Chapter Text
When Tommy was 5, his mom died. He blamed himself. No one told him not to.
When Tommy was 8, his brothers started getting angrier. Well, Techno was pretty much the same. Monotonous. Wilbur started hiding in his room more and more, shutting out Tommy. He didn’t let anyone in on those days.
When Tommy was 9, his dad started pulling away from him. Wil was angry most days. Techno ignored him. Tommy told himself it was easier that way.
When Tommy was 10, his brothers left. Then went to college, Wilbur to England, and Technoblade to New York. Tommy was alone with his dad.
Phil loved the twins. They were his pride and joy. His twin flames. Technoblade was valedictorian of high school. He was a fencing champion, and he moved to New York to become a writer at Colombia University. He scored 100s on every test in high school. He was a bit antisocial, but he worked for that valedictorian title. When he left, he walked out that door with Wilbur and never turned back. Not even to wave goodbye.
Wilbur was an up-and-coming musician, he had a band in England named Lovejoy. He practically raised Tommy when he was little. Tommy and Wilbur had been very close. Wilbur never needed to study for tests, he had a crazy memory and scored very well. Wil became mad at the world, which included his younger brother. When he left, he didn’t even let Tommy come to the airport to say bye. He didn’t even say bye when he was still at the house.
Tommy was fine. Phil worked from early in the morning to late at night. Usually, he wasn’t there for any meals with Tommy. Tommy was fine. He taught himself to cook when he was 11, around the time Phil started spending more time at the office.
When Tommy was 14, he met Tubbo. Tubbo became one of Tommy’s best friends and convinced him to audition for his vocal performance group.
Tommy really only did it to make Tubbo happy. He couldn’t lose Tubbo.
He ended up really liking it. He met another of his close friends, Ranboo, and the three became an unmatched trio. Maybe matched by the Dream Team, as they liked to call themselves. The three became dubbed the bench trio by some of their other friends in the performance group. Tommy, Tubbo, and Ranboo often met up before rehearsals at this bench outside of the theater. Tommy also made other friends. He was friends with Karl, Sapnap, Dream, George, Niki, Jack, and Charlie. These were older kids in the group. He also knew Quackity, Schlatt, and Hannah, though not as well. The group became his safe space, he went every day after school and on Saturdays to rehearse. The group did multiple shows throughout the year, they did one every three months. They were variety shows, where many acts took the stage, like solos, duets, trios, quartets, and big group numbers.
Tommy is 17, it is October. He is a senior now.
Their next show was coming up in 2 months, and the groups performing had already been decided. Tubbo, Ranboo, and Tommy would do a trio, Niki, Hannah, Jack, and Charlie would do a quartet, Dream, George, and Sapnap would do a trio, Karl, Quackity, Sapnap, George, Schlatt, and Dream would do a group, there would be one big group number, Tommy and Niki would do a duet, Tubbo and Ranboo would do a duet, and Schlatt would do a solo. Lots of them did musical theater songs, but many of them also did songs you would hear on the radio.
Tommy was doing both this next show. He and Tubbo and Ranboo were planning on doing Sincerely Me from Dear Evan Hansen, and he and Niki are gonna do a song called Skinny Love by Birdy. Dream Team is gonna do Candy Store from Heathers. The big group number is gonna be Carrying the Banner from Newsies, with soloists Dream and Tommy. The group of six is doing Cell Block Tango from Chicago, Tubbo and Ranboo are gonna do lovely by Billie Eilish and Khalid, and the quartet is gonna be doing Babooshka by Kate Bush. Schlatt didn’t let anyone know what his song was gonna be. It's a surprise.
Tommy has his whole year planned out. As soon as he graduates, he is moving away from home and going to school far away with Tubbo and Ranboo. He plans to never speak to his brothers again.
You can imagine his surprise when Phil knocks on his door. At 5 PM. When he’s supposed to be in the office.
“Can I come in Tommy?” At least he was respectful and didn’t barge in. Wouldn’t be the first time.
“Guess so,” Tommy replied. He didn’t really want to speak to Phil, but he didn’t really have a choice. Phil opened the door and awkwardly stood in the doorway for a minute before speaking.
“Your brothers are coming home this weekend.”
What.
“They want to stay for a while. Probably a couple of months.” Phil left at that, leaving Tommy as if nothing were wrong.
Why did his brothers have to come back now?