Chapter Text
Tommy knew he wasn’t supposed to go past the village boundaries. He knew that there were dangers in the forest that were too scary to even be spoken of.
It’s just that Tubbo had come down with something and Schlatt had said that he wasn’t allowed to come out to play until he got better. Without Tubbo, it was so boring! There was nothing to do in the town that he hadn’t already done before.
Plus Tommy’s always been one for adventures, his parents probably made up myths of the scary things so he wouldn’t get lost. He had a perfect plan to combat the whole ‘getting lost’ thing. He had snatched a piece of chalk from the school on his way to the gates.
If he marked the trees he could just follow the marks back to the town. He did a pretty good job of marking his path until he heard voices. “None of the humans have entered the forest since…” the voice trailed off and Tommy decided it would be a great idea to find the person speaking.
They were probably lost and he could show them his path to help them get back to the village. “Wil’s right mate, it’s probably just a large raccoon,” another voice spoke as Tommy was in the middle of marking another tree.
“It’s not, it feels different.” The voices were close enough now that Tommy didn’t feel the need to mark any more trees in order to find his way back once he told them he knew the way out. To the the boy’s surprise, the voices belonged to three men he had never seen in the village before.
He was still hidden by the treeline so he took it upon himself to observe the people. There weren’t ever any visitors from different towns, nobody ever came from the forest surrounding his village.
Tommy fumbled his cover when he stepped on a tree branch, drawing three sets of eyes to him. “Told you it wasn’t a raccoon,” the closest man said to the other two, who seemed to be in shock. “Come out, we won’t hurt you,” he spoke again, although Tommy missed the mumbled ‘much’ at the end of the sentence.
With a bit of hesitation, Tommy stepped out into the clearing before looking up at the men, it was easier to see their faces without all the leaves in the way.
He gasped before looking up in elation, he had heard this one before. The one in the crown with the largest set of wings tilted his head, asking what was on Tommy’s mind without saying much of anything.
“Wait, I know this! You,” he started, taking a brief pause to take in their appearances once more. “You are the Soldier.” It only made sense for the pink-haired man/creature to fall under that title, he was the only one with thick ropey scars branching all over his face and arms. “And you the Poet,” he said with less hesitancy this time, looking to the brunette. There was a pompous air to him that only seemed fitting of a wordsmith.
With a small amount of uncertainty in his voice, he looked toward the final person, “you must be the King then?”
The King– who had dark green wings and golden-coloured hair– smiled down at Tommy. “How smart you are, little one. That is exactly who we are. However, this leaves you, and you’re quite the mystery. May we have your name?”
Tommy shakes his head at the king's request, names were not something to be given. “I am the Adventurer!” He said cheerfully in lieu of giving his actual name. The Poet smiled wide at his response, teeth on full display.
Tommy wasn’t really sure how many teeth adults were supposed to have, he was just a kid after all, but he was sure the poet had a few extra. As if someone had just crammed his mouth with teeth until it was full– they were all straight as well! Nobody back in the village had straight teeth.
“What brings you to our forest, little dove?” The King asks, smiling extra wide to show his super straight teeth.
“Dad, did you not hear him? He's an Adventurer.” The Soldier answered in a deep drawl. Tommy nodded enthusiastically before pausing.
Dad? That was, the King put his son as a Soldier, wasn't that the thing that Missus Clementine was talking about? Nep-something. Nepotism! Yeah, "that's neh-po-tism" he said, sounding the word out.
The Poet broke out in what Tommy assumed was laughter but sounded far more like wind chimes and soft bells. “You are an interesting little thing,” the Poet said once they had calmed down.
“I am not little!” Tommy practically screeched in response. He was very much a big man, not little in the slightest.
The Poet laughed again before taking a step forward. “Of course not, Adventurer. You’re far from small, how could I ever think otherwise?” Tommy nodded vigorously, content with the fact the Poet knew he was wrong. Despite his happiness at the correction, Tommy couldn’t help but feel like something was completely off.
It was like the way the King was staring at him from beyond the Poet was how cats would stare at a particularly nice mouse. “It’s been nice to meet you guys, but I should probably get home.” It was nearing nightfall and he didn’t really want his mother to worry herself sick.
The King, the Poet, and the Solider all straighten up slightly and the air seemed to cool significantly. “That’s a shame, Adventurer. Do you think you’d be able to spare us some of your time in the future?” The soldier asked.
“Of course,” Tommy responded, seeing nothing wrong with the request.
Smiles overtook all three of their faces, once again showing off the perfectly straight, one too many, teeth. “Do you promise?” The King asked.
Tommy nodded, smiling. “I promise. I really have to be going now, though!” While the golden child wasn’t aware of it then, he had managed to set his fate in stone with the winter court fae. He went home to his family, spilling words that painted pictures of magical men, and found no reason to care.