The Year We Had (MCYT AU)

7: Animal Crossing

Tommy had struggled through his first two classes of the day.

Coming in several weeks late to the year certainly didn't do him any favours, but he was also unlucky enough to not have Tubbo in a single one of his classes in the first half of the day. It was unfortunate, but they only shared two classes together, and one of them wasn't even scheduled on for today.

At the recess break, he met up with Tubbo. He briefly saw his brothers, who seemed somewhat out of sorts, but Tommy put it down to the stress of the school. He grabbed a quick snack before heading to his next class, which just so happened to be Spanish.

The period passed by agonisingly slow, but as soon as the bell went he was out of his chair and heading for the door, rushing down the hall and towards English, one of the only classes he got to share with Tubbo.

He greeted his friend with a wide smile and a wave. He had been so very alone all day.

"Tommy!" Tubbo cheered, waving him over and gesturing to the seat beside him. "How was Spanish?"

"Shit." Tommy nodded. "How was physics?"

"Oh, it was actually really interesting!" Tubbo said enthusiastically, diving into an explanation with words that Tommy didn't exactly understand, but listened intently to anyway. Tommy was just glad to finally have someone to talk to. He hated sitting alone.

Tubbo's speech was cut off by a clapping from the front of the room, from who Tommy presumed to be the teacher. He found himself automatically clapping the rhythm back to the man, despite the fact that he hadn't done that since he was in year one, and it was a trick used on children. It was still fun, though, and the entire class echoed it right back, which made the man smile. "Awesome."

He cleared his throat, clasping his hands together. "We're just going to continue on with the questions today. I don't think you guys need any extra homework, so I'll give you the period to finish them off. I'm available for any questions you've got. And yes, you can listen to music. But if anyone walks in and you get caught with phones, that's not on me. Everyone good with that?"

There was a chorus of murmurs, and a good amount of nodding. The guy nodded back, smiling out at his class. The students started getting to work, and he scanned over each of them individually until he spotted Tommy.

"I didn't think we were allowed phones in class." Tommy said to Tubbo, who was already pulling out his exercise book and his copy of Romeo and Juliet.

"We're not, but Sam's chill. We have this kind of understanding, where we all behave and he lets us have nice things." He shrugged it off.

"Sam?"

"Yeah." Tubbo nodded in the general direction of the man at the front of the room. "Sam. He doesn't like using last names. Something about power dynamics or whatever."

The teacher made his way over, giving Tommy a smile as he crouched down to become level with his desk. "You're my new kid, right?"

Tommy raised his eyebrows for a moment before nodding. "That's me."

The man smiled warmly. "Nice to meet you. Thomas, isn't it?" He held out his hand to shake. Tommy was so startled by the way the man wasn't being a condescending prick that he faltered slightly before shaking. Tubbo watched the interaction with a small smile.

"Tommy."

"Tommy it is." He nodded. "You can call me Sam. I'll be your English teacher, and your head teacher as well."

"My what?" Tommy asked, his eyebrows drawing together slightly.

"Head teacher." Sam repeated with a nod. "I basically oversee the male dorms on the B floor, and check in with all the students. If you have any questions, concerns, or just want a chat, you can always come find me. I have a small apartment at the end of the hall."

Tommy took this in, nodding slightly. Tubbo had mentioned something about that last night. He still didn't really understand fully, but he supposed that he wouldn't really need to. With Techno and Wilbur just one floor above him, he didn't need to worry about which adults to go to. But nonetheless, he gave Sam a nod. "Yeah, okay. Thanks."

Sam smiled a content smile. "I understand that you've just come into the school a few weeks late, so you're probably not up to date on the work."

Tommy nodded his agreement. He hadn't even touched the assigned reading.

"That's perfectly okay, I'm gonna schedule you differently to everyone else and try to get you up to speed at a different pace. I don't want you to worry about the questions, I want you to read the books sometime in the next week."

"I can do that." Tommy agreed, knowing fully well that he would not be doing that. Techno did this unit last year, didn't he? He'd probably have all the info Tommy would need.

"Awesome." Sam said, smiling once more. "If you need help with anything, don't hesitate to stop by. Even if you just want to have a chat. Okay?"

"Okay." Tommy managed a smile. He had no intentions of accepting, but it was a kind offer and even he could realise that. Sam gave him one more smile before he stood and moved across the room to another student who had raised their hand, asking for help on something.

Tommy glanced at Tubbo, who was frowning deeply and running his finger along one line of dialogue repeatedly, muttering each word to himself.

"You okay there?" Tommy asked, tilting his head.

Tubbo looked up, looking almost ashamed. "Yeah, I'm alright. I just--I'm not great at reading is all."

Tommy started to laugh, thinking it to be some sort of joke, but Tubbo's face didn't change. He cut off his laugh suddenly and frowned. "Wait seriously?"

"Yeah." Tubbo sighed, glancing down at the book. "It's called dyslexia. The letters get all jumbled up."

Tommy frowned. "That's really shit."

"It's alright, I guess. Just takes a long time on English subjects. I'm much better with numbers."

There was an almost tense silence, but Tommy had just the thing to break it. "You know who that Sam fellow sounds like?"

Tubbo raised his eyebrows in anticipation. "Who?"

"Tom Nook."

Tubbo burst into laughter, his eyes squeezing shut as he rocked forward in his chair and pressed his face into his hands, his shoulders shaking silently. "He does! You're so right."

Both boys had played their fair share of Animal Crossing. Tommy made the connection faster than he was willing to admit that he had. Tubbo took a deep breath, getting himself under control. "I don't know why that was so funny."

"Because I'm right, obviously." Tommy proclaimed with a grin. "I'm a genius, Big T. Sam Nook's--" He let out a loud wheeze that he tried to rein in, but with no success. Of course, his laughter sent Tubbo off the edge again, and before they knew it they were both gasping for breath.

"What are we talking about?" Sam asked, returning to their desk and this time pulling up a chair. "I didn't think Romeo and Juliet was that funny, but maybe I'm just reading it wrong."

He didn't sound angry, which Tommy thought was weird. He opened his mouth to make up an excuse, but Tubbo spoke before he could.

"You talk like Tom Nook sometimes, Sam." Tubbo couldn't fight off his smile. It was just too accurate. "You know, from animal crossing."

"Oh, do I?" Sam asked, his eyebrows raised in amusement.

Tommy had expected to be told off, maybe made to move from Tubbo. He did not expect Sam to laugh and take it in his stride. Of course, he still told them to get back to work and stop talking about Animal Crossing, but not without a smile.

As they left the classroom at the end of the period, Tommy came to the conclusion that he liked Sam just fine.