Tobias gave a little chuckle and then a firm SALUTE to Kace. Boy. Tryouts. BOY. So exciting, but also nerve-wracking. So, y'know, he'd been prepaaaaaaaring.

Was that another little puffing out of the chest at Lottie's words? Probably. She was only saying welcome to being a teenager, but it still felt GOOD TO HEAR. And NEXT year he'd be FOURTEEN and THAT sounded even COOLER. "Thanks!"

She was NICE.

Yes good.

FRIEND.

"Chocolate cake, coming right up!" Tobias said brightly, before turning BACK to the table again and squidging past a few people to get hold of some delicious CAKE. "S'cuse me, comin' through... lady with a baby..." That usually got people to move, right?

Eventually Tobias had two plates with a piece of cake. One chocolate and one sponge. He LIKED chocolate cake, but sponge was his favourite 'cause of the filling.

"Heeeeeere you go, Lottie," he said, holding out the piece of cake to the older girl.

Tobias gave Adi a smile. He really didn't need to get him anything but he'd found that it was an argument that he never won. Sometimes people liked giving presents. Usually Hufflepuffs, from what Tobias had seen. "And I'll get you a present on your birthday, too!" he replied. It was only fair, right?

Toby had started to eat his cake when Adi asked his next question, and he had to take a moment because he didn't want to talk with his mouthful. Ew. So he finished his mouthful of cake and THEN replied. Manners. "I'm in my second year." Though it probably wasn't that obvious. He was shorter than probably all of the second years and even quite a few of the first years, including this one. But he hadn't been Sorted this year, which was a massive giveaway. "And you're a first year, right?" Or a transfer student. "Saw you getting Sorted."

SEE? Logic.

...

"I'm really glad I like it too!" Tobias said to Alec, a huge grin on his face. He KNEW the hair ruffle was coming and even sort of readied his cranium for it. Alec's hair ruffles were just something he was USED to now, like how one person might flip their hair or another might wipe their lips after they speak. It was just a thing that he did and no longer seemed weird.

But Tobias was totally ready to surprise-hair-ruffle Alec one day. He'd have to climb something first, but still.

He was just planning on when he might wear his new BOOM t-shirt, and had settled on the very next time he didn't have to wear his uniform, when Alec mentioned cake.

"She did! And it's really good too."

Speaking of... he had to tell her.

Tobias was feeling slightly lost as to who stood in what direction now, but his eyes quickly found Minerva again. He'd caught what she said earlier, but there had been loads of people all around so he'd decided to kind of refocus later. And later was here.

AND he had cake.

"The cake's awesome, Minnie!" he said, even as he ate MORE of it, a bit with a lot of the jam and buttercream filling. "My favourite part is the middle." But the filling and icing were ALWAYS his favourite parts of a cake, so maybe he wasn't the best person to ask.

STILL. It was good cake. They needed more parties so they could have more cake.