Chapter Text
Techno had been in the prison with Dream, Wilbur was still examining the world around him, and life was starting to go back to a dull normalcy. Tommy liked it, even though things were seemingly crumbling around him it was… falling into peacefulness. Which was good! Really, of course it was. Though everything still felt empty, and Tommy checked his communicator every few seconds. People were logging off, and it felt a bit too familiar for his taste, the final goodbyes, the triumph, the abruptness of it all. He let it happen, and had said goodbye to Tubbo and Ranboo, and watched them say goodbye to Michael. The world was finally falling into a silence, no more explosions, no more destruction, no nothing.
He sat at the edge of L’manpit, staring down through the glass and trying not to cry, it was a bittersweet goodbye to it all, and part of him didn’t want it, even if this place had ruined him more than anything would in his life. He messed with the braid in his hair, a sharp pang hitting his heart. Techno would be left here, as would Dream. That was the agreement. Leave them here with Sam, who’d watch over the prison until the server shut down and the new one began.
He heard someone calling for him and looked up. Niki was waiting for him. Right. He sighed a little bit and pushed himself to his feet. Stretching out his arms and looking around for a last time, a song slowly singing itself in his mind.
It was never his L’manburg. It really wasn’t meant to be. But was that really so bad?
He followed Niki’s voice, and stared at her, she was standing infront of the portal. Just Tommy and Niki were left. Both saying their goodbyes. Both wondering who the other was waiting to see on the other side. Both wondering if they’d even make it through… but through they went, Tommy stepping through only to be hit with coastal air.
He opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He didn’t remember which server he’d be entering, he’d been through too much, his brain was lagging, and the confusion of actually making it through overwhelmed him for a moment.
And then something hit his chest, slamming into him and making his breath catch in his throat and his sword appeared in his hand, only for his wrist to be caught and twisted and squeezed by a man who was grinning at him from behind his sunglasses.
“Deo?”
“Tommy.”
A calm voice, a sense of security, and a rush of memories washed over Tommy and he dropped his sword, throwing his arms around Deo and squeezing him tight. “Holy fucking SHIT, DEO! You’re not gonna fucking believe all of this man there’s so fucking much-” and he kept rambling as Deo picked up his sword and tucked it away, grabbing Tommy’s hand and starting to walk him back towards Business Bay. What a hunting trip- Bitzel and Luke would be ecstatic.
Tommy kept talking and talking about the Dream SMP, and Deo listened intently, his grip on Tommy’s hand routinely loosening and tightening as he heard about the most definitely traumatizing events. He kept glancing at his friend and trying to gauge his mental state just by how different he was acting. His brain worked fast.
Tommy was holding onto his hand like a lifeline, his shirt was messy and frayed at the edges, and the colors were faded or patchy in some places, his hair was longer and looked like it hadn’t been washed- and a white stripe lay amongst the blonde. His eyes weren’t as bright, more dull and quiet, defensive. And he kept glancing around as if something would attack him any second.
Deo didn’t like it.
So he pulled Tommy closer to his side as they walked, noticing how Tommy immediately looked up at him and fear flashed in his eyes. Deo flashed Tommy as reassuring a smile as he could muster, and he seemed to calm down a little bit, sticking closer to Deo obediently. Deo didn’t like how easy that was either. Especially out of the stubborn boy.
When they arrived at Business Bay, Luke was out and tending to the farm while Bitzel was training firing arrows at some dummys. Luke noticed them first, and the immediate “TOMMY!” made both the one in question and Deo jump, and Bitzels head swung in their direction.
Tommy was swarmed suddenly by his two friends, Lukes hands sliding up and down his torso as the boy somewhat circled him, checking Tommy for wounds or anything of the such “Luke! Luke I’m fine!” But there was no reaction as Luke simply pulled up Tommys shirt a bit, huffing in annoyance at the arrow and axe scars, but not saying anything. Bitzel was talking more though, a million questions a minute.
Deo had backed off and was texting someone on his communicator. When the other two boys were done, they looked at him- so he held it up and showed them he’d been texting Wisp. It was about time Tommy got back and had a proper day with his friends.
So that’s what they did.
Wisp arrived and they spent the day together. Deo stayed close to Tommy the whole time, and trained with him, watching Tommys new way of fighting that he was happy to teach the rest of the Business Bay boys- they all recognized how trained into him it looked instead of his normal vague recklessness, and they were all careful not to actually wound him after Deo had caught them all up.
Bitzel and Tommy ended up working on some new books together, and Tommy sat him down and taught him a bunch of new techniques to scam people he’d learnt- as well as sat down and made the L’manburg flag to hold it up and show it to the Business Boys, who all seemed genuinely impressed by the fact he and his brother had been able to start a whole new nation- not just a faction.
Tommy had sat down with Luke and showed him some wounds and scars and bragged about how he was able patch himself up on his own, only for Luke to gently reprimand him- “You shouldn’t have been getting into situations like that in the first place!” proceeded by him teaching Tommy how he should’ve actually fixed the wounds that had healed wrong and scarred up in bad ways. Which only resulted in Tommy complaining and groaning a lot and babbling on about how much of a fucking worry-wart that Luke was.
Wisp meanwhile had a talk with Tommy about the Antarctic Empire, seeming to enjoy the fact it had supposedly started again and there was a new member of it, as well as taking in all the details about Snowchester that he could. Proceeding that was a long long talk about how starting a nation and doing all that wasn’t fun, and then Wisp very much pushed for Tommy to find a therapist in the world hub so he could recover a bit- though Tommy just rolled his eyes and said no. But they all knew he would go looking for one, and if he didn’t- they would for him.
Days went by calmly and quietly, Tommy spent most of his time working on the farm and spending time with his friends, and sometimes his old friends came to visit- Tubbo and Ranboo came by at one point and Deo nearly attacked them just because Ranboo was an enderman, but it got sorted out. Wilbur came to visit, and at one point Techno did too-
It was nice, having his friends around and having everything be peaceful again. Tommy knew he’d have to go back to the Dream SMP for the next sessions, but for right now things were safe and okay, and he liked it that way, just relaxing with the Business Boys and feeling safe in his own skin.
As he collapsed down on the couch, throwing his head on Deos lap as they were all laughing and talking about something, the world slowly fading away as sleep started to take over him, the thought processed.
He was happy, this was what family was supposed to be.