Sibling rivalry

Wilbur side

Summary:

wilbur wants his youngest brother back. this blonde, grinning bastard in front of him was certainly not him.
he wanted the tommy he was allowed to baby, not this soldier standing in front of him. Wilbur misses the days when Tommy was just a child— innocent, bright, and so stupidly obedient.
————————————————-
He misses when Tommy idolized his big brothers Wilbur and Techno. When he'd cling to Techno and beg him to swordfight with him. He remembers that Techno would hesitate, because when Tommy was clumsy at nine, Techno was a prodigy at 14. Wilbur would watch their fights, watching Techno not show a single amount of mercy to the child and Tommy would immediately stand up every time he fell and charged at Techno without any sort of strategy. He'd get chastised by the half-piglin, but Tommy would always thrust his wooden sword forward with a resolve to win.

He leans back into his chair and hums. The timbre echoes and bounces off the walls of Pogtopia whilst he lets the memories of the past wash over him.

Tommy would barge into Wilbur's room and demand that he teaches him how to play the guitar, much to his annoyance. Even when Tommy would bruise his little fingers and split them open, he didn't stop strumming away at the guitar. But it sounded so awful and so offkey that Wilbur had to take the guitar away from him, telling him that he might as well be content singing along with him (though Tommy's voice was scratchy wool while Wilbur's was smooth water). Tommy, however, huffed and whined that he wanted to jam along with Wilbur too, and several days later Tommy showed off a simple song on the piano to the family.

Wilbur stares into the crackling fire. Tommy has always been a determined boy, hasn't he? A stubborn brat who never really knew when to quit.

It helped him at best, it started wars at worst, but this time it was getting on Wilbur's nerves.

Tommy used to be so obedient. If you'd tell him to run an errand to the store, he'd do it immediately, eager to please his brothers. If they wanted massages, he'd give them massages. Anything in his power he'd do it for his brothers. Phil, their adoptive dad, once voiced out his concerns, but Tommy brushed him off, saying that he was doing this because he loved them.

Now Tommy was a brat, a boy who thought wars had taught him everything he needed to know. Tommy was now a 16-year-old who's stood in the face of death countless times and once offered a deal to seal L'Manburg's freedom. Even though he acted confident and arrogant, those eyes weren't that of a child. The way he'd look left and right as if expecting an attack was too alert. The way his mean facade falls into constant worry once Tubbo turns his back to leave is too tense.

Even the way he looks at Wilbur and Techno is different.

Wilbur sees how Tommy's nearly given up on him.

Techno sees the anger that lights up in his little brother's eyes every time he sees him.

So, so different from the rosy-faced boy who'd run up to them so welcomingly. The fireplace roars a bit brighter, but it feels cold compared to the bundle of warmth Tommy used to be.

The makeshift cobblestone stairs creak under the weight of his youngest brother coming home, or at least, as home as Pogtopia could be. He's covered in soot and dust and he's bandaged his right hand. Wilbur's figure isn't exactly a welcoming one, but Tommy manages a grin at his brother.

"I'm back, Wil." Tommy sets down his burlap sack, the minerals inside jingling and clanging. "I got us some diamonds and a fuck ton of iron. Oh, and some meat too. God, I don't know how many fucking potatoes I can stomach any longer. And—"

Wilbur tunes out. He appreciates his brother's attempt to make friendly conversation despite their tense relationship, but all of it is fake. Or maybe it isn't. But Wilbur refuses to acknowledge whoever this is as his brother because the Tommy he knew would've gone straight to him for a hug and complain how awful and dark the mines were and how he wanted a lullaby from him.

He doesn't like Tommy being independent. He wants Tommy to depend on him. Isn't that what little brothers are for? To be clingy, needy boys who needed to be constantly coddled and babied? What is Tommy acting so grown-up for?

And he certainly didn't like Tommy voicing out against him. Tommy never goes against him. He's Wilbur, Tommy's eldest brother and the person he learned the piano for just so Wilbur's beautiful voice could be accompanied with not just the guitar. He's Wilbur, the one Tommy would do anything for because he's so cool and charismatic and tall and whatever Tommy says about him.

Where did his Tommy go? He laments, dark eyes watching him under the shadow of his hair.

Where in the world did his little brother go?

863 words