Give it time

Ten times unfold

time travelling was supposed to be easy. well you could say kind of.

A few things went like a breeze. Claire now knew his name, He was selected into the play, And he asked Strickler on behalf of his mother to talk about his tardiness. and soon enough it was dates everyday. Strickler was much more fun when he wasnt with his mom for the purpose of stealing her son's toy amulet.

They took him on their dates too and it was pretty enjoyable. it'd be hard to believe he was having fun and doing stuff that didn't involve a magic sword and getting ur ribs damaged for the 95th time.

>>>

The part of time traveling where you hv to protect your best friend from dying and making sure the world doesnt end, yea, that's where you see Jim turn into 'Mr. I'm from the future and I'm kind of losing my shit because I'm fucking paranoid.' But worry not Jim has a plan (past tense). starting with Trollhunter Tobias

“Hey Tobes?”

“Yeah?”

“Take the canal. Maybe you’ll stumble upon something… interesting.” Jim smiled.

“Yeah right Jim,” Toby laughed. “Nothing interesting ever happens in Arcadia. Good luck with Strickler dude, he’s a lot worse than Steve!”

Jim watched Toby walk his bike out of the courtyard and away from school. “Good luck with the amulet.” he whispered.

>>>

“Come in.” A genial voice beckoned in response to his knock. Jim opened the door to see Walter Strickler sitting at his desk in the familiar office.

“Ah! Jim! Please come sit down.” His teacher smiled broadly and gestured to a stool by his desk. It was easy, in the moment, to forget that none of this was genuine. He probably wasn’t really happy to see Jim. Frankly, Jim was most likely keeping him from his real work of bringing about the end of the world.

For a moment, the enormity of Jim’s task overwhelmed him. Standing here, in front of this man he would one day call family, it seemed like crazy luck that he’d been able to get his teacher on his side. He remembered how much they’d truly hated each other at the beginning, he remembered how often he’d thought of ending the man’s life.

Strickler’s smile didn’t falter. “Please…” he gestured at the stool again as Jim warily made his way across the room. He dragged the stool in front of his teacher’s large desk and noticed how comically low it was set. Of course it was. At this point Strickler viewed all humans as inferior, and he would want them to feel that way too. He gave it a few spins to raise it and sat down.

“So, what was it that you needed to talk to me about?”

I need to talk to you about dating my mom so you’ll fall in love, turn on Gunmar, and stop trying to take over the world, Jim thought. Now that would be a fascinating conversation. Keep it simple Jim. Baby steps…

“I was wondering if you might like to come over for dinner and meet my mom?” Jim’s voice cracked with uncertainty, God, he sounded like he was seven.

One of Strickler’s eyebrows shot up, and he chuckled in that way adults do when they think they know more than you. “Well,” he cleared his throat, “that is a very flattering invitation Jim. Thank you.”

Jim sensed a ‘but’ coming.

“Does your mother know you’re making this request on her behalf?”

“Well, no…” he grappled with how to salvage this. Why did Strickler come over the first time? Oh, yeah, because he found out Jim was the Trollhunter. Jim took a moment to be grateful he didn’t have the amulet on him for Strickler to find.

Strickler looked sympathetic. “Your concern for your mother is admirable Jim, but,” Yep, Jim thought, there she be. “It would be inappropriate for me to accept such an invitation from a student.”

Crap, this was going badly. Thinking about it, of course this Strickler wasn’t going to waste time going on blind dates. He wasn’t looking for love, he was looking for world domination. C’mon Jim… THINK!

Wait! Strickler may have come to Jim’s house to spy on the Trollhunter, but he’d told his mom that it was because he was concerned about Jim’s schoolwork. Okay! He could work with that.

“Oh no, I, ah, didn’t mean that Mr. Strickler.” He tried to seem embarrassed, which wasn’t particularly difficult. “My mom, she’s just been concerned about my workload. She’s been wanting to talk to my teachers, ah, you, about it. She knows you’re my favorite teacher, so I thought I’d just ask you.”

The flattery appeared to have a positive affect as Strickler laughed gently. “Ah, well, that is a different matter entirely.” His teacher regarded him for a moment. “I believe I am overdue for a conversation with her. Tell her I’ll be reaching out to set up a meeting.”

Jim stuffed the hoot of joy that threatened to escape his throat back down into his chest. “That’s great!! Really awesome!” Oh geez, he sounded waaay too excited about a parent-teacher meeting. “I mean, ah, great. I just… I hate for her to worry about me.” Jim stood, he should probably leave while he was ahead.

Strickler smiled again. “As I said before, your concern for your mother is quite admirable. And might I add, you’ve seemed in rather good mood today. Is everything going well?”

From the office window, Jim could see Claire walking with her friends across the school’s soccer field. He grinned and answered honestly, “Yeah, things are going really well.”