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A five year old Tommy giggled at his brother with stars in his eyes.
“Again, Wilby! Again!!”
“I don’t think I can do it again, Toms.” Wilbur put the toddler down on the grass, much to his disapproval. “I’m real tired.”
“But I want to play helicopter!” The blond frowned.
‘Helicopter’ was what Wilbur called picking Tommy up by the arms or hands and spinning him in a circle as Tommy hovered over the ground while he was spun.
‘Safety hazard’ was what Phil called it.
“I’m serious, Wil. You could break something in the house. Or worse, what if you let go of Tommy and he gets hurt, or-”
“Calm down old man,” Wilbur snorted. “He loves it, and can you say no to this face?”
Tucked underneath the older brother’s arm, Tommy made the best puppy dog eyes he could muster. Wilbur ruffled his hair.
Phil sighed fondly, pinching his nose. These kids were definitely taking years off his life.
“Fine,” he hesitantly relented, “But only if you play it outside. Oh and if he gets hurt, you’re doing every chore in the house for a year. And paying the hospital bill.”
“Fine by me,” Wilbur grinned.
“Wilby pleeease, one more?”
Wilbur chuckled softly, “No can do bubs, my arms might fall off.”
“Oh.” Tommy tilted his head downwards bashfully, he didn’t want Wilbur’s arms to fall off.
Wilbur laughed once more, “Hey how about this,” Tommy looked up, already excited for whatever his big brother was about to say, causing the older’s eyes to soften.
“Let’s play pretend!”
Tommy tilted his head in confusion, “What’s that?”
Wilbur hummed “Well basically, let’s pretend to be superheroes for example, I’m the hero-”
“I wanna be the hero!”
“Alright,” Wilbur laughed, “You’ll be the hero and I’m the villain. Now we pretend!”
“Pretend to, like, fight?”
“Sure!” Wilbur smiled as Tommy grabbed a stick.
“This is my sword!” Tommy laughed.
“Do superheroes use swords? I thought they had like, powers or something.”
“Nuh-uh! Not all heroes wear capes, Wil-bur!” Tommy pointed at him, pronouncing each syllable in his name dramatically.
“Pft, where did you hear that?” Wilbur raised an eyebrow and tried to suppress a laugh.
“Techno told me it!” Tommy preened proudly.
Wilbur rolled his eyes fondly “Of course he did, what a ner- oof!”
Tommy had jabbed him in the chest with the stick in his hand, giggling excessively, “Haha! Got you bitch!”
“Oh noo! I’m dyiiiing,” as Wilbur exaggeratedly pretended to fall to the ground, the toddler’s giggles only got louder.
“Hah! I Win!”
“I wasn’t aware it was a competition,” Wilbur rolled his eyes. “Wait- where did you learn that word?” He sat up.
Tommy paled, halting his laughter.
“Uhhh is that Phil? Would you look at the time! Gotta go!” Tommy took off, sprinting away as Wilbur got up.
“Tommy! Tommy get back here-!!”
___
It was November 21st and it had been almost a year since Tommy and Wilbur had traveled to the Dream SMP (Wilbur looking for a purpose and Tommy wanting to be with his older brother), and only a week after Phil came along as well to see what was going on.
Tommy didn’t know where Phil was, he would’ve thought that their father would want to catch up with him and Wilbur, but he was nowhere to be seen. Oh well.
Tommy sat on a hill next to his brother, both looking up at the sky.
“Wil, Look at that one! It looks like a penis!” Tommy laughed loudly.
“Tommy, that's the 5th cloud that you said looks like a penis,” Wilbur stated, holding back a smile.
Tommy shrugged, still laughing.
In the back of his mind there was something telling him that he should be upset, that he should be sad for reasons he can’t recall.
Well he felt content now so no point in dwelling in something he can’t remember, right?
Wilbur nudged him out of his thoughts, “Whatcha thinking about Toms?”
Tommy’s ears went red “I told you to stop calling me that, Wilbur. I’m not a little kid anymore.” He halfheartedly mumbled.
“Aww are you embarrassed? Aww Tommyyy, you’ll always be my little Toms,” Wilbur giggled ruffling his golden hair and it made Tommy’s chest all warm, as if he hadn’t felt this in a while.
Tommy groaned loudly in a dramatic manner.
“Wilby you-”
Wilbur sat up quicker than light itself as Tommy realized his slip up.
“Tommy did you just-”
“Fuck you! Fuck you bitch!!” Tommy’s face was bright red and he wished for nothing more than for the world to open up and swallow him, like with a ravine or some shit. A ravine-
“Aww Toms! You can call me Wilby!” Wilbur cooed with nothing other than stars and fondness in his eyes as he pulled the blond into a hug with one hand still in his hair.
Tommy swatted at him for a moment but eventually gave up, melting in his brother's hold.
That is until he heard footsteps coming his way.
“Wil, let go of me! Someone’s coming, you prick!”
Wilbur huffed and reluctantly let go of the blond, not without ruffling his hair once more.
When Tommy looked up there stood Captain Puffy herself. She was still somewhat new to the server but she was very nice to Tommy already.
Tommy waved excitedly to the woman, “Captain Puss- Puffy!” Wilbur barked out a laugh from next to him, only serving to brighten Tommy more.
Puffy wiped a bit of sweat off her brow with a fond eye roll paired with a warm smile. She was carrying glass off to someplace, probably for a build.
“Hello Tommy are you doing alright?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” He grinned.
She paused for a moment with a look on her face of both confusion and slight concern.
“You know what, nevermind.” She smiled again, “So what are you doing?”
Tommy’s grin grew wider, “Me n' Wilbur are watching the clouds, that one looks like a penis y’know?”
A pause.
“You and… Wilbur..?” She looked around and seemed uncertain, like she had something to say. But she also looked sympathetic, like she would feel wrong if she said it.
“Well duh, he’s right here. Lookin’ at penis clouds. His idea.”
“No it wasn’t,” his brother stated.
“Shh!”
Puffy’s face hadn’t changed, still the same odd look in her eye as she inched closer to Tommy
She placed a warm hand on the blond’s shoulder and smiled wistfully.
“Hey, let’s talk later okay Tommy?”
Tommy nodded, unsurely but still smiling.
“I’m gonna go continue my work on building L’Targay, I’ll see you later!” Tommy waved a goodbye as she walked off, probably in the direction of whatever L’Targay was.
“What was her deal?” Tommy looked at Wilbur, who shrugged in response.
It was silent for a bit, a comfortable silence. Unlike the dark confining silence of-
“Y’know what we should do Wil?”
Wilbur hummed, a sign for Tommy to continue.
“Let’s play pretend, just like we used to when we were younger!” Tommy suggested with a smile so big and so bright that he closed his eyes to do it.
Wilbur sighed, “Oh Toms,”
Tommy opened his eyes, only for his smile to fall as he saw no sign of his older brother. In his place stood a crater of a country in the distance.
“You already are.”