When Tommy signed up to the theatre club ran by Mr Quackity, he didn't expect what he got.

He wasn't complaining (he was having quite a lot of fun!) it was just so unpredicted.

He kind of just thought he would be sitting in the corner and not really participate but soon enough he realised that Mr Quackity wasn't going to let that happen.

Mr Quackity made sure every single person had at least a line or two whether they wanted one or not (because he knew at the end of the day if they didn't want one they would just quit).

Currently, Tommy had two lines and he couldn't be happier. It felt so surreal to be wanted in something so much that he was giving an extra line than necessary.

He knows he didn't get the lead or anything like that but even just the small part he has makes him all happy and bouncy inside.

Currently they were practicing a scene that Tommy wasn't in, so he was sitting at the side watching with interest and judging the main characters faces (mentally noting down what would portray the characters better) when two boys came and sat down beside him.

He's confused. Why would people sit beside him? He's not anything special. People normally don't look at him more than once but these people have voluntarily just sat beside him.

"Hi." One of the boys (Tommy noticed it was the one that was sitting closer to him) whispered. He had brown, shaggy hair that kept flopping over his eyes which had him bringing his hand up to brush his hair out of his eyeline every few minutes. He was wearing a green button up shirt (not one of the formal ones, more like a kid's dress up shirt) and on the left corner where the pocket sat, Tommy could see there was a bee pin attached to it.

The other boy (who didn't say anything, just opting to give a shy wave instead) had dirty blonde hair that fell down in front of his face, effectively covering one of his eyes. He had a pair of black sunglasses sitting atop of his messy mop of hair, just resting there. He wore a black and white tie dye t-shirt that somehow just matched his vibe (Tommy didn't have the words to explain it, you just got to take his word for it.)

"Hi?" Tommy whispered back. He was questioning himself more and more as the seconds went by. Was he hallucinating? Oh Prime, he's finally going insane, he's going crazy! In his whole life, never had Tommy had people his age (or just people in general) come over to willingly talk to him. Is this the Tommy Innit Watson comeback? Or did they just come over to tell him he had a "kick me" sign attached to his back (it's happened before, he wouldn't be surprised if it appeared again.)

"My name's Tubbo!" The boy who spoke the first time said. There was something weird in the way he said it, like he was happy to introduce himself to Tommy (Tommy wasn't that stupid, he knew that nobody really enjoyed speaking to him, well, except Mr Awe, of course.)

The boy-Tubbo-nudged the other (his friend? best friend? brother? twin?) beside him, seemingly non-verbally telling him to tell Tommy his name. Said boy sighed before introducing himself.

"Hi. I'm Ranboo. Tubbo's cousin." Ah, cousins. So either a really close bond or only tolerating each other because their parents make them, nice.

"Tommy." Tommy muttered back because what was he meant to do? Not give them his name? He may not have any friends but that doesn't mean he doesn't want them. Because he does. Tommy would do anything to have friends that support him to the moon and back, encourage him when he falls down.

"Oh, we know! Tubbo perked up, "Mr Awe told us about you, said we'd be good friends or something and to try talk to you." The brunette cheerfully stated, only earning himself a smack on the back of the head which caused him to let out an unsuspected "ow!" and duck his head.

"I'm pretty sure we weren't supposed to tell him this was a set up, Tubbo! You are so dumb sometimes." Ranboo whisper-yelled (as to not distract the people who were around them). "I'm so sorry about Tubbo, man, I really am." Ranboo said, turning to look Tommy in the eyes and offering a small smile as an apology.

Tommy sighed, "It's all good, Big Man, really. I should have expected him to pull something like this." He admitted quietly. He wasn't upset and he knows Mr Awe means no harm, but sometimes Tommy just wishes he would stay out of his business. It's nice that Sam cares, but are friends that are made this way really friends?

"What do you mean?" Tubbo frowned, pushing hair out of his eyes as he spoke, "Why should you have expected it?"

"Well," Tommy started, "he is always trying to get me friends, meaning that I probably should have expected him to do something about the very little progress that was being made." He elaborated with a shrug.

"Oh." Was all Tubbo said, glancing back at the scene that was being practiced to see if they'd moved on yet (they had but neither of the three were in that scene anyways.)

"When are your birthdays?" Tommy asked. If he was going to be friends with them, he should at least know if he's older than them or not, like that's important information that could totally change his view of these people.

"November second. When's yours?" Ranboo replied.

"December twenty-third." Tubbo stated rather solemnly, hating his birthday for being so close to Christmas-like seriously, you get less presents because you're already getting everything you want for your birthday so you have nothing left for Christmas!

Tommy let out a groan. How were both of them older than him? Both of them! Not to mention that the two of them were already twelve and he was still eleven. He doesn't want to be the baby of the group!

"April ninth." Tommy said, answering Ranboo's question about his own birthday.

"Ha!" Tubbo cried, "we're older than you!"

"Tubbo!" Ranboo shrieked, before quieting down at the looks he got, "don't say that. It's mean." He told Tubbo, because telling somebody you were older was a really bad thing to do.

"What? He's practically a baby!" Tubbo teased light-heartedly.

"Stop!" Tommy laughed (Holy Prime somebody just made him laugh that wasn't himself or a video he saw online.)

Tubbo took this as an invitation to keep teasing him and Ranboo just put his head in his hands, trying to keep himself from calling home.

And hey, maybe forced (it wasn't forced) friendships could actually work out.