Tommy wanted to leave, but Phil and Techno were blocking the way to the door. 

Tommy wanted to leave, but every molecule in his body was keeping him rooted in his seat. 

And Phil still stared at the shaking door. 

And Tommy couldn't help feeling sorry for him. 

So he sat on the couch, and held Tubbo's hand, looking at the carpet. 

There was silence in the living room. 

And then Phil cleared his throat. 

"Well then," he grunted, "Guess I'll head off to work then."

And then Phil turned to go to his room. 

He stopped at Wilbur's door like he was going to say something. 

Tommy could see something on his face, and he knew he really cared. 

And Tommy was a little mad at Wilbur, for saying those things. 

Because if he had a parent like Phil, he would never let him go. 

If he had a parent like Phil. 

But Tommy knew that he didn't deserve a parent like Phil. 

And he knew he never would get a parent like Phil. 

And he told himself to stop hoping. 

Phil lingered at Wilbur's door, about to knock. 

But then he walked away, into his room to get his papers for work. 

Techno sighed and stood up for another round of coffee. 

The pathway to the door was clear, and their bag was on the table. 

But Tommy could not stand up and make himself leave. 

And Tubbo continued to shovel the cereal into his mouth hungrily like nothing happened. 

Tommy looked back over at Wilbur's doorway, which was still now. 

And then he looked over at Techno, whose back was turned. 

And quick as the flash, Tommy darted over to the doorway and pressed his ear against the front. 

Tiny, quiet sniffles. 

Tommy had heard so much crying in the orphanage and never helped someone who cried. 

Tiny, quiet sniffles, and Tommy for some reason felt pity. 

So he creaked open the door silently. 

Vinyl records and posters for bands littered the yellow walls, and a guitar sat on the gray starchy carpet. White poles reached from the bed to the ceiling. 

The room was big, too big, Tommy thought, for one person. 

On the four-poster bed sat Wilbur, hunched over, his shoulder blades sticking through his sweater. He wiped his eyes with his elbows. Tiny, quiet sniffles. 

Tommy shut the door behind him because, for some reason, he didn't want Wilbur to be embarrassed that people were hearing him cry. 

And then, for some peculiar reason, Tommy asked, 

"Are you alright?" 

His voice came out raspy and whispery and timid, which Tommy hated, but Wilbur turned around with a start. He hastily wiped his eyes and tried to keep his face steady. 

"Y-Yeah? I mean- yes, I'm alright." Wilbur turned back around, waving his hand at the doorway. "Just- just go away." 

"No, you're not." 

Tommy clutched a pole on the edge of the bed, trying to find something else to say. The silence in the room was deafening. 

Finally, Wilbur spat out, "My dad's a dick." He said it uneasily like he knew it wasn't true, but he was bitter. "I can't wait to get out of here." 

"At least you HAVE a dad, alright, dickhead?" Tommy couldn't stop himself from bursting out."A whole lot of people don't." 

Tommy waited for Wilbur to yell at him, or tell him to get out, but he didn't. He just stayed with his back turned, silent. 

Tommy continued, looking at his hands. 

"Look, I never had a dad. Or a mum." Tommy cleared his throat. "But I would say your dad is pretty fucking amazing." 

Wilbur didn't reply, which made Tommy ramble even more. 

"And he really cares, y'know? He really fucking cares about you, and he's kinda a weirdo, but that's alright. And it's really neat that you have someone that cares about you that much, even when you get mad at him and stuff or yell at him and-" Wilbur put his head in his hands, and Tommy's voice faded away. "....y'know?" 

"I know he cares." Wilbur's voice came out soft, muffled through his fingers, cracking. "I know he does." 

Wilbur's hands hugged his arms close to him, watching his shoes swing from the side of the bed.

"And I'm sorry." 

Tommy looked at him with confusion. "About what?" 

"About your parents." Wilbur looked over at him awkwardly, not sure what to say. "I'm sorry." 

"Oh yeah." Tommy didn't have a lot of people say that to him. "That." 

"You can sit down if you want." Wilbur finally said. 

And Tommy did. 

Wilbur swung his legs, and Tommy rested his chin on his hands, and they enjoyed each other's silence. 

"What happened to your parents?" 

Wilbur watched as Tommy took a big breath.

Tommy could have thought of an elaborate lie that he had told before, that his parent's were gods, or were rich billionaires, but he didn't. 

"They left me."

"On the swings in a playground in the middle of nowhere." Tommy wondered why he was telling him all of this. "They left me."

"Oh." was all Wilbur could say. 

"But, fuck parents, amirite?" Tommy said, laughing nervously. "Didn't need them anyway." 

"Says the guy that told me my dad was, and I quote 'pretty fucking amazing.'" Wilbur joked quietly. 

"But your dad's different," Tommy replied. "He's, like, weird, but cool. Weird cool." 

Wilbur laughed along with him, before turning to look Tommy in the eye. 

"What happened to you?" 

Tommy paused, a little taken aback. He opened his mouth, and then closed it. 

"I had to fight." He finally replied, clenching and unclenching the gray, monotone cover of the bed. He looked away, studying the records on the walls. "A lot, actually." 

Wilbur didn't press him, but Tommy continued. 

He wanted to continue, because for some peculiar reason, 

He felt safe. 

"One time, this guy was beating up Tubbo. So I socked him in the nose. Blood splattered everywhere." Tommy said so nonchalantly, Wilbur was concerned. "Tubbo doesn't like people touching him a lot. He likes when I hold his hand, though." 

"Where were the adults during this?" Wilbur interrupted, bursting out. "Did you tell anyone before you socked the kid in the nose?" 

"Why would the adults watch us?" Tommy wrinkled up his nose at the very thought. "We're too old for that shit. And that's creepy. Adults are weird. But the kid fucking tattled on me. I went to Time-Out." 

 "What's Time-Out?" Wilbur was getting more concerned by the minute. 

"Oh, it's this room with this bed frame that you have to sleep on when you do something bad." Tommy picked his nails, like this was something normal. "It's not comfy at all. And it's cold. And lonely." Tommy bit his nails, thinking about it. 

"And how long do they put you in there?" Wilbur looked at Tommy's skinny frame in a new way. 

What had this kid that seemed so normal been through? 

Tommy shrugged. "You just had to sleep there, and they'd let you go." 

"They didn't let you change? Take a shower?" Wilbur had just now realized how Tommy's hair was stringier, the dirt built up underneath his fingernails. 

"Fucking hate showers." Tommy looked down uncomfortably. "Because I have to take off my clothes." 

"But you have to take a shower! Don't you feel like, weird, if you don't take one?" Wilbur crossed his legs on his bed, turning towards Tommy. 

"Can we just, shut the fuck up about showers?" Tommy said harshly, shocking Wilbur a bit. Tommy turned away, closing himself off. "It's weird." 

An uncomfortable silence settled over them, so much different than the openness they had before. Wilbur looked down, afraid Tommy would never talk to him again. 

Because although Tommy was younger than him, Wilbur felt like he had finally found a true friend. 

Wilbur looked up and noticed the faded red on Tommy's shirt and the white that was basically gray now. The fabric came away in strings. 

"Hey." 

Tommy turned back around ever so slightly, still closed off. "Yeah?" 

"Are you still feeling sick?" 

"Not really anymore." Tommy said with confusion. 

"Wanna go shopping?" 

"What?" Tommy looked at him quizzically. 

"Like, for clothes." Wilbur explained,"New ones." 

Tommy thought about it. Nobody had ever taken him shopping before. They had brought the clothes to him, and he had worn it. Going shopping for clothing seemed like something a hero would do in one of his comics, to prepare for a stakeout or a new alter ego. He knew he was leaving Tubbo, and panic stuck in his stomach because of it. But at the same time, it sounded like fun. Hopefully they would come back soon. 

 "I'm in." Tommy decided. "As long as we get new comic books." 

"Great!" Wilbur hopped off his bed excitedly. "C'mon!" 

"Wait, didn't your dad say that you couldn't take your car or something?" Tommy asked as he slid off the bed. 

"I have ways around that." Wilbur pushed his window up, and cold winter wind drifted into the room. 

Tommy peered out to the empty neighborhood street as Wilbur climbed through the windowsill, ducking so his tall frame could fit through. His feet sent snow tumbling off the slope of the roof. Bushes with snow piles sat below them. 

"We're going down there?" Tommy stepped through the windowsill with him, wind biting at his arms once again. He was reminded of the garbage bin and the yelling kids behind him. He shuddered from the cold. 

"Yup!" Wilbur held out his hand, grinning at him. "Ready?" 

And it took a few seconds for Tommy to realize that Wilbur was holding out his hand for him to take it. He stared at it for a few seconds, before taking it. It was calloused and warm. 

And Tommy smiled back at Wilbur. 

"Ready." 

And they slid down the snowy roof. 

---

Tubbo blinked and unblinked his eyes as he looked at a random book he had picked up from a shelf. The letters were there, but the words just did not make sense. Many letters moved weirdly. Tubbo huffed angrily, setting the book down. Where was Tommy? Shouldn't he have come back by now, out of the room of the angry tall boy? 

Did the tall boy hurt him? 

"Hey, kid, what are you doing with my books?" 

Tubbo looked down at the monotone voice's brown loafers. 

"Little dude?" 

Techno watched in confusion as Tubbo looked everywhere but his eyes. 

He squatted down, looking him directly in the eye. 

"Whatcha doing, bud?" 

Tubbo shrugged, looking down at his feet, and then pointing at the book. 

"Do ya not like talking?" 

Tubbo shook his head. 

"That's alright," Techno said, softening his voice. "I don't feel like talking a lot too." 

Techno reached down to grab the book. It was the Art of War by Sun Tzu. "Why'd you pick up this one?" 

Tubbo shrugged, shaking his head. Techno studied him for a moment, before understanding. 

"You can't read it?" 

Tubbo nodded his head up and down. Usually he would be tired of talking to a stranger so much, but Techno felt different. Tubbo liked his voice, and Techno seemed to understand his movements more, unlike other adults that would try to force him to talk. 

"You want me to try to teach you how?" 

Tubbo had never nodded his head up and down so eagerly. 

"I can do that." Techno stood up heading towards his desk. He gestured for Tubbo to follow him, and Tubbo clambered onto a wooden chair. 

"Ok." Techno wrote a large letter with a circle and a swoopy tail with a pen. He laid the book out, and placed a ruler under the first row of words. 

"This is the letter a. It's the first in the alphabet, which is like a whole system thingy where they put all these weird letters." Tubbo nodded along, and Techno gave him the pen. "Can you trace the letter for me?" 

Tubbo traced the letter quickly. 

That was pretty easy, he thought. 

"Good job, bud!" Tubbo finally looked up with his wide brown eyes as Techno smiled at him. A tiny flutter of pride filled his chest. 

"Now, can you find all the a's in this line of words?" 

Tubbo looked down at the jumbled mess, but Techno put a straight ruler underneath, and things came into focus. He saw a's start to dot the lines. He pointed to each of them. 

"Look at that!" Techno smiled. "You're a natural, kid." 

"Fist-bump?" 

Techno held out his fist, grinning at Tubbo. 

Tubbo looked at it, and shook his head. 

"Ok, no fist-bump is fine too." 

And Techno dropped his fist, unbothered by Tubbo's refusal, not forcing him. "Yeah, I don't really like touch either, kid." 

And Tubbo grinned back. 

---

hey guys! little a/n to promote my new au, cry and dance! it is a heroes and villains au. wilbur soot is a villain, and tommy innit is a hero. angst ensues. 

it will eventually become sbi down the road of the story, so i hope you guys check it out! 

love you all and thank you for reading <3