Work Text:
Deep breaths.
One.
Tommy took a step forward, the wooden planks of the Prime Path creaking beneath his feet.
Two.
He tightened his grip on his bow, the smooth wood feeling heavy in his hand.
Three.
The arrows on his back shook as he walked.
Four.
His hands shook. He willed them to stop, with no success.
Five.
He could see Tubbo from the corner of his eyes, standing with Jack and Niki.
Six.
He looked scared. Tommy pulled his eyes away, instead focusing on the ground in front of him.
Seven.
His heart hammered in his chest, each beat threatening to be his last
Eight.
There was a strong breeze. Unfortunate.
Nine.
This was it.
Ten paces. Fire.
Tommy drew his bow, turning around to look Dream in his eyes. He let the string go, watching as the projectile flew through the air, narrowly missing its target. Tommy cursed under his breath. He pulled another arrow from his quiver as Dream’s arrow came hurtling towards him.
He ducked out of the way, only just missing the hit. It was close, too close. Tommy shot a glance to Wilbur, now standing beside Tubbo and the others. The man only shrugged slightly. Tommy drew his attention back to Dream, now launching a second arrow.
Tommy lept to the side, completely out of the way of the arrow. Smirking he went to load an arrow of his own, only to feel himself falling. He slipped, his brain supplied oh so helpfully. Roughly, he felt his feet hit the ground as water splashed up around him, white-hot pain shooting through his ankle. Fuck, he was going to be in so much trouble for that, wasn’t he?
His mind was racing, what could he do? He had to keep this going or he was in deep shit. Ignoring Dream’s questioning glance, he drew his bow again, firing the second arrow. Dream got the hint, walking over closer to Tommy. Fear trickled into Tommy’s gut as his ankle throbbed in pain, even the smallest pressure causing it to flare up.
“Nowhere to run?” Dream jeered, looking straight down at Tommy with his bow drawn.
Tommy heard the snap of the bowstring before he felt the arrow imbed itself into his gut, dark red seeping into his red and white shirt. He stumbled back from the impact, wincing as he put pressure on his foot.
Wilbur and Tubbo came running at him, with Jack and Niki in tow. Wilbur grabbed him, lifting his arm over his shoulder to help Tommy stand, much to his ankle’s relief. Tommy clutched at the arrow in his stomach, hands coated in blood.
Dream stood above them, only his mouth visible beneath his mask. Tommy could see a smirk drawn across the older’s face. He scoffed, shifting so more of his weight was on Wilbur. He could feel the intense look Tubbo was giving him from behind but chose to ignore it.
“CUT! That’s a wrap for today, everyone. Good work, I’ll see you back here tomorrow morning.”
“Tommy! That was awesome, dude!” Dream relaxed, lowering his bow. ‘Was that fall on purpose?” Tommy only laughed.
“Well whatever it was, it looked sick. I think we should use that in the final take,” Dream said, offering Tommy a hand out of the water. Tommy took it, ignoring the searing pain in his ankle. The bottom of his pants was all soggy, with a couple of new rips present. He hoped the costume managers weren’t going to be too angry at him.
“Hey Toms,” Wilbur said, the nickname spreading warmth into Tommy’s chest. “A couple of us were gonna head out for food if you wanted to join us.”
Tommy’s stomach growled against his will. He distantly thought of his ankle, throbbing under his weight. He pushed the thought aside. He was overreacting anyways. He’d take some ibuprofen from his dressing room before they left and then he’d be good to go.
~~~
Tommy was not fine. The group of them were all seated in a booth, all squished together. Tommy sat between Wilbur. Tubbo sat across from him, Jack and Niki beside him. So far keeping his throbbing ankle a secret was proving to be more difficult than he thought.
The group had chosen a restaurant not too far from their hotel, opting to walk instead of calling a cab. Each step ignited a small fire in Tommy’s foot as he muttered curses as quietly as he could. Wilbur and Tubbo kept giving him suspicious looks, but Tommy only glanced away.
It was made even worse when Tubbo kicked him under the table and he cried out, gaining the whole table’s attention. Wilbur laughed, telling him it was a good thing he decided to be an actor based on how dramatic he is. Tommy only laughed it off. Tubbo did not.
He was quiet for the rest of the dinner. Whenever someone asked, he only stated he was just tired from filming all day. He could tell the group didn’t believe him, worried glances shot to one another when they thought he wasn’t looking. He couldn't find it in him to care. He just wanted to go home , or as close to home as he could get. Like his hotel room…that he shared with Tubbo. Yeah, this was going to be a long night.
The five of them finished their food, paid and headed home. The walk home would have been enjoyable, had his ankle not felt like his bones were being ground up with each and every step he took. Summer was turning to Autumn, leaves on the trees darkening to a wide variety of reds, oranges and yellows. The warm Summer breeze was still present, warming them up as the sun set below the horizon.
He’s going to miss this once they were all done filming, Tommy thought. It had been seven weeks since they started filming, but they’d only been there in Montreal for about two weeks. The producers had said something about a special studio they wanted to use for filming the last few episodes of the season. When they go to film the second season, they’d be back in New York. If they got a second season.
The thought of the show getting cancelled scared Tommy more than he’d ever like to admit. The cast had practically become his family, not that he’d ever admit that to them. Not to mention, Tommy had never had a role this big. He was co-starring with the Dream WasTaken. Not to mention Wilbur Soot, famous musician and actor. If someone had told Tommy one year ago he’d be acting alongside some of the biggest names in the world, he would have laughed at them.
“Tommy?” Niki’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts, back into the real world.
“Hm?” He questioned, sluggishly looking up at Niki.
“I asked if you were good? You’ve just been staring off into space for a while,” Niki chuckled, a hint of concern laced in his voice. Tommy felt his cheeks grow warm with embarrassment.
“I’m fine, Niki. I’m just… tired, from filming all day is all. Promise,” Tommy smiled, praying they wouldn’t see through the fakeness of it all.
“Are you sure…?” Wilbur chimed in, “You don’t look too good.”
“I’m fine ,” Tomy snapped, the words tumbling from his mouth before he could stop them.
The pair backed off, leaving Tommy to sulk alone. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes. God, he was a fucking mess, wasn’t he? What if they thought he couldn’t handle everything? Oh God, what if they get him removed from the show ?
The rest of the walk continued in silence, at least on Tommy’s part. The others quietly chatted, sparing the occasional glance toward Tommy. Meanwhile, a flurry of what-ifs and panicked questions flew through Tommy’s head. The walk felt agonizingly long, especially on his foot.
Tommy glanced down at it quickly, praying there were no other eyes on him. He could see a splotch of purple and blue creeping up out of his shoe, the area looking ever so slightly puffier than usual. Tommy shot his head back up, pretending he had seen nothing. Yeah, that’s it. What you don’t know can’t hurt you. If Tommy just ignored the pain, then it wouldn’t be happening, right?
~~~
“So how’d you fuck up your foot?” Purpled asked, as soon as Tommy got out of the bathroom. Tommy sputtered as Tubbo whacked Purpled on the back of the head. Purpled cursed under his breath.
“You weren’t supposed to just ask him,” Tubbo reprimanded, shaking his head.
“Well, you weren’t going to,” Purpled shot back, rolling his eyes.
“What in the world is going on right now?” Tommy questioned, confused out of his mind.
“You’ve been off all night,” Tubbo said, softening a little.
“I told you I’m-” Tommy started, before he was promptly cut off by both Purpled and Tubbo at the same time.
“Bullshit,” Purple smirked.
“See what I mean!” Tubbo gestured to Tommy, looking incredulously at Purpled.
“You’re clearly not fine , considering you looked like you were dying since we finished that last scene,” Tubbo stated.
“I… Fine. My ankle hurts a little . Is that what you wanted to hear?” Tommy sighed, exasperated. He loved Purpled and Tubbo. They were the only other actors on set close to his age, both being a year older than him. The three of them had become good friends.
“Is that why you’re only standing on one foot right now?” Purpled asked, deadpan.
Tommy only grumbled, evening out his weight to prove his point. The action sent jolts of pain up into his leg. His face screwed up into a pained expression.
Tubbo and Purpled both gave him a knowing stare. Tommy stumbled over to the first bed, belly-flopping down with a groan. Purpled lightly karate chopped him on the back of Tommy’s head, hand relaxing into Tommy’s curls. The action made Tommy melt even further into the bed.
“I didn’t mean to fall off that stupid bridge into the water,” Tommy mumbled, hoping the pair heard him.
“I thought that looked off, but I figured you were just trying to be cool,” Tubbo murmured, half to himself.
“I landed all weird. My ankle’s felt like shit ever since,” Tommy said, shifting his head slightly so he could see Purpled. He was smiling softly, a rare occurrence unless someone fell on their face. He caught Tommy’s gaze, immediately steeling his gaze into fake disdain. Tommy stuck his tongue out at him.
“Can we take a look at it? I mean, my mum’s a nurse, I know a bit about first aid,” Tubbo said, coming to sit over on the bed with the other two. Tommy mumbled a yes, flipping onto his back.
Tommy couldn’t see Tubbo, but he could feel the concern hanging in the air.
“Tell it to me straight Doc, how bad is it?” Tommy asked, peeking through his eyelids to get a look at Tubbo. He had his lips pursed into a thin line, worry evident on his face.
“I’m calling Wilbur,” Tubbo said, instead of a reply. Tommy shot up, pain shooting through his foot at the sudden movement.
“Wha- Why- No! Why would you call Wilbur of all people?” Tommy sputtered. He didn’t need Wilbur seeing him all pathetic like this.
“Because we need an adult here,” Tubbo stated, already pulling out his phone.
“Tubbo, I am fine you don’t need to call Wilb-” Tommy deflected.
“Already done. He’ll be over in a couple of minutes, give or take,” Tubbo shrugged.
As if on cue, there were a series of rapid knocks on the door. Purpled snickered. He removed his hand from where it was threading through Tommy’s curls, to Tommy’s dismay. He whined under his breath, mourning the loss of the warmth on his head.
Tubbo opened the door, revealing a panicked stricken Wilbur.
“Tubbo! What’s up? All your text said was Emergency, come quick ,” Wilbur panted.
“Tommy fucked up his foot,” Purpled called nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.
“He what?!” Wilbur cried, while Tommy yelped indignantly.
“For fuck’s sake you guys, I’m fucking fine ,” Tommy snapped. Tubbo didn’t reply, only pointing to Tommy’s foot.
Now that he could get a good look at it, his foot admittedly… did not look good. There was a dark purple bruise climbing up the outside of his ankle, branching out into hues of yellow and brown. The whole side of his foot was swollen too. Wilbur came into the room, visibly paling when he got a look at Tommy.
“ Fuck , Tommy, that’s- that’s bad . Is this why you were off at dinner?” Wilbur asked, softening. Tommy deflated a bit. He hated making people worry.
“I just need to walk it off,” Tommy murmured, trying to convince himself as much as he was Wilbur.
“I fucked it up by myself, I can deal with it by myself too.” The words came out as a mantra, the same words repeated to him over and over when he was little.
“Toms, you don’t really believe that do you?” Wilbur asked, concern all over his face.
“I mean, why wouldn’t I? It’s the truth, isn’t it?” Tommy said, almost in a whisper.
“Sunshine, you don’t need to do everything alone,” Wilbur breathed, taking Tommy’s hands in his own.
“I don’t know who told you that, but it’s wrong. You are not alone . I don’t care how many times I have to remind you. You have me, Tubbo, purpled, and even Niki and Fundy. Not to mention the rest of the cast. We’re all here for you, I promise,” Wilbur soothed.
Tommy’s lip trembled, tears threatening to spill. But it seemed Wilbur wasn’t done yet.
“You don’t have to believe me yet, but I need you to trust me, okay?” Wilbur said, pulling the younger into a hug.
And there it happened, the dam burst. Tears cascaded down Tommy’s cheeks as he burrowed his face into Wilbur’s shoulder. The older only stroked his hair, carding his fingers through the blond curls.
They stayed like that for a while. At some point Purpled had left, perhaps opting for his own hotel room instead. Tubbo came up, curling up on Tommy’s opposite side. He had fallen asleep at some point, Wilbur’s hands still planted firmly in his hair, massaging calming circles.
The youngest still needed medical attention, his foot definitely being broken, or at the very least sprained. But that was an issue for later. Right now, they were content just the way they were.