Chapter Text
The dirt path felt uneven under Tommy's boots, he didn't know exactly where he was but he didn't care. He followed his older brother through the forest, he glanced up to see the sky fading and dimming into the warm colours of the evening. The house was behind them now, they'd have to deal with Phil's gentle scolding about the danger's of going out alone later. Tommy didn't understand why Phil was so persistent about telling them to not go alone, to constantly be careful about every little thing.
Both Wilbur and Tommy always ignored him, determined to sneak out to explore the forest around. Wilbur was rambling on about something, Tommy was only loosely listening as he stared up into the dim evening sky. They were both definitely getting lectured by Phil when they got home. He'd love to live out here, with Wilbur, maybe Techno and Phil too. Tommy would rather it just be him and Wilbur, he loved Techno and his dad so much, but he did admittedly prefer his eldest brother. Wilbur. He was Tommy's idol, Tommy looked up to his older brother in every way.
Tommy continued to walk around, aimlessly looking up into the sky. Thankfully, he wasn't restricted by Wilbur holding onto him in any way so he wandered freely, slightly straying from the dirt path they were originally following and onto an area covered in tall grass. The grass went up to just below Tommy's hip, so he could still see over it but he'd have to feel the greenery against his legs whenever he moved. In Tommy's opinion, grass was one of the worst things to deal with when exploring, tall grass was anyways. The feel of the foliage constantly hitting against his legs was enough to make him uncomfortable and grossed out at simply imagining the feeling of it. He worked his way through the grass, trying to stomp on the longer pieces to keep them down.
"..fter all that's done we can go home, 'kay?" Wilbur spoke and glanced to Tommy once he finished his sentence. The sound of his older brother speaking made him jump slightly, from both not listening previously as well as not realizing Wilbur was behind him all this time. Almost as if he knew Tommy wouldn't be listening to him, he nudged the blonde's arm. It was only light but enough to get Tommy's attention and got him to look back to his brother. The blonde gave a small, almost nervous smile, when he was nudged. Curse himself for getting sidetracked..
Wilbur hit Tommy's head softly, smiling as he did. "You need to pay more attention, what if you were at school and you had to repeat something your teacher said? Whatever, It's fine Toms. We can talk about that later, don't wanna talk about boring stuff now." He gave a shrug and looked up to the sky like Tommy was previously, seeing the colours above progressively getting darker and darker. "We'll only be out for ten more minutes, I promise. For now, let's just explore a little more. I'll tell you what we were gonna do tomorrow. Dad won't want me taking you out for too long anyways."
It was getting late, Tommy really hoped Wilbur would take him home soon. He was already getting tired. Tommy's hand found Wilbur's, as he continued to walk with the brunette. Compared to Wilbur's hand, his were exceedingly softer.
Five minutes,
Tommy had been walking in the cold for five minutes. It wasn't actually that cold it was just ending summer, nearly in autumn. His walking had slowed down over the passing minutes until he came to a stop. The blonde tugged lightly on Wilbur's arm to get his attention, which he did, resulting in the older brunette looking down at him. It was only five minutes before they would start to head back anyways. But Tommy was impatient, deciding that he didn't want to wall around aimlessly in the forest anymore.
"What is it toms?" Wilbur asked, but Tommy thinks he must've been a mind reader because he answers the question Tommy was thinking of saying without a verbal answer. "you cold? we can head home now, it's late I probably shouldn't kept you out these extra five minutes let alone ten."
They turn around, and Tommy's glad they did, if Wilbur told him to find his way back from here he'd have no idea on where to go. The blonde wasn't paying attention the entire time there, instead deciding that the trees and the quickly dimming sky were more important than listening to his older brother and looking at the directions they took.
Seven minutes,
There isn't much of a path, only a small dent in the long grass from where they walked from previously when they came here. Tommy can't honestly see the outlines and dents in the grass that must've formed some sort of path, but apparently Wilbur could. His older brother is walking confidently, almost like a little fairy is showing him the way home. Tommy knows that's not true, he's not that silly, but he'd like to think that his brothers can talk to the forest and little creatures and one day he'll be able to talk to them too.
Eight minutes,
Tommy still isn't sure where they're going, he now wishes he payed more attention to the directions when they started walking.He doesn't remember coming this way at all, not even passing it on the way there. Maybe Wilbur was taking him a quicker route? He hopes so, he's already getting cold and he wants to go to bed soon. Tommy's not sure what Wilbur wanted to do tomorrow, and what they were originally going to do today. Maybe they were going to build a tree house that they can live in, or they could go hunting for creatures and explore.
He still can't see the house, he doesn't think he walked that far away from everything but they must have had since he can't trust his own perception of time. Tommy continues walking, but without the restriction of Wilbur holding his hand as he usually would, he's going slightly faster than Wilbur to get in front of him despite not knowing where they're going. But it's not too much of a problem, Wilbur just gently places his hand in the way when Tommy goes the wrong direction.
They walk into an area that has more forest than before, the dark trees enveloping off of the final gaze of the moon. It's almost pitch black and Tommy can't see a thing, he's haphazardly straying around in the dark before a light from behind him appears. He turns around to see it's Wilbur's phone torch illuminating the forest as the light from the moon was blocked. Tommy can hear the familiar steps that crunch on the twigs and leaves behind them.
Until they stop, Tommy brings himself to stop too, and he can hear something loudly falling behind him. Which, in response to, he covers his ears and squeezes his eyes shut like he's in some kind of dream he can wake up from soon.
When Tommy finally gains the courage to open his eyes, he can't see Wilbur holding the light anymore. Instead, it's completely dark. Wilbur must've fallen over and his phone probably landed face down for the light to be pressed against the ground.. Tommy thinks to himself, and it's a reasonable explanation. His brother must've just fell and that's what the loud sound was. Tommy thinks that Wilbur must be tired too, he's not gotten up to resume walking with Tommy yet. He turns around, seeing Wilbur's phone lay face down on the ground, just like Tommy thought, with the phone light shining into the grass. Tommy looks up slightly to see Wilbur, sleeping probably, with an uprooted branch from the floor where he must've tripped over. The blonde doesn't blame the other for falling asleep during walking. He just wishes they could've got home sooner. It was fine, at least he got to spend the night with his big brother. Tommy sits down besides him, yawning slightly as he grips Wilbur's phone in his hand and looks at the lockscreen, it was locked and had a password, probably to stop Tommy from snooping in his phone. He see's Wilbur's on 12%, probably forgetting to charge his phone. Once they've been told off and put to bed Wilbur would probably put it on charge.
Tommy sits himself down beside Wilbur, lucky that it wasn't winter yet and instead a warmer August night. Wilbur was still warm, even when he was asleep.
"Wil.. I'm cold" He complained, as he nudged the other, poking at his cheek. "Wake upp.." Tommy thinks Wilbur must've stayed up late the night before, because he's still not waking up. Though, it's only been a few minutes so Tommy can't really complain about him not waking up immediately, but he does still complain regardless.
The phone was fairly small, reminding Tommy of one of those toy phones he had when he was little that lit up and made sounds when he pressed them. He's not sure if Phil's gotten rid of his toys like that or not yet, or if they're in the attic collecting dust. Tommy's pretty sure Phil puts everything in the attic, he knows that they've got a picture book in the attic of all of them together.
---
Phil used to take him into the attic, though not often because of all the dust and dirt there. He has seen all of Wilbur's and Techno's old books from primary school, how they're filled out with doodles and unneat handwriting that gets better as the books progress. The doodles mostly stop in their books, but there still are doodlings and drawings on both of their books occasionally. In the attic, there's lots of toys and wrapping paper, some of the toys are damaged with dents in them and others that Tommy didn't find particular interest in.
-
There isn't much he can do, he just keeps poking Wilbur's cheeks again and again. He must still be sleeping, he's so warm and soft. The wind doesn't exactly help him, the breeze making him wish he brought a coat.
He curls up next to Wilbur's limp body, he wants to sleep so badly, he's exhausted from the day of walking around and exploring. Tommy gives a yawn as he glances back to Wilbur. That's when he sees it.
Blood.
Tommy usually is the one to overreact, start screaming and crying. But for some reason on this, with this in front of him, he couldn't. He could scream or cry, couldn't slap Wilbur to wake up. He couldn't do anything.
His hands want to reach for Wilbur's phone but his eyes and limbs are all frozen in place looking at Wilbur's dim, open eyes and the wet coppery blood on his forehead.
The blonde is just stuck staring at this image of his brother dead. His brother with lifeless eyes and blood on his face. Tommy thinks he can see that a lifetime and never get over how sick it makes him feel.
He's surprised he's not been sick the whole time when he's looking at this. Tommy just wants to start vomiting as he pokes Wilbur's cheek again to feel that same warmth.
Tommy would almost throw up at this realisation, his hands shaking as he attempted to pull his hand away but he just frozen there.
And for the first time, Tommy knows this time he doesn't guess or make his silly little assumptions. He knows that there can't be a superior being watching over them that loves them. It's all just a cruel fate they're destined to have one day or another. He doesn't believe that there's a person making all these decisions for them because they love them. If they loved Tommy so much, why would they kill the most important thing to him? Why would they let that happen and for Tommy to witness it?
There wouldn't ever be a 'later' with Wilbur, never a 'tomorrow', he wouldn't ever have another chance to speak to him again. And then, Tommy suddenly wishes he wasn't so dumb, that he was actually listening to Wilbur before. He suddenly wished he didn't take Wilbur for granted and remembered every last word he spoke.