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God. Tommy feels so fucking stupid. He messaged the wrong person. Instead of Wilbur, he texted Eret. He had nothing against the man, it’s just, he wasn’t really as close with him as some others from the server.
He was immediately about to delete his message, until Eret responded back.
Eret: Hey, I’m not sure you meant to send that to me, but do you need to talk?
Tommy’s hand freezes over his keyboard; his hand’s shaking. His heart feels like it’s beating at a faster pace than normal. His vision goes blurry. He shouldn’t ignore the signs, but he does anyway, and responds to Eret’s message.
Tommyinnit: pls. vc w/ cam on?
A message comes in promptly.
Eret: yeah ofc
Tommy quickly presses the Accept Call button when Eret calls him. He notices the man has just gotten out of the shower, if Eret’s still-dripping hair says anything.
“What’s up Tommy. Talk to me.” Eret says.
And then, the dam just... breaks. Tommy rubs his forehead with his palms, tears rapidly coming out of his eyes. “I just… I’m so overwhelmed, I guess, big man.” He begins.
“I love streaming, don’t get me wrong. It’s just… my chat sometimes overwhelms me, and the whole Dream SMP thing, I know it’s a roleplay, but for fuck’s sake, I feel like sometimes everyone really does hate me…” Tommy cries out. “I know that they don’t but it feels like that. And fuck all this social distancing shit and the people wearing no masks with no consideration for others. Why don’t they understand that Corona is serious? God, I’m such a crybaby aren’t I? I’m sorry, I’m just rambling. I don’t even know why you’re bothering to listen to my dumbass problems.”
Eret’s eyes show sympathy, but not pity. Kindness, but no judgement. “Tommy, I get it. And I felt the same way about the DSMP people at first. I know that they weren’t haters of LGBTQ+ , but it still ate up at me, you know? And it’s okay to feel overwhelmed. There’s nothing wrong about that.”
Tommy looks up directly into his camera, and Eret’s eyes. “Really?” He murmurs.
Eret nods. “Yeah, of course. It might help if you take a break from streaming, or at least streaming on the Dream SMP for lore. Is that what you want to do?”
Tommy thinks about it for a bit. “Sure. And, uh… if it’s no problem, can you message them about it? I just… you know… ” His words fall out.
Eret knows exactly what he means, though. “Yeah, I got it. Just know you’re not obliged to tell them every detail, even if they are your friends.” Tommy nods in response, and he mouths a small, ‘yeah.’
Eret messages the Dream SMP Discord with the permission of Tommy.
Eret | big BI-BI energy: @everyone tommy’s dealing with some stuff right now. Let’s lay off the jokes towards him for now, ok? Also, he’s gonna be taking a break from streaming DSMP, so if it’s okay, can lore streams be kept to a minimum? ( @Dream )
Schlatt | dumbass politician: wait--gdi do i need to use my gun on sum1?
Wilbur | wiblur soot: what happened eret?
Fundy | pro coder yeehaw?: pls tell me im not part of that problem ;-; i dont mean to hurt tommy w/ my jokes!!
Niki / Nihachu :): ^ is tommy okay?
Eret | big BI-BI energy: No, it’s not really any of your faults. Tommy has just been feeling really self-conscious about how you all feel about him. And, the whole pandemic thing has been def taking a toll on him + his twitch chat…
Sapnap | sappitus nappitus: o shit--pls tell him i dont mean it when i call him annoying and stuff!!
Badboyhalo | angel?: :((( tell him i’m always open to talk to him!!
Eret | big BI-BI energy: yee ofc also sap--shouldn’t you be asleep??? It is incredibly late for you!! Same at you techno!! I see you lurking
Techno | bLOOD FOR BLOOD GOD : sleep is for the weak,,,anyways ill be sharpening my swords for whoever decides to disrespect tommy--
Philza MINECRAFT: o damn sounds like i have to go and have a “i love you” talk with tommy bc he deserves it
Georgenotfound | bad attendance rate pog: never thought i’d agree w/ something like that… i don't talk to tommy much, but he deserves to be happy!!!
Dream | GREEN BOY!!!: @ Eret Yeah dw, we can halt the lore stuff for now-- @Tommyinnit take as long of a break as you need. Tell us whenever you’re ready to get back into the lore stuff.
Tommyinnit | GREMLIN: thanks. Im sorry if i don’t reply to later msgs asap--im p tired tbh.
Schlatt | dumbass politician: don’t sweat it kid--we all understand.
“Thank you so much, Eret. I’m sorry for bothering you and all that, but yeah… This was very appreciated.” Tommy mumbles. Eret grins.
“No problem, Tommy. Do you need anything else? Because, otherwise I recommend you take a water break and get some rest. You deserve it.” Eret asks.
Tommy just shakes his head. “No. But uh, I might take your advice. I’ll see you later, big man…” He waves to the camera, giving him a small smile, with tear-stained cheeks. Eret returns the gesture, and with that Tommy leaves the call.
Tommy sets his status to offline and promptly shuts off his computer. He throws himself into his bed as he takes a deep breath.
Maybe accidentally texting Eret wasn’t so bad, after all.
The happening from that memorable night still rings loudly in Tommy's head even after a few weeks later.
Eret said so many things that made him feel overwhelmed, but in a good way. The man had a lot of words of encouragement for him. So, maybe just this once, he could handle being nice to him on stream, instead of sending words meant to tease him his way.
The perfect opportunity comes when he is asked by a donation, who his favorite member of the Dream SMP is, albeit it’s during a game of Jackbox.
“I’d reckon it’s Eret!” He hums into the mic with no shame.
Eret does not seem to be bothered by it. In fact, he seems to be rather amused. "Thanks, little Gremlin child."
Tommy huffs at the nickname. “I’m not a Gremlin, but I guess it’s okay if you call me that.”
“What the fuck, Tommy? I thought I was your favorite! And how come he gets to call you Gremlin!” Wilbur whines.
Tommy snorts and rolls his eyes jokingly. “Sorry Sleep Bois, but Eret is my new Father figure. Also, I love you Philza Minecraft, but Eret is very epic!”
“ BRUH. ” Techno’s voice rings out through the voice call.
“Damn what a betrayal.” Phil jokingly complains.
The game continues on, and impulsively, Tommy asks Eret a question. "Do you reckon, we can uh, meet up sometime?"
Eret tilts his head in curiosity. "With the others?"
Tommy shakes his head. "No, just uh, you and me. I think you're pretty cool." He mumbles.
Eret lets out a small chuckle. "Sure, child."
And if he notices the bright smile on Tommy's face, then he ignores it. The Twitch chat is going crazy, spamming monkaS and Pepega wondering when the dynamic between Eret and Tommy changed so drastically.