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(This RP follows after Projected Mirth by a few hours.)

Owing to a little...mishap which Toby hadn't been able to figure out during the day's Chemistry lab, he found himself back at the classroom after school was done. The teacher, Mr. Hammit, was waiting there with a bucket, a mop, and some scrub brushes.

There was another kid who was supposed to turn up. What was his name? Israel, right? Toby thought the kid seemed alright...just, trying a bit too hard to be "edgy." Possibly the complete opposite of Toby, who was perpetually cheery, even when very sleepy (as often happened), and was always brightly dressed. He kept a spot of his hair bright green, of course, and had similarly bright clothes all the time.

Mr. Hammit told him, "Have a seat. Once Israel gets here, we'll get started with the scrubbing. I dunno how you managed it, but that patch is stuck on there table and floor good."

The teacher glanced at the clock before saying, "Ah good, you're here." He ushered them both to their mess. "I'll be satisfied once this patch here," he indicated a purplish expanse on the table and floor beneath, staunched in places by some cups and rags. "Is no longer sticky. Preferably also not discolored, but this is a chemistry lab. I'll settle for usable."

He set down the cleaning supplies, and said, "Get to work. I've got some papers to grade."


"It's not...that bad, I guess," Toby said, looking at the mess before gently poking a sticky spot. "Sorry 'bout this. Not the best way to start out, is it...?"

The Chemistry teacher, Toby knew, didn't actually care all that much...there were just certain expectations he had. Hence it clearly didn't even faze the guy how short the new kid was with the whole thing.

"Well, uh," Toby replied with a slight flush to his face, "I guess they kind of are like that...but I do clean stuff, sometimes." Occasionally. If he made the mess. And his dad wasn't already cleaning. His mom would make him deal with it, though. Not that it happened often. Toby always did his best to not cause trouble for them.

All the same, he let his hand be moved out of the way, and sorted out the scrub brushes and rags. He offered one of each to Izzy. "So, uh, Israel, huh?" he asked. "That's a cool name. I don't think I've met anybody named for a country before." He wanted to be friendly, but something about the situation just made him feel a bit awkward. Possibly because they were sort of being punished, and he felt like it was his fault.

Even if it wasn't.

Toby frowned, and got ever so slightly more red in the face. He definitely worked hard. All the time.

...Well. Nix did. And he wasn't really supposed to admit that. You never knew who someone might be. So he let it go with a very slight shrug, and got to work scrubbing and scraping as well. In a different spot, so he didn't upset Izzy any further.

"Oh, okay," he replied with a nod. "Izzy it is, then. You should really tell the teachers that, so they don't introduce you as Is....other things."

"If they didn't care," Toby protested, "I'm sure they wouldn't teach. I mean, the pay's awful, right?" He glanced toward the teacher. "He just...doesn't worry about the little things."

Toby sighed softly as he scraped up a chip of the sticky gunk. "I do lotsa stuff," he replied, pretty evenly, all told. "And I care about everybody." Cheesy, but generally true, even if he would happily punch a negaverser in the face without much consideration. "Though I dunno what 'reputation' you're talking about...It's not my first day." That was actually the first statement he made that actually sounded a bit testy.

Toby just shrugged at the topic of what else the teachers might do...He didn’t know, after all.

“If you barf,” he replied with an amused smirk—being called a teacher’s pet and suckup didn’t bother him, apparently. At the very least, he seemed entertained by it— “That’s on you to clean up, cuz I didn’t do it.” He pointed a scrub brush in Izzy’s direction.

“You know,” he added after a moment with a sly smirk, “I’ll bet you’re just jealous that most people like me, and don’t expect me to be the resident tough guy.”

Toby laughed again and shrugged. "I'm sorry," he didn't sound the least bit sincere when he said that, "that my friendliness bothers you. And cheer up, we're almost done, I'm sure."

"What's your job, anyway?" He asked, genuinely curious. Even if the kid was trying hard to push him away, it really only made Toby more curious. "Gotta go far to get there?"

"Alright, alright," Toby said, raising a hand briefly. "I'll focus on cleaning. My name is Toby, by the way." He had a feeling the wrong names were intentional, but oh well.

"Job's none of my business, sure," he said, while still working, "But what about fun? Surely being school tough guy isn't your only source of fun."

They were definitely almost done, at least. It wasn't that bad.