Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Phil frowns at the message on his communicator. "Techno?"

His youngest son hums from his place on the opposite couch, not even looking up from the book he's reading.

"Scott just messaged me. Eret got sick and can't play tomorrow. He's already got someone ready to take his place but said if we don't want to do it without Eret, we can skip this month."

"Who's the stand-in?" Techno asks, shifting his eyes to look up at Phil.

"His name's Tommy." The winged man says, going back to looking at the communicator for more information. "This would be his first MCC and Scott said he volunteered once it was announced there was a last minute place open."

Techno hums and goes back to his book. "We can work with that."

"I'll tell Wil."

"Don't. It'll be funnier."

Tommy hits a few buttons on his comm, glancing up to look around the hub for the correct portal. He spots it. It looks like a nether portal but it’s decorated with gold bits and draping red fabric. He crooks a small grin and pockets the device, sliding it into the front of his red hoodie.

He arrives at the competition grounds with little fanfare and starts walking toward where Scott said he'd meet his team. He hadn't ever planned on being in the competition but when the event organizer sent a message out to the frequent viewers asking if anyone wanted to fill in for someone who wasn't able to play, he took one look around his secluded base and decided that a temporary change of scenery couldn't hurt. So TommyInnit, denizen of 2b2t, took the place as the fourth member of the Red Rabbits.

He walks down a stone and wooden path, kicking pebbles as he goes. He stops in front of a particularly smooth one, bends down, and picks it up. Treating it like a coin, he flicks it up into the air and catches it when it comes down.

The meeting place isn't anything special, literally just a large rock off the side of the path. No one's there when he arrives, so he sits on the ground, leans his head back against the rock, and closes his eyes.

Around ten minutes later, he hears footsteps and voices and cracks an eye open. A man in a yellow sweater rounds the corner, walking around a tree. He's smiling and looking behind him, talking to someone, but when he sees Tommy, he does a double take and stops talking.

Tommy stands up and stretches his arms out in front of him, nodding to the man. Two others come up behind him. One has long pink hair and the other has large black wings that Tommy makes himself look away from after a moment.

"That's not Eret." Tall Guy says. "That's a child."

Tommy wrinkles his nose. "I'm not a child."

Wings sighs. "Eret got sick. This is his stand-in." He gestures to Tommy, who raises a hand.

"Yo."

Pair Hair nods. Tall Guy turns to look at him. "Did you know about this?"

They start bickering but Tommy ignores them, turning to face Wings, who's making his way to him. Wings sticks a hand out and Tommy takes it, gripping his hand tightly and giving a firm shake. Wings smiles. "Nice to meet you, Tommy. I'm sorry about the other two."

Tommy shoves his hands into his pocket, rocking back on his heels. "Nah, that's alright. Do you have a name or should I just call you Wings?"

The man laughs, tilting his head back and putting his ugly bucket hat in danger of falling. "I'm Phil, mate. Wilbur's the one in the sweater and Techno's the one with the pink hair."

Tommy nods. "Thank you. Anything else you wanna tell me?"

Phil hums and tilts his head to the side. "Well, they’re my sons. Wilbur's older than Techno by two years. Techno's competitive." He smiles at Tommy. "Anything I should know?"

Tommy looks back at the siblings, ignoring the question. "They're your sons?"

"Adopted, mate."

Tommy nods. "Alright, sure. And Wilbur didn't know your other dude was sick?"

"No. Techno thought it would be funny if he were left out of the loop."

Wilbur rounds on Phil as soon as he says that. "Why didn't you tell me Eret was a traitor?!"

"He got sick, mate."

"And you!" Wilbur said dramatically, looking at Tommy. "How can we trust you? How do we know you won't throw?"

Tommy sighs heavily, matching the other man’s theatrics. "How can I trust you? You're not even repping the team." He gestures to his red hoodie.

"Yeah, Wil." Techno drawls behind him with a smirk, red cape clasped around his neck with a gold chain. "Get with the program."

"Phil's not wearing red either!" Wilbur says, gesturing to the hybrid.

"First of all," Tommy says, "don't speak about your father that way, Wilbur Whatever Your Last Name Is. Second of all," he leans over to Phil, whispering, "What's your full name?"

"Philza Minecraft." Phil whispers back with a confused smile.

Tommy straightens back up, squaring his shoulders. "Philza Minecraft is a saint who can do no wrong and is excused from the trifling problems of this mortal plane."

Beside him, Phil wheezes and his feathers fluff up. Techno chuckles and Wilbur just looks at him with more than a modicum of confusion.

"Ok, child."

"I'm not a freaking child you lanky-"

A horn blows near the center of the lobby. Phil looks between them. "Well, that's the call! Let's go!"

He smiles and starts running forward, flapping his wings and shooting off into the air. His sons and Tommy look up at him as he flies off. Techno snorts. "Let's get goin'."

They're put in a small red circle made of concrete and glass and they're each given an egg as the wheel in the middle of the Decision Dome starts lighting up as it spins. Tommy stares at it with wonder for a minute, watching as the wheel bathes the expansive room in the colors of each animal themed team.

Someone elbows him in the side. He looks up. Wilbur smiles at him. "This your first time here?"

"Yeah. I've only seen this place through a comm screen."

"It's pretty cool isn't it?"

Tommy looks back at the wheel, the little cages around it holding teams all good-heartedly bantering with their neighbors and joking with each other. "Yeah."

"What game do you guys want to start off with?" Phil says behind him.

Tommy takes a second to look up at the options. Ace Race, Sands of Time, Sky Battle, Parkour Tag, Big Sales at Build Mart, TGTTOSAWAF, Hole in the Wall, and Battle Box.

"Build Mart." Techno says, presumably next to Phil. "It’ll be worth less points."

Two eggs get thrown at the boxed icon, and two chickens drift down into the little section of the wheel, where they start to wander. Tommy pulls his arm back and flings his egg smoothly, hitting the icon square in the middle. He smiles when a chicken with a red glow around it lands on the wheel. Beside him, Wilbur does the same.

They wait a minute for all the teams to throw their eggs, Wilbur doing a bit of complaining when his chicken wanders into a different category.

Build Mart is apparently a fan favorite (or the least favorite, considering it’s the first game to be played) and without a second of delay, the floor falls out under Tommy's feet.

Phil likes Tommy. He's funny and quick-witted right off the bat, open to conversation with new people, and already has some sort of vendetta against one of his sons. His performance and specialties are yet to be gauged, but even if he's pretty bad, no one's taking this competition too seriously (sans Dream and Techno).

But he's a minor (Phil doesn't know how old exactly, Scott didn't give him much to work with) and rules are rules.

They're taken to their secluded area of the Build Mart arena and once they've looked over the assigned builds and Wilbur and Techno have raced off in a boat (Wilbur standing in the back, shouting directions at the rowing Techno), Phil drops a gentle hand on Tommy's shoulder. Tommy flinches and looks up at him quickly. Phil makes a mental note to try not to startle him.

"Hey mate, we just need to cover something real quick."

Tommy narrows his eyes and squares his shoulders. "About what?"

"Scott told me you're a minor and we need to make sure you understand how to be safe."

"I can take care of myself."

"I'm sure, but this is just protocol." Phil eases, not liking the guarded tone of the kid's voice. "I'm the team leader so if anything happens with you or anyone else, come to me so I can get it through the proper channels or keep an eye out for it. At the after party, you're not allowed to have anything off the twenty-one and older table, and information like your server of origin, birthday, comm code, and the like is reserved for Noxcrew and whoever you tell them is ok to look at it. Other than that, if you decide to play again in the future, you have to be on a team with at least two adults-"

"Like you and Techno?" Tommy asks, a streak of mischief in his eyes.

"Yeah, or Wil-"

"Wilbur isn't an adult, Philza." Tommy says with a grin, shrugging the hand off his shoulder and walking towards the portal. "Thank you, Philza. I will tell you if anything is wrong, Philza."

"You can stop saying my name like that, mate."

"Of course, Philza." Tommy grins wickedly and back steps into the swirling portal.

Phil chuckles. Yeah. He likes Tommy.

Build Mart passes fairly well, with everyone completing two (if not more) builds. They get to learn more about Tommy during the game, the voice channel connected to their team being a great assistant in getting his quips, comments, and tips across to the rest of the team. Besides being slightly stand-offish about anything too personal (which none of them can blame him for), he's surprisingly good under pressure, helpful, clever, and fast. He made two trips for supplies in the time it took two of them to finish one trip. Fast. He wasn't the best at building but it wasn't anything too bad or that the others couldn't make up for by placing a block or two in his square for him when he was struggling.

They come in second to the Cyan Creepers (Dream, HBomb, Grian, and Quackity) with only minimal stewing from Techno and comments about cheating from Wilbur ("They have Grian, Phil! Grian!").

Soon enough, they're back in the Decision Dome, floating in water at the bottom of their compartment (thanks, Yellow Yaks). Techno's sitting at the bottom of the tank—hair floating around him like an amorphous jellyfish—seeing how long he can hold his breath on a dare from Wilbur. The three normal people in the group are treading water, waiting for the voting to be over.

"Tommy?" Wilbur asks.

"Yeah?" He looks up at the man. His hair is sopping wet, the long bangs hanging down and sticking to the right side of his face. It's honestly kinda funny to watch him pick them up and pull them back, only for them to drop down again and paste themselves to his cheek again.

"How come you've never been here before?" Wilbur asks, trying once again to lift his hair back. And once again, he fails. "I didn't even know they reached out for stand-ins."

He shrugs. "There's a chat of people who frequently watch the Championship live. I keep it on in the back while I'm" duping items "working and one day, Scott sent out a message in the chat asking if anyone was willing to stand-in for someone who got sick. He said he would've asked a friend of the sick guy's but it'd be cooler to have a fan of the games play instead."

"You're the only one that applied?" Phil asks, wings absent from his back. As soon as they'd hit the water, he'd rolled his shoulders and tucked them into that third dimensional pocket that all avians have. Tommy's own back starts to hurt.

Tommy laughs a little. "Not at all! Do you know how many people would kill to be here? I applied on a whim not thinking I'd actually get accepted."

Wilbur opens his mouth to say more but three things happen at once.

Techno breaches the top of the water like a freaking whale, an all too chipper voice announces that Parkour Tag won the voting round, and the floor falls out from under them.

Chapter Text

They're taken to a viewing deck overlooking what seems to be a very small section of a city, with pipes leaking slime and towers of blocks placed around randomly in the center and along the walls. Behind them is a box made of red glass with an opening in the center of the front wall. Tommy looks around at his team for an explanation but they're assessing the team on the viewing dock across from them.

"What're we doing?" He asks after a minute of silence.

Phil turns his head to look at him and smiles. "So we're kinda going to 'trade' a member from each team for this. One of the Lime Llamas will be chasing three members of our team and we'll have one of us chasing three of them. You get tagged and you're out."

Tommy hesitantly nods. "I don't get it."

Wilbur turns around and starts walking towards the glass box. "You will soon. It's a pretty simple game. I'll be the hunter this round." He pushes a button against the back wall and the glass closes around him, going from red to green.

"I think Karl's going to be chasing us." Techno says to the remaining two members of the team.

Phil nods and Tommy looks at him. "Couldn't you just fly so they can't get you?"

Phil shakes his head. "You can't use your hybrid abilities to get a leg up in games." He explains, gesturing to his absence of wings. "The only exception really is when there's a game with elytra. Avians are allowed to use their wings to glide because elytra are uncomfortable with wings, even when they're pulled in."

Wilbur bangs against the glass and they turn to face him. He holds up three fingers and mouths "Three seconds."

Tommy barely has time to understand what he's saying before he's teleported into a little hole in the wall of the map. The entrance is covered by red glass and a voice from a speaker somewhere in the map starts counting down from five. He looks around wildly. The countdown hits zero and the glass in front of him disappears. Techno and Phil rush out of their areas on either side of him and he runs forward so as not to be left behind.

Techno turns his head to look at him, piglin ear flicking out to the side. "Don't get caught by the guy in the ugly sweater." He turns around and sprints away from the thin platform they're standing on, jumping onto a stone slab a few blocks away with ease.

"Tommy," Phil says, and Tommy turns quickly to look at him, eyes wide. "There's nine rounds so it's ok if you mess this one up while trying to figure the game out." He smiles and sticks a hand out a little too slowly for the motion to be completely fluid. The hand lands on Tommy's shoulder and Phil gives him a gentle squeeze. "Just have fun."

The hand is removed from his shoulder and Phil runs off, jumping from block to block like Techno had done.

Tommy takes a deep breath and runs forward, leaping onto a two-by-two platform with a circular rail system decorating it. He looks around and spots a man with fluffy brown hair and terrible fashion sense chasing Phil, hand outstretched and a wide smile on his face.

Tommy looks away and makes another jump to a slightly higher platform. He keeps up a pattern of choppy running and jumping between and around blocks until he rounds a corner and gets hit on the chest. He stumbles back when a small red firework goes off and he's teleported back to the viewing balcony. Running to the railing and looking over, he sees the drifting particles of a firework where he was tagged by the hunter. Looking around, he spots Phil and Techno still running and jumping around, alternating between high and low ground.

He waits another minute for the round to end, and the other three members of his team are teleported back to the viewing balcony. Techno gives Tommy a nod and Wilbur looks between them. "How'd you do?"

Techno nods. "Good. Tommy was the only one caught."

Tommy averts his eyes, expecting a snide remark from Wilbur, but instead he gets, "So have you figured it out?"

He looks up. "What?"

Wilbur smiles. "Have you figured the game out?" He nods. "Great!" Wilbur claps his hands together. "I was able to tag Slyvee_ and PearlescentMoon but couldn't get Fruitberries in time."

Phil smiles. "We're off to a good start." He turns to look at Tommy. "You want to try being the hunter next round?"

Tommy shrugs. They're teleported a moment later.

They're up against the Purple Pandas next and with the reassurances of the rest of the team, Tommy does decide to take up Phil on his offer of being the hunter. Techno gives him a rundown of the opposition.

"It looks like they picked TapL to hunt us so you'll be going against Sapnap, Jack, and Scott. Out of the three of them, Scott is the most methodical and Sapnap is the most chaotic. Jack lands somewhere in the middle. Watch 'em for a minute to see how they react and then pick off as many of them as you can."

Tommy nods and walks into the glass box, hitting the button inside. A minute later, he's teleported into a different box, the one in the city he'll be running around in. If he steps to the side and looks past the blocks, he can see one of the people from the other team in their box. A voice counts down from five and he's released. He follows Techno's advice and watches as a man with blue hair carefully picks out a path for himself and a man with a headband just kinda starts running around. The remaining player seems to have a mix of both his teammate's strategies. It's easy to match names to the players with what Techno told him.

He smiles and starts running, trying to gain as much high ground as possible. His eyes are locked on Sapnap.

"What are your thoughts on Tommy?"

Wilbur turns to face his brother, leaning against the balcony's railing. Below, TapL chases Phil. "What are your thoughts?"

"I asked you first."

Wilbur cracks a smile and tilts his head up. "He's nice. A little annoying but in a funny way. He seems to be having fun and I'm glad he is."

"He walks funny." Wilbur throws his head down as he starts to laugh. Techno huffs. "I'm serious! He walks like his center of gravity's off!"

Wilbur keeps chuckling until the pop of a firework goes off and their father joins on the viewing deck, smiling when he sees the state of his family. "What did I miss?"

"Techno thinks-"

"Phil!" Techno exclaims, gesturing to their father. "He walks like Phil!"

Wilbur's laughs die down into smaller giggles and before Phil can ask for a full explanation, Tommy appears beside them and Phil jumps back. The boy's hair is disheveled and he's wearing the largest smile any of them have seen yet.

"How'd you do, gremlin?" Wilbur asks, folding his arms and leaning back against the railing.

Tommy rolls his eyes. "Got all of them." A round of "good job" goes through the group and Tommy ducks his head at the praise, ears burning red. "Who are we playing next?"

Phil pulls out his communicator and scrolls through something. "The Green Guardians. That's Puffy, Wisp, Ranboo, and Tubbo."

Wil sharply turns his head to Tommy. "You're the hunter."

Tommy raises an eyebrow but doesn't refuse.

Ranboo leans over the railing of the viewing deck, watching as the hunter from the Red Rabbits jumps, grabs an iron bar, and swings on it before letting go, landing right in front of Wisp, forcing him to quickly backpedal so he doesn't get tagged.

He keeps watching until a sharp pop goes off and he's assaulted by his best friend.

"Boo!"

He smiles down at Tubbo. "Yeah?"

Tubbo's eyes gleam. "I like him."

"Who? The hunter?"

"Yes." Tubbo nods seriously, watching as said hunter vaults over two blocks to get to their third teammate. "I have to meet him."

Ranboo rolls his eyes. "How about we wait until after championships to scare new friends off?"

"I didn't scare you off."

"Tubbo even if I didn't want to be around you, I don't think I have much of a choice."

Tubbo smiles and looks down at the blonde chasing Wisp like it's just another Tuesday for him. "Exactly."

It becomes evident very quickly that Tommy is an absolute legend at parkour and tag. It doesn't take long for his team to realize this, especially after he does a backflip over a hunter. Suffice to say, it was a bit of a shock for everyone involved. He comes out of each round hardly winded and with an ever growing smile, not noticing the questioning looks of his teammates.

The game ends with Red Rabbits in third, sitting on a nice stack of coins. Within the team, Tommy comes second individually to Techno, and Wilbur's left to fend for himself in last.

In the few minutes before going to the Decision Dome, they linger in the stands, chatting, when a short boy quite literally drags a taller boy behind him, beelining for Tommy.

"You!" Tommy turns quickly, standing with his back towards the stands and with his team and the new kids both in his line of sight. The kid with shaggy hair and a badly buttoned shirt comes up to him and sticks out a hand. "I'm Tubbo!" He takes his hand away before Tommy can shake it and sticks a thumb at the taller boy standing behind him, wrist captured in Tubbo's grip. "This is Ranboo."

He glances at Phil, who gives him a reassuring smile and nod. He looks back to the kids and crosses his arms. "...Tommy."

Tubbo nods vigorously. "You are very pog. My comm code is 786452!" He smiles again, turns around, and starts walking back to where he presumably came from. Ranboo looks over his shoulder and mouth "I'm sorry".

Tommy turns to his team. "What the hell was that about?"

Techno shrugs, Phil chuckles, and Wilbur smiles.

Chapter Text

Hey everyone.

This has to deal with the newest video on Technoblade’s channel. If you haven’t seen it/haven’t heard the news, I suggest you get it from someone other than me.

A lot of fan fiction authors I follow have been discontinuing their works. I do not plan to do so. Technoblade and his content meant a lot to me and I’m deeply saddened by the death of my favorite content creator.

Going forward, I will continue to write Technoblade’s persona when I write fanfiction. Even though it is not something I see myself doing, if I were to write a fic that takes place in the real world, it would reflect recent events.

I know that I’m just a random fan and that they’ll probably never see this, but my deepest condolences go out to Alex’s family during this time, as well as everyone else suffering along with them.

May Technoblade live on in our memories and may the we of the fandom hold each other up during this difficult time.

-Druid