Work Text:
As soon as Tubbo clicked the button to end the stream, they all let out a collective breath of relief. Jack’s hands are shaking, from both exertion and anxiety, as he starts to put down the heavy camera, struggling to unconnect the wires before Freddie notices and goes over to help him.
“Thank you for that Eryn, holy shit,” Tommy says, still gasping for breath, having collapsed to the ground as soon as he could. “I did not expect that to happen.” Tubbo makes some pained noise in agreement from where he’s doubled over.
Eryn nods in response, still looking around the field with apprehension. “As soon as Freddie and I realized what you three were doing, we knew you would need help so we started heading over. I’m glad nothing bad ended up happening, but we shouldn’t test our luck any further. We need to get out of here as soon as possible, the park is still very crowded.”
“Yeah, I agree,” Freddie says, still focused on untangling the wires around Jack, which had all gotten unorganized while they were running around. “I would recommend my house cause it’s the closest, but I don’t want to doxx myself anymore than what already happened.”
As soon as he heard that, Tommy shot up from the ground, looking incredibly guilty. “I almost forgot about that, Freddie, I am so sorry! I didn’t realize what I was saying before I already said it and by then it was too late and I-”
Freddie cuts him off before the blond’s rambling can get even worse, waving his free arm around to get his attention. “It’s not exactly alright, because I do wish you hadn’t done it, but I forgive you. The situation got out of hand really quickly and I know none of you expected that,” he smiles wryly.
Tommy still looked terribly worried, but Eryn quickly distracts him with redistributing the weight from Jack’s equipment between the five of them, with Jack having the least as a repayment for having to carry it during the entire stream. There would be more time for apologies later, but they all knew they had to get going as soon as they could.
With a groan, Tubbo pulled himself up into a standing position and made his way over to help Jack and Freddie with the camera. As they untangled the wires, Tubbo offered his own apologies to Freddie, especially as he felt responsible since it had happened on his stream. Freddie smiled at him, promising it would be forgiven as long as he shut up and worked faster. Tubbo laughed loudly at the teasing, but quickly cut himself off with a nervous look around them. His reaction made the air surrounding the five more tense, all of them remembering the situation they were in.
Working faster now, they managed to get everything reorganized in a matter of seconds. Now it really was manhunt time, especially as they were being genuine in their attempts to avoid attention since it was more dangerous than they had planned for.
“My place is around half an hour away boys, we can go over there for a bit.” Jack said, heading off towards the entrance with the others trailing behind him like nervous ducklings. “As long as we shake off the crowd before we get on the train, we should be fine.”
Eryn nods in response, “That sounds like a good plan.”
They start walking, managing to get to the nearest grove of trees before Tubbo gasps loudly, immediately grabbing at the nearest person’s sleeve, who turned out to be an indignant Tommy. The other boys stopped as well, looking puzzled.
“Tubbo, what are you doing-” Tommy starts to complain, but he’s cut off by Tubbo shushing him, leaving an offended look on the youngest’s face.
“Wait, before we go any further, let’s exchange our jackets. They saw what we were wearing on stream, so they’ll all be expecting that right? If we just change our appearances a little, we won’t be as visible from a distance.” Tubbo quickly explains, starting to pull off his own Quackity hoodie as soon as he finished speaking.
“That’s actually really smart, Tubbo, holy shit,” Freddie says, a slightly impressed look on his face.
Eryn laughs, pulling his own hoodie off to hand to Tommy, who looked confused until Eryn said, teasingly, “oh, Tubbo, you could have just said Tommy. We all know he’s the only person here who’s wearing his most recognizable outfit, like an absolutely genius.”
Tommy immediately starts spluttering excuses in response, refusing to take the hoodie from Eryn, who keeps pushing it at him.
“Tommy, just take the damn hoodie!” Jack exclaims, “And stop pouting, he’s not wrong! You’re wearing not only the blue jacket you wear all the time when you’re outside, but also the red and white shirt you are literally most well known for. We’re not going to get anywhere with you standing out like a beacon.”
While he was saying this, Eryn got annoyed with the younger boy refusing to take the hoodie and started to pull it over Tommy’s head, quickly overpowering him when he protested. Tubbo and Freddie just laughed in the background, quickly modifying their own appearances.
As soon as Tommy’s head popped out the top of the hoodie, his arms still trapped to his sides, he started complaining. But Eryn was there yet again, pulling the hood over his face to muffle his loud voice, quickly reminding him that they were attempting stealth, even though I know that’s a word you’ve never heard of before, Tommy!
With the harsh reminder of what they were doing, the attitude grew more somber as they all - other than Tommy who was still struggling to pull on the hoodie, albeit quieter now - began to look at their surroundings, trying to see if they could catch a glimpse of fans.
The group then kept walking to the entrance, all too nervous to talk in fear of someone overhearing them and gathering a crowd. Unfortunately, they weren’t entirely successful, and got recognized multiple times before they found the entrance. After many pictures with fans - all of which, to their luck, were very understanding and stayed quiet in order to not draw too much attention - they managed to make it to the exit of the park.
Jack took the lead again, heading down to the train station. On the way there, the boys weren’t as quiet as they were in the park, but they were still rather subdued. When the train station came to view, they all started walking a bit faster down the empty streets.
As Eryn went off to buy the tickets, with the others promising to repay him later, a fan did end up coming by them. The encounter was by far the most awkward, with them taking a quick photo with them before quickly running off with rushed goodbyes as soon as Eryn came back with the tickets. Luckily, the fan was able to laugh it off and wished them luck as they ran away.
As soon as the doors hide behind them, effectively ensuring the five get a train car to themselves, they all let out a huge sigh of relief. Then, looking around at each other, the smiles building on their faces, they start to celebrate. Tommy is jumping around, grabbing everyone with excitement at having made it out of the park safe and sound. Tubbo is matching his excitement, rambling loudly about their grand escape before just tackling Tommy and falling into a tangle of bodies on the seats, laughing. Eryn and Freddie high five each other, proud of how successfully they managed to save them, and then pulled a left-out-looking Jack Manifold into a hug, toppling over onto the younger boys. They just lie there in a pile of bodies for a little bit, still exhilarated from the leftover adrenaline.
“Wait, the camera!” Tubbo suddenly exclaims, stopping his laughter all of a sudden. This causes a wild scramble of bodies, rushing to untangle themselves. Tommy, who’s crushed at the bottom of the pile, lets out a pained wheeze as Freddie’s knee digs into his side when he stands up.
Eryn, who was holding the camera in his backpack on the way back, quickly pulls it out and checks it over. “It’s all good,” he says, much to the collective relief of the other four.
Now that they’re all untangled, they start to collapse into the nearby seats, exhaustion starting to hit them. As streamers, they weren’t used to running around that often and this meant they were all pretty tired from the chase they went on.
“Alright, so, we’re about half an hour from my place, so I suggest we grab a corner and chill a little bit,” Jack suggests, still looking like he’s about to keel over even though he’s sitting.
Tommy nods, face still a little flushed from being crushed by everyone. “We should also probably tweet about how we weren’t intending for things to go that way, just to make sure everyone knows that.”
“Ugh,” Tubbo groans, tossing his head back against the seat, “I also need to call my mother. She probably saw what happened by now and I’ll be lucky if she’s not yelling the second she answers.”
“Wait a second,” Eryn says, suddenly looking apprehensive. “Has anyone checked their phones yet?”
Everyone shakes their head, with Freddie adding, “Well, we have been running for the past hour, so I guess that’s to be expected.”
Eryn still looks worried, shooting nervous looks at an oblivious Tommy. “Yeah, but…”
“Oh shit,” Jack says, sitting straight up, and looking directly at Eryn. “You’re right. This is bad.” He runs a hand through his hair, looking more and more stressed.
“Wait, what do you mean?” Freddie asks, Tubbo nodding along with him, both of them still looking a little confused.
Jack and Eryn exchange a knowing look, before pointing at Tommy, who’s too focused on the tweet he’s writing to notice. Tubbo’s eyes immediately start to widen as he catches on, quickly paling as he lunges for his own phone. Freddie continues to look confused, but Eryn quickly leans over and whispers to him.
“Oh no,” Freddie whispers, now looking just as worried as the others.
“Yeah,” Eryn responds, only slightly sarcastically, “oh no.”
Falling silent, the four boys then turn to look at Tommy, who finally finishes with tweeting and looks up to meet their eyes with a confused look on his face. “Hey can you respond to my tweet please, I want- wait, what’s happened? Why’re you lot looking so nervous? We made it out, didn’t we?”
tommy @tommyalitinnit
holy fucking shit LMAO - we had no idea so many people’d show up, but thank you all hahaha (seriously tho, do not break covid guidelines guys its bad)
After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Jack gulps, deciding to take matters into his own hands. “Well, Tommy, have you checked your messages yet?”
“No, why? I’m about to update my parents on what happened, hopefully before they find out through twitter or something.”
Jack looks even more worried if possible. “Uh, Tommy, I think you should do that quickly and then check your other messages.”
“Ok, ok, give me a minute, jeez,” Tommy says, looking a little disgruntled at their urging. The others, although they’re still very worried, look at their own phones to respond to the messages they’ve gotten. Tubbo, much to his delight, had gotten very lucky and neither of his parents had seen the footage yet. He quickly excused himself to the other side of the train to call them.
Tommy suddenly laughs, causing the other three boys’ gaze to shoot towards him. “I got a message from Editor Larry, asking me what the hell I thought I was doing and how he was supposed to edit for a dead man.”
biggestmaneditor : tommy innit if you end up dead at the hands of girls in the middle of a live stream i will laugh so hard and then make a compilation of all the embarrassing moments you had me cut out of videos. and i will play it at your funeral and show it on youtube and it will trend so high and you will be so embarrassed
biggestmaninnit : hey hey big man if i’m dead then how would i be embarrassed?? checkmate bitch!!!!
“You should probably respond with a ‘thank you’ to be honest, big man,” Eryn responds, an amused look replacing the worry on his face. When Tommy makes a confused sound, he continues, “He was the one who made me say ‘tag’ earlier, because he sent me a very threatening message telling me to end the stream immediately. I wasn’t expecting Editor Larry to be that scary, but there were a little too many smiley faces for my comfort…”
Tommy laughs loudly in response, typing up a response. “Editor Larry is actually terrifying, Eryn, especially when I ask him to finish something on short notice. You wouldn’t expect it, but it’s the truth.”
biggestmaninnit : but eryn told me to say thank you so i guess thank you as well?? bitch. but next time remember that we are simply such large men, the largest of men in fact, that we could have handled it without your help so please remember that in the future
“Speaking of terrifying people,” Jack interjects, “could you check your other messages, Tommy? Please?”
“What is up with you lot and making me check my messages?” Tommy complains, starting to scroll through his unread messages, responding to them at random. “It’s not like there’s anything gonna happen, wait oh shit-”
He cuts himself off immediately by flinging his phone across the seats when it lights up with an incoming call. Freddie jumps when it lands by his feet, the screen shattering on impact. However, just before it all goes black, the other three manage to see the notification flashing across the screen and they all turn pale.
[ Incoming call from Wilbur Soot ]
“Tommy!” Jack shouts, jumping up from his seat immediately. “What did you do? Why did you throw your phone?”
“I don’t know bitch!” Tommy yelled, looking panicked. “I saw the phone call and I thought ‘not today bitch’ and I just tossed it!”
“We’re dead we’re dead we’re dead,” Freddie repeats to himself, burying his face in his hands.
Eryn, beside him, reached down to pick up Tommy’s phone and checked fruitlessly to see if it would turn on. When that didn’t work out, he attempted to calm the others. “Ok, let’s think about this reasonably. Tommy, you can borrow one of our phones to call him-”
He’s cut off by Tommy’s yelling, “No, no, no, I actually don’t think we should do that! I can call him later when I get home, good old Discord, you know how it is.”
Jack got even more pale, if that was even possible, at that. “You want to ignore Wilbur?”
“I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but that’s the absolutely dumbest thing you could ever do, big man,” Tubbo said, having returned from calling his parents.
“Yes, but it might be better. We shouldn’t get too distracted right now, we still haven’t gotten to Jack’s yet,” Tommy dismisses, eyes looking around the train car nervously, as though someone was about to jump out at them. “Anyways, Tubbo, how were your parents? Not too upset I hope?”
“They were certainly annoyed but they said we’ll talk about it more as soon as I get home. They understand I made a mistake and that I didn’t intend for that to happen, but we’re still going to have to talk about responsibility or something.” Tubbo says, looking a little worried at the mention of a future conversation, before his face turns determined. “You’re not going to succeed in changing to topic like that, TommyInnit. You cannot just ignore Wilbur or it’s going to be so much worse for you when he finally does get a hold of you.”
Tommy shrinks in his seat at the site of an angry Tubbo with his hands on his hips, the position looking unfairly threatening from the shorter boy.
Jack nods, looking at Tommy with a stern gaze. “You can’t avoid him. Just take my phone, here,” he pushes his phone into Tommy’s hands, “and call him. It’ll just get worse each minute that passes.”
Freddie and Eryn make sounds of agreement, Freddie finally pulling his face from his hands.
Tommy, looking around for support desperately, but not finding any, started fiddling with Jack’s phone in an effort to avoid the situation. Eryn, quickly getting fed up with his nervous fidgeting, reached over the aisle to grab the phone from his hands and pass it to Jack, who unlocked the phone and went to call Wilbur himself before being interrupted by Tommy.
“Wait, wait, please,” the youngest said desperately. “I can’t call him because he’s going to be disappointed and I don’t want him to be all upset with me.”
Tubbo sighed, going over to sit next to Tommy and sling an arm around his shoulder to pull the taller boy into his side. “Of course he’s going to be upset, we did something really stupid. But it’s Wilbur, you know he can never be too angry with you for long.”
“Yeah, but what if this time he is? Before I threw my phone, I saw that I had about thirty missed calls from him, and no messages! He normally only sends me a lot of messages when he’s upset with me, but this time he hasn’t sent a single one. That means it’s worse than it’s ever been and I don’t know what to do,” Tommy started fiddling with the strings on Eryn’s hoodie, curling into Tubbo’s warmth for comfort.
Jack sighs, dragging a hand over his face. “I know you’re worried Tommy, but you can’t avoid him for too much longer. You know Wilbur, he’s just going to get even more worried. And I don’t think he’s really too mad at you, he’s probably just worried about your safety and wants to make sure you’re alright. You can’t make him wait for that, just worrying.”
Tommy shakes his head in denial, simply pushing his face farther in Tubbo’s shoulder, awkwardly slumped on the seats. The older boys exchange worried looks, silently agreeing to give him a little bit before insisting on the situation again.
The next couple stops pass in relative silence, with a couple more people joining the empty train car. Before they know it, Tubbo has to nudge Tommy’s head off his shoulder and they are making their way off the train.
As they’re walking to Jack’s house, Tommy hangs in the back, burrowing into the hoodie as if to hide. Freddie, by some unspoken agreement, ends up next to him.
“Hey,” he says softly, nudging the younger boy teasingly. “Why are you so worried about what your older brother is gonna do? Everyone knows you have him wrapped around your finger.”
Tommy nods absentmindedly, kicking at random rocks on the street. “But I really, really messed up this time. Like we could have gotten seriously injured and we really should have known better and I just don’t want this to be the last straw. I do my best to not seem like some stupid child when I’m around him because he’s just the coolest person I’ve ever met-”
“How could you say such a thing? What about me?” Freddie gasps dramatically, attempting to break the tension. He does succeed to draw a small smile out from Tommy, before the younger boy keeps talking.
“And I just did the most childish thing ever, not thinking through a plan that turned out so stupid and dangerous and now Wilbur is going to think I’m stupid and he won’t want to spend time with-”
Freddie cuts him off again, but this time because he’s trying to get Tommy to stop his panicked ramblings and take a deep breath. The older boy grabs him by the shoulders gently, forcing him to look him in the eyes. Freddie ignores the pangs of his heart at the site of his friend’s distraught expression and watery blue eyes, and focuses on calming him down.
“Tommy, no offense, but don’t be ridiculous. Wilbur literally thinks the world of you, he’s not just going to never talk to you again as soon as you make some little mistake. You weren’t the only one involved in the situation, you’re literally the youngest person here. And yes, maybe you should have known better, but you’re barely seventeen years old and you got a huge following in quarantine! None of us, and especially not you, have an idea of how crazy it will be for you to go out in public now. There was no reason to think that the park would be absolutely crawling with your fans, especially when you don’t ever get recognized by crowds as large as that.”
At this point, Tommy started crying in earnest, collapsing forward into Freddie, who hugged him tightly in response. Thankfully, the street was fairly abandoned, and their friends had stopped at a far enough distance to give them some semblance of privacy.
Freddie, ignoring how his shirt was getting wet, continued, keeping his voice reassuring. “You’re doing fantastic, Tommy, no matter what happened today and no matter what Wilbur says. It’s alright to make mistakes, as long as you grow from them, which I know you will. You’re the most hard working person I know and I’m so proud of how far you’ve come. If Wilbur doesn’t understand that what happened today was an honest mistake, then just know that we’ll all be here for you. But, for what it’s worth, I know he will be on your side. He loves you, Tommy, you’ve told me that before. And he won’t give up on you that easily.”
Tommy starts to cry harder, if that was even possible, at that. Freddie’s own eyes were stinging as he hugged the younger boy even firmer, rocking them from side to side. He didn’t have anything else to say, so he just hummed a little and hoped his presence would be comforting enough for the younger boy.
After a couple more minutes, Tommy withdrew, his face flushed and embarrassed as he rubbed at his face with Eryn’s hoodie. Standing there, practically drawing in the large, black hoodie, Freddie was struck by how young he looked. They were similar in age, but something about Tommy just seemed so much younger in that moment.
“Let’s go bitch, they’re waiting for us,” Tommy finally mutters, still avoiding eye contact. Freddie laughs at his friend’s inability to feel emotions and swings an arms around his shoulder as they walk down to meet up with everyone else.
No one mentions how Tommy’s eyes are suspiciously red when they rejoin the group. Jack only complains lightheartedly about how much his legs hurt and how he couldn’t wait to collapse on the couch.
The rest of the walk passes in relative silence, with Tubbo and Eryn talking about something random, Jack interjecting occasionally. Freddie and Tommy are content to walk quietly behind them.
When they approach the house, Freddie notices how Tommy gets more tense underneath his arm and pulls him even closer against him. He can’t do much, but he can try.
“Um, Jack,” Tommy asks hesitantly as the older boy starts to unlock the door. “Would you mind letting me borrow your phone now?”
Eryn reaches over to grab Tommy’s hand, who looks up at him in mild confusion, and squeezes it in support. Tommy doesn’t say anything, but he does hang on tightly.
Jack immediately responds, “No problem, let me just finish opening the door and then I’ll give it to you. It should be charged enough, but let me know if you need a charger or something.”
“Thank you,” Tommy says, but it’s practically a whisper.
When the door finally swings open after what feels like an eternity, no one moves. Jack digs through his bag for his phone, unlocking it before he hands it to Tommy, who has to let go of Eryn’s hand to grab it. Jack smiles at him as he hands it over, supportive without the need for words. He then turns into the house to give Tommy privacy.
Freddie pulls Tommy again into a hug, whispering encouragement into his hair, and then lets him go to move inside after Jack. Tommy instantly misses his warmth, but he’s not cold for long before Eryn quickly hugs him, Tommy clinging to him for a little longer before letting go. Then it’s just him and Tubbo, silent in front of the open door.
“You’ll be alright, big man,” Tubbo says, smiling at him. “Wilbur is your biggest supporter, he won’t hate you for this mistake. Besides, worst comes to worst, say it was my idea. Send him to yell at me instead.”
Tommy chokes out a laugh, feeling like he’s on the verge of tears again. “I couldn’t do that to you, Tubbo. I’m a big man, I can handle Wilbur.”
“I know,” Tubbo says, genuine. Then he also goes inside and leaves Tommy with a phone call to make.
Tommy stares at the shut door, as though hoping it would provide him with some answers. The weight of Jack’s phone feels inexplicably heavy in his hand. He knows that he has a limited amount of time before the phone turns off and he has to go ask Jack to turn it back on, and he really doesn’t want that to happen. He already cried in front of Freddie earlier and everyone else knows that he’s scared of doing this, and he doesn’t want to give them any more reasons to think he’s pathetic. This is Wilbur, he knows Wilbur. He can totally do this. He can.
He clicked call too early, Tommy isn’t ready for this, wait no, no, no-
“Hello? Jack? What the fuck is going on? Why is no one answering me?” Wilbur’s tinny voice comes through the phone speaker, sounding terribly panicked and exhausted. There’s a weird noise in the background, but Tommy can’t focus on anything but the sound of his older brother’s voice right now.
Within seconds, despite his best efforts, Tommy bursts into tears on call, barely hearing Wilbur’s sudden concerned exclamations over the sound of his sobs. He had cried in front of Freddie not fifteen minutes ago, but something about Wilbur’s voice always made him fall apart within seconds, all his walls demolished.
The stress of the past two hours was finally catching up with him. He hadn’t intended for anything bad to happen, it was meant to be a fun thing for him, Tubbo, and Jack, and it all went horribly wrong. When the high kids came up to them, that’s when he started getting really worried. And then when that huge group came up to them and chased them, Tommy was terrified. Honestly and truly terrified.
He kept crying, falling to sit on the floor with his back against the door. Tommy pressed the phone against his ear desperately, barely able to hear Wilbur over the sound of his crying but still feeling as though his older brother’s voice was the only thing that was preventing him from totally falling apart.
Eventually, Tommy didn’t know how long it took, but his sobbing slowly quieted down and he was able to actually focus on Wilbur.
“ You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray, you’ll never know dear, how much I love you,” Wilbur was softly signing in his ear, the same song he sang whenever Tommy called him, stressed and overwhelmed. The song was almost as large a comfort to Tommy as Wilbur’s own music, simply because it reminded him of Wilbur and his nicknames and his comforting warmth.
Tommy didn’t notice, but he eventually stopped crying completely and started humming, in a very scratchy voice, along with Wilbur, who continued singing with a smile evident in his tone. His older brother went for one more full cycle through the song, before letting his voice fade away. They sat there for a little bit, silent and waiting.
“Tommy,” Wilbur finally started, hesitantly, but was almost immediately cut off by Tommy.
The younger started rambling, tripping over his own words, “I’m so sorry Wilby, I didn’t mean for it to become that bad, I didn’t know that many people would show up. I thought it would be a cool idea, especially after Dream’s manhunt premiered yesterday and Tubbo was here and we met with Jack and I was just hoping it could be a small event with a couple fans but then a lot of people started showing up and it all spiraled out of control-”
Wilbur tried to interrupt here, but Tommy just steamrolled over him in his panic.
“And then those people showed up and they were high and I was worried because I didn’t know what they would do, but they didn’t do anything, they didn’t even know who we were. Oh my god wait they didn’t know who we were, but we had them on stream and the girl said her mother would kill her if she saw that footage and oh my god, what did I do? What if she gets in trouble? I should have made sure everyone was alright with being on stream-”
Finally, after multiple attempts, Wilbur managed to break into Tommy’s ramblings. “Tommy! Tommy, listen to me, please!”
Tommy froze, heart in his throat. “Wilby?” He asks hesitantly, voice shaking.
“Sunshine,” and oh, if that nickname didn’t make Tommy feel good, “I’m not mad at you. Not anymore at least.”
Tommy, who would normally recognize that as a joke, was a little too fragile currently to understand it and let out a pained noise when he heard that. Wilbur, hearing the panic creeping in again, immediately backtracked.
“No, no, Sunshine, I was only joking. I wasn’t ever mad at you, not really. I was worried, that’s all,” Wilbur insisted, his soft voice everything Tommy wanted to hear.
“Really?” Tommy asked with a wavering voice, needing the reassurance from his older brother.
“Really, Sunshine,” and oh, Wilbur really was insisting on that nickname tonight, wasn’t he? But Tommy couldn’t complain, not when it made him feel so warm and gooey inside.
Wilbur continued, “When I got the notification for Tubbo’s stream, I was terrified. I was over three hours away and I had no way of getting to you if anything went wrong. All I could think of was huge mobs gathering around you and how dangerous it would be for all of you. You didn’t have any security, no adult presence other than Jack Manifold and god knows he couldn’t do anything against one teenage girl, let alone five. And, at one point, there were a lot more than even five people surrounding you. So, you have to understand, Sunshine, you terrified me this afternoon.”
“I’m sorry, Wilby, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to have some fun,” Tommy whispered, feeling so unbelievably small and guilty in that moment.
Wilbur laughed over the line, the sound soothing. “Sunshine, you always scare me! Every time you do something stupid on stream, or you call me when you’re exhausted from school and streaming, or when you forget to eat all day, or when we’re calling and you trip over something and fall and I know I can’t do anything cause I’m so far away but I want to. I always worry when you call me in tears at the end of a hard day and I can’t do anything to make you feel better but talk, and words never feel like enough. You’re like my little brother, no, you are my little brother, and I’m always going to worry about you. But that doesn’t mean I don’t trust you or that I love you any less. It’s my right as an older brother, to worry and to be protective and overbearing. And it’s your right to get annoyed by it. I will always worry for you Sunshine, but I will always love you as well.”
Tommy clung to Wilbur’s words desperately, the words soothing the hurt that had been growing in him for the better part of an hour now. He wanted nothing more than to hug his older brother, to sink into that warm and comforting embrace, but Wilbur’s voice was like a hug in and of itself.
“I love you, Wilby,” Tommy whispered, which didn’t feel like enough after what Wilbur said. “I always wish you were here. I miss you all the time, even when we’re on call. You’re the best older brother anyone could ever ask for, even when you make fun of me.”
“Aw, Sunshine, you’re gonna make me cry,” Wilbur teased, making Tommy flush. “Shut up,” he muttered, cheeks burning. “It’s true.”
“I know it is, Sunshine, and it’s the same for me. I always want to see you as well. And,” Wilbur pauses for dramatic emphasis, like the true theatre kid that he is. “I’m actually on my way to see you right now. You’re only going to have to wait a little longer, I promise.”
“What?”
“I got into my car the minute you three started streaming. I didn’t know where you would end up after the stream, I just hoped it wouldn’t be a hospital. All I knew for sure, Sunshine, was that I had to see you immediately and make sure you were alright for myself.”
“But Wilbur, you live so far away, are you serious? You didn’t have to come all that way for me,” Tommy immediately started protesting, feeling guilty.
“No, no, don’t you dare Tommy,” Wilbur used his name for the first time today, making him freeze. “I will drive for however long it takes for me to see you. I don’t care if it’s three hours or fifteen hours, I will never mind making the drive. You are my little brother and nothing means more to me than that.”
Tommy, who had stopped crying ages ago, started crying again, this time from what felt like relief and an overwhelming feeling of love.
“Now, although I’d love to talk to you for hours Sunshine, I’m gonna have to get back to driving now. I’ll see you as soon as possible, I promise,” Wilbur’s smile was evident through the phone and Tommy couldn’t wait to see him.
“I love you Wilby,” Tommy whispered, so quiet and fragile it felt like a promise.
“I love you too Sunshine,” Wilbur promised, his voice warm.
Then the phone went silent and Tommy was once again left in the silence. But this time, rather than being worried and scared, Tommy felt the silence wrap around him like a blanket. Like a promise of Wilbur saying “I love you,” which felt so strong and genuine that Tommy couldn’t muster up a single argument against it.
Tommy pushed himself up off the floor, muscles protesting, smile still plastered on his face. He turned and grabbed the door handle, lingering outside for another couple seconds in the warmth of Wilbur’s words, before going inside to join the others.
He slipped off his shoes near the doorway, leaving them in the pile of other shoes, still muddy with dirt from the park. Tommy then wandered along towards the sound of Tubbo’s laughter, as cheerful and loud as always, using that and the memory of Jack’s house from previous visits to guide him.
When he entered the living room, the others’ gazes shot towards him immediately, all of them falling silent and worried. But when they saw the stupid grin he had on his face, they all relaxed and started to tease him for being worried in the first place.
He protested for appearances sake, but still approached the coach and wedged himself between Eryn and Jack, ignoring their grumblings in favor of sinking into their warmth. Tommy felt like he was on top of the world, as though all the fear he felt earlier was simply falling away in the presence of his friends and with the lasting warmth of Wilbur’s words. All he had to do now was wait.
And when his older brother stepped through the door thirty minutes later, Tommy didn’t hesitate to run directly into his arms, which came up around him as they always did.