raspberries and dirt

17. home again

"My fucking god, Tubbo. You're so clingy."

Tubbo stared at him with disbelief. "We're literally being kidnapped right now. I'm allowed to be clingy."

The boy in front of them, who had introduced himself as Dream, called back to them, "It's not kidnapping if you willingly came along!"

"You broke my fucking ribs and threatened to kill Tubbo if I didn't come along. That kind of counts as kidnapping."

Dream wagged his finger. "Not kidnapping. Just threatening. And possibly assault."

Tommy and Tubbo shared a look. "Does that make it any better?"

Dream shrugged.

Tommy was in fucking agony. His broken ribs seemed to scrape against each other with every painful step. They'd been walking for an hour, Dream doubling back and taking unnecessary turns to make sure the boys were completely and utterly lost. And it worked. Even if Tommy managed to run away with his broken ribs and avoid being stabbed by the fucking maniac that had kidnapped him, he would have absolutely no clue where to go.

Tommy would need a miracle.
_____

"This place is a shithole," Tommy declared.

Dream rolled his eyes. "It could be worse, you know."

"Not much worse."

They were in an old bank, one with those big, solid steel vaults. This vault locked from the outside, which Tommy had never seen before, but the bank itself looked pretty cool with its crumbling columns and Greek-style architecture.

The inside really was a shithole. The metal lockboxes which were supposed to contain cash were empty and strewn across the floor. Instead of a canopy of ivy covering the ceiling, like at the sewer, the ceiling was covered in mold. The mold not only grew across the ceiling, but also along the cracks in the walls. The entire vault smelled like mildew.

He felt childish thinking this, even though he was a child, but he wanted to go home.

Tommy wanted to be home with Tubbo and Technoblade and Wilbur and Phil and Ranboo. He wanted to be braiding Techno's hair, playing tag with Tubbo and Ranboo, listening to Wilbur's songs. Hell, he would take listening to Quackity cry over this.

But he wasn't home.

He was in hell.

The vault door slammed behind Tubbo and Tommy loudly, making them jump. Tommy did something he had never done in front of someone else, ever.

He began to cry.
_____

"The fuck is this?" Tommy stared down at the brown mush Dream had given him. "I'm not eating this shit."

Dream shrugged. "Either that or nothing. Also, turn down the cursing. I have a friend over who isn't a fan of swearing."

Tommy flipped him off, and Dream laughed.

The stupid son of a bitch laughed at him like he was a child.

He could never stand people laughing at him. It made him feel like a child. It made him feel small. Dream had laughed.

Last.

Fucking.

Straw.

Everything had been building up. The kidnapping, the broken bones, the threatening. It had all been piling up.

And Tommy snapped.

He grabbed one of the metal lockboxes off of the ground and slammed it into Dream's head. Dream went out like a light.

Tommy stood there in shock before snapping back into reality.

"Come on, you massive dickhead, run, Tubbo!"

Tubbo, wide-eyed, stumbled behind Tommy.

"Everything all right in there, Dream?"

A tall man, his face covered by a black hood, appeared in the doorway.

Tommy didn't stop, shoving past the man and dragging Tubbo behind him. The man stumbled back, stunned, before regaining his wits and chasing after them. He pulled out a sword.

A fucking sword.

Tommy exited the bank, turning at random corners as he tried to shake the man behind him.

"Shit!" Tommy screamed, sprinting until his lungs hurt, his hand still wrapped around Tubbo's wrist as he stumbled behind Tommy.

Then he saw Ranboo.

"Tommy?" Ranboo said as he rounded the corner, his face flooded with confusion.

"Run, Ranboo, you massive idiot!"

"Ranboo!" Tubbo exclaimed as he jumped into Ranboo's arms. Ranboo, still extremely confused as to why Tommy and Tubbo were being chased by a man with a sword, began to run alongside Tommy with Tubbo still in his arms.

"Not the fucking time for your Hallmark romance, Tubbo!"

Ranboo interrupted. "Tommy! Where the hell were you guys? We've been searching for hours on end; Wilbur hasn't stopped crying."

Tommy glared at him. "We were fucking kidnapped if you didn't figure that out. Now, I have no clue where we are. How do we get back?"

Ranboo, still holding Tubbo, lead Tommy down a couple of streets before slowing down, out of breath.

"Have we lost him?" Tubbo asked.

"Looks like it," Ranboo replied.

Ranboo set Tubbo down to pull a map of the city out of his pocket. Tubbo frowned. Ranboo inspected the map for a few moments more before silently continuing down the streets. Tubbo tried to make small talk, but failed miserably.

After fifteen torturous minutes of listening to Tubbo poorly try to act like he was an extrovert, they arrived at the entrance to the sewer.

Tommy lifted the manhole cover.

"I'm back, bitches!" he called down, his voice echoing off the tile walls as he climbed down the ladder.

Wilbur looked up, his eyes puffy and red like he hadn't stopped crying.

"Tommy?"

He ran over to give Tommy a hug. Tommy stood there passively at first but then hugged Wilbur back, hard.

Technoblade, finally looking up from his book, noticed Tommy. "Back so soon? That was barely seven hours."

"Felt like seven years."

"Time moves slowly when you've been kidnapped," Techno said like he'd been kidnapped before. Knowing Techno, he probably had. "Anyway, my braid fell apart quite quickly yesterday. I need you to do another one."

"Gladly."

And Tommy was home.