Tiny - Tomatt

Effort

Matt quietly limped over to him. It hurt to put any weight whatsoever on his injured leg. He went up to Tom's hand and patted his arm, looking up at his face.

He opened his black eyes to look at Matt. After a second, he blinked, relaxed, and let out a huge breath of air. He fell to his side feebly, laying like you would in a bed, resting his head on the dirt. Mud and leaves got in his hair. Matt examined Tom's body - now that he saw his human form in the light, it was clear he was totally beat up. His face was a bit scratched, but the worse part was how the bottom of Tom's hoodie was pulled up to reveal his side - which was covered in horrible brown, black green and purple bruises from where Tord had beat him up the first time. Matt cringed at the sight.

Matt looked back into Tom's eyes. Even a fool would find it obvious that Tom was dead exhausted. He was shaking, breathing unevenly, and struggling to keep his eyes open.

Matt was incredibly worried for his friend. He'd already pushed himself so far for their safety and was in horrible shape as it is. Would he be strong enough to get them to safety before they starved out in the woods?

Tom smiled a bit. "I'll just... rest a tiny bit..."

Matt nervously walked closer to Tom and patted his dirty cheek, drawing a nearly inaudible sigh from his lips. "Tom. You're gonna be okay, right?" He looked down at Tom's bruised skin and back at his face. "I mean, you're hurt pretty bad. Do you want me to go get help? It can't be very far after all you've done."

"Yeah..." Tom was barely able to shift to the sitting up position. His hoodie fell back over his skin. "Y-yeah. I'm fine. And no, you're not going anywhere without me." He looked down at Matt watchfully.

"Are you sure? I'll go right now," Matt offered. He was already beginning to limp away because he knew Tom was far too weak to do anything.

"No!" Tom reached forward and put his hand up in front of Matt like a wall. Matt looked up at Tom. "No. You could get eaten by a-an animal or something. O-or starve. In fact..." He started trying to get to his feet to stand up. "I-I think I feel o-okay enough to continue," he said indignantly.

His legs shook so much that he fell to on his bottom again. "Tom!" Matt protested. "You can barely move!"

"Sure I can..." Despite Matt's disapproval, Tom tried and failed to stand up twice more. After he realized it just wasn't happening, he sulked and put his face in shaking hands. He stayed in that pose for a bit, leaving Matt staring up worriedly.

"Just..." Matt went up and leaned against his leg, burying his face in a dry area of the jeans. "Just rest a bit. Okay? There's no harm in it."

Tom released his hands from his face. It was blank and emotionless, which scared Matt a bit. He lay down on his back, staring up at the thin branches of the trees above and the sky they covered. One hand was resting on his chest and the other arm relaxed limply on the ground. "I just don't want to feel weak," he muttered.

Matt climbed up his arm and took a seat on Tom's chest. Tom tilted his head so that he could look at Matt. "It's okay to feel weak sometimes," he said quietly. He lay down on Tom's chest in the same position Tom lay in. He stared up, past the branches, at the stars. "Think about everything you've done. Everything you've gone through to save us." He laughed quietly. "You're amazing."

Tom stayed silent and looked back up at the stars. He wondered if Matt could feel his racing heartbeat.

"I'm so glad I was kidnapped with you." After a moment of silence, Matt fell into a fit of laughter for a second, saying "wait, wait, hold on, that's not what I meant." Tom's chest bounced Matt up and down as he stifled his own laugh, smiling. When Matt recovered, he said, "What I meant was I'm glad it was you of all people. If it was someone I didn't know I'd probably be screwed. But you're strong and determined even through all that. You saved us." Matt put his arms behind his head.