Glad You Came

We Don't Talk About Asthma

(note: speech that looks 'like this' is texting. Anything with "these" is normal talking.)

It wasn't uncommon for one or two of the Proxies to be left behind whenever one of them got sent out by the Operator. If anything, sometimes it was like a mini vacation whenever just one of the three was left "in charge" of the house while the other two went away. It could get lonely, sure -- but if the other two made it back in one piece, then everything would be alright, right?

Other times -- it was downright madness. Especially if Toby was sent somewhere by himself. It wasn't like he'd royally screw up (thankfully, he'd been trained enough that Brian and Tim didn't have to worry about that anymore) or get himself killed, but with his upbringing, it was clear he really didn't have very many life skills nor could he thesably take care of himself without a little aid from Tim or Brian.  But it got worse than that, Tim quickly began to realize that there was a lot more things he didn't know about than he led on. Like other illnesses.

Sure, Toby knew a lot about his own, and Tim's considering they both had schizophrenia. And he knew about a small handful of other mental illnesses due to living with a house full of people that made a melting pot of mental illness. And he knew of his high tolerance of pain -- to the point where he could hurt himself without even knowing he was hurt. But other, more basic physical illnesses? Toby might as well have been an alien from another planet when those were brought up. Hell, he didn't really seem to know asthma wasn't just something conjured up in movies and television until he'd met Brian. And even then -- there seemed to be a lot he needed to catch up on. Thankfully, Tim had always been there previously whenever Brian happened to have an asthma attack so Toby never had to deal with it alone, if at all.

Worst decision ever, apparently.

***

Tim meandered in the kitchen after pulling out two bags of chips. Anything else? No, they should be good for a while. Sighing, he switched the bags of chips to one arm so he could grab a drink from the fridge; slamming the door shut with his foot before trotting out to the living room. Lazarus and Sally had all but begged Tim and Jane to have some sort of Disney+ marathon with them that day while everyone else was out. Brian and Toby had been gone for a couple days and were set to return the next day, so Tim supposed he didn't have a reason to say no to hanging with the girls until they got home. Jane just seemed pleased BEN had dragged Jeff out of the house for a while to do God only knows what, and had happily changed into sleep wear and had dragged what felt like every blanket and pillow in the house downstairs for the girls to lay on the floor comfortably before claiming a spot on the couch.

Singing could easily be heard from both the television and the girls laying in front of it (weren’t they supposed to not talk about Bruno? How did singing about him get a pass?) as they sang along to the movie they were watching. Tim could care less at this point about the things they kept picking to watch, but they were having a good time, at least. He hadn't heard anything bad from the other two as of yet, so he knew he should really count his blessings.

"What, no more Ruffles?" asked Jane as he tossed one of the chip bags to her.

The girls erupted into laughter when Tim tossed the other bag of chips at them, causing it to land on their backs before he plopped down onto the couch.

"Yeah," Tim sighed as he opened his soda. "We're gonna have to go to the store soon anyway. Figured we'd pick up more while we're there."

"You mean Brian'll do the shopping while you make sure Toby doesn't break anything or try to get a cart full of waffles again," Jane corrected with a snort.

Tim sighed, and nodded.

Their lazy day continued as it had been as they watched the movie, with the girls happily babbling about it. Well, for a good twenty minutes, of course. It was around the climax of the film that Tim's phone buzzed from where he'd set it on the armrest of the couch. The others didn't seem to notice or care, and Tim curiously unlocked his phone to see who it was.