Work Text:
~~~
“Techno. Technoblade! Big T. Did you know-” Tommy abruptly stopped talking, rubbing his eyes and trying to get his head to stop hurting solely through sheer will as the dull pain that he had been ignoring for a couple of hours suddenly got much worse.
“Yeah, probably.” Techno responded absently, the sound of clicking picking up in the background through his mic.
“No, no. That’s not what I meant and you know it.” Tommy rolled his eyes, ignoring the spike of pain behind his eyes and by his temples”
“Alright, carry on then.”
Tommy smiled faintly, ignoring the way the lights coming from his screen and the jerky movements his Minecraft character was making made him feel like throwing up.
“Did you know, Technoblade, that-”
“Tommy!” Techno screeched, cutting off the boy once more and making him flinch hard enough for chat to notice. A few of them asked if Tommy needed to take a break, but they were quickly drowned out in the stream of messages.
“Tommy watch out!! There’s a baby zombie!! Tommy don’t fall to the same fate as Philza Minecraft! Tommy!” Techno’s screaming turned into a string of incomprehensible noises that made Tommy’s skin crawl. He was quick to turn down his volume and closed his eyes to focus on his breathing while Techno killed the baby zombie that had apparently been running towards him.
He was fine, clearly. Everything was just a little overwhelming, sound made him want to throw up and it made his eyes ache to look at anything, and the clothes he was wearing made him want to sob, but he was fine. That’s what fine sounds like, right? Right?
“Sorry, Tommy. What were you saying? Did I know what?” Techno asked, his character crouching a few times in front of Tommy before bouncing away to do who knows what.
“Well now I don’t know, jerk.” Tommy said, hoping he sounded like a big man who was rather annoyed, but his voice was far too soft and subdued to sound like his usual streaming persona.
Techno’s character paused its movements for a few minutes as Techno softly spoke. “Oh well, it’ll probably come back to you eventually.”
As Tommy continued to stream, Techno watched him slowly sink more and more into his chair. That, combined with the way the boy was gradually getting quieter and quieter, made Techno start to worry.
He quickly tabbed out of the game and opened his Discord dms with Wilbur, thankful he wasn’t streaming and was simply hanging out with Tommy.
When Discord loaded the messages, he was surprised to watch Wilbur type and send a message before Techno even had the chance to start typing.
Wilbur Soot
somethings wrong with the child
Technoblade
Yeah, I noticed that.
Wilbur Soot
I think he’s trying to ignore and pressure through a sensory overload episode
Technoblade
I love the child, but how is he so amazingly self destructive sometimes
Wilbur Soot
mhm, suuuuree mister “I didn’t sleep for months so i could farm minecraft potatoes”
Technoblade
don’t leave out the part where I won
“Techno?” Tommy asked after a minute.
“Yeah? Sorry. I was zoning out a bit there by accident.” Techno said, quickly tabbing back into the game.
“No worries, Big Man! I was just talking about the new tower I’m gonna build.”
Techno could hear the smile before Tommy’s stream loaded and showed the smile to him.
“Oh yeah? Built out of cobble?”
“You know it!”
Techno smiled and shook his head fondly as the previously loud and rambunctious call quieted down. Tommy looked more and more mentally and physically exhausted by the second.
“I’m getting pretty tired,” Techno said, trying to sound nonchalant. “Are you planning on ending soon?”
“I can end if you need to get going!” Tommy responded quickly.
“Alright. I’ll finish this real fast and then I’ll get going.” Techno wanted to get Tommy to end stream right away, but he figured Tommy might decide to just keep streaming if he did that. So instead he finished the potions he was brewing before bidding goodbye to Tommy’s chat.
As soon as he said goodbye, Tommy deafened. Techno watched the stream anxiously, only relaxing once the sound of Tommy’s voice was replaced by Tubbo’s as Tommy ended stream and raided the other.
Tommy then undeafened and started speaking.
“You headed to bed then, Tech?” He asked quietly.
Techno scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “About that.. I’m not actually tired, just worried.”
“Worried?” Tommy asked.
“Yeah, about you. You doing okay?” Techno had been making sure his voice was quieter than normal, but as he spoke now, it was somehow even softer.
“Oh! Don’t worry about me, big man! I’m alright.”
“You sure? Because you seemed a little overwhelmed during the stream.”
“No, no. I’m fine. No need to worry!”
“What if you just went and took a nap just in case?” Techno suggested, knowing he’d be shot down.
“I have too much work to do, Tech. I’ll try to go to sleep at a reasonable time tonight, but I can’t take a nap.”
“Toms, you just seemed really overwhelmed and uncomfy during the stream. Are you sure you don’t need to take a break? Doesn’t it sound nice to lay in bed in a nice, dark room? Maybe curled up under your weighted blanket?” Techno was being mean, he knew he wasn’t playing fair, but his goal was to get an overwhelmed child to go to bed, not to be nice.
Tommy wined quietly. “I’ve gotta stay up and get things done. Deadlines and the such.”
“But Toms, don’t you want to change out of the uncomfy jeans you’re wearing and step away from the bright screen? What if I got Wilbur in the call? Wilbur and Phil? I’m sure they would love to keep you company while you take a nap.”
There was silence before “You’re a jerk.” Was Tommy’s response, making Techno grin.
Seconds later, Wilbur’s voice rang through the call. It was soft and honeyed, clearly meant to lure Tommy to bed.
Soon after Wilbur joined, Discord let the three boys know that someone else had joined. That someone being Philza Minecraft.
“Sorry boys, I had to get to my pc.” He said, speaking just as soft as Wilbur and Techno.
Tommy visibly relaxed some as the soft voices and dark lighting from his discord screen gave a little bit of relief.
“Listen, Toms.” Wilbur started, “If you go take a nap, I’ll help you with your work when you wake up. That way you don’t feel like you fell too far behind.”
“Yeah, mate. I’ll help with whatever you need.” Phil chipped in.
“This isn’t fair.” Tommy mumbled.
“Yeah, how dare we care about you.” Techno responded sarcastically. “Now switch the call to your phone, change into clothes that don’t make your skin crawl, and go lay in bed.”
“Okay, okay bossy pants.” Tommy muttered, sounding upset but in a sleepy toddler type way, causing the other members of the call to smile fondly.
He disconnected and reconnected a few minutes later.
“I’m in bed wearing fuzzy pants, fellas.” He stated softly.
“Thank you, Toms.” Wilbur responded.
“Welcome, Wilby.” Tommy’s voice was soft and slurred, making Wilbur coo quietly.
“Goodnight Tommy.” Techno smiled, Phil and Wilbur repeating the statement.
Tommy responded with a couple of quiet mumbles, and the three others in call quickly muted in order to laugh, or in Wilbur’s case, aw loudly.
~~~