'i don't have anywhere else to go.' - a sleepy boys inc story

It's finally the 30th of April. Tommy looks around for his friend in the busy shopping centre, blank faces looking back at him in dirty side-glances. "Tommy!"

He whips his head around to look in the direction of the voice calling his name, eyes flicking around for a moment, then eventually settling on his friend's grinning face from afar. "TOBY!"

They run towards each other, Tubbo throwing his arms around his taller friend's midriff and engulfing his face in Tommy's red hoodie. "I found you!"

The words are so muffled, Tommy hardly understands what he's saying. There's a pause as he deciphers what his friend said, and then he laughs and says, "Oh, you- took you a bloody while, didn't it?"

Pulling away, the brunet says in a matter-of-fact tone, "Okay, it took you so long to see me. Like- I called for you, and you looked in my general direction, but it took you ages to actually see me and recognise me."

"Oh, shit off."

Tubbo laughs freely. "You know I'm right. Anyway, where is everyone? You said you're with Phil and Wilbur, too."

"Yeah, and the mighty Technoblade."

"Great. So where are they?"

Tommy idly gestures behind him with a nonchalant wave of his hand. "I dunno, they were right behind me before. Must've lost them when I heard you."

As they look around for their missing friends, the muffled sound of Tommy's ringtone comes from his pocket and he delves his hand in to grab it. "What's that- wait, do you seriously have 'Your New Boyfriend' set as your ringtone?"

"Shut up, bitch."

Tommy puts a finger up to silence his friend before putting the phone up to his face and answering. Well- attempting to answer. Wilbur's worried voice comes through the speaker so loud that Tubbo can hear it. "Tommy! Where are you? We've lost you! You can't just walk off on us like that! Where are you, Tommy?"

Tommy's hand is curled into a ball, knuckles white as a sheet and his face almost exactly matching that tone. "Toms? Are you okay?"

"Tommy. Hello? You alright?" Tubbo puts a hand over his friend's fist and the younger visible snaps out of the daze he was in.

Colour slowly returns to his face as his eyes refocus and he says, "I'm sorry, Wilbur. I won't do it again. Sorry."

Wilbur's tone softens. "It's fine, Tommy. Where are you? Are you with Tubbo?"

Fuck. I should've remembered about his parents. I should've remembered he doesn't like yelling. What the fuck.

"Yeah, I'm with him now- We're at the, um. We're at the food court? I don't- um." Tommy's throat closes up and he wordlessly hands the phone to Tubbo.

"Uh- hi Wilbur. It's me. We're under- right next to the chicken place- thingy- Nando's."

Tubbo hears muffled and distant talking, then, "Okay. Be there in five." and three beeps signifying Wilbur has hung up. Tubbo holds the phone out to Tommy, who had sat down while his friend was on the call. He takes it wordlessly, staring at the ground. He sits down next to him.

"Was it the yelling? It was really loud. I could hear it from over here." Tommy nods. "Did- was it something your parents used to do?" Tommy nods again. "Do you wanna talk about it?" Tommy shakes his head. "Okay. Well, um. Do you want a hug?" Tommy smiles slightly and nods his head for a second time, and Tubbo stands up, opening his arms. "C'mere." Tommy stands up too, accepting his friend's invitation. He hears his name being called and they break apart, Tommy's arm still around the brunet's shoulders.

"Tommy! I'm so sorry, I didn't realise that yelling like that would trigger something, I should've thought before I spoke, I'm such an idiot. I'm so, so, sorry!" Wilbur is walking toward them, Techno and Phil in tow. The blond greets him with a "Hi, mate." and his sons follow suit, greeting him in their various ways.

Tubbo looks up at his blond friend in amazement. "It's pink. It's actually pink."

Tommy snorts in disdain. "Yeah. And long. And curly. Looks fuckin' stupid to me." Tubbo breaks away to marvel at Techno's hair and Tommy concentrates his attention back on Wilbur. "Also, Will, it's fine. I know you weren't thinking. It was an accident. I'm fine now."

Wilbur's breathing begins to even out and Phil puts a hand on his son's shoulder, addressing the group. "So, mates. Where are we going?"

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