Chapter Text
8:07 P.M.
Tommy clocked in his shift as he adjusted the muted gray cap that matched with his baggy jumpsuit uniform. His dad was supposed to give him a new one that was two sizes smaller three days ago but the old man keeps forgetting. Not that he cared, really. It’s just a little tedious to fold the sleeves and the cuffs to his ankles all the time, obviously the uniform best fitted his brother but the fucker moved up the ranks as the bar’s nightly performer so now he’s stuck with the mop and bucket for the time being.
It’s not always bad for him, he thinks.
At least he had Tubbo, his best friend and brighter counterpart who sported the same rank and uniform.
“Hey, did you see my message?” The brunet easily hovered closely right next to him, smelling like his usual poor excuse of a sugar-in-a-cup drink that he insisted is still coffee.
Tommy yawned, crouching on his mop bucket to start mixing in his cleaning solution. “Sorry, Toby. I don’t think I have. I was too tired last night after finishing my essay. What’s up?”
Tubbo wears a sympathetic look that makes him easily nervous. “I was trying to warn you.”
“Hm. About what?”
“Tommy, we have a full house…”
At the words, he freezes, almost putting too much disinfectant in the bucket. Shit. That had completely left his mind. Didn’t he put it in his calendar?
He quickly decided to check, unlocking his phone and feeling his heart actually drop to his feet with deep dread when he reads ‘Award show’ on his calendar app in bold fucking letters. It’s right there! How could he have missed it?!
Tommy groans out loud before pocketing the device and letting the solution sit for a bit to allow everything to mix together naturally.
“Fuck. My alarm didn’t go off…” He clamps his jaw shut tight in frustration. He had no one to blame but himself here, which is the worst kind of fault to have because he was just at the convenience store a while ago. “I’m gonna be too fuckin’ tired to deal with some asshole’s shit, piss and cum tonight.”
“I could do a quick run-in at the store for you, if you want.” Tubbo kindly offered, the sunken bags beneath his eyes must have given him some extra sympathy points.
“Thanks Toby. But I don’t want you to get in trouble for some nicotine patches.” Well, not just that. He’ll probably need some pain relievers for the impending back problems he’ll have as soon as he starts from the ground floor and up.
“Suit yourself, boss man.” Tubbo shrugged half-heartedly.
Tommy grabs a dry mop from the rack in the corner before wheeling his trolley bucket out of the tiny supply closet and out the staff room.
“As long as no one wrongly breathes in my direction to piss me off, I should be fine.” It’s a small and unlikely reassurance, but he’s hopeful.
Who knows? The night is still young and unpredictable. Maybe there won’t be that many guests at the after party once all these so called ‘online influencers’ and ‘streamers’ receive their awards and fuck off to their respective hotel rooms. They can’t be worse than shameless actors and actresses celebrating their wins by having sex in public toilets and closets, right?
Because that disgusting shit happens way too often than not and he absolutely hates it—hates them.
How people could praise and treat all these public figures like gods as they piss on the floors, clog the toilets with their shit and smear dried cum on the walls absolutely boggles his mind.
But whatever. This is why little guys like him who cleans up after them exist.
Fucking hell. He should really ask his dad to give him a raise after tonight.
2022 Person of the Year
“Ranboo”
The award gratified and flattered him.
But that feeling has long passed since he held the glass-like obelisk trophy and gave a short speech at the podium, dedicating the award to his parents, his family and his boyfriend.
Boyfriend…
It’s like he didn’t have one when the boy didn’t bother to show up, not even at the after party where most of his friends are waiting to congratulate him. And to be completely honest, he has no idea where he is. Ranboo has been ringing his phone over and over and he wouldn’t spare a second to—
“What?”
Ranboo is slightly taken aback once he did pick up, at a loss for words for just a couple seconds and it was enough for him to keep going. “You better make this quick. I already told you, didn’t I? I’m with my good friends right now and they’re waiting for me to head back.”
“Wha—you didn’t tell me shit!” His timidness makes way for the hot rush of anger unfurling in his chest. “I keep calling you and you won't pick up the phone!”
“Ranboo, I can’t do this right now. I need to get back to my friends. Why don’t we just talk once you’ve cooled off and you’re not yelling at me like a psychopath, how about that?”
“A psychopath?!” He can’t actually believe what he’s fucking hearing. “Bill, the only reason I called is because you’ve been worrying me with your radio silence and you promised you’d come but you didn’t. I would have at least appreciated a heads up!”
“Okay, here we go! Of course you’d say that you’re worried because you’re always the nice guy. You always have to be the nice guy, don't you? And I’m always the fucking asshole!”
Ranboo flinched at the loud crash of something fragile hitting the floor. Probably plates or glasswares…
“I forgot, okay? You wanted to hear that it’s my fault again, fine. But since we’re doing this, you wanna know why I didn’t call? You wanna know why I’d prefer to be with my friends than around you? It’s because you’re bloody suffocating! You fucking smother me like you can’t—like you can’t function without me and it’s fucked up! It’s fucked up, Ranboo. Cut me some slack!”
Bill’s words cut through him like knives, twisting in his chest like daggers as a broken sob escapes him. It’s a lot to take in, a lot of things that has been building and simmering below their feet for a while. That’s just the thing that sets them off, doesn’t it? He asks for too much and his boyfriend doesn’t care.
It hurts. It absolutely hurts when he sees that there’s no coming back from this. There’s no saving a dead relationship and it sucks that he realizes this in the men’s room just right below the people celebrating their wins.
“Well, why didn’t you just say so?! If you want to break up, then let’s break up! Just say the fucking word!” He scowled at nothing but the wall right across him.
His words were loud and clear with intent, and yet, Ranboo immediately regrets them, feeling the bitter taste in his mouth.
“… Fine! I want to break up with you!”
His breath hitched, heart dropping to his feet.
Fuck.
Ranboo closed his mouth before he could take them back. Swallowing harshly, because he can’t… He can’t take it back when that’s what Bill wanted. And now, he doesn’t know what to do with himself when he’s left with only one option.
Tommy rotated his left shoulder back and forth until the sore spot satisfyingly popped. Oh, that felt good…
He just finished cleaning an entire function hall by himself and right now, he’s proceeding to the public toilets on the ground floor before they get too messy. Toilet rooms were his least favorite – having to deal with every bodily fluid from a human and all – nobody’s gonna like it.
But it pays for rent and allowance, so complaining won’t get him anywhere.
Just before he could place a ‘toilet unavailable’ warning on the door, a noise—well, more like inconsolable crying stops him dead in his tracks.
“Fuck.”
Great. Now, what’s he supposed to do?
It’d be very awkward to start cleaning while someone’s there, bawling their eyes out… And it’s not like crying in a public toilet is a crime, this isn’t some big time celebrity doing cocaine on the sink that he has to threaten to report.
Tommy paused.
He could just start with the ladies’ room first…
Ugh. But that would require so much more effort because he has to shoo more people and explain that he’s not a bloody creep and show off his employee badge and fuck, this is already stressing him out!
He calls Tubbo.
“Yo, what’s up?”
“Toby, come down here.”
“Huh? Why? I’m still busy with the dirty kitchen.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose out of frustrated habit. “There’s some guy crying in the toilet.”
“… Eh? And you want me to come down there because…?”
“Because I don’t fuckin’ know what to do here!” He throws his other hand up dramatically. “I need help.”
“Oh, I’m sure that’s not something you can’t handle, boss man. You’ve seen worse.”
That’s true. But still… “Yeah, but…”
“Okay. I have to go! Good luck!”
“Toby, wait—“
The call ends, much to his growing dismay as he sighed in dejection.
Maybe he could just ignore him. Most people who cried wanted to be left alone anyway and he was the best at ignoring people. His dad has always said that it’s not something to be proud of, but it sure does come in handy right now.
With his resolve made, Tommy plugged his airpods in and blasted loud music into his ears.
He enters the toilet, immediately sensing the presence of another person right beside him that he deliberately ignored. He’ll start with the back stalls and work his way to the lavatory. That way, he’ll have the smallest encounter with the other person in the room.
It works for a while. With a bit of humming, he almost forgot that he isn’t alone until he has to clean the spot on the floor where the guy is lazily sprawled all over. What a dick in black tux… It ticks him off a bit, that he isn’t mindful of his surroundings. So, in turn, Tommy tries to be equally just as loud and annoying with his cleaning.
“Do you mind?” The guy snapped at him, finally facing forward where he could take a better good look at him.
He looks about his age, which is surprising considering most people who attended the award show seemed much older. He has gray eyes sunken with tears, nose red with sniffles and an overall sad demeanor that Tommy has no idea how to deal with.
But distantly, he remembers the tone the dirty blond used and he’s compelled to express that he already dislikes him.
Tommy sneered, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared down at him. “Actually, I do. I’m trying to clean the shitter but you’re being annoying with all your crying.”
“I just broke up with my boyfriend.” The guy deadpanned.
Okay. That’s a lot more acceptable, thankfully enough. Tommy knew he was being harsh there. It would have been awful if the guy’s dad died or something and he was here being extremely rude about it.
Break ups can’t be that bad to make fun of, right? Because Tommy copes well with humor or insults, especially in very awkward situations.
Like instinct, he lets his blabbering mouth do all the work as he shrugged his shoulders.
“Probably deserved.” He says as he resumes mopping the floor.
In the corner of his eyes, he sees him turn graciously red with rage, that if he were a cartoon character, Tommy thinks he’d probably see smoke come out of his ears.
He almost felt bad. Almost.
“I—fuck you! You don’t know me!” The guy exclaimed angrily.
Tommy is admittedly unbothered as he walks up to him and crouches on the floor to examine his trophy. It’s this heavy thing that falsely signifies how important the award really is. In reality, the only reason they’re heavy is because of the wooden base.
He reads the dark letters in golden plating.
“Person of the year. Ranboo… Well, that must be such a massive ego booster. Congrats.” He puts the trophy down before tilting his head in question at him. “Shouldn’t you be out there getting wasted with all the self-important weird blokes upstairs?”
“Were you listening? I just broke up with my boyfriend,”
“I heard you the first time.” He waves him off with a dismissive hand as he stands up to tower over him. “Now move over. I need to wipe the floor.”
That doesn’t last for longer when Ranboo does in fact stand up with his full height and Tommy has to crane his neck and look up, up, up.
He gapes openly at him in his stupid tailor fitted black tuxedo. It’s not every day that someone other than Wilbur and Techno could make him feel significantly smaller, and he takes pride in being a tall boy.
He blinks back at him as if he’s unreal, before grabbing the mop and resuming his work. So, the streamer’s taller and much larger than him in stature, big fucking deal.
“Okay, wasn’t expecting you to be that tall. Jesus christ… Maybe he broke up with you because you’re a freak of nature.” He snickers, mostly to himself.
“No… It’s a lot more complicated than that.” Ranboo retorted with a sigh.
Wow. Way to reign on his parade. Tommy rolled his eyes. “Thank you, Captain Obvious. I needed someone to point that out, you fuckin’…”
“Are you always this mad around people?”
He whips his head around, sauntering towards him with purpose because Ranboo did not just say that to him. He better not start with him or else, he’ll tear him a new one. It didn’t matter that the guy is taller and bigger.
At the moment, Tommy has never felt fearless.
“Mate, have you tried cleaning up someone else’s shit, piss, cum, vomit and blood for a living before?” He watches him visibly wince, easily ashamed of how he came across. Good. “That’s what I thought.”
“… No, sorry. I’m a streamer. I hardly understand how I’m person of the year.”
Does he ever stop talking?
“I literally don’t care.” He tells him before finishing the floor.
Well, that’s a good way to shut him up.
Now to disinfect the stalls and toilets.
Tommy grabs his disinfectant spray and a dry cloth from his back pocket. That’s supposed to be the end of the conversation, he had nothing more to say as he focused on his task.
He walks over to the back stall, kneeling by the toilet when he jumps at the sudden interruption.
Fuck’s sake!
“What’s your name?” Ranboo has asked.
When he looks behind his shoulder, he sees that he followed him here.
“Why? What’s it to you?”
Ranboo shrugged, jamming his hands in his pockets. “Just curious, because you’re by far the rudest person I’ve ever met.”
It’s not like it’s something he hasn’t heard before. He’s rough around the edges and brash. In fact, he heard worse from people before and the only person who has stuck out for him is Tubbo.
Even when his dad tells him to be on his best behavior, he finds himself just embracing his rough exterior better, especially when opportunity demands it as a mischievous grin splits his face in half.
“Really? I’m worse off than your boyfriend who just broke up with you?”
The look on Ranboo’s face is absolutely priceless. He’s petrified, that a stranger like him would even go there, that those are words that really did come out of his mouth. Tommy is unapologetic about it and the taller is finally getting it when he groans out loud.
“Oh my god…”
Tommy laughs. “Come on, you can admit it. That was funny.”
Ranboo bit his lip, failing to stifle a tiny smile that showed off his dimples. “… Okay, maybe a little… We broke up over the phone too.”
So, streamer man isn’t so uptight after all.
Good to know.
“Ah. So your ex is a pussy,”
“Pretty much.”
“I would shake your hand, but my hand’s been in places where they’re not supposed to be there. But my name’s Tommy.”
The blond, now named Tommy, passed by him to go to the other stall beside it.
Ranboo doesn’t know what it is about him, but Tommy intrigued him in a way that is both maddeningly infuriating and distracting. Or maybe he just needed someone in his life to give it to him straight like this guy—to inspire him to be as unafraid and as unguarded.
‘Cut the crap and let’s be real here. You just find him cute.’ A voice awfully sounding like Aimsey sneered at him. And does he feel bad that he might, just minutes after breaking up with his boyfriend? Not really.
“I don’t mind.” He says before he could stop himself. The blond has given him his name, that accounts for something, right?
He watches as Tommy stood up, wiping his hands clean on his jumpsuit, a pensive brow already raised at his insistence.
“Don’t blame me if you get sick.” Tommy warned, extending his hand.
“I won’t.” As soon as their fingers touched, he felt a jolt of something electric buzz through him, and Tommy might have felt the same when he noticed his breath hitch at the same time.
Still, he swallows Tommy’s entire hand with his fingers, giving him a firm squeeze and a handshake. Their eyes met as soon as the shock wears off, replaced by something friendly and light.
“It’s nice to meet you, Tommy. I’m Ranboo.”
“Nice to meet you too, crybaby.”
Ranboo can’t even find it in himself to be mad anymore when Tommy is effortlessly successful in distracting him from his heartbreak or at least, stop himself from thinking too hard about it.
He shakes his head at him, chuckling.
“You just don’t stop, do you?”
Tommy has the audacity to hum as if it’s something he should even think about. “No. Not really.”
They share this knowing smile with each other, some look of understanding that Ranboo can’t really figure out what for, but that’s besides the point. He should probably say something to him, like what time he gets off and if he’s free or a dumb pick up line.
But then, without a warning, the door bursts open to reveal another gray jumpsuit guy, shorter and a brunet. His arrival seems to stifle the pair’s hands still being connected.
“Tommy, where’s the—oh.” Still, despite his interruption, the shorter guy unceremoniously entered the room. “Am I interrupting something?”
Yes.
Ranboo wanted to say.
“What? No! Toby, I was just finishing up. You can meet me at the staff room once I’m done.”
“Got it!” He saluted and with that, he was off.
The quiet atmosphere accumulated into something more awkward so quickly, befitting two strangers in the men’s room. Quick! Say something—anything!
…
“You should probably head upstairs. Your friends might be looking for you,” Tommy smiles at him sheepishly, sharply turning on his heel to crouch by the toilet again.
He’s right.
Ranboo should really go back up there.
But before he does, there’s one more thing.
“Thanks, by the way.”
Tommy looks up, that pensive and wide-eyed look of his returns. “For what?”
“For making me forget I have a broken heart to worry over.”