Chapter Text
"Tommy, it hurts."
The words were uttered so quietly Tommy almost didn't hear them. The words were so gentle Tommy almost wanted to ignore them and roll back into sleep.
Tommy didn't ignore them though, although, in the long run, it would've been smart.
"Tubbo? Are you alright?" Tommy asked sleepily, coughing lightly. "Tom, it hurts." Tommy sat up at that. His eyes glanced over Tubbo's facial features. "Tubbo, what hurts?"
"I don't know, all of it?" Tommy's features crinkled into worry. "Tubbo what hurts the most?"
"My chest."
It was a quick and simple answer, with a quick and simple solution.
Tommy nodded, standing up to check their shared backpack. "Do you remember how much medicine costs?"
They had fifteen dollars, after saving up for a long while. Tubbo had managed to work strange jobs while buying food.
Tommy never got accepted anywhere.
"I think five dollars a bottle? Ten per medical treatment?" Tommy sighed. "Do you think treatment or medicine is more effective?"
Tubbo hummed. "Treatment I think for the long run, but medicine would let us move around longer." Tubbo coughed into his hand, a look of horror plastered on his face after a few seconds.
"Uhm, Tom? I think you might want to see this." Tommy looked over his shoulder.
Alas, there lay Tubbo's hand, stained with blood.
"We need to go to a clinic, Toby."
-----
The woods were never a fun place to be in, it was always dark, quiet, and the perfect place to get lost in.
Tommy's mind enjoyed getting lost while in the woods, it always ended up with Tommy having a panic attack.
The blonde sighed, holding Tubbo's hand while walking. The two had to leave their meadow to get to the clinic in the small town nearby.
The meadow was a lucky find, nestled into the woods close enough to not be an annoying walk, but far enough to not be easily found.
The duo had wanted to stay in this town for longer than they could, the people were nice and often would bump their prices down just a bit for them.
Tubbo's hand fell out of Tommy's
As the clinic started becoming more visible, Tubbo's condition worsened. A bad case of the flu was what it was, but Tommy wasn't so sure about that anymore. It had been weeks, almost two months of Tubbo having a fever.
A thump behind Tommy made him turn around. "Tubbo?" He repeated. "Tubbo, get up." He repeated again and again, shaking the brunette.
Tommy breathed in and out, lifting Tubbo up. One hand on his back, the other holding his legs. He walked as fast as he could, being sick as well made it hard to move, and carrying Tubbo just made it even harder.
The moon shone down on them. A spotlight of agony.
As the clinic got closer and closer, the walk seemed prolonged. Faster than needed. Tommy needed to be faster. Tommy needed to get there faster for Tubbo.
A door slamming rang out on the quiet street. "Sorry for the disturbance sir, but my friend was coughing up blood. He passed out on the way here even- please. Help?"
The man at the counter nodded, Sam, Tommy knew him as. Sam had green hair, green eyes, and a green thumb.
"Let's get Toby to one of the beds back here, alright? You can give him to me." Tommy lay Tubbo in Sam's arms, an unspoken trust lay between them.
Sam quickly made his way behind the counter, into a hallway, and into a room. Said room had a bed, mirror, sink, an assortment of simple medicines, two chairs, and a scale.
Sam put Tubbo down on the bed and pulled up a chair. The green hair man took Tubbo's temperature quickly.
"Tommy, how long has Toby been sick?" Sam questioned worriedly. "About two months I believe. Around there."
"What did you think he had?"
"A bad case of the flu."
"Tommy his temperature is one hundred three. Did you know of this?"
Tommy shook his head, Sam layed an ice pack on Tubbo's forehead.
"How much will this cost?" Tommy asked shakily.
"He needs to stay overnight, I believe around fifteen dollars would be a fair pay."
Tommy swallowed and pulled the money out of his pocket. "Here," he muttered, coated with malice.
As Tommy started out of the room, Sam questioned him.
"Why are you leaving? I would've let you stay with him."
"It's alright, I've got to go anyways."
Tommy didn't want to share that he felt like a burden.
-----
The walk back to the meadow was miserable, it had started to sprinkle while Tommy had waited in the clinic, the darkness had seemed to expand, and don't get him started on the silence.
The pat of his feet on the concrete was pleasant, the splosh of his feet on the wet dirt was not. The drip of the water droplets against his clothes felt nice, until it dried. Then it made his skin all itchy and he would be miserably wet and cold for a good few hours.
The trees hanging over his head were almost like hands, trying to grab him. Trying to take him. Trying to tear him away from Tubbo.
Tommy's breathing quickened, not that he noticed.
He suddenly became aware of how quiet it was, how wet and cold he was, how the shadows were reaching for him.
Tommy fell to his knees, hands covering his ears. Quickly Breathing. The worst part was that somewhere between the crying and hitting himself, he started yelling, screaming almost.
After what felt like an eternity, Tommy stood up on wobbly knees and tried to continue walking as if nothing happened.
He swore something touched his ankle.
Tommy bolted, doing his best to get away from whatever was trying to get him, trying to grab him.
The blonde looked behind him, then bumped into something, probably a tree.
"Shit," Tommy whispered, rubbing his newly bleeding nose. He looked up.
On second thought maybe he should've kept running.
His heart lept, standing there was a tall, trenchcoat-wearing, curly-haired brunette, wearing a beanie.
"What the fuck." The strange man creased his eyebrows and stared holes into Tommy.
"Who are you?" Tommy sneered, standing up as quick as possible.
"Why were you running? Most things in the woods stay away from humans."
"What are you talking about? You're just as human as I am."
The brunette man chuckled, pushing his maroon beanie back to reveal the pointed tip of his ears.
Tommy's heart dropped.
He was in danger now.
"You- You're fae?" Tommy asked shakily. The fae laughed lightly and nodded.
"Tell me, child, what is your name?"
Tommy only had a vague idea of what fae were, let alone what to do when meeting one.
"Big man." He blurted out, immediately unsure if that was really what he was supposed to do.
The fae smirked. "You're smart, aren't you?"
"Thank you? I think?"
The fae grinned. Tommy didn't know why, and he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not.
-----
After Tommy thanked him, the nymph left. Effectively leaving Tommy paranoid.
As the meadow came into view, Tommy was beyond relieved. The blonde pushed past branches, almost tripping on the process.
The backpack he and Tubbo shared lay innocently close to where Tommy had entered.
The blonde sighed, sitting almost directly in front of the bag, and opened the first pocket to put the remaining money in. Tommy layed down, rubbing his eyes.
This was gonna be a long week.
-----
Mornings with Tubbo were easy. Mornings without Tubbo were uncomfortable.
The wet grass soaked into Tommy's jeans. It wasn't a pleasant feeling by any means, but it was grounding. it was reminding Tommy he was real.
The blonde sat up, yawning and rubbing his eyes. Tommy scanned his area, panicking slightly before remembering where Tubbo was. The clinic.
The goddamn clinic.
Tommy stood up, almost falling in the process. He started the trek, grabbing some food for Tubbo. He'd be hungry after all, wouldn't he?
Tommy's thoughts never acted up while it was light out because there wasn't enough darkness to form in the corners of his eyes. There wasn't enough darkness to form tall and lanky figures, to form short and winged figures, or to form bore-faced figures.
Tommy ignored the fact it was only ever those three figures.
"I didn't expect to see you back so soon?"
Tommy yelped, falling to his knees. "What the fuck man?" Tommy stood up, brushing his knees clean of dirt.
"That is no way to talk to a friend, is it?" The fae frowned, brows furrowing, arms crossing.
"Sorry to disappoint my good sir, but you are not my friend, you fuck." Tommy scoffed, attempting to pass the nymph.
"I don't think you should be speaking to me that way." The unhuman brunette snarled.
"Why is that?"
The fae smirked.
"You owe me a favor."