Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Today was not starting well.

Tommy had been woken up abruptly by the screams of his alarm and immediately dismissed it, shoving his head under his pillow and falling back to sleep. This time however, when he woke up he was 10 minutes late to opening the cafe so he had rushed to get ready before quickly taking the train to his cafe in district 4 named Sunflower Delights.

Now you might be wondering, how could somebody who lived in district 15, a district with some of the most criminal activity in the city afford a cafe? Well, Tommy had found it by accident a few months back and the owner couldn’t make a profit from it so he sold it for dirt cheap to Tommy which he then turned into one of the biggest hot spots for on-the-go sweet treats in the lower districts of the city.

Now, the tardiness was only the start to the problematic day because then he had burned his hand badly when he had spilled hot coffee on himself by accident when tripping over the trash can behind the bar. And he hadn’t even made it to the lunch rush yet!

By the end of the day, he was ready to pass out when a figure came in a few minutes before closing. Without looking up from where Tommy had his head pressed against the cold countertops he called out “Sorry, we’re closing!”.

A voice rings out “Uh hey man, I saw a help wanted sign and was wondering when I could come in to interview?”. At that, Tommy looked up at the person. He looked around Tommy’s age with pale blond hair, unlike Tommy's strawberry blonde. The dude had purple eyes which was kinda normal for hybrids. He wore a dark purple hoodie and black cargo pants with purple converse.

“Oh! Um sure, sit down at one of the booths, I’ll be there in a second.” Tommy says, wiping down the countertops as he hears the dude shuffling away. After a minute Tommy walks over and sits across from him, picking up his resume from where the dude had put it on the table. “Alright, nice to meet you. I’m Tomathy Innes but just call me Tommy.” The fake name falls easily from his mouth as he smiles and offers a handshake to the man who takes it.

“Daniel Grayson.” He offers, face void of emotion despite his earlier awkwardness.

Tommy looks down at the resume “Right, why did you choose this job?” He asks.

Daniel avoids eye contact “Well the answer you’re probably looking for is I strive to be a great baker under the guidance of a professional or some shit like that but in all honesty I need money and to prove to my brother that I can handle a job.” He looks a bit embarrassed and rushes through the end slightly.

Tommy blanches for a second before laughing “Don’t we all.” He replies, just barely catching the smallest of a smile from Daniel. “Alright, do you have any experience baking, cooking, or working as a barista?” He asks after he calmed down, tilting his head.

“I don’t know how to cook and I can bake small things like cookies or muffins but I can make lattes and coffees good according to my brother’s friends.” His awkward and tense stance loosens up a bit as he scratches behind his neck sheepishly.

Tommy hums “That's good. Last question, what days would you be free to work and what times?”

Daniel ponders for a moment “I can’t do past 8 pm but I can work basically any days of the week and get up early” he responds after a second.

Tommy nods, smiling. “Well, you’re hired. Have a nice night.” He says casually, standing up and continuing his closing routine.

Daniel makes a confused noise with wide eyes. “Just like that? I just got the job?” He asks, sounding slightly baffled.

Tommy nods distractedly as he sets chairs on top of the tables. “Yep,” he responds, popping the P. “You start on Monday if that’s fine. You work only weekdays but come in at 5 am on Monday so I can teach you a bit about the drinks.” He calls out as he cleans off machines. Faintly hearing a muttered thanks from the other teen as he walks out the door, allowing Tommy to close up shop before heading to the train stating to rude home for the night.

He gets on the train without problem, and sure there are a couple of creepy people around that glared at him but he doesn’t mind it, if they had a problem with him then Tommy wouldn’t mind showing them why he carries a pocket knife on him. He does however start to mind when the train misses two of its usual stations, continuing like nothing is wrong, not even an intercom notification about it. Did the intercom even announce the arrival of the train when Tommy got on?

He pulls up the train’s route and sees that they were supposed to stop at the other stations but didn’t for some reason. He looks around, seeing none of the other passengers notice, and starts to get a bit antsy. Something in his gut was telling him that something was wrong, that he should get out of here. He looks around a bit more and spots something under a bench. He subtly shifts to look at it clearly, seeing it was a small metal box with a label on the front with a blue music note on it and it takes Tommy a second to realize where he’s seen the symbol before and goes pale when he figures it out. But before Tommy could say anything the intercom crackles to life all of a sudden and a voice that is not the voice of the usual conductor starts speaking, drawing attention from everybody else in the cart.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I hope you don’t mind being a part of my little experiment to test out some new bombs! Don’t worry, if the heroes give us what we want then the experiment will be another day! Have a nice ride!” The sound of the 3rd most dangerous villain’s voice rings out over the intercom, Siren.

Chapter Text

Shit.

Tommy thought as the intercom beeped off. Some of the passengers were whispering frantically to one another and panicking as if they were chickens without heads. Tommy just sat there for a second in shock. Just his fucking luck.

Once Tommy recovered he started looking around for any escape route. He knew where the bombs were and stood up slowly, wobbling cautiously at the sudden change in speed. He moved his way over to the box and kneeled.

In his mind, he knew it was a bad idea but he was never one for thinking things through. He grabbed the box carefully and tried to pull it out to no avail.

Seriously? How the fuck did nobody notice when somebody had fucking nailed the box to the floor of the cart?

Also how the fuck was he supposed to get a bomb off of a train? He doesn’t carry a fucking screwdriver on him. And there are too many people around for him to properly move enough that he could move into a better position.

He thinks for a second before schooling his fearful expression and taking a deep breath before standing up, clapping his hands loudly to gain attention from the other passengers, throat closing up slightly at the sight of a mother trying to comfort her daughter.

“Alright listen up! Everybody on this cart needs to move to the next cart over. If anybody by chance has a screwdriver on them please hand it over now!” He yells out, and some of the passengers practically run to the back door of the train. Including the mother and her daughter.

A guy who stood out from the crowd walks up to him, seeming calm despite the situation. He has a mustache and wears a black blazer with a red tie on top of a button-up white dress shirt along with black slacks. “Hello there! Thanks for helping with all of this by the way. You needed a screwdriver?” He greets and asks, Tommy nodding with a small mock salute. The man fishes through his pockets before finding a travel-size screwdriver and handing it to him.

“Thanks!” Tommy says with a polite smile. “You should be heading to the other cart now though.” He turns back to kneel by the seat, the man walking away humming a small tune under his breath. Speaking of breath, Tommy takes another deep one.

Time to figure out how to diffuse a bomb!

And here Tommy thought he’d never think of that sentence ever in his life.

Tommy focused first on unscrewing the box, which came off easily. Like wow, you would think there was something else holding it down but he guesses that villains aren’t as smart as they seem.

He lifts the box, finding a latch under it and opening it up. Inside looked like something straight out of a movie. Wires are in different places and different items are scattered around the inside walls of it. Tommy blanched for a moment before pulling out his phone and googling “how to diffuse a bomb”, results showing a video on a phone screen.

…Ok what the fuck-

As he’s trying to scroll through articles the bomb starts ticking and he jumps slightly, staring at it and seeing a small box with numbers on it counting down from a minute

Nope. Nuh uh. No. No, thank you. Not today. Not ever.

He curses, quickly standing up. There goes the idea of diffusing the bomb. Instead, he looks at the windows and the screw driver in his hand before launching the screw driver into the window, causing it to shatter. He hopes this train has insurance. Can trains have insurance? He brings his arm back and fucking launches it through the window and into a lake, silently apologizing to the poor fish that were in that lake.

He just stands back for a moment before humming and walking over to the door of the other cart and knocking, it opening immediately. He walks inside and claps cheerfully. “Alrighty everybody! The bomb has been taken care of. You may go back to your cart.” He calls out.

Some end up returning and some stay where they are seated and Tommy faintly wonders about the conductor before the intercoms crackle again but this time, instead of Siren, it’s the voice of the number one hero, Mask. “Good afternoon passengers, the villain has been taken care of. You may resume your normal ride with peace.” He says and Tommy slumps slightly, knowing now that he didn’t even need to take care of the bomb in the first place.

Well, he thought he knew until an explosion rings off in the distance and Tommy sits up straighter again, halfway relieved that his work meant something and halfway mourning the poor fish.

He gets off the train without issue. He even pulled his hoodie up to make sure nobody tried to speak to any of the officers about him, he seriously didn’t need top villains on his ass for ruining their plans.

He gets home and takes a shower. Heating some instant ramen in the microwave despite being a baker, he turns on the TV. Immediately, the news came up. And of course, it’s talking about the train. A news helicopter had caught sight of the box with Siren’s logo on it being thrown out the window although it didn’t catch who threw it thank fuck.

Of course, the news started going on about how the villain ran before he was captured yet again. Tommy groaned as he knew that they were talking the entire night about how people should act in case of an encounter with the villain.

The microwave beeped, gaining his attention for a moment as he ate with the sound of the news in the background. He quickly got ready for bed and turned on his alarm for 2 hours earlier than when he normally woke, remembering slightly that Daniel would be helping him tomorrow before drifting off to sleep.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

Chapter Text

Tommy had made it to the cafe early, mostly running on spite and caffeine to keep him awake. He heard a knock at the back door and quickly opened it to see Daniel standing there in a black band tee and baggy black cargos. “Hey, man.” Daniel waved but didn’t show any emotion on his face and Tommy ushered him inside.

It didn’t take long for Daniel to learn how to navigate the kitchen, although they did find some of his weaknesses and strengths while training him.

For one, Daniel could not handle any sort of fragile item or pastry. They learned this the hard way when despite his skinny teen figure, he surprisingly had good strength, it being sometimes uncontrollable such as when he was giving a frosting bag to decorate some cupcakes he immediately popped it. Or when he accidentally squeezed on a cream puff a little too hard and got whipped cream all over his hand.

But on the brighter side, he wasn’t lying when he said he could make good coffee. A reason for that being the dude seemed to be immune to getting burned and the pain from it, causing him to be able to handle hot drinks without needing to be cautious, and able to take and put pastries in the ovens without any pain or burn scars.

In the end, Tommy had put him on barista duty. He seemed alright with that, flowing easily around the hot machines as they finally opened and customers came flocking in. Tommy took on the cashier and baker roles with ease as he usually did and it seemed as if the day flew by faster than it ever had before.

Then a weird man walked in.

He was tall, taller than Tommy and that was saying something because Tommy was 6’3. He wore round glasses that you would see on a Pinterest board and a maroon beanie atop his head. He had on a yellow sweater and brown baggy pants, and a brown messenger bag hung on his shoulder. Brown curls and brown eyes that met Tommy’s blue eyes.

Tommy smiled politely, “Welcome to Sunflower Delights, what can I get for you today?” He greeted, the man walking over before tilting his head.

“Aren’t you a little too young to work here?” He asks, and Tommy blanches for a second.

“I beg your pardon?” He splutters out after a second, smile slipping slightly.

“You look like you’re 14, no offense.” He said, a small smirk on his lips.

Tommy gave the man a strained grin “And you look like you should be rotting in the cemetery by now. No offense!” He says in a fake cheery tone causing the man to look at him with a fake offended look and gasp.

“I can’t believe you would speak to paying customers like that!” His smile he was trying to hide betrayed his emotions as he spoke.

Tommy rolled his eyes with small amusement in his eyes “Yeah well, the self-proclaimed ‘paying customer’ is neither paying nor acting as a customer so hurry up and order or get the fuck out.” He said, the man laughing.

“Alright gremlin, can I get a flat white and a pistachio cream-filled croissant?” He asks, smiling slightly at the boy.

Tommy nods and puts in the order, grumbling under his breath about how he wasn’t a gremlin. “Name for the order?” He asks, picking up a to-go coffee cup with a little sunflower on the side of the cup from its stack and marker at the ready.

“Wilbur” the man responds, causing Tommy to scrunch up his nose.

“Who names their kid fucking Wilbur these days? Actually no, that’s understandable, you’re old and your parents probably hated you.” He snarks, writing on the cup.

Wilbur huffs, running a hand over his face “First of all, I’m not old I’m only 22, you cunt, and second, if my name is so bad what’s yours?”

“Tommy. Your total is 10.53, Wil-bur.” He responds, sounding out the name.

Wilbur scans his card on the reader before dropping a few bills in the tip jar. “Your name sounds like a five-year-old.” He says, smiling as he walks away to a table near a corner.

Tommy grumbled as Wilbur left, instead wiping down counters and taking a second to look over the cafe. He still sometimes couldn’t believe he owned the place.

The cafe was a rather nice place, the previous owner had left behind some tables and chairs which Tommy had painted over. The place had a nice environment, the sunflower being a staple as the walls were decorated with photos of sunflowers and coffee as well as the aprons all having a small sunflower on the front of the chest area. Along with decorations, Tommy had grown some plants above the windows, vines hanging over the windows, and just in general making the place homey and warm looking.

There were also some bookshelves in the corner where there were 2 bean bags and a college student was, reading one of the books. There was calm music playing throughout the place. It wasn’t surprising that it became popular, according to some of his normals, because of the atmosphere.

He called out as Daniel passed him a drink, “Order for the old man!” Some other customers giggled slightly to themselves while Wilbur rolled his eyes with a smile before grabbing his drink and looking at the name.

“Really? Wilbitch?” He asked, slightly amused, and Tommy just smiled cheekily.

“Have a nice day!” He calls, moving back to the register as the man leaves.

Tommy gets through the rest of the day with ease, closing up and chatting a bit with Daniel before both go their separate ways. Tommy was on his way to the train, body on autopilot until he stopped, remembering yesterday with a grimace before he turned the other way and decided to take a bus home instead, willing to take the 10-minute slower ride if it meant he didn’t have to throw another bomb out of a window.

So he arrived home 10 minutes later than usual and was ready to pass out, his rumbling stomach disagreed with sleep though. He moved around sluggishly, the news from the TV talking about something that Tommy didn’t care to focus on, instead watching his ramen in the microwave until it was about to ding, quickly taking it out and sitting in front of his TV as he ate.

Ah, so that’s what they were talking about. He didn’t stay awake to listen to the entire thing before he fell asleep.

On the TV was a mercenary named Purpled fighting number 3 hero Flame.

Chapter Text

Tommy had gotten to the coffee shop at opening time. Daniel and he had discussed his shifts over text the day before and decided that he would come in around lunch time for the rush so that meant Tommy had the entire morning to himself. Tommy flowed around the cafe easily through the breakfast rush until that Wilbur bitch had come in again. This time with a friend.

The old bitch leaned against the counter with a grin, chin propped up by his hands, elbows against the counter. “Hello, gremlin. I would like another flat white with a raspberry tart.”

Tommy glared at Wilbur before turning to his friend. “Anything you’d like? Don't mind the old man, the nursing home let him out cause they couldn’t deal with his bullshit.” He heard Wilbur scoff but didn’t pay any mind to him.

The friend snorted, Tommy would like to think his name is Pinkie or some shit like that. He wore a gray hoodie and sweatpants, but the weird thing was the long bubblegum pink hair and the amount of muscle on him. He would be able to wipe the floor with Tommy very quickly. “Yeah I came to take him back, some staff member said he ran.” The pinkette joked with a monotone voice.

Wilbur gasped “Tech, you’re supposed to be on my side!” He said, pouting like a 5-year-old.

Pinkie chose to ignore him. “Can I just get 7 shots of espresso?” He asked and Tommy scrunches his nose in disgust.

“Listen Pinkie I can give you it as long as you don’t like- die or something and sue.” He said, looking him up and down slightly worried and very disgusted.

The pinkette blanched for a second, just gawking at him before returning to no emotion. Creepy. “My name’s Techno, kid, and no, I won’t die from a little espresso.”

Tommy shrugs and mutters a bit about not being a kid under his breath while Wilbur snorts at the interaction. They pay for their coffees and treats, leaving a few bills in the tip jar as Tommy moves from one machine to another, writing on the cups before calling out Techno’s name instead of Wilbur’s because Wilbur seemed like the type to get petty about that.

Judging by the scowl Wilbur had as he picked up his coffee, he was right.

A bit later, after the 2 men left, Daniel came in for his shift. Tommy had greeted him and he got a muttered hello in response. That was the first sign that something was wrong.

The second was when he looked over at him and saw eye bags under his eyes.

“You good? You look dead.” He asked and joked, Daniel glaring at him with no real heat inside as he moved to the coffee maker sluggishly.

“First of all, fuck you too man. Second, I stayed up late with some friends.” He responded, pouring himself a cup of straight black coffee.

Tommy scrunched up his nose before mocking with the American accent that Daniel had “First of all, ew, why the fuck are you drinking that shit without sugar or creamer. Second, I doubt you have friends.” Daniel muttered under his breath, grabbing a handkerchief from the pocket of his apron and throwing it at Tommy, hitting him in the face and falling as the room became silent before they both burst out laughing.

That was until Daniel winced as he laughed and that brought Tommy’s attention back as he started looking him over concernedly. “Shit. What happened? Where are you hurt?” He asked worriedly, Daniel straightening back up again and giving him a strained smile.

“I’m good man, I don’t know what you’re on about.” He laughed awkwardly but what he said didn’t matter because Tommy found the injury himself when he saw a red spot starting to form on the side of Daniel’s hoodie.

“Shit, you’re bleeding. Go sit down on the couch in the back room, I should have some first aid supplies somewhere around here.” He rambled worriedly, Daniel’s false assurances that everything was fine falling on deaf ears as Tommy ran around the cafe, grabbing the handkerchief and locking the front door. He grabbed the first aid kit from the employee bathroom before running to the back room where Daniel sat, leg bouncing nervously as he held onto his side to stop the bleeding.

“Take off the hoodie, I need to see the injury better.” He said distractedly as he set up some items from the first aid kit and soaked the handkerchief in water as Daniel took the hoodie off, Tommy moving over as he examined the wound.

It had lazily done stitches, Tommy not caring to read in between the lines too much as he quickly takes them out, not bothering to pay attention to Daniel hissing as his mind runs wild.

The damage was caused by a sharp weapon but there are bruises as well on his arms like he had been beaten up instead of it being an accident. Tommy uses the handkerchief to clean to blood away, faintly wondering where Daniel could have been.

He lives in District 6, which doesn’t have as much crime as Tommy’s but a bit. Tommy has noticed, even if Daniel was trying to keep secret about it, some of the weapons that were on his belt could’ve caused the sharp wound but the bruises didn’t match up.

He looked up at Daniel as he sterilized a needle “I need to stitch up the wound, it’s too wide to heal on its own. Grab something to squeeze or hold onto.” Tommy warned and Daniel nodded with a small “just get it over with already”, grabbing one of the pillows and Tommy stuck the needle into his skin, motions flowing easily as he let his mind trail off again.

Wasn’t there a hero and mercenary fight? What if Daniel had been near when it happened and had gotten hurt by some debris from the fight? No, because at least somebody would have seen him and gotten him medical attention from how much he was bleeding.

He tied off the stitches, Daniel breathing out shakily. He started wrapping up the wound, more comfortable than it had been before.

Daniel had to have had a reason to hide it from him, so he wasn’t about to ask him and put him on the spot. Instead, he was going to do something else a tiny bit less invasive.

He cleared his throat as he stood up, Daniel’s attention snapping onto him nervously. “I’m not going to interrogate you if you don’t want me to.” Daniel sighed in relief “But, I do want to know your injuries the second you step through the door. Understood?” He asked, quirking an eyebrow at the other blond and Daniel thought for a moment before nodding.

“Thanks.” He said with the tiniest of smiles on his face and Tommy smiled back.

“Now, I’ll be able to handle your shift by myself. You need to get home and rest.” Daniel sorta looked like a kid who had been caught doing something wrong and Tommy mentally prepared himself for the shit that was about to come out of his mouth.

“You see, about that…” he dragged out the words, wringing his hands nervously. “My brother is going to beat my ass if I go home now because he told me not to go to work today.” Tommy sighed, a small amused smile on his face as he saw Daniel’s pleading face. “Can I please stay the night at yours?” He begged, purple puppy dog eyes staring up at him.

Tommy muttered swears under his breath, pinching his nose bridge before answering “Fine but I’m not responsible for you staying over if your brother asks.” And Daniel grins up at him. “Now get some rest mate, you’re gonna be here a while.”

Tommy was hoping that was the end of his eventful night but after a bit, a strange customer walked in.

“Hi welcome to Sunflower Delights! What can I get…. For you…?”

In front of him was the vigilante Abyss.

Chapter Text

Abyss looked over at him from the doorway, looking a bit awkward. “Um hi, I’m just waiting for my partner, he should be here in a second.” He waved shyly and Tommy just tiredly waved back because he couldn’t care less at this point. “Uh, do you have anything that isn’t coffee?” The vigilante asks, looking over the menu on the counter.

Tommy hums and puts on his customer service face, “We have teas and hot chocolate as well?” He says, sounding like it was a question.

Abyss nods, “Can I get an Earl Grey with a chocolate chip cookie, please?” He says, sounding a bit unsure.

Tommy nods, typing it in the register “Your total is $5.94, I’ll be out with your order shortly.” The vigilante nods and gives him a ten, Tommy gives him his change and starts making the drink.

At least the vigilante wasn’t one of those people who had extremely weird orders.

Abyss was a popular vigilante in the middle to lower-class districts, alongside his partner Bumble. Through what the public knew, Abyss had teleportation and his friend had Explosion manipulation.

Their outfits weren’t showy like heroes and villains but they made them stand out. Abyss wore a long purple sleeve shirt with a black jacket with a hood to cover his hair, how the fuck he didn’t sweat in it was a mystery to Tommy. He wore black cargos with combat boots, a surgeon’s mask but black and white covered the lower half of his face and he wore sunglasses to hide his eyes.

Bumble wore an army green loose shirt with a brown bomber jacket on top of it. He wore an army green and black gas mask to hide the lower half of his face and black goggles that looked like a bee’s eyes to hide his eyes. He wore brown cargo pants with green Converse as well as gloves on his hands.

Speaking of the partner, just as Tommy was handing the drink over to Abyss, Bumble barges through the door “Hello fuckers!” He calls out, running and almost slamming into Abyss, missing by a millisecond as Abyss teleports back to the bean bag he was sitting at.

As Bumble runs over Tommy gets an idea and as Bumble stumbles to not ram into the wall, Tommy swipes the vigilante’s feet out from under him, him toppling to the ground.

Abyss laughs in the background, Bumble mumbling curses. “What the fuck man?” He whines, still lying on the ground.

“You came inside looking for violence, you can’t be mad when somebody reciprocates it back at you.” Tommy shrugs, walking back behind the counter as Bumble scrambles up, muttering as he flops down on the beanbag next to Abyss.

And Tommy- Tommy was too tired to deal with this bullshit. It got worse as he heard a “the fuck?!” Behind him from none other than Daniel Grayson.

Tommy just looks at him in a way that says “I don’t know either”, Daniel glares at the duo of vigilantes before sighing, sitting on a barstool and just looking wearily at the duo. He has his hoodie back on, thank fuck because they didn’t need the vigilantes questioning them about why there was a fucking stab wound in his side.

Bumble perks up suddenly as Abyss asks something, turning to Tommy “Can I get a hot chocolate? Thanks, bossman!” Tommy nods, telling the price by memory and hearing shuffling as the vigilante comes to pick up his drink and gives a five-dollar bill, grabbing his hot chocolate.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the other vigilante shifting, Daniel glaring daggers at the duo. “Hey Bumble, think it’s about time we take our leave.” He says, shifting nervously. Bumble agrees, having not seen what was happening between the two. The duo rushed out of the cafe, Bumble waving goodbye on his way out.

“So, you don’t like vigilantes?” Tommy asks, starting to clean up around the cafe.

Daniel scrunches his nose, “I mean, they do some good but I don’t exactly trust them, a lot of the time vigilantes just do more damage than good but it is nice to have some help in the lower districts.” He says, tilting his head slightly in thought as he speaks. “You?”

Tommy hums approvingly, “I live in the lower districts and I’ve personally seen a lot of change in crime rates because of vigilantes. But of course, a lot of them go down dark paths because of being hated by the government. I don’t get into politics much though.”

Daniel whistles “Somebody who doesn’t like heroes? Since when?” He says in a falsely offended and surprised tone.

Tommy laughs, taking off the apron. “Do I need to call an Uber or can you walk to the station?” Tommy asks, pointing to his side.

Daniel ponders for a moment, “The station isn’t that far, I can walk.” He decides, standing up.

They get to the apartment without troubles or any bomb threats, thank prime. Tommy opens the door, going off towards the kitchen, as Daniel had been whining about being hungry on the walk there.

“You’re apartment is so bland, man. Where are all the accessories? All the pizzazz?” Daniel complains playfully, flopping on the couch and wincing as his side hits it, there wasn’t blood so it wasn’t Tommy’s problem.

“I don’t know if you can tell but people don’t exactly ever come to my apartment,” he says, raising an eyebrow at the other teen.

Daniel snorts “Well now you do have somebody coming over more often so start decorating.” he replies, clapping his hands throughout the syllables of “decorating”.

Tommy pauses. He will be coming over more? Tommy decides to stop thinking about that and instead start making some fettuccine alfredo for the other blonde.

They eat dinner and before long Daniel realizes the time and Tommy offers him to stay over, an old empty bed that once belonged to his roommate in the room next to Tommy’s.

And Tommy did not stay up in his bed thinking about how his friend would come over more, or how long it’s been since he’s called somebody his friend.

Chapter Text

Tommy ended up calling an Uber to drive Daniel home the next day. It had taken a lot of convincing but he finally got him to stay home and at least tell his brother where he was at so he didn’t worry.

It was a holiday weekend, since the national heroes day parade was coming up. Tommy usually took the day before the parade off as well, so he could go to a park in district 7. It was a secluded thing, making it all the more prettier. If you went too far into the upper class, everything was fake, too clean and perfect in a way that screamed posh. In the lower class, there was trash thrown around everywhere, a few drug deals happened in some parks, and Tommy once saw a stain of dried blood on a tree.

The place he went however, was breathtaking. There is a perfect view of the sunset from a hill, flowers all around and the forest surrounds the area. There was a beautiful creek next to the clearing in the forest and a pond took up a small amount of space in the open area.

He was there for a bit, admiring the plants and attracting some bees to his hand with a flower when he heard the crunch of footsteps on dried leaves. He looked over to see a teenager.

He was a goat hybrid, with small horns peeking from his brown hair with a blonde money piece. He wore a grey shirt with bees on it and black pants, radioactive yellow eyes meeting his in wonder.

“How are you doing that?” He asked, watching the bees swarm around and landing on Tommy’s hand, none stinging him.

Tommy smiled at the goat hybrid and patted the ground next to him “c’mere, I can show you.”

The boy hesitantly sat down next to Tommy, Tommy picking borage from near where the ground connected to the stem, holding it out to the boy who took it with confusion on his face. “Stay still and keep it away from your face, doing so much as breathing will make them flee,” Tommy says, keeping his voice quiet to not scare the bees.

The boy holds out his flower, Tommy moving his flower closer and the boy’s breath hitching audibly as bees start moving to the borage, some landing on his hand and the boy’s eyes fill with giddiness.

Tommy smiles as a bee lands on the boy’s arms, as he quietly says as to not disturb the bees “they’re attracted to bright colors,” he points to the bright red on the sleeves of his shirt “and things that smell like flowers.”

The boy just nods carefully, trying not to scare the bees off, however, the crunching of leaves from another person scares them off. “Tubbo! You can’t just run off like that you could’ve gotten lost or hurt!” The new person complains, Tubbo pouting a bit at the loss of bees.

The new teen is tall, way too tall, his arms look like noodles he’s so tall. He has split white and black hair with red and green eyes. He wears a dark purple shirt with black pants. He looks at Tommy, his eyes widening in recognition and Tommy briefly wonders if he has seen this dude before, deciding that he could’ve just come into coffee one time while Tommy was tired and forgot about it.

“Ranboo! You scared them off!” The goat hybrid whines, pouting at the other. The other just looks confused at the brunette and around, seeing no other creatures he could’ve been scaring off and Tommy laughs.

“I was teaching him how to attract bees with flowers,” Tommy explains and the dude seems to get it.

The teen sighs and gives an exhausted smile “I’m Ranboo, this is Tubbo. Sorry about him by the way, he gets a little carried away when he sees bees.” Tommy smiles in understanding, watching as bees land on Tubbo’s arms.

Tommy and Ranboo talk about random topics, finding out the taller doesn’t know how to make flower crowns and insisting on teaching him. By sunset, they all have flower crowns and are watching bees fly around them, one landing on Ranboo’s nose and him freaking out. Tommy and Tubbo made fun of him the rest of the time about it.

They eventually exchange numbers and end up going home for the night, Tommy needing to make sure Daniel was alright with his injury and needing to get going home before night so he doesn’t end up getting mugged on his walk home.

He gets home early and ends up ordering pizza, seeing as though there was nothing up to date to eat in his fridge. He ends up falling asleep on his couch which was not good for his back when he woke up to angry traffic outside his building.

Tommy didn’t hate heroes, no. It was the concept that they needed powered individuals to protect them. Once, they could have powerless people working as doctors instead of healers, powerless cops with weapons instead of flashy heroes in suits.

Anyhow, Tommy pulled himself out of bed, checking the fridge and realizing, once again, that there was nothing to eat. He groaned in annoyance as he got dressed to go to the grocery store, already dreading the crowd on the train because of the hero parade.

Tommy was able to make it on the train, but the grocery store was packed. He was looking at the dairy section when his gut started telling him something was wrong.

He was already on guard, looking around at anybody that could be seen as a threat.

There was a loud rumbling sound and he heard some people screaming.

Then there was a loud boom sound.

The ceiling collapsed.

Chapter Text

Tommy wakes up with a headache, for some reason he was under a grocery store shelf. Dust kicked up in his eyes and lungs and he coughed for a moment before pushing some of the debris aside so he could get out, hearing screaming and ambulances somewhere nearby as he looked around.

Flames were growing closer by the second, suddenly remembering where he was, he couldn’t do anything about the fire at the moment but there were people trapped under debris. Tommy sprang into action, helping them and guiding them out of the building.

He thought he was done when he got to what seemed to be the last person out and was about to exit when he heard a shout of “help!” That sounded a bit muffled to Tommy.

Now the logical thing to do was get the fuck out of there, the fire being too close for comfort but the moral thing to do was get the person out. So he ran the opposite way of the exit, ignoring the fireman who was yelling at him to leave the building.

He used his shirt as a filter, running towards where he heard the scream. The man was buried under a large chunk of the ceiling, bleeding from somewhere Tommy couldn’t see, the only way he saw him was the arm sticking out from the side of the debris.

He looked at the piece of ceiling, a part of his mind thinking it might not be worth it as he lifted it from the bottom corner, holding it up a bit so the man could crawl out.

The man ran out of the building immediately, Tommy dropping the ceiling and running towards the exit, the man probably having already made it out at that time.

Tommy heard crumbling and then he looked up.

A chunk of debris was falling, right onto him.

Right before it hit, it was blasted off though.

Tommy stumbled slightly, somebody grabbing ahold of his shoulders and steadying him though.

“Whoa there kid, let’s get you out of here.” It was a muffled voice but Tommy recognized Inferno, ranked number 3 in the top heroes. “Hold on tight,” the hero said, taking a grappling hook out of his utility belt.

Tommy mumbled a bit about not being a kid, holding the hero tight around his shoulders as they shot off, head pounding against his skull. The hero brings them to a building away from where a fight was taking place near the grocery store. “Stay here kid, I need to go help out other civilians real quick.” Tommy nodded, still out of it thanks to his head screaming at him while Inferno took off.

Tommy huffed after a moment, looking around for something to get down with, realizing after a minute that there was no fire escape. Alright so now he’s stuck up here, great! He huffs, dangling his legs over the edge as he watches some blurs fight.

Suddenly there’s a voice behind him “Uh, you ok man?” Somebody says behind him quietly. Why didn’t Tommy hear their footsteps?

Tommy turns around to see the fucking Siren. The same man who ruined his ride home. He gives a deadpan stare and a thumbs up, “yup. Just cheery. I was left here on a rooftop by a hero.” He says sarcastically.

The villain snorts and Tommy's muffled ears make out the words“need some help down?”. Tommy decidedly was not going to think about why the villain was helping him and nodded.

The villain walks over, picking up Tommy like a bag of grapes and tossing him over his shoulder with an “oof” from the younger. He jumps down from the building gracefully, landing on his feet and putting Tommy down. “Alright, can you get home from here?” Tommy nodded, still a bit confused by the villain’s kindness and annoyed by his headache.

The villain nods back and pats him on the shoulder before walking off into the alleyways with a wave.

And Tommy? He wants a nap. So he quickly grabs some groceries from another store nearby, thankfully it’s not crowded because of the fight, before taking the train back home and collapsing on his couch with a groan, cooking macaroni and cheese, eating before he passes the fuck out in his bed, ignoring any burn scars he might have for tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Tommy half-wakes when his alarm rings. He fully wakes up when his arm rubs against the blanket and burns, him hissing and standing up suddenly.

He stumbles his way to his bathroom, finding the first aid kit- in the fucking bathtub? The fuck? He decides not to think about that instead dragging it onto the sink counter before peeking inside.

Oh great! He didn’t anymore aloe vera.

He sighed, running a hand down his face as his phone vibrated from his bedroom. He stumbles his way around, almost collapsing on his nightstand as he accepts the call. “Hello?” He says tiredly, at least seeing the contact; “Alien aka Daniel”

“Hey Tommy! I need to get some fresh air, preferably away from my house. Mind if I go to work today?” He says way too happily for how Tommy felt.

“You don’t have the key…?” He says, sounding more like a question then a statement.

Tommy hears a jingle noise from the phone, “I stole your keys and put a copy of them on your nightstand when I went over there to your place. So can I?” Daniel says, sounding slightly sheepish.

Tommy muttered under his breath, “Then why the fuck are you asking for my permission- you know what? Just bring me some aloe vera or something and you can manage the cafe for the day.”

Daniel hums an ok, “See you in 10.” He says, hanging up with a small bye.

Tommy blinks for a moment before slumping down onto his bed, leaning into the pillow, and groaning.

In the meantime he tidies up his apartment, throwing away old ramen cups and expired food that he was too tired to take out of the fridge last night when he just threw the groceries into the fridge.

Of course, it wasn’t an easy thing to do.

His body screamed in pain every time he moved but it would be fine.

A few minutes later, there was pounding at his door.

“Tommy! Your favorite employee is here!” Daniel Grayson yelled from the hallway connecting the apartments.

He was lucky people preferred to stay away from him, there was no need for him to fear the neighbors' wrath after he blasts music throughout the building.

He swung the door open, leaning on the doorframe to steady himself. “Hey man, come here often?” He asks.

Immediately, Daniel’s eyes trail over him, spotting some of the burns. He raised his eyebrow at him with a concerned look to his eyes, “Were you by any chance caught up in the fight last night?” He questioned quietly although they both knew he already knew the answer.

“Indeed I was! How did you know?” He asks, a smirk threatening to play on his lips as he takes a step back, letting him into the apartment.

“Had a gut feeling.” He said, shimmying his way inside and wrapping an arm under Tommy’s that was propping him up against the doorframe and leading him to the couch before unceremoniously dumping a bag onto the coffee table.

Tommy hummed in fake surprise, gratefully letting the other guide him to the couch, plopping down as Daniel took a bottle of aloe vera gel out of the bag, tossing it to him.

Daniel gives him a salute “If you need anything, call me.” He says, walking out of the apartment with a bye.

Tommy first decided he needed a shower, “cool water helps heal burns” his mind supplies helpfully. After, he puts the aloe vera gel over his burns. None would seriously cause problems so he didn’t need anything else, instead wrapping up the wound and leaning against the bathroom wall, twitching slightly.

It wasn’t like him to sit still. He always refused to no matter the situation. Sitting still was for dead bodies, people who had given up, people who had failed, people who had been wronged, people who have wronged-

Tommy shook his head violently, standing up and muttering curses under his breath at his creaking joints. He reached for his phone, texting a group chat he had gotten the other day.

Big Man:

Yo
Anybody up to hang out?
I’m bored as hell

Boob Boy:

Sure!
Meet me and Tubbo at the spot?

Big Man:

K

Bee:

See you there

Tommy pocketed his phone, taking the bus over to the hidden park in District 7.

Immediately, he noticed the lanky teen taking to a goat hybrid.

“Hey Ran, hi Tubbo.” He greeted, waving slightly at the teens.

“Hey big T! Tell Ranboo he’s wrong and that bees are superior to cats,” Tubbo says, pointing rudely into Ranboo’s chest who grumbles.

“I think both are bad options, cows are superior.” Tommy shrugs, grinning mischievously at Tubbo who gasps in offense.

“How dare you! My fellow bee brother, saying that bees are less than a living slab of meat.”

Ranboo scrunches up his nose but Tommy doesn’t falter. “At least cows can hurt creatures and still live! Bees sting you once and rip out a part of their digestive tract, leading to their death.”

Ranboo visibly gags, Tommy and Tubbo just glaring at each other.

“I want ice cream,” Tubbo says suddenly, stopping his angry act.

“Me too. Let’s go.” Tommy replies easily, leading Tubbo out of the forest, Ranboo close behind looking baffled at the argument and sudden change of demeanor.

Tommy bought the three ice creams and they sat on a clean bench in the middle of a dirty park, bouncing off topics.

Tommy takes a bit of the last of his ice cream into the spoon before looking over at an unsuspecting Ranboo. He catches Tubbo’s eyes, giving a nod and leaning forward more so he won’t get hit.

And Tommy catapults the ice cream right onto Ranboo’s cheek.

Ranboo slowly turned to face Tubbo and Tommy, and they both did what is the best course of action in the moment.

Fucking run.

Tubbo jumps over the bench, sprinting away from Ranboo.

Tommy runs with him, seeing a large tree in front of a building.

Tommy jumps up, catching himself in between the branching and jumping like it was parkour warrior across branches to the top of the tree, sitting down on one of the high branches and peeking out, noticing how the branches leaned over surrounding buildings.

Tubbo had somehow gotten on a rooftop of one of those buildings and was smirking smugly at Ranboo… that was until the lanky fucking started climbing up pipes and windows to get to the boy.

And Tubbo just starts fucking sprinting it across the rooftop. “Tommy help! He’s gonna kill me!”

And Tommy just prays that the police doesn’t get called about the screaming as he climbs over branches towards the white and black haired laughing boy, waiting til he was underneath the branch Tommy was on and Tommy just falls like a drop bear on top of their victim.

Ranboo screamed like an 8-year-old, falling under the sudden weight, Tommy already being prepared with his arms under Ranboo’s head and back, cushioning his fall.

“Hold him down!” Tubbo calls out, running over and holding him by his legs, giggling slightly.

In the end, Tubbo had found a bandanna and tied it around the lanky fucker’s hands and they carried him to the pond, the split dyed hair being picked at by a duck as Tommy and Tubbo laugh at him.

Tommy gets home a happy sort of tired, unlocking his door and pausing for a moment, seeing Daniel at the stove, phone propped up against a bottle of hot sauce playing something that looks like a cooking video.

Tommy just walks up behind him, laying his chin tiredly against the other’s shoulder. “What’cha making?” Tommy mumbles, looking down at the food as he fiddles with his sweater.

Daniel hums, “An omelette I saw online, want some?” He asks, and Tommy nods sleepily.

“You’re staying the night?”

Daniel hums a yes, “My brother and I have been in a disagreement the last few days, the house feels suffocating.”

Tommy makes a sympathetic noise, “why didn’t you stay last night?”

“Didn’t want to bother you too much, plus yesterday was a holiday,” Daniel admits, shrugging the shoulder Tommy isn’t resting on.

Tommy frowns, “I don’t care what’s going on, if you need a place to stay or don’t feel safe or respected at your place you can stay here however long you’d like.”

Daniel smiled. It was a short, small thing but the meaning behind it was clear.

So they ate in peace and fell asleep easily.

Today was a nice day.

Chapter Text

The holiday was over.

That meant Tommy could do what he loved dearly.

He opened the back door to his cafe, humming the tune to “All I Need” as he set up his workspace. Daniel had afternoon shift, somehow sleeping through the loud traffic that came with the busy city.

He opened the cafe not even 30 minutes ago, and bitchass Wilbur was already here.

The man looked worried out of his mind, frowning slightly at the blonde. “Are you ok?” Wilbur asked.

Tommy raised an eyebrow, “Yea? Why wouldn’t I be?” He countered, tilting his head at the older.

Wilbur pursed his lips, “You weren’t at the cafe yesterday. There was just some weird kid who looked like he wanted me dead.”

Tommy could tell that wasn’t the entire reason but he knew better to interrogate somebody. “Well the ‘Weird kid’ wanted to open shop by himself so I let him. I just wasn’t feeling too well yesterday.”

The man huffed a sigh before ordering, “Can I get an expresso with a raspberry tart?”. Tommy nodded, reading out the total and taking the next few customers.

After getting his drink and treat, the man sat on a barstool next to the counter, watching Tommy move around the machines with practiced ease. A few jokes were passed here and there between the two when Tommy wasn’t taking orders, the man every so often asking for refills on his coffee.

Tommy was cleaning the cafe for when Daniel would get there, not minding the brunette that was still there until he spoke up.

“Is your shift almost over?” He asked, perking up slightly.

Tommy nods from where he was wiping off a table, “Yea, ‘Weird kid’ is taking over in a minute.”

Wilbur walks over to him and grabs him by his shoulders, pushing him out of the building. “We’re gonna go get lunch at A Devil’s Diner, come on.”

Tommy huffs but follow him all the same. “This is mannapping, I’m gonna call the police.”

“You are literally following me.”

“Your point is?”

“You aren’t getting kidnapped.”

“You’re right, I’m getting mannapped.”

“Tommy?”

“Yea?”

“Respectfully shut the hell up.”

“Hey!”

A whack on the back of Wilbur’s head.

Tommy and Wilbur may have ended up fighting the entire way to the diner, as well as gotten scolded by some Karen.

Tommy had never been to A Devil’s Diner but unlike the name, it was very nice.

The place was themed vintage, red and black checkered tables with red seats. Wilbur went to a random booth, Tommy sitting across from him and grabbing a menu.

“Good evening- oh hi Wilbur!” A waiter says, walking over to the duo.

“Hey Bad, how’s business?” Wilbur asks, smiling at the waiter.

“It’s doing good! What have you been up to? You haven’t stopped by in a bit.” The waiter tilts his head, smiling at Wilbur.

“Work is a bitch right now, didn’t have the time to go with dad or Tech but I brought my friend Tommy.” Tommy raises his head from the menu at the mention of his name, humming in question.

Wilbur turns to Tommy, “Tommy, this is Bad. He owns the diner and is friends with my dad. Bad, this is Tommy. He owns Sunflower Delights cafe.” He nods in Bad’s direction and Tommy smiles politely.

Now he finally got a chance to look at the man and then understood why the place was called A Devil’s Diner. The man was a demon hybrid with a void for a face, his eyes and mouth glowing white in a smile. He was also really fucking tall, taller than Ranboo and Wilbur.

“Hey, nice to meet you, man. I love the aesthetic of the diner.” Tommy says, reaching out for a handshake.

The demon took it, smiling at him. “Thank you, muffin! So you’re the cafe owner Wilbur and Techno can’t stop talking about? I was going to stop by this weekend.”

Tommy turned to Wilbur who was pink with a playful grin on his face “Aww, you talk about me to your friends? Not even your friends, your dad’s friends.”

Wilbur murmured quietly “shut up gremlin. And how do you know Techno doesn’t have friends I talk to?”

Tommy’s grin doesn’t falter, “Techno doesn’t have friends, you can tell just by looking at him.”

Wilbur chokes a laugh, “I’m going to tell techno you said that.”

Tommy dramatically falls back on the booth, much to the other two’s amusement. “Oh know, whatever shall I do when bubblegum princess gets mad?”

Wilbur cackles and Bad giggled. The two ordered their food and drinks and poked at each other annoyingly as they ate. By the time they were out of the diner, the sun was starting to set.

“Oh! Can I get your number? I’m normally free to hang out if you want to.” Wilbur asked, Tommy nodding and exchanging numbers before parting ways for the night.

Tommy walked to the cafe even though he knew it was closed. He just wanted to make sure everything was locked up before he headed to his apartment.

Of course, things can’t go his way for long.

Because the second he unlocked the door, he was met with the face of Daniel Grayson in the suit of the mercenary Purpled.

Chapter Text

What the fuck-

Ok, you know what? That makes sense.

Tommy raised an eyebrow at the teen in front of him, “Why, out of all places, did you decide going into the cafe in your suit was the best place to be?”.

The mercenary blanched for a second. “Huh?”

Tommy just sighed, massaging his temples. “Why the fuck do you have your suit on in the cafe?”

Purpled snapped back to reality and just looked at Tommy baffled. “Wait you fucking knew?”

Tommy’s mind offered a few ways on how to kill a man without using a weapon. “I had my guesses and turns out I was right.”

The other teen looked a bit sheepish. “You’re going to turn me in?” He asked, Tommy shaking his head in response. “Alright. I was hiding from a hero.”

Tommy stared at the teen for a moment, eyes showing that he knew that wasn’t the entire reason.

The other teen looked down “I also wanted a snack.” Tommy snorted, shaking his head fondly.

“Change into civilian clothes-” He pointed at the black duffel bag with purple accents on the counter. “-and grab something to eat. You’re staying at my apartment?”

The mercenary nodded, took some spare clothes out of his bag, and headed to the restroom

Tommy mumbled under his breath as he cleaned up the small mess of dirty footprints in the cafe from the other teen. When the vigilantes came into the cafe Tommy had the idea that the other teen could’ve been a part of illegal activities because of his reaction to them. Not to mention the injury he had taken care of moments before that.

The mercenary walked out of the restroom in his civilian clothes, jumping over the counter and taking out a day-old cookie. Tommy scrunched his nose at the behavior and Purpled looked at him, dead in the eyes, and took a big bite of it. This man was insane.

Tommy shook his head, glaring at the teen who had an evil grin on his face. “So is your name actually Daniel or….?”

The teen shrugged, “My real name is Purpled but it’s sort of not at the same time. My dad died before I was born and my mom died when she had me, the only reason I’m with my brother is because somebody found out I had a long lost sibling, I chose my name.”

Tommy hummed, “Ah yes trauma.”

Purpled finished a second cookie with a grin. “It’s not traumatic if I’ve never met them!” He stated cheerfully.

Tommy sighed, shaking his head with a small smile. “Ready to go?” He asked, Purpled nodding as they both walked home.

As the two get on the train, Purpled talks quietly. “You know, you act really calm for somebody who just found out a wanted criminal’s identity?”

Tommy hums, not looking up from his phone. “Been there, done that. It’s not the first time.”

Purpled raises an eyebrow but Tommy offers no response.

By the time they get home, both of the teens are ready to pass the fuck out. So all they ended up making for dinner was some frozen pizza while they watched a documentary on raccoons.

Tommy falls asleep halfway through it, unaware of the rumbling of a building in a district lower than his. A promise of violence and destruction.

Chapter Text

Tommy had woken up with that gut feeling. The one that always meant danger. His senses were enhanced on reflex, but not find anything that could be a threat. He quietly and cautiously got off the couch, walking into the hallway and leaning his head against a door. He could hear Purpled snoring. He walked around, about to make some pancakes when he felt nauseous.

Ok, seems like Tommy is gonna starve today.

He changes into his work clothes, walking out of his apartment building as he stays tense.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Tommy walked across the streets cautiously, hyper aware of his surroundings.

It was still dark outside that morning, making it even more creepy.

He had gotten on the train, looking for anything strange but everything seemed in order. He got off the train without issue, walking towards where the cafe was.

He felt another tug of nausea in his gut, 5 people were standing at the crosswalk Tommy was across from talking loudly.

The sign went from a hand to a walking symbol, lighting a bit of the people’s faces but not the road. A person in the group walked ahead, facing backwards to talk to the others

Tommy heard it before he saw it, his enhanced senses picking up on the sound of tires coming towards them.

The headlights weren’t on, making the car invisible to the normal eye.

Fuck-

Tommy leaped towards the person hearing gasps and a yelp, tackling them and switching position as they fell so Tommy would take the brunt of the fall.
He fell himself skidding across the road, the car barely missing them as Tommy clutches the person tightly.

“Holy shit!” Somebody yells.

Tommy sits up a bit, letting go of the shaking person. “Are you ok?” He asks, pushing himself up on his feet.

“Hold up, gimme a second” A phone flashlight shines so they’re finally able to actually see shit and Tommy looks at the group.

There’s one gaping at him, wearing a bandana over raven black hair with black eyes. He wore a loose-fitting shirt with a panda on it with black pants.

Another is holding the person with the phone’s arm. He wears a blue hoodie with sweatpants with some house slippers if he has just woken up. He was a brunette with brown eyes, shorter than Tommy.

The one he was holding onto had the phone flashlight. He wore a Mask merch hoodie- ew- and black sweatpants. He had blonde hair and green eyes and a scar across his lip.

Another had on a comfy-looking green sweater over a white collared shirt with Jeans. He wore glasses and had brown eyes with brunette fluffy hair and a watch on his wrist.

The one who had almost gotten run over had a navy beanie over jet black hair with brown eyes. He wore a navy blue turtle neck with a duck on the front and black sweatpants. He had a scar across a milky white eye.

The man nodded, looking wide-eyed at Tommy “Thanks man, that was sick!”

The green sweater one started scolding him about not calling almost dying “sick” while the Mask stan spoke to him “Are you alright? Your arm got messed up there.” He points at it and Tommy looks down at his road-burnt and bleeding arm.

Tommy shrugs, “It is what it is.”.

And apparently, that is what snapped the blue hoodie back to reality. “Oh! I have some medical supplies in my bag.” He starts digging through his backpack and the 2 blondes watch as the green sweater dude tries to drag the acting dead man out of the road.

“What’s your name kid?” The raven-haired asks Tommy, holding out a hand.

“Tommy but I go by Tommy,” he replies, shaking his hand.

The raven-haired smiles, “I’m Sapnap, the Mask hoodie is Dream, his boyfriend is George-” The blue hoodie scoffs. Sapnap points to the green sweater. “He’s Karl and the idiot is Quackity.” Quackity glares at Sapnap and Karl moves his hands away from trying to drag Quackity to wave at Tommy, Quackity falling over with a thud and loud complaint.

“Nice to meet you all, wish it was under better circumstances,” Tommy says and Sapnap gives a small laugh.

“Where are you headed off to, Tommy?” Dream asks, tilting his head.

I smile politely, “I own a cafe over here near Westside.”

George raises an eyebrow as he treats Tommy’s arm, “Aren’t you a little too young to own a cafe?”

Tommy laughs and rubs the back of his neck. “I look young for my age, I’m 19” The lie falls easily from my mouth.

“Wait I know you!” Quackity shouts suddenly. “You’re that Sunflower Delights cafe owner that Wilbur talks about!”

Tommy groans, “This is the second person who’s found out about me through Wilbitch.”

Quackity nods sympathetically, “I know, he will not shut up. But I know some embarrassing stories about him so I might stop by the cafe sometime to discuss the blackmail.” Tommy huffs a laugh.

Karl checks his watch, “We’re running late already, enough chit chat!” And chaos erupts, the group scrambling to the other side of the streets, yelling their byes as Tommy waves back at them.

Now to get to work.

Tommy made it to the cafe, opening as he usually did, minding his own business.

When fucking villains walk in through his door.

The Angel of Death waved at him from the front counter, standing next to a grinning Siren and a done-looking Blood God.

What in the ever-loving fuck has his life come to?

Chapter Text

Tommy internally sighed, walking up to the register. “At least there aren’t any civilian customers in the cafe.” Tommy thought to himself.

“Welcome to Sunflower Delights! What can I get for you today?” He greeted, plastering a fake smile onto his face.

Blood God spoke up first, sighing. “The souls of the innocent… and 4 shots of espresso.” He deadpanned, sounding like he’d rather be anywhere else.

Tommy nodded in understanding, it must be tiring to deal with Siren bombing trains.

Speaking of the asshole, he opened his mouth to say who knows what idiotic shit. Tommy promptly ignored him, turning to the greatest man of all time, the Angel of Death. “What would you like, big man?

Siren squawked in offense and the Angel of Death chuckled. “Can I get a London fog? Thanks mate.”

Tommy nodded, turning to Siren who looked smug before looking down at the register. “Your total is 9.79.”

Angel of Death choked on a laugh, Siren complaining with a yelp.

Tommy sighed, turning to Siren, “Can you hurry up? I don’t have all day.”

Siren huffed and rolled his eyes at the blonde teen, “Cappuccino, brat.”

Tommy glared at Siren and read out the total, thinking about spitting in his drink.

Tommy made the drinks, not bothering to listen in on whatever villain bullshit they had.

After they had gotten their drinks, they left with a bye to Tommy, leaving him by himself in the cafe with rain pouring down outside.

Well, that was until a meow came from the front door.

Tommy froze, looking over the counter to the glass-tinted door to the cafe.

There was a wet cat loafing right outside his door.

Tommy walked over, opening the door for the poor shivering thing with a smile. “Hello there, beautiful!” He cooed at the cat as it walked up to him, rubbing against his legs.

By the looks of it, it was a British short-haired, coat golden orange with green eyes. It was still young by the looks of it and didn’t have a collar.

Tommy squatted down, fawning and cooing over the cute cat who purred happily. Tommy walked behind the counter, the cat following him as he found a towel, wrapping it around the shivering cat who purred happily and licked Tommy’s arm.

Welp, his cat now!

After closing up the cafe since Purpled had a mercenary job and couldn’t make it and locking the cafe door with the cute kitty following him, the rain had stopped so Tommy walked to the train station, the cat in his arms purring happily.

Tommy tilted his head at the cat, “What should I name you?” Tommy asked it, not minding that it couldn’t answer. “What about Clementine?” He offered, the cat licking his hand happily.

Clementine it was.

Tommy smiled at the cat, continuing his walk home, thankfully not having to save somebody from being run over again.

Tommy opened the door to his apartment, seeing Purpled watching TV.

Purpled glanced at Tommy and then double-glanced at the cat in his arms.

“Tommy?”

Tommy turned to him with a grin, “Yeah?”

“Why the fuck do you have a cat?”
Tommy rolled his eyes, “First of all, her name is Clementine. Secondly, she’s our new roommate.” Clementine meows and Tommy gives Purpled a look that says “See what I mean?”.

Purpled sighs, slapping a hand to his forehead and Tommy puts Clementine on the ground, her sniffing around the place and jumping on top of Purpled who looks scared.

Tommy laughs from where he was getting some ingredients from the fridge to make dinner, “What? Never seen a cat before?”.

Purpled mumbles curses, flipping off Tommy. “Do you even know how to take care of a cat?”

Tommy clicked his tongue, a whispering voice in his mind responding with a list of everything he needed. “Yup! And we’re headed to the pet store tomorrow.” He says in a sing-song voice to which Purpled groans, but still pets Clementine.

Tommy ended up cooking some chicken after finding out the cat can eat it.

The TV plays a hero-villain fight and Tommy sighs. He felt better throughout the day after he helped that Quackity man, but there was still the feeling of violence in the air, closing in around Tommy so it was hard to breathe.

“You know something is wrong.” the voice in his mind whispers “Why aren’t you doing anything?”

The voices who had been there longer kept silent, the newer ones a mix of trying to warn Tommy to stay away from the threat and trying to get him to stop the threat.

“-my?” The voice of Purpled asks and Tommy turns to him as the others quiet down. He looks worriedly at Tommy and Tommy’s stomach churns. “Are you ok? You zoned out there for a minute.”

Tommy runs his hand through Clementine’s fur, “I’m alright, I just have a gut feeling.”

Purpled looks even more concerned. Tommy had texted him that morning after he realized in his rush to leave that he hadn’t left any breakfast for the teen, telling him about how he had felt sick and what had happened.

“What’s it about?” He asked, Tommy shaking his head.

“I don’t know yet but apparently it’s not good.” He answered, scratching the purring Clementine’s chin. Purpled hums, leaning back on the couch, ending the conversation as the two watch a hero-villain fight on TV.

Even as Tommy went to sleep with Clementine by his side, the feeling didn’t go away.

Chapter Text

Tommy woke up early the next morning, his mind screaming at him.

He went through his morning routine, Clementine trailing behind him happily. Her tail waved in the air, begging for Tommy’s breakfast of bacon and pancakes. Tommy did end up giving her bacon.

And apparently, pigs could fly now because Purpled woke up early for once in his life!

Tommy ended up making Purpled take the morning shift, with Tommy being there from midday to evening.

In the meantime, Tommy rode the train to a pet store, a cat wrapped around his shoulders like a loose scarf.

Tommy was picking out some food for Clementine when an annoying voice came from behind him.

“I didn’t know you had a cat.”

Wilbur. The bitchass motherfucker who doesn’t stop talking about him to his dad’s friends.

Tommy turns around on his heels, staring at the tall fucker before kicking his ankle as hard as he could. Which was pretty hard considering the man fell over, cursing loudly as somebody laughed.

Tommy turned to the voice and saw a man with pale blonde hair in a green shirt with a crow on it and black pants. He stood next to techno who was recording, nodding a greeting at Tommy who nodded back.

“Nice kick.” The blonde man complimented.

“Thanks, you know Wilbitch?” Tommy asked, smiling politely at the man.

“I’d hope I’d know my own son. My name is Phil by the way.” The man laughed, smiling at Tommy.

Tommy whistles, “So you were alive in the Stone Age, yeah?” Phil choked on a laugh, Techno snorting from where he was trying to get the pouting Wilbur off the floor. “I’m Tommy, owner of Sunflower Delights. Your son’s a bitch.” Phil cackled while Wilbur had a hand over his heart, mouth agape at Tommy.

Wilbur glared at Tommy with no real heat while Phil petted Clementine, “Cute cat, what’s the name?”

Tommy smiled, holding an arm out as the cat jumped onto it, loafing as Phil cooed at it. “Her name is Clementine, found her yesterday at my cafe.”

“She is very cute but dogs are better,” Techno informs him. Tommy glares at him as Wilbur comes over, speaking to Clementine as if she were a baby. She’s not. She is the biggest woman of all time- Cat of all time? Yea! The strongest and most beautiful.

Phil checks his watch, eyes widening slightly. “Alright boys, we have to head over to the office. Nice meeting you Tommy.” The trio waves at Tommy as they leave, Tommy waving back before continuing on. Clementine climbs into the baby seat and Tommy smiles, once again searching for cat food.

Now Tommy may have gone overboard. He had gotten Clementine a large cat tree with 7 platforms, a scratching post, a box on one of the two top platforms, a few cat toys, litter box, red leash, red bandana with her name and Tommy’s cafe as a collar, food and water bowls, a shit ton of treats, food, grooming tools, and a red cat bed as well as a gray cat bed for when Clementine would go to the cafe with him.

But Clementine’s little hops were worth it, and it wasn’t like it was hurting his pay thanks to the constant tips he got.

Really, he didn’t need to live in District 15, he was just too busy to bother with moving before he had an extra worker at his cafe.

Tommy had dropped the items for the cat inside his apartment before tying the bandana around Clementine’s neck and bringing the cat bed with him while taking the train to his workplace, Clementine following close behind him.

Tommy set up Clementine’s bed, Purpled saying bye to Tommy and Clementine before leaving for his mercenary job.

While Tommy was making an espresso for one of his regulars, a man with a red and orange tie-dye shirt and black cargos named Ponk, the door to the cafe flew open. The customer looked ready for a fight but instead came Quackity’s dumbass.

“Good evening Tomathy, how are you doing?” He called towards the register, grinning like an idiot.

Tommy grinned back as Ponk calmed down and went to take a seat, “Hello to you too big Q! I am doing wonderful, how about you?”

Quackity strolled up to the register, reading over a menu. “I am doing great! Took care of some problems at work, snuck away from my staff and security to come here, and am now going to ask you for a hot chocolate and half a dozen double chocolate muffins.”

Tommy nodded in approval, typing his order into the register and reading out his total as Quackity gave him a twenty, putting the change in the tip jar. “Very good order, although the strawberry is better. Who needs security anyway?” He stops himself for a moment, thinking thoughtfully. “But if you get almost run over often then you might need the security.” He adds, writing “Big Q” on the cup absentmindedly.

Quackity scoffs, “That was one time! It’s all Dream talks about. And it’s his only comeback! Dream, you’re such a narcissist! ‘Yeah well remember that time a kid had to save you from getting run over?’” He mocks in a monotone voice… one he’s not very good at.

Tommy snorts as he finishes putting the muffins in a box with a clear rectangle on the top which has a sunflower in the center. “Makes sense for a Mask stan. They are the driest type of people out there.”

Quackity laughs and it’s the kind of infectious laugh you want to join in on so Tommy does as he finishes putting the whipped cream in a very close to perfect swirl, adding some little sprinkles for shits and giggles. He slides the box of muffins and the drink over to Quackity who was seated on the barstool next to the counter.

“Careful, it’s hot,” Tommy warned as he went on to the next customer.

Next thing you know there’s a yelp and a regretful looking Quackity with his tongue hanging out of his mouth like a dog and Tommy giggles at his misery as he takes orders.

Quackity grabs a muffin and takes a small, careful bite before shoving the entire thing in his mouth with dilated pupils and Tommy chokes a laugh at him.

Quackity looks sheepishly at Tommy before swallowing down the treat, “That shit is made by the gods, what drugs did you put in it?”

Tommy snorts, “I made the recipe myself, no drugs, just spite.” Quackity shoves another muffin in his mouth, trying to talk around it and failing miserably.

A fancy-looking car pulls into the lot in front of the cafe, a horn honking and Tommy can barely make out the form of a stressed Sapnap.

Quackity looks over and starts packing up the food. “Oh shit, Sapnap found me gotta run!” He stops himself before he leaves, an idea popping into his mind by the look on his face, spreading into a wide grin. “Here’s my business card, I wouldn’t mind you having another cafe in my… area… this shit is good as hell. And if you need anything, don’t be a stranger!” He passed Tommy a card, face down before running out with a quick “Bye!”.

Tommy doesn’t need to watch him go, he doesn’t think there would be any cars in the parking lot trying to hit Quackity. Instead, he pockets the card Quackity gave him to read later as he continues serving customers, occasionally messaging Tubbo or Ranboo to see what they are doing.

It was about time for him to close up shop so after he cleaned the place, he remembered the card in his apron pocket, taking it out and reading it as he went jawed.

On the left of the card there was a poker with a “:]” face in the center, right of it being Quackity’s first name.

Under it was a phone number and text that read “Owner of Las Nevadas, Spades”.

Chapter Text

Las Nevadas was originally a gang from when the war for independence happened in L’manburg. After however, it became a whole community in District 18 where casinos and flashing colors stood out from the surrounding districts. It was a gamblers' and alcoholics' paradise, made to either get people rich or steal all of their money.

The creator and owner was a strange individual, some would say. He wasn’t involved in the hero-villain world but he was counted as a villain for selling information about people. Although he wasn’t hunted the same way other villains were, since heroes would go there for information on villains. He went by Spades from back when gang wars were a thing, hiding his identity while giving away others.

Tommy had never really had an opinion about the man, given that Tommy was around 12 when the independence war ended and 13 when the gang wars ended. Tommy had heard whispers about him though, through his mind which was quieter back then, and through his friends at the time.

Tommy’s thoughts were cut off by the intercom of the train, “We are approaching Las Nevadas, district 18. Please mind the gap between the train and the platform.”

Tommy huffed, getting off the train quickly before heading to one of the entrances where a guard stood. Tommy handed over his bag for him to go through as he scrolled on his phone.

Good thing he left his knife in the cafe.

Clementine had gone home with Purpled, him not really minding where Tommy would be going that Clementine couldn’t tag along if it meant he could spend time with the cat.

Tommy picked his bag back up when the guard slid it over, walking through the gates and taking in the sight of the place.

Neon lights with fancy fonts and symbols lit up the dark casinos and bars, and drunk people wandered around aimlessly, sounds of cheers from different buildings and crappy music played throughout the district with the occasional guard patrolling.

Tommy walked to a fancy-looking office building, groaning when he saw just how many guards there were surrounding the place. If you’re trying to hide a villain, at least be subtle about it.

Tommy walked up to a guard who looked down at him with a scowl, fox ears on top of orange hair against the sides of his head in an upset look. “Reason for entry?”

Tommy scowled back at the asshole, narrowing his eyes and analyzing the fox hybrid’s movements, the smallest hint of discomfort showing as his shoulders tense and eyes look a bit uncertain behind sunglasses Tommy can barely see through.

Quackity really needed better guards. It’s no wonder he was able to escape them if all of them were this easy to read.

“Meeting with Spades, he made an offer I wanted to discuss.” Tommy holds out Quackity’s business card, the guard takes it and looks it over before handing it back, moving away from where he stood blocking the door.

Tommy strolled in like he owned the place, he knew how people who used to work for gangs were. They took hesitation as a person being weak, and Tommy was anything but. He glared at people with strange tattoos who stared too long, scowling at the occasional whispers of people nearby asking each other if he seemed familiar.

Tommy was seated on a couch in the lobby, still as a statue and stone-faced as he waited to be noticed by the receptionist who was busy with what looked like he could be a murderer, blood covering his shoes and up his pant legs, bloody hands gripping the counter.

Tommy was snapped out of his thoughts by a person in front of him and Tommy stood up. He knew better than to let himself be looked down on.

The guy had brown hair with green eyes covered by square glasses. He wore a white button-up shirt with a green tie and black pants with suspenders. He grinned happily at Tommy, unlike the others around him.

The guy offered a handshake, “Hello Tomathy Innes from somewhere! What brings you here today?” The guy asked and greeted, voice as happy as his expression.

Tommy was pointedly not going to ask how this fucker knew his fake file name and instead shook his hand. “Just call me Tommy, I need to meet with Spades,” Tommy explained, trying not to smile from the man’s contagious one.

The guy doesn’t falter at all, ignoring all the glares the two were receiving. “Spades from Las Nevadas is in his office, I’ll take you there!” The man says happily, grabbing Tommy by the wrist and dragging Tommy along.

Tommy quickly follows him through the halls, ignoring the random yells and thumps and instead focusing on the people that walk past, some drunk and fumbling and some looking like they wanted the world burned down.

The guy opens a door and there’s Spades in all of his hunched-over-desk glory. Tommy walks in and Spades sits up slowly, back creaking and Tommy lets the grin loose on his face. “Getting old?” He asks, sitting on a beanbag beside Spades’ desk which looks more comfortable than the chair across from Spades.

Quackity scoffs and takes off his mask, “You try doing paperwork all day and see what happens.”

Tommy scrunches his nose in disgust, “No thanks. You need better guards by the way.” Tommy mentions, fiddling with a loose screw from a filing cabinet which Quackity does not seem worried in the slightest about.

Quackity frowns, “What’s wrong with my security?”

Tommy raises an eyebrow, giving him a look that says “Really?” And Quackity just shrugs. Tommy huffs, “You were able to run from your security and out of all places were able to hide at my cafe. I also just had to deal with the fox guy and he looked so uncomfortable and I hadn’t even done anything. Not to mention you’re trying to hide your location at all times but this is the only building with what looks like 20 guards surrounding it!” Tommy rambles, throwing his hands up.

Quackity looks like he’s taking a moment to process the information before his eyes widen “Oh. Is that how people find me that fast?” He questions, mostly to himself and Tommy looks at him like he was the most stupid person on the planet.

Seriously. What the fuck?

Tommy drops his face into his knees, letting out a muffled yell in frustration.

Quackity just returns to his work, Tommy lifting his head when a paper ball is thrown at his head to glare at Quackity playfully. “The fuck do you want, Q?”

The man in question grins widely, leaning forward with his elbows on the armrest of his chair and hands intertwined together like he was about to make a deal. “So, have you thought over my offer?”

Tommy took a second to think about what he said before groaning. “I do not want to do all the work of buying everything for the cafe again and unloading it. It took forever.” He fell back dramatically and Quackity laughed.

“You do realize that I have a whole district of men at my command, right? You don’t even have to buy the land or anything, I can get somebody else to do all the work for you.” Quackity offered with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

Tommy raised an eyebrow back at him, “Then why in the ever-loving fuck are you doing paperwork?” Tommy asked, fiddling with his new shiny screw. He wonders faintly about getting the other screw a foot above it off too.

Quackity sighed. “I don’t have to do it but I don’t trust other people with my paperwork.” Tommy nodded in understanding. If he owned a whole district he wouldn’t trust some random old wanker with the papers that keep the district together.

Tommy hummed in thought as he unscrewed the second shiny screw, taking the nut off before responding, “Alright, I guess I could have a second cafe here. Why do you even need a cafe here?” He tilted his head at the older person.

He groaned, rolling his eyes. “Some people bring their family members and kids here because they’re dumbasses and don’t know how to hire a nanny. And some people get overstimulated or tired from everything so they want a place to go that isn’t a bar or some shit.”

Tommy nodded, “Dumbasses indeed. Besides the trauma people- but the others are dumbasses. Also, I don’t nearly have enough workers for two cafes so if you know somebody who would want a job, call me.” Tommy had texted “fuck you” to Quackity as soon as he put the number in his phone so Quackity knew who was texting him.

Quackity nodded, resuming his work as Tommy took another screw out, wondering to himself about how many screws it would take for the cabinet to break. His mind supplied him with the number eight as Tommy screwed the nut off the screw before pelting it at the back of Quackity’s head who turned around to him with a deadpan look as Tommy snickered.

It was peaceful for a while, Quackity’s filling out papers and Tommy was taking screws out of the cabinets which Quackity didn’t seem to mind.

And then it wasn’t peaceful.

The glasses guy came back into the office, smiling the same as before. “Spades from Las Nevadas! Angel of Death, Blood God, and Siren from The Syndicate are here to see you!”

Chapter Text

Tommy’s eyes widened and Quackity cursed under his breath, stuffing papers away and putting on his mask. “Start leading them here, wait in front of the door until I call for you to bring them in, Charlie.” The guy- Charlie nodded, leaving the door and presumably where the villains were. Quackity turned to Tommy, “You can stay, just put your hood up and put this on.” Quackity throws a black surgeon’s mask at him, Tommy puts it on, and fiddles with his screws again.

About a minute later there was a knock at the door, Quackity yelling a quick come in to the people outside. Charlie held the door open and 3 of the most dangerous villains walked in. The same 3 that had been at Tommy’s cafe a few days ago.

The Angel of Death sat in the chair across from Quackity, Siren, and Blood God both dragging chairs to sit on either side of their leader. “Good evening Spades, we had a few questions to ask you about the upcoming hero event.” The Angel of Death- Nope. That is too long a name. Big A? AoD? Yeah, AoD is easier to say.

Tommy could feel Siren’s eyes on him as he tilted his head at him. “Who is this you have here?” Siren’s voice rang out, causing his teammates to look at Tommy as well. To his credit, Tommy didn’t shrink back like he thought he would.

Instead, he glared at the trio before Quackity cleared his throat loudly, gaining attention back on him. “An associate of mine was still speaking to me before you three got here. He stays during our conversation and I recommend not bothering him if you don’t want to be banned from Las Nevadas.” Quackity said with a stern voice.

Siren pursed his lips at Quackity, him and Blood God looking at him with newfound interest. Tommy straightens up, glaring at the duo who glance at Quackity. “Those are some harsh consequences for him just being ‘an associate’, Spades.” Blood God comments, not taking his eyes off Tommy’s in a way that looks like a twisted staring contest but both of the contestants are analyzing each other based on how easily they could be taken down.

AoD kicks Blood God and Siren from behind the desk, Tommy only seeing because of his position. “That’s enough, Blood God.” He says with finality in his tone. Blood God and Siren finally look away back onto Quackity. “I’m sorry for the other two, you know how curious they are.” He laughs a bit towards the end, Quackity doesn’t.

Instead, Tommy sees Quackity’s hand ball into a fist from underneath his side of the desk as he changes the topic. “What do you need to know about the Hero Agency Tour?” He asks instead, his voice even.

“Well, how many civilians are attending, how many heroes are giving the tours, heroes out on patrol, floors that the tours are and are not on, time of the tours, and how many guards will be at the tower that day.” Sirens counts off on his fingers, leaning back on his chair.

Tommy twists a fifth screw, only halfway paying attention to the conversation.

“What do you need the information for?” Quackity asks, crossing a leg. He kind of reminded Tommy of the American gecko ad he saw on TV once when he was a kid.

“We were planning on causing some ruckus at the agency, it wouldn’t look good on the heroes if they weren’t able to save a civilian in their own tower,” AoD explains, intertwining his hands in his lap.

Tommy turns the fifth screw out of the cabinet.

Quackity leans his elbows on the desk, humming in thought. “How about information for information? That's a deal?” The trio glances at each other before AoD nods. Quackity presses a button under his desk and suddenly the door opens to Charlie smiling brightly. “Bring me the lie detector Warden made,” Quackity says cheerfully while the trio tense up.

As soon as Charlie leaves AoD Let's out an indignant squawk, the trio glaring at Quackity. “That wasn’t what we agreed on. We said we wanted to trade information.” Blood God growls, shoulders tensed.

Quackity shrugs. “I said information for information, I didn’t tell you what method we would use to get it.” He tilts his head at the trio, a smirk evident in his voice.

Tommy unscrews the nut from the screw.

Siren stands up, “We didn’t agree on a lie detector to be the way we get information out of each other.” He growls, fists at his side.

And Tommy’s mind whispers ‘danger’ at him, so he does the only thing he can think of in the situation.

He throws the nut and it hits Siren on the forehead.

The world seems like it stopped for a moment, Siren slack-jawed as AoD and Quackity look like they’re trying their hardest not to laugh. Blood God is glancing from Tommy to Siren and Tommy sits there in silence, subtly picking up another nut.

Siren slowly turns to him, “Did-..Did you just hit me- with a piece of a screw..?”

Tommy just stares before lifting his hand and throwing the other that flies straight into his slack-jawed mouth and AoD lets out a hiccuping laugh as Siren tries to spit it out. Tommy speaks up, happily surprised when his voice sounds different from an already installed voice changer. “It’s called a nut, and yes I did. I didn’t know you were blind.”

Quackity is half bent over in his seat trying to stop giggling and the Blood God just gives Tommy a nod, “You are now my favorite person.” Siren gives an offended look at Blood God who just shrugs and Siren turns back around to glare at Tommy who glares back.

Once they’re all recovered one way or another except for Siren’s ego, Tommy sighs and narrows his eyes at the group. “There’s no reason for you not to agree to use the lie detector other than that you were gonna lie to Q- Spades. If he asks you a question you don’t want to answer you don’t have to, but that’ll be information you will miss out on.”

He fiddles with the screws on his lap, turning to look at Quackity who Tommy could tell was smiling at him from behind the mask.

AoD sighs, “Alright, bring in the lie detector.” He says, the other two glancing questioningly at him but he doesn’t speak anymore.

Quackity claps his hands excitedly, “Alright! Anybody want a beverage before we start?” He goes over to a mini fridge on the side of the room, grabbing a glass of wine and some water before glancing at Tommy in silent question. Tommy peers inside the mini fridge and dives for a box of apple juice.

He takes it back to his bean bag, glaring at Siren’s snort when he sees what Tommy grabbed. “I will kill you,” Tommy promises, scowling at the villain behind the mask.

Siren grins, “I’m a trained villain, I can probably kill you just by pushing you.” He tilts his head at Tommy.

Tommy holds up a sharp screw like a dart, “I bet I have better aim than you.”

Blood God faintly mutters a “He got you there.” from behind a cup of water and Siren turns to him with a scoff while Tommy snickers.

AoD sighs, he does that a lot doesn’t he? “You all act like children, get ahold of yourselves.” And who was Tommy to disrespect his favorite supervillain in all of L’manburg?

So Tommy just sits up straighter, fiddling with his screws until Charlie comes back in with some machine that looks like it belongs in a lab.

Quackity sits up as the machine is placed on this desk. “Alright so! We will both take turns putting this-” He holds up some bracelet attached to some wires. “-onto our wrists and asking questions. We each get 7 questions according to your demands from earlier. I’ll start us off.”

And Tommy just zones out, more so focusing on the screws he’s taking out of the cabinet. He takes all 7 screws that weren’t holding up the cabinet and gets bored again. He had already drunk all of his apple juice and the box was sitting so innocently to the side.

“Tear it up and throw it at the singing fuck.” A voice of a teenager rings in his mind, and some other teenage voices agree loudly in his mind. Some voices of others sigh and groan at their idea but Tommy starts tearing up the dry juice box.

“Don’t throw stuff at a super villain!” Another voice scolds. Well fuck whoever that was.

Tommy throws a bit of the paper and cardboard combined material that makes up the juice box at Siren’s ankle while the adults are distracted, barely twitching.

Tommy does it again, and Siren tries to move his ankle away from Tommy’s line of sight.

Tommy throws another piece at his other ankle, the villain narrows his eyes at him.

Tommy looks him in the eyes and does it again. The villain sits with his legs against the desk, out of Tommy’s vision.

Tommy smirks, picking up the juice box and curve throwing it into Siren’s side. He twitches, but none of the others notice.

Tommy decides “fuck it” and throws a nut from a screw into his side. The villain glares down at where Tommy sits.

Tommy glares back before throwing another into his side, throwing it a bit harder than he normally would. The villain jumps a bit from it and the other two glance at him.

Tommy turns to the cabinet again, acting like he had done nothing wrong.

…Ok maybe Tommy had bullied the villain the entire time the others used the lie detector.

But it was worth it to see the three stand up and AoD immediately scold Siren on how much trash he had thrown on the floor under him, not buying anything Siren said about how it was Tommy who did it, and made him clean up the trash.

But now, Tommy was left with Quackity, watching animal documentaries on his phone while the other got drunk on wine, occasionally bothering each other about how neither was actually doing their jobs.

Tommy eventually got a message from one of his other friends.

Bitch Boy: You wanna hang out? I’m bored

Feral Raccoon: Sure where do we meet?

Bitch Boy: I’ll pick you up at wherever you are and we can go to my place?

Feral Raccoon: k go to district 17

Bitch Boy: Why the fuck are you so far?

Feral Raccoon: I wander whenever I’m bored

It wasn’t a lie, Tommy did end up wandering to a lot of strange places whenever he got bored with sitting around at the house. Maybe he could take Ranboo, Tubbo, or Wilbur on an exploration. Tubbo definitely would go, he seems like the type that would. Ranboo and Wilbur might think it was too dangerous but nothing horribly bad has happened to Tommy before while wandering.

Well maybe he should think about the time when his mind led him to a murder scene-

Anyways, Tommy sits up from the bean bag. “Hey Q, my friend is going to pick me up in District 17, just letting you know in case I get manhandled or something.”

Quackity snorts, half delirious in his drunken state. “Alright kiddo, get home safe. I’m gonna call Sap to pick me up.”

Tommy nods, leaving his office building and catching the train to District 17.

And as soon as he got off it seemed like a switch flipped. Run-down building instead of decorated casinos, cracked sidewalks, and narrow roads.

Tommy sighed, already missing Las Nevadas as he walked to some park that didn’t look as run-down as the area around it.

Eventually, a car pulls up in front of him, the Window rolling down to reveal none other than the bitch himself, Wilbur.

Chapter Text

Wilbur waved at Tommy, grinning like an idiot. “Toms! How has your day been?”

Tommy huffs a breath, smiling at the older man as he climbs into the passenger seat of the fancy car. “It’s been alright. Dealt with some Karens at the cafe, did some illegal shit and drugs.”

Wilbur snorted, “Oh? What illegal things have you done today?” He pulled out of the parking lot, a bit too roughly for Tommy’s comfort.

Tommy grinned mischievously at the older, “So many, you don’t want to know. Also nice car, I’m assuming it isn’t yours?” He quirked an eyebrow at the older.

Wilbur scoffs, “What do you mean? You think I’m not the type of person to own a car like this?” He asks as he runs a red light, grumbling under his breath as he gets honked at by another car.

Tommy huffs, “Respectfully, you can’t drive for shit. So no, this isn’t your car, if you even have one.” He raises an eyebrow at Wilbur questioningly as he grips the dashboard like a lifeline.

Wilbur rolled his eyes at Tommy but didn’t answer the silent question, instead focusing back on the road and humming the tune coming from the radio.

Tommy hadn’t remembered a lot of the ride, mostly being thrown around and Wilbur and him yelling at each other.

Once they had finally parked the car, Tommy being slung onto the dashboard, looked up at the house.

It looked like all the others in the neighborhood which was definitely not lower class. The windows were clean of any dirt, not a single patch of mold in sight on the building, well well-taken care of plants and bushes.

Tommy stared at it for a moment before following Wilbur out of the car and to the door which the brunette swung open, arms wide open. “Welcome Tommy, to my humble abode!” He grinned at the younger who snorted at him. The inside was just as well taken care of as the outside, although the inside looked much more homey than the outside.

Tommy huffed, smacking his arm. “You are such a rich prick.” He grumbled, Wilbur looking down at him with an offended look.

Before he could even start with his theatrics, Phil came out of an archway that led into the kitchen. “Hey mate, nice to see you again. Joining us for dinner?”

Before Tommy could say no however, Wilbur slapped a hand over his mouth. “Yeah, he’s staying!” Phil snorted at his duo’s antics and went back into the kitchen.

The second he rounded the corner Tommy licked Wilbur’s hand, the other pulling it away faster than Tommy’s ever seen the man move. “What the fuck? What are you?” Tommy grinned at the other’s horrified face. Wilbur grumbled, shaking his head. “You wanna hang out in my room?” He asked, not bothering with Tommy’s answer as he grabbed his wrist and practically dragged Tommy who was complaining loudly.

Wilbur shouldered the door open, nudging around some loose papers with his foot. Tommy lets himself get dragged around the room until he’s suddenly picked up by the tall fucker. “Wait- wait- holy shit- put me down!” Tommy screeches like a banshee, Wilbur laughing as he’s lifted above the man and thrown onto the bed with a deafening screech.

Tommy jumps up from the bed as soon as he falls on it, tackling Wilbur with all his strength as he lets out a ‘oof’ when making contact with the floor. “Jesus Christ child, why the fuck are you strong?” He complains, wrestling Tommy off of him while laughing.

Eventually, there is a knock on the door. “Some of us are trying to read, keep the noise down.” Techno deadpans from behind the door, causing Wilbur and Tommy to stop fighting and stare in the direction of it.

The duo turns to look at each other, nodding before heading over to the door. Tommy creaks the door open and peeks out at the turned-away Techno, Wilbur looking at the sight as well before nodding at Tommy. The duo crept towards the slowly walking Techno trying to read a book while going back to wherever he came from.

The two creep slightly on either side of him before Wilbur lunges at the pinkette, Techno seeing him as he gets closer and side-stepping him, grabbing him around the waist before he could fall to the floor.

Tommy took the opportunity while his opponent’s arms were full to jump on his back, wrapping his legs around the other’s waist and wrapping an arm over his shoulder to stay in place. The pinkette makes a ‘heh?!’ sound as Tommy holds him in a headlock with his other arm, grinning victoriously.

Techno huffs before moving to hold the back of Wilbur’s shirt with one hand, holding him away from his legs from where Wilbur was trying to yank to get him off balance. The pinkette reaches his other arm back to grab the back of Tommy’s collar, pulling it away from the boy.

Tommy let out a yelp and loosened his hold when the collar started to choke him, Techno pulling him off his back and holding him out in front of him with Wilbur. “Techno put me down!” Tommy whines to Techno, Wilbur moving on to trying to undo Techno’s shoelaces.

Techno raised an eyebrow at Tommy, “Are you going to use me as a playground again?” He asked, voice monotone as ever.

Tommy pouts, “Then who else shall I climb on? I cannot climb on Philza, he is the greatest man ever and I will not treat him any less than a god because he is one.” Wilbur snickers beside him, Tommy glaring in response and kicking his ankle.

Techno huffs, a slight bit of fondness in it before he deposits the duo on the floor. “Use Wilbur. He’s a beanpole.” He says before walking off, leaving the duo to scramble up.

“Dinner’s ready!” Phil calls from the kitchen, Tommy and Wilbur rushing downstairs, tripping over a couple of steps. Techno snorts from where he sits at the dining table, taking a long sip of coffee as he watches the duo try not to fall.

Wilbur and Tommy slot into the two seats opposite Techno, glaring at the pinkette until Phil brings what looks to be a vegetable stir fry. Throughout dinner, the 4 men chat about random topics and Tommy finds out Wilbur’s hatred for anteaters, which Tommy then proceeded to list all the facts his mind gave him about anteaters as Wilbur stared at him with false hatred.

By the end of the night, Tommy wishes he didn’t have to leave. But he did anyway, he would stay if he could but there were too many things he had to worry about. Between the constant screaming in his mind that something was off, the friends he needed to protect, and the fear that his past was following him, he couldn’t settle until his mind said he and others were safe.

Sometimes Tommy wishes that the human need for social interaction didn't exist. At least before he had friends he couldn’t miss them, couldn’t worry about them, wouldn’t be afraid of death because he wanted to spend more time with them. But he was happier than ever nowadays because of them, and he didn’t have any actual ideas of what was going on in his mind so he guessed he could play the waiting game.

And on the other side of whatever disaster happens, they will be waiting for him.

Chapter Text

What the fuck.

The walk home had been alright.

Now-

Now fucking Ranboo and Tubbo were in his apartment.

Ranboo looked up from where he sat on the kitchen floor eating TOMMY’S burrito he had leftover from when he and Purpled went to a food truck at some random park. “Oh hey Tommy!” He smiled happily, cheeks puffed up.

Tommy blinks at him, then at Tubbo who was passed out on his couch with Clementine sleeping on his chest. “Why the ever-loving fuck are you in my apartment?”

Ranboo gives a sheepish grin and looks away from Tommy. “The place we were staying at was run over by a bear.”

Tommy blinked. Twice. It was too late for this. “Um, and how exactly did you get my address… also how did you even get in here?”

Ranboo’s mismatched eyes flickered to Tubbo’s sleeping figure briefly before answering. “Uhhh, Tubbo found your address. I don’t know how he did it though. And don’t worry about it.”

Well, it was a good thing Purpled kept his mercenary stuff hidden, probably locked away somewhere only to be found when the already run-down apartment was finally destroyed. It was also a good thing Purpled wasn’t here when they broke in, he’d more than likely shoot the duo as soon as he saw them.

Speaking of the duo, the sleeping goat hybrid was starting to wake up.

Tommy wordlessly walked over to the couch, peering down at the sleepy-eyed teen before bitch slapping him. That of course, woke him up in a playful yelling fit, waving his arms around to try and hit Tommy who just stepped away, Ranboo laughing his ass off from where he lay on the floor.

“What the hell was that for, Tommy?” Tubbo glared at the blonde, sitting upright and holding his cheek.

“You fucking broke into my apartment! Why would I not have a reason to do that?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at the shorter.

Tubbo huffed before falling back down on the couch. “Yeah well I’m awake now and I’m bored. Entertain me.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Get up, we’re going on an adventure.” He said, walking over to the kitchen, making sure to purposefully step on Ranboo, as he started rummaging through the cabinets.

“Wait seriously? It’s like 9 pm, where would we even go?” Ranboo asked, letting out a grunt as Tommy stepped on his shoulder to get past him.

Tommy just nods and hums, throwing a protein bar at the tall fucker and grabbing two more from the cabinet for the bee boy and himself. He tosses one of them to Tubbo, who catches it with ease and stands up with newfound excitement and slight confusion. Ranboo stands up as well and the duo follows Tommy out of the apartment and into the city streets.

Tubbo claps his hands together, grinning at the duo. “Alright, where are we headed?”

Tommy shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t really know yet, normally I walk around until I find something interesting.”

Ranboo sighs and Tubbo’s grin only gets wider. “Lead the way bossman!”

So he did.

Well- the whispers in his head did.

And they ended up in what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse in an unknown district.

And it was fucking sick.

It looked as though it was a lab from a movie. There was a bunch of counters with fancy-looking equipment and jars of things Tommy had decided he didn’t want to look at after seeing what looked to be a paw from an animal inside one.

“Guys! Come look at this!” Tubbo shouted from somewhere in the warehouse, Tommy following his voice into what looked to be an office. There were papers everywhere and a laptop was broken on the floor next to the wall.

Ranboo who was right behind Tommy moved passed the blonde next to the doorway to Tubbo who was holding up some paper. Tommy was more interested in the laptop however, looking over it. It wasn’t broken by accident if the knife that was in the middle of the screen which looked to have been stabbed into it many times had anything to say.

The weird thing was that none of the keys or any part of the keyboard looked to be destroyed on purpose except for the side where one would insert a USB.

Tommy frowned slightly, instead of worrying however, he moved over to where Tubbo was, apparently giggling over love letters that apparently whoever worked in this office originally wrote to someone and didn’t send.

Tommy snickered before exploring the room more, checking over every little surface in search of something that could’ve connected to the computer.

He found it in a filing cabinet, a few papers reaching higher out than others in the drawer. He pulled them out to see a red flash drive, quickly pocketing it and checking to make sure the other two hadn’t seen.

After a few minutes of them just messing around in the office they started looking in other rooms, finding strange cages and even what looked to be a fighting arena.

The trio played around for a bit in it, ignoring the bits of what looked to either be rust or blood on the metal bleachers around. They hoped it was rust but by the way it was also splattered on the floor next to the ring, they didn’t think it was just rust.

Tommy and the trio filed out of it after they saw a bit too big a stain, Ranboo sitting on a bench in the hallway while Tubbo messed with some equipment he found. “You know, it’s strange that this place wasn’t like- infiltrated by the government or robbed by some random criminals,” Ranboo noted, looking around the hallway.

Tubbo paused what he was doing. “Yeah, it is kind of strange how easily we got into this place.”

Ah, and there were the whispers in his head again, screaming at him to get the fuck out of the building.

Tommy however, made the choice to ignore them, walking into a room that didn’t look like the rest.

It looked like one of those insane asylum memes with the white walls, ceiling, and floor. Although, this room had a white bunk bed, a bit of brown old blood splattered on the bottom bunk.

Although his head told him otherwise he stepped over to the bed, seeing a group of indents on the white painted metal, looking as though somebody scratched out letters into it.

Tommy peered down at the letters and paled.

“Techno & Wilbur”

The building shook.

Chapter Text

“No! Let go of me, you bastard!”

“Stay still you little brat.” A man he couldn’t remember the name of growled.

The needle that haunted his dreams was only a few inches away from his arm. He struggled as hard as he could against the man, squirming and kicking at the so-called ‘doctor’ who held him in a death grip by his shoulder.

Of course, his efforts were futile. He screamed the moment the needle entered his skin, the ‘doctor’ holding him by his throat and shouting at him.

“Shut the fuck up, piece of shit! I’ll let [REDACTED] deal with you if you don’t stop giving me a headache!”

The boy cried out as he was thrown onto the ground of the metal room, sobbing as he cowered away from the man in the white lab coat that was stained in colors from red to brown from blood.

The kid sniffled, a burning feeling invading his throat and crawling into his lungs. He clawed at his throat with a hand, curled up as he tried to breathe deeply, and failing miserably. His wrist was gripped roughly as he was dragged into a white room, where another kid lay on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed.

The second the other kid sees him he’s up and rushing over as the man leaves, concern thinly veiled in his reddish brown eyes. “Are you ok, [REDACTED]? [REDACTED] wouldn’t tell me where you were.”

The boy struggled to breathe, wrapping his arms around the older of the two’s torso as his body shook with sobs. “[REDACTED],” he cried, [REDACTED], I can’t breathe.” His voice was different, slightly higher-pitched than normal.

The other held his closest friend, practically his brother, tight and whispered reassurances as the younger slowly started to adapt to what was happening to his body, still hugging the other tight.

“Don’t leave me.” The younger whispered, voice wavering slightly. “Don’t leave me, please.”

The older only held him tighter, swallowing down the lump that was starting to form in his throat. “Never, I’ll never leave you.”

Through the walls, screams could be heard but none of them mattered to either of them as much as the person in their arms.

A year from then they would be freed.

A year from then a multitude of warehouses would become abandoned.

A year from then a fire would spread from a certain warehouse to the buildings around it.

A year from then all of the scientists who worked for [REDACTED] would die at the hands of a single kid.

A year from then a strawberry blonde kid would light a match in his cell.

Chapter Text

What were you supposed to do when a fucking spawn of satan was chasing you?

Fucking run.

And that was what Tommy did.

Currently, Tommy, Ranboo, and Tubbo were trying to outrun whatever the fuck was chasing them. Tommy didn’t know how to describe it but it seemed like a plant but without leaves, just red vines that for some reason grew as it chased the boys out of the warehouse.

Also, when the fuck did Tubbo get a gun? How much did Tommy miss?

He remembered a rumbling of the building and then suddenly Ranboo was screaming bloody murder, grabbing Tommy by his collar and running through the corridors of the warehouse, Tubbo close behind laughing like a maniac.

“What in the ever-loving fuck is that?” Tommy shouted, glancing behind him to see some dark red vines chasing after them, moving like a snake.

Eventually they had outrun it, ending up in a park in an unknown district. Ranboo fell to the ground, panting with his arms outstretched.

Tubbo was giggling like the psychopath he was, proudly showing off his gun to Ranboo while Tommy slouched on a bench, trying to calm the beating heart sounding in his ears. “Holy cow, what was that?” Ranboo asked, sounding slightly horrified.

“Fuck if I know-”

“I vote it was a demon! Let’s go catch it!” Tubbo yelled over Tommy, grinning happily.

Ranboo shook his head violently. “No Tubbo, let’s not try to catch the thing that almost killed us.”

Tommy raised his hand as he got his senses together, “I vote we sacrifice Ranboob if it comes back. Motherfucker jinxed us!”

Ranboo let out an indignant noise while Tubbo nodded in agreement. “We blame everything on Boo and everyone is happy.”

Ranboo groaned and slapped a hand over his face. “Well, I’m sure as hell not!” He yelled, running his hand down his face and glaring at the duo who snickered at him.

After a bit of just wandering around the district, they head back to the apartment, where Purpled was making dinner, roasted chicken and mashed potatoes by the look of it. Tommy learned then that Tubbo and Ranboo ate like pigs. It was also VERY awkward introducing Tubbo and Ranboo, and explaining why they were all out so late to Purpled.

Eventually, Tubbo and Ranboo had fallen asleep on the couch watching some cartoon about a ginger cat while Purpled and Tommy cleaned dishes. It was mostly silent, the whispers quiet again.

Purpled spoke quietly, “I think I’m going to go back to my brother’s house tomorrow.”

Tommy turned, tilting his head. “Oh? What’s the special occasion?” He joked, smiling.

Purpled smiled faintly before it disappeared. “I believe I’ve overstayed my welcome. I’ve been leeching off of you for the past two weeks, it’d be rude to stay this long. I also need to settle my issues with my brother, we both are in the wrong.”

Tommy nods, “Alright. Just know if you ever need, or want, a place to stay I’ll be here. I don’t mind having you over, it gets quiet around here.”

Purpled smiles in the dimly lit kitchen, “Thanks, you’re not horrible to hang out with.” He snorts.

“Hey! I take it back, you’re awful!” Tommy hits Purpled’s arm, laughing slightly.

The two go to their separate rooms, wishing each other a goodnight, Clementine following close behind Tommy as always. Tommy flops down on his back in his bed after getting ready, Clementine hopping up to rest against his arm.

And Tommy doesn't sleep, he thinks. The red vines, a thing that hasn’t been mentioned by the media nor by the whispers. The whispers didn’t even speak about the vines while they were running, which is rare for them given Tommy can pick up a tennis ball and the whispers will tell him every single tennis player in history, including ones that the most incredible historians have never even heard of.

What was so special about those vines? That warehouse? Not to mention the fact that the whispers were the ones that called for Tommy to find it.

Maybe it was his brothers'- no, friends' names? Maybe it was the flash drive that was still in his pocket-

Tommy blinks his eyes back open, flying up from his bed and stumbling towards his computer while Clementine meows angrily at getting her sleep disrupted before going back. He curses quietly, pausing for a moment to make sure none of the other people staying in his house heard before opening his laptop.

He put the flash drive into the USB port on the side of the computer, watching as the screen lit up, opening to a screen that needed a password. Tommy slouched, groaning quietly as he typed in random passwords that he knew wouldn’t work. It was worth a shot though, you never know if some important scientist’s password could be “ScientificFucker”. He sighed, closing his laptop. He knew he would need to go back to the warehouse eventually, but he really didn’t want to deal with some SCP-looking monster again.

He moved back to his bed, lying down beside Clementine and petting her back before trying again to go back to sleep.

There’s still that one whisper in the back of his mind that screams a warning.

The one that tells him something is wrong.

The one that tells him he should look more into his friend’s names in that warehouse.

But Tommy is tired.

He always is.