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“Tommy, dinner!” Phil’s voice rang through the house.
“Coming!” Tommy shouted back. He jumped up, papers falling to the side as he ran out of his room and into the bathroom. Before Phil had called, Tommy had been working on some overdue algebra homework, but he really didn’t mind abandoning it in favor of his dad’s mac and cheese.
Maybe he could get one of his brothers to help him with it after dinner. Or maybe his teacher would just forget about the assignment and never grade it. The latter seemed unlikely, but homework was a problem for later Tommy. Current Tommy was about to go eat the best mac and cheese in the entire world.
However, as he barreled through the open bathroom door, all thoughts of homework and food left his mind.
There, on the edge of the sink, was a massive brown cockroach. It was facing the door, black beady eyes staring directly at him. Tommy froze, silently willing it not to move, but the cockroach had other plans. One long furry leg at a time, it crawled along the edge of the sink towards him. Gradually, it got closer and closer, and all Tommy could do was stand there and watch it advance.
Vaguely, Tommy realized how stupid this whole thing was. He could easily turn around and run downstairs, he was definitely faster than a stupid cockroach. But, regardless of how logical that seemed, his body wouldn’t listen, instead standing there helplessly watching.
All of a sudden, it jumped towards him, landing square in the middle of Tommy’s chest and sitting there, unperturbed.
Instantly able to move again, Tommy shrieked, frantically swiping at his chest, but it just fell further down his body, but that wasn’t any better because then he couldn’t see it. And if Tommy couldn’t see it, then it could be anywhere, and suddenly it was everywhere, a million tiny crawling legs covering his body, they were everywhere.
Nonononono. This was bad. Bad bad bad.
He couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe, he could barely move, he couldn’t do anything but desperately claw at his body, trying to get rid of the horrible bug, trying to make it stop but he couldn’t, he was helpless against a stupid bug, and wasn’t that stupid, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it, it was still on him, and he needed help, help- what the hell was that?
Faintly, Tommy became aware of something touching his wrist. Not the prickling on the rest of his body, but a soft, gentle pressure. A hand. Who was touching him? Tubbo? No, that didn’t make any sense, why would Tubbo be there?
Cautiously, Tommy opened his eyes -when had he closed them?- and saw Wilbur kneeling in front of him, his brows furrowed in concern.
“Tommy? You with me bud?”
“Wil- Wilby help.” Tommy practically launched himself forward, falling into Wilbur’s lap as the older man opened his arms. Wilbur wrapped his arms around his brother as Tommy fell into his chest, gently stroking his hair.
“Can’t- can’t breath,” Tommy stammered. “Help.”
“Yes you can, Toms,” Wilbur reassured. “Here, follow my breathing.” Wilbur gently took Tommy’s hand and placed it on his chest, taking deep, exaggerated breaths in the hopes that Tommy would be able to copy them.
“No- can’t”
“Tommy, love, I know it’s hard, but you can breath. You are breathing. In, and out. There we go, you’re doing great.”
Little by little, Tommy’s breathing slowed down to a more normal pace. Wilbur could tell that his little brother was still freaking out, but at least now he was able to breath.
“It’s ok Toms, Wilby’s here. You’re safe now.” Wilbur could tell that Tommy was little, and while he didn’t know exactly how old his brother was, knew to treat him differently.
“Bu- where’d it go?”
Confused, Wilbur asked “Where did what go, hon?”
“There-” Tommy started. “There was a big bug, and it jumped on me, and I tried to get it off, and now I dunno where it is, what if it’s still on me?” With the last phrase, Tommy started crying, gut wrenching sobs that shook his whole body.
“Hey, shh, shh, you’re ok,” Wilbur wrapped his arms even tighter around Tommy, speaking softly to the scared boy. “Wilby’s got you. I won’t let anything bad happen.”
“‘M sorry…” Tommy whined between sobs, burying his face in Wilbur’s jumper.
“Oh bubs, you don’t have to apologize,” Wilbur reassured, one hand firmly wrapped around Tommy’s shoulder and the other gently running through his hair. “You’re safe, that’s what matters.”
“Wilby…” Tommy whined.
“Yeah bud, it’s me. I’m here.”
Wilbur held Tommy as his sobs slowly turned to sniffles, gently rubbing his hand in small circles on the younger boy’s back the whole time. Eventually, Tommy looked up at Wilbur, a soft, hazy look on his face.
“Hey Toms,” Wilbur said softly. “You feeling a little better now kiddo?”
Tommy nodded slightly, and Wilbur smiled back at him. “That’s good bubs. That was pretty scary, huh?”
The younger boy let out a small whine, hiding his face in Wilbur’s shoulder.
Changing the subject, Wilbur tried to distract Tommy from his earlier panic. “Hey, you want to go downstairs and see Techie and Papa? I’m sure they would love to see their baby boy.”
Tommy nodded, a small smile on his face, but when Wilbur started to stand up, Tommy didn’t move, instead reaching his hands out towards his big brother.
“Aww, sunshine, you want me to carry you?” Tommy nodded and Wilbur knelt back down and scooped Tommy up, carefully balancing the tall boy on his hip. He was noticeably lighter than he should have been, and Wilbur made a mental note to talk to Tommy about it when he was big again.
Carefully, they made their way down the stairs and into the kitchen where Techno and Phil were waiting impatiently. Techno jumped up, ready to tease Tommy for letting their dinner get cold, but when he saw Wilbur carrying Tommy, he quickly realized something was off.
Phil put it together more quickly, figuring that Tommy had regressed, and though he wasn’t sure exactly why, it didn’t seem to have been voluntary.
Cautiously, Phil walked over to his youngest son, careful not to startle the regressed boy. “Hey Toms,” he cooed.
Techno followed, looking questioningly at Wilbur, who quickly signed “b-u-g”. Techno nodded, Tommy had told them about his fear of bugs before, but Techno hadn’t realized it was bad enough to cause an involuntary regression.
“Ok now?” Techno signed back.
“Think so,” Wilbur responded.
“Papa!” Tommy giggled, reaching his hands out to the older man.
Phil carefully took Tommy from Wilbur, walking over to the couch and sitting down with Tommy curled up next to him, half in his lap.
“Aww, what about Techie?” Techno turned his attention fully towards his younger brother, sitting down next to him and gently ruffling his hair.
“Techie and Papa!”
Wilbur gasped in fake insult. “What about Wilby?”
“Tommy just likes me better,” Techno teased.
Nuh-uh!” Tommy protested. “I wuv all of you!”
“We love you too Tommy.” Phil said, softly kissing the top of Tommy’s head.
Tommy just snuggled deeper into Phil’s jumper, with Techno curled around him and Wilbur on Phil’s other side, leaning on their father’s shoulder.
The mac and cheese abandoned on the kitchen table, all four of them stayed curled up together on the couch. Someone put a movie on the TV, the familiar intro music soothing Tommy and calming his thoughts.
Safely surrounded by his family and his favorite movie playing softly in the background, Tommy fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.