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Somehow, Ranboo had never seen Tommy in a hypoglycemic state.
He knew it happened, and that sometimes it just happened randomly with no reason. Well, not no reason, he guessed it happened because his friend’s blood sugar ended up being too low because he used too much energy. Despite knowing what it looked like, though, Ranboo had never seen it and he definitely wasn’t prepared when it happened.
The story was, they were all sitting in the living room when Tommy just got up, then stumbled back a half-step, and then sat back down heavily. Techno disappeared into the kitchen. “Load the level, you’re fine.” Wilbur mused, not even looking up from his book. When Tommy didn’t move, he glanced over and asked, “You alright?”
Throwing up a shaky thumbs-up, Tommy laid back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. Glancing around, Ranboo looked around. “You sure? You don’t need anything?” He asked. Tipping his head to the side, Tommy met his gaze, smiled and shot him another thumbs-up. His hand smacked against his ribs with a thump and Ranboo winced.
“I’m alright, just gotta lie down for a bit.” Pog nudged his hand. Meanwhile, Techno returned from the kitchen with a plate and a glass of something. Ranboo wasn’t sure what it was. “Oh. Thanks. I could have gotten it myself.”
“No you couldn’t.”
Sticking his tongue out at his brother, Tommy slowly eased himself upright while Pog crawled into his lap. He reached over and started slowly eating. Apple slices and peanut butter. Huh. Ranboo went over and settled on the arm of the couch, keeping an eye on his friend from the corner of his eye. Maybe he didn’t need to, but he wanted to. Just in case Tommy got hurt. Somehow. That wouldn’t happen?
Right?
+++
Thankfully, the next time it happened, when they were filming it wasn’t that bad.
The thing that did scare Ranboo, though, was how snappish Tommy could get. He hadn’t been shouting or yelling or anything, certainly not like how Techno somehow got, but he’d been…very passive aggressive. Wilbur and Eret were both avoiding the young man, so was Dream. Why, Ranboo wasn’t sure, but he had a sinking feeling it had to do with bad memories seeing as how Dream shuddered and then George, Bad, and Sapnap went off to chat with him quietly in one of the trees. Not under it, actually in it. Dream and Sapnap were sharing a branch, Bad leaned against the trunk, and George was kicking his legs while straddling the fork of the tree branches. It was like they were kids at recess before the teacher came to yell at them to get down.
“Tommy, come on, you need to eat something.” Tubbo encouraged, walking over. Pog limped up (she’d gotten a thorn in the pads; Fundy and Ant had fixed her up in about two minutes with little more than a whimper from Fundy at the sight of how long it was), then licked her handler’s fingers. “See? Pog’s telling you to listen to her.”
“I know that, Tubbo, I’m not stupid.” Glaring down at the thing he was messing with it, Tommy hissed through his teeth and slapped it down on the picnic table, mumbling under his breath. “I’m not stupid.”
“I know that. Come on, why don’t we—”
“No, Tubbo, I’m fixing this here!” Tommy shot back, then paused when Tubbo and Ranboo both flinched away. Looking back down at the thing, he growled under his breath. “No, no, you’re right. It’s stupid, anyways, I’m not going to fix it.” Sweeping it off the table, he stood up and stalked off, Tubbo following behind him.
Ranboo glanced down at the prop lying in the grass. It was the original Your Tubbo concept compass they’d made, jokingly around. Carefully, he picked up the little shards, looked down at the bent out metal.
(Later, Tommy would apologise.)
(Later, Tommy would ask what happened to the compass prop.)
(Later, Ranboo would lie about it.)
(Later, Ranboo would bring the prop to an Enderman friend of his who knew how to fix metal. He’d watch as delicate black fingers carefully moulded the prop back into its rightful shape, realigned and repaired everything but left the scratches that showed love and wear and tear.)
(And later, Ranboo would sneak into Tommy’s room, plant the prop on his dresser, and smile behind a mug of Minx’s hot chocolate as Tommy tried to figure out what had happened.)
+++
Tommy suddenly dropped.
That was what happened. The whole group was in another server, exploring a grocery store while looking for prop supplies and the like. And Tommy’s blood sugar must have dropped all of a sudden, because Ranboo looked over and he had a particular expression on and then he was down.
Ranboo hadn’t seen that before.
“Tommy!” Wilbur hissed, reaching out to grab him quickly. Catching him, Wilbur gently set his brother down to the floor and Ranboo froze, staring at him. His friend had gone stiff, not having a seizure but seizing. Totally rigid, kind of terrifying to watch. All around him, everyone just sort of…went about doing stuff. Wilbur sat with his brother, watching over him as Pog tasked. At Tommy’s feet, Tubbo just sat there, cross-legged, like he hadn’t just watched his friend abruptly pass out. Techno and Phil went to go chat off to the side. Like they’d done this before. They probably have.
Meanwhile, Ranboo was somewhere between screaming his head off and frozen in place, and he didn’t know which one was going to happen first.
Sucking in a breath, Ranboo glanced back at Phil and saw that Techno was striding down the aisle. Unable to stay still, he went over to the older man. “Is he okay? Where’s Techno going?” He tried to look around, to see where Techno had disappeared to, but Phil set a hand on his shoulder.
“We just need to wait. If this lasts longer than a minute or so, then we’ll worry, but we’ve seen this before.” Glancing back, Phil added, “Techno’s just getting Dream and the others so that we can take Tommy home. Just in case.”
“Just in case?” Ranboo echoed, looking to him. Phil didn’t reply.
To be fair, something more important happened.
On the ground, Tommy jolted and then started gasping. Pog shifted, started licking his face. As Techno and the others returned, some Karen gave Tommy a look and rolled her eyes. Ranboo just barely held back the temptation to give her both the birds he had. Or maybe smack her with his tail. Something.
Techno and Dream waltzed over, blocked off the Karen’s view of Tommy and also keeping her bratty kids from moving any closer. Staring her down, Ranboo peeled his teeth back and vwoop-screamed at them. The kids’ eyes widened and he lashed his tail. A hand settled on his shoulder and he jumped, feeling Phil’s shoulder press against his. “Ranboo. You’re not helping right now. I know you’re mad, but Techno and Dream can handle this. Alright?”
Crossing his arms, Ranboo let out another vwoop and flicked his tail, but turned back to look at Tommy.
He had better things to worry about than her, anyways.
+++
Tommy actually let Techno carry him into the house and to the couch.
Of course, it was probably because he seemed pretty out of it. Not unconscious, just…out of it. Pog had done her job, and now she was trotting by Techno’s side with Tubbo holding her leash as they walked up to the server house. Ranboo followed with Eret and Sapnap, noting the concerned expressions on their faces while Bad and the others organised to take care of the care. Sapnap was just…upset, Dream was helping out, then there was Tommy’s family, and Eret was the closest thing Ranboo had to that. Phil had suggested he hang around, help out where possible. So…that was what he was doing. Helping.
Rolled on his side, Tommy blinked a few times as he settled into the couch a little more, dragging Pog closer to him. Phil checked in, talked to him quietly, then went to set up a movie. Tubbo settled down on the couch by Tommy’s head, and they settled down like Ranboo had seen them a couple times. He went to the other couch, kicked his feet up on the table.
A couple hours later, he woke up to find Phil carefully scooping Tommy up. Pog was in Dream’s arms. Meanwhile, Techno was trying to manoeuvre Tubbo at least partially upright. With a soft laugh, Dream mused, “Glad to see Ranboo’s making friends. He deserves a lot more than that, but…it’s a start.”
Phil glanced over at Ranboo and he shut his eyes tightly, slowed down his breathing like he’d trained to for years. “Yeah. Let’s get them to their beds, come back for him in a second.”
They did come back for him. “Should we wake him up?” Dream asked, standing in front of him. Ranboo could feel the pressure against his legs. Still, he feigned sleep, praying his heartbeat wouldn’t give him away. (He wasn’t sure why. Old habits died hard, he supposed.) Apparently, whoever Dream had spoken to replied, because hands slipped underneath Ranboo’s neck and legs.
Hold still hold still don’t move they won’t expect anything if you stay still and don’t move don’t move they won’t hurt you—
“Hey, ssh, it’s alright.” Holding him closer, like Ranboo wasn’t 6’6” to Dream’s 6’1” or so, Dream hushed him a few more times, gently. Like he was talking to a little kid instead of a seventeen-year-old who was well awake. Either way, didn’t make a difference—Dream wouldn’t want either to wake up. “You’re alright. You’re alright. You’re with us. Just—just get some rest, Ranboo.”
As he was carried up the stairs, Ranboo drifted off again.