Pain - A TommyInnit Angst

Chapter 25

Tommy and Wilbur had mutually decided that they would have to put out some kind of content explaining what had happened. They discussed whether to do it in a stream or video format, and eventually settled on doing it as a stream, thinking that it would come across as more genuine.

As they sat down side by side and adjusted the webcam to ensure that both of them fitted in the frame, Tommy became visibly nervous.

'Are you sure you want to do this?' Wilbur asked, concerned.

Tommy nodded. 'I have to. Otherwise I'm just going to keep putting it off forever.'

After a few more minutes of preparation, Tommy shakily pressed the 'start stream' button, titling the stream 'What's been happening'. At first, he tried to hide his nerves, but eventually gave up when he realised that people would expect him to be scared. Most of the viewers had a pretty good idea of what had been going on because of the amount of media attention the case had got once they realised that Thomas Simons and Tommyinnit were one and the same. Noticing how shaky Tommy had become, Wilbur took hold of his hand under the table and gave it a comforting squeeze. They waited in silence as the viewers rolled in, Tommy occasionally thanking people for subs and primes. He felt his heart clench as his viewer count updated and he saw that there were over 500,000 people watching; he had known that lots of people would tune in because he hadn't streamed in over three months, but he hadn't anticipated that there would be this many people.

He took a deep breath and turned towards Wilbur.

'Uh, do you think we should begin?' He murmured and Wilbur nodded. 'C-could you start? I don't know how.' Tommy mumbled and Wilbur smiled at him, again squeezing his hand.

Wilbur turned towards the facecam and began to explain the background of what had been happening, with things such as the court case, letting Tommy take over once he was comfortable. He didn't want to give up too many details; after all, this was very personal, but he knew that people would want an explanation about everything they had seen in the news. Once they had finished explaining the whole story, Tommy decided that he was comfortable enough to continue the stream. He logged onto the Dream SMP and joined VC2 with Quackity and Karl. He was grateful that, even though he hadn't spoken to them in months, they acted the same towards him.

Once he had finished streaming, Tommy turned off his PC and breathed a deep sigh of relief, smiling slightly. He finally felt like himself again.

He walked over to Wilbur's room and knocked on the door, walking in once he answered.

'Hey, Toms, I'm just editing a video. How was your stream?'

'It was good, thanks Wil. I was just thinking I might go and walk down to the beach. Is that okay with you?'

Wilbur turned around in his chair.

'By yourself?'

Tommy nodded.

'Are you sure you'll be okay?'

He nodded again.

'Make sure your phone's charged up and call me if you need anything, or if you want me to pick you up, promise?'

'I promise.'

• • •

Tommy ambled across the beach, breathing in the salty air, and running over the stream in his head. Everything had seemed completely normal; it was as if he hadn't been away at all. He smiled to himself, thinking maybe it was possible that he would get over everything that happened to him eventually. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, and took it out, looking at it.