Morning came sooner than Tommy had wanted or had hoped for. It came in the form of birds chirping happily outside and Kubo barking loudly at the window. That's what had woken him up: Kubo and his insistent barking. He couldn't even see the birds thanks to the shutters but the sound alone was apparently enough to havs the dog going insane.
"Kubooo", he whined, and hoping to get some more sleep, he turned on his side and pressed a pillow over his uncovered ear. Kubo, answering to his cry of protest, jumped up on the bed and proceeded to nose his face. "I don't want to get uuup! Stooop!"
Kubo did not stop for a moment. Instead, he continued prodding at Tommy's face with his wet nose and if Tommy didn't love the dog, he would've had pushed him away already. And then came the tongue. The wet, moist tongue that had Tommy rolling away and furiously wiping at the saliva on his cheek with the back of his hand in disgust. He fell off the bed, taking the covers with him, leading to a mess of human child and fabric and some dog on the floor.
Kubo walked off him, completely ignoring him despite accidentally stepping on Tommy's stomach and slightly knocking the breath out of him. Tommy decided to not curse as he groaned on his way up.
It was almost muscle memory to open the door and walk out the hall, turning to the right before taking a set number of steps to reach the entrance of the kitchen. He opened the fridge door, grabbed a carton of milk, turned to the counter, grabbed the first box of cereal, a bowl from the cabinet. The moves were almost sluggish, Kubo noisily crunching on his dog food by the chair Tommy dragged out.
Then he heard a groan from the living room and turning, he remembered: there was a stranger in the house who might've had bled out on the couch overnight. He leaned back in his chair, peeked his head in the room and spied the brown curls poking out from behind the couch pillows and the bumps of the curved horns. There was no Mumbo in the vicinity, leaving Tommy to wonder where the man was and swiftly noting the noise outside the front door; the man must've gone to collect the paper or something.
Abandoning his breakfast, Tommy crept to the living room, looming over the first couch and peering at the grimace on the boy's -Tubbo's- face. Tubbo looked like he was in pain and Tommy doubted that he'd feel better anytime soon with the bullet holes litering his body. At least, they got the bleeding to stop and he wasn't but a living corpse on their couch. That's a relief.
So, what's he supposed to do? He sat down next to the couch, resting his arm on the firm cushion and his cheek on his palm. Should he wake the boy up? He needed to eat too.
The front door opened, the charms hanging on the handle jingling. Tommy turned to find a sweaty Mumbo in casual clothing entering the house; it's such a weird sight to see the guy out of his tight dress pants and suit. The man held a bloody towel and a plastic bucket that looked heavy but the wait didn't have his tall body tilting.
"What were you doing outside?", Tommy asked curiously. Kubo patted his way over to his owner, sniffing his trousers. Mumbo did a plaquating motion with the hand holding the towel, though it was hard to distinguish it.
"Keep it down, Tommy, Tubbo is still asleep", he sighed. "I was cleaning up the blood outside, I didn't think you'd wake up so early"
Tommy looked at him, intrigued. "Early?"
"It's around 6, mate"
Oh. He had woken up early. The wall clock confirmed that it would soon be 6 o'clock.
"Kubo woke me up", he explained, only a tinge of complaint in his tone. Kubo was too cute to hold a grudge against.
"Ah", was all Mumbo said before receding to the bathroom, probably to empty the bucket in the toilet bowl.
Deciding that he should eat that cereal he'd left unattended, Tommy went to get up. He felt something fumble with the fabric of his pajamas, a heavy pressure. He turned to look, only to see Tubbo's hand slowly curling into the softness of his pajama pants and blue eyes peering up at him through messy, brown bangs.
"I'm awake", he croaked, sounding absolutely miserable. Tommy grinned conspiratorially.
"Hi 'awake', I'm Tommy"
Tubbo did not look impressed but Tommy was pleased with the horrible dad joke.
"Haha, very funny", the boy rolled his eyes, face grimacing in pain. He looked around the living room, almost confused about the fact that he was in a house. "Where is..."
Mumbo returned in his work clothes; that being his void-black suit and classic, red tie, nicely tucked underneath his suit jacket. Glittery gold buttons adorned the cuffs of it, with an emblem that Tommy couldn't be arsed to ask about and Mumbo told him that they were real in spire of how fake they looked.
"Oh, good morning", the man greeted Tubbo, who looked only slightly alarmed but also too exhausted to react. "How are you feeling?"
He didn't reply right away.
"Bad"
Mumbo nodded. It was the expected answer. He rounded the couch so he was in the hybrids line of sight.
"I'll get you some painkillers and then you could give me your brother's number so I can call him to come pick you up", the man informed them as he walked to the kitchen. "He must be worried sick- Tommy, your breakfast"
"Coming!", Tubbo winced at his volume but Tommy barely registered that. He got up, freeing himself from the other's grip and running to the kitchen table.
He grabbed the bowl of cereal and swept a spoonful of the floating bits, promptly shioving it in his mouth. He tailed Mumbo to the cabinet of medicine, watching him move small boxes with weird names around. In the end, he handed Tommy a box that said 'Depon' on the front and instructed him to get a small glass of water for Tubbo.
Begrudgingly, he left his bowl on the table and went to do that whilst Mumbo got his phone. Tommy watched from the entrance while he got the water from the fridge as the man sat down at Tubbo's feet. The man nodded along and typed in the numbers Tubbo was telling him, volume too low for Tommy to hear them.
"I'll call him now, alright?", Tommy guessed Tubbo either nodded or mouthed his answer. Mumbo put the phone to his ear. "What's his name?"
Tommy had to strain his ear to hear. "Dream"
And almost immediately, Tubbo's brother picked up.
"Hello, is this Dream?", a pause. "I understand, you must be busy but my nephew found your brother, Tubbo- no, I'm not trying to blackmail you!", Tommy had to put his hand over his mouth to not giggle but Tubbo only burst in laughter. So he followed the boy's example and laughed too. "Yes, that's him, perfectly alive and healthy, he's only beat up a little. I'll text you my address so you can come pick him up?", they both shut up and held their breaths as they waited for Tubbo's brother to respond.
"Sure! Do you want to speak to- Alright, goodbye"
The call ended there and Mumbo sighed. Tommy approached with the painkillers and water and set those on the coffee table beside the couch.
"He's running here and he didn't want to waste time", Mumbo explained. The man looked at Tubbo with a sort of pitying look. "Are the two of you alone?"
Before answering, Tubbo took the pill and chugged down the water, only so he could have some time to think of his answer. He nodded, making a face at the awful taste of the pill -apparently, he didn't down it first try- and then talked -his voice sounded better, warmer.
"We were going to the-", he cut himself off, "to a safe place and we were caught by the soldiers. Dream distracted them so I could get away... I didn't think he'd pick up the phone, I'd assumed-", he gripped the edge of the couch tightly, and there was only a hint of a warble in the back of his throat.
Tommy could share the sentiment. Though, unlike Tubbo, he didn't know whether his own fucking family was alive and he wanted to cry so damn bad... But he didn't. He had to stay strong as steel -he could cry at the end of this.
Mumbo looked like he was going to say something else; maybe some comfort words, Tommy didn't know but he piped in anyway.
"My brothers are in college", he said, and Tubbo's head turned towards him with wide eyes.
"Mine dropped out when our mother died"
Mumbo had brought some cookies to the living room at some point during their delightful conversation.
---
It took approximately twenty minutes for the doorbell to ring. Kubo immediately went up to it, standing on his hind legs and pawing at the surface, claws lightly scratching. He wasn't barking, more so trying to see who was on the other side even though that was an impossible feat. Tommy and Tubbo stopped talking, simultaneously looking towards the front door and finding themselves petrified; glued on their respective seats of ground and couch, with half eaten cookies in their mouths.
"That must be your brother", Mumbo calls from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a random towel. Tommy adjusted his position, shifting his body so he could face the door.
Mumbo looked through the peephole before hesitantly putting his hand on the handle. The charms jingled when he pushed down on it- and the door slammed inwards, pushed by whoever was on the other side.
It was a man, almost as tall as Mumbo, wearing worn and torn denim jeans and a hoodie of a dark shade of green, hood up and hiding his face. He'd grabbed Mumbo, one hand on his neck, the other on the lapel of his suit, and he'd forced himself inside the house. Tubbo was already trying to get up but Tommy was scared.
"Where is he?!", the stranger shouted, kicking the door closed with his foot. The sound made Tommy jump to his feet, ignoring Tubbo's asking for help to stand, in order to separate the two.
"Hey, hey, let him go!", he shouted, grabbing the stranger and pushing him away. The stranger looked at him, and Tommy pulled an arm up to defend himself. The hustle stopped, Mumbo letting out a panicked 'Tommy!' and putting a hand out to push him back -protect him in a way.
The stranger let go of Mumbo's suit and neck, muttering. "The kid on the news..."
Tommy stood slightly in front of Mumbo, an unhappy and worried look on his face. He didn't like what he was refered to as: the kid on the news. Was that what people knew him as? Was he that recognizeable? Just a glance and boom, one Tommy Minecraft!
"Dream!", Tubbo yelled, stumbling his way over to the rest of them and promptly falling into Dream's arms. Holy shit, that's his brother?! Tommy thought, sighing out in relief. "Dream, you're alive!"
Dream laughed. He laughed like a man in a desert being given a bottle of water, and he hugged the younger tightly... or as tight as one could with a wounded shoulder. That was when Tommy saw the blood on the hoodie and on the jeans -blood that was obviously his- emitting from darkened holes in the fabric. Tommy made a face and took a step back, suddenly feeling sick.
It was weird, seeing as he'd been mostly fine the night before while he was helping Mumbo with the stitches and all the bloody work. Then again, it was a weird night, filled with adrenaline and an absence of knowing what was going on.
It's only natural that Dream had more wounds than his brother since he was the one the van was chasing when Tommy was urging Tubbo faster. Speaking of Tubbo, he didn't make a sound even when Dream accidentally pressed a wound firmer against him; he was tanking the pain better than anyone Tommy had ever seen. It was something to look up to.
"Did they hurt you?", Dream asked, like Mumbo wasn't right there. Tubbo shook his head and Dream tucked him underneath his chin with a relieved sound. "Good... That's good"
He then turned to Mumbo, who straightened up when the attention was on him.
"Um, thank you for everything you did for him", Dream, quite awkwardly, said. Mumbo looked at him with narrowed eyebrows, and Tommy realized that at the angle he stood, that the man could see the other's face underneath the hood.
"You're welcome but are you okay? There's blood on your face", Mumbo asked like a concerned parent. It made both Tubbo and Tommy be more than a little alarmed. As much as Tubbo tried to pull away to have a look, Dream held him tight against his chest.
"It's not pretty", he muttered and his brother whined in worry.
"They can patch you up!", Tubbo offered on their behalf. He turned and stared at them both through covered eyes. "Like they did me! You can, can't you?"
Mumbo smiled.
"If you'll allow me to have a look", he regarded Dream with a handshake. "I'm Mumbo Jumbo"
---
It turned out that Dream's wounds were a lot worse than Tubbo's. Tommy wasn't let into the bathroom, so he had dragged Tubbo to his room to play some random board game he'd found in some corner of the house, but he could hear curses and yelps, bleats of pain instead of screams. It was bad. He didn't know if it was so painful because of the fact that Dream was concsious or just that his wounds were infected. After about six hours of being outside, trudging through God knows what, one could expect that outcome.
At least, Mumbo was quick with his work. The two of them came out about an hour later, Dream's torso adorned with so much gauze that it could be considered a shirt and his face looking... Not good. There is a scar running along his nose, cutting through an eyebrow with ragged, reddened and angry edges. It looked cool, at least, with his side-swept, blond hair; the big, curled horns that framed his head made it work, somehow. His eyes shone bright anyway, like he was feeling better despite the discomfort of the antiseptic.
"Tubbo?", they heard from the hall. Kubo, who was sitting with them, walked out of the room.
"Uh, here!", Tubbo shouted. Spooked out of his focus, Tommy laid his cards down on the covers of his bed. The door opened wider than the dog had left it and Dream peeked in.
"Get ready, we're leaving", was all he said. But Tubbo looked devastated that they were leaving and Tommy could feel it too because he didn't want Tubbo to leave so quickly. They'd become friends since last night and the board game had only made their bond stronger!
It was like back when he was small, when his brothers were still in normal school, back at home. When his friends from school would come over and would have to leave just as the fun was starting. It was always disheartening to him because he knew that good things only happened once; any fun they'd have had one day, they wouldn't have the next.
"I don't want to leave", Tubbo said his voice small. Dream turned back to him, curiosity and intrigue clear in the curve of his uncut brow. "Can't you talk to Mumbo? Maybe we can stay here for a day, it's safe enough!"
"Tubbo...", the blond sighed. "I know you want to play a bit more but we need to go. If someone saw you or me, I'm sorry but it's not safe"
"Come on, Dream! Just a day!", Tubbo persisted anyway. Tommy didn't interject; he didn't want to make things worse for his friend and ontop of that, he didn't know how Mumbo would react to such a change of plans. They hadn't discussed such boundaries, since Tommy wouldn't be seeing any old friends of his for a while. Phil rarely allowed visits, only because he wasn't home enough to look after hyperactive children that were dumped in his care for about three hours.
"If you decide to taste every cleaning spray in the cabinet while I'm gone, I'll have Hell to pay", was one of his honest excuses as to why Tommy couldn't have friends over often. He did go to other houses but he felt a little out of place. Every other kid's parent would get out of the car to greet the other parents and stick around for a few minutes, yet Phil was too busy for those formalities.
"If you get stabbed, stab 'em back", he had done the latter without the former many times... not that Phil ever learnt of that.
"You guys can stay a day", Mumbo announced, standing behind Dream. The blond walked a few steps into the room so the other could come in as well. "I don't mind and Tommy could use the company, really"
Dream shook his head, looking just the tiniest bit awkward. "No, you've been very kind but we do need to get going"
Tommy looked at Mumbo with a pleading look. Please, don't let them go, he wished with his eyes, not so soon!
"It's bright outside and I don't have any clothes that would fit you, mate, let alone cover your horns", the man said and Tommy resisted the urge to fistbump the air. "And the blood stains are pretty obvious with the holes, you'd be caught instantly"
Dream seemed to consider the man's words. Tommy thought that they had won the argument before the other brother responded.
"If we aren't a bother", he said and Mumbo smiled. "We're leaving when it gets dark outside though"
Tubbo stood up to hug Dream, and as much as the older of the tried to appear even older than his age, he gave a goofy smiled. Tommy couldn't help himself anymore and jumped up and down on the bed. Kubo returned and looked only a bit confused.