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Tommy’s day hadn’t started out exactly the way he had pictured it, not by a long shot. You see, Big man here was sick. Not in the ‘keeling over dying’ way. But more so in the, ‘If you don’t shut up in the next three seconds I’m going to fucking breakdown and fight you’ kind of way.
The sickness was a bit more of an inconvenience than anything though, just a bit of a slight cough, some sneezing here and there and… A killer fucking headache. But besides that, he thought he would be able to fine with a chill-relaxing day.
To have said relaxing day, he was going to need to call off on joining Phil, Wilbur, and Techno on their, ‘adventure’.
As he slinked out of the bedroom that he had been buried away in, he decided to head to his big brother Technoblade’s room, having just heard him doing something in there a moment ago.
As Tommy opened the door, he gave a light knock onto it with the back of his knuckles to alert his brother he was there. With a gruff, Technoblade looked up from his desk to his door where his little brother was standing. He gave a quick greeting to him as he waited for whatever he was about to be asked.
Tommy coughed slightly into his elbow before speaking. “Hey Blade, you know how You, Me, Wilbur, and Phil are going to town later? But I think I might be skipping it today, I’m not feeling the best.” Deciding to be honest, hoping that would work.
Besides, if the rasp in his voice was anything to go by, anyone would know he was being truthful, he swallowed as he awaited Techno’s answer.
“It’s starting to get colder around here, Everyone’s not feeling the best right now.”
It was true, all of them had noticed the way the soft air wasn’t as warm anymore. The way they would change from jumpers to putting on an extra-light jacket… And Techno was also right about the feeling unwell part. Everyone at their school probably felt the same, if the quiet coughs and stifled sneezes from the desks behind him were anything to base it off of.
But even if other people weren’t feeling the best, didn’t mean he still didn’t feel sick.
Tommy whined a little bit, not out loud of course. But he was still a bit bummed out going outside. His steady hand that was grasping the doorframe began to loosen. He swallowed again before speaking, ignoring the slight stinging in his throat.
“I know what you’re saying Techno, really I do. But-”
“Good, you know what I’m saying. Just what I wanted, everyone has to work through colds, Tommy. You don’t get a week off of school just because you have what, a headache? Are you telling me right now that you won’t come and help us get food for the family or the animals who need it to survive?”
Techno spoke calmly, not raising his voice at all. But it certainly felt like he was yelling. The words hurt a bit, but only because all the things his brother had said were true. He was right, after all, he needed to stop whining about this.
He coughed once again into his elbow before he tried speaking again. “You’re right, I’ll come.”
“There we go, that wasn’t that hard, was it? Now go take come Calpol and get ready before we leave.”
Before Tommy is able to respond to what Techno said, the older brother got up and shut the door, probably going back to work to do… Whatever the Hell he does.
Calpol. Got it, as he re-thought about the conversation the two of them had, he tried to ignore that his headache had now turned into a steady throbbing against his forehead.
In the bathroom cabinet, he pulls open the mirror to get to the glorious liquids and pills. He liked pills because he could swallow them easier, but Techo was probably right suggesting Calpol. So as he grabbed the little plastic syringe that came with it, he squirted the weird-tasting medicine into his mouth.
Techno wanted him to get ready, which he would… But Wilbur and Phil had told him multiple times in the past that sleeping was the best thing to do when sick. So, a small nap couldn’t hurt… As he flopped onto his bed, fully dressed in regular clothes.
It’s the sound of knocking that wakes him up, It seems as if it’s been going on for a while. At least, judging by how loudly the person is knocking it. He hears a muffled shout from behind his door, and he’s in that state where he had to decide to either close his eyes and instantly return back to Dream-Land or get up.
The person on the other side of the door decides for him.
So getting up it is… He realizes something feels really strange in his throat before the coughing begins. He thinks the knocking had stopped, but he honestly couldn’t tell over how loud and hard he was coughing. He swore that at this point, he would start coughing up pieces of flesh or something.
It took a whole minute and a half before he could finally regain his breath.
The knocking had started up again, another whole thirty seconds later. As Tommy wiped the tears that came from the force of coughing, he approached the door, finally opening it.
“Finally, about time Tommy. We’re leaving now, Let’s go.”
And with that, The Blade goes downstairs, leaving Tommy all alone, half asleep and cranky as shit.
Tommy at least manages to make himself look not-fully dead. Sorting out his hair a little bit. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything about the obviously red eyes and red nose, but there was no time to do that even if he could magically make it go away.
He did what he does best, ignores things. Like how he ignores the way his vision blurred, kind of like when you span around really really fast. But at least it had gone away pretty quickly.
Taking a swig of his water bottle on the side, he put it back down onto his bedside table, knowing that with all the stuff he would be carrying, that it would only be an inconvenience to him. Besides, he could drink when he got back.
He mumbles a few choice cuss words as he slightly trips over the shoes that he didn’t see there before. Huh, Phil must’ve brought them up for him. Why was Dadza so nice? Nobody deserved Philza Minecraft. And he meant Nobody.
As he coughs again, bending over to try and get that stupid fucking feeling out of his stupid throat, Wilbur pokes his head up the stairs just as Tommy managed to stand back up straight, appearing normal.
“Eyy, Tom’s. Was that you that I heard coughing just now…?” He questioned, tilting his head slightly.
Oh boy, he wanted to be so sarcastic right now, but he held back. Judging by how Wilbur and he were the only ones in that hallway… Who else could it have been? Seriously… But, despite the silly question… He knew his brother meant well in asking, so he could only nod back.
“I smelt Techno’s dumb pig cologne and it poisoned me, I’m fine though.”
Wilbur snorted laughing at that, Techno’s cologne literally smelt like pig shit . But Phil was too kind to let any of them admit that.
“Come on Tom’s! Off to the town we go!”
Tommy nodded as he quickly told his brother that he would be right back. Wilbur went on ahead as the youngest quickly re-entered the upstairs bathroom. He quickly rubbed a small amount of cool water on his face, relaxing instantly of the lovely feel. He’d dried his face pretty quickly after, knowing that if he just left the water on his face, it would make noticeable wet marks on his shirt.
And he didn’t want to look like he was sweating more than he already was.
Going into the trusty medicine cabinet again, he thought of grabbing something. He knew that the kids Calpol probably wouldn’t be enough to get him through the day in one piece. So he did what any reasonable teenager would do. Grabbed a few of whatever would treat his symptoms.
Now he wasn’t a complete idiot. He made sure to read the labels on how much to take, he didn’t want to get high or… die or… Whatever happened when you had too many of multiple medications.
Cough syrup, some more Calpol, and Nurofen. The holy-trio combination. He made sure to be extra-sneaky as he took a few of the throat losengers to put into his pocket. He’d be able to snack on them later.
Knowing there would be no time to change his outfit before one of his family members came to get him themselves, he decided to screw it and go grab the fluffy jacket from his desk. Now happy with what he was wearing, he could leave. He was extra extra cautious at the stairs he made sure that he wouldn’t completely stack it going down the many steps.
Techno seems to be pleased that he showed up, meaning that he made eye contact, quickly smiled, and then went out to the front garden with Wilbur, shutting the door behind him.
“You excited, Mate?” Asked Philza Minecraft, Dadza. The legend himself.
Tommy goes to reply, but zones out for a few seconds. The response to Phil’s question is him sneezing into his elbow. Once, Twice, and finally three times before he sniffles. He just nodded instead.
“You good? You gonna be okay for the trip to town?”
The voice is a lot louder than before, which makes Tommy realize that Phil is right next to him.
“Yup!” He croaks out with a bright smile. He glances to the front door, wanting to just get this over with already. “Just a bit dusty upstairs, innit?” Trying to throw the questioning off.
Phil hummed as he squinted at the staircase. “Mm, you’re probably right. I noticed it’s been a while since we gave the house a good clean.” Thankfully his distraction had worked, for now.
“I’ll help you clean your room later, Mate. Let me know if It’s too dusty in there. Wouldn’t wanna make your allergies worse than they already are.” He joked, bringing a smile to both of their faces. “Alright, since your not dying, I guess you can go ahead.” As he dramatically pointed to the front door.
“Thanks, Old man!” As he raced out the front door, trying to catch up to his brothers who were already halfway down the path.
“Now like I said,” Techno glares at Wilbur and Tommy with intensity and focus that he’d never seen before. “These bags are going to be very heavy. So once you manage to lift them, Do not drop them. It’ll be even harder to pick them back up again.” He pauses so that his brothers have a few seconds to sink in the words.
“So be careful, got it?”
Tommy met Techno’s sharp gaze towards him as he nodded. Techno appeared to be satisfied with that answer as he broke it first. The youngest ultimately knew he would probably mess something up, without a doubt. He usually dropped something even when he wasn’t sick. Though he really didn’t feel in the mood to be yelled at for fucking something up.
He wasn’t expecting to go so long without doing something stupid! He hadn’t dropped anything, though he would admit he had quite a few very close calls. It was a little over an hour or two in when he really felt the medicine hit. Or maybe the exhaustion.
Eh, just a bit of both.
He felt freezing even though it was somewhat sunny out today. Everything he started doing from then on became a lot more sluggish. Nobody seemed to pick up on it though. Or maybe they didn’t really care. He wouldn’t care either…
He picked up on the fact that Techno and Wilbur could quite possibly be annoyed at him. Tommy did ask to leave multiple times for the bathroom, that being an excuse of course to just take a few minutes of fresh air and swallow more lozenges. Not to mention he could actually start coughing freely without being stared down like a hawk by one of his family members.
Good thing he’s so good at being sneaky, otherwise, he would’ve been busted the moment he walked out the door.
The second he gets back from, ‘the bathroom’, he’s instantly told to pick up the pace by Technoblade. Who was flexing by holding multiple heavy bags. Techno wanted him to, ‘make up for it’ because of the fact that Phil and Wilbur wouldn’t let him help carry the Hay Barrels (Obviously.)
The next 15 minutes was a massive blur of potatoes, carrots, wheat… Everything else that they would need, not only for them to eat… But for the entirety of their farm to be fed. And they had a lot of animals, so there was no such thing as having ‘too much’ food.
Techno calls him over again to get him to help carry something, It’s sealed off so It’s probably either compost or fresh dirt? He’s not too sure. But it takes both of them to lift it. Because Techno here thought it would be more efficient to stack multiple on top of each other so they could get it done faster. Which yeah, Tommy wanted to go home faster too… But it was still heavy.
He quietly takes a look over to the side, where he can see his dad Philza, and his older brother Wilbur lifting up some hay barrels in a joint effort. He doesn’t focus on what Techno is saying when he knows that he probably should be, but he can’t really bring himself to care.
He then realized that he should have probably been paying just a little bit more attention to what his other older brother was saying when he felt Techno slip, followed by him slipping too. He thanks Notch as the bags somehow manage to avoid crushing either of them. Though he wasn’t too happy as he crashed into the ground.
The moment that Tommy’s back collides into the ground, he inhales sharply, quickly turning onto his side to begin coughing harshly. Trying to get away from the mess that he had created.
He turned his back away from his brother as he bent over coughing, not able to get a breath in. Just trying desperately to get his fucking breath back. He doesn’t hear it when Wilbur and Philza approach, still trying ever so hard to just make his lungs work fucking normally.
“Is he alright?”
“Yup, he’s fine. We just slipped, might’ve gotten the wind knocked out of him just a little bit though.”
“I mean that’s way better than him getting crushed by what? 6 stacks of dirt?”
Finally, the coughing comes to an end. Tommy having to wipe his dirty hands across his face to get rid of the tears from the force of the fit. He slightly gasps as if this is the first time he’s had air in years as he turned back around. Only a little spooked to see Phil and Wilbur standing right next to him again. He realized he may have missed what they said, so he could only offer a quiet, “Wha…?”.
“Did he hurt his head at all…?”
“No.” Techno answers for him as Philza decides to take a look at his son himself. He gently looks at Tommy's face as if he’s inspecting a crime scene, looking for details. “Tommy, did you get hurt at all?”
Tommy only looked a little dazed at the question, maybe It’s because he knew Wilbur and Phil were standing quite far away a moment ago. “Phil?”
“Tommy, you’re fine,” Techno spoke, sighing. There was no way in Hell that Techno would be doing these chores by himself.
As Phil keeps inspecting, he quite literally at that moment put the pieces together. Slipping his hand to his youngest son's face, feeling his cheek. He pauses in alarm when he manages to feel the heat that was radiating from it. Nervous as he repositions his hand on the top of his son's forehead. It felt really hot.
“What?” The oldest twin paused, noticing the way Phil had gone still.
“He’s fucking burning.” He mumbled as he kept moving his hand around his son's face, trying to see if he was imagining it. The heat followed his hand, and that’s when Phil knew that he wasn’t just hot from overworking.
Techno tilts his head and gets way closer to Tommy so that he can see for himself. He grimaced as he saw the red eyes and nose. “Well, he should’ve told me that he felt this sick when I spoke to him in my room.”
It was at this moment, Techno knew he had messed up as the look on Phil and Wilbur’s face had changed. Tommy’s staying the same, dazed and confused.
“You knew about this?” Wilbur began, turning to meet his eyes. “You knew that he was like this…?” Techno wanted to avoid the icy glare of his brother.
“Hey! I didn’t think he was this bad. He just seemed like he had a small cough earlier. He sounded fine!”
“ Fine.” Phil parroted, he couldn’t believe this.
“Techno, we could’ve done this just Me, you, and Wilbur. Why did you make him come if you knew about this?”
“It’s just some chores-”
“He’s sick!” Phil argued, Wilbur quietly took Tommy’s hand, and lead him off to the side while his twin brother and father argued between each other.
“People have to work when they’re sick Phil.”
“He has a compromised immune system, Techno.”
Phil speaking finally registered in Tommy’s head as he looked up from where he was staring at the dirt. He mumbles quietly. “I’m good…” Going right back to staring at the floor.
“You are not good.” Phil snapped, still angry from his conversation with Techno. He felt guilt instantly after seeing Tommy flinch slightly. “Sorry, Mate.” He quickly apologized, not wanting to scare his son. “Just a little worried. You’re pretty sick.” Walking over to where Wilbur was standing, arm steadily wrapped around his little brother.
“Ahh, no wonder I feel like I’m dying.” He jokes, laughingly slightly at his own words. Wilbur’s arm around him tightens, hearing the raspiness. Tommy notices the way his brother changed. “I’m okay though, promise. Just a cold…” He muttered.
Techno could only look away in guilt as he sees Wilbur and Phil helping Tommy up into the back of the large trailer wagon.
The rest of the work is really tense, and quiet. Wil had set up a little spot for Tommy on the back of the wagon, out of the shade. He wanted to be able to keep an eye on his brother so he could get work done. He really didn’t like the idea of leaving him at home all alone with a bad fever. But he also didn’t want his brother baking out in the sun. Hence why Wilbur made him take off the jacket the moment he helped him in the wagon.
The tension in the air was tight, where even the sound of a twig snapping could be heard. Phil and Wilbur were still clearly upset about the whole thing. But they still tried to communicate with each other so that they could get the jobs done quicker so they could go home.
It was soon enough that they finished lifting the hay barrels and bags of vegetables into the back of the wagon that they could leave.
The vehicle attached to the wagon only had two seats. Meaning two people would have to sit in the back. And judging by how peaceful Tommy looked sleeping in the back, Wilbur and Techno had to decide who sat there.
Of course, Techno sat in the front. He wasn’t sure Wilbur would even consider the thought of letting him near Tommy. Which stung, quite a lot.
The drive, just like the rest of the jobs… Was in utter silence. The only sound heard over the quiet slow driving? Small coughs and sneezes mixed with shivering. Techno noticed when Phil drove faster. And he picked up on the way that Wilbur lightly dropped the jacket he had taken, back onto his brother's shoulders.
Techno knew he had to make this right, and he knew exactly how too.
After Phil had secured the stuff they had bought, the family finally arrived home. Wilbur decided to let his little brother lean into him for support as they went inside their home. Techno followed them, keeping a bit of distance between his brothers.
He didn’t know if Tommy wanted to see him at all, but he hoped his brothers wouldn’t hate him after this.
As Techno entered through the front door, he took in the sight of Tommy leaning over the kitchen counter, resting his head on the cool porcelain kitchen island. Wilbur was running the tap, Techno couldn’t see from where he was. But he assumed he was cleaning either his hands or something for Tommy.
Techno hoped it was his hands.
Technoblade coughed in an attention-grabbing way, making Wilbur look up, who rightfully glared at him. Tommy remained laying down as if he was trying to absorb all the coolness from the table.
“Could I speak to Tommy for a minute?”
“Yeah, One whole minute.” Wilbur spat, as he shoved past him. Not roughly, but enough to let Techno know he wasn’t happy.
Techno was sure to use this one minute wisely.
Once Techno had checked that Wilbur was actually gone, he slid over to where Tommy was resting. You see, the Blood God wasn’t the best at comforting people. But he still liked to try, so he put a cool hand on his brother’s uncomfortably warm back.
Tommy seemed to notice that the person who was touching him wasn’t Wilbur. “ ... Phil? ” He mumbled. Remaining where he was.
“It’s Techno.” He pretended not to notice the way his brother had tensed up. Not seeming as relaxed as he was when he thought that Techno was his father.
“Techno, I’m really sorr-”
“Don’t.” Techno began. “Don’t you dare apologize. Don’t cut me off, just listen to me. Literally, I only have a minute to talk to you.” He knew Wilbur was serious about the one-minute thing, so he tried to hurry while still being meaningful.
Tommy nodded, so that was something.
“Okay, I want you to listen to me, alright? What I did was really shitty, even for me. So I owe you a big apology.” He took a moment to breathe in. “I know you told me that you weren’t feeling well, and I still made you go with me. I’m sorry for not letting you stay at home. There’s no excuse for it.”
Tommy shifts under his grasp slightly, Techno is unsure of what it meant… But he took it as a good thing.
“You were so strong when you were out there. If I was as sick as you were, I wouldn’t even be able to have done half the amount of work you did. And for me to be saying that, that clearly means something.”
Tommy shifts again, sniffing slightly, so Techno takes that as his cue to continue.
“I’m Just- I’m sorry for what I did, okay? I know what I did was stupid, and I realized that I want you to tell me when you feel sick. Please don’t be afraid to tell me, alright? I promise I won’t get mad the next time you need some rest.”
Tommy grins as he moves, Techno has to prepare for the arms that get wrapped around him. He ruffles his little brother's warm hair, returning the small smile. “You’re being really nice, Tech. You sure I didn’t infect you with whatever I have too?” Techno huffs as he uses the hand he was using to ruffle his brother's hair with, to gently push him away.
“Go to the couch, Raccoon.”
“Yup, Sir Blade!” As he salutes. Tommy tried walking, he really did. But Techno had to ultimately end up helping steady him, as his brother's legs had decided to turn into the embodiment of their friend slimecicle.
That was when Wilbur returned, a little while over a minute. Seeing Techno helping Tommy, he finally stopped the pettiness.
“Want to come change into our onesies, Tom’s?”
“Is this just an excuse to wear your new duck onesie Phil got for you?”
“No! … Maybe. It matches the plushie! But c’mon. Let’s make a pillow fort.”
“I’m not cleaning up after you trash raccoons.” One icy stare from his twin changed his words.
“Alright, just maybe this time…”