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aro-throughyourchest · 1 year

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Uninvited Guests

Word count: 1976 Jack-Manifold Centric/Bitter Duo Centric Summary: Hey, remember that one time I made a hypothetical where Jack threw a party and only Tommyinnit showed up? Well I hate myself!

He did everything right.

He really did.

There were decorations everywhere; the invitations had the location, time, coordinates; he even brought fucking balloons. They were childish as fuck, but he bought them 2 silver ingots for a box and 1 diamond for a pump. (Bit of a ripoff if you asked him for one fucking pump.)

The food was on the table, (Niki made cupcakes, you bastards,) the table was set, everything was there; all they had to do was show. Not even bring a present! Just show up.

So why was Jack Manifold standing there like the dumbest motherfucker in the world with his shitty balloon in hand staring at an empty room with no one but Niki?

“Jack, I-”

“Don’t.”

The words slipped out of his mouth before he had a chance to stop them, and he could see the resignation on Niki’s face. He didn’t mean to say it like that, but Prime, wasn’t this the saddest sight?

He could already see Niki starting to open her mouth, and he already had a hand up before she could say something.

“They’re not coming. I can already tell you.”

Niki waved her hands hesitantly, “Well, maybe if we just give it a little more time, they-”

“Just let it go.” Jack collapsed into his chair, covering his face with his hands. The balloon floated up to the wooden ceiling. “I want to let it go.”

Niki looked on with concern and soon, disappointment. Jack couldn’t stay mad at Niki but fuck. He knew in his fucked-up little heart that no one ever show, he knew this was going to happen- But admitting... That for five seconds- He felt optimistic? For five seconds, when he handed out the letters and he saw genuine intrigue in someone else’s eyes or consideration, he felt the lightest flutter of stupid hope- Of maybe a chance of them showing up? The shame- Of just having hope.

He needed a drink.

“Jack, no, you are not drinking on your birthday-” Niki responded and chased after him.

Jack reached through the cabinets, and Niki quickly took down his arm. They made eye contact, Jack finally seeing the fire in her eyes, and he dragged a hand over his glasses.

“I’ll be fine, I just- I fucking hate this, Niki.”

“I know...”

“You said they would show.”

“I know...”

“And no one’s fucking her-”

Jack stopped and turned to the door with Niki at the slightest creak, watching as it popped open. Jack’s jaw hung open while Niki’s eyes lit up.

A mess of blonde hair stuck its head through the opening, the owner bringing an invitation with it.

“This is Manifoldland, coordinates 24, 63, 89, innit?”

“NO! GET THE FUCK OUT!”

“Jack!” Niki snapped, slapping him lightly on the arm as Jack gestured very angrily to the ‘intruder.’

“Oh good, because I was worried this was Jack Manifold’s party, the party I was invited to, and not someone else’s.”

Tommy plucked a balloon from the stand Jack set up and strolled over, placed a present in Jack’s arms and strolled over to the table to take a seat.

Jack gestured to Niki wildly. “What the fuck am I supposed to do about him?”

She looked over to Tommy quickly before dragging Jack out into the hallway. “I know you hate him-”

“I don’t see why you stopped, frankly.”

“He showed up, Jack.”

Jack realized in that moment what she meant, but quickly replaced the idea with ambivalence.

“So?”

Niki smiled and took his hand in hers. “Can you give him a chance?” She asked.

Jack paused.

“He showed up, Jack. Doesn’t that mean something?”

She motioned to the present, now sitting on the counter.

“He brought you a gift too.”

A shudder sent up Jack’s spine.

Yeah. Gifts.

“But...“

“I’m not saying forgive, or even let go of your history-” She made a face. “I know how hard that is.”

Jack bit his lip.

“But you could try to tolerate each other.”

He sighed, spying a quick glance at Tommy and immediately furrowing his brow. “I don’t want him here.”

Niki furrowed her own brow. “Well, he’s here now, Jack. You can kick him out or... Tolerate him for a couple minutes.”

She pulled him back into the main room, where Tommy seemed to be playing a joyous game of bap the balloon. Classy.

“What if I don’t want to do this?”

“It’s pretty hard to split a cake between two people, Jack,” Niki joked, but the intent was the same.

He sighed. “Fine. But if he starts acting stupid, I’m kicking him out.”

Niki nodded and still noticed the tension on Jack’s face, placing a hand on his back. She could not deny this was strange.

“So- What? What do I do?” “Well, what did you plan to do if someone came?”

Jack thought for a minute and ran to the back of the room, pulling something out of a closet.

“Why didn’t you just leave the games out?” Tommy interjected. Jack internally worried about how much he heard.

“Didn’t feel like it.”

Maybe he thought conversation would be a good ice breaker; it would not be a good ice breaker with Tommy Innit.

Jacks brought out a box of-... Fuck sakes.

“Did you seriously buy a game of fucking Jacks?”

“Did you seriously buy a game of fucking-” Jack mocked. “Fuck you, I know how to play! That’s all that matters! Don’t be a dickhead.”

He slammed the box on the ground and dumped the jacks and ball out, quickly realizing Jack was the only one who knew how to play jacks. Fuck you.

He took a singular jack in hand and gestured to it.

“Okay we know what this is, right?”

“A jack.” Tommy pointed out, Niki snickering beside him.

Jack falsely laughed. “You’re lucky I don’t lob this at your head.”

“I’m lucky Niki Nihachu’s right there.”

Tommy smugly pointed to an unimpressed Niki Nihachu.

Jack cleared his throat and nodded, “Right.”

He shot nervous eyes over to Niki and continued with the game.

“So... How you play is right-”

As he explained the rules, Tommy seemed determined to butt in and make Jack look silly, but once the game began- He looked more and more relaxed, almost rubbing off on Jack. It was almost fun. No, that couldn’t be right.

Tommy shot his arms in the air with a loud, “YEAHHHHH!!”

“I’m so good at this game!”

Jack groaned. He was so fucking bad at this game.

Even Niki had a good lead with her, getting all the way to ten jacks relatively quickly.

Jack...

Not so well.

“How am I dead last?”

“Get good, Manifold,” Tommy gloated and wrote a new score for himself on the board.

“It’s almost like you’ve played before!”

Something akin to dread filled Tommy’s face as Niki raised a hand. “I’ve never played before.”

“Yeah,” Tommy said. “Maybe you’re just bad at it.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Jack didn’t fail to notice the way his voice shook and the way Tommy almost immediately went back to character.

“Come on, Jack,” Tommy said, tossing Jack the ball. “At least catch up to Niki.”

“Hey!” Niki punched him in the arm. He didn’t flinch. Was that a good thing?

With a quick hand, Jack threw the ball and...

“Fuck yeah, six!”

He threw the ball again and grabbed the other four, and Tommy uncapped the marker.

“So Jack’s new score, with that six, is... 14.

“But you’re close and that’s good!”

Jack sighed, and Niki patted him on the shoulder.

“Alright, Niki’s go-”

Niki cheered. “10, oh my gosh, 10!”

She giddily looked over to Tommy who put down the whiteboard. “Well played, Niki Nihachu. Well played..."

She giggled, and even Jack couldn’t find it in himself to be mad. Why was he happy? He hated Tommy. And yet he was having fun.

Niki pushed herself up from her place on the floor with a smile. “Alright, I’ll go grab the cake.”

That left Tommy and Jack.

Without Niki there to balance Jack out-

“So. Why’d you come?”

Not picking up or not caring about the hostility, Tommy answered.“A party sounded fun. Spend all my time stuck inside anyway, might as well.”

His mouth formed a taut line. He waved his hand, and it went away. “Plus you said Niki would be baking and that’s never not a bonus.” He plucked a cupcake from the table behind him to prove his point.

Niki brought out the cake before any more questions could be asked. “Thank you for coming, Tommy, otherwise, me and Jack would’ve had to eat all this by ourselves.”

It wasn’t as much a problem as she let on, but Tommy took the gratitude anyway. She struck a flame over the candles, and they began to sing.

It was clear Tommy, nor Jack, very well knew the words, but it helped that Niki coached them along.

She cut three slices of cake and passed it out to the two; Jack didn’t notice the tremor in Tommy’s hand as he lifted the fork and... “I’ll.” He set it down. “I’ll wait to eat.”

“Oh!” Niki smiled. “That’s okay- You’ve kinda been eating all our snacks anyway.”

They laughed, and Tommy leaned back in his chair. “I thought this party was gonna turn out shit, you guys aren’t bad hosts. Really.”

“Well, you aren’t a bad guest.”

Jack smiled. “Yeah-” What the fuck was he saying?

Tommy sighed and checked his communicator. “Oh. Tubbo said save him some cake. He’s bringing Michael over.”

That got Jack’s attention.

“He is?”

He didn’t mean to say that as loudly as he did.

The party went. Swimmingly after that.

There’s a better word, but Jack really couldn’t describe it. Turns out, bringing a child wasn’t as grating as Jack expected when he opened the door. They kept Tommy.

And party games were a lot better with more than just three people. Even considering Tubbo’s desire to turn them up to 11 and make them genuinely dangerous. And when all was said and done and the party winded to a close, Jack could confidently say...

“I actually didn’t mind having you over.”

Tommy blinked and rolled his eyes. “Oh thank you for the high honor, Jack. I’m so flattered.”

“Oh fuck off.”

Tommy sighed, grabbing his things. “And maybe I didn’t mind coming over.”

“Oh thank you for the high honor, Tom-” “Fuck you!” Tommy laughed.

“I mean, you got Tubbo to come, which was pretty cool.”

He sat up, watching Niki and Tubbo struggle to get a jacket on Michael.

“Niki enjoyed having you over too,” Jack continued.

“Thanks.”

Tubbo strolled over, jacket now fully on Michael as he fiddled with the zipper.

“We’re gonna head home, it’s getting dark,” he said. Michael responded with a quick, “Baba,” something Jack was pretty sure meant bye-bye, and Tubbo grabbed his things.

They waved goodbye and headed out the door.

Tommy got up and stretched. “I should get going too. Is it alright if I bring a couple of snacks to Shroud?”

Jack held up a hand, and Tommy ran over to the table to start bagging food.

“Thanks for coming,” Niki said, hanging him his coat.

“Really it’s nothing at all.”

That meant more than what he said.

“I know what it feels like when no one shows up, if I could spare that, that’s enough.” Tommy smiled, and before Jack could question, he was out the door.

“...Bye Tommy.”

Niki sat down next to him with a sigh. “Well you gave him a chance.” She leaned against him. “Did you hate it?”

“I guess I didn’t.”

Tommy pulled his coat tighter around him.

There were decorations everywhere; the invitations had the location, time, coordinates; he even brought fucking cake. The food was on the table, the table was set, everything was there; all they had to do was show. Just show up.

So why was Tommyinnit sitting at an empty table with only Dream?

#dream smp #dsmp #jack manifold #tommyinnit #c!jack #c!tommy #c!nihachu #c!niki #dsmp fic #bitter duo #jack manifold centric #niki nihachu #why do they have coats when Jack joined in summer fuck off #long fic

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