the sun is fun, the land is dandy

the title is pulled from that one song uughmm. alien blues
i hope u enjoy i am excited to finally post this :]
benrey makes a lot of spelling mistakes but i promise i know how to spell i promise i promis

Work Text:

johnwicklover1994
9:34 | tommyyyy
9:34 | wanna hang out today
9:35 | i miss u bro

9:39 | best friend tommy. pleeease

sunnysoda 🌈
9:48 | hi sorry!!!!
9:48 | absolutely i do :)

johnwicklover1994
9:48 | YAY fun times with epic palsss
9:48 | can always count on you when im bored. nothin else to do? hit up tommy. best bro ever no jokes <3
9:48 | come over whenever n we can find somethin cool to do
9:49 | jst lmk when ur on ur way

sunnysoda 🌈
9:51 | okay! :))

Tommy did not want to hang out today.

He had been hanging out with his various friends every day for the past two weeks, and it was getting to be a lot on him. Tommy loved his friends, of course, and he loved helping them as much as he could. But sometimes he wished that somebody would be there for him as much as he was there for other people.

He had Sunkist of course, which was nice, but she was a dog. It was different. He would occasionally vent his feelings to her, but the most she could do was lick his face or lay next to him. Petting her did help to an extent, but it was merely temporary stress relief. He needed a person to talk to; somebody who could actively listen, and respond, and maybe even help. Tommy knew that if he asked any of his friends if he could talk with them about his feelings, they would say yes, but asking was hard, and he kind of wanted somebody to realize how he felt without needing to say it, like how he always noticed whenever his buddies felt down.

That was something that they all liked about Tommy. He was reliable and attentive, and always noticed if something was off. He would wait until a good time and then ask his upset pal if they wanted to talk about what was bothering them. He was nice like that, and everybody liked him. He kept the bickering and battling between his friends (primarily Gordon and Benrey) to a minimum. Tommy was the therapist friend, the most dependable of the group, and the peacekeeper. A nice kind of person to have around, but a buttload of pressure on said person.

In order to avoid burning himself out more than he already had, Tommy planned on spending the whole day recharging in the comfort of his apartment. Nobody had tried to make plans with him, so nothing was going to interfere with the arrangements he made for himself. Things were going great! They were, before Benrey messaged.

He knew that Benrey meant nothing bad by it, but last-minute plans were the worst kind of plans in Tommy’s eyes. They always threw his entire day off. He liked to plan what he was going to do at least a day in advance. He also knew that Benrey would not have been upset with Tommy had he said no, but he was a natural people pleaser. Plus, like Benrey said in their message, they could always count on him. Tommy was the reliable one; the most positive and happy friend. He had to keep that reputation for himself. He had to. Or he would let everybody down, as he had convinced himself.

Tommy picked up his phone again. Jeez, he had been laying there for nearly an hour. That time felt much shorter to him.

9+ new messages from Benrey. Twenty-one, to be exact, as he saw upon opening the Discord chat log.

10:35 | you usually reply super fast are u ok
10:36 | ik ur not showering cuz you shower wayy early in the mornings. not in the late of the morninfs
10:36 | weirdo
10:36 | night showers are wayyy betterr bro
10:37 | like theres no rush and you get to go to bed all niiice and clean
10:37 | comfy cozy timess. snug as a. pug in a bug or whatever

10:41 | if you arent feelin such a good we dont gotta hang out today
10:41 | ik you had a busy few weeks
10:41 | all good if u need a brake. none biggies none worries

10:45 | love youuuu <3

The corners of Tommy’s mouth quirked upwards as he read through the messages. Despite feeling like absolute garbage, he was at least smiling now, and giggling at Benrey’s many typos. It added charm. Benrey really cared about him, and Tommy knew and recognized that. However, Tommy really cared about Benrey as well, and therefore was going to do what Benrey wanted to do, in order to make him happy. He could wait one more day for some rest if it meant he got to make Benrey happy today.

sunnysoda 🌈
10:48 | i was just getting ready!
10:48 | i’m fine to hang out today, don’t worry :]
10:49 | and i love you too ^^

johnwicklover1994
10:49 | TOMMY
10:49 | IM BEING TORTURED THERES NOTHIGN A GOOD T OWATCH
10:49 | I NEED CONNSTANT ENTERTAINMENTCE

sunnysoda 🌈
10:50 | HEHE well lucky you, you get to see your best friend today!!

johnwicklover1994
10:50 | HURRYYY M DYING OF BORED
10:50 | blah (sound of me dying. cuz im got so bored)
10:51 | caused of death? no tommy. tommyless
10:51 | gotta. gotta kiss it better n i will come back to life
10:51 | true loves kiss. a little smoochin between bros
10:52 | if ur not here in the next 20 minutes i die forever 💔💔💔💔
10:52 | then you will have a sad 💔💔💔
10:52 | soo sad 😭😭😭😭😭😭💔💔

Benrey, of course, wasn’t trying to make Tommy feel bad. On a good day, Tommy would be giggling at the messages, glancing at his phone once in a while while getting ready. Instead, he was still in bed, putting on a facade through happy messages and smiley faces.

He had to be okay for Benrey’s sake. It was less than a ten minute walk to their place; surely he could be ready by then. All he had to do was get out of bed, get dressed, feed Sunkist, eat breakfast, brush his teeth…

That was a lot of things to do, and Tommy did not feel like he could accomplish even one of those tasks right now. He set his phone down again and rolled onto his side, pulling the blanket up to his chin. He had twenty minutes to get to Benrey’s place before they would be sad and disappointed in Tommy. He had twenty minutes to do things that felt impossible right now, and he would have to rush too, because he already told Benrey that he had been getting ready this whole time.

Twenty minutes. That would be plenty of time to work up the motivation.

11:13 | are you ok?
11:13 | ur starting to worry me bro

Twenty minutes. Maybe more like fifteen now. How much time did Tommy have left?

Oh. Twenty minutes had already passed.

Plus, there were sixteen new messages from Benrey. Whoops.

sunnysoda 🌈
11:15 | yeah i’m okay!! all good over here!!!

johnwicklover1994
11:15 | you sure?
11:15 | cuz if you were i feel like youd be here already

sunnysoda 🌈
11:16 | i’m just running a bit behind today, sorry!!! i’ll be there :)

johnwicklover1994
11:16 | do you promise?

Tommy could not answer the last message, because the answer was no. Benrey was already catching on, and Tommy did not think he would be able to take it if he made Benrey sad by being sad. He truly did want to promise his best friend that he could and would be there, but existing felt a hell of a lot more difficult than usual today.

No no no no no. Absolutely not. Tommy could never and would never let his best friend down like this. Benrey was saying that it was okay, but in Tommy’s mind, he was completely disappointing Benrey and making them feel upset. Betrayed, even. Tommy would never betray his best friend.

sunnysoda 🌈
11:23 | no no i’ll be there! i will!
11:23 | i’m okay Ben, for reals <3

johnwicklover1994
11:23 | m not convinced, sorry bro
11:24 | take the day off? pretty please?
11:24 | do it for best friend benrey
11:24 | doctors orders bro i have a pdh in tommy science

sunnysoda 🌈
11:24 | it’s phd silly :)

sunnysoda 🌈
11:27 | i told you that i still can; i wanna hang out today

Tommy cracked a smile at that. Benrey really knew how to make him laugh no matter how he was feeling.

sunnysoda 🌈
11:28 | stethoscope? and were you trying to spell prescribe?? lolz i need to teach you how to spell

johnwicklover1994
11:28 | yah sure those
11:28 | see ur smarter than me. so u should know you gotta get back to sleep

sunnysoda 🌈
11:28 | i’m okay Benrey, really
11:30 | plus, i have stuff i need to do today, like feed Sunkist and visit with you

johnwicklover1994
11:34 | i can come over if u want
11:34 | if ur insisting on seeing me today i can come over and fuckin. chill with you while you relax and i can feed sunkist n stuff

sunnysoda 🌈
11:34 | oh Benrey you don’t have to do that!
11:34 | i’ll be fine, okay?

johnwicklover1994
11:35 | i already left my apartment
11:35 | if u want me to turn around and go back tell me now

Tommy waited a minute. Seeing them without needing to get up or do anything sounded really nice right about now. If Benrey had already left… he supposed there was no point in them going back, right?

Benrey seemed to catch Tommy’s thought process.

johnwicklover1994
11:36 | ok be there in 5

sunnysoda 🌈
11:36 | ok, you know the door code

Typically, Tommy liked to keep the tone of his messages happy, with plenty of smiley faces and exclamation marks. However, somehow it felt like it took extra energy to type those things out. It took a lot out of him to constantly keep up that happy demeanor of his, even through messages.

Despite time passing so quickly when Tommy wasn’t expecting it to within the past few hours, those next five minutes felt like an eternity. Perhaps it was the strange phenomenon of time flying when something needed to get done within a specific time frame, and slowing to a halt when something was being waited for. Things like that were difficult to understand, Tommy thought.

While he waited for Benrey to arrive, Tommy figured he could put on some music. He could listen to a song or two before his buddy got there, just for fun. First, though, he had to decide just what songs to listen to. He had roughly five minutes, maybe four now, so he could listen to one song that was slightly longer than most, or two short songs, or one average song, and have a minute or so to himself. Maybe by now he would only have time to listen to an average song anyway. The question of just which song to listen to still stood, though. What was he in the mood for? Something with no words? Something passive? Probably not something loud and energetic. Maybe something from his playlist of songs he had been meaning to listen to? No, something familiar sounded much more appealing right about now. Maybe it would help to look at his playlists. Yeah, he would do that in a few seconds. Maybe in a minute. Then he would only have time for a short song, which is fine. He could find one of those. He would pick up his phone any second now and find a song to listen to. Tommy finally reached for his phone, and—

The front door to Tommy’s apartment made a few beeping sounds, followed by the click of the lock unlocking itself. He heard a familiar pair of boots step inside, then the door shut fairly quietly, and the lock clicked back into its previous place. A few moments of near silence, then the sound of the boots was replaced by softer footsteps, getting slightly louder as they approached the bedroom door. The floor creaked in the places where it usually did. There was a faint knock at the door.

“tommyyy?” Benrey’s voice called out quietly. “it’s me. best friend benrey,” they clarified, as if Tommy would have thought that it was anybody else. Still, Tommy cracked a smile.

“Come in,” he replied. Tommy propped himself up on his elbow, and the comforter on his bed fell off of his shoulder, revealing the smiley face graphic tee that he was sporting. When Benrey entered the room, Tommy’s expression lit up more than it already had. Benrey left the door open, and they were quick to sit on the edge of Tommy’s bed to keep their best pal company.

“yooo. best friend tommy not feelin’ so good today?” Benrey asked, and in response, Tommy pulled them in for a hug.

“Not really, no...” he finally admitted. “I’m really, um, burnt out.”

Benrey hummed in response, and gave Tommy a gentle kiss on the forehead.

“‘s okay. love you so much bro, i’m here for you. i’ll go feed sunkist and make you a bowl of cereal. then when you’re done eating we can lie down n’ cuddle. sound good? sounds good to tommy?” They offered, and Tommy smiled again.

“Sounds great to Tommy.”

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