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Tom’s well aware that he’s an enigma.
He’s doesn’t mean that as if it’s a good thing, he’s just saying the truth.
If you asked his teachers to describe him, they’d likely say that he’s a “rowdy child who can be a bit too loud at times”. Which translates to “he’s loud and rude to the other students”.
And yeah, Tom will admit that he can be rude to others—but it’s not his fault he doesn’t have a good brain-to-mouth filter. Anything he thinks is typically said, unless he knows otherwise.
Naturally, you’d then go on to think that he’s some sort of delinquent in class, and that’s where you’d be wrong. Contrary to popular belief among the other students that aren’t in his class, Tom gets pretty good grades and has never picked a fight with anyone. He just happens to talk loud and say what he thinks.
He’s always been told that “it’s better to be brutally honest than to say something you don’t really mean” which. Tom doesn’t necessarily agree with that statement, but oh well.
So when he turns in his permission slip to go to the farm with the corn maze for the Halloween field trip, his classmates give him an odd look. Shouldn’t he be out Trick-or-Treat-ing and scaring the children in his neighborhood?
Well fuck you all too, Tom thinks scathingly as his classmates all avoid making eye contact with him.
The bus ride is bumpy and nauseating and once him and his classmates get off, they’re left with the teacher and the couple of aprents that decided to help watch the students.
As the students are allowed to walk around the farm freely, Tom clicks his tongue, irritated, as all of his classmates group up to go walk around together. Of course, no one groups of with him, so he’s left next to the parked bus by himself.
Oh well, Tom doesn’t need something so boring as a partner, he has himself! So he sets off to the one thing he’s been looking forward to this whole time—the corn maze.
It’s a little chilly, but Tom is only wearing his iconic baseball t-shirt, so he simply folds his arms and hopes that it provides a sufficient amount of warmth.
It doesn’t.
He goes through the entrance of the corn maze - he can tell because of the big green sign that says “Enter!” with an arrow - and starts to walk. Some of his classmates are in there, a few feet ahead of him; but then there’s a fork in the road, and Tom takes a different direction from his classmates.
It’s still daylight outside, but there are clouds covering the sun every few minutes, and the air gets chillier. It takes Tom about 10 minutes before he sighs. I’m fuckin’ lost.
He listens for voices, but he can’t hear anyone. His classmates must have already completed the maze. He grunts, and a flash of anger runs through him. Anger for his classmates, his teachers, the volunteering parents, the farmers, the maze he’s trapped in, himself- everything.
So he finds a corner and sits in it, huddling for warmth, because there’s a breeze now that hits his bare arms and head. He grits his teeth and promises himself, As soon as this stupid wind stops, I’ll get up and try to get out.
Tom doesn’t realize he’s dozed off until he’s awoken by a loud guttural sound. His eyes fly open, and he comes face to face with-
“AHH!”
If you were to ask Tom later, he’ll completely deny having screamed while in the corn maze. It was simply a yell. A deep, manly yell.
There’s a pig. He’s a light pink color, and is awfully big—in fact, it’s almost as big as Tom himself.
The pig snorts again, nudging Tom’s hand. He then starts to walk away, taking one of the paths in the maze.
Tom has about a billion questions racing through his mind right now. Why the hell is there a pig? And how did it get all the way out here?? It took me like 30 minutes to get here!
The pig turns to give Tom a look, and somehow, the look is haughty and expectant. So Tom does what any sane person would do; he stands up, brushes himself off, and follows the pig.
The sun is a little lower in the sky than it was when Tom had dozed off. He looks back down to the pig, who’s simply walking through the twists and turns of the maze as if it isn’t literally a pig.
Tom snorts. “Heh, you kinda remind me of Technoblade!”
The pig snorts - somehow sounding intrigued??? - and Tom continues, “He’s a character from my favorite book! He’s super cool, and strong, and he always looks so bored whenever he does anything!”
The pig snorts again, conveying a pleased noise.
Tom scoffs. “Whatever, Technoblade 2.0. That’s your name now, by the way. Technoblade 2.0.”
Technoblade 2.0 simply gives Tom a look as if he’s rolling his eyes.
“Heyy, don’t look at me like that!” Tom cracks a grin. “How are you so- smart? I thought all pigs were dumbassess!”
Technoblade 2.0 faces forward again, giving off an ‘I-take-offense-to-take’ feel. Tom wonders, for the tenth time in the past minute, why this pig is so good at conveying emotions.
And then, just when Tom thinks Technoblade 2.0 can’t be any weirder, he leads Tom right to the exit of the corn maze!
Tom walks out of the maze, his mouth wide open in disbelief. His teacher walks up to him.
“Tom, where have you been this whole time? You can’t just wander off like that!”
As if none of the other students wandered off, Tom thinks to himself grumpily. You’re just saying that because I’m a ‘problem child’ and I was by myself.
Wait a second, Tom wasn’t by himself! He turns around, looking for Technoblade 2.0 - but the pig’s gone. There are no footprints in the dirt or anything to even indicate that Technoblade 2.0 was there in the first place.
Tom will go on to think about Technoblade 2.0 for a while, but when his untimely demise comes, he’ll have stopped thinking about the unusally wise pig. And he doesn’t think of him until the end of the Battle of Champions.
“Hey, did you have any pets back in our original world?” Eryn asks while Tommy’s still being checked by the healers. His head injury has all but faded due to an abundance of Healing Potions as well as him being forced to stay in his bed for the past day.
“Eh, I had a dog when I was super little,” Tommy shrugs, thinking back to his first life. “She wasn’t very smart, though…”
And then, the memory of a sassy pig flashes through his mind; a pig leading him through a corn maze as the sun starts to set and wind starts to pick up.
He snorts. Technoblade 2.0, wherever you are, I hope you’re doin’ good, pal.
“What?” Eryn raises an eyebrow at their friend’s sudden snort.
“It’s nothing,” Tommy waves his hand flippantly. “Just thinking about this cool pig I met…”