Chapter Text
It was the first competition of the school year, and Quackity was stressed out of his mind. Despite only being a junior, he had been made the captain of his school's mock trial team, a role typically reserved for one of the seniors.
He had spent the past few months frantically trying to earn the team's respect, and get them the win they had so narrowly lost out on the year before. He helped them write and memorise scripts, learn the rules of evidence, practice their objection battles, improve their presentation, develop their characters, and form chemistry with their partners. He had spent the last three practices just answering any last minute questions they had.
It hadn’t left him with as much time to work on his own parts as he would’ve liked, but it was a sacrifice he had been willing to make.
He kind of regretted it now. He was pacing around their teams assigned room running through his closings, making sure he had them memorised. But he kept getting distracted. He would suddenly think of an objection someone could make to him, and have to work through it before he could go back to the closing. Or someone would come up to him with a question that he knew he had answered at the last practice. Or he would start to talk himself into believing that he was going to fail and ruin everything for the team.
His stomach and chest were tight, and he could feel a lump in his throat. He wasn’t going to be able to do this. Why did anyone think he was qualified for this? Why had he taken on more than he could handle? Why was he-
“BIG Q”
What? That sounded like- But it couldn’t be. No one had ever come to watch him compete before.
He turned from where he’d been pacing to look at the door. Sure enough there was Tommy holding a package of licorice.
“What are you doing here Tommy?”
“I’m here to cheer you on, of course!”
“But…but why?”
“Well I figured that since you show up at all of my games, it was only fair that I come support you.”
“Oh. Well, ok then. Um I’m practicing scripts right now, but the pairings for round one should be out in ten minutes.”
“You look stressed, how’re you feeling big man.”
“Oh I’m fine, don’t worry.”
“Big Q, you are clearly not fine. Your hands are shaking, you keep fiddling with your sleeves, and your voice has gone up a pitch.”
Sometimes Quackity forgot how observant Tommy was. He hated to put his problems on the freshman, but he needed to get this off of his chest.
“I’m not ready. I don’t know my scripts well enough. I’m going to fuck up in the middle, and then my team will lose, and it’ll be my fault, and I’ll be the worst captain ever!”
“Hey, no, you’re not going to fuck up. You’re going to do great. And even if you do mess something up, forget something you planned, I know you. You are one of the smartest people I know. You’ll be able to fix it. And I don’t think you are even capable of being a bad captain.”
Quackity looked at him in shock. He had said similar things in the past, but he’d never had them said to him.
“Really?”
“Really. Now I want you to sit down, eat some licorice, and relax. You’re going to kill it, but you can’t do that if you’re wrapped up in your own head.”
And Tommy was right. Quackity’s team managed to sweep the tournament with a ballot record of 9-0.
As they went on stage to receive their award for first place, Quackity saw Tommy in the audience. He was clapping and smiling. He noticed Quackity looking at him and mouthed “I told you that you could do it.”