He's mute, not deaf

Chapter 4

Tw for this chapter: Crying, mention of fighting, lots of anxiety

Note: Again talks about religion but I'm not meaning to make fun of any religion, and again it's to Prime

Tommy is in a bad mood when he walks into English class. He didn't sleep well the night before, his anxiety high from fighting with Techno. Tommy didn't have a reason to be scared of Techno, he just gets nervous sometimes.

When he sits down at the table in the back of the room, Ranboo is already there, but Tubbo isn't. Tommy doesn't fully look at Ranboo either way, he was too anxious in general. Ranboo seemed to be in the same boat anxiety wise, their leg was bouncing up and down and they were chewing on their nails.

"Alright everyone, that's the bell. You guys are just going to be continuing your projects as usual, and as always, I am here whenever you need help." Mr. Sam says and Tommy bit his lip. He turned to see that Tubbo still wasn't there but Ranboo was full on shaking. Tommy looked at him but Ranboo didn't look at him.

Tommy watched as Ranboo put his head on his desk and put his hands on the back of his neck. He continued to shake and Tommy noticed he wasn't breathing fully. Tommy looked over at Mr. Sam, who was on the other side of the room, and then back to Ranboo.

Tommy exhaled sharply and stood up from his chair. He walked to Ranboo and grabbed his shoulder. Ranboo shot up, tears clearly running down his face, and he stared at Tommy panicked. Tommy locked eyes with Ranboo before grabbing his shoulder again. He half pulled Ranboo out of his chair, which caught Mr. Sam's attention.

"Tommy?" Mr. Sam called from across the room and Tommy stuck up a hand with three fingers, to which Mr. Sam nodded and went back to what he was doing.

They had a system so Tommy wasn't having to text all the time. 1 finger meant question, 2 meant restroom, 3 meant quiet room, and 4 meant something else.

Tommy half dragged, half helped Ranboo across the room and out of the door. They walked down the hall for a moment to the "student wellness center '', a classroom that had Christmas lights instead of the harsh leds, bean bag chairs instead of the hard plastic ones, and a bookshelf full of drinks and snacks. There was also plants everywhere, chargers in the wall for phones and computers, and a small stereo system that Tommy knew could play white noise.

Ranboo looked around the room confused, doing their best to wipe away their tears but wasn't succeeding too well with their leather jacket they were wearing. Tommy rolled his eyes and pointed to a bean bag chair, staring Ranboo down as he did so.

Ranboo got the hint and sat down on the bean bag chair. Tommy walked over to the stereo system and clicked a few buttons so it started playing rain sounds. He then walked over to the bookshelf and grabbed two bags of chips and two bottles of juice. He walked to a bean bag across from Ranboo and handed him the snacks.

"Oh no I'm not hungry." Ranboo says but Tommy stares him down. "Fine, fine." And he takes the things from Tommy's hands. "Thank you, by the way." Ranboo mumbles.

Tommy shrugs and pulls out his phone.

"I don't have my phone." Ranboo says quickly before Tommy even got the chance to text them. Tommy rolls his eyes and goes to his note app. He types for a moment before handing the phone over.

Still have this to read, unless you're illiterate

"Oh right, you're right." Ranboo says as they blush and hand the phone back to Tommy. Tommy stares at him for a moment before going back to typing.

Wanna talk about what's wrong?

"Uh, I dunno, I don't want to bother you at all." Ranboo shrugs but Tommy just stares him down, giving him a look of 'are you joking' "Okay, okay. Tubbo and I got into a fight, and they left school early. He took my phone with him by accident and I don't like going places without them too often." Ranboo explains as they open up the juice container. Tommy nods and opens up his bag of chips, putting it down to type for a moment.

What are you two fighting about? And why don't you like to be away from him?

"It's a couple of things honestly." Ranboo admits, but pauses when he sees Tommy bow his head.

Dear Prime,

Thank you for this food, thank you for my family, thank you for my schooling, thank you for my teachers and this space they have created for us.

"Amen." Tommy whispered quietly. Ranboo, who had just taken a bite of some chips, stared at Tommy.

"You just talked." Ranboo pointed out. Tommy shook his head and began to reach in for his own chips. "Yes you did, I heard you. You just talked. You said Amen." Ranboo says as they stare at Tommy. Tommy shakes his head and taps the phone, as if he was saying 'get back to the question'

He was not about to have this conversation with Ranboo right now.

"If I answer, will you answer why you just talked when you're not supposed to be able to?" Ranboo questions and Tommy shrugs, but Ranboo seemed to take that as a yes. "Okay, well we fought about stupid shit. Some kid was giving me shit for my dyed hair and piercings, and Tubbo went off on them. I told them not to but they didn't listen. We fought about that." Ranboo explained and Tommy nodded, grabbing the phone and typing yet again.

So why don't you like being away from them?

"It's a mix of things like I said. Tubbo is my brother but also my best friend. We grew up in basically almost poverty together before our mom got a job couple a few years ago. Most of it is still just separation anxiety I guess." Ranboo admits and Tommy looks at them. Ranboo and Tubbo did not look poor at all, guess that's the harm in making assumptions. "We were stuck in shitty places together, and we refused to go anywhere without each other. We were in the foster system too for a minute, Tubbo ran to me if they were put in another house." Ranboo laughed and Tommy nodded again. "Okay, so tell me. You talked, how?"

Tommy just rolled his eyes.

"Please tell me! You said you couldn't talk but you just said Amen at the end of a prayer, that's talking!" Ranboo argued and Tommy just started typing again.

You're starting to be on Tubbo's level of wanting me to talk and wanting answers

"I don't care, I want answers. I understand if you weren't able to talk and you weren't, but you just talked when you said you couldn't talk. We were told you were mute, so you shouldn't be talking." Ranboo continues and Tommy sticks out his foot to kick Ranboo. Ranboo moves out of the way but laughs. "I'm serious man!" Tommy rolls his eyes and dusts his hands off on his pants before grabbing his phone.

Ranboo uses this moment to reach over and grab Tommy's phone out of his hands. Tommy glares at him as Ranboo moves back to his bean bag chair.

"You can get this back when you tell me how the fuck you were able to talk when you're mute." Ranboo says, holding the phone behind them. Tommy inhales sharply, he could do this, he could prove Techno wrong in how he'll 'be quiet forever' he could prove the assholes wrong.

"It's called selective mutism." Tommy grumbles and Ranboo's eyes go wide for a moment. Tommy just sticks out his hand for his phone.

"Wait, you can physically talk but just don't? Why? Like I know it's selective but what is good vs not?" Ranboo questions and Tommy sighs before opening his phone back up. He typed for a moment before handing the phone over to Ranboo.

Long time ago when I was like 5 or so I broke my arm. When I did I didn't make any noise. My family took me to the doctor and shit and I still stayed quiet. Something in my brain went fucked after that, therapist says it was probably a trauma reaction, but I didn't talk for a full year and some change. Eventually I started talking again but I only really talk to my family and to my therapist. Outside of that I don't talk, other than saying Amen after praying. So I get labeled as mute, even though that's not fully it.

"Oh shit man, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I am so sorry." Ranboo apologizes but Tommy just shrugs while looking away from them.

Word count: 1500

Edited by Nug (they/bee)

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Sorry this took a while haha

Glad people are enjoying this book!