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“I’ll always protect you Tommy” Wilbur once said, what a fucking lie. Wilbur left him, abandoned him like he was nothing. Now Tommy was on his way to some fucking emergency placement home. At least it was better than being with his parents. Still, he’s mad at Wilbur, he broke his pinky promise.
“I think this’ll be good for you Tommy” His social worker said, interrupting Tommy’s thoughts.
“Whatever” Tommy said, crossing his arms, scowling. This was not how he thought his day would be going.
After an hour of silence they finally reached their destination. A stupid nice looking house with two dumb looking people standing on the porch. One of them was wearing some kind of green robe and flip flops. The other was wearing a white dress shirt and black dress pants. Pretty weird. Tommy got out of the car slinging his backpack over his shoulder. His social worker walked with him to the porch.
“Hey mate, I’m Phil and this is Techno. You must be Tommy” said the guy in the green robe.
“No I’m some random fucking kid off the street” Tommy said testing the waters. He waited for him to hit Tommy or something but it never came. He just smiled like he knew what Tommy was doing.
“Fair enough want to come inside, random kid off the street” He said and Tommy just blinked at him. This man was weird.
Phil led the way inside with everyone following. The house was nice, like really nice. There were no drugs out on the coffee table or beer cans littering the floor. Their couch wasn’t stained up and there was no broken glass on the floor. Everything was relatively clean. At home it always smelt like alcohol and drugs but here it just smelt like normal outside air. It’s really weird, and Tommy couldn’t decide if he likes it or not.
“How about while Puffy and I handle the paperwork, Techno can show you around? Yeah?” Phil said looking at Techno, who just huffed in response. Phil smiled and led Puffy to what looked like an office room.
“So are you Phils son?” Tommy said bluntly.
“You don’t beat around the bush do you?” Techno said in response looking down at Tommy.
“What does that mean?” Tommy said, scrunching his nose up in confusion.
“It means you're very to the point and no I’m not Phil’s son. We’re just very good friends and roommates”
“That fucking weird” Tommy replied and Techno just shrugged. Techno showed him around the house pointing to the different rooms. Tommy mainly tuned Techno out blankly looking around. It really was a nice house. Everything was all tidy and clean, he’s probably never seen a house this nice. He wishes Wilbur and him had a house like this. No he’s mad at Wilbur, he broke their promise.
“And this is your room” Techno said as Tommy tuned back into what Techno was saying. It was a really nice room, the bed actually had sheets on them and covers as well. It also had a desk with a chair under it, and a bookshelf off to the side.
“Thanks” Tommy replied, not sure what to say.
“No problem, why don’t you get settled in and I’ll come get you when dinners ready”
“Sure” Tommy said, putting his backpack, of what little stuff he had, down. Techno left, giving Tommy some space.
Everything went by in a whirl, Tommy just wanted to curl up under the bedsheets and never come out. Which is exactly what he did. He stayed there for who knows how long, just staring up at the ceiling. Contemplating what happened to him in this past month. Wilbur left him and didn’t even say goodbye. Just took off in the dead of night, not even leaving a note. He just left him alone to deal with his stupid, mean parents. Alone with no Wilbur to help or protect him. It was a shit time to say the least. Tommy debated running away just like Wilbur did, but no. Tommy’s a big man, and big men don’t run away. Wilburs just a pussy and Tommy will never forgive him.
When CPS came to ‘check in’ Tommy was surprised. Someone actually cared about his home life. Unlike all the teachers who just ignored the signs and looked the other way. Now he’s in some strangers' house contemplating life on their bed. He feels like he’s in slow-mo while life's just racing by him. Everything happened so fast, he doesn’t know how to handle it. He feels like crying but he’s already cried so much after Wilbur left. He has no tears left to cry. He just wants to be with Wilbur despite how much he hates him right now. He has so much anger but at the same time he feels immensely sad. He can’t do this alone. He so desperately wished Wilbur was here with him. So he can punch him but at the same time hug him. It hurts so much he’s not sure how to explain it. It’s like someone just ripped his heart out and crushed it. Wilbur was his whole world and now he’s gone. What is he supposed to do? What can he do?
Then there was a knock at the door pulling him away from his thoughts. “Dinner’s ready Tommy” Techno said and Tommy walked over opening the door. He followed Techno downstairs and there was an actual meal on the dining table. Normally he just ate granola bars or what little they had in the house.
“Hey mate just grab a seat wherever” Phil said bringing more food over to the table. Tommy sat across from Techno. Phil soon sat down and they began eating. Tommy couldn’t really eat that much, he hasn’t had a lot of food in a while besides at school. Phil talked back and forth with Techno but it was mainly Phil doing the talking. Then the attention turned to Tommy and he really didn’t like that.
“So Tommy, I was thinking about enrolling you to the school around here. How does starting this monday sound?” Phil said, smiling at Tommy. It’s so weird that Phil’s always smiling.
“Sure” Tommy said, eyebrows furrowed, like he had a say in the matter. That was two days from now. He’s kind of scared to go to a new school but it’s not like he had friends at his old school. He did have Wilbur though. Not anymore, as soon as he turned eighteen and graduated, he left. Tommy’s not bitter, nope, not at all.
“You good kid?” Techno said, slightly concerned at Tommy’s mad face.
“I’m not a kid dickhead! I’m almost eleven years old!” Tommy said which was a lie, he just turned ten this year.
“My point still stands” Techno said and Phil sent Techno a look and they were having some kind of secret language with their eyes that Tommy didn’t understand.
“Anyways, I was thinking we could go shopping tomorrow and get you some essentials. As well as some things to decorate your room.” Phil said changing the subject. Tommy just nodded in reply. He was kind of done with today. All this moving from home into some strangers house was tiring. He just wanted to sleep everything away.
“Why don’t you go to bed mate and we’ll clean all this up” Phil said almost reading Tommy’s mind. Tommy nodded again and went upstairs to his room. He quickly got into bed and sat there staring at the ceiling again. Before he could stop himself he started crying. He wants to go home. He wants to go home where he is comfortable despite all the shouting and fighting. They were at least predictable, these guys are complete wild cards. Who knows what they’ll do to him. They seem nice but that doesn’t mean anything. He just wants home and it’s not a house, it’s a person. But that person doesn’t want him no more. Hot tears cascade down his face. He wants everything to go back to normal. He just wants,..he doesn’t know what he wants,..but this surely isn’t it. He sobs a little more and if Phil or Techno heard him, they didn’t say anything. He goes to bed with puffy eyes and sniffles but it felt better to get it out.
The next day went by pretty fast. They had pancakes which Tommy never had before, and they were really good. He could only stomach one but still he could eat that for every meal. Now they were headed to the mall to pick up the ‘essentials’ as Phil said.
“First things first, let’s get you some new clothes” Phil said, heading towards a clothing store. They started looking at the various options. Tommy didn’t really know what he wanted. Usually he just got hand-me-downs from Wilbur. Phil decided to start showing options he deemed okay and asking which one Tommy liked more. After that he got a decent amount of outfits until Phil seemed satisfied. They even got him new shoes, which Tommy found to be a bit excessive, but his shoes were falling apart. They then started to look for decorations for Tommy’s room. That’s when Tommy found a couple of records in the clearance aisle.
“We could probably hang those up as decoration if you wanted. Or we could get a record player for you to listen to them.” Techno said scaring the fuck out of Tommy.
“Hanging them up would be cool” Tommy replied, acting like he didn’t get scared at all. Techno just nodded, taking the records and heading back to Phil to put them in the cart. They looked around some more, getting a desk lamp, a red fluffy cover Tommy liked, and stuffed cow. Techno insisted he needed a stuffed animal saying he still had one himself and so did Phil. Tommy thinks they’re lying but Tommy did like the cow even if he’d never admit it. Soon they were heading home with all the stuff they bought.
Bringing everything up to his room was a lot of work but Phil and Techno helped. Phil helped Tommy hang up all the clothes in the closet while Techno hung the records up on the wall. It didn’t take long and soon they were done.
“Thanks” Tommy mumbled to them. He really did appreciate it, no one’s ever done this for him, but he didn’t know how to express it.
“Your welcome mate” Phil said, putting his hand on Tommy’s shoulder. To Tommy’s surprise it didn’t hurt, he just gave a gentle squeeze.
“I was thinking about going to tend the garden with Techno, want to join?” Phil said and Tommy nodded in reply. The rest of the day went by fast. They watered the plants and pulled out weeds from the garden. Techno even let Tommy plant some more potatoes, which Tommy thought was pretty cool. Dinner came and went. Now he’s in his room once again staring up at the ceiling. His mind slowly drifted to Wilbur. He missed him so much. He wonders if he’ll ever see him again. The thought of never seeing him again hurt more than anything. He wishes he could’ve been able to say ‘I love you’ just one more time. Tommy slowly drifted off to sleep dreaming about his older brother.
The next day sucked to say the least. He had to go to a new school and he didn’t know where anything was. He was late to almost every class so far and then they’d make him introduce himself. It was awful, but one highlight was he made a friend. His name was Toby, but everyone called him Tubbo, and they actually had a couple classes together. Which was cool because he would walk with him or point him in the right direction to class. Now he was eating lunch with Tubbo and his friend Ranboo. Who was also pretty chill. He didn’t talk nearly as much as Tubbo but he made funny comments here and there. Overall today went pretty well despite the rough start. He actually had people to talk to so that was a win.
“So how was school?” Phil said as Tommy hopped into the car.
“It was okay, made a couple friends” Tommy replied, giving a rare smile.
“I’m glad to hear that mate” Phil said, smiling back while driving back home. Dinner went by fast and he told them all about Tubbo and Ranboo. Usually he didn’t talk this much but it felt good to talk to them. Soon he was laying in bed once again staring at the ceiling. It’s become his new thing to look up and contemplate everything. It was nice to rethink about the day but then his thoughts alway came back to one thing. Wilbur. Throughout the day he’d always think about him. Oh, Wilbur would like this or he would laugh at that. It was hard and his anger felt like it was growing. He couldn’t help but be mad. He was selfish for leaving Tommy and it wasn’t fair.
***
Soon a whole year went by and Tommy couldn’t believe it. He honestly loved it here. Techno and Phil were amazing, always so nice, and never got angry or upset at anything Tommy did. They were honestly the best guardians he could ever ask for. Then there was Ranboo and Tubbo who he couldn’t live without anymore. He’s made so many memories here. He even made a scrapbook to commemorate them all. He has so many different pictures. There’s one where they went camping and roasting marshmallows in their backyard. Of course with Phil and Techno supervising because they were a little chaotic. Then there’s the time he went to an amusement park with Phil, Tubbo, and Ranboo. They bought so much cotton candy then it was hilarious. Then there’s the time they went paintballing, which Phil was way too good at. Then there’s when they went to the water park, and they pretended to drown each other. Or the time they went to a trampoline park, where they trained like they were going to be on Ninja Warrior. Or the obstacle course where they tried to race each other. There’s so many different fun memories. But then he had just random pictures of Phil gardening, or Techno fencing, or Tubbo and Ranboo fighting. Lets just say he made a lot of memories and his scrapbook is nearly full. And he’s happy as can be. Except there’s something missing and that’s when Phil gets a phone call.
“Hey Tommy I think we should talk” Phil said sitting in the dining room. Tommy knows nothing ever good comes from the words ‘we should talk.’ Tommy sits at the table nonetheless looking at Phil.
“What do we need to talk about big man”
“I got a call from your social worker.” Phil said and can’t help to think they're going to ship him back to his parents. Which honestly scares the fuck out of him, he never wants to go back, he can’t go back. Phil notices the look on Tommy’s face.
“It’s nothing bad but there’s someone who wants to see you” Phil said and paused for a moment. There’s no way his parents want to see him, they could care less about him, right?
“It’s your older brother, he wants to see you” Phil continues and Tommy’s face goes stone cold. His immediate reaction is no. Wilbur can’t just walk out of his life and then suddenly come back. No, Tommy doesn’t want to see him. But there’s still this part of him that desperately wants him back.
“You don’t have to say yes, it’s completely up to you” Phil says, giving Tommy the option.
“I want to see him” Tommy says a little too quickly. He misses him so much and if there’s a chance he could see him of course he’s going to take it, but that doesn’t change the boiling anger inside of him.
Next thing he knows they’re in the car headed towards the CPS agency to meet with Wilbur. His brother he hasn’t seen in a whole year. Soon they’re in the parking lot about to go in.
“Do you want us to go in with you?” Phil asks looking at Techno, then to Tommy.
“Yeah” Tommy says weakly. He wants them there with him so he doesn’t back out and for their support. Then they’re walking in and they go into this room. He immediately sees Wilbur sitting down, shaking his leg nervously. Once he sees Tommy he smiles and stands up. It’s just like the Wilbur he remembers. Curly brown hair, yellow sweater, black jeans, and round rim glasses. He walks over to Tommy, arms open wide for a hug. But Tommy’s angry, and it's boiling over. Wilbur walked out of his life and now he expects him to be all happy to see him again. No. That’s not how this works. He left without even saying goodbye. Wilbur just left him there and it wasn’t fair. He can’t just walk out and expect Tommy to let him back in.
Before Tommy realizes it he punches Wilbur square in the face. Wilbur ends up falling on the ground and Tommy follows getting on top of him and punching him more.
“YOU BROKE YOUR PROMISE” Tommy shouts while hot tears stream down his face. “YOU PINKY PROMISED! YOU PINKY PROMISED WE WOULD ALWAYS BE TOGETHER! NO MATTER WHAT!” Tommy said barely even punching at this point. Soon techno was holding his wrists while Phil got him off Wilbur. Wilbur was just staring, eyes blown wide.
“You left me!” Tommy says crying while Phil was trying to calm him down. “You left me and didn’t even say goodbye!” Tommy sniffles and Techno helps Wilbur up but he still doesn’t say anything except tears start falling down Wilburs face. “You said you’d be there for me…so how did this happen? Why weren’t you there?!” He says as tears spill out. He’s basically sobbing while Phils telling him to breathe and calm down. He can’t, not when he wants to tell Wilbur how he felt this whole time. “How could you leave me?” He says desperately.
“Toms, I did everything for you! I was always there for you! I always protected you! Did you ever even think how I felt?!” Wilbur says as more tears stream down his face. “I was just a kid! Did it ever occur to you that I was hurting too?”
“You don’t get to say that to me! We were both hurting! But you left me! You walked out without even thinking how I felt!”
“I always thought about you! I was always worried about you. Who do you think got you out of that home? Huh? I did the best I could Tommy!” Wilbur said, wiping his tears.
“You called CPS?” Tommy says confused.
“Yes Tommy I did, because I genuinely care about you. And maybe it wasn’t enough but I love you with every ounce of my body and then some.” Wilbur said, giving a sad smile. Tommy started walking over to Wilbur but Phil was holding his wrist. He twisted out of Phil's grip and gave Wilbur a hug.
“I love you too, you jerk” Tommy said wetly crying into Wilburs shoulder.
“I’m sorry Toms, I never shouldn't have left you” Wilbur says rubbing Tommy’s back.
“I forgive you” Tommy says and they stay there hugging for a while. Tommy never thought he’d forgive Wilbur for leaving but he honestly loves Wilbur regardless of him leaving. He couldn’t imagine staying mad at Wilbur for forever. Tommy finally lets go after a while.
“Well this is one way to meet your foster parent” Wilbur says, making everyone laugh. Tommy wipes his tears smiling.
“It’s okay mate. I think it’s best you two got that out.” Phil says smiling.
“I think so too” Wilbur smiles, ruffling Tommy’s hair.