Work Text:
Tommy is currently very sick, he’s been sick for a couple of days now, annoyingly so. He definitely caught something during a fansign the SBI hosted a couple days ago. Sighing heavily, he looked over at the clock, 6:49 AM it read. He heard Wilbur and Techno get up and start walking around a while ago, Phil still sleeping and would probably continue sleeping. It was Sunday, their day off! Meaning they didn’t need to do ANY work unless they wanted to.
Which was good for Tommy. He could take time today to rest, and maybe fall under the radar of the boys until Monday. If he didn’t have plans. Plans with Tubbo and Ranboo. Single Handedly the most clingy and protective friends ever. They would immediately know something is wrong and contact one of the adults, who would then coddle him and do everything Tommy didn’t want them to do.
You see, when Tommy got sick, they would be, to simply put it, overbearing. At his beckon call, which would usually be pretty cool, if they weren’t so annoying when he asked for shit! ‘Are you okay, honey?’ this and ‘Right away, Toms. You sit there!’. You can see why he didn’t want to tell them he was sick. Especially when they had to work.
Which reminded him of the busy week they had ahead of them. For promotions, they would be spending about four days on stage and the upcoming weekend at a music festival. He hoped his sickness would pass over quickly and not affect him that badly, but who knows?
Tommy was supposed to get picked up by Tubbo, the only one out of the three of them who can drive, but when you get in the car with the man you’re immediately put in danger with how insane he drives. He fucking crashed his parents car the first time he drove it! Tubbo even put it in his song! But anyways, he was supposed to get picked up by Tubbo at around eleven, so he has around four or so hours to look decent and not sick.
Quickly getting up, saying a quick hello to a sleeping Twin, he opens the door to his room and tentatively takes a step out of the door, and then another, and then another. Closing the door behind him, he darts into the bathroom.
Shower? Shower. He should take a shower. He can hear Techno and Wilbur downstairs and they probably won't be coming up in a little while so he can take his time.
What he does is take a forty minute long goddamn shower. Tommy steps out, feeling refreshed and throws a towel on before starting his skincare routine. Yes, he has a skincare routine. Wilbur recommended he get one shortly after they debuted, worrying people were gonna pounce on Tommy for being a normal teenager with normal teenage skin problems.
Running back into his room, he gets dressed in an okay outfit and promptly jumps into bed and falls asleep.
---
Tommy wakes up to a whole-ass body jumping on him.
“TOMMY! WHY ARE YOU ASLEEP!” That’s fucking Tubbo. Ranboo is stood next to his bed with a smile on his face, eyes shining with a need for dumb chaos. Tommy groaned and sat up with Tubbo just laying on top of him.
“I had nothing better to do,” Tommy said, glaring at Tubbo who just smiled back at him. “C’mon, dude! It’s time to go! You haven’t hung out with us in so long!” Tubbo whined, sitting up and snatching Tommy’s arm and pulling it.
The shorter boy tugged and tugged, which really didn’t do anything. Tommy was pulled forward while Twin, his cat, just sat and watched. Ranboo was busy entertaining the feline though, belly scratches were given freely by the tall teen to the cat.
“I’ve been busy, Tubs,” Tommy grumbled out, allowing himself to be pulled off his bed and out the door. With a look behind him he saw Ranboo smiling like an idiot and playing with Twin.
“We’ve all been busy! We still found time to hang out, though!”
“Tubbo, I have so much shit to do this week please,” Tommy fake pleaded, watching as Tubbo scowled and Ranboo pouted at the reminder that the two wouldn’t have ANY Tommy time this week.
“Well, we’ll send you off on your boring week with a good day!” Ranboo said, distracted. His hand was in front of Twin’s face and the two were engaging in a very fun game called ‘catch the human hand’. Tubbo nodded furiously and Tommy sighed out a laugh.
“Alright, fine,” Tommy got up and groaned as Tubbo took hold of his hand and dragged him out of his room.
“Ranboo! Come on, let’s goooooo,” Tommy called out from down the hallway. Ranboo ran out of the room and followed the two boys down the hallway and down the stairs. Techno, Wilbur and Phil were sitting in the living room, lounging around and watching a movie of some sort.
“Have fun boys!” Phil called out and Tommy, who was still waking up, glared at him as well.
“You’re just gonna let them steal me? Kidnap me, Phil? You’re so mean!” Tommy complained as Ranboo helped push him out the door. Phil just laughed before the door was shut. Tommy was thrown into the car and he was in schock because, that went by so fucking quickly. One second he was sleeping peacefully and the next he was in his best friend’s car.
“We’re going out to that cool restaurant we saw that one time,” Tubbo said with a smile as he started up his car, ignoring the faces of dread on his passengers. He’s not a bad driver, no! He is just reckless.
“Dude, that’s so far away!” Tommy whined out, Ranboo cruelly laughing at his misery. What is Tommy miserable from? Fucking guess. He still feels like complete shit, no surprise there. Tubbo shoots off down the road after backing out of the driveway and both Ranboo and Tommy hold back screams of terror. It’s like being on a fucking amusement park ride! One that says ‘Danger: Crazed Fucking Driver!’
The car ride was less than enjoyable, Tommy passed out about ten minutes in, but that ten minutes was full of him struggling to hold back the bile building up his throat. He has always been quite sensitive and susceptible to road sickness. And Tubbo cares not, apparently.
Regardless, he’s woken up by Ranboo gently shaking his shoulder with a smile. Ranboo is always the gentlest of the three boys, and a constant comforting presence. Tommy and Tubbo have had several instances where they got overwhelmed and panicky in the public eye and Ranboo scared everyone away from them and got them to privacy safely.
Tommy let out a series of grumbles and undid his seatbelt, hopping out of the car to stand next to Ranboo, where he immediately started swaying back and forth from the blanket of dizziness that was suddenly thrown over him.
Ranboo quickly noticed this and quickly held Tommy steady by putting a hand on the younger boy’s shoulder.
“You okay there, man?” the taller teen asked, concerned. Tommy hadn’t looked right the moment they went into his room to wake him up.
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine!” Tommy reassured, shrugging off Ranboo’s hand to run up to Tubbo, who was opening up the doors to the restaurant.
“Hey! Wait for me!” Ranboo called out, frantically running to the boys so he wouldn’t look like an idiot stood alone in a parking lot.
---
A couple of hours later, and a lot of laps around the local park, he gets dropped off in his driveway at around 7PM. And he’s exhausted. Ranboo hugs him tightly, and Tubbo headbutts him gently. He shares a lot of similarities and personality traits to those of a goat.
Tommy walks up to the front door and unlocks it, before throwing himself inside. Phil was cooking dinner and was accompanied by Techno and Wilbur. Techno looked like he was helping, or trying to help. Wilbur was just laying across the chairs staring up at the ceiling, doing that weird creepy voice and talking about. Anteaters?
All heads turned to him and he waved sluggishly. Phil smiled brightly, “Hey mate! How was your day?”
Tommy shrugged, “It was fun, I’m really tired though.” And it was true, he was still super tired.
“Do you want a plate once dinner’s ready? Or did you already eat with Tubbo and Ranboo?”
To be honest, Tommy was not in the mood for food. He had one meal today and that alone was enough to send his stomach into rage mode. His appetite shrinks like a bitch when he’s sick. He simply nodded, it wasn’t a lie but it felt like one. Whatever.
“Alright, well I’ll save a plate for you, like always. I assume you’re going to bed?” Tommy nodded at that, and Phil sent him off with a goodnight. Wilbur decided to stand up and kiss Tommy’s forehead with a soft ‘goodnight’. Techno just hugged him and then pushed him in the direction of the staircase.
“After dinner, all of us will be going to bed. We’re all going to need a lot of rest for the upcoming week,” Phil reminded them and the three younger members were all groaning and whining before his sentence was even finished.
Tommy went up the stairs and into his room. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light.
---
When he woke up Monday morning, he felt like a bigger sack of shit than he did Sunday. Wilbur had woken Tommy up at five in the damn morning. His skin felt like it was on fire while simultaneously dunked in an unwanted ice bath. After sneakily checking, he did not have a fever. It felt like it, though. Tommy felt downright miserable and it was impossible to keep standing.
But the world doesn’t stop for a single sick teenager and he was forced to get up and almost immediately get into the car, their destination being the big ass concert hall four hours away. Four! They were all suggested to get some shut eye as it would definitely be the only amount they would be getting until late that night.
They were supposed to have their performance in the evening, but were transported early in the morning. The hours leading up to it would be spent practicing, resting, and mingling with the other performers meant to be showing up tonight. Tommy would be sleeping the entire time. He’s been doing quite the good job of keeping his sickness hidden, though it’s only been a couple of days.
They all wake up once they’ve arrived. It finally clocks to the four boys how big this concert was. And how small they were. Some big ass names would be arriving and performing today. Groups like Nevadas, Crew Boys, SkepHalo, and Ghosts were a few.
Nevadas were actually quite the nice and lovely bunch. Made up of idols Quackity, Awesamdude, Slimecicle, Fundy, and Foolish G. Despite their friendliness, they could be very intimidating when it came to numbers. Seeming to get Top Ten and Top Five with almost every album and single release. While Sleepy Bois Inc was a popular idol group, Nevadas took a big chunk of the cake when it came to popularity.
The Crew Boys were a chaotic group of boys. Consisting of very famous and well known idols like Dream, Sapnap, GeorgeNotFound, Karl Jacobs, and again, Quackity. Putting the five most loved and famous idols in a group was the best choice the group’s company could’ve made. As sweet and big brother-ly all of the members were, they still dominated charts and were galaxies better than the SBI. In the four boys’ opinion.
SkepHalo were a group of two people with very different personalities. Skeppy and Badboyhalo were seen as some of the most ‘wholesome’ and ‘cute’ idols of the generation. They had such obvious amazing chemistry and had been best friends since childhood. Dating rumors had been thrown around, of course. They were oldies, having been around for years, and they were legends in the idol world. You can see how the SBI struggles to compete.
And Ghosts. Holy shit Ghosts. It was made up of three idols. Glatt, Ghostbur, and MDee. And god did they look like carbon copies of Jschlatt, Wilbur Soot, and Dream. The group has acknowledged this and Tommy even collaborated with them because of how funny it was. They’ve been around for about the same time the SBI has, maybe a little longer. They swept the internet by storm and have been hitting Global Top Ten several times, as well as collecting awards like it was nothing. Although big, they were around the same level as the SBI they were maybe a bit higher.
They were the most notable groups. With that thought in mind, the four marched up and inside. It was quite empty since the organizers cleared it out so only the performers and their staff would be in until it was showtime. Jack led them towards their room, and they passed by so many people that Tommy couldn’t recognize a lot of them.
Though he did see popular soloist Ponk talking with Awesamdude, and he gave them both a wave, which they returned happily. They were all competing here, but TommyInnit was competing with them. Not Tom.
They got to their dressing room to see that Sally, Steve and Clara were already there along with their stylists. Steve was hanging off the couch, half of his body on it and the other half laying on the ground. Clara was reading, like usual. And Sally was pacing.
Attention was turned to them and each of the boys were torn away from each other by staff. Tommy was pulled away by one of the stylists, he needed to be properly fitted for an outfit. Or something. He wasn’t paying attention and once it was done he fell asleep on the couch.
And was then woken up because they had food and the boys needed food for energy. Though, Tommy again, wasn’t in the mood for any food. Despite barely eating anything since he’s gotten sick, he hasn’t been hungry at all. He shrugged away the food with a simple ‘I’m not hungry, sorry’ and went on with his day, ignoring any and all concerned looks.
It was around an hour until performance time and it was makeup time. Today, Clara did most of the talking, which was strange. Since usually Tommy talked enough for both of them, but she could sense something was up with the younger boy and let him be.
“Sally, did you steal my brush?” Steve asked in his usual tired, bored sounding voice, looking up from his spot in front of Techno’s face. Sally giggled and waved around Steve’s brush, not even bothering to hide the fact she stole it, Wilbur cheering her on silently.
“Please give it back,” Steve pleaded, not making any move to go and get it. The look on his face matched the same bored tone of his. Steve was tired today, he was usually more energetic than this. His tone of voice didn’t change, no. But his movements and things he said just screamed ‘i'm too tired leave me alone’. Tommy related with Steve today, like most days.
“No!”
“I am asking you to return-”
“No.”
“May you please-”
“No.”
Steve looked done and sighed, before looking over to Clara. Clara decided to help the man out a little, and suddenly ran at Sally and snatched the brush out of her hands, eliciting a loud complaint from her. Clara handed the brush back to Steve and he cheered monotonously. Techno chuckled from his spot in the white-haired man’s chair. Phil laughed from the couch as well.
Tommy liked this a lot. The staff and them always felt like a family of some sort, and they all got along great. It was a lovely background noise. If only his body didn’t decide to fuck him over.
---
Next thing Tommy knows, they’re on stage. Cool. Only performing one song, thank god. All he had to focus on was keeping himself looking happy and energetic to the audience, and staying on his goddamn feet.
Within the first minute, his body is already beginning to breathe irregularly. Sweat is already dripping down his temple and face. He hasn’t been practicing that much, preparing and resting up for a week full of exercise and almost no-sleep had been recommended by Essempi themselves.
And then the dreaded thing happens. Black dots cloud his vision and his head gets all fuzzy. His limbs feel like jello and he finds he can barely continue standing with how tired his body suddenly feels. So, he simply allows his body to go down. And go down it does.
Tommy lands with a thump and his eyelids seem to be closing without his consent. Do they not know he’s a minor? His brain is in panic mode, trying to will his limbs into standing up and fucking work. But nothing. Heavily breathing, dripped in sweat, and tired as fuck, Tommy loses conciousness.
He doesn’t feel hands grabbing onto him and pulling him off-stage.
---
When he wakes up, it’s in the infirmary that he remembers catching a glimpse of while getting to their room in the concert hall. Phil, Wilbur, and Techno are crowded around him looking worried as fuck.
“Tommy, are you alright? You just passed out in the middle of the song,” Phil asked, worried as all hell. He had seen the kid that he took responsibility for and swore to protect fucking collapse like a puppet being released from it’s strings. What scared the shit out of him was how exhausted and wrecked Tommy looked.
The nurse had said that Tommy was sick, from a quick examination of how his body was doing. At hearing the news, Wilbur was pissed. Not at Tommy, never at Tommy, but just kind of at everything. Worry tends to blend into aggravation and he’s not sure how to feel.
Techno is worried sick. Tommy kind of just, fell. Techno, being the closest, almost immediately fell to the floor with his younger brother and shielded him with his own body as best as he could. Fuck the performance was the only thing running through his head other than what the fuck .
“I am,” Tommy took a deep breath in, “Not feeling that nice.” Phil chuckled at that, Wilbur simply scoffed light-heartedly. Tommy wasn’t feeling talking, the sore throat he managed to avoid showed up fashionably late, making talking feel like hell.
“It would seem so, Toms. Are you still tired?” Tommy nodded at that and Wilbur decided to take over as soon as Tommy moved his head up and down, almost pushing Phil out of the chair with how he was gesturing for him to get out of it. It was his turn to talk to the stupid gremlin child.
“Hey, love,” Wilbur softly said, smiling at how Tommy seemed to light up at him making his presence known, “You probably feel real icky right now, huh?” the teen simply nodded.
“When we get home? I’m gonna wrap you up in so many blankets and love you will be overwhelmed, in a good way,” Wilbur just started talking about his plans for when they got home. They couldn’t get home so fast, their ride wasn’t ready for some reason. That was Phil’s thing to figure out.
While carding his fingers through his little brother’s hair, he sighs. “You’ll be alright. Although I doubt you’re worried about that right now, huh?” Tommy is half asleep and very much not answering but Wilbur is just rambling at this point. Phil was pulled out of the room by one of the organizers and Techno was across the room with earphones in his ears and not paying attention. Wilbur knows Techno is going to coddle the shit out of Tommy later. He’s just bad at expressing his emotions when others are around.
“I hope this doesn’t happen again, you’ve had too many close calls with passing out on stage. I’m gonna start watching over you more closely, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but you’ve seemingly been getting worse and worse mentally. I don’t know how to help at all, I-” Wilbur stops himself as he realizes Tommy is asleep.
“I love you, Tommy. More than you’ll ever know. So stop doing such dumb shit,” he reprimands softly, looking at the kid laying on the bed with such care and adoration.
He’ll scold him later, but right now Tommy definitely didn’t need that. If Tommy had woken up earlier, Wilbur definitely would’ve scolded the shit out of Tommy. For not telling them, for not taking care of himself, for waltzing on stage like nothing was wrong. That’s all for later though.
Badboyhalo had stepped into the infirmary a little while after Tommy had passed out on stage, saying how he was watching from his waiting room and had run so fast to check and see if Tommy was alright. Bad had gotten lost and had to ask a staff member where it was, which was kind of funny.
He delivered freshly baked muffins, he was going to pass them out when the show was over but since the SBI would probably be leaving early he left them in there, with an extra muffin for Tommy, mumbling something about Sapnap not getting one.
Dream, the all doting older brother/cool uncle figure to Tommy ran in literal minutes after Tommy passed out, with Sapnap hot on his tail. After getting an update on how the teenager was and after a scolding Tommy wouldn’t be hearing for obvious reasons, they were pulled away because hey, the show must go on.
Fundy spammed Wilbur asking how Tommy was and why the fuck he just passed out, obviously worried. George did the same, but not as much spamming as it was demanding. The two got the update on how Tommy was and that was that.
Thinking about the people who were worried about Tommy made Wilbur realize something.
How the hell were they going to explain this to Tubbo and Ranboo.
Fuck.