Clay listened with amusement to Bad and Skeppy argue as he sat down at the lunch table.

"... no he was saying it's NOT good to eat!" Skeppy was saying.

"I'm not SaYinG that I'm about to eat it but it was really fluffy and it looked just like marshmallows! IT LOOKED YUMMY OK?!"

"YOU WOULD DIE IF YOU ATE THAT!!! DO YOU WANT TO DIE BAD HUH IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?!"

"NO OF COURSE NOT SKEPPY I JUST-"

"WOULD U GUYS STFU ALREADY." a6d said, tired of their shit.

"NO!" They both yelled at the same time; then Bad said "And LANGUAGE!"

A6d groaned and poked at his baked potato.

"Oh hi Clay!" Bad finally noticed him.

Clay chuckled at his friend's antics and said hi back.

"AUASHDHSGGH I hate this American food it's so baaaaaaaddddd." a6d complained.

"WELL WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO BACK TO FRANCE THEN IF ITS SO BAD HUH?!" Skeppy turned on him.

"IM NOT GOING BACK BECAUSE OF A POTATO SKEPPY UR SO DUMB!"

As Clay watched a6d yell back at Skeppy across the table he wondered why Skeppy was so fired up today. No one really liked the cafeteria food.

Bad was completely unfazed by him because he's used to Skeppy. Bad asked a6d curiously, "hey a6d how do you say potato in French?"

They both ignored him as Skeppy picked up his potato.

"OH IM DUMB WELL HOW ABOUT THIS" he aimed straight at a6d's face.

Not another food fight, Clay thought.

A6d stared straight in Skeppy's eyes. "You wouldn't fucking dare."

"WANNA BET??" Skeppy lifted the potato higher.

"Hey LANGUAGE" Bad said right before he snatched the potato out of Skeppy's hand and took a bite of it.

They all stared at him in surprise.

"What?" He said with his mouth full, "You guys are being potatoes." he shook it at them to emphasize the point.

Clay muffled his laugh with his hand as a6d and Skeppy sat back down.

"And besides," Bad continued, "you don't want to start another food fight, Skeppy. That's so wasteful."

Skeppy just huffed and crossed his arms. Clay was still giggling as Bad started to dig into his own potato.

Clay asked him, "Hey, Bad, why were you sleeping on the bus this morning?"

"Oh, um, I was super tired from playing xbox last night. Skeppy made me stay up."

"I DID NOT!!!" Skeppy turned to him.

"You're just upset because that guy kept beating you." Bad retorted.

"No he didn't! I, like, only lost to him a few times," he huffed again, "he just had lucky timing."

"I'm just surprised your parents let you stay up on a school night," Clay cut in, "mine never do that." He yawned.

Bad looked uncomfortable, "yeah, uh, they didn't exactly know I was still up... but you seem kinda tired too. Did you get enough sleep?"

Clay froze under Bad's gaze. "Uhhh"

They're my friends. I can tell them.

The others noticed his hesitation and looked up at him.

They'll think I'm weird.

No, I can tell them.

No, I won't.

"Clay?" Bad asked.

What's a good excuse?

"Oh, yeah, I was... ummm... yeah I was... reading." Clay internally cringed; he didn't read for fun.

"Oh really? What book?" Skeppy asked sarcastically.

"Uh. A book about soccer. Yeah, like soccer tactics and kicks and stuff."

"Oh, it must've been good to keep you up." Bad said, stretching.

Skeppy jumped in and changed the subject, the guys weren't that interested in soccer, luckily.

"Speaking of staying up- Clay, I was wondering if you wanna come to Bad's house Friday night and play with us."

Clay had only been half-listening as he looked around the cafeteria for George. He couldn't spot him anywhere. He hastily turned his attention back to Skeppy and tried to remember the question.

"Sure" he said after a moment of thought, "I don't really know how to play xbox but yeah I can try."

"Great! A6d? You're coming?"

"Yeah sure why not" a6d seemed fine as long as Skeppy wasn't throwing food at him.

Bad yawned angrily, somehow. "Hey, Skeppy you didn't tell me about this."

"Yeah, well your parents don't really let you out so we have to do it at your house." He rolled his eyes. "Plus, then we can play with your dog too."

"YAY!" Bad seemed a lot happier when his dog was mentioned.

Clay chuckled and went back to his food.

>>>

Sapnap was busy clenching his jaw as tight as he could.

Wilbur got bored and dared the others to make him laugh so immediately Tommy and Fundy made eye contact. Then Fundy covered Tubbo's little ears and Tommy nearly yelled "OBJECTS IVE SHOVED UP MY ARSE"

Wilbur smiled and shook his head but no sound came out of his mouth.

"Okay, okay, I see." Tommy said, rubbing his hands together. He searched for something on his phone while Fundy tried. He cleared his throat and started singing to the Nightmare Before Christmas song.

"The FUCK! The fUcK?! The fUcK iS in ThE aiR?! The FUCK! ThE fUcK? ThEreS wHitE sHiT eVeRYwhEre?!"

Wilbur didn't smile.

Tommy handed him his phone; there was a picture of a fox. Sapnap saw over his shoulder.

"Hey it's Fundy!!!" Wilbur showed Fundy the picture, smirking a little but still not laughing.

"FUCKING HELL TOMMY, THEY WERE PAJAMAS!" Fundy finally took his hands off a very confused Tubbo.

"What was what?"

"Nothing, Tubbo, Fundy's just a furry." Tommy smirked at Fundy as Sapnap was getting closer to cracking.

"ONE TIME TOMMY! ONE TIME I WORE A ONESIE"

"IT WAS A FURSUIT DONT TRY TO HIDE IT FUNDY WE ALL KNOW"

"I don't know what you guys are talking about," Tubbo was just looking back and forth between them.

"Of course not, Tubbo, you'll understand when you're older" Tommy said rudely.

"Hey! You're not that much older than me"

"Oh come on Tubbo, I'm wayyyyy older than you and I know infinitely more... What were we doing- oh yeah,"

He looked at Wilbur and held up his pointer finger.

"HA HA! ONE."

Wilbur just made a face at him. "Oh come on, you thought Sonic was going to get me?"

Tubbo piped up, "Oh I got one! Wilbur you remember that video you like of the mice screaming like people?"

Wilber smiled at the thought. "Yep."

Tubbo nodded, "Yeah!"

Sapnap finally burst out laughing when he realized that was it. That's the joke.

"OKAY OKAY I GOT IT." Tommy clapped his hands together.

He cleared his throat.

"Cheeto"

Wilbur finally laughed behind his hand. The xQc impression got him. Fundy and Tommy high-fived over Tubbo while Wilbur hit the table in frustration.

"Good thing that worked, I was going to bitch-slap you if he didn't laugh." Tommy said to Fundy.

"YOU WERE-"

He was cut off by Techno's first laugh from the end of the table.

They all looked at him with a little surprise. He was so quiet earlier.

"The Cheeto meme always gets Wilbur." He said with a smile in his direction.

"Hey, why didn't you laugh earlier?" Tommy asked like he was offended.

"You guys couldn't make me laugh if you tried your hardest."

Tommy raised his eyebrows, "wanna test that theory?"

"Sure," said Techno, picking up his plate, "but not now."

"You didn't eat much," Tubbo pointed out.

"Practice." Techno answered.

If you eat too much before any intense exercise, it causes problems, projectile vomit, for example.

"Plus he hates potatoes." Wilbur said, picking up his stuff to follow.

"No it's fine." Techno put a hand on his arm.

Wilbur stopped. Trouble in paradise?

"Where are you going?" Tubbo asked.

Techno stopped and turned. "To study." He walked away.

Sapnap saw him glance at another table just before he left. He followed his gaze.

Clay

>>>

George sighed happily as he entered the hallway. He got a lot of homework done and still had time before his next class.

He walked past a couple noisy rooms and took a left at the library before a bulletin board caught his eye.

There were club flyers, a school announcement about the big soccer game next week, and stuff about Halloween. A brightly colored poster interested him just enough to skim it.

He quickly rejected it though, when he saw it was for some kind of crafts club.

That's basically the same as wearing a shirt that says Nerd. I don't want to attract attention.

He had started walking away lost in thought when he was suddenly shoved against the lockers.

"Hello, Runt." sneered a voice in his ear.

George just averted his gaze and stared at the ground. He couldn't do much, pinned like he was.

Serves me right. I wasn't paying attention.

"Not fighting today? That's so boring."

Yes, not worth your time. Go away

Techno sighed and for a second George thought he might actually leave.

Then his head slammed backwards and he saw stars.

"Guess I'll just have to stir some fight out of you."

Dread filled George, but his thinking was fuzzy; the blow to his head made him helpless.

"HEY!"

Techno dropped George and he fell weakly all the way to the floor.

Techno turned to face the one who had shouted; he was running up with another figure.

...don't...

"Leave him alone." The newcomer spoke fiercely.

George blinked at him. He was short, maybe shorter than George, but his companion was anything but. He stood a little taller than Techno.

"Why would I do that?" Techno was hesitating.

He eyed them, sizing them up. He might look like a brute, but George knew he was shrewd and calculating. A careful planner.

"Basic maths." The short one had an accent. Familiar.

He continued, "One of you, two of us."

The tall one took a step forward. Techno took a step back unconsciously.

He quickly realized his mistake and sneered.

"Fine. What do I care?"

His flashing eyes caught George one more time and revealed boiling anger; George flinched reflexively against the lockers.

Then Techno turned on his heel and walked casually away.

The boy offered a hand to George, but he didn't see it; his aching head was down against his knees.

The boy gently knelt next to him while his friend hovered anxiously.

"Are you okay?" He asked softly.

"...what? oh... ...yeah." George responded weakly.

No.

He barely registered the question.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't really look like it." The boy said.

"He doesn't look good." The tall guy spoke. He had the same accent.

The same as mine, George realized.

"Brits" He murmured.

"What?" Said the short one, "I didn't quite catch that."

George let out a small groan. "My head hurts."

"Do you want us to take you to the nurse? I-"

"No." George cut him off. He looked at him.

The boy's eyes were filled with concern under his strawberry blonde hair.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure" George shakily pushed himself up.

"I'm Grian, by the way,"

The boy -Grian- helped him stand. "That's Mumbo."

The tall one with dark hair gave him a little wave. He seemed self-conscious.

"Thanks Grian." George was still using him for support.

"Sure. You should report that guy for bullying." He frowned the way Techno had gone.

"NO." George grabbed onto Grian tighter.

"You can't." He stared straight into Grian's eyes. Yes, he is a little bit shorter, he thought absentmindedly.

"Why not?" Grian asked seriously.

Anything he lacked in height he made up for in sheer, earnest will.

"Because..." George looked away, "because it makes it worse."

"But-"

"JUST don't. Okay?"

Grian's eyes never left George's face as he considered him for a moment.

"Okay."

"Why did he do that to you?" Mumbo broke the silence.

George turned to look at Mumbo for the first time. He was tall, with dark hair swept back over his head and a mustache that actually didn't look half-bad. He looked nervous.

"I don't really know." George rubbed his head. "I'm small I guess."

"Grian's small, but he doesn't let himself be picked on." He let out a small laugh, "He's actually scarier than me."

"You didn't do so bad there, yourself." Grian reached up to punch Mumbo's arm. "That step was really good timing; you sent him running." He chuckled a bit too.

"Yeah, but I'd have been in shambles if he didn't."

"No, we could have taken him." Grian seemed much more confident than Mumbo.

Funny how that works.

The bell rang.

People would come pouring into the hallway in minutes. And they had to get to class.

George felt good enough to walk so he let go of Grian and thanked them again.

"Hey we didn't catch your name." Grian called as George was leaving.

"Oh it's George." George responded as other students came between them.

"Good luck George!" Grian called as Mumbo waved. "I hope we see you again soon!" He was smiling.

As he walked to class, George felt lighter, despite his head.

I hope so too.

(2176 words)