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It was the middle of the night when Tommy had complained about the monster. Technoblade had been sat on the couch by their lit fireplace, reading his book when the soft patters of footsteps came down the stairway. Techno turned his head slightly, looking at the misty-eyed child on the bottom step, stuffed cow clutched tightly to his chest.
"What's up, Tommy?" Techno asked, as if he didn't already know, and Tommy shuffled in place for a moment.
"There's–there's something under my bed." He murmured, eyes misty and cheeks red and wet.
"What?" Techno asked and shut his book, putting it beside him.
"There's something under my bed!" Tommy repeated, giving his brother a glare. Huffing a near-silent laugh, the elder stood and walked over, stretching until there was a satisfying crack filling the quiet room. Tommy grimaced.
"What's under your bed?" Techno asked as the two of them were walking up the stairs.
"I don't know!" Tommy sounded offended and frustrated at the mere insinuation that he'd hide such information. He even added a small kick at the next step, to boot.
"Alright, geez." The pinkette murmured, pushing open the ajar door and walking inside. Tommy remained by the door, half-hidden by the door-frame and half-peering inside with a worried gaze. When Techno dropped to his knees and peered under the bed, Techno saw nothing. "There's nothing there, Tommy." He said, getting back up. Tommy's worried face immediately switched to one with a deep frown, and he quickly came closer. Dropping to his knees, Tommy scowled angrily.
"It was just there!" He exclaimed. "Techno, I swear! It knocked my crayons over!" He cried, gesturing to the spilled box of crayons by one of his bed legs.
With a raised brow, Techno glanced at the crayons, then back up at Tommy.
"Do you want me to stay with you until you fall asleep?"
"I'm not a little kid!" Tommy shouted petulantly, and Techno placed a hand on his mop of blond hair.
"I know." Techno said. "Do you want me to stay?"
His little brother stared him in the eyes, blue meeting red, and a few moments passed, and then–
"If you want." Tommy huffed, crossing his arms and pouting. His crystal blue eyes looked anywhere but at Techno, who sat down on the floor by the bed.
Tommy got back into bed, and with Techno's presence by his side, he eventually managed to fall asleep.
It happened again the next night.
And the next.
And the next.
And the next.
It kept happening until everyone in the house lost count and Tommy outright refused to sleep in his own room. He started sleeping with Phil, who couldn't help but admit he was a little concerned. Why was his son so scared of his own room? None of them could ever find anything under it, yet Tommy endlessly insisted that something was wrong. Phil didn't know how to help. His elder sons had begun to get tired of Tommy's insistence and constant complaints, but Phil could tell they were worried about their younger brother.
He didn't know what to do, so for now, he let Tommy sleep in his bed, and let the boy curl into his wing as he slept.
Tommy was annoyed. He was angry. Nobody would believe him about the thing he sees under his bed! When Techno checked, he found nothing. When Wilbur checked, he found nothing. When Phil checked, he found nothing. Was Tommy just imagining it?
But he saw it! He kept seeing it! Was he imagining all that after all? But his box of crayons had been spilt! Maybe he just did it himself? Why was this so confusing?
Tommy kicked at his toy car before sitting down angrily on the red carpet by his bed. Phil had told him to try playing in his room, or something. He looked back at the toy and went to reach for it, only for a low hiss to come from under his bed and something green and black to come out. Tommy scrambled back with a gasp, eyes wide with terror and heart thundering in his ears. He stared at the spot where the black thing and the hiss had come from.
It was gone.
Was he imagining that?
But he'd definitely heard and seen it!
Should he go get someone?
No, he was a big man and big men weren't scared of anything. Especially when it was day time! He could handle it! Plus, nobody else would do anything.
Hesitantly, Tommy started crawling closer to his bed, eyes focused solely underneath it. What if it was still there?
He paused.
"M..Mister Monster..?" He whispered, putting his cheek to the floor. He put on his bravest face and glared at the shadow in front of him with all his might. "Come out!" He demanded – quite well if he did say so himself. His voice did not shake at all. No, it did not. "I want my toy back!"
A pair of eyes suddenly appeared and Tommy startled back, choking back a scream. Those eyes weren't human. They didn't have any white in them – at all! Just black and a dark green colour for the actual eye. Tommy was scared, but he thought they were pretty cool, too. The shadow then started to extend and Tommy saw his bright-red toy being held in the hand of the shadowy mist, dark green specs in places. He stared at the shadowy monster and watched with a – very scary, in his personal opinion, which was always right because he was a very scary big man – glare as it placed the toy gently on the ground, and slightly pushed it in his direction, the toy getting closer and closer to the him until it stopped just a little in front of his feet.
"Sorry for scaring you." Came out a quiet whisper, a slight hiss behind its words.
The hand started to go back into the shadow, and Tommy felt annoyed. Was this really what he'd been afraid of all this time? Something so...nice? Something that gave him his toy back and apologised for scaring him? He huffed angrily.
"W-wait." He said quietly, scowling at the stammer.
A face hesitantly peered out from under the bed. It was really just a wispy extension of the shadow behind it, but Tommy thought that was stupid. It had eyes and what looked like a mouth, so it was a face.
Both of them were silent for a bit, then Tommy grumbled and sat down on the floor, arms crossed as he glared at the shadow.
"Can you draw?" He eventually asked.
"What?" The figure went back under the bed a little, as if he'd said something bad and had to physically back away.
"Can you draw?" Tommy repeated. Maybe he hadn't heard him?
"I..I guess?"
Tommy immediately brightened, and smiled at the figure, getting back up.
"Okay! Wait here."
When he came back, he held up some sheets of paper like a trophy, and quickly grabbed the crayons on his desk just before dropping down by his bed. He spread out two sheets of paper, putting the small pile of spare sheets between them. The box of crayons lay on top. Tommy lay on his stomach and started drawing a sun with a yellow crayon. It took a while, but the figure took hold of a red crayon and put it to paper.
"What's your name?"
"..Sam." 'Sam' sounded really confused. Was Sam not his name? Did he not know it?
Tommy rolled over onto his side, cheek on the floor as he stared at the shadowy figure drawing and colouring shapes on the paper.
"What are you?" Sam paused. The scribbling noises stopped and Tommy frowned at how Sam went completely silent.
"I... don't know..." Sam looked sad, so Tommy poked him. "Hey, what?"
"Finish your drawing! I wanna see it!"
"Alright, alright." He laughed softly, and Tommy beamed. "You should finish yours, too. I wanna see it, too."
"Mmkay!" Tommy quickly turned back around and started colouring on his paper again. He drew his family. Wilbur was drawn in brown and Techno in pink and Phil in dark green and him in red. Glancing at Sam, Tommy started to draw another stick figure, in green like Phil. When he finished, Tommy proudly showed it to Sam, who smiled and gave him a thumbs up, telling Tommy how good his drawing was. And of course it was! Tommy was the bestest, most talented, biggest man in the world! Of course it was! He puffed up proudly, and loudly proclaimed, "Of course it is! It was done by me!" Sam grinned and laughed.
When Sam was done, he slid it over to Tommy, who leaned over to look at it, grinning widely at the picture. It was him! It was a drawing of him in a garden. It looked really cool, too! His body wasn't sticks and lines, and his legs and arms looked a bit more like spaghetti noodles. His neck was long, and Tommy laughed in delight at how he looked a bit like a noodle giraffe. He gave Sam a bright grin, looking at the green of the ground and the yellow of the sun and the blue of the sky. Sam had even drawn some clouds!
"Woah." He breathed, and Tommy saw Sam smile, a quiet, rumble-y hiss coming from him. Tommy grinned with him.
The next day, Tommy came with some snacks. He hadn't moved back into his room, but Tommy was going to change that. He would sleep that night in his own room.
"Have one of these." Tommy said around a mouthful of snacks, handing some to Sam, who's wispy, clawed hand took them. It went back under the bed, and Tommy watched – interested – as a wide mouth– that was generous. Sam's mouth was really more like a neon-green hole in the shape of a mouth with wolf-like teeth all around; all sharp and pointy. Tommy was a little intimidated by the strange, bubbling substance at the back of his mouth, some dripping from the top of it, with a long, yellow tongue. It was a little unnerving.
The snack went into the mouth, and Tommy recoiled at the sizzling sound.
"It's good." The mouth shut, and there was just darkness. Tommy shook his head to get rid of the nerves.
"Right?!" He wore a bright grin, and Sam laughed.
At some point into their very manly game of uno that Tommy was definitely winning, one of Phil's crows flew in through the open window.
"No!" He exclaimed, making a shooing motion with his hands. He gave it a very scary glare. "Shoo! Shoo!"
The stupid bird wouldn't leave. Tommy scowled. "Go away!" He grumbled. "Stupid bird."
A loud and vicious-sounding hiss filled the room. It was the kind a particularly angry cat would make, but if that cat was a dangerous beast that could swallow you with one gulp. Tommy's nose wrinkled at the weird smell wafting in, and he looked back at where the sounds and smell was coming from.
"Sam?"
Sam continued hissing and Tommy flinched a little when a drop of the green goo flew out from his mouth and fell in front of the crow, right by Tommy's little feet, making the floor sizzle as the goo bubbled away. The crow squawked loudly and sped back the way it came in as fast as it could.
"Sam?" Tommy hesitated for a moment, but then crouched back down on the floor to peer under his bed. "What was that?" He asked curiously.
"Sorry." Sam murmured, grimacing. "Did I get you?" Tommy shook his head with a bright smile.
"Nope! It nearly got the crow, though." He supplied, giving the other a cheeky grin.
"Okay. Would you like to continue playing?" Tommy nodded and sat back down, picking up his cards and glancing at the current card between the two of them.
Tommy kept thinking back to the crow and how Sam seemed to not like it, or be really angry at it.
"Sam? Do you not like birds?" He asked suddenly, placing a blue two down. Sam glanced up at him, then at his cards and huffed a slight smile.
"I don't mind them. They're a little annoying, though."
"What animal is your favourite?" Tommy asked. "I like cows. Wilby likes sheep and Tech likes polar bears and foxes."
"I guess..." Sam hummed, in thought. "I like dogs a lot, but all animals are nice." Tommy nodded along sagely, and grinned when he got down to one card.
Tommy won that game and cheered.
Tommy went back to sleeping in his room after that. Phil was glad that his 'monster under my bed' phase was over. Tommy hadn't complained about it in a few days, and they'd been hearing conversations Tommy was a part of sometimes when they walked by his bedroom door. And not just his voice, but two different ones.
They'd assumed Tommy was just putting on a different voice, but Phil had his doubts. But what other explanation was there? Whenever one of them walked in to check on Tommy, who could now most often than not be found in his room, happily playing, there would be no-one there, and the young blond would smile up at them innocently, and ask if they needed something'. He'd go right back to chattering after they left.
Tommy asked for some keyrings one day when they were in town. He held up two. One cow and one grey dog. Wilbur had asked if the dog was for a friend, since Tommy wasn't really interested in the animal. He'd nodded happily and practically bounced all the way home, the chains' jingles in his hands and one of Wilbur's melodies from his mouth. They hadn't asked which friend. They hadn't thought they needed to.
"Sam! Sam!" Tommy shouted, bounding into his room with joy.
"Yes, Tommy?" Sam laughed, grinning at the child's energy. He peeked his head out from under the bed to get a closer look at what he was holding out to him.
"Here!" Tommy shoved something into Sam's clawed hands and stepped back, falling down to the ground and rocking back and forth excitedly. In front of Tommy lay a cow keyring, and Sam glanced in his hands to see a dog one. He wanted to cry. He wasn't sure how that would work.
"Thank you, Tommy." Sam whispered, cradling the dog charm like it was gold and smiling sappily at it. "I like it very much."
"Good, because I would've kicked you if you didn't." Tommy declaring, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling proudly.
Laughing, Sam nodded to himself, murmuring, "I'll cherish it forever."
"Sam?" Tommy whispered. Sam hummed, combing his fingers through Tommy's hair as the boy fell asleep. He looked up at the wispy figure as best he could in the dark room and smiled. "I love you."
Sam paused. It was not because he had to choke down tears. It was not.
"I love you too, Tommy."
Sam kept the dog keyring by his side.
Techno woke up in the middle of the night. There was strange shuffling coming from behind the wall. From Tommy's room. What was Tommy doing awake at...two in the morning?
Techno blew a strand of pink hair out of his face and didn't even bother putting on his glasses. He stepped out into the hall, yawning as he walked the few steps to his younger brother's door in the darkness of the night.
Lightly knocking his knuckles against the tilted door. The shuffling immediately stopped, and Techno narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"Tommy? You awake?" He whispered. After a few seconds of no answer, he murmured a quiet 'I'm coming in' and pushed the door open, stepping inside. There was nothing different about the room compared to how it looked when he was last in there, other than a certain lack of...a mess. Tommy's crayons and papers that were usually strewn about the floor were on his desk, ordered in neat little piles. The toys he usually left anywhere and everywhere weren't there and made Techno raised a brow at the cleanliness. There was no way Tommy had done this. Tommy's cleaning (if it could even be called that) was just pushing his things against walls or under his bed and calling it a job well done.
Techno shuffled inside, wary of anything he might've not been able to see in the dark without his glasses, and saw the dog keyring Tommy wanted yesterday. Crouching down, he went to reach for the charm. A sudden burning appeared on his hand, and Techno reeled back with a muffled yelp, waving his painful hand to stem the pain. Glancing at it, Techno swore he could see some green splotches on top of the angry, red marks that now coloured his hand. What was that?
Glancing at Tommy's sleeping form, Techno frowned and crouched down to peer underneath, confused at the fact he couldn't see anything. Why is it so dark? He reached for the dog keyring again, and had to hold back a flinch when there was a painful grip on his wrist and a low hissing in his ears. Glancing back up, Techno clenched his jaw and reeled back at the seemingly-demonic face staring at him, all glowing eyes and razor-sharp teeth, acid bubbling in the back of its mouth. The hissing increased in intensity as soon as Techno laid eyes on it, and a raspy voice sounded from the thing.
"Leave it." It practically growled at him.
Techno glanced at Tommy. Was this real? Or was he dreaming? Techno pinched himself. Ow.
Techno glanced at the demonic thing again, but it was nowhere to be found. Had he imagined it?
Techno left, unnerved, and slept lightly for the rest of that night, ready to run to his little brother at the slightest noise.
Techno told Wilbur what he saw as soon as they woke up. He wasn't sure if what he saw was real, but in a world of powers like Phil's, Wilbur's and his, Techno guessed any kind of creature was possible. And he had a gut feeling that he definitely wasn't dreaming last night, not if the itchy mark on his hand was still there.
“Should we tell Phil?” Wilbur asked. “Will it hurt Tommy?”
“I don’t know.” Techno said finally. Would that thing hurt their kid brother if left unsupervised? Did Tommy know it was there? Surely. He'd complained about the monster to them all.
None of them had believed him.
"Wilbur." Techno mumbled, clenching his fists in shame. "He came to us about that thing."
"And we didn't believe him." Wilbur's face scrunched up as if he'd just smelled something unpleasant, and Techno clenched his jaw, angry at himself. Now his brother was potentially in danger.
"I'll ask about what happened to the monster. He stopped mentioning it a few days ago. You tell Phil. Convince him it's not a joke." Wilbur snorted, nodding.
"Convincing is what I do best, dearest brother of mine." He declared, strutting out of the room with a smile. Techno huffed softly, letting his lips quirk upwards momentarily before walking out, too.
Glancing into Tommy's room, Techno frowned. He softly rapped his knuckles on the door, greeting the child. Tommy spun to face him, the drawing in his hands still aimed at his bed.
"Hey, Tommy." He greeted, the younger waving joyfully from the floor.
"Techno! Do you want to draw, too?"
Techno glanced at the bed, where whatever was there before had disappeared.
"Sure." The older sat down beside Tommy, facing the bed and began to doodle some small designs around the paper he'd been given. "Say, Tommy." He began after a few minutes, "What happened to that monster?"
"We're friends now. His name is Sam."
He hadn't even stopped colouring. He hadn't even glanced anywhere except his paper. Why were children so nonchalant?
Techno blinked.
"I met Sam." He confessed.
He swore Tommy's neck cracked from the speed at which he whirled his head round to look at him. His own ached in sympathy.
"You met Sam?" He asked, excited. Techno nodded. "He's super nice, isn't he!" Tommy jumped to his knees with a grin.
"Tommy." He made sure his voice was firm, stealing glances at the looming darkness under the bed. "Are you sure Sam is nice?"
"What do you mean?"
"Are you sure Sam is...safe?"
"Safe?" Tommy's brows knitted together and his head tilted slightly in confusion, something Tommy picked up from Phil. "Tech, are you asking if Sam's gonna hurt me?" He questioned, voice quizzical.
"Yeah."
"Sam wouldn't. He's really nice. He cleans my room sometimes and draws with me and plays with me and he scared off a bird that wouldn't leave a bit ago - he wouldn't hurt me, Tech!" Tommy shouted, giving him his best glare.
Technoblade scrutinised the child. Don't get him wrong, he trusted Tommy, but Tommy was still a mere child. One that hadn't yet met the danger of a cruel world and hadn't yet learned to recognise it.
Technoblade trusted Tommy.
Technoblade did not know what Sam's intentions were.
Technoblade did not trust Sam.
He turned to Sam.
"Why are you here?" Techno asked, tone not allowing any emotion to slip through. Sam looked as though he'd been frozen. His green eyes dimmed, and Techno watched as he looked down.
"I...don't know. I don't remember much." Sam murmured, shaking his head like a dog, and grunting softly. Techno scrunched his nose at the burnt smell in the air. Tommy sneezed. "Sorry." The misty being apologised, and the smell swiftly died. Tommy dropped to the ground, and Techno watched him reach towards the dog keyring that was still there, and hand it to Sam, who smiled slightly and immediately began fiddling with the toy. Techno sighed.
Phil could deal with the weird amnesiac shadow.
"I'll be right back."
"–to me!" Frowning, Techno stopped by the office door. Getting Phil to believe them must not have been going as well as they thought it would. "I'm not making this up!" He wasn't able to hear Phil's response, seeing as the walls were pretty thick and Phil spoke pretty calmly, but whatever it was seemed to frustrate Wilbur to no end, considering the fact that Techno was able to hear his infuriated scream and could practically see the way he yanked at his hair.
Techno opened the door before Wilbur pulled his hair further back than it already was.
"Wilbur." He interrupted before his brother could start speaking.
"Techno!" The relief in Wilbur's voice made him raise a brow and glance at Phil. Their father looked partly amused and partly vexed. "He won't listen to what I say! I'm losing my mind, Techno! I'm going insane!" Rolling his eyes at his brother's dramatics, he gave their father a pointed look.
"Wil's not lying, y'know."
"Techno." Phil sighed, looking disappointed. "Tommy's just going through a phase right now." Huffing, Techno put on his most unimpressed look.
"He's real. His name is Sam and he's in Tommy's room right now."
"Hold on. Technoblade. My twin. My brother." This is where Wilbur placed his hands on Techno's shoulders and stared him straight in the eyes. Brown to ruby. Ruby to brown. "Are you saying you spoke to this terrifying, otherworldly, ghostly being that hides away under our dear little brother's bed?"
"Yes."
"What happened." He demanded.
"Nothing much, honestly. Bit underwhelming, if I'm being honest. He's apparently an amnesiac, too. Supposedly doesn't remember anything." Techno shrugged, glancing at Phil. "Maybe you should actually talk to him."
Phil sighed, nodding. Techno couldn't help the slightly victorious feeling in his chest at how Phil seemed to finally be believing them – or, more likely, humouring them.
"Hey, mate." Phil said softly, peeking his head around the door. Techno and Wilbur both heard his sharp intake of breath. Techno, who had already seen Sam, lagged behind. Wilbur, who had not yet seen him, tried to urge Phil inside so he could see, too.
"Are you here to be mean to Sam, too?" Techno frowned.
"No, Tommy. We just want to make sure Sam won't hurt you."
"Well, he won't!" Tommy was shouting now.
"I believe you, Tommy, but I'd like to talk to Sam, if you don't mind." Phil said softly, giving him a smile. Tommy huffed and left the room, arms crossed and a scowl on his face.
Tommy didn't go far, and he glared at Techno when the older glanced at him. He dropped to the ground, bottom lip stuck out petulantly, arms and legs crossed. He couldn't hear much through the closed door of his room, his entire family talking to Sam.
He didn't see why they even needed to talk to Sam. He'd never hurt him! Sam did look a little scary, but he's really nice! Plus, Tommy was a big man. Sam would be too scared to hurt him because Tommy was super strong and he could defeat Sam with his pinky.
What were they talking about? Tommy wanted to peer underneath to hear better, but he'd probably get in trouble and he didn't want to lose his games again. Were they going to make Sam go away? Tommy just wanted to play with Sam. He didn't want him to go! Tommy was really tempted to just run in there and pull his family away with his super strong strength, and then he'd protect Sam from them because he was just that strong, and they would be scared of him and do whatever he wanted.
Before he knew it, Phil and Techno and Wilbur were walking out, looking like a weird sort of happy. Tommy ran in, then turned to look at the other three members of his family. Sticking his tongue out childishly he lay down in front Sam, who was giving him a smile, and slid over some paper.
"Let's draw."
Now that the others knew, they almost laughed at how obvious it was. Tommy spoke of a Sam. He'd always said Sam would draw with him, play with him, spend time with him, yet Tommy never really went anywhere before those times.
From that point on, though, Tommy seemed to speak of Sam in a nervous way. When asked about Sam, Tommy would give a very detached, short answer. He'd look up at the one who'd spoken and give them a glare, then quickly scurry back to his room, slamming the door shut.
As the next few weeks passed, Wilbur had begun to join in on Sam and Tommy's drawing and playing, even getting the other two to play a few card games with him (usually ending with him and Tommy against Sam, or Sam and Tommy against him), and they welcomed him much more eagerly after the first time. Now, Tommy would pull him into his room out of nowhere, shouting about how it was time to play and to hurry up, causing the elder brunet to grin and laugh. Wilbur's opinion of Sam improved greatly. They'd begun joking around casually, oftentimes teasing Tommy about different things, and oftentimes each other.
Phil was next to get to know Sam. He'd gone to clean up Tommy's room a little bit when he'd gone to school one morning, and in his son's room was none other than Sam himself. Phil had inhaled sharply, taking a step back, and Sam was quick to apologise to him. Like his youngest, Phil apologised in return, stepping closer to the shadow-like being and watching him with wary eyes. He may be friendly, but that didn't mean he was safe. Looking around, Phil noted how clean it was, and hummed slightly.
"I hope you don't mind, but I read to Tommy, sometimes." Sam said softly, offering what appeared to be a smile. Phil paused, eyes locked onto the title of the book on the desk. It was Tommy's favourite. When was the last time he'd read to Tommy? Phil's heart ached.
"No." He swallowed dryly. "Thank you for reading to him." Phil's face pulled into a grimace, thinking back to the stacks upon stacks of paperwork he'd been trying to rush through, neglecting his human needs to get through them, instead of making some kind of schedule to fit in everything.
"Oh. Would you like to read to him next time?"
A soft smile crossed his face, and Phil looked into Sam's bright, kind, green eyes.
"No. Not tonight. Tomorrow." Phil said. "I need to make a schedule."
Sam nodded with a grin. "It'll be a surprise for Tommy."
Phil's heart throbbed painfully at that, yet his shoulders felt lighter. So much lighter. "Thank you, Sam." The wispy shadow nodded and watched him walk out.
Techno was last. After watching his father and brother both get closer to Sam, he'd relented and figured he may as well accept that he was just always going to be there. If not for Tommy, then to at least keep the peace in their home. So, one day, when he overheard Wilbur and Sam and Tommy all chattering loudly, happiness and joy in their voices, he decided to just suck it up and do it.
"Who's there?" Wilbur called in a sing-song voice, all airy and and happy.
"It's Techno."
"Techno, who?"
Techno raised a brow in disbelief. "Are you kidding me?"
"Nope!"
"Fine." Techno huffed a slight laugh. "Techno, the king of all games." He heard a snort through the door. "Can he come in?"
"Only so I can kick your ass at Uno." Tommy exclaimed, and Techno huffed a laugh, walking into the room. The sight of Sam halfway out from under the bed, along with a hunched-over Tommy and Wilbur all sitting in a triangle, all turned to face him greeted him. Techno blinked.
"Hullo."
"Sit down, will you?" Wilbur snorted. " You're holding up the game and I need a teammate, as I'm currently getting my ass royally kicked by these two."
"Wow, you're really bad."
Wilbur made an offended noise, a hand flying to his chest and face scrunching up with faux betrayal, a dramatic gasp tearing its way from his throat.
"I will have you know that I'm very good at Uno, actually!"
"Are you winning?"
"Erm– Well– no–"
"Exactly. Now move over if you want to have any shot at winning." Wilbur grumbled and made space for the piglin hybrid to sit in, and the Uno match resumed.
They still didn't win.
Wilbur kept demanding match after match, but with Sam directing Tommy when to play certain cards, it really ended up being a game of chance for the two of them.
Sam wasn't half-bad. Maybe they could play their own card games – more strategically competitive ones than Uno.
A year later, Tommy comes home from school, drags his feet from the door, up the stairs, to his room and through the door, then stops. He blinks at the sight of Sam, Phil, Techno and Wilbur all crouched around a board. Compared to the loud screeching and shouting from earlier, the silence is deafening. Tommy doesn't say anything, just throws his bag down and drops between Wilbur and Techno.
"Who's winning?"
Almost all of them immediately go: "Me.", and Tommy laughs. He looks down at the Scrabble board, and blinks at just how many words are there. He immediately looks away.
"Who's go was it last?"
"It was Wilbur's."
"Right, we were arguing about his not-word."
"It's a word! I swear to you!" Wilbur howls, scowling. Everyone can see the harmlessness in the expression.
"Yeah? Use it in a sentence!" Sam laughs, and everyone else joins in at the stumped expression on Wilbur's face.
"Uh, I don't know! I guess–"
Tommy laughs at the clunky, failed attempts, and so does everyone else.
And if later that night, away from Sam, he asks if they could detach the shadow from his bed so he could walk around on his own, and the others smile and nod, then that's a time for another day – one where Sam would take his first steps on his own, and fall a few times before doing it himself. Times when Sam would fade into the shadows he's a part of, only to pop out and scare them, and Tommy would laugh and point at how Wilbur would jump several feet into the air, letting out a screech that sounded like a dying cat. Times when Sam would often go outside to see beyond the house for a few hours, before coming back and telling whoever he saw first everything he had witnessed, pure joy in a breathless voice.
That time would come one day, and they'd spend as much time as they could to make it soon.