Chapter Text
7 years prior
“Prince Tommy! Please don’t go too far!”
“I won’t Miss Niki!”
Sunlight cascaded onto the royal gardens as the young prince explored around. His father, King Philza, had allowed him to head outside as long as Niki, his caretaker, went with him and he stayed inside the royal gardens. The young boy smiled as he saw the wonderful world that was the outside, no more would he have to listen to his father drone on and on about how a prince should behave and hear “Look at your brothers,” who mind Tommy’s father where eight and ten years older than him, so it wasn't a great comparison. Technoblade, his oldest brother, was nineteen and next in line for the throne, and Wilbur, his second oldest brother, was seventeen. Comparing a nine year old child to two basically adults wasn't exactly fair in Tommy’s mind. Running down the path Tommy exchanged many hellos with all the people who worked in the gardens, even passing Lord Eret, the son of one King Philza’s allies.
“Where are you off to this morning young man?” Eret smiled at the blond boy, crouching down to be on his level.
“Dad let me go explore!” Tommy exclaimed with a toothy grin.
“Oh did he?”
“Yeah yeah yeah!!! He said as long as Miss Niki came with me I could go anywhere I wanted in the gardens! But I don't need her!” Tommy puffed out his chest, “I’m a brave warrior! I can do anything!”
“Is that so,” Eret stood back up, “Morning Niki, did you hear you’re taking care of a brave warrior?”
Niki smiled at Eret and then at Tommy, “Am I? Well that’s wonderful news! I’ll have someone to protect me if things get hectic.”
“Don’t worry Miss Niki! I’ll protect you!” Tommy pretended to use a sword, swishing his arms around and making what he claimed were sword noises, “Let’s go!!!” He whined, “I wanna explore!!!”
“Okay okay,” Niki laughed, “Bye Eret! Have a nice day!”
“You as well!”
Tommy rushed ahead, quickly dashing out of Niki’s sight. He looked around for something to do or someone to play with. He soon spotted a boy standing near a wooden fence. Tommy made his way over.
“Hello!” Tommy said to the boy.
The boy turned around, his brown hair almost falling into his eyes, “Oh! Hello!”
“My name’s Tommy! What’s your name?”
“I’m Tubbo!” Tubbo replied with a smile, “Wait...are you Tommy as in the Prince Tommy?”
“Yeah! That’s me!”
The brown haired boy eyes sparkled with excitement, “Woah! That’s so cool! What’s like being a prince?”
Tommy clambered over the fence to the side Tubbo was on, glad to have found a friend, “It’s really cool! Though some days are kinda annoying when Wilbur or Techno have to babysit me. What do you do?” He asked, eyes filled with curiosity.
“I live with the bees!” Tubbo pointed to the beehives that stood a but aways from the boys, the bee’s floated lazily in the air, “My mom and dad make the honey for the castle!”
“Oooo,” Tommy looked over at the bees, “You must be very brave, bees are scary.”
“They’re not that bad when you get used to them! They’re really nice!” Tubbo smiled as he looked fondly at the bees.
“You're brave enough to be…” Tommy thought for a moment, “brave enough to be a knight! Yes! I knight you! Sir Tubbo!”
Tubbo gasped, “A Knight! That’s so cool!”
“I know right!”
The boys stayed and played for a while until Niki finally found Tommy and had to take him back to the castle, much to Tommy and Tubbo’s dissapointment. Before Tommy left he told Tubbo that he'd have to come over to the castle one time so he could show him all the cool things in it, to which Tubbo wholeheartedly agreed with. Once the boys had said their goodbyes Niki walked Tommy back to the castle, where King Philza was waiting for them.
“Hi Dad!” Tommy said as he gave his father a hug.
“Hello.” Philza said with a smile as he picked up his son, “I heard from Lord Eret that you seemed to be having a very nice time?”
“Yeah! I met a really nice boy!”
“Oh? Who?”
“His name was Tubbo! He lives with the bee’s! He’s very brave! I made him a Knight!”
“Did you? That was very nice of you Tommy, you said he lives with the bees?”
“Yep!”
“Ah, so he must be the Smiths son.”
“Dad can he come over so we can play?”
“If you would like that, then yes. I don’t think Wilbur or Techno are great people to play with, I’ll ask the Smith’s if they’d be okay with it.” Philza said as he set his son down.
“Really Dad?”
“Really, now head inside and get cleaned up, you’ve been out almost all day!”
Tommy headed inside the castle, leaving just Niki and Philza outside.
“He seemed to be very happy to have someone to play with his age.” Niki said as she watched the young prince run inside.
“Indeed.” Philza agreed, “Indeed he must.”
“So Tubbo, what did you do today?” Clara, Tubbo’s mom, asked as her son entered the house.
“I played with the Prince! I became a knight!” Tubbo said with pride.
“Oh? Did you?” Clara laughed, thinking that Tubbo’s imagination was just running wild.
John, Tubbo’s father joined the other two in the kitchen, “Why did he make you a knight T?”
“He said it’s because I was very brave because I lived with the bees!”
“Ahhhh,” John ruffled his son's hair, “You are very brave!”
The family all laughed together until a knock was heard. Clara went to open the door, expecting to see one of her friends or a page asking when the next batch of honey was going to be ready.
“Hello! What can I-Oh my word!” What Clara was not expecting was the King to be the one knocking on her door, “Your majesty! What can we do for you?” Clara exclaimed, tripping over her words slightly.
“Hello, is Tubbo here?” Phil as politely, noticing Tubbo peeking out from behind his mother's legs, “Oh hello! You must be the young man that Tommy was walking about!.”
A smile spread across Tubbo’s face, “He talked about me?”
“Yes he did! He said you were very brave, and that you’re a Knight, so that means I should address you as Sir Tubbo? Correct?”
“Yeah! I’m Sir Tubbo! Knight of the Bees!” Tubbo pumped the air with his fist, his parents both still trying to comprehend what was happening.
“That you are,” Phil turned back to Clara, “Now my I ask if it is okay if Tubbo could come to the castle tomorrow? Tommy’s very adamant of seeing him again, hasn’t stopped asking me since he got home!” Pill said with a laugh.
“Please mom! Can I go? Pleeeeeease?” Tubbo looked up at his mom.
“Um, well,” Clara looked at John who just shrugged and gave her an “Why are you looking at me I don’t know what to do either” look, “Sure!” Clara added with an awkward smile, “If it would make both of them happy then sure, absolutely.”
“Fantastic! Lord Eret will come to get him tomorrow, have a lovely night!” With that Philza left the Smith’s, and changed their life forever.
Tommy woke up bright and early the next day, a little too early. Tommy crept out of his room and into the kitchen. Trying to stay as quiet as possible Tommy made sure to walk carefully so no one would hear him. Arriving in the large kitchen he immediately made his way into the pantry. Opening the large doors Tommy eyed a plate of pastries on a shelf, he had to get those pastries. The only problem? Tommy was too short to reach them. He looked around for a stool or a chair he could stand on to reach them easier. Suddenly something moved in the dark and startled Tommy.
“Ah!”
The dark figure approached the prince, its eyes glowing. It reached out a hand towards Tommy who was paralzyed in fear.
“Don’t eat me!!”
“Eat you? Oh my goodness you muffin!” The figure came into the light, the glowing eyes fading, revealing a pair of glasses, it wasn’t a monster, it was Badboyhalo! The cook's son.
“Bad! You scared me!” Tommy said pouting and crossing his arms in a humph.
“Sorry Tommy!” Bad smiled and ruffled the prince's hair, “What are you doing here so early anyways?”
“I’m too excited to sleep anymore so I woke up!” Tommy said enthusiastically.
“Why’s that?”
“My friend’s coming over! He’s a knight!”
“Oh, a knight you say? What’s this knight's name?” Bad questioned, enjoying his little conversion with the boy.
“His name is Tubbo! He lives with the bees!” The prince responded, proud of his brave friend.
“Ah, very interesting, he must give us the honey my mom and I use here.”
“He does?!” Tommy said in awe.
“Yes, I think he does.”
At that moment another person walked in, Technoblade, his pink hair loose and falling around his shoulders, the red vest he wore was unbuttoned and one of his boots was unlaced. The heir to the throne must have just woken up.
“Morning Bad.” he yawned, rubbing his head, “Do you know where the cherry pastries are?”
“Oh! Good Morning Prince Technoblade!” Bad bowed to the prince.
“God please don’t do that, it just, seems so, not me.” Techno waved his hand, “Just call me Techno, it’s no big deal.”
“But Prince Techno-”
“You call Tommy, Tommy no?”
“Yes but-”
“So just call me Techno.”
“Okay.”
“Fantastic, now where are the pastries?”
“In the pantry on the second to top shelf….Techno.” Bad added at the end, a little hesitantly.
Techno headed over and picked up the pastries with ease and set them on the table, where Tommy immediately reached for one, making Techno quickly grab them away.
“Ah ah ah, pastries are for good princes.” The pink haired man teased, making his younger brother pout.
“But I have been a good prince!”
“A good prince doesn’t sneak out of his room to get snacks without permission does he?”
“No….but you’re here too!” Said the prince, pointed a finger accusingly at his brother.
“Yes but I can be here.”
“Can I please have a pastry Techno, please!!” Tommy whined.
“Fine but just one.”
“Yay!” Tommy grabbed one of the sweet cherry treats and bit into it, a smile spread across his face, “You make the best pastries Bad!”
“Thank you Tommy.”
“Did someone say pastries?” A new voice echoed through the kitchen, Wilbur ran in and grabbed two, “hell yeah.”
“Language!”
“Sorry Bad, anyways! Thanks for the pastries Bad!” Wilbur began to head out, not before Techno grabbed Wilburs pale yellow shirt, “Not so fast, where are you off to?”
“Meeeee????” Wilbur laughed awkwardly, “I’m not going anywhere! Nope not me!”
“You’re running off again aren’t you?”
Wilburs looked at his brother, slightly shocked, “How did you know!”
“You have your guitar with you and a bag, it’s not that hard to tell.”
Wilbur sighed, this would have been the third time he would have tried to run off. It’s not very surprising, Wilbur loves anything to do with music so he always tries to escape to little towns where he hasn’t been seen as the Prince and stay for a few days playing music and teaching people music.
“Are we having a party here?”
All four boys turned to see Philza standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Bad quickly bowed.
“Good morning Your Highness!”
Philza smiled and nodded at the boy, “Good morning Bad, I see everyone found your cherry pastries?”
Bad laughed, “Seems so!”
Phil laughed along with him as he made his way over to the rest of the group and grabbed a pastry of his own, “William, what have I said about running off?” Phil turned to his second oldest, who flinched at the sound of his full name.
“Don’t run off you could get hurt.” Wilbur replied in a monotone voice.
“Yeah Wilbur! Listen to Dad!!” Tommy stuck his tongue out at him, to which Wilbur just swatted at him in return.
“Very good,” Phil then turned to his youngest, “Now, why might you be up so early?”
“I’m too excited for Tubbo to come over!! When is he coming over Dad?”
Techno looked at the two in confusion, “Who’s Tubbo?”
“Yeah!” Wilbur said through a mouthful of cherry pastry, “Who’s Tubbo?”
“My new best friend!” Tommy said happily.
“Oh, cool.” Techno leaned towards his father, “What kingdom is he from?”
“Kingdom? Oh no, he’s the Smith’s son, the ones who make the honey.”
“So you’re just gonna let him play with one of the gardener kids?” Wilbur said, stuffing his face with another pastry.
“Will, you run off every other week to different villages and practically live with the people there.” Phill said, cocking an eyebrow.”
“Touché touché”
“Now,” Phil smiled at Tommy, “I believe Eret is going to leave soon, would you want to go with him?”
Tommy’s eyes widened, “Can I?!”
Ruffling his son's hair, Phil laughed, “Yes you can, go find Eret I think he’s going to leave soon.”
“Thanks Dad!” Tommy gave Phil a quick hug and then ran off to go find Eret.
Eret was grabbing his red coat and was about to head out when a ball of blonde fury came running at him.
“Woah!” The wind was knocked out of Eret’s chest and Tommy careened into him.
“Hello Tommy.”
“Dad says I can go with you!” The boy said jumping up and down.
“Did he?” Eret grabbed Tommy’s light red jacket and handed it to the boy, “Well we best be getting going, shall we?”
Tommy shrugged on his coat and set out with Eret. After a few minutes of walking they arrived at the Smith’s house. Eret straightened his coat and checked Tommy’s appearance. He then knocked on the door. John answered it.
“Oh hello! You must be Lord Eret correct?”
Eret nodded, “Hello! Yes, I’m Lord Eret, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He stuck out his hand for John to shake.”
“John Smith,” he took Erets hand, “The pleasure’s all mine.”
“Moooom! Let me goooo!”
“Hold on Tubbo! There! Now you can go!”
Clara and Tubbo’s voices could be heard from outside. The boy ran out from the door, eyes lighting up when he saw Tommy.
“Tommy!”
“Tubbo!”
The two rushed into a hug. Clara, John, and Eret all laughed.
“Well they get along swimmingly, don’t they?” John commented.
“I’m glad,” Clara said, putting a hand on her husband's arm, “Tubbo doesn’t have a lot of friends and seeing that the Prince is this happy to see him makes me happy.”
“Well, I am happy to inform you that the Prince was up way earlier than he should have been, “Eret glanced at Tommy who just smiled, “because he was so excited to see Tubbo today.”
Clara smiled, looking fondly at her son, “Have a nice time Tubbo, be a good guest!”
“Yes mom!” Tubbo grinned.
“C’mon Tubbo! I’ll race you to the castle!” Tommy said, eager for a challenge
“Oh you’re on!”
The two boys headed off as fast as they could.
“Oh god- It was lovely meeting you two but I think I must run!”
John chuckled, “Good luck!”
Eret sped off after the two boys, yelling at them to slow down as he chased them towards the castle. Though, as he ran after them. Eret knew that this was the start of something wonderful, these two were made to be friends.