Sleepy Bois Inc. Angst Oneshots

Sickness in Exile Part 3

Trigger warning: how Tommy was treated in exile (manipulated, hurt, etc), minor sickness, and a sprinkle of swear words
AN: This story includes ✨platonic brotherly cuddling✨. Also, it's kind of long, so enjoy.
~*~
For the first time in a long time, Tommy woke up to warmth. He snuggled up to enjoy it before Dream would inevitably drag him out of bed. He didn't expect the blanket to snuggle up back.

He sat up quickly and threw the blankets off. Breathing heavy, he took note of his surroundings. He wasn't in his tent, that was for sure. He was in a cozy little bedroom that held nothing more than a bed and two chests. He flinched when he noticed the thing- or rather person that had shocked him out of his sleep.

It was his older brother Technoblade.

Techno rolled over, looked at him, and said, "I was having a good sleep." Tommy laughed and started crying. He was home. Techno stared at him in alarm before shrugging and going back to sleep.

The door opened behind him, and he felt his dad wrap his arms and wings around him. He turned around and hugged back just as tight. He never wanted to let go.

"Toms, you're home," Philza whispered to him. Tommy started crying even harder. Techno huffed before forcing himself out of bed to join the hug. Ghostbur appeared out of nowhere and joined the hug as well. The Sleepy Bois were all together again.

They stayed there for a long time. Tommy felt safe for the first time since he was exiled so many months earlier.

Too soon, they ended the hug to get breakfast. Phil took control of the kitchen, and in a few minutes, everyone had a stack of pancakes a mile high. Ghostbur floated around the kitchen and occasionally handed Tommy some blue. He set it on the growing pile next to him.

"You were out for a week, in case you were wondering," Techno informed him in between pancakes. Tommy realized that he was mostly over his cold, and the timeline made more sense now that he knew that.

Tommy apprehensively tried to decide whether or not to tell them the real reason why he was sick in the first place. He didn't want to ruin the mood, but he wanted them to know.

His decision was made much easier when Phil asked, "How did you get so sick? I don't think I've ever seen you that bad before." Everyone paused and looked at him. He shrunk under the attention.

"I, uhm. I tried to leave exile and find you guys." Tommy looked down at his pancakes. "Dream found me- he found me in a snowdrift almost freezing to death. He- he punished me for leaving by taking away my blankets."

The cold is what he remembered the most. It was endless. He shuddered at the thought, and Phil hugged him again.

"I'm sorry we didn't get you out sooner." Tommy started crying lightly. Phil wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and pulled it tight. "It'll be okay."

"You're safe now, Toms," Techno chimed in. Pancakes forgotten, the Sleepy Bois had their second hug of the morning.

A few days later, Tommy was completely over his cold. He had finally gotten used to living with his family again, and he was slowly but surely getting over his time with Dream.

All of that came crashing down when Dream decided to pay a visit.

"Tommy, how are you?" the green man asked nonchalantly after having waltzed into their kitchen out of the blue. Tommy flinched and backed away from him. Techno reached towards his weapon, and Phil stepped in front of Tommy. Tommy hadn't told Phil everything that had went down, but apparently he had pieced enough of it together from the post-nightmare venting to get the picture.

"I'm- I'm good, Dream. I'm good." He hoped that this visit was just a check-in, but with Dream, he knew what was going to happen.

"Great. Glad to hear it. Now, I want you to come home with me. You don't belong here. You belong in exile." He started towards Tommy but didn't make it more than five feet before Techno had a sword at his throat.

"Leave him alone," Techno growled. Dream ignored him.

"Toms, don't you remember? I'm your only friend. These people aren't your family. I am. Did they check on you once during exile? Did they search high and low for you, Theseus?" Tommy flinched at the nickname. When Dream said it, it sounded like poison.

Phil got his sword out and pointed it at Dream's chest. "He does belong here, you ass. He's my son, and if you hadn't... If I had known how you treated him, I would've killed you a long time ago."

Techno stared Dream down before putting two and two together. He knocked Dream out easily before letting him slump to the floor.

"This is going to sound crazy, but that's... That's not Dream- er, Dream isn't in control right now. That's Nightmare. He's Dream's voice. I bet Dream doesn't even know he's here." Tommy remembered that Dream had mentioned Nightmare before he had taken Tommy to the Antarctic Empire's base. He begrudgingly admitted that perhaps Dream was more innocent than he thought.

Philza sighed before putting his sword away. "I still want to kill him." It was rare for Dadza to be so recklessly violent, but it made Tommy feel good knowing he was worth that much to him.

"What are we going to do with him?" Tommy asked quietly. Techno looked around the room before noting that it was Tommy who had spoken up. He was unusually quiet.

"What do you want to do with him?" Techno responded to the boy. Tommy thought for a minute. He'd love to kill Dream, to be free of the dark cloud that suffocated him. He wanted to make Dream suffer so much so that it scared him. But if Nightmare truly was responsible, that meant that Dream was innocent. He didn't want to kill an innocent man.

"Can we, uhm... Can we leave him at the edge of the biome? Someone's bound to come by and find him, right?" Tommy was afraid he said the wrong thing when Techno and Phil exchanged a look. "I'm sorry," he muttered involuntarily.

"There's nothing to be sorry for," his dad responded automatically before motioning for Techno to take care of Dream. Techno exhaled sharply before slinging the green man over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He left while Phil began to question Tommy.

"Are you alright, Toms? I know this is difficult, and it's a lot to handle, especially at your age. Hell, it's a lot for me to handle. It's going to be okay. I promise. Techno, Ghostbur, and I are here for you. We love you." Tommy cut off Phil's rambling with a hug.

"I'm okay," he said, and it was true. It'd be a long time before he could face Dream again and even longer before the nightmares would stop, but in that moment, he was okay. He had his family by his side and all the love, support, and blue he could ever need.
~*~
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