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“Do you ever miss anything?” Wilbur asks randomly. It’s one of their late-night calls post-stream, where they’re half asleep and just enjoying each other's company, not trying to make one another laugh or anything- just sitting together, in silence for the most part. Except for when Wilbur deems it necessary to throw deep, thought-provoking questions at him.
Tommy frowns, absently swiping away twitter notifications. "What do you mean?"
"Like," over the line, Wilbur shifts, readjusting, and the guitar on his lap twangs. "Like, you're young and you've suddenly got this huge audience of people, and it's amazing, but are there things that you miss because of it?"
Tommy's brows furrow, and Wilbur knows it's Tommy's confused silence- knowing Tommy well enough by now to pick out the different silences from one another.
"Here, I'll elaborate, yeah? So, when I started getting more followers and such, it was amazing, because there were more people than ever interested in my music, but I didn't realize until recently, that I couldn't just- like- release a song. I couldn't make a piece of work without it being heard by thousands of people and criticized by everyone. I miss that- being able to just write something bad and put it out and not worry about it."
"Nothing you make is bad Wilbur," Tommy says immediately, to Wilbur's soft laughter, but then he concedes, going, "but yeah. I guess I get what you're saying."
"So then, do you ever miss anything?" Wilbur asks again.
Tommy spins a bit in his seat, trying to think.
He misses a lot, he realizes after a moment- things he never thought he'd ever be without. Anonymity, privacy, freedom. He's not allowed to make an honest mistake anymore, not allowed to be corrected without torrents of hate flooding his way, without his breath getting caught in his throat and needing to curl up tight in his room, shaking. He can't just go out, down to the park, down to the Tesco's, down to mini-golf with friends. Any time that he leaves the house, it'd better be with his most friendly smile and most photographic face. He can't go online without seeing his name, and he certainly can't comment on something without drawing copious amounts of attention to it.
It's all basically the same problem- just tangled and twisted in ways too complicated to unravel with a couple of words.
"I miss a lot," Tommy starts hesitantly, "but I guess if I had to say- and this is fucking dumb, but- I miss being able to go out without being recognized."
Wilbur hums. "That's not dumb Tommy. That's perfectly normal."
"Yeah?" He asks, and then continues, bolstered by Wilbur's reassurance. "Like, Halloween is coming up. But I can't go trick or treating without risking doxxing myself or having to take photos at most of the houses I stop at."
Wilbur is quiet for a moment, before he says, so inaudible that it's almost silent, "wow, I didn't think about that."
"It's fine though," Tommy says, sighing. "I mean, I can just get candy from Tesco's and eat it, I don't have to-"
"No." Wilbur says firmly, cutting him off.
Tommy blinks. "Wha- what'd you mean no?"
"No," Wilbur repeats simply. "You deserve to go trick-or-treating Toms."
Tommy rolls his eyes, "well, yeah, I know. I'm not- I'm not saying that I don't deserve it, it's just- I don't know. I can't do it the way that I used to."
“What if you could?”
“Well, Wil, if I could, then I would.”
Wilbur hums.
Tommy squints. “Why are you doing your I-am-having-a-secret-idea hum?”
Wilbur just hums again, and now Tommy can hear his smile in it. Tommy is displeased.
“You’re fucking scheming,” He says grumpily. “You’re scheming without me.”
“I’m scheming for you Tommy,” Wilbur coos, “never without you. Unless you deserve it.”
Tommy imagines sticking his tongue out at Wilbur. It's very satisfying.
"Fine," He relents. "Don't tell me what you're planning. You owe me now, so can we talk about Lovejoy? Please Wil, please?"
"You are only friends with me for my music, I swear," Wilbur sighs.
"True!" Tommy grins, patting at the desk. "Come on, come on, oh, can you please play me the snippet? Please?"
Wilbur laughs and then clicks around to find the snippet to play it for Tommy as requested.
…
Wilbur Soot: are you at home?
Tommy is spinning around his room, listening to the recently released Pebble Brain, the best EP ever released since Are you alright, when his laptop chimes with the discord notification. He's cleaning his room, getting ready tonight- Halloween- when he will sit on his couch in between his parents and watch really bad horror movies- like the kind that are more funny than scary- and eat way too much chocolate- so much that he'll have a stomach ache the next day. It will be a bit sad, but he's looking at it positively. As positively as he can.
Hence- listening to Lovejoy, the best band ever.
He hops over to his laptop and leans over humming along, unable to stop dancing.
Tommyinnit: yeah, what's up ?
Wilbur Soot: happy halloween
Wilbur Soot: come outside?
Tommy stops, blinking at their dms in surprise. He straightens up, peeks out of his bedroom window. Tommy can’t see Wilbur out there, but he can see Wilbur’s car. He huffs a laugh that's more a noise of disbelief than anything, and then switches off his music, throws open his bedroom door and races down the stairs. His mom is in the kitchen preparing popcorn and his dad is in the living room fiddling around with their old DVD player, trying to get it to work. Every year he tries and every year he fails- Tommy’ll have to pull up Netflix instead.
“Mum! Did you know that Wilbur was here?” He yells as he rushes past, excitedly hurrying to the door and tugging his shoes on.
He hears his mothers’ muffled laugh. “Oh, Tom, have fun darling!”
Once he gets his shoes on, he peeks around the corner at her, seeing her gentle smile, her hands holding up a huge purple bowl of golden corn. “You knew about this?”
She doesn’t answer, her secret smile growing. “There will still be popcorn for you when you get back,” she puts the bowl down on the counter and steps closer so she can place a gentle hand on his cheek. “Enjoy, Tom. You work so hard- you deserve this.”
Deserve what? He wants to ask- he has no clue what is going on. But even with not knowing, Tommy leans into her hand. “Thanks mum. Don’t watch A Nightmare Before Christmas without me?”
“Of course not dear.” She promises. “Now go on. Don’t keep Wilbur waiting.”
She doesn’t have to tell him twice- although she does repeatedly encourage him to take his jacket to which Tommy complains needlessly before doing so. He opens the front door and step out onto the porch- Wilbur is standing at the gate, head tilted to the side, looking at their barren lavender bushes.
“They look better in season,” Tommy says, walking down the stairs, catching Wilbur’s attention.
Wilbur’s smile splits open when he sees Tommy and he turns and opens his arms. Tommy hops the rest of the stairs and runs into Wilbur’s arms, knocking the wind out of his stomach. But Wilbur catches him and steadies him, the way he always does.
“Hey Tommy,” Wilbur squeezes him once before pulling away. “Happy Halloween!”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Tommy bounces a bit on his toes. Seeing Wilbur always fills him with too much excitement to know what to do with. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? And why is my mum being all cryptic?”
“It was a surprise, and I might have gotten her in on it.” Wilbur starts, stepping over to his car. Tommy follows, pulling his jacket tighter around himself. “But, do you remember when we talked about the things that we felt like we were missing out on? How I said making music and you said going out without being recognized?”
Tommy nods slowly.
“Well,” Wilbur leads, before clicking his car doors open and yanking open the backseat door. Inside, laying on the seat, is a Halloween costume- a black and white onesie, fit with a tail and some horns.
"Wilbur," Tommy starts. "Why is there a skinned cow in your backseat?"
"It's not a- Tommy," Wilbur groans, then puts his hands on Tommy's shoulders to pull him away from the door. He reaches in and picks up the fabric and it unrolls, coming down to about Tommy's shins. "They're cow pyjamas! You know, for Halloween!"
Tommy must still look as confused as he feels, because Wilbur tsks. "Tommy, it's a costume- you can be a cow for Halloween. And plus, it comes with a mask! So no one will recognize you!"
Tommy blinks. "Oh."
"And guess what?" Wilbur asks, then he shoves the onesie at Tommy and leans over to go reaching for the bag in his backseat. He grabs it and pulls out whatever is inside. When he straightens and it unrolls, Tommy recognizes the sheer amount of pink and the little floppy ears as-
"A pig!" Wilbur cheers. "I got a pig. This way, not only can you still go trick or treating, but we can go together." He pauses, smiling, watching Tommy closely. "What do you say, Toms? How does that sound?"
Trick-or-treating? With Wilbur? In matching costumes? When Tommy thought all he would do today was sit home and watch movies? Fuckin' hell, Tommy might burst into tears right here on the street.
"You- you did all this for me?" He asks, blinking rapidly.
"Yeah, you said you were missing out on it and I didn't think that was fair." Wilbur explains. "As your minecraft brother I'm pretty sure it's my job to make sure you get to keep your childhood for as long as you want it."
If Tommy was anyone else, he would probably tackle Wilbur in a hug, touched down to his core. But, he isn't, so he just brushes his thumbs over the soft fabric and grins crookedly.
"Please never ever call yourself my minecraft brother ever again Wilbur Soot."
…
"Oh my god, it's Philza Minecraft." Tommy gapes.
They're in their outfits now- having ducked into Tommy's house to change before leaving, driving two neighbourhoods away to try trick or treating there. Of course, leaving took a second because Tommy's mother wanted a million photos and also felt the need to pull Wilbur aside to thank him profusely.
(Tommy pretended not to hear when Wilbur bashfully admitted to it not being a big deal, and that he wanted to spend more time with Tommy off-stream anyway.)
(Coincidentally, Tommy was also pretending that he didn't want to affectionately latch onto Wilbur's side when he came back into the kitchen with red cheeks, looking exactly how Tommy would imagine a sheepish older brother would after being praised.)
"That is Philza Minecraft," Wilbur chuckles, pulling over to parallel park on the street. The second that the car is safely stopped, Tommy is throwing open the door and hopping out, ignoring Wilbur's call of - be careful Tommy- in favor of running across the street and into Phil's open arms.
"Phil!" Tommy laughs, letting Phil wrap him up and spin him slightly. "Hi, hi, you- you're a chicken!"
"Hello, to you too mate," Phil greets, letting him go, letting him see the full costume. A onesie like his and Wilbur's, but this time white with red and yellow, like a chicken. "Are you excited?"
Tommy bounces once. "I am, I am. I didn't know you were gonna be coming, I thought- Wil, look! Look! Phil is a chicken!"
Wilbur, hopping onto the sideway, snorts once. "Jeez Toms, you don't have to insult the man."
"Bak bak," Phil goes, flipping his hood on and flapping his wings. "I'm ready to get candy."
Tommy laughs. "I am too! Let's fucking go! The rich-people houses give away full sized candy bars!"
"Let's go steal from the rich, then," Wilbur nods, reaching over and gently pulling Tommy's hood up so his horns and ears sat crookedly on his head. "This will be the best night of trick-or-treating in your life, Tommy, trust me."
…
It was.
The masks and costumes worked, and it helped that the main people giving out candy were adults, not expecting Tommyinnit to come to their door. They went from house to house, going up the big hill- mansion lane, where they gave giant full-sized candy bars- and then back down again, because they never ever paid enough attention to remember someone coming by twice. After that they went around to the regular sized homes, where most of the little kids were going, and Tommy and Wilbur made a habit of counting every superhero costume they saw, which was a lot. At one point, they all walked by a door where there was Wonder Woman, Spiderman, Batman and Elmo all asking for candy.
"Oh my god," Phil calls, vaguely gesturing across the street. There were no superhero costumes, but Tommy caught sight of neon green and then bright red and white, just like- "It's a Tommyinnit costume."
Tommy gapes, brain literally unable to process.
"Oh my gosh Toms," Wilbur laughs softly, "that's- that's so insane. You're a costume. You're like, a Batman now. Kids will be dressing up as you for Halloween."
"You could go over and make that kid's night." Phil says. "Tell him you're the real Tommyinnit. He'd probably be over the fucking moon."
And- yeah, Tommy could. He'd love too. He loves meeting fans, especially ones that are younger than him because they don't care about who he is so much as they care that he makes them laugh. Tommy absolutely could go over there, take off his mask and take a photo with the kid. But, then the photo would circulate the internet and within the next three minutes Tommy would be taking pictures left and right. There would be people commenting on his costume, on the fact that Phil and Wilbur were with him, on where he was going, and then suddenly it wouldn't be his anymore. Suddenly this whole day would become something completely different.
Tommy would absolutely love to go over and make that kid's night. But does he have to lose his entire day for it?
Wilbur curls a hand around Tommy's shoulders, jolting him out of his thoughts. "No, Tommy already makes that kid's night every other day of the week- I think he'll be alright for right now, yeah?"
Tommy relaxes, easing into Wilbur's side, nodding.
"Aw," Phil cooes, then- quick as a goddamn flash- snaps a picture. He's like a speed-demon with that thing. "I'm sending this to Technoblade. He's going to print it out and put it on his dresser."
Wilbur starts tugging Tommy down the road to get more candy. "I told him I was dressing up as him for Halloween, and he said- I didn't know you had to dress up to be a white man, Wilbur. Why am I even friends with that guy?"
Tommy laughs, and a second later, when Phil is done sending the photo, he comes up to Tommy's other side, successfully hiding him from the sight of the tiny Tommyinnit across the street.
…
"Good haul tonight?" Wilbur asks, once they're back in the car.
It's late now, and Tommy had been picking at his candy to keep his energy up, but as the night went on, he just got more and more tired. Even though Tommy never wanted to leave, he recognized that he definitely needed sleep and couldn't stay out all night. They said goodbye to Phil, who gave them both huge hugs, and promised to call them tomorrow morning. Then he tugged Wilbur to the side, whispered something to him and waved goodbye. It made Tommy suspicious, but he was way too tired to ask, so he just let Wilbur lead him to the car to head home.
Tommy now tugs his pillowcase full of candy to his chest with a hum. "Very good. Lots of sugar. M' gonna be insufferable for a whole two weeks."
"Oh yeah?" Wilbur asks, eyes flickering over. "Hm, well, how about you being insufferable for the next four weeks?"
Tommy squints. "Are you insulting me?"
Wilbur chokes, and then splutters, laughing. "I- no, I'm not- no! I'm trying to give you all my fucking candy, you child."
"Oh." Tommy blinks. "Oh, well, wait, why?"
"Dude, I'm not going to eat Mars bars and Nerds," Wilbur huffs, flicking on his blinker to make a left turn. "This trick-or-treating was about you. You can have the candy for it, I'm just glad to be able to spend time with you."
Tommy inhales. "Wilbur, pull over right now."
Wilbur startles, looking over, worried. "What? Why- what's happened?"
"I need you to pull over right now so I can hug my stupid fucking minecraft brother who took me trick or treating just to hang out with me."
Wilbur laughs, and then does pull over, and then the second that the car is stopped, Tommy leans across the middle to pull Wilbur into a hug.
"I didn't just do it to hang out with you," Wilbur mumbles into Tommy's hair, squeezing him tight. "I also wanted to dress up as Technoblade."
"Shut the fuck up," Tommy demands, burrowing his nose into Wilbur's shoulder. "You're ruining the moment."
Wilbur laughs, but drops into silence, humming appreciatively.
"Thank you, Wilbur," Tommy says, then slowly pulls away. "I really- this meant a lot, man."
"Of course, Tommy," Wilbur grins. "Anything. You know that." Tommy flushes, but nods- he does know that. "Oh man, you hugged me now- just wait until you find out that Phil left you his candy too."
"Phil did what?!"