Gnome & Dum

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Requested by @Philby925

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Dum had never wanted to leave in the middle of a game so badly in her life. 

Emergency meetings always include people talking over each other, she knew that. She tried to tell herself that. But it didn't make it any less frustrating that she had been consistently ignored for the past three meetings. She'd even reported the last dead body and she still wasn't given a chance to talk. 

These were Player's friends, not hers. Of course they didn't care what she had to say about anything. 

The big tree in O2 wasn't really the best place she could have chosen to hide from the rest of the crew, but it was the first room Dum found that didn't have anyone else in it.

She sat down behind the trunk of the tree and drew her legs up to her chest, then wrapped her arms around them. She breathed out a long shuddering sigh and rested her chin on her knees. She closed her eyes.

No one wants me here. The very thought brought tears to her eyes, but she knew it was true. Why would anyone want her there? They all wanted to play Among Us with her brother, not her. She should be grateful they were all too nice to tell her so to her face.

"Hey, Dum!"

Dum looked up to see Gnome standing next to the O2 task, and she instantly felt terrible for making things awkward by sitting and crying next to the tree trunk.

Gnome walked over to her. "Mind if I sit here?" She gestured to the spot next to Dum. She said it casually, as if she didn't notice how miserable and upset Dum looked.

"Sure, go ahead," Dum mumbled. She regretted not saying it nicer. She didn't want Gnome to think she didn't like her.

Gnome sat down next to her and crossed her legs. Once she had settled in, she asked gently, "What's wrong, Dum?"

Dum bit her bottom lip so that she didn't burst out crying. Gnome was nice enough to sit and talk to her-- Dum didn't want to scare her off. "Nothing," she lied.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine," Gnome said. "But The Gentleman's dead body got reported and you didn't show up to the meeting. I went looking for you to make sure you were okay--"

Dum cut Gnome off mid-sentence by shaking her head.

Gnome looked confused. "What?"

"Nobody wanted me at that meeting." Dum blurted it out loudly, making it sound like an accusation. She sniffled-- a disgusting noise, which she knew made Gnome think she was gross-- and wiped her eyes.

"You're our friend, Dum! Of course we wanted you at that meeting. You should have been there, Player did this really funny goat scream when we voted him out."

Dum buried her face in her hands. She was not their friend. She wished Gnome would stop lying to her.

Gnome fell silent for a moment. "I can leave if I'm making things worse," she offered. 

"I just—"Dum cut herself off and exhaled. "I just want this game to be over so I can leave. I don't want to be here anymore, I don't want to keep playing with my brother's friends. I should just go find my own."

Gnome stood up and brushed herself off. "We're your friends too, Dum," she said quietly. "You gotta let yourself believe that." She extended a hand to Dum and grinned. "Come on, up up. We're winning this round, aren't we?"

After wiping her face one last time, Dum stood up and took her friend's hand, letting herself be guided into the hallway. 

"Hey, Dum!! I was wondering where you went!" Captain turned away from his task and greeted her cheerfully-- Captain did everything cheerfully. "We're playing regular Among Us, not hide and seek Among Us! But we can play that after this round if you want." 

Dum smiled. Captain seemed happy to see her. Gnome had seemed happy when she joined her in the hall. Maybe it wasn't so hard to believe that everyone else wanted her there, too. 

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