It was another long day of school, training, and dealing with everyday Trollhunter business in Trollmarket for Toby and Claire. But waiting for Jim to come back was even more draining than all of those combined. At least, emotionally it was.

A few days had already passed since Jim had entered the Darklands, and the rest of the gang had finally figured out how to cover for him back in Arcadia. After finding the glamour mask, it soon became pretty clear that Toby would need to cover for Jim at home.

Claire had initially thought that she could handle it, seeing as she could easily use her shadow staff to teleport in and out of Jim's room in the morning unnoticed. It was only after she stepped out of Jim's room in his likeness the following day that she very quickly realized that she had very little knowledge of what Jim did in the morning and how he acted with his mother. And to top things off, she could barely navigate his house given the fact she had only been inside a handful of times (and had been unconscious for most of one of those visits).

That wasn't even mentioning how long it took her to figure out the layout of Jim's kitchen and that damn stove. Claire considered herself fairly competent in the kitchen, but it wasn't her fault she couldn't figure out how to use a gas stove after using an electric one her entire life. At least, that's what Claire told herself after getting frustrated and giving up before offering Barbara a bowl of cereal with a nervous smile.

Nope, Toby would take Jim's place at home. And to make up for it, she decided to take on the small daily requests of the citizens of Trollmarket, though Toby would help with some of them when Barbara was working her shifts at the hospital.

Creating a reason for Jim's absence at school was surprisingly very easy. Leave it to Toby's imagination to come up with a sob story of how Jim Lake Jr. had contracted an insanely rare disease that was highly contagious and required hospitalization. The story was so compelling it moved Ms. Janeth to tears, and Claire made a mental note to have Toby audition for next year's school play. Though it was very likely that Toby had used the emotions he felt about Jim's leaving for the Darklands to make the story more convincing, and considering how Claire was feeling, she imagined Toby felt much worse than he let on.

"Man, it's like those gnomes have a vendetta against Bagdwella. I've never seen them rally like that before." Toby was the first to speak as they walked through the gate and into the canals.

Claire hummed in response, the cool night air leaving chills on her arms. A gaggle of gnomes had staged what looked like a mini revolution against Bagdwella, complete with small barricade (that could easily be stepped over) and sharpened pencils as swords. Still, the dramatic troll had burst into Hero's Forge while Toby, Claire, and Draal were training and demanded that they do something about the revolting gnomes. The problem was easily taken care of with Claire opening a portal under the gnomes' feet and releasing them into a bag held by Toby.

It was easy enough, but Claire had been practicing using portals during combat and was drained physically and emotionally. Draal quickly took notice of how tired she was, and offered to finish up at Bagdwella's so the human teens could head home and rest. Both of them happily agreed and left with the promise of coming back tomorrow.

Claire considered it lucky that her staff ran on emotions. Considering everything that had happened, with Aaarrrgghh's death and Jim just leaving like that, it was good to know that her anger and frustration were being put to good use. But, it still left her exhausted, so instead of riding their bikes both Toby and Claire opted to walk home.

"That was some workout, huh? Draal was pretty intense with training today. But look! My muscles are starting to get some definition!"

Claire watched as Toby flexed his right arm and chuckled. "Toby, we've barely trained twice with Draal. It takes a little longer than that to actually see physical results."

"Say what you want, Nuñez," he retorted with a smug smile and continued to strike different flexing poses. "I can feel the muscles growing. Just wait, soon I'll be a buff and irresistible to the ladies."

"Oh god," she snorted and rolled her eyes. "Too bad Darcy doesn't care much for physical appearance. Have you talked to her lately?"

At the mention of Darcy, Toby's smile fell into a frown and he lowered his arm. "No, I haven't," he answered quietly. "It's not like I don't want to. I still really like her and I do want to talk to her. I just…" he trailed off into thought. "With everything going on right now?" He fell into silence again.

The young girl gave her friend a sympathetic look. "I get it, Toby. There's a lot of stuff going on right now. With Aaarrrgghh gone and everything with Jim," she noticed how Toby's face fell at the mention of his Wingman and she sighed, "I can't imagine what you must be going through."

Toby's eyebrows creased before he gave Claire a very unconvincing and forced smile. "Haha. What do you mean? I'm totally fine."

"No, you're not." Claire shook her head and stopped walking to look at Toby, who did the same. "This is a lot for anyone to handle, and it's okay to be upset about it."

"I said I'm fine, Claire." His grip on the handlebars of his bike tight as his eyes narrowed slightly.

Yeah, totally fine, Claire thought to herself. She was tempted to just drop the subject, but she had seen him glance at Jim's empty desk too many times, watched him hastily wipe away his tears while standing by Aaarrrgghh's stone corpse, caught him standing and waiting at Killahead as if it would open at any moment.

He was not fine.

And neither was Claire. It had been a very long day. She was tired and she missed her baby brother and she missed Jim even though she was pissed at him for going through Killahead when he promised they'd find Enrique together. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Toby, none of us are fine."

He gave her an incredulous look. He half-expected her to press him even further until he admitted he felt like crap about the whole situation. Now he just waited in stunned silence for her to keep talking.

"Blinky lost his closest friend and he's been holed up in the library trying to find a way to bring Aaarrrgghh back. And I-" she paused and Toby swore he saw tears in her eyes. "I have to wait here while my brother is still trapped in the Darklands! And I know I haven't known Jim as long as you have, but I care about him. A lot."

Toby stood shocked and listened, he knew he was next.

"And you," Claire began and her eyes softened as she looked at him. "I know you're not as okay as you're trying to make it seem. And I know you don't want to talk about it, but just know I'm here. If you need to talk about any of this, I'm here."

She knew that wasn't what Toby was expecting, and the look on his face only proved it. But if he didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't make him. So instead she turned away and started walking towards home again.

"You're right."

Claire stopped in her tracks and looked back at Toby. There were tears in his eyes now.

"Aaarrrgghh is gone. He's gone and if I hadn't been trying to pick up my stupid Warhammer and had been paying attention he would still be here." He sniffed. "And Jim? Jim is my best friend. He's my best friend and he made a stupid decision!"

Claire flinched, she'd never seen Toby so upset. His tears were falling freely and his voice had risen.

"He said we'd go together and he just went all by himself! The Darklands are dangerous and we could have protected each other, but no! Mr. I-can't-let-my-friends-get-hurt decides to play martyr and just leaves!" His voice cracked with emotion at the end of his rant and softened. "I don't want to worry about losing him, too."

Claire was used to comforting those around her. Whether it was Mary and another one of her breakups, Darcy worrying about her dad's work, or even Enrique when he was upset or fussy. She always did the same thing that she did now. She leaned her bike against a lamppost and hugged Toby as he cried into her shoulder. Tears of her own were silently falling down her cheeks.

Jim, she thought, what are we going to do about you?

They stood there on the quiet street under the light of the lamppost. Eventually, Toby's sobbing ended he let go of Claire. He pulled two tissues from his pocket and handed one to her, she took it with a small thanks. Neither of them spoke as they dried their tears.

Toby was the first to break the silence. "Hey, Claire?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. I guess I just needed a good cry."

Claire smiled softly at Toby. "No problem. That's what friends are for right?"

"Yeah, friends," he replied with a grin.

Despite the circumstances, Claire was glad they were able to talk about this, and even more glad that Toby considered her a friend. She turned to grab her bike and started heading home once again, Toby falling in step with her this time.

"I wouldn't worry about losing Jim if I were you," Claire spoke up as they made their way down the street. "He acted like a butt when he made his decision, and I'm angry at him too, but if anyone can survive the Darklands, it's Jim."

Toby chuckled lightly. "Yeah, he was a real ass."

"Toby!"

"I'm sorry, but it's true and you know it," he laughed. Claire couldn't help but laugh, too.

"Sooo," they had walked a few more blocks before Toby spoke again, "you care about Jim? 'A lot?'" He wiggled his eyebrows and Claire elbowed his side.

"Ow!… So that's a yes?"

Claire threw him a glare before her expression softened and her cheeks turned pink. She couldn't deny her feelings.

"Yeah, I do," she responded confidently. If there was anything she was sure about, it was her feelings for Jim. "I care about him, and I really do like him, but now's not the time to think about things like that."

Toby nodded. "I understand." He had a grin on his face but didn't ask her any more questions, and she was beyond grateful for the change of subject.

"Anyway, how many portals did you make during training today? You definitely beat your record!"

"Thirteen," she answered happily. Claire had been keeping track of how many portals she could make during training without feeling like she was going to pass out from exhaustion. The last time they'd trained she was only able to get to eight, so she was definitely making progress.

"Wooooow," Toby looked at her in awe. "Pretty good, Shadowdancer."

Claire snorted. "Shadowdancer? You're still using that?"

"Well, duh. It's better than 'queen viper whatever of the shadow realm' or whatever goth name you suggested to Jim," he responded pointedly.

"Har har, very funny." She rolled her eyes. "But fine, I guess it is a bit of a mouthful."

"Awesomesauce! Shadowdancer it is, then."

Their conversation dwindled into a comfortable silence. A few minutes passed and they turned onto Toby's street.

"You going to be alright, Toby?" She asked as they walked onto his driveway.

He nodded and smiled, walking his bike up to the door and placing a hand on the doorknob. "Yeah, I'll be fine. You?"

It was Claire's turn to nod. "I'm okay. See you at school tomorrow." She smiled and turned to walk home on her own.

If anyone can survive the Darklands, it's Jim.

She thought back to what she had said to Toby. Jim could survive the Darklands. He would find her brother, and they'll both be home soon, safe and sound.

She tilted her head up and closed her eyes, the cool breeze calming her thoughts. And for the first time since that terrible day, Claire she truly believed everything would be okay.

There wasn't enough content centered around their friendship so I decided to write something. This is my first fic for the fandom so go easy on me lol. Hope you enjoy!