The Year We Had (MCYT AU)

10: Homework, but loud

"What are you doing?" Wilbur hissed at his brother from the next table over.

Tommy gave him an 'isn't it obvious?' glare. "Reading, obviously."

"Can't you do it in your head?" Wilbur glanced around, making note of where the nearest teacher was and ensuring that he wasn't caught. "I'm trying to read Socrates, and you're making it so much more difficult than it has to be."

"Just read it, bitch. It's not that hard." Tommy hissed, shaking his head at his brother before turning apologetically to Tubbo. "No offence."

"It's okay." Tubbo whispered back with a small smile.

"Tommy if you don't shut up--" Wilbur began.

"I'm trying to work and I'm finding your presence very distracting." Tommy whispered over the top of him.

"I swear to god--"

"Wilbur you are being such a fucking bitch right now--"

The brothers began to whisper viciously over one another. Tubbo sighed lightly, glancing up and making eye contact with Techno, who was sitting across the room at another table entirely. The pink haired boy glanced at his brothers and rolled his eyes. Tubbo nodded slightly, shrugging at him.

Who in their right mind would sit Tommy at a table next to Wilbur? Really, this reflected more on the school than anyone else.

Study hall was a period allocated to everyone after dinner for homework and homework alone. It was allocated seating, and talking was strictly forbidden, except for if you were asking for help from a teacher.

Tommy and Wilbur's viscous whispering drew the attention of a teacher pretty quickly, and before they knew it Hbomb was standing between them, clearing his throat. "Boys."

The brother's fell silent immediately, looking up at Wilbur's head teacher with polite smiles. "Sir." Wilbur said with a nod.

"So, study hall," Hbomb began, talking in a hushed voice so as not to distract the rest of the school, "has this rule about talking. I trust that you know what I'm talking about?"

"Sounds familiar." Wilbur nodded.

"Well really I had a very good reason for talking." Tommy said with a shrug.

Hbomb raised an eyebrow. "You think arguing with your brother is a good reason to talk?"

"Well," Tommy thought for a moment, "Yes. But sir, that wasn't what I was actually doing. I was reading for Tubbo." Tubbo gave a small wave to the teacher, who glanced between them.

"And why can't Tubbo read for himself?"

"I have dyslexia." Tubbo said apologetically. "I can't read very well."

Hbomb's glare softened. He was quiet for a moment, but then gave him a small nod. "You can read for Tubbo."

"Thank you-" Tommy began.

"But you can save talking to anyone else for after study hall. Got it?"

"Yep. Yeah. Absolutely." Tommy gave him a thumbs up. Hbomb gave the two brothers one last firm look before turning and crossing the room to help a student with a raised hand.

Tommy gave Wilbur a cocky smile, and Wilbur rolled his eyes and flipped his brother off as he turned the page of his philosophy textbook. Tommy turned back to the Romeo and Juliet notes and returned to reading them in a hushed voice to Tubbo, who listened carefully to each word.

Across the room, Techno couldn't help but smile to himself. Peace had been restored.

---

Study hall was only an hour and a half, but it felt oh so much longer. When the clock finally struck 8:45, everyone was eager to get out and head back to the dorms.

Nobody was quite sure how it happened, but they all ended up in the common room, spread out across several couches, with the Trolls movie on the tv. Which was interesting, because nobody in the group was even slightly interested in watching it, but the remote seemed to be missing, so they made do.

Their commentary was pretty good, at any rate. Sapnap had a stash of microwave popcorn that he brought out for the occasion, claiming that he required it to get through this horrible, awful movie. Tommy snapped a couple of pictures when nobody was looking, and Dream and Wilbur took to tossing popcorn into eachothers mouths from across the room.

When the iconic 'singing killed my grandma' scene came up, everyone lost their collective shit. Fundy choked on his popcorn, Tommy threw his blanket across the room and Wilbur was on the floor in literal tears for ten minutes. It was just so funny. Maybe it was the long day that they'd had, but this was exactly what they needed.

When there was about thirty minutes left in the film, Sam appeared from the hallway that led to the A level dorms. "What are you still doing out here? Curfew was twenty minutes ago for you two," He pointed at Tubbo and Tommy, "And the rest of you should be back in your dorms by now."

Tommy was still wheezing from the movie. Tubbo managed to push his laughter back. "Sam, Sam please watch Trolls with us. Please. Its such a good stress reliever."

"Yeah!" Sapnap and Dream cheered, waving and encouraging him to come over.

"Come on Sam, I promise it'll make your day better." Fundy agreed.

"It's really, really bad." Niki said with a giggle. Wilbur was still on the floor.

"Is he okay?" Sam asked, glancing at the oldest Watson brother with mild concern.

"Oh, he's fine." Techno waved it off. "The movie's just really, really bad."

"Pleeeeaaaasssseeeeee." Tubbo begged, patting the spot next to him. "It's only got half an hour left."

Reluctantly, the head teacher accepted Tubbo's offer and sat on the sofa. Everyone cheered and turned back to the movie. The last thirty minutes were nothing short of awful. This had to be the worst movie any of them had ever seen. It was also the most that any of them had laughed in a while.

When it drew to a close, everyone was completely exhausted. They all thanked Sam for not making them miss the ending, and headed to bed without a word of complaint.

"Wait, where's the remote?" Sam asked as they all trailed off.

"Oh, yeah. No idea." Techno shrugged, the last in the line of teenagers. "Why do you think we were watching Trolls?"

Sam had to laugh at that, shaking his head as the kids went to their rooms. He walked calmly to the television and pressed the button to turn it off.

The remote was a problem for another day.