Chapter Text
Tommy was having a really bad day.
No! scratch that he was having a bad week!
First off he got accused (falsely might he add) of killing the dog of the only god on the SMP that tolerates him and now he has to basically rebuild his house due to Captain Puffys “remodeling”.
Tommy groaned as he slammed shut another chest. He had been looking for some oak wood but it seemed he was all out. At the sound of the chest slamming shut a racoon scampered out from behind Tommy's bed. The creature nuzzles his leg, it sensed that Tommy was kinda stressed out. The boy sighed and scratched behind the animal's ear.
“Don't worry Chat, I'm fine.” He assured. “Well, it looks like we're out of wood. We have to go get some more if we want to finish fixing this place up.” Chat nodded and Tommy extended a hand so it could climb up onto his shoulder. Then the blond grabbed his axe and set out.
Tommy knew he would need a lot of wood, some to rebuild and some extra just in case the attacks to his house didn't cease, so he walked a ways before finding a decently sized oak wood forest. Chat didn't mind the long walk, it simply curled around his neck and fell asleep.
A warm breeze hit his face as he casually strolled through the wood, whistling a little tune. Careful not to wake up Chat (it could be surprisingly cranky when woken up). Tommy had to admit the walk was quite relaxing. The sun was shining down on his face, not enough to cause sunburn but enough to leave him feeling warm and fuzzy. Tommy silently wished he could stay in that moment forever, just add Tubbo, Michael and possibly Ranboo, and it would have been perfect.
But he quickly shot that thought down. They all had way too much shit going on to waste time frolicking in fields. They were soldiers! Not children...
He had no time for day dreaming anyway...
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Hours of chopping had gone by before Tommy decided to take a break. Normally he would go on for a bit longer but in his last therapy session with Puffy (before all the whole defacing of his house thing) she had told him to not overwork himself. (Also Chat wouldn’t stop running between his feet until he stopped).
In one of Tommy’s therapy sessions Puffy said something about how when he was in exile he got used to his supplies getting destroyed, so he just got used to collecting way more stuff than needed, and ended up making himself exhausted in the process.
Personally, Tommy thought that was a lode of crap.
“I don't care what she says Chat! I do not go overboard when it comes to gathering supplies! If anything I go under bored!” he grumbled. But despite these words the racoon hybrid put away his axe and went to sit on the grass. His arms were growing tired from the repetitive chopping anyway.
The boy laid down with his hands behind his head, the long grass tickled his arms as he gazed at the clear blue sky. It reminded him of the times he would spend in meadows with Tubbo. The two of them joking around and causing chaos. It was them against the world before L’manburg, before all the wars, before exile.. Before- Tommy abruptly cut off that thought. He didn't want to think about that stuff.
Yet still his thoughts wondered, as he gazed over at Chat his thoughts began to go back to a simpler time, when things weren't all that bad. Tommy ran his hands over the racoon's fluffy fur and sighed. He missed Henry.
“He would have loved this,” Tommy chuckled humorlessly, turning his gazed back to the clear sky above him. He sighed. What Tommy wouldn't give for Henry to be with him now.
The blond groaned and sat up, harshly rubbing at his face in an attempt to clear his head, not to wipe away any tears that had begun to form nope! No way! He was a big man! And big men didn’t cry because of some dumb thoughts.
Tommy stood abruptly. Startling and waking up Chat in the process. “It's fine!” he told himself. “I'm fine! I just need to finish collecting wood and-” Tommy’s rant was cut off by a loud cry.
The boy's tail puffed up as he got into a defensive stance, Chat moved closer to Tommy's side while the blond looked around frantically trying to find where the sudden noise had come from.
“Who’s there!?” he shouted, pulling his sword out from his inventory. “I have a knife! And believe me, I know how to use it! I can't even count the amount of people I've stabbed with this thing!” Chat seemed to hiss in agreement.
Tommy’s yelling (and Chats hissing) was only met with another cry, this time slightly louder.
Now Tommy would love to say that he had just left it at that, that he had taken the wood he had collected that day and finally finished rebuilding his house, but no.
He was curious about what the strange cry was. And it seemed Chat was too, seeing as the racoon began making its way over to where the sound seemed to be coming from. Tommy weighed his options.
“Well... if it is someone from the server, I might be able to earn a favor or two.” he murmured to himself, “Alright that's it! Come on Chat! It's time for an adventure!” Tommy plucked Chat up from the ground and quickly scanned the area before darting in the direction of the noise.
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Tommy was sure he was close to whoever was making the noise, now they sounded like they were just behind some thick brushes.
The raccoon hybrid put Chat back on the ground and took out his axe, then began to make his way though. Chat clawed at the brush as well in an attempt to help.
As he swung down on the dense branches, Tommy realized the sounds, now that he was really listening to them, didn’t sound anything like anyone on the server. In fact they sounded like-
“Is that a fucking baby?” Tommy screeched. He couldn’t believe his eyes, “This has to be some kind of joke.” He said. But low and behold, right in front of him was a little baby nestled into a hollowed-out tree stump
When the child saw Tommy their cries suddenly stopped. Tommy stood stock still as their big red eyes (which the child had four of) stared up at him in curiosity. Almost as if they were searching for something? Whatever it was it seemed the child had found it because they were now happily stretching their four arms out to Tommy.
The boy in question was still trying to understand who the hell left a kid alone in the middle of a forest. When the child realized that Tommy wasn’t coming any closer they decided to take things into their own hands, and began to make attempts to get out of the stump. their charcoal gray cheeks darkened at its efforts.
Tommy (who was still standing there slack jawed) realized that now he was really looking at the kid; they looked more like a toddler, like maybe two years old?
Said two-year-old was still struggling to get out, Tommy continued to watch in a daze as they finally managed to stumble out of the impromptu wooden crib. As soon as they got out the child shakily made its way over to Tommy, it was obvious that it wasn't used to walking.
Once the child was about halfway to Tommy he was shaken out of his shocked state by Chat angrily nudging his shin.
“Ow! Chat! what was that for!?” Tommy grumbled.
Chat gave him a dirty look before gesturing to the child still trying to make their way over to him. That makes Tommy realize that he probably shouldn't let a child that can barely walk stumble around with nothing soft to land on.
Tommy met the child half way, scooping it up, and causing it to giggle.
While this situation was very surreal, and he was still very confused, Tommy couldn't help but be overcome with pride. He made them laugh! “Oh! Hello!” he cooed. “You went from all the way over there to me!” the child gave a little wiggle in response, “Awww, hello! What's your name, little one?”
This time the child looked up at Tommy, its face broke out into a toothy (and surprisingly sharp) grin and it let out a buzzing chirp.
And somehow Tommy’s heart melted even more. The blond let out another loud cooing noise, and squeezed the (toddler?) child closer to his chest. “I’m gonna name you Shroud!” he declared.
Then Chat began rubbing against Tommy’s leg. The racoon gestured with its head to the darkening sky.
Tommy realized that it was getting rather dark out and they should probably start heading back home. “You're absolutely right Chat, we should get going.” Tommy gave chat a little pat before turning his attention back to the child in his arms, “Were gonna go back to my house, okay little buddy?” Shroud nodded sleepily and buried their face in the racoon hybrid's neck.
Tommy made sure Shroud was settled before beginning the long trek home, here he would figure out that he may not have thought this whole thing through. But it’ll be fineeee.
Right?