Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy Peered out of the car window, he was in a new town, for a new foster home, going to a new school, but it was the same old story. He was going to be the outsider, the new kid, the trans kid. “I wonder how long this one’s gonna last.” He mumbled under his breath. 

“Hmmm?” his social worker said, “you need to learn how to speak clearly.” She started ranting, Tommy rolled his eyes and put in his earbuds, this was going to be a long day. 

Aspartame isn’t the same as real sugar, drinking diet coke never made me sweeter at all.

  ~~~~  

“Tommy, Tommy, we’re here,” Tommy woke up to his social worker shaking his shoulder. He sat up straight and looked around. This house was maybe two floors high, painted this sunflower yellow with wooden flower boxes on a few of the windows. 

He stepped out,grabbing his bags and followed the worker to the door, she rang the doorbell. The door swung open and a mop of brown hair peaked out, 

“Oh one sec” they said. Tommy started rocking back on his heels getting impatient. A man came to the door and welcomed them in, Tommy toed his shoes off in the doorway gazing around the room. 

His social worker came beside him and gave him a ‘be safe, call me if there’s any trouble’ speech. 

“You can either sit on the couch while we go over paperwork or eret can show you around.” It was the man from before, Tommy stared at him while processing his words, then said.

 “I’ll go on the tour.” The man nodded and the teen from earlier started walking toward the next room, gesturing for Tommy to follow them. 

“Ok, so i’m Eret. I use any pronouns. How about you?” Tommy looked to the ceiling deciding on how to answer, there aren’t many girls named Tommy so they probably already knew, but it was still hard to choose an answer. 

“I’m Tommy, I use he/him.”

 “Nice to meet you Tommy,” Eret said with a smile.

“This is the kitchen. You can take whatever you want unless it has someone’s name on it. Up these stairs the bathroom’s at the end of the hall, you can shower if you want. That's my room, yours is the one across from it, come visit me whenever but please remember to knock.” Tommy was trying to pay attention to the tour, like really trying, but his thoughts kept swimming; he just couldn't pay attention, so as soon as Eret showed him where his room was, all thoughts stopped. 

He waited for her to stop talking then said “hey can I go to my room now.” For a second Eret looked startled at the sudden interruption but then relaxed.

“Yeah sure, I know this can be a lot, go ahead, there’s a package of essentials on your bed.  I'll call you when it’s time for dinner.” 

Tommy thanked him and walked into his room. After closing the door he realised it had a lock, so he locked it, wondering if that privilege would be taken away any time soon. The room was this grey-blueish colour (#b8ccca), there was a desk and chair in one corner next to a window. The window had a window box that was filled with what Tommy recognised as Irises thanks to a previous hyperfixation, he snorted “hope,courage, admiration,” he remembered. Maybe it was a sign, probably not. 

He shifted his attention to the bed, as Eret said there was a basket on it. He sat down and started going through it, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant - thankfully all of the packaging looked pretty ambiguous. There was a red and white fidget-cube, Tommy smiled to himself, red was his favourite colour. There was a weighted blanket-a light grey, a large,dark green hoodie that would be great for helping dysphoria. At the bottom there were two packs of headphones with a note attached to the packaging.

 “I figured you liked music so you can have these even if they’re just backup for what you have, if there’s anything you want feel free to reach out. I want you to be as happy as possible here,welcome.” -Mark (he/him)

Well, Tommy thought to himself, we’ll see how long that offer stands. He looked at the opposite wall, it was half covered with three black bookshelves , there were a few books stacked on one side. He would look at those later, right now he was exhausted. He lay down on the bed popping his earbuds in and closed his eyes.

And if everything has side effects, starving myself for confidence feels like a fair trade.

~~~~~

Tommy was awoken by the sound of knocking, he opened his eyes and looked around, a wave of memories washed over him as he remembered where he was. The continuous knocking brought him back to himself, he got up and opened the door, peaking out into the hallway. He was met with Eret, xer hand raised, ready to knock again. 

“Hi Tommy, I came to ask if you wanted to come eat dinner with us, if you don't want to I can bring your food up here.” Tommy thought about it weighing the choices, he wasn’t really hungry so both were unappealing. But if he refused it might look rude, plus he needed to get all the information he could on what his school situation would be as well as any house rules they might have. He didn’t really know how foster care worked with this being his first actual house. He was in a group home for a bit after his aunt died, but now it felt like he was invading someone else’s home. 

He opened the door further and started walking towards the stairs, Eret beside him. When he got to the table, he hesitated not knowing where to sit. Eret pulled out a chair and sat in it gesturing for him to sit next to her. Tommy did so, but felt really awkward doing so, he felt so uncomfortable with the whole situation. The man from before, who must be Mark, cleared his throat.

 “Hello Tommy, glad you decided to join us, do you want to have some food and then we can talk? I know this must be very stressful and confusing for you and I'd like to answer all the questions I can.” 

“Well, um while I am grateful I'm not very hungry right now, is it ok if I don't eat anything?” Mark looked at Tommy before replying.

 “Oh yeah, that's totally fine, you wouldn’t be offending anyone by not eating.” Tommy slumped, relieved that his question was taken the right way,

 “I do have some questions though,” he said, breaking the beat of silence.  

“Go right ahead, I'd be happy to answer them,” Mark said with a smile.

Tommy thought for a second before asking “when will I be going to school.”

“Preferably monday, but if you don't feel mentally prepared to go that’s completely ok and we can work out a different date,” Mark answered with a smile. Tommy thought about it for a second, today was saturday, so he would have one day to do nothing then he would go to school. 

“Ok, Monday's fine.” He tried to convince himself as he spoke the lie, what if the teachers didn’t understand how adhd affects his ability to learn and don't let him fidget. What if the kids bully him, what if everything goes wrong. Suddenly Mark spoke up.

“How do you feel about going to the mall tomorrow? I can buy you whatever you need or want within reason, and you could get school supplies.”

Tommy shrugged “yeah, that sounds good, may I be excused?”

“Of course,” Mark smiled, “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight” Eret chimed in.

“Goodnight” Tommy answered, walking up the stairs and disappearing into his room. He sat on the edge of the bed then suddenly remembered he was wearing a binder. He had slept in his binder, "god, i’m so stupid I can’t even remember to take off my binder before having a fucking afternoon nap." Intrusive thoughts started invading his mind, putting him down in any way possible. He took the binder off with his eyes closed, hurriedly putting on the green hoodie from before. He sat on the edge of his bed, yawning. He did not want to deal with the wave of dysphoria that came from showers, so instead he lay down 

If I could do it all again, I would still drink diet coke.

Chapter Text

Tommy woke up to the sound of something crashing to the floor, he immediately bolted out of bed and rushed to the top of the stairs. He looked down to the first floor, wondering what happened.

 He took a deep breath and began his cautious descent down the stairs. He tip-toed his way into the kitchen and peaked in. There was Eret, wearing a white button up shirt tucked into a floor length skirt and a flower crown on their head. 

“Hey, is everything ok? I heard a crash.” Tommy mumbled. 

Eret turned around startled, then relaxed when he saw Tommy. “Yeah, everything's fine, why?

“Oh, well, um. I heard a crash and wanted to see what was going on.” The words were louder than Tommy intended them to be but Eret didn’t seem to mind as xe answered.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that, I accidentally dropped a pot.” 

“Oh yeah, that explains it.” This was a very awkward conversation, Tommy thought. He was usually outgoing and talked a lot, maybe it was because he was in a new environment or because he didn’t know Eret very well. But the silence was so loud.

“So, um, what's today going to look like?” Tommy asked.

“Today we are going to the mall, and getting school supplies and anything else you want,my dads paying so you can pretty much get whatever you want. When you get to your classes tomorrow your teachers will most likely tell you what you need for their class. If you don't have everything you need, just ask.” Eret notified.

“Alright, how far behind am I anyway?” Tommy inquired.

“Oh, school started a week ago, and most teachers use the first week as introductions and review so you’re probably fine.” Eret responded.

Tommy sighed in relief, “thanks big man, that's good to know.”

Eret looked at him for a second in what seemed like confusion, then shrugged to xemself and turned towards the counter. 

“Do you want anything to eat?” Eret asked.

Tommy thought about it for a second before responding, “sure i guess, do you have cereal?”

“In that cupboard.” Eret answered, gesturing to a cabinet next to the fridge.

“Thanks,” Tommy said, walking towards it. He opened it and started scanning its contents. Then he found it, corn  flakes. The best cereal known to humanity. He scanned the nutrition facts and added the calorie amount to a mental list. 

Eret handed him a bowl and Tommy nodded his thanks, poured the cereal in and started eating it dry. Eret looked at him for a moment, as if sol were about to comment. Tommy sent her his best death glare, daring them to say something. Vae just turned around and continued doing what they were doing. 

When Tommy finished eating he said “I'm gonna head back to my room and change and stuff.” Tommy said, putting his dishes in the sink.

“Oh yeah sure, no problem. I’ll come get you when it’s time to go.” Eret replied.

Tommy ran up the stairs and went to his room, he looked at the unpacked bags still in the corner. He signed and opened them, pulling out the top layer of clothes that covered his other belongings. He put on some blue jeans and a turquoise sweater with a club Sunday graphic design on it. 

He looked down at his lap, this wouldn’t be so bad, he had music, he had fidgets. This would be fine, all he had to do was wait.

They've been sayin', "You're sophisticated" 

They're complainin', overeducated

You are saying all the words I'm dreaming

Say it after me

~~~~~~

When Tommy heard his name being called from downstairs he quickly got up, shoved his phone, earbuds and fidget cube in his pocket, and got downstairs.

Eret was waiting patiently by the door when Tommy got downstairs, so Tommy hurriedly got his shoes on and followed Eret to her car. He slid into the front passenger. 

Eret started driving and after a few beats of silence asked “can I put on some music?”

Tommy shrugged “sure I guess, as long as you don't have a trash music taste or something.”

“Alright,” Eret nodded, pressing something on his phone, music filled the car. Tommy looked at the screen of the phone, ‘im closing my eyes.’ Tommy liked how relaxed the music was, while it wouldn't be his first choice, it was pretty good.

~~~~~

"Aaaaand we're here," Eret said as he pulled the car into the parking space. As they both got out and started walking towards the doors Tommy braced himself, anticipating the wave of noise and light that was about to envelop him.

"Ok, so do you want to shop for school supplies first to get  it out of the way or do you want to shop for clothes first then everything else?" Eret asked after a couple seconds of looking around aimlessly. 

"School supplies first." Tommy answered.

"Alright then let's go." Eret started walking, Tommy followed. 

They entered staples. "Ok,so. What you're definitely going to need is pencils, a sharpener if they aren't mechanical, pens, a calculator, a binder, a lot of lined paper, highlighters and scissors would probably be useful. Eret said after glancing at a list he had on their phone.

"Sounds great," Tommy said sarcastically "let's get this shit over with."

Tommy picked out a pack of number 2 pencils and red pens, next was a pack of blue,green,yellow and orange Highlighters. He got a red binder and a 200 pack of lined paper. He was already bored. 

"Come on, only two more things and we can get out of this store and do something more interesting." 

"Alright." Tommy said as he walked to the next aisle looking for the calculators. There was some dude standing there, they had this big black sweater with a picture of sunflowers on the front. They were also in Tommy's way.

"Oi, bitch,move you're in my way." Tommy realised what he said as it came out of his mouth,he wasn't usually that rude to strangers. Damn you impulsiveness he thought. 

The person started laughing. Well that's a surprise, Tommy though.

Before he could do something, like ask them why the fuck they were laughing Eret turned into the aisle. 

"Oh," she remarked, "hey Wilbur,Didn’t expect to see you here, how are you?”

“I’m good thanks, school’s only been in session for a week so it hasn’t totally exploded my mental health yet. Oh, I have math this semester and I forgot to buy a calculator, so that's why I'm here in the first place.” Wilbur replied. 

Eret nodded in acknowledgment, then made eye contact with Tommy, he was standing off to the side letting them catch up, he still hadn’t gotten a calculator.

“I see you’ve met Tommy,” Eret said to Wilbur. 

Wilbur glanced at him and Tommy stared back, trying to intimidate Wilbur into looking away first, He did. An achievement, as Tommy was about to celebrate winning the unspoken contest, Wilbur said.

“Yeah, I was looking at calculators and the little gremlin started shouting at me to move.”

“I am not a gremlin, how dare you!” Tommy exclaimed, how dare this tall fucker slander his name like this. “And I wasn’t shouting at you, I was speaking at a very socially acceptable volume. You still haven’t moved by the way.”

Wilbur started laughing, raising his hands up next to his head and backing away from the calculators.

“Thank you,” Tommy remarked. Then promptly started digging through the bin of calculators.

“Wow,” Wilbur said, “He’s kind of like a racoon, look at him, it’s like he’s in a trance.” 

Tommy heard some muffled talking but it didn’t matter, he had found it, the best calculator ever. It had white keys and the border was made of red and black rhinestones. It was amazing. It was shiny. It was iconic.

He turned to Eret and showed Xer the calculator while bouncing up and down on his toes.

“Wow Tommy, that's very shiny.” Eret said. Then he pulled out her phone and typed for a second. Then Wilbur’s phone pinged with a notification. Wilbur pulled out his phone and started snickering. 

Tommy reached for wilburs phone and grabbed it out of his hand.

“Hey! What was that for?” Wilbur asked  but Tommy was too busy scanning the screen.

FuckingRoyalty:omg ur right 

FuckingRoyalty:he is a fuckign raccon look how shiny that is

AnteaterHateAccount:LMAO 

AnteaterHateAccount:racoon boy

Tommy glared up at them, he wasn’t really mad, but they didn’t need to know that. 

“Stop bullying meeeeeeeeeee” Tommy whined.

“Oh shush raccoon boy, we aren’t bullying you, there’s nothing wrong with being like a raccoon, my dad’s like a fucking crow shiny shit everywhere always mother henning.

Tommy thought about it for a second then shrugged “Fine then, but there is something you should know.

“And what’s that?” Wilbur asked.

“You remind me of an anteater,now don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong with that. You just have the face for it.” Tommy answered cheekily, then he started booking it to the back of the store.

Wilbur stood there for a second in shock before turning to Eret “you know, I don't know where you found that kid, but I'm keeping him.” Then he walked towards the checkout.

Eret signed and started looking for Tommy, she found him in the next aisle looking at scissors.

“Oh hey Eret,” Tommy said, scissors in hand. “Where’d that Wilbur bitch go?”

“He went to the checkout, do you have everything?” Eret answered.

“Yeah, let's go.” Tommy replied. They went to checkout and paid for Tommy’s school stuff.

“So, now we can do everything else, what’s something you’re actually interested in getting?” Eret asked.

Tommy thought about it, he didn’t really want anything. Well it’s more like he didn’t want anyone's money wasted on him. He shrugged hoping it was vague enough that Eret would just do what ae wanted and would make all the choices for him.

Eret studied him for a second before turning around and walking away, when Tommy didn’t follow she turned around and said “well come on, follow me.” Eret led him to the far side of the mall and led him to a store before turning to him and saying “you can get whatever you want, it’s fine, you aren’t wasting anyone's money if that’s what you’re worried about. Seriously, get whatever you want.”

Tommy mumbled an ok and followed Eret in.

“Hey Eret,” an employee greeted as they walked in.

“Hey Karl,” Eret replied. 

Tommy glanced at the person's name tag ‘Karl they/them’ they were wearing black jeans and a colour-block hoodie. Guess the people working here don't have a strict dress code, he thought.

“Oh! Who’s this?” Karl asked.

“I’m Tommy, Eret’s foster brother.” Tommy blurted out before Eret could speak for him.

“Hi Tommy, I'm Karl. It’s great to meet you.” 

“Hello Karl, I'm going to go now, bye.” Tommy said before leaving Eret to be with his friend and looking around. The lights were nice, not like evil fluorescents, I mean, who gave lights the right to buzz? There was music playing lightly in the background, the atmosphere was really nice. There were lots of things in it, very multi-purpose so Tommy could get lots of variety without having to go from store to store.

He looked through clothes first, finding a blue sweater that had the words ‘Tommy innit’ on it but the o was a smiley and the dot on the i was a star. He instantly loved it. He held onto it and got a pair of black jeans. 

Then he moved on to the rest of the store, he found a lot of fidgets and picked a stress ball and a tangle. He thought that was all but then he turned the corner and found books. He got the first three books in the ‘percy jackson and the olympians series’ when he read the back he decided they were interesting. He really liked Greek mythology and wanted to see what someone's interpretation of modern day demigods was. 

He went back to the front to find Eret and found her still talking to Karl. 

“Hey, I'm ready to make you buy this for me,” Tommy said as he went unnoticed by the two.

“That’s great,” Eret said as Karl rang the items up. He read the total, it was smaller than Tommy thought it would be.

The two waved goodbye to Karl and started their trek to the car.

“Hey Eret,” Tommy asked “I counted up the total in my head and we paid less, did we steal?”

Eret looked like he was about to start laughing, “no no Tommy, I work there, I have an employee discount, don't worry we didn’t steal anything.”

“Oh alright” Tommy said, “I feel like it would have been cooler if we stole something though.”

“Tommy!” Eret exclaimed, starting to lecture him on stealing.

Tommy found himself not minding, it was a friendly lecture if anything and it was a good day. Tommy smiled to himself, This might be ok, he thought.

Don't go there 'cause you'll never return

I know you think of me when you think of her

But then it don't make sense when you're tryin' hard

To do the right thing but without recompense

~~~~~

When they got home it was 3, they hadn’t been out for that long but Tommy was  tired, he exempted the plate of food Mark gave him and asked if it would be ok for him to spend the rest of the day in his room without bother. Mark agreed after making Tommy promis to say if something was wrong.

Tommy ate quickly to get it over with, put the books on the shelf and the clothes in the closet. He dumped out his backpack, which had been used to store clothing and put the school's supplies in. Then he took the first book on the shelf and read. 

 ~~~~~~

He finished the book and decided to go to bed, tomorrow was going to be a long day, but hopefully it will be ok. Today was a good one, maybe he would get a streak.

And then you did something wrong and you said it was great

And now you don't know how you could ever complain

Because you're all confused 'cause you want me to

But then you want me to do it the same as you

Chapter Text

Tommy woke up to the hideous sound that is a default phone alarm, he shut it off, groaned, and just rolled off the bed until he hit the floor. He lay there for a second, staring at the ceiling, contemplating his existence. Then he wrestled with his blanket, trying to untangle himself. 

After succeeding he stumbled over to the light switch, once his room was successfully lit he changed into a yellow hoodie, a binder, a plain white shirt, and black jeans. He picked up his backpack, already full of school supplies from yesterday’s escapade, and stared at his door. He took a deep breath and opened it, ready to start the day. 

You can fit everything you know

In a bottle for you to show

Pick your brain apart and put it in

And build it again with needles and pins

When he got to the kitchen he was met with an extremely chipper Eret eating eggs and toast. Tommy went to the cereal cupboard, which seemed to have all the snacks in it as well as cereal. He grabbed a granola bar and sat next to Eret.

“Good morning,” Tommy said with as much enthusiasm as he could manage.

Eret looked up from his meal, answering, “oh! Hey Tommy! Good morning! How are you? 

It felt like every word he said had an exclamation mark next to it, was it legal for someone to be this awake in the morning? Tommy shrugged, “ I'm ok I guess, nervous about school, but that’s fine.

Eret smiled reassuringly, “don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be fine. I know some very nice kids from your grade, just find your people and you’ll be fine. Even if you don't find a friend on the first day I'm sure one will come around eventually, you’ll be fine either way, everyone there is pretty nice.”

Tommy shrugged, staring at the table finishing his granola bar, getting up, memorizing the calorie count before throwing out the wrapper.

Eret got up, putting her dishes in the sink, and turned to him, “do you have your backpack ready?”

“Yep,” Tommy answered.

“Great, alright, put your shoes on and wait by the door, I'll be there in like two seconds,” Eret instructed.

“Alright,” Tommy shouted, already going to the doorway, finding his white, high-top, converse. He opened the door and sat on a step, hugging his backpack to his chest.

He heard the door opening, Eret walked past him “ok let's go” they shouted as they opened the driver's side door.

Tommy scrambled to his feet and slid into the passenger side seat. Eret put on his seatbelt and stuck the key into the ignition. 

Tommy did his seatbelt and leaned back, backpack at his feet, as the car started pulling out of the driveway. He barely noticed the moving when Eret parked into a student space and said “we’re here, and five minutes early. I’ll walk you to the counselor's office, and they’ll give you your schedule, it’s hard to get lost, but if you do just ask anyone for help, I’m sure they’ll point you in the right direction.

Tommy slung on his backpack and started trailing Eret toward the doors, he saw a separate building next to the field.

He noticed Eret waiting for him and holding the door open. So he ran to catch up, as they walked Tommy asked “what was that building next to the field?”

“That’s the annex, it’s where the people who play instruments have their classes.” Eret answered, “oh look at that, we’re here,” xe announced, knocking on a door that had counseling across the top with letters cut out of black construction paper, with a bunch of posters for different activities taped up. 

The door was opened by someone with long brown hair with a name tag that said ‘Savanah she/her :)’ “come right in,” she said, “sorry the door wasn’t open when you came, I usually don't open it until the bell rings.” The door led to a small open area with chairs and a front desk, she let them down a small corridor with at least 5 doors leading to different offices. 

“That’s quite alright, you weren’t expecting us,” Eret answered with a smile. He turned to Tommy,” will you be alright from here?” 

Tommy answered “yeah, I’ll be fine” with little hesitance, eager to stop wasting Eret’s time.

“Alright, well, text me at lunch so I can meet you and we can talk about where I'm picking you up and stuff. Oh! That reminds me, here.” Eret handed him a five-dollar bill and a loonie, “use this to buy lunch if you want it, the kids in the culinary arts program make them almost every day. Well, that's it, have a good first day Tommy.”

“Thanks, Eret,” Tommy said, staring at the money in his palm for a second before pocketing it.

“Ok,” Savannah spoke up, returning from the printer with his schedule in hand. “Read it over and let me know if you want any changes. If you want to join any out of timetable electives, let me know as soon as possible so i can add it to your class list and you get credit for it.

Tommy scanned the schedule:

Tommy Innit grade 9 

1st Semester:                                                              2nd Semester:

English 9                                                                     Math 9

Visual Arts 9                                                                French 9

Lunch                                                                           Lunch

Physical and Health Education 9                                   Socials 9   

Science 9                                                                      Drama 9

“Can I make a change to the second semester now if I want to?” Tommy asked Savannah.

“Oh, of course! Come in my office and we can see what we can change it to.”

Tommy sat down on the chair facing the desk. “Now, what do you want to change?”

Tommy pointed to french 9 and said “I really don't want to do French in high school.”

She turned her computer around “here’s a list of the electives that have space in them,” she said.

Tommy leaned over reading the screen,” can I take photography?”

“Of course!” Savannah said with a clap, typing something out. “Ok the updated schedule is printing you’ll have it in a second, then you can get to class.

The printed sheet was handed to him soon after, “thank you,” he said then left the room.

He had English first, he looked at the classroom number next to it ‘328’ he guessed the first three meant the third floor, so when he turned the corner and saw stairs he smiled to himself, he was on the right track. By the time he got to the third floor, there was a stream of students surrounding him all going to their classes.

He didn’t want to be late on his first day, so he swallowed his pride and walked up to someone getting something from their locker. Gripping his schedule with both hands, a feeble attempt to get them to stop shaking. “Hey, can you tell me where this is? I'm new and don't know where to go.”

The kid turned around looking up at Tommy, they were about a head shorter than he was. They were wearing blue overall shorts with a radioactive hazard sign patch on the front, and an oversized black t-shirt underneath. 

“Sure, let me see your schedule,” they replied. Tommy handed it to them. When they saw what the first class was they smiled, handing the paper back to Tommy. “We have the same first class, if you’ll wait for one second I'll walk there with you.”

“Ok thanks,” Tommy replied, after a few seconds the kid closed their locker and put the lock on.

“Ok,” they said,” let’s go, I'm Tubbo by the way.”

Tommy snorted, “Tubbo? Who names their kid Tubbo?” 

Tubbo smirked “no one, I chose it myself,” Tubbo seemed very proud of this fact. They started walking down the hallway together, the hallway was slowly clearing out as more and more kids got to class.

As Tommy was trying to come up with something to talk about Tubbo said “alright Tommy, we’re here.” 

Tommy stared at Tubbo before yelling “HOW the FUCK do you know my name? Sorry, I heard how loud that was as soon as it was out of my mouth.”

Tubbo laughed, “it’s fine, and your name is on your schedule.” That makes sense, Tommy thought.

Tubbo opened the door and went to his seat, the teacher turned their head towards the door as Tommy just sort of stood there and gestured for him to come over. 

“Hi Tommy, as you can see on the board I'm Ms.R, you can sit wherever they aren’t assigned seats in this class, don’t worry last week was all introductions, you haven't missed too much.”

“Thanks,” Tommy muttered. He turned around, there was an empty seat next to Tubbo. Tommy walked over and sat in it, putting his backpack under his desk. 

“Tommy, Tommyyyyy, Tommyyyyyyyyyyyyy.” Tommy looked over at Tubbo who was extending the 'y' in his name to an annoying length.

“What.” He said. Tubbo smiled despite his tone.

“This is Ranboo, voi’s my friend and I've decided you are too, so I need to introduce you!” Tubbo exclaimed. Well, that was fast, maybe Tubbo was one of those kids who just went around pointing at kids and going you, yes you, you are my friend now and fucking adopting them or some shit. Or maybe they were just friendly, who knows.

The kid Tubbo said was Ranboo leaned forward and nervously waved. Voi was wearing an orange Hawaiian shirt with lighter orange flowers on it, it was unbuttoned with a plain white t-shirt underneath.

“Hi Ranboo, I'm Tommy. Your name sounds like ranboob, that is what I shall call you from now on,” Tommy declared.

Just as Ranboo was about to protest he was cut off by the teacher starting her lesson, Ranboo looked at Tommy with the promise of a future lecture, Tommy just stuck his tongue out at void and did his best to listen to the teacher. 

Sailing on a ship in a bottle

 Anchor all your thoughts to the bottom

Pulling ropes and pulling your head back 

To see what is breaking the foremast

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After English he went to his visual arts class where the class looked at pottery shit, apparently, they were going to get to make stuff out of clay soon. Now Tommy was on his way to the cafeteria, before he left English Tubbo had told him to meet them there. So here Tommy was, waiting.

“Tommy!” He turned and there Tubbo was, running towards him with Ranboo following at a slower pace. 

“Hey, Tubbo,” Tommy said as Tubbo came to a stop in front of him.

“Tommy, come on, we’re going to eat on the track,” Tubbo said before running off towards the doors.

“Don’t be concerned with the running, he’s just trying to get his excess energy out,” Ranboo said. Tommy nearly jumped out of his skin, since when was ranboo right beside him.

“Jesus fuck dude, can you teleport or something when did you get there, holy shit,” Tommy exclaimed.

Ranboo just looked at him for a second before saying “they’ll never believe you” and started walking in the same direction Tubbo had gone. Tommy followed voi to the field, where Tubbo was walking around talking animatedly to a group of five.

When Tubbo noticed the two walking towards them he stopped suddenly and plopped down sitting criss-cross applesauce motioning for them to sit down. “Alright everyone,” he said, “Introduction time, say your name, grade, and pronouns.” He turned to Tommy and excitedly whispered “your mine now, you can’t leave, I might be an introvert but I also know what it’s like to go to a new school and not know anyone. You can’t change it, I've adopted you and you are never leaving this friend group unless you genuinely want to because boundaries are important.”

“Ok, I'll go first,” This person was wearing a black and white striped turtleneck and an oversized black t-shirt that was tucked into black jeans. “I’m Aimsey, I use any pronouns and I'm in grade 11. 

The kid next to aimsey, was wearing an oversized yellow sweater with a white collared shirt underneath, tucked into a black, pleated, knee-length skirt.“I’m Crumb, I use she/they/kit pronouns, I'm in grade 9.

There was Billzo who used he/him, Badlinu who used he/him, and Purpled who used he/they. The already known Tubbo who used he/they and Ranboo who used it/voi/end. Tommy found out that Ranboo, Aimsey, and crumb were siblings and that Tubbo had siblings who were in grade twelve. Tommy felt that maybe school would be ok, he found accepting people without even trying.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket so he pulled it out and unlocked it.

Eret 

Eret: hey 

Eret: where r u 

Tommy: I'M ON THE TRACK RIGHT NOW

Eret: k

Eret: ill be there in like 2 secs :]

Tommy: KK 

Tommy put his phone down and looked around waiting for Eret.

“Tommy, what about you are you going to join?” Tubbo asked.

Tommy looked at them, confused. “Join what?” 

“Oh, yeah, you were looking at your phone so you probably weren’t listening. There’s an improv class you can join, it’s after school and will give you credits. But Tubbo, Aimsey, Crumb, Billzo, Purpled, and I are joining it because improv is fun and stuff. So Tubbo was asking if you wanted to join.” Ranboo explained.

Tommy thought about it, he could spend more time with people he would have something to do. “Sure, when is it? wait, what is improv?”

“Well, it starts in two weeks, it’s two hours long on Mondays and Wednesdays after school.” Aimsey answered, “and improv is improvised acting, so completely unscripted. It’s meant to be entertaining and funny, just think play’s with no script and you’re making everything up as you go.

“Oh,” Tommy said, “that sounds really fucking cool, yeah, I’ll do that.”

“Tommy,” someone yelled, Tommy looked around and saw Eret walking towards them. 

“Hey Eret,” Tommy answered, stepping away from the group to talk to him.

“Ok, so I’ll be driving you home today, every day after school can you meet me beside the front door. If you’re ever going to be with friends or something just let me know and let me know if you need me to drive you or have a ride with anyone.”Eret explained.

“Alright, thanks. But I'm thinking of joining something after school, is that ok?” Tommy asked.

“Of course! I think it’s great that you’re making friends. After-school electives and clubs are great, they don’t start until a few weeks. How about we figure that out when we get to it, yeah?” Eret replied, “I'm going to go now, remember, you need anything just text, bye!”

  “Bye!” Tommy said as Eret walked away, well that went better than he thought it would. 

He went to sit down next to his friends.

“That was Eret, right? What did she want?” Aimsey asked conversationally.

“Oh, their family’s fostering me,” Tommy replied, he subconsciously braced himself, expecting intrusive, annoying questions.

But all he got was a laugh and an “oh, Ranboo, Crumb, and I were in the system at first. But one day I was fostered and Adopted by someone who understood me, then Ranboo came along, then Crumb. 

The conversation continued normally, then the bell rang and it turned out that he, Ranboo, Tubbo, and Purpled all had P.E. together. Then he and Ranboo had science, by the end of the day numbers were exchanged, Tommy went home with Eret who was nice as ever and life seemed to be going pretty good. That night Tommy went to bed with a smile on his face. Maybe this would work out, or maybe not, either way, right now was pretty ok. 

Oh, captain, let's make a deal

Where we both say the things that we both really feel

I feel scared and I'm starting to sink

And I only sink deeper the deeper I think

Chapter Text

~~~This chapter takes place a week and a half after chapter 3~~

Well I'm Mr. Popstar, Boy on the string

I lack inspiration, I dance and I sing

So here's for the ballads, That I never wrote

Go ahead and autotune every note

Tommy was adjusting to his new life better than he thought he would. School was going well, he had people to be with, who could become great friends with time. After the conversation about improv he went to see the counsellor lady and she added it to his class list. That was one thing he was happy with, even if he didn’t like this improv thing, at least he would be with his friends and get class credits. 

As he entered his first period classroom in high spirits, barely able to seat himself before Tubbo dived headfirst into conversation with him.

“Tommy! Hi, ok so as you know today is clubs day. Which means we’re going to hang around the improv table and annoy my sibling until it lets me advertise!” Tubbo explained, bouncing in their seat, a huge smile on his face.

“There’s also cake, so there’s that to look forward to” Ranboo added, end had come out of its shell as soon as Tommy morphed from new person to friend. “Also,” it said, talking directly to tubbo,”your advertising is more like hopping onto some innocent passersby’s back and harassing them until they join. So neither of us will be helping with that.

Tubbo stared at Ranboo, pouting, before leaning forward until his head was against Ranboo’s sholer “Pretty please?” He asked.

Ranboo rolled end’s eyes before gently shoving Tubbo off its shoulder. “No Tubbo, I will not help you harass people.” End said before pulling out the book it was currently reading ‘How The King Of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black.’

Tommy leaned forward before reaching across Tubbo, who was currently sprawled out on their desk, making grabby hands at the air, and grabbed the book from Ranboo’s hands. Ignoring voi’s protests and flipping through it, he gasped “This has pictures!” 

He heard Ranboo sigh, “yes Tommy, it has small illustrations in it. Now give it back.”

Tommy gave Ranboo the sweetest smile he could muster “No <3.”

Ranboo froze for a second, “what the- how did u say the heart out loud?” it said, incredulously.

Tubbo turned to Ranboo slowly, a huge grin forming on his face. “Hi <3 How are you <3.”

Ranboo froze, with exaggerated fear, clutching its non-existent pearls. “No. Please. Tubbo. Spare me.”

“No <3, No <3 No <3 No<3333.” Tubbo stared at Ranboo with his heart laced refusal to stop being a menace to society. Tommy was cackling away in his seat. The book on the desk, closed and long forgotten.

Ranboo shook with fake rage, backing away from Tubbo’s piercing eyes before they all heard.

“Alright class….” 

It was their teacher, class had started. Tommy wordlessly handed Ranboo’s novel back to void and tried to pay attention. 

~~~~~~~~~~

I can't remember (When I had a thought of my own)

I can't remember(The day I sold my soul)

So I'll do just what I'm told, And I'll call it rock 'n' roll

Well I can't remember(The last time that I've smiled)

That wasn't for a camera

~~~~~~~~

Tommy met up with Tubbo and Ranboo during lunch, when they heeded down toward the lobby, where various clubs had set up tables and sign-up sheets. Ranboo started heading to the line up for cake, with the promise of bringing back slices for the three of them.

Tommy followed Tubbo toward a table with a white poster board on it with rainbow letters spelling out ‘improv’ near the left side of the room, right next to the door.

 Next to it were two teens, one shorter than the other, wearing a white button up shirt tucked into black jeans and a maroon toque with a gold smiley on it. They had a rook and triple lobe piercing in one ear and a conch and forward helix in the other. 

 The other was quite taller and wearing a black button-up shirt that was loosely tucked into black jeans, and was wearing a lot of rings. They had a septum piercing and a jestrum piercing. 

“Schlatt!” Tubbo yelled, running towards the taller and throwing himself into their arms.

“Tubbo,” they remarked, almost bored, “to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit.” Tubbo, now lounging in their arms, being carried bridal-style threw himself backwards with his arms up, they caught themself with his hands and found his feet with a back-walkover.

Tommy stepped forward, only mildly concerned, “Tubbo,why did you do that? You could have gotten hurt.”

Tubbo only smiled at him before turning back to Schlatt, who was apparently Tubbo’s sibling. 

“This,” Tubbo exclaimed, not sparing any energy, “is Tommy, and he wants to work your booth.”

Tommy looked at Tubbo confused “what? No. You wanted to work the booth, I wanted cake because I'm an ace icon.”

“Meheheheheh, shhhh no,” Tubbo interrupted, “Tommy really wants to work the booth, you guys go somewhere else.”

Tommy thought about it, working the booth might be fun, but also cake. Where was Ranboo anyway,the line couldn’t be that long. So while Tubbo was arguing with his sibling or whatever Tommy decided to go look for Ranboo. He headed toward the doors, looking for a tall fucker with sunglasses.

--Tubbo--

Well I'm Mr. Popstar, And fans call me cute

Celebrity girlfriends, Arranged by the suits

So buy all our music, And dance to our songs

It's all karaoke, So just sing along

Tubbo had just finished making an incredibly amazing argument as to why Tommy should be allowed to run the booth, when he turned around to find him gone. “What? Where’d Tommy go?” He asked, letting the hurt seep into his voice.

Quackity started laughing, “Holy shit Tubs, you look like a toddler who just got their ipad stolen.” 

Tubbo glared, “fuck you, I was just using my amazing improv skills to make you feel bad, too bad you have a heart made of fuckign stone.”

Quackity just kept laughing, so he turned to Schlatt, he was talking to someone about improv. Tubbo signed, well that was a bust, wait no. He walked over to Schlatt and whoever it was talking to.

“Improv is improvised acting, it’s like a play without a script, but instead of a play there are usually short sketches meant to be funny in some way!” He explained, interrupting schlatt. “It’s a judgement free space, so you don't have to feel self conscious at all while doing it!” 

“Alright,” the kid said,”can you join in at any grade? I’m in grade ten but just moved here, so like..”

This time Schlatt stepped forward “yeah, of course, we go over the basics every year so you won't have to worry about missing anything.”

“Alright, sign me up I guess.” 

Tubbo watched as the teen signed up. ‘Jack Manifold’ “hehehehe, Jack Man-I-Fold. Jaque Mani-fald, Jaqu mani-bald hehehe.”

Jack stared at him for a second before sighing,”you little shit they said, shaking their bald little head and walking away.”

Tubbo slapped his hands together, brushing off imaginary dust, “a single mom who works two jobs” he sang quietly, “who loves her kids and never stops.”

“Tubbo?” Quackity asked with fake concern “you do know you aren’t supposed to like… bully kids when they join, right?”

“I wasn’t bullying, I was showing my charm, the Tubbo charm. Now I will go find Tommy and Ranboo, goodbye all.” He announced before waltzing away.

--Ranboo--

Well I'm Mr. Popstar, Just look at my tie

I'm the end of the rockstar, But everything dies

Who needs musicians, When I've got a Mac

Featuring a rapper on every track

Ranboo got three slices of cake and put them in little containers, so that it could eat it with ender's friends. But then there was just a sea of people, it was honestly really overwhelming so voi tried to find a quiet place to calm down. 

But there were just more and more people, voi brought its hand up to void’s neck to check its pulse. Yep, it’s heartbeat was very very fast, oh god, oh god, oh god. It felt its breathing take on an irregular pattern. 

In out………………………………In out…………………………In out everything was loud Loud LOUD it was to TO much. End tried desperately to navigate the crowd, people were pressing in from all directions. Voi finally stumbled out of the crowd and almost fell to its knees in relief, but kept going. Everything was still Too much. 

“Ranboo?” 

End heard enders name but didn’t know where it was coming from, it didn’t care anymore. It felt like voi was floating, and everything was too loud and too muffled at the same time.

“Ranboo,hey come with me ok. That’s right, one step at a time, you can do it. We’re just going to a quieter place alright? 

The voice was deep and seemed familiar, but Ranboo couldn't place it. Still its legs moved, one in front of the other.

Eventually Ranboo found voidself sitting on a linoleum floor, leaning against the wall with someone crouched next to it.

“Hey, Ranboo, i’m going to need you to breathe with me ok? That's it, in and out, in and out. That's good. Don't stop, just focus on the next breath. One after the other.”

Ranboo listened to the person's voice, and followed its advice to the best of ender’s ability.

“Can I touch you?”

Ranboo nodded, and felt hands gently hold his and put something cold in them. It was  shocking, what was that? Everything slowly came back into focus, and end found voidself staring at its hands, which apparently contained an ice pack. 

End looked up to see who was sitting there, “Oh, hey techno.”

“Hey Ranboo, remember to keep breathing ok?” gold answered.

Ranboo inhaled, held for a bit and slowly let the air out. “Ok, I think. I think I might be a bit better now.”

“That’s good, how are you feelin’?” Techno asked.

“I-I think i’m ok, just a bit drained.” Ranboo replied, voice barely above a whisper.

“Do you want a hug?” Techno asked.

Ranboo nodded and collapsed forward as warm arms wrapped around it. Resting its head on Techno’s chest.

“There you go, you’re alright,” Techno whispered.

Ranboo nodded, they stayed there for a bit until it heard footsteps rushing towards void.

“Ranboo? Ranboo, there you are. Are you alright? I’ve been texting you and you weren’t answering. Also who’s the pink haired fucker? Are you alright. Are you being bullied right now? I’ve never seen someone get bullied via hugging.” It was Tommy, he stopped his ramblings when Techno spoke up.

“Look, kid, I don’t know who you are. I can assure you that I am, in fact, not bullying Ranboo. And it just had a pretty hard time, so please take a deep breath. I understand having lots of energy, but right now voi needs a bit more calm.” 

Tommy looked at it, and then at Ranboo, then back. “Alright,” he whispered, sitting down beside the two of them. “I’m going to text Tubbo to tell them where we are, is that alright?”

Ranboo looked up at Tommy, “yeah that’s fine, tell him I have cake.” It turned back to Techno, who was still loosely hugging voids shoulders, “sorry, I only have three pieces.”

Techno chuckled, “it’s fine, I already had a piece.”

Ranboo signed in relief and held out a hand to Tommy, who immediately grabbed it, and started playing with ends fidget ring. Then the three sat there, waiting for Tubbo to arrive.

~~~~~~

Well I'm Mr. Popstar

Well I'm Mr. Popstar

I'm Mr. Popstar

Just smile for the camera

Tubbo arrived and the three of them ate cake, Techno stayed, Ranboo in his lap, Tubbo leaning on his shoulder and Tommy exchanging introductions with it. Ranboo was ok, it’s friends were around void and, for the moment, everything was alright. Eventually the bell rang, and it went to P.E. with Tommy and Tubbo after they all said their goodbyes to techno. 

~~~~~~

Ranboo,Tommy, Purpled and Tubbo sat on a bench outside together after school, “we should all meet up after school one day.” Tubbo suggested. They all murmured their agreement.

“We could go to my house,” Ranboo suggested. “We could invite 

Billzo and Badlinu, then everyone would be together.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Purpled agreed with a smile. 

“How about next monday?” Tommy suggested, “improv would have started by then and when it’s done we could go to your house and have a sleepover.”

Everyone agreed, and it was set. This was going to be so much fun.

Chapter Text

---Tommy---

You got the same eyes as your father

And you carry the same kind of temper too

But what a shame for the people of the community

Tommy was sitting in science, staring at the clock, willing it to turn faster. Who cares about how the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell? How is that going to get anyone a job in the future? He leaned his head back and started counting the ceiling tiles. 

RING RING RING

Tommy smiled, there it was, the godawful sound of freedom. 

“Ow,” Ranboo exclaimed from beside him, “could they make that bell any worse if they tried? It’s so shrill like I swear it literally hurts.”

Tommy picked up his bag and the two of them started walking to the theatre foyer, “I don't know big man, have you ever tried simply getting good?”

He saw Ranboo roll its eyes and laughed to himself, god, he was so funny. 

When they got to the foyer Tommy saw Tubbo and ran over to him, “Tubbo!” He yelled, throwing an arm over his shoulders. 

“Hey Tommy,” Tubbo replied.

Ranboo, who had walked over, stood on Tommy’s other side, “Tubbo, do you know what we’re supposed to do, cus I’m kind of confused.” Ranboo said.

“Oh yeah, so, right now we’re waiting for the class that’s in there to leave, we’re kind of early. Then we go in and do what everyone else is doing.” Tubbo replied.

“Ok cool,” Ranboo said “not nervous about how many unknowns there are in this situation, nope not at all.”

“Relax boo, it’ll be fine,” Purpled said, walking over. “If we don’t know what’s happening we can just ask Billzo or Aimsey when they get here.”

Slowly more students came, forming their groups and chatting with one another. 

People started filing out of the theatre and the four of them walked in, they sort of stood around awkwardly, not knowing what to do. 

Then Aimsey walked in, Tommy felt himself relax, finally someone who’ll know what the fuck is happenening. He raised his hand and waved, Aimsey saw and walked over. 

“Hey guys!” she said, “sorry I wasn’t here earlier, my creative writing teacher was ranting about how Coraline is like an eldritch horror and like souls and the meaning of life and stuff so class ran longer than usual. 

“It’s fine,” Tubbo said, “now please tell us what the hell we’re supposed to be doing because we are so confused.”

Aimsey smiled, “well, you basically just chill until whoevers leading stands gets on the stage and calls for everyone to come up. Then just do what they tell you to do.” He explained, “if you’re ever confused just ask anyone, everyone here is really nice. And Tommy?” she said turning to him, “if you were confused why didn’t you just ask Eret for help? Like, she’s right there.” 

Aimsey pointed to Eret, who was talking to a tall dude with pink hair and multiple piercings, all the jewellery on the teen was gold, including the multiple rings and bracelets that coated their arms and hands. The scary dog privilege friend we all know and love, Techno. As well as a shorter kid with orange hair that had a white streak in it, for some reason they had one of those cat ear headbands and looked miserable.

“Who’s the cat ear kid?” Tommy asked.

“Oh that’s Fundy, he lost this bet with Wilbur and now he has to wear those cat ears for 3 school days,” Aisey replied nonchalantly.

“What was the bet? Tommy inquired.

“That’s classified.” Aimsey replied with a smug grin. 

Tommy huffed “well i’ll find out someway or another, you’ll see.”

“Ok Tommy” Aimsey laughed, “we’ll see.”

Tommy nodded then walked over to Purpled, wrapped his arms around his shoulders, and rested his chin on their shoulder. Purpled reached up to slap his cheek, then went back to playing pokemon go on his phone.

Tommy let out an aggressive sign, letting his body go limp and making Purpled do most of the standing. Purpled caught a surskit. Tommy sighed again, more aggressively and let his legs start sliding out from under him. Purpled rolled his eyes before saying “Hi Tommy.”

Tommy immediately stood up straight again “Hello Purpled, my friend, my bestie, my main man, my number one.

“What do you want Tommy,” Purpled deadpanned.

“I’m booooooooored,” Tommy replied.

“Too bad.” Purpled replied, “You heard Aimsey, improv will start soon,  go bug like Ranboo or something.”

Tommy sighed and slumped down in one of the seats, putting his backpack in the one next to him. Leaning back he sighed, and just as he was about to pull out his phone when he heard someone yell “all improvisers to the stage!”

But I quite like your girlfriend, How the fuck did she end up with you

You know we talk about all the dumb shit you do, In the back room of the bar

In the back seat of my car, I'm the ending, she's the start

He got up and started following Purpled down the stairs, toward the stage, they got on it. Everyone else was standing in a circle, the kid who first called them was standing in the middle, walking around in a small circle looking at everyone else. They had this white t-shirt with a flame on it over a black long sleeve shirt, tucked into black skinny jeans held up with a studded belt. 

They had on red converse with little flames, seemingly embroidered on them with black thread. Tommy stared at their face again, they had both forward and low helix piercings on their left ear, with a golden snake hanging from their lower lobe, in the right ear they had an industrial in the shape of an arrow, a diamond stud in their middle lobe and a red snake on their lower lobe. They also had a septum and snake bites. 

“Ok guys,” They said, “welcome to the first meeting of the year! In a second I'm going to step back into the circle and say my name,pronouns,grade and favourite day of the week, then the person next to me is going to do the same thing until we’ve gone around the whole circle. For those of you who are new or maybe forgot everything about improv over the summer, don’t worry because we relearn everything each year!”

They stepped into the circle and smiled at everyone. “Hi, my name is Sapnap, I use he/flame pronouns, flame pronouns are flame/flames/flameself if you didn’t know, i’m in grade 12 and my favourite day of the week is wednesday!”

The person to the right of Sapnap raised their hand and waved, “Hi, I’m Dream, I use he/ae pronouns, that’s ae/aer/aerself for those who don’t know, i’m in grade 12 and my favourite day of the week is monday because I get to see all my friends.” Dream reached over and punched Sapnap in the arm before wrapping an arm around flame.

The next person Tommy knew before they introduced themselves,seeing another friendly face was oddly comforting. “Hey y’all, i’m Wilbur, i’m genderfluid so I use different pronouns depending on what fits me best at the time, boo/boos/booself and gho/ghost/ghostself are neo’s that i’m usually always comfortable with, but right now i’m most comfy with she/they, I’m in grade 11 and my favourite day of the week is thursday because I like how the word sounds.”

Next was Tubbo’s brother, “hey y'all,” Tommy giggled to himself at the mocking tone used, obviously meant to mock Wilbur, which was confirmed when she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “I’m Schlatt, I use He/it and ram/rams/ramself pronouns, I'm in grade 12 and my favourite day of the week is saturday.” 

Shlatt made a sweeping motion toward the next person. ”Hey everyone my name is Quackity, I use he/him, i’m in grade 11 and my favourite day is wed-nes-day.”

Next was Tubbo, who was obviously nervous, but still managed to sound confident as he said. “Hello people, my name is Tubbo, I use he/they pronouns, I'm in grade 9 and if Schlatt tells you I'm it’s brother, please know ram is indeed lying. My favourite day of the week is friday because of that one girl in A Series of Unfortunate Events or was her name monday? I don’t know, anyways, next person.

Ranboo was picking at its cuticles and was obviously trying to sike voidself into doing the hard labour that is public speaking, Tommy silently grabbed his hand and started rubbing his thumb back and forth, trying to help end ground itself. “Hi, um, i’m Ranboo, I use it/its,voi/void/voiself and end/ender/enderself pronouns, um it’s like, ok if you don’t want to like call me that though, sorry, I don’t want to upset anyone,um yeah my favourite day of the week is tuesday.” By the end of it’s speech Ranboo was shaking slightly, Tommy squeezed end’s hand before turning to the group to introduce himself.

“Hi guys, just so you know, it is absolutely NOT ok to misgender Ranboo, so if you have  a problem with voi, come talk to me. Anyways, my names Tommy, I use he/him and both me and Ranboo are in grade 9-” 

“OH, i’m sorry I didn’t mean to not say my grade I forgot, i’m sorry.” Ranboo blurted out.

Tommy smiled at end,trying to offer it comfort. “It’s ok Ranboo,” Dream spoke up with a smile, “none of us mind, it’s completely fine to forget things, you don't need to apologise.” Everyone in the circle showed some sort of agreement to Dream’s statement and Ranboo seemed to relax a touch.

“And my favourite day of the week is Saturday,” Tommy finished.

“I’m Purpled, he/they,grade 9,wednesday.”

“Short and sweet, I like it.” The next person announced. “My name is Charlie Slimecicle, I use any pronouns and I'm in grade 11. Now as for my favourite day of the week, I like Sundays because I love sunny days.

The next teen had these really cool rings covering their fingers, Tommy found himself staring at them and making a mental note to ask to play with them later. 

“Hi!” the teen announced with a smile, “I’m Bad, I use ae/aer/aerself, boop/boops/boopself, ether/ethereal/etherealself and it/he pronouns! I’m in grade 12 and my favourite day of the week is monday!

When Tommy first heard ether’s name, he almost snorted out loud at the contrast between it and boops personality. Someone so seemingly sweet didn’t seem to have a bad bone in its body. 

Next to Bad, an individual dressed in all denim was rocking from side to side and seemed to be zoned out. Gently Bad booped their shoulders and they seemed to come back to themselves. “Hey guys, i’m Skeppy, I use he/him pronouns, um i’m in grade 10 and my favourite day is wednesday.

“Hello my schnoodle bugs-”, a few people started giggling, “-I’m Billzo, I use he/him in grade 10, my favourite day of the week is, of course, the only correct answer, friday.

More and more people introduced themselves and Tommy was zoned the fuck out, there were like 20 people in the room, most with a certain air of confidence that only came from being a theature kid. Tommy had thought he’d be used to the vibe by now, he was living with Eret after all who seemed to have more confidence then everyone in Tommy’s English class combined. English class, that was fun, what was he supposed to do again? 

Oh yeah. Studying literary devices. Tommy rolled his eyes internally, like why the fuck was is important for him to know what a fucking onomatopoeia was. Ono-mato-poeia. That was a really fun word. Tommy started whispering to himself, flapping his hands as he did. He started snapping his fingers next to his ears and started bouncing at the joy it created. 

Then he remembered he was in a room. With people in it. People who would now think he was a freak. People who would think he was fucking stupid. He scanned the group for anyone who was staring at him, but found no one, they were all looking at Eret, who was currently doing their introduction. 

“-and my favourite day of the week is tuesday.” Eret finished with a smile as Tommy turned back into the world around him.

Sapnap, who was standing next to Eret then clapped his hands together, “Alright everyone, this class is normally pretty student-led by one of the grade 12’s when Mr.Minecraft can’t make it, but please know he will be coming, just a little late. So we’re going to start with a game of woosh.”

“Now, how woosh works is I have the woosh so i’m going to pass it to Dream.” Sapnap made a sweeping motion with his arms while saying “whooooshhh.” “Now Dream has the woosh, and he’ll pass it on to Wilbur until we’re all the way around the circle.”

Dream passed to Wilbur, who passed to Schatt and so fourth, until the woosh was back with Sapnap who made a catching motion with his hands.

Now that everyone’s done that once, I'm going to pass the woosh to Dream, and he’s going to say Whoa, and put his hands up in front of him in a no I don’t want it way. That means that I'm going to have to pass to Eret.”

The woosh went around the circle with a few people saying whoa, but most just passing it along, Tommy was finding it pretty fun. Then Wilbur said ramp, and instead of Dream going whoosh, Sapnap caught it. “Alright everyone, when you say ramp that means it skips over the person next to you and goes to the next, so Wilbur saying ramp means the whoosh skipped over Dream and came straight to me. Double ramp means it skips over two people, we’re going to keep playing with those three so the new people here can get used to it, and we’ll add more things next class.

They played that for a bit when a teacher walked in and half the class cheered “PHIL!!” The teacher laughed and waved, then took their place in the circle. “Hey guys, for those who don’t know i’m Mr.Minecraft, or Phil, you can call me whichever, I don’t mind either way. I use he/ae pronouns and I've been teaching here for 13 years. If you ever have any questions or concerns, you can come talk to me, i’m also a part-time counsellor here at the school, so if you ever need someone to talk to i’m always here.”

He turned to Sapnap,”have you guys already warmed up?”

Sapnap nodded, smiling “yeah we played some woosh and did introductions.”

“Wonderful,” Phil said “well now we’re going to-”

Tommy liked Phil, ae seemed cool, especially for a counsellor, improv seemed like it would be fun. Everyone seemed friendly enough, and the timing worked out great, Eret was here so he would always have a way home and all his friends were here, except for Badlinu who decided he was too cool for improv, what a wrong-un.

Now, now, you need to calm down, What good's this energy (so good!)

When you devote it to me?, Why not be a little more friendly?

Now, now, you need to calm down, Does she still think of me?

Say my name in her sleep?, I thought you knew her better than me

Chapter Text

--Tubbo–

Lemme find another way to tell you that I'm upset

Moral of the story: life's a bit batshit

After improv was finished, Tubbo met up with the gang at the front doors. 

"Hey, guys!" He said as soon as he was within hearing range. 

"Hey Tubso," Tommy replied, offering Tubbo his hand. Tubbo grabbed it and immediately started fiddling with Tommy's rings.

"Ahem, so." Ranboo said getting everyone's attention, "as we all know, you're coming over to our house" voi gestured to Crumb and Aimsey. "Tommy and Tubbo are coming with us and we're going to pick up Badlinu. Billzo and purpled are walking home first then taking the bus. Are there any questions, comments, or concerns?"

Purpled raised his hand "um one who's driving and two can I come with you instead?"

"Oh yeah, we have room for you" Ranboo replied with a smile.

"Ok that's great but who's driving?" Purpled said.

Ranboo only smiled before clapping ends hands together and strutting towards the parking lot. 

Tubbo turned to Tommy and shrugged before following. 

When they arrived at the car Aimsey sat in the driver's seat. Purpled gave her a puzzled look "aren't you in grade 11 and like not legally allowed to drive without someone with a full license in the car next to you?"

Aimsey smiled "don't worry Purps, I'm a good driver and it's fine as long as i don't break any other traffic laws and get pulled over."

[Fictional universe, don't use that "logic" irl]

Purpled slowly backed away from them and opened the door to the back seat, climbed into the middle row, and immediately buckled his seatbelt and grabbed onto those ceiling handle things. 

Then Ranboo got into the far back, and Crumb got in next to it and immediately sprawled out with her legs draped across voi's lap. Ranboo stared at her, "I really hope you aren't considering not putting on your seatbelt."

Crumb groaned before righting kitself and begrudgingly putting on a seatbelt. She glared at end "there, happy now?"

Ranboo rolled its eyes "oh how awful of me to want my sister to be alive and intact, I can’t believe I’m being such a horrible person, and yes. I am very happy now."

While Tubbo was watching this go down, Tommy had already buckled up in the middle row. Tommy had the middle seat 'cus he was clingy like that and was already whispering with Purpled. Tubbo got in and closed the door behind them. 

"Alright," Aimsey announced, "let's get badlinu and go home so we can have fun." Everyone cheered.

Gotta find another way to make myself confess

Moral of the story: I'm a bit of a dickhead 

If I dive too deep get lost in the deep end 

Get myself out and try not to regress I hate to say that I don't know

But goddamnit I guess I'll say that I don't know

Guess I'll find another way to tell you that 

I suppress Every emotion I'm meant to express

--Tommy--

When Tommy walked into Ran’s house, he felt content. This didn’t really have much to do with the house itself. But it had been so long since Tommy had had a genuine friend group who wanted to hang out with him. It was always ‘leave me alone Tommy, you’re so annoying’ or ‘go away Tommy, you’re too loud.’ With these people, he felt like he was part of something.

He immediately followed Ranboo to what he assumed was the living room, and plopped onto a humongous bean bag chair. Ranboo started looking through a cabinet that was next to a tv, Crumb by voi’s side. Purpled came over to Tommy and sat next to him, draping their legs over his. God. His friends were so clingy, he thought as he absentmindedly reached for Purpled’s hand. 

Aimsey walked into the room with a bowl of chips that he placed on the small table that was in the corner. 

There were three sudden knocks on the front door before it opened to reveal Billzo. 

"Hello my little firecrackers, guess who's here. It's me, the amazing Billzo." He announced sarcastically.

The room let out a chorus of "hey bill," he walked over to the couch Badlinu was sitting on and lay down with his head in his lap. Balinue signed but accepted his fate as a pillow.

Suddenly Crumb pulled something out of the cabinet with an evil look in her eyes. "Does anyone wanna play monopoly?"

Ranboo immediately reached for the box, trying to grab it but Crumb evaded. Kit walked over to where Tommy was sitting and handed him the box.

"Guard this box with your life and stall." They said,

Tommy nodded solemnly, "will do."

Crumb nodded and ran to the next room just as Ranboo hauled his 6"6 self over to Tommy. 

"Tommy," Voi said, warning clear in their voice.

"Ranboo," Tommy answered using the same tone.

"Give it," Ranboo demanded.

Tommy pretended to think about it before turning to Purpled, "hey Purpled," he asked.

They grunted in response, looking up from their phone to see what Tommy wanted.

Tommy smiled "do you think i should give Ranboo this monopoly set."

Purpled stroked his non-existent beard. "No i do not, i think that you having that box is giving you emotional support right now, so Ranboo taking it would be robbing you of that."

Tommy nodded, satisfied, "well boob boy, you heard him, this is my emotional support board. You can't take it."

Ranboo ran a hand over its face in exasperation "fine, keep the board I'm too tired to care."

Then crumb re-entered the living room carrying a  table , before putting it down in the middle of the room. It looked over to Tommy, hand outreached for the board.

Tommy grinned "buff crumb moment," he said while handing her the board.

"You know it," she said, already sorting the money. "Ok, who's playing?"

"ME!" Tommy shouted "I CALL DIBS ON THE DOG." He reached over and grabbed it before anyone would steal it from him.

Purpled shrugged but grabbed the thimble non the less.

Aimsey grabbed the cat and put it down on the 'go' square. Before sitting beside the board. 

Billzo and Freddie got up, Bill picking the hat and Badlinue picking the car.

Tubbo took the shoe, Crumb called dibs on the boat and everyone turned to Ranboo expectantly.

Ranboo let out a groan before saying "fine" and picking the iron. Crumb counted and handed out the money and before long they were all gathered around the board yelling.

Tommy was soon bankrupt due to his poor financial management skills and immediately went to Tubbo's side to try to sabotage him, it's strange that it's always the people you like most that you try to fuck over in monopoly. 

Soon enough Bill was out so Tommy grabbed his hand and forced him to join him in his quest to make Tubbo lose. 

Tubbo rolled the dice, his second set of doubles.

“OOOOHHHHHH” Tommy whisper-shouted, “YOU BETTER NOT ROLL MORE DOUBLES OR YOU GO TO JAIL.” He said this while making spooky Halloween hands.

Tubbo rolled, “YESSS” Tommy yelled, high-fiving Billzo. Tubbo begrudgingly moved his piece to jail, then a slow smile crept its way onto his face. “Hey Tommy, just attuned to say thanks. Now I won't land on anyone else’s property and owe them money.”

“NOOOOO” Tommy yelled, then he grabbed Bill's arm. “Billzo come with me.”

Billzo just shrugged and followed him. That was good, he needed people who would mindlessly follow him everywhere.

Tommy led Billzo in the direction Aimsey came from when she brought the food out. Alas, they were there. The kitchen. It was beautiful. Tommy looked at Billzo, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “Let’s raid the place.”

Billzo nodded and they got to work. 

Got some damage from the past I'd rather just forget

I'm terrified of the future and stuff I might regret

--Billzo--

The kitchen was surprisingly still intact after Tommy went fucking ham-opening everything and looking at where everything is, Billzo doing the same to the fridge and freezer. Eventually, they regrouped at the small island positioned in the center of the kitchen.

"Alright." Billzo started, "I need you to think big, we need to make something so amazing it's actually edible." 

Tommy thought for a moment before saying "aha! I've got it. We'll make the TikTok brownies."

Billzo stared at him for a moment, "I'm sorry what?

"The TikTok brownies," Tomy repeated, "the brownie recipe copypasta that's in the TikTok comment section."

Billy looked at him for a moment, "ok, well that didn't clear anything up but if it means we don't have to find a recipe I'm down."

Tommy clapped and pulled out his phone, scrolling frantically until he whispered "I got ya now bitch" and pushed the phone into Billzo's hands before taking off. 

He looked down at the tik-tok comment section taunting him from the screen.

🤩Chardisson.raymelio

Anyways, here's a recipe for brownies

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup flour

"Bill come on," Tommy yelled as he carried over a huge bag of flour " get all the things from the fridge!"

"Alright alright, calm your tits man, gees." Bill opened the fridge door and peered inside. He grabbing the butter, eggs, and vanilla extract. He brought them to the counter and started going through Tommy's phone. He opened up his contacts and scrolled until he found his number.

Conversation between TommyBIGman and BillzoGETSbitches

BillzoGETSbitches:I’ll meet u then yeah

OK:TommyBIGman

SEE U THEN:TommyBIGman

 :DDD:TommyBIGman

Billzo smirked before typing out “you are so cool and hot(/p obviously) and i am not big you are big and i appreciate you,” and sending it to himself from Tommy's account. He was going to have the best time seeing how Tommy was going to backtrack from the message.

Tommy slammed a bowl down onto the counter, an evil gleam in his eyes, “time to make the biggest fucking brownies you’ve ever fucking seen.”

They followed the recipe exactly, and Tommy poured the batter in slowly and shoved it into the toaster oven. Then he turned to Billzo and said “well, now we wait here and stare at it cus there were no instructions on what heat to put it on, or how long.”

Bill sighed “just put it on the highest setting for like 5 minutes, then we’ll check on it.”

Tommy shrugged “whatever you say, big man.”

I hate to say I told you so but goddamnit I guess I'll say I told you so

Guess I'll find another way to tell you that I'm obsessed

Moral of the story: life's a bit batshit

Chapter Text

--Purpled--

He thought that everything would be fine, then they were playing monopoly, there's no way this could get too loud is there? Then people started yelling. Really really yelling.

 Purpled slowly scooted away from the table, and hastily got up. They hadn't been to this house before so he didn’t know of any good places to calm down. But after opening a few doors they found a small closet with empty floor space. He immediately crawled in, closing the door behind him.

He put on his “mental breakdowns are like babies, they’re annoying and pointless” playlist, pushed himself in the corner, and curled their knees to his chest. He rested his head on the wall beside them and quietly sobbed.

This party's pretty boring, I don't think it's for me

Lucy's already crashed out, She's on the spare settee

This air is getting so thin, Go down, go down, go down

The honey whiskey's kickin', Go down, go down, go down

--Tommy-- 

The amazing brownie was finished, a little undercooked, but finished non the less.

Tommy and Billzo marched into the living room, wearing matching looks of pride. 

"This, my friends, is the tik-tok brownie extraordinaire" Billzo announced as Tommy set down a cooling rack and slammed the brownie tin onto it. 

Bill started handing out spoons, encouraging people to "just go for it, food poisoning isn't real anyways"

Tommy decided that damage control wasn’t his job anyway and just let it happen, instead, he looked around. His good pal Purpled was missing, he stood next to Tubbo leaned down, and whispered "do you know where Purpled is?"

Tubbo looked around before saying "no, i didn't even notice him leaving."

Tommy took off, where was Purpled? He stopped for a moment and heard something coming from one of the doors that were lining the hallway, he walked over and knocked on it. "Purpled? Is that you?" He said.

 The noise was muffled, and the door opened a crack revving purpled, with tears running down his face. 

"Hey man," Tommy said softly, "wanna come out of there?"

Purpled, shook his head, Tommy sat next to him.

"Is touch ok?" He asked, purple nodded and Tommy took his hand, rubbing small circles on his palm.

"I'm right here Purps, just breathe, you're safe." They sat like that for a bit, Purpled breath slowly returning to normal. "Do you want a hug?" Purpled nodded and they sat there for a moment, just chilling in a closet.

Purpled pulled away, wiping the last few stray tears away, "I’m fine, I’m fine."

Tommy stared at them, there was no fucking way that he was fine. That’s not how fucking panic attacks work. Tommy sent him a look that conveyed the message of 'no the fuck you are not if you try to argue you will fail so quit while you're ahead.'

Purpled looked like he was about to insist he was ok, but Tommy stopped him with a look. "Ok, know there is zero pressure for you to say yes to either of these. Do you want me to ask ranboo where there's a nice, comfy place for us to chill out? Or do you want to go back to the group?"

Purpled immediately picked the first one and Tommy told him he'd be right back and went over to where Ranboo was. 

"Hey, uhm Ran? Purpled had a bit of a moment and we needed a nice place for us to chill out."

Ranboo nodded "are they alright?"

"They will be."

"Alright, well if you go up the stairs the first door on the left is my room, you guys can relax there if you want. Oh! Also, if Purpled needs a weighted blanket there’s one on the bed they're free to use.”

“Great,” Tommy said, “thanks, see ya.” and rushed back to purpled’s side. They were zoned out so Tommy tapped his knee, Purpled looked up and Tommy reached out his hand. Purpled grabbed it and Tommy led him to where Ranboo said voi’s room was.

He opened the door, letting Purpled go in first, following and closing the door behind the both of them. Purpled immediately beelined toward the bed and sat on the edge, already putting their headphones back in.

Tommy sighed and picked up the weighted blanket that was folded and set neatly on top of Ranboo’s unicorn-themed pillow that it got “for the memes but now loves and is emotionally attached to.”

“Hey, Purpled?”

He looked up from staring at his hands, “Yeah Tom?”

Tommy held out the blanket, “want this?”

Purpled nodded and grabbed it, wrapping it around his shoulders.  

Tommy sat on the bed, skooching back until his back hit the wall the bed was pushed against. Purpled scooched with him until they were side by side. Purpled took out one of his earbuds, offering it to Tommy, who took it without a word.

Their hands came together wordlessly as they listened to the music, silently enjoying each other's company.

Black-hearted angels sunk me, With kisses on my mouth

There's poison in this water, The words are falling out

This air is getting so thin, Go down, go down, go down

The honey whiskey's kickin', Go down, go down

--Tubbo--

When everyone was finished with Billzo and Tommy’s brownie atrocity, Crumb decided it would be a fantastic idea to have everyone play Uno. While that is an amazing idea, in theory, it is not in practice.

“UNO,” Billzo yelled as Tubbo put down his second to the last card, Tubbo signed and picked up two. Aimsey looked over at Billzo and then down at his cards before putting down a plus 4. Billzo put down an uno reverse. Aimsey put down one of their own, Billzo glared at her as he picked up 4 cards.

Crumb was sitting on the other side of Tubbo, smiling, probably enjoying the chaos kit created. 

Badlinu and Ranboo were busy showing their cards to each other, they always do that. They team up to bring down everyone else, Tubbo wouldn’t be complaining if he wasn’t almost always their first victim.

Crumb put down a blue 2 and it was Tubbo’s turn. He was going to ruin the Badlinu and Ranboo team once and for all. He looked over the 3 cards he had in his hands and grinned. The last card he had drawn was a plus-four. He slammed it down, waiting to see if Badlinu would retaliate. 

He saw the blood drain from his face, as he defeatedly picked up 4 cards, glaring at Tubbo and mouthing the words “I will get you back.”

Tubbo, only slightly scared, basked in his temporary victory over the dictators. 

Suddenly, Badlinu looked at Ranboo’s cards and smiled, putting down a blue 8. 

Ranboo smirked and put down a yellow 8, Screamed “Uno” and put a blue 8 on top of it. Voi had won. The game was over. Ranboo had one. It and Badlinu high-fived before gathering the pile and everyone's cards. Sorting them back into the flimsy cardboard box they belonged in.

Tubbo was devastated, Aimsey was defeated, Billzo looked close to tears, and Crumb was scrolling through Twitter on her phone. They all had their ways of dealing with the grief of this loss. Ranboo and Badlinu were high-fiving and celebrating, then Ranboo announced it was movie time. 

Aimsey went to the kitchen and returned with a bowl of popcorn, he set it down on the coffee table. 

Ranboo got to pick the movie since end won, and voi finally chose La La Land. Because of course end did. It turned to everyone before saying “Ok people, stay here and mingle, find a place to sit, I’ll start the movie when I get back.” Everybody nodded their agreement before finding a place to sit.

I think I better go before I try something I might regret

I might regret

I think I better go before I try something I might regret

I might regret

--Purpled--

They were both sitting there, just enjoying each others company, Purpled was starting to feel a little better, but their social battery was completely drained. When that happened he had found it’s better to just leave because not doing so usually turned his anxiousness into anger. 

There was a knock on the door befor Ranboo poked it’s head in “Everything going ok in here?” Purpled wanted to respond with ‘no the fuck it is not now fuck of you’re so stupid how can you not read a situation like this like seriously, how stupid are you?’ But instead he held his tongue and let Tommy respond. 

He of course said it’s alright and Ranboo asked if they both wanted to come down and watch a movie. Tommy looked down at him questioningly.

Purpled Took a deep breath before saying “no, um, actually I think i’d like to go home now. Thanks for everything but I don't feel very well.” Ranboo nodded and left, leaving the door opened.

Tommy looked at Purpled questioningly, “do you need a ride or are you good?”

Purpled was relieved at the lack of resistance and said “no, i’m good, I’m leaving now so, um, bye I guess.”

They hugged and Purpled walked out, He took a deep breath of the night air and checked his phone. It was already 9:30, and he started walking towards the nearest bus stop. He was glad he left but didn’t feel like being alone.

He pulled out his phone and texted Charlie.

Conversation between Purps and goops

Hey charlie:Purps

Can I come over?:Purps

Goops: Sure!

Great thanks i’ll be over in 10:Purps

Message seen

Purpled started walking to Charlie's place eventually getting there and knocking on the door Quackity, Charlie’s brother, answered the door.

“Oh hey Purpled, Charlie’s just in their room,” Purpled nodded his thanks, took off his shoes and walked over to Charlie's room.

He opened the door and saw Charlie sitting at his desk, probably doing homework. She turned to face him “Do you wanna talk or just chill?” 

“Just chill,” Purpled answered, sinking onto a black bean bag with neon green dots.

They pulled out his phone and started messing around with it, he could always count on Charlie to understand, he understands him. He would have to apologise to everyone at school tomorrow for leaving without saying goodbye, but for now he could just rest. So he did.

I think I better go, before I try something, I might regret, I might regret

I think I better go, before I try something, I might regret, I might regret

I think I better go, before I try something, I might regret, I might regret

I think I better go, before I try something, I might regret, I might regret

Chapter Text

--Purpled--

When Purpled walked into the school building, he had to admit there was a part of him that dreaded seeing his friends again. What if they hated him for leaving early? Did they think he was just being rude? What if they were going to cut him off and never talk to them again? There were so many terrifying unknown factors.

He sat through his science class, leg bouncing away, anxiously waiting for the bell to ring so he could go to his foods class. He tried to take notes but his hand was shaking so hard his writing was unintelligible. He kept thinking about what scenarios could go down. In foods he’ll sit next to ranboo and Tubbo, sneaking glances at them, he would say hey guys and try to gauge their feelings towards them. Or maybe he would walk over, apologies on his lips as they make sure he knows how much they hate him. Or maybe they'll tell him everythings ok, that they still love him and forgive him. But that's not how people work.

But now he would just sit there, frantically scribbling notes about the atomic mass of transition metals. Usually he found things like math and science fun, fixing problems that were predictable was enjoyable. There wasn't a grey area, either it was right or it wasn't and to be honest Purpled really needed at least some semblance of stability in his life. The problems didn't have messy emotions, or feelings that could be hurt, they didn't have any rage or pent up aggression to take out on the nearest teenager.

By the time the bell rang Purpled had scripted so many different scenarios there was no way they could be hurt in a way that wasn't already planned for. Everything would be ok, it had to be.

He walked into his foods class, but before he could initiate any of the possible apologies that had been running through his head Tubbo walked over to him. 

Purpled braced himself for an instant rejection.

“Hi Purpled! Heard you had a bit of a bad time last night, I hope you’re doing better now!” Tubbo whispered.

Purpled froze, this was not what he had anticipated. He thought he would have to apologise, but Tubbo didn’t seem to need any apologies to forgive him.

“Uhm, yeah.” Purpled mumbled, “I'm good now.”

Tubbo smiled, “good.”

Then Tubbo grabbed their hand and led them over to ranboo, who after asking gave Purpled a hug.

They sat down and leaned his head on Ranboo's shoulder, sighing. "Thanks for caring about me," he said quietly.

"Anytime Purpled, we're here for you." Ranboo replied, matching his volume. 

"Yeah! We love you" Tubbo said loudly, almost shouting. Purpled groaned when everyone looked over and buried his face in Ranboo's shoulder.

Ranboo patted Purpled's head twice as a sign of solidarity, Tubbo slapped a hand over his mouth "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to be that loud" he said giggling.

"It's fine Tubbo we love you too," Purpled said, Tubbo smiled and booped Purpled on the nose. Purpled scrambled up trying to get him back, and ended up running laps around the classroom trying and failing to get him back.

Eventually he tackled Tubbo to the ground and they were a laughing, heaping mess on the floor. The teacher walked over to them.

"Boys, if you don't mind class is about to start, please get back to your seats." He said.

"Ok, sorry" the two said walking back to their seats, still giggling. 

Turns out his friends were there for him. He smiled and sat through another class in the company of people who cared about them.

Sixty-five miles an hour, I'm not home yet

Telephone poles get, Blurred together, in grey weather

Till they look like crucifixes,Until something in me thinks if

I was nimble enough,I'd climb one up and be a symbol, Giving cars a heart attack

I've got a knack for these shock tactics, And I want my suburb back

--Ranboo--

Classes with friends tend to fly by, when the class in question is p.e. and it was one of those days where nothing is planned so you can do whatever you want, the class soured.

"MINE" Ranboo yelled, setting the ball to Tommy who spiked it over the net, scoring a point when the ball hit the ground. The team cheered, even the most unathletic theatre children can excel at the best sport in existence: volleyball. 

Sure you need strong-ish arms and you need to be able to jump, especially when you're as short as Crumb or Aimsey but it was that one sport you can always count on to bring people together. 

They all rotated and Purpled served the ball over with a slap, running to get back into position. The ball came towards Tommy's friend Jack who bumped it to Snifferish, Ranboo didn't know them very well but she was nice enough and sometimes sat near it during foods. Snifferish set it to Tommy who once again spiked it down, getting yet another point. 

Suddenly there was a scream from the basketball court outside. "SPIDER!!!!" someone yelled.

Immediately Tommy sprinted towards the open double doors yelling "DON'T HURT IT I'M COMING!"

Ranboo laughed following with a much more reasonable pace, when he got outside Tommy was crouched over something on the concrete. A small group of people gathered around him.

Tommy stood up with a big smile "I'm naming him shroud!" He announced to everyone before walking towards the gym, he saw Ranboo and rushed over. "Ranboo look" he said with a big smile, he was bouncing with excitement. "It's a hobo spider! Don't worry Ranboo they're gentle, Shroud won't bite me unless i upset him." He smiled down at Shroud with the love of a new mother from a hallmark movie.

"That's great Tommy!" Ranboo said with false enthusiasm, “now please put it away before it hurts someone because it feels a little 'upset'."

Tommy ignored end and instead spoke to Shroud. "Even if you do bite me I'll be fine wont I Shroud" he was using the baby voice, " don't worry about the big meanie, it's name is Ranboob and i won't let someone named Ranboob hurt you.I'm going to put you in the unoccupied terrarium in my room, yes I will. You will love it, it has sand and some water if you want it, plenty of room to make a great web and oh so many hidey holes. I'll even give you some tasty little flies and other bugs because you deserve variety."

He looked up at Ranboo, "come on let's go to the foods classroom and get a jar to keep him in until school's over."

Ranboo sighed, followed Tommy, and watched him try to convince the gym teacher to let them leave as long as they came back.

Eventually she agreed, as Ranboo walked by voi heard her muttering about teenagers these days. Well at least she's being nice about it, end thought.

But it was never mine, Besides, I'd never crucify

Myself, and Jesus of suburbia's, A myth that never died

Homecoming queen, not in my dreams, I'll be homecoming serf, it seems

But hey, it doesn't even bother me, We've moved away, and who needs royalty?

--Tommy--

Tommy sprinted to the foods classroom. Well, more like he sprinted for about 10 seconds, then waited for Ranboo to catch up and forced voi to carry him. 

When he and Ranboo walked into the foods classroom, Tommy made a beeline towards the cupboards that held jars. He slammed them open and picked the best one. It had a black lid and the glass had little drawings of mushrooms on it.

"There you go Shroud" he said, opening his cupped palms and holding them up to the jar.

Then he looked down, Shroud wasn't there. Immediately he got down on his hands and knees searching. Before a loud shriek echoed across the room.

Tommy turned and there was ranboo, standing on a counter, scrambling away from Shroud who was just chilling on the floor. 

"SHROUD!" Tommy said, exasperated. "Stop scaring Ranboo and stay with me! I promise I won't hurt you." He gently picked shroud up and set him in the jar.

After screwing the lid on securely he turned to Ranboo, who was still curled up on the counter. Tommy walked over and put a hand on ends leg.

"Hey Ranboo, sorry if that actually scared you, I promise I didn't let him go on purpose." Tommy said gently, worried he'd gone too far.

Ranboo looked up and smiled, "thanks Tommy, um yeah i'm fine just got a little spooked that all." It laughed awkwardly before clapping vois hands together, "welp we should get back to gym before Miss.Sparkles gets upset at us for being gone so long.

Reluctantly Tommy agreed, and followed voi to the gym, gently cradling shroud all the while.

They walked into the gym and were greeted by a very upset Miss.sparkles.

"Why on earth were you two gone for so long!? Whatever, just go put that thing in your bags and go back to exercising.

Tommy was about to let Miss.Sparkles know that Shroud was not a 'thing' but a wonderful creature with thoughts and feelings. But was stopped when Ranboo gave him the look.

The two walked over the bags, Tommy setting Shroud down gently and getting a screwdriver out of his bag.

"Um why do you have that in your bag?" Ranboo exclaimed.

Tommy shrugged "I just do, stop judging me Ranboob."

Ranboo rolled his eyes and watched as Tommy stabbed little air holes into the lid of the jar and put it into the little water bottle holder thingy on the side of his backpack. The screwdriver went back into whatever pocket dimension Tommy pulled it out of.

"Ok," Tommy said, "Let's get back to volleyball."

I love vacation days, It's a blacked-out haze I'm in, This cul de sac is coming

Back, back back back back, Who cares if we're obscure

(Woah)

Homecoming serf, I know this quiet life, it used to hurt

But now we're dancing round and laughing in the dirt

Chapter Text

Ok guys, so as you all probably know Technoblade has died.

I will continue to use his character in this fic and future fics I plan to write as a way to keep his memory alive.

It is perfectly Valid for you guys to mourn his death, it effected me as it did most of his fans.

I have been watching Techno since the fourth grade and his memory will always be near and dear to my heart.

I understand that this is short-i've never been able to portray my feelings well on paper but I feel that the main points were hit.

New update soon to come.

Fuck cancer.

-Mars (he/they)

Chapter Text

--Tommy--

His incredibly annoying alarm woke him up at 6:15. Tommy burst out of bed and ran over to the newly set up terrarium that held Shroud. It had a thick layer of dirt lining the bottom with a section that had sticks arranged randomly. Tommy had gotten Mark to buy this thing that was basically a big hollowed out bowl-shaped rock with entry points. Hobo spiders like damp dark places to build their webs so it was perfect, there was a small water holder thing and lots of moss strewn about spontaneously. It was perfect.

Tommy sighed, happy that his adopted son was all right, then groaned because he had woken up at the ass crack of dawn for basically no reason. He decided to go to Erets room to see if they were awake.

He knocked on Eret’s door, there wasn’t an answer so he just walked in. Eret was still sleeping, so Tommy stared at her for about a minute then started poking their cheek.

“Boop”

“Boop”

“Boop”

“Boop”

Tommy sighed, “Ereeeeeeeeeeeeet wake uppppppp,~ I don't like this.~ Eret wake uuuuuhhhhhuup~,” he sang off-key.

Eret groaned “Tommy? What do you want?”

“Paint my nails.” Tommy demanded, “I want to have little music disks on my thumbs and red nails but not librarian nails, cool red nails.”

“Ok ok just give me a second alright I’m still waking up” Eret mumbled.

“Ok!” Tommy announced, he walked over to the small portion of eret’s shelf that had books on it and started looking through them. The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean, huh, he turned the book around to read the blurb on the back. Of course Eret would have this book, lesbian vampires but with less blood more books.  

Damn it, now Tommy actually wanted to read it, “Hey Eret?”

“Yep,” Eret answered.

“Can I borrow this book from you?” He held up the obviously well loved copy. 

Eret looked up from his phone “sure.”

“Hey Eret?” Tommy asked.

“Yep?” Eret answered.

“When are you going to look up from that stupid phone and pay attention to meee?” Tommy Whined, bringing out his mega theatre kid energy.

Eret rolled her eyes and put their phone down. "Ok, come here." She patted the space next to her, inviting him to come up. 

Once he was there they continued "I have a bunch of nail polish in that drawer," he pointed to the bed-side cabinet thing she has going on. "You can look through it and find all the colours you want. Then I can paint them."

Tommy nodded solemnly before turning and started rooting around, finding a shimmery red, a shiny black, a matt purpled and a neon green. He turned and dumped his collection into Erets lap. 

"Ok!" Tommy exclaimed, "I want my thumbs to have like little disks one purpled on green and the rest to be the nice red with like black patterns and stuff."

"Alright, let's get started." Eret said.

Tommy stretched out his hands,"polish me up bitch!"

"TOMMY WHAT-"

I don't like walking around this old and empty house, So hold my hand, I'll walk with you my dear

The stairs creak as you sleep, It's keeping me awake, It's the house telling you to close your eyes

And some days I can't even dress myself, It's killing me to see you this way

'Cause though the truth may vary, This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore

~~first block~~

Tommy walked into class  with his head held high, his nails were slaying, his fit was slaying, and he was slaying. 

“Hey Tommy!” Crumb said as he sat next to them. “Ooh! I love your nails!” 

Tommy smiled “thanks big man, I got Eret to do them for me this morning. Honestly might force him to do ‘em more often. They look pretty good.”

“Yeah you should,” Crumb agreed. 

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments, “you know? I think this might be the first time I've been on time for class.” Tommy remarked.

“Yeah,” Crumb agreed, “and class hasn’t even started yet! So we’re both like, surprisingly early.”

Ranboo and Tubbo walked in, Tubbo seemed to be info-dumping or ranting about something or other. While Ranboo was just nodding along. He stopped speaking for a few seconds, just enough time to say hi to Tommy and Crumb. Then just kept on going.

Tommy leaned forward trying to catch what he was saying. 

“So if you switch bodies with your dad then your dad can have children in your body when that body's all adult-y and gross and his kids can change bodies with him and then he’ll just be immortal.

“Tubbo what the fuck are you talking about?” Tommy asked, because what the actual fuck was that conversation.

“Ok, so I was talking about whether you would rather switch bodies with your dad or become paralysed from the neck down.” Tubbo explained, “personally I would switch bodies with my dad, cus he’s pretty chill and I think giving him immortality would be pretty cool.”

Tommy thought about it for a moment, “I mean, considering my bio dad’s a huge dick I would just be paralysed from the neck down, like the technology that exists that would make my life easier is hella expensive. But I could just force Ranboo to steal it for me and I'd be all set.”

“I’d just like to add that this all started because Tubbo saw an advertisement for this product that stops male-pattern baldness on his tiktok for-you-page.” Ranboo said, absolutely appalled that the people voi calls its friends are like this.

“Look, I'm just saying if I switched bodies with my dad he wouldn’t be balding anymore, and I think that would be pretty cool.” Tubbo said, attempting to defend himself.

“Honestly, I think that’s fair.” Crumb added,”Because, like, it’s true. Tubbo’s dad wouldn’t be bald anymore, and he would be alive forever. So he’d be able to keep developing all that computer stuff he does.”

They debated back and forth until Mrs.R asked for everyone’s attention.

Tommy raised his hand.

“Yes Tommy?” She said,

“Mrs.R, today can the class debate on whether they’d rather be paralysed from the neck down or switch bodies with their dad?”

Mrs.R seemed to think it over,”how about this, the lesson today is pretty short. So if the majority of the class votes for that over silent reading then I don't see why not.”

Best. Teacher. Ever.

There's an old voice in my head, That's holding me back

Well, tell her that I miss our little talks, Soon it will be over and buried with our past

We used to play outside when we were young, And full of life and full of love

Some days I don't know if I am wrong or right, Your mind is playing tricks on you, my dear

'Cause though the truth may vary, This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore

~~near the end fourth block so like 3:00pm~~

Tommy glanced at Ranboo, who was finishing up the day's assignment, which was the most boring thing ever, but whatever. He leaned back in his chair, glancing around at the "inspirational" maths and science posters hung around the room. One was literally just a pi shaped cake with bottom text that read “maths is a piece of cake.” Oh my god, who came up with that? These teachers are so hash-tag quirky. 

The bell rang and Ranboo jumped, finally looking up. 

Tommy smiled "don't worry Ran, the bell's not gonna eat you, lets go."

Ranboo nodded and the two descended the stairs to the first floor and headed to the theatre lobby.

Jschlatt was already waiting there, to be honest Tommy found him a bit intimidating. But Ranboo just walked up to him and gave him a hug. 

Tommy stood to the side for a moment not sure what to do. 

"Hello," Schlatt said, looking at him.

"Um, hi." Tommy replied.

Ranboo laughed, "I think he's scared of you." Voi said loudly. 

Tommy half heartedly glared, "I am not!" 

Schlatt laughed "it's ok man. Ran was intimidated by me at first too."

Now it was Ranboo's turn to object.

Finally one of the educational assistants came and unlocked the theatre, Tommy grabbed Rans hand and rushed both of them inside. 

"Hey, Tommy, you know it's ok right? I find most of the 11s and 12s scary too, even though they're really friendly. It's just anxiety thoughts, you know?" Ranboo said.

Tommy sighed, "yeah I know, I just don't want them to hate me you know? The fact that they're theatre kids and still look like they could beat me up doesn't really help either."

Ranboo laughed, "yeah I get that, when I first saw Techno in the high school all muscle-y I was terrified. Especially since I knew him from when I was in 2nd grade and it was in 4th, he had this whole anarchy thing going on and decided that recess should just last for as long as we wanted it too. He came over to a bunch of us second graders and tried to recruit us to his cause. You never forget the screams of eight year olds all gathered together for a common cause, and it's terrifying that all of that was organised by a singular 4th grader."

Tommy smiled, picturing a ten-year-old, pink haired Technoblade starting a war against the teachers.

People were filing into the theatre, eventually Sapnap called out to everyone, letting them know it was time to start.

Tommy and Ranboo hopped up the two steps and took a seat, Tubbo waved to them from across the circle where he was sitting with Purpled. 

"Alright, so today we're going to go around and introduce ourselves again, this time let's do names, pronouns, and tell us if you'd rather be a dinosaur or a weird fish." Sapnap announced, "I'll go first. My name's Sapnap, he/flame pronouns and weird fish."

"I'm Karl, I use they/them pronouns, ummm i'll be a dinosaur."

"Hello everyone, I'm Quackity, I use he/him and I'd be a dinosaur but one of those flying ones. 

"Hey, Schlatt, he/it, I'll be a weird fish.

"Hi everyone! I'm skeppy and I use he/him and I just want to be a little goldfish, just swimming around.

People kept going around with introductions and eventually it came to Tommy then Dream. 

"Ok, so now we're going to play a quick game, everyone is going to start just walking around the stage and I'm going to give one of you a red ball." He turned to Karl and said "this is a red ball" while pretending to hold a ball in front of him. Then Karl said "This is a red ball" doing the same thing with his hand. 

He turned back to the rest of the circle "so then Karl would pass to someone else, occasionally i will come and give someone another object and each one comes with an action. It's really important to do the action to make what you have clear. You can all start walking now."

Tommy started walking around the circle, Aimsey locked eyes with him and walked over "this is a big small" they said starting with their arms spread out wide and brought them closer together. 

"This is a big small" Tommy replied mimicking the action. He walked around the circle looking for someone who was heading towards him. He spotted the kid who introduced himself as Fundy, "this is a big small" he said moving his arms.

Fundy mimicked it and they both went on their way. 

Well that was the easiest social interaction I've had all day, he thought to himself. He kept walking and having short interactions with people that included a red bull, a short tall, and a lollipop, when Sapnap called everyone back to a circle. 

Flame announced that they would be playing freeze tag, where there would be two people in a scene and when they were in an interesting pose or you just felt a beat you could call "freeze." Then the people in the scene would have to, of course, freeze. Then you tagged one of them out and started a new scene with the remaining person using the pose you're in.

Tommy saw a moment and called "freeze" he tagged out Wilbur and continued the scene with Schlatt. It wasn't so scary after all.

Near the end of improv Sapnap brought out a white board, everyone was sat in a big semi-circle around it. 

"Ok everyone, so here at Improv we like to build community, I want you all to write your phone number on the board and I'll add you to the improv group chat. Now you don't need to do this if you don't want to, but it’s always a good time. Oh and once you're in please don't spam or send anything inappropriate, just use your common sense and all that."

When Sapnap was done Tommy walked up and put his number down, the rest of the grade nines followed. He went and sat back down, completely drained. Improv is fun but it takes a lot of energy out of you. 

"Hey you good?" Tommy glanced to the side and saw Wilbur.

"Yeah i'm fine," he sighed as he looked down at his hands and started to zone out.

Ranboo sat back down next to him and Tommy flopped, head in Ranboo's lap and legs still in criss cross applesauce.

Wilbur scoffed "yeah you sure seem fine."

Tommy stuck out his tongue,"I'm just tired bitch, fuck off."

Wilbur mocked offense, "Tommy how dare you, I feel so betrayed. But seriously man, it's ok to be tired."

Tommy rolled his eyes, "yeah bitch, I know that." He stretched out his legs, hitting Wilbur in the nose before settling them in his lap. 

He would have fallen asleep like that if it weren't for Wilbur "having to catch the bus," and "not wanting to be stuck in the dark." Excuses, excuses. What an absolute casual.

  Don't listen to a word I say

The screams all sound the same

Though the truth may vary, this

Ship will carry our

Bodies safe to shore

--Still Tommy I’m sorry i’m in a Tommy-like mood rn--

When he got home Tommy kicked off his shoes and beelined it to his room, he flopped onto his bed and opened his phone.

Improv Is For Cool People and Art Kids

BandKid:Alright I’ve added all the new people! 

BandKid:Welcome guys

BandKid:It’s Sapnap btw

TechKid:Hi all!!

TechKid:It’s Karl :D

Techie:Annnd, time to mute this chat again. 

AntEaterHateAccount:COWARD

AntEaterHateAccount:anyways

AntEaterHateAccount:hello everyone

AntEaterHateAccount:it’s wilbur btw

Hello:Tommy

AntEaterHateAccount:Hello!

AntEaterHateAccount:oh that simply wont do

AntEaterHateAccount has changed Tommy and 5 others names

AntEaterHateAccount:much better.

What the fuck:SmallChild

FUCK YOU:SmallChild

SmallChild has changed their name

Much better: TommyBIGman

AntEaterHateAccount:oh whatever