Chapter Text
The sun beats down onto the arena floor, baking the six contestants where they stand. Tommy bounces back and forth on his toes, trying desperately not to let the heat get to him. Across the arena, he can see his friend Tubbo shifting similarly. He grins.
The sound of the gong rings through the arena and Tommy darts forward, toward the middle, as does everyone else. The small pile of weapons is all they get and he needs to be there fast if he wants a good one.
Technoblade sprints past him easily, pink braid flying behind him. “Slow loser!” He calls triumphantly, darting in to grab a trident and a shield.
From the other side of the circle comes Dream, who- like the maniac he is- still has his cloak on, despite it being the middle of summer and a million flipping degrees out. He snags a shiny double-bladed axe.
Tommy stumbles over a quiver of arrows, but finds what he’s looking for quickly enough. He grabs the sword and looks for some armor or a shield.
Tubbo snatches the arrows, along with a bow. He nods at Tommy and they stand back-to-back, ready to fight on either side.
“So, who’re we fighting today?” Tubbo asks casually. “Everyone? Or do we pick a target?”
“I say we go for Sapnap first.” Tommy says. “Dream and Techno can take each other out, and then it’s just us versus George.”
“And us versus each other.” Tubbo adds. Tommy can hear the smirk in his voice. “It’s my turn if we’re keeping track.”
“We’re not keeping track. We’ll fight it out.” Tommy says. “Like men.”
Before he can say anything else, he finally spots Sapnap. He’s coming at them, sword raised. Tommy and Tubbo break apart rapidly. Their plan is the same as always. Sapnap lunges forward, blade extended. Tommy ducks under it, barely. He swings his around towards Sap’s side, but he’s not fast enough, and Sapnap’s blade blocks comes up to block him. He backs up carefully. Sapnap goes forward, then stops as something hits the back of his head with a thunk noise. The tipless wooden arrow falls harmlessly to the ground.
“SAPNAP IS OUT! TUBBO UNDERSCORE WITH THE KILL!” Karl announces from his stand in the audience, voice booming out over the crowd.
“Why do I fall for that one every time?” Sapnap mutters to himself, walking off the field with his arms up in surrender.
Tommy and Tubbo grin at each other, smug and victorious.
Dream and Technoblade are still slashing at each other, evenly matched. One of them usually wins the matches. They’ve been in for longer than the rest of them, so it makes sense. Practice makes you really flipping hard to beat.
Where’s-
“TECHNOBLADE DOWN! GEORGE FOUND WITH THE KILL!”
George silently high-fives Dream. He must have snuck up on Techno, same way that Tubbo did to Sap. Tubbo drifts closer to Tommy, arrow already drawn back.
He glances at Tommy for half a second, and Tommy nods.
The pairs face off. Tommy very deliberately turns to face George, sword out, and Tubbo lines his arrow up with Dream’s blank smiley-faced mask.
Tommy counts down the seconds in his mind. 5… 4… 3… 2…
He charges directly at Dream, and at the same time, Tubbo fires off an arrow at George.
Dream’s head whips around, and George only barely dodges the arrow. Misdirection. Tommy thinks. Never underestimate it.
Tommy lifts his sword, keeping his eyes trained on Dream’s axe. He doges once, twice, trying to find an opening. Dream’s good at this. Tommy’s only advantages were surprise- which wore off pretty quickly- and now, his size and speed. He’s a smaller target, which for once is coming in handy. He dashes back and forth, thinks he maybe has a chance, watching Dream stumble a little on the edge of his lime-green cloak. Serves him right.
Behind him he can hear cursing sounds and various other fighting noises as George and Tubbo go at it. He tunes them out as best as he can.
“GEORGE IS OUT, TUBBO WITH THE KILL!” Rings through the arena, momentarily distracting them both.
Taking advantage of the short break, Dream lunges forwards again, and Tommy goes left. Dream’s already there. The dulled axe thuds against his side, and he groans.
“You had me for a second there.” Dream offers. Tommy glares at the smiling mask. It somehow looks smug.
“TOMMY INNIT IS OUT! DREAM WITH THE KILL!”
Tommy stalks over to the side, put out. Technoblade offers him a cup full of cold water. He gulps it down greedily, then settles against the wall to watch Dream and Tubbo face off. He pushes a few of his messy blond curls out of his eyes, watching intently.
“IT’S DOWN TO DREAM AND TUBBO UNDERSCORE!” The crowd roars excitement and support. Dream’s always a crowd favorite, but Tubbo has his fair share of supporters too.
Tubbo slowly draws the arrow back, Dream tensing like he’s about to run forwards. Before he can, the arrow goes flying towards him. He slices it out of the air with his axe.
Tubbo fires off more arrows in rapid succession, trying to unbalance Dream for even a second or two. Dream stalks closer and closer, slicing arrows out of the air as they fly. And then Tubbo drops his bow, runs forward with a knife nobody knew he had. He flings it as hard as he can in Dream’s direction. Dream’s caught off guard, axe raised to deflect an arrow. The knife bounces off his stomach. He lowers his axe and walks forward, hand extended. Tubbo shakes it.
“TUBBO UNDERSCORE WINS!”
Tommy cheers for his best friend. He’s one of the loudest voices in the whole arena.
-
The six of them practically live in the arena. The base of the arena is home to a virtual labyrinth of rooms, including a mess hall and living quarters. Technoblade has a place out in the country, and Dream supposedly has a house in the city. Sapnap and George both have apartments of their own. But they all spend most of their time here.
Tommy and Tubbo really do live in the arena. They’re minors, and orphans. The arena staff don’t mind. They don’t get into too much trouble, and they help out when they’re asked to.
They’re all hanging around in the kitchen after the afternoon’s matches when Karl bursts through the door.
“I HAVE REALLY BIG NEWS, GUYS!” He yells. He’s holding a bundle of rolled-up papers.
“What is it?” Dream asks. His mask is off, and his green eyes widen slightly, curious.
“C’mere, c’mere!” He takes the papers over to a table and rolls them out. Everybody gasps.
In big letters: THE L’MANBURG FESTIVAL GAMES!
“We-” Karl pauses for dramatic effect. “Have been invited to be a part of this year’s Founders Festival. By the emperor himself.”
He pauses as the news sinks in.
Sapnap breaks the silence. “Are we going to get paid?”
Karl nods and holds up another paper. This one has a number on it. A big number.
“We’re gonna be rich!” George crows.
A round of laughter and cheers fills the room as they admire the posters. All of them are there. Dream and Technoblade in the front- they’re the most recognizable. On the left, Tommy and Tubbo. On the right are George and Sapnap. Above their heads rises the silhouette of the palace, and the L’manburg flag waves triumphantly at the top of the page.
“One thing.” Karls says. “To make the games last longer, they’re allowing citizens to enter the arena.” He pauses for a second, then continues over the groans. “Not just anyone. They have to be at least seventeen- or sixteen with parental approval- and they have to prove they’re proficient with some form of weaponry, as well as pass a general fitness test. So we’re not going to be facing complete newbies, but you should still take it a little easier.” He glances pointedly at Techno, who shrugs nonchalantly. “That’s all, really.”
They go back to eating their snacks, talking about the day or upcoming plans.
Tommy goes over to the pile of posters to take a look. As well as the big one, there are various other posters with their faces on them. Dream’s blank smiley, Technoblade’s trademark As-If-You-Could-Beat-Me smirk, Sapnap’s wild grin, and George’s slightly crooked smile.
“Tubbo, come look at this!” Tommy says, holding up theirs. All the posters are really well done. It really looks like them.
“Ooh, I look good like that.” Tubbo comments. “You look alright.” He takes a bite out of his sandwich. “I won’er oo else e’ll e fa’ing.” He mumbles through a mouthful of food.
“What?” Tommy asks. “I understood none of that."
Tubbo swallows. “I wonder who else we’ll be facing.” He repeats.
“Probably a bunch of noble veterans with nothing better to do and coins to waste.” Tommy snorts, opening a box of cookies. “Hey, do you think we’ll do it at the castle arena?”
Their arena is nice, and it’s fairly well-known. But the castle arena is another level entirely.
“I hope so.” Tubbo says. “We could steal the crown jewels while we’re at it.”
Tommy almost chokes on his cookie. “T-Tubbo!” He gasps, laughing. “You can’t just say that all casually! We’ll get arrested!”
Tubbo smirks. “Nah.”
Tommy just rolls his eyes.
Techno’s admiring the posters as well. He nods at the posters in Tommy’s hands. “Your first wanted poster. I’m so proud.” He says. He sounds dead serious, but his ice-blue eyes are friendly and teasing.
“You know it!” Tubbo says. “We just finished a plan to steal the crown jewels!” He leans forwards and whispers conspiratorially. “You want in?”
“Obviously.”
“Tommy rolls his eyes again. “When you get arrested, am I allowed to bring up this conversation at your trial?”
“Nope.” Tubbo chirps.
Tommy leans against the counter and sighs. “Of course not.”
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