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Tommy was shivering, he couldn’t move, and he wouldn’t. Every time that he tried to get up from where he was sitting, his skin would blossom in pain, forcing him to sit back down panting and sobbing. Bruises that weren’t there anymore ached, punches and kicks that had healed weeks ago were fresh. He gasped for breath, choking on his own tears.
He curled in on himself, his knees pulled up to his chest. His clothes were soaked from the snow he was sitting on. The snow didn’t even register and he wasn’t shivering from the cold.
Tommy tugged at his hair, his fingers slow to work, the strands of his hair too thin to even feel. Everything felt muted and numb since he got out of the prison. Pain was unbearable but everything else was just painful nothingness.
Ghost hands trailed across his skin, poking and prodding, scratching and hitting. Tommy tucked his head in his arms, tears blotching his face. He screamed the only thing he could do. Loud and broken, his sobbing making him breathless. Tommy curled in on himself tighter. He gagged at the feeling of hands grabbing him. If he moved it would be worse. It would hurt more.
The more that he had cried out for him to stop, Dream had just hit him harder. His hands digging into other bruises, trying to cause the most pain possible.
The hands weren’t real. They couldn’t be real. He had gotten out of the prison. He was alive . He was out of the prison alive and there was nothing here that could hurt him.
Another hand touched his arm, large and spindly with sharp claws. Tommy screamed again, his heart thrumming in his chest and his throat burned. He jerked himself away, crying as it felt like his skin was on fire. Searing heat that wasn’t even real, but it hurt nonetheless.
Tommy pressed his forehead against the ground, curling his hands on top of his head in some sort of defense, tucking his knees underneath him. Someone was speaking but the ringing in his ears was too loud for him to understand.
Dream’s hands weren’t that big, and his nails always bit down to stubs. Yet as far as Tommy knew, he could still be dead and this was some sort of demon coming to inflict more torture. The things that he’s done could be enough to deserve that.
“Tommy,” The voice was soft and tone even quieter. Yet somehow it managed to cut through the static in his mind.
“Please… I don’t want to die again…” Tommy found himself begging, choking, and coughing. He knew how whiny his voice sounded but he couldn’t focus enough to try and mask his tone.
He heard his name being said again, movement shifted around him causing him to flinch. His ears straining to figure out where it was coming from. A sob involuntarily pulled itself from his throat.
“I’m not going to hurt you… Tommy, it’s Ranboo.” Tommy’s breath hitched, the clawed hand must’ve been Ranboo’s then. “You’re in Snowchester… I heard you scream…”
Ranboo shifted again and Tommy wanted nothing more than to bolt right now. Leave and never show his face in the snowy town again.
All of Tommy’s instincts were screaming at him that he needed to leave, that he was weak. That he could get hurt, if Ranboo wanted to he could easily kill him. He trembled with the effort it took to not try and move or get up. Blisters on his skin burned every time he tried to move and it hurt so bad involuntary tears formed when he tried to walk.
He wasn’t safe here, he couldn’t be safe here. If Ranboo had already found him that meant that something or someone else could’ve found him.
Ranboo wouldn’t hurt him, right?
Tommy wouldn’t put it past Ranboo if he did. It was the perfect opportunity. It’s not like Tommy had been nice to Ranboo, so if he had a grudge Tommy wouldn’t blame him. It’s all he seemed to be good at, making grudges with people and getting his things screwed with.
“Tommy, talk to me,” Ranboo begged, “can I help somehow?”
Gritting his teeth, Tommy pried his hands away from his hair, his fingers digging into the snow underneath him. He pushed himself to at least a sitting position, his muscles screaming at him. His throat burned, and the places where Dream had beat him were throbbing.
“Screw off,” Tommy bit out, tilting his head to glare at Ranboo. His chest heaving, his entire body felt like he was a deck of cards on the verge of collapse.
Ranboo flinched, his ears twitching. His multicolored eyes flickered back and forth. “I-I… if you wanna be alone I can… I’ll leave you alone but uh…” the enderman hybrid wrung his hands, “it’s getting colder out now and I don’t want you to get hyperthermia or get hurt.”
Tommy didn’t feel cold, if anything he was sweating from the heat. He didn’t like the way that Ranboo was staring at him pitifully.
“I don’t need your help,” Tommy curled his fingers, glaring down at the ground. He just needed to convince Ranboo to go away and he’d be able to find his own way home… hopefully before nighttime.
He could practically see the gears in Ranboo’s head turning. Ranboo’s tail curled back and forth in the air, the movement caught Tommy’s eye.
“Could I offer you some hot chocolate?” Ranboo offered.
Tommy bit back an insult. And though he immediately wanted to deny the offer, he hesitated.
“Tubbo will be back home in a few hours…” Ranboo continued, spreading his hands nervously, “you can leave at any time just… I’m a bit worried…”
Tommy coughed, the movement felt like his lungs were about to explode. He tried to keep the pain off of his face, “you better be able to make some pretty good hot chocolate.”
“I think I’m pretty good at it.”
Ranboo pushed himself up to his feet, extending a hand to Tommy. Ignoring the help, Tommy leaned against the tree that he was curled up next to, bracing himself as he forced his joints to work.
Sparks of sharp electricity like pain stabbed against his skin, his joints felt stiff and locked up, aches and pains that shouldn’t be that bad were unbearable. Tommy cried out his knees buckling once again. Ranboo was there quickly, helping Tommy back to the ground, Ranboo’s hands gripping lightly to Tommy’s arms.
Tommy panted, wrapping his arms around his torso, his stomach doing flips of nausea. Violent shivers ran down his spine as his skin burned and stung. It felt Like someone had smashed a hammer into his joints.
“What’s wrong?” Ranboo asked, panic creeping into his voice.
Tommy grit his teeth, “hurts.” He bit out.
“What hurts?”
Momentarily frustrated, Tommy couldn’t even move out of Ranboo’s arms. He squeezed his eyes shut.
“Tommy are you okay?”
“Everything hurts,” Tommy spat, baring his teeth at Ranboo.
“Can I help you up?” Ranboo asked slowly, he picked at the edges of his nails.
“I’m a big man, I don’t need your help,” Tommy briefly hung his head, pressing his forehead against Ranboo’s chest, hoping he could wait it out for now. Ranboo jumped at the movement, slowly putting his hand down to rest on Tommy’s back, his fingers traced lightly along his skin making Tommy shudder.
Tommy was still shaking, his muscles tense and his entire body aching. But Ranboo didn’t complain about the position. Ranboo’s feathered tail curled loosely around Tommy’s arm.
Ranboo’s suit was worn and scratchy and the fabric was rough against Tommy’s face. But it was warm and it smelled sort of like flowers and honey. In a way it made sense. Tommy pressed his face deeper into the fabric.
The cold was starting to seep into Tommy’s nerves, no longer mixing with the dull ache but instead as something that he knew was real. Exhaustion was dripping from his posture and he just wanted to find somewhere to sleep (preferably his own home without anyone in it, in case he had a nightmare)
“Tommy…” Ranboo whispered, “I don’t um… want to rush whatever you’re doing but… it’s getting dark and I don’t want any mobs coming… we should get inside.”
Tommy sat up and looked around at the setting sun. He licked his lips, feeling Ranboo’s tail tightened around his arm.
“You’re right,” Tommy muttered, “it’s dark and cold.”
Even with his agreement, neither of them went to stand up.
“Do you think you can stand?” Ranboo asked, drawing his hands away from Tommy’s back.
“‘Course I can stand,” Tommy huffed.
Ranboo frowned slightly, “are you one hundred percent sure, if you fall again you might get hurt.”
“I’m not a child.”
Tommy shivered, ignoring the hand that Ranboo had extended towards him. He took a long time to steady himself against the tree leaning almost all his weight against it. Ranboo stood next to him, one hand slightly extended, worry lining his face.
“I’m fine,” Tommy spat, sucking in a sharp breath. His knees were shaking, and he hated how out of control he felt. If his own body would barely listen to him, surely no one else would.
Ranboo took a step back, his ear twitching, “of course.”
Taking a step in what Tommy assumed was the right direction, his legs seemed like they wouldn’t give out right away. He sighed heavily, his limbs were still aching but at least he could stand.
“You good?”
Tommy huffed, glaring at Ranboo.
He was thankful that at least Ranboo was patient. He didn’t try and rush Tommy, and if Tommy was leaning against Ranboo a little bit, neither of them would say anything about it later. And if it was dark by the time that they got to Ranboo and Tubbo’s cabin it was fine, there were torches around snowchester that kept the area mostly mob-free.
Now inside the house, Tommy sunk down in the couch cushions. The fireplace casting a warm glow over the room. He was still shaky but he was free to curl up on the couch if he needed. He didn’t know where Ranboo was, he had snuck off somewhere that Tommy hadn’t seen. Maybe that fact should’ve caused more reason for alarm, but emotionally, Tommy didn’t have enough in him to think too hard about it.
Faintly he could hear something scraping against the floor in the attic. Maybe they had rats, and in this weather, Tommy figured the rats were living their best lives up in Tubbo and Ranboo’s attic.
“Here.”
Tommy hadn’t heard Ranboo enter the living room, he was so caught up in his own thoughts. But now suddenly Ranboo was standing next to him with two mugs of hot chocolate, one in each hand.
“What?”
“I promised you hot chocolate didn’t I?” Ranboo smiled softly, shrugging his shoulders. Tommy furrowed his eyebrows, grabbing the mug with both hands so he didn’t spill.
Ranboo settled next to Tommy, his own mug of hot chocolate in his hands. Ranboo’s tail curled back and forth in the air as he took a sip. Tommy watched him out of the corner of his eye, staring down at the swirling brown liquid.
“Do you… want to talk about what happened… in the woods?” Ranboo asked slowly, each word like he was testing the waters.
“No,” Tommy answered almost too quickly. He clenched his jaw, bringing the mug up to his lips, letting himself bask in the warm steam that rose from it and the smell of chocolate.
Ranboo looked away, “oh, okay.”
They sat in uncomfortable silence for a bit while both of them drank their hot chocolate, neither knowing what to say. Ranboo wasn’t one to start conversations often, and Tommy was perfectly content with not saying anything unless he was spoken to at the very moment.
Since silence is something that isn’t supposed to last, Ranboo cleared his throat awkwardly before he spoke.
“How's the… how do you like the hot chocolate?”
Tommy shrugged, tracing the handle of the mug, his voice was shaky when he spoke, “It’s pretty good...”
That was the end of that conversation.
Tommy was shivering again, he pulled his knees up to his chest, pressing his fingers against the side of the mug as he tried to soak up some of the warmth from it. Ranboo had finished his hot chocolate and set the empty mug down on the coffee table in front of them.
Ranboo pulled the blanket down off the back of the couch, wrapping it around Tommy’s shoulders. Tommy scoffed an insult on the tip of his tongue that ended up going unsaid.
Quietly, Tommy shifted, he put his half-full mug of hot chocolate down on the coffee table next to Ranboo’s mug and shifted a bit closer to the enderman. Ranboo pretended he didn’t notice, choosing not to say anything, even when they were shoulder to shoulder with Tommy slightly leaning against Ranboo.
Ranboo huffed a small laugh, wrapping an arm around Tommy, pulling him a bit closer. The sudden movement caused Tommy to flinch but he pressed himself closer to Ranboo, his knees still pulled up against his chest.
“Clingy,” Tommy muttered, snorting quietly.
“Yup that’s me, clingy,” Ranboo didn’t know how well Tommy would’ve taken it if he had playfully thrown the weak insult back, so he took it knowing that there wasn’t any bite to it.
Tommy curled up against Ranboo’s side, letting himself relax. He felt the fluff on the end of Ranboo’s tail tickle against his arm as it wrapped loosely around his waist.
Neither of them said anything about the current position. Even as Tommy’s breathing started to even out, his eyes fluttering shut. Ranboo ran his fingers through Tommy’s hair making sure not to accidentally snag any knots.
Even though neither Ranboo nor Tommy said anything about it, Tubbo certainly had questions when he had come home to find the two curled up on the couch asleep.