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It is not a secret that Tommy thought of Wilbur as his older brother. Everyone who new the blonde could pick up the fact rapidly, his speech pattern, his ideology or even his clothes showed how much he looked up to the older man. They are similar in an almost uncanny way.
Everyone knew except Foolish.
The god was new to this land, he arrived after the big wars and failed countries. He didn't get the chance to meet Wilbur nor Ghostbur and he haven't had the opportunity to interact with Tommy. The little information he had of them was given by a regretful Eret, slips up of Tubbo and Ranboo and little remarks by Puffy, who only knew the blonde.
Is not like he didn't met the guy, the first day he arrived he briefly saw him, or well, scared him, and he thinks he showed Tommy his summer home, but he doesn't know the kid that well, so when the news of his dead took over the server, he only felt pity. He has been alive for so long, and being the god of the undead comes with a little apathy towards the subject, but he can't stand the sorrow that invades him seeing his parent figure so heartbroken for the kid and confusion at the mixed reactions of the people around him.
Foolish remembers seeing the Eggpire celebrate the dead of the boy in the hotel room he rented, and it felt right to drive them away from there. He understands they weren't in their right mind thanks to the power of the egg, but he could see the hesitation in Punz's eyes after Bad throws an hurray. He couldn't resist to ask if Bad felt bad for the kid's murder, and the lack of answer was enough explanation.
"Shouldn't you be celebrating?" The demon asked after Foolish explains that he didn't know the guy and the little interactions he had with him was when Tommy scammed him. Ant didn't wait to talk ill of the death and the god took it as the sign to leave.
Puffy was mad, really mad. She was shaking and the grip of her sword was strong. He could hear in her voice the dispear. She not only lost the boy, but she also lost her best friends that day. He saw the confrontation at Tommy's house, and how she built a giant "fuck" close to the Eggpire headquarters. She had been dealing with a lot of grief in so short amount of time.
Death is the loss of people and people, even if he didn't knew them, deserve respect, so he took out his tools and did what he does best and builds. Building gives him comfort, he knows his hands are made to hurt, but using them to keep the memory of a fallen soldier is retribution for his past sins.
It's not his best work, but the statue gets the job done, commemorating the lost of a life gone too soon. And at the end, he assisted to the brief funeral that Puffy and Eret threw in an eerie beach that reaks of sadness.
The surroundings reminded him of L'Manburg, all blown up and oozing with pain, but at least the craters didn't go to bedrock like in the old country. The air felt heavy, party decorations still in place, abandoned and solitary and he can't believe that the young boy used to live here. The faintly scent of gun powder sorrounded the place and the smell appears to be a recurrent thing in every place Tommy stayed. A tall pillar stands at the distance looming as a reminder of this could have happen sooner, and Foolish is almost certain that Tommy was already dead the moment he stepped foot in the lonely beach.
If Foolish only knew that Tommy wasn't the only one to die in the remains of a place people used to call home.
When he heard the news about Tommy's revival, he was genuinely surprised. As a god of the undead, it felt a little off that the boy could be revived by someone other than him, but he didn't want to say anything about it after seeing the look of relief in Puffy's eyes.
Foolish saw the kid weeks later, mining stone for some secret project but he could tell something was different. He believes that the last time he saw Tommy the guy was blonde, but look at him now, running around with brown hair and new scars. Foolish decided that his change of look was what made him unease, even if a little voice in the back of his mind differs.
He wonders around with Tommy, messing with a pickle and an enchanted pumpkin. Foolish didn't get the chance to meet this side of Tommy, the boy who laughs loudly and screams profanities every chance he gets, but not everything is nice. They walk through the rubble that is L'Manburg, Tommy talks about the history that he already knew from Tubbo and Eret, but it is eye-opening to listen from another point of view.
He is used to hear about how bad the place was, designed to create conflicts and disagreements, but Tommy talks with such fondness about the past days, when the small place was his home. Stories about friendship, loyalty and hardship that they overcame together as comrades, as friends, as family, and how everything fell apart for a mistake.
He could see how the tone shifted, happiness turned grim and Tommy got older before his eyes. Brown hair glistening under the Sun, and smile so sour that he could feel the sorrow within his heart.
Tommy didn't give up, even when everything was lost, he hopes and prays for the better, because what is the point of doing anything if you lose all hope. Tommy knows and understands that relationship are complicated, that family matters the most and words are as equally important as actions, but sometimes he gets too lost in his morals that his persona shift.
Foolish takes the words to heart, guarding them behind walls and builds and stories to learn. Tommy is a peculiar mortal, with many flaws, full of tricks and schemes, so human that makes the god aware of his own immortality.
They talk for what feel like hours, the weight of the conversation getting heavier by each sentence, and Foolish wonders how much load a kid can carry before it crumbles. Seeing the bags under Tommy's eyes and the wariness the kid has of its surroundings gives him the answer.
Morality, ethics, loyalty, virtue and reward, its hard to keep track of everything in this land, where everyone is out to get you. Tommy finds solace in companionship, even if the people he clings are bad for his soul, which gets dimmer by each betrayal, but the kid is too stubborn to let go.
The kid talks and gives advice, and it's almost funny that a teenager, someone who has lived less than a fraction of the God's life, is giving him lessons, but Foolish is nothing but smart. He knows his name contradicts itself, but life is nothing but an irony, if Tommy isn't the prove of it.
Tommy talks about not giving up on people, about how bad and good are not defined in stone. The gray of his eyes reflects on his morality, where black fights back white and the blue is long gone. Foolish almost wonders if Tommy is wrong, but only time, which he has a lot, can prove him right.
They part ways after a while, when the last light of the sun reflects on the glass that covers L'Manberg. Foolish is left thinking about Tommy's words, and they appear in his mind when he accepts Quackity's deal.
Later, when he hears about Wilbur's revival, the same feeling of uneasiness returns. He remembers Tommy's tales, and even if he knows the partial truth about Wilbur, he can help but be wary.
When Wilbur comes to visit Las Nevadas, he watches from afar, and barely distinguishes Tommy from the older man, who wears a similar coat Tommy used not long ago, but as soon as he hears Wilbur talk, he understands.
Tommy is different from his brother.