.

.

"Tommy...?"

Oh gods.

There he was.

Here he was.

Right where you were- standing in front of you- flesh and bones and living-

And-

Fuck-

You felt tears push against your eyelids- as you stared at him.

"You're okay-" The whine in the back of your throat was all happy- all joy- lips smiling eyes squinting.

You throw your arms out- your only thought to rush him with a hug- but when he flinches you immediately pause.

He looks...

Scared.

Like a cornered animal.

And when you don't get a response out of him other then the confused looking scared glare of a question- you drop your outstretched arms.

"..Tommy....?"

He has his communicator up to his ear, talking still happening as he stares at you.

You approach slower this time- not reaching for him after the last reaction, but he still flinches.

"Are you a ghost?" Tommy bluntly says.

"All flesh and bones." You whisper.

Something in his face softens, before sharpening after a thought of some sort passed him.

"..."

Bitterness.

You immediately recognized it as bitterness.

A deeprooted one that seemed to stem so harshly through him that... the bitterness almost seemed to turn to hate.

But... why was he turning that look toward you?

Something in you cracked. Surely just a small something.

It was doubt making you feel like this, right?

Doubt that Tommy would suddenly hate you?

You weren't going to cry the second you tried asking him if he did suddenly have a distaste for you, were you?

Before the conversation could continue- before you could start bawling-, the wind at your back stopped- blocked by something that was now looming behind you.

"Heh..?" Techno. Techno is literally the only person that could be behind you, and the voice sold it.

"Uuuhhh- one minute one minute!" Tommy shoves past both you and Technoblade, briskly walking into the cold snow and yelling into his communicator as he went, "Guys I think I have to go-"

"Heh???"

Techno walks after him, so confused looking, and so do you.

"SORRY, SORRY-"

Tommy walks around the house, and once he gets a few paces away... he just- starts digging at the snow???

Techno is taking the initiative in walking through the harsh wind, and you meekly follow in the footprints he leaves behind, but you are so unbelievably confused and sad- but happy? Cause there's Tommy, doing Tommy things. He's alive and that's what matters.

"HEH??"

"BUH BUH BUH BUH BYE-" he hangs up on whoever he was talking to and shoves the com into his pocket, before frantically saying, "Tommy hole Tommy hole Tommy hole-"

By now, both you and Techno are situated at the top of the hole Tommy had dug, staring down in confusion as Tommy stops waist deep and looks up at the both of you with wide eyes.

Big ol eyes-

"...'ow do?" He says.

"Heh...??" Techno looks gobsmacked.

Genuinely and truly confused and surprised.

Tommy squints up at him, before opening his big mouth and yelling, "TAKE A PICTURE- IT'LL LAST LONGER AY-" he shuts it- a very brief look of fear on his face before it flashes away, and next thing you know Tommy is opening his mouth again to say, "You look ugly."

Techno is silent for a moment- gathering himself before finally forcing a dead faced question out, "What are you doin in my house Tommy?"

Tommy wriggled himself out of the hole, before just... walking off? He was talking as he went but he was very avidly avoiding making direct eye contact, "...welll- you know, how are you...?"

"What are you doing in my house Tommy?"

"How are you??" Tommy grits out while speed walking even farther away, and by then Techno was starting to get annoyed.

"What are you doin in my house Tommy?" Techno sped walked after him, you trying your best to keep following after them with how cold it was.

"You. Are. A. Bitch." Tommy whips around to yell at him, before turning back to keep walking towards the house, "That's the way to lightly put it."

Tommy couldnt care less that a spider started trying to attack him- strutting and stumbling towards the house with Techno hot on his tail.

Techno is swift to kill the spider- but even swifter to start throwing half-hazard swings at Tommy- who starts screeching and yelling.

The swings weren't that powerful. Techno was clearly holding back- and seemed to only be doing it because he didn't know what words would make Tommy listen.

"Get out of my house!"

Tommy ran up the steps- screaming and throwing the doors open- Techno still hot on his trail with another even more exasperated, "Why are you walking into my house!"

You tread up the stairs after, watching Tommy drag wet snow all over the floor, while Techno tried to at least kick his boots for snow near the entrance.

That and he held one of the doors open for you.

How thoughtful.

He closed it after you waddled inside, sending two awkward glances to the both of them. The cut off of wind made a brief shiver shake you.

This is weird, you decided.

It's weird to see Tommy again- and maybe it wouldn't be weird if he didn't seem so adamant on avoiding you. You and Techno you supposed.

Tommy finally stopped screaming, turning around to look at Techno with the obviously too big armor he had on, all false confidence and bravado, "You can't kill me. Stop tryna act all big and hard."

Techno pointed his pickaxe at Tommy, "I feel like I actually really can kill you." As if feeling your squint at his words, Techno turned to eye you, "And before you get mad- this is all self defense. Home invasion is a serious crime."

"I didn't say it wasn't." You say back, "But Tommy's more like a rat you found in the trash then a burglar."

Techno gives you the blankest stare he can muster, gesturing to Tommy as the boy was already rummaging through Techno's chests with a cheeky, "Oh yeah?"

"Those are literally my items!" Techno points the pickaxe at him again, to which Tommy finds something in the chest and whips around with a triumphant grin.

"YEAH BITCH-- EAT FIRE BITCH-"

"NO NO- MY HOUSE IS MADE OF WOOD- MY HOUSE IS MADE OF WOOD-"

You can only watch as Tommy contually tries to light a worried and yelling Techno on fire with the newly acquired flint and steel.

What the actual hell are you witnessing.

What circus act is this?

Tommy tried lighting the house on fire more then the people, but in the sporadic and wiggling way he tramped around, he caught you on fire and you just squinted at him.

Techno panickly walked to you- patting the fire on your coat out and yelling at Tommy again, "THIS COAT IS NOT FIREPROOF, TOMMY-"

While Techno tried putting out the fire on you, you had perfect view to Tommy lighting the floor on fire again behind Techno's back, which is only mildly amusing when, 'oh hey, you kinda live in this house too.' You huffed air in his direction- and huffed another breath when Techno turned back around and started panicking again

"MY HOUSE IS NOT FIREPROOF EITHER! WHAT PART OF WOOD DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND-"

"Well." Tommy finally stopped, "I think we should call it, our house." He gave a wild look to Techno before reaching past you and opening the door, "And these guy's house too."

Two zombies and a spider immediately flood through the doorway, skittering about and trying to attack whoever they locked their eyes on.

"Heh??! Why would you let them in??"

Techno is swift to start fighting back, killing the zombie that limped in his direction, while the one that chased Tommy tripped and fell near the fireplace- to which Techno immediately smashed its head in.

You did the nice thing and shut the doors- entirely of good will and not just because you were cold. When you turned back around, you caught sight of the spider attacking Tommy's kneecaps- while he stared at Techno with that blank childish look. Techno was staring right back at him

The armor he was wearing snapped after a moment- to which Tommy smacked the spider with a sword and then stared at the broken armor on the floor.

"My trousers..." Tommy said.

"Your pants just broke." Techno mumbled.

All the chaos pauses.

Before Tommy starts rummaging in his satchel and pulls out yet another set of diamond pants.

"Hey don't worry- I found these in the closet-" He pulls them on and gives the proudest look he can muster to the both of you.

"Uh-"

"Bro Tommy- give me back my pants-"

"Well-"

"Give me back my stuff-"

Tommy looks Techno up and down, before sending an awkward look to you.

"No."

"You really want to- you really want to do this right here??-" Techno makes a small movement towards Tommy- and the boy starts panicking again.

A bunch of 'nonono's' and 'uurm's' leak from his mouth and he scrambles down the ladder, both you and Techno rush to watch him hit the basement floor.

Instead of stopping, he dug straight down, smacking a stone out of the way and looking up to see the both of you staring.

"Bue bye now." He says, and places the stone back in place- the faint rustling noise below the basement floor coming after- to which Techno all but throws himself down the ladder after him.

Techno lands on the basement floor with a crouch, and you launch yourself after him, slipping off the ladder and falling right on him in your haste-

You both fumbled for a few moments- you rolling off him and knocking a few things off a random chest. Techno made an assortment of noises- shaking his head and looking up to see you already stumbling to your feet.

"What's going on up there- Ay!?" Techno and you lock eyes at the obnoxious grin in Tommy's voice, "Sounds like someone's having a rough dayy~"

Cheeky son of a-

You huff a fustrated breath. All this chasing Tommy around didn't seem to be doing much good.

All you wanted was to make sure he was okay, but he seemed very straight forward about not wanting to have any part of a normal conversation.

"Techno-"

Said man blinks- not having moved his eyes off you.

"Can you get him to stay-... while I get him to talk...???"

"Why would I even want him to stay?" Is Technos fast reply.

That left a weird taste in your mouth. The two people you considered friends once again all but growling at each other.

"Well, why did you want me to stay?" You ask-

To which Techno goes, "Nah nah nah nah- completely different situation-"

"Completely different how? Tommy used to be your friend was he not? I had a moment where I disagreed with you same as him, but you didn't give up on me-"

Techno pursed his lips. The red of his eyes felt intense for a second and you could nearly hear him biting his tongue.

'This is completely different' he seemed to want to repeat- but didn't, for a reason unknown to you.

You were steadfast at his hesitancy though, and after a moment of him searching your face, he huffed.

"Fine. I get him to stay- you have your fun talking to him."

You smile-

'Maybe you'll have fun talking to him too.' You want to say, but decide not to- watching Techno refocus on chasing Tommy, to which he digs down to the next floor.

Alright.

You can work with this.