Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy had heard it all.

‘Its dangerous.’

‘We don’t want you getting hurt.’

‘Stay safe, kid.’

‘Your powerless, something bad could happen to you if you went off without us!’

Never once had he heard anything less from his family. Always worrying about his safety, his health. But they never stopped to ask if he even wanted that. If he wanted to be locked away and kept in bubblewrap so tight he could barely breath.

And that was why he had snuck out.

It wasn’t like nothing too bad could happen, but his family had neglected to think about Tommy sneaking out of his window. Or that he had a pocket knife. Or that he could easily break the locks on his window. Well, too late now. Tommy shrugged his bag higher up on his shoulders, feeling the rough texture against his skin and looking ahead. He had stepped into an alleyway, wanting to be out of the harsh street lights. He’d be dead if his family found him while patrolling. He stepped through puddles on the concrete, ignoring how the dirty water splashed onto his socks. Ew.

Now-

Tommy knew he should have turned around the SECOND a trash can flew past his face, but Tommy was the president of making bad decisions. He turned his head, and he could feel dread forming in his chest. Flame. 404. Floater. All three top villains in an alleyway, of all things, fighting a group of random criminals. Tommy turned his ass right back around- he KNEW he wasn’t supposed to be there. But before he could even take a step back the way he came- Shink.

Oh. well, that was a problem, Innit? Tommy now had a dagger thrown through his heart, from his back. He highly doubted anybody had aimed for him, but he could feel his body hitting the ground with a dull thud, sudden shouts and a blurry figure hovering over him, yanking the dagger out of his back. There were more figures, but it was all blurry to tommy. Like he was underwater. Black spots danced across his vision, and he felt himself losing that battle. That was it. He would die in an alleyway from a fight that wasn’t even his. Guess his family was right.

Well- not exactly.

Not at all, actually.

Uhm. little issue. Tommy WASN’T dead.

After a few moments of darkness, he came to, and immediately rolled to the side to cough up blood. His chest hurt like hell, but he was breathing. Alive. Alive? Didn't he just have a damn knife in his heart? Tommy wiped his mouth, sitting up as he tried to steady his breathing. He felt a hand on his back, a warm, pulsating heat coming from their palm, guiding him to sit up properly.

“Are you okay, kid?”

That voice. Tinged with metal. One he had heard on the news. One his family hated with their very souls. Yet this one was caring. Worried. Even scared. Tommy looked up, and he was met with a pair of white rimmed goggles and a mushroom hat.

404.

Tommy’s jaw went slack for a moment, before Flame- when had he ran over? Started shaking the living shit out of the kid. “Holy fuck- your alive! You died, kid! Right in front of us- your insane! You’ve got some crazy cool power!”

‘You’ve got some crazy cool power!’

…huh.

Thats new.

Tommy looked at his hands, and then to 404, who was ironically healing tommy’s back, despite it being like it wasn’t there at all. Sure, Tommy felt like his heart was on overtime, but he didn't show any physical signs. So how did 404 know? He couldn’t think. He tried to get up, but then another pair of arms reached out to steady him.

Floater.

“...you good?”

And if Tommy knew anything about Floater, it was that Floater didn’t ever show emotions other than maniacal chaos and the offhand chance of him getting angry at heroes during fights.

And that voice sure as hell didn’t have either of those.

“...why the fuck are you all lookin’ at me like im gonna keel over?”

Okay. not the best thing to say.

“Are you fucking joking!? Jesus, kid, you died right in front of us- and then you wake up like nothing happened!” Floater snapped, his voice oddly nervous. Flame spoke up after him, his tone less nervous, but still definitely a bit freaked out over this kid that just resurrected on a random Thursday night. “Christ, scared the living hell out of us-”

Him?

Tommy?

Scared the villains?

By dying?

“...ah. Well, his wound seemingly healed itself, but theres still fatigue and sore muscles. Also his blood pressure is through the roof so try not to yell.” 404 said, grabbing Tommy back from Floater, who stumbled a bit from the loss of the kid in his grip. Tommy felt that warmth again, and realized 404 was healing his sore muscles. Well- Tommy couldn’t say no to that.

“...so what do we do now? We just watched this kid die and then come back like he didn’t just get shanked- the criminals have all run off-” Floater said, scratching his neck. 404 said something, but Tommy wasn’t listening. He had locked eyes with Flame, and something akin to recognition blazed within them.

“Wait- your Tommy. As in- Tommy Danger Watson.”

Silence.

“...oh, shit.” said 404.

“WHAT THE FUCK.” said Flame.

“OH MY FUCKING GOD WERE GONNA DIE.” said Floater.

And Tommy didn't have a fifth of a clue why.

“Jesus, chill out man- if i managed to sneak out of that prison house i doubt they would find out-” Tommy said, putting his hands up and looking away. He didn’t know what would happen if he met their gazes. Floater let out a long sigh, running a hand through his messy hair. “Okay, let me get this straight- you- the youngest son of Zephyrus, snuck out of the house in the middle of the night because its a “prison house”-” he said, putting his fingers up for quotations. Tommy nodded, ignoring how dumbfounded Floater looked. “Yea, pretty much it. I’m powerless, not a hybrid either- so they don’t let me go anywhere other than school, or anywhere else unless I’m with them. Can’t do anything by myself, can’t talk to friends, can’t go on a walk, can’t hang out with dogs or anything. They treat me like an uncooked egg.” he spat, scuffing his foot against the concrete, before Flame grabbed his head, fully turning him around.
“Are you KIDDING ME!? Dude, you came back from the dead! Your not powerless, if anything, your stronger than us!” he said, and though his motorcycle helmet covered his face, the awe in his voice was a telltale sign of what he was thinking. “Dude, if your family doesn’t think your strong enough to be on your own, you can hang with us-”

“NO! ARE YOU INSANE?!”

Okay, Floater did not seem to like that idea. He threw his hands up, looking at Flame like he was an exasperated parent. “We cannot kidnap one of Zephyrus’s kids! Especially the youngest that they go feral over! That is a deathwish, Flame- besides, were not involving a kid in all of this.”

‘A kid.’

“I’m not a kid! I’m 16, and I have every right to decide! Listen- this sounds ridiculous, but I’ve been with you lot for about 12 minutes, and you’ve already somehow treated me better than my family does!” Tommy snapped, literally pointing at Floater’s stomach with zero fear. He stepped back, huffing as he crossed his arms. “Besides, if I agree, its not a kidnapping.” 404 blinked, before snorting, covering his mouth. “You shut Floater up real fast.”
Tommy felt the heat rise to his cheeks as he realized he just yelled at the number one villain. But Floater didn’t seem all that mad about it. If anything, he looked- defeated? It was really pathetic seeing Floater just standing there like he had just been told he had to perform as a drag queen in front of the heroes. In all honesty, Tommy didn’t want to go home. These villains seemed rather...docile. Fun. kind, even. “Look, I’ll hang out with you for the night. Not like I wanna go home tonight anyways.” the three stared at the kid like he had grown a new head, which kind of made sense. “You- you want to hang out with us?” 404 said, pointing at Tommy, then at himself. “Kid, we’re VILLAINS. Do you not have, like- any self preservation instincts?”
Tommy shrugged, biting his lip. In all honesty, no- he had absolutely smack dab zero. “Even if I did, you guys don’t seem to even want me around you, so I’d say thats enough of a cue.” Flame stared a moment, longer, before throwing an arm over the kid’s shoulder. “Alright then! We’re your unofficial protectors for tonight!” he said, and Floater put a hand on his hip, sighing. “This is ridiculous.” though, he did nothing to stop the whole thing from happening. The villains walked down the alleyway, before Flame turned around, extending a hand. Tommy attempted to take it, but the universe decided to remind him that he was stabbed a few minutes ago, and his body lurched forward.
“okay, guess I’m carrying you-“ Flame said, hoisting the boy into his arms and following the others. “i’m sure my healing could provide some help, but we’d need a place to lay low.” 404 said, putting his hands up and emitting a small orange glow. Floater looked at the windows of the buildings, trying to map where they were, before he snapped his fingers. “Diamond and Egg.”
“the duo villains?” Tommy asked, looking up from where Flame was holding the kid in his arms like a stuffed animal. 404 ruffled his hair, his lips twitching upwards. “yep. they live near here, so we can crash their house for a bit!” Floater brought his hand up, motioning for them to follow. Flame adjusted his grip, and took off with Tommy like a damsel in distress.
they arrived at a small house on the outskirts of the city, small flowers and hedges growing around the home. it was very nice looking, compared to the people Tommy knew lived inside. 404 walked up to the door, knocking 3 times, and when that didn’t emit any noises from inside, he started kicking the door. “come on, I've got a craving for your blueberry muffins-“ Tommy quirked his eyebrow, and the door swung open, revealing Diamond in his mask, a blue block, though whatever else he was wearing didn’t scream anything villain. “404, you said you weren’t coming to-...who’s the kid?” Diamond looked at Tommy, scratching his head. Floater felt the back of his neck, speaking up. “so, hypothetically speaking, would you let us in if he was the youngest son of Zephyrus?” Diamond stood there, his shoulder slumped, before opening the door some more. “get in, you lot. you have explaining to do.”
and that’s how tommy ended up on the rug of diamond and egg’s home, by the fireplace while 404 healed his muscles, and Floater was getting downright scolded by Egg. Flame was nibbling on a muffin that someone had thrown at him, likely from the basket of the baked good on the coffee table. “I’m just saying, this is the stupidest shit we’ve ever-” “LANGUAGE!” Egg smacked him upside the head, crossing his arms. “Besides, he seems…unnervingly calm for being around villains- were you drugged kid?” he walked towards Tommy, crouching down and staring at him. “....no? I just didn’t wanna go home, shit sucks there-” 404 groaned, though he made no move to stop himself from healing Tommy. “You say that as if your family isn't the top heroes, and you’d rather follow villains around like some kinda kicked puppy?”

“WHAT.”

Egg had somehow gone to a higher octave than most singers Tommy knew, and he pointed at Tommy like he was a wild animal. “Do you know what could happen to us!? We can’t just take the kid of the number 1 hero captive!” “I’m not being kept captive, I agreed to coming-” “that isn’t the point! Were villains, you- your not safe with us!” Tommy blinked, staring at Egg. But he was, wasn’t he? Flame had carried him for 15 minutes straight and Tommy hadn’t complained once. 404 was still healing his back, and it felt nice. Hell, even Floater had been nice to him. “Thats not true,” he said stubbornly. “I feel safer than I have in years, and you can blame my family for that-”
“...the hell do you mean?” Diamond said, his voice quieter, ignoring how Egg gave him a look. Flame was still eating a fucking muffin, and he had absolutely no clue what was happening. “Oh- are we talking about how they don’t let Tommy do shit?” he said, his mouth full of bread like an idiot. Floater hit him on the back of the head, and sat down on the Rug next to Egg, 404 and Tommy. “I know you told us they don’t let you leave the house at all or anything, but is it really that bad?” Tommy thought for a moment, before he spoke. “They don’t let me do anything. Clubs, activities, jobs- its always school and straight back home. If they find me trying to leave without telling them they lock me in my room. The only place I’m allowed to go to when they aren’t with me is Niki’s bakery.” he said, resting his cheek on his fist. A few of the villains exchanged looks, before Egg looked at Tommy, smiling. “Kid, I’m assuming you didn’t know that Niki is Nucifera-”
now that hit like a truck. Niki? The sweet pink haired lady who shoved pastries at him every second he finished the last like he was on life support without them? “Nucifera? The villain that controls water?” Egg nodded, laughing lightly. “Yep. us villains go to her bakery and talk like normal people whenever were not off fighting the heroes! I also work there on the weekends!” Tommy thought for a moment, remembering a man who always worked on the weekends. “Oh- your bad! The one thats always makin’ muffins!” Egg, or rather- Bad- snorted softly, ruffling Tommy’s hair. “Oh, your a smart one, aren’t you?”
Bad stood up, Diamond steadying him without a second thought. “We could run through the city with the kid and screw around.” Diamond said, brushing off his jacket and holding out a hand for Tommy. He hesitated for less than a second, before taking his hand and being pulled up to his feet. Floater followed pulling 404 up with him. Flame snuck another muffin, before it got stolen by Diamond, and slipped it under his mask to bite into it. “Lets go then, yea?” Bad went to the door, opening it and leaning out to check how empty the streets further down were. “Okay, were good.”
Tommy didn’t even have time to blink before Diamond had grabbed him by the torso and ran with him to follow the others. “Hey- I can walk!” “yea, but do you want to?” “...nah.” “exactly!” Floater snorted, adjusting his mask on his face. “Theres a hotdog van nearby if you guys want to go terrorize the guy-” he said, causing a chorus of cheers from the other villains. They ran through the alleyways, avoiding citizens out late, and found the hotdog van tucked away in the corner of a park.
The poor guy looked horrified.
“V-Villains! Don’t hurt me, you can have anything-” the man sputtered, stepping back as Flame clambered up onto the counter of the van, pulling out his wallet. “Chill, man, we just want hotdogs-” he said, pulling out a 50 and holding it out towards the man. “That should cover it. Should we get something for Golem?” he said, looking Back to 404 and Bad. “nah, he doesn’t do hotdogs. Well get him something else on the way.” 404 said, waving a hand as he grabbed Tommy from Diamond. “Chill out, would you? Hes got legs.” And yet 404 had a grip on his shoulder like he would disintegrate if he wasn’t held up.

It made Tommy feel nice.

The man had already started making the hotdogs, while getting a death glare from Floater. Flame stared intensely at the grill, like if he blinked he could swallow it whole. what an interesting man. 404 argued with Diamond over something, and Egg just stood there politely. charming. the man pulled down plates, shakily setting the hotdogs onto the plate, passing them over to the villains. “here…here you go?” floater picked them up and passed them to everyone, and straight up threw one at flame, who simply caught it and stuffed it in his mouth. “…it’s not going anywhere, don’t worry.” 404 said, staring at him as he held his own hotdog.
Tommy stared at the food in his hand, shoving it in his mouth and taking a bite. “Good god, you and Flame are hella weird-” “hey, you don’t know if the foods gonna get taken!” “Flame, that doesn’t even make sense-” Floater sighed, lifting his mask slightly to eat his own hotdog. They all walked, eating and laughing together. Weirdly familial, if you asked Tommy.
By the time they were all finished eating, they had stumbled into the park, and it had begun to snow. Tommy blinked, flinching slightly as a snowflake landed on his forehead. Before he could say anything, he felt a weight draping across his back, and a hood being pulled over his head.

Dream’s cape.

“Don’t catch a cold, kid, your family will hate us even more.” Floater said, tying the knot around his shoulders, letting the fluffed rim fall over his hair. “We should probably get you home. Its…like 2 am.” Oh. Right. Yea, Tommy did have school in the morning, so he supposed it made sense. They walked him home, and before anyone could stop him, along the way, he grabbed a random pen and paper and scribbled his phone number onto it, shoving it in Floater’s pocket. “....are you fucking serious kid.” “what? Wheres your sense of joy and whimsy?”
And with that, Tommy skipped across the road towards his house, clambering over the fancy wall and making a break for the tree, digging his nails into the bark. He hauled himself up onto a sturdy branch, and leaned forward to unlatch the window to his room, tumbling inside.
Tommy was so tired from a night of adventure and death, that he didn’t even bother taking off his shoes before crashing onto his bed. Or Floater’s cape.

Chapter Text

When Tommy woke up, he didn’t expect to feel the same fuzziness around him from last night. He groaned, cracking open his eyes and sitting up among his ruffled sheets. Yet he wasn’t under his sheets, and still felt swaddled up.
Oh.
Ooohhhhh nooooo.
Tommy shrugged his shoulders, scrambling off of his bed and staring at the cape left on his bed. Tommy’s eyes darted towards the door, hearing his family downstairs making breakfast. Tommy cursed under his breath, diving to grab the olive covered cape and shove it under his bed, panting as he looked around for something to hide it with. His gaze fell on a stack of books, and they ended up under his bed, preventing the cape from being seen.
Floater was going to kill him.
“Tommy, breakfast!”
Tommy sucked in a breath, rifling through his drawers for an outfit to wear. “Coming, Wil!” Tommy shoved on whatever he could find, grabbing his backpack and nearly tumbling down the stairs. He could smell sausage, eggs, toast, everything a normal breakfast would have except bacon. Never bacon. Phil was plating the food, a smile spreading across his face when he saw his youngest son come downstairs. “Tommy, how did you sleep?”
“...I slept good. Wonderful. Delightful, even.” Tommy said, ignoring the weird look Techno gave him. He shoved a piece of egg into his mouth, decidedly not using the fork Phil had given him. Tommy felt his phone buzz, and he pulled it out of his pocket, expecting to see Tubbo or Purpled.

Unknown number: YOU HAVE MY CAPE THATS MY SIGNATURE LOOK TOM

Unknown number: ITS WHAT MAKES ME SPECIAL

Tommy snorted, adding the number to his contacts and naming it “olive man”. He walked towards the front door, shoving his phone back into his sweater. “Tommy, be careful! Villains were sighted last night near here!” Tommy rolled his eyes at Phil’s warning, hopping down the steps and sprinting to the sidewalk.
Tommy walked the short distance to his school, sighing as he felt himself merge with the crowd of students. He veered right, going down the stairs to the basement floor, pushing open a heavy door.
“Tommy! There you are! Thought you might’ve been home sick again-” he heard Tubbo’s voice over the sound of sawing wood, and Tommy grinned, all teeth and mischief as he made his way towards his friends. Tubbo was standing with Purpled and Ranboo, hunched over the industrial machine, goggles strapped to his face. Tommy loved Tubbo, sure, but he did NOT want to be too close to Tubbo when he had that manic grin with a drill in hand. “How far along are you with your half of the project?” Tommy asked, slumping onto the stool next to Purpled. Tubbo pulled his goggles off, blinking up at Tommy. “Almost done, actually! I just need to drill in these last nails to keep it sturdy, and my part should be good! Ranboo’s close to done, Purpled’s long since had it completed- what about you?” Tommy bit his lip, thinking back to the project. “uh…I think I went overboard.”
“Of course you did.”
Their Engineering Teacher, Mr. Brice, loomed over them. He was old-aged, a graying beard and scowling eyes. “Doing more than necessary will not score your higher points, Watson.”
“I know, sir.”
“You better.” Mr. Brice walked away, leaving the four teens watching him waddle away. “Dude…he needs to be put in a nursing home.” Purpled said, leaning on Tommy. “Genuinely, how is he still allowed to teach this class?” Ranboo scratched his head, leaning against the table. Tommy nodded, his mind already on something else. How was he supposed to tell his friends he had powers?

Simply, really.

“I died last night, by the way.” Tommy said it with a tone of causality, like he was talking about weather.

“....you what.” Purpled was staring at him, Tubbo had just barely set his drill down before he dropped it on someones foot, and Ranboo was already sliding over to him, checking every limb for injury. “How- how did you die?! If you did, how are you here?!” Tommy let Ranboo fuss, before taking his hands in his own and lowering them. “Uh…a dagger got thrown into my heart in an alleyway, and I felt myself die, and then I woke back up.” The three teen boys stared at him like he’d said he rode a unicorn and blasted Hotguy to high hell. Purpled leaned closer, studying Tommy’s face. “...think you got reincarnation powers or somethin’?” “maybe. That could explain why nobody thought he had any powers. It would also explain why he doesn’t ever get sick, and all his injuries heal a lot quicker-” Tubbo began to ramble, while Purpled was cupping Tommy’s face and looking him over. Ranboo felt his neck, looking at Tubbo. “Bee, calm down. Your stressing. Tommy’s here, Tommy’s okay. Atleast, now he is…I guess? Did you like, retain any pain?”
Tommy blinked, looking down at his chest. The pain had mostly subsided, but there was still a dull thud every time his heart got too fast. Tommy had apparently taken too long, and Purpled moved to rummage through his bag. He pulled out pain meds he kept on him for emergencies, and shoved both that and his water bottle into Tommy’s hands. “Drink.”
Tommy popped two pain pills in his mouth, the sweet blueberry tea Purpled always brought cascading down his throat. Tommy held the water bottle back out for him, and looked towards Tubbo as Purpled put his bottle back in his bag.
“I mean-...who even stabbed you?”
“Uhh, some prick mugger who didn’t even mean to hit me.”
“Who was he fighting?”
“man, I don’t know-”
“Tommy. I know your lying.”
“....okay so he may have been fighting the top three villains and they may have bought me a hot dog-”
There was a few moments of silence before Tubbo burst out cackling. “Hotdogs? Are you serious?” Tommy groaned, hiding his face in his hands as Tubbo laughed himself to death. Before Tommy could yell at them any more, the bell blared across the intercom, interrupting their chat and forcing them to go their separate ways.

Two hours later, Tommy was in 3rd hour, on the edge of the school grounds, watering plants in the greenhouse. It was relaxing, being in gardening class. Even if his other classmates spent the whole time goofing off and messing up the plants, tommy got his own little area he took care of. It was shaping up to be a regular day. He leaned over the Forget-me-nots, smiling as he noticed some of them beginning to bloom. He tilted one upwards with his hand, trying to help it stand up and grow in the right direction.
What he didn’t expect was for it to stretch and wind around his hand, keeping him locked in place like prison bars. “What the fuck-” he thought about yanking his hand out, but that would probably uproot the plant, so he settled for trying to gently unwrap it.
So your the kid Flame wouldn’t shut up about.”
Tommy whirled around, searching for the voice. He saw nothing but winding plants and leaves around him, so he looked up. And he saw a girl swinging her legs upon the green metal beam of the greenhouse roof.
“....your Rosethorn.”
“Thats me! And you must be tommy!” Rosethorn jumped down, landing with a click on the concrete tile. He felt the flower begin to loosen around his hand, and he eased it back into the pot, making sure it was still leaning the right way. He turned back to Rosethorn, taking a steady breath before forcing himself to speak. “Why are you here? Other people could see you!” Tommy took a step forward, grabbing Rosethorn’s wrist and pulling her more into the corner to avoid being seen by his classmates.
“well…I really wanted to meet you, and I was busy the rest of the day. Villain stuff and all that. They really weren’t lying when they told me you were cool with villains.”
“I don’t mean to be, but your all still human, y’know? Your still people. Like flowers. People only like them when they're pretty, but when they shrivel up, nobody wants to help them grow again. And everyone thinks they're not worth it.” Tommy shrugged, busying himself with watering flowers to avoid looking at rosethorn. He didn’t expect to be spouting gardening symbolism towards a villain today, but hey, he died last night, he can’t expect anything now.
“...its nice that you care. For people. For the plants. Your classmates on the other hand…” Rosethorn looked towards the other kids in his class, roughhousing with not pre-thought of the plants whatsoever. Rosethorn lifted a hand, smirking as she made one of the venus flytraps enclose around a misbehaving kids finger, quite pleased with herself. On the other hand, the begonias in a hanging pot leaned down to brush against Tommy’s hair, making him chuckle and swat them away. “Well, I’ve got to get to a meeting with Nucifera, Riverdell and Slime. Stay safe, kid.”
Tommy looked at her climbing up the wall again to get out through the glass roof, and Tommy blurted out, “tell Niki I said hi!”. Rosethorn looked back at him, her long brown curls swaying in the wind. She smiled, her teeth sharp and lips stained with flower tattoos. “Will do, kid.”
And then she was gone.
Tommy was about to leave to go to his next class, when he noticed a neatly wrapped candy on the table beside his bag. He opened it up, and a sweet scented, flower shaped candy presented itself to him. He popped it in his mouth, letting the flavor of cherry overwhelm his senses. He grabbed his belongings, stepping out of the greenhouse and pulling out his phone.

Tommy: why did Rosethorn show up in my schools greenhouse

Olive man: she what

Tommy: YES

Tommy: THEN SHE GAVE ME CANDY AND LEFT

Olive man: oh

Olive man: well did anyone see her

Tommy: i dont think so

Olive man: okay its fine then.

Tommy: ITS NOT FINE???? YALL CANT JUST SHOW UP TO MY SCHOOL

Olive man: WE WONT MAKE IT A HABIT THIS IS LITERALLY THE FIRST TIME

Olive man: ILL BUY YOU SOMETHING JESUS CHRIST.

Tommy: WHAT??

Tommy: FLOATER

Tommy: ANSWER ME YOU PRICK

Tommy stared at his screen, his lips curled back as his messages were being left on delivered. He shoved his phone in his pocket, resisting the urge to pull his hair out. Tommy closed his locker, going upstairs to the empty storage room where him and his friends ate together, because the lunch room was too damn loud. He shoved the door open, moving past the shelves of old gardening pots and teacher supplies. He threw his stuff to the corner, sitting in his chair by the table, scrolling through his twitter.
The door opened again, and Purpled filed in with Ranboo and Tubbo behind him. Tubbo slid into his seat, already yammering on about how much he hated his english teacher, while Ranboo and purpled took their own seats.
Purpled stared at Tommy, narrowing his eyes. “Take off your shirt.”
“....pardon?” purpled realized the bluntness of what he said, and his face grew red as he tried to explain himself. “No- no, not like that! I want to make sure your okay after, y’know, getting stabbed!” Tommy snorted, grinning slyly. “Aww, is purpled worried about me?”
“Tommy.” and suddenly Purpled wasn’t joking anymore. Tommy stared at his friends, biting the inside of his cheek before moving to pull off his shirt.
“See? Im fine-” Tommy tried to reassure them, showing that nothing was on his front side. Ranboo motioned for Tommy to turn around, and the blonde groaned as he rotated himself.
“..oh my god.” Tommy didn’t like those words. He didn't like those words at all. “What? What is it?!” his voice rose in pitch, unable to hide his fear from what his friends were seeing. He felt a hand reach onto his back, where the dagger would have struck, gentle and grounding. “Dude…youve got a scar on your back. You weren’t joking.” tommy turned his head around, not giving much attention to purpled’s hand on his shoulder blade. He looked back, seeing a clean line of wound across the small space where the dagger dug into him. “...how bad did it hurt?” Tubbo’s voice was small, as though afraid to break the silence. Tommy blinked, thinking back to the night before.
“I guess…for the first few hours after it happened. I woke up, and it juts felt sore. Like pulling a muscle.” Tommy shrugged it off, but the way Purpled guided him to sit back down told him that they weren’t done talking about this. Purpled rubbed his back, staring at the wound like he could make it disappear. Tommy pulled his shirt back on, suddenly feeling much more vulnerable than he’d like to. He stared at the table, his hands gripping his jeans tight enough for his knuckles to go white. Purpled pulled his hands off, setting them on the table. “...were gonna kill whoever did this. You know that, right?” Tubbo said sternly, small sparks appearing in his hands as he gritted his teeth. Ranboo looked between them all, trying to cut the tension. “Bee, calm down-” I want to kill them, Ranboo!” “I know, and I do too but I’d rather wait until were out of school to talk about this!” Ranboo shook Tubbo’s shoulders, trying to knock some sense into him. Apparently it worked, because Tubbo forced himself to take a deep breath, adjusting his seat and staring at Tommy. “...you said the villains helped you? The top three?...Floater, Flame, and 404…christ, and your still alive?!”
“When I felt that knife, I could barely feel myself hitting the ground, but I could most definitely hear them freaking the fuck out- when I woke up again they were hovering over me like I was queen elizabeth having a stroke. It was…quite the experience.” Tommy leaned to the side, resting his head against the wall. “They let me hang out with them even though Floater was totally against it, and Flame carried me all the way to Egg and Diamond’s house-”
“Hold on, Egg and Diamond? I thought you just said the top three!”
“Hush Tubbo let me tell my story. We went to their house or whatever, it was like this pure pinterest board cottagecore house, you Would love it Boo. Anyways, we terrorized a hotdog van and ate hotdogs, and then they took me home, and- SHIT I STILL HAVE FLOATER’S CAPE!” Tommy brought his hands to his head, gripping his hair. He ran through all the ways it could have been found already, and how much of a struggle it would be to get Floater’s cape back to him. Then, a delightful idea eased his conscience. “Oh, nevermind. I can just give it to Nucifera.” “...dude, this is concerning, and were vigilantes.” Ranboo spoke with an edge of exasperation, and Tubbo snorted, shaking his head. The bell rang, and the kids went off to their end of day classes, parting with one another for the day.

When the final bell rang, Tommy sprinted from the school grounds, bursting through the front door of his house. “Mate, whats got you riled up?” Phil called from the couch, beginning to stand up. Tommy just ran upstairs to his room, thinking of an excuse that made sense. “I was gonna go to Niki’s bakery to study! I wanted to try some of her new scones!” perfect. Not totally a lie, either. He threw himself back down the stairs, the cape now hidden under the notebooks in his backpack. He waved goodbye to his father, not bothering to answer any more questions.
He slowed to a walk as he neared the bakery, panting heavily. He was not in shape, and it was very much showing at the moment. He stopped in front of the light pink pattered building, before shoving the door open. The bell jingled, and Tommy let out a sigh of relief at nobody being there. He saw a head of pink hair walking around in the kitchen, and he called out. “Niki! Your favorite child is here!”
The woman stepped out to the counter, holding a tray of freshly baked scones. “Hi, Tom! How was school?” she set down the pan, taking off her gloves and giving him a cupcake. “It was nice. I was in the greenhouse for gardening. Oh, by the way-” he set down his bag, crouching to rummage through it, feeling the fabric. He pulled out Floater’s cape, holding it out for Niki. “could you give this back to Floater? I reckon you’ll see him before I do-”
Niki stared at Tommy, her expression molding from confusion to fear. “What- what’re you talking about, why would I- why would I know Floater- why do you have his cape?!” Niki took a step back, her eyes darting around the place. Suddenly, there was a door opening, and Bad came through the front entrance, uniform in hand. “Oh! Hey Tom!” Bad walked up to him, taking Floater’s cape from him. “Floater was looking all over for that thing. I’ll make sure it gets back to him.” Tommy nodded, grinning. Bad seemed to notice Niki freaking out, and smiled at her. “Niks, he knows, its okay! He found out last night!”
Niki blinked, staring at Tommy. “And-...and you don’t think of me any differently?” Tommy stared right back at her, genuinely wondering if she was stupid. “No? I’m not stupid, your still one of the sweetest people I’ve met. You give me free food and you actually ask how my days been.” Bad snorted, putting his apron on and tying it around his waist. Niki smiled, her eyes glistening. “Well, for that you get an extra scone, Bug.” Tommy smiled, grabbing his bag and sitting in one of the booths. He pulled out his homework, tapping his pencil against the paper.

If you had told Tommy two days ago that he would be getting homework help from two villains, he would have thought you were crazy. But here he was, getting fussed over by Nucifera herself, and Egg literally almost crying because of how bad he was at history, despite being in advanced.

And that day, as Tommy stepped along the cracked sidewalk, he couldn’t help the smile spreading across his face, because for once in his life, he felt just a little at home.