killing time 𖥻 TOMMYINNIT

II. hours at a time

iris and tommy were sitting on the bus, shoulder to shoulder and sharing earbuds when tommy spoke up. "i think i want to drop out."

iris yanked her headphone out to turn and face him. "you're gonna drop out?"

"considering it, yeah." he said. he looked at her nervously and she gripped his hand. "might stick it out for a few months. i've got that short film in couple of weeks. i dunno."

"whatever you decide," she bumped her shoulder against his. "always knew you were a disappointment."

tommy laughed and rested his head on top of iris. "i'll miss you."

iris reached up and pressed the button for their stop. "i'll miss you too, tom." tommy kept his grip on her hand until they got off the bus. it helped him calm down, he had a lot going on in his head recently. but he didn't want to risk someone seeing them and getting the wrong idea.

the walk from the bus stop to his house was one of tommy's favourite parts of the week. of course he loved streaming, but his job was also stressful in a way iris wasn't.

"you coming over?" iris asked as they reached her front gate.

tommy shook his head. "nah, i've got an essay to do and i wanna stream before i work on it." iris nodded and waved, going inside as tommy continued the short walk to his house.

lachy was sitting on the couch with his laptop when she found him. he was doing uni part time and also working, and he seemed to be handling things a lot better than iris had. she barely had time to finish her assignments and write music. admittedly, tommy took up a lot of her time. she wouldn't complain though. she much preferred the days she streamed with tommy than the days she spent alone in her bedroom.

"hey, squid. how was school?" he closed his laptop and shuffled up. iris sat down near him, pressing her cheek into the cushion. "that good, huh?"

"just sleepy," she wiped one of her eyes. "got homework for one of my classes that i should probably be doing, but i'm more or less up-to-date."

lachy reached over and gave her leg an affectionate squeeze. "take a nap." iris shook her head, and stead shifted her body so her head was resting on her brother's foot. she reached for her backpack and pulled her laptop out, finding her assingment. the two of them sat there for a few hours, both working silently on their own things. eventually, their mother came down the stairs, dressed for work.

she kissed both her children on the heads as she completed her afternoon routine before work. it was what usually happened on afternoons they were all there. lachlan and iris did their own thing in a comfortable silence until their mum woke up and started getting ready for work.

eventually, iris stopped working and managed to convince her brother to as well. he scrolled through netflix while his sister reheated left over pasta. she had just started to relax, lachy putting on a random movie when she got a phone call from tommy. "what's wrong?"

"you know that essay i was telling you about?"

"jesus christ."

so tommy ended up on her bedroom floor, the two of them eating microwaved pasta as tommy pretended to do homework. he'd gotten too into his stream and remembered hours into it, and iris was trying to motivate him. instead, he was just mucking around on his phone while she played piano. she'd been trying to write a song for the past few weeks, but was having trouble with the chord progression.

she was mumbling the lyrics, mainly trying to make the whole thing sound coherent. it wasn't helped by tommy  piping up from the corner every time she opened her mouth. "i wear a mask with a smile for hours at a time."

"you are genuinely of of the most annoying people i have ever met," she abandoned her keyboard and went to sit on her bed. tommy let out a gasp like he'd been shot, a hand on his chest. iris rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone, stifling a yawn.

"one of?" he scoffed. "that's insulting." he crawled over and pulled himself up onto her bed, despite the fact that he had done absolutely no homework. "you have hurt my feelings iris."

"i'm sorry, tommy," she giggled. "i just need to write music and you're interrupting me. i've been struggling with my lyrics. dunno, been sorta lacking inspiration,"

"you'll get there," tommy encouraged her. "not everyone can be as good as dream."

"it's good to have dreams in life isn't it?" iris said wistfully.

"yes, dream is good." he let a fond smile make its way onto his face as he looked at her. "do you want to meet some of my streamer friends? like, of course you can say no it's just restrictions are getting easier and ranboo's flying over and i thought you might like to. doesn't have to be on camera, it can be if you want though! whatever you're comfortable wi-"

"tommy," she interrupted gently. "sure. i'd love to meet them. maybe not all of them at one or anything. also i'd rather stay facecless if that's cool?"

tommy nodded eagerly and surged forward to wrap his arms around his best friend. she fell over with a small exhale, squeezing him back. "awesome. they'll love you, i promise,"

"will you let me write now?" tommy scrambled off her and went to go entertain himself. she went to sit back down at her creaky piano bench. her arms had goosebumps and for a moment she missed his weight on top of her.

— AUTHOR'S NOTE
this is like mid 2021 by the way so covid is fairly relaxed but still a thing that people worry about it and everything