Tommy was sitting in the living room, using his phone at 6am.
"You're awake early," someone said in the softest voice possible.
Tommy looked up from the couch, crossing his legs after smiling. It was Drista.
"Who said I ever slept?" He asked, voice slightly louder than the other.
"Good point," she said before curling up on the other end of the couch, rubbing her eyes with the her brown polyester sweater.
"Why are you awake, anyway?" Drista questioned, before she let a yawn leave her mouth.
"Because no one comes down until 7am."
Tommy looked back down to his phone. Drista focused on his concentration to the screen.
"Does Dream treat you right?"
Confused yet concerned, Tommy switched off his phone. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, does he give you enough love and affection?"
"God, you really do sound like my aunt."
"Fuck off," she laughed.
"Yeah," Tommy whispered. "He does. I mean, I don't know how much enough is, but I'm definitely happier than I was before."
"Aw, cute. Now, who's Tris and why do people want me to meet them?"
Tommy rolled his eyes, cackling. "He's my brother."
"Oh, makes sense. 'Dream's sister and TommyInnit's brother met up,' I can already see the craziness."
Tommy looked down, picking at his cuticles.
"Is he younger than you?"
"Older, 5 years."
"What incident happened?"
"Gosh, what is this? An interview?"
"Um," Drista stared at the floor. "No, sorry."
Realizing he sounded like his brother, Tommy instantly regretted the words that left his mouth. He smiled awkwardly.
"I'm kidding, ask me whatever. Tristan, he stabbed me. Long story, I'd probably bore you."
"No way, go on. Spill the tea," she smiled excitedly.
After a long conversation about Tommy's life followed by Dream's old life with Drista and their parents, George sees them talking in the living room.
"Why are you guys here?"
"Because no one comes down until 7am, duh," Drista said, copying Tommy's response when she asked him a similar question earlier.
"It's seven thirty," the older said.
Tommy picked up his phone, reading the time only to pay attention to the 2 missed calls.
"Fuck," Tommy whispered after reading the contact name. "Tristan called, I'm calling him back."
"Speaker," Drista said.
"No, what?"
"Speaker or I tell Dream," George replied before walking over.
"Ugh," Tommy groaned, putting the phone on speaker.
Ring ring...
Ring ring...
"Hey, Tom."
"Hi," Tommy responded. "Tris, I'm so sorry."
"What? No, I called so I could apologize. Look, Tom, you've done nothing but be nice. I let my anger get to me, I left you once and I did it again. I'm so sorry for everything. It's not much but I'll try to make it up to you."
"This isn't Tris. Are you being held hostage or something?"
Tristan laughed over the phone. "I'm not. I'm doing very good."
"I can tell. I haven't heard you laugh in forever."
"I'm going to- Actually, do you want to meet?"
George shook his head 'no' violently. "Piss off," Tommy mouthed to him.
"I will never say no to meeting my brother. You're going where?"
"I'll tell you when we meet. And I promise, I won't stab you this time. I won't even bring my four knives."
"Four?!"
"I'll just bring one, don't worry."
"You're bringing none or else Tommy stays home," George said, gripping on Tommy's phone.
"Ah, greetings, Mr.Davidson. I could tell one of them were listening."
"I'm not apart of them, I'm listening," Drista said.
"Dude!" Tommy replied to them.
"Who's that?"
"You can call me Dris," she spoke before scooching closer to Tommy's phone.
"Alright, Dris. I'm Tris."
"I know who you are, piece of shit," Drista cussed before George gave her a fist-bump.
"Since everyone's been caught up, I'll meet Tom unarmed. In like four days?"
"Why wait? How about tomorrow?" Tommy asked.
"That's too soon, Toms. I gotta get back to work and hope my boss doesn't fire me for my sudden disappearance."
Tommy didn't want to wait four days. He'd end up overthinking.
George realized the panic on Tommy's face and took over the call.
"Four days is alright, bye," George hung up and gave the phone back to Tommy. "I'm going to shower and tell Dream to hear what he has to say about it."
Any sign of happiness was drained from Tommy's face. He felt his chest tighten, like an elephant was laying on it and wasn't getting off of him. He took his phone and left for his room while opening Discord on his phone. He called Quackity and waited for it to connect. Once the call got connected, Quackity expected to hear Tommy's voice, but to no avail. He could hear a deep breath but then it stopped. He only saw the Tommy's head in his hands.
"Hello?"
He let out a small whimper to indicate he could hear Quackity, but that only worsened his breathing.
"Tommy, breathe."
Before Quackity could continue guiding him, Tommy shook his head violently.
"You can't, I know. Do you remember what I thought you?"
Tommy nodded slowly.
"Do you want me to do it with you?"
Tommy shook his head no, trying to stop the panic attack himself. However, he got reminded of Tristan. He choked a sob, breathing deeply before he had a second panic attack.
"You're doing so great, Tommy. I'm here and I'm staying. You know you can tell me anything, I'll always be here to listen."
Quackity heard distant chatter over the phone with a door opening. He noticed Tommy had looked up, fear in his eyes. So, he knew it wasn't Sapnap.
"Tommy? What happened?" It was Dream. "Who're you talking to?"
"Is that Dream?" Quackity asked.
"Yes," Tommy shakily answered.
"Can you put me on speaker?"
Tommy does, before Quackity continued speaking.
"Actually- we have to tell him."
"No, we don't," Tommy rejects, hoping his voice didn't sound as shaky.
"Alex?-"
"Tommy, Dream isn't like your dad. You can trust him."
Dream looked at Tommy in confusion.
"Okay, how about I talk to Dream about it? I'll just mention the gist of it, not everything. Is that okay?"
"Yeah," was all he could reply with.
"Alright. Pass the phone to Dream, can you? You're going to be fine, Tommy."
Tommy didn't break eye contact with Dream, he just stretched his arm out so Dream could take the phone from him.
He put his adoptive son's phone to his ear. "I switched off the speaker."
"Good," said Quackity. "Now walk out the room, I don't want Tommy to hear."
"Okay," Dream mumbled before walking out. "Right, what the fuck happened?"
"Tommy suffers from self-harm."
"I knew that. He IS my son, Quackity, I don't get what you were on about."
"No, I was telling him that you are nothing like his terrible biological dad."
"He knows that. He told me everything."
"No, he doesn't know that and he doesn't tell you everything. He wants to, trust me, he's just scared."
"What does he want to tell me then?"
"That he overthinks every little detail. He has a panic disorder, Dream. He doesn't like to wait for things because he'd gets nervous, one thing leads to another and I'm on the other line with him, getting him through panic attacks. He gets more than one sometimes too, but recently it's been lessening."
"What?" Dream mumbled to himself, trying to take in the information he had just gotten. "That's why he didn't wait for me when he told chat the truth."
"Yeah."
"Why the fuck didn't you tell me this before? Why didn't Tommy come to me?"
"He didn't feel comfortable letting you know just yet. You're a new father figure in his life, Clay. He didn't trust his dad, it'll just take time for him to trust you. At least Sapnap was there for him."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Oh, uh- Sapnap and I are the only ones who knew about Tommy's disorder. He begged us not to tell you. Please, just- Be gentle with Tommy, will you?"
"Sure," Dream said, biting down his lip to fight the urge from asking why his best friends wouldn't tell him when something was going on with his son.
They talked for awhile more, Quackity was just letting Dream know about how he and Sapnap found out. After the call had ended, Dream felt terrible. He felt like he should've known or been there for Tommy more. Dream re-entered the room, tears rolling down his cheeks. He returned the phone to Tommy before he dropped to his knees. With no hesitation, Tommy curled up next to him, tears dropping on his cheeks. Dream wrapped his arms around the younger.
"I'm sorry," Dream sniffled, going through Tommy's hair with his fingers. "I should've realized."
I should've told you, Tommy wanted to say, but the sobs he refused to let out choked his throat. I thought you'd think of me differently or maybe even regret adopting me.
Dream broke down, sobbing. Tommy didn't know what to do. He knew he just upset someone very dear to him, he felt bad, he didn't know what to do, but it made him upset. He looked up at Dream, both of them now crying. With shaky breaths, Dream gathered himself to make things clear for his adoptive son.
"I love you, Tommy. I don't want you to suffer alone. I swear there is not a single thing I wouldn't do for you. I just- I want to help you...in any way possible, okay?"
Tommy nodded into his chest. He wish he could be enfolded in Dream's arms all day, shielded from all the cruel negativity the world contains.