Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Wilbur Soot and Technoblade were twins. Identical twins, in fact. They’ve always been together, since the very, very beginning. Most days, it was absolutely impossible to tell which one was which, no matter how hard you tried. Everything from their hairstyle to their outfits and their jewellery would match. The only prominent difference between them was their personalities, which tended to be quite the opposite of each other. Sure, the two caused chaos, tons, but they did it in very different ways. The only other difference was their voices, however they tended to alter them to sound the same anyways. The only way for a normal person to tell them apart would be talking to them, or making them speak. No one could guess right on the first try, not when they were really trying.

No one, except for TommyInnit.

Tommy was a ball of absolute chaos and sunshine packed into a child’s body. He had been adopted into their family when the blonde was only six years old, when Phil brought him home one day. When the twins first met Tommy, they weren’t very happy about it. They were sure that Tommy wouldn’t stay for long, that they could scare him away. They didn’t want nor need another sibling, they were fine as they were. Just them and Phil. But what caught them off guard was that the six year old could tell them apart instantly. He would always tell one apart from the other, no matter how hard the twins tried. And oh boy did they try. 

The twins loved pranking people with their appearances, their pranks ranging from little things such as switching meals or training sessions to literally living the other’s life for extended periods of time. And everyone always fell for it. Even Phil, who tried so desperately, couldn’t tell them apart when the twins were set on pranking the man. They loved chaos, and they were smart enough to pull it off. They were already extremely intelligent on their own, but it seemed like it multiplied when they were together. Along with an extra dose of absolute mischief. There wasn’t a single time when one of their pranks failed nor backfired.

Until that day. After Tommy managed to tell them apart the very first time, they were taken aback, but deemed it as a fluke. But the little boy did it again, and again, and again. The twins would try loads of things, from switching personalities to just being completely silent for hours on end. Some pranks would go on for days, even weeks sometimes. Everything just to fool a six year old that simply couldn’t be fooled. Phil would always laugh at them, insisting that Tommy was simply special, when in reality he himself had no idea how the blonde did it. The twins would also try simpler approaches, such as kneeling down to Tommy, and asking.

“Hey, Tommy. Who am I?”

They would take turns asking the same question, even after Tommy answered correctly every time. Eventually, the six year old would get sick of it.

“Hey Tommy, who am I?” Wilbur said, trying to sound as monotone as possible, and trying not to smile.

Tommy blinked at him. “You’re a bitch.”

Techno burst out laughing. Wilbur put his head in his hands. 

Yeah, maybe the kid wasn’t so bad.

For the next few years, the questions “how do you do that?” and “how? Just, how?” were the ones Tommy heard the most while at home. Even after years, Tommy could still tell one twin apart from the other without missing a beat. But he dodged the questions every time, only replying with; “I just know.”, leaving the twins unsatisfied every time. 

Once, when he was twelve, they even sat him down in the dark kitchen, shining a flashlight at him as if it were an interrogation. Tommy shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“TommyInnit.” Tommy jumped at the sudden noise, but rolled his eyes when he realised who was speaking.

“Yes, Wilbur?” He said tiredly, letting his posture relax, his hands crossed on the table. He could’ve sworn he heard an angry “damnit” being muttered, but elected to ignore it.

“I suppose you know why you have been brought here?” Wilbur spoke, shining the flashlight directly at Tommy’s face. The younger boy’s face scrunched up as a result.

“What the fuck, man?” He said, getting up out of the chair, only to be pushed back down by another person. He sighed and turned slowly only to be met with Technoblade. Tommy groaned, leaning back in the chair, arms crossed in annoyance.

Wilbur winced slightly and shined the flashlight a bit lower, the light circling around Tommy’s neck instead. It actually created a possibly better effect, according to Wilbur. “Sorry.” He added sheepishly. “But you haven’t answered my question. Also, watch the cursing.”

Tommy sighed, rolling his head back. “I just know, Wil—“ 

Before Tommy could say anything else, he was interrupted by Wilbur banging his fist on the table. “No, no.” He said, Tommy looking at him with a confused expression. “Your ‘I just know’ won’t cut it this time, prick.”

Tommy stared at him for a moment. First of all, he just told him not to curse and then called him a prick. Idiot. Second of all, why was Wilbur so desperate about this? He looked up at Techno, who was only looking back at him with pure determination in his eyes. If he hadn’t known any better, he would’ve said that this is the most emotion he’s seen any sign of in the man since forever.

The blonde sighed again, placing both hands on the table in front of him, eyes set on his brother. “Well, what d’you want me to say then, bitch boy?” He asked, refraining from laughing. Wilbur rolled his eyes at the antics, gripping the flashlight tighter in his hand.

“I want you to tell me how.” He said simply, eyes focused on the blonde, who was now smirking. “How do you tell us apart, and so quickly?” 

Tommy opened his mouth to reply with the same reply again. They weren’t going to get him to talk, they didn’t before and they won’t now. But before he could make anything more than a sound, the monotone voice of his other brother cut him off. Tommy leaned his head backwards to look at him.

“This is important, Toms, we need this information.” He said, face blank. Tommy blinked at him. Toms? He’s never been called that by Technoblade before. Wilbur, sure, but not Techno. Damn, this bitch must be desperate. He raised an eyebrow at Techno before looking back at Wilbur, who seemed to be… silently cursing Techno out? Ah, so he said something he wasn’t supposed to, then.

Tommy smiled. “Why are you so desperate about this, all of a sudden? You weren’t this desperate before.” Tommy smirked wider and clicked his tongue, knowing full well that he was pissing Wilbur off. That was the fun, innit?

Wilbur took a deep breath before smiling right back at Tommy. “Listen, we’ve got a bet with Dream to uphold—“ Wilbur began, before promptly being cut off by Tommy’s whining. 

“Of course this is about another one of Dream’s fuckin’ bets. I don’t give a damn about whatever he offered you or whatever public humiliation you’re getting, I’m not saying shit.” Tommy said, voice strangely clear. He would never admit to it, but Tommy was terrified of Dream. He wasn’t a bad person or anything, he just intimidated Tommy. Big bad teenager who likes to humiliate people.

Tommy heard Techno sigh behind him. “I told you it wouldn’t work, Wil. Tommy might be stupid but not this stupid.” Tommy shot him a look, mouthing a ‘hey!’ to which he only got an amused huff in response. Wilbur, on the other hand, put the flashlight down and got closer to Tommy, a pleasing look on his face.

“Please, Tommy? For your big brother Wilby?”

Tommy blushed from embarrassment at the old nickname. He had accidentally said it while tired around two years ago, and he hasn’t heard the end of it since. Tommy stuttered over his words, the only thing coming out of his mouth being choked back noises. “N-no! Stop that, you p-prick!” He managed, growing redder at the second as Wilbur smiled at him.

“Tommy, don’t call your brother a prick.”

All of the kids’ eyes turned to the doorway as the kitchen lights turned on. There stood Phil, looking like he had just woken up. Tommy straightened up, pushing out of Techno’s grip.

“But he called me a prick first!” Tommy defended, shaking his head. “Plus they’re literally interrogating me! Tell them to stop, dad!” He pulled the fringe of his hair down over his face, desperately trying to cover the embarrassment blush underneath.

Phil looked up, glancing at one twin then the other, before shaking his head. He sighed, looking back at Tommy. “Why don’t you get to bed? It’s late already and I’m sure you don’t want to miss out on sleep? You want to be a big man, don’t you?”

Tommy looked up at him, blowing his hair out of his face. “Fuck yeah! Big man needs his big man sleep!” He said proudly, stomping off. “Language, Tommy!” Phil yelled over his shoulder, receiving what sounded a muffled “sorry..” in return.

He then turned back to the twins, who were now anxiously standing next to each other behind the table. 

“What did we say about interrogating your brother?”

“Sorry, Dad.” 

Tommy smiled fondly at the memory. That was only four years ago, yet so much has happened since then that it feels like much longer than that. The twins don’t even look like twins anymore, and they interact horribly little. Wilbur keeps his distance from practically everyone, and Techno has long gone and dyed his hair pink. Fucking pink, seriously? Tommy thinks he looked much better with brown, for the record.

He doesn’t think the rest of the server even knows about their family being actual family. Sure, they’ve called each other family before but he doesn’t think anyone ever took it seriously. The only person that Tommy knows that knows about the family is Tubbo, as he grew up with them as well.

Tommy wasn’t sure where their family stood at this point in time. He loved all members of his family, and he… he knew they thought the same. However, if the twins were separated, did he really know anything at all? All his life, not once did he see Techno and Wil separate for any longer than a day. Now, the only time they interact with each other is when Techno comes by to drop off supplies to Pogtopia. Even then, the only interactions they have are simple nods of… understanding? Acknowledgment? Anger?? 

Tommy knows his family, and Tommy doesn’t.

One thing he does know, is that he’s prepared for anything. 

Tommy was, in fact, not prepared for this.

“Seriously, you two?!” He yelled over the smoke. There was no reply, his voice lost and barely audible over the sound of explosions. Tommy stomped past piles of rubble, heading towards the muffled yelling he could just make out. His ears were ringing and they were fucking loud. 

Tommy waved the smoke out of his face, trying to make out the scene in front of him unfold as his hearing became clearer.

“—important, Wilbur!” A female voice rang out, and Tommy was quick to realise it was Niki. He squinted, struggling to see. Wilbur? But he was on the other side of the battlefield…

There was more shouting from Niki, along with other people, but Tommy blocked them out. He pushed to the front of the crowd, he wanted to see what was going on. He thought he heard his name a few times as he pushed past, but ignored them. Tommy could talk with them later. Eventually, before he could fully make sense of the situation, his arm was pulled. He wheeled around to see who it was, his eyes being met with Niki. Apparently, she was the one that had been shouting his name multiple times prior.

“What do you think you’re doing, Tommy? You could get hurt!” She said, trying to yell over the explosions in the background. Tommy frowned. “First of all, we’re in a war, Niki! Second of all, what’s even going on?!” He yelled back, making Niki flinch back slightly. Oops, maybe a bit too loud then.

“Wilbur’s gone rogue, Tommy! He’s about to spawn withers!” Niki yelled, pointing somewhere behind Tommy. Tommy turned to see where she was pointing. What the fuck does she mean withers? Wilbur fucking hates withers!

”What did withers ever do to you? Techno’s voice echoed. “Withers are great.”

”They haven’t done anything to me.” Wilbur said. “They’re just ugly is all. And loud.

”So are you.” Came younger Tommy’s voice from behind him.

”Tommy!”

Tommy shook his head at the memory. But he was right, Wilbur hates withers, but someone else doesn’t.

He lifted his head to exactly where Niki was pointing, seeing the figure of his brother, in all his glory.

Except it wasn’t Wilbur.

No, that was Technoblade. The ‘I dyed my hair pink because I’m quirky’ Technoblade. But there he was, hair short and perfectly brunette. It really did look like Wilbur, but Tommy knew. They must have planned this beforehand, not letting Tommy in on it.

These fucking bitches.

Tommy wriggled his hand out of Niki’s grasp and stomped towards his brother, despite Niki calling for him. He stood in front of the crowd, taking a deep breath.

“TECHNOBLADE FUCKING WATSON!”

The loud sounds coming from everywhere died down after his voice rang out, and his eyes met his brothers. Tommy felt the eyes of the entire crowd on him, but he was focused on Techno. Techno raised his eyebrows in fake surprise, before grinning at Tommy. God, that was weird to see from Technoblade.

“Techno? What do you mean, Tommy?” Techno said, somehow managing to copy Wilbur’s tone of speech perfectly after all this time. “Do I look like Technoblade to you?” He added, tilting his head slightly as Tommy scoffed and stomped closer to him, not losing eye contact. Techno was still smiling, and it was starting to piss Tommy off.

“Yes, actually.” Tommy said, his tone matching the monotone one of his older brother. There was a beat of silence, and Tommy heard a yell from the crowd, but he couldn’t quite recognise who it was. Someone he didn’t know, probably a citizen?

“Are you blind, Tommy?!”

Tommy didn’t turn to look at the crowd, eyes still locked with Techno, who was now struggling not to laugh. Ah, so not much has changed, clearly. Tommy squinted slightly before sighing. “I’m not playing these fucking games with you, Techno.” He said flatly, reaching up and grabbing his brother by the ear, pulling him down. Techno tried to protest, and Tommy smiled. ”I just know.” Techno stopped struggling.

Tommy scanned the crowd in front of him in search for the other twin, but couldn’t quite spot him in the crowd of shocked faces. He took another deep breath. “WILBUR SOOT! YOUR LITTLE FUCKING SCHEME FAILED, COME THE FUCK OUT!” He yelled, making most people in the crowd flinch back. Nothing happened for a few moments, so Tommy sighed again. “I KNOW YOU’RE NEARBY, WILBY!”

There was a slight sound of rustling and suddenly Wilbur was rushing to Tommy’s side. “Did you just call me Wilby??” He panted, out of breath. Tommy looked him up and down disappointedly and then grabbed him by the ear as well. ”Ow ow ow TOMMY!”

Tommy pulled them both in front of the crowd as Wilbur struggled. Techno seemed strangely content with being pulled. Tommy looked at the crowd, which was only watching him intently, completely silent. He pushed Techno forward, earning a ”bruhhh.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “This is Technoblade.” He began, and some murmuring was heard from among the crowd. He stopped for a moment, and then pushed Wilbur forward. “And this is Wilbur.” He let go of the two, dusting his hands off. “Learn it off if you want to avoid their tricks, alright?” He was met with no distinct answer, so he simply nodded and with that, left the scene.

The twins watched as he left, and then turned back to the crowd, Wilbur smiling sheepishly. “Uh… hi?” He muttered, giving a small wave. The crowd erupted into yelling and questions. Wilbur flinched back significantly, and Techno gave an eyebrow raise. 

“Okay okay, one question at a time!” Wilbur yelled frantically, waving his hands in front of him. The crowd quietened down slightly.

“So you’re Wilbur?!” Someone yelled, from the back of the crowd. Wilbur nodded. “Yes, that’s me.” Wilbur replied, putting his hands down. “The person next to me is my brother, Technoblade. We’re twins.” He said.

The crowd erupted into yelling again.

“What do you mean you’re twins?!” Jack yelled, significantly louder than the whole crowd. Wilbur raised an eyebrow as Techno scoffed. “Like… twins. You know… family? Siblings?” Techno said, shrugging. Wilbur nodded. “And actually, Tommy is the only one who could tell us apart when we were kids. Still not sure how he did it.” Wilbur said, smiling slightly at the mention of his sassy little brother.

“TOMMY’S A PART OF THIS TOO?!” Someone yelled, and Wilbur thought it was Fundy. Maybe Jack too. Then he chuckled. “Yeah, the little shit is our annoying little brother.” He said, his smile not leaving his face. He looked over at Techno, who was looking the other way, clearly also hiding a smile.

“And as you saw,” Wilbur started, “he can tell us apart, just like that. Not even our dad could do it that easily.” There was a moment of silence, before Niki spoke. “So… Tommy’s your brother, and all three of you are related?” She said, no longer yelling. Wilbur only nodded, and Techno groaned. “Yeah, that’s what we said. Are you deaf or somethin’?” He snapped, Wilbur chuckling slightly.

“We actually planned this before hand.” Wilbur started again after a moment. “Techno’s pink hair was wash-out dye. He’s been dyeing it for weeks.” Techno scoffed. “I ruined my perfectly good hair only to be found out by Tommy, again”

The people seemed to be processing the information. “So, why can Tommy tell you apart so easily? You said even your dad can’t?” Someone asked, from the middle of the crowd. Wilbur shrugged in response. “Dunno. Every time we ask he replies with ‘I just know’ and avoids all other questions.” He explained. “Even Phil doesn’t know how he does it. And you’d think he’d be the person to know.” 

“What does Phil have to do with this?” Asked Jack, now leaning on Niki slightly.

Techno raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? Phil’s our dad.”

“WHAT?!”

Chapter Text

"C'mon Technoblade, you're coming with us." Quackity said, tightening his grip on Wilbur's arm. They stomped through the snow, Wilbur being dragged along. Wilbur turned to face Quackity, processing what the shorter man had said. Then his eyes widened.

"Technoblade?" Wilbur asked, feeling the grip tighten on his other arm as well. He turned around and found himself face to face with none other than Tubbo. He shot the teenager a look, and Tubbo frowned at him, as if thinking suspiciously hard. Wilbur had a feeling Tubbo wasn’t quite sure about what to think in this situation. He sighed.

"I'm Wilbur, you absolute pricks." Wilbur deadpanned. Quackity groaned and pushed him forward. Wilbur rolled his eyes, opening his mouth to say something again, but Quackity cut him off, “Stop lying, idiot. Wilbur doesn't have pink hair!" He exclaimed, voice rising. He then scoffed tiredly, as if the statement was the most obvious thing in the world.

Wilbur only stared at him, completely confused. Pink hair? But he never dyed his hair pink. That was only Techno… 

He shook his head slightly, causing his hair to fall in front of his eyes. Tubbo jerked at the movement, seemingly lost in thought beforehand. He regained his composure quickly. Wilbur on the other hand, examined the hair now in front of his eyes. Sure enough, it was a bright pink colour. Wilbur cursed under his breath, bowing his head.

Damn you, Techno.

Elsewhere, Techno was laughing his head off, a bottle of wash out pink dye lying in the bin.

This was the first time in a while that the twins pranked each other. Usually, they would work together to prank other people, conspiring together beforehand. But sometimes, they would pull pranks on one another. They could read each other just as easily as Tommy could read them, so this was only on super rare occasions. However, this was one of those occasions. Techno chuckled as he sat down by the window, watching the place where Wilbur had gotten taken away from just moments prior.

Of course, Techno had taken safety precautions beforehand. As much as he hates to admit it, he does love Wilbur. After all, he is his family. He wouldn't just let him be executed. But he didn’t exactly feel like going there himself to stop it, either. So instead:

"Here, take this." Techno said, throwing a totem of undying towards his brother. Wilbur just barely caught it, being caught off guard.

"What's-" Wilbur began, glancing down at the totem. A totem of undying? He looked up at Techno, eyebrow raised. "What do I need this for?" He asked, unsure of his twin's intentions.

Techno shrugged, walking past Wilbur and towards the door. "Nothing in particular. Just had a spare." He deadpanned. Wilbur frowned but placed the totem in the pocket of his coat nonetheless.

The coat that he was still wearing at the moment. Techno smiled. Wilbur is going to be hilariously pissed when he gets home. Comedy.

Just then, Tommy burst through the door, covered in snow. Techno perked up at the noise and turned his head to face Tommy as the blonde slammed the door behind him. He watched as the younger boy shook the snow off of himself, stepping further into the house before spotting Techno. Tommy frowned slightly, and hastily stammered out a few sounds that may have been words, but Techno cut him off before he could muster a full sentence.

"Hello, Theseus." He said simply, giving Tommy the closest thing to a smile that he could give. Tommy seemed slightly taken aback, but relaxed a bit nonetheless.

"...Hey, Technoblade." Tommy muttered, crossing his arms. There was silence for a moment, Tommy shuffling uncomfortably on the spot. Truth is, he didn’t expect Techno to be home at this time. After a minute or so, Tommy slowly spoke again. "You seem happy. Did something happen?" He asked, referring to his brothers’ strangely happy demeanour.

Techno hummed, looking out the window again. "No," he said slowly, "nothing in particular."

Tommy raised an eyebrow at Techno but shrugged nonetheless. After all, it wasn’t really his problem, and it was better than having Techno be in a bad mood. “Alright then." He said, shaking his shoes off. They fell to the ground with a thud, snow falling from them as they landed. Tommy scowled, knowing he was going to have to clean that up later. He glanced up, looking around the house, noticing that it was strangely empty.

"Is Dad not here?" He asked, walking further into the house, towards Techno. The older man shrugged in response. "No, but I'm not sure where exactly he is. He said he'll be back by sunset, though." Techno deadpanned, not taking his eyes off the window. Tommy seemed content with the answer, humming. He stood beside Techno, looking out the same window that his brother was. Speaking of his brother, where was the other one?

"And Will?" Tommy asked, glancing behind him for any sign of his other brother. Techno didn't respond to Tommy’s question, simply grinning to himself. At the lack of response, Tommy raised an eyebrow, leaning closer to the window and looking for any sign of Wilbur there. After a minute, it hit him. Fuck’s sake.

"Techno." He said, voice stern. "Where's Wilbur?" 

Techno looked up at his younger brother, pride evident in his expression. Tommy clenched his fist, having a feeling he knew what was coming. "At my execution." Techno said, voice just as monotone as ever. Tommy stood still for a moment, processing the information. Then he ran for the door, hastily opening it and running out. Techno quickly followed, getting up and running to the door as well.

"TOMMY WAIT! YOUR SHOES--! Aaand he's gone."

Techno watched as the teenager ran through the snow, running like he had never run before. Double the comedy later, then.

Tommy ran through the snow, ignoring how his feet were freezing as he stepped. He had no time to return for his shoes, he had to get to L'Manberg. They've got the wrong fucking twin. How do you even mistake one for the other anyway? One has pink hair for fuck's sake! And wait a minute, doesn't Tubbo know?! What the fuck!?

He stomped over to L'Manberg. Another day, another mess to fix because of the fucking twins.

Wilbur sat in the metal cage, watching Tubbo talk to Quackity. He wasn’t sure what he was doing here exactly, he hadn’t talked to them ever since he’d claimed not to be Techno for the seventh time. Tubbo still looked conflicted, but Quackity wasn’t convinced. Why was he in a cage anyway? He wasn’t a fucking animal. If anyone was an animal it was Techno. Wait… they think he IS Techno. Ah, that explains it.

Wilbur scoffed from inside the cage and sat down, leaning back against the bars. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed since he was thrown in, but it felt like ages. He made eye contact with Tubbo a few times, but Tubbo looked away before anything happened every time. He threw his head back, exhaling tiredly. He looked up at the anvil above him, hanging on what seemed like a very loose rope. Wait an anvil? God fucking damn it, he was here to die.

His eyes widened slightly at the realisation, and he stood up again. Were they planning to execute him, thinking he was Techno? He hastily looked around, looking for any way out. He ran his fingers over the metal bars, thinking. Tubbo was watching him do this, raising an eyebrow. Wilbur looked up at him, and Tubbo quickly looked away again. Tubbo clearly wasn’t going to help, then.

Wilbur thought to himself for a minute, placing his hands in his pockets. He fiddled around with something cold in one of them. His eyes widened, a smirk growing on his face. He turned away, his back facing Tubbo and Quackity. He grasped the item tight in his hand, pulling it out in front of him. It was a bright, shiny, totem of undying. Wilbur chuckled quietly. Damn you, Techno. 

He stuffed the totem back in his pocket, turning back around. Quackity shot him a look. “You enjoying this, Technoblade?” He said with a disgusting smirk, stepping closer to the cage. Wilbur rolled his eyes. Right, they think they’ve got Techno. Well. “Yep! About as much as I can, considering I’m in a metal cage.” Wilbur deadpanned. He could pretend to be Techno. For the fun of it, right? 

Quackity scoffed, turning away and walking towards Fundy, who had been watching from afar. The fox hybrid was watching Wilbur intensely, as if trying to figure something out. By the looks of it, it wasn’t working. After all, Wilbur doesn’t think Fundy knows that him and Techno are twins. Wilbur never told him, and he doubts that anyone who knows did. No one but Tubbo really knows, anyway. He glanced up at the brunette boy in question, who was writing something. Ah, so that’s what he was so conflicted about. He’s not confident about which twin they’ve actually got. 

Wilbur smiled, closing his eyes. This’ll be interesting, then. But he’s got a bone to pick with Techno later. Wilbur blanked out after that, not taking in the speech Tubbo seemed to be announcing, and humming quietly to himself. Quackity had yelled at him a few times, even banging on the cage, but none of it caught his attention. 

What did catch his attention however, was the distinct yelling of a certain someone.

He opened his eyes for the first time in a while, to be met with a glorious sight of TommyInnit stomping into L’manberg. The boy was covered in snow, so he had clearly come from Techno’s. He also had… no shoes on? Wilbur rolled his eyes fondly. What an idiotic child.

No one else seemed to have noticed Tommy until he walked onto the stage, heading straight for the cage. When he got close enough, he smirked slightly after seeing Wilbur’s hair, but he didn’t seem very happy in general. 

Quackity whirled around, looking at the blonde teenager. “Hey, hey!” He yelled, running onto the stage, pulling Tommy back. “What do you think you’re doing, Tommy?!” 

Tommy looked at him, displeasure evident in his expression. “Getting my brother out of the cage you’re fucking keeping him in.” Tommy deadpanned. Quackity frowned, opening his mouth to argue, but Tommy continued, leaning on the cage. “I know he’s pretty shitty, his music makes my ears bleed too, and yes he blew up the country, but damn no need to fucking’ execute him, huh Big Q?” 

Wilbur made an offended noise from inside the cage as Tommy scoffed. Quackity took a step back, confused. He then shook his head, frowning. “Tommy, he needs to pay for what he did! He can’t just do all of these things, including killing Tubbo and just get away with it!” Quackity exclaimed, putting emphasis on the killing Tubbo part. He obviously thought that would push Tommy’s buttons. To his surprise, Tommy only sighed, not moving.

“Wilbur never killed Tubbo, Big Q.” Tommy said simply, rolling his eyes. “That was Technoblade, if I remember correctly. And yes, he’s a pretty big bitch for doing that but this,” He gestured to the cage in which Wilbur was currently grinning like an idiot. “This is Wilbur. You’ve got the wrong twin.”

Quackity looked taken aback, mouth agape. “W-wrong what?!” He stuttered out, processing what he was just told. “What the fuck are you on about, Tommy?!” Tommy opened his mouth to say something again, but Tubbo popped up behind Quackity before he could. “That makes sense!” Tubbo said cheerfully, taking a stand next to Quackity. “I had a feeling we had the wrong one, but he did have pink hair, so.” Quackity’s head snapped around to look at Tubbo, confused expression plastered across his face.

Tommy turned to his best friend, frowning slightly. “Yeah, what the fuck, Tubbo!? I thought you’d know! You were just going to let Wilbur get executed?!” He exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air. Tubbo rubbed the back of his neck, grinning sheepishly. “Well no, I honestly was contemplating stopping it last second til I figured it out fully. I’m not you, I can’t do it in a heartbeat.” He explained, before looking behind Tommy, at Wilbur. “Sorry, boss man.” 

Wilbur rolled his eyes, but smiled fondly. “It’s fine, Tubbo. It was kind of funny. Plus, Techno’s getting it from me later.”

Tommy, on the other hand, shook his head in disappointment. “Tubbo, Tubbo. I told you! Look at him,” He started, moving out of the way and pointing at Wilbur. “How bitchy does he look?” 

Quackity stood there in shock, still processing what was going on. Wilbur raised an eyebrow. Tubbo was now examining Wilbur’s expression, despite Wilbur moving back slightly. Then he smiled, making an ‘ohh’ sound, as if he had just figured something out. “Yeah, now I see it.” He said, taking a step back from the cage. Tommy nodded in approval.

“Exactly.” Tommy said. “He clearly looks a lot more bitchy, so it’s bitch boy Wilbur. It’s as easy as that.” 

Wilbur’s jaw fell, as he watched the scene in front of him. “What?!” He exclaimed, causing Tommy to turn and look at him. “Is that how you’ve always been able to tell?! My bitchiness?” 

Tommy smirked, unlocking the cage. Tubbo frowned slightly, not sure where the blonde had gotten the key from. He shrugged it off. “Yeah, you’ve just got that natural bitch expression, Wilby. Not sure how no one else sees it, honestly.”

Wilbur glossed over the use of the nickname out of shock.

”Who am I, Tommy?” Wilbur’s voice echoed.

Tommy scoffed. “You’re a bitch, Wil.”

”Toms please, just tell your big brother how you do it. Is it that hard?” 

“Yeah, cause you’re a bitch.”

”How the fuck do you do that?!”

”I just know, bitch boy!”

”Do you have some kind of… magic power or something? I swear to god—“

”I just know, now shut up, bitch.”

”Why is this so easy for you??”

Tommy laughed. “Cause you’re a bitch, Wilby.”

“So every time you—“ Wilbur began, and Tommy’s smirk grew. “Yep. Every time I called you a bitch it wasn’t an insult, I was just answering your question.” Tommy frowned slightly. “Well, almost every time. Sometimes it was also an insult.” He added. “You are a pretty big bitch to be fair.” Tubbo piped up, Tommy opening the cage fully. Wilbur didn’t move to get out, though. 

“Seriously?! All this time we’ve spent trying to figure it out, and it was that I look more bitchy?!” Wilbur yelled, staring at Tommy.

“Yeah, man. Ever since the very first day I saw you. You just looked ever so slightly more mean. And it just got easier from there.” Tommy explained. “Now c’mon, Techno’s probably waiting for his personal circus to get home.” 

Wilbur scoffed, walking out of the cage. “And you couldn’t have told me how you did it earlier?” He said, stretching his arms out. Tommy chuckled. “Nah, it was funny. Comedy, as Techno would say.” 

Wilbur perked up. “Oh, speaking of Techno!” He said, reaching into his pocket and taking out the shiny gold item. “He gave me this, probably knowing full well I’ll be taken instead of him. Sly fucking bastard.” He said, tightening his grip on the totem. “I just have a spare one my ass.”

Tubbo chuckled. “So you wouldn’t have died anyway, huh? Ironic.” 

Wilbur gave him a smile. “I suppose. But you said you would’ve stopped it, right?” Tubbo nodded. “So I wouldn’t have needed it anyway.”

“What the fuck?!” Quackity exclaimed, causing all three of them to look at him. “Like, what the actual fuck?!” Wilbur smirked. “What’s the matter, Big Q? Something hard to understand?” He asked, voice teasing. Quackity frowned. “Uh, yeah! First of all, you and Technoblade are twins?!”

Tommy chuckled. “Yes, they are. And chaotic ones, too.” He stopped for a moment. “Not as chaotic as me, though! I’m obviously the most chaotic sibling!” He added quickly, proud of himself. Tubbo rolled his eyes fondly.

Quackity stuttered a bit, making choked back noises. He collected himself after a moment. “Sibling? You’re all related?!” He exclaimed, pointing at the three in front of him. Tubbo raised his hands as if surrendering. 

“Not me,” Tubbo said. “I grew up with them, but I never got officially adopted by Phil or anything like that.” At that, Tommy ruffled his hair. “No worries Tubs, we still consider you our brother. Right, Wil?” He said, turning to Wilbur, who nodded. Quackity shook his head. “Let me guess, Phil’s your dad?” He asked, looking less shocked every second. Tommy nodded and Tubbo smiled, turning to Quackity. “Any other questions, Big Q?” He asked, tilting his head.

Quackity shrugged, glancing at the three of them. “One more. Why the fuck is your hair pink, Wilbur?”

“Technoblade.” The three said in unison, and then laughed.

Chapter Text

Wilbur Soot died on the 16th of November. This statement, however sad, is well known by everyone on the SMP. When Wilbur died, all that was left behind was a ghostly shell of the man, who was an innocent and happy entity.

The ghost had forgotten all of the bad that had happened in his previous life, and only remembered things that made him happy. Some thought that this was an improvement, while others thought that it was like his personality was taken away from him. Either way, the ghost was happy. Even if he was missing practically half of his memories.

Half being the keyword. 

Ghostbur knocked on the door of the cabin, pushing as close to the door as possible to avoid touching the snow that lay below his feet. He heard some rustling from inside before the door swung open, revealing none other than Technoblade.

Ghostbur gave a cheery wave, and Techno visibly relaxed. “Oh, it’s just you.” He said, letting the ghost in and closing the door behind him. “Hello Techno!” exclaimed Ghostbur, giving his brother an excited smile. 

Techno sighed, but gave a small smile back nonetheless. He missed his brother, or the shell of him at least. He beckoned Ghostbur to come further inside, Ghostbur happily obliging. “Is there any particular reason you’re here or is this just a fun visit?” Techno asked, walking over to his chests. 

Ghostbur hummed. “It was originally a fun visit, but I actually want to ask you something!” He chirped, raising his arms towards the sky. Techno gave a fond huff. “Alright, what is it?” He asked simply, leaning on a chest and turning to face the ghost.

“I wanted to know if you wanted to prank the server with me!” Replied Ghostbur, Techno raising his eyebrow. “Prank?” He began, unsure of what to say. First time they see each other in quite a while and the first thing Ghostbur asks is to prank someone? Pretty on brand. Ghostbur chuckled. “Yep! Like when we were kids, you know?” He said happily, and Techno shrugged. “I guess. But I’m not sure how we’re going to do that if you’re… y’know.” He said, gesturing at Ghostbur vaguely. 

Ghostbur shook his head. “No worries! I already thought about that. I’m not stupid, you know.” He said, Techno chuckling quietly. “So, instead of us just switching, I thought that you could just pretend to be me, get it?” At Techno’s confused look, Ghostbur continued. “Like… since I’m dead, no one would expect a very alive ‘me’ to walk around the server, would they?”

Techno’s eyes widened with realisation as he shook his head, sighing. “Death hasn’t changed you at all, has it Wil?” He said softly, smiling at Ghostbur. Ghostbur smiled back. “Not at all! Our pranks are some of my happiest memories, Techno!”

“Yeah?” Said Techno, turning and opening one of his chest, rustling around for something. “That’s good then.” Ghostbur nodded happily. Techno huffed and closed his chest, turning to face the ghost once more. “Alright c’mon, we’ve got some hair dye to wash out.” Techno said, stepping down his ladder and beckoning Ghostbur to follow him. Ghostbur bounced up happily before following his brother down the ladder.

After about half an hour, all the hair dye was gone and Techno’s hair was back to its original, curly brunette. Techno had let Ghostbur style it so it looked exactly like his, and no doubt it did. Techno got Wilbur’s old coat from one of the chests that Tommy had left behind when he lived in his basement temporarily. He would never understand why that kid carried it around, after all, Wilbur had many copies of the same one. But he supposed it was kind of cute. The only thing missing was Wilbur’s beanie, but Ghostbur insisted that it wasn’t necessary.

Even after years of not doing much pranking, neither of the twins had lost their touch. Techno could still mimic Wilbur’s speech, walk and body language patterns perfectly. Well, not perfectly, according to Tommy. But that’s a special case. Ghostbur chuckled as Techno imitated what he said, practicing. “You’re still extremely good at this Techno!” He chirped happily, and Techno nodded. “I mean we have been doing it since childhood.” Techno reminded him, and Ghostbur smiled.

“Yes, I remember! No one could ever tell us apart, right? It was always funny to see everyone’s reactions back then.” Ghostbur began. He paused for a second, his smile growing wider. “Shame Tommy could always see right through us, huh?” He said, growing happier at the mention of their younger brother.

Techno chuckled. “Yeah, that was annoyin’. Speaking of Tommy, we’re going to have to somehow avoid him if we want this to work. Problem is I have no clue where he’s at.” He pointed out, placing his hand on his chin. Ghostbur waved a hand dismissively. “No worries, planned for that too.” He said, Techno rolling his eyes fondly. “Of course you did.” Techno said, and Ghostbur dived into explaining.

“So basically, I’ll go look for Tommy and distract him. Take him out to do something and keep him away from you while you walk around, yeah?” He said, Techno nodding. Ghostbur hummed happily and made his way to the door. “I’ll see you later then, Techno!” He said, waving. Techno gave a small wave back. “Bye, Wil. Be careful.” He said softly, watching the ghost open the door. “I will. Bye Tech!” Ghostbur said, and with that, he left.

It took Ghostbur a while to get through the snow, as he had to stop periodically under trees or in caves so he wouldn’t get hurt much. Eventually, he made it out of the snow biome, and into the nether. Ghostbur doesn’t remember having any good memories in the nether, so he doesn’t have much of an opinion on it. It doesn’t hurt him, however, so it doesn’t bother him.

He walked across the narrow paths, keeping an eye out for a local crown of blonde locks. Although, he wasn’t expecting much. After all, he vaguely remembers Tommy mentioning he doesn’t like the nether.

”You coming to the nether with us, Toms?” Phil’s voice echoed. He glanced at the child in question, holding Techno’s hand.

Tommy shook his head. “No. I don’t like it there. It fuckin’ sucks. All hot ‘n shit.”

“Language, Tommy.” Phil said, shaking his head. “But that’s fine, just behave with Will, alright? Don’t give him any trouble!”

Tommy stuck his tongue out but nodded. 

Phil chuckled and left with Techno, leaving Tommy alone with Wilbur.

“Will! Dad left!” Tommy yelled into the almost emptiness of the house. There was a bit of rustling, and Wilbur came into the room. “Alright. Where to?” He asked, tilting his head at Tommy.

Tommy scoffed. “Nether. Hell, if you will.” He said, rolling his eyes. Wilbur chuckled. “Not a fan of the Nether, Tommy?”

Tommy shook his head. “Not at all, fucker. Place is hot as fuck and…” He began, trailing off.

“And?” Wilbur asked, leaning on a nearby chair.

“And I don’t like lava.” Tommy admitted, bowing his head slightly.

Wilbur blinked. “Aw, is the big man himself scared of a little hot juice?” He teased, smirking at Tommy.

Tommy frowned. “What?! No! I’m not scared of it, dickhead. It’s just… shitty.”

Wilbur smiled, walking over to Tommy and ruffling his hair. “Whatever you say, Toms. We’ll keep you away from lava.”

And if Tommy muttered a thanks, it definitely wasn’t heard.

Ghostbur sighed, looking down at the lava surrounding him. He had hoped that Tommy would never have to visit the nether, but not everything goes according to plan, does it?

He made his way through the community portal, emerging facing the community house. If he was going to be honest, he only had one idea in mind as to where Tommy might be. And if he’s not there, well. He’ll improvise.

The ghost moved along the prime path, walking straight across the community house. He made his way towards Tommy’s house with haste, waving hello to a few people on the way. When he arrived, he found that Tommy was already in front of his house, sitting on his own doorstep doing what looked like sewing.

“Hey, Tommy!” Ghostbur exclaimed, waving at Tommy. The teenager in question looked up, spotting Ghostbur quickly. He tensed for a moment, but quickly relaxed as the ghost came closer.

“Oh… hi Ghostbur.” Tommy said, smiling softly at the ghost. Ghostbur smiled in return, looking down at the items Tommy was holding. “I didn’t know you sew, Tommy!” He said excitedly, pointing at the fabric Tommy had in his hands. The blonde in question quickly hid the items behind his back, stumbling out sounds.

“S-sewing?” He said nervously. “What do you mean, big man? I don’t sew. I am simply too masculine for sewing.” Tommy stood up, coming to be face to face with Ghostbur. Ghostbur chuckled. 

“There’s nothing wrong with sewing Tommy! I think it’s a great hobby!” He said, glancing at the fabric once more. “And look, you’re doing great! How long have you been sewing?”

Tommy tensed slightly, but pulled the fabric out in front of him again nonetheless. “Uh… since we were kids, Wil. I sewed the L’manberg uniforms, remember?” He said, smiling softly at the mention of their childhood and nation. 

Ghostbur’s eyes lit up and he grabbed Tommy by the shoulders. “Oh my god, you did!” He chirped. “You need to take more pride in your sewing Tommy, it’s amazing!” His smile dropped slightly. “I’m sorry I forgot.”

Tommy chuckled. “No it’s… it’s fine big man. And you’re…” He blushed from embarrassment slightly. “You’re right. I am pretty poggers at sewing.” He said, looking down at the fabric with pride evident in his eyes. 

There was silence for a moment, before Tommy opened the door behind him and chucked the fabric through before slamming it closed again. Ghostbur barely got to blink before Tommy stood smiling in front of him, empty handed.

“So, is there anythin’ you need, Ghostbur?” Tommy said. Ghostbur sighed softly before smiling at the teen. “Nothing in particular. Just wanted to hang out with my favourite brother!” He exclaimed cheerfully, bouncing a bit.

Tommy perked up at the last part of the sentence, grin growing wider as he raised an eyebrow. “I’m your favourite brother?” He asked softly. “I thought that’d be Techno.”

Ghostbur chuckled. “What do you mean? Techno’s a menace.” Tommy chuckled along. “Plus, who better to hang out with than my little brother?” Ghostbur added, reaching for Tommy’s blonde hair before ruffling it fondly.

Tommy smiled, leaning into the touch. He would never admit it, but Wilbur’s headpats was always something he enjoyed.

Wilbur walked past Tommy, who was sitting at the kitchen table, eating cereal. He ruffled the blonde’s hair as he passed, causing Tommy to perk up and stare at him.

“What did you just do?” Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow at his brother. Wilbur huffed. “What do you mean? I just ruffled your hair.” He said, focusing on taking a cup out of the shelf.

Tommy frowned. “Why?” He asked, eyes locked on Wilbur. “Dunno. What, does it bother you?” Wilbur asked, turning the kettle on.

Tommy shook his head. “No…” He paused, thinking. “Can you do it again?” Wilbur almost spilled the tea he was pouring as he spun around to face Tommy. Tommy tilted his head, frowning at the brunette. He placed another spoon of cereal in his mouth.

Wilbur blinked, staring at his brother. “Uh; sure?”

Just then, a voice was heard, coming from the door.

“What are we doing again?”

Tommy and Wilbur both turned their heads towards the door, only to be met by Technoblade. He was leaning on the doorframe, hair still messy. He had obviously just woken up. 

Wilbur scoffed. “Morning, inferior twin.” He deadpanned, Techno rolling his eyes in return.

“Mornin’.” Techno said, directing the statement at Tommy. Tommy gave a small wave, as his mouth was full of cereal. Techno huffed fondly, then turned back to Wilbur. “You haven’t answered my question.” He said, walking towards his twin. Wilbur groaned. “What question, prick?” He asked, stirring his tea.

Techno scoffed. “What were you talking about before I came?” He asked, reaching into the shelf to grab a cup of his own.

Tommy swallowed, opening his mouth to answer, but Wilbur beat him to it. “Oh nothing.” Wilbur smirked. “Just the fact that our dear little brother here is a sucker for headpats.”

Techno snorted, and Tommy got up from his chair instantly. 

“WILBUR YOU BETRAYING PIECE OF SHIT!”

The twins’ laugh echoed as Phil watched his kids bicker from the doorframe, smiling fondly.

“Tommy?” Ghostbur asked, tilting his head. Tommy shook his head, shaking the memory away. He instinctively grabbed Ghostbur’s hand, placing his hand back on his head. Ghostbur chuckled softly, ruffling his hair again. “You always were a sucker for headpats, weren’t you, gremlin?”

Tommy scoffed. “‘M not a fucking gremlin, dickhead.” He said, straightening up. “Anyway, what do you wanna do?”

Ghostbur shrugged. “I was planning on letting you pick.” He said. Tommy huffed. “I don’t have any ideas, big man. Sorry.” He said, scratching the back of his head. Ghostbur hummed. “That’s alright!” He exclaimed. “Hm… how about we just go for a walk? And we can do some things as we pass them?” Ghostbur suggested cheerfully. Tommy nodded in approval. 

They spent about half an hour stumbling around the SMP without many interruptions other than the odd hello. Tommy wouldn’t admit it straight up, but it was the most fun he’d ever had in a while. But after the first half an hour, he’d noticed some people started staring at them weird. 

Specifically, they were staring at them with confusion in their eyes. He tried to ignore it, of course. After all, he was used to being stared at. People would do it to him all the time, especially these days. But what bothered him was the fact that they weren’t staring at him, but at Ghostbur.

Tommy glanced over his shoulder at the friendly ghost who was waving to the people, and saw nothing that stuck out to him in particular. He shrugged it off before being called over by Niki.

He walked over to her, Ghostbur following closely behind. “Hey, Niki.” He said, nodding. “Did you need something?” 

Niki was staring at Ghostbur, pure confusion and perhaps a hint of fear? In her eyes. Tommy raised an eyebrow. “Niki? Hello? You good there?” Tommy asked, waving a hand in front of Niki.

This seemed to have snapped her out of her trance, because she quickly shook her head and looked up at Tommy. “Uh yeah I’m… I’m fine.” She began. “But Tommy… how is Ghostbur here?”

Tommy shot her a confused look, before glancing at Ghostbur, who seemed to be just as confused. He looked back at Niki. “What do you mean? He’s been here for a while last time I checked.” He said, chuckling softly.

Niki shook her head. “Tommy no, I… Wilbur was here. Like, actual Wilbur. He walked past here not too long ago.” She said, obviously unsure of her words herself. Tommy stood still, frozen in place for what seemed like a long moment. Then his arms shot upward as he frowned.

“AYE?!”

Meanwhile, Technoblade was having a great time. He’s been walking around the server ‘innocently’ for about an hour or so now, casually waving hi to the members. He hasn’t spoken to anyone yet, and a big part of him is glad about that. He also hasn’t run into Tommy a single time, and has definitely scared a lot of people just like they planned.

Long story short, there hasn’t been any obstacles for the prank, and Techno was sure Ghostbur would be happy. It was all going smoothly.

Until he set foot in Snowchester.

Techno will admit, he did forget Tubbo knew. That’s on him, after all the kid was always around Tommy growing up and lived with them later on as well. And as much as Techno hates to admit it, the kid was inevitably his brother. Government, sure, but family.

He sighed as he stepped onto the snowy town, not fully looking where he was going. Before he knew it, a small goat child was standing right in front of him. Techno just about spotted the brunette before he bumped into him. 

Tubbo looked up, analyzing the man in front of him. He stood frozen as the two men stared at each other, neither making a sound nor a move. After a moment or two, Tubbo’s eyes widened in what seemed like realisation.

“Ohhhh.” Tubbo said, straightening up. “I see. Hi, Technoblade!” he chirped, giving the elder a small wave. Techno sighed in defeat. “Hello, government.” Tubbo frowned at the name slightly, but rolled his eyes fondly nonetheless. 

“So is there any particular reason you’ve decided to dress as our dead brother today? Or is this just a phase you’re going through?” Tubbo asked, raising an eyebrow. Techno huffed. “Nah. Ghostbur wanted me to prank the server with him.” He explained, vaguely gesturing at where he came from.

Tubbo’s eyes widened slightly as he smirked. “Yeah? and you said yes? Just like that? I thought your pranking days were behind you.” He said. Techno scoffed. “Perhaps they were. But I’m not gonna just tell him no, am I?” He said, placing a hand on his hip.

Tubbo chuckled. “Awhhhh,” he cooed. “If I didn’t know any better I would say the great Technoblade is actually a softie!” He exclaimed, followed shortly by a gasp. “Technosoft!”

Techno wanted to reply, but settled for rolling his eyes instead. “Haha, very funny.” He deadpanned. “But do you mind not telling anyone for now? Don’t wanna ruin the fun, y’know?” 

Tubbo smiled. “No problem boss man, I think it’ll be funny.” He said, before thinking for a moment. “But I think you’ve gotta avoid—“

“—Tommy, I know.” Techno finished, sighing. “No worries, Wil’s got him occupied apparently.”

Tubbo nodded. “Alright then. Go scare the shit out of the server, yeah?” He said. Techno huffed. “Sure. Bye, Tubbo.” And with that, the older man left the snow biome. Tubbo gave a small smile at the use of his name and spun on his heel, only to be met with Ranboo.

The brunette flinched back, not expecting the taller teen to be there. He looked up, smiling. “Heya, Boo. What’s up?” Tubbo said casually, giving a small wave. Ranboo glanced at him, then in the direction Techno left in. Tubbo seemed to pick up on this, because he quickly chuckled.

“Ohhh.” Tubbo said. “How long were you there?” He asked, tilting his head. Ranboo shrugged. “The whole conversation, I think.” He replied. “But seriously, just how much do I not know about my friends?” 

Tubbo laughed. “Trust me, boss man. There’s a lot you’re probably still missing.” He said, making Ranboo perk up. “What?! I wasn’t serious!” He exclaimed, and Tubbo laughed harder.

Tommy was now stomping around the server angrily, Ghostbur silently following behind him. Every once and a while he got stopped by another person, questioning Ghostbur’s presence and asking him why he isn’t reacting to ‘Wilbur’ being alive like they thought he would. Tommy only scoffed and waved off each of these questions, sarcastically asking what direction ‘Wilbur’ headed in. He wasn’t bothered to explain each time, he had a brother to scold.

He had turned around to Ghostbur once or twice, asking if he knew what Techno was doing and why. The ghost denied all accusations, sounding just as confused as Tommy when it was brought up. Tommy chose to believe him. After a while, he finally gets pointed towards Snowchester by Fundy, who was practically trembling with shock. He gives the fox hybrid a nod of thanks and heads off towards the small snow biome, smiling. Tubbo surely stopped Techno, right?

“What do you mean you let him go?!” Tommy yelled, standing inside of Tubbo’s house, facing the brunette. Tubbo shrugs, glancing at Ghostbur instead, who slowly lifts a finger up to his lips. Tubbo sighs, turning back to Tommy.

“Listen boss man, he asked politely.” Tubbo said, like it was the most simple thing in the world. Tommy frowned slightly at his friend. “So you let him scare the shit out of the server because he asked politely?!” He exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. Tubbo chuckled. “That’s part of it, yeah… but also,” he began, nodding at Ghostbur in silent apology. “Techno asked me not to tell anyone because he wanted to make Ghostbur happy.” 

Tommy raised an eyebrow. Make Ghostbur happy? Why would a prank like this make-- Hold on. Tommy spun around to face the ghost. “You knew about this?!” He yelled, slightly taken aback. Ghostbur chuckled lightheartedly. “Of course I did! I’m the one who recommended it!” He said cheerfully, seemingly ignoring the fact that Tubbo ratted him out.

Tommy opened his mouth to argue more, but sighed and chuckled instead. “Guess I should’ve expected that. That’s on me.” He said softly, turning back to Tubbo. “And seriously? Techno said that?” Tubbo nodded, and Tommy laughed. “Technosoft!” He said through laughter.

Tubbo perked up. “I know right?! That’s what I said!” He exclaimed, laughing along with Tommy. Ghostbur watched the two teens laugh together for the first time in a while with a smile on his face. He’s missed this. 

The other two collected themselves after a while, Tommy sighing and taking out his communicator. He opens the general chat, typing a message.

<TommyInnit> Technoblade

<TommyInnit> Are you done with your bullshit now

<TommyInnit> If u are come community house pls

Tommy stopped typing, waiting for a reply. After a second, his communicator pinged.

<Technoblade> yeah, sure.

<Technoblade> be there in 10 minutes.

Tommy smiled, turning off his communicator and placing it back in his pocket. He looked up at Tubbo, who was checking his own communicator. “Tubs, you coming with?” Tommy asked, catching the older teen’s attention. Tubbo looked up and nodded. “Sure, don’t have anything better to do anyways.” He said, putting his communicator away as well. Just as he did, both the teens’ communicators pinged again. Tommy took his out, looking at it once more.

<JackManifoldTV> what?? what fun?

<Nihachu> Tommy?

<Nihachu> What’s going on?

<Quackity> technoblade at the community house?? tf are you doing tommy?

<Fundy> ???

Tommy sighed, typing tiredly.

<TommyInnit> If you really want to know just be at the community house in 10

<TommyInnit> All your questions will be answered I think

<Tubbo_> hard vouch

Tommy looked up at Tubbo with a raised eyebrow, the brunette only giving him a smirk back. They both chuckled quietly, making their way out of the house, Ghostbur following behind them. The walk to the community house was strangely nice, no interruptions or problems along the way. Tommy eventually started to question where everyone went, but his question was immediately answered as they arrived at the community house.

To say it was crowded would be an understatement. When Tommy said that people could come to the community house to get answers he wasn’t expecting this many people to actually show up. With a sigh he stepped into the house, pushing through the crowd to find any familiar faces, Ghostbur and Tubbo following close behind.

Eventually, he came across a certain fox hybrid, and tapped his shoulder. Fundy jumped, obviously not expecting the contact. He turned around, and Tommy chuckled lowly. “No need to be scared, big man, it’s just me.” He said, shrugging. Fundy let his shoulders fall, and huffed. “Hey, Tommy.” He said, smiling at the teenager in question. Tommy gave a quick smile back before his expression fell slightly. “So… has Technoblade arrived yet?” Tommy asked, looking over Fundy’s head, trying to spot the man. 

Fundy shook his head. “Um… no, but…” He said, and Tommy raised an eyebrow. “But D-- uh, Wilbur. Wilbur arrived a few moments ago.” Fundy said softly, stumbling over his words a bit. Tommy sighed tiredly. ‘Wilbur’ of course. He nodded at Fundy, muttering a small thanks before he pushed by him, followed by Tubbo and Ghostbur. Tubbo smirked at Fundy’s expression when he saw Ghostbur as he passed.

Tommy pushed to the very front of the crowd, spotting his brother leaning on the spiral staircase in the middle of the house, in all his glory. Except it wasn’t exactly his glory if he was dressed like fucking Wilbur. Nonetheless, Tommy went up to him, waving. “Hey, Techno. Have you had your fun?” He said, hand on his hip now. Techno only gave him an amused nod.

Tommy sighed fondly. “So why did you do this, exactly?” He asked, tilting his head at his brother. Techno raised an eyebrow, nodding at Tubbo, who was chatting with Ghostbur quietly behind Tommy. “Has he not told you?” Techno asked. Tommy glanced at Tubbo, then chuckled. “Yeah, yeah he has. Just wanted to hear you say it.” He said proudly, smirking at Techno. “So it’s true?”

Techno scoffed, shaking his head. “That’s part of it, yeah.” He said. “But I suppose I also missed how the past used to be.” Techno admits, a small smile creeping at his lips. Tommy gets slightly taken aback, but smiles softly anyways. “Yeah, me too.” Tommy admits. “I’ve missed it for a while now. You know, the times when we were children were probably the best times of my life, honestly.” He said, his smile growing slightly sad. Tubbo, who had been secretly listening, muttered a quick “Technosoft” and chuckled to himself.

Techno chuckled not long after, raising an eyebrow at Tommy. “Were? Last time I checked you were still a child.” He said, causing Tommy to gasp in fake offence. “What the fuck?! I’m not a fuckin’ child!” He yelled. At Techno’s smirk, he yelled louder. “I’LL SHOW YOU CHILD YOU BIT--” 

“TOMMY!” 

Tommy turned around, looking to see who had yelled his name and interrupted him. To his not-so surprise, he’s met with Niki standing in front of the crowd. Behind her stood Jack and Quackity, along with some other members of the server among the crowd. He raised an eyebrow at the pinkette, who frowned slightly, less in anger, more in confusion.

“Can we please know what’s going on now?” She said finally, her expression turning into one more of almost pure confusion with some pity. “Why are you so calm about this, Tommy?”

Tommy nodded mutely, sighing. “You’re all dumb, you know that?” He said, facing the crowd fully now. There were some groans heard among the crowd at the insult, but Tommy ignored them, stepping closer to Niki instead, meeting her face to face.

He gives her a reassuring smile, which probably isn’t very reassuring considering he’s TommyInnit, but hey, he tried. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. I know what you are thinking, but I can guarantee that the person behind me is indeed not Wilbur.” He said casually. 

Before he could say anything else, he got cut off by Jack. “What?! What the fuck are you on about, Tommy?!” He yelled, stomping up to stand next to Niki. “That’s clearly Wilbur! There’s no possible way someone could impersonate him that well!”

At this, Techno gives a small smirk, but it went unnoticed. Tommy, on the other hand, shook his head. “Shut the fuck up, Jack.” He exclaimed, turning to the bald man. “I know what I’m talking about.”

Jack opened his mouth to argue, but Tommy simply pointed to Ghostbur, who was still having a nice conversation with Tubbo. “See that? That’s Ghostbur right there, all fine n’ shit. Wilbur’s obviously fuckin’ dead, and if he was actually back Ghostbur wouldn’t be here.” He explained, an edge to his voice. “So put a sock in it, Manifold.”

Jack backed down slightly. “Okay, but my impersonation point still stands! If that’s not Wilbur-” he points at Techno, “then who the fuck is it?!” He yelled. Tommy only nods, opening his mouth to answer, but is quickly cut off again.

“Wait wait, hold on a minute!” Quackity yelled, taking a stand next to Niki and Jack aswell. Tommy turned to look at him, and Quackity continued. “Aren’t we supposed to wait for Technoblade?!”

Tommy got genuinely confused by this for a moment, raising an eyebrow. Seeing Tommy’s obvious confusion, Quackity sighed impatiently. “Technoblade was the one you asked for, was it not?” He explained. The gears seemed to turn in Tommy’s head, and he made an ‘ohh’ sound. Then he sighed.

“This is exactly what I’m sick of, honestly.” Tommy said, pointing behind him, gesturing to where Techno was. “That is Technoblade.” He said simply, and the crowd erupted into chaos. He can’t say he wasn’t expecting this, because he definitely was. He tried to shush the crowd again, but to no avail.

“OI! SHUT THE FUCK UP OR I’LL TAX YOU TO DEATH!” Tubbo yelled from behind him, causing everyone in the area to go silent at once, turning all their heads to face him. Tubbo only smiled, and Tommy turned to him, chuckling and nodding in thanks. Damn, Tubbo.

Techno glanced down at Tubbo, giving him a smirk. “Not bad, government.” He said simply, and Tubbo gave him a cocky smile.

Tommy sighs, turning back to the crowd. “Look, believe what you want, but that is in fact Technoblade, who is pretending to be Wilbur.” He explained, Niki being the first to break the silence that followed. “But… how does he manage to pull it off so well? Didn’t they only meet like… a few weeks before the 16th?” She asks genuinely, giving Tommy a small smile to show that she wasn’t sad or angry.

Tommy opened his mouth to explain, but got cut off again, this time by Ghostbur.

“Oh, I can answer this one!” Ghostbur exclaimed cheerfully, making his way over to stand next to Tommy. “Me and Tech are actually twins! Identical twins, in fact!” He explained, Tommy nodding beside him. “Yep.” Tommy said simply, turning back to the crowd. “That’s pretty much it. They look practically the same, so it’s pretty easy for them, innit? Is that enough explanation?”

Niki nodded mutely, Jack stepping in front of her, facing Tommy directly. “And how exactly do you know all of this? I know you were close with Wilbur, but so were we!” He exclaimed, frowning slightly. “Why are we only finding out now?”

Quackity took this chance to also take a step forward, but he looked directly at Technoblade instead. “Why would you do all of this? Pranks ain’t exactly your style.” He said, shooting the piglin hybrid a questioning look. At this statement, Tommy chuckled, but nodded at Jack nonetheless.

“So in short, I’m sadly stuck as their younger brother.” Tommy explained simply. “I’m also clearly the best sibling!” He added proudly, smirking at both the twins. Ghostbur butts in, ruffling the younger boy’s hair. “Yeah! And he’s also the most annoying sibling!” He said cheerfully. Tommy nodded in agreement, and then he realised what had been said. He moved away, yelling angry half-hearted insults at the ghost, who only smirked at him.

Techno snorted from behind them. “He’s not wrong.” He said, causing the youngest to turn and yell at him instead. “What the fuck do you mean! If anyone’s the annoying sibling it’s fuckin’ you two! I’m the one who was always left out of the pranks and had to clean up your shit after you did them!” Tommy yelled, but there was no real heat behind his words.

Ghostbur chuckled and ruffled Tommy’s hair again. “Sorry, Toms. We’ll include you in the next one, yeah?” He said lightheartedly, and Tommy groaned but nodded. 

Quackity spoke up again, not yelling anymore. “So… Technoblade actually used to actively participate in pranks? Am I hearing this right?” He said, a confused expression plastered across his face.

Tommy laughed, turning to face the man. “‘Course. Techno here was one half of one of the most chaotic and annoying,” he turned to seeth at the twins, “-set of twins ever. All they ever did growing up were pranks, pranks, and more pranks.” He said, rolling his eyes fondly.

“We do it a lot less nowadays, obviously.” Techno added, causing the attention in the room to turn to him once again. “But Ghostbur suggested this one, and who am I to refuse?”

Tubbo muttered another ‘Technosoft’ as Ghostbur took over from Techno. “The prank was my idea, to be fair.” He admitted, grinning sheepishly. “I noticed Techno was down, and I wanted to help. And since our childhood is one of my happiest memories, I thought that was the best way to go!” He explained happily, bouncing around.

The crowd seemed to process the information, before Jack broke the silence. “And what does Tubbo gotta do with this?” He said, gesturing to the brunette. “He doesn’t exactly seem very surprised.” The crowd turned to look at Tubbo, who only shrugged.

“I grew up with them, easy as that, really. I lived with them too, but I was never officially part of their family.” He explained. “We consider ourselves family anyway, though.” He took a step forward, standing next to Tommy, who leaned on his shoulder.

“Also, don’t feel bad about not being able to tell Techno and Will apart. Like, I grew up and lived with them, Tommy literally straight up told me how to tell the difference, I’m practically considered their brother, and I still can’t tell the difference sometimes.” He sighed, pointing back to the twins. “They’re really good at what they do.”

Tommy groaned. “See, this is why I’m the best sibling.”

Chapter Text

The revival that happened that day may have been a fluke. Or it may have been fate. Perhaps even some sort of magic. And while all of those details are only mere speculations, one thing that came from the revival that you could say was for certain was that; Wilbur Soot had been revived, and was probably more mentally stable than he was beforehand. One thing though: no one knew about this.

Except for Philza and Technoblade, of course. After all, they were the ones who were present at the revival- oh and they’re family, too.

It’s been more or less a week and a half since the revival, and Wilbur has been living with his family, in complete hiding from the rest of the SMP. No one else on the server knows that the man is alive and well, and all of them prefer to keep it that way. Less hassle for them.

Obviously, the family isn’t stupid. They’re all experienced in something or another, and all have higher IQ than most; so naturally, they have an emergency plan. 

Technoblade doesn’t get many visitors, but when he does, they’re usually not welcomed- nor are they good people. So, in order to hide Wilbur in case someone ever comes and Technoblade isn’t home, they have an emergency plan. Said emergency plan is simple; pretend to be Techno.

Technoblade and Wilbur are identical twins, and although out of practice, they’re extremely good at impersonating each other when necessary. So, in the unlikely event someone comes by; on the very rare day that someone will come by; he has one task: do what he does best.

Today just so happens to be said very rare day. 

Wilbur opened the door, fully expecting to see his twin or father. He had Techno’s crown on, just in case, but didn’t think much of it. “Hey T-” He began, blinking as he caught sight of who was behind the door. His eyes widened slightly. “-ommy..” Wilbur finished, simply staring at the blonde and… shivering? Teen standing in front of him.

Tommy on the other hand, hadn’t actually opened his eyes yet, and looked… helpless. Wilbur’s expression softened as the teen stuttered out a few words. “L-listen Tech--” He began, teeth clashing together as he shivered. Without letting him finish nor thinking, Wilbur grabbed Tommy by the arm, pulling him inside the warm house.

“Hey wh-” Tommy tried to begin again, but Wilbur cut him off by throwing him onto the sofa. Only then did Tommy look up at him, his eyes widening in sudden realisation. He sank back into the sofa, watching his older brother as the brunette examined Tommy’s state.

Tommy’s mouth seemed sewed shut as Wilbur reached a hand out towards him. He flinched away instinctively, causing Wilbur to stop before him, and give him a reassuring smile. For some reason, Tommy relaxed at that. Wilbur softly placed his hand on Tommy’s arm, which was currently covered in bandages.

Neither of the boys said anything for a while, only sitting in silence. The silence was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable; it was just silence. Eventually, Tommy worked up the courage to speak up. “W-wil?” He said, voice low and shaky. Wilbur’s head snapped up, looking at his younger brother with eyes full of worry. He wasn’t expecting to see Tommy like this; so… vulnerable and quiet.

Wilbur stared at his eyes for a while, his eyes becoming more glassy by the second. Tommy opened his mouth to speak again, but was cut off by Wilbur embracing him in a protective hug.

Tommy found himself almost flinching away again, but managed to only slightly gasp at the sudden action. He slowly lifted his arms, returning his brother’s embrace. He felt Wilbur’s hand atop his head, running his fingers through his hair softly. For the first time in a while, the blonde let himself relax.

The silence stretched on for god knows how long, before Wilbur spoke. “God, I’m so sorry Toms.” He said softly, embracing Tommy tighter than he possibly ever has. Tommy gave a broken chuckle. “What are you sorry for?” He said, his voice muffled by his face buried into Wilbur’s sweater.

Wilbur sighed. “Everything, Tommy. Everything.” He said, and that was it. Tommy’s mental health has never been worse, but he has a feeling it can get better.

Tommy woke up surrounded by warmth, which was unusual. His tent; nor his beach had ever been this warm. Tommy sighed, not wanting to open his eyes in case this was a dream. He didn’t want to leave this warmth. It was nice.

However, his eyes shot open at the sound of voices. Voices that… didn’t sound like Dream. And there were multiple? 

Tommy blinked a few times, looking around to examine his surroundings. Which were… Techno’s house? He thought for a moment, trying to figure out how he had gotten here. All of the memories from the previous night had come flooding back to him. 

So he had escaped exile. He had made it to Technoblade’s house. He was free… free from Dream and he could finally be happy with Wilbur; speaking of Wilbur, how was he alive? Tommy had so many questions for his older brother. Questions he didn’t-- couldn’t-- ask yesterday.

He scoffed at the thought of what exactly happened last night, realising that he had shown clear vulnerability in the moment. He knew he recognised Wilbur but… part of him knows he shouldn’t have trusted the man so easily. 

Tommy zoned back into the present, hearing the voices again. Well, they were his family’s alright. They were coming from another room, and Tommy couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. Sighing, he got up from the couch he had been sleeping on, giving an amused huff at the blanket that had been thrown over him. It was Wilbur’s favourite gold blanket, that he wouldn’t let anyone touch. Cute.

”Wil what is that?” Techno deadpanned, hanging down from the top bunk and staring at his twin. Wilbur shrugged, holding the blanket tighter. “It’s my blanket. It’s all gold and shiny and fluffy.” He explained.

Techno scoffed. “A blanket? Seriously?” He teased, raising an eyebrow. Wilbur frowned. “Yes, really! Don’t act like you don’t sleep with a stuffed polar bear!” He replied, sticking his tongue out. Techno gave an offended gasp. “Don’t you bring Steve into this!” He yelled.

Wilbur rolled his eyes. “You keep my blanket out of this then!” He yelled back. Techno shook his head. “At least Steve is an actual like… toy. That’s just a lame blanket!” He mocked, causing Wilbur to scoff in offense. “It’s not lame, loser!” He said, placing the blanket over his head, hiding him from view. Techno snickered. “Coward.” 

“Tech?” younger Tommy’s voice echoed, and Techno looked up to see Tommy standing in the doorway of the twins’ room. He smiled at his younger brother, giving a small wave. 

“Hi, Tommy. Something you need?” He said, tilting his head. Tommy shook his head quickly, but pointed at where Wilbur was still under the blanket. “Wilby?” The boy questioned. Techno chuckled. “Yeah. But Wilby is being a little bit of a coward at the moment.” He replied, and Wilbur quickly pulled the blanket down.

“Screw off, Techno!” He yelled, pointing an accusatory finger at his twin. Techno only smirked. “Watch the language in front of Tommy, ‘Wilby.’” The pinkette teased, and Wilbur sighed before turning to Tommy. “Hey, Tommy.” He said to the blonde, who gave a small wave in return, grinning widely.

Wilbur tilted his head, looking at the small raccoon plushie the boy was holding. An idea came to his head, and he pushed to the edge of his bed. “Toms, which is better?” He began, holding his blanket up. “This blanket, or Steve?” At that, Techno rolled his eyes before showing his polar bear plush to Tommy.

Tommy stared at the two items for a moment, before frowning. “None.” He said, holding his raccoon plushie up higher. “Clementine is the best!” He exclaimed proudly. 

Both the twins stared at him in disbelief before laughing. They should’ve expected this, honestly.

Yeah, cute.

Tommy slowly folded the blanket, because even if he might be bratty sometimes, he has fuckin’ manners, innit? 

He sighed and took one last look around the room before slowly heading towards the source of the voices. The voices gradually got louder as he approached the kitchen, so he assumed that’s where they were. He stepped in the doorframe, deciding to wait for one of them to notice him before he made his presence known himself.

To no one’s surprise, the first person to notice his presence was Wilbur. He looked up at Tommy and stopped mid sentence, causing Techno and Phil to look at him with confusion. Tommy stared back at him, smiling softly. Wilbur blinked. “Morning, Tommy.” He said casually, and before Tommy knew it, two more pairs of eyes were on him.

Techno looked at him with a mixture of worry and anger, but the anger didn’t seem to be directed at him-- more for him. Phil on the other hand, had eyes full of emotions that were almost unreadable. The one that was most prominent was definitely worry.

Before any of them said anything else, Tommy leaned back on the doorframe, rocking his signature grin. And if it didn’t shine as brightly as it did before, well; it wasn’t noticed. “‘Sup dickheads.” He exclaimed. Wilbur rolled his eyes fondly as Techno huffed. Techno wouldn’t admit it in his life, but he’s glad the kid hasn’t changed. Phil only stood there, eyes locked on his youngest. 

Tommy seemed to pick up on this, because he stepped closer to Phil. “Phil? You good there mate?” He said, mocking Phil’s accent. Wilbur chuckled, and before Tommy knew it, he was once again being embraced. “O-oh-” Tommy choked out, not expecting the contact. “Okay then.” He said softly, returning the hug. 

Phil then pulled away, scanning over the younger’s body, stopping at every bruise, scar and bandage. He gave a broken sigh before speaking. “Gods, what happened to you? You’re s-- so--”

“Bruised? Hurt? Scarred? Clearly abused?” Techno cut in, causing all of them to turn to him. Phil’s breath shook at the implications, but he slowly nodded. “Yes…” He began, turning back to Tommy, who was now frozen still. “Are you okay?” He asked.

It took Tommy a moment to process all that had just been said, but he quickly grinned. “Of course I am. I am the only man ever and I am perfectly okay.” He explained, pulling further away from Phil. His hand slowly ran over the bandages on his other arm, and although it was an unconscious movement, someone else picked up on it.

“Cut the bullshit, Tommy.” Wilbur snapped, but none of his anger was directed at Tommy. Somehow, that was painfully clear. “You’re obviously not okay. We just want to help you.” He said, voice softer this time. He took a few steps towards Tommy, who didn’t move.

“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about, big man. I am perfectly okay.” Tommy stammered, forcing a smile. “See, all happy ‘n shit.”

Wilbur shook his head, slowly taking Tommy’s hand in his own, blue eyes meeting brown. “Tommy, please.” He whispered. “Don’t.”

And so, the dam broke. Tommy don’t know how long it lasted, but he cried. He cried, and he cried. He cried in the arms of his family, in the embrace of people who genuinely cared about him. He let spill everything that happened to him in exile, all in between shaky breaths. And instead of yelling like he expected, all he got in return was hugs and whispers of reassurances. He felt safe.

After that, Tommy lived with his family. He had learned all about Wilbur’s revival, and how Techno sacrificed one of his canon lives to bring Wilbur back. Fortunately for him, Technoblade never dies. And Tommy was happy to have his actual, sane brother back. He also learned that Wilbur was being kept secret from the rest of the server, and was made promise not to tell anyone.

“The fuck?” He said. “I would never!” He exclaimed, after being told this information. Techno huffed. “You better not.” He said. “For your own sake.” 

Phil rolled his eyes, pushing Techno away. “Don’t mind him. We all trust you, Tommy. You’re welcome to stay here.” He said with a smile.

One day, Techno and Phil weren’t home, so Tommy and Wilbur were left alone. Together. In a small cabin.

“--and that’s how I ended up in the snow. By the way, did you know that snow is just the poo of the sky? Anyway so-” Tommy rambled, and Wilbur stopped dead in his tracks, staring at him. “I’m sorry what?” He exclaimed, cutting Tommy off.

Tommy looked at him in fake offence. “What, dickhead?” He said. Wilbur backtracked, frowning. “Did you just say that snow is the poo of the sky?” He questioned, causing Tommy to shrug.

“Yeah, I mean it is, innit?” Tommy said casually. Wilbur shook his head. “Tommy no, what the fuck? How?”

Tommy frowned. “The fuck do you mean how? It just is! I didn’t make the fuckin’ sky, did I?!” He yelled. “But where’s the logic? How is it the poo?” Wilbur exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. Tommy scoffed. “You’re just an idiot, you wouldn’t understand an in-tell-ec-tual such as myself.” He said, over pronouncing the word.

“I think you’re just dumb.” Wilbur deadpanned. “That makes literally no sense.” Tommy rolled his eyes. “It does make sense, Wilbur. You’re the dumb one, shithead.” Wilbur put his head in his hands. “Literally all I want to know is how you came to this fucking conclusion, stupid child.” He said. 

“Yeah well. You’re not smart enough to know my knowledge.” Tommy said proudly. Wilbur sighed. “Fine. We’re playing like this?” He said, and Tommy tilted his head at him in confusion. Wilbur took a deep breath, and promptly started yelling.

“TOMMY YOU’RE A FUCKING CHILD!”

Tommy flinched back at the noise, frowning. He stood up quickly.

“NO I’M FUCKIN’ NOT! AND WHAT DOES THAT GOT TO DO WITH THE ARGUMENT?!” He yelled back.

“YOU LITERALLY HAVE THE MENTAL CAPACITY OF A THREE YEAR OLD!” Wilbur exclaimed, voice getting louder as he kept going.

“FUCK YOU BITCH! I HAVE THE MENTAL CAPACITY OF A VERY SMART AND POGGERS BIG MAN!”

“IN YOUR DREAMS YOU GREMLIN!”

“‘M NOT A GREMLIN YOU FUCKIN’ NERD!”

“HOW AM I THE NERD?!”

“YOU READ SHITTY BOOKS AND PLAY YOUR SHITTY MUSIC ALL DAY!”

“THAT DOESN’T MAKE ME A NERD!”

“MEMEMEMEME WILBUR IS A NERD AND HE’S FUCKING DUMB!”

“JUST TELL ME HOW SNOW IS THE APPARENT SHIT OF THE SKY!”

“BECAUSE THE RAIN IS THE PISS, INNIT?”

“THAT’S NOT HOW IT FUCKING WORKS!”

“YES IT IS!”

Wilbur sighed. “You’re fucking dumb. This is stupid.” He said, sitting down on the couch. Tommy laughed. “Ha! I won the argument, bitch.” He exclaimed proudly, Wilbur waving a dismissive hand. Tommy took a seat next to Wilbur, and the two sat in silence for a bit.

“Your throat hurts too?” Wilbur asked finally, turning to Tommy.

“...Yeah.” Tommy mumbled softly.

“Cookies?”

“Cookies.”

Wilbur quickly dried his hands on the cloth towel, turning to look at Tommy, who was already starting to take out the ingredients. He raised an eyebrow at the blonde, walking in his direction. "I didn't know you knew how to make cookies." He said casually, causing Tommy to turn in his direction. 

"Of course I know how to, idiot." Tommy spat, perhaps slightly more aggressively than necessary. Wilbur rolled his eyes, and to Tommy's dismay, he continued talking. "It's just that… if I remember correctly," he said, leaning on the countertop. "You always refused to learn how to bake because-" He was cut off by Tommy throwing a handful of flour in his face. 

"Take that, bitch!" Tommy yelled triumphantly, ready to scoop another handful of flour. Wilbur coughed the flour out, rubbing his face with his sleeve. "I see how it is, fucker!" He yelled, lunging for the eggs as Tommy laughed and ran behind the counter. 

"Why won't you bake with us, Toms?" Phil said, tying the back of Wilbur's apron. Tommy shook his head, arms crossed. "I'm too much of a big man to bake." He exclaimed. Phil chuckled. "Big men bake too, mate." He said, and then gestured to Wilbur as he finished tying his apron. "Just look at Wil, he's doing it!"

Tommy scoffed. "Wilbur is no where close to a big man." He said, frowning at the brunette, who rolled his eyes in return. Phil sighed. "Fine. What if I told you Techno's also doing it?" He said with a smile, nodding behind Tommy.

Tommy's eyes widened as he slowly turned around, only to be met with a very unamused Techno standing behind him, apron already on. Tommy promptly screamed. "WHAT THE HELL?!" He yelled. "You're supposed to be the other big man, Tech!"

Techno huffed. "Don't look at me like that." He deadpanned. "I was forced into this." At Tommy's terror, Wilbur gave an amused chuckle. "I think he looks like a very big man. Ten out of ten masculinity." He said, giving a semi-sarcastic thumbs up.

"I know right." Techno said dryly. "I look like so much more like a big man than you do." Wilbur raised an eyebrow, looking at Phil, who just shrugged, and then back at Techno. Tommy, on the other hand, nodded in agreement, facing Techno. "Tech looks like a bigger man than you, Wilby." He said.

Wilbur squinted in confusion. "We literally look the same!" He exclaimed, and Phil only laughed.

Wilbur sighed, wiping the last of the flour off of the counter. "I think that's the last of it." He said, putting the cloth aside. "Yeah, of that counter." came Tommy's voice, and Wilbur turned around to see most of the kitchen still covered in flour and eggs, including Tommy.

Wilbur bowed his head in disappointment. "You were supposed to clean that." He said, gesturing at Tommy. Tommy scoffed. "You never said to, dickhead." He said, picking up what was left of the bag of flour and a few eggs. "Let's just make the fuckin' cookies."

In the next twenty or so minutes, the entire kitchen was once again clean, and there was a nice batch of cookies in  the oven. Tommy threw the oven mitts off his hands, throwing himself onto the sofa. Wilbur huffed in amusement. "Wow. Where did you learn to bake?" He asked, Tommy groaning in return. 

"Niki taught Tubbo and I a while back." He said simply. "She bakes really good cookies, you know." Wilbur smiled. "That she does Tommy. That she does." He said, taking a seat next to the blonde. Wilbur looked over at the oven, where the cookies were baking. "Are you going to leave some cookies for Phil and Techno?" He asked. Tommy scoffed. "Of course not. The bastards can bake their own cookies."

Wilbur chuckled, but said nothing else. There was a few minutes of silence between the brothers as the oven timer slowly ticked by. "I missed you, y'know." Tommy mumbled eventually, not looking at Wilbur. Wilbur, on the other hand, snapped his head around to look at Tommy. "What was that?" Wilbur said softly, raising an eyebrow.

"I said I missed you, dickhead!" Tommy yelled, looking in the other direction. Wilbur took a moment to process what was said, and then promptly cooed. "AWWW TOMMY" He said, lunging at his brother and embracing him in a hug. "I missed you too!" Tommy debated pushing him away, but scoffed and hugged the brunette back instead. "Yeah, yeah. Now shut up." He said, still not looking at Wilbur, who only smirked as he held Tommy close. 

Tommy would never admit it, but he enjoyed staying in Wilbur’s arms like that. It reminded him of simpler times, before… everything. Of course, it would probably never be the same- and he accepted that a long time ago. But if they can be at least similar then he’ll be more than happy. That’s one of the many reasons why he would never leave Wilbur’s arms willingly.

“Get up, you lazy ass gremlin. Do you want the fucking cookies to burn?” Wilbur groaned, trying to push Tommy off of him, as Tommy clung to him. “‘M not movin.” Tommy mumbled into Wilbur’s shirt, hugging him tighter. Wilbur sighed. “Of course you’re not. You’ve always been this way, haven’t you?”

Wilbur looked down at the young blonde sleeping on him. He checked his watch slowly, in an attempt to not wake him. He sighed slowly, knowing that he’ll have to ask Tommy to wake up soon, he needs to get him to bed before it gets too late. He gently placed his hand on the teen’s head, playing with his hair softly. “Heh. Clingy.” He whispered.

“Hey Wil-” Techno’s voice came from the door, but Wilbur cut him off by shushing him. Techno stopped at the door, raising his hands in surrender and examining the scene before him. Then he chuckled slowly. “Adorable, truly. But dad said to go upstairs.” He said, lowering his hands. Wilbur scoffed.

“Well what do you think I want to do?” He whisper-shouted, gesturing to Tommy. “I don’t wanna wake him, but he’s clingin’ to me.”

Techno rolled his eyes. “Just carry him, loser.” He whispered back. Wilbur stared at him, squinting. “I can’t move, Techno.” He whispered dryly. Techno huffed, and walked over to the couch. Wilbur slowly took Tommy’s hands from around his torso, letting Techno pick him up gently.

The blonde took a deep inhale, but didn’t wake up. Wilbur sighed in relief, getting up from the couch as Techno chuckled quietly. “Fuckin’ clingy raccoon he is.” Wilbur whispered, looking at the sleeping Tommy fondly.

“Clingy raccoon.” Wilbur said, smiling. Tommy groaned, but didn’t make a move to get up. Wilbur laughs, pulling Tommy’s arms off him, much to Tommy’s displeasure. “Wait a second, it’s not like I’m leaving forever.” Wilbur said, rolling his eyes and leaving towards the kitchen.

Wilbur slipped on the oven mits, opening the oven quickly. To his delight and surprise, the cookies were perfectly baked to a golden-brown state. Wilbur is really going to have to ask Tommy for the exact recipe later. He took the tray of cookies out, sliding them onto a nearby plate. He closed the oven quickly, throwing the oven mits off and grabbing the plate before heading back to the main room.

“Alright here’s the cookies but they’re still hot so--” Wilbur began, walking into the room, only to be met with a half asleep Tommy laying on the couch. He chuckled, placing a hand on his hip. “Toms, if you’re tired you could’ve said so.” He said, and Tommy groaned. “‘M not tired. Give the cookies here.” He mumbled into the pillow, and Wilbur sighed, shaking his head. He walked towards the couch, placing the cookies on the table next to it.

“You can have the cookies later, idiot. It’s not like they’ll just disappear.” Wilbur said, taking a seat next to Tommy once again. Tommy whined, sitting up. “But Techno and--” He began, but got cut off when Wilbur pulled him close, placing his hand in the blonde’s hair. Tommy quickly stopped talking, melting into the touch. Wilbur huffed fondly. “Still works on you.” He whispered, smiling.

Wilbur played with Tommy’s hair softly as the teen lay on his lap, eating a cookie with his other hand every once and a while. He let himself relax, secretly hoping that they could do things like this more often.

Just then, his thoughts got interrupted by obnoxiously loud yelling. Obnoxiously loud yelling of a certain obnoxious green man.

“Technoblade!” Dream’s voice came, getting louder and louder by the second. Wilbur’s head snapped to the window, looking out onto the snowy biome. Sure enough, a small green figure was in the distance, and was quite quickly approaching.

Wilbur panicked, looking from Tommy to the window to the door. He had to make sure Dream didn’t get to Tommy; or see him for that matter. He couldn’t wake Tommy, he had heard what Dream had done to him, and he knew how Tommy reacts to him. He couldn’t make him stressed with that; for the first time in ages, Wilbur had the chance to keep Tommy safe and happy. And he wasn’t going to let Dream ruin that.

But he also had to pretend to be Technoblade. Usually that wouldn’t be a problem, but he didn’t have Techno’s things with him- Techno had taken most of them on their journey. And his hair wasn’t styled properly or anything. He would just have to play it off, then. He looked around the room, making sure not to move too much to not wake Tommy. His eyes landed on a hanging crown, probably one of Techno’s decorative ones.

“Technoblade! Open the door!” Dream yelled, his voice already dangerously close. Damn, the fucker’s fast. Wilbur slowly slid Tommy off of him, as carefully as possible. Luckily, it was hard to wake Tommy by anything but physical contact, so the yelling shouldn’t be too bad.

He got up quickly, walking over to the crown and yanking it off the wall before placing it atop his head. He pushed his hair to the sides, messily styling it the best he could. He looked out the window, still seeing Dream approaching. He sighed, looking around the room once more. He took a nearby blanket, throwing it over Tommy in an attempt to hide his presence more. The only thing visible now was Tommy’s head, but Wilbur made sure it wasn’t visible from the doorway. Now all he had to do was keep Dream there.

Wilbur threw his brown coat off, tossing it somewhere to the side, where it won’t be visible. His face scrunched up slightly as he heard a knock on the door. “Technoblade I know you’re home.” Dream said, and Wilbur scoffed. Fucking moron. Wilbur rushed to the door, glancing at Tommy one last time before hesitantly opening it. 

“Hey, Technoblade…” Dream greeted, trailing off as he examined Wilbur. Wilbur resisted the urge to gulp as he felt the man examine him. “Dream.” He said simply, giving the man a nod. Then Dream smiled, at least that’s what it seemed like. Wilbur couldn’t make the man’s expression out from behind the mask. 

“I like the new hairstyle.” Dream said. “It suits you, honestly.” Wilbur huffed in amusement. “Thanks.” He said, leaning on the doorframe to cover as much of it as possible. Dream tilted his head. “So, what have you been up to recently?” He asked, tone friendly.

Wilbur pondered for a moment. What the fuck does Techno do in his free time at this point? He frowned, looking behind him quickly before his eyes lit up. He lunged back quickly,  grabbing a cookie and offering it to Dream. “Want one?” He asked, holding the cookie out. 

Dream looked slightly taken aback, but took the cookie nonetheless. He chuckled, examining the cookie. “Technoblade. Baking cookies?” He asked, skepticism in his voice. Wilbur shrugged. “Phil baked them. I don’t even know how to bake.” He said, knowing full well that Techno knows how to bake. 

Dream nodded hesitantly. “Alright… so Phil is here, then?” He said, attempting to look behind Wilbur. Wilbur moved to cover his view, shaking his head. “Nope, you actually just missed him.” He said quickly. “Is that what you wanted? To see Phil?” He added, just wanting Dream to leave.

Unfortunately, Dream laughed at the statement. “No, no.” He said. Wilbur cursed under his breath. “I’m actually here to talk to you, Technoblade.” Dream said, making the cookie disappear into his inventory. Wilbur scoffed. “What could you want from me? Clout?” He deadpanned, causing Dream to chuckle.

“C’mon, we’re pals. Aren’t we, Techno?” He said, shrugging. Wilbur waved a hand dismissively. “Anyway. Have you maybe seen Tommy anywhere?” Dream continued, and Wilbur tensed at the question. Of course he was here for fucking Tommy. He bit his tongue. Okay. Play dumb.

“Who’s Tommy?” He asked, tilting his head innocently.

Not that dumb!

Dream looked appropriately confused. He chuckled, but it was clear that he was losing his patience. “I know you know who Tommy is, Techno.” He pressed on, and Wilbur huffed. Maybe he could have a little fun with this. “Nope, sorry.” Wilbur said. “Never heard of this guy. What’s his name, Timmy?”

“It’s Tommy!” Dream yelled, Wilbur raising an eyebrow. Dream took a deep breath. “Quit the act.” He said, Wilbur glancing back to check if Tommy was still asleep, and thankfully he was. He turned back to Dream. “Oh yeah, that guy.” Wilbur deadpanned. “Didn’t he get exiled?” He asked, a bitter undertone to his voice.

Dream scoffed. “Yes. But unfortunately he escaped a while ago.” He said, fist visibly clenched. “I’ve been looking for him since then, just want to bring him back to where he belongs, y’know?” He said, a disgusting amount of pride in his voice. Wilbur clenches his fist in return, his nails digging into his palm. Tommy had told him about the things Dream did and how he acted, but hearing this disgusted him on another level.

Wilbur raised an eyebrow. “‘Where he belongs’?” He asked. “What, is he your pet or something?” He said, voice low. He watched as Dream froze up at the question. Nail on the head, then. Fucking hell. 

Dream regained his composure quickly, though. “Of course he’s not.” Dream said, sickly sweet. “I just want to know where he is for his own safety.” He explained, crossing his arms. Wilbur frowned slightly. Dirty fucking liar.

Wilbur nodded, and Dream clapped his hands. “So, have you seen him?” He asked again, more firmly this time. Wilbur only shrugged in response. “Nope. Not in a long while.” He replied. Dream didn’t seem very convinced, though. “Are you sure, Techno?” He pressed, taking a step closer. Wilbur frowned. “Are you accusin’ me of lying, Dream?” Wilbur said, a hint of threat in his voice. Dream only shrugged. “Well that depends,” he said, “if you’re lying or not.”

Wilbur gave a forced smile. “Well, I’m indeed not lying. Goodbye, Dream.” He said, grabbing the door and pushing it in order to close it. But it stopped at the end, being held open by Dream’s foot. “What’s the rush? We only just started talking.” Dream teased, holding his foot in the door.

Wilbur scoffed, opening the door again hesitantly. “Listen. I would just like some nice teletubby free time, if that’s at all possible.” He deadpanned, before attempting to slam the door closed again.

Dream continued to hold the door open with his foot. “You know where Tommy is, just spill it.” He said, desperation lacing his voice. Wilbur frowned, starting to lose his cool. What the fuck is this man’s deal with his brother?!

He finally opened the door, coming to be face to face with Dream once again. Although, this time he let his act drop, slipping back into his own speech pattern. “Listen, Dream, you leave my fucking brothe alone or so help me I will hunt you down myself.” He whisper-yelled, glaring at the masked man. Dream backed up slightly in realistion. “Wil--” He began, but was cut off by the handle of an axe colliding with his head.

Dream fell to the ground with a thud, mask falling off as he landed, seemingly unconscious. Wilbur watched him fall, and looked up to be met with a very angry-looking Technobalde. He glanced to his twin’s right, spotting his father there as well.

Wilbur opened the door fully. “Oh thank fucking god. He was really starting to get on my nerves.” He exclaimed, shoving Dream aside with his foot. “A second more and I might’ve just killed him myself.” 

Techno chuckled, Phil stepping in front of him to face Wilbur. “You okay, mate?” He asked, placing a hand on Wilbur’s shoulder. Wilbur smiled. “I’m fine.” He said simply, before his eyes widened. He quickly spun around, sighing in relief as he saw the blonde on the couch still fast asleep.

He sighed again, taking the crown off of his head and throwing it towards Techno, who quickly caught it with a huff. Wilbur walked back into the house, the other two following suit. Phil came in last, closing the door behind them. Wilbur took his seat next to Tommy once again.

Techno slowly placed his crown back on the wall as Phil cooed at the scene before him. “Awww, I haven’t seen this in a while.” He said fondly, looking at the two boys on the couch. Techno walked past him, humming in agreement. He then took his cape off, throwing it to the side before taking a seat on the couch as well, on the other side of Tommy. 

Phil chucked. “You look adorable, truly.” He said. “And you two are just as protective as ever.” Wilbur looked down at Tommy fondly, his hand finding its way to the blonde’s head again, curling around his locks. 

“No one’s ever going to hurt you again, Toms. Not as long as we’re here.” He stated, voice quiet but not whispering. “I promise.”

Techno and Phil nodded in agreement, and the silence dragged on for a while as the family enjoyed each other’s presence. They were going to keep each other safe now, even if they failed before. And if it means lying and violence, then so be it.

Phil dusted his hands off, clapping them together quietly. The twins turned their heads to face him. “Well, I’ll get rid of Dream before he wakes up.” He said, disgust piling on his face as he spoke the masked man’s name. “We can’t have him as decoration on our front porch, unfortunately.” He added, causing both the twins to chuckle.

Phil made his way towards the door quietly. “I’ll be back in a moment.” He stated, the twins nodding. He then left, closing the door quietly behind him.

Tommy woke up in warmth again, shuffling around slightly before opening his eyes. He tried to move, but found himself pinned down. He blinked a few times, letting his eyes get used to the light before looking at his surroundings.

He glanced in every direction, finding Wilbur’s hand limp atop his head, Techno’s hand on his leg as he slept, and Phil sleeping soundly on a nearby armchair. He took the scene in for a moment before smiling fondly.

He snuggled back into Wilbur’s torso, making himself comfortable and heading back to sleep.

Safe with his family again.

Chapter Text

“What do you mean?!” Wilbur yelled, running down the stairs. He skipped over a few steps, almost falling over before landing at the bottom. He really needs to work on his landing.

“Exactly what I said!” Techno yelled back, emerging at the top of the staircase, and following Wilbur down. His steps were light and quiet, but he made it down in almost half of Wilbur’s time. He sighed, watching Wilbur stomp towards the living room. “You just don’t wanna admit I’m right.”

Wilbur spun around to look at him, meeting his twin’s eyes. He took a deep breath. “You’re right,” Techno’s face lit up, “I won’t admit you’re right because I’m the one that’s right!” Wilbur said, leaning on the couch. Techno rolled his eyes, walking into the living room to continue their argument.

Tommy rubbed his eyes, looking over the landing at the arguing twins. He shook his head, scrunching up his bag of crisps before smoothly sliding down the railing of the staircase, all the way down to the bottom. He hopped down onto the floor, smiling to himself. Perfect landing.

The twins stared at each other for a silent while, before Wilbur groaned. “How about you admit that you’re wrong for once and let me have this?” He deadpanned, and Techno smirked in disbelief.

“Not in a million years.”

Tommy walked into the living room, the crisp bag tight in his hold. He pushed in between the arguing twins, jumping onto the couch. Neither twin acknowledged him, both too invested in their argument. Tommy looked back at the twins and scoffed, before promptly smirking. This means he has the TV all to himself for once. 

He opened his crisp bag up, looking around the room for the remote. Unfortunately, his moment of bliss didn’t last very long as the noise from the crisp bag finally alerted his brothers of his presence. He scowled, choosing to ignore the feeling of two people now staring at the back of his head.

Please don’t say anything please don’t say anything please-

“Tommy!”

Damn.

Tommy sighed in annoyance, turning to meet his brother’s determined gaze. “Yes, Wilbur?” He asked through gritted teeth.

Wilbur smiled. “Who’s right? Me or Techno?” He asked, never breaking eye contact. Techno rolled his eyes from beside him. Tommy shrugged before placing a handful of crisps in his mouth. “Dunno,” He said, mouth full. “Wasn’t listenin’.”

Wilbur threw his head back, groaning in annoyance, Techno letting out a simple snort. “Okay,” He said finally. “What came first? The chicken or the egg?” 

Tommy stared at him blankly, chewing on his crisps. “Neither. This is a stupid fuckin’ argument.” He deadpanned, swallowing. “You’re both idiots. And I thought I was the dumb one.”

Techno scoffed. “You are the dumb one.”

“Hey! I-”

“That doesn’t matter!” Wilbur interrupted, yelling. “Tommy. If you HAD to choose one, which one would it be?” He asked, leaning on the back of the couch now. Tommy took his hand out of his crisps bag, scrunching it up again. 

“Well,” he started, tilting his head at Wilbur. “What did you choose?”

Wilbur’s face lit up in triumph, and he straightened up. “The chicken, obviously. Chickens evolved from other animals, so they came first.” He smiled proudly, Techno scoffing.

Tommy nodded. “Right, so the egg, then.” He said simply and without hesitance, before turning back around. Wilbur’s face instantly dropped, and he frowned. “What?!” He exclaimed, trying to tune out Techno’s chuckling from next to him. “How could you! This is betrayal of the highest caliber.”

He turned away, before turning back around when he realised that Tommy was no longer paying attention to him. “Hey!” He said, tapping Tommy on the head. Tommy didn’t move. “Don’t ignore me, prick!”

Tommy spun around, frowning. “Well what else d’ya want, dickhead? I answered your question.” He said, glaring daggers at Wilbur. Wilbur frowned in return. “Yeah, but it was wrong!”

Tommy scoffed. “It’s my opinion, it can’t be wrong! That’s not how fuckin’ opinions work!” He yelled, shaking his head in annoyance. Wilbur rolled his eyes. “It is when the person giving them is a moron!” He exclaimed, running his hand through his hair.

Tommy’s attention was brought to Wilbur’s hair, and he frowned deeper. “Bold words from someone with pink fucking hair!” He yelled, shaking his head childishly.

Wilbur gasped in what seemed like offence. He opened his mouth to retaliate, but only stumbled bits of words came out. Tommy laughed at his victory, watching his brother struggle to stop gaping.

Eventually, Wilbur collected himself and simply left the room without another word. Tommy watched him leave, before turning to his other brother. Techno smiled at him, placing a hand on his hair and ruffling it with as much gentleness as you could get from someone like Techno. He leaned in closer to Tommy, coming up just beside his ear. “And this is why you’re my favourite brother.” He whispered, before smirking and promptly leaving the room, presumably to make fun of his twin.

Tommy’s eyes lit up, and his jaw dropped. Genuine praise from Techno? Favourite brother? Holy shit.

“Tommy, mate, close your mouth before you swallow a fly.” Phil said a good ten minutes later, passing through the living room.

Tommy squeezed between the cramped walkways of Pogtopia, trying to find the entrance to the larger area. Unlike Wilbur, he didn’t know the base like the back of his hand, and he often got lost in the dark, small crevices.

Tommy never liked Pogtopia. To him it was eerie and weird, but he didn’t want to argue with Wilbur when he decided that it was what was best for them. Still, the cramped and damp tunnels that had little to no light were not the best for his claustrophobia.

He smiled to himself when the tunnel started getting brighter, and he sped up, making his way towards the light. He squeezed through the opening, looking around the now lit up area. He blinked a few times, his eyes getting used to the lighting, and took a deep breath–

And coughed. 

What the fuck is that?

Tommy scoffed, lifting his t-shirt up to cover the bottom half of his face. He glanced around again, noticing that it was harder to see than usual as well. He took another breath in, resisting the urge to cough as his mind provided the answer to his previous question.

Smoke. It was smoke.

Panic shot through him like a bullet, and he quickly ran through the ravine, trying to find the source of the smoke. He wanted to yell, but every time he inhaled, more smoke attacked his lungs. He skidded to a halt at the other end of the ravine, spotting a very familiar figure in the area where the smoke was most visible.

“Wil-” Tommy choked out, voice hoarse. He cut himself off with a cough, and decided against yelling for Wilbur. He stumbled towards his brother, waving most of the smoke away from his face with his hand.

Eventually he was standing just in front of said brother, half of his face still covered with the top of his t-shirt. He examined the brunette standing in front of him, and noticed that he was clearly zoned out. Tommy frowned, eyes focusing on the small, smoking cigarette in the man’s mouth.

Without thinking for long, he reached for the cigarette and yanked it out of Wilbur’s mouth, the older man yelping in surprise. He glared directly into Wilbur’s eyes as he dropped the cigarette on the ground and stomped it out.

Wilbur looked like he wanted to yell, but stopped himself as his eyes landed on his angry little brother. He sighed instead. “What is it, Tommy?”

Tommy only glared, not saying a word or moving to uncover his face. Wilbur glared back, tiredness pulling at his eyes. Tommy crossed his arms, not losing eye contact for even a moment. 

Eventually, Wilbur sighed again, rolling his eyes. “C’mon, gremlin, I don’t have all day.” He said, running a hand through his hair as he did so. Tommy made a small noise of protest at the nickname, but promptly shut up after something caught his eye. He smirked.

“Oh Wilbur~” He said teasingly, his voice muffled by the t-shirt over his mouth.

Wilbur scoffed, but a small smile tugged at his lips. “I can’t hear you properly, moron.” He said, tugging the t-shirt down and off Tommy’s face. “Now speak.”

Tommy glanced at Wilbur’s hair again, before making eye contact. 

“Your roots are showing.”

The reaction was instantaneous. Wilbur froze up, standing a lot straighter than he had been beforehand. He was no longer leaning on the wall, and his eyes seemed to be on high alert. 

“What?” He croaked, staring down at the blonde in front of him.

Tommy smirked. “Yeah, big man. All of that pink shit is showing.” He said, muffling a chuckle. Wilbur’s eyes shot up, now glancing all around the ravine, seemingly looking for something. Eventually his eyes landed on something in the distance, and he finally moved.

“Goddamnit.” He grumbled, before running further into the ravine of Pogtopia, just beyond a wall and out of sight, leaving a snickering Tommy behind. Tommy took a step forward, poking his head around the wall. He tried not to burst out laughing at the sight of his brother looking through every crack and crevice of the ravine like his life depended on it. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

”DAAADD! WHERE’S THE THING?!” Wilbur’s voice echoed through the house as he ran around, searching every crack and crevice frantically. He groaned as he emptied out yet another drawer, clearly not finding what he was looking for. He took a deep breath. “DAAAAAAD!!!!!”

Tommy covered his ears, rolling his eyes in annoyance. Honestly, does Wilbur ever shut up? “Wil-” He started, just as Wilbur took a deep breath, preparing to yell again.

Just then, Phil appeared at the top of the staircase. “Jesus mate, what is it?” He asked, looking over the railings to face Wilbur. Wilbur huffed, walking over to the stairs, making sure his footsteps were as loud and annoying as possible. He walked up the stairs, whispered something in Phil’s ear, and pulled Phil away into the land of the upstairs.

Tommy huffed, finally taking his hands away from his ears and turning the TV volume down again. Finally, peace and cartoons. And a hand in his hair. Wait, what?

Tommy whipped his head around, finding the source of the contact to be Techno. He dropped his shoulders, tilting his head at his brother. “Hi, Techno.” He said simply.

Techno gave a grunt in response, before ruffling the blonde’s hair and then taking a seat on the couch, next to Tommy. Tommy glanced at him and then at where Wilbur and Phil just disappeared. “Say…” He started, turning back to Techno. “D’you know what that was about?”

Techno shrugged. “Haven’t a clue.” He replied, glancing in the same direction as Tommy did before. Tommy hummed, scratching his head. “He’s been doing it since the argument, hasn’t he?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at Techno.

Techno chuckled. “The one where you insulted his hair?” He said, tilting his head at his younger brother. Tommy laughed. “Well I wasn’t wrong, was I? It looks shitty.” He replied, looking at Techno, who had a challenging eyebrow raised at him.

Oh.

Tommy quickly stopped laughing, rolling his eyes in realisation. 

“Okay, well, your hair is different. It’s long and it’s braided and it’s cool and it’s poggers–” He cut himself off, looking in the direction of the stairs once again. “--And Wil’s is dumb and short and curly and very not poggers.” He finished, nodding at himself proudly.

Techno chuckled, standing up and ruffling the blonde’s hair again. “Thanks, Toms.” He said. Tommy smiled, leaning into the touch.

Tommy got knocked out of his memory by a pain in his head, his face scrunching up in pain. He spun around to see what hit him, only to come face to face with present Technoblade, standing tall in his bourgeoisie glory.

Tommy opened his mouth to yell at his brother for hitting him, but was quickly cut off.

"Chill." Techno deadpanned, placing a hand on top of Tommy's head and pushing him down lightly. Tommy pouted, but didn't resist further. 

Techno sighed. "So, any idea why our dear brother is runnin' around this ravine like a madman, frantically searching through everything? Including our stuff?" He said, gesturing behind him to where Wilbur was, as described, running around the ravine like a madman.

Wait.

"Wait. Did you say our stuff?!" Tommy yelled. Was Wilbur touching his shit?

Techno huffed. "Yeah, he's been diggin' through everythin'. I just said that." He deadpanned. Tommy scoffed. "Well he better not fuckin' mess my shit up." He said, crossing his arms in annoyance. 

"Anyway," Techno continued. "Any idea?"

Tommy chuckled, eyes focusing back on Techno. "His roots are showing." He said simply, maintaining eye contact.

Techno snorted in amusement, glancing back over his shoulder and then back at Tommy.  "Unlucky." He said, "I don't think there's any brown hair dye in here." 

Tommy laughed out loud this time, earning a small smile from Techno. Tommy nodded in agreement after a bit of laughing. 

"Yeah. And you know what's even better?" He asked, placing a hand on his hip. Techno made an affirmative grunt, urging him to carry on. Tommy did. "We have a meeting with the remaining members of Pogtopia later." Tommy explained, looking proud of himself.

Techno gave a small chuckle at that, imagining the scenario. He slowly raised a hand and placed it on Tommy's head, ruffling his hair. "And this is why you're my favourite brother." Tommy smiled, leaning into the touch. This was gonna be fun.

This was very much not fun.

Not for Wilbur, at least. Tommy was laughing his absolute ass off in the corner.

Wilbur walked into the vault that Techno had showed them earlier that day. He had scheduled a meeting here with the rest of Pogtopia, but he was running late because he spent too long searching through the ravine.

"Evening, Will!" Niki said cheerfully, waving at him from where she was sorting through what looked like emeralds. Tubbo was sitting next to her, staring at the green gems as if they would disappear at any moment.

Wilbur looked up, meeting Niki's eyes. "Hello. Sorry I'm late." He stated simply, taking a seat on the ground on her other side, taking the spot between her and Tommy. He glanced around, noticing that no one other than them was in the room. 

“Where’s everyone else?” He asked tiredly, tilting his head. Niki moved the emeralds over to Tubbo, who’s face immediately lit up, before turning to Wilbur. “Fundy should be here soon.” She explained. “And Quackity got… held up.”

Wilbur nodded, smiling at her in thanks. Then he turned to Tommy, who was watching Tubbo count the emeralds he was given. Wilbur decided not to bother him, quickly turning back to Niki again. “And Technoblade?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Niki opened her mouth to answer, but Tommy elbowed Wilbur before she could say anything. "Why so dead inside, Wil? Or are you just tired?" He questioned, tilting his head playfully. Wilbur sighed. "You know the answer." He deadpanned, and Tommy smirked.

"Damn right I do." He said proudly. "And it's hilarious." 

Wilbur shrugged. “Have you seen Techno, Tommy?” He asked, the blonde shaking his head in return. “Last I saw him he left for his little potato farm.” Tommy explained, nodding in the direction of the farm. 

Wilbur sighed. "Yeah, okay. Can we start the meeting now?" He said, running a tired hand through his hair. Tommy snickered. "The meeting started fifteen minutes ago, dipshit." He said, leaning back.

Niki raised an eyebrow, watching the interaction. Her eyes flickered over the two boys, finally landing on Wilbur’s hair. Was that… pink?

Tubbo pulled her out of her thoughts. “Hey, Fundy!” He yelled, finally taking his eyes off the emeralds as he waved at the approaching fox hybrid. Fundy raised a hand in a small salute. “Hi, Tubbo.” He said, walking over and taking a seat beside the brunette.

Fundy looked around the room, giving a nod to the remaining occupants. “Hello, sorry I’m late.” Tommy shrugged. “Whatever, furry.” He said, waving a hand in dismissal. Ignoring Fundy’s sound of protest, he continued. “Wil here was late too, and he’s the one who called the fuckin’ meeting.”

Wilbur groaned. “Oh fuck off.” He deadpanned, scowling at Tommy. “I was– am tired.” Tommy snickered. “And who’s fault is that, huh?” He challenged, glaring at Wilbur. Wilbur placed a hand on the blonde’s head, pushing him down. “Shut up, child.”

Tommy pushed Wilbur’s hand off of him, shouting insults that were ignored. The rest of the occupants of the room were watching the interaction intently, unsure what to do. Niki frowned. “Uh… Will?” She asked carefully, catching both the boys’ attention.

Wilbur and Tommy looked up to find both Niki and Fundy staring at them, with Tubbo back to fiddling with his emeralds. Wilbur cleared his throat, letting go of Tommy’s arm that he’d been twisting. “Yes, Niki?”

Niki raised an uncertain eyebrow, but continued. “Why is some of your hair uh… pink?” She questioned.

Wilbur stared at her for a moment, frozen. Then he sighed, rubbing his temples. “I’m naturally pinkette.” He deadpanned, ignoring Tommy cackling next to him. The only sound in the room for a while was Tommy’s laughing, before Fundy managed to get a word out.

“Uh.. what?” He asked, looking at his father. Wilbur sighed again. “You heard me. My hair is naturally pink. I dye it brown, but recently I couldn’t exactly,” He gestured everywhere around him, “get any dye.” He explained, shoving a hand in Tommy’s direction.

Tommy barely dodged, his laughter subduing. “Rude.” He muttered, glaring at Wilbur.

“Why do you dye it?” Niki said, ignoring the bickering. “Like, wouldn’t that ruin your hair?”

Wilbur scoffed. “My hair being ruined is better than it being pink.” He seethed. “Plus, ruined hair is a small price to pay for looking at least a little bit less like Technoblade.” Fundy raised an eyebrow. “Technoblade?” He asked. “Ohh… Right. He has pink hair too, doesn’t he?” 

Tommy scoffed. “Well, yeah. But Techno’s is like seven times more pog, innit?” He exclaimed, crossing his arms. “Wilbur over here just looks shit with it.”

Fundy chuckled. “What’s so bad about looking like Technoblade, though? I’d think it would actually be an honour.” He asked, tilting his head at Wilbur. 

Wilbur scoffed, placing a dramatic hand on his chest. “Trust me, it’s worse than you could ever imagine. And I would know.” He explained, Tommy snickering next to him. Fundy made a noise of confusion. “You’d know? Why?” 

Wilbur shook his head. “We’re related.” He explained. “Like, biologically. Sadly.” Tommy burst out laughing. “Yeah! They’re identical ‘n all!” He yelled between breaths, clutching at his stomach. “And yet Will still manages to look worse!”

Wilbur rolled his eyes. “Whatever. At least I’m not the least favourite child and the one always being left out of pranks.” He proclaimed proudly, glaring at the laughing blonde, who promptly stopped laughing.

Tommy frowned. “I am not the least favourite! If anything I am the favourite!” He yelled. “And I’m always left out because you guys are right bitches!”

Wilbur opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off by a deeper voice interrupting him.

“I mean, the child’s got a point.” Said Techno, leaning on the side of the entrance of the vault. “Your hair doesn’t look the best when it’s pink.”

Wilbur frowned, getting up. “Oh c’mere you motherfucker.” He exclaimed, proceeding to run straight at Techno, who disappeared into the ravine. Wilbur groaned, following.

Tommy chuckled, watching them leave. “Well, that was one hell of a meetin’.” He said, turning back to the rest of the group. He stood up, stretching his arms, before walking a few steps over to where Tubbo was sitting.

“You really are mesmerised by those emeralds, aren't ya Tubbs?” He pointed out, crouching down next to his friend. “Shiny.” Tubbo responded, picking half of them up. “Are we leaving?” He said, looking up at Tommy.

Tommy shrugged. “Guess so.” He said, picking up the rest of the emeralds, much to Tubbo’s pleasure. “C’mon.” He stood up and walked out of the vault, Tubbo quickly following suit.

Niki crawled over to where Fundy was sitting, using two fingers to close the fox hybrid’s jaw, which had gone slack. She raised a concerned eyebrow when he didn’t move, but flinched back a second later.

“What the fuck?!” Fundy yelled, causing a round of laughter to come from somewhere further down the ravine.

Chapter Text

Tommy groaned as he took another step in the direction of Las Nevadas. Why was Wil calling him to the van so early anyways? It was barely even light out. Plus, couldn't he have his new pal Ranboo do shit for him?

He sighed, running a hand through his hair as his foot finally hit the familiar concrete road that led to Las Nevadas. He looked up for the first time in what felt like forever, and saw the colourful city in the distance. 

Tommy scowled. Was he really in the mood to see Quackity? He and the man aren't on bad terms, but he could be a bit overwhelming, especially since Tommy refused to join his country. And knowing him, the duck hybrid would probably be awake at this time in the morning. 

Tommy reached for his communicator and typed out a quick message before slipping it back into the pockets of his shorts.

'Sorry Wil, gonna be a bit late.'

He sighed, turning to go the long way around Las Nevadas instead of through it. And if he went in the opposite direction of the van, well, it was because that way had less sand. Sand that got in his shoes and was fuckin' annoying. It totally wasn't because he didn't want to face Wilbur. No, sir.

Tommy arrived at the van roughly ten minutes later, his eyes scanning over the area for any sign of Wilbur. He didn't spot him, so he assumed the brunette was inside the van. He walked closer to said van, finally seeing a shadow and, soon after, the familiar mop of brown hair through the little window. 

He opened his mouth to yell, but Wilbur beat him to it. 

"Tommy!" Wilbur yelled, running out of the van, hopping down the small metal steps. Tommy tensed. Wilbur didn't sound happy. "Where were you?! You were supposed to be here ages ago!” Ages ago? “You had me worried sick!" Wilbur rambled, lowering his voice at the last part as he approached Tommy.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "I'm only ten minutes late, Wil. Plus, I sent you a text saying I'll be late!" He scoffed, turning to stomp past the taller man. Wilbur’s an idiot if he thinks Tommy is going to listen to his shit this early in the morning.

Then he felt a hand pull at his wrist. He resisted the urge to flinch. "You didn't answer my question, Tommy." Wilbur said, less frantic. But Tommy still didn't like his tone. It wasn’t angry, but it was sort of unsettling. Unfamiliar.

When Tommy didn’t respond, Wilbur elaborated. “Where were you, Tommy? Why were you late?” He questioned. Tommy scowled at him, twisting his arm out of Wilbur’s grip. “None of your business, dickhead. Your fault for making me come here so fuckin’ early.” Tommy turned on his heel, ready to walk away and get onto his duties or whatever.

Wilbur sighed. “So you don’t trust me now?” He said, eyebrow raised. Tommy froze, glancing back. That’s not what he said. “That’s not what I said.” He repeated out loud, frowning. Wilbur took a step forward, leaning in and being too close to Tommy for comfort. “Tell me where you were.” He said, this time more stern and way more confident.

Tommy gulped. He knew this voice. This was Wilbur’s ‘tell me what I want to know or else’ voice. And he knew that voice all too well. This was a tone he was unfortunately familiar with. Avoiding his brother’s gaze, he took a quick step back. He pondered in silence for a moment, before flipping Wilbur off. “No.” He said. If Wilbur thinks he can scare Tommy into admitting he didn’t want to see him, he’s got another thing coming. Wilbur sighed, shaking his head. “I’m just worried about you, Tommy.” 

Tommy tensed again, only just about resisting the urge to scoff. Worried? About him? Yeah, right. Says the man that is currently doing nothing but kissing Dream’s shoes.

“I am not kissing Dream’s shoes, Tommy.” Wilbur said, pulling Tommy out of his thoughts. Had he said that out loud?

“You totally are.” Tommy deadpanned, still not meeting the brunette’s eyes. “It’s always Dream this, Dream that. It’s horrible, Wilbur.”

Tommy would be lying if he said that talking back to Wilbur like this wasn’t slightly scary. The thought of Wilbur being angry at him terrifies him, and yet he continues to aggravate the man. Then again, said man idolises Dream, and that’s not a thing that Tommy is particularly fond of. So he’ll argue.

“Dream is our saviour.” Wilbur hissed, sounding possibly more hostile than Tommy was expecting. The blonde scoffed. “He’s nothing but a little bitch.” He sneered, and turned to leave for a final time. 

But before he even took a step, he was suddenly frozen in place by the sound of Wilbur’s cold voice piercing through the air.  (TW WARNING HERE!)

“What did Dream even do to you to make you hate him so much?” 

Tommy’s ears were ringing. He couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t he breathe?

Suddenly, the van was gone. Where did it go? In its place was a small wooden shack, or the remains of one.

And a horribly familiar pillar was standing directly in the middle.

What was he doing here? Why was he here? Why– when did he get here? 

Tommy pulled at his hair, eyes stuck to the pillar. He tried to move his legs, but they wouldn’t budge. Before he knew it, he was on the ground. He still couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t he breathe?

Someone was touching him. Touching his arms, touching his wrists. He pulled away, pushing himself away from the contact. What was touching him? He’s exiled. He should be alone. No one cares about him, no one should be anywhere near him. No one– 

–except Dream.

The ringing in his ears got louder, and his head snapped up. His vision was blurry, he couldn’t see. When had he started crying? His eyes bounced around, but he still couldn’t see. Nothing was making sense. Where was he now? He should be in exile. He shouldn't– Where’s Dream?

He tried to take a breath, failing. He covered his face with his hands, only to have them pulled away again.

“Please!” He decided to yell, his voice completely strained. He heard something, but his ears were ringing way too loud to hear anything but. 

“Please don’t hurt me. Don’t hit me. I’ll be good, I swear!” He sobbed, trying to push away from the contact again.

The contact stopped briefly, and Tommy immediately recoiled again. But before he could do anything, it was pulling him again. Tommy cried.

“Please–” He begged again. “Please, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I don’t know what I did but it–” His voice cracked as he sobbed. “It was probably my fault! I’m sorry, Dream!”

And the contact was gone again. 

Tommy recoiled, pushing as far back as possible and curling in on himself. His eyes were tightly shut. He didn’t dare open them.

He released a few more sobs, hiccups interrupting them. Eventually, some of the ringing subsided. He still couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t he breathe?

“--mmy!” He heard, and tensed, squeezing his eyes shut harder.

“-ommy!” He heard again. That was Dream. Dream was calling for him. He should go to him. He should–

“Tommy! Tommy?!” The voice? Was yelling. But it didn’t sound like Dream. That was wrong. No one else would come visit him. No one else cared. He held his knees close to his chest.

“Breathe, Tommy.”

He couldn’t.

“Tommy, please, look at me.”

He didn’t want to. He didn’t want to open his eyes. He couldn’t breathe–

“Tommy, I promise it’s okay.”

No it isn’t, Tommy sobbed. He gasped for air. He should look up. He shouldn’t ignore Dream.

Hesitantly, Tommy raised his head. 

“That’s it, Tommy. Open your eyes?”

He didn’t want to. He couldn’t see anyway.

“Tommy?”

Tommy opened his eyes slowly, the blurred world coming into his vision again. But it wasn’t the exile place anymore. It was… brown hair? Wilbur?

“Wilbur?” he repeated out loud. His voice sounded gravelly. 

“Yes! Tommy, are you with me?” Wilbur asked.

Tommy just stared. He made a noise, a disgruntled sob. He still couldn’t breathe.

Wilbur came closer. 

“Can’t ‘reathe-” Tommy choked out, tightening his grip on his knees.

“That’s okay, Tommy. Try to copy my breathing, okay?”

And Tommy did. He tried. He listened for Wilbur’s breathing. The ringing in his ears was slowly subsiding more and more. He inhaled, and exhaled. He was breathing.

Wilbur smiled. “That’s amazing, Tommy. Keep going.”

Tommy did. In and out. He was breathing.

When his breathing finally evened out, (TW WARNING ENDS HERE!)  he looked up at Wilbur. His eyes were less blurry now. Where were they? Where’s Dream?

“Wil?” He croaked. Wilbur smiled at him. “Yeah, it’s me. Dream’s not here.”

Tommy tensed at the name, before relaxing again. “Dream’s not here.” He repeated, a sob almost escaping his throat. He saw Wilbur nod. “And won’t be here any time soon, if I can help it.” Wilbur hissed, looking away. 

Tommy’s head shot up. He examined his brother for a second, before throwing himself at the taller man, his face buried in his sweater. His arms tightened around the man’s waist, holding on for dear life.

Wilbur let out a small ‘oof’ before slowly wrapping his own arms around Tommy’s shoulders. “He won’t hurt you. Not anymore.” He said, placing his chin on Tommy’s hair.

Tommy inhaled sharply. “Promise?” He muttered, his voice muffled by the sweater. Wilbur huffed. “I promise, Toms.”

Tommy only hugged him tighter, his sobs littering Wilbur’s sweater.

Wilbur, to put it shortly, was fucking pissed. The man he had idolised, the man he had seen as his saviour and his god, had hurt his little brother. He had hurt Tommy, and not once had he told Wilbur this.

When Wilbur first heard from Quackity that Tommy had been exiled a second time while he was dead, he didn’t think much of it. It was just another exile, and surely it wasn’t that bad. L’manberg was gone anyways, and it looked like it had been destroyed a long time ago. Quackity had told him he knows nothing, and that exile was horrible for Tommy.

At the time, Wilbur didn’t believe him.

But, seeing his little brother have a full blown panic attack, and begging for Dream not to hurt him, opened his eyes more than he has the confidence to ever admit.

Dream had abused Tommy, plain and simple. Probably more than once. And as thankful as Wilbur was to the man for reviving him, this was crossing the fucking line.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as he approached the huge black box. It was time to pay his dear saviour a visit.

He sighed, and stepped forward. 

“Hi, Sam.”

Wilbur hopped off his bed at the knock on the door. “Coming!” He yelled, running out of his room. He slid across the hallway, running down the stairs as he headed for the door. When he got to the bottom, he froze at the scene.

“Techno?” Wilbur questioned, examining his twin in front of him. Techno was crouching in front of the open front door, facing the outside. He seemed to be whispering something Wilbur couldn’t quite hear.

At the lack of response to his call, Wilbur walked forward and stood at his twin's side, looking down.

There, hanging onto Techno for what seemed like dear life, was Tommy. 

“Tommy?!” Wilbur exclaimed, immediately falling to the floor to be face first with his little brother. “What happened?”

Tommy leaned away from Techno, and Wilbur noticed the boy’s face was covered in tears. Techno was still holding his hands, rubbing small circles around the back of Tommy’s hands with his thumbs soothingly.

“T-the kids t-took Henry!” Tommy sobbed, launching himself at Wilbur instead as the brunette frowned. Wilbur was sent stumbling backwards slightly, but hugged his brother back nonetheless. “What kids?” He asked softly, running a hand through Tommy’s hair gently. 

Tommy only sobbed harder into his sweater. Wilbur sighed. He planted a kiss on the boy’s head and looked up at his twin, who was already standing, anger evident on his face. He raised an eyebrow at Techno, who seemed to understand the silent question and shrugged.

“Seems like some random older kids took Henry from him. No idea who the kids are or where they went, he won’t tell me.” Techno explained, so calmly that if Wilbur hadn’t been with him since the womb then he’d have guessed Techno didn’t care.

But he had, and Techno definitely cared. 

Wilbur shook his head, continuing to run his hands through Tommy’s hair softly as the boy sobbed quietly into his sweater. “Tommy?” He asked gently, looking down at the blonde. Tommy made a noise to show he was listening. Wilbur pulled away slightly. “Can you tell us who the kids are?”

Tommy shook his head frantically. “No! I don’t want them to get in trouble!” He sobbed, clutching at Wilbur’s sweater. Both the twins’ hearts clenched at that. Tommy was way too kind.

Techno sighed and crouched back down. “Hey, bud.” He said, causing Tommy to turn and look at him, eyes still full of tears. “They won’t be in trouble, we’ll just ask them to give Henry back, alright?” He said, giving the smallest smile to the kid.

Wilbur knew that was a lie. The second Techno figured out who the kids were, it would be over for them. And Wilbur might just join him. But Tommy won’t let them do that, so the truth needs to be twisted a bit.

“Yeah,” Wilbur said. “We just want to go and find them so Henry can come back to you.” He smiled as Tommy sniffled.

“Promise?” Tommy asked, reaching a small pinky finger towards each twin. They both matched him with theirs. “We promise, bud.” Techno said.

Tommy smiled, cuddling further into Wilbur’s sweater.

Wilbur stood on the small stone platform, staring at the wall of lava in front of him. Behind this wall was the person he was here to see. Just one final step. He dropped his shoulders and turned to Sam. “How much longer?” He asked, tapping his foot slightly impatiently.

“The lava is slow.” The warden explained. Wilbur scoffed. Well no shit. “Just a minute or two more.”

Wilbur went to turn back to the lava, but his head spun back when Sam spoke again. “If you try any funny business then you’ll face the consequences. Understood, Wilbur Soot?” The warden warned, and Wilbur rolled his eyes. “Yes, mother.” He mocked. The only ‘funny business’ that will be going on is Wilbur laughing while Dream hopefully suffers.

“I’m serious, Wilbur. You know what happened to Tommy in there.” Sam frowned under his mask.

Wilbur scowled. “Unfortunately.” He sighed. “Fine, I’ll be careful.”

Sam nodded. “Thank you.”

Just as he said that, the lava dropped below Wilbur’s eyes, allowing the now pinkette to see the now un-masked man in his cell. He smiled.

As the platform reached its destination, Wilbur wondered what he should do to Dream. Sam made it clear that he couldn’t kill him, and he didn’t let him bring any weapons. But Wilbur’s never been good with weapons anyways.

He stepped off the platform and onto the hard obsidian, looking straight at the prisoner in front of him. The two stood there in silence as the lava dropped back into its place behind Wilbur. As soon as the warden was out of sight and the netherite blocks dropped, Dream’s eyes lit up with what looked like hope.

“Techno, you actually came!” Dream exclaimed, a hint of worry in his tone. “But why’d you come in normally?”

Wilbur only stayed silent. You see, after the whole showdown with Tommy in front of his van, he decided to find out everything he could about what happened to his brother while he was gone. And naturally, his twin was his first stop.

Techno told him about what he knew, but more importantly told him about the plans he has about breaking Dream out. Wilbur scoffed and exclaimed that there’ll be no need to break him out, surprising his twin. But one look at his face and Techno knew exactly what his twin wanted to do. Wilbur left Techno’s cabin with pink hair and some very, very interesting knowledge.

And if he also did a little threatening so Techno would let Tommy into his house without kicking him out, well, no one needed to know.

Dream’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Um, Techno? Are you going to tell me how we’re breaking out?” Dream asked, clearly confused but also losing his patience. Wilbur scoffed.

“Techno?”

“Nah.” Wilbur said simply, shrugging. Dream still looked confused, so Wilbur figured he would need to push a bit harder. He cleared his throat, putting his acting skills to good use.

“You see Dream,” he began in the most Techno voice he could muster. “A little birdie told me that you did some… not some very nice things.”

Dream laughed, but there was a slight hint of fear in his voice. “What are you talking about? That’s the entire reason I’m in here.” Dream said, and then stepped forward as his chuckling became slightly more dangerous.

“I hope you haven’t forgotten about our favour.” He said slowly.

Wilbur stared at the man for a second before raising an eyebrow. “What favour?” He asked innocently, making the green-eyed man step back again in confusion and anger.

“Stop playing, Techno. You owe me a favour. And I’m calling it in. Now let’s get out of here.” Dream hissed, now impatiently tapping his foot on the hard obsidian floor of the cell.

“Okay.” Wilbur said, and Dream’s eyes regained some of their earlier hope. “But first, can I ask a question?” He asked, and Dream shrugged.

“Whatever, but I might choose not to answer it. You owe me, not the other way around.”

Wilbur nodded. Time to find out the entire truth. He knew, of course, that everything that happened to his brother in exile was true and horrible, and he knew that Dream did it. And yet, a small, traitorous part of him was still choosing to deny the green-eyed man of any such feats. He hoped that hearing it straight from Dream’s mouth would settle it once and for all.

“Well,” he began. “What did you do to Tommy during his exile?”

Dream perked up at the sound of Tommy’s name, looking at Wilbur with wide eyes. “Exile? Why– wait.” He said, and Wilbur tensed for just a second before Dream spoke again. “Since when do you care about Tommy?”

Wilbur frowned. Techno cares for Tommy just as much as him, even if he shows it much less. Dream is a fool to think he doesn’t. But oh well.

“I don’t.” Wilbur replied simply. “Was just curious, since he’s technically my brother and all.”

He was sure Techno wouldn’t mind Wilbur telling his biggest weak point to a soon-to-be dead man. Plus, the extra shock factor is worth it.

Dream stared at him like he’d just grown another head. “Tommy’s your… brother?” He questioned, unsure.

Wilbur shrugged. “Yeah. Biological ‘n all.”

Dream gaped at him, and he started laughing. “So you don’t care about your brother?! Technoblade you’re worse than me, holy shit!” He cackled, leaning back. Wilbur rolled his eyes. This is why this man needs to die. But.

In truth, Wilbur doesn’t really want to kill Dream as a whole. He’s still the person who revived him, and it ever so slightly terrifies him that he can never do it again if he’s dead. However, every time the man opens his mouth it makes Wilbur want to drive a sword through his heart. 

“Are you done?” Wilbur asked impatiently, watching the cackling man struggle for breath. The man in question leaned on the wall before calming down.

“Yeah, whatever. About your question, I just manipulated him a bit and punished him when he was being disobedient.” Dream explained simply.

Wilbur felt his fist clenched. “Disobedient?” He asked, struggling to keep his Techno facade up. Dream nodded, not noticing.

“Yes. When he wouldn’t listen or do what I told him to. He would hide his items from me, and not listen to me when I told him to drop his things in the hole.” Dream rambled, clearly not noticing the rising anger in the other man in the cell.

“So you hit him?” Wilbur asked slowly. Dream raised an eyebrow but nodded. “Not just that, of course.” He said. “I’m sure you of all people would understand the beauty of different types of violence and blood spillage, Technoblade. Your brother was an excellent way for me to test new fighting techniques.”

Oh and if that wasn’t the icing on the fucking cake.

Wilbur strode forward, throwing Dream at the back wall of the cell, the prisoner falling to the ground with a thud.

Dream gasped, coughing some blood drops as he fell. “What the fuck, Technoblade?!” He exclaimed, coughing again. Wilbur said nothing, only moving closer to Dream.

Dream looked panicked, but suddenly something sparked in his eyes. “What about that favour?! I’m calling it in! You can’t hurt me!”

Dream knew what he was doing. Techno can’t deny a favour, for practically anything. Dream would just call in the favour, and he’d get out of the prison. But Wilbur had other plans.

Wilbur still said nothing, looking down at Dream with a death glare that could literally kill. Dream gulped, but his tone remained confident. “Where’s all that honour of yours gone?! You can’t just go back on this favour now, Technoblade! It doesn’t matter if you suddenly started caring about Tommy!”

Wilbur only stared.

“If you have any dignity left in you, you will listen to me.” Dream finally warned.

Wilbur smiled.

“I’ll be sure to tell him that when I get home.” Wilbur said, in his own voice, raising his fist.

“Wilbur?!” Was the last thing Dream managed to get out before his world went black.

On the other side of the SMP, a blonde teenager slept soundly in a cabin.

And if a stasis chapter was activated and a new death message appeared in chat as he slept, well, he definitely didn’t notice.

Chapter Text

Wilbur Soot was never a great physical fighter. Sure, he knew the basics— the essentials you needed to survive in this hell of a world. And yet, for a man who’s fought in his fair share of wars, he always preferred to fight with his words— his *opinions.* He never cared for physical violence; never bothering to keep any sort of fighting condition after the wars ended. Nowadays, he could barely even hold a sword properly.

Technoblade, Wilbur’s identical twin, on the other hand, has always had a knack for fighting. Anything violent was always suited to his liking— no matter how big or how small. He’d train himself in combat since he was but a child— even if it meant pushing himself way past his limits. Much to Wilbur’s dismay, he was always the one stuck with taking care of his twin’s injuries.

Safe to say, when their father offered to teach them how to use a bow— among other weapons, later down the line— only one twin was happy about the news.

And naturally, it was not Wilbur.

”Phiiilllllll,” drawled Techno, treading behind his father as he made his daily rounds. “Please? Just one?”

Phil sighed, placing down the basket he’d been carrying. “You’re already injuring yourself as it is, Techno,” he said, looking at his son. “How do you expect me to give you an actual weapon? Plus, you’re only nine— you have loads of time to learn. No need to rush.”

Techno scoffed. “That’s why I want you to teach me!” He exclaimed. “So that I don’t injure myself with any weapons. Real or fake. And you started learning at a younger age than me!”

“Techno-” Phil began, but his words got caught in his throat. He couldn’t exactly argue with that. He’d need to teach the twins some type of weapon combat at some point— and Techno was right, if the kid was trained, he would hurt himself less.

And he also got him with the age comment. Phil didn’t learn combat under normal conditions, but he was still younger than Techno.

Staring into Techno’s eyes, that were filled with nothing but stubborn determination, he sighed once more.

“Fine,” he said, watching Techno perk up. “But only one weapon. One. Then we’re done.”

Techno nodded frantically, a grin spread across his face.

Phil picked his basket back up, going back to walking as Techno joined him at his side.

“What weapon do you want to learn to use first?” Phil asked, and Techno spared no time before eagerly responding.

“A bow,” he said, looking up at his father. “I already practice with swords and stuff on my own, but I can’t figure out the bow.”

His expression dropped slightly at the last part, and Phil only gave a small chuckle before ruffling the brunette boy’s hair.

“I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it quick enough,” he reassured, as the smile tugged at the kid’s lips once more. “But first, go let your brother know what we’re doing. He might want to learn too, you know.”

Techno scoffed.

“Wil isn’t any fun, though,” he said, “all he does is sit around all day and read or play that stupid guitar of his.”

“Don’t make fun of your brother,” Phil scolded, and Techno quietened. “You have your interests, and he has his. Just because he likes something you don’t and vice versa doesn’t make him any less of a person; any less of your brother.”

Techno looked down at his shoes. 

“Yeah,” he croaked, “sorry. But are you sure Wilbur would want to learn to use an actual weapon? He’s not one for violence at all.”

“You never know,” Phil said, a gentle smile on his face. “Hop along and tell him anyway, mate. If he says no then he says no.”

Techno nodded, turning and walking towards their house, leaving Phil alone on the field.

“Prime, these kids,” he whispered into the wind, the smile never leaving his face.

“Wilbur!” Techno yelled into the house, his voice echoing throughout the empty main room. He opened his mouth to yell again, but was quickly cut off by Wilbur running down the stairs.

“Shhh!” Wilbur shushed, running up to Techno and placing a finger on his lips. “Tommy’s just fallen asleep,” he whispered, “and I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like putting him to sleep again.”

Techno nodded, and Wilbur lowered his hand before sighing. 

“What do you need, Techno?”

“Dad is asking if you want to learn to use a bow with me,” Techno explained bluntly, “he’s finally going to teach me, and wants to know if you’d like to learn too.”

Wilbur blinked at his twin before making a funny face.

“Nah,” he groaned, “I don’t care for weapons. My words are enough for me, I think.”

Of course.

Techno snickered. He couldn’t wait to tell Phil the biggest I told you so.

“What if you got mugged,” Techno said, smirking at his brother, who only shrugged.

“I have a knife.”

“That’s a weapon.”

“Last resort.”

Techno rolled his eyes. 

“Whatever,” he said, turning to leave the house. “You go back to your writing and your music; but the offer still stands, if you change your mind.”

With that and a smile, Techno left the house, running back up to Phil.

“I told you so!” He yelled, giving the older man a fright as he snickered.

“Prime, mate,” Phil breathed, turning to face his oldest. “Don’t scare me like that.”

Techno rolled his eyes fondly. 

“I know, I know. You’re too old and fragile,” he stated, before quickly moving on. “Anyway, I was right. Wil isn’t the slightest bit interested.”

Phil sighed, shaking his head. Wilbur would have to give up the pacifist act one day— as much as he loved his son’s passion for peace and wars fought with words— it just wasn’t what the world was really like. 

The boy needed to learn, but he had time.

He’d come around eventually.

“Alright, let’s get you a bow, then.”

Wilbur sat on his bed, the air filled with the soft hum of his guitar strings. It was quiet, other than that, and had been for a couple of years now. Ever since his father started teaching his twin how to manage different weapons, they’ve been in the house less and less.

Sure, they were always just outside the building. But just far enough that they were out of earshot if you closed the windows.

And Wilbur— Wilbur liked it.

He enjoyed silence. He enjoyed the soft tunes that he could paint on the blank canvas that it is.

The silence was interrupted, however, by the sound of faint footsteps outside the door of Wilbur’s room. Curious, Wilbur walked over to the door, opening it to reveal his younger brother passing by, clutching a fake, cardboard sword.

“Tommy,” he said, catching the blonde child’s attention. Bright blue eyes stared at him as he smiled. “Where are you heading?”

Tommy flashed a toothy grin, even if his front teeth were missing.

“Watching Techie train with Dad,” he explained, waving the sword around. “You coming too?”

Wilbur’s expression dropped slightly, but he smiled at Tommy nonetheless. “No, I’m okay,” he said softly, shaking his head. “You have fun, though, alright?”

Tommy’s grin only grew wider if possible, and he nodded. 

“Yeah! And Wilby will train with Techy and me and Dad one day!” Were the last words yelled by the kid as he ran off, presumably to the rest of the family.

Wilbur let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“Sure, Tommy. One day,” he whispered into the once again silent room.

“-REAM- YOU KNOW– YEAH, YOU KNOW WHAT?!” Tommy exclaimed, shoving out of Wilbur’s grip as he yelled at the masked man.

“Tommy,” Wilbur said firmly, holding Tommy tighter as he tried to fight his way out of his grip.

He was ignored.

“WHY DON’T WE FIGHT RIGHT NOW?!” Tommy yelled, and Wilbur’s heartrate skyrocketed. Tommy couldn’t beat Dream in a one-on-one.

“Tommy!” He tried, but it was no use, his brother was always too stubborn for his own good.

“WHY DON’T WE FIGHT RIGHT NOW?!” Tommy repeated again, and Wilbur was really on edge, now.

“Tommy, calm.”

“JUST ONE VERSUS ONE! WHY DON’T WE HAVE A LITTLE BOW DUEL–” 

“NO, TOMMY!” Wilbur yelled, interrupting the blonde.

Tommy finally spun around to look at him, eyes full of anger, with remnants of betrayal and hurt.

“What do you mean, no?!” He exclaimed, “This is the only way, Wil! Look around!”

Wilbur gulped. This might just be the dumbest thing he’ll ever do.

Tommy was still yelling when Wilbur spoke.

“I’ll do it,” he said, his tone leaving absolutely no room for arguments.

Tommy, naturally, argued anyway.

“What,” Tommy stated simply, but his voice was still at the high volume it had been. He stared at Wilbur with the biggest deadpan face before speaking again. “No, no you will not do it.”

Wilbur fixed him with a stare, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He quickly went back to his neutral expression.

“Well, someone has to,” he said, not taking his eyes off Tommy, who in turn was looking at him like he was an absolute madman.

Which, Wilbur couldn’t blame him— he couldn’t shoot a bow for the life of him— and Tommy knew that. In Tommy’s eyes, it probably looked like a suicide mission.

“Yeah!” Tommy yelled, jabbing a finger at his chest and interrupting his thoughts. “And it’s not going to be you!"

“And why not?” Wilbur asked calmly, and Tommy gaped.

Tommy couldn’t out Wilbur for not being able to use a bow— not in a war like this. It would be too much of a giveaway; too much power over them for the enemy.

So, Tommy did something he’s rarely ever done in his life before; he shut up.

He gulped and nodded instead, turning back to the rest of L’manberg, who all looked ready to protest.

“We have to trust our leader,” Tommy said, uncharacteristically quiet. “He knows what he’s doing.”

At least Tommy hoped so.

Wilbur, on the other hand, turned to Dream.

“A duel. Me versus you, you choose the place, and I choose the time. If I win, L’manberg gets freedom. If you win, it doesn’t. Do we have a deal?”

Choosing to ignore the gaping onlookers, he slowly extended a hand towards Dream.

Dream frowned, looking back and forth between him and Tommy before his gaze finally settled on Wilbur.

“The prime path,” he said, linking his hand with Wilbur’s, who smiled.

“The prime path in two days, at dawn,” Wilbur stated, shaking Dream’s hand.

Dream smiled, or at least made a facial movement akin to a smile. Wilbur couldn’t really tell because of the mask.

“I’ll see you there,” Dream said, spinning on his heel. “And maybe advise your second in command to hold his tongue.”

With that, Dream left the scene, his allies following him soon after, none of them saying a word.

Wilbur exhaled, turning back to face his own allies. However, he was being dragged away before he could even do so much as blink.

“Where are you dragging me, Tommy?” He said, a cocky smile forming on his face. He knew exactly what this conversation was going to be about.

“What. Were. You. Thinking,” Tommy said bluntly, not even bothering to turn around as he continued pulling Wilbur away.

“What were you thinking,” Wilbur replied, “you couldn’t beat Dream in a bow duel.”

That’s what made Tommy stop. He spun around, looking at Wilbur as if he'd grown another head.

“Neither could you!” He yelled, throwing his arms up in exasperation. When Wilbur didn’t reply, he continued. “In fact, I think I’m actually *more likely* to win than you!”

“Sure,” Wilbur said. “But are you more likely to win than Techno?”

“Of course I am–!” Tommy began, before abruptly cutting himself off. “Hold on, what?”

Wilbur said nothing, letting Tommy process the information; and sure enough, the younger boy’s eyes lit up with realisation.

And then happiness, followed by confusion once again.

“I think I get it,” Tommy said, looking up at his brother. “One thing, though. How are you so sure that Techno would even come if we asked? He made it painfully obvious that he wanted nothing to do with this area when we left all those months ago.”

Wilbur thought about it for a bare moment before shrugging.

“Guess I just know my twin,” he offered, but when Tommy’s disbelieving expression didn’t fade, he sighed.

“Look, Techno would never admit it, but I think we both know that he’d come running the second he heard that we were even near any kind of danger,” he insisted.

Tommy raised an eyebrow. “Who’s we?”

Wilbur raised a challenging one back. “Are you implying that you think he wouldn’t?”

Tommy pouted. Would he?

Tommy held onto the jean-like material for what seemed like dear life, tears flowing from his eyes as he hid behind his older brother’s legs.

“--now scram!” Techno’s voice boomed, and Tommy heard footsteps running. He didn’t dare open his eyes. He held on even tighter.

Suddenly, he lost his grip and almost cried out, before feeling something soft cupping his cheek.

“You’re okay,” Techno whispered, softly, smoothly. Tommy pried one eye open, his brother’s hand wiping the tears from under it.

He looked at Techno’s face and opened his other eye. Techno smiled in return.

“There you are,” he said, and Tommy blinked. 

“Techie?” He whispered, and Techno nodded. “Yeah, I’m here. Sorry I didn’t come sooner.”

Tommy only shook his head frantically, tears building up in his eyes again as he threw himself at his older brother. 

Techno froze up before quickly hugging back, his face buried in Tommy’s golden-like hair.

“No one will ever hurt you again, I promise.”

Tommy smiled. He would.

“Yeah.” He said. “Yeah, he would.”

Wilbur smiled in return, patting Tommy on the shoulder. 

“See, there we go. Now let’s contact our dear brother, shall we?”

Techno’s eyes scanned over the ink on the parchment in his hands once again.

“Seriously, Wil? A duel?” He muttered to no one in particular, before sliding his chair away from his desk and heading for the door.

He had a duel to win.

It was almost dawn, and everyone (even some people who weren’t even involved, Tommy noted) had gathered around the prime path.

On it stood Dream, who had started tapping his foot impatiently at some point in the past few minutes, and Tommy, who’d simply been inspecting the bow he was holding in his brother’s place.

“Well?” Dream said eventually, looking at Tommy with a glare that almost sent chills down his spine. “Where’s your so-called brother, Tommy? Did he chicken out last second? What a leader he is!”

Ignoring the mocking laugh that came from Dream’s comrades, Tommy smiled.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be soon,” he said, before adding, “be patient, green bitch.”

As if on cue, a figure appeared behind Tommy, making the blonde teen spin on his heel.

“See, told ‘ya!”

Looking Techno up and down, Tommy noted that this was actually Wilbur’s uniform, and not just an extra L’manberg one, which was surprising since Wilbur was very protective of the uniform.

(He denied every claim that it was because Tommy had sewed it, especially for him.)

Stifling a laugh, Tommy stepped out of the way, handing his brother the bow and letting him finally go face-to-face with Dream.

“Aren’t you running a little late there, oh-so-great leader of L’manberg?” Dream teased. “Had us worried you weren’t going to show up for a moment there!”

Techno, in full Techno style, only shrugged. “Don’t talk big ‘til you’ve actually won the duel,” he stated, and Tommy failed to hide his laugh this time.

Dream glared at both of them one after the other before scoffing.

“Whatever, let’s just start this stupid duel.”

Everyone’s eyes were suddenly on Tommy, and he frowned in confusion before coughing. “Right, um, one!”

“Two!”

Techno checked his bow over, looking from the top to the bottom of the thin string.

“Three!”

Dream loaded his bow, the arrow gliding neatly into the bow as he took another step.

“Four!”

Tommy’s face went red as his voice cracked. He moved on before anyone pointed it out.

“Five!”

Techno slid the arrow into his bow. No turning back now, he supposed. Honestly, the things he does for people.

“...Ten paces fire!”

Techno blew himself out of his thoughts by spinning around with practised ease, shooting his arrow– which flew in what felt like slow motion– before hitting its target.

Perfectly.

Dream, who to his credit, was only maybe half a second too slow, crumbled to the ground, clutching his torso with a newly bloody hand.

The L’manberg side burst into cheers, and before Dream’s allies could try anything, Techno walked over to the other side of the wooden path, placing a boot clean on Dream’s chest.

“That’s the second duel you’ve lost to me, nerd,” Techno stated, his voice no longer holding a forced accent.

Dream’s face lit up in what looked like some type of recognition, but his efforts in voicing his feelings were worthless as he collapsed completely, and a ping of communicators was heard throughout the crowd.

Techno barely gets a chance to set his foot down before he’s hugged from behind, Tommy’s laughter being the only noise aside from some shaky inhales.

“I missed you,” Tommy whispered into the warmth of Techno’s back, before spinning him around and raising his own arm along with Techno’s.

“And the winner of the duel is Wilbur Soot!” He announced proudly, and after a brief moment, the L’manberg side once again burst into cheers.

Only to be interrupted by Wilbur Soot himself (the real one, Tommy notes) shoving through the entire crowd and coming face-to-face with his brothers.

He smiled, and Tommy only beamed back. Techno lifted his eyebrows at him before also giving a small smile.

“Well,” Wilbur said, placing a hand on Techno’s shoulder. “Congratulations on winning the duel, Wilbur.”

Techno grinned, something rare and mischievous— and Tommy— Tommy almost laughed, because when was the last time he’d seen that?

“Thank you oh so very much, Wilbur,” he replied, only adding to the confusion of their current audience.

Tommy chose that moment to scoff.

"Alright, yeah yeah, well done, Technoblade, you've done it again," he announced, clapping his hands, turning to fully face his oldest brother.

“Will you be staying, now?” He began, before adding: “You know since you’re already here and all.”

Techno didn’t reply, only staring at the teen, who grew more embarrassed by the second.

“Not that we need you here, or anything! We were fine without you! Actually, you can just–” Tommy yelled, but got interrupted by being pulled into what he could only describe as a bone-crushing hug.

“Sure,” Techno mumbled into the younger’s hair. “I might as well.”

Wilbur had joined the hug before either of them knew it, and now all three were hugging in the middle of the prime path where Dream had just died.

“Love ‘ya too, by the way,” Techno whispered, before pulling out of the hug and dramatically walking in the other direction.

Wilbur looked shocked but fond, and Tommy only grinned like a wild gremlin before stomping off after his brother. Naturally, Wilbur was not far behind.

Before long, nothing remained of the three brothers at the scene.

After another minute or two of stunned silence, someone spoke.

“That’s got to be cheating,” Sapnap complained, shaking his head.