Home?

9. No reason.

Soon, the whole family was back in the kitchen, drawn in by the smell of fresh baked cookies. Tommy handed them out with a smile, proud of his hard work on them. He had never baked anything before. It was a new experience.

He really liked it.

"Tommy, you made these?" Drista asked as she bit into one.

"Well, kind of. I helped Mrs. Puffy." He explained.

"It's just Puffy, Tommy. And you did this all on your own." Puffy ruffled his hair with a smile and pulled another batch out of the oven.

"Here, mate, you have something on your cheek." Phil said, wiping flour off of his face.

He actually felt like he was a part of this family...

~•~

"Tommy?" Tubbo asked before he turned the light off.

"Yeah, Tubbo?"

"Why were you in foster care?"

"Oh, well, uh, my parents died. So I didn't have anywhere to go."

"Oh."

"Why?"

"No reason."

Then he turned the light off.

Yeah, this kid was weird.

~•~

The next day, Phil and Puffy decided they needed to get out of the house. There was a winter festival going on downtown. 

So, they all piled into Puffy's abnormally large van. Phil and Puffy sat in the front, then Tubbo, Tommy, and Drista in the next row. Then Dream and Foolish. And Wilbur and Techno were in the very back. 

It wasn't a super long drive, only about 20 minutes, and soon they were all piling back out of the car. 

The village that they landed in was already busy. People were walking all around, visiting the vendors and going on hayrides. It was a pretty area, and it looked like fun. 

"Have at it, kids." Puffy said, spreading her arms out. Everyone quickly spread out. Dream, Foolish, Wilbur, and Techno all head off on their own. Drista went with Puffy to some store. Phil went off on his own, saying something about meeting back in 2 hours here. And then it was just Tommy and Tubbo. 

"So, uh, where did you want to go?" Tommy asked. 

Tubbo shrugged. "There's a good place for hot chocolate over there." He said, pointing towards one of the vendors. 

"Sounds good, boss man. Let's go." Tubbo led the way as they headed over. 

Once the hot chocolates were in hand, Tommy suggested they go to the hay ride. Tubbo seemed a bit hesitant but went along with it. 

They sat in the back of the truck with uncomfortable straw poking their legs, but it was nice. They were the only ones on the ride, and it was quiet for a while. 

"Look, Tommy, over there." Tubbo pointed off into the distance. There was a house with a ton of lights hanging around it, blinking to the sound of a quiet song playing in the distance. 

"Whoa." Tommy watched the house until it couldn't be seen anymore. 

It was quiet again for a moment. 

And then, "I'm sorry I've been so weird around you." Tubbo said. "It's just that Ranboo is really my only friend at the moment and I didn't know how you would be. But I didn't really give you a chance. So, sorry." 

"It's fine, dude, really. I get it. Random kid coming into your family and then you're expected to be friends with them. I understand." Tommy nodded. "But thank you." 

"Do you want to start over?" Tubbo asked. 

"Sure." 

"Hi, I'm Tubbo." 

"I'm Tommy. Nice to meet you." 

---

I'm sorry!!!! I'm not dead, I promise!

I am swamped with nursing work. 

In my university, the first semester is the "weed out" semester so it's lots of hard classes. Next semester, I will be more free. As soon as it hits December, I should hopefully be able to get back on a schedule. 

For now, it's going to just be a lot of random and distanced posts whenever I have time, so I really apologize for that. 

I still hope you are all enjoying and thank you for understanding. 

Love you all!!