Chapter Text
I've been seeing the hermit!Tommy AU floating around, so I'm currently obsessing over it. But, hear me out, what if, there was also another new hermit?
What if the reason Tommy got to another smp was a portal, that opened up just as he jumped from the pillar? Tommy finds himself on Hermicraft, not knowing where he is and how to proceed next. He ends up doing his racoon arc that he would have with Techno.
Meanwhile Dream knows that Tommy is gone. Kinda upsetting to him, he had big plans, but life moves on. He hypes up Tubbo for the visit and Tubbo spends the day chasing Techno with the butcher army. And then the night comes and Tubbo happily takes his compass, maybe a few gifts for Tommy and leaves L'Manburg. Cue the scene where he sees the pillar, the holes and assumes the worst. He feels like he's going to pass out, but there's this really weird buzzing and he just has to check it out, you know? Tubbo finds a strange portal and falls into it by accident.
Both boys sneak around the server, because they want to obtain information, but what if they also looked like their skins? The hermits swear they can see a blonde thief, but their height varies, as well as their clothing.
When Tommy gets found, he panics and says his name is Tubbo. He's not gonna go around screaming his real name, what if they bring him back to Dream? So the hermits try to welcome "Tubbo" to the smp, and slowly learn that's he's a traumatized teen and they should not set fireworks near him, touch him or brandish axes. They do note that the boy never takes off his mask and protects a small compass.
When Tubbo gets found, he tells the truth. His name is Tubbo and he fell through a portal. They bring him to Xisuma and the admin starts to investigate the case. Meanwhile they give Tubbo a tour and he's so amazed by the builds he sees. They even help him build a small hut where he can store his items. They do notice his suit, his scars and the compass.
And now to the fun part:
Tommy and Tubbo share some traits, but their personalities are different. The hermits talk between each other, so they all know about this new boy named Tubbo. But somehow they find everyone has a different experience. Some say the boy is loud, curses way too much and uses cobblestone as his main building material. Yet others claim that the boy is more silent, almost never curses and uses wood as his main building material.
But both the boys have a moment when they are silent or loud, so people assume it just depends on what mood they catch Tubbo in. And both boys also use wood AND cobble, so again, the hermits assume it depends on which building they saw first. What they can all agree on however, is that the boy is skinny, wears a compass, hates fireworks and loud sounds in general and is quite talkative. However, no one seems to agree on how the boy dresses or how tall he actually is.
Reality is, that people always know only Tubbo or Tommy and each of the boys build a home in a different part of the server. If the boys tell someone something deeply personal, the hermit doesn't share it with others, only trying to comfort/help the boy. However with big events like wars and limited respawns, this unspoken rule doesn't apply. Tommy wonders how do they know about the war and assumes Xisuna just got close to figuring out how to get him home. Tubbo smiles when they tell him he has infinite respawns and assures them he wasn't worried about that.
Life goes on, the boys learn how to start healing and they start settling down. And then Xisuma makes an announcement for everyone to meet in the town hall and to bring Tubbo. So one group grabs Tommy, who honestly thinks Xisuma knows everything because they are an admin, while the other brings Tubbo, who is so excited to be able to return home. Except when they arrive to the hall, Tubbo hears someone else exclaim "We brought Tubbo" and he's so confused, because he's Tubbo, so who's that?
And then he sees the mask that screams Dream, the blonde hair and the compass and he realizes the needle never started spinning wildly. He thought it was only because he was somewhere far, far away in the Dream SMP, not because Tommy was here too. The boy with the mask freezes "Tubbo?" and Tubbo looks back "Tommy." And then they run to hug each other, because it's been so long and they missed each other so much. Tommy makes a comment how Tubbo is so clingy and Tubbo lets him have it.
Meanwhile the hermits realize that they have TWO traumatized boys in their midst and it all starts making sense. They let them have their moment and discuss what to do next. Xisuma adresses everyone and shares what he found some far: The portal was a glitch created by some admin messing with codes, but as long as the boys remember the server/s they are from, they can just use the main hub portals when the hermits leave for MCC. They all agree upon the plan and use the community meeting to ask the boys some questions about their world.
They ask them if they are both from the same world. Tommy goes to say: "Tubbo wa- is my best friend." and the reason he changes it is because Tubbo uses the present tense. They have an awkward staring contest and move on to tell them about the wars. Tommy proud, Tubbo a little sad. And while they're at it they explain the concept of cannon deaths, shocking everyone by the information a normal server uses hardcore rules. Tommy says: "Yeah, we have 3 cannon deaths and after that that's it, except my brother is a ghost now, so who knows." And he tries to play it off as a joke. Tubbo frowns, but doesn't comment on it, so they assume it's fine.
But then the boys get to the election arc and try to explain the politics and you can see them splitting. Tommy is still in denial about old Wilbur doing bad things, but Tubbo argues that Wilbur was about to be a tyrant, because he didn't get voted in, he just elected himself. And Tommy tries to make a joke "Yeah, you would know that mister president." and it comes out bitter than he wanted and it's akward again. The hermits are suprised that Tubbo is the president, so they ask him about his country. But unfortunatelly Tommy starts being passive agresive and eventually Tubbo snaps too.
It boils down to a nasty argument where they argue who left who and then Tommy drops the "The discs were worth more than you ever were." And he stops, shocked. Oh god, why did he say that? Why would he say such a thing? Tubbo was his best friend. But he betrayed him, that's why Dream was his best friend. Oh wait, he doesn't have friends, because he's an asshole and Tubbo looks like he will cry. As he's panicking, he tries to apologize, but Tubbo slaps his hand away and just tells Tommy: "I don't regret exiling you."
And then he runs away and Tommy stays there frozen, because what the fuck, but also fair, he said the same thing. And the hermits are just shocked, because they learned too much and they are also not sure what to do. So they ask the boys if they want some company and leave them alone when they both decline. Tommy and Tubbo keep avoiding each other, because the compass tells them where they are and the hermits let them heal on their own. Tommy makes a new bench and pretends to not notice when Tubbo starts sitting on it.
One day he sits next to Tubbo and they apologize to each other. Tommy shares what happened in exile and Tubbo tells him about the butcher plan. They reminiscent about the people waiting for them and start talking about their plans for the next MCC. After they make up, they explore the server a bit, enjoying the "vacation" as they decided to call it. Basically they bond with the hermits and it's all cool, until the boys accidentally explode a creeper and Tubbo dies.
Tommy panics (they both had one life left in the previous world) and imidiately asks if it was a cannon death. Xisuma assures him that there is no such thing as cannon death here, but since Tommy insists he sets the cannon deaths ridiculously high to like 100. So Tommy calms down and waits to Tubbo to respawn. When he does, he tells him about the 100 lives and that they don't have to fear final death for a while. Tubbo smiles and both boys feel a lot safer on the server.
Anyway, flashforward to MCC time when the boys try to give all the advice they recived for pvp to the hermits and they have a lil training montage. And then they go to the MCC and the boys try to pretend they are totally new and don't know the courses and competitors. They are not sure who to aproach, but they bump into Ranboo and he fills them in on what they missed. At one point Tubbo goes to grab some snack, but when he returns he's shaking, so Tommy pulls him aside to asks if he's okay.
And Tubbo tries to brush it off, but Tommy keeps asking and poking, so he caves in and tells Tommy how he met Dream, who told him that if Tubbo ever goes back to the Dream SMP, he's a dead child. Tommy is understandably confused, because yeah, they both have only one cannon life, so that's always a possibility, but Tubbo shakes his head and whispers that he had already died 4 times. And then Tubbo goes and explains that he thinks about it, Dream is the one who decides which death is cannon and he can kill people at any moment, declaring the random deaths as cannon.
And then Tubbo tells Tommy how he died on the 16th to Techno and he was so scared he was going to die forever, but Dream was there and told him they are friends and that he always had a weak spot for Tubbo, so he will grant him one last life, because "It's not his time to die yet." And Tommy is angry, fuming that Dream started manipulating Tubbo since the start, so when he had to exile Tommy, the decision was easier, angry that Dream used the same line when he pulled him away from the lava, angry that Dream has all the power.
So Tommy comes up with a reckless plan: The first and only thing they will do when they return to the SMP will be fighting Dream. And when they finally beat the admin and get the discs, they can either stay in the SMP or join Hermitcraft. Tubbo agrees and they return just in time to watch the finale. They don't tell the hermits about their plan, but everyone can see there's something on their mind. When the MCC ends, the boys tell the hermits their goodbyes, exchanging coms, so that they could communicate across dimensions, because they are friends :)
Bonus:
The avengers assemble scene, except another portal shows up and it's the Hermitcraft people, also ready to take down Dream and they stop Tommy from the cycle of killing.