Finding Them

Pages 20-22 Chapter 1

        "So, now that you two are settled. Who's Tommy?" Phil asked in a tone that suggested they tread carefully.

"Well?" Techno asked after prolonged silence, looking at the boy.

"My name's not Bert." Tommy said sheepishly.

"Damn right it's not." Phil was furious. The boy curled in on himself, why did he feel so bad about lying to them. It didn't matter what Phil thought of him. It didn't matter what anyone thought of him. So why did he feel so guilty?

"What else have you been lying to us about?" Wilbur asked just as angry.

"N-nothing, I just wanted to earn money, so I could buy Tubbo a scooter. It was stupid of me, I know. I thought I might have a chance at tricking you. I know it was wrong but I just didn't know what else to do!" By now tears were running down his cheeks. Why did he feel so guilty? Why was he so weak? Why was he crying in front of strangers? What was he even doing here? Just, why?

Tommy braced himself for a hit, beating, punishment of any kind really. Instead, he just felt warm. A cloak draped itself over his shoulders, a hand on his head.

"What you did was wrong, yes; but that doesn't mean you can't learn from your mistakes. No harm no foul, right?" Phil smiled. Tommy's heart leapt. No one had ever shown him this kind of kindness before, aside from Tubbo's family that is. Tommy only cried harder, even though he was desperate for the tears to stop.

"Did I say something wrong?" Phil asked stepping away, taking his hand off of the child's head. Tommy missed the warmth from the hand on his head. His body acted on instinct, flinging himself into the older man and burying his head into his chest.

"Oh," Phil was surprised by the sudden affection, "your alright mate." He reciprocated the hug, tucking the boys head under his chin, holding him tightly. When Tommy finally pulled away his eyes were bloodshot, and his nose was filled with snot. Phil's thumbs brushed away excess tears before handing the boy a tissue.

"Why don't you stay the night yeah?" Phil offered. Tommy shook his head; they had already been so nice to him.

"No that's alright, my parents wouldn't like it very much anyways." Why did he keep lying? Techno rolled his eyes but stayed silent, waiting for Tommy to realize what he said.

"Wait- no I don't even have parents. Why do I keep lying?" Tommy's face was in his hands, desperately trying to keep oncoming tears at bay. From all the crying he just did you'd think he'd run out of them by now, much to Tommy's disappointment they didn't. Phil sighed slightly; Tommy had been doing this for so long that it just became a habit.

"Then why don't you take us to where you've been staying, we can hash out if you'll stay with us, yeah?" Tommy nodded defeatedly. Knowing there was no getting around this.

Feet trudged through snow on the forest floor. Phil should have guessed, where else would the boy stay? But when they suddenly stopped in the middle of the forest he was confused.

"What, are you trying to trick us with this too?" Wilbur was irritated, understandably so. It was cold, wet, dark and they were in the middle of the woods. It didn't look very good in Tommy's case.

"No, this is my house." Tommy crawled through a hole in the side of a small dirt mound. If the boy hadn't pointed it out, they would have never found it. The other tree came over and tried peering through the small hole. The only things they could see other than Tommy was a ripped blanket and a chest that probably didn't have much in it.

Tommy was sitting on dirt, and every time he moved clumps of it would fall from the ceiling. Lord only knows how many bugs Tommy was covered in right now.

"Isn't it great?! I hand built it myself you know, very sturdy." Tommy smiled proudly, patting the dirt structure. His company grimaced, how did he even fit in there?

"Yes, very nice craftsmanship- How long have you been living here mate?" Phil glossed over the first part of his sentence, slightly scared for the incoming response. Tommy furrowed his brow; he knew nothing about numbers.

"Um, well I've been living here since I left the orphanage and at the time, I was this tall." Tommy's hand went a little bit over his belly button, Tommy wasn't very tall right now, so how old was he when he was that tall? Phil determined he had to of been a four-year-old at least. How did he survive out here for so long?

"Since you were four?" Wilbur asked. Tommy shrugged.

"I dunno, don't really understand numbers that well." Phil sighed.

"Alright Tommy grab what you need."

"Why?"

"You're staying with us." Tommy shook his head disagreeing.

"Tommy, you'll freeze to death if you stay out here!" Phil tried reasoning with the stubborn child.

"No, I won't, I've been out here when it was far colder. I'm just a genius at building." Phil gave another exasperated sigh, why couldn't this child just listen to him? He was just trying to be nice.

"At least for the night then." Tommy mulled it over.

"Fine," he agreed. Tommy grabbed his prized possessions. That consisted of his extremely ripped baby blanket, a tattered bee plush from Tubbo and his money. Nothing was left in his little dirt shack.

When they got back to the inn it was well past midnight. Tommy could probably fall asleep anywhere right then and there. The moment he stepped foot in the door he settled himself in an empty corner, draping the blanket across his frame, or what it would cover at least. Phil noticed this and went over to the boy.

"Toms, don't you wanna sleep in a bed?" If Phil hadn't of asked him a question, he would be dead asleep by now. Even though he was sleeping on the floor it was the most comfortable Tommy had been in a while.

"No, 'ts okay." his voice was soft, only half aware of what was going on.

"Well, you're obviously too tired to put up a fight right now, who do you wanna share with?" Tommy shrugged, still only halfway awake.

"Alright, you'll share with Wilbur then." Wil's lips moved with no noise.

"Wha- buh- why me?" His voice whined.

"Because you didn't share a bed last night." Wilbur grumbled but complied.

Getting into bed Wilbur tried barricading himself from the child with a small pillow wall. Despite what they wanted to believe Tommy was lanky and on the taller side for a child his age. So, when he's finally given the ability to sleep without being constricted to a certain position he tends to take up as much space as possible, or just move around a lot. Needless to say, the pillow wall didn't last very long. Wilbur was getting annoyed, as if he wasn't already. That is until the cute little fucker decided to curl up next to him. What an asshole.

He would never admit it to anyone, but maybe the child wasn't that bad.