Mcyt -autistic- oneshots

Today is not a good day pt.3 (Tommy and many people)

Freddie's POV:

Tubbo came over, crouching down in front of Tommy and I, giving me a worried look. Soon everyone had stopped what they were doing and were watching from a short distance.

"Do you want to step outside for a minute Tom?" Tubbo offered out his hand and a kind smile. Tommy started sobbing loudly and wailing, it was evident to me he was having a meltdown but I had no clue how to calm him down. I didn't even know what he was upset about! I just knew he was upset and I needed to help.

"Do you want a hug?" He shook his head still crying. Aimsey came over and sat with us.

"Hey Tommy. Would you like us to go away or sit quietly with you?" For each option, she offered out a hand to Tom. "Can you gesture to one of my hands to answer?" He continued.

He reached to touch their left hand: sitting quietly. "Okay, thanks for answering. Would you like me to put some quiet music on?" He nodded. Tubbo got up and played some calming stuff quietly through his phone. I mouthed a thank you at the both of them, just keeping a close eye on Tom.

Rocking to the music, he had also put one of his fingers in his mouth. It sounds weird, but it was one of the best ways he had learnt to calm himself when he was this upset, he didn't chew on it too much, just the feeling of it being there was often calming enough. He placed his other hand over his hood, around his ear, and slowly, he stopped crying as much. I think it was about half an hour of just sitting quietly before anyone really said anything.

"Man how much longer are we going to sit here for?" Bill got death stares from the entire group, and a shove in the arm from Ranboo. Whispering he then said, "sorry, sorry. Just not great at this kind of stuff." Everyone kind of accepted his apology and Ranboo then came over to Tom.

"Hey Tommy, do you want a hug?" Tom just sat there, continuing to rock and not even looking at Ranboo, or any of the rest of us. "Is he non-verbal or is that a processing thing?"

"I think it's processing, i think he's also zoned out. Just try asking again." I moved my hand in front of Tom's face, and when he looked towards me I pointed at Ranboo.

"Hey, do you want a hug Tommy?" This time he nodded, giving the small beginnings of a smile.

I got up from where I had been sitting and allowed Ranboo to sit down next to him on the sofa. Instead, I went to the kitchen to get Tom a bottle of water and a snack.

Ranboo's POV:

Tommy liked hugs, but he liked being hugged more than anything. He never really enjoyed hugging the person back, which means when he hugs people who are shorter than him, its not quite the same. Because of this if Tommy wanted a hug, either Wilbur or I would be the one giving them, and I've gotten very good at working out when Tommy is too overwhelmed for a hug and when he really needs one.

I sat down where Freddie had been on the sofa, and waited for Tommy to make his way over to me. Within seconds, he had nestled himself into my side and turned sideways slightly, it was just sort of his way of doing it -hugging I mean-. He still had one of his fingers in his mouth but was rubbing his eyes, trying to clear out tears. I just wrapped my arms around him and sat quietly like we all had been before. 

"You want your headphones big man?" Tubbo asked. No answer. A light bulb seemed to turn on in Tubbo's head, this time he repeated his question, using his hands to give Tommy a chance to make his choice, like Aimsey had done before.

Tommy reached out for his left hand (saying no), and looked up at me. I had taken the mask off so he could see my face properly, but left my sunglasses on so Tommy didn't have to feel as awkward about not giving eye contact; according to him, people wearing sunglasses made their faces less scary. Anyway, he made sure I was looking at him and then placed both of his hands on his ears, then off again, back on, back off. I had no clue what he was trying to say to me, or if he was even trying to say something to me. Luckily, that was when Freddie came back in.

He passed a bottle of water to the person practically lying across me, and threw a small bag of chips onto the couch. "Freddie, I think he's saying something to me, but I don't know what."

"Oh ok. Tom, do it again will you?" Tommy repeated his actions, still looking at me.

"He's saying it's too loud."

"What's too loud? I've turned the music off and no one is talking."

"He hears lots of little sounds, stuff we don't even hear. And when he gets overwhelmed, they really bother him."

"Well, what do we do then?"

"You got your ear plugs with you Tom?" A shake of his head. "Oh ok, where are you ear defenders then?" Another shake. "What?! You didn't bring either with you?" He started sniffling, as if he was about to cry again. "It's fine. We'll find you some ear plugs, I promise. Just try and chill out."

"I think the Tesco's round the corner is still open. They'll have some." Tubbo suggested.

"Yea, that works. Tom, are you alright to stay with Ranboo if Tubbo and I go?"

"Boo." Everyone was a little shocked he had spoken, and that his speech was the way it was. Tubbo and I hadn't heard him talk like it before, but from Freddie untouched reaction, I imagined he had. It was a small quiet voice, slightly slurred and a bit messy.

"Yep, he's going to stay, Aimee and Bill too. Is that okay?" He nodded, and I rubbed his head (considering his hood was still up), trying to calm him and assure him I was going to stay. He pushed his head slightly back into my hand, letting me know he wanted me just to hold my hand there instead.

As Freddie and Tubbo left, we got Tommy set up with his phone playing some random YouTube videos, I think he chose hermit craft in the end. Every now and again he would drop his phone into his lap (despite already having his knees pulled up to his chest) and place his hands over his ears, humming loudly to himself. Whilst I was sat next to him for the entire time, each time it happened Aimsey would have to come over and crouch down beside the couch, ready to hold his hands if necessary and calm him down if not. Through a matter of true frustration and inability to calm himself down, he was becoming worse rather than calmer.

But it was better than it had been, better than when he was really losing control. That time, I instinctively hugged him tightly, getting some hits from where Tommy moved his hands away from his head before hitting it again. He squirmed a little in my grasp but the minute Aimee came over and held his hands gently, rubbing their fingers over his knuckles, he melted into me. Not completely calm down, just stop hitting and allowed me to help a little.

It was tough to see him like that, and knowing there wasn't much we could do. But 15 minutes later and around 4 times of Aimee coming over until he would stop humming, he fell asleep. Out like a light. I sat there silently, he had a hold of my arm and he turned to face the back of the sofa, curled in on himself, I couldn't go anywhere even if I wanted to. So, waiting for Tubbo and Freddie to get back, I just sat there on my phone.

Bill went to meet them at the door, telling them to be quiet. And Freddie pretty much walked over immediately, asking (quietly) how he was.

"He's fine. Well he wasn't but he's sleeping now, so he'll be fine. Kept hitting his head and humming loudly and we couldn't work out why, just had to try and calm him down."

"Oh ok. At least he's getting some sleep, he'll be exhausted tomorrow otherwise."

"Yea."

It was a quiet evening, practically silent for the most part. Tommy was asleep for 2 hours, and I couldn't move the entire time. Everyone else sat quietly on their phones, or got some rest themselves. I couldn't go to bed until Tommy woke up and went to bed himself, but we didn't quite know it was going to be that long. 

When he woke up, he clung to my arm immediately, and when Freddie came over, he latched onto Freddie instead. He got up and walked into Freddie, signalling for a hug, which Freddie gave. He seemed fine, just non-verbal and exhausted. We talked about it more in the morning but according to him 'it was a meltdown, I don't know what was happening, I just know it happened'.

A/n Hey. Thank you so much for reading. Thanks so much for 19k reads! Hope you enjoyed and are having a good day!

Thank you,

Tag