My Wilbur (a villain tommy story)

A Bomb that's Gone Off

Things were going well for Tommy. It had been a little rough after Phil showed up but now they were calming down. Wilbur hadn't asked about the basement again and Phil had been making less noise. Overall things were good. There was just one thing that bothered him. Wilbur seemed distant lately and Tommy couldn't figure out why.
Whenever Tommy asked how his afternoon was he gave some, dismissive one word answer like "good" or "fine". Tommy was beginning to think it wasn't fine, so he stayed out late one day to gather extra resources so he could stay home for a few days.
At breakfast he told Wilbur.
"So Will, I've noticed you seem distant recently."
"Um, distant? Distant how?"
"You just seem like you have a lot on your mind that you're not telling me. You know we're brothers Will, you can tell me if something's bothering you."
"No Tommy I swear I'm fine."
"Yeah you keep saying that. To be honest I don't buy it, there's something bothering you. That's why I'm going to stay home for a few days so we can hang out" he said the last part with smile.
Wilbur dropped his spoon into his cereal "Sorry what?"
"I've gathered some extra supplies so I won't have to go out for a few days, I'm sure it's lonely in the afternoons all by yourself. I thought you'd be happy."
"I- I am happy" Wilbur reassured him, eyes going wide for a moment "just surprised me is all."
With that he got up and started doing the dishes, even though Tommy normally did them in the morning.
Since Wilbur was distracted, Tommy took the opportunity to bring Phil a bowl of cereal. He just hoped that Wilbur wouldn't notice the missing bowl.
"I brought breakfast" he said as he opened the door to the basement."
"You're early" Phil commented, "normally you wait until Wilbur's got his head into a book."
"He's doing dishes, he won't even notice I'm gone."
"Just know that if he finds out I'm here you're the one being suspicious mate."
"Right" Tommy said, a question on the tip of his tongue. Why did something feel off? As if the whole world had some big inside joke that he wasn't included in.
He left without saying another word. Wilbur didn't ask about the missing bowl. There were enough there that one being gone probably wasn't very obvious. Tommy sighed, keeping secrets was stressful. He didn't like lying to Wilbur, but if he didn't then Wilbur would want to talk to Phil and Phil would try to turn Wilbur against him. He couldn't let that happen.
When Tommy went back upstairs Wilbur was just finishing with the dishes.
"Hey Will, I know you usually like reading in the morning but do you wanna do something?"
"Yeah sure, what do you want to do?"
"We could play checkers."
"Okay."

For a few days they had this routine going. Eat breakfast, play a board game, then they'd just sit on the couch for a while and hang out. Tommy brought lunch to Phil when Wilbur was distracted. He figured he may as well since he was home. The thing that bothered him is that both Phil and Wilbur started acting strangely around lunch time, like they were all depressed and shit. It confused him to no end until one night something woke him up.
There were soft shuffling sounds coming from downstairs, and it almost sounded like there were voices too, but Tommy couldn't tell for sure. He got up, and as he got closer to the stairs the voices became clearer. Phil and Wilbur were talking. Tommy's heart pounded in his ears. How long had Wilbur known? How long had Wilbur kept this from him? What had Phil said to Wilbur? His blood boiled as he eavesdropped.
"Will you should go back to bed it's too dangerous to talk when Tommy's in the house."
"I know but you can't expect to just pretend you're not down here now that I know."
"If Tommy wakes up-
"We don't know what would happen, I mean, maybe I could talk to him. He might let out of the basement."
"I doubt that, and I don't think that's a good idea. What if he hurts you."
At that Tommy decided it was time to reveal himself.
"How dare you say that Philza, I would never hurt Wilbur" he growled.
Wilbur spun around to look at him, eyes blown wide like that day on the beach when Tommy had first realized how far he was willing to go not to lose him.
"Tommy I-
"So you've been meeting in secret?"
"Tommy you lied to me" Wilbur's voice was barely a whisper, "why did you lie to me?"
"I had to" Tommy sighed, "I couldn't let you know Phil was here, because knowing would just confuse and upset you. I mean, look at you now. You look like you're going to cry."
Phil stepped in front of Wilbur, making Tommy bristle at the obvious threat "You're the one being upsetting, and saying you'd never hurt Wilbur is a lie, you've already hurt him and you keep hurting him, and you won't stop hurting him unless we escape."
"Oh yeah, then why hasn't he run off this whole time?"
"Because you made him feel like no one else cared about him!"
Tommy was done listening to Phil's nonsense, so he did what he should have done at the beginning and pulled out his sword. He was ready to strike, it didn't have to be fatal just enough to shut the old man up for a while, but Wilbur pushed Phil behind him and stood in the way. He really was crying now.
"Tommy stop. You said you'd never hurt me right? Well if you hurt Phil you'll be hurting me too, so just, put away the sword, please."
At that some unfamiliar emotion stirred inside him. This whole situation was ridiculous. He felt so threatened by a man who'd been trapped in his basement for over a month. Even after Wilbur had discovered him who knows how long ago he still hadn't run away. Phil couldn't take his Wilbur from him, no one could, so he just laughed. He through back his head and cackled. Out of the corner of his eye he could see both Wilbur and Phil cringing back, like Tommy was a bomb that had just gone off.
"All right I won't hurt Phil" he said to Wilbur who sighed in relief, "but I can't just let this whole thing slide either."
"What do you-
"I told you to forget about the basement didn't I Wilbur? But you just had sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. You remember these don't you?" He pulled out two potion bottles.
"Tommy I don't think that's necessary" Phil said.
"Shut up Phil. Wilbur, when I'm done you won't think about Phil ever again, then everything will be perfect."
"Tommy, don't do this."
Tommy threw the potions.