(This is all over the place dang it. *wheeze* apologies for the trash pacing lol)

"Evil X, you know I can't take him. The process is tedious and takes eons," the bee-man said. Tommy narrowed his eyes at EX. The guy's name was Evil X? Not some two letters? He was right on the verge of reconsidering who he trusts.

In response to his look-alike, EX rolled his eyes. "Not all the Hermits agreed on letting me stay. Not even you, and we're related. Though, of course, you've never liked me anyways."

"Don't you go putting words in my mouth, now."

"Still doesn't invalidate the fact that no one agreed to let me stay and yet, I've been here for years."

The other crossed his arms. "You weren't invited in the first place, you broke in."

"You could have just banned me away from the start," EX somehow monotoned smugly. The yellow clad player shook his head silently, the LED lights in his visor closing exasperatedly.

Despite EX's smug tone, Tommy's heart dropped. This guy in stupid bee-themed armor banned EX? Nevermind what EX did to get himself banned, the other could only be the Admin of the server. Like Dream had been on the SMP. The person with the most power on the server that is definitely abuseable, and one that the normal players couldn't stop even if they wanted to.

He had all the power and can could use it against Tommy at a moment's notice.

As if he knew Tommy was tense towards him, the bee-man (he had to get a name soon, referring to him as 'bee-man' would get old soon) sighed and regarded him with a judgmental air, looking him up and down as if trying to get each and every one of his secrets. Tommy froze up, for some reason he didn't know. Maybe it reminded him of Dream figuring out a way to get on his side and succeeding to befriend him only to blow up all of his progress. He may have been his friend, but he saw through half of his plans. Or, at least what the thought were Dream's plans...

"I can't take him in, Evil X. Not right now." Thank goodness he didn't say anything else about him.

"You accepted xB when he was thirteen, Xisuma. You took in Iskall after he was sent to assassinate you. Keralis came to you and you let him join right then and there. Why can you take Tommy in?" EX said, which made the other--whose name is probably Xisuma--turn to him again. "You take in everyone who needs the help."

"I'm not going to ask why you know that, but I can't force anyone to join against their will! Does he even want to be here?" He sounded exasperated and irritated, which, to Tommy's judgment, was completely fair.

EX shrugged. "Probably not."

He was right.

"Plus," Xisuma continued, "the other Hermits have to put in a good word and agree to let him stay. We can't do that right now, not everyone is on." 

The red clad player turned to Tommy. "Aren't you in like, Minecraft Tournaments or something of the like?"

"Championships," Tommy grumbled.

"Yes, that. The Hermits compete in that too, I'm sure they can say something, right?"

Tommy only shrugged. It's not like he said anything to the Hermits, he was too busy targeting Techno and Dream to get possible videos.

"Evil X, how do you know these things?" Xisuma asked

"The Void is boring, Xisuma. I need to keep myself busy so I browse the internet for random stuff." EX shook his head. "Back to the matter at hand, Tommy can't be in the Void. If it doesn't kill him itself, he'll die of boredom. Being here is better for the kid."

"I'm not a kid!" Tommy yelled again, bristling slightly.

"Hush, the adults are talking."

Tommy locked his jaw and glared at him as the two continued to bicker, now incredibly tempted to stand on the magma block in the center of the room until he died. At least when Techno said it, there was room for banter and he wasn't talked about like he wasn't there. When EX said it, it was only harsh and to the point, and the two look-alikes completely ignored his existence.

He tuned out the argument as it only increased in volume. It wasn't something he was new to. Schlatt and Quackity would always argue loudly. Techno and Phil would argue, albeit not as heated.

When he finally decided to pay attention again, lightning struck above as EX bristled. Would it be dangerous to be underwater while a lightning storm?

The Admin held his hands up as thunder shook the room. "I appreciate your concern and what you're doing, Evil X. However, he probably has another place to stay, one where he'd be more comfortable, so it'd be best if you just bring him back to-"

"Xisuma, just listen to me for once in our long and forsakened lives," EX snapped in time with another lightning strike, and Xisuma's mouth audibly clicked shut. "I found the kid in the Void, floating around and crying. He must have been there for no more than a week." He then pointed an accusing finger at his Xisuma. "You know how the Void is to non-Ender entities after a certain amount of time."

Xisuma nodded begrudgingly. "I do, unfortunately."

"Well, if you can't tell, Tommy is not an Enderkind or a Voidwalker. ... He would have died."

Evil X glanced at Tommy. Tommy met his gaze.

"Permanently."

"What the shit? Really?"

Xisuma warily tilted his head. "That's not how the Void works-"

"I know the Void more than you do, Xisuma," EX interrupted. " I've been living there since you've banned me, however long ago it's been." He turned his head to the side. Through his visor, EX's eyes stared elsewhere, farther than where the walls of the room stopped. Xisuma stepped forwards the moment EX became lost in his own mind, now much closer than Tommy would like, but at least he pain him no mind.

"You don't know what I've seen in the Void, 'Suma," EX whispered, only for his voice to turn firm but still quiet, "Tommy's the only living player I've found, and I was not about to let him die when I knew I had the chance to save a life."

Xisuma tenderly grabbed his brother's fingers, holding them close to his chest and rubbing his thumbs over the rough knuckles. EX snapped out of his trance, meeting X's eyes for a moment before glancing away again. The Admin stayed silent, still gently holding the other's hands.

Tommy felt like he was intruding on something and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. Quality brotherly bonding moment, if he had to guess.

"How about this," Xisuma finally said when the rumbling thunder calmed, "I'll let him stay, but if anything happens, like his old server wants him back or he does something that jeopardizes my server, he has to leave."

EX glanced at Tommy, then back at Xisuma. "Fine," he begrudgingly agreed.

"The fuck- you can't just decide to leave me here and go elsewhere, I don't know nobody!" Tommy blurted, finally butting into the conversation and grabbing EX's arm when he turned away.

"I don't belong here, just like you don't belong in the Void," EX grumbled without any further information. Tommy got it--EX was terrible at explaining. No wonder the two brothers seem to have many squabbles, as shown by the familiarity of bickering at each other.

"Where are you gonna go then? Huh?" Tommy challenged, crossing his arm and glaring with attitude. Phil would have told him off for that.

"Back to the Void. I belong there. Not here."

"Well, I don't belong here either, dipshit!"

"Then where do you belong?" EX harshly spat

Tommy opened his mouth, then closed it and remained silent. The Dream SMP, surely? But... they wouldn't have banned him if he did...

"That's what I thought," he mumbled. "Do you have any questions before I leave? I have to go before Xisuma kicks my sorry butt to the Void again."

"Oh hell yeah, a fuck ton of questions!" Tommy wildly gestured around to everyone in the room, but it only looked like he was waving his arms around randomly. "Why Hermitcraft of all places? Who is he? Why does he like you? What about the other guy? Is EX even your name? What am I supposed to do? Am I even safe here? How do I get back to my other server? Why-"

EX slapped a hand over Tommy's mouth, glaring slightly. The other two people in the room seemed slightly taken aback by the barrage of questions and the blatantly used swear words, and for some reason, that satisfied Tommy greatly.

"Hermitcraft is safe." EX gestured to the bee-themed man. "Xisuma. He's related to me and the Admin of the server." He pulled his hand away when Tommy dug his nails in his wrist. "My name is EX, why would I lie? And you probably can't get back to your old server unless you get unbanned, which I see unlikely. But you probably don't care about my opinion, huh?"

"That's only like, half my questions, you fuck."

EX looked at an imaginary wristwatch and pull up Admin panels of his own, which made Tommy's jaw drop. "I've gotta leave before Xisuma bans me again, don't cause any trouble because I don't want to find your corpse in the Void." He patted Tommy's shoulder and poked a few buttons on his panels.

"Wait-"

But before Tommy could find his words, EX disappeared, leaving the three in complete silence.

...

What the f-

After a few moments, Xisuma said, "He's never been the most subtle person when leaving a situation."

"Obviously," Tommy snorted, but only half his heart was in it. Techno was more subtle than that, and by no definition was Technoblade ever subtle. ('Distracting' Dream with donations, for one example.)

"Yeah... guess you're stuck here then, aye?" Tommy shrugged at the Admin's words. "Unless you absolutely do not want to stay here." He shrugged again. Xisuma took a few more moments before speaking again, "He's never really cared for anyone like that before, you'd be the first, y'know?"

"... Still seems like he doesn't care."

Xisuma laughed lightly. "Yeah, that happens. Once, he pushed me off one of those obsidian towers in the End and said it was an 'act of affection'."

Tommy snorted again. At least this Admin makes bearable conversation and doesn't treat him like some grade one non. Maybe he could rethink about staying on this server for a while.

The Admin chuckled awkwardly and turned to the other Hermit, the one Tommy recognized from Minecraft Championships, "I apologize Ren." He rubbed the back of his neck and ducked his head. "I honestly forgot you were there, my friend."

"It's really no problem, Evil X is... quite the distraction. Hasn't changed, dude, but completely understandable," Ren said, cheerful and with a bright smile. Tommy shifted his weight to the other foot, holding his own arm with a cold hand. He wasn't uncomfortable, per se, but it was... new... it was rather weird to have good welcome and not get stabbed through when he first spawned in the server.

"Would you be willing to take Tommy here on a tour of the world before we settle him in an open area? Unless you need to pick up more potions, then I can tour him around."

Ren nodded his head optimistically. "Yeah dude, you can always count on the Ren-diggity-Dog!"

Tommy was tempted to roll his eyes, but he's seen and done weirder. No need to bring up the drug van.

"Great!" Xisuma clapped his hands together and turned back to the teen. "If you need anything, Tommy, feel free to send me a message. I'm usually open after I finish my to-do list, which can be rather short some days."

Tommy eyed him warily. "Doesn't your Admin work take up a lot of time or some sh- some crap?"

Xisuma gave him a slight questioning glance, but answered anyways, "No, not quite. We've got mods and data packs to optimize the server performance, those do most of my job for me. I only fix the tedious stuff the server can't handle itself, right? And even then, it's not that much without the extra help."

"Oh." Was Dream's excuse of 'Admin work taking too much time' a lie?

"You'll be alright, yeah?" The Admin seemed to catch onto his hesitance, damn him.

"Yeah yeah," Tommy muttered, frowning slightly. "Yeah I'll be fine."

He looked to the side, kicking at the nice sandstone below his shoes.

"I'll be fine."