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

Techno always liked the night-time. Even as a kid; so it was no surprise to Wilbur when he walked down the attic ladder, crept past the soft, snuffling snores of Tubbo, Tommy, and Ranboo, and found the front door open. This is a common occurrence.

Techno starts when he hears the door creak behind him, whipping his head around with his arms put up in a defensive stance - fight vs. flight overriding his usually calm demeanour. "Holy- Wilbur. You scared the hell outta me."

"Sorry." His friend laughs softly and walks forward, leaning his arms on the light brown wood of the balustrade. His face is drenched in pale moonlight, porcelain skin under unkempt curls of brown hair, and Techno moves to join him, looking out onto the street in front of them. There's silence, not a rare thing between them.

"D'you think he's going to be okay?"

Techno casts a sideways glance at his brother. "Who, Tommy?" Wilbur nods, keeping his gaze on the stars above. He pauses, unsure of his answer. "I don't know."

"He's been through so much. So, so much. Like, I think more than he told us. He talked about, y'know, the- the basement, and all that, but I think, I think, they might have been starving him. I dunno, I just have a feeling." Techno feels sick to his stomach. He knew it was bad, but not this bad. "That day, the first day he was here, and you walked in on us at the dinner table? He was eating mac n cheese. That was his third bowl."

"He- what?"

"Yeah... I'm worried, Techno."

"Understandable. What- this isn't good. I know he said he doesn't want us to go to the police, but I'm feeling like that's all we can do."

Wilbur taps his fingers softly on the light oak. "No, we can't. He was so insistent - verge-of-a-panic-attack insistent."

"Should I- do you think I should talk to him?"

Wilbur sighs, defeated. "I mean, if you think it'll help. I dunno how he's feeling at the moment - he seems to be getting better, but I feel like he's still...not doing great? I dunno." Silence falls once more as they both gaze out onto the moonlit street in front of them, until Wilbur yawns, slightly shivering. "Mmmmf. I should probably sleep. So should you, we have a big day tomorrow."

"Hiking was your idea, Wilbur."

"Okay, yeah, and it was a great idea. But either way, you should probably also come inside. It's cold as fuck out here." He rubs his hands together in defence of the cold. "C'mon."

"I'm not tired-" Techno admits defeat, laughing as the brunet pulls him inside.

"Yes you are, come on."

---

At the crack of dawn the next morning, the group had crammed themselves into Phil's car to drive to Edale, their hiking destination. The car ride there was generally quite pleasant with Techno driving and Wilbur asleep in shotgun - legs resting up on the dashboard - quiet music playing from the car's stereo. Tommy had non-stop complained about having to sit next to Ranboo ("Can't we just strap him to the top of the car and hope for the best?") until about 20 minutes into their journey, when he fell quiet.

Tubbo and Ranboo had quietly been talking when Techno looked up into the rear-view mirror and asked how the three boys were doing in the back. The older two both replied with "fine," and "good," but Tommy didn't say a word, Ranboo answering for him and saying the boy had fallen asleep on his shoulder about five minutes ago but he didn't want to disturb him. Tubbo had thought this priceless, taking a million and one photos, cropping the American's face out before posting them to Twitter.

              Tubbo
             @TubboTWO

Who's the clingy one now

Eventually, they arrived at their destination, waking both Tommy and Wilbur, who had been sleeping on the expandable seats in the boot, up. Tubbo thought he was going to pull a muscle from how hard he was laughing when he saw Tommy's face as he opened Twitter.

"What the fuck is this? You're ruining my reputation, Toby - and for the fuckin' record, I'm not the clingy one. Why isn't it- my tweets aren't sending."

When Tommy lifts his phone to show the long string of angry tweets with a message saying, 'Failed to send Tweet,' Tubbo giggles. "Yeah, we're too far out. We're in the wild."

"Well, can we go home please? I don't like the wild if I can't go on Twitter and talk to girls."

Ranboo laughs. "You can not like the wild as much as you want, man, but that's not going to stop Techno leaving us behind, come on."

---

Tommy pants. He is unfit. Techno, Ranboo, and Tubbo had all walked ahead while he lagged behind. He'd been incredibly touched when Wilbur also stayed back - then incredibly annoyed when Wilbur started using the opportunity to tell him just how out of shape he is.

Once his friend got bored with bullying him and went quiet, the only sounds were various bird calls and the sound of Tommy, panting heavily. "Why...why are they so fast?"

Wilbur claps him on the back as he rests his hands on his knees, catching his breath. "Breathe, Tommy. You're just really unfit."

"Okay- fuck you." Smiling, Tommy softly shoves him away - and pauses when he sees him flinch. That was his forearm - oh no. "Wilbur-"

Wilbur winces when Tommy grabs his arm and hesitantly asks, "Will, you're not- you're not still cutting, are you?"

His silence seems to answer the blond more than words ever could and disappointment floods through him. "Will. We talked about this."

The brunet looks down and softly rubs his forearm where Tommy's hand had touched him. "I know. I'm sorry. But I don't matter right now. You're very obviously still not doing great. We're focusing on you... I don't matter right now."

"Wilbur... no. I mean- yes, I'm going through some shit, but that doesn't mean you're not important. You still matter, even if I'm going through shit too."

"Tommy, I-"

A shout comes from the trees around them. "HURRY UP! WILBUR! TOMMY!"

"YEAH- COMING! So what were you saying?"

"I'm sorry. Really. I'm trying. I really am. It's just... hard. It's hard. I did manage, I did manage to keep up a streak for a while, but I- I dunno."

"Yeah. Yeah, man, I understand. I'm really sorry you feel like that, and it's good that you're trying, but- you need to talk to me about this stuff. Seriously, man." His tone is genuine, and it brings a lump to Wilbur's throat.

He clears his throat and Tommy says, "...Wilbur, are you crying? Aww, Wilby..."

A second shout rings through the treetops. "GUYS! HURRY UP!"

Wilbur sniffles. "Of course I'm not crying. YEAH, WE'RE COMING!"

"We'll talk more when we get home, ok?"

"...Yep."

"Okay. Good. Now, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, let's go, let's go!" Tommy bounces on the balls of his feet, pulling his friend forward to catch up with the rest of the group.

---

As the other three boys gradually come into view, they see Ranboo giving Tubbo a piggyback - he must have gotten tired. Tommy immediately screws up his face at the sight of this. "Oh, that's fuckin' foul, that is! Oi! You two! Get a fuckin' room!"

The others laugh loudly, except Tubbo, who pops his head up to sleepily tell Tommy to shut up.

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