-when he was little, tommy would always hide around the house and make it impossible for wilbur to find him.
-he didn't respond when he was called or told to come out so wilbur started singing songs then waiting for tommy to finish the other line so he knew where he was
wilbur: fly me to the moon...
tommy, inside a closet: and let me play among the stars!!!
-when tommy got older, he would retract to a small place or a burrow or just anywhere hidden when he got upset or stressed out.
-wilbur wouldn't know where he was, but he could always sing and tommy would either sing or hum back to him to let him know he was alright
-even if it was something simpler like just making sure tommy was still working on his homework in his room while wilbur was downstairs with his friends or he’d do it just making sure he was alright.
-it became a game sort of. wilbur started singing songs he didn't think tommy would guess
tommy, from his room: LIKE YOU HATE ME
wilbur: WHY DO YOU KNOW THAT ONE
tommy: EVERYONE KNOWS CORPSE HUSBAND
-so then like. even during the wars and stuff, if wilbur didn't know where tommy was in the ruins of the battle fields, he would just sing. if it was on the battle field, it was usually the lmanburg anthem
-when wilbur died, tommy hid for a really long time. he knows how to hide, so he isn’t found. wilbur couldn’t ever find him without singing. tommy didn’t have wilbur to sing and find him now. he stayed their for two days.
-ghostbur started to sing lines and tommy would answer. ghostbur would get so excited and scream "i found you!" when he did. the first time it happened was in exile, and tommy was hiding after dream left because it’s become a coping mechanism.
-ghostbur did it when he hid in techno's house. tommy would hide when he heard anyone enter the house and he was there alone, but ghostbur would just sing something and he'd come out. techno came back home with ghostbur once and techno was so confused, as was phil. they didn’t know about the singing and the hiding, even though it was a big part of tommy’s childhood.
techno: he's probably hiding. i usually wait 30 minutes for him to come out.
ghostbur: oh! i can find him! (starts singing)
tommy: (sings back and comes out of the box)
- phil and techno are just confused. neither tommy or ghostbur gives an explanation.
-(back to exile) dream caught on to it at one point. when they were still friends, before the bigger wars. tommy absentmindedly explained it to him, not thinking much of it. so when he was in exile and he was hiding, dream would eerily start singing songs he knew were special to tommy.
-when he was in techno's house and looking for tommy, he would sing something and tommy would have to physically stop himself from singing back.
techno: oh hey dream what's going on
dream: .... (enters his house and looks around) fly me to the moon...
-techno hears tommy flinch in the box. he only heard because of his hybrid senses, so dream didn’t hear. techno coughs and escorts him out. dream then explains the singing to techno, and that’s how techno finds out.
-tubbo not knowing about the singing and hiding, but knowing tommy disappears randomly, usually when tommy is feeling too much at once. tubbo just randomly sings songs and doesn't finish the lines because he's distracted with something else, and tommy just hops out of his hiding place and sings the rest of the line.
-tommy randomly hides but then hears tubbo singing and his mood changes instantly
tubbo, building in snowchester: he's in your bed but i'm in your twitch chat...
tommy, hiding in a nearby tree: IVE GOT THE KEY, AND HE'S JUST A DOORMAT
tubbo: TOMMY WHAT THE FUCK YOU SCARED ME
-it works for tubbo and wilbur. and instinctively techno and dream.
-other people try sometimes and it only works every now and then
-but for some reason it just never works with phil
-tommy doesn't know why. no one knows
-but tommy just,, he won't respond or feel like he needs to
-like phil will come back to techno's house without techno and like. he needs to find tommy quickly so he sings something. tommy just doesn't fuckin respond.
-so like. he tries again. he just thinks tommy is missing. but then techno gets there and he tries and tommy comes out immediately
-also q, fundy, and ranboo take advantage of it to make fun of tommy when/if they find out
q: TOMMY I FOUND YOU, GIVE ME BACK MY THINGS
tommy, from across the battle field: AW MAN
ranboo, being attacked by a llama: what the fuck- tommy?!
tommy: no, it's clarencio, bitch!!
ranboo: ... jump in the cadillac~
tommy: GIRL LETS PUT SOME MILES ON IT
ranboo: TOMMY I KNOW ITS YOU PLEASE STOP
-drista finds out from dream
drista: tommy tommy tommy
drista: my daddy’s got a gun-
-also just tommy and wilbur sitting and singing back and forth as tommy is like, bleeding out and wilbur is tending to his wounds
-because wilbur had to make sure he stays awake and stuff while he helps him and it's comforting
wilbur, bandaging tommy and disinfecting his wounds: i'm sitting here
tommy, in literal pain and almost in tears: crying in my prom dress
-when wilbur went crazy/insane, tommy would sing to him and wilbur wouldn’t respond back.
-there was multiple occasions where wilbur would slip so far, yelling and violent, and tommy got scared. so he hid.
-and wilbur could never find him. he never sung, only yelled for him. and tommy had to listen.
-wilbur had just,lost it. he didn't sing to tommy. tommy would try to sing simple lines to get wilbur to sing back. wilbur would tell him to shut up.
-this was before anyone really understood what was happening so they also told tommy to shut up. and tommy would just be upset because he really lost his brother.
-and when ghostbur came back, tommy tested it on him. so you can imagine the tears when ghostbur sang back to tommy
-also they used the joke for normal stuff (back when war wasn’t a huge issue)
george and dream: *just talking*
wilbur, knowing tommy is listening to them: sometimes all i think about is you,,,
tommy: late nights in the middle of june,,,
tommy: THEY SAY "TEENAGERS SCARE THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF ME"
wilbur: "THEY COULD CARE LESS AS LONG AS SOMEONE WILL BLEED"
tommy and wilbur: SO DARKEN YOUR CLOTHES AND STRIKE A VIOLENT POSE
literally all of lmanburg: MAYBE THEY'LL LEAVE YOU ALONE BUT NOT ME
-lmanburg is just full of angry/angsty teenagers and young adults /j
-them going into battle and just singing black parade and the dream team just being hella confused /j
