Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy was having what can be described as a 'good day.' His bruising had finally healed and he was top dog at the orphanage. At least his shit wouldn't get stolen now. This is all ruined when one of the workers, Cass (?) comes into the room.

"Pack up Jean is coming to pick you up," she says in the most monotone voice ever.

Tommy shoves everything that he owns into a small bag that he got from the last home. When he's done he grabs his bag of items and walks out to the car where Jean was waiting for him. Apparently Jean had found him a new home to look after him.

He gets in the car scowling. He knows what this means. This means he has to go to another shit family that thinks they can fix him. Savior complexes and all that shit. He voices this opinion.

"Once again here to take me to a shit family that thinks they can fix me?"

Jean sighs, "Tommy, I promise that this family is good. Mr. Watson has a very good track record and has experience dealing with cases like yours." Jean says in a tone, not unlike one trying to calm a dog.

"You don't have to say 'cases like mine', just say I'm on fuck-up and we can move on," Tommy sneers.

He does feel the slightest bit of guilt when he sees the hurt flash across Jean's face. He quickly shoves it back down. He had believed her the first 5 homes, and look at where that got him. Tommy watches as she sighs and pulls out her phone, he panics slightly at the implications of that before he is handed the phone.

"Mr. Watson said he would call right around now. He said he wanted to give you a bit of info about what the house is like,"

"That is oddly ominous and I can't say I like it," Tommy grumbles as he takes the phone.

As if summoned, the phone rings, and who would have guessed, Phil Watson was the caller. Tommy answers with a sigh and starts to wonder if this is going to be an enjoyable house.

"Hello, this is Phil Watson. I was wondering if I could speak to Tommy?"

"You're speaking to him."

"Ah, great! I was calling to tell you some stuff beforehand, like house set-up and such,"

Tommy frowns at the phone. Great, another person who thinks that if they're happy and cheerful Tommy is just going to magically be the perfect son. Not today.

"I really don't care," Tommy hisses through the phone.

"Tommy be polite!" Jean whispers.

Tommy glares at her. He was told to be himself and here he was. But, he had learned one time that when Jean says something, you do it. As Tommy goes to apologize (in a very sarcastic manner that would include a lot of moping), he is met with laughter.

"Mate, Wilburs going to love you if you talk like that!" Phil wheezes through the phone. "He is always going on about how people around here need to be more truthful!"

Tommy stares at the phone receiver as if it had just implied his mother was a lama. Was Phil laughing at what he said? Did Phil think it was a joke? Tommy goes to ask when the phone is snatched from his hands. He looks at Jean and realizes she's trying to do damage control.

"I'm sorry about that Mr. Watson. Would you like to continue what you were going to say?"

"Nah mate, it's ok. Techno was like that too when I first got em'. Anyways as I was saying I called to inform you that you have two brothers and-"

Tommy zones out after that because he is not going to listen to some old man ramble about a house and family he wasn't going to be staying at very long. Jean seems to realize this and just sighs. He watches as she basically hangs up on him and looks back at him.

"We'll be there in four hours, try and get some sleep."

Tommy just tells her to fuck off before putting on his headphones and looking out the window. He watches as the bustling city turns into a forest of oranges, reds, and yellows. He had always thought fall was the best season. He closes his eyes and decides that maybe going to sleep isn't the worst idea.

He wakes up to Jean shaking him. He groans and tries to roll over when he realizes something.

"Where the fuck are we?" He asks in a very confused manner.

"We are at Phil's house. I was going to let you sleep but I think if you woke up to some random person you might punch them in the face." She says with a small smile.

Tommy frowns and grabs his bag. He makes sure everything is still there. An iPod touch, some shitty headphones that only work on one side, and Henry, his prized stuffed cow. That is everything he owns to his name and he'll kill before losing any of it. A quick check shows that it is all still there and he hops out of the car. He tries to flatten his hair only to give up. Hopefully, they aren't the type that expects properness at all times. He would run if they were. House five was like that and he hated every second of it.

He hops out of the car and walks with Jean to the front door. He starts to pick at his nails as they wait for the door to open. They startle a bit as the door swings open and reveal a tall, brown-haired person in what seems to be fuzzy pajamas. Tommy watches as he seems to process what is going on when he starts smiling.

"Phil the kids here!" The stranger yells down the hall.

"I'm not a kid!" Tommy says to hide his wince, if they yelled a lot in this house he was going to be fucked. He couldn't handle yelling. He couldn't dwell on this much as a shorter man rounds the corner.

"No need to be so loud Wilbur I was just down the hall," the man says with a smile. Tommy realizes that this must be Phil Watson, the one he talked to on the phone.

"Hi, I'm Phil if you couldn't tell by the way Wilbur was all but yelling down the hall. Sorry bout' him I promise we aren't usually this loud," Phil says with a smile and a laugh. Tommy looks and sees that Jean has been hooked on his 'I'm a good person and father'. He definitely was staying here if Jean had anything to say about it. Unfortunately, she had all of the say in it.

"It's all good! I'm Jean and this is Tommy," she gestures to Tommy as she introduces him. He tightens his grip on his backpack to hide his shaking hands. He glances and sees that Jean is obviously expecting him to say hi but he doesn't. He instead decides to glare at the man in front of him and sizes him up. This makes it a bit awkward but Phil breezes right through it.

"If you will come this way we can fill out all the necessary paperwork!" Phil smiles and leads Tommy and Jean to the dining room. He stands there awkwardly. He doesn't really want to stand there and listen to Jean tell Phil all that is wrong with him. Phil notices and smiles, "I'm sure Wilbur wouldn't mind showing you around, this is all boring paperwork anyway."

It seems that Wilbur doesn't mind as he just gestures for Tommy to follow him.

"Okay, so I haven't properly introduced myself but my name is Wilbur. Techno isn't here because he had a boxing class to go to. So if you follow me I can show you where," Tommy follows along as Wilbur shows him everything. He learns that Phil sleeps on the bottom floor but that is the only bedroom down there. Technos room is down the hall at the end and everyone shares a bathroom upstairs. He and Wilbur's bedrooms are across from each other and the extra room is Technos plant room. He frowns a bit at that last one.

"Plant room?"

Wilbur just smiles and opens the door. Low and behold the entire room is just filled with plants. Tommy freezes and looks around before turning straight around. He didn't want to deal with this right now. He hears Wilbur laugh and flushes red.

"I can understand how it might be a bit weird but you looked so surprised!" Wilburs laughs.

"Just show me my room," Tommy grumbles.

Wilbur finishes his little thing and leads Tommy to his room.

"Sorry that it's so bare, we didn't know what you liked," Wilbur says a bit awkwardly. Tommy didn't see the problem. It was quite a nice room. It had a lot of floor space and the bed looked super comfy. There's even a little sitting area next to the window. Tommy just shrugs and sets his bag on the bed.

"I'll let you get settled in. I'll be back when dinner is ready, ok?" Wilburs says from the door. Tommy just nods and he hears the door closed.

"Note to self: You are allowed to shut doors," he mutters to himself before falling face-first on the bed. His guess was right, this bed was comfy as fuck.

Chapter Text

Tommy is woken up by a knocking on his door. He groans as he registers the voice.

"Tommy, dinners going to be ready in about five minutes if you would like to come down," Wilburs voices calls through the door.

"I'll be down in a minute," Tommy calls back out to Wilbur. He hears Wilbur walk-off, probably to go tell Techno the same thing. Tommy rolls himself out of bed and lands on the floor with a thump. He groans and picks himself up and looks in the mirror.

"I look like I just got stuck in a wind turbine," he mutters in sight annoyance. He would make himself look more presentable but once again, no one told him any fucking rules in this house. He decides to just go downstairs but when he swings the door open he runs face-first into a wall. The wall makes a noise as he rams into it. Tommy then realizes,

"Why the fuck did the wall just make a noise?"

"Cause' I ain't a wall child," a monotone voice responds to his inquiry.

Wait, voice?

Oh shit.

He looks up to see a man looking at him with the most expressionless face ever. He then noticed his bright pink hair. What the fuck.

"Who the fuck are you?" Tommy asks in a very unhappy tone.

"Did Wilbur just forget to explain my existence to you? The names Techno." Techno responds

"What the fuck kinda name is Techno, you a type of rave music?"

He looks slightly offended for a second. Tommy then finally wakes up enough to realize that this is THE Techno. The one who happens to take boxing. As Tommy prepares silently for his funeral and panics inside he realizes that Techno has just, left. Like straight up just walked away.

"What god is on my side today," Tommy mumbles as he walks down the stairs. When he gets downstairs he sees Wilbur and taps him on the shoulder.

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, TOMMY. Where in the hell did you come from?" Wilbur works.

Tommy flinches slightly at the volume. Luckily Wilbur is too busy trying to lower his heart rate to a healthy beat rate.

"I came down the stairs dip-shit. Where else would I have come from, your ass?"

"Well no, but you were silent!"

"No, you're just clinically deaf." Tommy then proceeds to walk away. Silently. Wilbur just stares at him in silent horror.

Tommy is making his way to the dining room when he sees a wall of pictures. He stops and stares at them. A lot of families had these walls but most of the time it didn't get past the kid's childhoods. This wall is different. He watches as there is a very pretty woman in a wedding photo with Phil, but it appears that she isn't in the photos with Techno and Wilbur. There is definitely a story behind that.

"Hey mate, do you need help finding the dining room?" Phil asks coming from nowhere.

"No, I know how to get there old man." Tommy responds, "I'm not a kid."

Phil seems to be offended by being called an old man. Tommy freaks out a bit before noticing that he's smirking a bit.

"Wilbur! The kid just called me old!" Phils calls out.

"He's not exactly wrong, old man." A monotone voice responds.

"Techno! You betray me like this?"

"Yes."

Tommy watches this conversation in interest. So this is the family dynamic. Phil has somehow led him to the dining room during the argument (?) he and Techno had been having.

"C'mon mate we're going to be having some potatoes and steak, it that good?" Phil asks, looking back at Tommy.

Tommy stares at him. Did Phil think he was going to say no? It could be shit and piss and Tommy would still smile and eat it. He had learned the hard way that saying no resulted in no food for a long period of time.

"That sounds good," Tommy says in a monotone voice. He sees Phil look at him weirdly, was his tone not happy enough?

"Techno is rubbing off on you mate," he says with a grin.

Tommy stares blankly before nodding and going to the dining room. He sees that Wilbur and Techno have already set everything out and are sitting at what seems to be their assigned spots. He frowns before noticing another seat next to Wilbur.

"Is that where I'm sitting?" He had learned to ask before sitting down at dinner tables. Apparently sitting somewhere wrong was a heinous crime against humanity.

"Yup! Phil likes to sit at the head of the table, though we don't have designated spots." Wilbur says with a smile. Tommy just grimaces slightly at the thought of what would happen if he sat in Phils' spot. The very idea makes him twitchy. He just nods and sits down. He watches as everyone grabs some food, he watches carefully though. In some houses, it was free for all if you didn't get it then, you didn't get it at all. In other houses, it was very controlled. Wait until the parents get it, then the oldest to youngest. Then you, because you aren't family. As Tommy watches it appears to be a free for all, just not aggressive. He grabs some, but not too much. Taking too much usually resulted in it getting taken away. He waits to be reprimanded but it never comes. All Phil does is smile at him. Weird.

It was very quiet as they ate. Tommy didn't mind quiet but it was plain awkward at this point. He was going to ask to be excused when he suddenly ate some of the fat on the meat. He couldn't handle the fat, it was slimy and it made him want to throw up. He really hadn't meant to but he spits it out like it was poison. He gagged and felt like someone had shocked his brain. He hears Wilbur ask if he's ok but he's just chugging water at this point. When he feels like his mouth hasn't been violated anymore he finally focuses back in. He gets a bit sad at the fact that due to his freak-out over the food he wouldn't be able to eat again. But rules are rules.

"Tommy are you okay?" Wilbur asks again.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I can't handle fat on meat. Makes me feel like someone violated my mouth," He whispers. He knew he should've eaten more.

"May I be excused?"

"Yeah sure mate, good night," Phil answers, looking concerned.

"Good night."

Tommy scurries up to his room after that and sits on his bed. Phil hadn't exactly yelled at him but it was enough seeing the look in his eye. He definitely wasn't eating for a while.

"Henry," he says mournfully looking at his cow plush "How does one fuck up this badly on their first day?"

At this point, he might break his record of getting sent back. Right now the record was a week, but with the way this is going, he'll be out in a day.

Chapter Text

Tommy wakes up with a groan, his freak-out meant that he might not get to eat. At some houses, it finishing your meal was ‘ungrateful’ and that he ‘needed to learn to value food’. They always made him value it. Whether it was not feeding him and locking him in a closet or making him sit at the table and watch everyone eat, they figured it out.

He lies in bed moping for a good 20 minutes before he sits up. Sitting in bed will do nothing to get him back into good graces, only there’s one problem.

What the fuck does he do?

He doesn’t know the rules. What if he’s not supposed to touch the bathroom cleaners? What is off-limits? Is he allowed in the others rooms? Is he allowed to leave his?

These unanswered questions cause him many problems. If he does nothing, he won’t get back into good graces. If he does something but breaks an unspoken rule it’s going to be worse. Maybe there’s something written around here like a guide-

“Tommy are you awake? I thought I heard something.” Phil’s voice calls through the door

Tommy walks to the door and opens it to stare at him. At least now he has something to do other than worry.

“Oh great you’re awake, I was wondering if you wanted to go room shopping today, considering your room is bare.”

Tommy tried his best to not show the genuine surprise on his face. Was it a trap? Is he allowed to say no? If Tommy’s being honest sitting in a car with this man alone sounds unenjoyable.

“Sure, what time are we leaving?”

Well fuck.

Tommy had not meant to respond. But guess his self-preservation had different ideas.

Phil brightens considerably for some reason.

“Well we can have out after breakfast, is that good with you.”

“I’m fine with that.”

“Well, breakfast is in about an hour. I’ll have Wil or Techno tell you when it’s done.”

“Ah thanks, uh goodbye.” Tommy says awkwardly before backing back into the room. Well, he was now signed up for a fun shopping day with his little ‘family’. Not to mention this family seems to be the sadistic type. ‘See you at breakfast’ while making him not eat seems like a bitch move. Not the first time it’s happened though.

He lies back down and sighs, this was going to be a fun affair. He makes the executive decision to go and take a nap because this shit wasn’t fucking worth it. Sleep was always kind to him and that didn’t change no matter where he went.

He wakes up to a knocking on his door.

“Tommy, breakfast is ready downstairs.” Wilbur says faintly. Tommy doesn’t realize but Wilbur has actually been standing there for five minutes trying to get him up out of his slumber.

“I’ll be down in a second,” Tommy calls back to Wilbur, mentally preparing for this. He looks in the mirror and takes a deep breath to hype himself up.

“You got this, you’ve gone days without eating before this will be fine. It’s just one breakfast, what could go wrong?”

A lot apparently. But let’s backtrack. Tommy had come downstairs and just sat down and did nothing. He noticed the stares from the others but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was when Wil asked why he wasn’t eating. Apparently

“I’m not allowed to eat,”

Was not the correct answer. In fact, it seemed to be the directly wrong answer. They all just kinda stared at him before exploding (not literally, more like freaking out).

“What do you mean you can’t eat?!” Wil yells

Tommy winces slightly at the volume. “Are you deaf? I messed up last night so I can’t eat, simple as that dumbass.”

“Tommy, why do you think that?” Phil asks in a low voice. Tommy doesn’t like that voice much but that just makes him answer.

“At the houses that’s how it was! They said every house was like that, why would yours be any different?”

“Tommy that’s not normal. No one does that. That’s child abuse.”

And like Tommy’s world stops for a bit. He can’t breathe. What do they mean that’s child abuse? That would imply he’s weak. He doesn’t get abused right? He’s too much of a big man. He can’t breathe, why does his chest feel heavy? Why does he feel floaty? Why the fuck are his hands not moving like they’re supposed to? It’s too much. Someone help, he wants help. Someone help him breathe. Why is no one help-

“Tommy focus on me.”

Phil? Oh is something happening? Wait focus on him.

It takes a bit of effort but he managed to focus his eyes on him.

“Tommy can I touch you?”

Yes.

Tommy nods, his voice failing him.

Phil grabs Tommy's hands and holds them tight.

“Ok Tommy I need you to tell me 5 things you can see.”

Tell him? That’s going to be difficult but he’ll try.

“I can see a plant, the table, you, a plate, and the light.”

“Very good now 4 things you can feel.”

“I can feel my sweat, my shirt, your hands, and the chair” he chokes out. This is getting easier.

“I’m very proud of you, now 3 things you hear.”

“My voice, your voice, and the hum of the refrigerator.”

Phil smiles at him nicely. “You’re doing great Tommy, now 2 things you can smell.

Smell? That’s odd but what can one do. “ I smell eggs and sausage.”

“Only one more Toms, one thing you can taste.”

“I taste blood. I think I bit my tongue.”

Phil stares at him before saying something a bit strange.

“Tommy, are you back?”

“The fuck you mean old man? I’ve been here.”

Phil just lets go of his hands and steps back.

Suddenly Wilbur comes flying out of nowhere and hugs him.

“Get off me you fucking gremlin!” Tommy tells in hopes of getting out of the death grip.

“No.”

Well looks like he’s going to stay here.

SIKE

He wiggles out of the man's grasp and quickly hops up. He had escaped and did not plan on getting caught and put back into that grasp. Wilbur just smiles at him before walking off seemly satisfied.

The rest of breakfast is uneventful. At least for them. They had given him breakfast and now he was confused but happy. He wondered what he did to deserve this but knew better than to question small liberties like this.

“Anyways Tommy, are ready to go to the mall?”

Chapter Text

Tommy didn’t know how he got here. He had pretended to be fine after his panic attack but that was a blatant lie. The only reason his hands weren’t shaking is because he had too much practice holding still. He had said he was perfectly fine to go to the mall but the amount of people there is making him doubt that. He was currently in his room just kinda staring into nothing. Hey, can he feel his-

“Tommy, are you ready to go? Or do you need a few more minutes?” Phil says.

Oh, well now that his windows update is done he needs to get up. Maybe the mall will prove enough of a distraction for him to calm down.

——

It doesnt.

This was the worst FUCKING IDEA.

Why the hell is the population of India in here. There is no reason for this many people to be here on a Sunday afternoon. He doesn’t mean to but he matches on to the nearest thing. That thing happens to be Wilbur. He doesn’t really care that Wilbur is smiling like he won the lottery all he cares about is not y’know, dying.

“So, the game plan is that we’re going to go up and down and hit all the shops that we need to, alright? Bout’ halfway through we are going to stop for lunch and then continue. If at any time you guys need a break just say something and we’ll all take a break.” So he guesses that Phil is in charge due to the fucking sprang he just gave.

Tommy barely makes it to lunch. He had been dragged to IKEA, Walmart, Target, Old Navy (for some fucking reason), Hobby Lobby, some random fidget store that for some reason Technoblade and Wilbur seem to love. He had wanted one but he didn’t exactly know how Phil would react. He’ll just see if he can snatch one later.

The worst part is that that had only been the first half, and he still had lunch to get through. While he’s been contemplating his grand escape they’ve ended up in from of TacoBell. Now, Tommy will never admit it but if you want him to do something all it takes is some Taco Bell. To him, it’s the food of the heavens. But no one will ever find that out so as the order he begrudgingly orders his usual. A simple chicken taco with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and some beans. With a Dorito shell, of course.

When they sit down he has to let go of the death grip he has on Wilbur.

“Aw, are you sure you want to let me go? Haven’t let go of me this entire time.” Wilbur taunts in a playful tone

“Oh fuck off dickhead, I wasn’t grabbing onto you this entire time”

“I disagree, in IKEA you almost knocked over a lamp because you say a stranger try and talk to me. She was a store attendant you know.”

“She had a vicious look in her eye! Plus that lamp had not been there before. I was set up.”

“Really? Dad has Tommy had a death grip on me this entire time?”

“Don’t drag the old man into it!”

“Sorry mate, gotta go with Wilbur here. Ever since we entered you’ve had him in a grip that even God couldn’t get out of.” Phil chuckles.

Tommy is aghast, he thought he was being sneaky. He can’t have his cover blown so he has to get out the big guns.

“I have not had a death grip on Wilbur! I was just trying to get some lint off his shirt!” Tommy declares.

“You were grabbing my arm.”

“Fuck.”

At that point everyone just starts laughing. Tommy slumps in his seat. His big ace hadn’t worked and now his cover was blown. Now he had to work harder to restore it. Though some of his disappointment dissipates when he sees Technoblade chuckling.

“Holy shit Technoblade is laughing.” Tommy says like he was declaring the world was ending.

That somehow makes everyone laugh harder.

——

The last half isn’t too bad now that he’s decided that maybe he can leave Wilbur's lint alone. Overall in the end Phil had coerced him into buying a whole fucking closet of clothes, some sheets, and Henry! Now, who’s Henry you might ask. Well, Henry is his new prized possession. A cow plush. He also had seen some disks and made a note to get them at some point. Hopefully, before he leaves. As they get home everyone helps set up his room and that night while he’s alone in his room, he cries.

He cries because he knows he won’t stay here. He never does

He cries because even though he told himself to not get attached, Phil had helped him through a panic attack and Wilbur had let him hold his hand.

He cries because for once in his fucking life he feels almost safe and wanted.

But things like that aren’t for kids like Tommy. He ages out in a couple of years and by god, he hopes this house lasts longer than they usually do.

Chapter Text

(This is going to have some triggering subjects, I ask you to read the author's note above to see more.

There will be a line to separate the times, since the italics won't work for me lol.)

“God FUCKING damnit! Why are you so fucking annoying? Do you never shut up?” The man angrily yelled. He curls up in the closet. He flinches violently when he hears someone get hit and leans into the girl holding him. Her name was Linn, she was the biological kid.

“It’s ok Tommy, everything's going to be fine.” The tearful girl whispers into his ear. It’s a false promise because both of them know that if he is not satisfied with the mom they’re royally fucked.

Even worse, Linn had taken the last 5 ones and was in no shape to take another one.

They both flinch as they hear a body hit the floor. She’s probably not dead. But right now they have other problems. The steps up to their hiding spot were creaking ominously. They had found a new spot so they should be fine-

Oh shit.

The door whips open and Tommy stares and what can only be deemed a devil. He hears Linn let out a little sob and go to help 8-year-old Tommy but he was already getting dragged downstairs.

He sobs as he is thrown to the floor. That’s when the yelling starts.

“You’re fucking useless!” A kick.

“You eat so much and don’t even bring anything in!” Oo, a punch this time.

“And now you’re sitting here crying like a fucking weakling! Boys shouldn’t cry!” A stomp.

It hurts, It hurts, he wants it to stop. Please someone help!

The pain stops.

“Where am I now?” a 13-year-old Tommy asks.

“Why aren’t you eating?”

Tommy looks up and freezes. This is house 6. Otherwise dubbed as-
“If you don’t eat it as punishment, I won’t let you eat for the next 2 days.”

-The hunger house.

But the only problem is, Tommy can't eat anymore. He’s too full.

“I can’t ma'am,” Tommy's voice quivers as he responds.

A frown takes place. “Then to the closet you go, you ungrateful fuck.”

Shit.

“Wait please no I’m sorry-”

_________________________________________

“Tommy!” Wilbur's voice cuts through.

And so he wakes up and immediately looks around. He sets his eyes on Wilbur and narrows his eyes. His eyes sting and he realizes in horror that he’s been crying.

“Boys don’t fucking cry.” A voice whispers in his head, a remnant of the man before.

“What are you doing here?” He asks venomously. Wilbur had seen too much. This is bad.

Wilbur shuffles awkwardly on his feet but is still staring in concern. “I was going downstairs to get a glass of water and I heard you uh, begging?”

That’s all Tommy needs to hear. He feels anger rise inside him. Oh, he was so going to something he regretted. “So you barge into my room? What happened to fucking knocking? I’m fine and you should go now.”

“Are you sure? If it was a nightmare, you don’t have to feel bad-” Wilbur starts

“I fucking said, you should go now,” Tommy replies in a carefully controlled tone. He needs to calm down before he does something rash. Like, punch him in his fucking face.

“Ok, if you want,” Wilbur says, finally seems to get the fucking message. Doesn’t stop him from looking over his shoulder as he leaves. He looks all concerned. Probably for his own fucking self.

He stares at the door before realizing that the entire household will know in the morning that he was fucking having a freakout. Great. GREAT! Now they’ll get fucking mad and punish him. Waking Wilbur up with his fucking BEGGING? At this point, he might as well pack his bags…

Perfect idea Tommy. He should just fucking run. He didn’t want to deal with the pain of whatever twisted punishment Phil would come up with. He gets up and locks his door quietly and emotionlessly. He packs everything he owns in the backpack Phil got him. A black camping bag. He had insisted.

No one knew why.

He gets done in record time and leaves a note, just so they wouldn’t be inclined to look.

‘I called Sam, it wasn’t worth the punishment you would give me to tell you. Don’t look for me and don’t call Sam

Un-sincerely, Big man Innit’

Perfect.

And with that, he looks around at everything. He feels so tired. He had thought this was the one but he had seen Wl ur. And Wilbur saw him crying. The older brother would surely tell Phil and he just knew Phil was the ‘men shouldn’t cry' type. It was written all fucking over him. He grabs his bag, puts on his darkest clothing, and scales out the window silently. He had practice with this type of stuff, unfortunately. He makes it to the ground and fucking books it into the forest. The road was too risky.

And with that, he was free once again. Alone and free, for that’s how it’s supposed to be. Isn’t it?

_________________

Phils POV

He wakes up to WLbur frantically knocking on his door.

“Wil, it’s like 2 am, what's wrong?” Is the first thing out of his mouth.

“Tommy had a nightmare and I went in to comfort him. I know I broke the knocking rule but he was begging for someone to stop something,” Wilbur said breathlessly. He feels his breath catch, begging? Oh god.

“So I woke him up, right? And he was crying Phil and I guess he didn’t like me knowing. He got all angry and got me to leave so I did,”

“Wil, if you're worried he’s angry at you don’t worry.”

“NO! Dad, listen to me!” Wilbur damn nearly shouts.

“He fucking ran!”

And at those words, Phil has never moved faster. He runs into Tommy's room and sees the note. He feels his heart drop.

“Wil, when did you last talk to him?”

“I’m sorry but it was 2 hours ago Dad.”

Little did they know Tommy was currently in a very sketchy situation.

Chapter Text

Tommy had been running for a while now, maybe 30 minutes. He had never been very athletic and man was he regretting that. He sounded like someone who has fucking asthma and had been forced to run the mile. He is forced to slow down and drink some water. It was about 12, maybe 1 so nobody should be out right now. It was the prime time for escape and that he was. The only thing is, he wasn't trying to contact Sam, no-no-no. He was going to disappear. He was 15 and could take care of himself. After he caught his breath.

It takes a minute or two but he finally gets up and starts moving. he trudges along for a while trying to formulate a plan. Now that he's thought about it a bit. He really fucked up. He had been enjoying his stay, but that blow-up with Wilbur paired with him showing weakness was going to come back and completely fuck him over.

Now what the hell was he supposed to do? he is in the middle of fucking nowhere, in the woods, alone, no phone reception and he's 15. All he has is a fucking backpack. Not to mention he was lost! What the hell is he supposed to do?!

Good god. He's going to die out here, isn't he?

He's heard stories about people getting off the trail by a little bit and dying of starvation. He was, in the nicest way possible, FUCKED!

He couldn't go back to the foster family. No, they would for sure beat him and send him back. No, what he has to do is haul ass and get the fuck out of here because a bear fucking eats him. Tommy looks around desperately and picks a random direction. He guesses that it's the best possible route and starts sprinting. He knows logistically he's probably running further away from where he wanted to go but oh well.

He runs and runs and runs until he hits the floor. Fuck. He definitely ran more this time. That means he went in the wrong direction.

"Fuck, fuck FUCK!" Tommy mumbles into the dirt. He was properly over. He is just going to be marked a runaway and no one has ever cared enough to look for him. Oh, and he guesses he lied to the worker about trying. guess it doesn't matter since he's going to get eaten by a bear or some shit.

"Can you quit your moping?" A new character enters.

"No, I accidentally got lost and now I'm going to fucking die,"

"Really? that sucks." another voice pops in.

Wait, voice?

"Holy shit am I hallucinating?" He says, not even bothering to lift his head.

"Nope, we were sent to get you back buddy." Voice number one says.

"And who the fuck might you be?" Tommy asks, wanting to depart from life at the moment. He seems to realize how bad of a situation he is in. Get brought back? to what? Is he being kidnapped? not like he can fight them.

"Dream and Sapnap, at your service." voice number one, Dream (?) says.

"I'm also here, don't forget." another voice pops in. The poor person sounds tired as fuck.

Tommy realizes that he should probably run and well uh, he was good enough to do so. He just had to get away. He gets lifted to his feet while plotting and looks at his new captors. One was tall, about the same height as Tommy, with a mask on and a bright green hoodie (what the fuck kinda style does this person have?) The other was dressed in a black shirt with a flame printed on the font. He was also wearing those 'I'm cooler than you pants', y'know the ones with all the pockets?

Tommy glances around for the third and final (?) voice and good god, are those their pajamas?! With clout glasses?!

The outfit was horrendous enough that he felt the urge to remove his eyes.

He wobbles a bit before pushing away.

"Who the hell sent you for me?" he says, is he slurring?

"Oh shit, how hard did you hit your head?" The clout glasses one said.

"George! More tact, he's like a wild animal man." Sapnap says.

"A WILD ANIMAL? I WILL HAVE YOU KNOW I AM NOT A WILD ANIMAL YOU FUCKER!" Tommy tells him in a loud tone. Sapnap rolls his eyes and nods all condescendingly.

"Sire you aren't. You also aren't about to bolt right?" Dream says in a sarcastic tone. Too late fuckers, he was already sprinting away.

"Shit! Go get him before he gets himself killed!" George yells.

They had a good reason for the fact that there was a steeper drop up ahead that would hurt like a son of a bitch to roll down.

Tommy felt free as the wind. His head was pounding but he felt all floaty. Not for long because suddenly he gets fucking tackled by a behemoth of a person.

They hit the ground hard but luckily the person who had gotten him landed on the bottom.

He now struggled like a wild animal.

He was then properly dragged upwards and held in a way that made it impossible to move. Well fuck, Tommy knew an unbeatable fight when he saw one and this was one of them. He goes limp and decides to let god herself decide his fate. And for fucks sake let's hope she doesn't decide to fuck him over because he was now being dragged back in some random direction like a horror movie. Let's hope it doesn't end like one.