Chapter Text
“I- What?” Tommy could hear Phil saying something else, but it was going in one ear and out the other. This morning, after Tubbo left for school and Ranboo headed off to his job at the grocery store, Tommy got a call from Phil at the hero tower despite literally coughing up blood mid interview.
Apparently, Tommy was supposed to start Monday, seeing as it’s currently 8:32am on Saturday, he has about two days before he starts his job.
His job at the hero tower.
Tommy, the vigilante, is starting a job at the hero tower, filled with heroes.
Looks like he’s going to need to explain where his last interview was to his roommates after all. Tubbo was going to be so pissed at him. If he had any luck, which seeing as he finally got some kind of job, he should, then Ranboo might take his side. Or at least not side with Tubbo. Hopefully.
Tommy spent the day watching nature documentaries on the small boxy television that the roommates had bought a month or so before the café was destroyed, and Tommy lost his job.
The couch Tommy was sitting on was maroon and had a few blood stains on it, courtesy of the big man himself after harder than expected patrols.
Tommy had to pause his show when his phone started ringing, Tubbo was calling.
“Hello!?” Tommy said into the phone.
“Sorry Toms but I’m staying late for a club and Ranboo took an extra night shift,” Tommy felt his stomach twist. Ranboo had been forced to do a lot more shifts when Tommy lost his job, it was a good thing the heroes paid good money! Probably.
If he didn’t get found out and thrown in pandora before he could get a stable trust fund for his friends…
Let’s not think about that right now!
“And since I won’t be there to guide you and Ranboo won’t be able to teleport you out of any trouble you’re going to get into,”
“Hey! I can patrol without getting in trouble!” Tommy countered. Tubbo ignored him and kept talking.
“I don’t want you go out tonight!”
“But- But patrolling!” Tommy argued.
“No.”
And the bitch hung up on him.
There was no way Tommy was going to listen. He was going on patrol tonight for the express purpose of spiting Tubbo.
It was barely dusk at this point, but Tommy didn’t care, walking into the shared bedroom and taking out his vigilante costume from a small box that they kept near the bed.
His costume consisted of a red hoodie with white sleeves, a green bandanna that covered his nose and mouth, brown cargo pants, a utility belt with a few gadgets Tubbo made him in his free time, and some black high-top sneakers that Tubbo had… modified.
Tommy pulled the hood of his hoodie on and opened the bedroom window so that he could jump onto the fire escape.
He always felt so much freer when he used his powers, jumping from roof to roof and using his powers made him feel lighter, faster, stronger, happier--and you get the point.
Using his powers made him feel good, even if it was super illegal.
That law never made since to Tommy, why didn’t they let civilians use their powers to save people when they didn’t ever send heroes to the lower districts?
How did they expect Tommy to sit there and do nothing while people were dying because of their neglect!
Tommy’s powers shot him a bit further than expected and he had to duck into a roll to stop himself from slamming face first into the concrete roof of the next building.
He really shouldn’t get upset when using his powers, it made them act… weird.
“You good there kid?” Tommy looked up at who was talking to him. A blond avian with black and pink wings, a black mask and skintight sleeveless shirt, with pink ribbon-y shorts and a pink bow around his neck.
Cute Guy, one member of district 13’s vigilante team. Tommy had met him a few times, even worked with him once when a hero chased him into Tommy’s district.
He was largely friendly, Tommy’s pretty sure Tubbo even got his “man behind the chair’s” information so that he could call Cute Guy incase Tommy was having an emergency, and vice versa.
Vigilantes were good people, but when you were constantly threatened with pandora’s vault, the most hellish and inescapable prison in the SMP, everything you did with others needed to be eye for an eye.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Tommy grunted, pushing himself back up to his feet. Did he really go all the way into district 13 while he was running? No… when he looked around, he could see the train station, which meant he was at the crossing point between district 13 and district 14.
“You look like you need to take your mind off something, Redstone just told me about a convenient store robbery down the street.” Cute Guy offered. Eeh, if Tubbo was still out then there really wasn’t another way for Tommy to find crime other than continuing to run around district 14, besides, Cute Guy was right, Tommy should do something to take his mind off things.
“Sure, lead the way.” And with that the two vigilantes began making their way to the convenient store, Cute Guy used his wings to fly, and Tommy used his powers to jump and race across roofs.
The store, like most in the lower districts, was a simple mom and pops shop. Tommy knew the lady that worked there, the store had been a cheap place to buy from and was right on the way to his old job, her name was Kristen.
It was a real wonder why someone would even want to rob Lady Death’s? Kristin had plenty of money, she had once told Tommy that the only reason she lived in the lower districts was to run her shop with easily affordable products for those in need.
She was nice, which meant that she definitely didn’t deserve the gun some idiotic asshole was currently holding to her head.
“Hey!” Cute Guy yelled as the two burst through the front door. No, they didn’t break it, that was pointless and honestly something people only did on TV because it looked cool.
The robber seemed to recognize Cute Guy, judging by the way his mouth immediately snapped shut before he could let out whatever lame thing he was going to say.
See, that was the problem with Cute Guy, he had been a vigilante for 6 years, which is probably one of the longest amounts of time a vigilante has been able to keep up their work without having to go into emergency retirement or getting arrested, but that meant that he, and by extension his powers, were very well known.
Cute Guy could control people with his voice, the only drawback was that he had to have a verbal response from whoever he wanted to control before he could use his powers on them. But seeing as everyone knew that it was a lot harder to get people to say something to him.
Tommy used his powers on the gun, keeping the bullet from being able to move when the robber tried to shoot at the vigilantes. Kristin, plenty used to the crime in the area, used the distraction to run over and lock herself in the backroom.
It was clear that the guy did know anything about robbing because in less then 3 minutes he was tied up on the tile floor with his hands behind his back, the gun sitting safely on the other side of the store by the tipped over cash register.
“Fist bump?” Cute Guy asked, holding up a fist as the two exited the store, Kristin had been kind enough to call the cops on the robber so they really needed to get out of there.
Tommy and Cute Guy said their goodbyes before heading their separate ways, Tommy would’ve loved to stay out later and avoid telling his roommates about his new job, but they would be home any minute now and if Tubbo found out Tommy had gone on patrol without him and started working at the hero tower then he wouldn’t just kill Tommy, he would murder him.
Maybe it’d be easier if he didn’t tell Tubbo he was working with SBI… Yep! Tommy is going to lie through his teeth to both his employers and his roommates/best friends! There is absolutely no way this could go wrong at all!
…
…Probably.
Tommy jumped back through the window and took of his vigilante costume with the skill and ease of someone that had been doing this for months, which is to say he struggled and hopped around taking off his hoodie like a 4yr old that was trying to remove their shirt on their own for the first time.
Luckily, he managed to get it off and get to the couch just before Tubbo burst his way through the door.
“Heyyyyyy Tubbo...” he greeted hopefully not seeming suspicious. However, the problem with living for someone for so long, especially your best friend, is that they tend to see through any mask you put on. They know all the little tells about what emotion you’re feeling and usually how to help. So, thanks to this tiny detail Tubbo was able to call him out on while he started the cup ramen.
“What did you do.”
“What do you mean dear Tubbo, I am the least suspicious person in the world.” Tubbo turned to face tommy and deadpan stared at him while holding the ramen and raised an eyebrow.
“I...mayormaynothavegoneoutasavigilantetonight?” Tubbo gently set the ramen down on the counter and walked into the bedroom slamming the door shut. Tommy let out a sigh of relief. Thank fuck the punishment wasn’t worse. That’s what he would have said if Tubbo hadn’t slammed the door open 20 seconds later bombarding tommy with all of the feather pillows they had. Tommy blinked for a solid 5 seconds before grinning and grabbing another pillow.
“Oh it’s on bee boy!” Tommy yelled as a pillow hit him in the face. Pillow fighting had become a regular occurrence between the roommates, seeing as it was an easy and injury-free way to beat the shit out of whoever pissed you off.
Tommy jumped to his feet on the couch and hit Tubbo full force on the top of the head, which made Tubbo smack him in the legs until he finally gave up his high ground.
Poor Ranboo entered the apartment with a loud click of the door and Tommy immediately took the chance to use the tall enderman hybrid as a shield.
“Tommy what-“ Ranboo was swiftly cut off by Tubbo’s pillow hitting the side of his face.
Anyways that’s how the trio ended up spending the next 15 minutes smacking each other with pillows.
“Can someone tell me what this fight is even about?” Ranboo asked, lowering his pillow.
“Tommy when out on patrol when I told him not to!”
“Tubbo said I couldn’t go on patrol on my own without getting in trouble and I proved him wrong, so now his being a little piss boy!”
“I am not being a piss boy!”
“You so are! Your angry that I don’t need you as much as you think I do you clingy fucker!”
“… So your telling me we just spent the last 15 minutes fighting because Tommy went on patrol?”
“Maybe…”
Ranboo sighed and walked over to the now cold cup of uneaten ramen and stuck it back into the microwave.
“Hey that’s mine!”
“You snooze you lose!”