Band Camp Boyfriend One Shots!!!!

My Player Two (Tom)

Setting/Notes: Wednesday, fix-it/missed opportunity, Cafeteria, Tom's POV when Cadence says she would choose him over Peter.

Tom POV:

Walking into the cafeteria I smell them cooking burgers again. Let's just hope mine doesn't get stolen by that pesky raccoon, it was a waste of good food! I grab my tray and see Peter, already sat at our usual table with his lunch, watching me with a smug look. I wonder what he did this time, it's probably not good but what can you do. Shrugging off my initial feeling of doom yet to come I sit down across from him.

"So Tom" he says, a mischievous look in his eyes, "did you know that all your hours spent gaming have been recorded by your console?"

"Yeah, why?" I look at him confused, deciding my lunch is more important then whatever he's going on about I take another bite. He looks pleased with himself as he responds.

"Well all those time logs are really easy to access, and since you've been letting me play on the console with you so often they are easy to access for me too." It takes me a minute before I realize, oh he's explaining he can see my time logs, or...HE'S ALREADY SEEN THE TIME LOGS!! How many he's seen I don't know but I can't give away how bad some of them are if he hasn't seen them yet. I try to keep calm but can't help my voice from cracking as I speak.

"You can see the time logs, so what?" I stare at him, so intensely focused on keeping my expression solid I almost miss what he says next.

"I mean jeez, Tom, you might as well date your gaming console. You're never going to get a girlfriend." He says matter a factly. Yesh Peter, have you got no faith in me?

"You can't say that for sure!" I retort, but before I can get another word out I hear Cadence's voice a few feet away from us. We both turn in her direction.

"Cadence!" I give her a wave.

"Have a seat." Peter gestures to a few of the open seats around us and she sits down.

"So what were to two just talking about." Her question brings Peter back to if current favorite topic.

"You won't believe the number of hours Tom has logged in video games." He says, laughing at his own statement. Further proving my point that the heat exhaustion from drum corps is still effecting his brain.

"Hey! She doesn't need to know about that!" I reply, trying to cover for Peter's ridiculousness "Let's talk about something else. How's your day going, Cadence?" Before she has a chance to respond Peter jumps right back into the time logs.

"Tom's never going to manage to keep a girlfriend because he pours all of his time into his nerdy hobbies." I give an annoyed grumble, I think my hobbies could be quiet endearing to the right girl. And what does the fact my hobbies are nerdy have to do with having a girlfriend, we're all in marching band here.

"Come on, you know it's true! Why don't we just ask Cadence?" As if her she were the supreme judge and we were presenting her with a case.

"Me?!" Cadence practically exclaims, she's got quiet a pair of lungs on her, a great pic for drum major. Ignoring her outburst, Peter continues with his suggestion.

"If you had to choose between the two of us, who would you date?" Peter asks, taking this pretty seriously. Granted I'm taking it pretty seriously too, I notice my heart rate pick up at the slight possibility of her choosing me, I'm caught off guard by her immediate response.

"You want the honest answer? I'd date Tom." Ok now I think my heart knows just as much as my brain does cause my mind is absolutely spinning.

"Really?!" I say a little too hopefully, though I don't worry about it too much as my mind is still racing with possibilities. Peter on the other hand looks awestruck, seemingly confused by the fact someone could choose anyone over him. Gee thanks buddy.

"I'm Peter, in case you forgot. Tom is the other one." He says, not mockingly but as if it were a reasonable clarification. I'm not given time to process that douche move on Peter's part cause Cadence jumps right back in.

"I didn't confuse your names! I choose Tom!" My heart picks back up at the sound of my name, somehow sounding even better on her lips.

"He's addicted to video games!" Peter retorts, getting worked up.

"So what? I would be happy to be his Player Two!" She says quickly. We all fall silent for a moment. My heart not remembering how to function as I stare at her with my full unwavering attention.

"Y-you.." It takes me a second to focus enough to even get the words out. "..want to be my Player Two?" I watch her hopefully. I never thought 9 words could throw me off so easily. But they are clearly the best nine words to ever be said to me. "I think my heart just stopped...call the paramedics." I say, acting as if I am playing up my lightheaded airy words but in reality surprised I can still form whole thoughts.

"They'll never get to this damn camp in time. We'll have to just let you die." Peter says, happy to have something over me again.

"At least I'd die happy." I say dreamily, barely letting any thoughts pernitrate me as I replay what Cadence just said over and over in my head. "his Player Two" I like that...a lot.

The atmosphere breaks with the sound of Cadence's voice snapping me out of my daze. She redirects her attention to Peter, maybe not being able to look me in the eyes after her bold statement as her checks are as rosy as mine feel.

"Besides, "Peter, you have Felicity, so..." she tries redirecting the conversation to anywhere-but-here-ville but Peter clearly doesn't catch on or care.

"So you're saying if I didn't have Felicity, your answer would be different?" He says, his smug look coming back to him. Me on the other hand not so much as he just broke whatever was left of what Cadence said to me. I won't let go of her words though, they may carry more meaning than she realized when she said them but she didn't back track or deny any of it even after she realized what she had said. That's gotta be a sign right?

"She's not saying that! Are you Cadence?" She looks at me a second too long, catching something in my eyes that seems to throw her for just a second. She recomposes just as quickly as she would on the drum major's platform.

"I'm done talking. Let's change the subject." She says, pushing away the lingering resentment from Peter.

"Right, I still need to tell you how many hours Tom has logged on this one game." Peter saying that puts me right back where we left off. I will not let him ruin my chance with anyone today, especially not Cadence.

"You do not!"

A/N: That was fun, I liked trying to write it in Tom's POV. And also one shots are hard to write since you have to come up with a mini plot for each and everyone. Fix-its and missed opportunities especially are a lot easier cause you take what happened and change a few things or right in a canon compliant extra scene. I'd like to write more scenes in the guys perspectives so if you have one you'd like to see leave a comment or dm please! Thank you so much for reading my story and being a proud marcher! -Nicky