Chapter Text
"So, Tommy, me and your mom talked last night and…" His father began, looking at Kristin for permission to continue.
His mother then decided to take charge of the conversation instead. "Since we're gonna be moving out, we decided to transfer you to another school."
Tommy blinked once. Then twice. His mouth was slightly agape.
"What?"
"You heard your mother. You're transferring to Manberg for your first year in high school." Phil explained, using the tone that only you know when there's no point in arguing back.
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Truthfully, he had no problem with his parents transferring him to an entirely different school, considering they were moving out because of Phil's job at a different city, but he hated leaving his friends at SMPEarth behind.
The Business Bay, as they call themselves. They were almost like brothers, four peas in a pod (well, it used to be five but then Wisp had to transfer to another school) and Tommy didn't want to leave all that behind and transfer to another school.
They were upset when he broke out the news to them, especially Deo, the one with the sunglasses and chestnut brown hair. He made the blonde promise to call them every now and then, checking in to see how he's doing, and if possible, they could still hang out from time to time at their local McDonald's or something
"Tommy, you better hurry up! You don't wanna be late for school!" Kristin called out from downstairs, snapping Tommy back to reality. His family moved here just two weeks ago, and it was his first day at school. Waking up early in the morning is no problem for him at all.
"I'll be down in a minute!" He replied, although his words were a bit muffled due to the fact that he still has his toothbrush stuck on his mouth, toothpaste smearing all over his teeth.
Tommy hurried up with brushing his teeth, making sure that he's clean and ready to go before putting his school uniform on. Glancing at the mirror, he combed his messy hair and styled it to his usual style, before grabbing his backpack and swinging it over his shoulder as he trudged downstairs.
Phil was sitting at the kitchen table, working something on his laptop as he held a cup of black coffee in one hand. Kristin was making pancakes, carefully flipping the batter with no difficulty at all, and Tommy could scent the sweet aroma that filled the air.
"Morning, mate. Did you sleep well?" The older man gave him a gentle smile, looking up from the screen of his laptop.
"Yup, you know me. Big men get the best sleep." Tommy watched as Kristin placed a pancake on his empty plate. He then reached for the chocolate syrup sitting on the counter and began to pour an excessive amount of the food.
Phil chuckled, "That's good. I'll be driving you to school but tomorrow you'll have to take the bus."
Tommy scrunched his nose in disgust at that statement, "Why do I have to take the bus? Can't I just walk on my own or something?"
"You might get lost on your way there. This is a pretty big city after all." Kristin was the one to respond to him this time.
"But I don't wanna be surrounded by americans! They're too bossy and shit."
Kristin playfully rolled her eyes. "Sure, Toms. Now finish eating so you two can get going. You don't wanna be late on your first day."
Realizing there was no point in arguing, Tommy simply finished eating his pancakes and placed the now empty dish in the sink, grabbing his backpack once again as his mother placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. He let out a string of curses, saying that he was a big man and that he didn't need goodbye kisses, but deep down they all knew that it was all fun and games. Tommy loves his parents, and they love him too. Being an only child does that.
The teen hopped in the back seat of the car as Phil took the wheel after giving Kristin a chaste kiss on the lips (Tommy has to look away because who would want to watch their parents kiss each other?). They buckled up their seat belts and waved goodbye, before Phil drove off.
It was a 20-minute drive, so to speak, so Tommy decided to pull out his headphones and listen to some music, leaving one earbud out just to chat with his father. He is a master of conversations, after all.
"Phil, do you reckon I'll get a wife this year?"
At that, Phil bursted out laughing, still focusing his eyes on the road. "You can't get a wife without a girlfriend first."
"There's a reason why they call me the wife haver, Phil." Tommy grinned, leaning back to his seat. "All the women love me but I don't love them. That's how I stay relevant in the love universe."
"Sure, whatever you say mate."
Tommy paused for a short moment. "If I theoretically started dating someone, would you and mom get mad?"
Phil's smile slightly dropped, looking up to the rear view mirror to look at his son. "Of course not, Toms. You're sixteen, almost seventeen. You're allowed to make your own decisions as long as you don't get hurt in the end."
"...What if I wanted a boyfriend? If, hypothetically, I'm into guys as well?"
Tommy knew his sexuality is bisexual, having confirmed a few months back. He doesn't know yet which gender he leans to the most, and he likes to boast how much he loves women when deep down, he likes men and women. Not gonna lie, he hasn't told Phil or Kristin directly yet, afraid of confrontation.
"Love who you wanna love, mate. As long as you're happy, then we're happy for you." Phil's warm smile and kind words made Tommy smile himself, feeling accepted.
"Thanks, Dad. Love you."
"Love you too, Toms."
After that warm exchange and a few more minutes of driving, they finally reached the school. Phil unlocked the doors as Tommy unbuckled his seatbelt, grabbing his backpack that was sitting next to him and got out of the car. The building was much smaller than the one in the SMPEarth, but nonetheless still large enough to fit many students inside.
"Don't get yourself in detention!"
"No promises!"
Tommy gave a short wave of goodbye as Phil drove off to work. After a few short moments of silence, only then did Tommy realize the severity of the situation.
He's a freshman. And freshmen aren't usually…treated very nice. At least, from what he heard about Wisp's case. Damn, he feels like a fucking high school girl in a japense dating simulator that's entering school for the first time.
Taking a deep breath, he started walking up the stairs to get into the building and find his locker number, which was given to him in advance along with his schedule. The school was almost like a fucking maze, and he was glad there's still some time before his homeroom class with Mister Sam (who is apparently dubbed as 'Sam Nook' due to him cosplaying a certain character from animal crossing during Halloween, from what he heard).
After some time, Tommy finally found his locker and internally sighed in relief as he memorized the four digit combination, getting it to open. He slipped some of his books that he didn't need just yet inside and then closed it, resetting the password before walking off to find his homeroom classroom, following the map on his phone that he previously saved.
The teen stepped inside of the room, scanning his eyes for any empty seats that's next to the window, before settling for the one in the middle row. There were some students already inside the classroom, simply chatting with other people and possibly making friends. Students came in one by one before the bell rang.
Tommy simply pulled out his phone and waited for their teacher, scrolling aimlessly through his social media for anything interesting. He then turned it off and placed it back in his pocket, just in time for a green haired man to walk into the room, signaling the students to get back to their seats.
"Good morning, everyone. My name is Sam, and I'm your homeroom teacher for this year as well as your economics teacher." The man greeted them with a gentle smile on his face, almost like the one that Phil or Kristin gave him all the time. "I'm seeing some new faces here, so why don't we go ahead and introduce ourselves to each other? We'll start on an alphabetic order."
Ah, of course. The typical introductions that you have to give in front of the whole class in order to know a bit about yourself. Tommy is decent at those, since he did this multiple times in the past, so it's pretty much a walk in the park for him and almost automated. He patiently waited until it was his turn, and he did get a bit nervous having the whole class staring at him, waiting for an intro.
"My name is Theseus Innit-Craft, but you can just call me Tommy." There. Plain and simple. Not his style but, he didn't want to have a bad first impression. The students immediately started gossiping about him, saying a few things that Tommy wasn't able to make out all of them.
"Is he new here? I haven't seen him before."
"He's kinda cute…"
"Theseus? What kind of name is that?"
The blonde simply chose to ignore it, knowing that it was a waste of his time. Thankfully, Sam seems to sense the discomfort from the teen, as he immediately quieted the students down.
"Thank you, Tommy. Alright next…"
Tommy sat back down, tuning out of the other introductions. None of the students really caught his attention and he doesn't really pay attention that much to the lesson since they're just going over the rules and regulations anyway that Tommy already knew about. Despite being bored, he forced himself to pay attention, since Sam seems like a cool teacher, and the teen is starting to like him already.
He wondered if he would be able to survive this school year without getting into trouble.