Putting the Fun in dysfunctional

Chapter 4: Brotherly Bonding

TW: Drugs (very brief), mentions of abuse (in the past), emotional manipulation
(if I missed anyone please tell me)
Tommy was extremely quiet the ride to the mall; he sat in the back, had a lot to think about and most definitely was not terrified of Wilbur (although he did sit in the back solely to keep his distance from him). So that's what he did.
He thought about the trees of the forest they passed.
He thought about the empty field they passed soon after and how empty he felt when he saw them. A few houses back there was this foster parent that made him burn his very few belongings, but that was one of the better homes. Dream only punished Tommy when he deserved it, now that he thinks about it he doesn't remember why he had to leave there in the first place. (A part of Tommy's mind knew that wasn't true, he told it to shut up)
Cows.
He had a pet cow once, he called it Henry. He and his foster brother Tubbo found it; and they made sure to take care of him as well as each other. Then it was decided that Tommy was too much of a problem, so he got sent back.
Wilbur.
Wilbur was honestly exactly what Tommy expected (and he could not say the same for the rest of them). He was a completely average asshole, and the only one who was fucking predictable. He knew Wilbur would hit him if he fucked up, because he had. He thought of Techno as a nerd but he apparently knew how to beat him to a pulp, since Wilbur used him as a threat. Phil was the worst, nobody had ever waited this long to hurt him. It had been a whole bloody day! And the ones who waited were the worst, and it took weeks to recover from (months in Dreams case) oh god Phil could be worse than Dream, he's gonna-

And Wilbur was staring at him "The fuck are you staring at mate?"
Fuck.

"Uh- Not you! Uh the- the clouds are shaped like a knifes, like it could stab a bitch!" It was at this moment Tommy realized how fucking bad at conversations he was.

"Look I get it. You think I'm some sort of asshole, and that's fair and all but you could at least not stare at me? You seem annoying. And I can pretend to like you around Phil, even around you if you want to; but you have to listen to me. We're family now after all. "

Tommy froze. Wilbur was entirely correct. He was annoying and if he wanted to make his stay there as long as possible then he had to be good. He had to behave. Fuck, he really was a horrible person. (A Little voice in his head echoed what Wilbur said "We're family now. Tommy") he shook it away. It was hard to breathe and everything was cold and-

"F-Fuck you! Asshole! I'll do whatever the fuck I want because I am a big man! And I can handle myself; without getting weed, you fucking-"

Wilbur's knuckles were white against the wheel
"Tommy"

That was a warning. Fuck, fuck, Tommy needed to apologize.

"I'm sorry."

The rest of the car ride was silent, and Tommy was left with his thoughts.

Wilbur wasn't stupid. He knew when he was being a dick, he just couldn't allow himself to care. And it didn't help that out of all of them Will was the one who had to take him. And the fact that the child was a dick for staring at him. (A part of him told him he was just like that when he first met Phil, that he had grown and should be proud of himself, he told it to fuck off)

And now he had to take him to the mall. They lived in a small town infested with chain restaurants (there weren't any local business in town except for a single bakery). Because of this, the mall was extremely popular. Wilbur wasn't the most popular in his school but he still had reputation, one that would be ruined if he was seen with a child who thinks red baseball tees are stylish, he could work on that but it would take time. Time they didn't have. He looked back to an annoying (panicking) child. Whatever, he'd apologize later if he snitches on him to Phil.

"Tommy we're here"

For now he had bigger problems.

Tommy hates malls. Well More specifically he hated crowded places. But that didn't matter cause he had things to get (and he was probably just faking it for attention, that was what everyone else had told him).

"What exactly are we getting?" Tommy fidgeted with his fingers

"Phil said the essentials so do whatever the fuck you want. But if you spend more then $150 of Phil's money I will just slap you" That would normally be counted as a joke to Tommy, but he knew what Wilbur was capable of and did not want to test him.

So he just put his head down, like he was taught "ok, sorry"he could keep that budget, plus it wasn't like he was going to spend more than he needed to anyway.

He went to the store and picked out a whopping 3 T-shirts with a pair of basketball shorts.

Wilbur was also getting a bunch of jackets. That we're definitely more Tommy's size than his, but he got his stuff in the cart and waited for Wilbur (He made sure not to interrupt him he was busy).

As he was waiting (yet again) he thought about his previous interactions with Wilbur. The only time he got hurt was when Tommy was being stupid, he was probably just looking to help Tommy, yet he still fucked it up. But how did he fuck it up? Tommy thought harder, he had to find the patterns.

The only time Wilbur would get mad at him is if he pissed him off (that was obvious); the first time he called him out for smelling like weed and the other times he could tell were threats, he was thankful that he was able to keep his mouth shut now (he hadn't before a few months ago). Tommy quickly identified another similarity, it was his fault. So, he just needs to stop- when around Wilbur he'll be very careful, he won't speak unless he absolutely needs to, and he most definitely will not annoy him.

"Tommy?" Wilbur was back

"Yes?" He kept fidgeting with his hand (he needed to fucking stop)

"Time to go."

"Ok" and like that the car ride home was silent and Tommy was ok.

Maybe this wasn't so bad.

1217 words//A/N: SPEED-RUNNING THIS POST AS WELL AS TESTING IDEAS OUT

We're going to be doing a voting thing for the next part- it will not be the only determiner of a small portion of the chapter. Votes will be due 12:00pm (EST) tomorrow - Introducting: Pick your poison!

A) Tommy snitches on Will and Will has to apologize
B) Tubbo moment (what could go wrong?)

On another note: I would also pay attention to the comments :)

COMMENTS WORK!