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Tommy wasn’t really sure when he noticed the strings. The strings that would be wound around someone’s pinky finger and then trail off into the distance disappearing to who knows where. Or sometimes the end of the string was in sight tied to the pinky of someone else. Such was his parents’ case. A red string had always connected them for as long as Tommy could remember.
Then when his father passed away when he had just turned 13 the red string was severed. The end still connected to his mother was frayed and fading, threatening to snap off at any point. It was nothing like the vibrant red string that connected his aunts who had stayed with the Simons’ family for 3 months after the passing of his father. Their string had always blared at Tommy, with a bright red that matched his favorite red and white baseball shirt.
Some people, Tommy noticed, had blue strings. Two older boys at his secondary school that were never seen apart were connected by one of these blue strings. Tommy remembered watching them laugh and tickle each other at lunch one day when a new boy at school, he had just transferred, went over and asked to sit with them. That day a new blue string appeared on the two boy’s fingers and two blue strings appeared on the new boy’s pinky.
Years later it had honestly become a comfort being able to meet someone and then check their pinky for the red or blue string that would adorn their hands. Sometimes people had two. A red and a blue or a blue and a blue. Or a red and a red. In some cases people had three.
The strings said a lot about a person he found out. Everyone with a blue and a red had so much love. Just pure love and joy they shared in different ways with different people. You could always trust someone with a red and a blue.
People who had blue strings seemed to value friendship more than dating. It did after all show their way to a best friend, someone who was always meant to be in their life. Tommy learned these were called ‘platonic’ soulmates. He thought those were the coolest. After all he had a single blue string of his own tied around his pinky finger. It was sort of like an ocean blue. He liked it.
Now when he started streaming as Tommyinnit and joined the Dream SMP it was freaky not being able to see others’ strings. He knew they were there but he couldn’t see them over a screen. He could only guess and hope at what strings people had and who they might possibly lead to.
Tommy always thought that the popular speedrunner Dream who refused to face reveal to any of them was soulmates with GeorgeNotFound, a colorblind British guy that Tommy shockingly enjoyed the company of.
The fans always made jokes about ‘DNF’. There was loads of fanart and of course fanfiction. If only they knew that Tommy secretly shipped the two himself. Twitter would have a field day with that one.
Then there was Badboyhalo and Skeppy. He had met the two through Minecraft Championship where he and Bad had been on the same team and trolled Skeppy. If he had doubts about any of his matchmaking guesses it wasn’t this duo. Tommy was certain they were at least platonic soulmates.
Tommy still rose in popularity eventually gaining over 10 million subscribers. It was crazy for an 18 year old to have that large of a following, innit? But through this he meant Technoblade and Phil.
Technoblade was something else that’s for sure. That man grinded for months to win a potato war in a block game. He wasn’t the romantic type so Tommy guessed he had a blue string.
Tommy’s theory was confirmed when he met up with Philza and the Blade himself that spring. It had been in Tommy’s favorite park in Nottingham. He had paced back and forth for a good 20 minutes checking the time on his phone before the other two had arrived.
Tommy groaned. When were Techno and Phil gonna get here? They were supposed to meet at 11:30, hang out, go get lunch, and then go to a bowling alley for a bit. They weren’t even recording. It might’ve been selfish but Tommy just didn’t want to share this with the fans. He was meeting two of his best friends and he wanted this for himself.
Then a car pulled up to the park and piling out came Phil, two strings attached to his pinky, his wife Kristen, and then Techno.
Tommy raced up to them and barreled into Phil who chuckled and patted his back, “Hey mate! How are you doing?”
“I thought you’d gone and ditched me!” Tommy grunted and crossed his arms while tapping his foot expectantly.
Phil and Kristin burst out laughing.
“You such an impatient child.” Phil teased.
“Am not! I’m a big man now!” Tommy shot back, “I just turned 18! You’re just jealous of my youthful stride.”
“Oh sure I am.” The older blonde mused, “Techno stop being antisocial.”
“I am not being anti-” Tommy turned to the pink haired man waiting in the car who huffed before clambering out, “You know what? Whatever.”
“You- You-”
“Don’t mention the pink hair.” Techno grumbled, “Be lucky I wanted to meet up with you.”
Tommy gasped, “So the righteous Blade wanted to meet me? The Tommyinnit the biggest of all men and the only wifehaver?”
Techno groaned, “Is it too late to fly back to the US?”
“Yep.” Phil grinned, earning another groan from his companion, “You’re here for two weeks and you’re stuck with it.”
Tommy whirled back around and smiled at Phil and Kristin, “You’re actually here! Philza Minecraft in the flesh! The only man ever.”
“It’s so weird seeing you in person. You’re so tall.” Phil shook his head, “But this is Kristin. I know you’ve talked to her a few times on vc.”
“Hello Tommy!” Kristen greets as her white sundress with yellow flowers dotted across it flows in the wind.
“Hi Kristin!” He chirps back.
His eyes darted down to Phil’s two strings. First he traces the red one who leads to Kristin’s hand. Expected. But where did the blue one go? Tommy pretty much knew that the man would have a red one connected to Kristin but a platonic one? That hadn’t even crossed his mind.
Tommy followed the blue string which was shimmering baby blue that trailed over the ground. The string abruptly stopped and pulled up where Tommy looked up to find the other end. And there, five feet in front of him was a blue string tied neatly around Techno’s pinky.
“Oh.” He mentally slapped himself. How did he not think of the fact that Techno, who probably had a blue string and was Phil’s best friend, would be connected to Phil?
“Hm?”
Tommy’s eyes darted back to Phil, “Oh nothing! I was just wondering where you guys wanted to go to lunch. I heard there’s a good Japanese place that just opened around the corner.”
“Sounds good to me.” Phil nodded, “I haven’t had Japanese food in a while.”
Techno hums in agreement, “Nice.”
“Well I have to get going but you three have fun!” Kristen kisses Phil on the cheek and then hugs Tommy. The raven haired woman leans over and whispers in his ear, “Keep an eye on our blue strings here for me.”
Tommy freezes as Kristin makes her over to the car and gives them a final wave, “I’ll be back at 3! Bye!” She winks at Tommy who slowly starts to smile. Kristin could see the strings too.
Tommy was on a call with Tubbo, his best friend, when he met Ranboo. He knew the other guy had recently joined the SMP and started some lore but Tommy never had the chance to talk to him. All he knew was that Ranboo was apparently faceless and wore a black and white mask in irl streams.
“So I was wondering what if we did one of those American Ninja Warrior challenges they have in America for a vlog?” Tommy suggested.
“Tommy, you are literally the weakest person I’ve ever met. I’m pretty sure you’d keel over the second you had to use any form of physical exertion.” Tubbo challenged.
“Oh yeah! I bet I could beat you.” Tommy retorted.
“I will hunt down you and your family and-” Tubbo’s interrupted by a ding as a new voice enters the call.
“Oh my god!” A deep voice exclaims, “Ok ok. I joined at the wrong time.”
“Ranboo!” Tubbo shouts, “Tommy this is Ranboo. Ranboo Tommy.”
“Kinda weird name innit?” Tommy scrunches up his face, “Ranboob?”
“It’s Ranboo-” The guy sighs, “Hi Tubbo.”
“So Ranboo we were talking about an idea for Tommy’s new vlog and he suggested we do an American Ninja Warrior course for it but Tommy has absolutely no muscle and has decided he wants to challenge me in the vlog!” Tubbo prattles on, “What if we did teams? Like you get Jack, I get like… is George gonna be there? OOO! What if you invited Niki?”
Tommy presses forward on his desk and then jumps up as an idea hits him, “Ranboob, my guy, would you like to be in a Tommyinnit vlog and absolutely destroy Tubbo at American Ninja Warrior?”
“Wait what?” Ranboo stutters, “Uh I don’t know…”
“Come on Boo! It’ll be fun.” Tubbo taps his finger on his desk, “But if you two are on the same team I want George.”
“But Gogy-” Tommy whines.
“I’ll do it.” Ranboo says.
“I think Ranboo is a fair trade for GeorgeNotFound.” Tubbo crosses his arms.
“Fine.” Tommy pauses and then smirks at the camera, “I hope you’re good at the physical activities Ranboob.”
“Not my name!”
It was two weeks later that the vlog took place. On Tommy’s team, ‘Team Innit’ as he deemed them, was Tommy, of course, Ranboo, and Jack Manifold. Tubbo’s team, ‘Team Benson’, consisted of Tubbo, George, and Niki Nihachu.
The first time seeing Ranboo in person had nearly made Tommy pass out. As a proud, self proclaimed, 6’3 man Ranboo still towered over him. Not that Tommy would ever admit that since he was such a big man.
The other thing Tommy had noticed was Ranboo’s string. It was much like his own, in fact, the shade was so similar in that he took a double take and checked to make sure his and Ranboo’s strings didn’t connect. Tommy refused to be connected to an American. Thankfully, the string didn’t lead to his own so he was able to breathe after that.
Tommy didn’t pay much attention to the strings after that. He knew Niki had a red and a blue string. The blue leading to Jack and the red leading to who knows who. Jack had two blue ones, one connected to Niki and the other his brother Tommy had briefly met a year ago. George surprisingly had three strings, a red and two blue. He had his suspicions that the red led to Dream and the blue to Sapnap and Karl Jacobs, George’s other two closest friends. And he knew Tubbo had a blue one but he didn’t know who it led to. Tubbo had never really shown an interest in anyone and his closest friend was Tommy himself but their strings didn’t connect.
The vlog went really well despite Team Innit losing very badly because Tommy, just like Tubbo said, wasn’t physically inclined at all, while Ranboo had style but no skill, and Jack was just Jack. Tommy just had to buy Team Benson ice cream and ended up tricking Jack into paying for it. He did pay the man back later by buying him a giftcard to his favorite restaurant.
It wasn’t until they were all sitting down at a McDonalds that Tommy noticed the strings again. He had just been reaching over to hand Tubbo some napkins for the vanilla ice cream dripping down his face and hands and onto the table when he saw the blue string. It was wrapped around Tubbo’s pinky and ran along the table to the other end where Ranboo was.
Tommy smiled. Ranboo wasn’t all that bad and he guessed if Tubbo was going to have a soulmate that wasn’t him he’d rather it be Ranboo than anyone else. At least he could beat up the blonde if he broke Tubbo’s heart.
Tommy was 19, almost 20 by now. Most of his friends, streamer or not, had found themselves partners and some were already married. He knew some of them wouldn’t last seeing the red strings heading in the opposite direction of their partners but it wasn’t really his place to say anything. They’ll find out for themselves.
He had to no avail, not found his soulmate. You’d think it’d be easier to find the one person who was always destined to be in your life when you can see who it is. It seemed to just make it harder for Tommy.
“Hey mate, I was wondering if you guys were up to go to the arcade this weekend?” Phil pops into the vc with Tommy and Techno. “No filming or stuff, just hanging out. I thought it’d be nice to get away from filming for a little bit.”
“I’m free! The Nottingham arcade or?”
“I was thinking of Brighton.” Phil admitted, “I have a friend, Wilbur, he streams too. But he makes music in a band and wanted to meet you guys. He lives in Brighton.”
“I mean why not.” Tommy shrugged, “More excuses to procrastinate editing.”
“Could be fun.” Techno says.
“Alright! I can send you guys a time in a little bit!” Phil says brightly, “Kristin’s calling but I’ll talk to you guys later.”
Tommy pulled up into the parking lot of the Brighton arcade. It was around 7 PM and the sun was beginning to dim as more and more cars pulled into the parking lot. The arcade was strung with LED lights and a bright blue sign glowing “Open”.
After slipping his phone in his pocket, Tommy slipped out of the car and wrinkled his nose as the stench of smoke and cigarettes hit him. He glanced around to see an old man sitting on the ground next to the brick wall with a cigarette between his charred lips. The man breathed in and then pulled the cigarette letting a puff of smoke release from his mouth.
A torn piece of cardboard laid next to the man with a beanie that was upside down on the ground with the string unraveling from it. Tommy squinted at the cardboard sign which had something written out in scribbles across it. He sighed and gazed back at the man who stared off into the distance fixated on something.
Tommy’s eyes trailed down to the man’s hand where a red string trailed on the ground, only a few feet long, burnt and severed. The frayed ends twitched as Tommy walked towards the man who glanced up at the teen.
Tommy pulled 20 pounds out of the pocket of his jeans and dropped the coins into the upturned beanie and sent the man a small smile. The man remained unresponsive as the teen began to walk away.
“Wait… Wait…” A raspy voice called out. Tommy turned around as the man weakly lifted his hand up and gently turned it right and left, “Thank- Thank you…”
“Have a good evening.” Tommy nodded at him, “Happy to help.”
The blonde then headed towards the arcade and stepped in the doors. He took a deep breath relieving himself of the cigarette smoke that filled his lungs.
“Tommy!” A familiar blonde made his way towards Tommy who lit up, “Philza Minecraft! The only man ever!”
He darted towards his designated online father figure who enveloped him in a big hug. Tommy melted in the grasps of his friend. Warmth radiated from Phil who squeezed the younger boy tightly. Tommy missed this so much.
After the two finally pulled away after what seemed like barely seconds to Tommy a pink haired man huffed, “So I think we know who Tommy’s favorite is.”
“What?” Tommy huffs, “Just because Dadza is the only man ever-”
“Dadza?” His eyes shoot over to a new face. A tall man, even taller than Tommy, rubbed his arm and observed the new blonde.
“Yeah! Dadza! He only created Minecraft!” Tommy retorts.
Phil chuckles, “I didn’t create Minecraft Toms.”
“Yes you did!” He chastises the older man, “That’s why your Philza Minecraft!”
“Heh.” Techno, monotonous as ever, stares blankly at Tommy, “Stop harassing Phil.”
Tommy rolls his eyes and declares, “And this is why Philza is my favorite and the only man ever!”
“So I’m guessing this loud child is Tommy right?” The curly haired man steps forward.
“Oi! I’m not a child!” He crosses his arms and glares at the man, “This is the bitch boy Wilbur right?”
“Watch who you’re calling bitch.” ‘Wilbur’ huffs, “Child.”
“Am not!”
“Oh you are definitely Tommyinnit.” Wilbur smiles smugly, “The one, the only, child.”
“I’ll let you know I get so many women!” Tommy announces and rushes them towards the dancing game(don't bully me idk what its called but it's that one with all the squares with the arrows that you step on as the screen tells you too), “Daddddd will you pay for me?”
“You make like 800k a year. Pay for yourself gremlin.” Phil shakes his head and then offers, “I’ll buy us ice cream after.”
Tommy’s eyes light up as he whirls around to face Techno, “Play Dance with me!”
“Absolutely not. That requires too much physical exertion.” Techno retorts.
“Why are you so meannnn to me!” he whines, “Daddd Tech’s being mean.”
“Welcome to the chaos Wil.” Phil grins, “I think Techno and I are going to go find Galaga.”
“Wilbur!” Tommy shot his hand out and grasped Wilbur’s wrist, “You’re going to play Dance with me and I am going to crush you!”
“What- What-” The brown haired man gapes and pushes his glasses up his nose bridge.
“Good luck!” Phil called as he and Techno disappeared into the crowd of people.
Tommy began to fiddle with the settings and clicked on a song by Rihanna. “So, bitch boy you got any women?”
“What-” Wilbur blinks at him, “god I knew you were chaotic on stream but man you are really something.”
“It’s how I get all my women.” Tommy boasted, “They just flock to me Big Man.”
“Oh yeah sure.” Wilbur nods, “I bet.’
Tommy grins as the song starts and he jumps on the arrows. He sees Wilbur flailing next to him, “I’m gonna crush you!”
“You’d probably fall over if a leaf tapped you.” Wilbur argued, “These hips were made to dance.”
After their dance competition was over, Wilbur won much to Tommy’s dismay, they played Pacman and Lottery and found Techno and Phil to play Galaga. Then Wilbur tried to win a stuffed animal from the claw machines and eventually got a small pig plushie which was promptly stolen by Tommy after a lot of fighting.
“It’s mine! Her name is Clementine!” Tommy clutched the pink pig to his chest, “Wil’s trying to steal my girlfriend from me Phil! Fight him!”
“I’m not gonna find him, you child.” Phil snorts, “He won that in the first place.”
“But I stole it!” Tommy protested.
Wilbur’s hands shot out and flailed for the plushie, “Yeah! You stole it!”
“Techno!” Tommy shouted, “Help me!”
“Nope. You brought this upon yourself Theseus.”
Tommy turned to Wilbur who’s hand managed to lay claim to one of Clementine’s tentacles. He gazed at the man’s hand which was adorned with rings. Some had moons and stars carved into them while others were jewels or silver animals like bears and turtles. Then a singular blue string that almost seemed to glow wrapped around Wilbur’s pinky finger. The man did seem like the platonic type.
Tommy briefly followed the string and watched it crawl towards him still glowing brightly. It ran up Clementine, curling around her face for a moment before connecting to another string that was resting on Tommy’s pinky finger.
He gasped and dropped Clementine who fell into Wilbur’s hands. His string, the blue one that had haunted him his entire life, was connected to Wilbur, his platonic soulmate, destined by the universe.
“Tom?” Phil placed a hand on his shoulder, “are you okay?”
“What- Oh yeah sorry. Just got a headache.” Tommy lied and stared at the string that led to his soulmate.
“You can have her if you want.” Wilbur said softly, “Do you need water or anything?”
“No. I’m okay. Really.” Tommy said firmly, “Just a headache really.”
“Let’s go back to my place. Someone might have to sleep on the floor but I have a couch and extra mattress so you guys can stay the night.” Wilbur offered, “We can order pizza or something.”
“It’s okay-” Tommy stuttered. How did he not realize Wilbur’s string led to his earlier? They had been hanging out for hours. Tommy always looked at strings the first time he met someone.
“No. We’ll go back to my place. It’s late and Nottingham is too far for you guys to drive back at night. Especially if you’re feeling well.” Wilbur demanded, “We’re going to my house.”
“Sounds good to me.” Phil nods, “And Wil’s right. It’s not good for you to drive alone in the dark with a headache.”
“Here come on. Let’s go to your car.” Wilbur wrapped an arm around Tommy, “you have my address right Phil?”
“I do.”
“We’ll meet you there then.”
Tommy’s eyes fluttered close as Wilbur guided him through the parking lot. He couldn’t believe his soulmate was right there all along.
“Is this your car?” Wil whispers, “Here come on. I can drive if you want.”
Tommy mumbles, “Yes” and fumbles for the passenger door and slumps into the seat.
“Here.” A hand brushes past him as the click of the seatbelt rings in Tommy’s ears.
“I’ll wake you up when we’re there. I got you Toms.”