Chapter Text
Tommy
If Wilbur had to describe Tommy in one word it would be fiery. Tommy had a fiery passion that spread through him like a wildfire with his voice, his interests, the sports that he played, and most of all, his eyes.
His eyes, despite their blue coloring, were always warm and bright with sparks flying as he spoke a mile a minute. Wilbur had always liked that about his brother.
Until they started fighting.
Techno had once told him that he was like blue fire, much hotter than normal fire but dies even faster. At the time Wilbur had told Techno to “Go the hell to sleep so you can start making sense again” but now he understood.
Wilbur had had a horrible day and, apparently, Tommy did too because he came home from practice looking pissed but instead of stewing quietly like a normal person he moved through the apartment in a jolting manner. He tripped, slipped, bumped, and knocked into everything in his path, intentional or not, it infuriated him.
He told Tommy to ‘stop trying to break the apartment and shut up’ and Tommy shot back with ‘Shut up Wilbur, don’t tell me what to do!’ and it escalated from there.
It started off small and grew into something much worse, Wilbur kept trying to push him away but Tommy kept picking at it.
“You don’t help with anything!”
“Yes I do! I have a job!”
“Only so you don’t have to do chores!”
“You’re acting like you do any of them Tommy! Techno does all of them so get out of here with that shit!”
“You are such a dipshit!”
Wilbur’s hands were balled into fists, tight at his sides, he couldn’t deal with Tommy right now. He just wanted him to shut up, then he thought of it.
If he wasn’t so irritated at the time he never would have said it, he would have felt horrible for even thinking it but in the moment he knew it would get Tommy to shut up, he knew it.
It was fire v.s fire. His hot, raging, blue to Tommy’s vibrate screaming scarlet. It all burned.
He snapped while Tommy had stopped to wait for his rebuttal, the words themselves fell slick and vile, slipping off his tongue with surprising ease. He knew he should stop but he just kept getting angrier and angrier.
Tommy suddenly stopped, eyes wide, Wilbur’s words were fiery but seemed to crash over Tommy like a wave, destroying the fire, the fight, in his eyes.
He stood there, blinking rapidly at him with wide eyes, then, he looked away, shoulders shaking.
Wilbur’s fire was still raging, hand cramping from squeezing them so tight when Tommy bit his lip and peered up at him through tangled hair. He mumbled something in a cracked tone that Wilbur didn’t catch.
The fire died.
There was no more loud, burning anger, just ash, as he looked at his little brother.
Before Wilbur could apologize or even react Tommy rushed into his and Techno’s room, slamming the door.
Wilbur started to call out to him but stopped, knowing he wouldn’t listen. That had ripped him apart, washed away his flame so that not even embers or ash remained.
Techno
Techno had been getting on his nerves all day, the little sarcastic remarks and the fact that nothing Wilbur said seemed to get a reaction out of him was maddening.
They walked home together, Tommy was at practice so it was just them,they didn’t speak until they got home. When they did, Wilbur went off.
“Just because you’re in higher classes and get better grades than the rest of us doesn’t mean you’re better than everyone else!” He snapped.
Techno narrowed his eyes, “I don’t think I’m better than anyone else.”
“You act like it, with your little snide comments and eye rolls, it’s annoying!”
“You’re reading too much into that,they’re jokes.”
“They’re not funny!”
“You’re only acting like this because they were directed at you and you’ve gotten used to everyone at school tripping over themselves to put you on a pedestal.” Techno’s voice was sharp but his face remained blank.
“That is not true! You’re just an asshole!”
“That’s cool Wilbur,” Techno responded cooly, pulling a book from his backpack. He flipped through pages, ignoring Wilbur’s attempts to drag him back into the argument.
It pissed him off, nothing seemed to faze Techno but everything he said sent shockwaves of anger down Wilbur’s spine.
He continued trying to get a reaction from him, snapping insults and bullshit left and right but Techno didn’t look up from his book, he sat down at the kitchen table, he just nodded along saying, “Cool Wilbur,” or “That’s nice.”
“Would you just look at me? We are having an argument!” Wilbur snapped, banging his hand on the table. Techno didn’t even flinch.
“No, you were yelling while I was trying to read.”
“Would you just fucking talk to me?!”
Techno closed his book and stood up, pushing his chair in, “What do you even want to talk about?”
“How you treat everyone! Get your head out of your ass!”
“I could say the exact same thing to you.”
Wilbur could feel his blood boil, he was going to lose, then he thought of it.
Techno had crossed his arms, rolled his eyes, looking away, seemingly not paying attention, but he was, he always was.
Wilbur knew it was wrong, he knew it would cross the line but he didn’t care, he was just standing there with the same look on his face that he always had, he looked almost bored.
Wilbur spoke quickly, striking like a snake, waiting for the perfect moment to jump. He didn’t shout, didn’t snap, didn’t scream, just said it quickly, waiting to see a reaction.
He got one.
It was like watching glass shatter.
The world was moving in slow motion, Techno’s eyes widened, shoulders tensed, mouth forced into a thin line.
His facade splintered, he jerked to face Wilbur, screaming something incoherent at him, yanking at his own hair, gesturing frantically. He shook his head while trying to snap back, his words faltering.
Then Wilbur noticed Techno was crying.
That made him take a step back, he had seen Techno get upset before, he had yelled at them before, even cried a few times when they were younger, but never ever this.
Techno was still yelling at him but Wilbur couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying it was a jumbled, convoluted mess of emotions, tears running down his face like water down a storm drain.
Guilt wrapping tight tendrils around his chest, Wilbur watched as Techno’s shoulder shook, gaze was downcast, chest heaving. He wanted to reach out and try to bring him back to reality and get him to breath but Techno turned away.
He muttered something about needing to be alone and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.
He left Wilbur there to fall through the cracks of his own shattering mind.