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Twitter has been awful lately.
Like, the worst.
Ever since the final Wilbur Soot lore stream, and Tommy going for his week in New York City, Crimeboystwt has been going downhill.
And Tommy knows, he knows, Wilbur still sees him the same, still thinks of him as his beloved brother.
It’s just.. ouch, you know? Seeing tweets like, “Crimeboys? Who are they?” and theories about how canon Wilbur doesn’t truly love canon Tommy. Tommy knows it’s all roleplay, he knows.
It didn’t bother him, at first. But then a certain account began theorizing whether or not the Crimeboys were brothers for real. People told them to fly off, but eventually others began believing them.
“You know, wilbur did stop following tommy on twitter”
“OH MY STARS YOURE RIGHT”
“Crimeboys is dead”
“tommy prolly left to nyc to get away from him”
“wilbur didn’t seem to care much either”
The last one made tears prick at Tommy’s eyes. Wilbur was quiet when Tommy left for New York, but he was busy getting Soft Boy done. He told Tommy he’d watch the vlogs when he got a chance, but so far he’s heard nothing.
Now that Tommy’s back in Brighton, he was hoping to see his older brother eagerly accepting him at the airport, bouncing up and down and giving him a warm bear hug.
But when Tommy arrived, there were only Tubbo, Jack, and Phil.
As memories flashed back, the disappointing pang in his heart when he saw Wilbur wasn’t there, the short messages he’d get from Wilbur on Discord before him saying he needed to get back to work, even the fact they haven’t called for weeks, Tommy began doubting Crimeboys more and more.
He got up from his bed and sat down in his chair, turning up his PC.
He then opened Discord, and pinged Wilbur.
TommyInnit: hey wilba, how about a crimeboys irl stream? miss streaming with u :D
…WilburSoot is typing
WilburSoot: Sure
—----
Tommy hummed Soft Boy as he hopped up the stairs to Wilbur’s flat, knocking to the beat on the door.
Wilbur opened the door, face immediately brightening at the sight of Tommy’s face.
“Tommy!” he shouted, pulled Tommy into a hug. Burying his face in Tommy’s hair, he took a deep breath. “Oh stars, Tommy, I missed you so much.”
Tommy smiled and tucked his head under Wilbur’s chin, Wilbur sighing in relief to have his brother back.
“I missed you too, Wil.” He then pulled away. “So, ready for that stream?”
“More than ready.” Wilbur squeezed his hand. “Did you tweet about it or is it a surprise stream?”
“Surprise.” Tommy grinned. “So what you’ll do, is you’ll start your stream as normal. People will go-” He raised his voice in a squeaky pitch. “‘Wilbur Soot! Wilbur Soot is streaming!’”
Wilbur snickered with the voice, poking Tommy at his side. Tommy laughed back. Oh, he missed their little fights so much.
“Then you’ll say, ‘Hey chat!’ or whatever intro you usually do. Then I’ll come in with my grandeur, going ‘I’M BACK BOYSSSSSS’ and the crowd will go wild.”
Wilbur smiled again, slinging an arm over Tommy’s shoulders, leading him to the office. “Whatever you say, gremlin.”
He sat down at his PC and went on Twitch to start up the stream. Meanwhile, Tommy crawled under and hid under the table.
“What on earth are you doing?” Wilbur kicked Tommy with a socked foot.
“I’m gonna pop up once your stream starts. Like a groundhog.”
“Oh stars, you really are a raccoon aren’t you?”
Tommy huffed, then smirked when he found a Nerf gun under the table. “Wil! You still have my vlog gun!” He checked the ammo and gasped. “It’s still got some bullets in there! I can shoot you and chat will go crazy wondering where it’s coming from!”
“I’m pretty sure they can tell it’s you, Tommy.”
“Yeah, but we haven’t streamed together in a while! Chat probably still thinks I’m in old Manhattan.”
“Don’t say that, I will cry.” The smile faded from Wilbur’s face. “Literally.”
The humor faded from Tommy’s tongue, replaced by I’m sorry and I forgot to tell you it was only for a week.
“I-”
“Hello chat! How are we today?”
Tommy was still sad, still guilty. He completely forgot his script, and even his persona.
Wilbur glanced down at Tommy, as if saying come on, Tommy, we need TommyInnit now. Where’s TommyInnit?
Putting his persona mask on, Tommy began shooting Wilbur with the Nerf gun, though it all felt half-hearted.
“Ow! What’s this? Where’s all this-”
“HELLO CHAT!”
Tommy popped up from under the desk, Wilbur’s face suddenly bright and fond. Chat began exploding, messages flowing so fast Tommy couldn’t even read them.
“I’M BACK FROM GOOD OL’ NEW YORK WITH ANOTHER CRIMEBOYS STREAM!”
Then Wilbur laughed, he was laughing. The same melodic laugh that Tommy had grown to love over the past few years of them knowing each other. His heart sang with Wilbur’s laugh, his own loud laugh joining in.
The Crimeboys laugh. He missed this so much.
Tommy sat down right next to Wilbur, the two looking at each other in the eyes for a brief second before turning back to the screen.
“So chat, you guys decide,” Wilbur spoke. “What do you guys wanna do today?”
Responses came up in the chat, all excited and in a frenzy.
“Geoguessr!”
“you laugh you loose”
“Minecraft stream!”
“YOU LAUGH YOU LOOSE YOU RATS I WANNA SEE THEIR SMILES”
“Crimeboyyyyyyyysssss”
Tommy laughed with the responses, reading as many as he could.
Then there was one that made the warmth flow out of his face.
“ew no tommy get off stream crimeboys is dead”
His smile dropping, he glanced at the camera to see if Wilbur saw the comment.
There was a dark expression in Wilbur’s tired eyes. Sad, hurt. Tommy realized Wilbur must have been losing sleep just as he has been too.
But there was something else too. Something familiar. A fierce protectiveness in Wilbur’s eyes, like a fire that burned for Tommy and only for Tommy when it came to hate comments.
Wilbur leaned in closer, pulling the microphone to his mouth with one hand, other hand intertwining fingers with Tommy’s under the table.
“Excuse me, but no one shoos my brother off my stream. Go away, you hater.”
The user returned, and that was the moment Tommy recognized the name from the same user on Twitter.
“if you two are really brothers, prove it”
“Proof? You want proof??” Wilbur scowled. Fire filled Tommy’s veins too, the strong urge to show the world they are brothers.
“Mate, listen here,” Tommy joined in. He held up his hand, Wilbur’s hand still tangled with it. “If this isn’t proof enough we’re brothers-”
“anyone can hold hands tommy”
“Then I’ll show you!” Tommy screamed. He tackled Wilbur beside him, tucking his head under his chin as their usual cuddle sessions went off-screen. Pulling up his legs so he was practically sitting on Wilbur’s lap, he wrapped his arms around Wilbur’s neck.
Wilbur’s breath escaped from him, as if already melting from the cuddle, but trying not to be soft on stream. “Tommy, what are you doing?” he whispered.
“If that stupid old user wants proof we’re brothers, he’ll get proof. Cuddle me, Wilba.”
Wilbur chuckled fondly, burying his face in Tommy’s hair and wrapping his arms around him. “You’re so silly, [email protected].”
“The funniest.”
“No, I didn’t say funny. I’m the funny one. You’re silly.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“No you.”
“You don’t have an Uno Reverse card therefore your no u is invalid.”
Wilbur scoffed fondly, running his fingers through Tommy’s hair. “Rat.”
“No u,” Tommy spat weakly, melting with the gentle touch. He’s almost forgotten the hate comment at this point, or even why they were cuddling in the first place.
“Hey Wilby?”
“Yeah Toms?”
“Why are we cuddling on stream?”
Wilbur’s fingers paused, and his head raised to look at the screen. His face flushed, hands scrambling to turn off the PC.
“Oh shoot, I’m so sorry sunshine,” he fumbled, pet names still spilling out with his brain still in cuddle mode. “I don’t know what got into me how do you turn off this stupid-”
“Hey, hey, it’s alright.” Tommy pulled Wilbur back, leaning against him with fingers tangling with Wilbur’s calloused ones to keep him still. “It was my fault, remember?”
“Oh that’s right! You’re the one who’s being clingy!”
“I’m not clingy!” Tommy huffed, cheeks red.
“Yes you are!”
“No I’m not!”
Wilbur pulled a hand away, reaching for the computer mouse.
“Your honor, we’re brothers, goodnight.”
And he ended the stream.
—----
It wasn’t even ten minutes until clips started filling up social media (stars, those people were fast). Trending on Twitter was “CRIMEBOYS IS BACK” and a day later full vods showed up on YouTube. Tommy curled up his knees on Wilbur’s couch, pouting as he watched the videos from his phone.
“We look so stupid when we cuddle it’s awful.”
“Really?” Wilbur plopped down on the couch beside him with a bowl of popcorn. He reached for the phone. “Let me see.”
“It’s everywhere, my brand is no longer AnnoyingInnit but SoftInnit.”
“I think it’s cute,” Wilbur said with a cheeky grin. “CuteInnit.”
“Stop it, Clingy Soot.”
“Come onnnn you’re just being a cute little brother. Every little brother loves to cuddle.”
“I hate it, give it back Wil.”
“Awww, Tommy’s embarrassed about cuddling with his older brother.”
“I mean it, I hate you Wilby.”
“You wouldn’t call me Wilby if you really hated me.”
“I hate you, truly. Go away, Wil, and never come back.”
But before Tommy could finish his sentence, he felt warm arms wrap around him, his head falling against a familiar soft chest. Tommy allowed himself to sink into the embrace, the comforting smell of Wilbur’s day-old jumper making him sleepy.
“Well at least people don’t doubt we’re brothers now,” Wilbur spoke, chest vibrating with his low voice.
Tommy hummed, nuzzling into the warm sweater. “At least you didn’t kiss me. That would have been terribly sappy.”
“Oh! I didn’t- I totally forgot.” Wilbur pressed a kiss to Tommy’s head, Tommy’s face flushing automatically. “I should have kissed you on stream. Then it would have been an authentic Crimeboys cuddle.”
“Fly you, Wilbur Soot.” Tommy raised his head to stare Wilbur directly in the eye. “I don’t know how I ended up with you as my brother.”
Then, the unexpected, as Tommy felt lips press against his forehead. A whine escaped his mouth. This was so pitiful of him.
“I don’t know how I ended up with you as my brother either, Tommy. But stars, am I glad I did.”