Blossom in ribcage, until their backs break [ 2 ]
Directly Into a Wall
Warning for: descriptions of bruises, some blood for like five seconds, and a gun later
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Previous Chapter
~-~
Getting into a place that hadn't had anyone working in it for the majority of his lifetime was alot easier said than done, and Tommy spent half an hour just finding a spot in the fence that it was safe for him to squeeze himself through without getting caught on some of the rusted chicken wire or jagged edges.
Once he was inside, the next struggle was figuring out how to get into the factory itself. In hindsight, he probably should have Googled some tips on urban exploration as well.
Oh well, he was going to be breaking in on his own, and he was going to be doing it with style.
As much style as someone kicking in a rotting door could have.
The spot he managed to get into was an upper floor of a large manufacturing room, with the vast majority of it gutted to hell and back. There were large platforms where machinery once stood in various parts of the room, and absolutely nothing of value was remaining.
Even most of the windows were gone, either boarded up or left as open holes used by pigeons to get inside and shit on everything.
"Great, there's government drones fucking everywhere,", Tommy scoffed, keeping his distance from the mess of birds that he'd disturbed with his entrance in case they decided to take his presence personally.
The whole place smelled of birds and rot, and he tried not to think too hard about what all he was probably breathing in. He'd heard that if he got mesothelioma from breathing in asbestos, him or a loved one could be entitled to compensation; and money was always good.
He decided to stay on the floor he'd entered through, not just because the majority of the birds and leftover shards of glass were in the lower part of the building, but because there was better lighting up there for him to really get an idea of what was happening when he shot the webs out of his wrists.
Ok, well it was technically silk, but calling it webs sounded way cooler to him.
The real issue here was where to start, because he truthfully had no idea what he was doing. It wasn't like he could find a book called 'What Does a Boy Do When He's Suddenly Given The Ability To Shoot Webs From His Wrists?', and if there were a book on it, it didn't use that as a title.
He was gonna have to copyright that one.
In regards to stuff he knew he was able to to, Tommy was able to shoot out uncoordinated globs of web out of his wrists in a shapeless mess that went a random distance before sticking to the first thing it touched. He'd noticed his hands being slightly stickier as well, but that wasn't nearly as intense as the webs.
He tried to think of different ways to make it come out; moving his arm like he was throwing something, putting more effort into shooting the webs out, punching the air.
That last one had an affect, his hand curled into a fist making the web come out in more of a stream. It ended up hitting the floor in the same globby mess as the other attempts, but it was a start.
Tommy made a fist again, keeping his arm still this time and shooting the web with enough force that it nearly made contact with the farthest wall of the factory from him.
He chuckled as he looked between the web and his hand. "Holy shit!"
That led to trying out other hand positions, and each gave him different results. Clenching his hand into a fist sent it far, but it still ended up hitting in a messy blob. Pointing didn't have nearly the same distance, but it had enough force that it stirred up the mess on the floor and scared some of the pigeons off. Giving a middle finger with his hand pointed downwards shot a web directly where someone's face would be at average height, which was hilarious.
The most useful was when he put down his middle and ring finger, though; making a solid stream of web that went ridiculously far.
It hit the same wall he'd nearly gotten with the first fist glob, staying connected with his wrist. He gave it a tug, getting rid of any of it's slack without it coming off of the wall.
"It's almost like a rope..."
He looked up at the support beams on the ceiling, eyes practically lighting up as he got an incredibly poor and incredibly fun idea.
Tommy moved back, aiming his hand again and shooting a new string at the beam closest to him. It stuck, he gave it a hard tug to make sure it would support him, and then, without thinking too much on it, he jumped over the railing that led to the lower floor of the factory with only a web from his arm to stop him from breaking his legs on impact.
And it did slow his fall, the failing coming in his lack of upper body strength.
The result was one arm sticking awkwardly to the web while he flailed with the other and landed with absolutely zero grace on the floor.
Tommy rolled onto his back to catch his breath, and very painfully sat up after a few minutes with the acknowledgement that he was going to be bruised to hell and back when he got home.
But the web had stayed! It was still connected to the ceiling, and it'd technically been strong enough to support his weight.
That was huge, since it really opened the doors on what he would be able to do with it.
Speaking of doors opening, the one he'd broken to get inside was pushed open as two cops came in with flashlights and guns that they were pointing around the room. They found him pretty fast, one pointing his firearm at him while the other only shined his light; how considerate.
"Stay where you are! You're trespassing."
"Oh, wow, I had no idea. Thanks for telling me,", Tommy put as much sarcasm into it as he could manage, trying to think of something he could do to avoid getting arrested.
"Hands where I can see them."
He sighed as he did what they said, and the cops started climbing down the stairs. Once they were halfway down, Tommy started running for the other side of the factory.
They chased him, obviously, but froze when he decided to take advantage of his momentum and shoot a web.
He got it stuck on a random part of the ceiling, and was immediately flung into the air as he ran. There was a moment of absolute weightlessness as he hit the peak of his swing, followed by a lesson in physics as gravity took affect and he started falling back toward the ground.
Tommy managed to turn himself around in the air, and was able to shoot another web before he hit the floor. He swung directly between the cops this time, and was back in the air. Another web fired, more momentum, and he was back on the second floor railing.
He caught his breath, looking back down at the cops to see both of them pointing their weapons. They didn't even try to pretend they were in control of the situation this time, one of them almost immediately firing on him without giving any sort of warning.
"Fuck- Holy shit, why-", Tommy's confusion was interrupted by a bullet from the other cop this time, and he could hear one of them radioing in about 'Another one of Ramulus' freaks' as he read the room and bailed.
He started trying to find the hole he'd used to get in, giving up after the police made it outside and just using his webs to get over the fence. His shoulder blades were practically screaming by this point, and he scraped himself on the barbed wire on his way past it, but the cops weren't able to hit or catch him as he made his escape, so really he was the winner here.
He just continued to run after that, managing to use a combination of his webs and sticky hands to get to the top of an apartment building or something before he collapsed to let himself breathe.
There were at least ten police cars that he could hear approaching the factory, their sirens just barely sticking out over the noise of the city. He was almost positive that he'd managed to get away, at least, since none of those sirens sounded like they were on their way to him.
That meant the immediate issue now was getting back down from the spot he'd chosen to hide. And the solution to that issue came in the form of a mostly full dumpster in the alleyway below.
Tommy tried to gently lower himself into it, but still ended up falling at least a story. It absolutely fucking stank, but smelling like ass was better than giving himself any more scrapes of bruises than he already had.
He chose to leave his jacket in the dumpster while he was at it, since he'd absolutely shredded one of the sleeves on the chicken wire while he was running, and rushed home to minimize the risk of punishment for how late he'd been out.
Not that he thought Wilbur would be punishing him for something like that, but the concern was always going to be there. Getting grounded, and being stuck in that small apartment while his brother was either out or at work...
No, Wilbur wouldn't do that, but he was still going to be wanting an explanation for what'd happened when he saw him.
By some unbelievable stroke of luck, Wilbur was nowhere to be found when he got back; meaning that Tommy was safe.
For now, anyways. He had more time to come up with an excuse, and he was going to need one because man was he looking rough. He wasn't really able to see the full extent of it past the layer of grime and pigeon feces, so he took a hot shower to sanitize and rid himself of any diseases he may have picked up.
The scalding water felt amazing against his injuries, and the only thing stopping him from falling asleep in there was knowing his brother would throw a fit over him wasting water like that. He still stayed in there longer than he normally would, though, because he seriously felt like he needed it.
He got a proper look at himself once he was out, and he looked about as shit as he felt.
The entirety of the right side of his chest was covered in a range of purples lining his ribs, his cheek was a mix of yellow and red where he'd smacked his face off of the concrete factory floor. His shoulders were the worst of it, all the way around his shoulder blade and under his arms a dark purple and red.
Overall, it looked like he'd gotten his ass beat and they bent his arms three-hundred and sixty degrees after repeatedly kicking him in the ribs.
There wasn't really much he could do to make it look better outside of putting an icepack to his ribs and hoping he hadn't broken any of them, so he got the one Wilbur kept in the back of the freezer as he was grabbing some cold pizza out of the fridge. He balanced the two as he went to his room, practically inhaling the food and laying down.
It was honestly pretty hard to find a way to lay with the icepack touching what he needed it to, and he eventually settled with laying on his stomach with his head resting on his arms.
It was around seven, and Tommy had intended to text his brother asking when he'd be back, but he got distracted by some other notification first and was asleep before he managed to get back on track.
Oh well, he definately needed it by that point anyways.
His brother decided to wait until around eleven the next morning to wake him up; two hours later than he would normally force Tommy out of bed on a Saturday.
"Tommy."
"Mh?", Tommy just barely turned his head in the direction of the door, not opening his eyes.
Usually, by this point, Wilbur would have already taken his pillow in an attempt to get him up. But this time he was staying right where he was at the door and continuing to talk in a quiet tone. "Did you have any plans for today?"
"No, wh-", he interrupted himself with a yawn, "Why?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today?"
"Why?"
"No reason, I was just- Last weekend was our first not spent moving your stuff, and you were dying on the sofa, so I thought we could do something today. If you're up for it, that is."
"Sure, give me some time to wake the fuck up, I guess."
"Yeah, of course, take your time. Not too long, no point going out if everything's fucking closed. I'm not rushing you, though."
"If you aren't rushing me, then I'm going back to sleep,", Tommy yawned again as he rolled over, earning a sigh from his brother.
"Be reasonable here, please."
"I am reasonable always and forever."
"Then I'll reasonably be giving you a time limit; half an hour, or we'll be walking rather than taking my car anywhere."
"No, it's probably cold out."
"Then you better not drag your feet."
"Bl-bl-bl-hb-bl-"
"Don't spout gibberish at me, you're fifteen not five."
Tommy stopped for only a moment before making even louder noises at him.
"Enough. Up by noon, or you are legally required to exercise today."
"You can't do shit with the law, you switched majors."
"Wrong, I don't need to know the law in intricate detail to break it."
"I'll break you."
Wilbur snorted out a laugh as he left, and Tommy took a few more minutes to pull himself together before finally sitting up. And then immediately freezing as he remembered the night before and wondered how Wilbur hadn't seen his face.
There was no way he would have ignored it, but he would have been looking right at the bruise on Tommy's cheek when they'd been talking. Tommy had been celebrating the absurd amounts of luck he seemed to have before starting to change out of his pyjamas and realizing that the bruises just... weren't there.
The ones on his body were still kind of present, but had gone from a noticeable purple to a light yellow that was barely even there compared to how it'd looked before he went to bed.
He used his phone camera to see his face, and at most it looked like he'd been sleeping on the side where the bruises had been.
"What the fuck..."
He had to test this somehow, because there was no way bruises that bad had healed overnight.
But he also wasn't very good at thinking ahead, so his idea of 'testing it' was grabbing a pair of scissors and slicing the palm of his hand. Tommy watched it bleed for a moment, realizing how bad that idea had been and wrapping a shirt around it so he could get to the bathroom without trailing blood.
He heard Wilbur teasing him about needing to piss or something when he slammed the door, but he was more focused on his hand.
His hand, which had almost fully healed by the time he was cleaning off the blood.
"No fucking shot,", he chuckled, gently pulling at the edges of the freshly healed slice.
There was only a red line there now, and even that was fading away as he watched it. He tried his best to act normal once he was done in there, hiding the blood covered shirt behind his door on his way past his room again before going to the fridge to take the rest of the leftover pizza.
"Don't fucking choke,", Wilbur looked concerned as he watched Tommy eat, "Holy shit, you're inhaling that. Did you not eat last night or something?"
"Mind your own fucking business,", he said with his mouth full, not swallowing for the sake of the bit.
"You're mortality is my business. I don't feel like making you spit up whatever ends up getting lodged in your throat as you eat at the speed of light."
"Don't fucking say it like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you're talking about burping a fucking baby or something."
"Hey, you're the one comparing yourself to a baby this time, not me,", Wilbur raised his hands in front of himself with a smug grin, "I never said anything of the sort."
"I will flay you."
"Where the fuck did you learn that word from? Because it certainly wasn't my class; not with how little you pay attention."
"Don't have to pay attention when I have to listen to you talk about that shit here anyways,", Tommy scoffed, eating a third slice of pizza.
"Guess we don't have to worry about stopping anywhere for food. Not lunch for, at least."
"No, this is breakfast. I still require more food."
Which was true, he'd woken up absolutely starving.
"How? You've just eaten nearly half a pizza."
Tommy shrugged at him, not fully sure about that himself. He was expecting Wilbur to argue with him over that, but instead the man just rolled his eyes.
"Figure out where you want to go, then. I was planning on taking you downtown, but if you want to go somewhere else tell me now and we'll do that instead."
"... The fuck are you being so nice for today?"
"I- What are you talking about?"
The stutter was immediate confirmation that something was up, and Tommy narrowed his eyes. "You let me sleep in, you threatened to make me walk instead of telling me we wouldn't be going anywhere,", he was counting it out on his fingers as he went down his points, "And you're not getting pissy about any change of plans."
"Like I said earlier, we're done moving your shit, so I-"
"Bullshit."
Wilbur was obviously trying to think of a different excuse, eventually sighing as his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Right, fine, you've caught me,", he frowned as he made eye contact with Tommy, "I tried to make it home earlier last night, but I had so much shit to deal with it that I couldn't manage it. And you were already in bed by the time I got here, and-"
"Wait, that's it? Really?"
"Yes, I'm sorry. Next time, I'll just take the shit home with me-"
"Wil, that's not a big deal."
Wilbur's frown only deepened when he said that. "Yes, it is."
"I'm used to it-"
"So was I, that's why I can confidently say you shouldn't be. That was the whole point of you coming to live here-"
"Wil, it's fine, seriously. It's not like you're doing it constantly, and it's not the end of the world if you stay later to finish up your work shit; rather you do school shit at the school so I don't have to hear about it."
Wilbur didn't look particularly happy with his response, but sighed again with a nod. "Right, no, I'll- I promise it won't happen again, though."
Tommy really wasn't sure why he was making such a big deal of it, but his brother was weird about stuff like that sometimes. "Fine, whatever. Are we leaving or not?"
"I was waiting for you, I've been up since eight."
"Sounds like a skill issue. Sleep is important, you know."
"You can't use my own words against me, especially not when I said them in the context of you staying up until three on a night where you had to be up by six."
"Technically I don't have to-"
"No, shut up, you know you're about to spout bullshit."
"... Well you can't prove that."
They left not long after that, spending the majority of the day at the mall downtown and coming back at some point around six p.m. to order dinner after agreeing that they'd had enough of being in public for the day.
There was a knock at the door, and Wilbur made a shooing motion. "That's probably the delivery. You got the majority of the shit, go bring it in."
"The fuck do you mean 'probably'? It tells you on your fucking phone."
"I got a whole fucking pizza just for you, go bring it in."
"'Mimimi I'm old and my knees don't work well enough for me to get off of the sofa'-"
"Y'know what? Yes, I am decrepit and old and require your assistance acquiring the nourishment of which I have procured for-"
"Holy shit, shut the fuck up,", Tommy got to his feet, throwing one of the couch pillows at his brother, "It's Saturday, no big words."
"How do you expect to learn if you aren't exposed to a larger vocabulary?"
"My vocabulary is large enough, thank you."
"Yeah? You know like five words, and four of them are 'fuck'."
"Do you have a fucking problem with that?"
"No, by all means express yourself when appropriate. Now express yourself over to the door before the neighbors steal our food."
He threw another pillow before going, opening the door and pausing when he saw that whoever it was was still standing there. Tommy's confusion turned into fear when he realized that the guy at their door was the head of security from Ewe.
The short man, Quackity if he remembered right, seemed just as surprised to see him there. "... Weren't you one of the kids Sam had with him?"
Tommy stood there silently, terrified as he spent a solid minute trying to work up the nerve to speak.
Wilbur was there before he was able to get words out, moving Tommy to the side so he could roughly shove Quackity farther out into the hall. He slammed the door behind himself, and Tommy had to put his ear to it to listen the conversation that was realistically quiet enough that he wouldn't have been hearing it if he didn't have the spider-enhanced hearing.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing here? Who the fuck told you you could show up at my apartment?"
"Relax, you're the one that told me to let you know if I had any work for you. You never told me you had a kid, man; I thought he looked familiar,", Quackity chuckled, "Y'know, I've never told you this, but I think dads are kinda-"
"That's my brother."
"Oh, good, so I'm not competing with a baby mama."
"I'll ask again; what the fuck do you want?"
"I have a feeling you don't want me going into detail here, and from the looks of things going inside to talk isn't an option right now either."
Wilbur was quiet for a long minute, letting out a long, frustrated sigh. "You- Look, text me and I'll meet with you later. Does that work for you?"
"Don't make me wait too long."
"Don't worry, Tweety Bird, I'll be sure to give you a time hours ahead of when I plan on being there."
"Don't tease me like that, man."
"Kill yourself."
Quackity let out a shocked laugh, sounding farther down the hall now. "Woah, this isn't a COD lobby, man!"
"If it were, there'd be more slurs involved."
"Yeah? Any of those you think you'd be able to reclaim?"
"Goodbye, don't come back."
"Don't sound so excited to see my ass."
"What's there to see?", Wilbur snorted, opening the door before Tommy had a chance to move back and nearly hitting him in the face.
Tommy tried really hard to pretend he hadn't been eavesdropping, and his brother let out a sigh.
"How much of that did you hear?"
"I heard him hitting on you, and I heard something about slurs. Was that the guy from Ewe?"
"I'm surprised he actually did his job when you went on that field trip,", Wilbur muttered, sighing again, "Yes, that's him."
"And why was he here?"
"Why do you sound worried? Did you steal shit from there or something?"
"No, I'm just- He's shady, and I don't like him."
"Trust your senses on shit like that, you're incredibly spot on,", he went to get a cup of water.
"So why the fuck was he here?"
"He... I met him while I was still in university, we keep in touch."
"Is he your fucking ex or something?"
Wilbur nearly choked on the water in his mouth, spitting it out across the countertop and coughing. "Fuck-"
"Holy shit, don't die; it was just a question."
"He isn't- We've never dated, I fucking hate that man with a burning passion."
Tommy decided that this wasn't a conversational path he wanted to continue down, since his brother's 'passion' for some dude he'd been flirting with in the hall was really not something he needed to know more about.
So, instead, he shifted to the more important issue of the evening. "When's the food getting here?"
There wasn't really anything of note from the rest of that weekend, and Tommy was being woken up for school on Monday at the normal time. He rolled out of bed, got ready, got to the car, Wilbur asked him what he wanted for breakfast, and-
"Could probably go for some donuts or something."
He said it without really thinking about it, and the silence stretched on for a few minutes before he looked at his brother to see his confusion.
"What?"
"You don't like donuts."
"I'm- Maybe I want to try something different, is there a fucking problem with that?"
"No, it's- Are you sure that's what you want? Not too much sugar?"
"I can give them to Tubbo if it is."
"Alright..."
"You're the one that always fucking asks if I want something different,", Tommy folded his arms.
"I'm not judging you for it, I'm just making sure it's really something you want; I don't want you to have to wait until lunch to eat anything."
"I'll just go to your fucking classroom and steal some of the snacks you've got squirreled away in your desk."
"Not while class is running, they'll expect I give them some as well."
"Share the wealth, don't be a fucking capitalist."
Wilbur let out an offended gasp, reaching over to shove him since they were at a red light. "I will murder you in cold blood-"
"Capitalist, the definition of the establishment-", he tried to bite his brother's hand as the man attempted to cover his mouth to shut him up, "You need a fucking monocle and top hat, grow out your fucking facial hair and style it into a handlebar-"
"There is nothing capitalistic about education, you little fucking dickhead,", Wilbur gave him one last push into the car door before driving again.
"The school is owned by the government, which means that you work for them."
"You've spent too much time speaking with Technoblade."
"Eat the rich."
"That is not an accurate response to what I said to you."
"Cry about it."
"As soon as it snows, I'm going to dump some down the back of your shirt in the school parking lot."
"Well no, you shouldn't do that."
"And you shouldn't be a little bastard child, and yet here we are."
"I'll crash the fucking car."
Tommy didn't crash the car, only contemplated it as the rest of the normal morning routine played out. He got his plain tea with the donuts, but only pretended to drink it around his brother so he could dump it out in a bathroom sink and refill it in a water fountain.
The donuts were perfectly fine, and he tried his best to not have a small mental breakdown over it as he ate them. Normally, he couldn't stand anything sweet; that'd been a constant since he was younger.
Tommy just didn't like anything with too much sugar in it, that's how things were. Since the spider bite, everything with salt was far too salty, and he was actively craving sugar.
He'd even snuck into the kitchen in the middle of the night to steal some of the sugar cubes his brother had for his coffee.
That was harder to hide than the webs, since it was such a big part of his preferences that it was impossible to not notice.
Case in point, Tubbo stopped and looked at him when he got there. He didn't sit down right away and just watched him eat.
"Either sit or go the fuck away, stop staring at me like that."
"I- Should I go get the nurse? Is your blood sugar low?"
"Yours is about to be low. Because your blood is going to be fucking gone."
Tubbo sat a seat away from where he normally would, being exaggeratedly cautious like he was worried Tommy might bite him or something. "Why are you eating donuts? Are they low sugar or something?"
"Felt like having donuts, I don't know. Why are you short? Miss a growth spurt or something?"
"I'll gnaw your legs off so you're shorter than me."
"Would I really be shorter than you without legs?"
"Hold still and we can find out."
"Think I'll pass,", Tommy took a sip of his water, "Might get you some fucking wooden blocks or something to chew on so your teeth don't grow perpetually into your skull."
"Where the fuck did you learn the word 'perpetually'?"
Tommy thought back to the 'sand eating' conversation with Wilbur, and decided to be merciful to his brother and lie. "Don't know, picked it up from somewhere. Did you get the shit for Sam's class done?"
"Why, did you want to copy any of it?"
"No, I don't need help with his shit. I was curious which option you chose."
"Oh, I picked arachnids."
"What? That was the lamest fucking one!"
"No the fuck it wasn't! Which one did you pick?"
"Ants, because the only thing stopping those fuckers from overthrowing us is pheromones."
"They're too fucking small to do anything."
"A few thousand ants could pick you up and carry you the fuck away."
"They wouldn't, though; I'll step on them."
"That's so fucked up and evil of you."
"They're ants. Not even real ants."
"Right, and you're fucked up for stepping on the hypothetical ants."
"The hypothetical ants are trying to carry me the fuck away and eat me!"
Tommy folded his arms. "And it's what they deserve."
"No, but look at this fucker,", Tubbo got out his Zoology notebook, opening it to the current assignment and pulling out some printed images of spiders.
"Damn, no need to get fancy with it; we just needed to write shit."
"I printed it because I found them neat,", he slid the pictures at Tommy, "This is a a goldenrod crab spider."
"It's white and spherical, not golden or rod."
"They camouflage to flowers, and then they ambush shit like bees and flies instead of catching stuff in webs. They're yellow by default, but if the flower is white so are they. I saw some shit about them being able to live off of tree sap and flower nectar, but I left it out since I didn't have enough time to look into it further."
Tommy picked up the papers with the spider on them, only vaguely humoring Tubbo until he saw the smaller spiders. "What kind is that one?"
"Oh, that's the males; they've got the black cephalothorax, and they're little."
"Huh."
"Why 'huh'?"
"Nothing, I just- I thought I'd seen one of those before."
"Probably not, they're not really common in the city."
"Probably not, yeah."
Tubbo continued going off about spider facts he'd learned while doing the assignment, but Tommy was focused on Googling more images of the spider in question.
He hadn't gotten the best look at the spider that'd bitten him, but he was almost positive that it'd been one of those.
Ranboo showed up at some point in the middle of Tubbo's spider dump, and the tallest of the three decided they wanted to go off about what they'd learned about centipedes at the same time; forcing Tommy to listen to them until it was time for classes to start.
Tommy was stuck taking the bus once school was done, which was fine by him since he was planning on hanging out with Tubbo downtown for a while before heading home.
Was he telling his brother he was doing this? No.
Did he care? Nah, he was planning on being back before him.
Wilbur had already apologized in advance for having to work later again, so Tommy was fully expecting to be home alone even if he did go directly there.
The bus had to take a detour because of some construction or something, leaving them stuck walking to the area they actually wanted to be in. Which was fine, initially, since it was around four in the afternoon by the time they got there and the sun was still up.
And they had a lovely time interacting with shop keepers and being as respectful as anyone expects a pair of highschool boys to be in public.
Eventually, Tommy's phone started ringing as they were feeding fries to some rats outside of a fast food place; startling him into dropping his food and forcing him to move back when the rats rushed it.
"Oh, shit-", he hadn't realized how late it'd gotten, and Wilbur was calling him, "Fuck, he's probably pissed."
Tubbo checked the time on his own phone as Tommy quietly panicked. "Probably not? It's only like... eight, not that late. Plus, I don't think I've ever seen him get mad about anything before."
"You're not in his class, and you don't live with him."
Tubbo had a point, though, Wilbur didn't usually get angry about stuff. At the very least, he didn't jump right to that.
So, Tommy took a deep breath and answered the call. "Hey-"
"Where are you?"
"Tubbo and I are hanging out downtown."
"Why didn't you say anything about it when you checked in earlier?"
"Truthfully, I thought I'd be getting back before you, but we lost track of time. Did you know that a rat can take out a fucking seagull if they're fighting over the same piece of food?"
"Tommy, please tell me you haven't been purposefully instigating the wildlife."
"... I haven't been purposefully instigating the wildlife."
"Good, that gives me plausible deniability,", Wilbur sighed, "Head back, please; it's getting late."
"Alright, on my way now I guess. At the mercy of the busses on that one."
"Keep me updated if something happens, if it takes too long I may just come get you."
"Right, talk to you in a bit."
"Bye."
He hung up, letting out a sigh of his own as he put his phone away. "He's not mad, just wants me to head back."
"Probably a good idea, busses aren't as reliable once it gets close to nine."
"Tubbo, what the fuck are you doing wandering the city past nine in the fucking evening?"
"What are you, a cop? Mind your fucking business."
"I'm abandoning you in a gutter."
He didn't leave Tubbo on his own, both because he wasn't being serious but also because he wasn't very confident that he'd be able to find his way back to the bus stop he needed with the route change.
Realistically, he could take the Light Rail and get at close enough to his apartment that he could walk, but taking the bus meant that he and Tubbo could go the same way and get off only a few stops apart.
It became clear pretty quick that Tubbo didn't know where he was going, either, and they gradually moved from the semi-populated area of shops and restaurants they'd been hanging out near into a quieter area of mostly empty office buildings that only had a few lights on.
"Tubbo."
"Yeah?"
"Where the fuck are we?"
"Good question, I was following you."
"You are literally walking in front of me."
"Oh, yeah."
Tommy put his hands over his face, letting out a frustrated noise. "Come on, man!"
"Look, it's your fault for following me-"
"Now isn't the time for fucking joking gaslighting, it's getting cold out and I want to get back before Wil's really pissed off."
"Good point, sorry,", Tubbo put a hand to his chin, "We could probably just retrace our steps until we see a street sign? Could google it from there."
"Better than aimlessly fucking wandering,", he sighed, turning around and pausing as he felt what could best be describe a tingle in the back of his head.
It felt like something was wrong, but he had no idea what; they were on an empty street, nobody else was there. Tubbo hadn't noticed anything, continuing to walk without any concern.
He did notice Tommy wasn't following, though, and asked what was wrong at the same time a gunshot rang out from the alleyway closest to them.
For some reason, Tommy's first thought wasn't running when it became clear that they were in danger. No, he decided that it was smarter to shove Tubbo into the bushes with him and hide.
Which, with how fast someone came to investigate the rustling of the bush, was probably the better move.
The person had on what could best be described as a cartoon enemy grunt's outfit; a biker helmet with ram horns attached to the sides on their head and black jumpsuit covering the majority of their body. It would have been funny if they hadn't been holding a very real gun.
A very real gun that they were pointing around as they looked for the cause of the sound.
Tommy and Tubbo were clinging onto eachother as the person got closer, doing their best to hold their breath as the person poked around. Tommy panicked as the ram grunt poked at the bush with their gun, and acted before thinking about it.
He pushed Tubbo out of the bush to the side opposite of where a crime had probably just happened, firing a glob of web at the gun that was practically in his face that had enough force to knock the attacker back while jamming the weapon.
Another web was shot at their face next, covering the front of the helmet and giving him enough time to grab Tubbo and leg it. He dragged the shorter boy down random alleyways for what felt like ages until he thought they were a safe distance away, nearly puking next to the bins they hid behind from the amount of exertion.
"Holy shit- Fuck- What the fuck was- What-", Tommy panicked between panting, freaking out about that situation as a whole.
Tubbo wasn't saying anything, letting him freak out for a few minutes before forcing him to stand up straight and promptly slapping him.
"Tubbo, what the fuck-"
He was slapped again. "What the fuck was that?", the short boy asked, sounding more interested than scared.
"I don't fucking know! Some fucking guy with a gun-"
"No, the shit you did."
"I- I hit his fucking gun?"
"No, the white shit; you weren't holding anything."
"I- I don't know?"
"Bullshit, you clearly knew what you were doing. You even did some cringe ass Naruto hand shit as it happened."
Ok, so feigning ignorance wasn't the play. "I don't know what you saw, but-"
"No gaslighting."
Lying was out, as well.
Tommy had been far more worried about the armed criminal that'd been pointing a gun at them than he was about an excuse, and eventually sighed after a few minutes of trying and failing to come up with something better. "Can I at least explain somewhere private? Rather than a fucking alleyway somewhere in the middle of the city?"
Tubbo folded his arms, eye narrowed as he clearly contemplated slapping him a third time. There wasn't any more slapping, thankfully, and the short boy eventually sighed with an eye roll. "Fine. I suppose you can tell me tomorrow after school."
"If Wil lets me go home on my own again with how fucking late I'll be getting back."
"Does he-"
"He doesn't know a god damn thing about it, and it better fucking stay that way."
"I don't talk to Mr.Soot, why would I snitch to him?", Tubbo raised his hands defensively in front of himself, "As long as you actually tell me what's up, I won't say anything to him."
"Fuck off, don't try to blackmail me."
"Better keep your word, then."
"I never promised I would-"
"I'll stop in his classroom tomorrow and tell him what I saw."
"No, alright. I promise I'll tell you."
Tubbo walked past him, smug expression on his face. "Good. I recognize where we are now, by the way; bus stop is this way."
"It better be, I don't want to fucking wander any more."
"Well with that attitude, I may just pick a direction and go."
"I will ditch your short ass and take the train."
"Good luck finding it without my help."
"You are the reason we nearly got shot,", Tommy huffed, walking ahead, "I'm assuming you're just bad luck at this point."
"Hang on a fucking second-"
He got home around an hour later, cautiously entering the apartment where Wilbur was waiting in the livingroom. He braced himself for a reaction, staying by the door when Wilbur acknowledged that he'd entered.
"You didn't get bitten by any of the rats you were fucking with, did you?"
"No, Tubbo wouldn't let me get close enough for that."
"Good to know he has more sense than you on that front."
"Fuck you, I've got plenty of sense."
"Pardon me if I am unable to hide my doubt at that statement. Did you eat any of the food you were tossing at the rats, or was it all for the city puppies?"
"Fucking city puppies- Yeah, I ate already."
He hadn't had a ton of what they'd bought, but he'd had enough of it. He wasn't particularly hungry after all of the stress brought on by dealing with the ram gun guy before, anyways.
Wilbur didn't seem to fully believe him, standing and folding his arms. "Really?"
"Yes, really. Why are you more worried about that than me getting home at nearly ten p.m. on a Monday?"
"Believe me, I'm worried about that as well, but I'm not going to throw a fit over it as long as it doesn't become a habit."
"... So I'm not in trouble?"
"Not this time, you get a pass for it,", Wilbur kept going before Tommy had a chance to let out a sigh of relief, "But, I think it's reason enough to properly lay out some ground rules."
His heart sank immediately, and he looked down at the floor. "Ah, right, that's-"
"Not like that- Poor choice of words, sorry. Ground as in baseline; I accept that you're a teenager, and you want to spend time with your friends. And you're allowed to do that, I don't want to hinder your social life."
"Get the the ass of the statement."
"You mean the 'but'?"
"Yeah, the ass."
Wilbur let out an amused exhale before continuing. "But the city is dangerous as of late with all the crime boss shit or whatever, and I want to know when you're going somewhere and where it is you're at. You're only fifteen, I don't want something to happen to you because I thought you were home and didn't think to check in."
"I can handle myself-"
"I know you can, but I would still prefer having at least a basic idea where you are if you aren't here or at the school. You don't have to tell me everything, just where you're at. I'd also like you home earlier than this, obviously."
"And what time were you thinking of for curfew?", Tommy asked, dreading the answer.
"Not calling it curfew, and, uh... Depends on the circumstances, I suppose? Don't want to say sundown because that could be either four or nine depending on the time of year, and I know it's not very reasonable to give you a solid time when you're relying on the busses to get around. Just- Use your brain, and you'll be alright."
"Why are you being so nice about this?"
"I'm not, I'm being reasonable."
"Phil would have a fit if he knew how relaxed you were being about me wandering the city."
"Then it's a good thing he's not going to find out about it,", Wilbur stood off of the sofa, stretching, "Now that I know you're home and safe, I'm going to bed. I suggest you do the same, it's a school night remember."
"I'll stay up past midnight watching a Youtube video of paint drying, just to fucking spite you."
"The only person you'd be spiting would be yourself, I'll give all of your other teachers permission to wake you up if they catch you sleeping."
"So I'll sleep in your class, then."
"I've got an airhorn."
Tommy mustered up the wettest, saddest look he could. "You'd really make me go deaf like that?"
"Don't use the puppy-dog eyes on me for something as trivial as this,", Wilbur used his hand to block his view of his brother.
"Ear damage is far from trivial, Wilbur."
"Goodnight, don't complain if you haven't gotten enough sleep when I'm waking you up tomorrow."
"Yeah, go 'honk shoo' at ten-thirty like the old man you are."
"I'm more of a 'honk mimimi' kind of man."
"If I hit you with a brick, you can sleep silently."
"I'm fine without that, thank you. When it gets to the end of the semester, however, I may take you up on that offer; have a feeling it'd work better than melatonin."
"I'll hopefully upgrade to a sledge hammer by then."
"Ever the tycoon, I see,", Wilbur chuckled, disappearing into the little hall that led to their rooms, "Goodnight."
"Night."
Tommy waited until his brother's door was closed to let out a long sigh, getting himself a glass of water and ignoring how much his hands were shaking.
Things were fine, he wasn't in trouble, nothing was wrong.
Ok, well alot was wrong, but nothing with Wilbur. There was really something to be said about him being more worried about his brother being mad at him than he'd been about a man with a gun, but that was better left to a therapist's office when he was in his thirties.
Tubbo sent him an incredibly ominous and threatening message reminding him that he had to explain what happened after school the next day, and Tommy contemplated trying to come up with some kind of excuse before deciding he was just going to go to bed and worry about it in the morning.
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Next Chapter [ nothing yet! ]
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i didn't realize it'd been a month, here's more piderman!
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