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It was a sunny, though slightly chilly, afternoon in Brighton, the distant sounds of the waves hitting the sand on the beach just barely audible over the sounds of the city, cars honking and people chattering as they went about their days. It was quite a nice day and many people were out and about, including Tommy, Tubbo, and Phil. The three were walking down the sidewalk with a very specific destination in mind.
Tommy was bouncing on the balls of his feet in between steps, nearly bursting with energy as he walked. Phil couldn’t help but send the boy entertained glances, obviously amused by the teen’s inability to calm down as they got closer and closer to the studio where they would be meeting up with Lovejoy.
It was Phil and Tubbo’s first time getting to meet Wilbur’s bandmates, never having gotten the chance to be introduced to them before. They knew, however, that Tommy saw them all the time since he moved to the city, Tommy constantly over at one of the members’ apartments or somewhere around Brighton with them. Still, Tommy was even more excited than the other two, unable to contain his eagerness as they turned the corner and were able to see the entrance to the studio building.
“Calm down, Tommy,” Tubbo laughed. “You see the band practically every day!”
“But I’m still excited!” Tommy shot back, wide smile never leaving his face.
Tubbo rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything in return. They continued making their way down the street until they reached the correct building. Tommy was quick to open up the door and rush in, Tubbo and Phil walking in calmly behind the blond. They entered into a hallway, which had many doors leading to different studios lined against the walls. Waiting for them in the hallway was Wilbur, who looked up from his phone once the three entered.
“Wilbur!” Tommy shouted, running forwards and tackling the man.
Wilbur took it in stride, not even stumbling. He wrapped his arms around Tommy for a second before pulling back. He cupped Tommy’s cheeks in his hands and began to press kisses all over the blond’s face, Tommy giggling all the while. This continued for a few moments before Wilbur pressed one longer kiss to Tommy’s mouth and then pulled away completely. Tommy grabbed Wilbur’s hand and held on tight, moving to stand next to the taller man.
Wilbur turned to Phil and Tubbo with a smile on his face. “Hey, guys! It’s good to see you!”
Tubbo was staring at the two blankly, not even sure of how to feel. He couldn’t even begin to voice his questions, head completely occupied with thoughts of what had just occurred. He couldn’t get the image of Wilbur peppering Tommy with kisses out of his mind, in a state of shock. All he could do was give a timid wave to Wilbur.
Meanwhile, Phil was trying his best to school his features, but very much failing. His shock and confusion were clear, but Wilbur and Tommy didn’t even seem to notice. Phil wasn’t even sure how the two were acting so normal after what had just happened, after what had just been revealed to him and Tubbo.
“Uh, yeah, good to see you too,” Phil squeaked out, unsure of what else he could possibly say. He couldn’t quite gather the words to ask what the fuck had just happened.
“Are we done with pleasantries?” Tommy half-questioned, half-complained as he began to drag Wilbur down the hall, presumably to where Lovejoy’s studio space was located in the building. Wilbur easily obliged, letting Tommy pull him along and motioning for the other two to follow. Phil and Tubbo shared an incredulous look, but shuffled behind them nonetheless, following them down the corridor.
The group came to a stop towards the end of the hallway and Tommy let go of Wilbur’s hand, quickly opening the door and walking in. Wilbur went in after the blond, immediately followed by Phil and then Tubbo. Entering, they saw that Ash, Mark, and Joe were sitting on a couple of couches, all just hanging out, and paused as the four walked in. They seemed to perk up as they saw Tommy and Wilbur, all three standing up and making their way over.
“Tommy!” Mark exclaimed as he reached the boy first. Tubbo and Phil could only watch in silence as the drummer brought Tommy into a kiss, the blond happily leaning into it.
“No fair!” Joe jokingly complained. “I want a kiss!”
Tommy laughed and leaned over to him, giving the guitarist a kiss as well. Once he pulled away, Ash stepped forward and received one as well, the bassist bringing a hand up to Tommy’s cheek and deepening the kiss just a bit. Tubbo couldn’t help but notice that Mark had moved over to Wilbur and taken the man’s hand in his own, the two just watching as Ash and Tommy began to pull away from each other.
“Phil, Tubbo,” Wilbur said, turning to his two friends who were still in shock. “These are my bandmates, Joe, Mark, and Ash.” He motioned to each of them as he said their names and the men all waved to the two. Tubbo and Phil only nodded and waved back, completely uncertain of what else to do after watching all four members of the band kiss Tommy in the five minutes since they had arrived at the studio building.
Seemingly completely unaware of Phil and Tubbo’s utter shock and confusion, Wilbur motioned for them to sit down on the couches, and the two did so. Tommy followed not more than a second after, sitting down with them. The band, meanwhile, walked over to their set up instruments, preparing to practice and put on a little show for the three visitors.
“We were thinking we’d run through Pebble Brain for you guys,” Joe informed the three on the couches as he worked on tuning his guitar.
Tubbo turned to see Tommy’s reaction to that, only to find that the blond was practically bouncing in his seat at the news. He was staring at the band with a sort of dreamy look in his eyes, more than just excitement to see them play; he was staring at them like he was in love, and Tubbo wouldn’t doubt it, considering how happily he had leaned into the kisses before.
What caught Tubbo off guard was when Tommy began to take off his sweater, overheating now that they were inside without the wind chill. As Tommy twisted to throw his sweater over the arm of the couch, Tubbo noticed something dark peeking up from underneath the blond’s shirt: a little purple bruise𑁋 a hickey. Tubbo tried his best to keep his gasp silent and turned back to facing the band, pretending he hadn’t seen it at all.
“Have I ever actually told you guys the story behind ‘Oh Yeah, You Gonna Cry?’ before?” Wilbur asked Tubbo and Phil, looking up from turning his guitar for a second before looking back down at the instrument.
“Uh, no?” Phil answered quietly.
Next to Tubbo, Tommy was blushing furiously. “Do we have to tell them?”
Mark laughed. “Considering how flustered you get over it, now we absolutely have to tell them.”
Tommy rolled his eyes, but the pink in his cheeks didn’t go away.
“Wilbur and I got into a little competition,” Ash admitted to the two, a playful smile on his face.
“We wanted to see who could take Tommy to bed first,” Wilbur elaborated with a sly grin. Tubbo’s eyes nearly popped out of his head and Phil choked on air. “I wrote the song as a joke, basically trying to make fun of Ash. We figured it was actually a pretty good song, so we changed up the pronouns and decided to actually use it for the EP.”
“Neither of them won, by the way,” Joe added on, Mark nodding in agreement. “We took him to bed all together and-”
“That’s it!” Phil exclaimed, standing up from the couch. Everyone’s eyes were on him, all looking completely confused except for Tubbo. “One of you has to explain what the fuck is going on!”
When he saw the band and Tommy just staring at him in shock, Phil elaborated. “Why the fuck are you guys acting like you’re in a poly relationship? Are you actually in one? I’m genuinely so fucking confused.”
“You . . . didn’t know?” Tommy questioned incredulously, making Phil turn to him.
Tubbo spoke up before anyone else could get a word in. “We had no fucking idea! We came here for a chill hangout and then you immediately kissed all of them and I can’t figure out what’s going on!”
It was all silent for a few moments, nobody sure of what to say, until finally Joe spoke up, dragging everyone’s attention over to him.
“So, the whole band’s been dating for about a year,” he explained, Phil and Tubbo nodding along to the information.
Mark jumped in. “Wilbur introduced us to Tommy a few months after we started dating. We were all immediately pretty interested in him, so we asked him to join our relationship about a month after we met him.”
“And, now we’re here,” Ash finished up.
Wilbur tried his best to give Phil and Tubbo a smile, looking (honest to god) terrified for their reaction. A quick glance to the rest of the band, as well as Tommy, revealed they all looked just as scared for whatever the two were going to say next.
Phil sighed. “Thanks for telling us, I just wish I had known sooner.”
“I swear we genuinely thought you knew,” Tommy muttered.
Tubbo punched Tommy in the arm making him yelp. “Next time, actually fucking tell me when you get four boyfriends.”
Tommy rolled his eyes. “Okay, okay, next time I start dating four members of a band, I’ll be sure to alert you immediately.”
“You know what I meant,” Tubbo grumbled.
“So, we’re all good?” Wilbur cut in, looking nervously at Phil.
“We’re all good,” Phil responded, finally sitting back down on the couch.
And the smiles on Tommy, Wilbur, Mark, Joe, and Ash’s faces was most definitely worth the confusion that Phil had gone through. He was truly happy for them, and excited to listen to their music, putting the whole situation behind him.