Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

1. Wilbur's 1970 Ford Capri RS2600
2.   Watson Family Prius
3. The main color of Purple's E30.  (Imagine the gold-blond highlights cause no one is ever making it ;-; )
4. Tubbo's Suzuki TU250 Scrambler
5.   Liberty Walk Lamborghini Aventador Present in Chapter 3

Chapter Text

There is nothing going wrong, he was in the lead.  His turbo-V6 replica roaring as he flies down the main straight.  Edging closer and closer to that number that felt like light speed: 200 miles per hour.  

“ Focus.”

That was all he heard before the panic.  Next, he heard:

“Brake… Brake?... BRAKE?! ”

From the normal run-through of steps to finish a lap to the confusion to the all-consuming fear hitting as he screams before the CRUNCH .

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Phil shoots up in a cold sweat, shaking with panic. That is until he feels a boy's hand on his arm. He blinks away the tears to look at his youngest son, Tommy.  

“Heh-Hey bud, what are you doing up so late?”  He asks in a shaky yet comforting tone.

“I-” Tommy struggles to say anything, his eyes watering out of fear.  Phil notices this and picks him up to wrap him in a hug.

“It was a nightmare, I’m sorry I scared you.”  He whispers to the young blonde, holding him tight trying to soothe him.

Then he hears it, engines, loud ones at that, the kind you hear at a racetrack.  

“Damnit, why did I choose to move here?” Phil scolds himself internally.  

He soon realizes the racing was keeping Tommy up and allows the young boy to stay with him, they keep each other company ‘til the sun wakes them up.  

This habit disappears as Phil grows used to the sounds and Tommy grows to be a heavy sleeper.  That still doesn’t stop the nightmares.

12 Years Later

The alarm blares in Tommy’s ear, he sits up groggily to turn it off and get his ass up.  

‘God, I hate school sometimes.’  

He gets dressed and packs his school bag.  He heads down the stairs, avoiding the ones that creak since it was about 6 a.m.  He grabs a bowl of cereal, sits on the couch, and turns on the TV with the volume low.  This is Big Man™ time, no Wil to bother him, and no Phil to chastise him for poor grades or for his forbidden interest, racing.  As he sits there he tunes to the sports channel to watch the recaps on the most recent races.  As he watches he doesn’t hear Wilbur come down the stairs.

“Tommy! No racing, remember!”  He whisper-yells.

Tommy jumps a bit as he scrambles to shut the TV off. 

“Sorry-” He whispers back but is cut off by Wilbur, who is now sitting next to the younger blonde,

“I get that living next to that stupid track you hear all this noise and get curious.  I know the feeling, but it’s not something you want to do.  Especially if you get caught by Dad.”  He calmly warns his younger brother.  “I’m sorry, but that’s how it is.”  He says as he gets up, indicating that it was time to head out.

“I know,”  Tommy says in a melancholy tone, remembering how their dad would act or look when the noise would be too loud or when motor racing was on TV.

They walk out of the house and hop into Wil’s hand-me-down mustard yellow Ford Capri.[1]  The boys both hate their dad’s teal Prius because of how ugly and uncool it is.[2]  Wil starts up the muscle car and drives off to school, with Tommy glaring disdainfully at the Prius until it's out of sight.

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The school day was uninteresting up until lunch rolled around.  

Tommy is sitting eating his crappy school lunch while listening to his friends argue.

“-but Purpled, my bike gets more miles per gallon than your stupid car.”  Tubbo retorts.

“Yeah, but at least my car is safer than your crotch rocket,” Purpled says in a mellow yet smartass-y tone.  This gains a chuckle from Ranboo and a snort from Tommy.

Tubbo scoffs, “Well at least it doesn’t take me an hour to find a parking space like you were this morning!”  Tommy and Ranboo both ‘oooooooh’ at the comeback.

“Fine, if you want to be that way, be that way.  That doesn’t change the fact that my car outperforms your bike.” Again said in his more flippant tone.

“You sure about that big man?” Tubbo smirks, eyebrow raised. 

“Yeah, if you want to prove it after school we most certainly can, my mechanic friend has a decent lot to screw around in.”  He smirks, thinking he’s already won.

“OH, YOU’RE ON!!!” Tubbo borderline yells, excited for a bit of friendly competition.

“Can we come with you guy to witness the stupidity of this challenge?” Tommy asks.

The two competitors look at each other and then nod at the other two.

“I guess it’s a plan,”  Tubbo says, reaching his hand out to respectfully shake Purpled’s hand.  Purpled smiles and shakes his friend's hand.  Tommy is internally screaming as he will get to see a race irl, it will be soooooo pog.  They just had to make it to the end of the day, unless Ranboo has something to say about it,

“Uh, guys, are you sure you want to do this? I mean, isn’t racing dangerous?”  He says, wringing his hands nervously.

“Don’t worry, Sam won’t let anything happen to any of us.  Seriously Ranboo, he’s like an older brother to me.” That’s a bit of an understatement, Sam is like another father to Purpled.  

This seems like enough to calm Ranboo a bit,  he nods in acknowledgment of his friend’s sincerity.

Again, Tommy mainly just has to make it to the end of the day without exploding from excitement.

That’s easier said than done.

Chapter Text

Car notes:

Purpled has a midnight purple BMW M3 E30 with blonde-colored speed lines along the bodywork [3]

Tubbo rides a Suzuki TU250x that has a bumble bee(black on yellow) paint scheme [4]

The school day comes to a close at last.

As Tommy and his friends walk out to the parking lot, Wilbur walks up to them.

“Hey, Tommy! Ready to go home?”  He asks,

“Uh, no, not really.  I’m going with them-” he gestures towards his friends. “-to work on an upcoming group project.”

“Oh, okay.  That’s cool.”  Wil says a bit too nonchalantly, but not enough for anyone to pick up on.  He could tell by Ranboo’s anxious expression that something was up. 

“I’ll see you later, just be home before dinner, don’t want you to be up past your bedtime.” He smirks and ruffles the blonde’s hair mockingly before walking off.

Tommy flips his brother a middle finger and unruffles his hair.

“Prick-” he mumbles.

The younger blonde walks over to his friends’ vehicles.  Tubbo is slipping on his silly bee helmet already.  Purpled sits in the driver's seat of his BMW while Ranboo sits in the backseat.  They all look towards Tommy in a way that says “Hurry up man.” so Tommy hops in shotgun next to Purpled.

“Sorry ‘bout that boys, let’s get a move on.”

Purpled doesn’t start the car, instead staring at Tommy.

“What?! Are we going or not?” He says, acting very offended.

“Seatbelt,”  Ranboo says bluntly so that Purpled doesn’t sit there forever, waiting for Tommy to realize what’s going on.

“Ugh-” he reluctantly puts on his seatbelt. “-Such a wimp, what if I want to live life on the edge?” he pouts, slouching in his seat and folding his arms.  Ranboo and Purpled collectively roll their eyes but do not engage in a very dumb argument since Tommy is so stubborn sometimes that they just want to hit him.

Purpled starts the car.  The 2.5L S14 engine idles at a low, menacing growl before Purpled puts it in gear.

He leaves the parking lot they are in slowly before revving high for funsies.  He sticks to legal speeds because he has some form of self-control, unlike Tommy or Tubbo.

For as long as Purpled has known those two, nothing has ever proven to be more chaotic or impulsive than that duo.

They drive out towards the freeway to make the trip a little faster.  As Purpled drives onto the freeway he accelerates fast, like fast enough to push Tommy and Ranboo further into their respective seats.

As Purpled upshifts, the sound of the inline 4 engine yells louder, almost like a NASCAR engine, with no whistles of a turbo or whines of a supercharger this thing makes its own powerful noise.

Purpled smiles at this while Tommy whoops, “WHOOOOO!!!”

Ranboo in this moment yelps a little and grabs to safety handle like a mom does when they let their teenager drive for the first time.

Tubbo rides next to them and waves before zooming off ahead.

Purpled rolls his eyes, sticking to the speed limit.

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After some time, they finally make it to Sam’s garage.

A green-haired young man is working in one of the workshop bays, the door wide open.  He’s working on a patchwork red gloss with grey primer 1967 Mercury Cougar.  The Cougar has been stripped of most parts, a husk of what it once was.  As the Suzuki and the BMW roll up the green-haired guy looks over before waving and walking out of the garage bay.

Purpled, Tommy and Ranboo step out of the E30 while Tubbo pops his helmet off.  

“Hey, Grayson!” The man yells.

Purpled clenches his jaw as his friends look at him, giggling a bit.

The green-haired man walks up to the boys,

“Oh, sorry Gray-Purpled.  Didn’t notice your friends there.” He wipes his hands and face with a rag from his pocket.

Purpled sighs, “Well guys, this is Sam, the mechanic I mentioned to you at lunch.”  he gestures.

Sam gives a short wave “Hi, I’m Sam.  You all are probably wondering how I know Purpled and it’s cause I used to house sit for him and his family whenever they would go out of town.  Also, our parents are friends so I was always stuck hanging out with this little dude so much.”

He shakes Purpled’s shoulder in a brotherly way.

Purpled smiles accepting this explanation, seeing his friends smile at Sam’s brotherly vibes.

“Mind introducing me to your friends?” 

“Sure!” He says eagerly,  “This is Tommy, Ranboo, and Tubbo.”  After saying each name he points out whose face the name belonged.

“Nice to meet you all,” Sam says with a friendly smile.

The kids smile and nod a little awkwardly but are still friendly.

“Can we use the strip?”  Purpled asks Sam.

“Um, why?” Sam tilts his head in confusion.

“I am here to prove my bike is better than his stupid car.” Tubbo butts in.

“-Yeah and I challenged him to a drag because I know we can do it here safely,”  Purpled explains.

Sam nods and looks down towards the ground pondering. He hums in thought.

“Fine, but only if I watch to make sure you don’t do something stupid like last time.”  He stares daggers into Purpled.  The others just look back and forth between the two.  

Purpled finally speaks up to break the silence, “That won’t happen again.”  

Sam just nods, “Okay then, drivers get your vehicles and I’ll meet you around back.”  He walks to his office in the garage and then through the back door.  The boys on the other hand walk back to the vehicles.  Tubbo hops on his bike while the others hop in the E30, both engines roar to life as they slowly roll up to the strip.

The strip is an old airstrip, part of the property Sam owns, it is kind of dirty due to low maintenance.  Tubbo and Purpled line up on the two sides of the course.  Sam points at the two, Purpled cuts his engine with Tubbo cutting his quickly after.  Sam speaks up,

“Alright, as you can see, there are two lanes to keep the racers separate from each other.  You will both, when I drop my hands, drive to the end of the strip, do 3 donuts in a row around the barrels, and gun it back to me.  That make sense?”  

The two drivers nod, “Alright, helmets and seatbelts on!” Sam yells.  Once everyone is safely secure Sam yells again, “ENGINES ON!”

Upon hearing this the two racers start their engines back up.  Sam raises his hands and Purples grabs his hydraulic handbrake and holds down the gas.  Tubbo catches on and overrevs as well.  After a second or two Sam drops his hands.

In the span of half a second, the two drivers have equal reaction times until the torque of the E30 kicks in.  With this kick Purpled grins, Tommy yells with joy while Ranboo shrieks with terror at the speed.  

“WHOOOOOOOOOOOO LET’S SMOKE HIM!” Tommy shouts as Pupled just shifts gears before quickly slowing down at the barrel and starts doing his donuts.

In this time frame, Tubbo gets a slower start but he is faster with his donuts and quickly speeds off just as Purpled is completing his third.  Purpled quickly countersteers to get back to the straight line portion he excels at, grabbing the sequential shifter to quickly upshift and catch up to Tubbo.

They both are riding close to their limits with Purpled gaining inch by inch until they both blow past Sam throwing dust up on either side of him as he looks at a stopwatch.  

As the racers pull up to spots at the backside of the workshop Sam walks over with a “shit-eating” grin.  He walks up to the drivers once they have stepped out or off of their respective vehicles,

“Well, Purpled, you got your new best time of 1:27.25.”

Purpled pumps his fist, “Yes.”

“-but Tubbo you did really well for your first time on my course getting a 1:27.25.”

The two drivers look at each other and then at Sam, stunned.

“A TIE!!!” Tommy shouts in exasperation.

“Yup, you two tied, congrats.” His smile gets bigger as the two drivers start to try to argue with each other.  Tommy just smiles and sits next to the worn-out and probably traumatized Ranboo.  The boys spend their evening at Sam’s, hanging out until it’s time to go home.   

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That night though, Tommy could barely sleep…

Chapter Text

Basically, after recent events this fic will not continue. Please support Shelby(Shubble) and any other victims of abuse. I am keeping this up as I like what it has, and I think it is a good reference/starting point for a future fic about street racing in the future. Hope that makes sense.