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“We did it, bro.” Wilbur whispered breathlessly, placing blocks beneath him as he and Tommy began to scale the walls of the Fortress.
“We did it.” Tommy confirmed. He was just above Wilbur, smiling down at his friend. “You’re my brother.” He teased. He knew it got to him - one way or another - and any opportunity to rile Wilbur up was one that Tommy would take. As lava bubbled below and the heat continued to wave over them and their armour he heard a quiet groan. Beneath him, Wilbur’s curls bounced as he shook his head.
“No, don’t call me that.” Wilbur replied immediately, and Tommy switched to placing gravel. Sure they were in the Nether and it risked killing them, but if they were brothers… Well, surely that was what brothers did. “I will cry.”
Wilbur didn’t cry, and together they clambered up to the corridors above. They’d get the blaze rods they needed - or, more likely, Phil would get the blaze rods they needed - and they’d be back to the Overworld before they knew it.
# # #
“Learning from your big brother.” Wilbur chuckled, barely even thinking about what he’d said as the two of them ran through the village. He was teaching Tommy how to speedrun, and Tommy was picking things up quickly. As he entered the blacksmith and began to rifle through a chest for goodies, Tommy was quick to respond.
“You are like my big brother, I knew it.” He smiled brightly, unable to hide the fact that he was starting to enjoy saying those words.
“I will cry.” Wilbur said flatly, and Tommy began to speak over him. “Don’t say that.”
“I knew it, I knew it! We have such a family dynamic, you and I!”
As Tommy sprinted back out of the building and headed to the next, Wilbur could only shake his head.
# # #
“Do I shoot him Wil, or do I aim for the skies?”
Tommy hadn’t called Wilbur his brother in a while. Wilbur didn’t mention it. They didn’t exactly have time to mention it. The other world’s they’d been in, there’d been time for laughter and fun, but now they found themselves in the middle of a war. Wilbur found himself missing the days when Tommy’s eyes would light up as he joked and teased, he missed the wide smiles and the carefree nature.
He missed being called a brother.
But he could hear it. Even if Tommy didn’t say it, he could hear it. Tommy wanted his advice not just as a General, but as a brother.
He made sure to put his arm around Tommy’s shoulders, fingers brushing the dust off his uniform, when he gave his answer. Long grass brushed against their legs, blowing in the wind as dusk began to set over the battlefield.
“I want you to do whatever your heart says you should.”
That was the answer a brother should give, right?
# # #
“My first decree as the President of L’Manburg, the Emperor of this great country, is to revoke the citizenship of Wilbur Soot and Tommyinnit! Get ‘em outta here! You’re no longer welcome!”
Tommy’s heart was pounding, it was stuck in his throat and deep in his stomach all at once. All he could hear was his heartbeat and blood pumping through his ears. All he felt was fear. Pure, unadulterated terror. He and Wilbur had been exiled from the land they’d created together, their friends had turned against them.
He stumbled over a small rock. Wilbur managed to grab him by the back of his coat to save him from face planting the ground. A fall now could cost them dearly, and if Wilbur running by his side was anything to go by he didn’t exactly expect him to abandon him if he did trip. It gave Tommy hope that he wouldn’t be alone, but he knew he couldn’t risk falling. If anything happened to him and Wilbur didn’t just keep running, then he was going to be in danger.
Tommy didn’t say it, but he thought it. Wilbur was like a brother to him.
And even if he wanted nothing more than for his brother to protect him, as the two began to settle in the damp, dark underground ravine that would be their home, he wasn’t going to admit that aloud.
# # #
“Phil, there was a saying Phil.”
Phil was like his father. Wilbur knew that. Phil had been there for him, for Tommy, for Tubbo too, through countless worlds. He supposed in that moment, with his heart beating quickly and finger just barely brushing the stone behind him, that he saw Tommy’s point. Though he realised that Tommy had gotten things just a little bit wrong.
“By a traitor, once part of L’Manburg.”
Tommy said they were like family. Like brothers. And that was true once upon a time, but not any more. They weren’t like brothers any more. They were brothers. Tommy was his brother, his little brother that he’d tried to teach and protect. His brother that he’d failed. He’d dragged Tommy into war, into revolutions, he’d taken him through hell and back. Tommy had died twice because of him.
He hoped to God that his brother was standing far enough away. He hoped that he wasn’t going to be the reason Tommy lost his final life.
“It was never meant to be.”
His voice cracked. As he pressed the button, splinters pushing against the calloused skin of his thumb, he thought of Tommy.
Don’t call me your brother. Not now. Not after everything I’ve done. I will cry.
He was dead at Phil’s sword before he knew if Tommy still thought of him as family.
# # #
“No Dream, I could kill you right now, if I wanted to.”
How long had he been in that prison? Those obsidian walls would never leave his mind, the lava burned into his retinas.
“But you won’t.”
Dream teased him, and Tommy snapped back. He wished he had Wilbur by his side. Wished he had his level headedness and foresight. Of course, having his brother beside him had never really stopped him from doing anything stupid before, but it was always nice to have someone that that could tell him exactly what stupid thing he was walking into. But Wilbur wasn’t there, and fists went flying carelessly from both parties.
Tommy was weak, but Wilbur was his brother and Wilbur had taught him how to fight with words, without armour.
It was like they were in L’Manburg again.
It was like they were drawing their bows again, on the boardwalk. If he tried hard enough, he could imagine Wilbur standing beside him, cheering him on. He could do this. He could outwit Dream, he could speak his way out of this, he could--
“Tommy?”
Wilbur’s voice sent a chill down his spine, and rather than leaving his body it seemed to settle. His bones felt cold, he felt tired, the world around him was dark. His eyes were closed, but he couldn’t open them.
“Wilby?” He asked quietly, and even if he couldn’t open his eyes he could feel that Wilbur was beside him. Maybe he just needed to sleep for a little while.
“Tommy, what are you doing here?! How are you here?!” Wilbur asked desperately, but Tommy was out of it. He didn’t pick up on his tone, he didn’t understand what was happening, he just knew that he was tired as all hell.
“I’m with you.” Tommy said. “I learned from you, almost like we’re brothers or something.”
“Don’t say that.” Wilbur replied, and while the words were ones that Tommy had heard plenty of times before they held back emotion that he hadn’t. It bubbled up, threatened to spill, and even without opening his eyes - even without being entirely lucid - Tommy knew what was going on.
“Are you crying?”
“I told you I would.” Wilbur muttered. Then Tommy felt arms around him, warmth enveloping him. He felt his body sagging against Wilbur’s, he felt hot air against the cold skin of his neck and felt the familiar shakes of someone sobbing. Tommy still didn’t understand what was happening, but he figured that if they were like brothers the best thing he could do was to return the gesture.
Tommy fell asleep not long after, in the arms of his brother as his body got used to its new form in the afterlife.