Together We Can, Alone We Will [Origins SMP/Modded SMP]

Excuse me, Sthir, How Did You Climb That Wall-?

"So sunshine, it's your birthday soon, yeah?" Wilbur asked, twirling his yellow parasol in his hands.
"Mhm," Tommy answered, "April 9th."
"Hmmm, what's the date?" Wilbur asked.
Tommy glanced at Tubbo.
"March 30th," Tubbo answered.

"Oh! That's super close!" Wilbur grinned a soft hiss lined his words.
It wasn't like the deformed cat's hiss -a creeper as they've dubbed it- or a cat's hiss. It was more scream-ish-like.

"Sure, 10 days," Tommy replied vaguely.
"You excited?" Wilbur asked.
"Of course he's excited!" Tubbo answered for him.
Tommy was fine with that.

"You don't know that!" Wilbur shot back.
"Why wouldn't he be-"
The 2 continued fighting while Tommy dissociated.

●●●●

"YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST-"
"HOW WOULD I KNOW HE WOULD-"
"NO, NO, SHUT UP!"

The wrapping of knuckles against wood made the 2 shut up. Giving Tommy the silence that he so desperately desired.
And yet the silence was worst.

He couldn't hear what came next. He tried listening, but his bed was pressed against the opposite wall.

Finally, there was walking and the door opened.
In walked Wels Knite in his usual armor.
He closed the door behind him and carefully sat on the toy chest at the foot of his bed.
He stayed silent for a minute just watching Tommy.

Wels' eyes darted to a small clock he usually kept with him.
"Happy birthday, Toms," Wels hummed happily.
Tommy immediately sat up, facing him, a large grin on his face as Wels shifted so he could look at him better.

"What do you say, you want it now or later?" Wels asked.
"Now! Now please!" Tommy bounced up onto his knees.
Wels chuckled and hopped up, moving from the cushioned chest to the bed. Carefully he shifted a yellow and black bag to his front and agonizingly slow reached in to pull out the present.

Tommy leaned in and Wels stuck his tongue out.
"Close your eyes!" Wels insisted.
Tommy groaned but did as he was told.

"Ok, hold out your hands," Wels insisted.
Tommy followed instructions.

Something cold was pressed into his palm.
"Ok! You can look now!" Wels announced.

Tommy's eyes opened and he stared down at what appeared to be a small compass.
A red needle pointed off to the north. Flipping it Tommy found an engraving.

"From me to you, so you'll never be alone again - Love, Brother"

Tommy looked up, slightly confused. Wels' face turned a slight pink and he shifted awkwardly.
"It used to be my older brother's," he explained quietly.

He never talks about his brother.
Tommy knows he had one, from the adults and older kids, by the empty room that's decorated to standards higher than Wels' own in Wels' home, even by the way sometimes Wels would unconsciously call Tommy brother or "Hels".
He also knows that he had lost him.
By the way, he stares blankly at the door of the empty room, by the way he holds Tommy just a little tighter and just a little closer when they go on a cliffside road, by the way tears would line his eyes when he'd play the piano.

It only made sense that the boy was gone.

The one time that he had asked and gotten a proper answer was when he was 9. He had asked, "where did your brother go?"
Wels had given him a very soft smile before responding, "I'm not sure, I just know that he never came back."