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Tommy gripped the laptop on his knee tightly, looking upon the screen with utmost interest. On the screen was a video, specifically a behind the scenes cut of one of his favourite band's concerts.
Wilbur, Ash, Joe and Mark were the four that made up the band, and had formed around a year ago and the young blonde had stumbled across their content on TikTok. It was a silly close up video of the lead singer, Wilbur's face from a low angle, the most cursed shit he had ever seen from a professional band, Tommy was hooked.
The kid wasn't the typical 'band' kid like they had in America, he wasn't even really secure in his own musical talent? Tommy just thought of himself as a music enjoyer, even if he had advanced his piano skills to riff along with a Lovejoy set.
"Tom!" His Mum shouted from the next room, and he sighed knowing the video he was watching would be forgotten about and he would have to catch up on the content, once again.
The blonde replied to her, "Coming!" He exclaimed p, leaving behind his passion for the time being.
–
It wasn't like he made it- obvious, that he was a Lovejoy fan, it was just that every second story on his Instagram consisted of a snippet of the main singer on one of their songs, many which he resonated with. Tommy's personal favourite was Model Buses, although slightly too political for his teenage brain to fully comprehend, it was catchy as fuck.
Living in Nottingham, the teen hadn't had any chance to attend a Lovejoy gig in person, it wasn't like they were a world class boyband, more like a British sensation. One time, a friend from school had gone to a Lovejoy gig in London and bragged about it, very persistently, directly to his face. It was clear to say Tommy had never been closer to punching a fellow student in the face.
"Tom, were you listening?" His friend, Ranboo (it was a nickname) asked, almost offended.
It wasn't like he was going to lie. "No." He stated bluntly, not even wincing, staring into the eyes of his acquaintance, as if daring the taller to challenge him. Obviously, the more timid of the two (Ranboo) backed down.
"I was talking about Wilbur." Tommy's ears perked up at that, Ranboo smirked. "I knew you would listen then-"
"Just get on with it dickhead." The blonde interrupted impatiently.
"Wilbur joined twitter again…" The other barely managed to finish his statement before Tommy's naturally loud voice butted in.
"What? Seriously? I thought he left for good-" Tommy remembered at the beginning of his Lovejoy journey, Wilbur was a frequent user of Twitter and basically wrote anything he thought, for better or for worse.
The only issue was that the younger was forbidden from using the app at the time, something about 'protecting himself' as his Dad put it. There were so many opportunities for interacting with his idol, lost. But if what his friend said was true, then he had his chance back. It wasn't like he would allow his Dad to 'protect' him again, frankly the boy wasn't sure how he himself had missed the news.
"Cheers Boo." The teen all but sprinted away from the other tall teen.
Tommy slid his phone from his pocket, almost losing it in a dramatic reenactment of an American school drama as he shoulder barged another student. He didn't take note of the victim's response, however, and continued on his speedy walk through the corridors.
Along the way, the remains of a teacher's demands for him to slow down fell upon deaf ears as Tommy left through the front doors. Sure, he was totally skipping his scheduled after school detention, however Tommy creating a Twitter account was prioritised. His Mum would understand.
–
"Tubbo!" He yelled through the speaker phone, startling the elder dramatically, leading to a swift telling off.
"If you ever fucking do that again I'll drive over to Nottingham in my Dad's car and drive it through your bedroom window." Tubbo said sternly Tommy wasn't sure if he was serious.
"My- My bedroom is on the second floor Tubs…" He replied tentatively, expecting the response he received.
In a menacing tone, the shorter scoffed. "Which will make it all the more impressive." The blonde was certain that it wasn't a joke now. "Anyways, what did you want?" Tubbo switched into a bored tone.
"Umm… Okay hypothetically if I were to get a Twitter account what would my username be?" He asked. It was a question Tommy had considered all the way home, it couldn't be something lame else Wilbur would never acknowledge his existence.
The older of the two sounded exasperated, "How am I supposed to know? Think of it yourself, just something like Tommy, innit." The teen was certain a lightbulb appeared above his head.
"Cheers Tubso! Bye now!" Tommy waved to the phone, knowing Tubbo could not see him, and hung up the phone. He wasn't sure if he had cut off something Tubbo was saying, yet he did not care.
In the blank space left for his username he typed '@tommyinnit' in lowercase letters, just about ensuring the correct spelling before confirming. There, it was done. His profile picture was simple, a close up picture of his face, and his username was complete.
In the search bar he typed the username Wilbur had gone for this time around. 'sootfromLVJY', personally, to Tommy, it sounded pretty shit. He clicked the follow button before composing his first tweet.
'@tommyinnit: please chnage ur username, it is shit, cheers. @sootfromLVJY'
Perfect.
–
Hours later he got his first interaction, it was just a like from a fellow fan account of Lovejoy, though this account had Joe as their profile picture, not themselves. Tommy dropped them a follow for their efforts.
Wilbur had tweeted a few hours after he had signed up, it was a three second clip of who he assumed was Wilbur zooming into Ash's face, with an emoji as the caption.
Tommy had the clever idea of responding with a similar clip of himself, though this one was self taken. He didn't really care about keeping his face off the internet, it was way too much hassle in his opinion. Just minutes later he had a response.
'@lov1ngLVJY: bit too close there 😭'
Tommy chuckled, interacting with people this way was so much fun, he dropped a like and followed quickly and continued scrolling.
That night, Lovejoy released a teaser for their new song, and the teen almost jumped from his bed in excitement, his breath quickened. The guitar was so catchy, he had listened to it on repeat for a few minutes.
Looking closer at the date, Tommy realised they were releasing the video the day after, it was quite rare for a teaser to be released this last minute- There was no clear video snippet for the song but he was still satisfied, and could barely coach himself to sleep on time that night.
–
Ranboo sat at the lunch table with his head in his hand, half listening to the other speak. It wasn't that he wasn't interested, Tommy tended to speak too quickly for him to process most of the time.
"-and it kinda has a similar feel to Perfume in a weird way… Only a few hours left now." The blonde spoke excitedly, relaying anything that popped into his brain. Ranboo was someone who would listen to him ramble and not interrupt or ask him to stop. He was just extremely hyped for the new song, Lovejoy didn't have an extensively wide discography, so he was happy to have another song to stream.
He opened Twitter, looking at all the new people he had followed talk about their excitement too.
'@Tommyinnit: I am going to contribute to 73% of views on this video. #lovejoy'
Within a few minutes he read the reply.
'@mrrym3wilbvr: oddly specific but valid.'
–
Tommy clicked the video seconds after it was posted. It started off with Joe and Wilbur stumbling down a dark street and cut away to a black screen. Then it cut to the band lined up in front of a building with their instruments, Mark held drumsticks with no drum. The song started, Tommy jammed along with it and watched as the video cut between scenes.
One scene in particular forced Tommy out of his desk chair, and he almost screeched. They stood in the middle of a town, not just any town however- They stood in the middle of his town. The one he went to at least twice a week, the town where he bought his shopping. Why were Lovejoy filming in Nottingham? The feelings of shock and pride were overwhelming.
Lovejoy had never been to a gig in Nottingham, and had (to his knowledge) never been there at all. It was a simple feature, but to the teen it was so fucking cool.
'@tommyinnit: LVOYJOEY WERE IN MY TOWN, LIEK SO CLOSE TO MY HOUSE @sootfromLVJY HEYYY'
He exaggerated through text, laughing at his typos but clicking 'tweet' without correcting them. Sure, maybe tweeting about his house location wasn't smart, but Nottingham wasn't a tiny place.
The song itself was amazing, everything he could've asked for. The snippet he heard the day before didn't even do it justice. It was called 'Paparazzi', something about feeling watched 24/7, Tommy couldn't exactly relate.
'@tommyinnit: hey @lovejoy does this mean you'll finally do a gig in Nottingham?'
He shot the tweet mindlessly, thinking little of it, and returned to his prior activity of listening to Paparazzi on loop.
–
His phone was blowing up, honestly the teen wished he had never allowed Twitter notifications. He opened the app to see why he was getting the notifications, only to see that people were spamming his replies with things like;
'lov1ngLVJY: TOMMY TOMMY LOVEJOY REPLIED AAH MY MOOT-'
And things alike. His heart stopped, surely not… He scrolled down a while to look through his replies on his Nottingham tweet, only to see the telltale checkmark on one of the accounts.
'@Lovejoy: no comment.🤫'
He almost died right then and there. Tommy was sure he wouldn't survive the night, what was happening? He knew there was a possibility that one of them may stumble upon his tweets at some point, not this soon after he created his account though… The blonde was sure that if his Mum called him into the kitchen right then he would stand up and feint.
He pulled up the reply option.
'@tommyinnit: what is that even supposed to mean you fucjkinfg isdiotds'
Play it cool, he thought. It wouldn't do for him to spam all caps in a reply, not if he rambled about how much they had helped him this past year. Tommy resorted to 'confident and misspelt' as he often did.
He typed in Tubbo's username and phoned him.
"Tub-!" He got halfway through his name.
"Don't you even dare." He deadpanned. Tommy recalled their last phone call and backed down.
"Alright, fine. But Tubs, guess what?" His nerves bubbled in anticipation. "Never mind, I can't wait, Lovejoy replied to my tweet! Isn't that fucking awesome?" He was almost vibrating in his seat.
Tubbo made a noise of excitement. "Really? That's so cool Tommy, I'm happy for you! " He replied happily, having heard a multitude of Tommy's rambles on Lovejoy over time.
"I know- I wonder who it was, y'know… that replied to me. I hope it was Wilbur." He smiled thinking about it, imagining the brown haired man typing out the reply with a smirk on his face.
He and Tubbo talked about it for a while, and Tommy wondered what they meant with 'no comment'. Did that mean they could be coming to Nottingham to do a gig? The blonde would definitely abandon his plans to attend the gig, school could do without him for a day.
–
The day Lovejoy announced their Nottingham gig was the best day of his life. He sprinted to his Mum in the living room and shoved the phone in her face, showing her the notification.
"Look! Mum, can I go? Please? I'll do anything-" He begged, on the verge of tears hoping she wouldn't refuse him, he couldn't miss his one chance to see them live.
"What is it? I can't see it Tom, give it 'ere" She grabbed his phone and read it. "Lovejoy? Is that your band you love?"
His Mum glanced at the teen, staring at her with wide eyes, pleading. "Of course mate, when is it?"
He basically deflated in relief. "Umm, next month." It was quite soon actually.
"Sure, do you want me to come with you or you wanna bring a friend?" He didn't know why he was surprised that she agreed, considering she was always supportive of his hobbies and interests. "Or both?"
He considered it. "Umm… I'll probably bring Ranboo, you're more info pop music," Tommy laughed at his own statement, remembering the music his Mum played whilst she was cooking. (Hint: it was the UK top 40) She agreed with him and began booking their tickets.
–
"You're coming to the Lovejoy gig with me. My Mum bought your ticket." They were in the middle of maths when Tommy suddenly demanded Ranboo join him next month.
"Uhh… Okay? That- Thank you?" Ranboo's ever confused voice replied. He pulled a face, unsure how to feel. He knew Tommy wouldn't shut up about Lovejoy since they announced their gig in Nottingham.
He scrolled through his twitter feed mindlessly, hiding his phone from the teacher so as to not get caught.
'@tommyinnit: me n bitch boy are seeing @Lovejoy live soon. watch out.'
He turned his head towards the other and glared.
–
A month later brought Tommy and Ranboo here, in Tommy's house on call with Tubbo. The blonde was having a crisis on what outfit to wear, they were going early to get at the front. Tubbo was therapizing Tommy, as always.
"Look Big Man, wear the green one, it's not like anyone's looking at your clothes." He said level headedly.
The youngest's eyes darted between the two hoodies, Tubbo was right, nobody would care but he wanted to look good for the show. He grabbed the green hoodie and threw it over his head, grumbling about Tubbo being a prick.
The line was quite short, about twenty other people were there, all having the same idea as Tommy. He was already feeling extremely overwhelmed knowing that he was finally seeing them live, he would be in the same room as Wilbur Soot.
He stood beside a person with curly black hair, wearing a rainbow bandana over the top. He waved confidently, giving them a smile for support. If they were anything like him, their heart would be beating out of their chest.
"Y'alright?" They said, "What's your name?"
Tommy replied "Tom, Tommy- whatever you like- You?" People called him both, he didn't really mind.
"Laika, nice to meet you!" Ranboo introduced himself afterwards, Laika hadn't noticed him standing behind Tommy.
"May I ask your pronouns? Me and the big guy are He/Him's" The blonde didn't want to get anything wrong.
"They/She, thanks for asking!" She said, Tommy was glad he had made a new friend.
They waited in line for around three hours, the crowd had gotten much bigger in that time, and were finally allowed to enter. Tommy was glad they had arrived early, he was at the front right in front of the stage, alongside Laika and Ranboo.
There was a loud pitched noise and a voice came through the speaker.
"Hello? Hello there- is it working? Joe, is it working?" The voice asked unprofessionally, Tommy snorted, already knowing that Wilbur was the culprit, despite the distorted audio. Five minutes later the lights darkened and four men walked out from backstage, Tommy cheered loudly, unable to hear his own voice from the crowd, he spotted the tallest of the group walking to the front of the stage where the mic stand was.
"Let's go, Wilbur!" The teen yelled, his vocal chords protesting the act. "Yeah!"
"Hullo? Shall we get started then?" The singer asked through the microphone, gazing at the crowd in awe. Immediately after, a song began. Tommy identified it as Perfume, and he obviously knew all the lyrics and sang along, bumping against Ranboo in rhythm, who grabbed his shoulder in moral support.
They performed a few more songs before they took a break to talk, and Tommy's legs were aching. He was having the best time of his life. Tommy realised that the songs were even more impactful when they were sung live than in recorded sessions.
"Are we having fun Nottingham?" Will asked, provoking the crowd, followed by cheers of 'yes' and Joe joining in through his microphone. Ash just nodded and Mark hit the symbols.
"I've got a song I think you'll love next…", He said ominously. That could mean anything, Concrete, The Fall, Model Buses…
Ranboo alerted him from beside him. "I hope it's The Fall! He yelled over the cheers. Tommy agreed, it could be amazing performed live, it was an especially exciting song.
"It's The Fall!" The crowd screamed (as did Tommy but he wouldn't admit it). They played the beginning and Tommy felt tears in his eyes, trying to hold them back. He didn't want to embarrass himself in front of the band after all. This was to no avail, as mid way through he gripped Ranboo for support as he sobbed along, all while singing, the elder laughed at him but gave him the support.
His emotions had built up all to this moment, uncontrollably sobbing in front of his idol, who for a second glanced towards the teen and Tommy's heart almost came through his throat. The song ended positively and went straight into another, where Wilbur walked around more, interacting with the crowd.
Tommy saw him walk in his direction before Ranboo did. He held his breath, but it was no use, Wilbur was already looking at him. He crouched in front of the pair and ruffled Tommy's hair before jobbing back to his position at the mic stand.
He wasn't sure he was alive at that moment. No way had Wilbur Soot just touched him and acknowledged his existence… In real life- If Laika hadn't patted his shoulder in assurance, he may have fainted.
They completed the gig successfully, and Tommy was more than satisfied. It was more than he could ever wish for, they left the venue quietly, conserving their remaining energy.
Outside they were greeted with the band members face to face. Most of the people from the venue had left earlier, Ranboo and Tommy were at the front after all, and so meeting the band was quite the surprise.
They were all surrounded by fans, and though the crowd wasn't huge, Tommy was still unable to greet Wilbur like he wanted to. Only when they were about to leave and say their goodbyes was he able to do so.
"Wilbur, you're fucking amazing. Thanks for everything." The younger poured his heart out, the recipient looked at him fondly and gave him a quick side hug.
"What's your name?" He asked.
"Tommy-" The boy responded louder than indoor volume due to the dissipating crowd.
"Thanks Tommy. It means a lot, have an amazing day!" The elder yelled before receding back into the building, waving one last time at the crowd.
Tommy would remember that moment forever.