Eburnean Tommy Au

VI - Fever Dream

Techno sighs, knowing Phil probably wants them to do brotherly bonding or some crap.

He carries Tommy to his bedroom partly because he doesn't want him spending the night on an armchair but mostly he wants Phil to show him some mercy.

Tom can barely tell what's going on, it's just a jumble of sensations and notions, like the contrast between the nether and overworld, uneasy confidence, Techno protecting him, the scenery from lmanburg.

He eventually returns to his senses a bit.

"Oh, you're up, I brought you a glass of water and I was about to make you some food. Are you feeling alright?" the piglin says

Tommy shakes his head and makes grabby hands at Techno.

He sighs, "I can stay here for a few minutes, but you need to eat soon, okay" he sits down on the bed.

Tommy takes the chance to hug him, and the blade feels that the kid is far too warm, so he pulls back a bit to feel his forehead, but he clings to him.

"You're really warm, I just need to check if you're sick"

He shakes his head, unwilling to let go.

"Tommy..."

He repeats, but the kid refuses again.

"Tommy."

He says again, becoming agitated and accidentally scaring his brother.

"Tom, all you have to do is look up for a bit, alright?"

He shakes his head, starting to cough again.

Techno doesn't want to, but he has to force him away, which would be trivially easy if he didn't have to avoid touching the wounds he was covered in. He made it even harder by struggling to hug him again.

When Tommy grows exhausted, he stops fighting and starts to weep, which makes Technoblade pause as well.

"Oh crap, I've made you cry again. And you've got yourself one hell of a fever. I'm going to get Phil, okay? He'll know how to help you"

Techno prepares for a difficult reaction from his brother, but luckily he sees him sleeping, so he puts on his mask and goes to find Phil.

He finds him outside speaking with Toby and Ghostboo.

"I hope you have a good reason for leaving Tommy all alone," Phil demands when he hears Techno open the door and step onto the deck.

"He's got a fever, it's bad, and I don't know what to do," he explains, trying to leave any concern out of his voice.

Tubbo and Phil, who have no threatening demeanor to uphold, are visibly worried.

The ghost, of course, is nonchalant,

"I thought Tom was dead," he mentions as he picks up Micheal, "I saw him boarding the train with Ranboo when I formed, and Ranboo was a bit melancholy, but Tommy was all shaking and wailing and just totally loosing his shit"

"First of all, it's a long story. Second, that's really fucking disturbing, please never talk about that. Third, I told you to take Micheal home ages ago, it's long past his bed time." Tubbo replies while Philza hurries to take care of Tommy

Technoblade leans on the rails and watches the snow fall while Toby anxiously paces back and forth,

"You want to go see him, don't you?" he guesses,

"I really do, would that be okay?"

"Go ahead," he allows

Tubbo runs inside to be with his friend, and climbs up the ladder

"Oh, could you stay here with Tom while I make him some food?" Phil requests when he hears him enter the room.

"Of course" he replies, then turns his attention to the boy in question, who weakly points to the glass of water on the nightstand.

"Here you go, be careful not to spill it"

When he gives him the glass he feels how hot his hands are, so he moves the blanket off of him.

Toby looks at all the wounds covering his friend's body and shivers at the gruesome sight. He feels useless, if he didn't have to supervise Tommy, he could bring him golden apples, healing potions, or at least an ice pack or damp towel to cool him down.

He thinks about all the times that he could have stopped Dream, each time they were in combat and each move that let him win.

Maybe if he were victorious in more of those battles, or if he had fought harder, this wouldn't have happened.

"I'm going to fucking kill him for doing this to you" he decides as he leaves the room.

Tommy already had a fever, but now he really felt sick