Tommy's Ultra-Important Keychain

Chapter 29: Revenge is best served five years later

Wilbur and Techno were not at Tommy's bedside the next morning. He awoke instead to about a hundred missed calls from Tubbo, Ranboo, and Aimsey. The latter was fairly surprising, but he shot them all a text anyway. Instantly, his roommate began buzzing through the line.

Tommy answered, wincing as Tubbo shouted, "Where the fuck are you?"

"Would you believe me if I said I was at work?"

Tubbo muttered inaudibly away from the microphone, and for a moment, Tommy thought he was talking to himself. Then, there was a response. It was equally as muffled, but was definitely someone other than his best friend.

"Ranboo says you're not scheduled today," Tubbo replied after a few seconds. "Plus, I saw the news."

Tommy did a double-take. "Ranboo? Like Ranboo as in my boss and pal Ranboo?"

Tubbo snorted, "Do you know anyone else with that ridiculous name?"

The mysterious voice on the other end shouted loudly and it sent Tubbo into a fit of outrageous laughter. Tommy's heart clenched at the sound. It was something he hadn't heard in ages, and now Ranboo was the source? That didn't feel entirely fair.

"Why are you hanging out with Ranboo," he asked, and it came out softer than he meant.

He heard the carefree mumbling stop, and then Tubbo's stammering, "I-I was worried about you, so I went to... Ender-Ice to look for you, and he was there."

Tommy couldn't tell if it was a lie, and somehow that stung even more. Logically, the excuse made sense, and Tommy couldn't imagine a reason for them to have met otherwise. They hadn't hung out without him to his knowledge.

"Okay," was all he could say.

"So? Are you gonna answer my question," Tubbo asked in a sing-song voice. "Where are you?"

"I stayed the night at a hospital," Tommy grumbled, not looking forward to the amount of sugar coating he'd have to do. He decided to cut it off before it started, "Phil knows this guy with a cool healing gift, but he's all fancy and classified, so I'm not allowed to have any visitors."

"Oh." He could hear Tubbo deflating from miles away. "Do you know when I will be able to see you?"

"Soon probably—" Tommy stopped. His mind wasn't moving as quickly as it normally would thanks to his numbing medicine, but something was off. He couldn't quite wrap his head around it, especially when he brought Ranboo into the equation.

Why wasn't Tubbo asking what happened? The last time he saw Tommy, he was being whisked away by some scarred stranger. Tommy knew he was trending on Twitter alongside Phil, but the pictures had even less context. Tubbo had berated him for things that made way more sense in the past.

"Tubs," Tommy started slowly, cautiously. "Do you feel like yourself?"

"What?"

"Do you feel like someone is controlling your brain?" Tommy thumbed at a scab on his knee. Tubbo let out another confused noise, and he took that as a good sign. "I'm just not sure why you aren't freaking out."

"I'm so lost, Tommy," Tubbo exhaled.

"It's just— usually, you'd be yelling at me," Tommy whispered into the receiver. "Why aren't you asking me to explain myself?"

"Oh! Uh," his roommate fumbled. "Ranboo got me caught up, so—"

There was a shuffling and suddenly it was Ranboo who was speaking, "My mom has a contact at the hero agency. She told me what happened, more or less, and I told Tubbo."