Work Text:
Most people don't know but Tommy was actually a skilled blacksmith. A while before he met Wilbur and the rest of the sbi he worked as a blacksmith for servers and skilled fighters. He was young (around 10) when he was traveling through the land Phil and his family owned. He stilled smiled a sad smile when he thought back to it
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Tommy had arrived in this new area he didn't have much. He was just previously scammed at the last kingdom he visited. He was enlisted to make a sword. some kid wanted a sword named nightmare sounded dumb to Tommy but he made it. but then the kid had the AUDACITY not to PAY. ok so Tommy was a little angry it would have been normal i mean it happens often but then they tried to mug him! (and succeeded the author would like to add) So now all he had was a few weapons in his inventory and some money he had managed to keep, needless to say it was not the best day for him. So when he came across a small creek the 10 year old wasted no time settling down in the moss. After a few minutes the tranquility of the scene and the calm flow of water made him sleepy so after a few moments he fell asleep.
A few hours later he awoke to chocolate brown eyes peering down at him. “What the Hell?! Who are you?!” he screamed and the stranger let out a small laugh. Tommy noticed that this person seemed to be a teenager a bit more than a couple years older than Tommy. Tommy quickly got up and prepared himself to run. He already got mugged once this week he sure as hell didn't need it happening again. The teen looked at Tommy curiously.
Tommy was getting a little annoyed (and possibly scared) but mostly annoyed. fuck off narrator! The teen seemed to notice Tommy tensing up, and after a moment of seemingly debating with himself what to do. (Tommy thought he looked a bit constipated but up for debate I guess) said “hey i'm Wilbur and you don't have to worry i'm not going to hurt you or anything” oh so the pricks name is Wilbur Tommy thought to himself. Tommy untenses a bit.
He stands there awkwardly (not awkwardly I was just- assessing the situation.) and after a few moments speaks to Wilbur “my name is Tommy” he says timidly. Wilbur smiled at him before starting again, “well Tommy, are you here with your parents?” he said looking around a bit as if Tommy's parents were simply hanging around the whole time and he simply didn’t notice them (Tommy wished that was the case.). Tommy sighed and Wilbur looked back at him again with a confused expression on his face “i'm traveling alone no parents around here big man. ” he said a small frown was already forming on his face.
“Why not shouldn't they we with you you don't look any older than nine?” Wilbur said not getting the hint to leave it alone by Tommy very obvious frown now fully expressed on his face. “No Wilbur they are not here. haven't been here for 5 years so fuck off!” he said yelling a bit at the end he was getting frustrated and Wilbur was not helping. Like at all. He let out yet another sigh and looked back at Wilbur who now had a somber expression on his face. Tommy certainly wasn't expecting that. However, Wilbur decided to surprise everyone (except maybe the author?) and said “I'm sorry... would you like a hug?”
Tommy. fucking. Froze. He was not expecting for some random teen he just met to offer to HUG him like wtf?! He was about to tell the teen how fucking weird it was when he stopped for a moment. Did he want a hug? Tommy never considered himself the most ‘affectionate’ person however he couldn't remember the last form of contact he had with someone in a form that wasn't merely a business form. The more he thought about it the more he really wanted one. Just then Wilbur said “its okay to say no it's a weird question anyway-” he was however cut off by Tommy “Wait! I mean- I would like one… please. But like not in a weird way tommyinnit is so pog and not weird” Tommy continued to ramble a bit he was however cut off by a pair of arm wrapping around him.
Tommy was shocked at first however he quickly melted into the embrace with a small smile forming on his face. He decided that hugs are mildly acceptable and he could tolerate them maybe…
----
Tommy later joined the small family of two and continued his hobby you could say. And he didn't stop when they went to the dream smp. During the lmanburg revolutionary war he was asked by Wilbur to commission a large range of weapons for the soldiers. He also made personalized ones for Wilbur, niki, Fundy, eret, tubbo and a few others however the only people that knew he was the one that made them were Wilbur and tubbo. He didn't have much resources but everyone complemented the diamond swords he made for them all regardless. Some say it was the best weapon they’ve ever seen! Even after the war everyone kept the swords, he even saw eret holding a suspicious looking netherite sword once. He had a feeling it was the sword Tommy had made for them. But he never questioned eret about it anyways.
During pogtopia Wilbur had him make a few weapons but not alot which concerned Tommy at the time however now he knew it was just because Wilbur planned to blow the place sky high anyways. Technoblade never found out about his hobby despite living in a ravine with Tommy for two months. I guess you could just call it being unobservant or maybe techno just had a lot on his mind at the time? Doesn't matter anyway.
Then Wilbur died and the only people on the server who knew about his ‘hobby’ were tubbo and Phil. He took a break from making weapons to help tubbo as a good vice president. When he was exiled he didn't get to make any weapons that were not destroyed the next day so Tommy stopped putting work into those ones. When he went to live with techno he made one or two weapons but he was out of practice and he ended up scrapping those. Techno still did not seem to notice his hobby. Tommy just shrugged it off. wasn’t important.
However Tommy sure as hell noticed and recognized the sword nightmare in dreams inventory when he and tubbo took dream down. Tommy liked to think of it as karma that many years later he ended up getting it back. He didn't exactly want it though brought bad memories so he ended up giving it to tubbo who seemed to appreciate it (and if tubbo recognized the craftsman ship that was so obviously Tommy's work he didn't mention it to anyone)
He only started again when a month or so ago puffy said he should get a hobby that would help him with something to do. And to take his mind off the trauma. So Tommy thought, why start a new hobby when he could do an old one?
Which leads us to now, Tommy was in the new basement to his house (he built a new part of it especially for this purpose) he was working on an axe he was going off the design of the axe of peace but with a cool engraving on the blade. He was so focused on his work he didn’t realize the trapdoor to the base being opened or that someone was climbing down…
/////
Okay when tubbo said to ‘’go check on Tommy’’ they were expecting the gremlin to be doing something like reading or sleeping or harassing jack manifold… anyway what they were not expecting was to see Tommy in the basement of his home making an axe?! They didn't want to scare Tommy and possibly lose a limb so they waited in the back of the small room and watched Tommy work. He worked in a way with efficiency that suggested he had done it thousands of times before.
After a while (“it was ten fucking minutes!” shush i'm trying to narrate) Tommy finished up with the axe and was starting to put the grip on the handle. Ranboo thought this was a good time to announce their presence. “Hey Tommy” ranboo said lightly as to not startle the blonde, it was ineffective to say the least Tommy sprung up from the seat he was sitting in instantly getting into an attack position.
Ranboo put their hands up quickly, an embarrassing mock surrender. Tommy untensed seeing it was ranboo and shifted from the battle stance he was still a bit on edge from the scare though. “Sorry if I startled you, I was just wondering where you were and then I found this place...” they said, trailing off for a moment. Before remembering the conversation they were currently in “sorry er- but how do you know how to make an axe?” ranboo asked curious of how Tommy knew such a skill and to be so good at it too.
Tommy let out a small amused laugh “I've been able to since I was 8 big man” Tommy said with a smile.
Ranboo’s jaw dropped. Tommy has been able to do that since he was eight?! Ranboo can't even remember when they were eight. To be able to do such a skill at such a young age is really impressive! And ranboo wasted no time telling Tommy that.
Tommy smiled “thanks ran, i was just messing around with this axe you can have it if you want it?” Tommy said the last part as a bit of a question. Ranboo was in shock (“god damn again?” Tommy!!) they were not expecting Tommy to offer such a good look weapon to them wouldn't he want to keep it? When they expressed those concerns to Tommy the blonde simply smiled “I can make myself another one whenever I want plus I made the handle a bit big there. It will probably work with you better than with me” the blonde finished.
Ranboo looked back from the axe to Tommy a few times before thanking the blonde excessively. Tommy and them talked for a bit before ranboo decided to leave and head home new weapon in their inventory. They thought that would be the end of that however it was far from it.
~~
A few weeks later ranboo was hanging out with eret who wanted some help cutting down a few trees to collect wood for a new build they were doing and ranboo wanted to help them. In between the chopping down and the sapling planting they were doing they got tired and decided to take a quick break.
they had been sitting talking to eret for the past few minutes. when ranboo decided to check his axe’s durability he just got it and he wanted to keep it for as long as possible. As they took out the axe and held it up to check the handle and blade for cracks they heard eret gasp. They quickly turned to eret to make sure they were alright.
Eret smiled an embarrassed smile “i'm sorry about that i just haven't seen a weapon made by that blacksmith in years” eret said “last time i saw any weapons from TW was during the revolutionary war haven't seen a blade or weapon from them since not even a fork” they added at the end as a joke. Ranboo however was confused. Why wouldn't Tommy tell anyone he was the one who made the weapons during the war? And why in the world would he go by TW?! Ranboo had so many questions and so many trees to cut down before they could ask them. Ranboo sighed. It was going to be a long day.
~~~
The next time ranboo was confronted about the axe was a few days later by technoblade of all people. They swore that if another person asks about the axe they might cry.
Ranboo was walking back over to his house when techno approached them holding the axe that they had lent to Phil this morning. the axe Tommy had made. Tommy who used to live with technoblade. Techno would know that Tommy made that axe… oh fuck, however technoblade surprised everyone much like Wilbur did 10 years prior.
And instead asks “is this your axe ranboo? Because this is the best workmanship I've seen in a while, it's hard to do this with netherite”. Ranboo almost fainted. TECHNOBLADE DIDN’T KNOW?! They thought there for like two seconds before “er-! Yep that's my trusty axe! Heh heh anyway if i could grab that and i'll be on my way” they said as fast as they could grabbing the axe and making their way to their house slamming the door shut leaving a very confused technoblade outside.
Techno stood there in what ranboo thinks is a confused shock before grunting, shrugging and walking away. Something ranboo has never been so relieved to see him do. Ranboo went over to his bed and decided to pass out. the axe forgotten by the door. He was not mentally ready to deal with this shit.
~~
The last and most concerning event happened with tubbo, and ranboo can 100% confidently say he cried.
He was staying with tubbo a few days after the technoblade incident. They were chilling in tubbos house when tubbo said he needed to get more wood for the fire upstairs ranboo offered tubbo take their axe which tubbo took him up on. they handed tubbo his axe and watched as tubbo went still looking it over. He saw a smile break out on tubbo's face and for a second they thought they saw a mischievous glint in tubbos eyes however they simply brushed it off to it being a trick of the light.
Tubbo’s face broke into a big smile before turning to ranboo “ranboo where did you get this?! I've been trying to track down TW forever! I haven't seen their work since pogtopia! ” ranboo froze TUBBO DIDN’T KNOW?! OK Tommy. Wtf. he had no idea how he was going to answer this question and prayed to prime that he would be spared. Thankfully prime was feeling merciful today.
A large thump was heard from upstairs and ranboo was never so thankful for an excuse to leave a conversation. “Sorry tubbo got to go check if Michael is OK good luck with the wood!” they said practically jumping up the ladder to get away from tubbo and his questioning. Thankfully it worked and Tubbo went to chop some logs for the fire. This was the last straw for ranboo.
-----
Tommy was working with a small pocket knife when raboo burst into his workshop (“basement” fuck off ranboo) and he was a bit concerned at how exhausted the ender hybrid looked. he was about to ask when ranboo cut him off before he could get a word out.
“You. have some things to explain to me. ” ranboo said slowly and darkly purely from exhaustion. Tommy looked at him curiously, “Sure, what can I help you with big man?” Tommy asked and ranboo fucking lost it “Tommy i was talking with eret and they said that during the revolutionary war you made weapons but didn't tell anyone you made them.. WHY?!”
Tommy flinched a little ranboo was being a little loud but they seemed upset and looked really sorry when Tommy flinched nevertheless Tommy explained “during the war both sides were doing whatever they could to sabotage the other Wilbur thought it would be a good idea to keep my skills on the down low so i wouldn’t be targeted” ranboo nodded that actually made sense especially since eret turned out to be a traitor however that wasn't their only question.
“why didn't you tell technoblade. Didn't you live with him for like two months in a ravine then for two extra weeks during you know” ranboo said they purposefully didn't say exile they knew it was a trigger for the young blonde. Tommy was grateful and once again explained “big man it wasn't exactly a secret i would go and make weapons during those times and even talked about forging to techno he just never noticed big man” that surprised ranboo. he didn't really understand how that could happen techno was extremely observant… huh he’ll have to look into it.
“Why TW?” they asked Tommy, the confusion still evident in their voice. “TW stands for Tommy's work big man nothing special” … OH that makes more sense. Wait. one thing still doesn't add up “Tommy, why didn't you tell tubbo about this?” Tommy stopped for a moment “did tubbo say he didn't know who TW was?” Tommy asked ranboo nodded Tommy stood there for a moment before bursting out into laughter “what?” ranboo asked. He was very confused… “ranboo tubbos fucking with you. Tubbo is one of the few people who do know for sure and he’s known for a while”
Wait. tubbo was just messing with him? Oh. yeah he really should have expected that. They sighed Tommy was never going to forget this. “Tommy, can you tell the server you made this axe so I can please have a normal conversation again?” Tommy let out another laugh “of course I'll tell them ran. promise.”
And a week later Tommy told the server about his hobby. At first they were surprised but then they started asking about getting their own weapons personally made and Tommy was more than happy to help them. And ranboo? Ranboo is just happy he can go outside without being questioned about his axe. (not that tubbo is going to let him forget it. “yeah never going to happen boo”)