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Tommy loves his friends.
He may not show it as much on stream as others do, but he really does. He teases them and laughs at them and acts like he’s annoyed by them, but at the end of the day, he adores them more than life.
He doesn’t show it often, but, sometimes, he just has to.
1.
“Alright guys, you ready to see me kick some ass in Skywars?”
Tommy grins, glancing at his chat and laughing at the ridiculous amount of support he’s getting. “Fuck yeah, chat, let’s do it,” he cheers, joining the lobby. He leans back in his chair while waiting for it to start, absently tabbing over to his discord. A new message pops up, and he raises his eyebrows as he realizes it’s from Techno.
“The Blade’s messaged me,” Tommy comments, drawling out Techno’s nickname in the dramatic, drawn-out way he loves doing. Chat, predictably, goes wild- Techno probably sent him a funny quip to either tease Tommy or get his chat laughing – or both – so Tommy clicks into it.
It’s not teasing, though. Or a funny quip, or anything of the sort. Instead, it’s a short, simple message. Just-
make me proud, tommy, Techno sent. Tommy blinks, and grins.
For some reason, the simplicity and pure faith overflowing from the message make something happy clench in Tommy’s heart. Gods- he’s sure his grin has rapidly shifted into something much too soft, but he really can’t bring himself to care.
“I will,” Tommy whispers, not caring that no one other than him or Techno knows what he’s referring to. But, then, he raises his voice and exclaims, “Y’know what, chat? Get your clips, because I’ve decided it’s embarrassing Technoblade hours.”
The game starts, and Tommy’s discord pings multiple times. He ignores them all, and continues, “Now, chat, you may not believe this, but Techno? He’s a huge fuckin’ softie.”
NOT TRUE, Techno spams in chat. TOMMY SHUT UP
Tommy laughs, and gleefully ignores him. “He’s the one that got me to be even remotely decent at Skywars, y’know? He played with me for hours – and he wouldn’t tease me – much, that is. He’s still Techno; of course he’d tease me a little bit.”
TOMMY MY REPUTATION, Techno spams. Wilbur, on the other hand, seems utterly delighted and spams KEEP GOING, TOMMY
Tommy obeys, his smile slipping into something more genuine. “My parents got annoyed with him multiple times because he kept me up ‘till like 4 in the morning multiple times in a row. One week, he played with me all night every single day.” Tommy pauses, and darts his eyes towards his chat. Techno hasn’t stopped spamming.
Allowing his fondness to slip into his voice, he murmurs, “It was really nice.” And, though he’s live in front of hundreds of thousands of people, he means this just for Techno. “Let’s do that again, man.”
His chat’s void of Techno for a while. Everyone’s screaming awwwwww and yelling about how cute that was, but Techno’s silent. Tommy refuses to let the insecurities just waiting for an opportunity to assault him win; refuses to beat himself down. It’d be so easy to, but Tommy firmly reasons with himself- Techno’s probably overwhelmed. Tommy’s almost never like this, especially on stream. He’s not used to it.
Techno deserves it, though.
All his friends do.
Finally, he sends one singular message.
Techno: sure thing, tommy
Tommy grins and pumps his fist. Fittingly, that’s when he’s able to knock the final person other than him into the void, and win his game of Skywars.
“Fuck yeah!” Tommy crows, laughing and shooting a wild smile at his camera. “Knew I could do it!”
Chat takes this as aimed at them, but the recipient knows who it’s really aimed at.
Tommy’s discord pings again, and, right there-
Techno: you sure did
Tommy’s grin widens, and he feels ridiculously light for the rest of his stream.
Afterwards, Techno calls him. “You’re an awful child,” Techno informs him. Tommy giggles a bit and runs a hand through his hair.
“You deserve it,” Tommy states sincerely. Techno sighs, but when he turns on his camera, he’s grinning, too.
“Thanks, Tommy,” Techno says, a bit gruff and awkward, but Tommy can tell he means it. “I…wasn’t having the greatest day. This helped. I appreciate it.”
Tommy flashes him a smile, hoping all the care he feels can be seen. “It’s all true,” Tommy states softly.
“Still,” Techno insists gently. “Thanks.”
Shaking his head, Tommy responds, “Anytime.”
And he means it.
2.
“Phil, Phil, Phil, Phil, Phil-”
Tommy spams Phil, begging for him to join the call. “Phil,” he whines again, knowing that Phil can’t hear him but doing it anyway. He spams Phil more, making his face look more depressed than he actually is to entertain his chat. They seem entertained enough by him bugging Phil, but he makes sure to check anyway, just to be sure.
“What do you want, you shit?” Phil asks exasperatedly as he finally joins the call. Tommy grins and cheers.
“Phil! My screen-capture got all fucked up, and I don’t know how to fix it, can you please help me-”
Phil sighs, sounding put upon. But, before Tommy can worry that he’s actually fucked up, Phil concedes, “Fine, Tommy, let me take a look. I’ll pull up your stream-”
“Thanks, Phil!” Tommy chirps, and Phil sighs again, but this time it sounds more fond. Tommy’s grin just grows larger.
“Yeah, yeah. Now, let’s see…”
Phil spends the next ten minutes helping Tommy out. Tommy notices that Phil’s streaming, too, and winces internally a little at the thought of ripping Phil away. But Phil never sounds annoyed, the entire way through. Other than the first bit, he just sounds patient, helping Tommy through it.
At the end, Tommy’s screen-capture is fixed, which- of course it is, Phil helped him. He’s the biggest man ever. Of course he’d be able to figure it out. Tommy says, letting his voice gain a little more sincerity, “Thank you, Phil.”
Phil lets out a bit of an amused laugh, and Tommy just knows he’s grinning. “Yeah, ‘course,” Phil says easily. “See you later, Tommy.”
“Cya!”
Phil leaves the call, then, and Tommy just takes a moment to smile. “Phil’s really the greatest, isn’t he, chat?” He asks rhetorically. He already knows how they’re going to respond. Tommy basks in this feeling- the feeling of being helped, the feeling of having someone willing to drop everything just to help him out, and laughs quietly.
“Seriously, chat, I don’t know if you know,” Tommy continues, leaning back in his chair. He makes his facecam big on the screen for the time being, and links his hands behind his head. “But Phil- he always does this. It’s not just on stream; I reach out to him for help with almost everything. Ever since the beginning, he’s always been the one I can count on.”
Tommy’s quiet for a moment, glancing at all the awws and soft tommys being spammed in chat. He confesses, “I appreciate him so much for that.”
His heart feels so full. He has no doubt that his chat’s spreading to Phil’s chat – telling him that he’s being soft, but he can’t bring himself to care. He loves his friends, dammit, he’s allowed to show it if he really wants to.
“‘Course, that doesn’t mean I don’t annoy the shit out of him,” Tommy amends, grin gaining a bit of cheekiness. “He’s still the old man, I’ve gotta annoy him. Keep him on his toes, y’know? But…”
Tommy casts his gaze upwards. He doesn’t even want to know what his smile looks like. “He means a lot to me,” he murmurs, barely loud enough for the mic to pick up. He gives himself another second to be cheesy, and then shakes himself out of it, grinning and making his facecam small again. “Alright, enough being nice! Time to kill some women!” He cheers.
A pause for dramatic effect. “In a video game,” he adds, laughing.
The rest of the stream is uneventful, and after, Tommy pretty much goes straight to bed. He goes through his bedtime routine, and is just climbing in when he gets a discord message.
Ph1LzA: you mean a lot to me, too. thanks, m8
Tommy presses his palms to his cheeks, his happiness hard to breathe through for a second.
Tommy: <3
He leaves it at that, and vows to give Phil the biggest hug when they meet up next time.
3.
“Tubbo! Tubs, Tubster, Tubso, my main man Tubbo-”
“What do you want,” Tubbo sighs exasperatedly when Tommy finally gains his attention, and Tommy grins excitedly.
“Play bedwars with me!”
“And if I don’t want to?”
Tommy sighs exaggeratedly. “Then I will be very, very sad,” he tells Tubbo seriously, and Tubbo rolls his eyes.
“Why should I care?” Tubbo asks in return, but he joins the game the next second. Tommy cheers.
“Knew I could trust you, big man!”
“Yeah, yeah, just don’t let us lose, or I’ll steal your kidneys.”
“What is it with you and your incredibly concerning threats?”
Tubbo smiles serenely from where Tommy can see his camera on his second monitor. “Gotta keep it interesting,” he says mildly. Tommy blinks.
“…You are terrifying, you know.”
“I know!”
Their banter carries on along this vein for the majority the rest of the day, continuing even when Tommy starts stream. Tommy and Tubbo act differently on camera, of course, but their dynamic is pretty similar off-stream, too. It’s always fun, streaming with his best friend, and when Tubbo finally has to sign off, Tommy’s stomach hurts from laughing.
Man, he loves him.
“You all having fun, chat?” Tommy asks, and grins at the wave of confirmations he gets. He doesn’t need the validation of thousands to prove his relationship with his best friend is good, but it is nice to hear it, he will admit. “Yeah,” Tommy continues. “Tubbo’s awesome.”
A few of the chat make comments like ohoho another soft tommy moment incoming??? Tommy’s tempted to deny them just for the principle of it, but he doesn’t think he’s gone off about how amazing Tubbo is recently, if at all. This may as well be the first.
Tubbo deserves it.
“Fine- you guys want Tommy softness hours?” Tommy asks, and there’s another flood of confirmations. “Alright,” he sighs, but he’s grinning.
He takes a moment, and then starts off with, “Guys? Guys. You all remember how that first raid started off me and Tubbo’s friendship?” Tommy reminisces for a second, then continues, “That was without a doubt the best decision I’ve ever made.”
Tommy smiles, thinking about how flustered Tommy raiding him had made Tubbo, and the sheer joy Tubbo’d been exuding for the rest of the night. Thinking about how they’d gone to bed that night still messaging each other, and how they’ve been inseparable ever since. “I make fun of him a lot,” Tommy admits easily – it’s true, after all – “But he’s seriously my best friend. There’s absolutely no way I would’ve made it this far without him.”
He can already sense the flustered rage Tubbo no doubt has right this second. “He’s one of the funniest and brightest people I know – he always knows how to make me smile.” Tommy bites his bottom lip for a moment, sheer gratitude overwhelming him for a moment, before he whispers, “I’m so glad I met him.”
Breathing in, Tommy shakes himself. No matter how thankful he is for that fateful, fateful day, he’s not about to cry on stream about his friends. “Alright, enough softness!” Tommy decides, leaning back forward in his seat and logging back onto the Dream SMP, this time. “Time to cause some chaos here, instead!”
Predictably, as soon as Tommy ends stream a little under an hour later, Tubbo facetimes him. “You absolute cheesy bastard,” Tubbo says as soon as Tommy picks up. Tommy laughs, giving him a grin.
“Your cheesy bastard,” Tommy shoots back. Tubbo shakes his head, but the softness in his eyes betrays his real feelings. Tommy just smiles wider.
Tubbo says quietly, “You’re my best friend.” Tommy swipes at his eyes, the affection in Tubbo’s voice almost too much to bear. Tubbo following up with, “I’m really grateful for that day, too,” just makes it so that Tommy has no choice but to cry.
“Love you, Tubs,” Tommy whispers through his tears. Tubbo curses, and scrubs at his own face.
He mutters, “You absolute dickhead, making me cry.” His tone softens, though, and he responds soon after, “Love you too, Toms.”
Tommy grins, and his heart for the rest of the day feels so ridiculously full.
4.
“Ranboo,” Tommy sighs.
“Yes?”
Tommy raises an eyebrow at Ranboo’s innocent tone. He knows better than to think Tommy’d believe that. “You really dragged me all the way out here – out two thousand coordinates – to see this?”
Ranboo, camera open in discord but visible to no one else, grins serenely. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. It’s absolutely gorgeous, I think.”
“Ranboo,” Tommy deadpans again. He pans his vision towards the thing, just to add dramatic effect, then says incredulously, “You are showing me a gigantic statue of a penis. Really?!”
Ranboo laughs his full, genuine cackle, and Tommy can’t help but soften just a little. There was once a time Ranboo held himself back around Tommy – not anymore. “I thought you’d like it,” Ranboo says cheekily. “It’s truly fitting for your sense of humor.”
Tommy sighs, but he can’t stop himself from snickering slightly as he says, “It is absolutely not, you bastard-”
“Aha!” Ranboo crows. “I heard it! You laughed!”
“Shut up, Ranboo.” Tommy can’t help but full-out grin as he moves his character away from the statue. “Now come with me back to my house and help me out with my build.”
“Ugh. Okay, yeah, fine.”
Ranboo hangs out for a while longer, and actually does help Tommy with his build. Tommy had been mostly joking – it’s not the prettiest build, being yet another cobblestone tower, and he doesn’t really need help, but Ranboo helps anyway. Tommy just bites down his slightly larger grin and doesn’t comment.
After Ranboo leaves though, a wish for Tommy to have a good rest of his stream the last thing he says, Tommy finally lets himself smile the way he’s been wanting to. “Ranboo’s a good man,” he comments, moving to complete the last part of his build.
Instantly, the chat starts buzzing with requests for another moment of Tommy Softness™. Tommy glances at it, sighs, and debates himself for a moment. “Yeah, alright,” he acquiesces. “I suppose I can be soft for Ranboob for a bit.”
Tommy logs out of the game, makes his facecam big, and hums a little. “Y’know,” Tommy starts casually, “As much as I joke about questioning why Tubbo chose him, it’s really quite clear why they bonded so easily. Ranboo’s easily one of the most friendly people you’ll ever meet in your lives.”
Tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling, Tommy grins a little. “I remember meeting him that first day on the SMP,” he reminisces. “He instantly gave me a run for my money, making puns and joking around with me. He’s always been fun to hang around with, and that was just the start.” He tilts his head back forward, and watches his lips perk in his own delayed camera.
“He’s the most supportive person I know,” he shares quietly. “Whenever you’re nervous about something, he’s there. If you need a confidence boost, Ranboo’s always there for you to go to. He’s so non-judgmental it’s sickening.” Tommy must sound so fond. He can’t really bring himself to care.
Tommy admits, “I’ll never admit it to him, but I appreciate him more than he’ll ever know.” He smiles softly, and repeats, “He’s a good one, Ranboo is.”
His discord pings at that moment. Tommy glances over, and giggles softly at it.
Ranboo: Jerk
Ranboo: Making me cry
Ranboo: Being nice
Ranboo: So rude of you
sorry not sorry, Tommy replies, and doesn’t comment on it out loud. Ranboo sneaks in one final message before he tabs back over to Minecraft.
Ranboo: Love you, Tommy
Tommy has to fight the urge to bury his head in his hands and yell for a moment. Damn Ranboo, always managing to find ways to make Tommy as flustered as physically possible. “Time to get back to gaming!” Tommy swiftly changes the subject, logging back into the server. He forces down his blush, and continues, “Now, how should I finish this?”
After stream, Ranboo sends him yet another message.
Ranboo: I appreciate you, too
Tommy keeps his response simple, his heart ridiculously warm.
Tommy: :D <3
Tommy: love you too
And he goes to sleep, a grin still firmly on his face.
5.
Tommy’s only fifteen minutes into his next stream when his chat starts spamming, begging him for another Soft Tommy Moment. Tommy groans exaggeratedly, but if he’s being honest, he enjoys doing this. It’s nice, praising his friends in front of thousands. They deserve it. They deserve all Tommy can give them.
Jesus, his resolve to not destroy his reputation really has been demolished, hasn’t it.
“Alright, fine, chat, Jesus,” Tommy complains good-naturedly, quitting the game he’d just got into and making his facecam fill the screen. “Who should I be soft to today, I wonder…” Tommy contemplates. It only takes a couple of seconds for it to click, and unwittingly, a small, soft smile makes its way onto his face.
He says casually, “I guess I haven’t really talked about Wilbur recently, have I.” It’s strange, how it’s taken this long to happen – though, they haven’t really streamed together much recently, so he guesses it kind of makes sense.
Just means he’s gonna have to make this one good.
“Wilbur’s…” Tommy pauses, thinking over his words carefully. “Wilbur’s one of a kind,” Tommy finally decides on. “It’s cheesy as fuck, but Wil’s someone who you just won’t meet anyone else like. And no, not just because he decided to fuck a fish in a story,” he adds on, laughing.
He continues, “You guys already know how fuckin’ amazing his music is. He’s talented as fuck, and he’s gonna be one of those top-ten radio artists in the future. I can feel it. I can sense it in me fuckin’ veins.”
Tommy thumbs gently at the sweater he’s wearing. It’s one of Wilbur’s – he’d begged Wilbur to let him try it on last time they’d met up, and Wilbur hadn’t given in. Tommy pestered him for ages. Wilbur never gave it to him. But, when Tommy’d been dropped off back at home, his bag had been a little heavier.
The sweater was in there, folded carefully and clearly gifted. It still smelled like Wilbur. Tommy hasn’t stopped wearing it since.
“He’s my big brother,” Tommy whispers finally. His voice is actually a little shaky – he can’t dredge up the willpower to hide how much he’s feeling. He can stand to have his love on full display. Wilbur deserves it. Wilbur deserves the world. “He- whenever we hang out, he teases me, or we fuck with each other, or wrestle, or something – and he always teaches me something, too.” Tommy considers mentioning the guitar lessons Wilbur’s started leading Tommy through, but decides against it.
That’ll stay just for them, for now.
“He’ll never truly know how much he changed my life,” Tommy says after a possibly-concerning amount of silence. He laughs a little, then says, “SMP Earth really did turn everything upside down, huh.”
The chat’s actually slowed down, now. It takes a lot to do that – Tommy watches it slowly speed up again and giggles. “That enough softness for you fuckers?” He asks teasingly, taking the opportunity to swipe at his eyes. He laughs at the way his chat just seems utterly ruined, and moves to actually play the game he’d been about to before he got completely sidetracked.
Before he can, though, a ringing noise sounds in his headphones. Tommy glances at who’s calling him, and- of course.
Face burning red-hot, Tommy slowly moves to press accept on the call.
“Hey, Wil,” he whispers.
He has to force himself not to sink into a puddle in his chair when all Wilbur says is, “Tommyinnit.” It’s so overwhelmingly warm, and fond, and Tommy thinks he could cry.
Instead, he just stares at the screen, blinking rapidly to hide the tears burning at the backs of his eyes.
Tommy doesn’t say anything, but thankfully (or not, Tommy’s not quite sure) Wilbur continues, “You magnificent, insane child.”
“You know it,” Tommy replies weakly. He hears typing from the other end, and tabs over to his and Wilbur’s DMs just in time to see his message come in.
Wilbur: end your stream so we can hang
Tommy: i just started twenty minutes ago???
Wilbur: don’t care. end it. i need to hang out with my little brother.
Tommy blushes even deeper. He closes his eyes and forces himself to breathe in and out. “Sorry, chat,” he finally says. “Someone’s being clingy, and is demanding I end stream.”
“Rich for you to call someone else clingy,” Wilbur interjects in call. Tommy snorts out a laugh, and gives the camera a bit of a wave.
“Ignore him. Longer stream tomorrow, chat, probably!” Tommy chirps, already making the motions to end his stream. “Bye!”
With that, he ends stream, and buries his head in his hands. There’s an amused huff of breath from the other end, and Tommy just blushes even deeper as he turns on his camera. Wilbur turns his on at the same exact time. Tommy’s almost scared to look up; scared to find out just how affectionate Wilbur looks.
“Hi, Wilbur,” he repeats into his hands.
Wilbur responds warmly, “Hi, love.”
Tommy blushes even deeper. Dammit, fucking pet names now? Tommy’s going to lose his mind.
“You’re a sweetheart,” Wilbur tells him, and Tommy finally dredges up the courage to look up at him. True to Tommy’s expectations, Wilbur looks far too soft.
Looking just to the right of Wilbur’s face, Tommy mumbles, “Just telling the truth.”
Wilbur softens even more; Tommy didn’t realize that was possible. “Aww, Tommy,” he coos softly. “Darling, you’re too sweet.”
“Shut up,” Tommy says, glaring at the screen through his still-flushed cheeks.
Wilbur chuckles a bit, teasing, “What, can’t handle a little affection? Can’t handle the love, Tommy?”
“Stop,” Tommy whines, drawing out the word. Wilbur laughs this time.
“I love you, little brother.” Tommy closes his eyes, his heart too fucking warm and full of warm sappy gooeyness that he can’t fucking handle.
“Love you too,” he forces out, blinking up at Wilbur and grinning shyly. Wilbur just smiles back, wide and affectionate, and Tommy can’t help but feel at home.
They stay on call the rest of the night.
And once again, Tommy falls asleep smiling.
+1
In all honesty, Tommy’s not having the greatest of days.
It hasn’t been a horrible day, not by any means, but…he can’t help but feel a little down. He didn’t have time before college to grab his breakfast, so he was hungry all through lunchtime; he dropped his phone and got yet another crack; none of his friends were there today so he felt alone all day-
Yeah, it really wasn’t a great day.
He kinda just wants to fall asleep when he gets home, but instead he flops over onto his side once he gets into bed and gets onto his phone. And he’s glad he does, because apparently Wilbur went live, and Tommy somehow missed the notification. Shame on him.
Wilbur always manages to make Tommy feel better, so he makes himself comfortable in bed, and clicks into the stream to settle in to watch.
Instantly, the sound of Wilbur’s voice makes Tommy’s shoulders lose some of the tension they’ve had all day; he relaxes into it, letting the calming mumbles as Wilbur plays Geoguessr wash over him. Wilbur’s in call with Ranboo and Tubbo – if he joined, he’d make the benchtrio and crimeboys stans really happy, but he really can’t be bothered right now.
He’ll drag down the mood, anyway, and listening to them is helping.
Tommy can’t help but laugh as Wilbur gets pissed at himself for missing a location that Tommy couldn’t even begin to guess.
you suck, Tommy sends in chat, because of course he does. also, ranboo, go to sleep, it’s like five in the morning. Ranboo seems to notice him first, laughing out loud.
“Looks like Tommy’s in chat,” Ranboo says in amusement. “Tommy, it’s not that early, it’s fine. Also, just join call if you wanna yell at me for waking up early again.”
“Oh, hi Tommy!” Tubbo says brightly. Wilbur’s too busy muttering to himself to comment, but his lips seem to perk up the slightest bit.
Tommy frowns, sending a quick, sorry, can’t, too busy doing big man stuff. also, i don’t give a shit. go to sleep.
Ranboo responds, “Hey, don’t apologize, have fun with whatever you’re doing. I’m still not going to sleep, though.”
Wilbur snorts, concentration momentarily broken. “Does Tommy really yell at you for waking up early?”
Ranboo laughs a little, and responds, “Yeah – Tommy always yells at me when he sees me up too late and/or too early.”
Tubbo pipes in, “I don’t!”
“Yeah,” Ranboo agrees, sounding amused. “He’s not like Tubbo – Tubbo just enables me. Tommy yells at us both when that happens.”
“Yeah, he really does,” Tubbo laughs. “He tries to deny it, but he really is the biggest momma bear.”
If Tommy were in call, he’d no doubt be rearing up in an attempt to defend himself. Instead, though, he sinks deeper into the pillows and lets his lips turn up into a small, fond smile.
Wilbur sighs and leans back into his chair, and agrees, “Yeah.”
“Tommy tries to hide how much he cares,” Ranboo adds on, something fond threaded through his voice. “He acts all loud and obnoxious, but he’s so nice.”
“Oh, is it complimenting Tommy time?” Tubbo asks excitedly. “I’ve been waiting so long to get my revenge – please tell me it’s complimenting Tommy time.”
Tommy feels his cheeks go hot, and he quickly types in chat, please no.
Wilbur looks as if he’s glancing over at chat, and a mischievous grin comes across his face. “Y’know, I think it is,” Wilbur states, and Tommy has to stop himself from groaning.
“Tommy’s the best!” Tubbo immediately chirps. Tommy buries his head in his hands, smiling uncontrollably. “He’s a dickhead sometimes, sure, and sometimes I wanna punch him, but he’s so kind and so fun to talk to always.”
“Tommy’s the sort of person who brightens up the whole room,” Ranboo chimes in. “More than just bringing conversation to the table, he always finds a way to include everyone, even if they’re on the fringes or he’s never met them. He’s just that sort of guy.”
“Ranboo, my beloved, if you ever interrupt me again while I’m trying to compliment my best friend, I’m going to steal your wrist bones,” Tubbo says calmly. Ranboo splutters. If Tommy weren’t trying so hard to burrow into the mattress to escape from the too-soft feelings that are suddenly flooding through him, he’d probably laugh.
A ding sounds in the call, and Tommy actually groans when fucking Phil says, “Oh, are we praising Tommy?”
“Yup, go for it, Phil!” Wilbur encourages, sounding way too cheerful. He’s tabbed away at this point, made his facecam big. He rests his head on his hand, and looks entirely too soft.
“Tommy’s one of the hardest-working people you’ll ever meet,” Phil says easily, as if it’s fact, as if he’s trying to make Tommy cry. “If you ask him to do something, or he has a goal he wants to reach, he’ll stop at nothing to get to that goal.”
“He’s stupidly persistent, too,” Techno chimes in, and wow, Tommy completely missed him joining the call. “With his work, and with others’, too. He won’t let people give up on anything they even kinda wanna do, even if they’re on the verge of quitting.” Techno sighs. He sounds put-upon, but even in Tommy’s overwhelmed state, he can tell Techno’s fond, too. “Believe me, I know.”
There’s a little pause, and Tommy thinks he might’ve finally reached the ending point. Jesus fuck, his friends can’t just do this to him. But-
“Tommyinnit-” Wilbur says slowly, and that’s when Tommy knows he’s fucked. “-is one of the brightest kids I’ve ever gotten the pleasure to meet. He’s fucking incredible, as a content creator, but also as a person.”
“Yup, yup!” Tubbo breaks in, decidedly refusing to let anyone speak over him anymore. Tommy sniffles, laughing through the tears that are starting to trail down his cheeks. “He’s so nice, and he helps me with everything! He’s never once let me down.”
Tommy closes his eyes and presses his palms against his eyes, shoving hard. Goddamn his friends, fuck them, he loves them so fucking much-
“He’s like the sun,” Wilbur continues, soft and gentle. Tommy lets out a little gasp. “He brings light to every single light he touches, and he burrows down deep and keeps himself there and never lets you go.”
Wilbur pauses, for a split-second, and says, “We’re all incredibly lucky to have him.”
Everyone immediately responds with confirmations, and Tommy can’t help but let out a sob. Gods. Gods. He- he can’t-
His affection overwhelms him and bursts, and he quickly navigates over to his discord and searches for the call. Finding it, he hesitates for no more than half a second and clicks into it, uncaring about how his audio quality is sure to be absolute shit.
It’s quiet when he joins. Tommy breathes in, breathes out, and forces his voice not to tremble when he says, “You all suck.”
Gods, he sounds so horrifyingly fond to his own mind, it must sound a thousand times worse to everyone else.
They all just let out soft laughs, though, and Wilbur says warmly, “Hi, Tommy.”
“Hi, Tommy!” Tubbo and Ranboo both say cheerfully, and Phil and Techno don’t say anything, but they’re still there, and that’s enough to make Tommy feel even more emotional.
Tommy’s so incredibly overwhelmed and his heart is so completely full and he doesn’t think he’s ever felt this much love in his life. And so, not giving a single shit about the viewers, he just whispers, “Love you guys.”
“Love you too!” Tubbo responds at light speed, as if daring anyone else to say it first. Tommy huffs out a laugh. Wilbur, still on screen in the little screen-capture in the corner of Tommy’s phone, shakes his head.
“Love you, Tommy,” he says affectionately. Phil echoes him, then Techno and Ranboo in sync, and Tommy can’t help but grin even as tears continue making their way down his cheeks. Wilbur says softly, “You sound tired, Toms.”
Tommy’s eyelids do weigh heavy, but he mumbles, “I’m fine.”
Phil hums doubtfully. “Tommy, why don’t you take a nap? We’ll be sure to keep it down if you want keep listening.”
Tommy frowns, but despite himself, he yawns. “Yeah- okay, I will,” he murmurs. He just barely catches Wilbur’s lips turn up into a small smile, and Tommy can’t help but smile, too.
“Talk to you guys later,” he mumbles, moving a finger to leave the call.
He hears their responses, hangs up, and falls asleep with a smile on his face.