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Baby could stress out sometimes, Tom knew this.
Everyone were laid out in the lounge room in the back after a particularly stressful day, though, that could be said for every day out here on this hellish planet. A light conversation, joking about the days trails, putting on puppet shows and playing games. It was all calm when Baby, who had been fidgeting with something in his hand, when his entire body stiffened and he quickly muttered out an excuse, saying that he forgot something in the main room.
Normally Tom would not question this but Tom wasnt blind, atleast in the one eye he was not, He knew something was wroung. So Tom stood, declaring he would come back with soup for the group. Deedee waved him off and they continued their conversation, so Tom made his way through the hall way and peeked through the door of the main sitting room.
The lights where still off from when they had decided to leave for the Cabin but the only difference was the large man curled up in his own chair and shaking like a leaf, Tom came to the realization that his crewmate was crying.
Tom stood there, unable to move for a momment, but tom eventaully gathered himself and took a step forwards toward Baby. When the other man did not resond, Tom cleared his throat which seemed to gather his attention. Baby snapped his head to him.
"Are, Are you doing alright Bronco?" Tom questioned with concern. Baby would sniffle heavily but didnt respond, so Tom pressed further, "Bronco, whats bothering you?" Baby bit his lip, almost afraid to respond before pulling out a headless figurine from his collar and let out a distressed choke. Tom was about to ask if that was it before realizing how much sentiment thise doll must be to Baby if it brought him down this hard.
"T-Tom, he, I br-broke him! I-it was the only toy ma' parents l-let me have and I b-broke it-!" and with that Baby broke down back into tears. Toms breath would stutter a momment, again, unsure what to do before gently cupping his hands together.
"May I see it Bronco? " Baby hesitated, fidgeting with the toy for a momment before finally nodding and setting the beloved figurine in Toms palm, "Lets see if we can fix it, yes?" Tom stood up and walked across the room, Baby's steady, but teary, eyes on him. He plucked the duct tape off the shelf and came back to the table in the middle of the room.
It took a while but soon Baby was once again holding the now heavily taped, but intact, Doll. The ginger let out a happy sob at the sight and held the figurine close to his chest, fresh tears still running down his face.
"Tom! He's a-all better! T-thank you! " Baby cried again. Tom smiled slightly and went to stand up. As soon as Tom did he was instantly brought into a bone breaking hug of Baby Bronco. The younger man burried his face into Toms chest, thanking him profusly. This and creating a wet patch on Toms suit. Tom was stiff, not expecting that new bruised rib but he eventaully laughed gently.
" Your welcome, Baby"
----
Emmet had the tendency to over think things, Tom knew this.
It had been a normal after noon. Or atleast tom Thought it was after noon. He couldnt tell on this planet anymore, it abided by its own set of rules and didnt care if the moon was out of an unnaturally long time or if the sun stayed so long out that it scorched the terrain. So Tom assumed it was after noon.
Tom could assume it was after noon because normally Emmet began to pace the shuttle in deep thought. Usually he would snap out of it in an hour, and though they had little way of telling how long its been without hearing the annoying voice of the AI for the ship, Tom knew it had atleast been 3 hours. It was concerning at this point to be perfectly frank, And when emmet suddenly disappeared into the back cabin it was even more concerning.
While the others did look worried aswell, though he felt like he could sense a bit of relief coming from his crew mates at the captains leaving. Tom would be relieved too if he hadnt seen the genuine stress written across his captains face. So, Tom waited a minute before standing up, claiming to need to relieve himself, and Deedee's expected cry of,
"Too much information!"
Tom made his way through the door and into the hallway, bypassing the airlock and went for the cabin door. Lightly wrapping his knuckles against the cold metal door, only the sound of crashing metal awnsered him. Tom quickly peeked his head into the room.
"Captain, are you alright?" Emmet seemed to be in an almost panicked state as he tried to put the fallen items back onto the shelf that he appeard to have been knocked off. Tom made his way into the room only to be stopped by Emmets raised hand.
"Stop! just, stop where you are, Okay?" Tom obliged and stood in place, "I know this may sound crazy, but I dont know if you are an alien or not and id rather you not near me"
"Understandable, not alot of people want me near even if im not an alien" Tom snorted in response, though his humour did not phase Emmets paranoid demeanor.
"Im really sorry Tom its just that i have all these ideas in my head, I dont even know whats real anymore!" Emmet clutched his hair in his hands, he seemed to be shaking. Tom sighed, reaching into his collar and pulling out a spare sock that he had on him at the time, not that he was hoarding it.
"Would you like to tell Ted about your thoughts?" Tom asked as he placed the sock onto his hand. Emmet shifted his weight from one side to the other before awkwardly nodding.
"Yeah, actually, I'd like that."
----
Deedee could get cranky, Tom knew this for sure.
Tom couldnt even be bothered to begin to count the ammount of times Deedee has snapped at him one way or another. This was especially prominent when the Woman ran out off coffee, Tom was sure she had an addiction and th whole space situation did not help it.
Tom was making his way through the hot sands of Mootopia, blood running past his chin and an armful of soup cans. He was unsure how these cans got 60 parsecs away from earth, but he didnt question it, soup was soup. He was begining his treck back when his foot caught on something under him and he fell down to the ground with a thud, dropping all of the cans from his grasp.
"Augh! What the fuck?" Tom winced in pain as he turned to look at what tripped him. It was half burried in the sand but he didnt mind digging it up to see the item for his directed anger.
As he cleared the sand away he realized he had seen something like this before... Of course! A coffee machine! He opened the top to see that there where still coffee beans in the container, granted there where a few grains of sand, be he was sure it would be fine. Tom lifted the coffee maker onto his shoulder and picked up the rest of the soup cans he could carry and made his way through the sandy enviroment.
Tom quietly slid through the air lock door, he noticed the lights where dimmed out, he assumed that everyone was asleep. Though it was still relativly bright outside, the sun was out for longer and they still needed their atleast 9 hours. He would slowly slink towards the back cabin, maybe he could play off the new coffee machine as if an alien brought it. He didnt want to personally give it to Deedee.
Though Tom of course did not get what he wished and he stumbled upon said Deedee crouched in the corner, shakily padding through old expired pills that should have been thrown out but Emmet said they'd be good to keep for in case situations. She was clutching her head as if in pain before she picked up a bottle, turning around but imidiantly dropping it again upon seeing the intruder before he could leave.
"Tom!" Deedee winced at the bottles sudden rattle and she pushed her foot onto it to silence it. "Augh, Hello, I didnt think you would be back already" The woman groaned, lifting the pill bottle from the floor, "Whats that you have?"
Tom shrugged the machine off his shoulder and onto the table, pressing a switch on the machine and a light shown. Deedee stood there for a momment before sniffing slightly and letting out a gentle gasp, "Tom you didnt" The woman stumbled against the table with a sense of dizziness to her step.
"I found it in the sand and thought- "
"oh my god shut up Tom, your a life saver" Deedee snapped, not even bothering to pour the pot into a cup and would simply dump a handfull of the long sinse expired painkillers and downing it with the broiling hot coffee.
"Are you doing alright Double D? You seem to be enjoying something." Tom asked with an almost sly grin that she was savouring anything he did. She groaned.
"You're so lucky you got me coffee Tom"
----
Maegan was a family woman, Tom knew this.
It was extremly hot, too hot. It was unbarable, it was the kind of heat to drive you absolutly bonkers. This is what happened to the crews favourite Mother, Maegan. While Emmet was desperatly trying to configure the cooling system down in the engine room, and Baby currently in the back cabin, saying that it was too stuffy in the main room. It was only himself, Deedee, and Maegan.
Now Deedee was just fine, she was fanniny herself mercilessly and she no longer needed to worry about her coffee cooling, but Maegan on the other hand. She sat there giggling to herself with her boots on her hands, which made the ships AI cry it out rage about "Proper foot saftey". Maegan did not care.
Eventally, Maegan got up and very sternly walked over to Tom and announced to him.
"Young lady!"
" Im not a lady-"
"We are going to sit down and have a perfect and normal family meal together for once!" And with that Maegan dragged Tom out of his seat to his own surprise and sat him down on the floor. Tom was extremely confused and turned to look at Deedee but she only returned his look with giggling.
Maegan would place a "bowl" in Toms lap, it wasnt even a bowl, there was nothing in his lap but Maegan looked expectantly at him so he would awkwardly raise his fist to his lips to "drink" the "soup". Note the quotation marks, none of this mean is real.
"Mmmm, uhm, Thanks, Mom"
"Your welcome honey! just, get your elbows off the table" now, as you can obviously tell, there was no table, this confused Tom while it only added to Deedee's laughter.
"Wha-?"
"Elbows off the table" Maegan frowned at Tom with a harsh intensity until he shifted his elbows more closer to himself when Maegan smiled again. This went on for atleast 15 minutes Tom guessed, He had a light conversation with the woman of how his school was going, even though he hadnt been to school in atleast over 20 years, and if he had walked the imaginary dog yet. Well, atleast Deedee thought it was funny.
After all that, Maegan would blink, jerking her body away from Tom.
"You arnt my child! They where never this easy to deal with" Maegan stated, Tom was relieved at her realization. Deedee, barely containing her laughter, added,
" Oh come on Mom, you cant just disown your Daughter like that"
What a lovely but dysfunctional family.
----
His crewmates where light sleepers, Tom did not know this.
Tom tossed and he turned every which way, He felt as if he couldnt breath and no matter what he did he couldnt seem to grasp the reality around him. He had been running for hours? Days? Weeks? Maybe even years, he couldnt tell but he wanted so hard to just rest. But those dreadful tendrils would encase his lungs every time he even Thought of giving up.
You will obey, obey my rule.
He didnt know what this thing wanted from him but it seemed wiling to take his life if he did not comply to his demands.
But every time Tom pleaded and begged he was left with breathless agony once more as those vines crept down his throat and attempted to take over what little humanity he seemed to have left inside him, Clawing from the inside out. He couldnt handle it, he couldnt run anymore, he couldnt, He wanted to give up, but it hurt so bad, it hurt!
He was suppost to be the hero! He was suppost to be the hero, He couldnt breath, oh god he just wanted it to stop. He curled in on himself, choking on the darkness surrounding him, eating away his flesh till he could see no more...
Toms eyes shot open and he had a second to cover his mouth and muffle the scream of agony that came out. His breathing coming out in rapid succession, He knew the air was coming in and through his lungs but he could almost still feel the constriction around his throat and he couldn't control it. He didnt even realize the heavy tears streaking down his face in heavy waves of hiccups.
Tom suddenly felt something strong around him and he quickly tried to push away from it but its restraint did not lessen, but this time it felt warm and comforting rather then the cold inhuman touch he was expecting.
"Tom?? Thomson! Tom can you hear me?" Tom would nod, almost reaching out for the voice, it felt human. His hand met with the much thinner ones that he knew belonged to Emmet, "Tom please breath, your alright" His breath shuttered as he tried to control it once again. He felt a reassuring hand comb through his hair from Maegan as he was lifted up by Baby so he was sitting up again.
"Im, Im, Im okay- " Tom began to defend himself, not used to the amount of physical contact he was receiving, But a hot mug of coffee was shoved into his hands before he could continue.
"Quiet Tom, something is obviously wrong other wise this wouldnt be happening, now hush up and drink the coffee, Its the last cup and I know it helps me"
"Dont worry Thomson, You will be okay"
"If anything does try and hurt you call me, and I'll punch em!"
"We will always be here if you need us"
Tom let out a shaky laugh, wiping at his eyes, his breath was still shaking but he no longer felt as if was in danger. And for the first time in a while, Tom actually felt,
Safe