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“Tommy!”
Jerking, Tommy very nearly threw the frying pan in his hands backwards. He glanced over. Blinked when he saw Wilbur and Tubbo striding up, bright eyed even though it was way too early. “Are you alright?” Ranboo asked, appearing behind them. Somehow, he had managed to hide himself behind Tubbo. All three of them were carrying little boxes, obviously for the rest of everyone’s breakfast.
Sprawled across a sunny spot at their little camp, which was located in the parking lot of a defunct Sears, Ant let out a sound Tommy knew just had to count as a purr. His claws flexed out, pale ivory against the new dark brown fur of Ant’s arms. Beside him, Velvet raised his head. He looked tired, but he wasn’t sick. Ant had fretted over him, understandably so. After all, it wasn’t like anyone getting sick meant it was just the flu . Ant’s whole…catboy thing was a testament of that. “Ooh. Is that breakfast?”
“Mhmm!” Holding up the box in his arms, Tubbo said, “We got your gluten-free pigs in a blanket!”
“Nice!” Ant pushed himself up. Already, Wilbur and Ranboo started passing out food. Tommy was still staring down at the eggs in the frying pan, stirring them around a little bit. He was making scrambled eggs for everyone, so the pan was pretty heavy and there were a lot of eggs.
“Wilbur, can I have some help when you have the chance?”
“Yeah, of course, Toms. Just let me get Ant his food, alright?” Nodding, Tommy turned back to the eggs. Please don’t burn, please don’t burn. Or anything like that. He prayed, taking a slow breath. The flames licked at the bottom of the pan. Soon enough, Wilbur was settling down beside him. “Ranboo, can you make sure that the right food goes out to the right people? Tubbo, you help him with setting up and then getting everyone, okay?”
“Yes, sir!” Tubbo said, hurrying off. He disappeared into the bus, feet slamming down on the metal. Then, he bellowed, “ WAKE UP, BITCHES! BREAKFAST! ”
“I guess technically it’s more brunch.” Velvet admitted, curled up next to Ant. Ranboo handed him a little take-out container. Smiling, Velvet dipped his head. “Thanks, boo.”
“Mhmm. Oh, Tommy, Wilbur, found your food.”
“Thanks. Just leave it by our seats?” Ranboo nodded and then put the take-out boxes in the seats. Then, he dropped off drinks, too. Full water bottles, thanks to the Center. Then, apple juice, some milk bottles to drink as quickly as possible, a couple orange juices. No sodas, but there were some hot chocolate, coffee, and tea thermoses. Thermosi? Something like that.
“So, how long until we move out?” He asked, looking up as Tubbo and the others approached. Dream was still leaning on his cane, although not as bad as before. Beside him, Bad was clinging onto Skeppy, stumbling along ever so slightly like he wasn’t used to using his legs. To be fair…his legs had changed and not just in skin tone and patterns. No, he was literally walking on his toes, ankle stretched up and giving him more height. He was a little taller than Ranboo and Wilbur were, which was totally unfair and really stupid . Why did Bad get to have the extra height? It made no sense.
“Probably like an hour??”
+++
“Hello, you’ve reached the New York City, New York, Emergency Center. This is Tina. How can I help you?”
“Hi. This is Sally from the London Emergency Center. I’ve got a family looking for two kids currently in the United States. They’re from Britain.”
“Oh, poor things. Uh, do you have an age for them?”
“Seventeen, for both of them. They’re friends.”
“Alright. Seventeen years old. Closer to seventeen or eighteen?”
“Eighteen.”
“Alright. Do you have names and physical descriptions for them from the families?”
“Mhmm. One is roughly six feet tall, blond hair—sort of curly. Blue eyes, IC1 male—“
“What?”
“White European.”
“Okay. And the other?”
“Uh…they say either five foot five or five foot six. Brown hair, light eyes. Also white European.”
“Thank you. I have that down. Do you have names for them?”
“Yes. The former is Thomas Ian Baker, goes by Tommy. The second, meanwhile, is Tobias William Stoker. Goes by Tubbo or Toby. Got that?”
“Mhmm. I’ll get them on the search list. Anything else that I need to know?”
“The former one, uh, Tommy—he sent messages to his parents giving a location. They’ll be somewhere on the East Coast, was in New Orleans on October 5 th . They were heading to Florida before going to…a friend’s house. Violet? Something like that.”
“Alright. I’ll put that in the notes. Tell the family we’ll do our best.”
“Of course, thank you. Have a nice night.”
“You, too.”
+++
The breakfast Tommy had was somehow the best fucking thing he had ever eaten.
Literally. In the history of ever. Why, he didn’t know. Maybe it was because he had accidentally skipped dinner the night before and hadn’t eaten since twelve the previous day. He was starving. Or, as close to starving as a First World person in the semi-apocalypse could be. Food was Philza Minecraft’s gift to mankind and Tommy was there to appreciate it.
And now he was fucking exhausted , leaning into Tubbo and Ranboo and trying not to really fall asleep. They were so close to the next Emergency Center. The various stops they’d been forced to take along the way due to Bad, Dream, Sapnap, Jack, Skeppy, and Ant put them behind by a little bit, but now they were in Orlando. Maybe, just maybe, Dream’s family might still be in the house.
They might be able to settle. Just for a little while. Long enough to spend some time in Orlando and figure out what was happening. Around them, twilight was falling. He could see the bright lights of the Emergency Center where they would be sleeping for the night.
Despite his best attempts, Tommy dozed off. When he stirred, he was being carried by Phil. “Hmmm?” Raising his head, he glanced around. Blinked blearily. “When did you get this strong?” He could feel the difference already. Sure, Phil had a normal build, but he was also a streamer who didn’t work out. There was no reason for him (at least none Tommy could think of) for him to have gotten that much muscle. Sure, they were in the apocalypse (sort of). But that didn’t mean they were roughing it or anything. They lived in a bus, got food from still-open stores, and just…existed easily? They were really lucky. So Phil having that much muscle when he definitely hadn’t before was just…odd.
Laughing, Phil shifted him gently and then settled him on the nearest cot. Tubbo and Ranboo were next to him, and Ranboo grabbed onto Tommy almost immediately in his sleep. Of course he hadn’t woken up. But the question was who got Ranboo there in the first place. “What do you mean?”
Reaching up, Tommy poked Phil in the chest. “You’re all muscle now. Does Kristin even have a pillow anymore?”
There was another laugh, and Phil ruffled his hair. “Go to bed, Toms. You need it.” Tommy snorted. Rolling over, he curled into Ranboo and Tubbo, closed his eyes. Around him, he could hear everyone chattering softly as they organized the cots and the beds. Purpled was settled above them on the cot’s upper bunk. Then, everything started to fade out as Kristin and Phil laughed about Tommy’s little revelation.
He wasn’t sure he minded.
+++
“Hello, you’ve reached the New Orleans, Louisiana, Emergency Center. This is Michael. How can I help?”
“Hi, Michael? This is Tina. NYC.”
“Tona! Nice to see you—wait, work time. I’ll have to call you later I have the funniest and sweetest story. What’s up?”
“Do you have any information on a Thomas Ian Baker or a Tobias Willian Stoker?”
“We had two kids with those names show up with a big group a couple weeks back.”
“Can you give me more information on that?”
“They were in a bus.”
“I need names. Who were they with?”
“Oh. Uh, let me pull up our records. Do you have any names you’re looking for?”
“Phil Watson or Kristin Rosales Watson. A white man in his twenties, blond or light brown hair, green hoodie and smiley face mask—who wears that? First name Clay, goes—“
“Oh! Yeah, we have that group!”
“Do you have any information about where they were going?”
“Yeah. I’ll check in with the other Southeast Emergency Centers. Kids were in a big group, I’m sure we’ll be able to find them within a week or so.”
“Thank you, Michael.”
“Of course! Let’s just get these kids connected to their families, alright? That’s the important thing. I’ll update you tomorrow morning via email, but you better be sleeping then.”
“I’ll try. Good night.”
“Good night, Tee!”
+++
The Dream Team, Bad, and Ant had gone to check out Dream’s house, leaving everyone else behind in the Emergency Center for a little while.
Currently, that meant they were all packed into their little ten foot by ten foot space. Doing their own sort of things and just existing. Tubbo was sleeping. Skeppy, Quackity, Schlatt, Wilbur, and Techno were sitting on the concrete floor playing cards. Tommy was awake because his back was stabbing him again. Sometimes, it wasn’t as bad. Other times, like that day, his nerves had clearly woken up and then picked violence.
And to make things worse, he had dreamt about his parents. About his mother dying in his arms. The weirdest thing was that he’d had wings in the dream, when he never had them before. And he didn’t have them in real life. But his mother had been caught by one of the snakes, her throat was ripped open but her blood was pale gold. Then he found his dad and the dogs curled up under the house. Walter and Betty had looked at him, but his dad was unmoving. He could almost feel how cold his dad had been even though he was dreaming.
Arms crossed, he rested his chin on his knees. Watched Kristin and Phil as they sat on a cot on the other side of their space, reading a book. Niki was doing Puffy’s hair while Puffy did Minx’s hair. Velvet was curled up with his head in Kristin’s lap as she stroked his hair. Fundy was reading stretched out beside Minx, head resting on Jack’s legs as he leaned into Niki. Connor, Callahan, and Alyssa had taken Punz and Purpled to go and trade some of the perishable food for more travel-ready food like canned fruit and beans. They might have had an advantage in numbers when it came to protection from the monsters, which disliked going near too big of groups. But when it came to needing food and supplies, they had a massive disadvantage. Most groups were families.
Well, Tommy mused, looking around at the others. At Tubbo sleeping while Ranboo played with his hair. At Schlatt cheering quietly when he won the next game of Uno or poker or whatever. At Karl returning from the bathroom with Sam and Eret, hands shoved in his pockets as he laughed at Sam’s latest joke. I guess we are a family. Just a bit different of one. Closing his eyes, he took a breath. Shifted and frowned as another spike of pain struck through his wings.
“Is there a Thomas Ian Baker here?” A voice asked. Heels clicked on the concrete. Raising his head, Tommy paused. Glanced around. Wilbur was suddenly sitting down next to him—he must have drifted off for a second.
There was one of the Emergency Center workers walking around, holding one of the phones they had for calls in their hand. Black curls bounced around their tawny brown shoulders, dark brown eyes searched the crowd desperately. “What?” Tommy asked. Frowned slightly. Wilbur looked down at him as the person walked by. “That’s my name.”
The person repeated themself. “Is there a Thomas Ian Baker here?” Head jerking up, Tommy glanced over his shoulder. Next to him, Wilbur suddenly jumped up, grabbed Tommy’s hand, and raised it. Pointed down at him. Quickly, the person holding the phone, one of the secretaries, made their way over. She shoved the phone into Tommy’s face. “We have someone here for you, from one of the Britain centers.”
“O-Okay.” Fumbling, Tommy took the phone. Pressed it to his ear. “Hell-hello?”
“Tommy?”
Everything froze. Staring at the floor, he slowly reached out with a shaky hand. Wilbur grabbed onto him. Then, he moved him to the side, let him lean against him before bringing him to the closest cot. Sinking down, Tommy shook slightly. Felt Wilbur lean into him. Breath hitching in his throat, Tommy opened his mouth. Shut it. Did the same thing again and again. His face burned, his eyes burned. “M-Mum?” The name came out cracked and weak. Wilbur’s eyes widened. “ Mum?”
“Tommy—oh my gosh you’re alive. Ian, Ian, it’s Tommy. Tell Rebecca and Scott.” His mom’s voice said. Shaking, Tommy reached out and grabbed for Wilbur’s hand. His eyes were still welling up, burning with heat. Wilbur’s fingers intertwined with his and grabbed on as tightly as possible.
With his foot, Tommy started kicking at Tubbo’s legs. “Tubbo, Tubbo. Wake up. Wake up right now .” He whispered. Groaning, Tubbo smacked at him sleepily. “Tubbo. Please. You gotta wake up right now.” Pulling his hand down, Tommy turned the phone on speaker. Turned it up almost as much as possible.
“Tommy, sweetheart, are you okay?” His mother asked. At the sound of Tommy’s mother’s voice, Tubbo shot upright, leaned over and grabbed onto his shoulder. “Who’s with you?”
“I-I’m with Tubbo and Ranboo. Wilbur, Phil, Kristin, Dream—we have the whole SMP together, somehow.” Tommy laughed weakly. Sniffed and rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand. Tears smeared across the back of his hand. Everything went sort of weird and fuzzy, almost, like when his blood pressure dropped too much. “We—we’re okay. We’re okay.”
“Is Tubbo with you?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” Tubbo said, and Tommy glanced at him. Now, Tubbo wasn’t someone who cried. Now, though, he was crying. Ranboo was sitting up, the others had turned and were paying attention. Shakily, Tommy grabbed all the tighter onto Wilbur’s hand.
“Your parents are okay, Tubbo. Sisters, too. The—the cat’s okay, even.” Tubbo’s head dropped onto Tommy’s shoulder, and Techno and Phil got up and went over, too. Techno sat by Tubbo, started rubbing his back between his shoulders. Phil just settled on the ground, watched curiously and touched Tommy’s knee as a silent support.
“Wh-where are you guys?” Tommy forced out.
“Would you believe it?” His mom laughed, continued after a second, “We’re in London. There was this dragon—it looked like a real life version of that one from your game. Anyways, uh, turns out she’s really nice and she saved us from these big old monsters. What were they—Ian, what were they?”
“Think bats.” His dad’s voice, albeit staticky and harsh, crackled over the phone. Shoulders shaking, Tommy gasped in a breath, knew his fingers had to be gripping Wilbur’s enough to shift the bones but didn’t have the energy to care. “Really big things with bright red eyes and whip-thin tails. Anyways, apparently your dragon friend hates them and she ate four of them.”
“What the hell.” Tommy laughed, shoulders shaking. Then, he coughed, felt one of Phil’s hands land on his cheek. His fingers brushed away some tears from Tommy’s face. Sniffing, he kept scrubbing at his face. Tried not to cry even more. Too late, he decided.
“Don’t worry, sunshine. Big Men cry too.” Wilbur whispered, leaning over and holding him a little bit tighter. Sniffing, Tommy laughed and shook his head.
“You’re an idiot.” Turning back, Tommy sucked in a breath. “Mum, I—I…I thought—I thought you were—“
“I know, I know. We’re okay. We’re okay, we’re alive, we’re here.” She said. “ I’m so glad you’re safe. Are Wilbur, Phil, and Techno there?”
“Yeah. They’re with me and Tubbo.”
“Alright. Wilbur, Techno, Phil, you listen to me. And also Rebecca, because this is her, too.” His mom began. There was a sound like she was cracking her knuckles, “If you hurt our kids, we’re going to break your faces. It won’t be the apocalypse that you need to worry about.”
Tommy burst out laughing at that, feeling the wheeze in his chest. It was less of his normal laugh though and more a tear-filled one, something in his chest breaking that he hadn’t realized was there since the whole world crashed down.
Wiping tears out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Tubbo, listened to his mom continue threatening Wilbur and the others.
+++
“Hey, Dream.”
“Wilbur. Everything alright back at the Center?”
“Sap?”
“Yeah. Dream’s…it’s a long story. We’ll be using the house for a base for the next couple of weeks. The whole group, I mean. That’s the plan at least.”
“Hold on, what happened with Dream?”
“I—it’s a long story. We’ll come pick you up tomorrow. Everyone will find out then. Got any good news? You called for a reason.”
“Well, I—I’m not sure now would be—“
“We need some good news. If you have any.”
“Well…Tommy’s parents called. His and Tubbo’s families are alive and well, they’re setting themselves up in London right now since their old home is kind of…meh. Turns out the Ender Dragon is friendly and she’s in Britain, I guess.”
“Hah. First Jack and I become blazes, and now Ant and Skeppy and Bad have turned into their Dream SMP characters. And Schlatt’s got hooves. What’s next, you turn into a ghost?”
“Maybe let’s not joke about that. I would prefer not to have it be true.”
“Yeah. Although, honestly, part of me wonders about Fundy. He saw a snake in near-pitch darkness when Ant had his episode. Plus, have you seen his eyes lately?”
“Okay, that’s a theory I’m willing to think about. How long do you think we have…”
+++
Crying breakdowns were tiring.
The next morning, Tommy and Tubbo were settled in their usual seat, blankets wrapped around themselves. Tubbo was leaning forwards, head shoved into his pillow where it was braced into Ant and Velvet’s seat ahead of him. Dropping his head forwards into his own pillow, Tommy felt fingers carding through the curls at the back of his neck. Definitely Wilbur’s. Everyone was quiet, not talking and not doing much of anything as they drove to Dream’s home.
Personally, Tommy had a theory about what had happened on Dream and the others’ recon trip. There was a dark cast to Sapnap and George’s faces, and Bad was curled up with Skeppy like he was scared he would disappear at any moment. Ant was totally silent, holding hands with Velvet while also accepting a little bit of affection from his boyfriend. Plus, they didn’t have any of Dream’s family there. Any of them.
Which probably meant that they weren’t there.
Once they pulled up to the house, Tommy spotted the lack of other cars in the driveway. Swallowing, he started picking things up. Gently, he shook Tubbo. There was a groan, Tubbo raised his head and looked over. He noticed they had stopped and started picking his things up.
When they all got up to the house, Dream smiled weakly and said, “Welcome to my humble abode. Don’t worry about the other stuff, I’ll get it inside. We should have plenty of food and space, and we’ll set beds up and everything later.” Nodding, Tommy pulled Tubbo after him as he stumbled around.
They dropped down onto the couch and Ranboo followed after a minute. Laid down with them and their things. The house was silent, but it was clean. I wonder if they spent so long because they were cleaning things yesterday and storing it away . When he glanced around, he saw no pictures around. No pictures frame, but there were plenty of decorations for summer that meant Dream’s family had clearly been there in the past couple of months. Swallowing, Tommy crossed his arms slightly. Watched Dream move around his family’s home with a sad expression on his face. Like he knew what was missing, knew what was gone, and didn’t want to talk about it.
Once everyone had settled in the living room, Sapnap stood up and walked over to Dream. Gently, he touched Dream’s shoulder. They exchanged a glance. Then, delicately, Sapnap pulled Dream to his side, rested his head on his shoulder and kept an arm around his waist. Dream let out a barely-audible, shaky sigh. His shoulders shook, and Tommy looked at him sadly for a moment.
Then, Tubbo’s head thumped against his shoulder, and Tommy was snapped back to the people right in front of him rather than around him.
Glancing down, Tommy frowned when he saw Tubbo’s expression. “Are you alright?” He asked softly. Blinking, Tubbo opened his mouth. He paused. Cleared his throat. Then, he tried to talk again.
“I was just thinking…sure, we know our families are alive. But…when are we going to get the chance to go home?” Tubbo paused. Then, softly, he added, “ Are we going to be able to go home?”
Tommy paused. Took a shaky breath of his own. Holding onto the sides of his blanket, Tubbo wrapped himself up in it just a little bit more. Coughed once and sniffed. Then, he settled into Tommy’s side. “We’ll get back. One day.” Tommy replied, smiling at him when Tubbo glanced up and met his gaze.
“Are you lying?” Tubbo asked. Grinning broader, Tommy shot back a reply in an instant.
“Why would I lie, Tubbs? I’m a Big Man.” He replied. “Big Men don’t need to lie.”
He wished he could say he knew it was the truth, though.