(This is a hermit!Tommy one-shot, I guess? What happened previously to this one-shot is that Tommy left Hermitcraft to start his own world, and Tommy came back to visit the hermits.)
(Summary: Grian and Tommy gets to talk. They don't address a lot of things though.)
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Guarded, wounded and feral.
He's too young to look like that, Grian thinks. He knows that look. He knows where that slouch came from. The stance of a soldier, so ready for any kind of attack. Tommyinnit, a survivor and a warrior, barely an adult- he smiles at Grian, and Grian's startled out of his trance, hiding his grimace by waving back.
"Hey! Grian, it's been so long!"
Grian laughs. "Two years are not that long."
"Oh yeah? How do you explain our height differences then? Unless you shrunk during the past two years, big man. However, I am being polite today. So, here it goes: you look extra parrot-y today."
He looks proud, saying that. As usual, Tommy quickly stop making sense. Grian tilts his head, torn between finding this funny or taking offense. "That's not a compliment." Grian says with a laugh.
"Oh, believe me, it is." Tommy nods gravely.
Grian lets out a chuckle. Tommy does seem to have grown up a lot. The way he talks is different, it's much more patient than before, and he shoulders also broadened. Grian's almost proud, but he would never admit that out loud. Still, Tommy is a child, much too young except for those eyes that are always filled with grief and pain and absolution and-
Peace.
Grian does a double take. He's eyes widen, and his mind suddenly goes blank.
"Grian? Is something wrong?"
A hand gently touches his shoulder. Grian flinches.
"...Big man, you alright?"
"I-"
It finally hits Grian that Tommy sounds worried- why? Why would Tommy need to worry about him? He's not a child that needs to be taken care of. The only one here that needs it is- Grian frantically searches again- there's only concerns in Tommy's eyes. And in the reflection, Grian sees himself- shoulder tensed and eyebrows furrowed.
He opens his mouth to form some kind of response, but nothing comes.
"Grian?" Tommy try to shake him by his shoulder. Grian instinctively takes a step back. There's a silent panic accumulating in the back of his head but he ignores it.
"Y-yeah! Sorry, I got- I was just thinking. It's really unfair how tall you've gotten. I am just...surprised, yeah." He chuckles, but it sounds all wrong even to himself. He takes another step back.
Tommy stares for a bit, but then he exhales and grins, "Yeah, I am pretty massive, aren't I?"
Grina sees how Tommy smooths over his frown- intentionally blank and relaxed, a poker face that keeps you alive in confrontation. All Grian can say is sorry, I think I left my chicken pen opened, be right back! and fly and away as fast as possible.
Tommy doesn't shout after him. For a brief second, Grian doesn't know he should be more relieved or more disappointed.
Even after all these years, he's still not okay. He thought he had gotten better. He swallow the acid that rises in his throat and decides- no. He's fine. He's grown. Everything is okay. Everything is perfect.
It has to be.
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(won't you look at that it's a hermit!Tommy ficlet in the last few days of 2023)
so I started this is in the middle of December but didn't finish it until now. I basically gave up at this point, just wants to get this out. sorry!
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UGH i wrote another stupid small thing 4 swapinverse.... idk whats wrong with me why am i writing so much swapinverse stuff when i havent even finished it. anyways swapinverse killer here take this (this one is much vaguer bc it takes place before a lot of the more like obvious events happen??? idk only i understand what i'm talking about here)
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open eyes. greeting by the dark ceiling again. get dressed. typical routine for him… nothing new. nothing interesting. papyrus will knock on the door soon. he should probably prepare for that. no need to stay in bed. that won't do anything anyways. he’ll still feel nothing. like normal, he knocks after the jacket is put on. and he opens that door, to be greeted with the enthusiastic, smiling face of his brother.
sans smiles. obviously, he has to. otherwise paps will get worried, and he doesn't wanna have to deal with a worried paps. it just makes things worse for everyone. they walk through the forest, paps leads him to the guard station, and he sits. same as usual… the exact same. the same routine, nothing new. nothing new. the same. it's all the same.
sans had long since gotten tired of this monotony. soon, chara would come out of that door. he’d introduce himself to them, and they’d play that short game of pretend where they pretended not to know each other. like they always did. chara mentioned something about it being scripted or something, but sans couldn't be bothered to care. besides, the human always mumbled random stuff like that. it meant nothing. nothing new. they’d kill the rest of the underground, he’d fight them because he has nothing better to do, and die.
although they did mention that deal they’d been talking about? what was that? join them? yeah, no. he wasn't gonna do that. no matter how many resets passed.
oh. here they come. better get on track. or onto script, like chara says. for some reason, they say that. the saying gets stuck a bit in sans’s head. just a bit though, since it’s a new thought. and they turn, and sans shakes hands with chara.
he’s long since ditched the whoopee cushion. despite them still doing what was practically a ritual at this point, that was the only change that ever happened. nice that he chose for the newness, but it didn't change much. but… something was off. something was wrong. and sans could feel it. he could feel it. and that was what was wrong.
it wasn't with the way chara smiled, or their posture, or how their hand was outstretched. not the strange, expectant excitement in their red eyes, although that was a bit new. it wasn't even all of the dust covering them, certainly from the ruins. no, the issue was from sans himself. he could feel something wrong. like some sort of internal dread? no, something worse… an ache? he’d gotten used to all the one’s he normally felt, so what was it?
once the human’s hand left his and walked through the gate, he knew what it was. something… that something he could feel. that something that passed through the barrier of apathy he’d built all this time. an itch? sans scratched at his head, just idly. physical or not, he didn't know. he had to figure it out. and so, he followed after the human.
after a while of watching them, chara, do their… usual business, sans had came to a conclusion. it was both. and also, neither. the itch was something that he could feel, but not physically. so it was a mental itch. and that itch managed to effect him so badly he felt it on his bones. strange. and for some reason, as he watched chara slaughter one after another, kill and murder another one of his kin, sans couldn't wrench his eye lights away from the sight. for some reason, he couldn't stop watching as chara singly handledly destroyed his species. for some reason, he followed.
"it's not that bad, anyways. just… morbid curiosity. it wouldn't hurt to just… scratch that itch a bit. nothing will come of it."
and sans made sure to say that one out loud, just to convince himself.
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oooh pal buddy you do not know what you are in for!!!! you are about to experience terrible suffering at your own hands!!!! sucks to suck lmao at least your chara is just as confused as you are during the process haha! i love swapinverse this is so fun i keep on saying that but i really should write more
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