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Wilbur clutched at his hair as his tear filled eyes stayed trained on his carpeted floor. The tears hadn’t fallen quite yet, but Wilbur knew that they would be wetting every inch of his pillow the minute he managed to work up the energy to actually get ready, and go to bed.
But he couldn’t do anything right now. All he could do was pull at his hair, and rub his face harshly, ignoring the discomfort. All he could do was sit there on the floor, legs folded up to his chest, and his back against his bed. All he could do was think of one simple sentence.
Tommy was gone.
The wild little brother that had been placed in their house, loud and brash, and yet timid and jumpy, terrified of the world and everyone in it, despite his attempts to persuade everyone from knowing, had been plucked away by the social worker. She had claimed that “Tommy’s parents are better, and are capable of continuing raising their child. They’ve been deemed worthy by the state, and so Tommy is to return to their care.” She had smiled and shaken Phil’s hand. “Thank you for watching over him in his parents’ absence.”
Phil had nodded mutely, before turning to the 16 year old boy who looked as broken as he had the day he arrived.
There were no words exchanged before Tommy had thrown himself into Phil’s arms, quiet mutterings between the two echoed through the silent room, but nobody could understand what was being said.
Once he had let go of Phil, Wilbur had smiled softly at the terrified boy, his little brother, before pulling him into the tightest and warmest hug Wilbur could muster. They said their goodbyes, Wilbur reassuring Tommy that he would always be there. Tommy crying that he didn’t want to go. And then Wilbur had given the boy one last gentle squeeze, pushing him away and holding him by the shoulders.
“You’re gonna be okay, Tommy. You come right back to me if you need me, alright? I love you.” Wilbur had said, his voice shaking. “Now go give Techno a hug, he likes it when you do that, even though he grumbles about it sometimes.”
Tommy gave a wet laugh, wiping his eyes and turning towards Techno, and had been swooped up into yet another hug.
Wilbur had rushed to his room before he saw anything else.
Tommy was gone. The house was painfully quiet without the boy’s chattering. Wilbur felt the empty silence crush his chest, squishing his heart and making every beat painful. Every breath had to fight to make it out of his lungs. He rubbed his face again, barely registering the feeling of his nails leaving scratch marks. Barely registering anything.
Both Phil and Techno had knocked on his locked door in the hour after Tommy had left. He had sent a simple text to them both.
“I’m fine.”
And then he had shut off his phone and tossed it across his room, not wanting to look at the stupid photo that served as his home screen. A selfie he had taken with himself and Tommy wearing masks at the store, trying their best to make silly faces despite having their lower face covered. In the background, you could see Phil laughing and waving to the camera, while Techno simply held up a peace sign.
It was a happy memory.
Wilbur didn’t want happy memories at the moment. He knew that anything happy would have to end. And he didn’t want to go through anymore pain at the moment.
So he sat there.
For hours.
Listening to Phil call him for dinner, and then later knocking softly, informing him that there was food waiting for him right outside his door. Wilbur didn’t move, and let dinner go cold.
He didn’t notice the sun had gone down, until his room was already pitch black. The only light coming from the crack under his door.
“Fitting.” He had thought. After all, sad emotions could flow so much easier if it was dark.
And flow they did.
He suddenly bit back the urge to cry out and scream, wanting to sob and wail, wanting everything to go back to the way it had been two days ago, before they had found out that Tommy was leaving. He just wanted Tommy to be asleep in the room next to him. He wanted to wake up to the sun filtering through the window, and Tommy laughing in the kitchen. He wanted to feel okay.
Wilbur just wanted to feel okay.
He didn’t want the pain to keep pounding at his chest, bouncing around in his head, and blocking his airways. He didn’t want to feel so broken. He didn’t want to feel so alone.
“Wilbur?” Phil’s voice made its way through his thoughts. Coming from outside the locked door. “Wil, Tommy texted the group chat, says he’s home. He also let us know that his parents haven’t tried anything yet. He’ll keep us updated. I just wasn’t sure if you’re phone’s on, and I thought you might want to know.”
Wilbur clutched his hands in his hair again, biting his lip so hard that it cracked and filled his mouth with that warm metallic taste that he was all too familiar with.
“Wil?” That voice was so soft, and sorrowful. It was filled with worry and broke away any remaining strength that Wilbur had to keep his tears at bay.
He let out a sob, muffling it from behind his hand in order to keep Phil from noticing.
Phil noticed, however. Because of course he did. He always did.
“Wilbur, let me in.” He pleaded.
Wilbur forced his legs to start working, slowly lifting himself from the floor and stumbling to the door, knowing he looked like a mess, but not caring what Phil thought. He just needed Phil to wrap him in his arms. He needed Phil to help him.
The door unlocked with a click and Phil hurried in, flicking on the light before seeing Wilbur flinch back, shutting his eyes tightly. He turned the light back off and hurried to sweep his son into his arms.
Wilbur sobbed and he sobbed, soaking Phil’s shoulder and making his eyes red and puffy. Techno had joined them once the two had managed to make their way to Wilbur’s bed. Then the three of them sat there, huddled together in tears. None of them wanting to move.
A week later, as Wilbur still tried to settle into a new routine, despite the blatantly obvious missing piece of the family, he received a text on the family chat. Then another, and then one more. All within seconds of each other.
They were from Tommy.
Gremlin child whom I love: GUYS GUESS WHAT
GUYS
WAIT I’M GONNA JUST CALL
Wilbur had hardly had time to comprehend before Phil shouted from the living room.
“Tommy’s calling!”
Wilbur and Techno both flung themselves out of their rooms, nearly colliding in the hallway on their way to the ringing phone.
As they both sat on the couch, Phil answered with an excited “Hello?”
And Tommy’s voice had filtered in through the phone’s speaker. “Hi!”
Wilbur had almost cried at the sound of that voice. He leaned his head on Techno’s shoulder as his emotions flickered through like a game wheel, eventually landing right between immense joy, and grief.
Techno leaned his head on top of Wilbur’s while responding to Tommy.
“Hey there, Tommy. What’s the news?”
“Well, well, well, I’m glad you asked.” Wilbur could hear the smile on Tommy’s face, which in turn made Wilbur smile a little.
“See, my parents are nowhere near the same. I mean, they’re still themselves, but like a nicer version. Not quite top notch, you know, not exactly Phil, but nobody can really top Philza Minecraft, am I right? Anyway, my social worker comes over like every other day, clingy, I know. And she was talking to my parents about letting me see you guys and my parents said I can! I know that they had to be pushed a little to let me go, but they said that I can come over on Saturday- if that’s alright with you guys of course.”
The room erupted with shouts and cheers. Techno and Wilbur pulling apart so they could jump up and voice their joy. Phil had exclaimed that of course he could come, and offered to drive over if needs be.
They were filled with bubbling excitement after the shocking news, and Wilbur found himself grinning, glancing at his dad and his brother, he found matching grins on both their faces. And then Tommy continued talking.
“Anyway! I’m back in my old room, I can lock my door now, which is really nice. It makes me feel safer. Tubbo says he’s gonna learn to pick locks just so that he can barge in even if I try to lock him out, but we’ll see about that. Maybe I’ll just add another door with an even harder lock. That way he can get through my first door, but will have to give up at the second one. Also-”
Wilbur listened to his brother talk adamantly, conversation topics changing wildly as Phil asked questions, or Wilbur or Techno joined in with their two cents. It was nice, almost felt like it was a normal evening, the four of them sitting on the couches and talking about their day.
Wilbur hurt at the thought of not being able to take Tommy to school, not being able to give the boy a hug, not being able to wreak havoc in the kitchen as they made dinner together. But at the same time, he was happy.
He was happy that Tommy was okay, that so far, his parents had actually started to grow and become better people. He was happy he’d be able to see Tommy, even though he no longer lived under the same roof. He was happy that he had been able to watch Tommy change from that scared child he had been when Phil had been asked to take him into the home.
Wilbur was happy as he listened to Tommy ramble on and on. The voice became background noise as Wilbur began thinking.
He thought of happy endings, and how they aren’t always the ones you had planned. They weren’t the Disney endings that always closed every movie. No, in fact, the happy ending you get is almost never the one you were prepared for. Sometimes you don’t even get a happy ending at all.
But as Wilbur sat there, surrounded by his family, he realized that this chapter had a happy ending, even though it had seemed for a moment there, that the ending would be the saddest one in the book.
Wilbur realized suddenly that despite the pain and the heartache, things were going to be okay. They were okay.
And Wilbur smiled.