Chapter Text
There was screaming. All he could hear was screaming.
Whether that was his own or not he did not know. Everything felt as if it was going too fast and too slow, both at the same time. And the feeling was making him panic, sweat beading on his forehead.
Then he was being carried by something. That something carried him further and further away from his childhood home. As he watched the doors shut behind him he was put in a car, and suddenly he was in a white, bright room. Rubbing his eyes to make them adjust didn't help. The room stayed as bright and as white as before, seeming even worse now.
He wanted to go home. That's all he knew at that moment. He wanted to go home and play with his dogs. He wanted to watch tv with his mum while she knitted, and he wanted to lay in bed while his dad was reading him a story about heroes or monsters or anything. He would take anything over this.
He could feel tears running down his cheeks, could hear his heartbeat in his throat and he could feel the cold tiled flooring he was sitting on. He could hear loud beeping coming from what he assumed was a machine next to him, the irregular beeping going faster and faster until it seemed like it wouldn't stop. His head was spinning and his ears were ringing and he wanted to go home. He wanted it so much. He tried screaming for his mum but nothing came out, although he could feel the air escape his open mouth. He tried again and again and again. Until it stopped.
︵‿︵‿︵‿︵
“-ommy!”
The coldness of winter was the first thing he felt as he was shaken awake by who he was assuming was his roommate.
“Tommy! You’re gonna be late dude!”
“Fuck off, Ranboo.” Blinking as he opened his eyes and adjusted to the light streaming in from the window, he looked at his friend.
“You were screaming in your sleep again” His roommate spoke again, this time slightly calmer, after turning to walk towards the kitchen, his black and white hair not visible from the hood on his head. Although Tommy knew it was him. After all, he didn't have that many freakishly tall, enderman hybrid, old hoodie found in the trash wearing friends.
It took him a moment to process what his roommate had said to him. Although he was used to it now, the dream having been a regular thing ever since he could remember, it still shook him a bit. The memories were not exactly amazing, and waking up screaming was never fun. He only really felt bad for his roommates for having to deal with it, waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of screaming.
But Tommy knew they didn't mind. They both knew about the dream, Tommy could recall telling them about the dream in detail one of the first nights they spent together, all huddled around the tiny apartment with no furniture still unsure if they would even make it. And in return, Tommy helps them if they ever need to talk about their own issues. And it wasn't like they didn't sometimes wake up screaming as well.
“You heading out now?” Tommy asked, looking at his roommate as he was putting on his shoes, confusion obvious in his voice. “It's gonna be freezing, put on some gloves or something.”
“Figured so, yeah, if I don't want to be late. I forgot them at work yesterday, remember? I'll just pull my sleeves down” Ranboo said, swinging his backpack over his shoulders. “There's a bit of milk left so use that with your cereal, I'll get another carton on my way home later.”
“Alright, have a good day. Stay safe” Tommy said watching his roommate walk out the door. Finally standing up, Tommy stretched his arms as high as they could go, feeling the soreness in his back after spending his night on the couch. They technically had enough bedspace for all of them, but on the instances that Tommy worked a late shift at the cafe and he got home after the other two had gone to bed, Tommy would take the couch so as to not wake the others.
It was normal for him to wake up just as Ranboo left. His internship started 2 hours before Tommy’s job, so Ranboo would usually wake him up as he left. Except today. Today Ranboo had slept in, which caused a lot of trouble for Tommy as he basically relied on Ranboos ability to wake up early to wake him up. So his usual 1 hour and 30 minutes he had before leaving had today been turned into 30 minutes. Which is great.
Not really. Note the sarcasm.
Walking towards the shared bedroom and opening the door he was met with the mess that was their one and only bedroom. If Tommy had an extra hour he would probably take his time and clean it up. Today though, he stepped through the piles with.. stuff? on the floor and got out his clothes. Stepping over the stuff again to get out he stops and picks up a scarf from one of the piles. It was gonna be cold, he would probably need it.
Their bathroom wasn't bad. He would actually consider it one of the nicest rooms in the apartment. It wasn't too small, just about fitting three people if they squeezed (they had tried, once, when Tubbo was trying to cut Tommy’s hair and they had to get Ranboo to look at it to see if it was cut straight). The mirror was a bit shattered in the corner after an accident with Tubbo where he slipped and his horn hit the edge. There was only one crack though, going from the bottom right corner and straight up almost halfway.
After finishing in the bathroom, Tommy rushed to make a bowl of cereal, remembering to use the milk that Ranboo had told him about. He had about 10 minutes to eat and pack his little bag of things that he may need at work, before he has to get going. Scrolling through twitter while eating his cereal, he quickly skims over a tweet about some cafe in another district getting blown up. “Sucks to be them I guess.” He mumbles.
Finally finishing the cereal and putting the bowl in the sink, he grabs a few items like the scarf and a beanie, a pair of headphones, a couple face masks that he needed for work, and an extra charger and stuffed it all into his red backpack. It was old, but it worked. It was a Christmas gift from Tubbo and Ranboo two years ago, and it still surprises him that they could even afford it then.
Lastly he grabs his keys and runs out the door headed for the nearest bus stop. He didn't live far from the cafe he worked at, but he preferred to ride the too long bus ride when it was winter since he didn't want to freeze to death before he even started working.
Tommy never liked public transport, but the bus was always nice. Especially the one he took. Considering that his district was so small, most people wouldn't get on until they went through the other districts the bus would go through.
Ah yes, the districts.
Lmanburg was separated into 24 districts in total, all being in a circle-like way around district 1, the centre. Tommy lived in one of the more outer districts, district 17. And sure it wasn't the best, but it certainly wasn't the worst. Tommy knew he was on the luckier side of the poor districts, district 20-24 being basically forgotten by most people who didn't live there.
Most people counted 20-24 as one district, the four districts being pretty similar. Maybe it also had to do with the fact that there was a giant river, separating them from the rest of the districts who were all pretty close to one another. Tommy didn't want to imagine living there. He had heard stories from Tubbo about what it was like growing up there. With the heroes usually forgetting the place existed, the crime rate was sky high. Everyone there knew that walking in the streets after dark was sure to get you mugged.
The bus ride was uneventful, nothing much of note happening. He had put on his headphones and stared out the window until he noticed the buildings of district 15 coming into sight.
There was a big difference in the architecture between district 16 and 15, with 15 having a generally more happy vibe overall. There were Christmas lights hanging between the streetlamps that lit up when it got dark, the buildings were taken care of well and the streets were bustling with people. District 15 was known for the amount of shops in a close area. Most people living in the outer districts would come here to do their christmas shopping as the shops were cheaper than they were in the inner districts.
Getting off on a stop, Tommy turned in the direction of the cafe, looking at all the Christmas items being shown off.
Opening a door, he heard a bell over his head signalling that he had entered the right place. Looking around quickly he saw that the cafe was already pretty packed, with only a few tables being empty.
“Hey Tommy!” a voice sounded through the crowd of people.
Turning his head in the direction of the voice, seeing that it belonged to Foolish, who was standing behind the register. “Hey Foolish” he replied as he walked over to the counter giving his coworker a smile. “How's your day been so far?”
“Eh, busy, but i managed.” he replied, before setting a drink up on the counter and yelling out a random name. A lady dressed in clothes a little too posh for Tommy's liking walked up and grabbed the drink. Tommy watched as she walked back into the crowd of people and tables and sat in a corner with a group of four other people.
“It's a bit more crowded than usual?” Tommy asked walking behind the counter before grabbing an apron.
“Yea I noticed, Puffy mentioned it earlier when she came by. She thinks it’s cause of that explosion a few days ago in 14th.” Foolish said as he got ready to leave. “I dont think it's gonna be an issue tho, most of our rush is in the earlier hours, and that other shop didn’t open before one so i don't think the rushes are gonna clash.” he said before pulling off his apron.
“Oh yea i read about that, what even happened?” Tommy asked, looking at Foolish who was now standing on the opposite side of the counter.
“No idea to be honest, something with an explosion and a group of people dressed in red. It's probably just a one time thing though, nothing to be worried about.” He said, turning and making his way to the door. As he opens it he says a quick goodbye that Tommy barely catches over the noise of the people in the restaurant.
“Yea, probably nothing to worry about” he mutters to himself, not sure he believes himself.
He then turns to look at the next person in line. Sighing, he decides to start his workday.
︵‿︵‿︵‿︵
The day goes by slowly. Taking orders, making coffees, bringing food to tables, getting yelled at by a lady in a hideous pink coat for not putting sugar in her coffee (she did not ask for sugar, there was a small table set up so you could add sugar yourself), all the stuff Tommy had done a hundred times over. All in all a pretty regular day at the cafe.
He should have noticed it by now. The first signs being the people dressed in the exact same red clothes that occasionally walked past the cafe. Tommy could see them out the window.
He didn't get paid enough to care though. He was just an underpaid worker, living on minimum wage. And maybe he didn't need to care, maybe they were just people going to the same hangout and they had a dress code, Tommy couldn't know.
There wasnt alot to do at the cafe when there arent alot of people there. Tommy worked the early shift often, but with the shift came the times where every single person in l’manburg was at work, and no one would enter the cafe. Tommy spent this time usually washing table or occasionally sitting down with a croissant and watching youtube videos. The latter almost never happened though, the shop was never empty for that long at a time.
When his shift finally ended at 4pm, his boss entered the store and made eye contact with Tommy. They spoke some words before his boss handed him a bag of baked goods and told Tommy to take them home, as they couldn't sell them at the cafe.
He didn't need it. Tommy was a big man that didn't need other people's pity food.
But their muffins are good.
Tommy figured it wouldn't hurt to accept the food one time. Walking out the door, now holding a small bag of muffins he headed over the road to a park. Tommy had spent a bit of time at the park in his time living in the district. It was a quiet place with a few people spread across the grass or sitting on benches. There was a big lake in the middle of the park, a few ducks inhabiting it.
Sitting down under a tree, Tommy carefully opened the plastic bag and pulled out a chocolate chip muffin. He had tasted them before, obviously, since he worked at the place. But even then he still got that amazing feeling you get when you eat something good every time he ate one.
As he was about to take a bite, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Pulling it out, he checked the contact before answering.
“Hi Tubbo” he said as he finally took a bite of the muffin.
“Hey Tommy, I was just wondering when you’d be home. Ranboo wants to make dinner earlier than usual since he has to get up early tomorrow.” Tubbo spoke. He could hear the chattering of a school hallway in the background.
“I'll probably be home soon enough, though I probably won't be hungry. Bad gave me some food on my way out. Im eating it right now.” He picked up the muffin and took a bite as to prove a point, even though the other boy couldn't see him.
“Oh, alright. I'll just tell him to make it earlier then.”
“Sounds good big man. I'll be home in-”
The loud crash was what he heard first, his head whipping around probably faster than it should.
There was the cafe, half blown up, the other half on fire.
__
“What the hell was that Tommy?!” He heard the other yell from the phone.
“What the fuck” Tommy muttered to himself, before standing up. “The cafe just fuckin’ blew up!” He could imagine the look that was probably on Tubbos face right now.
“Well then get the fuck out of there then!” Tubbo's panicked voice said, the chattering now replaced with the sounds of cars driving past. He had probably gone outside.
“That's what i was about to do dumba-”
He could see a person inside the cafe. Then and there he was reminded that there were people inside the cafe. Shit.
He had to help them.
He had to get them out. He couldn't let them die, he’d feel terrible.
“Tommy?” Tubbo said, seriously. “Are you okay?”
“There's people inside the cafe.” He decided on saying. He knew Tubbo would understand where he was going with this.
“Tommy, you are not going into a building that just got blown up.”
“I am” Tommy said promptly before ending the call and pulling the backpack off his back. If he was going in there he couldn't risk being seen. He knew he would need to use his powers. It would be inevitable. The issue was that it was illegal to use his powers. It was against the law for citizens to use their powers outside of privately owned property.
But he had to. He had to help them.
Grabbing one of the face masks, he pulls it on while running across the road leaving the backpack at the tree.
Pushing through the crowd of people gathered around the building, he pulled his hood up and ran towards the door, putting all his body weight on it until it opened up.
The moment he opened the door he was hit with a wave of warmth and smoke. The inside was filled with smoke, one side of the building obviously more destroyed than the other part. The windows were broken, the inside was filled with smoke and there were people laying on the ground.
There were people laying on the ground.
Holy shit.
Not wasting a second, he ran towards the closest person to check their pulse. Still alive.
That's good.
“Fuck” he mumbled to himself glancing around. The fire was spreading, and even though the part of the building he was in currently wasn't being swallowed by flames, it soon would.
He started picking up the people and bringing them outside, where other people were helping them. While running in and out of the store he counted the people he saw, one, two, three.. Seven.
There were seven people left inside the building and the flames were coming closer. He wasn't sure he'd make it.
To be honest, at the moment he was just hoping a hero would come and help them out. Sure the heroes were almost never out in the outer districts, but surely they'd be called for something like this?
A fucking bomb just went off. Of course they would be called. Right?
As much as Tommy hoped that they would come, he knew there was a big chance they wouldn't. And if they didn't someone had to help.
There were three people left, two of them had been trying to crawl towards the door to get outside, the last person laying furthest away seemingly unconscious.
Helping the two closest to the door out, he heard the building creaking from the inside as he carried the last person out. Putting the person down on the gound in front of some people trying to help, he rushed inside to see flames getting closer and closer to the person left. The flames had almost swallowed the them.
Again, he heard the building creak, signaling that it was time to get the fuck out of there before it collapsed. It was also getting significantly more difficult to breathe with the mask on.
Another creak and Tommy was rushing forwards towards the person with his hands stretched out. Feeling the power flow through his whole body and gathering in his arms, going further to his fingers he let them out, seeing the red spark of his powers.
Over the person now was a red glowing cover, almost like a globe covering them. The ceiling fell down and shattered against the red before falling to the floor. The person inside the shield was luckily safe, the red separating them from the fire and smoke.
Running over, Tommy took this chance to get them out. He picked them up with a grunt, feeling tired and a bit dizzy from the smoke and rushing towards the door.
Getting outside again was like breathing fresh air for the first time ever. The exhaustion was now catching up with him. He carefully walked over to one of the people who were sitting down and put the person down in front of them. Before suddenly turning around to a yell.
Coming from the inside of the building.
He didn't count another person though?
Right?
“Please help them. '' He told the person in front of him, not waiting for an answer before running towards the entrance of the cafe.
When he got inside he felt the smoke enter his lungs and clog up his throat. But that wasn't what worried him the most.
Standing in front of him was a person.
Dressed in the same red clothes from earlier.
Now Tommy wasn't one to think logically. He never was. That could be proven by the fact that he was currently, willingly standing inside a burning building.
But it seemed logical that when you see a person that most likely just blew up said burning building you turn and run, but right then and there something stopped him.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he said, trying to hide his shaking voice by deepening it to a point where it sounded ridiculous.
“Oh I just went by to check out my partner's work. Seems like they all did a good job” He said, and Tommy could practically hear his grin. “Now my turn to ask questions, what's a kid like you doing in here? It's dangerous you know.”
Even with the guy wearing a mask, you could imagine the smile on his face. A disgusting smile.
“Just making sure people don't die in my cafe” Tommy answered, straightening his back and looking the guy straight in the eyes.
“I'm not here to kill, don't worry.” The guy said, crossing his arms. “I just want to make a point clear.”
“To who? It's just a small cafe in 17th. Nothing you do here will have any effect on the heroes.” He knew this because it was true. Nothing that happened here mattered.
The guy laughed dryly. “This isnt for a hero kid! If I wanted to hurt a hero I'd go directly to them.”
Tommy didnt get to reply before the guy shot a bomb looking sphere towords the roof above Tommys head. He quickly used his powers, generating that same shield looking thing as earlier above him, blocking out the roof pieces.
Using his powers felt amazing. It was like having a weight lifted off his shoulders, a stress in his body finally going away. Why was it even illegal to use powers? Surely other people felt this urge to use their power.
He didnt have time to think about it though, as the guy had now aimed his fist towards tommy and had started shooting out small bomb spheres.
Taking down the shield he now put it in front of him, shielding him from the bombs. He started running towards the guy, ready to expand his shield towards him.
Pushing the guy down to the ground, Tommy moved to hold him down while still trying to shield himself from the bomb spheres that had now been aimed at him.
He was stuck and there was nothing he could do.
The guy most likely saw his struggle, because suddenly he pushed upwards and tommy fell backwards against the floor, Without waiting, the guy shot Tommy in the arm, causing the rest of his upper body to fall to the ground and before he could think they had switched positions, the guy now holding a glowing sphere in his hands right above Tommy’s face.
This was it, was what he thought when laying there.
Out of all the things that kills him, this was it. A guy in an ugly, red hoodie with bomb powers. Great.
What had he even done in life?
He hadn't done a lot to be honest.
He ran away from all his foster homes and escaped the system. Sure that was impressive.
He moved in with his best friends.
He got a job and finished school (At least most of it) early. He’d done a lot of things his parents probably wouldn't expect him to be able to do.
At least his mom, he'd never know what his dad would th-
He was brought out of his head by the sounds of wings flapping, and wind hitting his body.
“Get away from the kid if you want this to be easy.” His voice was so recognisable. Even though Tommy had never even seen him in person, he knew who it was.
The guardian himself was standing in the doorway of his cafe.
Holy shit.
“Well well, I actually managed to drag a hero all the way out here. The number one hero even.” The guy said, still holding up the sphere.
Before Tommy could even process what was going on, Guardian had already taken the guy and thrown him across the room, slamming into a wall. Guardian walked over to him, kneeling down and checking his pulse before turning around to Tommy.
Fuck.
He was just reminded of what was happening.
He had just been fighting, using his powers. Two things that are highly illegal. Not only that but he was wearing a mask and his hood was up, which probably looked even more suspicious.
But to his surprise, The Guardian just sighed while walking over to him.
“You alright mate?” He said holding his hand out to help him up.
Taking his hand, he nodded quickly. He didn't want to risk speaking, in case he wanted to keep his identity.
“Ill let you go for now. You saved a lot of people and I'm not gonna arrest you for that, but the police will when they get here. Run away before then.” Guardian said before turning his back and walking out of the building.
Tommy stood frozen for a second before he heard sirens from outside and decided that he would take Guardian's advice.
Walking through a hole off to the side of the building he started running.
And he ran all the way back to his apartment, taking off his mask when he was a good distance away.
The burn mark on his arm from the bomb sphere thingy was starting to sting as well. He have to get that checked out or something. Maybe Tubbo could help.
Oh right, Tubbo.
Tubbo and Ranboo are gonna be pissed.
Sighing, he started walking up the stairs to his apartment. It was inevitable. They were going to kick his ass anyways. He just wanted to lie down and sleep.
But no.
In the hallway of course stood Tubbo and Ranboo
And they looked stressed and pissed.
Of course he couldn't blame them. He had been on call with Tubbo when suddenly there was an explosion in the background and he had rushed inside. And what probably made it worse was that his phone was still in his backpack by the tree, so if Ranboo and Tubbo had tried to track his phone it would have been useless.
“I know nothing I say right now will make this better, but I promise I'm okay” He said, giving them a slight smile.
There was a pause, before Tubbo started shouting.
“What the hell! Why would you do that? Tommy, you could have died!” Tubbo yelled at him.
“You better promise to never do that again, you get that? This was a one time thing. No more going into exploding buildings and risking your life!” He said, the anger evident in his voice.
“For once, please listen to Tubbo, Tommy” Ranboo finally spoke. “We don't want you getting hurt.”
And maybe he would do that.
But he couldn't deny how good it felt to use his powers.
“I promise, big man. I'll never do it again.'' Tommy said, opening his arms inviting his two roommates into a hug. The two accepted, and rushed forwards hugging back tightly.
And even though the stress inside his body was now more evident than ever, he had promised to never do such a thing again. He couldn't risk it. And it wasn't like he was a hero. He didn't agree to alot of what the heroes said.
But he couldn't stop thinking about how good and relieving it felt when he finally used his power for once. The stress going away in an instant, his body relaxing. It was like he was made to use it.
But this was just a one time thing, no more illegal power usage.
..
Right?