Chapter Text
Tomorrow, Tubbo would decide if he could stay or be exiled, Tommy didn't exactly know if he deserved that.
But that wasn't his choice to make.
And it definitely wasn't keeping him awake at night, at 3a.m every single night for weeks.
Totally.
He could hear crickets chirping outside his window and he bet that if he actually got up and looked there would most likely be the last fireflies of the season flickering in the grass.
Tommy clutched his pillow like a stuffed animal, he should really get more pillows, he'll ask Wilbur-
Oh yeah.
It had been months, but he still wasn't used to not having Wilbur around, most days he would just forget Wilbur was dead and his brother was just somewhere out of sight. And other days he would remember that Wilbur was gone.
Those were the bad days where the world felt fake and didn't care that Wilbur was gone and Tommy had lost someone he loved.
Sometimes he would still catch whiffs of cigarette smoke in the air now and again.
Ghostbur wasn't any help, he just wasn't Wilbur even though he looked so much like him.
Floorboards creaked outside Tommy’s room.
It was probably Tubbo or Ranboo wandering the halls, he figured. They had been nice enough to let Tommy crash at their place for the week with Dream and all that, and he was at this point used to Tubbo or Ranboo getting something for Michael or just being particularly nocturnal for the night (Ranboo).
Maybe he should get up and greet whomever was out there, get a drink and all that before returning back to bed. Or he could stay saying in bed and be miserable.
He sighed, sitting up and blinking the grime from his eyes as he padded over to the bedroom door, opening it with a squeak and slipping out into the hall.
Tommy grumbled halfheartedly, making his way to the kitchen while stepping over the various children's toys scattered across the floor.
Given that no light was on in the kitchen it was probably Ranboo who was up, fucker had see in the dark eyes that looked freaky when light was shone into them.
He rounded the corner, "Mornin' Ranboob." He scared, again, halfheartedly.
He froze in place.
The kitchen was empty.
The fuck?
He had sworn he heard someone go down the hall-
Wait.
Did Dream break in?
Or Sapnap.
Punz?
But they wouldn't dare, they didn't have any reason to break in right now that he could think of…
Tubbo was the president of L'manburg.
He had a family.
It would really be a shame if they woke up with slit throats.
Tommy wasn't thinking anymore, things had receded back to Schlatt, and Tubbo was going to die with Ranboo and Michael.
Maybe he was too late already.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
He spun on his heel, there could still be time, he could warn them.
"TUB-"
A hand closed over his mouth, strong and large, it kept Tommy from finishing yelling for Tubbo, leaving his lungs screaming and voice gone.
He tried to pull away but a new arm kept him from thrashing out, pinning him to the intruder.
Screaming was pointless, so when he started to be moved, feet leaving the floor and panic tetting further in, he resorted to biting the fingers that held him.
That seemed to do nothing, not even break the skin, everything was dark and small and he couldn't get a good enough breath for anything anymore.
He felt the cool night air brush against his temple, tickling at the bottoms of his feet and seeping past what pajamas he had decided to wear.
His breath was turning hot in his lungs and what he could see in the dark was quickly turning into bright patches dancing across his vision.
He was going to pass out.
Who knew where he was being taken and he didn't even know if Tubbo was alive, would he even wake up alive?
He shut his eyes, feeling sleep and possibly death overtake him for the first time in weeks.
—
He didn't expect to wake up.
Well, he didn't know if he was dead so maybe this didn't count.
But if he was dead then why couldn't he move properly, and why did everything feel… furry?
His ears finally started working and so the soft, deep breaths coming from the right of his head came into focus.
"What the hell?" He mumbled, doing his best to make the spots in his vision fade and finally see, what he assumed was, fur.
"Good to see that you're alive,” a rumbling voice said.
Tommy didn't know who he was talking to and did not care if it was Ranboo or God. "Fuck off bitch."
Whoever was standing near Tommy chuckled at that, "Fair enough, I did just kidnap you last night."
Why was the voice so familiar?
"Yeah, yeah." He tried to move his head again while ignoring the worry about Tubbo.
Ah fuck, he reconized the voice finially.
"Techno?"
"Hey there Tommy." He was smiling slightly from the doorframe, his signature red cape and crown were off, tucked away somewhere safe probiaby by his sock drawer, leaving the fluffy white button up with gray pants.
His long hair was put up into a messy bun that had a small braid leading into it. Gold earrings hung from pointed ears with a single emerald dangled from a chain, sparkling in the sunlight.
The last Tommy had seen of Technoblade was when Wil- was months ago. Tubbo had mentioned Technoblade had been sneaking into town to see Phil now and again but Tommy hadn't been there any of those times.
He only regretted not being there a little.
Though, Tommy did not regret his next response in the slightest. "FUCK YOU, YOU KIDNAPPING FUCKER, WAS IT NECESSARY TO FUCKING SMOTHER ME! I”LL KILL YOU! AND WHAT ABOUT TUBBO-" He had more to say, but Technoblade simply walked over and dropped a pillow over his face, not enough for Tommy to be smothered, but definitely enough for his voice to be muffled.
"Tubbo’s fine, I only got you out of there with some help from Phil ‘cuz Dream can't be doing good things…,” he trailed off, finally noticing the massive creature that was crushing Tommy, “Steve seems to have taken a liking to you."
"Steve?"
"Yeah, the polar bear keeping you from trying to kill me apparently."
Technoblade had a polar bear? And he was just noticing the massive beast? The fuck? Well, he wasn't dead yet so it was probably fine. Doesn’t mean he can’t be pissy, "Is that why I can't move!"
"Yeah, calm down or I'll smother you again." It was framed as a joke but Tommy did as he was told regardless with a dirty look.
“How long has it been Tech no blade.”
His estranged brother sudeently looked very avoidant.
"Technoblade,” he hissed, “how long was I out?" Steve groaned rolling off of him when Tommy attempted to pry himself out from underneath.
"Two days."
The words rang loudly in the room.
Tubbo would have made his decision by now, or maybe not since he was kidnapped.
He felt a growing pit of dread, “Why hasn’t Tubbo found me yet? I’ve been missing for two days.”
Technoblade didn’t answer that, his eyes focusing on anything in the room except for Tommy.
The pit in his stomach started to sink, "Are they okay?" He asked with more intensitly.
Technobreathed in before answering, "Yes, uh, Ranboo is in contact with us and says everything is as fine as it can be."
He looked guilty, he wasn't saying something.
"What're you hiding?" Tommy growled.
"Well, we, uh, Phil and I, faked your death."
What?
People thought he was dead?
“How?” he croaked out, barely registering the intended internal thought be turned into speech.
“Made it look like you wandered outside and a stray zombie got you, all it took was a fresh pig and a bucket of blood, by morning all that was left were phantoms picking at the scraps.”
His death was faked using a pig.
Who else ‘dying’ these days could be a complete hoax?
Memories of Wilbur with a sword through his chest and Schlatt clutching his breast where his heart should’ve been beating flashed through his mind.
No. He shook his head. They’re dead, he saw the light leave their eyes as they fell to the ground, and he watched them be laid into the dirt.
That’s a lie actually.
Tommy watched Schlatt be buried in his coffin, but he never saw Wilbur after Phil left.
But Ghostbur did exist.
He existed and Wilbur didn’t.
“Hey, are you doing okay there, man?” Technoblade’s hand was on his shoulder. “You’re lookin’ a little pale.”
Tommy laughed forcefully, pushing away the Piglin, “It’s not everyday you wake up and everyone thinks you’re dead. Why did you even do it anyways? I thought you hated me after Schlatt.”
Technoblade looked back with all the stubbornness Tommy had, “I brought you here because I didn’t want to lose another brother.” He breathed in a shaky breath while Tommy held his tongue for one of the only times in his life. “Since Wil died and our tensions with L'manburg are getting worse. We thought that it would be better to remove you from the situation before something irreversible happened.”
Tommy being exiled, Tommy being executed, Tommy being burned alive with his loved ones inside the walls of L’manburg.
He shivered at the last thought, subconsciously moving back into Steve and savoring the shared warmth.
“And L’manburg?” His voice cracked on the last syllable, he just blamed it on the usual voice cracks teenage boys go through though, not that he was worried. He wasn’t lying to himself by the way.
“Doing well, Dream has backed off and funeral rights are being planned as we speak, there’s not really a body so there isn’t the need to move rapidly with the planning process.”
“Are you going to attend?” Tommy couldn’t stop the words from slipping out, making the room stop and him focus more on the polar bear’s breathing.
“Yes, but just so I am not seen as tied to your death, or you know, an uncaring sociopath.”
“Okay.” His face shifted to something neutral, wondering what that would entail for him.
Technoblade went to stand up, tousling Tommy’s hair as he did so. Tommy held back from trying to bite him. “Brighten up, think of it as a wedding except it’s all about you and the theme is black.”
Tommy grumbled, “Yeah except I’ll be ruining the party by just showing up.”
Technoblade laughed, “Come on, let's go make some breakfast.”
Tommy felt the polar bear move off of him, going after the older man to the kitchen and leaving Tommy to follow.