DreamSMP Age Regression

One Too Many Late Nights

Tommy is holding out regressing to work on videos, and denies his own health.

This was based on @tubbies_bee_ 's chapter "Tantrums and Cuddles"

TW/CW: mentions of not eating, unhealthy behaviour, mini-tantrum, he hits Dream once, Tommy gets a bath ( all very light)

This is shorter than usual, sorry about that. I noticed I didn't focus much on the tantrum part, so I apologize. ;-;

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Tommy felt like a machine, working day in and day out. Pumping out videos and editing so much quicker than before. Sometimes he'd be stuck inside his room refusing to get anything to eat or drink until he finished what he was working on.

Truly, he thought of it to be normal behaviour, it wasn't like he was going to die from it, so what was the damage? The fans seem overjoyed by the more consistent updates, and he always wanted to make his adoring fans happy.

Working day through night was proven to be exhausting, but he didn't mind. He was finally being productive, keeping the ball rolling!

After all, he is a famous Twitch streamer and YouTuber, he'd have to pull his weight to keep people interested.

Dream had recently been getting concerned. He was used to overworking himself after huge procrastination periods, so he knew first-hand that it wasn't good for one's health.

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It was nearing midnight whenever he went into the kitchen for water, woken from a nap feeling oddly thirsty.

Surprisingly, Tommy was there, sitting on a bar chair at the table drinking Coke. To say he looked a mess would be understating.

Dark eye bags circled his drowsy eyes, his clothing was ruffled with stains in a few spots. Desperately chugging the liquid, as if he would die without it. Like he was a zombie, living off the sugary beverage as a food source. Not to mention the small smell that stuck to his skin. When was the last time he showered?

The way the younger was slumped proved he was feeling tired. It took a firm moment for the blond to notice the other, nearly jumping out of his skin in shock when he did.

"DR- what the fuck man?! You scared me!" he exasperated.

Shifting on his feet in thought, the older man spoke. "Shouldn't you be sleeping? You've been working too hard lately... You've slept sometime this week, right?".

The nervousness of the aqua eyes answered it, along with looking everywhere else except the person speaking.

With arms suddenly pulling him into a warm embrace, his mind began to dwindle into his headspace, before he yanked his conscious, big mind back to the surface.

A sigh from the taller escaped as he carded deft fingers through matted hair.

"I can't stop you from working, just try to take some breaks. Only once in a while, okay?" the softness in his tone wasn't missed, as the fog began to creep into his mind once more.

Ripping himself from the hug, Tommy nodded eagerly and hissed out about 'going to the bathroom'. In all reality, he immediately bee-lined for his room.

Dream couldn't be mad about that either. Confrontation on his bad habits would make him cringe and excuse himself, as well.

Padding back to his room, he decided to return to his nap.

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Now, he needs to intervene.

Tommy hasn't left his room, and for all he knows, hasn't taken a shower either. Thankfully, the boy has been getting food. The awkward nights of seeing the blond ravenously shovel chips into his mouth like an animal made that obvious. As for drinking, the usual soda.

It was nearing night once more when he came to confront the younger. It would take too long to wait Tommy out at a chance he might leave his room, so he would barge right in. Maybe it was invasive of his privacy, but it was for his good.

Walk down cautiously through the cold, empty halls, he faced Tommy's room. There was a clear moment of hesitation before he could bring himself to open the stained wood, but it had to be done.

The condition of his room shocked him to a point he'd call it disgusting. Filthy clothes were strewn across the floor, along with crumpled pieces of paper on which he'd write new video ideas on.

His desk was littered with empty cans of soda and food rubbish, the two smells mixing together horridly.

Not to mention the teenager himself. Hunched over, eyes barely able to pass for open, lazily dragging his fingers on the keyboard. The poor boy was so out of it that he didn't recognize that someone had entered the room.

A gentle hand placed on his shoulder seemed to take him out of his trance. Before he could make any point to argue, he was cut off by the older man.

"You haven't been taking care of yourself, have you?", a timid nod from the boy who was now facing him, "And that's against the rules we have set, right?".

He just shrivelled up in his own way, not answering. Dream's stern voice foretold of a long lecture about it. Although he knew nobody was mad at him, he still felt guilty.

He forgot about himself under the pressure (he put on himself) of posting videos, repressing his regression, and planning huge events. He was hungry and tired and thirsty and definitely unclean, too much.

It hadn't occurred to him when it began, but he soon felt wetness running down his cheeks. The thought of crying in front of someone normally embarrasses him, but it was too much.

Dream had lurched to be at his side to comfort him almost instantaneously, shushing him until his tears slowly dried up. A small stinging sensation was left in his eyes from crying for so long.

"Let's get you in the bath now, Little One"

Tommy flailed his arms around while stomping his feet.

"Don' wan' a baff! Vid-o!" he shouted out.

All he wanted was milk and food and sleep!

Dream picked him up, causing the younger to wriggle around in his hold. Feeling an overwhelming rage, he began to curl his fists into balls and pound them on the taller's shoulder. It didn't hurt, but the idea was what would get him in trouble.

"Baby, you are going to have a bath, eat some food, and sleep. Keep on acting up, and I'll put you in timeout. You don't want that, right Tiny?"

Well, that did sound nice and timeouts weren't any fun. With a huff, he agreed and went limp in the older's arms. Faster than he could blink, he was set down in the bathroom. He was allowed toys to play with and even bubbles! Playing around in the suds made him feel so happy!

As he dried off and got dressed into his onesie (with some help from his caregiver), he was handed a heaping bowl of Macaroni and Cheese. His mouth watered at the heavenly scent. There wasn't any T.V time today, since it was so late.

Instructing the younger to go lie in bed, he began to warm up a bottle of milk. It took a while, which meant he had time to think through what was going on.

Did Tommy usually hold back regressing for his work?

That isn't healthy, and if Dream has a say in it, it won't be an often occurrence.

After determining that the milk was not too hot, he strode back to the room and laid Tommy down, drinking from it languidly.

While curled up in his caregiver's arms, the blond said a small 'love you, Bubba' before completely falling asleep.

The fact that he couldn't stay up too late any longer didn't issue concern to him, as long as he could spend time with Dream.

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The End! Thanks for sticking through :D

Try to take care of yourself <3