Eburnean Tommy Au

XXIII - Voices

Techno paces around in his living room, the voices are so loud, half of them are yelling at him to kill Dream, and the other half won't stop checking on Tommy and telling him to protect his little brother.

He decides he'll walk around the perimeter of the land and check on Tom once he's done a lap or two.

He grabs his cloak, then walks outside and to the fence near the woods. He can see that on the opposite side of the base, the others are all playing in the snow, and feels a bit embarrassed because they can see him too.

Even worse, he knows that Tom is watching him, the voices keep telling him.

Of course the voices don't care beyond telling him, and order Techno to keep his eyes out for Dream, as if he'd be there.

He eventually ends up near Tom, Phil, Michael, and Tubbo.

"Hi Techno" Phil greets.

"Hey" he says, and continues on

"What's up?"

"Just on a walk"

"Looks more like a stomp," Tubbo quips, which earns some chuckles from Phil and Micheal, and a slight smile from Tom.

"You should hang out" Phil suggests

"Nah I'm-" he feels a snowball hit him in the back, and turns to see that it was thrown by Tommy.

Tubbo gently high fives the boy, who, Techno notices, is wearing the matching cloak Phil made him.

Tommy wants you to stay! Hang out with them! Be a good brother!

"Alright, I'll stay for a bit" he concedes, and sits down in the snow next to Tom.

He's freezing, he'll get another cold! Why aren't you doing anything? He's your baby brother, Get him inside! Don't let him freeze! What's wrong with-

Techno is startled by a snowball hitting him, and sees Micheal giggling.

"Haha, Techno you should have seen how much you jumped, holy shit" Phil laughs

"Yeah, sorry I zoned out for a minute" he forces out

Pathetic! Don't just sit there! He needs his big brother! He's cold! He's too cold and he can't tell anyone!

"Um, Tommy, are you warm enough out here?"

He nods, (why?)

"The voices tell me you're freezing"

He shakes his head slowly.

"You sure?"

He gives a slight nod.

Bullshit! He's lying! Don't tell us you believe that! Take him inside now! Don't let him refuse your help! He's going to freeze! DO SOMETHING!

"You do seem cold, Tom," Tubbo agrees, "maybe we should go inside"

"Yeah, come on, I'll make hot cocoa" Phil adds

Michael whines because he can't play in the snow anymore. Tubbo puts out his hand to help Tommy stand, but he seems stuck.

Tommy's overwhelmed! This is too much for him! He's gonna cry! He's overstimulated! He can't handle so many people!

"Tommy?" Toby asks his friend when he doesn't move.

The kids breathing starts to pick up, but he doesn't respond in any other way.

"How bout the rest of us go inside," Techno suggests to Phil and Micheal, "he seems overwhelmed"

The three of them wait inside for Tubbo to get Tom calmed down while Phil makes hot chocolate.

He's getting tired. He's exhausted. He can't keep his eye open. He just collapsed onto Tubbo.

That last voice surprises Techno. He then hears Toby call from outside,

"Can one of you help carry him?! He passed out!"

Techno rushes outside and picks up his brother.

"Thanks, I'm not sure what that was about" Tubbo admits

"He's too tired; the voices won't stop telling me what's wrong with him at any given moment. I'll put him in bed"

"Thank you"

He takes Tommy to his room and tucks him in, "sleep well, kid" he says to his sleeping brother and leaves the house to go back to his cabin.