Chapter Text
Tommy sat in the kitchen, headphones pulled over his head, listening to a random stream as he mindlessly scrolled through his Twitter feed.
Although the headphones were soundproof, he had the volume low enough that he could hear the obnoxious laughs coming from his friends in the living room. They were watching some random Hulu show together, too busy sulking in each other’s warmth to even notice Tommy's absence from the group. Not that Tommy gave a shit, he didn’t like the dumb show anyways.
He wiggled in the kitchen seat, some cheap plastic one that Ranboo had gotten from his parents a couple of days before. It was uncomfortable and Tommy wanted nothing but to sink himself into the fluffy couch cushions but he was too stubborn to move. Moving meant accepting that he wasn’t happy, accepting that he was lonely and Tommy would rather die than do either of the two.
Tommy rolled his eyes at the sound of Tubbo’s giggles after some stupid joke Ranboo had told. It probably wasn’t even that funny.
The two of them never laughed that hard at anything Tommy said, only ever mocking him or changing the subject. It wasn’t as if Tommy cared if a joke didn’t land but it did hurt when they stated that being funny was the one redeeming quality of his (and he couldn’t even do that right).
“We should go check on Tommy,” Tubbo said, the words a bit muffled due to the wall and bulky headphones between them.
Tommy quickly reached for his phone, pressed the volume button up, and continued scrolling down his timeline. He liked and retweeted a couple of random tweets, barely reading what they’d said but wanting to look immersed in what he was doing.
His two ‘friends’ walked in, plates and cups in hand and awkward smiles donning their faces.
Tommy didn’t bother removing his headphones, hoping and praying they’d get the message and leave as quickly as possible.
He groaned internally when Ranboo sat down across from him, waving his hand in front of Tommy's face to get his attention.
“What do you want?” Tommy asked, headphones still sitting snugly on his head and volume just as loud.
Tommy watched Ranboo’s lips move open and closed, nodding his head as if he could hear what was being said. Every ten seconds, he’d let out a forced snicker, hoping it would suffice.
Fingers made their way to Tommy's messy locks of hair, lifting his headphones suddenly. “Tommy, did you hear anything he said?” Tubbo whispered.
“Don’t touch my headphones,” Tommy grumbled, pulling his head from Tubbo’s grip. “And of course I did.”
“Then which do you prefer?” Tubbo asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
“Fine. I don't know what Ranboo said.” Tommy huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“I asked if you’re alright and whether you’d prefer the couch or the futon.” Ranboo butted in, voice so quiet that Tommy almost missed it altogether.
“Couch's alright, innit?” Tommy replied. “Then you two can share the futon.”
Tommy watched as grins appeared on the two boy’s faces. Clearly, they’d gotten the response they wanted. It hurt a bit to think about the reaction he might’ve gotten had his answer been to share the futon.
He smiled weakly, nails digging into his palms as he clenched his fists shut. His vision went blurry as he choked back a sob attempting to escape his throat, biting down hard on his tongue to the point where he could taste his blood.
“We’re just going to get changed into pajamas and then probably go to bed,” Ranboo stated, standing to push the chair back underneath the table.
“Night Tommy. Remember we have plans tomorrow morning so you’ll need to sleep.” Tubbo added, already halfway out of the kitchen, waving with his back turned to the blond.
Tommy said nothing, simply nodding his head and hoping it would be enough.
As soon as the two left the kitchen, Tommy broke, collapsing over the table. He tried to be quiet, still choking down his sobs but allowing his tears to fall freely onto the wood below him.
After about two or three minutes, he sat up to wipe his face and rub his eyes. They were no doubt puffy and red but he couldn’t be bothered to care.
He grabbed his phone, charger, and headphones case and pushed his chair in. He flicked the kitchen light off and walked into the living room ready to sleep.
Tubbo and Ranboo had already gotten comfortable, the two hidden underneath the comforter and blankets. They were pressed against each other, giggling at some video that was playing on Tubbo’s phone.
Tommy grimaced, placed his things into his bag, and walked over to the couch. He pulled the blanket over the top of his body and burrowed his face into the couch pillows.
He wasn't tired at all, having only woken up from a nap a couple of hours prior but he’d do anything to save himself from hearing the noises coming from the pair on the futon.
“Click on that video next. It’s one of my favorites.” Ranboo whispered.
Tommy didn’t care if Tubbo liked Ranboo better than he liked him.
“Wait, can we watch this instead? The little cat on the thumbnail reminds me of you.” Tubbo replied.
He didn’t care that he’d known Tubbo for ages and yet the two were so much closer than they’d ever been.
“Can the both of you shut up before I make Wilbur come to take me home?” Tommy spat, voice laced in venom.
The noise from the phone stopped, as well as the small chattering coming from Ranboo and Tubbo. Tommy smiled to himself and relaxed into the sofa, closing his eyes once more and letting sleep overtake his body.
The cemetery.
That’s what Tommy had been woken up at the asscrack of dawn for. The sun had barely risen and Tommy was being asked to get dressed to go sit in the grass around a bunch of tombstones.
He didn't have anything against going to the cemetery and had hung around a lot in the past, planting flowers for people he didn’t know. Still, that didn’t stop him from feeling pissed off.
The only reason that he’d been woken up so early was because Tubbo had work later and Ranboo really wanted the three of them to spend time together. Total bullshit by the way.
Tommy sat up, his back pressed against the cushions, and yawned loudly. He reached his arms out, linking his hands together, and pulled, popping the bones in his spine.
“Come on Tommy,” Tubbo said, rushing around the house grabbing bug spray and other things they’d need. “Start moving or we’ll be late.”
“How can we be late to something that isn’t an event?” Tommy questioned, still sitting in the same spot.
“Oh fuck off. You know what I mean.” Tubbo replied.
Tommy shook his head and walked to the bathroom to brush his teeth.
Ranboo was standing in front of the mirror, applying toothpaste to his toothbrush and swaying to music that wasn’t playing.
“Move over, dickhead.” Tommy shoved Ranboo slightly, snickering to himself when Ranboo grabbed the wall to prevent himself from falling.
He grabbed the toothpaste and squeezed a generous amount onto his toothbrush, wet it, and raced Ranboo to finish first.
“Y’know,” Ranboo choked, mouth still full of sudsy toothpaste. “It's not a competition.”
“Yes, it is.” Tommy spat, toothpaste flying onto the mirror.
The two finished brushing their teeth, Tommy minutes before Ranboo. His gums were sort of sore and a couple of his teeth were definitely not clean but he didn’t care. He won. He knew he was better than Ranboo.
Tommy walked off to the living room to grab his bag for a change of clothes, grumbling quietly under his breath about how tired he felt. It totally wasn’t due to the countless hours he’d spend scrolling on his phone, no, he’d rather blame his two friends and the feeling of misery he felt whenever he was near them.
He pulled out a pair of checkered pajama pants, a t-shirt with the sentence ‘it’s called THINKING… you should try it sometimes’ on the front, and a fresh pair of socks. He quickly yanked off his clothes and replaced them with the outfit he’d picked out.
“Alright, we’re leaving in two minutes.” Tubbo called out from the kitchen.
Tommy grabbed his blue converse, unlaced them and pulled them on. He patted the pockets of his bottoms, making sure his card and headphones were there.
The three walked out of the house, locking the door and checking the knob once, twice and a third time.
“I was looking at the map,” Ranboo spoke into the silence. “and there’s a really cool shop nearby that I was thinking we could visit. Only if you guys want to, of course.”
Tommy rolled his eyes as he opened the front passenger seat door. Ranboo didn’t truly care what he thought, nobody cared what he thought.
“Sounds good to me.” Tubbo replied, toothy grin on his face.
Tommy pulled his headphones over his ears and pressed shuffle on one of his many playlists.
A frown was permanently etched onto Tommy’s face as he stared out the window watching the trees whip by. In no time, they were pulling into a rock path outside the shop Ranboo had found.
Tommy followed behind his friends, kicking at the ground, his headphones still pressed to his ears.
The shop was weird to say the least, taxidermied animals filling every corner. This was definitely not what Tommy was expecting. Usually he’d find it cool but he was in a bad mood, so he forced away his smile.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and moved his left headphone to listen to whatever was being said.
“Look at how cool this is!” Ranboo held out his hand in front of Tommy. In the center of his palm laid two scorpion necklaces, presumably for himself and Tubbo.
“Cool.” Tommy muttered.
Speaking of Tubbo, where was he?
Tommy looked around the shop for his short friend and spotted him staring at a skeleton sitting near the register. He walked over to inspect the dead body himself, ignoring whatever Ranboo had replied.
Just as Tommy walked up to the register, Tubbo was moving back, ending in the two bumping into each other.
Tommy’s entire body stiffened at the feeling of Tubbo’s shoulder pressing into his chest. It’d been so long since he had felt genuine touch from either of his friends — his own choice — and this was just too much. He could feel tears threatening to fall and used all of his power to suck them back up.
He looked down to see Tubbo’s mouth moving, a grin on his face. His bottom lip trembled as he bit down on his tongue, hoping Tubbo could see his discomfort and would just move back.
“I want to go home.” He rushed out, taking a step back as soon as his head felt clear.
Tubbo’s face fell and a piece of Tommy’s heart broke. His eyebrows furrowed together and he reached up to Tommy’s head to place his headphones onto his neck.
“We’ve not even made it to the cemetery yet!” Tubbo stated, shifting his weight from his left leg to his right.
“What’s going on guys?” Ranboo butted in, pressing a hand onto Tommy’s shoulder, the two necklaces dangling in front of him.
Tommy must’ve done something terrible in a past life. It was the only explanation for all the torture he’d been put through in only thirty minutes.
“Tommy wants to go home.” Tubbo replied, with a look that Tommy could only describe as annoyance.
“I guess we don’t need to go to the cemetery,” Ranboo sighed. “It sort of sucks since you made all that food.”
“You guys go! I’ll just call Wilbur.” Tommy rushed out, cheeks turning pink from all the attention he was getting.
He shrugged Ranboo’s hand off of his shoulder and let out a forced laugh, attempting to clear the obvious tension in the air. Ignoring the looks on Tubbo and Ranboo’s faces — they were probably filled with glee —, he walked to the entrance of the shop to call his brother.
Tommy didn’t feel bad about leaving. Why should he? He was well in his right to leave whenever he felt uncomfortable.
The thought of scrolling on Instagram later, when Tubbo was at work and Ranboo was back home, and seeing the multitude of posts without him was almost enough to change his mind.
Beep, beep, beep.
“Tommy, you called?” Wilbur said, cutting his thoughts short.
He huffed out a breath, ignoring the feeling inside of him and laughed, “Yeah, yeah, I did. You think you could come pick me up?”