Sleepy Bois Inc. Angst Oneshots

Memories

TW: grief and mentions of insanity and death and a little bad parenting and obsession
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Fundy sat surrounded by picture books. He picked up one and flipped through it. His dad, a baby when the photo was taken, smiled at the camera with a goofy grin. In the next photo, Wilbur's face was smeared with birthday cake. His twin, Techno, sat next to him in their high chairs. Fundy laughed softly and ran his finger over the photo.

"Fundy, what are you doing?" Phil asked. Fundy jumped at the intrusion. He looked up at Philza, who stood in full glory in bunny slippers and curlers with a crow on his shoulder.

"I'm looking at photos, Grandpa," he said sheepishly. "I can- I can put them back if you want me to." Fundy quietly hoped Philza wouldn't make him put the books away.

Phil's eyes flitted down to the book that laid open. He let out a soft, "Oh," and looked back at Fundy. He sat down next to Fundy and pulled him into a hug.

"You look just like your father." Phil smiled softly at Fundy. Fundy turned to the photos and mapped the similarities. He ran a finger over the bridge of his nose and traced his father's nose on the picture before comparing their jawlines and cheekbones.

"Can you tell me about him?" Fundy gently pushed a book into Phil's hands.

"Wilbur wasn't always, uh, insane for lack of a better word. Never in a million years would I have thought he was going to blow up L'manberg." Phil took a deep breath and stalled by staring at the baby pictures. "He was once kind and caring. He was my smiley child. He loved music, animals, and his brothers. He was kind of like Tubbo in a way."

Fundy nodded along, eager to hear about his father. He urged Phil on and began flipping through photos faster.

"This cliff was our favorite place to picnic; he took you there a few times. In this picture, he had just scaled the cliff to help a sheep. Scared me out of my wits." Wilbur was squinting from the sun and smiling at the camera, holding a baby lamb in his arms.

"Is that Friend?" Fundy asked, looking at the sheep closely.

"Yeah, he dyed him blue when we got home. He got dye all over the bathroom, and Techno made him scrub it with a toothbrush," Phil said, laughing. They kept flipping, and Phil told the story of every picture.

"This was him when he was just turning thirteen. Oh, I remember that day. I gave him his first guitar, and Tommy got jealous and cried so much." Phil laughed, and Fundy joined him. He could picture Uncle Tommy getting angry about something like that.

A group picture was on the next page. There was a group of ten or so people, and Fundy recognized them as the Dream SMP members but several years younger. Everyone had a bouquet of flowers.

"Valentine's Day," Fundy read. "Didn't he buy all of them flowers that year? He told me about that." A certain red head stuck out to him, his mother, Sally. Fundy skipped ahead to find more pictures of his mother. He found their wedding pictures; he could see how much they loved each other.

"When your mother died, Wilbur was heartbroken. Sally was the love of his life. And when she died... he changed. A lot. He began to obsess over creating a country of peace, freedom, and happiness. He started that country for you, but he quickly grew engrossed with it. He took it too far, making it his top priority over all of us, even you."

They looked through the pictures until they reached the most recent: Wil sitting under L'mantree with Fundy, seven at the time. Phil's breath hitched.

"I'm sorry," Phil said. His voice choked. He wiped his tears away and took another deep breath. "I have to- I have to go." Fundy watched Phil leave with tears in his eyes. He took a few pictures from the books to keep on his dresser.

Fundy put the picture books back and sat down on his bed. He took a few deep breaths in and wiped his teary eyes. Ghostbur wandered into Fundy's room; Fundy's head snapped up. "Hello!" he called. He greeted Fundy with a smile. Fundy smiled back wearily and pulled the photos to his chest.

"Hi, Dad."

"You look sad. Have some blue!"

"Thanks, Dad." Fundy watched as Ghostbur floated away. He missed his dad and not the happy shell of him that he left behind. He missed Wilbur. He missed the lullabies he'd sing for him and what little time they did spend together. He missed sword practice with Wilbur even though they were both horrid at it.

He missed Phil's Wilbur: the one that risked his life for hurt animals, the one that sang his brothers to sleep, and the one that gave all of his friends flowers. He missed the Wilbur that taught Tommy how to play guitar and the one that loved Fundy's mother and created a country for them.

But he also knew Wilbur could never come back, not even with Dream's revival book. Wilbur had changed too much, and bringing him back could be catastrophic. He just had to settle with pictures, stories, and memories. It would be enough.
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(886 words)
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AN: we're almost at 20k reads! thanks for reading, voting, commenting, saving, and following!

I'm gonna pass out now! I promise to start updating more often. School's almost done, thank goodness, and then I won't have to worry about homework and have more time to write!