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Tommy woke up to his phone ringing. This wasn’t exactly the strangest thing to happen, honestly. He didn’t often need as much sleep as a human, so he had told them that any time he was needed, they could feel free to call him.
The weird part of it was that there was no set ring tone. Normally Tommy had some sort of song connected to the person calling, so he knew what he’d be dealing with in terms of emotional stability. Anyone who would be calling him at three in the morning should have had a different tone than the default one.
For a moment, Tommy debated rolling over and going back to sleep. Still, that would be rude, and he sighed, picking up the phone to answer it. “Hello?”
“Hi Mr. Tommy.” Joshua. That was Joshua’s voice. Suddenly much more awake, Tommy sat up, unplugging his phone as he did, sitting on the edge of the bed. Doing so woke up Sunkist, who lifted her head at him, staring quietly.
“Hi Joshua! What are you doing up?”
“Oh... I had a bad dream, and I-I went to go see daddy, cause that’s what I always do, and he wasn’t there.” Tommy blinked. Gordon never left the house when Joshua was sleeping unless it was to take the trash out to the street or another simple quick task like that. “And Daddy said that if he wasn’t there to call you! He taught me how and everything, and I got it this morning!” Joshua sounded so proud of himself, and yet, Tommy felt the world crash around him.
In moments so many things slotted into place. The necklace Gordon had passed along to him, sitting carefully against his heart at this moment, the trinkets and gifts he passed along to the group in general, the careful happy calm that had settled over him in the past few weeks.
Gordon was going to kill himself.
Tommy kicked himself for not realizing it sooner. All of these things had pointed towards it, why couldn’t he have known? Still, he had a mission to do first.
“Tell you what Joshua, I’m gonna come over right now, and I’m gonna bring the whole science team over.” He kept his voice from shaking, and Joshua seemed to lit up on the other end.
“Really?”
“Yeah! And when we get there, we’re gonna go find your dad for you, alright?”
“Okay...”
“Good. See you in a few minutes, alright Joshie?”
Once Joshua confirmed and hung up, Tommy scrambled to his feet, frantically pulling shoes on. Sunkist was up in moments, barking softly.
“Sunkist this is really important okay?” She thumped her tail against the ground in response. “I need you to go to Benrey first, alright, you know how to talk to Benrey right?” A line of positive sweet voice spread out from her snout, and Tommy nodded. “Okay, I need you to tell him that Gordon’s in trouble and to get to his apartment as quickly as possible.” Sunkist thumped her tail on the ground again. “Good, he can get there himself. After that.” He paused, blinked, before manifesting a note into existence, ink spilling across the page. He handed it to her, and she took it carefully into her mouth, holding it delicately. “Bubby and Coomer don’t know sweet voice so give that to them and then, when they read it, get them to Gordon’s house, alright?”
She bobbed her head once, and stood, disappearing through the walls. That taken care of, Tommy stood, managing to pull his shoes on completely, one half untied. He grabbed a coat, not worrying about it, and the ran through his bedroom door, right into the hallway of Gordon’s apartment.
He slid down the hall, almost tripping over his untied shoes, and then, once at the door, knocked quickly. The door handle jiggled for a moment, before Joshua called through. “I can’t get it open, Mr. Tommy!”
Of course. He sighed, then walked down a bit, and, with careful consideration, phased through the wall into the living room. He turned, seeing Joshua at the door, who turned to see him. In moment, the four year old was hugging his leg, and Tommy lifted him carefully into his arms, pacing quietly.
He had to think, he had to know where Gordon would go.
Benrey was through second later, eyes wide and panicked. Tommy jerked his head slightly to Joshua, and Benrey forced a calm over his eyes, carefully taking Joshua from Tommy. “Hey little feetman...”
“Hi Benny!” Joshua grinned, hands coming up to his face and squishing Benrey’s cheeks. Obligingly, Benrey sang out a line of blue sweet voice, and Joshua giggled. Those two settled on the couch, Tommy continued to pace.
There was a flash, and Sunkist trotted up to Tommy, who crouched down to pet her head. “Good Girl.”
“Got anything?” Coomer asked quietly, and Tommy shook his head. Bubby bounced anxiously.
“Well what the fuck do we have?” He muttered, one hand coming up to chew on his thumbnail, and Coomer didn’t stop him.
“I don’t know...” Tommy mumbled, before looking to Sunkist. “Hey girl, is... Is Mr. Freeman still close?”
Sunkist went still, tail frozen mid-wag, before it began again and she barked. Yes.
Tommy paused a moment, before his eyes darted towards Joshua. “Hey Joshua?” Joshua looked over at him, hands still on Benrey’s face to squish more sweet voice out of him. “Has you dad ever taken you up to the roof?”
Understanding flashed between the group, and, oblivious, Joshua nodded. “We have rooftop picnics sometimes! Daddy likes looking at the stars.”
Tommy stood quickly, and Benrey looked to Joshua, distracting him with another line of blue. “Go.” He said, while Joshua giggled, and the other three were out the door in seconds.
As Tommy booked it towards the stairs, he had only one thought in his mind. Please, please, let us not be too late.