Chapter Text
Somehow, Tommy had managed to patch things up with Techno and Phil. In fact, both of them had tried to make it clear to Tommy that they hadn’t been upset at how he’d treated them in the first place.
Later that day, when Techno and Phil left, Wilbur complimented Tommy, telling him how good he’d done and how Phil and Techno would probably visit again soon.
Everything was going really well.
———
The day started like any other.
Tommy got out of bed, messily throwing his blankets to the side, before getting dressed. Not long after he’d arrived, Wilbur had gotten him a bunch of clothes, which were by far the comfiest clothes Tommy had ever owned.
There was a large mirror, one that Wilbur had gotten for Tommy when they were decorating his room, that was leaned up against the wall beside his dresser. Tommy normally glanced at his reflection whenever he walked by.
But the reflection Tommy saw now didn’t look anything like himself.
Tommy froze in the middle of his bedroom, eyes widening at what he saw. Tommy felt both like throwing up and like celebrating. The two emotions conflicted inside of him, waging an internal war against one another.
All his life, Tommy had always looked completely and totally human, despite being a fae.
His hair had always been a dull blonde color and his eyes had always been grey-blue. His ears were always rounded and his skin was flawed. There had never been any animal features to be found either, and he’d never had claws like the ones that other fae had.
But the person in the reflection didn’t look human at all.
Tommy honestly wasn’t even sure if he was looking at himself. Because the person staring back looked unfamiliar and foreign.
Deep down though, Tommy knew that the reflection could only be himself. Who else could be standing here right now?
Tommy’s hair was a brighter blonde than it had ever been before, almost looking golden with the sunlight reflecting off it. His eyes were still blue, but they were too bright to be natural, and his ears were now pointed, sticking out of his hair.
When Tommy looked down at his hands, he realized he had the same claws on the ends of his fingers that every fae had. The weirdest part was that, when he squinted, Tommy could make out tiny feathers growing in behind his ears and on his cheeks, almost reminding him of the black feathers that Phil had there too, although Tommy’s didn’t look to be fully grown.
Somehow, Tommy didn’t look human anymore. He looked like a fae.
He didn’t know how to feel. Part of him wanted to celebrate, and was happy that he looked more like Wilbur and his family. But the other part of Tommy couldn’t help but be disgusted, screaming that he had become a horrible monster.
The two parts of Tommy fought with each other and it made his head hurt. It felt like two sides of himself were at war with each other, and Tommy didn’t know which one would win.
“Tommy?” Wilbur called through the door. He usually made breakfast around this time, since Tommy always woke up at around the same time each morning. Wilbur was most likely confused as to why Tommy wasn’t downstairs. “Are you up?”
“Uh- yeah!” Tommy stammered out, rushing over to the door, but hesitating to open it. His newly clawed hand lingered over the doorknob, moving forward one moment, and then backward the next. “Hey… Wilbur?” He continued awkwardly, still having not opened the door.
“Yeah?” Wilbur asked, sounding confused.
Tommy shuffled around, uncomfortably. “You… wouldn’t hurt me if something important happened that- uhm… might change a lot of things. Right?”
He didn’t like asking that question, but the caretakers at the orphanage had never been nice to Tommy, so he’d learned to expect to be hurt whenever anything was different from how it’d been the previous day.
“I would never hurt you, Tommy.” Wilbur replied steadily. “Do you wanna tell me what’s going on?”
Tommy took a deep breath. “I’m just gonna open the door… okay?” He said quietly, voice shaky.
“Okay. You can take your time if you want. I’ll always be here.” Wilbur responded, his words gentle, helping calm Tommy down a bit.
Tommy bit his lip. “I’m just going to get it over with.” He mumbled, not even sure that Wilbur had heard him.
Slowly, Tommy placed his hand on the doorknob, turned it, and then swung the door open. He kept his eyes on the ground, even as he heard Wilbur gasp.
“Oh- I don’t know what to say, Tommy.” Wilbur said, his tone filled with too many emotions for Tommy to identify.
Despite Tommy knowing deep down that Wilbur would never hurt him, he couldn’t help but tense up, preparing to run back into his room and slam the door. It was a habit from the orphanage that Tommy hadn’t lost. He wasn’t sure if he ever would lose it.
Suddenly, there were arms wrapping around Tommy and pulling him into a hug. Tommy felt himself push farther into the hold, tears building in his eyes.
Wilbur rocked back and forth slowly. “I’m so proud of you.” He praised quietly. “You’ve been so brave, coming here with me. You’ve finally been here long enough for your own magic to awaken. I know you don’t look human anymore, but that’s a good thing, Tommy.”
Tommy didn’t know what to say in response. He didn’t know why Wilbur was proud of him. He didn’t understand why Wilbur thought he was brave.
Tommy didn’t feel brave. He’d only ever felt scared, like a little kid.
He’d been scared in the orphanage, he’d been scared when he entered the forest, and when he met Wilbur for the first time. And while Tommy had been happy when he’d entered the fae realm, he’d still been a bit scared.
Tommy felt like he was always scared, somewhere deep down.
Wilbur just hugged him tighter at his lack of response. “I know you’re probably scared right now, but this is a good thing, I promise.” He said, as if reading Tommy’s thoughts.
“Okay.” Tommy whispered back, wiping his tears on the teal sweater that Wilbur wore.
After a few more minutes of standing in the hallway, in Wilbur’s warm embrace, Tommy reluctantly pulled away. He wanted to stay in Wilbur’s arms, but Tommy also knew that he needed to eat.
Wilbur seemed to come to a similar realization, because he started walking towards the stairs, motioning for Tommy to follow.
As they walked towards the kitchen, Wilbur slowed his pace and met eyes with Tommy, bright yellow staring into sky blue.
“Always remember that I love you, Tommy. No matter what.” Wilbur stated simply, like it was a fact. His eyes started glowing dimly, a small smile appearing on his face.
Tommy froze where he was and stopped walking, breath caught in his throat. Nobody had ever loved Tommy, and they definitely hadn’t said it out loud before. Everyone had always hated him.
He wanted to think it was a lie. Tommy wanted to convince himself that it wasn’t real. It was too good to be true.
But he knew that fae couldn’t lie and he knew that this was real.
Tommy couldn’t say the response he wanted to, the words caught in his throat. He wanted to say it so badly, four simple words; ‘I love you too’. But his mouth refused to work.
On the edge of his vision, Tommy could see the glow dim from Wilbur’s eyes and his smile become a little less genuine.
Tommy opened his mouth to reply, but he still couldn’t get the words out. He kept repeating to himself that it wasn’t a lie, that Tommy really did love Wilbur. He knew it couldn’t be a lie. Tommy knew that he trusted Wilbur.
Tommy knew that he loved Wilbur, didn’t he?
He had to love Wilbur, because if Tommy didn’t, then he didn’t know if he ever could. Tommy didn’t know if he could ever love anyone if he didn’t love Wilbur.
———
Tommy was walking through the meadows outside of the house, Wilbur by his side.
Grass and rocks crunched under Tommy’s shoes as he walked through the tall grass and flowers. A few birds flew by, chirping greetings to them as they passed.
At one point, a fluffy brown bunny hopped over to Tommy and sat in front of him, staring up at him with big dark eyes. Wilbur had shooed the bunny away when it refused to move out of the path.
Now, they were on the edge of the meadow, a trail that headed through the thick forest right in front of them.
Wilbur had told Tommy that the trails led to other people’s homes and a variety of different locations, each trail bending to lead you exactly where you wanted to go. They weren’t much different from the paths in the forest that Tommy used to live in when he was in the human realm.
Today, Wilbur was taking Tommy to the neighbors house. Apparently, a woman called Puffy lived there with her son, Tubbo, who was about Tommy’s age. They also had another family coming over, a man called Sneeg and his brother, also about Tommy’s age, called Ranboo.
Wilbur had called the whole event a ‘playdate’ which was a term that Tommy was wholly unfamiliar with. He hadn’t even heard that word from the caretakers or the other kids at the orphanage. Tommy wanted to ask Wilbur what it meant, but he was too nervous.
Tommy wasn’t sure that he wanted to meet Tubbo or Ranboo, or anyone else. The kids at the orphanage had always hated Tommy, and he couldn’t help but be wary of meeting other kids now, even if they were fae, just like himself.
“Puffy’s house shouldn’t be too far down the trail.” Wilbur stated idly as they entered the forest. “Her house isn’t too different from mine, it’s in a meadow too. Although she has a lot of ponds with waterfalls and it’s a bit more hilly.”
“Can we swim in them?” Tommy asked. He’d never been swimming before, but he’d heard kids in the orphanage talk about it. Swimming had always sounded fun.
Wilbur laughed. “Probably not. She keeps a lot of fish in them and they’re quite small. It wouldn’t be very fun. Maybe I’ll take you to the lake sometime though. You can swim there.”
“Oh, okay.” Tommy replied, feeling a bit disappointed.
“Don’t be too sad.” Wilbur said, smiling reassuringly. “You might not be able to swim in the ponds, but they do look very pretty.”
Tommy opened his mouth to reply, but his response was forgotten when the trees suddenly parted and revealed a massive meadow.
The grass was tall and bright, and the meadow was filled with rolling hills, dotted with multicolored rocks. Just as Wilbur had said, there were multiple small ponds dotting the area. The water was bright blue and clear, and Tommy could see colorful fish darting around coral in all colors of the rainbow.
In the center of the meadow was a large house. The bottom half of it was made up of clean, dark rocks that had been stacked perfectly together, while the top half was made of a beautiful, polished dark wood that shined in the sunlight.
In the distance, Tommy could see four blurry figures standing beside of the larger ponds, one that had a massive waterfall.
Wilbur started walking towards the group and Tommy immediately followed, assuming that they must be all the fae that they were meeting with.
As they got closer, Tommy realized that two of them were definitely smaller and shorter than the others, clearly younger than everyone else, just like Tommy. He assumed that they must be Tubbo and Ranboo.
“Hey Wil!” A woman with white and brown hair greeted as they finally came to a stop in front of the group.
Wilbur smiled. “Hey Puffy. Hey everyone, it’s been awhile.”
“Yeah, definitely has.” A man with blue, fluttering moth wings on his back said, pausing before glancing down at Tommy and then back up at Wilbur. “I never thought of you as the type to pick up stray kids, honestly. What’s he called?”
Tommy felt everyone’s eyes instantly turn towards him. He swallowed nervously, unsure of how to respond.
Wilbur had told Tommy before they left that Sneeg, Puffy, Tubbo, and Ranboo, weren’t actually their neighbors true names. And just as Wilbur didn’t know their names, they didn’t know his either.
Tommy wasn’t supposed to give them his true name, so he was given the task of coming up with something to have them call him.
“Uhm…” Tommy began awkwardly, scrambling to come up with something. “You can call me, Theseus.” He didn’t know why he picked the name, only that he remembered Techno calling him that a few times.
The man nodded. “Alright. You can call me Sneeg. And…” He pointed towards the woman with the brown and white hair. “That’s Puffy.” He motioned to a kid that had hair split down the middle, half black and half white. “And that’s Ranboo.” Sneeg opened his mouth to introduce the fourth person, but was interrupted.
“You can call me Tubbo!” A kid with small goat horns sticking out of his shaggy brown hair introduced himself, jumping in excitement.
Puffy sighed, although it sounded fond. “Tubbo, you shouldn’t interrupt people like that, even when you’re excited.”
Tubbo rolled his eyes. “It’s fine! I don’t need Sneeg to introduce me anyway. I can introduce myself.” He turned to look at Tommy, eyes shining with mischief. “C’mon, let’s get away from all the boring adults and do something interesting.” Tubbo said bluntly, before surging forward and grabbing Tommy’s wrist, starting to walk away.
“Don’t wander too far!” Puffy called.
“We won’t!” Ranboo replied, following after Tubbo, who was still dragging Tommy along.
Tommy found himself stumbling, struggling to keep up with Tubbo’s quick pace. In an attempt to slow down, he wiggled his wrist free from Tubbo’s grip.
“Where are we going?” Tommy asked nervously, rubbing at the wrist Tubbo had grabbed.
Tubbo smiled, not phrased by Tommy pulling his wrist away from him. “To one of the ponds. There’s one that has a ton of fish! I want to show you it and I’ll let you name one!”
Ranboo rolled his eyes. “They all have fish, Tubbo. You just like that one because Benson lives in it.” Tommy spotted a fluffy black and white tail flicking behind Ranboo as he spoke.
“That’s not the only reason!” Tubbo protested, dark green eyes beginning to glow faintly.
“Who’s Benson?” Tommy asked as they continued to walk towards one of the ponds.
The glow in Tubbo’s eyes got brighter. “He’s the best fish ever! He always comes to the top of the pond to greet me and I feed him every day!”
“Oh. Is he your pet?” Tommy questioned, remembering how a few people in the village had animals they took care of, usually cats or dogs.
“Yeah!” Tubbo exclaimed. “All the fish are kind of our pets, but he’s my favorite.”
They arrived at the pond and Tommy could see that while there were less fish in this one than in the last one, there was much more coral. The plants glimmered in the sunlight, and the fish darted around, forms distorted by the ripples on top of the water.
All of the sudden, a small, white fish with pale orange spots darted to the top. The fish sat just below the surface in front of Tubbo.
“Hello Benson!” Tubbo greeted the fish, crouching down in front of it. “How have you been?”
Tommy tilted his head, confused. “Why are you talking to him? He’s not going to respond, Tubbo. He’s a fish.”
Ranboo sighed. “Don’t question it, Theseus. Tubbo is always like this with Benson.”
Eventually, after Tubbo was done having a one-sided conversation with a fish, he suggested that Tommy named one of the fish in the pond. Apparently, Ranboo had named one awhile ago and now it was Tommy’s turn.
As he watched the fish swim around, Tommy caught sight of a brown and white one, with vibrantly red tipped fins. “Does that one have a name?” He asked, pointing to it.
“Nope! Go ahead and give it one if you want.” Tubbo replied.
“Okay.” Tommy said, studying the fish for awhile and thinking about what to name it. Eventually, he came to a decision. “I’ll name her Clementine.”
“Clementine?” Ranboo questioned, raising an eyebrow. “That’s an odd name for a fish.”
Tubbo laughed. “Says the one who named his fish ‘Ender’. I don’t even know what that word means!”
Ranboo rolled his eyes, although he didn’t seem upset. “It makes perfect sense to me! Okay?”
Tommy laughed. “Maybe it does in your dreams, Ranboo.”
“You guys just don’t understand my naming process.” Ranboo said as Tommy and Tubbo continued to laugh.
———
Later that day, as they were preparing to leave, Tubbo walked over to Tommy.
“I want you to have this.” Tubbo said, holding out a necklace, with a small bottle of water handing from the cord. “It’s a bottle with coral inside of it. Puffy always says that coral lives forever, which I think is how long our friendship should last too.”
Carefully, Tommy took the necklace and looked closer at the bottle. Just as Tubbo said, there was coral in there. It was a small branch of bright red coral, shaped like a tiny star. “Oh- Thank you.”
Tubbo smiled, eyes glowing brightly. “No problem! Ranboo has one too, and so do I. We can all match now!”
Tommy laughed. “Why would I want to match with Ranboo?” He said jokingly. Thankfully, Ranboo had already left with Sneeg, so he wasn’t there to protest Tommy’s comments.
Tubbo smiled more, barely holding back his own laughter. “We don’t want him to feel left out, do we?”
“I guess not.” Tommy responded, finally containing his laughter.
Wilbur nudged Tommy. “Sorry to ruin the moment, but we have to go.” Wilbur said. “I’ll bring you back to see your friends again soon.”
Tommy nodded. He didn’t really want to leave. He liked hanging out with his friends and he liked having friends for the first time in his entire life. “Bye, Tubbo.”
“Bye, Theseus. I’ll see you again soon.” Tubbo replied.
With those words, Wilbur and Tommy walked back into the forest, following the trail back home.
———
While they were in walking home, Tommy began to think about what had happened earlier that day, when he had woken up looking more like a fae. When Wilbur had told Tommy that he loved him.
Earlier, Tommy had struggled to respond. He hadn’t been able to get the words out. But now, he found them escaping his mouth easily.
“I love you.” Tommy said, struggling to look up at Wilbur. His gaze stayed focused on the ground.
It was silent for a few moments and Tommy heard Wilbur’s footsteps abruptly stop. The silence was defeaning. It was so quiet that Tommy could hear every individual leaf rustling. He was worried that maybe Wilbur didn’t love him back and was trying to keep from saying it.
But then, all of the sudden, Tommy heard a quiet sniffle.
“I love you too, Tommy.” Wilbur responded, voice wet with tears.
Tommy finally found the courage to look up and was met with the sight of Wilbur crying. But Wilbur didn’t look sad, he looked overwhelmingly happy. Wilbur was smiling, eyes glowing brighter than Tommy had ever seen before.
“Oh.” Tommy breathed. “I didn’t know if you’d… say it back.” He mumbled.
Wilbur wiped a tear from his cheek. “I’ll always say it back. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I don’t know.” Tommy responded. In truth, he didn’t know why Wilbur wouldn’t respond. After all, he had been the one to say he loved Tommy first.
But Tommy could admit that his nervousness got the best of him sometimes. And maybe that was why he had been so unsure if Wilbur would love him back.
Tommy wasn’t used to being loved. He wasn’t used to having friends. He wasn’t used to having a family.
He wasn’t used to any of this, but Tommy found himself hoping that he always had it all.