Chapter Text
The leaves crunch under Tommy's shoes, one of the only sounds in the empty forest. He looks behind him, debating crossing the fence to go back in his family's backyard, but he knows he'll never hear the end of it.
He sighs, a puff of white smoke escaping his lips.
"'Go outside, Tommy! Go enjoy the nature for once', he said!" The blond groans, shivering. "Well look, Will, I'm outside, and it's fuckin' freezing." He kicks a rock. "Prick."
Stepping deeper into the forest, carefully avoiding the fairy rings that seem to appear spontaneously literally everywhere in this goddamn forest, Tommy finally finds an old log that's somewhat dry. He sits down and takes out his headphones, blaring the Able Sisters' theme at full volume. It started as a joke, really - but at some point along the way he started liking it unironically, and if anyone EVER heard about it they would never let him live it down.
He sets a timer on his phone. Twenty-five minutes outside is more than enough, isn't it?
For about ten minutes, nothing happens. The Animal Crossing soundtracks play one by one, distracting him from the cold and wet and fucking windy environment - thanks a lot, Wilbur - and that's pretty much it. There's not much to do in a forest, after all. And even if there was, Tommy doesn't plan on staying long enough to find out.
A few more minutes later, a hand finally touches his shoulders to get his attention. Probably Wilbur who came to get him out of the cold after having a change of heart and deciding that Tommy should not, in fact, die a slow and painful death.
So, Tommy turns around to face him. Only problem is that it's someone else's face he's met with.
The boy looks about his age, with messy brown hair and big grey-blue eyes. It's the first time he sees him, too.
This alone would be confusing since their neighborhood is pretty small, and no one ever comes to the forest aside from his family, and that he hasn't hear of someone moving recently.
But what's more puzzling is the antlers on the boy's head despite the fluffy mess of hair, and the deer ears where normal HUMAN ears should be.
"Um... Hi," the boy hesitates, visibly nervous. "You're not who I thought you were."
Tommy's brain tries to process everything it just witnessed, but that's too much information at once, so by default Tommy does the only thing he can think of.
He yells swears.
"FUCKIN- WHAT THE- WHO- WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU??" He yells, falling backwards and landing on his butt.
The other boy jumps to his side and puts his hand over Tommy's mouth. "Ssssshhhhhhut up you're way too loud-" He whispers, looking around them to check if no one else heard the shouting.
When he's sure they're alone, he relaxes a little and takes his hand off Tommy's face.
"You're not going to yell again, are you?" He asks. "Because that'd be really annoying."
Tommy opens his mouth to answer but quickly finds out no sounds are coming out, so he just silently shakes his head 'no'.
"Good." The deer creature stands up and extends a hand to the blond so he can do the same. "My name's Tubbo, by the way. I'm a faun, which you've probably noticed by the-" He gestures to himself, and despite the simple shirt and shorts the boy is wearing Tommy also notices the lower half of his body looks like a deer's- "Well, the everything, I guess."
Sure. That's a normal and completely common situation to be in.
Eyes still wide from shock and confusion, Tommy simply nods. He takes out his phone, opens his notes app and writes 'im tommy' before slowly showing it to Tubbo. All his muscles tense when the faun's hands touch the phone and he almost drops it, but thankfully the other already had a good grip on it.
When Tubbo looks at the small sentence, he winces and hands him back the phone, an apologetic look on his face. "I... Can't read that. Haven't really had the opportunity to learn human letters, sorry." He takes Tommy's phone and brings it close to his face, eyes narrowing. "All blurry to me, too. They look the same to me."
Well that's inconvenient.
Tommy sighs then clears out his throat, forcing himself to speak. "I'm... I'm Tommy," he manages to say with a hoarse voice. "Sorry, I just- this is a lot at once and my head's not used to thinkin' this much. Never met a faun before, y'know."
"Yeah, I get that a lot. That's cool," Tubbo smiles. "So... What brings you out to the woods, big man? Never seen you out here."
Tommy groans. "I'm gonna be honest with you, Tubs." He fights a smile when the boy chuckles at the nickname. "I wouldn't be here if fuckin' Wilbur hadn't had the great idea to lock me out of the house until I breathed enough fresh air to fully cleanse my lungs or something." From the corner of his eye, he notices Tubbo's puzzled look. "Will's my older brother," he adds.
Tubbo nods in understanding. "Yeah, if I had a choice I'd live somewhere warmer. And drier. The forest is cool, but it could be better, you know?"
It's Tommy's turn to nod. Although Tubbo living in the forest makes sense, he wouldn't have guessed that the boy didn't like it that much. He debates asking Tubbo why he doesn't move someplace else, but he'd probably think the question stupid, so he doesn't.
A comfortable silence settles between the two of them for a while, until a voice (that Tommy recognizes is Techno's) shouts at him from afar to come back inside. The blond checks his phone- twenty-two minutes past the twenty-five minutes timer he set. It is getting late, actually. The sunlight slowly diminishes and the lone sunrays shining through the trees disappear one by one.
He stands up, startling Tubbo. "Sorry, but I gotta go. That was my other brother, Techno. I have to come back inside," he says, pointing in the direction of his house.
Tubbo looks a little disappointed, and Tommy's heart tightens a bit. "Will you come back later?" The faun asks.
Tommy pauses for a second before responding. "Tomorrow. I'll try to be back tomorrow," he answers.
"Alright." A small smile lights up Tubbo's face. "And if I'm not here yet, just shout my name. You're loud enough that I think I'd hear you from anywhere."
A vaguely offended scoff, a goodbye, and Tommy heads back home. His legs are tired, but he manages to reach the house, thankfully without stepping into any fairy ring.
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He shivers at the warmth inside, clashing with the cold outside world. How Tubbo lives like this everyday is a mystery to him.
"You look happy," Techno comments, startling Tommy. How does he always manage to sneak up to people so well? "I take it you didn't freeze to death."
"Yeah, and it's not thanks to any of you, dickhead," he responds, ignoring the heat in his cheeks at the first comment. "Could've died a thousand times out there."
"And unfortunately you didn't," the older teen dramatically sighs. "Go put your coat away, Wilbur has to talk to you."
"What's he want?" Tommy asks while taking off his coat, although he couldn't care less about what that prick has to say. Techno shrugs. "Dunno. Apparently, Dad forced him to do it. So go and get it over with now, since neither of you want to talk to each other."
Tommy mumbles something that Techno pretends not to hear before heading out to Wilbur's room. The door is closed, so he just knocks loudly a bunch of times until his brother comes to open.
Will gets one tired look at Tommy, then sighs. "I am sorry I locked you outside. I will not do it again. It was uncalled for and out of line. Please forgive me," he recites in a monotone voice that sounds everything but genuine, in purpose. Phil probably made him learn it by heart.
"Thanks. But... Even though I hate to admit when you're right," Tommy says, "I have to say. I quite liked my time outside. I think I might go again tomorrow."
He fights a smile when Wilbur furrows his brows in confusion. "You- What? You liked it?"
"Don't get me wrong, though. I will murder you in your sleep for that," he whispers semi-threateningly before running away laughing, leaving his brother even more confused than before.
He never thought he would, but he can't wait to go outside again tomorrow.