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Are you sitting in the bathtub in the dark?
Yeah? I’m an adult, I can do that. Don’t worry about it.
Too late. You okay?
I’m fine.
If you’re sure. We’ll be here when you’re ready.
When Tup walks out, wearing his thick robe, Fives opens his arms to them. Tup collapses onto the couch and sprawls into him, their own arm across Fives’ chest to squeeze Echo’s hand. “Sweetheart?” Fives murmurs, and Tup just buries their face in his shoulder instead of answering. Echo presses in close at his other side, reaching over to run his fingers through Tup’s damp curls. Tup is shivering, and they both wrap them up as much as they can to warm him.
They both have an idea of what’s going on, but they aren’t going to push it until Tup is ready to talk, if they are. If they aren’t, they have takeout on the way and plenty of movies they haven’t seen queued on Netflix.
“I didn’t want to see myself,” Tup finally says, their voice muffled by Fives’ shirt, “Or- just feel anything.” Fives rubs their back, listening as the words spill out of them. “Being in the water helps, it just… feels like a hug I guess, I can’t feel my chest or the way clothes fit or anything like that. And when it’s dark, I don’t have to see it. It helps.” They look up at Fives and Echo, helpless in a way that Fives hates to see on them.
“How long were you in there?” Maybe it’s no the right question, but it’s the first one that falls off his tongue, and Tup shrugs, mumbling something about their last class. “No wonder you’re cold.” He wraps his arms tighter around them, trying to rub warmth back into their chilled body.
Tup rests their head on his shoulder again. “I couldn’t wear my binder anymore, but I couldn’t wear anything else, I didn’t want to feel them, so I just…” They shrug one shoulder, sighing. “Sorry I worried you.”
“It’s not your fault,” Echo murmurs, stroking their hair, carefully finger-combing the long curls, “We just weren’t sure what was going on, or how we could help.”
Tup sighs again, but they smile when they look up at the two of them. “Just… keep being you,” they say, and Fives smiles as he leans down to kiss their forehead, “Knowing you want to help, that’s- that helps a lot.”
“You know it, sweetheart.”