| b u g s | MCYT(OC)

~Toms~

"Toms?"

"Fern?" He sounded panicked, not that they knew why.

Wait.

"Fern?"

Tommy muttered something under his breath that they couldn't quite make out.

"Sorry, I asked Tubbo, and-"

"Toms, it's fine." Fern chuckled, shaking their head. Scott had talked them out of their panic attack before shooing them away to reassure Tommy, but they were still exhausted. They hoped he could tell. "Just ask me next time."

"Alright, then," Tommy cleared his throat loudly, hoping Fern smiled. They were, though it was strained and tired. "What happened on Wil's stream?"

Fern sighed, running a hand through their hair.

Of course. They can't just escape it.

"I don't like singing around people. Most they'll get is a hum. I thought that Wilbur would deafen, you know, to end his stream. Apparently I was wrong."

Tommy let the silence hang in the air for a moment, trying to figure out how to respond. Fern was fine with that.

"You're really good, if that's any consolation."

Fern coughed, a little surprised. This wasn't the Tommy they talked to during streams; what was happening?

"Thanks?" They chuckled awkwardly, deciding not to tell him the truth. "You're strangely nice right now."

Tommy scoffed. "You didn't think I'm that mean off stream, did you?"

"I mean, I did." Fern shrugged, smiling a little more. "But also, we hadn't really talked outside of the SMP much. Sorry, I thought you were just like that."

Tommy's explosive laugh burst through their phone, blasting into their ears and bouncing in their skull.

"That's fucking hilarious!" He yelped. "No way you actually thought I'd be an angry gremlin in real life."

"To be fair, it wasn't that hard. Most people here are." They chuckled, covering their mouth with their hand when their teeth poked through their smile.

Tommy let the silence hang again before loudly groaning.

"You're too nice when you're not being a dickhead; you're making this hard for me." He whined, probably pouting in his room.

"What?" Fern asked, face scrunching up.

"Look, I can't say much," Tommy cut himself off, probably thinking very carefully. "Basically, Dream has a surprise for you.

Fern snorted, not taking it seriously. Why would Dream do something for them? That was stupid.

"If it's not him breaking me out of your house, I don't want it."

"Trust me, you want it." Tommy laughed, much lighter than the explosion they were used to. It was softer, like he was trying to be quieter. "So why don't you let people listen?"

Fern shrugged, getting more comfortable on their floor.

"I don't know." They fiddled with their blanket, trying to move. "I play enough music, y'know? Like I play viola at school and guitar at home, and even that is hard enough. It's just such an important thing to me, and I'm scared of not being the best."

Tommy let them pause to take a deep breath, one that shook their ribs and rattled their brain around in their skull.

"Do you know what synesthesia is?"