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His hand shook as it reached to feel his throbbing eye, which he was sure was already turning purple. The sharp pain of his fingers against the bruise made him jump and let out a light hiss.
His brows furrowed as he thought of the incident that occurred moments prior, him pushing his brothers—who’s already a foot and a half off the deep end—last button and ended with him being punched straight in the face.
Tommy wasn’t really expecting it, and just stood there on the floor watching the regret fill his brothers eyes. There weren’t any kind words or apologies, Wilbur had just stormed out of the room.
It feels like the walls of this cave are closing in further and further every day he’s stuck down here, like maybe the two of them are already dead and this is their tomb.
Wilbur gets paranoid and borderline aggressive whenever Tommy even slightly mentions going outside of the ravine, which makes a little bit of sense with all the rambling he’s been going on with about traitors and enemy’s and spies. It’s fucking insanity.
His brother has never been a perfect caretaker—far from it at times—but he’s never been this bad. He hears him talking to himself, sometimes. Just incoherent rambling that keeps Tommy up at night.
He feels guilty for being so scared of him, being scared that soon enough he’ll wake up with Wilbur standing over his makeshift bed. Tommy will stay up at night, just watching the entrance of his room, waiting.
He doesn’t know when the devil took over his brother, but he knows that it’s here now.
He stares at his hands, still sitting down where Wilbur left him when he hears footsteps coming closer and closer, shoes clicking against the rocks. It can’t be Wilbur—the shoes don’t sound like his and the steps are too fast—Quackity? Maybe—what if it’s—
“Tommy?” A familiar high pitched voice whispered out his name, he continued, “Are you here?” Thank god, it’s Tubbo.
He’s so relieved he almost forgets to respond to his calls, opening his mouth to whisper-yell back, “I’m in here!” He hasn’t seen his bestfriend in a while, both of them stuck in a place they don’t want to be. He hopes Tubbo has been doing better in Manburg than he’s been doing here.
Tubbo turns around the corner and Tommy immediately sees a smile crawl onto his face when he sees him, both of them quickly rushing to the other to meet in a hug. Tubbo lets out a big sigh, one that seems like all his problems suddenly escaped from his body. From the crook of Tommy’s neck, Tubbo whispers, “I’ve missed you. You haven’t been responding to my messages asshole, I thought something had actually happened to you.”
Wilbur had taken away his communicator days ago, another result of his increasing paranoia. He didn’t know how Tubbo would react to Wilbur breaking one of the universal rules.
Even if it’s your worst enemy, you never ever take away another persons communicator. It’s viewed as one of the worst acts a person can commit. Personally, Tommy thinks that if you wouldn’t wish something on your worst enemy, then that isn’t your worst enemy.
Tommy laughs lightly, just to shake the stress away and responds, “I lost it. This cave is gigantic.” Tubbo pulls away from the embrace and looks at Tommy with a big smile before playfully pushing him, and joking, “Well I guess you’re as smart as ever, huh?” He shoves him right back with mock anger.
“So—what happened to your face? You’re all ugly now.” Tubbo says, waving his hand in Tommy’s face. Tommy playfully responds, “I’ll have you know that my charm has never been better. I have to turn ladies away and beat them with off brooms—just to have some privacy!” He clarifies, “I’ve just acquired some battle scars. The spiders in this ravine are huge and Wil had me fight one of them off.” He points to his face to further drive home the point.
Tubbo laughs at his story and Tommy can only hope it’s genuine. He really doesn’t wanna admit he let himself get beat up by his brother.
It’s silent for a little bit, both of them still standing up. Not necessarily bad silence but comfortable silence. Tommy finds any moment comfortable with Tubbo.
He takes this moment to take in the changes in Tubbo’s appearance, he’s still in his suit—which is kind of messed up from the journey here, Tommy guesses by the leaves still stuck onto the fabric—and his hair is slightly shaggy. Or, atleast shaggy compared to how he usually keeps it. His eyes are more sunken in than usual, like he’s been kept awake just like Tommy has.
He thinks Tubbo’s been taking him in as well when their eyes meet accidentally, quickly averting to the opposite direction when they realize. Tubbo finally starts with, “Is this your new room? Last time I was here it was just a ravine. It looks like you’ve kind of turned it into an actual living space now.” Theres really only just a bed, a double chest, and a few flimsy chairs, but it’s definitely an improvement from sleeping on rocks.
“Yeah, it looks pretty nice right?” Tommy says pridefully, Tubbo responds, “I’ve seen better.” And Tommy shoots him a sideways look.
“Let’s sit down instead of just standing in the middle of the room.” Tommy says, gesturing to the twin bed stuffed into the corner of the small room.
“I wasn’t gonna say anything but I’m glad you did. The journey here sucked.” Tubbo said, picking a leaf out of his hair. Crashing down onto the bed.
Tommy swiftly joined him, the flimsy bed making a loud creaking noise. “How long can you stay?” Tommy said, suddenly reminded of the circumstances of their situation.
Tubbo smiled happily and said, “I can stay the night, Quackity is covering for me.” He laughed and yelled, “So—you’re gonna have to move over!” Tommy quickly pressed a finger to his mouth, glances towards the doorway. “Keep it down, will you? I don’t know how he’d react to you being here.”
Tubbos excited expression quickly turns into an apologetic frown as he unconsciously slams a hand onto his mouth.
“Sorry—I wasn’t thinking.” Tubbo was silent for a beat before continuing, “Quackity is that same way. He’s always telling me to not attract attention to myself, so Schlatt doesn’t notice me.” If Tubbo was being hurt the same way he was being hurt here he doesn’t know if he could take it.
Tommy gets ready to ask before Tubbo interrupts, saying, “Schlatt isn’t.. he’s not really mean. He’s just weird.” Tubbo adjusts his position on the bed, scooching to be closer to the wall. He says, “He’s always saying weird stuff to Quackity. And they argue alot.”
Tommy sighs and says, “I guess neither of us are having a good time then.” Tubbo nods in agreement.
It gets pretty cold at night, so Tommy is glad that Tubbo’s here to keep him warm. He says, “I only have one blanket, so you better not hog it.” Trying to bring warmth back into the conversation. Tubbo responds, “I can’t promise that.”
Tommy lays down on the outside of the bed, leaving room for Tubbo in between him and the wall. Tubbo kicks off his shoes and unbuttons his suit, taking off the uncomfortable uniform one by one, until he’s left in his boxers and an undershirt. He moves his dress shoes to be right next to Tommy’s converse, throwing his tie on top of Tommy’s discarded bandana. And wearily lies down next to him.
Physically, the bed isn’t too comfortable, being made for necessity, general comfort not being the focus. Paired with no sheet and one blanket, it might even have a place as one of the worst beds Tommy has ever slept on. Besides the ground, maybe. Though, with the two of them so close together, Tommy can’t help but feel at peace.
Tubbo has his arms wrapped around Tommy’s torso, generating warmth from their body heat. Usually there would be a few comments and jokes about them being so close together, but it’s been so long that he doesn’t think either of them have the energy to do anything except bask in eachothers presence.
With Tubbo’s body pressed against his, Tommy can’t help but let his tiredness overtake him, letting himself believe that his other half will somehow be able to fight the things that attack his mind when his eyes are closed.
They both fall asleep, having complete faith that the other will still be there when they open their eyes.