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Tommy awoke to the familiar sound of his alarm and forced himself out of bed, looking askance to his still-open desk with the note he had written last night laid out for someone in his ‘family’ to find when they’d inevitably go into his room to, most likely, clear it out to finally rid themselves of his memory once he became just that. A memory of a person. A being no longer tangible.
He had already decided that today was the day. Yesterday had marked an entire week without Tubbo and Ranboo. A whole week where either of them could have come up to him and tell them that they didn’t mean any of the harsh words spat at him. That they truly still wanted to be his best friends and that they wanted him to be theirs.
Tommy used to see Tubbo for every minute of every day since they were children. Ranboo made the duo into a trio when they had moved to their secondary school in the middle of Year 9 and had been - in the most literal sense - dragged into friendship by a certain brunette and the three of them had been going strong for four years (at least, Tommy thought they had been doing so; he was clearly so so wrong).
Hatred wasn’t a foreign concept whatsoever to the blonde. It lingered in his house since the day his mother died. Since the day he was born but that part didn’t matter as much. His family would choose in a heartbeat to have never had him because that would have meant that their mum and wife would have never grown ill.
The teen knew what it was like to be resented. Tommy had spent almost seventeen years of his life being unwanted by those who housed him. Yet, it hurt so much more when Tubbo and Ranboo revealed that he too didn’t want him.
Those two had chosen him. He had felt so loved by his best friends but it was ripped away from him and he was still trying to figure out what he did wrong. Was he too much? Too loud? Too annoying?
He understood. Truly, he did. Sometimes he didn’t like the version of himself he put forwards either. Tommy was loud and brash to be fucking noticed. The attention was typically negative but he didn't care. It was better than Wilbur and better than Phil and Techno who liked to pretend his existence was nothing more than a concept. But Tubbo and Ranboo weren't scared off, irritated or made uncomfortable by his eccentricity. They used to not be... He couldn't say the same n-
The smell of cooked batter froze those thoughts and Tommy himself. Wilbur and Techno cooked for themselves later in the morning (after he headed out for school) and Phil was typically already working so there was no reason for anyone to be making breakfast. Yet Tommy trudged down the stairs in a hoodie and jeans (he fucking loved sixth form) and his packed rucksack so he could make sure he made it to registration on time (he did not love his sixth form for having compulsory registrations at 8:40, even if you didn’t have first period which he did have today but that was irrelevant to the point).
“Good morning Tommy!”
Ah, so he was hallucinating because he thought he saw Phil flipping a crêpe over and telling him good morning. But then the hallucination turned into something of further peculiarity. Phil took a plate and stacked several crêpes on it and handed it to him along with a knife, fork and Nutella.
“Eat up, Tommy, you’ll need the energy.”
And so Tommy ate after spreading the chocolatey goodness on the food. If this was a hallucination, it was a fucking great one at that. But Tommy could taste the breakfast, could hear his father humming to a tune as the man finished up and washed dishes.
What was stranger was that the number of crêpes was exactly perfect for his appetite that morning. He felt content yet not overly bloated. It was such a niche thing to note or occur but it did and Tommy wanted to focus on anything that wasn’t Phil suddenly being nice. Suddenly acknowledging him.
His morning grew weirder when Wilbur and Techno both walked down the stairs, the former spinning his keys around his finger.
“Want a lift to school, Toms?”
‘Toms’…?
That was a nickname. One that didn’t seem to belittle his very existence. It wasn’t right. Not from Wilbur.
But, God, he had been craving this for years. Wanting his older brother to see him as something more than the baby that caused their mother’s passing.
Sweet words were reserved for people Wilbur cared about. Nice nicknames weren’t a luxury extended to the blonde. He would typically get taunts and accusations of being nothing more than a fucking murderer. Perhaps a harsh palm to the face or fist to the side on a particularly bad day but positivity was off the table.
And so, he was certain the lift was some ruse to drive him to some deserted area or whatever it was but it began with the brunette being nice to him and it was his last day alive so fuck it.
“Sure, thanks.”
“Cool! Then, let’s go!”
Huh, that was fast but he supposed getting this most definitely cruel prank over and done with faster was likely best so Tommy followed Wilbur out the door to the brunette’s shitty van ‘Sally’, sitting in the back as he saw Techno opening the left door. Okay, so Techno was in on it, too. Slightly surprising as the pink-haired person preferred to just be above everything by not interfering yet also not antagonising him which obviously made them better than their twin.
The youngest watched carefully as the driver turned the key and changed from neutral to first gear as the brunette started driving. He made sure to watch the surroundings to be sure he could get back to school from wherever they dumped him as Wilbur certainly wasn’t driving to the right place.
Sure, the directions were correct initially but now the adult was taking seemingly random turns with Techno often chiming in to say which roads to go down. He was utterly perplexed but it was most likely meant to confuse him so it was harder to find his way to school (and it fucking worked!)
“Not this turn, Wil. Next one.”
“Really? I could have sworn it was-“
“Definitely not. Pogtopia Road was from number 59, remember?”
“Oh! Yes, of course. I had almost forgotten, thanks.”
Fucking cryptics. ‘Number 59’? What? So they had at least 59 plans to fuck with his life and this road was one of them? What losers. No one plans that intricately for annoyance unless they were a nerd- Oh, never mind. Techno was a humoungous nerd so it was them. But almost 60 plans? That felt excessive.
Considering that the blonde had completely lost the way, Tommy just purposefully spaced out for the rest of drive.
“We’re here, Toms.”
Blinking himself into awareness, Tommy realised two things. One: he was called ‘Toms’ again (he did not smile at that! ... Okay, he did. Shut up!) and two: they were actually at his school.
“…Huh. How’d you even know where to go?” he had asked. Neither of them would have payed enough attention to him to know which secondary he went to (despite it being his seventh year there).
“Because I care about you, Toms.”
Tommy immediately had a confused look on his face, as did Techno. Wilbur did not. He only smiled wistfully in the mirror before giving a pointed look to his sibling who was glaring at him.
The teen was weirded out by the blatant lie so he smiled awkwardly and opened the door “…Okay then. Uh, bye then you lot. Thanks? I guess?”
“You’re messing it up already, Wil.”
“I am not! I should get to be nicer if Tubbo-“
Fucking bitches. This was some long con, then. It was some plan that Wilbur was apparently ‘messing up already’ and Tubbo had something to do with it.
…What did Tubbo have to do with this?
“Tommy! I’m so sorry about what I said last week! I didn’t mean it. You’re my best friend and you care! I shouldn’t’ve called you selfish or annoying; doing that was entirely untrue.”
Ah, so this was it. Wilbur, Techno and Tubbo had come together to pretend to be all buddy buddy with him. That was explain the ‘nicer if Tubbo’ part of the conversation between the twins before he had shut the door.
“You have a free period, second, right? Well, yes you do, I remember. I was thinking we could hang out? Ranboo’s got a free as well and I’m well ahead in computer science right now, I’m sure Sam wouldn’t mind if I skipped. Uh, what do you think?”
“Sure.”
“Cool! See you in an hour?”
“Yeah… See you…”
Tubbo gave him a short look of… confusion? As if he had expected him to say something different. Tommy had nothing to gain from saying no. If their long con lasted longer than a day before everyone dropped the act, they’d never get to do it. And if it didn’t? Well, A few minutes at least of Tubbo’s company would be a nice memory of his last Tuesday.
First period was great. Puffy had tasked them to continue with their composition coursework, making sure to finish up their second piece and make sure they were happy with their first. Tommy would have loved it had he not been spending the hour thinking about this ‘hang out’ with his two ex-best friends.
What was their plan? Did he even care? Whatever came of this would not taint his memories long enough to truly dwell on it.
Ring!
Saved by the bell. Or, mayhaps, damned by the bell. Oh well, fuck it. Again, what did he have to lose?
Tubbo’s face brightened at seeing him and grabbed his hand as soon as he left the music room (why was the brunette even waiting here?) to lead him to the fucking stairs under the humanities building? Neither of them nor Ranboo even took a humanity?
“…Hi?”
That look of confusion fell on the older’s face once more at his words before he, once more, quickly schooled it to a neutral one, “Hey, big man. How are you?”
“Good.” Sue him! He was being dry and so what? Tubbo was playing with him and allying with Wilbur of all people! The bitch deserved it.
“Ah…” So Tubbo noticed. Good. “Sorry, I’m just going to take a quick call, I’ll be right around the corner.” Was that a threat? Like a ‘don’t leave, I’ll be here’ sort of thing?
Tommy decided he would listen in to figure it out.
“Wilbur Soot Craft, what in the flying fuck did you do? … What do you mean, ‘Why do I think it’s your fault’? You’re the one who’s fucked up the most times! I thought we agreed that we were going to try to make this the last one. … That doesn’t explain why Tommy’s been so fucking dry with me! In absolutely no repeat has he not accepted my apology! … Okay, don’t try to blame me, man. I followed my script! … Oh for goodness sake, put Techno on for me. … Yes yes, Hi Techno. Now, what did Wilbur do? … I’m not even surprised anymore! It’s like number 28 with the stupid spider! What was the point in buying him a spider?! … Of course I’m still caught up on Shroud! He was venomous! How didn’t Wilbur think of that?! … Fine, I’ll try but I think this one’s completely fucked. … What did Wilbur even say? … That’s the stupidest shit ever, he knows that him caring in these things doesn’t do shit when we have to restart, right? … You don’t think I am as well?! Tommy was, no, is my best friend! … Fine, fine. If this one fails, it’s on Wilbur, though. … Yeah, bye.”
Okay, what the fuck! So he was definitely right about Tubbo and Wilbur teaming up on this shit. For fuck-
A voice screamed down the hallway, “Tubbo?! You have Tommy?!” … Ranboo?
“Yes, what is it?!”
“Dream. We’ve gotta run now!” Definitely Ranboo, Tommy thought as he saw them approach him and Tubbo, running before grabbing both of their hands and sprinting out of the building and out the school.
“Okay, what the fuck is going on?!” Tommy was so confused! He just wanted to know! But he had to shout to be heard because they were running way too fast for his liking.
“That’s what I’d like to know!” Ranboo replied, “What happened, Tubbo?!”
Tubbo shouted back, “Wilbur happened! He fucked it!”
“Right, but how did Dream end up here?!”
“I don’t know! He shouldn’t be here at all!”
”Oh Tommy!” an unfamiliar voice leered, startlingly close behind them despite the speed they were running at. Tommy despised how this bitch knew him when he had no clue who they were.
“Oh hell no! Get away you stalker bitch!” Tommy’s arm was aching from being fucking dragged around! And the sudden turns were goddamn nauseating!
“Hey Siri, call Phil.” The fuck? Why was Tubbo calling his father? How did the teen even have Phil’s number?
“Tubbo?” Phil. Phil! answered. This was such a confusing ass day!
“Dream found us, Phil! We’re trying to run but the bitch is a fucking trained assassin, man! This isn’t the town centre like the last times, they aren’t enough places to hide! Warning you that there’s hardly any way we’re making it!”
“Okay, take lots of turns and if we fail, we’ll just try harder next time won’t we? What even happened for Dream to turn up at your school?”
“Wilbur happened!”
“Ah. I’ll remind him to stick to the plan if we restart.”
Tommy was even more confused now. What he understood was Wilbur was a bitch and there was a fucking whole ass assassin after them?! So he cut in once more, “Can someone just tell me what the fuck’s happening!”
“We can’t tell you!” Ranboo told him.
“The fuck you mean?!”
“We can’t tell you, Tommy! I’m sorry!”
“I swear, I will sit right the fuck down if you don’t tell me, bitch!”
“I know you want to tell him, Tubbo but you know it guarantees a fail!”
“But what if it’s different this time?!” Tubbo had asked.
“It wasn’t different the last four times you tried this!”
Had Tommy mentioned how confused he was yet? Because he was. Very much so. Now he was incredibly annoyed as well. And exhausted. He did not like running whatsoever. So he yanked his hand from Ranboo’s and stopped running.
Bang.
Oh fuck. There was that Dream guy, wasn’t there? And now his back hurt. And his shirt was sticking to him. Why even was that?
“Stupid Dream with his stupid gun!”
Who said that? Oh, was he shot? Well, this was certainly a more interesting way to go than the one he had planned.
“I’m so sorry, big man. We’ll save you next time, I promise. Lucky 104, am I right? This was simply an unlucky number 103.”
What was Tommy hallucinating? Because this shit was gibberish.
“Tubbo…”
“We’re saving him. No matter how many more tries it takes.”
“24 hours. He needs to survive one day.”
“Makes it sound so easy when you say it like that. How many different people have tried to purposefully kill Tommy?”
Kill… him?
“…12? And we’ve seen each of them at least 3 times each.”
Was he going crazy?
“…Do you think there’s a limited amount of times the day gets reset?”
“Don’t… Don’t say that, Tubbo.”
“But what if there is…? What if we can’t save him?”
“We will. Eventually.”
Eventually?
“…Eventually.”