Work Text:
Safe to say, the whole reason this happened in the first place was all because of Wilbur. Yup, Wilbur was to blame for all of this. No question about it.
What was Wilbur to blame for?
Everything.
Or at least, the reason for Tommy being all alone, outside at night. With a dead fucking cell phone, in the rain.
So here’s what happened.
Philza sighed as he leaned over and grabbed the small device. Frowning even harder as he looked at the numbers. He let out a low whistle as he spoke.
“Yup, that’s definitely a fever mate. No school for you.”
Wilbur dramatically whined as he pushed himself up. Glancing down at his knees covered by the bed blanket.
“But Phil! You know the teacher’s an asshole. I’m going to miss out on a fitness test. And he’s going to be all like, ‘Do twenty push-ups! Nowww’.”
Phil stood up from where he was knelt down by the bed. “Which is exactly why I don’t want you going to school today. Especially if you’re feeling sick. Running around a field certainly won’t help, even if it is ‘fresh air.’”
Wilbur sighed again. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Phil grinned. “I know I’m right. Now lay back down while I take the other two gremlins to school. I need to head to work at 30 so I’ll get you a flannel and some medicine. I’ll bring up some snacks for you too.”
Wilbur grinned back to him, “Alright Dad. I love you”
“Love you too, Mate.” As he slowly closed the door.
Wilbur's day off had just begun.
Technoblade and Tommy glanced at each other once they had arrived at the school. Philza had dropped the two of them off early so he could go back and prepare some things for Wilbur before he went off for work.
Which was fine…
But they both knew Wilbur was faking it.
How did they both know that?
Because there was a massive party going on that the whole school knew about.
It was funny really, how the whole school with far over 1000 students knew about this small little house party, welcome to all. Yet the parents of the child never ended up finding out until it was too late. You’d think one of the kids' parents would hear and snitch… But you’d be surprised.
They also knew that it wasn’t just a coincidence because Wilbur had said he would be going to his friends on the phone. And with the party only being the short time of a few days before the party… They all knew it was too convenient for Wilbur to start getting sick now.
The bastard had thought it through though. He’d started showing ‘symptoms’ now. So when he’d eventually ‘be sick’ on the night. Techno was a little pissed, knowing that even if he told Phil this… He would likely not be believed.
And Tommy didn’t really care.
Okay, Tommy cared.
What the fuck.
He glanced on the other side of the room. Wilbur eating his and Techno’s ice cream. Which the oldest twin wasn’t aware of until Tommy kindly pointed it out to him by a nudge and a head tilt towards him.
“Wilbur, are you kidding me? You literally know how hard it is to find that type of ice cream.” His twin grunted.
“Philza called and said I should be eating cold things. And I already finished my tub earlier. So…”
“What’s to stop me from calling dad right now and telling him your plan?”
“I mean, who’s he going to believe. The one who’s throwing up or the one who’s just jealous that he didn’t come up with a plan as good as this.” Lifting his legs up and resting them on the coffee table.
Tommy just huffed and walked past him, not giving him the satisfaction of replying.
“Why would I want to go to a party that we’d eventually get caught at, just to drink some five-pound vodka from Tesco? Also, I don’t want to be puked on. And since you’re not sick, I won’t need to worry about that. Will I?”
At the top of the stairs, Tommy pulled out his phone and clicked on the ‘Voice Memos’ app. Pretending to read messages from girls.
“I mean when I get back from the party… No promises I won’t puke on you when I’m drunk as hell.”
“Philza’s obviously going to know you have a hangover. Plus your breath’s going to stink.”
Wilbur cackled. “Yeah, yeah. It’ll be worth it though. But Philza isn’t going to find out. And you and Tommy are gonna keep it that way, right?”
Techno locked eyes with Tommy on the stairs, spotting the phone.
He looked back to his twin. “Yeah, yeah. Just leave me out of it if you get busted, alright? Your the one who wants to go to the shitty party.” Saying that part a little louder, to make sure his brother's phone would pick it up.
“Gotcha, thanks for doing business with me Techno! Now, put this in the bin for me?” He said, holding out the empty ice cream container. His empty ice cream.
“Go fuck yourself.”
Tommy stopped recording.
Tommy had dealt with Wilbur before and knew that if his older brother had found out about the clip, he’d do everything he could to delete it.
So Tommy sent it to Techno, just in case.
He had put the file in his notes and locked it, the password being something only him and quite possibly Tubbo could get.
He tried to act natural as the brother he was just thinking of, entered his room.
“Heyyy, Tommy.”
“What, Wilbur.” No politeness in his voice.
“Are you mad about the ice cream thing? I’ll make it up to you. Promise.” He didn’t believe the promise.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this all for some shitty party.” Glancing away.
“You wanna come with me?”
…
“... Really?” No, no. No. Absolutely fucking not, no.
“I mean if it gets you not to tell Dad about the audio recording you got of me.”
Tommy instantly glanced to his phone, meeting eyes with Wilbur as his older brother held up his own phone with a message clear on the screen.
Shit. Did he send it to Wilbur?!
“Yeah, might wanna double-check who you’re sending stuff to next time, bud.”
His little brother's grimace deepened.
“Fuck off, Wilbur.”
“Alrighty, don’t tell dad. Love you.” As he ruffled his hair and left.
Bastard.
It wasn’t that Wilbur wasn’t allowed to go to parties… He just… He didn’t want his brother to go. (Also Wilbur was probably too young).
If he were being 100% honest, he would actually quite prefer it if nobody went to any parties. Like at all. Ever.
It was their choice, of course. But drinking always gave him a… Gross feeling. Like how his chest feels when he’s near something he’s allergic to. That kind of feeling. Almost like he couldn’t breathe around them.
His ‘Parents’ used to drink a lot before they died. And he knew that people weren’t friendly when they drank.
Wilbur said that he’d be coming home after the party, which meant he’d come home drunk.
He didn’t want Wilbur to come home drunk.
But if he told dad, Wilbur wouldn’t talk to him.
Maybe getting yelled at would be worth it if he didn’t get to lose a brother...
The two brothers knew Wilbur was serious about this plan when they were awoken at 3 in the fucking morning by the sound of fake vomiting.
Well, at this point Wilbur wouldn’t be able to play it off. That’s when Tommy knew that his brother was committed to the role.
Tommy tried to go back to sleep as he pretended not to hear the footsteps of his father walking down the hall.
It was two days until the party would begin.
Wilburs plan had been working nicely, he’d managed to convince Philza to let him stay home. He hadn’t worried his father enough to make him stay home from work, just what he was planning for. But he knew the school rules.
Once you threw up you had to wait 48 hours since you last vomited. Which is two days. And it would be the weekend the day after the party, so there was a 100% chance he’d be staying home. He’d done it!
He’d managed to pull off what Tommy dreaded.
Being alone gave Wilbur a lot of time to do whatever he wanted. He kind of dreaded having to finish all the homework that he knew he missed.
But his extremely ‘helpful’ twin brother had done him a ‘favor’ by being kind enough to suggest bringing the homework back with him. What a dick.
And he was a little mad at Tommy for being so dramatic about this. It wasn’t a big deal! Plus Tommy wouldn’t be the one getting in trouble, would he?
Techno was likely going to be a little pissed, but he knew that even he wouldn’t snitch. Maybe.
Actually, he had no clue what Techno would do, but as long as it didn’t ruin his plans, he didn’t care.
He leaned back into the couch as he switched on the television, oh yeah. This was going to be great.
It was the day of the party. Wilbur had spent the whole of the day preparing his backpack for the party later, he’d also been recording a few videos here and there for tonight. If Philza did message, asking how he was. He could send a video so that his alibi would make sense.
It was nice, no school. And his big entrance when he’d show up at the party when all his friends thought he wouldn’t be there. Oh yeah, it’d be absolutely epic.
He’d brought a little something to lighten up the party. A small bottle of alcohol. Normally Philza used it on the wounds he and his brothers would normally get, but it was a small bottle. And Phil hadn’t used it in a while after researching about using it.
So yeah, pure alcohol on wounds wasn’t typically advised, hence why it remained unopened.
He knew they wouldn’t miss one little bottle.
Everything was seemingly ready for tonight's escape. He’d wait until his brothers were home and wait about an hour or two before heading out himself.
Was 6 PM too early to show up to a party? What the Hell was he thinking, of course, it was.
The party would really be going at around 11 PM. Plus, he’d be able to skip the awkwardness of introductions and everyone being sober. Ew, even the thought grossed him out. That’d be boring as shit.
Techno and Tommy entered through the doors, looking pretty pissed off.
“You’re going to make this up to us, Wilbur. Or I swear to fucking God-”
“Easy, Easy Tommy. What did Dad tell you that you have to now do.”
Cocky bastard.
Technoblade glared at him as he headed up the stairs to his bedroom.
“Well, Philza told me that I have to stay with you all night. And message you if anything changes.”
Wilbur gave him a blank look. “Then Lie? I won’t be staying with you as I said. Party time.”
“No promises that I won’t tell Philza what you’re doing while you’re gone though.”
Wilbur paused, he knew when his little brother hinted at something, he was probably going to do it. And the thought of Philza Minecraft pulling up in his car and everyone watching as the well know man dragged him from the party? That wouldn’t be very pog at all.
“I know you won’t, so that’s why you’ll be coming with me. One, so I can party in peace. Two, so I know you won’t ruin it.”
“ What- Wilbur, I don’t wanna go.”
…
“We leave at 10:30 so we’ll make it by 11. Be ready on time, or else.” Tommy didn’t even have the courage to ask what would happen if he wasn’t ready.
Tommy really didn’t want to go.
He really really didn’t want to go.
But here he was, sitting next to Wilbur in an uber, on his way to some shitty party with a bunch of drunk teenagers. He was internally beating himself up for not telling Phil about this, Wilbur being pissed at him would’ve been worth it. He could probably handle one angry drunk Wilbur, but not a whole house full of scary, angry drunk people.
“I don’t want to go inside when we get there.”
His older brother looked at him funny. Like he’d said the craziest thing in the world.
“What? Quit being such a pussy, man. It’s just some kids with a few bottles of their mummy’s wine. What’s the worst that could happen? Go ahead, tell me.”
“They end up killing me.”
“Now why would they do that?”
“I’m a kid here at a party with you, who’s a teenager. What do regular teenagers do when they see a weird kid?”
Wilbur stayed silent, he probably knew the answer. Tommy just prayed that he managed to get through the night without being beaten up.
The first thing they could hear when they stepped out of the uber was the brightly lit building was the sound of screaming and singing along to early 2000’s pop songs.
As Tommy turned around to head the fuck home, he felt the hand of his brother grasping onto his shoulder. “Don’t embarrass me, Tommy. You know I can’t let you leave until I’ve had fun.”
“Please, Wilbur. I don’t like parties, or drunk people, or this much fucking noise. Can I please go? I won’t tell Phil, I swear.”
Wilbur glanced at him over, trying to see if he was bluffing at all.
“Stay for 15 minutes, if you don’t like it, I’ll let you leave and go home, so you can do whatever the fuck you want, deal?”
He didn’t like this, he didn’t want to spend any time in there.
“Deal.”
Someone screaming “Shot’s” in his ear as he got splashed with whatever the Hell was in the red cups was his last straw. It had probably been what, 7 minutes? He wanted to leave and he wanted to leave now.
He could see Wilbur by the table, throwing tons of those cheap ping pong balls into large glasses. Tommy knew that they were meant to be small.
As people cheered for his older brother, the youngest sat in one of the corners of the room, trying to drown out the sounds of yelling.
He decided to use his phone for a little while, so he wouldn’t need to deal with these idiotic pricks. The clock had shown the time, 17 minutes. More than enough for him. He slid on over to his brother when he saw him put down the shot glass.
“Hey Wil, It’s been over 15 minutes, and I still really don’t like it here, can I please leave now? I won’t tell Phil, as I said. I just wanna go home…”
Wilbur sighed. “Yeah, yeah. I’m going to keep hanging out with my friends, you gotta figure out your own way home though. I’m not paying for Two ubers.”
Good enough for him, just glad to be out of that Hellhole.
As Tommy headed back the way he knew the uber came from, he put his address into his phone. It had taken them a while to get by the car, so he knew it wouldn’t be a pleasant short trip walking back.
So, at least Tommy had made it halfway before his phone decided to quit on him. Bad news was, he was unsure of where the fuck to go now, the only hint of where he could go is the direction the map had pointed him in before it went black.
This was fine.
It was only probably midnight now, anyway…
He continued wondering as the only lights he could see were the occasional street lamps every few minutes.
Philza was frankly, very alarmed as he heard the silence when he stepped in the house. The only noise being the sound of ‘pigstep’ coming from his eldest twin's room.
“Boys! I’m back.” He yelled in a quiet-ish voice. They could be sleeping for all he knew.
A nervous-looking Techno came down the stairs.
“What did they do-”
“So, you might wanna sit down for this one Phil.”
Wilbur attempted to ignore the constant ringing of his phone in his pocket. Did Tommy fucking snitch? That bastard. He didn’t want the fun to end, ignoring the cell.
A few minutes later Wilbur realized that the caller probably wasn’t giving up.
As soon as he hit accept in one of the isolated rooms.
“Wilbur Soot, where the fuck are you right now?”
Oh.
“I’m in my room, Dad. You jus’ woke me up.” Faking a raspy voice with some help from the drinks.
“Oh really? Care to explain why my son's bed is empty?”
Wilbur didn’t get to speak, only managing to say, “Tommy, you fuck’n snitch.” Under his breath.
“Oh, no. Tommy wasn’t the one to tell me, Techno did. So now me, Techno and Tommy are coming to get you.
“What?” Tommy only left maybe half an hour ago, and the ride there took thirty minutes. “He got back already?”
Philza responded confusedly. “What- Techno, check Tommy’s room please.” Followed by silence on the other end of the call. “Wait, your brothers with you?!”
Wilbur laughed giddily. “Pfft, no. He walked back like… Half ‘n hours ago. He w’s being a big baby too.” He snorted, apparently finding this hilarious for some dumb reason.
“Walked?!” Philza squawked from the other side of the line. “That’s it, Techno. In the car, now. We’re heading to that party.” The sudden vibrations of his phone had told him that the call had ended.
Shit.
Technoblade grimaced as he saw what he had pictured in his mind, a school party, flooding with drunk teenagers. He was a little surprised to see it, with no police in sight to shut it down.
The thing he was keen on seeing in that house though, was both of his brothers. Accepting his fate, he knew he’d have to go in. Luckily, Phil would be joining him at least. As they stepped out of the car, Philza cautiously locked it behind him. Who knew what literal children would do around a vehicle parked right outside? He didn’t want to take the risk of finding out.
With the two of them in the house, avoiding the obnoxious disco lights and smell of far too many drinks at once, they tried to look for the familiar yellow sweatshirt that Techno insisted that Wilbur was wearing.
Eventually, after Phil called his name for long enough, the partying teens had enough and one of them pointed towards the upstairs hallway, saying how he bolted upstairs as soon as he saw Phil’s car.
Techno wasted no time going up those steps, Philza hot on his tail. And just as the unreliable drunk teen said, there was Wilbur. Who was pretending not to see them as he took a sip from a tiny red cup.
Phil, of course. Slapped the drink lightly out of his hand, followed by a whine from Wilbur.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Wilbur knew not to respond. “Car, now. We’ll talk there.”
Wilbur groaned as he followed his Dad and Twin brother to the car, the second Wilbur climbed in the back, Phil locked it and inhaled deeply. Silently Techno wished his brother good luck for what was about to happen.
“You know what? I’ll yell at you later. Now, tell me where the fuck your little brother is. Because I’m pretty sure a kid who got abused by alcoholics , wouldn’t willingly want to go to a party filled with just that.” Techno slightly flinched at the ‘abused’ word, trying not to picture the case files.
Wilbur was either too drunk to listen or didn’t get what Phil was hinting at. “He whined saying he wanted to go home, so I let him.”
Philza sighed. This was clearly going to be a very long fucking night, he wasn’t looking forward to it at all.
“Yeah, no shit. But surprise, he’s not home. And Techno kept trying to call him on the drive here, so clearly, something’s happened.” He took another deep inhale, trying to keep his tone out of the yelling range. “You said on our call that he walked back thirty minutes ago. That was before we left, it took thirty minutes to get here. So It’s been an hour.”
This was pointless, Phil knew he wasn’t getting through to his son.
“For fuck’s sake Wilbur, just say which way Tommy went.”
Wilbur laughed a little. “He went the same way we came, duh. I thought you were smarter than that.”
Techno nor Phil had spotted Tommy on their drive there. Maybe if they followed the same way back, they’d see him along the way. Hopefully...
“Phil, Let’s hope for the best and drive the way back to our house, Tommy was probably using a GPS or something.”
Phil turned the car around. He was going to get his son.
Tommy was currently, fucking soaked. The light rain from earlier hadn’t been too much to handle. Pretty light, but some dickhead had decided to ignore the child and splash him as they drove. INTENTIONALLY. What a bitch, if he wasn’t freezing and so willing to get home, he would’ve given that prick a piece of his mind.
He tried to ignore the fact he no longer had any clue of where to go.
Fuck Wilbur, this was all his fault.
He looked back down at his phone, wishing it would magically turn back on. But he knew it wouldn’t, and now. Phil was going to be pissed at him too. For not telling him straight away what was happening, for trying to go home alone, for some dumb reason.
He could distantly hear the sound of a car honking behind him as his wet hair dripped onto the lifeless device.
“I see him! He’s on the opposite side of the road!” Leaning over, Techno honked the horn for Phil, who let out a startled soft ‘hey!’ as he hadn’t expected him to lean over and press it.
He kept pressing the horn over and over again which went on for long enough until his idiot younger brother finally glanced behind him. He looked a little alarmed until he saw Wilbur in the back seat. He wanted to say he was a little bit more relaxed at that? Don’t get him wrong, he was still horrified about the fact his family was right behind him already.
He’d honestly expected it to be hours upon hours before they found him. So it was a nice change of plans, because believe it or not… He wasn’t too fond of the water seeping into his clothes and socks.
Wet socks, truly the worst feeling known to mankind.
He shook his hair violently before getting into the back seat of the car, he at least had some respect for the old ancient vehicle. And respect for the old ancient man driving it.
Phil glanced in the rear-view mirror, “You alright mate?” Clearly knowing the answer already. Tommy’s shoulders were untensed once he knew Philza wasn’t using his pissed-off tone. His voice slightly stuttered as he spoke.
“Fuckin’ Freezin..” He’d be lying through his teeth if he said he hadn’t been a little spooked as Techno threw his pink and black jacket in his face.
“Heh, you look exactly as you did when you fell into that river.” He was simply trying to lighten the mood of the car,
He sunk deeper when his drunk brother looked over at him, also in the back seat. He mumbled the words, ‘snitch’ under his mouth. Not being heard over the bumpy driving from the vehicle.
Tommy glanced away.
Phil had stayed silent for the majority of the ride home, only speaking once they had arrived. “Sit in the living room, now. I’ll meet you there.”
The boys didn’t dare argue, doing as they were told as Philza locked the car up.
Techno stared at Wilbur, who stared back. All while Tommy silently hoped that Technoblade would be okay with him sitting on the jacket that his brother gave him, in a desperate attempt to save the couch from getting wet. He didn’t want to get in trouble with Phil any more than he would.
Speaking of Phil, the man walked through the doors. And they knew they were in for it as he sighed and put his bucket hat on the rack. Even with the door closed, the wetness from the puddle didn’t help at all.
Phil walked in front of the couch, where his three boys sat. Some, clearly looking more guilty than others. “So…”
“Would anybody like to start?”
Techno and Tommy glanced at Wilbur, who thought he would rather spend his time looking preferably, anywhere else.
“Techno, Tommy?” The oldest and youngest looked to him. “Care to explain at all? Mind telling me how long the both of you knew?” Tommy looked as if he’d just been accused of the greatest crime of all time, while Techno just pulled out Wilburs phone. He must’ve taken it during the party, or sometime in the car.
Techno knew that Tommy had sent the video to Wilbur instead, his twin wasn’t that quiet. Or good at keeping information to himself. Anyway, he clicked play on the recording as the clear voice of Wilbur Soot rang in the air.
“I mean when I get back from the party… No promises I won’t puke on you when I’m drunk as hell.”
“Philza’s obviously going to know you have a hangover. Plus your breath’s going to stink.”
“Yeah, yeah. It’ll be worth it though. But Philza isn’t going to find out. And you and Tommy are gonna keep it that way, right?”
As they listened, Tommy and Wilbur shrunk progressively deeper into the couch. Wilbur just wanted to accept his fate already, and Tommy wanted to leave. Preferably without being yelled at by anyone.
Phil stood straight up. “Right, well It’s clear that you didn’t need the medicine I got for you after all. Do you know how much time of ours you wasted Wilbur? I was so close to calling in off of work.”
The mumbled, ‘but you didn’t’ from Wilbur was apparently the wrong thing to say.
“I think you and me are both glad about that.” Phil glanced at the three of his boys again, to make sure they were paying attention. “Wilbur, I’ll talk to you alone in a moment.”
He locked eyes with Tommy and Techno.
“Tommy.” He glanced to the left. “Techno.” . . .
“Go upstairs and get ready for bed. Tommy, please have a shower Mate. You're absolutely drenched.”
Techno was perfectly okay with that as he got up and left, pausing to wait for his little brother at the top of the stairs.
Tommy once again tried to ignore the sounds of Wilbur and Phil talking as he stepped into the shower.
To be fair, Tommy didn’t feel much different after a shower. He still felt soaked, obviously. But he was still cold, and tired. So as he brushed his teeth he reminded himself to switch into the fluffiest pajamas he owned.
As he whispered goodnight to his stuffed cow, he steadily began to drift off to sleep. The only sounds his ears could hear being the light sounds of voices talking from down below. At least the shower had felt nice…
“I told you that exactly this would happen. You knew this would happen, so I’m sorry Mate, but I ain’t helping you. You brought this on yourself.”
Huh?
He rubbed his eyes blearily as he tried to focus on the first thing he heard when he awoke. Who was that? He couldn’t exactly make it out who was outside. Besides Phil, by the excessive use of the word, ‘Mate’.
He could hear a groan from outside his room which was followed by the sound of a thump. “I told you to quit being dramatic, this was your fault. Didn’t you expect this?”
Oh, that was probably Wilbur then. As he began to remember the events of last night. He shuddered at the memory of all that dirty water splashing him at once. It was almost as if he could still feel it.
He sniffed slightly as he jumped up from the bed. Suddenly remembering what day it was. Saturday, the night after the party. He remembered why it was so big. It was the first party of the school break. Which meant he’d be stuck with his brothers for two whole weeks…
Lovely…
Philza with his Dad-Hearing seemed to pick up on the noise Tommy had made when he jumped up. Knocking on his door once he heard the sound of Wilbur going downstairs, probably for breakfast.
“Ey Tommy, are you awake yet, Mate?"
Tommy nodded, before realizing the door was shut. “Yeah!” God, his morning voice sounded god damn awful.
Phil creaked the door open, smiling once he saw his youngest in the fluffy pajamas he had bought him. “You doin’ alright after last night?” He moved over to sit on the edge of the boys bed, knowing that this was probably going to be an early morning conversation.
At least that conversation was happening here instead of in front of right where both of his older brothers could watch him..
Tommy joined his dad on the bed, making sure not to make eye contact. Which his father respected. “I… I’m not sure, I feel like It’s my fault a bit. For not telling you sooner, and walking home by myself… I just… Don’t know? Are you upset with me?” He spoke. Or at least tried too, it sounded pretty groggy. But he usually sounded like that when he first awoke.
“Mate, of course, I’m not upset with you. Though I do wish you and Techno told me, I completely understand you wanting to leave a party you didn’t even want to go to. Techno told me the rest earlier.”
Earlier? But Techno had gone to bed at the same time as him? He literally saw Techno enter his bedroom before he went into the shower, there was no way Phil could’ve come upstairs? No way except...
“... What time is it…?” Phil looked at the digital clock on the bedside table. Squinting as he tried to make out what the little device displayed.
“9:00 AM. And That’s pretty late for you...” Phil tried to meet his eyes, but the child was keen on not making eye contact. Instead, the man ruffled his hair. Tommy usually woke up at 6 AM. Sometimes earlier, so this was quite a change.
“I decided to wait for breakfast if you wanna come down and eat some. It’s just toast and some fruit, nothing fancy.” Tommy sniffed in response.
“Is Wilbur going to be down there…?”
The short bit of silence let him know. “If you don’t want to eat with him, I can bring your food upstairs for you?” Tommy nodded, opting to stay silent. He ignored the way he wobbled as Philza stood up from the bed and was no longer sinking that area in.
“I’ll be right back, try not to die in the Two minutes I’m gone.”
Tommy couldn’t help but chuckle a little at that. The blonde-haired kid reached for one of the many water bottles he brought up, knowing how thirsty he got.
He sniffed slightly again, looking in his desk drawer for some of those cheap packets of tissues kids normally chucked in their school bags.
Phiza noticed the way Wilbur watched as he put Tommy’s food all onto a plate. He hadn’t done that while he was making Technos. Only Tommy’s.
As Phil climbed the stairs with the plate in one hand, his other on the railing, he approached his youngest's room.
He’d honestly admit that he was terrified when he heard the sound of sniffling from the boy's room, thinking he was crying. Softly opening the door he asked the same question when he came in. “You good, Mate?” Frowning in concern.
Maybe the kid was more upset about the party than he thought.
Tommy only glanced at him confusedly as he put the used tissue in the bin. “You just asked that, don’t worry old man. I’m fine.” He said a bit nasally.
Phil placed the plate of food on Tommy’s bed as he glanced his son over. Not letting him avoid eye contact this time.
“Are you sick?”
“Sick isn’t the word I would use-”
“So you are?”
“I’m just cold-” Phil cut him off.
“More like you have a cold. ” He used his dad's powers and put the back of his hand to his son’s forehead. Luckily, he was probably right. Just a cold. No high fever, right now at least. At least now it was Tommy’s turn to groan dramatically as he released himself from Philza’s Dad hand’s.
“Alright, but I’m not dying this time. I promise.” Saluting, getting a laugh out of Phil.
“Okay, I guess I’ll have to believe you this time.” He glanced at the breakfast he’d put on the bed. “You sure you don’t wanna come downstairs? Since I’m the boss around here, I’d say we can eat on the couch. Just you and me, the boys won’t mind being at the table.”
God damn it, why was Philza so damn persuasive?
He sighed as he went out to reach for the plate of food until he was stopped by Philza. “Uh, uh uh! I’m taking this for you.” Oh God, not this.
“Phil stop being clingy you clingy fuck.” Phil snorted, laughing as he took the plate downstairs. Tommy close behind.
As the two blondes climbed onto the couch, Phil went back to the table to get his food. He hadn’t touched his yet, and was a little surprised that none of it was missing. He was used to being a few slices less of whatever he had cooked, so at least he was surprised in a good way.
Phil switched the television on for background noise. Tommy wasn’t a fan of listening to people eat in silence. Too many chewing noises- Too gross. Though this was nice.
He couldn’t exactly smell the toast, nor the fruit. But he was thankful for it. He was also thankful that Phil hadn’t given him any weird looks at the way he tried to eat it. The child was trying to eat it fast because he couldn’t breathe out of his nostrils.
He’d managed to eat most of it, feeling a little fuller than usual. Eh, he blamed it on the cold. He wasn’t too upset about it, not like he could properly taste it. He thanked Phil anyway, who ruffled his hair. Tommy stood up to take his plate to the kitchen when he asked for his dad’s plate. Seeing how it was empty.
Phil took the plate right from the child’s hands. “I got it. Also, stay there on the couch. Gremlin.”
Eh, might as well listen to Dadza. And he didn’t really want to walk past Wilbur or Techno to get to the kitchen anyway. He could only sniffle as he took up half of the couch. Leaving the rest of it all for Dadza of course.
Phil hadn’t come back empty-handed, coming back with the same medicine he bought for Wil.
“I guess we can actually put this to use after all.”
If the couch wasn’t so large, Tommy would’ve been able to see the confusion on his brother’s faces slowly come to the conclusion at the same time. They didn’t say anything, of course. Just opting for glancing in the direction of Phil, sucking the brightly colored liquid into the plastic syringe.
“You want me to do it, or can you do it yourself?”
“Dad.” He muttered embarrassedly. Apparently, he didn’t have a choice in the first place, as Phil injected it fast.
“Don’t spit it out, please. It actually tastes good, unlike the other ones.” Hey, he couldn’t disagree there.
“I can’t even taste and I know that was good.” He mumbled, out of view of his siblings. Phil chuckled, switching through a few of the movies that were playing. He ended up giving the remote to Tommy, knowing that he would put on what he wanted to watch.
Phil turned and got up, walking over to the dining table. “You boys look like you finished eating ages ago, why don’t you go to your rooms and do whatever teenagers do.”
He purposely ignored the ‘God you’re old ’ from Technoblade. Techno put his plate on the kitchen counter before disappearing upstairs. As Phil watched his eldest leave, he thought of an idea.
He thought that this would be a good time for his boys to make up. Phil took the empty plate from Wilbur before he could protest. “I’m going upstairs, Mate. Are you staying down here?” Trying to see if his son was doing what he suspected.
“Yeah, uh. I’ll go upstairs in a moment.” Phil hid the smile on his face as he turned around, going up the staircase. Hopefully, they would make it up to each other. Phil thought this would be a good time to go to Techno’s room.
It had just been Wilbur and Tommy downstairs for the past 7 minutes, and neither of them had spoken. The only noise being the sound of advertisements on T.V and the light sniffling and coughing from Tommy.
Wilbur was a little unsure of what to do. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, not just to stall… But to prepare. He wanted to say something to Tommy before the boy would go upstairs. He didn’t want Phil or Techno to eavesdrop either. They all knew it was easier to do that upstairs.
Knowing he couldn’t stall any longer, he made his way to the couch. Tommy noticed immediately, pulling his legs up so he wasn’t stealing half of the couch. Wilbur took this as a sign. A good sign? He didn’t know. But he decided to sit there anyway.
As they just sat there, Wilbur thought it was pretty awkward. His brother was probably thinking the same. But he knew the longer he waited to speak, the harder it would be to.
Okay, deep breath. Here we go.
“Tommy, I’m sorry.”
“ Sorry… ”
Wilbur didn’t expect that, and neither was Tommy. Looking a little surprised at the words from each other's mouths.
“No, listen here. I’m sorry. I’m going to be completely honest, yeah?” A small nod to know he was heard. “I completely fucked up. It was really dumb of me, a teenager to go out late at night and go drinking. It was so stupid of me to fake being sick too, I know it upset you, Techno, Dad… A lot of my friends who were concerned about me being genuinely sick. But most of all…”
He inhaled sharply.
“I am really fucking sorry for making you come with me. That was one of the most fucked up things I could do. I wasn’t thinking properly, and I know that’s not an excuse at all. I know how much you hate drinking… And Loud parties… And what did I go ahead and do? Take you there.” …
“I don’t know if it’s the hangover messing with my hearing, but I swear to fuck I heard Phil say he was using the medicine he bought for me. If I hadn’t made you come with me, you wouldn’t be needing it right now… Just… I know I fucked up badly. And I get it if you don’t want to talk to me ever again. I just want to say- Sorry-!”
His apology got cut off by the tight hug of a child, the sniffling from earlier became a lot more frequent. Which concerned him until he began to feel a wet patch on his shirt.
Ah, that explained it.
“Please don’t cry Tom’s… You know I can’t handle that…” Two brother’s crying on a couch. They might hug. Yes, they will.
Tommy sniffed as he hugged Wilbur tighter. “Promise me you're not mad at me…?”
Wilbur pulled him closer. “I promise. And I promise, no more parties.”
Tommy mumbled into his shirt. “You can go to parties, just don’t bring me with you.” He lightly joked sniffing once again.
Wilbur ruffled his hair. “That, I can do.” He glanced at Tommy mischievously. “You want some of Techno’s ice cream?” He whispered.
The child stopped to think. “Actually , I’d rather have some of yours.”
“You Gremlin, the payback’s already begun I see?” Already slipping from the hug to go and get his own untouched ice cream.
“Yup!” He cheered, putting his hands in the air.
The brothers sat on the couch, eating Wilburs favorite ice cream when Tommy suddenly spoke up.
Tommy glanced at Wilbur, “What flavor was Techno’s ice cream anyway?”
“Red velvet.”
“Red Velvet?” Tommy parroted. “I expected potato flavor or something, I’ve never seen him eat that?”
“He insisted Phil buy it because he said on quote ’It looks like blood’ followed by, ‘Blood for the blood God..”
Tommy nodded. “Yup, that seems like him. Clearly, I’m the intellectual between him and me. I actually pick based off of how good it tastes. ”
Wilbur grinned. “Is that why you picked my flavor?
The child stuttered. “Of course not! Yours is this, I just wanted payback for you eating mine.”
Wilbur gave him a small head tilt in confusion. “Tom’s, I only ate Technos. I never ate yours.”
“Ooh.. Whoops.”
“Eh, don’t worry. Yours looked too shit to eat anyway.”
“Bold words coming from someone who’s close enough for me to sneeze into their hair.”
“You wouldn’t-”
He would.