This oneshot may contain inappropriate language and/or sensitive scenes
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Side note — requested by: crimeboysgod
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Warnings — Injury and blood
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Content Creators — Wilbur soot and Tommyinnit
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Tommy wanted to film a TikTok... in a tree. And who was Wilbur to deny him of that?
Well, Wilbur's Wilbur. And he did deny Tommy at first. It took Tommy a good thirty minutes to successfully reason with him why he should allow him to climb a tree, let alone leave the apartment at 9pm.
The reasons were ridiculous (as expected), but one did stand out to him. Tommy claimed that, quote unquote, 'no harm shall fall upon him with Wilbur's supervision'. Wilbur felt something swell in his heart from the trust Tommy had in him to keep him safe.
Now, Wilbur wasn't someone to prove someone wrong- which is a complete lie. Wilbur finds entertainment and enjoyment in proving people wrong on a daily basis, especially when it comes to Tommy. But he wasn't about to prove this one wrong to Tommy. Tommy had complete and utter confidence in Wilbur to keep him safe, and Wilbur was not going to prove him wrong.
So they had left the apartment; Tommy joyously skipping ahead as Wilbur begrudgingly followed behind him. Though it hadn't taken long for Tommy to attach himself to Wilbur's arm as they walked out of the building, exposed to the darkness of a Monday night at 9pm.
As they walked, they had drifted between conversations and insults, mostly it was a mix between the both. Wilbur doesn't doubt that to anyone who wasn't looking close enough, it would've seemed like they were two brothers forced to spend time together. But going by the twinkle in Tommy's eye and the wide grin, it was far from the truth.
Wilbur and Tommy are brothers. It may not appear to be true on birth certificates or any other record, but on Wilbur's personalised (created by him) record, there's a slip of paper with clean handwriting on one side, and messy handwriting on the other, indicating that whether they're biological or not, they're brothers.
Now Wilbur walks through the entrance of the park, stomach churning with a bad feeling. Maybe this isn't the best idea. It's dark and... well Tommy's about to climb a tree, and he isn't known for being careful. Doubt wraps itself around Wilbur's mind.
As Tommy slowly leads them to a stop in front of a rather large (and un-sturdy) tree, Wilbur glances nervously to Tommy's excited demeanour. He swallows the lump in his throat and looks back to the tree, that somehow looks even bigger than it was a matter of seconds ago. And Wilbur doesn't think he can do it. He doesn't think he can let Tommy climb the tree.
"Um.. Tommy?" Wilbur swallows anxiously, looking down to the boy crouching on the ground, setting up TikTok on his phone.
"Yeah, Will?" Tommy responds, moving his attention to Wilbur.
"Do you, ah, do you have to climb the tree? It's pretty dark out and it looks dangerous..." Wilbur begins calmly, but it slowly turned into a less than subtle panic.
Tommy raises an eyebrow, "It's fine Will. I've climbed many trees before, and not once has it resulted with an injury... well besides that one time- but that really shouldn't count! It was-" Tommy gets abruptly cut off by Wilbur shouting his name.
"Tommy! You're not filling me with much hope here!" Wilbur shrieks, his hands clasped together as he rubs the dirt from them. "What if something happens? You fall from the tree and give yourself a broken bone! This is dangerous Tommy." Wilbur tries his best to persuade Tommy, but the kid simply stands up and places a hand on Wilbur's shoulder.
"Will, it'll be fine. I swear! I've done this a million times, plus you're here! If I start falling you can swoop in and become my knight in shining armour." Wilbur can tell that Tommy's trying his best to reassure him, but he can't say it's exactly working.
Still, Wilbur stands tall and runs a hand through his hair, exhaling deeply. If Tommy's going to trust Wilbur with practically his life, Wilbur's got to trust Tommy to be careful. So against his better judgement, he says, "Fine, but be careful, okay? I don't want to have to make an abrupt hospital trip."
Tommy nods in agreement before pushing his phone into Wilbur's hands. "I promise. Now, if you look here, this is called a phone. I know you old people don't typically use these, and use your old-fashioned cameras, so all I need you to do is press this nice big, red button to record."
Wilbur sends a weak glare Tommy's way, and in return Tommy grins mischievously. "I am in fact a streamer, Tommy. I think I know how to use the simplest of technology. And I'm not old! Phil's old! I'm only twenty-six!"
Tommy gives an incredulous look, "Really? Could've fooled me."
Wilbur rolls his eyes before ruffling Tommy's hair fondly. Tommy grins and shoots off onto the tree. Wilbur thinks his heart sinks a little lower as Tommy climbs higher, and higher. As Tommy settles himself on a branch, Wilbur's sure that if he made one wrong move and fell to the ground, he'd suffer more than a broken bone. He mentally shakes the thoughts from his head, electing to watch the joy on his brother's face instead.
It's dark, but not dark enough to be considered pitch black. The streetlights provide most of the light in the park, allowing Wilbur to see the surroundings. Honestly, he should've just told Tommy to wait until morning, but because, and Wilbur admits, he was being a pushover to Tommy's loving words, he didn't.
He watches as Tommy gets into a more comfortable position on the branch, and luckily, he went with a strong one, rather than a slimer, weak one.
"Just so you know, this is fucking stupid!" Wilbur calls, rising on his tiptoes as he raises his free hand to half-cup around his mouth to make his voice louder.
He can faintly make out Tommy rolling his eyes, "It's a great idea you prick! Stop being a pussy!"
"You say that, but when you fall from the tree, we'll see who gets the final laugh!" Wilbur retaliates.
"Shut up dickhead! I'm not paying you to stand there and insult me!"
"You're not paying me at all! And how am I supposed to film you?! It's too dark for the camera to pick up anything!" Wilbur looks at the phone in his hands, attempting to face it at Tommy, but it's all just a dark blur.
"Use your phone's flashlight!" Tommy provides.
Wilbur supposes that could work. He pulls his phone out of his pocket with his other hand, and turns the flashlight on, raising it up in Tommy's direction.
Tommy flinches and moves his hands to cover his face, "Owwww," he whines, "a little warning would've been nice Wil-ba."
Wilbur rolls his eyes, "You should've thought about that before you decided to climb the tree-"
"How does that even correlate with-"
"Anyways, what's the TikTok about?"
"Uh..." Tommy draws his mouth to a straight line. "Good question. I don't know the answer."
Wilbur lets out a deep sigh, and if his hands were free, he would pinch the bridge of his nose. "You don't know?" he repeats back.
"Nope," Tommy pops the P, "but that's the beauty of it, Wilbur! TikTok isn't about planning! No no no no, it's about the improv and... and reality of it!" Tommy answers with a nervous grin.
"That's all just bullshit that you thought of just then, isn't it?"
"N-no, no not- not at all!" Tommy stutters, but quickly forfeits after Wilbur sends him a look. "Okay, maybe." Tommy bows his head, "But still! I'll just umm.. you know, improv it."
Wilbur really shouldn't have expected there to be an actual plan to Tommy's TikTok idea, and maybe it was his fault for not checking to begin with, but they're here now so he might as well go along with it.
"Alright then, just let me know when you want me to press the 'big, red button'." Wilbur lifts the flashlight back up at Tommy slowly; just to give the boy a bit of warning this time. Along with his phone, he holds Tommy's up as well, and although the quality isn't great, it's better than it was before.
Tommy grins, "Great. Now to just figure out what to do." He slouches and holds both his pointer fingers to his temple in an over-dramatic thinking position.
"Thought you were just going to freestyle it?"
"Shush now Wilbur. Let me think."
Wilbur remains quiet and waits for Tommy to finally come up with an idea. It only takes a minute before Tommy gasps and sits up straighter.
"What?" Wilbur asks, recovering quickly from being startled by Tommy's sudden gasps.
"You'll see, I've just gotta..." Tommy starts moving himself around on the branch as Wilbur watches expectantly. Suddenly and somehow, Tommy's hanging upside down, his legs wrapped around the branch to hold him in place. Wilbur can feel his stomach churn once more with a bad feeling.
"Tommy, this is the worst fucking idea you've ever had." Wilbur voices his opinion, very strongly.
"Wilbur it's fine. Trust me, remember?" Tommy reminds, letting his arms fall behind his head.
Wilbur relaxes his shoulders and nods with a shallow breath intake. As much as he trusts Tommy, he can't find it in himself to trust him now. The boy's hanging at least twenty feet off the ground, which could just be a dramatic exaggeration.
Wilbur shakes the doubt from his body, and especially his mind. He hates the fact he has to doubt Tommy's word, but when the boy's being so stupid, he finds it hard not to.
"Yeah," Wilbur clears his throat, "yeah, I remember. Just.. don't fall okay?"
"I don't want to fall as much as you don't want me to fall." Tommy responds, his arms flailing about in failed gestures. "Now, give me like ten seconds, then press the nice button on the screen."
"Mmhmm." Wilbur hums, setting up both phones once again. It's harder than he thought it would be to focus the screen without another hand, but he does it.
"Now now now." Tommy says, in a ready-like pose. Wilbur laughs softly and presses play in a weird like manner (considering the lack of hands).
For all the trouble they went through to film the TikTok, the actual recording only took twenty seconds. Twenty seconds of Tommy talking about how 'fabulous and sexy' the tree is. Wilbur desperately wishes he could have the past hour of his life back.
Wilbur keeps his phone with the flashlight up so he still has a clear view of Tommy, and lowers Tommy's phone after saving the TikTok to his drafts so he can look over them later. He shoves the blue-cased phone into his pocket and looks back up at Tommy, who's still hanging upside down.
"Please, for the love of God, get down now." Wilbur pleads, worry pulling at his heart.
Wilbur can hear Tommy let out a long, exaggerated sigh, "Yes Wil-ba, I'll get down now. No need to panic." Wilbur didn't even need to look to know there was an eyeroll placed in there.
"Thank you." Wilbur responds, glad that they can finally just go home. He swears, as soon as they reach the apartment, he's forcing Tommy into bed whether he wants to change clothes or not, he's practically already in his pajamas anyways.
Wilbur looks at the time on his phone and an hour has passed, which isn't a surprise to him. It's definitely gotten darker since they got here, so he keeps the flashlight on Tommy's locations so the blonde can see what he's doing.
Wilbur can only watch worriedly as Tommy tries to pull himself back up onto the branch. Tommy grunts and groans as he tries to swing his body back up, every attempt becoming worse than the first. Wilbur can tell he's tired himself out already.
"Do you need help? I could-" Wilbur offers, though he wishes it came out more as a statement than a question, but he gets cut off by Tommy, which they seem to have a habit of doing to each other.
"No, I'm fi-"
Tommy falls.
Everything moves in slow motion, everything besides Tommy. Wilbur finds himself stuck in place as Tommy's body collides with the ground below, a heart piercing scream erupting from his throat.
"TOMMY!" He screams, eyes widening with tears.
Wilbur lets his phone drop to the floor and rushes to Tommy's side. He drops down to his knees and lifts the boy's body up onto his lap. Wilbur looks him over and notes the blood stained in his blonde hair, the way the boy's eyes can't seem to focus and the way his left arm is bent the wrong way.
Bile rises up Wilbur's throat, the urge to vomit on the tip of his tongue, but he swallows it down. He brings a shaky hand to cup the boy's cheek, giving it a little tap to try and bring the boy back from his dazed state.
Wilbur doesn't miss the way Tommy whimpers with pain. He doesn't miss how Tommy's breathing has turned heavy and harsh. And he certainly doesn't miss the way how his bottom lip trembles.
"Toms, look at me please?" Wilbur pleads, moving Tommy's head to face him as it had moved to the side. Tommy's eyes don't lock with Wilbur's, they seem to just look straight through him. The blood in the boy's hair has spread excessively and Wilbur finds the blood staining his hand, and once again, he has to fight the bile crawling up his throat.
For once in his life, he's unsure of what to do. He's holding his brother's unresponsive body in his arms, and all sense of logic has just gone out the window. He taps Tommy's face again, in hopes of a response, but instead, the boy's eyes roll to the back of his head.
"Tommy!" Wilbur cries, pulling the body tightly to his chest. As the body falls limp against his chest, sobs start pouring from his mouth.
He tries to collect his thoughts to think of the logical thing to do in this situation. He has to... emergency services! He has to call emergency services- an ambulance!
Holding Tommy tightly with one arm around the blonde's waist, he uses his other to shakily take Tommy's phone out of his pocket. He doesn't hesitate to press 'emergency' when the phone comes up asking for a passcode. He dials the number that has been trained into his head since he was younger, now being the first time he's ever had to use it.
It only takes a matter of seconds until the line's picked up. The operator swiftly introduces herself and quickly gets on to asking Wilbur the important questions.
"I-I'm Will- William Gold. My-my brother- friend has fallen from a tree- big tree.. an- and he's bleeding from his head, unconscious and his arm is bent out of place." Wilbur tried his best to compose himself.
"Okay Will, can you tell me where you are?" The operator responds, as calm as ever.
Wilbur goes on to giving the operator their location, followed along with Tommy's full name. No matter how many times he's been prepared for a situation like this, the stress is something that someone just cannot be prepared for.
The operator reports the ambulance to be five minutes away, and follows up with requesting Wilbur to check Tommy's pulse. Although Wilbur responds quickly in agreement, he pauses for a moment. He hasn't even thought of checking his pulse yet. He hesitantly brings two of his fingers up to Tommy's neck and checks his pulse.
Wilbur announces Tommy's pulse to the operator, but he doesn't move his fingers away. His pulse pulsating against Wilbur's calloused fingertips reminds him that Tommy's still alive. Unconscious but alive.
The operator suggested that she should stay on the phone with him until the ambulance shows up, but Wilbur quickly denied, hanging up as quickly as possible. Tommy's phone falls from his hand and down onto a patch of leaves. He leans back against the tree, Tommy held tightly against his chest and Wilbur knows he's going to find it hard to let Tommy go.
He closes his eyes as tears dribble down his chin. He rests his face in Tommy's curls of blonde hair that's currently drenched in blood, but Wilbur doesn't care. He finds that Tommy, no matter whether he's conscious or not, would find as much comfort in it as he does.
He doesn't let himself relax, instead, he lets his thoughts consume him.
He proved Tommy wrong. He- he.. he proved Tommy wrong. He failed to keep him safe. He failed as a brother. He promised to keep him safe! He promised.. and he broke it. He broke it. He didn't just break the promise, he broke Tommy's trust. Tommy's trust in him. The trust he never should've had in Wilbur to begin with.
He just watched. He watched as Tommy fell from the tree and didn't even attempt to break the fall. He could've caught him- or at least cushion the fall. Tommy never should've gotten this hurt. So much for being his 'knight in shining armour'. Wilbur's pathetic.
Wilbur startles from his voice as he feels the slightest of shuffling against his chest. His eyes snap open and watch as Tommy's eyes flutter open, still looking slightly out of it. Wilbur's heart skips a beat as, instead of Tommy looking right through him, he looks at him.
"Toms?" He asks softly, though it was quite scratchy. Tears pool in his eyes as Tommy makes a sound of recognition. "Are you..." He trails off, knowing there's no point in asking questions as Tommy doesn't seem coherent enough to formulate words, let alone sentences.
Wilbur's surprised as Tommy's arm weakly raises and rests itself on Wilbur's cheek, running a warm feeling through his body. Wilbur doesn't hesitate to place his significantly bigger hand on top of Tommy's.
Tommy lets out a weak whine, followed by an almost silent whimper of pain. Wilbur winces. It's all his fault. He should've put his foot down and stopped Tommy from even climbing the tree, but he let Tommy go ahead and even swing upside down on it. Wilbur could've done so many thing, so so many, but he did nothing besides stand there and watch as his baby brother hit the ground.
"S'not your fau't" The slurred words comes from Tommy, a frown placed on his face. Wilbur's face contorts to confusion. What does Tommy mean? How'd he- of course it's Wilbur's fault. It's even worse knowing that Tommy doesn't blame him.
"S'not your fault." Tommy repeats, but the tone is more adamant. Wilbur's heart doesn't know where to place itself, his stomach or his throat.
"I..It's not your fault." Tommy repeats a third time, no doubt in his voice. His eyes are trained on Wilbur, telling him everything without Tommy having to say it.
Wilbur cries.
"I love you." Tommy mumbles, drowsily cuddling up closer to Wilbur.
"I love you too, Tommy." Wilbur smiles, landing a kiss on Tommy's forehead.
The two of them remain, cuddled together, awaiting the arrival of the ambulance to come to Tommy's aid.
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