Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

          Tommy was sat in the corner with his arms crossed, bored as hell as he watched Tubbo and the Warden talk about nerd shit.

They were in an abandoned building somewhere in the Northern outskirts of the city, since neither party wanted the other to know where their base was, and he was there once again to make sure nothing shady happened.

Well, he was also there so he could ask the former hero more about how creeper hybrids worked, since he really wasn't in the mood to try asking Skeppy about it. But he promised Tubbo that he'd wait until after they were done with the technology talk, so for now he was just incredibly bored and left without anything to do.

It was late enough he couldn't message Wilbur, and he was pretty sure Techno had some university stuff to deal with so he wouldn't answer unless there was an emergency.

Things had gone back to normal between everyone in the few weeks since the whole 'identity reveal' situation, something Tommy was glad about considering how tense it had been at the start.

He was also glad that Tubbo had backed off after he yelled at him. The short boy would still try to get him to tell him about what he's up to when he goes out, but he wasn't breathing down his neck anymore.

Unless it was something villain related, but that's acceptable since that was something they actually needed to be careful with.

He heard a whistle, looking up to see Tubbo trying to get his attention. The short boy was laughing, probably because the whistle had actually worked, and in resposne to that Tommy threw a rock at him.

"Hey! What was that for?", Tubbo asked, sounding offended by the action for some reason.

"Don't fucking whistle at me."

"I tried calling your name, but you didn't respond; thought you fell asleep for a minute there."

"Nearly fucking did,", Tommy pushed off of the wall, stretching as he walked over to the trash they'd thrown together to form a table, "Are you done now?"

"Not yet, but I was talking with the Warden about when we got that stuff from his old workshop-"

"You mean when TwoTone and I got that shit, you were sat at the base,", he folded his arms, interrupting the other villain. 

          It was clear Tubbo rolled his eyes at him under his mask before continuing. "He had a question for you about that."

Tommy looked at Warden. "Didn't you already ask me shit when we grabbed Slime?"

"I asked you about your connection to Schlatt then, this is different. Why did you put on a containment collar when you clearly had no idea what it was or what it did?"

"I thought it'd be funny,", he shrugged, ignoring the obvious glare he was getting now from Tubbo.

"... So you decided to put on something that could have killed you because you thought it would be funny?"

"Yes, anything for the bit."

Warden stared at him silently before looking back at Tubbo. "How has he survived this long? How has he not been caught at the very least?"

"I ask myself that every day,", Tubbo sighed.

"Fuck off, that's why you're short."

"What I lack in height is made up for in common sense."

"I'll shock it the fuck out of you,", Tommy sparked his hand, not really meaning the threat.

"Moving on,", Warden interrupted, probably not wanting to sit in on an argument between the two of them, "I was curious about something else I heard on my recordings."

Tubbo made a confused noise. "What recordings?"

Oh, right, Tommy never mentioned that to him; was a bit overshadowed by the fact that he exploded after learning about that.

"My workshop had microphones set up so I could keep people from taking stuff before I was done with it,", Warden explained, "It picked up the conversation him and TwoTone had when they were down there. I never formally shared it with the Committee, but I made sure to keep a secure log of it."

Tommy folded his arms. "Alright, and?"

"Have you actually never been shocked before that? The way you described it was really interesting."

"No, because I don't get shocked, that just doesn't happen. I can sit on top of an electric fence and be fine."

"It's true, he's come into contact with enough electricity to kill someone a few times and didn't even complain,", Tubbo chimed in, "The spot where the node is placed on those collars is perfect, since it digs in in just the right way to ignore any power buffs. Althought the fact that it digs in at all brings up the human rights issue, but I doubt the Committee really cares about that." 

          He didn't bring up the large scar that Schlatt had after he'd been forced to wear one for five years, but Tommy had a feeling Warden was already aware of that problem.

The former hero was tense at the mention of it, and he actually managed to sound pretty guilty about it when he spoke again. "They never let me try to fix that. Whenever I found the time to work on it, they would drop something else on me that they demanded I get done first."

Tommy was caught off guard by how genuine the man sounded. "Well- I mean, those fuckers aren't exactly known for giving people human rights."

"No, they aren't. Makes me wish I left sooner."

They stood there awkwardly for a few moments before Tubbo cleared his throat to get the conversation back on track. "Right, well, Ripper also had some questions about the whole hybrid situation the two of you discussed before."

"Oh yeah? What's up?"

Tommy waited for Tubbo to continue before realizing that they were waiting for him to talk. "Right, we had a friend of ours confirm what you said. Is there anything I should know about being a creeper hybrid or whatever?"

"Well, going off of how surprised you were, I'm guessing you don't have any traits?"

"Nope,", he made sure to obnoxiously pop at the 'p' sound.

"How old are you? Like twenty?"

"None of your fucking business,", Tommy kicked Tubbo when he heard him snickering, "But somewhere in that range, yeah. Why are you asking?"

"The older someone is when traits start showing up, the harder it is on them physically. Mine came in when I was around fourteen, and that was pretty bad for me, so don't be surprised if you're completely out of it for a while when they show up."

"I'll be able to handle it, because I am the best man ever. Plus, I'm still doubtful anything will change, so I'm not even fully concerned over it."

The former hero was clearly unconvinced, and grabbed one of the sticky notes him and Tubbo had been using. "I'm going to give you my contact info, if you have any issues you can ask about it."

"Doubt I will, but thanks I guess,", Tommy folded up the little note, sticking it in his pocket. 

          "Doesn't hurt to be prepared. Anything else you two wanted to go over, or should we call it a night?"

Tubbo took a step back, stretching and making the little wings on the back of his suit buzz for a moment. "I think we're done, unless Ripper has anything else."

Tommy was very ready to get out of there. "No, I want to go to bed."

"Then yeah, we're done. This was cool, we should do it again at some point."

"Yeah, it was insightful,", Warden nodded as he gathered his stuff off of the table.

"Well, have fun getting back to whatever hole you've been hiding in,", Tommy said, perfectly timed with Ranboo teleporting in, "See you again at some point, I guess."

He grabbed onto his tall friend, Tubbo doing the same, and they were teleported back to the base.

The shortest of the three clapped his hands. "I feel like that went well. I'm honestly a little surprised you didn't try to antagonize him at all."

"Fuck you, die."

"Can't do that,", Tubbo set the bag of stuff he'd brought with them in the corner before going to his computer, "I've got to figure out how to keep you from dying when you eventually grow a tail and shit."

He rolled his eyes. "I won't die, and I doubt I'll get a tail. Although, the fucking scales or whatever seem pretty cool."

"Whatever you say, Mr.'somewhere in that range'."

"Fuck off, would you rather he knows my actual age?"

"No, but him assuming you're in your twenties is hilarious,", the short boy spun so he wasn't facing Tommy anymore, "Do you have any plans for tomorrow?"

"Meeting up with Techno in the morning, otherwise nothing. Why?"

"We're going to be discussing the whole situation with Schlatt and Big Q, and you need to be here during that. Even if you don't pay attention the whole time, there's going to be shit you have to know."

"Right, got it,", he yawned before grabbing onto Ranboo again.

He tugged on the enderman hybrid's sleeve until the message that he was ready to go home was received, and they teleported back to the apartment.

~-~-~

          Tommy was waiting for Techno to do something, both of them stood in the abandoned train station.

They'd been focusing the 'chat sessions' solely on him keeping it together during a fight since the identity reveal stuff, and usually the man would start it off by giving him directions on what he should be doing.

This time, though, they'd been standing there staring at eachother for four to five minutes.

"Well? Are we starting or what?"

"Dunno, are we?"

"I'll fucking deck you."

"Do it then."

Well that was a good enough direction as any. Tommy ran at him, starting the fight as he waited for the inevitable.  

BITE HIM BITE HIM BITE HIM BITE HIM BITE HIM BITE HIM BITE HIM BITE HIM BITE HIM BITE HIM BITE HIM BITE  

Hug him! Hug him! Or maybe try to kick his head then hug him.  

SLAP THAT SMILE OFF TECHNOS FACE TOMMY GO FOR THE FACE  

violence violence violence  

E  

You know what's fun? Crying :)  

*bopping cat noises + microwave noises*  

GET EM

MMMMMMMMMM *CONVENTIONAL OVEN NOISES*  

YEET  

Potatoes.  

Hello there  

I have a cat, bunny, and a dog and for some reason the apex predator is the bunny and idk why  

Yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat  

E  

welcome back tommy boy, fucking decimate the pig  

Omg we get three wishes!!! I wish he trips and falls on his face.  

Hehehehehehehehehehe BIGN BONG BOO  

SELF DESTRUCT!!  

Just a little violence, a little sucker punch straight to the face  

Would the tail be strong enough to throw someone? That'd be cool  

Maybe your part cat sense u like purring and hissing so much  

E  

Eat his hand  

ZAP ZAP THAT MF 

Punch the man! >:D  

Then JoJo pose lol  

HUG HUG HUG  

OH FREAK YEAH LETS FRICK HIM UP  

Did you know a pack of raccoons is a nursery?  

Have you considered being emo  

Okay -- NOW GO FOR HIS SHINSS!!  

I say we make techno give us cheese  

GET HIS ASS HAHAHAHAH  

or consider tackle hug  

Did you know that when cats leave their poop uncovered it's a sign of aggression  

You should fall flat on your face and nap  

WOKE UP AND CHOSE VIOLENCE LETS GOOOO  

Cheese  

stare. stare unblinking at the man.  

WARDEN POG????? HE SEEMS NICE YOU GUYS SHOULD BE THE BOOM BOYS  

          Tommy immediately stumbled, having to take a second to breathe before putting more effort into his attacks.

He was in control enough to have a vague idea of what was going on around him, but gone enough to not care if he ended up hurting Techno with some of his electricity. Not that he actually thought he could, considering he still couldn't land a hit on the man no matter how hard he tried.

And he was absolutely trying, since he agreed with chat about the fact that it'd be really funny to zap him a few times.

They went back and forth for a while, Techno talking to him occasionally to gauge how lucid he was, until they got to a point where it was pretty clear the boy needed a break.

Tommy was thrown to the ground and pinned so he couldn't get back up, struggling to keep going as he was laying there. "Fuck off, let me up!", he panted after a couple minutes of trying and failing to get away.

"Take a second to breathe, then you can keep trying."

Tommy took an intentionally obnoxious breath before turning as much as he could to glare up at Techno. "There."

"No, actually rest for a minute."

"I won't have a chance to rest in an actual fight."

"Good thing this isn't one, then."

He continued to glare before giving up and resting his head on his arms with a slew of quiet complaints.

He was tired, sure, but he didn't need to be forced to take a break like a kid being put in timeout.

After laying there for a while, his breathing evened out enough that he was finally allowed to get up. Tommy rolled to the side, ready to continue fighting once he was on his feet again.

"No, I think we're done for now,", Techno said as he put his rubber gloves away.

"What? Come on, we've only been at this for half an hour tops."

"Tommy, it's been three hours."

"No it hasn't."

He took his phone out to check, seeing that Techno was right since it was around two in the afternoon. They'd started at eleven.

"... Oh. Hadn't realized it'd been that long."

Techno started walking toward the stairs, waiting for him to follow. "Losing time is pretty common when chat is really hyper, I'm surprised this is your first time noticing it."

"I- That's so fucking weird, there's no way it's been that long."

"I spent twenty-six hours straight looking into something once because my chat thought it was cool, but it only felt like three,", Techno said as they walked back to the car.

"How did you not realize it'd been twenty-six hours? Didn't you have to piss or eat or anything at some point?"

          "Just didn't notice,", he shrugged, "It happens."

"That's so fucking annoying."

"That's how chat works. Do you have anything you have to do, or did you want to go back to the house?"

"Unfortunately, I've got some 'work' shit."

"Anything interesting?"

"Don't know yet, it's something to do with Schlatt."

"You finally getting him out of your place?"

"I fucking hope so,", Tommy rested his elbow on the car door, setting his chin on his hand, "I may not be stuck there with them all the time like the other two, but I'm getting tired of listening to Tubbo bitch about them arguing."

"Quackity leaving with him?"

"Yeah, that's the goal. Been trying to figure out the best way to go about it so he can get his shit back from the heroes, should be pretty easy if the Warden was telling the truth about how it works; all that matters is making it look like they had the wrong guy."

"But they didn't."

"Those fucking idiots don't know that. I know for a fucking fact that Big Q is careful enough to not leave any evidence lying around, so all they have is word of mouth and whatever fucking 'proof' they used to get him in the first place. Add on the fact that it looks like we kidnapped his ass, and there really isn't any way they could win without flat out rigging it."

"Wouldn't put it past them,", Techno huffed.

"Anything interesting going on on your side of things?"

"Not that I know of, but the other two might be up to something."

Tommy got his phone out. "Might message Wil to see if he's planning any crimes."

"Maybe you should focus on your own first."

"It's gonna be fucking boring, though."

"How can plotting Schlatt's return to the mainstream be boring?", Techno asked as he stopped his car in front of Tommy's apartment building.

"Have you ever been to a fucking strategy meeting?"

"Yeah, they're important if you don't want something to go wrong."

"I doubt anything has room to 'go wrong'; Tubbo always has that shit locked down,", Tommy got out of the vehicle, "Guess I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, see you."

~-~

          "When I said 'see you later', this isn't what I fucking meant. What are you doing here?", Tommy asked as he watched Wilbur and Techno enter the planning room in the base.

Everyone had their villain outfits on, since Schlatt had mentioned calling someone for help with getting his shit sorted out.

He wasn't the only one surprised by this, since Tubbo went from staring at their guests in shock to glaring at Schlatt and Quackity. "Whose fucking idea was it to tell them where the base was?"

"Relax,", Schlatt waived his hand dismissively, "I figured they'd be able to make this go smoother. Where's the other asshole? Crow not feel like coming?"

Techno went to sit at the far end of the table, clearly keeping his eyes on Tubbo the entire time. "Didn't tell him, figured he wouldn't be on board with this."

"We're perfectly capable of handling this without their help, all you've done here is compromise our location,", Tubbo glared at Schlatt, clearly fuming.

Wilbur sat down next to Tommy, taking his mask off so Tubbo could see him roll his eyes. "Relax, nothing is 'compromised'. Outside of the fact that no one else knows about this, it's not like we weren't going to learn where your little base was at some point anyways."

"You fucking-"

"Calm down,", Ranboo kept the short boy in his chair so a fight didn't start, "They shouldn't have told them where the base is without asking first, but it can't hurt to have their help with the plan."

"Glad you agree, now what is the plan?", Wilbur asked, propping his feet up on the table.

Tubbo glared at him for another long moment before sighing. "That's what we're discussing now, although I suppose we've got to go over some of the basic shit out loud now since you fuckers don't know all of the details,", he sighed again, taking his helmet off, "No point keeping this shit on."

"This is going to be so fucking boring,", Tommy groaned, resting his forehead on the table after taking his mouth-guard off.

Wilbur elbowed him in the side. "At least you've got us here now."

"That's only marginally better, you should blow something up Wil."

"Not in here he isn't."

"Come on, Tubbo; it'd be funny." 

          "Hey, hello, can we back up several fucking steps here?", Schlatt interrupted their conversation, giving Wilbur a look that could be best described as a confused glare, "How the fuck do you know my kids?"

"Only know Tommy, really; the other two have just been passive aggressive toward us. Well, actually, the short one has been openly agressive."

"He should be! Holy shit, how come no one told me?"

"Hahah, yeah, that's wild,", Quackity chuckled nervously, moving his chair further away from Schlatt.

"Did you fucking know about this?"

"What? No, of course not."

Techno huffed out a laugh. "He showed up at our house when Tommy was staying there for a few days to check on him, even left him there with us since he wasn't ready to go back."

"He stayed at your fucking house?!"

"He's spent the night a few times,", Wilbur was looking at his nails, clearly enjoying the fact that he was pissing Schlatt off, "But that was the only time he was there for multiple nights in a row."

Schlatt was glaring at him, so clearly that was working. "You'd better explain this shit to me, right now."

Wilbur coughed a few times, feet going back to the floor. "Don't try to use your fucking powers on me, holy shit."

"I'm about to use my fists if you don't start talking."

"Try it, your arm will be blown off before the hit even lands."

Tommy leaned back in his chair so the two of them had a clear shot at eachother if a fight broke out, excited to see who would win in the event it happened. He seriously doubted that Wilbur would actually use any bombs on Schlatt, so it would honestly be a pretty even match-up.

"I'll grab that emo fringe of yours and rip your hairline even further up your head,", Schlatt stood, hands on the table.

"What? Can't handle being the only one here that looks like a man in his forties having a midlife crisis?", Wilbur snorted.

"Alright, that's fucking it-"

Schlatt went to lunge at Wilbur, but was stopped by Tubbo before he had the chance to. "Both of you better fucking stop before I get out the pollen gun. He's here because if you, Schlatt, don't try to fist fight him in the middle of our base." 

          "I told him to show up to help us destroy shit, how was I supposed to know he's a fucking loser that hangs around kids?", he turned his glare from Wilbur to Tubbo, "Especially when none of you assholes told me about it."

"Sorry, I figured me complaining about them constantly was enough for you to figure that out."

"Not to mention the fact that you already knew Wibur is a fucking loser, since you were friends with him,", Tommy added in, laughing at the offended noise Wilbur made in response to the statement.

The man  grabbed him in a sort of headlock. "I beg your fucking pardon-"

"Can we get on with this already?", Techno interrupted, head resting on his hand, "You said it'll take a few hours, and some of us actually have lives."

"I agree with the Blade, actually; we've got alot to figure out so this goes smoothly, and the more time we waste now the longer we have to worry about it,", Ranboo said hesitantly, looking down at the table in front of him to avoid any form of eye contact.

Tubbo looked between the two of them, sighing as he wrote something down. "Fine, but everyone better pay attention, because I'm not repeating myself at any point."

"What was that?", Tommy asked, "Didn't quite hear you."

"I said I'm going to stick you in the bath with a toaster to find out what happens."

"Didn't we already try that one?"

Tubbo completely ignored the concern being expressed by everyone else in the room as he began going over the details of the situation, and, even though he'd only been joking about it, Tommy wasn't actually paying much attention.

It was mostly stuff he knew anyways, not like it mattered. Anything new was just basic things he didn't really think had anything to do with the situation in general.

The only really interesting part of it so far was the fact that he could see Schlatt glaring at Wilbur out of the corner of his eye, and the only reason that was exciting was because he didn't have any doubts about Tubbo's threat to get out the pollen gun if they kept going. 

          Despite putting in at least some effort to pay attention, Tommy had started to zone out; his head resting on his arms as he stared at the wall behind his short friend.

CREEPER BOI GO BOOM!!!  

pp  

Did you know that when you yawn youre not actually tired, you just need more air?  

Punch one of them  

Dingus  

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

Pikachu I choose you!  

PEW PEW  

Peanut  

Get attention from Bird Father  

*Cue the elevator music*  

BIT SOMEONES ANKLES!!  

What if Mac n' cheese, but mozzarella?  

E  

Soooooooooooooo no more in house fighting I guess  

Can we get a traditional techno or wilbur hug? :3 pwease  

By the law of OURNA bumblebees shouldnt be able to fly. But thy do cause they have as much braincells  

POLLEN GUNNNN  

Violence? VIOLENCE POG?!  

Zap them  

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?  

What do you call it when you drive in a body of water? A carpool  

Techno hug  

Ohhhhh boy here we go again  

wish they would have fought :/  

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM *LOUD MICROWAVE NOISES*  

Mmmmmm eLeCtOcUtIoN

if sliced bread was invented in the 1920s how did they make sandwiches before that  

Brother hug tiem :)  

MEOOOOOOOOW MEOW AT EVERYOONE GO FARAL GO ARARTAGAGAGAGA  

HUG BIG BROTHER TECHIE  

Ask them their opinions on Capybaras  

Zip zap please, Child!  

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

*abel sisters playing*  

Yeet skeek  

Sleepytime  

Self destruct! Go boom!  

Balls. Big ones.  

Tommy tensed, shaking as he tried his best to keep it together. He stood, accidentally knocking his chair back and not bothering to pick it up as he struggled to get words out. "I'm going on a walk or something, this is fucking boring."

"No. Sit back down so we can get through this shit,", Tubbo didn't even look up from his notes.

"No, because unless we want a repeat of the field, I need to leave."

Wilbur reached a hand toward him. "Are you alright?"

Tommy wasn't able to stop himself from grabbing the man's wrist and electrocuting him, but was able to tone it down enough that all it did was cause some pain. "Ow, fuck! Guessing the answer to that is a 'no', then."

Techno stood at that point, walking over and gently grabbing the boy by the shoulders to herd him toward the door. "I'll keep an eye on him, you guys keep going over everything."

"Ranboo, go with them,", Tubbo said immediately, looking both worried and conflicted, "Keep an eye on him."

Tommy didn't know if the short boy was asking Ranboo to watch him or Techno, and honestly, he didn't care.

He seriously needed to get out of that room before something bad happened. He tried to level out his breathing as they got into the hallway, leaning against the wall and sliding down to the floor as he vaguely heard a conversation between Techno and Ranboo.

          The enderman hybrid teleported away, returning a few seconds later and rolling a tire into Tommy.

The younger boy immediately zapped it, letting out a pretty large amount of electricity before he needed to stop and breathe. He started up again as soon as he physically could, and nearly passed out the second time.

Techno grabbed the tire from him, squatting and looking him in the eye. "How bad is it right now?"

Tommy tried to answer, shaking his head instead and waiting a moment before springing forward to give Techno a hug.

"Hey, you've still got a ton of static going on,", the man tried to move back, sighing and returning the action when it was clear he wasn't getting away.

"Uh-", Ranboo was looking down at them, holding onto the tire Tommy had been shocking, "So is he good, or?"

"He's still kinda out of it, but I think he's past the 'murder' part."

The tall boy squatted next to Techno, brow furrowed as he looked at Tommy. "Are you sure? It looks like he's trying to strangle you."

"It's a hug. The voices are clingy sometimes."

"O-oh. Does that happen often?"

"I don't really think that's my thing to tell you about,", Techno huffed, "Unlike Paper Wasp, I don't go around telling people his personal stuff like that."

"He didn't do it on purpose, you shouldn't judge him when you don't know the full story."

The man snorted. "I don't need to know the 'full story' to know that he shouldn't have told you, it's something that Tommy expected to stay secret; telling you under any circumstances proves he doesn't understand how serious it is."

"He shouldn't have said anything about it to me, you're right,", Ranboo paused, "Ok, well at least not when he did. It probably would have been better to wait until after the weapon thing. I think he's so used to the three of us sharing everything with eachother that he didn't think before saying anything about it."

"I don't care what kind of excuse-"

"It's not an excuse, I agree with you. Tubbo messed up, honestly I'm surprised Tommy wasn't more upset at him about it."

Techno turned his head to look at him, expression hidden since he was still wearing his mask. "Are you upset with Tommy for not telling you?"

"Maybe not... 'upset', exactly. The two of them have always been closer with eachother than I am with him, so I'm not really surprised he told him before me, but it did kinda make me feel like he didn't trust me when I found out he didn't actually want me to know,", he had to think about how he wanted to phrase something, "But it should have been his choice that I found out, not Tubbo's."

Ranboo set his hand on top of Tommy's head, drawing the other boy's attention as the hug shifted from Techno to him. The tall boy fell backwards as he was basically tackled, surprised for a moment before sitting up and hugging back.

"I don't think I'm actually capable of being upset with him. Not for very long, anyways."

Techno was still looking at him, not saying anything this time. It was starting to unnerve the enderman hybrid, especially since he could feel eyes on him without actually being able to see them.

Tommy made a noise that sounded like he was confused, moving his face from where it'd been buried in Ranboo's shoulder and blinking a few times.

          The boy sat up properly, leaning back against the wall as he looked around.

"You done now?", Techno asked, clearly prepared to stop Tommy if he tried something.

"I want to punch someone."

Ranboo moved conveniently out of punching range. "Are you feeling ok otherwise?"

"Yeah, I think."

Shaking his head in an attempt to get his thoughts back in order, Tommy got to his feet again. He then immediately punched the wall hard enough it left a hole.

"Ow, fuck!", he grabbed his now injured hand with the other one, letting out a hiss, "Alright, now I think I'm good, but that really fucking hurt."

"I think you just broke your hand, obviously it's gonna hurt!", Ranboo sounded like he was panicking, checking the other boy's injury over.

Techno shoved the enderman hybrid out of the way, poking at Tommy's hand in a a way that didn't really hurt but definately wasn't pleasant. "I don't think it's broken, just bruised pretty badly. It needs to be bandaged up, though."

He pulled back, crossing his arms. "I can fucking handle it later. Can we go back in now so we can finish that stupid fucking meeting?"

He was moreso hoping he could get them to stop worrying over him. Since he'd been hugging Ranboo when he was able to focus again, he could only imagine how embarrassing the clingy pat of the freak-out had been and would rather get the attention off of him as much as possible.

"Are you sure you're-" "Yes, now shut the fuck up and get out of my way before I make your face match the fucking wall,", Tommy pushed past Techno, going back into the planning room only to be met with everyone's eyes on him.

Wilbur stood and went over to him, brow furrowed in concern. "Are you ok? Why did you yell before you came back in?"

"None of your fucking-"

"He punched the wall,", Techno said as he squeezed past them, "We're switching seats for the rest of this."

"The fuck kind of crisis are you going through?", Schlatt asked, looking like he was about to stand as well.

Tommy sat back down, avoiding eye contact with the man. "Don't worry about it, can we get the rest of this over with?"

"We were going to start forming the actual plan now that Wilbur has been filled in,", Tubbo was looking at him with very poorly hidden concern, "I wanted to wait for you three to get back before we discussed that, since it's the most important part."

"Alright, well we're back so get to the less boring shit."

"Hang on-", Schlatt started, only to get interrupted by Tommy.

"We can talk about the other shit later. Fucking priorities, or whatever."

Tubbo nodded. "Agreed, I want to get this sorted so we can get them out of our base." 

          They were definately going to need to meet up again to make the actual plan, since no one was paying attention by the time they were done.

Techno had been keeping an eye on Tommy throughout the whole thing, and it was starting to get annoying. He was pretty sure that the man's chat had been set off by him hurting himself, so it wasn't really his fault, but the babying was tedious past a certain point.

Wilbur stood with an obnoxious yawn once they were done. "Alright, fantastic, we can leave,", he walked over to Tommy, leaning his elbow on the boy's head, "Do you want to head back with us? We could have a movie night or something."

He genuinely considered it before sighing. "No, unfortunately; should probably fucking handle this situation."

"Right, well you already know the door's always open for you. Just call one of us and Techno will come pick you up."

"Please make sure you do something about your hand,", Techno said as he stood, staring down at Tommy.

"I'm sure Tubbo will freak out over it once he actually has a look at it,", he waived his good hand dismissively, "You should get home before the crow father comes looking for you."

"I mean, we told him it was villain related."

"Yeah, but his old man brain might not have processed it. Get out."

"I can't believe it, our little brother is kicking us out of his clubhouse,", Wilbur leaned down to give Tommy a hug.

"I will bite you again."

Schlatt was very clearly losing his patience. "Now I'm kicking you the fuck out. Leave."

"Ooo, Schlatt's jealous,", Wilbur hugged Tommy tighter, smirking over at Schlatt, "Not our fault you got arrested and missed a ton of shit."

"I'm not fucking 'jealous', I'm just tired of putting up with your shit. Now get out before I make you."

Wilbur looked incredibly smug as he continued to hug Tommy. "Really? Because you were fine with me taking my time before I very rightfully called him my baby brother."

"You're not his brother, last time I checked you're not one of my kids."

"I know, we've stolen him; he's ours now."

Tommy turned his head slightly, not giving Wilbur any time to react before biting his wrist. 

          "What the fuck?!", the man tried to pull away, not giving Tommy a chance to open his jaw again and making it so the boy's teeth broke skin.

Tommy wiped the blood from his mouth wit a disgruntled hiss. "First of all, don't call me a fucking baby. Secondly, don't piss him off before fucking bailing because you aren't the one that's got to put up with his shit."

"Ok, but why the fuck did you feel the need to bite me before saying that?"

"I said I was going to."

"You threaten to bite people all the time, how the fuck am I meant to be able to discern whether or not you're being serious?"

"Not my problem, don't care,", Tommy folded his arms, "Get ratio'd on your way out the door."

Techno grabbed Wilbur, dragging him out with him. "Goodnight, see you later."

"Night, be sure to throw him down the stairs on your way out."

The room was awkwardly silent for several minutes after they left, and Tommy wasn't really sure what to do next.

Schlatt eventually walked over to him and grabbed him by the shoulders.

Now, Schlatt's powers were incredibly interesting. He was able to control people with a limited range of ability through talking, and the commands he gave could be ignored with proper knowledge and preparation. The issue with that last part was that the more focused the man was while using his powers, the harder it was to ignore them.

Schlatt was tightly gripping Tommy's shoulders, forcing him to look him in the eye. "Tell me how you met them and why the fuck you're so close with them."

Tubbo came over and shoved Schlatt away. "What the fuck?! What happened to not using your powers on us like that?"

He tried his best to keep his mouth shut, but admittedly he was out of practice when it came to resisting and his head was still pretty muddy from chat acting up. "Wilbur saw me talk with Quackity, and he followed me and we became friends after we kept running into eachother,", Tommy coughed a few times as he tried to shut up, "They're like brothers to me."

"Wait, I thought he found you chasing ducks at the park?", Tubbo turned to look at him, the upset he'd had shifting to confusion.

Schlatt got close to him again. "Did you lie to him about it?"

He was digging his nails into the palms of his hands. "Partially, yes."

"Why?"

"Because Tubbo was already being a bitch about it, and he would have found that sus."

"How terrible is your fucking stranger danger radar that you don't find that sus?"

          "I threatened to stab him, but he got slightly more bearable whenever I would see him,", Tommy took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, "You know, I was actually going to fucking tell you about this shit; you didn't have to interrogate me about it."

"Obviously you weren't, if you lied to Tubbo about it."

"I lied because it doesn't fucking matter. It's not any of your business what I do or who I talk with-"

"What other shit have you been hiding from everyone, huh?"

Quackity put his hand over Tommy's mouth to muffle whatever answer he'd been forced to give to that. "Alright, I'm stepping in here. Leave him the fuck alone, Schlatt."

"No, because I need to figure out what the fuck they want so I know how to get them to fuck off!"

"They don't 'want' anything, holy shit,", Tommy grabbed Quackity's wrist, lowering his hand as he glared at Schlatt, "And since when do you give a shit? What's got you so strung up about what I get up to?"

"Because I've barely fucking seen you since you broke my ass out, all I hear from the other two is some vague shit about them being worried about you, and now I come to find out you've been spending your time with a guy that slaughtered a bank full of people because he was pissed he got kicked out of school and his brother with an orphanage burning streak!"

"And you blew up a fucking hospital! It doesn't matter!"

"It matters when I can't be sure you're safe with them! You want me to fucking say it out loud? I'm worried about you. I'm worried about all three of you and the shit you're getting into, and all of this shit tonight makes that so much fucking worse."

Tommy blinked at him in surprise before looking down at the floor. "I get that you're worried, fine, but that still doesn't give you the right to use your fucking powers on me. I'm not ten years old anymore, I can make my own choices."

"But you're not an adult yet, and I want to make sure you don't mess up in a way you can't go back on,", Schlatt paused before sighing, "I'm sorry I forced you to talk, alright? I was freaking out."

"Whatever, it better not fucking happen again."

"It won't, I promise."

"Is there anything you actually want to tell us about, or has that ship sailed thanks to this fucking idiot?", Quackity asked, giving Schlatt a shove.

          Tommy set a hand on his chin as he thought for a moment, chat deciding on something for him. "Have you guys been told about the creeper shit yet?"

"'Creeper shit'?"

"That's a no, then."

He looked at Tubbo, and the short boy shrugged. "It never came up."

"Wait, does this have something to do with the Warden?", Quackity asked, brow furrowed.

"Technically? He brought it up, but we figured our own shit out after that."

"Ok, and what's that?"

Tommy had to figure out how he wanted to explain this, since he knew they wouldn't believe him if he flat out said it. "Right, so you know how I can 'self destruct', yeah?", he didn't actually give them a chance to respond before continuing, "That fucker said it was like a creeper explosion- And I know that sounds fucking absurd, but we asked someone else and he said the same fucking thing. And then other shit started happening, and we actually figured out why traits wouldn't have appeared-"

Schlatt stopped him, holding up a hand. "Back up, breathe for a second, and then explain that again."

"We're pretty sure I'm a charged creeper hybrid. And before you say I'm not, because I can see it on both of your fucking faces, I've got proof."

"Is the 'proof' your electricity? Because that's just some normal fucking powers-"

Tommy let out a hiss. It was the first time he'd done it intentionally, and his throat felt weird as the noise came out.

Quackity and Schlatt looked at him for a moment before laughing.

"You hissing at us like a furry isn't proof you're a hybrid,", Quackity said between chuckles, having to catch his breath.

After glaring for a solid minute wating for them to shut up, he then spent another minute hyping himself up for what he was about to do.

"Well, was that it?"

Tommy closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before forcing himself to make the purring sound. That one was alot harder to force than the hiss, but he was just trying to think of things that'd made it happen before.

The main one being his charge pad, actually, since the part of his brain that went stupid on that thing was the part that was in control of the hybrid stuff. He peeked one of his eyes open, feeling incredibly embarassed.

Everyone was looking at him weird, and he had to stop himself from yelling at them.

Schlatt leaned closer to hear the sound better. "How the fuck are you doing that?"

"How the fuck do you think?"

"Did you build something for him to pull that shit off?", the man looked at Tubbo.

"No, he's actually a hybrid. It's weird."

          "Thanks, Tubbo,", Tommy wasn't able to stop himself from dragging out the 's' sound at the end of the word thanks, "These two are just being fucking idiots."

Quackity put an ear up to Tommy's throat. "Holy shit, it's actually coming from him! What the hell?!"

He hissed at the man out of instinct, coughing a few times as he made himself stop purring and leaned back. "Fucking stop before I stun you."

"Wait, are you sure you're a creeper and not a cat? Like, you purr, you hiss, you bite people; that's a cat dude."

Yeah, no, he wasn't having that.

Tommy grabbed Quackity's wrist again, and without hesitation he shocked the man with enough energy that he was on the ground twitching.

"I am not a fucking cat,", he dropped his arm, standing and walking around him, "Whether you believe me or not I don't really give a shit, but don't fucking insult me like that."

The boy looked at Schlatt, and the man put his hands up in front of himself. "I didn't say anything. Where the fuck is the tail and shit if you're a hybrid?"

"I don't feel like explaining this shit again."

"I've got it, you should probably go rest-", Tubbo started, pausing when he finally got a chance to see Tommy's injury, "Ranboo, tell Schlatt about the hybrid shit, I've got to deal with his hand."

The enderman hybrid nodded at them. "Oh alright. See you guys later. Probably lock a few doors so Quackity can't go after you when he can move again."

Tubbo dragged Tommy out of the room, pausing once they were in the hall. "Why is one of your tires out here?"

"Why are you more worried about the tire than the new hole in the drywall?"

"I was told about the hole, why did you need the tire?"

"Take a wild fucking guess,", he gave the short boy a flat look.

"Right,", Tubbo sighed, "Do you know what set it off earlier?"

"You being fucking boring."

"Come on man, it wasn't that bad,", he said as he continued dragging Tommy upstairs.

"Clearly it was, if it made them act up."

"And what'd you do while they were?"

"Don't remember, but obviously it ended well if the only serious damage was a hole in the wall."

"I'm more worried about your hand than the wall; pretty sure it's broken."

"Techno said it's probably just bruised, he poked at it and shit."

"I'd rather x-ray it still, to be safe."

"Well yeah, obviously you should do that, I'm just telling you what he said."

Tubbo was quiet until they were in the workshop, forcing Tommy to sit down as he set up the equipment they had. "When Schlatt used his powers on you earlier-"

"I still can't believe he fucking did that, I'm going to have to get back at him somehow."

          "When he used his powers on you, you said they were like brothers to you,", the short boy looked down at the floor, "Why do you trust them that much? You haven't even known them for a year, and for the majority of the time you have, you had no idea they were villains as well."

"I- I'm not sure if I'd be able to explain that, honestly."

"Try, please, because I want to understand,", he set Tommy's hand under their stolen x-ray machine.

Tommy avoided eye contact, trying to figure out how he should respond.

He wasn't even sure if he actually knew the answer to the question. The easiest one wasn't even something he could tell the short boy, since part of why he'd gotten so close with Techno was because of the chat stuff. When it came to Wilbur, he could absolutely admit that that man was sketchy as hell, and he didn't actually have a reason for why they'd become friends, but he was glad they had.

"They're safe,", he eventually settled on, "It's like... You and Ranboo are my brothers, but you're my friends and we do dumb shit together because we can. They're like if Schlatt and Quackity were more responsible, I guess? They're like older brothers that are also fucking stupid, but want to make sure I'm alright. And I know you haven't properly met Crow out of costume, but he has such dad energy, and I..."

Tommy sighed.

"It's such a normal fucking feeling, going around to their place, and I don't- It's weird to want something normal when we started the villain shit because we got bored of it, but that's what I want. At least sometimes. It's stable, and safe, and-"

Tubbo grabbed Tommy's unhurt hand. "Do you not feel safe with us? Do you not feel safe here?"

"No, I do! I absolutely fucking do, I'll always feel safe with you guys because I know you'd do literally fucking anything for me,", he squeezed the other boy's hand, "And you know I'd do the same for you. Me being close with them doesn't change that."

"But ever since they showed up, it's different. You're never here, you've been lying to us about all kinds of shit... It's like you trust them more than us now. More than me."

"I... I trust them more with some things. Just like I've always trusted you more than Ranboo with certain shit, and you tend to tell him more information than me on things you think I'll find boring. Nothing about us has changed, there's just more people added to the mix now."

Tubbo looked him in the eye before moving to to bandage his hand. "Techno was right, it's not broken, only bruised,", the short boy gently wrapped the injury, "It'll be alright."

Tommy let out a breath through his nose, smiling. "Yeah, it will."

          The two of them sat there in a comfortable silence for a while until Tommy made his mind up on the next topic he felt they should talk about. "They want to adopt me."

"What."

There was considerably less acceptance in Tubbo's voice than there'd been before.

"Ph- Crow had this whole plan for how it could work 'legally',", he made quotes with his fingers, "And they all made it clear it's up to me, and-"

"What did you tell them?"

"I don't know."

"You mean you don't know what you said?"

"No, I mean I told them I don't know if I want that or not."

The short boy's mouth was drawn in a thin line. "And is it something you're considering?"

"I mean- Obviously I'm thinking on it, but I genuinely don't have a fucking clue what to do here."

Tubbo didn't say anything, staring down at the table.

Tommy sighed at him. "Since we're already being all emotional and shit,", he pulled the other boy into a hug, "Even if I say yes, that doesn't mean you're fucking losing me or whatever. You won't be getting rid of me that easily. You got stuck with me the second Schlatt pulled me out of that fucking dumpster, and we're together until one of us dies."

"It'll probably be you, you're an idiot,", Tubbo muttered into his shoulder, returning the hug.

"Hard for you to get shot when you stay here planning all the shit."

The short boy leaned back and flicked him in the forehead. "And my planning is the reason you haven't been shot."

"No, it's my skill, talent, and good looks."

"That was the same thing twice and a lie."

"Fuck off."

Tubbo smiled at him before pushing back so he could use his computer. "I've got some stuff to update, and I'm pretty sure you're exhausted after all of that. We'll go over the absolute crumbs of a plan we made again tomorrow, get some rest so you can actually pay attention this time."

"Once again, fuck off,", he stood, letting out a dramatic sigh, "But fine, I can see you don't want me in here anymore. I suppose I'll take the RanbUber back to the apartment, have fun being stuck here with Quackity and whatever mood he's in after getting stunned."

"I can lock the door, he's Schlatt's problem. Goodnight."

"Night."

Chapter Text

          Thoroughly done with anything that could even be considered preparation, Tommy pulled one of his most common maneuvers and snuck out of the apartment before Tubbo could wake up and drag him to the base.

It was raining, meaning he couldn't really sit at the park like he usually would, so the next best thing was to go to the diner and loiter until someone came to get him.

He knew he wouldn't get kicked out, even if he didn't order anything; Bad was cool like that. Tommy shook the water out of his hair as he stepped inside, sitting at the counter a few stools down from the only other customer in there.

It was the guy with the sneeze name, Rêve or whatever, and he was talking with Bad about something on his laptop.

"Oh, hey Tommy!", the demon waved as the boy sat down, "Meeting with anyone today?"

"Nope, mans is alone and demands pancakes."

"You could say 'please'."

"Could, but I won't."

"Tommy."

He rolled his eyes. "Can I please have some pancakes?"

Rêve cut in as Bad was about to answer. "I don't know, can you?"

"Fuck off sneeze man, that's why you're ugly."

"Language! Apologize,", Bad folded his arms, demon tail moving back and forth behind him.

Tommy also folded his arms, matching the man's posture. "He started it!"

"Say sorry or you aren't getting your pancakes."

"You can't do that, I'm a paying customer."

"And it's my establishment, so I can choose not to serve you."

They glared at eachother for a few moments before Tommy gave in, grumbling as he turned toward Rêve. "I'm sorry I called you a bitch or whatever."

"That's not even what you said!", Rêve let out a wheezing laugh, slamming his hand on the counter.

"You can't expect me to keep track of all the shit that comes out of my mouth."

Bad sighed, looking tired. "Language, but fine. I'll be back soon, you two be nice to eachother."

Tommy stuck his tongue out at the man as he walked away, looking at Rêve after. "You're a bitch."

"How so?"

"Wh- The fuck kind of response is that to someone calling you a bitch?"

"I wanna know why you think I'm a bitch,", he set his chin on his hand, looking amused. 

          "Well, you just... look like one."

"How?"

Tommy was completely stumped, he'd never been challenged like this when trying to insult someone. "I- Well- Your face is very... bitch-like."

Rêve wheezed again, his laugh sounding like a tea kettle. "Bitch-like'? Really?"

"Yes, bitch-like. I'll go out and trademark that shit so I can sue you for using it."

"I think you'd want a copyright for that."

"I'll copyright your fucking face."

That only made the man laugh harder, and he doubled over in his seat. "How old are you? Like twelve? And you're threatening me?"

"Twelve? Fucking twelve?!", Tommy nearly hissed at him, putting in a large amount of effort to keep from attacking, "You're lucky I like coming here, or I'd break your fucking spine."

"Oh, yeah? That's the only thing stopping you? Are you sure you don't have to get to school soon?"

"Everyone dies eventually, you'd better fucking watch yourself before your time comes today."

"Oh no. Oh, I'm so scared."

Tommy muttered out a string of swear words, taking a deep breath to calm down. "You aren't funny."

"Ow, I think that's the only actually hurtful thing you've said to me,", Rêve sat up straight again, "So maybe I was exaggerating when I said you looked like you were twelve."

"No fucking shit."

"But, it is pretty obvious that you're still a kid, and that comment about school was only partially a joke. You're not skipping, are you?"

"I'm not a child, and I'm not skipping school."

"I won't rat on you if you are, I used to get out of going all the time before I actually had to pay for classes."

"I already graduated,", Tommy rolled his eyes, lying to the man to get him to back off.

"When, what year?"

"None of your fucking business. What, you want my fucking birthday next? Name of my first pet so you can get into my bank account?"

"I really doubt you have your own bank account."

"I probably have more money than you, dickhead."

Rêve cackled at that. "Yeah, ok. You been saving up your allowance?"

"Holy shit, you're an asshole."

He was honestly done with the conversation at that point, getting his phone out and preparing to scroll his twitter feed while he waited for his food.

          "... Sorry."

Tommy looked over at Rêve. "What?"

"I know I can take jokes too far sometimes, I didn't mean to actually upset you."

"You didn't 'upset' me,", the boy scoffed, definately upset, "It's whatever, honestly."

"I don't think I actually introduced myself last time; you just accused me of selling feet pics and then I walked away."

"Something you still haven't proven wrong."

Rêve leaned forward and extended his hand like an absolute weirdo. "I'm Rêve, I go to the same college as Techno, and I'm sorry for insulting you."

He looked at the man for a couple moments before taking his hand. "Tommy, and I am far better than you despite being a teenager."

"Is that how you introduce yourself to everyone?", Rêve asked, chuckling.

"No, I usually put more emphasis into how amazing I am."

"I see,", Rêve pulled his arm back, resting it on the counter, "You're pretty similar to Techno like that, then. Although he usually gets the point across with his attitude, rather than flat out saying it."

"I'm not actually his brother, y'know. Not technically, anyways."

Rêve seemed surprised. "Wait, really? I thought he was joking when he said that."

"Nope, as far as the law is concerned, I ain't got no siblings."

"Huh. Neat."

They talked about a few other things, most of it mundane and small, but it was honestly pretty nice. Bad eventually came out with Tommy's pancakes, also carrying some drinks for him and Rêve.

"Oh my god, how much sugar is in that?", Rêve asked as he stared at the boy's food, a mix of disgust and fascination on his face.

"Not enough,", Tommy poured a very large amount of syrup on the already frosting and sprinkle covered breakfast food, "Thank you, Bad."

The demon hybrid smiled at him. "Of course."

Rêve looked between the two of them before eventually settling his focus on Bad. "... Could I get some of those?"

"You already ate."

"Well yeah, but look at that,", he gestured toward Tommy's food, "I feel like it'd make my heart stop."

"I'm the one that made it, obviously I've looked at it. And why would you want some if you think it'll make you sick?"

"Pure curiosity, please make me some." 

          "Here, just get a smaller plate or something,", Tommy separated off some of his pancakes, "Try some of mine and shut the fu- shut up."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, not like I usually eat it all anyways."

Bad knew he was lying when he said that, but got a plate for him to share with Rêve anyways.

The boy stiffled a laugh as he watched Rêve try it, the man's face going through a range of emotions before setting on disgust. He then nearly fell out of his seat when Rêve went for a second bite.

"Well?", Bad asked, looking like he also wanted to laugh but was holding back.

"I feel like I just ate an entire container of frosting, it was awful,", Rêve burped, looking sick, "And I want more of it."

"Please go to the bathroom if you need to puke, I don't want to clean it up."

The diner door opened, Wilbur entering as he closed an umbrella. "Knock knock, I have come to collect a child."

"Wow, I'm surprised he sent you to come get me instead of Ranboo,", Tommy said, looking over at him.

"We were already on our way over, Techno's in the car still."

"Right, well he's going to be waiting for a little while longer; I'm not done my food yet."

Rêve's expression could best be described as mild concern as he watched the boy continue to eat. "How the hell are you able to eat so much of that without getting sick? Seriously, that's a nightmare."

"You're just weak, not sure how that's my problem."

"You're going to get diabetes."

"No, Rêve, I will not 'die of beaties'. That's just fucking stupid."

"Language,", Bad folded his arms.

Tommy muttered out an apology as he tried to eat his food quicker. The fact that Tubbo had sent those two to get him meant that he was testing them, and Tommy wasn't going to do anything to intentionally mess that up.

"Right, time to get some work done,", Tommy said as he stood, nodding toward Bad and Rêve, "See you guys later, I guess."

"Hey, wait a second."

Rêve scribbled something onto a napkin before handing it to him. There was a number written there, with a little smiley face scribbled next to it.

"Here, it's my phone number, in case you ever wanted to hang out."

"Oh, alright. Thanks I guess." 

          Tommy offered him a wave before following Wilbur out, stealing his umbrella once he saw how bad the rain actually was and running to Techno's car. He slammed the door as he slid into the front seat to prevent Wilbur from pulling him out, getting everything wet as he closed the umbrella inside the vehicle.

"Why the fuck did you take my umbrella if you were just going to fucking leg it to the car anyways?", Wilbur asked as he climbed into the backseat, catching his breath.

"Well you're still covered in water despite running, and I didn't feel like putting up with that."

"We could have walked together! The car is literally right outside!"

"Nope, don't want to hear it. Let's go before Tubbo throws a fit,", he turned so he was sitting mostly the right way in his seat, adding Rêve's number to his phone before the rain on the napkin could make it smudge.

"What's that?", Techno asked, looking at Tommy out of the corner of his eye as he started driving.

"Oh, Rêve gave me his cell number."

"Why?"

"No idea, but I'm adding it to my contacts so I can see how much weird shit I can send him before he blocks me."

"Did you guys talk again? Or did he just give you his number out of nowhere?"

"We actually had a conversation this time outside of me asking how much he makes on his toe pictures,", Tommy paused as chat tried to figure out what they thought of the man, blinking a few times as he got his own thoughts in order, "He seems like a bitch, but he's not the worst I guess. Chat isn't really sure about him, either."

"That doesn't surprise me, mine tends to switch between liking him and wanting me to stab him."

Techno pulled into the parking lot he'd been using when going to the base, and they were met at the door by Tubbo after walking to the building.

"Wait, how'd you get him that fast?"

"I told him you wanted him here,", Wilbur shrugged smugly, "It wasn't difficult."

Tubbo looked at Tommy. "Why didn't you fight them on it?"

"We need to get this shit done,", he shrugged as well.

The short boy narrowed his eyes at him before starting toward the stairs. "We'll talk about that more later. The other three are already upstairs, and I think I've got the perfect day for this."

          And, once again, Tommy was left to sit there bored out of his mind as they went over all of the details for Schlatt's great return to the public eye.

He was actually paying attention, since this was stuff he needed to know, but it was getting harder to listen to Tubbo talk the longer it went on for. He'd been on the verge of falling asleep the entire time, and was resorting to doing things like making random sparks and kicking Ranboo under the table to keep himself awake.

They wrapped up a few hours after they started, finally having the plan completed with a set date and everything.

"And everyone understands their part? We all know what we're doing?", Tubbo asked, looking around at them.

They all gave some form of confirmation, Tommy being the last to do so with a yawn and a nod.

Tubbo's brow furrowed. "Are you alright, Tommy? You've been dozing off this entire time."

"Yeah, I'm just fucking bored."

In all honesty, he was fucking exhausted for some reason, but even chat wasn't enough to get him to admit that he wasn't feeling one-hundred percent.

"But you were paying attention, right?"

"Yes, holy shit if you being boring was enough for me to ignore you, I'd never know the plan."

"Cool, now that we're done they can leave again,", Schlatt said, leaning on his hand.

The man had been openly antagonistic toward Techno and Wilbur since the first time they'd been to the base, and Tommy found it absolutely hilarious since even Tubbo had been trying with them.

"That was the plan,", Wilbur stood, walking over and grabbing Tommy out of his chair from under the armpits, "We'll be taking him with us. I got a new console and we're going to be playing party games in teams."

The boy let out a disgruntled hiss, purposefully making himself heavier until Wilbur let go. "And you didn't just fucking ask if I wanted to join because?"

"Because I know you'll say yes anyways, and I refuse to be stuck teaming with the AI while the other two destroy me."

"How do you know I won't lose on purpose so they have a reason to bully you?"

"Because we'd clown on you too if you did that,", Techno chuckled as he also stood.

Tommy stretched, yawning again as he looked toward Tubbo and Ranboo. "Do either of you have anything you want me to do, or is it fine for me to go?"

Ranboo shook his head. "Uh- No? Nothing I can think of."

"Go ahead,", Tubbo was physically trying his best to be nice, "Just remember to come back tomorrow so we can make sure your equipment is ready to go."

"Right, see you later then,", Tommy waved at his friends as he left, yawning yet again as he followed Techno and Wilbur out.

~-~-~

          Their plan was taking place at Pine Center, a large shopping district that also contained a few government offices for some incomprehensible reason. Tommy's best guess for that was that the ones nearby ran out of space, and the Hero Committee decided to rent open rooms in there rather than get their own building.

All three members of the Dream Team were there; the hero group consisting of Dream, 404, and Flame. They were hosting an event for some charity or construction thing or something, the reason wasn't really important.

The main thing was that it was being televised by almost every news station in the city. There was a stage set up, a large crowd in the public square, and various pieces of propaganda for the Committee currently playing on a large television set on the main building of the complex.

It also faced all of the camera crews, which was perfect for what they had in mind.

Tubbo had scouted out the area via security cameras before sending them in, spotting Foxglove on a nearby rooftop as well as various guards scattered around the place.

Tommy was in the room containing the main power boxes for the Center, patiently waiting for the go ahead to knock out the lights. He'd already taken care of his set of guards, and figured out which box was in control of what, so it was just a waiting game at this point.

"Ready when everyone else is,", Wilbur said over the comms, out of breath from presumably making his way through his own security guards, "Everything's hooked up and ready."

His job had been breaking into the security office with Techno, since that was where the controls and connections for the screen were.

"Everything working correctly?", Tubbo asked, in full focus mode.

"Same as the test runs, yes."

"Perfect. Ripper, dim the lights for us."

"Got it."

Now, he could have just flipped the breakers and turned everything off like that.

He absolutely could have done that, but so could anyone else, and he wanted to make sure the heroes knew exactly who it was they were dealing with.

So, he set both hands on the breaker box dedicated to the lights in the square, and fried the thing hard enough it made a majority of the lampposts out there explode into a spray of sparks before sending the crowd into complete darkness.

Tommy pulled the TV feed up on his phone after that, getting ready to enjoy the show.

          The Pine Center square went dark, all of the civilians gathered there descending into a panic as the heroes on stage tried to calm them down and figure out what was going on.

It only took a minute for the large screen behind them to go black, Schlatt's face appearing with a comically evil grin after a dramatic pause. "Guess who? Ya miss me?"

"So, you're finally making an appearance?", Dream yelled up at the screen, using the stupid tone he had when he thought he was being heroic.

"Aw, look at you, screaming at the TV like a fucking toddler. Does the baby want his bottle?"

"What do you want, Schlatt?"

"I want my shit back, and I wanna make a point."

"Not happening, your grip on this city is gone and you aren't getting that back."

"Figured you'd say that, which is why I went out of my way to pick up a few things."

"... And that is?"

"Leverage,", he snapped his fingers, and Ranboo teleported in holding Quackity by the arms.

Since they were going with the narrative that they'd kidnapped the short man, he'd been tied up and gagged for the show. They'd also had Charlie get into a water jug that they shoved a cap on, and Schlatt brought attention to the fact that it'd been sitting in the background the entire time.

"Quackity!", Flame toward the screen, sounding distraught.

Quackity seemed genuinely surprised by this, fake struggling as the conversation continued.

"Why have you kidnapped them?", 404 asked while Dream tried to calm Flame down in the background.

"Come on, you think I'm stupid? You really did wonders dropping this guy in my lap. Owner of the most profitable place in the city,", Schlatt leaned back, placing his arm around Quackity's shoulders, "This fucker's worth something, him and his flat ass."

He took the gag off of him.

"Shut the fuck up, I swear I'll-"

"How about you shut the fuck up?", Schlatt interrupted, pretending to use his powers before turning his attention back to the heroes, "You want him back? Give me all the money you stole when you shoved my ass in the holding facility plus interest; you fuckers owe me. There'll be a location on one of the guards my associates have knocked out. Leave the money there and, once I have it, I'll give them back."

He grabbed Quackity by the jaw, shaking his face.

"Better hurry up, who knows what might happen if you wait."

"You're a monster,", Flame's voice was full of disgust.

"I'm a monster your system created, don't fucking forget that,", Schlatt pulled Quackity closer, grin widening, "Anything you wanna say to the heroes before they get to it, rich boy?"

"Don't give Schlatt shit, it's not worth it-"

The feed was cut after that, leaving everyone in a state of disarray as the heroes tried and failed to calm them down.

          "Foxglove's on the move,", Tubbo was speaking over comms as soon as the hijacking was over, "Ripper, get rid of the rest or the power and get out. Blade, Bombarde; destroy the equipment and get to the convergence point to wait for him."

All of them gave a response, and Tommy quickly got to destroying the remaining boxes in the room. Being able to use his powers to this extent was probably the only reason why he hadn't fallen asleep in there while waiting for Schlatt to finish his villain monologue.

He wasn't bored or anything, he'd been incredibly tired lately with nothing working to combat that.

The problem hadn't been mentioned to anyone yet, although he was pretty sure everyone knew about it. He'd been sleeping in and napping non-stop for nearly a week, even going as far as dragging a bunch of blankets and stuff to the room near the top of the base he liked taking naps in so he wasn't just sleeping on the questionably damp floorboards.

Once the power was completely knocked out, Tommy made his way up to the main floor where he was meant to meet up with Techno and Wilbur. He stopped at the edge of the hall when he saw the two of them mid-fight with Foxglove.

It was only the furry, and no one had noticed that Tommy was there yet.

"Back the fuck up, I'm shooting the window,", he whispered into his headset, giving them a moment to steer clear of the shatter zone before firing a large ball of electricity at the front of the atrium.

Much like his fight with Warden at Las Nevadas, the large glass window and doors making up the front of the structure exploded into a spray of shards; making the outside screams from the crowd of civilians audible.

Foxglove's attention was immediately taken by this, his tail puffed in alarm as he watched the glass scatter across the area.

The heroes being distracted by the large safety hazard was as good a time as any to get out of there, and Tommy followed the other two as they started running toward the exit.

They were cut off by some annoyingly familiar blue goo being shot at their planned escape door, 404 entering with his weapon raised at them. "Stay where you are."

"Fuck you, you short piece of shit,", Tommy grumbled at the hero, getting ready to fight. 

          Foxglove joined the technology hero, and the two B-tier heroes were clearly trying to look more intimidating than they were.

Dream and Flame were trying to get the crowd under control outside, thankfully, so they weren't a factor in this situation.

Foxglove took a step closer to the villains, his hand also raised and ready to fire his toxin. "Give up, you have nowhere to go."

Completely ignoring the fact that there were at least ten other exits in the building, it was pretty obvious surrender wasn't going to happen.

Tommy took a step forward, his own projectile weapon aimed at the heroes. "I'll handle the furry, you guys take out 404."

"Why are you the one deciding that?", Wilbur folded his arms, picking the worst time to argue about this.

"Because I know how to deal with that asshole, you fuckers would get-"

404 clearly got tired of listening to them, shooting more of his shock absorbing slime at Tommy.

He dodged out of the way, the shot going past his head disorienting him thanks to how tired he was.

Techno pulled him out of the way of another one, shaking him some like he would when chat acted up sometimes to help him focus. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah,", he properly regained his balance again, "But I'd rather get this shit over with so we can leave."

Techno made sure he was good before going at 404, Wilbur following after with only a few complaints as he started throwing bombs again.

That left Tommy to deal with Foxglove, and the two of them wasted no time trying to incapacitate eachother. His electricity was basically the only thing keeping him awake at that point, power flowing through him as he tried to hit the hero.

He shot off a few close-range electricity blasts, grazing Foxglove and injuring him but not managing to knock him out.

Tommy was starting to lose focus as he fought, attacks becoming more aggressive as he tried his best to get the hero. It was different from when his chat was acting up, because even though they were actively encouraging him to go after the furry, whatever was going on with his head was closer to when he was on his charger pad than a blackout.

Chat wanted him to use more power, and he let out a hiss as he put more force into pushing Foxglove around.

His limiters let off a warning beep that he ignored while he tried to fry the fox.

The hero immediately noticed that something was up, going entirely on defense as he started trying to fully dodge the increasingly dangerous attacks. "Hey man, calm down."

Tommy hissed again, louder this time as he bounced a large ball of electricity off of the ground that hit Foxglove and knocked him backwards onto the floor before it went toward the other fight going on.

~-~

          Techno had noticed that something was off with Tommy, it wasn't like the kid was especially good at hiding it. He'd been yawning constantly, if they weren't in the middle of doing something he was sleeping, and even earlier in the fight he'd been dazed for a solid few seconds after he'd nearly been hit by 404's attack.

What Techno wasn't expecting was for Tommy to actively start trying to kill Foxglove before hissing aggressively at the hero and collapsing.

The only thing that actually drew his attention to the situation was the large ball of electricity that'd nearly hit Wilbur while they'd been going after 404.

He moved toward Tommy before anyone else could, sword held at Foxglove in a clear threat as he activated his comms. "Ripper's down, I don't smell any of his blood so I'm guessing he got some toxin on him."

"Is it safe for TwoTone to do a pick-up?", Tubbo asked, clearly sounding worried.

"Yeah, we've got the heroes covered; get him out of here."

Ranboo teleported in, thick gloves covering his arms as he wrapped them around Tommy and blinked back out almost as soon as he'd appeared.

Techno turned his full attention back to Foxglove, the hero on his feet again and very visibly shaken about the whole situation.

"What the fuck was that about?", the hero asked, sounding on edge even through his voice changer, "What the fuck was wrong with him?"  

>:(  

I'm too tired to come up with a cool comeback so... EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD  

get his ass  

MURDUR TIME  BLOOD  

Fuck him up no one touched the child  

El oh el time to plan a funeral  

WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT IS UP WITH HIM DID YOU NOT DO THIS?!?  

TIME TO GET PUNTED FOXGLOVE  

BLOOD  

GET HIS ASS  

Oh shit just reread everything cuz i am an idiot beat walmart nick wilde's ass gogogogo  

BITE KILL SCRATCH MAIM RIP AND TEAR BARK BARK KILL  

B l o o d b l o o d b l o o d *demon mask emojis*  

RIP AND TEAR (guess who been watching doom eternal lately)  

STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB  

He's chill he's concerned too  

Kill him  

DONT TOUCH DE CHILD HE TOUCHED DE CHILD  

have you ever hunted fox? :)  

MURDER HIM KING  

PACK PACK KILL KILL  

MURDER IS OKAY IN THIS SITUATION  

_____ IS MY FAVOURITE PERSON BUT GET HIS ASS  

Kill  

I'm not sure the Furry actually did anything. Let's stay calm here  

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD  

HOMICIDE, NOW  

time to throw hands lessgo  

Go check on Raccon boi :<  

Murder sounds bice  

HOW DARE! BRICK A WINDSHILD IGNORE RULE 11  

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee  

He's done for bestie  

          "None of your business,", Techno took a step closer to Foxglove with the full intention of adding him to his kill list.

Or to at least maim him, depending on how much time they had.

The hero took an equal size step back, hands out as he prepared to attack again. "Look, I'm apprehending someone tonight, and since he decided to die or something already, it looks like that's going to be you. Give up and I promise I won't break any of your bones intentionally after you've been paralyzed."

Techno gave the fight Wilbur was having with 404 a quick glance, making sure he had it before charging at Foxglove.

He didn't hold back, going at the fox with his sword and managing to slice through the hero's suit in a few spots to draw blood. He tried to go after his tail a few times as well, knowing that chat would enjoy it if he actually managed to slice that off.

It was surprisingly difficult to down him, since despite the power difference, the short hero was pretty quick. But Foxglove was eventually taken out, and Techno had no moral issues leaving him there on the floor in a puddle of his own blood.

Was he dead?

Maybe.

Probably not thanks to plot contrivances, but at least for now they didn't have to worry about that particular hero continuing to get in their way.

He gave him one last kick for good measure, watching as Wilbur finished up his own fight by tossing 404 back into the very large pile of broken glass.

"Heroes down,", the older of the two said into the comms as he caught his breath, "Heading toward the checkpoint now."

"Copy that, TwoTone will be meeting you there to check for any trackers before bringing you back to the base."

"We haven't got any trackers on us, have him get us now,", it was clear Wilbur was rolling his eyes under his mask as they made their way behind the building and onto the rooftops.

"I found one on ripper after I grabbed him,", Ranboo chimed in, "Foxglove's good at getting them on people without them realizing."

Techno snorted out a laugh. "That's because he's too weak to take anyone out if he can't get them with his toxin."

"How is Ripper, by the way?", Wilbur asked, clearly hiding some of his concern.

"I couldn't actually find any toxin on him that would have had enough contact with his skin to take him down, I think he just passed out,", Tubbo wasn't doing as good of a job hiding his worry, "We used the fire extinguisher anyways, but generally when he gets paralyzed by the furry he's trying to complain about it even when he still can't move his mouth."

"... Fire extinguisher?"

"It neutralizes the toxin."

"So does fucking baking soda; have you been blasing yourselves with a fire extinguisher whenever he gets one of you?"

"It's just been Ripper, actually, since he's the only one that really fights Foxglove regularly. It hits all the purple shit quicker than pouring baking soda on it would." 

          They stopped on the roof they'd decided was the checkpoint, Ranboo teleporting in holding some weird looking blaster with a container of yellow stuff at the back of it.

"Get behind me,", the enderman hybrid said quickly, lifting the weapon and aiming it in the direction they'd come from.

He fired it as soon as they were out of the way, a yellow goo similar to Foxglove's purple stuff coming out and immediately being followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

"Paper noticed you were being tailed by Anaglyph, and he wanted me to test out his pollen gun on someone other than Schlatt."

Techno looked over the edge of the building, and sure enough, the bald electricity themed vigilante was in the alleyway below; a yellow slime covering him that was also probably the only reason he hadn't broken his neck.

"Doubt Cinema's far behind him, then,", Wilbur grabbed Ranboo's arm, "Get us out of here before she catches up and takes this personally."

"Hold on,", the tall boy got something out of his pocket, pulling the two of them closer before throwing something on the ground.

It was a little glass capsule that looked like a bee, and it exploded as soon as it came in contact with the rooftop.

"What the fuck was that?"

"The reason we asked you to leave your phones at home for this,", Ranboo teleported them back to the base after that, explaining further once they landed, "It's an EMBee; Paper made them, it ruins any piece of technology near it that he hasn't made or messed with."

"Where's Tommy at?", Techno interrupted the tall boy, not really caring about the small details of the device right now.

Wilbur could probably tell that that was a chat led question, and immediately took control of the conversation. "The short one said he passed out, have you figured out why?"

"No, but we set up one of the air mattresses for him,", the aforementioned short one said from his computer over in the corner, "Schlatt's keeping an eye on him, no idea if he's woken up yet or not."

Techno seriously doubted Schlatt was the best choice for watching the boy if something was wrong. "Is it really a good idea to leave him in charge of that?"

"It's not ideal, but Ranboo and I need to keep track of the heroes so we can stay safe here."

"We'll go find them,", Wilbur grabbed his brother by the wrist, dragging him toward the hall, "Let us know if anything important happens."

Chapter Text

          Tommy rolled over, feeling like absolute garbage as he let out an annoyed hiss.

He sat up, rubbing at his eyes for a second before looking around. His head was all murky, but he was pretty sure he was at the base. He wasn't sure which room, and he also wasn't sure how he got there, but he knew it meant he could continue his nap on the charge pad.

He went to stand, being stopped by someone putting their hands on his shoulders.

"Hey, slow down there kid."

Tommy figured out it was Schlatt after a moment, so he just ignored the man and continued trying to get up.

"Don't make me use my powers to get you to stop, you know I will-"

Stealing that idea, Tommy then electrocuted Schlatt before shuffling out into the hall. He hit another obstacle once he got to the stairwell, walking right into Techno as soon as he went through the door.

The boy let out another annoyed hiss before trying to walk around him, finding himself caught in a sort of hug that prevented him from moving.

"Stop. What happened earlier?"

"Fuck off, 'm tired,", Tommy muttered, trying to escape.

"Obviously, considering you fell asleep in the middle of a fight. Are you sick or something?"

"Tired, I want my electricity."

"Tommy, that's not an answer-"

He then shocked Techno, stumbling around him as he kept going upstairs toward where he was assuming the computer room was in relation to him.

Wilbur was also there, apparently, but he simply moved to the side with a surprised expression on his face as Tommy continued.

Ranboo caught him not long after, rubber gloves on as he carefully held his friend in place. "Are you ok?"

"Want electricity."

"Do you mean your charging pad?"

Tommy nodded, frustrated that they were still talking there.

The tall boy teleported to the computer room with him.

"Did you find him?", Tubbo asked as soon as he heard the sound of the warp.

"Yeah, but I think something's wrong with him."

"Obviously, since he woke up and immediately started electrocuting people!"

"No, that's not what I mean,", Ranboo let go of Tommy while he tried to explain what he meant, and the boy immediately started ignoring them as he shuffled over to his electrical pad.

He messed with his controls until the thing turned on, falling face first onto it as soon as he could hear electricity coming off of it. The voltage was higher than the other two normally set it at, and he let out a satisfied purr as he got comfortable. 

          Tommy, predictably, had no idea how long he was on the charge pad for, only registering a change in power at some point that woke him up from his nap.

He pretended he was still sleeping, hoping it would make them leave him alone and turn the electricity back up.

That didn't work, so he switched tactics to hissing and making threatening sounds at whoever it was until they stopped. Someone started poking at his ears, which felt strange but mostly hurt, and he tried to retaliate by biting them since it was their fault for shoving their hand within range of his teeth.

Someone else gently pressed his head against the charge pad so he couldn't do that, using their other hand to hold his wrists as they said something to him in a calm voice.

He still wasn't really awake enough to fully recognize who it was, but he knew it was someone safe so he accepted the action with an irritated huff as something moved behind him.

The person who'd been messing with his ears immediately grabbed whatever that was, letting Tommy know that it was attached to him in some way.

He finally decided to peek his eyes open, hoping his expression held the right amount of annoyance as he tried to focus on the people in his immediate area.

Techno was the one holding him against the charge pad, and Tubbo was the one prodding at him like an asshole.

He tried to sit up, Techno speaking to him again as he continued holding him in place. "-ay still, you're fine. It's alright."

"Wanna sleep,", Tommy muttered, upset that he was being talked to like a child.

"You were already asleep for a while,", Tubbo shoved Techno to the side, getting a 'bruh' in response from the man, as he looked Tommy in the eye, "How are you feeling?"

"Hurts."

"What hurts?"

He had to think about it before answering, his brain feeling like it was stuffed with cotton. "Head, ears, ass."

"So the hybrid stuff,", Tubbo said to one of the other people in the room.

Someone tall standing next to the charge pad controls said something in response, and Tubbo nodded. He moved away for some amount of time, returning with one of Tommy's tires. "Here, give this to him,", he passed it to Techno, who carefully rolled it at Tommy until the boy grabbed it.

He was happy to have his hands free, and lazily looped his arms and legs around the tire so he could zap it. Someone stuck their hand on his head at some point, and he purred out of instinct when he saw that it was Wilbur. 

          The man had a fascinated look on his face as he stared down at him. "That's so fucking weird."

"What is?", Tommy muttered, continuing to electrocute his tire.

"Your eyes, they remind me of a harpsichord."

"The fuck is that?"

"Hold on,", he pulled his hand back, taking off the rubber glove he'd been wearing and getting out his phone, "Keep your eyes open for a second so I can get a picture."

Tommy closed them just to spite him, since he was upset the man had stopped messing with his hair, but Wilbur did eventually manage to get a picture by shining his flashlight in the boy's eyes a few times until he opened them again.

"Look, they're all backwards and shit."

He begrudgingly looked at the phone, not really feeling as shocked as he probably should have been at what he saw. The whites of his eyes were completely black, with his pupils being white dots sitting inside the normal blue.

"What's the green shit on my cheek?", Tommy asked, nodding tiredly up at the device.

"You've got scales and shit now."

Wilbur took another picture, further back this time to get a full view of the boy's face. Tommy had small patches of green and white scales all over his cheeks and forehead, and his ears were longer and more pointed than human ears should be.

"Huh. Cool."

That was the only reply he felt like giving, going back to focusing on his tire again after that.

"Alright, I'm forcing you up,", Tubbo made sure the charge pad was completely off before making Tommy sit up, "You need to wake up more so we can get a better idea of what all changed."

"Fuck off, I'm sleepy."

The short boy's tone was gentle. "You can go back to sleep after we figure out what features you've grown, ok?"

"On the electricity?"

"Maybe after you've gotten some sleep in an actual bed for a few hours, I can't imagine that metal is very comfortable."

"No, electricity is."

"It'll only be a few hours, ok? Then you can use it again if you feel like you need it."

"Fine,", he folded his arms, pouting.

"Stand up, please."

"No."

Tommy was grabbed under his arms by Techno, who lifted him up and held him at arm's length like a cat that was going to bite at any moment. And to be fair, he was seriously considering it; they were forcing him to wake up, and weren't going to let him go back to sleep on the pad again after.

He let Tubbo poke at his face, ears, and tail like he'd been doing earlier anyways, giving bare minimum answers to any questions he was asked while hoping the whole interaction was going to end soon. 

          Once Tubbo was done making notes about his new physical traits, Techno set Tommy down on one of the many chairs scattered around the room.

"Can I go back to sleep?", Tommy asked, now awake enough to be cranky despite being hazy still.

Tubbo shook his head, writing something else down. "Not yet, I have another question."

"Fuck off, ask after I've slept."

"Tommy, this is important. Why didn't you tell any of us you were feeling like shit?"

"Because it didn't fucking matter, I was just tired."

"Clearly it matters, since you passed the fuck out in the middle of a fight. What if that had happened when you were by yourself? What if we didn't realize and the heroes ended up catching you?"

"They d-"

"If you say 'they didn't' like that's a valid argument, I'm going to smack you hard enough your eyes go back to normal."

"... But they didn't."

"They could have, though!", Wilbur went off at him, surprisingly, "Tommy, you have to realize that shit like that is an easy way for you to get killed. The heroes aren't going to give a fuck if you pass out, that won't stop them from attacking."

"I would have said something if I was going alone-"

"Bullshit! You were alone for the start of it. What if you passed the fuck out while messing with the power? What if you were stuck there, and one of the guards was able to get up and slap some anti-power cuffs on you? Or a hero got down there and grabbed you, whisking you away to god only knows where before we had a chance to get you?"

Chat made tears fall from Tommy's eyes before he really registered it was happening, and he quickly turned the computer chair he was sitting in so his back was facing them. "Fuck- I'm sorry, genuinely,", his ears drooped, tail moving slowly behind him, "I really didn't think it was as bad as it was. I would have said something if I realized I was going to just fucking drop like that."

Ranboo moved so he was squatting in front of him, placing his hands on Tommy's arms and letting out a surprisingly calming warble. "No one's mad at you, ok? We're just worried."

"Sorry, I- Next time I'll say something."

"Hopefully there won't be a next time for this, now that your features have grown in."

"This is so fucking embarrassing."

"It's ok, you're tired and there's alot going on. Do you want to go back to the apartment to get some sleep?"

He nodded, wiping his face with the back of his hand.

"You can also come back with us, if you want,", Techno chimed in, using the same soft tone from earlier that sounded weird coming from him. 

          Tommy sat there for a moment as chat fought over it before giving his answer. "I want to go home- I want to go to their house, I think,", he said, looking at Ranboo but avoiding eye contact.

He spun the chair back around and stood, nearly falling on his face before Tubbo and Techno both caught him.

"I don't think you're in any state to walk right now,", Techno very easily picked the boy up, "Here, so you don't fall down the stairs or something."

Tommy let out an upset hiss, trying to wiggle free. "I don't need to be carried, put me down."

"You almost face planted."

"I wasn't ready to stand yet, it's ok now."

The man gave him a skeptical look before carefully setting him down again. To his credit, Tommy was able to stand on his own that time.

The problem came when he tried to take a step, his legs immediately giving out as he came crashing down to the ground.

Tubbo ended up joining him since he tried to grab the short boy for balance.

"Holy shit, just let Blade carry you,", Tubbo wheezed from underneath him, his voice muffled, "I think you broke my ribs."

"'S embarassing tho...", Tommy muttered, pouting.

"So is falling on your ass."

He folded his arms, yawning. "Fine."

Techno picked him up again, and the boy immediately wrapped his arms around his neck.

Tubbo cleared his throat, his expression similar to a parent sending their child off with a sitter as he looked at Techno and Wilbur. "Since he's still in his gear, I'm expecting you to keep anyone from seeing him. His phones are in an insulated pocket, make sure he texts one of us after he's slept and his brain's working right again."

"We'll keep you updated if anything else happens,", Techno said, already walking out of the room.

"Chat acting up that badly?", Wilbur teased him as soon as it was only the three of them, "How many 'Techno-soft's are you getting at the minute?"

"Shut up,", Techno huffed, not actually giving an answer.

"What are your thoughts on growing a tail and shit, then? You stayed fairly quiet for the majority of that."

Tommy opened one of his eyes to glare at Wilbur from where his face was tucked against Techno's neck. "Don't talk 'bout me like I'm not here."

"Sorry, thought you fell asleep again,", he ruffled the boy's hair.

Tommy wrapped his tail around Wilbur's wrist, closing his eyes again and purring.

          What sucked about the situation was that he was awake enough to know what he was doing was embarrassing, and that he was definately going to be teased about it later, but he was too tired to really care enough to do anything about it.

zzzzzzz. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. zzzz.  

Hug tiem  

*sleep emojis*  

Wanna sleep :)  

Boi needs some sugar, he's like a plant i guess- photosynthesis or some shit  

*happy heart emojis* warm.  

inagine crying in front of people, p cring if u ask me  

Purrrrr  

Techno cuddle pog  

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr  

NEED SUGAR  

Cuddle  

HUG HUG HUG HUG  

Purr louder (:  

Get some rest buddy boy  

CUDDLESSS  

Purr  

*bunch of emojis I can't be fucked to type out* yes  

Give big brother Techie more hugs  

MMMMMMMMMM*BEEP*MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM*BEEP*MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM  

Slep slep slep slep, comfy spot, sleep now, sleepytime go brrrr  

CUDDLE THE BROTHERSSS  

Let's cause chaos  

PICKLE JAR  

Purr as loud as you can  

mmmmmmm sleep  

sweet dreams boom boy!!!  

I want pancakes  

Seven foot RATS, RATS along his RATS, when he calls your name, it all fades to RATS-  

Sleepies  

affectionately shock them <3  

Tommy is baby  

i wanna see the tail and ears and stuff!!! cat boy tommy???? lil purring lad? green scales?!!  

*sings a lullaby* e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e  

Nap  

ZIP ZAP ZIP ZAP  

cheeto  

Bite him lovingly  

I wanna sleep tbh  

i miss ranboo and tubbo  

He says he hates cats, but now he's a cat himself  

clingyinnit >:)  

Sleep. Sleep sounds good  haha boom time  

Technosoft  

Wrap the tail around Wil's wrist, cut off his circulation  

Fluff movie night  

Cha cha real smooth  

Tommy stopped purring for a moment before starting back up even louder, tail wrapping tighter around Wilbur's wrist.

"Aww,", the man cooed at him, "He's like a kitten. A tired cat boy, sleepy meow meow-"

The boy flicked his tail, using it to shock Wilbur as he buried his face completely in Techno's neck.

"Ow! Alright, sorry,", Wilbur chuckled, not mad about getting zapped.

Techno made sure to carry Tommy so the reflective parts of his suit were hidden as they exited the base, covering him up once they got to the car so the only thing poking out was his head. He slept for the majority of the drive, only really waking up some a few times when he felt the car hit some bumps.

He thought he heard Dream's stupid voice at one point when the car wasn't moving, but he probably jut imagined that.

Tommy wasn't sure which brother carried him inside, but he clocked that he was in a bed as he properly passed out.

~-~-~

          Tommy woke up feeling both better and worse the next day.

His head was slightly clearer, allowing him to properly cringe at how he'd been acting the night before, but also making him even more aware of just how much his entire body ached.

At least he remembered everything that happened.

Mostly.

He didn't really remember much after he fully killed the power at Pine, but he remembered when he woke up the night before.

He got his phones out, looking at both of them as he contemplated who to message. There was a moment where he considered texting the Warden about the hybrid stuff, but that asshole was probably expecting that and he wasn't going to give the former hero any form of a win.

Tommy grabbed his regular phone, sending 'I'm alive, I think' to Tubbo.

'Do you feel alright?', was the response he got near immediately.

'I already said I'm alive.'

'Ok, but do your ears and stuff still hurt?'

'They're sore, but they don't hurt.'

'Do you want to come back now that you're more awake?'

He had to think about that for a moment. 'Later, I want breakfast.'

Tommy was obviously there for more than just getting some free food, but he knew Tubbo would take any other reason as him choosing them over him and Ranboo.

'Ok. I was looking up information on creepers, and something that came up alot was that they were vegetarian creatures. From what I can tell, that applies to hybrids as well.'

'Tubbo, if you're telling me I've got to be a fucking vegetarian, I will turn myself in to the police right this fucking second.'

'No, you don't,', there was a mild amount of panic in the short boy's response, like he was worried that was something Tommy would actually do, 'You'd just do better sticking to stuff like carbs rather than meat.'

'What the fuck is a carb?'

'Sugars; bread and shit.'

'Did you just tell me to eat shit?'

'Shut up.'

'I can't shut up when you've told me to eat shit, Tubbo. That's just rude.'

He turned his phone screen off when it took longer than three minutes for Tubbo to type a response, finally getting out of bed and stretching.

He let out a hiss as his back popped, tail flicking in annoyance as he fully came to realize how much he ached now that he was standing.

Walking wasn't an issue this time, so he tried to ignore the pain as he went to take a shower.

Something he noticed immediately once he was in the water was that the liquid wasn't sticking to some parts of his skin; sliding off the scaled parts like oil in... water. Ok so the metaphor needed work, but the point is that water was only really sticking to his hair. 

          After sitting there for a while going between trying to figure out why that was happening and zoning out, Tommy actually cleaned himself before going and putting on one of the pairs of pyjamas he kept in the house at that point.

"Are you feeling better today?", Wilbur asked as Tommy entered the kitchen.

"Mostly. I'm sorry I didn't say anything before just fucking dying."

"It's alright, I'm sorry I yelled at you,", he paused before adding on, "Please don't cry again."

Tommy hissed at him as he took a seat at the table. "I'll fucking stab you if you bring that shit up again, it was chat's fault I cried not mine."

"Don't stab Wil at the table, I don't feel like cleaning up the mess,", Phil sighed as he set a plate down in front of Tommy.

"I'll stab him wherever I fucking please,", he downed an entire cup of orange juice in one go before continuing, "He's a bitch."

Wilbur looked incredibly alarmed. "Holy shit, don't drown."

"Fuck you."

"You're absolutely fucking feral, calm down."

"I will bark at you."

"Do it, you won't."

... Ok, yeah, he wouldn't.

Tommy started eating, trying to ignore Wilbur.

"Knew it, you're a fucking pussy."

He shoved the man, giving him a small shock as he did so.

"Ow, stop fucking shocking people!"

"Stop giving me reason to."

"What was your reason for literally knocking Techno out on Friday?"

"Wait, what?", Phil sounded surprised, no one had told him about that apparently.

"Yeah, he electrocuted him and shuffled away like a fucking zombie."

"... In my defense,", Tommy chuckled nervously, "I did the same thing to Schlatt."

"Ok, but why?"

"They got in my way when I wanted to get to my electrical pad."

"That doesn't mean you knock them out. Actually, it's fine you did it to Schlatt, but I'm genuinely surprised Techno doesn't want to murder you."

"It's because I'm awesome, and the best man ever."

"No, it's because I knew there was something wrong with you, and I'm not gonna hold a grudge over it,", Techno said as he entered the room, "If it happens again, you're gonna need to start running."

"I'm absolutely faster than you."

"That's not the point I was trying to make."

"Don't care, didn't ask, plus you're white-"

"Ok,", Phil interrupted, "That's enough of that."

"But Phil, I didn't even get to tell him he fell off!"

"No, he hasn't fallen off yet; that'll come after he's done with university. He's still got a year or two."

"Heh?!", Techno sounded offended, and Tommy and Wilbur started cackling.

"Phil's predicting your downfall,", Wilbur laughed, "Your favorite child status means nothing."

The old man raised his hands defensively. "Hey, I don't play favorites here- Don't give me that look, I care about the three of you equally." 

          Despite being caught off guard by the statement, Tommy managed to hide his surprise as he continued eating his breakfast.

"Mhmm,", Wilbur didn't sound very convinced.

"Listen, you little shit-"

"You've literally bought 'Blade' merch; don't fucking play me like that old man."

"It was a very well made plushie-"

"It was a bootleg you found at the fucking boardwalk!"

"It's only bootleg if there's an official version."

Tommy looked over at Techno, who was just casually standing over by the fridge drinking an energy drink like this was a normal conversation.

"Does he actually play favorites?", he asked quietly enough that only the pink haired man could hear him.

Techno got his phone out, sending him a text that said, 'It's not as bad as Wilbur acts like it is.'

"... Does he really have a plushie of you?"

'He's got a Bombarde one too, Wilbur just wasn't there when he bought that one.'

Tommy yawned obnoxiously to get them to shut up, his ears twitching and reminding him of just how sore they were. "Ow, fuck-"

"Are you ok?", Techno asked as he walked over to the table.

"Yeah, my ears just fucking hurt."

"They're going to, considering they literally grew out like ten inches in the span of a night."

"It's not 'like ten inches', they're only slightly larger than they were."

"Tommy, they're literally the size of my fucking hand,", Wilbur said in disbelief, "What the fuck do you mean they're only 'slightly larger'?"

"You have no fucking room to talk, considering you've got those weird fucking elf ears."

"That has literally nothing to do with this, we're talking about your goblin ears. Have you had the chance to actually look at yourself now that you aren't on the verge of passing out?"

"No, and I look awesome. Fuck you."

"You aren't concerned with how different you look at all? I'd be having a fucking crisis if I suddenly had a tail and black eyes."

"Well no, my eyes are still blue; the white part is just black now."

"And that's not something odd in your mind? It's not out of place?"

"No? That's how it's supposed to be,", Tommy paused after saying that, taking a second to actually think about what had come out of his mouth for once.

Realistically, he knew that that was wrong, eyes don't look like that. But some part of his brain was telling him that they should, same with the tail and ears; they were supposed to look like that so it was fine. 

          "Ok, well, mine are meant to look like that,", he eventually said, "So it isn't a big deal."

"Are you still tired? Is your brain all scrambled and shit?"

"I'll scramble yours if you don't shut the fuck up."

"It's a hybrid thing, your instincts tell you the shit's supposed to be there. I'm the same with my wings,", Phil explained, trying to clarify it for Wilbur.

"I'm fucking bored of this,", Tommy moved his empty plate to the side, stretching his arms across the table, "Change the topic."

"Well, we could talk about the shit with Schlatt, since no one told me you were pulling that."

Tommy decided to keep his mouth shut, since he was pretty sure the statement was directed at the two people who actually lived there.

"You didn't ask,", Techno shrugged, actually sitting at the table.

Phil gave the pink man a look. "How the fuck am I meant to ask about something if I don't know it's going on?"

"We were out of the house constantly for like a month preparing for it,", Wilbur set his head on the palm of his hand, seeing the point his brother was trying to make, "Your fault for not noticing."

"You're both out of the house most of the time anyways! How the fuck am I meant to correlate that with you all plotting terrorism?"

"Mild terrorism,", Techno added in, trying not to laugh.

"The window exploding sent like ten civilians to the hospital."

Tommy snorted at that before he could stop himself, looking away innocently when he saw how surprised Phil was by that.

"Mate, you can't laugh at people getting shredded by massive shards of glass."

"I'm the one that did it,", the boy flicked his tail, "I can laugh all I fucking want."

"Dream's reaction was pretty funny, too; the whole thing got caught on camera,", Techno chimed in.

"Really? How the fuck were their shit cameras picking it up in the dark like that? Did he piss himself?"

Phil let out a long sigh, running his hand down his face. "You shouldn't be happy about the fact that you injured people."

"Well I didn't say I was happy about it, I just don't give a shit."

"Phil's got what good people refer to as a 'moral code',", Wilbur made quotes with his fingers, "He doesn't like it when we harm people."

"Wilbur, you've literally helped blow up a hospital."

"They were doing human experimentation in the upper floors, therefore I am absolved of my sins."

"No the fuck you aren't,", Phil started, and Tommy immediately tuned out of the conversation; it sounded like another argument they'd had before, and he really didn't have a big enough attention span to keep listening. 

          He checked his phone, scrolling past the wall of text Tubbo had sent earlier and stopping on a much shorter message that'd been tacked on the end that read 'Also remember that your charge pad is here if you need it still'.

Now, on one hand, this was very clearly an underhanded attempt to get him to leave and go back to the base.

But on the other hand, he actually really wanted to go at least sit on his electricity pad for a while to see if it made him feel better.

Tommy kicked Techno to get his attention. "I wanna go back to the base,", he muttered quietly, not really wanting to interrupt the argument in progress.

"Need your pad thing?"

Tommy nodded, and Techno gave him one in return as he stood.

The other two didn't notice them leaving, going back and forth about 'ethics' or something boring like that.

"So what do you think about my hyrbrid shit?", Tommy asked once they were in the car, "You never actually gave an answer yesterday."

The man shrugged, starting the vehicle. "You've got a tail now, and your eyes look weird, otherwise you're the same."

"I feel stupider now,", Tommy sighed, ears drooping slightly.

"Eh, that bar was already pretty low, but I think it's worse right now because your instincts or whatever are stronger than they used to be."

"Fuck you, I'm not stupid."

"No comment."

Tommy hissed at him, folding his arms. "I'm sorry I knocked you out, whenever that happened,", he looked out the window to avoid eye contact as he said it, "Didn't really mean to."

"I already said I wasn't upset over it-"

"That doesn't mean I shouldn't apologize, especially not if I knocked you the fuck out."

"It was only for like, half an hour tops,", Techno was quiet for a moment before setting a hand on the top of the boy's head, "Don't worry about it."

Tommy made a surprised sort of purring sound at the contact, ears perking up some. He was moderately embarrassed, but he didn't do anything to move away.

"Do you want me to wait out here for you?", Techno asked as he stopped the car a few blocks away from the base.

"No, have a feeling I'll be falling asleep on the pad again."

"Want me to come in, then?"

"As much as I would like that,", Tommy completely steamrolled past the fact that he'd said that, "Have a feeling Tubbo would throw a fit over it; he's been putting in a ton of fucking effort to be nice to you guys throughout this shit, he needs a break."

"Alright, just send me a text if you want me to come back to get you later."

"Right, see you,", Tommy said as he got out, yawning before making his way over to the base.

Chapter Text

          Tommy made sure to stomp his feet as he went up to the computer room, sitting down on his charge pad with an expectant look on his face. "I'm back, turn this shit on."

"I wanted to talk with you before you pass out again-", Tubbo started, getting interrupted by a very loud sound of discontent.

"Just turn it on low or something man; I'm all sore and shit. It feels like that time I fell off a building running from that fucking vigilante."

The short boy seemed hesitant, but turned the pad on progressively until it was at the point where a normal person would seize up. "Is that fine? Are you still able to hold a conversation?"

He let out a content purr, nodding. His head started getting a bit fuzzy, but he was still able to understand him talking, so that was good enough.

"... I'm going to turn it down slightly, just to be safe."

"No, don't; that's rude."

"You're literally hissing at me while you speak."

"So?"

"It's just a bit."

Tommy folded his arms. "Fine, but only a little or I'll shock you."

"Please don't,", Tubbo turned the voltage down slightly, looking back at him after, "Alright, so I think the first thing we should figure out is what happened on Friday."

Bad timing I guess  

Mmmm Zap Zap  

Brain went brrr  

Went stupid, went crazy  

No  

Well we have SHOCKING news  

E  

He turned into sleeping beauty  

Brain went BURRRRRRRRRRRRRRR then sleep  

Boom boom?  

C h a t  

tired  

Brrrrrrrrrrrr  

UH WELL HE BECAME A HYBRID  

Chaos! Just say Chaos! We need Chaos for the Thunder god!  

Uhhhh E?  

hug time hug time hug time  

MORE ELECTRICITY  

We became 100% cooler  

evil boy do evil thing >:)  

Hehehe Who needs answers when charge pad go brrrrrr  

I can't remember  

CREEPER, AW MAN!!!  

which part. the window thing? that was sick as hell, plus we didn't kill anyone  

tired  

We decided to go brrrrrrrrrr  

big man = big tired that's all  

WE HAD FUNSIES ON FRIDAY!!  

"Boom. PEPPA"  

Hybrid brain go brrr  

Rapid deterioration of the frontal lobe :)  

Your Mom bitch boy  

hug bee boy  

Hibernation time?  

Shit happen, like all day in this city  

What happened I wasn't paying attention  

It was trying to kill the furry or passing out-  

The sun was a deadly laser  

Majority of chat was as stubborn as tommy to admit he was tired lol E Case closed  

No  

Tbh homie, i don't remember at all LMAO *skull emojis*  

          Tommy let out a giggle, tail moving back and forth behind him. "My brain went brrr."

"... And what does that mean, exactly?"

"Dunno,", he shrugged, "Was tired, 's creeper shit I guess."

"Why didn't you say you were tired?"

"Didn't want to, wasn't that big of a deal."

"I'm pretty sure it was, considering you passed out in the middle of a fight."

Tommy stuck his tongue out at Tubbo. "I didn't know I was going to do that, fuck off."

"I think I'm going to turn down the pad more, you're clearly not thinking straight."

The younger of the two immediately let out a threatening hiss, fully prepared to shock the short boy if he followed through on that.

"Maybe don't do that,", Ranboo stepped in, moving Tubbo's hand away from the charge pad controls, "That's the same thing he said last night, I'm pretty sure he just thinks that."

"Alright, well he wasn't thinking clearly then, either, considering he started crying."

"There's not anything wrong with that-"

"I never said there was, don't put words in my mouth. I'm just saying that it's hard to have a conversation with him when his brain's all scrambled by electricity."

"I'll scramble your brains,", Tommy muttered in annoyance, getting their attention again, "Look, I'm sorry I didn't say anything about it, alright? Do you believe me if I say it flat out like that? Because I'm pretty sure I already apologized before, and I'm tired of hearing you bitch about it."

"The bigger issue here is that stuff like this keeps happening, and you keep saying it'll stop but it doesn't. You can't hide stuff from us when it leads to serious problems."

"This is still about Wilbur and Techno, isn't it?"

Tubbo seemed surprised by the fact that he was asking outright, taking a step back. "Wh- No! No, it isn't. It's about you, and-"

"You said I hide shit from you, that's the only fucking thing that's recent enough for you to bring up,", Tommy was trying to keep how annoyed he was from showing in his voice, "You said you were ok with them-"

"I never said I was 'ok' with them, I said I'd try to be nice; those are two very different things."

"Well you're gonna have to get used to my brothers eventually, because they're not going away,", he didn't catch the fact that he'd said 'brothers', but Tubbo clearly did.

"You-", the short boy interrupted himself with a frustrated sigh, "Y'know what? Whatever, we aren't arguing over this."

"No, I think we are-"

He was cut off by Tubbo turning the voltage on the charge pad up again, barely registering that the short boy had walked away as he struggled against the part of his brain that was very loudly demanding he curl up and take a nap. 

          Tommy forced himself to stand, chat urging him to do so and helping him keep it together until the only part of him in contact with the electricity was his feet. He struggled with the controls until he managed to turn it off, catching his breath as he was able to once again focus on his surroundings; immediately picking up on his friends shouting at eachother.

"-an't just do that to him!"

"Ranboo, I'm not having this discussion today, there's enough shit to worry about with Schlatt-"

"Then why did you even bring it up?"

"I didn't, he did!"

"Tubbo, we both know he was right, you're still upset he didn't tell us the full story with them."

"No, I'm not,", the short boy sat down aggressively at his computer, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to keep track of where the heroes are so we can figure out when they're dropping the money."

Ranboo seemed like he wanted to argue more, but it was pretty clear Tubbo was just going to ignore him if he tried. He turned back toward Tommy instead, incredibly surprised that the other boy was standing.

The creeper hybrid put a finger to his lips so the tall boy knew to shut up, pointing to the hall after.

Ranboo seemed to get the message, nodding before walking over and teleporting the two of them out of the room to a different part of the base.

As soon as they landed, Tommy was grabbed by someone else.

That someone being Schlatt, who put him in a headlock. "You'd better have a damn good reason for why you shocked my ass of Friday, or we're gonna have some issues."

He hissed at Schlatt in annoyance, trying to pull himself free. Much like Pikachu before him, Tommy shocked the man that was holding him before standing over the twitching mass of his body. "Fuck off."

Ranboo gently grabbed his arms to keep him in place when he tried to wander off. "Calm down some, you can't go around knocking everyone out again today."

"I can do what I want,", Tommy yawned, head still muggy despite him being off the pad, "He was being annoying."

"You can't make knocking Schlatt out into a running joke, he's not gonna let that slide."

"How's he gonna stop me?"

The tall boy sighed, gently guiding him toward the sofa in the room. "Here, sit down and relax, ok? Try to wake up some more again."

"I'll wake you up,", Tommy muttered as he sat, sending Ranboo a half-hearted glare.

"That threat doesn't even make sense."

"Doesn't have to, I'm the best person ever."

"You're officially in time-out, think about what you did." 

          Tommy folded his arms, tail hitting against the couch. "Fuck you, I'm not a child."

"I didn't call you one."

"You put me in time-out, Ranbitch."

Ranboo sighed again. "Y'know what? I'm not even gonna say anything, you have a right to be in a bad mood right now."

"Wait, so I'm allowed to call you a bitch if Tubbo is being a dickhead?"

"You'd do it anyways,", the tall boy gave him a sympathetic look, "But I understand you being upset in general after earlier."

"What the fuck is his problem?"

"He's still trying to cope with the fact that you have someone other than us now."

"He said he was fine with it! We had this whole emotional talk and shit, and he was trying to get along with them,", Tommy was more outwardly upset than he normally would have been, hating that he wasn't in control of that right now, "What the fuck changed?"

"Your hybrid traits showing up has been a really big thing, and that's just adding to all the other things giving him anxiety right now."

He let out a hiss. "Still, he doesn't have to be such a bitch about it."

"I've been trying to get him to stop, you know how stubborn he is."

Tommy's ears perked up at noise on the floor, and he looked over at where Schlatt was still recovering from being shocked.

"I'm starting to re-think my views on child abuse,", the man wheezed, glaring over at him.

"Fuck you, I'm having a crisis over here."

"You've been having alot of those lately,", Schlatt struggled to get off of the floor, and Ranboo helped him onto the couch, "Seriously, what's going on with you kid?"

Tommy was looking at the ground to avoid eye contact. "... Alot of shit, and that's completely ignoring all the hybrid stuff."

"Mind elaborating?"

He looked between Schlatt and Ranboo before his eyes went back to the questionably clean wood floor. "Ranboo already knows about this shit, not that I fucking told him about it, but...", he trailed off as he tried to figure out how to explain it.

"Spit it out, holy shit."

"Fuck you! I'm trying! This isn't exactly something that's easy to explain,", Tommy's tail was moving back and forth in annoyance, "It's- There's this thing that happens, and sometimes it makes me do shit I'm not exactly in control of."

Schlatt was clearly skeptical. "... Ok?"

"Don't fucking look at me like that! It- You remember when I had to leave during the first strategy meeting and punched the wall?"

"Yeah, scared the shit out of Tubbo."

"I imagine it scared you as well, given the way you were fucking looking at me when I came back into the room."

"Get on with it."

          The fact that Schlatt deflected proved his point, but Tommy continued instead of calling him out on it. "That was the- the thing, that caused that."

"'Thing'?"

"Techno calls it 'chat'; they're like a bunch of annoying fucking voices that act up and cause shit."

"Tommy, I think that's just schizophrenia."

"That's not what it fucking is! They know shit sometimes that I would have no way of fucking knowing. It's like a bunch of fucking bees buzzing around shouting useless shit."

"That sounds like bullshit, give me an example."

"It's mostly useless shit, actually alot of animal facts. Apparently orca fins droop when they're sad."

"You probably heard that one from Wilbur, he fucking loves those things. If you want me to believe you're hearing omniscient voices or something, you're gonna have to actually fucking prove it to me."  

Bees communicate by dancing  

IMA CRY IN THE CORNER  

*sparkle, lightning emoji* ZAP ZAP THE NON BELIEVER *sparkle, lightning emoji*  

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  

did ya know you can train bees to sniff out bombs? anyway EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

Mention chat makes yes or no choices too  

VIOLENCE  

The temptation to break the fourth wall is weak, but never zero.  

ZAP THE OLD MAN  

ALL KOALAS HAVE CLYMIDIA (idk howto spell it)  

ischlatt is a bitch  

Bad Goat!  

Hummingbirds are the only bird that can fly backwards!  

Didn't goat man talk to a bunch of people in prison? Is anything gonna happen from that?  

moths and butterflies dissolve their muscles while in their cocoons/chrysalis. brains presumably stay  

I believe Schlatt has had this happen before. Just after Quackity was arrested  

Are we a joke to you?  

Do a cat flip!  

Start crying  

*airplane noises*  

eeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

Self destruct!! :D  

Shlatt we know your misdeeds~  

Antarctica is the only continent without a McDonald's - what if penguins want McNuggets?  

SHOCK *lightning emoji*  

Red Pandas Red Pandas Red Pandas Red Pandas  

some cats are allergic to people  

If you smash up glass and put it into someone's food they'll digest the glass and die *emoji I don't know the name of*  

Shut up old man. I bet your mother buys you mega blocks instead of legos  

Can we shock him agian?  

HELLO SCHLAG!  

Penguins that are in a gay relationship find abandoned eggs and take care of them  

he doesn't even deserve to know that african wild dogs can run up to 40 mph  

PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE

This fucking bitch, tell him his skeleton is fuckin wet and that he is an ass  

A chef's hat has exactly a hundred pleats, and cats can be allergic to humans  

          Tommy hissed, placing his hands over his ears. "Holy shit, they did not like that,", he tried to sort through the noise in his head, "Chat, I don't think more fucking animal facts are going to convince him."

"Are they acting up again? Do I need to get one of your tires?", Ranboo asked, sounding concerned.

"No, they're- It's not violent, they're just being fucking loud. There's some shit about eating glass, penguins can't have mcnuggets, Schlatt talked to some fucking people in prison, koalas have STDs-"

Schlatt's eyebrows raised. "Wait a second, back the fuck up there."

"What, you interested in the chlamydia bears?"

"No, the fucking thing you said before that. I didn't tell you anything about what went down in the holding facility, how do you know that?"

"I don't, chat does. I don't think the fucker that said that even knows much about it, seemed like they were asking how it went."

"Alright, you have my attention now; they say anything else relating to me?"

Tommy furrowed his brow as he tried to remember everything he'd heard. "Uh... Alot of them were threatening you, one called you 'Schlag', said you probably had megablocks instead of legos as a kid... Someone said you had this shit happen to you before?"

"No, I would absolutely fucking remember hearing voices and shit in my head."

"They can make choices as well, without saying anything. It's really hard to tell when that happens sometimes."

"Yeah no, I'd know."

"What the fuck do I have to do to convince you I'm being serious?"

"I don't know, because it makes no fucking sense."

"You don't make any fucking sense."

"I'm not the one saying he has voices in his head!"

"What the fuck are you guys talking about?", Quackity asked as he walked into the room.

"The kid's fucking lost it,", Schlatt answered before Tommy could say anything, "Apparently he's hearing voices."

"What the fuck?"

Tommy ran his hand down his face. "How shit, thanks for telling him. Are you fucking serious?"

"Hey, it's not like I was told not to!"

"It was implied, given how much I was struggling to tell you about it!"

"Explain, please,", Quackity looked both concerned and confused. 

          "For fucks safe,", he let out an upset hiss, ears drooping, "This is fucking awful, I didn't even want to tell Schlatt about this shit."

"Wait; since when do you have the tail and shit?!"

"Can we focus on one thing at a fucking time, please? Holy shit, my head was already muddy before we started this conversation."

"Sorry, your weird inside-out eyes and fucking goblin ears are pretty fucking distracting."

"Fuck you, do you just not give a shit about the fucking voices thing?"

Quackity froze, and it was almost visible on his face when it really clicked in his head what was going on."Wait, fuck, right- What the fuck is that about?"

"Remember when I exploded a few months ago on Tubbo and Ranboo?"

"Yeah, and you wouldn't tell me why."

"Well,", he made a vague gesture with his arms, "That's why, the fucking voices were acting up. And before you think I'm fucking insane, I swear it's some kind of demons or some shit and not just in my head."

"You realize calling it demons makes you sound even more insane, right?"

Tommy pouted at him. "Fuck you, this is serious."

"Oh no, I agree, it absolutely is; just for different reasons than you think it is. Does Tubbo know about this?"

"Yes, and he believes me."

"Guess even geniuses are wrong sometimes, too,", Schlatt said, and it was hard to tell if he was being genuine or trying to start a fight.

"Why can't you just fucking believe me on this?", Tommy was starting to get frustrated, and the combination of his chat headache and hybrid stuff wasn't helping, "Seriously, I know I fuck around alot, but I wouldn't joke about something like this."

Quackity seemed to pick up on the fact that he was starting to get upset, setting a hand on the boy's arm. "We're not- I'm not saying you're trying to tell some kind of joke here, I have no idea what Schlatt's trying to do, I believe you. I'm just saying that having weird, fucked up voices in your head is worrying and it's a problem we need to figure out."

"We- Tubbo did a bunch of tests and shit when it started happening to make sure it wasn't brain damage or some shit, he said there wasn't anything off in my brain that would cause it." 

          "Maybe it's related to the hybrid stuff? Have you gotten in touch with the Warden at all?", Ranboo asked.

"No, but based on what I do know, I really don't think it's hybrid related."

Quackity raised an eyebrow at him. "You've got Warden's contact info?"

"Yeah, he gave it to me when he had his boring ass meeting with Tubbo."

Ranboo put a hand on his shoulder. "Might be worth it to ask him, then, since he's a creeper hybrid too."

"'Might be worth it to'- Shut the fuck up, that's why you're ugly,", he hissed as he got his villain phone out.

"Ow, ok."

"Sorry, misdirected anger; Schlatt's ugly, not you."

The man in question looked offended. "Hey, fuck you!"

Tommy ignored him as he actually messaged Warden, the number already saved despite the fact that he hadn't intended on using it. 'Tell me how to make this shit less annoying.'

'Who is this?', was the response, because of course Warden was confused.

'This is Ripper. How the fuck do I make this shit less annoying?'

'I'm guessing your traits grew in?'

'What the fuck do you think?'

'Get a ton of sleep and eat a ton of sugar.'

Tommy scoffed. 'I already slept, it didn't help.'

'Well it's not going to be instant.'

'Fuck you, I feel like shit.'

'Trust me, I get it. Just sit down in front of the tv with a bag of cane sugar or something, and eat that until you pass out; that's what I did when mine came in.'

'That sounds fucking miserable.'

'It was, but it worked.'

Tommy jumped when he was elbowed in the side, glaring at Schlatt with an annoyed hiss. "What the fuck do you want?"

"Did he say anything helpful?", Ranboo interrupted before Tommy and Schlatt could start fighting with eachother.

"I asked him how to deal with the hybrid shit, and he told me to eat a bag of sugar and pass out."

"Nothing about the voices?"

"No, I didn't ask him about that. Have a feeling he'd bring it up if it were related,", he yawned, hitting his tail against the sofa again.

Quackity looked at him with concern still very clear on his face. "Maybe you should go pass out, man. You look exhausted."

"Fuck you, stop being a mother hen."

"You look like you're about to drop dead or something, it's not 'mother henning' to point that out!"

"I think he's right, you should probably get more sleep,", Ranboo walked closer and picked him up off of the couch like a cat, "Think it's better for us to go back to the apartment, after what happened upstairs."

          "Yeah, alright. But you're staying so I'm not stuck there by myself,", Tommy muttered, not struggling against his friend's grasp. He felt clingy for requesting that, but he reasoned with himself that it was so he could force the other boy to be his personal servant while he sat there doing absolutely nothing.

The enderman hybrid nodded, teleporting to their apartment and depositing Tommy on the sofa there. "Wasn't planning on going anywhere, I wanna make sure you're alright."

"Fuck you, I'm fantastic always."

"You literally grew a tail yesterday."

"You've got one as well."

"I've had mine since I was like, ten, yours just came in,", Ranboo walked over to the kitchen as he spoke.

Tommy poked his head over the back of the couch to watch him. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Warden said you should eat some sugar, right?", he was digging around in the cabinets, "That matches up with the stuff Tubbo found on google about creepers."

The enderman hybrid turned toward him again with a spoon in one hand and a half empty bag of sugar in the other.

"You're fucking serious? You expect me to sit here eating sugar out of the fucking bag?"

"I mean, if it helps?"

"Well we don't know it will."

"We don't know that it'll hurt anything, either."

Tommy folded his arms, pouting. "Fine. Give me the fucking bag, then."

Ranboo walked back over, even opening the sugar and sticking the spoon in for him.

He grabbed it, probably more aggressively than he needed to, and stared at it like it had wronged him in some way. He really didn't want to just eat plain sugar out of the bag.

It felt... degrading? Sad?

Tommy hesitated like that until he decided to go for it and eat about half a spoonful of sugar.

He paused for a moment, tail and ears twitching as he sat there with the spoon sticking out of his mouth.

He was honestly hoping it'd be awful, so he wouldn't have to admit that the Warden had given him good advice.

Tommy then ate another, much larger spoon of sugar. He started purring without meaning to, glaring at Ranboo who looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"Shut the fuck up,", the creeper hybrid muttered around yet another scoop of sugar.

"I didn't say anything."

"I will beat you to death."

"No you won't,", Ranboo plopped down on the sofa next to him, grabbing the remote, "What do you want to watch?"

He shrugged, honestly more focused on his 'snack'. "Don't know, don't really give a shit."

"Oh, ok,", the enderman hybrid still sounded incredibly amused, which Tommy found offensive.

He eventually finished the bag, passing out while leaning against Ranboo not long after. 

          Tommy woke up a few hours later, not really sure how much time had passed but knowing it'd been a while based on the lack of any light coming from the windows.

Ranboo was also asleep, head resting on the arm of the sofa and phone still in his hand.

Tommy sat up, stretching with a yawn as he got off of the couch. He was still pretty groggy, tail dragging on the floor as he shuffled into the kitchen.

He didn't bother turning the light on, since he was actually able to see pretty well in the dark.

His goal was to find more sugar, or at least something sweet enough to work in it's place. Since he was practically asleep still, it was very easy for chat to influence what he went after as he searched through the cupboards.

His eyes landed on a clear bag of something white in the first cabinet he opened, and he grabbed it, ignored the ziplock bit at the top, and ripped it open to see what it was.

Easiest way to identify it was to taste, and he was pleased to find that it was a bag of confectioner's sugar.

He didn't bother to get a spoon this time, pouring it directly into his mouth and leaving the empty bag somewhere as he set his sights on a small bottle that'd been sitting next to the powdered sugar. The liquid inside the container smelled sweet, but when he took a swig of it, it tasted incredibly bitter; getting spat all over the counter and wall with a disgruntled hiss.

He moved on to the next cabinet, grabbing a small orange box and giving it a quick sniff before ripping the top off and eating some. That box was dropped on the floor when he was met with a bad, chemical-like taste that he didn't like at all.

The last thing in the cabinet that caught his eye was a bag of brown stuff that was packaged pretty similarly to the confectioner's sugar, so he cautiously opened it before giving it a taste.

It was some old brown sugar; the crunchy chunks that'd formed after sitting there for a while giving a nice texture mixed in with the goopy soft parts.

Satisfied with his root through the cupboards, he grabbed some soda out of the fridge and chugged it before shuffling back over to the couch and passing out again.

Chapter Text

          Tommy woke up the next day as someone touched his face with something cold and wet, and he hissed at them before trying to roll over so they couldn't do it again.

"No, stop that,", Tubbo huffed, forcing the other boy to sit up before trying to clean his face with a baby wipe, "You've got brown sugar all over your face still, don't get any more of it on the sofa."

Tommy opened an eye to glare at the short boy, giving him a warning hiss. "Fuck off, I don't want to deal with you after yesterday."

"I'm sorry about that. I was still really upset about what happened. Which in hindsight I should have noticed something was wrong on my own, but I took that out on you unfairly."

"You were being jealous still."

"I wasn't-", he interrupted himself with a deep breath, "Look, this is still really hard for me to deal with, and I'm trying but it's hard. I was polite enough to their faces, but it's an incredibly touchy subject. I am sorry I'm taking that shit out on you, though."

Tommy surprised the short boy by grabbing him, pulling him into a hug and also nearly pulling him off of his feet. "You're a prick."

"So are you,", Tubbo scoffed, not actually sounding like he was trying to insult him as he hugged back.

"I'm not the one that tried to avoid a topic by basically shutting off someone's fucking brain."

"Sorry, I know that was a dick move,", the short boy leaned back, grabbing another baby wipe off of the coffee table, "Sit still for a second, you've still got a bunch of shit all over you."

"The fuck are you talking about?", Tommy looked down at the front of his shirt, finding that he was covered in a bunch of mystery stuff that kinda looked like mud and drugs.

"You decided to have a little root through the cabinets at some point last night, apparently. Feel lucky I'm not making you clean up the mess you left on the floor."

"Oh. I don't remember doing that."

"Figured not. My guess is that you were looking for a snack or something, considering the only things you actually ate were the confectioner's sugar and that brown sugar we had leftover from Christmas."

"... Tubbo, is it possible get food poisoning from brown sugar?"

"I don't think so? Why, do you feel sick?"

"No, but the cookie shit was from last Christmas, not the one that just fucking happened; a whole fucking year ago."

"Wait, really? Are you sure?" 

          "Pretty fucking sure, considering that was when we just had Ranboo teleport us into a bakery instead. And I know for a fucking fact that was last year,", Tommy paused, looking around, "Speaking of the boob, where the fuck is he at?"

"Shopping, so you don't try to drink vanilla extract again."

"Fuck you, it's your fault for not already having that shit for me."

"I wasn't expecting you to be eating just plain sugar, and he wasn't expecting you to get up in the middle of the night to make a mess of the kitchen."

"Your fault, not mine,", he repeated, folding his arms and sticking his nose in the air.

"I'm going to shove you in a cage until your instincts and shit settle down."

"I'll shove you in a fucking cage; guarantee your short ass would fit in a dog crate."

"So would you, if you were folded enough,", Tubbo got back to trying to wipe the baking soda and other shit off of him.

"If you try to fucking fold me, you're going to be tied to a breeze block and thrown into the ocean."

There was a warping noise while he was in the middle of saying that, Ranboo teleporting back and setting some bags on the table. "Don't throw him in the ocean, we still need him for stuff."

"He threatened to put me into a cage! And to fold me!"

"Tubbo, you can't just fold someone like that,", the enderman hybrid said as he got a bag of sugar out of one of the grocery bags on the table, "It's inhumane."

Tommy completely tuned out of the conversation at the sight of the 'food', tail moving back and forth as he popped up over the back of the sofa to snatch it from Ranboo. He sat normally again after he had the sugar, about to chow down before getting stopped by Tubbo grabbing his wrist.

"Stop. Use a spoon or something, please."

Tommy looked at him for a moment, pulling his arm back and leaning forward to grab the spoon he'd been using the night before off of the coffee table.

"Thank you-", Tubbo started, abruptly stopping as the other boy used the spoon with one hand and directly scooped the sugar into his mouth with the other.

"I mean,", Ranboo looked down at Tommy from behind the sofa, "At least he listened to you?"

Tubbo tried to get him to stop, earning a warning shock in the process. "Ow! Tommy, you're making a mess!"

"So clean it up later,", he responded with an irritated hiss.

"Ranboo, go back out and get a dog crate."

"I'd be shoving you into it first,", the tall boy said, arms folded, "Just leave him alone, we needed to clean the couch anyways."

          "Exactly, thank you,", Tommy said with a mouthful of sugar, bits falling out as he spoke.

Tubbo let out a defeated sigh. "At least keep your mouth closed while you eat, that's gross,", he looked back at Ranboo, "I finally have an update on the heroes dropping the money, but we're going to have to change a few things since Tommy's going to be out of commission for a while."

"Fuck you, no I'm not."

"You've literally spent the last three days either sleeping or hissing at people- Which is what you should be doing, but you're not in any condition to be running around on missions right now."

Tommy let out an offended hiss, realizing that he'd ended up proving the point. "Fuck you, that's why you're short."

Ranboo gave Tommy a pat on the head. "Why don't you check your phone? I think it went off a few times after you fell asleep yesterday."

"I'll bite you,", he said, pressing his head into the tall boy's hand before looking at his messages.

If it had actually gone off, then it was probably Wilbur or Techno checking in on him.

And he was right, since there was a text from Wilbur asking why he didn't say anything before leaving followed by another one asking how he was feeling that'd been sent earlier in the morning.

He could hear the other two talking now that he was thoroughly distracted, but he didn't really have the biggest attention span in that moment so he didn't care too much.

Tommy replied with 'You were talking to Phil about something boring so I left.'

'Are you feeling ok?'

'Tired, eating sugar directly out of the bag.'

'Context for the second thing?'

'Tastes good, idk, helps apparently.'

'Ok but just straight sugar? Not sweets or something?'

'The sugar is fine by itself.'

'Are your friends able to get you anything else?'

Tommy made a confused noise. 'They're the ones that got it for me?'

Wilbur didn't send anything else for a few minutes, asking what his flat number was when he eventually responded.

Obviously, Tommy told him without really think much about it. His brother already knew where the base was, and he knew which building he lived in; made sense for him to know which apartment it was as well.

'I'll be there in about half an hour.'

Oh, he was coming over. Guess that made sense since he was asking where it was.

          Tommy blinked a few times, yawning as he sent a 'k' in response. "Wilbur's coming over, apparently."

"What, he's coming here?", Tubbo asked, clearly trying to keep his voice calm.

"Yeah? He asked for the flat number, and said he'll be over soon."

The short boy ran a hand down his face, sighing. "Alright, that's- It's fine. I'm going to have Ranboo take me back to the base so I can go back to monitoring the heroes, he'll be back though, ok?"

"Oh, alright. Guess I'll just fucking sit here, then."

He noticed that Tubbo was talking to him like he was a child, he just didn't have enough energy to give a shit at that point. He was once again invested in the bag of sugar sitting in his lap, so he really couldn't care less about what his family was up to.

Ranboo was gone for a little while before appearing next to the sofa. "Ok, so we decided that we're going to have to keep an even closer eye on you until you start acting normal again."

"Fuck you, I'm completely normal."

Even Tommy didn't believe that, but he felt like he was being insulted so of course he had to defend himself.

The enderman hybrid raised an eyebrow at him before setting a hand on his head, waiting a moment before using his claw-like nails to lightly scratch the other boy's scalp.

Tommy's response to this was a confused noise followed by him zoning out for a moment and purring.

"That's 'normal'? Really?", Ranboo chuckled, continuing with what he was doing.

Tommy tried to bite him, but the enderman hybrid probably figured that was going to happen since he was prepared to move his hand as soon as he tried.

"Right, look, maybe you've got a point about the hybrid shit needing to be monitored, but I don't see why you think you've got to watch me like a child when I'm just tired."

"It's a combination of you shocking everyone, trashing the kitchen, and not asking before telling Wilbur where we live."

"I was already doing the first two, and I don't see the issue with him knowing where we live."

"I don't have a problem with the fact that you told him, but you usually say something and don't wait for an answer when it comes to stuff like that,", Ranboo nodded down at Tommy's phone, "We're more worried that you might do something online that'll cause problems because you're thinking through stuff even less than usual."

"That was an insult, fuck you."

"No it wasn't, it was a fact,", he flicked Tommy in the forehead.

"Fuck you, I'll-"

          They were interrupted by a plot convenient knock at the door, Wilbur getting there a bit earlier than he'd projected.

Ranboo let him in, and the man immediately went around him to where Tommy was sitting on the sofa.

"Why the fuck are you covered in dirt?", Wilbur asked as he set some stuff down on the coffee table.

The boy tried to lean to the side to look around him and see what he had, letting out a frustrated huff when he was forced to pay attention to his brother.

"He was sleepwalking or something last night and ate a bunch of random stuff in the kitchen,", Ranboo explained.

"Ok, so why hasn't he cleaned up yet?"

"Because I don't want to,", Tommy was still trying to see what was on the table, "What'd you bring with you?"

Wilbur looked at him for a moment before sighing. "Since you said the only thing they provided you with was plain sugar, I got you something better."

He let out an offended hiss. "This is perfectly fine,", the statement was punctuated by another handful of sugar getting shoved into his mouth.

"No,", Wilbur went to take the bag from him, "That's gross, stop it."

Tommy grabbed his wrist and shocked him when he tried to take his snack, letting out a warning hiss as he moved his tail back and forth slowly. "Mine."

"Ow! Holy shit, I'm trying to help here,", Wilbur pulled his arm back, "I got you cotton candy."

The boy paused, eyes widening as his tail sped up. "Oh. Give me it."

"Now I'm not sure I want to, considering you just shocked me."

"No, I'm sorry, give me the cotton candy."

"Are you actually sorry?"

"We both know I'm not, but you already bought it so just hand it over."

"Hmm... No,", he took a step back so he was out of zapping range, folding his arms, "Now you've got to go clean all that crusty shit off of yourself first."

"Fuck you, I feel like shit."

"You'll feel better when you aren't covered in mystery substances from your kitchen."

"I'll bite you, I'll shock you again, I'll fucking stab you with a dull-"

"I agree with Wilbur, actually,", Ranboo interrupted the string of threats, "Maybe you should go take a shower or something, man. At least change clothes."

"I'll stab you as well,", Tommy hissed at him.

"You'd have to get up to do that."

          He stood with an annoyed hiss as chat sided with them, all the sugar that'd been spilling into his lap falling off his pyjama pants like sand. "Fuck you, fuck chat, fuck this,", he muttered as he shuffled out of the room, making a pit-stop in his bedroom for a new set of comfortable clothes on his way to the bathroom.

The water was just gliding off of the scaled parts of his skin again, and he got distracted by that for a while as he tried to make the liquid stick to it in bigger amounts than small beads.

There was a knock at the door after a while, startling him and making him jump.

"Did you drown in there or something?", Ranboo asked from the other side of the door, his tone making Tommy think that was something the enderman hybrid was actually worried might happen.

"I'll drown you if you don't shut the fuck up."

"Sorry, just checking on you; you've been in there a while."

"Die."

He finished getting the sugar off of himself after that, shaking the water out of his hair and off of his tail once he was out and absolutely soaking the bathroom.

Tommy decided to look in the mirror once he was dressed, since he hadn't actually done that since his features had grown in. The most he'd seen was the picture Wilbur had shown him, and even then he barely remember what that looked like.

While he definately looked different, he couldn't exactly say he disliked it. He could vaguely remember the thing Phil said about his brain just accepting it or whatever, but he figured it had more to do with the fact that he was awesome and the black eyes with white pupils looked sick as fuck.

... Hybrids could choose to have their features showing, couldn't they?

That was what Ranboo did when they were alone or committing crime; only hiding all of his more outlandish features when they were out in public.

The tall boy had explained it to him before, but he couldn't actually remember the reason he didn't hide his features more often. Tommy was kind of curious to see if he could do that as well, and he doubted it would even be that hard.

Chat was backing him on it, so next came the question of how. 

          The best idea he had was to look in the mirror and think really, really hard about it until it happened.

He tried this for a few minutes, and was ready to give up when he noticed that one of his eyes had gone back to 'normal'.

Tommy was pretty excited about that for a second, before he realized that he was now even more exhausted than he was earlier. He had to use the sink to support himself, eye switching back to the superior creeper colours now that he wasn't focusing on it anymore.

He let out a frustrated hiss, trying to stand up properly again before falling on his ass and sitting there on the questionably clean bathroom floor.

"Are you ok?", Ranboo was outside the door still, sounding moderately panicked.

"I'm fine, holy shit,", Tommy tried to stand again, not really having much luck, "... Might need some help back to the livingroom."

"Ok, is it safe for me to open the door?"

"Yes,", Tommy ended up dragging out the 's' at the end of the word.

The enderman hybrid looked down at him. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"Was trying to hide my tail and shit, got really tired suddenly."

"Obviously you're gonna be tired from that! It takes way too much effort to hide that stuff."

"Oh."

Ranboo bent down and picked him up, holding him up by the armpits like a small child as he carried him back to the livingroom.

"What happened?", Wilbur asked as Tommy was dropped onto the sofa, looking concerned.

"None of your fucking business,", Tommy held his hands out in front of himself, "Give me the cotton candy."

"Tell me what happened first."

"What's going to happen is that I'll fucking paralyze you. You made me stop eating the sugar, you made me go take a shower, you said you bought me shit; give me what you bought."

"I'm trying to make sure you're ok,", Wilbur flicked him in the forehead before leaning forward and grabbing one of the bags off of the coffee table, "No need to be so whiny."

"I'm not 'whiny', I'm grumpy. There's a difference."

          Tommy tried to hide the way his tail was moving back and forth with excitement as he was handed a small plastic tub of cotton candy, ripping off the lid and basically inhaling the contents.

Taste-wise, it wasn't much different from the plain sugar. Which, being fair, it was just that but fluffy and blue. But the texture made it much more enjoyable to eat.

He let out a satisfied hiss, tail thumping happily against the sofa.

Wilbur looked both endeared and smug at the same time, quickly snapping a picture of the scene. "I hope you're aware that I'm going to bully you over this later."

"I'll bite you,", Tommy threatened, "Delete that."

"Nope, it's already been sent in the family group chat."  

don't creepers literally have tnt in them? like there's just a block of tnt, that's why they explode.  

Let's... Kill him! Nobody will separate us from SUGAAR!  

I want cotton candy now  

BBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR  

Zap him  

AWWW FAMILY GROUP CHAT  

HIT HIM WITH THE TAIL  

Bite bite bite, do it, bite  

HIT HIM WITH THE TAIL  

Scream  

Family :D  

continuing the trend, BITE BITE BITE BITE BITE HIS ANKLES OFF BARK BARK BITE BITE  

how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?  

He needs to hug Wilbur  

SUGAR!!!  

FAMILY GROUP CHAT!!!!! Tommy your part of the fam fam  

SUUGGERRRRRRRRR *ZOOMS IN CIRCLE*  

AYYYYY BIG BRO WIL!  

Hisssterical, bite the bish with your pointy teeth  

COTTON CANDY MY BELOVED MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM  

Bite! Bite! Bite! Bite! Bite!  

ranboo cuddles real  

Zap, zap, time for violence against the soot man  

BITE  

Family group chat-  

Mhm s u g a r (This is literally me irl and I feel attacked)  

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMBEEPMMMMMMMMMMMMMM  

take his phone we need to stop him  

Who would win 1 trillion lions vs the sun  

BITE BITE GRRRAHGHAGHAGGHHH (foams at the mouth)  

Is Tommy in the family group chat? If so, is there on that doesn't have Tommy in it?????  

WAG TAIL HAPPY  

Not even for blackmail, just straight up bullying the child *pensive emoji*  

where's tubs he'd never do this  

FAMILY BONDING  

feel bad for tubbo and ranboo STOP REFERING TO THEM AS FRIENDS THEIR BROTHERS GRRRR  

Can creeper hybrids get diabetes \:L  

hug ranboo  

          After blinking a few times, Tommy jumped at Wilbur like a cat; surprising him and successfully grabbing his phone.

He deleted the picture from the group chat, also adding his own number before he was forced to give the device back.

"You could have asked me to delete it, you know,", Wilbur huffed, checking to make sure nothing else had been messed with and pausing, "Did you add yourself to the group text?"

"... Maybe."

"Aww, Tommy!", he leaned over and gave the boy a hug.

Tommy let out a purr for a moment before being filled with the urge to bite, sinking his teeth into Wilbur's wrist.

"Ow, hey!"

Tommy quickly let go, using his shirt to wipe blood out of his mouth. "Ew,", he let out a disgruntled hiss, "Sorry, chat wanted me to do that."

"Do I need to get-", Ranboo started, getting shut up by Tommy grabbing his wrist and pulling him over the side of the sofa so he landed face first onto it.

"Don't start that shit, I don't feel like listening to it."

The tall boy adjusted so he was sitting, still clearly worried. "Sorry, I just don't want you exploding or anything."

"Fuck you, die,", he leaned forward to grab more of the cotton candy off of the table, also grabbing the remote before putting the majority of his body weight against Ranboo with his legs on Wilbur, "What are we going to watch?"

"What about a musical?", Wilbur suggested.

"You just want to watch hamilton again."

"So what if I do?"

Ranboo thought for a second before throwing in his own idea with a shrug. "I've been wanting to watch Demon Slayer."

Wiblur let out a hum. "Is that the one with the girl in the box?"

"Yeah, and I think it's got Michael Jackson in it or something too."

"Phil and Techno watch that one in the livingroom sometimes, I've never actually paid much attention to it, though."

"Weeb shit it is, then,", Tommy yawned as he turned it on, trying to throw the remote onto the table and overshooting so it landed on the floor past it.

          Tommy, unsurprisingly, fell asleep less than an episode in; contently snoring while he was laying on both Ranboo and Wilbur.

That left the other two to sit there in awkward silence for a while until Wilbur decided to speak. "So what happened in the bathroom? I'd have to be deaf to not hear you freaking out."

"Oh, he tried to hide his hybrid features and fell over."

"... What would that have to do with him collapsing?"

"It takes a ton of effort to hide hybrid stuff, especially if you don't know what you're doing. I'm honestly kinda surprised he didn't pass out from it in there."

"I can't imagine it's that bad. Crow can keep his wings in all day just fine."

"That's only one feature. Plus, isn't he way older than you guys? He's got practice with it."

Wilbur pouted for a moment before catching himself. "Well what about you, then?"

"... What about me?"

"Looking at you now compared to when you're out as 'TwoTone', it's clearly not a struggle for you either."

Now clued in on the fact that Wilbur was probably trying to pick a fight, Ranboo sighed before dropping the small amount of hybrid masking he'd been doing for his eyes, hair, and skin. "I've had my traits since I was about five, not really a great comparison to make here."

The man startled at the sudden change, pausing when Tommy let out an irritated hiss at the movement.

They waited a moment before the conversation continued, neither wanting to accidentally wake him up.

"If it's actually taxing on you to hide... all of that,", Wilbur moved his hand in a circle, "Then why have you been doing it since I got here? I'd understand if it were someone else, but I already know that you're a hybrid."

"I was trying to be considerate, since it usually creeps people out if they're not used to it."

"Really? You sitting there looking like an odd feline makes people uncomfortable?"

Now it was Ranboo's turn to be surprised, since he'd never heard it described like that before.

As far as features went, his were definately more extreme than most hybrids.

His skin was pretty evenly split down the middle between a really dark purple and white, small splotches of each on random parts of his body. He also had what Tommy used to call 'upside-down vampire fangs'; his lower canines looking like they were connected to his bottom lip while also being large enough they rested on the upper one.

Ranboo liked to think of them like piglin tusks with extra steps, since they were really sharp when they were out all the way. He had a tail and pointy ears, too, but his ears weren't nearly as noticible as Tommy's were now.

His eyes on the other hand were a close second in regards to how striking they were.

One was fully green while the other was red, the only thing separating the pupils being that they were in slightly different shades of their respective colours. 

          "I mean, I wouldn't say I look like a cat. People are usually scared of the enderman part, since alot of them are worried about the 'hostile' mob thing."

Ranboo looked down at the coffee table, completely avoiding eye contact.

"I don't remember much from before Schlatt took me in, honestly. I know I was left at the park because of my traits, but I was only six while I was out trying to figure out how to say alive."

He instinctively curled his tail around himself as he thought back on how awful that'd been.

"Tubbo found me when I was eleven hiding in an abandoned building trying to stay out of the rain, and him and Tommy spent like a month hiding me before they had to move bases and Charlie found me in a box. That was already after Schlatt was public enemy number one, but he still added me to the family like he did with them."

Wilbur was staring at him, but beyond being able to feel that, Ranboo had no idea what kind of expression the man was making since he refused to look at him.

The other villain let out a hum. "I'm still fairly confused about why I never saw the three of you whenever I would hang out in whatever his current rat hole was at the time."

"Schlatt is really protective of us, you can probably tell that from how he reacted to you and Tommy knowing eachother. He had a list of people he deemed a bit too deranged to tell about us, I think you were probably on that one."

"How the fuck am I 'deranged'?", Wilbur sounded offended.

"Your kill count is over a thousand, I think that might have something to do with it."

"Most of those were after his ass was in jail, though!", he very quickly lowered his voice again, "That's bullshit."

"Take it up with him, man. If it makes you feel any better, there were only like five people he actually let anywhere near us. I think he even had one of them killed after he made a joke about selling us."

Wilbur let out a huff. "I doubt he'd want to talk with me, considering he was just barely tolerating me when we planned the shit to get his money."

"I mean, I think he might just be confused? Tubbo is too, and the two of them react to stuff they don't get by ignoring it until they blow up. Maybe you should figure out how to force him to talk to you after he's got his own place again."

"I suppose,", the man sighed, "I'll admit, you're far more tolerable than the short one. Obviously Tommy is still the only one of the three of you I would willingly be around, but you aren't awful."

"... Thank you?"

Wilbur hummed in response, and they went back to silently watching anime.

~-~-~

          Tommy was up early, and was immediately not in the mood for the creeper shit.

It'd been a few days, and he was starting to go stir crazy in the apartment. Even he knew it wasn't a good idea for him to go out alone while he was actively hissing at every little thing and shocking people, but the only way to get that to stop was to get the creeper part of his brain to calm down.

That line of reasoning led to him spamming the Warden with the word 'hey' at the very lovely time of eight in the morning.

Really, the former hero should have been thankful; Tommy could have started right when he woke up an hour earlier.

It didn't actually take that long for him to get a response in the form of a 'What's up?' that it took him a second to see in the midst of all of his 'hey's.

'How do I make this shit stop?'

'You're going to need to be more specific.'

'The instinct shit, how do I turn it off?'

'You can't?'

Tommy let out an irritated hiss. 'Bullshit, there has to be a way to at least make this shit calm down. I want to go outside.'

'The only thing you can do is put up with it until it stops. Your traits just grew in, it takes a while to get used to.'

'I refuse to believe there isn't anything I can do to get rid of it.'

'Let me think for a moment,', Warden was probably sighing on the other end, 'Have you tried being active? Like, moving around so you can make your normal brain wake up more?'

'I'm fucking exhausted, and you expect me to move around?'

'That's the best advice I've got for you.'

'Thanks, I guess,', he sent before deciding it was too nice and following it up with, 'If that doesn't work, I'm going to spam you again but in the middle of the night.'

'Please don't do that. But I hope that helps, I know how irritating it can get.'

Well, that was enough interaction with the Warden for him.

He decided to call Techno, since the only idea he had for 'moving around' was to go out to the subway station and spend a while practice fighting until he exhausted himself.

Tommy hesitated for a second before actually calling, since it was only like eight-forty and Techno didn't usually go to bed until at least four, but he didn't feel like waiting so he pressed the button and waited. 

          It rang a few times before he answered, sounding like he'd been woken up.

"Yeah?"

"Technooo,", Tommy whined, "Come get me so I can beat the shit out of you for a bit."

"Why?"

"Because I want to get out of the fucking house."

"Can't you wait a few more hours?"

"Noo, I've been in here for fucking days at this point. Please?"

"Puppydog eyes won't work over the phone,", Techno sighed.

"Wh- You don't know that's what I was doing!", he huffed, since that's exactly what he was doing, "If we don't go early, Tubbo's gonna try to babysit me the whole time."

Techno was silent for a minute before sighing again. "Fine, I'll be there in a little while. Be ready to go when I show up."

'A little while' ended up being about forty minutes, meaning that Tommy had to be quiet as he went so he wasn't caught as he exited his apartment.

He stood in the doorway of the building until Techno pulled up, doing his best to stay out of the rain so he didn't have to worry about getting sick on top of putting up with all the hybrid stuff.

Tommy got into the car before Techno had even fully stopped it, shaking out the water that'd gotten stuck in his hair and getting an annoyed huff from his brother.

"Did you seriously have to do that?"

"Yes, because it was funny."

Techno sighed as he started driving again. "So what made you decide you needed to fight something? Did chat act up?"

"I- No,I just needed to get out of the apartment."

"If that was all it was, you would have asked to go to the house or something, not fight."

"I'm- I was going fucking stir crazy, but I guess it's more than that, yeah. I forced Warden to tell me ways to get the creeper instincts to calm down and he told me to go 'be active' or whatever."

"You were talking with the Warden?", Techno was immediately worried about this, "Does he know your identity?"

"No, of course he fucking doesn't. I was texting him with my crime phone, only reason I even have his contact is because of the creeper shit."

"Ok but why are you even talking to him? You could probably ask Skeppy about it."

"I'd have to pay that blue fucker to get his help. I'm only even using his contact because he offered; he gave me his number when he had his stupid weapon meeting with Tubbo." 

          Techno didn't really seem happy about that explanation. "Just be careful. He may say he's done with the heroes, but he could just be undercover or something."

"All of us know what we're doing, remember-"

"I mean you specifically, I couldn't care less about what Paper Wasp gets up to,", he ignored the way Tommy scoffed at him still refusing to use Tubbo's name, continuing, "For all you know, Warden gave you false information that's gonna end up doing more harm than good."

"I've been double checking shit on Google too, dickhead,", Tommy rolled his eyes.

He didn't mention the fact that he hadn't done that with this particular bit of advice, but the other stuff had been right so far so he was probably fine.

They got to their usual spot, that desolate corner of the city currently even more damp and depressing than it normally was. The train station tended to flood, one of the main reasons why the city stopped using that part of the tracks before the shops around it closed, but it hadn't been raining bad enough for it to really rise above the rails just yet.

"Let me know if you get lightheaded or anything, I really don't feel like carrying you back to the car if you pass out,", Techno said as he stood in his usual spot, waiting for Tommy to attack first.

"Fuck you, I'm not about to fucking pass out,", the boy stretched, getting ready to strike, "And even if I did, it's not like you'd struggle to move me."

"Yeah, but the fact that you woke me up for this is making me lean toward the idea of leaving you down here and hoping you don't drown like a baby in a bathtub."

Tommy hissed in offense and attacked, trying to grab Techno and shock him.

The run was avoided, unsurprisingly, and the boy immediately tried again. He got flipped, laying there for a second before shaking dirt out of his hair and standing back up.

Tommy was still pretty tired, but he was able to keep up relatively well. He wasn't even really able to notice his exhaustion, head slightly fuzzy like it got on his charge pad as he attacked for a third time.

Chat was encouraging him to start biting, the very clear next step if shocking wasn't working; his teeth were sharp for a reason.

Tommy made a noise that sounded almost like a growl, jumping at Techno and trying to bite him. His mouth got stuck on one of the rubber gloves the man wore to block the electricity, and he moved back as soon as Techno shook him off.

"Please stop trying to bite me,", he huffed after realizing what Tommy was doing, continuing to block him from doing what he wanted.

Tommy didn't feel like responding with words, hissing at him as he continued doing whatever he felt like.

"Tommy, seriously."

          Techno stepped out of the way yet again, sighing when it was clear Tommy wasn't really listening to him.

The boy was out of it, but the lack of any sort of twitching or muttering meant it probably wasn't chat related. His best guess was that it was something to do with the hybrid stuff, going off of all the hissing and biting.

Techno doubted letting Tommy continue to jump around on all fours while literally growling was going to help with that, though.

"I'm gonna pin you if you don't calm down,", he warned, giving Tommy a chance to stop before getting dropped.

That was met with another hiss that sounded like a challenge, and Techno's response to that challenge was to flip the boy again and set his foot on his chest.

Tommy tried to get free, making a range of aggressive noises.

"Relax, you're fine,", Techno tried talking to him like he was a scared cat or something, hoping it would get him to stop trying to eat his boot, "I'll get you some icecream or something if you stop trying to bite me."

The word 'icecream' got the boy's attention, even though it was clear from his expression that he wasn't really processing what was being said.

Techno sighed as he accepted the fact he was probably going to have to follow through on that, since even if Tommy remembered literally nothing else from the day, he would absolutely remember the promise of free food.

The boy stopped after a few minutes, closing his eyes as his tail started to thump against the ground where it was resting next to his leg.

This happened for a little while before Techno cautiously moved his foot, taking a step back as he waited for Tommy to do something. He was still just laying there, tail continuing to hit the ground.

"You can get up now, y'know."

No reply.

Techno squatted next to the boy. "You alright?"

He continued to lay there with his eyes closed.

Did he fall asleep?

Techno sighed when chat told him to poke Tommy in the face, contemplating leaving before he complied. The child let out a noise that sounded like a warning, tail hitting the ground at a faster pace like he was an annoyed cat.

"Come on, if you're gonna take a nap, at least do it in the car. I don't feel like listening to you complain if you catch a cold or something,", Techno said as he poked again.

After doing that a few more times, he was surprised by Tommy sitting up and headbutting him in the chest. He fell backwards after getting hit, needing a moment to realize what had even happened as he forced his lungs to work again.

"Stop that,", Tommy hissed out, clearly annoyed and tired.

Techno got back to his feet with a huff, folding his arms. "Don't fall asleep on the ground, then."

"I was not 'sleeping',", the boy was yet again stretching his 's's out as he spoke, "I was resting."

"Fine, don't rest on the ground; beds exist for a reason."

The kid glared at him for a moment before moving his tail so it was wrapped around his ankle. He then shocked Techno before he could do anything about it, dropping the man like a sack of potatoes, laying back down, and rolling onto his side with his back facing him.

The shock wasn't that bad after the initial seizing, but it still made it so Techno couldn't really move for a few minutes.

He used that time to weigh the pros and cons of tossing Tommy into the steadily growing pool of water where the unused train tracks were.

          Tommy, meanwhile, was deciding whether he should run while he had the chance or go back to sleep.  

RUN TOMMY RUN  

You're acting like a cute kitten, we all like cats don't we? D o n t w e ?  

Sleep time  

I wish vine was back  

Ha! Techno looks like a BURNT chicnken nugget  

could we electrocute him if we pulled him into the water with us Chaos?? Ayo??  

ZAP ZAP ZAP  

Sleep  

EEEEEE  

Go swimming, wet would be fun  

LET HIM CARRY YOU ITS LESS EFFORT THAN WALKING  

Apologise to the best brother and HUGS! \o/ Love them hugs  

DID YOU KNOW THAT DIFFERENT TRAIN CONDUCTORS HAVE DIFFERENT HORNS??? Good day :D  

MmmMmmmMM- Let's sleep  

HUG BIG BRO TECHIE  

Sleep on top of techno  

Go swish swish with the tail  

JUMP IN THE PUDDLES  

Okay, listen child now our chance let's blow this popsicle stand and go live in a swamp like Shrek  

Welp he's gonna die time to find a new victim  

go swimming  

run (beat drop)  

zzzzzzz  

Dunno im actually tired so im ok with just laying there  

Mmmmmm sleep  

SLEEPY BOY!!  

Pythagoras didn't eat beans. He might've died bcs of not wanting to run through bean fields.  

Cuddly techie  

We really just got Technoblade on the ground like that  

Sleep  

RUN TOMMY RUN KEKW  

Okay, consider; lay on top of him bc you can  

Awe technohugs  

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

Technocuddle! Technocuddle! Technocuddle!  

BROTHER RUN  

SLEEPPPP. YOU'RE A SLEPPY BOI FOR A REASON  

I WANT MORE SUGAR!!!!  

SOME MONKEYS PISS ON THEMSELVES TO ATTRACT WOMEN  

Ahhhhhahhhahh *bum bum* HOOKED ON A FEELING  

run  

call ranboo  

or run  

Tubbo Ranboo = friends or brothers?? i miss them :((  

AE strops  

SUBWAY SURFERS IRL GO GO GOO  

Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna turn around and desert y  

self destruct!!! :D  

The FitnessGram Pacer Test is a multistage aerobic capacity test that gets m-  

-ore difficult as it continues the 20 meter paced test will begin in 30 seconds line up at the sta  

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

hi  

Two guys laying on the ground, what will they do  

Chat decided to act up as he was laying there, and ultimately decided that he should go to sleep there on the pleasantly damn ground.

Some were also in a bit of a clingy mood, though, so to satisfy that chunk of them, he rolled a few times to that his back was pressed firmly against Techno's side.

He could have probably gotten up and moved so he was laying like that, but he was really tired now and already covered in dirt so it wasn't like it mattered.

Tommy fell asleep again, barely registering the fact that someone picked him up at some point later and resigning himself to whatever ended up happening to him after electrocuting Techno for a second time in the span of like a week.

          He wasn't drowned in a puddle, surprisingly, and was able to enjoy a very pleasant nap before getting woken up by Techno dropping him onto a sofa at home.

Tommy let out a startled hiss as he bounced off of the couch onto the floor, glaring up at Techno while the man laughed at him.

"What the fuck, man?!"

"That was for waking me up this morning."

"You could have said no, I can't be blamed here."

Techno was clearly debating kicking him as Wilbur walked in from the kitchen.

"Oh shit, Tommy's here? They actually let you leave your apartment?", he paused once he got to the sofa, looking between them, "Why are the both of you covered in mud?"

Tommy opted to feign ignorance; hoping that if he pretended he didn't remember shocking Techno, he could avoid the consequences of his actions. "We were fighting or some shit, not sure fully."

"He got some bad advice from the Warden about his instincts, and ended up electrocuting me again,", Techno folded his arms.

"I wouldn't really say it was 'bad' advice,", the boy also folded his arms, "The brain fuzz shit has calmed down considerably."

"You paralyzed me again."

"Not my fault, you were probably being a bitch."

Wilbur stepped in before the two of them could start fighting. "What was the advice?"

"He told me to move around, so I was."

"How the fuck did you even get to the point where you were asking the Warden for advice?"

Tommy made an annoyed noise, falling over on the sofa. "I don't feel like explaining again."

"You barely explained it before,", Techno huffed.

"Because you're a bitch,", he paused for a moment, "Wait a second, you said you'd get me icecream earlier, didn't you?"

The man sighed, walking toward the foyer. "That was before you shocked me, I'm going back to bed."

"You can't just promise to get me something and then not!"

Techno ignored him as he presumably went upstairs, and Tommy's moping was interrupted by Wilbur forcing him to move over so he could sit.

"So have your instincts actually calmed down at all?"

"Yes, I don't feel the overwhelming urge to bite anyone at the minute." 

          "Really? So if I do this,", Wilbur stated waving his arm in front of Tommy's face, "You aren't going to bite me?"

He tried to sink his teeth into the man's wrist out of sheer annoyance, and Wilbur quickly pulled his arm back.

"So it hasn't stopped."

"No, that was because you're a fucking bitch. That's like sticking your hand in a blender and acting surprised when you lose your finger."

"What, were you planning on biting my finger off or something?"

"Don't test your fucking luck."

"Oh no, I'm so fucking scared of the tired, green cat boy."

Tommy contemplated mauling the man, tail hitting the sofa behind him.

Before he could pounce, Wilbur's phone started ringing. He answered it, and Tommy's want to eavesdrop outweighed the desire to retaliate.

"Hello?", Wilbur paused as whoever was on the other end said something, getting incredibly smug about whatever it was about, "Yeah, he is. Why, are you jealous he decided he would rather-"

He was probably cut off, sighing once the other person was done speaking again.

"Right, fine. You don't have to refer to it as 'babysitting' though."

The other person said something else before hanging up, and Wilbur sighed again.

"Christ, he's fucking annoying."

"Who was it?"

"Don't worry about it,", he leaned forward to grab the remote off of the coffee table, "Did you want to continue the show we started last time, or find a movie or something?"

"No, who the fuck called you?"

"It isn't your business, or chat's. What do you want to watch?"

"I'll watch your spine come apart in seven different places if you don't tell me what that was about."

"Only seven? You consider that a threat?", Wilbur scoffed.

"I'll take your phone and break it if you don't tell me who called you."

"Wait, why the fuck would you break it and not just look at my call log to see who it was?"

"Because I'm pretty sure it was either Tubbo or Schlatt, and you're probably not enough of a fucking idiot to have either of them labeled in your phone."

"I-", Wilbur sputtered, clearly caught, "You don't know that for sure."

"Tell me what the fuck it was about, last chance."

"Or what?"

Ah, a challenge, then.

Tommy narrowed his eyes at him, thumping his tail against the sofa for a solid minute before pouncing.

"Fuck- Not again!", Wilbur yelled as they struggled over the phone, "This is the second fucking time you're doing this shit, fucking stop!"

"Either give me the phone or tell me why they called you!"

"This isn't how you get what you want!" 

          He snagged his teeth on Wilbur's wrist, successfully getting the phone and running to the other side of the room.

"Ow! Tommy, seriously, give it back. The bit isn't funny."

"Tell me, or I'm throwing it."

"Holy shit- The heroes dropped the money, and Schlatt wanted to make sure you were here so you didn't try jumping in while you're still all stupid and shit. He asked me to fucking babysit you. Are you happy now? Can I have my phone back?"

"Fine,", Tommy tossed the phone at him, sitting back on the sofa and folding his arms.

They thought he needed to be babysat, unbelievable. Well no, he could believe it; that's why he was upset about it.

He knew they were paranoid about him doing villain stuff right now, since he passed out during their last act of mild terrorism, but that wasn't going to happen again! He'd had a week to recover, and he was absolutely able to go out and electrocute some people.

Maybe kill a few...

Tommy looked at Wilbur, who was also brooding on the couch. "Are you mad at me?", the creeper hybrid asked, head tilted.

"The fuck do you think? You just stole my phone and threatened to break it."

"Well yeah, but I wasn't actually going to."

Wilbur pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's not- Yes, I probably should have told you, but you don't steal my shit and threaten to break it."

"... Sorry."

"It... It's whatever, let's just watch something."

"No, I'll-", Tommy stood off of the couch, "I'll be upstairs, I think. Should probably take a shower before I get more mud and shit on everything anyways, yeah?"

He left the room before getting an answer, running up to the guest bedroom he'd basically claimed as his by this point.

He could admit that that was probably a bit too far, not nearly the farthest he's gone with something like that, but he should have stopped before it got to that point.

Leaving the room was the best option here, and he did need to shower so he had an actual excuse that didn't make him look like a pussy.

Tommy decided to sit up there on his phone afterward, seeing if he could find any updates on the Quackity situation as it happened.

Chapter Text

          Ranboo stood the corner of the computer room at the base, waiting for Tubbo to give him the ok to bring Quackity and Charlie somewhere to hand them off to a hero.

Slime was inside the jug again, and Quackity was, consensually, drugged and unconscious to make the whole kidnapping bit more believable. The heroes had made a big, public thing out of the fact that they'd finally decided to deal with the situation, probably hoping any citizens actually invested in it would overlook the fact that they took an entire week when as far as they knew it was a matter of life and death.

The plan was to wait for the heroes to leave the money in the spot they'd been given, and then Ranboo would go make a commotion closer to the other side of the city so he could throw their 'hostages' at the first hero there and go get the money.

From the looks of things, the Committee was sending Flame to handle the money part.

Quackity refused to tell them what his deal with that hero was, but it was pretty clear that the two of them knew eachother, so it made sense he was involved with this.

"Alright, looks like they've reached the drop point. Are you ready?", Tubbo asked, eyes not leaving his computer monitors.

"Yeah, all set,", Ranboo looped his arm around Quackity's torso, using his other hand to grab the Slime jug, "Let me know when."

The short boy nodded, pressing something on his keyboard to activate the microphone he'd hidden at the drop point. "Hello, Flame. Nice to see you've finally gotten off of your ass to do something."

The hero startled, looking around like he was preparing for a fight. "Paper Wasp, where are you?"

"Not there, if you're worried you'll be jumped or something. All I'm doing is making sure you've fulfilled your part of this deal before we do ours."

"This isn't a 'deal', it's a hostage situation."

"Same thing, different name. Have you got the money or not?"

"Yeah,", Flame held the bag he'd been carrying up above his head, "Now let them go."

"Not so fast, remember that we're the ones in charge here. Open it so I can make sure it's actually money and not a bomb or something."

"We aren't monsters, we actually do what we say we will. But fine,", he unzipped the duffel, obnoxiously holding it up at every security camera he could see.

Tubbo turned the mic off again, addressing Ranboo. "Seems legit, get out. Make sure you tell me your location once you land."

"Got it." 

          He decided on a small park about five miles away from where Flame was, needing a couple jumps to get there from the base as he teleported.

Once he was there, he set the Slime jug down next to him before using his glove to shoot out the windows of a bakery across the street. This grabbed people's attention, and he quickly got Charlie again before teleporting to the roof of the building he'd just damaged.

Ranboo actually felt kinda bad about stuff like that, since, unlike the other two, he usually tried to avoid hurting civilians, but he didn't really have any other ideas on how to make it clear he was there.

People didn't recognize TwoTone right away like they did Ripper, so he had to get creative in regards to 'announcing' where he was.

On the topic of telling people where he was, Ranboo turned his comms on so he could give Tubbo an update on his location. "Park in Cinder."

"Already have the alert up. Why attack a bakery?"

"It was the first thing I saw that would be loud enough."

"Alright, well stay alert; Flame's on the move, and I can see a few leaving the tower as well."

"Copy that, money still at the drop spot?"

"Yes, but I'd rather not leave it there for very long."

Ranboo nodded, despite the fact that the short boy couldn't see him. "Ok, just have to wait for the heroes to get here."

A vigilante was the first one on the scene; and one that hadn't been out in a while, either.

He landed behind the enderman hybrid with a long stun stick pointed at him. "Drop him, TwoTone,", Rewind said, making it clear why he was there.

Ranboo actually thought Rewind was pretty cool, since that particular vigilante didn't actually have any powers. Well, there were theories online that he had something movement related, but any power he may have had wasn't super flashy.

"Sorry, I'm only handing them off to heroes,", he tightened his grip on the 'hostages' as he said it, "Which you should probably be avoiding, since you're also a criminal."

"I'll gladly be arrested if it means he's safe."

"What's going on?", Tubbo asked over comms.

"Rewind is here."

"Wait, really? Move somewhere with cameras, I want to see."

Ranboo sighed, looking the vigilante in the eye before hopping backwards down to street level. Rewind followed, obviously, taking that as a sign that the fight was starting.

Turns out, fighting back against someone is incredibly hard when you're holding two people. He couldn't put the Slime jug down again to shoot, since he was worried something might happen to Charlie if he did that, and he also had to make sure Quackity didn't get hit while he was being attacked.

"You're making this really difficult for me!", Ranboo said as he kicked at the vigilante's weapon. 

          "That's the point! Let them go!"

"I will! But I'm not just gonna dump them in the middle of the street!"

He got smacked in the side of the head with the stun stick, thankfully the 'stun' part hadn't actually come into contact with him, and teleported a good few feet back out of instinct to catch himself.

... Only to immediately get jumped by Flame.

The hero came out of nowhere, punching him really hard in the face and nearly knocking him to the ground.

Ranboo ended up dropping Quackity, stumbling as he felt his nose start bleeding.

Rewind was there right away, checking on the unconscious man as Flame forced Ranboo further away with a glare hard enough that it was making the villain wonder how accurate the phrase 'if looks could kill' was.

"Never touch him again,", the fire on Flame's fists was nearly blue as he threatened him, "Don't come near him, don't even think about him. I'll kill you, that's a promise. If I even see you in the same district as him, you're done."

"I- Alright, man,", he was incredibly dazed from the punch, remembering that he was still holding the jug with Charlie and dropping that as well.

"Get the fuck out of here before I do it right now."

Yeah, he didn't need to be told twice, teleporting a good few blocks away and sitting down on the rooftop he'd landed on to catch his breath.

"TwoTone, check in. Are you ok?", Tubbo sounded worried.

Reasonably so, considering what just happened, but the short boy had been very noticibly silent during the entirety of that fight.

"I- I think? Why didn't you warn me about Flame getting there?"

Tubbo was silent for a minute. "... I was distracted watching you fight with Rewind."

"You- Nevermind,", Ranboo shook his head, ignoring the blood running down his chin from his almost definately broken nose, "I'm throwing you when I get back. Is the money still secure?"

"Yes, it is. Take it to the secondary and hit it with an EMBee."

He could, and would, yell at Tubbo after the money was secured and any trackers were disabled. Right now, the mission took priority.

The enderman hybrid felt kinda bad thinking it, but the sooner Schlatt was out and in his own place again the better. And the easiest way to make that happen was to get him the money from this fake hostage situation.

Teleporting to the money was easy, it was what came after that caused issues. Flame had hit him ridiculously hard, combine that with the stun stick whack and he wouldn't have been surprised if he had a concussion, and it was really only hitting him this time how much worse the usual dizziness that came with teleporting was with potential head trauma.

Ranboo stumbled, having to put his hand on a nearby wall to catch himself. 

          As he stood there, he could almost feel a light buzzing in the back of his head; there wasn't really a better way to describe it than that, a bunch of bees in his brain that were rapidly getting louder.  

*sparkles* E *sparkles*  

Hellloooo We are chat  

So is chat just activated by their noses getting broken?  

hey there boob boy!  

Ranboo focus so we can get back to yelling at Tubbo later!  

Welcome to the club  

*speaker emoji* This one is for the boys with the booming system *speaker emoji*  

bzzzzzzzzz  

FROG  

Hello and welcome to Chilies  

RANBOO FINALLY YOU HEAR US  

Hello there sir  

:0 hi ranboo!!!!!!! Heyyyyyyyy bestie  

Buss buss bitch  

EMBEE. EMBEE. EMBEE. EMBEE.  

E  

WELCOME TO THE CHAT GANG  

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  

We're like microwave noises, but bees!  

Dies lol  

YOU SHOULD BLOW SOMETHING UP  

run.  

AYOOOO  

You got this memory boy! Get that cash! :DDD  

be careful boo boy!!!

DON'T BE SUSPICIOS DON'T BE SUSPICIOUS  

Oh no, anyways  

Keep going! Don't stop now!  

E  

FROM TOMMY TO RANBUS  

keep your head up king we got a scam to finish  

Oh hello there Mr.Boo, isn't this quite the development :D  

LOOK OUT BOOB BOI  

Focus on the mission Ranboo. You can do it!  

WOAH ANOTHER ONE

BZZZZZZZZZZZ *ELECTRIC NOISES* BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ MMMMMMMMMM BEEP  

GET THE MONEY AND GO BE SAFE, LISTEN TO THESE IDIOTS LATER  

"Hello- Wait, Chili's? Chat? What?", Ranboo felt like he was in the middle of a crowd, hearing literally every conversation going on around him directly in his skull.

He stumbled again, toward the money this time. He had to focus, although that felt near impossible when there were people shouting in his brain.

Tubbo was talking to him through his comms, but couldn't actually hear anything as he tripped and fell onto his goal.

He grabbed it and teleported... somewhere. It looked like the sewers? That was probably where he was meant to go.

It stank, and was kinda wet, and there was more talking in the headset that he couldn't quite make out. What was he supposed to do next?

"Right, ok, uh- The... The EMBee-", the enderman hybrid fumbled around in his pocket for one of the tiny glass capsules, dropping the bag on the ground before throwing the device so it broke, "There."

He felt like he should throw another one. And then another. And another. And-

Oh, he used all of them. Time to take the money back to the base.

Ranboo teleported directly into the computer room, falling on top of the bag as he landed and just kinda laying there for a minute. Someone helped him sit up, and started lightly smacking him on the cheek. 

          "-ey, hey, hey, hey. Talk to me; what happened?", Tubbo was directly in his face, looking incredibly concerned.

"I think Tommy's voices are contagious,", Ranboo breathed out, forcing himself to focus again, "It-"

"What the fuck do you mean?"

"After I teleported, it was like my head just- My brain felt like it was exploding, and it was loud, and-"

"You're sure you didn't imagine it?"

"I'm pretty sure, man, that's not something you-"

"What was it like? What triggered it? Why-"

"If you would stop interrupting me, I'd give you an answer!", he snapped at the short boy before sighing.

"Sorry, I'm just- It's worrying that both of you are experiencing... that."

"I know, sorry for yelling. I- There's kinda alot going on right now."

"No, sorry, I shouldn't be freaking out at you like this; I remember how scared Tommy  was the first time it happened to him,", Tubbo put a hand on his shoulder before getting up to go back to his computer, "What were they saying? What kind of stuff were they telling you to do?"

"They were mostly saying hello? They also really wanted me to get the mission done."

"Was there anything violent? Any of them demanding you go on a rampage?"

Ranboo had to think for a moment. "Uh... maybe like one or two? They were really quiet compared to the other ones if they were there."

"Right, ok,", Tubbo nodded, typing.

"I think they also made me use all the EMBees I had, by the way. Sorry."

"Aw, come on man! Those are so hard to make!"

"I know! I'm sorry! On the bright side, I really doubt any trackers could have survived that."

The short boy sighed, turning his chair so he was facing Ranboo again. "I want to test something, just to see what happens."

"Ok?"

"Sorry in advance for this,", he hesitated for a moment, "E."

E  

E  

EEEEEEE MICROVAWE GOES EEEEEEE  

E MY TWO TONES FRIEND! Also go find Tommy and hug him  

EEEEEEEEEE HE SAID EEEEEEEEE  

Let's be calm y'all  

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

e  

FIFTH LETTER OF THE ALPHABET?!  

Did you know humming overrides your gag reflex :D  

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

EEEEEEEE BITCH  

A, B, C, D, [REDACTED), F, G, H-  

No, F.  

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

E!!!!  

Tubbo is very mean you should pick him up like a cat and put him in time out :(  

E A SPORTS  

E  

E ma boy  

MY FAVORITE LETTER OMG EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

Ah yes, E, the best letter of the alphabet *love emoji* *heart emoji*  

YOOO BOOBERS  

E  

E E E  

We are not dangerous :)  

E E E E E E E  

naur did you dirty boo  

EEEEEE EEEEEE  

I am rather calm  

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

WE HAVE BEEN SUMMONED  

E  

eeeeeeeeeee  

Damn, how rude of Tubbo to think we would all just follow this stupi- EEEEEE  

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

watermelons  

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEE BOY!!!!  

E  

TUBBS  

RACCOONS  

E  

E  

Absolutely not. Sock him in the mouth for his disrespect. 

Eeeeee  

What the fuck  

E  

abcdEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

EEEEE *demon mask*  

          And just like that, they were back at it.

Ranboo wasn't really able to do much in this situation, feeling like his brain had practically bluescreened as he was flooded with the fifth letter of the alphabet. "E, E, E- No, F- E,", the enderman hybrid had his hands on the sides of his head, "E, E- Raccoons? Uh- E, E-"

"Oh god, right, ok,", Tubbo carefully got closer, gently grabbing the other boy's wrists.

It took a few minutes for him to calm down again, going from muttering and shaking to taking deep breaths with a massive headache. "Please never do that again."

"I won't, sorry. Looks like your eyes go all fucking weird when it acts up, as well."

"That's cool, I guess, but what do we do about this?"

Tubbo bit his lip as he thought. "I think for now, the best thing we can do is have you rest. We can worry about the smaller details later,", he broke eye contact, looking to the side, "Also, I think we should wait to tell Tommy."

"What? Why?"

"For science. He's said before that the voices tell him shit, right?"

"I guess? That's what he said when he was trying to explain it to Schlatt."

"And he's said it to me before in private as well. As much as I hate keeping things from him, I feel as though this would be a fantastic way to really test that."

"Tubbo, no. You-", Ranboo cut himself off with a sigh.

He could see where the short boy was coming from, but at the same time, there was a reason him and Tommy had been fighting so much lately.

Tubbo folded his arms. "I'm not saying we never tell him, just that we wait."

"And what if he finds out before that? How would he feel if he found out we hid something like this from him?"

"He'll get over it! Hell, he'll probably be thrilled he can talk with you about whatever the fuck this is!"

"No, I'm putting my foot down; you told me about his voices before he was ready for me to know, I get to choose when I tell him about mine."

"Oh my god, why do neither of you trust me with this shit? Is it making you paranoid as well?" 

          "No- No, I trust you! I trust you, and so does Tommy; you know that,", Ranboo said, being careful with the phrasing of what he said next, "It's- Sometimes, you think you know everything about something, and what you think is best isn't actually a good idea."

"I am literally a super genius."

"The speed your brain works in doesn't change the fact that you don't know everything."

"Yet, I don't know everything yet."

Ranboo sighed. "Right, and that 'yet' is a really important factor here. You might think it's a good idea to hide stuff from Tommy because of what you know right now, and I see where you're coming from with that, but you need to remember that he's a person with feelings."

"Facts don't care about your feelings,", the short boy folded his arms.

"Tubbo, if you quote Ben Shapiro at me again, I'm going to hit you with a chair."

"I was doing it ironically."

"I will ironically hit you with a chair."

"Look, I don't know everything about the voice thing, I'll admit that. But, you can't expect me to learn about it if I can't experiment."

"No, Tubbo,", Ranboo pinched the bridge of his nose, "Stop and listen to yourself. You said you want to experiment on Tommy."

"Well no, I- I'm... oh." The short boy looked like he was having a crisis, staring down at his hands.

"Now do you understand what the problem is?"

"I-Yeah, I think,", Tubbo put a hand on his chin, turning his chair so his back was to Ranboo, "I need some time to think about this. I'll go back to tracking the heroes, you and Schlatt check the money and make sure they've given us the right amount."

"Alright, but don't beat yourself up over this, ok? Just figure out a better way to go about it,", he waited for an answer that never came, grabbing the bag again after a few minutes and leaving the room.

~-~-~

          Tommy wasn't really able to watch everything as it happened, since the news clearly weren't going to be covering the situation until the Committee told them what to say, but he was able to piece it together thanks to people posting clips of Flame decking Ranboo on twitter.

Every video with the tall villain fighting Rewind was getting deleted pretty fast, but of course they were leaving up one of their golden boys rocking a villain's shit.

And he'll admit, it was kind of funny watching his friend get absolutely demolished like that. Tommy felt like it was ok to laugh, since there weren't any reports that they'd caught him after he teleported away, and he hadn't gotten a text from Tubbo saying the enderman hybrid was dead or anything, so it was probably fine.

Still, though, he decided to text Ranboo to make sure he was actually ok while also laughing in his face.

'Have you got brain damage now?' It took a while for the other boy to respond.

'Not any more than I had before I think?'

'Good. Flame breaking your nose is trending. L.'

'Figures that's how you knew about that.'

Tommy sent a few more Ls while Ranboo typed; watching as the tall boy was writing out a message, deleting it, and typing something else out.

He figured the enderman hybrid was trying to cope with the crushing ratio.

'Are you ready to come back to the apartment? I need to talk with you,', was the message that eventually came, confusing him slightly.

'What about?'

'I've been trying to explain in a text, but I think it'd be better if we talked about it instead.'

'Yeah, alright. You coming to get me , then?'

'I don't think I can right now, actually? Something happened that kinda got rid of the rest of my energy earlier.'

'Something other than you getting your ass beat?'

'Yeah.'

Tommy waited for more details, sighing and putting his phone away when it became obvious that he wasn't getting any.

Right, he should probably get going then. Techno was probably asleep again, and Tommy would rather crash the car himself than have Wilbur drive him anywhere, so he accepted the fact that he was going to have to walk.

He poked his head into the livingroon when he got back downstairs, wanting to make sure Wilbur knew he was leaving so he didn't freak out or something since that seemed like something he would do.

"I'm gonna head out; Ranboo has some shit he wants to tell me, and it seems important."

"Is Techno giving you a ride?"

"No, I was going to walk." 

          Wilbur stood off the sofa. "I'll go with you, then."

"You don't have to, I'll be alright."

"I'd really rather you not walk alone right now."

"It's not that big of a deal."

"Please? Just for my own piece of mind?"

Chat seemed to really like that idea, making their opinion known and giving him a headache. "Holy shit- Fine. You can come with me,", Tommy grumbled in annoyance, "Chat, shut the fuck up now."

"Are they acting up?", Wilbur asked as he followed him into the hall.

"For a second they were. Got really fucking loud about you coming along, honestly tempted to tell you to piss off to spite them now."

"I feel like that would only make them worse."

"Probably, but it'd show them I don't have to fucking listen to them."

"Techno did something like that once, it didn't work out well."

Tommy opened the door, letting out a surprised hiss when Wilbur grabbed him by the arm, pulled him back inside, and shoved a coat at him.

"What the fuck-"

"It's still raining, you're going to catch a cold or something."

"I run around without a coat all the fucking time, it's fine."

"Alright, and knowing your luck, you'll get sick on top of the creeper shit,", he tried again to get Tommy to put a coat on, "Don't need you exploding when you sneeze or something."

"That's not how it works, dickhead."

"Alright, then tell me about it after you've got the coat on, it's a long enough walk without you throwing a fit over being kept dry."

"I am not throwing a fit."

"You absolutely are, little child throwing a little child fit."

Tommy growled in warning. His instincts may have calmed down for now, but that wasn't going to stop him from biting the man.

And he tried to, getting stopped in his tracks by a sudden spurt of cold water in his face.

It made him stop and blink a few times, needing a moment to realize what had happened. Once he was able to fully process that he'd been hit with water, he was met with the sight of Wilbur standing there with an incredibly smug look on his face and a spray bottle in his hand.

Tommy hissed at him, using the coat he'd been handed to get the water off. "Is that a fucking spray bottle?!"

"Yes, it is. I had the idea to find one earlier after you tried to break my phone,", Wilbur shook the bottle, ice clinking inside.

"If you're being a bitch about the fact that I won't put on something that'll 'keep me dry', then why the fuck did you spray me with water?"

"Because this,", he sprayed him again for emphasis, "Isn't going to absolutely drench you like the rain will."

"You're about to be drenched with blood."

Wilbur raised the bottle threateningly. "Coat, now."

"Fuck you,", the boy grumbled as he put on the jacket.

          He made it a point to walk faster than Wilbur, ignoring that he was still pretty tired and out of breath the whole time.

Eventually, the man grabbed his shoulder and forced him to stop.

"Holy shit, slow down."

"What, worried you'll pass out, you old bitch?"

"No, I'm worried you will. You're literally fucking panting."

"I- You- Fuck-", Tommy's brain shut down as chat came to a standstill, hands going to the sides of his head.

Wilbur cautiously placed a hand on the boy's back. "Are they acting up again?"

"Fuck off, don't say it like that,", he hit himself in the side of the head a few times, "They've been really loud today, I have no idea what the fuck their problem is."

"Are you worried about anything? That's usually when Techno's act up."

"... No? Not about anything I can really think of. Earlier went well, whatever Ranboo's got going on doesn't seem too important; they're just hyper for some fucking reason."

"You might want to consider taking a nap or something once you're done talking with your friend, then. Chat can't exactly do much if you're asleep."

Tommy stuck his tongue out at him before starting to walk again, deciding entirely on his own to move slower than he had been. "Fuck you, I don't need a nap. Whatever the fuck is wrong with them will sort itself out."

"Yeah, alright. I'll be prepared to go out and collect you when you freak out and try to kill people."

"I'll kill you."

Wilbur shook the spray bottle again in response to the threat.

Tommy wrapped his tail around the man's wrist. "If you even fucking try to spray me again, you'll be on the ground before you have a chance to regret it."

"You wouldn't,", Wilbur challenged before pausing, "Ok, well you would, but you wouldn't do that in the middle of the sidewalk when anyone could be around to see it."

"I'll knock you the fuck out and leave you in the road with a sign over you that says 'I'm rich, please rob me'. You'll wake up naked and poor."

Wilbur put a hand on Tommy's head, ruffling his hair. "Sure you will. Let's keep moving, the rain is picking up and I'd rather not walk back in a hurricane."

"It's only a hurricane if there's wind, dickhead,", he folded his arms, wrapping his tail tighter around Wilbur's wrist as they argued about the semantics of weather patterns. 

          Tommy took a moment to shake the water out of his hair before entering his apartment. Wilbur had said goodbye in the downstairs hallway, so he was alone as he went in.

Ranboo was sitting on the sofa, looking incredibly tired. "Oh, hey, you're back."

"Yeah, sorry; had to walk,", he dropped the jacket he'd been made to wear by the door, plopping down on the couch next to his friend, "So, what the fuck did you want to talk about?"

"I, um, ok so... Wow, this is hard to explain, I can see why you struggled with it."

"Ranboob, spit it the fuck out."

"I'm trying! I thought it'd be easier to just say it, but this is still really hard."  

ONE OF US ONE OF US ONE OF US ONE  

Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and  

TALK BOO BOY YOU KNOW TOMMY DON'T HAVE PATIENCE  

HI BOOBERS!! HI INNITERS!!! HOW WE DOING!???  

y'know when i waited for alliumduo crumbs i didnt expect this but i'll take it hiii  

It's a crossover episode boys  

RANBOO HAVE CHAT POG  

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  

3 bois how many more?  

We have invaded another's mind. Who is next? You don't know  

Yo we're here with y'all together . Also RACCOONS  

Besties deal w chat TOGETHER! UwU  

YOO THE SHARED BRAINCELL  

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

Aaaw poor boobboi, we arent helpful gender boi *happy face*  

ranboo got chat  

AE  

Chat buddies! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

GENDERMAN HUG THE RACCOON BOI  

Sus -. - ... but hug best

boo boi :3  

Oh hello :)  

RANBOO GOT A CHAT EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

we're contagious it seems :))  

WAIT CAN YOU BOTH HEAR ME WHEN I MAKE THE <3 SIGN  If so- <33333  

TWINS  

Hug  

Two people to annoy  

Chatboo  

Mutual suffering *heart eye emojis*  my favorite kind of suffering *heart eyes emojis*  

HE HEARS USSSS  

Voices gangggg  

hug me bring it in bring it in WOOO would ya loosen up would ya  

Hug tiem *hear emojis*  

Ayup besties  

hug time please  

GROUP FEATURE  

Helloooooo  

YALL CAN BOTH HEAR ME, LESGOOOOOOO  

You can do it Ranboo!  

          Both of them flinched at the same time, Ranboo's reaction far more animated as he set his hands over his ears like it would do anything.

"Wait, you've- You can-", Tommy tried his best to control his breathing, wanting to confirm what just happened.

Ranboo was completely shutting down, not able to answer as he curled in on himself.

The younger of the two took a moment to collect himself before scooting over, leaning against Ranboo's side while he waited for the tall boy's brain to start working again. Ranboo immediately grabbed him in a tight hug, his breathing slowly calming down as his grip loosened.

"I, um-"

"You've got a chat? You can fucking- You can hear them?", he didn't even pause to let Ranboo answer, "Holy shit they've never fucking combined like that, what the fuck even was that? Is this why they've been acting up today? What the fuck-"

"Please shut up. My head really hurts right now."

"Sorry, I just- Fuck. This is so fucking weird."

"Yeah, no, it... It started earlier and I- I think I used like four EMBees? I teleported and it was really loud and all I could focus on was getting the job done."

"Holy shit, I'm surprised Tubbo didn't kill you for that."

"He still might, seems more worried about the voices right now though."

"I'm also pretty fucking worried about that. How the fuck did you get them as well, are they fucking contagious?"

"I don't know!", Ranboo hugged him tighter again, "I'm really worried."

Tommy paused for a moment, chat deciding for him that this was an issue for later as he leaned further into his friend. "Might be worth it to stop worrying about it for now. Chat's fucking exhausting, let's just have a nap,", he said it with a yawn, getting comfortable.

"I don't think a nap is going to help with this."

"No, trust me; if you're asleep, they can't do shit,", he yawned again, "Makes your brain not hurt."

"Ok, but I don't actually know if I have a concussion or something-"

"You don't, shut up."

"Tommy-"

Tommy interrupted the tall boy by purring, hissing every time he tried to say something else to get his point across.

Ranboo sighed, making a noise of his own in response before adjusting so he was properly laying on the sofa; letting out a yawn of his own as he set his head on the arm rest. "Fine, but don't take this as me doing what you want."

Tommy let out a victory hiss and almost immediately passed out, vaguely acknowledging the fact that they would have to deal with this later.

~-~

          Tommy was very rudely woken up at some point in the middle of the night, landing on the floor between the sofa and coffee table.

He made a confused noise as he sat up, looking around as he tried to figure out what was going on. Ranboo was still on the couch, and it took him a moment to realize that the taller boy had shoved him off in his sleep.

Tommy glared at the enderman hybrid as he stood, going to the kitchen to get something to drink. As he got a cup of water, he contemplated throwing a few drops on his friend; deciding against it for now.

Revenge could come later.

He looked out the window as he filled his cup, watching the rain fall even heavier than before onto the near empty street below. His phone said it was about two in the morning, and he ignored the lingering villain alerts as he opened his messages.

Chat hit a standstill when he was trying to decide if he should text Tubbo or Techno, and he set his phone down to smack himself in the side of the head.

"Make up for fucking minds, holy shit,", Tommy muttered, keeping his voice low so he didn't wake Ranboo up. He sighed, deciding that if chat was so eager to talk with both of them, the answer would be neither.

Although, that did leave the issue of what he should do.

If it wasn't raining he'd probably go out for a run, but the water would be way more trouble than it was worth while he was still putting up with creeper stuff. Plus, he was pretty sure his villain suit was at the base or something, and he wasn't going to walk there to pick it up.

That left him with something inside the apartment, and a glance at the bathroom gave him an idea.

It'd been a few days since he tried to hide his hybrid features, and he was eager to try again. His instincts hadn't been too bad since he'd woken up, nothing worse than the constant craving for sugar and the need to bite, so he figured that it probably couldn't hurt to spend a little while trying to make his eyes go back to normal. 

          Or make his tail disappear; he was actually pretty curious about how that one would go.

So Tommy made his way to the bathroom, closing the door before looking in the mirror and trying to do the same thing as last time.

... Although that didn't give him much direction beyond knowing he had to focus on it. He'd only gotten one eye the first time, and even then that'd absolutely winded him.

Tommy literally fell over from the sheer volume of whatever chat started doing while he was deciding what to try hiding first.

They weren't even saying anything, it was like a portion of them just started screaming. It immediately freaked him out, making him look for a threat of some kind as he started to panic.

They'd never done this before, so he had no idea how to handle it.

Trying to mess with his hybrid features went entirely forgotten as he scrambled into the corner and tucked his knees to his chest. It took several minutes for chat to calm down even slightly, and the lowered volume did nothing to slow his heart rate back to normal.

He wanted to move, but he had no idea what would happen if he did, since he didn't know what set them off in the first place.

So he decided to sit there for a while, taking deep breaths as he tried to stop himself from having a full blown panic attack.

Chat eventually shut up to their normal quiet muttering again, and the silence helped him build up the courage to go back to the kitchen and get his phone.

Turns out, he'd been in there for a few hours; the sun coming through the window now and the time reading six-thirty. He immediately texted Techno, sending a string of frantic messages as he hoped the man as still awake.

'Techno. Techno. Hey. Chat did some weird shit and I have no idea what the fuck it was and I'm fucking panicking.' 

          It took a few minutes of spamming, but Techno finally answered him. 'Are you safe, did you end up hurting anyone, do you need help?'

'I think, no, and I have no fucking idea.'

'Calm down, and tell me what happened.'

'I was trying to hide my hybrid shit and chat started being super fucking loud. Not talking, just noise.'

'And what were you doing before that?'

He had to actually think about that for a moment. 'I think I was going to text someone, but they couldn't decide so I did something else.'

'That's why they freaked out.'

'What?'

'You ignored them.'

'Well no, because they didn't actually decide on something.'

'But they wanted you to text someone, right?'

'Yes?'

'Then that's what happened. Don't upset them for a while and they'll calm down; maybe farm some aws or something.'

Tommy let out a confused hiss. 'What the fuck does that mean.'

'Do something they'd find cute, idk. If you're ok now, I'm going back to bed.'

Setting his phone down, Tommy sighed.

Knowing the reason it'd happened made him slightly less nervous, not much but some, and he was beyond exhausted after cowering in the bathroom in fear for a few hours.

He had the choice of either going to his room, or attempting to squeeze himself back onto the sofa and hope Ranboo doesn't send him off to the mercy of gravity again.

Well, if you don't cuddle with the homies, are you even homies?

Plus, if he was meant to be doing something chat would find 'cute', that probably counted. Hopefully it'd be good enough for them.

Tommy made his way back over to the sofa, and, very carefully and politely, climbed over the back to wedge himself between it and Ranboo.

The taller boy let out a confused warble, but was otherwise still very much dead to the world as Tommy made himself comfortable. It wasn't exactly hard to fall asleep, given how wiped out he was from... all that, and it definately wasn't hard for him to stay asleep well into the morning.

Chapter Text

          It'd been a few days since his instincts actually calmed down, so Tommy decided that he was going to head to Bad's diner to get some pancakes.

Was he telling anyone beforehand? No.

Did he care? Not really.

Tubbo had been more focused on trying to figure out how Ranboo got a chat, Schlatt was busy getting his shit up and running again, Techno was at university, and Wilbur had spent the night at a friend's house or something, so it wasn't like anyone would even notice he was gone if he left to get some breakfast.

Besides, eating something with sugar would do him some good, and god knows there was enough of that in the birthday cake pancakes.

It wasn't raining anymore, but the sky remained overcast as he walked to the diner. It was empty, with Rêve and Bad being the only people there.

The demon hybrid gasped after looking at him for a moment. "Oh, Tommy! I almost didn't recognize you. It's been a while, I was starting to get worried."

"Yeah, sorry, was dealing with all of this shit,", he made a vague gesture at himself, "Pancakes, please."

"Language, but you don't need to apologize. Skeppy mentioned he thought you would be growing some traits at some point, and I know how difficult it can be to go through it late like that."

"Nothing I couldn't handle; mans is strong,", Tommy said as he plopped down on one of the stools at the counter, thoroughly exhausted from the fifteen minute walk there.

"Mhm. Well, I'll be back out with your food in a few minutes, don't break anything."

He stuck his tongue out at Bad as he walked away, looking at Rêve when the man spoke to him.

"So you're a creeper hybrid?"

"Yeah, didn't exactly know that until the tail had basically grown in, but,", Tommy shrugged.

Rêve seemed mildly concerned by that. "How could you not know you were a hybrid? Did your parents not tell you or something?"

"Ain't got any. Don't need them, either,", Tommy paused, remembering the fact that Phil wanted to adopt him, "Well, I didn't need any, that situation is way too fucking complicated at the minute." 

          "I... see,", Rêve said, clearly not seeing.

"Why the fuck are you asking about something like that, anyways? The most the the two of us have spoken since last time I saw you was your complete lack of a response to that Ed Sheeran picture I sent."

"Because it made no sense, why would Ed Sheeran be getting closer to me?"

"That's the exact line of thinking that'll get you got. You haven't seen the music video for Shape Of You; he is not a man to be fucked with."

"Ok, but what does he have to do with literally anything?"

"Poor Rêve, one day you'll learn how this world works."

The man made a confused and exasperated noise. "What?"

"Exactly,", Tommy steamrolled past whatever response he was going to have to that, "So what's been going on with you, then? Anything interesting?"

"Nothing I can talk about, but my job has been way too stressful lately,", he sighed, sounding tired.

"How can you be stressed selling toe pics? Are your clients that demanding?"

"I don't sell my feet! I- Technically, it's a government job, and that's all I can say, but there's been too much stuff going on."

Tommy immediately wrinkled his nose at the man. "Ew, the government? I almost wish you did sell feet pics, at least then I'd be able to respect the grind."

"That sounds like something Techno would say. It's not that bad; I get to help people. Plus it pays really well."

"So do a ton of other jobs, and they don't involve working with the absolute snakes in charge of our city."

"Look, I agree with you,", Rêve sighed, "But you can't expect anything to change if you don't go in and try to fix it. Some of the city's officials are bad-"

"All of them."

"Some of them are bad, the Committee's higher-ups especially, but the best way to fix that is to try getting involved and changing it."

"That sounds naive as fuck, full offense. Any government fucker or hero I've had the misfortune of dealing with has been a massive dickhead,", Tommy scoffed, folding his arms.

"Do you think that about me?"

"I- Well no, but you're different."

He seemed surprised by that answer. "How?"

          "You haven't been a complete twat about it, I don't know. Most people flaunt the fact they could get you arrested for fucking breathing wrong near them when they work for those fuckers; they feel like they need to show off and act more important than they really are,", Tommy gestured toward Rêve, "Meanwhile, I've called you a bitch a bunch of fucking times and you've laughed about it."

"Wait, someone's tried to get you arrested for nothing?"

"Happened a few times, yeah. Most people can't handle my large amounts of wit and charm."

He didn't mention that half of those were while he was in costume and they spotted him, but having any of those instances happen when they thought he was just some kid was enough to build resentment.

"Do you have any of their names? Do you remember what they looked like?"

... Well that wasn't the reaction Tommy was expecting.

"I- No, I didn't think to ask the fucker sicking police on a seven year old for his name. Or the one on the bus that kicked the shit out of me and tried to take my phone because I got a video of him shoving someone out of a seat. Or the one that had a hero after me because he 'felt unsafe' and I 'looked like a thug' when I happened to walk past him on the opposite side of the fucking road."

"Which hero?"

"Does it matter? He had no issues chasing down a fourteen year old boy and mocking me as he threw some kind of fucking net at me; doesn't really make a difference which fucking Committee dog it was."

"Did you report it? He- Even if you had been doing something wrong, that's not how heroes are supposed to handle a situation like that,", Rêve seemed legitmately angry on his behalf.

Tommy scoffed. "The reporting system doesn't fucking work, have you ever tried to use it?"

"I- I've never needed to, but I've seen it in use."

"You need to be in certain parts of the city for it to even send, and then even if it does, you need to hope the fucker you're reporting isn't able to just pay their way out of it."

"That's... I guess I can understand why you have such an issue, then,", he gave the boy a serious look, "I promise I'll do whatever I can to fix that."

He sounded so sure of himself that Tommy barely believed him, not that the boy was actually going to tell him. "Yeah, alright, good luck with that."

          Bad came out with food not long after that, his re-appearance also changing the topic back to Tommy's hybrid features.

The demon seemed incredibly surprised by how fast he'd gotten back to normal after everything grew in, especially considering how late it'd happened.

Tommy didn't really consider multiple weeks to be 'quick', but he didn't have a frame of reference for it either.

"It usually takes two weeks or so for kids to get their instincts under control,", Bad explained, "And that time gets longer the older you are when it comes in. Skeppy told me his traits grew in when he was ten, and it still took him a month to figure everything out."

"So what I'm hearing is that I'm better than him."

"I don't think that's the point he's trying to make here,", Rêve chuckled.

"Might not be, but that's what I'm taking from it."

Bad sighed, and Rêve laughed at him.

"Moving on from that,", the demon hybrid ignored the very clear L he'd just taken, "You being a creeper hybrid explains why you like those pancakes so much, considering there's basically half a bag of sugar in them."

"And they are better for it; could honestly use more,", Tommy said as he stuffed his mouth with food.

"You might as well eat straight from the bag at this point."

"That's what I was doing for the last few weeks,", he paused, "Well, Wilbur was also getting me some cotton candy and shit like that, but beyond that I think I got through at least twenty pounds of sugar eating it by the fistful."

"Wait, seriously? That sounds either awesome or horrible,", Rêve sounded like he was considering trying it.

"It was fucking great, but everyone was forcing me to eat 'real food' as well and kept taking it from me."

"I mean, I agree it's good for you to eat some other stuff with it,", Bad chuckled, "But there isn't anything wrong with eating the sugar like that; Skeppy does that all the time. Hybrids are built differently."

"See? Like I said, mans is built different."

There was a sigh from the direction of the door. "Built wrong, more like."

"Piss off,", Tommy turned to face him with an annoyed hiss.

          Wilbur sighed again, coming over and resting his arm on the boy's head. "Can't, I've been sent to collect you so you don't do anything stupid."

"Ok, now actually piss off. I'm not going to fuck something up by going out to get some food."

"Well we can't exactly know that when you don't tell anyone where you are."

"You couldn't have fucking texted me?"

"No,", he pulled Tommy's phone out of his coat pocket, "Not when you left your phone at your apartment."

"Alright, smart-ass,", he muttered, grabbing the device from him.

"Your friends used it to contact me and see if you were at the house, and I went to get this one from them before heading here. Figured I'd check the diner before we went searching for you, Techno was going to drive along the route you usually take to our house to make sure you hadn't gotten stuck somewhere."

"Isn't he old enough he should be able to go out without telling anyone?", Rêve spoke up for him, "Like, this isn't really far from where you guys live I'm guessing, so it's not a big deal."

Wilbur gave the man a deadpan look. "Silence, focus on your OnlyFans instead of what's going on with us. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but he didn't have the tail and all before, and I'd rather make sure he doesn't bite anyone."

"Oh fuck off, I'm not about to bite a fucking stranger or something,", Tommy folded his arms with a hiss.

"Really? Because the amount of times you've bitten one of us over the course of this-"

"That's different! I at least vaguely know where you assholes have been, if I bit some random fucker on the street I might get rabies or something."

Bad hid a chuckle with the back of his hand. "Are you sure you're not the one giving the rabies?"

Tommy gasped in offense, while everyone else laughed.

"Being serious, though,", the demon hybrid said after he was done snickering at his own joke, "Are your instincts what make you want to bite people, or do you just feel like it?"

"The fuck do you take me for? Do you really think I want to sink my teeth into people?"

"You literally bit me at the mall after knowing me for like two months,", Wilbur snorted.

"Because you were being a bitch, next point."

"Alright, what about the fact that your roommates made it sound like you've been biting them since all of you were actual children? Or the fact that Quackity wasn't even surprised you tried to bite him last time he was at the house?"

"Again, that's different-"

"Wait, you guys know Quackity?", Rêve asked, very rudely interrupting him.

          Wilbur and Tommy both paused when he questioned them, looking at eachother for a moment before Tommy decided the best course of action here was to turn around and go back to eating his pancakes; Wilbur could handle the mess he caused.

The man let out a nervous chuckle, hands going in his pockets. "Oh, yeah, right. I have a habit of ignoring the news, so I forgot about all the shit involving him lately. I can't speak for Tommy on this, but I've known Q since I was nearly done highschool."

"Wait, really?", Rêve sounded interested, "That's crazy. I've known him for a few years, I'm surprised he's never mentioned you."

"We're more 'hanging out with mutual friends' type of friends than the doing things together kind, y'know?"

"Does Techno know him too?"

"Yes, but they don't exactly get along."

Tommy snorted. "That's a funny way to say they fucking hate eachother."

"Hush, child. You can't cut in when you opted to focus on your monstrosity cakes rather than the conversation."

"Die,", he hissed before going back to the aforementioned monstrosity cakes.

"So did Tommy meet him through you, then?", Rêve asked before the two of them could start arguing.

"No, he knows him through... other circumstances that, again, he would have to explain to you at some point. But for today, I think he should head home."

Tommy hissed at him again. "Holy shit, shut the fuck up. You assholes have been locking me inside for like a month, I'm not a child."

"We've been keeping an eye on you because your weird little goblin instincts have been causing problems."

"Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck-"

"Language!", Bad stopped him, reminding him of the fact that the man was even there in the first place, looking at Wilbur, "He's been normal the entire time he's been here, so I really don't think it's necessary for you to make him leave."

"Plus, if you're not legally his guardian or brother or anything, you can't make him go with you,", Rêve added in, turning so he was fully facing Wilbur.

"Maybe mind your own business, sneeze man,", Wilbur sneered at Rêve before addressing Bad's point, "And I know he's acting alright, trust me this is far better than he was when the traits first grew in, but what I'm worried about is him pushing himself while he's still recovering from the tail and shit."

Rêve looked ready to stand. "That's cool, you still can't force him to leave though."

          Tommy probably shouldn't have felt as smug about the situation as he did, but it was nice to have someone agree with him about it after literal weeks of everyone telling him it was better for him to stay in. "I'm perfectly content staying here for now, thank you very much,", he folded his arms, expressing some of that smugness directly to Wilbur, "It's almost like being forced to stay home made me want to be outside; what a weird fucking concept."

The man gave him a flat look. "You could have gone to the park if you wanted to be outside, this is the same level of inside as your apartment."

"I could have gone and fucking mugged someone as well, is that outside enough for you?"

"Please don't openly joke about commiting crimes in public,", Wilbur sighed, taking a seat on one of the other stools as he realized he wasn't winning here.

"Who said it was a joke? I'll mug you, and laugh with Techno at your multiple stab wounds."

"He wouldn't laugh, he'd avenge me."

"Do you actually believe that?"

"No, but it's fun to pretend."

The vibes were slightly less hostile after this, the discussion going from Wilbur's hypothetical murder to a bunch of other random stuff until Rêve eventually had to leave.

The green man stretched as he stood. "This has been fun,", he completely ignored Wilbur when he said that, looking directly at Tommy after, "Remember that you do actually have my number if you wanna hang out. Also remember that I meant that promise I made earlier, I don't say things I don't mean."

"Still don't think you'd be able to do anything, but ok. And yeah, it was cool talking with you again."

Rêve said goodbye to him and Bad, also giving a vague acknowledgement to Wilbur this time, before leaving to deal with whatever he was doing at like three in the afternoon.

Since they'd been there for way longer than usual at that point, Bad very politely kicked them out for the day. He didn't even make Tommy pay for the food he'd gotten, reinforcing how cool the demon hybrid was. 

          "What the fuck was that about?", Wilbur asked as they started walking to the house.

"What was what about?"

"The open hostility, whatever 'promise' he was talking about; I'm clearly missing some context here."

"Well, that first thing is because you were being a prick."

"I'm trying to look out for you, man! You forgot to bring both of your phones with you, I was worried you were still incredibly smooth brained from the creeper shit."

"Fuck you! My brain is not, and has never been, fucking 'smooth'. It's all wrinkled and gross, like it's been in the pool too long."

"No comments on that, but I will concede on the point that I was being a bit rude earlier. Now what about the second thing? He sounded all serious and shit about it."

Tommy scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Apparently he works for the government. Thinks he can change shit from a desk job."

"Wait, really? He does have an actual job?", Wilbur seemed genuinely surprised, "Wonder what Techno's going to say about that."

"Probably best we keep that between us, big man. Again, it's a government job, and Rêve seemed to know already how much Techno hates that kind of shit."

"Suppose that makes sense, since the two of them have been edgy anime rivals for a few years at this point. Still, it's odd he told you after such a short amount of time if that was a concern."

"He only said it after I accused him of having an OnlyFeets again."

Wilbur stopped walking, needing a moment to process the term 'OnlyFeets'. "I- Is that actually a website?"

"I don't fucking know, I said it because it was funny. Why, you interested in buying some toe pics?"

"Oh lord, please stop speaking,", the man had his hands over his face, and it was hard to tell if he was laughing or crying.

"No no, I will continue. Why are you so interested in paying for feet pics when they have them on twitter dot com for free? That's rather capitalistic and incredibly unpoggers of you."

The rest of the walk back consisted of Tommy tormenting Wilbur with foot jokes, while Wilbur was clearly contemplating slamming the door in his face once they got to the house.

          "Please remember to take your shoes off, you got mud everywhere last time,", Wilbur said as they got inside, sounding incredibly tired.

"And let you see my feet for free?"

"If you don't stop this, I'm going to make a bomb and throw it directly in your face."

"But if I stop, who's going to challenge you on your love of toes?"

"I will send you to the fucking shadow realm."

"But will that cure you of your disturbing enjoyment of stompers?"

Wilbur was just looking at him in silent disappointment at this point, mouth drawn in a frown.

A little over half of chat was also begging him to end the bit as well, and it was loud enough he put his hands on the sides of his head with a hiss.

"Fuck off, chat, I'll do what I-", he paused, remembering what happened last time he ignored them and letting out a frustrated grumble, "Fine, I'll stop with the feet shit."

"Huzzah, the demons come to the rescue,", Wilbur chuckled, laughing even harder when Tommy folded his arms and pouted.

"Fuck off, they haven't rescued shit. I was going to stop soon, anyways; the joke was getting stale."

"It was stale about fifteen minutes ago when you asked if I preferred 'grippers or ungulates' and I had to google what a fucking ungulate was."

"Not my fault you're uncultured."

"Silence, child,", Wilbur turned him in the direction of the livingroom, "I cannot handle this anymore."

"L, cry about it, seethe."

"Hush."

"Can't handle a bit of banter. Sad, bald man."

"We're watching Enchanto, now get moving before that changes to Hamilton again."

Tommy stuck his tongue out at him before actually going. He flopped down on the sofa that was directly facing the TV, patiently waiting for Wilbur to sit as well before trapping the man with his legs.

Wilbur sighed as he was forced to put in extra effort to lean forward and grab the remote. "Is this just how you sit now?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I swear, you're like a needy cat that demands to be on someone's lap any time they're sitting."

Tommy took offense to being called needy, while being compared to a cat, and retracted both of his legs with an annoyed hiss. "I am not needy, and I'm absolutely not like a fucking cat." 

          "You are. Little cat boy that demands attention wherever he goes."

"I will personally send you to meet god."

"He'll send me back so the little meow meow child isn't missing his brother."

"No, he would agree you're being a bitch and send you directly to hell."

"Then the devil would send me back, since he'd think your misery was funny,", he turned the movie on before setting the remote back on the table, "Either way, I win."

"The only W you own is at the start of your fucking name,", he moved so he was sitting closer to Wilbur, getting ready to shock the man if he insulted him again.

"You're just salty I called you out for being the clingy cat boy you are."

Tommy gave the man a warning hiss, thumping his tail on the sofa.

In response to this, Wilbur snorted out a laugh and grabbed him under the arms in a fairly tight hug. It caught him entirely off guard, and he tried to grab at Wilbur's wrists in an attempt to make him let go.

"Hey, what the fuck?!"

"You looked like you were going to attack, so I grabbed you like a feral cat to stop you."

"Why the fuck would you grab a cat that's trying to attack you?"

"Becuase cats are small, and easily grabbed,", he turned Tommy so he was facing the television again, "Now hush and watch the movie, she's introducing her family."

Tommy's brain borderline shut down as he was overwhelmed with the fact that he was being hugged. It was a combination of chat and instincts acting up, and it resulted in him stopping for a moment before basically melting into Wilbur's side.

He started purring loudly, struggling to focus on literally anything.

"... You alright there?", Wilbur asked, sounding confused at the sudden shift in attitude.

He looked down at him, and the two of them made eye contact for a moment before the man chuckled.

"Oh, that's what happened. They aren't giving you much of a break today, are they?"

Tommy wasn't really capable of a giving an actual response in that moment, so he let out a confused hiss.

"Your chat, the demons living rent free in your little goblin brain,", he poked Tommy in the forehead, chuckling when his arm was forcefully pulled back into optimal hug position by the hand still on his wrist, "Alright, sorry." 

          They were halfway through the movie by the time Tommy stopped laying there like a ragdoll, sitting up and letting out an annoyed hiss at the way his spine popped. "So how the fuck did you know chat caused that?"

"Hm?"

"How'd you know chat was why I got all stupid and shit?"

"You mean how they made you melt like a cat?"

"Die."

"I have my ways."

"Tell me."

"Nope."

"I'll actually bite off one of your fingers, consider this a threat."

"I hardly think this is something that warrants threats of cannibalism,", Wilbur snorted.

"I didn't say I would eat the finger, just remove it."

"If you don't follow that up with disposing of it, I can grab it and get it put back on; your threat holds no weight if you don't finish the job."

"Tell me how you knew it was chat before I bite off you hand and shove it up your ass."

"See? Now that's a threat. The answer remains no, however."

Tommy hissed in frustration. "Stop being a bitch and tell me."

"How am I meant to remain cool and mysterious if I reveal my secrets?"

"It's not healthy to lie to yourself like that, Wilbur. Maybe you'd actually be cool if you told me, though."

The man rolled his eyes. "Fuck off. Look, if I told you, then Techno would know what I look for when I'm calling him out on his bullshit. He likes to use chat as an excuse for shit even when they haven't done anything. And I know he's upstairs listening to us right now, so I'm keeping my fucking mouth shut."

"We can take a walk or something, then."

"Who said I even wanted to tell you?", Wilbur folded his arms with a smug look on his face, "Maybe I want to be able to call you out as well if you lie about it."

"I'm not a bitch, so I wouldn't do that."

"Still no. Maybe if you behave yourself for the remainder of the movie, I'll tell you."

Tommy contemplated mauling him, but settled for glaring as he quietly plotted revenge for being talked down to.

"Don't look at me like that. I won't test my luck trying to grab you again, but don't think I'll hesitate to get the spray bottle."

"If you hit me with your shitty fucking dollar store spray bottle again, I'll actually send you to the hospital."

"I'm quaking in my boots, rest assured,", Wilbur sounded more amused than anything else, "Completely petrified."

"You're making fun of me."

"No, if I were to do that, I'd make fun of you spending the better part of an hour laying against me and purring."

"That was not a fucking hour."

"My mistake; forty-five minutes."

Chat split on a decision, with half of them calling him a cat boy while the other half wanted him to bite Wilbur.

He was sprayed in the face with water, not ice water this time at least, letting out a hiss as he shook his head. 

          "Ah- What the fuck man?!", Tommy recoiled, brain catching up again, "I wasn't even doing anything!"

"You were clearly getting ready to."

"If you spray me again, I'm going to have Tubbo help me yank your bones out of your skin and display them on a shelf. I'll go out and steal a trophy case for them and everything."

"Aw, Tommy, you think my bones are valuable enough for a trophy case?"

"Yeah, of course. It's normal to display fossils."

"I'm not old! You'd have a point if you called Phil's bones fossils, but I'm not old!"

"Yes you are. Old bald man, sad, crunchy old fucker with creaky knees and wrinkles and shit."

"Annoying child, portable phone charger, pikachu, cat boy-"

Tommy hissed at him, kicking him repeatedly in the leg. "Fuck you! I'm not a cat boy!"

"Yes you are; you're a meow meow one might say,", Wilbur was hitting him back in retaliation.

He bit the man's hand, using his shirt to wipe the small amount of blood he'd drawn out of his mouth with a disgusted hiss. "That's why your blood tastes like shit; it's old and gross. Probably has mold in it."

"There isn't any mold in my blood, child."

"Alright, and I'm not a child or a fucking cat boy. Technically, you won't even be able to call me the first one soon, either."

"What, is your birthday coming up?"

"Yeah, what a shame. You'll loose your main pillar for bullying."

"When is it?"

"None of your fucking business."

"No, I'm serious, when is it? Because if you're over eighteen when Phil adopts you, that's going to change the paperwork and shit we need."

Tommy paused, since he'd honestly forgotten about the adoption stuff with everything else that'd been going on. "I- Being fair, I haven't given an answer on that yet."

"Oh, right,", Wilbur sounded disappointed by that, and it made Tommy feel mildly guilty even though he knew that wasn't the man's intent.

"I just- With all the other shit going on, I haven't had the chance to properly think on it,", he tried to backpedal some, "I'm- Obviously that'd be something I want, but I'm not sure if it'd be worth it to deal with all the legal shit."

"Is that what you're worried about?"

That was only part of it, there were alot of other reasons he hadn't decided what he was going to do yet, but he wasn't going to get into that with Wilbur.

"Mostly, yes. Since we'd have to get all the fake papers and shit beforehand as well."

"It won't be that hard to sort out; we're willing to put in the effort for you."

The way it'd been phrased tugged at Tommy's heart, and he looked away from Wilbur and back at the television. "... I know. I'll give you an answer soon, just... not today."

"Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise,", he moved so he was sitting against his brother again, watching the rest of the movie before asking him to start it over since he'd missed the majority of it.

~-~

          Tommy eventually left later that night, successfully convincing Wilbur that he could walk home alone without his instincts acting up.

He needed the time to think, and a quiet walk though the city at night was a good time to do that. The whole adoption thing had gotten shoved to the side with the Schlatt stuff and his traits growing in, and he hadn't even really thought about it since it'd been brought up initially.

He wanted to say yes, but... Outside of what he'd said to Wilbur earlier, there was also Tubbo and Ranboo. It almost felt like he was betraying them, somehow, even if he knew that wasn't the case.

"This is fucking annoying, why can't shit be simple?", he muttered to himself, taking a turn down a mildly dark alleyway to avoid a street with people on it.  

DADZA  

Okay hear me out! Phil should adopt all three!!  

well it's not like you say yes to family and suddenly no more friends imo kekw  

Bite.  

be independent girlbossin  

It's ok mate <3  

Do it  

YOU AIN'T BETRAYING THEM YOUR FINDING PEOPLE WHO WILLING TO ADD ANOTHER FAMILY <33  

maybe tubbo and ranboo can get adopted too, tripple adoption  

I miss beeboy and boobman, we never talk anymore :( plus wilburs always mean to them  

YOOO 4/4 FAMILY SOON  

Go little German boy go  

Please for the love of god COMMUNICATE WITH RANBOO AND TUBBO JUST TALK IT OUT  

Yes *happy emojis*  

I mean, you're becoming an adult soon anyways so there's no point in getting adopted  

Dadza  

Imagine being and orphan L  

Tell em  

MM KILL KILL KILL MMM MURDER MMMM VIOLENCE  

Piss  

besties 4lyfers  

Crime brothers  

I'd say it's high time to have a conversation abt this. Get it over w now and all that jazz y'know?  

But like.... Dadza  

Well, how much whould being adopted actually affect you life and relationship with them?  

ADOPTIONNNNNNNNNN  

just bring them all with you duh *eye roll emoji*  

Well the obvious step is to talk to them about it.  

Do what you heat says is right  

Just let it happen, man, the other two will be fine  

Creeper boy go brrrrrrrrrrrrr  

No adopt only bench trio  

maybe tubbo and ranboo can get adopted too, triple adoption

          "No, I'm definately going to say yes,", he agreed with chat on that part, hoping no one was around to hear him talking to himself, "I'm not sure if anyone would go for the idea of adopting all three of us, though."

Outside of the fact that Tubbo and Ranboo were both already eighteen at that point, he had a very strong feeling that neither of them would want that.

They were completely fine with saying Schlatt was their dad, and so was he, but... Was there a way for him to have two dads? Outside of Phil and Schlatt getting married or something? Could he convince them to do that?

No, that'd be weird.

Tommy was honestly more attatched to Wilbur and Techno than he was to Phil anyways, and that was an entirely different can of worms, but maybe Schlatt wouldn't take it personally if he explained it like that?

Was it him overthinking if he was worried about his current family just dropping him because he was branching out to new people?

Ok, maybe not 'dropping', but it might cause a rift of some kind, and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to handle that.

Chat thought that talking to them was the best idea, and he agreed; hiding stuff is what caused a good portion of the bullshit before.

'Them' in this case being exclusively Tubbo and Ranboo, since he really didn't want Schlatt to find out too soon.

Tommy was abruptly pulled out of his thoughts as he walked directly into someone, fully prepared to stab a bitch since it was like ten p.m. and he was alone in a dark back alley.

He very quickly realized he'd bumped into Dream, and took several startled steps away from the hero.

Dream held up his hands in what was probably meant to be a calming motion. "Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you, just wanted to make sure you were ok. You didn't respond when I tried to talk to you, so I was worried something was wrong."

"I'm fine, you can go now,", he held back the more colourful things he wanted to add on to that, treading carefully so his list of problems didn't end up with a new addition.

"You know it's dangerous to be out this late, right? Not to mention the fact that there's a curfew-"

          "I'll be eighteen in a month, are you seriously going to drag my ass to jail over curfew?", Tommy asked, although given how some of the heroes could be, that wouldn't surprise him very much, "I'm going home, and I'm not doing anything wrong so you have no reason to be harassing me."

"I'm not 'harassing' you, I'm doing my job as a hero and making sure a citizen is alright."

He stepped around the hero, making sure he left a wide enough radius that he could run if he had to. "Yeah, well I'm alright, thanks. Why don't you go actually do your job and stop a mugging or something?"

"As far as I'm concerned, my assigned area for tonight is good; there's nothing to stop."

There was alot that could have been said in response to that, even outside of the fact that a single sweep of an area wasn't enough to tell if it was clear or not.

Instead of trying to explain that to him and risk getting arrested for 'obstruction' or something like that, Tommy turned to look at him again. "So find something else to do, then? Bothering some rando on the street seems like a waste of time when you're meant to be 'protecting the city'."

"Why don't I walk you home, to make sure you stay safe?", Dream asked with awkwardness bad enough to rival Techno.

"Fuck no,", Tommy answered before he could stop himself, immediately trying to cover his ass, "I mean- No thanks, I should be fine. I live in a middle district, not very likely for me to be stabbed outside of my apartment building."

"Come on, it'll weigh on my conscience if I let you walk alone this late. No offense, but you look like you'd get folded in half by a strong breeze."

He kept from going off at him, fighting the very strong urge to shock the hero and run. "I can defend myself just fine, prick."

"I doubt you've actually had to be in a fight outside of school before, and I really doubt you know how to defend yourself from someone with a weapon."

"Believe what you want, but I'm not comfortable with you following me home like a creep,", Tommy started walking again, wanting to get out of there before he managed to push his luck any further than he already had.

          Dream, unfortunately, started following him. "I'm not a 'creep', I'm a hero trying to do my job and keep you safe."

"I feel considerably less safe now than I did five minutes ago before you started bothering me."

"Ok, well...", the man seemed to need a minute to figure out how to respond to that, "You're alot safer with me than you were without."

"That's extremely fucking debatable."

"I'm serious! No one's going to mess with you if you've got the number-one hero next to you."

"The only person messing with me is you."

"I'm not messing with you, I'm helping."

Dream started trying to make small talk after that, going ignored as Tommy got his phone out.

He made sure he had it angled so Dream couldn't see as he went to text Techno. 'So before you say any snarky shit, I may seriously need some help.'

'Chat or creeper related?'

'Fucking hero related. Dream is following me for some reason and I am neither dressed up or causing problems.'

'Does he know you know he's there?'

'Yeah, he came up to me acting all concerned and shit like "oh I'm just doing my job, you know it's dangerous here right?" like a bitch. And then I told him to piss off so now he's following me and talking about random shit.'

'He seem like he knows who you are?'

'Unless he's playing 4d chess, no.'

'Location.'

He checked one of the street signs he'd walked past a few times now, sending the name on it to Techno.

"Are you lost? We've been going in circles,", Dream asked, sounding worried.

"Trust me, I know how to get to my own fucking home. I'm just hoping that the fucking weirdo following me around leaves before I actually go there."

"And I already told you, I'm not leaving until I'm sure you get home safe."

"Isn't it illegal for you fuckers to stick near people unless you plan on arresting them?"

"Only if that peron is over the age of eighteen,", Dream sounded annoyingly smug, "Which you already admitted you aren't."

"So you're a weirdo who like to follow kids around, then?"

"Don't phrase it like that, it makes me sound creepy."

Tommy didn't say anything, just looking at him.

The hero folded his arms. "Hey! Like I said, I'm just making sure you get home without getting stabbed or something." 

          He held himself back from making a comment he'd regret, stopping and matching Dream's posture. "I promise I'll be fine. Even if someone does try some shit, which again they won't, I can just run the fuck away. Believe it or not, but most of the assholes stealing wallets and shit aren't willing to chase after someone that seems like more effort than they're worth."

"Wait, have you been mugged before?"

"No, because I ran the fuck away."

Dream clearly didn't believe him, his annoyingly plain mask radiating doubt. "That's not something that'd work more than once."

"It's worked six times so far, actually. If I didn't know you'd be able to outrun me, I would have employed that tactic tonight as well."

That was only a partial lie, since he knew Dream could outrun him on the ground; rooftops were fair game.

The hero could run faster than him, but he wasn't nearly as good at jumping. That's why whenever Dream was the one chasing him, he did his best to use roofs, abandoned buildings, and alleyways to gain distance and lose him.

"I just don't get why you're being so difficult about this, considering I could probably look you up in the database if I really wanted to."

Tommy dug his fingers into his upper arms to keep himself calm, mildly worried that 'threat' was serious. "I would definately consider that harassment, since I haven't done anything that would warrant that."

"Wait, no- I wasn't saying I was gonna do that, sorry. I was just-", Dream sighed, "I'm not exactly used to talking to people one-on-one; I'm sort of out of my element here."

... Now that was kinda surprising, actually. "Really? The top hero doesn't know how to talk to people?", Tommy asked, cautiously throwing him a bone hoping he'd elaborate.

"Not really, no. I only really have to talk with my team or the Committee higher-ups, so if I'm not addressing an entire crowd, I have no idea how to talk to civilians. Well- Unless it's a rescue scenario, but normal conversation is a loss for me."

Chat was on the same page as Tommy was, offering the hero absolutely no pity as he quietly snorted. He remembered Dream had super senses, though, and covered the laugh with a cough.

          Thankfully, before he was able to actually make fun of Dream and get himself arrested or something, Techno came to the rescue.

'Coming to the rescue' meaning that the Blade very obviously jumped the gap between some buildings in front of them and caught Dream's attention.

Tommy had to pretend to be startled by this. "Oh, shit; you should probably deal with that."

"Shoot, yeah,", the hero took a few steps in that direction, "Run the other way, and please actually go home so you don't get caught up in anything."

He had to hold in a sigh of relief as the hero left, legging it to his apartment and letting out an annoyed hiss when he walked directly into Ranboo at the door.

The enderman hybrid was on the phone, and looked like he was in the process of leaving. "Oh, wait, there he is."

"What, miss me now that I'm not stuck in here?"

"No, I was starting to get worried with how long you were taking to get back, and then Tubbo called to see if you mentioned anything to me about the top three being out tonight; there was a Blade sighting. Do you know anything about it?"

"... So about that-"

"Oh, wait,", Ranboo interrupted him as he listened to something Tubbo was saying over the phone, "Tubbo wants us to go to the base first."

"Alright, give me a fucking second to prepare for that, I just sprinted here."

"Why were you running?"

"Some stupid shit happened, boob boy."

"You gonna elaborate on that, or?"

"Once we get to the base, yeah,", Tommy said as he looped his arm around his friend's.

Ranboo eventually realized that was his way of saying he was good to warp, and the tall boy teleported into the computer room at the base.

"So, I'm going to preface by saying I was doing absolutely nothing wrong,", Tommy started, shrinking back some as Tubbo looked at him, "And Dream decided he wanted to fucking follow me."

He explained the whole situation, getting stopped when he got to the part where he asked Techno to come help him.

"Why didn't you contact one of us? I could have made some fake alerts, or had Ranboo go out and grab his attention or something."

"Chat fucking- It wasn't exactly my choice, alright? Chat decided for me and I had to go along with it."

"So they're the ones that did it? They forced you to message Techno and not us?", the short boy asked, trying to get clarification. 

          "Yes, otherwise I would have just had Ranboo fucking teleport in and punch that asshole or something."

"I doubt that would have gone well, but alright,", Tubbo sighed, "There must be a reason Dream took interest in you, so we'll have to keep an eye out for him in the future. You holding back from shocking him or something is enough proof for me to believe you've got your instincts in check, at least."

"I already told you that, dickhead."

"You and I both know you have a tendency to downplay stuff."

"I'm going to downplay your fucking pulse-"

Ranboo interrupted before he could finish his threat. "Your instincts calming down is a good thing, because that means all you need to do is learn how to hide your features and we can go on jobs again."

"Why the fuck would I need to hide them? I wear a mask, so it's not like any of the heroes are going to be able to see my eyes and shit,", he folded his arms, "Plus, it seems like a bad idea for me to hide that shit while also trying to fight; since that takes a ton of fucking effort."

"Well, you haven't been hiding them when you go out normally, so it'll be kinda sus if Ripper also happens to be a creeper hybrid when he shows up again. Anyone that knows us is immediately gonna know something's up, and since Dream's seen you like that now too he'll have it in his mind when he sees you again."

Tommy wanted to tell Ranboo that that was stupid, before taking a second to think and accepting the fact that he was right. "That's fucking annoying, but fine."

"I can help you with it tomorrow, if you want?"

"Sure, that works. The sooner we do that shit, the sooner I can get back to electrocuting people."

"So now that that's settled and we know you're alright, I think we should head home and call it a night,", Tubbo yawned, getting up from his computer and walking over to them.

"Agreed, I'm fucking exhausted,", Tommy grabbed onto Ranboo again, "Today has been a fucking mess."

"Anything else happen outside of the Dream thing?"

"Uh, yeah,", he paused for the teleport, hoping his nerves weren't showing in his voice, "I- You're both probably going to want to sit down for this."

He was saying that beause he wasn't sure how they'd react, and it would be far easier to escape Tubbo if the short boy was sitting.

"That doesn't inspire confidence,", Tubbo said as he sat at the kitchen table. 

          "Well I already know you're not going to like it, but you also can't act like this shit is coming out of nowhere since I told you about it before,", Tommy took a deep breath, hyping himself up to actually say it, "I've decided to say yes to getting adopted."

Ranboo looked incredibly confused. "Wait, what? Who's adopting you?"

"Wilbur's family, Ph- Crow, to be more specific. I entirely fucking forgot you weren't told about that; figured Tubbo would have filled you in."

"I fucking forgot that was something that might happen,", Tubbo was keeping his tone level, "Why are you even going through with it? Your birthday is in what, like three weeks? There's not really a point to it."

"I want to be part of their family,", Tommy blurted out before he could stop himself.

"... Right."

He immediately tried to backtrack so he could explain himself better. "I- No, listen, obviously we're still family as well, you know that. I won't leave unless you want me to, but I-"

"No, it's alright, I already know your reasoning,", Tubbo interrupted him, "I'm not mad at you for it, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't upset. That being said, I'm not going to go out of my way to ruin it if it means enough to you that you're going through with it."

Tommy almost felt bad about being surprised by that response, but considering how Tubbo had acted about everything else lately, this was entirely out of left field.

"Uh, I have no idea when this became a thing, but I agree with what Tubbo said,", Ranboo nodded, still sounding confused.

He felt incredibly guilty that he'd forgotten to tell the tall boy himself. "I- This is something that was brought up months ago. Tubbo was told about it when my chat acted up during the Schlatt shit."

He gave a quick recap about the whole thing, also finally revealing to Tubbo that the whole idea had actually been brought up right after he learned the other three's identities.

Tubbo stood once Tommy was done talking, walking toward his room. "Alright, that's enough for tonight, I think. I need sleep."

"And you swear you're not mad at me over this?"

"Not you, no,", the short boy gave Tommy a hug, "Goodnight."

"Yeah, night."

Ranboo also hugged him on the way past, squishing him. "I'll wake you up so we can work on the hybrid stuff tomorrow, if you aren't up on your own at a reasonable time."

"Fuck you, noon is completely reasonable."

"You're wrong, but goodnight."

Chapter Text

          Ranboo really shouldn't have been surprised that Tommy locked his bedroom door, since he told the other boy ahead of time that he planned on waking him up earlier than usual.

Although at the same time, it really wasn't much of an obstacle since he was able to just ignore it and teleport through. He grabbed Tommy's pillow and hit him with it a few times before quickly warping backwards out of shocking range. "Wake up."

"Fuck 'ff,", Tommy let out an annoyed hiss, "'m tired."

"So you don't wanna learn how to hide your ears and stuff?"

"No, they look cool,", he muttered into his bed as he pulled his blankets up to substitute for his missing pillow.

"You can't do crimes if you don't learn how to hide those,", Ranboo had to keep himself from laughing, "Don't you want to go back to stealing stuff?"

"Can steal like this."

"What, from your bed?"

"Mhm."

Ranboo got closer so he could grab the blanket next. "There isn't  anything in here for you to steal, it's all yours already."

"'ll steal your stuff, bitch."

"You still have to get up to do that,", he said, waiting a moment before ripping Tommy's blanket away like the chord of a beyblade.

The creeper hybrid let out a startled hiss, getting pulled halfway out of the bed when he refused to let go. "What the fuck, man?!"

"Oh look, you're up!", Ranboo took several large steps back, "There's already food in the kitchen for you, we'll start working on the hybrid stuff after you eat."

Tommy sat up on the floor, glaring at him. "I fucking hate you."

"I'd be worried if you didn't."

He teleported back out of the room, and once Tommy was done with his breakfast the two of them went into the bathroom to use the mirror.

"So you tried this already before, right?"

Tommy immediately looked uncomfortable. "Uh, yeah, a couple times."

"Wait, really? I thought it was just that time when Wilbur was here."

"I- The second time didn't go very well,", he crossed his arms, "Chat was upset with me about something, and they made sure I knew that."

Whatever it was clearly made Tommy upset, even if he was trying to hide that, but Ranboo felt like he should probably know about it. "What happened?" 

          "They wanted me to do something else, and since they couldn't decide on it I told them to go fuck themselves and went in here to try messing with my features. They didn't fucking like that, obviously, and got super fucking loud and scared the shit out of me,", Tommy shuddered.

Ranboo was confused. "Don't they get loud sometimes normally anyways?"

"This was so fucking different! They- It wasn't words or anything, they just made noise."

"Oh. That doesn't sound very fun, actually."

"No, it wasn't. But so far it seems like they're alright with it today, so it should be fine."

"... Shouldn't we be worried about the fact that they literally forced you to do something you didn't want to?"

"I- Well it's not like it was something I didn't want originally, but they wanted me to do both so I chose neither."

"Ok, but they still forced-"

"Look, are we going to fucking do this or not?"

Tommy either didn't realize or didn't care about how concerning that was, and Ranboo wasn't really sure how to explain it to him.

So instead, he sighed and nodded. "Yeah, no, let's get started. What'd you work out on your own before?"

"I looked in the mirror, thought really hard, and one of my eyes was 'normal' again before I fell the fuck over."

"Ok, so you were kinda on the right track; it makes sense that you could only get an eye if that's how you were doing it. You need to picture them how they would look on someone who's fully human, but you also need to kinda imagine where the stuff goes when you're doing that."

Tommy looked lost. "That was literally just words, you just spoke words at me."

"Uh- Yeah? That's how talking works?"

"No, because people are meant to make sense when they speak. That didn't."

"So, um... Ok so my tail, for example,", Ranboo turned so his back was facing Tommy, "If I want to hide it, I imagine it going into a little box in my bu- back, and..."

The tail disappeared.

"That sounds fucking stupid."

"It kinda is, but that's how I figured it out on my own as a kid so there's probably better ways to explain it than that. Why don't you try?"

"Alright,", Tommy sounded unsure, taking a deep breath before looking at his own tail in the mirror.

It took a minute, but it also eventually disappeared.

"Yo, nice job!"

"Holy shit!", Tommy moved in a circle, trying to look at his own butt, "It's fucking gone! Doesn't feel quite right for it to not be there now."

"I know what you mean, but it's something you get used to. Why don't we work on your ears next? Yours are alot pointier than mine, so I think they'll be harder for me to help with."

"Surely it won't be that bad. It's the same shit as with the tail, right?"

"Uh, kinda?", Ranboo tried to figure out how he wanted to phrase it, "I picture mine rounding out, but I know they only have a little point at the tip; you've got full blown elf ears." 

          "Fuck you, I'm not a fucking elf,", Tommy folded his arms with an offended hiss as the elf ears in question dipped.

"I could have called you a cat, since you show your emotions like one."

"You will meet god. Compare me to one of those fucking things again-"

"Actually, wait, you being a creeper hybrid explains why you hate cats so much."

"I don't need an explanation; they're awful, and gross, and ugly, and, and-"

"No, but think about it,", Ranboo interrupted him again, "Cats were domesticated because they kept creepers out of towns when they were still an actual issue, right? Because creepers are scared of cats."

"Alright, but I'm not scared of them, I think they're horrible and need to die."

"I mean, your fear response is to get really loud and try to bite things, so-"

"I'll bite you if you don't get back to helping me figure this shit out."

"Sorry, sorry. But right, uh, try picturing your ears shrinking, maybe? If that doesn't work, we can figure something else out."

Tommy's attention went to the mirror again, his focus on his ears as he sat there looking constipated for a few minutes. It worked, but his tail popped back out along with the ears returning after less than a second.

He sighed, looking completely exhausted. "Holy shit, that was hard. I don't think that one's going to work for me."

"Yeah, we might need to think of a different tactic for those. Probably a good idea for us to take a break."

"Fuck you, I'm fine! I'm not about to pass out or something this fucking early into this."

"I'm less worried about you passing out and more worried about you hurting yourself somehow."

"Literally fucking how?"

"I feel like you'd find a way."

"Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck-"

Ranboo zoned out while chat decided whether or not they should take a break, paying attention again when they agreed that he should make Tommy stop for a bit.

"-k you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck y-"

"I'm not saying we're done, I just want you to sit down and drink some water or something before we try again,", Ranboo interrupted the string of profanity.

"But I don't want to."

"Don't care,", he gently but firmly made Tommy sit down at the edge of the tub, "Get ratio'd."

"Don't fucking ratio me in my own home."

"Then don't try to push yourself when you literally don't have to."

Tommy stuck his tongue out at him, folding his arms. "Fuck you."

"We need to get you a swear thesaurus or something."

"... Does that exist?"

"Probably; we can look online for one." 

          That distraction took long enough that Ranboo deemed Tommy rested, and they continued trying on the hybrid stuff; the next couple hours getting spent going between attempting to hide the younger of the two's ears and then trying to find a book or something that contained nothing but swear words when he needed to stop.

Some of the tactics they tried for the features worked better than others, but all of them left Tommy feeling pretty tired after only a few moments. They decided to take a proper break around noon, heading back into the main part of the apartment for some lunch.

"Any luck?", Tubbo asked from the kitchen area when they entered the livingroom, leaning on the counter.

"No,", Tommy plopped down on the couch, "This is so fucking stupid."

Ranboo sat next to him. "I wouldn't say no luck, since you can hide your tail pretty easily. It's the ears giving us problems."

"Yeah, but those are what's going to cause the most issue; I can tuck my tail into my clothes, the fuck am I meant to do with the ears?"  

Guys hear me out, what if he leaves them out but whenever someone asks why his ears Are like that, he says they are for a cosplay or smth LMAOHDBDNDNDNDJ  

Make your hood bigger idk  

Cry  

Ask Warden  

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEREEREEEEEEEEEREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

Ear muffs. Duh. Come on guys  

Cut them off :D 

Beanieinnit. Hatinnit. Furryinnit. Cosplayinnit. I-got-hit-by-someones-powersinnit. Catboyinnit.  

BEANIE  

Headphones or mayhaps a hat  

Crazy pink wig  

GIVE HIM A FROGGY HAT  

Hat! Hat! Hat!  

hat  

Embrace it surely there are other hybrids with ears as pointy as Tommy's  

Fold the ears in half(for hiding magically) but just wear a beanie bruv not that hard  

Maybe look at human ears while trying?  

beanie type hat?  

He could just wear a hood  

Cry or smth idk  

cat boy cat boy cat boy cat boy cat boy cat boy cat boy cat boy cat boy cat boy cat boy cat boy cat boy cat boy cat boy  

A hat, Wilby style  

He's supposed to find his own way. He's on his own, dude. Also EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  

HOOD YOULL OFFICAL BE A RED ROBIN HOOD  

Het  

Nothing he's a catboy forever now or wear a hat or a mask that covers his head *shrug emoji*  

MMMMMMBEEPBEEPMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMBEEPMMMMMMMMMMMMMM  

instead of imagining them fully disappearing, maybe shrink them so they look like elf ears?  

          Ranboo immediately grabbed the sides of his head. "A hat? Beanie- No, a bigger hood. Uh- cat boy, cat boy, cat boy- oh god."

He curled in on himself, everything suddenly incredibly loud and awful as a headache formed. Someone touched his arm, and he teleported to his and Tubbo's room on instinct while he tried to make his brain process things again.

He vaguely registered it when he landed on the floor, scooting into the nearest corner and curling up again as things slowly quieted down.

After a few minutes, the door to the bedroom opened and Tommy cautiously entered. "Are you alright?"

"I, um- Yeah, I think? I think chat acted up."

"I could have fucking guessed that. You aren't feeling murderous or anything, are you?"

He had to think about all of what he'd just been assaulted with. "No, I don't think any of them were saying anything about murder. It was- Most of them were saying you should wear a hat to cover your ears, actually."

"And what was the 'cat boy' shit about?"

"Oh, that's you,", Ranboo said before immediately moving past it, "They also said something about folding your ears in instead of shrinking them? Like, doing that to fit it under your hood if you don't want to get a hat or something."

"That's not a bad idea, actually. Wouldn't be the hardest thing in the world to wear a hat with my shit. Wilbur wears one with his villain costume, though; might accuse me of copying him."

"I mean, we kinda did copy them-"

"No, we are original and unique and very poggers."

They were both quiet for a moment before Tommy sat down in front of him. "Seriously, are you alright?"

"I am, I think. I- The voices are definately not something I'm used to yet, but it's calmed down now. Minus the headache. I think mine are probably different from yours, since I haven't heard them get all violent or whatever like yours do."

"That makes sense, you're alot calmer than me and- than I am, so I'm not surprised that yours are more rational."

"I'm also not as strong as you, so they also probably don't see a point in making me go out and cause problems."

"Bullshit, you're incredibly fucking powerful. You could probably teleport up to a hero and shank them before they could retaliate if you really wanted to." 

          "I- Why would I want to do that, though?", Ranboo was confused by the point he was trying to make.

"You don't, but you could. The fact you don't is why your chat doesn't either. They only usually do shit you would do, even if it's not something you actively want in that moment."

"How do you know so much about this? If I had to deal with it on my own, I think I'd lose my mind."

"I, uh,", Tommy was avoiding eye contact, "It's easy to figure out, after a while."

"Yeah, but-"

"I think I'm going to try the ear folding idea, as fucked up as that sounds like it'll look. I should be fine on my own, take some time to calm down after dealing with chat. Bye bye now,", he spoke pretty fast as he left the room, not giving Ranboo a chance to respond.

The enderman hybrid blinked a few times, processing all of the words before sighing.

While he was mildly worried about Tommy pushing himself too hard if there wasn't someone there to keep an eye on him, he also couldn't deny that his head was still pounding and the room was spinning. He sat there for another moment before pulling himself up off of the floor, heading back to the livingroom and flopping down on the couch like Tommy had earlier.

"You good, bossman?", Tubbo asked, clearly concerned.

"Oh, uh, yeah,", Ranboo flipped so he was laying on his back, "The voices acted up."

"I figured. Tommy said they were giving you ideas on what to do with his ears."

"Yeah, most of them said he should wear a hat or something; he compared himself to Bombarde when I mentioned it."

Tubbo immediately tensed at the mention of the other villain, looking in the direction of the bathroom to make sure Tommy had the door closed before speaking. "What are your thoughts in the situation with the big three, like actually? Are you really ok with just... letting them take him from us like that?"

"No, honestly. I'm- It hurts, kinda, that he even wants to do that,", Ranboo took a deep breath, "But I get it, I think. If Schlatt was able to adopt us legally, I know I'd want that." 

          "That would be all three of us, and we know we can trust Schlatt; what do the two of us know about the top three?"

"Well, we know they're sociopathic murderers with a collective kill count that almost rivals Schlatt-"

Tubbo interrupted him with a stressed groan.

"But,", he continued, "I also think they're genuine when they say they care about him."

It wasn't a fact that brought him any comfort, but it was a fact by that point. The other villains had made it pretty clear when they were dealing with the creeper stuff that they cared about Tommy, and unless they were all really good actors, even when they thought no one was looking, Ranboo believed them.

He and Tubbo hadn't interacted with Crow extensively, but Tommy had told them enough about when he was at their house for them to know that the former hero was at least vaguely interested in making sure Tommy was alright.

The only reason Ranboo believed that part was because they learned about it from listening to Tommy complain.

"But we care about him!", Tubbo quickly checked to make sure the bathroom door was still closed before speaking again at a lower volume, "I just... Are we not good enough anymore? Are we- Does he need more than what we can give him?"

"I don't think it's that? To me, it looks like he met some new people, got way too attached, and doesn't know how to handle it so he's going with what they want."

"He's met plenty of people before, and I seriously doubt he'd be ready to let any of them steal him like that."

Ranboo was quiet for a moment. "I know. I have no idea what he's thinking, I don't think I ever really do. But I know that this is his choice, and we need to respect it."

"I know that, I just- Yeah, yeah,", Tubbo sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Even if he's legally in their family, he's still part of ours. That won't change."

"And if it does, I'll break his legs Misery style and make him stay in the apartment."

"Maybe don't go that far."

"I'll do it, he acts like a bastard I'll lock him in a crate like I was joking about when his instincts were still an issue."

"Don't do that either."

~-~

          The conversation devolved into the ethics of folding him again, and then boring computer stuff, so Tommy stopped listening. He hated how good his hearing was, sometimes.

That clearly wasn't something he was meant to listen in on, but he couldn't stop himself once they got into their real feelings. It hurt to know they hadn't told him what they were actually thinking, but he understood why.

They weren't trying to stop him, even though they clearly wanted to, and were respecting his choices despite neither being on board with it. The only thing he could really do here was stick to what he wanted, and make sure they knew they were still just as important to him as they always had been.

Tommy used both hands to lightly smack himself a few times, getting back on track with hiding his features; if he left the bathroom without making at least some progress, they would know he'd been eavesdropping.

"Right,", he sighed, making eye contact with himself in the mirror, "Ears small enough to cram into a hat."

He stood there glaring at them for a solid few minutes before sighing, shoulders slumping.

It shouldn't be that hard to do, surely. He'd hid his tail just fine, doing literally anything to the ears shouldn't be causing this much trouble.

Tommy let out an annoyed hiss before trying again, switching tactics slightly. He stuck his ears back so they were against the sides of his head, taking a deep breath before imagining he was folding in the tips without moving the base. It took a stupid amount of effort, but he could see the tops of them rounding off and shrinking slightly.

This was fine for a total of ten seconds before he got incredibly dizzy and needed to grip the edge of the sink to keep himself from falling.

His ears stayed the way they were, though, which was definately progress.

Chat encouraged him to get them down more, and he strained to do so until they were at a point he thought would be easy to cover with a hat or something. He felt like they wanted him to get the tail at the same time, too, so he took a deep breath before imagining it coiling up in his back like he had before.

The effort from both left him completely depending on the counter to keep himself standing, but he was still standing, so he counted that as a victory.

He was then startled by Tubbo opening the bathroom door, falling on his ass as his features all went back to default.

"Shit, sorry bossman,", the short boy helped him up, "You alright?"

Tommy let out a disgruntled hiss. "Fuck you, I was focussing."

"Like I said, sorry. I wanted to check on you; you were being concerningly quiet."

"I'll make you quiet. With a knife."

Tubbo completely ignored the threat. "We're ordering pizza, what kind do you want?"

He sighed, deciding he could probably use an actual break anyways. "Get me that fucking cookie pizza they've got."

~-~-~

          It only took a week for Tommy to get his features reigned in enough that Tubbo would let him go out and cause problems, some of that time also going to making himself a hat to go with his villain stuff so he could hide his ears better.

That issue being taken care of only meant one thing: it was crime time.

Schlatt wanted to look for a good place to set his new base of operations up, and Quackity needed some time to get the more obvious bugs out of Las Nevadas, so he was killing two birds with one stone here by creating a distraction.

Three birds, honestly, since his chosen method of distraction was busting into ATMs.

Their extended break had really drained their money reserves, and the rent fund especially was getting lower than any of them were comfortable with.

It was also fun to steal money and break shit, but as always that was only a side benefit. Tommy was three machines in when he was stopped, the sound of someone dropping behind him alerting him of their presence before they spoke.

"Ripper,", the vigilante sounded out of breath, "You have something of mine."

He snickered as he turned to face Revive, closing the bag he'd been shoving money into. "TwoTone has it, actually. Do you only come out when I'm fucking with ATMs?"

"I need that glove back, man. My dad is pissed at me."

"I don't see how that's my problem."

"You're the one that took it!"

"Yeah, but from the sounds of it, you shouldn't have even had it in the first place,", Tommy stuck his hands behind his head, "So it's your fault I took it."

Revive unclipped something from his waistband, a small cylinder extending into a staff. "Get your friend here and give me back my glove."

"Or what?"

"Or, I'll beat your ass bad enough that he has to come get you."

Tommy chuckled as he turned on his limiters. "Really? You'd have to hit me to do that."

"Trust me, that won't be a problem."

Tommy made the first move, hands getting blocked as he tried to go for any exposed skin he could see.

          Revive twirled his weapon, hitting the villain's hands away before trying to smack him in the head. The staff was surprisingly sturdy, considering it was collapsible, and Tommy was pushed back as the vigilante attacked again.

He grabbed it when he was swung on again, trying to send electricity up the thing.

"It's non-conductive,", Revive shook the weapon free, "I knew I'd be going after you again at some point."

"It's literally been fucking months, how long have you been failing to get me?"

"I've been trying since you took the glove, you've been hiding."

"Some of us have a fucking life; can't just run around causing shit all the time."

The vigilante didn't seem like he cared. "Funny, cool, whatever. Gimme my shit back."

"Well when you ask like that, the answer is no."

Revive twirled his staff, attacking again. Tommy tried to duck under the weapon to get a hand on him, getting smacked in the process and needing to roll to get back on his feet.

"Now that's rude-", he was interrupted with another hit, to his chest this time.

"No, what's rude is you robbing me and leaving me behind a dumpster."

"Would you rather I left you in the street?", Tommy had to move back again, "Fine, look; we can agree to disagree about who's in the wrong here, yeah?"

"No, because you're a villain. The only one in the wrong is you."

"That's rather discriminatory, other villains are far worse. I haven't even killed anyone yet."

"Yeah, well other villains also haven't stolen from me, so-"

"How very noble of you. Shocked you're stuck as a bootleg hero when you think so much like a real one."

Tommy laughed at the genuine anger that statement seemed to inspire in him, dodging another swing and laughing even harder when Revive busted a shop window.

The vigilante seemed remorseful about it, and Tommy tried to use the guy's conscience to get the jump on him. He was unfortunately stopped by a new player in the situation, an obnoxious green arm getting in his way before he was able to shock Revive. 

          Dream knocked him back, not giving Tommy a chance to defend himself before pinning him to the ground with a knee on his back.

The hero quickly slapped a pair of anti-power cuffs on him before looking at Revive. "What are you doing?"

"Hey, why does he get questions when you just knocked my ass down?", Tommy asked before the vigilante could answer, trying to hide his panic with annoyance.

"You're luck I didn't knock you out, keep quiet before that changes,", Dream's attention went back to Revive, "We've talked about this. You're not supposed to go out as Revive anymore, and you're definately not supposed to still be stealing stuff to do it."

The other man threw his hands up in annoyance before folding his arms. "I was trying to get dad's glove back! It's not like you've been able to do it whenever you deal with any of them."

"Because I'm more worried about the damage they're causing with it and protecting people than I am about trying to get it back! You're not helping by making me have to worry about you while I'm trying to do my job."

Tommy was tempted to keep eavesdropping to see if they let anything slip, since it was pretty clear they knew eachother, but chat made him remember the fact that he was currently cuffed and on a fast track to jail if he stayed put.

Dream having a connection to a vigilante wasn't nearly as important as making sure he wasn't arrested. He waited a moment, making sure the hero on top of him was distracted before carefully turning his head so the buttons on his headset faced the ground.

"Stop moving,", Dream warned Tommy when his comms scraped on the pavement.

"Sorry, rather uncomfortable having some dickhead's knee digging into my spinal chord."

"Don't worry, you'll be in a nice, cozy cell in less than an hour."

"How thoughtful,", he turned his head more, pretending he was trying to make eye contact as he lined his buttons up with the street, "Will I get a window?"

Dream snorted. "Sure, it'll be a nice reminder of the outside when you're waiting for your trial."

"You and I both fucking know I won't be getting one of those. I'll be given some shit deal to 'work' for you fuckers, and then I'll get shoved into an insulated cell in the Holding Facility when you realize I won't play along,", Tommy scoffed, "You think Schlatt didn't tell anyone how people in there get treated?" 

          "The Holding Facility is meant to rehabilitate criminals, they'd only keep you there until you decide you're ready to use your powers responsibly."

"Please, have you heard of anyone ever getting out of there that wasn't either kept on an actual leash by the Committee or killed?"

"Being on parole with a hero is better than prison."

"Literal fucking slavery is absolutely not better than prison. I'd rather drown myself in a public toilet than let them chip me like a fucking dog so they can force me to do free work for them or die,", he finally managed to get the panic button while he was speaking, confirmation chirp sounding in his ear.

Revive's attention was on him now. "His headset made a noise."

"Wh- No the fuck it didn't."

The sound was specifically designed so you couldn't hear it if you weren't listening for it; the frequency and volume chosen because it hadn't gotten Dream's attention when they were testing it before.

Case in point, the hero's complete confusion when Revive mentioned it. "I didn't hear anything?"

"Because it didn't make a noise."

"No, it absolutely did. It went 'bloop',", the vigilante sounded so sure of himself, and Tommy really wished he could get up to stun the man.

"What does the sound mean?", Dream was looking down at him again, digging his knee in, "What did you do?"

Tommy let out an annoyed hiss, quickly covering it with a different noise. "Can hardly do anything when I'm cuffed, now can I?"

"Answer, Ripper, before I have to use force."

"Ew, holy shit you are just a glorified cop, aren't you?"

Dream grabbed him by the back of his suit, forcing him up. "Fine, we can talk in the nearest police station while we wait for the Committee van to show up,", the hero looked at Revive, "And you, go home. We're having another discussion later."

"What kind of nepotism shit is this?! Being a vigilante is also fucking illegal!", Tommy yelled, trying to get out of Dream's grip.

"None of your business. He's in trouble, just not legal."

The masked man grabbed Tommy's neck as he continued to resist, pausing when the villain stilled at the action. 

          Tommy, meanwhile, was immediately stressed by the fact that there was a hand on his neck; let alone a hand that belonged to someone with super strength. "L-Let go,", he started trying to wiggle away again, something in him saying this was the absolute worst thing that could be happening, "Move your fucking hand."

"Calm down."

"Don't tell me to 'calm down'! Get your fucking hand off of my neck!"

"Dream, maybe you should-", Revive started, getting cut off by the hero.

"No, he's just trying to get away. Didn't you say he tricked you last time so he could shock you?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Alright, then. Like I said, go home so I can handle this."

Tommy was trying not to hyperventilate, panic steadily growing as Dream continued gripping the back of his neck. He felt like he shouldn't move, but then if he didn't, the hero would be able to take him away without any issue.

"I don't fucking care if you grab my arm or something, but get your hand off of my neck,", Tommy forced himself to keep in a stressed hiss, "Please."

"No, now stay still."

Revive had his hands raised hesitantly toward the two of them, taking a cautious step closer. "Dream, he sounds pretty genuine."

"Foo- Revive, I won't tell you again; go home,", Dream sounded like he was getting frustrated.

"Alright, and I'm telling you you don't know everything!", Revive took a step closer to them, also clearly losing patience, "It's pretty obvious there's something wrong here."

"The only thing 'wrong' is that you're still out here trying to play hero when you don't have the right powers for it! Don't tell me how to do my job when you don't know-"

Tommy stopped listening to them at this point, chat not helping any as he continued to freak out and took a deep breath. A loud hiss escaped him, making both men pause as he exploded.

Since he had anti-power cuffs on while he self destructed, there wasn't any electricity in the blast. It still did it's job, though, knocking all three of them out right there in the street.

~-~

          Ranboo had forced Schlatt back into the base as soon as he heard the panic button going off, warping in behind Tubbo and taking his headset off so he could actually hear him. "Where is he?"

"Fourth, but I can't get into any of the cameras there,", Tubbo was clearly trying not to freak out yet, "I have no idea what's gone on."

"What was he doing before he pressed it?"

"Normal shit! He was collecting rent money, and his mic is muted so I can't hear what's going on."

"Right, ok, is he still on fourth street?"

"Yes, but be careful please. If it seems like you'll need backup, come back and get me immediately."

"Ok,", he teleported away, worried when the first thing he saw was a group of people face down on the pavement.

Ranboo cautiously got closer, taking in the scene in front of him.

Tommy had anti-power cuffs on his wrists, and was under Dream, while the vigilante they stole Sunblast's glove from was face down next to them; all three were unconscious.

"Uh,", Ranboo unmuted his comms as he cautiously got closer, "I think he exploded?"

"Like self destruct exploded, or-"

"Yeah, self destruct. Are you still not able to find any cameras?"

"Nothing with view of him, no. Turn his headset off if you can, it's still going off on my end."

He carefully walked over to disable the other boy's panic button, kicking Dream off of him and grabbing the headset. As fun as it would have been to take Dream's wallet or something while he was basically dead in the street, the top priority here was Tommy.

Ranboo picked the other villain up, teleporting him a few blocks away before picking the lock on the cuffs.

Almost every hero had their own type of cuffs, and the level of ease that they could be removed depended on who's they were. Heroes like Warden, before he 'retired' anyways, or 404 tended to make theirs near impossible to get off outside of jail, since they were technology based and didn't really have much strength without their gadgets.

But heroes that usually incapacitated people like Foxglove didn't care much beyond making sure the cuff they used matched their aesthetics.

Dream fell somewhere in the middle of that; he had a bad habit of knocking out or concussing people before getting them, but that wasn't always the case.

          The hero mostly needed them to contain powers, the rest of the work coming from manhandling people into compliance after he caught them. That meant that while it was annoying to get them slapped on in the moment, it was also pretty easy to get them back off with a basic picking kit if you weren't in the middle of a fight.

So after taking a few seconds to undo the lock, Tommy's hands were free.

Not that it did him any good, since he was still very much unconscious, but it was one less thing to worry about.

"Ok, he's still not awake, but the cuffs are off,", Ranboo turned the things around in his hands as he gave Tubbo an update on the situation, "They're still working for some reason."

"That's... odd. Who's are they?"

"Dream's, he was knocked out back there too. Well, Dream and a vigilante or something, but the cuffs are definately Dream's."

"Do you have any mesh bags with you? I'd like to have a look to see if they've upgraded their tech at all."

Ranboo checked his current tool set. "Uh... No, no I don't."

"Right, give me a moment to set the blockers up so you can bring it back here; Ripper's probably going to want his charge pad, anyways."

Ranboo tucked Tommy under his arm. "Ready when you are."

He got confirmation a couple minutes later, teleporting into the computer room right next to the electrical pad and setting Tommy up on it before giving Tubbo the cuffs.

The short boy immediately started taking them apart, brow knitting closer together the more he dug into them. "There aren't any changes from the last time we had them, are you sure he pokemon'd?"

"I'm pretty sure, unless he beat Dream up somehow and passed out."

"We'll have to ask him when he wakes up, then. Did you already turn the pad on for him?"

"Yeah, he should be good for now."

"Right. And you brought Schlatt back earlier as well, yeah?"

"No, Tubbo, I left him on his own in an abandoned building somewhere,", the tall boy's words were dripping with sarcasm.

"Sorry, just wanted to be sure,", he sighed, "Suppose that's it for the fun tonight."

"I could still probably go back to looking with him? Dream getting knocked out is going to be more of a concern for them than trying to figure out what I'm doing if someone sees me."

"Rather play it safe, considering how many heroes were out the last time he managed to get Dream like that."

"Good point. Hopefully he's up soon so we can figure out what happened."

Chapter Text

          Tommy woke up to sunlight directly in his face, letting out a pained hiss as he tried to move. He didn't even bother opening his eyes, letting out another hiss. "I better not be in fucking prison, or I'm going to lose it."

"You're not, but I'd like to know what happened,", Tubbo answered from somewhere nearby, "I'd also like to know why you aren't acting all stupid, since you're currently in contact with a pretty high level of electricity."

"I don't know, try turning it up."

"I can't do that without damaging the electrical system."

Tommy took his shoe off while moving as little as possible, throwing it in the other boy's general direction and rolling over onto his side. "I feel like shit."

"I can imagine, did you self destruct last night?"

"I don't think so? Otherwise this thing would be working."

"Maybe the cuffs did something to mess with that? They were still fully functional when Ranboo found you, so that might have still been messing with your electricity when it happened."

"Wow, fascinating,", he made sure he sounded as uninterested as possible, "How the fuck do I fix it if more electricity won't work, then?"

"I'm not sure, but I can look into it. I'm going to turn this off for now since it's not doing anything, why don't you try getting up once the static on you calms down?"

"Tubbo, I feel like I'm about to actually fucking die, and you expect me to move?"

The short boy rolled his eyes as he turned the pad off. "Quit being dramatic. You're probably better off going to bed or something, if you're really that set on sleeping more."

"I'm not being dramatic, my fucking bones hurt; this must be how it feels being old."

Tubbo forced him to sit up a few minutes after he turned the charge off, taking several large steps back when Tommy tried to bite him. "Go feel old downstairs on a sofa or something, I'll let you know if I come up with anything that'll help."

Tommy hissed at him as he was chased out of the room, defiantly sitting in the stairwell and getting his phone out.

          He tapped on Warden's contact, getting ready to type before realizing he'd accidentally called the man.

"... Hello?", the former hero answered before Tommy was able to hang up, sounding confused.

"Fuck- Shit- I didn't meant to fucking-", he panicked for a moment before sighing, "Hello."

"I was confused when I saw that you were calling me, but I guess this makes more sense than a butt dial,", Warden sounded amused, his voice missing the metallic tinge his mask gave it.

"Don't fucking laugh at me, I feel like shit."

"Are your features still causing you problems?"

"No, I imploded yesterday, and because I had some anti-power cuffs on, it didn't do the same shit it usually does."

"Ignoring how concerning it is that you've had that happen more than once, what usually happens?"

Tommy hesitated for a moment before explaining. "It exhausts my powers. You saw all the electricity and shit when it happened before, yeah?"

"I did,", the man let out a hiss as he thought, "Your body was probably using your electricity like that to put less strain on you. Who told you about power exhaustion?"

"None of your fucking business. That first thing you said was probably right, though; the last few times this happened, I was able to just crawl onto an electricity source and heal. It didn't work this time, how the fuck do I recover?"

"Well, I haven't exactly exploded alot, because it's really not healthy, but the few times it's happened I've had to baby myself and rest. Take it easy for a few days, and you should be fine."

Tommy hissed in annoyance. "Are you fucking serious? I just got back to doing shit, and now I'm meant to rest?"

Warden let out a hiss of his own. "That's what happens when you aren't careful."

Tommy hissed in response to that without thinking, and they ended up communicating through creeper sounds alone.

The interaction could be best summed up as Warden telling him to go take a nap or something, and him complaining before eventually relenting and agreeing to do that. It was only after he'd hung up that he realized what happened, needing a minute to sit there and really process it. 

          He'd had a whole conversation with the man entirely through hissing; they'd talked longer like that than they had with real words, and the former hero had actually gotten him to agree to go take a nap.

Warden hadn't even needed to press that hard on it, and he was planning on doing it!

Tommy had started walking up to his nap room at the top of the base while talking to him, and had every intention to sleep until he wasn't in pain anymore.

It was already weird that he'd had a conversation with the Warden, that he had no intention of telling Tubbo about, without voice changers, but the hissing was really the icing on the cake.

He couldn't say he hated the man anymore, though. As strange as it was, it was nice to have a conversation like that.

Tommy reached the top floor of the base, slipping under the half a door to the room he'd claimed and going over to his 'nest' of blankets and pillows he had hidden up there. It was probably an instinct thing that he was calling it that, since that was an odd thing to refer to a blanket pile on the floor as.

Despite sleeping the entirety of the night before, he was still really tired and more than alright with passing out again for an indeterminate amount of time.

Although that only ended up being a few hours before his phone woke him up. "Wh' d' you want?", he answered with an annoyed hiss once he managed to hit the answer button, not happy that he was being woken up.

"Where are you?", Tubbo sounded concerned, "Your phone's location is saying you're in the base still, but we couldn't find you anywhere."

"'Cause 'm hidin', wanted sleep,", he was dragging out the 's's in the words, yawning as he sat up.

"Wait, you're actually doing what I told you to?"

"Not 'cause you said to, asshole, someone else did."

"Who else have you spoken to? Ranboo and Schlatt both said they haven't seen you today."

Tommy yawned again. "Asked Warden 'bout exploding, said sleep fixes it."

"... Are you telling me a hero's word hold more weight than mine in regards to your health at this point?"

"Former hero, he kicked Dream's shit so we could get Schlatt out. And yes, it does for this; he's a creeper hybrid."

He withheld the fact that he'd basically been instinct bullied into listening, solely because he didn't feel like getting lectured right after waking up. 

          Tubbo sighed, sounding defeated. "Right, fine, whatever. At least you're resting. We've got some food for you; are you going to come out of whatever crevice you're hiding in to get it, or do you want one of us to bring it to you?"

"Rather get it, don't really want any of you to know where this spot it,", Tommy yawned as he got up from his blanket nest.

"I can promise you none of us are planning on stealing your little rat hole."

"No, but you absolutely would if you saw it."

They lightly argued about it as Tommy went back down to the inhabited part of the base, the conversation finally ending when he realized that they'd bought him a container of those horrible, overly sweet sugar cookies from the grocery store.

He entirely ignored the actual food they'd bought him with that, zeroing in on the sugar as soon as he saw it.

Tubbo stopped him before he could grab them. "No, eat something else before you go straight for the cookies."

He wanted to bite and shock the short boy so he could get what he wanted, but chat agreed that he should eat the Mcdonalds they'd gotten for him. "Fuck you and your stupid fucking chicken nuggets,", Tommy muttered as he completely changed course and grabbed his food, "Stupid fucking chat, stupid fucking cookies. Why can't I have them if they're out?"

Tubbo smacked him in the side of the head, making him sit down at the table. "You can have them after, I didn't expect you to make a b-line for them the second you entered the room. At least your voices have more sense than you for once."

"I'll still fucking bite you,", Tommy threatened, hitting his tail against his chair.

Schlatt kicked him under the table. "Don't."

"Try and stop me, bitch."

"I'll lock you in a fucking closet, don't test me."

"I'll do the same shit to you once I get out,", he huffed, pausing to shove three chicken nuggets into his mouth in one go, "How's base hunting going?"

"You remember the sewer hideout back when I first picked you up?"

"From right before you started the public shit?"

Schlatt nodded. "That's the one. Had to kick out a few idiots trying to run a fucking crypto mine or some shit out of it, but it's in great shape otherwise. Gotta wait for those dumbasses to get all their shit out first, though, and wait to make sure no cops roll up trying to bust them." 

          "Why not keep their rig? Free fucking money right there."

"It was so poorly set up it was on a fast track to an electrical fire. Also why I'm giving them time to pack their shit up, so I can fix whatever shit system they set up for their power and steal it without being as obvious."

"You at least make them give you some of their funds?"

"Obviously, I'm not a fucking idiot. Couple hundred thousand isn't much compared to what I got back from the snake-pit, but it's still some nice pocket money when it comes to building back up an empire."

"Poggers,", Tommy nodded, sipping at his overly crispy Sprite and fighting the part of his instincts telling him to spit out the liquid TV static.

As soon as he was done with his food, Tommy grabbed the sugar cookies off of the counter before Tubbo could stop him again. "Alright, well, I'm off to my spot again-"

"Stop. If you're going to sleep some more, I'd rather you do it in your bed at home where we can check in on you."

"That's cool, but I want to sleep in a dark corner next to a bit of mold."

"Wait, is there actually mold in the base?"

"Uh,I think we should be more concerned about the fact that he's been sleeping next to it?", Ranboo cut in.

"I could probably lick it, if that's any better,", Tommy stuck his tongue out for emphasis, "Be a nice snack."

Tubbo pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please don't go around licking mold, you'll end up getting sick. You can go back to your 'hiding spot' when you aren't still recovering from exploding, alright? Let Ranboo teleport you back to the apartment, for my own peace of mind?"

Tommy rolled his eyes before falling backwards dramatically against Ranboo's chest, making sure he kept a tight hold on his cookies. "Fine, if you're going to be all bitchy about it. But I'm going to make an absolute mess of the fucking apartment."

"No you aren't-"

"I'll make sure he doesn't rip up anything that'd be annoying to replace,", Ranboo put a hand up to stop Tubbo, making sure he didn't drop Tommy, "I have a feeling he doesn't really mean it, anyways."

Tommy let out an offended hiss, because he didn't mean it, but it was rude for the enderman hybrid to point it out. "Fuck off." 

          "Nope,", the enderman hybrid teleported directly into Tommy's room, depositing him on his bed.

Tommy lifted his cookies as he almost crushed them, glaring at the tall boy. "Fucking careful, man! I actually want to eat these."

"Oops, sorry. How are you feeling, by the way? You seem ok, but it probably wasn't fun to actually explode."

"I'm ok, just tired,", Tommy said as he sat in the center of his bed, tail moving back and forth happily behind him as he opened the cookies, "I'll be doing even better once I have these."

He very politely ignored Ranboo laughing at him, shoving the gross sugar cookies into his mouth like a small child.

His friend sat on the bed next to him, reaching for one of the cookies.

Tommy let him grab one, wrapping his tail around Ranboo's wrist after he had it. "If you take another, you'll lose this hand."

"Noted,", Ranboo chuckled, clearly not believing him.

"I'm being serious."

"Mhm, I'm sure."

He kept his tail loosely wrapped around his friend's wrist as he went back to shoving cookies into his mouth, leaving it there entirely as a warning. It totally wasn't because it was comforting for some reason, he was being threatening.

Once he emptied the container, Tommy felt both sick and content as he laid back onto his bed. "I shouldn't have eaten all of those at once, holy shit."

"Wait, are you gonna hurl?"

"No, but I think I'm ready for another nap,", he curled up on his side, "'m tired again."

"Maybe you should change out of your villain stuff first, it'd probably be more comfortable."

Tommy let out an annoyed hiss, the noise being met with an insistent warble from the enderman hybrid. He paused before hissing again, and again Ranboo made the same sound.

"Fuck off, it's fine,", Tommy whined with his face pressed into his bed.

"You literally have shoes on."

"Yeah? What about it? Are you trying to see my feet for free? Just as bad as Wilbur, I swear."

Ranboo looked both confused and disturbed by that statement, but stood his ground. "I won't be looking at the grippers, man, I just think you'd be better off sleeping in something more comfortable than a rubber suit and ankle guards."

"Fuck you."

"Alright, fine, I can't force you to change, and I want you to rest,", the tall boy stood, gently removing the tail from his wrist, "I'm going back to the base. Please don't actually destroy anything, Tubbo can and will kill both of us."

"I'll do what I want." 

          "I know. Text one of us if you need anything,", he gave a salute before teleporting out.

There was a quiet moment before his chat made it clear they wanted him to change out of his suit, and Tommy let out a very loud annoyed hiss. He layed there until they bugged him enough he couldn't ignore it, peeling himself off of the bed.

"I hate all of you, you know that right?", he muttered, addressing chat directly.

He had a feeling they already knew.

He grabbed a pair of pyjama pants and one of the sweatshirts Wilbur had gotten him a few months ago, changing into that and shoving his villain gear into the far corner of his closet.

Tommy refused to admit that it was comfier than what he'd been wearing, since he didn't want to give Ranboo or chat a win after they told him what to do.

He was actually able to get a good amount of sleep this time before getting woken up by his phone again, letting out a tired hiss as he rolled over to check it.

Wilbur was calling him, and had apparently been doing so for the better part of an hour. He decided to answer it, since Wilbur would probably show up there next if he didn't.

Tommy didn't even get a chance to say anything after pressing the answer button.

"Are you alright?"

"If I say yes, can I go back to sleep?"

"If that comes with an explanation, then yes."

Tommy hissed in annoyance, since he knew that was just a roundabout way of saying no. "You're a fucking dickhead."

"Thank you, I try. Now, what the fuck happened?"

"The fuck do you think?"

"I don't know, because the only information I have to go off of are villain alerts and photos of Dream passed the fuck out in the middle of the street that the Committee have been trying to get off of the internet all day."

"Alright, then you have an answer,", Tommy rolled his eyes, "Not hard to put it together."

"Did you explode again?"

"Ding ding, congratulations; you used your fucking brain. Can I sleep now?"

"Hold on, if you exploded, why do you still sound so fucking exhausted? Don't you have your electrical pad or whatever to fix that?"

"Was cuffed, made it so it was all 'creeper' and no 'charged'."

"Oh fuck, so it was an actual explosion. Are you ok?"

"Yes, I already said that. Just need some more rest."

"Are you sure? You don't need any kind of medical attention or anything?", Wilbur sounded way more concerned about it than Tommy felt he should have.

"I'm positive, I would know by now if that were the case."

"Alright, but you haven't exploded exploded before, right?"

"No, but-"

"Then how can you be sure that you weren't injured?"

          "I... called Warden on accident earlier,", Tommy admitted, sighing at the surprised sound Wilbur made in response.

"The Warden? You called a fucking hero about this shit?"

"He's a former hero, holy shit; Q's even talking about hiring him and everything."

"But why the fuck do you have his number? Is Quackity monitoring his communication with you?"

"No, and he doesn't fucking need to! Holy shit, I'm not about to fucking leak anything. Everything he's said to me about the hybrid shit has been true, the only reason I've been talking to him is because he's also a creeper hybrid and he offered to help,", Tommy let out an annoyed hiss, "It's not like I'm calling him on a regular basis, ok? At most I text him questions."

"There's better ways to get information."

"If you're going to be the fifth person to mother hen me today, I'm hanging up and going back to sleep."

Wilbur was silent for a moment before sighing. "I'm not trying to mother hen, I'm rightfully worried about you with all of the shit going on. But you're right, you need to get some rest. I'll stop bothering you for now, but I fully expect you to text me or something next time you wake up."

"Will do, goodnight,", Tommy yawned as he hung up, although he really wasn't sure if it was actually night or not; he was too lazy to check his phone for the time, and someone had come in to close his blackout curtains at some point.

Not that he was complaining, it was pitch black in there and he was thriving.

Tommy then proceeded to sleep for the next forty-eight hours. He vaguely remembered getting woken up and made to eat or something a few times but otherwise just slept that whole time.

Eventually, he got to a point where he wasn't able to sleep anymore, feeling like his head was underwater as he peeled himself up out of his bed.

He stretched, back popping in like five places as he let out a tired hiss.

The first thing he decided in his incredibly tired state was that he wanted something to eat, and that something was absolutely going to be straight up sugar. Tommy shuffled over to the door, struggling with the knob for a minute before getting it open and continuing his trek to the kitchen.

It was way too bright out there compared to in his room, and he would have gone back in if he didn't really want that sugar. 

          He heard talking in the livingroom as he got closer, so he tried to be as quiet as possible as he snuck into the connected kitchen area.

And that almost worked, the flaw in his plan coming when it was actually time to dig through the cabinets and he knocked down like five things before he got his hands on what he wanted.

But, he had the sugar now, and that was the important part.

Tommy retreated when he heard someone address him as they got closer, trying to get away back to his room so they couldn't take the sugar from him.

He got as far as the hall, getting caught as someone wrapped their arms around him to keep him in place.

The 'someone' was Ranboo, who gave a tired sigh as Tommy tried to wriggle away. "No, you'll probably get sick if the first thing you eat today is just sugar."

"But... It's sugar. And I want to eat it."

"Ok, and it'll make you sick if it's the only thing in your stomach."

Tommy slumped his weight against the taller boy as a form of protest. "I'm built different."

"Not different enough,", Ranboo dragged him back to the kitchen, setting him down at the table before gently prying the bag of sugar away from him, "Give me a second to heat something up for you, then you can have this back."

He hissed in protest, but otherwise sat there with his chin resting on the table.

Tubbo came over from the livingroom and sat next to him, getting his attention. "Do you feel alright? You slept for like two days."

"Wasn't long enough, I'm still tired."

"Are you still sore, though?"

"Hmm...", he had to think about it for a moment, "No, but I want to go back to bed."

"Maybe spend a bit of time awake for now, bossman; I'm thinking you may have gotten too much sleep,", Tubbo said as he gave him a pat on the arm.

Tommy hissed at him in response, giving a half-hearted glare.

Ranboo set down a paper plate with some reheated pizza in front of him, moving it back and forth a few times to get his attention. "Look, food! Bite that instead of Tubbo."

"I wasn't gonna bite him,", he slid the pizza closer to his face, "Maybe nibble at most."

"Teeth stay away from anything living."

"Got it, I've got to commit murder before biting anyone,", Tommy nodded, his mouth full now.

Tubbo chuckled at the defeated sigh that escaped Ranboo. "He's got you there."

The enderman hybrid just sighed again before sitting down with them. "Maybe you should be a lawyer, since you're so good at finding loopholes."

"It's called not being a bitch, maybe you should try it sometime,", Tommy stuck his tongue out at him.

          He woke up more as he ate, only really noticing a headache as far as any lingering issues from exploding went.

"I want to go out somewhere,", he said once he was done with his pizza, thumping his tail on the back of his chair for emphasis.

"And do what?"

"I don't fucking know, something."

Tubbo lightly kicked him in the leg. "Might not be the best idea to immediately go outside after sleeping for forty hours."

"Fuck you, it's fine."

"Look, give it a few, and if you still want to go somewhere, we can eat out for dinner alright?"

"Fine. Get me when it's time for that, then,", he said as he got up, grabbing the bag of sugar again and retreating back to his room.

He'd been fully prepared to climb out the window, solely because he'd been told no, but instead he just grumbled and sat on his bed as his chat told him to wait.

"Fuck off,", he sighed quietly, "Not like I was actually going to do anything."

He got his phone out, fully prepared to waste a few hours on twitter before realizing he hadn't let Wilbur know he was done doing his impression of a hibernating bear after self-destructing.

'Ayup, I am once again awake and ready to menace the populace.'

Wilbur responded a few minutes later with 'Ignoring the fact that it's been days at this point, I'm baffled by you knowing the word "populace".'

'It makes me feel like you think I'm stupid when you're surprised I know words.'

His brother's response was an emoji missing it's mouth. 'Fuck off! I know a ton of fucking words! I'm like a human thesaurus.'

Wilbur took a while to respond, Tommy would have bet money that he was laughing, before completely ignoring the comment all together. 'Do you feel better now that you've slept like a university student who's just gone through exams?'

'Is that analogy based off of your experience or Techno's?'

'Yes.'

Tommy snorted, rolling his eyes. 'I feel better, yeah. Still have a fucking headache, but otherwise my bones don't hurt so I'd call that improvement.'

'That's absolutely improvement; you aren't old enough for your bones to ache.'

'Now that one I know is from experience.'

'I will show up at your home to cause you bodily harm.'

'Fucking try it, see what happens.'

'Don't challenge me, child.'

'It's not a challenge, it's a threat. I will bite you.' 

          'I am now rapidly approaching your location.'

It took Tommy a second to realize that Wilbur was probably being serious about coming there, which was something he felt he should warn Tubbo and Ranboo about.

Chat agreed with that sentiment, and he exited his room again only about an hour after getting in there. "Right, so, uh,", he tried to think of the best way to frame it before just saying it, "I think Wilbur is coming over?"

"Why?", Tubbo was very clearly holding back more words.

"I don't fucking know, I threatened to bite him and he said he was on the way."

"Guess that puts a damper on any plans to go out, then."

"Well no, we could- All of us could just go to the diner or something."

Tubbo got up from the sofa, meeting him at the edge of the hall and placing his hands on his shoulders. "I admire your optimism sometimes, but, and this is the most polite way I can say this, I would rather eat glass than hang out with any of the top three for longer than absolutely necessary."

"Tubbo...", Ranboo sighed, also getting up and walking over.

"I'm being honest."

"No, you're honestly being a dick,", Tommy folded his arms, "You put up with him just fine when we were plotting the Schlatt shit, you can handle him for a few hours tonight."

"I put up with him then because he's got useful powers, having to deal with him for anything else is excessive."

"Just for tonight, at least so you can see that he's not that bad, and we can convince him you haven't got rabies as well. Please, for me?"

Tubbo continued to glare at him for a minute before looking away. "Fuck off, you can't convince me with puppy-dog eyes."

"I absolutely can and will."

The short boy eventually relented, throwing his hands up in frustration as he turned away. "Fine, holy shit. If he does anything that pisses me off, I'm going to stab him."

Tommy let out a pleased hiss, tail moving back and forth behind him to display his happiness. "Poggers, thank you! I'll let him know what the plan is."

          Turns out Techno was with him as well when he got there; it made sense in hindsight, since unless Wilbur had stolen a car or something, there wasn't really any other way for him to be approaching 'rapidly'.

Tubbo had opted to have Ranboo teleport him to Bad's diner instead of going with Tommy, and Tommy was fine with letting that bit of pettiness slide since it got rid of a chance for a fight to happen.

It also gave him a chance to make sure his other brothers weren't going to be starting any fights either.

"I'm fully fucking prepared to beat the shit out of either of you if you try to pick a fight with them,", Tommy said as he sat behind Wilbur in the backseat of Techno's car, getting mock offense and an amused snort from the men respectively.

Wilbur put a hand on his chest, turning to look back at him. "I would never-"

"I will rip out your teeth."

"I don't plan on saying anything to either of them,", Techno was looking at him in the rearview mirror as he started driving, "Like, at all. I only agreed to stick around for this because Wilbur said he'd pay for my food."

"Come on, I can't be the only one antagonizing them; you have to at least help a little,", Wilbur folded his arms.

Tommy gave him a warning hiss. "No one is antagonizing anyone, alright? Holy shit, I'm fully prepared to shock any of you fuckers if someone decides to be a dick. All I want is to hang out with everyone together after knocking out a hero and sleeping for a long-ass time. Please?"

Wilbur looked at him for a long moment before sighing. "Fine, I won't pick any fights. However if the short one-"

"He won't do anything either, he knows I'll go break his shit if he tries."

"Moving on from that,", Techno tried to segue in an incredibly clunky way, "Wilbur mentioned you saying your birthday is coming up soon, have you figured out what you want to do about the adoption stuff yet?"

He'd entirely forgotten that he hadn't shared his answer with them yet.

Wilbur punched Techno in the arm. "What happened to letting me handle that?"

"You were gonna wait until after we ate, I wanted to know now."

"You have to work up to shit like that-"

"I'm alright with it,", Tommy interrupted, not really wanting to hear them argue about it, "I want to be adopted." 

          Both of them were silent for a moment before Wilbur turned and tried to hug him from the front seat. "Aw, Tommy!"

"Holy shit, Wil; this is how you cause a fucking car accident!"

"Yeah, Wilbur, sit back down,", Techno chuckled as he forced the oldest back into his seat, although from his tone it was clear that he probably wanted to do the same thing.

Maybe not as loudly, but he definately held the same sentiment.

Wilbur complied, sticking his tongue out as he was made to sit back down. "And your friends are alright with it as well? They're not trying to make you change your mind?"

"I wouldn't say they're 'alright', but they're respecting my choice on this. Schlatt and Big Q have no idea about it though, and I intend to keep it that way."

"That might be a challenge, considering we'll have to go to Quackity for your fake papers."

"Hm... That might be ok, actually,", he thought about it for a moment, "The way those two were fighting with one another for a while there, I doubt he'd tell him about it unless he paid."

"Nice, makes our lives easier."

Ok, great, now tell everyone else :)  

No car accident no car accident no car accident no ca-  

*microwave noises* MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM  

Where's dadza  

Hugs!  

OK CHAT, STOP BEING PUSSIES. DO CRIME. VIOLENCE IS POG. REVOLT.  

Uh uh uh UH (idk what to ask) nuts?  

Family pog  

BRRRRRRRR I AM GOD AND I AM APPEASED BY THIS SITUATION YES I AM GOD BRRRRR  

E  

Chat we've gotten too chill  

SBI SBI SBI SBI SBI SBI  

POG  

TELL THEM BEE BOY AND BOOBMAN ARENT ALL THAT BAD  

Soft innit. You need to bittttte. Preferably Wilbur.  

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  

BROTHERS!!!!!!  

Does food that taste sweet work or do u have to consume pure sugar?  

E  

TOMMY ADOPTION ARC WOOOOO  

Purr! Purr!  

found family make brain go brrr  

Bite time  

techno car  

Kinda wished they'd get along *pensive emoji* its ok we get bench trio and sbi no matter what *smug(?) cat* *flexing emoji*  

          Tommy started purring without meaning to as chat acted up, trying and failing to stop before his brothers noticed.

"Fuck- Shit-", he tried to keep his voice quiet, "Chat, stop it."

They did not, in fact, stop it; making the purring ramp up as he kept himself from trying to hug his brothers.

And they, of course, responded to this by bullying him.

"Aww, is chat making the little cat boy purr?", Wilbur chuckled, his tone similar to how someone would actually speak to a cat, "The demons are celebrating this by tormenting you?"

"Watch it, he might try to scratch you,", Techno added on, laughing at the angry hiss he got in response.

The worst part was that Tommy wasn't able to force himself to retaliate with any actual violence, since chat was in full soft mode and were more for hugs than shocking at that moment.

Maybe he'd be able to get in a bite if he was lucky, but that was outweighed by the sheer amount of excitement about 'family'.

They finally got to the diner, and, as soon as the car was parked, Tommy practically launched himself forward to the front seat to hug both of them.

He ignored any teasing about this, since he already knew none of it was mean spirited.

After a few minutes, chat finally calmed down enough that he was able to move, crawling into the backseat again. "Let's not bring this up again now that it's happened."

"Why, are you embarrassed?", Wilbur asked, clearly ready to bully him some more.

"No, it's because you fucking stink, and it's given me PTSD,", he opened the car door, "They should already be here, remember what I threatened because I meant it."

Wilbur made an offended noise, but Techno interrupted before he could give a proper response. "You go in ahead of us, we need to talk about something."

"Can't it wait until later?"

"It'll just take a second, we'll meet you inside."

He glared at them for a solid minute before rolling his eyes. "Fine, whatever. You better not fucking bail though, or I'm coming over and knocking out the power."

"We won't I promise."

He closed the car door, entering the diner and locating the other two. They were sitting in the same side of one of the booths, waving him over once he got inside.

          Tommy sat next to them, sliding into his friends and squishing them before getting shoved back onto a reasonable part of the seat.

"Holy shit, don't suffocate us,", Tubbo said as he caught his breath.

"Think you're the only one suffocating, Ranboo seemed just fine against the wall over there."

The enderman hybrid snorted. "I could also leave if I was getting compressed."

"Not without me you're not,", Tubbo gripped the tall boy's wrist, "I refuse to be crushed into the wall because you decided to teleport away like a pussy."

Tommy moved his tail behind Tubbo so it was wrapped around Ranboo's upper arm, letting out a warning hiss as he did so. "Neither of you are fucking bailing on me, no teleporting."

"We're not going anywhere, don't worry. You alright?", Ranboo asked, sounding concerned.

He hated that his stress was being picked up on, and decided to lie about the reason. "Yeah, tired still. Plus there's more people in here than usual."

That last part was kind of true, actually, since there were at least five other people there as opposed to the usual none.

"We can leave, if you want?"

"No, what I want is pancakes."

"Have you ever actually tried anything else on the menu aside from that?", Wilbur asked as he finally entered, sliding into the seat across from them.

"Have you ever tried shutting the fuck up?"

"And deprive the world of my immense charm?"

Techno forced Wilbur to move further into the booth. "That'd be doing it a favor."

"Shut the fuck up, I'll run your car into a lamppost again."

"Can I help?", Tommy lifted his head some, excited at the prospect of causing property damage.

Everyone except for Wilbur immediately said no, and Tommy folded his arms with a disgruntled hiss.

"Don't let them crush your dreams, we can tear shit up later."

"Poggers."

The single waitress on duty got to their table after a few minutes, getting their orders.

When it was Tommy's turn, he decided that he was going to get something different for once. "I'll have... French toast,", he paused for a second before quickly adding, "With all the frosting and shit that's usually on the cake pancakes." 

          "You know you didn't have to get something different just because a raggedy-ass old man made fun of you, right?", Tubbo looked at him after the waitress left, clearly trying to hide a smirk at the offended noise Wilbur made at being called a 'raggedy-ass old man'.

"Yeah, well... the bald man has a point, I guess; think I've only had two other things here, and that's only because I stole it off of one of you two's plates."

Wilbur kicked him under the table. "Why the fuck am I the only one being bullied here?"

"Because it's incredibly easy to do so,", Tommy kicked him back harder, "If you don't like it, you can stop being a fucking loser."

"You have no room to talk, catboy."

"Don't call him a catboy, white man,", Tubbo sneered at Wilbur.

"Look, I get that you're short enough you can't reach a mirror let alone look in one, but you're able to see your own hands, so you should really know that this is the pot calling the kettle black."

"More like the glue calling the snow white?", Ranboo added awkwardly, "Considering we all look like the average crowd at a golf tournament."

"Good thing the only ones here being ratio'd are Tubbo and Wilbur, then,", Tommy snorted.

Tubbo gave him a challenging look. "You're not off the hook either, you fucking meow meow."

Chat helped him refrain from biting the short boy, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of being even slightly correct with the cat allegations. "I hope you've enjoyed having legs for the last eighteen years, because you're losing them as soon as we get home. I'll be removing them and selling them to someone in a dark alleyway at some point past nine p.m."

"You wouldn't be able to find anyone to buy body parts without my help, and I wouldn't help you sell my fucking legs."

"Oh, I'll buy them,", Wilbur raised his hand, "I can have them fashioned into the legs of a table, tell people they've been stolen from a toddler."

After forcing Tubbo to remain on their side of the table, the time spent in the diner actually went pretty well. They had a mostly civil conversation with one another until their food showed up, and almost as soon as the waitress left the table, Tubbo grabbed Tommy's plate and dragged it closer so he could inspect it.

          "Holy shit, I think this is worse than the pancakes,", the short boy poked it with his fork before Tommy got it back from him.

"Fuck off, it's not. How the fuck would you even be able to tell from looking at it?"

"It's massive pieces of bread, which was soaked in a bunch of sugar and cinnamon, that was fried, presumably in butter, before getting covered in sprinkles and frosting. And you're also probably about to pour syrup over it, I'd say that's far worse than the pancakes; it's pure carbs."

"I think I've got diabetes now from the description alone,", Wilbur gagged, looking nauseous.

"No, you're just fucking weak,", Tommy stuck his tongue out at both of them before pouring syrup on his sugar pile, "Both of you, complete fucking losers."

He needed to use a knife for it, his fork not going through on it's own. The thickness made it so that was a mild struggle as well, but after a minute he was able to actually try some.

And holy shit, it was the best thing he'd ever tasted.

It was like eating the sugar right out of the bag, but better since it had more than one flavor going on.

He would have been purring loud enough people outside could hear it if chat hadn't decided they wanted him keep at least a small portion of his dignity by helping him hold himself back from doing so.

That didn't make it any less obvious how much he enjoyed the food, though, since everyone at the table was very clearly ready to tease him over it.

He let out an annoyed hiss, hitting his tail against the bottom of his seat. "Fuck off, all of you."

"No one's said anything,", Wilbur snorted, sounding like he was holding back a full blown cackle.

"I hope you like what you ordered, because it's the last bit of solid food you're going to be able to eat for a while."

"I don't like it as much as you like yours, clearly."

Tommy looked to the side at Tubbo. "What happened to you pointlessly defending me from bullying?"

"Hm, I don't know,", the short boy folded his arms, "He might actually have a point this time."

A glance at Ranboo and Techno showed that they were pretending that they weren't paying attention, and Tommy was seriously tempted to commit a few murders in that moment.

"I'd leave if I wasn't set on finishing these,", he pulled his food closer to himself, completely ignoring all of them as he practically cleaned the plate.

Tubbo and Wilbur took turns making fun of him as he did so, and he would have been glad they were getting along if it were for literally any other reason. 

          "Techno and Ranboo are officially the favorites now,", Tommy decided out loud once he was done with his food, "Because they know when to keep their fucking mouths shut."

Techno snorted at him. "I was gonna make fun of you later, after I was able to think of something more creative than calling you a cat on repeat."

He debated throwing his now empty plate at the man before looking at Ranboo. "Ranboo is now the only favorite."

"Honestly I was waiting to see if you bit any of them before I said anything."

"Final correction; I hate all of you."

Everyone cheered at that, and he seriously wondered how much attention it would draw to shock all of them in the middle of the diner.

And he would have had the energy to do it, with the amount of sugar he'd just consumed. The more of it his body processed, the harder it was getting for him to sit still.

He refrained from shocking any of them, also somehow managing to stay seated despite feeling ready to combust.

"Alright, now for the most important question; who gets the Tommy?", Wilbur asked after they were outside, avoiding a smack from the boy in question.

"Just for that, I'm going with them,", he locked arms with Tubbo, sticking his tongue out at Wilbur, "Get ratio'd."

The man looked offended, giving him a glare with no actual anger behind it before noticing something and sighing. "Fine, go back to your apartment. But know that I will be stealing you at some point in the near future."

"I'll bite you."

"Bye, Tommy,", Techno grabbed Wilbur's arm, dragging him back to the car, "We'll tell Phil what's up, expect him to spam your phone later."

"It's going to break his old man brain."

"More like his bird brain, he'll probably start chirping and shit,", Wilbur snorted.

"Oh shit, I'm tempted to go with you just to see that,", Tommy chuckled, "But alas, man has already made his choice."

Wilbur gave him another sideways look before waving as Techno pulled him further away, a mildly confused look on his face before he turned to walk normally.

Ranboo teleported him and Tubbo back to the apartment after they went somewhere out of view, Tommy immediately separating from them once they were in the livingroom.

          "Well, that was fun; time to get some sleep,", Tommy said, walking to his room.

"It's only like, eight p.m.,", Tubbo seemed both confused and suspicious, "Plus, you spent two days sleeping."

"Alright, and this was exhausting enough that I need more,", he kept going, pausing again at the start of the hall as chat made him add on, "And thank you, for not being a complete dickhead."

He choked it out, really not wanting to say it.

"... You're welcome? Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just wanted to thank you for not picking a fight tonight."

"Oh, alright; you said it weird. And it was surprisingly easy, considering they behaved themselves for the most part."

They looked at eachother for a moment before Tommy continued to his room, glaring at no one in particular once he was alone so chat knew he was annoyed at them.

"You're fucking lucky I want to go out, or else I would actually go to bed to spite you fuckers,", he said quietly as he got his villain stuff out of the closet.

His suit still smelled like burnt rubber, since it'd just been sitting in the corner of the closet, so he opted for the hoodie he wore when they grabbed Slime a few months back and some generic brand shorts that wouldn't give him away.

The rest of his gear that he had with him was alright, so it would have to do. Not like he could stop at the base, Schlatt would snitch on him in a heartbeat.

Either that, or he would make him get snacks or some stupid shit like that and completely ruin the evening.

Tommy didn't feel like putting up with that, so he worked with what he had; limiters, sneakers with the ankle braces, face guard, hat.

All of that was good enough, honestly. Having his eyes uncovered while he was out felt odd, but it was nice to be able to see without something hindering his natural night vision. Maybe that was why he liked being out at night so much, because he was a creeper hybrid.

He climbed out his window and started vaulting around the city, keeping his expressions of happiness to hisses alone so his friends didn't hear him while he was still close to the apartment. 

          Chat started acting up again after he was a decent distance away, making him have to stop at the edge of a building before he fell.  

Cause problems on purpose *air out of nose emoji*  

Power outages, everywhere  

Girly pop yourself off of a building  

/j  

Death, destruction, mayhem  

Shock the first person you see  

Call warden  

It's time for someone to get stabbed, shocked, or maimed, or bitten, or  

Violence violence violence violence vio-  

E  

GO DO CRIMEEEEEE  

We should go steal or smth  

Murder uwu  

DO A FLIP SIR  

Fuck around and find out  

Jam with him, let the man enjoy the moment  

Do a flip  

ARSON  

Don't seek out trouble let it find you you just got up from sleeping  

BLOW SHIT UPPPP  

Violence and crime, it's been WAY TOO LONG  

*insert capybara image* ok i pull up-  

Yay freedom! climb to highest point of the city!  

BLACKOUT BLACKOUT BLACKOUT BLACKOUT BLACKOUT BLACKOUT BLACKOUT BLACKOUT  

Or y'know, go draw penises on hero building  

practice some sweet flips. nothing too destructive tonight, not enough gear  

*VIOLENT HEAD BANGS*  

Almost all of his precision was gone as he tried to sort out all of chat's demands, getting hit with the overwhelming urge to commit violence and crime.

A want to knock out all of the city's power followed that. That combination led to him forming a pretty simple plan; go to as many power stations as possible, hopefully maim a few guards and police officers, and knock out chunks of the power grid.

Chat had chosen the area near their old base to start, giving him a nice jumping off point since that warehouse was pretty close to the power station that ran the district.

He didn't have to be subtle out there as he jumped across the buildings, even doing a few flips at chat's request.

If he were in one of the more commercialized or rich districts, he would already have a hero stopping him by now. Or trying to, anyways, since with the mood he was in he would have fried them immediately.

He may have had his limiters, but that didn't mean they were turned on. The lack of city care for that area also meant that the power station was comically understaffed; the only guard there knocked out before he was able to radio in for help.

          Tommy used a fair bit of energy, but not nearly as much as he could have as he completely destroyed the power box in front of him. All of the streetlights in the surrounding area went dark, although the blackout didn't stretch nearly as far as when he knocked out Eastside.

He didn't stay to appreciate his work for very long after he broke it, quickly moving with chat egging him on to take out the next closest power station. That one went as well as the first, and he was taking the police sirens in the distance as a sign that someone had probably caught on to what he was doing.

The third station marked the entire South end of the city going dark, and he was keeping a pretty good pace all thing considered. He made sure he wasn't going in a straight line with it, either, working along the routes he knew were far from any police departments as he knocked out both cops and people just trying to do their job at the electrical facilities.

Tommy managed to get another two before running into a roadblock; just not the kind he was expecting.

With what he was up to, he was fully prepared for a hero or vigilante to try stopping him and take him to jail.

He was even looking forward to shocking them and sending them down to the pavement. Instead, he was carefully grabbed while between buildings, letting out a confused hiss when he was tucked against someone's side as they went down into an alleyway.

The person let out a tired sigh, revealing that Techno was the one who'd grabbed him.

The man was in his full Blade gear, using the hand not holding Tommy to mess with the stupid burner phone he had for villain stuff.

"Excuse you, I was in the middle of something,", Tommy said with another hiss, hitting his tail against his brother.

The sentence was hard to get out, since his head felt stuffy like it usually did when his chat acted up on this level.

"I know, that's why I'm here instead of studying for a test,", he messed with his phone again, "Wi- Bomb noticed your chat acting up, but he wasn't sure what it was about since they weren't the reason you went with your friends instead of us."

"And how the fuck does he know that?"

"No idea, but clearly he was right if this is what you're up to. Do your friends know you're doing this?"

          "No, and I don't want them to because they'll make me stop. Put me down so I can keep breaking shit, I'm not done yet,", Tommy started wiggling in an attempt to get away.

"You are done, because you're getting close to our house with this and I don't want to put up with the power going out again."

"Not my fucking problem."

He continued to flail slightly as a distraction, still fairly uncoordinated thanks to chat, and managed to lift Techno's sleeve enough to barely expose some skin.

Techno had been messing with his phone while this was happening, calling someone while keeping Tommy secure under his arm.

"I caught him,", he paused for the person on the other end, probably Wilbur, to talk, "Yeah, you were right; they don't have anything to do with it, it's all chat. He's not listening to me, either, so I'm bringing him back to calm down at home. We're in the lower districts still, close to Re-"

Techno was interrupted by Tommy managing to get his tail around the exposed part of his arm and shocking, going down like a sack of potatoes as the boy got to his feet with a laugh. "What you fucking get for grabbing me, dickhead."

He didn't use enough power to hurt him, but it was absolutely enough for him to be down for a while.

Techno had already chosen a decently hidden spot after rudely grabbing him out of the air, but Tommy still made sure to hide him behind some trash before jumping away and getting back to business.

This was a personal slight in his opinion, so he decided to head even closer to the East side while going back to messing with the electricity; aiming for transformer boxes and power lines now since he had a feeling the detour gave police enough time to get to any actual power stations ahead of him.

He was starting to run out of steam, but he hadn't even gotten halfway through the list of things chat had given him to do.

... Ok, well he couldn't remember a majority of what they'd said, actually, but he'd only taken out like thirty-percent of the city's power so far and as far as he was concerned that meant he couldn't stop yet.

          Tommy decided to at least take a break after expertly dodging some bullets, taking two grazing his legs as a sign he should catch his breath for a minute.

Trying to check the current villain alerts made him realize he'd left his phones in his room again; guess that explained why he wasn't getting absolutely spammed by Tubbo trying to get an explanation from him.

This was the most fun he'd had in a while, and, ignoring the arguably small amount of blood on his legs, also the least damaging villain venture he'd had in months.

Least damaging to him, anyways.

He would take mild bullet wounds over exploding any day.

There was a quiet sound behind him, someone who clearly thought they were being sneaky getting up there somehow and trying to approach.

Tommy waited for them to get closer before launching himself off of the edge of the building, turning to give the dumbass a peace sign (middle finger) as he ran away.

He was pretty sure it had been Wilbur, but the quick glance he got before he had to catch himself wasn't exactly enough for him to say that positively.

Tommy decided to treat it like a game of tag, dodging the other villain's attempts at catching him as he vaulted across the rooftops. His goal was to annoy them enough that they left him alone and let him get back to the increasingly difficult task of property damage.

He had confirmation that it was Wilbur chasing him when the man started using bombs to make him change directions, herding him off of the buildings and forcing down to the alleyways below in an effort to get away.

Tommy was then immediately grabbed by Ranboo once he turned a corner, the enderman hybrid wrapping his arms around him and teleporting to the base.

This was followed by the taller boy then sitting on him and slapping some anti-power cuffs his wrists as he was made to lay there on the floor of the computer room. Tommy let out an annoyed hiss, trying and failing to get up with Ranboo sitting on him.

"Get off me, for fucks sake,", he was hissing as he spoke, struggling to get it out still past the chat fuzz in his head.

"No, because you'll try to get away again."

"'m not done yet-" 

          "Yes, you are,", Tubbo squatted down in front of him, grabbing his face to get his attention, "I don't even know what you were trying to do, but the city is absolutely crawling with heroes right now because of it."

"Good, make those fuckers earn their money. Let me up so I can break more shit."

His short friend looked like he was thinking for a moment before sighing. "How about this? You take a moment to breathe, calm down and let me check your injuries, and then if you still want to go back out; I'll let you. Ok?"

Tommy stopped struggling, some of chat thinking that Tubbo was lying while the majority agreed with him.

"Fine,", he rolled his eyes, "Need some water 'nd shit anyways."

Ranboo got off of him, helping him up so he could sit in one of the computer chairs.

"C'n you take the cuffs off, please?", he muttered, looking up at the tall boy.

"Not until after you've been checked out,", Tubbo said as he got the first-aide kit, "I don't want you accidentally shocking me while I'm fixing you up."

"Who says it'd be accidental?"

"I'm choosing to ignore that statement. Why is there paint all over your legs?"

"It's blood, asshole."

"Unless your blood is bright fucking pink- Actually wait, it might be now."

Tommy hissed at him, trying to kick him in the face.

"Watch it, or you'll be taped down next,", the short boy looked up at Ranboo, "Could you get some water so I can clean him up?"

He nodded before teleporting out, clearly still concerned if his overall silence was anything to go by.

Tubbo sighed, standing to look Tommy in the eye. "Do you have any other injuries outside of your legs?"

"No, because I'm fucking awesome and dodged everything."

"Right... What the fuck is up with you?"

"'s a blunt way of asking that."

"I'm serious. You were normal earlier, as normal as you can be, until we got home again. I- Was there something that caused this, or have you just decided to cause problems out of nowhere?"

"Chat wanted t' do something with all the energy I had after dinner,", Tommy shrugged, getting distracted by something on the other side of the room, "Been a while since I did some shit like that."

"And you couldn't have told anyone about it beforehand?"

"No, 'cause you've been a bitch about shit lately and would have told me no." 

          Tubbo forced him to look at him again. "I would have asked you 'why' and made sure you actually had all of your gear! For fucks sake, Tommy, you don't even have your suit on; what would you have done if a bullet hit your midsection? Or even your thigh, what was your plan if you got hit somewhere fatal?"

"Well obviously I wasn't planning on being hit,", he rolled his eyes.

Tubbo looked ready to smack him, he probably deserved it in that moment as well, the short boy instead taking a deep breath and staying silent until Ranboo got back with a bucket and like ten bottles of water.

"I didn't want to teleport with an open thing of water in case it splashed, so I figured you could probably dump a few of these into the bucket to wipe him down?"

"Right, thank you,", Tubbo sighed.

The enderman hybrid went to hand one of the bottles to Tommy, earning a flat look in response.

"How the fuck am I meant to grab that with cuffs on?"

"Oh, right, uh...", Ranboo stood there for a moment, looking like his brain had paused before he loosened the cap of the bottle and stuck it on Tommy's shoulder, "There."

"... What the fuck are you doing?"

"If you squeeze it with your shoulder and neck, it'll dribble a little bit and you can drink it like a hamster."

Tommy looked back down at Tubbo, water bottle falling in the process. "Can you take the cuffs off so I can shock him? Please?"

"No."

"He told me to drink water like a fucking hamster, Tubbo!"

"Yeah, I'll be honest, I have no idea what I was thinking there,", Ranboo had a hand on the side of his head, "My brain kinda stopped working for a second?"

"Was chat's fault, then."

Tubbo immediately tensed, pausing in cleaning the neon blood off of Tommy's legs. "If both of you end up going on a spree of some kind tonight, I'm locking the two of you in those quad-cuffs we stole from the cops until morning."

"I won't, I promise,", Ranboo raised his hands non-threateningly.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Already started mine, not taking any responsibility for the boob."

"I'll take your cuffs off so you can drink, but the second you try to do some stupid shit I'm hitting you with the pollen,", the short boy sighed, reaching behind the chair to free Tommy's hands, "I'm going to die from stress at this rate, I swear."

          Sitting in silence while Tubbo cleaned up his legs gave Tommy plenty of time to calm down, his head clearing up more as the overwhelming urge to commit crime went back down to it's normal level and was replaced with regret as he started to really process what had happened.

His wounds were easy to wrap up, and once he was good to go, Tommy stood with the full intention to go hide in the upper floor of the base and avoid the consequences of his actions.

Tubbo grabbed him as soon as he was on his feet, flipping him and pinning him under his knee.

"Ow, that fucking hurts!", Tommy said with an annoyed hiss.

"You'll be hurting far worse if you try going back out tonight."

"Fuck you- Ow! I wasn't even planning on leaving, you fucking prick!"

"Really?", Tubbo sounded suspicious, digging his knee in.

"I was going up to my nest, you dick!"

"... Nest?"

He loosened his grip some, and Tommy took that as his chance to get him off and crawl away; hissing as he sat against the wall.

"My fucking dark hidey hole upstairs, the damp one with the mold."

"You expect me to believe you're going to go and relax after throwing a fit over us bringing you back?"

"No, but that's what I'm doing. Where the fuck are my phones at?"

"We left them in your room, since the alerts about what you were doing was a bigger concern than checking your twitter feed for you."

"Fine, I'll go to sleep then. Prick."

"I'm going up there with you, to make sure you're actually staying here."

Tommy glared at him. "No the fuck you're not. Trust me, if my head was all fucked up still, I wouldn't be thinking straight enough to lie like that. You saw how I was earlier."

"I can't trust you right now, because when you said you were going to bed before, you snuck out the window and riled up every governmental authority in the city."

Tommy hissed at the short boy, walking over and grabbing Ranboo's wrist. "Ranboo's going up instead, I don't want you to know where my spot is."

Tubbo looked hurt for a moment, turning around and walking to his computer. "Fine. As long as someone is able to make sure you're staying here. I've got to keep an eye on the heroes and make sure nothing online ties back to you. Goodnight."

He would probably feel bad about it in the morning, but he was upset that Tubbo wasn't listening to him, so Tommy left the room with Ranboo and didn't say anything else. 

          Tommy led the way up to where his weird little nest was after that, the whole walk filled with a tense silence until they got to the top of the stairs.

"He's not actually-"

"'He's not actually mad', I know; you say that every time he's upset at me over dumb shit and I'm starting to think you're lying."

"I don't think this really qualifies as 'dumb stuff', Tommy."

"It does, because I was only trying to have a bit of fun-"

"You realize the SWAT team was out, right?", Ranboo interrupted him, not leaving room for a response as he continued, "They were telling them to 'shoot to kill' over the radio. I don't really know alot about how the voice stuff works, so I don't know how far off your perspective of this is from what actually happened, but that whole time they were making jokes about lining up the shot and talking about how they just barely missed you."

Tommy stopped walking, not looking back at Ranboo or saying anything.

He'd thought there were a few more shots going off than police at the scene, but he figured he was missing them as he focused on breaking shit.

The whole thing had been a blur, admittedly, and the more his head cleared up the less he remembered of it.

Ranboo kept talking after the silence lasted a few minutes. "We're not mad at you, we're worried. You say you have it under control, but then you do stuff like this and leave us wondering how bad it really is. What are you not telling us? What are you actually doing when you're out? How long until there's an alert that you got arrested, or you get stabbed because you couldn't stop yourself from shocking the wrong person?"

"I'm not- I do have it under control. I just... It's not as simple as 'not listening' or some shit like that. They-", he tried to figure out how he wanted to explain, "It's hard to tell if it's something chat wants or something I want in the moment."

"Was that something you actually wanted to do?"

"The electricity shit? Yeah, because it was fucking funny. But if I'd actually been thinking about it, I would have roped you in as well so you could teleport me around instead of... whatever I was doing. I'll be honest, I don't remember much of it."

"You broke like five power stations and then started destroying streetlights and stuff."

Tommy's tail moved back and forth at that news, displaying his happiness at the amount of damage he'd caused. That was followed by disappointment that he hadn't waited and gotten Ranboo to help, since that would have led to him getting even more done. 

          He hissed, walking again. "Should have been all of the stations."

"You're not going out there to get the rest of them."

"Wasn't planning on it, I'm exhausted,", he came to a stop in front of the broken door marking his hidey-hole, crawling under it and turning back to look at Ranboo, "This is where my spot is, is that good enough for you to leave me alone now?"

"You promise you're not sneaking out the window or off the roof once I go back downstairs?"

"I promise I'm going to cut all of your hair off and slap your bald head every time I walk past, fuck off. Why don't you promise you won't tell Tubbo which room I hide in, prick?"

"I won't, since I'm pretty sure you not wanting anyone to know about it is an instinct thing; especially if you're thinking of it like a 'nest'. It probably wouldn't be safe for him to come up here."

Tommy paused for a moment, chat taking the mention of instincts as a sign to make them act up as the demons made him decide Ranboo should join him in the nest as he reached out to grab the tall boy's wrist and drag him inside.

Ranboo looked at him in confusion, ducking under the broken door. "Uh?"

"Sleep time,", he hissed some as he said it, continuing to drag his brother over to his blanket pile.

"Oh, you weren't kidding about the mold,", the tall boy stoped just short of the nest, "I don't think I can sleep up here without getting sick. You probably shouldn't be, either."

Tommy gave him an annoyed hiss, trying to force him to sit. "Tommy-"

His instincts had his brain in full goblin mode at this point, and he refused to let Ranboo go back downstairs. "Fuck you, sleep time."

The enderman hybrid obviously realized this, so he sighed before sitting at the very edge of the nest. "Look; I'm settling down, you can relax now."

Tommy hissed in victory before practically disappearing into the pile of blankets, popping back out after a moment to pull Ranboo over so he was laying.

"Tommy-", he tried and failed to sit up again, getting pulled back down, "Tommy, I don't think it's a good idea for me to-"

"Shh."

The creeper hybrid was already stating to doze off, but he refused to fully fall asleep until he was sure Ranboo wasn't going anywhere.

"Seriously-"

"'m not sleeping unless you do."

"I- Alright, fine. Sleeping now,", Ranboo made sure Tommy could see that his eyes were closed.

And that was good enough for him. He started purring as he fell asleep, his exhaustion catching up to him as he fully relaxed. It hadn't been bad enough that he'd need his charge pad, but it was definately a workout after months of doing practically nothing.

He was almost excited to see the aftermath, but right now all he was really worried about was sleeping.

Chapter Text

          Tommy sat up out of the blanket nest, letting out a hiss as he stretched without his back popping. He didn't remember much of the day before, and he couldn't find either of his phones anywhere, so it wasn't like he could ask anyone.

His main concern in that moment was food, preferably something with sugar in it, so he got up and made his way downstairs to steal some of the food in the apartment Schlatt was in.

He was actually up pretty early, and did his best to be quiet as he went down into the used part of the building.

That quiet only lasted until he got to the inhabited area, though, since Schlatt was also awake.

"Good morning,", the man greeted as Tommy entered, startling him.

"Fucks sake, Schlatt, you nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Not my fault you weren't paying attention. Why are you here this early?"

"Because I own this place as well, so I'm allowed to do whatever I fucking want,", he went over to dig around in the fridge, "Including stealing your shit."

"I meant why are you here when you avoid this place like the plague anymore? Think this is the first time you've been back after a few days instead of weeks in a while."

"Ended up falling asleep here last night, not sure what to tell you."

"You could tell me what the fuck you were up to before that; had everyone running around like they had their fucking heads chopped off. And yeah, it was funny, but I genuinely don't have a fucking clue what you were doing."

"You and me both,", Tommy sighed as he sat at the table with the leftovers he'd managed to scran, "You remember me telling you about the voice shit?"

"... I think? You end up having a mental breakdown or something?"

"No. Ok, well,", he didn't want to admit how accurate that actually was, "I wanted to break shit, they wanted me to break shit. I have no idea what happened after we reached that conclusion, but I'm fairly sure that's what happened."

"What you did was freak out the heroes and make it so I have to wait before I can fucking leave."

"L."

"I'll ground you, you'll be stuck in your room."

"Yeah, ok."

"I'm serious, just because you're almost eighteen doesn't mean I'm not still in charge of you."

          Tommy snorted at him, hitting his tail against the back of his chair. "How the fuck would you enforce that?"

"I'll use my powers to order you to stay in your apartment for a week."

"Try it, I will actively bite your arm off."

"If you do that, I'll use the other one to throw you out the fucking window."

"Phil would never threaten to throw me out a window, take notes from him."

"Yeah, well that bird fucker isn't you dad, now is he?"

"... So about that-"

"What kind of fucked up shit are you about to tell me? Are you his secret kid from when he was messing around as a teen or something?"

Tommy choked on his food, coughing with a startled hiss. "No, holy shit. Don't present me with the idea of Philza Minecraft reproducing."

"Then what the fuck are you talking about?"

He tried to think about how he was phrasing it before just going for it. "Right, so you know how he adopted Wil and Techno when they were teenagers?"

"... Yeah?" "Well, a few months ago-"

"Tommy, I swear to fucking god."

"The three of them asked if-"

Schlatt shut him up by placing a hand over his mouth. "The bit isn't funny, drop it. I don't give a shit if you act like Soot and the Blade are your brothers, that's your actual brothers' issue, but don't say shit like that thinking you're being funny."

Tommy bit his hand to make him let go. "I'm not trying to be funny, I'm being serious. It's something that I've actually thought about, and-"

"If you gave them any answer other than 'no', then you clearly didn't think about it. What fucking reason could you possibly have-"

"I like them,", chat were making him explain, "They're nice, and they've got a fucking stable household and they- I enjoy being around them. Plus, I can have a better legal alibi if I can point to them if something happens and have them say I was there."

He refused to look at Schlatt as he continued, not wanting to know the man's reaction for as long as physically possible.

"And I swear the choice has nothing to do with something you did, or- or something you didn't, I just- I still think of you as like a father, but it's not like you could legally adopt me. Even if you could, you probably wouldn't because then the heroes would probably use me like a hostage, but-"

          "Tommy, shut the fuck up and listen,", Schlatt put his hands on Tommy's shoulders, using his powers to make the boy stop rambling, "I don't have any say on what you do anymore, honestly I didn't really have any say when you were a kid, either, but especially now that you're older I can't tell you what to do."

His eyes took a dark shine, making Tommy shudder.

"Just keep in mind that if they're doing this to fuck with you or something, or if they hurt you in any way, I'll personally make sure there's nothing left of them for the heroes to take in once I'm done."  

Hugchamp  

Go do crime  

aaaaahhhh waaaaaassididallanxbjcucj  

*loud tv static*  

purrrrrrrr purrrrrrrrrrrrr  

HUG  

Awww  

E  

He's not perfect, but he cares :D  

Awww good step-dad vibes  

Dtdgcch hldlhdicyfkhcg  

Awwww he be protective and I have no idea what this story is about Cus I new so awwww  

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPBEEEEEEEEEP  

E  

not as bad as I expected so POGGIES  

Dadschlatt  

Jdad  

Supportive parental goat pog  

Hug shatt because at least he's not a *complete* asshole  

Yaaaaaaaayyy murder :D  

So sweet :D  

Hug him!!!  

AWWWW HUG NOW!  

Hug.  

Thanx BITE  

Very touching  

based as hell truly. king shit even. he's insane buts he's got the spirit  

AWWWWEEEEEEE  

Tommy grabbed Schlatt as soon as chat acted up, purring as he hugged the man.

That was a way better reaction than he'd been expecting, so he was completely caught off guard by it.

Which was ironic, since his reaction caught Schlatt off guard as well. "What the fuck?"

"I- Sorry, I'm,", Tommy had to push past the overwhelming volume in his head to actually speak, "I was expecting you to be mad."

"Oh no, I'm pissed, but there's nothing I can do about it."

"Good enough."

Schlatt let Tommy hug him for a little while longer before deeming it awkward, struggling to pry the boy off and sitting back down. Probably as a way to change the subject entirely, Schlatt decided to catch him up on everything from the night before; at least what he knew about it from everyone else and the internet.

          Tommy had taken out about half of the power grid along the Southern and Eastern parts of the city, broke a bunch of random windows and phone lines, shot electricity at random people, and crashed a few cars at some point?

He definately didn't remember the last few things, barely remembered going to the power stations but that at least sparked something in his brain, but causing car crashes really wasn't his style.

Something that really worried him was the fact that he'd knocked Techno out again. Tommy was legitimately contemplating going on the run after learning that. No matter how funny Schlatt thought it was; Tommy was probably in danger.

He tried to get the man's phone so he could look up some of what'd happened himself, failing to get it since Schlatt had an iron-clad grip on the thing.

It sucked that his phones were both still in his room, and he was seriously cursing himself for not having them with him the night before.

"Fine, since you won't let me use your phone, I'm going home to get mine,", Tommy stood, pausing when he looked down at his bandaged legs and incredibly obvious blood covered hoodie, "I'm also stealing some of your clothes; don't need anyone seeing me in this shit and calling the heroes."

"Why the fuck are you taking my shit? Pretty sure some of Q and Slime's clothes are still here."

"'Tommy, wear something child sized or something covered in goo'. That is what you just said to me."

Schlatt rolled his eyes. "You need to leave yourself some clothes here or something."

"Used to, but I forgot to bring new ones since we haven't been doing shit for a while."

"Whatever, as long as you bring it back I don't give a shit,", Schlatt rolled his eyes.

The only thing that was a different size than his stuff were the shoes, so it wasn't really an issue for him to steal shit from Schlatt. It wasn't really his style, but neither were those ugly prison jumpsuits, so it would work perfectly fine for getting home.

He wasn't actually as tired as he probably should have been after all of the stuff he allegedly did, so the forty minute walk back to the apartment was looking like it was going to be pleasant.

          And it was, for the first half. There wasn't anyone outside along the route he'd decided to take, and the chilled March morning air was a nice change from the fairly musty feel of the base.

The problem came when he hit the very edge of the middle districts, a very familiar masked man jumping down in front of him. Tommy took a startled step back, tensing even more as 404 and Flame joined the other hero.

"Hey, it's alright,", Dream raised his hands in a calming motion, sounding pretty tired, "You know there's a stay-in order, right?"

That explained the lack of people literally anywhere on a weekday morning. He was definately going to get revenge on Schlatt for 'forgetting' to tell him the alerts were still active.

"Oh, yeah, sorry; I spent the night at a friend's house and ended up leaving my phone at home. Was hoping I could sneak back without any problems,", Tommy lied through his teeth, hoping it was believable.

404 raised an eyebrow at him over his goggles. "You realize the punishment for disobeying Committee alerts is jail time, right? Generally in the Holding Facility?"

"We're not arresting a kid. I think that's a pretty understandable reason, honestly,", Dream defended him, surprisingly.

"We can't go around making exceptions for random citizens, Dream."

"Look, we'll talk about this later, ok?", the masked hero turned back to Tommy after that, looking at the boy who'd been slowly trying to get away from them, "The orders are in place to keep people safe, ok? Ripper is still on the loose out here, and it's not good to be out in case he decides he wants to start back up again."

Tommy had to stop himself from rolling his eyes, playing up the nervous kid persona to increase his chances of getting away safely. "I know, I'm sorry. I don't have either of my roommates' numbers memorized, so I wanted to get back and make sure they knew I was alright. My friend lives near one of the plants that got hit, so-"

Flame took a step forward, trying to calm him down. "Hey, it's fine. You're not in trouble, 404's just an asshole. We're not arresting you or anything, promise."

"Right, we only wanted to check what you were doing out during a stay-in. Your apartment isn't far from here, right?", Dream asked, easily flowing off of what Flame was saying. 

          "Oh, yeah, no- Only about twenty more minutes or so that way; ten if I leg it."

"Hm... That's pretty far, actually. I think one of us should go with you to make sure you don't get jumped or something."

Tommy really wanted to sigh when chat decided they wanted Flame to walk with him, but he was lucky enough that they were letting him go, so he wasn't going to push it. "Oh, uh- Alright? I guess I'd be alright with Flame walking with me?"

He'd prefer none of them. but Flame was the only one he was confident enough he'd be able to get away from if something happened. Used to be confident he could get him in a fight, too, but then the hero one-punched Ranboo hard enough he started hearing voices so... yeah.

Dream seemed relieved, giving his teammate a light shove in Tommy's direction. "Alright, as long as it's one of us."

Flame's ego visibly inflated, a smile on his face as he celebrated. "Yeah! I'm someone's favourite!"

"No, Dream is still everyone's favourite,", 404 was obviously rolling his eyes, "He's probably just too nervous to ask him to do it."

"I think you're projecting, considering how many people think you and him are dating,", Tommy said it before he could stop himself, freezing as the three went quiet and stared at him.

Flame broke out into a fit of laughter, Dream joining him after a minute while 404 sat there silently seething.

"We've got a job to get done,", 404 grabbed Dream's arm, looking at Tommy while he radiated very poorly hidden malice, "If I see you again, I will personally drag you to prison."

Tommy could hear Dream continuing to laugh as the short hero dragged him away, something along the lines of 'asking first before taking him on a date' leaving Dream's mouth that earned him a smack.

Flame got Tommy's attention again, the hero nudging him in the side. "Alright kid, let's get you home. What's your name, by the way?"

"Rather not say, if that's alright,", Tommy answered before adding, "No offense."

The hero, surprisingly, wasn't all that bothered by it; shrugging as he followed Tommy's lead to his apartment. "All good, dude."

          The walk was silent for a while, but apparently Flame got bored at some point since he decided to say something. "Sorry about 404, by the way. He can be a little lacking in the empathy department sometimes."

"Isn't that something a hero should have if they're dealing with people?", Tommy asked, being snarky against his better judgement.

"No, yeah, it's just- We've been up all night trying to figure out the Ripper stuff, and he's worse with handling situations like this when he's tired. I swear he wasn't being serious about arresting you."

"He should probably fucking work on that, gives people a bad impression,", he folded his arms, not saying anything else about it beyond that.

Flame kept trying to start a conversation with him, getting bare minimum responses to his questions while Tommy tried not to laugh at the hero's admittedly funny jokes. He was alot less pushy than Dream had been, and Tommy was refusing to admit that the interaction was nice; reminding himself the entire time of all the entirely avoidable injuries him and his friends had gotten while fighting the hero.

But the rest of the walk stayed nice, at least, and he didn't have the energy or patience to pretend he was going into a different building than the one he actually lived in when they finally got there.

Flame cleared his throat, going from his casual conversational tone to the 'heroic' one he used on TV. "Alright, now that you're safe, I have a job to get back to. Follow the alerts from now on and stay out of trouble, ok?"

"Will do,", he gave the hero a wave as he went inside, trying not to laugh until he was sure he was out of the hero's hearing range.

There were way too many levels of irony going on at once, and keeping a straight face had been incredibly difficult when this was all happening because of him. The apartment building was quiet still, with people probably using the stay-in as an excuse to sleep since they didn't have to go to work.

Tommy was hoping to get into the apartment without being noticed, but that went out the window when he walked in and immediately made eye contact with Ranboo.

          "... Good morning,", he raised his hand to wave at the enderman hybrid as he closed the door.

Ranboo looked at him for a minute, checked his phone, looked at Tommy again, and then back at his phone before giving him a concerned look. "How did you get back?"

"I walked, man has legs."

"No, I mean- Did you have any issues? There's a stay-in order."

Chat wanted him to tell Ranboo the truth, and he sat there quietly for a moment weighing his options. "I- Uh-", he tried to keep his breathing even, knowing he was going to regret this later, "No, everything was fine. Schlatt didn't tell me there was a fucking stay-in, but I figured it out on my own when I hadn't run into anyone."

Tommy knew ignoring chat was a bad idea, but telling Ranboo that a hero had walked him back after all the shit he'd caused the night before was an even worse one.

The tall boy seemed to buy it, more relieved than anything else that Tommy had made it back ok. "That's good. The Committee have been scrambling to come up with an explanation for yesterday, so they've probably got everyone out in the affected areas still. Wanna watch the news with me? It's been great so far, they're not actually allowed to talk about it yet."

"In a minute, yeah. Had to borrow shit from Schlatt, and I'd rather not sit around in his nasty ass clothes now that I've got the option of wearing my own,", he paused, shuddering, "Also feel like I should check my phone; Schlatt filled me in on some of the shit I did last night, and I'm worried I may end up getting stabbed if I'm not prepared for Techno getting his revenge."

"I mean, when Wilbur called so we could figure out how we were actually catching you, he didn't seem too worried about it,", Ranboo followed him into the hallway.

"If anything, that makes me even more worried."

He paused outside of his room for a moment, letting out a confused hiss when he heard movement inside. There were a few different things spread out in there, and they seemed pretty small from what he could tell.

"The fuck?"

Ranboo looked confused. "What's up?"

"I think there's something in there. Did you close my window?"

"Yeah, we did. What's it sound like?"

"Not sure, but if there's fucking rats in there I'm going to lose it,", Tommy hesitated for a moment before just going for it and opening the door. 

          He immediately regretted this decision when he was greeted with the sight of about ten to twelve cats in his bedroom. They were messing with and destroying his shit, a striped brown one with an orange collar even chewing on his pillow.

The window was wide open, but it was pretty clear the cats didn't get in there on their own. The apartment was on the fourth floor, and there wasn't a fire escape on that side of the building that they could have climbed.

Tommy's breath hitched, and he let out a stressed hiss as he took a very large step back from the room. His tail moved anxiously behind him while he tried and failed to remain calm.

"What's wrong, are you ok?!", Ranboo immediately started to worry about his reaction, pausing when he actually looked inside, "... Why are there cats in your room?"

"I don't fucking know! Fucking- Get them the fuck out! I- Get them out."

He had no idea why he was getting so upset about it, moving even further away from the hell room as he continued to freak out.

"Calm down, it's ok-"

Tubbo exited his room, and it was clear he'd been woken up by the yelling. "What's going on?"

Tommy wasn't even able to give an answer, bumping into the wall behind him and falling in his efforts to put distance between himself and the cats.

Ranboo tried to catch him, instead helping him sit on the floor when it was clear Tommy wasn't going to be standing on his own. "There's a bunch of cats in his room for some reason."

"How did those get in there?"

"I have no idea."

They continued talking, but he wasn't able to hear them over the sound of his own heartbeat at that point.

He held his breath as he watched the cat on his bed stand, stretch as it dug it's horrible knife claws into the blanket, and jump in his direction. The horrible creature walked up to him, rubbing against his legs and purring.

One of the things touching him was too much for Tommy to handle, making him hyperventilate as tears started pooling in his eyes. He tried to tell it to get away, or draw attention to the problem somehow; only able to let out a pitiful hiss as his instincts ran wild and continued to fuel the completely irrational fear he was feeling.

          Realistically, he knew there wasn't any reason for it, but his brain was filling him with the overwhelming urge to run or hide to get away from the situation. But it felt like he was frozen in place, only able to give fearful hisses as he sat there crying on the floor.

His friends finally noticed after what felt like ages, and Tubbo used his foot to nudge the cat back into the room while Ranboo grabbed Tommy and teleported him to the livingroom.

Tommy curled in on himself when he was sat on the sofa, shaking as he tried not to think about how close he still was to the cats.

Someone sat down next to him, he couldn't tell who, and was trying to calm him down. It worked somewhat, and he was able to breathe a little easier. He was able to tell that it was Tubbo next to him once he calmed down, using the palms of his hands to wipe the tears out of his eyes now that he wasn't completely freaking out.

"You alright?", Tubbo asked, his tone gentle.

"I- No, honestly, I have no idea what the fuck just happened."

"Ranboo thinks it has something to do with your instincts. Have you seen any cats before that  since your features grew in?"

"Not that fucking many in one place,", he looked around, trying to find the taller boy, "Where's he at?"

"Getting your room dealt with; he's teleporting them to the park. Do you need anything? You had a full blown panic attack, I'm surprised you didn't pass out."

Tommy sat there for a moment, swallowing the lump in his throat. "I- You were mad at me last night, why are you- Why didn't you leave me to deal with that shit on my own?"

"... What?"

"Last night- What I remember of last night, you were fucking pissed at me. Why-", he interrupted himself with a stressed hiss, "Why the fuck are you comforting me and shit after that?"

Tubbo looked hurt by the question. "Do you seriously think I'd leave you alone to freak out because I was upset with you last night?"

"I don't fucking know with you anymore, man! Us going to dinner was the first time in ages where you've actually trusted me with something. You said you would back the fuck off, but then my features grew in and you doubled down on all the shit you said you'd stop." 

          Tubbo tried to say something, but Tommy kept talking.

"And then I fucked up by listening to chat, I don't even remember half of the shit I did, but now you've actually got a reason to not fucking trust me. I keep fucking up, and-"

"Breathe, holy shit,", Tubbo made him shut up, standing in front of him now with his hands on Tommy's shoulders, "I trust you, and I care about you. I'm worried about all the stuff going on with you, but that doesn't mean I'm really mad at you, and I'm not going to leave you to have a panic attack on the floor as some kind of fucked up payback for shit you can't control."

"But I can control it at this point, that's the fucking problem! I can ignore them without completely blacking the fuck out, but the shit they want is stuff I want as well and I go with it because I want to. I am the fucking problem here."

"It's stuff you want to do, but not when you want to do it, right? That's how you explained it to Ranboo last night?"

Tommy nodded, avoiding eye contact.

"Then how about this,", Tubbo made him look at him again, "I promise I'll calm down how protective I am if you promise you'll tell me when you're going to be doing shit like that so I can make sure you're actually prepared and don't get shot. Does that work?"

Tommy nodded again, still not saying anything.

Tubbo gave him a hug, jumping when Ranboo teleported back into the room.

"I got rid of the cats,", the tall boy awkwardly held up Tommy's phone, "I also grabbed this for you, since I had a feeling you probably wouldn't want to go back in there while it still smelled like them."

"... Right, thank you,", Tommy forced out, having some issues speaking now that he'd calmed down again.

He moved over so all three of them could fit on the couch, staying curled up as he checked his messages. The first thing he saw was the wall of texts from everyone before they realized he didn't have his phone, and a quick scroll through those was enough to get the gist.

What caught his attention was the single message from Techno, which had been sent a couple hours after the rest.

All it said was 'Enjoy your new pets'.

          It took a solid minute for him to figure out what that meant, his tail hitting against the sofa in frustration as he let out a low hiss.

Bad brother  

MAD ANGRY HURT HIM  

Can we put pigs in his room?  

YOKILL HIS POWER GRID AGAIN-WITH CONSENT FROM BIG T THIS TIME >:D  

WHAT THE HELL DUDE NAAAH idc nothing justifies triggering ppl like that im MAD *knife emojis*  

Hit Techno  

Betrayl  

where's memory boi, gotta go shock a pig rq-  

He ain't know, can't get too mad  

Big sad 

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK  

Lets E the man  

... what the fuck.  

Bacon is on the menu, bois  

A feeling of mild betrayl  

ATTACK  

The audacity >:0  

guess it's arson time  

THAT BITCH  

BLOOD  

Attack him  

get his ass  

we need a gun to get rid of this feral hog in 3-5 minutes  

Find out what techno is scared of (if anything) and get revenge  

Stab him  

BRO WHAT THE FUCK WHY  

Blood for the blood god  

Give him the silent treatment!!!  

Like we wanna knock him unconcious again  

I mean,, you DID shock him  

flabbergasted. absolutely flabbergasted.

"He's done, he's so fucking done,", Tommy dragged out his 's's as he spoke, anger bubbling as he mentally went over every form of payback possible outside of murder, "I'm going to fucking shock him again and drop his fucking body in the ocean."

"What happened?"

"He fucking- That piece of shit is the one that put the cats in there-"

"Slow down, who did it?", Tubbo asked, sounding fully ready to help him commit a crime.

"Techno, he fucking- Even sent me a snarky fucking text about it, like a fucking bitch."

Ranboo put a hand on Tommy's shoulder. "Let's calm down for a second. I don't think he meant to freak you out like that with it, he was probably just trying to get back at you for shocking him."

"I don't give a fuck what he was trying to fucking do, he put those fucking things in there knowing full fucking well I don't like them-"

          "Right, that you don't like them, not that they would trigger you like that,", the enderman hybrid was clearly trying to be the voice of reason here, "Why don't you call him and talk about it first before trying to attack him right away?"

Tubbo knocked Ranboo's hand off of Tommy's shoulder. "I don't want to let that pink fucker get away with that, you saw how he reacted-"

"He probably didn't know! Like I said, it'd be better to call him or something first to sort it out instead of showing up at his house to beat him up."

"I really don't fucking care if he didn't know, he still-", Tubbo continued, getting interrupted by Tommy.

"I'll fucking call him; might murder him if I actually go over there."

"We could get away with it-"

He ignored the short boy, standing and going to the bathroom to make the call. It was hard being alone given how stressed he was, but he knew the two of them would try jumping in the entire time and make things harder to focus on than they already were.

The phone rang for a solid minute before Techno answered. "Hello?"

"What the fuck is your problem?"

"Bruh. You literally left me behind a dumpster,", the man sounded tired, annoyance tinging his words.

"You can't just- You don't do that kind of shit to someone!"

"Right, you don't paralyze someone who's trying to keep you from doing something stupid; glad we're on the same page."

Tommy hissed at him, grip on his phone tightening. "You're so fucking lucky I'm not there right now, or I'd stab you. I'd shock you again and leave you burried up to your neck in the back fucking garden-"

"Did you wake me up to try threatening me, or was there a point to this?"

"They're not threats, they're promises. I'm- One of those things fucking touched me, and rubbed it's weird little bug eyed face on me, and- and-", his voice waivered as he started getting worked up again, and he let out a stressed hiss as he tried to stay calm.

          Techno stayed silent while Tommy got his breathing under control again, and the boy continued once he was actually able to.

"It's beyond fucked up, you- Holy shit, you don't even care do you? This is probably funny as all hell, great fucking payback I bet."

"... Tommy, are you scared of cats?"

"'Are you scared of'- Fucking asking me that now after you already fucking-", he interrupted himself with an angry hiss, "After you've already- I'm done with this shit, just... Just leave me the fuck alone for a while."

"Tommy-"

He hung up, setting his phone on the counter before he threw it.

It immediately started ringing, and he silenced it as he sat down on the bathroom floor and stewed in his anger. The day had started so well, and now he had to deal with this shit.

Did the universe hate him? Was he being punished for something he did in a past life?

Realistically, he knew that Ranboo had probably been right about Techno not knowing; the man was a terrible actor, and he seemed confused about his reaction over the phone.

But it didn't change the fact that he'd been the one to put the cats in there knowing full well that they would at minimum tear shit up and piss on the carpet.

Tommy was going to have to clean all of it up, too, because he didn't want to make his friends help with it after they'd already taken care of him and his overreaction. Ranboo had gone through the effort of getting all of the cats out of there for him, no way was he going to make the enderman hybrid also help him wash his blankets and shit to get the cat smell out.

After taking a moment to gather himself back up, Tommy took a deep breath and got to his feet. For now, he was only going to focus on cleaning up, nothing else surrounding the situation.

As far as he was concerned, anyone outside of the apartment didn't exist in that moment; just him, his friends, and the multiple piles of cat shit that were going to be thrown directly out the window onto the street below.

Everything else was a problem for later, and his phone was left on the bathroom counter as he left the bathroom and slammed the door behind himself.