Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dream isn’t home right now. He’s been gone for a few days now, but that’s alright, he does that sometimes, especially since he set up a water dispenser for Tommy which keeps his water bowl full. It’s good, Dream doesn’t like his adventures being interrupted to take care of Tommy and Tommy understands that. He knows that he’s a lot of work. 

He shifts in his blanket nest, Dream had been so nice and had left him with blankets to nest in even though Tommy had been bad and had tried to nap on the couch when Dream hadn’t invited him onto it. He’s between naps right now, he spends most of his time when Dream isn’t here sleeping, especially a few days in when he hasn’t eaten. 

Since he’s between naps he hears the footsteps coming up to the house before the door opens. He sits up, ears twitching with excitement. Dream? Dream was back already? He gets his legs under him to go greet him at the door. Dream loves it when Tommy greets him at the door, he lets Tommy rub against his legs and sniff at his shoes and he scritches him behind the ears and calls him a good kitty.

But- but those footsteps aren’t Dream’s. They’re too heavy and slow. 

Tommy huddles back into his nest, slipping under a blanket and hoping they just go away. He has no idea who this could be. Dream says that he’s the only one who knows where the house is, that no one will ever find Tommy, but someone is here, the door knob is wiggling, there’s scraping in the keyhole, the door clicks unlocked and opens and-

That’s Technoblade. Tommy’s breath gets stuck in his throat, he watches from under his blanket as Techno closes the door behind him and glances around the room. 

Why is Techno here? How did he find this place? Was he looking for Dream? Was he looking for Tommy? Maybe he was here to finish the job that his withers didn’t, to kill Tommy. 

That wouldn’t be fair, he wants to cry, he didn’t know back then! He had thought that he was a person! He didn’t know that he was a housecat, of course he did a bad job with the revolution, with re-establishing L’Manburg, who gives a housecat that kind of power? 

Oh prime, he was so frazzled he didn’t even realize that Techno had gotten closer, his hooves the only part of him visible from between the blankets. He can see the way that he shifts his weight as he crouches, see his hand reaching towards him, see it grip the blanket over him. He squeezes his eyes shut, if Techno decides to kill him he doesn’t want to see it. The weight of the blanket is ripped off of him and he prepares for the blow of an ax.

“Tommy, what are you doing on the floor?” Tommy’s eyes pop open, that did not sound like something you ask before killing someone. Techno is still just crouched in front of him, hands empty, arms resting on his knees. 

“Do you have food here? You look like you haven’t eaten in a month.” Tommy’s eyes flick towards the kitchen. Why is Techno asking about food? There’s cat food in the house of course, the barrel in the kitchen with its preservation enchantments holding plenty of raw fish, but Tommy can’t get any himself, and Dream’s not here to feed him so he hasn’t eaten in days. Still, why does Techno care? 

He seems to have followed Tommy’s gaze, getting up and entering the kitchen. Tommy should follow him, make sure he’s not stealing any of Dream’s things. He’s not sure he knows what he would do if he was, his claws are closely clipped and he’s much smaller than Techno, but maybe he could bite? It would at least make Dream proud to know Tommy had tried.

He crawls after Techno, peering around the doorway to see that Techo has found the cat food. He looks up at Tommy, confusion flashing in his eyes.

“You’re still on the floor.” he says, Tommy sits on his haunches, front paws firmly on the ground, he’s not sure where else Techno expects him to be, does he think cats can hover? 

"Ok… you uh- you've got food, stove has coal, what's the problem?" Tommy twitches his tail slightly, it's still bottlebrushed from fear but it's settling. It doesn’t seem like Techno wants to hurt him, maybe he's just here to ask stupid questions. Techno looks Tommy over critically like he’s waiting for something. Nothing happens

“Ok, you need food, if you’re not gonna make it then I’ll do it for you.” Tommy watches with interest as Techno pulls a fish from the barrel, slaps it on the counter, and starts looking around the kitchen, presumably for a knife to clean the fish with. 

Techno is going to feed him? No one but Dream feeds him, but Dream is out, and Dream is the only one who could have told Techno where the house is. Is Techno pet sitting? Tommy has never had a sitter before, but Dream had never been away for more than a couple weeks before. Maybe he was planning on being gone for a while and asked Techno to feed him. He didn’t warn Tommy, but nobody warns their cats that they’re getting them a sitter. 

Techno also makes sense as a sitter, sure, he’s not Dream’s closest friend, but he’s more reliable than say, George and he’s not known for killing pets like Sapnap. Techno even likes cats, treating every encounter with a stray as a special privilege. Thinking of his previous interactions with cats, Tommy is honestly surprised that Techno hasn’t offered his fingers to sniff or any head scritches.

On the topic of things that Techno hasn’t offered, the fish has been cleaned and butchered and Techno hasn’t offered any of the fish guts yet despite the fact that he keeps giving Tommy sideways glances. In fact, he had lit the stove and was warming a pan on the fire. That was a dick move. Say that he’s gonna feed Tommy and then make fish for himself, but Dream did always eat before Tommy, so maybe if he was patient and waited for Techno to finish then he would get fed.

Or maybe Techno wasn’t a pet sitter and was just going to steal their food.

Either way the smell of fish cooking after days without food makes Tommy’s stomach clench uncomfortably, so he pads over to his water bowl and drinks a bit, just to alleviate some of the tension.

“What are you doing?” Tommy jumps and Techno stares at him like he’s grown a second head and Tommy can feel his tail fluff even more as he tries to think of what he might have done wrong. He was just drinking water! 

“Uhhh, nevermind, carry on.” Techno quickly looks back at the fish he’s grilling and Tommy relaxes slightly and laps up a bit more water. 

With his stomach slightly less upset Tommy hops onto the shelf Dream installed just for him in the kitchen. Tommy isn’t allowed on the furniture without permission, but Dream has some shelves for him around the house that he can sit on to watch the world go by. This one was the first Dream installed, since he likes Tommy keeping him company while he cooks. From here he can see the fish sizzling in the pan, no visible seasoning though, not shocking from a man who claims his favorite food is potato.

“You uh… comfortable?” Techno asks, Tommy looks at him, yawns, and rests his head on his paws in response. Good kitties don’t talk, but they do acknowledge when they’ve been spoken to.

“Yeah… yeah, this is weird.” Techno stares resolutely at his food. Tommy doesn’t think Techno has ever had housepets, he vaguely remembers him saying something about worrying they’d get in the way, so he’s probably not used to cats watching him while he cooks. He never told Tommy not to though, so he doesn’t move. 

“You know where the plates are?” Techno asks, Tommy stares back blankly. He does know where the plates are, but he’s still annoyed about Techno saying he’s going to feed him and then going to make food for himself, so he’ll be getting no help from Tommy.

“I should have expected that.” Techno takes the pan off the heat and starts scrounging through the cabinets for plates, eventually finding them and plating his lunch along with the fork he had already found. 

“Well if it's overcooked you only have yourself to blame for not helping.” he says as he puts the plate on the table. Is Techno really going to punish him for not showing him where the plates are? It’s not his fault Dream didn’t give him a tour before leaving him in charge of his cat!

“Hey-hey- stop looking at me like that, I’m not mad, just- come here." Thecno says as he sets the plate on the table. Tommy’s tail is never going to go back to being unfluffed if Techno doesn’t stop scaring him like this. He definitely deserves table scraps after this. Tommy hops down and slinks under the table to sit at Techno’s feet like he always does with Dream when the human eats, but Techno isn’t sitting yet. 

“What- Tommy I’m trying to feed you, sit at the table.” he is sitting at the table! He’s waiting for Techno to eat so he can get fed! Techno crouches again and looks at him, then sighs.

“Ok eat under here then.” he grabs the plate and puts it on the ground in front of Tommy. 

Is this a test? Is this a joke? What does Techno want? He told Tommy to eat but then puts a plate of cooked fish in front of him? Tommy stares at Techno, who stares back in silence. Techno rubs his face and groans.

“Comeon, I know it's bland but it’s not that bad.'' he says, Tommy has no idea what's going on, the smell of cooked fish so close is making his mouth water and he just wants to be fed, not to hear about Techno’s lunch.

“Here look.” Techno picks up the fork and eats a bit of the fish “see, it’s good.” Ok, now this is just mean, making Tommy watch him eat and talking about how good it is after promising to feed him. He then offers Tommy the fork, and Tommy is once again confused. What does he expect Tommy to do? Take it with his paws and eat like a human?

“What’s it gonna take for you to eat?” Techno asks, Tommy flicks his ear in annoyance, maybe if Techno would actually eat his lunch and feed him Tommy would eat. Techno spears another piece of fish on the fork and holds it out to Tommy this time and Tommy finally understands. 

This is what Dream did early on, when he was helping Tommy to understand that he was actually a housecat and not the person that he had convinced himself he was. Tommy had been so resistant to the idea of eating raw fish out of Dream’s hand like he was supposed to. Dream had been kind and understanding of Tommy’s delusion, cooking fish for him and feeding him off a fork instead. Maybe Techno is trying to do that, last time he had seen Tommy he had been totally convinced of his personhood, so it makes sense that he expects Tommy to want to sit on a chair and eat cooked fish off a fork. In that light all of Techno’s behavior has been pretty nice, if misguided. 

He sniffs at the fish, its scent is distinct from that of the raw fish that he’s usually fed and he’s happy to take it off the fork. 

“See,” Techno says “it’s good.” he offers Tommy the fork again. Tommy stares at him blankly again.

“Bruh.” Techno says, but he spears more fish on the fork. They get through the whole fish like that, then Tommy licks the fork clean, then the plate. Technically he’s not supposed to lick the plate, it’s not polite, but Dream will usually let him clean plates if he’s been good, and Tommy thinks he deserves it for his patience. Techno must agree because he doesn’t stop him.

Once the plate is clean Tommy stretches and looks to see if Techno wants anything from him, but the piglin is just looking at him strangely. Yeah, like Tommy’s the weird one here, Techno just cooked lunch for a cat. Tommy watches Techno watch him until he moves to sitting in the kitchen chair and pulls out his communicator. Maybe he’s updating Dream about Tommy having been fed. Tommy hopes Dream sets him straight about how Tommy is meant to be fed, cooked fish was a wonderful treat, but Dream says that too much cooked food will make him sick and Tommy hates being sick.

(He still remembers the first time he finally got sick from cooked food, he had been stubbornly refusing to accept any of the raw meat Dream had been offering for days.

“Fine, if you’re going to be stubborn you can get sick” Dream had snapped, and true to his word Tommy had gotten sick after dinner that night.

“See kitty?” Dream had said, anger from earlier having dissipated at the sight of Tommy suffering. He was stroking his back gently while Tommy dry heaved despite having already puked up all of his dinner “this is why you need to listen to me,  I know how housecats need to be cared for and you don’t. I’m just trying to take care of you, I’m trying to be a good owner, can’t you be a good kitty for me?” 

Tommy didn’t have much opportunity to be bad with food again after that, Dream had refused to cook anything for him after that, too worried about Tommy's health.)

Regardless of all that, Tommy knows when he’s been dismissed, so he slips out from under the table and laps up some more water before heading back to the living room to sit on the shelf that lets him watch out the front window. He keeps an ear turned towards the kitchen though, just to keep tabs on Techno.

Carl is out front, which makes sense, he is Techno’s favorite horse, Tommy soaks in the sun as he watches him meander around the front garden, occasionally stopping to graze a bit. It’s pretty much the most exciting thing that’s happened out front since a few weeks ago when a blue sheep wandered right up to the window. Dream had shooed him away from the window when he saw it and left “to deal with it”, Tommy wanted to know what had happened to the sheep but Dream never mentioned it and good kitties don’t ask questions.

“Alright,” Techno says from the kitchen doorway, “you’re going to be staying with me and Phil for a bit.” Tommy cocks his head at him, trying to indicate confusion. Techno just opens the front door and waves out it, as if Tommy would just wander out. When it becomes clear that Tommy is not gonna do that he sighs loudly.

“Dream had something come up, he’s gonna be out for a while and he wanted me and Phil to watch you.” so Tommy was right, Techno is a pet sitter! Still, the idea of leaving the house is nerve wracking, Tommy used to be an outdoor cat, but he got into too much trouble so he’s indoor only now. Dream had sent Techno though so he should do what Techno asks right? That’s what a good kitty would do. But good kitties don’t go outside and that’s what Techno is asking him to do.

He hops off his shelf and meets Techno at the door, Techno walks out like he expects Tommy to follow. Tommy sniffs at the threshold, it’s been a while since he got a sniff of fresh air, the smell of grass and wet dirt and horse and the nearby river are almost overwhelming. It reminds him of Dream and the scents that cling to him when he comes home. 

“You haven’t been outside in a while have you?” Techno asks, Tommy swishes his tail slightly, what part of indoor cat does Techno not understand? 

“Ok.” Techno comes back and scoops Tommy up, arms wrapped around Tommy’s chest and legs hanging down, back paws dragging on the ground. Tommy goes limp immediately, he doesn’t like being picked up, never has, especially in such an uncomfortable way, but good kitties let people pick them up. 

“I should have expected this.” Techno grubles, throwing Tommy over his shoulder instead. It’s not much more comfortable than the earlier position, but his paws are no longer dragging and he doesn’t have to make the paralyzing decision to leave the house, so it could be worse. Techno grunts as he hoists Tommy onto Carl, the smell of horse and leather is definitely overwhelming now. Part of him wants to launch himself off the horse and bolt back into the house and doesn’t care if it makes him bad, but Dream wants him to go with Techno, so he sinks his dull, clipped claws into the saddle as best as he can to ground himself.

“Alright, it’s a bit of a ride, so…” Techno pauses, he seems to be studying Tommy “stay here for a minute.” with that Techno turns and walks away, leaving Tommy all alone. Outside. 

Tommy thinks he might be trembling, or floating, maybe Techno was right about cats and hovering, because it feels like the only thing keeping him here is his claws in the saddle. 

Then there’s someone there, swinging up on the saddle behind him, something is being draped over his shoulders, weighing him down, it smells like…

Dream? 

He looks back but it’s just Techno, he’s draped a blanket over Tommy’s shoulders though. It’s from the blanket nest, a favorite, lime green and fuzzy, when Dream’s home it’s firmly a couch blanket, but he allows Tommy to use it for his nests when he’s gone.

It smells like Dream and also Tommy. Dream and Tommy together, it’s one of the most comforting smells he can think of and he’s so glad Techno thought to get it for him. If he’s going to be spending an indefinite amount of time with Phil and Techno, away from Dream, he’s going to want the comfort.

-

Techno hadn’t known what he had expected to find breaking into Dream’s house. Fuck, Techno didn’t even know if Dream had a house until Ghostbur mentioned it. Techno was pretty sure that was intentional with how far from the main server it was though. 

Regardless, Ghostbur had apparently managed to find Friend’s reincarnation (or just another blue sheep that Ghostbur believes is Friend’s reincarnation, it’s unclear to Techno) just within Dream’s front yard, and weirder still, he claimed to have seen Tommy through a window.

Techno wasn’t sure he believed that, not that he thought that Ghostbur would lie , more that the ghost wasn’t the sharpest player on the server, and while everyone on the server basically agreed that Tommy was probably dead it wouldn’t be the first time Ghostbur had been in complete denial of some tragedy or another on the server. Regardless, Techno had wanted to see for himself, both to confirm if Tommy was actually there (he doubted it) and also because he really hated the idea of there being something on the server that he wasn’t familiar with. After all, how is he supposed to be the human (technically piglin hybrid, but that was neither here nor there) GPS if he didn’t even know where the server owner/admin’s house was.

So yeah, he was doing some mild breaking and entering, but he was curious, he didn’t actually expect to find Tommy.

He especially didn’t expect to find Tommy huddled in a blanket nest on the floor looking half starved when there was perfectly good furniture and food at his disposal. But here he was, standing in Dream’s kitchen holding a fish while Tommy sat on the floor, bottlebrush tail wrapped around him, looking for all the world like a confused housecat. He doesn’t answer Techno’s question, offers no sarcastic rebuttal or flurry of curses, he just stares at Techno like he’s trying to assess if he’s a threat, which fair enough, Techno isn’t sure how much Tommy knows about doomsday, but even without it, they didn’t leave off on the best foot. Techno would just expect more anger from the kid, not this fearful confusion. 

“Ok, you need food, if you’re not gonna make it then I’ll do it for you.” Techno decides out loud. Tommy is being weird, but he looks like he’s been kept on the edge of starvation for a while now, so maybe some food will help to liven him up. 

Probably not. But Technoblade can hope. 

Tommy doesn’t move from the kitchen doorway, doesn’t speak, doesn’t move to a resting position that would be comfortable for a human. Not that his current position is probably uncomfortable, a cat hybrid could probably sit like that for hours, definitely could, Techno has seen it, a cat hybrid guard who liked to sit like that at her post. 

But that was the thing about Tommy, he had never acted like a cat hybrid, he had always acted like a human. Techno didn’t get it, neither did Wilbur or Tubbo, but none of them wanted to confront Tommy on it, so they all played along with Tommy’s insistence that he never meowed or hissed and pretended that they didn’t notice when Tommy would realize that he was doing something distinctly catlike only to stop the behavior immediately. 

So yeah, it’s unnerving to see Tommy holding such an inhuman position for so long. He decides to ignore Tommy and focus on the fish instead, that is, until he hears the sound of water being lapped up. Techno expects to see a cat, an actual cat, because maybe Tommy was mirroring its behavior without recognizing it and that’s why he’s being weird but no, that’s Tommy lapping water out of a bowl on the ground. 

“What are you doing?” Tommy literally jumps, although he still lands on all fours, his back arched and his tail straight up and fluffy as can be, just like when Techno pulled the blanket off of him earlier. Techno doesn’t like seeing Tommy so openly fearful, he’s seen him scared of course, but he’s always covered it with anger or humor.

“Uhhh, nevermind, carry on.” he tells Tommy, quickly turning back to the fish he’s cooking, hoping the fact that he’s no longer being looked at will be comforting for him. He hears Tommy lap up a bit more water.

No seasoning for the fish, he decides, for one thing he doesn’t think Tommy’s stomach would appreciate it, but also Techno has no idea where Dream keeps the spices. He looks up at the sound of creaking near him. Tommy has hopped up onto an empty shelf next to the counter and is silently watching as he cooks.

“You uh… comfortable?” Techno asks, Tommy yawns, stretching his arms in front of him to lay sphinx style, then rests his head on his hands.

“Yeah… yeah, this is weird.” he says, mostly to himself, he’s seen those shelves around the house, he had thought they were stangly large and empty, but was this what they were for? A place for Tommy to sit and watch like a board housecat? The situation here is coming together pretty clearly in Techno’s mind, be he doesn’t want to believe it. Dream can be cruel, but turning a hybrid into a pet? It’s something that Techno never would have thought his rival capable of.

Techno doesn’t expect Tommy to answer him about the plates, but he’s still disappointed when he doesn’t. 

Actually feeding Tommy is a disaster. He won’t sit at the table, he won’t take the fork, he won’t even eat directly from the plate, he will eat if Techno hand feeds him, but he sniffs at the fish like he’s never had it before and licks the plate clean like a pet being allowed table scraps as a treat. There was the one bright spot of Tommy getting impatient with him, and gods Techno didn’t ever think he would be so relieved to see Tommy’s annoyed ear flick but after all the blank and fearful looks he had been given it felt good to get an expression that clearly said ‘ Prime, you’re stupid ”. 

Actually he’s giving Techno a similar look now, and that in and of itself gives Techno the security he needs to stop watching him for long enough to sit in a chair and contact- try to contact Phil.

He still watches from the corner of his eye as Tommy laps up water and slips back into the living room, padding past Techno on all fours like it’s the most natural thing in the world. 

(even Antfrost, who is far more feline than Tommy, usually reserves moving on all fours for sprinting and acrobatics) 

Anyways, Phil. Techno stares at Phil’s contact on his comms, not sure what to say. Phil will probably have a better idea of what to do than Techno. Phil is smart, Phil understands people, Phil will know how to deal with this. There’s just the problem of how to tell him.

Technoblade: Ghostbur was right about Tommy being at Dream’s

There’s a long pause, Techno isn’t sure if he should continue or not.

Philza: he’s alright?

Technoblade: no.

Technoblade: Dream’s been keeping him as a pet

Philza: what?

Technoblade: he’s been keeping Tommy as a pet, i think Tommy believes it

Philza: what do you mean

Technoblade: he only walks on all fours, he drinks water from a bowl on the ground, and I had to hand feed him

There’s another long pause after that, Techno glances up at the livingroom, Tommy is visible from here, sitting on another one of those shelves and staring out the window.

Philza: that’s bad

Philza: mate that’s really bad

Techno suppresses the urge to tell Phil that obviously he knows that’s bad .

Technoblade: what do I do?

Philza: get him back here. play along with whatever he thinks is going on, tell him Dream wanted us to pet sit if you have to. 

Philza: whatever you do don’t try to convince him that he’s not Dream’s pet, he might panic.

Techno nods to himself and puts his communicator away. Time to lie his ass off.

“Alright,” he announces from the kitchen door, pulling Tommy’s attention away from the window “you’re going to be staying with me and Phil for a bit.” Tommy tilts his head and stares in the same vaguely blank way he's been doing basically this whole time. 

He opens the door for Tommy and gestures for him to go out it, but Tommy just keeps staring at him blankly. Ok, time for Phil’s plan.

“Dream had something come up, he’s gonna be out for a while and he wanted me and Phil to watch you.” he tells Tommy, he wonders how much of what he’s saying Tommy actually understands. Clearly enough to take instruction, but Techno has heard of people losing their ability to process language after not being spoken to for long periods of time.

Maybe he does understand though, since he hops off the shelf and meets Techno at the door, Techno leads him out, but Tommy doesn’t follow. He looks back to see Tommy frozen in the doorway, sniffing at Dreams walkup like it’s the most interesting thing he’s smelled in months.

“You haven’t been outside in a while have you?” it’s not so much of a question as it is a statement, Techno isn’t sure Tommy has been outside since he went missing from exile, and that was months ago, probably nearly a year.

Tommy gives Technoblade The Look again, tail swishing irritably, but he doesn’t cross the threshold of the house. Techno gives him another moment to adjust to what he can admit is probably an overwhelming amount of stimuli before deciding that Tommy is probably not going to be able to make this leap on his own.

Techno doesn’t actually expect Tommy to allow him to carry him, he had picked him up mostly to shock him out of the doorway. A light push out of the nest, as Phil would put it. Tommy however, goes totally limp in his grasp and Techno is forced to wonder what exactly Dream did to him.

“I should have expected this.” he notes to himself, swinging Tommy over his shoulder instead. He decides to himself to just expect Tommy to do the most upsetting thing possible from here on out. 

He is immediately proven right as he puts Tommy on Carl only for him to immediately sink his claws (which Techno now recognizes are clipped) into the saddle and start trembling. He stops explaining how long everything is going to take and studies Tommy instead. He could just hop on behind him and start back towards the cabin, after all, the sooner they get there the sooner Phil can start fixing this, but…

“Wait here for a minute.” Tommy doesn’t respond, but Techno is confident that he’s not going anywhere.

He feels lost when he gets back into the house. He’s not quite sure what he’s looking for, something to comfort Tommy, obviously, but what can he actually use for that? The house is pretty barren and small, Techno is pretty sure there’s probably a secret entrance to a larger base somewhere around here, but he doubts Tommy would have access to it. So that leaves just the livingroom, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom (there’s only one bed, and given the nest in the living room, Techo can guess that it’s for Dream). 

There’s also just not a lot of stuff in the house, and he’s not sure what might help a traumatized teen feel better.

But maybe he shouldn’t be looking for something to make a teen feel better, because as much as it pained Techno to think about, Tommy wasn’t acting like a teen, he was acting like a cat. Problem was that Techno didn’t really know how to make a cat feel better either.

Technoblabe: how do you make a cat feel better when you’re taking them home?

Ranboo: you bring things that smell like their old home 

Ranboo: like their old nest or toys they like

Ranboo: fabric stuff is best, since it holds scent really well

Ranboo: also when you get them to the new home you can’t let them into the whole house at once, start them off with one small room and slowly expand from there so they don’t get overwhelmed, and try to feed them similar to how they were eating where you got them from so they don’t get sick

Ranboo: actually cats a really adverse to change, so try to keep everything as similar to what they’re used to as you can and transition things slowly

Technoblade : that was helpful

Ranboo : no problem!

Ranboo: are you bringing a cat home?

Technoblade: no

Nesting material, preferably fabric, lucky for Techno that was an easy one. Tommy’s blanket nest was still scrunched on the floor, a bit disheveled from where Techno had pulled it apart earlier. As he keeled by the nest again he wondered if it mattered which blanket he chose, most of them looked more like scrap blankets than the kind anyone would use, faded, worn out, stained or fraying. There was one that stood out though, fluffy and soft, lime green, perfect. 

It was also the only blanket that smelled like both Tommy and Dream. 

He should pick a different one. He should not bring the blanket that smelled like Tommy’s captor. But Ranboo had said something that smelled like their old home, and while stale, the scent of Dream clung to every surface in the house. Cats were adverse to change, probably even good change, and going from a place where Dream’s scent clung everywhere to a place that didn’t smell like Dream at all would be a lot of change. Techno couldn’t pretend that he didn’t get it, after Pogtopia, even knowing that Wilbur had lost his mind, that Tommy had betrayed him, that their rebellion had only been interested in Techno as a tool, he still missed having the scent of a pack around him.

He takes the green blanket, the way that Tommy relaxes the moment it’s draped around his shoulders proves to him that he did the right thing. Besides, it was a nice blanket, and Dream’s scent would fade from it eventually.

Chapter Text

Tommy wishes he had a nice fur coat like most cats do, rather than just the patches on his head and tail. Dream says he’s not sure why Tommy is missing so much fur, says that it might be Tommy’s breed, but it's more likely from Tommy’s time as a stray. Dream says that he wasn’t getting proper nutrition back then, and that he had probably gotten mange or something. He definitely had fleas, he remembers all the flea treatments he had to get when Dream first brought him home. 

Dream says he doesn’t think the fur is ever going to grow back. 

It’s not usually a huge problem, the house was warm enough that he didn’t need it, and Dream keeps him dressed up in clothes, even though most cats don’t wear clothes.

( “You don’t have fur to protect your skin, so clothes it is.” Dream had said “you’re a lot of work you know that, Tommy? There are easier cats that I could have adopted.” 

Tommy had curled up a bit tighter and tucked his tail close at this. He knows, he knows that he’s a lot of work, he knows that Dream sacrifices so much to take care of him, he knows he would be totally alone if Dream didn’t want him.

“Oh Tommy,” Dream would say with a smile “it’s ok, I’m willing to put the work in for you. Besides, cats in clothes are adorable, look, I even got you a hoodie that matches mine.” )

But he isn’t home right now, he is on a horse trudging through deep arctic snow, and the extra insulation that fur would bring him would be greatly appreciated. Not that he didn’t appreciate what he had now, the green jumper that Dream had dressed him in before leaving is soft and warm and the blanket over his shoulders keeps him nice and dry and Technoblade is right behind him, giving off all the warmth one would expect from a nether hybrid. 

So yes, Tommy is very grateful for and appreciative of what he has right now. He isn’t going to linger on the greedy, selfish thoughts that worm their way into his head at any slight discomfort. Dream got him nice clothes and a nice blanket that Techno had been thoughtful enough to bring with him and he was even being allowed to ride on Carl’s back instead of having to walk through the snow, so really he has no right to want anything more.

He just thinks fur would be nice. Sometimes. Maybe.

It’s fine. He doesn’t need it. He’s only shivering a little bit.

“Almost there, see?” Techno nudges Tommy and gestures to something in the distance. True to Techno’s words Tommy can just barely see the lights of a cabin on the horizon, smoke rising from the chimney stark against the dusk sky. Tommy nuzzles into the blanket wrapped around him a bit more as Techno pulls up his com screen. It floats in front of both of them so Tommy averts his eyes to make sure Techno knows he’s respecting his privacy. He’s probably just updating Dream and Phil anyways.

Now that they’re closer Tommy can see that Techno doesn’t have just a single cabin, but rather multiple cabins, pens, fields, and outbuildings. Tommy thinks that’s a pretty inefficient way to set up a base in the arctic since it requires spending so much time outside, but Tommy is also a cat, so he’s probably just too stupid to understand why it’s actually a good setup.

Techno pats his shoulder before dismounting Carl, leading him into the stables next to the cabin rather than riding. Tommy can see the glow of his com screen out of the corner of his eye, but just for a moment.

“Ok, how to do this…” Techno murmurs seemingly to himself. He studies Tommy briefly before gently pulling him off Carl. Techno is careful to keep Tommy wrapped in the blanket as he does, carrying him more like a baby this time, which Tommy has to admit is more comfortable than being thrown over a shoulder. His ears turn at the sound of a door opening and feet crunching through the snow.

“Hey mate!” the voice is pleasant, but also tense, not a great combination. Techno turns and Tommy is able to see Phil smiling from the other side of the fence. He’s tense even as he waves and holds the gate open for them. 

“Good to see you Phil.” Techno says, Phil nods, smile tight on his face as he looks at Tommy.

“Hey Tommy, it’s been a while.” he says, his hands come up in front of his chest, but then he pauses like he doesn’t know what to do with them. Luckily they are close enough that Tommy can just lean forward a bit to politely sniff them. 

They smell like dandelion soap, green tea leaves, crow, and the same death smell that Philza has always carried. There was something else there too, a strange lightningstorm-dryair-cold smell that Tommy couldn’t quite place. 

“Oh- um- alright.” Phil says, Tommy pulls back at his distressed tone. Dream doesn’t like it when Tommy spends too much time sniffing him, he says it’s annoying. Tommy didn’t sniff Phil for very long in comparison to what Dream allows when he first gets home from a trip, but Tommy should know better than to expect Phil to have that level of patience for Tommy. Dream really does have the patience of a saint.

“Oh you don’t have to- why don’t we just get you inside and warm you up.” Phil keeps up that tight smile, clearly upset, for obvious reasons. Phil just wants to get back into his nice warm cabin and Tommy is out here holding him up because he wants to sniff him.

“We got a room set up and put out a bowl of warm water, you said he wouldn’t drink from the canteen so I assumed he would be thirsty.” Phil says as they enter the cabin, Tommy tries to burrow further into the blanket when Phil mentions the water. He doesn’t mean to be a bother, he would have drank what was offered on the long ride if he could, but he just didn’t know how to drink from a canteen. He had taken the bits of bread Techno had offered, even though he probably shouldn’t be eating bread, he didn’t want to refuse two gifts from his new caretaker. Techno just follows Phil deeper into the cabin. Phil opens a spruce door.

“Cozy.” Techno says walking into the room and confusingly putting Tommy down on a bed, normally Tommy isn’t allowed on the bed unless Dream feels like cuddling. Maybe Techno doesn’t want to bend down to set Tommy on the ground? Yeah that makes sense. He could have just dropped him, but Techno has been very gentle with him, probably unwilling to cause damage to one of Dream’s things.

“Ok now what?” Techno asks, Phil looks at Tommy.

“We’re gonna leave you in here for a little bit, we need to chat a bit and I’m sure you need some time to decompress from your trip. I’m gonna leave the door cracked for you, you’re welcome to come out if you want to, but no pressure. There’s water right here for you,” he gestures to the bowl by the door, “and I’ll be back with food soon.” 

They leave Tommy with that, leaving the door cracked as promised. If he focuses he can hear them talking, he actually thinks he can make out a third voice, but he ignores it, if they wanted him to know what they were saying they would have said it in front of him, after all, Phil didn't seem at all opposed to talking directly to Tommy. Maybe Phil is just one of those people who like talking to their pets, Dream is, even though he says it makes him look crazy.

What Phil had said though… Tommy isn't stupid- well ok, he is pretty stupid, but he's been a housecat long enough to know what "you can if you want" means, so he won't be leaving this room, thank you very much.

Instead he slips off the bed to explore it. It's cozy, just like Technoblade had said. Small, but that wasn’t a bad thing, the close press of walls comforting after so long in the openness of the outside world. Some part of him clammers that walls being close is not safe, that he needs the openness, that he would be easy to corner and hurt in such a small space and that only bad things happen in tight spaces. Like before, like-

The smell of soot and coal, cold stone, the laughter of a mad man bouncing off ravine walls

Tommy has no reason to fear small spaces. Tommy won’t get hurt as long as he’s inside and where Dream wants him to be. Dream keeps him safe. Dream might not be here right now, but he’s with people that Dream trusted to keep him safe, so that was basically just as good. 

He kneads at the rug under his paws, it’s plush and bright red, a color that Tommy has always liked. He listens for anyone nearby, but the conversation is still happening in another room so Tommy doesn’t think they’re going to check in on him soon. 

Tommy takes the time to roll over on the rug, wiggling on his back to make sure he gets his scent into it. Dream doesn’t like him scent marking things at home, he says it’s possessive, and he doesn’t want Tommy getting it in his head that anything actually belongs to him, but well… just a bit won’t hurt, and if Phil and Techno intend to keep him in this room then it’s going to end up smelling like him anyways, so what’s the harm in a little head start? Besides, what they don't know won’t hurt them. 

Tommy gets up and pads over to the water, lapping some up. It's warm, like Phil said it would be, and it helps to soothe the chill that settled into his bones on the trip here. He turns back to the room, ready to explore now that his thirst has been satisfied.

Other than the bed the only things in the room are a spruce box situated under the window and some shelves, similar to the sturdy dark oak ones that Dream installed for him back home. The spruce box is the perfect size for Tommy to curl up in and sturdy enough to sit on top of to look out the window. Tommy decies that this is where he will nest and drags the lime blanket in, it isn’t a very plush nest, but that’s fine, he can make do. 

He hops up on the box to look out the window to find that it’s actually a very nice view, he can see a few different animal pens, a wheat field, and an outbuilding all from here. They even have a blue sheep outside! He wonders if it’s the same one from home. Probably not, but he likes to imagine so.

The box is also a good point to jump onto the shelves from. There are three, two on the wall across from the bed and one over the door, they ascend like a staircase, so he can easily hop from the box to one to the next until he is on the highest one, the one above the door. Tommy is nearly certain that this is what the shelves are intended for and far be it from him to deprive them of their purpose. The short easy climb is almost exhilarating and Tommy realizes that it’s been a very long time since he last jumped more than just to get onto a shelf or couch or bed. 

Not that it matters. He’s an indoor cat now, because being an indoor cat is safer, and Dream says that safety is worth losing some freedom.

The tallest shelf is high enough that even crouching his head brushes the ceiling, and Tommy could jump from here to the bed easily, but he hasn’t properly been invited onto the bed and he’s not sure whose bed it is, so he just hops back onto the rug instead. He flinches at the loud thunk he makes when he hits the ground and hopes he hasn’t interrupted Phil and Techno’s conversation. Although he must have, because he can hear the click of dress shoes coming closer.

He sniffs at the bed and tires to ignore the dread in his stomach as soft footsteps get closer. The bed smells dully of Phil, but not nearly enough for it to actually be his, more like he was probably the one who set it up.

The door creaks and Tommy gets a whiff of that same lightningstorm-dryair-cold smell that was clinging to Phil.

“Tommy? You alright?” Ranboo? Tommy whips around to look at the doorway and-

Yes! Ranboo! An excited murrp escapes Tommy as he jumps up to say hello. Ranboo even responds with a vurrp-vup -an ender greeting- of his own

How long has it been since he saw Ranboo? Not since before Dream made him an indoor cat, obviously, but also not as long as it's been since he saw Phil or Techno. Still long enough that he didn’t even recognize the ozone and void smell of his friend. 

Tommy trots over to him, rubs his head against Ranboo’s shin and purrs softly, hoping for scritches. Ranboo does not give him the affection he's seeking, instead taking a small step back, like he doesn’t want Tommy touching him. Tommy stumbles back and pushes down the jab of pain at Ranboo pulling away. It's probably not personal, Tommy tells himself, it's probably just that Ranboo doesn't want cat fur on his nice slacks.

"Tommy?" Ranboo's voice strains with- with what? Fear? Sadness? Anger? Tommy can't quite tell, but a quick glance at his face tells him it's not good. Ranboo's hand is pressed over his mouth, his ears are pinned back, and his eyes shine with tears. Tommy takes another step back, his own ears pinning. What did he do? How did he upset Ranboo this badly this quickly? Ranboo suddenly drops to his knees in the doorway.

"It's ok, it's ok," he says, reaching towards Tommy, "it's not your fault, I'm not mad at you." Tommy doesn't know if he believes that, but Ranboo seems to want him to come closer again so he does, bumping his head against Ranboo's outstretched hand. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Ranboo says, stroking Tommy’s fur softly. Tommy closes his eyes and leans into it with a pur, the knot of fear that's been settled in his stomach since Techno walked into the house easing a bit with the affection. They fall into a gentle quiet, the only sounds being Tommy’s soft purrs.

"⍙⍜⍙, ⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⟟⌇ ⋔⟒⌇⌇⟒⎅ ⎍⌿, ⟒⎐⟒⋏ ⎎⍜⍀ ⎅⍀⟒⏃⋔" Tommy opens his eyes and flicks an ear in confusion, Ranboo looks back at him, eyes taking on a purple sheen in the rooms soft lantern light. He looks more calm now, tears no longer threatening to fall.

"Don't worry about it" he says, the pain from earlier gone from his voice, his eyes drift to something behind Tommy.

"You like the box?" Tommy blinks in confusion before remembering. Right, the box, he happily bounces back over to it, showing off his nest. It's not much, but he's still proud of it.

"That's a nice nest, we'll have to get you more blankets for it. Techno was just telling us about your nest back at Dreams house." Tommy puffs up at the compliment to his superior nest building skills, he knew he was pretty good at it, but it's cool to hear that he's so good at it that Techno is telling people about it. 

“Everything alright in here?” the door creaks open more, and there’s Phil looking concerned. 

“Everything’s fine Phil. Look, Tommy likes the box.'' There's something strange about the way Ranboo is speaking, oddly monotone, with none of his usual nervous energy. If Phil notices he doesn't give any indication, he looks over Tommy’s nest with a small frown. 

“You don’t want to keep your blanket on your bed mate?” he asks, Tommy tilts his head, not understanding the question. Is the blanket nest not his bed?

“We’ll just have to get him some more blankets and pillows so he can be comfortable wherever he decides to sleep.” Ranboo says, Phil nods in agreement, although his hands fidget nervously.

“Right,” he says, “well, why don’t we get you some dinner.” Ranboo nods in agreement and stands, straighter than Tommy has ever seen from him. 

“I’m going to grab those blankets before I forget.” Ranboo retreats from the room leaving Tommy and Phil, who just nods and gestures back towards the main cabin.

“I’ll get that food for you.” he says, following Ranboo without closing the door. They didn’t sound like they wanted him to follow them so Tommy doesn’t. Instead he hops up onto the box and watches out the window. Techno has a fox, or maybe there's just a wild fox outside, regardless, it’s a lot more fun to watch than the absolute nothing that happened outside at home.

“Dinner time!” Tommy turns to find Phil in the doorway with a plate, Ranboo hovering behind him with his arms full of blankets and pillows. Tommy’s eyes widen at the volume of them, that must be every blanket in the house! How’s he going to fit them all into the nest? Maybe he can store some under the bed? He’s not sure whose bed it is or if they’ll be ok with that though.

“Come’ere mate.” Phil says, settling by the door, “Techno says you liked the fish he made, so we have more of that, plus some carrots and potatoes if you’re feeling adventurous.” Tommy’s ears perk at the mention of carrots and potatoes. He loves carrots, he prefers them raw, he likes the crunch, but he’s always excited when he gets them in any form. Usually Dream will feed him the carrot tops while he cooks, and sometimes he gets table scraps, if he’s been good. He assumes that’s where the carrots and potatoes are from, leftover from Phil’s dinner and saved as a treat for Tommy.

He hops off the box and meets Phil by the door. Ranboo is still hovering in the doorway like he’s waiting for an invitation. He’s just kind of staring at Tommy, he’s got that look from earlier, ears back and eyes tearful. 

“Why don’t you put those down by the bed and let Tommy set them up how he wants.” Phil says, which seems to shock Ranboo out of his stupor. He walks into the room stiffly and drops the blankets, he doesn’t look back at Phil and Tommy, watching out the window and picking at his cuticles instead. Is Ranboo mad at him? He hadn’t seemed mad when he left, but now he’s refusing to even look at Tommy. 

Tommy murrp s again, Ranboo had liked it last time, but this time it just makes him tense up even more, flinching like he’s been swung at. 

“I- I’m gonna go turn in for the night.” he says, still staring out the window.

“Good idea, it’s been a long day.” Phil says. Ranboo nods in agreement before turning and speeding out of the room, still not looking at Tommy. Tommy listens to Ranboo’s hurried steps until he hears the caben’s door open and close and he can no longer hear them.

“Hey, it’s alright, he’s not upset with you.” Phil says, mirroring Ranboo’s reassurances from before. Tommy doesn’t know if he believes that, but then, there were plenty of times Dream was upset about things that had nothing to do with Tommy.

(“ not everything is about you, Tommy, stop being so self centered. ”)

“Hey, how about dinner, you must be hungry after riding all day!” Phil is clearly forcing himself to be cheerful, Tommy doesn't know what’s wrong, can’t help whatever it is in any meaningful way, but he can be a good kitty for everyone and hope it makes them feel better, that’s what Dream likes him to do. 

So he turns his full attention to Phil and the food he’s brought. The fish is cooked again, Tommy wonders if they’re only going to give him cooked food, he hopes he doesn’t get sick from it. Phil tries to offer him a fork like Techno did, Tommy just stares back at him.

“You can take it if you want, I’m not gonna be mad at you.” Tommy just keeps looking at him blankly.

“Ok, that’s fine.” Phil tells him, offering some fish instead. It’s odd that Phil and Techno are so insistent on using a fork, or well, maybe insistent wasn’t the right word, Techno had fed him bread out of his hand on the way here, but Tommy considered that more of a treat than a meal. Dream always had Tommy eat from his hand, he says that it’s because he wants Tommy to know where his food comes from. That’s also why he doesn’t want to set up a food dispenser for when he’s gone. He guesses that might be why, Techno and Phil (and maybe Ranboo?) are taking care of him, but they aren’t his owners, he doesn’t need to feel like his food comes from them, because it doesn’t. It comes from Dream. Even if Dream isn’t here, there’s no way that Techno and Phil would be willing to deal with Tommy if it wasn’t for him, so really everything he has still comes back to Dream.

Phil offers bites of carrots or potatoes between every few bites of fish. They’re nothing fancy, steamed and unseasoned, but Tommy chews slowly to savor the unusual texture and flavor, not sure when he'll get anything other than fish again. He's very full by the time the plate is clean, too full, but he isn’t going to be ungrateful, he eats everything that's offered.

“Good job Tommy! Would you like seconds?" Tommy isn't sure what he's being praised for, or if he's supposed to want seconds or not. Dream never offered him seconds, would he seem ungrateful if he didn’t accept the offer? Or selfish if he asked for more than what he was given? How would he even communicate what he wanted if he knew? 

Phil looks upset, shit he's fucked up again.

"I'll take that as a no," he says, the fork makes a soft clinck as he sets it back on the plate, "me and Techno are gonna be up for a little while longer, so feel free to come find us if you change your mind." He stands and gives Tommy a nod.

"If not, then well, goodnight, I'll see you in the morning." He leaves, once again leaving the door cracked.

Tommy listens as his footsteps fade down the hall, then a creaking sound and a deep sigh, probably Phil sitting down, and the murmur of conversation picks up. 

There’s absolutely no way Tommy is going to leave this room to ask for more food, and Phil had pretty strongly implied that he expects him to sleep here. He also implied that he would not be sleeping in the same room, and Ranboo had already gone to sleep, meaning the bed in the room wasn’t for either of them, and it obviously wasn’t for Tommy, maybe Techno? This definitely wasn’t Techno’s room though, it didn’t smell like him at all, and it has none of the personal effects that Tommy would expect of him. 

Maybe this was just a guest room that they were allowing Tommy to stay in. Yes, that made sense, the last time anyone in this house had seen him he had been a stray cat deluded into thinking he was a person, and he doesn’t think he would want to share a room with that kind of disaster either. 

Tommy gets started on improving his nest, he’s tired and he wants to go to sleep, but he’s been given all these blankets and he’s not going to be ungrateful. It’s worth it, his new nest is way fluffier than the one back home. He curls up under the lime blanket and falls asleep with the scent of fresh laundry and Dream around him.

Chapter Text

Phil stares at his com screen, trying to wrap his head around Techno’s message. He tries to imagine Tommy, the fiery little monster that Wilbur had claimed as his brother, drinking out of a water bowl on the floor and eating out of Techno’s hand.

He can’t. There’s no world that he can imagine where Tommy would ever do any of that. No world where Tommy wouldn’t threaten someone’s life just for suggesting such a thing. 

His hands and wings feel numb, head buzzing. Maybe this is a joke, some bizarre prank. It has to be. Techno will bring Tommy back to their cabin and Tommy will shout something like ‘surprise fuckers!’ and sneak off to steal their stuff. It will be fine. 

Techno didn’t seem to think it was a joke.

Phil makes himself a cup of tea and settles into his armchair. He sips his tea and breathes in slow measured amounts, watching the fire as he waits for the feeling to come back into his limbs.

There’s knocking on the door. Phil startles, his mug is only half drunk, but has gone cold, the fire is burning lower. He wasn’t expecting anyone.

Ranboo is on the porch, looking confused and slightly distressed, although that’s pretty normal for Ranboo.

“Hey mate, what are you up to?” Phil asks

“Hi Phil! Are you getting a cat?” Ranboo asks, Phil doesn’t have any idea how to respond to that.

“Sorry,” Ranboo says “Techno messaged me about bringing a cat home? I uh, I just wanted to check if you need help? He was kinda weird about it so…” he trails off, rubbing his arm

“He said we were getting a cat?” 

“Well, no, he actually specifically said he wasn’t getting a cat, but he was asking about how to make one comfortable when you bring it home, so I thought maybe he actually was getting a cat and was being sarcastic when he said he wasn’t? Sometimes it’s hard to tell with him.”

Techno was asking Ranboo about how to comfort cats. Obviously it was about Tommy, there was no other reason for Techno to be asking anyone about cats. It kind of made sense, Phil had warned Techno off from correcting Tommy’s delusion (if that’s what it is) so treating him like a scared cat might have seemed like the best thing to do. Once Techno decided to treat Tommy like a cat Ranboo would have been the most logical person to ask, given his… well… Ranboo had gained a bit of a reputation as a crazy cat person, having gone a bit overboard in his care for his own cats. 

(Phil remembers Ranboo’s gentle ramblings about what his cats would enjoy while they built his shack, the way that he carefully set up spaces for them to eat and sleep and watch out the window as he talked about each cat’s unique personalities, the way he held them close and soothed them over the long journey from his panic room to the tundra, the way they purred back at him. Phil had thought it was odd, but endearing, Techno had called him too soft, but Phil could see in his eyes that he hadn’t meant it.)

“Yeah uh… the cat situation is complicated.” because ‘one of your closest friends who you thought was dead either thinks he’s a cat or is playing a pretty mean joke’ isn’t a situation that Phil feels like he can adequately explain right now, “What exactly did you tell him?” 

“Compli- oh uh- here” Ranboo pulls up his coms and turns the display towards Phil, just showing the whole interaction. Phil scans the messages, thinking. He’s still hopeful that this is all a joke, but now that the wave of numbness has moved through him he knows that he should prepare for the possibility that it’s not. Which means setting up the house for Tommy to stay in, possibly for a while. Hopefully not, hopefully he’ll snap out of whatever this is once he’s in a safe place, hopefully this is all just a joke.

He needs to be prepared for it to not be a joke.

“How would you set up the room you start them in?” Phil asks.

“I usually just start cats in a bathroom,” Ranboo says with a shrug “put out a blanket and a scratching post and make sure they have spaces to hide and climb, then you just go in and hang out with them for a little while every day until they get comfortable. That’s always worked really well for me”

“How long do you leave them in there?” he doesn’t like the idea of locking Tommy in a little room for days.

“Depends on the cat, Jjjjjjjjeffery took a couple days, Enderchest didn’t even take a whole day, Enderpearl, she’s so skittish, she didn’t want to come out for a week and a half.” he smiles as he talks about his pets, as he always does “But yeah, you just wait until they’re comfortable and want to leave” 

“Ok, that’s doable” he can’t imagine any version of Tommy who would want to stay in one room for even a day. He also can’t imagine a version of Tommy that needs to be hand fed. “The bathroom won’t work but the guest room probably would.” 

“Did you want help then?” Ranboo asks, and that’s quite the question isn’t it. Because Phil doesn’t know much about cats or how to make them comfortable, but actually asking Ranboo to help would mean he has to explain the situation to him, and Phil isn’t looking forward to that, not to mention that he’s not even sure if they should set up a “cat room” for Tommy, because what if playing along made it worse?

“Nevermind, I’ll just-” Ranboo nods towards the porch stairs and starts to walk away.

“No, no, come in, I’m- the situation is really complicated, I’d like help I’m just,” he sighs in frustration as he steps aside to let Ranboo in “I’m still trying to understand how to help” 

Ranboo nods with understanding “if it makes you feel any better, I am also very confused.” he says with a small nervous laugh.

“Yeah sorry about that, I’m just, why don’t we just set up the guest room?” Ranboo nods again, following Phil as he grabs fresh linens for the bed. They haven’t really had guests since Ranboo moved out of the actual house and therefore haven’t felt the need to replace the sheets since then. 

He grabs the red blanket.

Ranboo looks at him oddly as he starts to remake the bed, but doesn’t actually ask anything. Phil doesn’t know what he would say if he did.

“So,” Ranboo says, looking at the barren room “not much going on here, under the bed is a nice hide, and we can probably put up some shelves so she can get off the ground, a shelf or a desk at the window would be good so she can look out easily, maybe a box or chest for another ground hide? The room’s not super big so just the bed might be ok.”

“He” Phil corrects, confusion flashes across Ranboo’s face.

“Oh, sorry, yeah, this room should work well for him, maybe we could add a rug? Hardwood can be a little slippery.” 

Phil nods, he thinks Techno has some spare rugs around, they definitely have enough spruce planks for some shelves and Phil can probably drag in the box from the entry room as a hide, it would also fit nicely under the window.

“So the complicated cat does have a confirmed gender?” Ranboo asks.

“Yep,” Phil says, “I think we have just the thing to go under the window, help me drag it over here.” 

Phil manages to avoid giving any more information about “the cat” for the rest of the day like that, simply avoiding talking about it and asking for Ranboo to help with box moving and shelf installation and finding a red rug in Techno’s absolute hoard of a storage room.

Techno messages Phil as he’s approaching the cabin, giving Phil enough time to warm up some water for Tommy, as well as some hot chocolate for the rest of them. Maybe all of them if Tommy can start acting like himself again. Phil doesn’t have high hopes for that possibility though, according to Techno’s messages Tommy has gotten nothing but more skittish over their journey.

“Techno is almost here.” Phil tells Ranboo as he stirs their hot chocolate.

“With the complicated cat?” Ranboo asks from behind him.

“With Tommy.” Phil studies the hot chocolate, did he use enough cocoa? He might want to use more, it doesn’t look dark enough to him.

“That’s not funny Phil.” 

“It’s not supposed to be.” he already put the cocoa away though, and he doesn’t want to stop stirring least the milk burn.

“He’s- Dream said he was dead, I saw Logsteshire, it was destroyed, I saw the tower.”

“Well, it looks like Dream’s been keeping him at his base.” he could just take it off the heat and go grab more cocoa.

“That’s- he’s- he’s ok?” 

“I’m not sure, Techno doesn’t think so.” no, actually, now that he’s really looking at it, the color is fine.

“Oh.” Ranboo says. Phil’s com pings, a message from Techno that just says “here”

“That would be them. Could you make sure this doesn’t burn?” Phil hands off his spoon to Ranboo, who mostly just looks distressed and confused.

“Sure,” he murmurs, taking Phil’s place at the stove “I don’t think he’ll like that you and Techno have been calling him a cat.” Phil hopes Ranboo is right.

Techno is still in the stable when Phil gets outside, back to the gate and fussing with something in his arms. Tommy is nowhere to be seen.

“Hey mate!” Phil calls with a wave, he’s about to ask where Tommy is when Techno turns and Phil’s voice dies in his throat. The thing in his arms that Techno was fussing with is Tommy. He’s burritoed up in a soft looking green blanket, curled up against Techno’s chest and not struggling at all. 

He stares at Phil. His eyes are wrong.

They’re the same eyes of course, sapphire blue with slit pupils, but there’s something wrong with them. They’re blank, Phil realizes, like someone had reached into his head and hollowed out whatever it was that used to burn behind them. 

This isn’t a joke.

“It’s good to see you Phil.” Techno says with unguarded relief. Phil nods, struggling to keep up a smile for Tommy.

“Hey Tommy, it’s been a while.” he says gently, his hands raising to… to what? Comfort obviously, but what could Phil do to comfort Tommy right now? Tommy seems to have his own ideas on what Phil is doing, leaning forward to sniff at his hands.  Phil stares, not at all sure what to do with this. Sniffing isn’t something that’s particularly bizarre for hybrids, Techno does it basically every time he greets Phil, usually accompanied by an affectionate headbutt. The gesture can be a lot of things, a show of affection, an introduction, a greeting, a quick way to know where someone’s been, but in all the time that Phil has known Tommy, Tommy has never sniffed him, at least not blatantly like this. 

"Oh- um- alright." Phil says in shock, Tommy literally flinches back, ears pinning and eyes wide. 

“Oh you don’t have to-” Phil cuts off his reassurances, unsure what he actually wants to say “why don’t we just get you inside and warm you up.” he says instead, sharing a look with Techno as he does. Phil can see the strange balance of pain, fear, and murderous anger behind Techno’s eyes as he does.

He honestly just rambles as he leads Techno and Tommy to the guest room, he catches a glimpse of Ranboo watching them from the kitchen, but Ranboo probably doesn’t get too good of a look at Tommy given the way he seems to be doing his best to get the blanket to swallow him completely. 

Techno nods at the new decorations and calls the room cozy as he puts Tommy down and steps back, looking like he’s scared that he’s going to make a wrong move and totally break the kid.

Phil can already relate to the feeling.

“Ok, now what.” Techno looks to Phil for guidance, like Phil knows what to do. Phil looks at Tommy who’s sitting stiffly on the bed, like he’s not supposed to be there. The tone that he ends up speaking with is one that he alway used with Wilbur before he became a rebellious teen but that he’s only used on Tommy once before, just after meeting the eight year old who Wilbur had “accidentally picked up” on his travels. Tommy had snapped at him about how he was a Big Man and didn’t need to be babied, Phil had had to cover his mouth with his hand to hide his amused snickers, but had done his best to talk to Tommy like an adult after that.

“We’re gonna leave you in here for a little bit, we need to chat a bit and I’m sure you need some time to decompress from your trip. I’m gonna leave the door cracked for you, you’re welcome to come out if you want to, but no pressure. There’s water right here for you and I’ll be back with food soon.” 

Tommy doesn’t protest Phil’s tone, doesn’t comment on being too big to need decompression time or too great to be left out of whatever discussion they’re going to have. He just stares. 

Techno basically collapses at the kitchen table, holding his head in his hands and heaving a deep sigh. Ranboo hands out the mugs of cocoa and Phil nods gratefully, glad to have something to do with his hands. 

“You alright, mate?” he asks

“I’m doing great, Phil, absolutely nothing wrong.” he doesn’t raise his head from his hands.

“Is anyone going to explain what's wrong with Tommy or?” Ranboo’s eyes dart between Techno and Phil.

“Do you want to or should I?” Phil asks, he obviously doesn't have as much knowledge on the situation as Techno, but he’d also understand if his partner wasn’t exactly feeling up to explaining right now. Techno rubs his eyes before lifting his head and sighing again.

“Dream brainwashed him. He thinks he’s a cat.” Techno says bluntly, Ranboo blinks at him blankly.

“I- no, Dream, Dream is- Dream isn’t a good guy but he wouldn’t, like, why would he? I mean, how do you even do that? And to Tommy? Tommy’s just,” Ranboo looks distant for a moment, then shakes his head “Tommy is way too stubborn for that.” 

Techno snorts “You would think.” 

“Well, there’s only so much stubbornness can do when,” when what? What could Dream have done to make Tommy so… empty “when someone is under that much stress.” Ranboo’s ears droop and he studies the grain of the table.

“Speaking of stress, what was Dream doing to him?” Phil asks, Techno shrugs.

“He wasn’t there, but Tommy was all huddled up on the floor when I got there, scared out of his mind, clearly starving even though there was food literally just sitting in the kitchen, and when I tried to get him to eat he just sat under the table and stared at me like I was the crazy one. I literally had to carry him out of the house, and then he panicked and he didn’t stop until I brought a blanket from his- his nest. He had a nest on the floor, I don’t think Dream let him on the furniture. He was weird the whole ride back too, he didn’t want to get off Carl, he wouldn’t hold the canteen, I had to feed him out of my hand, like a dog.” 

“I don’t understand, in exile- Dream was kinda weird with Tommy in exile, but not like that,” Ranboo says eyes still set on the table, then he murmurs more quietly “I don’t think it was like that.” his brow furrowing as he tries to remember. 

Right, Ranboo visited Tommy in exile. Not all the time, but more than anyone else, he would know at least some of what happened before Dream took Tommy back to his base. 

“What was it like?” Phil asks, Ranboo stares at the table like it might tell him the answers. 

“I never- I don’t think we were ever there at the same time, me and Dream, but Tommy wasn’t- he was weird, I thought it was depression and the loneliness getting to him, but I know Dream kept taking his things, I think I offered to help make a hidden stash?” he rubs his head, “I think I wrote more down in- I’d have to check one of my older journals, but I think Ghostbur was spending time with Tommy when I wasn’t there. We might be able to ask him.” Techno sighs again.

“Yeah, and he’ll probably remember even less than you.” Techno says, taking a sip of hot chocolate “no offence.” he tags on, like he hadn’t even realized that he might have been rude when he said it.

“It’s worth a shot though, we’ll have to sit him down and ask next time he passes through. For now though, it might be best to just give Tommy a safe environment and some downtime, he might start to come around just from that.”

“And if he doesn’t?” Techno asks.

“We’ll just have to see how he’s doing, for now, it’s probably best to just… go along with things, just to not scare him, maybe give him some gentle nudges back to acting normal.” Phil suggests, trying to sound more confident than he feels, it must work because Ranboo is nodding along.

“What about-” Ranboo’s question is cut off by a solid thunk from Tommy’s room that makes them all jump.

“Can I?” Ranboo asks, nodding towards Tommy’s room. Phil tries to think it over fast, Ranboo hasn’t seen Tommy yet and Tommy hasn’t seen Ranboo, so there’s no way of knowing how he’ll react, especially if he’s hurt (although he’s not making any sounds that would indicate that he’s hurt) but Ranboo is already inching towards the hall and Phil feels bad keeping them apart and he can always supervise to make sure nothing happens, right?

“Sure mate, I’ll be right behind you.” he says, Ranboo gives him a quick nod and starts towards Tommy. Phil follows behind, although he lingers down the hall rather than at the door.

“Tommy? You alright?” Ranboo calls as he opens the door, he gets a quiet murrp sound in response that makes Phil wince with how catlike it is, Ranboo responds with some warbling ender sounds, although strangely not the kind he usually makes when he’s upset. He hears faint purring, then Ranboo stumbles back from the doorway like he’s been splashed with water, face screwing up with pain that has Phil lurching forward.

“Tommy?” Ranboo asks, voice thick with pain, Phil feels like he’s been stabbed through the heart, he really wishes that he hadn’t agreed to let Ranboo handle this. Before he can intervene, Ranboo collapses in the doorway.

“It’s ok,” Ranboo says, Phil can hear that he’s near tears, they might need to pull out some potions tonight if Ranboo starts crying. Actually it might be wise to brew some extra potions for Ranboo for this whole ordeal.

“It’s ok, it’s not your fault” Ranboo assures Tommy, it would probably be bad for Phil to stop them now, that might just result in Tommy thinking that he’s to blame for Ranboo’s mood.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Ranboo says, Phil can hear Tommy’s purring pick up again, but from here all he can see is a bit of Ranboo, mostly his feet and his tail. He watches as Ranboo’s tail goes from ficking back and forth nervously, to completely still, to a slow gentle waving. 

Then Ranboo makes a lot of ender sounds. Concerning, very concerning.

“Do you like the box?” a pause "That's a nice nest, we'll have to get you more blankets for it. Techno was just telling us about your nest back at Dreams house.” That's a stretch of the truth, but Tommy will never know. It would probably be safe to step in now.

“Everything alright in here?” he asks, pushing the door open more so he can see without making Ranboo move.

“Everything’s fine Phil. Look, Tommy likes the box.'' Ranboo’s tone is odd, he’s doing that thing again, the thing that Ranboo doesn’t like to talk about where he gets strange and distant and forgets even more than usual. Tommy is by the box though, having made a little nest in there with the green blanket from Dream’s base. He can feel the way his mouth pulls into a frown.

“You don’t want to keep your blanket on your bed mate?” he asks, he doesn’t really like the idea of Tommy setting up to sleep in a literal box. Isn’t Tommy claustrophobic? He feels like he remembers Wilbur mentioning something about that.

“We’ll just have to get him some more blankets and pillows so he can be comfortable wherever he decides to sleep.” Ranboo says, he’s right, if Tommy wants to sleep in a box then he can, they’ll give him what he needs to be comfortable until they can nudge him back into sleeping on a bed.

“Right,” Phil agrees, “well, why don’t we get you some dinner.” he asks Tommy, who is looking at him with his head cocked to the side, slight frown on his face. Ranboo just nods and stands.

“I’m going to grab those blankets before I forget.” he says, brushing past Phil, leaving him with just Tommy. Phil feels trapped under his flat stare, feels like Tommy is judging him, and not favorably.

“I’ll get that food for you.” he says, awkwardly gesturing down the hall, Tommys gaze doesn’t change at all, so Phil just nods and hurries away.

Techno is in the kitchen pouring a healthy amount of spiced rum into his cocoa, he offers the bottle to Phil when he walks in, but Phil shakes his head.

“Maybe later, I have to make something for Tommy.” Techno nods.

“Not sure what Dream was feeding him, but I made him fish and he seemed fine with that.” Techno tells him, fair, they don’t have a fish farm, but Phil likes to fish as a hobby, so they have some cod.

“Think he’ll want some veg?” Phil asks, Techno shrugs.

“Didn’t see any at Dream’s base, Ranboo?” 

“Wha?” Phil glances over to see Ranboo standing in front of the linen closet, blinking with confusion, he’s not sure if Techno was asking for the hybrid’s opinion or just trying to get his attention, but he asks anyway.

“I’m making Tommy dinner, do you think he’d like some veg, or just fish?” 

“I don’t really? I only really know cats, not cat hybrids,” he says rubbing his neck “Tommy likes, he used to like carrots though.” 

“Thank you, Ranboo.” Phil says. He gets started on the familiar routine of cooking. Setting up the steamer, cleaning the fish, chopping the carrots and potatoes. It could be a normal night if not for the tension each of them carries. 

Techno lingers in the corner of the kitchen sipping his cocoa, out of the way, but close enough that he could theoretically grab Phil if he needed to. Ranboo just stands in front of the linen closet, fidgeting with a sheet, apparently having forgotten about getting blankets for Tommy. Phil makes no attempt to chat as he watches everything cook, but the silence is not comfortable.

“You gonna grab those blankets?” he asks Ranboo as he plates the food for Tommy. Ranboo startles, looking confused, but starts pulling blankets out of the closet.

Tommy is on top of the box when they come back to the room, Ranboo was right about him liking it. He doesn’t notice them at first, intent on watching something out the window. Phil doesn’t like seeing Tommy so still.

“Dinner time!” he says, Tommy turns to face them and his eyes go wide when he sees Ranboo, Phil almost wants to cheer at the sight of emotion in those eyes. He glances at his box, then back at Ranboo, then under the bed, then back at the box. Planning additions to his nest perhaps? Ranboo did go a bit overboard with the blankets, he might have grabbed basically everything the closet had to offer.

“Come’ere mate.” Phil says, settling by the door “Techno says you liked the fish he made, so we have more of that, plus some carrots and potatoes if you’re feeling adventurous.” Tommy seems to perk up even more as Phil describes his meal, hopping off his box and padding over on all fours and yeah, that’s strange and distressing to watch. Ranboo doesn’t move at all simply watching Tommy with tearful eyes.

“Why don’t you put those down by the bed and let Tommy set them up how he wants.” he reminds Ranboo, Ranboo’s eyes snap away from Tommy and he nods and steps into the room robotically, dropping the blankets. He keeps his back to Phil and Tommy, but Phil can see that he’s trying to steady his uneven breathing, trying not to cry, trying not to do what he did earlier.

Tommy makes a soft catlike sound that both Ranboo and Phil flinch at. Tommy shouldn’t be sitting on the floor making cat sounds Tommy should be- he should be yelling and laughing and doing something stupid and calling everyone around him a bitch. Instead he’s just looking at Ranboo with strangely empty eyes and a confused look on his face.

“I- I’m gonna go turn in for the night.” Ranboo says, voice shaking.

“Good idea, it’s been a long day.” Phil says, Ranboo nods and all but runs out of the room. Phil grimaces a bit. They definitely should brew more healing potions for him, yeah.

He looks back at Tommy, who just looks so confused and upset, and if that doesn’t make it all the worse, Tommy not seeming to understand why seeing him like this is upsetting.

“Hey, it’s alright, he’s not upset with you.” Phil tries to reassure him, Tommy studies Phil like he thinks he’s lying, which he might, then he stops, and his eyes go empty and unfocused again.

“Hey, how about dinner, you must be hungry after riding all day!” Phil chirps, and he at least successfully gets Tommy’s attention back on him. Phil offers him the fork, but Tommy just stares at it like he doesn’t know what to do with it.

“You can take it if you want, I’m not gonna be mad at you.” he tells Tommy, trying to get across as much honesty as he can with his tone, Tommy just stares at him blankly, doesn’t… Doesn’t what? Take the fork and food? Start eating like everything is normal and fine? Thank Phil for snapping him out of it and being sane enough to know that Tommy isn’t a cat? Start bitching about how terrible Dream is around a mouthful of food? 

Yeah.

Tommy doesn’t do any of that.

Tommy stares at him like he’s crazy.

“Ok, that’s fine.” he says.

You know.

Like a liar.

He spears some fish on the fork and offers it to Tommy, Tommy sniffs it then eats it straight off the fork.

Phil keeps offering food and Tommy takes it without comment or complaint, he does seem to notice the difference between the fish and the vegetables though. He chews the carrots particularly slowly, as if to stretch the experience of eating them out as much as possible. As if he’s scared he’s never going to have the opportunity to have them again. 

“Good job Tommy! Would you like seconds?" he asks when they finish the plate. Tommy looks confused, then scared, why does he look scared? Then he looks even more scared, ears pinning back 

"I'll take that as a no," he says, Tommy looks far too relieved, and Phil makes a mental note to not ask Tommy about what he wants for a while, since that seems like it was maybe a bit overwhelming 

"Me and Techno are gonna be up for a little while longer, so feel free to come find us if you change your mind." he offers instead as he stands.

"If not, then well, goodnight, I'll see you in the morning.” he doesn’t think he’s going to see Tommy until the morning, but he leaves the door cracked for him just in case.

Techno is sitting on the couch, empty mug on the coffee table, he hands Phil a mostly full one when he sits next to him. It’s his cocoa from before, not remotely warm, but Phil can taste the rum when he sips it, so he keeps drinking it anyways.

They sit like that for far too long, neither speaks, but Phil frequently glances at Techno, looks into his eyes just to make sure they don’t have that same blank empty look. Eventually the fire starts to die and Techno stands to bank it rather than add more fuel. He comes back to the couch and offers his hand, which Phil takes gratefully. They check on Tommy before heading to bed, finding the boy fast asleep, curled up in his box under the lime green blanket.

Phil expects Techno to leave him at the door to his room, Phil likes to share his nest with his partner, but Techno isn’t particularly tactile, and he snores, loudly, so they mutually agreed to have separate rooms long ago. Techno doesn’t leave for his own room tonight though, he follows Phil into his nest and settles down close enough that Phil can feel his reassuring warmth as he falls asleep.

He wakes up several times in the night due to Techno’s snoring, but he doesn’t find it as frustrating as he usually would, he’s just glad to have one thing be exactly as he expects it to be.

Ranboo meanwhile lays in his small house, Dogboo curled at his feet, Enderchest purring directly into his ear, even Enderpearl has come out from hiding to loaf just out of Ranboo’s reach, but even with all of them attempting to comfort him, Ranboo can’t rest.

This is his fault, he knows it is, if he had just noticed how suspicious Tommy’s “death” was, if he had tired to find him after that, if he had visited Tommy in exile more, if he hadn’t let Tommy take the blame then surely, surely this wouldn’t be happening.

But he hadn’t. He believed it when Dream said Tommy had killed himself. He went to the funeral and gave a speech and moved on to “more important things” “things he could still help”. He had left Tommy all alone in Logstedshire, visiting less frequently as time went on and things in L’manburg demanded his attention, even as the country moved towards a doom that now seems inevitable. He had stood there dumbly and watched as Tommy took the blame for arson, said nothing when Dream demanded exile, as Tommy and Tubbo screamed at each other over an obsidian wall, as Tommy stomped away with Dream, still so defiant and fiery. 

He had agreed when a bright and loud cat hybrid who he barely knew asked if he wanted to go burn George’s house down, and he had done nothing to bear his fair share of the consequences of those actions. 

And now Tommy is broken, and there’s nothing Ranboo can do to fix it.

“It’s ok,” he murmurs to himself “you’re going to be fine, Tommy’s going to be fine, everything is going to be fine.”

You know, like a liar.

Chapter Text

Tommy wakes to the sound of a door slamming shut. He jumps, knocking his head on- on something? The nest isn’t in a place with a low ceiling. He looks around, the room he’s in is dark, his eyes need a moment to adjust, but once they do he can see the unfamiliar room he’s in, and yeah, right, he’s being pet sat by Techno and Phil, he’s in their house, he’s made a nest in a box and that’s what he’s hit his head on.

Right, well, he’s awake, might as well just… be awake. He slips out of the nest and stretches before turning and hopping on the box to look out the window. He can see that the sky is just barely starting to lighten, Techno is outside apparently checking on his farms with a polar bear following at his heels. It was probably him leaving the house that woke Tommy in the first place.

He watches Techno carefully inspecting his plants, then feeding the animals. Tommy watches him take extra time to sit with the blue sheep, gently holding its face in his hands before giving it some neck scritches, the sheep tries to chew on his poet shirt and Techno gently pushes it away and leaves the pen. 

Techno’s eyes just happen to land on Tommy as he does this, and he freezes as he makes eye contact. Tommy cocks his head, Techo doesn’t move, Tommy wonders if he should look away, maybe Techno doesn’t like being watched? The polar bear headbutts him and it seems to startle Techno out of his haze, breaking eye contact and going back to his farm work, although he seems stiffer than before, not stopping to pet anymore animals.

The sun rises as Techno works and Tommy can hear someone, probably Phil, shuffling around in the house. Phil doesn’t come to get Tommy, so he continues to watch Techno. He’s not quite sure what they expect from Tommy while he’s here, they keep telling him that he’s free to leave the room, but he doesn’t want to risk doing that when they actually mean for him to stay in it. He hopes that he’s not expected to go greet them in the mornings because if he is then he’s already fucked up on his first morning.

When the sun is just over the horizon Ranboo comes out of one of the outbuildings. He’s fiddling with the cuffs of his dress shirt and Tommy is pretty sure he only just woke up. Does he live in that little shed? Wow, very lame of him. Sure, nothing Tommy built was ever great but he’s a literal cat, what excuse does Ranboo have.

Ignorant to Tommy’s judgment he makes a beeline to help Techno, who hands him the basket of eggs he’s been collecting and shoos him off towards the house with it. He watches as Ranboo hurries over while Techno finishes up with the chickens and clomps off, presumably to do more chores somewhere Tommy can’t see from the window. 

Tommy can hear Phil and Ranboo chatting in the other room, and can smell eggs being fried and toast cooking. He continues to watch out the window even as he hears footsteps coming closer, he hopes again that he hasn’t already messed something up.

“Morning Tommy!” Ranboo chirps, popping his head in, he’s smiling, close lipped, not his real smile, which is wide and toothy and he usually covers his mouth with his hand when he does it to hide his intimidating array of sharp fangs, “Phil wanted to know if you wanted to have breakfast out in the house with us.”

Tommy looks past him, he can’t actually see much of the house through the door, just the bathroom across the hall, he wonders if he’s supposed to leave the room. They keep telling him that he can if he wants to, is that a hint that he should? No one has yelled at him about it yet but they might be trying to be patient with him since he just got here.

“You can stay in here if you want.” Ranboo offers, but he sounds so disappointed by that idea. Tommy hops off the box and comes to meet him by the door. Tommy loves Dream, obviously, but he can sometimes get pretty upset with Tommy for not being able to properly read him so it’s nice to spend time with someone who’s easy to read.

Ranboo smiles at him, still with no teeth, “It’s ok to come back here if you get overwhelmed, or just- you know, if you want to.” Tommy doesn’t know how to respond to that, but he’s a Big Cat so he’s not going to get overwhelmed anyway. Ranboo waits a moment, like he’s waiting for Tommy to weigh in, then waves for Tommy to follow. 

Tommy had been carried through the main part of the house the night before, but hadn’t gotten a good look at it. Now he can see that it’s actually a pretty cozy little house, with a connected living/ dining area and a small kitchen that Phil is currently in. There's a little wooden table with four chairs set up around it, although it’s clear from the dust on one of them that only three are used. The whole place is warmly lit by the rising sun in the windows and the fireplace that’s already crackling in the livingroom. 

“Hey mate!” Phil says from his place at the stove, “I’m making eggs for breakfast, thought maybe you could try some?” 

Tommy doesn’t really want egg. 

(Dream had given him one once, Tommy had carefully rolled it across the floor until he got too nervous about it breaking and rolled it back to Dream. Dream had been watching him with that little smile he had whenever Tommy did something he thought was cute.

“Thank you, Tommy” he had said when he picked it up “George said that dogs know how delicate eggs are and won’t break them, I wanted to see what you would do.” he had explained, Tommy had puffed up with pride at having passed this strange test.

Dream had cracked the egg into a bowl and given it to Tommy as a reward. Tommy only had to lick up a little to realize that he didn’t really like raw egg, the texture thick and slimy on his tongue, more like mucus than anything Tommy would consider edible.

“Really Tommy?” Dream had asked when he abandoned the egg “I try to give you a treat and you just leave it? And I thought we were past this ungrateful behavior.” he sighed irritably.

“You know what, Tommy? I was going to give you this and fish tonight but if you're going to be like this, then this,” he nudged the bowl closer to Tommy with his foot “is your dinner tonight, and if you don’t want it tonight, it can be your dinner tomorrow too, this is all you’re getting until you finish it.”  

Tommy managed to choke down the whole bowl, even though it left his whole mouth feeling like it was coated in a thin layer of slime.)

None of that is super relevant here, Phil can act like he’s just making an offer all he wants, but Tommy knows that at the end of the day he’ll be eating whatever Phil and Techno decide to offer him. 

Tommy’s ears twitch as he hears Techno stomp up the porch steps and he creeps forward to see him swing the front door open, step inside and shrug his cloak off. He makes eye contact with Tommy again before narrowing his eyes with what seems to be suspicion.

“Are you spying on my farming strats for Dream?” he asks, totally deadpan.

“Techno, what are you talking about?” Phil asks, Tommy feels the exact same.

“I’m out there, employing my top tier farming strats, then I look up and see him just,” he uses two fingers to point to his eyes then Tommy’s “starin’ at me out the window.” he crouches to be on Tommy’s eye level.

“If Dream is plannin’ on takin’ me on in a farming war and you’re reporting back to him, you better report back that he could never win.” a grin breaks over Techno’s face and Tommy can’t help but pur as Phil chuckles.

“I’m sure Dream knows not to challenge you on your own turf mate.” Phil assures Techno. Techno hums with mock suspicion then ruffles the fur on Tommy’s head, actually ruffles it rather than petting him like a normal person would do with a cat, because these people are weird as hell.

“I’m sure Tommy will tell him how bad of an idea that would be.” Techno agrees, standing and taking a plate of eggs and toast from Phil. Tommy notices that Ranboo has also gotten a plate while he wasn’t paying attention.

"You gonna join us at the table, mate?" Phil asks, picking up two more plates. 

"Oh, he uh-" Techno starts, Tommy slips under the table and waits for everyone to settle in, "yeah, he did this when I found him." 

“Is he just gonna hang out down there?” Ranboo asks.

“Guess so.” Techno says. Tommy watches Techno’s hooves approach and hears the clatter of him setting down his plate before he pulls a chair out. They make eye contact as Techno peers under the table, then settles into his chair.

“I’m not kicking you, right?” he asks, Tommy settles against his legs so he knows where he is. 

“Great,” Techno says, “I am definitely not super weirded out by this.” Tommy snorts softly, Techno gets super weirdchamp about the dumbest stuff.

“Ok, uh-” Ranboo settles into the chair adjacent to Techno’s, the chairs and tables in this house don’t seem to have been made with Ranboo’s stupidly tall body in mind, so his knees bend awkwardly when he sits. Tommy feels a bit bad taking up space where Ranboo could be stretching his legs out but hey, if Phil didn’t think of that before asking Tommy to sit with them then it’s not Tommy’s fault.

Speaking of, the Bird Dad himself sets a plate on the table then crouches by the chair across from Ranboo’s.

“So I was thinking,” he says hesitantly “maybe you could try feeding yourself today? It’s fine if you can’t, but I wanted to give you the chance, so I was just gonna leave this here for you to eat while we have breakfast, that way you don’t have to wait.” he sets the final plate down on the floor in front of Tommy, and he’s surprised to see that he’s been given scrambled eggs and toast cut into triangles, there’s even cheese sprinkled on top of the eggs.

Did Dream actually give them any instructions when he left them in charge of his cat? Tommy is starting to think not.

Well, whatever, he’s just happy to not have to eat a raw egg again. He sniffs at the toast and finds that they’ve even buttered it, fucking weirdos. He picks up one of slices between his teeth, it takes some effort to chew off a bite without anyone to hold it for him and he’s definitely getting crumbs all over the place, but it’s totally worth it. 

When he lived with Wilbur he would eat buttered toast pretty often, bread being pretty affordable and Wilbur being more than willing to feed him things that aren’t very appropriate for cats (although Wilbur was also more than willing to eat things that weren’t appropriate for humans himself, so Tommy doesn’t begrudge that). When he was living as a stray he mostly just ate bread plain when he had it, not willing to go through the effort of toasting it, but since becoming a housecat he hasn’t had bread at all, excluding the bits Techno had fed him on the ride over. 

After so long without, the simple pleasure of buttered toast is bliss enough that Tommy closes his eyes and sighs reverently. 

Phil is staring at him when he opens them.

“Whelp,” he says, a bit strangled “looks like you’ve got it covered.” he pats his knees and stands, groaning as he does, because he is an old, old man. He sits in the chair across from Techno and Tommy can hear the clinking of silverware on plates above him. 

“So, uh, how’s the dog army this morning?” Ranboo asks awkwardly, starting a small conversation that Tommy tunes out as he eats. Good kitties don’t eavesdrop, and besides, Tommy learned long ago that while Wilbur taught him how to follow and mimic conversation he doesn’t really understand it the way that a person would. Dream taught him that, although Tommy had already known that there was something wrong with the way that he communicated with others, like there was something that was clear to everyone else but simply not to him.

He was right, obviously, it’s just that no one had the nerve to tell him that he didn’t understand because he was just a cat.

No one but Dream that is, because Dream is basically the only person on the planet nice enough to deal with helping Tommy.

Anyways, the food is really good, breakfast in and of itself is a rare treat and the fact that it’s all foods that Tommy hasn’t been able to have in a while definitely sweetens things. He wonders if Phil is planning on making extra of whatever he’s having to feed to Tommy for every meal while he’s here. If so Tommy’s going to be spoiled rotten by the time Dream comes back. Not that being here is better than being with Dream, of course, it will be nice for a while but Tommy knows Dream does what he does to keep Tommy healthy and safe, including not feeding him table scraps for every meal.

Technoblade shifts his hooves, knocking Tommy off balance and catching his attention, he’s been staring at an empty plate for who knows how long and the people of the house seem to have finished, dishes clattering together while they talk about…

“I can get it, I overslept this morning anyways.” Ranboo says.

“Absolutely not.” Phil says

“I’m doing the dishes.” Techno says at just about the same time.

“I’m sure I can find something else for you to do, something that doesn’t involve water.” Phil says. Tommy lets out a stuttering purr at the idea of having to tell an enderman hybrid to not stick their hands in water.

“Oh!” Phil is suddenly crouching again, “hey mate, hey! You actually ate! Good job Tommy!” he does that weird head fur ruffling thing that Techno did earlier and grabs the empty plate.

Tommy’s not quite sure what he should do at this point, Phil and Techno are in the kitchen cleaning up and Ranboo is just standing awkwardly by the table. No one is paying him much mind. 

He doesn’t really want to go back to his room yet, he was only invited out for the meal though, so he might have to, but then if that was what they wanted then Phil should have told him when he picked up the plate, right?

Tommy slides out from under the table and right past Ranboo, who just smiles and waves down at him. Probably fine to look around then. 

The house is, as Tommy already noted, small, but cluttered. It’s a bit hard to believe that Wilbur was raised by these two, given how meticulous he always was about keeping storage organized before Pogtopia. Phil and Techno, on the other hand, just seem to set things down wherever they happen to be, so most of the flat spaces in the house are occupied by other various things, with no discernible theme, unsmelted copper ore, a jar of spider eyes, gold nuggets, Philza’s loose feathers, a bunch of books marked with dogears and paper scraps or just laying open, there’s even a totem of undying just sitting out on the table. 

“We’re a bit overdue for a cleaning aren’t we?” Tommy jerks back from sniffing at the totem when he hears Phil’s voice, he’s probably not supposed to be messing with their things.

“Oh, you’re alright mate,” Phil says “do you want to help me clean up? Or just keep me company while I do?” Tommy cocks his head, unsure what kind of help he could offer Phil, but he’s pretty sure it doesn’t matter anyway, because Phil just starts clearing things off the coffee table, chattering as he does so, Ranboo comes over and starts picking things up then looking around and putting them back down probably realizing that he doesn’t know where they go. After a couple of things he gives up and grabs a broom to start sweeping with. Tommy’s tail swishes in amusement at Ranboo’s awkwardness.

“Are you just gonna sit on the floor, mate? The couch would probably be more comfortable.” Tommy jerks slightly, he hadn’t noticed that Phil’s attention was back on him.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” Phil smiles awkwardly, then nods at the couch “did you want to sit on the couch?”

Tommy cocks his head, Dream usually doesn’t let him on the couch unless they’re sitting together, but Phil’s offering so that should be fine, right? 

Tommy sniffs at one of the cushions and watches Phil out of the corner of his eye to see his reaction. The couch smells like the three residents, but also Niki, which is weird since Tommy didn’t know that they were friends. Then again Tommy’s a literal cat, he doesn’t have the best grasp on human relationships.

Phil doesn’t correct him, so Tommy hops up on the couch and curls up against the arm. It’s nice, soft, almost overstuffed, but that’s not really a bad thing when Tommy is trying to nest in it. Dream’s couch is pretty stiff, he doesn’t like overly stuffed furniture, he says it makes his back hurt.

“Comfortable?” Phil asks cheerfully, Tommy nestles further into the couch and he laughs in response “good, I’m glad you like it.”

They leave Tommy on the couch as they clean, Phil tidying, Ranboo following behind with a duster and broom and Techno puttering about in the kitchen. The gentle sounds of other people simply existing around him, the warmth of the fireplace, and the softness of the couch are enough for Tommy to start to doze off.

It’s the sound of Techno’s heavy sigh right in front of him that shocks him awake.

Techno has moved from the kitchen to looming over Tommy on the couch, his massive form blocking Tommy in, his face impassive. 

Tommy shouldn’t be on the couch. Phil gave him permission but clearly Techno doesn’t want him on the couch and Tommy should have known that Techno wouldn’t want him on the couch and he shouldn’t have been on the couch and now he’s-

Techno reaches over him and Tommy cringes away even though he deserves the punishment, he should have known better he should-

Something soft falls over Tommy and he feels Techno back off. He stays as still as possible, waiting for something to happen before determining that it won’t and opening his eyes.

Techno has backed up a few steps, Ranboo is behind him, staring at Tommy, he can’t see Phil but he, like everyone else, has fallen silent. 

“You looked cold.” Techno tells him before turning and clomping out of the room, Tommy hears the creak of a trap door and the clank of hooves on ladder rungs. With his eyes open and his heart no longer trying to skitter out of his chest Tommy realizes that all that Techno did was drape a blanket over him.

His tail curls tighter and his face burns in embarrassment, he freaked out over literally nothing.

“Hey mate,” Phil says, walking into Tommy’s field of view, “sorry about that, I’m sure Techno didn’t mean to scare you.” 

And well, Tommy can’t stand for anyone implying that he’s scared of anything, let alone Techno, so he uncurls a bit and repositions himself to be sitting up a bit straighter on the couch, chest puffed and chin held high. Phil just ruffles his head fur again and goes back to cleaning.

Tommy isn’t scared of Techno or anything, definitely not, but he is… well, he’s not looking to get punished, and just because Techno wasn’t upset with him for being on the couch that doesn’t mean that he’s fine letting Tommy have free run of his house. With that in mind Tommy makes one of his rare decisions in favor of self preservation and decides that he should just hunker down on the couch for today.

He doesn’t doze off again, but he does kind of… drift is the best word he has for it. A state where he’s not quite asleep, but also not really keyed into his surroundings. He doesn’t come back from drifting until he feels the couch shift next to him and turns to see Ranboo settled next to him, journal and pen in hand. The sun has shifted to no longer be streaming in the windows, the house is much more tidy, although still very cluttered, and Phil is nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Ranboo greets, Tommy yawns.

“Yeah, Techno said you were up early…” Tommy just watches him.

“So how’s it been living with Dream?” Ranboo pauses like Tommy is going to answer him, fucking weirdo.

“Right, well, I’ve been staying with Phil and Techno. Which you probably figured out, since we’re both here, but it’s been pretty cool. Phil invited me to stay after-” he pauses and glances at Tommy, “uh, nevermind. Anyway, Techno was a little more hesitant, but he thinks my silk touch hands are really cool, and now he’s like ‘Ranboo, you’re the main character now.’” another glance at Tommy “and I’m like ‘phsh, no I’m not a main character type, I’m- I’m…’” he trails off and sighs, “I don’t know if you’re processing any of this.” 

Tommy cocks his head and flicks his ear.

“See, that, everything I say you just stare, and sometimes you do things and I don’t know if you’re trying to respond or if you’re just doing cat things. We used to talk, you remember talking right? Can you please just say something so I know you’re listening?” There’s desperation in Ranboo’s voice that Tommy hasn’t heard from anyone since, probably since before exile, although he can’t pin exactly where those desperate tones came from back then.

Tommy doesn’t really understand why Ranboo is so desperate to hear Tommy talk. He knows he used to talk, he knows Wilbur taught him how to imitate human speech, but for the most part he’s pretty sure he just annoyed people with it. Dream says he’s much more bearable to be around now that he doesn’t talk.

Still, Ranboo is looking upset, and Tommy really doesn’t want him to be upset but he’s not going to break Dream’s rules and speak and risk Ranboo remembering how fucking annoing he is. Instead he does what a good kitty is supposed to do. It's a bit hard to do without knocking the blanket onto the floor, but he gets up and repositions himself to curl up against Ranboo rather than the arm of the couch. Ranboo makes a confused sound and lifts his arm out of Tommy’s way. He can feel the hybrid’s muscles go stiff as Tommy settles against him, but slowly relax as he adjusts.

“Oh, alright, this is what we’re doing now.” Ranboo says, slowly lowering his arm and resting his hand on Tommy’s head hesitantly. Tommy immediately starts purring to let Ranboo know that everything is fine and Ranboo responds with a sigh.

“I’m sorry.” Ranboo says, completely bafflingly. Still, Tommy nuzzles closer and purrs louder to let Ranboo know that whatever it is is fine.

Technoblade wakes to a wing smacking him in the face, which isn’t exactly his normal wake up, but also isn’t strange. 

“Thanks Phil.” he groans into his pillow.

“You fuck- you snore way too fucking...” Phil mutters, falling back asleep in the middle of his statement like the old man he is. Techno huffs and stretches, then glances at the clock mounted on the wall. It’s still dark, enough so that he might have to deal with mobs if he goes out, but it would free up some time to visit with Steve and Friend, and he’s already thinking too much for him to be able to fall back asleep quickly so he might as well get up. 

So he drags himself out of Phils nest and starts on his morning routine, sleep clinging to his eyes and thoughts even as he closes the back door on the way to check on the farms. 

Steve huffs loudly, standing up from his usual nest by the back porch and shaking off the snow that accumulated overnight and ambling over to Techno, who holds out hooved hands that Steve rests his chin on with a soft sigh.

Absolutely amazing bear. Perfect animal.

“Ready to help with the farms?” he asks, digging his fingers into Steve’s thick fur, Steve just presses his face further into Techno’s hands, demanding to be pet. Techno gives him a few good scratches behind his ears then pats his head.

“Let's get moving.” Steve huffs sadly but plods along behind Techno as he starts his work. 

Techno really does like farming, he can always take his time and make sure everything is exactly how he likes it, he’s knowledgeable enough that he never feels like he’s out of his depth, and there’s something nice about watching plants and animals thrive under his guidance. 

He checks his garden for signs of pests, feeds his livestock and checks them for any signs of poor health, then he decides to take a bit of time to sit with Friend as the sun rises.

Friend, whether she’s a reincarnation of the same sheep repeatedly or a new sheep each time, is always friendly, always quick to approach anyone who comes to the fence, although she doesn’t get particularly ecstatic over anyone but Ghostbur. He leans on the fence and digs his hooved fingers into Friend’s oily wool. It’s starting to get a bit too long, it needs to be sheared soon to prevent matting, but Ghostbur always gets upset if he comes to visit to find they’ve sheared her without him. Hopefully the ghost will wander in soon, or else Phil will just have to handle Ghostbur whining about Friend losing her fur without him.

“Hey, hey, quit that.” he says, pushing Friend away as she tries to gnaw on his shirt. He just happens to glance back at the house and freezes.

He’s being watched.

A pair of eyes peer out one of the first floor windows, reflecting the low light of early morning. The figure cocks its head and Techno can kind of make out the outline of fluffy hair and pointed ears and-

 Steve shoves his face into Technos chest forcefully, nearly knocking him off his hooves.

“Woah,” he says, “watch it.” 

Steve snuffles and shoves his head under Techno’s hands for affection, acting totally oblivious to Techno’s plight. Techno looks back at the window and now, jarred out of both his surprise and sleepiness, he recognizes Tommy’s silhouette in the window.

Because Tommy is staying with them.

Because Dream brainwashed him.

Techno makes sure Friend’s water isn’t frozen and leaves the pen, going back to his work. He can’t shake the feeling of Tommy’s eyes on him as he does. He’s finishing up collecting eggs when Ranboo finally comes out of his shack, the kid having slept in for once. Good for him.

“Sorry!” Ranboo calls as he runs up, “Sorry, I overslept and Enderpearl was asleep on me when I woke up and it’s illegal to move a sleeping cat, as you know.” 

“You’ve mentioned,” Techno says “punishable by death.” 

“It’s a very serious crime.” 

“Right.” Techno says, he hands the eggs over to Ranboo, “take these to Phil for breakfast.”

“Oh, ok, that’s all?”

“Yup.” Ranboo nods, then pauses like he expects Techno to tell him something else, but then turns and hurries off to the house.

Techno takes his time with the rabbit hutch and the hound army, as both are free from Tommy’s view. He makes sure everyone who wants pets gets them, since that’s a very, very important part of his morning.

Once he’s had his fill of time with cute fluffy animals he heads back to the house for breakfast. He stomps snow off his hooves at the door and enters with a huff, already shrugging off his heavy cloak as he enters the warm house.

Tommy is there, peeking around the kitchen counter. Techno freezes.

“Are you spying on my farming strats for Dream?” he blurts out. Tommy stares at him blankly, Phil frowns and furrows his brow.

“Techno, what are you talking about?” Phil asks, and Techno can hear the underlying ‘don’t scare him’ scolding in his tone, but whoops, Techno has started this bit and now he has to see it through.

“I’m out there, employing my top tier farming strats, then I look up and see him just,” he makes some stupid hand gestures to get his point across “starin’ at me out the window.” he crouches and makes eye contact with Tommy, who just looks confused.

“If Dream is plannin’ on takin’ me on in a farming war and you’re reporting back to him, you better report back that he could never win.” he smiles, hoping (he would be praying if he wasn’t more of a maltheist) that Tommy understands it’s a joke. He almost audibly sighs in relief when Tommy’s eyes light up and he purrs. Phil chuckles tensely.

“I’m sure Dream knows not to challenge you on your own turf mate.” he says, ‘don’t make this kind of joke again’ he means

“I’m sure Tommy will tell him how bad of an idea that would be.” Techno agrees, taking the plate that Phil offers.

"You gonna join us at the table, mate?" Phil asks Tommy, who flicks an ear and starts towards the table. 

"Oh, he uh-" Techno tries to warn the others of the odd ‘table manors’ that Dream must have trained into Tommy, but the kid is already under the table. "yeah, he did this when I found him." 

“Is he just gonna hang out down there?” Ranboo asks, looking horrified.

“Guess so.” Techno says, he’s careful as he settles into his seat, and he glances under the table to make sure he’s not hurting the poor kid, since he’s basically sure Tommy wouldn’t let him know if he was.

“I’m not kicking you, right?” he asks, Tommy for some strange reason, takes that as an invitation to snuggle up against his legs. 

“Great,” Techno says, refusing to look up from his plate “I am definitely not super weirded out by this.”

Ranboo settles in next to him, knees knocking the table as he’s unable to stretch his legs out. Phil crouches to give Tommy his plate and explain that they’d really like for him to try to eat without someone feeding him. When he stands he gives Techno a wide eyed look of horror.

Techno glances at Tommy, who Phil has successfully convinced to eat breakfast on his own, just not, apparently with use of his hands. Techno watches as he tries to eat toast only with his teeth. Great, this is going great.

“So, uh, how’s the dog army this morning?” Ranboo asks, trying to distract from the… everything about this situation. Conversation is stilted, obviously none of them able to actually focus on literally anything other than the catboy under the table.

“I can do dishes today.” Ranboo offers the moment they all finish.

“I’ve got it.” Techno says, wanting to do something that’s going to keep him busy in a room that Tommy isn’t in. He shifts to grab Ranboo’s plate, but he pulls it away and the feeling of Tommy shifting away under the table distracts him enough that he can’t grab it.

“I can get it, I overslept this morning anyways.” Ranboo argues,

“Absolutely not.” Phil says.

“I’m doing the dishes.” Techno repeats

“I’m sure I can find something else for you to do, something that doesn’t involve water.” Phil smiles politely, Tommy makes a sound from under the table, a stuttering purr, the sound he makes when holding back a laugh.

Laughing, he’s laughing at them.

They all perk up at the sound.

Phil ducks under the table to talk to Tommy again and Techno uses the opportunity to grab Ranboo’s plate and start on the dishes, leaving the other two to deal with Tommy.

“Hey.” Phil murmurs, returning to the kitchen with Tommy’s plate, “how are you doing?” 

“Never been better.” he says, focusing on scrubbing dishes.

“Tommy seems like he’s adjusting,” Phil says, “he ate on his own.”

“He definitely did eat.” Phil doesn’t say anything in response.

“Phil, what exactly is the plan here? ‘Cause I know we don’t want him to panic, but uh…” 

Phil one again doesn’t say anything, Techno follows his line of sight and sees Tommy sniffing at Phil’s revival research. 

“I’m gonna check on that.” Phil says, instead of addressing Techno’s question.

Techno nods and continues cleaning the kitchen. 

By the time he’s done with the kitchen Phil is occupying himself tidying the house, Ranboo is sweeping the same spot over and over, there’s a pile of junk ready to be moved to the storage room, and Tommy is nowhere to be seen.

Did he head back to his room? He would have had to go passed the kitchen if he had though and Techno would have noticed.

He enters the living room and checks the couch and yep, there Tommy is, curled up in Ranboo’s normal spot. His chest rises and falls softly, his tail curled in front of his face, the soft fur fluttering with his rhythmic breaths as he dozes. 

Tommy’s eyes flutter open slowly, trailing up until they make eye contact. 

Tommy freezes, his tail goes stiff and his ears pin as he cowers away from Techno and look, Techno could understand Tommy being intimidated by him when he literally broke into Dream's house, but now he’s just standing near him, he didn’t even do anything! He’s just standing in his house!

Techno glances at Phil, who glances at Tommy, who’s cowering like he expects Techno to- to do something bad? What, exactly, Techno can't guess. 

He should come up with an excuse to be over here. 

He pulls the throw blanket off the back of the couch and onto Tommy.

“You looked cold.” he tells the still cowering teen. He clomps over to the trapdoor to the storage room as loudly as he can and grabs the stuff that Phil’s been separating out to go down.

Chest sorting. Techno can do chest sorting. 

Gold here, iron there, blaze rods over there, copper ore… what is copper even used for? Do they use it for anything? Can Techno just throw it away? The trapdoor creeks as Phil opens it, Techno should get around to oiling it soon.

“You alright, mate?” Phil asks, he kicks one of the hunks of copper out of his way, it clatters away and disappears between some chests and honestly that’s as good of a place for it as any.

“Doin’ great Phil.” honey jars, wow they have way too much honey right now, they really should figure out what to do with them now that Techno’s vault is done.

“You can’t just say that every time I ask,” Phil says, “you’re clearly upset.”

“I’m good, I really like watching my friends cower away from me, you know that.” spider eyes, why do they have so many spider eyes? 

“He’s not- you know he’s not actually scared of you, he’s just- he’s a little off right now, you know that.” 

Techno scoffs, their brewing ingredients chest is full, lots of spider eyes, nothing to do with them.

“It’ll get better, he just needs to adjust, get some brain back.”

“What if he doesn’t?” Techno throws the eyes in a random chest.

“You know Tommy, kid gets into real bad situations, gets out, he’s weird for a little bit, but he bounces back.” 

“Not sure about that Phil.” Phil doesn’t say anything. Spider silk, that’s an easy one, into the crafting supply chest it goes.

“I- shit mate- I don’t know what to tell you. I can’t- I’m not a professional, I don’t know what to do other than just making him feel safe.” 

“And if that doesn’t work?” 

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. If we get there.” Phil says, I have no idea, he means.

Chapter Text

Tommy has been here for one whole day, he was fed human food for every meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner! Tommy’s gonna get fat staying here if they keep feeding him like this). He thinks Techno is avoiding him, which is weird, but whatever, maybe he just finds Tommy annoying, Dream says Tommy is pretty annoying, although much less now that he’s acting like a cat. Ranboo and Phil give him plenty of attention though! Ranboo generally just hovering around and watching Tommy and Phil chatting idly. Tommy likes listening to Phil talk, he doesn't usually actually listen to whatever Phil is talking about, but he lets Phil's voice wash over him while he drifts.

Neither of them pet him or invite him to cuddle very much, which is disappointing, but makes sense with how much of a fuss he used to throw about that kind of stuff. 

Tommy has been here for a couple days. Techno gets up at the same time every morning to check on his farms and Tommy watches him through the window. Techno seems to have gotten more used to it, no longer going about his work stiffly and robotically, but he does keep throwing glances at Tommy. Ranboo also comes out to help every morning, and he always waves at Tommy’s window when he does. Ranboo is weird, all of them are weird, but at least Ranboo is the same kind of weird that he's always been. 

Anyways, after Ranboo and Techno are done outside someone will come to get Tommy from the room for breakfast. Sometimes, if he’s lucky, Phil will come get him the moment he gets up and Tommy will be allowed to watch him make breakfast, which is almost always toast and eggs. Tommy never thought he would get tired of toast and eggs, but he’s starting to think that he will if Dream doesn’t come get him soon

Tommy is still getting three meals a day, although Phil is being weird and he keeps putting Tommy’s plate down further and further from the table, forcing Tommy out from under it. Tommy doesn’t really understand why he’s doing this. He understands that Phil doesn’t want Tommy sitting under the table sure, he probably realized that Ranboo is too fucking tall to sit at the table if Tommy is under it, but he doesn’t understand why he’s trying to lure Tommy out slowly when he could just tell Tommy that he doesn’t want Tommy under the table anymore.

Whatever, if Phil wants to do things the hard way then Tommy isn’t going to fight him. Tommy is almost totally out from under the table during meals now. 

Tommy is getting bored though, sure it’s perfectly interesting to look out the window and see all the animals doing their animal stuff, but while writing soap operas about the goings on of livestock is very mentally stimulating it’s not very physically satisfying, and with all the extra food he’s getting, Tommy is just overflowing with energy.

Normally when Dream is home he’ll play with Tommy, or do training, all of the toys for Tommy get put away when Dream leaves to make sure he doesn’t tear them up while unsupervised, but usually he’ll just zoom a bit to get out his energy when Dream is gone, at least when he actually has the energy.

But no one here plays with him, and they also don’t leave him alone in the house for long enough for Tommy to get any zoomies out, so he feels like there’s a buildup of energy in him that he has no outlet for. 

Ranboo’s tail is looking like a pretty good outlet.

In Tommy’s defense Ranboo is just standing there, reading the spines of the books on the shelf and his tail keeps swishing enticingly, the floof of soft fur on the end absolutely calling to Tommy. Tommy shifts in his spot under the coffee table, getting all four of his paws under him and creeping forward slightly. He’s tensing for the pounce when Techno grunts.

Tommy’s eyes snap to Techno, who’s lounging in an armchair book in hand, he’s watching Tommy. Tommy curls away from his gaze, ready to get punished for considering something so rude but Techno instead angles his head towards Ranboo and gives him a nod. Permission. Tommy has permission to harass Ranboo. It’s only the need for stealth that keeps a purr from rumbling up from Tommy’s chest.

He wiggles a bit, making sure he has good footing, and pounces.

Ranboo’s shout when he gets his tail under his paws is absolutely worth it.

“Wh- Tommy!” he yanks his tail out from Tommy’s grip, but Tommy is undeterred, swatting at it playfully, Techno is laughing, so it can’t be that much of an issue.

“Tommy! No! My tail is not a toy!” Ranboo shouts, trying to keep his tail out of Tommy’s reach, only succeeding in making the game even funner. 

“You sure?” Techno asks “because Tommy doesn’t think so.” 

“Phil!” Ranboo calls “Phil! Tommy and Techno are bullying me!” 

Tommy pauses where he is, Ranboo’s tail pinned under his paws as Phil wanders over from the kitchen.

“Phil help! Tommy won’t leave my tail alone! Techno is enabling him!” Phil looks like he’s trying very hard to not smile.

“Sorry mate, you’re on your own.” he turns back to the kitchen, an indirect approval of Tommy’s actions. 

“Phil, you traitor!” Ranboo accuses, starting Techno laughing again. Tommy’s tail lashes with excitement as Ranboo tries to pull his out from under Tommy’s paws again, eager to continue this game.

Tommy has been here for almost a week. Over the last couple days Phil has been talking about how Tommy might be more comfortable in fresher clothes, how maybe he wants to change, but he hasn’t actually made any attempts to change Tommy, so yeah, no clue what's going on there.

Today though, Phil asks Tommy to follow him back to the guest room after breakfast, some cloth bundled in his arms. 

“I thought you might be more comfortable in this.” Phil says once they’re in the room, he presents Tommy with a soft navy blue jumper, which Tommy sniffs respectfully. It smells faintly of Wilbur.

Tommy lets out a little murrp of agreement and sits back, prepared for Phil to start changing him. Phil just presents him with the jumper again.

Tommy makes a sound of agreement again.

Phil presents the jumper.

Tommy picks up his front paws so Phil can more easily pull the old jumper off.

Phil just looks confused.

Tommy meets his eyes, ear twitching with his impatience.

“Oh.” Phil says, softly, like he just realized something. He puts the jumper down and grabs the hem of Tommy’s current jumper then pauses, looking for Tommy like he wants permission.

Tommy just tries to give him a look that communicates how tired he is of this process.

Phil pulls his jumper off.

It’s a relief to be out of the old thing, it’s been getting gross from the over use. Tommy shakes himself off trying to rid his skin of the feeling of the old fabric sliding over it. His collar, freed from under the turtle neck of the jumper, jingles softly, the tag and golden bell clinking pleasantly. 

“What’s that?” Phil asks, Tommy stills as his fingers run over the soft dyed leather before he takes the tag to examine, Tommy knows what's on the tag, “Tommy” clearly printed on one side and Dream's signature smile on the other. Tommy still remembers how resistant he was to the idea of being collared the first time he saw it. Now he thinks he would feel naked without it.

( “so everyone knows that you belong to me now.” Dream had said while he fastened the collar on, “I’m sure you won’t try to run away, but if anything ever did happen, anyone who saw this would know to return you to me.” )

“oh.” Phil says again.

Tommy huffs softly. He’s not a stray anymore, obviously he has a collar, weird thing for Phil to be getting stuck on.

“Do you want that off mate? Must not be comfortable.” Phil's hands wander towards the buckle and Tommy wrenches away with a hiss.

The collar doesn’t come off. Ever. Dream had been very clear about that. Besides, the binding curse on it is painfully strong.

Tommy freezes once he’s out of Phil’s grip though, he’s not supposed to hiss at people, but he’s also not supposed to let anyone take the collar off, which is the worse offense? Phil holds up his hands placatingly.

“Sorry ‘bout that, didn’t know it was that important to you.” Phil grabs the new jumper and offers it to Tommy. Tommy decides that it's safe to come close again, at least so Phil can put the new jumper on him. He probably just didn’t know, Tommy reasons, it’s clear that Dream had to be off in such a hurry that he couldn’t give his pet sitters even basic feeding instructions, so the fact that he didn’t mention the collar makes sense. It was probably surprising to see after knowing Tommy as a stray for so long.

The new jumper is a crewneck, so the collar is clearly visible now, and free enough to jingle whenever Tommy moves. He missed that sound, the familiarity of it is soothing.

It’s also kind of funny to see how everyone jumps a bit when they hear it, you would think they’d never seen a cat with a bell before.

Tommy has been here for a little over a week, and he hasn’t been punished once. At first he thought that his sitters were simply compiling a list of his wrong doings to report to Dream when he came to pick him up, but now he thinks they’re just really, really permissive pet owners.

Which is the only reason why he’s even considering what he’s currently considering.

Ranboo went out mining today, he has a strip mine that he works on where he makes long, thin tunnels all over the SMP, at least according to Techno, since Tommy has obviously never been there. Ranboo apparently lost track of time, having gotten so stuck in the action of picking up blocks, which scratched an enderman itch in his mind, that he had forgotten to get back before sunset. This meant he was a little beaten up when he got back to the house.

Not badly, of course, not nearly badly enough to justify the use of a whole golden apple. Techno gave him one anyways.

So here Tommy is, sitting on the floor in front of the couch, watching Ranboo chat with Phil and Techno, half eaten gapple loosely held in one hand. Tommy wants that gapple. Tommy hasn’t had anything sweet in ages and he used to absolutely adore gapples. 

He hops up on the couch next to Ranboo, who just gives him a little smile in response. No one here cares about Tommy getting on the furniture, which Tommy supposes makes sense, between Techno and Ranboo there’s already plenty of fur caked on their furniture, Tommy doesn’t make much of a difference. 

Tommy pretends to settle down next to Ranboo, to get him to let his guard down, but his eyes never leave the gapple, waiting for the opportunity he needs.

It's not long before it comes along, Ranboo holds the gapple close enough that Tommy is able to lean forward and sink his teeth in.

It crunches just perfectly in his jaws, sweet-tart juice floods his tongue and Tommy wants more than anything to eat it right there, but no, that could lose him the rest of the gapple.

Instead he leaps over the back of the couch, off the tall, thin table behind it, hearing Ranboo’s shout and the sound of clutter falling off the table behind him without looking back (he swears that despite the cleaning session when Tommy got here, the house has ended up even more cluttered over the week, a strong departure from Dream’s clinically neat home). 

He bolts to the guest room and squeezes under the bed, behind the excess blankets and dust bunnies that have made their home there. Here, no one can get him, except maybe Ranboo, but Tommy frankly doesn’t think he has the spine to take his shit back.

“Tommy!” Ranboo’s feet come into view, he gets down on his hands and knees and peers under the bed “Tommy, that’s gross.” he says. Tommy takes a bite of the gapple, it’s literally perfect, he couldn't agree with Ranboo less.

“Don’t- don’t eat that, Techno will get you your own gapple, one that’s not half eaten.” Ranboo bargains, but Tommy isn’t falling for that.

“Techno will what?” Techno asks.

“Well, you would.” Phil agrees. Tommy continues eating his gapple.

“I’m not gonna let him eat through all my gapples.” Techno says.

“Techno, he’s eating a half eaten gapple, please.”

“He’s eaten grosser things.”

“That- it’s got my saliva all over it!”

“Why were you drooling all over that gapple?” 

“Wh- no! I was- I was eating that!”

“Then you shouldn’t have let Tommy take it.” 

Ranboo groans and sits back, then peers under the bed again.

“You won this time, don’t think it will happen again.” Ranboo warns. Tommy takes another bite of the gapple.

“Alright, alright everybody, leave him alone.” Phil says, Tommy flicks his tail happily, he’ll have to find some way to repay Phil for getting everyone off his back.

Tommy crunches on the gapple and listens to his sitters milling around in the rest of the house. That’s another thing that's different here, there’s always the sound of someone else doing things, whereas with Dream even with his owner was home, he would go long, long stretches of time just sitting silently and reading or working on a project.

Tommy is almost done with the gapple when he hears hooves coming back towards the room and Techno enters. Tommy stiffens. Was this the last straw? Was Techno here to punish him? He seemed like he thought it was funny before but was that just an act? 

Techno crouches and Tommy prepares for the worst, but instead a golden apple is rolled under the bed. 

“You uh- good job today.” Techno stands and walks away, and wow these people are weird, not just permitting bad behavior, but rewarding it? That’s gonna leave Tommy so confused by the time he goes back home but… he hopes Dream lets Techno pet sit him more in the future.

Tommy has been here for a week and a half when Techno changes their regular morning schedule. Tommy, having heard Techno shuffling around upstairs, is already perched on the box, waiting to watch Techno work, but Techno doesn’t go right out like he always does, instead he putters around in the kitchen.

Weird, in all the time Tommy has been here the morning routine has never changed. Tommy sits stiffly, only the tip of his tail twitching as he hears Techno approach. Techno doesn’t seem surprised to see Tommy awake. He holds out a plate and Tommy can smell cooked cod, he licks his lips, fish has mostly been phased out of his diet in the time he’s been here and he’s honestly surprised he hasn’t gotten sick from eating so much junk yet. 

All of that is besides the point though, the point is that Techno is offering a treat before breakfast.

“You can have this, but you have to come outside with me.” Techno says as he grabs one of the extra blankets off the floor. 

This is a test. This has to be a test, there is no reason to offer him a treat to break one of the most important rules other than to test him. Tommy curls up tighter on the box.

“Come on, just out on the porch, keep me company while I work.” Tommy shakes his head, he’s a good kitty, he’s an indoor cat, he stays inside.

“It’s just the porch, that’s basically part of the house.” Tommy doesn’t move, Techno sighs.

“Look, Tommy, this isn’t a- I’m not trying to get you in trouble with Dream or anything, I’m asking you to do this because I really do want the company. Dream left us in charge right? So, you’re under our rules, and uh- my rules are that the porch is basically the house.”

Tommy narrows his eyes. He- he can probably trust Techno, right? His logic is sound, and if he really does just want Tommy out on the porch then, well, that kind of makes sense. Dream didn’t have a porch, so they never had to define if it counted as inside or outside, if Techno counts it as inside then that's not really breaking the rules, is it? 

He hops off the box. 

Techno nods at him.

Tommy is still hesitant at the backdoor. The cold stings his nose and the smell of livestock is stronger out here It also doesn’t help that there’s a fucking bear waiting at the foot of the stairs and yeah, Tommy knows that he’s Techno’s outdoor pet but he knows from his own experience that outdoor pets can be absolutely vicious. 

Techno nudges him with his hoof and Tommy scrambles onto the porch, cold, smooth wood under his paws. Techno drapes the blanket over him and sets the plate of fish down. 

“See, not too bad.” Techno says. Tommy huffs, but eats his treat. 

He’s long done with it by the time that Ranboo comes out of his shack. Ranboo perks up immediately upon seeing Tommy out on the porch, his usual morning wave much more enthusiastic. He beelines to Tommy instead of going to help Techno.

“Hi Tommy!” he says, he’s smiling with teeth and everything, not bothering to cover his fangs “it’s cool to see you out here this morning!” he kneels and offers his forehead for a friendly headbutt, which Tommy accepts. Ranboo takes the opportunity to also rub their cheeks together, trading scents. Dream says that scent marking is rude and possessive, Tommy isn’t allowed to do it much at home, but Ranboo keeps initiating moments like this. 

Tommy thinks it’s just because endermen are weird. 

“Are you gonna help or are you gonna spend all day with Tommy?” Techno calls, throwing another bail of hay in with the cattle. 

“Oh, right, sorry!” Ranboo hops up, then looks back at Tommy “you should come out here more!” Tommy just stares back. Ranboo’s smile falters, teeth back behind his lips. He leaves to help Techno.

Tommy is listening to Phil moving around in the house when he hears a new voice shout. He jumps, whoever this is, they move through the snow silently. 

“Hello Technobalde! Hello Ranboo! How are you? How’s Friend?” a familiar echoey voice asks as Ghostbur floats around the side of the house.

Dream really should thank Tommy for getting him interested in psychology. He had always known he had a talent for getting people to do what he wanted. He had a certain charm that had people trusting him, liking him, following him. It wasn’t until Tommy that he had the challenge required to refine it. 

The whole disk thing was a start, it taught him the importance of attachments, taught him to keep an eye on people and what they loved and how he could use that. It’s a crude method, but a good one for pushing people to do what he wants, especially when they already dislike him. 

Dream doesn’t want people to dislike him though.

Dream likes being liked. 

So he started doing research. 

It is shockingly easy to get one's hands on step by step guides on how to brainwash someone. He thinks the point of these guides is to help people to not fall for brainwashing techniques, but that doesn’t make them any less helpful for Dream’s purposes.

Once Dream has his research done it’s time to put it to use, and he knows exactly who he wants to use it on. It doesn’t take long to get an excuse to start his plan. 

Dream demands exile for what is honestly a pretty minor crime. He knows it’ll make him the villain, but that’s ok, once Tommy is cut off from the rest of the server it shouldn’t be too hard to get everyone back under his sway. 

Exile is important though, he needs Tommy in a vulnerable position, he needs Tommy to- what did the books call it? He needs him to “unfreeze”. That will make him malleable, make it easy for Dream to make him what he wants.

Unfreezing requires Tommy to be put in a vulnerable position, one where he questions his life and identity.

It’s harder than Dream expected.

Tommy is a deeply annoying person, and Dream is genuinely surprised at the amount of people who are insistent on visiting him, and every time Dream feels like he’s making progress Ghostbur or Ranboo or “Mexican Dream” will show up and undo it.

How is he supposed to make an unbearably optimistic kid fall into abject hopelessness when people keep showing up and helping him? 

It’s not all bad though, spying on Tommy while he spends time with Ranboo reveals some interesting information. Tommy is insecure about his hybrid type.

Dream knew he was sensitive to jokes about it, but the absolute hissy fit he throws when Ranboo tries to greet him with a friendly headbutt? Wow. He goes on and on about how he’s “not some stupid little kitty-cat” and “not a fucking pet, or stray, or pest” and “he’s not throwing a hissy fit! He’s not! People treat him like he’s a cute angry little kitten and he’s not!”  he paces and swings his stone sword at the tall grass as he rants, Ranboo stands awkwardly.

“I was just doing it because it’s an enderman thing. If you don’t want me to then…” Watching Tommy’s face go red is amazing.

“No, it’s fine, do your weird enderman shit, just don’t go telling people that I was doing cat shit.” 

Dream can tell Tommy likes it when Ranboo knocks their heads together with a little vurrup, and that’s valuable information, because if Tommy has been repressing his cat side, then it must be absolutely starving for attention. 

Despite Tommy’s protests, Dream thinks Tommy would make a wonderful pet.

For now though, he also needs to exhaust the human half of Tommy, which means getting rid of all the pesky people visiting.

No one notices MD’s death.

Ghostbur “wandering off” doesn’t seem all that odd

Ranboo… he’s a bit more of an issue. Endermen are, Dream quickly comes to realize, basically very big cats. He always greets Tommy with friendly headbutts and purrs that Tommy responds to with his own purrs and murrps, and he engages in weird cat shit like batting balled up pieces of paper back and forth and sitting with him while they both watch the most boring shit imaginable, like an ant crawling across a rock. This makes Ranboo an even worse issue, because if Ranboo is giving attention to both Tommy’s human and cat side, it’s going to be even harder to get Tommy totally dependent on him. 

Luckily the party and the escalating tensions in L’Manburg take care of him before Dream is forced to do anything drastic.

The party though, that was amazing, that’s when Tommy’s cracks really started showing. That’s when Dream figured out exactly what he was going to do with Tommy.

“They- they really couldn’t be bothered to come out for one day.” Tommy says, staring at the cake in front of him. His voice shakes. Dream shrugs, picks up a fork and picks at the cake. He doesn’t say anything, just lets Tommy stew. 

“I sometimes I- fuck-” Tommy’s voice breaks and he buries his face in his hands desperately holding back tears. He’s so soft like this, practically puddy.

“Sometimes what?” Dream asks, Tommy shakes his head, “ok, you can take your time.” Gentle, he should be gentle right now, Tommy is already beating himself up, Dream needs to offer kindness, make himself the “good cop” to the “bad cops” that Tommy’s friends have become. Tommy takes a few breaths.

“It’s fuckin’ stupid.” he says.

“That’s ok, I’d still like to hear it.” Tommy looks up at him with these absolutely adorable watery eyes, all full of hope, like he’s desperate for someone to open up to. He probably is, that’s kinda the whole point of exile.

“I- sometimes I worry…” Tommy pauses, he’s choosing his words carefully, “that maybe my friends don’t actually- don’t see me as their friend?” he swallows, eyes flicking over the table’s wood grain rather than Dreams face, but his words pick up in speed and confidence, “Like they actually see me as like- an annoying pet. Wilbur’s annoying pet that they’re just stuck with because he killed himself and didn’t bother to get me put down first. An- and they just put up with me because they liked Wilbur and they pity me.” 

He curls his claws into the table leaving gouges that he stares at.

That

That is absolute fucking gold! It takes a lot of effort for Dream to school his face into something sympathetic rather than a sadistic grin. Part of him wishes he had his mask on, but he had long started taking it off on his visits with Tommy to make him feel special. To make him associate feeling special with Dream.

“I don’t think that’s stupid.” Dream tells him, Tommy makes eye contact again, Dream gives him a slow blink, the way Antfrost showed him. Tommy returns it, although Dream isn’t sure that that’s a conscious action or instinct.

“You- you don’t?” Tommy asks.

“No, I think you’re right- at least, looking at the way they treat you, I mean, I’m the only one who visits other than Ranboo, and I don’t know if you know this, but Ranboo is just a crazy cat person, he goes out of his way to visit every cat he can.”

“That’s not- you don’t think he just visits me because of my hybrid type do you?” Tommy’s tail curls into his lap and his ears droop even more.

“I think-” Dream needs to be careful here “that you know how he treats you better than I do.” he can see the gears turning in Tommy’s head, can see every moment he and Ranboo spent doing hybrid shit getting tainted by doubt. He continues.

“At least you know I don’t just put up with you for Wilbur’s sake,” Tommy sniffles and focuses on him again “I mean, I could barely stand Wilbur, but I like you, I think you have a lot of potential.” 

“Yeah?” Tommy asks, whipping his nose on his tattered sleeve. Gross .

“Yeah.” Dream says, reaching out and running his fingers through Tommy’s hair like he’s petting a cat. Tommy freezes, but doesn’t pull away.

From that point on, Dream has a solid idea for what he’s going to do with Tommy. It’s outlandish to be sure, but he’s curious. How much can he bend someone’s beliefs?

He visits Tommy as much as he can manage, although he doesn’t always tell him. Spying wasn’t uncommon before but now he feels like he spends more time watching Tommy than he does anything else. 

He comes up with a story that fits the ideas that Tommy already has in his head and he drops hints, frequently enough that even someone as dumb as Tommy can pick up on them, but not so often that he picks up on the manipulation. 

“I dunno, maybe if you feel out of place with other people there’s a reason?”

“It’s ok if you don’t really get human stuff, Tommy.” 

“You know, you mispronounce a lot of stuff, no offense though, it’s impressive that your speech is as good as it is.”

“Is it comfortable for you to walk like that? On your back legs I mean… ok, I guess that makes sense, you’ve been doing it for a while.” 

“Man, with the amount of bread and carrots and shit that you eat I’m surprised that you don’t get sick! Why? Because your digestive system isn’t really made for it?” 

If it was anyone other than Tommy Dream would think he was laying it on a little thick, but Tommy just looks at him and his one ear does the little tilt it does when he’s thinking and then he accepts it. Dream is making good progress.

Then he finds Tommy’s stash.

He’ll admit, he went off the handle at first. He had thought they were making progress! He had thought that Tommy trusted him. He had thought that Tommy trusted that he could rely on him.

But apparently not.

He’s just taken enough obsidian out of Tommy’s portal to leave it non functional when he actually looks at the kid’s face.

He’s fucking shattered.

He’s got tear tracks all down his face, snot running from his nose, he’s ugly crying all the way, hiccuping his way through apologies. 

“I’m sorry!” he’s saying “please Dream, I’m sorry I won’t do it again, I’m so sorry- I- I- fuck- I don’t know why I thought that was a good idea I’m-” he breaks off into another sobbing fit and Dream is filled with so much satisfaction that he can’t stay mad. He lets himself relax, digs the pickax into the ground and approaches Tommy. The kid doesn’t even notice until Dream reaches out and strokes his hair, something else he’s been desensitizing Tommy to. 

“Actually, I think I should be the one saying sorry here.” Dream tells him, his face schooled into the picture of sympathetic concern. Tommy sniffles and stares at him in confusion.

“I haven’t been totally honest with you Tommy, nobody has, and I thought that it might help to kind of slowly ease you into the truth, but at this point I think waiting is doing more harm than good.” 

“Dream?” Tommy asks, and again there are those big watery blue eyes that Dream just loves to see.

“You know how you’ve said that you don’t feel like you fit in with other people? And how you feel like everyone just sees you as Wilbur’s pet or a pest?”

“Uh- yeah?” Tommy asks, Dream takes a deep breath, like he’s about to tell Tommy something that pains him to say.

“You’re right.” 

Tommy just stares at him. Dream continues.

“I thought it was super fucked up from the start, I mean, I think everyone did. I mean? Watching Wilbur train some weird exotic cat to think it’s a person? Like, that’s gotta be at least a dozen different kinds of animal abuse! But he had you so deep in, walking like a person, mimicking conversations, thinking that you were really having ideas and thoughts like the rest of us, it was insane, and none of us really knew what to do. What are you supposed to do with an animal that psychologically damaged? And besides, you were with Wilbur all the time, we were all worried about what he would do.” 

“No. no that’s not-” Tommy shakes his head frantically.

“It is,” Dream tells him “you know it is, you don’t feel like you quite fit with people, every conversation feels like is has a level that you’re not getting, you try to do things like other people do and you just can’t, look at your builds Tommy, everyone tells you they’re not right but you just can't understand why.”

“That’s not- it-” Tommy’s at a tipping point, Dream can tell, whatever he says next will either fuck up all his hard work or will cement everything in place.

He takes Tommy’s face in his hands and forces him to look at him.

“It’s not your fault Tommy, none of what’s happened has been your fault, you were just put into terrible circumstances by someone you trusted.” 

Tommy stares, breath hiccuping before launching himself into Dream's arms.

“I just wanna fix it.” Tommy says into his chest. He’s probably getting disgusting tears and snot all over Dream’s hoodie, but it’s a small price to pay for this leap in progress.

“I know you do.” Dream says, rubbing his hand up and down Tommy’s back “you never met for anyone to get hurt, you didn’t want to be a burden on Wilbur’s friends after he died. That’s why I’m trying to help you Tommy, you know that’s what I’m doing right? Helping you?”

Tommy pauses, hesitantly nods against Dream’s chest.

“I’m glad you see that. I’m sorry I lost my temper, I just thought you were doing so well learning to be a cat and learning that you were hiding things from me, well it made me feel like I was failing you.” 

“I don’t wanna be a cat.” Tommy says.

“Yeah, but we can’t help what we are, I’m sorry that Wilbur confused you so badly, but I promise things will be better for you if you just trust me, ok?” 

There’s another pause, longer than before.

“I wanna be better.” he says, starting to sob again “I just wanna- feel better- feel ok.” 

“I know, we’re gonna work on that ok? It’ll be uncomfortable at first, but once you settle in I promise you’ll feel so much better. You just have to trust me and do as I say, can you do that?”

Tommy doesn’t move, doesn’t speak, just breaths against Dream’s chest.

“Tommy, can you do that for me?” 

He nods.

“Perfect.” Dream adjusts them so Tommy is next to him, tucked under his arm, “now let's get going.”

“Wh- going? Where?” Tommy tries to pull away but Dream just holds him tighter.

“I have a base set up, one where we can stay and I can help you, it’ll work better than here, I think having to do so much survival work is hindering your progress.” 

“But- I can’t leave, how will people find me?” Tommy pushes against Dream’s side.

“Tommy, when was the last time you had a visitor?” Tommy quiets, “that’s what I thought. Don’t worry about them, the only thing you have to worry about right now is yourself.” Tommy nods gravely. He’s quiet for the whole walk to Dream’s base, and Dream didn’t even have to tell him to do that.

It isn’t totally smooth sailing after getting Tommy home, but it’s easier than Dream anticipated.

Tommy puts up only the most cursory resistance to most of the dehumanization tactics Dream uses on him, and that resistance is usually easily broken down with some guilt tripping about how Dream is just trying to help and it really feels like Tommy doesn’t appreciate all the work he’s putting in. 

And when it isn’t? Well, Tommy has come to understand that Dream punishes him out of love.

And Dream has found some creative ways to prove his points, even if it occasionally means he has to clean puke up off the floor. 

It doesn’t even take a full year for Dream to end up with a very obedient pet. One that eats right out of his palm and doesn’t even think about leaving him.

Dream knows there must be something wrong with him. That he’d enjoy something like this. He knows that a normal person would be disgusted seeing a teenage hybrid act the way Tommy does, knows that the thrill of delight he gets watching Tommy eat right out of his hand or waiting for permission to curl up on the couch isn’t normal. There’s a lot about this that crosses lines that his theft and manipulation elsewhere didn’t cross.

He doesn’t really care.

He likes having such an interesting pet.

There is one unfortunate thing about having pets on his server.

Something always happens to them.

Of course, Dream isn’t thinking about that when he takes a couple weeks to hang out in the main part of the SMP. He’s done it before and Tommy has always been fine. He’s actually thinking about installing a food dispenser that drops something every few days while Dream is gone so he can do this kind of thing for longer. After all, Tommy knows well that his food comes from Dream, he can afford to be lax every once in a while. 

He’s trying to figure out the redstone that would be involved in that on his way to his secret nether portal. Tommy’s water dispenser is just set on a daylight sensor to refill his bowl every morning, but setting a dispenser to go off every few days would be more complicated.

He thinks about asking Sam as he strips off his nethertie in his secret base under the house, he’s not sure how he would justify the question, but given Sam’s willingness to build the prison with basically no questions he’s not sure Sam would even think to ask. 

On the elevator ride up he decides to experiment himself before then. It’ll give him time to spend in the house with Tommy and he can frame it as him working on a reward for the little catboy’s good behavior while he was gone. He doesn’t doubt for a minute that Tommy was good while he was gone. Tommy is always good these days.

Except Tommy doesn’t meet him at the door.

Tommy always meets him at the door, it’s become a highlight of coming home for Dream. 

At first he thinks Tommy might be napping, but no, his nest is a mess, and his favorite blanket is missing. He storms though the house, Tommy has to be somewhere in the house, Tommy wouldn’t even think about going outside these days. 

But he’s not in the kitchen or the bathroom or bedroom, and there is a used plate and pan in the sink, a clear sign that someone else was here. Tommy could barely use a pan without burning everything to it even before becoming Dream’s pet, so he knows it must be someone else. 

That person must have taken Tommy. Dream knows Tommy better than anyone at this point, and he knows that Tommy wouldn’t leave on his own.

And while there’s no real evidence Dream has a pretty good idea of who that person might have been.

He thinks he might pay the arctic commune a visit.

Chapter Text

Tommy huddles under the blanket that Techno gave him. 

He doesn’t want to be outside anymore. 

Dream was right, outside is dangerous. Anyone can just wander up while you’re outside and you won’t be able to do anything to stop them. Techno and Ranboo just wave at Ghostbur without a care though, like he’s not the ghost of one of the most manipulative people on the server.

“She needs sheared.” Techno says, waving to the blue sheep, “we didn’t want to do it while you were out though.” 

“Oh! Thank you for waiting!” Ghostbur says as he floats over to the pen. The blue sheep (friend? Was that Ghostbur called her?) also seems unaware of the potential danger Ghostbur puts her in, and is pacing at the fence gate and baaing for attention.

“Hello Friend!” Ghostbur says, taking her face into his hands, “oh your wool has gotten very long hasn’t it? But you need it to be warm don’t you? Techno, will he be cold if we take his wool?”

“I have a coat for her.” Techno says “It’s going to cause more problems if we leave it.”

“Ok, a coat is good.” Ghostbur turns back to Friend and pets over her face gently, Tommy can just barely hear him praising her from where he sits on the porch. Ghostbur is really nice, Tommy remembers that, but Dream has taught him well that nice doesn’t always mean good.

Maybe he can get back inside if he moves slowly? Then Ghostbur won’t notice him and it will be fine.

He starts his slow creep backwards, with the blanket that Techno gave him draped over him he’s sure that he’s almost imperceptible.

Except to Ranboo, who’s looking at him with confusion, head cocked and ears tilted slightly.

“Hey Tommy, what are you doing?” he asks, because he has no common sense, apparently. Ghostbur’s head snaps around, no longer paying attention to Techno handling the shears and asking about help flipping the sheep.

“Tommy?” Ghostbur asks, there’s excitement in his voice as his eyes trace over the porch. “Is Tommy here? Where?” 

“Oh uh, he’s under the blanket.” Ranboo says innocently, the poor naive idiot not seeming to realize what he’s doing. Ghostbur grins wide and claps before bouncing up to the porch and peering at Tommy between the railing rails.

“Hi Tommy!” he chirps, “I missed you! I went to hand out party invitations but then Dream said he’d to it for me and I should go explore a bit, then I went on an adventure and I found Friend and Techno got to see New L’Manburg, and then I went to visit you but you were gone and everything was all messed up and Dream said you were gone forever but I didn’t think that sounded right because I don’t think I’d be here if you weren’t still here."

Tommy stares at him wide eyed and frozen, not sure what else to do. He glances over Ghostbur's shoulder at Ranboo, who just looks at him with confusion, like he doesn’t understand why Tommy wouldn’t be super keen on seeing Ghostbur.

“Are you gonna help with Friend or not?” Techno asks, still holding the shears. Ghostbur finally takes his eyes off Tommy for just a moment.

“Oh but Techno, Tommy is here! I didn’t know that Tommy was here!” he says, Techno sighs heavily and looks at Tommy, who definitely doesn’t look like he’s having a good time right now.

“Yes, I know he’s here, you can say hi later, right now we need to shear Friend.” Techno says, “Ranboo, can you take him back in? Let Phil know that Ghostbur is here.” 

“Yeah, I can do that.” Ranboo says, climbing onto the porch, “Come on.” he says as he opens the door, and Tommy doesn’t need any more encouragement to scramble inside, barely squeezing in at the slightest crack.

“Oh, uh, alright.” Ranboo says, closing the door behind them. Tommy halts once he’s inside, not sure what to do now. Phil pokes his head out of the kitchen to look at them.

“Is everything ok?” he asks, Ranboo shrugs.

“Ghostbur just got here, I think Tommy’s upset about it? Not sure why.” Ranboo says. Tommy wants to bite him for being so stupid. Obviously he’s upset! That should be clear just by looking at him, bottle brush tail and ears pinned and back arched, and obviously it’s Ghostbur that upset him! Don’t they know what Wilbur did to him! Don’t they understand how damaging that relationship was?

“Well, I’ve heard their relationship before Wil died was… complicated. It might have to do with that.” Phil says. 

Complicated. Because that’s how you explain a mad man training a cat to act like a human.

“Should we make him leave?” Ranboo asks, Tommy lets out a chirp of agreement. Yes, yes they should absolutely ask Ghostbur to leave. Phil just shakes his head.

“No, I don’t think that would be the best decision.” Fuck Philza Minecraft, he is now on Tommy’s least trusted person’s list. Tommy glances around for somewhere to hide before they let that absolute monster inside. “We should keep an eye on them to make sure Ghostbur doesn’t overwhelm Tommy though. I don’t think he’ll understand…” 

Fuck no Ghostbur won’t understand, Alivebur didn’t even understand! Or maybe he did and just didn’t care about how much he was hurting Tommy. Fuck Tommy probably has perminant phisical damage from Wilbur’s fucked up training. He’s still not totally comfortable on all fours because of him.

He squeezes his way under the couch. It’s a tight fit, even more than the bed, but no one in the house will be able to reach him under here and he’ll still be able to watch everyone move around.

“Hey!” Ranboo says, getting onto his hands and knees to look at Tommy, “what are you doing?” Tommy thrashes his tail and flicks an ear at Ranboo. It should be pretty fucking obvious what he’s doing. He’s hiding from Ghostbur.

“What’s he up to?” Phil asks.

“I think he’s hiding? Come on Tommy, you don’t have to do that, no one here is gonna hurt you.” Tommy bares his teeth, even though he’s really not supposed to. It makes Ranboo back off and that’s all that matters.

“Alright, Tommy, you can stay.”  Ranboo stands and leaves Tommy to go help Phil in the kitchen. Tommy trashes his tail and settles in to stay under the couch until Ghostbur leaves. He might have to miss a few meals but that’s fine, he’s getting overfed here anyways. 

It's not long before Techno and Ghostbur come inside, Ghostbur chattering about how wonderful Friend the sheep is. Tommy watches as Techno’s hooves pass by his hiding spot without hesitation and as Ghostbur mostly floats past. Occasionally he’ll take a step or two like he suddenly remembered that that’s supposed to be how he moves, but his feet don’t quite make contact with the ground.

“Where’s Tommy?” Techno asks.

“Tommy’s here?” Ghostbur asks, Tommy cringes at the fact that they reminded Ghostbur of his presence, “oh I’d love to see Tommy, I haven’t seen him in so long!” 

“Maybe later.” Phil says, “He’s a bit, um, overwhelmed right now.” Tommy decides that maybe Phil isn’t totally untrustworthy. 

Tommy watches as Ghostbur joins the group for breakfast in the usually unused chair. He’s given a plate with just a bit of food on it, presumably because he doesn’t actually need to eat, but simply wants to feel included.

“Speaking of Tommy,” Phil says, his voice edged with nervousness, “what do you remember from his exile?” 

“What exile?” Ghostbur asks. Tommy cringes from under the couch. He does not want to hear about “exile”. He knows that it was what was best for him and that Tubbo and Dream were just trying to get him to a place where he could recover and learn how to be a cat again but that doesn’t mean it didn’t suck.

“When Tommy had to leave L’manburg with Dream? Do you remember that?” Phil asks. 

“Oh yeah, vacation!” Ghostbur says, “yeah, I was helping Tommy improve his building skills. I made him a cabin and everything.” Tommy remembers that, Ghostbur patiently trying to teach him how to make things look nice . Looking back Tommy wonders if Ghostbur even knows that Tommy is a cat, or if he simply wholeheartedly believes the lies he told while alive. He just seemed so sincere about teaching Tommy how to build. 

Then again, Alivebur had always seemed sincere about Tommy being his brother before.

“Interesting, what else was happening while you were there?” Phil asks.

“Well, Dream used to visit a lot.” Ghostbur says, Phil makes an encouraging sound, “sometimes he would go spend time with Tommy when he visited, but sometimes he would just kinda watch him.” weird, Tommy didn’t know that Dream had been watching him. It makes sense though, if he was going to successfully rehabilitate Tommy he was going to need to observe him.

“And Tommy didn’t know he was there while he was watching?” Phil asks.

“Um, no, I don’t think so.” Ghostbur says.

“Hm, anything else happen?” Phil asks.

“Um, that’s all that I remember, but I wasn’t there for the whole thing.” Tommy is surprised to hear Ghostbur own up to that. He thought the ghost might try to pretend he hadn’t simply gotten bored of Tommy and left him.

“Why not?”

“Well, Tommy didn’t want me there anymore.” Ghostbur lies. Tommy can feel his fur prickling again as he digs his claws into the hardwood under him. He’s really going to pin his absence on Tommy?

“What? No, Tommy- I thought- I don’t remember Tommy ever saying he didn’t you around,” Ranboo says, “I mean, I guess I wasn’t there much but I feel like that doesn’t sound right.” 

Fuck yeah, Ranboo calling out bullshit!

“Well that’s what Dream told me,” Ghostbur chirps, “he said that Tommy told him that he doesn’t want me around, and that he would be mad if I kept showing up, and that I should go take a long walk in the tundra.”

It takes all of Tommy’s will to not storm out from under the couch hissing and spitting at such blatant lies. Dream would never chase Ghostbur away! And he certainly wouldn’t blame Tommy! Dream isn’t a liar! 

“That sounds like it was upsetting.” Phil prods, Ghostbur hums.

“Well, sometimes people don’t want me around because of what Alivebur did, and if Tommy felt that way then I’m glad that Dream told me, I wouldn’t want to upset Tommy…” he sounds strangely… distant as he says this, and Tommy can imagine the blank look that would be in his eyes. Ghostbur sounds… hurt.

“It's strange that he wouldn’t tell you directly.” Phil says, Ghostbur hums.

“I guess… can we talk about something different? How’s Friend been?” Ghostbur changes the subject, leaving Tommy’s tail swishing in annoyance. 

Is no one going to call him out? Tell him that Dream wouldn’t lie like that? Unless…

Tommy’s tail stills as he thinks.

Ghostbur isn’t like Wilbur, not really. He did always seem to have the best intentions, it isn’t really his fault that he didn’t know Tommy was a cat. He would have been just as confused as Tommy. Sure, that wouldn’t make him continuing to treat Tommy like a person ok but it would be understandable, not something that he could help. With that in mind, Tommy can imagine Dream telling Ghostbur that he can’t spend time around Tommy anymore. He wouldn’t have lied, but Ghostbur could have easily misunderstood.

Dream would have been looking out for Tommy, like always.

“Hi Tommy!” Tommy jumps at Ghostbur’s suddenly very close voice, bumping his head painfully on the couch above him. Ghosbur’s boots are visible just behind the couch, the toes of them very close to the tip of Tommy’s tail, which sticks out from under the couch slightly.

Tommy doesn’t move or make a sound. Ghostbur lays on the ground, cheek pressed against the hardwood, milky white eyes staring through Tommy. 

“Are you hiding?” Ghostbur asks with a smile. Tommy curls his tail in tighter even though the hiding spot has already been found.

“This is a good spot, it’s very small, so it’d be hard to get you out.” Ghostbur compliments. Tommy still stays frozen. Ghostbur’s smile falters.

“I’m glad you're ok,” Ghostbur says, “people were saying that you weren’t ok and I was scared. A lot of people were scared and upset, you know? I care about you, and a lot of other people care about you, even if sometimes it feels like they don’t.”

Ghostbur once again pauses like he expects Tommy to say something, but Tommy doesn’t. Obviously.

“Are you feeling sad?” Ghostbur asks, “I know sometimes it’s hard to talk while sad, and that’s ok.” 

Tommy is not feeling sad. He’s feeling… he doesn’t know what he’s feeling, other than confused.

“Here,” Ghostbur reaches under the couch and Tommy flinches back slightly, ears pinning, but Ghostbur doesn’t try to touch him, he just sets something lumpy and blue down in front of Tommy, “have some blue.” 

Oh.

Tommy had almost forgotten about blue. It’s strange but seeing it again, having it presented to him so earnestly, makes tears spring into his eyes. He paws the blue closer, it stains his pads a brilliant lapis. It’s a nice color though, nostalgic.

“Ranboo, do you want to show Ghostbur your mine?” Phil asks, from the kitchen. Tommy can’t see him with Ghostbur blocking his view, can't see anyone actually.

“Wh- why would-” Ranboo starts, then pauses as Ghostbur sits up “oh! Oooh, right! Yeah! Absolutely, come see my mine, Ghostbur!” Ranboo says. Ghostbur bounces back up to his feet with a grin.

“Yes I’d love to see your mine!” Ghostbur says eagerly, floating away from the couch. 

“Great, this will be tons of fun, I promise.” Ranboo says. Tommy hears the door open.

“Oh, I’m-” Tommy doesn’t get to hear the rest of Ghostbur’s sentence as the door shuts, leaving Tommy with just Phil and Techno once again. He hears Phil sigh in relief.

Ok, maybe Phil can be taken off the list of untrustworthy people after all.

“They’re gone,” Phil calls, “they’ll probably be out for at least a couple hours, if Ghostubur comes back at all today.” 

Tommy nods, he stares down at the blue gifted to him by Ghostbur.

“I’m sorry if that was difficult for you, I know it must have been overwhelming.” Phil continues. Tommy doesn’t particularly want to hear more about Phil's thoughts on Wilburs visit, so he carefully picks up the blue between his teeth and squeezes out from under the couch. He gives Phil a glance as he passes by to get to his ro- the room Phil and Techno are letting him use, Phil doesn’t try to stop him, just waves, so he assumes he won’t mind if Tommy brings the blue in there. 

Blue has a tendency to stain anything it touches, and Tommy doesn’t want to stain Phil and Techno’s or (gods forbid) Dream’s blankets so it can’t go in his nest. Instead he climbs up onto his highest shelf and leaves the blue (his blue) on it, close to the wall. He knows Dream won't let him keep it when he comes to pick him up, but it’s nice to have around for now.

“Tommy?” Phil calls into the room, hesitating in the doorway. Phil is weird, he doesn’t like coming into the room without some sign of approval from Tommy, so he murrps in welcome. He watches from above as Phil comes in with a plate laden with food. Phil cranes his head back to see him and smiles.

“Hey mate, you missed breakfast, figured I’d bring you some.” gods Phil spoils him, Dream would never make up a meal that Tommy missed due to his own silliness. 

Tommy hops down onto the unused bed then to the floor, since Phil worries when he jumps straight down. Phil smiles at him and sets the plate down before sitting on the bed. 

It’s weird to have Phil sit and watch him eat. He never used to think about people watching him eat, at least, not since Dream trained that out of him, but he’s gotten used to eating while everyone else is distracted with their own food.

“What are we going to do with you?” Phil asks with a heavy sigh. Tommy drops the toast he was eating and sits up, giving Phil a confused look. 

Why would Phil need to figure out what to do with him? Wasn’t he going to go back to Dream’s? 

“Don’t worry about it.” Phil brushes him off, but he still looks upset. Tommy glances down at his meal, then back at Phil.

He scoots closer to Phil, headbutting his knee lightly with a purr. If Phil is upset then, well, Tommy can’t fix it, but he can at least be a comfort. 

“Thank you, Tommy,” Phil says, patting his head gently, “I’m ok, just eat your food, alright?” 

Tommy looks up at Phil suspiciously, he certainly doesn’t seem alright. Tommy hitches up his purring to a slightly more demanding rate. If Phil isn’t going to accept-

The front door crashes open loudly, Tommy jumps, back arching and tail bristled as Phil leaps to his feet and mantles his wings threateningly. 

“Ranboo?” Techno’s voice comes from the living room as frantic footsteps pound down the hall.

It is, in fact, Ranboo. He crashes into the doorframe, his own fur bristled, tail thrashing, breath heaving, eyes wide. Phil drops his defensive stance just slightly.

“What ha-” Phil starts.

“He’s here!” Ranboo gasps before Phil can finish.

“Who?” Phil asks, Tommy is also confused. Is it Ghostbur? They all knew he was here though. Tommy doesn’t get through another thought before Ranboo scoops him up, holding him chest to chest, chin over his shoulder. It’s only Tommy’s very thorough training that has him grabbing Ranboo’s suit and wrapping his lower legs around his waist for stability rather than clawing to get away.

“ Him! ” Ranboo hisses, squeezing Tommy just a bit too tight, if Phil has a reaction to this Tommy doesn’t see it, pinned to Ranboo as he is, “I saw him on the way to the mine, I’ll hide Tommy, you keep him distracted.” 

“Shit,” Phil snaps, “ok, you move, we’ll hide any evidence and message you when he’s gone.” 

“Right.” Ranboo says with a nod. No one bothers to explain any further as Ranboo hurries out the door and fuck, Tommy was not expecting that.

He’s not sure what’s going on. Who could be so dangerous to warrant hiding Tommy? Especially with Techno in the house to protect everyone. The only people who Tommy knows of that are as dangerous as Techno are Dream, who Tommy would never need to be hidden from, and Punz, who works for Dream.

Maybe someone joined while Tommy was being rehabbed and Dream simply never mentioned it? Tommy knows that Dream has gotten into dangerous scrapes since adopting Tommy. For instance, the one time he came home smelling of wither smoke and gunpowder shortly after his adoption, or the more recent time when he came back covered in a foul smelling red sap and complained about “the egg” for about a week after.

Maybe that’s why Tommy is being petsat? Another danger to the server has picked up and Dream is off fighting it? 

Yes, Tommy decides as he buries his face in Ranboo’s shoulder to avoid the sight of the cabin disappearing in the distance, that must be it. Dream has entrusted Technoblade and his friends with his care while he fights some server wide threat, and that threat has shown up on their doorstep.

Tommy hopes Dream is ok.

Tubbo wakes up early.

He always wakes up early these days, can never seem to get more than a couple hours of sleep in. 

He doesn’t get up until the sun is a decent ways into its ascent, as is also typical these days.

He uncovers the coals from the fire he banked the night before and starts a new one, his small home quickly warming despite the tundra outside. Say what you will about Tubbo (and there are many, many things that Tubbo could say about himself) but he does make a nice home.

He takes his time to check over and water all his houseplants, checks the drying process on the herbs he hung up the week before, moves the cup he left on the table the night before into the sink. He has to do dishes, they’re starting to pile up. Tubbo really should be doing them as soon as he uses them, but he’s still used to taking turns with Tommy and doing them in big loads. He doesn’t have big loads unless he leaves it off now, one of the benefits of living alone, but since he’s in the habit of only doing dishes when things pile up it ends up being less of a benefit and more of an inconvenience. 

He decides not to do dishes right now, since the sink isn’t all that full.

He shrugs on his coat and steps out onto his cobblestone porch. He finds himself having a lot of mixed feelings about cobblestone these days, but usually the thought that Tommy would like his porch if he was alive makes Tubbo feel a spark of warmth in his chest. 

He needs that warm fuzzy feeling to survive the fucking freezing walk to the greenhouse, esepcilly when the snow is up to his knees and his hooves provide little help in walking on top of it. He needs to build a pavilion or something to keep the worst of the snow off the path from his home to his greenhouse, but then he would probably be stuck shoveling snow off of that to keep it from collapsing. 

Why did he decide to settle in a fucking tundra?

Right, same reason Techno did, because the miserable weather keeps people away.

Luckily Tubbo is able to make it to his greenhouse before he loses his tail to frostbite. The greenhouse is warm as always. Tubbo kept his house small to make it easy to heat (and because it’s just him in there anyways) but the greenhouse catches and traps heat so well that it didn’t need that limitation, so Tubbo made it nice and giant. Big enough for a little pond, stocked with fish that he pauses to feed, and more than big enough for a good few gardens and beehives. 

The isolation and secrecy he lives in makes him feel comfortable enough to have bees, but none of them have names. 

Anyways. He stops to check on all his gardens. His sweetberries are thriving, as expected, those things will grow like weeds and take over a whole garden plot if you're not careful. Tubbo is not careful, and is in fact prone to not getting out of bed for days at a time, so he combats this problem by letting the sweetberries have a garden plot of their own. He eats a few handfuls of them and decides that he’ll call that a breakfast. The potatoes and carrots are carrying on, hardy as ever, although the wheat is flagging a bit. Tubbo might have to ask Ranboo to get him some flour for bread next time he visits if that keeps up. 

It’s been a while since Ranboo visited in person though, he mostly just calls and messages now. He says he’s busy with something, but that he can’t talk about what yet.

Tubbo is pretty sure he just doesn’t know how to say that he doesn’t want to visit anymore. It’s fair, Tubbo is pretty terrible at everything. Terrible spy, terrible president, and especially terrible friend, at least if how Tommy ended up is any proof.

His mouth still goes dry just at the thought of that tower, at the distance in Dream’s voice when he said that he didn’t know what happened. When he asked Tubbo if he had noticed anything wrong with Tommy when he visited. When Tubbo said that he had never visited and Dream had simply said “oh, that explains it.” 

The little decorative garden full of daisies and poppies is doing just fine. It always is.

Tubbo takes the time to just sit by his pond for a bit. He could fish, and he does sometimes, but not today. Today he just watches fish dart around and bees buzz and tries not to think too much.

Tubbo isn’t sure how much time passes before movement outside catches his eye, something tall and thin darting past his greenhouse and towards his cozy little cabin. The condensation on the windows keeps him from seeing the figure in any detail, but given the height and thin frame Tubbo would put money on it being an enderman, and given that it’s running rather than teleporting, he can guess exactly which enderman it is. 

He sighs and stands, brushing dirt off his clothes and hands. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t be seeing Ranboo again, and while he thinks that would have been better for Ranboo he can’t help but be selfishly a bit glad to have the company again.

He trudges back through the snow, which is now probably above his knee from the fresh snowfall. He stops it out of his fur as best as he can on his porch, but it still clings to him, so he’ll probably be spending the next hour or so in front of the fire drying off.

Ranboo is there when Tubbo opens the door, standing nervously by his table hunched a bit to deal with a home built to accommodate a 4’10 fawn rather than an 8’7 enderman hybrid. Really the only reason that Ranboo can fit at all is habit making Tubbo build spaces big enough for Tommy to bring Wilbur over comfortably, not that that will be happening again.

While he’s there, he hasn’t seemed to have noticed Tubbo yet. He’s fidgeting, seeming more focused on something by the fireplace.

“Hi Ranboo.” Tubbo greets, he winces at the roughness of his own voice and clears his throat. It’s been far too long since he last spoke and it’s certainly noticeable. Ranboo even jumps as he turns to face him.

“Tubbo! Hi- hey- um- I have a- there’s kind of- well-” Tubbo stands patiently as Ranboo struggles to put a sentence together. He’s like this when he’s nervous, but Tubbo doesn’t mind. Ranboo stops and takes a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves.

“Do you want some tea?” Tubbo offers. He doesn't drink much tea, but Ranboo likes chamomile lavender, especially when he gets this worked up, so Tubbo keeps some around for him.

“No- I mean, I do but- just- look.” Ranboo steps to the side and gestures to Tubbo’s fireplace, or just in front of his fireplace and-

Oh.

That’s Tommy.

Chapter Text

Tommy stares at Tubbo, Tubbo stares right back.

He looks solid enough, none of the mild translucence of Ghostbur, his eyes are just as blue as Tubbo remembers, pupils wide from the house’s low light. His skin is pale, even paler than when he was living in Pogtopia and there’s blue smudging around his mouth, but his skin has the same lively pink undertones as always, not the muted gray of a ghost.

Because that’s what Tubbo is looking at, right? The ghost of his friend, crouched in front of his fire. Tommy, for his part, looks like a rabbit on a rail, eyes wide, frozen like that will save him from the minecart barreling towards him.

“Hello.” Tubbo hears his own voice say. Tommy says nothing, does nothing, like he didn’t hear Tubbo at all.

“He’s uh- he-” Ranboo pauses and looks around like he’s trying to find a private place for them to speak, but that’s simply not something that exists in Tubbo’s one room cabin. 

“Could we step outside for a second?” Ranboo asks, fidgeting with his tie. 

“Sure, boss man.” Tubbo hears. It’s funny how his voice keeps doing things without him.

“Right uh.” Ranboo approaches, stands a bit too close, Tubbo isn’t really sure what he’s doing.

“Door?” Ranboo asks, Tubbo realizes that he’s in the way and quickly reaches back to open the door again, stepping out into the cold.

Ranboo shuts the door behind them, shivering as a particularly icy wind snaps by. The chill helps Tubbo to snap back into his own mind, his body no longer feeling separate from him. He peers in one of his windows. Tommy is still there, sitting in front of his fireplace and looking at the door with confusion. His eyes drift over to the window and lock with Tubbo’s, he stiffens again, like he’s scared of being in Tubbo’s gaze.

“So uh-” Ranboo starts, he studies the lanterns hanging from the porch's roof rather than looking anywhere near Tubbo. Ranboo doesn’t like eye contact, but usually he’ll at least try to look at Tubbo’s face when they speak.  He struggles with it more when he’s upset though.

“Dream- Dream lied? He lied about Tommy being dead.” Ranboo says. Tubbo blinks, watches the way that Ranboo’s lips tremble as he speaks, then shifts his gaze past Ranboo to his cold-storage chests. He can hear Ranboo’s tail brushing over his porch as he flicks it back and forth, low and anxious.

“Oh.” he says. He glances back in the window, Tommy is still there, right where they left him. Tommy’s eyes snap to the fireplace when Tubbo looks at him, like he’s trying to pretend that he wasn’t watching Tubbo.

“Yeah.” Ranboo says. They both stand quietly for a moment, Tubbo just… absorbing some pretty life changing information and Ranboo doing… whatever he’s doing. 

“Where’s he been?” Tubbo asks. He- he wouldn’t really blame Tommy for staying far away from him, but Ranboo can’t keep a secret to save his life, and Tommy avoiding Ranboo just seems mean.

“With Dream,” Ranboo says, he holds his hands even closer to his chest, Tubbo watches as he picks at his cuticles nervously, “actually that’s- that’s the problem? Dream uh- he’s really- he’s a bad guy.” Ranboo says

“Yeah, I’ve noticed.” Tubbo says. He can almost smell the gunpowder, Ranboo nods gravely.

“Yeah but like- even more? Like just- as bad as you think he is, think worse.” Ranboo tells him. Tubbo can’t really imagine thinking Dream is worse than he already does, between obsidian walls and lattices and the sound of TNT and the tower-

“I think I have a pretty good idea of how bad Dream is.” Tubbo offers. Ranboo fidgets, nods.

“Ok, ok, right, he- um- Tommy- oh I don’t know how to say this without sounding crazy.” Ranboo looks around the porch like that’s going to provide him with a way to explain, Tubbo looks back at Tommy, who actually is looking into the fireplace this time. 

“Ok, just uh, just say it I guess?” Ranboo asks, “yeah, yeah, um- Tommy thinks- Dream- he was with just Dream for a long time right? And Dream told him- Dream has convinced him- Tommy thinks- Dream made him think that he’s a cat?” 

Tubbo squints at Ranboo, then glances back at Tommy’s who’s still by the fire. 

“He- he is though? He’s a cat hybrid?” Tubbo doesn’t- he just doesn’t get what the problem is.

“No, no, not- like a pet, Tubbo, he uh, he thinks he’s a pet?” Ranboo actually makes eye contact at that, just for a second, Tubbo knows it’s meant to be just long enough to make people feel like he’s serious but… but he’s not serious.

“I’m gonna be honest boss man, I don’t get the joke.” Tubbo tells him. Ranboo shakes his head.

“Not a joke just… just Dream being really, really-” he cuts himself off and shakes his head again. Tubbo looks back at Tommy, who is still in the same place they left him, but now peering around the house. 

“So Tommy is alive, he’s been alive this whole time, but Dream lied so he could take him away and… make him think he’s a cat?” Tubbo asks, it actually kind of sounds like something Dream would do. Tubbo can imagine Dream doing… just about anything, actually, as long as it resulted in someone suffering. Honestly, he’s not sure how so many server members can still believe that he’s a good person.

“Right, yeah, um, he does. Tommy I mean, he believes that he’s a cat and he’s really, it’s pretty um, it’s a lot .” Ranboo elaborates, Tubbo studies Tommy a bit more and notices that he’s not actually crouching like Tubbo had thought, but rather sitting on his haunches. Like a cat. Tommy always took great care to not act like a cat, Tubbo always thought it was silly, but Tommy didn’t want people to look at him and see something as harmless as a cat.

“Ok, cool, that’s-” hard to wrap his head around if Tubbo is being honest, but getting Tommy out of scrapes has been Tubbo’s thing since he was eight so no matter how weird or ridiculous or out of the blue the situation, Tubbo is gonna take care of it.

“What happened when you told him?” Tubbo asks, Ranboo’s tail flicks harder and faster. 

“Told him?” he asks.

“That he’s not, ya’know…” Tubbo elaborates, Ranboo bites his lip nervously, “you have told him, right?” 

Ranboo shakes his head.

“You didn’t tell him ?” Tubbo asks, because what the fuck? That feels like the obvious first step.

“Phil thinks that if we tell him then he’ll uh, freak out?” Ranboo says.

“Phil?” Tubbo knows that Ranboo hangs out with Phil and Techno. He doesn’t really understand it, given Doomsday and everything, but he’s aware of it. 

“Yeah, Phil- Techno found Tommy so he brought him back. I’ve been helping. It’s- it’s actually going ok? Slow but ok. He’s eating on his own now, and he’ll sit out on the porch when Techno goes out, and he’s started to uh- make some mischief again! So that’s promising…” Ranboo trails off, glancing at Tubbo’s face as he does. Tubbo probably looks less impressed than he expected.

“Phil and Techno, Dream’s friends, decided not to tell Tommy that he’s not a cat.” Tubbo summarizes. Ranboo winces.

“No- well- I wouldn’t call them Dream’s friends? They don’t really- I don’t think they actually liked Dream? They definitely don’t now-” Ranboo’s com pings and he glances at Tubbo as if for permission to check it. Tubbo nods. Ranboo pulls up the screen.

“It’s Techno, um, Dream is asking for me, I think I have to go uh, cover? Can Tommy stay here? Just until we can get rid of Dream, then I’ll come back for him.” 

“Why is Dream asking for you?” Tubbo asks, feeling way too fucking lost about all of this.

“I have no clue, he hasn’t contacted any of us- at least I don’t think- I don’t know what he wants, but- I won’t tell him about Tommy, that’s for sure.” Ranboo says, flicking his com screen away. 

“Right. Do Techno and Phil know you brought Tommy to me?” Ranboo shakes his head.

“You told me you didn’t want me to talk to other people about you so.” he waves a hand in a vague motion to indicate following Tubbo’s instructions. That’s one of the nice things about Ranboo, he always does what his friends ask him to do. It’s also one of the worst things about Ranboo.

“Ok, uh, yeah, I’ll keep an eye on Tommy.” keep an eye on, figure out what the fuck is going on, same thing. Ranboo smiles wide enough that Tubbo catches a flash of his fangs. 

“Thank you!” he says, leaning down to knock their heads together affectionately, Tubbo pushes down the urge to headbut back even harder. It’s a friendly gesture to him, but his friends are much more prone to concussions than he is. 

“Course,” Tubbo chirps lightly, “you and Tommy are my friends.” 

“Right,” Ranboo says with a nod, stepping off Tubbo’s porch, “I’ll message you when I’m on my way back, just um, don’t say anything about the uh- cat thing? I honestly don’t know how he’d react and he might freak out and especially don’t mention Dream, he uh- we think he still likes him? He gets excited every time Dream comes up so we’re avoiding the topic.” 

“I get it.” he tells Ranboo. Ranboo nods again, then waves before taking off running back the way he came.

Tubbo stands on his porch and watches him go, waiting until he’s out of view, then waiting a little longer.

He takes a few deep breaths and goes back inside.

It takes a second for his eyes to adjust, the light reflecting on the snow outside was bright, and Tubbo’s home is pretty dim. 

Once his eyes adjust he can see Tommy, still in front of the fire where he was left. He looks… attentive is the only way Tubbo knows how to describe it. His eyes are locked on Tubbo like he expects Tubbo to tell him something very very important.

“Hey.” Tubbo says instead. Tommy cocks his head, but doesn’t respond other than that. Tubbo takes the few strides it takes to get past his table and to the couch, Tommy doesn’t move. 

“What’s up?” he tries, Tommy’s tail flicks but he gets no further response. Tubbo sits on the couch. Tommy continues to not move.

“Ranboo says you think you’re a cat.” Tubbo states. It sounds kind of ridiculous out loud, like a dumb prank, but Tommy doesn’t laugh or make fun of him for suggesting something so stupid. He- he actually raises his head a bit, puffs his chest like he’s always done when he’s being praised. 

What the fuck did Dream do to him?

“Ok, um, what does that- what does that mean?” he asks, Tommy stares at him like he’s asked a stupid question.

“Ok, dumb question I guess.” Tubbo concedes, even though he doesn’t think it’s a dumb question at all. Surely Tommy has to know on some level that he’s not a cat. He’s not even a particularly cat like hybrid, mostly human with some cat features, Tubbo is more goat like than Tommy is cat like. He must be able to see that, right? He can look at himself and see that he has hands, not paws, can look at everyone around him and realize that he’s too big to be a cat, can look at his arms and see the lack of fur. But-

Ranboo thinks he really thinks he’s a cat, and he’s not scowling and grumbling about Tubbo implying he would think that, and Tommy would never let that kind of implication fly, even as a joke.

So how does one get a person to this point?

“Do you-” Tubbo’s words stick in his throat and he has to pause and take a breath, “do you remember me?” he asks, Tommy’s eyes widen, an almost fearful look on his face. He shuffles up to the couch next to Tubbo, not standing, crawling, and glances from Tubbo’s face to the seat next to him.

“Are you? Are you asking for permission to get on the couch?” he asks, Tommy holds his gaze, looking up at him with the puppy dog eyes that Tubbo has never known anyone with a heart to be able to resist. He used to only break those out for the most dire of requests.

“Yeah, you can come up here,” Tubbo says, voice soft, not totally believing that he’s having to tell Tommy this. Tommy lights up and hops onto the couch. He’s right next to Tubbo, so close that Tubbo has to lean back over the arm of the couch to see Tommy’s face. Tommy is big enough that Tubbo has to look up, and Tubbo has to keep wondering what force could get Tommy to ignore such obvious evidence. Tommy studies Tubbo like he’s really thinking about something before-

Clunk

Tommy blicks like he’s trying to clear stars from his vision and Tubbo can’t help but burst out into laughter. He and Tommy both know that Tommy is the only one who suffers when he headbutts Tubbo that hard, but he’s always refused to stop, and even now he’s grinning like an idiot. 

Tubbo grins right back before pulling his friend into a tight hug. Tommy goes lax in his grip, but that’s ok. Tubbo buries his face in the crook of his friend's neck and just enjoys his solid, warm, totally not dead presence.

Then Tommy makes a weird little cat murp sound and Tubbo remembers that he’s all fucked up.

He pulls back, gripping Tommy’s shoulders and holding him at arms length so he can study him again. Other than the now very confused expression, he looks… basically the same as always. He’s maybe a bit skinnier, his hair not quite as lustrous, his eyes are much duller than usual, but other than that-

Oh.

There’s a collar. 

The leather is lime green, a golden bell and tag hanging from it. Tommy doesn’t even hesitate to tilt his head out of the way letting Tubbo check the tag. There’s a fucking smiley face on it. One side has Tommy’s name and the other Dream’s stupid fucking- Tommy squeaks and Tubbo realizes that he’s pulling on the collar, which shouldn’t hurt but Tubbo can feel the curse of binding flare up under his fingers, much more painful to Tommy than it is to him, and he lets go like he’s been burned.

“Sorry.” Tubbo manages. Tommy still pulls away, looking more hurt than offended. Not a good sign.

“I didn’t mean to. To hurt you, I mean.” he tells Tommy, and- well he’s kind of talking about more than just the collar. Tommy seems to get that too. He gives Tubbo a curious look.

“I’m- I- I thought I was doing the right thing. When I exiled you.” he says, it seems so stupid now, that he ever thought that exile would be a good idea but…

“I really wanted to do a good job. I wanted to keep everyone safe. I wanted to keep L’Manburg independent and-“ his voice cracks a little, but he continues, “I thought it would be good for you? Not- I didn’t-” he glances at Tommy, who’s still fucking looking at him. When they make eye contact Tubbo could swear that Tommy is looking right into his soul. He’s imagined getting the chance to apologize to Tommy a thousand times, but now that it’s like this the words feel dead on his tongue. 

“I told myself that you needed to learn, and I told myself that it would be good for you, and I’m sorry.” Tubbo spits out. Tommy looks at him for just a moment longer before blinking, slow and languid, and flopping over into Tubbo’s lap with a pur.

Tubbo thinks that’s supposed to be forgiveness, but he can’t really accept it, can he?

“I- I don’t know what to do.” Tubbo admits. Tommy doesn’t respond except to purr a bit louder. 

Tubbo doesn’t know how long he sits on the couch before he realizes that he should probably eat something. He tends to be pretty spotty on if he eats lunch or not, mostly depending on if he’s actually hungry or not, but Tommy is here and he should probably make something for him.

Tubbo shifts a bit and opens his mouth to tell Tommy that he needs to move so Tubbo can get up, but Tommy has already rolled off his lap and back onto the floor. Tommy looks up at him attentively, sharp blue eyes studying Tubbo for- Tubbo has no idea what he’s looking for actually, guilt maybe? 

“You want lunch?” Tubbo asks. Tommy brightens and chirps, which Tubbo takes as a yes. 

“Right,” Tubbo takes the couple steps around to the kitchen and starts looking through his cabinets. He hadn’t bothered to enchant a cold chest for inside the house with things being so cold outside, but Tubbo doesn’t really want to step out of the house with Tommy there, so he’s limited to his shelf food. Right now that includes half a loaf of slightly stale bread and a jar of sweet berry jam.

“You want jam on toast?” Tubbo asks, glancing back at Tommy, who’s crouched in his kitchen doorway. Tommy doesn't speak, just cocks his head, one ear tilted. 

“I know it’s light, but that’s what I’ve got in the house right now.” he elaborates, Tommy flicks his ear a bit, but doesn’t move other than that.

“Ok.” Tubbo says, turning back to his cabinet and taking the bread and jam out. He cuts off the exposed end to save for himself, since he doesn’t want to make Tommy eat stale bread. He goes through the motions of making toast on the stove, spreading the jam, placing two slices on each plate. He considers just giving Tommy all four slices, but Tommy has always complained about him not eating with him in the past. 

“There we go.” he says to himself, setting the two plates on the table and settling down in his normal chair. Usually it’s Ranboo who sits across from him, if anyone at all. 

Tommy peers over the side of the table, ear flicking slightly. He doesn’t sit in the chair though, doesn’t try to eat. He just lowers himself to the floor with a huff.

“Not hungry?” Tubbo asks, leaning over to look under the table at Tommy. Tommy glances at him, then levels the door with a long stare. Tubbo has no idea why. 

“I’m gonna eat lunch.” he tells Tommy, who just sighs in response.

“I don’t want to eat alone.” he says, Tommy- Tommy actually gives him a nasty look at that! Well, that’s not going to stop Tubbo.

“I made you food, can you please eat with me?” that makes Tommy look at him in confusion before sitting up and retreating from under the table to peer over it again.

“Yeah!” Tubbo confirms. Tommy looks from the toast to Tubbo, back to the toast, then to Tubbo again. He narrows his eyes, ear flicking, looking like he’s trying to solve a tricky puzzle. 

“You can just… eat it.” Tubbo tells him, Tommy gives him a suspicious look, but he does raise himself up onto his knees to sniff at the plate then he- he grabs the corner of a piece of toast between his teeth and starts trying to drag it off the plate.

“What are you doing?” Tubbo asks. Tommy drops the toast immediately, skittering back, ears pinned and tail tucked like a scolded dog. 

What the fuck? Tubbo didn’t think his tone was that harsh.

“Tommy?” Tommy winces, pressing into the side of the couch and closing his eyes like he’s preparing for a blow. Tubbo feels lightheaded and nauseous. Did Dream hit Tommy? Did Phil ? 

“It’s ok,” Tubbo tries to assure, standing up and coming around the table, “it’s fine, I’m not mad, I just- I thought you might want to eat?” 

Tommy just keeps looking up at him fearfully, flinching when Tubbo brings up his hands to show that he doesn’t have anything in them. 

“Ok,” Turbo says, sitting on the floor next to Tommy, “ok, we can just sit here.”

He tries not to look directly at Tommy, watching from the corner of his eye as he slowly loses some of his tension, ears no longer pinning, fur on his tail settling as he relaxes into something a little closer to just- curling up on Tubbo’s floor.

“Do you want to eat on the floor then?” Tubbo asks, Tommy doesn’t respond, just stares at the wall ahead of him. Tubbo decides they should eat on the floor. 

Tommy gives him an odd look when he sits on the floor with the plates, one he sets in front of Tommy and one he keeps for himself. 

Depressingly, this might be the best meal he’s had in a while, the simple pleasure of toast and jam much nicer than plain bread bitten right off the loaf or potatoes that are slightly burnt because he forgot that he put them in the oven. Given the circumstances, it still tastes like ash on his tongue

Tommy is hesitant to start eating, watching Tubbo suspiciously out of the corner of his eye. Seeing Tubbo eat must soothe something in him because he does start eating. Once again biting the corner of the toast, glancing at Tubbo like he expects a correction, and when he doesn't get one, chewing a piece off. 

Dream did this.

Dream made his friend think he needs to eat off the floor. 

And Phil and Techno let him keep doing it. 

Tubbo sets his half eaten lunch aside, nausea settling in his stomach alongside what he’s already eaten. Tommy finishes his plate, even down to licking up a blot of jam that had fallen off the bread.

“Hey Tommy?” Tommy’s eyes immediately meet Tubbo’s, “you uh- you know Dream is a liar, right?” 

Tommy cocks his head and narrows his eyes, like when he was looking at the bread on the table, like he thinks Tubbo is presenting him with some kind of trick.

Tubbo doesn’t doubt Ranboo’s judgment that Tommy wholeheartedly thinks he’s a cat, but Phil’s judgment that he shouldn’t be told? 

“Dream is a liar” Tubbo repeats, Tommy looks away from him, back at the wall.

“You’re not a cat, Tommy.” Tommy’s tail starts to swish and his ears go back like he’s annoyed, but Tubbo keeps going.

“You’re not a cat, you’re a hybrid, like me and Ranboo.” Tommy closes his eyes and takes a shaky breath but Tubbo can’t just leave it there, it’s clear that he needs to prove it somehow or Tommy will just keep ignoring him.

He grabs Tommy’s wrist.

Tommy’s head swivels back towards him immediately, even as he tries to jerk away with a hiss, but Tubbo’s grip is tight as he brings Tommy’s hand off the ground.

“Look, you have hands, these aren’t paws, they’re hands,” Tommy just hisses again, trying to pull out of Tubbo’s grip so Tubbo goes a bit further, pressing his and Tommy’s hands together, palm to palm, so their similarities are obvious.

Sure, Tubbo has keratin covering his fingers after the last joint and Tommy has claws and slightly more plush on the tips of his fingers, much like Sam and Ranboo, but they’re clearly so much more similar to each other than Tommy’s are to a cat's paw. This is enough to get Tommy to pause his trashing, eyes zeroing in on their hands.

“See? Hands.” Tubbo smiles a bit, glad that Tommy is finally seeing reality. 

Or not, because he lashes out with his other hand, leaving nasty claw marks on the hand holding his wrist. Tubbo cries out, snatching his hands back and trying to stem some bleeding. In the time it takes him to look at his arm then back at Tommy the other boy is already squeezing under his bed in the corner.

“Shit.” Tubbo hisses, scrambling to the edge of the bed. Tommy is huddled all the way in the back corner, blue eyes flashing in the dark. Tubbo could squeeze down there with him, but he feels like that wouldn’t really help. 

“Tommy?” he calls instead, Tommy just hisses at him. 

Fuck, maybe Phil was actually right.

Techno hasn’t seen Dream since the whole Eggpire debacle, and while they were technically on the same side for that whole thing, Techno had not been looking forward to seeing him again. Any alliance with Dream was simply a means to an end at the time. Both of them had the common goals of preventing any governments from popping up on the server, Techno aware that Dream’s skill and resources would make him a valuable asset in any tyranny ending schemes and Dream aware that Techno is always perfectly happy to end him if he tried to become a tyrant. Techno sometimes wondered if Dream had already done that right under Techno’s snout.

After the whole “finding a brainwashed teen in his house” thing Techno doesn’t really feel like he has to wonder anymore. 

So yeah, Techno is not happy to open his door after a panicked “cleaning session” (shoving all evidence of Tommy into the guest room and closing the door) with Phil to see the masked man on his porch. It was good thinking of Ranboo to take Tommy away, Techno is pretty certain that Tommy is not anywhere near stable enough to not try to go back to Dream the moment he shows up. Now the goal is to seem so innocent and inconspicuous that Dream will never come here again. 

Super easy.

“Hey Techno!” Dream greets, just as pleasantly as ever, “How’s it going?” 

“It was alright, then someone knocked on my door.” Techno tells him. Dream fake laughs a bit, like Techno was joking.

“Alright, that’s fair, I actually didn’t want to bother you too much, I was just hoping to talk to Ranboo. I know he lives with you, so I thought I would check here.” 

And that’s not really what Techno wanted to hear. His stomach turns at the idea of Dream talking to another teenage hybrid about anything for any reason.

“He’s not here.” Techno says a bit too quickly and forcefully to sound anything but defensive, Dream’s mask tilts as he cocks his head.

“Really? I just saw him run over here.” Dream says.

“You sure? There are a lot of endermen up here, could have been any of them.” 

“Well, the one I saw was black and white and wearing a suit, so, yeah, I think it was Ranboo.” 

“Oh you didn’t know about his identical evil twin who runs around here occasionally? Cringe.” that gets an actual laugh from Dream but he stifles it quickly.

“Ok, ok, can I talk to his evil twin?” Dream asks.

“Ah sorry, just missed him.” Techno tries to close the door at that but Dream shoves himself into the doorway, blocking him.

“That’s ok, I can wait up, just message him that I need to talk to him.” 

“Riiight…” Techno agrees slowly, glancing at Phil for support. He just shrugs like the useless old man he is and Dream takes advantage of Techno’s distraction to slip inside.

“Hey! This is a break in!” Techno points out, he’s not happy about Dream slipping in, but he definitely doesn’t want to start a scene here. Dream just shrugs.

“You opened the door.” he counters, a teasing tone in his voice.

“It’s fine Techno,” Phil says, “do you want tea, mate?”

“Don’t offer him tea.” Techno tells Phil,

“I would love some tea.” Dream says at the same time. Phil grabs the kettle.

“He’s not staying long enough to have tea.” Techno argues.

“I’ll stay however long I have to talk to Ranboo,” Dream counters, “so every minute that I wait for you just to message him is another minute that I’ll be in your house.” 

“Just message Ranboo, Techno.” Phil says a bit tightly, “Dream, why don’t you come pick out a tea?” 

“Oh, yeah, let me take a look.” Dream leaves Techno’s side to check out Phil’s eclectic tea collection and Techno realizes that this is a ploy to keep Dream from looking at his com screen while he messages Ranboo to get Dream out of here asap.

“Right,” Techno agrees, pulling up his chat with Ranboo. It’s pretty incriminating, as in there are a good few messages about Tommy visible the moment the history comes up.

Techno: Dream is asking for you

Ranboo: ???

Ranboo: I’m a little busy

Techno: idk man he says he’s not leaving til he sees you

Ranboo pauses for a while. Maybe trying to figure out what he’s gonna do with Tommy. 

Ranboo: ok, I’m on my way

Techno isn’t exactly in a place where he can ask what Ranboo is gonna do with Tommy, so he’s just gotta trust that the kid knows what he’s doing.

“He’s on his way.” Techno announces, getting Dream and Phil’s attention back on him.

“Oh awesome!” Dream says, his voice light, “I guess I’ll be out of your hair soon then!” 

His voice is too cheery, Techno doesn't like it at all. 

Dream leaves Phil to wander around the house, fingers brushing over the dining room chairs, the back of Techno’s armchair, the mantle. He plucks a picture off the mantle place.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture of Wilbur without Tommy,” Dream says casually, waving the picture towards Techno, “you guys knew Wilbur before he met Tommy?” 

“I’m his dad, mate.” Phil reminds him bluntly.

“Oh! Right, right… So when did he meet Tommy?” Dream asks, Techno raises a brow.

“What’s with the interest in Tommy?” Techno asks, Dream’s mask tilts like he’s cocking his head. 

“I’m just making conversation Techno, geeze.” Dream scoffs, putting the picture back on the mantle place. 

“Trying to snoop more like.” Techno jabs. 

“Snoop? I have never snooped in my life, I’m just trying to make conversation.” Dream counters, picking up a spool of spider silk from the coffee table before putting it back down. They really need to stop leaving half finished projects out like that. Especially the half finished revival project, there’s nothing fancy like totems out, but gods Phil has got to stop leaving those books lying open. It’s bad for their spines.

“Don’t worry about Techno, he just hates having company.” Phil says, presenting Dream with his tea. Dream takes it and lifts it to his face for a second before awkwardly lowering it without a sip, as if just now realizing that his mask is in the way.

“Well I’m glad at least one of you is hospitable.” Dream says as he sits and stretches out on their couch. Ugh, gross, their couch is going to smell like messed up teletubby for ages.

“Phil, you don’t have to be nice to him.” Techno says.  

“Phil, you don’t have to listen to him.” Dream says, Techno can practically hear his shit eating grin.

“Oh you two stop it, Techno, if Dream is going to invade our home then I at least want it to be peaceful. Dream, don’t make a habit of invading our home just because I was nice this time.” Phil smiles pleasantly, voice perfectly polie, but strained. Techno is pretty sure he’s wishing that he could just kill Dream now, but that would just make him respawn with reason to come bother them again.

“Thank you Phil,” Dream says, “I promise I’m not planning on coming over to bug you constantly.”

“Why are you even here?” Techno crosses his arms as he speaks, Dream doesn’t move at all, just stays sprawled on their couch.

“I told you, I want to talk to Ranboo.” Dream’s voice is casual and pleasant.

“Yeah, sure, you want to ‘talk to Ranboo’, very believable .” Techno half teases. Dream laughs.

“I do! Really, it’s- ugh, it sounds so lame, but I was hoping to ask him for some cat advice.” he says it casually, but it’s obviously bait. Techno keeps himself schooled into the picture of innocence.

“You have a cat?” Phil asks.

“Yeah! You don’t have to sound so shocked, I like cats!” 

“You’re also good friends with a notable pet killer.” Techno points out. Dream shrugs him off.

“I mean, there is a reason why I’m so secretive about where I live.” Dream tells him.

“Dang, I thought you were just homeless.” Dream laughs a wheezy laugh. 

“I’m not, no, I just live really far away from everyone.” Techno nods in understanding.

“Oh I get it, your house just goes to a different school.” 

“I have a house.” Dream says.

“Sure, sure , you have a house, it’s just really far away to protect your cat, definitely believe that.” 

“You should! It’s true!” 

“Right I totally-”

The front door swings open and Ranboo stumbles in, panting and ruffled. His wide eyes flicker over the room, taking in all the stares from the frozen occupants of the house. He straightens himself and his suit. 

“Hi, hello! Um, Techno said you wanted to see me?” his voice pitches up nervously and his tail swishes nervously.

“Hey, yeah! I was wondering if I could ask you for help with my cat.” Dream asks casually.

“Oh, um, I uh, didn’t know you had a cat…” Ranboo’s eye’s flicker from Phil to Techno, searching for support, Techno shrugs.

“I didn’t even know he had a house,” Techno reiterates. He might be pushing that a little too hard, but Dream doesn’t seem to care.

“I do! He’s a yellow tom cat!” Dream chirps. The world seems to stop for a moment. He’s talking about Tommy. He’s just casually chatting about Tommy like he’s an actual cat. Does he know that they know? Does he talk to people about Tommy a lot? How many people on the server have listened to Dream casually talking about his “cat”, not knowing he was talking about a whole teenager?

“Oh,” Ranboo breathes, “that’s- that’s cool…” 

“Yeah, uh, actually I was hoping for some help because he got out, I was wondering if you had any tips? You know, to find him.” 

“Um-” Ranboo fidgets with his shirt cuffs and glances between Phil and Techno desperately.

“Just tell Dream what you would do if one of your cats got out.” Phil tells him, Ranboo nods and takes a shaky breath.

“You ok dude? I just want to know how to find my cat.” Dream cocks his head and leans over the arm of the couch.

“Yeah! Yeah, I am so- just very- I just ran back here, so um, really out of breath, you know?” Ranboo smiles nervously.

“Right,” Ranboo says, “right, um, cat- cat got out. Um, you should put out some water and- and something that smells like you, but not- you don’t want to put food out, that could attract other animals that might hurt your- cat.” 

Dream nods along like he’s genuinely interested. Techno can’t help but wonder if he’s actually delusional enough to think that Tommy is a cat.

“Alright, you got your cat facts, can you get out of my house now?” Techno nods to the door.

“You know, Techno, if I didn’t know any better I would say that you didn’t want to spend time with me.” Dream says, mock offended.

“Bruh, I live in the frozen middle of nowhere, I don’t want to spend time with anyone.” 

“You spend time with Phil and Ranboo!” 

“Yeah, they don’t count.” Techno states with a shrug.

“You’re cold.” 

“Yup.” 

“Can I at least finish my tea?” Dream asks, Techno says nothing, Dream brings the mug to where his mouth is. It clicks against the porcelain mask.

There’s a beat of silence.

“Did you forget that you’re wearing a mask?” Techno shouts, Phil breaks into laughter while Ranboo just looks confused.

“No! I- that was intentional!” 

“Bruh, you forgot your mask!” 

“I didn’t!” 

“I just watched you! You tried to drink through your mask!” 

“I- ok, I have to get back home, I have a cat to find.” Dream sets down his mug and gets off the couch and brushes fur off his clothes.

“Also, clean your couch man, how do you do anything without leaving a trail of fur?” 

“I have fur, it’s gonna be in my house, you’re the only one who thinks it’s a problem.” 

“Yeah, whatever,” Dream says, before pausing at the door, “hey, you guys will let me know if you see my cat, right? Yellow tom, green collar with a bell, can’t miss him.” 

“Of course!” Phil says.

“Yep, definitely” Ranboo says, strained.

“No.” Techno says, deadpan.

Dream laughs at Techno’s refusal but finally, finally leaves.

The tension leaving the room is palpable.

“This is bad.” Ranboo says, “he’s looking for Tommy.” 

“He thinks Tommy ran away on his own, he wanted to know how to lure him back” Techno points out, “if anything this is a win for us.” 

“I don’t know if that was actually why he was here.” Phil points out, picking up the abandoned mug, “if he was thinking of this from the perspective of Tommy being a cat and wanted cat advice, why didn’t he ask Antfrost? They’re actually friendly, and Antfrost runs an animal sanctuary, so he’d be the first one most people ask about animal problems, but instead he came all the way out here to ask Ranboo?”

“Ok, so he came here for recon, we have all signs of Tommy hidden, so still a win.” Techno points out.

“But is it safe to bring Tommy back though?” Phil asks.

“Hm, is it safe to leave him where he is? I mean, where is he?” Techno asks, they both look to Ranboo, who looks like he would rather fall into the void than be here right now.

“Yeah, um, so- that’s a funny story actually.”