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It was his fault for sneaking the bike out of the shed, and only him to blame for falling off of it. What can he do? Tommy had only wanted to show off to his new friends that he could ride a bike. They teased him, stuck their tongue at him when he said he didn't know how.
It didn't feel very nice.
There are a ton of things that don't feel very nice right now. It's the forming bruise on his knee, among other things. It's the fact that he now has a bleeding gash on his leg. And it's the knowledge climbing up his throat—that he doesn't know how to get home in this state.
“Haha! It's that loser who doesn't know how to ride a bike,” he hears people cackling in the distance. “Look, he even fell off!”
Tommy looks over his shoulder to find the same mean kids from earlier sneering at him. He quickly looks away and hides his face out of embarrassment.
He hears footsteps slowly approaching, heavy and rushed. The scraping sound against the sandy pavement made his ears twitch.
“Hey loser,” someone snickers. It took a few moments for Tommy to realise that they were talking about him. “Don't know how to ride a bike?”
“I do!” Tommy defends. The bully stood a foot taller than him, a browbeat obelisk towering over him.
“No, you don't,” the bully shoves him onto the ground in a harsh manner.
Tommy winces at the pain that shot through his leg instantly. The bleeding was worsening, and if these unfriendly strangers don't leave him alone soon, he knows it might get infected.
“Pathetic loser,” the bully raises a hand, and Tommy closes his eyes, preparing for the odious impact.
It never came.
When he opened his eyes, the bully was laying on the ground with him, and standing over both of them was his divine intervention. Of course, it is his best friend, Tubbo!
“Tommy?” his best best bestest friend ever calls. “You okay?”
“Tubbo..” Tommy mumbles.
“It's alright, I took care of it,” Tubbo smiles at the blond proudly before glaring at the bully who was still on the ground. All his friends have run away ages ago. Oh, the sheer power he holds. “Go away,” he tells the frowning bully, both fury and fear stitched into his irises. “Go!”
And go he did, stumbling as he ran—probably heading home to have dinner like nothing ever happened.
By the time Tommy snapped out of his thoughts, fresh from the recesses of his mind, Tubbo was already in a call. It was Ranboo, but they were away on vacation so he didn't see the need to call them.
"Yeah, no not very good," the brunette mutters into the phone.
"Did the people who hurt him look familiar?" Ranboo asks. He was on speaker mode, voice as loud as the ringing in Tommy's ear.
"No they weren't," Tubbo shakes his head. "Sometimes I'd see them- oh, I'll call you later. I think Tommy just snapped out of it."
"Hey, Tubbo," Tommy gives him a grin, although it was a tired one.
“Hey, Tommy. Should I call anyone to pick you up?” Tubbo offers, reaching out to help him up.
“Yep,” Tommy says, popping the ‘p’, and takes the outstretched arm. “Call Techno, please.”
Tubbo nods and dials a number on his phone nicknamed ‘BIG BLADE’. It rings for a few seconds before the line connects.
“Hullo,” a voice greets. It's Tommy’s elder brother who is probably nerding out about some History assessment.
“Tommy got mauled,” Tubbo informs briskly.
”What?” Techno shouts through the speaker.
“No!” Tommy yelps. “No I didn't! He's making stuff up!”
“Where are you guys?”
“At the playgrou-”
“Alright, I'm coming.”
It took a few painful minutes for Techno to arrive. Literally painful.
Tommy's knee is burning like a flaming arrow had pierced through it, one that had a newly sharpened broadhead laced with poison. ‘Tis but a scratch’, he would say on some other occasion. But it feels like someone just ran a ten thousand pound truck over his leg.
Soon he sees a familiar blur of pink full-on sprinting towards him and Tubbo. Tommy waves, putting a grin on his face despite the pain.
Techno crouches down beside him, turning his leg over to inspect it. “What happened?” he questions in a concerned tone.
“I tripped,” Tommy lies. He has a feeling he wouldn’t believe it, because this is his brother and his brother always knows.
“Nonsense,” Techno rolls his eyes. He could see through the kid’s lies anytime, no matter what.
“Okay fine..” Tommy lets out a contemplating sigh. “I tried to ride a bike, and I fell down like a fucking loser.”
The pinkette turns his head over to Tubbo. “Is that true?”
“Yeah but…” the brunette looks at his friend nervously. Tommy only looks away. It’s up to Tubbo now to decide whether or not they should make the huge reveal. How fucking hilarious, biggest man ever Tommy Innit letting himself get bullied and get affected by bullies. It’s not his fault they were way taller, scarier and tougher than he could ever be. “There were some bullies here and they mocked Tommy for not knowing how to ride a bike.”
Techno glances at his brother as if he were a difficult Math question. “Tommy?”
The blond nods, accepting that this is the way things are going to go. What if all his friends at school hate him from now on? What if Tubbo doesn’t want to be best friends with him anymore? What if Techno doesn’t defend him from the bullies’ wrongdoings and instead sides with them? That would be awful. That would all be so, so awful. Terrible and horrendous and dreadful and agonizing and frightening and-
“Come here, kid.”
Tommy feels two arms envelop him into a hug, and it was filled with warmth and sunshine, not any the likes of the pavement beneath his folded knees, or the gazes of the strangers and enemies and not-friends propelling rocks at him with their eyes. Or the feeling he got when he knew to himself that he was an idiot for not knowing how to ride a bike, or the prognostic he had when he was taking his chances though he would so get in trouble for taking it out of the garage without permission. So many things were cold, and yet this single warm thing showered him with all the light in the world.
And two arms became four; he decided to embrace back. This was family and this was home. No one can bother him, no bullies, not even spinning bicycle wheels.
“Can I ask you guys for a favour?” Tommy finally speaks. It feels like he hasn’t used his voice in eons. It was dry and salty from the bygone tears that escaped from him.
“Sure, big man,” Tubbo says, and Techno hums in agreement.
“You both know how to ride a bike, right? I think you should teach me. Not because of those stupid bullies or anything, but because I actually want to learn how.”
The other two nod, and they hug him tighter. Warmer. Safer.