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Tubbo didn't have much prepared for his outer space travels. Of course, being kidnapped by aliens on his way to school probably had a lot to do with it, but Tubbo reckons it would've been the same even if he had been given time.
One moment he had been teasing Ranboo and Aimsey for choosing to wear thin hoodies in the middle of winter over a bet, the next he was flying through the air until he was sucked into a spaceship.
The beginning of it all was hazy, most parts he assumes are his brain blocking some kind of trauma. The few bits he does remember were painful, revealed in bits through nightmares he can't seem to shake off now even though it's been a fair while since he'd been rescued from whoever it was that had stolen him.
His first savior had naturally been an alien he'd named Tommy, a humanoid bird being that had been thrown into the same cell with him. His big, titanium wings were razor-sharp, his talons a perfect deadly match. Instead of having a visible iris with white sclera and dark pupil, Tommy's eyes were entirely a vibrant shade of icy blue.
It had taken Tommy what he guesses was a year to pick up a decent amount of English, mostly due to his own language being made up of chirps and clicks. The most prominent one had been tsk-mrri, the sound that had inspired Tubbo to stick him with the name Tommy in the first place. His accent was still clear with the words Tommy knew, but it gave Tubbo a sense of comfort in their captivity to have someone who understood him, who could talk to him and communicate, and bothered to try.
His second, third, and fourth saviors had been Phil, Techno, and Wilbur, respectively. They'd been Tommy's crew, his family who had traveled across the universe to get their youngest back. Phil had been the first to enter their cell, Techno the second, and together they'd carried Tommy and Tubbo back to the ship where Wilbur was waiting, engine charged to travel several hundred lightyears away into safety.
From then on it had become history, Tubbo finding a place as Techno's apprentice and using most days to help him run maintenance and fix the ship as needed.
But for today, Tubbo is left mostly alone in his room, simmering quietly with his thoughts. He is only mostly alone because Tommy has decided to join him, perching himself on Tubbo's nest and content to sit with him in silence for a bit as they stare out of his window and toward the light pink planet they are currently cruising by.
"Homesick?" Tommy finally speaks up after another short while, having picked up the pattern of Tubbo's mood drops.
Tubbo nods. "I don't think I'll ever stop being homesick."
Tommy frowns at that, but he lets the words settle into quiet once more.
It's not something they can fix, exactly. The reason it had taken Tommy's crew so long to rescue him was because a trip to the Milky Way was rather expensive for them. They'd used all of their savings and exhausted every favor they could to make that trip the first time, they were still paying off some of that help. There was nothing else they could exhaust to make that trip again.
There is no way to take Tubbo back home.
"I am sorry." Tommy says.
"It's not your fault," Tubbo replies. "you wanted to save me. You did. I would rather be here and safe than so close to home but stuck on that ship."
"Family." Tommy mumbles out, clawed hand reaching up to pat Tubbo's shoulder in comfort. He minds his talons despite Tubbo's armor, using only the surface of his palm to gently pat down as he lets out soft chirps. "We are not home, but we are family."
Tubbo's heart mends a little with that.
"Brothers." He gives a small smile.
Tommy bares his teeth back, trying to replicate the wide grins he's seen from Tubbo before. "Brothers."
Tubbo lets himself soak up Tommy's comfort for a little while longer, the alien quiet for a change to give him some peace of mind. By the time Tubbo finds the energy to move, he finds himself heading toward the maintenance room. Tommy stays glued to him like a shadow, matching his pace as they cross the ship with a worried chirp leaving his lips every now and then.
"Nothing needs fixing." Tommy says, as though that is the only reason Tubbo would be needed. His wings are shifting restlessly behind him, most likely because he wants Tubbo to stay put until he feels better.
"I need fixing." Tubbo jokes, only pausing for the moment it takes Tommy to understand what he means before they're both laughing.
"You are ridiculous." Tommy smiles, wings finally falling still. "I like Earth's humour."
Tubbo hums in agreement as they arrive to the maintenance room, the door sliding open with a soft hiss to reveal Techno working away on their heating system.
It's not broken, Techno just loves feeling like he's inside a pit of lava for some reason and constantly strives to get his room hotter. This was not a species thing, Tommy had clarified with a grimace the first time Tubbo had asked, this was just a Techno thing.
"Hi Techno." Tubbo waves as he enters.
Techno chirps, his wing lifting in the imitation of a wave so his focus doesn't waver.
"Busy." Tommy translates.
Tubbo accepts the answer and heads to his own designated desk without further comment, getting ready to work on his own personal project.
Tubbo had only just started to learn about the intricacies of technology, primarily through taking things apart to understand what they are made of and how they need to go back together. His main objective for now is simple: he needs to find a way to power his phone.
"What is that?" Tommy cautiously approaches, wary of Tubbo's phone. He's never seen anything like it, mostly because outer space seems to run on magic more than it does technology.
Tubbo is sure there is some science to it, but he doesn't really have any tools to figure out what exactly it is. He is settling for magic as an explanation for everything he doesn’t yet know.
"It's called a phone. It has many uses, but the main one is communication."
"You can communicate home?" Tommy asks in surprise.
Tubbo feels a bit of bitterness return. "Not from here. It only works on earth. There's no satellite to connect to out here."
Tommy seems more confused at the response. "Why do you want to fix something you cannot use?"
"Communication is just the main feature, but it does so much more. All of my memories of earth are on here. I don’t- I don't want to forget what it was like."
More than that, he doesn't want to forget the people he's left behind. His parents, his sisters, his friends... he wonders more than anything how they're doing. Tubbo had been walking with Ranboo and Aimsey the day he was taken. Who knows what they saw, if they even managed to see anything at all.
There's also a tiny bit of him that still has hope to go back some day. It seems impossible now, but maybe down the road there will be a way back and he wants to have something to show for his absence. A way to bridge this piece of his life for them, to say 'I was alive out there, somewhere, missing you.'
"I will help." Tommy declares, his hand patting Tubbo's shoulder once again.
Tubbo smiles. "Thank you."
"Of course. Brothers." Tommy repeats, his wings puffing up in pride before he's settling to watch Tubbo work.
If he's entirely honest, Tubbo isn't sure where to begin. He knows what end result he wants, but none of the power sources seem stable enough or the correct type to charge his phone.
The closest thing they had to power seemed to be this weird blue substance Tubbo had settled on calling mana, based off the way he's seen them use it. It's a burning cold substance that seems to make them look a bit more lively, and notably keeps their wings in perfect condition.
Techno had given him a pile of mana crystals in his initial attempts, but the crystals shatter the moment the mana is released and dispels the mana into the atmosphere than into any specific area. Wilbur had given him access to the ship's engine, which does run on open regulated mana, but it was far too strong and Tubbo's survival instincts strongly protested him approaching it further.
He tries to use a smaller mana crystal this time, moving his hands to let Tommy see the way he is cracking the crystal and attempting to direct the leaks into the charging port.
"Why?" Tommy asks, not daring to get closer.
"To charge it." Tubbo says.
"Oh. It is not working."
"I know." Tubbo sighs, setting the crystal down. "I don't think mana can be a good substitute for electricity."
"Elek-seetee?"
"E-lec-tri-ci-ty. It powers the phone."
He watches Tommy sound it out, trying to perfect the pronunciation. "Electricity."
"You got it." Tubbo nods in approval. "Electricity powers my phone, like mana powers this ship. I don't know if you guys have electricity. I tried to describe it to Techno, but I don't think you have it on hand, at least."
Techno turns at the sound of his name. He lets out a few chirps to Tommy, who seems to better understand whatever explanation Techno provided.
"Oh. Humans are weird."
Tubbo lets out a snort. "Yeah, I've noticed."
"Maybe Phil can help. Phil knows many things." Tommy suggests, his feathers rustling at the prospect of involving the elder.
He's not really sure what Phil's role is in their dynamic, but if he had to guess, it would be older brother. While Wilbur is the official captain, Phil takes care of the matters to do with the crew as their guiding hand.
Phil... is also rather intimidating.
"I don't want to bother him."
"Phil would not be bothered. Phil is cool." Tommy reassures him.
Techno nods in agreement, repeating one of the only English words he claims to know. "Cool."
Tubbo shakes his head 'no' again, but Tommy is already running off to recruit the elder.
It isn't that Phil is a bad person, really. Phil is just like Tommy and the rest of them, but something about his eyes being red instead of blue like the others... it had an awful way of unnerving him, no matter how kind the alien is.
"Cool." Techno repeats, nodding like that should soothe Tubbo.
"I have a feeling you guys know way more English than you pretend you do." Tubbo frowns.
Techno chirps in response. Something about his gaze gives Tubbo the feeling that Techno is amused by him, though the alien just nods to Tubbo's phone before turning back to his heater.
Tubbo decides to try again with the mana to at least feel productive, though he doesn't get further than two cracks before Tommy is re-entering with Phil and Wilbur behind him.
"Tubbo!" Wilbur greets him, happy to practice his English again.
Besides Tommy, Wilbur had been the most excited to learn about Tubbo's language and culture.
"Hey. Sorry to bother you guys." Tubbo apologizes.
Wilbur waves him off, shaking his head. "We are always happy to help."
Wilbur quickly translates for Phil, who happily nods in agreement.
"Tommy says help?" Phil questions.
He prefers using as few words as possible, much like Techno. They think it's more efficient, and Tubbo tends to understand most of the time anyway.
He nods sheepishly in response, avoiding eye contact as he extends his phone. "I need to charge this."
Phil lets out a curious noise, inspecting the item.
"Not whole. Can help. Wait." Phil says, walking out of the room.
Wilbur takes a step closer once Phil is gone, looking for himself.
Not whole?
"He can help?" Tubbo asks.
Wilbur lets out a surprised noise. "We have seen this before. It was green. And bigger."
Seen it before?
Tubbo feels a bit of hope spark.
"You've seen it before? Have you seen another human? What were they like? Where did you find it-"
"No, no human. Just this." Wilbur quickly intercepts his questions, seeming very overwhelmed by the rapid-fire English. "We did not know it was human. Phil found it on their ship."
"On a ship?"
"Bad people." Tommy tries to clarify.
"Earth ship?" Techno questions, his heater abandoned once more.
"Earth ship." Wilbur nods.
Oh. The ship they'd been rescued from.
Tubbo feels too many emotions spring up with all the possibilities that opens up. Fortunately for him, his crewmates are already moving on.
"Phil always knows everything. So cool." Tommy chirps happily, his wings puffing up with pride.
"Cool." Techno echoes yet again, more than content to sing Phil's praises.
"We will take care of you." Wilbur says to Tubbo, patting his head with reassurance. "I give you my word, Wilbur."
Tubbo feels his mind settle a bit with that, cracking a small smile. "That's not- it's not how that works."
"My word is Wilbur." Wilbur tries to say it like a fact, though it sounds more like a question. "I give you my word. My word is WIlbur."
"Your name is Wilbur. When you give someone your word, it's a promise."
"Oh. I give you my word, 'A Promise.'" Wilbur corrects himself, looking happy to have learned something new.
Tubbo doesn't have the heart to correct him a second time, figuring it's close enough. It's not like Wilbur would speak improper English to anyone who knew better anyway, and he already lets Techno and Phil get away with it.
"I also give you my 'A Promise.' Mine is better." Tommy nods.
Wilbur seems offended by this. "You are a..." he pauses, looking to Tubbo for help with an insult.
"Bitch?"
"Bitch." Wilbur says, the sound a perfect combination of chirps, clicks, and English.
Tommy proceeds to whack Wilbur with his wing, which quickly turns into a small playfight between the two while Tubbo resorts to safely hiding himself near Techno.
"Trouble." Techno grins, nudging Tubbo lightly.
"It's pronounced Tubbo-" he stops. "Hey, wait a second. Who taught you trouble? Wait another second! You can grin?!"
Techno drops his face back into his usual blank stare and replies with an innocent chirp.
"You're trying to gaslight me!" Tubbo gasps dramatically, but no one pays him any mind.
The chaos doesn't last too long, everything falling perfectly still the moment the door opens and Phil returns.
Tubbo tries to further hide behind Techno, however the alien is feeling particularly merciless today as he just shoves Tubbo back to the front. "Cool." he says firmly, motioning to Phil.
Phil breaks his stare of disbelief with a few blinks, shaking his head at Tommy and Wilbur before ignoring them in favour of approaching Tubbo.
"Yours." Phil holds out an object.
Tubbo feels something in him break the moment he sees it, immediately recognizing that green phone case. It's Aimsey's phone.
His hand is shaking as he takes it, his fear of Phil completely forgotten as he tries to process this new information.
He always thought he was the only one taken that day. He hadn't had much time to see anything when he was getting abducted, but being thrown into a cell by himself until they placed him with Tommy had made him think he was the only human. It certainly felt that way.
So how did Aimsey's phone end up here?
"Tubbo?" Tommy asks quietly. His wings are alight with anxiety, feathers shifting restlessly at the distress he can see.
"A battery pack." Tubbo mumbles out, understanding what Phil had meant by saying his phone was not whole. Aimsey had been charging theirs that day on the walk to school.
He tries to turn on the battery pack, but to no surprise, it's also completely dead.
He expects the same when he clicks the power button on Aimsey's phone, but he's shocked to see the screen light up.
'37%' flashes up at him.
How? Tubbo knows it's been well over at least three years now, how was the phone still on?
No, it doesn't matter. This phone still has what he wants.
He holds down the button until the phone comes to life, unable to stop his eyes from watering up when the lock screen reveals a picture of Aimsey, Ranboo, and himself all smiling at the camera in front of the snowman they'd built two weeks before it all happened.
His heart is breaking and fusing back together all at once. It's grief, despair, relief, and hope all fighting for his attention, the winner obvious by his shaky smile as he holds the piece of home like a precious treasure in his hands.
"Humans!" Tommy calls out to the crew in distress. "We will rescue them!"
His talons reach for the phone but Tubbo is immediately pulling it away.
"No, no, it's not- it's- my home, Tommy, this is my home." Tubbo tries to placate the alien as well as himself.
"Safe?" Tommy questions, like he won't believe the answer is yes.
"Yes," Tubbo confirms it anyway. "It's home. It's called a picture."
Tommy slowly approaches again, scared of both the device and Tubbo's reaction. Tubbo turns on the screen again, showing Tommy and the rest of the crew that have gathered the picture.
"Tubbo." Tommy notices, pointing at the screen. His eyes pinch in confusion. "But you are here. How?"
"It's a picture. It's not me now, it's me when I was younger." Tubbo explains. "A picture keeps people's memories. Think of it like a drawing. Wilbur draws on his map to remember all the stars and planets he gets excited to discover, to remember what it looks like and what it felt like even when his memory starts to fail. A picture is like a drawing because it quickly draws tiny bits of the universe that we want to keep."
Tommy lets the information simmer a bit as Tubbo's gaze flickers up to Phil. "Thank you."
Phil nods his head politely, his teeth slightly bared in his best attempt at a smile.
It nearly makes Tubbo flinch, but he can't bring himself to be as scared as before when Phil has gifted him this.
"Sorry." Phil apologizes.
Tubbo shakes his head. "Don't be. I- I have a lot of questions, if that's alright."
Phil nods a little more confidently this time. "Talk later. Remember now." he quietly urges him before he's stepping out of the room again.
Tubbo watches him go, his mind made up to do his best and lose the irrational fear he has of Phil.
"We may have more human things. We will bring out Earth Ship treasure while you remember." Wilbur excuses himself before calling out for Techno to follow.
Tommy waits for them to leave the room before he's sitting down beside Tubbo, finally speaking up. "These humans. They are your stars."
Tubbo nods. "They were family to me too. I grew up with them."
Tommy thinks for a little while longer.
"I think one of them is out here. Alone." Tubbo confesses his fear quietly.
"We-" Tommy shakes his head, wings rustling behind his back again before the left wraps around Tubbo like a cover. "I will help you and your star go home. 'A Promise.'"
Tubbo lets out a laugh as the tears finally fall, leaning into the comfort of the cold titanium again. "'A Promise'..."
He stares down at the phone, using his fingerprint to unlock it.
Aimsey had told him to use it if he ever needed it. A 'just in case' situation, but he never saw it happening like this.
"There's more than pictures, you know. We also have something called a video."
Tommy turns in curiosity to watch Tubbo open up the camera app.
"It's really fast pictures. Want to try it? You can say hello to my family back home for... for when we get there."
Tommy seems unsettled by the way the phone is recording him, but he trusts Tubbo enough to nod his head and let him do what he wants.
Tubbo presses the record button. "You can say hello now."
"...Hello? Where are their drawings?"
Tubbo feels the tightness in his chest loosen with Tommy's wonder as he stops recording, thinking it best to show Tommy the result than to try to explain it.
The alien startles at hearing Tubbo's voice speak through the phone, letting out a sharp chirp the moment his own voice gets played back.
"That is me! The drawings are making my noise!"
"That's what video does. It keeps the drawings and the noise."
"Forever?"
"Until it runs out of power, yes."
Tommy immediately protests that idea. "No, we can not lose power. You must remember."
Tubbo smiles at Tommy's consideration.
They really are a family too.
"I can have Techno help me now. Maybe we can find a way to get charge now that we have the battery pack. These can also keep power, so Techno can break this one apart all he wants to understand it."
"More power?"
"More power." Tubbo hopes, at least.
Tommy seems to calm down a bit with this, his eyes glancing at the phone. "You have two."
Tubbo hums in agreement, curious where this is going.
"Can I- can I keep a vee-do too?"
"A video? What do you want to remember?"
"Brother." Tommy motions to him, his talon nervously picking at the floor. "I will take you home, but my home is here. I want to remember you always, even when you are home. You are my family too."
Tubbo feels his eyes sting again.
Right.
His home and this family, he can't have them both. He will miss them too.
Tubbo lets his arm curl around Tommy the same way Tommy's wing is curled around him. "I will give you that, but you have to give me one too, okay?"
Tommy chirps. "Brothers."
"Brothers." Tubbo affirms.
He will figure it all out in the future.
For now, in this moment, he's content to stay with his brother in silence as they stare at the memory of his home.