Alliums

The Man In The Mask

"Hey. Hey, kid! Kid! Come on kid! Wake up!"

Tommy struggled awake. Above him knelt a man in a green hoodie and a smiley face mask. He stiffened, quickly standing when he saw Tommy was awake. The strange man ran off. 

"Wait!" Tommy cried, trying to stand only to stumble. "Wait! No! Come back!" 

He tried again to stand, chasing after the man only to realize he was completely lost. And he'd lost the man as well.

"TOMMY!" Someone was shouting. "TOMMY! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Yelling for him. The boys must be trying to find Tommy to kill him. But he wouldn't let them. Tommy saw yellow peaking through the trees, and, with no time to waste, quickly darted behind a huge oak, hoping it would be enough to hide him. 

Tommy watched as Wilbur entered the clearing. "TOMMY!" He yelled. Tommy leaned against the tree. Never again. he thought. I'm not going back there. Not ever. 

Tommy shifted a little to hide his blonde hair. He stepped back a little. Big mistake. His knees buckled and Tommy fell forward. "Tommy!" Wilbur cried, running to Tommy. Wilbur laid Tommy on his back. 

"Please don't hurt me." Tommy whispered. It was all he could do. He felt so weak, so hungry, so tired, so hurt.

"I won't." Wilbur promised. "I never will. I promise." 

"Come on." Wilbur stood up, slipping his arm around Tommy's shoulders. Wilbur didn't want Tommy slipping into unconsciousness, and keeping him walking and moving was the best Wilbur could think of. 

"W-where are we going?" Tommy asked after a few minutes of stumbling along. 

"Home." Wilbur answered. 

"Your home's this way?" 

"Of course..." Wilbur replied. Your home too. I want it to be your home. 

"Oh, okay." Tommy kept walking with Wilbur. Wilbur wasn't sure what else to say. All he wanted to do was wrap his wings around Tommy and hold him close, reassure him that he was beautiful. That his ears were beautiful. That he was safe. 

Instead, they were both lost, cold, hungry, and tired, with no idea when or where they'd end up. Wilbur just wanted to see Phil and Techno again. He wanted to take Tommy home and clean him up and get him warm and get him fed and get him safe safe safe safe!

Wilbur wasn't sure how much time had passed before Tommy stumbled. "Wil.... can we please stop? I can't do this." He flopped on top of a log. 

Wilbur sighed and sat next to him. "Tommy, I gotta be honest. I have no idea where we're going." he confessed. "I thought we'd be home by now." 

"What home?" Tommy mumbled. He laid his head on Wilbur's thigh. "It's okay. You tried, that's what matters. No one's ever tried to help me before. No one's ever followed me to the streets, my streets, before. No one was brave enough. They're all afraid of me and the streets. You're not. You, Wilbur, you're brave." 

Wilbur almost laughed. "I'm not brave." he said. "Nah. Techno's the brave one. I'm just the quiet musician. Phil goes out sometimes, doing who knows what. He takes Techno, not me. And I'm okay with that. I'm not brave."

Tommy shifted, snuggling closer to Wilbur. "Whatever." he murmured. "You are to me and anyone who thinks otherwise can take it up with me." 

Now Wilbur did laugh. "Oh yeah? What would you do?"

"What do you mean?" Tommy giggled. "Imma big man. I'd do big man things to them." 

"What kind of big man things?" Wilbur asked.

"I'd kick their ass." Tommy answered simply. 

They fell quiet, Wilbur smiling. 

"Do you sing, Wilby?" Tommy asked.

Wilbur decided to ignore the Wilby name, even though his thoughts were like OH MY GOSH THIS IS ADORABLE TOMMY LOVES ME HE CALLED ME WILBY TAKE THAT TECHNO HE'S SO FUCKING CUTE AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. Wait, what was the question? Did he sing? "Uh, yeah, sometimes."

"Can you sing to me?" Tommy pleaded. "I haven't heard music in a while." 

Wilbur smiled. "Life isn't quite what I thought I'd be..." 

He sang for a while, his voice sparkling through the forest. Tommy was quiet and listened, he loved Wilbur's voice. They weren't sure how much time passed before they realized someone was listening. 

It was the man in a mask! He still hadn't changed, wearing the smiley face mask, and he just stood there, absolutely still, just... listening. 

When Wilbur realized he was there, and stopped, the man just cocked his head. "Are you two lost?" 

Tommy nodded eagerly while Wilbur was more cautious. 

"The village is that way." The man pointed behind them. "Just up the path." 

Wilbur and Tommy looked behind them, saw the path, and turned to thank the man. But when they turned back, the man in the mask was gone. 

"What the fuck?" Tommy asked wearily. 

"I have no idea. Do we try that path?" Wilbur asked. There was multiple paths leading different directions, but that one didn't seem any different.

"I don't see why not. We can't just stay here." Tommy mumbled. It was starting to get dark anyways. 

Wilbur helped him stand. He slipped his arm around Tommy's shoulders to help him walk. They walked down the path, and at first Wilbur thought the guy was wrong. The trees were getting thicker and the sky was getting darker. Wilbur was starting to get nervous. 

Then he heard his brother. "WILBUR!" Techno cried. "WILBUR WHERE ARE YOU?!" 

"TOMMY!" Phil added. "TOMMY WE'RE NOT GOING TO HURT YOU! PLEASE COME OUT!" 

"WILBUR!" Techno yelled again. "WILBUR PLEASE!" 

"For once he's polite." Wilbur muttered. "We're here! We're right here!" He started to run, Tommy stumbling behind him. 

They burst out of the trees and on the outskirts of the village. "We're here!" Wilbur yelled again. "We're here! I found him!" 

Techno ran towards them, Phil right behind. They met in the middle, and Techno engulfed Wilbur and Tommy in a bear hug, holding them close. "You ever do something like that again and I'm going to kill you." he murmured. 

Wilbur laughed. "Love you too, brother." 

When Techno finally let go, Wilbur was immediately met with the warm (Oh my gosh it's so warm I'm freezing) embrace of his father's wings stretching around him. "Wilbur." Phil murmured. "Oh, Wilbur." 

Then Phil held Wilbur at arm's length, his wings still wrapped around his son. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? You must be freezing!" He held Wilbur close again. "Don't ever ever ever do that again." 

"We got lost." Wilbur mumbled, or at least tried to with Phil's shoulder in his face. "We couldn't- we didn't know where we were." 

"It's okay." Phil whispered. "You're safe now." 

Their moment was interrupted by Techno clearing his throat. He had his arm wrapped firmly around Tommy, who didn't look so good, which was exactly what Techno said. "Phil, Tommy doesn't look too good." 

Phil stood, keeping one wing wrapped around Wilbur (Who would be lucky if he was let go for a while) and turned towards Tommy. "Oh, Techno, you're right. Toms, come here." 

Tommy stepped forward, but he was shaking. 

"You scared the shit out of me." Phil murmured. 

Tommy flinched. "I'm sorry." he mumbled. 

Phil wrapped his arms around Tommy, earning a gasp from the small child.

Phil bent forward and picked Tommy up, wrapping his other wing around his oldest son. "Come on, boys. Let's go home."