Work Text:
Tommy is sitting in his studio staring at the wall while thinking about how horrible he had been almost a decade ago when he was working under his dad. Nic walks into Tommy’s studio and is concerned to see him blankly staring at a wall while scratching the skin on his forearm open.
“Tom, you good?” Nic says in worry while grabbing Tommy’s hand to stop him from self-harming any more than he already has. After halting the scratching Nic digs into the drawers of the desk to his right and finds the first-aid kit so he can treat the fresh wound on Tommy’s arm.
“I’m alright, Nic, I don’t need any more of your help,” Tommy says with hopes of isolating himself (which he deserves, much like the throbbing and burning pain in his left arm) which Nic is far from blind to.
“You don’t deserve to be alone right now, Tommy, nor do you deserve this pain,” Nic says while fighting back tears, feeling like a failure of a best friend for not seeing that Tommy is in so much mental pain.
“Wanna rap about it?” Nic says, knowing that it’s the only real way Tommy can get his feelings out without it being harmful. Tommy nods and steps into the booth and puts the headphones on while Nic calls another rapper to help with it. For the first time, Tommy releases the song before releasing the music video and decides to drive down to the 118 station and show them the song himself.
“Guys, do you have a sec?” Buck smiles his ‘Tommy smile’ (Chim and Hen’s words not Buck’s) which quickly disappears when Tommy asks that question in a nervous tone.
“Yeah, we got time for you, Connor, always,” Chimney says while he and Hen sit on the bumper of the firetruck so they can give Tommy their full attention. Chimney gets confused when he notices the bandages on Tommy’s arm, which he only notices because he sees the man with Tommy holding that hand in a best friend kind of way.
“Okay, great, so I just made this song about an hour ago and I wanted you guys to hear it,” Tommy says while pulling out his phone and pressing play on his new song. Tommy makes eye contact with Gerrard, who is upstairs, and suddenly feels like the 10-year-old boy being told to hide his emotions. Nic notices that Tommy’s about to pause the song and Nic gently yanks Tommy’s hand to stop him from doing it. After the song ends everyone hugs Tommy, glad that he just shared the struggle that he’s going through.
“I wish I could say I was surprised you’re still a sensitive, dramatic, and emotional child, Tommy.” Tommy shrinks and goes to scratch at his arm again when Gerrard says that.
“With every bit of disrespect that you deserve, you old asshole, shut the fuck up. You don’t know anything about Connor, or how difficult it was for him to write this song.” Nic says, reminding Tommy that he has someone who will always be there for him. Nic keeps Tommy from scratching at himself again and holds his hand more securely to prevent it better.
“Con, what happened to your arm?” Chimney asks when he notices Tommy’s hand going toward the soaked bandage on his left arm.
“According to Nic, I had scratched it open at some point earlier today,” Tommy says while looking at Nic for confirmation, not remembering hurting himself just the aftermath of it.
“How do you not know if you’d hurt yourself or not?” Gerrard says condescendingly, making Tommy curl into himself again and try not to cry.
“When I saw him doing it, he was zoned out. Usually, people don’t remember what they do when they’re zoned out, you idiot,” Nic says while I Gave Everything starts playing. Tommy sings it softly, surprising everyone but Buck with the fact that Tommy can sing just as well as he can rap.
“Can we take a look at the wound, Tommy?” Hen asks, knowing that a small first-aid kit (which she assumes was what Nic had used) only has so many things, and very few help prevent infections. She decides to look at it even if Tommy says no when she notices his wrist is slightly swollen.
“Yeah, it does actually itch right now which I’m pretty sure it’s not supposed to do,” Tommy says while giving Hen and Howie his left arm so they can take the bandage off and check the wound. Hen cuts the bandage off of Tommy’s arm and looks at Chimney concerned when she sees that the wound is extremely swollen and slightly green.
“Either I’m slowly becoming Shrek, or that is really infected,” Tommy says while Hen puts pressure on the wound so it doesn’t start bleeding and Chimney grabs what they need from the ambulance.
“Babe, you should probably go to the hospital.” Buck says out of concern when he sees how bad Tommy’s arm is. Tommy does go to the hospital and they fix his arm and tell him that he can now go home, which he does.