Tommy's Guide to Owning a Pet Army

Remembering the Past

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He knew that voice. That voice shouldn't be here.

Do not show weakness.

He puffed his chest out.

"Hi?"

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Standing before them was a boy that was all too familiar. Except he wasn't. He seemed more mature. He wasn't wearing his trademark outfit, the tee shirt and Khaki pants were gone, replaced with a maroon sweater and ripped jeans. He had wilburs old coat on and was surrounded by an absurd amount of animals. Bandages covered his eyes and his hair was pulled back into a small bun. He stared at them. Was he staring at them? His gaze seemed to pass them slightly and hit the tree behind them. Was the tree that interesting?

"Hi?"

"Hi..."

"So, uh, what are you doing here?"

"Us? What are YOU doing here?"

"I um, I live here."

He slowly tore his gaze off of Tommy and looked behind him. There were multiple buildings behind him, all built pretty well. There were some planks put in the wrong place and random blocks placed among other blocks, but other than that they looked pretty good. There were different habitats scattered around and a big house in the back of the grove.

It looked like a fucking zoo.

"Since when do you own so many pets?" Asked Phil, looking directly at Tommy.

"Since you abandoned me and I was alone, so I needed company. I may have gone a bit overboard, but I love each and everyone of my animals." Tommy blurted out, pointing to where he thought Phil and Techno were.

His animals huddled close to him, each one making sure the strangers didn't step close to their owner. The growls were starting to get louder, but quieted down as Tommy shushed them, pointing to their pens, silently telling them to go and sit down. Only half of the animals went, a portion staying behind, staring the strangers down.

Tommy cleared his throat, coughing awkwardly.

"So uh- do you um- wanna like have some tea or something?"

His voice was unnaturally quiet. This wasn't the Tommy they knew.

"Uh, sure." Techno was always terrible at small talk. He'd rather just get straight to the point. Phil was not the same though.

"Sure Toms."

Tommy bristled at the old nickname, before shrugging it off and walking towards the house, the animals coming from their habitats and following him inside. He made his way over to the kitchen, reaching to the spot on the counter where he always kept his tea kettle. A quick hand grabbed it before him, scaring him and making him jump.

"Looks like you need some help."

Tommy snatched the kettle out of his hands.

"I am not helpless. Now go sit down and relax or some shit. Introduce yourselves to my animals."

Techno sighed, before going back to the couch where Phil sat, slightly sweating as he looked frantically back and forth at the giant group of animals staring at him.

A few minutes later, Tommy called.

"Teas ready!"

They quickly got up from the couch, the animals following closely behind them. As they sat down at the dining table, they watched Tommy set the tea out before he went back to the kitchen.

"Aren't you gonna sit with us?"

"I'd rather not...uh- I gotta feed my animals, hold on a sec!" He then bolted out of the house, leaving as fast as he had come in. Phil and Techno looked at each other with confusion.

A shriek came from the barn.

They immediately sprang up, running out to the barn to see what had happened. Tommy was sitting down, hands full of food. A gigantic eagle was resting on his head, snapping its beak at the lamb that was trying to jump into Tommy's lap. Tommy was laughing, trying to get up while holding the food and lamb at the same time. He started walking again, towards the house, when he ran into Phil. He fell down onto the ground again.

"Fuckin hell, why are you out of the house? I'm trying to grab the pet food. Why'd you sneak up on me?" Tommy said, obviously forgetting that they came in front him.

"Uh- we were right in front of you? Do you need glasses?"

Of course, that was a joke, but it touched a nerve in Tommy's brain.

"How dare you try to joke around with me. It has been so long since I left, too long. I left for a reason you know. You don't get to act like we're still family." He put air quotes on family. They were not his family, at least not anymore. He furrowed his eyebrows and quickly stood up, eagle on his head, lamb in one arm, shit-ton of food in the other arm, and ran into the support beam of the barn.

God dammit.

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He quickly recovered, standing up once again, grabbing his shit, and starting speed-walking the hell out of there. He quickly shut the door, yelling to the others that they would not want to be in the house when he was feeding his animals.

Chaos ensued.

Through the window Phil and Techno could see Tommy setting out an absurd amount of bowls, putting a generous amount of food in each one, then proceeding to get mowed over by what seemed to be a blob of animals.

He looked like he knew what he was doing. He seemed to be happier. Techno looked at Phil. They looked at each other, each with a confused expression on their face. They only went to the jungle to get cocoa beans for cookies. They hadn't expected to travel two weeks just to cocoa beans, much less come across the person of which they had been looking for for a year straight.

Phil sighed. He knew he had been a bad parent. He knew he had paid more attention to Techno than his other kids. He knew he stabbed his middle child. He knew he neglected Tommy. He actually hadn't known that for a while. Not until the day Wilbur was revived.

It had played out like this- Wilbur woke up, Wilbur then proceeded to scream at Phil and Techno, telling them of what Tommy had been through. He had given two lives to keep L'manburg safe and independent, while Techno and Phil had never lost a single life. He had been manipulated by Dream, almost committed suicide, and then proceeded to be ignored by everyone he loved. He was hunted down by two people he thought were his friends. He had broken down crying every night, quiet sobs that could only be heard by the wind. He was only sixteen. Sixteen.

But they hadn't considered that. They hadn't considered that blowing up a childhood home would maybe- just maybe- oh I don't know- break the trust that had been solidified? They could tell that Tommy hated them. They wanted to talk about it, wanted to explain their sides of the story. But they knew that Tommy had his own arsenal of insults and reasons to hate them.

They wanted him back, they wanted to bring him home, hear his insults fly at them while he tried to punch them, too have the giant bear hug that came with each visit- to fill the void in their lives that had been missing for two years now.

And all of that would start with convincing him to come home.

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ANGST ALERT

Stunning and attractive author here. Sorry it's been a while, I had a hard time figuring out how they would react o seeing each other again (hah). ANYWAY. You don't have to thank me <3