#Tommy: oh I just made this innocently funny video and then Dream got all made at me because he’s a bad person :(

[rouge-fauna]

Given that the “If YouTubers Were Honest” video seems to be the breaking point talked about by both Dream in his stream and Tommy in his recent podcast, I kinda wanna talk about it a little more for a second.

(note: I haven’t seen the podcast because I refuse to pay and missed my opportunity when it was on YouTube but here are a couple summaries/transcripts of both it and Dream’s stream from two different pastebins).

First off, personally, I don’t even find the video funny. (I mean the best part is arguably the Philza rap, but anyways.) Clearly, Dream was massively hurt by it, as he says in his stream and as evident by the scathing text messages he evidently sent to Tommy afterwards. But I don’t think it’s hard to see why he’d be hurt. It’s already a painful situation, he’s already under fire from fans and then this just makes it worse. Dream and his family are currently dealing with doxing and scary things, meanwhile Tommy thinks it’s a good idea to make a video joking about it? wtf. That’s messed up any way you spin it in my mind. You can say the qsmp fans weren’t the people coming after Dream but we know this isn’t true, you can say the video didn’t make that big of a difference but it has 2.2 millions views so I hardly think so. If we know anything about the internet it’s that often humor goes over people’s heads.

The biggest argument made by Tommy that is also mentioned by Tubbo recently, is that the video is satire, and a joke so it was supposed to be funny and not taken seriously. But here’s the thing, satire is based on truth. It’s using irony, sarcasm, exaggeration of truths widely known in a humorous way to humiliate someone or a group of people, often to point out a flaw or corruption and such. One of the most famous satires is A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Smith which suggests that in order to solve the problems of poverty in Ireland the poor should butcher their children and sell them for food for the rich. This is ridiculous, but also based in truth right? Ireland was actually dealing with poverty and starvation as a result of over population so why not eat the children. Technically, as ridiculous as it is, it is still based on truth even if an extremely over the top answer with crazy reasoning. But technically speaking, it would solve the issues that exist. That’s part of why it works to make fun of the corruption and poor logic of the elite and politicians, as well as their callousness toward the suffering people of the lower class. Satire is the extension of irony and irony is based off of the truth. Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something the character does not, which makes what the character does problematic often in a funny or tragic way. If you’ve seen Wicked then a foreshadowing dramatic irony in the song “The Wizard and I” is about how ‘there will be a day where all of Oz celebrates her and she’ll be so happy she can melt’, which the audience knows is pretty true from The Wizard of Oz, only her melting is her death and all of Oz celebrates that. It’s true, that’s what makes it funny or tragic and satire is just the extreme extension of that.

What Tommy did, was not the truth. He lied, something Dream specifically points out as a main problem he had with the video. Tommy didn’t do satire, he wasn’t highlighting a specific flaw in Dream and Quackity or irony in the situation, he just painted a narrative that wasn’t true and used that to make fun of Dream. That’s the problem with it, that’s why it’s hurtful and not funny (in my opinion). It’s missing the satirical elements of irony and sarcasm that come from being clever with the truth. And that’s why Dream was hurt by it because Tommy made a video lying about a situation where people were already rallying against him, to an audience who already hates him. Tommy just straight up made fun of Dream for laughs in one of the lowest points in Dream’s life.

Even further, what’s also flawed with the argument that it was just a joke is what Tommy says in the podcast

“He didn’t expect Dream to snap at him over the “If YouTubers Were Honest” video. He used that video to test Dream because he had many friends telling him that Dream’s a bad person but Tommy told them no and didn’t believe them. After he posted the video, Dream sent him a very long angry message that was full of horrible words, which made Tommy realize Dream’s a bad guy.”

Tommy didn’t expect Dream to snap? But also did it as a test? Seriously?! Oh let me see how far I can make fun of Dream until he snaps at me and when he does this confirms he’s a bad guy… it’s just a joke my ass, you didn’t just make a video for laughs, you made it in your own words to test Dream and your friendship, furthermore to test how far you could push him until he snaps (<- huh wouldn’t you know, isn’t that a familiar idea…). During a time when you know his mental health is suffering and he and his family are being actively doxxed. That’s just insane. That’s like… like… it’s so wild I’m struggling for an analogy… it’s like kicking a starving animal to test how dangerous it is and then after it finally bites you, labeling it a danger to society…

In summary, Tommy didn’t make a satirical video joking about Dream, he performed a humiliating skit about Dream, making fun of him. In order to test if Dream would snap at him and then labels Dream a bad guy when he does…

[lucyfrankenstein]

lots of yapping. leaked a convo with Tommy where he sought reassurance from him and asked him to stop making jokes about him being a shitty person, starting the conversation with "are we even friends dude?" (apparently claims Tommy was making pedophile jokes about him before the grooming allegations dropped but I just honestly dont remember this). leaked his message with tommys mom and claimed he didn't text her or get her number from the doxxing but just dmed her on twitter (my tinfoil hat says he did both and is just lying but whatever). claims that during the usmp/qsmp drama that Tommy said "fuck quackity" and was all for the usmp, but then after dream came out and said he wasn't going to do the usmp, Tommy switched up on him and made the "if YouTubers were honest" video shitting on him to try and get into the qsmp. ALSO IMPLIED THAT TOMMY IS THE REASON HE AND QUACKITY STOPPED BEING FRIENDS??? bc this coincided with quackity cutting him off??? talked about xqc being Canadian and therefore not being a trump supporter officially bc he cant vote, basically saying "it would be an honor for anyone to stream with ANY president!" and "everyone has their opinion on trump" basically saying without words that he's a republican. he talked about the r slur I think but didn't apologize and blamed Nicholas cantu (gumball) again. I dont even remember what consensus he came to about the r slur other than that thats "not a word he says". stream devolves he talks about how hes conversed with tubbo Ludwig jack etc. about different rumors that weren't true about him supposedly and how everyone hates him because of things the fans perpetuate which leads the ccs to think things that aren't true. INSANE SIDE QUEST ABOUT HOW HE HAD A CONSPIRACY THAT AIMSEY DELETED CHAT LOGS IN DISCORD RIGHT AROUND THE TIME SHE LEFT TO FACILITATE THE ENDING OF THE DREAM SMP??? he said that this wasn't true of course and it got cleared up but im so obsessed with this theory he had that I had to mention it. cited his "the truth" video as the paradigm of proof of all of his innocence. CLAIMS THAT THE FANS ARE THE REASON HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH PUNZ ENDED AS IF HE DIDNT FUCK PUNZ'S GIRLFRIEND??? ENDED STREAM WITH GET THIS. ENDED STREAM BY ADMITTING THAT IN A DREAM SMP DISCORD CALL, HE AND OTHER DREAM SMP MEMBERS, //INCLUDING TUBBO// LOOKED AND MADE FUN OF SKEPHALO PORN. UPON FINDING OUT TUBBO WAS TALKING ABOUT HOW HE WAS UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THIS, HE SAID THAT IT WASNT THEIR INTENTION TO BE PREDATORY, BUT THAT THEY JUST WERE TRYING TO TREAT TOMMY AND TUBBO AS EQUALS. THAT WAS THE POINT HE ENDED ON. GENUINE GROOMER RHETORIC. then plugged the squid game event he's in tomorrow, said he hopes that everyone will move on and get new friends and says "appreciate you guys." end fucking stream. good Fucking night.

lacy you are stronger than ANY marine thank you so much you are so brave. going sentence by sentence below LMAO this is going to be a long post

oh my godddddd dream's such a little baby... why are you leaking dms with a sixteen year old where he asked you to be nicer. also that usmp statement IM NOT BUYING IT! lyinggggg. dude WHAT THE FUCK........ oh my god quackity is a grown man he can make his own decisions. AND TO BLAME TOMMY??? brother you are insane like serious. cdream got to his head.... oh my god the trump section. jesus christ. thisguy is actually like crazy. everyone has their own opinion on trump just come out and say it . also KYS. this is actually like crazy my jaw just dropped. how do you blame SOMEONE ELSE. for you using a slur. like this is crazy he really never lets go of anything . get a life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the aimsey section lmao???????? hes actually like so funny im a normal guy who did nothign wrong. quote me. like thats not how this works!!!!!!!!!! oh my god i didnt even know about punz and dream. jesus christ dude thats like actually insane. we need to kill him. AND BLAMING IT ON THE FANS. why is this guy like evil serious. ok last section. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!!!!!??!??!?!?!?! WHAT THE FUCK.

once again thank you lacy. i cannot imagine the horrors you have experienced to bring me this message. i love you forever

[nancywheelxr]

I HEARD YOU WRITE FOR STRANGER THINGS would it be possible for you to write something where Steve is either being abused or bullied and doesn’t tell anyone because he doesn’t think he’s worth it but they find out

YOU HEARD RIGHT I DO WRITE FOR STRANGER THINGS, and hey, this is my first ST prompt! I hope I do it justice, anon!

*

Most of the time, Steve likes this job at the video place better. Well, it’s not exactly his lifelong dream or any of that shit, but hey– who has the time for that, right? What, with monsters and goddamn literal Russian spies running around.

It's been a busy summer alright.

The only bad part– actually, no, not the only one, Keith isn’t exactly a perk of the job either– but the worst part is Tommy.

He comes in at least twice a week, sometimes with Carol in tow, and hangs around like a goddamn creep and takes his sweet time insulting Steve. It’s his new fucking hobby.

And, like, it’s not like it's a big deal or anything, Steve can take it, he fought off those freaking demodogs from hell or whatever last year, Tommy Hall is like, not even in his list of problems, it’s just that– once upon a time, Tommy was his best friend, okay, so it kind of extra sucks. Steve went to Middle School with Tommy and Carol. Middle School. That’s, that's puberty, that's, Steve helped Tommy ask Carol out for the first time. 

So yeah, it sucks.

And Tommy, he has some freaky timing. It’s like he knows when Robin is busy in the back room or just not there at all. It's freaky, seriously. Or maybe it’s just Steve’s bad luck that's freaky.

Like, right now for example. Robin’s in the back, organizing their stock. She won’t hear him screaming, is all he’s saying. And here Tommy is, ringing that goddamn bell while Steve hides in the Horror section.

“Come on, Harrington,” Tommy calls, sounding a weird cross of irritated and delighted. At least Carol's not with him this time to blow her goddamn bubble gum in his face. “I’m a customer and all, be a good working bee and come help me out here.”

Steve sighs.

He drags himself back to the counter and plasters his best fake smile on his face. “Hey, Tommy,” he grits his teeth. This is the last time he’s letting Robin get all the organizing duties. “How can I help you today?”

“I don’t know, I don't know,” Tommy grins meanly. It's not a nice grin, and unfortunately, Steve recognizes it, might even have worn one like that himself before, well, before. “Can’t really choose a movie. Why don’t you bring me all the new ones you got, hm, King Steve?”

“Come on, man, don’t call me that, you sound like,” he falters, clears his throat. Yeah, go on Steve, go on and bring up the dead guy, that's great, awesome, really. “Just don't call me that, okay?”

“Why? Oh, right,” he snaps his fingers as if he ever used his two brain cells for a goddamn thought in his life, “I forgot you’re all nicey-nicey now. Oh, man, you seriously still doing this crap nice guy routine even after the Wheeler bitch dump you?”

“Don't call her that either,” Steve snaps, clutching the tape with white knuckles. Just a few more minutes. Just a couple more minutes and Robin or Keith will start making noise back there like they’re coming back and Tommy will go away like the good cowardly bully he is. “Here’s your fucking movies.”

Tommy, of course, ignores him. “Gotta be nice to me, asshole, I’m the fucking client,” then, his grin turns into a full-blown smirk and Steve feels like shoving the tapes all up his goddamn nose. “But hey, how funny is it that you fucked yourself up like this for her and she still left you for that creep, whatshisname. So funny. How the mighty have fallen and all that, Carol was tellin’ me this shit the other day.”

You know, Steve would very much like to say he didn’t change because of Nancy, of how she kept going on about doing the right thing or how she made him want to be that guy, to be a good person. He really wanted to believe he changed because that was just the sort of person he wanted to be, that he would have turned out this way even if Nancy hadn’t taken him back after that first Upside Down scare. 

But the thing is, he’s not sure. Maybe Tommy has a point and he did change just ‘cause of Nancy. Maybe he’s a hypocrite or something. Still, though. He likes who he is now, likes it a lot better than his old self.

“Working at a video store,” Tommy shakes himself, lips curling in disgusting as he adjusts his tie just to make sure Steve notices he’s wearing a stupid tie. “Man, you’re really at a new low.”

Honestly, if Steve didn’t know it would only encourage Tommy into bitching his head off, he’d point out Tommy has no room to talk since he’s working for his dad in a lame ass office job. No college for Tommy either, and at least Steve’s got a job without his dad having to intervene. 

“Look, do you really have nothing better to do, man?” He sighs, dragging a hand across his face. The clock above the kid’s aisle reads four in the afternoon; Steve’s still got another couple hour on his shift. “It’s goddamn Friday. Are you this pathetic?”

Okay, maybe egging Tommy on wasn’t his smartest idea. Tommy snarls, “shut the fuck up, asshole. Least I’m not the one slumming here– what, even your old man didn’t want you? Too stupid for even the copy machine of his fancy office, too many buttons for you?”

There’s a second of silent where Steve tries really hard not to show the full-body flinch he really wanted to do, the way this one isn’t as easy to shrug off. In fact, he’s still thinking up a way to make his face stop doing whatever it’s doing and come up with a witty response or whatever, when the pile of New and Exciting! tapes he and Robin had organized earlier toppled right down on Tommy. 

“What the fuck,” Tommy swears, stumbling back and tripping over his own feet, falling on his ass right in the middle of the store. Incidentally, it reveals the cause of the conveniently funny accident– behind him, by the door, all the kids are glaring at Tommy with big scowls on their faces. It’s kind of adorable, actually. Funny thing is, El is leading the pack, suspiciously wiping at her nose. 

Huh. “Huh,” Steve says smartly. Jesus, so much for not being a dumb ass. “Welcome to, welcome to– okay, what the hell, guys?”

“Hi, Steve,” El smiles like she didn’t just send Tommy sprawling again, “me and Will are visiting.”

“I, yeah, I can– hey, it’s, uh, it’s nice to see you, but,” he clears his throat, leans a little over the counter to check Tommy’s enraged face. It’s kind of funny, really, he looks like a demented goblin, all red in the face. “You okay there, man?”

“Fuck off, Harrington–”

“Oh my god, we literally just piled that shit up,” Robin speaks, suddenly materializing beside Steve, hands on her hips and scowling darkly at Tommy. Still, her eyes are sort of gleeful as she tears into him. “Okay, dude, that’s like, a super high offense here, so I’m truly, terribly sorry to say you’re banned.”

“And who the fu–”

“For life. Seriously,” she continues, talking over him while Dustin cheers loudly from the door and the rest of the kids snicker openly. “I’m this close to chasing you out with a broom.”

Tommy seethes. He squint-glares at Robin but the humiliation is starting to get to him, so again, like the cowardly bully he is, he takes off, awkwardly walking around Max’s death glare to stalk out the shop.

“Oh, my god, El, that was so awesome–”

“Oh man, I hope the tapes are okay–”

“Can anyone tell me who the hell that was–”

“Oh my god, Max, you know him, he’s the dick that always gives us shit–”

“Okay, I always wanted to ban someone for life–”

Everyone is talking all over each other as they’re wont to do anytime there’s more than three of them together in the same room and it’s not bad, not really, but it’s kind of overwhelming and Steve really needs a bit of silence to get his shit together.

“OKAY, OKAY,” Dustin yells over the ruckus, herding the kids to the counter and somehow that gets all eyes back on Steve. Goody. “So, oh my god, man, why didn’t you like, punch him in the face? Steve, Steve, you already won your first fight, that could’ve been your second, come on, Tommy Hall is a dick, no one likes him anyway, you could have totally beat him.”

Steve shrugs. “He’s been around for like, two months. Figured he would get bored eventually– it’s not a big deal, okay? Can we, can we for once, not make a big deal?”

“What?” Mike scoffs, all offended, and makes a face. “We never– you’re the one always screaming and making a big deal out of shit, oh my god, we just wanted to watch the new Alien movie.”

“That is true,” Robin muses, nodding sagely. Then, she narrows her eyes at Steve in that terrifying way that means she’ll know if he’s lying. “What do you mean he’s been around for two months? He’s been giving you shit all that time– why didn’t you say anything?”

“It’s not– I mean, it’s whatever,” he mumbles, shrinking away from her and her righteous fury, “not a big deal, okay? I mean, thanks guys, really, I, uh, appreciate it. And it’s always great to see Tommy make a fool of himself. But you don’t have to– you don’t gotta worry about me or anything, is all.”

“Steve!” Max cries, horrified.

“STEVE,” Dustin screams, loudly.

“Steve,” Robin huffs, weirdly quiet.

“You’re welcome, Steve,” El smiles.

“You were great, El,” Mike swoons.

“Oh, my god,” Lucas rolls his eyes.

“Are we still renting the tape?” Will asks awkwardly.

“It’s fine, you guys–” Steve starts.

“And anyway, I could totally beat him up for you if you wanted,” Max adds helpfully, “I’m pretty handy with your bat!”

Steve zeroes in on her. A thousand horrifying scenarios go through his mind of what sort of trouble they could be getting up to with his bat, oh my god, that’s– that’s basically a weapon, Jesus, they shouldn’t get anywhere near that shit– “Since when do you have my bat?”

“Dustin nicked it off your car last month when you were giving us a ride to move his stupid radio,” she explains brightly and innocently.

“Max!” Dustin says, with all the drama of someone feeling deeply betrayed, “Steve, I didn’t steal or anything, okay, I borrowed it– it’s totally different, and anyway it’s not like you were even using it!”

“Well, it doesn’t matter, because I’m getting it back,” he replies, his hands immediately going to his hips before he can cross them over his chest. See, this is exactly why people think he’s their babysitter. He’s not even getting paid, what the fuck. “Where did you shitheads hide it?”

“Like we’d tell you,” Mike rolls his eyes with all the scorn and arrogance of someone just entering high school. It’s great, Steve is only gonna strangle him.

“I swear to god– if that shit isn’t back on the trunk  of my car–”

“Come on, Steve, don’t be–”

“I SAID IF IT’S NOT BACK IN THE–”

“YEAH, WELL, MAYBE WE LOST IT IN THE WOODS, HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF THAT–”

“WHAT WERE YOU LOSERS EVEN DOING IN THE WOODS, OH MY GOD, WHAT THE HELL YOU GUYS–”

Robin is still watching him scream back and forth with the kids and she got this weird look in her eyes that Steve doesn’t know what it means, but he thinks it might mean something good. He hopes it means she likes the rest of the shitheads, hopes it means she would like to be part of their stupid, weird ass gang, because she’s kind of his best friend here. 

But anyway, he thinks it does mean that. Saving Steve’s ass from hearing Tommy Hall shit talking his life has got to be some sort of bonding experience and she does say hell yeah when Dustin suggests very forcefully that they all go get burgers on the diner two blocks down the street. So. There’s that.

By the time the moon is high in the sky, Tommy Hall and his bullshit is completely forgotten.