Chapter Text
Tubbo is five when Dream finds him alone. Well, not finds, rather, opens the door to him standing there. The man doesn't know what else to do, other than bring the kid inside. He's all scraped up and bruised, and Dream isn't sure he wants to think about why. He chalks it up to kids doing whatever kids did. Hell, he got into his fair share of trouble when he was younger.
He doesn't think about why a five year old would be getting into enough trouble to look the way he does.
Tubbo doesn't talk at first. His blonde hair is a mess, and his big blue eyes look like they're two seconds from popping out of his tiny skull. He's got a backpack that's pretty much as big as him, and he doesn't let go of the straps. He follows Dream inside, but doesn't let him touch him. It makes it difficult to patch him up, so Dream directs him to the couch of the home he hasn't even lived in for a full year yet. He rummages around and puts a bowl of dry cereal next to Tubbo and sits on the other side of the room. The little boy hugs his backpack and picks at the cereal.
He knows he should've called someone way sooner, probably immediately, but he hasn't even tried to talk to the frankly-way-too-small child yet. He wonders if this counts as shock. He pulls out his comm tablet and sends a quick message to two of his friends, who probably know nothing about children. Sapnap, being the closest, shows up first, but it isn't long before George makes an appearance as well.
When the goggled man speaks, it's like a gunshot in the silence that's filled the house until now. "So who's the dad?"
His attempt at lightening the situation gets a snort out of Sapnap, who responds with, "I think he just committed mitosis."
"Ha ha," Dream rolls his eyes with a snort. Tubbo watches the interactions carefully. "I think he was left at the door," Dream continues. George hums.
"So you brought him inside?"
"What else was I supposed to do? Shut the door? Look at him, he's like two."
Tubbo lets go of one strap and pats the couch with his hand to try to get their attention. It goes unnoticed for the most part, aside from Sapnap glancing over, curious.
"Okay, fair, but did you look around at all?"
"... No."
"Dream! His parents could be around! What if he just wandered off?"
"Oh shit."
Tubbo takes advantage of Sapnap's glance and holds up five fingers. Sapnap tilts his head a bit and points at the kid. The kid nods.
"Oh shit is right, dude! You could've just kidnapped a child!"
"Guys?" Sapnap cuts into the conversation. Dream and George look over at him.
"Yeah?" Dream asks. Sapnap points a thumb at Tubbo.
"He said he's five, actually."
When Dream looks over at the small blonde, Tubbo immediately puts his hand back down, like he's trying to pretend he hasn't done a thing. Dream smiles behind his mask, because he's already seen it. George's brows furrow.
"Are you sure? He's so… tiny." Tubbo nods slowly at first, and then a little faster.
Sapnap sits down on the other end of the couch, bored of standing. Seeing as he's obviously the best one with communication so far since he's clearly Tubbo's favorite, he starts talking again.
"Goggy's right, you're kinda shrimpy, kid." Tubbo makes a face. "Don't like shrimp?" Sapnap gets a rapid head shake in response. He laughs a bit.
"Guys look, I'm like, the favorite." He brags to his friends. Even if he doesn't know the kid's name. He'll get there. And Dream and George will laugh at him and help until they figure it out.
When Tubbo conks out a few hours later, Dream takes the responsibility of carefully removing the toddler's backpack so he can lay the kid down easier. The bag is ratty and dirty and fraying at a few seams. Only now does he notice the piece of unevenly ripped notebook paper that's been shoved into the side pocket.
Sapnap leans over his shoulder as he pulls it out and does his best to read the bleeding marker.
'I wanna say sorry before you read this. I can't say write my name because of reasons. This is my baby brother, his name's Tubbo and he's really little. He's five years old, which is like, eight years younger than me, so I can't take care of him as good as I'd want to. So I'm giving him to you, if you'll take care of him.'
Dream flips the paper over to decipher the rest on the back. Sharpie wasn't the smartest choice to use when writing on thin paper, but he can't blame the—he takes a second to do the math—teen who'd written it. It looked rushed.
'If you can't, please find someone who can. I made sure to bring him as far as I could and I put all his stuff in my bag, but it's kinda crap, so I don't know if any fell out before you got this. He likes bees and green, and your bushes had a lot of bees, so I thought it would be a good place for him. I pinky promised him I'd come back, so if you give him away, make sure he can get back to your house easy.'
Dream glances back at the little boy—Tubbo, he now knows— snoozing away on his couch. He frowns. The note crumples a little in his hands, and George looks back at the bag. No wonder the kid wouldn't let go of it for anything. He reaches for it again and finds the bit of paper that'd been torn off. Even connected, it wasn't a full sheet.
'I got the important stuff out first, but I forgot to say he's different. I don't know if you're safe people, so you're gonna have to wait to know what I mean. Please be safe people. Please take care of my baby brother and tell him you love him every day.'
Sapnap frowns and returns to his spot on the couch. A cold feeling settles in Dream's stomach as he realizes that this kid wasn't just rowdy like he'd first assumed. He won't be giving him away, he decides. He knows his friends can tell, too.
"So," George is good at breaking the silence, Sapnap decides, and he's only being half sarcastic this time. "You're gonna keep him?"
Dream doesn't hesitate before he replies, "Yeah. Yes. Yeah."
Sapnap nods slowly, "M'kay. So, uh," he tugs the blanket they'd laid over Tubbo a little closer to the kid's chin, "you willing to give up your spare rooms?"
Dream's only got two, one of which he's already thinking about how to turn into a room for Tubbo, but he doesn't understand why he'd need to give up the second one.
"Yeah, but why?"
"How can you be so smart and so dense at the same time?" George sighs, "We're gonna help you out with this. And that's easier when we're in the same house."
Behind his mask, Dream smiles again.