Chapter Text
Tommy was embracing his feral side. This was a new kind of danger. No more would he be known for robbing banks, stealing high tech weaponry, or busting supervillains out of jail. No, this Tommy was better known for stealing your breakfast and running off into the woods with some stray raccoon he found that he named Reginald. Reginald was far more sophisticated than any of the others Tommy shared his household with.
Reginald appreciated his greatness.
Tommy jumped off a tree branch and grabbed onto another, pulling himself up into the higher branches. This was a good vantage point to scan the area for his target. He spotted it not far from the very tree he was perched in. But it seemed Reginald had the same idea.
Tommy jumped down from the tree and ran past the raccoon, plucking up the mushrooms before he could even sniff them. “Not today, Reginald. Wilbur wanted new ink so I , the amazing Tommy Innit, am going to give it to him. Reginald, did you know you could make ink out of mushrooms? Probably not. You are too sophisticated and powerful to worry about such meager things as mushroom ink. You probably have super expensive pure squid ink imported for your studies” Reginald just blinked at Tommy before sauntering off.
“Goodbye dear Reginald, I’m sure you have important business to attend to! Tell the misses I said hello!”
Tommy plucked up the few remaining mushrooms and tossed them in the basket with the other things he’d foraged today. Ah yes, Tommy Innit, master forager and women haver extraordinaire. He had to admit he quite enjoyed this life compared to the city. He was wild and free! Wilbur on the other hand preferred to stay in his little sun-lit shack and be all arteistic. Tommy still couldn’t believe fucking Wilbur turned out to be Artist. If he would have known that ahead of time he definitely wouldn’t have let the villain come to their awesome home in the forest.
Tommy walked back through the woods, the grass and dirt grounding him in a way concrete and asphalt never could. That was the reason he came out here barefoot all the time despite the dangers of snakes or, uh, really angry bugs or something. It felt like living when he could feel the ground beneath his feet.
Coming out here with all his friends had been the best decision he’d ever made. It was like their own little community. Techno had built a few other houses since the original one definitely didn’t have enough space. Tommy never did figure out where Techno learned all the self-sufficient survival forest stuff. Seemed the ex-hero would never share his secrets. But it was nice either way. Puffy and Niki took one of the small buildings, adding their own women-y touch. Tommy would be lying if he said he didn’t adore their home.
Wilbur took a tiny building that was originally meant to be a greenhouse or something and turned it into a complete clusterfuck an art/music studio/tiny home. But Tommy also hung out there a lot too. It was nice to have the big windows let the sun stream in on him while he laid in Wilbur’s bed, listening to the ex-villain play guitar like he used to in the city park.
Then there was Phil and Techno who got a little cabin. Tommy again had to admit he spent a fair share of his time there. They were all his friends okay?! He had to spend time with all of them. And of course there was the actual greenhouse which was connected to Ranboo and Tubbo’s cottage. (Again, how did Techno build all of these?) Their house was surprisingly nice, and Ranboo enjoyed having plants and flowers to take care of like he did in the city. Tubbo of course couldn’t tattoo people very well out in the woods so he took to taking care of bees. That had been a mistake since they had become his new obsession, but Tommy was glad to see him happy.
Then of course there was the main house he had got in the first place. George, Sapnap, Dream and Tommy lived there, despite Tommy sleeping in almost every other house all the time. It had all the pictures from when Tommy was little, every photo album from his apartment, every keepsake and gift he’d gotten from his dad when he was young. Tommy had completely cleared out his old apartment before moving because he wanted everything, it was all connected to his dad after all. There were new things of course, like the coat rack or the very unnecessary grandfather clock that Quackity (Which he discovered was Luck Duck’s real name) had more than likely stolen from them. Tommy still remembered the whole scenario.
”Heyyy, what’s up?” Quackity said, smiling way too innocently.
“What do you want?” Dream asked, trying to figure out why the villain had come to visit in a damn truck”
Quackity held up his hands in peace,“I have some gifts for you, thought they’d fit this whole… aesthetic, you’ve got going on,”
“I don’t like the way you said that,” Dream muttered.
So now it sat across from the fireplace, and many other ‘gifts’ from Quackity were scattered throughout the house. Tommy’s favorite though was definitely the old gramophone. Tommy had no idea how or where Quackity found it, but it still worked and played records, which Quackity had also given Tommy. Most nights when everyone was over at the main house, Tommy would put on a record and they’d dance or just sit and listen to the music.
Coming up to the house Tommy saw Dream sitting on the porch swing with the cat he’d found roaming around he’d named Patches. Tommy waved at him before turning towards Wilbur’s tiny home. He walked inside and as loud as he could, which was very loud, set the basket down on the least cluttered surface. Wilbur turned and looked up at him from where he’d been hunched over working on, something.
“You need something, Tommy?” He asked, paint or ink smeared on his cheek.
“Well I heard you complaining about not having any ink so I got you some mushrooms,” He mumbled, scooping the fungus out of the basket and holding them out to the brunette. Wilbur looked down at them for a moment before a smug smile pulled across his lips.
“Awh, thank you Tommy. I didn’t know you were capable of doing nice things” He took the mushrooms.
“Hey! I am very nice! I rescued my dad from prison, saved you from being caught by heroes, and even let you come live at my super cool forest home with all my friends! Those are all super nice things. I am the king of nice” He huffed and crossed his arms.
“Well that’s nice, so I suppose you wouldn’t mind taking these to Puffy and Niki?” He held out some handmade aprons with initials sewn into them. “They’re baking sweets and stuff for tonight and I thought they could use these since they always show up with flour and stuff on their clothes”
Tommy nodded and took the aprons, looking them over. “I don’t know what this has to do with me being the king of nice. You’re the cringe weirdo who took the time and effort to sew love into every fiber like a nice old lady- Woah!” He ducked as Wilbur threw a paintbrush at him.
“Just take them to them alright?” He rolled his eyes.
Tommy scoffed and nodded, “Yes, Wimblur”
“It’s not-!”
Tommy ignored the brunette as he walked out the door, grabbing his basket before he did. He listened to the birds chirp and the wind rustle the leaves as he walked towards Niki and Puffy’s cottage. He knocked, because they were women and Tommy respected that, he never knocked on anyone else’s door despite Niki and Puffy being the only ones who told him he didn’t need to knock before coming in. The door opened and Niki stood there, her grown out dyed hair pulled back into two loose pigtails. “Hello Tommy, do you need something?” She asked kindly.
Tommy held out the aprons, “Resident theater kid wanted you guys to not get so messy when you bake. Almost like he cares or some shit, clearly not as much as me though,” He held out the basket full of foraged edibles. “See? I care so much I even got you some lovely-” He paused, looking through the contents of the basket. It was mostly leaves and some roots. But he could give those to Phil. He picked around and pulled out some raspberries he’d found. “Here!” He grinned, dumping some of them into Niki’s held out hand.
“Now you’ll be able to make pie or some shit,” He added, walking inside after wiping off his feet to deposit the aprons on the counter. He picked around the things in the basket before he got all the raspberries out.
“That’s actually a good amount, thank you Tommy” Niki smiled.
“You’re lucky I got to them before Reginald did. He had his eye on them, no doubt about it” He stated matter-of-factly.
Niki nodded slowly, clearly having no idea what he was talking about. “Well, we’re almost done here so we’ll be over in a bit. Why don’t you take these leaves and stuff to Phil then we can all meet up at the main house?”
Tommy nodded and snatched up the basket, running out of the house. “Yeah, alright! See you there!” He ran through the trees to where Phil and Techno’s cabin was located, just a little ways out of the clearing where everyone else lived. He reached the cabin and threw the door open. “Phiiiiil! I’ve got leaves for you to make into nasty medicine!” He yelled.
Phil came out of the kitchen and glanced at Tommy’s basket, “Oh yeah?”
“Mhm” Tommy nodded, proudly holding out the basket. Phil took it and looked through the contents inside.
“Ooh, these are actually useful. You’re getting better at foraging, Tommy.” The ex-hero praised, looking at Tommy in surprise.
“Of course they are! I am the best forager, all the women love me” He stated.
“Mhm. I’m sure they love the fact that your feet look like they’re more dirt than skin,” He took the basket into his kitchen.
Tommy glanced down at his legs and feet, the dirt making a brown gradient up his legs. “Hmph. Just adds to my amazing feral look. It’s an ass-thetic, I’m sure you wouldn’t understand, Phil. You’re too old”
“Don’t you mean aesthetic?” Phil asked, walking out the door with the teen.
“No I do not” Tommy replied plainly as they walked. “Hey, what about Techno? Is he not coming?” He asked, glancing back at the cabin.
“Oh he’s already over there. He was helping Sapnap with something” The older blond said.
“Oh, alright” Tommy shrugged. They walked in comfortable silence before arriving at the clearing again, most of the others seemed to already be inside the main house as the sun was setting. The two walked inside, finding everyone chatting and setting up for the night. They all turned to him and smiled.
“Happy Birthday, Tommy!” They shouted, and the teen smiled.
Niki and Puffy cut up the cake and Tommy put on a record, Techno sat aside reading as Tubbo, Ranboo and Tommy got into a massive pillow fight, eventually pulling everyone else in. Dream, George and Sapnap brought out presents and Phil helped Puffy make dinner. Wilbur played his guitar and Quackity showed up with an overly expensive gift that fit Tommy’s ‘ass-thetic’ and everyone went up to the roof afterwards to stargaze.
Tommy sighed happily and fell asleep beside his dad and friends. Everything was perfect .