Chapter Text
Wilbur and Tommy weren't biological brothers. They weren't related, they met through foster care. But family wasn't defined by blood, and the two loved each other like so. That's why when Wilbur was kicked out of the system was 18, he fought tooth and nail to get custody of an 11 year old Tommy. When he was 19 and Tommy was 12, he won and was legally Tommy's guardian, and older brother.
The two moved, and now lived in a small town called L'Manburg. It was a nice place, Tommy loved it. Wilbur uploaded his songs onto YouTube and worked at a local music store. He didn't make a lot, but he made enough so that Tommy was happy.
5 years later, a 24 year old Wilbur Soot listened as his 17 year old little brother rambled on about one of his friends. He was trying his best to listen, he really was, but he was really stressed out at the moment. Wilbur's job payed, but it didn't pay enough. He was struggling with bills while trying to hide it all from Tommy.
Just as Tommy burst into a fit of laughter at whatever he was talking about, Wilbur reached the end of his patience. "Tommy, shut up!" He yelled. "Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for school? Stop bothering me!"
Wilbur immediately felt regret when he saw the hurt look at Tommy's face. He stood up, going up to his room. Wilbur didn't follow him, continuing to write the important information he needed. Tommy came back down 15 minutes later. "I'm going to bike to school," He said, opening the door.
"Wait, Tommy!" Wilbur said, before he could get out. Tommy looked back at him. "I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier, I didn't mean it. I'm a bit stressed, but there was no point in me doing that."
After a second, Tommy smiled. Before Wilbur could register what was happening, he was being wrapped in a hug by the gremlin. "It's okay, big man. Already forgiven. See you later!" He pulled away, waving goodbye and heading outside.
Wilbur smiled, before grabbing his things and heading to work.
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6 hours later, Tommy left his school building. School wasn't fun, no student thought so, but it wasn't terrible. Admittedly, he didn't have very many friends and there were mean students, but they were good friends and literally nobody liked those students.
He unlocked the bike and got onto it, pedaling into his town. There was an urban forest in his town, right by his school and partly on his path home. As he pedaled, he noticed somebody in the trees. He stopped, trying to figure out who they were. Before he could, they disappeared into the woods.
Tommy immediately felt a sense of dread fill his stomach. He knew it was probably nothing, this town was boring as hell, but he couldn't get it out of his mind that he shouldn't be riding his bike alone. He decided to go into a nearby bakery and call Wilbur.
"Hey Tommy, what's up?" Wilbur asked after answering.
"Hey Will, can you come and pick me up?"
"Are you at school? What's wrong?"
"My tires are out of air, I had to stop at a cafe."
"Send me your location and I'll pick you up, okay?"
"Yeah. See you later, big man." Tommy hung up and sent his location to Wilbur. He ran outside, letting the air out of both of the bike's tires before going back inside and sitting at a table near the door.
The owner of the bakery, a kind woman named Sally, came over to him. Wilbur and Sally were friends, and she and Tommy met a couple of times. "Hey Tommy, want anything to eat?" She said.
"I've got no money on me," Tommy replied.
"It'll be on the house, how about that? Do you want a danish? I know that you like those."
Tommy nodded and thanked Sally, and she went to grab the danish. Tommy occupied himself with a game on his phone until she brought the pastry out to him. He was in the middle of eating it when Wilbur came into the building. "Ayup Tommy, how about you finish that and we can go?"
"Alright," Tommy said, quickly scarfing it down. They said goodbye to Sally and then left.
"How was school?" Wilbur asked, once they got Tommy's bike strapped to the back of the car.
"It was fine. Can I go to Tubbo's house on Saturday? He invited me over to play Minecraft."
"Yeah, of course," Wilbur replied. "Just as long as you get all of your schoolwork done."
"I'm Tommy Innit-Soot!" Tommy yelled, but with no anger. "Of course I can get all of my schoolwork done!"
Wilbur snickered. "Yeah yeah, okay."
Once they got home, they brought the bike into the garage, where Tommy put air into it. "Hey Tommy?" Wilbur said, standing in the doorway of the door in the garage. "Can you tell me why you actually called me to pick you up?"
Tommy opened his mouth to retort, but Wilbur knew when he was lying. "I thought I saw someone watching me from the woods. I know it was probably nothing, but I still got a real bad feeling."
"If that happens again, just call me okay?" Wilbur said. "I'll report it to the police if you see the person again."
"You won't need to, the person will be to intimidated by my pogness!" Tommy said, but he did appreciate Wilbur's remark. Wilbur ruffled his hair, laughing. The two headed inside, completely unaware of the shadow of an unseen person standing in their garage.