Archive of Our Own

Of all the parts of the school day, Tommy's favorite was pick-up.

He was always one of the last to leave, but he liked it that way. His dad would show up ten minutes after the official pick-up time to avoid the rush, and then he'd get caught up talking to Miss Kristin, the teacher in charge of watching over the kids and making sure everyone went home with the right parent. And thus, for a half-hour at the end of every school day, he'd get to spend time with his favorite two people in the entire world: Tubbo and Ranboo.

He'd been friends with Tubbo since the first day of third grade, when he'd inadvertently taken Tubbo's favorite chair and refused to give it up because he'd been there first. Him and Tubbo then had their recess privileges revoked for the week, and their parents were brought in for a conversation with the principal about not getting into fistfights at school.

Tommy was still proud of that record. Fastest any third-grader at the school had ever gotten the school to call their parents, he was pretty sure.

After that, though, they'd become absolutely inseparable and were best friends forever. Legally.

As far as Ranboo went, he was new to their middle school that year. Tommy hadn't been sure about him to begin with, but then Tubbo had gone and become friends with the new kid, and that wasn't fair, because Tubbo was Tommy's best friend and Ranboo was not going to steal that spot.

Anyway, it turned out that Ranboo wasn't trying to steal his best friend and was actually pretty chill, something Tommy figured out after a few weeks of very subtle interrogation and intimidation. So it was the three of them now, on the bench, talking about everything and nothing at once long after everyone else had left. And that was awesome.

Today, though, the last student had barely left when Miss Kristin called, "Tommy Craft!"

"-see, I think cows should be allowed as indoor pets. Like, if we can have cats and dogs, why not cows?"

"Aren't cows pretty big?" Ranboo offered, and Tommy considered that.

"Yeah, but like- miniature cows are a thing. And that's irrelevant anyway. I want a pet cow."

Tubbo reached across Ranboo to smack Tommy's arm. Ranboo had, over time, gained the dubious honor of being an intermediary against arguments devolving into physical fights, though he wasn't the best barrier, given that he had approximately the build of a spaghetti noodle. "You're not getting a cow until I have my bee army, bitch."

"Tommy Craft," Miss Kristin called again, more insistent.

"Bees are fucking terrifying," Tommy argued back.

"They're cute!"

"Not as cute as cows."

"You take that back-"

"I think cats are better, actually," Ranboo interrupted, and Tommy and Tubbo both instantly turned their attention to him. He didn't back down, and added, "And I already have a cat, so I think this is a skill issue for you guys."

Tommy looked at Tubbo.

Tubbo nodded resolutely.

"Sorry about this, bossman-"

"Tommy Craft!"

"Shit," Tommy swore, only now hearing his name called. He turned to check, then had to do a double take, because Phil wasn't actually there. Instead, his older brother was waiting by the gate to the parking lot.

Tubbo peered around Ranboo to get a better look. "Is that Techno?"

Tommy nodded and stood up reluctantly, picking up his backpack and swinging it over his shoulder. If it was Phil, he'd drag his feet a bit, try and give his dad enough time to get into a conversation. Techno, however, wasn't the kind of person to fall for that trick. "Yeah. See you guys tomorrow, I guess."

"Bye, Tommy!" Tubbo yelled after him, Ranboo joining in at a more reasonable volume.

Tommy turned to wave, which may have had the effect of delaying a little longer. Maybe Techno wouldn't get caught up in a super long conversation, but he'd shown up early to pick-up, and Tommy was absolutely going to annoy him for that.

"Ready to go, child?" Techno asked when he got up to the gate.

Instead of answering, Tommy gave Miss Kristin his most wide-eyed and innocent look. "I don't know who this is."

"Oh my god, Tommy."

"My dad said never to get in a car with strangers."

Techno was already pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation, which Tommy counted as a win. "He's my brother," Techno said to Miss Kristin, who nodded understanding.

"I did get word from Phil that someone else would be doing pick-up today, but I will have to ask to see some ID so I can confirm it with the system. It's just for safety reasons."

"Yeah, no, that makes sense." Techno got out his driver's license, handing it over and giving Tommy a look that said seriously?. Tommy just grinned back.

"Alright, everything checks out," Miss Kristin said after a moment, handing the license back. "Have a nice day, Tommy, and I'll see you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow, Miss Kristin," Tommy repeated back, like the model child he was. Then, to Techno as they walked to the car, "Why'd you have to get here so earlyyy?"

"Stop whinin'," Techno deadpanned. "Phil had somethin' come up with work."

Tommy huffed. "I wasn't whining." He tossed his backpack in the back seat, then opened the passenger door to Techno's car with more force than he needed to, earning himself a warning. He proceeded to slam it shut when he'd gotten in the car to prove a point.

Techno got in the driver's seat, turning the key in the ignition. The car - old, though Techno would call it classic - sputtered to life, and some guy on the radio started talking in a staticky voice. "Gremlin."

"Bitch."

Techno had been backing out of his parking spot, but hit the brakes at that. "Where'd you learn that word?"

Tommy shrugged, grinning. "Tubbo taught me. Bitch."

"… of course he did." The car resumed moving, and they drove through the parking lot, past the recess area. Tommy waved at Tubbo and Ranboo as they passed. He started rolling down the window to shout a last goodbye, but halfway through, Techno hit the driver's side window control and it stopped half-open. "Stop playin' with the windows."

"Hey!"

Techno ignored him, just hitting another button on the window control and turning his attention to getting onto the street. Tommy tried the window again, found that it still wouldn't move, and sighed dramatically.

"Can we at least get McDonald's?"

"Nope."

"Oh, come on- dad always takes me to McDonald's after school," Tommy said in a tone that was definitely not a whine.

The car turned onto the street, and Techno rolled his eyes. "First off, we both know that's not true. And second, I'm not payin' for McDonald's. Dad's gonna make dinner when we get home anyway."

… hmm. That didn't work. It was time to pull out the big guns.

"If we don't go to McDonald's, I'll tell dad you taught me to say fuck."

Techno fully looked away from the road at that and gave Tommy a warning glance. "Are you blackmailin' me?"

"Who, me?" Tommy said innocently.

"Tell you what, kid-" "Fuck you, I'm not a kid-" "-you're literally eleven, and I have a counter offer. Instead of goin' to McDonald's, I can teach you a new swear word. That sound fair?"

"I already know all the swear words. Like fuck, shit, bitch-"

"It's a Spanish swear," Techno interrupted. "You wouldn't know it."

Tommy fell silent, considering the offer. He had to admit, his knowledge of Spanish curse words was woefully lacking. "… fine."

"Alright. You gotta promise, though, you won't use this in front of dad," Techno warned.

"Promise!"

Techno glanced around, as if checking that no one was listening, then leaned halfway across the center console and said quietly, "Dónde está la biblioteca," before straightening up again.

"Dónde está la biblioteca," Tommy repeated, testing out how the words sounded.

"Technically, the important part is 'biblioteca'," Techno explained. "The rest of the phrase depends on context."

"What does it mean?"

Techno hissed a breath between his teeth. "Ah, see, I can't tell you that. Dad would kill me for lettin' you hear such profanity."

… it almost sounded like Techno was teasing him. Tommy squinted at his brother, then declared, "You're a biblioteca."

"Yep, there you go. You're gettin' it."

Tommy grinned, filing the word away into his mental vocabulary to tell Tubbo about at school the next day. They were about ten minutes away from home now, and they were on the best part of the drive, a winding side street lined with trees. Since it was mid-October, the leaves were turning all shades of orange and gold.

He liked to look at them moving outside his window and imagine what it would be like to take all the leaves and make a giant leaf pile. Someday, he promised himself, he'd have a house with a big yard and a million trees and find out exactly what it was like to jump in a leaf pile like that.

His thoughts of a very real and achievable future were interrupted by the radio. He'd been tuning it out, because it was just some guy talking, but the radio suddenly made a weird screeching siren noise. Tommy jumped, and he was pretty sure Techno startled too. The noise repeated three times, then a robotic voice came through.

"EMERGENCY NOTICE: ALL RESIDENTS OF-"

Techno clicked the radio off, the silence a stark contrast.

"Hey," Tommy protested, turning it back on. All he got was a garbled bit of speech before Techno turned it off again. "What was that about?"

"It's nothin'," Techno said, a little too quickly. "Just- my radio station's been runnin' a special or somethin' recently."

"What kind of special?"

"You ever heard of War of the Worlds?" Tommy shook his head no, and Techno continued, "There was a guy back in the day who wrote a book about aliens invadin'. A radio station decided to run a series where they read parts of the book on air, and some people ended up thinkin' there was an actual alien invasion. And for some reason, my storytellin' station wanted to try somethin' like that."

Tommy nodded slowly. That made sense. "What if it was real, though?"

Techno shrugged. "It's not, so it doesn't matter. I'm not turnin' it back on 'cause it's way too loud. Annoyin' that they keep interruptin' my regular stories, too."

… that was a good point. Still, Tommy half wished it was real. Alien invasions sounded cool as fuck. A lot more exciting than school, at least.

He sat back, returning his attention to the window. They were nearly past the tree corridor by now; next was the drive past all the shops downtown. Up ahead, he could see the McDonald's sign. He always asked Phil if they could stop. Phil was always like "no, we have food at home, just wait for dinner", which was very boring of him.

He'd already tried convincing Techno, and that had been unsuccessful, so instead he stared at the building as it approached, hoping that the car would magically turn into the parking lot all on its own.

And then it did.

The car bumped over the slight incline from the street to the parking lot, then they parked in a spot beneath a spindly, sad-looking tree that had somehow lost nearly all its leaves already.

"C'mon," Techno said without explanation, unbuckling and getting out of the car.

"What?"

"You wanted McDonald's, right?"

Tommy wasn't sure what spirit of generosity had possessed Techno, but he wasn't about to question this incredible gift. He was out of the car in seconds and only barely stopped himself from sprinting inside, instead settling for trailing close behind Techno.

The restaurant was empty, save for a single cashier at the counter. She had a friendly face, and Tommy wasted no time in hurrying up to the counter before Techno changed his minds.

"Can I get a chicken nuggets and ice cream?"

"Of course!" The lady started punching in the order. Her name tag read "Puffy", Tommy noted. "And anything for you?"

The second part was directed to Techno. "I'll just do some fries," he said, pulling out his wallet. "You want to find somewhere to sit, Tommy?"

Tommy nodded, immediately turning and scanning the dining area. This particular McDonald's had a play place in a room adjoining the main dining room, which meant that was clearly the best option. "I'm gonna go there," he declared, pointing out a table by the play structure.

"Alright, you do that." Techno's phone rang then, and he took it from his pocket, squinting at the screen. "Looks like dad's checkin' in. I gotta take this, I'll be there in a minute, alright? Don't die."

"No promises," Tommy shot back.

It was a little weird, how empty the place felt on a Thursday afternoon. With no one else on the play structure, Tommy reluctantly decided to just sit at a table and wait. Wouldn't be as much fun without Tubbo and Ranboo.

The play place was surrounded by large glass windows, and as he was staring out at the world going by outside, he saw Techno standing just outside the restaurant. He had his phone up to his ear and was pacing in slow, small circles on the pavement.

He caught Tommy's eye through the window, stared back with an intentionally wide-eyed expression. Tommy decided to flip him off in response.

Techno returned the gesture.

Tommy feigned an overdramatic gasp, then mouthed I'M TELLING DAD.

Techno mouthed something back that Tommy couldn't be bothered to interpret, then turned away from the window, effectively cutting off communication. Dammit.

"Alllllright, got your ice cream and chicken nuggets," the cashier - Puffy, he remembered - announced cheerfully, arriving with a paper takeout bag and a drink holder with two ice cream cones and distracting Tommy from schemes of the best ways to bug Techno through the window. She paused, looking around the play place area. "… you had an adult with you, right?"

"My brother's outside," Tommy explained. "He's on the phone with my dad."

Puffy nodded. "I see. Just wanted to make sure you weren't here by yourself. We're actually closing soon, and I'd hate to kick you out if you didn't have a way to get home."

Tommy heard rapid footsteps approaching, and turned to see Techno hurry in from the dining room. "Sorry, what's goin' on?"

"We're closing in a few minutes," Puffy repeated with an apologetic expression.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay. We were just gonna head out, anyway." Techno grabbed the takeout bag from the table, then did a double take at the ice cream. "I thought I only ordered one-?"

Puffy waved a hand, turning to go back to the counter. "It's on the house, kiddo. You just drive safe, alright? Don't get into trouble while you're out there."

"Thanks, we will."

"We're gonna drive very dangerously," Tommy corrected, grinning. "Techno's a terrible driver."

Techno gave him a scandalized look. "Says who-?"

"You failed your first driver's test-"

"That was literally a year ago, and we're not talkin' about that."

Puffy coughed lightly, making a shooing motion towards the door. She was smiling, at least, and waved goodbye as they left the restaurant.

"We should go there more," Tommy decided, giving an enthusiastic wave back. "She's nice."

Techno hummed noncommittally. "True, true. We'll see."

He seemed distracted, Tommy noticed, and didn't actually get in the car for a little bit. Just stood at the open driver's side door, staring into the distance.

Tommy, of course, took the opportunity to dig into one of the ice cream cones. If he was quick enough, he might be able to steal both of them before Techno noticed.

Unfortunately, Techno seemed to realize his plot, and it didn't take more than a minute for him to get into the driver's seat and take the other ice cream cone from the drink holder, completely oblivious to Tommy's disappointment. "Annnd off we go." He glanced at Tommy, then his face scrunched up with what looked like concern. "How are you almost done already?"

"What?"

"You just got that."

Tommy looked at his own ice cream cone. It was nearly down to the actual cone by now, with just one or two bites left. "Yeah, so?" To prove the point, he took a large bite of the ice cream, and Techno winced.

"Doesn't that hurt your teeth?"

"… no? Obviously not. You just have weak teeth," Tommy said through the mouthful of ice cream.

Techno sighed, shaking his head. "Whatever you say." He started the car, backing out of the parking spot very slowly. "Speakin' of ice cream, though, did you know that the wrapper thing on the cone is edible?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. They have to use food-safe stuff to make the glue an' all, so it's safe for humans to ingest."

Tommy held the ice cream cone, now nearly decimated, at arm's length so he could get a better look at the wrapper. The red and yellow design did look temptingly good.

He tried taking a bite with the wrapper, and made a face at the taste. It sort of just tasted like paper. Not, like, bad, just… flavorless and dry. Almost like the cone itself, but somehow even more like cardboard and without the vague taste of sugar. He was committed now, though.

The car was quiet as the drive continued, Tommy focused on chewing the ice cream wrapper and Techno focused on driving. When Tommy had gotten through the last of the papery stuff, he reached for the radio again for something to fill the silence.

"Don't touch the radio," Techno said, giving him a warning glance. "You want music, I got an mp3 player. But don't get your sticky fingers on it," he added hurriedly, slowing down for a moment to open the center console compartment. That revealed a stash of paper napkins.

Tommy huffed dramatically, but took one of the napkins anyway before grabbing the mp3 player and starting to look through the options. The mp3 player was one of Techno's prized possessions; he'd been collecting music for years, and all of it was on the little device. Which, despite the fact that it was all alphabetized, made it pretty difficult to find songs that were actually interesting.

After scrolling for a very short while, though, he came across a familiar title. The choice was immediately clear.

He hit play.

Exactly two and a half seconds later, Techno deadpanned, "Anything but this."

"What? You don't like the Able Sisters?!"

"You've played this song, like, a million times. Pick somethin' else."

Tommy sighed, but continued scrolling down the list of songs. He didn't come across anything interesting for a while, but eventually noticed when Techno tossed a little square of paper into one of the cupholders.

… it had a very recognizable red and yellow color scheme.

"You're not eating the wrapper?"

"Absolutely not," came the immediate response. "It's paper."

Yeah, that made sense.

The realization hit a second later, though, and Tommy looked up from the mp3 player again. "Wait, hold on, you mean you're not supposed to eat the paper?"

Techno snorted a laugh, shaking his head. "Yeah, I was messin' with you. Didn't think you'd actually do it."

Tommy reached over to smack him on the arm. "You- fuck you, you fuckin'- biblioteca." That didn't stop Techno from laughing harder, which- okay, yeah, it was a little funny. "It tastes fine," he added defensively. "You're really missing out, actually."

"Mhm, sure."

Techno didn't seem sorry in the slightest, so Tommy just huffed, hoping to properly convey his sense of betrayal. Then it was back to looking through the endless list of songs.

After another few minutes of searching, he still hadn't come across anything good, so he switched to looking at playlists. Techno didn't have as many of those. The playlist titles were all long and non-descriptive, so he held down the scroll button, stopping at random and squinting at the title of the one he'd landed on.

"What's 'Hamilton'?"

"Yes. That one."

A complete non-answer, but Tommy clicked play anyway. The first song started with abrupt trumpets and a drum beat before the lyrics began.

"How does a bastard, orphan-"

"Hey, Techno?"

"Hmm?"

"What does bastard mean?"

Techno didn't answer for a long few seconds, just stared into the middle distance as if he was regretting all his life choices. "It's like… an illegitimate child," he said eventually. "Meanin' his parents weren't married when he was born. It's used as an insult, but it's also accurate in this case."

"Oh." Tommy considered that for a moment, then decided it made sense and went back to paying attention to the lyrics.

"-by providence impoverished, in squalor-"

"What's squalor?"

Techno sighed. "If you would stop interruptin' the music for like two seconds, you can figure it out."

"-a hero and a scholar-"

"What's a scholar? Is that the same thing?" Tommy asked, just to be annoying. Contrary to popular belief, as a sixth grader, he did, in fact, know what a scholar was. And could definitely guess at what "squalor" meant based on the context (probably not a good thing). However, it was fun to bother Techno.

Techno snorted a laugh at that. "Ah, I see how it is."

Tommy grinned, turning his attention from the music to look out of the window again. They were maybe five minutes away from home; the streets were quieter than usual, so it might take even less time than that. He had a bit of homework to do, mostly just a math worksheet, and then he'd planned on playing Minecraft with Tubbo and Ranboo, so despite his initial annoyance at getting picked up early, this would work great!

… and then Techno missed a turn.

"You missed the turn," Tommy pointed out helpfully, turning to stare at the street as they drove past.

Techno didn't respond at first, just glanced at the street as well. "Hmm. Not used to drivin' home this way, must've been on autopilot." He didn't stop, though, and didn't turn around, just kept going at exactly the same speed as before.

"… Techno?"

"D'you mind if we keep drivin'?" Techno asked abruptly. There was something… different in his tone. More serious than the banter of moments ago. "I wanna show you somethin'. It'll be a pretty long drive, though."

"School's tomorrow, we can't be out for too long," Tommy reminded him.

"I asked dad about it on the phone earlier, he said skippin' school tomorrow was fine. It's something I've been thinkin' about for a while, and… I dunno. I think you'll like it."

Tommy debated that for all of three seconds. On the one hand, skipping school meant he wouldn't get to see Tubbo or Ranboo tomorrow, and he'd also miss their nightly Minecraft playing. On the other hand, free day off of school and a surprise adventure!

"Yeah, sure. Where're we going?"

"You'll see," Techno replied cryptically, slowing the car to the side of the road and pulling out his phone. He typed something in, then set the phone in one of the cupholders. It was set to a navigation app. Tommy took a peek at the screen, trying to see how long it would take to get there.

"What the fuck- two hours?!"

Techno nodded. "Like I said, it's a bit of a drive. Worth it, though. And," he added, "We can listen to the rest of Hamilton on the way."

"Can we get McDonald's again for dinner?"

"… if we come across one on the way, sure."

Once again, Tommy's excellent bargaining skills had triumphed.

-----

"-EVERYONE GIVE IT UP FOR AMERICA'S FAVORITE FIGHTIN' FRENCHMAN!"

Since it was his first time listening to the musical, Tommy's role in the unofficial duet they'd started about ten minutes in was… limited. He'd looked up the lyrics on Techno's phone (because they'd be on the highway for long enough that Techno didn't need the navigation) and was just shouting along whenever Techno didn't fill in a lyric.

"LAFAYETTE!" He yelled a beat late.

"I'm takin' this horse by the reins-"

Techno's part of the song, a fast-paced thing that he seemed to have memorized (he apparently had the whole musical memorized, actually, all two-plus hours, which was sort of terrifying) was interrupted by a ding from the car. He paused in his singing, glancing at the dashboard.

"Looks like we're runnin' low on gas," he noted with a sigh. "We'll have to stop for that." They were coming up on an exit, and he turned on the blinker, slowing down as the car turned into the exit lane.

After nearly an hour on the road, Tommy had gotten used to them driving along the highway, and the drop in speed made him suddenly aware of how much he needed to stretch his legs. There was a gas station pretty close by the exit, and it only took a minute for them to reach the station.

When they'd parked by one of the pumps, Techno pulled out his wallet, taking some bills from one of the pockets before handing a twenty to Tommy. "Go ahead an' get some snacks."

"Hell yeah-" Tommy snatched the money before Techno could reconsider, darting to the gas station shop and relishing the ability to stretch after so much time cooped up in the car.

A bell on the door rang as he entered. There was a single other person in the shop, a guy sitting behind the cash register in what looked like a spinny desk chair. He'd kicked his feet up on the counter by the register and barely glanced up from the magazine he was reading as Tommy walked in, just muttered something that could almost pass as a greeting, though it was too indecipherable to be sure.

Tommy elected to ignore him and instead headed straight for the candy section. He picked out a box of Sour Patch Kids, then a bag of sour gummy worms, then - reluctantly - a box of Gobstoppers, because those were Techno's favorite and he was meant to get snacks for the both of them. That left him with nearly eleven dollars left to spend, though.

Clearly, the most reasonable thing to do with this responsibility was to get two more bags of gummy worms.

He stopped by the drink fridges for a moment, studying his options, because he was pretty sure he had enough for one or two drinks. The Gatorade looked inexpensive enough. He took one of the red ones for himself and one orange for Techno and went back up to the counter to pay.

When he put the snacks on the counter, though, the cashier guy just slowly lowered his magazine. His name tag read "JSchlatt"; Tommy wasn't sure whether that was an actual name, or a nickname, or some weird abbreviation. "… what d'you want me to do with those?"

"I want to buy them?" Tommy said, the statement coming out more like a question. He put the twenty-dollar bill on the counter.

JSchlatt (Schlatt? J? Whatever his name was supposed to be, Tommy was just gonna call him Schlatt-) just made a shooing gesture with one hand, raising his magazine again. "I'm not taking your money, kid. The register's closed."

"So… do I put these back, then?"

"Just take 'em, kid." Schlatt lowered the magazine again, casting a judgmental eye over Tommy's selections. "Though if you want the real good shit, get the chips. Or the cookies. Or do whatever you want, I don't give a fuck. It's your choice."

"What?"

"They're over there," Schlatt said tiredly, pointing in the general direction of the rest of the store in a very unspecific manner. "Take what you want and get the hell out of my store. I'm trying to read here."

Still incredibly confused, Tommy started to ask if he was sure, but Schlatt just pushed the twenty-dollar bill back across the counter and returned to his magazine reading, as if to make it very clear that Tommy was supposed to leave him alone. Which… y'know what, free snacks were always good, so Tommy wasn't going to question further!

He ended up gathering a whole armful of snacks, and was struggling to hold onto them all when he made it back up to the front of the store. The cashier had helpfully provided a plastic bag for him to use (aka, it was on the counter now, and Tommy was pretty sure it hadn't been there before) and he shoved the snacks in the bag, barely managing to fit everything inside.

Techno had just finished filling up the car by the time he returned. "What'd you get?" He asked, then gave the bag a wary look. "… you got all that for twenty bucks?"

Tommy handed over the twenty-dollar bill, which he'd stuck in his pocket and had accidentally crumpled a bit as a result. "It was free! The guy said the register was closed and to take whatever I wanted."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I tried to give him the money and he wouldn't take it." Which- that actually sort of reminded him of Puffy, and how she'd given them an extra ice cream cone. And beyond that, she'd added so many extra fries and chicken nuggets to the takeout bag that Tommy had only gotten through them (with Techno's help) about forty minutes into the drive. "It's weird, everyone's being really nice today."

Techno hummed, going to get back in the car. "Interestin'. Guess it's just one of those days."

Tommy would've kept thinking about that, but then he got in the car as well and was immediately distracted again by distributing the snacks. Techno got several boxes of Gobstoppers (Tommy would never understand why he liked those) and a Gatorade, and Tommy got the entire rest of the bag (for now. If asked, he would consider sharing).

As he was handing over the boxes of candy, he noticed an alert pop up on Techno's phone. It had been placed back in the cupholder with the navigation app pulled up.

Now, though, the screen was overtaken by a wall of black with large yellow text. EVACUATION NOTICE, the biggest text read.

"What's that about? What's it mean, evacuation?" Tommy asked, trying to figure out what the smaller text said.

Before he could read any more, though, Techno took the phone from the cupholder, tilting it so Tommy couldn't see what was on it. He glanced at the screen for a long moment.

"That would be… my archaeology tracker."

"What does that mean?"

"Means I get an update on any archaeological digs going on in the area," Techno explained. "And that doesn't say evacuation, it's excavation."

"Ohhh." That made sense. Tommy figured he'd probably misread the first part of the alert. "So they're looking for, like, dinosaur bones an' shit? That's cool."

"Something like that. Dinosaur bones are more paleontology, though. Archaeology is for ancient cultures and civilizations." Techno studied his phone for a few more seconds, then turned it off, shoving it in his pocket. "Nothing too important, I'll look at it later."

"Don't you need the navigation-?"

"Nah, I know where we're goin' from here."

He sounded confident enough, so Tommy shrugged it off, opening the first bag of sour gummy worms before going back to staring out the window. They'd driven quite a distance already; there were less trees here, and while the area was far from flat, he still felt like he could see for forever when they were back on the highway.

Nothing about the area looked familiar. He wasn't sure how Techno knew where they were going, but you know what, that wasn't his problem!

It wasn't until they'd gotten a ways further down the road that he realized just how quiet the car was. He hadn't started the mp3 player up again, and when he looked over at Techno, his brother had that sort of distant, thoughtful expression on his face that meant he probably wasn't going to appreciate if Tommy continued the singalong.

Which sucked. The Hamilton music was actually pretty good.

He contemplated the risks of hitting play on the mp3 player again, but hadn't quite gotten to the point of deciding when something else caught his attention.

"Hey, Techno?"

"Yeah?"

"Why does the sky look like that?"

Techno leaned forward in his seat a bit to get a better look out the right side of the window, humming in a way that sounded very casual given the situation. At first, Tommy had thought it was the beginning of a sunset, but then he'd realized that sunset wasn't for a while longer. There was a sort of haze on the horizon; it was an odd yellowish-orange color and blurred whatever was in the distance.

"You know the northern lights?" Techno began.

Tommy squinted, trying to figure out how the fuck Techno was seeing the northern lights in the dim haze. He'd thought they were supposed to be... brighter. "Yeah, why?"

"There's these things called the southern lights, too," Techno explained. "They're not as interestin' as the northern lights. It's like… the whole sky just changin' color. Though you can see the southern lights durin' the day, too, instead of them only bein' visible at night. We're not gettin' a good view from here, but if we went far enough that way, the whole sky would be cool colors." He pointed at the vague haze.

… that sounded like Techno had just made it up. Tommy stared intently at him, trying to figure out if that was, in fact, a lie.

Techno glanced over at him for a split second, then away again, suspiciously quickly.

"You're lying."

"Whaaat- would I lie to you, Tommy?"

As if he'd already forgotten about the ice cream wrapper thing- "You literally would??"

"True. And yeah, I was totally makin' that up," Techno admitted easily. "The southern lights are a thing, but they're pretty much the same thing as the northern lights. Whatever's over there is probably just smoke. Some wildfire somewhere."

Aw. That was a little disappointing.

"Can we see the southern lights, then?"

Techno shook his head. "Not here, no. They're gonna be a lot further south. Like, close to the south pole. We're not drivin' all that way in one day."

"I wanna see them sometime," Tommy said decidedly. "When I'm old like you."

"Bruhhh- I'm not that old."

"Ancient. Elder." Tommy didn't know any other synonyms for old and scrambled to think of something else. "Bet you knew the dinosaurs."

Techno snorted a laugh. "Ah yes, I knew each of the dinosaurs individually. There was Bob, Steve, Carl…"

"Did you ever get in a fight with a mammoth?" Tommy asked with as innocent a tone as he could manage.

"Is this what dad has to deal with all the time? Also, you're literally a child, you don't get to talk."

"Hey!"

Techno nodded to the mp3 player in what was totally a very subtle way of changing the subject. "You want to keep listenin' to Hamilton, or find somethin' else?"

"Hamilton," Tommy said immediately. The fighting songs were super cool and if the whole musical was like that, all about battles and war, he was very ready to keep listening.

-----

The rest of Hamilton was not, in fact, all fighting songs.

Tommy found the second act of the musical to be completely different, actually, and much more boring. By the time they got to the fourth or fifth song that was just romance or politics, he was getting tired of it, and ended up quietly switching to a different playlist (one titled "driving on the highway at night", which was both oddly specific and halfway fitting). Techno must've noticed, but he didn't say anything, just kept driving.

The music on the new playlist was pretty soft, and since Tommy was already leaning against the window, he started to drift off after a while. He'd realize it sometimes, blink back awake, but they'd still be on the highway. Which meant there wasn't anything to do.

When Techno finally turned off the highway, then, it took him a little while to notice that they'd slowed down. He sat up, suddenly more awake and interested in figuring out where they were.

"Almost there," Techno promised.

The area looked vaguely familiar, but not familiar enough to be immediately recognizable. It took a street sign for Tommy to finally figure it out.

"Our old house is that way," he said, pointing out the street as they passed. "Right?"

Techno nodded. "We're goin' somewhere else."

"Where?"

"You'll see when we get there."

Tommy sighed, already mentally going through a list of places they could be going to. Their family had moved when he was eight, which was over three years ago, which was almost a quarter of his entire life, so a lot of his memories were a bit faded.

The town had always been on the smaller side, but even so, it seemed smaller now. There were almost no cars on the streets - there'd barely been any on the highway, either, come to think of it - and he couldn't see anyone walking around. Like the whole town had gone to sleep already.

Maybe they had, actually. After all, it was a school night.

Sunset still hadn't hit, but the smoke from earlier seemed to have spread some, and more of the sky was filled with the haze. Clouds had gathered, too, and between that and the haze, Tommy could barely pick out the glow of the sun near the horizon.

"Were we gonna look at the sunset?"

"… maybe," Techno answered noncommittally. "That's not the important part, but it would be pretty cool."

They turned into a parking lot, and Tommy peered through the car's windows, trying to figure out why the adjacent building looked familiar. He'd definitely been here before.

There was a sign by the road that said L'Manburg Middle School, and that was when it clicked.

Sort of.

Techno parked the car in one of the spots close to the building, then took the key out of the ignition. "We're here," he said, a little unnecessarily. He took the bag of snacks despite Tommy's protests, getting his backpack from the back seat and shoving them in before swinging it over his shoulders.

"Why're we at your old school?"

"C'mon, I'll show you."

That still didn't explain much, but they'd driven two hours to get here, so Tommy shrugged internally and followed Techno around to the back of the school building. And behind the school building was…

Nothing.

At least, nothing of interest. Techno had stopped by a little alcove where the brick walls of the school formed a room of sorts, boxed in on three sides. The "room" contained a few paint cans (mostly empty), a deflated dodgeball, a sad-looking jump rope, and a rickety metal ladder, all of which looked like they'd been there for years.

Techno ignored most of those things and went straight for the ladder. It was leaning against the wall in a way that looked very precarious and ended a good few feet short of the roof, but he started climbing it anyway. When he got to the top, he pushed off the wall, using the momentum to swing up onto the roof.

"You want me to go up there?" Tommy called, a little uncertainly. He wasn't scared of heights or anything- just that the ladder looked really unsteady, and while Techno could make the climb easily, Techno was also significantly older and taller.

"Don't worry, it's safe," Techno called back. Then- "Mostly. Just get to the top of the ladder, I'll help you up from there."

… it was probably fine.

Tommy took a deep breath, then started up the ladder. When he got to the top, he was just able to get his forearms over the edge of the roof. Not quite enough to pull himself up. He tried shifting to get better leverage, but then Techno was there, and he just had to hold on to Techno and kick off the wall and then he was up.

The roof of the school was… pretty much what Tommy had expected. It was flat and blank and gray, with a low border around the perimeter that would do absolutely nothing to protect against a fall.

"What now?"

Techno started to answer, but paused, taking his phone from his pocket and squinting at the screen. "Hold on, dad's callin'."

"Can I say hi?"

One second, Techno mouthed, holding the phone up to his ear. "Hullo?… yeah, all good. Tommy's here, he wants to say hi. I'm puttin' you on speakerphone."

"Hi dad!" Tommy said, almost before Techno actually hit the speakerphone button.

"Hey, mate!" Phil's voice came over the phone, a little crackly. "You having fun?"

"Yeah! We're at the old middle school," Tommy informed him. "We got McDonald's, too!"

"Techno was telling me about that. I'm glad you boys are having a good time."

Techno hit the speakerphone button again, bringing the phone back up to his ear. "You're off speakerphone," he said, then to Tommy, indicating the other side of the roof, "You mind goin' over there for a minute?"

Which was a not-very-subtle way to say that he wasn't supposed to be part of the conversation.

Tommy flipped him off, because Phil was his dad too. Techno - completely unbothered - just flipped him off in return.

"Phillll, Techno's being mean," Tommy half-shouted in the hopes that the phone would pick it up anyway.

"Oh my god, it'll literally take two minutes."

Tommy huffed dramatically, but relented, because phone calls were boring anyway. He wandered towards the other end of the roof, which did actually have a better view of the sunset part of the sky, and sat down at the edge of the roof, letting his legs dangle over the empty space.

The clouds had been clearing up somewhat, and he could actually see the sun now. It hung low in the sky, not quite setting just yet; the light caught on the clouds and the probably-smoke on the horizon and cast the world in shades of yellow-red that made the green of the grass pop in contrast.

He had to admit, the view was pretty cool.

After about a minute, Techno walked over, sitting down next to him and taking the bag of candy from his backpack. He got one of the boxes of Gobstoppers and offered it to Tommy.

Tommy wrinkled his nose at that. "Those're weird."

"Eh, fair enough. They're meant for big kids anyway."

"Give me one."

Techno tipped the box into his hand, picking out a red one and handing it over. Tommy examined it for a moment, trying to decide if proving a point was worth the inevitable pain of trying to chew it.

He popped it in his mouth, the hard candy hitting his teeth with vague clicking sounds.

"How're you supposed to chew them?" He complained.

"You don't. Just be patient, you gotta wait for a while before it starts dissolvin'."

So it was one of those candies. Tommy sighed, but fell silent, taking the time to appreciate the taste of cherry- or was it orange? Maybe both.

Finally, the hard candy shell did dissolve. The center fell apart almost instantly when he bit into it. Overall, interesting experience, but still way too much of a wait.

The sun was actually setting now, though, setting the clouds ablaze in shades of brilliant pink and purple and orange and burning red. At the horizon, the sun was a red disk sinking into a muted purple haze, its light diluted enough that Tommy could look right at it without hurting his eyes.

Beside him, Techno took out his phone, snapping a few pictures of the sunset before turning the camera towards Tommy. "Smile."

Tommy flipped him off.

"Child."

"Biblioteca."

"Y'know what, I'm sendin' this anyway."

"Hey-"

Tommy grabbed at the phone, but Techno just leaned away, rapidly typing something. "Found… a… child," he said aloud. "Annnd sent."

"You suck. Who did you send it to??"

Techno didn't respond to that, just laughed, putting his phone to the side and settling back.

"So?" He asked after a few minutes' silence, still staring at the distance. "What d'you think?"

"About what?"

"I dunno. About today, I guess."

Tommy took a second to think about that. It'd been a long day, but despite being a little tired (and even with the looming prospect of another two-hour drive back home) he felt… content.

"Best day ever," he decided. "Everyone's been really nice today, and there was all the free stuff, and even hanging out with you… wasn't terrible."

"What an honor," Techno deadpanned.

Tommy grinned, but something had just occurred to him. The whole day had been weird. Not noticeably so in the moment, but looking back- everyone was really nice. Strangely so. Even Techno, because normally his older brother wouldn't go so far out of his way to spend time with Tommy.

"Why're you hanging out with me, anyway?"

"Hm?"

Tommy shrugged, suddenly feeling silly for asking. "Just… I dunno. We never hang out like this. Is it the end times or something?" He joked.

Techno huffed a laugh. "As if I'd spend my last day on earth with you. Just figured that since college is comin' up, might as well spend more time wtih family and friends while I have the chance."

That made sense. Tommy returned his attention to the sunset; the most vibrant colors were slowly fading out, but it was still an amazing sight.

"How'd you find this place?"

Techno considered that for a long moment. "Just needed a place to get away," he said eventually. "I figured out how to get up here in… fourth grade, I think it was. Started comin' up pretty much every day after a while. Invited some of my friends, too, and it became our spot. We used it for stargazin' and stuff like that. Last time I was up here, actually- it was the end of eighth grade, and we'd just been to the official graduation party, so we came up here to celebrate."

"Wait, you have friends?"

"Bruhhh- I'm gettin' bullied by a child."

Tommy cackled at that. He did have some vague memory of Techno's friends; they'd visisted Tommy's house before, he was pretty sure. Though… it occurred to him now that Techno probably hadn't seen them in a while. Maybe not even since the move. Two hours was a long way to drive, after all, and Techno had only gotten his license a year ago.

He tried to imagine what it would be like to move again. He barely remembered their old house, didn't remember if he'd even had friends at school, though he was sure he must've at some point. The move hadn't really bothered him then, and he'd adjusted quickly enough.

Now, though, he was old enough to care, and the thought of having to leave Tubbo and Ranboo - and possibly not see them again for years - was just- it was unthinkable. They were best friends forever. He couldn't imagine school without them, or nights without Minecraft sessions, or weekends without impromptu sleepovers.

"Looks like the stars are comin' out," Techno said, breaking the silence that had fallen. The horizon still glowed, but the sky above was mostly dark, and Tommy looked up to see tiny pinpricks of light scattered across the deep blue. They were hard to see - the streetlights had turned on while they'd been on the roof - but there were enough that Tommy thought he could pick out a constellation or two.

Not that he knew which constellations were which. Techno had tried to show him once, but the shapes just seemed random, and Tommy couldn't be bothered to figure them out.

He leaned back, lowering himself to the roof so he was laying fully on his back to stare at the sky easier. Laying down made him realize how tired he was, though. He stifled a yawn.

"Can we just stay up here tonight? I don't wanna go home yet."

"You'd better not fall asleep."

Tommy pretended to snore, obnoxiously loud, then shrieked as Techno poked him in the side. "Hey-"

"C'mon, kid, we gotta leave." Techno got up, standing in Tommy's line of sight and offering a hand.

"Already? But we just got here," Tommy whined.

"Yeah, I know. We've got a long drive, though, so… come on."

There was a note of urgency in Techno's tone, something that told Tommy he wasn't telling the complete truth. In the distance, he heard the beginning sounds of what might've been a police siren, and it occurred to him that maybe... maybe they weren't supposed to be on the roof of the school.

He ignored Techno's hand, sitting up on his own. "Are we gonna run from the cops?" He asked, not bothering to hide his excitement.

"Somethin' like that," Techno said vaguely, clearly stifling a smile in a way that meant they were totally running from the cops. "Just don't tell dad, alright?"

"Fuck yeah-"