Served Up Server 3/?
Sorry for the long wait but the next chapter of Served Up Server is finally here! I hope you guys enjoy!
Part 1 | Part 2
Warnings: talks of eating people, fear, and panic
Word Count: 4020
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Tommy tried his best to gain his bearings as giant voices started to speak above him. Being knocked around in a take-out container was not fun, especially when the person carrying it had no regard for Tommy at all. He still didn’t know what was happening, his boss had mentioned something about instincts, but Tommy had no idea what that meant. Of course, there were only so many ideas his brain could conceive when his boss shoved him into a take-out container. All of them sent a shiver down his spine.
But even if it was what he was thinking of, his boss was going to Wilbur of all people. And Wilbur had proven himself that he wasn’t that kind of giant. So all Tommy had to do was wait for Wilbur to get him out of here. And once he was, he was calling the police on his boss, that was for sure.
Finally a bit more calm, Tommy opened his mouth to start yelling for Wilbur. But before he could, his boss spoke again.
“You see, I couldn’t help but overhear you earlier, when talking to one of my employees.” Tommy’s boss said, his very voice sending a subtle yet noticeable shake to Tommy’s prison. Tommy ignored it in favor of being confused. What had his boss overheard that would have him think to do something like this?
“You’re…gonna have to be more specific.” He heard Wilbur say, unknowingly asking the question Tommy himself had.
His boss chuckled. “You know, about having him for dessert.”
Oh.
So it was that.
What the f***. He knew his boss was terrible but he never thought he would go this far. He was actually trying to sell Tommy to be…to be eaten.
His breathing picked up but Tommy clenched his fists tightly together, trying to take deep breaths. No, no, everything was fine. Wilbur wasn’t like that, he wouldn’t accept this, he’d be angry and get him out of here. Tommy had nothing to really worry about, but still, the thought of his boss even trying something like this was terrifying.
“Wait, I’m sorry, it was-” Wilbur tried to explain himself but was cut off.
“No need to apologize. I understand, in certain circumstances, it’s hard to ignore your instincts. I’m not one to judge, in fact, in this instance, well I encourage it.” His boss said. Tommy grit his teeth. There was that talk about instincts again.
“Does this have to do with…your proposal?” Wilbur asked and Tommy felt his hopes rise a little. Yes, please Wilbur, realize he was here and get him out!
“Wil-!” Tommy tried to yell out but was once again cut off by the much louder voice of his boss.
“Yes. You see, little Thomas is in this container right now.” He cried out as his prison was shaken, sending him into the wall before tumbling back towards the center. He groaned, lying there as his boss continued to speak. “For the right price, I’ll give him to you and you can indulge in that dessert I’m sure you’ve been wanting for so long. I won’t tell anyone and no one will even miss little Thomas here. He has no family and friends, you see. Really, you couldn’t have chosen a better human.”
Tommy paused at his boss’ words, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. How did his boss even know all that? He never told the man. Was he just making up some excuse and accidentally hit the nose on the head? Or…was his loneliness really that obvious? Because his boss was right. Who would miss him if he suddenly disappeared? He had no one at home, no friends, and he didn’t even go to school for some teachers to even notice his absence. He was alone.
…But, no. That wasn’t true. Tommy…Tommy had Wilbur, didn’t he? He might have not known Wilbur for long but he was Tommy’s friend. Wilbur would miss him if he disappeared, right? And Wilbur was going to be the reason he didn’t disappear in the first place. Wilbur was going to save him.
“Wil-!” He tried again but he was cut off again. But not by his boss this time.
“Really? Honestly, I’ve been trying to figure out if that was the case for a while now.” Wilbur spoke up, his voice all too casual for such a situation.
What?
“Oh yeah. Kid tries to hide it but, well…” His boss trailed off but Tommy could care less what he had to say. He was too focused on Wilbur’s next words.
“Oh, don’t I know it. But if that is the case, then I’d love to take you up on that offer of yours.”
Tommy felt his heart drop into his stomach and suddenly, he couldn’t breathe again. Wilbur…accepted his boss’ offer? No, no why would Wilbur do that? He wouldn’t.
But he had. And his voice sounded so casual, so…excited. Like, like he had been waiting for this. And then Tommy really thought about it and realized something that made his heart stop altogether. He…didn’t actually know Wilbur all that well. Yeah, they’ve been talking for a month but only ever at the restaurant. Only for maybe an hour every night. How did he know Wilbur wasn’t lying? How did he know that Wilbur wasn’t just biding his time, waiting for an opportunity to take Tommy?
He didn’t.
And now that opportunity had shown itself in the form of his boss wanting more money and being very willing to sell Tommy away to be eaten by a giant. An opportunity Wilbur seemed eager to accept.
Tears formed at the corners of his eyes. He felt like yelling and screaming for them to stop and let him out, let him go. But his fear made the words catch in his throat and he suddenly felt like he couldn’t breath. His cries were silent as he focused on breathing, not wanting to pass out, all while the two giants continued their conversation above him. Unaware and uncaring.
“Well, I appreciate that.” He heard Wilbur say as he tuned back in. He wished he hadn’t, he wished he could just hide away and pretend none of this was happening but the giants’ loud voices were hard to ignore. “So, how much?”
“Let’s say…well 15,000 dollars out to be enough.”
“Hmm…Alright, I think that’s fair.”
15,000 dollars.
That’s how much Tommy’s life was worth, apparently. It was such a small number in the grand scheme of things.
It became silent for a brief instance and Tommy could only imagine that Wilbur was handing over the payment. And then, his prison jerked, causing him to fall over again and he realized with an ever rising panic that he had been handed over to Wilbur.
“Perfect, it was such a pleasure doing business with you.” He heard his boss say, not as loud now that he was no longer in the man’s hands.
“And you as well. I think I’ll be heading home for the night in order to enjoy this…tasty treat.” Tommy let out a silent gasp, more tears running down his face. He missed the last words his boss said, too into his own panic to listen or care at this point. All he could focus on was how he was going to be eaten. He was going to die.
He never should have trusted Wilbur, or any giant for that matter. It was clear he had been tricked, the giant apparently playing the long game with him. But why? Why would Wilbur go through all this trouble to act like he was actually Tommy’s friend?
Maybe he just liked playing with his food.
Tommy really did have the worst luck. It was very rare for giants to eat humans nowadays. And of course, he just so happened to fall into the clutches of one of those rare few. Tommy almost wanted to laugh. He had really thought Wilbur was going to get him out of this. Well, he supposed this was what he got for going against his own rules. To not trust anyone but himself. It always did end up backfiring on him.
He heard a door close and felt his stomach drop as he was placed down. A moment later, the ground started to rumble. It was obvious he had been placed inside Wilbur’s car.
He wanted to scream and cry out, beg Wilbur not to eat him, for someone to save him, but he just…couldn’t. He couldn’t find the words, couldn’t find the voice. So instead, he curled up in one of the corners of the take-out container and let his tears fall.
***
Wilbur pulled into his driveway and took a deep breath as he looked down at the take-out container containing his friend. He had been silent the entire ride here and that alone left a bad feeling in Wilbur’s gut. Had he passed out? Was he hurt? Or…was he just too scared to try and say anything?
Despite himself, Wilbur wished it was the first. At least if Tommy had passed out, there was a chance he hadn’t heard everything Wilbur had said. But he knew that was probably not the case. Tommy was scared and Wilbur was the one who put that fear there, something he had sworn to try and avoid after scaring Tommy that first night.
But if he hadn’t done what he had, Tommy could be even worse off. Tommy may be scared out of his mind but he was safe. And Wilbur was going to show him just how safe he was.
He was careful in picking up the take-out box and exiting out of his car. He held it steady as he walked to his door and unlocked it. He opened it to an empty house, just as always. He didn’t regret moving out of his dad’s house but it was a bit lonely. That was one of the reasons he went out every night to see Tommy.
Right, Tommy. Stay focused.
Wilbur brought the take-out container into the kitchen then paused and thought better of that idea. Probably not a good thing for Tommy to see he had been placed in a kitchen, the place where most people ate their food. So instead, Wilbur changed course to go into the living room. He had a fairly big coffee table at the center of it all and decided to place the box on that.
Wilbur lowered himself to his knees and took a deep breath before opening the box.
***
The car ride and journey into the house hadn’t been very long but it was enough time for Tommy to realize that he didn’t want to die.
Well, no, he knew that already, of course, but he realized that he couldn’t just lie there and let…and let himself be eaten. He needed a plan, a way to get away from Wilbur before it was too late.
It would be difficult, this was a giant he was dealing with after all, but it was possible.
It had to be possible.
He didn’t have much time to come up with an idea, he could already feel the box being lowered again, probably onto some sort of table. So, it would have to be a simple one. The thing Tommy did best.
He would yell, curse, and distract his way out of this. If he could keep Wilbur occupied long enough, he might just be able to escape.
So, as the box opened above him, Tommy took a deep breath and let his anger outmatch his fear.
“Hey, Tommy, it’s-” Wilbur tried speaking but Tommy wasn’t about to let him get a word in. Especially not when those words would probably be something along the lines of how Wilbur had waited so long for this moment. To eat Tommy.
He couldn’t handle hearing that right now.
“F*** you! You f****** giant dickhead!” Tommy shouted and the look of surprise on Wilbur’s face alone was worth it.
“Wait, Tommy-”
Oh no, Tommy was not letting himself lose so easily.
“F*** you, f*** you, f*** you!” Tommy continued to shout. “Eat s*** and die you motherf*****!” He saw Wilbur groan and place his head in his hands and Tommy realized that this was his chance. He stood up and looked at his surroundings before hoisting himself over the box and managing to make it onto the giant table.
He ran a bit away from the box, seeing if there was anywhere for him to go, anyway he could get down from the table, but Wilbur’s voice cut through his thoughts. He had turned his attention back to Tommy already.
“Tommy, please just-”
“Get the f*** away from me! I won’t-I won’t let you eat me!” Tommy backed away, keeping his eyes on Wilbur as he did so. He had to get out of here, he had to get away or else-
“Tommy, stop!” Wilbur shouted just as Tommy stumbled as his next step backwards was filled with open air.
He hadn’t realized he had been that close to the edge.
Tommy screamed as he fell and shut his eyes tight, expecting to hit the hard surface of the floor. But instead, his fall was cut short, and he landed on something a lot softer.
Tommy’s eyes snapped open with sudden realization and he was met with Wilbur’s giant face as soon as he did so. Tommy whimpered pathetically as he realized he was in Wilbur’s hand.
All at once, the illusion that Tommy might be able to get away was shattered. He was never getting away from this. Wilbur was a giant, after all. He was too big, too strong, too fast. And Tommy was helpless, too small and weak to even budge one of Wilbur’s fingers.
His anger vanished and the freezing cold feeling of utter fear consumed his thoughts. With nothing else to do, Tommy curled up in on himself, making himself even smaller, and started to cry again. “Please, please don’t eat me.” Tommy pleaded, his voice barely above a whisper.
He heard a sigh above him and then the hand was moving. Tommy panicked, thinking this was it, before realizing that the hand wasn’t moving upwards but down. Tommy opened his eyes in time to see Wilbur’s hand settle down on the coffee table and tilt just enough to slide Tommy off of his hand.
As soon as he was back on solid ground, Tommy stood. Or, tried to anyway. His legs were so shaky and weak that the second he tried to put his weight on them, they gave out and he crumbled back down onto the table. He couldn’t even run anymore. He truly was helpless.
“Tommy.” Tommy looked up automatically at the sound of Wilbur’s voice and regretted it immediately. He didn’t want to see the face of someone he thought of as a friend twist into something cruel. But he found that once he was looking, he couldn't turn away. Wilbur seemed to use this to his advantage because he started speaking again. “Please, I know how this looks but I promise you. I’m not going to eat you and I never planned on eating you.”
Tommy stared for a moment, letting Wilbur’s words finally soak in. Once they did, more tears started to form and fall. “Please, no…no more lies.” He couldn’t stand that Wilbur was prolonging this. If he was going to do it, he just wanted it to be over already.
“I’m not lying.” Wilbur’s voice sounded so desperate that for a moment, Tommy visibly startled. “I’ve never lied to you. The only person I’ve lied to is your s*** boss.”
Tommy grit his teeth. “Then why did you take his deal, huh?! I thought you were going to save me from him not-not buy me!”
Tommy watched as Wilbur winced and looked away. Tommy almost took that as an admission of guilt until Wilbur met his eyes again, a determined glint in them. The look made Tommy flinch.
“Tommy, if I wanted to eat you, I would have done it already.” Tommy’s breath hitched. “There’s no reason for me not to, right? You’re already here and I wouldn’t get caught, right?” Tommy didn’t know if Wilbur actually wanted an answer or not but he was scared of not giving him one, so he nodded in agreement, scooting further back from the giant as he did so.
Wilbur’s face turned sad and his gaze softened. “I didn’t say those things to scare you.” His voice was a lot more gentle now than it had been a moment ago. “I just…I need you to believe me. I didn’t want to buy you. I didn’t want to say those things. I only did all of this so I could get you away from him. If I turned him down, then I was afraid he would keep you and try to sell you to someone else. Or-Or eat you himself, I don’t know. But I couldn’t risk it. So… I went along with it.”
Tommy thought for a moment. Wilbur…did have a point. Unless, of course, Wilbur was still lying to him and just wanted to torture Tommy longer. Tommy didn’t know what to trust anymore. “Why didn’t you tell me right away?” He decided to ask, voice low.
Wilbur winced. “I…well, I just figured it would be best to do it here, at my place. Since, either way, I thought you would be too scared to listen to me at first.”
Tommy, despite himself, knew Wilbur was right on that at least.
He looked into Wilbur’s eyes for a long moment. Nothing had changed in them, from what he knew. There was no cruelty, no maliciousness. They remained friendly, if sad and guilty.
Was Wilbur…really telling the truth?
“What about instincts?” Tommy suddenly remembered.
Wilbur blinked in unexpected shock. “Wh-What?”
“Both of you mentioned something about instincts. What…What was that about?”
Wilbur was silent for a moment, a look of… something crossing his face but Tommy couldn’t tell what it was. And then he shrugged, which, honestly, was not what Tommy had been expecting. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s code or something? I just went along with it to try and sell my part better.”
That made sense, Tommy supposed, if it was some underground thing considering Tommy had never heard of it before. And If he really thought about it, he couldn’t remember Wilbur ever saying anything specific about instincts. He really was just going along with what his boss said.
Tommy bit his lip, looking down. He could feel hope rising in his chest, but at the same time… “It’s just…you sounded so…excited.” Tommy shivered in fear as he spat out the word. Remembering the way Wilbur’s tone lifted when he realized what Tommy’s boss was actually offering. When he realized he finally had his chance to eat Tommy.
“I’m so sorry, Toms.” Wilbur said and Tommy looked back up to meet Wilbur’s gaze. “I…well, I’ve always been told I’m a pretty good actor but that’s all it was, an act. I didn’t mean any of it. I swear on my life, I didn’t mean a single thing I said to your boss.”
And then Wilbur’s voice dropped down, so soft that even Tommy had to strain a bit to hear it. “I would never eat a human. Especially not you, Toms. I know we haven’t known each other for that long but…you’re my best friend.”
And just like that, Tommy dared to believe. He blinked back tears. “So…you aren’t going to eat me?” He just needed to hear that last confirmation. No flowery language, just a straight answer.
And answer he did, with a small shake of his head. “No.”
“Oh.” If Tommy wasn’t already on the ground, he would have crumbled with the amount of relief he felt. “That’s…that’s really great news, actually.” A part of Tommy, the part that was still terrified, still doubted Wilbur’s words. But at the same time…why would Wilbur go through so much trouble in trying to convince him he wasn’t going to eat him, only to eat him anyway? It didn’t make sense so Wilbur had to be telling the truth, right?
Tommy wanted to believe Wilbur. So he did.
“How are you doing?” Wilbur asked after sitting in silence for a minute, letting Tommy catch his breath. Tommy turned the question over in his mind for a while but Wilbur was patient.
“Not…Not great, honestly.” Tommy decided on, before pausing. “Better, now that I know you aren’t going to eat me. But I just…” Tommy groaned and put his hands on his face. “I…I can’t believe my boss actually tried to sell me.”
Wilbur winced. “Yeah, I mean, I knew he was bad but not that bad.” Wilbur sighed. “At least you don’t have to deal with him anymore.”
“Yeah...” Tommy agreed before pausing. “Wait.” Realization dawned on him. “I-I can’t go back there but-but literally all my stuff is still at the restaurant! Not to mention the fact that I no longer even have a job! What am I going to do?” He had been so worried about Wilbur eating him that he hadn’t thought about what any of this meant in the long run.
His keys, his ID, and the money he had was all still in his locker back at the restaurant. Even if his scummy landlord was willing to give him another key, Tommy no longer had a job to pay for his apartment. And once his landlord found out he was out of work, it wouldn’t be long before he was kicked out and back on the streets.
“F***, what am I going to do?” He repeated, running a hand through his hair roughly.
“Well…” Wilbur started and Tommy looked up at him. Despite his decision to believe Wilbur though, he still felt a spike of fear when he met the giant’s eyes. “I mean…I thought it would be best if you stayed with me?”
Tommy blinked. “Wh-What?”
“It’s just…” Wilbur sighed. “What your boss said about your living situation. It’s true, right?”
Tommy tensed. Great, he had forgotten about that. His secret was out and now Wilbur knew. “I don’t need your pity.”
“It’s not pity, Toms. I genuinely care about you and I just want you to be safe. And being out on the streets, or being anywhere where your old s***head of a boss can find you, isn’t safe.”
Tommy looked down. “I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can.” Wilbur said gently but no less sincere. “But friends help each other out and I can’t in good conscience let you go out on the street. You don’t have to stay forever! Just until you can find a new job and another place to live.”
Tommy couldn’t help but feel warm at the way Wilbur called him his friend again. And if Tommy was honest, he really didn’t want to go back on the streets. He could, he was a big man after all, but he didn’t want to.
“Fine. But as your friend, I’m paying you back when I can.”
“Deal.” Wilbur said and then he was reaching out his hand towards Tommy. Tommy flinched and scrambled backwards as the larger than life hand seemed to come right for him. Wilbur froze at his reaction and realized what he was doing, quickly taking his hand back and putting it out of sight. “Sorry, I was uh, gonna have us shake on it but…yeah.”
Tommy calmed himself down and chuckled a bit when he realized Wilbur had never intended on grabbing him. Honestly, Tommy probably would have done the same thing.
“Thank you, Wilbur. For letting me stay here. And for…ya know, saving me and s***.” Tommy said after a brief moment of silence, face a bit red.
Wilbur blinked down at him before smiling, a fond look in his eyes that made Tommy feel like he had made the right choice in believing Wilbur. “Of course Toms, anything for you.”