little oneshot. takes place during If It Bleeds :>
Tubbo hates to see Tommy sick. Of course he does, what kind of friend would enjoy seeing their friend sick?
As much as it makes his insides squirm with discomfort when Tommy coughs up bile that Tubbo knows would severely burn the apisaid if he was to touch it, he has no desire to leave Tommy's side.
Tubbo runs his fingers through the human's hair, as he's been doing since Tommy fell asleep. He knows it’s a comfort to Tommy, even if the prideful human won’t admit it out loud, and it reassures Tubbo when Tommy leans into his touch.
Tubbo shifts his hand, feeling the greasiness of Tommy's hair, matting slightly in the back where it's pressed against his pillow. The apisaid frowns, the texture reminding him of Tommy's time spent in the cell, where he had no way to wash himself. Tommy had told Tubbo later, in private, that humans are compulsive self-cleaners, and can get sick and irritable if they have no way to wash themselves. He had played it off as if it was no big deal, but Tubbo had seen the way the human refused to meet his eyes, a tell of lying if his textbooks were to be believed. Tubbo also didn’t miss the way Tommy bathed almost compulsively after being freed, control over his body becoming something of a religion for him after so long without it.
He's too weak now to wash his hair, and it twists Tubbo's insides more than the vomiting and the fever ever had.
"Tommy," Tubbo whispers, shaking the human gently. "Wake up."
"Blegh," Tommy says eloquently, rising up onto his elbows. "Wha'?"
"Come with me for a second," Tubbo says, tugging Tommy's sleeve.
"Where 're we goin'?" Tommy asks tiredly, getting to his feet but not opening his eyes, instead letting Tubbo drag him along by the arm. They pass Ranboo, asleep on the window seat. Tubbo pauses to pull a blanket up to his shoulders, and the enderian hums thankfully and snuggles into the fabric.
Tubbo walks Tommy into the bathroom and guides the sleepy human to sit in the tub. It's not something he uses, as he takes dust baths. His wings and thick fluff do not mix well with water, as he learned after a miserable experience with the fire alarms going off and triggering the sprinklers, before Ranboo had arrived, thankfully.
Tubbo turns on the water, making sure it's warm enough to be comfortable but not enough to burn. He waits until it only just sort of hurts when he sticks his hand under it, and then turns it up a bit higher. He's seen Tommy after he's taken a shower, he's bright pink for half an hour afterward from how hot he keeps the temperature.
"What're you doin'?" Tommy mumbles.
"Washing your hair," Tubbo says, maneuvering Tommy to stick his head under the spray of water. Tommy hums blissfully at the feeling of water streaming over his scalp.
"Do you know how?" Tommy asks around a yawn. Tubbo hesitates in his movement, shaking out his neck ruff slightly in embarrassment when Tommy laughs at him. The moment ends when Tommy's laugh ends in a cut-off gasp of pain, and both of them fall silent.
"I'll tell you how to do it," Tommy murmurs, eyes closed against the dim lights of the bathroom. "My hair's already wet, so grab the bottle to your right. I wrote 'shampoo' on it." Tubbo picks up what he hopes is the right bottle and squints at the black ink hopelessly.
"Uh... yeah, I can’t read this," Tubbo admits, setting the bottle back down. Tommy huffs out a laugh and reaches for the bottle. Tubbo hands it to him and Tommy cracks his eyes open to read the hand-drawn label.
"Yeah, this is shampoo," He says, handing back the bottle to Tubbo. "Put some in your hand and start rubbing it into my hair."
Tubbo follows his instructions, emboldened when Tommy sighs and relaxes further under his touch. After around a minute of scrubbing, Tommy holds up a hand. Tubbo tries not to look at how it trembles slightly.
"Okay, now rinse the soap out," Tommy says, sounding tired again. Tubbo will have to do this quickly or risk Tommy falling asleep under the water. Tubbo is not going to be able to carry Tommy back to his room if that happens. Tubbo guides Tommy further under the water, putting a hand on his hairline to stop the water and soap from getting into his eyes.
Once the water runs clear and Tommy's hair is free of tiny white bubbles Tubbo pulls Tommy out from under the stream and sits him up again.
"Now what?" Tubbo asks, unwinding a rather persistent tangle that resides on the back of Tommy's head.
"Now conditioner. The other bottle," Tommy explains. Tubbo grabs it and pours some onto his hand. Before he has the chance to rub it into Tommy's hair like he did with the shampoo, Tommy speaks up.
"Hold on, don’t rub it in at the roots, just do the ends. It'll get greasy again really quick if you condition the roots." He explains sleepily. Tubbo hums to show that he'd heard and starts rubbing the conditioner into the ends of his hair, careful not to get much in the roots.
He moves Tommy's head under the faucet again. There aren’t bubbles being washed away this time, but the hair clumps together where there is still soap, so Tubbo waits until the hair rests in a sheet of brownish-blonde hair before he takes Tommy's hair out from under the water.
Tubbo runs his hands through Tommy's wet hair and his wings flutter happily behind his back. His friend is clean again, and even though his illness is a mystery, and only seems to be getting worse, he is at least clean. If that's all that Tubbo can do, he'll do it.
Tubbo digs a towel out from under the sink and wraps Tommy's hair in it, before they walk back to Tommy's room together. Getting up had apparently drained him, because Tommy falls back asleep almost as soon as he lays down again. Tubbo lays next to him, running his fingers through his hair, clean, slightly damp, and smelling like flowers.
