Work Text:
tommy was never quite prepared for the attention that would come alongside being one of twitch’s most popular streamers, which is why sometimes he is kind of glad he’s still a bit of an anomaly.
his unapologetically loud voice is easy to recognize but tommy is pretty certain even the people he considers close friends would have a pretty hard time picking him out of a crowd. apart from the fact that he is blonde-haired and blue-eyed, as well as a bit scrawny, no one really knows what he looks like.
choosing to be faceless was initially for his own protection. he had always been the weird, gangly kid, half-heartedly bullied by his peers, and he didn’t want to face even more ire that would ruin one of the only things he really enjoyed. his voice is distinct, yes, but back then, sitting at only 20 subs, it was highly unlikely that anyone would connect the tall teenager at the back of their class to the minecraft streamer.
tommy wasn’t exactly leading the most fun life before he finally caved in and made a twitch account. his parents had only really gone along with it for the sake of any more money it might bring in, but he’d never forget their judgmental stares every time he spoke a little too energetically.
streaming had brought him a sliver of happiness that he had sorely missed. he had met tubbo, kind and thoughtful tubbo who never pressured tommy to show his face, and that was enough for tommy. he didn’t need fortune or fame or a massive amount of followers, not when he finally got himself a best friend.
still, tommy had taken the chance to move out the minute he had turned 18, ready to escape for good to university for his film studies, but he never gave up on streaming, not even when his dorm neighbors would bang on the wall when he was a little too loud playing bedwars.
and then smp earth had come along. tommy had barely scraped a spot, managing to get in despite his tiny fanbase, and suddenly, he blew up beyond expectations. and tommy had kept growing and growing as he met more and more creators- and now he’s at 4 million subscribers and still no one, absolutely no one, not even his friends, knows what he looks like.
tommy isn’t insecure. well, not that insecure anyways. his face isn’t a big deal to him now, not like it was when he was 16, but it’s a big deal to everyone else, enough that fans spend their time theorizing on how to draw accurate fan art. and while tommy loves being the center of attention, he’s not sure if he’s ready for someone in particular to catch a glimpse of everything he has kept hidden.
-
all of his uk-based friends had begun planning a meet-up the minute lockdown restrictions had eased just slightly and somehow tommy had been dragged into the fray. most likely it was because of the huge smile that had lit up wilbur’s face when tommy had mentioned he was considering coming along. he’s a little bit whipped, sue him.
they are ironing out the details on a discord call, figuring out train times and exactly where they were going to stay. the four hours of travelling down to brighton sounds entirely worth it when tommy considers the thought of being wrapped up in wilbur’s long arms, dragged into a hug that would spread warmth throughout his entire body- and tommy’s daydreaming again. great.
“tommy, you’ll need a chaperone, right?” wilbur’s voice comes crackling through tommy’s headphones and he pauses, wondering if he heard the other right.
“wilbur,” tommy eventually forces out. “what did you just say?”
“hmm? i was just thinking if one your parents would be alright coming along. i figured they wouldn’t want their teenage son to just randomly meet up with a 24 year old man-“
oh god. wilbur thinks he’s a minor. tommy completely forgot to ever mention his family situation. he holds back a frantic laugh, rubbing a hand over his tired eyes.
“tubbo,” tommy cuts wilbur off, hoping at least his online best friend actually knows his age. “how old do you think i am?”
“you’re 16, aren’t you? i mean, i don’t think we’ve actually talked about it, so it's just a guess-“
tommy freezes. this is the worst day of his life. it’s a bit of an exaggeration but he had never expected this. all the slightly immature comments because tommy was never allowed to even act like a kid before he escaped his parents’ house and the constant calling himself a big man as if he was insecure about his age and the never-ending mentioning of the fact that he is 6ft 3” in a voice that sounds so squeaky have led right up to now.
“i’m 20.” tommy says shortly and the call quickly devolves into an awkward silence, before tommy breaks it with a loud laugh, almost wheezing at the misunderstanding. “did you really think i was a child this whole time, dickhead?”
-
@tommyinnit
i can’t believe i have to explain this all to you but yes i am 20 and no i am not a child please stop calling me that
@username
replying to @tommyinnit
2020 has been a wild year all around but somehow finding out tommyinnit is actually an adult who does adult things is the weirdest thing to happen so far
@tommyinnit
replying to @username
i told you all i was a Big Man
-
tommy gets it, really. his minecraft avatar looks like, as much as a clump of blocks really can, his 16 year old self - short hair, whatever t-shirts he could grab from sale bins for the cheapest price and a worn pair of jeans. and when he moved out of his parents house and finally took the chance to do what he wants, growing out his hair and wearing some things that had never been quite in his comfort zone, that avatar stuck. it was part of his branding, after all, there was no need to change it.
but somehow that, alongside how tommy acts, convinced everyone that he’s actually a kid. that he’s 16 still, as if tommy hadn’t spent that awkward period of his life constantly curled up in bed hating his entire existence. truthfully, he may be 20 and he’s trying his best to be as productive as possible, but there’s a part of him that is still catching up on his youth, acting like a reckless teenager because he never had the chance to before.
fans say they are fond of his willingness to be himself and not conforming to the need to act as if he’s something he’s not. wilbur always compliments his genuineness, how he’ll laugh at the stupidest of jokes because everything and anything can be funny to tommy. tommy appreciates the sentiment, even if he’s still wondering how he never managed to bring up anything to his friends about his age.
most of all, tommy’s a tad worried. a lot of his previous actions - calling wilbur wilby of all things on a live call, why the fuck did he slip up that bad - could once be seen as the actions of a younger brother. but he’s older than everyone thought, not a minor like everyone assumed, and he’s worried they’ll quickly pick up on how his affections are much more than platonic and his constant attempts to third wheel are not for comedy but out of genuine jealousy. not that it really matters in the end. tommy is very aware that to wilbur he’ll always be nothing more than a little kid. he’s fine with it, he swears.
but he’s gotten to the point now where something specifically is inevitable and it’s time for him to do some research.
-
google.com
search: how the fuck do you do a face reveal without making a big deal out of it
-
tommy hadn’t tried to dress up too much for the face reveal. he wanted it to be casual, as if it was another everyday stream with just the added bonus of finally knowing what tommy looks like. his roommate had helped braid the side of his hair, pinning it back before tommy slipped the rest into a low ponytail. he had chosen a loose-fitting sweater, something comfortable, not at all flashy. they had patted him on the head and whispered encouragements before escaping to their room, where they’d probably use headphones to escape tommy’s too loud voice.
“welcome to the stream, everyone!” tommy shouts, voice vibrant and bright and without a single shake from the nervousness he’s feeling, the lack of a camera meaning no one can pick up on how his hands are shaking.
it’s a sleepy bois inc stream, a family stream as their designated section of twitter had called it. tommy never wanted to have to break it to them that while he may see phil as a father figure and his banter with techno was rather sibling-like, he would never view wilbur as a brother. not that anyone has to know that.
tommy settles into the atmosphere, tension in his shoulders slipping as he grows more confident, and an hour in, he types a quick brb into the discord chat, flashing up his waiting screen on stream before slumping back in his chair and rubbing a hand over his eyes. this is it. tommy isn’t too worried about the reactions of his fanbase. it’s wilbur who he’s scared to show himself to really. and techno and phil and all of his friends too, but he’s not going to delude himself and pretend that he’s not most worried about how his crush will react.
tommy drags his facecam into the correct position, breathes in and out deeply for a second as he makes sure the angle is correct, before changing the stream back to footage of him in minecraft, being punched by wilbur who had noticed he had went missing without any warning.
tommy slips the headphones back on, smiling awkwardly as the chat fills with pogchamp emotes and general keyboard smashing. “i’m back!” he yells cheerfully, cutting off whatever techno had been flatly commenting on. there’s a brief moment of silence and tommy fidgets in his seat, casting his eyes nervously to the chat, where he can see a couple of his friend’s comments pop up.
“uh, tommy, why is my chat going mental?” phil asks, sounding both confused and concerned. tommy quickly opens both wilbur and phil’s streams, forgoing techno’s because of the lack of facecam. he needs to see their reactions, even if he already subconsciously knows that they will react positively.
“everyone’s telling me to go to tommy’s stream,” wilbur comments, amused, as if he’s expecting to go onto tommy’s channel and find the boy up to his usual mischievous acts. “what mess did you make this time-“ wilbur cuts himself off with a sharp gasp as tommy’s own voice echoes back through his mic, stream finally open on his other monitor.
“uh, hey guys,” tommy awkwardly raises his hand up in a wave, ignoring phil’s laugh at his inability to know how to act physically in front of a camera.
“pog,” techno’s voice is monotone as per usual, but there’s a warmth hidden there. “finally we all know what tommyinnit looks like.”
“tommy, i’m so proud of you!”. tommy peers at his monitor in time to see phil’s fond smile. “my son!”
tommy giggles happily. out of the corner of his eye, he catches the widening of wilbur’s eyes. “wil?” he asks, voice a little smaller, unsure of how the other will react.
“give a man a little warning, tommy,” he comments, but he sounds slightly breathless, something tommy can’t exactly understand. “you look really good,” wilbur whispers and tommy feels himself malfunction. he tries to hold back the rising blush that threatens to overcome his pale skin but fails completely, shown through the chat spamming various ship names.
faintly, tommy recognises how wilbur sounds - flustered.
-
trending worldwide
tommyinnit
183k tweets
@username
get yourself a man who looks at you the way wilbur looks at tommy
@username
this is the face of someone who has reached enlightenment
[image attached: a low quality screenshot of wilbur’s stream, where he’s looking at his second monitor and smiling, presumably at tommy’s face reveal]
@tommyinnit
thank you all for the support :) brighton vlog will be coming soon
-
tommy jumps down off the train and onto the platform, mask tight over his nose, fiddling with the camera in his hands. vlogging isn’t exactly something tommy has ever attempted but wilbur had encouraged him to step outside of what he is used to and tommy would follow along with anything the older man says.
“tommy!” he hears a voice call and before he can ever react, he squeaks as he’s picked by a pair of strong arms and tugged into a tight hug. tommy blinks, brown curls brushing against his eyelashes, and then it all makes sense. he sinks into wilbur’s embrace, arms looped around the other’s neck, a light blush spreading over his nose.
“hey, wil,” tommy murmurs, feeling oddly proud at how his voice doesn’t crack. wilbur pulls away, smiling down at tommy with such warmth in his gaze, refusing to remove his grip from tommy’s waist. and tommy thinks that this is exactly what he’s been missing, exactly what he has always wanted.
“let’s go home then, mr. innit.”