Chapter Text
“Good morning!” Tommy greets, plopping down at the kitchen table. “What are you- actually, yeah, what are you guys doing?”
Tubbo grins, feral, at Tommy. “Explosives.” He says, without any further explanation.
“Toms,” Ranboo pleads. ‘Get me out of here, please. I think he might actually kill me while trying to do his experiments.“
Tommy glances between the two of them. “Uh, do either of you guys want… any coffee?” He offers meekly.
Ranboo sighs. “You won’t even try to save me. Fine, I get it. That’s cool. I just won’t give you my clothes anymore, is that what you want?”
Tommy’s mouth drops open. “What the hell, man?! You can’t just deny a guy your hoodies , for fuck’s sake.”
“Free me, then.” Ranboo challenges, and oh, it’s on .
He turns his attention to Tubbo immediately. “Tubbo, Tubs, my best friend, hey.”
“Tommy, Toms, my best friend, hey,” Tubbo parrots back, mocking. “You’re not getting them. Their magic is way too useful for explosions.”
“But please ?” Tommy turns on his puppy eyes.
“No.” Tubbo, as it seems, is immune to his best asset.
“But Tubbo- ”
“Nope! Plus, if you try, I…” He thinks for a moment. “Won’t hug you for a week.”
Tommy grits his teeth. Oh, they’re playing dirty now. Fine. He can do that.
“Oh wow, Tubbo, way to go, reminding me of the time I was touch-starved for years, absolutely fantastic.” He groans.
“Wait, nooo, Tommy, I didn’t mean it,” Tubbo whines. “I’m sorry, I’ll hug you.”
Tommy huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, yeah. It’s fine, Tubs.”
“Ok-aaaay.” Tubbo pouts.
“I mean, if you really feel bad, you could release Ranboo?” Tommy offers hopefully.
“Not a chance, boss man.”
-
It’s been almost an hour of Tubbo doing whatever mad-scientist type things he’s doing to Ranboo when the doorbell rings.
Tommy jolts in his seat, jumpscared. Tubbo and Ranboo look up, obviously taken aback.
See, the thing is, they live out in the heart of the woods. They’re so far away from civilization Tommy doesn’t think he’s seen another sign of human, mortal life in years. When Tommy had first decided he was going to live in this area, that was one of the main factors that he took into account- he’d probably never see another human soul again.
Of course, he hadn’t accounted for non-human people, but then again he never thought he’d meet one of them. The closest he’d come to magic is the cheap salt he’d sprinkled round the edges of his property, bought off the magical black market, to keep intruders out.
When Ranboo and Tubbo had come, they’d put some more potent magical barriers around, so almost no one could come in- no matter their intentions. Only someone more powerful than both of them combined could get in.
(“That’s exactly who we don’t want coming in!” Tommy said, throwing his hands up in the air.
“Well, maybe, but they’d be able to come in either way, no matter whether we let good people in or not.” Tubbo explained, shrugging. “If someone really needs help and wants to come in, we’ll be alerted anyway. But people can disguise their ill-intentions long enough to get through if we decide to let in anyone with ‘good’ intentions.”
“Come on Toms, we just want to keep our area safe.” Ranboo pleaded.
Eventually, Tommy did give in. Not without a shortage of bribes, of course, but what did they expect?)
The doorbell rings a second time.
“I’ll get it.” Tommy says decisively. “You guys just… continue with whatever you’re doing.”
Tubbo laughs in disbelief. “Tommy, you are the least equipped to deal with anyone who could be there. I’ll go.”
Tommy shakes his head, shoving his chair back and standing up. He starts walking towards the door, ignoring Tubbo scrambling to race after him. “If the person there is more powerful than both of you, then none of us are equipped to deal with them. Just let me get this over with.”
Tubbo pulls him back by the collar of his shirt, shoving him out of reach of the door. “Well at least me and Ranboo have a chance . You’d be fucking smited, Toms.”
Ranboo pipes up from behind them, grabbing Tommy’s arm. “Tubbo’s right. Whoever’s there is probably one of the higher mages, or a- what’s it called, Tubbo? ⌿⍀⟟⋏☊⟒⌿⌇ ⏃⏚⊬⌇⌇⟟?”
“Yeah, that sounds right,” Tubbo nods. At Tommy’s confused look, he adds. “It’s the title for ruler of the monsters- essentially, one of the more powerful ones.”
“Oh,” Tommy says, feeling very out of the loop. He really doesn’t know anything about where Ranboo and Tubbo come from, does he? “Okay. Well, still. This was my house first, I should be able to answer the door. ”
Ranboo and Tubbo make eye contact, and Tommy rolls his eyes. He hates how easily they can communicate with each other without speaking. (He doesn’t really , in all honesty. Sometimes he does find it a little sweet that they know each other so well.)
“Alright.” Tubbo says slowly. He looks at Ranboo again, who nods. “We’ll let you open it. But that’s it.”
Tommy groans. “You guys are the worst . I’ll probably be fine.”
“ Probably ,” Ranboo stresses. “ Probably . That’s not a definite answer, and as long as it stays that way, you’re not facing whoever’s out there.”
“Fine! Fine,” Tommy concedes. “Whatever. I’m just gonna open it.”
He reaches for the handle, releasing the bolt on it. He can practically feel the nervous energy radiating off the two behind him in waves as he slowly turns it.
The door swings open, and a guy topples forward onto them.
He rights himself quickly, but sways on his feet. His wings- brightly colored rad, yellow, and blue, flare out behind him, steadying.
Tommy flinches back, and Tubbo grabs him, shoving him behind him and Ranboo. Tommy takes it as an excuse to look the guy over further.
In short, he doesn’t look well. His shirt’s ripped, some of it grey at the edges like it’s been burned- and he has soot on his wings to match. Tommy glances at his face, and grimaces in sympathy at the long cut running down one side of it.
Most prominent, however, is the person in his arms.
Tommy doesn’t get much of a glimpse of him before the guy’s wings go back around him, shielding, but from what he can make out, the guy’s dead- or on the verge of death. His head is lolled back, and he looks far paler than a living person ever should. He does have quite a cool mustache though, Tommy notes.
“Hello?” The first person says, tilting his head at them. “Oh gosh, you all are kids .”
Tommy’s jaw drops, offended. “We are not !”
“Oh, geez, you really are.” The person sounds regretful, mouth tilting downwards. They take a step back, but Ranboo comes forward.
“Is your- um, your friend okay?” They ask, quietly. “I don’t know if we have many medical supplies, but we can try to help.”
The person hesitates, eyes furrowing in indecisiveness. “Are you all… Okay, with that?” He asks.
Tommy looks back at the other two, shrugging. “Yeah, I mean,” He hesitates. “Your friend looks really hurt, and we’re probably the only people around for miles. You don’t look too good yourself, either, I feel like it’d weigh on my conscience if I let you try and carry him somewhere else.” He laughs, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Hey!” The person protests. “I look plenty fine, thank you very much.”
Ranboo giggles behind him. “You really don’t, man.”
The person continues to try and make his point as Tommy and Ranboo walk to the living room, leading the guy over to lay his friend on their couch.
“Oh, so I got the table but this random guy gets the couch ,” Tubbo grumbles, bringing Tommy’s attention to the fact that he’s barely spoken since they opened the door.
“Look, this guy has a mustache, okay? He has to have the VIP treatment,” Tommy jokes. Making his way over to Tubbo, he leans down, whispering to him. “Hey, are you okay?”
Tubbo glances at the guy and Ranboo, chatting away, and pulls him into the other room, closing the door behind him.
“Look,” He starts. “This guy’s obviously hurt, something happened to him, and I don’t want to leave him outside with a hurt friend. I know I’d be heartbroken if I couldn’t get one of you guys help, so I get it. I do.”
Tommy waits for him to continue.
“ But ,” Tubbo takes one of Tommy’s hands. “I… I don’t like him here.”
Tommy tilts his head, confused. “Why not?”
Tubbo draws patterns into Tommy’s palm with his finger, thinking. “Well…”
Tommy stays silent, letting him collect his thoughts.
“I don’t… quite know? It’s just- this is our space. And usually, if I need to protect you guys, I can just keep someone out , you know? But, well, now there’s someone we don’t even know, and I’m kind of… powerless. He’s stronger than us, he’s in our area , he just… He holds the cards. If he decided to do something, I couldn’t stop it.”
Tommy hums. “That’s true. It’s valid, y’know, that you don’t like him being here. But… I don’t know, he’s hurt. And I feel like we’re his only option right now? Just give him a chance, maybe.”
“Yeah, I will.” Tubbo sighs, bone-deep tiredness seeping through. “Do you mind if I put a few more wards on you, though?”
“Yeah, course.” Tommy holds out his other hand, and Tubbo takes it. “Go for it.”
As Tubbo starts chanting- Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris, Italiam fato profugus, Laviniaque venit- Tommy lets his mind drift.
These guys were powerful, obviously. They’d managed to break the wards of the house, and they radiated magic. They’d looked super torn up though, which begs the question:
What could have possibly managed to hurt them that bad?
And a follow up that Tommy internally grimaces at: Was it still coming after them?
Tubbo finishes chanting, and Tommy tunes back into the world, immediately stumbling. Tubbo wraps an arm around him as he sways from side to side, trying to breath through the force of all the magic flowing through him.
“Sorry,” Tubbo murmurs, slowly lowering Tommy to the floor. “It’ll subside in a sec.”
“Mhm,” Tommy tightens his vice-like grip on Tubbo as he tries to ignore the nausea that immediately follows. The magic isn’t like Ranboo’s- theirs always sends goosebumps through his lightning scars- it’s earthier, more grounded. Either way, magic is always overwhelming , and he needs a second to process.
Tommy sucks in a ragged breath, and stands up. Tubbo hovers behind him, hands steady on his shoulders. “You good now?” He checks, and Tommy nods. “‘Kay. Let’s go talk to the new guys, then.”
Tommy starts walking back, Tubbo’s steadying presence behind him. They re-enter the living room, and Ranboo spots them.
They’re at their sides almost instantly. “You guys okay?”
Tommy nods, and Ranboo turns to Tubbo, wincing when they see him. “Hey, bee, you wanna…” They trail off, but Tubbo nods aggressively. “Yeah, please.”
Ranboo turns to Tommy, and he nods, waving them off. “Yeah, go do that, I’ll be fine.”
He walks over to the stranger, and the other two leave to the connecting room. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the person’s friend, patched up and sleeping peacefully. The awake stranger doesn't have nearly as many scrapes showing either, so Tommy assumes they did some work.
“Hey,” Tommy greets, grinning nervously at the guy. “Um, I don’t think I introduced myself. I’m Tommy, uh… He and him? Maybe? Not too sure about that one.” He laughs and sticks a hand out.
The stranger shakes it. “Hey Tommy! You can call me Grian. Honestly anything works, but mainly he and him.” Grian smiles back.
“Cool! Cool, cool,” Tommy nods. “Um…” He drums his fingers on his leg, trying to think of something to do. “Do you want some tea or something?”
“Sure!” Grian shoots him a thumbs up.
“Great.” Okay, this is something Tommy knows how to do. He can make tea without fucking it up. Hopefully.
… Maybe.
He can make tea, right?
Guess it’s time to find out.
-
As it turns out, Tommy is pretty fuckin’ good at making tea, if he says so himself.
Grian even complimented his tea-making skills! If that doesn’t count for anything, he doesn’t know what does.
“- Oh, yeah and then there were these huge fuckin’ thunderstorms for days after.” Tommy emphasises this by waving his hands around. “Like, so much rain, and thunder, but no lightning. It’s supposed to be like… because it was such a powerful strike, it had to be balanced.”
“Mhm,” Grian nods. Tommy’s attempting to retell the lightning story- magic had somehow come up in their conversation, and that meant he obviously had to explain how he’d first come into contact with it in the first place.
“But yeah, that’s about it.” He finishes, racking his mind for details he might have left out. “Uh, how’d you end up with that? Those definitely look like they came from magic.” He gestures at the scars on the side of Grian’s face.
“Yeah, that’s because they are.” Grian laughs, bringing a hand up to his face. “These are actually from not too long ago- you know how we came here all banged up? It’s from the same thing. Mumbo-” They point at the person lying on the couch. “Over there can’t kill anything, even by accident, so he won’t fight it, and me by myself isn’t enough to overpower it. So… we’re kind of stuck until we get our backup. Still, we keep trying to go after it- not to do any real harm, just to try and apprehend it.”
Tommy blinks. “What, so there’s just something running around that can single-handedly kill all of us?”
Grian winces. “Well when you put it like that…”
“Oh my fucking god,” Tommy buries his face in his hands.
“Hey!” Grian scolds. “But… yeah. Still, I can hold it off until our backup gets here- whoa! ”
Something crashes through into their room.
Grian jumps up immediately, magic flaring to life in his hands. The thing looks up and snarls, rising up to its tallest height. It doesn’t charge, though, just shifts on its feet.
It's pretty, Tommy observes, watching its amethyst eyes shift in the light. It’s almost like a slightly smaller dragon, with half black scales, half white. Tommy grins- he’ll have to show Ranboo this one.
“Hey there,” Grian says softly, holding out a coaxing hand. “Are you lost?”
The creature takes a tentative step forward, before bypassing Grian and going straight to Tommy.
“Oh.” He blinks at it. “Hello.”
Grian scoffs. “Hey!” She glares at the beast. “You went to him and not me?”
Tommy grins, reaching up and patting it on the head. He has to stand on his tip-toes, and even then still can’t reach the very top of it. “It’s because I’m just better.”
“Uh-huh,” Grian rolls his eyes.
The creature snorts, knocking its nose into the side of Tommy’s face. “Hi there.” He says, patting its snoot. “Yes. Hello. Hi.” It snuffles at the top of his shirt, gently biting the collar. “No,” He scolds. “We don’t eat clo- hey! ”
Suddenly he’s dangling a few feet in the air, legs kicking uselessly. “Put me down !” He fights uselessly for a few more seconds, then turns to Grian. “Uh, Grian.”
“You seem to have gotten yourself into- into a situation, Tommy.” Grian says, trying and failing to hold back laughter. “You need some help?”
“Yes please.” Tommy wiggles, and three things happen in rapid succession.
He falls to the ground, yelping as he slams into the hard floor. The creature and Grian both scramble for him, the former probably not meaning to have dropped him.
The doorbell sounds. Tommy’s eyes widen and Grian whips his head around. from where they’re kneeling beside him. There’s a few moments of silence, and then it rings again, and Grian jumps to his feet to get it.
Tubbo comes into the room a split second before opening the door, and freezes when he sees inside the room.
Grian opens the door- and that’s when the chaos starts.