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Tommy sighed as he grabbed a coffee from the freezer in the back of the 7-Eleven. They pressed their forehead on the glass and questioned every choice he’d ever made. What the hell was he doing studying medicine in America. He reopened the freezer and grabbed two more drinks. What the hell. They might as well go all in. A quick jaunt over an isle provided him with some american sweets, but what they wouldn’t give for a custard cream. American biscuits were pretty shit.
“AHHHH.” they yelled out of frustration, but quietly, as to make the smallest amount of people in the store think they were crazy. The cashier looked up for a moment, before returning to work. Tommy supposed a random British man yelling in the back of a 7-Eleven wasn’t the weirdest occurrence in California. As he was thinking A tall person around his age walked into the aisle and stared at him with concern.
“Are you alright?” “oh I’m fine. Just regretting my entire existence, my career plan and moving to California. America has no good biscuits. And I don’t even know what day it is. I think it’s Monday? But I’m not sure.” They both looked stunned for a moment, and Tommy was rather wishing he had shut up for once, when the other spoke.
“Well, not sure about the first two, but I think it’s a Wednesday? And I’ve got those biscuits.” “Oh? You got a secret cookie empire?” “Nah. I’ll leave the cookie empire’s to the Girl Scouts.” Tommy watched as the stranger looked off into space as If a backstory was about to start and shuddered.
“Those girls are scary. They come to the door and I just kinda sit there because if I go to the door I’ll have no clue what to say and I’ll buy cookies, but it feels rude to not answer. So then I’m just panicking in the middle of my living room carpet, and this little kid is ringing my doorbell, and my neighbours are probably going to start complaining but if I go to the door now then it’s like “why didn’t you just come the first five times I rang the bell!” And I get guilt tripped into spending 45 bucks on cookies.”
The stranger smiled awkwardly, and panted slightly, as if out of breath from the monologue they just let out in the aisle of a seven-eleven. The employee at the checkout counter looked unfazed, not even glancing over. “Heh. Uh. Sorry… I can get..carried away sometimes.”
Tommy just smiled “that’s alright. I’m the one that screamed so,” they shrugged. “Anyways, you said something about biscuits?” “Oh That’s true! I did say that. Technically they’re not mine, they belong to my roommate. But its fine. He keeps hiding my m ‘n m’s so he knows somethings coming from him.” The stranger grinned maliciously, and something about made Tommy not want to get on this persons bad side.
“So how do I acquire these biscuits?” “Well, we can just head to my dorm after we buy our stuff.” “Cool.” Tommy smiled and grabbed his stuff as he walked towards the counter. “Hey- I just realized, I don’t know your name.” “Oh sorry.” “It’s okay, you don’t need to apologize.” “Sorry. Oh ahh sorry. I -ugh. My name’s Ranboo. I use he/him pronouns.”
“Interesting name Ranboob.” “No? It’s, it’s Ranboo.” “Ah got it Ranboob.” Ranboo sighed. “It’s-that’s not my name.” “You sure?” “I mean, yeah?” ”That’s sounds like a question.” “I said yeah!” “Did you though?” “Yes?” ”How confident are you on that?” “Okay. We are moving on. Tell me your name.”
“Tommy. That’s my name. He/they pronouns.” “Cool.” Ranboo paused. “Uh. can you please move?” “Why?” Ranboo gestures to the store counter, and how there is no longer a line in front of them. “Ah. Thanks.” They quickly checked out, the store door ringing as they walked out into the dry Californian heat.
~~~
The two grabbed a bus to the dorms, only encountering a few issues, the first of which being when Tommy pulled out his wallet and searched for some change, claiming that he was a “starving artist kid” and so they didn’t have any money. “Oh do you do art? That’s my major! What kind of art?” Ranboo asked, while the bus driver and entire bus watched as Tommy failed to produce enough money to pay.
Because of this, they took their backpack off and dug around for loose change, while responding. “What type of art? Uh, the art of humans I guess?” “Like portraiture?” “I mean, kinda?” “That’s cool. I do mixed media. How do you feel about the upcoming final projects?” “Uh..” Tommy shrugged, putting the rest of the coins he found in the coin collector. They started walking back into the bus to find a seat. “I’m not actually an art major.” “Wha- okay. What do you do then?” “ I guess it’s kind of an art, I’m a med student. I do also do art on the side, but it’s not my major.”
“Oh nice. That’s cool.” The bus ride passed quickly, and soon enough they reached the dorms.
~~~
They reached the door to Ranboos dorm, and he dug around in his pockets to find his keys. he held them up triumphantly, and slid the keys into the lock with a jingle. He turned them three times to the right and then twice back to the left in quick succession before pushing the heavy door open.
“Welcome to my lair” Ranboo said while leading Tommy inside. “So this is the living/dining room,” Ranboo gestured to a beanbag, a few beat up folding chairs and an old leather armchair gathered around a small foldable table. He walked into a small corner of the room saying, “this is the kitchen.”
The kitchen was a water kettle, a toaster and a small mini fridge. The wall had a few shelves with ramen, box mac n cheese and pop tarts. Ranboo rummaged around a bit before saying “I think my roommate took them. You just wait here and I’ll go grab them.”
The moment Ranboo walked out of the room Tommy’s thoughts began to run away from him. They just went to the dorm of some random collage student. For all he knew, Ranboo could be getting a knife to kill him. Except, Tommy was in the kitchen and there were already knives there. Their point still stands, going into this apartment was dumb, and he could be about to die.
He jumped, the noise of someone unlocking the apartment scaring him. Was that Ranboo’s roommate? Should they hide? Before he could think the door opened.
“Honey!! I’m hoooooome!!” A voice echoed through the flat. A shuffling noise and a few concerning crashes followed by an “I’m okay!!” led Ranboo to pop his head out the doorway to his roommates room.
“I thought you were at a lecture?” “I was, but then it got canceled.” Ranboo let out an awkward laugh and stepped into the living room, hiding the biscuits behind his back. “What.” Tubbo pouted. “Are you not happy to see me babe?”
“Ran!! You didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend!” Tommy sauntered out from the kitchen, having seen the opportunity for an introduction and taken it, hoping to avoid an awkward first meeting. “Congrats,” They turned to Tubbo and shook his hand, “although, I will say. This one’s a bit wild.” He pointed back at Ranboo with his thumb. “Do you happen to know what day it is?”
Sensing the confusion in the air he continued. “The names Tommy.” “Nice to meet you Tommy. I’m Tubbo, Ranboos roommate. I use any pronouns. And it’s Tuesday.” “Ohhhhhhhh. How’s it feel Ranboo. How’s it feel.”
“How’s… how’s what feel?” “Getting shafted like that. I mean, the man- er person’s your boyfriend. They even know what day it is! That’s a keeper right there.” Ranboo and Tubbo just exchanged a look. They weren’t dating.
“So Tommy. How long have you known Ranboo?” “Oh Ranboob and I go way back. We practically grew up together.” Tubbo glanced at Ranboo who just shrugged. “Even though your British?” Tubbo commented. “Yup. Grew up in ol’logstedshire.” Tubbo sincerely doubted that was a real place.
“What brings you to California?” “Many things, but mainly my old friend Ranboo here and ‘the art of humans’. Right now though, I’m here to steal your biscuits. Thanks!!” Tommy snatched the biscuits from behind Ranboos back and slid out the door before a single word could be spoken.
Once they left Ranboo stared tubbo dead in the eyes and said “I met him twenty minutes ago. He’s a med student.” Tubbo shuddered. “I fear the day he has a patient.” And later that evening when Ranboo found a piece of paper in his pocket that said
Thanks for the drugs.
xxx-xxx-xxxx
call me ;)
Ranboo and Tubbo knew that Tommy would be in their lives a lot longer than twenty minutes.