Chapter Text
The dream.
"I'm telling you Tubbo, it felt so fucking real! Like- it feels like a whole memory, you know?"
Tommy wouldn't shut up about that weird dream he had last night.
Unfortunately, the victim of his constant rambling that he couldn't seem to control was his new friend from yesterday, Tubbo. He never had a dream feel like that before, so real and every thought from then still engraved in his mind. Sometimes the mist surrounding him would hit a certain nerve on his skin that would relight the feeling of his other father's hand, petting him softly as he fell asleep.
The moment he woke up he practically tumbled down the stairs and into the living room. He opened the the door only to be met with the same brick wall he had seen the day prior. And no matter how many times he punched and kicked at the wall, and opened and closed the door hoping what was beyond it would change, he was met with the same rusty burgundy color every time.
After his half-meltdown in the living room he was told off by his parents to go let off his steam outside where he wouldn't break something.
So that's how he ended up here, sitting in the damp woods on a rock while Tubbo was.. trying to communicate with a bee? The morning air left the ground covered with white, milky looking mist. It covered the ground, so thick it almost looked like snow from afar. Tommy doesn't think he was a big fan of the mist, he couldn't properly see his feet beneath him or the ground below them, it made him feel a little unguarded, but so bad it'd stop him from going outside, just enough that he preferred to sit on a somewhat tall rock, above the mist.
"Mhm.."
Tommy was pretty sure Tubbo wasn't listening, more interested in the bees than the blond.
"Yeah.. you're not listening, are you?" He tilted his head at the back of Tubbo's to where the slightly older boy was kneeling ten or so feet away. "Y'huh.."
Tommy didn't hesitate to pick up a small pebble from next to him and chuck it at the brunet. A quiet yelp rung out as it collided right in between his shoulder blades, the bee in front of him flying away and onto another small flower patch. The older boy huffed and turned around to face the blond, a exasperated scowl tugging his lips down, "What the fuck, man!"
The blond snickered a bit, kicking his legs out in front of him to dangle of the edge of the rock. "Maybe you would've seen it coming if you were listening."
Tubbo stood up with a sigh, stretching his limps out from hunching over in such an awkward position for awhile. "Aren't you supposed to delivering that.. 'that' to those weird ladies right about now." The brunet gestured to the container in his lap as he spoke. His fluffy hair, alike to Tommy's, was disheveled quite a bit from the wet air and mist. Probably also because he was running around the forest at ten in the morning.
Tommy looked down to the container that his mother had given him this morning before he went out, the top covered in messily placed saran wrap. Inside was what he guessed was some sort of food, it was green-brownish and smelled like baked plants, so he guessed it was some vegetable dish or something. It was supposed to be a gift to their neighbors apparently, but knowing his parents cooking skills, it's less of a gift giving and more of an accidental assassination attempt. Though he didn't think he liked the sound of his neighbors, so it was ok.
Two weird ladies who lived in the basement of the pink palace, honestly sounded like they were the ones taking children, and he certainly would not be the next.
"They told me to take this to them when I go out, they did not say as soon as I got out, so as long as I give it to them before I go home, it's fine." Tommy smirked, sitting up straight. Tubbo did not seem that impressed, just raising his eyebrows and nodding, "Uhuh, of course," he walked over to boulder Tommy was sat on, "Still, you probably want to give them that oh so kind.. gift.. before it goes bad from the temperature or something."
Tommy shrugged, examining the thing with a disgusted glare, "Thanks for the advice, big man, but honestly don't think think it can get any worse."
The two laughed before Tubbo shoo'ed him away, saying he needed silence to concentrate on the bees, which Tommy complied, only after a few loud groans and shuffling his feet as loud as possible, aiming to annoy the boy, which sadly, did not seem to care all too much.
- - -
He eventually found himself on the doorstep to the two women's house. Noticing how the temperature down the stairs was surprisingly warmer than the air up on the normal ground, heat seeming to be pouring out from the crack under the door. The outside was littered with cringey decor, banners, dorky wind-chimes, and a doormat with a dumb joke to wrap it all up. Tommy found his dislike for the women growing even more, and he hadn't even met them.
The moment his fist met the distressed wood the sound of scrapping and weird.. barking?
The warmth exuding from the door only doubled as it slowly creaked open, revealing a surprisingly young woman with bright pink hair.
She looked to be maybe in her late twenties, which is no where near as young as Tommy, but still a lot younger than he expected. He was pretty sold on the idea that they were retired old ladies, not people with still so many more years left in their bodies.
The pinkette smiled at him, her eyes creasing friendlily, "Ah, you must be the boy of the family who just moved in upstairs, please come in, come in." She gestured inside, opening the door widely so he could step inside. The basement was actually a lot more welcoming than he expected, wooden floors, velvet curtains, and posters framed along every wall. Vintage looking furniture covered the room, most of the couches and chairs made from velvet as well. He didn't velvet very much, there was a velvet chair back at his old house and it felt very weird, he hoped that they had left it behind and it wouldn't end up back at their new house.
He looked down at his feet to see what he first thought was dogs, turned out they were foxes.
He's seen foxes in zoo's and stuff, but never out in the wild, and definitely never as pets, they didn't live anywhere near Tommy's old house. He was told foxes live in this area, but he didn't even really consider the idea that they could be domesticated.
They were friendly at least, jumping around his feet and clawing at his legs, they were kind of cute, Tommy liked them.
They followed him and the lady as they made their way towards a couch where another woman was already sitting, a sleeping fox glued to her side. The lady had fluffy white hair, hazel eyes trained onto a book in her lap, only looking up to meet Tommy's gaze.
"Oh, who's this?" She asked. Tommy felt the pinkette urge him a bit forward with a gentle hand to his upper back. "This is the new neighbor's kid," She smiled as she gestured to him, "I believe his mother said his name was Thomas?" She ended her sentence with a bit of question, turning to Tommy to make sure she got his name right.
Tommy cringed a bit at his full name, but didn't say anything rude despite his want to, "Uh yeah, Tommy's fine though."
"Ahh, Tommy, nice name for a young boy. Please, sit down." She shooed away a couple of the foxes who had already settled onto the couch to give Tommy a place to sit. Tommy sat hesitantly, sinking into the couch cushions that seemed to try and consume him as he sat back. "I'm Ms. Niki," She gestured to her self, then switched her gaze to the other lady, "And this is Ms. Puffy, we're very glad to have you here."
Ms. Niki went to move away when Tommy finally remembered he could get rid of the disgusting thing which was 'food', "Uh, my parents wanted me to give you this, as a gift." He extended the dish away from himself with two hands, trying not to look disgusted as he handed it over. Ms. Niki smiled genuinely as she took it, examining it and some how not looking like she wanted to throw up, "Ah! Thank you, Tommy. We'll be sure to send her something back soon." Tommy assumes the woman is either blind or has simply gone mad.
She walked off to what he assumes is the kitchen to put it away, while he finally goes back to looking as Ms. Puffy, a woman who was a bit more silent, but still could feel the same warmth dripping off of her.
"Care for some tea, Tommy?" She asked sincerely, to which Tommy immediately violently shook his head, tea was one of the things in life he thought would be better off not existing.
Ms. Puffy nodded and poured herself a glass as Tommy continued peering around the room. He tried his best not to gasp as he spotted some taxidermed foxes up on a shelf in the corner of the room, though he's sure the horrified look on his face spoke well enough, he hopes neither of them noticed his expression. Jack's dad had a taxidermed deer head hung up in their family's living room, it always freaked Tommy out whenever he spotted it. Just let the poor animals rest in peace, he knows he wouldn't want to be used as decor after he passed.
Prying his eyes away from the foxes, he gazed at the slightly messy coffee table in front of him, his eyes attaching on to a glass orb, like the type he saw witches have in the movies.
"Would you like me to read for you?"
Tommy looked over his shoulder, realizing the pinkette was right behind him. "Pardon?"
Ms. Niki giggled and sat down next to him, gesturing to the orb he was staring at. "Your future, I could read it for you." He scrunched his brows and grimaced a bit, he never believed in magic, well, maybe when he was really young. He remembers begging his mom to let him go to a magic show when he was little and her getting so annoyed that she searched up all the tricks and made him see how it was all fake. He didn't really like magic after that.
"That's stuff's fake though.." He mumbled, crossing his arms loosely.
The older shrugged, picking up the orb with delicate fingers. "Never really know until you try." The blond rolled his eyes at that, but still unconsciously found himself leaning towards the glass orb. "Fine."
And with that she led his hands into one of hers, the other gently caressing the milky colored orb. Tommy gazed hard at the misty ball, desperately trying to spot any changes that might happen. He found himself gazing up to Ms. Niki a couple of times, her concentrated face turning more confused every time he checked back up on her.
"I see.. birds..?"
Tommy tilted his head, "Birds..?" The woman seemed even more confused than he was, eyes completely locked onto the glass orb that stayed perfectly still, she it looked like she was reading a confusing letter, like it was in another language. Her eyes slowly started widening, her confusion turning into slight worry. "I- I don't-.. I've never seen something like this in someone's reading before.." She trailed off her hands slightly starting to shake, now Tommy was worried.
"What does that mean?" Tommy unconsciously squeezed Ms. Niki's soft fingers as her grip on his hands turned desperate and shaky. Her pupils dilated as she spoke, "I don't-"
A loud crack snapped her out of the trance like state she was in, as the object she had focused on disintegrated, turning into hundreds of tiny shards like it had been thrown against a wall.
Tommy heard Ms. Puffy walking over to them, but he was more focused on the slightly scared but more confused glaze that coated Ms. Niki's eyes. Ms. Puffy asked them if they were alright and helped clean up the glass, telling Niki to not keep one of those for so long again, blaming the easy breakage on the age of it. Tommy left immediately afterwards.
Tommy still didn't like magic very much.
- - -
That night, he awoke to a similar caw as the night prior.
He couldn't even hide his giddiness as he sat up and threw off his covers. He wasn't entirely sure if his dream was real, but if it was, he was going to make sure he could visit again. So for insurance, he left a few seeds (which were one hundred percent stolen from the kitchen) at his doorway, keeping it slightly creaked open so if the bird visited again it could get in easily.
And luckily, it seemed to have worked.
Tommy grinned sort of unbelieving at the crow that was picking up the last couple of seeds left at the door. It was real.. all of that, it really was real.
This time he didn't hesitate to follow the bird, not really even following it, more or less just going to the place he knew it would lead him. The crow seemed to pick that up as it dashed around the corner, not worrying to wait for the blond anymore.
He crawled quickly through the tunnel as soon as he saw it, not stumbling as much as yesterday, practically shooting out to the other, happy to see the living room the same as yesterday.
His stupid grin only grew as he heard familiar humming coming from what he knew was the kitchen.
Tommy scampered down the hall, almost flinging himself in the room the check if it was the same man before he decided to calm himself.
He knew he was obviously very mature and smart, he wouldn't fling himself into dumb situations, especially since he didn't trust that man one bit still. Even though they were all really nice to him yesterday, he still had to be cautious, they were strangers, or well, slightly more than that, but still.
As he caught his breath and walked into the kitchen he was met with almost an identical sight as the one from yesterday in front of him. He wasn't exactly sneaking so his other father turned around almost immediately, his navy buttons locking on to Tommy's light blue eyes. He wore the same green robe as yesterday, his overall appearance looking as it hadn't changed in the slightest. The day prior he hadn't really thought about his own outfit, but he found himself now flushing as he looked down to see he was just wearing a loose white t-shirt and blue, old basketball shorts. He thanked himself for the fact that he usually only wore boxers to bed but decided against it tonight.
"Good morning- or good evening in your time, Tommy." Tommy tilted his head at the greeting, was the timezone different here. The younger blond spotted a pan of eggs and bacon cooking on the stove top, definitely not a dinner meal.
"Be a doll for me and go get Techno, will you? He's out in the garden." He gestured to what in his world would be the back door which led to a 'backyard' that looked to maybe be a garden at one point, but now was just an overgrown mess of weeds surrounded by old stone walls. Tommy nodded, skipping out into the outdoors.
The blond was pleasantly surprised by the warm air around him. It was much cooler than this today in his world, and would be even cooler at night. He followed the path, which looked far better maintained and used than the one in his world, and deeper into the garden which seemed ten-times the size of the one in his world.
A gasp nearly fell out of his mouth as he swung open the gate to the garden. The weeds were replaced by rows and rows of brightly colored plants. They look like something straight out of a movie, glowing and practically pulsing with life, a few of them actually moving as he stepped into the garden. In the center of the garden, what was wilting willow tree that was dead as roadkill in his universe was now a tall healthy looking tree with pale green leaves and bright purple flowers covering every branch. He couldn't keep back his smile as a couple petals fell onto his face.
He found himself getting lost in the rows of plants, carefully gazing at every last flower he passed. He eventually found some friendly rabbits who allowed him to pet them.
The blond giggled as he walked alongside the rabbits who were squeaking happily, seemingly leading him somewhere. He learned where as he reached a section with a few beautiful apple trees, one of which was having it's fruit picked by what he recognized as his other brother, Techno. He nearly had forgotten he was out here looking for him, he hoped he didn't keep his other father waiting too long.
"Hey!- Uh.. Techno?" His excitement ebbed off a tiny bit at speaking to the intimidating older male, his voice getting quieter the more he spoke.
The pink haired man turned to stare at him, grinning at him once he spotted the younger, showing Tommy his rather creepily inhuman teeth, sharp canines easily in sight. "Hello, Tommy." He picked a basket which was laying at his feet, freshly picked apples filling it to the brim.
Tommy tried not to tense as Techno approached him, practically looming over him as he bent down slightly to gently tousle his hair a little. He hated when people did that, but at least it was a bad as when Wilbur did it, he couldn't even see himself then but he knew his hair must've been completely messed up. "Food's ready?" He asked, already shepherding them back towards the house, Tommy only nodded his head slightly.
Their walk was surprisingly nice and not tense and awkward like he expected. Techno told him about the garden and answered all his questions about it, which there was a lot of, but the older didn't seem to mind, which Tommy appreciated. He even told Tommy that he had saved a section in the back for him, so Tommy could pick all the flowers and plants that went back there, which Tommy was already thinking of what he wanted.
Dinner was just as nice as the walk. Techno put the basket of apples on the counter and they all sat down for dinner, or “breakfast”, technically. He had a bacon and cheese omelette, which he had never had before, but quickly learned he had been practically locked out from the gates of heaven because it was just as amazing as the meal from the previous night, if not better. He didn’t know if that’s because omelettes were just the secret 8th wonder of the world or his other father’s cooking skills were just that good.
Wilbur didn’t show up, his other father stated that he was out of the house doing some work. Tommy wondered what his job was, what did button people do? Were they just like humans? He didn’t know.
He would never admit that he kind of missed Wilbur, he got along with him the best.
He actually found himself having conversation with his other family, talking about random things and them sharing stories about them, mostly Techno telling embarrassing stories about Wilbur which he knew would piss off the brunet if he found out they told Tommy.
It kind of reminded him of dinner with Jack’s family, he never saw them as an “other family”, but he liked them, Jack was lucky.
“Gooood morninggg.” Wilbur’s voice rung out through the dining room as he entered, as did a smile on Tommy’s face which he’d never admit to, his eyes brightening up a bit at the sound of Wilbur’s voice.
Wilbur grinned as he spotted Tommy, quickly running over to mess with his hair, which made Tommy’s smile immediately vanish. “Did you miss me, Toms?” Wilbur sang, a hint of teasing on his tongue. Tommy batted the brunet’s hands away as he desperately tried to fix the blond mop which was his hair, but it always looked messy, at least slightly, so not too much he could do.
“No! Fuck off dickhead, you’re ruining my hair!” He whined, covering his hair with his arms, shielding him from any more attacks from Wilbur. He was surprised to hear both Wilbur and his other father laugh at that. His parents never allowed him to get away with swearing, he’s gotten a mouth full of soap quite a few times from that, but his other father didn’t seem to care, which he was grateful for. He wasn’t really sure if the older blond would be able to punish him for that though, he didn’t know how much rights over a child an other parent had. He made a mental note to ask sometime.
A yelp escaped his throat as he was scooped out effortlessly out of his chair and into a surprisingly strong set of arms, he really wasn’t expecting that from how skinny the brunet was. “While I was out I saw that Ms. Niki and Ms. Puffy have a show going on tonight, wanna come with? I can get us free tickets since I’m friends with them.” Tommy fought the urge to sink into the comfort of Wilbur’s arms and instead started pushing his chest, trying to remove himself from the taller, “I’ll go with you if you fucking let me down, string-bean bastard.”
Another chorus of laughter filled the room, Tommy couldn’t help but crack a smile as well this time.