1: Purple Dust Sprites and a Lost Sweater

     “Tommy!” A young boy flew to the door of the Elytrian’s household, calling his friend’s name. He held his arms out to his sides as he touched down, a few bees flying around his head, pollen dusting his hair and his nose, causing him to sneeze softly. He knocked on the door in a thump thump thump-thump thump pattern.

     “Just a moment!” A call came from the other side, and a moment later, the door opened to reveal an older man dressed in green, black wings tucked at his back softly. He held a cup of coffee that was steaming hot, a thin wisp of vapor coming up to grace his green and white striped bucket hat. 

     “Hi Tubbo! How are you this morning?” He greeted the bee boy, taking a sip of his coffee.

     “Hello Phil! I am well, thank you. Is Tommy here?” He tried to peek past Phil into the house, getting a glimpse of the kitchen.

     “Tommy’s upstairs, wanna come in?” He nodded towards the staircase behind him, pressing his back against the doorframe.

     “Yes please!” Tubbo grinned, kicking his feet off the floor and buzzing by Phil, who chuckled as he closed the door. Tubbo swung around the corner of the upper stairs floor, almost running into Wilbur, Tommy’s older brother, who was practically running down the stairs.

     “Woah there Tubster!” Wilbur exclaimed, holding his arm out. “Gonna knock me into the phantom state, are ya?”

     “Sorry, Wilbur! I was just excited to see Tommy!” He laughed, reaching out to pat Wilbur’s shoulder. “I like your sweater!”

     Wilbur grinned at him, looking down at it and holding it out for him to get a better look. It was a dark red and white checkered sweater with a yellow collar. “Thanks! Isn’t it neat? Niki made it for me!”

     "I like the yellow!"

     "Thanks! Well, I've got to be off, I'm running behind to hang out with the crew. I'll see you later dude!"

     "See ya!" Tubbo waved to him as he departed down the stairs, knowing full well Wilbur could not see him do so. As soon as Wil was out of eyesight, only a few seconds after he had started waving, he turned his attention to floating his way towards Tommy's room.

     The Elytrian’s house was not necessarily big, but it was spacious enough. It had two bedrooms and a smaller room that was once upon a time converted into Tommy’s nursery. As Tommy grew up, he grew room sizes it seemed. He now had the largest room of the house, despite still being the youngest member of the household. Phil had claimed he didn't need the bigger room, as he preferred more of a nesting area than anything else, and Wilbur, although the older brother, gave it to Tommy willingly after he became a phantom. Tommy’s room was just a collection of things- of many things. Rocks, swords, armor, pieces of ores, and trinkets he had found, it was all holed away in his room. He had a large decorated sign on the front door, stating: ‘Tommy's room! Stay out or ELSE!!!’ in red sloppy paint strokes. Tubbo, in knowing Tommy for all the years he had, had never figured out what would be the “or else”. 

     “Tommy, are you in there?” Tubbo called yet again, knocking three times and then placing his hand against the door.

     “Come in!” He hollered, so Tubbo swung the door open, before touching down on the floor.

     Tommy was sat cross-legged on his grey beanbag-type bed, blankets and pillows strewn around him. He wore a pair of grey cargo shorts a green and white striped tee-shirt with a purple bandana worn around his neck. He had a couple of hairpins tucking his bangs up to keep them out of his face as he worked tediously, courtesy of Phil, Tubbo assumed. At first glance, Tommy’s room was reminiscent of any teenaged boy’s bedroom, dirty and clean clothes littering the dark-colored hardwood flooring, dirty dishes piled up on his bedside table, and the room smelled faintly of sweaty socks and stale, old bubblegum. Tommy had a sheathed sword tucked between his legs as he whittled a pocket knife at the hilt, not bothering to break his concentration to greet his friend.

     “How’s the day?” Tubbo asked, picking up a grey disc from the floor and placing it back on the wall.

     “S’fine!” Tommy stuck his tongue out and held it ever so precariously as he took a large chunk of leather out of the hilt. “Phil bought me a new sword when he went out the other day.”

     “Cool! What’s the hilt? Iron again?”

     “No, it’s leather this time. A pretty good find if I do say so myself!” He held the sword out proudly.

     The boys chatted for a while before there was a knock at the door. “Boys, you better get going before it gets to be too much later, I want you both home by dark.”

     “But Phillll!” Tommy protested loudly. “I want to use my new sword though!”

     “No, Tommy, I told you, that one is for training only . You’ve never had a leather hilted sword before, those can be more tricky to master.” Phil shoved a thumb towards the stairs. “Now get going, or I’m gonna send Tubbo home. You aren’t going to stay inside all day after all.”

     Tommy groaned and rolled his eyes, pushing himself up off of the beanbag bed and grabbing his red and white tennis shoes. Putting them on quickly, he grabbed his slingshot from his desk and a handful of pebbles, as well as his satchel. He swung it over his shoulder, letting it dangle at his back.

     “Let’s go, bee boy.” 

     Had it been a normal day in Origin, they would have greeted the few other patrons and probably run into Wilbur and his crew and moved on with their day, going to the plains to practice their aim on unsuspecting rabbits or flower picking to make flower crowns to take to Scott, one of the newer residents. This, however, was not a normal day.

     The boys were walking down the path towards their hideout when a dusting of purple flew by them.

     “What the fuck was that?” Tommy yelled, holding out his sword.

     “I don’t know, I’ve never seen those before,” Tubbo replied, eyes turning a tint of red and becoming ready to inflict poison damage if needed.

     And with another dusting of purple particles, a boy about their age appeared in front of them. He was an Enderian, which Tommy had only seen once, and Tubbo had only seen in the history books in Wilbur’s antiquarium. He was wearing a crown with a set of three amethysts in the center and was dressed in a white long-sleeved button-down, gold vest, and black slacks, as well as a light purple cloak that had white and silver trim around the hems. He wore a frown on his face as he inspected the other two boys, crossing his arms.

     “Hi?” Tubbo cautiously held out his hand for a shake.

     The Enderian’s eyes dropped to his hand and a look of utter disgust crossed his face but he took Tubbo’s hand, shaking it once. “Hello.”

     “I’m Tubbo. This is Tommy.” He pointed to his friend beside him, who still had his sword drawn.

     “Ranboo. Ranboo the Second. You wouldn’t happen to live here, would you?”

     “We would.” Tommy finally spoke up.

     “Drats!” Ranboo exclaimed, snapping his fingers, causing a puff of purple particles to appear. He turned his back to the boys and started talking angrily towards the particles, that seemed to start to multiply as he spoke with more fervor. Tubbo kicked up off of the ground and floated above Ranboo upside down.

     “Whatcha doin’?” He asked, touching one of the purple sprites, which left a purple print on his finger.

     He looked up suddenly, startled by Tubbo speaking, almost clocking his head on Tubbo’s, and snapped his fingers again, causing almost all of the particles to dissipate into the air. “Nothing!” He crossed his arms and then turned his nose up and away from Tubbo.

     “What are those purple things?” Tubbo glanced back to Tommy who had now repositioned himself to have his sword sheathed and pointed into the ground, leaning against the handle looking bored.

     “That is Chat.”

     “Chat?”

     “Ender sprites,” Tommy said from behind him.

     “Do they talk?” Tubbo asked yet another question, still floating in the air around Ranboo in slow circles.

     “Not to you.” Ranboo huffed, starting to walk away, but the bee boy followed him regardless.

    “How come you’re so angry?”

     “I’m not angry!” He snapped, turning towards Tubbo and pointing a finger at him irritated. “You are just annoying! Why do you ask so many questions?”

     Tommy stood up straight now, placing the hilt of the sword back into his hand, but not picking it up entirely. He took a few steps towards the pair.

     “I’ve just never met anyone like you before!” Tubbo exclaimed, obviously not catching the hint that the Enderian boy wanted to be left alone.

     “Tubbo,” Tommy said softly, now standing next to the other two boys. ‘Let’s get going. We’ve obviously bothered him,” Tommy shot a look to Ranboo, “enough.”

     “Fine…” Tubbo’s demeanor wilted his arms dropping down by his sides. “Bye Ranbob, I hope we can hang out again sometime soon! It was nice to meet you!” He waved as he started to float away.

     “My name is not Ranbob!” He yelled, stomping his foot.

     Tommy huffed, taking one last look at Ranboo before following Tubbo over the hill to their hideout. In the side of the hill facing the pub(e), there was a small cave that the boys had claimed as their hideout. It wasn’t huge, a little taller than Tommy with places that at times, he had to duck to walk. They had worked hard to ensure that the cave was safe and well supported before decorating it with banners and trinkets, both of which Tommy thought made the tiny cave “super poggers”. They had made paper lanterns to hang from the ceiling, some of them scribed with the adventures that they had gone on, like hieroglyphs on the walls of an ancient tomb. Many a chest full of items sat in the small cave, holding their trophies from adventure and torn clothes that they couldn’t possibly take to their parents.

     “What was up with that guy?” Tubbo asked, flying ahead of Tommy into the cave.

     “Dunno. But I think we should stay away from him.” Tommy swung his sword at some of the grass that had started to grow tall in front of their entrance.

     “Oh come on Tommy, he doesn’t seem that bad!” Tubbo started going through the chests, throwing stuff out from over his shoulder.

     “He seems…” He picked up a large chest and set it on top of another one. “Like a mega dick.”

     “Tommy!” Tubbo scolded, continuing to toss items over his shoulder. 

     Tommy came over to where Tubbo was rifling through chests. “What’re you looking for anyways?”

     “Charlie said if I didn’t bring home that sweater I borrowed from him that I would be grounded this weekend.”

     “When did you even borrow a sweater from him?”

     “A couple of weeks ago, the orange and white one? With the stripes?” Tubbo had turned to face Tommy, drawing lines across his chest to demonstrate where the stripes would have been. Tommy nodded, turning to another chest to help his friend search for the fabled sweater. After about fifteen minutes of searching, piles of items next to basically every chest that was in the room, the boys collapsed into the grass couch they had made.

      “This is stupid! I don’t even know why Charlie wants it back to bad, something about having an “important dinner” with someone.” He huffed, moving his fingers in an air-quote manner. 

      “Oh, Phil said the same thing… Well,” Tommy held his arms behind his head, “Probably some council meeting or something.”

     “I still can’t believe that Charlie ended up on the council.” Tubbo remarked, flying across the room to play with his old slingshot.

     “Not surprising, I think. He’s been a higher power for a while...wouldn’t surprise me if Scott ended up on there in a few months, if he sticks around.”

     “Not Scott!” Tubbo whipped around. “He’s such a sweet heart! Charlie and Phil will ruin him!” He cried, kicking the wall and doing a flip in the air.

     Tommy shrugged, pushing himself up off of the couch. “Should we go to the plains and see if he’s around before we have to head home?”

     “Sure! Race you over there!”

     The boys kicked off of the ground and flew over to Scott’s plateau, fighting mid-air to try and stop one another from getting to the clearing first. Tubbo touched down first, punching Tommy in the shoulder when he landed a couple of seconds after he had.

     “Bitch!” Tommy rubbed his shoulder.

     Scott was at the back of his house, watering his garden when he heard the commotion. Opened his creaky white gate and walked up to the boys, holding his watering can.

     “Tommy! Tubbo! How nice to see you guys! I wasn’t expecting you two today.”

     “Scott, tell Tubbo that he is a bitch for me, please.”

      “Tommy! No cursing on my property, I already told you.” He set his watering can down next to his feet and pinched in between his eyes.

      Tommy scoffed and threw his hands into the air, kicking a mole mound with his foot. “Ya got invaders, Scott.”

     “I know, they’re trying to uproot my carrots!”

     “Scott, can I have a blueberry?” Tubbo had flown over to where Scott was growing blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries, along one side of his house.

     “Tubbo, how about I go get you a bucket and you can pick some fruit to take back to Charlie? You’ve helped grow these after all, with your bee friends and you flying back and forth bringing all the pollen over.”

      Tubbo couldn’t possibly say no to that. He nodded vigorously and waited patiently for Scott to come back with the bucket, as Tommy started shooting pebbles at the space between the trees in the distance with his slingshot.

      “Ow!” A voice came from the tree line, and the Enderian from earlier stepped out, holding his head. Looking towards the pair, his eyes narrowed. “Very funny,” He barked. “Which one of you did that?”

     Tubbo looked to Tommy, who had already tucked his slingshot away. Tommy shrugged, not going to pay any more mind to the Enderian boy. Tubbo flew up to him instead, floating a few inches away from his face.

“What do you mean?”

     Ranboo took a couple of steps backward, faltering with his words as he did. “Do you know how to give people space, bee boy?” he finally settled on.

     Tubbo’s eyes narrowed a tiny bit, a flash of red darting across his eyes. He kicked off of a tree beside Ranboo and buzzed away. “My bad!”

     Scott came out from the house at that moment, passing the basket to Tubbo, who happily claimed it and started to get to work. Tommy stood next to him and started loading berries into it as well. Scott however, walked up to Ranboo.

     “Well hello there.” He reached a hand out for him to shake, giving him a sideways glance when Ranboo looked at his hand in disgust. “Not one for handshakes, huh? That’s fine, I suppose.”

     “Who are you?” Ranboo asked, keeping his arms crossed, and leaning on one foot.

     “Who am I? Didn’t anyone teach you manners? I guess they don’t have etiquette courses in the higher kingdoms anymore, do they, Prince Ranboo?”

     Ranboo’s eyes narrowed, his eyes glowing a little more than normal. “I will ask again. Who. Are. You.”

     “No one you need to be concerned about. Just know that I am your ally.”

     “Scott!” Tubbo called, bouncing up and down. Scott turned to face them, holding up his hand for them to wait for him, but didn’t start pacing towards them quite yet. 

     “Tommy and I gotta go! It’s gonna be dark soon, and Phil said we had to be back by dark!” Tubbo tucked the basket into the crook of his arm, placing the lid on it securely.

     He turned back to Ranboo and smiled. “Holler if you need anything, Prince,” he said, waving before turning away and heading towards the boys, calling out a quick goodbye to them. The boys waved erratically before taking off, Tubbo kicking off of the side of Scott’s house, and Tommy jumping from the plateau ledge. 

     This would be an interesting new development.

Chapter 2: "Chicken Boy" and Hard Feelings

If it wasn’t for the fact that Phil was on the council, Tommy would never wake up early. He would sleep until the sun sat at the center of the sky, and spend his hours shooting pebbles from his slingshot, playing his pan flute, and hanging out with Tubbo. Yet, here he was, up when the sun was just rising behind the non-descript hills on the horizon, getting dressed in some of his fanciest clothing, all because of Phil’s council meeting. He looked at himself in the mirror. His messy blond hair was piled on his head, his bangs almost resting at eye level if it wasn’t for the fact that he had swept it to the side. He was dressed in tan slacks, a grey button-down, and his dark red cloak, a gold trim, and clasp holding it together.
“Tommy!” Phil called from the base of the stairs. “We need to get going!”
Tommy groaned, throwing his head back before fixing the clasp on the front of his cloak. “Why are you yelling at me and not Wilbur?” He hollered back.
“Because Wil is already down here and ready!”
He sighed, tying his brown boots quickly before grabbing his satchel. He patted Hetta before placing her into the center pouch. “Make sure not to make any noise this time, we don’t want Phil to know.” he winked at the chicken and placed a finger to his lips. Hetta, despite not speaking the language of the young boy, seemed to get the message. Perhaps Tommy’s idea would have worked too if it wasn’t for the fact that Phil knew exactly what he would try. So he strutted down the stairs confidently, puffing his cloak out for Phil to see, who looked at him with a smile, before looking down at his satchel.
“Leave her here, Tommy.” He hummed disapprovingly. He took one more sip of his coffee before setting his mug down and grabbing his glasses and his own satchel.
“Wha- But Phil!”
“No but’s, put her in your room or she goes out in the shed. Your choice.”
“I can’t put her in the shed! She doesn’t belong in there!” He stamped his foot, waving his arm in the general direction of the shed.
“Then put her in your room. Now hurry up, we’re seriously gonna be late.”
Tommy reluctantly walked back up the stairs and set her down, patting her a few times before setting out a handful of seed. They started walking to the pub(e), the meeting place of all council meetings. A good way into their travels, they ran across Charlie and Tubbo, who were both dressed equally as nice, despite the fabled sweater not being found. Tubbo was wearing a green sweater, a pair of blue jeans, and had on a yellow cloak, the trim a light pink, and the clasp being a tiny red rose. Charlie must have made it for him. Speaking of Charlie, he was dressed in a pair of black slacks, a white button-down and green suspenders, which Tommy found to be extra cool. He had always wanted a pair of suspenders. They continued on their way, the boys chatting and bickering about what they would do in the upcoming week, Tubbo eventually shoving Tommy as a playful jest, launching him into Wilbur’s side.
“Tommy!” He exclaimed, rubbing his arm. “Watch where you’re going.”
“Sorry,” Tommy mocked, “didn’t know you had your panties in a twist.”
“Shut up, chicken boy.”
“Oh really? That’s the best comeback you’ve got? Chicken boy? Try me Wilby-”
“I said shut up!” Wilbur barked, causing everyone to stop in their tracks, and the two older men to turn around suddenly.
“Tommy.” Phil scolded, “Leave him alone. He’s not feeling well today.”
His eyes dropped to the ground and he kicked at the dirt. “Sorry, Dad.” he said softly.
“It’s okay. You owe an apology to Wil.” The man replied, turning back the way he was originally facing and continuing on.
“Sorry Wil.”
He didn’t answer, eyes glued to the ground and his fingers picking at the fluff on his sweater. Although he wasn’t in his phantom state, the already pale boy seemed paler than normal. Perhaps he really wasn’t feeling well.
Upon arriving, Phil and Charlie departed to the council room, leaving the boys in the ground floor of the pub(e). The three boys sat at the bar, Wilbur seemingly very distracted while the boys played dice.
“No fair, Tubbo! I saw you cheat!” Tommy shouted, pointing at his dice set.
“Cheat?” He exclaimed. “How do you cheat at dice?”
“I watched you flip that one!” He pointed towards a six-sided die on the table, the number two facing up.
“I did not!” Tubbo crossed his arms and started to pout.
“Fine. We’ll reroll then.” Tommy settled back down into his seat and picked up his dice.
The two continued to play, dice clattering against the table every few seconds. They spoke to each other in hushed voices as to not disrupt the men upstairs.
“You okay, bossman?” Tubbo asked Wilbur, whose eyes were darting around the room.
Instead of replying, Wil suddenly dropped to the ground, holding his ears and screaming a blood-curdling scream.
“What the fuck-” Tommy started to say, shoving himself up out of his seat and crouching next to Wilbur, placing a hand on his back. “Wilbur, what’s wrong?”
Not even a second later, the large wooden doors from upstairs swung open, Phil running down the stairs. If it hadn't been for the low ceilings, Phil would have taken off over the balcony, but he decided against it. The council members gathered in the doorway as Phil picked Wilbur up, holding him against his chest. Wilbur, who was still screaming with hot tears pouring down his face, fought against Phil with all of his strength.
“Why is he screaming?” Tommy asked quietly.
“Charlie, can you please get my satchel from the room, there’s a potion in there that I need!” He called over his shoulder.
Charlie retreated into the room and returned only seconds later with the satchel, hurrying down the stairs.
“What’s wrong with Wilbur, is he okay?” Tommy asked, now standing next to Tubbo, wringing his hands together.
Phil did not answer. Charlie handed him the satchel, and Phil pulled out a small flask of a glittering purple potion. Pulling the cork off, he did his best to hold Wilbur still, forcing him to consume the contents of it. Wilbur almost immediately went limp, still holding his ears and tears still rolling down his pale cheeks.
“Why won’t anyone tell me if he’s okay?” Tommy yelled, to which Phil shot him a look. Tubbo placed a hand on his shoulder gently, pulling him back a little bit.
Wilbur’s figure started to gently falter, and a panicked look fell across Phil’s face. “No, no, no, no, no, Wilbur, not now, you’ve gotta stay here.”
Tommy didn’t know if Phil had the willpower to keep Wilbur from dissolving into the phantom state, but Wil’s figure solidified again upon Phil’s pleas. The higher council members began to urge Phil to return home with the two boys, stating that they would continue the meeting in a week’s time. Phil apologized profusely to them before picking himself, Wilbur, and his satchel up off of the floor and holding a hand out to Tommy.
“Come on Tommy, let’s go home.”
The walk home was quiet, Phil struggling to keep Wilbur from slipping into the phantom state. Tommy kicked at the dirt as he walked, slowly pacing behind his dad and brother.
“Should I stay at the hideout tonight? I wouldn’t want to be too loud or anything.”
“Absolutely not, you are perfectly fine. Don’t change yourself for his needs at the current moment. He’ll be okay.”
When they arrived back at their house, Phil got Wilbur situated in his room, and then returned to the kitchen, pouring himself yet another cup of coffee. Tommy had been fidgeting with a set of flasks that were lined up on the table. “Do you want something to drink?” Phil asked, getting down Tommy’s favorite glass with tiny sheep on it from the cupboard.
“Sure, can I have some orange juice?”
Phil poured him a glass and they stood together in comfortable silence, sipping on their drinks.
“Is Wilbur okay?” Tommy asked, setting his cup on the counter.
“He will be.” Phil said, tucking his free hand under the elbow of his other arm. “Since he… became a phantom, sometimes he… he sees things, Tommy. Hears things. They are painful to look at, and even more painful to hear. He just needs some rest.”
Tommy nodded, eyebrows furrowed and a frown on his face. He didn’t realize that Wilbur was experiencing something that bad… he suddenly felt a hundred times worse for earlier that morning. He finished his orange juice and set his cup in the sink.
“He’s never done that before though.”
“He has, you just haven’t been around for it. I could tell it was going to be a bad day but I figured we would be okay until we got back home.”
Tommy was quiet, a frown softly forming on his face, eyebrows furrowing. There wasn’t much he could say, so he decided to move on.
“Would it be okay if I went to go harvest some wheat from the fields? And take Hetta and the others on a walk?”
“Sure, that would be fine. We’re getting low anyway.”
Tommy got ready to go, grabbing his satchel and tucking Hetta into his pocket. “Alright, I’ll be on my way then!” He said, opening the front door.
“Okay be safe!” Phil called, waving at him. “Oh, and Tommy?”
“Yeah?”
“I appreciate all your help recently. I love you.”
Tommy couldn’t help but smile. It was a rare occasion when Phil said that he loved either boy, and despite the amount of stress he knew Phil was under, he really was trying.
“I love you too!” He said, closing the door behind him.
Tommy was running down the path to the wheat fields, laughing loudly as the chickens tried to keep up with him. They waddled behind him, following him like lost ducklings. Tommy threw a handful of seed over his shoulder every once and a while. In the distance, a figure stood, looking out over the horizon.
“I wonder if that’s Jack!” He kicked up off of the ground and started flying down the path, leaving the chickens to chase after him in the general direction. They would be fine for a moment. It was in fact, not Jack. Instead, it was the tall Enderian boy from a few days prior.
“Oh.” Tommy said, landing back down on the ground, frowning.
“Ah…” Ranboo glanced him up and down, placing his hands on his hips. “Chicken boy.”
“My name is Tommy.” He glared at him, his frown only deepening.
“Right. Well, it doesn’t matter to me anyway.”
“What the fuck is your problem dude?” Tommy yelled, throwing his arms in the air. “You can’t just talk to people like that!”
“You people show me no respect!” Ranboo yelled back, pointing a finger at Tommy, his eyes glowing brightly. “Do you know who I am?”
“Why should it matter? You don’t treat us with respect!”
“I am Prince! You…” he paused in thought, “peons should treat me the way I deserve!”
“Peon-! Okay, you know what, I’m done talking to you. Goodbye.” Tommy shoved past him and made sure his chickens, who had all caught up at that point, were all accounted for.
Suddenly, with a dusting of purple, Ranboo appeared in front of him.
“Leave me alone! I don’t want to talk to you!”
“I demand that you speak to me, chicken boy!”
“No!”
Ranboo picked up one of the chickens. “Fine. I will just take this… animal with me to talk with instead.” He replied, turning his nose up at Tommy indignantly.
“Put her down. Right now.” Tommy’s voice had dropped several octaves as he stared at Ranboo with narrowed eyes.
“I don’t think that I will.”
Tommy quickly pulled his pocket knife from the pocket of his cargo shorts and unlatched it, pointing it straight at Ranboo. “I said. Put. Her. Down.” He said slowly, holding the knife a short distance from Ranboo’s nose.
Flustered, Ranboo started to stutter, setting the chicken back on the ground. “O-Okay, fine!” He quickly darted over the hill, only leaving a few ender particles behind.
Picking up the chicken that Ranboo had held hostage, patting its head. “What’s up with everyone calling me chicken boy today…?”
After a good solid minute recollecting himself, and his chickens, he returned on his way to the wheat fields. When he arrived, he quickly got to work, pulling a scythe from the wall in the shed that Phil had built. He swung wide, cutting down significant amounts of wheat in no time at all. Perhaps he should ask Phil if he could start a more serious garden? He was fast at the manual labor it took, and he always enjoyed it. He started picking up handfuls of it, tying it off into bunches with some red string he had in his pocket.
“Oh, Tommy!”
Tommy looked up to see a pink-haired girl standing on the other side of the fence from him, holding a bouquet of flowers in her arms. It was Niki. She had her hair done in two space buns and was wearing a black wetsuit-like top with three pink hearts in the center of it, a green and blue skirt, and a pair of sandals.
“Oh, hello Niki!” Tommy greeted her, waving. “How have you been?” he asked, walking her way.
“I’ve been alright, thank you! And how have you been?” She leaned against the fence, hanging her free arm over it.
“Today has been a pretty bad day, I’m not going to lie to you…” he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “But I am doing okay!”
“Aw, I’m sorry to hear that!” She cooed, taking a blue cornflower from her bouquet and holding it out to him. “Here’s to hoping your day gets better!”
“Thank you, Niki, that is very nice of you.” He tucked the flower behind his ear. “What are you up to today?”
“Oh, I just went out with Jack and Fundy. We visited Scott for a while, and then he brought out this lovely bouquet. Wasn’t that sweet of him?”
“That was. It is very pretty.” Tommy remarked, looking back at his chickens, who were pecking at the ground, stealing lost grain from his earlier work.
“Thank you! Well, I hate to cut our time short, but I really do need to be getting back home, I can feel my skin starting to dry out… I’ll see you later, Tommy!”
“I’ll see you later Niki.” he smiled, giving her a fist bump. “Thanks again for the flower!”
“Of course!”
And with that, Niki went on her merry way down the path, humming to herself as she returned home. Tommy on the other hand, returned to his task at hand: tying the rest of his bundles up.
By the time that he was done, the sun had started to set. He wiped his forehead, knocking off many beads of sweat in the process. He packed all of the bundles of wheat into his satchel, apologizing to Hetta as she had to walk back to the house.
“Well guys, it’s time to go! Thanks for keeping me company.” he said, patting each chicken on the head softly. They happily chirped in response, as he swung his satchel over his shoulder. Closing the gate behind him, he headed out down the path.
He was almost to the pub(e) when Tubbo buzzed over. His eyes were glowing red. Bright red.
“Hey bud,” Tommy greeted him. “What’s got you all worked up?”
“Charlie! He is being such a dick!” He settled to the ground, crossing his arms in frustration.
“What happened now?”
“Well, he grounded me because I lost that sweater and I asked him when I could be ungrounded because I wanted to visit Scott’s today and he said that when I “cleared my attitude up” I could! Like where does he get off?” He stomped his foot, arms crossed.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have lost his sweater.”
Tubbo looked up at him, caught off guard. “You can’t be serious!” he stuttered.
“I’m just saying, maybe if you had looked a little harder, you wouldn’t be in so much trouble.”
Tubbo’s eyes narrowed, his cheeks flushed, and he gripped his fists. Staring at Tommy, he gruffly said “I’ll see you later, Tommy.” before kicking off the ground and buzzing away.
“I wasn’t trying to upset you!” Tommy called after him, but it was far too late. Sighing, he continued on his way. Arriving back at home, he returned the chickens to the shed, all except for Hetta of course.
“Welcome back home, Tommy.” Phil greeted. He was sat at the table reading a book, the lamp in the corner by the fridge turned on, illuminating the room. “How did the harvesting go?” he asked, picking up his cup and taking a drink, looking at Tommy from above his glasses.
“It went okay, I ran into a few people.” he replied, unloading his wheat bundles onto the table.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I ran into an asshole on my way to the field, Niki when I got there, and then Tubbo on my way back. I accidentally made Tubbo mad though.”
“An asshole?” Phil questioned, not glancing up from his book.
“Yeah, this dick named “Ranbow” or “Ranbob” or something. He’s a real asshole.”
Phil raised an eyebrow in question. “The Enderian boy?”
“Yeah! He’s got no manners, he’s rude, he keeps calling me chicken boy, he called me a peon-” Tommy counted on his fingers.
Phil almost spit out his drink. “He called you a what?”
“A chicken boy!”
“No, not that one, that one’s normal. The other one.”
“Oh. A peon. He called me a peon.” Tommy replied flatly.
“A peon?” Phil asked yet again, taking another sip of his drink and flipping the page of his book.
Tommy hummed a reply as he placed the bundles into the kitchen cabinet above the furnace.
“I knew that he was going to be a bit rude, but I didn’t realize to what extent… I’m sorry he called you a peon though, Tommy.”
“S’fine.” He continued placing bundles into the cupboard.
“I’ll see about getting him a book on manners. It might do him some good. In the meantime, just try to put up with him okay? He’s gonna be around for a while I think.”
“But Phil!” Tommy protested, turning around suddenly.
“He’s going to need friends while he’s here, you and Tubbo are closer to his age anyway.”
“I don’t wanna.” He huffed, slamming the cupboard door shut.
“Tommy…” Phil warned, shooting him a glance from above his glasses frame yet again.
“Fine…” He picked up a piece of fruit from the counter, frowning at it. “I think I’m going to go to bed early tonight.”
“Okay. Sleep well.” Phil said, giving him a soft smile and a knowing look.
Today was not Tommy’s day. He got into his pajamas and climbed into bed, Hetta settling down next to him, clucking softly.
Perhaps tomorrow would be better.

Notes:

Thank you for reading the second chapter of "You Can't Spell Stupid Without U and I"! It was beta read by the ever wonderful @Rando_Spec!
As always, feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments :>
-Blue

Chapter 3: Red Mushrooms and Ant Hills

     Dew gently rested along the blades of grass in the ground as the sun rose, the trees rustling with brisk wind running through their leaves. Clouds rolled above in the sky, rumbling occasionally as if they had an upset stomach. It was bound to rain. Of course it was. The day that Tubbo had finally been ungrounded, it was going to rain. He rolled around on the floor of his room, trying to come up with ideas for his upcoming day.

     “Tubbo!” Charlie called from across the house. “Do you want breakfast?”

     “Sure! Be down in a minute, bossman!” He replied, pushing himself up off the ground. Perhaps he should get dressed first.

     He settled on a pair of black pants lined with a dozen pockets, a yellow long sleeve shirt with a black button-down short-sleeve shirt, a pair of brown thick-soled boots with green laces, and a black short cloak with green trim on it. The clasp, as Tubbo threw it over his shoulders and connected it, was a gold leaf. Looking at himself proudly in the mirror, he swung his door open and ran into the kitchen.

     “Good morning, Bee.” Charlie greeted, standing at the furnace, cooking what Tubbo assumed was oatmeal by the scent.

     “Good morning, Commander in Queen.”

     “I told you to stop calling me that.” Charlie said flatly, a serious expression on his face.

     Tubbo ignored him, pulling out a chair from the table and sitting down in it, the feet scraping along the hardwood flooring of the kitchen. Tubbo and Charlie’s house wasn’t particularly large, in fact, it was much smaller than most of the surrounding houses. It was one story tall, had three bedrooms and one bathroom, and a decent-sized kitchen and living room area. The extra bedroom was currently vacant, as Sneeg had moved out a few weeks prior to live in a tree. His stay was temporary from the beginning, but Tubbo couldn’t help but miss the chaos that the tiny man had brought along with his presence.

     Setting a bowl of steaming oatmeal on the table in front of Tubbo and handing him a spoon he asked, “Do you have any fun plans for today?”

     “Not particularly.” Tubbo answered, shoveling spoonfuls of brown sugar into his bowl.

     “Ay!” Charlie exclaimed, taking the container away from him quickly. “That’s enough, you’re gonna make yourself sick.”

     Tubbo’s expression dropped, almost glaring at Charlie. He settled regardless, mixing his oatmeal up and chewing it quietly.

     “Are you going to visit Tommy today? If so, I have something I would like to ask you to take to Phil.”

     “Not sure.” He replied, still filling his mouth with oatmeal as though he hadn’t eaten in a month.

     “Bee!” Charlie took the bowl from him. “Slow down, you’re going to choke.”

     Tubbo looked at him, eyes a tint of red, frowning. “Let me eat, bossman. I’m not a baby.”

     Charlie handed him his bowl back, returning to eating his own oatmeal.

     “What d’ya need me to take anyways?”

     “Nothing extremely important,” Charlie took a bite of his oatmeal, “just a couple of ingredients for potions I requested from him.

     Tubbo hummed a reply, taking a final bite from his food. “I think I will go visit Tommy, and then I’ll visit Scott.” He decided aloud, pushing the chair back and setting his bowl in the sink.

     “Oh, alright. The ingredients are on the table by the door, if you wouldn’t mind taking them to Phil. Tell Scott I say hello.”

     He picked up his backpack from the ground and put the ingredients from the table into his bag. “Will do, Commander in Queen.”

     “Tubbo!” Charlie exclaimed, as he shut the door behind him.

      Tubbo kicked off the ground and started flying towards Tommy’s, watching the scenery pass by him in vibrant colors. He quickly arrived at the Elytrian’s household, landing on the doorstep. He knocked in his typical thump thump thump thump-thump thump pattern, waiting patiently to get a reply. He waited for a minute, but there was no reply. So he tried knocking again.

      Thump thump thump thump-thump thump.

      Still, no response came. So Tubbo decided to leave the ingredients by the door in their mailbox, and head to Scott’s. He wasn't sure where they could have been… perhaps they went to the market? It wasn't the right time of the month for that though… he contemplated his friend's location as he flew down the path.

      Despite the weather threatening to rain on his parade, Tubbo was in a great mood. He buzzed circles in the sky, his goggles shimmering in the rays of sun that were making it through the clouds. The air was brisk and smelled softly of cinnamon. He stopped along the way to say hi to Niki and Fundy, who were sitting at the river chatting, before continuing on his way to Scott’s. He had made it there faster than he intended to, his feet gently tapping down on the doormat woven of thick vine. Before he knocked, he could hear the voices of Scott and another person, seemingly in a bit of an argument. Why was everyone busy today? He just wanted something to do. Tubbo was about to kick off the ground when the door opened.

      "Tubbo! How good to see you. And to what do I owe this pleasure?" Scott held the door with one hand, the other placed on his hip. He smiled, but it seemed forced, with a lack of brightness around it.

      "Oh, I just wanted to come say hi. Tommy's not around today so I figured…" Tubbo trailed off, looking in the distance. There was something on the hill. He started to squint, but his attention was pulled back by Scott beginning to speak.

      "Oh yes, I think Phil said something about going to see Techno… well, I'm glad you came to visit. Ranboo also felt like visiting me today, apparently I'm popular!" He chuckled. "Maybe we should go and do something, I do need to go collect up some supplies, and I could use the extra help if you're up for it."

       Ranboo angrily piped up from behind Scott. “I never agreed to help you-”

     Scott turned on his heel, shooting Ranboo a look, immediately shutting him up. “You’re going to help us. You don’t have a say.” His voice was low, and Tubbo had never seen him act like this before, caught off guard by his hostile attitude. 

     His eyes glowed a soft pink, which Tubbo had only seen happen once.

     Ranboo seemed to glow in purple, glaring at Scott with a rage in his eyes.

      “Maybe I should go…” Tubbo said, turning from the door, pointing at the pub(e) in the distance. 

      “No!” Scott whipped towards Tubbo, holding his hands out. “Sorry, Ranboo is just… not feeling good today. Plus, I could use getting out of the house, and Ranboo I’m sure would love to make a friend, he’s been pretty lonely since his arrival.”

      Ranboo attempted to make a protest to Scott’s analysis, but settled for crossing his arms across his chest with his eyebrows furrowed deeply.

     They agreed to leave, while Scott asked Tubbo to carry a backpack on his back and held a wicker basket in the crook of his elbow. They made their way through the dense forest, not much chatter happening between the trio. The clouds rumbled above them, and Scott inhaled deeply. “Storm’s on its way. Better hurry.”

     They finally made their way over to the clearing that Scott wanted to gather materials from, asking Tubbo to retrieve apples, and asking Ranboo to pick some red and brown mushrooms. He departed to somewhere deeper in the forest, telling the boys to not come after him and to just yell if they needed something. Tubbo didn’t think anything of it, as that was pretty normal for Scott, but Ranboo watched with narrowed, glowing eyes as he left.

     “So where are you from anyway?” Tubbo asked Ranboo, flying high to the top of a tree to get the apples at the top.

     “The End.” He huffed.

     “Never heard of it.” Tubbo started loading apples into his basket. He continued talking as he plucked them. “Well, except for in Wil’s antiquarian books. He likes to collect things, ya know? Keep a history. He’s got a little antiquarian shop, you should go some time. You’ll learn a lot.”

     “I don’t need to learn anything, I know more than the rest of you peasants.”

     “Well, you obviously don’t know manners.” Tubbo remarked, landing back on the ground, a group of red-spotted mushrooms catching his attention as he examined them closely. Ranboo flushed and turned away from Tubbo. How dare he insult him like that?

     “Where’s your family?” Tubbo asked, after a moment of silence. 

     “In the End.” Ranboo huffed.

     “Oh, they didn’t come with you?”

     “No, Father is busy. He sent me to come take- take care of business.”

     “Oh, neat.” Tubbo’s eyebrows furrowed as he turned away from the group of mushrooms and turned his attention to a trail of ants that were marching across the ground into a hole by the apple tree. “So kind of like a job? I get jobs from Charlie and Sneeg sometimes. Tommy and I like to go and collect things for them. Sometimes we do it for Phil too, but that doesn’t really count as a job because Phil never pays us…” he poked one of the ants, causing them to scurry out of the unison that they had. 

     “Sure, I guess you could call it that.” Ranboo picked up a mushroom. “Gross.” He huffed yet again, and put it in his basket. 

     “Oh, do you not like mushrooms? Scott makes a really good mushroom stew.”

     “They appear unappetizing.” He grimaced as he picked up another one, holding it with only the tips of his fingers.

     “Have you ever had one?”

     “No. And I don’t plan on it.”

     “Suit yourself I guess, you’re missing out.” Tubbo flew back and forth, darting between the trees in an attempt to ward off his boredom.

     “Boys! Hurry up now, the rain is going to start soon!” Scott called, making his way back to the boys.

      Ranboo immediately sped up and threw the hood of his cloak over his head, clasping it in front of him. 

     “Oh, don’t worry, our rain is safe here. It’s not like in some of the other cities.”

     “No rain is safe for me,” Ranboo replied, narrowing his eyes slightly. 

     “Oh right, cos you’re Enderian, right? Don’t you guys like- melt in the rain or something?”

     “We don’t melt! Ender, don’t you know anything?” Ranboo snapped.

      Tubbo looked taken aback by his sudden outburst, and kicked back up off the ground and held his hands in front of him as an apology. “Sorry, bossman.”

     Scott met up with them and they returned to his home, Scott handing both of the boys several emerald fragments each, thanking them for their help. Now, they were walking up the path to the pub(e) in an uncomfortable silence. The rain was pouring down, pelting at their cloaks as Ranboo huddled under the hood of his the best that he could.

     “Do you want to hang out?” Tubbo asked after a while. “I could take you to my hideout.”

     “Hideout?”

     “Yeah, it’s like a secret base that Tommy and I built. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if we hung out in there without him.”

     “What’s the purpose of such a place?”

     “You just hang out! Talk and stuff, I suppose.”

     Ranboo paused and thought for a moment. “I guess I could spare a couple of hours.”

     “Cool! Well, I’ll lead the way then bossman! Let’s get out of the rain.”

     When they arrived at the hideout, Tubbo grimaced. “Sorry! I forgot what a mess it was in here… let me clean up!”

     He started tossing items one by one into the boxes and bins that were in the corners of the rooms, stopping to turn on the lanterns that were in each one. As he went to turn on the last one, he squinted. Was that… Charlie’s sweater! He ripped it from behind a bookshelf, holding it up into the air like he had dedicated a child to the sky.

     “Finally!” He exclaimed. “I knew it was in here!”

     Suddenly, he heard a hiss. Ranboo was wincing in pain, holding his shoulder.

     “You okay, bossman?” Tubbo flew over to him in worry.

     “I told you, the rain burns me. It soaked through my cloak.”

     Tubbo immediately took off Ranboo’s cloak, causing a loud protest from the Enderian boy. He threw it over one of the lanterns, significantly darkening the hideout, but surely warming the cloak. He threw Charlie’s sweater at him.

     “Here, I’ll turn around, you can wear that for now.”

     Ranboo inspected the sweater with a scrunched nose. It was gaudy, with large orange and white stripes making it up. He felt the familiar and painful burn of the moisture from the sky touch his skin, and started unbuttoning his shirt.

     Once Ranboo had changed, Tubbo pulled out two bottles of juice him and Tommy had hid away. They had stolen them from Phil, and had been saving them for a rainy day, but surely Tommy wouldn’t mind if he shared them with their new friend, right? He passed one to Ranboo, and started asking him a million questions, as per typical Tubbo conversation.

     “How old are you?”

     “Seventeen.”

     “Oh me too! What’s your favorite color?”

     “I don’t have one.”

     “Lame!” Tubbo exclaimed, throwing his head back. “What’s it like in The End?”

     “Better than here.” Ranboo huffed.

     “You’re kind of a party pooper, you know that?” Tubbo narrowed his eyes at Ranboo and frowned.

     Ranboo looked at him startled. “What?”

     “A party pooper. A real downer. Someone who doesn’t like to have fun. That’s you.”

     “I-” He sat up straight. “I like to have fun!”

     “Oh really? Then show me.”

     “I will! Just… just not now.”

     Tubbo smirked, and then continued with his line of questioning. By the time that he was done, Ranboo was exhausted, leaning back against the grass couch.

     “What about you then?” He asked, folding his arms across his chest. The sun was starting to go down, and it was starting to get cold in the small cave hideout.

     “Me?”

     “Yes. You’ve asked me all these questions but you haven’t told me about yourself.”

     “Oh! Well, I’m Tubbo, I’m seventeen, my favorite color is green, my best friend is Tommy; we’ve known each other since we were in diapers; I live with Charlie, my commander in queen, I like to play in the flower fields behind Scott’s house, and go on jobs with Tommy… I think that’s about everything!”

     Ranboo hummed in response.

     “It’s getting cold…” Tubbo remarked, getting off of the couch and patting down Ranboo’s cloak. “It’s mostly dry if you want to wear it again, but it looks like the weather has cleared up a little… I’ve got to go home soon, but I can walk you back first!”

     “That’s okay I can just-”

     “No! I’m walking you home, it’s final, no if’s, and’s or but’s.”

     Ranboo could have just teleported away, leaving Tubbo confused and to walk himself home, but he decided that it couldn’t hurt to have someone know where he lived. After all, the boy standing in front of him seemed harmless enough.

     “Alright then.” He put on his cloak. “I’ll lead the way then.”

     They walked to Ranboo’s home, which wasn’t too far away from their hideout, ironically. Tubbo dropped him off, leaving him with a “see you later”, “let’s hang out again soon!”, and a warm feeling in his chest.

     Maybe Scott was right after all. Maybe he did need a friend.

---

     “You’re home late,” Charlie remarked as Tubbo came in the door. “Have a good day with Tommy?”

     “Tommy is visiting Techno, I left their potion stuff in their mailbox.” Tubbo leaned against the doorframe of the front door, taking his boots off.

     “Oh, okay.” Charlie replied, returning to his book. He went to turn the page and then stopped. Looking up at Tubbo his eyes narrowed in confusion. “If Tommy isn’t here, where were you all day?”

     “I made a new friend.”

     “A new friend?”

     “Yeah, his name is Ranboo.” He took off his goggles and hung them on the coat rack. “I found your sweater too.”

     “Oh good! I can wear it to the next meeting then… is it in your satchel?” Charlie asked, getting up from his chair.

     “No, Ranboo has it.”

     “Ranboo has it?”

     “Yeah his clothes got too wet from the rain, he needed something to wear. I’ll get it back from him later. I think we’re probably gonna hang out tomorrow.”

     “Oh…” was all that Charlie said, returning to his chair. “Well, I’m glad that you had a good day, Bee.”

     “Me too. I’m gonna go upstairs and wash up before dinner.”

     Charlie hummed a reply, not looking up from his book.

Notes:

Thank you for reading the third chapter of "You Can't Spell Stupid Without U and I"! It was beta read by the ever wonderful @Rando_Spec!
As always, feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments :>
-Blue

Chapter 4: Strawberry Candy and Fallen Photos

“Woah, woah, woah, there buddy! I didn’t mean any harm!” Tommy exclaimed, hands held out in front of him in dismissal. In typical Tommy fashion, his hair was ruffled, and his eyes were gleaming with their usual brightness, despite the imminent danger he was in. His back was pressed against a grimy wall, and the front of his tunic was balled up into the fist of his assailant. The much larger man growled, his eyes glowing a fiery orange.

He really hadn’t meant to upset the older man, he was just trying to look at the scrying orbs and accidentally dropped it. They were attractive- the orbs. They glowed with an unusual brightness and were blasted with color. Perhaps it was a trait he had gained from Phil, the need to look at shiny objects, or perhaps it was just the fact that he was still young, attracted to colorful objects nonetheless.

“Unhand the boy.” A deeper voice, much deeper than Tommy's, spoke loudly.

Tommy whipped his head to the left to see Techno standing in the alleyway entrance, hand the hilt of his sword. “Techno!” Tommy exclaimed, as the man holding him hostage grumbled and let go of his shirt, saying something in Netherian, to which Techno dropped a pouch of coins into his hand and waved him off in dismissal.

“I leave you for two seconds…” Techno started as they entered back into the marketplace. He kept his hand on his hilt, Tommy walking next to him at a quicker pace, unable to keep up with Techno's large strides.

“It took you long enough! That guy was going to pummel me! What would dad have said if I had gotten pummeled to a pulp huh?” You-”

“You know for a “big man” like yourself you think you would have been able to handle it by yourself.” Techno chuckled, waving to a vendor as he made his way down the path, Tommy now trailing behind him.

They stopped in front of a vendor selling fresh produce, Techno picking through it and asking questions about the growth process and when they were harvested. This, however, didn’t stop Tommy from rambling on the entire time.

“I am a big man! You want to fight Techno? We can go, we’ll spar when we get home! You think you’re all that, with your big words and huge books, all because you live in a big city… well I’ll show you!”

“Thanks. Have a good rest of your day.” Techno said, collecting the bag of produce from the man in front of him.

“Techno!” Tommy whined loudly. “Are you even listening to me? You aren’t even paying attention to me!”

“Shush,” Techno said, passing Tommy a red and green candy wrapped in a silver wrapper.

“Aw sweet! Thanks Tech!” Tommy quickly unwrapped it and put it in his mouth, enjoying the sweetness of the candy.

Techno sighed, glad that the candy had shut his younger brother up for more than a few seconds. Since moving to the city to forward his studies, he had spent most of his time in peace and quiet, the occasional crow or the bark of his dog Apollo being the only thing that truly interrupted his peace. Having his younger, much more annoying, and certainly much louder brother around was not in his plans for the week, but he also wasn’t expecting for his dad to show up on his doorstep, asking to stay for the week. He had understood, of course, there were just things in his city they couldn’t get in Origin, so of course, aiding Wilbur’s health was the most important. It wasn’t uncommon for Wil to experience the voices, and it certainly wasn’t uncommon for his health to start to decline during a bad attack, but this was the first time Techno had seen it get this bad. Bad was an understatement, even. Although his status had stabilized for the most part, Techno still had a sinking feeling in his gut.

“Tommy?” Techno asked, slowing his pace ever so slightly to allow the younger boy to catch up with him.

“Hmm?” Tommy looked up at him, still sucking on his candy.

“Should I come back home?”

“What? Why would you come back home?”

“Well, Phil said this is the worst he’s ever seen Wil, and it’s definitely the worst I’ve ever seen him.” Techno squeezed through a few people in front of the stalls that lined the walkway.

“Nah I think he’ll be okay, plus he said something about Kristin coming home soon.” Tommy walked in long strides now, letting his feet fall to the ground with a thud with each step he took, so he could watch the dust cloud poof up from under his feet.

“Phil said Kristin was going to come down?”

“Yeah, something about things she needed to discuss and being worried about Wil and I. She wrote a letter a few days ago. But you know how she is.”

“Busy.” Techno huffed.

Kristin hadn’t been around much for a good majority of Wil and Techno’s childhood, and especially not Tommy’s. There was a borderline resentment that had built up over the years due to her absence amongst the twins. Tommy on the other hand, barely knew of her presence and was always happy to see or hear from her. He was still a child after all, and he always sought the approval of his parents. It wasn’t necessarily Kristin’s fault, her absence that is. Being a goddess was hard and busy work, and never left much time for play. Phil knew that when he married her, and knew that when they made the decision to have children.

“Well, should we head home?” Tommy asked. “Is there anything else we need?”

“No…” Techno glanced at his list. “I don’t think so. Think we got everything.”

“Cool! Well big man, let’s get moving!”

Techno and Tommy made their way out of the marketplace, most small talk being dissolved by the time that they made their exit. Tommy’s wings fluttered behind him as they walked, the rays from the sun brightening them every time he rustled them. The wind was a pleasant mixture of brisk and warm, and the few clouds that were in the sky were blowing past quickly. If it wasn’t for the circumstances, it would have been a perfect day.

“When are you going to spend some time on learning to fly?” Techno asked, reaching out and fixing a ruffled feather.

“Huh? Oh I don’t know, really. Don’t really see a point.”

“Why not? Didn’t Wilbur spend all that time trying to set up a good area for you to practice?”

“Yeah, but why fly when I can walk! My feet work better than the wings do anyways.”

“I suppose.”

As soon as they came within viewing distance of Techno’s house, he whistled loudly, alerting both the crows and Apollo that he was home.

Tommy yelped, holding his ears in pain. “Ah! What the fuck man?”

“Sorry, I forgot how sensitive your little bird ears are.” Techno chuckled, unlatching the silver-colored gate.

“We’re back!” Tommy announced loudly. Phil was sitting on the porch with Wilbur, who despite his pale complexion, looked better than he had in the last week. He waved to them, his sleeve flopping down to his elbow.

“Did you find everything you needed?” Phil asked, setting his book down and getting up with a groan.

“Yeah, I think we did! Right Tech?” Tommy asked, taking a piece of the candy from earlier out of Techno’s pouch on his hip and throwing it to Wilbur, causing a rise out of Techno. Wilbur laughed and thanked him, unwrapping it and popping it in his mouth.

“Gremlin child.” Techno huffed, pulling the pouch closed again.

“Oh hush, bun-bun.” Tommy rolled his eyes, taking the bags from Techno and walking into the house.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After dinner, Tommy leaned back in his chair and stretched wide, his tunic pulling upwards from the belt around his waist. “Thanks for the food!”

“No problem,” Techno said, collecting the plates from the table.

“Would you mind if I went on a walk for a while, Phil?” Tommy asked, now settled back into his chair like normal. Wilbur was across from him, still shuffling food around on his plate.

“Sure, but be back before dark okay? It’s not safe during the night.”

“Yes sir,” he grinned, shoving his chair backwards.

Wilbur smiled at him and gave him a fist bump before he tightened his bandana around his head and grabbed his tunic from the metal hook near the door.
"Be back soon!" He exclaimed, tying the strings of his tunic together to close it. The evenings weren't terribly cold yet, just enough that the air bit at your skin uncomfortably. Plus, being sick wasn't exactly ideal at the current moment, so his tunic was a safe bet.

Tommy walked down the path from Techno's house, a few houses with lanterns lit up on the outside of their house lighting his way as the sun went down.
He wondered when they would be going home. It had already been three days, and he missed Tubbo and his chickens, Charlie and Sneeg, and although he didn't want to directly admit it, he missed Scott and bothering him every day. Tommy had a pattern, a routine that he wanted to keep, and it has been disrupted. Of course, it wasn't anyone's fault. Wilbur's illness was outside of his control, and Phil really was doing his best to take care of them. He wondered what it would be like when Kristin visited since he hadn't seen her in several months. While it was always nice to see her, she never came without intention. Perhaps it had something to do with Wilbur, or maybe, just maybe, she was worried about him for once? He hoped she was, despite knowing that it wasn't the case. Never her fault, being a goddess was hard and difficult work from what he understood, and most of the others in Origins grew up without mothers, so it was normal right? Of course it was. So why did he have such a hole in his heart that couldn't be filled by the love of his dad or his brothers?

Not to mention that he missed Tubbo, leaving off on not so great terms with him made him anxious to see his best friend again. Plus there was that Enderian boy that seemed only want to cause trouble. What if he manipulated Tubbo into doing something bad? He would never admit it to Tubbo’s face, but the bee boy was extremely gullible and easily manipulated. He had just gotten ungrounded too! Tommy huffed. Upset, he stomped on a rock that flew up and hit him in the face.
“Ow!” He exclaimed, rubbing at the spot the rock had hit.

He kicked at the dirt in frustration and let out a yell as he turned back towards Techno's home. The sun was going down and he knew Phil would be upset at him if he was home after dark. As he walked up to the house, he could see Techno and Phil’s silhouettes on the porch. They stood across from each other, arms crossed, tensely stood in front of the door. Loud voices carried off of the porch, and Tommy couldn’t help but perk his ears up.

“You can’t keep pretending that he’ll be fine in a few days Phil. It’s already past that. You’re not doing him any good by acting like everything’s fine.”

“Techno, don’t speak to me that way. You know as well as I do that until Kristin comes I can’t do anything other than keep his spirits high.” Phil’s voice was significantly softer than Techno’s but still held a cutting edge to it in his typical dad way.

Tommy started to slow his steps, quieting his feet against the dirt and honing in on their conversation. Were they talking about Wilbur?

Techno scoffed loudly. “Right, and Kristin is going to fix everything? For Ender’s sake Phil, she wasn’t around when we were kids, she certainly wasn’t around when Tommy was a kid. Tommy doesn’t deserve to be pulled between all of this right now. Go home Phil. Either leave Wilbur with me, or leave Tommy. He’s just a kid.”
“Techno I’m not leaving either of them with you, especially not Tommy!”

“Why not? You practically left me and Wilbur to raise him anyways, it’s not like you really care.”

Tommy stopped. What? No, Phil had always been there when he was little. Techno must feel like because he had to do a lot of the chores that he had to help raise Tommy, right?

“You don’t mean that.” Phil said lowly, almost low enough that Tommy couldn’t hear him. “We can continue this conversation later, Tommy will be back soon, and he doesn’t need to hear this.”

Too late. Tommy scoffed to himself, and finished walking up the path. Pretending as he hadn’t heard all of their conversation on the porch, he greeted them loudly.

“I’m back!” He proclaimed, swinging the gate open wide and letting it clang with a loud thud against the lock.

“Welcome back, Tommy.” Techno replied, handing him a cup of dark colored water. “I thought you might want some tea from being out in the cold for so long.”
“Thanks Tech!” He took a sip of it and opened the door to the house, where Wil could be seen lounged on the couch reading a book. “I’m going to get ready for bed, I’m pretty tired.”

“Okay, come say goodnight before you do though.” Phil said, walking behind him into the house.

“Will do!”
Tommy wasn’t actually tired, and he certainly had no intentions of going to bed. He was going to wait in the plushy red chair in Techno’s room which was placed by the window and wait for him to come to bed. He wanted to talk to him about the overheard conversation on the porch. Although he didn't want to admit it, it was already bothering him. He picked at the fabric pills on the chair, listening to everyone shuffle around in the house getting ready for bed, saying goodnight to one another and hearing one by one the doors click shut. Soon, the door to Techno's bedroom opened. "Oh." Techno said aloud. "I thought you would have been asleep by now." He shut the door behind him, starting to unbutton his shirt.

"Techno, I need to talk to you." He blurted, eyes widening as he realized his outburst.

Techno turned to look at him, confusion etched across his face. "Okay." He returned to changing into his pajamas.

"Um…" Tommy started, suddenly nervous at the attention that he had brought to himself. "I heard you and Phil on the porch. When I was walking home."

Techno froze, mid pulling his shirt down his torso. "I was worried about that." He finally said, sighing heavily. "What all did you hear?"

"I heard you and Phil arguing on the porch. About Wil's health? And Kristin coming?" Both of these statements came out as a question, afraid of the scolding he was about to receive for eavesdropping on their conversation.

"I figured as much. Is there anything you would like to talk about? I understand that although you shouldn't have heard that conversation, you probably have questions."

“Not necessarily… I’m more worried about Kristin coming.”

This caught Techno off guard, causing him to stop what he was doing and turn toward Tommy, a curious but stern look on his face. Tommy’s eyes dropped to the hem of his shirt, where he was worriedly tugging on the seam of his shirt.

“What do you mean you’re worried about Kristin coming?”

“I just mean that she only comes when there’s something really wrong. Not to be a dick, but she never comes otherwise."

“I know.” Techno replied, sitting on his bed, propping one leg up on the other. “It’ll be alright Tommy.”

“Will it? Wilbur is obviously not doing well, and with Kristin coming I have a sinking feeling in my gut that things are about to go very wrong.”

Techno frowned, but didn’t make a move to respond.

“Am I right then? You guys are always leaving me in the dark! Just because I’m not as old as you guys doesn’t mean that I can’t handle the truth! You always do this.” He huffed, crossing his arms. “None of you actually care, it’s always you guys above me!”

“Don’t say that. You don’t mean it.” He said gruffly, his eyebrows furrowed. “You know I care.” There was a pause. “Tommy… I think it would be best if you stayed with me for a while.”

“What?” Tommy yelled, shooting out of his chair. “I don’t want to!”

“I think it would be for the best right now.”

“No! I want to go home. I miss Tubbo, and I need to take care of my chickens, Hetta is lonely I’m sure!”

“I don’t know that you have that much of a choice.”

“Techno you can’t just keep me here! That’s not how this works! Stop treating me like a child!”

“Then stop acting like one!” Techno snapped, gritting his teeth and balling his fists.

Tommy took a step back, caught off guard by his brother’s outburst, and then looked to the ground. His vision blurred, as he stared hard, letting the silence catch in his throat like a cotton swab.

“I’m sorry.” Techno said, getting up and walking up to Tommy, placing his hands on his shoulders. Blinking away all of his tears, Tommy looked up at him, red-eyed. Shrugging Techno's hand off of his shoulder, he took a step back.

"S'fine." He muttered.

"It isn't. I shouldn't have done that.”

Silence gathered between the two, both of them avoiding eye contact. Techno was the first to break the silence, Tommy following up almost immediately.
“Listen Tommy-”

“I’m sorry-”

Tommy chuckled, and rubbed his elbow sheepishly. “Sorry. Go ahead.”

“I don’t think you have much of a choice in staying. I messed up, and I didn’t mean it, but I messed up, and Phil gave me an ultimatum. Either get off his case about Wilbur, or keep you here with me for a while.”

“What?” Tommy yelled, eyes widening. “You can’t do that!”

“I know, and I’m sorry. I didn’t take your care into consideration… I was just so mad at Phil. They’re leaving to go back to Origin in the morning.”

“You can’t do this, Techno.” Tommy pushed a finger towards Techno’s chest, as he took a step back. “I have friends, I have chickens I need to take care of- this is unfair!”

“Tommy-”

“Shut up! I… I don’t want to talk to you. I’m going… I don’t even know.” He stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

And on another walk he went, watching as one of the birds slowly trailed behind him at a distance.

It was dawn when he arrived again, and upon seeing that the lamp in Techno’s room was still lit in the window sill, his heart ached. This was unfair, not only to him, but to Wilbur, to Techno, and to Phil. As if he had been summoned, Phil stepped out onto the porch, Wilbur floating behind him. Wilbur gave Tommy a pitiful look, before casting his eyes to the ground. Did he feel guilty? No, Tommy thought, he shouldn't. None of this was his fault. Anger started to boil in his chest, as he looked towards Phil.

He placed a hand on Tommy's shoulder, and sighed. "It will only be for a few days okay?"

Tommy couldn't help it. A combination of frustration and pure anger, and the fact that he hadn't slept at all the night before, he shoved Phil's hand off of his shoulder and scoffed. "Sure thing, dad."

Phil called after him, but he had already started his way up the porch and was in the house, slamming the door behind him, before Phil could finish.

Techno was sat in an arm chair, his glasses gently resting on his nose, reading a book. He didn't look up at his younger brother, instead, flipped the page and lifted his chin ever so slightly to the table.

"There's breakfast if you want it on the table. If you don't, I understand. You can take it up to your room, it's the second room on the left upstairs."

Tommy looked at the pastry and fruits that lay on the plate and his stomach grumbled in protest of the thought of denying breakfast.

"Thanks," he grumbled, picking up the plate and departing up the stairs. There was a moment where he faltered, stopping at the top of the stairs, glancing down at his brother, but he continued on.

Tommy opened the door to see that the room Techno had moved him to had been laid out for him, whether that had been by Phil or his brothers, he wasn't sure. His clothes had been hung neatly on a rod in the corner of the room, and there was a note on the dresser.

*Hi Tommy,*
*I'm really sorry about you having to stay with Techno. I am really trying my best to get better. I promise that he's not as bad as he seems, he's just kind of a giant nerd.*
*-Wilbur*
This was completely unfair. Tommy huffed, and set his breakfast on the dresser. He got changed and slowly started eating his breakfast, going through all of his belongings and the items that were in the spare room he would be staying in for the time being. There were mostly books, history books and old fables, some of which Tommy recognized from his childhood. He was flipping through the pages of a dusty history book when a small picture fell out of it.

Furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, he leaned down to pick it up off of the floor. It was a picture of Wilbur, Techno, and himself. Wilbur was on the left, he was in the middle, and Techno was on the right, Wilbur and Techno swinging him forward, grins gracing all of their faces. Frowning, he flipped it over and written in flowing handwriting was the words “a day to remember”.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to stay with Techno after all.

Notes:

Hello! I'm Blue, and this is my first official fanfiction that I've ever published! Please feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments :D
This work was beta read by my lovely roommate, and the ever wonderful @Rando_Spec! It will have multiple chapters, all ranging around a couple thousand words a piece.
I'm working on a playlist for this fanfiction, and if you have any suggestions of songs, please feel free to comment them as well!
I hope you enjoyed it, and I look forward to writing more!
-Blue