* * *
the next morning, tommy woke up rather early. 5:38am to be exact. he sat up, rubbing his eyes and looked around. the blond started panicking, he didn't remember where he was. he then came to his senses and remembered what had happened the previous day. he sighed and let his head fall back on the pillow. he wasn't tired at all. just thinking about why the royals were being so nice to them. they had stolen from their kingdom village, yet they were so nice to give them a place to stay. maybe these adults weren't that bad.
tommy sighed, pulling the covers off him and getting off his bed. he checked on his brothers and saw that they were fast asleep. he then made his way into the bathroom and whined at how bright the light was. the part-raccoon brushed his teeth and then walked back outside and into his closet. there were a lot of clothes.
tommy looked around the closet trying to find clothes to wear. he found a white button up shirt, beige jeans and a pair of sneakers. tommy shrugged and walked back into the bathroom, turning on the shower. once it was warm enough, tommy undressed and got inside, sighing under the warm water.
he scrubbed his body with the loofah which had soap on it. whenever he closed his eyes, he kept seeing snippets of the day at the field. he sighed, turning off the water, grabbing his towel and drying his body before getting dressed. the clothes fit perfectly, almost like it was made for him. the jeans were a bit too long, so he rolled up the pants legs a bit. he looked into the mirror and dried his hair like eret had done. once it was dry enough, tommy fluffed his hair up and styled it a bit with his hands before being happy with what it looked like.
"i look good" he muttered to himself, looking at the mirror and smiling. he then turned off the light, quietly making his way past his peacefully sleeping brothers and out the door, closing it quietly after he was out of the room.
he made his way through the halls seeing if he could find anyone he knew. it was only servants up at 6am, he figured they were used to waking up early. he made his way down the stairs, greeting the servants as they passed.
he then walked out into the garden. his ears picked up a soft guitar being played. he slowly walked towards the sound of the guitar. it lead him towards a small gazebo hidden away by nature. inside was wilbur with his eyes closed, strumming his guitar. the part-ghost was too into his own world to hear tommy walking in and sitting against the wall on the floor, hugging his knees.
i thought i couldn't love anymore
turns out i can't, but not for the same reasons as before
i use everyone i ever meet
i can't find the perfect match
abuse those i love
while i ostracize the ones who love me
back
on the path of least resistance, i find myself salting the earth
every time that i miss you
i feel the way you hurt
and i don't deserve you
you deserve the world
though it feels like we were built
from the same dirt
i hate to say it
but your sister was right
don't trust english boys
with far too much free time
and i hate to say it
but your sister was right
i'm nothing but a problem
leave you crying overnight
and i hate to say it
but your sister was right
i can't focus on the future only my short sight
i hate to say it
but your sister was right
i'm a wanker
tommy heard will's voice start to break. he opened his eyes and looked up at the brunette to see his eyes still closed, but a few tears rolling down his cheeks.
complete wanker
a fucking waste of time
will strummed the last note and tommy started clapping. will jumped and opened his eyes looking at who else was here. he quickly wiped away his tears with the sleeve of his sweater and sniffed.
"tommy? w-what are you doing here so early?" he stuttered out.
"woke up early. did you write that song by yourself?" tommy questioned, his eyes full fascination.
"um yeah" he responded quietly. "please don't tell anyone about me singing or playing guitar" he pleaded, looking up at tommy.
"why not? you sounded so good!" tommy rebutted, confused on why will wouldn't want him to tell his family. will stayed quiet, looking at the ground. tommy slowly stood up, making his way towards will and taking a seat next to him.
"i know we just met, but I'm a good listener" tommy assured in a soft voice. will turned his head to look at tommy, the blond showing eyes of truthfulness. the brunette sighed, placing his guitar down on the ground and leaning it against the seat.
"i don't really know what they'd say if they knew i liked playing guitar or singing" he started off. tommy just nodded as an indication that he was listening. "don't get me wrong, i love them, they're an awesome family but, i'm so scared that i'll disappoint them. techno is such a good fighter, he gets good grades and is a perfect kid. i'm not that much of a good fighter, i get good grades and i like to sing. i'm not physically skilled o-or have the leadership skills to help rule the kingdom. i can't live up to their expectations, or be as good of a kid as techno" wilbur ranted. tommy just stayed quiet, listening to him.
"i try so hard to be what they want, but i always find myself here and playing my guitar. music's like my getaway from everything. i hate it so much, but i still love it" he spilled, hiding his face into his hands. "i'm sorry, i must be making no sense right now".
"you're making absolute sense to me will" tommy reassured. "you wanna know what i think?" he questioned, sitting up and turning his entire body to face will.
"what do you think tommy?" will questioned, turning his head to look at will.
"excuse the language or whatever. fuck what your family might think about you playing guitar. you are really bloody good at it and if they can't let you do what you wanna do, then they can go frick themselves. stop putting yourself down. you're wilbur, not technoblade. wilbur. so what if he's physically better than you? you're better at the guitar. he won't be able to play guitar and write songs as good as you. you have a heart will. people like you for you, not technoblade, you" wills eyes widened.
"if phil, kristen and techno won't like your music and won't support what you like to do, then you keep in mind that tubbo, ranboo and i will become your biggest fans and be with you the whole way till you become a big star" assured Tommy, catching a breath after he was done. will's face twitched into a small smile.
"really?" wilbur managed to question in a whisper.
"of course!" tommy beamed back! "if you don't mind me asking, who was the song about?".
"uh well, adding onto my story earlier i guess. i had a girlfriend, Lisa. my parents were so ready for the two of us to get married and to continue on the family. t-three weeks ago, we got into a big fight and then we broke up" will explained, his voice breaking slightly. tommy felt his heart hurt for the older. he scooted closer to will, wrapping his arms around will from the side and resting his head on wills arm. the brunette stiffened, but soon melted. he wrapped his arm around tommy, bringing the boy closer to him.
"thank you tommy" is all will managed to whisper out. tommy smiled and looked up at will. the part-ghost still had tears flowing down his cheeks. the blond furrowed his eyebrows. he didn't like seeing people cry. he shifted on the bench, so he was now on his knees and much taller than before. he then wiped away wills stray tears, with his thumbs.
"and here i was thinking mr.tommyinnit was such an emotionless person" will chuckled out.
"i can be, when I wanna" tommy replied back in a cheeky tone. "i'm guessing no one knows about this place?" he questioned, sitting back down on the bench normally, letting will wrap his arm around tommy again.
"not really. no one comes back this far. usually only stay towards the fountain" will explained, "i don't really want them knowing anyways. it's my safe spot. like my sanctuary if you will".
the part-ghost looked down at tommy and the blond just did the motion of zipping his lips up and throwing the key away, "your secrets are safe with me good sir" tommy assured in a more formal voice, causing will to giggle.
"so i've said my story, what's yours? venting goes both ways" will questioned, pulling tommy more into his side. the part-raccoon sighed, shrinking in his seat a bit. "of course, i'm not forcing you to tell me anything" will assured, not wanting to force the boy to tell him private information.
"i uh saw my parents getting murdered in front of my eyes at the age of 4" tommy started. will softened, his heart already hurting for the boy.
"we saw their bodies just kinda drop to the ground and then we saw the bad men walking away, i assumed to look for us. when we got to their bodies, tubbo and ranboo went to my dad and tried shaking him awake and i went to my mum. um h-her eyes were still open, s-so i closed them. my mind just took over and i just took my fathers satchel, taking anything that would be of importance to us" he started to tell, wilbur listening intensively.
"we saw them running out of the forest towards us and we just ran as far as our legs could take us. i don't know if their bodies are still there. pretty sure nature took them. tubbo has the recurring nightmare where we stayed at their bodies and the bad men found us, then proceeded to murder us. ranboo's nightmares are of the bad man who was chasing us into the woods, actually finding us and murdering us. they always question how I never get nightmares. i do, i just don't tell them " he explained, his voice breaking at points. will was gently rubbing tommy's arm as a way to soothe him.
"i try my hardest to stay strong for tubbo and ranboo because they're my younger brothers and i need to protect them. i don't know, i just kinda shut my emotions off after the whole incident. i didn't cry. my brain just went into survival mode. it's not that i don't miss them, i just cope in other ways i guess" he continued on.
"and what ways are that?" will questioned.
"protecting the only living things i have left to remember my parents" he answered, leaning more into wilbur's side, "i couldn't protect my parents, so i made it my duty to protect my brothers" he added on.
"tommy, what happened to your parents is not your fault. there's no way in hell it could be. you're only six tommy, you've done an amazing job taking care of yourself and your brothers. stop bottling up things, stop turning off your emotions. you're here with us, you can rest. be a kid. enjoy your life. tubbo and ranboo are safe, you are safe. turn off adult mode, turn on kid mode" will advised, ruffling tommy's hair.
"thank you will" tommy whispered.
"it's okay to cry tommy. it's a normal human instinct. it's very bad for you to bottle things up, especially at your age. you are very very independent and i know you've made your brothers the same. hell, you probably raised those boys. motherinnit" tommy giggled at that.
"i am always here to talk okay? i know we just met, but you can trust me because i trust you" will reassured.
"likewise shakespeare" tommy replied back with a small smile.
"did you just call me fucking shakespeare?" will questioned, pulling tommy away from his side. the blond nodded, slowly getting off the seat and walking towards the exit of the gazebo.
"oh you little- get over here" will demanded, getting up off his seat. tommy shrieked and ran out the gazebo. will ran after the kid, chasing him through the garden. tommy was rather faster than the brunette, but will was fairly tall, so his long legs came to an advantage. tommy ran into the castle, running through the halls, will still hot on his tail. tommy looked around and saw phil walking down the hall. he grinned and ran up to phil, hiding behind him.
"real mature tommy, hiding behind my father" will shouted, catching his breath.
"woah, what's going on?" phil questioned, confused on why will was chasing tommy at 7:30 in the morning.
"the child called me shakespeare" will explained, causing phil to giggle.
he turned around, bringing tommy next to him, "did you?" phil questioned through giggles. the blond nodded, still out of breath. "that is brilliant! now we have a new nickname for you will" phil beamed, causing the part-ghost to groan.
"oh for gods sake!" will groaned out, massaging his temples.
"am i still gonna be chased or" tommy questioned, getting ready to run if needed.
"no no, you've said it now and it'll never go away" will explained, causing both phil and tommy to laugh. will started walking away, tommy following him.
"is techno awake?" tommy questioned, breaking the silence.
"let's go check" will replied, ruffling tommy's hair. they opened the door into technos room and saw the part-piglin fast asleep. "go hide behind that chest, make sure he doesn't see you" will whispered. tommy nodded and hid behind a huge chest in the room, peeking out the side.
will put his index finger up to his lips as an indication to be quiet. he then went invisible and walked over to technos bed, pulling the covers off him. the part-piglin groaned and pulled the covers back on top of him. will then saw a bottle of water sitting on technos desk and walked over, picking it up before walking back over to his brother. he then opened it before starting to pour the water onto technos face. tommy was trying so hard to keep it together and not to die of laughter and reveal his position to technoblade.
techno awoke as soon as most of the water hit him. will quickly screwed the cap of the bottle back on and dropped it to the ground, "WILBUR" techno growled, getting out of bed. the brunette ran out of the room, techno following him. tommy took this as an opportunity to make his escape. he carefully walked out of the room, closing the door shut since that's how techno had left it. when he turned around to walk into his room, he saw techno standing there arms with his crossed.
Tommy shrieked, "uh, hey techno..." he stuttered out nervously.
"did you have a part in this tommy?" techno questioned sternly. tommy looked back and saw will peeking around the corner looking at the two.
"well i um just made a suggestion. i didn't expect him to do it" tommy replied, lying.
"so it wasn't just will?" techno questioned, crouching down to meet tommy's eye level.
"nope! i assisted in waking up the technoblade" tommy grinned. techno looked into tommy's eyes, the two had a stare off.
"hey look, there's will!" tommy pointed out to the hallway. techno turned around and the blond ran for it. techno sighed and shook his head, a small smile on his lips.
"i'm gonna get you back will!!" he shouted when he saw will walking towards his fathers study. the brunette turned around, flipping off techno with both his fingers and turned back around.
...
about an hour later, the 7 of them were back in the dining room, "did you guys sleep well?" kristen questioned with a smile.
"like a baby!" tubbo replied, bouncing up and down in his seat.
"oh will, tommy" phil started, grabbing the attention of the two. "where did you two come from in the morning? what were you doing up so early?" he questioned, looking between the two boys. will looked over at tommy, opening his mouth to say something.
"i woke up pretty early, so i went outside and saw will by the fountain. we just talked and got to know each other. then i called him shakespeare, he chased me and now here we are" tommy spoke before will could.
"oh and i woke techno up by pouring water on his face. tommy watched" will added on.
"will, what have i said about pranking your brother?" kristen sighed out.
"okay, he literally pushed me off my bed last week. it was payback!" will rebutted.
soon the food came. it was pancakes, bacon and a chocolate chip muffin on the menu today. in addition to those foods, orange juice was served to everyone, as well as coffee to phil, kristen and techno; and tea to will, tubbo, ranboo and tommy. they ate in silence, making small conversations.
when breakfast was finished, phil decided to ask the triplets an important question, "okay so, it's saturday right now" phil started.
"congrats dad, you know time" techno informed sarcastically, causing kristen to gently slap his arm.
"funny. but, did you three wanna start school? to learn more about the world" phil asked.
the triplets looked at each other, "seems fun. we could learn lots of cool new things" ranboo brainstormed.
"very fun and interesting! i miss school" tubbo added on.
"seems like a great thing. we would love to, thank you" tommy answered, causing phil to smile.
they soon decided to go do what they had to do for the day. phil headed into his office to sign paperwork, kristen made her way to the village like she does every saturday, techno headed to fight with dream, will went up to the library and the triplets split ways to explore the huge castle they were in.
ranboo found his way walking out into a small courtyard of sort. he looked around and saw techno fighting with dream. he stayed by the entrance to the courtyard, secretly watching the two. he was in awe. their hands had bandages wrapped around them, ranboo guessed to lessen the pain. he watched as they threw punches at each other, the other blocking them easily.
this continued and ranboo kept his eye on the two. he was amazed by their skill. he hoped once day he could fight like them. he sat down on the floor and just watched them from a distance. about an hour later, the fighting stopped. the two of them were panting, "tomorrow do you wanna fight with the swords?" dream questioned, crouching down and taking a sip of water.
"it's a date" techno spoke, humour persistent in his tone. dream just looked up at the pink-haired boy and shook his head, trying to hide his smile.
"alright, i gotta head out. see you tomorrow, or maybe later today since we're friends" dream spoke, standing up and slinging his bag over his shoulder. techno waved dream off and the dark blond walked out through another archway in the courtyard. techno took a seat on the floor.
"you can come out now" techno shouted, unwrapping his bandages from his hand. ranboo's eyes widened and he slowly walked towards were techno was.
"oh hey ranboo" techno greeted with a small smile on his lips.
"h-hello! how did you know i was here?" ranboo questioned, visibly confused.
"your particles were showing" techno pointed out.
"ohhhh that makes more sense" the part-enderman spoke. techno motioned his hand to a space on the floor and ranboo took a seat.
"what brought you all the way here?" techno questioned, not making eye contact with ranboo.
"well, i was just exploring the castle and stumbled upon here" ranboo explained.
his eye caught a gold ring on his thumb, "that's a pretty ring" he pointed out.
"thanks. will got it for me for our 15th birthday" techno explained. "can you teleport?" techno questioned after a long silence.
"kinda, but I'm not good at it" ranboo explained.
"dad could probably help you. he is helping will to float" techno offered.
ranboo smiled softly, "do you spar with dream everyday?" he questioned in a small voice.
"usually if one of us are too busy, we would let the other one know, but mostly everyday yeah. he's the only nerd good enough to meet my levels of fighting in this kingdom" techno explained, causing ranboo to giggle at the last bit. "i could teach you how to fight if you want. you and your brothers" techno offered, causing ranboo to brighten.
"really?" he screamed. techno nodded and ranboo just clapped excitedly.
"thank you, thank you, thank you!" ranboo thanked, bouncing up and down.
"ok i get you're excited, but don't die on me. you're getting hyper" techno cautioned, placing his hand on ranboo's shoulder. the part-enderman nodded and calmed himself down. techno looked up at the sky, it was a sunny day, there were clouds. ranboo examined techno's features. he was fascinated by how many scars were scattered around his body.
"you have a lot of scars" ranboo pointed out, causing techno to chuckle.
"each scar has its own story. they're more of reminders of what i've done in my life" techno explained, looking down at ranboo. the younger seemed intrigued. techno turned to face ranboo a bit more and put out his hand, showing his forearm. there was a three line scar that looked like it was from an animal, "i got this one, running from a bear when i was 10" techno explained, causing ranboo to gasp.
"why were you running away from a bear?!" ranboo questioned, looking up at techno with clear concern in his eyes.
"for fun" he shrugged, a small smirk tugging his lips.
"you do that for fun?" ranboo questioned, concerned about the part-piglin's forms of fun. techno chuckled and nodded.
...
tubbo had found his way up to the library. when he walked inside, he saw will on the couch in there with a big bulky book in hand, "hey tubbo!" will greeted with a smile.
"hello! this is a big library" tubbo pointed out, looking around.
"well, a lot of people use there books from here so kinda needs to be big" tubbo nodded and walked over, looking at the bookshelves. "do you like to read tubbo?" will questioned.
the younger chuckled and shook his head, "i always had a hard time with reading" he confessed, walking away from the bookshelf and to another, running his fingers along the bind of all the books.
"you just need to read more and you'll be good at it" will encouraged. tubbo nodded his head and continued grazing over the books. one book caught his eye "Grimm's Fairytales". tubbo pulled the book out, taking it into his hands. it was a rather heavy book. he walked over to a one-seater couch and sat down, putting the book in his lap. will looked up from his book and smiled when he saw tubbo with a big book.
"whatcha got there tubs?" will questioned with a smile. tubbo looked up in shock. no one but his brothers and parents have ever called him "tubs". the part-goat smiled softly.
"g-grimm's fairytales" he read out.
"you wanna read that one?" tubbo nodded.
"what's it about?" the part-goat questioned.
"The Brothers Grimm are like the original fairytale writers. fairytales like uh cinderella, hansel and gretel, rapunzel etc, were all stories that they made, but they were changed to be more child friendly i guess" will explained. tubbo clapped excitedly and opened the book. he got more comfortable in his seat and started to read. will smiled as he saw the boy carefully reading each word and went back to reading his book.
...
tommy made his way out of the castle and down the path towards the village. when he got to the village, he kept walking until he reached the forest. the blond took a deep breath and smiled. he whistled a tune. the tune to get the attention of his friends. it was silent for a bit, but then multiple animals came running towards the boy. he grinned and crouched down, petting the smaller pups.
"tommy! where are the others?" gerald questioned, fear seeping into his voice.
"they're exploring the castle!" the animals seemed intrigued. they all gathered around in a small circle. tommy started telling them all everything that happened to them.
"so you're gonna stay there with them?" the fox questioned.
tommy nodded, "but iI'll always come back to visit! i'll bring tubs and boo too, promise. i'll try my best to come back here once a week. how does that sound?" the mobs all let out noises of agreement and tommy smiled.
gor the next few hours, tommy spent his time with his friends. playing with the pups, helping around and just having a lot of fun. tommy looked at the sky and looked for the positioning of the sun. it was around 2pm. he had been out here for nearly 5 hours.
"i had lots of fun today guys. i should be heading back, they might get worried" they said their goodbyes and tommy made his way back through the village. while walking, he saw the lady they stole from. he felt bad, so he decided to go make things right with her, "e-excuse me" tommy tapped the ladies back. she turned around, a small smile on her face. that smile dropped as soon as she saw tommy.
"you!" she gasped out, hatred persistent in her tone.
tommy winced at the tone, "i just want to say that we are sorry for stealing from you...me and my brothers" the lady's face softened. "we were just trying to get food but we promise not to do it again. is there anything i can do to make it up to you?" the bakery owner seemed to be thinking.
"help me around the bakery for a week and all will be forgiven" tommy's eyes brightened and he nodded, smiling. there was a gently hand placed on tommy's shoulder and he looked back to see kristen.
"queen kristen" the older lady bowed.
"what's going on here?" she questioned in a sweet tone.
"i apologised to the lady for stealing and to make it up to her, she asked me to help her out in the bakery for a week" tommy explained.
kristen chuckled and nodded, "when are his shifts eileen?" kristen questioned, turning her gaze up to the red-headed woman.
"whenever he's free! rush hour is usually from 4pm to 8pm so" tommy looked up at kristen, looking for a sign of conformation that it would be alright.
"well the three of them are going to be starting school on monday. so how about, they finish their school, eat lunch and meet you down here?" kristen offered. eileen smiled and nodded.
"sounds perfect! what's your name boy?" she questioned, her tone much lighter now.
"i'm Tommy!" she smiled and gently cupped the side of his face, making him look up at him.
"eileen, nice to meet you" she greeted with a warm smile. tommy felt all warm and bubbly inside. maybe not all adults were bad. kristen and tommy soon took their seats into the carriage that started taking them back to the castle.
"what we're you doing down here tommy?" kristen questioned, making tommy's attention turn from the landscaping outside to her face.
"with my forest friends" he replied, turning his attention back to out the window. they soon got into the castle courtyard. tommy and kristen both got out of the carriage and made their way into the castle, "wheres phil?" tommy questioned.
"he's in his office signing off papers. do you want to go say hello?" kristen questioned, getting a nod of agreement from tommy. the two of them walked to phil's office. kristen opened the door, allowing tommy to walk in first.
"you have a guest honey" phil looked up from his desk. he saw kristen and smiled. when he saw tommy, his smile widened.
"well hey there mate" he greeted with a warm smile.
"hello philza minecraft!" tommy greeted, causing phil to chuckle. the part-raccoon slowly walked beside phil, looking at all the papers. kristen took a seat across the two, watching phil sign away the papers and then looked at the fascinated tommy. phil glanced over at tommy and smiled.
"wanna help me toms?" phil questioned. tommy was shocked by the use of the nickname. he usually hated when people called him anything other than tommy, especially the nickname his parents and brothers use for him. but...he liked it when phil used it. he nodded slightly. the older blond, pushed away from his desk, picking tommy up and placed him on his thigh. the part-raccoon shifted and faced the desk, as phil pulled them closer.
"what can i help with phil?" the blond questioned.
"so i'm gonna have a look at these letters and all i need for you to do is either stamp the green stamp or the red stamp" phil explained. tommy smiled, he was going to help with such big boy things! the both of them looked over at the still big pile of letters. phil sighed rubbing his eyes, while tommy crackled his knuckles.
"you two have fun" phil and tommy both said their goodbyes to kristen. phil started reading over the papers, placing them in the approval or disapproval pile, while tommy stamped the respectful stamp.
it was dinner time and everyone was seated at the table, except for phil and tommy. the food was served and they talked, while eating, "wheres tommy and phil?" ranboo questioned after a bite of lasagna.
"they're busy with approving letters" kristen informed, getting a confusing look from everyone, "for the kingdom. approving and disapproving different letters" she explained further.
"phil trusted tommy to take care of that responsibility?" tubbo questioned, getting a nod from kristen. ranboo and tubbo shared a glance and sighed.
"lord help us all" they both muttered under their breaths, causing the rest of the table to erupt into laughter.
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