What one can hide

Chapter twelve- broken glass

Trigger warnings- child abuse, alcohol, blood

Situating himself at his desk, Tommy got everything up and ready to begin his stream. He had to remind himself to act normal, his friends and viewers didn't know he was just at the hospital and he planned to keep it that way. He even had an excuse at the ready for when the chat would inevitably start asking questions.

Tommy started thinking about the way his father looked at him at the hospital in the minutes before his stream started. His father's words seemed so kind, but his eyes couldn't hide the anger he was feeling. Even after they had left the hospital, Tommy's dad didn't say a word to him but you could feel the tension in the car and see the anger in his eyes. Tommy knew that when his dad came home, it would be hell, but when he was angry like this, he always took his time at the bar.

Tommy quickly glanced at the clock to think about how much time he'd have to stream. 6:30. That would leave him plenty of time to stream before his dad would get home. His dad usually came home sometime after 12, rarely coming home before. He came home early last night so chances are he'll be out extra late tonight, Tommy thought.

The harsh lights of the computer screen seemed to make his headache flare up a little bit, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. Besides, he had a schedule of streaming, and he couldn't break it. It had been a couple of days since his last stream and Tommy could tell his fans were getting antsy.

The mouse hovered over the start stream button, and with a small click, thousands of viewers began rushing in. Tommy plastered a large grin on his face while reading the chat, watching the numbers of viewers increase by the hundreds. Just like always, the chat was filled with people spamming the usual things, with the occasional, "Why do you have a bandage on?" He figured he would address that concern later, when more fans showed up so he'd only have to explain himself once.

"What is up, chat! Lot's of plans for today!" Of course, he had nothing actually planned for the stream besides going on the smp, but he'd find something to entertain the viewers. Tommy was pretty sure that this stream would mainly just be everyone telling stories and such with him just mindlessly playing minecraft in the background. His audience liked the more chill streams, and so did Tommy. And the idea of role playing right now seemed incredibly draining.

Tommy heard the familiar noise of someone messaging him on discord. His eyes skimmed over the message from Wilbur. "We are in vc 2 whenever you're ready."

Tommy continued speaking with his chat for a few minutes, not yet wanting to talk with everyone. He noticed that Tubbo, Dream, Schlatt, and Techno were all in vc 2 with Wilbur, but only Dream and Wilbur were streaming. Usually, having all these people on a call would make him eager to join, but after today, he just felt really tired. He was also nervous that either Dream or Techno would let something slip about his father, now that they knew. So, he spent a little longer with chat than he usually would, but they wouldn't mind.

After about ten minutes just answering questions that the viewers had, he finally talked about the bandage. "Yes, I know, I have a bandaid on, oooo, so scary," he said sarcastically, "I tripped the other day, now get over it." He cracked a smile so that the chat wouldn't think he was actually mad about them asking. As he thought, the viewers bought his excuse and didn't bring it up anymore.

Quickly getting bored of answering questions, Tommy joined the smp and let his world load in. The little room he had in Technoblades basement came onto his screen just as he joined vc 2. Wilbur had said that today wasn't a canon stream and that he'd be able to talk to Tubbo, which they were both thankful for. Even though Tommy talked to Tubbo off stream every once in a while, he still missed being able to stream with his best friend.