Chapter Text
Tommy is pretty used to living on his own even though he’s fifteen. He’s quite tall for his age so he was able to make a fake ID and say that he was sixteen so that he could work at a small cafe near where he lives. He lives in a shitty, run-down apartment building in district 12 because his job doesn’t pay well enough for him to get a nice apartment and the extra cash he has isn’t that much because it was from his parents’ Wills.
Tommy sat on his old, lumpy, cheap, and worn-down couch pondering in his memories about his past, when he was sort of happy. He is quite happy now but not as much as when he was a kid, when he was 4 to be exact.
His mom died when he was five, but she still put him in her Will because she knew she wouldn’t have much time. She was very sick and died at a young age. Tommy’s dad committed suicide two years later because of grief but he knew that tommy couldn’t get a job So the only person in his will was him. Tommy’s parents were both an only child and his grandparents had already died, so Tommy was living on his own at the age of seven.
Tommy was rudely taken out of his haze of memories by his alarm he had set for
9:00 am. he had a schedule change at Sam’s & Fran’s Bakery & Cafe. Sam had told him to be there at ten in the morning so he could start.
Tommy chose to close every day at Sam’s & Fran’s because it closed at eleven in the evening. He would go home then change into his vigilante outfit without anyone seeing. It wasn’t anything too special, just a red gas mask, maroon goggles, a red and black hoodie, and a black pair of skinny jeans with a ton of pockets to hold medical supplies in case he got hurt while on patrol.
The people had known him as Red Mist for his main color being red and him practically disappearing when he was being chased by a hero. Nobody really knows what his power is, some people think it’s teleporting, others think it’s going invisible, and some think he has multiple powers.
Those few who think he has multiple powers are correct, he has a total of four powers, well, two of them aren’t a power.
The two that aren’t a power are wings and raccoon ears and tail (specifically fluffy ones). He has wings but he got a suppressor bracelet on his wrist to make it so they’re pretty much not there, though he can still feel them. He also has his ears and tail, though he hides those with a suppressor anklet.
Tommy’s wings are a bit messy because he’s never had any winged fellows, so he never learned how to preen them and get the loose feathers out, also because they’re supposed to be preened right when you get them.
The only other winged people he knew of were Zephyrus, the number 1 hero, and Jester, the number 5 villain. Let’s just say, he wasn’t on good terms with any of them.
Zephyrus is a hero, heroes arrest vigilantes. And Jester tried to kill him multiple times. So that’s a no in his book, he’s not going to go to jail at age thirteen or get killed at age thirteen. Those aren’t on his bucket list and aren’t going to be for a while. And not to mention again, but he has only got his wings the day before.
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Tommy was going on his daily patrol through district 12, district 11, and district 10. He patrolled the outer districts because the heroes only patrol the inner and richer districts because that's where their funds come from.
Tommy was in district 10 when he heard a thwap. He turned around, only to see the number 2 hero, smile. Now, this wasn’t anything new, he was used to being chased by heroes or villains, the main person being Smile, sometimes Orpheus, or even sometimes, Chronos. Now he was on the run, he was out of his teleportation for 20 minutes so until he can teleport himself, he has to run.
“Red mist, you need to come with me! I don’t want to make this any harder on you than it has to be” smile stated. “Then why don't you leave me the fuck alone and stop findin' me why don chya!” Red mist yelled back. “Sorry, no can do! You’re illegal, if you wanted to save people you could’ve gone in the hero training course.” Smile yelled back.
“I’d rather not and stay a vigilante. The heroes don’t do shit about the outer districts. They only protect where they get their funds from. The rich people treat you guys as pets. They reward you with money for doing something good for THEM, not for other people. You let them control you, and you leave everyone else to die” Red mist replied.
That pissed smile off, did people actually think about it that way? Well, it’s not his fault. “It’s not my fault, blame the government or some shit”
“I might as well.” Red mist thought for a second. “Wait no! You chose to be a hero! you could’ve been a vigilante or something. But you didn't, little bitch boy.”
Red mist’s timer was up, he could teleport to an alley or something. “Well, see ya! My timer is up so imma scram, bye bye!” Right before Red mist could teleport, something, or rather someone, grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and got his neck in the process.
Tommy couldn’t retaliate, he couldn’t control his body. He just went limp. What the fuck was happening to him? He could vaguely hear people talking, he guessed the one on his right was Smile, he couldn’t tell, everything was blurry. Tommy tried yelling but all that came out were weird mixes of chitters, whimpers, and chirps all in one noise.
Tommy was terrified, he didn’t know what the hell kind of noise he made but he fucking hated it cause the guy holding him CROONED at him! The audacity of that guy! He’s not some cute UWU little house pet! NO, he’s a big ferocious Tommyinnit the vigilante that saves people for fucks sake!
Tommy couldn’t really make out what they were saying. But he did catch some.
“What do we do with him?” “I don’t know, turn him in? What do you want me to say?”
The guy accidentally let go of Tommy’s neck, Tommy instantly got up and ran. His vision was filled with black dots from being scruffed but he ran like his life depended on it. and to be fair, it did. The people yelled. “He’s getting away!”, “shit!”, “I accidentally let him go, fuck!”, and “what are you doing, get him!”
Once Tommy regained his eyesight, he turned around and he was surprised about what he saw.
the number 1 hero, Zephyrus. The number 2 hero, Smile. The number 3 hero, BloodGod. And the number 5 hero, Orpheus. He turned back, ran faster, and screamed “Holy shit!” BloodGod caught up with him but then he teleported. “Gosh dang it!” BloodGod yelled.
⋙✧⋘
Tommy was back in his apartment. “Well, that was weird” he deadpanned. Like he hadn’t almost been caught by the heroes.
Tommy made himself some instant noodles. Number one best dinner, am I right?
“God that was such a day '' Tommy deadpans to no one in particular.
Tommy was kind of bored, so he rings up Purpled, his ally who is also his best friend. Totally a coincidence.
“Heyyyyyyyyy Purpled~” Tommy taunts. “What do you want, Tommy?” Purpled sounds like he’s suffering from this call. “I’m kinda bored, can you come over, please?” Tommy stretches out the please like it’s going to save him from a bear.
“Why, do you need gear? Or are you in trouble. Did you get caught?” Purpled doesn’t even sound worried.
“No, like I said, I’m fuckin’ bored.” Tommy re-states. “Okay, what do you want me to do?” Tommy thinks for a moment. “I wanna hang out! Like, c’mon, is it that hard to do?” “Yes, it is.” Purpled deadpans.
“Purpled, I swear to prime, if you don’t come over here, I will go over to your apartment and drag you here.”
“Okay, fine…” Purpled finally says.
Purpled walks over to Tommy’s shitty apartment building.
Once he got there, he jumped through the open window by the fire escape because it’s the easiest way to get in. Purpled snuck into Tommy’s living room to find the blond child hunched over on his couch playing a beat-up Gameboy.
Purpled debated for a bit and decided the best approach was to scare him.
Purpled snuck up behind Tommy and screamed “HEY, CHICKEN NUGGET!”
Tommy instinctively jumped, grabbed the closest, non-breakable thing closest to him, which happened to be a VERY thick book, and went to hit Purpled with it.
Purpled managed to catch Tommy’s hand right before the book hit his face.
“Oh, fucking Prime Purp, you scared me! I thought there was an intruder or something!”
By the time Tommy says that Purpled is leaning over his chest and laughing till he can’t breathe properly.
Tommy thought for a bit until he realized. “Purpled, what did you call me?” Tommy said in a dark tone, especially one for a thirteen-year-old.
Purpled responded with a very calm and collected “Chicken nugget, I called you a chicken nugget because you have wings, dumbass.”
Tommy squeaked. “You can’t call me that! I am the biggest and only man to ever be, thank you very much!”
“Considering that I am two years older than you, since you're thirteen and I’m fifteen, I can.” Purpled said calmly.
“You should also feel grateful that you are the first and only person I told about my wings!”
“I am, but it also gives me permission to call you a chicken nugget.” Purpled was quick to reply.
“Actually,” Purpled said. “How are your wings doing?”
“They’re doing pretty good!” Tommy states as he takes his suppressor bracelets off.
When he does that, Purpled decides that he is allowed to pet Tommy’s ears. Because, why not?
He goes and reaches behind one of Tommy’s ears.
Tommy instantly melts into the touch, he has a small purr that Purpled can barely hear.
But he hears it anyway and coos at Tommy’s little thing. Will Tommy get mad. Yes. But is it worth it? Also yes.
Then as he predicted, Tommy gets mad.
“Uh- what are you cooing about Purpled? You don’t have anything to coo over!”
“Yes I do, you were literally just purring earlier.”
“No I wasn’t! You’re hearing things bud. You must be delusional, kay kid?”
“I’m literally older than you.”
“UH- No. I am the biggest man ever and I have all the wives ever in…… ever!”
“Yeah, totally.”
“It’s true! Okay? No denying it now!”
“Yup, whatever.”
Purpled rolled his eyes and scoffed. He had to force himself to hold his laughter.
When Tommy saw that, he had to choke down an angry chirp.
Purpled decided this was the best time to go behind Tommy and hug him.
“G- Get off of me!” Tommy screeches while trying to push Purpled off.
“Nah, imma bother you till the morning.” Purpled said, though Tommy could practically hear the smile in his voice.
Tommy chose to just deal with the clingy clot stuck to him now, after all, he did think of Purpled as his best friend ever since they were children.
Purpled wanted to make Tommy annoyed, so he did the thing that will make him angry. Would Tommy hate him for a few days? nah, he would only be mad for about a few hours then get over it.
It’s worth it in his book.
So Purpled picks Tommy up in the bridal position.
“Purpled! Put! Me! DOWN!” Tommy yelled while squirming in Purpled’s arms.
Purpled could see the smile on Tommy’s face while he was screaming, he thought Tommy would start laughing. Then, like he predicted, Tommy bursts out in giggles.
“Okay, put me down now.” Tommy said, his voice getting scarily serious.
It doesn’t faze Purpled, but he still puts Tommy down, though he puts him down by dropping him.
“p-URPLED!” Tommy screeched
“Oh, you’re fine, get up.” Purpled deadpans and Tommy reluctantly gets up.
Right when he does that, Purpled grabs his arm and drags him into his room.
“Let’s watch a movie!”
“Fine, lets go.”
They sat on Tommy’s bed and started watching movies, purpled checked his phone and saw that it was already late. “It’s pretty late, mind if I spend the night?” Purpled asked.
“Nah, do what you want.” Tommy replied absent mindedly.
That’s when Purpled’s phone rang.
It was Punz, so obviously Purpled had to answer it. “My brother’s calling me, I’m gonna put em’ on speaker, pause the movie and stay quiet.” Purpled said, and Tommy gave him a thumbs up. So he answered the phone.
“Purpled, where the heck are you!?”
“I’m at my friend’s house.”
“Oh thank prime, you need to tell me when you head out, okay?”
“Kay, Punz. Also, I’m going to spend the night at Tommy’s house.”
“Fine, do you need me to bring you some stuff?”
“Nah, I’m fine, imma go home in the morning.”
“Kay, see you tomorrow. Good night.”
“Night, see ya tomorrow. Bye”
Tommy was tired, and he had work tomorrow, so he had to get sleep.
“Imma head to bed, I got work in the morning, good night Purp.” Tommy said tiredly
“Night.” Purpled replied