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Tommy was lonely. It was beginning to consume his functioning day, and night as well. He would come home from school, and no one would be home. His family was always at “business meetings”, or some other lousy excuse. Truth be told, Tommy knew what they were actually doing, but he didn’t want the lies or coddling he’d receive if he told his family that he knew their darkest secret.
Somehow, his only solution to his loneliness was to follow his very deadly family around while they were busy being supervillains, terrorizing the streets of Esempi. Soon, his following turned into him actually saving people. He would find someone being mugged, maybe someone who just needed another person to walk them home, or a fight between two drunk idiots. This started to give him a bit of an identity. A vigilante identity.
The best part? His family had no clue. He had memorized when they got back from their “business trips”, and he would always get home before them, get in bed, and play pretend. Every. Single. Night.
The people of Esempi loved him. Maybe not the heroes, but the people definitely did. They loved how honest he was, how uncaring he was of getting noticed by big names. He was a genuine, kind, local hero that did honest work, helping people feel more safe outside.
What the people did not know was who he was related to. Or his name. Or his age. They didn’t know that his family was the biggest villains in all of Esempi, and Esempi is a pretty big place. The Syndicate was the biggest villain organization in the city, and it was run by all three of Tommy’s family members.
It didn’t change Tommy’s view on them, since he already saw hero society as corrupt and evil, but what he did mind was secrets being kept from him.
Tommy Innit Craft hated secrets.
They kept his family away from him. He does not like secrets, and he does not like lies. He has been told a lot by his family, and he’s had enough. So he tells them back.
He’s fourteen, for gods’ sake! He can take care of himself. He’s been training with all of his family members. He knows how to defend himself, if his side job is any evidence of it, and he can go on the offence.
His vigilante work occasionally gets in the way of him trailing after his family, but today it doesn’t. He decided to take a chill day, and just follow his family around. He was feeling extra clingy today, sue him. His family had been out all week, dealing with “business”, and he had only seen them briefly when he came home from school. He was fed up with it.
He was trailing them, not really paying attention to where they were going, just focussed on his family, and his family went inside of a warehouse. His father, the leader, went in first, followed by Tommy’s oldest brother, then his other brother.
Tommy decided to follow inside, since they didn’t close the door. It had been left open before the Syndicate got there, so it made sense to leave it open. He carefully snuck in, and couldn’t see his family.
He ignored the feeling of dread settling in his stomach.
After carefully creeping into the building further, he heard footsteps from behind him. He turned, but saw nothing there. That’s strange . He didn’t hear any more footsteps after that, but he heard a single crow caw. Ah, Phil’s birds had come. He searched around for it, and saw it staring at him from the windowsill, before focusing on something behind him and squawked loudly.
Tommy tried to turn, but he wasn’t fast enough when he felt a knife slice through his side, blood pouring out of the wound. Another slash, and there was a second cut on his arm, this one a bit more shallow. Still hurt like a bitch, though.
He got his bearings quickly, and saw Sisyphus standing before him. His oldest brother. Tommy wondered how sad he would be that he hurt Tommy. Techno was always protective of what was his.
Apparently, he hadn’t accounted for the others to be nearby, so when arms came behind him and pinned him to a chest, he was surprised. But he didn’t cry out. He didn’t scream. He didn’t yell. If he did, they would know it was him. He would give himself away, which he really didn’t want to do.
“Look what we have here,” Orpheus taunted, sauntering closer to Tommy. Wilbur was always an egotistical bitch. And a dramatic bitch, and a clingy bitch. Well, he was really just a bitch.
“No need to taunt him, Orpheus. Let’s just get this over with,” A voice said from behind him, slight exasperation in his voice. Phil, then, if his tone was this way towards Wilbur. Phil was the one pinning his arms to the older’s body.
“We’ll chain him so this goes by cleaner,” Sisyphus suggested.
Tommy’s stomach churned, already having an idea of where this was going. He just had to wait for the right time. He could tell them, and get out of this, but he would be coddled for months on end, or he could try to escape. He decided to wait it out, keeping his options open for both.
Orpheus cheerfully walked over to a wall of the warehouse, coming back with chains that had power restrictors on it. Jokes on them, Tommy didn’t have a power. Not yet, anyway. He still liked to hold out hope.
Orpheus came over to where Zephyrus was pinning him, and pulled at Tommy’s arms. He put chains on his wrists, and then chains on his ankles. In Tommy’s opinion, the ones on the ankles were a bit excessive, but again, Wilbur is a dramatic bitch.
The chains were annoying, and it was even more annoying that Orpheus was smiling the whole time he put them on. He clicked them onto his wrists, then to two hooks in the floor. It made him spread his arms out, making his chest and stomach vulnerable. His ankles were chains to the floor in different hooks that were right next to Tommy, and they were very few links long, meaning he couldn’t move his feet.
Once Orpheus was satisfied with his work, he sat right in front of where Tommy was facing, Tommy kneeling on bare concrete. It was cold, and very uncomfortable.
“Hey, little shadow. Been following us for a while, huh?” The nerve of this prick. He’s been getting ignored at home, he was getting lonely . He just wanted company. Phil promised that they’d be a family, that they’d stick together. Well, it’s hard to do that when you have secrets and tell lies to your son every day, isn’t it, Phil?
All he did in response to Orpheus’ question was say, “Yeah, sure.”
“You stupid little shadow. You shouldn’t have followed us,” Sisyphus warned, standing next to where Orpheus was.
“You’re a liability, you’ve been watching what we’ve been doing,” Zephyrus started, and continued on to shatter Tommy’s heart, “You know we have to kill you now. No witnesses and all that.”
Tommy’s breathing hitched, and he’s one hundred percent sure that Sisyphus heard it, but he definitely ignored it. What. A. Fucking. Prick. He was raised in a household of pricks, he was beginning to realize.
“Please, please don’t-,” Rudely, Tommy’s pleading got cut off by Orpheus.
“-I don’t want to hear it, dumb shadow. You just should’ve stayed out of it, instead of sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
He heard a sword get unsheathed, and it glinted off of the dim lighting in the warehouse. His blood was reflecting the light slightly, but this would be his killing blow. Tommy realized this, and so did everyone else.
“Would you like the honours, Zeph?” Orpheus offered, dragging this out and causing Tommy’s anxiety to spike. He felt like he was going to cry. If his father killed him, his father would never recover. None of his family would recover from it.
“I’m good, Orpheus. You can do it, if you want,” Zephyrus declined.
Orpheus’ grin was a sadistic thing, and it genuinely scared Tommy to see that look turned on him. He knew that Wilbur would beg to take it back, that he didn’t mean to look at his baby brother like that, but Wilbur would have to know to take it back.
“Nothing personal, little shadow,” Orpheus said with a disingenuous tone.
“Wilby, please. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” He whispered out, hoping he made sense. If he didn’t make sense, then he was a very dead child. His eyes were clenched close, all muscles tense. He couldn’t bear to look.
He heard a clatter on the ground, and he recognized the sound easily: a sword clattering to the ground. He opened his eyes warily, not sure if he’d like what he saw.
When he actually opened them, he saw a sword about five centimetres in front of him on the ground, and Orpheus was nowhere to be seen. Not within Tommy’s blurry, tearfilled vision, anyway.
He felt many tugs on the chains restraining him, the chains falling off one by one. His wrists were freed first, then his ankles. While this was happening, there was a figure in front of him with wings. Oh, that’s his dad .
“Toms, baby, is that you.” His dad sounded like he was holding back tears. It sounded like he was very close to just breaking down.
All Tommy could do was nod, his throat blocked by the tears trailing down the inside of his mask. It was a very plain and boring mask, the only purpose of it was to cover his face.
Hands from behind his head grabbed the strap on his back, and Tommy was ashamed that he flinched. From the look Phil gave him, he looked even more sad than when Tommy had called out to his brother.
The hands still pulled his mask off, showcasing his freckles, his eyes, and his young face. It was so recognizable to his family that they would have to be brainwashed to forget it.
Phil gasped, and then Tommy heard another sharp intake of breath from behind him. Wilbur had probably run away from his problems, like always, so that narrowed it down to Techno.
“Theseus,” Techno said, crouching down in front of Tommy and gently cupping his face, “Theseus, you’re okay. I- I’m so sorry.” This was the first time Tommy had ever heard his oldest brother apologise. Sure, the two gashes on his body probably warranted that, but it was still a shock to hear.
“Thanks, big man, but I’m still kinda-,” He inhaled sharply, the expanding of his chest stretching the cuts painfully, “-I’m still kinda cut up.”
Phil made a low, wounded noise, not liking the idea of his children being hurt. Techno immediately knew what he was talking about, and a guilty look crossed his face. This was the closest Tommy had seen his brother to tears ever. Techno never cries, not for anything.
“Let me heal you, Theseus. I- I hurt you. I need to fix it,” Techno pleaded, wanting to right his wrongs, and to heal his golden brother. His innocent, little brother, who had almost died at their hands. To think that they were trying to lure him here to get rid of what they thought was a pest made Techno’s stomach drop to his feet.
“I- Okay, Tech,” Tommy said, wincing in pain.
Quick footsteps came from the other side of the warehouse, and Tommy looked over to see Wilbur running for him and falling to his knees before the bleeding child.
“Please forgive me, Tommy. I-I didn’t mean what I said. I didn’t mean it,” The man pleaded before his brother. He didn’t deserve forgiveness for the things he did. At least, that’s what Wilbur thought. Tommy was determined to prove him wrong. He knew how self-destructive Wilbur could be.
“I know you didn’t mean it, Wilbur. You didn’t know it was me. You’re okay. I’m okay,” Tommy reassured calmly, Techno picking him up and wrapping him in his cape to carry him home.
“I’m sorry,” Wilbur whispers one last time, before pulling his mask down and pressing a kiss to Tommy’s forehead. It was a silent apology, and a promise to make it up to him.
“We’ll talk more when we get home, yeah, Toms?” Phil asked, and Tommy nodded, not feeling up to explaining his emotions in a random warehouse in wherever-the-fuck part of the city.
Tommy let himself get carried out of the warehouse, his family taking the back alleys to get home unseen. Once they walked in the front door, which Tommy always left unlocked, Tommy was laid down on the couch.
Wilbur had run off to find the medical kit in the kitchen, after having been ordered by Phil. Techno and Phil stayed with Tommy, undressing him of his vigilante gear to expose the wounds. They had slowed to a more sluggish bleeding, but it was obvious Tommy had lost a good bit of blood. He was pale, shaking, and he kept zoning out and then back in.
“Dad, I don’t feel very good,” Tommy said, his breath hitching for a moment.
“In what way, Tommy?” Everyone watching could tell that Phil was trying his best to not freak out, but Phil was absolutely terrified on the inside.
“I feel floaty. Like, lightheaded, I think is the word?” Tommy questioned aloud, not quite sure how to articulate what he was experiencing.
“You’ve lost a bit of blood. It’s most likely the effects of blood loss,” Techno tried to explain calmly, grabbing the medical supplies from Wilbur.
“I-I’m gonna fuckin’ pass out,” Tommy said, before his body untensed, his eyes going unseeing. It looked like he was dead, but they knew he wasn’t. Even then, the thought that this is what their golden child would have looked like if he didn’t say anything was terrifying.
Wilbur leaned over, and gently closed Tommy’s eyelids with his fingers, tears slipping out of Wilbur’s eyes. He didn’t like seeing that look in his brother’s eyes. It hurt. It hurt a lot, to know that his family was the cause of it, that they did this to one of their own.
Techno did the stitching, and wrapped the wound with bandages, doing it quickly and efficiently. He didn’t want to look at the wounds any longer. He didn’t want to see the scars they would cause. But he was going to, because they were the consequences of his ignorance.
He carried Tommy to the boy’s room, laying him under the blankets. He made sure to put Henry, his cow plushie, with Tommy, knowing that the boy slept with it every night.
He left his brother’s room with a singular look back, seeing his brother’s pale face, and the dried tears tracks did nothing to reassure him. He quickly returned with a glass of water and some apple slices, cut by his precise hand. He decided to stay in the room, pulling up a beanbag chair and a book to the side of the bed. He was going to be there for his brother this time. He wouldn’t be alone anymore.
==========
When Tommy awoke, he was a bit confused. He didn’t remember falling asleep. His dreams were all messed up and strange, and he just felt really… loose. He opened his eyes to see his dimly lit room, and there was the sound of a page turning that came from next to his bed.
He adjusted himself to peer down, and he saw Techno reading a book on the beanbag chair.
He whispered hoarsely, “Tech.” He couldn’t really say much more, his throat was so dry.
Techno looked up from his book, a bit shocked, but otherwise still as stoic as ever. He stood up, put his book down, and went over to his nightstand. There was a cup of water, and apple slices sitting there. Techno picked them up, and sat on the side of Tommy’s bed, handing him the glass of water.
“Drink, Tommy,” Techno said, guiding Tommy’s shaking hands to his mouth.
Tommy drank the whole cup, and then Techno fed him some apple slices, feeding him until there were no more.
“Thank you,” Tommy answered, the silence having been heavy before he spoke.
“I’m sorry, Tommy-,” Techno started, but Tommy cut him off.
“Yeah, yeah, I know, you prick. You don’t really say sorry with words, that’s more Will’s thing, you apologise with actions. So don’t force it out. I know you’re sorry, but show that the way you show it,” Tommy told him.
“Thanks, Tommy,” Techno said, a rare, genuine smile on his face, “You ready to go downstairs. I think Phil and Wilbur are still awake.”
“Okay, but I might need some help, big man,” Tommy said with a shaky laugh. He sat up, feeling a bit dizzy, but pushed through.
Techno offered his hand, an olive branch of sorts, and Tommy accepted it. He carried Henry with him, and Techno helped him with every step of the way. It took a bit, but they eventually made it all the way down the stairs, and into the living room.
Phil and Wilbur immediately looked up at them from their spot on the couch, but didn’t make a move to crowd him. He appreciated it.
“Hey, big men,” Tommy said, trying to lighten the mood. From the look on everyone’s faces, it did not help. Oops.
“Tommy, my baby, can I hug you?” Tommy knew that he didn’t really need the comfort, but Phil sure did. Tommy let Phil wrap his arms around him, careful of the stitches, and Tommy melted into the hug anyways.
“I’m so sorry we kept this from you,” Phil mumbled behind him, Phil’s head resting on Tommy’s shoulder. Tommy could feel tears soaking through his shirt, and that threw him for a bit of a loop. Sure, Phil is a more emotional person, but he didn’t cry often.
Tommy drew back from the hug, putting his hands on his father’s shoulders. He said, “Phil, the second biggest man ever, after only myself, this is not your fault. Well, kinda, but at the same time, not really.”
“Why did you follow us, Tommy?” Wilbur nearly sobbed, reaching out for Tommy’s hand. Tommy reached back, holding Wilbur’s warm hands in his cold ones. Wilbur nearly shivered at the contact.
“I was lonely. Simple as that,” Tommy explained, “I felt ignored, left out, and lonely at the house. So, I decided I wouldn’t be lonely anymore.”
“You could’ve told us Tommy,” Wilbur whispered, tears in his eyes.
“Remember when I said I felt ignored?” Tommy asked, getting nods from all three before continuing, “Yeah, I felt like if I told you I’d just get ignored. I wouldn’t be listened to, because I’m the powerless one of the family, no hybrid traits or powers. I felt like I would’ve just been babied. I didn’t want to be babied.”
“Toms, if you told us how you felt, we could’ve helped you. It’s not about the fact that you don’t have powers or hybrid traits-,”
“-It kinda feels like it is,” Tommy muttered, Phil continuing to talk.
“-You’re my son, and those two’s brothers. We want you to be happy in this house. It’s your home too.”
Tommy just held Wilbur’s hand tighter, squeezing until his knuckles went white. He didn’t really want to hear apologies. He just didn’t want to be alone anymore.
He said as much. “I just don’t want to be alone anymore. I come home from school, and you guys are home for a bit, and then you’re gone. Just stay. I can’t take it, the loneliness.” He knew he was admitting a weakness, but he just couldn’t deal with the crushing feeling of being left out and all alone.
Phil gave him another hug, this one a bit more firm and grounding, but he was still careful of the stitches. “Toms, if you told us you were lonely, we could’ve had one of us stay here with you every night. You don’t have to handle your problems alone.”
Tommy was still clenching Wilbur’s hand in a death grip, Wilbur squeezing back. Tommy finally let the tears slip out, his big “secret” being unhidden. It wasn’t really hidden in the first place, to be honest. If anyone saw how he acted around his family, it wouldn’t be hard to tell how strained his relationship was with them.
“Theseus, we will make sure you’re never lonely again,” Techno promised him.
Tommy could only nod, putting his head on his dad’s shoulder. He didn’t really have much left to say. They know what the problem is, so now all four of them have to fix it.
“You tired, sunshine?” Wilbur asked, rubbing circles and random lines onto the back of Tommy’s hand.
Tommy nodded, sinking into Phil a bit more. He was emotionally and physically exhausted. He is still recovering from blood loss, so he didn’t really have a lot of energy to begin with.
“I’ll carry you to bed, Theseus,” Techno offered, scooping Tommy up off of Phil, being wary of the stitches he put in.
“Your room?” Tommy whispered to Techno.
“Of course, Theseus. You can sleep with me tonight,” Techno obliged, carrying Tommy out of the living room and up the stairs. Instead of walking to Tommy’s room, Techno carried Tommy (and Henry) into his own room. There were many books, and a few weapons hung on the wall as display.
Techno saw Tommy staring at them, and asked, “Are you okay to sleep in here?” They both knew what he was referring to.
“Yeah, I just still think they’re cool,” Tommy admitted, unable to take his eyes off them, even as he was laid in bed. Techno tucked him under the duvet, and joined him not a moment later.
“Goodnight, Theseus. Sleep well. I’ll be here when you wake up,” Techno promised him.
“Okay, Tech. Goodnight,” Tommy said in between his yawn, his eyes slipping shut.
Wilbur walked up the stairs thirty minutes later, and quietly peeked into his older brother’s room, seeing two people cuddled up in Techno’s bed. He smiled to himself, and went to his own room to go to sleep.
Phil went upstairs last, cleaning up stuff in the kitchen and living room. He peeked into Techno’s room first, seeing two of his boys curled up around each other. He went across the hall and saw Wilbur asleep in his bed, still wearing the clothes he was earlier today.
Phil finally went to his own room, falling asleep just barely after he got changed. There would be a long road ahead of gaining Tommy’s trust, but it would be worth it. The boy was the light of their life. They needed that light.