#obviously wil and tommy smoothed out after that but uh. yeah those words stayed for life :)c

[arts-and-drafts]

Call Them Brothers (Hermit!Tommy AU)

(A little look into the early months of Mumbo and Tommy's friendship in this AU! This one is pretty angsty, mind the CWs :)c )

CW: Abandonment, violence mentions

-

Mumbo had no earthly idea why Tommy chose to hang around him.

As far as looks were to be considered, Mumbo was a human in a world of otherworldly creatures. He was well dressed and eloquent, and as entertaining as a white slice of bread. But still, this feral little kid that couldn't be more of his opposite decided to trail behind him like an imprinted chick, already talking as if he and Mumbo were thick as thieves despite the fact that they just met.

He was used to foul language, and that special kind of unhinged that Tommy exuberated with everyone he talked to was just another day with Bdubs, or Skizzleman, if Mumbo was off server. But for some reason, the kid took one look at him and decided that they were friends, even when the vibe couldn't be more different between the two of them.

It baffled Mumbo, but he wasn't one to object to very many things. Besides, the kid wasn't too bad to be around once you got used to him.

Tommy made him laugh, even if most of the time it was of incredulousness at whatever in the realms just came from the kid's mouth. He would constantly beg for Mumbo to teach him redstone, only to get bored and complain within the first minute of the man explaining the rudimentary knowledge of what a redstone signal was.

"I can't just beam the information into your brain!" Mumbo had said, to which Tommy looked up at him with such an outlandish face that the man couldn't help but stifle a laugh.

"Why not? You're a genius," Tommy had replied, so matter of fact that it seemed more like he was stating the obvious instead of offering a compliment.

Okay, maybe Mumbo had an inkling as to why he let the kid hang around him so much. (An ego boost was never a bad thing--could he really be blamed?)

However, even when Mumbo started to get used to Tommy's presence, it was the protectiveness that quickly followed from the boy that he couldn't wrap his head around.

When anyone from the Hobbit Society came for a visit, the hostility from Tommy escalated so much that neither Mumbo or the hermit visiting could tell if it was a bit or not. Even spending the day with Grian was overseen by jealous blue eyes glaring holes into the back of the hermit's head from behind a tree, the request from Mumbo that they be left alone barely taken into account.

It was when Tommy started the insults that Mumbo decided it was enough.

"Tom, listen." Mumbo said, pulling the kid aside after he scared off xB. Tommy looked up at him with wide eyes of rapture, something Mumbo had to try very hard to push past to get his point across.

"You've gotta chill out, mate." Mumbo said, allowing a small bit of his growing exasperation slip into his words. Tommy's eyebrows furrowed exaggeratedly.

"What d'you mean?" the boy asked, already adapting the defensive tone he took on whenever he was caught out. Mumbo sighed.

"I'm allowed to have friends, alright? I'm flattered you want to hang out so much, but--I still have a life, you know?" Mumbo said, nervously deciding to just get to the point after seeing Tommy's expression darken.

"You've been really mean, dude." Mumbo's voice softened to genuine truth. Tommy blinked.

"I get that that's just who you are sometimes, but you won't even let me have a day with my husband without him feeling like he's gonna get kicked out by security." Mumbo continued, taking advantage of the kid's silence.

"This server is about community. It's okay if you don't feel up to that yet, but please let me continue to." Mumbo said.

Tommy was quiet, something that always made Mumbo nervous just because of how little it happened. The man was prepared to soften his words with hurried fluff that made him seem less abrupt, but the kid spoke up before he even got a chance.

"...Okay. Sorry." Tommy mumbled, suddenly void of any energy that usually fueled his words. Mumbo stared.

Tommy never apologized, especially not that quickly.

"...You okay?" Mumbo asked lamely, honestly not knowing what else to say. He sensed something was very off with the kid, but he'd never been good at deciphering that sort of thing.

Tommy hunched his shoulders and scuffed the smoothstone floor with his sneaker, not looking at Mumbo anymore. Dread started to pool in the man's gut.

"Tommy, you didn't do anything wrong-" Mumbo tried to say, but the kid violently shook his head. "No, I didn't--"

He took a shuddering breath, like he did when he saw the various buttons around Mumbo's base for his contraptions, or he was caught off guard by a firework propelling a hermit to the sky.

Oh no.

"I'm not annoying, not really," Tommy pleaded, looking up at Mumbo with eyes that broke his heart.

"No, Tommy, that's nothing like what I was saying." Mumbo scrambled, reaching out, only to awkwardly close his fist and bring it back when Tommy tensed.

"You're not annoying. Who told you that?"

-

"You're such an annoying little shit!" Wilbur yelled, his voice so harsh and biting that Tommy couldn't tell if he was joking. The way he mercilessly noogied the boy's yellow curls made it even harder to tell.

"Get the fuck offa me!!" Tommy yelled right back, trying his best to struggle out of the headlock his pseudo-brother had him in. "PHIIIIIIL! WILBUR'S BEING A DICKHEAD!!"

"Stop being a dickhead, Wil." Came Phil's apathetic response from his rocking chair, the angel not even looking up from his book of runes to see Tommy's peril.

"He was being a dickhead first!" Wilbur objected hotly, unbothered by Tommy's flailing attempts to escape his restraining hold. "Tommy threw my music book in the pond!!"

"I threw it because you were being a prick!!" Tommy replied, indignation behind his words.

"Boys!" Phil was looking up now, his eyebrows knotted in annoyance. "Wilbur, let the kid go! You're better than that! Tommy, get his book back and both of you apologize!"

A moment of hesitant silence.

"...Yes, Dad." Wilbur relented bitterly, releasing Tommy. Tommy immediately jumped away and made a show of rubbing his neck and head, just to earn the glare from Wilbur at his antics. Tommy abandoned the act and raised his eyebrows smugly.

"Well? Apologize, Wilbur." Tommy ordered, crossing his arms with a smirk. Wilbur glowered. "Get my book first."

"I won't until you apologize."

"Dadza SAID you had to get my book before I have to apologize."

"I don't remember hearing that."

"Yes you godsdamn do!!"

"You can't tell me when l what I do and don't remember!"

"You little-"

Philza stood from his chair, and both boys blanched.

"Tommy, stop it." Phil said, his frustrated tone enough to make Tommy shrink into himself. "Get Wilbur's book, and then go home. I think you two are done for the day."

The note of finality to Phil's voice cut off any attempt to argue that Tommy would've tried. A bit of himself ached as soon as the mention of home was brought to attention. As much as Wilbur was being a bitch, Tommy still liked him and his family.

It masked the fact that Tommy had none of that, at least for a little while.

Tommy silently waded into the pond and fished around for Wilbur's book, getting thoroughly soaked up to his shoulders before he felt the leather brush against his fingers. Tommy pulled the book to the surface, and quickly realized the extent of his actions as soon as he looked at the precious object.

It was ruined.

The ink on the now soaked pages was so streaked that anything inside was incomprehensible, and the soggy paper was barely clinging to the spine. The carefully tended leather that Wilbur tried so hard to maintain was now soaked through, and Tommy knew it'd be completely fucked up when it dried.

Tommy slogged back up to the shore, pointedly not looking Wilbur in the eyes as the older of the two glared hot malice over crossed arms. He slowly held out the book, sagging and dripping, and flinched when Wilbur snatched it out of his hand.

Without another word, Wilbur stalked back to his cottage, startling Tommy into following. He expected Wilbur to yell at him, which would've absolutely called Phil back out, and then the both of them would be in so much trouble that only siblings could get into, and Tommy wouldn't have had to leave just yet.

But this silent treatment solidified the fact that Tommy would have to go back to his hole in the ground when Wilbur closed that door behind him, shutting Tommy out from a warm family that he so desperately wanted to be part of.

Tommy moved before he realized it, and caught the door with his shoe before it was slammed close. "Wil--I'm--I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean to--"

"Didn't mean to WHAT?" Wilbur snapped, the venom in his words making Tommy's throat dry. "You're just a fucking pest, Tommy, an annoying little roach that should've died a long time ago but won't leave me alone! You fuck up everything!"

Tommy's foot was kicked out of the doorframe. He didn't hear the spruce door splinter under the force of Wilbur slamming it, or Phil's shout at the noise. He just heard Wilbur's words echoing in his head.

-

"Tommy?"

Mumbo saw the boy startle, and numbly touch his face where tears had started to fall. His eyes cleared, and he looked back up at Mumbo, now with a weariness that the hermit had never seen in his life.

"I'm--I'm sorry, Mumbo. It won't happen again."

Tommy turned on his heel and ran off before Mumbo could say anything else, leaving the hermit alone and concerned. For a brief moment he considered following the kid, but what would he do when he caught up? Just stand there and stutter again?

Gods, why did Tommy pick Mumbo out of everyone else? Why him? He barely knew how to read his own emotions, much less the emotions of a prickly teenager.

Mumbo pulled up his communicator and messaged Joe, hoping his ramblings were coherent enough to get the poet to his base. Joe would know what to do.

Maybe he could teach Mumbo too.