Chapter Text
He was woken by a small prickly feeling on his nose, making him want to sneeze.
He twitched his nose, yawning. His head throbbed with a dull, aching pain, feeling like it was going to break through his skull at any moment.
He felt quiet and calm, like a heavy weight was pulling him down, the memories of a few hours ago flooding back making him cringe.
He moved slightly to the right rearranging his position to find something comfier.
the fair amount of sleep that he had gotten only felt like a few seconds, of unyleding tiredness. He felt more sleepy than he did before.
he felt two arms around his chest.
That's odd, he thought, but his head was full of fog and he was too sleepy to do anything about it.
He just wanted to get as much sleep as possible, to just make the thick tierdness go away.
If he was going to die, he was determined not to die tired, and because he really didn't want to say anything to Wilbur.
He squeezed his eyes tightly together trying to block out the sun that was shining brightly through his eyelids in beams of orange and yellow.
What had happened, how long had he been asleep? he turned over conteplating on what to do.
He could feel the warm sun and its heat on his cheeks making him even more sleepy and groggy.
It was nice, calm and not rushed or any death threats. He just pushed his anxiety to the back of his chest somewhere deep down where he would be able to pull it out later if he needed to.
He must have fallen asleep when Wilbur picked him up, he just realised that he was wearing wilburs jumper, the sleeves were to long and the had been rolled up, covering his scars . He hadn't actually thought he was going to fall asleep, he was just saying that.
He turned his head and started to bury his face into something warm and soft, he presumed it was Wilbur, him obviously wanting to protect him and all after being a jerk. '
Good, he should feel bad. But he felt comforted by Wilbur's presence and he tried his best to go back to sleep. He attempted to block out the light by putting his hand over his eyes.
He let his mind wander back to his memories of the last few hours, a tangled yarn of feelings that he knew he would never be able to unravle. (i love when i can tell that its your weighting, your always so fucking regle and soft lol)He cringed at himself, he must have looked like an idiot child. An idiot child who hadn't known what to do when Wilbur was yelling at him.
He should have defended himself more. He shouldn't have run away. That was a scared child thing to do, But he had been scared, he now realised that Wilbur would never hurt him, but in that moment it felt like he was capable of anything.
He tried to sit up, not really feeling the nastalsha that he ushly got with a good nights rest. He could feel Wilbur's arms around his shoulders, when he tried to move Wilbur only tightened his grip, lacing his fingers together to ensure that Tommy wouldn't be able to escape.
he squinted feeling the light burn his eyes like he was some kind of vampire. But as he eyes slowly adjusted he began to be able to make out their surroundings.
They were sitting underneath a large cluster of pine trees, surrounded by long grass and purple flowers. A soft breeze was wafting the sweet sent of the flowers in to the air mixing with the familiar smell of pine needles.
It felt like nothing could go wrong or be bad, no death or any kind of violence could ever occur, yet he was in the most danger he had ever been in.
He looked up at Wilbur and scoffed at him. He was holding Tommy tightly like he thought would evaporate at any moment.
He'd fallen asleep sitting up, his head lolling against a tree, dark circles around his eyes and tear streaks down his face, Quackity's beanie sat loosly on his head, pushing his hair forward and over his eyes. Tommy sat huddled in his lap.
Like a fucking baby.
Clingy moron, he thought as he closed his eyes again. He fucking better regret what he had done to him. Special treatment was now in order.
...........
When he woke up again, this time to see that the sun was setting and the shadows growing taller.
Quackity was slowly starting to pack up again, his things clustered around him, but he was reading a book, his dark, black hair covering his eyes.
He smiled but then grimaced, he was feeling like he was safe again, he had been living with no one not even a pet, so now that he had two adults nearby, it gave him a false sense of safety.
Not that he was relying on them. He never relied on any one, he hadn't been able to and he'd accepted that he was a solo man and he was happy about that but he would allow them to tag along with him for now.
He'd decided that his small moment of wanting to stay with them and even live with them had been a little bit of weakness but he was over it now.
He laid back down, looking at Quackity and his mind wondering what would happen when Wilbur and Quackity got married and adopted him.
Nope never mind apparently not over it.
Quackity looked up at Tommy seeing that he was now awake gave him a little wave.
He mouthed a sorry, what for he didn't really know it just felt like the right thing to do. Quackity gave him a soft smile looking up from his book with a small shrug "He regrets it, all of it," he said like he'd read Tommy's mind.
Did he regret it? He better fucking regret it
But they were ok now, right?
They had to be otherwise Wilbur wouldn't be like this, over protective or clingy.
He looked so tired, but it wasn't anything new they were all exhausted with matching dark circles under their eyes. Tommy tried to get up, trying not to wake him up before giving up and shoving of Wilbur's arm of his shoulder. Wilbur stirred but didn't wake.
"Hey Quackity?" he said looking up "Should I wake him up or let him sleep....I don't,"
"We can let him sleep, we're in no hurry, we have an hour left before there's anything we have to worry about,"
"Ok Cool, Cool, Cool, Cool," he said as he got up cautiously moving over to sit by Quackity in the grass, ignoring Wilbur's small jolt as he sat up "Toms?" he said sleepily.
Tommy looked at him and rested a hand on Wilbur's shoulder pushing him back gently.
"It's ok, you just sleep,"
"But are we-"
"We're all good Wil, I promise,"
As much as he wanted to be mad at him he couldn't, every time he tried he got a hot bubbly feeling of guilt in the pit of his stomach and he just wanted to move on.
Wilbur laid back down looking at him carefully, Tommy couldn’t help but feel like a baby that no one wanted to let out of their sight.
Not that he minded, he hadn't had people who cared about him in so long that he was willing to bear with the attention that these people were willing gave him.
It was nice to know that people cared, he never believed Wilbur when he said he didn't mean those things. A part of Tommy knew that every little word was true, he was clingy and annoying , he had had to many people tell him that so it must be true. He was difficult and hard to deal with, he knew that.
Everyone meant it, Wilbur wasn’t any different.
He sat, down occasionally looking at what Quackity was reading, but kept glancing at Wilbur every now and then.
Something was off with Wilbur as he lay there. He looked weary and but still somehow on alert, his pupils were dialated and kept darting toward Tommy and Quackity making sure that they were still there.
"You all good Soot?" Quackity said as he out down his book and walked over to him. Sitting down, he took Wilbur's hand, a concerned look on his face.
Wilbur nodded, seeming to relax now Quackity was close by, he closed his eyes.
Tommy exchanged a worried glance with Quackity, Wilbur was acting weird, like he was somewhere else or seeing something they weren’t.
Maybe he was having a dream? Or a panic attack, Or maybe he was just skittish, he tried to chalk it up to something simple and non concerning.
Wilbur hadn't had an episode in days, maybe they’d slowed down, Tommy hoped that they had while he pretended to be un-phased by then but if he was honest they scared him. He hated that Wil refused to tell him about them, he hated not being able to help.
But on the other hand it could’ve been that Fundy triggered something. It wasn’t a stretch to say that what had happened was the reason behind the way Wilbur was acting.
He decided that he should still tell Quackity about the episodes even if Wil wasn’t currently having one. He should know and maybe he would be able to help Wilbur, he would be able to do more than Tommy could any way.
He waited ten minutes wanting to make sure that Wilbur was fast asleep before he going to talk behind his back "Hey, Quackity?"
Quackity looked up raising his eyebrows questioningly.
"You-Wilbur,"
How the fuck does he start a conversation like this
“It’s about Wil,"
"Yeah, what about him? If it has anything to do with yesterday he isn’t mad at you, just at him self-"
He glanced at Wilbur who was leaning up against Quackity, in a deep sleep.
"-No, no it's not about that. It's just Wilbur has been having these attacks, they’re like panic attacks but they’re not panic attacks. We just call them episodes"
Quackity stared at him his mouth open just a little
“What do you mean?"
"He sees things, like things that aren’t there. He isn't even where he thinks he is,"
he took a deep breath, now that he was saying it out loud he now only grasped at how serious this could actually be.
“He says that it is like a red brick room.....with things inside, he hasn't told me what. He’s being all shut off about it. He just looks off and can’t hear me, it’s like he’s in a sort of trance,”
"Well what kind?"
He paused, he didn't know how to explain it, how could you say something like this.
“I don't know, it's like he leaves, like he goes somewhere else,"
He saw Quackity tighten his grip on Wilbur's hand pulling him closer as if he was about to disappear.
"I-i just thought that you would want to know,"
He could see Quackity’s brain trying to process it all.
“Wait," Quackity said "So..how long has this been going on for?”
“A few months maybe three of four. It's hard to tell, but by the looks of it maybe a lot longer, they get better and then worse again, he has nightmares to, he hasn't told me but I can tell, he just lays awake,"
"Oh. Ok, so he does tell you anything at all ?"
A few days ago Wilbur had told Tommy about a nightmare that he had, about being trapped in a cold, empty room that he didn’t recognise but somehow he knew he was back in L’manberg, he tried to escape but he can’t and he knows deep down that no one is coming to find him.
Quackity stroked Wilbur hair not taking his eyes of him "Stupid idiot,"
Tommy nodded, it wasn’t fair how Wilbur was always there for him but he wouldn't let Tommy be there for him.
“Yeah, he is, he’s so stupid, maybe if we knew more then maybe we could help,"
"Maybe"
If they knew more he might know how to fix it and make it better.
And it would go away
He sat back down next to Wilbur, leaning against him.
“I don't want anything bad to happen to him" his voice sounded so small and child like, but he couldn't help it. He hated feeling small tears prick at his eyes and his face go red and hot. He combed his fingers through his hair tugging at it in frustration.
He wanted Wilbur to be safe, he had to protect him.
Wilbur stirred and awoke with a jolt of surprise with fear in his wide eyes.
He looked around frantically at Tommy and Quackity who were sitting beside him before calming down. Sinking back down against the tree.
"Hey, Soots it’s ok," Quackity said, he continued stroking Wilbur’s hair pulling him closer.
Wilbur shook his head "Yeah, I know, I know......Toms,"
"Yeah?" he said.
"You’re ok..right?" Wilbur said, looking at him with wide eyes.
Tommy nodded, “I’m ok, we’re ok, it’ll be ok,” he said not knowing what else to say.
“Ok...you promise you’re ok?”
“I promise Wil,”
Wilbur nodded in satisfaction, he began to say something but he was cut off by a loud shout from the woods.