Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mary pulls into the long driveway, gravel flying as she goes way too fast through the curves, heading towards The Craft’s house. 

Well, now it’s Tommy's house too, he supposes.

Finally, they slow to a complete stop, and Mary fumbles with the purse in the passenger seat,

“Now Tomathy,” No one but her calls him that, “You have one more year left, best make it good, right hun?” she stops trying to wrestle the bag from its place for a moment and she looks up at him, her gaze soft, “You are a sweet kid, I really hope this one will work out…” she trails off, probably thinking about the last 7 times they have had this talk.

"I'll be alright, miss, always am." She chuckles and shakes her head before pressing her hand to her heart,

"You sure are, right then, time to head inside now, innit?" She finally frees her bag and they both step outside, the chilly breeze tussling Tommy's blond hair. He stares up at the giant house in front of them, dark red brick and black shingles crowding his view. It’s bigger than most houses.

Not house 3 though, he has yet to see a place bigger than house 3. Mary coughs into a handkerchief, drawing him out of his thoughts,

“Quite big, innit? Lots of room to play.” 

Lots of room to hide too, but he doesn’t say it out loud, he doesn’t need to cause any more trouble. Instead, he nods and grips his suitcase tighter,

“It looks nice, a bit like a horror movie though,” she smiles fondly and adjusts her bag, “I heard that it is over a hundred years old, one of the brothers is fond of history, I’m sure he will know something about it if you asked him.” Tommy doubts he will ask, he doubts he will talk to them much at all.

"Well!" Mary claps her hands, "time to inside, enough dwelling around, time to go in.” Tommy takes one last deep breath and steps forward with her up the creaky white steps to the intricate metal and glass door. It has stained glass in the shape of three red hearts with green surrounding it. Mary presses the silver doorbell and a soft chime rings through the house.

“Fuck!” a loud thump comes from within the house along with running and an occasional crash before the door slowly creaks open to reveal a freakishly tall and disheveled guy with glasses and a yellow sweater breathing heavily, he couldn’t be more than a few years older than himself, Tommy notices. Mary and Tommy exchange a look before she clears her throat and puts on a more professional demeanor. 

"Hello there, I assume you are one of Mr. Craft's sons?" His face goes from an almost sickly pale to bright red within a second before turning around and yelling,

"Dad! Tommy and Mrs. Mary are here!" He turns back around, somehow even more out of breath.

"Yeah, I'm Will, Wilbur, um," his brain seems to stutter for a bit, "Oh! Come in, come in! My dad is in his study, he should be down here any second…" Wilbur flaps his hands at his sides, wringing his jeans a few times before flapping them again. When he opens the door wider and steps to the side, Mary takes the lead, letting herself in and soon Tommy followed.

The foyer was huge and the staircase in the center that splits off when it hits the wall is the first thing Tommy noticed, that and the thousands of paintings and photos that crowd the walls. When Wilbur accidentally knocks against a table that was to the side Tommy’s eyes focus on him, setting him on high alert. The tall boy flushes again and seems to shrink under his gaze, chuckling awkwardly and rubbing the nape of his neck. Tommy straightens up and stares him down yet when their eyes meet Wilbur bites his lip while frowning, at the sight of the older boy’s surrender he looks away slightly ashamed. Luckily a man and woman walk down the stairs together and in turn, they break the awkward atmosphere. Mary perks up at the sight of them and Wilbur moves to meet them at the end of the stairs.

“I am sorry that I didn’t meet you at the door, I was in my study and lost track of time,” the man says, he pushes his blond hair behind his ear and moves his other hand to his wife’s back.

“No worries at all Mr. Craft, we are in no rush,” Mary assures them, “You have just the most lovely home by the way.” The wife smiles softly and leans into her husband,

“Thank you, it may not be the newest model of the house but it is just as much of a home to us. Now, I do believe that there are some cookies in the living room, would you mind joining us there as we finish up some things?” 

“Of course, of course, that sounds wonderful.” All of them move to the room next to the stairs which is just as big as the one before. A boy with pink hair is sitting on one of several couches by an unlit fireplace just reading a book whose cover was covered by his hand. He looks up as they enter the room and immediately focuses on Tommy with a look that he couldn’t decipher. Wilbur quickly crosses the room to sit next to him and he practically clings onto the other boy with his leg bouncing at a frantic pace. The pink-haired boy leans in to whisper something to Will while keeping his eyes trained on Tommy as he sits on the edge of a loveseat next to Mary before passing over a small colorful bundle of rope-like things for Wilbur to fiddle with. When everyone is settled in their respective seats the husband leans back in a relaxed and open posture,

“Hello,” a soft smile spreads across his face, “my name is Phil, and this is my wife, Kristin,” He gestures over to the two boys, “And these are the twins, Wilbur and Technoblade.” 

Who in the world would name their kid Technoblade? 

Tommy thinks this but does not say out loud because he is very intelligent and from the look that Technoblade was giving, he was glad he didn’t.

“My name is Tommy, Tommy Innit, well you probably already knew that…” He trails off.

“It is wonderful to meet you, Tommy, you have no idea how glad we are that you are here.” Kristin smiles warmly and when Tommy offers his own small smile her own seems to grow,

“Well Tommy, we have some paperwork to finish up, just some things to make sure we got you in one piece and such, would you like to go with Wilbur and Techno so they can show you where almost everything is? Feel free to say no and we can go together later on,” Phil also smiles warmly at Tommy, 

Could this be a trick? House 4 did that too, gave him options but punished him for choosing...

“They can show me around if they would like,” he replies, trying to give the twins room to get out of it. Unfortunately, Wilbur brightens up at Tommy’s words and stands up, pulling his brother with him,

“Great! Grab your suitcase and come with us, we will stop by your room on the way,” Wilbur gushes excitedly. Tommy stands up and follows them both out, glancing worriedly at Mary before picking up speed to keep up with the boys. They both stand in the foyer, waiting for the blond boy to join them. Technoblade had his book in his hand and from where he stood, Tommy could see The Art of War on the cover, 

What person actually reads a book about War? 

When Tommy looks up at Techno he is scowling at the younger boy,

“This is the front room!” Wilbur steps between the two, “We keep most of the paintings here, pictures too.” Tommy nods and looks around, admiring the paintings of different people and places but only a few stand out. A smaller mural is nestled in between other pictures of the family and other people he doesn’t recognize, this mural shows a man with a white mask, the letters X and D carved into it, he wears a green cloak with a halo of thorns surrounding his head, the words Occidere aut occidi engraved in the silver plaque.

“Ah, that old thing caught your eye?” Wilbur says from behind him, “It has been in our family for generations, not even Dad knows when it was made,”

“It is post-impressionism so it has to be over a hundred years old but from the aging plus the materials, it has to be over five hundred, it’s really quite strange…” Technoblade mutters, making Tommy and Wilbur turn to look at him, “I might try to find the author soon, it would give me more insight.”

“Do you know who this is?” Tommy asks him but Technoblade shakes his head,

“My best guess would be the lord of the land at that time. or perhaps a god? Not any god that I am familiar with though…” Wilbur pipes up, 

“Tech knows a lot about greek gods and mythology, it is really cool! I am not as interested in those things though, don’t get me wrong though,” Wilbur reassures, “I love stories of all kinds but I am more of a music guy myself.” Tommy slowly nods,

“Do you know what these words say?” Technoblade steps forward a bit close, making sure to stay out of Tommy’s space,

“Kill or be killed… Huh,” He seems to think for a moment before moving back, ‘I didn’t notice those were there before.” Wilbur walks over to the stairs and soon Technoblade followed,

‘Come on Tommy, we can’t have you carrying around that suitcase all the time, can we?” He looks down at the bright pink suitcase with some princess on it, it was the daughter’s suitcase from the last house.

There was no time to go out and buy another one.

They make their way up the stairs, letting Tommy look at the ones he wants but he makes sure to keep a careful eye on the twins in case they start to look upset. Tommy has had pretty good luck in the past when it came to foster siblings, only a few were abusive but for the most part, they always had each other's back in some way or another, or at least they would stay out of each other’s way.

These people were weird though, always giving him mixed signals, the tall one, Wilbur?He was fidgety and eager, a lot like a puppy dog, if they got in a fight Tommy could easily snap a bone on him, Technoblade was the issue though, he seemed cold and uncaring towards the younger boy but from what Tommy had seen, he definitely would step in for his twin brother and he had a feeling that he would not get out of that fight unscathed.

“This is my room and Techno’s is the one beside it, we have connecting rooms,” Wilbur stands in front of an oak door covered in small paintings of crows, crowns, foxes, and castles, it looks straight out of a children's book, “Mumza painted it when I first got here, I was obsessed with things like this.” Tommy looked up in surprise, 

“When you first got here?” Wilbur chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck,

“Yeah, I got placed here when I was about 10, I am 18 now, got adopted when I was 16, and have been here ever since.” Tommy nods, thinking about his chances to get adopted,

 “I never got adopted though,” Tommy looks at Technoblade who was leaning against the doorframe but he just raises his hand to wave him off, “I am the only birth child,” He says as if that explains anything,

“Um…” Tommy trails off, looking at the apparent twins, and Wilbur bursts out laughing while Technblade has a small smile,

“Will and I are born on the same day, or at least he believes that, he just insisted that we were twins while we were in fact not but it kinda stuck after a while.” Wilbur bats at Techno and his twin punch him in the shoulder playfully.

For half a second Tommy could almost pretend that they were just friends in a normal house, maybe even his own house, but he has been around long enough to know that that is nothing more than a delusion. Wilbur seems to sense the change of atmosphere in the air so he walks down the hallway, still adorned with just as many paintings and photos as the foyer. The other boys follow him and he stops in front of the door at the end of the hallway, this door is a soft blue color with small chips in the paint,

“This is yours! It isn’t decorated or anything but…” Wilbur steps to the side as Tommy opens the door and goes inside, the twins following. It isn’t too special, a nice twin bed with soft-looking yellow blankets and a dresser and desk against the wall, a small lamp on top of the desk, the only thing that is curious about the room is the small cradle in the corner by the closet. The wallpaper has small golden stars, some of them even spreading onto the ceiling.

“You can probably decorate it soon, we will go shopping at some point but for now this should be alright, right?” Tommy quickly nods and sets his suitcase down next to the door,

He doubts he will decorate anything, that means settling in and that is the last thing he wants to do. 

“We should show him the bathrooms and head back down, they should be done by now.” Techno looks up from his spot in the doorway, “We can show you everywhere else later or you can ask Nihachu, she is one of the maids here.” Wilbur nods in agreement and gestures for the blond boy to follow.

“Ah! There you are!” a voice pipes up from the stairs. A small woman with blonde hair and freckles makes her way up the staircase, brown furrowed in concentration to not fall. Wilbur smiles brightly at the sight of her and meets her at the top of the stairs, grabbing her arm to keep her steady,

“Hello, Niki!”

“Oh hello, Wilbur! Oh! Hello Tommy, it is wonderful to finally meet you,” She smiles at him, just as bright as Wilbur's, “Now then, Mr. Phil and Mrs. Kristin called for you all, they had just finished up everything and were about to send Mrs. Mary off.” Techno nods and gestures toward the stairs,

“Sorry to send you up and down these stairs Nihachu, we were just about to head down ourselves,” Niki huffs and smooths down her skirt,

“No worries at all Techno, the exercise is good for me, off we go then, I will be stopping at the kitchen though so don’t wait up.” Wilbur, Tommy, Technoblade, and Niki head off in their respective directions, the boys heading downstairs to the living room and Niki stopping at the next door they come to, waving them off with a smile.

“Tommy, could you help me to my car?” Mary asks once she and The Crafts say goodbye. He nods and hurries after the woman out the door, making sure not to drip on the carpets. They make their way to her car, slowly and with absolutely no urgency. They stop in front of her car door, the sun slowly setting in behind them. An awkward yet understanding silence fell between them before Mary opens her mouth,

“This is your last year Tomathy, just a few more months before you become the big man you always say you are,” She smiles fondly, crinkles forming in the corners of her eyes. Tommy smiles back,

“I am a big man, miss! You know that!” Mary chuckles at that, shaking her head,

“That was one of the first things you told me, that you were a big man?” She tilts her head back to look at him, “To think that that was only a few years ago… time sure does fly, doesn’t it?”

“It sure does miss…” He looks up at the darkening sky to think about what he has gone through and what he will go through before hearing a small gasp.

“I forgot to give this to you!” Mary ruffles through her bag, paperwork, and other various artifacts, before pulling out a small compass, “I know it isn’t much but I thought it would be best, happy late birthday and happy last house, alright?” Tommy stares down at the object in his hand, the needle pointing north, before looking back at her smiling and pocketing it,

“Happy last house,” Tommy trails off, biting his lip in hesitation but Mary shoves his shoulder a bit, 

“Go on Tomathy, you deserve to make this the best year in foster care,” and with that, he was off, up the stairs and hesitating at the door before opening it and walking through with his case worker watching him proudly from her car, she had a really good feeling about this one.

“Alright Tommy, we can go through the rules now or we can wait till later, what would you prefer?” He glances around the living room at the other members of The Craft family, all watching intently.

“Um…” 

Please don’t get upset, 

“We can go over all the rules now?”

“Great!” Phil leans forward in his chair a bit, “They are pretty straightforward, no smoking, no drinking, don’t wander outside of the property without telling one of us beforehand, things like that, does that sound okay?” He pauses, looking up at Tommy and he nods, “Alright, now a few personal ones, we will not go into your room without knocking and asking, if you say we can then we will go in, simple enough?” Tommy thinks for a moment before speaking up, 

“And what if I say no?” 

House 5 did that, they would go in even if you said no, no point in knocking really.

“Well then we will leave you alone, the only time we will go in even if you said no is if we, as the adults, believe that you are a danger to yourself or others in that moment,” Phil says as if there were no issues, 

Danger to others? Do they believe that I am a danger to others? 

“Now, just one last thing I wanted to cover,” 

Here it comes… 

“We have a small list of triggers that we would hope you could avoid, like I don’t like repeated sentences, like repeating the same question over ten times, even after I give you the answer, it overwhelms me greatly, the same with Techno and Wilbur, loud noises, especially repeated ones cause them to get incredibly overwhelmed quickly,” Tommy stares at him blankly for a moment, trying to process what he was saying,

“Don’t worry Tommy, we can write all of the rules and triggers down for you if this is getting to be too much, feel free to leave and go up to your room to unwind and unpack,” Kristin adds. 

What are the limits here? This place is so strange… 

Tommy nods, “I would like to go back to my room please,” Phil nods and stands up, the blond boy in front of him flinching slightly as he does so, the moment seems to go past Phil but not Technoblade it seemed. Their eyes meet and Tommy stares him down until Technoblade looks away with an expression that Tommy has yet to identify. Wilbur notices Techno’s reaction and leans in with a concerned look, while they do that, Tommy uses this as an opportunity to return to his room to unpack.

“We will make sure to call for you for dinner!” Kristin calls out,

“Alright,” Tommy calls back.

The moment that Tommy gets back into his room, he closes the door and checks to see if it is locked before ruffling through his pink suitcase for a small wallet packed with money. This is where he has kept all of the spare cash he has gotten in the past several years, this is the money he will use when he leaves this place, whether from running away or from aging out, either way, this is a lifesaver and no one is touching it. 

He looks around the mostly empty room, not many hiding spots but he will manage, he always does. Tapping on the floorboards does nothing, not even a single loose plank, next he tries the bed frame, sometimes things can be loose with the wood and he can slip something inside the hollow blocks. Tommy pries and pulls on each and every seam but nothing wants to give. 

That’s just wonderful… He doesn’t know how noisy this family could be but he didn’t want to risk it, who knows if that maid will peek through his things while he was out? 

In the end, Tommy decides to put it under his mattress against the frame and the fabric to keep it hanging under the bed. There was no way that Tommy was going to touch the creepy cradle. He pulls himself out from under the bed and dusts himself off, huffing. Grabbing the pink suitcase on the floor, he sets it on his bed, observing the contents inside. He truly didn’t have much, you would think after so long he would have been able to accumulate something of a wardrobe but alas, he looks at a few somewhat intact shirts, 

Who was he kidding, most of them are a bit too small and have too many holes from roughhousing (or fighting the school boys that liked picking on him.) 

Tommy sighs and zips up the suitcase once again and sets it under his bed, he feels something jingle in his pocket and pulls out the compass on a longer chain, this time the needle is pointing west, 

How curious…

Instead of pondering about it, he decides to just place it around his neck, the compass tucked inside his red and white shirt. Tommy sits on his bed, looking around the almost barren bedroom. Suddenly a memory resurfaces, 5 year old Tommy in fancy clothing, high hopes, and a loud mouth, unfortunately, all of those things went away over time, well he is glad the loud mouth went away, it was nothing but trouble and it was best if he had just shut up forever really. Tommy shakes his head, remembering what his therapist, Puffy, told him.

“People don’t like it when I am loud, it makes them so mad…” Ten-year-old Tommy’s voice quivers slightly but he holds his head higher, refusing to show how upset he was because big men don’t show their emotions, they stay strong even when they want to cry because only babies cry.

“Why do you think they don’t like it when you are loud?” Puffy sits across from him, she is twirling her white hair between her fingers while tapping her other hand on the clipboard to a tune of a silent song. This was normal for Puffy though, she always had a song stuck in her head and she would never stop moving, that is probably why Tommy enjoys her, she is like him, never staying still, and she also uses silly voices during stories so that is cool too.

Tommy pauses, thinking about why they might not like it,

“Probably because it’s disruptive,” he heard his teacher call him that once, she nods, thinking about her words before speaking,

“Do you think that they may just not like what you are saying? You have wonderful ideas and are very passionate about many things, people tend to not like things that they can’t understand and most of the time they don’t like to listen enough to try, or perhaps they just don’t enjoy being around… ” She smiles softly, “someone who is as much of a big man as you are,” Tommy kicks his legs, letting them swing under the chair,

“I am a pretty big man, aren’t I?”

“You truly are, Tommy, you really are,”

They just don’t like that he is such a big man, 

Tommy thinks to himself as he looks around the room and spots the window, it doesn’t look locked and as he inspects it, it even opens up to a makeshift balcony area where the roof flattens out a bit and is lined with a small black metal fence. The boy climbs out of the tiny window into the space, making sure to keep his balance. The view from here is stunning, even at the dusk. The small town that is a few miles from the town can be seen, faint lights flickering as people hustle back into their homes and families. The rest of the view is practically all farmland, there isn’t much to be seen out here, miles from any other houses, he really is not sure how they deal with this considering Tommy has lived in the city his entire life. A knock at the door makes Tommy pop his head up from over the windowsill,

    “Yes?” Tommy calls out,

    “Dinner is ready, I was asked to get you,” a monotone voice calls out, Technoblade. Tommy stumbles over the windowsill and almost face-plants in his hurry to get to the door, slightly worried about making the pink-haired boy upset. He opens the door and gives the other a small smile, it is not returned and Technoblade just walks away leaving Tommy to try to catch up to him. Now don’t get him wrong, Tommy is a pretty tall guy with long legs and not everyone is six foot six but when Technoblade speeds up, Tommy really does need to almost jog after him.

    It is basically an awkward silence between the two now that the energetic ball of sunshine is not here to give them common ground or fill in the silence. They make their way down the hall and down the flight of stairs to the foyer and take a right instead of a left to the living room, Tommy admiring all of the paintings ranging from landscapes to family portraits.

When the two boys step into the dining area, nothing too special, just a long table with a light blue table cloth, 8 chairs, Phil and Kristin were sitting at each end with Wilbur in the very middle on one side, they are both welcomed with greetings from each family member, the loudest being Wilbur.

    “Hello, Tommy! Did you settle in alright?” he pulls out the chair next to him and gestures for Tommy to sit while Technoblade takes the one next to his brother. Tommy nods as he sits down, making sure to keep his hands in his lap and head down like some of the other houses have taught him. He sees Wilbur lean over to his brother and whisper something to him while both of them look at him strangely. He lifts his head up a bit, still keeping his shoulder slouched and his demeanor small.

    “Are you okay, Tommy?” He sits up a bit and looks at Wilbur, all of the family is looking at the two. He furrows his eyebrows a bit while Wilbur looks a bit panicked,

What did he do wrong? 

Tommy nods, a bit confused before glancing at Phil and Kristin who were exchanging looks with each other. Suddenly Niki and an unfamiliar man walk through a door that Tommy hadn’t noticed because it was like a piece of a wall had opened to reveal a room but they closed the door too fast for Tommy to see inside.

“Hello, BBH, hello Niki,” each member of the family took turns greeting them in a similar manner. The two people standing by the table are each holding a large platter of pizza, they set the pizzas in the center and place plates in front of each of the family members, when the man got to Tommy, he smiled brightly,

    “Hello, Tommy, my name is Bad, most people just call me BBH though,” 

    “Hey,” Tommy shifted in his seat before focusing on his plate, each plate on the table was mitch matched, Tommy’s was covered in drawings of compasses and discs of different colors, Wilbur's and Technoblade’s had almost matching plates, animals circling the edge of the plate but while Wilbur had small fishes, Technoblade had pigs. Niki and BBH sit down across from Technoblade and Wilbur, making small talk with each one. Finally, Phil claps his hands and smiles.

    “Alright everyone, I think it is time to eat. Thank you, by the way, Bad, everything looks fabulous.” BBH smiles back and waves his hands, dismissing him.

    Dinner goes by relatively quickly and they each get their respective proportions, Tommy makes sure to get the same amount as Wilbur and makes sure to take a bit of his pizza a few seconds after he does so that they could finish at the same time.

He takes this time to observe the others, people show a lot more than they think while eating and it has come in handy for Tommy several times.

People are more vulnerable while they are eating, like how Niki picks at her food, she pulls apart each section and finishes it before taking a sip of water and repeating the same process, it is a common strategy for recovering from eating disorders, Tommy had to do the same thing last year after Mary and Puffy noticed when eating out with him for his 16th birthday.

BBH focuses on talking to Phil and Kristin and then eating, he seems much more open than most people but Tommy knows more than anyone that the most open people have the most to hide.

Technoblade is the hardest to read, while Phil and Kristin keep giving each other adoring glances when the other looks away, Technoblade keeps his face blank and his body relaxed, the only times that any of those things change is when his brother turns to talk to him, then his face turns to amused or observant but nothing else, nothing that shows what makes him tick or makes him upset in any way.

Wilbur is easy to read, he carries each emotion on his face, anyone can tell when he is happy or frustrated, and he is incredibly animated with each motion. Wilbur tells stories basically the entire time, whether it is about a dream or something that actually happened to him, he truly knows how to tell a story though, sometimes Tommy even got himself caught up in a tale about how Wilbur had stumbled into a pot of water that morning and managed to keep the carpet dry.

Tommy snaps out of it the moment that he finishes up, Wilbur and Technoblade push themselves back from the table,

    “May I be excused?” Tommy asks, Phil looks up surprised before finishing up the food in his mouth and clearing his throat,

    “Yes, but one moment, we have something for you, something of a welcome to the family gift really, or more of a late birthday gift?” Kristin leans down and picks up a small package from the floor and reaches over to hand it to Tommy. He looks down at the silver Christmas wrapping paper before looking at the parents,

    “Thank you, um…” 

It’s been a while since he has gotten a gift, 

    “Go on, open it!” Wilbur pipes up, Tommy smiles awkwardly before ripping the paper carefully, making sure to open it at the edges while the rest of them wait in almost anticipation. In his hand lays a small journal, a simple gray cover with his initials in the corner, he flips through it before masking his face into one of happiness.

    “I know it’s not much,” Kristin rubs the back of her neck and tucks her black hair behind her ear, “but I thought it might be nice to have something to write in, or maybe even draw?” She looks a bit nervous, “You don’t have to use it, of course, Tommy, we can always find you something else when we go to the shops next-” Tommy cuts her off,

    “No, no! I promise it is really nice, thank you so much!” Tommy hurries to tell her and her face brightens up a bit while Technoblade drags Wilbur out of the room.

    “Oh! Tommy?” Niki calls out for him while she is grabbing everyone's plates, he looks up at her, “You might want to explore some more of the house, you have only been around a small part of it and there are loads to see,” Phil nods,

    “Who knows, you might even find some secrets, this house is pretty old, you know?”

    Tommy wanders through the almost never ending halls, each turn he takes leads to another set of hallways filled with even more paintings and photos of people that are probably long gone. He is standing in front of a bigger portrait this time, a man with short brown hair stares off to the side with a large mushroom cap that sits on his head, the frame has the words rex regum carved into it. Shame that Technoblade isn’t here to translate…

A thump comes from behind Tommy and he whips around to see a lengthy boy with black and white hair. He is crouching over a bag filled with various books and papers. Tommy takes a few steps forward and crouches down with him to help. The boy looks about his own age but when his mitch matched eyes meet Tommy’s blue ones, there is some sort of weight behind them, it’s unsettling really and Tommy has to look away almost immediately.

    “I’m so very sorry, I was trying to keep quiet but that cat tripped me and…” the boy sighs, clearly frustrated,

    “Cat?” Tommy said, attempting to distract the strange boy from his frustrations, he nods franticly and looks behind him, a fluffy orange and white tail around the corner,

    “That cat is always in everyone’s way! No one even knows where she comes from…” the boy finally gets all of the items into the bag and he puts it back on his body,

    “Oh! I am Ranboo by the way,” Ranboo stands up as he says this, brushing the split hair out of his face. Don’t get him wrong, Tommy is a tall boy for his age, or for any age really, but he almost looks like a normal height next to Ranboo who had to almost be 7 foot, or maybe he was.

Tommy continued to look up at the boy who seems to be getting stranger by the moment, his skin was mainly a beautiful dark brown, but he can clearly spot many splotches of milky white along his mouth and around his eyes.

When Ranboo catches what Tommy is looking at he ducks his head down and mutters an apology,

    “What are you apologizing for?” Tommy asks, still admiring the taller boy's skin,

    “My skin weirds people out, I’m sorry, I have vitiligo, the lack of melanin makes spots of my skin lighter than most,” Ranboo rambles in an almost automatic way as if he has had to say it way too many times.

    “It’s not weird,” Tommy says decidedly, Ranboo looks down at him shocked,

    “What?” Tommy tilts his head, “It looks sick man,” he pushes Ranboo’s shoulder a bit, “You should be proud of them, they make you look cool.” Ranboo lifts his head a bit higher, a slightly confused smile on his face.

    “Oh! My name is Tommy, the Crafts took me in from foster care, I assume you are one of their kids?” Ranboo’s smile widens a bit,

    “Yeah, something like that, it’s nice to meet you, by the way, Tommy,” Ranboo starts walking, waving Tommy over to walk with him. They wander through the halls once more, this time Ranboo keeps counting each and every window and writes down something in his notebook while they walk past. They pause every once in a while to look at a painting that caught their eye and try to come up with a backstory for that person,

    “This guy has a scar! I bet he was in an epic battle with a bear,” Tommy tries imitating a bear with his hands in the shape of a paw and making growling sounds. Ranboo burst out laughing while watching the blond boy stomp across the floor with his legs spread as far as he could get them so he was basically waddling and arms outstretched. When Ranboo calms down, wiping his eyes, he inspects the painting even closer before turning back to Tommy,

    “I am pretty sure it was from a sword or a pickax, those were common tools when fighting a war,” Tommy huffs and tilts his head, looking at the painting,

    “I personally think you are a party pooper, Ranboob.” The taller boy sputters,

    “You are not calling me that!” Tommy sticks his tongue out at Ranboo and he tries to swat at him but Tommy ducks just in time. Ranboo just sighs in defeat and continues walking down the hall, still counting and writing. Tommy was about to ask him why he was counting the windows but suddenly Wilbur rounds the corner and almost runs into Tommy,

    “Ah! There you are, Tommy! I was just about to look for you!” He smiles brightly at him,

    “Hey, yeah I was just with…” Tommy trails off, looking around for Ranboo yet he was nowhere to be found,

    “With who?” Wilbur scrunches up his eyebrows in confusion,

    “I was just with Ranboo, I guess he ran off…” Wilbur gives Tommy a strange look before turning around and speeding off, gesturing for Tommy to follow. They turn a few corners until somehow they manage to find themselves back in front of Wilbur’s room.

He opens it and nods for Tommy to come in, his face is darker than usual and Tommy’s inner alerts were going off but he wouldn’t let that stop him. Tommy steps inside the room, it is almost exactly how I expected it, posters of different bands cover up almost every inch of the wall while different sized bean bags litter the floor with only a small bed and desk tucked in one of the corners, Technoblade is in one of the beanbags with his eyes closed. When Wilbur closes the door and motions for Tommy to take a seat, he opens his eyes to stare directly at Tommy while Wilbur settles in next to Technoblade.

    “Remember, you can leave this room whenever you want,” Wilbur mentions as he leans forward. Tommy leans back and nods, glancing nervously around the room.

    “We are suspicious of you Tommy,” Wilbur said matter of factly. Tommy tilts his head, slightly confused but nods for him to go on, “so we are going to sit here till I get tired and we are going to understand just who you are, does that sound good?” Tommy relaxes slightly and nods,

“That sounds good to me, what do you want to know?” There is no way that Tommy was going to tell them everything but he might as well humor them, Wilbur pulls out a notebook and hands it to Technoblade, it looks similar to the one that Ranboo was holding. Technoblade clears his throat and attempts to look as professional as possible,

    “Why are you in foster care?” Wilbur looked alarmed and elbowed his brother,

    “You can’t just ask him that for the first question!”

    “Why not?”

    “It’s rude!” Tommy started laughing suddenly, even though it was such a heavy question that he didn’t expect, he couldn’t help but laugh. Technoblade and Wilbur stare at him for a moment before laughing with him, soon the whole room was filled with uncontrollable laughter for literally no reason. 

    The “interrogation” ended pretty quickly after that, even though it had to be before 10 o’clock, Wilbur was feeling drowsy and couldn’t stop yawning so Technoblade managed to convince him to go to bed. When Tommy was finally able to leave, Wilbur grabbed his wrist frantically for a moment and when Tommy looked into his eyes, he let go.

    “Tommy. Do not forget to follow the rules.” At that he was basically shoved out into the hallway, while Technoblade scolded Wilbur, to ponder what the taller boy could have meant. 

    Tommy slowly walks back to his room, the hallway only lit by a few lamps attached to the wall, each casting a warm yellow light onto the paintings, making each figure seem like they are watching the boy as he makes his way through the hall. He pauses, his nerves getting the best of him. He hears rushed whispers from behind him and as he turns around he sees Niki and Kristin hurry off down a separate hallway that Tommy has yet to explore. Not wanting to get in trouble for being nosy, he hurries down the hallway to get to his own room, just pausing to consider following them, he shakes the idea out of his head and goes inside, making sure to close the door and lock it tightly.

Tommy sighs, the events of the day finally settling into his bones and dragging him down until he settles onto the bed. He was about to flop down and go to sleep but instead of a soft blanket, Tommy’s hand was met with a slip of paper. He pulls the paper from out from him and hurries to turn on the small lamp. Tommy thinks back to the room before,

Was there a piece of paper when I was last here? No… Who has been in this room?

The small paper was folded with little lavender flowers in each corner. Tommy slowly unfolds the paper to find a list, a list of rules to be exact,

Count the windows each night, even if someone has counted them before, if there are more than there was last time then close the shutters immediately. There have been and only have been 4 windows on the first floor, 6 on the second, and 10 on the third, never more, never less

Never answer the phone in the living room when it rings, the phone has never worked, the line is cut and no one else will hear it when it rings

Make sure to look at the name in the paintings, pay it no mind if it changes, nothing good comes from tattle tails

Never go through the locked gates, we never lock the gates, if they are then it is for a reason

Put the cradle in the closet every night, the rocking can get loud and it helps it sleep better

Always say hello to the chef, if he doesn’t say it back then do not eat the food

You can look out the big window upstairs but do not dwell, sometimes it will show you things you don’t want to see

If you hear music coming from a room that you don’t remember going into, find the door and lock it with your room key

Stop at the graveyard in the garden to pay your respects but leave when you see your name

Give the littles some candy each week, they will not hate you anymore

Do not assume she is Niki, they will tell you who they are

If you must go into the cellar after sundown then you have to turn on all of the lights downstairs, do not forget the lamps

Do not touch the walls, the paint is never truly dry

Tommy furrows his eyebrow at the paper,

What in the world does this mean? Is this some prank?

He thinks back to dinner, each family greeting the chief, he assumed it was common courtesy but…

No, don’t be ridiculous, they were just being nice… but what about Ranboo counting?

Tommy shook his head and set down the paper,

It is all in your head Tommy, this is all some stupid prank by the twins, it doesn’t make any sense at all anyways!

He stands up from his desk, making sure to dim the lamp, and lies down on his bed, trying to keep the ever growing paranoia from taking over. The silver stars on the walls reflect against the lamp’s yellow glow, making an illusion of the stars twinkling at night.

Tommy pulls the blanket over his body and rolls over to face the door, the cradle in the corner of his eye.

If you do this then you are just letting them win, he reminds himself,

Tommy closes his eyes and tries to ignore the paranoia once again but his brain just wasn’t having it. With a sigh, Tommy sits up and makes his way over to the cradle and basically shoves it in the tiny closet and almost slams the wooden door on it before stomping off to bed with a huff, he can sleep a lot easier after that.

    Tommy wakes up in a sweat, screams rattling the walls and making his heart race even faster as drops of sweat drip down and join his tears. He tries getting out of bed, moving, doing anything, and yet he is paralyzed. The screams grow even louder, surrounding him and drowning out every thought he could have had. Suddenly, with no warning, it all stopped leaving behind nothing more than an eerie echo of what once was. Tommy’s heart slowly calmed after a few moments and he eventually fell unwillingly back to sleep.

Chapter Text

Tommy wakes up slowly, the light flooding in and covering each surface including the sleeping boy. Somehow the weight of yesterday has yet to leave his bones as he sits up and pads over to the other side of the room to change his clothing, just another simple old gray sweater and jeans before attempting to get his things together. As he walks across the cold wooden floor, pulling over his sweatshirt, he stumbles into something. Tommy pulls the shirt over his head and looks down, the small cradle rocking softly. He blinks at it for a moment before pushing it away with his toe and walking back to the desk,

Nope, no way, not dealing with that this morning.

He grabs the small compass from the desk and places it around his neck before hesitating over the note,

It is just a prank…

He thinks back to last night, a crash of memories coming back. Tommy stuffs the note in his pocket,

Just a prank…

Someone knocks on his door.

“Tommy! It is time for breakfast!” Wilbur calls from the door.

Tommy makes his way to it, not even bothering to glance at the still rocking cradle. He opens the door after unlocking it to be greeted with tired faces. Where Wilbur is normally a pretty cheerful guy, there is a sense of heaviness behind those eyes today, the same with Technoblade. He nods at the boys as a greeting before they all make their way down to the dining room, Wilbur filling the silence with elaborate stories from his dreams,

“Did you sleep well, Tommy?” He looks up to a nervous looking Wilbur,

“I guess I did but um…” He bites down on his lip, hesitating, “Did you guys hear anything last night? Like… like screaming?” Wilbur and Technoblade exchange a strange look before they shake their heads,

“It might have been a nightmare,” Technoblade mentions and Wilbur immediately nods,

“Exactly, nightmare! I actually had a bit of a nightmare last night about Technoblade…” Wilbur rambles on about his own nightmare while Tommy just sits and wonders,

Could it have all been a nightmare? But it felt so real…

Technoblade grabs something from a small table that we walk by, a small green and yellow link that he keeps running in between his hands and through his fingers. When Tommy meets his eyes, Techno basically stares him down, as if challenging him to even dare ask about it but he decides it’s not worth the risk of Technoblade’s wrath. They continue down a new hallway that he can’t remember ever going down, only stopping to look at a new painting. They stop at the painting of the man with a scar over his eye,

It was definitely a bear, Ranboo is just crazy.

He looks closer at the engraving in the wood… Weird… didn’t it say sicut respirare yesterday? Instead of sicut respirare, the words The Fool replace it. He was about to mention it to the twins but remembers what the rules said, plus the twins were eerily quiet so he decides to just let it go, Perhaps I just remember wrong… The twins continue walking, both whispering softly to each other before Tommy catches up. They make a few more turns down more unfamiliar hallways and finally get to a plain white kitchen door,

“We don’t usually eat most of our meals in the dining room, we actually eat in the kitchen most days,”

Technoblade opens the door and steps inside, Tommy quickly follows, almost immediately they are welcomed with the scent of warm bread and cinnamon as Niki, Kristin, and BBH bustle around the kitchen carrying trays of different baked goods. When Kristin sees the boys, she sets her tray of what looks like bread on a flour covered table and hurries over,

“Good morning dears, did you all sleep well?” She smiles softly at Tommy,

“I had a nightmare,” Tommy said quietly and Wilbur seems to stiffen a bit beside him before cutting in,

“Yeah! He had a terrible nightmare about someone screaming, isn’t that weird mom?” Wilbur chuckles nervously as Technoblade sighs and moves to sit down, giving his mother a quick kiss on the cheek as he passes. Kristin pats Wilbur on his shoulder and tilts her head at Tommy,

“Ah, I’m sorry that happened dear, I’m sure your nerves were just getting to you, dreams are just reflections of your day, you know?” He nods looking down at the stone floor.

“Well, best not to dwell on it too much, right?” Niki comes up from behind the woman, “How about you sit down and we can get you something to eat, you boys craving anything in particular?” Tommy and Wilbur go sit at the small table next to Technoblade.

“Pumpkin bread sounds nice, have you made any of that?” Techno questions, BBH pouts while putting in a tray into one of the several ovens,

“I told them that we should but…” the pink-haired boy’s face drops slightly, “We did!”

BBH pulls out another tray and sets it down, a few rows of fluffy orange bread filling it. Wilbur starts cheering and attempts to grab one of them but Niki swats his hand away,

“They are still hot, Will, be patient,” he sighs and leans back in his seat while Niki goes ahead and starts slicing one of the loaves.

Kristin reappears with a jar of apple and honey butter and sets them on the table with everything else while BBH goes ahead and grabs some plates to sit in front of each of them.

“This is my favorite bread that they make, it’s always more delicious than the last time I ate it!” Wilbur says, already grabbing a plate as BBH attempts to put a scoop of honey butter beside it.

Kristin looks over her boys fondly as they munch on the bread before meeting Tommy’s gaze with the same look.

“Morning everyone! Sorry, I couldn’t come help with the baking, the office had called me,” Phil walks through the door and makes his way over to the family with a smile as he kisses his wife on the cheek while brushing some of the flour off of her nose. She giggles as Wilbur’s face scrunches up while Techno rolls his eyes with a smile. Kristin bats her husband away with smirk and hands Tommy a plate, gesturing to the butters but he just shakes his head and takes the plate.

Where is Ranboo? he can’t help but wonder.

None of the family seems concerned at all, everyone chatting like nothing was wrong, he didn’t come to diner at all, could he be sick?

Tommy considered asking one of the twins but last time he did, Wilbur just gave him a strange look,

Maybe he is a touchy subject?

“Are you alright dear?” When Tommy looks up, each family member is looking at him, each with a varied level of worry on their face, Wilbur being the most and Technoblade being the least.

“Yeah, I’m okay, just tired,” Kristin gives him an understanding look before clasping her hands together,

“Well then, me and Phil were discussing going to the store to get you some new clothing, I assume you didn’t have much in that tiny suitcase of yours so it might be nice to have more than 3 outfits, also maybe getting some decorations for your room? Make it more… yours?” Tommy stares at her in shock,

What are they getting at here? What do they want from me?

He clears his throat,

“No thank you ma’am, I have plenty of clothes,”

Was that rude? Would they get mad at him for rejecting there offer?

“It’s not like he will be staying much longer anyways…” Techno says before pausing, realizing what he had done.

Every thought in Tommy’s mind came to a sudden stop as Technoblade opens his mouth once again to apologize but Tommy refuses to hear it, he pushes himself out of his-

no, the seat-

and walks out of the room with no other thought than to get as far away as he possibly can. Flashbacks of the other houses come rushing to the forefront of his mind, his foster siblings stealing his things as he begs for them back, foster parents kicking him when he tells.

What will they do to him? He shouldn’t have ran away, he should have taken it, it was true, wasn’t it? Wasn’t Tommy planning to leave the moment he turned 18 anyways? Why did it hurt so bad?

Tommy’s thoughts and body comes to a stop in an unfamiliar hallway with unfamiliar paintings. He leans against the wall with small tears budding in the corners of his eyes. The blond boy takes deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart and stop his whole body from trembling like it is. After a few moments of practicing what Puffy had told him to do when he feels like this, she said when these things happen it’s called a panic attack, he starts calming down and slides to the floor.

"Ugh! I almost caught you!” an unfamiliar voice rings out from down the hallway, “Stupid…” a smaller boy with brown hair and a green button up stumbles right in front of Tommy. A small bee buzzes around the air before darting back, he sighs and leans against the wall before staring directly at Tommy with green, almost yellow, eyes. The boy tilts his head as Tommy freezes up,

“You’re the new kid, Tommy, right?” he asks, Tommy nods, slightly confused. “I knew it! Ranboo has been talking about you all last night…” The bee buzzes by him once again, “Ack! Come on! Help me catch the damned thing!” The boy steps forward and pulls Tommy up and once again runs off, this time hand in hand with the strange boy.

“Who are you?” Tommy practically yells as they wizz around the corner,

“I’m Tubbo!” The strange boy looks back at Tommy with bright eyes and a mischievous grin.

“Ugh! I can’t believe we didn’t catch that bee!” Tubbo lightly kicks one of the tables in the hallway. Tommy leans over, gasping for air. They had been running for what felt like over an hour down hallways that Tommy swares he had never seen before. Finally, Tommy manages to catch his breath and he sits down in the middle of the hall, completely worn out. Tubbo paces from each side of the hallway to the other while smiling like an idiot, “It’s fine though, we will get it someday” he stops and crouches in front of Tommy, “Are you okay?” Tommy waves him off,

“I’m fine, I just don’t have the endurance of a horse, how did you run for that long?” The blond boy questioned.

“Well, when I was younger I used to run around a lot-” Tommy covered Tubbo’s mouth, listening intently,

“Wait, shut up for a second…” A soft melody flows through the air, an instrument somewhere between a piano and a guitar. Tommy starts to stand up to find whoever is playing but Tubbo pushes him back down with a look that Tommy didn’t recognize,

“Tubbo, what are you doing? Do you know who is playing?” he switches almost immediately to a smile and pats Tommy’s shoulder,

“Nah, but it’s probably just Kristin or Niki, you shouldn’t worry about it, really!” Tubbo laughs and grins at the blond boy but Tommy isn’t smiling.

If you hear music coming from a room…

“I am going to find it.” Tubbo sighs and rolls his eyes before standing up and following Tommy who was swiftly walking towards the direction of the music,

“You really have no use to do that!” Tubbo calls after him, trying to catch up, “really! We should just go back to playing, don’t you think?”

“Stop it Tubbo.” Ranboo steps out from behind a corner with darkened eyes before smiling at Tommy, “Come on, I’ll help you find the music, it sounds quite lovely.”

Tommy nods stiffly before continuing, Tubbo groaning behind them, They arrive in a hallway that Tommy recognize,

Just down the hall is the kitchen…

Tommy shakes the thought of Techno’s face out of his head. The music sounds to be coming from a wooden door with gold lining the edges.

Wait… isn’t this where the painting was? The one of that guy with the scar? But that must be impossible…

If you hear music coming from a room that you don’t remember going into, find the door and lock it with your room key.

A room that he doesn’t remember going into?

Tommy puts his hand in his pocket, feeling the outline of his key,

“Remember to lock it,” Ranboo says from beside him, “It’s important,”

“Orrrr, we can go and play and not follow this lame guys advice,” Tommy looks up at Ranboo,

“Why is it important?” Ranboo hesitates before shaking his head and looking down,

“I am unable to tell you Tommy, I’m sorry,” the blond boy pulls out his key, running his thumb over the engravings, the music getting louder.

“Come on, Tommy, just leave this place, there is no point!” Tubbo urges, slightly shoving Tommy,

“Leave him alone, Tubbo, he needs to this and you know it.” The music gets even louder, making his ears ring and himself dizzy, it seems to be getting even more intense as well.

“Will the music stop if I do this?” Tommy asks through gritted teeth,

“Yes!” Ranboo practically shouts over the crescendo. With one swift movement, he shoves the key through the lock and and turns it. In an instant the music stops and just leaving behind the echo in Tommy’s ears. Tubbo groans in annoyance and turns around,

“Always ruining my fun, Ranboo, always ruining it,” Ranboo nudges him with his elbow and smiles softly at Tommy,

“Well, no use dalling around, come on, Tommy,” the two boys walk off, laughing over a joke that Tubbo had made. Tommy just stares at their backs before looking at the door,

This seems a bit too far for a prank…

“Hey! Wait up!” The other two stop and turn around, smiling at the blond boy who was running up to them,

“So Ranboo, Tubbo, how are you guys related to The Crafts?” They both pause for a second before laughing at the question and Tommy’s perplexed face,

“It’s very complicated,” Tubbo reaches up to pat Tommy’s head.

“Thats what you both said though!”

Tommy’s room is more crowded then it has ever, and hopefully will ever be. Tubbo is sitting on top of the desk, legs dangling down and swinging while Ranboo occupies the bed and Tommy is sitting on the floor against the wall. They have been talking about anything and everything within the past hour or so, all of them barely noticing the sun slowly slinking higher in the sky.

“Alright Tommy, we have told you a bit about our past, you know that Ranboo tried to go to art school but accidentally burnt down one of the rooms, you know that I tried to be some guys apprentice but he got busted for a drug deal, what about you? Anything big happen to you?” Tommy sits back on his hands thinking about his almost uneventful life.

Truly there was nothing particularly special about his life, it was only a “tragic” story with a boring ending,

“Well… nothing cool really happened, parents died when I was 5, I was sent into foster care then and just was moved around since then, not many people really wanted a loud teen so I tended to get moved around a lot,” both Tubbo and Ranboo nod in understanding,

“The last family I was with had me removed for no reason, they were actually pretty nice…” the other two boys exchanged a look that Tommy couldn’t place.

“What?” they look up at him,

“What?” Ranboo echos,

“What was that look?”

“What look?” Tubbo asks.

“Ugh, nothing,” Tommy leans his head against the wall, completely tired from today.

“We were in foster care!” Tubbo pipes up, making Tommy lift his head,

“You were?” Tubbo nods his head and Ranboo hums in agreement,

Huh, so maybe The Crafts are just letting them live here? Like they ran away from the system?

Before Tommy could say anything else, they all hear a knock at the door.

“I bet it is Technoblade he probably feels bad for what he said,” Ranboo nods in agreement before lowering his own voice,

“Or Wilbur forced him,” Tubbo shrugged as he stood up,

“Most likely, we will be out on the balcony though,” Ranboo gives Tommy an encouraging look before both boys creep through the window.

Tommy makes his way to the door and opens it to find Technoblade. The moment that Tommy was in sight, he looked into the younger boys eyes as if to search for even an ounce of resentment but Tommy had already forgiven Technoblade, well not completely but there was no use in holding a grudge like that.

“I’m sorry,” Techno practically whispered, strangely out of character for his normal self, “I shouldn’t have said that, I’m sorry,” The boy started wringing his hands nervously, “I wasn’t thinking when I said that, I didn’t mean…” Technoblade bites his lip and looks up at Tommy, “I am really glad you are here, even if it only for a few months but…” Tommy holds his breath, waiting for what might come next, “I wouldn’t mind for you to stay,” The pink headed boy practically whispers.

He wants me to stay?

Tommy stays quiet as Techno shifts uncomfortably, eyes looking everywhere but him, “Are you mad at me?” He shakes his head,

He was not mad at Techno, it’s fine, he would be leaving in a few months and this family and house will be nothing but a distant memory. Perhaps in the future he will see Wilbur or Technoblade in a shop and they will give each other nods or perhaps even exchange a few words but that’s it, he was definitely not staying.

“Please leave,” Tommy said softly and his face drops,

“Okay, yeah um…” Technos foot moves back, “I can do that.” And he is gone, down the hall and off to who knows where. Tommy slowly closes the door and moves to the bed, flopping down and covers his face. Tubbo whistles,

“Dang man, that… that really sucks,” Ranboo ducks as he crawls out of the window,

“Are you okay, Tommy?”

“Please get out,” Tommy mumbles, closing his eyes as a headache starts to form,

“Okay, okay, find can find us if you need anything!” They both hurry out of his room, leaving the boy behind just thinking.

Tommy never told them about what Technoblade said during breakfast…

Tommy sits on his balcony-

no, the balcony. It’s not yours and never will be.

He leans against the wall, watching the trees sway and observing the garden,

“Come on boys, we have to get going!” Phil calls from below as he gets into one of the cars in the driveway, the twins running behind them.

“Come on Will!” Technoblade laughs, swinging a sheath like thing onto his shoulder as Wilbur follows behind, almost tripping over the rocks before hopping in the back of the car before it drives off. Just as Tommy watches the others drive off there is a knock on the door,

“Tommy?” Kristin calls out, “Are you in there?” Tommy hesitates, What could she want? He crawls through the window and makes his way across the room.

“Yeah, I’m in here,” Tommy says, leaning against the door frame,

“Would you perhaps like to go eat lunch with me in the garden? I know you obviously didn’t eat breakfast so i’m sure you are even hungrier than me,”

Not really, Tommy was used to it,

“no pressure though! You don’t have to come with me if you don’t want,” The boy’s mouth dropped slightly.

Why do they keep giving me options? Is this a trick?

“Um…” Tommy thinks about it, all of the thoughts running through his mind quickly,

“Okay, that sounds nice,” The blond boy opens the door to reveal a beaming Kristin, a complete contrast to her son,

“Wonderful! I will grab the basket, meet me by the back door!”

Tommy leans against the back door, looking at all of the paintings that surround him, paying special attention to the family photo. The twins had to be around 13, Wilbur on top of Technoblade’s back while Phil is on Kristin, they are all laughing and you can see BBH bent over from laughter just in frame. He softly smiles at the photo, They look so happy,

He wonders where he would be in the photo, attempting to get on BBH’s back?

Before snapping back to the present,

Stop it, you are nothing more than a guest, it’s only been the second day anyways…

Kristin's footsteps can be heard as she comes around the corner, a basket bouncing against her hip.

“Thank you for coming out and eating with me, it is such a nice day and I thought I would get this opportunity to get to know you more, you know?” Tommy nods and smiles at her, following her through the door and down the stone steps into a beautiful garden, or at least he thought it was a garden.

It was more like a maze, tall bushes with pretty flowers rising up above his head, there were arches of the bushes leading to different “rooms” with ponds, birdbaths, and stone benches, the birds chirping happily.

Tommy’s mouth drops open as he takes in the sight and he hears a little laugh from behind him,

“I assume you like it?” Kristin asks, the boy nods slowly as he turns in a circle to take in everything, “I have been taking care of it since I was a young girl, it used to look so sad but with a bit of love…”

She moves closer to observe the smallest flower in a clump of flowers on the wall of leaves, “Well, soon it was blooming and it hasn’t stopped yet.”

She moves under one of the arches and into another section with a flatter surface and soft grass and Tommy trails behind her. Kristin sets down the basket and pulls out a thin blanket to lay across the grass before setting down on top of it, making sure to adjust her black and white dress.

Tommy carefully sits across the blanket, still looking at each and everything that is near him. Kristin watches fondly as the boy watches with wide eyes as the wind blows and moves all of the flowers and makes the hiding crows come out and fly away.

“Well Tommy, I want you to tell me about yourself, well if you feel comfortable with telling me, nothing too personal if you don’t want, favorite food, what you do for fun, you know?” Tommy’s attention turns to her, tilting his head,

“But you read my file? You know all of that stuff,” Kristin smile grows wider,

“I know that a lot of the time, you guys put whatever you think others might want, like Will had put Football on his file as his favorite thing to do, can you imagine it? The poor boy doesn’t even know what a football looks like,” Kristin looks off in the distance with a fond smile and the look of love and adoration behind her eyes. Tommy sighs and looks down,

“Um, well…” He thinks back,

He hasn’t really have much time for hobbies or fun things,

“My favorite food is ramen, the crappy cheap kind, it tastes so bad but so good at the same time,” Kristin laughs softly,

“I will have to make sure that the kitchen is stocked with it then, no one really eats it here but I will definitely get some next time we go to the store,”

Tommy thinks back to this morning with Technoblade and they get settled into an almost uncomfortable silence as Kristin unpacks sandwiches and lemonade in mason jars.

She starts softly humming a familiar tune that Tommy couldn’t place. The raven haired women sets a jar of lemonade in front of Tommy and leaves a small stack of sandwiches in the center,

“I was’t really sure what kind you would like so I made a few of each, there is ham and cheese, honey and peanut butter, and pb&j, take as many as you would like, I personally am fond of all of them,” She leans back on one of her arms as she takes a long sip of lemonade.

He thinks for a moment before reaching over and grabbing a ham and cheese sandwich as well as a peanut butter and honey sandwich.

“I like plants,” Tommy blurts out before recoiling slightly. Instead of getting outraged as he thought she might have, Kristin looked at him with a smile,

“Oh? Would you like to help with the garden sometime?” Tommy looked down sheepishly,

“I don’t actually know how to take care of them, I just like how they look,”

“Well that’s okay! I can definitely teach you, I learned from my grandmother so now I can teach you as well. This garden was my favorite place to play with my friends, I’m sure you will make some friends and can hang out here,” Tommy thinks back to his own friends,

Who are his friends? Are Tubbo and Ranboo friends? Maybe he can ask Kristin about them since they were kinda related to the family, he assumed at least,

“Hey, I was wondering if you could tell me about Tubb-” A loud screech comes from the bushes as a bright orange and white cat comes from out from them and darts across the blanket, successfully knocking over Kristin’s lemonade and spilling it all over her dress. She gasps and puts her hand in front of her mouth,

“Oh that damned cat,” Kristin sighs and gestures to her dress which was practically soaked on the ends, “I think I might have to go in and get changed, could you wait for me dear?” She stands up, making sure to lift her dress a bit to keep the lemonade soaked clothes from touching her body, “You can look around too, you may be surprised to find everything here,” She basically waddles away, the drink dripping from her dress.

Tommy blinks in shock as the same cat come sauntering back to grab a slice of ham before darting off once again. He slowly gets up while holding his own sandwich and makes his way through the rest of the garden, stopping at each little section to admire the birds in the pond or the engravings on each bench.

Tommy has never been to any place like this before, not even House 3 had a garden as beautiful as this one.

Finally, he makes his way into a little corner of the garden, the grass is a bit thinner and there is an old oak that shades the entire section. As he moves forward, things seem slightly off yet he just can’t place it.

The boy turns around a corner to be met with a small row of graves,

Stop at the graveyard in the garden to pay your respects…

He walks down the row, making sure to stop at each one to read the name and dates, Tommy stops at a joint headstone and crouches down to read it,

Karl Jacobs, Birth- May 1, 1849, Death- May 1, 1879. Beloved Husband

James Sapnap, Birth- Jan. 28, 1852, Death- May 1, 1879. Beloved Husband

May not even Death part us,

it says above their names and he observes the intricate carvings into the stone, the initials KJ+DP+JS is carved into one of the sides surrounded by a messily shaped heart. Tommy stares curiously at the initials before moving on, deciding to ask Kristin about it when he can.

The next grave is much less fancy, simply a rock that was pushed into the ground with the words,

Drew P, May 1, 1879.

The next grave was a more simple grave, no engravings yet there was a lot more professional look to it,

J.K. May 1, 1890 - May 1, 1920

There wasn’t anything special about this grave other than a vine with lilies engraved around the words and the grave next to it looked almost exactly the same,

K.J. May 1, 1940 - May 1, 1970

Tommy pauses, looking at each of the graves so far with a chill up his spine and the uneasy feeling growing. It’s the same date and almost the same initials, what is going on? He shakes his head, trying to shrug off the uncomfortable feeling as he focuses on the next grave, 3rd from last but the feeling only grows when his blood runs cold as he reads the name on the stone,

Tommy Innit

The dates are worn down, nothing being decipherable. With shaky hands he rubs his eyes, making sure he is seeing things right.

Stop at the graveyard in the garden to pay your respects but leave when you see your name.

“Tommy!” Kristin calls from somewhere towards the house, “Let’s come inside, it looks like it might storm!”

He didn’t need to be told twice as he sprints awat from the tiny graveyard in the beautiful garden. As he does though, it clicks in his head why he had been feeling uneasy,

The birds aren't making a single sound.

Chapter Text

Tommy woke up in a sweat as he hears loud banging on his door.

He gets up in a rush, almost tripping over the cradle that he swears he put in the closet that night.

As he gets to his door and swings it open to reveal two little kids, a little girl with a bright green hoodie and blonde hair and a little boy with a black hoodie and brown hair. When they see Tommy they both squeel and attempt to run away but Niki stands in front of them just in time.

    “Excuse me, what do you think you are doing?” She puts her hands on her hips as Tommy leans against his door frame, still incredibly confused and attempting to sooth his racing heartbeat. The blonde one copies Niki and sticks her tongue out,

    “I wasn’t doin’ nothin’!” she proclaims, the boy nodding from behind her,

    “You wasn’t doin’ nothin’, Drista,” Niki says, coping the little girl- Drista’s accent, “You were bothering Tommy,” Drista furrows her eyebrows and looks at the boy,

    “Did we bother anyone, Sapnap?” She asks and Sapnap shakes his head,

    “We weren’t botherin’ nothin’,” he says with a thicker Texan accent, well as thick as it could get for being a 5 year old. Niki sighs and shakes her head before looking up at Tommy who had finally calmed down,

    “I’m sorry about them, I have been chasing them around all morning,” she moves her foot a bit to stop Drista from sneaking behind her, “I’m telling your dads, mister, she points directly at Sapnap, “You know your dads wont be to happy with you going around bothering others,” He gasps and points at Drista, who was still trying to get past Niki,

    “It was all her fault! She told me to do it!” The girl stuck her tongue out at her friend as they start to argue,

    “I don’t care who did it, I’m bringing both of you to your respective families, come on, no running off this time, you can both hold my hand,” Niki looks up at Tommy, “Would you like to come down with us for breakfast?”

He nods and closes his door tightly before making sure his compass and key were around his neck and he hurries to catch up with the marching toddlers and lady.

    The moment they all get to the kitchen is the moment Tommy is met with chaos.

Sanap immediately darts over to BBH who was leaning over a stovetop and he practically climbs up the mans leg until he is in his arms, Drista somehow managed to disappear within that few seconds, and at the table is Technoblade armwrestling with a blond haired guy that Tommy didn’t reconnize while Wibur and a guy with bright orange and white hair cheer them on. Niki rests her hand on Tommy’s shoulder, probably sensing his hesitation, before they both move forward together. The two boy’s match stops momentarily as they look at the others,

    “Good morning, everyone! Fine day, innit?” Niiki says as she lets go of Tommy and walks around the table to get closer to BBH who was holding a sleeping Sapnap, “Oh yes, Dream, Drista was causing a ruckus all morning, terrorizing each and every one of us,” The blond boy chuckled through slightly clenched teeth as Technoblade continues the match without warning,

    “I’m sorry for whatever trouble she caused ma’am, I’ll be sure to tell Mom,”

    “No need, I just thought you ought to know,” Wilbur suddenly jumped up from his seat a bit before turning to Tommy,

    “Ah! I completely forgot! You have never met these guys, right?” He didn’t wait for an answer, “This is Dream and this is my son, Fundy, they are some of our friends from school,” Fundy sighed, slightly exasperated, and pushed Wilbur with his elbow a bit,

    “Stop telling people I’m your son, I’m not,” The taller boy fake pouts with tears welling up in his eyes,

    “Fundy, please tell your dad that he is your dad, he has already cried once today,” Fundy groans and leans back in his chair,

    “Fine, Wilbur,” Wilbur perks up a bit, “You are my dad,” instead of the tears disappearing, they start to well up more before spilling over a bit as he opens his arms for a hug, Fundy sighing before giving in and resting his head on Wilbur’s shoulder. Tommy, slightly more confused than when he first woke up, sat down at the table next to Wilbur as Techno and Dream still go at it from across the table. BBH walks over with a muffin in his hand and Sapnap in the other and sets down the muffin,

    “Hello, Bad,” Tommy says, glancing at the muffin, 

Perhaps he should follow the rules more carefully, or break one and see what happens, 

    “Hello, Tommy, I heard that the kids scared you this morning, I appologize for that, Drista is a smart one and Sapnap seems to always fall into her clutches, have you ever seen a toddler gaslight someone?” Tommy shakes his head, “Yeah, it was interesting to see,”

Suddenly Wilbur started cheering loudly as Fundly puts his head on the table, Technoblade had won this match. They smile and shake each others hand but Tommy swears he saw their grips tighten.

    “Those two are always making something a competition and when they aren’t, they are both finding ways to do it anyways,” BBH looks fonding at the two boys who were now just relaxing, Dream’s legs draped across Techno’s, “One time Dream got really sick for a few months, poor thing could barely sit up for weeks, basically no one was allowed to see him either so instead of worrying like he always does, Technoblade entered into the local potato contest to distract himself. Basically worked himself half to death, in the end he won with over a million potatos, still says it was the best summer of his life though I still can’t look at mashed potatoes the same,” Tommy looks at those two boys, even though Technoblade was an ass to him, he can’t help but to feel a little fond hearing stories from his youth- 

No. Tommy does not feel fond about Technoblade, Tommy does not care. 

Tommy looks down at his hands, cursing himself for even thinking about getting attached to these people before-

    “Tommy!” Niki stood by the door, a sleepy looking Drista on her hip, “Phil and Kristin would like to see you, Wilbur, do you mind showing Tommy where Phil’s office is?”

    Tommy knocks on their door, Wilbur and Fundy already making their way down the hallway, bickering about something, before the door swings open to reveal an almost always smiling Kristin, 

    “Come in, come in, don’t be shy,” Tommy walks into the office and it is almost exactly how he expected it to be. For the most part it has a gothic and almost medieval feel to it, a giant desk in the center with book shelves all around, what Tommy didn’t expect was how warm and comforting that style could be.

    “So, Tommy, we had mentioned the other day about going to the store, would you like do that tomorrow?” Phil asks, leaning back from his chair as Kristin goes to sit back down in a chair in the corner of the smallish room.

    “Oh um…” He thinks for a moment, “Yeah, tomorrow works,” Phil smiles, 

    “Alright then, oh, also how are you settling in? I know it’s only been a few days but I haven’t been around a lot these past few weeks, work has been really busy,”

    “I’ve been settling in nicely,” Tommy pauses, letting the awkward atmosphere settle in,

    “Ah, um… well that’s good,” Kristin coughs with a pointed look, “oh yes! If you need anything at all, please let us know, even if you don’t plan to stay with us long or don’t see us as any type of family, we are still here to help you and are more than willing to do so,” Phil says in a finalized tone. Tommy really has no idea how to react, never once has he felt this welcome, 

Except house 5, 

Tommy wasn’t really sure what to do. He decided to just nod awkwardly, shifting his weight to and from each foot.

Thank god for Kristin, she clearly sensed Tommy’s awkwardness and from the looks of it, Phil had no clue what to say either, so she stood from her seat and placed a hand on Phil’s shoulder,

    “Alright Tommy, that’s all we wanted to talk about, feel free to stay in here though, we have plenty of books and we enjoy the company,” Phil gives her a smile of relief, 

    “Yes, my office is always open to anyone, even if I’m not in here, I just ask that you don’t mess with my papers on my desk, I can barely keep track of everything as it is,” Tommy hesitates, he enjoyed being around Kristin, it makes him feel safe, 

It feels like home, 

It makes him feel not alone. Unfortunately, Tommy has not been around Phil that much, he seemed nice enough when he was around others but what about when he was alone? 

House 4 was like that, the dad did the best he could but he was always busy with work so when the aunt had to take over… well, it took a bit too long for them to get him out in his opinion. 

Slowly, Tommy nodded and Kristin showed him where the books of plants and fairies and magic were and soon the blond boy was tucked in a corner surrounded by his new foster parents and a wonderful book.

    Tommy had left Kristin and Phil a few hours ago, they had eaten lunch together and went back to reading and working, Phil designed buildings for a living and had shown the boy how he does it.

They surprisingly had a lot more in common than he thought they would, Kristin wasn’t the only one who enjoyed plants and Phil even knew what Tommy was talking about when he had accidentally let slip his love of a popular video game. Kristin was writing a book, something about the history of the house and some of the past owners but truthfully, Tommy wasn’t paying too much attention, he promised he tried!

Unfortunately, there was a gold covered book beside her that Tommy couldn’t read the name of so he spent most of the time focusing on that. Tommy actually got to read that book later, it was one of Kristin’s books about lovers and a fire, he actually enjoyed that one.

Right now though, Tommy was creeping though the house while it’s dark, about 1 o’clock in the morning if the clock on the wall above one of the paintings in the foyer is right. He wanted answers and so one of the best ways to do that is to test things, he was going to just go upstairs to find the big window to stare out of it till something shows up but while on the way to the stairs to the 3rd floor Tommy heard voices.

He had been chasing them as they move farther away but now they are just soft whispers coming from a smaller door that Tommy had yet to notice. He moves closer to it, the whispers getting even louder as he draws near. Glancing around the dark room doesn’t help his nerves, the paintings and tables making shadows against the hardwood floor. He takes a deep breath and holds it while opening the door.

Silence.

All whispers stopped the moment he opened it up and he freezes, just listening to the echoing silence of the old house.

Tommy observes the set of stairs that the whispers have lead him to, he can at least see the floor of the basement down the stairs, a soft light coming from somewhere in the room. With mock confidence, he steps down onto the first step and the whispers start again. This fuels him to keep moving, practically jumping down every few steps till he finally gets down to the floor, whispers getting louder and louder.

The boy turns around, taking in everything, the everything being a bunch of old furniture which was crammed against the walls, the center was all cleared out except for a small lamp that is lighting the room. 

    “Who’s there?” Tommy whispers, “Where are you?” the whispers continue even though there was no one in sight, they seem to be surrounding him but he couldn’t even make out a single thing they were saying, just hushed whispers that keep getting louder and louder making Tommy light headed with the ringing in his ears.

He quickly holds his hands over his ears, attempting to muffle the sound yet somehow nothing seems to be working as the assault on his ears continues. As the sound grows, so does Tommy’s distress as he attempts to scramble up the stairs but the moment he steps forward, the light goes out.

If you must go into the cellar after sundown then you have to turn on all of the lights downstairs, do not forget the lamps

This was the last thought Tommy has as tears roll down his face and everything goes black.

    Soft rocking is all Tommy feels for a while, soft rocking and the smell of cinnamon and ink surrounds him as he is soothed back to sleep, a tiring, frustrating sleep,

    “Geez kid…” a distant voice mutters, “You can’t do this to us…”

Chapter Text

Tommy wakes up in his bed, soft blankets wrapped around his body and warmth as he stares up at the ceiling, making constellations with all of the stars.

A soft knock at his door forces him out of bed with a groan,

“Tommy? Are you up yet?” they call out.

Tommy makes his way to the door and opens it to reveal a ragged looking Wilbur still in his pajamas.

“What…” Tommy takes in his appearance, very confused, “What do you want?”

Wilbur smiles like an idiot, “Can I not come to see my favorite foster brother?”

Tommy steps out of his room, still in his own pajamas, “I am your only foster brother,” the blonde boy thinks back to Ranboo and Tubbo, “I think,”

“Hm?” Wilbur asks, moving to follow Tommy as he wanders down the hall,

“Nothing, um… anyways, how did you sleep last night?” Wilbur looks at him with squinted eyes for a moment before smiling again,

“Aweh, Tommy, do you care about me?” He drapes his arm around Tommy’s shoulders,

“Like a brother,” Tommy jokes, hitting Wilbur softly in the stomach with his elbow,

“You can’t say that Toms, I’ll cry,”

“Make him cry Tommy, it will be funny,” Techno comes around a corner with a coffee in his hand. The tall brunett pouted at his twin with puppy dog eyes and Technoblade just scoffs,

“My own twin, betrayal, the highest form of betrayal there is,” Wilbur sags against Tommy as he struggles beneath the new weight,

“Ack! Wilbur! Get your ass off of me! You are going to end up killing me!”

The tallest boy sags even more against him, “Oh no! The gravity is increasing and I just can’t help it!”

Tommy shrieks as he has to crouch, Wilbur still draped over him as Technoblade is laughing, leaning against the wall on the other side of them.

When Tommy is laying on the floor breathing heavily with Wilbur laying across his stomach, Kristin walks up the stairs. She pauses as Tommy reaches out to her,

“Please Mumza, you are my only hope! Get this ogre off of me!” He squeals.

“Mumza?” Technoblade asks and Tommy sticks his tongue out at him,

“Shut it,” He looks back at Kristin, “Please Mumza, I beg of you!” Wilbur groans and flops his arms out,

“The gravity got to me Mom, I couldn’t help it,” She smirks, moving up the flight of stairs some more,

“The gravity, huh?”

He nods viciously, “Yes! It was the gravity!”

She nods understandingly as she gets even closer to the boys. Tommy reaches out to her, waving his hands frantically, with a small smile on his lips,

“Pleaseee, he is killing me!”

She presses a hand to her heart, “Killing you?” She gasps, standing over them, he shakes his head yes, “Hm… she thinks for a moment, tapping her cheack before stepping over the both of them, “Well, I can’t fight against gravity,”

Tommy squeals at her as she makes her way down the hall to Phil’s office, away from a set of laughing twins and a defeated boy.

They all pile into a single car, Phil driving, Kristin in the passenger seat, and the boys all squished in the back, Tommy and Technoblade by the windows and Wilbur in between them.

They had decided to all go shopping since the twins needed to get more summer clothing and they had apparently agreed that Tommy was staying long enough to need not only new clothing but decorations for his room. The blond boy looks out of the window excitedly at the giant store, he can’t really remember the last time he went shopping with anyone, or at all really, most of his foster homes just gave him handy downs or they went thrift shopping without him. Wilbur smiles brightly when he catches sight of Tommy’s face,

“What kind of style do you like?” Tommy looks at him confused, “Like… Grunge, dark academia, preppy, those things?” this just made Tommy even more confused so Wilbur just sighs and leans back as they pull into a spot, “I’ll help you, I had to help Technoblade too,”

Technoblade huffs, “Apparently sweaters and jeans were not enough for this guy,” WIlbur lifts his chin, looking smug,

“Nope! Now this guy gets him to dress like a king!” Kristin chuckles as they all pile out of the car,

“He had me dressing as a goddess for a long time before I finally convinced him that it was okay for me to only wear a simple dress and a necklace instead of being adorned head to toe with silver and a giant hat,”

“It was a devastating day for 14 year old Wilbur,” He sighs dramatically.

“It was a wonderful day for the bank account,” Phil piped up, starting to head inside the store, Kristin laughs and pats his shoulder,

“Oh it was indeed, I believe that the accountant weaped with joy when he heard the news.”

The Craft’s are strange, Tommy decides.

They keep showing him different outfit options and asking him if he liked it or not and if he said he did then they put it in the cart, if he said that he didn’t then they would put it back and grab something else, rinse and repeat, for everything, clothing, books, stuffed animals.

Tommy specifically said no to each stuffied animal, even the stuffed cow and moth that was adorable because he was no longer a child, he was a big man, little did he know though, Wilbur saw how Tommy had looked at them and got them anyways.

A few times Tommy had felt on edge, like when he had accidentally stepped on Technoblade’s shoe and for the next 20 minutes he was glaring at Tommy every chance he got, other than that Tommy had felt relaxed and comfortable with the family, laughing at Wilbur’s dramatic reenactment of his favorite show and cringing with the twins as they catching Kristin and Phil kissing in one of the aisles. He was actually happy, just enjoying existing with his- this family.

Unfortunately things had to end after a while and the shopping came to a close as they go to the register, this just so happens to be the time that Wilbur starts complaining about an evergrowing headache.

“Hey Technoblade, could you please get your brother some medicine? It should be in a compartment in the car, I left some there the last time he kept having these headache episodes,” Kristin asks before turning to Tommy, “Could you go with him please? Lord knows that he would loose his head if it wasn’t attached to him,”

Tommy slowly nods and follows Technoblade who had already left. They stay quiet as they make their way to the car, Technoblade scowling the entire time. Tommy truly had no idea what he had done wrong but as soon as he had gotten to the house, Techno had been nothing but cold towards him, the only exceptions being when the rest of the family was there with him. Tommy opens his mouth to ask Techno if he knew where he was going when he whips around, fury in his eyes,

“Just because my parents are getting you things doesn’t mean you are staying long. You are simply staying here because they decided that it was a good idea to take in another kid, they were wrong. I don’t want you here and you need to get it through your head that you will never be welcome here, no matter how comfortable you get, or how many friends you make, or how buddy buddy you get with Wilbur, you will never be apart of this family.”

Technoblade breathes heavily, standing just a few inches away, a familiar scent coming from him that he just couldn’t place, staring down a shocked Tommy with tears buding in the corners of his eyes. He nods, looking at the ground.

Well, at least he knows where one of the family members stands on him… and to think that he really thought things were about to go well… clearly not.

There was an awkward silence between the two as Techno turns around and hurries off and they go to the car to find the medicine.

“Check in the back, there is a compartment there that might have it,” Technoblade says with no emotion behind his voice and Tommy nods before crawling in the back seat. The compartment is attached to the back of one of the front seats, the moment it opens a few things fall out. A few loose papers and old bill notices float to the floor while a book lands heavily on top of them.

Slightly confused, he grabs it open and flicks it open. Reading some of the book does nothing to help his confusion as the words are some language that Tommy doesn’t reconize,

“Give me that!” A door slams shut as Technoblade grabs the book from his hands, “Don’t touch things that aren’t yours.”

“You guys take too longgg,” Wilbur moans as he comes into view with a few bags around his wrist. Technolade’s face instantly relaxes as he leans against the car, a careless smile on his face,

“Nah, you guys are just too fast,” He throws the pill bottle at Wilbur and he barely manages to catch it, he also tucks the book into his jacket at the same time,

“Ya hear that? Techno thinks I’m fast!” Phil hoots with a big smile on his face,

“Not you old man,” He huffs and flicks Technoblade in the head lightly.

“You all are so mean, he isn’t that old,” Kristin pats her husband cheek as he smiles brightly at her, “He can’t be a day past 60!”

Phil’s face falls once again and he sticks his tongue at her, “Well you are married to this old man so who is the loser now?”

“Still you,” The twins say in unison while Tommy watches everything slightly conflicted.

On one hand, he loves joking around with this family, it makes him feel comfortable, on the other hand… He really doesn’t want to cause any trouble with Technoblade. Perhaps he should just lay low for a while… no, that would make Wilbur upset and that would make Technoblade even more mad at him… fuck, what does he want from him?

“Tommy?” He looks up at Kristin as she puts her bogs in the trunk, “Are you arlight, mate?” He flashes her a smile and nods before turning around and getting back into the car.

Chapter Text

As usual, Tommy’s day started unusually.

Loud banging woke him up from his slumber and as he was stumbling across the room to get to the door, he tripped on the cradle which was no longer in it’s spot.

Well it was never really in it’s spot in the first place but today it was right in the middle of his room.

“Come on sleepy head! We want to go explore an’ shit!” The blond boy opens the door to find Tubbo in practicly full winter gear and a bashful Ranboo behind him.

“What the fuck are you guys doing?” Tommy rubs his eyes,

“Getting you out of bed, that’s what!” He waves his hands at Tubbo,

“Aye yai yai, let me get dressed then I’ll get out, geez,”

Tubbo cheers and jumps to highfive Ranboo and he shuts the door behind him. Tommy quickly pulls his new shirt over his head, a soft sweater that Wilbur insisted on getting with some green video game character, Phil had called it a creeper, and new pants. When he opens the door once again Tubbo whistles at him,

“Looking fresh big man,” Ranboo nods in agreement,

“I got new clothes and I’m ready to head out, so… What are you thinking of us doing?”

Tommy definitely did not think they would be doing this.

Out of anything that that brilliant mind of Tubbo’s could think of, he decided that the best option would be to wander around the house till they find something “Interesting” as he put it.

This was fine for Tommy though, he was not really in the mood for something particularly exciting since yesterday.

“Come on, Big Man! You are being so slowww,” Tubbo huffs and attempts to push Tommy forward but he stays in one place, “What are you even doing?”

Tommy continues to stare at part of a wall in the foyer where there is a small handle. Why does this seem so familiar?

“What is that?” Tommy points to the wall,

“The cellar? It was hidden for a while so it still looks like a wall but they luckily added a handle so we could actually access it,” Ranboo looks at Tommy curiously, “Why’d you ask?”

“I just feel like I’ve been there before… Could we go down there?” The tall boy looks conflicted as he stares down Tommy but Tubbo steps in,

“Sure! Niki has the key I think, let’s go find her!”

“Find who?” Niki comes around the corner from the direction of the dining room, What is with this family and always coming out from behind corners suddenly?

Tubbo waves at the woman and points to the door, “Tommy wants to go down there, do you have the key?” She pulls out a ring of keys from her back pocket and swings them around her finger,

“Of course I do, I have the key to every room in this house,” The smaller boy grins up at her,

“You are the best Niki! Thank you!” They all make their way down the steps slowly, Ranboo shaking like a leaf from the chill beside Tommy, “There isn’t much down here to be honest, just old furniture and dust,”

Tommy grabs onto Ranboo’s sleeve as they walk down the stairs,

“Maybe we can find something cool!” Tubbo has practicly jumped down most of the steps and is already at the bottom. There wasn’t much there really, all of the furniture was messily in piles all across the room, most of them slightly charred. In the very center was a small gas lamp surrounded by old dirty mattresses.

Tommy steps away from Ranboo and Tubbo, the latter was giving a dramatic retelling of his time out in the rain the other day to Niki. The blond boy crouches down in front of the lamp, a heavy sense of deja vu setting in. He reaches out to it, a warm glass meeting his palm.

It’s still warm?

“Tommy, let’s get out of here please, I’m getting really cold…” Ranboo says while wrapping his arms around himself to try to find some warmth. Niki places her hand on his back and starts leading him up the stairs while shaking her head, 

"You don’t look too good, hun, here, I’ll bring you to your… room, you can rest there, okay?”

Tubbo huffs and looks to Tommy who is staring intently at the gas lamp, “I guess it is pretty boring down here, let’s get going then,” The two boys walk quietly down the hall, an unusual thing for them. The silence is only broken when Tommy voices his thoughts,

“So Tubbo, you said you guys were in fostercare, were you guys in the same place or…”

The smaller boy leans against the wall, looking at Tommy with his head tilted, “Nah, we just ended up at the same place, I won’t tell Ranboo’s story but I don’t mind telling you mine since we are friends an’ all,”

Tommy looks up at him,

Friends?

“My story isn’t all dramatic, you heard all of the jobs I’ve done an’ shit like that but my life in fostercare was pretty uneventful. I was put into the system at the age of two and from then till I was 12 I was taken in and out of homes rapidly, I went through about 20 or more homes till I got to the Anderson’s. They were some of the nicest people ever, it was me and the dads, that’s it, that’s all I needed. I stayed with them for 5 years before there was a break in…” Tubbo looks down at the floor, anywhere but Tommy’s face, “I was asleep and didn’t hear a sound, they both were killed after confronting the robber…”

They both stand in silence, a heavy weight of sorrow hanging over them, "They were supposed to be my forever home, you know? It was us against the world…" Tubbo trails off,

"Well," Tommy speaks up after thinking, "maybe forever is meant for memories, not people?”

Tubbo looks up in shock before scowling and getting up from his place on the wall. “How would you know? No one has ever loved you.”

The smaller boy walks briskly down the hall and down a corridor, leaving a shocked Tommy behind.

What just happened?

Tommy slides down the wall, sitting on the floor of a hallway that he doesn’t reconize. He thinks about what just happened with Tubbo, more confused than hurt really.

Things were going so well… What happened?

Instead of dwelling on negative feelings that would do nothing good for anyone he decides to get up and find something to do, or at least make his way out of the unfamiliar hallway. Tommy gets up from the floor, still feeling lost from the… argument? He starts wandering around the house once again, walking down rows and rows of hallways with paintings of lords and the land that once was.

Finally he manages to make his way to a somewhat familiar part of the house through hallways that he is sure that were not there before till he gets in front of a very familiar door.

Tommy knocks on the door, listening to any noise that comes from inside.

“Come in!” Someone calls from inside and so he does. Tommy steps inside of Phil’s office, the man crouched over piles of paper and books in different sections of the room, when Tommy closes the door behind himself he looks up and a grin spreads across his face,

“Well there’s a friendly face I wasn’t expecting to see, whatcha doing around these parts?”

Deciding against telling the older man about his argument with Tubbo, he just shrugs and makes his way to seat in the corner, “I just needed to clear my head, that’s all,” Phil nods understandably.

“Well, nothing better to clear your head than become a whole new person and live a whole new life, your book that you were reading in right next to that chair, Kristin made sure to save the page,” Tommy smiles and nods gratefully and continues to read where he left off, something about the protagonists meeting their other lover by a garden, just with the sound of Phil working and the occasional rain storm against the window to keep him company.

A few hours later, Tommy finds himself back in his own room just staring out the window contemplating what he was going to do with himself or with Tubbo, he really doesn’t want to make an enemy within a few days of being here.

Let’s not think about Technoblade too much…

He steps away from the window before pacing around his room, jumping over the cradle that is still in the center of his room. Maybe he should just leave things be, let Tubbo decide what he wants to do, it’s not like Tommy really did anything wrong… right? Someone knocks on the door making the boy almost trip over the ever rocking cradle.

“Tommy? Are you in there?” Tubbo’s voice calls out from the hallway, Tommy stumbles over immediately, trying to get the door unlocked.

“Yes, I’m here!” a bashful Tubbo stands outside the door, looking to the ground,

“Hey Tommy… um… can we talk?” The taller boy instantly moves out of the way to let the other in, stepping over the still cradle and onto his bed, each sitting on the other side of the bed from each other.

The silence was fairly uncomfortable, both boys shifting uncomfortable, waiting for someone to speak first.

Tubbo fidgets with his fingers before taking a deep breath, “I’m sorry I was an ass earlier, I was just really upset about you finding your forever home…”

Tommy takes that information in, turning it in his head for a moment before speaking,

“Could this not be your forever home too?”

Tubbo hesitates before looking down, “Nah, big T, I’m getting out of here soon, I was hoping to take Boo with me but from the looks of it, he might be better off here, he is really fond of you, you know?”

Tommy smiles at that, he knew that they had gotten close and that he had felt a connection to that tall boy but Tommy was worried that Ranboo didn’t feel the same…

He did feel a connection to Tubbo too though, “What do you mean that you are leaving? Do you have a plan?”

Tubbo rubbed the back of his neck and leaned back on his other hand, “Yeah, I’ve got it, don’t worry about me much, I know what I’m doing,”

Well at least he has something of a plan…

“Do any of the Craft’s know?” Tommy leans forward,

“I told Mrs. Kristin a few days ago, the twins don’t know yet…”

The taller boy nods, even though Tommy doesn’t know how close they are to each other, he can only assume that the twins would not just accept the fact that he would be leaving. “Alright, I have to check in on Boob boy, he was doing a lot better when I left him though, you comin’ with?”

Tommy shakes his head, “Nah, I am just going to stay here, just tell Ranboo to not die, I’m not letting any friends of mine leave,”

A bright grin appears on Tubbo’s face and he makes his way to the door, “Oh don’t worry, Big Man, he is not dying on us,”

Tubbo closes the door leaving Tommy with his thoughts.

Wow… Tommy’s only been here for a few days and he’s already worrying about people and the family… What has gotten into him? Perhaps… Just maybe… This could be somewhere more than just a house?

Even if some people, cough cough Technoblade, were less willing to let that happen…