Chapter Text
Tommy spent the next few weeks working on the robbing Mr. Dream plans. His mind was kind of like a rollercoaster all of the time. One moment he felt on top of the world as the plan came together and he got to hang out with Wilbur more and more. They found a favorite coffee shop, took walks at the park, went to antique shops as a break from their research and just learned more about each other. Tommy’s nightmare had just broken the ice and brought the two closer together with a deeper connection. But there were also moments when the rollercoaster that was Tommy’s mind hit rock bottom. The plan required a plot of emotional manipulation of Mr. Dream and this reignited a lot of Tommy's memories of his parents. He also felt guilty for not telling anyone about his plan to kill Mr. Dream. It was weighing down on him and his brain felt physically heavy from just thinking about it.
So Tommy decided to tell someone.
Bill.
Ok hear Tommy out… he would be the only member of Cricket Crew to support something as reckless as murder. Tommy needed some help with his plot to kill Mr. Dream so one day he took Bill on a midnight walk to pick up Chinese take out for the group.
“I can’t believe we are actually robbing his house in two days! Like we are fucking badasses! Criminals! Cool criminals!” Bill smiled as he was full of excitement. He was practically skipping down the empty city sidewalk.
“Actually I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.” Tommy stuttered a little from nerves. “But you can’t tell anyone, not even Tubbo.”
“Ok but one of the rules of Cricket Crew is no secrets mate.” Bill pointed out.
“I know but when I tell you it will make sense.” Tommy took a deep breath. “It’s the only secret I have.”
“Spit it out.” Bill waited eagerly.
“I want to kill him. In two days I want to kill Mr. Dream.” Tommy spoke sternly.
“Oh.” Bill looked down to consider Tommy’s word more fully.
“Yeah.” Tommy shrugged and felt his heart beating what felt like a million times a second. What if Bill tattled on him? What if Bill didn’t want to help? Tommy is not psychotic and he is certainly not a murderer or a supporter of death but he NEEDED to kill Mr. Dream. Killing Mr. Dream was different than murder, it was revenge and it was justice. Bill would probably understand that.
“And you need help?” Bill clarified Tommy’s reasoning for sharing his secrets.
“Tubbo and the others would never be on board.” Tommy defended his decision. “But I need to get revenge. Justice I guess is the better word for it.”
Bill was silent.
“Bill?” Tommy asked nervously.
“Let’s fucking do it.” Bill smiled. “What do you need from me?”
Tommy doesn't know what went through Bill’s head that day but he always knew that he could trust Bill. Now they were finally ready to perform the biggest robbery in the history of the city.
The day arrived. Tommy woke up and felt nothing but butterflies, he felt as though he needed to run a few laps around the block to release his stress. Tommy hated running so this was quite out of character for him. He seemed to be the last one awake and so he stumbled into the kitchen disheveled with hopes that he could run through the plans one more time. He expected to find everyone running around chaotically through the apartments as they prepared for the evening.“Ok guys…” Tommy’s sentence was halted by the extreme presence of normalcy in the living room. You would think that the robbers waking up on the day of the potential greatest robbery in history would feel intense excitement, nerves, anticipation and planning but that was not the case. Most of the Cricket Crew were able to get the day off except for Aimsey who still had a shift at the cafe. So while they waited for her, the boys were watching some Breaking Bad and eating some pizza. Tommy still wanted to release his nerves but that was kind of hard when it seemed like no one else was phased by their impending doom or (hopefully) success. Tommy decided to try to relax so he grabbed a slice of cold pizza and sat down on the couch.
“So are we just not going to acknowledge what's happening later?” Tommy asked once he couldn’t take it anymore.
“We’ve gone over the plan a million times.” Freddie sighed.
“Shut up, it’s getting good.” Bill kept his eyes glued to the TV.
“You’ve seen this show a dozen times.” Tubbo rolled his eyes and continued tinkering with one of the gadgets they would need later.
“I thought you said everything was ready Tubs?” Tommy asked.
“Just adding finishing touches.” Tubbo continued his work. “It’ll be fine Tom. No point in worrying about it now.”
Tommy clearly wasn’t going to get anyone to relate to his nerves so he happily resorted to texting Wilbur to get some sympathy instead.
Tommy: Morning bitch.
Wilbur: You’re nervous and compensating aren’t you.
Tommy: Stop using big words.
Wilbur: Someone should send you back to school.
Tommy: LOL. Wilbur is sooooo funny. Hahahaha I am laughing out loud.
Wilbur: Stop trying to be sarcastic. It’s painful to watch.
Tommy: No one here wants to talk through the plan again.
Wilbur: We’ll be fine. It’s a perfect plan. ;)
Tommy: I’m nervous.
Wilbur: Awhhh baby Tommy is nervous his plan will fail.
Tommy: This is why I don’t open up to you.
Wilbur: Whatever you have to tell yourself…
With that Tommy angrily put down his phone and tried his best to focus on Breaking Bad instead of his plan to go behind his friends back and murder the richest man in the city.
They picked up Aimsey from her job around four and arrived at Wilbur’s apartment thirty minutes later. Bill had insisted on his rap playlist because he was driving but the van was silent besides that. Whatever nerves people had been hiding earlier were in full swing now. The group was used to being funny, not being nervous and so they didn’t know how to act around each other. Bill lowered the volume when they arrived around the corner from Mr. Dream’s house. Tommy knew that the neighborhood was pretty empty because rich people don’t need to go on walks, they have mansions, pools, golf courses and whatever else rich people do with their undeserved money.
“So I guess this is it.” Bill broke the silence and unbuckled his seatbelt once the van was in park.
“I have never heard you all this quiet.” Wilbur commented with a chuckle and stood up. “It isn’t like someone died, this should at least be a little exciting.”
Tommy noted that Wilbur had a gun on his belt. He never kept his gun on him, even when he had arrested Tommy. Tommy moved his hand to his own belt to feel the knife he had placed there. Both things were just a reminder of the dangerous situation they were walking into.
“Last time we did this someone got caught and we had to break him out of prison.” Aimsey stared at Wilbur. “Look I know you’re new Wilbur, but we are a family. This robbery means more than just revenge and proving a point, we all have to get out of here alive and well. We are doing this because our family members need us to. I speak for all of us when I say we aren’t excited, we’re terrified. We are doing this together and losing one of us would be…”
“Catastrophic.” Ranboo finished Aimsey’s sentence.
Tommy winced a little after Aimsey’s mini speech because it was true. He cared so much about all these people and if anything happened to them he didn;t know what he would do. He’d already lost his parents, he couldn;t lose this family too. But they were all putting themselves in danger because of him and what he needed. Revenge. Sometimes revenge felt a little bit like a stupid reason but then Tommy reminded himself that he was in the right. Justice was always right.
“Noted.” Wilbur took the hint from Aimsey and shut up.
“Any last minute questions?” Tommy asked and took a deep breath as he prepared to take charge of the group. When no one answered he decided to continue. “Let’s fucking do this.”
The statement was powerful but no one made any movements.
“So uhhh… we just go now?” Freddie asked.
“Yup.” Tommy tried to ignore how weird it was that this was actually happening. This highly anticipated moment would be over soon. “Tubbo, are you ready?”
Tubbo didn’t even respond before opening the side door of the van and hopping out onto the sidewalk. They had purposefully parked right next to the sewer opening because Tubbo had created some sort of laser cutter to let them in. Tommy’s not 100% sure how any of Tubbo’s gadgets worked, but he was very glad that they did. The rest of the group followed Tubbo and waited for a few seconds while he opened up the metal on the sidewalk.
“Who wants to go first?” Tubbo asked once he pulled the circular metal door out.
“Oh my god it smells.” Aimsey plugged her nose with her hand and turned away from the new hole in the sidewalk.
“It’s a sewer, that was implied.” Tommy added.
“This was the best way in?” Wilbur questioned and also plugged his own nose.
“Shut up, we have all definitely been through worse.” Tubbo sighed and took one for the team by heading down the ladder into the sewer.
The rest of the group hesitantly followed him down into the sewers. The sewers were as you would expect, dark and dirty. They were brick tunnels underneath the road with brown murky water that the group had brought boots to trudge through. There was no light except for the flashlights they had all equipped to their black jackets.
“Follow me.” Tubbo said but his voice was distorted from holding his nose. “And try not to breathe too much.”
“You didn’t make gas masks or some shit?” Bill asked.
“You get what you get.” Tubbo rolled his eyes.
“Just as a reminder we are entering through the garage, Mr. Dream never goes in there because he usually uses his helicopter. He also is a super private guy so there shouldn't be that much security or even a butler.” Freddie explained as the group turned a corner. “My dad said that no one else in the rich community has been inside the house. His neighbors never see any wait staff leaving or entering except for the occasional private chef on weekends.”
“So this will be easy.” Wilbur commented.
“That’s the idea.” Freddie agreed. “But we need to expect the unexpected.”
“STOP!” Tubbo yelled suddenly. “We’re here.” He pointed to the ladder next to him. “This goes into the garage.”
“Why’d you have to yell?” Aimsey asked.
“Felt like it.” Tubbo shrugged and climbed up the ladder to use his laser gadget again. Tubbo was in his zone where nothing was in mind but the plan and his part in it.
“Don’t disturb him, he’s in his annoying antisocial robbery mood.” Tommy whispered to Wilbur and Wilbur smirked.
“I heard that.” Tubbo commented as he kept lasering. After a few more seconds he pushed the metal bars out of the grate which made space for Cricket Crew (and Wilbur) to climb into Mr. Dream’s garage.
“Oh my god we’re inside.” Tommy whispered but it echoed off the walls. The garage was humongous. It held a dozen vintage cars, four of the newest Tesla’s, five motorcycles, two yachts and a moped. All of these vehicles were parked on the sides of the massive room with one road in the middle. The road led one way to the garage door which led outside and the other way was the door to the inside of the house.
“How can a man…” Bill’s voice trailed as he walked around the room.
“Be this rich?” Ranboo finished his sentence.
“Yeah.” Bill nodded and let his mouth gape.
“Stay on task Bill.” Freddie pushed Bill a little to bring him back to focus.
Tubbo had already power walked down the garage’s personal road to Mr. Dream’s door. It worried Tommy a little bit. He could tell this zone Tubbo was in was because he wanted to get it over with. Tubbo wanted to get revenge because Tommy said he needed revenge. Tommy knew he had taken advantage of all his friends' dedication from the get go. Tubbo didn’t really want this, not like Tommy did. And now he was going behind Tubbo’s back with a plan he4 hadn’t agreed to. Once Tommy was at the door to Mr. Dream's house, he froze. He felt his eyes widen but he couldn’t move besides that. After this, it would all be over. Revenge. Revenge would be his and justice would be served. Tommy had spent every day for the past twelve years focusing on getting revenge. What would he do when it was all over? He wasn’t ready to accept that his parents were dead. Because they were. Revenge had given him a mission. He hadn’t thought about his life past revenge. Was there a purpose once this was all over? Suddenly Tommy didn’t want to open the door at all.
“Ok according to the security camera Mr. Dream is in his weird opening staircase room near the front door. This door leads to the kitchen and we’ll have to walk through there before we confront him. But this is the last point where anyone can ask any questions I guess.” Tubbo tapped on his tablet a few times.“The front door is unlocked, I think it’s fitting if you do the honors bossman.” Tubbo smiled at Tommy.
“What if…” Tommy’s breath hitched. “I’m not sure if we’re ready, maybe we should come back another day…”
“What are you talking about, we’re here.” Bill commented in confusion.
“This is happening now or not at all.” Aimsey agreed.
“You good Tom?” Ranboo looked concerned.
“Tommy, look at me.” Wilbur grabbed Tommy’s shoulder and turned him so that they were facing each other. “This plan is good and Mr. Dream deserves what you are about to do to him.”
“I know, I know.” Tommy refused to make direct eye contact with Wilbur. He couldn’t actually believe Wilbur because Wilbur didn't know exactly what was happening today. Only Tommy (and Bill) did. But Wilbur always had a way of making Tommy admit his true feelings. “But what happens next? We’ve spent so long, almost my entire life, prepping for this. I don’t know what I'm going to do after.”
“Live, Tommy, you’re going to finally live.” Wilbur explained. “Now open that door.”
And without taking another second to think Tommy did. He did because Wilbur was right. Even if Tommy wasn’t ready to admit it, he hadn’t lived a day since his parents died. He hadn’t allowed himself to fully feel his grief, anger, happiness, fear or sadness in the last twelve years. He always knew that time would come. He just needed to let it happen. Opening the door was like ripping off a Band-Aid and it definitely stung. But luckily Tommy could delay his emotions at least another hour while he robbed Mr. Dream’s house. Then Tommy could deal with feelings. The good, the bad and the ugly. Wilbur, Tubbo and everyone would hopefully be there to help him through it (if they didn’t hate him for being a murderer). These were all the things Tommy was thinking about when he opened that door.
And so the potential greatest robbery finally began.