Infected

13 - The Party

"I was thinking, Tommy," Clay said as the two brothers ate breakfast. "Perhaps you could use a day off, of all the hard work you've been doing. So, I've decided to let you have some friends over tonight. Perhaps Tubbo and the others."

"Really?" Tommy said he couldn't believe it. He hadn't had this kind of freedom with Clay since, ever.

"Of course, they would gladly come, right," Clay said. "And I know you've been enjoying hanging out with Bad and the others. So I arranged for you guys to do some things." Tommy did remember Bad, but he had hardly been present for any of his training the past week. He had seen him occasionally the first week of training, but then he just stopped showing up and Clay had said nothing of it.

"Oh, uh cool," Tommy said. "Pog."

"We even found out where Skeppy had been," Clay said, smiling as he took a sip of his coffee. He stood up a ruffled Tommy's hair. "I'll see you by the time you come home. Then we can wait for your friends to get here. I'll be sure to call Wilbur or Philza."

"Bye," Tommy waited to hear the door shut before sprinting to where Clay's room was. The door was locked but he was prepared for it, he took out a lock pick kit Charlie had given him and started working at the door. Soon the door opened with a satisfying click. He let out a small gasp, he hadn't actually expected this to work. Slowly he opened the door, and it turned out it wasn't actually his bedroom like he thought, instead it was his office. Tommy worked through the cabinets, but what he looked for was nowhere to be found. Notes and ripped out papers covered the desk and floor surrounding it. They appeared to be crazy ramblings, various cries of help, research on spirits, and on multiple notes it read 'must keep him away from me'. He accidentally hit a key on the computer and an audio recording started playing.

"Tommy," It was Clay, he sounded sad, and broken. "I hope you-"

"Tommy," Antfrost called, either Clay left the door unlocked or he still had the key from years past Tommy assumed. "You here?"

"Yeah, coming!" Tommy called, he quickly shut off the computer, and made his way out of the room, making sure to lock it from the inside so Clay wouldn't be suspicious. He didn't know if he would be able to lock it on the outside. He walked to the entrance where Ant was with Skeppy and Bad. "Hey guys."

"Tommy, good to see you again," Bad said warmly, "boy do we have a fun day planned for you."

"Why is Clay doing all this," Tommy asked.

"Pregame celebration, he always does this," Ant said.

"Oh, should we really be celebrating this early," Tommy said, "I mean we're not exactly guaranteed to win the match in two days."

"Nonsense, you'll do great," Bad said, giving him a smile, "Sam's told me how great you've been doing." But Sam had also been following him an awful lot along with Puffy, so he no longer trusted the firebender.

"Thanks, that means alot," Tommy said.

"Of course, anything for Clay's family," Ant said.

They spent most of the day out on the town. Skeppy kept disappearing, and the one time Tommy followed him, he got lost in the spirit wilds before Bad had found him. After what seemed like a long day to Tommy he finally got home, soon after Clay had come back from whatever he was doing.

"Huh," Clay said, once again checking his watch that night. He now wore a dark green suit jacket with black dress pants. Tommy watched out the window, excitedly waiting for Asami's car, or for Tubbo to come gliding down, or for them to be walking down the driveway with Wilbur and Fundy in tow.

"When did they say they were coming," Tommy asked again, he still hadn't got a clear answer.

"5," Clay said simply, but that's all it took for Tommy's heart to drop. It was well past then, and Tubbo wasn't one to be late. Did this mean they weren't coming? Were they busy and had to fight something at the last minute? No, Wilbur or someone would have called.

"Where are they?" Tommy said as his mind raced, trying to come up with an answer.

"I don't know, I called Wilbur earlier to make sure they were coming," Clay said. "Usually I would say let's wait a bit longer, but I have to go soon. You could come with me."

"Really," Tommy said, Clay had never offered for him to come to anything, work trips or otherwise.

"Of course, I should have a suit that will fit you," Clay went back down the hall and soon came back with a matching suit and tie to his. Quickly, before Clay could change his mind, Tommy took the suit into his room and changed.

"I'm ready," Tommy said as he came back, his tie a bit mangled from him not actually knowing how to tie it. Clay undid the tie and fixed it for him.

"Now you are," Clay said, giving him a smile. "Come on. Let's go have some fun."

They went out to the car and drove to the theater. Clay paid the front, they went into a different section of the theater, and up to a balcony that overlooked the stage. Tommy grinned as he looked down at the stage and actors came on. He vaguely remembered sneaking in here when he was younger, but this was a completely different experience. No one was blocking his view, he had the best seat in the house.

"This is amazing," Tommy whispered, taking a seat next to Clay.

"I know, sure beats whatever you and your friends were going to do," He said jokingly.

"Actually, you're right," Tommy said, they probably would have ended up doing Avatar training at Tubbo's insistence. "I'm starting to think this was the better option."

"Oh, well what's been going on with you and Tubbo," Clay asked, "You guys seem like best friends, but there's something else going on. You know you can tell me anything, Tommy."

Tommy started to feel guilty, he'd been lying to Clay for almost two weeks now. He felt that Clay deserved to know, he would support him after all. "I do need to tell you something."

"Oh yeah," Clay said, "what is it?"

"I- Tubbo believes I'm the next Avatar," Tommy said, he let out a sigh, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from his chest.

"Oh, well actually, that might explain some-" Clay stopped himself. "Nevermind, it's none of my business."

"No, no, I want to know," Tommy insisted.

"Okay, how long have you known Tubbo," Clay asked.

"Uh, I met him a few months ago with Asami, we occasionally went there," Tommy admitted, but tried to be careful with what he said. "And he didn't tell me until a few weeks ago."

"Why not tell you immediately?" Clay said, "if he thought you were the Avatar, why not tell you sooner?"

"Huh," was all he said, but started to wonder if Clay had a point.

"Cause from what I've heard in the past, is that they only got the Avatar when they needed them," Clay said, but his voice started to sound, off.

Tommy looked over at Clay to find him rubbing his head. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a headache," his eyes looked glazed over, and his voice sounded distant. He started to stand up. "I'll be right back."

Exile inspiration go brrrr, sorry, not sorry. Welp, off to keep writing the next chapters. I have so much inspiration and motivation for this book. Also, don't question the times when I publish this.

QotC: Trivia edition - Which dsmp arc has this book mainly been referencing? (Two right answers)

Thank you all for reading, please vote and comment. Peace out benders and Minecrafters from around the world.