Archive of Our Own ^beta

When Tommy woke up, he didn’t know where the hell he was.

The room around him was small but strangely fancy. The bed he was laying on felt like it had silk sheets and there was a flowing gold canopy over his head. The walls were wooden but accented with gold. The only noise was the distant singing of birds.

Throughly confused, Tommy sat up in the bed. The sheets slid off his tense form as he looked around with wide eyes, taking it all in.

There was a desk off to his left, covered in a mess of papers and there was a half-spilled pot of ink and a quill in the corner of it. There was a dresser and a bookshelf across from the bed, full of massive leather books. And the room’s only door was to Tommy’s right.

This room, obviously, was not somewhere Tommy had ever been before. And as already implied, wasn’t where Tommy fell asleep.

This clearly wasn’t Tommy’s bedroom in his shitty apartment. With it’s thin, slightly yellow windows, bright red bedsheets, and walls covered in various posters.

The room he was currently in was nothing like his bedroom at all.

Tommy wondered if maybe, he was still asleep and only dreaming. It was the only logical conclusion. He felt like he would’ve woken up if someone had actively kidnapped him in his sleep last night.

With that thought, Tommy pinched himself as hard as he could. But he didn’t wake up and only found himself yelping as very real pain flashed in his arm.

So this was actually real. Tommy was in a small, fancy bedroom that looked straight out of medieval times.

“Tommy!” An unfamiliar voice called from out in the hallway. “Wake up!”

What the fuck? Who was that? And why did they know Tommy’s name? And why were they speaking like this was normal and fine and made perfect sense?

Tommy scrambled to find something to say in his reeling mind. But he came up blank and just sat silently with questions racing through his head.

“Hello?” The voice called again. “Tommy? You up yet? Dad made pancakes, you don’t wanna miss it.”

There were a lot of things wrong with that statement. Not just that Tommy had no idea where he was and didn’t know this person, even though they were speaking like the opposite was true. No, the main problem was that Tommy didn’t have a dad.

His parents gave him away as soon as he was born. He’d been passed around the foster system for most of his childhood until, just two months ago, he’d gotten emancipated. With the little money he’d had, he’d moved into the apartment he currently lived in.

Point is, Tommy doesn’t have parents and he certainly never has the money for breakfast or pancakes.

“Hey, I’m actually getting concerned now. Are you in there, Tommy?” The voice shouted for a third time. “Usually you’ve cursed me out at least twice by now.”

Tommy opened and closed his mouth a few times, before landing on the most nonchalant answer he possibly could. “Uh- yeah! I’m up!”

“Okay! Be down in five minutes!” The person responded before Tommy heard footsteps retreating from his door and disappearing down what he assumed was a hallway.

Swallowing nervously, Tommy made himself leave bed, despite how he really wished he could go back to sleep and wake up yesterday.

Something had gone horribly wrong here. Tommy knew that much was true.

But for the time being, there was nothing Tommy could do about it. All he could do was force himself to pretend that this was all normal and he definitely belonged here.

Feeling like he was about to collapse from nervousness at any moment, Tommy got out of bed and forced himself to walk across the room, towards the door he’d seen earlier. As he reached for the doorknob, he glanced down and realized the clothes he was wearing weren’t his at all.

The clothes he was wearing were old fashioned, extremely old fashioned. The kind of old fashioned that had gone out of date hundreds of years ago and nobody normal ever wore outside of when they were cosplaying or going to a renaissance fair.

His shirt was bright white and the fabric was strangely billowy. The sleeves were long, falling to his wrists where they flared out before being abruptly forced inward by soft, little gold cuffs. His pants were brown, long, and full of dozens of pockets. The only thing covering his feet was a pair of white socks which were slightly grey from, presumably, a few years of use.

Either way, Tommy certainly didn’t own any clothes like this. Not only were they ridiculously old, they were also way too nice for him to ever reasonably afford.

Taking a deep breath, Tommy forced himself to stop thinking about his new clothes. While yes, it was really fucking weird, there was currently a bunch of even weirder shit going on.

Plus, he really needed to get to breakfast so that this strange family didn’t think he’d fallen and cracked his head open or died suddenly in his sleep.

With that, Tommy opened the door and entered the hallway outside the bedroom. The hall was long and somewhat narrow, but still homely. The walls and floors were both made of sturdy wood, like the ones in the bedroom had been.

There were various paintings and other trinkets hung along the walls. Tommy watched each of them pass him by as he made his way towards the faint sound of conversation.

There were a few doors he passed here or there. Most were closed tight, but two of them were slightly open. Against his better judgement, Tommy glanced inside both.

One only provided the sight of a slightly old-fashioned bathroom. There was a beautiful looking ceramic bathtub and sink-countertop-mirror combo. But aside from that, there wasn’t much of note inside the small room.

Tommy quickly moved on, looking inside of the second door. This room seemed to be someone else’s bedroom. There was a large bed, similar to the one he woke up in, a desk, and a massive wardrobe. The bed had a canopy over it, with this one being a dark shade of purple. The desk was neatly organized and all of the drawers in the wardrobe were shut tight.

But what really caught Tommy’s attention was the strange symbols carved into almost every available surface.

They covered the entire wardrobe, swirling and twisting around each other in a tangled sort of beauty. They snaked up the legs of the desk and the wooden bed frame. Tommy couldn’t help but stare for a moment, before forcing himself to look away.

He had no idea what the fuck all those carvings were made for, especially since they all seemed to be done so purposefully. But Tommy didn’t have time to dwell on them.

For now, Tommy needed to get downstairs to where he assumed the kitchen was, based off the noises he could distantly hear.

Reluctantly, he walked down the last bit of the hallway and was faced with a set of stairs, bordered on one side by a wall and an intricate railing on the other.

It seemed like whoever these people were, they must really like wood carving and making things in their house unnecessarily detailed.

Tommy shook his head. He couldn’t let himself get distracted for the millionth time. He needed to focus on his current task. Which was pretending like everything was normal and eating breakfast with complete strangers.

Desperately trying not to think too much, he walked down the stairs and turned the corner. He found himself inside of a living room, which he didn’t allow himself to spare more than a glance at.

He entered the next room over, through yet another door. And finally, as four pairs of eyes landed on him, Tommy knew he’d made it to the kitchen.

“That took fucking forever.” One of them greeted Tommy with. “Usually you’re the one waking me up for breakfast, not the other way around.”

Tommy wasn’t really certain what to say to that. He enjoyed bantering and cursing at his coworkers back home, but he wasn’t currently in the mood to do that with a bunch of strangers, as nervous as he was.

The person who had already spoken looked to be around Tommy’s age, if not a few months older. He had wild, dark brown hair that seemed slightly overgrown and was choppily bleached at the ends. His eyes were just as chaotic as his hair, a gleaming shade of forest green. He was wearing a green shirt and brown pants that were almost an exact copy of Tommy’s.

“What Tubbo means to say, is that we’re glad you’re awake. Although, it is uncommon for you to sleep so late.” Another person chimed in.

The second person was a man who was clearly the oldest in the room. He had straight, straw-blonde hair that was tied into a ponytail, with a white and green bucket hat sitting overtop. His eyes were a light shade of blue and he was wearing green robes that looked exactly like something a medieval wizard would wear.

When Tommy glanced over at the other two people in the room, he realized that they all looked fairly silly and also like they were going to a renaissance fair.

One of them looked to be a few years older than Tommy and ‘Tubbo.’ He had long, pale pink hair and red eyes that almost seemed to glow. He was wearing a white poet’s shirt and black pants. There were about half a dozen golden necklaces around his neck and he was wearing emerald earrings. He was also built like a brick wall and Tommy had a feeling that if he wanted to, this man could probably throw Tommy across the room if he felt like it.

The other was extremely tall and built like a stick. He was thin, but not to the point he looked malnourished, more-so like a strong breeze could blow him away. His hair was split half and half between white and black, and his eyes were two different colors: one being green and the other being dark red. He was about the same age as Tubbo and was wearing a white shirt and black pants.

Tommy had no idea where these people were getting all the unnatural eye colors and strange clothes from, but he was both slightly concerned and slightly impressed.

He was also pretty sure he was either dreaming or high right now. Although, his earlier attempt at waking up had felt pretty real.

“Tommy?” The red-eyed man questioned in a deep, rough voice. “You doing alright?”

Tommy jumped, having realized he’d spent the past minute in silence, not responding to anything they’d said. “Uh- sorry. I’m fine. Just got distracted.”

“If you say so.” The red-eyed man replied, raising an eyebrow.

With that conversation over, everyone began to take seats at the table. Tommy scrambled to follow, ending up sitting with Tubbo to his left, the seat to his right empty, and the tall teenager across from him.

“Ranboo? How much progress have you made with those protection runes you were drafting for the neighbors?” The older man asked in a gentle voice.

The tall teenager, who must’ve been Ranboo, looked up at the question. “Oh, it’s going pretty good. I mean- I finally managed to get them to work somewhat well.”

“That’s good.” The older man responded with a soft smile. “I’m really proud of you, you’ve made a lot of progress with your magic over the past year.”

“Th-Thank you.” Ranboo shyly accepted the praise.

Meanwhile, Tommy gritted his teeth as he shoved a bite of his pancakes into his mouth.

He didn’t want to show it outwardly, but he was jealous. That kind of praise was something that Tommy would kill to so easily to receive.

In the foster system, nothing Tommy ever did made the foster parents like him, or even tolerate his presence. More often than not, he was either ignored or ruthlessly hit around like he was their personal punching bag.

It felt like torture to watch someone else receive praise like that, while knowing that Tommy would never have it for himself.

“You sure you’re fine, Tommy? You’re glaring at your pancakes like they brutally murdered someone right in front of you.” Tubbo remarked.

Tommy shook his head. “I really am fine, alright? Just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today and all that shit.”

Tubbo narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know about that. It seriously looks like there’s more going on than just not sleeping well.”

“I’m serious. It’s fine. Fuckin’ leave me alone, Tubbo.” Tommy replied harshly. He really, seriously, just wanted to go back to sleep and wake up yesterday.

“Fine, if you insist.” Tubbo sighed, turning back towards his food. Although he’d dismissed the argument for now, his tone of voice told Tommy that Tubbo would definitely harass him about this later.

A few beats of silence passed before conversation picked back up again.

“I think I might made some more bread today. The loaf on the counter is gettin’ stale.” The red-eyed man said.

The older man nodded. “That’d be great, Techno. The bread has been getting a little tough these past few days.”

Did he say make the bread? Unless these people were running a goddamn bakery, Tommy didn’t really understand why they couldn’t just go to the store and buy some. It’d be a lot less expensive and time consuming.

Despite the way Tommy wanted to point that out, he forced himself to bite his tongue. He didn’t want to cause anymore conflict than he already had.

At the very least, Tommy finally knew another one of their names.

“Do you wanna help me out with it?” Techno asked and Tommy jolted as he looked around and realized he was being directly addressed. “You seemed to enjoy it when we baked together last time.”

Tommy was immediately confused. He hadn’t ever baked, not even once. The ingredients were expensive and his foster parents had never let him. In fairness though, he’d never had much interest in it anyway.

But judging by the expectant look in Techno’s eyes, he thought Tommy was going to say yes.

Even though Tommy didn’t really want to, he made himself give Techno the answer he wanted. For right now, all Tommy could do was pretend that these people really knew him and this was all normal.

“Sure. We can do that later today.” Tommy replied, internally flinching at how blunt and monotone his words were.

Techno nodded, although something unreadable flashed in his expression. “Alright, we can start sometime this afternoon.” He seemed slightly put off by Tommy’s emotionless agreement and Tommy didn’t blame him.

“Hey Phil, can we go with you into town tomorrow?” Tubbo asked, easily giving Tommy the final name he was missing. “I need to get some more grain for the horses.”

Phil shrugged. “I don’t see why not. But also, can’t I just get that for you? You’ll just be spending my money anyway, mate.”

Tubbo rolled his eyes. “Well yeah, but I want to be the one to pick it out. The horses like it better when I’m the one who got it.”

Phil sighed, although his expression looked fond. “I don’t know if they like it better or if you just like running around the market and being a little shit.”

“Maybe.” Tubbo vaguely responded, having the decency to look slightly guilty. “But it’s fun! And I know that you and Techno probably have some shit you need to get for yourselves!”

“Yeah, we do probably have some things we need a bit more of.” Phil nodded. “But I’m not going to tolerate you trying to light that poor fabric merchant’s stall on fire again.”

Tubbo waved a hand nonchalantly. “It won’t happen again, bossman. I promise.”

“Mhm sure.” Phil agreed, although it sounded fairly sarcastic and not like he actually thought Tubbo wouldn’t cause chaos.

The conversation moved on after that and Tommy was forced to give his input here or there. He tried to give the most normal, expected answers that he possibly could.

Based off the confused glances the family members kept giving him, Tommy had a feeling that he wasn’t doing very well.

———

After breakfast, Tommy went back to the bedroom he’d woken up in.

He was thoroughly confused and extremely overwhelmed. Nothing right now was making any sense at all.

Evidently, with all of the old fashioned-ness and the medieval terms that everyone kept using, Tommy was not in the present. He currently stuck in the past.

On top of that, everyone kept mentioning magic and talking about it as if it were real. And considering all of the unnatural eye colors that this family possessed, Tommy had a feeling that maybe they were right.

So not only was Tommy currently trapped in the past, he was also in some weird alternate reality where fairytale magic was real.

Basically, Tommy felt like he was going fucking insane.

Everything was wrong. Nothing was right. Nothing was adding up correctly in his head.

Time travel wasn’t real, was it? Dimension travel wasn’t possible either, right? Magic couldn’t scientifically exist, could it?

Was it truly possible for Tommy to go to sleep in his regular apartment, in a regular dimension and time, and wake up somewhere where everything was so extremely different?

He didn’t know. He really, truly, didn’t have any fucking idea.

He’d already slapped himself twice, pinched himself four times, and attempted to ram his head into a wall once, in order to wake himself up from what he hoped was only a dream.

Turns out though, everything was pointing to this being very, very real.

“Lunch time, mate!” Phil’s voice came through the door. “I made sandwiches!”

Tommy breathed in a shaky breath. “I’ll be down in a minute!” He called back. At the very least, this weird medieval fairytale dimension did have normal food.

———

It was later in the day now, a bit after lunch.

Lunch had been another painful affair for Tommy. He’d been forced to continue to pretend that he belonged, that he was indeed the person they all thought he was.

It was painful to pretend that he understood all their inside jokes, that this world made sense to him with all its magic, and that he didn’t feel jealous of their simple, easy dynamic.

At the very least, the meal had allowed him to gather more information on where exactly he was and what these people did for a living.

Based on occasional glances out the windows and a few passing remarks, Tommy had realized that this family lived in the actual middle of nowhere. They made all their money off selling spellbooks, enchanted items, and potions at the market in town a few times a week. Although, it seemed that usually only Phil or Techno went. They only took Tubbo or Ranboo when they asked, or more likely, begged to run around for a day.

The house was surrounded by a garden at the back and trees encircled it beyond that. There was a tiny trail leading away from the front door and into the forest, but it was hardly large enough for a horse to trot town. The trail was creepily narrow and made of dusty, hard-packed dirt.

Tommy had yet to gather though what exactly he was to them. Was he a son, brother, or friend? Or was Tommy only a distant cousin, child of a family friend, or hopeless orphan they’d kindly adopted?

He thought, maybe, that Phil must’ve been the ‘dad’ that Tubbo had referred to that morning, but Tommy wasn’t certain if Phil really thought of Tommy as a son. It seemed illogical, for someone to ever think of Tommy as their child.

Overall though, the whole dynamic was unfamiliar and left him confused. It hurt his brain to try and untangle the twisted knots of the family tree he struggled to make any sense of.

It didn’t help that they didn’t act like any sort of normal family. Which, that might have something to do with Tommy being trapped in some weird magical medieval dimension.

But still, he was pretty sure most families didn’t jokingly cuss each other out or laugh as freely as they did. Tommy didn’t think families were supposed to be so friendly with each other, were they?

His foster families never acted this way. They were strict on rules, full of harsh glares, and easily dished out punishments if Tommy was even slightly too loud or said a single curse word under his breath.

It was weird. And Tommy didn’t know where to even begin with making sense of it all.

———

It was mid-afternoon now and warm sunlight streamed through the curtains and into the kitchen, bathing it in a gentle glow.

Tommy had spent most of the earlier afternoon trying to parse through his dizzying thoughts and relentlessly failing. He hadn’t made much progress on figuring out anything.

But he supposed, now wasn’t the time to spiral into his thoughts again.

“Tommy? Can you pass me the butter?” Techno asked from where he was mixing the dough.

Tommy nodded. “Uh- yeah.” He picked up a tiny bowl that had butter in it and passed it over to Techno’s side of the counter.

About a half hour ago, Techno had knocked on the door to Tommy’s bedroom and asked if he still wanted to make bread with him. Reluctantly, Tommy had agreed.

Despite how he wasn’t a huge fan of interacting with these people more than necessary, Tommy had needed a distraction.

So here he was, measuring out ingredients while Techno mixed them all up.

“I finished measuring the sugar and salt.” Tommy commented, pushing two bowls closer to Techno.

Techno glanced at the bowls but didn’t move to grab them. “Are you sure you didn’t mix them up at all?”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “I’m sure. I know the difference between salt and sugar, bitch.” He said, a bit harshly.

Instead of looking taken aback by Tommy’s hostility, Techno only looked slightly amused. “Mhm sure. I definitely trust you not to mess that up on purpose.” Techno drawled sarcastically.

Tommy opened his mouth to protest but quickly shut it after a moment. Techno was somehow right. Tommy would totally do that just to mess with someone he liked.

He hadn’t had many friends before, but when he had, Tommy had generally been a big fan of pranking them or just being a nuisance as much as possible. It was funny to him and usually, if he’d found the right person, they’d laugh with him.

But people who understood it didn’t come around often. Most friends he’d had were short lived, either because he moved or more often, because they got tired of his jokes.

It used to hurt, but Tommy was over it by now. Even if he ached to not be alone anymore.

“Where’s the flour?” Techno asked, eyes narrowed as he scanned the ingredients in front of them.

Oh right. Bread did normally require flour, didn’t it? “I forgot to get it.” Tommy shrugged dejectedly.

“It’s fine. Just go get it from the cabinet over there.” Techno gestured to a nearby cabinet. “And then measure it directly into the mixing bowl for me.”

Tommy did as he was told and grabbed a bag of flour, carrying it over to the counter. Then, once he’d set it down, he began to measure out the amount listed in the recipe.

As he was scooping out the flour, the bag suddenly began to tip. Tommy scrambled to catch it, but it was too late.

It slipped from his grip and suddenly, there was white dust all over the floor and the counter.

“Well. That’s one way to get the flour into the mixing bowl.” Techno stated bluntly, raising an eyebrow at the mess.

Tommy shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to do that!”

“I know you weren’t, Tommy.” Techno replied steadily. “I was just joking.”

Tommy blinked. He wasn’t used to someone not being mad when he messed up. Again, it was another weird thing about this family.

“I’ll go get some stuff to clean it up with.” Tommy mumbled, for a lack of anything better to say.

Techno shrugged. “Or, we can clean it up when we’re done. Odds are, we’ll probably spill something else at some point.”

“Yeah but then it’s gonna keep looking like a fuckin’ bomb went off in here or some shit.” Tommy pointed out.

“And?” Techno responded. “It’s not any worse than when Ranboo accidentally set off a neon purple glitter bomb in the living room. Or when Tubbo lit fireworks in the basement and almost blew up the house.”

Firstly, what the fuck did these people do in their house? Secondly, where were they getting bombs and fireworks from? Tommy was pretty sure this dimension didn’t have the kind of technology.

But when he thought about it, glitter bombs and fireworks could just be a result of magic. Obviously, magic was illogical and made no sense. It wasn’t far fetched to think someone could just summon glitter or bright flaming lights with it.

His musings were ended when he realized that Techno was still waiting for a reply.

“I guess, but also I don’t want it to look like we’re fuckin’ drug dealers.” Tommy said, raising an eyebrow.

Techno raised his own eyebrow to match Tommy’s. “I hate to say this, but we’re already drug dealers. We make potions and sell them, Tommy.”

Tommy couldn’t help it. He let out a laugh of surprise. He supposed Techno wasn’t wrong. Plus, actual illegal drugs probably didn’t exist here, since they likely hadn’t been invented yet.

“Okay yeah, fair. But what if we made illegal ones, the kind of shit that the mafia would come after you for.” Tommy countered, beginning to smile.

Techno sighed, clearly exasperated but still thoroughly amused. “You’d have to invent some crazy new potions for that.”

“Oh no, not potions.” Tommy smirked. “Hear me out, we make a powder. And people don’t have to drink it, they can just snort that shit up.”

Techno gave Tommy a look like he thought he was going insane. “I feel like that would be really impractical and annoyin’. It’s so much easier to drink it.”

Tommy wanted to burst out in laughter at Techno’s reaction. Clearly, these people had no idea what any hard drugs were.

Honestly, inventing drugs in a magical dimension maybe wasn’t the best idea. But in his defense, Tommy thought it would be really funny.

“Okay but there’s gotta be some other interesting way to take drugs other than drinking them!” Tommy insisted, gesturing wildly with the empty flour cup he was holding.

Techno shook his head, although the ghost of a fond smile ghosted his lips. “Careful, don’t spill more flour.” He warned, before continuing. “But I don’t think we need to go around changin’ how potions work. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it and all that, ya know?”

“Well, Techno, in my personal opinion, it is broken! So it’s our responsibility as responsible people to go and fix it!” Tommy exclaimed. “So therefore, we need to invent new illegal drugs!”

“For one, potions aren’t illegal. And for two, how would we even make them illegal?” Techno replied, beginning to scoop the dough out of the bowl and onto the flour-covered counter.

Tommy smiled wider. “I’m glad you asked! We could make them addictive, like highly addictive. Think of the opportunities! You would sell someone one once, and they’d be hooked forever!”

Techno raised an eyebrow. “I hate to tell you this, but we aren’t in the business of scamming people, Tommy. While Tubbo might be fine with doing that, Phil and I definitely aren’t gonna start cursin’ our customers.”

“You should start scamming though!” Tommy said, reaching over to help Techno knead the dough. “It would make you so much more money! You’d be able to move into a mansion! And we’d all be so rich that we could go to the fucking other side of the world for vacation or some shit.”

“I don’t think we need a mansion or a crazy vacation.” Techno responded. “Also, it probably goes against all of Phil’s morals to start committing crimes.”

Tommy smirked. “I can’t help but notice that you only said it goes against Phil’s morals and not yours. Techno, do you enjoy terrorizing the public?”

Techno sighed exasperatedly, although a glimmer of amusement still remained in his eyes. “Only when it’s necessary.” He stated.

“Isn’t money a necessity?” Tommy pressed as they began to pile the dough into a pan.

“Yes. But we can get it without terrorizing the public.” Techno said, rolling his eyes.

Tommy narrowed his eyes. “Okay, fine. You don’t like scamming. But then, how would you choose to terrorize the public if you had to? And how have you terrorized them before?”

“I killed three people once.” Techno stated bluntly, his monotone voice betraying no emotion.

“What the fuck?!” Tommy exclaimed, stumbling backward. “That’s so much worse than scamming, man! Why did you do that?!”

Techno reached into a lower drawer to grab oven mitts before straightening back up. “Self defense.” He picked up the bread pan. “Now move out of the way so I can get to the oven, kid.”

“That’s not an explanation!” Tommy protested, stumbling out of the way so Techno could get to the oven.

“Too bad.” Techno deadpanned. “That’s all you’re getting.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Ugh, you fucking suck, don’t you know that?” He said, despite not really meaning it. He’d honestly had fun bantering with Techno earlier.

“I’m aware. You tell me all the time.” Techno replied, amusement still shining in his eyes.

Tommy couldn’t help the way he froze up at the last part of Techno’s reply. Tommy had forgotten that these people thought he’d always been here and that Tommy was a normal part of their lives. Even though it couldn’t be further from the truth.

He didn’t belong here, that much was true. Tommy wasn’t from this dimension, he wasn’t meant to be here at all. This was a mistake, a simple fluke of the universe.

It hurt, because despite not having been here long, Tommy knew that they were all he’d ever wanted and more. A family, even if they weren’t exactly the model type he always saw on television. They still loved each other, they still cared for one another, and they were still happy.

This was everything his heart always ached for but Tommy knew it wouldn’t last.

He hadn’t meant to let himself fall into banter like that with Techno. It had been a mistake to let himself push all of his problems aside.

Tommy vowed not to let himself get attached to this family. He told himself he’d remain as silent as possible in their conversations. It would be so much easier when he was sent back home if he could convince himself that he never knew them at all.

———

About an hour later, the bread was deemed ready to be removed from the oven.

Warm steam curled into the air of the kitchen from where the pan of bread was settled on the counter. Gentle golden sunlight came in through the windows, the sun having just begun to set.

Tommy stood across the counter from Techno, who’d called him over a few minutes prior.

His earlier spiral was still lingering on his mind and Tommy couldn’t help but feel nervous. He didn’t know how he was going to act, or how he was going to successfully keep everyone away from him when he both lived with them and they seemed to be excited to offer ample opportunities to spend time together.

Taking a deep breath, Tommy forced himself to push his questions aside. He couldn’t let himself think too much again, before he came to even more painful realizations.

“Hopefully it’s cooked all the way through.” Techno said, grabbing a knife and beginning to slice into the bread. “One time, when I tried to bake with Ranboo, the inside was all raw and doughy. Ranboo meant well with helping me out, but we all know he’s not very good at baking or cooking anything.”

“Uh- yeah.” Tommy stammered awkwardly. He couldn’t just not respond, but he couldn’t provide an interesting reply either.

Techno glanced away from the bread and raised an eyebrow at Tommy for a moment before looking back down. “At least it wasn’t as bad as that time Tubbo overcooked a turkey to the point where the entire inside was black. I don’t think anyone blames Phil for bannin’ him from the kitchen afterward.”

Tommy shrugged, biting his lip. There was so much he wanted to say, but he knew he shouldn’t. He couldn’t let himself fall into banter again. As he’d established, he couldn’t let himself get attached. “Yeah, that was pretty bad.”

There was a beat of silence where Techno finished slicing the bread and pushed the pan away. Once he’d set the knife in the sink, Techno met eyes with Tommy across the room.

“You alright, kid?” Techno asked. “Usually you have a lot more to say than just that.”

“I’m fine.” Tommy mumbled. “Just not in a big talking mood.”

The glimmer of light in Techno’s eyes faded and Tommy couldn’t help but feel guilty. It was his fault that Techno felt bad. He knew it was necessary but it was still painful all the same.

A few minutes later, they were sitting at the dining table eating slices of freshly baked bread in silence.

Tommy gritted his teeth and ignored the way his eyes stung with stupid, pointless unshed tears.

———

The next day, as Tubbo had previously requested, they went to the market in town.

The journey there wasn’t long but to Tommy, it felt like forever. With the whole family talking and constantly trying to include him in the conversation, it was exhausting to continue ignoring it all.

While the forest they’d traveled through had been pretty, it hadn’t been too dissimilar from the ones he’d ventured into when he’d stayed at foster homes located in the country or next to large parks. So it wasn’t too impressive to him.

In contrast, the village easily caught his attention when they entered into it.

The forest surrounded it all on sides and the brown, green, and yellow painted houses felt like they belonged within the leaves. He could see plumes of smoke curling into the air from various chimneys, dancing in the late spring air.

People pushed by as they walked down the cobblestone streets. Everyone was wearing the same medieval style clothes that the family was and on top of that, Tommy noticed quite a few people carrying around swords, bows and arrows, or somewhat old looking knives.

The weapons didn’t scare him, especially when he’d seen both Phil and Techno grab their own before they left the house.

Aside from all the obviously medieval things Tommy saw, he also spotted magic. Actual, real fucking magic.

A group of women doing a levitating spell on amused patrons, a fortune teller booth with purple sparkles shimmering in the air around it, a man with eyes that were glowing a bright shade of yellow from underneath the shade of a wide-brimmed hat he wore.

It was all thoroughly overwhelming. And Tommy couldn’t help but stare at it all in wide-eyed fascination.

Soon enough, they reached the town center, where the market presumably was.

It was a wide circle of cobblestone pathing, stretching out towards various buildings that harbored even more shops than the streets could manage to hold.

The whole area was packed full of people, even more than there had been on the other streets. Tommy found himself getting practically shoved around as he followed the rest of the family towards where their shop was located.

After a few minutes, they reached the other edge of the town center. A large wooden building towered up in front of them, but that wasn’t Tommy’s main focus.

Most of his focus was on the stand that was set up against the wall.

It was made of wood that had been painted a dark green color. The boards had been positioned into a square of counters that while empty right now, Tommy knew could display a variety of items on them.

There were also other hangers built, clearly made to display hanging things, although Tommy had no idea what.

He followed Phil and Techno behind the counter, where several large boxes were stacked up.

“Alright, before you guys can go running off, you need to help us set things up.” Phil said, his eyes tracing over Tubbo, Tommy, and Ranboo as he spoke. “We’ve got a lot of stuff that needs to be put on display today.”

The three of them quickly agreed and the next few minutes were spent putting out various objects onto the display tables and hanging things up on the hangers.

Within a few minutes, they’d finished. Tommy blinked, turning in a circle as he examined it all.

Dreamcatchers and twinkling wind chimes dangled overhead, shifting in the breeze. Spellbooks, enchanted objects, and potions were spread out on the counters, shimmering, shining, and even faintly glowing in the afternoon sunlight.

“You coming, Tommy?” Tubbo suddenly asked, drawing Tommy out of his observations. “We don’t have to stay here, you know.” He joked, mischief flashing in his green eyes.

Tommy glanced around, noticing that Phil and Techno had already begun talking to customers and that Tubbo and Ranboo were looking at him expectantly from where they stood outside of the counters.

“Y-Yeah.” Tommy replied, taking a few uneasy steps forward. “I’m coming.”

Tubbo smiled. “Great! Let’s go!”

And with that, Tommy found himself being practically dragged around the market by two strangers.

The next few minutes were a blur as Tommy pushed through the crowds with Tubbo and Ranboo, the two talking and cracking various jokes all the while. Tommy added his own input when he was prompted to, but otherwise stayed quiet.

After awhile, they stopped at a stand selling flowers. Baskets had been set out, some containing bouquets, others occupied by singular stems, and a few others full of bags of seeds or gardening supplies.

“I’m gonna buy something for Phil’s garden.” Ranboo said, reaching into one of his pockets and coming back up with a few golden coins. “And hide it so that I can surprise him with it when we get home.”

Tubbo rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you just take it instead of buying it? The guy who sells all this shit is never paying any attention, Ran. You can just grab it and go.” Tubbo shrugged. “I’ve done it a couple times before and never got in trouble.”

Ranboo huffed, crossing his arms. “That’s because, unlike me, you have no morals. I think if I stole something, I’d probably end up admitting that I’d done it later.”

“Then why would you steal something in the first place?” Tommy blurted out without thinking. “That’s fuckin’ stupid man. If you got away with it, don’t ruin it by admitting to it after.”

“It was just a theoretical!” Ranboo protested. “I don’t think I’d ever actually steal to begin with!”

Tommy was surprised that neither of them acknowledged him suddenly breaking his silence. It had been an accident, getting involved in the banter, but Tommy already found himself wanting to say more.

Tubbo just shook his head. “Well, I hate to say this, but you won’t be paying for anything today.”

“What do you mean…?” Ranboo questioned, turning back to Tubbo. “Why wouldn’t I be paying for things? I brought plenty of coins, Tubbo.”

Tubbo shrugged. “Maybe you’ll pay for something else later.” Suddenly Tubbo was holding up a shiny new spade and a bag of tomato seeds. “But you aren’t paying for anything here.”

Ranboo’s eyes widened. “What the heck Tubbo?! When did you grab that?!”

“When you weren’t looking.” Tubbo stated, a look of pure joy and chaos on his face. “It wasn’t that hard.”

“W-We still have to pay for it though! We haven’t left the stand’s area yet!” Ranboo exclaimed.

Tommy raised an eyebrow. “Maybe you should’ve put more emphasis on the yet in that statement.”

A few beats of silence passed before Ranboo looked around and his mouth dropped open in shock. “Oh my god. When did we move?!”

Tommy smiled, feeling like he was about to explode with laughter at Ranboo’s shocked expression.

Without Ranboo even realizing it, earlier in the conversation Tommy and Tubbo had slowly started walking away from the stand. Like the follower he was, Ranboo had trailed after them, not noticing how they’d slowly but surely entered the crowd again.

“When you weren’t paying attention.” Tubbo stated bluntly, looking like he was also on the verge of laughter.

Ranboo groaned, throwing his arms up and back down dramatically. “I hate both of you.”

Without even thinking, Tommy replied. “Too bad. You’re stuck with us.”

Tommy froze for a moment, dread curling in his gut when he realized what he said. He didn’t know these people, even if they thought they knew him.

To them, that statement probably didn’t seem weird, but to Tommy it was horribly strange. He shouldn’t care about them. Not at all.

But with the way he’d been treated over the past few days, he couldn’t help it. The fond way everyone looked at him, the jokes and smiles thrown his way, the easy conversations and familiar banter that- even when he didn’t participate- made his heart feel impossibly warm.

All of it had allowed them to worm their way into his heart. It hurt, and made Tommy feel guilty that he was playing along with a lie they didn’t even know about.

Ranboo sighed, pulling him away from his thoughts. “Yeah, I am.” Ranboo said with a tiny smile.

For the moment, Tommy pushed his guilt and conflict aside. He let the warmth of those words sink even further into his heart.

Even if it was temporary, even if he woke up in his apartment tomorrow, Tommy told himself that he didn’t mind basking in this while he had it.

Maybe he could keep breaking his vow of silence if it meant that he could always feel this good.

———

A few more days passed, each one full of even more warmth and golden memories than Tommy had ever known before.

After the day at the market, he’d decided not to push himself away from the family anymore. Even if it made him feel guilty to lead them on, through a lie, he still couldn’t help it.

Everything was too perfect, too simple, and too much of all he’d always wished for. He couldn’t let himself give it all away, despite it being fake.

He’d spent the past few days getting closer and closer to the family members. Baking more bread with Techno, exploring the forest with Tubbo and Ranboo, and loudly bantering with everyone during meals.

But the one person he hadn’t spent any time one-on-one with yet was Phil.

It wasn’t that Tommy had been avoiding Phil on purpose. It was just that he had no idea how to start a conversation with him or what exactly he wanted to do with him.

With Techno it was easy, since he’d established early on that they could bake together. Tubbo and Ranboo were easy too, since they were all the same age and liked causing chaos or going on adventures together.

But with Phil, he wasn’t even sure where to begin.

It wasn’t until a rainy day, when Tommy was wasting time in his bedroom, that he finally got a start.

Tommy had just been lazily doodling in an old leather notebook he’d found in one of the dresser drawers, the blinds covering the window pushed aside to let in blue-tinted light, as he listened to the rain gently sprinkling down.

He wasn’t really much of an artist, but he was bored. His boredom was making him miss modern technology, especially phones and televisions. Although, he supposed that it was better for the environment that those didn’t exist here.

He was already beginning to consider leaving the room and wandering around downstairs until he found someone to bother when there was a loud knock on his door.

“Tommy?” Phil’s voice came through the white painted wood. “Do you want to go out to the garden with me? I know it’s raining, but it’s not too bad if you’ve got a jacket on.”

For a moment, Tommy fumbled around in his mind, struggling to come up with a response.

Part of him wanted to say no, because he didn’t really know Phil too well yet, and alongside that, Phil seemed to be the parental figure of the house, which as stated before, Tommy wasn’t very familiar with having good parental figures.

But the other part of him wanted to say yes. Phil, despite seemingly being determined to act like a father towards Tommy, didn’t act like any father he’d ever known before. In a good way, of course.

Phil joked with everyone easily, cursed them out jokingly, and gladly took witty insults from the others in return. He didn’t dish out harsh punishments for mistakes, instead talking with them kindly if they messed up. He praised everyone for every little thing they did correctly.

Without even having to ask, Tommy knew the second half of him had won.

“I’ll come!” Tommy shouted back. “Just give me a second!”

A beat passed, before Phil replied. “Alright! I’ll meet you downstairs!”

Tommy turned his gaze away from the door and slid out of bed. He walked over to his dresser, opening a few drawers and digging through them.

They’d given him a jacket two days ago, when it’d also been raining and he had gone out to the forest with Tubbo and Ranboo. Only problem was that now, Tommy had no clue where he’d left it.

Even though it had only been about two weeks, Tommy’s drawers were already a mess of rumpled clothes, the colorful fabrics all throughly tangled together.

Eyes narrowed in frustration and concentration, Tommy dug around in his drawers until his hands finally found the sleeves of a dark red jacket.

He quickly pulled it out of the drawer and put it on, making a face at the fact that it didn’t have a zipper. Rather, the jacket had buttons. When Tommy had mentioned the distinct lack of zipper to Techno, the man had given him a strange look.

Apparently, zippers didn’t exist in medieval times. And magic couldn’t make them either. Which honestly, sounded dumb.

Tommy shook his head to clear his thoughts and opened the door to his bedroom. Then, he walked down the hallway and down the stairs.

As expected, Phil was standing in front of the back door. His bright blue eyes immediately met Tommy’s darker blue ones as he entered the room.

The lighting in both the house and the garden was dim from the dark clouds that covered the sky. There were only a few candles and floating magic lightbulbs that were lit here or there in the living room and dining room.

Rain pattered against the windows, the sound just as steady and reassuring as it had been in his bedroom.

“Okay, let’s go.” Phil stated, turning and pulling the door open.

They both exited the house, one after the other. Raindrops immediately hit them, feeling warm as they slid across Tommy’s skin and soaked into his clothes.

Still, it wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t too cold and it wasn’t raining hard enough to be particularly annoying to see through or walk around in.

Even with the weather itself being tolerable, as he looked down at the mud underneath his shoes, Tommy was confused about one thing. “How are we going to plant anything if the ground is basically a fuckin’ liquid?”

Phil laughed. “We aren’t planting anything, mate.” He motioned for Tommy to follow him as he began walking down the paths through the garden. “Just harvesting some stuff.”

Tommy narrowed his eyes in suspicion but shrugged. “Hm, alright.” He had no idea what exactly would be fully grown at this time in the spring, but he didn’t press.

Eventually, they reached a patch of small lemon trees. Despite the smell of rain and humidity filling the air, Tommy could catch a faint hint of lemon as he stood in front of them.

The trees were barely taller than Tommy, who was slightly over six feet tall. The leaves were bright green and droplets of water slid off them before disappearing into the mud below. Their branches were full of bright yellow fruit, causing them to dip and sway in the breeze.

“The lemons have finished growing, so we’ll be collecting them.” Phil announced, reaching down and grabbing a basket that Tommy hadn’t noticed earlier. “I think Techno said he wants to make a lemon pie with some of them. Maybe he’ll have you help him with it?”

Techno had never mentioned making a pie to Tommy, but in fairness he might’ve just not been listening when it was brought up. Tommy was getting bored of only making bread though, so it would be a nice change of pace to make something else.

“Yeah, he’ll probably want me to help, considering I’m literally the best fucking baker ever.” Tommy boasted, obviously joking.

Phil rolled his eyes. “Based on the state of my kitchen whenever you’ve just finished being inside of it, I’d think otherwise.”

“Hey! Just because I’ve spilled flour twice and sugar once doesn’t mean that I’m not the best ever!” Tommy protested.

Phil smiled teasingly. “Mhm sure, whatever you say, Tommy.” He said dubiously, starting to pick lemons off the trees and place them inside the basket.

Tommy rolled his eyes and quickly began to join Phil in collecting all of the lemons. “I’m glad we came to an agreement.” He responded, despite knowing that Phil was being sarcastic.

Phil raised an eyebrow but didn’t reply, although he was clearly amused.

The next few minutes were spent in a comfortable silence. They both picked lemons side by side as the rain continued to gently fall.

As time passed, the raindrops grew lighter and lighter until they were falling so lightly that from a distance, it almost looked like a fragile sort of mist was escaping the clouds and coating the air.

It was peaceful. That was the first word that came to Tommy’s mind.

He felt safe, like nothing could get to him here and none of his worries mattered. Paying rent, going to work, trying not to get mugged on the walk home, none of that mattered for the time being.

He had a nice house to return to now. He had plenty of food on the table, plenty of water, and his own bedroom. Tommy didn’t have to work for any of it, he got all of it and more for simply existing.

Phil, Techno, Tubbo, and Ranboo clearly cared about him a lot. The emotions that entered their eyes whenever they saw Tommy was an obvious enough tell, but it had always been easy for Tommy to brush off as a simple trick of the light.

But as the previous two weeks had come to pass, Tommy couldn’t push it all aside anymore.

Especially when, by an honest mistake, he’d started to care about them the same way.

After breaking his promise to himself not to get attached and not to talk, Tommy had begrudgingly started to care about this family. And while half of him was overjoyed, the other half felt incredibly guilty.

They didn’t know that Tommy wasn’t meant to be here. They didn’t know that just two weeks ago, he didn’t exist in this dimension.

Through some outside force though, he’d been thrown into their lives and their memories had been altered to act as though Tommy had always been here and he wasn’t some random foster kid from another world entirely.

When he did push his aching feelings away, Tommy felt happy, for the first time that he truly remembered in the past few years.

It felt good to be so sure of where he stood, to know he’d live to see tomorrow no matter what, and to know if he fell, someone else would always have his back.

At this point, Tommy hardly considered the idea of returning back to his old dimension, even though he hadn’t thought about it much to begin with.

But now, he really didn’t want to go back. Not when he’d gained so much. Not when he finally had everything he wanted.

The thought of waking back up in his apartment still lived in his nightmares though, haunting him whenever he closed his eyes to sleep.

Another idea had also entered his imagination recently. The concept that one day, the entire family would realize that this was all a ruse. That one morning, they’d wake up and suddenly Tommy wouldn’t be in their old memories anymore and they’d know. They’d kick him out and curse his name and Tommy would be alone again.

He often woke up gasping from his nightmares and crying. He’d screamed once, three nights ago, and had woken up Techno who’d spent twenty minutes comforting him through the bedroom door.

For the time being, Tommy ignored those nightmares and the hurt they caused. None of it would happen. He promised himself that.

“Tommy?” Phil asked. “The basket’s full, mate.” His expression was confused and slightly concerned.

“Oh uh- sorry.” Tommy mumbled, blinking down at the nearly overflowing basket. The scenery didn’t fell as peaceful after thinking so much.

Phil shook his head slowly. “You have nothing to be sorry for.” He paused, then continued. “C’mon, let’s get back inside. There’s not much else that’s grown enough to be harvested yet.”

Tommy blinked, once again surprised at how easily his apology and mistake were acknowledged. At this point though, he should’ve known it was the kind of response he’d get.

Yet again, everyone kept proving to him how unnecessarily forgiving and kind they were.

Tommy’s heart ached. He wanted to keep it all for as long as he could.

———

It was just his luck that as soon as things were good, it all started going to shit.

It began with a cough, just one simple cough. And then, in the early hours of the morning, he woke up drenched in sweat, with a terrible headache, and feeling overall like he just got hit by a massive bus on the highway.

Only a week and a half had passed since Tommy had gone out to the garden with Phil. Since then, he’d spent more time one on one with the man and with the whole family in general.

Tommy found himself getting closer with them and more attached, if that were even possible.

It had almost been a month since the he’d woken up here. Which was a weird thing to realize.

He wondered what had happened to his apartment back in his old dimension. His rent had been due last week. Most likely, they’d thrown all his stuff out as a result of missing the payment. And now, they were probably campaigning for new tenants to move in.

His landlord had always been a bitch anyway, so he supposed he wouldn’t be surprised if that was the outcome of Tommy disappearing so suddenly.

They’d probably started looking for him at work, having noticed his absence. The search was probably halfhearted at best. Nobody ever liked him much, on account of how often he cursed and his tendency not to take any shit from the customers, resulting in them not liking him much either.

Tommy shook his head, drawing himself back to the present.

He regretted leaving his thoughts the moment that his intense headache returned in full force. He felt dizzy, despite currently laying down in bed underneath a mound of blankets.

Speaking of the blankets, they weren’t helping with how he currently felt like he was going to explode from overheating.

Gritting his teeth, Tommy kicked away the blankets and felt a gust of cold air meet him. The cold didn’t help much with how hot he was though and he groaned in frustration.

As he closed his eyes, to make another fitful attempt at sleep, Tommy hoped that he’d feel better in the morning.

———

Tommy wasn’t better the next morning. Not at all.

If anything, he had gotten worse.

Sweat clung to his skin, making his shirt stick uncomfortably to him. His vision was blurry and he was entirely lucid, hardly able to remember where he was or what was going on.

Hours must’ve passed. But Tommy didn’t notice any of it through the pain in his head and the feeling that he was being burned alive by a fire that didn’t exist.

The door to his room must’ve opened but he didn’t hear it. There were footsteps heading to his bed, stopping when they reached his side.

A voice murmured something low, concerned. Tommy squeezed his eyes shut and didn’t reply. He didn’t know who they were.

Didn’t he live alone in his apartment? He was pretty sure he did.

The first voice called out something over their shoulder and then there were more footsteps before a second voice began to speak.

A conversation initiated over Tommy’s head and it sounded worried and frantic, like they thought he was dying.

Maybe he was. Tommy didn’t know if anyone would grieve if he died anyway, so what was the point?

He lived alone, he worked alone, and his life was exhausting. Working all the time took a toll on him and constantly worrying about paying for one thing and the next made the torment in his mind struggle to cease.

His life was difficult, and he didn’t want to have to suffer to keep it. With how much he was hurting, he didn’t know if survival would be worth it.

Through dry, chapped lips, Tommy didn’t even notice when whispered; “Let me die, please.”

The two other voices in the room gasped and suddenly, as Tommy blinked open his eyes, he blurrily saw them begin moving around quickly, as if searching for something.

Even as he let out tiny whimpers of pain, Tommy’s brain absentmindedly reached for the comfort of four people that were barely there in his mind.

The memories of the past month were fragmented through his lucidity.

He could remember other people, smiling with him, hanging out with him, laughing with him, and giving him everything he wanted and more. Tommy could see hazy figures baking with him, running through the streets of an unfamiliar town, and standing in the rain at his side.

But he was half convinced that they were only dreams, even as the ache in his heart begged otherwise.

One of the people in the room approached him again and Tommy was forced to shut his eyes as they began to water with unshed tears.

The person gently rested their hand on his forehead before nudging at him to open his mouth. Tommy did as he was asked and a bitter pill was forced into it. Then, his mouth was shut and someone ran their hand down his throat, forcing him to reflexively swallow.

The second person returned right after and a cold, damp cloth was layed out across his forehead. The water sank into his warm skin and Tommy let out an impulsive sigh of relief.

“I don’t think you’re real.” Tommy mumbled without knowing as he began to slip back into unconsciousness.

It was true. He lived alone and had no friends or family. Why would two strangers break into his apartment to help him?

———

Tommy remained mostly lucid for the next few days.

Sometimes, he remembered what had happened over the past month. Sometimes, he didn’t.

But either way, he never noticed the things he said when the others were around, desperately trying to keep him alive.

“It’s all fake. You don’t really know me.” He murmured harshly one evening when he’d seen a blurry figure with pink hair sitting beside his bed.

The figure had shifted, red eyes full of confusion as they stared at Tommy for a moment before turning away.

Another time, Tommy said, speech hardly slurred at all; “Your memories aren’t real. Stop lying.”

The two people next to him had jolted at the clear words. And suddenly, Tommy had heard frantic whispers and someone saying as they left the room, “I think I need to talk to Phil. Something’s wrong.” Before the door had slammed shut.

Tommy hadn’t comprehended the words, nor anything he’d said already.

On the last day before his fever broke, he found himself murmuring as a steady form wearing green placed a cold towel on his head; “I wish this were real. I don’t wanna go back. I don’t wanna be alone again. I don’t want you to forget me.”

Tommy had flinched away when the form had moved further forward, expecting them to hit him like a foster parent would’ve.

Instead, he’d only felt the gentle pressure of a hand running through his hair, followed by soft words entering the air. “I’m sorry, we won’t, I promise. I wish it were real too, trust me. I don’t know how you got here and I’m sorry that you had to go through all of this because of it. We’ll fix it, I promise, mate.”

Tommy hadn’t replied, having not understood a word of what was said. He hadn’t known what the words meant, he hadn’t realized that they knew now, and that the playing field would be entirely different once his mind returned to him.

For the time being, he had slipped back into unconsciousness.

———

When Tommy actually woke up for real, without sickness entirely clouding his mind, the first thing he realized was that he still felt like he’d been hit by a bus.

As he blinked open sticky eyes, the second thing he realized was that he wasn’t alone.

Phil was sitting in a chair that had been positioned next to the bed. He was reading a book, the pages thick and surrounded by a soft, well-worn green dyed leather cover.

The lighting was soft, only a few candles lit on top of the dresser across from the bed. The door was shut tight and based off the light coming from underneath the curtains covering the window, it was likely sometime early in the evening.

Tommy shifted around in his bed, blankets shuffling against the mattress. Phil jolted, surprised, and looked up from his book at the sound.

“Tommy, are you awake for real?” Phil asked, voice low but not unkind. There was a weight to his words though, one that had never been there before.

Confusion and worry racing through him at Phil’s reaction, Tommy shuffled upwards and into a sitting position. He gritted his teeth as soreness and exhaustion sparked throughout his body. “I’m awake.” Tommy replied hoarsely. His vocal cords ached.

“Alright.” Phil said, pausing for a heavy moment before continuing. “How are you feeling?”

Tommy shook his head, massaging his forehead with a shaky hand. “Like shit. Everything fuckin’ hurts.”

“Yeah, you’ve had a pretty nasty fever. Although it’s been better today.” Phil remarked softly, something akin to pity flashing in his eyes.

“This is better?” Tommy grumbled. “Are you sure? Because this still sucks shit.”

Phil paused, pursing his lips for a moment, then sighing. “Well, you’re actually talking to me properly now, so I’d say that’s an improvement.”

Tommy narrowed his eyes, his thoughts catching on the wording of Phil’s response. “Talking to you properly? Was I talking in my sleep or some shit before?”

There was a beat of silence. A conflicted look invaded Phil’s expression and he set his book aside from where it had been on his lap.

Tommy’s thoughts were racing. Clearly, something had happened based on Phil’s reaction. But Tommy had no idea what.

“You weren’t asleep, but you weren’t entirely conscious either. You said… some things that you probably didn’t mean to. And they got all of us thinking.” Phil said, clearly struggling to find the right words.

“What kind of things did I say?” Tommy asked, his heart beginning to feel like it was beating out of his chest with a fluttering sort of panic.

Phil blinked and suddenly, he wasn’t looking Tommy in the eyes anymore. Nervousness and guilt shined in Phil’s gaze. “I…I’m going to have everyone else come in here while I explain, okay? I think we should all discuss this together.”

“Okay?” Tommy replied, thoroughly panicked and confused.

Soon enough, Phil had left the room and returned with all three other family members in tow. They all looked to be in various states of emotional and conflicted, each one struggling to even glance at Tommy for more than a few moments.

“I don’t even know how to start this.” Phil stated, settling back into the chair he’d been sitting in earlier. “So I’m just going to be blunt. Tommy, we know you’re not from here.”

And, all of the sudden, Tommy felt like he was choking on air.

Nightmares from the previous month flashed through his head. The way he’d dreaded this day for weeks, the way his subconscious had seemingly always known they’d find out eventually.

His stay here wasn’t full-proof. His inclusion in this family was never permanent, even if Tommy tricked himself into thinking it was.

“You… you know that it wasn’t real?” Tommy questioned, voice shaky and barley audible. “Y-You know that all your old memories of me were fake?”

Techno nodded. “Somehow, you saying it brought a lot of things to light.”

“And when Ranboo and I,” Tubbo cut in. “Had a talk with Phil about the things you kept saying, we all started to realize that a lot of things just… didn’t make sense about our memories, about you being here, about any of it.”

“Oh.” Tommy breathed, tears starting to burn in the corners of his eyes.

Phil leaned forward, attempting to smile reassuringly at Tommy, although the expression was tinged with guilt. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened, I don’t know what kind of magic caused this, but we know it wasn’t real.”

Tommy swallowed nervously, feeling like the room was spinning in dizzying circles around him. “I-I didn’t mean to trick you guys, I swear! I just woke up here and you all already knew me and I-I didn’t know what to do. So I just went along with it, even though I shouldn’t have.” He rambled, struggling to breathe.

“It’s not your fault.” Techno said bluntly. “We don’t blame you for any of it. But I’ll be honest, we do want to know where you came from and all that.”

“Techno!” Phil scolded. “He’s still sick! We can’t expect him to tell us everything now!”

Techno sighed. “He is still sick, I’ll admit that. But if he’s willing to share now, then I think we should let him and we should listen.”

All eyes turned back to Tommy afterward and he felt even more nervous as they lingered.

“I’m from another dimension.” Tommy said quietly. “It’s kind of in the future? There’s no magic or anything though. But we have a ton of stuff that you guys don’t, like cars, phones, and shit. Which- you guys probably don’t know what those are.” He bit his lip to keep himself from rambling again. “I’m sorry though. I didn’t mean to take advantage of you. I just don’t know how to get back to where I belong.” He whispered after a moment.

There a pause before Phil spoke. “It’s okay, Tommy. For what it’s worth, we enjoyed having you around too.”

“You did?” Tommy asked, hardly believing what he’d just heard. They should hate them, shouldn’t they? For taking advantage of their kindness, for letting them believe in a lie.

Phil nodded. “Yeah. We did. But we can get you home, don’t worry. There’s plenty of dissension travel spells that exist, although it would take us awhile to figure out which one you’re from.”

Tommy took in a desperate deep breath. Phil’s reply was both a blessing and a curse wrapped into one. Clearly, it showed that they didn’t hate Tommy but it also meant that they wanted to send him back. They didn’t want him to remain here.

Still, stupidly, Tommy couldn’t help but voice what he actually wanted. “I-I don’t wanna go back. At first I kinda did but… not anymore.”

Another silence overtook the room.

It was tense and the family members kept looking between each other, having silent conversations that Tommy didn’t understand.

Until, Phil gave a single, firm nod. Then, he turned back towards Tommy. “Then you can stay.”

Tommy gasped. He hadn’t expected them to let him stay. Not after everything. “Do you really mean that?” He asked, feeling scared and small.

“Yes, we all like having you around.” Techno responded bluntly. “We wouldn’t say that if it wasn’t true, kid.”

Tubbo rolled his eyes at Techno’s blunt reply, before adding his own. “Of course you can fucking stay, bossman. Who else is going to cause chaos with me and drive Ranboo insane?”

“Hey!” Ranboo exclaimed, glaring at Tubbo. “I’m not going insane.” He shook his head and turned his gaze towards Tommy. “But I’ve liked having you around. You’re really funny and even though you never admit it, you’re really kind when you want to be.”

“You were everything we were missing without us realizing it, mate.” Phil added smiling again, but this time it wasn’t clouded with conflict.

Tommy didn’t know what to say. He’d never had anyone so crassly tell him how much they cared and how much they truly wanted him around.

It made him feel warm, it made him feel valued, it made him feel loved.

“Then I can stay?” Tommy questioned, trying to confirm that it was all actually real.

They all nodded, smiling and looking reassuring, overjoyed, and excited at the idea.

“You’re staying here, no matter what.” Phil said.

And Tommy believed him.

They weren’t strangers anymore, Tommy realized. They were undoubtedly, unquestionably, truthfully, his family.

Even with the remains of sickness and fever still lingering in his body, Tommy knew that he finally had everything he’d ever wanted.