"My character's life goal is gonna be to collect ALL THE SPOONS in the realm."

  Welp, Theo's definitely found the right place. There was almost no other context he can imagine that sentence in apart from in D&D. He checks his watch, only to find his bare wrist, - he must have left it at home this morning, Hooray. He's probably late. He's curious, though. What other weirdos, apart from him and Luca, would be looking for social humiliation through the D&D club? Hopefully they're nice and not like the theatre kids who always take over on assignments and shout in class. A twisted mess of cold fear and excitement twirls in his gut as he pushes the classroom door open, and shakes his hands out before entering.

  There's 4 people in the room, not including him. He is late then, but it's still a relief. 4 is enough for him not to have to engage in awkward conversations, and a good number for a campaign. The biggest relief is that Luca is there.

  "Hey, Theo! You didn't reply to my texts. Did you forget to charge your phone again? " Luca smiles. His coily short hair reflects the small sun rays coming from the windows in the brick wall.

  Theo laughs. It rolls along his tongue, swollen and awkward. "Uh, yeah. Um.. hello." he says to the others in the room. Aspen Elliot nods at him warmly, looking up from a whimsical little doodle of what he guesses is their character.

  "Hi! Are you one of the D&D veterans? I'm kind of confused, to be honest."

  "Um.. I've played before. I can help, I guess, if you want."

  Aspen only moved to Tu Rangatira school this year, but Theo's seen them around. Aspen seems really nice, always smiling to people in the hallways.

  Lyric Delias is writing furiously on a character sheet, brown hair falling in waves around her. She has, objectively, the best name he's ever heard. Lyric's not in any of his classes, but he's heard rumors that she's weird. Most of what he's heard about her is from Luca, though. Luca's had a crush on her since something like year 6. Theo was going to tell him to give up, but now they're in a D&D club together, who knows, maybe Luca has a chance?

  Silhouetted at the head of the table is Hyacinth Taylor. Haylie looks up for a second from the dungeon master's guide.

  "Oh, hi Theo." Haylie passes him a blank character sheet.

  "Hallo."

  There's something a little taboo about calling a classmate by their name if you don't know them well. Or maybe that's just him. Either way, it makes his gut churn like someone's trying to turn milk into cheese there.

  Still, Haylie's pretty cool. He's always admired her somewhat. One of the only openly lgbtq+ students at the school, (thinking about it, this D&D club seems to be a gathering of almost all the lgbtq+ students in school he knows) and she's a proud nerd. Theo dropped art class a while ago, but he was always a little jealous of her drawings.

  He takes the seat next to Luca, clicking his fingers, a stutter of sound that eases the pressure in his chest. When the others don't react, he lets his hands rest, embarrassed. The room smells like glue and the lights are bright and buzzing. He pulls a pen from the pocket of his muted, grey jeans, scrolling through the page he's already written for his character on D&D beyond.

  "Impressive. That's some solid preparation"

  "Not really. I just did, like race and class."

  Half-elf, Rogue. Rogues are a little overdone, but who is he if not overdramatic?

  "That's more than me. All I know is that my character loves spoons and those mini cocktail umbrellas. And has a bob." Aspen pipes up from Luca's other side. Their laptop is open in front of them, custom The Owl House cover on full display. Theo admires that confidence. He catches a glimpse of D&D beyond's free basic rules on their screen.

  "What's your character, Lyric?" Luca asks across the table.

  She turns to him, blinking. "Oh, ah, I'm not.. sure yet. I'm kind of... winging it, to be honest.."

  Luca nods, like this makes complete sense. Theo doesn't get it. Luca's always been better with people, though.

  "It's a custom campaign, so you guys can be whatever you want. Just, um, please don't min-max." Haylie's words are accompanied by a nervous twitch of her lips, like a momentary smile.

  "Cool." Luca replies with a thumbs up.

  "Yup. I mean, I don't even know how to min-max so I don't think that's a problem." Aspen rambles cheerfully.

  Theo chuckles a bit. Despite what he said to Luca about not having prepared too much, the custom pinterest board and spotify playlist on his phone say differently. He zones out for a bit, the noises of the others intermittent chatting blocked out, his head low to the page as he copies what he wrote on his phone.

  Silas Vale, Scion of House Vaelwyn, Heir of the Hollow Crest.

  Honestly, it's one of his favourite characters he's ever made. And he's made a lot. His pinterest can attest to that. Yea, Silas is an incredibly melodramatic character. Theo'd be a theatre kid if it weren't for his social anxiety.

  Aspen's mumbling to himself. Something about race and class, name, everything else. The rooms lapsed into silence, only the sound of pencil and keyboards clicking. Theo's leg is bouncing frantically under the table.

  He wants to help. He knows what he'd say. Hey, Aspen, do you have some ideas of what you could do with your character? The words are caught, stuck like a sneeze that never comes but puts painful pressure on his throat. Imaginary Theo says it in the Imaginary D&D club, no problem. There's really nothing bad that could happen, his brain tells him. Oh, but there is. Aspen might not hear him, and he might have to repeat himself. Aspen might just deflect it. It could sound arrogant. Haylie and Lyric might judge him. Luca might add this to a list of reasons to not be his friend again. None of them would like him so he would have to leave D&D club.

  And- Luca's nudging Theo with his knee. Fuck. He's spiraling again.

  Luca nudges him again, a small movement, barely noticeable, but it pulls him away from the spiral.

  "Hey," he says, casual. "You're good."

  "Mm." Theo replies. Luca says it like you'd describe the weather, but it means so much more to Theo. Like the words are objects he can cling to and hold close to his chest. His leg slows its frantic bouncing.

  In the midst of him trying to surface from the deep chasm of his anxiety, the club door creaks open again. Long, honey-coloured, gangly legs strut across the room, perching, one knee bent, on a table. The girl's' chopped, dark bangs, tattooed chest and distressed crop is unmistakable. Her expression screams disinterest. Danielle Chen. Dani.

  "Hey, bitches."

  Haylie stands, pink strands of her hair swaying around her head, her chair squealing on the carpet floor in a way that makes him press the palms of his hands together painfully. "Um, hey, Dani. Are you joining the club"

  "What else would I be doing"

  "Why?" Lyric asks.

  Theo doesn't know a ton about Dani, other than her being overall a rude piece of shit. They haven't really talked before. Apart from once, when Dani made fun of his hair. Surprisingly, she's one of the few people who doesn't laugh when he paints his nails.

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  "Cause. Nothing better to do."

  She throws a dnd character sheet on the table, skidding across the smooth plastic wood. "Fire Genasi, Artificer."

  Her handwriting is terrible.

  Her eyes, shadowed with dark, skillful eyeliner, rove over the room, and their various expressions of surprise. It's no secret that Dani is not a fan of nerds or geeks. Plus, even Aspen, a through and through fandom kid, looks confused at what those are.

  "What? I watched Critical Role in lockdown like everyone else."

  Haylie stares, taken aback. Theo is reminded of the prominent, self-made Critical Role Jester pin he's seen on her backpack once. "Huh. Okay." She sits again, eyes glancing over the character sheet. She raises an eyebrow. "This character's min-maxed"

  Dani lets out a gruff laugh. "What'dya expect?"

  "That's not really allowed."

  "Don't care, princess."

  It feels like a private argument. He's a background character, watching a quirky nerd and a hot dumbass fight. What are the chances the one club he joins in 7 years is the one club Dani is in? Silas Vale's slightly scuffed drawing stares up at him. Should he change the character? The thought of playing someone so cool, confident and flirty, with Dani there to smirk and smother her laughter at him is terrifying. He taps his nails on the desk, the black nail polish chipped.

  "This is unexpected." Luca whispers to him.

  "Mm.." He replies, hesitant.

  "I have seen Dani in sports clubs previously."

  "Yeah? Odd."

  He doesn't dare to say anything else, and Luca stops whispering. He can't imagine how Dani hasn't heard them, turned to yell at them for gossiping about her. She's done it before. But still, she keeps talking to Haylie, head turned away from them, posture apathetic. She really just doesn't care.

  "Alright." Haylie says, biting her lip anxiously. Dani rolls her eyes. Theo wishes he could do eyeliner like that. She sits back down, organising sheets and booklets. Theo gets a peek at a stuffed journal, drawings poking out from between the pages.

  "So, has everyone got their characters ready then?"

  "Almost."

  "I'm still confused. What's a tortle?"

  "Yeah."

  Oh, that definitely sounded arrogant. Shit. Theo fills his mind with an imaginary sheet of repeating no's.

  "Since Theo and um, Dani just came in, should I go over the campaign setting again?"

  Theo can't bring himself to speak, so he just nods, smiling nervously.

  Haylie smiles back, light reflecting off her sunglasses. Dani's appearance must have shaken her, but she's still together. "Okay, yeah." She launches into her explanation, passionate. "So, you're all traveling adventurers in the realm of Lyaeni. You meet in a tavern in the enchanted woods of Fyodor."

  Nice, pretty simple but he's sure Haylie has something planned. Aspen's brow is scrunched with concentration as he scrolls through DNDbeyond. Here's another chance to help him. Or try, at least.

  The sound of him clearing his throat makes him cringe. "Um.. Aspen, uh, do you want- can I help you with your, er, your character?" God, that was awful.

  "Oh, yes please."

  "Uh, do you have an idea what you want them to be like?"

  Aspen grins with the face of a schemer. "I was thinking like this really chill guy who's made it his life's mission to collect all the spoons in the realm and cause a tad bit of chaos. Just for funsies."

  "Love that," Theo laughs. "You should make him a barbarian."

  "That's the rage one, right?"

  "Uh huh." he hums in reply.

  "Perfect." Aspen's grin only grows. They seem to get the hang of it from that, leaning down to the page and writing furiously, stopping sometimes to tap the pencil on their chin when they're thinking.

  "Why are you guys so creative? I can't think of anything cool." Luca groans.

  "You're fine, bro." Theo elbows him lightly. "You're literally a writer."

  Luca's cheeks go red. Dani huffs from the other side of the room, but Lyric catches Luca's eye.

  "You write lots?"

  "I guess?"

  "Can I.. read some?"

  "I-well I mean it's not that good."

  "That's okay." She hesitates a second. "If Aspen's a barbarian, Dani's an Artificer and Theo's a rogue, you could be a bard, Luca."

  Behind her, Dani, who's been ignoring them with her headphones, nods.

  "Ingenious, thanks."

  After another minute of writing on each of their parts, Haylie drumming on the table rhythmically, Luca and Aspen finish their characters.

  Haylie takes a breath. "Everyone done? We'll go around and talk about each character, yeah? You want to start, Lyric?"

  "Cleanne Lux.. She's a drow cleric. Sorta self-explanatory. She'll beat you up if you hurt any of her friends, or, you know, if you dare steal her notebooks."

  Luca looks impressed. Theo thinks so too, already mind running wild with possible interactions she could have with Silas.

  "Can she be friends with Sprocket?" Dani says with a soft low cackle. "That's mine. Sprocket Boomshard. I know, best name you've heard in a while. She was raised by an automated bomb called M.O.M, Mechanically Operated Matriarch." Dani smirks. "This is almost fun."

  It's Theo's turn and they're looking at him. His olivey skin pales, but his voice is rough and loud enough. "Silas Vale, Scion of House Vaelwyn, Heir of the Hollow Crest. Or, y'know, uh, Silas. Half-elf rogue."

  "Damn." Dani says.

  "He's gotta have a cool backstory. You'll have to tell me everything!" Aspen says smiling. His chest feels warm.

  "Nope, not unless Silas tells your character in the story." Haylie tells them.

  "Awwww."

  "Luca?"

  "Alright, mine is a halfling bard called Finnian Quickfoot. He was part of a traveling band but he's travelling off on his own to find himself. Also, I'm totally going to play into the stereotype of bards flirting with the monster."

  "You might have some competition there." Dani's tone is sharp, but Theo knows it's a joke.

  "Hah! I'm gonna play Leaf, just Leaf, they're a high elf barbarian from the icy highlands. They're questing on a sacred mission to collect all the spoons in the realm as a sacrifice to his god."

  "What is your thing with spoons?"

  Aspen shrugs.

  "Okay. Oh, woah, it's actually 4:47 already. That was fast. Can I take you guys' character sheets for now so I can work on the campaign for next session?"

  After a chorus of agreement, they all hand character sheets across to Haylie, who gathers them in a folder labeled D&D. As they leave the classroom, Dani stalking ahead, and Haylie lagging behind, laden with heavy D&D manuals and sheets, Theo whispers to Luca.

  "Do you think they'll make a group chat or something?"

  "Oh, good idea. Guys, should we make a group chat?"

  Theo groans internally. He had not meant for his far more social friend to ask to make a group chat, but he supposes he could have predicted it.

  "Right," Haylie says. "Dani! Dani! Wait up!"

  The taller girl turns, arms crossed with disapproval. "What?"

  "Can I get your number for the D&D club group chat?"

  Dani bends down, her face close enough to blow stray hairs from in front of Haylie's face. Smirking, she replies "You want my number, huh, princess?"

  Haylie steps back. "Uh, yeah. Can you write it in my journal?"

  Instead Dani recites in, staring daggers into Haylie's eyes. Weird.

  As him and Luca walk back to the bus, a new group chat pops up on his phone.

  iMessage

  Mon, 2 Feb at 4:58 pm

  Maybe: Haylie : hiii! ;3 this is the dnd chat!

  Maybe: Haylie renamed the chat to D&D club.

  Maybe: Aspen: heya!!

  Thesaurus boy: Hey!

  Maybe: Lyric Delias: Hi guys

  The text messages continue to buzz on the train home. Short messages, grammar Luca might call 'deplorable'. It makes him smile. It feels- it feels like the start of something. Maybe.