Chapter Text
Tommy was not a boy who had many friends.
It was simple; he didn’t like people, and people didn’t like him. He was the textbook definition of a bully. An asshole. When he walked, people would press themselves closer against the lockers. They’d whisper, point, and some would cower. Nobody wanted to be in his way, because that’s just who he was. Temperamental, explosive, and troubled.
Truth was, he’d hardened up after his pitiable past years of attention-seeking and sucking up for validation.
A lack of care from his parents (if he could even call those bastards such a thing anymore) had led him down a path of desperation and vulnerability. He’d do anything for a friend— for someone to even glance in his general direction. Back then, it felt affirming. But now, looking back on it… It just felt embarrassing.
How could he have been so blind? He didn’t need people. People needed him. People needed Tommy, and not the other way around.
He simply learned to push the aching feeling in his heart down to where it couldn’t make itself as known as it had before. So he couldn’t get too comfortable.
Tommy groaned, having been abruptly woken up by the screeches of his alarm clock.
“Damnit… shut up,” He smacked the top of the clock a few times, only for it to continue blaring. How the hell did he miss the mark thrice? He mumbled a select few cuss words under his breath as he rubbed his eyes. God, he already wanted the day to be over. Mondays sucked ass.
“Tommy!”
Fuck my life. The blonde grabbed his pillow, stuffing his face into the soft, silky material.
“Tommy! Shut that shit off!” His mother's shrill voice yelled out. Tommy often called her satan reincarnate, because that’s exactly what she was.
He threw his pillow back down onto the sheets of his unmade (it’d stay that way) bed, and finally managed to smack the alarm clock hard enough to make it go silent. He’d rather wake up to anything other than that clock. Or his mother's voice… she was, for sure, one annoying woman.
As he stumbled out of bed onto the carpeted floors, he glanced at the time displayed on the clock. 5:57. School started at 7AM– but knowing his mother, she’d still somehow manage to find a way to get him there late. It must’ve been her hidden superpower, or something, being incompetent like that.
Like clockwork, he goes through his morning routine. Quickly showering, brushing his teeth, all that jazz. It didn’t make him feel any more awake. In fact, he really just wanted to go back to sleep… but he also wanted to see his friends today. They were few, but they were good to him, and school was the only place he could really see them. His mother was one hell of a freak when it came to people coming over, or him going out of the house for any reason other than tutoring and or lessons. Honestly, he was convinced that the only reason they couldn’t come over was because they weren’t as wealthy.
…well, Tubbo was wealthy, but his parents just decided to hold a special grudge towards him for some reason. Low blow to have a one-sided rivalry with a little kid, but it unfortunately didn’t strike him as surprising.
6:20.
Tommy threw on his uniform. A light blue button-up paired with a black tie with golden accents, black slacks, and black church shoes. Every day, he was reminded of how much he absolutely despised this outfit. Every time he saw a button-up shirt outside of a school setting, he always nope-d the fuck out of there. He’d come to hate formal clothing… somewhat. They could’ve at least made the uniform red, gold, and black. I mean, light blue was such a common color in uniforms… and, also, the light blue dress shirt paired with his blue eyes was just… not it. Some people said it made his eyes look prettier, others said they felt like they were about to be blinded by the sheer brightness.
Good for them, or whatever.
He turned towards the large mirror propped up in the corner, fluffing up his curly hair only a teensie-bit more before strolling out of his room, his posture becoming noticeably straighter.
6:30.
As soon as he exited his room and dared to turn into the hallway, he heard his parents yelling at each other, yet again. He would say he was annoyed, but that would be false. He would’ve been annoyed… years ago. But with how frequent the arguments had become, he’d learnt to expect it and to tune it out.
Tommy hurried down the stairs, two steps at a time, headed to the ground floor and, better yet, the kitchen. Unfortunately, he did not smell breakfast, and so it had been decided. This day was gonna be shitty. Whenever breakfast wasn’t made, it not only meant that he was gonna be hungry and exhausted all day at school (or at least until lunchtime), it also meant that his mother was in a horrible mood. Which, in turn, would result in more yelling.
How that woman hadn’t lost her voice by now, literally nobody knows.
With a sigh, he shuffled over to the cabinet, snatching a small pack of saltine crackers and stuffing them into his pocket. He’d eat them later, probably during Chemistry or one of his other boring classes.
Then, he walked into the living room. Lo and behold, the scene of the aforementioned argument— his parents screaming in each other's faces as if they wouldn’t get their 7th noise complaint notice this year. Really, these two just had to be the most intelligent people he knew.
The arguing ceased for a moment as Tommy walked in, but the tension didn’t clear.
“Tommy.” His mother grit her teeth, saying his name like a bad word. “I can’t drive you today, so you’re walking to school. Your father decided to crash the damn car last night, and there’s no way in hell I’m driving your ass to school in a car that looks all beat up and ragged!” Her voice rose, and then, expectedly, the argument started up again— much more aggressive than before.
Tommy groaned. Right, shit day.
Alas, he sucked it up and dragged his feet towards the door, throwing on a jacket to combat the cold as well as his school bag and ID. The bag was unfathomably heavy, but that was Tommy’s fault rather than the school's… he carried a shit ton of extra stuff with him for no reason.
But he’d blame it on the school anyway. Fuck authority.
He threw open the door and immediately got hit with a blast of possibly the coldest air he’d felt in his life. The idea of skipping school right now felt more tempting than ever.
…but if he did, then he’d have to deal with his parents yelling the whole day. School was an escape from that.
So, begrudgingly, he walked outside, zipping his jacket up with one hand and slamming the door shut with the other. There was still snow on the ground from last week's snowstorm, along with ice on the stairs due to the fact that his parents were lazy sons of bitches who couldn’t even salt their property.
Damnit.
Grumbling, he adjusted the strap of his bag before trudging through the snow. At the very least, he wore boots. He didn’t have PE this quarter; instead, he had… health class, or whatever, so he didn’t need to worry about any teachers fussing in his ear about wearing sneakers for a class he wasn’t even planning to participate in in the first place. The first half of the walk was pretty shit. The second half was a little better, because the snow had thinned out (bless those who shovel), and his phone buzzed with a notification that Tubbo had texted him.
tubb-so:
yo
hey
big man
toms:
???
What
tubb-so:
where r u??? im so bored
they’re holding us in the gymnasium
bc its too cold outside
so we’re waiting here until homeroom starts
its so boring
toms:
Mom made me walk 2 school today
Might be late idk
Im like halfway rhere
Go bother ranboob or something
tubb-so:
first of all
i never bother anyone
also fuck you
why would you leave me alone here
oh wait actually
did u hear about the villain attack last night
Now that was a topic of interest.
toms:
Nope
Fell asleep early
Was sick of ranboobs bullshit
Nagging me about the project
What happened
tubb-so:
ill tell u at school
toms:
??
R u kidding
Tommy scoffed as he shoved his phone back into his pocket, but subconsciously, he walked a little faster. Realistically, any other person would’ve immediately gone searching for the news on the villain attack… that is, if they hadn’t heard about it already. Tommy hadn’t.
…he wouldn’t admit it, but hearing news from Tubbo felt much better than reading it for himself.
It didn’t take much longer to get to school. Given it was a private school, it did take him an extra minute or two to make his way to the gated entrance, but hell if he cared. He already missed the first bell by 5 minutes, and so being tardy didn’t really affect him much. Strolling through the gates among a few other stragglers and cars as casually as he could, he walked up the slight slope it took to get up to the actual main building to the school, and as soon as he walked through those doors—
Well, it was pretty awesome, actually.
There was a fight. Happening right in the foyer. Usually, when he walked in after the bell, Ms. Puffy would be scolding him and giving him a late pass. Instead he got to watch as Ms. Puffy and some security guards broke up a fight between two very grumpy students. He almost wanted to record it. Almost wanted to make a little joke at the fighting students expenses, and maybe, just maybe, get his own ass beat because of it.
He didn’t.
Instead, he took it as his opportunity to slip past unnoticed and make his way to homeroom. It was pretty easy, honestly, with everyone preoccupied with the fight back at the main doors.
It’s 7:08 when he enters through his homeroom doors, and he’s delighted to see that there’s a substitute teacher who seems dumb enough not to pay attention to jackshit. In fact, they’re already scrolling on their phone.
And he’s even more delighted to see Tubbo sitting at one of the back tables, waving him over.
When he sat down next to Tubbo, one of their peers who’d been sitting there as well almost immediately got up and walked off as if he had some sort of aversion towards the blonde boy. Tommy smirked, because he knew the exact reason why.
He missed the weary glance that Tubbo sent his way.
“So, about the villain attack?” Tommy huffed out a laugh as he turned his gaze away from their retreating classmate. “Really, I can’t believe you just decided to leave me hanging like that.”
There was a slight raise of an eyebrow when the brunette didn’t respond.
“Heeeyy. Earth to Tubbo?” He scoffed, flicking the other boy’s shoulder, to which the other seemed to snap out of the short-lived trance.
“Right. Sorry about that, big man.” Tubbo smiled, the nervousness radiating off of him coming to a standstill almost immediately. Tommy wrote it off as anxiety for the upcoming geometry test. “The villain attack— right, so,” he began;
“Basically, Deimos and Phobos were seen battling Chronos and Mesmer. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of it. Anyway, it started with Deimos using his power to manipulate some guards of the hero headquarters to let him inside, apparently— but before they could, Mesmer managed to use his power on him.”
“Shit, isn’t Mesmer the one with the, uhhh, hypnosis power thingy?” Tommy interrupted.
“Yeah, pretty sure. He’s not really public on the finer details of his power, but I’m pretty sure it either sends the person into a trance or it just… sends them to sleep. I don’t know. If it’s a trance, then it’s kind of like Deimos’ power, right??” Tubbo hummed thoughtfully.
Tommy shrugged. “Whatever, what happened next?”
“Well, the article said that Deimos had some sort of bad reaction to it, and after that, Phobos came barreling in like some kind of wild boar and beat the shit out of Mesmer. Which was where Chronos came in, and both parties had to retreat.” He finished.
“Jeez, talk about some incompetent heroes…” To which both boys laughed obnoxiously.
“Exactly. Now I’m pretty sure Mesmer’s out of commission— unless they’ve got a healer,” Tubbo said with a joking tone, wiggling his eyebrows at Tommy, and they both began to laugh… again.
“Boys! Please quiet down,” The substitute called out. Tommy was sure they didn’t care and was only telling them to shut up so the resident drunkard—Principal Schlatt—wouldn’t come in hollering and yelling. He could understand that. He shot Tubbo a sheepish glance before taking his phone out.
The bell that started first period rang.
As soon as it did, the substitute teacher went on with that usual spiel: ‘your teacher is out today, yadda yadda yadda, do the work if there is any, blah blah blah, be quiet, thanks.’
He half-expected everyone to begin messing around and acting foolish (because that’s usually what he, himself did whenever there were substitutes) but everyone stayed respectful to the teachers wishes. Even Tubbo. That was crazy to him, but then again, this class had a lot of goody-two-shoes in it… really, what a bore.
Tubbo and him didn’t talk much that period. After all, it was way too quiet, and it was early in the morning. Much out of their element. Even still, every now and then, Tommy would hit Tubbo’s shoulder and show him something on his phone, which made them promptly burst out in laughter… every time. Instead of judging looks, they only received looks of unease.
Why? Because of Tommy, of course. He was pretty infamous among the students. Renowned asshole. He could feel the stares, and, honestly, he couldn’t help but be proud in a sickening sort of way.
…But he had Tubbo with him right now, so he didn’t wanna dwell on his pride and feed his own ego when he was right next to one of his best friends.
After that, the period passed by rather quickly. There were a few instances where they got yelled at by the substitute, but it didn’t affect their goofing off.
The bell rung, and they both walked to their next class, Chemistry with Mr. Awesam, to which they fooled around some more. Mr. Awesam only gave them disappointed looks, but they both didn’t care too much. Despite Chemistry class being one of Tubbo’s favorites, the brunette couldn’t help but slack off.
The bell rang again. Time seemed to pass faster when he spent time with Tubbo, which was both a bummer to think about and nice to think about at the same time. This was where they split up for a part of the day— where Tubbo went to Computer Science and Tommy went to Photography.
Yeah. Believe it or not, he was a photography type of guy. Unfortunately, it was in a separate building on another part of campus, so he couldn’t even walk Tubbo to class. The school was incredibly big, and he could only guess it was because of how many students were enrolled and how many people attended.
He hastily made his way to the photography classroom, pushing past anyone who got in his way in the hallway. Despite his indiscrete rudeness, nobody stood up to him. He didn’t expect them to, either.
Damn, fuckin’ photography… He groaned internally as he finally made it to the other building with two minutes left. It took him another minute and thirty seconds to actually get to the classroom itself and sit down. His teacher gave him the look, but he just rolled his eyes.
As he was settling in, leaning back in his chair, and putting his bag down under his desk— a hand suddenly met his shoulder, startling him.
“Hey, Toms.”