Chapter Text
Okay, maybe the Tower wasn’t so bad.
Sure, Tommy missed his actual family– or, well, adopted family. (He never knew his parents.) But they were, kind of, insane.
He had fun being a menace, destroying Jump City, and fighting the Titans, but he’d never expected that to be his whole career in life. He wanted to go to a normal school (homeschooling was ass) and make friends (like Ranboo, and Tubbo– the guys Phil had banned him from seeing after he missed a training session one time). Being a villain was fucking difficult.
He liked fights, but Tommy had never given much thought to who exactly he was fighting. Maybe that’s why Dream thought he could be good with them. If he just pretended that the villains he fought weren’t the people he grew up with, then he could actually be a hero.
Hero. It was a weird word to say.
Tommy had never thought of himself as the good guy. (He’d never thought of himself as the bad guy, either. He liked to say he was a neutral guy, since he’d never killed anyone or done substantial damage. So, technically, he wasn’t evil, right?)
He supposed that as long as he still got to fight, being a good guy wouldn’t be too bad.
Plus, Dream had said that he could go to school if he wanted, as long as he didn’t try to sneak back to the SBI, and promised not to cause any trouble among the normal kids. His wings were kind of a problem, and his talons, but Quackity had assured him that there would be an easy fix at his door in a couple of hours. (Robo-guy was actually insane.)
Quackity was pretty cool, though. And Karl was super nice. Tommy was still getting used to Sapnap, but the guy was pretty tight with Karl so Tommy deemed him okay. George had been weird ever since the fight, and he hadn’t really talked to Tommy ever since he tried to strangle him to death. Thank god. But Dream liked him, and for some god-awful reason, Tommy trusted Dream. The leader reminded him of Wilbur. A better, more caring, and gayer version of Wilbur, but Wilbur nonetheless.
God, the worst part of the whole Titans experience was probably Dream and George. They were so annoying together. Like, he understands that they’d just gotten together after so long (near-death experiences really do bring out the best in people), thanks to him, but holy shit he’d never been this grossed out by two guys before.
He’d never really experienced the outside world before, obviously, but surely no one else was this bad. Jesus christ.
And, before you ask, no, he’s not homophobic. Gay people are fine, great. He doesn’t care. What he cares about is Dream and George making out on the couch when he’s trying to sulk about not being in SBI anymore. What he cares about is that Dream and George are constantly on top of each other and in love and it just… pisses him off. Sometimes, he wants to murder them out of rage. But he never does. He (secretly) likes the place too much.
“Tommy.” Dream was at his door, no doubt George was floating behind him. “You ready to go?”
With a sigh he got up, his wings spread, talons hidden. “Let’s go.”
Dream patted him on the back when he made his way out the door. “You’ll do great,” he said. Before, he’d mentioned how they never wanted to actually hurt the villains, which did lend some ease to Tommy. Back at SBI, it was the motto of ‘kill or be killed’ for every fight. That’s why he almost killed Dream three days ago.
He felt bad about it. Dream was actually pretty cool, and Tommy– even though he would never admit it out loud– really liked the guy. He didn’t like his boyfriend, but that was a wall to climb over another day. (George was fine, okay? Tommy just planned on holding a grudge for as long as he could manage because those demon ropes hurt.)
“If it’s too much, just fly back here. The elevator should open to your touch now. We don’t expect you to be a crazy useful weapon, or anything, just yet. You can take it slow.” Dream was gentle in his tone, and it almost made Tommy sick. He wasn’t used to softness, he hadn’t expected these people to actually care about his well-being.
He nodded without making eye contact. (Believe it or not, Tommy was still intimidated by these guys. Even though he had wings and talons and had almost killed their leader, he was an outcast here. Not only was he a former(?) villain, but he was also a couple of years younger than all of them. He didn’t really fit in with the gang in more ways than one.)
Yet, as he started to follow Dream toward the elevator, he was interrupted by the very person he didn’t want to speak to. “Tommy, can I talk to you for a sec?”
He nodded, huffed, and turned to face his strangler.
George inhaled, exhaled. His cloak flowed with him as he did, and then, “I’m sorry for–”
Tommy couldn’t keep his mouth shut. He didn’t want to have a huge heart-to-heart with the guy; he was basically over it. Besides, he healed fast now, due to whatever they’d done to his genes at SBI, and there was no sign of damage anywhere on his body. He was only slightly damaged emotionally, but that was normal having grown up at SBI.
So, he said, “Yeah, yeah. I forgive you, it’s fine. I know you were in love and wanted to protect your precious Dream. I get it. If I had a Dream I would do the same.”
The words made him want to vomit, but George seemed happy. There was a small smile on his face as he asked, “Really?”
When Tommy nodded reluctantly, George floated a beat closer before realizing what he was doing. (Tommy prayed to everything out there that the brunet was only touchy with Dream because god, the guy was clingy. Tommy wouldn’t be able to stand it all the time.) He settled for a shoulder pat. “Thanks, Tommy. I’ll make it up to you one day, I promise.”
And then he was gone, floating toward the elevator before Tommy could say differently.
George looked happy as he kissed Dream’s cheek (Tommy almost turned away in pure repugnance) and settled next to the leader.
Taking one last glimpse at the five guys in the elevator, Tommy had to suppress a smile. They looked so put together, so chill with one another. He could tell they were friends without taking another glance– anyone could, with the way they fought together.
In the past few days living with the Titans, Tommy learned a couple of things.
- Being the hero wasn’t so bad.
- Dream didn’t care about his past, so why should Tommy?
- He could get used to the hero life.
As he entered the elevator, there was the slightest bit of a smile showing on his face. Standing next to Dream and Quackity made him feel as if almost anything was possible.