Chapter Text
Mixing in just the right amount of special potion into his nighttime tea, Scott pressed a kiss to a sleeping Jimmy’s forehead before gulping down the entire cup and laying down flat on his back.
He closed his eyes and quickly opened them, finding himself floating in a purplish black void. Ah, so the plant Noxite recommended did work. Perfect, that meant he wouldn’t have to wait any longer to get this shit sorted out.
Moving his legs down so he could be standing on his own two feet, he wiped the front of his clothing off before taking a few steps. Those movements were quickly interrupted by a flash of various kinds of purples, as well as a bright white mask surrounded by numerous floating translucent eyes.
“||𝙹⚍'∷ᒷ ℸ ̣ ᔑꖌ╎リ⊣ ᔑ ⍊ᒷ∷|| ʖ╎⊣ ∷╎ᓭꖌ ʖᒷ╎リ⊣ ⍑ᒷ∷ᒷ,” the Being spoke blankly.
Scott waved off the hot breath that uncomfortably warmed up his face, “Yeah, and you’re taking a great risk by trusting that your status as a God will make everyone not realize you have an incredibly stinky breath.”
The Being floated back a little, clearly offended, before a slight smirk tugged at their lips, “╎ ↸╎↸リ'ℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ⍑╎リꖌ ||𝙹⚍ ∴ᒷ∷ᒷ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ℸ ̣ ||!¡ᒷ 𝙹⎓ !¡ᒷ∷ᓭ𝙹リ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ↸∷╎リꖌ !¡𝙹╎ᓭ𝙹リ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ᔑᓵ⍑╎ᒷ⍊ᒷ ||𝙹⚍∷ ⊣𝙹ᔑ-”
“It wasn’t poison, moron, I would know if my superior was trying to pull my leg or genuinely helping me. He said it was an overblown phone call. Me drinking it was ringing you, you needed to be the one to pick up,” Scott interrupted. “Can you please knock off the Galactic? We both know that it’s not necessary. I know I can speak it too, but this’ll go quicker if you can set aside the want to make fun of my flubs for just five minutes.”
The Being sighed, dropping their demonic sounding tone of voice for a much more human one. Scott remembered that accent like the back of his hand, and not just because a teenager that lived under his roof shared the same one, “Fine, you have a point, party pooper. What do you want? Your boss might not have given you poison to drink, but you definitely didn’t know if it would work or not, so I know you’re desperate for something if you tried it out anyway.”
Finally, something Scott could work with. He crossed his arms, getting right into the nitty-gritty of it, “Are you able to bring people back from the dead?”
The Being was genuinely caught off guard, “Excuse me? What kind of question is that? Do you know what the ramifications are if you play, well, people like me?” Silence hung heavy between the two, “... How long has this person been dead for, anyway?”
“Uh, if the information I received is correct,” Scott mumbled as he counted with his fingers, “he should have been dead for at least a few months now.”
The Being threw their hands up into the air, groaning and leaning back as they curled up into a floating ball, “Of course, he has. You never make anything easy. If it were a few days, fine, easy enough. A few weeks is a little bit rougher, and would take a little bit longer, but I could still work my mojo and make it happen. But a few months?” The Being leaned close into Scott again, this time practically dangerously so, “There’s no saying what I’ll pull from the other side of the void. His code is probably so warped, I could easily just pull a chopped-down tree entity in his place.”
Scott only stared after that vague warning, “So you’re saying that he’ll be okay as long as you fix the code, right?”
The Being growled, high-pitched and whiny, “Do you ever hear yourself?! I can certainly try and fix it, but I make no promises as to what might happen! No one in my corner of the void has ever really attempted what you want me to do. It requires multiple favors and warnings, and especially a major favor from y-”
“You mean the favor I already earned by helping you fix your little ‘worlds,’ one of which Jimmy got stuck in?” Scott glared, cutting off any other line of thought.
The Being had nothing to say to that, absolutely nothing.
Scott continued back up, “Exactly what I thought. I’m calling for it now, help bring back permadead player Wilbur Soot, and I’ll finally consider the debt even.”
The Being was quiet for only a few more seconds. They let out a sigh, this one more resigned, “I can do that. Just… Just because I won’t be coming after you for meddling in our domain doesn't mean others won’t. I can’t help you there.”
Scott nodded solemnly, “That’s okay. After this whole shitshow of an ordeal, I think I can handle whatever life decides to throw my way next.”
“Great, awesome, cool!” The Being said, clapping their hands together and opening a swirling portal behind Scott. “Now then, it sounds like you want this done pretty quickly, and I can only get started once you get out. Please leave, thank you and goodbye!”
“Hey, wait, that’s rather-” and next thing Scott knew, he was jolting up in bed with his hands out in front of him like they were in the dream-god-in-between realm or whatever, “rude.”
He was back in his bedroom, looking around the walls with sweat dripping down his back like the wave of a beach. Sighing, he rubbed the bottom of his scalp as he heard Jimmy stir next to him, “Hmmmmsnghf? What’s up, Scottie?”
Scott brought the hand from his neck down to Jimmy’s bangs, brushing the hair out of his husband’s face comfortingly, “Nothing you need to worry about, Sunshine.”
At least, not yet. Scott really hoped whatever came next wouldn’t affect Jimmy too badly.
---
“SCOTT WHY IS THERE A PARTIALLY NAKED MAN IN OUR YARD?!” Jimmy shrieked from the front door.
Well, that ship sailed pretty quickly.
Rushing to stand next to his husband, Scott haphazardly shoved the box of supplies he was bringing to his foundation under his arm as he surveyed what made Jimmy enter a panicked state. There was indeed a shirtless man in their front yard, but with the way he was curled up and shaking, it didn’t seem to be by choice. In contrast to their bright green grass was the man’s dark brown hair, curled like MCC cotton candy.
On his back was a glowing note of sorts, and Scott’s eyes widened when he realized what he was looking at.
Aggressively shoving his box of stuff at Jimmy, who gracefully took it with lots of confusion, Scott sprinted back inside to grab a blanket before sprinting outside to the man’s- Wilbur Soot’s side. Throwing the blanket over Wilbur’s back, covering the bare upper half of his body, Scott made sure to grab the note he spotted before it was covered by the fabric as well. It was short and sweet, straight to the point.
On its “front,” the part that was upward, was thick and bold Galactic, screaming ↸𝙹リ'ℸ ̣ ᓭᔑ|| ╎ ↸╎↸リ'ℸ ̣ ∴ᔑ∷リ ||𝙹⚍. Flipping the message over, the back was just as intense, but instead of being any kind of vague threat, it was simply two letters of the Common alphabet.
A capital X followed by a capital D.
It made no sense, but before Scott could begin to parse what it meant, Wilbur was groaning back into reality. Throwing the note behind him without second thought, Scott put all of his attention on the man who was literally just brought back to life. He placed his hands on Wilbur’s shoulders, “Mr. Soot, can you hear me?”
Wilbur was breathing heavily, eyes flicking around wildly, “Wh- What? Where am I?”
Scott kept his hands on Wilbur as a grounding technique, “You in my front yard. And yes, you were dead recently, but now you’re not. How are you feeling?”
“What?” Wilbur breathed out. It was as if that word was half his entire vocabulary. “I’m not- I’m not supposed to be here. It was d-dark and cold and damp and I was dead-”
Scott subconsciously tightened the blanket around Wilbur, remembering the movement from the many nights he spent consoling the man’s younger brother, “I know I have no idea what it’s like coming back to life, so this may seem inconsiderate of your current emotions, but I do suggesting breathing lest we just want to repeat the same sentences for the next five minutes.”
Wilbur’s panicked eyes were flicking everywhere, still not comprehending that he was not only alive, but that there weren’t any strings attached either. It was hard to tell if he thought that was ultimately good or not. Regardless, he eventually did as Scott told and took a few deep breaths to calm down. His frayed irises seemed to stitch back together as he grounded himself, Scott comforting him the entire time.
He slumped in the blanket, Scott feeling comfortable enough to let his shoulders go, “Thank you. I know this must be quite the shock for you. Is there anything else I can do for you or do you just need a minute to catch your bearings?”
“I… I don’t know?” Wilbur answered squarely in the adrenaline-drop stage of shock. He was able to absorb information, but that information was probably the most confusing stuff he had ever heard, “I wasn’t really expecting to be able to leave,” a shudder, “that place, and doing so in front of one of MCC’s most popular Admins at the same time. Why are you here anyway?”
Scott opened his mouth to explain.
A semi-obnoxious voice filled the air, electing to explain for him.
“What in the fuck is this commotion ruining my… beauty sleep…?” Now Tommy was here as tasteful as ever after just being woken up. His words trailed off to be much softer with disbelief at what he was seeing, however, “Wilbur?”
The two brothers stared at each other for a long time, Scott standing up and moving out of the way so whatever was about to happen was something he didn’t get caught in the middle of. He’s heard various tales about Wilbur, both negative and positive, and it was hard to tell whether Tommy was going to treat him nicely or punch him square across the jaw. The only thing Scott knew was that he had no say in the matter.
Wilbur wasn’t saying anything either, but only because it looked like he didn’t even know what to say, “T-Tommy, I- I can’t even begin to-”
Like a lightning strike, Tommy was running forward and leaping on top of Wilbur, squeezing the life out of the older man and pushing his face into his neck. Tears were leaking their way out of Tommy’s tightly shut eye lids, “I can’t even be mad over the fact that you thought I didn't love you, gods-dammit.”
Leave it to Tommy to paint such a thorough picture with very little words.
Tommy seemed to swing back and forth over Wilbur when talking about him. There would be days he sung the man’s praises throughout every hour, and then there were the days where all he could do was angrily mutter about Wilbur “leaving” him before suddenly retracting his statements with a guilt-ridden string of murmurs. It was hard to help Tommy form a concrete opinion on his brother when he seemed to have arguments that supported every possible one.
From the way it looked like in the “Pogtopia” stories (really interesting naming scheme they had going on in that server), Wilbur was a man who was deeply struggling. Tommy mentioned how Wilbur had an odd habit of disappearing throughout the day, only to come back minorly disheveled, acting as if he hadn’t gone missing for an hour or two. It sounded like it got worse after their simultaneous exile, and Scott knew from personal experience that closing yourself off meant nothing good in the long run.
Combining that with all the things Scott learned about Dream’s treatment of Tommy during his second, and somehow even more brutal “exile,” well… It appeared that the brothers had a horrifying connection between the two of them not many others could share. No, Scott wasn’t talking about the whole “both had died and been brought back to life” thing either.
Scott had taken this time to walk back to the patio to give them even more distance. The two soon broke from their hold afterward, their tear-stained cheeks emphasized by their toothy grins. The sight was enough to give even Scott the warm fuzzies. Tommy let out a deep breath, “I’m not kidding. I really want to hit you right now.”
Wilbur only grinned wider, reaching forward to ruffle Tommy’s head, “Well, that makes two of us.”
Tommy immediately became very disgruntled at the act of his curls being messed with, and Wilbur only got more joyful. As if the sole reason he needed to come back alive was to ruin Tommy’s hair. The joy didn’t last long, as Tommy quickly followed through on his threat by shoving his older brother, followed by him glaring and crossing his arms with as much animosity as a ferocious kitten. Wilbur let out a choking noise as he was lightheartedly pushed to the ground and landing on his back, staring stunned at the sky.
He eventually lifted his head to smile some more at Tommy, who let out a huff before reluctantly grinning as well, his crossed arms loosening ever so slightly.
It was nice to know that some things never change even in the face of death.
“Um, Scott?” Jimmy said quietly from behind him. “We only have two bedrooms?”
Jimmy was always quick on the uptake in ways you least expected him to be. Sighing, Scott placed his face in one of his hands, “I may have forgotten that detail.”
A giggle was followed by a pair of arms wrapping around his waist, and before he could ask Jimmy where he must have set the box, Jimmy continued speaking, “Well, it’s a good thing you have us to remind you of that stuff.”
Us.
A long time ago, if you asked Scott if he would find someone to marry, he would have looked at you like you lost your mind. If you asked him if he would not only marry, but also take in a kid as his own, he would have probably gone as far to slap you. The phrase “it hits you when you least expect it” came to mind as Scott stood there, held by his husband and watching a very loud teenager that dragged dirt everywhere and ate all their snacks.
Scott hummed and grinned, “It sure is.”
---
Life continued on, some things staying the same, other things not so much.
Scott never caught wind of Dream or happenings on the Dream SMP, so either the barrier was still working, or Dream broke out and had not found them yet. Or he broke out and was off living a life not caring about his previous one. Scott would greatly prefer anything as long as it wasn’t that middle option, both for his own family as well as the others.
A lot of the server eventually congregated their way over to Home for the Ex-Hardcore for various amounts of time. Sam, Ponk, BBH, and Skeppy were all semi-permanent residents, at first because of the copious amounts of therapy they needed (everyone did, sheesh, but outside of the kids, those four needed it the most), but later to help out when it seemed like the place was becoming understaffed. It was hard to tell what George and Antfrost were up to nowadays, but Scott did get an invitation to Ant’s wedding, and Sapnap was able to occasionally send hangout pics of him and George together to Tommy alongside pictures of him going on dates with Karl and Quackity, which Scott admitted to being rather adorable.
Outside of all the aforementioned appearances, they all had mostly stayed off the radar, although they were slightly more present than Philza or Technoblade. Scott at least had an inkling about the first group of servermates, the other two basically dropped off the face of every server he could think of. Not really any skin off his back, though, not after some depressing details Wilbur admitted to about his childhood.
Oh, right, Quackity. Speaking of him, he had gone a much more business-based route, gracefully turning down the offer to join the others and their new gigs, though he made sure to voice his support toward their endeavors so they didn’t think he was ditching them. Yes, Scott caught wind of the rumor mill to hear that a brand new server had popped up, filled with bright lights and the chance to make it big.
By ‘rumor mill,’ he meant Wilbur non-stop talking about Fundy’s new job, as the fox apparently texted his dad often, informing the human of what he was doing, which included whatever the hell Quackity was doing. You would think ten people lived unter Scott’s roof and not four with the amount of stories that went in and out of its walls. Even without physical presences, Scott lived a life that was alive and well.
Unlike Quackity, Jack, Niki, and Puffy all happily agreed and decided to spend their new lives as voyageurs for Scott’s foundation. Jack and Niki joined because they knew what it was like to feel alone, and to atone for past mistakes in the form of preventing others from falling down the same path of hurt and trauma. Puffy joined because of some personal virtue of sorts, which Scott could respect. They were usually together, sending postcards and letters quite often as evidence.
Scott now had a framed picture of Jack eating shit on one of the Hypixel parkour courses with the ladies laughing in the foreground.
He wasn’t sure about technically becoming coworkers with Tubbo and Ranboo, but he grew to enjoy their commentary on MCC events. Yes, Ranboo and Tubbo were now a part of NoxCrew. They weren’t Admins, Noxite wasn’t stupid enough to give Tubbo that kind of power, but during one event where Michael somehow broke into the press box and began to playfully chase after the chicken the mascot rode, live on camera, making him a viral sensation, Noxite had no choice but to invite them to join the team.
It was funny to talk about dads and parental roles considering what Scott was doing right now, wasn’t it?
With the way Jimmy was bawling his eyes out like a proud mother, you would think they raised Tommy his entire life. After a few years of the kid being in their home, Scott couldn’t blame his husband for feeling that way. Heck, he would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little teary eyed over the current situation.
Wilbur was currently squeezing the life out of his younger brother, almost seemingly refusing to let Tommy go before eventually relenting. He kept his hands on Tommy’s shoulders, though, “Don’t forget to camp when necessary. It’s better to get to a server a few days later than expected and well rested instead of passing out in hostile, mob-filled territory.”
“I know, I know,” Tommy rolled his eyes, bringing a hand up to squeeze one of Wilbur’s wrists.
Wilbur looked like he was going to release Tommy, but then he began to hold on even tighter, “The best food source if you need something in a pinch is bread. Most villages have it on hand, and even then you can grab some of their wheat and grow your own with bone meal you can get off skeletons.”
“You literally told me this twenty minutes ago while I was packing.”
“Don’t trust the fish in rivers, they’ll-”
“Wilbur!” Tommy snapped lightheartedly. He gently pushed off the hands on his shoulders before bringing up his own to do the same thing to Wilbur, “I’m going to be fine. You know I learned from the best, yeah?” Tommy shook Wilbur a little bit to emphasize who he was talking about.
Wilbur was left speechless, a light pink tint appearing on his cheeks, “Y-Yeah, of course. You’re going to do great. Make me proud, bud.”
A hair ruffle into blond curls was their last interaction before Tommy moved on to the couple behind his brother. He took one look at the tears streaming down Jimmy’s face and paused, “Are you kidding me?”
“OH MY BABY BOY IS ALL GROWN UP!” Jimmy sobbed out, bringing Tommy into a hug that rivaled Wilbur’s. It was so extreme Tommy could only wheeze like a broken rubber ducky and accept the ferocious love he was being put through. Scott was surprised he managed to lightly pat Jimmy on the elbow with the way his arms could barely be lifted.
Finally, Jimmy released Tommy with a few sniffles, going over to stand by Wilbur, the brunet comforting him the best he could with awkward back rubs. And then there were two, Tommy turning to face Scott with a small upward tug of his lips. Scott could only mirror the expression.
Tommy gave Scott an unsure look, “Hey…”
Scott gave back one that was only slightly more confident, “Hey.”
After blinking only once, Tommy shot forward, taking a unique route of being the one to initiate the hug for once. Scott could only stand frozen, unable to comprehend what was happening, before a grin split his face in half. He returned the hug tenfold, albeit a lot more flexible than the two men that hugged Tommy before him.
Tommy was smushing his face into his collarbone, even snuggling in an attempt to dig in deeper. As if the no-longer-kid could get lost in the comfort of Scott’s arms forever if he tried hard enough, “Thank you. Thank you for everything.”
Well, you’d have to forgive Scott for squeezing back a little hard after that comment, “You don’t need to thank me. Thank you for what you’ve brought into our lives.”
Then the two split apart, and Tommy kept holding onto Scott’s wrist to drag him over to the others, positioning them so Scott stood between Wilbur and Jimmy and he stood in front of all of them. He quickly pulled out his communicator, turning it to selfie mode and holding it up so all four of them were in frame. He gave the camera one of his most heartfelt smiles of his life, “Say cheese!”
The older men happily complied without hesitation.
A few seconds of Tommy typing on his device came next before he looked up at everyone else.
“Gotta let Tubbo and Boob Boy know that I’m finally heading out,” Tommy explained, shaking his communicator. Scott could see that a DM with Tubbo was open on the screen, the pic Tommy just took loading. “I’ll be sure to message you guys every day.”
Jimmy sniffled again, “YOU BETTER.”
Everyone rolled their eyes, Scott finishing that line of thought less dramatically, “It would be greatly appreciated, yes.”
Wilbur had tears brimming in his eyes, but the proud smile on his face showed that he paid no mind to the anguish he was feeling, “Knock ‘em dead, Tom. I know you’ll become an even bigger shining star than you already are.”
With that, Tommy slightly turned to begin walking away, but still facing his impromptu family so he could wave goodbye one last time. Each and every member, even Tommy, was crying their heart out. Bringing his hand back to his face to wipe the liquid away, Tommy shook himself before taking a dramatic deep breath and finally taking that leap of faith.
Tommy began to leave out into the great unknown, walking in his brother’s footsteps, off to make his own legacy. He walked away into the sunrise, which Scott found rather fitting. Tommy burned as bright as the sun, and spoke with the fiery demeanor of it as well.
No doubt he would bring a little bit of that light to wherever he ended up, too.