Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“ Tommy Innit, to the Principal’s Office Immediately. Tommy Innit, to the Principal’s Office Immediately. ” He hissed as the students in the room made small comments, mostly “oohs” and “ahhs”. It’s gotten old, too old at this point. “Apologizes for interrupting the class, miss.” Tommy quickly apologized to his teacher, what’s her name?  

The teacher continued to write on the chalkboard, unaffected by Tommy’s words. The door clicked behind him, and Tommy clenched onto the straps of his red, plain bag. What does he want me for this time? Tommy asked himself, walking as slowly as he physically could down the hall. 

Taking a deep sigh, he noticed the door to the Principal’s Office. He opened the door, noticing his two brothers sitting down in the chairs to the side, his father sitting at the main desk, hands intertwined with each other. He had a smile, a fake one that was obvious to nobody else but Tommy. “Welcome, Thomas. Take a seat, if you will.” Phil said, gesturing towards the seat in between his brothers.

Only because it was the only seat remaining, he sat gracefully down, squashed in between the twins. “Thomas, I’m sure you know why you’re here.” The tone Phil spoke with made it harder for Tommy to read. Usually, if Phil gritted his teeth in between his words, he was pissed, usually at a bad test score or such. When Phil’s posture was slack, immature to say, he wasn’t as irritated, probably something like a tardy.

“N-No, sir.” Tommy muttered, feeling himself shrink in his family’s glare. “Ah, you got as 76% on your math test last Friday. Are you aware of that?” Phil tilted his head, and Wilbur awkwardly gasped, and it took everything in Tommy to not punch him in the fucking gut.

The bad test grade was his fault entirely, he was exhausted after school the day before and passed out on his bed before he could even pull out his laptop, and didn’t wake up until the next day. He wasn’t awake to study, and he knew that.

“No, there must be s-some explanation–” Tommy stood up.

“Settle down, Thomas.”

Thomas sat back down. 

“I’m not angry, I’m serious. ” Phil assured, although he was almost entirely sure that it was a lie. He glanced at Techno, and gave him a sincere smile, and Tommy’s heart panged, knowing he’s never been looked at that way by his father.

“I’d like you, to tutor Tommy on this topic, if that’s alright, Techno.” Techno didn’t respond, blowing some of his pink hair out of his face.  Tommy looked at his hands, which were set over each other on his lap. There were scars on them, from back when he played baseball. He remembered when he and Wilbur would try to play baseball without gloves and they broke Tommy’s hand back when both were still in elementary, a faint white splotch of skin from the accident on his hand.

The more Tommy stared, the more he noticed the lighter skin ruined the pattern of the triangles, and all he wanted to do right now was rip it out. He felt Techno’s gaze on him, and Tommy didn’t dare to look back.

“Alright. I don’t see any harm in tutoring him.” Techno then replied, and Phil smiled. “Good. You and Tommy can go to the library to begin, if you wish.” Phil smiled. “Dad, why was I called here? I don’t see how this issue concerns me.” Wilbur explained with a slight scoff at the end.

“I just wanted to show you how well Thomas has been doing in school. I’m sure you’d never get that bad of a score, correct? ” Tommy froze. “You wanted Wilbur here to mock me ?!” Tommy wanted to scream. Instead, he dug small crescents into his palm. “I… I understand.” Wilbur muttered, just loud enough for his words to bounce off the walls.

“All of you are dismissed.” Phil said. Tommy struggled to get up, having to wait for his brothers to get up first before he could even move. Apparently, Techno thought he was struggling, so he held out his hand for Tommy to grab and pull him up.

Tommy got up by himself. He left the room without a word, not even a glance going to his two brothers or his father. Techno walked by his side. “Are we going to the library, or do you wish to go back to class?” Techno asked him. “Either or. Don’t care.” Tommy spoke, even if it was just a little. 

“Alright then, we can go to the library.” Techno volunteered to make the decision, then he led Tommy to the large double doors. Opening them, the smell of musty books overwhelmed Tommy, even if he’s been there many times beforehand. 

“We aren’t studying by the way,” Techno pointed out.

“But father said–”

“Do you care what he says?” Techno asked. Tommy paused, clicking his tongue. “What’re we doing then?” Tommy then asked. “Well, I’m looking for a book on greek mythology.” Techno briefly explained. “For what, some shit assignment in your literature class?” Although Tommy didn’t know much about his brothers ever since entering High School, he’s known that Techno has been fond of literature, such as poems and stories.

“No, it’s for my own interest.” Techno explained, scrolling through the seemingly endless aisles of books. Tommy sat at one of the tables as soonly, Techno came back. This time, he was holding a leatherback book, the leather a dark red color, almost brown. 

“Do you know who Theseus is, Tommy?” Techno asked. Tommy tilted his head. “A god, I’d think,” Tommy responded, “Close, he’s a demigod. ” Techno said. “What’s a demi-god?” Tommy asked, “First, no hyphen. Second of all, maybe pick up a book and learn yourself.” Techno rolled his eyes jokingly and Tommy did the exact same.

Instead of listening to Techno’s advice, Tommy instead looked deep into his bag, searching for one thing. His phone. Upon finding the white and red case (one that Techno told him looked like candy canes), he opened Google. “ What is Theseus known for.” Tommy typed in, saying the search out loud.

“Ah, so you can read.” Techno chuckled dryly. Tommy rolled his eyes, before replying with, “I'm literally only a few years younger than you.” Tommy said, before reading the result of his search out loud. “Likely the most famous of Theseus' deeds was the slaying of the Minotaur. Athens was forced to pay an annual tribute of seven maidens and seven youths to King Minos of Crete to feed the Minotaur, half man, half bull, that inhabited the labyrinthine palace of Minos at Knossos.” Tommy read out loud.

“Ew, sounds like something a nerd would do.” Tommy scoffed jokingly, turning off his phone before he could get more weird glares from the old ass librarian. “Well that “nerd” in question, reminds me of you.” His brother responded. 

Tommy paused.

“ How? ” 

“Theseus overcame a large obstacle, using his wits,” Techno explained. “It reminds me of you.” He shrugged. “What’s my big obstacle then?” Tommy asked, no more mockery in his voice. Techno stood up, putting his bag on. “Your mind is your own obstacle.” He explained. Tommy looked back at his hands, the light patch, to be specific. 

He didn’t scratch and pick at the scar like he had when he was with his father, instead rubbing it softly with the pad of his thumb. “Theseus, don’t underestimate your power.” With that, Techno left. 

What a condescending bitch. 

Chapter Text

“I still don’t know where the screws are in this closet–” Tubbo inturrupted him.

“ Independant Study Space, ” he reminded the younger person next to him. “Who cares, it’s the size of a closet!” Micheal rolled his eyes, pink hair flowing down to his shoulders. “Alrighty, c’mere.” Micheal sat on the opposite side of his small desk, hair facing Tubbo. Tubbo took a small hairtie from his wrist, it had small daisy flower designs on them, and twisted them around Micheal’s hair.

If it was longer, he could’ve put it in a bun, but he put it in a small ponytail instead, to keep it out of his eyes. “Thanks!” Micheal chirped, hopping off of Tubbo’s desk. Micheal was one of Tubbo’s students, to say, although he was a student himself. 

Because of Tubbo’s hatred for human interaction, Principal XD put him into a program called Independant Study Program, where as long as Tubbo could complete the studies like worksheets and tests, he was free to do whatever other extra curricular activity he wished. Because of that, he was given a student, from the local middle school, to help too.

That student just happened to be Micheal, Both, luckily, shared the same love for robotics and building, they both worked together on Core subjects, as well as mechanics. Tubbo may or may not consider Micheal as his son…

“Anyway, screws are in that drawer,” he pointed to the small white plastic bin in the corner of the room. Micheal walked over and took a handful of small screws, and Tubbo sat down at the couch that they managed to squish in.

“Tubbo, did you hear?” Micheal asked, grabbing a screwdriver. “I have not heard.” Tubbo replied sarcastically, and Micheal scoffed. “Well, MCYT High’s going broke, apparently.” Micheal shrugged, putting the screwdriver down and picking the wrench up. Tubbo took interest, lifting an eyebrow.

“Continue.” He said.

“Apparently, everyone’s gonna be transferred to that other school, DSMP High.” Micheal smiled, kicking his legs in a rhythm. “And you’re going with us, I assume?” Tubbo asked. “Yeah, Mr. XD told me.” Micheal chirped.

Before Tubbo could form a proper response, an announcement aired out through their small closet– room. 

“All students, please attend to the buses at the front entrance, there will be a ceremony at DSMP High regarding the move.”

Micheal looked up at the small speaker in the room, before grabbing Tubbo’s hand. “Quick, we can’t be late!” Micheal shoved his backpack on, before running out. “Micheal, I don’t even have my laptop packed!” Tubbo yelled back, hopping off of his bed to grab the strap of his bag, then shove his laptop into it’s sliver of space.

Upon exiting the room, Micheal was waiting for them, although he was clearly more enthusiastic than Tubbo could ever be about anything. 

The outside was worse, administrators screaming at mis-behaving students with large microphones, telling them in a nice way to get the fuck in a bus. Tubbo and Micheal climbed on a lesser known one near the back, which barely had any people in. Tubbo went on first, Micheal right after him. He chose a seat towards the back, hoping to hide the invention he was working on in his bag.

“D-Do you have the code?” Micheal muttered. He was usually more quiet and prone to stuttering, as you could see just now, when he was in public. “Yup. Device?” Tubbo held out his hand, and a clunk of metal was handed to him. But that wasn’t any clunk of metal. 

He got his laptop back out and used a wire to connect the two, along with the code. “It didn’t explo–” Micheal almost cheered, but that wouldn’t have been the best thing to hear on a moving bus with tons of students. 

Unlike this time, the last time they tried this, they almost blew up their room, which wasn’t exactly the best. All the machine was was a small compass, one that lit up red in the direction of something. That something is anomalies. 

That’s another thing that Micheal and Tubbo bonded over, their love for the unnatural because it was so unpredictable. Their lifegoal was, together, to make it easier to predict. “Micheal, what are you doing on this bus?” Principal XD appeared in the aisle as the bus stopped. Both boys gasped, and Tubbo slammed his laptop shut. “T-The announcement said all students, s-so I thought–” Micheal was cut off by the principal ruffling his hair, slightly drifting the hairtie down his ponytail.

“No need to ramble on, Micheal. I understand your confusion. However, it’s not required for you to attend the ceremony. I can take you to McDonalds, if you’d like.” Micheal lit up, but his expression faded as he looked at Tubbo for approval.

“I’ll be alright, Micheal.” He leaned into Micheal’s ear and whispered, “Save me some chicken nuggets.” Micheal giggled. “Alrighty then, McDonalds!” He chirped. When Principal XD turned away, he handed the compass over to Tubbo, because the project may or may not have been classified knowledge.

Micheal stood next to the principal, and waved to Tubbo as he put the compass around his neck like a necklace, then exiting this bus, alone.

Before Tubbo could even exit the bus, he heard the compass beep. Tubbo got off the bus, thinking it was mismeasurement, before it beated again. Tubbo stopped in his tracks as the small red pointer pointed forwards, towards the entrance.

Nobody’s looking, Tubbo noticed. Without thinking, he bolted in. Walking inside the school, he noticed that DSMP High was much nicer than MCYT’s. The halls had shiny lockers, even a statue at the front gate. To be frank, it was a huge upgrade from MCYT, but that’s probably why they were merging.

When he walked towards the library, the compass beeped louder. Tubbo stared at the compass continuously, taking small steps towards the anomaly, making sure not to pass it. 

Well, until he bumped into someone. Both tell to the floor, and Tubbo smacked his head against one of the pillars. “Shit!” The other muttered, rubbing their head. “Sorry!” Tubbo quickly apologized, and the boy that he bumped into stared at him with confusion. 

He had raggy, blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. Tubbo helped the boy up. “I’ve never seen you around,” He pointed out, folding his arms across his chest, “I-I’m from MCYT.” Tubbo replied, and the other hummed. “Figured.” He held out his hand, for Tubbo to shake. “Tommy Innit.” He introduced himself. “Tubbo Underscore!” Tubbo responded.

“Isn’t that the last name of the mayor?” Tommy muttered, although it sounded like he was talking to himself. Tubbo froze, and tried to do anything other than making eye contact.

“Anyway, I can show you to the gym if you want. It’s super cool!” Tommy hummed. “S-Sure, I think I’m supposed to go there anyway.” Tubbo explained, mumbling the last bit. “Alright, just follow me.” Tommy began to walk, and he noticed that they walked by the Principal’s Office, which looked extremely nice. 

Tubbo made eye contact with the principal, who gave him a soft smile. “The principal seems nice,” He commented, and he watched Tommy tense up, but keep walking, as Tubbo followed behind him. “Sure– He’s so fucking amazing, ” Tommy mumbled, and Tubbo had the feeling that he was being sarcastic.

“His room is nice,” Tubbo pointed out as well. Tommy grumbled something to himself and Tubbo tried to listen in, to no avail. Before Tubbo could process it, the compass arrow spun, like there was anomalies all around him! 

Tubbo held the compass, as it lifted itself out of Tubbo’s palms, then directed towards Tommy. He let it happen, the compass seemed to open and the now red fumes coming off of Tommy was sucked into the compass.

Tommy rubbed his eyes, and leaned against the locker. Tubbo managed to clamp the compass shut just as Tommy’s gaze set on him. “Goddamn, I-I don’t feel so good…” He mumbled, closing his eyes. Tubbo looked at the compass, then at Tommy, switching his gaze back and forth.

“ What the fuck was that?! ” Tubbo thought to himself. “Is the anomaly… Tommy? ” Tubbo asked himself, looking as the student lifted himself off of the locker. “A-Alright, I’m fine,” Tommy muttered, before continuing to walk it off.

Tubbo followed him, ignoring all the floating thoughts in the back of his mind. “You could study him,” a voice pointed out in his head. “Imagine if every time he got angry or whatever, the compass would capture his energy!” Another replied.

Tubbo ignored, and put his hand on Tommy’s shoulder, although he was quite shorter than Tommy. “You’re pretty cool, Tommy.” Tubbo chirped. Tommy paused, and smiled. “I know!” He boasted. Tubbo giggled and they appeared to have gotten to the gym. 

“This is the gym,” Tommy pointed out the obvious as the door opened. It seemed like the bleachers were clearly split by school. “I guess this is where we split,” Tubbo mumbled, and Tommy nodded. “Guess so.” Tommy gave him a salute, before going off to his side of bleachers.

Tubbo decided (well, it was the only seat left) to sit next to a tall student, with brown hair and a half black and half white mask. 

He saw both Principals at the front, Principal XD (with Micheal hidden behind his robe) and the one who smiled at him, next to each other on the stage. “Alright everyone,” the other principal silenced the students quiet chattering. “If you don’t know, I’m Principal Phil, if you didn’t know me already,” Principal Phil looked at the MCYT side of the bleachers. 

“It is an honour to bring you students here to this school, and I hope you will be able to mingle with our original students, as well.” He smiled. “But to help with ‘getting to know each other’ per say, we’ll be holding a set of games– or competitions if you will. Principal XD will explain further, if you will.” Principal Phil handed the microphone to the other principal.

“Yes, it’s true. To help you mingle and know each other, a set of games will be held. There will be four games in total, one academic, one athletic, one strategic, and the final is a combonation of all three.” Principal XD explained.

“Why not just host five, in case there’s a tie?” Tubbo muttered to himself. The tall guy next to him nodded in agreement. “I was just thinking about that!” He whispered, before paying attention back to XD. 

“They will be held over a span over two weeks, on every Wednesday and Friday. Understand?” Principal XD asked. No, Tubbo wanted to say. “This is dumb.” Tubbo told the guy next to him, and he nodded with him. “It is, who would want to do this?” He asked.

Tubbo shrugged as the principals then excused everyone. He ran for Micheal, who was sitting at the edge of the stage, swinging his legs off in a similar fashion of how he would with the desk back at their room. “Micheal!” Tubbo cheered, and Micheal hopped down and hugged Tubbo. 

“I’ve got some news for you!” Tubbo hummed. They went to a secluded hallway. “What is it?” Micheal asked. Tubbo tried to open the compass again as he explained the story, “I met this guy, he got really angry when I mentioned Principal Phil, and these sort of red fumes formed from his body, and the compass opened up and captured the energy!” The compass popped open, finally. 

“Like those fumes, but red?” Micheal pointed to more of more familiar looking fumes, this time in a purple color. “Wait… C’mon Micheal, you’ve gotta see this in action!” Tubbo dragged Micheal along the trail of purple smoke, leading him to a crowd of people, where he couldn’t see who exactly could hold the anomaly. 

He handed the compass to Micheal as the fumes sucked into the compass, like before with Tommy. “Oh my prime, this is awesome!” Micheal chirped. The fumes disappeared shortly after, and Tubbo helped Micheal clamp the compass shut.

“We have tone of research to do.” Micheal pointed out, and Tubbo nodded in response. They surely did. 

Chapter Text

Monday

To be frank, Tommy was not looking forward to that fucking stupid competition. The line between the two schools was even more bold, despite them technically being a part of the same school, now. 

Tommy’s math class (the first class of the day), for example, had a seating change, and the two schools were separated on both sides. Perhaps the teacher knew that if they mixed them together, there’d be more chaos. Or maybe he was also one of the competitive people who wanted the two sides to stay separate.

“ I wish Tubbo went to DSMP. ” Tommy quietly wished to himself. He hasn’t seen Tubbo much since yesterday, although Tubbo has given him occasional waves from across the hallway. They do share two classes together, one of which was the class that he mentioned earlier, where they were still separated.

The other class was at the end of the day, or his engineering class. Tubbo was (luckily) seated next to Tommy. Tommy hated engineering with a burning passion, but Tubbo had a different kind of passion for it. Tubbo would usually help Tommy on the wiring assignments (Tommy could never understand how wiring works). 

“What’s that necklace?” Tommy would ask him, once he finally got to his final class. “Uhm, it’s a gift from… From my little brother!” Tubbo explained with a nod. “It looks like a compass,” Tommy pointed out. “Well, it is!” His friend replied. “I-It’s a compass that’s– Instead of pointing North, it points to him, yeah!” He explained.

“He’s a builder like you, huh.” He jokingly rolled his eyes. “Guess it runs in the genes,” He added. “Actually, Micheal’s… Adopted. I just carry this around because– It took a while for him to get close to us.” Tubbo commented.

“Anyway, it’s a cool compass.” Tommy shrugged, trying to hide his smile. “Of course my only friend is a good person.” He thought to himself. “Thanks! Do you have any siblings?” Tommy knew that it was an innocent question, but still, he felt his muscles involuntarily tense.

“No. I don’t.” Tommy replied, his voice empty, as the memories of his brothers flashed through his mind. Seconds bled by slowly, and Tubbo nodded. “You’d make a pretty cool older brother, I’d think.” Tubbo shrugged.

“Really?” 

“Yeah! Younger siblings need a good role model, and I’d say you’d be a pretty cool one!” Tubbo giggled, and Tommy felt warm. It– It was like when Mumza wrapped him hugs when he was in middle school, or got a decent test grade– or when he made breakfast for his family (back then, of course. Nowadays, nobody has time for breakfast) and they’d give him endless praises on his almost burnt bacon.

“T-Thanks, Tubso.” Tommy mumbled. “Aww, nicknames already?” Tubbo teased. “Shut it!” Tommy replied jokingly, getting a chuckle out of Tubbo. Although the class might’ve been giving them strange looks, that was the last thing on his mind.

“Now’s your chance,” A voice in Tubbo’s head pointed out, yellow fumes forming off of Tommy’s figure. “He isn’t looking~” Another voice added, temptingly. Tubbo opened his compass as fumes sucked the yellow away, into a small orb of color– power forming in the middle of the compass. 

It’s so easy to lie to him, Tubbo thought, watching as Tommy’s shoulders sagged. God, that whole adopted Micheal lie is absolutely going to be blackmail for him.

“Why should I take you to get ice cream?” Tubbo would ask one day, probably not long from now. “Because technically, I’m your adopted brother who gave you the compass that pointed to me!” Micheal would probably reply. 

He snapped the compass shut, and when Tommy looked back at Tubbo, he looked like shit. Before Tubbo could ask if Tommy was alright (knowing very well that he wasn’t ), Mr. Dude clapped his hands, catching everyone’s attention. 

“Alrighty, it’s the end of the day, so you may pack up!” He exclaimed, excited to leave himself. Tubbo got up, as well as Tommy, just less quickly. “Tom, are you alright?” Tubbo asked, putting his hand on Tommy’s shoulder. He lifted it as he noticed how quickly he tensed up.

“Yeah. Tired.” He managed to mutter out, shifting his bag onto his shoulders. “Hey, you’re Tubbo, right?” Someone, one in a black hoodie with some sort of flame design on it, as well as a black bandana greeted.

“Yep, Tubbo’s my name!” Tubbo responded. “Sweet, you’re from MCYT right?” He asked. Tubbo hesitantly nodded. “Awesome, I’m Eryn by the way,” Eryn held out his hand, and Tubbo shook it happily, before looking past Tubbo and at Tommy. “Oh, you’re Tommy!” Eryn greeted as well.

“Huh..? Oh, yeah, Tommy.” Tommy muttered. Clearly, Tubbo took a lot of his energy, even if it was unintentional (Tubbo doesn’t mention the smile that tugged at his lips as the yellow dissipated, until nothing was left). “I’m in a bunch of your classes, nice to meet you!” Eryn smiled, and Tommy shook his hand.

“I hope we can all get along, that’d be pretty cool.” He looked back at Tubbo “Same.” Tubbo muttered, loud enough for Eryn to hear. Students were staring, Tubbo noticed. Ignoring that, Tubbo noticed that more energy formed off of him in a combination of red and black fumes.

“ I don’t think that Eryn’s energy is like Tommy’s, ” Tubbo noted to himself. “While Tommy’s color depends on his mood, Eryn’s might just be continuous, because it isn’t changing, ” He added. Eryn slipped on his bag. 

“Would you mind if I sat with you guys at lunch? I’ve been sitting at a loners table, but I’d rather sit with people that I actually know the names of.” Eryn asked. Tubbo and Tommy exchanged glances, knowing well that they didn’t eat lunch together. Ever since Tubbo’s arrived, Mr. Dude’s taken a liking to him, letting him each lunch and work on his inventions, with Micheal in his company of course.

“Well, we don’t eat together, but we could go to you if you want.” Tommy replied, and Eryn beamed. “Yeah, that’d be awesome!” Eryn hummed. “Sweet.” Tubbo added. Before Eryn could make more conversation, the bell rang, indicating the end of the day. Most of the students cleared out, Tommy (although slowly) and Eryn were among those students, although Tubbo stayed.

“Mr. Dude?” Tubbo walked up to his teacher. “Mr. Sam’s fine, Dude’s weird.” Mr. Sam insisted. “Oh, Mr. Sam?” Hec corrected himself. “Yes, Tubbo?” Mr. Sam replied, satisfied. “I’m probably not going to be here during lunch. Eryn invited me and Tommy to sit with him.” Mr. Sam gave him a soft smile.

“Oh, that’s alright. I’d rather have you making some friends instead of spending your time here anyway.” Mr. Sam looked around to make sure nobody was around. “I feel like these games are going to separate the schools more, but the principal’s aren’t willing to listen…” Mr. Sam mentioned. “That’s what I thought!” Tubbo responded.

“Well, great minds think alike, right?” Mr. Sam chuckled. Tubbo nodded enthusiastically. Tubbo was finally starting to feel like he (somewhat) belonged here.

Tommy shut the door, yelling out, “I’m home!” Nobody replied. Techno was at chess club, Wilbur was probably impressing some girl with his horrible songs, and fathe– Phil was in a meeting at school. 

“I saw you talking to two boys in engineering while I was passing by,” Wilbur pointed out, appearing from Phil’s home office. “Are they your friends?” He pushed, and Tommy felt his nails dig into his palms. 

“Go swan dive off a cliff.” Tommy bluntly stated, before walking by Wilbur. “Just make sure to study, or else you’ll get another bad grade!” Wilbur hummed, endlessly teasing Tommy. “Fuck off!” He yelled, running up the stairs. 

“Hey, don’t talk to your brother that way!” Wilbur joked sarcastically, a roll of his eyes following shortly after. Tommy didn’t responded, but if he could, he would say; “You aren’t my brother.” Instead, Tommy slammed his door shut, pulling out his bag.

He should probably study, like Wilbur suggested.