"Why the fuck did you put your bed next to mine?"
"I thought that's how this boyfriend-girlfriend stuff works."
"I- ok, I won't even comment."
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From the beginning, they hated each other. But are they closer than they origina...
"Oh my god, I am so absolutely sorry, I completely forgot about it, holy shit-" Ray began freaking out, fighting her way out of the couple of layers of sheets and pillows that she had been nesting under.
Upon seeing her panicked state, Tommy instantly walked over with a desperate look on his face. "No, I didn't mean it like that, I'm sorry, you can keep it on, it's fine."
Ray paused, looking over at him. "What do you mean?"
Throughout the 3-or-so seconds of silence that followed, Tommy's face also seemed to have become redder. "I meant that you can keep it on- if you'd like to, of course. I have other hoodies that I can put on- and besides, it's a bit too warm for hoodies, don't you think?"
His eyes had been glued to Tubbo's nightstand, apparently greatly interested in the change scattered on top of it.
Ray remained quiet for a couple of seconds, processing this new information. In any other circumstance, she would've taken it off instantly and probably tossed it back with a mean, embarrassed comment. But for some reason, she'd strangely bonded with the piece of clothing the last few hours and really didn't want to take it off.
So she didn't.
"Thanks." She muttered quietly, proceeding to slowly pull over one of the sheets over her lap in an attempt to attain more heat. The boy then slowly settled down at the far-end edge of her bed, hands in his lap and knees stuck together formally.
Ray watched as Tommy's Adam's apple bobbed slightly before he spoke.
"Anyway, I also came here because everyone's eating takeout next door, and they asked me to ask you whether you wanted to go have some." He finally turned to look at her, and it was Ray's turn to look away.
"I rather not, for now." She admitted quietly, and Tommy tilted his head in confusion.
"Why not? You haven't had dinner."
"Because I think that as quickly as it'll go down, it'll come back up again." Ray joked lightly, but that didn't seem to sit right with him.
Tommy's eyes softened in worry again, just as they had during Ray's panic attack. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Ray swallowed hard. "I'm fine, really."
"I don't think joking about this is a good coping mechanism." The boy continued, and Ray's nervousness rose. She felt like she was going to explode. "Wilbur said something about talking about your feelings."
The sudden cut off caused her to raise an eyebrow at him, and Tommy took a deep breath as he'd realized how awkward that sounded.
"So... would you like to try it?... or something..." He muttered, so quietly that Ray barely understood what he tried to tell her.
As he looked down into his lap, Ray took the chance to consider his words. She did not in fact want to talk about it- the situation wasn't something she'd wanted to remember ever again. But his words made her realize that she should, even just a little bit.
So she took a deep breath, which sounded shaky, which grabbed Tommy's attention.
"Actually, I'm not fine." She began, with a slight smile. "Everything about this is just... terrifying. I don't want to be with anyone right now, but at the same time, I don't want to be alone. Because in both those scenarios I feel so suffocated that I can't breathe."
She looked up to see Tommy listening attentively, and the girl quickly looked back down at her fiddling thumbs.
"I think it's because this never really happened to me before. You know about me, with my lifestyle, I rarely go out on the street alone. Unlike most other teenage girls, I've never experienced something like this on the street. And actually, I didn't think it was such a big deal before, and I though that if it were to ever happen to me, I'd be able to deal with the perv myself."
"But back at the convention it all felt... so real. Too real. When he grabbed me, I couldn't do anything. I was too scared to do anything, because we were all around, with no one there to help me, and I'm not sure whether I'd be able to run away quickly enough to get away from him. Not that I could, because I was frozen into place, like my body was refusing to cooperate with my mind."
Ray once again looked up, to see Tommy hadn't even moved an inch, and was still listening to her sincerely. However, she still spotted the slightest bit of discomfort in his gaze.
"I'm sorry about all this." She suddenly interrupted her story. "For before, and now. I've just been dumping all this on you, and I feel horrible about it."
"Wha- no, what the hell?" Tommy suddenly jumped. "No, I literally asked you to talk to me. There's absolutely nothing to be sorry about."
"But I can tell you feel stressed as well. You had it bad as well." Ray pressed on, but Tommy frowned.
"It's nothing compared to what you went through, Ray. I'm fine, and right now, all that I care about is that you feel better. Don't try to invalidate your own feelings, not right now, not ever."
The sincerity of his voice really struck a cord, and Ray couldn't hold back the tears welling up in her eyes. Tommy was quick to spot this, sending him into another wave of panic.
"Oh my fucking god, did I say something wrong, I'm so sorry, I-"
"No, you said everything right, don't worry." Ray laughed as she used the sleeves to dry her tears. "Seriously, I can't thank you enough for everything. I can't believe I'm saying this, but- you're really pog for this."
There was a small moment of silence before Tommy erupted into extreme laughter, so contagious that Ray felt a giggle coming out of her as well.
"Oh my god, I should make a Ray quote book and include that there." Tommy exclaimed through breaths, and Ray grabbed a pillow then proceeded to chuck it in his direction.
"Shut up!"
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