Glued

Lack of usefulness

Tommy spent nights, always expecting a ring on his phone, notifying that someone was calling him. He knew that it wouldn't happen, yet he was still expecting something.

It was difficult to get used to the life he has now, when he's used to the life he had back then. An unbearable and uneasy feeling teased him, with built up guilt from what he did.

What did I do wrong? Was I even a good friend? He began to question himself.

Everytime the both of them would go to school, they'd now ignore each other, which everyone found strange. They were the closest of friends ever since the beginning, now they're just ignoring each other, making people around them confused and curious on what really happened.

Rumors built up that Tommy did something wrong, and there were alternatives where they said Tubbo did something wrong.

Even the ice cream man outside their school found it strange, he would always get two male high-schoolers buying ice cream before going home, now neither of them is buying it.

Now that the two's relationship have been abandoned, the bullies from before took the opportunity to bully Tubbo, now that Tommy's not in the way.

Tommy saw that happened, with his own eyes, yet he chose to ignore it. He wants to help, but he couldn't.

One afternoon, in the back of the school, he saw Tubbo getting bullied again. This time, he hid from them by going behind a bush and listened to what was happening, and so that he knows if Tubbo's okay.

"Are you gonna cry? Don't be afraid, you can! You'd look more like a fool!" The bully laughed.

Tubbo was pushed to the wall, more injured than he was before. He grabbed his bag from the side and stood up, "I'm not crying anymore, not this time. I'm not the weak Toby anymore, who I once was." he said in a monotone voice.

Of course, that was the first time he stood up for himself, and the first time he never cried of getting hurt. He left the bullies shocked, yet one of them was pissed and ran after him.

"YOU BASTARD!" The bully shouted, pulling Toby's uniform from behind. "HOW DARE YOU RESPOND AND TURN BACK LIKE THAT, YOU THINK YOU'RE SO BRAVE?! HUH, TOBY?!"

Tubbo was once again knocked down to the ground, nearly hitting his head.

"I'll show you why you should never mess with me, you idiot." The bully said, grabbing a stone from the ground.

See? No matter how much courage it took me to stand up for myself, it just doesn't work. And jt will never be. He thought. Tubbo came to the point where he was in despair, labelling himself as "useless", "defenseless", "weak". Like those words were just made to use it on him.

Right before the bully was about to throw the stone at him, Tubbo walked past them, "You should've thrown that earlier instead of letting your guard down, I'm weak, I know I am. But I can still do something to fight you, after all, it's a fight between two of the same species." he whispered as he patted the bully's shoulder and walked away.

Tommy felt relieved that Tubbo can defend himself, maybe he was right. It's like Tubbo didn't really need his help anymore.

Maybe, and just maybe, everything happened for a good reason. And maybe, he was better off without him.