this world we have built is burning down around us | Dream SMP Time Travel Fic

the end returns (again and again)

Tommy ducked under a small branch that snapped back towards his face, scowling to himself, partly annoyed with Tubbo's refusal to listen to his calls and mostly because he still wanted to punch the future dead version of his brother in his ugly face.

"Tubbo!" Tommy tripped over a root, stumbling, and picked up his speed with a flurried urgency as he noticed his friend growing further from his reach. "Damnit, stop running, you prick!"

It seemed Prime had blessed him with a moment's opening, the brunet falling over his own boots and allowing Tommy to close the gap between them, his fingers curling around the other's forearm, clumsy in his rush. "Slow it, big man!"

"Fuck off, Tommy!" Tubbo turned halfway, tears clinging to his lashes as he tried to jerk away from the grasp. The maneuver failed, only since the blond had prepared for a fight, but he was still tugged harshly forward from the move due to the brunet's strength. "Leave me alone!"

"No way!" Tommy pulled harder on the boy's arm, turning him fully so that their eyes could meet, a bright, wide angry glare and a dull, watery miserable stare. "Just because being dead has made future Wilbur an asshole doesn't mean you get to just...fuck off! I'm not leaving you by yourself after that! No offense, Tubso, but me and everyone else still gives a shit, and I'm not just gonna let you think otherwise!"

"You heard him!" Tubbo tore his gaze away, tears finally falling to the dirt as he sniffled. "I abandoned you! I-I left you! You shouldn't give a shit, Tommy! Obviously I'm a horrible friend, and you should never—"

"Shut up!" Tommy shook the shorter harshly by the shoulders. "That's bullshit! Even if you did do that, it hasn't happened yet! You didn't do shit, the future version of you did! Just like future Wilbur is an insensitive ass who apparently treated me like shit, but I don't see my Wil that way, do I? I still love him, even if I think his future self needs a good punting. For all we know, the ghost is spouting utter shit just to hurt you, or we stopped being friends because of something I did! Hell, it makes more sense for me to be the asshole in this scenario than you! You're not the one who yells in people's faces, who annoys everyone, who's obnoxious, who insults people without thinking it through." The brunet glanced up at the blond, eyes wet but tears halted, a soft frown on his lips; Tommy, emboldened by the meeting of eyes, pushed on. "I bet I'm the one who fucked up! I bet I said or did something, and you left because I deserved it! Because I was the horrible friend!"

Tubbo's frown deepened at the words. "I don't think I like that either," he muttered, shoulders hitching up uncomfortably. "I know you're...a lot of those things, but you're not a bad friend, no matter what some people think."

"Then why when Wilbur said that, you just believed it?" Tommy watched Tubbo flush miserably and duck his head. "Tubs, he was angry. Maybe at us, maybe at himself, maybe at what was happening, but he definitely took it out on you, true or not. Like you said, maybe he thinks you were a bad friend, but I know you're not. Maybe you made mistakes in the future, but that doesn't make you a bad person or friend. We don't know what happened, not really, everything we do know...it's like trying to fit puzzle pieces together while a bunch are fucking missing."

Slowly, the blond released his friend, eyeing him carefully to be sure the boy wouldn't bolt again, and stepped back. "Let's go back to L'manberg, yeah? We'll wait for the rest of them to get back, and if you really still feel like you have to know, you can ask Theseus—shit name—about it. He'll probably have more answers than the dead bitch."

"And if he doesn't want to talk about it?" Tubbo picked at his cuticles demurely, jaw shifting. "What if he thinks I was as bad as Wilbur said?"

Tommy stared at his friend, gaze unwavering, the steadfastness of it soothing some of Tubbo's anxious uncertainty. "Then he doesn't want to talk. And if he is angry, if you did do something wrong, then you won't make the same mistake, will you? You'll be a better person than he was, because you're good like that. If he did turn out to be a shit friend, you won't be."