━━ THE HARDHAT SMACKS YOU IN THE FACE.

There was more than one reason they called it a hardhat. You yelp in surprise, holding your nose tightly in your hands. "Tommy!"

The said boy laughs nervously. "I said think fast!"

"Tommy," Sam scowled. "(Y/N), are you okay?"

You shake your head. "I think my nose is bleeding."

Sam, who you hadn't even noticed was there, walks over to you and gently takes your hand away from your face. He's not wearing his gas mask and dresses in more casual attire. You hadn't seen him much since he spends a lot of time managing the prison. His netherite armor was swapped for a green jacket, and he has a ruby dangling from his ear.

"You're definitely bleeding," he said.

"Thanks," You mumble.

With soft fingers, he tilts your face up and hands you a tissue. "Just stay like that for a while."

"Okay," You said, staring at the top of the unfinished hotel.

"Sorry, (Y/N)," Tommy said.

"It's fine," You dismissed. "I've had far worse injuries than this. What's with the hardhats, though?"

"Stuff keeps falling from the top. Actually, the other day, Jack almost dropped an anvil on me."

"He what?" You practically shrieked.

"Yeah!" Tommy exclaimed. "It was a real close call."

"Yeah," Sam mumbles, eyeing Tommy. "Anyway, I just came to check progress. Get a little fresh air."

"It's nice to see you," You said, slowly lowering your head.

Sam smiles at you. "It's good to be seen."

"How's Dream?" Tommy asked.

Sam shrugs. "He's been good. Quiet."

"I reckon I'll visit him sometime soon. Maybe when the hotel is done, so I can tell him all about how great life is now."

Sam chuckles. "Whatever you want." He looks back over to you, and you give him a thumbs up, signifying your nose was okay now. He knocks on his head, reminding you to put the hardhat on, and you listen. "Oh, I also came to give you guys these."

Sam digs in his pocket for something before presenting a pair of bracelets. There are two of them. One is a gold band with a ruby set in the center, and the other, silver with a sapphire.

"Oh, no way," Tommy gasped.

"They're done."

Tommy grabs the gold bracelet and clasps it on. "What do I do?" He asked eagerly.

"Do you have anything on you?"

Tommy unsheathes his sword.

"Press the ruby and scan it."

Tommy does as he's told, and you watch, just as curious. Blue light emits from the bracelet, and Tommy scans the sword. Then, in a blink of an eye, it was gone.

"Now say 'sword' or whatever you want to call it. You can change it in the bracelet settings."

"Sword," Tommy shouts, and the sword materializes in his hands. He gasps in delight, swinging it around. "No fucking way!"

"You should be able to see everything you've scanned on the bracelet. It's like a touchscreen, so you can scroll through it and pick if you'd prefer. It's kind of like an inventory."

One of the things Sam had been working on was duplicating Dream's blocking gloves. He had confiscated them during the confrontation and had been working to replicate and modify the technology since.

"Holy shit!" Tommy said.

Sam turns to you, handing you the silver one. "Here."

"Thanks," You said breathlessly.

Sam shrugs. "No big deal. I have a lot of free time in that prison."

"How long does it take?"

"Well, the programming of the first one was like a year, but after that, it's easy. I just gotta put it on the chip, put the chip in the band, and done."

"So you have more?"

Sam nods. "Plenty. I tried to customize them for everyone. It should have your name on the inside."

He unhooks his own emerald and gold one and flips it over to show you.

"Wow."

"Sam, my man," Tommy said, throwing an arm around his shoulder. "You could be a rich man with these."

Sam hums. "I could, or we could just have a huge advancement anytime we go to war again."

"What are they called?"

"That's the one thing I couldn't come up with, but for now, I just refer to it as my inventory."

"So we can scan anything?" Tommy asked.

Sam nods. "Yup."

"And we can use it for blocking?"

"With a little training, yes."

"Oh, Sam," Tommy sighs. "You've done great work."

Sam bows. "It's been my honor. Now, I'm off to deliver the rest of them. See you guys."

"Bye, Sam!"

...

The days were slow. They came and went, and the sun rose and fell. It was a typical cycle.

You weren't one to complain about it. In fact, you were glad to have your routine nailed down. It was much better than waking up to people screaming about war.

You spent most of your days helping Tommy with the hotel or making upgrades to the various buildings of the land. It was something to do and much easier with the inventory bracelet. The vines had increased in the past few days, and mysterious posters depicting an egg had started appearing. They all said things like 'join the eggpire.'

You found it quite weird, considering they had appeared out of nowhere and overnight. They were just there. You had to wonder, though, why would an egg have vines? None of it seemed to make any sense. The new rumor on the street was that the "egg" had influence over people and actions.

You didn't buy into that bullshit.

Today, you were on site with Tommy. He grumbles to himself as he pounds fences into the ground.

"Looking good!" You shout, giving him a thumbs up.

"You could help, you know!" He replied.

"I'm keeping Sam Nook company!"

"Oh right," Tommy said sarcastically, wiping sweat from his brow.

You turn towards the robot next to you, patting its shoulder. Sam Nook makes no other remark. You watch as Tommy pounds the last fence into the ground. He lets out a dramatic sigh and collapses to the ground. He never quite lost his spirit, even after all the shit that got thrown at him.

"Sam," He whines. "Sam, I need more fences!" Tommy drags himself back up towards the hotel and to Sam Nook.

"Hello, Tommyinnit," He greets.

"Hi, Sam. I need more fences."

Sam Nook nods and pulls his wrist to his face. "This is all I have," He said before pinching the screen on his wrist and flicking it towards Tommy.

The fences teleport to his inventory in seconds. Tommy thanks him and goes to finish up his perimeter when a familiar voice shouts.

"Hey, guys!"

"Tubbo?" Tommy said. "Tubbo!"

"Tommy!" Tubbo begins running forward, but Tommy quickly stops him.

"Tubbo, you can't! Read the sign!" Tommy gestures to the giant sign in front of the hotel, and Tubbo squints his eyes.

"I can't."

"Oh," Tommy said flatly. "Right."

You bite back a laugh as Tubbo shoots Tommy a dirty look for forgetting.

"It says you need a hard hat."

"Well, where do I get one?"

Tommy turns to Sam Nook, who grabs one seemingly out of nowhere and tosses it to Tubbo. Unlike Tommy, it does not smack him in the face and cause a bloody nose. Tubbo catches it with ease and plops it onto his head.

"Do you want to help me finish the hotel perimeter?" Tommy asked eagerly.

"Sure!"

"You're so much nicer than your sister," Tommy sighed, flicking some fences to Tubbo.

"She can be a bitch like that."

You raise an eyebrow. "What did you just say?"

"I said you can be a bitch!"

"I taught you that word," You retort. "When you were five!"

"That is not a good thing!"

"Wilbur taught me the word fuck when I was three," Tommy boasted.

"That does not surprise me," Tubbo laughed.

"It was on accident though, wasn't it?"

Tommy nods. "Oh, yeah. He was trying to feed me, and he dropped the bowl and swore at the top of his lungs."

"And now look at you."

"Professional profanist, baby," Tommy winks.

He begins to get to work with Tubbo, conversation flowing easily between the two of them like no time had passed. Though, Tommy knew things had changed. He didn't even know the last time he saw Tubbo.

"I thought you were going to come live with me in Snowchester," Tubbo said, positing a fence for Tommy to hit.

Tommy takes a hit. "I was."

"What changed?"

"Something came up," Tommy shrugged off. He had considered moving to Snowchester, but then Tubbo got married. And Tommy knew that if he moved there, he would be just as lonely. If not, lonelier.

Tommy wasn't mad at Tubbo for finding someone. It's just... he always thought they'd never grow up. That they would be young forever, still training in forest clearings with sticks. Still pestering their older siblings, but now, one sibling was dead.

And they weren't children. They were adults, but it's not like either had much of a childhood anyway.

Tommy finishes the last fence and returns to the hotel. He's expecting you, but you're not there.

"Where did (Y/N) go?" Tubbo asked.

Sam Nook turns towards Tubbo. "She had something to attend to. She will be back. Are you finished?"

"Yes," Tommy answered.

"Great! I have something else for you..."

Tommy groans. "Sam Nook, please! Give me a break man."

"I need you to check out the egg — the source of the vines. Rumor on the street is that it's growing. It needs to be destroyed immediately. Can you do that?"

Tommy looks to Tubbo, who shrugs. He didn't really want to explore 'the egg.' If anything, the name was weird enough on its own. But doing this with Tubbo? It could be like old times and maybe spark that flame of resilience once again. Perhaps, it was worth the risk. "Yeah, I can."

Sam flicks both him and Tubbo two hazmat suits. "Wear these at all times around the egg. Be safe, Tommy and Tubbo."

"Okay, Sam," Tommy replied, boasting his chest and saluting him.

"The egg?" Tubbo questioned.

Tommy shrugs. "I don't know either. Guess we'll find out."

Tubbo mumbles something under his breath, but Tommy doesn't catch it. He lets it go. There wasn't much to go off of with the egg, except that apparently, it spoke to people. Honestly, Tommy believed that it was a bunch of bullshit. He had been putting off seeing it for himself for quite a while.

As much as he longs for adventure, he was equally content with pretending that there was not some thing invading his land.

It had grown more since last time. It was always growing. At this point, Tommy was considering just burning it to nothing. If the egg was the source, he would be glad to get rid of it.

"How are you and Ranboo?" Tommy asked, beginning the walk to where the egg should be.

"Good," Tubbo said. "It's quiet there. Away from all the..." Tubbo trails off.

"Memories?" Tommy finished for him.

"Yeah."

Tommy just purses his lips and keeps walking. It seemed he and Tubbo were two very different people now. Tommy wanted to be here with the memories more than anything. And Tubbo wanted nothing to do with them.

"So this... egg? How long has it been here?"

"Dunno," Tommy replied. "A couple months now?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, it just kind of showed up and started growing. We tried to ignore it at first and take it down, but it just kept growing."

"That's weird."

Tommy snorts. "No shit. It seems our time of peace is up."

"Do you really believe that?"

Tommy sighs. He didn't know. He'd be lying if he said that there wasn't this cloud hanging about him. It was a sinking feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong. He just didn't know what.

"Nah," He answered. "We've had it bad for so long. Surely we get some good."

"Surely," Tubbo echoed.

Tommy stops at the entrance to the repair room.

"Down there?" Tubbo asked.

Tommy doesn't bother answering and jumps down. Tubbo follows after. Tommy walks down the hallway and turns down one of the corridors. Instantly, it becomes hotter, and sweat clings to his neck. The air around him is sticky and heavy.

"It's... warm," Tubbo gagged.

Tommy doesn't say anything and walks into the room full of red. Vines hang from the ceiling, and the floor is coating in thick layers of them. As soon as he steps in, something unsettling falls on his shoulders.

"Do you feel it through your suit or not?" Tommy asked, pushing forwards.

"What am I supposed to feel?"

"Well, if you take off your suit, you'll feel it." Tommy retracts his words and turns to Tubbo, pointing a stern finger. "But don't do that."

Tubbo stands stupidly at the entrance of the room. "Okay.."

"C'mon, man! What are you doing?"

"I don't want to step on it. It's weird!"

"You have your suit. You'll be fine."

"It's all mushy," Tubbo whines, placing a hesitant foot down on the packed vines.

Tommy rolls his eyes. "Tubbo!"

"Fine!" The said boy relents.

Tommy makes his way to the egg, looming in the back of the room. He narrows his eyes at it before clambering his way on top of it.

Tubbo stands at the base of the egg, curiously peering at the object.

"Tubbo," Tommy starts. "The egg spoke to me."

"What did it say?"

"It said I really think you should give me all your good valuables. It needs it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, come up here and listen!"

"Well, I say we should... you know," Tubbo opens his fist to reveal a fire charge.

"No..."

"No?"

Tommy shakes his head. "Okay, now you could take off your armor and listen to what it says. But that's very risky and—"

"Boop," Tubbo said, stripping down to just his clothes. In just five seconds, he starts crying. Tommy looks frantically between his friend and the egg.

What the hell just happened?

He looks back to Tubbo to find him hovering over the lava. "Not the lava!" He shouts, grabbing Tubbo and pulling him back. "Get the suit back on."

"I don't want to!" Tubbo protests. "It's so mean!"

Tommy furrows his brows at that. The egg talked? Out of the corner of his vision, he sees someone begin to move, and fear grabs him. This was bad — and not just the person bad.

"Tubbo," Tommy whispers. "How fast are those little legs of yours?"

"I don't want to run!"

"Tubbo, okay, hold my hand, and we're gonna run."

Tubbo shakes his head, pointing at the egg. "The egg is so mean!"

Tommy slaps his hand back down. "Tubbo, I have a plan. I'm gonna slow them. Take a pearl, and we're gonna run."

Bad looks to Ant, then back to Tubbo, cocking his head to the side. "Are you okay?"

"Guys, the egg made him cry," Tommy said.

"Okay."

Tommy sighs at Bad's flat response. "Bad is the leader of the egg. We're friends, aren't we? You've raised a bad egg, I mean not bad. But bad to me."

"Rotten egg," Tubbo sobs.

Bad rolls his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Tubbo hasn't seen the egg, so I was showing it to him! You know I'm immune to it," Tommy grins.

"Tommy..."

"I'm just showing Tubbo. You like the egg, right Tubbo? Friend of the egg! Freeg!" Tommy encourages, elbowing Tubbo to agree with him. Tubbo makes no move to do so.

"Are we cool, guys? Are we cool? Crystal cool like crystal meth!" Tommy begins laughing, practically slapping Tubbo to get him to toughen up. "Are you gonna kill us? You guys seem upset—"

"We're not upset," Bad replied.

"I'm not either unless women died. If women died, then I would be very upset."

There's a long silence, and Tommy rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. Bad turns to Tubbo, who's still sniffling.

"Tubbo, what do you think about the egg?"

Tubbo just nods meekly.

"You like the egg?"

Tubbo nods.

"Egg pog," Tommy said.

Tubbo starts crying again, and Tommy nervously looks at him. "He's crying cause I killed his mother, not cause of the egg. Isn't that right? Mother dearest, mother deadest, you know? Mother gone... est. We're gonna hold a funeral soon, are you gonna come? Or no, it's close friends only. But that's why he's crying—"

Tubbo's wailing gets louder, and Tommy starts panicking. "Nothing to do with the egg, isn't that right, Tubbo?"

Tubbo sobs in response.

"Do you guys wanna hang around down here?" Bad suggested, and Tubbo lets out a wail.

"Uh, sure— Tubbo no!" Tommy lets out a shriek, pulling his friends back from the lava. "Is that what you would want us to do?"

Bad blinks. "I mean, you weren't just gonna down here and leave, were you?"

"Well, yeah," Tommy deadpanned.

"I don't think that's gonna work." Bad makes a single-hand motion, trying to box Tubbo in, and Tommy grabs Tubbo's arms and drags him out of the way just in time. The two land in a pile of vines, and Tommy hates how they feel against his skin. It's like they're slithering all over him, trying to pull him closer into their depths.

"I think Tubbo and I should go," Tommy said, standing back up and heading towards the entrance.

Bad throws his trident, hitting right about Tommy's head. "I didn't say you guys could leave."

Tommy looks up to see the trident inches from his head, and his heart drops. "Oh, fuck."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
wc; 3K
song inspo: losing face by wilbur soot
originally published: September 8th, 2021 8:20pm

a/n: super slow updates, sorry about that! been focusing on school 'n stuff :) but I haven't forgotten about this story! just putting my grades first

thanks a ton for reading! I hope you have a lovely day <3