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Clay's graduating later this week.
They're going to hang out later today. Tommy doesn't get to hang out with Clay much, anymore; he's busy with graduation prep. Sometimes in the alchemy lab, but mostly drilling in the seniors-only section of the gym, which Tommy can barely even be mad about it because Clay's so fucking cool; he pulls off stunts that turn heads, not just getting to the end but showing off, parkouring around the course with Nick and George and the rest of them while chanting under his breath, making it look easy and fun instead of a death trap. All of Tampa's seniors are quickly becoming a well-oiled team, but Clay--Clay's the star, and he knows it. It reminds Tommy of watching Terrence, before the Scholomance. He had dreamed of being that good, one day.
But today Tommy doesn't go to the gym to watch Clay; he goes to his room.
The first thing he does is poke at his shoes with a needle and thread, nominally because they've got a big hole in them but mostly because he should be building mana for Clay.
Only for fifteen minutes, though. He doesn't care that much.
When he dies, he doesn't want everyone looting his room like they did with Wilbur. That was--he had stood by Wilbur, until the end. Nobody stood by him, except Clay. They don't get to have his things. So he sorts his items into two piles, which he mentally labels TO BE USED TODAY and TO BE HIDDEN OR DESTROYED.
TO BE USED TODAY: Toby's water bottle, his spare tokens, a couple of peanut butter cups still left over from the party-that-wasn't, the clothes on his back, the blanket on his bed, the shoes on his feet, his mana storage.
TO BE HIDDEN OR DESTROYED: his abandoned attempt at a knife, Phukkit, Over the Rainbow and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, his music box, one pen, his baby blanket, the unfinished draft of How to Sex 3, Linda, Alex's rosary, some half-started attempts at final projects and essays.
It's not very much. It all fits under his pillow. Before he dies, he can throw it all in the void, along with Toby's water bottle and the clothes on his back.
Henry and Shroud give him pause. They're--well, they're alive. He shouldn't kill them just because nobody else deserves them. So they can be a third pile. It works out, anyway; Clay would notice and get suspicious if his room was too empty.
He says goodbye to each of the items in the second pile, plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and then switches the cylinders and plays Over the Rainbow. He apologizes to How to Sex 3 for not finishing it. He apologizes to all of them, as a group, for throwing them into the void, which he hasn't done yet but probably will. He's probably throwing himself in the void too, so it's equality, but he gets it if that doesn't really feel any better, especially since he's putting them all under a pillow first.
When the time comes, he brings all his tokens to meet Clay at the snack bar. Clay's bringing all his tokens, too; no point in saving them for later anymore. Neither of them have any future left in here.
