SBI + Friends One-shots

2. And so they leave, and they leave no letter

Type: Angst
Characters: Philza, Tommyinnit, Tubbo, Wilbur
Words: 2616
Summary:

They visit.

Also on my ao3/tumblr: C4pricornC4ts

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The first month of living with Tubbo had its ups and downs. The boy quickly took to farming, starting several beehives in the unused field Philza had by the house. The boy had an affinity for gardening and had been slowly filling their house with indoor plants. Philza didn’t mind. After what they’ve been through a little color was always welcome.

Tubbo didn’t take the plants dying very well however. He’d look to Philza and ask what he did wrong, to which Philza would respond by gently guiding him to the nearest seat and telling him he did everything he could.

He loved to tag along and help Philza run their part of the markets. People took to the boy’s excitable personality quickly and before long he was being invited to events with other children. (Most were politely declined, Philza really didn’t like leaving him alone.) He went to school and was learning to read and write and all the things war did not.

To their town, Tubbo was another one of Philza’s chaotic adoptees. Extraverted and happy to talk for hours about his bees with anyone who’d listen. No one really questioned where he came from, and Tubbo was happy to avoid it.

The trouble came when they were home alone. Something as small as a pen drop sent the boy into a panic. Sometimes he’d attack Philza, forgetting where he was for a moment, then the second he’s calm enough to know he’s apologizing and sobbing while Philza forgives him over and over while holding him for hours. Other times he’d just hide. The boy would hide in the strangest places when he was scared and Philza was going gray from the heart attacks he gets when he turns the corner to see a teenage boy staring at him from on top of the fridge.

Neither of them talked about any of this, not even when it’s three am and Philza is stripping the teen’s bed sheets while Tubbo would dry heave in the bathroom after a bad nightmare.

The night before their first and hopefully not last visit to L’manberg is sleepless. Philza is startled by his bedroom door being thrown open, slamming into the wall so harshly he knew he’d need some paint later. Just as quickly as it’s open, Philza watches Tubbo throw his back against the door like he’s trying to keep something out.

Philza puts on his glasses and blinks until the scene was completely in focus. Tubbo looked exhausted. He’s breathing heavily, staring at nothing in particular as if he doesn’t know the other was in the room yet. “Tubbo what’s going on?”

He gets out of bed, grabbing his sword just in case there really was something outside. But judging by the lack of noise from anyone but Tubbo, he assumed this was the cause of a nightmare.

“Wilbur, h-he was he was gonna-” Tubbo stops abruptly when he processes that Philza was there.

He puts down the sword, and his heart drops. Philza begins to wonder just how much damage his oldest had caused. “Wilbur’s gone, he can’t hurt you anymore Tubbo. I wouldn’t let him anyways.”

“What about Tommy?” He leans forward, easing off the door but still not getting up.

“He can’t hurt Tommy anymore either. No one can.” He finds his way over to the door in the moonlight and leans against it. Albeit a little more casually than Tubbo was.

Tubbo looks at him, and Philza can see how pained he was. The circles under his eyes were dark, and his face was concerningly pale. He places the back of his hand on Tubbo’s forehead, checking for a fever.