| White Roses |

04- Caught

Tommy sprinted the whole way to town, only stopping once he was near houses. From there, he walked calmly. He had some amount of coins on him, enough to buy himself a ride towards the castle. Not to it, but close enough.

He could try and find Puffy once he was close enough, but he had no idea what she had been up to since he died. Not even if she reached the castle with the cure for the poison at all. For all he knows, she's at her house or still in one of the many towns. He has absolutely no way of knowing.

         Tommy realized now it would've been easier for him if he had written different things in the letters. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to not tell his family the truth. It would be much easier to get back if he had. But it was far too late for that.

Now that he was in town, he could use some of his coins to get a few more things he couldn't get from the house. Specifically food. Naturally, it was the hardest thing to gather with no one noticing. All he had were apples and some bread.

So he began looking for a bakery. Anywhere, that he could get something.

As he glanced around for a shop, he noticed that the town square wasn't exactly crowded. Not like the one close to the castle. Sure, there were people almost everywhere, but it wasn't that bad. It was bearable, unlike the crowdedness near the castle. He wondered what the town was like during the day compared to sunset. And to make it even better, he didn't need to disguise himself. Theseus was presumed dead and Tommy didn't look like him.

As soon as he spotted a bakery, he made a beeline for it, weaving through the crowd of people. When he pushed the door open and stepped inside, there was the quiet jingle of a bell. The shop was calm compared to the outside. Quiet.

He went straight to the counter and glanced at the glass display case. Just a few loaves of bread and buns were left. No one stood behind the counter, but he could hear noise coming from what he assumed was the kitchen. There was a small bell on the counter with a note taped to it; 'ring for service'. He shrugged to himself and rang the bell.

A few seconds after he rang it, someone came out of the backroom with a smile on their face. "Sorry, I was just prepping for closing. Anyways, what would you like?"

"Oh, just two buns and a loaf please." they nodded, dusting their hands off on their apron before grabbing a bag. They quietly packaged the things and placed them in the bag, placing it on the counter and pushing it toward him.

"Five coins," they said, yawning. Tommy dug around in his pocket before giving them the coins they asked for. Just as he was about to leave, the door to the shop opened.

Tommy turned at the sound of the door's bell ringing and nearly died when he saw who was standing there. Tubbo. His eyes widened as he stared at Tubbo, who looked just as surprised to see him there.

"Tommy? What are you doing here?" he had no response to Tubbo's question. he simply stared unsure of what to do or say. If he should make a pathetic excuse or make a run for it.

After a while of awkward silence between the two and the poor employee behind the counter watching, Tubbo stepped forward and grabbed Tommy's hand. He then promptly dragged him out of the store and right into the entrance of an alleyway.

"You didn't say you were going out. And you're meant to be resting. Why are you even out right now, anyways?" Tubbo said, looking completely confused as he studied Tommy's outfit, immediately noticing the bag on his back.

"Well, Tubbo, that's a really good question. You see-"

Tubbo cut him off, looking completely unamused, "Don't lie, Tom."

Tommy sighed, completely defeated. He didn't have a choice, did he? His whole plan was crashing and burning and he had to tell the truth about why he went out and what was happening. He sighed, "Fine. I was going to..." he paused. There was no good way to say this. "Run away"

Tubbo immediately looked close to either screaming or hitting something. He did both. He whacked Tommy over the head while shouting, "What the hell?! Why would you be doing that?! You idiot! We're going home, and you're gonna explain why the fuck you thought that was a good idea!"

Tommy sighed and let Tubbo drag him back in the direction of the house as he went on and on. He was royally screwed now. How could he explain his way out of this?

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Hello,

I'm back from my break 🧍‍♀️

I would just like to say, some things in this story wont match up with Bouquet of Lilies yet. Thats because i forgot some things in that book i was meant to write for the sake of this one.

So pay no mind to it- once this book is complete im going back to edit Bouquet of Lilies.

(This is sort of unedited?)

Also, I've recently found that Grammarly can in fact help.

Have a wonderful day!

-Lav