You're Better Off Without Me (A Tommyinnit Adoption Au)

Chapter Seventeen: The Bakery

There was only one word to describe how the group was feeling. Defeated. They had spent all day searching the town, checking every alleyway and every shop corner. Turns out, there are a lot more places to hide in one town than they expected, especially if you don't want to be found. The whole situation was discouraging for the group, especially Wilbur, who still felt a bit guilty for causing the blonde to run away in the first place. Although it may have been foolish, the group had been hoping for some kind of a sign after only one day of searching, but there had been none. No clues that the blonde was even alive. For all they knew, he could be across the country. Fortunately, they weren't willing to give up that easily. Besides texting and calling Tommy's phone, they attempted to find its last location, put up posters, asked around, and even sent word through the trains, which would cover more ground and inform more people. The group was determined to search until they were physically unable, though Phil convinced the search party to head back to their houses at around six o'clock to get a good night's rest. He knew they had a long few days ahead of them, and everyone would need some energy. Tommy had been missing since Monday, and it was the end of Tuesday. Tired, hungry and defeated, the group parted ways. Tomorrow, they promised, they would get back together and search again. One way or another, they would find Tommy, before it was too late.

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Timeskip: The next day... (brought to you by your author who is cringing rereading all this absolute shit but not wanting to disappoint people by taking it down :P )

The group reassembled early Wednesday morning. It had been two days since Tommy had left. Today, they would ask around in the shops. If they saw no signs of Tommy by the end of tomorrow, they would involve the police and the orphanage in an attempt to find Tommy. But they wanted a chance to find the blonde on their own, afraid of what the orphanage might do with Tommy if they did find him. From what Tubbo said about the orphanage and Tommy's experience there, they didn't want him to go back there ever again. "Alright, I think we will go in groups today, search a bit more organized. We need to ask in all the shops, see if anyone has seen him since he left. Hopefully, someone will have at least seen him, and we'll go from there." Phil commanded. "I'll take the first group out." Niki offered. "My family owns a bakery in town. Who should I take with me?" Phil thought for a moment. "How about you take Purpled, Punz, Sapnap, and George. The rest of us will stay here for now." Niki nodded in agreement. "Come on boys." She called, heading for the door. "We have a lot of places to search."

They started at Niki's family bakery. It was a small shop, but a well known one, and it had the best pastries in the town. Niki was fairly certain Tommy hadn't stopped by, but one could never be too sure. They entered the little shop quickly, but stopped just as fast as the smell of Niki's fresh pastries wafted to their noses. "Hey Bad!" Niki called one of the employees. "Mind handing out a few of those muffins you baked?" Bad was a personal friend of Niki's. The man was very sweet, and he made amazing muffins. When he had applied for the job, Niki had almost instantly accepted him. "Sure Niki!" Bad replied happily. "I've got a few fresh ones that need taste testing!" For just a moment, they forgot about their problem, enjoying the taste of Bad's heavenly muffins. The sweet treats melted on their tongues, just the right texture and temperature to warrant gasps of delight. "Bad, these are insane!" Punz complimented. Bad smiled proudly. "So, what made you drop by Niki?" Bad questioned. The atmosphere in the room instantly dampened, and Bad immediately looked guilty for ruining the mood. "Well, actually, one of our good friends has disappeared, and we don't know where he's gone. We do know that we need to find him quickly though, we're afraid of what might happen if we don't." Bad's expression immediately switched to sympathy and concern. "That's horrible!" He exclaimed. "What do they look like?" Niki sighed. "Blonde teenager, a few scars visible on his face, blue eyes, about yay tall." She gestured to Tommy's height, and Bad shook his head. "Sorry, I don't think I've seen anyone come in here matching that description. I'll be sure to keep an eye out though." Niki nodded, a sad smile on her face. "Alright, well, he also has a red motorcycle, and he prefers to ride at night. If you wouldn't mind spreading the word around..." Bad nodded his head furiously. "Of course I will. I hope you find him soon." Niki smiled at her friend. "Thanks for the muffins Bad, and keep me updated if you do happen to see him. I'll drop by tomorrow." Bad returned her sad smile. "See you around Niki!" The group headed out of the bakery, calling out behind them in a chorus of thank you and see you around, wondering if they would ever find their young, blonde friend.

"That was a bust. Sapnap said dejectedly. "Well, we know he wasn't at the bakery." George reasoned. "That doesn't help us!" Sapnap retorted. "There's a lot of places for him to hide. Hell, we don't even know if he's alive!" The group turned somber quickly, and Niki sighed at her friends. They needed Tommy back. The group walked down Main Street, looking at all the happy shops in disgust. It felt so wrong to be walking through such a happy place. Tommy was gone, and it felt like the world should have stopped in its tracks for the boy. Instead, Main Street was just as busy as ever, and Punz suggested they go all the way to the ocean edge to speak quietly and determine their next move. Together, the group made their way to the end of the road, sitting on the conveniently placed benches and watching the ocean, tears glazing over their eyes. Lost in their own thoughts, no one noticed the gaze of the youngest member of the search party as it fell upon a certain cliff...

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Guys, someone should have told me how bad this was. Like seriously, I was rereading it, and I just mixed like six different genres into one. I'm going to finish it because I don't want to let people down, and I've been editing it as much as possible, but I don't know about this one. Hopefully you'll like my new book (self plug???) coming soon! I'll see you all later, yeah? Bye!