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Sam was having a rough day.
The egg situation was getting worse, he had to give up a few pearls and a gapple to get out of a tight situation because of his own stupidity, the rain pouring down was slowly growing into a thunderstorm which was always great for him: to say a migraine was steadily building behind his gas mask was an understatement.
So when Tommy decided to play a small prank on him by stealing some of his stored away armor- that wasn't even good armor or important to begin with, now that he realizes- he admits that he maybe reacted with more, er, 'vigor' than he needed to.
"Tommy," he pinched his nose for the fifth time in the past seven minutes, "please take the armor off and put it away, we have more important-"
"Yeaaah!" The blond shouted as he leaped from one tree to the next with his trident. God, was it still raining? "I said what I said, Sammie! You want this armor back you gotta take it!"
Clench and unclench, clench and unclench, you can't snap a trident in half through pure will alone, remember that, "Tommy, we have a lot to do today, remember? This isn't the time for this kind of stuff, so please just come here?"
For a second it looked like the boy was finally listening as he came down and walked to stand in front of Sam. The pressure in Sam's head started to lessen right as Tommy put a finger on one of his eyelids, pulled it down, and blew a raspberry in the most childish way possible before laughing and turning around and bringing his trident above his head in a way said he was going to start flying with it again.
For the love of- "Tommy! It's not even your armor! Just listen to me for one second and take it off!"
It took only two seconds for the haze of annoyance to wear off, but when it did, Sam realized something was amiss.
Despite it being chilly, Tommy hadn't trembled once due to his restless energy. Now he was shaking like a leaf. Sam was already feeling like proper dogshit, but that was before Tommy proceeded to drop the trident on the ground from where he was holding it above himself.
Sam flinched, "Tommy, Jesus, I'm sorry but please be careful dropping something like-"
Then the boy knelt in the speed of light and started to practically burrow into the wet dirt like no tomorrow.
Sam almost started panicking himself because what the hell, but before the two of them could be lost in that mist of oh god oh no, Sam snapped out of it when he noticed Tommy start practically ripping his chest plate off of himself.
"Woah woah woah! Hey, hey-" the man shoved his own trident away before he rushed to kneel in front of Tommy, grabbing the boy's wrists to stop him from sliding the piece of armor off. The blond rapidly looked up, tears streaming down his face alongside the rain as his shaking stagnated at the speed it was at. Sam felt something in his chest tighten, "Tommy it's okay. I'm sorry I snapped like that, you didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of my bad day, and you definitely don't deserve whatever... whatever this is that you're trying to do."
Sam thought that would get the kid to calm down, but if anything, his panic only increased, "B-But I do is- is the th-thing. I just m-make everyone mad and- and upset and I ruin their d-days and it's all I've ever d-done so r-really it's the least I d-deserve-"
The next thing either of them knew, Tommy felt his face being smushed into Sam's shoulder and a hand come around to cup the back of his neck. His trembles immediately stopped, but he would be lying if he said he didn't start crying harder. He snaked his arms around the man and white-knuckled the back of his coat, almost snuggling further into the embrace. God, when was the last time he had a hug? Maybe when he and Tubbo were about to die at Dream's hands, but Tommy was the one to initiate that-
"Jesus, kid," Sam breathed out, rubbing his cheek against the mop of blond in a placating gesture. "What the actual hell did Dream do to you out there..."
Tommy felt himself chuckling despite, well, everything that just happened, "So much, Big Dude. I don't know where to start."
Sam sharply inhaled, but that was the last noise either of them made as they sat there in the physical storm, their emotional ones raging in their heads the more important thing to deal with. Once it felt like Tommy had calmed down enough, Sam released him and stood up, holding a hand out to help Tommy stand as well. He was a little weak and tired, but he made it eventually, some of his weight being supported by the adult in the end.
"There we go," Sam spoke gently as if to a newborn foal. "Now then, let's say we let you keep that armor- I didn't even remember I had it until you got it out- and we go back to my place to warm up, okay?"
Tommy wanted to say a few things to that, but the exhaustion that overcame him in the blink of an eye could only make him nod. Sam kept a hand on the kid's shoulder the entire way back.
They eventually made it back to his place, the heat doing wonders for their damp bodies. The big ass blanket Sam pulled from nowhere was helping Tommy a little bit too. The next thing he knew, Sam was gently pushing a mug of hot chocolate into his hands before going over and sitting down in a chair opposite to the couch Tommy was on with his own mug of... something. It was too not-brown to be chocolate-
"Hey, Toms?" the kid snapped his head up after hearing the unfamiliar nickname. Sam's mask was off, which allowed Tommy to feel the full experience of his emotions. They all were screaming it's okay I'm here for you, "I'm not sure if you want to talk about it, and that's okay, but if you do, my door and ears are open, got it?"
Tommy proceeded to look back down at his mug before gripping it slightly tighter. He couldn't make eye contact as he barely got out, "There was no point in keeping anything, you know? Gifts, armor, even useless sticks sometimes. Dream would either take it and blow it up in a hole or even force me to... to put it in myself before making me light the fuse..."
There was absolutely no noise from the older man, and Tommy thought he had fucked it up somehow. This is why you don't talk about these things! Now you're just going to hear how much you deser-
"You know you didn't deserve it, right?"
Tommy snapped his head up once again at the completely unexpected response. Sam's eyes were full of unimaginable amounts of grief as he bored into the kid with all the determination he could muster, "God, Tommy, I'm not even going to attempt to take away something like- like the books I gave to Dream to read in jail, that's just inhumane. And if Dream of all people doesn't deserve it then you sure as fuck don't, you realize that, right?
Tommy could feel himself start to tremble again, but this time for more positive reasons. Sometimes it gets hard to remember that, but as of right now? "Yes, what that Green Bitch did to me in exile was the last thing I deserved. I know that more often now, at least, even if I forget sometimes."
Tommy watched as all the tension practically melted out of Sam's body. The older man slumped against the back of his chair with the tiniest grin imaginable, "Good. That's... good. If you ever need reminding again, I'll be here."
They sat in silence for a few more minutes while they sipped on their beverages. Sam quietly read one of his books as Tommy doodled in a journal the man found for him after seeing the kid be restless. Once his hot chocolate was about 3/4ths of the way done, he couldn't stop the mega yawn that protruded from his mouth as he subconsciously started to lay down and close his eyes. A few seconds of shuteye wouldn't hurt, would it?
"Go to sleep, Tommy," Sam whispered out as the darkness overtook him. Tommy felt the blanket being pulled up over his shoulders and a hand ruffle his hair, "I promise you'll still be here when you wake up no matter what."
As Sam watched over the sleeping kid, he came up with a foolproof plan right then and there.
He just hoped he had enough trust from the kid to pull it off.
---
It was a week later and Sam's mission had been working splendidly.
He started off giving Tommy minor things. Things that were nice but ultimately not super important. A few extra gapples here and there, a new shiny helmet for when the one he was wearing broke, he even managed to give Tommy a shiny crossbow that the kid barely used out of fear of breaking it.
The real kicker was two days ago when the boy was sad about having to need to fix his trident. It's so worn down, he whined, I don't want to lose it but it sucks that I won't be able to fix it for a while.
When Sam offhandedly mentioned that Tommy could use his trident while Sam went and fixed up the weapon for the kid, the older man found himself hugging the crying blond for the second time in a week.
It was hard to imagine a literal child being beaten down to this point, but by God was Sam going to try and fix it.
He was standing on the dock as he heard the familiar woosh of a trident being used. He looked up to see Tommy approaching, Sam's trident seemingly glistening brighter than ever in the sunlight. The kid landed only a few feet away, his eyes widening at the sight of his own trident in Sam's hand looking good as new before shoving his other empty(?) hand further behind himself.
Sam felt his eyebrows raise at that before holding Tommy's trident out in front of him, "Hey. Here she be all good as new."
Sam was worried Tommy thought he was playing some kind of prank on him- as if the older man were going to rip the trident away right as he reached for it- with the way the kid hesitated to come closer. But after a few seconds, the blond strolled up to him and handed back the trident he was holding and swapped it out for his own. As he proceeded to look over the newly polished weapon, Sam paid attention to how his other hand remained firmly behind his back.
"Hey, Tommy?" Sam prodded gently. "What's, um, is your other hand... okay?"
Tommy's head firmly flicked to look at the ground when Sam asked that. Before Sam could apologize for whatever grievance he may have caused, the hidden hand in question shot out, and Sam laid his attention on the gold sword Tommy had acquired at some point.
"Oh," Sam stated. "Is... Is that for me?"
It was another few seconds before he watched Tommy nod the smallest of nods.
Before the pressure behind his eyes could become something else- Tommy's stuff just kept getting taken and taken yet he still found it in himself to give- Sam slowly reached out and carefully grasped the hilt like it was the most fragile jewel in the world before bringing it back closer to himself. He was at a loss for words before Tommy finally started speaking. He was still staring at the ground, but he also started rocking back and forth on his heels in a childlike way, "Is it, um... is it good?"
Sam inspected the weapon and its enchantments. Sharpness II. Flame I.
Considering the weapons everyone had been toting around recently, Sam would have to say what Tommy created wasn't exactly at the top of the food chain.
"Uh, actually..." Sam nervously chuckled. Better to be honest to the kid than end up being another liar in his life, "The enchantments aren't the best, but... how would you feel about helping me fix it up a little bit, hm? I could show you the ropes for your future tools as well."
Sam was worried he said the wrong thing based on how Tommy still wouldn't look up from their feet. But then Tommy brought his head up and stared at him with the brightest eyes and biggest grin imaginable before enthusiastically nodding his head, and Sam felt his heart flutter.
After they proceeded to fix it up together, Sam never took the sword off himself from that point forward.