Ship: None
Type: Fluff
TW: None
No one is judging you if you can't read this, take care of yourself.
Prompt/Notes: My dad is hard of hearing and wears hearing aids, so this will be somewhat based on what it's like at my house.
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Ever since Tubbo was 7 years old, his hearing has gotten worse and worse. He wears hearing aids that are pretty noticeable. He used to get bullied for them so he decided not to tell any of his online friends, afraid they would do the same.
Tommy, Jack, and Tubbo have a meet-up planned for this weekend, and then Tommy and Tubbo had a week of streams planned. Tubbo's hair is almost long enough to cover his ears, but just not enough, so you can still see the plastic piece in his ears.
He promised his parents that he would wear them. They knew his feelings about it but knew that without them he was partially deaf, so it wasn't up for debate.
Tommy let him stay in his guest room, which he was really grateful for. His parents dropped him off at Tommy's house, and after saying a quick hello, they left, reminding Tubbo to behave.
Tommy led him inside and showed him the guest room, where he dropped his stuff off, including the magic ears. He went back downstairs and got ready to go, because they had their stream with Jack planned.
Tubbo faintly heard Tommy's voice, but couldn't make out anything he said. He turned to face him, slightly angling his right ear towards Tommy. He's almost completely deaf in his left ear, so he either needs the person to be on the right of him, or face him so he can read their lips.
"Sorry, can you repeat that?"
"Yeah, you ready big man?"
Tubbo nodded and they left, walking for about 20 minutes before we got to a large park, where Jack agreed to meet up.
They set up a camera and started the stream as soon as Jack arrived. They decided to start with a Q&A, so they went to sit on the grass while the viewers streamed in.
"Tubbo, do you want to be in the middle?"
"No, I'll go on the right."
"What, do you not like me or something?"
Tubbo gulped. He really didn't want to make Jack feel bad, so he went and sat crisscrossed in between the two, Tommy on his left.
They decided that they would ask each other the questions, instead of reading them off themselves. It was going good, Tubbo asked Jack first, then Jack asked Tommy.
Tubbo Pov
I then realized the fact that since Tommy was facing the camera, and he was sitting on my left, I had no idea what Tommy was saying. I was looking at Tommy, trying to study his body language to see when he was going to talk to me.
I was just silently looking at him when he turned and looked at me expectantly. My eyes went wide when I realized that he asked me a question and was waiting for me to answer.
"Tubbo, aren't you gonna answer him?"
"I-I, what was the question?" I asked, looking at Jack hoping that he would be the one to say it. When he remained silent, I slightly panicked.
I didn't know how I was going to be able to ask Jack to say it without seeming rude, or giving anything away, so I did the only logical thing I could think of.
"I, um, I need to go to the bathroom." I quickly said, jumping up and running out of frame. I walked towards the park bathroom, running my hands through my hair and starting to panic.
Tommy and Jack looked at each other very confused.
"Is he okay? All I asked was what his favorite block was?"
"I dunno, why did he only answer me too? Did you do something before I arrived?"
After about 10 minutes of pacing, trying to figure out what to do, I walked back. I sat back down and saw Tommy give me a worried glance, giving me the 'we'll talk about this later' look before turning back towards the camera.
"Now that Tubbo is back let's continue. Tubbo, will you answer Tommy's question?"
"What was it again."
"What's your favorite Minecraft block?" I sighed in relief, hearing Jack repeat the question for me.
Time Skip~
The three of us finished the stream and said bye to Jack. After the little scene in the beginning, I claimed that I wasn't feeling good and layed down on the grass behind them, still in frame, with my right ear towards the two. Though it was still hard to hear them, I could at least make out most of their words, so I joined into the conversation here and there.
Tommy and I started walking back to his house when he spoke up.
"Tubzo, you alright man? Did I do something to upset you?" I felt guilt pool in my stomach. I didn't realize that it seemed like I was just ignoring him.
"No, I promise you didn't, I just, um..." I trailed off, trying to think of an excuse.
"Toby, tell me the truth." I nodded. He never called me my real name, so I knew that he was being very serious.
"I'm almost completely dead in my left ear and partially deaf in my right. I always wear my hearing aids but my hair wasn't long enough and I didn't want you to see them and start making fun of me so-" I stopped talking, realizing that I was just rambling.
"Tubbo, why would you do that to yourself!?"
"What?"
"Why wouldn't you wear your ears? We would never make fun of you for something like this! I know how horrible it is without your ears, my dad forgets his all the time!"
"Really? You don't think it's funny that I can't hear?"
"Of course not big man! Now c'mon, let's go home. Please tell me you brought them with you."
I nodded, pulling him into a hug and squeezing tight. "Thank you Toms."
"Of course, now let's go and get them for you."
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I'm pretty happy with how this turned out.
Remember that I experience forgotten hearing aids very often, and am in NO way making fun of the disability or downplaying it. All I did was write about one of my experiences, just altered to fit with the story.
Requests? ———————>
Thank you for reading and remember to hydrate, eat, and take care of yourself <3
